Pause for the New…
New beginnings are fragile times and here we are again. A new year, a new cycle, has begun. The newly emerging seedling, newborn baby, relationship, new enterprise, all need care and nurturance to survive early days. Without tenderness, love and care, fragile things fail to thrive. Whether it is harsh environmental conditions, natural hazards, human neglect – the physical world is not a kind place to the newborn thing. The wise know this and take caution with fledglings.
We have just passed the first New Moon of 2024 – an apt signal to pause and consider the fragility of this time. The new year signals a new energy. It is at once full of promise and hope and at the same time, the feeling of potential chaos colours the picture. There is so much happening in our world, moment to moment, as the acceleration of our perception of time brings novelty and change thick and fast. We are in thrall as we contemplate the possibilities at this start of a 2024. Although the zodiacal new year doesn’t officially begin until March 21 (when the Sun moves to zero degrees Aries) the calendar as we know it has turned the page and the number 2024 ushers in a new frequency. What will you do with this frequency? We can not know if it will serve humankind well, or not. But what we can do is firm our intentions at this time to nurture ourselves and our loved ones; to handle with care the fragile shoots of this newness by taking time to slow down and act with full consciousness and deliberation. As the dismantling of our civilisation appears to be picking up pace, it is vital that we act to nourish our humanness, our human spirit. The forces intent on taking us down are not human (though their proxies may be), which gives them an advantage, but is also a great disadvantage. Their disadvantage is their empathy deletion and the spiritual void in which they exist means they have no cohesion. Love is the glue that holds us, as humanity, together. This is our strength and ultimately it is why and how we will prevail – even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
My offerings, by way of the Kosmic Medicine pages this year, will be broader than the astrologically focused ones of the past. The cosmic cycles and patterns are deeply meaningful and can be helpful in navigating the current emotional climate but the wisdom of the ages is vast and it is into this ocean I will dive. We have access to probably a tiny portion of the perennial wisdom, the ancient knowledge of the spiritual sages who have gone before us. Whilst our age is unique, the wise ones told us long ago that there is nothing new under the sun. History repeats. This paradox is intriguing and open to be mined for insight. I will endeavour to bow to, or perhaps acknowledge is a better word, the astrological energy signature of the time in which I prepare the Kosmic Medicine – in the hope that the Oracle speaks through the writing, as I scroll through the records of the wisdom keepers of the past.
Let us begin then, in the spirit of opening our hearts and minds to the bigger picture through the thoughts and words of those wiser than ourselves, who have gone before. As we prepare, let us pause to reflect on who we are, how far we have come and where we intuit our hearts want to take us in this year of 2024. You might write down your intentions for the year. You might simply feel the energy of change and, like the imaginal cells of mush inside the chrysalis, awaiting birth as a butterfly, stay still and quiet – not yet ready to launch yourself into the world and your new life. Not ready to move far. You will know when the time is right. This time is preparation. It is fragile. It is therefore important and has the potential to ground you more firmly into the soil of earthly life, in order to emerge when you are ready, all the stronger.
The Moon in Aquarius today, the first Aquarius Moon of the year, looks to Uranus (its ruler) for inspiration. Uranus, the awakener, the liberator, the channel to the higher divine mind, in earthy Taurus is moving retrograde (until the 27th) confirming the time of inward reflection is still with us. Do not therefore, push yourself to ‘get moving’. Heed this call to pause and nurture yourself. This is a beautiful time to attend to your body, perhaps a fast or detox after the indulgences of the holiday season. We would all benefit, at this time, by firming intentions around our physical well-being for the coming year. Immerse yourself in nature, walk barefoot on the earth, drink herb teas and eat vital plants, root vegetables (particularly if you are in the northern hemisphere). Listen to your body, listen to the wisdom and intelligence of this miraculous vehicle you walk around in. Be in your body. Be in your sensory experience of this world. This is the perfect time to engage your perceptual experience of being in your body, by observing its sensations, its fluctuations. Your body is a moving energetic sea of chemical actions and reactions that enable your perceptual apparatus to convert the external world into your internal one. Be in awe of this play of Shiva and Shakti, Consciousness and Power.
“Our sensory organs are meant to perceive the world. The sensory capacities of human ears were shaped by sounds of the world, our smell formed through long association with the delicate chemistries of plants, our touch by the nonlinear, multidimensional surfaces of the Earth, our sight by the images that constantly flow into our eyes. Human senses emerged from immersion within the world. They are part of Earth, an expression of communicative contact subtly refined and shaped through long association. They have their identity IN the world, and are meant to perceive the every-minute-of-every-day influx of sensory communications that flow into and through them.
Focusing on the continuous flow of sensory data coming from the world around us activates our sensing bodies as organs of perception, leaves the computer behind, and embeds us once again within the world in which our species was born.
So, allow yourself to sense once again. Allow your sensory perceptions to BE your thinking. SENSE instead of think. This is what the senses are meant to do.
It’s time to come to your senses.”
Stephen Harrod Buhner, ‘The Secret Teachings of Plants.’
Until next we meet…..
L.
Lindastrologer
