To Be or Not To Be (who we once were..)
By
Sarah Varcas
The Moon is full in the 15th degree of Taurus at 10:24 pm GMT on 6th November. This Full Moon poses an important challenge, one to which we need to rise if we are to make good on commitments and undertakings made during the eclipse season of October. However we currently feel about our lot, the course of events surrounding us and any hopes we are currently nurturing, this Moon requires a stubborn intention to do things differently this month in order to secure the possibility of fresh outcomes and the release of new potential. Trouble is, right now we may feel like doing anything but something different! With the rising tension of Mars approaching its conjunction to Pluto it would be easy, now, to slip straight back into old habitual responses to stressful situations, whatever those responses may be: confrontation, avoidance, self-blame, finger-pointing, resignation. Whatever our previous default setting in the face of challenge, even if we’ve replaced it with a more productive response in recent times, we run the risk at this point, of replaying old tapes and lapsing back into unconsciousness and reactivity. Unless we resolve not to, that is!
Happily, this Moon receives support from Pluto and Chiron, two powerful influences on the path to wholeness. The better we can acknowledge how we feel and why, instead of acting upon our feelings from a semi-conscious state of emotional arousal, the more we can understand about ourselves, our motivations and how best to move in a more authentic direction. Pluto in Capricorn is holding us all to account in terms of how we perceive success and judge our own and others’ worth. Chiron in Pisces reminds us that it is the spirit we bring to this world which matters more than anything, not our material or reputational wealth. And the Full Moon connects up with both reminding us that strength of character is not a matter of stubbornness in the face of life’s twists and turns but a willingness instead to follow them, see where they lead and relinquish the belief that we know better.
When old habits are highlighted by the heavens the impact of breaking them in favour of a more constructive response is often super-charged. This occasion is no exception. We are not challenged to break old habits when it’s least effective to do so but when there is real potential for significant change as a result of efforts made. The effort in all of this, of course, must come from us, and it may feel like something of a struggle at first. Old behaviours can be so very seductive. They draw us in before we even realise it. Something happens, we feel a certain response, it reminds us of when we’ve had that same response to other things which fixes the reaction in our physical, emotional and mental memory and before we realise it we’re living not only our response to this moment but our response to countless moments in our personal history.
Implementing change in the face of such an infinite regress of emotional reactivity is no mean feat! Far better, then, to catch ourselves at the first post, at the point of reaction, that moment when our feelings flare, our stomach tightens, our throat closes up or tears prick our eyes. The moment we feel the sting of hurt, anger, grief, incredulity, even, at the unfairness of life, the insensitivity of others, the impossible nature of our hopes and dreams. If we can stay awake at that moment rather than lapsing into the half-sleep of old energy patterns we’d do well to avoid, then we can do something different. We can refuse to allow a negative mindset to tell us our future will be the same as our past; that this moment has no potential for anything other than what we have already encountered; that because we were wounded then we cannot regain our own sovereignty now and shape our future into something altogether different from our past.
This is a deceptively powerful Full Moon. We could easily overlook its influence, do things the same old way and not give it a second thought. If we do we’ll discover that we were right all along: life is just more of the same stress, anxiety, fear, anger, hurt. But if we stay present and awake, use this Moon to do things differently knowing that difference opens doors to new possibilities, we’ll be right too: life can change, so can we, and new responses give birth to new potential. So the good news is either way we get to be right! The question is…. what do we want to be right about?
The choice is most definitely ours!
Sarah Varcas
