Happy Monday, friends!
Welcome back to another episode of Cycles of Time, where we delve deep into the rhythms of the universe and unravel their impact on our lives.
Joining me on today’s episode is the insightful Lisa Broggi, my dear friend and a licensed therapist with a passion for merging astrology and expressive arts therapy. In today’s episode, we celebrate Taurus season and the vibrant festival of Mayday/Beltane, exploring themes of fertility, stability, and sensuality.
We’ll also discuss the significance of the moon in Taurus and how it influences our emotional stability and needs. Lisa will share her transformative experiences with astrology, particularly during her Saturn return, and how it has shaped her therapeutic practices.
As we explore the traditional and pagan rituals of May Day, we'll connect them with modern celebrations like International Workers Day, highlighting the importance of community and the collective voice. Our discussion will also cover the intriguing shift of Pluto into Aquarius and its potential effects on combining astrology with therapy.
Furthermore, we'll dive into the concept of innovation versus addiction thinking, examining how breaking habitual cycles can lead to profound personal and societal change. So, tune in as we reflect, share, and embrace the teachings that the stars and cycles of time offer us.
I provide a short weekly forecast, and then we dive into the conversation with Lisa at 26:00.
Thanks so much for listening!
Have a beautiful Mayday!
xo
Alison
Your Weekly Overview:
This week’s highlights:
Wednesday, May 1: Happy Mayday, aka Beltane: the Pagan cross-quarter day of bright fire!
Taurus season deepens
We start the week with the sun in the Gate of Rationalization (Gate 24), known as “Return” in the I’ching, which is all about resting and returning to yourself.
Then, over the weekend, the sun transits into the Gate of Receiving (Gate 2), or the “Direction of the Self”. which is all about being receptive to the world’s love.
This week’s themes:
Celebration of the returning sun (make a Beltane bonfire!)
Reflection on the power of work and workers (Across the world, Mayday is labor day, too)
Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop. – Ovid
Returning home to yourself
Surrender and receive love
Our Place in the Wheel of the Year
Medicine Wheel Direction: East
Wuxing Cycle Element: Wood > Fire
Pagan Season: Beltane (Mayday) is celebrated Tuesday April 29- Wednesday, May 1
Zodiac Season: Taurus (April 19-May 20)
Moon Phase: Waning
I Ching Hexagram/Human Design Gates: 24 (April 28-May 3). and 2 (May 4-9)
24 = Earth over Thunder (“Return” or “Turning Point”) or The Gate of RATIONALIZATION
2 = Earth over Earth (“The Receptive”) or The Gate of THE DIRECTION OF THE SELF
Your Weekly Forecast
Here’s the transcript for the weekly forecast, or if you’d prefer to jump straight to the interview with me and Lisa, click the player below!
The week's highlights are this Wednesday, May 1 is May Day, also known as Beltane in the Pagan wheel of the year. It is a cross quarter day, the halfway point between the solstice and the equinox, and it means bright fire. Taurus season continues, and we're deepening into that energy of flower flowers and blossoms and blooms and rest. We are also starting the week with the sun in the gate of rationalization, which is gate 24, and this is known as return in the I Ching, which is all about resting and returning to yourself. Then over the weekend, the sun is transiting into the gate of receiving, which is gate two. It's also known as the Direction of the Self, which is about being receptive to love and being just receptive to the world around you.
Themes for this week are celebration of the returning sun with a Beltane celebration, a reflection on the power of work and workers. Because on May 1, it's also Labor Day or International Workers Day, celebrated across the world. Another theme is returning home to yourself and surrendering to receive the quote for the week that I found is take rest. A field that has rested gives a beautiful crop. That's a quote by ovid.
Mayday and the Wuxing Season of Fire
Throughout spring, we've been in the season of wood, which is like a tree about upward growth from the ground up into the sky. A lot of energy in Aries season of just sprouting upward. And with the initiation of Beltane, of this cross quarter day between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, we're initiating the season of fire. So we're not going to be deep into fire season yet. And in the Taoist Wuxing cycle between each season, Earth is the element that holds the between season time. And so there aren't really specific dates for these transitions between seasons in this taoist system. But I do liken the Beltane day, this cross quarter day halfway point, and their association with fire in the European tradition, to the beginning of fire in the Wuxing cycle as well, at least where I am.
