Have you ever found your self in a relationship dynamic that you didn’t want to be in? Ever find your self, wondering: How did it get this bad? Was it the leaky faucet we neglected to fix? All those times I went silent when I should’ve spoken? That’s how many of us feel, lately, living in this world gone mad. And this dysfunctional relationship is extremely one-sided. The world is not being a good listener. It doesn’t ask you what you want and need, nor does it care. No matter how much you try to fix it, no matter how much you try to help, like an alcoholic that needs to bottom out on its own, it does what it does. No, it’s not going to change — not anytime soon, anyhow.
Yet here we are, on social media, in our conversations, attempting to have a relationship with a world gone crazy. My social media feed is a noisy cacophony of responses. Planet of communication, Mercury, in Gemini, is filling out a t-square to the Saturn-Neptune square at this Full Moon. Language can feel futile right now; how does one engage nonsense? As the saying goes, You can’t reason with crazy. Opinions have never been so freely on tap, and when everyone feels the need to speak up and share what they think, how we use our words becomes increasingly important. Do we perpetuate fear, or love, with our words and thoughts? I’ve decided the only appropriate response to world events is art. Perhaps, poetry. Maybe some spoken word:
Make all things possible again because I cannot see
I AM in a snowstorm searching for my keys
I’m being bombarded by a thousand things I did not ever want, nor ask for
None of this is mine
All of this is mine,
Now
No, this isn’t a world I created -at least I don’t remember doing so. Yet now it is mine and I, and you, have a choice about how to participate. We can throw our words into the ring- share the innumerable meme and hate-battling sentiments, fill up our rectangular white comment blocks with more… words (sometimes our participation magnifies something, making it bigger). We can allow the fire to purify our purpose and send us on a mission to do some real good and healing. We can become a more effective change-maker (and if you know how to do this, please step forward now). If we’ve ever contributed to the shadows of bigotry, prejudice, hate and injustice that’s plaguing us now, we have the responsibility to help clean that stuff up. Or we can choose to not participate.
Let me say this: You are not a cruel and insensitive person for not openly bleeding all over your Facebook feed. Refusing to engage with a world gone mad is not avoidance. It is preservation of sanity. I’m thinking of the recently deceased Muhammad Ali, a conscientious objector who decided to not participate in something unconscionable- the Vietnam War. I’m thinking of myself, and all the empaths who, when an act of violence drops into the atmosphere, feel it in our physical body, as something painfully destabilizing that starts making little then more noticeable inroads into our sanity, centeredness, and ability to hold peace and healing for our selves and others. Empathic or not, we are all being impacted by world events on energetic levels.
We may not be able to choose the world we live in, but we can choose to inhabit a world we want to live in. Full Moon Sagittarius shines a light beam of hope and possibility into the darkness. Let’s reach for higher ground– if only inside our self. Let’s imagine a world we want to live in. Close your eyes. What do you see? Everything is possible inside your mind’s eye, perhaps not on the outside (not yet anyhow) but inside you have an arena to play and create. Follow your inspirations, now more than ever. Give yourself permission to have a sacred sanctuary that upholds everything you stand for, your beliefs, your loves, beauty, values and truth. Hang out there. Often. You are not burying your head in the sand. You are holding a light of peace for us all.
I create the world I want to live in. I take many trips to the garden. I court hummingbirds, wear rose oil and read books I love because this makes me feel good. Instead of giving myself over to emotional depletion, I vigilantly fill myself up. I remember what’s important, as a practice, many times a day and when fear, paranoia and despair arises from the ego structures that perpetuate them, I let that stuff go. That is not the world I want to live in. By not participating in a world I do not want, I start to create the world I want. That’s how I help heal everything. I plant flowers. I listen to music. I make dinner. I make love. I make art.
I do my women’s work
The work that all women do,
Silent but not quiet
We ask for fresh water, for healing, cleansing
We make magic disguised as small ordinary everyday things
Feeling blood pump back into muscle
Remembering what’s not mine and what is mine, strength grows
There is power in small places
A garden can feed a neighborhood
A bedroom can conceive a life
A dream can give rise to vision
An ant can pull 5,000x her body weight
Miracles happen
A hippopotamus gives strawberry pink milk to her young
My strawberry flows into me and into you
I leave a trail of sweet smelling fragrance wherever I walk
Light follows me
Sound of music and birds find me
I open my mailbox and I receive… my self
I can find myself again because I know where to look
I can take nourishment in the Mother
Venus has just entered Cancer, sign of the Mother Goddess, and the Sun will join her on this Full Moon day. The feminine always has healing nourishment on hand. The feminine, with her ability to nourish beauty and all of life even in the most desolate of times, can turn bitter vinegar into sweet wine, can teach us how to heal, and, like a flower gently turning toward the sun, open our hearts to love. She awaits, a perpetual invitation to remember our divinity. This is my world, a world I want to live in. I choose to inhabit this world. How about you?
Patricia says
Inspiring and uplifting. Bravo!
Edye Allen says
Beautiful! Thank you!
Jeannine says
“Refusing to engage with a world gone mad is not avoidance. It is preservation of sanity.”
Yes, indeed. To go quiet and allow the consequences to fall where they may is a humble recognition that our small selves are not God. What I can control is actually so small. Those of us who recognize the powerlessness of our puny attempts, do the world a service by turning towards the Source of our being and seeking guidance. Your entry really touched me. Thank you.
Sapphire says
Thank you. I needed to hear your words right about now. I’ve been quite tormented with worldviews local and not and needed the permission and the guidance to seek a safe place. The Goddess does answer! She’ll always make her message felt, one way or another.
Blessing everyone!
Laura Duggan says
As a Sensitive Pisces, I’ve always had a hard time with allowing myself to continue to inhabit the world I know I want, while having compassion for the tragedies. Your poetry and article just gave me the permission I’ve neglected to give myself! Thank you!
Rhiannon Meyers says
Just absolutely stunning. Every beautiful word.
Michelle says
Thank you!!
Just the kind of Sagittarian and Nurturing Mother message my soul so needed. Remembering that the glass is still half and what sweet water it is – and there is more where it came from! Gratitude! Beautiful poetry too!