By Amanda Painter
Today’s Cancer Full Moon takes place in direct contact with several major planets around the zodiac. On one level, it’s a symbolic illustration of how life feels right now: issues pushing and pulling us from all directions, each insisting on immediate action.
Photo by Amanda Painter
The challenging thing about such a situation is often deciding what takes priority.
For example: If you’re tuned in to numerous calls for social justice, plus you work a full-time job with many responsibilities, plus you actively foster a creative passion, plus you care for a family, plus you try to keep up with social media, life quickly becomes a real juggling act.
You need to decide on an order of operations. Sometimes that means doing a little of everything daily; other times, that means allotting certain days to focus on some things rather than others. Occasionally you must drop your plan and respond to an unexpected demand; but we live in a world where, increasingly, everything seemingly demands our immediate attention all the time.
That’s a little what this morning’s Full Moon chart looks like to me. The Moon in Cancer opposes the Capricorn Sun at 6:33:55 am EST (11:33:55 UTC), with both luminaries at 22+ of their respective signs.
Meanwhile, Eris is at 22+ Aries (with Uranus and Ceres within two degrees on either side). And Jupiter is at 22+ Libra.
All four cardinal signs hosting objects at the same degree makes a formation called a grand cardinal cross (the cardinal signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn). It’s a brief grand cross, since the Moon moves through fairly quickly. But it’s still a strong and striking pattern, and something you’ve likely been feeling as the Moon has gradually made its way into formation over the course of yesterday.
Additional planets also in (or almost in) degree 22+ of their signs include Juno and Saturn at 22+ Sagittarius, and Chiron at 21+ Pisces.
These bodies make a combination of harmonious and challenging aspects to planets on the cardinal grand cross. Broadly speaking, this adds to the sense of ‘everything, all at once’ you might be feeling — yet it also might be offering you subtle ways to work it all out. Like when you come to a blocked-off road, and then suddenly notice a small ‘detour’ sign pointing out an unexpected route.
It’s worth looking around for the equivalent of one of those signs, since this cardinal grand cross is about taking initiative. You have to start somewhere, right?
The first few degrees of the cardinal signs — called the Aries Point — are particularly powerful in their ability to signify events where personal and collective (or political) interests intersect and are magnified. Today’s Full Moon is not an Aries Point event, because it takes place too far into the cardinal signs. Yet the personal/political bells still seem to be ringing, particularly here in the U.S.
We’re in an especially charged time of transition between Presidents. Transitions can be edgy situations anyway; add a Full Moon, and the edgy factor gets amplified considerably. Place that transition in a season of tremendous polarization, uncertainty and high emotions, and it can be hard to know where and how to channel all the energy.
To deal with it, it’s essential to stay in touch with your highest priorities and your deepest guiding principles. That can take practice. Once in a while, you’ll receive an especially profound reminder: something that re-centers you, or helps you feel some greater truth that allows things of lesser importance to move to the background — at least, temporarily.
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You might have experienced just such a reminder, revelation or other lesson this weekend as Mercury stationed direct in Sagittarius. Mercury has since been moving forward very, very slowly through the last two degrees of that sign.
Today, less than three hours after the Full Moon, Mercury re-enters Capricorn — landing in the first degree of Cap, also known as the Aries Point, at 9:03 am EST (14:03 UTC).
As Eric mentioned earlier this week, this is a suggestion to remember what you’ve just learned these last three weeks, particularly earlier this week. When you stay aware of what you’ve learned, including what you’ve realized you do not know, you’re in a better position to take action. And action is at the heart of what the current astrology is emphasizing.
If you’re not sure what to do, think for a moment about the reflective quality of a Full Moon: it shines the light of the unseen Sun back to us, illuminating the dark. With the Moon in caring Cancer today, opposing the Sun in Capricorn (with Pluto nearby), notice whether it’s shining light on the ways your personal base, foundation or framework for awareness has been shifting and evolving.
How does that understanding affect your sense of what you can or must do in service of something greater? Who do you see standing with you in that imperative toward action? If you encountered some deeply profound truth or seemingly cosmic inspiration recently, you may already feel it guiding you toward your next steps.
It was a gorgeous moon on a star filled night. Cold & clear. Might I mention that Cancer is also the sign of our Mass Consciousness and Capricorn the sign of Initiation? With Aries the sign of mental pioneering and new ideas and Libra the sign of relationships?
