Letting Go to Receive

Jupiter recently stationed direct just hours after this week’s new Moon in Sagittarius. Notice that Mercury, Venus and the Sun, as they are moving through Sagittarius, will each square Neptune, and then Jupiter just before Jupiter finally crosses over to Aries.

We can all intuitively feel that a very new and unknown path is about to unfold, which is what will begin with Jupiter in Aries at the very end of this year. Yet there is a precious completion happening right now.

A common Jupiter teaching is to “let go” in order to receive. This is natural because of course nothing can enter into a full cup. So what are we letting go of here? Our convictions and beliefs about what should be or should have been.

The stress with these transits, especially as the Sag planets move towards the latter degrees of Sagittarius, is the conviction of what we already believe. Jupiter is profound in that it’s both infinitely expansive in it’s capacity for ongoing realization, and yet it also reflects our potential to get stuck in our own dogmatic and limited thinking. Our beliefs basically determine exactly where love and understanding and healing is possible and where it is not.

Have you heard the story of the yogi racoon? (The answer is no, you haven’t). Well then, let me share it with you!

The Yogi Racoon
This yogi racoon was very devout and disciplined yogi. Having studied for many years with her teachers, she had a deep grasp of the spiritual texts and practices. One day, on her travels, she came across a small group of young racoons who were all engaged in a meditation practice. She noticed that these young racoons were all levitating off the ground!

However, that did not concern her. For she also noticed that these racoons were actually all sitting in an incorrect lotus posture. Surely this would have a negative impact on their hip alignment if they keep on sitting like this. So our yogi racoon aroused the attention of these young racoons and confidently announced, “Ho young practitioners! I see your sincerity, and yet you are sitting incorrectly! If you are b ut empty in your minds, will you allow me to teach you a healthier way to sit?”

These racoons were so eager and grateful to learn. They immediately came to the ground to learn from the yogi.

The yogi spent the next couple of hours instructing these young racoons on the proper sitting posture, and while she had their attention, she also taught them about how to properly tuck in the neck, and other important postural alignments. Once the yogi was confident that the younglings understood the correct way to sit, she bid them farewell and left their site.

After about 10 minutes of traveling, the yogi heard these young racoons calling for her. A chorus of voices, somewhere not so far away, was calling out,
“Yogi wait! yogi wait! we have a question for you!”
“Ok what is your question?” the yogi called back to the approaching voices.
” We forgot, do we put our left foot on top of the right thigh first, or the other way around?”

By this time the racoons were nearly caught up to the yogi. Raising her eyes, the yogi saw that the racoons were all flying in the air, hovering just a few feet in front of and higher than her head!

“You know what, forget about it. Just keep on doing what you were doing before you met me. Perhaps if I can somehow unlearn all that I know, I will be ready to understand what you already know.”

Reflections on Faith and Meaning
Sometimes powerful Jupiter/ Sagittarius transits will reflect times where something appears to be taken from us. In Pisces we might find ourselves doubling down to defend what we thought was real (all because we are so afraid of “losing” what we thought to be real as it’s unreality is brought to light). Conversely, we may feel at times that there is no hope at the end of the tunnel.

What’s actually going on is a realignment from where we have displaced ultimate meaning towards what is actually meaningful. We want what is meaningful, but we must be willing to see the illusion we had otherwise thought meaningful for what it truly is. When we see things clearly, it’s so easy to just let go.

Another challenge with these transits is how we deal with the energy of uncertainty. During times where so much feels uncertain, I find for myself that it sometimes seems hard or even impossible to lean in to a space of trust and grace. Will it all end up alright? Is there something I’m supposed to figure out? What’s the right answer? The sincerity to learn and understand is a beautiful thing, and I think there’s often a fine line between becoming anxious about finding answers and becoming available to them.

We are open to clear and transparent vision. We are willing to see what is truly meaningful and to drop the rest. May the remainder of this lunar cycle be a deeply soul-nourishing time of renewed faith and peace. May we share this in our kindness and forgiveness of one another.