Working with difficult transits: the power of surrender
Image Letting Go by BK Lusk.
Working with difficult transits can take us beyond the limited and limiting ideas we have about ourselves and our reality. We may know this, but when we’re in the midst of it words like this don’t mean much. What we need are practical tools to bring ourselves into alignment with ‘what is’, to release the tension and distress and get back into a place of clarity.
So ask your higher self: what do I need to do right now to be able to rise above these challenges and be at peace. When I ask myself this question the answer is always ‘Let go…’
Surrender is your friend when working with difficult transits
As a child I had this recurring dream I was floating in space on a huge honeycomb structure. As I walked around each comb, gradually the edge became narrower and narrower until eventually I was down on my hands and knees clinging to the razor sharp edge as I gazed in terror into the darkness below.
Inevitably I’d lose my balance and begin to fall and this was where the dream always ended. The fear of falling into that darkness was so great that it would wake me, and I would lie in the dark shivering with relief that it had only been a dream.
Then one day when I was eighteen I had the dream again after many years, but this time I became lucid just as it reached its terrifying climax. When I realised I was dreaming I lost my fear of falling and simply allowed myself to slip off. I let go and fell.
What occurred next was like nothing I’d ever experienced. Instead of falling I floated. I remained motionless as the paltry thing I’d been clinging to became smaller and smaller, finally disappearing into the distance. The feeling that came over me is impossible to describe. It was a feeling of weightlessness, of spaciousness, of pure joy.
Since then I’ve had glimpses of this experience: in meditation, when singing from the heart, when I’m still and silent in the garden, watching as a small bee lands on a flower. It always comes when I am completely present in the moment.
What my dream represents for me is this: when we let go of what we think is our security, we disentangle ourselves from the tethers that hold us, that constrain our being. Everything I attempt to hold onto, to grasp or to identify with only limits the potential of the creative universe within me.
When working with difficult transits we are often called upon to let go of things we’re very attached to. It may not seem like this at first. You may think life is being unfair, that someone or something is screwing you over. Your first instinct is probably to fight for your rights, to push on through.
Coming from a place of resistance is exhausting and most of the time it doesn’t change the situation much, if at all. In fact as Carl Jung pointed out, “What you resist not only persists, but will grow in size.” I personally know this is true. When I resist the reality of my situation I find myself extrapolating, imagining dire future possibilities that are ridiculously far from reality!
When I surrender to what is and let go completely of any control I imagine I have over the circumstances of my life, I free up the mechanisms of the universe so that the blessings that await me are able to flow freely into my life, unimpeded by my limited ideas of how things ‘should’ be.
For in reality the only thing we have control over in this life is how we respond to it. Never is this more clear than when we are working with difficult transits!
What are your strategies for working with difficult transits?
Are you up against a seemingly endless series of obstacles, tangled in a web of confusion, stunned by sudden changes in your life that leave you wondering what the hell was the point of everything you worked for?
Are you struggling, resistant to the changes that are taking place, hanging on for dear life to the way things were? Or are you coming from a place of surrender? Please share your experience working with difficult transits in the comments below.
If you don’t have one yet, you can get a free birth chart at astro.com. To understand how to read your birth chart, and follow the transits in your own life, download my free ebook The Language of Astrology.
Just as the movie “Frost”‘s best soundtrack was “Let it go”, so is your advice! The best example from recently I can give is from christmas when my mom’s second husband flat out refused to let my mom + my sis and I opening christmas gifts in his presence. Apparently he has some difficulties with christmas and presents. The past ten years I’ve fought to create a friendly relation to him (without meeting a lot of effort from him), but hearing this… I just kinda exploded inside. It was so rude – he wanted us to go inside another ROOM to opening presents!?
Right there I realized I couldn’t do this anymore. Why fight for a good relationship when he didn’t want it? That day I “Let go” – and the feeling of freedom from obligations was finally gone. The rest of the holidays I was polite but nothing more – I didnt need to make any effort since clearly he didnt want to either. I haven’t spoken to him since, and its been oh so liberating! Kinda like floating.
So yeah, knowing when to let go is crucial… Thanks for reminding us :-)
Great example Anette… I like how you were able to let go of the obligation without having to blast your mom’s husband with your anger. Forgiveness may be the most difficult form of letting go but probably also the the most freeing… Love to you x
Yeah, the funny thing is, that even if there WAS anger – I realized it wasn’t important. Because this whole thing wasn’t important anymore :-)
It’s amazing when we make this realisation how all the useless emotional baggage just slips away… it’s very freeing.
“Are you up against a seemingly endless series of obstacles, tangled in a web of confusion, stunned by sudden changes in your life that leave you wondering what the hell was the point of everything you worked for?” Yes, yes and YES. Basically each and every outer planet in existence is kicking *my* personal planets in the butt right now. Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus… everyone of them.