The very basis of politics is duality/polarity. We separate into groups and fight over the Constitution as if were a club. The ‘winning’ group gets to beat the other over he head with it until it is wrestled from them in return. It’s all about whose interests are going to be served at whose expense.
Right wing, left wing, have we ever considered that a bird with only one wing always flies in circles? Does it really matter which way it flies?
Maybe the shift is all about shifting out of duality/polarity relationship patterns into those of Unity? Win-win rather then win-lose?
If our goal is to unify, maybe we could cease drawing lines of separation (exclusion)? For the minute I draw a line separating the Whole I create parts and the minute I create parts I also create conflict between those parts.
Sue!! So well articulted. WoW. Thank you for sharring. Hope every human reads you 🙂
lm
I agree Sue, well stated. When I read your well-written piece Amanda, I thought of the strength in the cross, hubs in a wheel, providing more stability, was the visual image that came to mind.
Regarding your eloquent statement Sue, Eric highlighted a recently departed Political activist, Pete Seeger, who was also a very talented musician. The story goes that he was on TV with a lot of right and left wingers in a huge political debate to which Pete said nothing but began quietly strumming his banjo and then began singing, “this land is your land.” Needless to say, it unified the group.
Back in November, I think it was Amanda Painter or maybe Eric, or someone on staff, who wrote that we need to be beacons of hope for those who voted for Trump because soon, they will realize that they made a mistake and rather than rub their noses in it, we should be willing to work together. (paraphrasing). You can’t do that when you continue to divide.
As we continue to shine a mirror on ourselves via Mr Trump, we have the opportunity to not only see but also resolve differences and heal.
Linda May & Pisces Sun – Thank you both for your responses. I have lived many decades nursing my fear and issue of hiding and had become comfortable remaining in obscurity. But it was not healthy for me, so now I am taking my baby steps.
I, too, admire Eric and Amanda a great deal. I recognize the value of their insight and their courage in speaking up and out. When Eric mentioned his idea of collaboration it resounded within me, so here I am, though it will take me a while to understand the realities or the world he often speaks about. I don’t posses a cell phone and really don’t know what twitter is, much less have engaged in the many wondrous advantages of social media.
I live on 16 acres of wilderness in the Pacific Northwest and have a half dozen neighbors within a mile. The serenity and beauty of Nature has done a tremendous job of helping me, for I was born with this cardinal grand cross to deal with on my inner levels. Like some kind of crash test dummy of inner conflict. I was going to find a way to resolve it or die trying, literally. The stresses were killing me.
Maybe, as you mentioned, it would be wise to look at what Trump is mirroring to us? I see a man who was taught a false value system by his father and most likely his father before him. What I mean by false values is that appearances of wealth and Worth have been confused. And this is also where many of his supporters have been beguiled. Imagining with all the wealthy appearances and props, he must know what he’s doing, and do not stop to question how these illusions were obtained.
His is a relationship pattern of using other people and other people’s resources to satisfy his emotional needs. This is the same needy pattern that all of us have been taught to emulate, making our relationships into battlegrounds of competition where one’s needs is expected to be gained at another’s expense. It just never worked for me. So I took another route.
I delved into discovering why I felt needy in the first place and found it was all in the way I thought, felt and believed about myself. To Love is to Value and my love for myself was lacking. This tied in directly with ideas of self worth and self esteem. My achievements and accomplishments didn’t really matter so long as I harbored judgments about myself in my subconscious. Learning how to Love myself, be patient, understanding and forgive myself turned into a battle of a lifetime.
Finding myself with one foot in the grave the question came to me “How much did I love Life?” It was then I discovered I only Loved half of it – the good, the positive and the pleasant. I didn’t know how to Love what I qualified as bad, negative or unpleasant. My experience taught me that every moment of Life was a Present, a Gift, no matter how I spent it. It was then I began my journey of embracing as much as I could in Understanding and Gratitude.
I’d like to point out that “secure” is a psychological state of mind and that issues of “insecure” can only be resolved using psychological means. Be it a person or a country.
Always embraces all ways.
And it was then I discovered I only Loved half of it –
Last sentence is an oopsie but I found no ‘edit’ button. ~ sorry~.
Sue, Pisces Sun, Linda — I love seeing these ideas engendering each other on this thread! Keep it up — it’s good stuff. Thank you for having the conversation here.
