Solar Eclipse: More Sacred Opportunity Than Spectacle

This may or may not be news to you, but there is so much hype about the upcoming Solar Eclipse of August 21, 2017, that I feel compelled to share about it on a deeper level, for your consideration.

It came to my attention that the upcoming Total Eclipse of the Sun is not a “spectacle,” as it is being treated in typical Western fashion, but a sacred and powerful event. For instance, certain Native tribes share that this Eclipse is an intimate and rare encounter between the Sun, Moon, and Earth, a connection to be respected rather than “stared at.” They add, in fact, that it is "rude" to stare at it. The word that comes to mind for me is “disrespectful.” 

From a Shamanic perspective, the Total Eclipse of the Sun is a powerful and significant event, providing an opportunity for heightened awareness and positive change. Out of the light from which we are born, into the shadow of this ego-oriented reality, and back to the light of our true nature we die - a Solar Eclipse symbolizes the sacred journey of our lives.

  
Here are some other reasons why the Solar Eclipse is not only a significant opportunity, but a sacred event:

From an energetic standpoint, the Total Eclipse of the Sun signifies change, or a disruption of the norm. For instance, it is not "normal" for the Sun's light to be blocked, or to glimpse twinkling stars during the daytime, or for the Planet Earth to be cast into full shadow. The symbology of these things is intriguing.

The Total Eclipse of the Sun flips the reality of what is on its head. It is a turning over of the status quo. It rocks the energetic boat of our lives, offering a significant opportunity to reboot outdated, hurtful patterning.

This Eclipse invites us to explore the multitude of changes within ourselves, our lives, and our world that feel like a “disruption of past norms.” How do we respond to them in a way that maintains our integrity and fosters harmony or even evolution? This is the challenge; it matters not whether we feel aligned with the changes or disruptions we face. And there are many right now.

How we choose to address the changes is significant: it is the point of our personal power in terms of what we manifest in this reality. Through our choices, we can either make substantive healing and peace possible, or we can feed the wounding and chaos - within ourselves, our lives, and our world.

Just as the Earth will be cast into shadow, we, too are thrown into the shadow of our beings, our lives, and of what we have created in the world, even if only through our ignorance, apathy, or by our default membership in the Human Race. We are all responsible, since we are all energetically inseparable. 

This event invites us to look deeply inward to search out the shadow aspects of our being that we generally deny - those parts of ourselves we reject; those parts we are ashamed of and choose to keep under cover; those parts of ourselves that in some way contribute to our personal and global suffering. By bringing them into the light (of our awareness), we claim the opportunity for change, allowing us to make a different choice - to release and move beyond them to something greater for ourselves and our world, rather than continuing to hide them in the shadows of denial, fear, apathy, ignorance, or rejection.

Something powerful this way comes…