The value of adversity

The value of adversity

Could you use a breather and an emotional reset?

That’s what the energy indicated by today’s New Moon in Cancer invites us to do.

As a small example of this, last week my local community received the abrupt news that this will be the final year of our local July 4th festival, which has run every year for almost 60 years.

Immediately a grassroots effort began to save the festival. Many residents didn’t know the festival is run by volunteers and that there is a dire shortage of them. That, combined with lack of funding, caused an Obstruction.

It has been heartwarming to see many people in the community come together to volunteer and raise money to save this charming festival, especially during these times when there is so much polarity at the national level.

It is the epitome of a Cancer type of activity – a community banding together to preserve one of its important traditions.

Today’s New Moon in Cancer occurs in the Obstruction part of Cancer, which is hexagram 39 of the I Ching.

Through introspection an external obstacle becomes “an occasion for inner enrichment and education. … An obstruction that lasts only for a time is useful for self-development. This is the value of adversity.” (The I Ching, Richard Wilhelm translation).

The New Moon in Cancer creates a brief, nurturing pause before the action-packed Mars-Uranus conjunction in Taurus perfects on July 15.

I admit I’m not looking forward what some of the headlines will be like during those several days.

But the reflections and intentions set during the New Moon in Cancer can be grounded in Taurus’s earthy energy, which will provide emotional resilience and practical readiness.to face the Mars-Uranus conjunction.

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The art of letting yourself go

The art of letting yourself go

No, not that kind of “letting yourself go,” which is a phrase used to disparage someone who pays less attention to their appearance than they used to.

We’re in the Keeping Still section of Cancer season, so I’ve been reflecting on the Chinese wu wei sort of letting go. Jung described wu wei as “the art of letting things happen, action through non-action, letting go of oneself.”

The Keeping Still hexagram of the I Ching is a doubling of the mountain trigram. It correlates with introverted feeling (Fi) per Chinese Jungian analyst Chenghou Cai: “For Fi, deep feelings are seldom articulated, but are powerful when they are expressed. At this level of introverted feeling, one is like the person who has mastered the art of Keeping Still as taught by the I Ching.”

One is at rest, not merely in a small, circumscribed way in regard to matters of detail, but one has also a general resignation in regard to life as a whole, and this confers peace and good fortune in relation to every individual matter.

The I Ching translated by Richard Wilhelm

The opposite of introverted feeling is extraverted thinking. The United States is an ESTJ culture and one-sided in extraverted thinking. Jung said extraverted thinking is the only kind of thinking recognized by Western culture.

Extraverted thinking (Te), which compares to Thunder in the I Ching, acts with directness and authority and has little use for wu wei and Keeping Still.

Since the Aries eclipse this spring, followed by the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Taurus, and then all the Gemini energy, it sometimes felt like it has been a never-ending parade of extraverted thinking, extraverted sensation, and extraverted intuition.

Now that it’s Cancer season with its introverted feeling energy, hopefully some of how we let ourselves go can be in the “Calgon, Take Me Away!” kind of way.

If the waters of Cancer ever get too choppy, here’s Marion Woodman’s reminder about stillness, with its introverted feeling undertones:

To find the stillness at the center of the whirlpool, the eye of the hurricane, and not hold onto it with the rigidity born of fear, is what in analysis we struggle to reach. That center I call Sophia, the feminine Wisdom of God. It is not the masculine standpoint, the highly-principled “Here I stand.” … It is an invisible center encountered only in a creative process, at first not consciously recognized, but gradually revealed as the process unfolds.

Addiction to Perfection by Marion Woodman

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The summer snooze…I mean solstice

The summer snooze…I mean solstice

Here we are at the summer solstice and the official beginning of Cancer season.

It seems like just yesterday it was the winter solstice and I was standing in the front yard watching Santa go by on a fire truck. Today I’m in the front yard tending – and talking to – pumpkin plants and petunias.

I felt waterlogged most of this week. The moment Venus and Mercury entered Cancer on Monday, the shift from the air of Gemini to the waters of Cancer found me taking as many as two naps a day.

Because Cancer has caretaking qualities I’ve even find myself looking up recipes online, which normally isn’t my thing.

The best way to understand a sign is to compare it to its opposite, which in this case is Capricorn.

