Day twenty-nine: Pluto in Capricorn (2)

Many have recently commented on what is lining up for us in 2020 with the rare conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto which takes place in the sign of Capricorn.

Having listened to a number of talks about this event, a couple of key features emerge. One is to do with the beginning of new cycles (of Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto). Another is to do with the question of the lengthy transit of Capricorn itself by our Plutonian companion.

Pluto has a 248-year orbit, so it is easy to see that the last Pluto transit of Capricorn began in February 1762.  I note that the American Revolutionary war ran from 19 Apr 1775 – 3 Sep 1783, with the birth chart of the United States being drawn up on July 4^th, 1776. If the French Revolution began in 1789, the revolution was, of course, something fermenting all over France in the decades leading up to this momentous event (see for example Simon Schama’s account of the Revolution in his book Citizens).

In drawing attention to these dates I am not searching for convenient correlations with revolutionary instants in modern history. The deeper feature of Pluto transiting Capricorn is in the dissolution of structure. From this perspective, it is interesting that the Declaration of Independence takes place with Pluto at the 27th degree of Capricorn. By the time the storming of the Bastille takes place in Paris, Pluto is already transiting Aquarius (liberty and freedom).

I believe that these two events, which follow the path of Plutonic dissolution, give us more of a flavour of what is to come than, let’s say, apocalyptic visions of international war-mongering associated with certain rather volatile world leaders where Rule is by Tweet rather than by Diplomacy.

The birthing of America — beyond its immediate consequences for the 13 colonies — has had huge and vast repercussions for the world in the creation of a super-power that would indeed influence and affect human destiny in powerful and far-reaching ways. I’m making no value judgements when I write this. Another side of this is that America is, now approaching its Pluto-return, which will doubtless have many consequences for both America and the world.

The French Revolution, with Pluto firmly in Aquarius, clearly fanned the flames of freedom in Europe and brought to its end an entire political system of God-given monarchy, so transforming the political landscape. Britain itself was close to revolution too, at this time, with many British intellectuals (the Godwins and Mary Shelley to name but a few) closely following what was happening in Paris. Fears of a revolution were rife on this side of the channel too!

The French Revolution represents a clear dissolution of structures, one with far-reaching consequences as the First French Republic was born and a European country began its first steps towards parliamentary democracy, one moving beyond the British model of the constitutional monarch who would remain sovereign but one subject to the edict of Parliament.

I will again refer you to Simon Vorster’s fascinating talk on Pluto in Capricorn to better understand the astrology. Having listened many times to this fascinating perspective, I realise that world history immediately post-1760 gives us some deep clues as to the kind of shifts that we are now experiencing and which of course began by the credit-crash of 2008-2009 when Pluto’s transit in Capricorn began.

Freeing money from the Gold Standard has allowed money itself to mutate into its own cyber-reality, bitcoin and other “virtual monies” are continuing its evolution in this sense. Truth, in the age of fake news, is the logical outcome of post-modernism as a literary and philosophical genre in which the quest for truth mutated into the realisation that there is now no single unifying principle or philosophical unity. Knowledge and philosophy have fragmented into a patchwork of discourse, in a process documented in works by Michel Foucault (Les Mots et Les choses, translated as The order of things) and Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (Mille Plateaux). We now look at the world from the position of multiples (like series of Andy Warhol paintings) rather than as the unique vision of any single visionary philosopher or artist.

This is the new terrain or New Paradigm and we are living this daily as we see world events transpire and unfold before us. If there is one overarching message, it is that this is a time of great potential, as indeed it was 248 years ago, during the last Plutonian transit. The choice is ours as to how we are going to work with this period*.

Pluto’s transit of Capricorn continues for another 7 years before Pluto finally moves into Aquarius in February 2024.

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*Post scriptum.
In an article about the planetary nodes, Psychologist and Astrologer Mark Jones writes :

“The south nodes of Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto for all people are currently in Capricorn, with the north nodes in Cancer. […] We can see that the collective beliefs (Jupiter), primary conditioning (Saturn), and deepest psychological attachments (Pluto) of present humanity lie in the history of civilization (Capricorn) and its attempts to structure consciousness through the rise and fall of empires, patriarchy, and the dominance of nature as the foundations for the ascendancy of human civilization (Capricorn).” 

