Acknowledging the Calling

2.9.13


You identify the feeling: a simple knowing of 'it just feels right'… but it cannot be explained, at least not in any concrete terms.

The hints may be delicate, hazy, without much substantial weight. Yet, they keep returning to your consciousness, as a repeated motif, a synchronicity, no matter how many times you attempt to dismiss it all through logically unconvincing yourself of the significance. You've got appointments to attend, mouths to feed, hamster-wheels to keep running upon at the same sustaining pace—and no clear understanding of how this phantom feeling is supposed to fit in with all that.

What does it mean that you can't stop thinking about that one special location in the world, somewhere you haven't been in years? that certain topic-of-study or area-of-interest you always relegated to the 'hobby' category, but which has lately taken up a strangely more prominent spot in your consciousness? that one conversation with your best-friend about his new job, or your cousin about the organization she volunteers for? Why does it conjure a case of the full-body tingles?

You can't help but notice that something is happening, since this rather particular theme continues to show up in the random happenings of your day-to-day life. People keep talking about it. It's mentioned in the book you're reading or the movie you saw last night. Windows-of-opportunity related to it seem to magically open at your feet… and hell, it even appeared in this morning's dream. Are these signs from the universe?

This is how Neptune communicates to us, in a language of inspiration: difficult to solidly grasp, open to varying interpretations, vague enough to convince us we're maybe just 'making it up'. Yet, something about whatever message Neptune is trying to deliver to us sticks in our imagination, reappearing in visions, recurring in conversational references, as if to insist we create a lasting place for it on our priority-list.

Or have we become irrationally obsessed, and are merely 'finding' repeated allusions because our mind is looking for them? Neptune never definitively resolves this question. Instead, he wonders whether there's any meaningful difference between an encounter with divine inspiration and our own peculiar fascinations.

Neptune is presently in his most influential position in Pisces, the sign of his modern rulership, which he entered to stay in February 2012 and remains in into 2025… an effect that's now amplifying the volume with which he sends these inspirational dispatches, in hopes of enlisting our participation in whatever universally-minded endeavor or alignment we're most specially suited for. Above all else, Neptune's arrival in Pisces reminds us that, together, we comprise a single interconnected life-force: Though we may perceive of ourselves as distinct entities, an individual's actions and intentions undeniably create ripples that impact other people. When we help someone else, we generate a feedback-loop of goodwill that brings support back our way. And when we contribute to another's suffering, it also comes back to bite us… though we might be unaware of where that nagging unhappiness is stemming from. Neptune's suggestive hints aim us in the direction that best encourages our helping nature, in turn helping us help ourselves and, consequently, our unified being.

During this past week, Neptune's influence has been foregrounded even more distinctly—through a pair of conjunctions to both Mars in Pisces (Feb 4) and Mercury in Pisces (Feb 6). This triple conjunction turned up the volume on these cosmic messages even louder, blasting the evocative music through which this sentient universe guides us, by rhythm and tone, to a near blaring level. When the voice of inspiration becomes this unmistakably apparent, we'd be wise to consider what's being presented to us as a calling. We may not understand the full significance of any such synchronistic repetitions or attractive pulls, but we surely know (at least on some numinous plane of consciousness) we ought to pay attention. We know we should follow the calling if we are sufficiently courageous, altruistic and attuned.

I intentionally waited until after the exact Mercury-Mars-Neptune conjunction had peaked before sharing my interpretive take on this 'week of calling' so as to ward off the possibility that you, dear reader, might prematurely read these words and, desperate to hunt down the enlightening kernel of your unique divine truth, end up obstructing your own ability to receive the signs. This receptive Piscean energy doesn't respond well to frantic, forced demands. It functions with far greater subtlety, whispering in our ear when we're least suspecting, in symbolic or vibrational language, what wouldn't had made much intelligible sense had we methodically scoured the scene for answers. Yet, here it is, surprise, surprise, an 'answer' of sorts… to, likely, a question far larger and deeper than we'd been consciously asking.

Didn't something (or a series of somethings) happen in the past week which might quality as a calling? In retrospect, aren't these dots starting to connect into a pretty profound design? Now that you're absorbing my confirmational writing, isn't it that much harder to dismiss the profundity?

It would be understandable, of course, if the clarifying details or next action-steps related to any calling-style epiphanies took a bit longer to mentally digest… and the astrological forecast seems to be in line with that. In a couple weeks, Mercury will turn retrograde (on Feb 23), which means he'll remain in Pisces for more than two full months, finally leaving on Apr 13. In fact, Mercury's station back to direct motion (on Mar 17) occurs in the exact degree of his current conjunction with Mars, suggesting that we still may be struggling to fully comprehend why we were moved to act as we've been—and what the broader spiritual consequences of such calling-actions may pose—for another several weeks. There's no need to disavow any questions or doubts you might be harboring about what's transpiring; intentionally engaging with a 'crisis of faith' can often bring us even closer to the great Knowing.

Meanwhile, Neptune continues to hold an honored role in our lives during the weeks ahead, as he welcomes more conjunctions from the Sun (Feb 20) and Venus (Feb 28). And therefore, signs that point to our own unique calling will likely continue presenting themselves through the remainder of the month. To ready ourselves, it is simply enough to openly receive, with humble wonder, the awareness that our highest and truest being may indeed unfold quite differently—though, in the end, that much more magnificently—than we'd ever anticipated.