The Free Radical

I recently wrote that we are standing now outside the Zone of Predictability. But as always, the ultimate outcome is assured; it is only the route and procedure we employ in getting there which needs our determination. How we will finally choose in this critical time is shrouded in the mystery of the unplumbed self.

Early in the summer I released a detailed timeline of our current archetypal journey based on the traditional tarot. A short summary of that timeline with links to the full explanation is provided HERE.

Essentially, the esoteric map I drew describes a journey through all of the major arcana beginning with 0 – The Fool in 2000 and ending again with The Fool in 2022. Along this twenty-two year journey, The Fool learns where to place his Trust.

2014 was designated as the Year of Temperance– the fourteenth major arcana. By my reckoning, in hindsight, it has been exactly that.

Temperance requires patience, and yet it is hardly passive and idly waiting. The cultivation of temperance espouses moderation in all things. This can be likened to Buddha’s Middle Way. Or alternatively, we can refer to this as the establishment of the neutral perspective… which stands transcendent to the polarized perspective.

Many have been calling this the Year of Change… but that’s too vague. The whole twenty-two year journey is one of enormous, unprecedented change… and there are many different aspects of this monumental change.

Last year, 2013, was overshadowed by the arcane energy of Death/Transformation– the thirteenth card. This aspect of change was deep down inside… where the unplumbed self meets the Collective Consciousness of humanity. The death and transformation was metaphorically at the level of the caterpillar ensconced in the complete darkness of the cocoon. It was deep inside and utterly out of view. Many didn’t notice a thing.

This year, the changes wrought were gradually brought to the surface for our personal inspection. It has been a chance for each of us to align individually with the grand changes taking place… and those about to take place. The general movement of change is from the inside to the outside… and in the process we have been tempered like the steel of the Sword of Discernment.

Tempering is a smithing process whereby metals are made tougher by removing hardness. That bears repeating: made tougher by removing hardness. The metal becomes more ductile, less brittle, through a process of heating and cooling. Haven’t we all been going through a process of heating and cooling in order to find the true balance away from the extremes? It’s certainly what I’ve felt and observed. We, ourselves, have to be prepared and aligned for major changes to occur in the external world by first bearing those changes within our individual circumstances, inside of ourselves. Can you see how this has been done?

There has been a consistent pattern in my life for as long as I can remember. Every November there is an occurrence or perhaps many over the whole month which act as a foreshadow of the coming year. It works both in my personal life as well as the world at large (from the point of my own observation). This last year has put me in a new relationship with nostalgia. I relate to my past in a completely different way. This yearlong process was foreshadowed last November when I reunited with the members of my band Missing Peace for our singer’s fortieth birthday. Perhaps you’ve noticed a similar shift in how you now regard the past as well? That was an aspect of our temperance.

2015 promises to unmask The Devil. That’s the moment when the shit begins hitting the fan in the external reality. (There will likely be an awful lot of shit making its way into the rotary device all year long!) Sometime this month however, there will almost certainly be an incident or two, both in my personal life as well as upon the world stage, which will signal the merciless unmasking to come. I will revisit this article when said incidents become clear. In the meantime, watch for the cracks in The Devil’s mask… and don’t be frightened… as it might get ugly.