11th – 13th April: Inner Reconciliation: Awakened Compassion
by Sarah Varcas
“As we approach the lunar eclipse in Libra on 15th April, this
weekend raises the question of how to reconcile our hearts with our
minds when it comes to our connection with others. A conjunction between
Venus and Neptune in Pisces reminds us how vital the practice of
compassion is at this time in our global evolution. We may believe that
compassion is an experience or a feeling rather than a practice: we
either feel it or we don’t. To a certain extent this may be true. But an
opposition from the Moon in Virgo on 11th April reminds us that
compassion is an act of service not an internal experience, and as such
we can develop it, enhance it and allow it to grow within us, even in
the most unlikely of circumstances.
Most people will be moved to compassion by something, be it the
suffering of someone dear or the struggles of those far away. Perhaps
our compassionate nature is triggered more by the suffering of animals
or of Mother Earth herself. Wherever our heart is moved most readily to
compassion becomes the doorway into the growth of a more deeply
compassionate nature, shared not only with those things which move us
readily, but also with those issues and people we may more easily turn
from in judgement. At this time of significant astrological tension,
with the Grand Cross building as we speak, we all run the risk of losing
touch with compassion in favour of impatience, self-righteousness or
just plain old frustration with a life that just won’t offer up the
goods as we want it to!
With the Sun, Mercury and Uranus all currently in Aries it can be
easy to see things very much from our own point of view with little room
for objectivity. Our own perspective will tell us we are right, our
judgements are sound and our evaluation of the ‘worth’ of others is
accurate. This is what the mind usually tells us when pursuing its own
ends. It doesn’t need the distraction of other peoples’ feelings and
perspectives to confuse the issue! But Mars in Libra says we can’t avoid
them now. We have to expand our minds and hearts to encompass others no
matter how much doing so may rile us at times! And with things as
intense as they are right now, it may just be the most irritating
individual that we have to accommodate in our ‘compassion zone’, the
most infuriating perspective that we must begin to explore.
At times like this, the heavens remind us, it can be useful to take
in the much bigger picture. Yes, we are all individuals and relate to
each other as such, but we are each a reflection of something far
greater: a global brain, a universal heart, a collective consciousness
which defies any and all boundaries we attempt to impose upon it. As
part of this mind-blowing unity we cannot avoid the fact that we are
each of us dependent upon the other and to judge and/or reject, without
hesitation, another living being is ultimately to reject a part of our
own life-support system. No matter who or what they are, we share more
with them than anything which divides us, for we breathe the same air,
share the same planet and suffer the consequences of each others’
actions whether we recognize it or not.
There is currently a great polarization taking place, both externally
and internally. We may experience it personally as extremes of emotion,
one day full of peace the next full of despair, one day loving the next
enraged. And we see it in world affairs where social divides become
ever more stark and those with power become ever more desperate to
secure their position. At such times it’s easy to lose hope or balance
and act from a place of panic or fear (often disguised as righteous
anger!). But what’s really needed now is a groundswell of compassionate
action in our lives; action which says ‘I cannot allow injustice but I
recognize that I too perpetuate it. I will address my own prejudices,
judgements and condemnations just as I ask you to. Mine may not be as
great or as prolific as yours, but they all contribute to the suffering
of the whole and as such I take responsibility for my part in that as a
gesture of my deep desire for you to do the same’. Will all oppressors
and dictators, abusers and deceivers change their ways if we each do
this? No. Not immediately. And yes, there will be more suffering to
come, but the universal pool of condemnation, rejection and hatred will
be diluted, bit by bit, as one person after another looks into
themselves and recognizes the same seeds of fear, anger, hatred and
self-righteousness from which global injustices are born.
There is yet much to change in this world of ours if we are to birth
the Aquarian Age in its entirety. And yes, the birth process is a long
and arduous one. We are only just beginning to live with these new
energies, only just discovering how unity really works. But as we
approach the lunar eclipse in Libra we are encouraged to commit to the
development of compassion as the ground of our very being: not just
reserved for those who trigger it so readily in us, but shared with all
living beings in the recognition that we all share so much – love and
fear, pain and pleasure, hope and despair; the very air that we breathe
and the water which sustains our life. We all place our feet upon Mother
Earth as we walk and the more of those steps placed with awakened
compassion, the further those compassionate steps will reverberate
around the world.”
Sarah Varcas
Image: Unity at Dawn by Rassouli
http://astro-awakenings.co.uk/11th-13th-april-inner-reconciliation
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