The Void
Nothingness. That awkward in between. Not being who you were; not yet the person you want to be. The state of limbo where one phase of life is coming to an end, but the next chapter is yet to begin. We may feel as if everything around us is moving and yet we have been forced to stay still. We may feel listless, stuck and as if no matter how hard we try, we cannot swim against the tide that keeps calling us back to the shore of stillness.
I am sure we can all think back to a time where we have felt like this. I liken this time in our lives to the process of being in a cocoon. We were a caterpillar but are not yet the butterfly. This “in-between” is often a crucial stage taken in our journey of evolution. To move from our current state of being into a new one takes time. It takes a colossal amount of effort. It takes deep self-reflection and the willingness to release old paradigms – something that is not easily achieved – certainly not with any speed (in my experience anyway – if you know any secrets about speeding up this process, you need to share it!). We are fighting years of programming, stories and habitual ways. We can’t even begin to attempt to dive into this when our lives are moving at their usual, highly accelerated pace.
I have been receiving this metaphor of a cocoon in many of my readings for the collective over the recent months and wanted to share with some more depth. Whilst the caterpillar is in the cocoon we cannot, from the outside, see any signs of growth. The changes that are taken place whilst the caterpillar is unable to do anything but wait, ride out the evolution, are imperceptible to anyone. Often, when we are in this phase in our lives (and it can happen many, many times) even we do not always notice the profound changes that are occurring within us every day. It is only when the process is complete, when we have fully formed our wings, that the change becomes apparent.
For me, The Hanged Man in the Tarot embodies this energy so perfectly. The lesson behind the card is the need for space to achieve (or receive) clarity. When we are busy rushing around, focusing on running our daily lives, when we’re stressed and burdened by the world around us, it makes it difficult for us to tap into the signs and synchronistic messages from the universe. The universe needs peace, stillness for its subtle communication to be heard. The noise of our daily lives can distract us from these gentle nudges. When we are in a cocoon of non-movement, we are forced to slow down and to listen.
Standing still forces you into a state of peace. Its ultimate goal is surrender to the process. The greatest gift of this time we are given is for us to begin to see the world, a situation, ourselves (take it how it resonates for you in this moment) in a slightly different way. In Norse mythology, Odin hung from Yggdrasil (the Tree of Life) for 9 days to obtain the knowledge necessary to read runes – to tap into wisdom beyond what he was able to experience before this process of hanging, tethered to being still. Let us be like Odin, embracing the stillness and state of non-movement, until we are able to see. No matter how reluctantly we surrender to the state of hanging!
