We are Living exactly what We Are
thoughts from a world explorer
I promised you a series of Bali stories, but here we are! These days we are facing maybe more than we are ready to face, more than we can understand, or handle or change. Oh, the civil unrest prefaced by Pluto in Aquarius is shocking us all over Romania and in Europe and in the world. But it is normal. And to be honest, quite expected by us astrologers.
We are not individuals with no connections to anything, but families of souls that choose a certain set of lessons, shadows, darkness, suffering, pain.
This is what Pluto in signs actually mean for each generational collective. Now with this trembling of the soul and the chaos that we are currently experiencing, I begin to understand that the shadow of (Pluto in) Capricorn was extremely successful. We don’t trust politicians anymore, old structures or power, banks, financial institutions, toxic multinationals, entertainment as weapon for mass abuse.
For the past 16 years, we had to dismantle in us and in the world around us the shackles of power, control, limitation, hurt and viciousness.
What now? - many of you who wrote to me this week would ask me.
Well, Pluto in Aquarius is about to build on that dismantling and questioning. If we don’t trust them, who do we turn to? New politicians, new organisations, new structures? Maybe! But first we must go through mayhem, chaos, rejection, collective fear, lack of understanding and knowledge.
The shadow of Pluto in Aquarius will swallow us until we remember to turn on the light within. There is nothing more that we need. We just need us. And faith is something, someone, up there. In a force that decided our embodiment in this material reality. That said we were worthy to live, experience life and its gifts with all its shadows. Pluto in Aquarius is a rebirth with all its pains and hope, troubles, leaving the comfort of the womb and of the well-knowns to test and create a life on our own terms.
And at the end of these next 19 years, we will distill: who we became in the process, what is the role of AI and how we built it ethically to support our lives and not destroy it, what are the resources we can consume and how we understood that we are guardians of Mother Earth, not her slow, ungrateful killers.
Pluto in Aquarius is our conscience put to work for something bigger than our own pursuits of power. But first we need to see what and how we are, individuals and collective.
We are living exactly what We are. How about that?
As a woman who was born in a family hell and made it through, as a woman who dismantled chains of pain for me and my family, I am not afraid of loss or death. I am a friend of rebirthing processes because I know who I became because of them. And I am not afraid of anything Pluto in Aquarius will send our way. Because I see the light in all of us and we are all bright.
What do we do if we don’t want to loose our minds?
1st of all, accept. You can’t change what you resist. Accept that the reality we are living in is the world we all created. Actively or by not getting involved and letting others decide for us.
2nd, secure your parameters. Health, family, friends, work skills. You need to be optimised in all aspects to have a good start in this era we are stepping into.
3rd, get educated. No, social media is not knowledge, it’s just manipulation. The world is changing. Power and politics are changing. What do you want to live? The framework others tell you is good for you or an ecosystem that you design to support your wellbeing, values, growth?
4th, feed your courage. If you have none, look to the ones around you that are like that, brave and fierce. Get inspired, build a support system around you that is a tailwind, not a headwind.
5th, open your heart. Get back to an active relation with the skies, the Divine, the Gods, nature, ancestors, whoever you believe in to have your back from the other world, the subtle world. You will not be able to do it alone.
6th, find your own people. Get in a good tribe, support each other, raise your kids after common values and systems.
More than ever, isolation, inconsistency, despair or chaos will turn you away from a good, balanced path.
This year in Bali I felt like it was time to know more of the dark side of the Island of the Gods. Those parts that even Nature has forgotten, that politicians are neglecting, tourists are avoiding. So I travelled up North to Kintamani and surrounding areas. Trunyan was not on my initial list, but it was suggested by one of my Balinese acquaintances as a place of mystery. I found it to be a place of deep understanding.
Trunyan or Terunyan is a Balinese banjar (village) on the eastern shore of Lake Batur. The location hosts some of the most remote, but important Bali Aga people.
The local guide took me from my accommodation with multiple means of transport. We descended from up near Batur to the Lake with the same name. Then we travelled across the cold waters to the remote banjar through the mist and the drizzles of the day.
I felt my body getting smaller as I was seeing the temple and the unusual cemetery, but I remained curious. Every time I get scared travelling alone beyond the world’s end, I know God has me in His hands and under His protection. I wouldn’t reach that part of the world without His will anyways.
Just like in GOT, The North holds the knowledge of the past and it doesn’t seem to want to release it.
Anyhow, what would we be without the past? If we forget it, we repeat it.
The guide only knew a couple of words in English, but his heart knew more. He took care of me, took me to his village and his black-stone, Hindu temple. I must admit that I had seen a lot of poverty in my travels but this area was definitely one that impacted me. The people looked at me with wondrous eyes, but still curious to know where I am from and why I was there. People in Trunyan are so remote and not understood or included in the entire touristic Bali narrative we are usually hearing.
There is a natural facet of isolation: resistance in its own frame. Just like we see today, with people divided over who to vote with, only to “liberate” Romania.
I asked him to show me the best of Trunyan. The guide knew less how to communicate with me, but knew how to show me his treasures. He took me to the small village school and showed me his son. That was his gold.
Maybe we just need to find that gold within us, while we are searching it outside.
Unlike the lowland Balinese, Bali Aga people practice ancient rituals that predate the arrival of Hinduism or Buddhism. The people of Trunyan practice customs found nowhere else in Bali, many even unique among the Bali Aga people.
Trunyan is notable for its peculiar treatment of dead bodies, in which they are placed openly on the ground, simply covered with cloth and bamboo canopies, and left to decompose. The influence of the nearby banyan tree removes the putrid smell of the corpses. When a corpse has fully decomposed, the skull is placed on a stair-shaped stone altar.
The place is donation based for any tourist. You might see it as a tourist trap. I saw it as a story to tell here and others about diversity and honesty. The space is full of personal remainders and waste, it didn’t give me the feeling of a holy place, but of a truthful one. And truth is more important than holiness. I will not go back to Trunyan, but the memory of that day and what it carved in my soul, will remind me we are more alike than we are different.
Just like in this original cemetery, we need to confront the shadow of our society and all the corpses we are hiding through ignorance or bliss. Let us see them all and accept that they are us. Then build something different. Without confronting the shadow, we will never be free to roam in the light.
Trunyan was definitely a singular experience for me, but this transition we are entering is for the long haul. Breathe-in, get clear, surround yourself with support people and let’s do this!
“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”―J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
As always, I will be here for you.
Roxana
#WorldIsHealing #WomenAreHealing