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Ask Astrid Fridays ~ The Rabbit’s Corner: You Can Run, but You Can’t Hide
Today Astrid would like to speak to that little voice inside of many of you that sometimes wishes to just curl up in a ball and shrink back into a dark corner or closet – maybe even just pull the covers over your head and pretend the world has no idea you exist. Maybe you prefer being invisible sometimes and this can serve well in specific cases, but perhaps you’re holding yourself back out of fear or a deep-seeded experience that leaves you afraid to put yourself out there.
Living so close to, and intimately with, the ground and Earth, rabbits know how to “hide” well, but this can have a two-fold meaning of either having the need to camouflage and blend in or that you have made yourself so small that you are un/under-recognized for who you are and the gifts that you embody.
Rabbits know the importance of awareness and protection, but they are not shy about exhibiting their exuberance and big personalities when they feel the urge to do so. In fact, they will leap with glee when the moment moves them, or rise to the challenge with fierceness, despite being seen as small, timid and fragile creatures.
They are extraordinary sound navigators who know when to seize the moment and “hop” into new territories and experiences. Their ultra-sensitivities create the light when all seems lost and dark.
And this is the place Astrid wants to address for those of you who find yourself feeling lost so much, desire to shrink away, or aren’t even aware that you are diminishing your light when it’s needed the most right now in the world.
Invisibility can definitely be a gift, but it doesn’t serve you or the collective to live in the dark eternally.
Life can’t go on, nor thrive, without light.
Astrid knows there are times she’s been afraid and that she’s needed to regulate her energy so as to find that balance of protection and safety, while also making herself known and asserted.
If she had remained purely in fear by her circumstances and triggers, she would not only not have survived, but not have been recognized for the gifts she has. Marcy of SaveABunny and her staff of volunteers saw her because of the big energy she put out, and of course we know that this is also how she and I made the connection.
We both had to rise to our highest and most whole, to have a meeting of equals merge into partnership and recognition of reflection.
We could easily have missed a beautiful chance if we both stayed small.
How many times might you have missed out on an opportunity because you kept yourself small?
How much of your dreams are you not able to experience because you hesitate to share your gifts?
How much love do you hold back from yourself because you’re scared to show others who you really are or to feel how worthy you are?
Is it disappointment, hurt, anger, or guilt that makes us fear ourselves and our power?
I often wonder why these feelings win out over love over and over again.
Astrid shares that responsibility can play a part in this process we seem to be learning in exercising our gifts and powers.
But she and I both agree that responsibility can can carry its own weight that isn’t always tempered with love, but analyzed and dissected by ego.
So in fact it, too, can lead us astray of going bigger, as it tries to work out every angle to satisfy another excuse not to shine forth.
While we think that hiding serves us well, in most cases it is a reaction to something now or from a “past” that didn’t go the way we hoped. And even though those triggers and experiences are gone, we are still operating as if they are happening right now.
This perpetuates our “staying small” and unable to shine our inner lights, like rabbits do, to navigate us through the dark tunnel labyrinths of experience.
And in some cases, we devise ingenious ways of talking ourselves out of letting our energy out bigger to serve our ego fears and can even find spiritual bypassing ways of describing it and why it makes sense to do so.
Truth is, if you want to find a reason not to do something you can always find one.
And when it comes to our wholeness and embodying our potential, we have all the excuses in the world why not to do that.
Whether or not those excuses are valid is between you and yourself.
Astrid wants to remind you that it’s okay to recognize when camouflage and invisibility can serve us and be a magickal tool in our back pocket to pull out now and then, but “hiding” when rising would benefit you most, is not the healthiest choice to always fall back on.
It’s okay to learn as you go and make instant adjustments along the way. Chances are, you’ve already done years of work so truly, now is about the experiential classroom. This is about being both student and teacher and bringing integrity and humbleness to the process of being.
Now, more then ever your gifts, your light, your essence is needed in the world.
And while you think you may be alone in facing those frightful triggers, experiences, and the things that feel scary in the world, you are not.
More and more souls are finding that the way out of hiding is to actually step out. No one is going to force you out nor pull you out. Only you can make that choice, but it’s a very liberating choice that once made – even in small steps – suddenly helps make sense of an upside down world and brings authentic power to the forefront.