With the Capricorn full moon happening tommorow, this is a perfect time to reflect on what has been happening in the Capricorn area of your life since the winter solstice.

Because I’m an introverted intuitive type and tend to focus on the future, I have developed an appreciation for the winter solstice and its promise of increasing light that builds up to the summer solstice.

Now that the summer solstice is here, which correlates with hexagram 15: Moderation, I want to slow down. I like using astrology as a way to process the present and better understand what is unfolding moment to moment.

A noble one is inwardly as self-sufficient as a mountain and firm as bedrock; she has quietly built up the inner resources to sustain an intelligent, centred generosity. She reduces exaggeration and brings things back to a state of equilibrium, weighing up what is needed from moment to moment, and always referring back to that inner balance point.

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

That quote is a wonderful way to describe the energy of Cancer in constrast to Gemini season.

Which inner resources are you quietly building up?

As fun as the exaggerations in Gemini may have been, which ones will you start reducing and bring back to a state of equilibrium?

What does your inner balance point feel like in your body?

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The real cause of stagnation

The real cause of stagnation

On the surface, Gemini is the last place one would expect Stagnation.

Yet here we are in the Stagnation section of Gemini, per hexagram 12 of the I Ching, which is where today’s Mercury’s cazimi with the Sun is happening.

That’s a fancy way of saying it’s a rebirth moment for Mercury, who has been hidden under the beams of the Sun in recent days. This can feel a lot like Stagnation, especially with Saturn in Pisces having an influence.

Mercury in Gemini is curious, witty, and multi-faceted. Being under the beams may slow it down externally, but Stagnation gives us an opportunity to turn inward. As someone who is an introvert and also has three planets in Gemini (something of an oxymoron), I heartily endorse this introverted version of Gemini.

In the I Ching, Stagnation immediately follows the Peace hexagram. It shows how Peace can rapidly turn to Stagnation. It’s a 63 hexagram journey back to Peace, yet, paradoxically, that can also happen in the blink of an eye. Especially if we follow Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ advice about getting over stagnation:

It is not the failure that holds us back but the reluctance to begin over again that causes us to stagnate. If you’re scared, so what? If you’re afraid something’s going to leap out and bite you, then for heaven’s sake, get it over with already.

Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Speaking of something leaping out and biting you, Mars entered Taurus earlier this week. As I’ve written about before, the children’s book Ferdinand the Bull is one of my favorite books with a Taurus vibe. Ferdinand accidentally sits on a bee and he momentarily overcomes some inertia (see my Reel if you need a refresh).

As we Stagnate for a bit in Gemini, may the wake up call from sitting on a bee help lead us back to Peace

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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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8 Things I Learned From Ashok Bedi, M.D.

8 Things I Learned From Ashok Bedi, M.D.

It’s a good thing I’ve been doing wrist strengthening exercises lately (for pickleball) because I took notes almost constantly as Jungian analyst and psychiatrist Ashok Bedi spoke to our Jungian Studies group at the Jung Institute of Chicago.

The topic was individuation , which he defined as: “The process of becoming oneself, whole, indivisible and differentiated from the collective but worthy of merger with the collective in one’s uniqueness.”

Here are eight things I learned during those four hours:

  1. Individuation is immoral unless you pay it back. Might as well start out with the one that pulls no punches! Focusing on individuation cuts you off from conformity and collectivity. After a while you should emerge and serve the community that chooses you to serve it. This is a summary of Jung’s thoughts in The Symbolic Life.
  2. The 4 types of people and how to handle them (based on the Yoga Sutras):
    • Unhappy people – Show them compassion, but not too much. You rob them of necessary suffering if you are too compassionate. Suffering is needed for individuation.
    • Happy people – Be mildly joyful towards them, but not too much, because you don’t know how they got their success.
    • Wicked people – Avoid them. If they are a family member and you can’t avoid them, put them on a maintenance list, such as only seeing them on holidays.
    • Virtuous/soulful people – Stay with them and follow them to the end of life.
  3. Live your authentic nature in balance. He used the analogy of Lion and Lamb. If you are a lion, be a lion most of the time. But there are times for a lion to be a lamb and vice versa. Sometimes a lamb must speak and act from greater strength and there are times for lions to focus on healing, forgiving, and not holding grudges.
  4. All our transactions are one of the following (I’ll let you guess which one is the most preferable):
    • Both lose.
    • I win, you lose.
    • You win, I lose.
    • Both win.
  5. Is Jungian psychology spirituality or psychology? Per Bedi it is on the edges of science. The “edge of science is always spirit.” As one of our instructors put it, Jungian psychology is “psychological understanding of how spirit works in human beings.”
  6. Absence of proof is not absence of truth.
  7. You are everything. The universe is one. As above, so below. You are god, human, animal, vegetable, and mineral. In small group sessions we had fun discussing which animal, vegetable, and mineral we are. If you must know, for mineral, I’m an amethyst, because that was once a nickname given to me by a friend who thought I was multi-faceted. For animal, I’m a white-throated sparrow, my favorite bird. A flock of them spends a few weeks in our backyard every spring before migrating north. I love their unique and charming whistles and the stipes on their heads. If you look closely at them, and listen carefully, you will see they aren’t “just a sparrow.” For vegetable, I’m a potato: I like the underworld connotations. They are boring to look at, yet multi-purpose (French fries are my favorite of their forms), nourishing, easy to cook, and abundant in tough times.

Which animal, vegetable, and mineral are you?

Did someone say French fries?

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Live in fragments no longer

Live in fragments no longer

Have you felt like you are living in fragments in recent days?

A little bit restless and hard to focus?

Losing track of what day it is?

Are you getting a lot of stimulating ideas and making connections quickly?

Maybe you feel like you have strong extraverted intuition even though you normally don’t?

Have you received any surprise communications?

Perhaps you’ve noticed a dramatic headline or two?

Are you having an easier time communicating your thoughts, although possibly not always with a great amount of tact?

Are you a little bit more open-minded?

Welcome to Mercury in Taurus conjunct Uranus!

This goes exact today and has been in the air, so to speak, all week.

And how appropriate that hexagram 23 of the I Ching, which is associated with this part of Taurus, is called Splitting Apart!

Speaking of fragments, I’ve always loved the E.M. Forster quote, “Live in fragments no longer. Only connect.”

Mercury enters Gemini on Monday so some of this fragmented feeling might continue, because Mercury likes to roll that way.

Jupiter is there now for the next year, however, and will help with the “connect” part. Jupiter brings cohesion and makes things whole. It brings complete and full devotion. Jupiter is like a deeply wise sage, or crone, who encourages you to sort out what is you and what is not you. And helps you discover that the more you embrace your uniqueness the more you are connected to everyone else.

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Contemplation gives you true power

Contemplation gives you true power

I love that Hexagram 20: Contemplation of the I Ching correlates with the beginning of Gemini season.

As I wrote about last year, Mercury’s sign of Gemini has a lot more depth than one might think. It is perfectly suited to help us with the three levels of contemplation that Richard Rudd describes in his commentary on this hexagram in The 64 Ways.

The first level is simply viewing. We have to learn to train our lens on the present and on our current life situation. This helps us to make the connection that “our outer life is built upon the foundation of our inner life.”

The second level “is about viewing oneself in relation to the world. The self awareness really deepens now.” Seeing the effects of our actions has a preventative effect in us. Bad habits start to fall away. As we start to become more integrated in the world it brings a sense of calm. Note that it is becoming more integrated in- and not detached from – the world that brings this calm. “Allow this calm to settle deeply into your soul.” Cultivate it and make space for it to grow.

The third level is when the contemplation ceases of its own accord. “Everything you do or feel becomes an aspect of your contemplation. You use everything that happens in your life. This is the subtle art of contemplation.”

Using everything that happens in your life reminds me of what Jungian analyst Robert A. Johnson said:

Becoming whole is a game in which you get rid of nothing; you cannot do without these diverse energies any more than you can do without one of the physical organs that make up your body. You need to draw upon everything that is available to you.

Living Your Unlived Life by Robert A. Johnson

Isn’t that a wonderful alternative to the all-too prevalent notion that you have broken parts that need fixing?

Jupiter entered Gemini yesterday and will spend a year there. I look forward to having that in the background as we move through all the zodiacal seasons. It will be in Hexagram 20 for several months.

Jupiter, combined with the Mercurial nature of Gemini, brings a positive outlook, eloquent communication skills, ability to see the big picture, and ability to synthesize a lot of ideas. It will also help remind us that, as Rudd says, “Contemplation gives you true power.”

