Baptism by fire. Purifying and refining. The Phoenix: fire (death/transformation), earth (ash; residue, seed of continuity), air (flight, breath, renewal) water (tears, healing, emotional release). We are in mourning for what was, refining what is vital, preparing the seed to grow and rise again.
"But a person who has actually let themselves feel what is happening to the Earth cannot go back to not caring, and will do something, and it may only be a small thing, and small things are what this is made of."
This reminds me of CS Lewis's Narnia Chronicles, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, with perpetual winter until the spell was broken. Same with Game of Thrones, those long, long winters. Except we're going into the opposite, the fire.
Well, in a way, it’s like we’ve been living in the winter for a very long time. I think there is a day coming where future historians will look back at what we call “the good old days” and they’ll say “how on earth did they survive those terrible times”. Life was good in the 1900s for most of us, but underneath that good life was a planet slowly being destroyed through abuse and lack of care - imagine the world of the future where that abuse and lack of care isn’t running under the machinery of life? That’s the world that’s coming - not tomorrow, and not even next year or next decade. It will take time to build, but it’s up ahead of us….and it’s better, in the long run, than the world we are leaving behind. We may be walking into the fire, but that’s really just the heat required to melt the snow of the long winter. Onwards, to the Spring of a better world!
Good day! I found this essay to be particularly clear, and reassuring. Thank you for your efforts.
Age of Mind and Age of Heart are very powerful images--descriptors for what is happening. For me there is both an East/West perspective on this, and a Left Hemisphere/Right Hemisphere perspective on this evolutionary process.
If you're not already familiar with them, I suggest you take a look at 1) "The Intelligent Heart" by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche and 2) The Matter With Things (both volumes) by Iain McGilchrist.
You likely already know that Asian cultures associate the Mind with the Heart, not with the Brain as Westerners do. [I only recently read about the Higher Heart chakra, associated with the thymus gland, and located between the Throat and Heart and Throat chakras, (which resonates strongly for me personally but I won't bore you with the details)]. I'll check out the links you shared.
Yes, it’s a very Western idea to seperate out the mind from the heart - Eastern cultures never divorced the two in quite the same way the West did. In Eastern cultures and ancient traditions, the heart was the mind, there was no separation - the notion the two are seperate is something we in the West did since the Age of Enlightenment (as far as I can tell). We let the mind run off on it’s own without the heart, and well….look at the state of things. Time for the barricades the mind put around itself to come down, so the heart can once again do it’s job advising the mind. So rises the Age of the Heart.
Whew! I am old. I’m seeing the world I’ve known my hole life dissolving. I am filled with grief. But I’ve always known this was just a transition and that transitions are always painful. I am grateful for the glimpses into the future you provide. And I am filled with gratitude for getting to be part of laying the ground for what’s coming for the people I love. Grief and gratitude. And breathing deeply. That does seem to be my life these days. Thank you for shining this bright light.
And grief is a perfectly acceptable response Marcia. It’s like watching the family home you’ve lived in all your life be demolished by a wrecking ball. It’s hard to let go of what we know, because our mind finds safety in familiarity. It’s right to grieve - even if the demolition of our old home paved the way for us to build an absolute palace, it would still be sad to lose what we have loved. It’s right to grieve, but while we grieve, we can also hope - this demolition is not pointless or without purpose. It’s the only way we get to the better thing. We have two hands, and so we can hold two things at once - the grief for what we are leaving behind, and the promise of what we are walking into. All at once. Onwards!
Thank you for researching and laying this out. We have all known this was coming, it’s been in the background my whole life it seems. I find poetry and grace in the way you write about it and I thank you for it🙏
I’m glad it resonates for you - yes, it’s been a long time coming. Certainly my entire life we’ve been hearing about greenhouse gases and the warming world, but now we’re here, living in the consequences. The situation is not hopeless - there is a way forward to a beautiful world, but it’s a different one from the world we grew up in. A shift is occurring. Change is happening. The mind isn’t always great at change, so we best all anchor in our heart for the onward journey! xx
Meanwhile I've been working on integrating last Saturday's amazing Abhisheka, working on boundaries, and delving into Black Moon Lilith a bit with Ask Arion -- in Scorpio in my 12th -- [and not much more than 4 degrees closer to my Rising than Saturn, naturally], because where else to find my Shadow but hanging out near Saturn in my dreamscape? Ah, well, good thing I thrive on intensity. Looking forward to the weekly forecast, as always. Thanks for another wonderful wrap party.
Growing up in an age that has always been looking for the easiest way out, facing this and holding all the weight is our warrior’s mission.
Have you checked out Heartmath institute? I haven’t taken any courses but have read some of Gregg Braden’s work, thought of it while reading your words this week ✨🙏✨
Yes, I find the work Heartmath has been doing fascinating. I have only ever poked around the edges of it, but certainly from what I can see it seems to be putting a real framework around the shift that's happening from a mind led world to a world that leads with mind and heart in coherence.
Baptism by fire. Purifying and refining. The Phoenix: fire (death/transformation), earth (ash; residue, seed of continuity), air (flight, breath, renewal) water (tears, healing, emotional release). We are in mourning for what was, refining what is vital, preparing the seed to grow and rise again.
🐦🔥
Yes to the Phoenix - that is the image of this age. Fire, that leads to renewal. xx
"But a person who has actually let themselves feel what is happening to the Earth cannot go back to not caring, and will do something, and it may only be a small thing, and small things are what this is made of."
