If we make transformation something we seek rather than something we only do when necessary, then we can embrace this time of "dire beauty"* and constant change.
We have been living in a fool's paradise for decades. Any thinking person must realize that living on credit is
unsustainable. We were lulled into feeling we could have anything we wanted if our credit line was high enough. Anyone who came close to paying their credit cards off frequently noticed that just as they approached freedom from debt, they were given a higher limit, thus putting this or that luxury item within their reach. Many went for it, buying more, upgrading, and extending.
During the early 90's so many people re-financed their homes to remodel or add-on and now they are in debt.
I have seen people with dozens of credit cards. I have known people who have hundreds of thousands in credit card debt. Hello? Unless you plan to never pay them off and work it out so you die before it all starts to collapse (kind of like putting just the right amount of milk in your cereal so it all comes out exact at the end), you are in for years of misery. Rather than being free, you are in debt peonage. You have to keep working at that job you hate just to pay your bills. You can never retire.
Did Adam and Eve have bills? Did Moses have a mortgage? Did Jesus need the latest cell phone to get his message out? Was he tweeting day and night about what's on TV or new shoes? How did they manage?
In our modern culture we are praised for our credit score rather than our ability to live within our means. We are taught there is no limit; that we can have it all. But now, we are finding out otherwise.
To the extent that we bought into that system, we were similar to gambling addicts who believe that just because they won $10.00, they will continue to win and win bigger if they keep playing. They were lucky once and they might be lucky again, but the odds are against them.
We live on a planet with some renewable resources and with many that are non-renewable. The carrying capacity of Earth ... that is the maximum population density has been reached. We cannot stuff one more thing into that suitcase. There is no larger suitcase available. We must change our behavior.
We can do this kicking and screaming, or we can do it willingly and enthusiastically. Reframing is another word for attitude shift/paradigm shift. This means thinking and doing things in a different way and it may be unthinkable at first. We must learn to rely on inspiration (Uranus) and creative imagination (Neptune) to help us unveil these new ways of doing, thinking and being. The mind that thought up the problem is not what will find the solution. It comes from a different source.
Most people only change when they are forced to. They continue to do certain things despite the overwhelming evidence for its negative effects. I see women who are 10 years younger than me, who smoke a pack or two a day, whose faces look like dried prunes, wondering why I look so young for my age. Duh! I don't smoke. The proof stands before them and yet, they continue to smoke, cough, choke, smoke and smoke.
Whereas we may know what we don't want... what do we want? Aha!
That can sometimes be a difficult question to answer. Ask a starving child in India and the answer is easy: a meal for himself and his family. But since most of us reading this blog are beyond those basic survival needs, what do we want?
I have to admit I spend a lot to time thinking about this. If I create my own reality, I want to create something
meaningful and satisfying. This has compelled me to examine my beliefs, goals, and desires. What I have come to is this: I want to want what I have. I want to be satisfied with what is. I want to see and know that everything is already perfect.
So we come to cherish. The dictionary defines 'cherish' as:
1 a : to hold dear : feel or show affection for
2: to entertain or harbor in the mind deeply and resolutely
The word is related to charity, care and cher (dear in French) and comes from Latin via French. It was first used in the 14th century.
These are all in the realm of Venus which rules both Taurus and Libra. With the Sun in Taurus facing the Moon in Scorpio, and in light of what I wrote above, we might consider learning to care for what we already have, repairing and restoring those things we purchased in the past and that with some TLC (tender loving care) might have some more life in them, or transforming them into something else.
I was thinking of quilts for example. In the past, people cut the good part out of their old clothes and patched them together to make warm blankets. They didn't go to a craft store and buy new swatches. They used what they had. Old thread-bare blankets were put between the layers of the quilt for added warmth. They didn't buy special batting in plastic bags to insert in the quilts. Quilts were made of all recycled materials and...often totally hand sewn. I still have one made by my paternal grandmother.
As for the second definition: most of us are quick to forget the past and everything associated with it. We want to live only in the present...or future. We look forward to what we are going to do this summer for example.
While dwelling on the past is inappropriate, I think we are deepened if we can cherish ie honor and value what has come before, realizing that the past is the basis for what exists now. It is our history.
At this point some of you may be saying, "She just contradicted herself. First she says act in new ways, out of the box etc., now she is advocating cherishing the past. What's up?" My response is that 1) the ability of hold two apparently contradictory views simultaneously is the mark of intelligence and this is where the synthesis occurs. Synthesis equals thesis plus anti-thesis. Synthesis is the 'third force' that comes from the reconciling of opposites. We must get beyond the apparent contradictions, the yes/no, the polarity to a third, yet unknown possibility that is lurking beyond the veil.
This powerful Full Moon in Scorpio is a portal to that place beyond the veil.
* an expression coined by Caroline Casey heard each week on KPFA. Go to her website for more.
