Things are moving so fast at the moment I am having trouble keeping up. I have always been one who is last to any movement. I believe I would have been one of those tutting at the first Impressionist exhibitions, something to do with my Taurus moon I believe, always struggling with change. Now change is upon us so fast that each month brings a new story and this time it is really starting to feel positive.
Last month I planned some discussions about conflict in my local community and they have been slowly gaining ground. At the same time I was invited to join an online conflict transformation summit which completely supported my work here. It felt like I was being lifted along and I am so grateful to all those who engaged with it across five continents over five weeks.
As I was choosing to step up into the idea of working with conflict, something I have always been scared of, Black Lives Matter took to the streets just like Extinction Rebellion did last year. Now, once again, it feels that we cannot turn our back on this. The door has been opened and we have to step through. But this time I am not hovering in the background, I am ready to come out of my shell and meet this issue head on.
I want to take a look at what is happening in the natural world at the moment, the world that spins no matter what we do and watches our actions without judgement or fear.
The astrological sign of Cancer is the first water sign, the first sign of the emotions. Ruled by the moon our mother, we are looking within to understand our true nature. At this time of the year we experience the Summer Solstice, when the sun ‘stands still’ for three days before it begins its journey southwards; the coming of the dark. Now the days are growing shorter and the nights longer.
It is called the sweet spot of the year when the flowers are at their most beautiful and the honey is being collected by the bees and the scents are perfuming the air.
However, the solstice is taking us deep into the southernmost point of ourselves. It teaches us how to connect to our emotions, to the aspects of life that connect us to all living beings and those who have gone before. We can learn about our ancestors, who we are and where we’ve come from. We can journey deep into our inner feminine wisdom, something we have denied in ourselves for centuries, maybe even millennia. However, in the depths of our being and the heart of our world vibrations are shaking us out of our sleep walking and we’re remembering things we’d forgotten we once knew.
The symbol of Cancer is the crab, its shell protecting it against the cruel realities of life that we have become so fearful of. This month we are being invited to truly nurture ourselves and find our feelings of compassion and empathy that will strengthen our inner resilience. This is the preparatory work we need to do so that we can step out of our shells and create a future where difficult conversations must be had and the walls we have built in our lives to protect us against our own feelings of fear and pain can start coming down.
Those in positions of power (and I’m not just talking about leaders here, I am talking about all those who follow their lead. Being a white, middle-class person of privilege, I include myself) have created huge systems to protective themselves from the ‘others’ in society. Creating these divisions between us and them removes all empathy, allowing them to inflict pain on others without remorse as if they have a had a heart bypass.
Those of us who are managing to reconnect to our hearts and bodies, are having to do the hard work of feeling again, and my goodness, how it hurts.
It’s not a pain that requires sympathy but it is time to understand that the vulnerability we all feel when we open our hearts leaves us open to rage, anger, guilt, shame and many other distressing emotions that need to be worked through and help is often required.
If we choose to stay in our shells then violent conflict will never go away. It is important to note that this is not about removing conflict from our lives, just the violent aspect of it and our inability to work through it. Recognising that conflict is a part of life and to stop building walls when we can’t find ways to resolve issues, would be a step in the right direction.
I believe, it is time to build some resilience, prepare ourselves for an emotional journey that is going to strip us back to a place of humility and integrity. Although this will leave us wide open to feeling vulnerable, at the same time it will enable us to become greatly empowered by our own sense of self. We will no longer feel the need to have power over others as we will have a true understanding of what power is and how power with offers us all so much more.
Obviously this is going to take time and energy and will need a great deal of practice, undoing thousands of years of learned behaviour. We will make mistakes and sometimes lose our way. But this is too important to take lightly and perseverance is key and so is compassion for everyone involved.
There is so much to gain from this; the chance for humanity to become what it was always meant to be; a unified connected being that understands love and compassion at its core.
