I come across the phrase “comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable” from time to time, but the full context is always omitted:
“A good ad should be like a good sermon. It must not only comfort the afflicted, it must also afflict the comfortable.”
That quote is from Bernice Fitz-Gibbon, who is widely considered one of the most successful retail copywriters of all time.
The usual methods for attempting to afflict the comfortable often involve criticism and judgmentalism; in the end, the comfortable remain mostly unafflicted. People content in their opinions or circumstances tend not to budge.
Comforting the afflicted is an even greater challenge. In the short window of an ad or sermon you have to somehow tell a story that makes the person feel seen and convey empathy.
What if we swapped out “ad” for “horoscope?” Astrologers who emphasize comforting the afflicted are dismissed for over-emphasizing “love and light.” Astrologers who focus on apocalyptic type predictions that afflict the comfortable are accused of not having enough love and light.
Speaking of apocalyptic, last week I had a dream in which I was at a gathering of people talking about patriarchy and the “end times.” A woman was speaking at length. I attempted to interrupt her “sermon” and say “Jesus said no one would know the day and time that he would return so any attempt to force it would be calamitous” but my voice was too hoarse to be heard.
In waking life I think about days and times because of astrology, and admittedly have sometimes looked at my chart wondering what calamitous things would surely happen. For example, transiting Uranus opposite the natal Moon points to challenging times ahead. Such was the case for me five years ago. However, no astrologer could have predicted that the exact minute of the opposition found me suddenly finding my long lost childhood dream journal at the bottom of a box that appeared at first to only have junk in it. As I opened the blue folder and read those dreams written down in the handwriting of my 10-year-old self I marveled at how archetypal they were and how different from my current dreams.
Jesus was in one of those childhood dreams. A dark devil figure was chasing me around a contained fire in a swimming pool type area and then there was Jesus in blazing white light with his arms open, so I ran to him. The affliction and the comfort were present at the same time.
I looked up the dates in my childhood dream journal and, lo and behold, that same Uranus was conjunct my natal Moon 40+ years earlier when I wrote down those dreams. There it was, a moment when turning to the chart provided comfort during a time of affliction.
It would be tempting to end with that, but the reality is that I still don’t know what I’m going to face when a transit arrives. As James Hollis says, we need to become more comfortable in our uncertainty and prioritize a “mystery-driven life.”
As we wrap up our final week of Virgo season, we might do well to consider that the goal ultimately isn’t to fastidiously pursue a better prediction, but to stay open enough so that an event we couldn’t have predicted can break through.
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In depth,
Anita Ashland
AnitaAshland.com
