ANNOUNCEMENTS
Books are open!
Eclipse season is upon us! Each eclipse signals a “fulcrum” that ushers in a totally new cycle that often finds you bidding adieu to an old way of being and birthing into a YOU you’ve never experienced before.
With the lunar nodes having shifted over the summer into Aries / Libra (in the tropical system) and about to enter Pisces / Virgo (in the sidereal zodiac), now is a great time to get a handle on the Heroic Journey that this sign change means for you with my offering The Story You Tell: Your Hero’s Journey through the Eclipses — especially for those of you who have key placements in Aries, Libra, Cancer, and Capricorn as well as the Taurus, Scorpio, Leo, and Aquarius placements wrapping out the Scorpio/Taurus nodal transit.
Otherwise, general books are open.
Finish out this final quarter of 2023 strong — whether that’s KonMari-ing your time with The Optimizer, getting an in-depth tour of your cosmic toy / tool chest aka your Natal Chart, or setting your Annual agenda.
THE DISPATCH
All the World’s a Stage
Who Am I? I Am That.
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts…
—Jacques in William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”, Act II Scene VII
AUTHENTICITY is a word that a lot of us use when discussing the lives, identities, and actions we want to craft in this incarnation — especially in reaction to the phenomena of living life on display for social media. The search for authentic identity compels many of us to seek out clarity on the question “Who am I?” via personality type tests, astrology, therapy, spiritual practice, etc. Even brands spend billions of dollars on strategists and agencies to ensure that they’re being perceived as authentic.
The Online Entymology Dictionary species that the origins of the word “authentic” comes from the Greek “authentikos ‘original, genuine, principal,’ from authentes ‘one acting on one's own authority,’ from autos ‘self’ (see auto-) + hentes ‘doer, being’ (from PIE root *sene- (2) ‘to accomplish, achieve’). Here we grasp that this all has to do with agency — and being the author of an action that is true — or to be the author of one’s actions.
Draw a direct line between this and the mantra Tat Tvam Asi. Often translated from Sanskrit as “I am that”, it’s a mantra that dissolves the boundary between the Atman / self as a discrete experience of time, memory, feeling in the vast field of time space and Brahman / Self as the infinite identity.
As many of you know, I’ve been deep diving back into my studies of Tantra and Kabbalah. Why? Tantra and Kabbalah both seek to align the seeker with bliss and union with the Divine and Ultimate Truth through the gateway of realizing one’s desires as an expression of Universal Consciousness. In some schools of Tantra, the entire universe is the womb of the Divine Mother. We are both her and her creations creating our own mini-universes and all of creation exists to sustain and support us. In Kabbalah, our human lives are pathways through which the Divine expresses itself so manifesting our desires are (and accepting that our desires that do not manifest are not) aligned with the Divine Consciousness revealing itself to itself.
There’s Faking It and There’s Making It.
So, how does the self/Self manifest in physical reality authentically?
Let’s Get Naked
The first step is so aptly framed by Sadhguru — you have to create space between your self/Self and your life. He uses an analogy (which seems to originate from one of the Upanishads) of embodied life as an outfit that the self/Self wears.
Most people wear their lives like a one of those shapewear body suits — which is to say so tightly that, at some point, there isn’t a differentiation between the wearer and the garment. So the garment starts to define the wearer and what happens to the garment seems to happen to the wearer. For those of us who have spent a long day or evening in shapewear, there’s a point at which the benefits of having all our flabby bits plastered into an acceptable silhoette start waning in the face of bodily functions like breathing, eating, and going to the loo. We can’t wait to get out of the thing so that ease and movement can be restored.
Apply this to the context of your own life. Are you wearing the context, confines, expectations, projections of the timeline which your Consciousness is currently traveling along so tightly that you conflate “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” with who you are? Being pulled back and forth between elation or despondency at the mercy of anxiety, or clinging on to the mediocre middle in silent desperation because you can’t handle the unpredictable emotional turbulence of bouncing between the highs and lows but wanting so to FEEL and CONNECT.
What happens when you create space between you and your life? What happens if you change out of the shapewear into something that actually fits comfortably and accentuates you the way you are rather than conforming to a projection being thrown at you by society, family, friends, lovers, etc.? You might actually take pleasure in the wearing and discover the new and wonderful ways your body can move and take in the world … and then you really start to experience the beauty of your authenticity and power.
However, the intermediary step between the shapewear body suit and the comfortable outfit is getting naked — both spirituality and emotionally but also physically. Feeling empowered while naked — even whilst alone — can be a challenge.
