Autumn Equinox 2017

The Equinox is all about equal time. Not surprising that it leads us into the sign of Libra, the Balance. Harmony. Focus. Collaboration. Compassion. All of the aspects of the balancing sign of Libra.

One month ago, we were in the midst of the energy of the Solar Eclipse. Was that truly only one month ago? It seems like a lifetime has evolved in the interim. That eclipse touched at least 14 states in the US ~ maybe more, if counting those that were beyond the 90% totality mark.

Between then and now, several hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires have touched even more lives. It's almost as though the corona of eclipse lit up more than the sky. And here we are, at the moment in the year where we can almost hear the wheel crank toward autumn. Before it fully clicks into place, we hang in the momentary balance of Light and Dark.

Although we call this day both the final day of Summer and the first day of Fall, neither season moves quite so precisely into the next. Yes, the tilt of the Earth is at its farthest reach. If the sky is clear enough for us to see the Moon, we will also find Jupiter close by, but only in the dance of light before sunset. At least until the 25th, when Saturn steps closer to the Moon.

Fall is the time of year when we switch our goals from expansion and growth to the harvest. Reaping what we have sown. And it signals a general slowing of the pace. Not quite to full relaxation, but certainly to a more mellow pace. The light begins to lessen and the dark and quiet pervade our world. Hopefully, we find our rhythm syncing with Nature's. We feel the cyclical time pulling at us. Quiet ourselves and listen.

What goals and intentions that you planted in the Spring are you reaping now? What are you going to turn under, plow into the soil, this Fall? How will you slow your pace? How do you feel the rhythm of Nature? Where do you find harmony? What in your life needs to be balanced?

Watching the Snow

People who don't live in my neck of the woods often laugh at the way 2-3 inches of snow shut down schools and municipal offices. This picture is from the first day of Snowmageddon. Yes, green grass, nearly ready for mowing peeked through the snow. In the previous week, there was talk about early flowers poking through. I wore an open flannel shirt as my coat. (Yes, I live in the Hipsterville side of the country.)

Even so, we also prayed for more snow for the ski season on the mountain an hour or so drive away. Our concern with the environment means we don't use salt. Add some hills to the mix (hills which might be labeled 'mountains' in other parts of the country) and it's a set up for trouble.

The first week, the first school closure day was a bit of a bust. The next was icy and well-called. As usual, winter precipitation disappeared in the next days. Week two, the forecasters faltered and downgraded the coming storm. It hit midday Wednesday. By the time schools let out, the streets were snow-covered and growing icy. Commuters left work early and everything ran late. People arrived home after harrowing four to ten hour drives, instead of the usual twenty to forty minutes. They saw accidents, abandoned cars, near-miss accidents of their own, and even occasional abandonment of their own cars. Schools closed for the following day and later for the final day before Winter Break. City officials were taken to task for not being prepared. School administrations were chided for the hundreds of students stuck in schools until 6 p.m. or later the first night and for the accidents school buses had and for the students left to walk treacherous stretches from emergency bus route stops.

Even though I ventured out, I could safely watch the snow gather on and defrost off my windshield as I sat within and waited for it to clear. I was a mile away from home and certain I could hoof it home safely if need be.

There's something relaxing about snow...it's soundless entry into the day.... it's shining brightness. The cold adds to the effect, enticing one to hibernation. But our work-a-day world, with its constant lights and demand that we work on a particular schedule, finds this disruptive, disquieting and disturbing. We feel pulled in different directions. Are we here to live, breathe and enjoy life? Or are we here to carry on and ignore what Nature Itself is providing? What is the consequence of our ignoring Nature?

What do you do when the weather changes are extreme? How do you work in extremes of heat? cold? wet? storms? How does the weather effect your focus? What do you think of when you see snow outside your window? How do you balance the flow of Nature with the flow of work?

Unhurried Nature

Many of the great prophetic voices said this same thing in different ways. Today's Teabag Tarot is a translation of Lao Tzu's version: Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. The version from the book of Ecclesiastes reads: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.

