By Len Wallick
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”
-John Muir
The luminaries and personal planets will move in a common energy for the remainder of this week and into next. It is a tableau symbolic of the fabric of life that weaves us all together. It also represents an attachment to life itself. The question is whether we are to be connected together in action or bound separately by fear.
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The Moon is in Virgo today, a sign ruled by Mercury. Tomorrow, it will continue to Libra, and the rulership of Venus. By the end of this week it will be in Scorpio, with its Martian disposition. Along the way Luna will oppose all three of those ruling planets and finally the Sun. By the time the luminaries exact their opposition in the form of the Full Moon that will start next week, all of the personal planets and the Sun will be together in Taurus, the other sign of Venusian rulership.
The common denominator is Taurus, the symbol of animate matter and material life. First the Sun moved there. Then, the current lunation (period of time between New Moons) began there. Now the fixed earth sign is coming into its own with the three planets most closely associated with our daily lives: Mars, Venus and Mercury. In return, our daily lives become about the immediate potential and peril of being here, moment-to-moment, in this body.
There is no reason why conscious life in a physical body should be the sole form of sentience. However, it is the only state of a human’s being that we can access directly through our physical senses. Therefore for many, being becomes equivalent to having. Acquisition, consumption and accumulation take over as the purpose and meaning. Granted, the tastes and sounds, the sights and sensations of our time on Earth are not to be denied. Those experiences put life in our living. Also not to be denied, however, is the fundamental fact of biology that the body through which we have those experiences does not function indefinitely.
Life therefore becomes a matter for us to decide. This, of course, assumes an awareness of being alive and conscious of a choice. Granting that, the decision is whether to be means to have or to do. The astrology has some clues for us.
If, as the Moon is doing now, we separate ourselves, we move into polarity to the fundamentals of life in the framework of earthly matter. We choose having as the illuminating purpose of being. But even as the realities of biology and is consequences accrue, all material possessions become only cold reflections of life’s light. A determination to have and hold makes loss inevitable and is the root of fear.
If, on the other hand we take inspiration from what the Sun and personal planets are now doing, we make a sounder investment of our ephemeral material being. This is because the Sun, Mars, Venus and Mercury will be only passing through Taurus, albeit together, in a serendipitous representation of action.
If, emulating those planets, we bring the the inner light of our consciousness, our desire, our attractions and our cognitive powers to bear while we have the chance, being becomes a precious opportunity to do. Any potential of loss is eliminated because actions, once accomplished, cannot be undone. Thus the source of fear is banished and we can live as free spirits without burden. We can be occupied in the joyful work of making rather than taking.
The problem is that goes against our conditioning. The necessity to feed and protect our bodies was long ago expanded and extrapolated to become an imperative towards acquisition as a cause in itself. We have been convinced that having more confers safety. Then of course, for most of our cultural history, the majority of us have been put to work with no other objective than to increase the material holdings of the few. In a manner truly human we have reinforced that conditioning on ourselves and others by invoking fear of losing what cannot be held in the first place — life.
By some grace and good fortune, it is also our potential as humans to overcome our attachments and conditioning. We can do this because we have the capacity to be conscious and aware. We can step back and see from a different perspective without having to leave the confines of our body. One of the tools available for this purpose is astrology, whereby we hitch ourselves to the motions of the Sun, Moon and planets with the full knowledge that their symbolic status reflects our own.
The most basic truth of astrology, both literal and symbolic in its meaning, is that those lights in the sky keep on moving. Nothing we can see stands still up there in the sky. So it is with life on our planet. All of us pass through. None of us stay to have and none of us hold on to what we had when we leave. To be invested in having and holding is to have a life of fear and loss. To be committed to being and doing reveals life’s purpose at its best.