One of the pillars of modern consumerism is dissatisfaction with one’s appearance — you can never be too perfect — because, if you loved your appearance as it is, how ever would they convince you that you need xyz to be more desirable, lovable, acceptable? So many of us throw ourselves into so-called self care routines that are thinly veiled self-loathing regimens to escape lives that only reward us by leaning into external projections. So we attempt to erase or prevent wrinkles, lumps, bumps, discoloration, punish ourselves with increasingly stressful workouts, and turn food into an enemy that has to be both controlled and guarded against.
The same is true spiritually and emotionally … Toxic positivity has so many emotionally denying and suppressing natural negative responses to challenging stimuli. If you feel an ounce of pain, stress, sadness, anger, anxiety, you’re “lowering your vibe, man” — you’re putting out a vibration that attracts more triggering stimuli. So, so many people are being force fed manifesting bullshit of staying “high vibe” that leaves no room for spiritual and emotional authenticity and fluidity.
So, how do we get comfortable getting naked? By slowing down. (Thanks, Universe, for giving us planetary retrogrades to do this!) I’m not just talking “mindfulness” but taking the time to LISTEN. The Universe and your own inner Wisdom are perpetually singing the song of your soul to you — but the trick is cutting through the noise.
Listen to yourself when you’re speaking — both to yourself and to others. Why is it absolutely necessary to connect your internal world to the external one? Listen to how you react to either getting the response you hoped for or being denied. When you’re alone and your internal monologue is going, what is it you’re trying to tell yourself? What is it you want from yourself?
Listen to your body — really listen to it and don’t act like it’s an inconvenience or subject to your will. You, my friend, are carrying around trillions of cells — not all of which are or can be put under conscious control because only 1/10 of them are human. Whether you like it or not, the denizens of your body have a say in how you interact with the world. Make friends with your body — not just to whip it into shape, make it socially and romantically attractive, etc. but to love it for the wondrous gift of billions of years of evolution of stardust and karma. Learn how to accept it and have compassion for it the way you would a dear friend who you choose to have in your life. If that doesn’t get you there, then treat it like you would a beloved pet (I mean, your microbiome pretty much needs to be treated like a pampered pet) — investing in its well being without expecting a return.
Listen to your intuition and Nature. Rationality and materialism will often respond with “but you need evidence” to a hunch or “it’s all in your head”. Well, FUCK YEAH. Even quantum physics tells us that the whole material universe is basically in our head. But coupling your intuition with a connection to the natural world or the symbolism of the context of your mundane life, connects you to deeper wellsprings of wisdom that enable you to be the dreamer and the dream.
Now Get Dressed
Once we’re able to get naked, next it’s time to get dressed … and this is where we can dust off that natal chart and see what you’ve got in the closet.
We start with two of the cardinal points:
The Ascendant (or Lagna in jyotish) marks the gateway through which our destiny finds us since it represents the integration of soul/breath and body (aka where heaven literally meets earth aka our “Conscious Focus” / confirmation bias).
Meanwhile, the Midheaven represents how we choose to act and how we want to be perceived since it is tied into our legacy — the actions we take that reverberate through time beyond our mortal existence.
And a third point: The Arudha Lagna (“AL”)— an ascendant used in jyotish to delineate how a person is perceived by the external world. (Because of this, don’t “@” me that your AL doesn’t resonate. By definition, you cannot be someone else perceiving you. It’s best to speak to people in your life to see if this is their perception of you.) It is thought of as describing how your “Conscious Focus” manifests in the perceived and lived circumstances of your life.
[Technical Note: You calculate your AL by counting how many houses away the tradition ruler of your chart (note: some schools of jyotish will assign Rahu/the North Node as a co-lord for Virgo and Aquarius, Ketu/the South Node as co-lord of Scorpio and Pisces, and the Moon as a co-lord for Taurus) is from the first house and then count that many houses away from that planet — and the house / sign / degree (which will be the same of the cusp of your Ascendant) is your AL. I do NOT use the exceptions. Everyone’s mileage will vary.]
NOW, we’re cooking with fire. The AL (or ALs if you have two co-lords) is that comfortable piece of clothing. Why? Because it’s the confluence of what you are authentically seeking in this life with how the world is wired to perceive you. Once you start to understand it, it enables you to start to literally play (aka manifest) with the fabric of life. (BONUS SECRET: Each house of your chart has an arudha — which describes how that part of your life actually shows up in reality … and the same technique goes.)
