I am very moved by my daughter’s beautiful and inspiring painting which she has called Sting of betrayal. It reflects her experience of living with excruciatingly painful cluster headaches, one of the most painful conditions known to mankind. The bees at the eye and the mouth, the sting of impossible pain in the eye, the sting at the mouth being silenced and brought to halt by the illness together with the expressive eyes of the girl hurts my heart.
But there is another level of the painting that I itch to interpret and share with you. These interpretations are of course mine and may not be shared by my daughter although she will be reading these thoughts of mine. The warm yellow and brown colours, the bees and the honeycomb provoke thoughts of healing. Throughout time bees and honey have been used for their healing properties, bee sting therapy is an alternative therapy modality, honey has antiseptic and antibacterial properties used to this day in the healing of wounds and propolis from the honeycomb eases and heals the skin. This suggests exploring avenues of healing and ways to manage and be with the pain. Of course astrology is a healing tool too. I am not a medical astrologer but my experience has taught me that the birth chart is a matrix of possibilities and potentials that can be a powerful tool in exploring yourself and your illness. Right now Jupiter, the planet of wisdom and education, has moved into Sagittarius, a sign that shapes how we see the world, how we make meaning. So this may be an ideal time to explore the potential to lift yourself from the sting of betrayal, from the feeling of fear and desolation, away from feeling a victim of the illness to managing the symptoms, exploring and researching the best treatments, to learning to “see” yourself and your reactions when ill and in pain, and how best to nurture yourself.
The eyes in the painting call my attention and I find it fascinating that I come from a family where a person in each generation has suffered with a painful condition that effects an eye. My father with trigeminal neuralgia, myself with optic neuritis, a symptom of multiple sclerosis, and my daughter with cluster headaches. Patterns can be found when looking at the charts of families and in our case I am wondering what we are meant to “see”.
Bees are also a symbol of wisdom and sweetness and create the gold of honey. Many spiritual traditions use the bee and honey to express the deep wisdom of love and connection. In the Sufi poet Rumi's words “Your soul has become an invisible bee. We don't see it working, but there's the full honeycomb!” The experience of being ground down by pain and living with uncomfortable symptoms humbles one. We start to notice the baboon holding a baby to it's bosom with a withered limb, the rosebush that has battled the drought yet manages to open one deep red rose, the evening tide that still rolls onto the beach no matter how polluted the waters have become. We begin to understand that Illness is part of the human condition and, wider than that, of all of life. The mystery of that acceptance allows us to see the web of life and love of which we are all part of. As Victor Hugo tells us “Life is the flower for which love is the honey.”
Book a Transformational Guidance session of Depth Astrology and Tarot with me by clicking this link.
If you live with an illness and long for an opportunity to speak honestly and frankly of your experience book yourself in for a chat with me.
The holiday season is almost upon us so a reminder that gift vouchers are available should you wish to gift a session to a friend.
I am open for bookings until I close for the holiday season on the 13th Dec for a month.
As I will not be sending another blog out this year I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families happy holidays!
Blessings and Love
Susan
A huge thank you to my wonderfully talented daughter, Nicky Campbell, for allowing me to use her work in this posting. I love you to the moon and back!
Image Credits:
Sting of betrayal by Nicky Campbell 2018 Watercolour on A3 cold press
Hope by Nicky Campbell 2015 Watercolour
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -That perches in the soul -And sings the tune without the words -And never stops - at all -Emily Dickinson