You can trust your story, even when (especially when) you feel like you're being tossed around inside a terrifying Storm!
From "Kafka on the Shore", by Haruki Murakami
“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction, but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That's the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.
And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will bleed there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You'll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others.
And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over.
But one thing is certain.
When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
I love this piece of writing, because it expresses such a passionate awareness of the intelligent relationship we have with Life. And because it highlights the metaphysical, Divine forces that choose to wrestle with us; to shape us with their might and strength. Do you think you can defeat a metaphysical storm? An archetype? ANY of the eternal, immortal, infinite Invisibles?? As Rilke says, "What is extraordinary and eternal does not want to be bent by us." It would be hubris to believe we could defeat them!
But engaging the Storm that pursues us is not about defeating the Invisibles. It is about recognising the greater wisdom of the battle, of the Storm. It's about willingly taking the blows and throwing a few of our own! It's about who we can become by choosing to actively engage the Storm, rather than battening down the hatches and just riding it out; or spiritually bypassing these tremendous life experiences.
Please know that wherever you find yourself, and whatever Storm you find yourself engaged in, it was custom designed perfectly for you . . . for all that your Soul wanted to engage in this incarnation. Our personal Storms bring us closer to the truth of who we are.
I believe that our path of spiritual growth requires us to recognise the underlying intelligence that brings us our struggles as well as our successes. Some things we need to learn the hard way. For, as they say, if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you.
Walking this path means trusting your story; and, most of all, trusting Life itself.
The Test First. The Lesson After.
Famously, Life is known for giving us the test first (ie: the Storm) and then the lesson.
Fortunately for us, the archetypal languages (like astrology and numerology) can help us navigate our Storm while we're actually in it. They ground us within the bigger picture of what's happening, and give us much needed context. 'Cause seriously, just understanding why the Storm is dancing with us can change our entire perspective on things. It's liberating! Empowering!
If you'd like to understand this work at a deeper level, I invite you to join me for a consultation, or to learn numerology with me. (We have a new course launching on 3 March 2022.) But even if we never work together, I hope that by sharing my perspective, you're able to feel a greater level of faith in the process of Life.
Life has your back.
Peace
Juliette xo