Offered In Service
ooh gwind — interesting about the idea of unconsciously protecting/avoiding the heart. i just always assumed hugging to the left had something to do with being right-handed — that if that’s the more dominant arm, it’s more likely to take the upper position.
i’ll have to see if that pattern varies for me, and if so, with whom. i actually think it might (and i can envision a recent example, i think), but it’s a little hard for me to recall with any certainty. now the trick is to observe it after the hug commences, so as not to influence the outcome. 🙂
and yes, those full-body hugs you mention are super sweet. i find it especially gratifying the rare occasion it happens with a relative stranger i’ve just shared an experience with. the drummer from one of my all-time favorite bands (after a sparsely-attended gig with his ‘new’ band that i’d danced all through) is a favorite example. it can be so shocking to find someone actually open to that much literal physical connection, even after sharing connection on another level.
gwind – how interesting! I never noticed “sides” for hugging! I too, always hug to the right….and I’m a notorious hugger. Never had a negative response. And you’re right – it’s like placing your heart right over the huggee’s – which is the intent of the hug, yes?
how cool.
Len – see what you’ve created? It’s the Hug Thread.
😉
Mystes…Amanada et all! I love your insight! Ah summer camp has also burned images of closeness in my head…..it felt so goooood to be *included*….amazing what a 13 yr old boy can do for a 15 yr old girl. We just let ourselves completely be affectionate with each other……as if we were long lost siblings finally reunited.
I am going to be more proactive.
This morning at the cafe I placed my hand on my coffee buddy’s leg…..I felt like my hand was frozen-it had turned to stone! But, it’s a start……shaky but I think it will get smoother 🙂
I wish I could hug you ALL.
xoxoxox
zoe
Len, thanks for elaborating on your thoughts. The way you describe your contribution to PW and my experiences of reading your work feels right in tune with that explanation. I can appreciate the thought of “consequence of action” and that in itself is a perfect meditative point for the day!
Bkoehler, I think you read my mind/questioning, about timing and if it had various meanings. Thanks for pointing out utilizing Taurus as the Builder. Those subtle bits of knowledge may be obvious to some, but to others it helps to have a little extra push to help understand.
Thank you both for helping me gain clarity.
On the subject for hugs, when I was young, I was always bumping into people when I went to hug them. I hugged to my right and most people did the opposite. Through years I slowly trained myself to hug going left to avoid awkwardness, especially with new acquaintances.
Year later, in a conversation with another body worker, it came out that maybe people are protecting their hearts on some level. They hug to the left, rather than placing their hearts near one another. Many times we start hugging on the left, then move to a ‘closer ‘ postion, shifting sides.
I like the feel of full body hugs, the ones where people feel safe enough to plant their hips over their feet; their pelvis is in the hug, as well as their hearts.
i was telling someone about all the hugs i’d gotten from students at the end of this semester, some really good ones too, and made the comment that people need more hugs reminding me of this (oldie but goodie) campaign;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4
warm mama bear hugs to All!
Yes ma’am, Amanda, I’m sure you are…
Here’s another contact moment: when I roll down my car window to give fitty cent or a protein bar to homeless people, I *always* take a moment to hold their hand in mine –steadying it– and place the (tiny) gift in their palms – and smile. There’s a touch/gaze thing that happens that is *so* right here. It’s their gift back.
mystes & zk —
sometimes there’s a 20-something guy in town who stands in a main square here with a “free hugs” sign. it’s really sweet. and yes, i’ve taken him up on the offer, i figured i was giving as much as i was receiving…
“A determination to have and hold makes loss inevitable and is the root of fear.”
“…If,… we bring the the inner light of our consciousness, our desire, our attractions and our cognitive powers to bear while we have the chance, being becomes a precious opportunity to do. Any potential of loss is eliminated because actions, once accomplished, cannot be undone.
“…. We can be occupied in the joyful work of making rather than taking.
“…The necessity to feed and protect our bodies was long ago expanded and extrapolated to become an imperative towards acquisition as a cause in itself. We have been convinced that having more confers safety. Then of course, for most of our cultural history, the majority of us have been put to work with no other objective than to increase the material holdings of the few. In a manner truly human we have reinforced that conditioning on ourselves and others by invoking fear of losing what cannot be held in the first place — life.
“To be invested in having and holding is to have a life of fear and loss. To be committed to being and doing reveals life’s purpose at its best.”
Len, your thought and expression are sublime. Your “consideration” of the stars has given form and channel to an ability of yours to express clearly and to my ear and mind beautifully while at the same time opening channels for knowing and understanding what I already know and understand but have not had words for. And not only myself, as the responses to this post show. The lights keep coming on in us as you and Eric and the other PW writers pour out with skill and talent the riches of your thoughts and understanding.
