It’s been quiet around here for the last couple of weeks and I’ve fallen behind in my writing schedule. But I have the perfect excuse: I’ve broken my left wrist and thrown everything out of whack. No more touch-typing for me – at least for a while – and pecking out words one letter at a time is frustrating beyond words! So I’ll try to keep this short (for a change 😉 ).

To be honest, I’d already fallen behind before ‘the incident’ and was desperately scrabbling to get back on track. I was bogged down writing the next post on Pluto Myths and struggling to motivate myself to make some essential changes to my routine. I needed to take better care of my body and rebuild the strength lost after years of auto-immune apocalypse and menopausal madness.

I was ripe for an intervention and it came in the form of a dog.

I’ve experienced canine interventions before and they’re usually enjoyable. This one wasn’t.

In a moment of perfect synchronicity, I had just been writing about the link between Pluto and dogs, when an underworld hound stopped me in my tracks. It was actually a Cocker Spaniel, but if the paws fit…

A week before my birthday I was on my way to the shop when a little black dog ran across my path so fast that I couldn’t stop myself falling over him – too much momentum. I landed on my left arm and cracked my face against the ground, cutting my lip open. Blood everywhere, shock and pain, covered in bruises and swollen knees.

A trip to the Minor Injuries Unit and the Fracture Clinic and I have stitches and a cast and a slight limp. And my left elbow looks like a mango!

I was lucky. It could’ve been so much worse. I’ve been given just the right amount of pain to motivate me to get stronger and force me out of the rut I’ve been in. A literal kick to the teeth. In fact, it felt like I’d been picked up and dropped onto the ground, I hit it so hard. Propelled into my body and back down to earth.

The pain and frustration is also bringing up emotional issues I’ve been circling for years (see Chiron in Aries). The last decade has been a slow process of attrition, stripping away layers of my life and identity – there isn’t much left. At times I’ve felt like a refugee in my own life, or a squatter. It’s no accident that the dog was black – a classic symbol of depression.

This untimely intervention has messed everything up but it’s really a form of savage grace. An opportunity to come back into my body and remake myself from scratch. Ironically (or perhaps not) I had been planning a new project to sort myself out but wasn’t going to do any of it until I’d finished writing the Pluto post.

I guess Pluto (and Saturn) would rather I get my priorities straight. And my current transits all point towards healing and letting go of the past:

• Saturn rules the bones and, of course, it’s in my 12th house, sending me straight to hospital
• Pluto is also in my 12th ripping up the furniture and making a nice big bonfire
• Pluto is trine my natal Saturn, and later Saturn will join him, encouraging me to build resilience and strength
• Chiron is closing in on its return in my 2nd house, ready to heal my body and self-worth
• and Uranus is firing me up with inspiration to change EVERYTHING! with a trine to my Sun and opposition to Jupiter

Interestingly, the Moon was conjunct Uranus at the time of the accident, right on the cusp of my 3rd house (disruption to travel in local environment). And Mars was conjunct my Sun in my 7th house (open enemies, although the owner of the dog was a stranger). There’s probably more to be gleaned from the horary chart of the moment but that’s outside my area, and frankly, I’ve got better things to do – like sleep and rebuild my bones.

Right now I’m learning how to do familiar tasks one-handed and discovering that everything takes twice as long. The cast on my arm is forcing me to slow down and really pay attention to what I’m doing. It’s making me more aware of how I move around and use my body – a real education and lots of room for improvement.

Writing is on the back-burner…for now.

The next post up will be Planet Myths: the Story Behind Pluto, and I’ll finish it just as soon as I can (it’s here!). Then there’ll be a Pluto Film post – possibly Pan’s Labyrinth, unless I change my mind.

After that will be my exciting new project that has suddenly taken centre stage in my life. It’s called Mystic Warrior Practice and it’s designed to ground your spiritual practice in every area of your life. The plan is already in place – I just need to implement it. I’m using the imposed downtime to dig into the research and actually do some of the practises! More details soon…

So watch this space, and in the words of the Terminator:

I’ll be back!

Image: Spaniel