...When Times Are Difficult

As could be expected, many people are having a very hard time right now. Beyond the natural and unnatural disasters affecting millions, many individuals are having feelings of hopelessness due to a lack or death of something or someone, the general isolation of the quarantine, or the darkness of our political situation.

I last gave this to you about 3 years ago, in response to receiving an email from someone who felt their life was hopelessly at a standstill, with no money, no partner, no kids, no job, and nothing was going right. They asked me “Is there any hope in the future? Cause without health and money nothing really comes around... Should I move somewhere else? Will that change my destiny?”

They felt a lack of favorable aspects in their natal chart was oppressing them. As I explained, an absence of trines doesn't mean a lack of understanding or harmonic flow in the chart, since all waxing squares in the natal chart become trines by progression, and waning squares become quintiles and sextiles. There is NO birthchart beyond hope!

The Birth Chart Shows the Mystery of our Self-Unfoldment

ALL birth charts show aptitude, challenges to be overcome, and forms of personal mastery to be practiced. The toughest aspects, when we rise to the challenge of "right action," show us our power to triumph even in the midst of greatest adversity, since as I made clear in Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend whatever presents itself to us from the outer world is not as important as our reaction to them and how we handle them.

There is no destiny except the one we create. Only two things are fated in this world: 1) To be born where you were, when you were, to the people you were, and 2) The timing on your life choices. Everything else is free will, or the lack of application of that free will.

These are Saturn lessons usually confronted around 28-29 and 57-59 years of age, as well as points about 7 to 14 years from these points. Of course, Saturn also makes conjunctions, squares, and oppositions to every planet in our chart every 29 years, so there is no part of us that is not severely challenged from time to time. Even when one area goes well, there’s probably a Saturn challenge going on in another sector of our lives. Saturn represents Divine Understanding, and without it we’d never know significant growth.

These points of challenge are when we learn that though we do not control other people or outer events set into motion by other people, we always have the power to choose how we want to respond to crucial life junctures. We always have the power to choose our actions, thoughts, and feelings as we encounter what life presents our 5 senses and our minds. When misapplied, or avoided, that creates the lesser karmas that plague us. Yet that power is awesome when applied to appropriate ends.

Our true Eternal nature is loving, wise, and intelligent. If we’re willing to claim these virtues, expressing whatever Truth is ours to manifest, we can change our lives for the better. However, because life has its own rhythms and inertias, changing long term patterns is like being the Captain of an ocean liner. It takes a while to change direction, and a small shift in trajectory at any point usually creates a huge difference in where we land.

Past Difficulties, Negative States, and lower ego

We all have at least one major tragedy as we move through life experience which shakes us to our core. These are "Big K" Karmas that deal us a major wound which we must face and heal if we are to find joy and happiness in our time on Earth. Everybody goes through these, so again, it's nothing personal, per se. These teach us how to come out of a sense of separateness into the awareness we share with millions across time.

Dealing with these “Big K Karmic wounds” offer us opportunities to bring forth a Divine Understanding whereby we demonstrate our Love, Wisdom, and Intelligence to our world. As we manifest these virtues, we bring forth good works and heal our less fortunate Brothers and Sisters who suffer the same "Divine afflictions." These are Sacred Wounds which when grieved and healed lead us to the heart of compassion where we see our Oneness with all who live here on beautiful Earth.

Negative states are also a lower ego problem. Lower ego gets confused, panicked, and fearful, since lower ego is fundamentally not real and can only reference the mind, feelings, and body. When we get into negative states, it's a clear sign we must step back from ego, and allow our higher loving, wise, intelligent Self to help our frightened and confused ego see that which NEEDS to be dealt with, transmuted, and healed. Everything that has the power to make us feel "nothing has gone right for me" is the foundation of an illusion that must be unlearned if we are to live a fulfilling life.

No one can let go of negative thinking and feeling but us! Simply living with these negative thoughts and feelings merely magnetizes more of the same. They often result from too much attachment to past sorrows, which while real, should not be carried forward, since they impede one's ability to find lasting happiness.

Relevant to these things, if you are having a hard time with Big K karma, little k karma, a wound past or present, or feeling trapped to any degree in a sense of hopelessness or despair, please consider getting a copy of my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. In that work I give practical ways of overcome feelings of despair or hopelessness accompanying any Saturn transit, as well as ways to claim the power over your lower ego and through integrating your personality become the loving wise understanding of your true nature.

