“Rest in natural great peace this exhausted mind,
Beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thoughts
Like the relentless fury of the pounding waves
In the infinite ocean of samsara.
Rest in natural great peace.”
Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche
According to the Buddhism, we're born with an innate ‘Natural Great Peace’, sometimes called our ‘Buddha nature’ – inherently luminous, calm and peaceful. But as we develop, grow into and work with the denser material world, we can lose sight of the light and the ability to access that most sensitive part of ourselves we might now label ‘cool’. For whatever reason, environmental, learned behaviour, or social conditioning, we often find it impossible to let our mind’s settle. Running after one thought or another means we end up chasing our tail - way off mark from the serenity or calm we’d like to be in while we deal with life’s constant flux and flow of change. It’s as though our dark side delights in overwhelming our radiance, to stultify us with fear and foreboding. Yet today is Equinox, when equal day and equal night is marked by the Sun moving into harmonious Libra, the sign of the scales: an internal balance between yin and yang enables us to pacify tension and stress, made especially easy by watching the breath. Libra is of the Air element, intellectual and rational; it shows how to control negative reactions and stop spiralling into a negative vortex purely by noting the breath; and this could gently push the ‘sensible’ button. Breathing short and fast is stressed; but long and slow and even breath is relaxed and paced.
And with the spirit of the Sun at a Cardinal point today, such as Libra (22:19 BST), it adds internal power and authority and the conviction to find our own light, without having to look outside of ourselves. That said Libra is the sign of partnerships, seeing how others are not a projection but a reflection of our own true peaceful nature.
Influencing the will to restore is also seen by two other sets of planetary dynamics currently constellating: In earthy Virgo, the practical sign of healing are Venus, Pallas Athena, Mercury (still retrograde) and Saturn. This is quite a combination indicating the need to take care of, and nurture others, as well as our selves and most importantly, boost our immune systems as naturally as we can. Healthcare is such a big issue these days, not just because of this stellium in Virgo (a stellium is when three or more planets are grouped together), but a celestial theme continued with the triple conjunction of expansive Jupiter, curative Chiron and spiritual Neptune, all in the collective sign of Aquarius. The urge is to be idealistic and go for boosting the critical spiritual mass.
Of course, we could all be being hoodwinked, but a lot of good news filtered through the media this week, in my humble opinion: net neutrality rules (very Saturn-Mercury), Tobin tax, Gross National Happiness, and a commitment to climate change adjustments in Copenhagen this December, and perhaps most encouraging of all is a call by the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, for global and nuclear disarmament. This may be because the recent third of the five Saturn-Uranus oppositions (the next are April and July) put the onus on Saturn to be more reasonable than repressive, thus prompting hope and faith. Which is just what we need right now, because the task of taking care of billions of people at the same time as empowering the human spirit is crucial, especially if we are to evolve and enlighten.
credits: The glorious painting of yin and yang is by Jim Thompson & the mandala is the Peace Garden at the London War Museum.
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