Portals to wonder: letting go of certainty

Portals to wonder: letting go of certainty

The neutral color palette of this season can remind us that the most vivid colors often emerge from times of stillness and reflection.

The last few colorful autumn leaves have fallen. A few pink petunia flowers are still barely there but are now wilted and dark purple. The orange pumpkin remains are now barely visible in the soil.

We are in the two week period of Lesser Snow per the I Ching calendar and today is the New Moon in Sagittarius, with Mercury currently retrograde in Sagittarius.

This period remains under the guidance of The Receptive. The amount of darkness in each day is increasing until the Winter Solstice. The Receptive energy encourages us to “embrace the power of yielding, and you shall receive…A heart receptive to faith will never fear darkness or uncertainty.” (Benebell Wen, I Ching: The Book of Changes)

Because it is Jupiter’s domain, Sagittarius season might find us occasionally too preoccupied with opinions and lofty ideals as a way, perhaps, to fend off fear of the darkness. Yet Jupiter, the planet of expansion of wisdom, also reminds us that wonder—an openness to what lies beyond certainty—can be the antidote to fear.

Saturn is keeping a sharp eye on Mercury and this New Moon, offering opportunities to get more grounded. Perhaps we could choose to focus on wonder instead of opinions.

I think the most interesting things are the things that light us up, the things that are portals to wonder for us. And the thing about opinion is that it’s based on certainty. To have an opinion is to have a certainty about something. And wonder is the opposite of certainty. Wonder is this openness to reality, whatever it may bring, and without fear, right? — Maria Popova | 3 Books Podcast

I came across a portal of my own today when, in true Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius fashion, I suddenly remembered a book about wonder that I enjoyed many years ago in a much different phase of life. Dusting off an old shelf to find it I was happy to be reminded of this story:

“There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of one candle….

“This inscription was found on a small, new grave stone after a devastating air raid on Britain in World War II. Some thought it must be a famous quotation, but it wasn’t. The words were written by a lonely old woman whose pet had been killed by a Nazi bomb.

“I have always remembered those words, not so much for their poetry and imagery as for the truth they contain. In moments of discouragement, defeat or even despair, there are always certain things to cling to. Little things, usually: remembered laughter, the face of a sleeping child, a tree in the wind—in fact, any reminder of something deeply felt or dearly loved.

“No man is so poor as not to have many of these small candles. When they are lighted, darkness goes away…and a touch of wonder remains.” —A Touch of Wonder by Arthur Gordon

In yielding to stillness and reflecting on the small lights in our lives, we may find that wonder continues to guide us, even in the darkest days.

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Continue ReadingPortals to wonder: letting go of certainty

Joy as an absolute need

Joy as an absolute need

There is a party going on in Gemini right now and I’m here for it.

The New Moon in Gemini is today and it is happening near Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury. Five planets total in Gemini!

For those of you feeling a bit overwhelmed by this airy, social, analytical, and clever energy, it will dissipitate soon once Cancer throws some water on it after the festivities move there.

Jupiter remains in Gemini for another year, however, which, as a Gemini myself, I’m happy about.

Therefore I’ve decided that, for me, this will be the year of living more playfully. Play is one of Gemini’s attributes, because Mercury is its planetary host.

The late humor columnist Erma Bombeck was my biggest inspiration as a teenager and young adult.

She said that it is easier to make someone cry than it is to make them laugh.

She made me laugh a lot when I was in high school, which was much needed during that time period. I exchanged a few letters with her which remain among my prized possessions.

When I was a young mother I listened again and again to an old cassette tape from the library that had a Writer’s Digest interview with Erma. Thankfully it is available online. I bookmarked it and will listen to it again.

I even wrote dozens of humor columns for local newspapers myself, on a freelance/hobby basis. My passion for writing short copy has carried over into blogging.

Although that Scorpio Moon energy of mine isn’t going anywhere, you’ll continue to see a bit more of my Gemini dry wit in these posts, as one of my ways to live more playfully. Let’s face it, astrology and Jungian psychology need some humor once in a while!