One thing I wanted to note about all that is that these seasons, depending on where you live, can be different. I am living again in New Mexico, up in the high desert, where the seasons seem to be quite on par with. There's a lot of distinction to the four seasons here, but wherever you live, or even just within your own body, there's a transition between these different elements, between these different seasons. And it. It doesn't have to be happening at the exact same time.
But in the northern hemisphere, in northern Europe and in China, where both of these systems originated, this time, between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice, are related to the returning of the sun in an earnest way. I know I have started to wear tank tops and shorts out on hikes. And so that really feels like, okay, I'm shedding the clothing. That means that it's a return of the season of fire. I've even felt hot a few times. I know that that's not the case in the north of the US right now, where I have some friends that are very cold. So just wanted to reference that this is not a fixed system, but as far as the symbology of the different archetypes, we are entering the season of early fire between wood and fire, where not only are we sprouting upward, but also beginning to branch outward. I don't know about you, but I definitely feel that in my body as well as in the world around me right now, there is an opening, an opening outward that's happening and bursting forth into this, into May. It's crazy. Here we are in a whole new month, the fifth month of the year already.
May Day is an ancient celebration that was celebrated across England and Ireland, Celtic peoples, in this season of the year, this cross quarter day. And it means, like I mentioned earlier, bright fire, for them, was the starting point of summer, where in bulk, back in February was the beginning of spring. And it's a celebration of the light and the growth to come. And it was associated with a lot of practices like fresh greenery being laid out and special baked goods being prepared and on most beltane celebrations, there was a lighting of the Beltane fire on the 1 May, which recalled the growing power of the sun and gave an opportunity to cleanse and renew community.
Because it was a time when animals and people have been inside in northern Europe, in Ireland, and in the Celtic people's lands, where you've been inside throughout the winter and spring, and it's now time to lead the cows out to pasture and to bring the people out into community celebrations. This fire was used to light the fires in everyone's personal houses and hearths, but it was a centralized fire where there were lots of joyous celebrations from the night of April 30 until in through the day of May 1 to ring. In this new season, you may be familiar with the May pole, the beautiful pole with lots of ribbons hanging off of it and the dances that are done around the pole. It's a beautiful tradition associated with Beltane and mayday, as well as this Beltane fire. So let me know in the comments if you are celebrating and if this is part of your tradition, to celebrate the return of the sun and summertime and late spring with May Day.
Mayday is also International Worker’s Day
Mayday also is celebrated as Labor Day in modern times. And I think that that's interesting, being in Taurus season, the season of kind of the hardworking bull, because it's associated with work, money and value. And Taurus is the natural ruler of the second house in the astrological chart, and that is the house of what we value and what is ours and the work we do in the world and money.
I'm finding myself thinking of this rendition of Mayday in connection with the pagan rituals of May Day as a celebration of the people, celebration of community. They are very different celebrations or very different holidays, but they do have that in common, that they're about the people, about people's work, about the animals going out to pastures, the work that they're doing to contribute to society. So there's a certain amount of this contributive nature to Mayday in the sense of International Workers Day as well.
And I'm definitely thinking about it a lot right now, looking at all of the student protests that are happening and all of the business as usual that's being shut down around the nation in support of free Palestine. And I'm just… I'm very inspired by what's going on right now as May Day is here and as we're celebrating the people of the world.
Thinking back to the time in 2011 when Occupy Wall street was happening, thinking about just the 99% versus the 1% and how that is kind of always what, for the most part, mass protests are about is the government or the people in power not being aligned with the people who are on the ground, who are doing the work. And so this May Day, I just want to give a big shout out to everyone who is putting that kind of work in to make a more just and fair society. And I won't go too much further into it, but just really wanted to mention that on this May Day, I'm glad that fire is returning and that people aren't backing away from what they know to be right. And it's not just work in the sense of raising awareness. It is in the sense of really asking and demanding that these universities, these major businesses of Columbia and Harvard and these huge institutions divest from military industrial complex and the big companies that are profiting off of war.