From a personality type perspective, hexagram 64 contains Earth (extraverted sensation) and Wind (extraverted feeling). You can see this combination in our closing quote:

When you learn the art of contemplation you have more influence on the direction of humanity than the President of the United States. You may not see this on the surface, but it’s true. A person living in presence affects the very air around them. They send off radiations of harmony that touches all quadrants of the universe. They are like the gentle wind blowing across the earth.

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Complete and full devotion

Complete and full devotion

The Sun just entered Gemini, which marks something of a milestone for me.

This begins my second year of blogging around the zodiac using the I Ching in a devotional way as a sort of lectionary, with a dash of depth psychology quotes.

A little bit eclectic, which is how my Gemini self likes it.

It was a year ago that I decided to do weekly blog posts like this. I’m excited to continue.

Today the Sun is still in hexagram 8: Holding Together, which I wrote about last time during the final week of Taurus season.

Now it is in line 6 of this hexagram (each hexagram has six lines), which adds additional nuance.

The sixth line is the top of the hexagram. In Hexagram 8 it reminds us:

The head is in the beginning. If the beginning is not right, there is no hope of a right ending. If we have missed the right moment for union and go on hesitating to give complete and full devotion, we shall regret the error when it is too late.

The I Ching by Richard Wilhelm

Gemini is a mutable air sign ruled by Mercury. The upside to its mutability is adaptability. The downside is the hesitation to give complete and full devotion.

The Mercury of Gemini is curious and loves to explore areas others do not. It can get bored quickly and move on. But us Gemini types need to remember that complete and full devotion, a Jupiterian quality, is sometimes warranted.

Even if you don’t have Gemini planets in your natal chart, the area of life Gemini represents for you is now lit up by the Sun and other planets will be zipping through in the coming weeks.

Here are a few things to ponder during Gemini season in light of Hexagram 8, line 6:

Reflect on a recent experience where you hesitated to fully commit or devote yourself. How did this hesitation impact the outcome?

Explore a time when your curiosity led you to explore new territories or ideas. How did this curiosity manifest, and what did you learn from the experience?

Consider the areas of your life currently illuminated by the Sun’s transit through Gemini. How can you harness the adaptability of this mutable air sign to navigate any changes or challenges you may encounter?

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Leaders as cultural therapists

Leaders as cultural therapists

For insights on leadership, I often turn to the ancient Chinese book Tao Te Ching.

In measuring out rewards, wise rulers act like mother birds. While seeing into every corner, they are unobtrusive. While protecting the people, they do not control them. They are motherly and fatherly, but not domineering. They persuade with words, not weapons. This is their crowning virtue.

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

What passes for leadership these days tends to not resemble this more introverted, intuitive, and feeling approach at all.

As John Beebe has said, our culture is imbalanced, with a heavy emphasis on extraverted thinking, extraverted sensation, and extraverted intuition.

This brings us to our hexagram host for this final week of Taurus: Hexagram 8: Holding Together.

The unity described in this hexagram, per Wilhelm’s translation, “calls for a central figure around whom other persons may unite…It requires greatness of spirit, consistency, and strength.”

Jennifer Leigh Selig’s book about Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., written from a depth psychology perspective, emphasizes how leaders should engage in “cultural therapy”:

I also hope that others will take up this notion of “cultural therapy,” of looking at our leaders and activists as cultural therapists, and will consider ways they can work with more psychological effectiveness and effectiveness toward cultural healing, transformation, and integration. The keys to the kingdom of psychological transformation needn’t lie only in the inner chamber of the therapy room; they have the power to unlock groups, cultures, even nations, and unleash healing en masse.

Integration by Jennifer Leigh Selig

Sagely Jupiter in Taurus will experience a rebirth moment this week as it conjoins the Sun and begins a new one-year cycle. This comes in the wake of Jupiter’s recent conjunction with Uranus

Therefore this “power to unlock” is there for all of us to tune into.

With Jupiter in Taurus experiencing a rebirth moment, reflect on a personal or professional goal where you can embody the qualities of “greatness of spirit, consistency, and strength” described in Hexagram 8: Holding Together.

How might you become a central figure around whom others can unite, fostering unity and resilience in pursuit of shared objectives?

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