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A still point in the thunder

Post author:Anita Ashland
Post published:April 4, 2024
Post category:Astrology I Ching

We have double the thunder this week … just in time for Monday’s eclipse in Aries!

With the snow (!) and winter-like winds we are having here in Wisconsin in April, I wouldn’t mind some thunder and spring showers.

Hexagram 51: The Arousing (shock, thunder) of the I Ching is thunder repeated. It describes a leader who is composed and reverent even though the thunder spreads terror 100 miles around:

This doesn’t necessarily mean resisting the shock itself, so much as keeping a still point in the midst of the tumult of reactions to it. Then you never lose your connection with the creative power that speaks through the storms. … Consider what remains constant and true when everything else is in turmoil.
Hilary Barrett, I Ching: Walking Your Path, Creating Your Future

Events like eclipses can cause shock and fear, especially if they impact one’s astrology chart in a powerful way.

While this eclipse is going on we also have Mars and Saturn in Pisces and Uranus and Jupiter pairing up in Taurus.

Once again both the I Ching and astrology remind us that we must get over certainty and wanting to always be in control.

Whenever I feel anxious about an astrological transit, I remind myself of one of my favorite James Hollis quotes:

Anxiety will be our companion if we risk the next stage of our journey, and depression our companion if we do not. …Faced with such a choice, choose anxiety and ambiguity, for they are developmental, always, while depression is regressive. Anxiety is an elixir, and depression a sedative. The former keeps us on the edge of our life, and the latter in the sleep of childhood.
James Hollis, Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life

Even with that reminder, part of me wants to be a recluse during this eclipse. But I have places to go and things to do. It is heartening to know that even the noble one described in Hexagram 51 was initially a little rattled:

When the outer world is shaken up, the noble one is also inwardly shaken. He is wide awake now, quivering with awareness of the changes underway, and ready to take on responsibility for restoring life to harmony.
Hilary Barrett, I Ching: Walking Your Path, Creating Your Future

Where do you need to restore harmony in your life right now?

What must change?

What will continue?

Biting through to your center of power

Post author:Anita Ashland
Post published:March 30, 2024
Post category:Astrology I Ching

A lot of the advice in the I Ching, and Taoism in general, can be summarized as “be like water,” which I love.

But for this week’s Hexagram 21: Biting Through we have “vigorous measures” that must be taken at once. There’s mention of a “criminal lawsuit,” the “application of penalties,” and “disturbances of harmonious social life caused by criminals and slanderers.”

Drama!

The hexagram image is thunder and lightning. Thunder represents the just application of penalties. Lightning symbolizes the clarity needed for executing the penalties swiftly.

This fearless confrontation of obstacles ties in well with the assertive energy of Aries season.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been reading The Vital Spark by Jungian analyst Lisa Marchiano, which is perfect Aries reading.

Marchiano emphasizes how empathy, care, and concern won’t help us when we are being preyed upon and face situations where we need to do our own Biting Through:

Standing up for ourselves will likely engender conflict—not just with our romantic partners but with our parents, siblings, co-workers, friends, neighbors, and more. Many of us find such conflict uncomfortable. We value harmony and often go to great lengths to preserve peace and affinity. Yet, if we can tolerate disagreement and strife, we will be able to act from authenticity rather than from a constricted compulsion to avoid conflict.

She includes a quote from Edward Edinger:

The majority of patients in psychotherapy need to learn how to be more effectively selfish and more effective in the use of their own personal power; they need to accept responsibility for the fact of being centers of power and effectiveness.

Acting from that place of authenticity is easier said than done. I recently read The Tools by psychologists Phil Stutz and Barry Michels, which provides a practical way to tap into your inner authority in the moment by using your shadow, of all things. The authors are favorably disposed towards Jungian psychology and believe in providing effective tools that are easily learned.

They describe an exercise for you to do to obtain an image of your shadow (I use a shadow figure from a dream). Then, prior to and even during a difficult conversation or encounter, you do the following:

Imagine that you’re standing in front of an audience of one or many. See an image of your Shadow off to one side, facing you. Ignore the audience completely and focus all of your attention on the Shadow. Feel an unbreakable bond between the two of you-as a unit you’re fearless.

Together, you and the Shadow forcefully turn toward the audience and silently command them to “LISTEN!” Feel the authority that comes when you and your Shadow speak with one voice.

We’re in the middle of a two week period between eclipses which can feel liminal and sometimes draining.

