This year of 2020 will be remembered for the unexpected: just as we feel we know what is happening and are adjusting to a new reality, another shock occurs to challenge our complacency and cause us to reflect again on our attitudes and approach to life as we are thrown further into a seething cauldron of uncertainty.

Every occurrence in 2020 has an added significance because it is in 2020, the year of revolution, and each new moon, each full moon, every spiritual festival is sharpened in energy and especially meaningful.  Please remember this as you prepare for Wesak and the gift of Buddha’s return.

In my home there are three large, visible clocks.  One is radio-controlled, one is battery operated and the third is a Victorian mantel clock, and none of them work, while all of them should.

It is no coincidence that our world is consumed by an all-pervasive virus at a time of great spiritual significance for people of many faiths including Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Jains, Hindus, Muslims, Baha’is and Sikhs.  Each year April is filled with solemn remembering and celebration, and this year the month is made poignant, unforgettable, by, for many, a sense of separation and a grief for the loss of certainty as well as the loss of life. 

The global situation we are in is testing and may seem baffling in its uncertainty.  No-one knows what will happen next, or indeed what to do.

Some years ago a kale plant in my garden self-seeded and I found two stray plants growing alongside roses in container pots in the kitchen yard.  Side by side they have flourished.  I left the kale alone as they got woodier by the year, rarely harvesting the leaves and intending to remove them altogether but not getting round to doing so.  I took them for granted.

COVID-19, already, has teased and tested each of us, bringing out through our experiences and reactions glimpses of the truth of who we are.  I speak not of being ill, necessarily, but of being a part, a witness and a participant, to events far greater than the current situation may indicate. 

The world as we have known it has slowed down, changed course and shape, and we are adjusting to a new way of living and being which may be forever.

Although it has been affecting humans for some three months now, COVID-19 is a virus that has much mystery.  Despite intense efforts by scientists and doctors we do not know for sure how it is transmitted, how long it is incubated, at what stage it is infectious, what is the likelihood of re-infection, or how far it has penetrated the human or animal population.  There is no known cure or antidote, and no-one knows how long the pandemic will last nor what the long term impact will be.  It is not an easy situation.

As Mercury begins his backward movement once again, his disruptive influence is being felt in many ways, overshadowing the days around the celebration of Valentine, the public, and private, time for the expression of love.  In this mode of regression he highlights often uncomfortably what we need to see, confusing our established reality to help us see the truth beneath the illusion.  All noticeable occurrences or coincidences are a lesson or reminder, including that of love.