Metaphorcast for 9/20-26, 2021
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The first day of Fall arrives this week on Wednesday the 22nd, as the Sun takes its symbolic fall in Libra, whose glyph shows a setting Sun. Sunsets are known to become more vivid as the weather cools due to the air becoming drier. Less water vapor means less haze, and the pure array of lilac, peach and scarlet hues reach the eye in all of their splendid purity.
It is similar to the phenomena of dry humor. The absence of emotion in one’s expression allows the full dose of the humor to come charging forth. Buster Keaton, a Libra himself, discovered this as a child on the Vaudeville stage. He realized the audience responded better to his stony expression than if he smiled.
The power lies in the contrast. The lack of emotion contrasts with the absurdity. With the cooler weather sunsets, the lack of haze contrasts with the intense beauty that finds us anyway. It is nature’s version of a hashtag-no-filter. Of course, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. A hazy sunset is more beautiful to some, but it isn’t more vivid. Vivid images are strong and clear, in real life and also emerging from dreams, memory and imagination.
Speaking of dreams and imagination, an enchanting Harvest Moon will begin the week in the sign of Pisces. Spin some records, light some candles, whatever comes to mind. In Pisces, this moonlight is of the softest variety. See how you might soften your own mood to better embrace such a special glow.
Softness, dreams and imagination have a certain superpower to restore mystery to the mundane. Reality becomes enlarged as false filters are lifted. Here we have the inner life’s version of a hash-tag-no-filter. The eye becomes vivified and vision is vitalized. This is the reason why dreams and imagination have such potential to be vivid. The challenge is to flex the muscle of the imagination and try to answer this question posed by Da Vinci: “Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?”
Vivid images vivify. Clear and sharp images are like crowing roosters, stirring up an inner dawn. These images can be found anywhere, in life, dreams, memory, and imagination. All that we need to do is relate to them.
DH Lawrence wrote, “we must get back into relation, vivid and nourishing relation to the cosmos and the universe.”
The vivid beauty of a fall sunset will find you despite your mood. Sharp and brilliant, showing a beauty that exists beyond one’s preferences. A very alive and vital beauty that exists beyond the “eye of the beholder.” A nourishing wink from the cosmos. An invitation to relate to it, and vivify your soul.
This beauty is like a truth, that will also find you if your inner atmosphere is clear enough. If the doubts, and false beliefs can evaporate, leaving you with nothing but the dry air of observation and a willingness to relate to what comes forth.
The clearer the atmosphere, the farther you can see. On the clearest day if you look out at the ocean, your eye will take you about 3 miles out as the Earth begins to curve. On a clear day, city buildings can be seen from 50 miles away. But think of this: the planet Saturn can also be seen on a clear night. Saturn is 746 million miles away.
A clear atmosphere, be it an autumnal sky or our consciousness freed from swampy moods, will allow for a greater distance of view. With a greater distance of view comes a wider network of relations. A wider network of relations opens up possibilities. And possibilities that open up vivify the future. A vivified future brightens the present, the place where life and love live, in all of their lively ways.
Happy Fall and as always,
Happy astro pondering
Toroidal Zodiac 