Mars and Saturn are both in Pisces, with a conjunction soon to form. This combination of archetypes is the very definition of Biting Through.

It’s an ideal time to bite through to the truth of a challenging situation you are facing, especially in the Pisces and Aries areas of your life.

What steps can you take to overcome any obstacles that stand in your way?

REFERENCES:

The Vital Spark: Reclaim Your Outlaw Energies and Find Your Feminine Fire by Lisa Marchiano, LCSW

The Tools: Transform Your Problems Into Courage, Confidence, and Creativity by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels

I Ching or Book of Changes translated by Richard Wilhelm

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Writing:

You will NOT be assimilated

Post author:Anita Ashland
Post published:March 24, 2024
Post category:Astrology I Ching

It is not uncommon these days to buy followers online or to use strategies for inflating the number of followers that have nothing to do with true connection.

Leaders sometimes create followings by “force or cunning, by conspiracy or by creating factions.” That sounds like today’s headlines but is actually from the commentary of Hexagram 17, Following in the I Ching, our hexagram host for this next week of Aries.

Hexagarm 17 even warns that “joyous movement can lead to evil consequences.”

Before charging forth and using that fiery martial energy of Aries on external followings, one is advised to use it to tune into one’s inner self. That is why the image of this hexagram describes the importance of a noble one at nightfall going inside for renewal and rest.

Jungian analyst Lisa Marchiano writes in The Vital Spark (perfect reading for Aries season, by the way):

But if we don’t have sufficient access to independence and fire, our tendency to focus on others can cause us to lose touch with ourselves and the people we were meant to become. We can become alienated from our souls, which leaves us feeling depleted and inauthentic. Then, we must return to ourselves by reuniting with our Lilith nature, our own “unbridled life urge which refuses to be assimilated.”

Jung wrote about how our personalities become diminished when we adapt to others, but those discarded parts aren’t lost forever: “Many—far too many—aspects of life which should also have been experienced lie in the lumber room among dusty memories; but sometimes, too, they are glowing coals under gray ashes.”

There is an eclipse this week duing the Libra full moon. Eclipse energies play out over the course of six months and tend to make it more difficult to cling to certainty in that area of your life. As Marchiano says, “Being connected with the central fire can be exhilarating, but it can also be terrifying.”

Therefore this is a perfect time to take a look at the lumber room floor, so to speak, and connect with the vital sparks awaiting in the glowing coals of your unlived life.

REFERENCES:

The Vital Spark: Reclaim Your Outlaw Energies and Find Your Feminine Fire by Lisa Marchiano, LCSW

I Ching or Book of Changes translated by Richard Wilhelm

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The audacity of innocence

Post author:Anita Ashland
Post published:March 19, 2024
Post category:Astrology I Ching

Yesterday I saw a robin hopping around in the yard for the first time this year.

For me, nothing says spring more than the return of birds who fly south for the winter.

Spring migration reaches its peak in May, with hundreds of different kinds of birds migrating through. I often think of how wonderfully audacious it is that there are so many different kinds of birds.

Speaking of audacious, this is the start of Aries season and the beginning of the new astrological year.

Hexagram 25: Innocence of the I Ching is our hexagram host for the beginning of Aries.

Because Aries is a masculine fire sign ruled by Mars, the audacious part fits, but at first glance it might not seem to correlate well with innocence.

The image of this hexagram is thunder underneath the heavens: as above, so below.

As Wilhelm says in his translation:

In springtime when thunder, life energy, begins to move again under the heavens, everything sprouts and grows, and beings receive from the creative activity of nature the childlike innocence of their original state.

The Sun is exalted in Aries because Aries is the beginning of the solar half of the year where there is more light than darkness. By contrast, Saturn is exalted in Libra because it begins the Saturnian half of the year where there is more darkness than light.

Britten LaRue, in her new book Living Astrology, writes that Aries is often perceived as “blustery in its self-possession.” She provides a necessary corrective to this stereotype:

It’s important to understand that Aries is born out of the collective dream from Pisces. The precociousness of Aries grows from the wells of love inherent in the sign before it. We need the audacity of our springtime Aries self to catapult our dreams forward. It’s the audacity of being a child of this world before we’ve known hurt or grief or danger.

She also provides some questions that are worth pondering in the week ahead:

What would you do with such audacity?

What would you do today if you could trust that you can always start again?

