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And so you’re back … from outer space …

And so you’re back … from outer space …

An email from an old lover arcs into your sedate suburban life, a flaming comet of passionate destruction. Out-of-the-blue, a familiar face smiles beguilingly, inviting you to be her friend on Facebook, taking you time travelling to that place where it all began. Ghosts from the past, lovers and friends, who once towered like Colossus in our lives, suddenly reappear, ripping at scar tissue, straining against carefully bandaged memories; gifting us with an opportunity to bathe in the elixir of Forgiveness – for them and for ourselves; bringing to our awareness those places within us that still hold the currency of Victim, Vampire, Rescuer, or Redeemer Archetypes.  Reminding us that we are all part of the Matrix.  Interconnected in the Web of Life.

With Mercury in Retrograde effective until August 26th and Mars in the instinctual water sign of Cancer, holder of memories and nostalgia, until September 18th, we will find both Diamonds and Rust in the precious and painful memories of those we once danced with in those sepia-coloured days gone by.

People re-appear in our lives for a purpose. They mirror our Shadow. They invite us to go deep within and heal those places that still weep and haemorrhage from wounds we thought we had healed in hours and years of self-growth work. As long as a wound is not fully healed, it will bleed when someone inadvertently bumps it. Circumstances and experiences, will keep repeating the more we blame others, and ourselves.

 “There are no guilty people, only people that suffer,” says author and personal growth teacher, Lise Bourbeau, “the other person is not responsible for your suffering.”

So when a person re-appears, a swift parabola from the past, we need to go within and connect with our Authentic Self.  Does it feel soft and easy being with them again, or is there a sense of dis-ease and dis-comfort in their presence? What is the Wisdom in the re-union? Perhaps the lesson is forgiveness, in the knowledge that we did the best we could, given what we knew at the time – and so did they.  

Sometimes we stand at a crossroads. It is time to let go, to say goodbye, to gain new experiences, to Love again. Blending our journeys may not be possible, or there may be a high fee to pay the ferryman if we forgo our own Journey and become a passenger, swept along by our partner’s dreams. These times of partings may be painful. They may come early on in our relationships or after many years. And although we may find ourselves surprised when we arrive at the crossroad, there are no accidents. The time has come to be free to plan our own journey, to embrace our own destiny.

Anyone who has loved deeply, has felt  abandoned or rejected, will resonate with the defiant lyrics of Gloria Gaynor’s anthem, “I willsurvive”, or the evocative voice of Joan Baez who finds “Diamonds and Rust” in the precious and painful memories of a relationship past.

Venus (relationships, what we truly value, how we express ourselves in our relationships) now in Leo, (July 28th to August 21st) and the Leo Sun now at his flamboyant zenith, remind us to be magnanimous and also to consider why we are being re-visited by these people from our past. 

If we are anchored in our own secure self-image, we will be in our integrity and be able to allow others to shine brightly; to bless them on their journey, to thank them for gifting us with experiences of love, loss and renewal.

Re-visit the past on U-Tube with Gloria Gaynor, and Joan Baez.

Diamonds and Rust

Words and Music by Joan Baez

I’ll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that’s not unusual
It’s just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I’d known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall

Ingrid Hoffman

ingrid@trueheartwork.com
12 Comments
  • lebam

    August 14, 2011at3:48 pm Reply

    Greetings… good wishes.’diamond and rust’ was a favourite song of mine…
    I am learning to let all pass through me… Life’s ‘lessons’ are what they are….I like the way the trees give shelter and do not judge or expect… I like the way the plants reach out and smile and give without measure and so generously..
    I like the feeling when I can do the same…
    Blessings
    Lebam

    • Ingrid

      August 15, 2011at8:41 am Reply

      Acceptance, and the Wisdom not to judge or expect, but to give generously…. how powerful! Thankyou for taking time to respond in this way, Lebam.