Anyway, that (finally) brings us to Hexagram 35: Progress, line 6, which is our hexagram host for the New Moon.

You tap into your strongest motivation, throw your whole self into the effort and charge headlong for your goal. You may not have any very clear idea of how to direct your energy, but you hold fast to your objective and refuse to let it go. At least you will not miss any opportunity for lack of trying.

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

Saturn in Pisces, the grown-up in the room, is keeping an eye on the New Moon in Gemini, and Jupiter’s yearlong stay in Gemini, so that means support is available for directing your energy. Saturn draws out Gemini’s practical, logical, and resourceful potential. Dare I say it can even help us with the focus needed that can result in joy:

Once the ego opens itself, however, once that forgotten energy begins to flow through dancing, painting, singing, joy is not experienced as selfish or luxurious, but as an absolute need. …Then the danger is to want too much too soon. The important thing is to focus, not on the goal, but on the process. Be in the present. Let the unconscious play.

Addiction to Perfection by Marion Woodman

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Wounding of the bright

Wounding of the bright

Sometimes it is necessary to hide your light.

That is the message of Hexagram 36, Darkening of the Light, from the I Ching, which is our hexagram host for this final week of Pisces season.

But wait a minute. Isn’t it good to let your light shine and be authentic?

The poet David Whyte’s brief essay on Hiding describes the necessity of hiding:

We live in a time of the dissected soul, the immediate disclosure; our thoughts, imaginings and longings exposed to the light too much, too early and too often, our best qualities squeezed too soon into a world already awash with ideas that oppress our sense of self and our sense of others. What is real is almost always to begin with, hidden…What is precious inside us does not care to be known by the mind in ways that diminish its presence.

Per Wilhelm’s translation, in times of darkness “it is essential to be cautious and reserved.”

One should not engage in “inconsiderate behavior,” fall in with the practices of others or, conversely, “drag them censoriously into the light.”

When there are difficulties in your immediate environment, one must remain steadfast. Per Wilhelm, you can do this by maintaining your “inner light, while remaining outwardly yielding and tractable.” With an attitude like this you can “overcome even the greatest adversities.”

Furthermore, “In social intercourse one should not try to be all-knowing. One should let many things pass, without being duped.”

We turned the clocks ahead one hour this past weekend, and waking up in what is now darkness, it feels blinding when I turn on the light. My eyes and body aren’t ready to be dragged into the light.

Metaphorically speaking, that is what it is like when we shine our light at inappropriate times.

There is a quote from Ashok Bedi that comes to mind:

As we continue to individuate, we come to terms with…our formative, life-defining influencess and experiences…We accept ourselves as we are, and consequently are better able to accept others as they are. We are detached, but remain caring.

I like that phrase of detached caring. That seems to be the kind of equanimity this hexagram describes and it requires some hiding to cultivate that.

As we enter this final week of Pisces (and winter) with its wounded light, keep in mind the bright light of the exalted Aries Sun is right around the corner.

Don’t hesitate to hide a little longer in the waters of Pisces. David Whyte again: “Hiding leaves life to itself, to become more of itself. Hiding is the radical independence necessary for our emergence into the light of a proper human future.”

REFERENCES:

I Ching or Book of Changes translated by Richard Wilhelm

Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words by David Whyte

Path to the Soul by Ashok Bedi

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How Mercury can change your personality type

How Mercury can change your personality type

If I were to summarize why I love personality typology and astrology, it is because they can help us see and become who we already are.

In the Jungian world, personality typology is a stepping stone to wholeness and to discovering who we already are. Jung described the end result as the “transcendent function.”

Here is one of my favorite definitions of the transcendent function, from Jungian analyst Polly Young Eisendrath:

Resisting our tendencies to defend our complexes, we develop an ability that Jung called the “transcendent function.” It is the capacity to hold tensions and let a meaning emerge without prematurely deciding whether a situation is “good” or “bad.”