“Are you struggling, resistant to the changes that are taking place, hanging on for dear life to the way things were? Or are you coming from a place of surrender?” I was struggling at first, but then, I pretty much came to the very same conclusions as you. Pluto is now 1 degree from squaring my Libra Sun, and I’m feeling the tension building up, steamrolling over me. Pluto carefully prepared me for this over the last years and showed me that resistance is futile. I have now assimilated the awareness that nothing will ever be the same. My Progressed Chart shows this too: I have my progressed Sun in Scorpio, conjunct both my natal and progressed Pluto. Scorpionic energy on steroids!
I know what it means to give in to negativity and vulnerability, Faith, so I empathize with you in this moment. I can see the “silver lining” with those two T-Squares. T-Squares do have a “way out”! : ) Even though this will not change the nature of your Pluto and Uranus transit, I believe at some point the possibility for a creative solution to obstacles will manifest.
Thanks Aeterna! I really appreciate your encouraging words… Thankfully next year’s return looks much nicer! All things pass, nothing is permanent… BTW you are the lucky winner of this week’s free reading. Considering all the free advice you give out yourself I can’t think of anyone more deserving. Email me with your question and birth details and I’ll get started :)
Wow! E-mail was sent, thank you so very much, Faith : )
I experience transits as periods of energy. For example Saturn Sq Sun limits/gives structure too. I too have this in my SR because my birthday is a week before yours. Right now I’m sticking with a job in which I feel very tied down because getting out of it could mean different restrictions will come into play. I’m biding my time until the end of the year, exercising the discipline myself.
Good point Pauline: even the so called difficult transits give us certain gifts. And on the other hand exercising our freedom to choose usually means giving up other freedoms. There is always a balancing force that comes into play!
Yes to all 3 questions! Pluto is kicking my ass opposing my natal 12th house Venus, Mars, Jupiter conjunction. Then Uranus squaring this too. Jupiter turning direct in Leo 2nd house with Saturn camping out in 5th.
Pluto activating the 12th will really bring things up to the surface! Stand clear ;)
I set out to look for a post that would make me feel positive and luckily bumped into this. I have few major transits activated: transit pluto almost conjunct ascendant (feels like it for the nth time), uranus transit conjunct NN and opp natal sun, saturn return 1 degree away.
This all after, saturn crossing over my sun (libra), mc, pluto (scorpio), mercury (scorpio), venus (20 deg scorpio) – boy I grew up. The hard way.
I think I did a good job of being positive this year and focusing on the lessons, until a few hours ago, where I slipped back to trying to hang on to the past attachments. I need the universe to let it do its job and me not to interfere, really for my own sake.
Good luck with your transits, I can relate to your situation about ‘falling down’, but only for you to get up again laughing at yourself hopefully!
Thank you for writing this, it has helped me get back on track and remind myself of what I temporarily forgot!
Thanks T :) I’m glad the article struck a cord… x
This sums it up for me. Thanks for the article.
THE AVOWAL
As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.
–Denise Levertov
It’s beautiful Sarah! Thanks for sharing :)
I think it depends on the situation. I remember how difficult it was to land my 1st job. I wanted to get into advertising and at the time London was a very competitive market. It took 1 full year of endless application and interviews. I think I had something like 2/3 interviews per week every week for about a year. So surely tried most agencies in the city! I could have simply got back to my natal France and found something there through connections. But I simply felt I wanted to make it happen in London and could not let it go. I did hurt myself as repeated rejection affect self esteem but in the end I made it.
My conclusion is sometimes it works sometimes it does not but for practical things the more you try the more you are likely to succeed. So when the right time comes you’ll be at the right place at the right time. Just remember rejection has nothing to do with you (it’s not personal).
For human relationships it’s a bit more tricky / it depends on people. Some people like to be pursued because it reassures them. So it’s always worth trying. Other are too stubborn in which case I would let go. So yes situation dependent…
Hey FS. I agree with you here. My point is not that we should not strive for the things we want to achieve but that sometimes when things are changing, or ending, the wisest thing is to let go and allow them change instead of wearing ourselves out with futile struggle. On the other hand, as in the example here, we may be striving for something that will take longer than expected to achieve and so we need to let go and allow it to come to us at the right time. It is a balancing act sometimes and as you say it depends on the situation.
Hi all,
I have just had two years of T. Uranus opposition my Sun (Libra 17 degrees) but nothing “happened”. The only thing is I have been feeling intensely frustrated with myself and my job etc longing for change and excitement. Now I am under T. Saturn squaring my Moon (Pisces 15) and T. Pluto squaring my Sun along with p. Sun squaring natal Pluto! I am Scorpio rising with Pluto my chart ruler. Have no idea what will come of all that! But I have gone for healing for first time in my life.
Thanks for sharing Antonia… Have you been listening and responding to that voice of frustration? Perhaps it wants to move you into something new and more in alignment with who you are?
Your Saturn chasing the progressed Moon transit immediately got my attention as I have gone through 2 periods of 4-5 years of Saturn chasing the Moon in my life. What I learned was there was no “authority figure” out there that was going to validate who I was. I had to stand in my own integrity, root myself in who I *knew* I was, and not budge. I was severely tested in this. Having a natal Saturn/Sun square, I was predisposed to believing I was insufficient to begin with; I really had to learn that Saturn rewards inner integrity, but the reward is usually not forthcoming from OUTside us. Hold fast, I am rooting for you. Perhaps this is why it is also a lonely transit; no one can accompany us into our inner depths.