Our increasing awareness that patriarchy — and the need to dominate nature — is quite simply a choice in how we structure consciousness, is going to be a motor in the phases of human evolution to come.

Day twenty-eight: ALASKAN GOLD

Brady Dennis in today’s Washington Post writes: “The Trump administration has taken a key step toward paving the way for a controversial gold, copper and molybdenum mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed, marking a sharp reversal from President Barack Obama’s opposition to the project. The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed withdrawing its 2014 determination barring any large-scale mine in the area because it would imperil the region’s valuable sockeye salmon fishery. The agency said it would accept public comments on the proposal for the next 90 days. “The facts haven’t changed. The science hasn’t changed. The opposition hasn’t changed,” said Taryn Kiekow Heimer, a senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has fought the proposed mine. “The fact that it’s the wrong mine in the wrong place hasn’t changed. But the politics have changed”.”

It is a curious place to be, re-running the environmental battles of the 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s as certain people just don’t seem to get it. Going after gold big time — there is a purported $120 billion worth down there — is reinforcing the ethic that we can simply do anything for money.

But, once it is done, it is done,

Just like the Dakota Pipeline and many other projects, we can’t undo what we have done once we have trashed of the landscape, polluted and left all to bare. The law of seven generations would not leave this gaping wasteland for our children’s children’s… children. A father of two, I truly cannot explain to my kids why people are still doing this kind of thing. They know as if this wisdom is part of their DNA, their deep energetic blueprint. They know it is wrong.

A kind of psychological distance came about in Europe in the 17th century, to separate us from the earth as mother. This is documented with elegance in Caroline Merchant’s masterly book “The Death of Nature“. The same actually happened with the human body — there was a moment before which it was impossible to surgically open another being — the body was sacred and the concept of surgical distance was an acquired attribute, necessary to the rise of medical science as we know it today. In the 17th century many, including Isaac Newton, believed the earth to be alive. You do not treat a living earth the way you treat an inert one and this is one of Marchant’s points. Newton for example penned in a manuscript now known as Of Natures obvious laws & processes in vegetation :

How things conserve their species & how a tree might bee conserved & nourishd In the glass & that its probable those metalline trees in the earth grew after this manner…

“Of Natures obvious laws” is thought to have been composed in the first half of the 1670’s. Typical writing for the Early Modern period in which metals grew in the earth and miners as such dealt with a living being as they excavated the entrails of our earthly mother of all.

This reminds me of the world view described by Richard Tarnas in “Cosmos and Psyche” in which humans perceive…

“…the surrounding natural world as permeated with meaning, meaning whose significance is at once human and cosmic. Spirits are seen in the forest, presences are felt in the wind and the ocean, the river, the mountain. Meaning is recognized in the flight of two eagles across the horizon, in the conjunction of two planets in the heavens, in the unfolding cycles of the Moon and Sun. The primal world is ensouled. It communicates and has purposes. It is pregnant with signs and symbols, implications and intentions. The world is animated by the same psychologically resonant realities that human beings experience within themselves. A continuity extends from the interior world of the human to the world outside. In the primal experience, what we would call the “outer” world possesses an interior aspect that is continuous with human subjectivity. Creative and responsive intelligence, spirit and soul, meaning and purpose are everywhere. The human being is a microcosm within the macrocosm of the world, participating in its interior reality and united with the whole in ways that are both tangible and invisible”.

 

The green movements of awakening in the 60s and 70s take us back to a place in philosophy and consciousness in which the Earth is indeed alive. It is Lovelock’s Gaia, and this hermetic philosophy is old as the hills. So those who wish to return to ecological pillage are not of the times, yet they still have power and support of the EPA. Ironic that an environmental protection agency should be poised to allow more carnage in the State of Alaska.