Astrid says, “The more you wear a mask, the less you will ever know yourself. It’s not just others you hide from in doing so, nor whom are robbed of knowing your beauty and experiencing your ripple across the world. You are the one who is hurt the most when your light is kept small.”
Astrid knows how I, too, have kept myself small in the past and straddled timidly between two worlds of fears and hopes.
“And what did that do for you?” she asks me.
“It kept me stuck,” I replied. “Torn and tormented between two worlds warring against each other, rather than teaming together and empowering myself into truly living, rather than merely surviving.”
That reminds me of a favorite line Julia Roberts says in Steel Magnolias, “I’d rather have 30 seconds of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.”
How about you?
If coming out of hiding gave you the most enriching and fulfilling experience you’ve ever known and was better than your wildest dreams, wouldn’t it be worth “going bigger” for, even if it wasn’t forever?
Not that it couldn’t or wouldn’t be forever, but you won’t know it until you try it.
Or is the known feeling of suffering and smallness, more comforting?
“Everyone has the ability to go bigger, no matter what their circumstances are. You are creative beings and therefore have unlimited ways to bring through more of your potential. Feel bigger! Thinking is only half the story, but your heart will guide you past the limits of your mind,” Astrid says.
It’s not easy, I know, and can be quite sticky with layers, but personally I decided that the possibility of that total enrichment far outweighed the illusion of safety in the darkness.
Astrid says, “That safety is an illusion that keeps you away from your truth….away from being who you really are and experiencing what you have available. That illusion is the fix to experiencing the true power within your heart.”
And she’s so right.
We think we stay safe by staying small and hidden, but by making that our “norm” we not only get to experience more of it, but are dying a slow death.
Choosing to go bigger and stop hiding happens for each person at different times in their life or soul journey and in different ways, by different triggers, and timings, so there isn’t just “one” way to get there.
Yet the one thing we all have in common is “potential.”
And the more each of us do our best to rise to that potential, the easier it becomes for others to do the same.
Rather than spend time trying to make others step into their potential, why not utilize our resources to “be” the potential?
Rabbit doesn’t wait for snake to see the “potential” when it threatens her kits rather than finding something else to eat that day. Rabbit rises to her “potential” and becomes the bigger rabbit she knows herself to be and chases off the snake.
Yep, that’s right. There are videos out there that catch mother rabbits fighting off poisonous, deadly snakes to save their babies. It’s incredible, but this is the truth of their wholeness they weave in and out of, as they carry it at their core always.
And I’ve seen this happen not only with people, but myself as well, where we’re put into dire situations and then rise to the occasion.
But wouldn’t it be wonderful to rise always, rather than only when threatened or in our darkest hour?
Those moments demonstrate that we have it in us, but we choose not to always shine the light.
Astrid carries this bigger energy with her always. You can see it and feel it, even if not demonstrated every second, but when she wants to, she does. She’s not afraid to let you know it’s simply who she is, nor is she worried how you might judge her. She knows the truth of who she is will reach the truth of each of us and when truth meets, that’s the most authentic and fulfilling experience, regardless of result. Yet, it also helps reflect and draw to her exactly what she needs and wants to see, while not missing out on what it feels to be alive.
I asked Astrid if she has any advice to offer to someone wanting not to hide anymore, but is too afraid.
She thinks a moment and replies in her own way, “There will never be a perfect moment to wait to do something and tomorrow is not always a promise. We can’t survive alone in the dark forever. Night turns into day and it is your nature to do the same. In and out you weave, but weave you must, or cease to be. Both the Sun and Moon know just when to shine on the Earth or how to allow others the same. Yet they DO and WILL shine in fullness and never cease to shine while others are. They dance in and out, sharing the stage of the grand show. You may not know how stepping forth and being bigger will be embraced, but embrace it for yourself and you will find your place on the horizon amidst the other stars. It’s there that we will meet, heart-to-heart.”
What I’ve learned, and Astrid describes so beautifully, is that the truth of who you are is not something you can hide from forever. It catches up to us, no matter how fast we run away. Just as the Sun’s light keeps shining, despite your only seeing it half the day, so does your light, despite blanketing it in vein.
Eventually, your essence will see its way through, so why not give it a boost out?
“That’s right! Being who you really are is what we need most in the world at this time and is the greatest service to humanity,” concludes Astrid.
