Hi hunny bunnies,
Welcome to your weekly forecast for October 7 to 13, 2024.
I hope you’re all doing ok out there, as the interesting times that Confucious promised us continue to unfurl before our eyes. I’ve been feeling incredibly overwhelmed with it all myself, facing insomnia and digestive upsets and teeth grinding, sinking into so much grief that I’m witnessing in the world.
But as I record this, I’m lucky enough to be sitting outside at a Ponderosa cabin in Northern New Mexico with the sun warming my back, staring at a giant cliff face of the Brazos mountains. The rocky crags are grounding, helping me find stillness and breath amidst the frenzy of the news cycle. This episode is all about facing our fears, tuning into our bodies and our intuitions, and finding clarity amidst a pervasive unease. Thanks so much for tuning in.
This week’s highlights:
The moon is waxing, growing toward our first lunation out of an incredibly intense eclipse season
Friday: Pluto stations direct in Capricorn, for its final jaunt through the sign of the sea-goat before entering Aquarius for the next 20 years.
Human Design/I’Ching:
Mon-Sun: Gate 57, the Gate of Intuition
This week’s themes:
Facing your fear beast
Paying attention to your intuitive hits
Trust what insights come to you through the gentle winds
Our Place in the Wheel of the Year
Medicine Wheel Direction:WEST (Water, Adulthood)
Wuxing Cycle Element: Metal
Pagan Season: Mabon
Zodiac Season: Libra (September 22-October 22)
Moon Phase: Waxing Moon
I Ching Hexagram/Human Design: Gate 57(Mon-Sun)
57 = Wind over Wind (Ku: “Spreading” or “Gentle Penetration”) or the Gate of INTUITION
The Eclipse Aftermath… & Pluto Stations Direct in Capricorn
I’m writing/recording this a couple days after last week’s Libra eclipse, and if I’m being honest… I’m exhaustedddd, y’all. So much has been shed like snakeskin. And so much more has risen to the surface- whatever silt that lay at the bottom of the bottle has been re-shaken, stirred up, and the waters are muddy.
I know I’m not alone in this. Amidst the heavenly golden light of the aspens and cottonwoods here in Northern New Mexico, the eclipse, the seasonal transitions, the darkness creeping in earlier and earlier each evening, and the grief and existential dread about climate change, cities, homes, and businesses devastated by Helene and other global storms, and the 1-year anniversary an expanding genocide in the Middle East are certainly making the start to October feel… just incredibly heavy.
I am incredibly moved by stories of hope and mutual aid, people showing up to help their neighbors and showing remarkable acts of kindness and compassion amidst such widespread devastation. Several months ago, I became kind of strangely obsessed with Asheville- I’ve never been there and only know one person who lives there, but a little while ago I had this intuitive hit that I needed to check out that part of the world.
In Astrocartography, my Venus line runs right through Asheville, and I felt like it was calling me. I started looking into going to graduate school there, as they have great schools of herbalism or Chinese medicine, and so I recently started researching and following everyone there that I could on Instagram- there are soo many amazing artists, healers, herbalists, and earth-based guides who live there. I had a trip planned to check it out, and had booked tickets for October 14- I would have been there this week. Because of this recent deep-dive into the city, now every time I open social media I am seeing stories of resilience and courage and empathic action taking by the rooted, connected people who call that part of the country home.
It’s beautiful, and reminds me of all the community care that I saw on the ground after Hurricane Katrina, when the Federal government was nowhere to be found and the overculture and media coverage was focusing on the heathens and looters. I was going into my senior year in college in New Orleans when Katrina hit. I was lucky enough to find a ride in the middle of the night to North Carolina, and watched the flood and devastation from a small TV on my friend’s family farm.
When we were allowed to return, I spent the aftermath of the storm helping a contractor friend gut and rebuild houses of people who had lost everything. Pulling old records and sequined Mardi Gras ball dresses and family photo albums out of the soggy wreckage is something my body will never forget. The way the media and much of the rest of the world made assumptions, judgements, and moralistic denouncements about the people who lived in New Orleans instead of being compassionate to their situation is something my body will never forget. The way people came together to form ad-hoc mutual aid organizations for community care is something my body will never forget, either.
Katrina was a bad storm, we all know, but only a Category 3. We know now that it wasn’t the storm that caused the destruction, but the lack of care by the government- the disrepair of the levees by the Federal agencies that were supposed to maintain them, the cutting of major shipping canals through the poor neighborhoods of city to facilitate the faster transport of oil from the Gulf, which eroded the wetlands and acted like a funnel, causing major storm-surge amplification during Katrina and flooding the predominantly black 9th Ward neighborhood. (MR GO, aka the Mississippi River–Gulf Outlet Canal was shut down in 2009 due to criticism about how it impacted the city.) Like many are emphasizing right now, these storms are not “Biblical”, made by God, but made by man- by the negligence by the Fossil Fuel Industry and the worlds governments about the obvious threats of increasing climate disasters so many years.