I sincerely and humbly ask you not to thank me for this comment nor to diminish my thoutghs of your briliance tonight, ok? Thanks. Hope you can feel the virtual hug and hand hold.
zk, heed Amanda’s first response, it is full of possibilities. I do know that younger people tend to make more contact than fifterians, and that casual touch between young & otherwise is rare.
But you can’t beat yourself up about the “wanna, wanna, wanna” noise coming from the creature. Touch is the ‘first sense to ignite, the last to flame out’ in the history of any given body. Developmentally, touch helps the process of innervation from the trunk nerves to the skin, and is necessary to maintain coordination, balance, circulation at the kinaesthetic level. You cannot be touched with touching, so it is the most non-dual of the senses, the most –as the philosopher Merleau-Ponty put it– chiasmatic. As such, touching is also the keynote sense, the one that the others organize themselves around and imperfectly emulate.
So *of course* you want. And that’s fine. Go get/give. Go stand in a subway at 5 p.m. or call a friend and ask for a neckrub or get yourself a pedicure or volunteer at a pet shelter and get wiggled. Reach over when you’re checking out a book and touch the librarian’s hands “thanks.”
I swear to goddess I’m going to make a button that says: Hug me, I’m a Touchbuddy; and set up a definition website. There’s already the Love Tribe out of Portland, so maybe that’s just duplicating. Yay.
And another thanks to Mystes. A nod and a wink may be all the same to a blind horse, but loving touch is nourishment every bit as much as food is.
be, thank you so much for your frosting on Len’s cake. Or carpet on his stairs. Or um, blossoms on his vines. xo
Mystes- I love your comments today…….so true.
The firm grasp of someone you know well or the light pat you share with a stranger….its all so very nutritious!!! I often restrain myself from grabbing someones hand…caressing their face……(will they get the wrong idea!? Will they know that I love them in just this single moment??)
In the physical touch droughts…..I hoard the highlights in my head. Hands grasping mine with a twinkle in the eye can say and do so much.
The yearning for it can be bothersome though……and there is this rant in the head “try not to yearn so hard, it’s a bottomless pit!”.
So anyway, its the yearning for that is troubling sometimes.
It’s a little easier to detach ourselves from the material stuff we cling to……but to detach from desire and want and connection is another story!
Oh Len, thank you so much for your writing and for making a *difference* in my life.
I wish I could word it more lyrically….writing is tedious for those of us who have a stressful time expressing our thoughts authentically! 🙂
be,
Thank you. Cannot thank you enough. It is so very nice to have someone who does read between my lines to realize that i put a great deal of work representing most of the astrology implicitly, given the constraints of space and style that force me to limit what i can address explicitly. Glad you picked up on the reference to the Vesta-Pallas conjunction. That’s at least as huge as the second Mercury-Venus conjunction in the period of one week. By picking up and expanding on what is worked into the furrows, commenters like yourself allow the Daily Astrology to sprout and bloom to its fullest potential.
You’re just so darn good at this Len. While reading between your lines this captured my attention. “If on the other hand we take inspiration from what the Sun and personal planets are now doing, we make a SOUNDER INVESTMENT of our ephemeral material being.”
This led to checking how close Vesta (investment) and Pallas (planning) would be in their conjunction on the day of the Full Scorpio Moon. As it works out, they will both be at 15+ Aquarius and you should read what Dane Rudhyer says about the Sabian Symbol of A BIG BUSINESSMAN AT HIS DESK (KEYNOTE: The ability to organize the many aspects of an enterprise involving a large group of human beings) Here’s a bit of what he says: “ORGANATION should be the Keyword, rather than mere ‘organization’; for humanity now can and should realize that it is indeed an ‘organism.”
So to Gwind, I think maybe NOW “differs from any other time insofar as mindful living” because Taurus is the Builder. It is a tangible kind of energy and things that feel good and taste good are Taurean. mystes suggestion of ‘touch and release’ has already related to Amanda and aword and construction is underway.