September 2014 Astro-Energy Report: Times They Are-A-Changing
This is a great article on current energies we’re experiencing collectively by Sarah Varcas of www.astro-awakenings.co.uk. Sarah shares what I feel to be some “spot-on” insights from what I’m feeling/sensing from around.
The original was posted here: September 2014 Astro-Energy Report and also reposted here: September 2014 Astro-Energy Report.
Here are Sarah’s insights:
After the intense pressure (both positive and negative) many have experienced during August, September 2014 comes as something of a relief! It offers a break of sorts during which we can catch our breath, take some time out and settle into our ‘new normal’. There has been a recent energetic theme which can best be characterised as the ‘return of the repressed’. This Freudian term is used to denote the emergence into consciousness of repressed thoughts, feelings and memories many of which we may have believed were over and done with. Such a process often occurs at times of intense change, largely because it is our unconscious which conspires to prevent us from changing in fundamentally life-altering ways. During a time such as we have been through these past few months, the gates to the unconscious are flung open with every suppressed fear, denied emotion, ignored desire bursting out to assault our senses and do its level best to keep us from stepping out of our comfort zone. Just when we thought we’d dealt with our lack of self-worth bam! Self-hatred rears its ugly head the likes of which we’ve not encountered in a long time. Just when we thought that depression we struggled with for so long was healed, there it is again, penetrating every corner with its heavy, oppressive presence. Just when we thought we’d really got to grips with ‘this whole compassion thing’, we can’t bear to be in the same room as anyone else for fear of ripping their head off! We can end up feeling like nothing has changed and we’re simply the same person we were a year, two years, ten or twenty years ago!!
The other side of this coin is the rapid shifts which have taken place for many in the past couple of months. Positive progress has abounded in some peoples’ lives, but even this doesn’t come without its stresses! Big change often comes without guarantees. We know what we have to do and that doing it is now unavoidable, but we don’t know what the outcome will be, only that we cannot remain where we are. We take a leap of faith and hope for the best. Wherever we find ourselves on this spectrum of experience, September offers an opportunity to process more deeply all that has happened in recent weeks, and come home to ourselves in the midst of all this change.
Throughout September an alliance between Saturn in Scorpio and the North Node in Libra provides the energetic backdrop. It encourages us to own up to aspects of our shadow-self which may have been causing concern and allow them to show us where and how they need to be accommodated to align with the flow of life at this time. The problem with the shadow is that we allow it to isolate and shame us into silence. That’s why we repress it, denying the thoughts and feelings which cause us so much consternation. Anger, despair, hatred, jealousy, fear, feelings of rejection, of unworthiness, any or all of these and more can be cast into the unconscious in order to keep our every day consciousness free of such troublesome emotions. The process seems tidy and efficient, but in practice it doesn’t work so well. The amount of energy used up trying to keep everything hidden, albeit unconsciously, is energy we don’t have available for our own well-being. It’s like leaving an electrical appliance plugged in, using up power when we don’t need to. It’s costly and unnecessary. Energy is precious. It requires respect!
The funniest thing about the unconscious is that we all have one and mostly its contents are the same as everyone else’s. The details may vary a bit, but basically it’s the usual morass of anger, lust, envy, fear blah, blah, blah. We’re simply hiding what we all share, but somehow, somewhere along the line we’ve picked up the belief that it’s only us who has these feelings and we really need to make sure no one else finds out otherwise there’ll be all kinds of trouble!! This is how we collectively prevent anyone else owning up and ensuring that no one points out what’s really going on in the human psyche.
So why am I saying all this? Because September is a great month for normalising what we all share; for accepting, without fuss or fanfare, that we all have these strange and sometimes troublesome tendencies and it’s all part of being human, not some dreadful aberration with which only we have been burdened. Anger, jealousy, depression, hatred, despair, violent impulses, lust, whatever it is we’re not owning up to we can rest assured there are thousands out there not owning up to the same things!! It’s what makes us human, apparently! We don’t need to make a huge drama out of it, wailing and beating our chests. Simply accepting that all this mess comes with the human territory can clear away a whole load of pain and stress right there! September can be ‘coming out of the unconscious closet’ month and if we make it work we’ll all feel significantly more relaxed by the end of it!
