“Don’t look away. Whatever you see at this time, in the symbolic darkness of an obscured Sun, don’t look away. No matter what, it cannot diminish the authentic self within. This Real Self has power, it carries weight. It challenges the very foundations of life as we know it. It refuses to conform to mindless notions of right and wrong, to dictates of value and worth that dishonor inner wealth. It sees through artifice, laughs in the face of shame and denies everything but the bold and beautiful truth. The world is not ready for the Real Self and yet still it emerges, in you and in me, in the collective psyche which twists and turns to accommodate a deeper knowing that nothing is as it seems. The Real Self emerges every time we stop and wait, sensing the integrity of the moment, the deep, pulsating beat of the unified heart, time-keeper of our collective awakening. It grows in strength and fortitude each time we honor its wisdom over and above the expectations and demands of the external world which denies all but that which can be counted, compared and traded. The Real Self knows that to think one’s own thoughts is the only path to freedom, whilst the world demands unthinking conformity and the False Self agrees. The power of this solar eclipse will remove rose-tinted glasses and veils that hide the truth. We cannot stop it nor can we choose to postpone our own awakening. This – right here, right now – is the end of denial, the end of artifice, the end of avoidance. This is life in all its terrible grace and terrifying beauty. For this we were born: a visceral, unavoidable, undeniable confrontation with the very heart of All That Is. We may greet this eclipse in mourning or ecstasy, in freedom or bondage, but wherever we find ourselves we are living the life shaped by choices made, commitments honored, promises broken and betrayals enacted since the collective spirit was shaken awake never again to sleep.” --SARAH VARCAS