As Venus (loving) and Mercury (communicating) enter Taurus shortly before the full moon in Scorpio, they will conjunct and both (as one) will also sextile Neptune. The Sabian Symbol for Neptune’s degree is IN A CROWED MARKETPLACE FARMERS AND MIDDLEMEN DISPLAY A GREAT VARIETY OF PRODUCTS. (Keynote: The process of commingling and interchange which at all levels demonstrates the health of a community.) Dane Rudhyer: “In a practical [so Taurus!] sense, the symbol, whenever it is found, emphasizes that the time has come to take full advantage of the social opportunities to bargain and to trade.” Len’s own Neptunian writing (Mercury) alludes to that planet’s meaning of leaving one level and moving to the next. “None of us stay to have and none of us hold on to what we had when we leave.” And here is the good news. . “To be committed to being and doing (so Vesta Len!) reveals life’s purpose at its best.”
I’m getting a vision through astrology of utilizing these Taurean moments to touch and build and feed and speak and love and enjoy each other rather than to acquire more in attempting to fear less. Take advantage of the builder Taurus and construct ties that endure. Have a block party and co-mingle with your neighbors; build relationships and trust; feel good and share. By the time the Moon is in Scorpio we will be able to sense the power of love and know the transforming wealth of sharing. We are all one organism.
be
swak!
,-X
aword —
“Perhaps my Taurus Syndrome can now shift into being something more along the lines of my Taurus Sensations or Taurus Syncronicity or Taurean Blessed Harmony”
yes! sounds perfect to this little bull. 🙂 go get yourself hugged & breathe yourself into it. you deserve it. no one available to hug you? i prescribe baring whatever skin you can to the breeze (even just your shins if that’s all the weather will allow) and giving yourself a little fingertip-to-skin exploration. what does your skin feel? what do your fingertips feel?
with love…
“it occurs to me that Earthlings need touchbuddies. People who will hug you hello, sit with you fingers entwined during casual conversations, sling an arm around your shoulder during a trip to the grocery store. Touch and release. Touch and release.
There have been all kinds of studies about casual social touching improving the sense of well-being; and it is clear that this culture has wound itself around the idea that touch is toxic, fearsome, “sacred”, expensive and rare.”
YES!!!! exactly, Mystes. when i think of the times/places when i have felt not only most loved, but most at home in a group and in my own skin, it has been in situations where there was a lot of casual touch, regardless of gender. and when i say “casual” i still mean *loving*and connected but not part of an officially “special” relationship, as you imply.
a week of summer camp for four years as a teen: LOTS of hugs and hand-holding and walking with an arm around each other done by all genders with each other, regardless of the presence of a “special” relationship or not (and even between adults and teens — this was just before the tyranny of “inappropriate touch” litigation instigated a ‘just a hand on the shoulder’ policy there).
college: again, more hugs and random cuddles; an especially lovely memory of my two best female friends piled on a bed together, simply stroking each other’s hair and marveling at how wonderful it felt and how rarely we received that specific touch — even from boyfriends.
dance camp as an adult: not only is there the physical contact of dance, but this particular place has grown over the years a culture of loving touch off the dance floor, too. again, it does not observe (false) boundaries between genders, within a gender (yes, there are lots of male-male hugs and cuddles!), between age groups or between “coupled” and “single.” do people still find themselves lacking the touch they want/need most? sure, but there is far more opportunity to receive it as well. are there sometimes mixed signals as to whether the touch is headed toward “sexual” or staying at “platonic,” sure, but those things can usually be worked out without trauma, as far as i can tell. it’s not utopia, but it’s as close as i’ve found as an adult.
i love giving hugs. and i especially love giving hugs when i can feel both of us are truly opening up and relaxing into it. lately i’ve discovered that is a bit harder to find, despite the fair number of people i can hug hello in my regular-life wanderings. there is contact, but it can be harder for people to really open up.
i haven’t figured out yet how much it has to do with the perceived time that takes, the perception that it is a level of “intimate” only “special” relationships get, a fear of vulnerability, an association of that openness with sex and therefore with ideas of “inappropriateness,” “expectation,” etc.
