2023 is the Yin side of Water, dust off your water wading gear and have a ready supply of silicon stop gap. This is the year to understand pressure, what pressures you, what moves your internal motivations, what is that you are willing to dig/dive deep into to bring forth the treasure within in. How to let-go, to go with the flow and just Chill on it, man. Peace, we come in peace.
Some of us will see pressure as an external force, some of us will see pressure as and internal pocket of gas that creates an uncomfortable situation. Both are true this year. The Water element give the Rabbit a most ethereal state, symbolised in the colour Grey. Rabbit, a catalyst for change, has been given the greatest power of the elemental cycle of human consciousness, Water. There will be a lot of feeling like the floor has moved from underneath. What seemed solid a minute ago isn’t and it may feel as if there is no-thing of certainty but fluid state of being.
However, you may feel to step into the grey of life’s stream, maybe you wish to question and experiment with how things have always been done. Then come with me, little one, welcome to world of the magical ‘Mister Mistoffelees’ A mystical carpet ride, things may not appear as they seem, communication may be one way then the other. What once was, may just disappear and then show up again when you least expect it.
The one of the deeper pressures symbolised in the Grey Rabbit year is Fear. Fear as a pressure that makes us perform in certain ways. Fear as an emotion that grips our mind and stumbles the creativity. This is a year to monitor the effect fear has on your life, inner and outer. Fear can make us susceptible to manipulation, a great art of the Rabbit, for no particular reason other than a super-power that can be used for both good and not so good. Be aware of where the art of manipulation is most manifest in your environment.
The Grey Rabbit brings to the fore the need for control and conformity. It is through connecting with the heart feelings; is this helpful or is this is destructive? Grey Rabbit encourages us to weigh the paradox of these two things. It is too much or is it not enough? As Rabbit is ‘Head of the Ashram’; do you run the community with a dictatorial hand or a guiding hand of care? Grey Rabbit asks those of us in the role of leadership to really weigh the balance of these two things and the various guises these actions can take. Is it just all in the mind? Are we just materialising fears, projecting fears or reflecting fear? The Rabbit encourages a diplomatic approach, this animal should never be pushed to conflict, it gets messy. When pushed into a corner, are they likely to lose all reason and self-destruct; and to take everyone with them. So peace brother, we come in peace.
The veils are thin in the Grey Rabbit year. A most reasonable voice can be heard above the gentle babbling brook in the stream of life and it may appeal to our fear, our most reasoned arguments to give away more erode more of the structure we have valued. This voice will appeal to our sympathy, our humanity and our most primal fears grown in the test tube of popular opinion. Resist your feelings being weaponised. Be humble enough to ask is this real or not?
Much can be done if we are able to reign in our Fear. Letting go of Fear is the letting go of Susceptibility, recognising where we are susceptible. Susceptibility distracts us from our own path, direction and limits creativity. So what does letting-go of Fear mean really? The potential chink in the most stoic resolve will be through the realm of Sex, Love and the finer things of life. When you feel your values compromised or a niggle that you feel pressured to do, be or act other than you wish to, a question to check in with your heart maybe ‘Is this a perfect ‘yes’?’ If it is not, then it is a no.
So how may Rabbit lend it's gentle sweet nature to Water. Water can gently lap away the stresses, caress and sooth the tired mind. Be music to the senses, sweet oils of life giving pleasure administered with such care, such kindness; a tenderness, like unto soft life giving mountain stream, lifting on vortexes of energy, changing states and reshaping form. A fresh, clear, cool brook bubbling across the expanse of the universe, an oasis to rest and restore our tired worn rocky expanses to most verdant terrain.
This year is the year of self-care, giving gently to the body, tend patiently the fertile ground into which our dreams are sown. Allow things to unfold in their own time. Find wonder and excitement that the journey has begun and it is good. Speak more softly, move more gracefully, and embrace the fine stanzas of poetry and song, envelope in sweet aromas. Give care to you, to your people, projects and the wider community and maybe just maybe, this will wash away a little fear, stress and bring healing in unforeseen ways.
Entering this ashram, is a world of the emotions tied up with the psychic mystery of unfathomable depth. Things may at times feel overwhelming. When there is over-use or imbalance, when things feel a little depressive. Time to move to a more uplifting state, try something you find shifts the vibe, maybe music, a trip to the masseuse, a heartfelt catch-up with friends or family, whatever it is this especially midway in the year will find sustaining energy into the later half.
When Fear becomes a calmer voice, a small voice within the collective of our soul. Fear has the potential to transform into something courageous, confident and humble the true super-power of the Rabbit. It has a purpose, just not as something to drive your life. Rabbit reminds us that most decisions are best when there is a harmonious balance of whole.
Rabbit is the lamp holder to the tender side of life, guiding us to the heart felt expression we hold within. A sense like a wonder for all of life itself. And Rabbit gets pretty ‘ticked off’ if you don’t respect it. Just imagine, if heart energy can influence change for the benefit of all, this is the best time, the most supportive time. A heart without the pressures of fear, without bitterness of past actions toward Nature, without over-extension into the lives of others but the pure honest love for life itself, even human life.
In all things Rabbit offers us the lesson of patience, not as a concept but as an active power of preparation. It is tough to sometimes hold this power. Consider being a bit like waiting for a wave to carry us to a safe shore. First you have to whether the elements, navigate by the stars and under the light of the moon, face illusion, mirages and the long shadows. Not a victim to life, and all things real or imagined but an embracer of life. By staying true to your heart direction in patience be ready to feel the pressure as the river passes to less deep water. Find firm footing and step with humility to shore. Or trust and let go into the stream and something eventually will show up.
Let us love life in all its forms; seen and unseen, animated and inanimate, receding or becoming, close by or far-distant. Let us all sit at the table and share without anger, bitterness and disrespect in the bounty set before us. Life will balance without us trying to create it, shape it or manipulate it. Life is beyond future modelling, boundary mapping and nitty-gritty micro-management. Grey Rabbit knows this and now we have entered this Ashram, so put flowers in your hair, see life from a different warm and fuzzy, world it may just transform into something a little better.
Happy New Year!! Kong He Fat Choi!
Love and Best wishes To All.