Dear Friend and Reader,
Courage and chaos: what do these things have in common? I have no idea, except the idea that within the chaos of our lives, we experience, at some point, the courage to navigate in a direction of our choice. ThisВ can be linked to the processes of learning and individuation, which is my favorite fancy word for “learning who you really are.”
To start with, Eric has written an incredible amount about Eris — the planet that forced everyone to reconsider the structure of our solar system. Imagine that: the Greek goddess of discord shows up and everyone wants to know who is who, which one is better and who gets to stay in the textbooks. It’s almost an exact parallel to the Greek myth starring Eris: the Trojan War. To sum it up, some immortals and mortals were getting married and having a big wedding feast. Everyone was invited except Eris.
Eris is the deity of discord, arguments, strife, competition. Who would want someone like that at their wedding? But she showed up anyways and in revenge for being shafted, she played a trick upon the three most powerful goddesses there. Preying upon their vanity, she rolled a golden apple into the crowd upon which was inscribed “to the fairest.” It did not end well for anyone at the wedding after that. No one wanted to decide who was the fairest and incite the wrath of the other two.
Eric writes of Eris: “Identity, in our own times, is clearly slipping and sliding…Many people wonder what to say when someone asks them, ‘What do you do?’ Often any particular response seems a lie. You might give the response that is most appropriate to the situation, or the most rebellious. You might be embarrassed to say you work at Quickie Mart, but not ready to say you’re a musician. Many people have several business cards, and several resumes, ready to use as appropriate. The correct answer to the question is often the correct answer for the situation. Shifting context is a dominant factor in the postmodern world, and it affects how we see and experience ourselves, as well as how we present ourselves to others.”
Right now we are chest deep in chaos, in a constant state of redefinition. On one hand, it is a liberating sprint into the boundless wilderness. On the other hand, it is a horrifying state of being lost, separated from the self and trying to get back there. It’s a complex paradigm and one, I would argue, that represents many of our current fears. This, I would suggest, is where Mars comes in.
In a place where you can be whoever you want to be, but must challenge the past and all that it forces you to represent, a little courage can go a long way. There are many things that are worth keeping about yourself and many things worth keeping about the world we inhabit. There is an awful lot of gravel to sift through before we find all the garnets (as my therapist would put it), but it’s something we must do in order to enrich ourselves.
Mars in this respect is the energy of the spiritual warrior. Courage in the face of opposition is suggested by this aspect, as well as the determination to be who you are, even if you don’t get invited to the wedding so to speak.
This trine is an aspect which provides us with the picture of both things: the courage and the chaos of definition. We are in a situation where we get to build ourselves up to be whatever it is we want, but like the little acorn, we have to push up through some considerable rock to get there.
Merry Met,
Genevieve
What do you do? How I loathe that question. I know the questioner wants to know where I get my money. I always want to do the Cheech and Chong what I did on my summer vacation thing. Today, I got up, scratched my butt, and farted, etc etc.
Do I really have to be one thing? Do you think I need to find a label for myself? Would Experiencer work?
So like with the swirl of confusion I am being sold in the media, what I would call chaos, I focus on my own infrastructure of day to day living. And my immediate sensations take precedence. Very cool things happening in the microcosm.