We learn to rush through things, to hurry every process we can. Yet most things occur in their own course of time. When children or animals are born prematurely, a range of consequences can happen. When fruit is plucked before its time, its flavor and sweetness suffer. When we rush through traffic, we miss signs and cause accidents. No matter what motion or growth or activity is concerned, hurrying rarely helps.

I grew up around the Ecclesiastes version, including one turned into a folk song, Turn, Turn, Turn. Children often want to grow up more quickly. In today's bustle, even the seasonal celebrations are rushed: Halloween beginning right after school starts in September; Christmas following on the heels of Halloween; summer clothing showing up in February. The result of all this hurrying is anxiety ~~ the constant concern of never being ready, never being or having enough.

With one holiday over and another on the way, my plan is to allow for the pace of Nature. My trip to the beach reinforced the notion that nothing I do can change the progress of time or the fickleness of Nature. I wanted more time on the sands of the beach. Instead, I had time inside, watching the storms blow through. Quieting my body to the rhythm of Nature, allowing my mind to relax its vigilant pace. Winter is the time of Nature's hibernation. Rather than rush frantically around, I will allow for the quiet, leave time for rest, wake up to what Nature is teaching.

How do you pace yourself? What do you attempt to rush? What causes you to be more anxious? Over what do have control? What more can you learn from Nature about pacing?

Retrograde and The Empress

From the guide:

The Empress signifies the female and chaotic power of the universe. She guards the powerful and vulnerable life force, which delicate balance should be protected but not constricted. This sensual and loving archetype teaches us to love and cherish ourselves as well as the world around us. A mother's true love means granting freedom for change and growth, protecting without smothering. As all mothers she juggles many tasks and she succeeds because she draws her energy from the love within her.

Today begins Mercury Retrograde. We're also experiencing Mars, Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn Retrograde. We spend much time blaming Mercury Retrograde for everything from our mood to losing a shoe as well as using it as an excuse to avoid certain activities. So what precisely does 'retrograde' mean in our lives? It could possibly have an inverse effect or create a reversal of situations, change of feelings or activities, alter our communications, or affect our ability to discern information positively.

As I knew we were beginning the oft dreaded Mercury Retrograde, I drew a tarot card with the focus question of: What do I need to balance and stay strong during this time? The Empress showed up. What I especially love in the passage from the guide is that She is the female and chaotic power of the universe. So that's the balance and strength I need for this time? I would suppose it is. Even though that is a strong and powerful part of Her, She is also the Mother. She embodies both the universal chaos with its implicit movement and disruption and the eternal mother with its calm, embracing steadiness.

As I read about the other Retrograde companions, I realized The Empress was even more perfect for this time. Looking at this particular image of The Empress, She is strength, love and vulnerability. She's without clothing ~ symbolizing being without guile ~ in Nature. She has an intimate, loving relationship with Her child. She holds a spiral shell of stars over her midsection which symbolizes the fertile, ever-expanding universe. The Empress understands Nature, is free within it, and shares it with Her offspring. I am safe with Her by my side.

How do you experience Mercury Retrograde? What have you heard about it? Even if you don't personally follow astrology, are there times when things go askew multiple ways or times at once? How do you balance yourself during these times? What do you see in The Empress? How could She guide you through your off-balance moments?

Standing within the Otherness

©2014 Mary-Lynne Monroe

"I stood willingly and gladly in the characters of everything ~ other people, trees, clouds. And this is what I learned, that the world's otherness is antidote to confusion ~ that standing within this otherness ~ the beauty and the mystery of the world, out in the fields or deep inside books ~ can re-dignify the worst stung heart."

~ Mary Oliver

What a rich and vibrant imagination Mary Oliver has! She writes of the capacity, the ability to stand in the character of another ~ whether that 'other' is human or not. I meditated deeply on this concept, which was a good thing to do. I remembered times when I did perhaps what she writes of, or perhaps something that's only akin to it.

