Navigating Deep Waters

 

How to navigate these deep waters we suddenly find ourselves in? The extreme changes that have come to pass over the last week or so has sent most of us reeling. Personally, keeping a steady course is vital for moving forward through life in a positive way, so making sure we’re not feeling like a ship without a rudder becomes ever more important.

For all those who are struggling with overwhelm at the moment I urge you to reach out into your community, hoping that you have one, for support. If that’s by phone or online or from a reasonable distance that’s for you to decide.

This time of year, seasonally and astrologically, is all about the big story and immersing ourselves in its fluid nature. As we’re preparing for spring we are in a space of inaction, the calm before the storm. In this way it is best to just be and find some inner stillness. I am suddenly remembering the story of Beckham as he prepares for a goal, visualising and preparing in his quiet mind first. How we prepare and the energy we put into this is key if we are to start the next stage with positivity, strength and a clear sense of purpose. We have to feel into the best and most unified version of ourselves, 

Seeing the world in its multi-dimensional form, I view it as a set of Russian Dolls. This works on all levels, the physical, energetic and even time. So, this part of the year is the metaphor for last stage on the twelve step monthly journey. We can also connect to the Crown Chakra, the last of the chakras, which, like the biggest Russian Doll, contains all the others within it, like layers of an onion around our body. Being, astrologically, a water sign this month becomes like an ocean we can immerse ourselves in, or the baby in the womb preparing for birth. We are here, metaphorically, both the baby and the mother, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega where one naturally turns into the other as winter turns into spring. 

Birth is never an easy experience. Each year we turn this point at the Equinox, but never before has this weekend felt such an important transition. Surrendering into the vastness of this energy as we step into this unknown can bring up feelings of fear and sacrifice but also great feelings of service and working with our highest sense of self.

This energy is the energy of love, the highest form of existence which contains all the other emotions within it including its opposite, which is, of course, fear and hate. Love is a paradoxical state as it holds the completeness of universal energy within it, without exception, in the same way that death is a part of life.

I will be talking much more about this in my new talk, from Paradise to Paradox: A Journey into the Labyrinth but for now I want to simply offer the possibility of looking at life for all that it holds, however harsh that reality seems.

We are moving into unprecedented times now and into the future. We are not used to or prepared for what might lie ahead. We are taught stories from our past of war and great social struggles and some might remember or have parents who lived through such times, but they are becoming increasingly few. The majority of us have, in this country and in the West generally, lived relatively blessed lives. We have not known the fear of bombs dropping on our cities or rationing or an absence of any kind of welfare.

Now as the cracks are starting to appear, poverty is on the increase and this new state of emergency which could wreck lives for many, we need to prepare ourselves. We may not receive the protection we have always depended on from the state. We may now have to turn to ourselves for resilience, our neighbours for trust and look deep within for a faith, in whatever that looks like for you, that we can come through this. And I truly believe we can if we stop trying answer all the questions now, leaping into action before we’ve completely explored the options and find some stillness first. 

This shutdown might just give us the chance we need to slow to a stop and review. Then we can move forward wisely. Isolation, for humans, is never usually a good thing, but for those who are well placed for this, we would do well to look within for extraordinary answers for extraordinary times. For those who are not being cared for through these times we need reach out and offer help where it is possible and be ready to receive help where we are in need. 

We are all connected at a very deep level. When we take time to explore this we will remember this fully.

Answers from Within

As winter has us in its grip, and although it’s certainly not been cold, its been dark and stormy, it’s sometimes difficult to stay upbeat and positive. I often feel I have a limitless supply of optimism and for that I am thankful. It comes from an inner source that has taken a lifetime to tap into and grows deeper the further I travel. I’m not sure how I’d manage without it.

At this time of year it is most needed, and when the sun seems like a cold disc, sitting overhead, disinterested and uncaring for days at a time it can be a struggle to keep the mind and body in good health.

The archetype we are looking at now is Aquarius, the water carrier, but an air sign. I call it the think tank, when we are most in our heads, and can have a tendency to be aloof. 

Last month, in Capricorn, if we followed the path well, we might have reached the top of a mountain and potentially, saved our soul. We are now coming down the mountain, like Moses from the Mount with the tablets of stone. We have solved our own problems and now with the answers inscribed in our soul we can see the populace below and see how, if we can solve our own problems then we can solve the problems, that reflect our own, within the community. This problem-solving nature of Aquarius is all about the shining individual working within the community. The individual is represented by its opposition, Leo, that when it is in its positive energy, is filled with inner strength and contentment. When these two archetypes work together, creating a society that meets the needs of both the individual and the community as a whole, it is easy to see that if a solution only meets the needs of one or the other then it is not a solution.