The Jupiter/Uranus conjunction in Taurus = Values, Work, Rebellion, and Using Our Voices
And so that, again, is aligned with Mayday, with labor, with work, with value, and with Taurus season in that way as well. Taurus season is associated with the throat and with speech. And so free speech is such a huge issue right now. And the fact that a lot of people are standing up for free speech and are really advocating for that at this moment in time is very fitting. And we have to remember, looking back through history, I just did a post on instagram about all of the Jupiter Uranus conjunctions that have happened since 1941. And again, that just happened a couple weeks ago, and we're still in the Jupiter Uranus conjunction. Energy right now. It's the most slow moving planet. So we are feeling that energy throughout this year, really. And that energy has brought from all of the years that they've come together in 1941, 1969, 1983. All of these years, there's a lot of evidence of people protesting for what they believe in. Lots of big rallies in the street, as well as massive breakthroughs in science and technology.
But what I learned from it in looking at all of these pictures and doing a lot of research on the different movements that have happened throughout all of these years, is that protests work. They mean a lot. And even if it doesn't seem like it, because they always do disperse at one point and don't last forever. But an impact is made from using your voice and from speaking out for what you value. And that's something just really to keep in mind this year, as we look at the beautiful parts of Taurus season. And they talk about flowers a lot. I know. But also thinking about Taurus being stubborn, knowing what they want, and being very clear about using the voice to enact what we value deep down. So thank you all for doing what you're doing. We are at a time in history where new concepts and new perspectives and new theories are rising to the top and confronting the powers that be. And it's really amazing to see that happening. A lot of people are feeling associations with the late sixties and the student protests that were happening against the Vietnam War, which was also a time when Uranus and Jupiter were together. So it is a time that it feels very powerful, where there is new perspectives being presenced. And that really relates to the gate that we're in right now. In the sun last weekend, just a couple days ago, transited from the gate of caring and nurturing into the gate of rationalization, or return in the I Ching.
Human Design Gate 24: The Gate of Rationalization or “Return” in the I’Ching
This gate is really, like it says, is all about thinking rationally. And rationally doesn't mean thinking in the ways of how things have always been. Rationalization is about innovation, actually, and it's about invention, and it's about this ability to bring new concepts to the forefront. “Return” in the I’Ching is symbolized by a thunder hexagram on the bottom and earth on the top.
And it's really all about kind of a thunderous desire under the surface, allowing the earth to break open and spill apart and provide nutrients and resources to the community, to the rest, through what is coming from inside us. And it's also about returning to ourselves. Like I mentioned a little bit earlier, it's about coming home after being on a long journey through this spring, kind of coming back to ourselves and sitting in silence and seeing what comes up in that silence.
Addiction vs. Innovation in Gate 24
It's also known as the gate of addiction. Because when we come home to ourselves, it can feel kind of uncomfortable to be back in a place where we are in a quiet place. And it can feel comforting to go back to what we know and to go back to what has been done in the past. There's a certain addiction to that comfort and stability of something that has always worked before, or at least we thought it has. But as we can see in what's happening in the world and in a lot of people that I've talked to, their personal life, what we thought was working is actually not working. And there's a certain addiction to just going back to the status quo that we crave.
But when we actually take the time to sit with ourselves and sit in silence and return to the place where we're always going to come back to, which is our own self. We're able to see a turning point a little bit easier when we're surrounded by distractions or surrounded by the world around us, it can feel a lot easier to go back to a pattern that we've already been in.
The Power of Silence
But when we sit in silence, in meditation, or just go to a place where there aren't as many distractions, I think sometimes it feels a lot easier to see a place where something can happen that's a little bit different. And we can not let doubts cause us to argue or make claims. And by keeping still, we're able to really get back in touch with what we truly value, a Taurus season theme. And not feel like we have to accept the way that things always are and always have been.
It feels like right now in the world, there is an incessant need to push and to consume. And there are so many things to be addicted to right now. But I find in my personal life that when I do come back to myself and be in silence, this gate is also known as the silent mystic. And to come back to that silent place is where. Where insights usually come from. Where inspirations normally come from and not.