And yes, the grand cross is an aspect of “stability.” The question becomes, what do we do when the Moon has moved on, and Cancer becomes an empty leg? How do we fill it? How do we become the stabilizing factor ourselves?
Amanda, I offer an answer to your rhetorical question below.
Sue, thank you for sharing your experiences. I have a deep connection to the Pacific Northwest and you easily placed me there when I read your piece. One of PW’s readers, I think it may have been aWord, or perhaps it was Lizzy posted this piece weeks ago by Charles Eisenstein immediately following the election:
http://charleseisenstein.net/hategriefandanewstory/
I thoroughly enjoyed reading that piece and it prompted me to get to know other of Mr. Eistenstein’s works, too.
Mr. Eisenstein describes this transitional time (which the planets see to confirm) as “a space between stories.” Its time to allow a new story to emerge. And think about it, everything we are hearing and seeing is coming into question in every form and fashion. It’s really fantastic! He underscores the need to consider that we are “one earth, one tribe, one people.” Senator Lewis, in his testimony against Senator Jeff Sessions nomination to be US Attorney General, said it this way: Our forefathers may have come from different boats, but we are all now in the same boat Sen. Lewis was quoting another contemporary civil rights leader). As we look at the horoscopes, and follow the energies through their paths, we must realize that all “transits” and “paths” are alignments in motion, some are more pronounced than others at times, but because of the mere fact there are “transits” nothing is permanent. This is how beliefs and reality is. It’s a story, really.
I am in agreement with Eisenstein, it is time for a new story.
Perhaps its time for each of us to consider what is stabilizing is actually something that is destabilizing? That is, what is the story we tell ourselves about ourselves and each other and what new story necessarily must emerge for us to be at peace within ourselves and one another?
Eisenstein suggests it is a story of unity.
As a Canadian, I am primarily an observer of the political/social/economic polarization that is creating such pain & divisiveness in America. There are ripples of such things in this country, also, but less so (as yet).
The discussion in this comments section has been an enlightening & inspiring read for me, & I thank you all. I believe Charles Eisenstein is right. We DO need a new story. I personally need a new story, too, & I’m working on it.
Amanda – Thank You for the place and opportunity to discuss such matters. My inner voice guided me to wait in responding to your question. Because I saw it as a very astute and revealing question. The answer is to Unify. *smiling* Just because the energy of Cancer isn’t being spotlighted, doesn’t mean the energy isn’t there. Much like a house that doesn’t have any aspects or placements in it.
Pisces sun – I like Eisenstein, too! He hits a lot of nails on the head, just like Eric. You, too.
The solution to Cancer is understanding that nurturing is very much a Value in Life. What we are expressing collectively, as far as I can see, is that Nurturing is what our world so desperately needs and keeps asking for.
We can’t go back into our early development and relive it so that our homes were filled with it. A lot of our homes and families were dysfunctional. Sinking our buckets down wells we know are dry is a good way to create experiences of frustration and disappointment. The only solution is to develop those qualities ourselves and start extending them at every available opportunity.
We can realize that those Values in Life that are nurturing: Love, Acceptance, Tolerance, Understanding, Mercy and Forgiveness are simply energies. Radiances emanating from our Cosmic Core, our Spiritual Creative Source. (The powers that stand before the throne, the chakras, etc.) Her story, rather than his-story. His-story being composed of beliefs divorced from sense: a limited unlimited, an impotent omnipotence. (What’s All That Is got to be jealous Of? or possessive about? What’s All That is got to possess besides All That Is? Non-sense) Like Eric mentioned in one of his broadcasts “a misunderstanding of spiritual teachings”.
There are supernal Values. They exist everywhere and everywhen. Unlimited. Timeless. Universal. Cosmic vibrations of Unity that Unify. ‘God’s’ emotional nature. The Power behind the cohesiveness of our universe. Sex – the Love of the Whole for each part and the Love of the part for the Whole.
The way I found to address my needs for nurturing was to realize I could receive these cosmic gifts anytime I chose to open my Heart to them. All I had to do was ask.
What this required is that I claim Sovereignty over my own Will and Life. So I could reign over it. As the author of my own play of consciousness, I was my own authority. Even when and if I chose/choose to surrender that authority over to others. I did it on the level of my own Mind.
If the way I perceived things, read the story as might be said, didn’t create a feeling experience that was positive in any way, I asked the cosmic source for one that did. I asked for Understanding.
