Summer Solstice Forecast
"Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them...Life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves."
~ Gabriel Garcia Marquez
It ain’t over yet. Life, that is. That never-ending cycle of ups and downs, the spiraling journey through time. Yes, we are mortal: our human lifetimes are finite. But the saga of life continues in all forms and phases – some human, some not – forever. And in our own lives, we are subject to these waves of change as well. Each time we embark on a new path, part of us is dying and part of us is being reborn. This Summer, great changes will continue to confront and support us in making evolutionary leaps in our personal lives and in the unfolding of our collective experience.
The Summer Solstice chart packs a punch with a re-activation of the Grand Cardinal Cross of last summer. Remember last summer? Did you think you were falling apart? Was everyone else on the verge of breakdowns or breakthroughs as well? Well, get ready to feel the heat again, as we plunge into the fires of regeneration.
Jupiter moved into Taurus on June 4th and will remain there until June 2012. This signature asks us to look at the sustainability of our projects, ideas, lifestyles and relationships. All the Aries energy of the spring might have created a bumper crop of seedlings in the form of new projects and activities. Now it’s time to reflect on which ones deserve to bloom, and which ones need to be thinned out.
Making choices to let go of some things will be hard, but as any good gardener knows, we have to compost some plants in order to let others flourish. Releasing the old helps us focus on what really matters. What matters to you? What values are you ready to commit to? How can you give more of your time to the people, places and projects that truly deserve it? Your unique gifts are best expressed when they are focused, rather than dispersed.
Imagination and vision are key words for this summer. Take advantage of this time not only by putting your values behind actions, but also by replenishing the sources of your creativity. Everyone needs time to reflect on and absorb what life has offered them. Rekindle a spiritual practice, take walks, visit water – whatever makes you feel beautiful, present and strong. Remember that you are a piece of the divine, and it is your birthright to belong in the web of life.
The themes playing out this Summer center on discovering what it means to be a True Warrior. I am reminded of what Uncle Ben tells Peter Parker in the movie Spiderman: “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Well, we’ve pretty clearly ignored this advice and trashed most of what we’ve been given to take care of. Abuse of power is an understatement in my opinion. Time to get back on track. Evo Morales and the Bolivian legislature just passed the “Law of Mother Earth” which grants our precious planet rights equal to humans in all things. This is the kind of visionary shift of consciousness we are in dire need of today.
We can no longer hide behind the false idea that there is “me” and “not me.” Unique life experiences aside, too often we defend our own points of view and disown anyone else’s as alien, disgusting, weird, or immoral. But if we peel back this veneer of supposed rigid boundaries, how often do we find a part of ourselves that seems alien, disgusting, weird or immoral?
Being a True Warrior means knowing your own heart and the shadow and light that move therein. Being a True Warrior means respecting the dignity of your experience and wisdom and meeting others with that same respect. Being a True Warrior demands a heightened awareness of the present moment, so that we are not caged in by our own ideas of self and other.
To claim this power, you have to let go of ideas like failure-success, win-lose and right-wrong – not a process for the faint of heart. This Grand Cardinal Cross – linking the planets Pluto, Uranus, Saturn, the Sun and Mercury – demands a lot from us. But you can do it. Everything that has happened in your life and the long history of striving and dreaming of ancestors has prepared us for just this moment in time. What a grand opportunity to utterly alter the fabric of reality. That mystical poet Rumi said it so well: "Outside notions of right and wrong, there is a field. I’ll meet you there."
No more disappointment that things haven’t gone differently. No more tearing open old wounds that say not good enough. No more denying the darkness inside and yet leaving piles of it all over the house. Your hearts and your unlimited imaginations contain the key to this magical shift. In one of Rilke’s poems, God speaks directly to us before we come to Life:
Let all things happen to you: beauty, terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.
In this poem, Rilke imagines that the Divine (God) lives within us in all our states and phases. No one thing is better than any other, but respect for the process of life unfolding is paramount. When you meet someone with a difficult point of view or suddenly discover some uncomfortable opinions or feelings inside of you, let the process unfold without your own judgment and without expectations of certain outcomes.
Let’s meet this challenge together. We can claim our responsibility for all things and move forward with the small steps we have chosen to take. What will happen next? Hard to say, but it will certainly be powerful. Let’s make it beautiful as well.♥
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