  • Dalene Peacock

    August 14, 2011at7:45 pm Reply

    Ingrid, I love the interweaving of your writing, astrology and music. I’ve played Diamonds & Rust many, many times from a CD called An Evening With Joan Baez. And I’ve been on many dance floors where the women seem to unite during the chorus of I Will Survive, thrusting their fists into the air. YouTube & Google have just added extra dimensions to Diamonds & Rust for me this evening. Watching Joan standing solitary on the stage with her artistry of vocals, lyrics and guitar – absolute genius. I’ve never been sure what the the meaning lf the phrase Diamonds & Rust really is and it seems it’s open to interpretation, as per some comments from a website on song meanings:
    [1] the diamonds are tears and the rust comes when they fall and dry.
    [2] as in all wonderful, set apart relationships, there are ‘diamonds’..the closeness..the good times. And ‘rust’..the end.
    [3] memories can bring feelings that are beautiful and bright, or corrosive and destructive…bittersweet.
    I like the last one.

    • Ingrid

      August 15, 2011at8:40 am Reply

      Thank you Dalene, for your sensitive and soulful resonance with the music, the memories, and for bringing a rich dimention to my understanding of the lyrics …. Joan standing solitary on the stage singing in her pure clear voice … the lyrics are so evocative!

  • Maeve Murran

    August 15, 2011at7:36 pm Reply

    Beautiful Ingrid – such a poetic and poignant piece of writing – evocative of the Blazing Light you still hold within yourself and how it can heal and restore anything in life!!!
    Much Love my Darling – Maeve
    XX

  • jeanne

    August 16, 2011at8:40 am Reply

    Dear Heart Ing … you write so beautifully …
    there’s always a ‘blessed’ reason why certain people cross one’s path, followed by the positive impact these unions create … it’s not always easy to understand but the wisdom of time clears the path for us … I experience what I call “POP-UPS” … these pop-ups bounce into my mind when i least expect it and sometimes even in my dreams, which I remember the next day … pop-ups of things that may have happened years ago, of people, experiences, reminders … of letting go, of remembering, of loving …

    Ing, may i share this beautiful piece …

    NAMASTE as defined by Mahatma Gandhi: In India when people meet and part they often say, Namaste’ which means:

    “I honor the place within you where the entire Universe resides;
    I honor the place within you of love, of light, of truth, of peace;
    I honor the place within you, where, when you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.”

    xxxxxxxxxx

    • Ingrid

      August 16, 2011at12:30 pm Reply

      Thank you for sharing with us this beautiful piece … Namaste!

  • Louie

    August 17, 2011at9:10 pm Reply

    could have been written JUST for me…… ?!?!?!?

    • Ingrid

      August 18, 2011at8:29 am Reply

      I just LOVE Gloria’s powerful voice singing, “I will survive”! Love and Bright Blessings, Louie.

  • Karin

    August 18, 2011at11:10 am Reply

    Dearest Ingrid, it is as if you have lived hundreds upon hundreds of lives and aware of them all, carrying them with you still to give us all a broader sweep across time so that we can use the-lived for enriching the-not-yet-lived. . Thank you for having a heart that mingles blood and wisdom in its four chambers.

    Because of your writing, I have just-just rediscovered Joan Baez (Diamonds and Rust) but this timelive on u-tube. Although soon to hit my 70s, the re-experience is so moving that my chest is gently heaving, my stomach has an equatorlike band of shifting pain moving across from side to side. Such is the power of those vast eyes of hers which look right into the emotion as the sounds of her soul fills canyons of human longing.

  • Stephanie

    August 28, 2011at3:04 pm Reply

    It is the oddest sensation to read this. I sent a message to my ex, my first love, on Facebook on Thursday, 25th of August at 23.13. I told him that I am sorry for the way I acted in our relationship that ended in October 2006 after a year of being together and hoped he would forgive me. I also told him that I forgive him for ending things the way he did.
    He is still, and probably will always be the love of my life. But by accepting that I was part of the reason why our relationship ended, that it was not as unexpected as I’d thought the last 5 years, I am able to start to heal my broken heart and find the closure in myself that I would never receive from him. Thank you Ingrid!

    • Ingrid

      August 30, 2011at3:53 pm Reply

      How powerful, Stephanie! Thank you so much for sharing, and for the depth and honesty you express in your comment! I am humbled.

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