It takes all sorts to make a world

My primary patron is the lady in my icon, who is associated with the elemental Dark, and I'm very much a Dark-oriented person in my spiritual practice, so I'll share the impressions I've been getting tonight. I fully apologize for going full woo on this, and I hope you get something out of it.

If you think of the Dark/Darkness as an element akin to the classical four (or five, if we're talking Eastern mysticism), it's especially potent tonight because of the eclipse falling on the longest period of darkness in the year. Traditionally speaking, the Winter Solstice marks the end of a period of darkness, and the triumphant return of the light. In Celtic traditions, there's the story of the Oak and Holly King. But similar ideas can be found in many cultures.

I don't see things quite as dualistically, but the impression I got tonight is the Dark is so potent right now that it's making its presence felt to people who may not necessarily work with it, or feel called to. For you, especially, balance may be needed. Very often, people who are called to healing paths will neglect darker energies, or their shadows, because so much of the "stuff" around healing is Light-based. It can be scary and intimidating. Even in Pagan paths, which generally don't associate Light and Dark with value judgments, that cultural meme is still very present, and a lot of people end up just giving lip service to the idea of balance, while still very much focusing on Light energies.

I don't know how into astrology you are, but this article I read the other day talks a lot about this convergence of energies, and for the potential of darkness being healing. I don't want to be all presumptuous or anything, but my gut reaction to that message you received is that you might want to consider some shadow work if you haven't in the past. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to work with the Dark, or with cthonic or Darker-oriented deities (even the Christian God has a shadow side). It's just simply that, well, to borrow an old Wiccan adage, the witch who cannot hex cannot heal. Sometimes, in order to cleanse something, we have to cut it completely out; think of radiation treatment for cancer, or amputations to stop infections.

In a variety of indigenous traditions, a shaman didn't truly become a healer until s/he "wrestled" that Shadow within. And Chiron, the astrological body associated with the Wounded Healer archetype, is currently in sextile with Mercury and Neptune. The energy this brings is very conducive to opening yourself to new ideas and particularly paradigms of healing. Is there something in your life holding you back from your potential as a healer? Eclipses can be powerful times for banishings and letting go of things. This is the sort of thing, if you're at all into divination of some kind, that you might want to do/get a reading about. I hope I wasn't just talking out of my ass and that this is helpful in some small way.