Finding Resilience in Times of Transition
Photo by Denis Tagney Jr
We are coming up on the next seasonal transition which begins January 27th and will end February 11th (diagram below). It also coincides with the new administration which was sworn in on Monday. This will be a period in history where there will be a distinct before and after when viewed a hundred years from now.
Earth transition times bring the energy of, well, transition. In the best of times, transition feels a bit chaotic as we pass through the liminal space from one phase of our lives to the next. Any time something is finished, be it a project, leaving a job, changing home, or ending a relationship, for example, we find ourselves in that in-between place. This is where the energies of Earth govern. Of course, there lots of little transitions in a regular day…sleeping to waking, PJ’s to street clothes, or finishing breakfast and starting your day’s work. And there are big, decades long transitions, like the one both Nature and Culture are in now.
Learn more about how this chart works and the earth phase here
Earth energies also offer us the opportunity for transformation which is the purpose of transitions. There is always transition before the transformation. For example, the food you eat, the interactions you have, the books you read every day are transformed, going from out side of you to becoming part of you, by the generosity of Earth phase energy. Nature and Culture are both undergoing radical transformation at the moment, along the lines of caterpillar to butterfly, we just can’t quite see the butterfly yet, and that is unsettling. In fact, when a caterpillar has transformed into the chrysalis, its immune system attacks the “imaginal cells” containing the blueprint of the butterfly. These cells are so different to the caterpillar’s, they are treated like foreign invaders. Eventually, the imaginal cells overcome the caterpillar’s immune system and the butterfly, a radically different creature, begins to develop. Nature and Culture are in the struggle to overcome the outdated, unsustainable, caterpillar ways that have brought us to this point. We are living in a chrysalis time when the old structures are fighting to maintain power and relevance, but eventually they will succumb to the imaginal cells of Nature creating Herself anew and humanity will reflect that. It may take a while, possibly decades, but in the end, a new civilization, in an “inter-being” relationship with Nature at its core, will emerge. The Earth herself, of course, knows how to transform and has done so countless times, and we can utilize her wisdom to guide us to work with Her.
Image by Darlene Lancer
We all have ancestors who lived in an inter-being relationship with Nature. This can be seen in the Earth based Spirituality that was practiced around the world before the rise of the Church and monotheistic religions across Europe a couple thousand years ago. The spiritual practices that held people in sacred relationship with the other than human world were systematically, and often violently, destroyed. Any records of what those practices might have been are long gone. Fortunately, the old Taoists left us the 5 Phase system that gives us hints at how to cultivate a sacred, inter-being relationship with Nature and we carry our ancestoral memory in our bones. The 5 Phase system is as True today as it was 2500 years ago and can help us connect us to what our European ancestors knew about being in relationship with the sacred in everyday life. We can’t go back in time as the practices from 2000 years ago aren’t relevant now, and did not evolve with the culture. We can however, through simple loving gestures of remembrance for our mother Earth, in the same way you remember your human beloveds, develop practices that have meaning in this time. This might be meditation, gardening, making art, a morning song, making an alter, giving thanks for food, prayer…all holding the Earth with love in your heart. The Earth is a living spiritual being and so are you. You can cultivate an intimate relationship with Her if you trust that is so.
In this way, we can be part of the butterfly that is wanting to emerge. We can each become one of the butterfly’s imaginal cells by connecting with Nature, cultivating the resilience we need to fulfill our life’s purpose and not get overwhelmed by the chaos of our time. We each chose, on a soul level, to be here for this. I have to believe that we all have the blueprint for the era wanting to be born stored deep within our own blueprints and our opportunity is to awaken it. By taking on this work, by putting our focus and life force energy into the butterfly of a new culture wanting to develop, rather than the Mad Hatters tea party that is the American political scene these days, we also cultivate our own resilient spirit.
Through this blog, the Cultivating Resilience and Joy class, and the new, Resilient Spirit retreat series, I hope to offer you practical, ways of rekindling your sacred relationship to the Earth. To help you live your lives in this dark and chaotic time with authenticity and to cultivate your unique resilient spirit. The Earth needs us to show up for Her in this way because it is the path to healing of both Nature and Culture. This is what I can offer to the Earth in her time of need.
