More Adventures in New Zealand: The Personal is Political

[heavenly]

More Adventures in New Zealand: The Personal is Political

Kia-ora!

It’s my last full day here and I’m sitting in beautiful café in an historic cottage on Auckland’s Mission Bay, looking out at the harbour. To my right is the fountain that my brothers and I used to play in as kids. At night it used to be lit in an array of rainbow colours - I don’t know if this still happens – and it used to be a real treat for dad to drive us here so we could ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ at the sight. Years later my own kids played in this same fountain, choosing to splash in it rather than swim in the sea just a few metres away. Perhaps the fountain seemed more fanciful with its decorations of mythical sea creatures and the gentle spray of water was more to their liking than the more ferocious waves breaking on the shore.

Small things delight us when we’re kids, don’t they? The world seems a wondrous place full of possibility. I wonder when that changes? I can never recall a time when my joyful exuberance got subdued but it happened somewhere between learning to walk and sitting my first exam. I am certainly not alone with this. When I coach other writers a lot of time is spent healing those wounding messages that were used to squash childhood optimism. Who are you to think you can write,paint/speak/dance/create? Whether those first cruel messages come from parents, siblings, teachers, peers or all of the above, the impact is so destructive to our innate creativity. Real adulthood – one that is not simply a re-living of our parents’ expectations or a projection of our limitations – involves conscious healing of all of those destructive comments. It also simply means letting go, of knowing we don’t need to carry this crap any more and surrendering the burden so we can dance free.

On Saturday I caught up with an old school friend. I haven’t seen him for over thirty years but the parallels apparent in our separate journeys amazed us. On the face of it they have been quite different. He has been a gardener, a drummer, a Matai (Samoan word for “Chief”) a Cabinet minister and MP, a husband, father and grandfather. I have been a teacher, writer, publisher, wife, mother, lover and more. We have both experienced moments when our lives were irrevocably changed. We have experienced amazing joy and gut-wrenching grief. Through it all we have somehow found acceptance for all that life brings us as well as that essential part of ourselves that is the rock that we can depend on when everything else is gone.

He had some class photos of us when we were little tots just five and six years old. I gazed at those faces that looked at the camera with such hope and optimism and I remarked that it is just as well that we don’t know all that lies ahead because otherwise we might never sign on for this journey we call life.

It is just as well that life is gentle with us, just giving us one day at a time. If we live it that way, not projecting fear into the future, then even the roughest times are manageable.

I couldn’t sleep last night. It’s often the case when there is a full moon. When I did go to sleep I dreamt. Somehow, through the mists of my dream, I heard a male voice proclaiming, “Il est mort”, he is dead. This morning, as I recalled the voice I wondered did it refer to my most recent relationship, the one that I ended in May? Did it mean that I’ve finally let go? I hope so because now I can bring in something new, something authentic and respectful. Whatever the voice was telling me, it was certainly letting me know that some aspect of me that no longer serves has passed away. That’s a matter for great celebration! So what might this full moon mean for you and for the planet?

As I’ve already said, last night was the full moon in Aries. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac and a fire sign.

It is very appropriate that I am writing about letting go of wounds because this Aries full moon offers a rare opportunity to do just that. Full moons are normally about completion while new moons are about beginnings. This full moon brings together both – a healing of the wounds of the past and the possibility of doing something different. It is the full moon of the child; a celebration of innocence, adventurousness and starting anew. If you have something to release this full moon, there is still time. Write down what needs to go and, using a ritual that is meaningful to you, release your words to the earth with fire. Make sure you do this in a safe way, using a container that is fireproof and having water on hand to cool the ashes when your ritual is over.

While I have been in New Zealand spending time with my dad, brother and friends and enjoying my trip down memory lane, the world has been going through a global financial meltdown of the likes never seen on this planet. What will happen? The truth is that no one knows and it’s going to take some time for the dust to settle.

Astrologically, this is an auspicious time. Yesterday not only heralded the event of the Aries full moon, it was also the day Mercury – planet of communication – ended its retrograde motion. It had been retrograde since September 24th. Have you experienced missed messages, emails going astray, problems reaching people by phone, letter or email? Has your computer gone haywire? Such things are common during Mercury retrograde.

Personally, I don’t put much stock in the “solutions” to the global crisis that politicians have put in place during the Mercury retrograde. I’m far more interested in what happens now. What I am heartened by is the universal – and unprecedented – co-operation that bankers and politicians are displaying. In the face of a global fiscal meltdown, national boundaries somehow don’t seem as important as they once did. This is an acknowledgement of what many of us have already realised – we are all connected, we are all one. The political is personal and vice versa.

On a personal level, I have experienced the loss of all my money. It happened many years ago, here in New Zealand, and it was devastating. Financial catastrophe holds no fear for me now but I sympathise with all those who are currently feeling vulnerable. If this is how you are feeling, be gentle with yourself. I suggest you go deeper to experience who you really are. You are not your money, you are not your home, you are not even your job or your health. You are a Divine Spark. You are made of pure love and creative possibility. Connect with that now as never before and when you do, all fear will dissolve.

It’s time now for you and I to put all our loving, creative energy into bringing about a new world. We are on the brink of something very exciting and it involves re-connecting with our childhood faith in the future and the abundance of the Universe. The US and New Zealand have elections in the first week of November. Pluto, the planet that forces us to face our shadow side, moves into Capricorn on November 24th. Capricorn is the planet of business and commerce. The world has only just started to feel the pangs of childbirth, there is a whole new reality that is about to be born and we are its Keepers. Don’t be scared, be excited. Know that you can trust yourself to know what is best for you. Go deep, deep inside and listen to your voice of truth. Don’t get hooked into anyone else’s fearful vision of the future but don’t be silent either. Your hope is just as contagious as other people’s fear. Be the voice that lifts and inspires. Our new world is here and it needs you and me.

Happy ever after starts today!

Harae mai! When next we talk I’ll be back in the Land of Oz. ‘Til then, take care and be Love.

Joy