In February of 2014 a friend and I took a short road trip. We arrived late and settled into our room. I woke earlier than she did so I bundled myself up, gathered my camera and gloves, and set out for a walk. The air was clear and crisp with frost covering the shaded bushes. I set a quick pace. Every possible element of nature seen on that walk spoke to me ~ the high blue-shadowed hillsides, the stark trees with their arms askew, the noisy crows. I spoke to them all as I snapped photos. As I was returning to the motel, caws became louder, more insistent and angry. I looked around for the cause of the crow's ire. Sitting in a nearby tree was a beautiful red-tailed hawk. Whispering my gratitude to my beloved crows, I pointed my camera into the branches. The hawk seemed to pause, posing for me, head turning from side to side, body occasionally bouncing forward. I was so engrossed that when the hawk took flight, I could feel my body lighten and lift. Although at that moment, I lost sight of the hawk, I felt the full extension of the wings catching air. Returning to myself, I went inside the motel to prepare for the rest of my day ~ overflowing with joy and gratitude.

Have you had an experience of connection with nature, of 'standing in the character of another'? What was it like? How did you feel afterward? How would you step into nature to find that kind of experience? Are there other authors who have described the kind of experience you had?

Natural Expectation

©2014 ML Monroe

I'm afraid to live any place but in expectation.

~ Leonard Cohen, The Favorite Game

Over the past decade or so, there's been much focus on being in the present moment. Many interpret that to mean we stay focused on today and have no expectations. From my point of view, that's a near impossibility. I wouldn't get out of bed in the morning if I didn't expect the natural flow of time would call me forth to work, to breakfast, to greet the day. Although that sounds simplistic, there is a natural expectation that dwells within all living creatures.

The bee expects to find sustenance when it reaches a flower. Her inclination is to reach for it, to touch it, to check it out. She does that because of her natural expectation around flowers.

Humans have natural expectations too. Infants are born expecting to be fed and nurtured. Most newborns naturally turn toward the mother's breast, open-mouthed, searching for food. They live in that precise moment with a need and an expectation that the need will be met.

Our fears and anxieties are often born out of unmet expectations. Or the thought that the expectations may go unmet. Our thoughts, our creative imaginations, so vital to our life and survival, can also conjure fear.

Understanding that some of our expectations are natural provides balance in the now moment. Expectations mean we are looking for or forward to something. What creates the negative side is our anxiety that those expectations will go unmet. If we live in the present moment, we can acknowledge the expectation and the feelings around it without allowing those feelings to overwhelm us, and without getting upset with ourselves if they do.

What are your natural expectations? How do you feel when you think about them? What feelings overwhelm you when you think the expectations aren't going to be met?

Choices

"God must act and pour himself into you the moment he finds you ready. Don't imagine that God can be compared to an earthly carpenter, who acts or doesn't act, as he wishes; who can will to do something or leave it undone, according to his pleasure. It is not that way with God: where and when God finds you ready, he must act and overflow into you, just as when the air is clear and pure, the sun must overflow into it and cannot refrain from doing that."

~ Meister Eckhart

Before anything else, my disclaimer: I generally don't use 'he' God language. However, I am quoting Meister Eckhart and that's the language he used. Think about this in whatever terms feel most comfortable for you.

How amazing! I have free will ~ I can determine my actions or inactions. They are governed by my 'pleasure' ~ simply put, my own personal choice. If I want to stay home in bed until past noon, I can do that. If I want to sew a dress for myself, I can do that. Everything is governed by my choices.

Yet according to Eckhart, God doesn't have that same opportunity to choose. If God finds me ready ~ whatever that may mean ~ God must act. Like the river rushing to the sea ~ encountering rocks and a drop off, it becomes a waterfall or a set of rapids. The river has no choice. It can't say, "No, I don't want to do this now." It can't wait until later or change what it does or where it goes. It becomes a force that acts because it IS...... not because it chooses.

I've never thought of God in those terms ~ acting in certain ways due to His very nature. It's a thought I will continue to ponde

How do you experience God? What do you think is His nature? What do you think about His actions?