I know that our friends at SumOfUs and Avaaz will be active on this, and there will be more battles to come as those of us who have woken up will resist in whatever way we can. When you see their campaigns, please support them with your signatures. We are seeing another re-run of Cameron’s Avatar. We have to wake, wake, wake to the folly of our greed. We do not need this Gold. What we need is to leave the land in peace and generate abundant wealth in other ways. There are many paths to choose from, ones that will not only help humankind but are also respectful of our planetary home.

 

 

 

Day twenty-seven: EFT (2)

I’ve continued to think about EFT-Tapping since my post yesterday, and there are several things that come to mind. One is — how can tapping on my energy meridians change things like, for example, financial abundance, weight-loss or relationship issues?

I think this is one of the deep, deep questions and evokes the deeper layers or levels of reality. The channel, Abraham (Hicks), always point out that for us to manifest something — anything — we have to be in alignment and that true alignment is, in fact, being in a state of permanent allowing.

A simple example, coming from the domain of finance, is, of course, the frequent observation that no one truly wants to be poor, and yet… many folks indeed are. How are we to understand that this is what they are vibrating, the absence of money, rather than its presence?

In a very simplistic way, thoughts like “Oh, I can’t afford this right now” are basically telling the universe at a deep level what we can’t afford. Through the law of attraction (LOA), this is what we attract.

But suppose that we are doing the work, and working on vibrating some serious abundance, but it just doesn’t seem to be coming through? What then? This probably one of the most crucial and difficult points to understand about LOA, because intuitively it just doesn’t appear to be working! The answer is that somewhere, deep down, we continue to hold ourselves in patterns of poverty. We can’t see them, we can’t feel them… but we can tap on them! And that’s a thing!

Imagine that many of us have, in former lives, sworn vow after vow of poverty? We think our vibrational being could just take us to that lottery ticket and transform our existence into a financially abundant life? However, we took those vows, we built up resentments against wealth, resentments against those who perhaps had food whilst we didn’t. In this case, we might well have a vibrational signature which can run very, very deep.

Some people are close to clearing these energy configurations and they do. They make up the innumerable success stories on every conceivable self-help site from Mindvalley to Neurogym and beyond. For others, the journey can be long and feels a good deal harder.

The beauty of tapping is that, whatever one says, the energy body (composed of our meridians and our auric layers) contain our entire life, past-life and future-life histories. Tapping on the meridians is being able to access special energy points where the worlds cross, in my view, and we can communicate with parts of ourselves that seem at times hidden and completely isolated. Letting go of vows of poverty, letting go of the feelings of self-righteousness sometimes associated with lack, letting go of things that actually comfort us in our sufferings is the real business.

Gentle tapping does take us to places of allowing. Our souls can thank us, as if we are also healing them, freeing them from exile. When one has experienced extreme lack or poverty it can indeed seem difficult to grasp this point. We simply have to continue. The meridians are a gift to us, and the tapping sequences that remind them that we wish to step into our own power and autonomy, are powerful places to be.

You can visit the tapping solution 101 page here for some basic information about the process. And if you want to get started, Nick and Jessica Ortner have provided 9 free videos of tapping scripts you can use in your daily life. May this reflection truly serve you!

Namaste!

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Image uses copyrighted work available under Creative Commons
Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0

Acupuncture chart with a series of points indicated on the body
Credit: Wellcome Library, London.
Wellcome Images

 

Day twenty-six: EFT

I’ve just been gifted the chance to take one of the EFT courses by Nick and Jess Ortner. I’ve been using EFT for years — and I am totally loving this refresher. This week we are working on goal-setting. It is great to have goals, and even greater when they are just the right size. Big enough to help us onwards and small enough to be achievable in a reasonable amount of time. Nothing like achieving two small goals than half achieving one!

Doing EFT is great and we can really work on several different things at a time once we get into a regular tapping routine. One of the key players to my mind is the phrase “Even though I feel…, I deeply and completely love and accept myself“. Most of us are riddled with self-doubts and lack of love, and it is incredible just how much we find this lack of love holding us back as we self-criticise our very best efforts. No wonder we often fail to reach our goals when we are telling ourselves how difficult it is going to be to get to there in the first place.

