Surprise Happens
Sun conjunct Uranus in Gemini
This month’s one-hour Subscriber Class - on the Spiritual Power of Surprises - is free to attend live! Mark your calendar and click the button below at Friday, May 22 at 8 am Pacific / 11 am Eastern / 4 pm UK / 5 pm Europe. If you can’t make it live and want to watch the recording, keep reading below for another way in.
Sometimes you don’t expect what life gives you.
There you are, waltzing along through your day with a soft smile on your face. All seems perfectly peaceful and well in the world, and then suddenly you slip on a cosmic banana peel.🍌
Perhaps it takes a few seconds for you to even realize you are on the ground as sensations of shock reverberate throughout your system. Maybe you ask yourself what happened, maybe you wonder whether you are all right, maybe you look around to see if anyone else is watching.
These slips happen to all of us. And yes, it can be true on some level that there are no surprises – that every moment is divinely orchestrated, that it all makes perfect sense from a higher perspective, that the Universe does not make mistakes. And also, down here in a human body, sometimes you land squarely on your butt.
In other words: Surprise Happens.
So if we accept that surprise is to some degree an inevitable part of our experience here on Earth, how are we going to approach it?
I first want to acknowledge that not all surprises bring this question so front and center into our conscious awareness. Some surprises feel good from the outset, like surprise parties. And while these don’t necessarily demand the same kind of considered inquiry as surprise stumbles, they might well hold the key to a healthy perspective. This matters tremendously because there is no such thing as an objectively good or bad surprise; the beauty of a surprise exists exclusively in the mind of the beholder.
So in contrast to a fruity fall on the sidewalk, how would you feel about an unexpected gathering of your nearest and dearest to celebrate your existence? You might feel gratitude, you might feel love, you might feel joy. A surprise party might catch you especially off guard if you were facing the undesirable prospect of a lonely night in. You might feel silly for having doubted whether the people you love wanted to be with you, for having wondered what you did to deserve this, for having seen yourself in such an unflattering light. And you might feel wonderfully reassured by the warm embrace of your friends and family.
Maybe these feelings – gratitude, love and joy – are what can help us to welcome the surprises that arrive in less palatable wrappers. And because thoughts are passports to feelings, maybe the best thing we can do when find ourselves down there on our butts is to declare that we are grateful the ground was there to catch us. Maybe we can give thanks for the wake-up call, maybe we can appreciate our new vantage point, maybe we can commend those who come to our assistance.
And as the gratitude comes in, maybe we can remember that we are loved. Maybe we can notice that there are people around to help us absorb the shock, that we are all in the same surprising boat, that we are fundamentally safe. And once we feel loved, maybe we can give ourselves permission to lighten up. Maybe we can smile at how we tripped, giggle at how we tried to play it off, laugh at the divine comedy of our lives.
So whatever a surprise brings to the surface, we can choose to see it as a chance to reconnect with gratitude, love and joy for these miraculous lives we get to lead. Life is just giving us another opportunity to show ourselves who we want to be, and it used a surprise to shake us free from the place we had let our awareness settle.
And like always, this message comes to us with perfectly divine timing as the Sun prepares to meet Uranus – Master of Blessings in Disguise – on Friday. Uranus loves to turn things on their heads, to rewrite the rules of the game, to propel us forward into the next evolution of who we are. And Uranus doesn’t just gently invite us to change, it holds us upside down and shakes the change out of our pockets so we have no choice but to see it.
This will be the first Sun / Uranus conjunction in Gemini for 78 years, and the light-hearted approach of the celestial twins is sure to help us welcome the countless surprises that Uranus in Gemini will offer these next 7 years.1 This makes me think of a game my kids have been playing the bathtub as of late, a scene they create and recreate. One of them pretends to walk along unassumingly, singing a sweet little tune about a sunny day… until the other one reaches out and pulls their legs out from under them. They collapse into a slippery heap of laughter, giving me an adorable reminder that we can all practice being surprised with the same playful spirit.
I want to pay this forward, so I’m devoting this month’s Subscriber Class to the Spiritual Power of Surprises. Surprises set us free from things we didn’t realize we were holding onto, and we can actively cultivate a practice of surprising ourselves. The class will assemble this Friday, May 22 at 8 am Pacific / 11 am Eastern / 4 pm UK / 5 pm Europe – and in the Gemini spirit of generous communication, this time you’re welcome to join live for free. Just press this button when it starts and you’ll be in:
If you can’t make it live and want to tune in later, I’ll send out the recording to paying subscribers after. You can use this link for a free trial that will get you access for a week to watch it:
You’re also very welcome to register for the Gemini retreat on Sunday, May 24 at 12 pm Pacific / 3 pm Eastern / 8 pm UK / 9 pm Europe. It’s free and open to all, and – fittingly as Gemini is my 12th house of endings – this will be the last of this retreat series. Stay tuned for what comes next, and check out Part 1 of my Gemini Season Forecast to get a sense of what the month ahead offers (Part 2 is a day-to-day run through of solar transits for paying subscribers, here’s that free trial link again if you want to dive in).
And if you could use some help with a surprise or two, I am holding some space open for special Gemini Season Alchemy Sessions. Alchemy is a way to clear away the sticky stuff so you can create more joyful experiences, and it’s usually something I reserve for longer-term client relationships. Consider it an invitation to a cosmic playdate.
Love,
Patrick
Who am I and How to Work with Me
I’m an astrologer, energy healer and intuitive life coach. I’m also a creative writer, and I used to be a human rights lawyer.
I help people tune into the magic that is always around us. Together we clear away the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual blocks that prevent us from making more conscious choices, and we create personal experiences of wonder and delight. My goal is always to have a good time, and getting in flow with Our Universe never fails to deliver.
I work with individuals, groups, teams and organizations. I work best with people who have some spiritual experience and are ready to step into bigger shoes. If this sounds like you, I invite you to check out my website and book a session. Or if you want to speed date, grab a 20-minute flash session for a bolt of insight that could change it all.
I am writing this on a train, and as soon I finished this sentence, we pulled out of the station in the opposite direction and now I am facing backwards instead of forwards. And then the conductor came through the car, unlocked the windows to bring in more fresh air, and commented on the unusual route we are now taking. Thank you, Uranus!