Becoming Our Own Generals

I am constantly amazed at how the model I have been using for life over the last ten years continues to serve me so beautifully. It is based on an image of the universe as a set of Russian dolls; worlds within worlds; cycles within cycles, all mirroring each other. I have been working with the journey of the seasonal year mirroring our lifetime journey and then adding any others that come along the way. So the lunar cycle fits beautifully as does the journey through the chakras. 

I know many people struggle with astrology but I feel it is the best tool, the best paradigm, through which to view the universe. The holographic view of our world, of every part containing the whole, means we can use anything as a mirror to reflect on ourselves and the millennia of archetypal study that has been woven into this field offers such a rich tapestry to work with, it never seems to fail. 

As I have just returned from London, being a part of the Extinction Rebellion and experiencing its wonderful gathering energy I can’t help but be excited by it. 

In my previous blog I talked of the Virgo archetype being the preparation for adulthood, the end of childhood and the potential we have built up through the summer months. Mother Nature has completed her outward physical journey as we have experienced growth and our understanding of the physical world. 

Now as the leaves are turning, showing us this beautiful colourful display, we are ready to step into adulthood not just learning to live but learning to die; but it is beautiful. As we develop the understanding of growing up emotionally, in our hearts, this means we have to face our mortality and come to terms with building a life that is not just about ourselves but about our community and how it will continue when we are no longer here.

On our long cultural journey away from our spiritual awareness and towards a solely physical interaction with life, we have lost all this wisdom. Mother Nature offers us this visual and emotional reflection of ourselves, all the metaphors built into our exquisite environment, in the hope that we will see and absorb it into our way of being. I feel we have, as a society, come so far from this truth we are at last crying out for a return. Now I finally believe change is on its way and the peaceful rebellion rapidly growing throughout the world comes at the end of a long line of practice runs of former failed rebellions.

The Libra archetype teaches us that when we step into our hearts and open them completely, miracles are truly possible. We can build a beautiful world that is just and fair. 

If, however, we try to step into our hearts but our hearts are closed then the leadership is taken over by our heads. We become cruel to ourselves with internal battles and play that out on our world around us. We build societies that are unjust with hierarchies which make us all poor. The Libran playing out its shadow side becomes the general that sends its foot soldiers - the Aries warrior, its opposite sign - into battle for them. This is exactly what we have now, leaders that are willing to send their people to their deaths for their treasures of war. 

I was amazed when I heard the Veterans for Peace speak. It occurred to me that our soldiers are trained to suffer the very extreme of our cultural mindset. They are taught that everyone else is worthless, even the next battalion, that they are the best, the top dog. However, to keep them in control, to shut them off from any feelings of empathy towards others, they have to be stopped from thinking, like factory workers, they are given only their slice of the story. This piece work mentality has shown us how we are suppressed in life in so many areas. This blinkered view is so important to the generals that want to keep us in line, but is detrimental to our mental wellbeing. Eventually any person with any heart will rebel and these veterans who have dared to stand up and question their world are the real heroes, I believe. 

Before we step into our hearts, the chakra journey takes us through the Solar Plexus, our energy centre where our personal power can be found. This mirrors our adolescence on our lifetime journey, where we have grown physically but not yet emotionally developed. It is the teenage years and the astrological Leo when in its power is shining. However, in its shadow it is self-obsessed and self-centred. It is a time of great conflict on our journey through life, trying on our personal power in the world but not having the emotional awareness to put it into play with a true understanding of ourselves or the world.

I believe this is where we, as a society, have become stuck. I believe our culture upholds the shadow side of the teenage mindset; a complete loss of humour, black and white thinking, extreme anxiety, and self obsession to name a few. 

The spiritual wisdom, from which we have become disconnected, is still available to all, should we put down our phones long enough to tune in. But while we remain lost and cast adrift form Mother Mature’s guiding hand, we have become spiritual children. 

However, if we choose to listen to the movement that is growing faster than I could have imagined in the last year, then we can step up and become generals ourselves, leaders in a peace movement like never before, where we all walk together, no one in front or behind. 