Another key to this practice is in the allowance of the negative. This is something I have noted over the years. We don’t really want to identify in any way with certain negative thoughts. So, what do we do? We dive into positive thinking and hope that all is going to be good. But in reality it is like painting over a damp wall — the mould will re-appear and for reason — the wall underneath remains damp. No matter how many coats of paint, we can’t mask underlying dampness. We need to dry that wall out, and the best way to do this is to express the problem. Fears. Anxieties. All our what ifs?

Only by expressing our negative thoughts and feelings clearly can we gradually move to a better feeling place in the tapping process. And yes, it might take some time, but we have that time. Just sit with it and continue until the affirmations start to refocus and our positive feelings surface. They will. Always. It may take time, but they are in there, somewhere. We can always get to a better feeling place.

So as I rebuild around me, I am truly grateful for this chance and am enjoying my tapping two or three times each day. For any of you who are not familiar with this practice, you can always hop on over to the www.tappingsolution.com. Nick and Jess Ortner are great teachers and I salute their contribution to our well-being.

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Thanks to Frank McKinley @ tribe builders network for the inspiration!

 

Day twenty-five: the putting down

 

The times are a changing. I believe the challenges will increase too in the months and years to come. I do not say this in any negative way, only in the sense that we are being asked to align with our deeper purpose.

In my own life, I can feel at this time that I am being asked to re-align and has taken place with a loss of revenue, a loss of landmarks familiar… the loss of home. I tap each day with a program by Nick and Jessica Ortner, and each day the daily tapping is helping me reach deep, deep down. To become freer inside — free from the feelings of anguish, of resentment, of anger, of injustice — feelings that have permeated my being from time to time in years past. As though I gently wrapped them in a white shawl, and buried them down by the river’s side.

As the Equinox advances and the sun finds a temporary home in the constellation of Libra, so the light and dark balance once more and we begin the inner journey towards the Mid-Winter. The joys of summer behind us, the joys of the colours of fall and gently darkened by the melancholy of the colder nights. We stand tall beneath the stars and breathe deep. At this time I meditate upon Pluto and its long transit through Capricorn.

A very interesting talk which has stimulated my thought was recently given by Simon Vorster on the subject of Pluto in Capricorn. As I understand Simon’s talk, this period is here to teach us wisdom through dissolution. We entered the Pluto transit with the economic crashes of 2008, and many of us know the effect of these financial storms that wrought havoc amongst many of us. My own business took a vast hit, whilst other businesses grew. It was clearly a period of realignment. Those who knew how to the ride the waves did. The real message was not in riding those waves and profiteering, it was in realising that the very structures that we have erected are fragile and do not represent our higher purpose.

We need be aware that the old structures are going to be permeabilized. Systematically. Relentlessly. Until we learn to refashion in wisdom and lightness. That which is sustainable. That which is mobile. Our frontiers are simply the incarnation of the rigidity of our thought, and they will hem us in unless we open them. We can see this in the relentless hurricane battering of the Carribean and the US. The winds won’t calm. Are we here to rebuild, rebuild and then rebuild once more. What is this telling us?

I look at the wild horses on the moor and they — who own nothing — are free. Their freedom is in the feeling of appartenance to the world, not in ownership. No surprise that they are now my teachers.

Closer to home, in the UK, we see students saddled with debt for their studies. The Government now apparently holds some £100,000,000,000 of student debt linked to loans. Supporting the old structures, there is also a rigidity of thought. I love the idea of the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland, and its extended network of learning with small campuses all over that beautiful land. We are moving into the mobile, the ephemeral, the adaptable. Rather than creating the vast “centre”, we create a network. This is, of course, the Rhizome, of which Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari wrote.

The Rhizome is for me a true expression of Pluto in Capricorn, as we dis-assemble the large rigid structures of finance which hold people in poverty, large rigid universities which create walls and isolation between disciplines, housing estates which separate the “lieux” (or places) of wealth creation from where people make their homes, so becoming ghettos. In each case, the structures of which we might have once been so proud have become the walls that limit us. Our freedom is in the inner revolution which will take us into the Rhizome, the organic, the permaculture, back to the earth who we live with and amongst, as partners, not exploitants.

