NOWHERE = Now + Here
Year of the Yang Metal Rat:
Waiting, Patience, and Opening of the Cosmic Hole
January 25th, 2020 marks the beginning of the Yang Metal Rat Year.
The new year of the Yang Metal Rat is symbolized by the time of rainmaking rituals. The zodiac animal Rat which is the totem of water, is being bound by limitations, the gates of Yang Metal. Water is being withheld like rainclouds in the sky. This year corresponds with the Yijing Hexagram “Xu,” or Waiting.
Rites of rainmaking represent waiting for the right time, or positive waiting. By participating in the rainmaking ritual, one’s awareness must shift. The ritual creates a gap in time, or the opening of the Cosmic Hole. The art of waiting requires cultivating our sensitivity to timing. The process requires great effort - it is not passive or dumb inaction.
This is the time to develop the virtue of patience. We are caught in the midst of changes, socially, culturally and politically. The old power structures are shifting, generating new ideas and releasing bound energy. Our circumstances, desires and goals are caught in the changes of what is breaking down and reorganizing. Although new creative forces are germinating, they cannot be planted or grow roots until the environment become more stable.
The new self, both collective and individual is forming. Though you are waiting, your authentic being continues to grow. We can only emerge if we wait for the right moment to be born. This is called entering the Cosmic Hole: this time is full of mystery and there is nothing we can do but wait.
But we have forgotten how to wait - everything must happen if not instantaneously, then in a hurry. Meanwhile all of existence waits for the right moment, but we have abandoned the space of waiting. It is foolish to plant seeds when the ground is frozen. Waiting allows us the space to seek the proper nourishment, to fortify ourselves, to prepare for the right time. Waiting is how we build ourselves.
The opening of the Cosmic Hole is an invitation to be Nowhere. There is nowhere to be, except the only place to be: exactly where you are right now. There is no such thing as coming and going. This is a sacred time to return to what you truly are. Some people call this going inwards, or an inner journey. But all journeys are outer journeys - there is no such thing as going inwards because you’re already there. You are nowhere - now and here.
This is a humbling time because you realize you don’t need to create any temples to find your purpose or practice your spirituality. You just have to sweep the steps of the temple that is you. It is not the glorious work of building new empires, it is the humbling work of polishing what already exists. What this time eventually reveals is truly awesome: your essential inner nature.
The shadow of waiting is timidity, fear, or persevering needlessly. Remember that the time will arrive when the rains will come. Take advantage of the time of waiting by preparing yourself. It is actually a time of nurturance, great care, and attending to what is needed. It is the year to cultivate potential, because the time is still immature. Do not think of your waiting as an exhausting burden. We thrive in these times by carefully and joyously tending to our inner being. Through our patience and attunement to timing, we become the master of our own ceremonies.