How? By studying the strengths, weaknesses, pitfalls, opportunities of the sign and nakshatra (constellation) of the AL — bonus points with the nakshatras because you can actually learn to emulate the devatas (gods associated and who rule the nakshatras) and cull from the myths associated what outcomes you’d like to see in your life. By cultivating the strengths and opportunities of the sign and nakshatra — regardless of whether or not you initially “connect” to them, you begin plugging into a point in the matrix that’s primed to manifest the outcomes you want. Conversely, by being aware of and minimizing the weaknesses and pitfalls, you start to navigate more gracefully those reactions beyond your control that used to lead to potentially negative / body suit like outcomes.
This isn’t being fake. This is play. This is putting on a garment and trying it on to see if you can be comfortable in it and what it teaches you about the freedoms and limitations you are navigating in this lifetime on your own terms.
If you’d like to learn more about your Arudha Lagna and how to use it to manifest both a life, career, and relationships in which you are able to embrace and embody your power as a co-creator of your life, book a Natal Analysis Using Jyotish Techniques.
And Why Is This Relevant Right Now?
Tomorrow brings us a “dramatic” eclipse at 21° Libra (exactly on my ascendant — yes, I’m trying not to sweat it) and October 28th has the final eclipse of the Taurus/Scorpio series at 5° Taurus. Enough of my colleagues are offering detailed insights into all of the astrological influences going into this eclipse pot (check out Austal Taur’s post Fall Eclipse Season 2023: The Broken Scales for a wonderful primer) that I’m not going to turn this into a novel going into every little bit.
A little technical speak: Both of these eclipses are ruled by a Venus who is none to comfortable in Virgo — especially since she doesn’t get to be in the sweet spot of Virgo where she has some dignity. But it’s interesting that tomorrow’s eclipse is lorded over by a Venus in Mercury’s bounds and the Taurus eclipse she’s in Jupiter’s.
BUT, if you’re an astrology nerd, the really juicy bit to chew on is that the Sun is the planet that “freezes” Venus while the Moon is the planet that gets “frozen” by Venus. Throw in the fact that Mercury also gets eclipsed in the process — and it gets frozen by the South Node (which is causing tomorrow’s eclipse) — and Jupiter is the planet that immobilizes the Sun — it’s all fun and games.
What does this mean in English? Venus as the lord of the eclipse dictates whether or not the eclipse has the power to deliver on the transformations it is expected to.
Solar eclipses bring things in the house and sign they’re in (and rope in the parts of your life ruled by Cancer and Leo) to a sudden ending to make way for a new beginning. They tend to strip you of something that you’ve been wearing for too long in that part of your life so you can put on a new outfit! Solar Eclipses can literally denude you — with all of the connations connected — like the dream of showing up to an important presentation naked or in your underwear. If you’re comfortable being naked, then yahoo! Finally, you can let all your bits breathe … If you aren’t, then pause and listen before you start grabbing around for fig leaves.
Given that the Libra eclipse involves Ketu / the South Node, there is something that needs to be released and its spiritual significance understood. The thing with Ketu is that it’s our intuition, our deep seated knowing, our self that is rather tethered to the energetic matrix that underpins manifest reality. However, Venus isn’t ask weak as you think she is — she’s in mutual exchange with Mercury (they’re in each other’s signs) but this is the thing: Venus “freezing” the moon might be a good thing — the mind which can have programmed attachments to the past might get in the way of shedding that garment — like someone who just can’t bring themselves to throw out a worn, moth eaten sweater that has decades of memories attached to it despite the fact that it lets in more cold than it protects you from anymore. Venus, wanting connection, wanting something beautiful and practical pushes through the changes.
The little trick is that Mercury freezing the South Node? Be careful of over intellectualizing or analyzing or of having to take in everyone’s input to the point that you can’t hear your intuition.
You are getting to play a new part! One in which you can trust yourself in navigating the commitments, relationships, and your understanding and execution of justice.
As for the Taurus Eclipse? I’ll leave that for next post … Let’s just say that maybe your ship has come into port so that, as Johnny Cash so aptly put it, “Success is having to worry about every damn thing in the world except money.” (Thanks to me 10 years ago for putting this on my timeline to remind me today.)
Are you ready to be successful you?
THE TAKEAWAY
How can you start making more space between your “life” and your “self/Self” so that you can more actively and joyfully co-create the timeline you’re on? What is it you need to let go of (especially in terms of partnerships, commitments, ways of perceiving the economy of emotions) so that you can try something that frees you up? What identity have you been wanting to embrace but have been hesitant to prepare for because you don’t want to be disappointed?
Let’s Play
Schedule a session and we can discuss how your chart is a “play chest” waiting for you discover the fun and games it can give you!