This work will doubtless not be accomplished in 5 or even 50 years. Is a larger project. If you follow the sky, you will know that 2020 sees a conjunction between Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn*. In my own understanding, this will be a portal to take us from our past towards our future soul destiny — what some have already named the new paradigm. This isn’t so much about inventing something new. It is more, about releasing the structures and the fixity that we have created and which now appear to be holding us collectively back. We can step into this, or step back to where we have come from. We will, of course, step into the world that we choose.

We have choices and there is great guidance around us now. We have to reach out. The configuration has found us already. We simply have to allow it to flower.

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* The last Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto alignment occurred in 1284-1285. Although not as tight, it was quite significant because it occurred in opposition to Uranus (the mid-point of the Uranus-Pluto 142-year cycle, which began in 1201 CE.)

• September 1, 1284 Saturn opp Uranus
• October 27, 1284 Saturn-Pluto (Jupiter within 22°)
• March 1, 1285 Uranus opp Pluto
• July 25, 1285 Jupiter-Pluto (Saturn within 8°)
• August 10, 1285 Jupiter opp Uranus
• November 29, 1285 Jupiter-Saturn (Pluto within 11°)
See

Day twenty-four: mutual aid

 

I have once more to thank Linda Kohanov in her recent Eponaquest email, for drawing my attention to a book published in 1902 by the Russian, Peter Kropotkin. I quote directly from Kropotkin’s book Mutual Aid: a factor in evolution:

“Two aspects of animal life impressed me most during the journeys which I made in my youth in Eastern Siberia and Northern Manchuria. One of them was the extreme severity of the struggle for existence which most species of animals have to carry on against an inclement Nature; the enormous destruction of life which periodically results from natural agencies; and the consequent paucity of life over the vast territory which fell under my observation. And the other was, that even in those few spots where animal life teemed in abundance, I failed to find — although I was eagerly looking for it — that bitter struggle for the means of existence, among animals belonging to the same species, which was considered by most Darwinists (though not always by Darwin himself) as the dominant characteristic of struggle for life, and the main factor of evolution…

…wherever I saw animal life in abundance, as, for instance, on the lakes where scores of species and millions of individuals came together to rear their progeny; in the colonies of rodents; in the migrations of birds which took place at that time on a truly American scale along the Usuri; and especially in a migration of fallow-deer which I witnessed on the Amur, and during which scores of thousands of these intelligent animals came together from an immense territory, flying before the coming deep snow, in order to cross the Amur where it is narrowest — in all these scenes of animal life which passed before my eyes, I saw Mutual Aid and Mutual Support carried on to an extent which made me suspect in it a feature of the greatest importance for the maintenance of life, the preservation of each species, and its further evolution.

And finally, I saw among the semi-wild cattle and horses in Transbaikalia, among the wild ruminants everywhere, the squirrels, and so on, that when animals have to struggle against scarcity of food, in consequence of one of the above-mentioned causes, the whole of that portion of the species which is affected by the calamity, comes out of the ordeal so much impoverished in vigour and health, that no progressive evolution of the species can be based upon such periods of keen competition.

Consequently, when my attention was drawn, later on, to the relations between Darwinism and Sociology, I could agree with none of the works and pamphlets that had been written upon this important subject. They all endeavoured to prove that Man, owing to his higher intelligence and knowledge, may mitigate the harshness of the struggle for life between men; but they all recognized at the same time that the struggle for the means of existence, of every animal against all its congeners, and of every man against all other men, was “a law of Nature.” This view, however, I could not accept, because I was persuaded that to admit a pitiless inner war for life within each species, and to see in that war a condition of progress, was to admit something which not only had not yet been proved, but also lacked confirmation from direct observation”. *

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I find it extraordinary that having been trained in the life sciences to degree level and then further as a doctoral student, Kroptkin’s work was discussed at no time to my knowledge — neither in coursework nor by our professors in general discussion. And whilst I assume full responsibility for the extent of my own ignorance, I have to say that it is clear that the Darwinian struggle amongst individuals that we learned about has clearly been a most convenient metaphor and justification for the existence of intense struggle within populations of our own species. So when I visited my bank this morning, instead of supporting me in my current situation with some healthy mutual aid, the bank reacted as if my situation must simply be seen as part of the necessary struggle to which all animals are subject. I have thus been refused a vital and necessary credit line this morning, on the grounds that my income is too low. The irony, of course, is that one requires money to borrow. Those who are lacking funds and who genuinely need to borrow, often cannot. I shall not be deterred, however. I must simply accept this decision as any other.

