Good morning Thursday!
I got a note recently asking why I consider Psyche to be about an injury of some kind; in particular, injured faith. In part, I took a cue from the myth, but the delineations of planets can take you a long way from a few lines or an interesting story from Greek mythology. The thing about planetary delineations is that they have a life of their own. They are informed not just by many sources, but also by the archetype itself, which starts to come through directly.
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For astrologers, the main way they come through is as direct communication in the charts and in the lives of the clients we work for. I view all kinds of work as the journey to make contact with one’s soul.
Psyche is Greek for soul. When the soul is conscious, one of the first things it often notices is what a struggle life is for so many people, including for ourselves. Even the “best” lives on this planet come with heartache, a measure of crisis, uncertainty, and longing that feels like the soul yearning for connection to something ineffable. In a sense, to be aware of one’s soul is to also be aware of what it means to be human, initially in a separated state.
For example, if one wakes up to one’s senses and the sensibilities of the heart, it’s impossible to miss how much suffering there is in the world. That is incentive to stay asleep; to deny soul consciousness. If we affirm inner awareness, we end up feeling; and when we feel, one of the first things we feel is pain. Why else would people need to go numb? Certainly not to avoid pleasure.
I’ve proposed before that Psyche is the sense of a wound that cannot be healed. If it’s an injury, it’s in the form of a belief that one is in some condition that cannot be rectified; that one’s issues will always be there; that someone is so marked or damaged by childhood conditions that there is no going back. These things are beliefs; not the truth, but beliefs are extremely powerful on this plane of reality.
You could say that we see what we believe.
One of the most damaging wounds involves desire and/or volition: a Mars wound. Desire, though it is encouraged for the sake of marketing, is often followed by guilt; or by judgment. So, too, is fulfillment. And then there is the most common Mars wound, that of disappointment; of desire dared, but unfulfilled. Or, we get what we want, but somehow it hurts us, or we decide we don’t really want it.
Our culture does a lot of values teaching in the form of advertising. Desire to be “innocent” must be restricted to what you can put on your Visa card. This is literally true — whatever you can acquire by use of a credit card is presumed moral and legal. Nearly everything else is questionable. That includes things that you pay cash for, and things that are free, such as relating to other human beings in the way that you wish.
Trines open up the discussion, or the flow of energy. Mars trine Psyche opens the discussion of injured desire, and of our struggle with the whole experience of wanting. This is a conversation that needs to happen: we need to create a safe space to state our wants and needs, and to consider what is really good for us. A safe space means a space where we admit that guilt is not the correct response to desire, and where we come up with other responses. A safe space means someplace where others look us in the face and say yes. A safe space means being able to live and breathe on the planet and not feel sick or like less of a person for merely existing.
You may feel there is no safe space to state what you really need. You may not even be able to tell your partner; you may not be able to admit it to yourself. The first steps in this discussion involve one, coming out to yourself and two, creating a space where you affirm the needs and wants of others, without judgment.
Or, maybe this: Dare to want what you want, despite having been hurt by it in the past.
Aspects for Thursday, 24 April 2008 – courtesy of Serennu
Mars (21+ Cancer) trine Psyche (21+ Scorpio Rx)
Mercury (13+ Taurus) opposite Hidalgo (13+ Scorpio Rx)
Venus (21+ Aries) square Jupiter (21+ Capricorn)
Eros (18+ Taurus) semisquare Kronos (3+ Cancer)
Eros (18+ Taurus) quincunx Atlantis (18+ Libra Rx)
Venus (22+ Aries) conjunct 1992 QB1 (22+ Aries)
Sun (4+ Taurus) septile Hades (26+ Gemini)
Mercury (14+ Taurus) quincunx Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Mars (22+ Cancer) opposite Jupiter (22+ Capricorn)
Apollo (21+ Cancer) trine Uranus (21+ Pisces)
Sun (4+ Taurus) sesquiquadrate Logos (19+ Virgo Rx)
Mercury (14+ Taurus) quincunx Ixion (14+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mercury (14+ Taurus) square Nessus (14+ Aquarius)
Mercury (14+ Taurus) sesquiquadrate Juno (29+ Sagittarius Rx)
Eros (18+ Taurus) opposite Pandora (18+ Scorpio Rx)
Atlantis (18+ Libra Rx) septile Pholus (9+ Sagittarius Rx)
Sun (5+ Taurus) quincunx Hylonome (5+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mercury (15 Taurus) semisquare Aries Point (0 Aries)
Today’s Oracle takes us back to the Sept. 23, 2005 Libra birthday report, short edition.
There can be no doubt that you’re looking ahead at a year of highly unusual changes. At such times many people are inclined to fear; change is one of those things that human beings think they don’t do well but in fact do very well. The presence of Jupiter in your birth sign at the time of your solar return is an indicator of protection and of better things to come — and bigger. It’s just that you may need to face quite a bit of mystery on the way to getting there. But it’s the kind of mystery that will feed your imagination and longing to express the deeper aspects of yourself.