Midwifery of a Moment

I find myself in Espanola, New Mexico right at the initial lip of fall, just as the leaves are beginning to dry but at the precipitous moment before they change color. The rattle of the aspen leaves in the desert wind—which now carries in it that foreboding freshness which will eventually turn to the icy cold breath of winter—seems to be the most gentle motion nature can make, like a lullaby sung to a child as its falling asleep.

The pace of life is slow here; light and sound pollution are less of a distraction than in the city. Last night I saw Jupiter and Saturn dancing through the early evening sky—Jupiter in the heart of the Scorpion and Saturn in the elbow of the centaur (Sagittarius) as he pulls back the bowstring. The mythology is alive up there in the sky, playing out right below our awareness—particularly if we do not have access to an un-congested night sky—just like the beating of our hearts. And the particular position of the planets at different points in the constellations are relevant: Jupiter in the heart of Scorpio is doing very different work than Jupiter at its tail—the most dangerous part of the Scorpion.

The story is alive inside you also. The Vedic idea is that your soul chose to be born at a particular moment when the planets were aligned in a certain way to deliver to you the karma that you were meant to come in with, based on actions in previous lives. It’s as if the sky birthed you, and your mother’s contractions were just waiting for the Moon to move a little more deeply in Taurus, or for the Sun to combust Mercury so that YOU could be perfectly constellated.

There is no ‘overcoming’ your horoscope, because the whole thing is inside you. In many cases it is actually driving your desires. And it would be an affront to nature to attempt to somehow be free of the entangled web of elemental karma we were born into. Like the fascia of the body, this web of connectedness actually supports our whole existence. Without it we wouldn’t be here.

Coming to terms with the x-ray of the causal body that is the Vedic birth chart is simply about understanding what nature is asking of you. And much of this will depend on where you are in the story that is unfolding through your life. If you are in Rahu’s planetary period then nature is asking you to explore the extremes of the mind through creativity and perhaps some amount of shapeshifting while developing tools to deal with the concomitant anxiety and lack of clarity that can result, as well as learning to not trust all of your thoughts. If you are in Sade Sati (Saturn’s 7. 5 year transit of the natal moon) then nature is essentially milking you in an attempt to extract an essence. Both of these junctures can take the individual into what feels like the underworld. And good to know that’s where you are if it applies! All of the stories point to the necessity of the underworld experience for anyone who is to become an initiated human being, capable of bestowing their unique gifts on the world upon return to the daylight world.

The way to withstand the vicissitudes driven by different planetary periods or transits or natal configurations is to actually sink in a bit deeper. Commit to being here and listening as deeply as possible to the nascent sound that is trying to be born through the shape of your life, which can contribute to the ongoing orchestra of the world. When we are distracted (a form of escape) the sound becomes muffled and we feel ourselves isolated and our existence meaningless, or some part of us feels continually dissatisfied.

Maybe you are in a moment of intense confusion, where what’s been working is no longer working but you can’t quite discern what it is that is approaching on the horizon. Sink into that feeling of confusion: what are its qualities and textures, where does it live in your body and what repetitive thoughts does it produce in your mind? Get to know it. It is a part of the moment that’s trying to born into your consciousness. And notice your inherent aversion to what it is you are experiencing. it is the habit pattern of the mind to react to negative experiences with dis-taste, and my feeling is that if there is any free will it is in the rewiring of that habit so that your entire experience can be approached with wonder and curiosity rather than fear and control.

So maybe tonight you can wander out into the street and take a look at the sky. Feel into the qualities of the moment (maybe there are sirens shrieking through the neighborhood, or the sound of neighbors laughing through open windows, or a stellar sunset and a refreshing breeze. Consider that there are babies being born in that same moment who might be carrying some of those qualities into the world and through their lives, to fructify in as-yet-unimaginable ways. And even if you can’t see many stars you can know at least that they are there, and that they are the celestial midwives, continually birthing our world into existence.