2018 COMING ATTRACTIONS: How to Enjoy the Ride with Delicious Intensity . . . Or Not

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Summer is Winter

Today is tomorrow, and present, past,

Nothing exists and everything will last.

There is no beginning, there was no end,

No depth to fall, no height to ascend.

There is only this moment, this flicker of light,

That illuminates nothing, but oh! so bright!

For we are the spark that flutters in space,

Consuming an eternity of a moment's grace,

For today is tomorrow, and present, past,

Nothing Exists, and everything will last.

Jane Roberts (the Seth Books)

Dear Heart,

I always prepare my yearly “Coming Attractions” newsletter by first contemplating the ephemeris, which records the movement of the planets, and then allowing this data to infuse my channeled downloads with what it all means.

But this year, when I was less than halfway through my study of the year’s major transits, I started feeling dizzy, nauseous and like I was going to pass out. It felt as if I was on a stomach-lurching amusement park ride that was spiraling as it simultaneously traveled through extreme highs and free-falls at an unprecedented velocity.

These feelings immediately brought to mind a recurring waking psychic dream I’ve had since childhood. In it, I was literally strapped into the rollercoaster ride of this incarnation with no possibility of escape, and my only option was to learn to enjoy the ride . . . or not.

Since I intuitively knew that I would not have any control over the speed or direction of the ride, I would imagine that I always had a bottomless supply of cheeseburgers (my emotional comfort food) in a bag under my seat to placate my anxiety during this recurring dream:).

So, early on, I adjusted my thinking to the idea that this life was not going to be like a merry-go-round, reliable and predictable, with no unforeseeable twists and turns, or scary heart-pumping highs or lows. But rather, I embraced the reality that, while I had faith that I would always be provided for (one way or another), life was going to be a completely unpredictable, at times hair-raising, rollercoaster ride.

Accepting the infinitely changeable nature of Life at an early age has given me many gifts, especially a deep capacity for joy in Being in the moment. But this joy is only possible because I’ve learned that my power resides in not trying to control the Flow of Life but rather in adjusting my attitude to flow with it. This mindset has also given me the greatest possibilities for continuously new adventures in consciousness and potentials for growth that couldn’t occur in any safer, more secure way.

Then, in my late twenties, I discovered that there’s a spiritual philosophy of life which perfectly epitomized the vision I was gifted with through my rollercoaster dream. It comes from the ancient Vedic and Tantric traditions of India and is called Leela, translated from the Sanskrit as Cosmic or Divine Play. To read more: LEELA

One of my favorite Tantric meditations is: “This so-called universe appears as a juggling, picture show. To be happy, look upon it so.” Another of my regular meditations is to witness all souls as infinitely spinning Ferris wheels of Light forming a multidimensional link-grid for us to play in as cocreators outside of the mental constructs of linear space and time. In other words, I choose to view the Earth Game as a giant amusement park, with each incarnation bringing different types of rides.

Sometimes these rides can activate varieties of fear and even terror, as we peer into the abyss while seemingly free-falling. This is when it’s important to remember that fear and excitement are a double-edged sword, and we get to choose which side to focus on.

Sometimes these rides activate our capacities for pleasure, joy and bliss. But all rides can still be chosen to be experienced with delicious intensity, as nothing else can make us feel more alive than bringing our passionate intent to being fully present with What IS in the Eternal Now.

This includes rides that involve pain on different levels: from the spiritual and psychic, to the mental and emotional and all the way down to the physical level. For, as my readings have always counseled me: “Pain is a signal tone from the higher self that a course correction is indicated.” And it usually takes some painful physical symptoms for most of us to be willing to make major changes.

My experience is that if we go deep enough into emotional pain without fear, aversion or resistance (another Tantric practice), we may find that some of these painful rides give us the most incentives for growth and change. They don’t call them “growing pains” for nuthin:).

We may still prefer the more fun rides. I know I do. But if we can just go with flow of these the painful rides when they come, (as they do to us all, sooner or later), we may find that they can actually bring us as much pure delicious aliveness as we can tolerate in the moment.

For instance, when I was going through a divorce in my early thirties, I experienced the most excruciating emotional pain ever. But, along with the pain, I also felt, quite surprisingly, simultaneously more juicy and alive than ever before.

For pain, while at times clean and sharp, has no negative charge attached to it unless we allow fear, resistance or aversion to feed it. Then pain transmutes into suffering, which can become chronic and long-term to the degree that we don’t surrender to what IS.

To read about the 112 Tantric practices that I practice and teach: Spiritual Practices Reading List

All that being said, make sure your seatbelts are securely fastened as, come May 2018, Trickster of Awakening Uranus moves into safety and security-ruling Taurus. I can’t think of too many signs Uranus would be unhappier in as he is considered in “fall” in earthy Taurus. Uranus is “exalted” in the opposite sign of transformative Scorpio, where “out with the old, in with the new” is more the norm.