This is the founding principle of my project I have called PIPPA - People in Positive Politics Association. We have a created a two-party political system based on a dualistic approach, a society that is steeped in conflict and an ‘us and them’ view of our world. Our parliament is divided into two sides sitting opposing each other at a distance, two swords lengths apart, that debate, which comes from the word ‘to do battle’. It is from this basis that we solve problems within our community and sadly, I don’t believe we will see the changes we want in our society until we see changes in our governance.

Becoming the shining Leo energy, the powerful individual who takes responsibility for their own lives and their part within the community, is, I believe the way to grow grass roots independent political change. 

Aquarius is ruled by Uranus, the revolutionary planet, that sent shock waves of change into our world when it was discovered. It was the time of revolutions, French and American, and it was at this time that we discovered electricity. This  science based mindset discovered the telescope that enabled us to see the outer lying planets. We then continued our search into finding the answers by dividing, separating and compartmentalising our world. 

The beautiful paradox seems to be that when we got as small as we thought we could go, with scientists believing they now had a hold on the complete nuts and bolts of universal mechanisms, we slipped through the net of the microscopic out the other side into the vastness of the quantum world. Our search into collating the tiny and infinitely small opened the door onto the truth of our universe; its total connection and indivisibility. 

This knowledge proved also that we cannot be aloof observers, as the shadow side of Aquarius would like to be, and that we can only live as participants with every one of our actions having an affect on our world. I feel it’s time to awaken to this clear truth and behave accordingly.

There is much to do. Many ways of being that do damage to ourselves and our world, as the two cannot be separated, are so ingrained in our lifestyle we still have no idea that change is needed. We need to keep digging and clearing out what no longer serves us. I sense that once we have solved enough of the problems we have created by living on this land in such an uncaring manner, we will reach a tipping point. Then the problems will naturally cease to exist as our hearts will find these ways of living untenable.

This might seem a massive task, and yes it is, but if we start with our hearts in the right place, one difficult first step will lead to another and the work will start feeling like less of a burden and more of a joy. Let’s get to work together.

photo Mark Brookes 

Climbing the Highest Mountain

Happy New Year! And what a year this could be. I believe the choice is ours. 

As we hit the darkest part of winter when the days seem so short and dark, we will need to dig deep to keep faith and optimism alive, which may be buried well below the surface.

This is a tough month in so many ways but it is about celebrating the return of the light and it can always be found in the core of our being and in our hearts where the light is never extinguished.

The archetype we can look to at this time of year is Capricorn, ruled by Saturn, our teacher, guide and limiter. He teaches us the hard lesson, that though the mountain we have to climb may be high and tortuous, it will always be worth it. Though we may be brought to our knees, if we remember to take each lesson one at a time and find joy in the learning then, when we reach the top of the mountain, we will literally save our soul. 

This is the saviour’s birth for many northern hemisphere faiths. The sun stands still at the Solstice for three days and on the next, the 25th of December, the sun appears to turn around and begins its journey northwards; the return of the light.

At this part of our journey we reach our mid heaven, which turns our eyes, literally,  to the heavens, to reach for our highest goals, our life purpose. This is something we can look at on a personal level or at a cultural one.

Personally, this is a question I am constantly asking, ‘what am I here for, what is my divine purpose?’ In 2010 I arrived at Glastonbury Festival for the first time in 10 years having been invited to work in the Peace Dome, a 24 hour meditation space, with my harp. This felt like a huge gift. I had brought with me Neale Donald Walsh’s Conversations with God. My worry was that I was trying out so many new things, I felt I was losing site of my path. Within the first few pages my question was answered. It said that God doesn’t mind what you do as long as you do it with love. 

This was wonderful, I knew that was something I was constantly striving for and that I felt I was hopefully still on track.

9 years later, still expanding my ideas and trying out new things, I attended a course where it was explained to us that we are all here for a specific reason. It was iterated very clearly that it doesn’t matter if you come here and do a hundred things, even if all of them are good, if none of them are what you came here to do then, it is as if you have done nothing. 

I felt bereft, like my understanding of this matter had been turned upside down. I had to simply sit with this dilemma for a while till a resolution came.

As 2019 came to a close my search came to an end. First, I was reminded of the Einstein quote No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. Then an explanation was offered to me (by Daniel Schmachtenberger, a progressive scholar of our time)  by way of an analogy, of two shapes/ideas; a rectangle and a circle, seemingly, completely opposing structures. One has sides and corners, the other just curved lines. You might assume there could be nowhere to find a compromise or even similarities. However if we rise above the level of consciousness, out of the two dimensions, into a three dimensional view, we find a cylinder is a perfect solution. A cylinder, if you look from above, has four sides like a rectangle, and from the side view, you see a circle. It holds both states together without  compromise.  

