Standstill
Isa
Drawing standstill often indicates the winter of the spiritual life is upon you. You may find yourself entangled in a situation to whose implications you are, in effect, blind. You may be powerless to do anything except submit, surrender, even sacrifice some long cherished desire. Be patient, for this is a period of gestation that precedes a rebirth.
Positive accomplishment is unlikely now. There is a freeze on useful activity, all your plans are on hold. You may be experiencing an unaccustomed drain on your energy and wonder why: a chill wind is reaching you over the ice floes of old, outmoded habits.
Trying to hold on can result in shallowness of feeling, a sense of being out of touch with life. Seek to discover what it is you are holding on to that keeps this condition in effect, and let it go. Shed, release cleanse away the old. That will bring on the thaw.
Usually Isa requires a sacrifice of the personal, the ‘I’. And yet there is no reason for anxiety. Submit and be still, for what you are experiencing is not necessarily the result of your actions or habits, but the conditions of the time against which you can do nothing. What has been full must empty; what has increased must decrease. This is the way of Heaven and Earth. To surrender is to display courage and wisdom.
At such a time, you cannot hope to rely on help or friendly support. In your isolation, exercise caution and do not stubbornly persist in attempting to work your will. Remain mindful that he seed of the new is present in the shell of the old, the seed of unrealised potential, the seed of the good. Trust your own process, and watch for signs of spring.
From 'The New Book of Runes' by Ralph Blum
