APRIL 2014 ECLIPSE ALERT: “Strange Days Indeed”
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“GOING WITH THE FLOW” by Joan Pancoe
“Death, impermanence, things that go wrong, laughter, colour, light sparkling in puddles, cars breaking down, relationships ending, falling in love—all are the play of existence, the movement and change that is reality. It is only experienced as unsatisfactory when we try to stop movement and change, or see movement and change as painful. Once we have a real understanding of the cause of our experience of samsara as unsatisfactory, we can engage with it in a light-hearted manner. We play with our life experience, rather than feeling like a victim of our circumstances.” Ngak’chang Rinpoche
For More: THE WISDOM OF DZOGCHEN
Dear Friend,
Starting today with the New Moon in Aries and all through April and beyond, we can expect some most peculiar and very strange days, indeed (to paraphrase John Lennon). Why? To begin with, we’re revving up for our bi-annual eclipse season which kicks off with a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse on April 15th within hours of Transformer Pluto’s stationing retrograde for the next five months. We might feel as if time is standing still—or even that we’re being blown out of linear time by explosive or shocking events—hopefully witnessed on CNN—and not right at our backdoor.
We may be in for an accelerating rollercoaster-type ride—so make sure your seatbelts are securely fastened, seats in an upright position and tray tables stowed away. For, while all Eclipse seasons ramp up the intensity of whatever is going on for at least six months to a year and make us feel as if as if every action we take has potentially major long-range consequences—because it does—this month’s eclipses may be extra-specially disconcerting because:
On April 21st, we’ll be experiencing newly retrograde structure-annihilating Pluto and trickster of awakening Uranus forming the fifth of seven challenging squares.
This means that April’s eclipse cycle is setting the tone through 2015 and beyond in “encouraging” us to awaken to our True Nature through shake, rattling and rollin’ all that we’re still clinging to with any illusions of safety, security and control—personally and en masse.
Oh, but there is so much more:
From April 20th-23rd, we’ll be experiencing a rare cardinal grand-cross with Mars RX in Libra opposing Uranus in Aries and Jupiter opposing Pluto. And the grand cross energies begin to be triggered today by the Sun and Moon in Aries, and continue to be triggered as Mercury moves into Aries on April 7th.
The good news is that benevolent Jupiter is full steam ahead and exalted in Cancer, giving us the sustaining hope that whatever we’re witnessing on the world stage is part of the necessary breaking down of structure to allow more Light in. So, no matter how potentially explosive events may seem—be they man-made or nature–made or most probably a mix of the two—our challenge will be in maintaining faith and equanimity by holding to these truths:
I. The nature of our Being is eternal.
II. Heart-centered bonds with loved ones transcend linear space and time.
III. Everything else is ultimately just “stuff” that comes and goes.
For more on these energies:
JUPITER EXALTED: The Trip to Bountiful
Embracing the Unexpected: Everything You Wanted to Know about Uranus (But Were Afraid to Ask)
Owning Our Inner Pluto before . . . It Eats Us for Lunch
The energies of Pluto rule the process of transformation and regeneration through cycles of death and rebirth—like the seasons in nature or the wheel of karma. And, when Pluto appears to be moving backwards (i.e. retrograde, RX), the pendulum of this powerfully intense energy swings deeply into our beings. This means that any parts of our ego structure or identity that no longer serve our evolution—be they limited beliefs about who we think we are and what we think is possible for us or habitual emotional patterns of reaction—will be coming up for review and release.
Pluto is transiting in structure-ruling Capricorn, governed by Saturn, the Karmic Teacher, and with this month’s grand-cross, we’ll become ever more aware that the inner “home” of the little self/ego identity may be feeling too constricted to handle what Life is throwing at us. And, if we don’t start dismantling whatever is keeping us from expansion, rest assured that our circumstances will give us the impetus we need. In fact, I’m sure this has already started happening for many of you—I know it certainly has for me.
Resistance is futile but, if we choose to look at external events pushing at us as a form of spiritual resistance training, this can be a period of internal strengthening and major Soul growth. And isn’t that one of the purposes of the Earth Game after all?
Here’s one of my absolute favorite quotes from Alan Watts that speaks to this:
“When a cat falls out of a tree, it lets go of itself, becomes completely relaxed, and lands lightly on the ground. If the cat made up its mind that it didn’t want to fall, it would become tense and rigid and would just be a bag of broken bones upon landing.
In the same way, it is the philosophy of the Tao that we are all falling out of a tree, at every moment of our lives. As a matter of fact, the moment we were born we were kicked off a precipice and we are falling—and there is nothing we can do to stop it.
So, instead of living in a state of constant tension and clinging to all sorts of things that are actually falling with us because the whole world is impermanent, be like a cat. Don’t resist it.”
Going forward, the best possible way to BE is through developing enough flexibility in the Flow so that we can bend without breaking—like a cat, indeed. And, if we can remember to smile while appreciating what is available to be enjoyed—what have we got to lose? The winds of change will continue to accelerate, and we can choose to enjoy the ride . . . or not. Isn’t free will the cat’s meow?
For more on this:
“If This Were Your Last Incarnation . . .”
When Pluto stations direct on the Autumnal Equinox, the pendulum of change swings outward into manifestation in a big way. By then, if we’ve jettisoned attachments for external security that are just more ego baggage, we’ll be light enough on our feet to be ready to deal with whatever comes our way.
Ideally, I like to view the ego as a translucent tool that the Soul uses to function in the earth plane—so translucent that the Higher Self’s light and energy shine through as our motivating force and our multidimensional Soul qualities and unique personality become the most authentic expression of our Being.
In closing, the most important lesson to get from this eclipse season is to realize that the byzantine structures of ego armor we’ve built up—in the illusion that they’re a protection from harm—have mostly just kept us from being fully present and alive. From the Soul’s timeless perspective, there’s really nothing to defend against. Holding this view allows us to experience true freedom and liberation from the bondage of the little self/ego.
Wishing us all a delectable demolition of all that is keeping us separate from our True Nature: Pure Being, Consciousness and Bliss.
Or, to paraphrase the Grateful Dead:
Sometimes the Light’s all shinin’ on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me—What a long, strange trip it’s been
. . . and gonna BE
J O A N
SHIVA
“We practice and work with whatever arises—without attempting to convert the disorderly nature of existence into something more regimented. Without this ‘wearying world’ we cannot find enlightenment. Without the responses we would be bereft of the fabulous friction which illuminates our Buddha nature.” Ngak’chang Rinpoche
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To help catalyze an opening to a higher perspective, I’ve written a number of articles on themes such as: body karma, spiritual teachers, addiction, astrological themes and much more:
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If you’d like to read more about my karmic pleasure rut:
The Amorous Adventures of a Modern Mystic
For more of Joan’s art:
GALLERY OF MULTI-DIMENSIONAL DELIGHTS
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