Wednesday 13 May 2009

The Phoenix Rises

Pluto in Retrograde is continuing to have some far reaching consequences for many of us. Issues that we thought were long resolved are rearing their heads again, this is leaving many of us feeling tired right down to soul level – a feeling of deep exhaustion or lethargy that feels a little overwhelming.

Pluto seems to be pushing us into corners, in order to test our strength, courage and resolve. Just how much do we want those things in life that we dream about? If we are serious about achieving these dreams, then we need to be tested and pushed to make sure that we can see them through to fruition.

Of course, we all feel that we have had more than enough of being tested, but at the same time isn’t this an integral part of life? When we stop learning, what else is there?

Retrograde Pluto has a habit of stirring up the melting pot within – he pushes us to our limits to bring about change. He is the transformer, the catalyst for change, and so it is no surprise that his energy is having such a strong effect on so many of us.

Think about the Phoenix – the mythical firebird that rises from the ashes, lives, then dies in flames only for another to be reborn from those very same ashes. So it seems that each of us are Phoenixes in our own way, and that one by one over the coming weeks and months, we will arise out of the ashes – reborn, regenerated and renewed.

The challenge we all seem keen to avoid though is the going down in flames bit! But of course change doesn’t have to be quite so flamboyant. However, change is challenging at this time. Pluto is pressing our buttons and making us go to places we wouldn’t normally go to within.

Many folk are re-thinking their whole life plans, wondering if they are still on the right paths, doing the right things with the right people. And it is likely that by September when Pluto moves direct again, some of us will be living very different lives to the ones we are living now.

Of course, we should not fear this – change is inevitable after all. To embrace change is to embrace our inner strength, and it is our strength that is key at this time.

We are all individuals, with our own unique paths in life. Yet we come together like sheep, following the flock, doing what others do. Pluto is challenging this attitude within us now, as it is time to stand up and be counted as individuals and to stop thinking about life and to start living it instead.

Someone once said ‘a dream remains perfect only whilst it remains a dream’. However, keeping it a dream to keep it perfect misses the point, we have to learn through experience – success and failure. Dreams can come true, but if we never take that leap how will we ever know?