The Sun has a north and a south magnetic pole, similar to what we have on Earth. Every 11 years or so, the Sun's poles shift their magnetics — the pole that carries a positive field shifts to negative, and vice versa. This pole shift always corresponds with the "solar maximum," the phase in the Sun's regular cycle when sunspots, CMEs and solar flares are at their most active.
With the Sun's last polar shift occurring in April 2001, scientists have been predicting the next shift would occur this year. And, true to their predictions, current monitoring of the Sun indicates the shift is underway.
But — with one interesting variable. Instead of both poles decreasing at the same time in preparation for the flip of north and south polarities, one pole's magnetic field is near zero, while the other pole is close to full strength. Here's how one article explains it:
Currently the polarity at the north of the sun appears to have decreased close to zero—that is, it seems to be well into its polar flip from magnetic north to south — but the polarity at the south is only just beginning to decrease. “Right now, there’s an imbalance between the north and the south poles,” said Jonathan Cirtain, a space scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., who is also NASA’s project scientist for a Japanese solar mission called Hinode. “The north is already in transition, well ahead of the south pole, and we don’t understand why,” he explained. (Read the full article here.)
Since the energy from the Sun is always being broadcast to the Earth, whatever occurs on the Sun affects us. The solar energy we're receiving right now carries the imprint of the current imbalance between the Sun's north and south poles.
Why it is happening? Scientists don't yet understand the physical reasons. If we consider the metaphysical purposes, we could consider the south pole (which remains strong) to be symbolically connected to the South Node in astrology. The South Node represents our karmic past, and the issues that we are working with most directly in this lifetime in our efforts to advance.
The continued strength of the Sun's south pole is consistent with the sense that each of us is dealing with core karmic themes right now. I've been aware of that truth for a while — it seems everyone is working to clear out the old mental and emotional patterns that have most directly hindered our spiritual advancement.
And now, knowing about the electromagnetic imbalance on the Sun, we have confirmation in physical reality for what we have already been aware of. As each of us prepares for our own shifts into higher consciousness and more direct spiritual connection, we are made aware of where we are not yet in balance, through an exaggeration of the old patterns of reactivity.
It will be interesting to keep watch of the Sun's polar shift and see how our personal/global experience is affected. Japanese scientists working on the Hinode mission are predicting that the actual shift will occur next month, in May 2012. At the same time, there are some predictions that the Sun's magnetic field will become "quadrupolar," with positive fields at both the north and south poles, and a negative field at the equator. Evidently, this last happened some 300 years ago, and resulted in an overall drop in temperatures around the Earth.
If this occurs, how might it affect each of us, energetically?
With both the north and south poles broadcasting an equal magnetic field, our choice between the limiting patterns of the past and the higher potentials of who we are becoming will be even clearer. Some channels interpret this as a dimensional "split" due to the clarity of the choice we will each have. At the very least, it seems to be a choice point for each of us about how we want to direct our lives from this point forward.