REFERENCES:

I Ching or Book of Changes translated by Richard Wilhelm

Living Astrology by Britten LaRue

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Choosing to choose

Post author:Anita Ashland
Post published:March 6, 2024
Post category:Astrology I Ching

Grace has been a favorite word of mine since childhood.

When I was born my grandmother gave my parents a framed print of an explanation of what the name Anita means and it hung on the wall of my childhood bedroom. Anita means grace and that resonated with me.

So I was happy to see that Hexagram 22, Grace, of the I Ching, is our hexagram host for this next week. It describes grace as “beauty of form” and that which brings order and pleasantness.

The image is of fire at the foot of the mountain. This shows how grace has limitations, however. Fire here does not shine far; grace only brings success in small things and should be used sparingly. It’s the strong element of the mountain that takes the lead and is the decisive factor.

I’m reminded of one of my favorite James Hollis quotes:

I sometimes call myself “a recovering Nice Guy.” We were all raised to be nice, really nice. A reflexive “niceness” is a pathogenic loss of connection to the soul, and is not nice. The opposite of such a reflexive niceness is called authenticity, or integrity.

The planetary archetype associate with grace is Venus. Appropriately, Venus is exalated in Pisces and will be joining the Pisces party in about a week.

The opposite of Venus is Mars, which will enter Pisces at the end of the month.

The combination of Mars and Venus can help us turn niceness into authenticity and integrity. If you look at where both planets are in your natal chart, you will see what that specifically looks like for you.

From a typology perspective, developing a stronger connection between your hero (dominant) functon and inferior (anima/animus) function creates more integrity and authenticity. Jungian analyst John Beebe, my favorite typologist, says individuation is ultimately about integrity, not about the transformation of character.

With Saturn, the planet of responsibility, in Pisces for two more years or so, and soon Venus and Mars to join Saturn and the Sun there, it seems fitting to close with what Jungian analyst and astrologer Christina Becker says:

In life, being authentic means that you own your life and take responsibility for it, and this bears a striking similarity to the definition of integrity. Being inauthentic suggests an “unowned” life. The German philosopher Heidegger suggests that “authenticity is a matter of choosing to choose, that is, of making one’s choices one’s own and so being answerable and responsible for one’s life.

Remember it’s OK, though, to add a dash of grace once in a while.

REFERENCES:

I Ching or Book of Changes translated by Richard Wilhelm

The Broken Mirror by James Hollis

The Heart of the Matter: Individuation as an Ethical Process by Christina Becker

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A watched pot always boils

Post author:Anita Ashland
Post published:March 1, 2024
Post category:Astrology I Ching

Have you ever put on a pot of water on the stove to boil, walked away for a bit, then totally forgot about it until the pot boiled over? It’s possible I’ve done that a time or two (ahem).

That metaphor is inherent in Hexagram 63 in the I Ching, which is called “After Completion.” It consists of the trigrams Water over Fire, which symbolizes the image of water rising above fire. This hexagram represents the idea of reaching a state of completion or fulfillment after a period of effort and struggle.

Conditions are perfect and there is equilibrium. That also means, however, the slightest inattention can cause disorder to begin again, so caution is warranted. As Wilhelm says in his translation, “…it is only in regards to details that success is still to be achieved.” Constancy bears fruit.

This is similar to when a pot is above the fire waiting to boil and there is a meeting of opposites: water and fire. In the best scenario, a small amount of the water is transformed into vapor, and the rest remains behind to cook whatever is inside the pot. But if you get bored and stop paying attention even for a few minutes, the pot overflows, there is a noisy splashing of water, and the pot and food can get scalded.

This resonates with the end-of-cycle energy of Pisces, where one might reflect on the lessons learned, the growth achieved, and the closure of certain chapters of life. Pisces is the end of the astrological new year; the new year will begin with Aries.

Pisces is a time when emotions may run deep, and its energy encourages introspection, spiritual exploration, and connection with the unconscious. It favors embracing the endings and transitions that come with the conclusion of a cycle, while also looking forward to the possibilities of new beginnings as the wheel of the zodiac turns.

I’m reading Marion Woodman’s book Addiction to Perfection and she writes about how journaling “fulfills the need to pour out the heart” and is “crucial to recognizing those parts of ourselves that we have shunned.” Pisces season is a perfect time to start looking at those neglected parts of us, so that we don’t have a boil over, so to speak.

“Journal writing is a way of taking responsibility for finding out who I AM.” There’s no better time to start doing that than now, before the astrological new year begins. May your cup runneth over (instead of your pot).

