Oh the shedding that has been happening with this eclipse season! A new clarity is coming through with the drying, simplifying energy of the Moon now travelling through Capricorn. I feel like a tree in autumn, with dead things swirling around me in the eclipse wind. Some things needed to go and were actively released them, others came as a total surprise when they shrivelled up and dropped away.
I know some truly painful losses have happened in recent weeks – precious loved ones, devoted pets, special relationships – and grieving this is an experience in and of itself. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and her work with grief show this as part of a natural cycle, the Wheel of Life.
“Any natural, normal human being, when faced with any kind of loss, will go from shock all the way through acceptance.” ~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
I also heard many stories of overwhelm, as clients have struggled to grasp the what next, or the where to from here. As the Lunar eclipse happens on Wednesday morning (7.38am AEST, Tuesday 5.39pm New York and 10.39pm London), old doorways are firmly barred and new thresholds are being crossed. Transitions like this may bring up anxiety and overwhelm, so perhaps these four guidelines can help in days to come:
Being present
As this tree analogy came to me, I was left wondering if trees feel grief as their leaves slowly die off and drop away? Or does the display of colour and the promise of richness in their decay alleviate the pain? Perhaps nature is so present with the cycle of life that all of this just IS. No sense of loss for the past, no expectation on the future, just what is happening now. As the Moon brings itself back into exact alignment with the Earth and Sun, we have a chance to stay in a place of ‘stepped back’ feeling response. To be with what is, and not what was or what should be. To stand, like those trees, witnessing our decayed parts falling away as another cycle of our lives.
Work out your priorities
This quote came through my inbox today “Overwhelm doesn’t exist. You are either unprepared or it is not a priority.” (Suzanne Evans) How very Capricorn! Now that so much has fallen away it’s easier to prioritise and focus on what is important and deserves your time/energy/focus. And to clearly examine what hasn’t worked, why and then how you can be better prepared next time. A recent busy period of work for me became overwhelming, until good friends prompted me to see I needed more efficient systems and to prioritise what would make the best use of my time.
Stay imperfectly perfect
I’ll bring you back to those trees, not one of them is perfect and yet to our eye, each is a beautifully perfect image of what created it. And we humans are the same. You may not have achieved all your goals, to behave as you hoped or been who you dreamed. Now is time to let that go, accept it as a loss and move into the final stage of acceptance. Because within death lies growth, within endings lie beginnings. It is from this space that we can see the past nurturing our future, can understand the lessons taught and bring them into ourselves towards our future.
Turn lead into gold
Adversity build resilience. It’s a fact of life, seen in people, communities, and societies. Some of the people I most admire have risen up from pain or challenges, including Maya Angelou, J.K. Rowling and Drew Barrymore. Even Thomas Edison made 10,000 lightbulbs before he got it right. Their challenges and facing them, accepting the failure and trying to learn from it, is what created their resilience and ability to push forward. Each of us can do this too, as resilience comes when we look for the lessons in the pain.
Thank you Alicia, this has been most helpful xo
My pleasure! Hope you get through it all with calm and grace x