A Change of Era Part 1

An Introduction to Understanding Change, From Within and Without

As I began exploring the themes of change and possibility, it quickly became clear that there’s too much to cover in just one go. So, I’ve broken this exploration into several parts, each a different perspective on the same theme. Please allow me to set the stage for you in this introduction.

I’ve been talking about what I have been calling ‘Breaking Free from the Orbit of the Possible’ for a few weeks now, because it speaks to change. In the weekly tarot reading ‘The Cost of The Sun,’ I broke down how ‘possible’ can have two very distinct meanings for us depending on temporal framing—whether we’re talking about the past or the future. To briefly recap, past-possible is that which is tried and true, that which has happened. Future-possible is in some ways the opposite of that, otherwise it is just a repeat. What change is possible? This week I was going to explore more on how we are often constrained by what society deems possible—both in how we think and live. I was going to use as one example of this a man named Frederick Winslow Taylor and his contribution to our world, often referred to as Taylorism. Jeremy Rifkin, an economist and social theorist, said, “Taylor made efficiency the cardinal virtue of American culture… [he] has probably had a greater effect on the private and public lives of the men and women of the twentieth century than any other single individual.”

Yet, you may not have ever heard of Taylor; I know I hadn’t until a couple of years ago, but once I had, I realised how much of our western societies are built on his ideas of standardisation. Taylorism is obvious to see in how companies and workplaces are set up and even in how our children are educated, but it also impacts our own personal lives, our spiritual beliefs, and management of our inner reality. Taylor said, “In the past, the man was first; in the future, the systems must be first,” and I find that a chilling statement, as it underscores the structures and processes that confine us. Is it really change if it just happens within the same systems, with the same players and options? What if power is merely being shifted from one group to the other? The faces and names change, but the roles remain the same.

So yes, I wanted to look at the structures and processes that have provided stability and growth but now, also limit our potential. But I realised something: discussing Taylorism and other prevailing systems, we are able to distance ourselves from much of what happens around us. While yes, there are most definitely real world, material changes that need to take place, just focusing on them as something out there, someone and something to change, blame, and judge, actually gives us the illusion of change and not the real thing.

The same can be said even if we recognise we play a role in how we view the world. I have spent much time talking about the “me in here” and the “out there reflection,” and that was useful to a certain extent, but there is a me and therefore a you beyond that. It is an awareness, a consciousness that means the “in here” and “out there” are the same. It is beyond head and heart narratives. The simplest way to explain what I mean when referring to the head and the heart is that even when we understand and are willing to live a heart-based life, where the heart is the master and the head is the emissary, finding ways to do the heart’s bidding, too often what this reduces down to is a version of heart = preference and head = justification of that preference. I think much of the work of self-awareness and self-exploration for many of us has been to identify what we call head and what we call heart and the role that they play in our lives. But I think, too often, we do this meta thing of having preferred versions of our head and heart and justify that as growth and healing. We see them as being awareness, when really they are arisings of which we are aware. Therefore, to just stop here is to fall short of acknowledging the true immensity of the self. To limit ourselves to preference and justification is a recipe for disaster when we are, as Pope Francis stated, not living in an era of change, but rather a change in era. We will go beyond those limitations by exploring deep within in future posts.

As much as this talk is, or is leading to, an illustration of our own inner awareness, it’s important to contextualise that awareness, not just in preferred situations but in all. In my own life, I do that through everything—from global events to personal reactions, from my memories of the past to my visions of the future. It is possible because awareness is always there. However, I recognise that sometimes we can struggle to tap into our core awareness when we have a lot of head and heart reactions, as may be the case when we feel overwhelmed by the news, problems in a relationship, losses, even windfall gains. So, in part 2, I’m going to make it easy for us and take a journey into the past, to an era that will hopefully hold your interest, but that you are not personally impacted by, and therefore will be able to zoom out and see the big picture and the parallels to current world situations. We can do this, because we’ve done this in our personal lives – we understand the patterns that have shown up in our lives. Then we will continue the exploration by returning to the present and a broader look at what doesn’t change but what we can in part 3. In part 4, we will explore the astrological themes from history in contrast to our current astrology. At this point, I have only written those, but as we progress through Virgo season, I will be bringing Chiron into the mix in future posts.

In the next part, we are going on a journey to the dark, foggy streets of Victorian London in 1888, where ‘the Whitechapel Murders’ took place over the summer. A number of women were brutally killed by an unidentified individual who would come to be known in the tabloids as Jack the Ripper. The inspiration to use this example arose as I was mulling over the messages from the weekly reading and thinking about how even in the most positive there is always a negative. I was reminded of the inverse: how even in the worst of times, some benefits can arise when I overheard my sisters talking about the latest season of ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ and that the first episode is about Jack the Ripper. Ever since, as a young girl, I first learned of the Whitechapel Murders and Jack the Ripper, I was intrigued by the case, and Victorian London is an era I am fascinated by.

In light of recent events in the UK and other countries, I realised by examining this historical moment, we see that the themes of distrust, social reform, wealth inequality, and media influence aren't new; they echo through time, as relevant now as they were then. Even the spiritual themes are really not that new, and we’ll look at those when we get to the astrology. Yet, we treat these problems as if they are new, and as if the threats are new. The song remains the same, but the dance need not. There will be a lot of words, and at times I have intentionally held back from applying my own meanings. This is because I have tried to illustrate one tiny way of exploring and understanding themes such as change, to show that the answers are everywhere if we care to look, and, my most sincere wish, is to do so by shining a light but not adding heat on what may be difficult themes for many. I thank you for joining me on this journey...the next stop is London, 1888.