I came to the study of astrology by way of an interest in magnetic fields. I was an engineer at the time. It was simply a leap to start paying attention to the magnetic fields of my thoughts and feelings. I found out that when my thoughts and feelings were aligned and integrated in Harmony with our cosmic source, that I had all the emotional abundance I wanted at my beck and call. Having, rather than needing, changed all the relationship patterns in my Life.
It made sense to me. A northern (positive) field would always attract a north (positive) pole. A southern (negative) field would always attract a south (negative) pole. Sure enough, whenever I radiated needy, a needy person would show up in my life. Whenever I radiated conflict, someone would show up to oblige me in that, too. On a quantum level, I reaped as I sowed. I called it “physics with an attitude”.
Our sensitivity is a Gift of Awareness and at one time I was lost in it. I had also been focused on creating stories in my head that produced fear. When I realized that any emotion I had no control over, I was addicted to, it triggered my stubborn streak into saying “Enough is enough”.
Yes, I agree we all have active imaginations and are good at making up stories. It’s our wondrous ability to cognize and to create our own reality. It’s versatile and flexible. But I would also disagree that nothing is permanent. Always will always be always. All That Is will continue to be all that is, no matter how big “Is” gets. Eternity will be eternal and Infinity will be infinite.
Mostly all of the structures in our lives have been based upon a lack of Love. With us scrambling and fighting over resources in a vain effort to make up for it. By the very definition of Democracy, it is only for the self governing. Sovereignty is also something delegated to We the People alone. No branch or level of our government is Sovereign. Only each of us as individuals have it or can claim it. As an adventure that will really knock your socks off, I highly recommend it. Stability can be created by realizing we are Sovereign Beings and learning how to nurture ourselves. This will change our structures of civilization. It will also shift our relationship patterns to harmony and balance. And with balance, comes stability.
Before Peace can ever become a condition of our World, it has to become our Response to it.
“Just because the energy of Cancer isn’t being spotlighted, doesn’t mean the energy isn’t there. Much like a house that doesn’t have any aspects or placements in it.”
Sue, exactly. 🙂 Thank you for chiming in on my rhetorical challenge to everyone to see how my questions might be answered.
“Stability can be created by realizing we are Sovereign Beings and learning how to nurture ourselves. This will change our structures of civilization. It will also shift our relationship patterns to harmony and balance. And with balance, comes stability.”
You’ve made so many astute observations, but I especially wanted to highlight this one. It’s pretty key. Along with the revelation that we have a fair amount of *choice* about our emotions — though it often takes an unexpected shift in perspective or some unusual event to come to that realization. I myself had an experience out at Burning Man in 2012 that brought the less on home to me; and my continued spiritual work/healing continues to give me opportunities to notice that ability and practice it — to begin to get the hang of noticing the crystallized thought patterns that enable stuck emotions. Life is nothing if not rife with amazing opportunities to practice what we are learning!
I too have been greatly moved and inspired by Amanda’s piece, and the wonderful comments here. Many thanks to all of you. And thank you, Pisces Sun, for posting the Eisenstein piece again – I think it was someone else who posted it, but I’m afraid I can’t remember who? It made me reflect on something that happened while I was over in the UK this Christmas. There are identical twin sisters who have been taking care of my parents’ house for some years now (cleaning, ironing, etc.). They’ve now become a part of the family – and were unbelievably supportive and wonderful when my mum got sick at the end of last year, and eventually passed away. They are both Irish Roman Catholics, and pretty racist with it. While I was sitting having coffee and a chat with one of them the other day, she came up, yet again, with how she hated the Muslims, how disgusting their religion was, how their prophet was a pedophile, the Koran incites violence, etc. etc. – all said with great force and vehemence. As someone from a Jewish background, it all felt very very familiar. It was useless trying to convince her how the Muslims I know practice great kindness and compassion with everyone, even total strangers (at times far more so than many of the Italian Catholics I live alongside). And yet, this woman was there for my sister and my dad in their greatest hour of need – helping to take care of my mum; she was a total rock. And as we drank our coffee, and I was rather weepy about leaving my dad (who had been unwell), and going back to Italy, she reassured me that she and her sister would always keep an eye out for my him, and make sure he was OK, and that she was just a phone call away. She’s a solid, loyal, loving and generous person, who was brought up with these values, as well as the less wholesome ones. Afterwards, it made me reflect on myself, and how wanting to get rid of the parts in me I don’t like is just destructive. And yes, this seems to be a time of working with ourselves, and our fears, and coming to a place of deep acceptance, in order to heal the divisiveness in ourselves, and the world.
