December Theme: Feeling the Crunch

By Simone Butler

Mary Patrick Kavanaugh was devastated when her first novel, Family Plots: Love, Death and Tax Evasion was rejected one too many times, and she was dropped by her literary agent. Seven years of her life, down the drain.

But Kavanaugh decided to embrace her failure by staging a funeral for her dead dream. The event was a smash. The cemetery donated the chapel, casket and reception hall. Articles in the local press generated a standing-room-only crowd. Guests threw remnants of their dead dreams into the coffin and danced in the aisles to James Brown. Her deceased (now self-published) book got great reviews, and enjoyed a modest success.

By celebrating the death of her original vision, Kavanaugh made space for something new. As she explains in the October issue of Science of Mind Magazine, "Recognizing that I had the power within to realize my vision for this project without getting outside approval from the book-publishing industry made me feel a bit like Dorothy when she learned she'd always had the power to return to Kansas. Giving up the dream of how my book was to be published pushed me to be more courageous, creative and resourceful than I ever knew possible."

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger--it's an appropriate tale for this Scorpio season. Few of us have made it through the last few months without having to give up something, or find a different route to what we want. And, we are feeling the crunch even more strongly while no-nonsense Saturn squares Scorpio's ruling planet, Pluto, throughout November and December. Saturn in Libra tests our relationships and ideals, and makes us face the truth about what's working and what's not. With Saturn's square to transformative Pluto, many of us are ending relationships, losing jobs or otherwise having to restructure. Yet losing something or failing to get what you want are merely road signs that say "Wrong way." As Kavanaugh discovered, sometimes the Universe saying No to your plans can actually bring out the best in you.

The November 16 Scorpio New Moon squares nebulous Neptune, emphasizing the theme of loss and letting go. However, it also trines Uranus in imaginative Pisces, enhancing our intuitive powers and sparking the ability to make innovative changes. At this New Moon, it's time to bury whatever has died and compost your grief, to make way for new wealth and wisdom. Hold a wake, or celebrate in private. One man is planning a retirement party for his left brain.

The end of 2009 is a potent time for spiritual healing and insights. Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune reprise their cosmic dance in December, as they reactivate the territory they first covered in May-June. Look back in your calendar or journal to see what was happening then. Or, see my article on this potent threesome to refresh your memory. Mars is also slowing down for its six-week retrograde passage starting in mid-December, calling forth the spiritual warrior in all of us (more on that next month).

On Nov. 8, we entered the Sixth Night of the Mayan Calendar. According to Mayan scholar Carl Calleman, this one-year period will coincide with a breakdown of the world's socio-economic system, picking up speed next July at the mid-point of the cycle. This will lead to a more sustainable economy, he says, including the demand for a moratorium on debts so that people will no longer have to pay the banks to stay in their homes. By the dawn of the Seventh Day next November, he adds, we'll be well on our way to a permanent state of unified consciousness, or a "spirituality beyond words based on the immediate experience of the divine."

This may sound far-fetched from where we're now standing. Yet I've glimpsed this blissful unified consciousness or group mind experience--perhaps you have, too--and it's a welcome light at the end of the tunnel. Meanwhile, drink a toast at the Scorpio New Moon to all you have learned, the precious things which still abide, and your ability to rise from the ashes, transformed.

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