“A determination to have and hold makes loss inevitable and is the root of fear.” and “Any potential of loss is eliminated because actions, once accomplished, cannot be undone”
Yes, Lovely, Len, at the jist of human experience as always.
There has been only one answer for the shear terror that has gripped me these past few days…..and that is to remember (it is hard) who my “real” friends are; the people who truly care – and when appropriate ask them to help me reconsider those tangible and intangible “things” that are freaking the shit out of me. This is my Taurus Syndrome moment – no doubt about it – come full circle to a place where life-programming placed me wherein the shit hit the fan big-time 12 years ago – and in the moment it has taken all I have (so far) to keep perspective – that perspective being that Even though I am experiencing the “same thing” as I did last merry-go-round- I Can Now Respond Differently.
Whew. Really ….. maybe next time ‘round it will seem simple.
(so mystes yr reach’n’touch is remarkably appropo n’est pas?)
I long have felt that we made a decision to take on human form so that we could “feel” – in a Taurean sort of way. and I understand that our current shift acknowledges that, and takes us to a place where we remember MORE than that – so as to take on a different (fuller) meaning when we “feel”.
Perhaps my Taurus Syndrome can now shift into being something more along the lines of my Taurus Sensations or Taurus Syncronicity or Taurean Blessed Harmony (screw the”s” haha).
stormilarue, very nice quote. very nice.
thanks for the babble time all. xo
So, Len… lovely piece. It inspired me to think about what Earthlings actually *need* in place of those ‘have & hold’ guarantees to which we all ferociously cling.
And here’s one of the answers: Touchbuddies.
On this beautiful day, birthday of Florence Nightengale, in the midlight of Taurus, it occurs to me that Earthlings need touchbuddies. People who will hug you hello, sit with you fingers entwined during casual conversations, sling an arm around your shoulder during a trip to the grocery store. Touch and release. Touch and release.
There have been all kinds of studies about casual social touching improving the sense of well-being; and it is clear that this culture has wound itself around the idea that touch is toxic, fearsome, “sacred”, expensive and rare.
So very silly. Look at all this skin walking by. Caramba.
So Imma work on this as part of the Tantra for Teens perspective and see how it goes. Feel how it goes.
Thank you.
(Now get out there and touch someone. )
M
stormilarue: You (and Raymond Carver) put it very well. That would be a wonderful consequence of action. Thank you.
this poem has been with me all week, seems spot on with your writing today, at least to me. thank you.
“And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.”
Late Fragment by Raymond Carver
gwind: Thank you for your question. It is a good and pertinent inquiry. Can only answer for myself. Things, material things, can be grasped in the hand or put in the mouth. There is comfort in that but also fear of loss. Things wear out or are lost, or consumed or taken away and if we are continuously strategizing to acquire, hold or replace things we get caught up in that and all of a sudden life is over. Action, doing, can be for other reasons than material acquisition. Like my writing for Planet Waves. It is offered in service in the hopes that it will make a difference for you. If that can be done. If someone breathes a little easier, or is inspired somehow, that is not a thing. It is a consequence of action that goes on, hopefully changing things, improving your life somehow. How’s that? Does that address it for you?
Huffy: Thank you, in turn, for your kind words.
Len wrote:
“If, on the other hand we take inspiration from what the Sun and personal planets are now doing, we make a sounder investment of our ephemeral material being. This is because the Sun, Mars, Venus and Mercury will be only passing through Taurus, albeit together, in a serendipitous representation of action.
If, emulating those planets, we bring the the inner light of our consciousness, our desire, our attractions and our cognitive powers to bear while we have the chance, being becomes a precious opportunity to do. Any potential of loss is eliminated because actions, once accomplished, cannot be undone. Thus the source of fear is banished and we can live as free spirits without burden. We can be occupied in the joyful work of making rather than taking.”
Len, I keep reading these two paragraphs over and over. Can you elaborate on your thoughts on action and what you are suggesting? I think I am understanding the premise, but I want to know more of how you are applying it. Does it differ from any other time in so far as mindful living? What does it mean to you, personally or in how you see life?
I love finding these little tidbits and growing with them. Thanks for the seeds you plant.
Beautiful, Len. it’s what I’m trying to work on right now. Thank you dear.
Liz xx