Lizzy — “Afterwards, it made me reflect on myself, and how wanting to get rid of the parts in me I don’t like is just destructive.”
That’s an insight worth gold, I suspect. We human beings are such a complex, challenging lot, aren’t we? 🙂
Thank you sweetie – we sure are! xxx
Sue – I so admire the work you’ve done on yourself and neediness – thank you for sharing your valuable insights here. It came up for me very strongly in this period, which has been a very tough one, during which time one of my closest friends just never checked in – which brought up a lot of stuff for me. There was a lovely synchronicity in that just before reading your comment, I found this piece by the wonderful Tara Brach, which I’d like to share here:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ethical-wisdom/201511/releasing-the-barriers-love-interview-tara-brach
Bette – You & me, too! This is a “one” year in numerology so maybe it’s something in the air. I was given the guidance to make my new story a love story. It’s about being willing to learn how to love myself MORE! I’m passing the guidance on to you. Whatever we expect, we will get, so I’m being Mindful of my expectations. It’s far too easy to base those on our Past and if we don’t Desire a future just like it, we’re in need of a change. Be the author of your own Play. I simply decided mine was a comedy.
Lizzy – the first thing that came to Mind was that you need a big hug, so here’s one from me to you. {{{{{{HUG}}}}} My Heart is with yours in Compassion for your mourning. I suspect your friend was afraid and just didn’t know how to cope with her feelings. When my mom got Alzheimer’s her friends stopped visiting. I know I felt she had been betrayed but what it was really all about was that her friends loved her so much they didn’t know how to cope with seeing everything she was, disappear.
I really enjoyed the article who’s link you shared. And if we ever had doubts about a shift happening before, the evidence is right before our eyes. Consciousness is shifting. The same messages are coming out from all sorts of sources saying the same things. Things that would never have been mentioned in decades past. Like seeds, we’re sprouting.
“Afterwards, it made me reflect on myself, and how wanting to get rid of the parts in me I don’t like is just destructive.” The first part of my journey was delving deep within and finding out why parts of myself held grudges against me. They were easy to find. They were like skeletons I had locked up in what what I called the closet within me, hoping no one would ever discover I had them. But they would always manage to get out and with chains rattling, and screw up everything I had so meticulously devised.
Discovering why these parts held grudges against me was an eye opener. So simple yet so profound in its effects. Like you shared, you did what you (and the rest of us) had been taught to do with things we don’t like. Which was to judge and condemn, then try our best to separate and distance ourselves. I discovered it was the pattern itself that was the source of my woe. The pattern of how I related to myself – the judge and condemn part. This pattern was reflected in EVERY relationship I had, including the relationship I had with Life itself.
There was no way I could ever be a Whole person that way. I was condemned to wander through the world as someone missing a few parts, always looking for those parts in others.
At one time of my Life I was crippled by fears of abandonment and rejection. I was always doing things to seek approval. The thing about it was that no matter how successful I was, the approval always came as a result of an act. I knew what would gain approval and acted accordingly. But it was just an act. Because it was just an act, the approval did nothing to soothe the fears within me. Approval was for the act, not me. I was too afraid to show the Real me. The one that wasn’t *Perfect*.
Then I learned that Perfection is a quality that belongs to Divinity alone. It was part of my Spiritual aspect, my spiritual heritage. The human part of me was the part that made mistakes. It was the part of me that didn’t understand, the part of me that messed up and wasn’t perfect. Recognition and realization of my Spiritual Identity came to me as I slowly began to change the pattern of my relationship. Instead of judge and condemn, I sought to embrace in Love and Understanding. I began to Heal the wounds within me that had all been self inflicted.
It became a game for me as I asked for the world to mirror what I needed to embrace by having it reflected to me by others. I’ll use the example you provided, that of ignorance.
The loving friends of your parents were simply ignorant in what they believed. And of course whatever we put the Power of our Will behind to believe will be our reality and true for us, even though it isn’t True in Reality. We all have faith in something. Even faith in nothing is a belief.
