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Hello, Saturn
Recently I became aware of the astrological phenomenon known as the Saturn Return, which I have just entered into the first event of in my own life in linear terms. I can’t say exactly how I became aware of this except that I felt it, and then somehow, as always happens the written information to back up what I had sensed already simply landed in my lap.
Saturn is said to be the slowest moving planet, taking a full 28-30 years to complete an orbit of the sun whereby it ends up back in the same place in the cosmos where it started, albeit at a higher level of expression. Because of this, it brings with it the qualities and the lessons of perseverance, persistence, patience, discipline, and mastery of time, among many others. It is the ruler of Capricorn and Aquarius, and goes by many other names – “The Great Teacher”, “The Lord of Karma” and “The Great Malefic” being just some.
Come to think of it, I had been told about this phenomenon by somebody several years ago, and had shelved it in the back of my consciousness until such a time as it was directly relevant. I hadn’t, however, shelved the message – that a time of testing would come, and that it was necessary to have things in order to at least to a relative degree beforehand, allowing the essence of this to permeate my subconscious and influence decisions along the way.
I had heard that Saturn’s return can be hellish for an individual if they haven’t exactly been following the path most in alignment with their true purpose, yet on the contrary; if the opposite is the case, it can be a time of tremendous opportunity to crystalise previously-made wise choices into a more tangible materialised reality for the foreseeable future. The latter is definitely the case for me. This period, while coloured by a rather uncomfortable pressure to do something, is providing the impetus to thoroughly establish in a grounded, practical, realistic way in the vision for my life that I have been building towards for many years, aided by the power of this fortuitous ally. Furthermore, my dear old friend Saturn is blessedly highlighting all of the niggling little areas that need to be refined in order to make this landing possible, while ruthlessly shearing away all that needs to die off in the process.
Astrologically, for me the Saturn placement in my chart is in the first house of Self and in the sign of Capricorn. It’s been crystal clear to me for some time what this means in terms of my unique experience (from what I had sensed both consciously and unconciously – though really these are very close together for me), and what this period of the next few years would be likely to present as challenges and opportunities, but it has been of great interest to discover that this is actually “written in the stars”. So long as astrology is not taken literally in terms of it being a binding linear contract, I am certainly discovering that the more lucid mythical translation, mystical even, is of tremendous benefit at the moment. I feel sincerely that these placements were chosen deliberately in order to maximise every conceivable potential to grow exponentially into full self-realsation, and that their highest octaves can be called upon for support.
I believe that Saturn is transiting in general for the collective at the moment, which will be affecting all in some way or another – and thus this is far more an archetypal situation than it is a personal one. Those of us who are attuned to the collective simply feel the personal much more deeply, as we are all too aware of the powerful impact that an individual life can potentially have on the whole of existence.
With the first house of Self and self-expression, and the sign of Capricorn in my personal astrology, the experience of transiting Saturn as it appears to me thus far is bringing me face to face with my deepest fears surrounding self-expression, how I hold myself back and why, and the clear understanding of how this struggle hampers advancement in my vocational career – meaning the path which I know in the marrow of my bones is mine to follow, without any shadow of a doubt, yet simultaneously is the most challenging and difficult route possible. This transit is making it crystal clear that there is no turning back now; no avoiding the inevitable. The only choice is the highest choice to face the seeming challenges of the moment as they arise with exceptional poise.
I have wondered briefly how long I may be able to delay action that I know is required before feeling the impact of this transit heavily, and the answer to that question has made itself known quite abruptly. Two nights this week, I’ve laid awake until 5am unable to sleep with streams of information clamouring to be written pouring through the fibres of my being. It is the “story” of where I’ve come from and how I’ve got to here, the telling of which I’ve known would eventually have to come, there ultimately was no avoiding it. It appears now however that there is no stopping the torrent in the immediate sense, these are the labour pains of my full birthing into embodied presence and they have started. This is it. It feels like a “now or never” scenario, and so with that said, this is my attempt to simply start somewhere and unclog the flow, ready to patiently wait and see what comes of it…
Regarding challenges surrounding self-expression, I have danced for many years around the sense that it was perhaps inauthentic to “tell the whole tale” (realising I am being very cryptic here), since many aspects of it are no longer relevant to me personally, yet I recognise that it is the whole picture that makes up the totality of what I have to offer to humanity in terms of my tangible contribution to human evolutionary understanding. Therefore, as suggested by the planetary placements chosen to deal with this lifelong “project” of full individuation, the only way to deliver the message effectively is to don a garment that is not only visible but understandable to others – to utilise the tool of a relatable “persona”, yet with my own stamp of total transparency, which I truly don’t think I am capable of deviating from in any case.
