Are you keeping your promises to yourself? Continuously check your alignment with your new path, with your intent to change. Focus on your feet, literally, on one step at a time, on what your feet are doing in each moment, on where they are taking you, on the road ahead of you. Don’t worry about what was or what is to come. Focus only on the moment that is, on each step as you take it, and where you are going. Reaffirm your intent to change each day, before you take that first step, making sure to set your foot down upon your path of heart. With your own heart’s intent firmly stated and planted in each step you take, renew your promises to yourself and carry on with a smile on your face, with positive thoughts in your mind, and with determination in every step. Know that you can do it. You are doing it. One day and one happy step at a time.
Find your way to the healing balm that lies within you, to your own knowledge lying in wait, to your own ancient wisdom from the many things you have learned over many lifetimes. You carry within you all that you need in order to change, to grow, to evolve, and to heal into a new you. Tap into those ancient reserves within. You are your own medicine healer, your own teacher magician, your own wise person. Let your fullness emerge and become known to you in every calm breath you take, in every positive thought you think, in every sure step you take, for you do have within you all it takes to not only walk your path of heart but to flourish upon it. With firm intent, call upon your ancient wisdom within you, and use it wisely for your own greater good.
Something is missing. The old guard has left and the new guard arrived, but something is lacking. The old had something of value to offer; years of discipline, the will of accumulated practice, ancient knowledge that only an old warrior can accumulate and use properly. It is not appropriate to completely throw out the old. Learn from the old, even as you strive for the new, and all will not be lost. You are not forsaken but only eager, and you have quickly forgotten what you truly know; the beauty of kindness, the spirit of compassion, the wonder of love, even for yourself. These ancient powers still work and their magic must still prevail. Rely on them and all will be well, within and without.
Through the darkening of the light, remain steady… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
On the day of the assassination of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, I consulted the I Ching for its perspective on it, as well as on the conflagration in Australia. Hexagram #63, After Completion, moving line in the fifth place, was my answer. The future of this constellation is hexagram #36, Darkening of the Light.
Completion, for the I Ching, marks the climax or culmination of a cycle that must, alas, begin anew. Think of the highpoint of the lunar cycle, the full moon. Once fullness is reached the light begins immediately to wane, as a new cycle begins. The events of January 3, 2020 mark the completion of a cycle; we are in a whole new era now.
Both the dramatic actions of nature, in its fires, and of human nature, in its decision to assassinate, mark the completion of a dream. We awaken now to a new dream. The moving line in the fifth place addresses the first order of business for that new dream: What attitude will prevail now?
This moving line in the fifth place is an action line that typically overreacts or takes action of its own accord when it is actually most appropriate to be patient, sober, and humble. This is an instance of the ego pushing the river, when what is called for is going with the flow. Here ego acts on its own willfulness, rather than assuming its proper place, as General to the intent of the High Self/Soul.
Though history does tend to repeat itself, the I Ching holds that we are not absolute victims of our habits, tendencies, and proclivities. The moving line in the fifth place depicts the usual course of history, history repeating itself. With that outcome in mind, it forecasts Darkening of the Light for the future, which is a time when shadow forces predominate, and the forces of light retreat, for safekeeping.
Within the hologram of every individual is the collective dream we are all confronted with and share, in some way, within ourselves. Thus, the fires of nature rage in the anxieties and mounting passions we all experience within our individual psyches and lives. As well, we all must contend with our ego selves that seek immediate relief and solution from the tension.
All of us must face the clouded perception brought about by the Darkening of the Light, as special interest entities try to steal our attention, energy, and allegiance to support their intent for this new dream. We truly are in a waking dream that has unleashed all manner of fantastic characters.
Keep it simple; address the dream of your individual life. Own every character that you are drawn to, or are afraid of, in the world. Find that character in the self, particularly the emperor with no clothes. Lead that character, not censoriously but definitely, into the light. Face the truth, and let it set you free through right action, action in alignment with the Tao.
For those characters that have taken up residence within but truly don’t belong there, vote them out. Send them off with compassion that they might find their own way home to wholeness.
And then, regardless of the duration of the darkness, guard your guiding light, as we embark upon A New Era.
Let love be your guide no matter the outside influences that seek to dissuade you from a path with heart, for a path with heart is the eternal means by which love endures. Love, that elusive truth that carries no harm, wants only to be kept alive so that all beings may experience its light. Even as you take care of yourself and your loved ones, even as you take your small steps in new directions, and even as you ponder the immensity of the life you are in, do not forget the light of love. Keep it always lit within in you, and tend to it daily, for in the end it may be all you have to rely on with any certainty.
