“The long memory is the most radical idea in this country.
It is the loss of that long memory which deprives our people of that connective flow of thoughts and events that clarifies our vision,
not of where we’re going, but where we want to go.”
~Utah Phillips
It’s a special time on the wheel of the year. We are watching the harvest from the summer reach its closure. The fruits & plants which have not yet been gathered begin their slow return to the earth. Spiders and fungi and fallen leaves take center stage. We think about witches and magic and, hopefully, we also bring into our hearts those beloved dead who have gone before us. We are fond of commenting that ‘the veil is thin’ between the worlds right now.
It is a time of ancestors, but also a time of Time itself. The ‘veil’ that we conjure is the thin membrane of perception between the living and the dead, and also between the living and the not-yet-born. It is the round gateway between the three times of past, present, and future that we can feel loosen and creak slightly ajar.
In our own lives, we start to feel the friction between all of the activity we’ve set into motion over the prior season, and the call from body & earth to begin quieting and turn the gaze inward. The dreamtime and the shadow world are on the ascent. Our personal time signature is in transition and we are asked to recalibrate our relationship to time itself, to cut through the habit of ‘busy’ and restore a slower pace.
How can we tap the wisdom and power of this cyclical shift?
There’s been much discussion of Jupiter’s recent ingress into Scorpio. For me, the language of astrology is familiar and interesting. My mother is an astrologer — and many of my close friends as well — so I’ve spent much of my life learning to listen and converse in this rich language that animates our cosmic story. I’m gratified to see it arise as common vernacular in so much of our social discourse.
I mention this because Jupiter is bringing the power of story to the foreground right now. Not only are we in the season of deep time, when we remember ancestors and contemplate death as a force of nature, but we are simultaneously being invited into deep story. Stories are how we make sense of our experiences, how we remember the past, and how we imagine the future. And it is no secret that our collective story has gone a bit off the rails.
“It’s all a question of story. We are in trouble now because we do not have a good story. We are in between stories. The Old Story — the account of how the world came to be and how we fit into it — is not functioning properly, and we have not learned the New Story.” ~Thomas Berry
We are called to reignite the fires of our imagination and awaken a new story that includes the whole of life—humanity, the plant kingdom, our animal kin, the breathing cosmos itself—and the whole of time (the past, present, and future). By weaving a story that revives our sense of continuity in the river of life, we activate the gifts of our ancestors and remember the needs of our descendants. We also recover a sense of belonging. We return to our rightful place as earth stewards and create a narrative capable of generating life.
None of this happens without slowing down and listening. As much as you’re able in these days, find a way to pause and consider that you are in the midst of a grand unfolding–that you are joined and met by the beings of the three times, and that this moment is especially primed as a ‘plot point’. A pivot is available to you and to us all. Cosmic forces are leaning in–planets and elders and future beings are lending their power. Now is the time to choose and create a story that heals our capacity for heartful engagement with each other and with the body of Earth.
You can join me and Stephanie Shea of Cardinal Fire Astrology on April 21 for a special creative process designed to tap the unique energy of the Neptune/Jupiter trine.
Deep Waters Ahead: Jupiter, Neptune, and Your Creative Flow
Saturday, April 21, 201811 am to 4 pm
You can read more about the Water Trine–which made its first pass last November–on Stephanie’s website.Join Elizabeth Russell (Be Space Integrative Arts) and Stephanie Shea (Cardinal Fire Astrology) for a special astro-inspired creative journey. We’ll channel the watery energy of Jupiter/Neptune into a creative process to receive the healing and inspiration this Water Trine wants you to have. We’ll look at your astrological chart to find where this special aspect is affecting you personally. No previous astrology experience is necessary!Register by Tuesday April 18.$155 to register, or sign up with a friend for $250.(We’ll have a short lunch break – bring your own lunch or enjoy the amazing food at Prosperity Pie Shoppe!)
sign up here!