REFERENCES:

I Ching or Book of Changes translated by Richard Wilhelm

Addiction to Perfection by Marion Woodman

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We are family

Post author:Anita Ashland
Post published:February 24, 2024
Post category:Astrology I Ching

Once again we have a perfect pairing of an I Ching hexagram with Pisces season: Hexagram 37: The Family.

This hexagram represents harmony within a group or family, emphasizing the importance of cooperation and mutual support. As Wilhelm says in his translation: “When the family is in order, all the social relationships of mankind will be in order.”

Pisces is a mutable water sign ruled by Jupiter. Pisces highlights the significance of emotional connections, understanding, and nurturing relationships. Host Jupiter is currently in Venus’ sign of Taurus, which encourages this all the more.

This time period encourages us to focus on our connections with others, and to cultivate empathy and understanding within our social circles and communities.

Last night I was reading about how each year around 100,000 Japanese tourists visit Prince Edward Island in Canada because it is the home of the fictional character Anne of Green Gables. According to Japanese Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda, Japanese people love these novels because Anne is an orphan who gets adopted by an unmarried middle-aged brother and sister who live together on Prince Edward Island. The Japanese are moved by her efforts to form a real family and community:

The Japanese identify so strongly with her efforts precisely because they invest so much energy in the same cause: forging strong familial and communal bonds. That Anne was able to accomplish this in the absence of underlying biological ties is what endears her so much to the Japanese. To them, she is a true heroine.
The Power of Dao, p. 134

Venus and Mars are currently still conjoined in Aquarius. At the collective level or in your personal life, themes of justice for women, self-assertion, and/or emotional discord and disharmony may be noticeable. This can help us to maintain our individuality, which is a reminder that there is always some sort of interplay of opposites going on in our lives. Mercury, the Sun, and Saturn are all in Pisces currently and that energy is here to support us in a hexagram 37 “we are family” kind of way even as we experience Mars-Venus.

Take a look at the Aquarius and Pisces areas of life in your chart, as those are activated for you now (I can help you with this kind of analysis if you’d like).

Then reflect on the following during this next week:

Reflect on the dynamics within your family or close social circle. How do you contribute to the harmony and unity within these relationships?

How do you maintain your sense of self within the context of your relationships and social responsibilities?

How can you strengthen and nurture connections with those that are part of your “chosen” (as opposed to biological) family?

REFERENCES:

I Ching or Book of Changes translated by Richard Wilhelm

The Power of Dao: A Timeless Guide to Happiness and Harmony by Lou Marinoff

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Be like the sun at midday

Post author:Anita Ashland
Post published:February 19, 2024
Post category:Astrology I Ching

It couldn’t possibly be more appropriate that Hexagram 55: Abundance of the I Ching is the one greeting us as Pisces season begins.

As this hexagram says:

“ABUNDANCE has success.

The king attains abundance.

Be not sad.

Be like the sun at midday.”

Hilary Barrett says in her translation:

In a time of Abundance you find that, despite what you have lost, there is a new charge given to you that leaves no place for sorrow or anxiety. It is not the time to hide yourself away and grieve the past. Decide what you will do, take it on, make the practical preparations and march out.

Well, then. After the Saturnian, wintry, hermit-y seasons of Capricorn and Aquarius, this is a welcome message.

Pisces is a mutable water sign ruled by Jupiter, the planet of abundance, faith, and hope.

This hexagram is comprised of the trigrams Water over Fire. Water is fluid and adaptable, while Fire is dynamic and transformative. This combination suggests a time of flowing with the currents of life, embracing change, and surrendering to the natural ebb and flow of existence – a theme that aligns with the mutable nature of Pisces.

Mercury, Mars, and Venus are still in Aquarius. Saturn is in Pisces for the next couple of years. There still is plenty of Saturnian grounding in the air to help us make those needed practical preparations prior to marching out. But as Mercury, Mars, and Venus gradually enter Pisces, you should see greater emotional depth, creativity, intuition, and compassion in the Pisces area of your life.

I know the word “abundance” is overused to the point of being trite. Phrases like “abundant mindset” can be eyeroll-inducing. Abundance, however, isn’t a quantity of anything – rather, it is a knowing that there is enough and that you are enough.

REFERENCES:

I Ching or Book of Changes translated by Richard Wilhelm

I Ching: Walking Your Path, Creating Your Future by Hilary Barrett

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