I could hear a child being beaten as I walked home tonight.
The slightly cooler weather makes for open windows. At first I wasn’t sure if what I heard was what I heard. The sound of the child and what sounded like a whip. You know that sound. It was probably a belt.
I’ve got Mars in Cancer. Fierce protector of women and children. But any half-decent human, or animal, no matter the Mars, will crumple at that sound.
The cycle continues. And I walked home thinking, “I hate this place. This earth.”
Sorry, folks. No love and light in this post. Is this a preview of Saturn in Scorpio? The darkness next door. Maybe that’s my own chart speaking. Scorpio is my 3rd House (the neighborhood).
And despite my 9th House Saturn, I preach optimism. It continually surprises me that I do this. How much I’ve changed. That I’m actually living my natal Jupiter Venus sextile but something like this happens and I feel helpless.
And if there was something I could have done, I would have done it. I saw two other women walking home shaking their heads. They heard it too. They knew. Maybe it was them, a Saturn cycle ago.
I remember once listening to a Pema Chodron recording and she was talking about doing tonglen. That often the only thing you can do in such moments of witnessing is to send compassion or peace on your out-breath to the situation. To take in the pain. And to send out any good you have. To the one being beaten. To the one doing the beating.
Maybe that’s some love and light after all.
Wishing you a peaceful Thursday evening —
xo
11 thoughts on “A Child Is Being Beaten: Saturn In Scorpio”
That is brutal:( I am so sorry for that child, and I’m sorry you had to witness it. I know how deep your feelings and compassion for others is. Ouch:( I know exactly what you mean about trauma and disbelief. I have reacted quickly to many things, and others, not. I was groped by an old man who stopped me to ask for help once. I couldn’t believe it. So horrible. My neighbours in the next building over fight, in the most horrible fashion. ‘You c*nt,’ ‘you this you that’ blah blah. It never sounds like it goes beyond the violence of words but, god–what a horrid way to live.
Oh Kashy kash, thanks for sharing that. Yes if it had been near me like that, like next door — def another story. I’d prob be in their face. Or have moved a long time ago.
Ugh. Sorry you went through that.
So sad. I hate when I see people cussing out their kids or hear something like this. I remember being on the receiving end of this.
I would’ve knocked on the door or yelled at the window. Something impulsive. I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself. I can feel my heart pounding, all these miles away. It’s such a dumb thing to do, I’m sure I’ll get hurt sooner or later but I’ve never been able to do anything else. 🙁
It wasn’t like a movie, in front of your face. It was like.. you’re already gone and down the street and your mind starts to put together the sounds you were hearing (and it’s dark and you’re surrounded by Brooklyn tenements) and then you REALIZE “Oh…” and then you notice other people realized. And your brain puts it together.
Trauma: you don’t believe what is happening as it’s happening. You don’t trust your perception. Or you wait to see/hear if what you think is real is real, happening. I’m a trauma survivor. So I can be real slow to process, to make sense of such things–
Perhaps if it had been broad daylight and in front of my face – but it wasn’t like that. It was filled with shadows on a walk home.
That said, I’ve confronted people who were hurting animals (was always in the day though).
And this is also Brooklyn. People carry knives, guns, etc. Lots of issues here, what risk you are going to take.
So for anyone (not saying you or anyone commenting here, I just happened to choose to write to you) who thinks they would do this, that, or the other thing, that’s impossible. Because no one was there but those of us walking down that street who did or didn’t notice.
If one had noticed in time, they could maybe have yelled at the sky.
For me, noticing in time is a lot like yelling at the sky. I’ve done it before; gone where I shouldn’t and been hurt, not because I’m a good person or a bad person but because I remember. I’m a different kind of survivor; whether or not I can do anything about it, it aches just the same. I will probably never stop yelling at the sky. xo
This must weigh heavily on you and I’m sorry. Just reading it makes me feel sad and frustrated. Situations like this are never easy and maybe there was more to the story, but hopeless as it may have seemed, if there was any way to tell from which window the sounds were coming from (or even from which building) I think I would’ve *tried* calling the police – maybe the non-emergency number. Just to try. Probably no one would come and nothing would’ve come of it. But it might. Sometimes it only takes one person to make a difference. Please don’t think I’m judging you. I faced a similar situation when I was in my early 20’s and in retrospect wish I’d tried. I wish someone had encouraged me to try and wish I’d done what I would’ve like for someone to have done for me as a child. But instead I took my cues from those around me, something I rarely do anymore.
Like I said, maybe there’s much more to the story and I’d have had to walk away too. Either way, it’s never easy. My 3rd is Scorpio’s domain as well and with Jupiter, Mercury and Neptune conjunct (and at the apex of a Yod), I’ve frequently had to make these kinds of difficult decisions. Sometimes, my efforts lead nowhere, but I’ve learned that’s not the point. Even if nothing could’ve been done in the situation you faced, maybe someone else reading this will feel encouraged to try.
from a child who had that happen frequently…thank u for your compassion xxx
🙁 I’m sorry Susan. There really aren’t any words–
ohhhhh this post makes me cry.
Welcome to Brooklyn 🙁 Or, Earth, as the case may be.