Ending Negative Patterns and Generating Positive Ones

When things seem like "nothing has gone right for me," two thoughts come to mind: 1) You're not seeing the bigger picture, and 2) You could be "pushing the river," i.e., doing the "wrong thing," or even the "right thing" but in the "wrong place or time." These are the result of allowing ego, our own or someone else’s, to cloud our ability to see the bigger picture, and do "the right thing in the right place at the right time." So how can we stop these unfortunate patterns and claim our happiness, power, effectiveness, and fulfillment?

First, see that you are at a potential beginning, even if you don't know what it is going to look like. Try to stay focused that it's not the past, and not yet the future! Live in the Now, since this is truly the only time we can do or not do something.

If you knew what to do, you'd be doing it. So accept that even if you don't seem to know what to do, if you program a receptivity to learning and understanding in your mind, you will see potential actions, thoughts, and feelings which will give you a sense of positive movement.

The mind is like a drinking glass. An empty glass can be filled. A full glass must be emptied before it can receive new contents. A lot of life is about unlearning unproductive reactions to what life deals us. While life is painful, we do not have to suffer. An untrained mind falls into suffering over its own suffering pretty fast, and our job is to break the links which perpetuate suffering in our mind.

Judging the process too quickly is an unhelpful delusion of the lower ego. We are always beginning something of our journey out of darkness into light, ignorance into understanding, and frustration into potential fulfillment. When we choose to move our lives in a different direction, it’s like planting seeds which begin to sprout instantly. Tugging on them to grow faster, or feeling hopeless because they aren't fully realized in a day or a week is useless, and may even impede the process, since impatience, judgments based on illusions, and vain imaginings are counterproductive.

Do not over-identify with what you've been given or denied, since everyone has the same experience of being given some things and denied others. Here it’s useless to compare ourselves to others, or some abstract standard we learned from others when we didn't know better. Life is never at a standstill unless we're not exchanging energy and refuse to give and receive forms of love. Each has their Way to walk, and chooses how happy or unhappy they will be as they walk the Way.

We’re Never As Stuck as our ego Feels

There is no such thing as standstill, except temporarily. These are moments to reflect on how you want to fill the time than to be trapped by too much going on that isn't good. And all of us from time to time need to take moments of pause to correct our course, rest and regenerate, or simply enjoy the sweetness of Life in the Now.

We all can remember that life is always here and now. That’s why it’s useless to get preoccupied with lesser concerns. Open to the new, rather than get stuck in despair over the past, and what is or is not. Even if things are impossibly tough, finding a new view often opens the door to undreamt of possibilities.

Accept the uniqueness of your path to Truth, and remember life on Earth is impermanent, as are all other forms. Money, jobs, friends, and all relationships are like air. We breathe in the air, and then must release it.

When lungs are empty, we can fill them with air. When they are filled with stagnant air, there's nothing to do but empty them. Life's like that.

It is the same with everything else on Earth. That which is true for us sticks to us. That which is not true for us, or has become not true for us, vanishes into the mists of time. It is our job to understand what comes and what goes without being thrown into attachment, aversion, delusions, or needless suffering.

We all need fertile ground in which to thrive. If we find ourselves on barren ground, sometimes we must move, whether we want to or not. If we don't know where to go, Spirit always sends us signals, but it is WE who must learn to pay attention and not get lost in gloomy or hopeless states of mind, since these feed a delusion that unfortunate mental and emotional states can bring us health, wealth, love, or perfect self-expression.

Ultimately we must honor the goodness, truth, and beauty we ARE rather than focus on unhelpful things. This involves remembering we are Eternals who are having human experiences.

We all have a body that has issues we must deal with. We all have feelings that need to be transmuted. We all have minds that need opening and a productive self-discipline.

And yet, regardless of the ups and downs and how we feel in the moment, we all are always and forever the Eternal Higher Self. Our Higher Self has the power to help our lower self come into harmony with the Higher Self, the Soul, and the Spirit. Welcome to being a human on Earth, which can be an incredibly beautiful place if you think about it. Everything depends on our point of view.

May Peace Be With You. Namaste.

© Copyright 2020 Robert Wilkinson - https://www.aquariuspapers.com
Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with persmission from Robert Wilkinson.