Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Flower Essences for Pluto and Resilience—"Don’t Worry, Be Happy"


© 2010 by Joyce Mason


Common descriptions of tough Pluto Transits are:

• Going through hell

• The rug pulled out from under you

• Being knocked on your butt

When we fall, tensed muscles and rigidity cause us to hurt ourselves. People who don’t see the fall coming are relaxed and barely skin their knees. On a trip to Greece, I took a hard, graceless pratfall on an ice-smooth ancient courtyard. When I got up and dusted myself off, I hadn’t hurt a hair on my head. I had just gotten a “chiro-pratt-ic” adjustment, thanks to the Greek God of Cobblestones.

Adjustment is what Pluto insists on for us, and when we vow to cooperate with the master plan, there is less pain in the transformation and an easier rebirth.

Modern Folklore—Medicine in Music

There is often great wisdom in homespun remedies, and music often transmits similar folksy advice. Here are some songs that popped into my mind about Pluto and resilience, matched with the flower essences that popped in right behind them. (To hear these songs mentioned in this article, click the links on the song titles.) If you’re new to flower essences, visit Vibration Magazine’s Frequently Asked Questions for a quick orientation.


Don’t Worry, Be Happy

As I contemplated this article, Bobby McFerrin’s, Don’t Worry, Be Happy would not stop ringing in my ears. I started thinking about the worry and depression we often feel as Pluto comes into orb, especially when it brings losses, loneliness, a sense of devastation, and disorientation. Inner guidance led me to create this

Don’t Worry Be Happy Blend:

Mimulus (Bach, Healing Herbs) – The ultimate remedy for known worries or fears, the “don’t worry” half of the brew. Mimulus is for specific fears, and you probably have a litany of them as Pluto approaches and embraces you in its clench demanding major growth. Mimulus will keep you attentive to what you can do or change now in your situation, not worrying about what’s ahead on the transformation track.

Zinnia (FES) – During these transits, we often lose our sense of humor and balance to the Dark Side. In my own Plutonian times, I’ve even lost my sense of connection with Spirit. Zinnia brings back our childlike, playful self to add levity to our trials and the “be happy” part of the equation. I’m not suggesting we can laugh pain away—we must walk through it—but we certainly walk better when we take breaks for play and comic relief.

This essence puts you in touch with your Inner Child. Kids have limited experience with time and tend to live in the eternal now. Living there means you aren’t compounding your pain by counting every minute of your transit.

Self Heal (FES) — This essence often acts as a binder that synergizes with other essences to make them work better together. Self-Heal helps activate your inner healing forces, giving you the confidence that you will overcome these trials and triumph.


Don’t Worry, Be Happy blend can be taken solo or in combination with up to two more essences. I don’t recommend 5-flower blends if you’re a novice at taking flower remedies, or you may end up with healing crisis and feel like you just reinforced the worst of your transit. If you have taken large numbers of essences in combination with no problem, go with what works for you.

I Feel the Earth Move

One of my all time favorite tunes is I Feel the Earth Move by Carole King, at the link above. If your Pluto transit involves a love affair, you will need some support once you’ve peeled yourself off the pavement from being mowed down by the Mack Truck of Love. Try:

Holly (Bach, Healing Herbs) – Supports you in releasing jealousy, envy, resentment and co-dependence. Restores a sense of freedom and unconditional love.

Willow (Bach, Healing Herbs) – Promotes forgiveness, acceptance, taking responsibility for your own life, and helps you “go with the flow.”

Bleeding Heart (FES) – Helps you let go of a lost love, whether through death or estrangement. Promotes healthy mourning in your fragile state as loss opens and expands your heart.


You’ll Never Walk Alone

You’ll Never Walk Alone was written in 1945 by Rodgers & Hammerstein for the musical Carousel. It has never stopped being relevant. Many artists have recorded it, including Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley. It speaks to how lost we feel when we’re trying to navigate a scary, disorienting event or a deep loss.

Even though I felt disconnected from Spirit in some of my own trips to the underworld, this song reminds us it’s an illusion—we’re never without the support of the Ultimate Love in the invisible. We may, however, need flower essence friends to lean on as we batten the hatches against the furies. Here are remedies that help:

Borage (FES) – For a heavy heart, discouragement, or grief. Brings buoyancy and courage.