I am however intrigued and overjoyed to discover Kroptkin’s work, which will perhaps offer us at this precise point in human evolution, a different version of life amongst the animals with which to inspire ourselves and our own behaviour. Certainly, in my own experience of horses, they share what they have. I have spent hours and hours watching them, how they interact, how they support each other in the herd, and even my brief experience goes more towards a feeling of mutual aid than of the endless struggle for dominance, salvo by salvo of one alpha-male after another, on some headlong Darwinian struggle to dominate the herd. Horses share.

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One day we humans will wake up to the fact that we choose, vibrationally, the world we desire to live in. And when people do begin to rethink things, they will begin to note the great acts of charity and of aid and of support that exist as a powerful aspect of our natural behaviour. I know that I am here, right now, because of the aid of a handful of magnificent friends such as Ru and Olivia who have helped me these past months along with my sister’s family, and Mira and Tim who have offered me a home. My tribal community has held space for me and helped to keep my morale together in a deep and profound way. All who have aided my son and I have truly helped us in a great moment of need. Each of you has shown me what human beings are and can be, in our best possible versions of ourselves.

The struggle in business, the struggle in life, are simply positions or points of view that we choose to corroborate. These are voluntary readings of the world that the academic establishment has also given powerful justification too. We are at times quite literally blinded by science concerning the altruism that exists in both human beings and in the wider world as a part of our deeper nature.

I believe that we all have much to think about, my friends!

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*Opening text quoted from:

Mutual Aid: a factor in evolution,
Peter Kropotkin, 1902.

 

1850

 

It is with big thanks to all of you who have been reading, liking, and sharing my posts on the Tipi over the past four months. It is part of a transformational journey and one that is taking the Tipi into interesting terrain,

On the one hand, we have the potential for an amazing exchange and self-help site (Tipi-Exchange). On the other, we have the development of coaching for Healing through the process of writing, another offshoot of the whole Tipi project.

These aspects are occupying my attention most at this time. A third aspect of the site which will however develop is an extended reflection on cooperative living, permaculture and tiny homes.

As ever, you can still commission Tipi drawings from me, see here for details. My art remains available via the Art-Tipi.

Lots is happening on the Tipi. Thank you for your heartfelt support! Let us continue daily to focus on the world we want. Thoughts become things. It is a joyous process when we nurture it!

 

 

 

Day twenty-three: healing through writing

 

One question that I am asked is — in the end, what is “healing through writing“? Isn’t this the same as speaking out loud, as one does, in the company of friends?

My answer to this is no, it is both a place and a practice apart. The fact is, in company, it is so easy to slide into the chaos and despair of our situations. Very soon, we can find ourselves sliding into streams of negative thinking, even rant.

The fact is that what we write becomes public and remains for all to see — at least until we consciously take it down or delete. As such we are aware of our vibrational state, we can see clearly where we are, what we are vibrating, as though writing holds a mirror up to us. This mirror is an act of self and it takes some bravery to sit with our words and craft them until we can connect with our better selves. It is in this process that writing can heal. Not about dumping upon the world our crumpled laundry, it is about reformulating our self-image and bringing a powerful force to bear upon our situations no matter how fragile.

Writing the Tipi over the past months has taught me to honour this part of my own dreams and visions. It has held up a mirror to me in moments of despair, and I have always wanted to “own” my words, my language, my descriptions of what I have lived these past months. It is in this way that I can now hold a light out to others to enter their healing path through words. One simple maxim — keep it honest and inspirational. Simple but often hard to do.

We are working through a time of challenge. There is lots going on in the world from environmental issues, emotional strife, in a way a lot of fear too. However, we now have the web as an ally — we can reach each other through the net, and even in physical isolation — we can (re)build communities. The love and sharing I have felt and experienced amongst my own tribe has been amazing. And the tribe is indeed the right word.

