Monday 26 January 2009

Happy New Year - again...

Well, today is the Chinese Lunar New Year – it is the New Moon (and annular solar eclipse). Lots going on for a quiet day in January…

It’s strange because today ‘feels’ much more like the New Year than the 1st January this year. The past few weeks have felt particularly heavy and hard work, but this is lifting now – a light is emerging and joy is shining through. Hope has been renewed.

Of course, we are now in Aquarius – the sign of brother/sister hood, humanity, creative intelligence and individuality. Building up in Aquarius is a celestial party of planets – those involved over the next few weeks include Jupiter, Mars, Juno, Chiron, Neptune, the Sun, and Mercury, and I think this is why this day feels more like a New Year – the time for growth, expansion and positive movement is now with us, and there is an air of excitement and anticipation.

So, we are entering the year of the Earth Ox – Ox is a sign of longevity – in Chinese mythology he was born from the heart of an ancient pine tree and Lao-Tse (a wise Chinese sage) rode an Ox during his long search for immortality. Oxen are sacred, they are worshipped in many areas of Asia.

There are lots of comparisons with Taurus (the bull) – Ox is steadfast, sincere, honest, reliable, stubborn, a hard worker, dependable, calm, patient. Security is very important to Ox.

However, it goes deeper than this – an Ox year represents a time of growth, stability and patience. A time of harvest – to reap the rewards of the things we have sown. Hard work, diligence and determination will pay off this year – this is a year to build firm foundations and to achieve hard fought goals. This will not be an easy year, but it will be a rewarding one.

Earth Ox – gives a strong feeling of being connected to the land, and in many ways our drive towards self-sufficiency and living in harmony with the land once again will become more important. Many of us are seeking this way of life now – the ‘reward’ from a material existence has been lacking.

Also of interesting note - the new president of the USA Barack Obama is an Ox. Coincidence? I sincerely doubt it – he is in a unique position to make change on a global scale and if he achieves his election promises, the world will begin to emerge from the darkness into a place of unity and harmony.

This message came through to me during my new moon/new year/solar eclipse meditation:

‘Now is the time for each of us to find our own inner ox – that part of us within that is strong, resolute, determined and focused.

This is a time now to embrace life and to grab it with both hands - to see solutions not problems, to see joy not hate. We all have a choice; we can be pessimists or optimists, realists or fantasists. Of course, they key is to combine reality and optimism - what you sow, you shall reap. You create your own reality, and so can make things happen, therefore believe that your dreams can come true. Keep it in the now, in the moment – know that the heavens are supporting you – all you need to do in return is to have a strong, unbending belief that like attracts like, positive attracts positive. This may be hard in the ‘real world’ – but surely we each owe it to ourselves to try?’