The Little Things in Life

Some time ago I wrote: ‘People don’t have to learn about crystals, they just use them instinctively.’ And gave the example of a friend of mine, whose international wheeler-dealer husband has high-functioning Asperger’s Autism and is prone to anxiety attacks when faced with the unfamiliar. She told me how her husband keeps a stone in his pocket. A stone he picked up out of the gutter one day. A little, brown, rounded stone, nothing special to look at but to him it represents security. He never goes anywhere without it and whenever he feels anxious he fondles his stone. It’s literally his lifeline that takes him through traumatic times. “I wish I had a little stone” she said wistfully. I pointed out that all she had to do was look down as she stepped outside the door and she’d find one. She needed to look at what was beneath her feet instead of searching ‘out there’. Now she too has a little stone to anchor her into a safe place. My own guidestone is a softly rounded Flint from Knowlton Henges, my local sacred site.

Five thousand years ago in Mesopotamia, someone had a similar little round flat stone but his was a slice of Agate inscribed in teeny gold writing ‘Lord God Marduk (Jupiter) protect me’. No doubt he too felt safe when it was in his pocket. It gave me the shivers when I handled it as it was still imbued with potent god-power and Jupiter is the ruler of Sagittarius, my sun-sign. It’s the planet of hope, expansion, trust and faith in the future. I remembered this today when I was finally discharged by my eye surgeon.

Sitting in the pit

I’ve barely been out of the house for almost five months. I had a cataract operation. Simple you might think. But no. Mine was ‘complex’ to quote the surgeon. I was virtually blind and utterly disorientated for three months before I had the other eye operated on. Equally complex. It has given me a lot of time to ponder the deeper questions of life, like WHY????? Normally, or so I’m told, if your outer sight shuts down your inner sight opens up. Err, no. Mine shut down. Ann Napier, bless her, said ‘more soul polishing.’ I thought: ‘I have to see things in a different light.’

As long term readers of Cygnus will know, I’ve been in dark places before but have never been quite this restricted. I live in an isolated hamlet and not being able to drive is confining. Even when someone else drove me, I was so disorientated and sun-blind that I couldn’t relate to the outside world at all. I went down to Devon with a friend who was seeing the healer Matthew Manning, and it was thick fog all the way. I could hear the universe chuckling: ‘You think you can escape?’ It was definitely one day at a time and going inward stuff. But I have come to realise that I was being asked to relate to tiny details that I probably wouldn’t have noticed before.

I would sit clutching my guidestone intoning to myself ‘this too will pass’. Then I realised that it wouldn’t until I accepted it, immersed myself in it and got on with simply being here no matter what. I had to love the state I was in. Mindfulness and the power of now had to be explored at a very deep level and I needed to acknowledge and accept how I was feeling moment to moment and then let it go – thank goodness for astrology as this, as always, helped me to understand what was going on and where I was sitting in the greater scheme of things. If you find yourself in a similar place, I would urge you to have an astrological reading to shine a light into the darkness.

Pink stars

One very bright light shone into the darkness of what I came to call my pit. My great granddaughter was born. A pink star child as I have decided to call her. Highly alert from the first, fully present, wise all-knowing eyes that look deep into your soul (well, she is a Scorpio after all) and such tender love exuding from her. Pink stars are linked to Archangel Chamuel, the archangel who inspires us to realize that in order to love others we must first love ourselves. Charlie-Skye’s hands are very active. One of the first pictures shows her making a peace sign. From her birthchart, she’s clearly been here before and she’s already started to live out her healing purpose. There have been a whole bunch of these children born lately and it’s going to be fascinating watching their soul plans unfold and the impact they have on our world.

And I am very thankful that I will have the eyes to see these little miracles. I treasure my sight, inner and outer, in a way that was not available to me before. Funnily enough, in July I am leading an astrological retreat to explore the gifts of Pluto, the planet of alchemical transformation. I’ll be lighting my miner’s lamp, grasping my guidestone, and setting off into the Underworld with confidence. I know the way intimately by now!

A very happy, prosperous and growth-filled new year to you.

© 2013 Judy Hall

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