I experienced the same thing with my cousin, who I hadn’t communicated with in decades. Her religious dogma was pretty much the same as you heard. I tried to share that the Values and goals were the same, quoting the Quran, in response to her quotes from the Bible. Saying the same things and in much the same words. She deleted the whole post as if just the mention of the Quran was taboo.
For me, the example is how to relate to Ignorance. What I knew for sure was that a fool doesn’t know they’re a fool. I’d been there before. I especially knew that I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And that was what ignorance was all about, not knowing what we don’t know. The one thing science has proved is that everything we think we know today, will be proven wrong tomorrow. When it comes to not knowing what we don’t know, we’ve all been there. Might as well admit it.
My old pattern would have me reject and condemn Ignorance. Now I see it for what it is, and accept it in Understanding and Compassion, asking myself “If that were me, how would I like to be treated?”
My cousin wasn’t interested in learning to Understand. That takes being Heart centered and coming from a Desire TO understand. It is embracing where much of our world’s dogma is that of judging and condemning. Drawing lines of exclusion. She was very much a part of one of the religious groups whose dogma was of judgment, rejection and then of course, deserving of punishment. She was centered in Fear and vehemently wanted to stay there.
I had to choose how I was going to relate to her Desire to stay ignorant, too. I chose to relate to that in Understanding and Compassion also. If we don’t believe in Forgiveness, then the result of revealing our mistakes is self condemnation, leading to insanity or suicide. We have to be able to mentally and emotionally cope with what we’re going to see before our awareness expands. It’s called “Mercy”.
Darkness was created for a reason and that was to hide what we had no Desire or weren’t ready to see. Our Divinity or Spiritual Self is also found within that Darkness, because it is that aspect of ourselves that knows how to Be Loving and embracing. Unconditional Love is an immaculate concept. There are no exclusions or conditions that would nullify the concept itself.
Understanding and Compassion is embracing. It’s how we achieve the goal of Unity. It’s a dynamic and powerful energy, not passive at all. Like Amanda shared, a new activism is being born. One of Compassionate action.
Dearest Sue, thank you for your lovely hug (really hit the spot!), and great comment. You’re absolutely right about my friend. Since she lost her husband, just over two years ago, I’ve been an emotional rock for her – and I think she finds it unbearable when I’m in a vulnerable state. But it’s good to see this – and it will be good to talk it over with her, too, from a heart-centred, loving place, as much as possible! Once again, such wonderful insights, which resonate deeply with my own ‘journey’. (((())))
On the subject of compassion and loving ourselves, there is a beautiful Buddhist meditation called Metta Bhavana, which is about cultivating ‘loving kindness’ (metta) for ourselves and others. It is a deeply healing and even transformational practice, when done over a period of time, and one doesn’t have to be Buddhist to do it. There’s a good intro to it here, and of course there are loads of great audio and youtube meditations that are freely available: http://www.wildmind.org/metta/introduction
Sue, Lizzy, Amanda, Bette, et. al., the heart-felt gift given by having this discussion is so welcomed and hugs are sent to each of you! The discussion demonstrates that the consciousness shift that we speak of occurs not from outside of us but from within, and then permeates around us. You can change people instantly by how you react to the negativity they project by being more compassionate and understanding. It is so difficult for us to do this when we come from an ego-centered place, but when we come from a peaceful space, desirous of harmony and understanding as the end-result, it opens the path to a more meaningful relationship with our brother or sister (soul) before us. So many have done this successfully, in modern times, we have Nelson Mendela and his Reconciliation movement to observe, Martin Luther King, of course, and someone to honor on this week-end (and every day), Mother Teresa, Michele Obama (who celebrated her birthday yesterday) and every “ordinary” yet special person who is trying each day to treat their fellow human beings and mother earth with respect.
I agree with you Sue, you draw energy to you. It’s a proven fact. Love beats at energy’s highest vibration and fear and loathing at one of it’s lowest vibrations. Vibrations draw similar vibrations- the law of cohesion, which is very difficult to disrupt (try taking apart two pieces of tape adhered together on their sticky sides, same principle, cohesion). Our intentions however can change. Intentions are vibrations, since everything in this universe consists of energy. This too, is a fact. Since we can change our intentions, although it does take practice and self-centering and self-work is important (and thank you Lizzy for the important and useful links, too), I believe knowing about the law of cohesion is one reason we can always have hope. This is also why choice and consciousness is so important.
