Bad divine timing

 

Does the world belong to flaky people?

I wrote an article about time some time ago ('Astrology as a collective experience'). It's one part of a series I want to write about the subject of time, because it's literally an endless topic. I find it particularly interesting how 'bad' at 'time' most people feel (myself included). Is it even possible to be bad at time?

Time means a lot, but it can also mean that for some periods in life, everything wil fail, no matter what you try, and other times things will come easy. Some of it is out of your ‘control’. In our capitalist system, we are disencouraged from just waiting for the right time.

We call this kind of patience 'lazy', because we live in a go-getter's world. We are told to live 'in the present moment', but we are in fact, beings of time - which means we are always multi-layered and never just in a single linear moment that follows the next. There is always more than just the present (I read somewhere that immaturity means you can only see the present moment and the satisfaction it might give you, without simultaneously seeing the influence of the past and the consequences of your actions in the future. Being mature means you live in more than only the present moment). Astrology teaches us that there is, in fact, something like the right timing. And this means that being 'busy' isn't always efficient.

I've always had the feeling that I have a 'bad' sense of timing. My dad used to say that it’s why I am a bad cook. 'Cooking is all about timing’. Burnt veggie burgers. I still can't read the clock properly, and I misjudge time all the time. Arriving too early, or too late. In relationships too, I kept waiting for something that was long gone. I do the wrong things at the wrong age. Time never really seems to be on my side. In the beginning I often felt like an imposter when studying astrology. Me, of all people, studying time? I wondered if I shouldn't be more spiritually attuned to time, if I wanted to study it. What am I, the person who stays in bed until 12 whenever I get the chance, ever going to say about living a full life inspired by the mysteries of time?

I felt like I was not good at astrology. I even looked in my birth chart for proof that I might be ‘worthy’ as an astrologer, but I found none. But what does it mean to be good at something? People who are good at something, often choose to struggle with their gift. To be bad at it time and time again. Or maybe they become good at something, because it doesn't seem to come to them naturally. After I discovered astrology and studied it very seriously, I discovered that astrology isn’t always so serious. That it’s actually an art that’s quite well-suited for people who don’t take the concept of time too seriously. Maybe that’s why it’s a Mercurial art. It made me realise that I wasn’t that ‘behind’ on other people after all. I am right on track. The way I ‘feel’ time, is probably personal to me, and is exactly the right way to experience it, and act on it. And it’s the same for you.

Like so many others, I can't keep up with the pace of our society. But when I look up at the sky, I see slowness. I see that there is plenty of time. Sometimes it feels like learning astrology, is like learning to speak with the world itself, with time itself. Everytime I learn a new 'word', I get insight in the 'syntax', I get the trophy of receiving a beautiful insight. Sometimes, the language of astrology seems unspeakable in a way, wordless. It's a language of concepts and images. I often tear up when I see the meaning of an astrological application, I can put all the 'words' of the 'sentence' in the right order and the most beautiful message comes through.

Astrology is not a tool to live more efficiently. That’s not what we have to get out of it. Astrology might even help us by being inefficient! But in my experience, time is extremely trustworthy. It will always be there right when you need it. It will always come back to you as a friend. Time is on your side.