The Resilient Spirit by Polly Young Eisendrath, p. 150

From a personality type perspective, Marie Louise-von Franz, Jung’s close associate, described it as how the first step is to assimilate our dominant function. Then we make the second more conscious and, eventually, the third. The inferior function always remains a problem and we can’t approach this function directly. Jung said the practice of active imagination is the best way to approach it. Painting, dancing, and other creative expression can help.

Additionally, focusing on the middle two functions of the personality type through active imagination forms a “middle ground” of the personality – a kind of “inner center” – and you can start using the functions at will instead of unconsciously. Remember that in the first half of life the focus is on developing the middle two functions of our personality type, with one of those becoming the auxiliary function. In the last half of life the focus turns to the inferior function.

Knowing where Mercury is in your astrology natal chart can help with this process. In the book Inner Planets, Howard Sasportas says Mercury is the mostly closely related to the transcendent function:

The secret of alchemy was in fact the transcendent function, the transformation of the personality through the blending and fusion of the noble with the base components, of the differentiated with the inferior functions, of the conscious with the unconscious. I believe that Mercury is the planet most closely aligned to the transcendent function.

Inner Planets by Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas

Mercury was the only god that could go to the underworld and return. This back-and-forth quality of Mercury helps us unite the opposites within us. Mercury is also associated with communication, mediation, business, negotiation, analysis, and even back-and-forth games like tennis, pickleball (my favorite), basketball, and so on. Mercury also shows where we need variety and change and how we like to be playful and curious.

The zodiac wheel is divided into 12 areas of life called houses. Take a look at your natal chart to see which house and zodiac sign Mercury is in. This will show how Mercury can help bring the opposites together within you, in regards to personality type, and also the opposites form without in relationships and interactions with others.

For example, if Mercury is in Pisces in your 7th house of relationships this points to a more creative form of Mercury. Giving space to creative expression in whatever form appeals to you will make your personality flourish. Active imagination will probably come easy to you. Spirituality may also be important to you. Mercury here also means that relationships will play a key role in discovering who you already are.

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Symptoms of Calling: Eleanor Roosevelt

Have you ever noticed how a child’s symptoms, when viewed in retrospect, were an indication of his or her calling?

In the book The Soul’s Code, Hillman offers Eleanor Rooselvelt as one of many examples. She served as First Lady for 12 years during the Great Depression and WWII. Yet she said “I grew up with a fear of insanity.”

In addition to the difficult traits listed in the above quote, her nickname was Granny because she was old-fashioned. She lost both her parents before the age of 9. She described her childhood as a series of “gray days.”

What sustained her was a fantasy she indulged in for many years after her father died. She imagined she lived with her father, ran his household, and was his travel companion. “I carried on a day-by-day story, which was the realest thing in my life.”

In today’s culture symptoms usually mean something “bad.” So today Eleanor would be sent to therapy, given an IEP, and almost certainly prescribed medication. Her fantasies might be dismissed as compensation for her dreary childhood. Or viewed as bordering on delusion.

Hillman has a different take on her fantasies: “Their caring and managerial content was purposeful, preparation for the dutiful life she would later live. The fantasies were invented by her calling and were indeed more realistic in their orientation than her daily reality.”

“Imagination acted as teacher, giving instruction for the … tasks of caring for the welfare of a complex family, of a crippled husband, of the state of New York as the governor’s wife, the United States as its first lady, and even of the United Nations. Her fantasies of attending to ‘Father’ were a preliminary praxis into which she could put her call, her huge devotion to the welfare of others.”

When you exchange the word “abnormal” for “extraordinary” it offers a fresh perspective on our lives. And suggests that each child is a gifted child.

Continue ReadingSymptoms of Calling: Eleanor Roosevelt

A Reflection on the Day of the Dead

“When you see people through the eyes of death you see them very differently. The beauty of the other person is then more visible.” That’s a rather remarkable thing to ponder, isn’t it? It also seems to be in keeping with the spirit of the Day of the Dead.