The word tribe takes us back to something fundamental, that basic bonding between fellow travellers on their earthly experience. The more we turn on and tune in the better it gets. We truly co-create the world we wish to live in. Thoughts become things. So writing and owning our magnificent thoughts is a powerful way of bringing us back to community.

Those of you who join me in my own “Heal through Writing” sessions will discover a simple process for developing your written work and for getting your words out there. Simplicity and honesty travel far! They bring such healing in their expression. So let’s get started!

 

Day twenty-two: the herd (part two)

A week ago I set out to Williton to look after three lovely horses — spending my days with Marmite, Sarge and Deannie. It was a beautiful week, living at the rhythm of their feeding and grooming, the changing of bug-rugs and pastures and a good deal of poo-picking, too. Life slowed down to a pace I truly enjoy. Rabbits in the fields playing. Rain too. Lots of it. The sound of the valley becoming dull as the wetness poured down around us.

The horses taught me lots this past week. I left all agendas I might have had behind me. Lovely to wave the mental a good-bye. Simply walk out into the field and be. I can’t begin to describe the beauty of the moments shared between the four of us!

Right now, I savour the odours of the hay and of the horses and the proximity we shared. It is a new life opening its gates to me. I know what I want to be doing deep down and this is life opening its arms to me. Saying — here, is this what you would like to live? And I look up and can answer Yes, truly it is. I feel a sense of deep peace and deep joy within. I’m blessed to live moments like this.

And as I now sit writing, some twenty miles from those lovely horses, I know that we shall meet again soon. I am already preparing another equine workshop. I can see this coming together, an exploration of the Five elements and Traditional Chinese Medicine via the Kinesiology I have trained in. The horses bring their own special healing into this work. I spent a week listening to them. They were showing me what to do and what is simply unnecessary. They have an economy of thought. They transmit their wishes simply.

Surrounded by great love, I left the week with a deep sense of healing in my own heart. They have their sadnesses, I have mine. Sharing a field and the peace of the land is something we can do without words. It is he gift of presence. Linda Kohanov talks of her horses as Zen Masters. Oh, how right she is!

 

Day twenty one: cross the river

Replying to a letter from my daughter this morning, I found myself writing these words: “the stakes have been upped for all of us in different ways as if souls are suddenly asking for more reality in order to evolve more”.

Following on the heels of my thoughts yesterday about Influential spheres, it feels as though this is indeed the case. Not that tragedy is the exclusive property of this time and age, but that our communication skills combined with our ability to share and empathise, are taking us deeper into our collective journey as we process what is happening together.

If tragedy was a dominant theme in the first half of the 20th century during two world wars, things are different today. There is no single perpetrator to any of this. We fill the oceans with plastic, we chase the animals to extinction, we fill the atmosphere with pollution. Our bodies are reacting to many of the (GM or otherwise) foods that are grown. Our pollution is rampant. We are collectively choosing what can be described as a hot future. It is important to remember that this future is always, and will always be only one of many possible futures. We are responsible for the choices we make.

Deepening our conscious awareness of all this is a part of the process. Indeed the process is this deepening. All is linked and bound together. A butterfly flaps its wing in one part of the globe and a tornado forms in another”, a thought famously articulated by Edward Lorenz, (American mathematician, meteorologist, and a pioneer of chaos theory along with Mary Cartwright). Dean Koontz in his book “From the Corner of His Eye” wrote “Each smallest act of kindness, reverberates across great distances and spans of time – affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit, was the source of this good echo. Because kindness is passed on and grows each time it’s passed until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage, years later, and far away…”.

We are already living in the Aquarian age, in which inter-linkedness is the new normal. This degree of awareness and sharing is taking us further and further on our path to growth. It isn’t easy — we all have more and more to take on board. But this seemingly endless connectedness is indeed taking us somewhere: a place of compassion which has to be open 24 on 24, and 7 on 7…

This place is becoming the new normal too. We created this possibility, and now we have to own it. The waking up is at times painful. But the transformation that humanity is now embarking upon is truly awesome in its significance.