The July Eclipses: Staying Centered

Last week, just before Independence Day, we experienced a pivotal solar eclipse in Cancer, the cardinal water sign ruling home, family, mothering, lunar mysteries and sensitivities of all sorts. Almost every client I’ve spoken with over the past two weeks has reported a sudden, surprising occurrence, whether personal, intimate, or professional. Something big has shifted.
 

Sophia, 1989. Alex Gray

I liken eclipses to the cosmic chessboard. The hand of God, karma if you will, takes a piece – say, a bishop or knight, and plucks it from one square to another. You are the chess piece. The universe has deemed it time for a new perspective entirely. This movement has been entirely out of your control. It had to happen, however. This is your destiny. Everything looks different. And now, here you are. 

Speaking of chess, I’ve been reading The Art of Learning by international chess champ Josh Waitzkin, profiled in the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993). After Waitzkin’s wildly successful youth chess career, he took up the martial art of Tai Chi Push Hands, and became an international champion in that sport as well. Waitzkin writes about “controlling the center,” no matter what is going on outside of you – whether on the chessboard or with a martial arts opponent.

We notice and respond to the tugs and pulls that are occurring, never losing contact with the center. Even if we are playing or favoring one side of the board, we always orient at the center. This is the true key to peace and real happiness.

I call it the seat of the Self. Resting in the I Am. I am never not here. I am nowhere, and everywhere, simultaneously.

Does this make me untouchable, such as during wild eclipse season? Disengaged? Unaffected by chaotic or disturbing events occurring in my life? No, and yes.

There is a place and a space, a plane, in which I live both in this Reality, and outside of this Reality. As I said, I am nowhere and everywhere. 

This is always the case. It is never not true. I am the constant, abiding awareness. I am the eternal subject.

The body comes and goes. Relationship comes and goes. All that exists in duality comes and goes.

If you want peace, you must Realize the Self – that which never comes and goes. It is outside of Time.

Imagine it as “freedom within bondage.” This is because we simultaneously must live through the experience of existence. The pains, the pleasures, the joys and heartaches, the relative successes and failures. It is all a play, an unfolding of maya. This is not to spiritually bypass, no. We still take action and make effort to change, to grow and develop, as our soul – and external and internal influences – dictate.

We are not separate from everything else, an infinite (infinite!) number of causes and effects occurring all at once. We both have volition, and we are subject to all – freedom in bondage. We live in paradox. When this is fully realized, there is no need to remember, and nothing to forget.

We have another eclipse – a full moon, lunar in Capricorn – coming up on Tuesday, July 16. During eclipse season, it’s wise to remember the above teaching. This will help you keep your serenity – to be the center – even when everything or everyone around you is rattled, reactive, insecure. Settle into the seat of the Self, pop the popcorn, and watch the show.

Summertime in the High Sierra

Erin Reese is an author, spiritual guide, teacher, and modern psychic reader based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She works with clients all over the world. For readings and spiritual counseling by Skype, phone or email, contact her directly. She can be reached at erin@erinreese.com.