Star of Bethlehem (FES) – Heals shocks and deeply restores your equilibrium after any trauma. It’s healing, soothing qualities help put you back in touch with your inner divinity.

Pluto Cycles (Desert Alchemy) is one of my favorite balms for all the usual suspects in a meet-up with the God of the Underworld: death and rebirth, regeneration, and deep psychological changes. It contains Arroyo Willow, Buffalo Gourd, White Pond Lily.


Make Your Own Kind of Music

I love this Mama Cass song. If songs pop into your head like they do mine, they are visiting your mind for a reason. There might be a treasure in that tune for you, and if you listen to the themes in it, words in the lyrics will suggest needed remedies. A song that gets stuck in your head is called an earworm. Let healing worm its way into your head and heart. At the end of your Pluto purgatory, you’ll be revitalized by deeply distilled changes.

Pluto transits teach us deep trust, not only in an ultimately loving universe, but in the process of growth and the many disguises and detours we take along the way. Even the House of Horrors at the carnival is time-limited. When you come out into the light on the moving tram, you know it was “just a ride.” In a bad dream or nightmare, there can be hilarious insights about the incongruities and insane moments that are part of the human journey to wholeness. The ultimate lesson of Pluto is being comfortable in your own power.

After Pluto—especially after meeting Pluto with as much resiliency as possible—it’s a new day, one you’ll see with different eyes because your entire body, mind, and spirit have been born again.

~~~

Photo Credit: Happy woman listening to music © Mircea Bezergheanu | Dreamstime.com

Joyce Mason is an astrologer, writer and blogger on The Radical Virgo. Her astrological specialties are Chiron, revisioning the sign of Virgo, and living on the upside of the zodiac. The Radical Virgo motto is, “Become the best you.” In relation to Pluto, you might find helpful Chiron and Pluto: The Comet Brothers, which compares the similar energies of both astrological archetypes and contrasts their differences. In The Depths of Change, Joyce distills insights from a tough Pluto/Chiron transit. She welcomes contact: joyce@joycemason.com.

This article is featured in A Collection of Articles about How to Combine Astrology with Flower Essences published by Vibration Magazine as Part of the 2010 International Astrology Day Blogathon. The purpose of this web-based event is to create a permanent library of articles about how to deal with the stresses of the Cardinal T-Square of Pluto, Saturn and Uranus. The main page for the Blogathon collections is at The Cardinal T-Square of 2010: Saturn, Uranus, Pluto.

7 comments:

JuliaAna said...

Hi Joyce,

This is a good and facinationg article! I love all the songs you picked and was hoping for Macarther Park in there; and maybe Greensleves too!

Why is it that the thing I like least about your articles is that they end too quickly!

Have you considered writting a book on FE's and Astrology? I'll pre-order!

Keep up the good work!

Blessings,
JuliaAna

Joyce Mason said...

Thanks, JuliaAna! You've given me yet another book to put in my To Be Written Queue. I think I might like to do something that offers tools for astrological cycles, flower essences being just one of them. So glad you want more! Readers always give me great ideas. Thanks for being such a loyal visitor to my blogs.

Peace and joy,
Joyce

jillaurie said...

Joyce that sounds like a great book!

Joyce Mason said...

Thanks, Jillaurie. It actually gives me a new spin on a book I was planning to do on people with the outer planets prominent--an update and expansion of a series I did on that topic for Welcome to Planet Earth in the '90s. I love reader feedback! Thanks for taking the time to visit The Radical Virgo.

Lisa Allen MH said...

Nice article Joyce, and I signed up via Google for your blog! I will keep an eye out for books on Flower Essences and Astrology, since I don't think there is enough out there on the combination of these two topics! :-)

Lisa Allen MH said...

Nice article Joyce, and I signed up via Google for your blog! I will keep an eye out for books on Flower Essences and Astrology, since I don't think there is enough out there on the combination of these two topics! :-)

Joyce Mason said...

Aartiana, thank you for the positive comments! Sounds like you second the motion on more books becoming available on flower essences and astrology. I look forward to digging into your blog, too, as soon as the dust settles from the blogathon. Blessings!