May This New Year Actually be New

There are both natural and ‘created’ boundaries in Time. Seasons are an example of Natural boundaries, which usher us in and out of different temperaments of Nature that have an impact on our actions. We cannot harvest corn in the middle of winter, for example. There are windows of Time when certain things are available. This is true in human lives, too. For something like child-bearing it is especially obvious that a door opens and then eventually closes.

Then there are boundaries we create in Time, like those of the Gregorian calendar which has divorced itself from the natural cycles of Sun and Moon. It is, essentially, ‘made up'. But it’s impact if far-reaching and therefore it cannot be ignored.

As we approach the end of the year in the Gregorian calendar, we find that there is no natural break in seasons to mark the moment. The most significant change in Nature is the recent winter solstice, which ushered us into the gradual brightening of the world. In the Hindu Calendar, January 15 will mark the beginning of ādana kāla, which is considered the depleting half of the year colored by the heating qualities of Agni.

So, in a way it is difficult to determine what, exactly, we are celebrating with a ‘New Year’ that is unattached to any discernible reality of Nature. We are, essentially, celebrating the attachment to regularity which was what ultimate motivation behind the solar calendar that has taken over most of the world. This means that the structure of our lives is determined by a predominantly solar i.e. masculine and extroverted system. Many of the older calendars were luni-solar, meaning that they were determined by combined motion of sun and moon, creating a more balanced structure for society to operate within.

It is good to know the context we are embedded in. And it does not mean we cannot celebrate the made up New Year! I welcome any juncture in time for reflection and re-evaluation of all that has transpired since the last made-up juncture in time. Ideally, ceremony is linked to some organic aspect of reality, but when we are not all that in-touch with reality we have to start somewhere.

All that was basically a preamble to get to the point of this entry: this past year in particular is an important one to take stock of. While the previous year saw us ‘adjusting’ to a new way of living and taking in the ‘newness’ of the whole experience, this last year began to tempt us to shackle those patterns into new ways of being in the world that are by and large, undoubtedly, dysfunctional. This happened on both an individual and societal level, and it happened alarmingly quickly. Adaptation is a wonderful thing, but not when it is used in service of perpetuating an untenable way of life. This is not to say that there haven’t been positive developments, but those are absolutely eclipsed by a palpable denigration of the social fabric and a concomitant numbing to circumstances we feel are out of our control. Exhale.

I see the end of this year as an opportunity to look back and be brave enough to see the changes that have occurred in both your personal life and the collective. What are you willing to live with and what are you absolutely not willing to adopt as a ‘new normal?’ Please feel for a moment how refreshing it is to even allow yourself to consider the possibility that life does not need to feel increasingly oppressive.

Now is a time to take stock of the prevailing acquired ‘mood’ of the last year, and to discern what is a natural part of your personality and reasonable response to your circumstances, and what is an unnecessary layer of darkness, possibly imbibed from the collective. Where have you been ‘hooked’ and pulled-in by the intensity of the shared social conversation (or rather: argument) in a way that has compromised your personal life in some way?

This year, New Years resolutions might be most powerful if directed toward cleaning up our internal environments. I have witnessed enough of the polarization of society to see that we are surely headed toward catastrophe if the majority of people are not willing to examine themselves and the influence of social forces on their behavior in a serious, sobering way. Let us not acclimate to the pervasive adolescent reactivity and remember the better part of ourselves, un-diluted by hypnotic social narratives that are so loud they can eclipse your own intuition.

Astrologically, this polarization is tied to the continual exaltation of the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu for the last almost 3 years—first in Gemini and Sagittarius, and now in Taurus and Scorpio. The nodes are the points of extremity of the mind (Moon) and tend to pull us toward either aversion (Ketu) or attachment (Rahu). When they are exalted in the transit they are even stronger to exert their polarizing effect. Their strength has made it much harder to stay in the ‘middle ground’ from which things can be evaluated with a reasonable degree of discernment and emotions are integrated into decision-making rather than projected in reactivity.

Were it not for the fact that this polarizing effect is taking place within an already tumultuous change of epoch driven by the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn, it may not be so devastating. This charged-energy of polarization can be used to good effect, but only if it is acknowledged and strategically integrated. There are many systems which work directly with polarities, such as tantra, and others which approach more indirectly, such as Buddhism. We will all need to figure out how to work with the intense energy that’s been churned up over these last few years if we are to have any kind of liveable future.

If you are not sure where to begin, I recommend any practice that brings you into your body in a way that does not involve imagination or visualization, but simple access through direct sensation. Body-work sessions and grounded meditation can be great for this. We are much more susceptible to polarization when we are not inhabiting our own middle ground.- the body. You might designate some time in these last days of the year to slow down and be with yourself so that you can really listen. Don’t attempt to ‘fix’ anything until you’ve really felt and understood it. More than likely what is required right now is a lot of letting go.

Blessings to you for the year ahead.