The purpose of the astrological wheel is to find balance and bring all the archetypes into play. We tend, in our ego centric lives, to just concentrate on our sun sign and maybe one or two others. The real purpose is to engage with all twelve of our personality types and balance all the archetypes, especially the oppositions. So here we learn to become the generals and the foot soldiers walking together towards love. To me, this is the true meaning of anarchy; (see note) people taking full responsibility for their lives in a community that reflects this back, a community based on love and not fear. This is the Leo archetype shining, all of us together, in balance within its opposition Aquarius (the age we are moving into) the sign that deals with the community.

For five-hundred years we have been in an age led by science and this has brought us many gifts. However, a hundred years ago and amazing scientists opened the door onto the next age, the quantum age. To move into this new world we have to engage with information which is so mind-blowing a hundred years later we are still terrified of stepping through. The issue is that we can only step through if we open our hearts, our heads can never lead the way. The past hundred years has been a gathering of pace and learning for this moment, are we now ready to engage with a new paradigm that can, if we choose, blast our old world apart? I can’t wait…..

Note. Original definition: without a ruler.  But as we have lost sight of how to to be self-governing, it has come to mean: lawless, confusion and disorder.

Preparing for Graduation

This month we are looking at our potential, personally and as a community. Our new scientific understanding informs us that these two states are inseparable, as indeed nothing is. So, when we observe something in our world that we feel is not working then we must remember to look within ourselves too, at what is lurking there unresolved. 

When I look at the state of our political parliamentary system I am caught between two emotions. First I feel shame. I feel like our country has become a laughing stock, a shining example of how not to hang your dirty washing out in public. Not that I’ve ever worried what others think but it’s just I feel we deserve so much better as a community, and we are so much better.

Second, I feel it gives me hope - two polarised emotions, mirroring what’s going on in our world perfectly. It is showing me what I have always believed, that our political system is not fit for practice. I have always believed it which is why I always kept it at arm’s length. For generations we have silently acquiesced, and so been complicit in letting it continue without question. Now as the cracks become ever more evident, the chance for something new to grow up through the old paradigm and blossom is ripe.

This is the terrain we find ourselves in, and I am constantly asking myself where can I be of best use. The answer is, I don’t know, but that doesn’t stop me from keeping on and pointing my compass in the direction I believe I am meant to be headed. My life is quite unique as I don’t have to keep my head down in a career,  but I also know there are many others like me, willing to turn their energies and engage in a new way. 

Knowing I am not alone in my endeavours gives me comfort, but knowing this can only be done as community is vital. 

I feel it is very important, at this stage, to make it clear that it is my intention not to pass any judgement, good or bad, on those who are or who are not appearing to prepare for change. It is important to remember that we are a collective, moving towards this new world as one and everyone is playing their part, seen or unseen.  In every walk of life there are people who may seem to be working towards a better world and those who don’t, but I believe its important not to look at everything at face value.

I am just doing what I am doing because I understand I have been brought to this point. I feel in a place of great privilege and so it makes perfect sense for me to put my energy here. My life has been a blessed one and I feel very lucky to be able start my new journey into a world of activism and politics. 

This, however, doesn’t mean any of it may have any value or any level of success but i am going to attempt it anyway. It certainly holds no more value than those who are working hard and maybe bringing up a family and grounding our much needed heart energy and love into the next stage of our development.

What I’m trying to say is, it is my continued intention to attempt to view the world with a different perspective; to remove judgement, see the potential in everything and stop myself from thinking anyone is better than anyone else.

Last month I attended a wonderful Campfire Convention weekend (a wonderful gathering of a couple fo hundred people, with speakers, music and lots of sharing) and heard some very interesting stories. They taught me how there as many people in corporations trying to respond positively to the crises we are facing in our world as there are people bringing about our demise. I also realised there are as many trying to make changes from the grass roots level with hate and judgement in their hearts as there are those choosing love as a way forward.

Once we truly understand that everyone is doing the very best they can with the tools they have, then we can learn to love and respect each other without condition and begin the process of graduation, which is what we have all come here to do.  

Our potential is huge, let’s celebrate that and nurture it.