But I also know that it is so easy to get caught up in the daily energy of modern times, especially if you have a family, work, and other demanding responsibilities where you cannot extract your self from the negative vibrations that assault our consciousness daily.
Eric has spent some time explaining the matter of our interface with machines/computers here at PW. Charles Eisenstein has this to say about the problem of the inundation of advertising, media, and our modern age, which he describes as the “appropriation of the locus of attention.” Think about it, those vibrations are grabbing our attention and its everywhere (unless you are in nature w/o glancing at a phone). He says:
“They [media, politics, messages that are not our own] infiltrate our very thoughts, our narratives, our inner dialog, and via these, our emotions, desires, and beliefs, turning all toward the making of product and profit. Our attention is hardly our own anymore, so easily do the powers and commerce manipulate it. After it has been so long manipulated, chopped up, habituated to intense stimuli, and jerked around from one lurid but empty object to another, our attention is so fragmented we cannot sustain it long enough to create anything independent of the programs that surround us. We lose our capacity to sustain thought, understand nuance, and put ourselves in another person’s shoes.” (p.75, Sacred Economics).
So, we need to consider this about each other and ourselves as we interact with one another.
To share a bit of my own story: I personally extracted myself from a high profile profession and became as unplugged as I could, so that I could re-balance not only my chakras (I had too many spiritual seers tell me that they saw my root chakra missing) but also, to focus on my family and myself. But I had the luxury to do this having set myself up with a modest amount of income for a few years to take some time off– not everyone has that luxury, I know. At the time, however, I didn’t know that I would choose not to work and I have been pursuing a doctorate. But in the end, I adjusted my needs and chose not to work so that I could align my life in the right direction. First and foremost, my family needed more of my presence, something I could not give with the demanding job that I had and as a single parent. But I also knew that I had to align my work with a more spiritual side of my calling: to become a spiritual leaders and author in my former field, something that is sorely lacking. And when I re-emerge on my terms I need to be a centered. The only way I felt I could do this is to work on me. Which leads me really to underscore what I think is one of the most important things said in this long line of discussion: Refraining from Judging. Judging yourself and judging others. When we do this, compassion and understanding readily fills the void.
The personal stories shared by you both, Sue and Lizzy, are so meaningful and beautiful, thank you. I have copied and paste the entire posting and will read it often. Namaste’
To sum the entire discussion thread by MLK on his birthday today:
“Nonviolent resistance … avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent but he also refuses to hate him. At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. The nonviolent resister would contend that in the struggle for human dignity, the oppressed people of the world must not succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter or indulging in hate campaigns. To retaliate in kind would do nothing but intensify the existence of hate in the universe. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can only be done by projecting the ethic of love to the center of our lives.”
MLK Essay (1958), “An Experiment in Love,” A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Bless you and thank you, dear Pisces Sun, for your wonderful comment, the beautiful MLK quote,and the hugs! Thank you for sharing some of your story here – your great courage, strength and love are a real inspiration. Just one thing I want to say about the beauty of loving kindness (metta, though of course this is not the monopoly of Buddhism at all) – it is unconditional love, so it embraces all without judgement – including the parts of ourselves and others we most abhor, such as the lower vibrations of fear, loathing, jealousy, etc. Not an easy task, but everything is held in this loving space, and eventually transformed. Much love and hugs to you.
Hats off to you Sue!!
Amanda thank you for so graciously welcoming our exchanges here 🙂
Amanda – Thank You for your inspiration! You provided the spark that got things going. I know what you mean by practicing. Old habits are hard to replace. Eventually though, it just becomes something you don’t even have to think about. It just Is.
Lizzy – People that are rocks for other people, tend to spook those other people when we melt occasionally under intense heat and pressure. I consider it an Honor to have been able to help in any way. The link is a treasure and I’m exploring the site. Thank you!
Pisces sun – Bravo.
It takes Courage to do what you’ve done.
It makes me smile to see that by your own words and the description of your Life, you are being True to your name. The two fish are becoming One.
Your writing is just plain eloquent to me. It simply flows. Beautifully written and filled with much Knowing. Thank You.
And Thank You everyone for being so welcoming and accepting of me as I joined this loving group.
I add my gratitude to PW and its readers too. We are all on planet earth together (Adlai Stevenson) we are working together to make our lives more loving and generous by living consciously and fully. Namaste’
Thanks Sue. So glad you like the link. Love to you all.