In conversations, emails, reading articles and watching some news feeds, many are asking if the world is coming to an end? Or why do they feel as if there is a lot of tension in their own personal life and those around them? Tuning into the news reports, be it on websites, social media, television and in physical publications, one can surmise the world is in a constant state of disorder. It permeates the consciousness of most of us and highlighted by the many voices reporting it, for better or worse.

Most people in the US and the world live without war in their backyard or plagues infecting their neighbors. If we were to just watch or read these news reports, we might think humanity is plunging toward complete destruction. But if taken as a whole across the global spectrum, complete destruction is not anywhere close to the reality of the whole. However, the world event can mirror the state of our own being, highlighting tension and struggle within ourselves and showing in various ways, our own vulnerabilities.  And this vulnerability becomes an opportunity to see ourselves, to listen to our souls.

On the individual spectrum, many of us are living in an accelerated process. Relationships that once took many years to experience its full dynamics now take only a year or two, at the most. Sometimes, the process happens within six or eight months. In Western Culture, most of us feel a need to keep up as life speeds through and our brains go on overload. We are becoming more and more dependent on computer technology. We are as a people, generally-speaking, becoming more and more detached from our origins, our ancient ancestors and the stories they told over the eons.

The tension on the global scale is directly related to that undertone we are feeling. It is creating opportunities for us to explore the deeper dynamics of our path, but the opportunities are rarely explored voluntarily. Much of our crap is buried in the unconscious, being released at times in fits and starts without a comprehension as to why that is happening. Typically, this unconscious tension comes to us through dreams and we can slowly become aware of the symbols and make more informed decisions that benefit us in the long run. But if we let it get bottled up and ignored, then it can be expressed through physical and mental actions. It can come in the form of self-sabotage, blaming others and a general inability to own up to who what is truly guiding us: The Soul.

The time in which we live is called the Turning of the Ages, when one 26,000 year cycle is shifting into another 26,000 year cycle. This is otherwise known as a Great Year. Since the mid to late 1960s, the shifting age of humanity is allowing the soul of the whole of humanity (one may call it moving toward a singularity, both in the tools we use and spiritually) to make a transition into full conscious awareness of moving into another form.

The primary and rare planetary alignments that are assisting humanity in this process include the Uranus-Pluto square (2012-2015 center point), the Grand Cross (and the other alignments that included Vesta and Ceres) that happened back in April, the tetrad of total Lunar Eclipses and their timing. Even more so was the Lunar Eclipse of 2010 very close to the Galactic Extreme (or Edge) on Winter Solstice, but also on the crosshairs of the Galactic Plane and Ecliptic (Path of the Sun). 12 years prior to that Lunar Eclipse, the Solstice point’s movement into an intersection of the Galactic Plane and the Ecliptic was in May 1998 (according to astronomer Jean Mauss, as referenced by Daniel Giamario in the 2012 Edition of The Shamanic Astrology Handbook pg 18). That time can be referenced as the center point of the Turning of the Ages.

When one takes into account that the stars/constellations move backward 1° every 72 years in a process known as the Precession of the Equinox, then one can calculate roughly 36 years to either side of 1998. That period of time is 1962 to 2034. That is really the time for great transitions to take place in humanity. And as we all know transitions are not easy to walk. Regardless of what planetary cycle/initiation we are currently experiencing, we are going to feel the tension on some level as not only our own personal soul is awakening more fully, but also the humanity’s global soul is awakening, evolving to new stage.

Going back to an individual level, especially those who are in the mid-life phase between as early as 36 up until around 50 years of age or even Saturn Returns (29-30 and 58-59), our soul are sometimes screaming at us to move in harmony with our authentic path. At the very least, the soul is prodding us to get ourselves in gear. Each person has their own unique expression of their path. And in Shamanic Astrology, this is represented by a person’s Rising Sign or Ascendant (if the Rising Sign is not known then Jupiter can be used to provide large clues to a person’s path). Our souls are asking us to know ourselves, to move away from what we were (represented by the Moon sign – symbol of our lineage) to we are training to be: Jupiter/Ascendant.

Each of us has our individual struggles with stepping into authenticity or our Soul’s intent. Our shadows are triggered, projections are flying and we can get lost in the process of it all. However, when we are experiencing a crisis of just about any sort, the question to ask is one that any Jungian psychoanalyst would ask: “What does the Soul want?”

That question can be asked of humanity as a whole as well, but getting clues to what the soul wants requires patience and an awareness of its voice. It requires looking into one’s patterns, be they toxic or healthy or both. It requires seeing your shadow in the mirror and looking at yourself for who you truly are, then surrendering to that knowledge. It does help to see yourself reflected in others, especially if they are also aware of your projections. It requires knowledge of your fears but also where you are having joy. The soul typically shows up in our unconscious selves appearing every now and then, especially in a crisis or awakening (which is really a different kind of crisis).

“The Soul comes from darkness

Into flesh, into blood

from Stars it springs, into birth it wails 

tasting air, gasping between worlds

Helpless, helpless, helpless

it rolls onto earth, reaching for mud

Finding mother, the soul aches and ails

warmth, comfort, love, the Soul Yearns

But where, why, what is the meaning?

The Directive from the source, life, life, life!”

In general, if you were born with a Pisces Moon and Capricorn Rising, then it is a movement toward taking responsibility in a practical and earthy way while planting the seeds for the next seven generations. At the same time, it is giving permission for the Pisces Moon to support the Ascendant. In general, the challenge is not falling into the easy pattern of escapism and only feeling what others feel. It’s allowing the Pisces sensitivity, empathy and healing skills to be applied more in teaching, managing and providing through the commitment to producing results (while supporting the next 7 generations with compassion).

Another example would be a person born with an Aries Moon and a Virgo Ascendant. This is the soul going from an independent, rugged do-it-yourself, instinctual, mission-oriented, assertive, individualist to being a Steward of the Earth through the recognition of cycles, patterns, order and especially sacredness (as if the Earth has become a temple). Again, these examples are general and apply in a broader sense. We also use the house position of the Lunar Nodes in Shamanic Astrology to specify the lineage and the life purpose (training). This in turn creates 144 types of lineages and 144 paths toward life purpose.

The tension in the world and the planetary alignments highlighted above are supportive of this transition from who we think we are to what we can truly become. Like the global front, the debate between what the ego wants and what the soul wants is very, very challenging. We are taught to support the ego structure and while we should support it, it shouldn’t be at the cost of the soul’s intent in this lifetime. Being able to have awareness of what your soul wants, which is directly linked to your Rising Sign as a symbol, will assist a person in knowing the archetype that is emerging in their lives. But this is rarely an easy road, but all of us have the capacity and toolkit to learn about it and to navigate it.

So as the tension in the world rises and potentially at home, look to your soul for navigation along with your spiritual beliefs, through the shadow, through the crisis point and into your integrated, authentic being.

– Erik Roth, Shamanic Astrologer 9/15/2014