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Life Through the Eyes of the Cosmic Heart
Last night I lay on my Beloved’s chest listening to his heartbeat and marveling at how such a vast being could also have a physical heart. The seeming contradiction, the paradox of such a thing, was all-consuming of any mental capacity to possibly understand it. Any inclination to understand became swallowed up immediately by the overwhelming wonder of beholding the unfathomable miracle of his existence.
In the silence all things become seen, all mysteries may be known. Through the portal of the cosmic heart we find our way home.
The Dawn of New Day for Ireland – Ancestral Karma and the Suppression of Passion
After two more significant injuries since falling off my bike last week and a firm decision to nip this little run of mishaps in the bud before it gets out of hand, last night I spent several strenuous hours engaged in the inner process that I call “dredging”.
Dredging is digging through the subconscious with power tools, not just a fine toothed comb, to thoroughly shake up and hopefully unearth the underlying core of problems. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but it’s the most effective method I know. After an entire night including a sleep of effort I finally hit a jackpot with my findings this morning.
I have learned through experience that in grubby places of the psyche there is always some treasure, perhaps a single pearl to be mined amid a bed of tar. This alone makes the process of even searching in the first place worthwhile. Couple this with the understanding that as we set ourselves free we set others free by proxy and it is always worthwhile engaging in anything that potentially illuminates something.
I awoke this morning following a flurry of astral dreams, unusual for me as I generally travel far beyond the astral during sleep, to note that my body was buzzing. On inspection I realised that what was occurring was pockets of density stored in deep cellular tissue was dissolving. I had successfully accessed a pool of ancestral baggage and it was evaporating before my eyes.
I saw flashing through my mind’s eye the childhood of my maternal grandmother, followed by her adolescence and the events that unfolded there. I observed with interest the wall of religious shame surrounding her like a barricade since even before her birth. I saw the other women involved in her life, her mother, aunts and extended family and noted just the same thing in all of them. The over-riding emotion that governed their existence seemed to be an all-consuming shame. The shame of their female nature, their female bodies, shame of their sexuality, shame of their creative power. I observed the birth of my mother and the shame surrounding that, and saw that I had merely inherited something deeply unconscious. I realised that I have secretly resented being asked to wear the cloak of ancestral shame, but also that it was passed down through an automatically assumed tradition, not out of any deliberate malice. It was a survival mechanism, the passing of the core of something into the core of the next generation in the hope they would survive the expected process of life.
The tradition of shame is a plague that had cursed the women of Ireland for centuries, if not millenia, and in fact women most of the world over. An unwelcome gift brought to a land once infused by Goddess energy by an over-bearing patriarchal rulership who themselves felt ashamed of their own sexual urges – the cloak of shame was enforced on the perceived cause of all masculine-oriented problems; the unbounded freedom of the female spirit. Why should we be ashamed of our nature as sexual beings when sexuality is at the core of our ability to manifest life? This is an important question that all Irish women should be asking themselves, and in fact all women in general. Without our sexual nature intact, which is inherently creatively inspired, what are we but a land devoid of life, spirit, passion, poetry? I can hear the poetry of Ireland still flowing through her throbbing veins, but her voice has been all but drowned out by the roar of self-oppression.
Today I have chosen to rise up from beneath the unwanted mantle of shame and claim my place as Goddess incarnate on a land that is my home. I will not be driven out or pushed from my place, I will stand and dance and delight all with the beauty of my face. I refuse to be quashed or caged or to live in a state of defeated rage, I unveil myself as a representation of true feminine grace.
The religious programming that has dominated Eire is stored in the astral layer of existence, the dense etheric layer that is blocking our view of Infinity. It has become an almost solid wall of smoke obscuring the vision of her true countenance. This layer corresponds to our emotional body which explains entirely why Ireland has manifested a large problem with water (symbolising emotion). Emotion as our watery, flowing nature has become a dirty puddle of ages-old stagnation. This must be cleared and passion must once again take its rightful place on stage. It is the only way to resolve the plight of the Irish people. The creativity of pure-hearted sexuality must once again rule the day.