Wow what a great description of this transit! Thanks for sharing x
Hmm it looks like your blog ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I as well am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to everything. Do you have any tips for novice blog writers? I’d genuinely appreciate it.
I am new to astrology and would really love to learn. Can someone recommend a great book? I am going through so much. As doors are being opened they are simultaneously being slammed shut. I have been intuitively letting go bc I see no other option. Balance is the key word from my guides, as well as strength.
Sometimes the ‘letting go’ is not of things/people one might expect. Pluto passed over my DC in 2008 and I mentally/emotionally rid myself of the relationship with a man who personified the continuing power struggle relationship pattern that I let myself be in for most of my life. At the time, I was 40 years old and starting over with my love life, looking to astrology for the first time to help me gauge what kind of man and relationship really was going to work for me. I met the love of my life, my soul mate, two years later. I have known from the first kiss that he is the One – my soul/energy shot up from my mid section like a geyser, and shot out the top of my head through my crown chakra, giving me the sign that this man was no ordinary man in my life. It was the only time I had ever experienced a kiss like that. My soul had spoken. Problem was – I had expectations of what a relationship with the One would be like once I found it. Long story short, there has been so much heartache and trial over the next 6 years, struggling with the reality of our relationship, with me trying to make it look like every other relationship but failing, yet knowing how much I love him and that no one could ever replace him in my life, I finally realized there was no point in struggling anymore. The depth of my compassion and love for him makes it impossible to fight with him over what our relationship should be like. The love is true and absolute. As Pluto continues along on its last round to transform my Mars (and in the next few years will work on my Sun and Venus), I learned that letting go didn’t mean letting go of him, but it meant letting go of a relationship stereotype that my true love and I could not fit into to prove the value of our relationship to others. Knowing what to do isn’t always black and white, but when the matter is truly vitally important to your soul, your soul will let you know where the path is. If the path is less traveled and foreign, you have to learn to trust your soul.
“I learned that letting go didn’t mean letting go of him, but it meant letting go of a relationship stereotype that my true love and I could not fit into…” Such an excellent point Deb! Thanks for sharing :)
Just as many others have shared here, not resisting “what is” is quite liberating when we muster the courage to “let go” of whatever expectations we may have about how things “should” turn out for us or anyone/anything else in this dimension of life. For me, arriving at that state of being has not been automatic and still requires quite a bit of conscious effort.
Over the years, the process of “letting go” has involved letting go of my fears, in the context of dealing with issues that have affected my physical, social, and/or spiritual well-being, even as my mind perceives that “letting go” will spell my “end”. As part of this process, I’ve had to learn to trust that the universe will take care of me the way it’s meant to be.
Of course, I sometimes still wonder whether I am forfeiting my choice to practicing my “will” when I’m faced with difficult transits and simply let go of forcing my “will”. However, every time I’ve tried resisting what is, the outcome has not brought me much peace or happiness. Somewhere in this struggle I actually also ponder how to know my true will, and recognize who I really am.
I have been on this path for a while now, and can attest to the fact that doing what I can and surrendering the rest to the forces beyond any human’s control is one of the most effective ways to attain bliss with no strings attached. It’s the only way that helps me feel safe and secure, without knowing the outcome of events pertaining to my life.
So well put Anh. Thanks for sharing :)
I’ve come to conclude that I am currently (well, for the last 8 years anyway- and all of childhood) one of those cursed people that is constantly facing obstacles and roadblocks due to ceaseless opposition or square transits.
I just endured over a year of Saturn transiting Sun and Mercury conjunct 13 and 14 degrees of Sagittarius (the retrograde of course passed back and forth over these planets all year long- it’s been one of the hardest years of my life- and that is saying something since I lost everything in the great recession and have not been able to fight my way back to being even close to where I was (comfortable in a urban middle class kind of way) a decade ago. It’s been severe underemployment, all work, no rewards and very deep, dark to the core hopelessness and feeling of life failure despite constant efforts. It doesn’t help that I have no family and that I’m of an age where friends are increasingly busy with their own lives. “letting go’ doesn’t work when you have to figure out a way to pay the bills all on your own and you have no interest in getting out of bed in the morning.
Now I’m getting ready to have that Saturn transit oppose my Moon in Gemini and square my ascendant in Virgo conjunct Pluto. I don’t know how much more of this I can take with so few inner and outer resources left! I’m mentally and emotionally exhausted.
Any suggestions as to how to survive this next transit when I have not even remotely recovered from the last one yet- and all the other ones over the past 8 years?
I’ve been told that I’m going into a rare intense transit I have no way in getting a guide I don’t have an online or MasterCard nor a visa I’m praying for hope now
You will be fine :) You have all the inner strength you need. Just hold tight and be open to the changes that may come! X