From when we're working too hard and continuing to push and get feedback. And push and get feedback. So this week, the gate of rationalization is from today until Friday. And so throughout this week, it's a really good idea to try as much as you can to rest and to be in your own presence, the presence of your own thoughts and your own values, because there's so much to consume right now. And I just really feel it. I feel my phone whenever it's anywhere near me. It's like calling to me to see what the latest development on x, Y or Z is. There's always something to read or a new breaking news story about what's going on, and that's not going to slow down.
And so it's really just important in this week, after hopefully doing a little bit of caring for yourself and others last week, to take that and bring it in to yourself and just sit with it, just sit with your inner experiences and kind of not try to rush away from the discomfort that might come up in silence or from just being with yourself.
This Weekend: The Sun moves into Gate 2, the Gate of Recieving
On Saturday, after we've gone through this Gate 24, the sun is going to be transiting into gate two, which is known as receiving or the receptive feminine. And this is a beautiful gate, because it is the first gate that has Earth as the lower trigram.
So in I Ching, there's 64 gates, and they're broken into eight different trigrams that are stacked on each other in order to create the 64. So since the beginning of Aries season, for the past eight gates, we have been in the lower trigram of thunder. And you've probably heard me talk about it if you've listened to the podcast that it's something over Thunder Mountain, over thunder, water over thunder, and gate 24 is the gate of rationalization, or return is the last of the thunder gates. It's earth over thunder. And then on Saturday, when we move into gate two, we are moving into the next eight gates that will have earth as the lower trigram. And so, in a very earthy time of year, and the first of these gate two is Earth over Earth and Earth. What it looks like is three broken lines.
Again, there's broken and solid lines in the I’Ching representing yin and yang. And so the gate two, the hexagram two, is earth over earth, and it is all broken yin lines. So it is the most yin of all of the hexagrams and all of the gates. And in that way, it's all about receiving, being receptive. And it's really nice for that to come after going inward and having that inner spark of thunder, that thing that starts something and feeling like, okay, this isn't up to the world around me.
This is up to me and whatever is inside me to spring forth, to bring my ideas and to allow them to come into the world through that process of refinement in silence and in returning to yourself. And then when we move in this weekend and into the beginning of next week, into gate two, it is now allowing ourselves to receive from the world around us, from everything that we've poured out and everything that we've initiated over the course of this spring, it's time to really just sit with what is and suspend our disbelief and believe that there is goodness that will come to us if we are open to receiving it. It's a big energy of surrendering and knowing that when we surrender, sometimes that's when what we need comes to us. And it's sometimes a very hard thing to do.
Being Yin in a Yang Culture
We live in a very young culture, a very action oriented culture. And so deciding to not take action and to sit in that receptivity is bold. It's a bold move. And so this week, there's a lot of boldness in the. In the simplicity. You know, it's not a hugely active week ahead. We have. You know, it's this similar to Beltane, it's letting ourselves out to pasture. It's letting ourselves outside of the confines of what we've believed is possible in the past and allowing ourselves to be still long enough to allow something new, something that's never been thought of before, to arise out of the quiet, out of the silence and then, and to receive from there what the world has to give back to us after we have been in that silence with ourself.
So that's the forecast for the week.
Beltane on Wednesday, Gate of Rationalization from Monday until Friday, the Gate of Receiving on Saturday and Sunday. So it's a relaxed week. As tense as things might feel right now in the world, I hope that this can give you a little bit of a permission to sink into rest and relaxation, whatever that means for you. Just not trying to do too much or figure it all out right away, because that is not the energy that we're in at this moment, but just to listen to yourself and to others and to receive.
So with that, I was so happy to receive a lot of wisdom from the conversation that I had with my friend Lisa, the astro-therapist. You, I'm sure, will receive so much from her as well. So here is that conversation.
(This will take you straight to Lisa and my conversation, beginning at 00:26.)
Thank you so much for listening!
Beltane's Fire and Astrotherapy Insights with Lisa Broggi