After the first week of the month, during which we can settle into the terrain of low-drama ‘this is just the way it is’, we have a Full Moon in Pisces conjunct Chiron. This is a powerfully healing Moon, but it may come with exceptionally heightened sensitivity for a couple of days either side. Be sure to schedule in some time out and avoid stressful environments and activities if possible. When Chiron is lit up by a Full Moon there is enormous healing power to ‘download’ but as the healing brings us back to a state of wholeness the imbalances previously maintained may become particularly evident for a while. If so it may be useful to remember that energy is simply energy, neither good nor bad, just neutral, so whatever ails us can be transmuted into something that heals us if we let it. If however, we identify too strongly with the pain and distress we solidify it and create energetic structures which are far tougher to transmute and shift.
This Full Moon speaks of healing needed due to our previous avoidance of difficult emotions. The imbalances it seeks to correct are those created by denial. It asks us to feel fully whatever arises now, no matter how much we believe doing so will overwhelm us. It won’t. And in allowing the feelings to be felt fully and without judgement we are inviting healing into our lives and allowing our energy field to rebalance and realign. This is a time to watch our thoughts with an air of detachment, to refuse to believe what they tell us about ourselves. We are not our thoughts nor our feelings, but something altogether more constant and dependable which rests beneath them. We are the presence which can watch thoughts and feelings come and go, the life force which hums gently beneath all drama, passion, despair, joy and rage. This Full Moon calls us to identify with that, not the fleeting content of mind, and to know ourselves as something altogether more present and vibrant.
A few days after the Full Moon, Mars enters Sagittarius (on 13th/14th September) offering a lift and some positive energy to power our journey. This shift of Mars comes with inspiration and motivation. The healing from the Full Moon can really make its mark now as we move forward increasingly unencumbered by old energies which restrict and define us in ways no longer fitting for who we are. Mars remains in Sagittarius until the end of October, so we have a useful ally here who can help keep us upbeat during the down times and focused on the goal when getting there seems like a burdensome struggle. The 16th September sees further in-coming support in the form of an alliance between Uranus, Chiron and Jupiter remaining until the beginning of October. Freedom is most definitely in the air here, if we choose to claim it. But it must be a choice and we have to commit to following through on the choice, even when the going gets tough! This is not freedom without a price. This freedom comes at the expense of security, certainty and predictability. It challenges our assumptions and cuts shackles we may prefer to keep right now, thank you very much! But if we can allow those shackles to be cut and keep the faith that in doing so something greater can emerge in our lives, the final two weeks of September sees us laying the groundwork for the two eclipses in October, the first of which (Lunar Eclipse on 8th October GMT) packs a particularly liberating punch! (More on that nearer the time..).
The 22nd September GMT sees Pluto stationing direct in Capricorn. Retrograde since mid April, it has uncovered some dark and painful places both personally and collectively. Issues of power and power-over, revenge, resentment and hatred have been rife alongside a strengthening of those prepared to look such suffering in the face and see it through and out the other side into clarity and freedom. The about- turn of Pluto this month adds weight to the theme of normalising the shadow so we can all own up. There’s no need for shame or fear if we’re prepared to own it and work with it consciously, getting to know our own psyche at a deeper and infinitely more intimate level. Many of us seek intimacy with others, especially that ‘special’ other, but we shy from intimacy with ourselves first and foremost. The heavens this month call us to self-intimacy before all else: a willingness to give up shame and embrace all that we are and all that we have to share with others.
A New Moon in the second degree of Libra on 24th September heralds the start of an eclipse season which lasts until the end of October. The Sabian Symbol for this degree signifies an increase in the frequency of light, a vibrational upgrade, setting the scene for the coming eclipses in October and providing clear and unequivocal indication of their potential! It is very encouraging to see this zodiac degree accented now, after this month’s themes. Ah, the power of acceptance to enlighten and illuminate! This New Moon does exactly that, demonstrating what all this challenging inner work has been in aid of.
The month comes to a close with the Sun and Neptune in a quincunx alignment from 26th to 30th, connecting the divine will with our own personal one. This connection comes not without challenge as we may discover in stark terms precisely where we are unwilling to surrender to a higher understanding, preferring our personal perspective for a while longer! No worries: we can only go as far as we can go, and if we need to stick around where we are that’s fine too. An eclipse season always comes with stops and starts, and if this is a stop, a start will be on its tail before we know it! So wherever we find ourselves come the month end we can be sure of one thing: times they are a-changing and we with them.