Astrology shows the area(s) of our life where we will experience ‘contrast’. Abraham uses the word contrast as an abbreviation to express the difficulties in our life which create an amount of dark or shadow so that more light is possible. The idea that there cannot be light without dark, or dark without light is the prevailing theme in our physical world. Also that everything has its opposite point or value. And that there are degrees of everything in between the two opposite points.

The astrological sun makes a good symbol for light. Light is always good even when it is seen against the background of the constellation of Scorpio which is ruled by the symbol of change and transition, Pluto; or the constellation of Capricorn, ruled by that ‘old devil’, Saturn which presents us with challenges. So we are here to follow the light and to light up whatever our light comes into contact with.

With the Abraham analogy of life being like a river or a stream we are advised to go downstream as it is the natural flow of life-force energy; upstream goes against the flow of life/source energy. As we progress downstream we encounter eddies and whorls, half-submerged rocks and boulders, dead water which is in riparian stagnant areas having no momentum – until the flood. As I listened to A-H yesterday I heard Abraham say that if something is in the unconscious it ‘is not an active player’ in a life situation. At this time of listening I was sitting in nature as the sun poured down making the late October day like mid summer, and wondering why my feeling of anxiety was increasing. Perhaps it was linked to the brevity of this last good day as most of my mood is linked to the weather. I do not really know, but I have become used to feelings of anxiety, fear and depression over a long lifetime. A difficult episode is like riding a huge river swell like the River Severn bore or surge wave, ‘where the tidal range is the 2nd highest in the world, being as much as 50 feet (approx. 15.4m)’.

‘The shape of the Severn estuary is such that the water is funnelled into an increasingly narrow channel as the tide rises, thus forming the large wave. The river’s course takes it past Avonmouth where it is approximately 5 miles wide, then past Beachley and Aust, then Lydney and Sharpness where it is approximately 1 mile wide, and soon the river is down to a width of a few hundred yards. By the time the river reaches Minsterworth it is less than a hundred yards across, maintaining this width all the way to Gloucester. As well as the width of the river decreasing rapidly, then so does the depth of the river also change rapidly, thereby forming a funnel shape. Therefore as the incoming tide travels up the estuary, it is routed into an ever decreasing channel. Consequently the surge wave or bore is formed.’

The river of life shapes us from birth, from the source of the river – our birth – to the estuary of brackish water – old age – before entering the open sea – return to non-physical.

Yesterday it was the submerged obstacles I was reacting to in the sunny, pleasant landscape, as there was nothing in particular in my life which should create fear. It was then, a fear of the unknown. A floating unconscious anxiety. As previously mentioned I am currently having a transit of Saturn (fear) to natal Venus. Transits are simply the ever-moving flow of symbols, containing archetypal meaning, through our lives shown in astrology by whatever point on the circle of the chart/life they are coming from to whatever point they are making an alignment with that was there at the moment of birth; the moment we took our first breath.

We jump into a life from a place where there is no resistance, no time/space continuum into a life which offers us opportunities for growth and expansion. If we have a birth chart with lots of squares and oppositions those opportunities are obvious immediately. If we have a life with lots of free-flowing energy, lots of trines and sextiles problems are not so obvious and we create our own friction or contrast. Every time a transit of Saturn makes contact with a configuration in the birth chart we will have cause to process something upstream. If the configuration has 3 or 5 points (on 3 or 5 degrees of the circle) the transit will last longer and affect more areas of life. If it is an easy, by comparison, chart with no aspects to Saturn, and the birth Saturn is in a sign it works well with like Capricorn or Libra, it will be easier to go with the flow.

Finally, Abraham using the ‘shape’ of Esther for communication is working with a life that has relatively few birth obstacles. This life often sounds as if it is blessed with miracles round every corner. It is not the case for everyone. So the goal of freedom, growth and joy which Abraham offers to everyone is not attainable from a level playing field. Our rivers and streams are all different, always. This is what astrology reveals that Abraham does not especially address although in talking with different people about their issues it becomes more obvious.

Next time: what happens at the rill between the end of day and the beginning of night….