“In our most private and subjective lives we are not only the passive witnesses of our age, and its sufferers, but also its makers. We make our own epoch.” Carl Jung
An era has ended, possibly even an epoch, and we are now floating in a sea of potential. Positive signs of the future are already beginning to emerge. Greta Thunberg as Person of the Year; NYU announcing free tuition for all medical students; citizens around the world protesting totalitarian regimes and saying “No” to war; a renewed reverence for human kindness demonstrated in films like “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”
If you haven’t seen it, treat yourself to a dose of unconditional love. Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers is a lesson in humanity at its finest – compassionate and caring, kind and gentle, humble and grateful, always responding to the pain and fear and anger of others with an open heart. One day, films of peace and kindness will win the Oscars, as tributes to war and violence and corruption fade into a dim past.
I have written about the Saturn/Pluto cycle in general terms, trying to convey the profound import of this shift for all of humanity and the planet. Now I want to focus on the details. To create the future we have been envisioning, we need to leave certain attitudes, defensive postures, habits of thought and reactivity behind us. They have served their purpose but now they hold us back. We need to pick up some new allies – attitudes that support our emergence as the powerful, creative, spiritual beings that we truly are, practices that replace bad habits with growing awareness, and heightened presence.
Let’s take a look at what Saturn and Pluto can offer in the way of assistance in our personal lives. Saturn brings the energy of maturity, responsibility, patience, endurance, determination and integrity. All of these gifts are ours for the taking. They lie within as untapped pools of potential. We can tune in to their frequency. We can sit in silence and feel deeply into our depths for the vibration of Saturn. We can tap into the well of inner strength. We can pose questions – where do I need to grow? to be more responsible? What does integrity mean to me?
The word is currently associated with ethics. Someone has integrity if s/he obeys the laws and the Ten Commandments. Under this definition we all waver in integrity. I had my first spiritual awakening at 17. I experienced a deep longing for connection to what I could only call God because I had forgotten what my Source truly was. An Episcopalian priest took me under his wing and I began studying to join the church.
Father Barker pointed out all my sins and I assiduously sought them out and disciplined them. Every week I confessed to thinking bad thoughts about my mother or lying about where I was going, i.e. “the library.” But one week I saw no fault in myself. I hadn’t committed any sins in thought, word or deed. I eagerly announced in confession that I had been perfect all week. He kindly pointed out my pride. My conclusion was that I couldn’t win in this system and relaxed my standards.
What I didn’t understand then is that integrity means wholeness. It means that we know the multifaceted being that we are, that we recognize, within us, what we call the dark side, that we own and integrate all the polarities within our being. Our bodies display gender, but we are both masculine and feminine. We are physical but also spiritual. This is what being human means – that as a fractal of Spirit we manifest and learn how to bring Spirit into matter. We do this by recognizing our Wholeness. From there we realize our Oneness.
When we add Pluto to this equation, we get the potential for empowerment. Knowledge is power, especially in this age of information. Self-knowledge, therefore, is self-empowerment. Pluto calls to us to enter our inner underworld and meet the shadows that we have denied. Pluto will fetch our deepest fears, our greatest pains, our most humiliating memories repressed in the Unconscious, and bring them to light. This is his gift to us. He has guarded our pain, our guilt, our shame, our desolation, grief and most devastating wounds until we are strong enough to handle them.
Now is that time. Saturn has delivered the strength. That’s what 2019 was all about – the growing power of Saturn as it approached the transformation portal of Pluto. So many of you have expressed that you thought it would never end – one thing after another to deal with. Disappointment after disappointment. Anxiety building with no relief in sight. This is what has made us strong. We have been building endurance. We have had to exercise patience, to take responsibility. See how Saturn tempered our inner steel over the last three years?
Throughout this year we are being asked to do our Pluto work, to free ourselves from what binds us to the past, to liberate ourselves from what blocks our evolutionary path. Along the way, we’ll take a look at the classic ego defenses, dive into the shadows to confront these phantom prison guards, and gather the tools we will need to forge the future.
My wish for all of you is that you make peace with your past and see its perfection. Once you realize how absolutely perfect your life has been to teach you what you needed to learn in order to grow, you will be swept up in gratitude and joy. You will be free. Hold onto that vision.
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