But in unadventurous, comfort-loving Taurus, Uranus is sure to play havoc as he blows us out of any ruts we’ve started decorating. This means that, until April 2026, many of our most cherished attachments of what we think we “need” to fully enjoy ourselves may be tested as life presents us with some entirely new paradigms. So, we may be forced to reexamine how important our comfort zones have become at the expense of stretching and growing our beings deeper and wider.

The first year of any outer planet transit in a new sign, such as the Uranus cycle in Taurus about to begin, always sets up the gist of the themes that will be playing out over the next eight years. Before going further, it’s a good time to paraphrase a quote by Ram Dass: The only certain thing in life is that one day we will all drop our bodies (without losing our minds or consciousness), and that it is “absolutely safe:).”

I researched the last time Uranus transited through Taurus to get a feeling for what’s in store on the world stage. For, just as when reading an individual’s transits, I always inquire as to what happened the last time an important transit occurred. For example, Karmic Teacher Saturn transits over the Ascendant every 28-30 years. So, if we examine the last time this happened, it will give us some idea of the themes that will be coming up on deeper levels for growth and karmic healing. This is called a recurrence in astrological terms.

So too, when Uranus last transited Taurus between June 1934 and May 1942, we saw many things that rocked our world, as Taurus is the natural ruler of the second house of material security, money, possessions and what gives meaning and value to our lives. For example, in 1933: The Dust Bowl, with Uranus stirring things around wildly followed by the New Deal Recovery Act. Then, in 1935: The Social Security Act. And finally, in 1942: the US enters WWII.

Added to this, during the Depression throughout the 1930’s, many people lost absolutely everything of material value (Taurus). Some lost all their investments in one fell swoop (Uranus) on Black Friday. But, in fact, Uranus was still in Aries in October, 1929 when the market crashed. Just as, in 2018, Uranus will back into Aries one more time between August and March. Also, Saturn was in Capricorn in 1929, just as he will be as of December 19, 2017. Many experts say we’re way overdue for a market correction and the astrology of recurrence concurs.

In fact, as Karmic Teacher Saturn moves into his ruling sign of builder Capricorn this month, we can expect several years in which the global theme will be the need to rebuild our infrastructure, and this includes transitioning to cleaner energy sources, especially since structures will be becoming outmoded and disintegrating at a faster rate than ever before. For more:

Fall 2017’s Saturn in Sagittarius Swansong: “LOVE IS ALWAYS MORE PRECIOUS THAN MONEY”

So, what to do? We need to prepare for the unexpected, especially in terms of our material resources, as this is not the best time to gamble or take risks with more money than we can afford to lose and still be able to provide for ourselves.

On the inner levels, the way to go is in surrendering to complete unpredictability as the perfect accelerant for cultivating flexibility in the Flow of Life with maximal growth.

For much more: Embracing the Unexpected: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Uranus (but were afraid to ask)

From a long-range Taoist perspective, winning WWII and the Social Security Act were just some of the good things that came out of the last Uranus in Taurus transit. But as always in history, we tend to move through cycles of first the bad news and then later—sometimes much later—the good.

I’m always reminded of the example of Tibet being invaded by the Chinese in 1950. Devastating and horribly bad news, right? But since then most of the spiritual teachers and lamas who survived were driven out of their homeland and Tibetan Buddhism has spread throughout the world. Good news, right?

For more on this long-range perspective and what I call the “spiritual cha-cha,” please review:

2017 COMING ATTRACTIONS: “Greatest Hits of the Kali Yuga* (Darkest Age)”

From a karmic perspective, complacency, especially of the smug variety, is a “killer” of our aliveness in the moment, no matter how much open-hearted compassion we have for human suffering on the planet. For, if we don’t have gratitude for each day as if it could be our last, then we may be in for some challenging karmic lessons in this life or future incarnations around this theme of taking our safety or security for granted in moments of “calm waters” or the “non-toothache,” as I like to call them.

In closing, to help maximize our enjoyment of the ride this year and beyond, here’s a spiritual parable that impeccably expresses the two major themes—delicious intensity and passionate intent—that we need to focus our consciousness on:

“A Zen Master who, while out walking one day, is confronted by a ferocious, man-eating tiger. He slowly backs away from the animal, only to find that he is trapped at the edge of a high cliff; the tiger snarls with hunger, and pursues the Master. His only hope of escape is to suspend himself over the abyss by holding onto a vine that grows at its edge. As the Master dangles from the cliff, two mice—one white and one black—begin to gnaw on the vine he is clutching on. If he climbs back up, the tiger will surely devour him, if he stays then there is the certain death of a long fall onto the jagged rocks. The slender vine begins to give way, and death is imminent. Just then the precariously suspended Zen Master notices a lovely ripe wild strawberry growing along the cliff’s edge. He plucks the succulent berry and pops it into his mouth. He is heard to say: “This lovely strawberry, how sweet it tastes.”

Wishing us all a year of delectable enjoyment of whatever forms our “strawberries” take and especially because the ride will be more completely unpredictable than ever before in a very good way from a very-long range spiritual perspective,

J O A N

“Wise beings can be peaceful in the midst of chaos, experiencing delight in the changing play of forms.” Ram Dass