Thank you.
My pleasure. I was a bit chuffed with that sentence too! xx
This reminds me of CS Lewis's Narnia Chronicles, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, with perpetual winter until the spell was broken. Same with Game of Thrones, those long, long winters. Except we're going into the opposite, the fire.
Well, in a way, it’s like we’ve been living in the winter for a very long time. I think there is a day coming where future historians will look back at what we call “the good old days” and they’ll say “how on earth did they survive those terrible times”. Life was good in the 1900s for most of us, but underneath that good life was a planet slowly being destroyed through abuse and lack of care - imagine the world of the future where that abuse and lack of care isn’t running under the machinery of life? That’s the world that’s coming - not tomorrow, and not even next year or next decade. It will take time to build, but it’s up ahead of us….and it’s better, in the long run, than the world we are leaving behind. We may be walking into the fire, but that’s really just the heat required to melt the snow of the long winter. Onwards, to the Spring of a better world!
Yes, the fire of transformation 🔥🔥🔥
Difficult, uncomfortable but if it burns hot enough all that’s left is ash 😍
Good day! I found this essay to be particularly clear, and reassuring. Thank you for your efforts.
Age of Mind and Age of Heart are very powerful images--descriptors for what is happening. For me there is both an East/West perspective on this, and a Left Hemisphere/Right Hemisphere perspective on this evolutionary process.
The Chinese character xin 心 is best translated as heart-mind. Here's a nice etymological look into it: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/chinese-mind/
Check out by reading (and listening to) the Rochester Zen Center's fluid translation of the Fourth Ancestor's "Affirming Faith in (heart)Mind," or "Xin Xin Ming," here: https://www.rzc.org/library/zen-center-chants/affirming-faith-in-mind/
If you're not already familiar with them, I suggest you take a look at 1) "The Intelligent Heart" by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche and 2) The Matter With Things (both volumes) by Iain McGilchrist.
You likely already know that Asian cultures associate the Mind with the Heart, not with the Brain as Westerners do. [I only recently read about the Higher Heart chakra, associated with the thymus gland, and located between the Throat and Heart and Throat chakras, (which resonates strongly for me personally but I won't bore you with the details)]. I'll check out the links you shared.
Yes, it’s a very Western idea to seperate out the mind from the heart - Eastern cultures never divorced the two in quite the same way the West did. In Eastern cultures and ancient traditions, the heart was the mind, there was no separation - the notion the two are seperate is something we in the West did since the Age of Enlightenment (as far as I can tell). We let the mind run off on it’s own without the heart, and well….look at the state of things. Time for the barricades the mind put around itself to come down, so the heart can once again do it’s job advising the mind. So rises the Age of the Heart.
So well written.
Thank you for the work that you do and putting it out into the world.
♥️
My pleasure. Thank-you for reading. xx
Whew! I am old. I’m seeing the world I’ve known my hole life dissolving. I am filled with grief. But I’ve always known this was just a transition and that transitions are always painful. I am grateful for the glimpses into the future you provide. And I am filled with gratitude for getting to be part of laying the ground for what’s coming for the people I love. Grief and gratitude. And breathing deeply. That does seem to be my life these days. Thank you for shining this bright light.
And grief is a perfectly acceptable response Marcia. It’s like watching the family home you’ve lived in all your life be demolished by a wrecking ball. It’s hard to let go of what we know, because our mind finds safety in familiarity. It’s right to grieve - even if the demolition of our old home paved the way for us to build an absolute palace, it would still be sad to lose what we have loved. It’s right to grieve, but while we grieve, we can also hope - this demolition is not pointless or without purpose. It’s the only way we get to the better thing. We have two hands, and so we can hold two things at once - the grief for what we are leaving behind, and the promise of what we are walking into. All at once. Onwards!
Thank you for researching and laying this out. We have all known this was coming, it’s been in the background my whole life it seems. I find poetry and grace in the way you write about it and I thank you for it🙏
I’m glad it resonates for you - yes, it’s been a long time coming. Certainly my entire life we’ve been hearing about greenhouse gases and the warming world, but now we’re here, living in the consequences. The situation is not hopeless - there is a way forward to a beautiful world, but it’s a different one from the world we grew up in. A shift is occurring. Change is happening. The mind isn’t always great at change, so we best all anchor in our heart for the onward journey! xx
Meanwhile I've been working on integrating last Saturday's amazing Abhisheka, working on boundaries, and delving into Black Moon Lilith a bit with Ask Arion -- in Scorpio in my 12th -- [and not much more than 4 degrees closer to my Rising than Saturn, naturally], because where else to find my Shadow but hanging out near Saturn in my dreamscape? Ah, well, good thing I thrive on intensity. Looking forward to the weekly forecast, as always. Thanks for another wonderful wrap party.
Growing up in an age that has always been looking for the easiest way out, facing this and holding all the weight is our warrior’s mission.
Have you checked out Heartmath institute? I haven’t taken any courses but have read some of Gregg Braden’s work, thought of it while reading your words this week ✨🙏✨
Yes, I find the work Heartmath has been doing fascinating. I have only ever poked around the edges of it, but certainly from what I can see it seems to be putting a real framework around the shift that's happening from a mind led world to a world that leads with mind and heart in coherence.
This looks interesting. Thank you for sharing 🩵