Another thing this day helps us remember is that the grieving process doesn’t tend to be linear. It’s more like it’s circular. Which reminds me that I recently watched the movie Arrival, which attempts to show what it would be like if we could conceive of time as circular, with no beginning and no end. Throughout the movie the main character remembers a future (past? present?) death of another character and it is moving to watch.

Hillman again: “After a person’s dead, his faults, his or her unbearable qualities, become clarified, and you remember them as virtues.”

Continue ReadingA Reflection on the Day of the Dead

In Which I Commence a Gentle Madness

When I lived in Massachusetts 30 years ago, I found myself drawn to books about Robert F. Kennedy, because I was fascinated with the transformation he made after his brother was assassinated. He went from being a bully who went after Communists (among other misdeeds) to becoming a champion of the underrepresented. The quote “make gentle the life of the world” made a permanent impression on me. He said this during the late 1960’s, which was pretty much the last time the working class was a main focus of the Democratic party.

It isn’t enough to be gentle; one must also make gentle. But what does “make gentle” mean? I like to envision it as soul-making, a term coined by the poet John Keats, who said: “Call the world, if you please, the vale of soul-making. Then you will find out the use of the world.” Soul-making became the focus of the work of archetypal psychologist James Hillman, who was nominated for a Pulitzer prize in 1975 for his book on the topic.

Making soul out of life. Finding connections between life and soul. Slowing down and deepening one’s interiority. It isn’t a heroic psychology and isn’t about developing a strong ego. Rather, soul makes the ego feel uncertain and uncomfortable.

Which brings me to madness. Hillman says one should let a little bit of madness in every day, so that one doesn’t go literally mad.  He said for some people that means having a drink after work every day. For him it was expressing iconoclastic ideas. He also said that psychotherapy should help one “discover one’s madness, one’s unique spirit.”

The phrase “a gentle madness” popped into my head recently as I contemplated blowing the dust off my Facebook timeline and finally posting on it somewhat regularly as a way to let in my own madness. The phrase sounded familiar. I googled and was reminded this is the title of a book from 1995 about book collecting. My gentle madness isn’t about that, but collecting the insights I read in books is part of it. 


By the way, I like the irony of posting this today, the first day of Mercury retrograde (and Halloween, no less), which will continue for the next few weeks. Even people who don’t know what their moon and rising signs are often know about Mercury retrograde and the communication breakdowns that can accompany it. Hopefully that will add to the madness. 

Continue ReadingIn Which I Commence a Gentle Madness

A study of symbolic diversity and unity

A study of symbolic diversity and unity

There is something about symbols that absolutely intrigues me…  I’m not sure if it is about the wide variety of shapes and curvatures that they may have.  Perhaps it is in the wisdom traditions that so many of them come from. Maybe it is in the archetypal patterns that can emerge from each of their representations.  Or possibly it is in the semiotic interpretations that each of us may either individually possess or that taps into a unifying theme within the collective unconscious.  

Perhaps it is in the totality of each of these aspects that I am riveted by looking at and investigating symbols of many different forms and types.  I feel that to engage in understanding as many of these forms as possible, one directly engages with the forms and architectures of the universe. There is a certain multiplicity and diversity that gives me a glimpse into the wider gestalt of symbolic meanings that taps into some component of the collective unconscious.  However, as in any moment of awakening that any human being is fortunate to have, all these forms and meanings converge into the ONENESS of being. To grasp that each of these symbols is a wider manifestation of the Divinity of life itself adds to the amazement and wonder of studying them. This also taps into a holographic nature of reality where each and every symbol can emerge at any place and any time as an indicator of the Totality that consciousness emerges into.  

Learning about the library of symbols is likely an activity that can engage an individual throughout a full lifetime.  At the same time, cherishing the journey, symbol by symbol, is incredibly fulfilling as a means of tapping into the Soul of God and in drinking the nectar of this eternal wisdom source.  

Continue ReadingA study of symbolic diversity and unity