An end of the year plea… no more New Year’s resolutions says Sophie, our Woman of Wisdom
Please, no New Year, New Body…your old body is beautiful just as it is. If there is a little extra padding, welcome it, it’s cold out there.
Please, no restrictive New Year’s resolutions…we’re entering the darkest months, self flagellation is inappropriate at this time. Comfort is key.
Please, no reviews of the year…we’ve all just lived it in all it’s unprecedented destructive shock and awe. Let us be still and nurture a small hope in our hearts.
And please, please, no false expectations that somehow at the chime of midnight on New Year’s Eve, everything will magically be different. It won’t. You will still be you. And you are enough as you are.
Kindness, and gentleness are what’s needed
Instead, let this be a moment of kindness and gentleness. It’s a bin fire out there, and it’s affecting us all in myriad ways. Some of us have lost people we love. Many of us have had to be in isolation, not even able to leave the house and go for a walk. All of us have experienced the unremitting toll of worsening news, harsher at a time of year during which we look to celebrate and escape into joy for a little while. We’re disappointed, disoriented and sometimes despairing. Go easy on yourselves. Make allowances, cut yourselves some slack. You’re still standing, just. Honour yourself for having made it through this far. And extend yourself support and love, as we still have a way to go.
The Great Conjunction, the big move from Earth to Air
We’ve just experienced the Great Conjunction. Saturn and Jupiter, the two big hitters of the zodiac, were the closest they have been in Aquarius for hundreds of years. Saturn, planet of boundaries, restriction, rules, letting go. And Jupiter, planet of generosity, expansion, luck and benevolence. They move slowly and when they do the effects reverberate in our lives. You might have seen them low on the horizon to the east of the rising moon just after sunset when the sky was clear. They are still there, although slightly further apart than on the 21st of December when had their epochal meeting. You need unobstructed skies to view them, Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park have some ideal spots but any open field like place works. Astrologically this represents a shift from the element of Earth to that of Air. From the individual to the collective. From control to communication. From the material to the realm of ideas. Now that Saturn and his son Jupiter have moved on from Capricorn and found a new home in Aquarius, you should be able to feel a breeze of change blowing through your life. It won’t be an immediate picnic, but change is coming. Ease yourself into the New Year, as you would a fragile but beautiful new seedling. No sudden moves, no harsh directives. Just nourishment, support and an environment in which you can grow.
Stay present
In Tier 4 lockdown, there is nothing to do but be gentle, walk outside as often as possible, slip into daydream and reverie. Things are going to change. We will be able to reconnect soon. Keep the flame of hope alive. Undoubtedly it will be a longer wait than the powers that be claim, as perpetually seems to be the case. But that time will come. The wheel turns. This too shall pass. And when this moment is over, there will, please trust me on this, be aspects of the quiet, nothing-time, that we miss. The spaciousness of an un-busy life is something we will look back on and find a pocket of yearning for.
So my plea is this. Stay in the present, don’t wish away the days. Hold your loved ones in your heart even if you can’t hold them in your arms. Go outside, turn your face up to the biting cold sky and feel the steady thrum of life, that goes on even in the darkest time. Wishing you the gentlest New Year possible, and the kindness we all need in 2021.
Sophie x
Insta: @sophietarot
You may also enjoy reading https://darlingmagazine.co.uk/wellness/womens-wisdom/cognitive-reverie/