Our cultures contains many such opposing beliefs. We are a people uprooted from the universal flow of life and many of us find ourselves feeling lost and disconnected, like a flower pulled out of the ground expected to stay alive in a vase of water on a dining room table. We can see this metaphor, as a society, as we deforest great areas of our world almost as if we are creating the world in our own image. We expect struggling communities across the world to stop growing food for themselves so they can use all their water to grow flowers for our tables at home. Does this really help us to feel good about our lives?

No wonder very few people feel in place where they can have an inner sense (innocence? One of the many words in our language lessened by our disconnection) of their own purpose. Most people hate their jobs or think their jobs are worthless these days. How can we turn this around and find a way to ensure people have a real sense of self worth, ensuring people find joy in the gifts they bring to their own life and what they bring to society.

For me, I had to bring these two dichotomies, of working out what my purpose was, together. Was it one specific thing, or simply a way of being? I didn’t know what my divine purpose was so I decided just to follow the one I was comfortable with, making sure everything I did came from a place of love, then hope the other might follow. Soon enough I found I was not only working from a place of love but knowing exactly what I was meant to be doing with it. 

I have to admit that now I know what my purpose is, doesn’t mean I know how to fulfil it. But what also came was an understanding that not knowing can be a gift too. The idea is to slow the busy mind from trying to control and know the answers to everything. In the not knowing, there is space for ideas and ways forward, beyond the limits of our own knowledge, to slip into our minds. This was one of the greatest gifts I have received; being able to say ‘I don’t know.’

If we can gradually find our way as individuals, we may find it is catching and soon we will see it more in our culture as a whole.
Bring on the beautiful evolution that that is within our grasp and is our divine purpose.

A Year To Remember

As the year draws to an end I sense we are all reeling with the speed that brought us here, and what a year. For me it was a year filled with hope, the feeling of a real sea change with XR coming from nowhere and becoming such a huge voice in the world. 

I have been overwhelmed by the feeling of positivity and change that has been sweeping throughout communities everywhere. The cry to stop destroying our planet and ourselves is beginning to be heard and although it’s just the beginning, I am optimistic.

However, this voice has been temporarily lost here in the UK, stifled by an unfavourable election result, and what the aftermath will mean to so many. It’s time to regroup and make plans that can enable us to move forward positively.

I would like to think that this is where my PIPPA project comes into its own. With the sense that our parliamentary system is so broken and dysfunctional, I feel this is an open invitation for all those with the will and the capacity to step up and take responsibility for our future, to do so now. 

This can only be done if we choose to work together, question and change aspects of the status quo that no longer serve us, starting with corruption and the manipulation of power and the Media.

So, how to begin again with this huge setback; the reinstatement of a government even more entrenched in wanting to uphold these untenable values. 

Where can we start? I always look to what Mother Nature is showing us for answers. When I look out my window I see that everything has gone still on the surface. I know that as she steps into winter and begins drawing the curtain across these ever shortening days, she is starting her journey of breathing in after months of breathing out. Now we are seeing everything dying back and going into hibernation, as prepares and nurtures her energy for spring.

Never before has this seemed so important as we are experiencing this crushing defeat of hope, with the growing wave of politics that has become even more inward looking, manipulated by the shadow side of the Internet. This amazing connecting web we have at our finger tips, has the capacity to bind us together with love or fear; the choice is ours.

So, it is my belief that rather than lashing out in anger in response to our fears of what lies in the future of our country, it is vital that we use this time well. Sagittarius, the archer who sends a fiery bow into the stratosphere in search of the truth, is also the wounded healer, reminding us to be aware of our mortality. It is a significant time, as we journey on our quest to find new answers and also our voice, if we wish to speak of our findings. 

First we must remember that this is possibly the most important time in human history, that we are all just tiny cogs in a huge wheel and that maybe the part we play might not be felt in our lifetimes. Knowing that we are sowing an important seed is like the people who plant trees that won’t bear fruit until their grandchildren are grown. We have to be in this for the long game; the spring we are hoping for maybe many years away, but that doesn’t mean we must give up hope.

On the other hand I am a total optimist and I’m sure we are all aware how quickly time is speeding up for us and who knows what can happen in ten short years. 

As the wounded healer, we are being asked to find our truth. This can be done on an outward, physical journey, a personal pilgrimage, or an inward journey. They are actually the same, one mirroring the other, as we go in, the micro shows us the whole world as it opens up again into the quantum realm. Here we find the whole truth. A door that was opened by Einstein a hundred years ago, but one that we still fear to step through as a culture. This realm informs us that we are all connected and that everything we do has an effect on everything else and is felt by all simultaneously.

Let’s find our voice, speak out against the limitations of fear and hatred, and show love in every communication we encounter. If we meet negative views with negative reactions we just strengthen that emotion and that energy continues to hold power. If we meet the negative energy with compassion the anger dissipates and we can resolve differences and make huge changes. 

