Enough of an Artist

Einstein said “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.”

Pisces Season begins next Saturday, February 18th.. Einstein was an ultimate Pisces, giving primacy to wonder and awe over knowledge and understanding. Like the fish, he could in a sense breathe underwater, that is to say he could rely on his creative imagination to nourish and sustain himself and his pursuits.

The imagination does something very strange. It makes whatever you imagine an ‘other’ to which you can relate. Just as the words you read right now are something ‘other’ to which you relate and try to make sense of, the images in your imagination are an ‘other’. Just as the person who rang up your coffee this morning is an ‘other’, so is the heroine you aspire and imagine yourself to become.

With every varying ‘other’ there is a potential for renewed wholeness. A certain phrase or melody, a person’s charm, a place, even a flavor can evoke a ‘thou’ experience; where whatever you are relating to makes everything bigger and more real. This is because you are enough of an artist to let your skills of relating generate a certain amount of awe and undeniable resonance. 

It’s easy to picture a “thou” experience while standing before the Grand Canyon. Less intuitive is seeing the potential of generating such reverence for your own archetypes that swim about in potentia. With an active imagination, pertinent narratives and myths take shape and offer guidance. Not only do they offer guidance, they offer energy through their archetypal charges. One gets a taste for something; a way of living, a way of getting something accomplished, or in Einstein’s case, a way of solving seemingly impossible abstract problems.

Imagination is free, as are you to use it well. That is, if you are enough of an artist.

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Special Things; Blessed Be a Blue Moon

Metaphorcast for 8/16-22

Listen to this episode here

Many of us likely remember last year’s Halloween Full Moon.  It was a Blue Moon, the second of the month, and Mars was right nearby blazing its red fire.  

Maybe you remember where you were, and even who you were when your eyes met these wondrous sky events.  Were you a werewolf taking a breather on a back porch?  A unicorn handing out chocolates from your doorstep?  Reaching back into this memory it becomes clear how this unique event (a special moon on a special night) became a part of you.

It is the last week of Leo Season and there is another Blue Moon headed our way, on Sunday August 22, the same day that the Season will shift into Virgo.  This Blue Moon is of a different kind than last year’s; it is a Seasonal Blue Moon, the third full moon in a Season of 4 full moons.  A Season (from equinox to solstice) usually has 3 full moons.  But just like clovers, sometimes there is a 4th, making it special, unusual, set apart from the norm.

Think back again, do you have any memories of finding a four leaf clover?  Or seeing a shooting star?  A ball of lightning?  A double rainbow?  You likely, once again remember where you were, and also, in a sense, who you were.  Maybe not as clear cut a memory as a werewolf taking a breather on a back porch, but something is most likely still preserved of your surroundings and your inner life at that moment.  

This is how humans are all natural artists.  Special things and events that are set apart from the norm, somehow trigger us to become a part of them.  

A special day is set apart from the calendar year, so we can choose to be a part of it by cooking a big feast and hanging mistletoes.

In stories a special thing is searched for, be it a grail, a blue flower or a ring with magic powers.  That special thing, set apart from the norm, becomes a part of the hero the minute he embarks on the quest. 

At the beginning of this week Venus will go into Libra, the artist, the one who seeks to be a part of those special things that are set apart from the norm.

Picasso was born when Venus was travelling through Libra.  He famously said “Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

Children have no trouble spotting those special things set apart from the norm.  Most things are special in fact, and the norm is but a vague abstraction.  For children, most things are special enough to want to be a part of, most things are interesting enough to join in on the fun; a stick, a pile of leaves, a bouncing ball, a sign post.  

As adults it becomes harder to get enthusiastic about these things and for good reason.  Our sense of significance, just like our bodies, has grown.  It reaches and reaches and continues to reach.  A satisfying feeling of meaning now needs more space- more width- a wider field to establish more and more relations.  We only encounter problems when we forget to reach.

Lucky for us both seasonal and calendar blue moons find us every 2 or 3 years, not to mention holidays, regular full moons, birthdays and rainbows.  Blessed be these special things, set apart from the norm, triggering the artist that lives deep inside all of human nature, to join in on the fun and be a part of it.

As always, happy astro pondering!   

https://www.happyastropondering.com/