I believe we need to come away from technology and meet face to face, where no algorithms can influence us or corrupt our thoughts.

The inner voice is the only voice that stays true, the one connected directly to the heart. It takes dedication to be able to hear it, especially in this noisy world we have created, but it is worth putting in the hours. Finding stillness and listening to Mother Nature is still our best hope.   

Journey to the golden city: The Shadow That Lurks Within

Journey to the golden city: The Shadow That Lurks Within: Never before has the need for us to face our shadow been so great. Never before has our shadow been so present, as if it’s lookin...

The Shadow That Lurks Within

Never before has the need for us to face our shadow been so great. Never before has our shadow been so present, as if it’s looking at us full in the face challenging us to return the gaze. Whether we choose to engage with it or look away, the choice is ours.

I feel like we are poised on the precipice of saving ourselves or plummeting over the edge. But, I am an optimist and I know that we have everything in our capacity to work the magic needed, make the necessary changes and create a new way to shape our future. However, this is not going to come easy, we will have to make difficult choices and perhaps be forced to make huge sacrifices. This comes with the birth of every new age and we have been here before and each time we, or at least some of us, have survived.

I have been watching how, over the last few years, everything has become split apart. It is explicit and implicit, in all aspects of life. The place this most evident is in our Parliamentary system. As the two main parties are breaking into two, the hostility is both in-house and cross party. However, this rancour is appearing everywhere. 

Although it feels very frightening I am holding my faith in the process, whether it is Newton’s Law of motion: to every action there is always opposed an equal reaction, or the concept of yin and yang and how everything is in perfect balance to create harmony. I know that when we see the darkness growing in our society, then the light must also be present in equal measure. The idea being that when everything is in equal balance, we can then choose to make the necessary breakthrough to rise like the phoenix.

As we are stepping into winter, in astrology, we have come through the learning experience of spring and summer, representing childhood. Virgo prepares us for adulthood, as summer comes to an end, and Libra teaches us, as we step into autumn, that as we learn to live we are also learning to die. To do this properly Pluto, God of the Underworld takes Persephone down into his domain and initiates her, ready for womanhood. This is a vital journey, however, scary it may seem. Pluto, ruler of this archetype, offers the initiation process necessary to become true adults, and discover our inner power, however fearful the journey is.

Unfortunately over the millennia, our culture, has become smaller and smaller in its outlook, so that now we ignore anything beyond the physical world. Our fear of what lies there has led us to lose all the necessary wisdom from our ancient mythology, and in doing so remove important aspects of our development. This has prevented us from growing up in any sense other than our physical growth, the only aspect of life we endorse nowadays. 

So we enter into adulthood as emotional and spiritual children, trying to ignore anything we are too frightened to look at and constantly attempting to prove the non-existence of anything we believe belongs to the ‘Dark Ages’.

The centuries of witch burnings has stopped us from valuing our holistic wisdom and kept us judging each other if we choose to venture into that world. Scientific know-how has enabled this view to hold its place till now. This dark history has been left largely ignored and remains festering in our psyches as we are too scared to own it. 

Now, a hundred years after Einstein opened the door to the quantum world, we are still trying to disown what we have found there, desperately trying to close the door on it. But our efforts have weakened us and we are tiring. The truth will out and if you are still refusing to acknowledge it you will soon become out fo date, like flat Earthers. 

The inter-connectedness of everything will soon be scientific law understood by all. We have, over the centuries, been teaching how we can find the truth by breaking things down to their individual states. Slowly that illusion is being shown for what it is. A truth is being unveiled, that the more we look into the world of the tiny, the more it opens up to the whole and nothing is indivisible. Those that choose to look inwards and see only the separation of all things will soon be standing alone will hopefully want to come in from the cold. 

The discovery that everything is held together by love is quickly now gaining ground. Stepping into love whole-heartedly is sadly much harder than we realise. Generations of learned, conditional love means we judge first and forgive later. Loving each other, however bad we seem to behave is not something we have been taught how to do. Sadly, we only have a few role models, Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King to name a few obvious ones. But the more we see people reacting out of fear and hate, the easier it is choose another way. Accepting without judging those who are not ready to change is vital and if we can’t accept, and still judge others,  then we are still coming from a place of fear. 

We are living in one the most important ages of humanity’s time here on Earth, learning to understand itself and so choosing to evolve. We can only truly grow if we examine every aspect of ourselves, not just the parts we like.

This winter, as the decade draws to a close, I invite you to spend more time looking at your world, how it looks within and so how it looks without. It is important to hold up our hands and admit our mistakes as well as our successes; awareness is the key for change. As the saying reminds us, we are the ones we have been waiting for. Its up to us to rise. 

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.