The larger picture of increasing global ocean temperatures should make us all realize that there is nowhere to run from climate change, no safe haven that is exempt from the threat of losing everything. There should be no moral judgements about people “choosing to live in disaster zones”, because everywhere is a potential disaster zone. This, along with the prioritization of spending our tax dollars on expansionism and the military industrial complex, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency runs out of money (last week, the US sent $8.7 billion to Israel at the exact same time that FEMA declared an $8 billion dollar deficit…) is making it very hard for the majority of us to turn a blind eye to what is happening. The large-scale emissions from the wars themselves are causing climate change. It has to stop.
Many people are collectively waking up, across the globe, and realizing that priorities need to shift, that we are experiencing Mother Earth’s response to a culmination of hundreds of years of choices and decisions made by men, driven by greed. And it continues on, as the people on the ground are dying and those who made it are not getting resources they need from the government. My friend Lennie, who also lived in NOLA during Katrina, recently wrote “These catastrophic hurricanes are revealing the shame of the country it’s been hiding and unwilling to metabolize”.
There are so many places that are suffering right now, and it’s hard to comprehend what to do with this level of devastation. But I truly believe that every kind gesture, every compassionate outreach, has far reaching ripple effects. If you have the means and are interested in helping, I suggest following MutualAidDisasterRelief on Instagram or checking out mutualaiddisasterrelief.com, or making a donation at belovedasheville.com. Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t say that although the current administration does not have a great track record, I’m still voting for Kamala in a month. At this juncture, it’s anyone but Trump, as I am certain that he and his party would make moves to exacerbate the climate crisis and destroy long-term environmental and human success. Voting is not going to solve our polycrisis by any means, but it’s a stopgap so we can continue doing the work on the ground post-November, in my opinion.
The United States’ Pluto Return…
Pluto stations direct in Capricorn this week, heading back through the last degrees of the sea-goat for a final hurrah before he enters Aquarius for the next 20 years. Pluto is the planet of the underworld, of revealing the darkness and the depths, and for the past 15 years it has been in Capricorn, a sign that represents hierarchies and structures (like governments and corporations). Pluto is also wrapping up his return to the place in the sky that he was when the USA was formed- it takes 248 years for Pluto to orbit around the sun and through the Zodiac, so Pluto was last in the final degrees of Capricorn when the Declaration of Independence was signed, back in 1776.
With this United States Pluto Return, Pluto isn’t afraid to tear apart the most complex systems from the inside out, and themes of metamorphosis, evolution, and transmutation are foretold to be ripe during these times. On November, right after the US presidential elections, Pluto will shift into Aquarius, but before then, we are astrologically in a deep unearthing of the foundations -and the holes- in the social structures and hierarchies that we have come to rely on and accept as normal.
This could sound scary, but I believe it’s a profound framing for the opportunities we have to face our fears and see clearly. We have the potential to no longer shrouded by disinformation, misinformation, denial, and dependency on unjust systems. This is not an easy road to walk, but there are tools to help us through. And, ya know this already but… the only way out is through.
Facing the Fear Beast and the Gate of Intuition
Last week I talked about using the spinny spiral eye emoji a bunch in my text conversations, and that has definitely continued this week, but it is subsiding. What is replacing the nebulosity, at least for me, is a phrase: “Facing the Fear Beast”. Last week the sun moved through the Gate of Depth, reminding us that we are being challenged right now to face our fears, to look down into the deep wells of our emotions, our belief systems, our ancestry. To find that glimmer of light at the bottom and send a bucket down deep to pull up whatever resources are within us to get us through truly revolutionary times. We are being called forward to activate our gifts, move with intention, and learn how to question the limiting beliefs and habits that keep us stuck in false comfort, without letting that questioning destroy our self-compassion.
“Facing the Fear Beast” is an art project created for Burning Man 2022 by the amazing late artist Tigre Marshall-Lively and their team of collaborators, here in Santa Fe. I supported their kickstarter when it was being built, and received a fearbeast hoodie as a perk. I found it hiding in the back of my closet last week, the perfect cozy garment for a hike up in the aspens, and as I wore it tromping through the trees on the day of the eclipse, I was moved by the potency of it’s message during the week of Depth.
Facing the Fearbeast is a large scale interactive work that depicts a small, brave child facing up against a hulking nightmare known as the Fearbeast. Thirty-five feet long and sixteen feet high, the Fearbeast is a chimeric monster full of teeth and claws and spines. The Child that faces this beast stands with courage, compassion, and dignity - seeing past the monster to the Inner Child trapped within, representing the wounds and traumas that often manifest through our most destructive and harmful behaviors.
spec Guy of The Burning Man Journal writes:
“Facing the Fearbeast” contains nuanced layers of meaning that aren’t immediately obvious upon the first encounter. From afar, the massive Fearbeast invokes a dark and menacing feeling amplified by an audio soundtrack of negative statements projected at the small child facing it — “you are worthless.” To alter the tone, you must stand with the child. This triggers a change in the lighting and sound revealing the Fearbeast’s own inner child, which begins to glow as the dialogue shifts to positive messages — “I believe in you.” It isn’t simply about good vs. evil, beast vs. child. Rather, it highlights that within the beast, there is a wounded inner child that is often the source of destructive and damaging words and actions. Through empathy and community, we have the power to shift our personal narrative and heal wounded conditioning, quieting the cycle of pain.
The work of the shaman in many cultures is to intentionally stare down this fear beast, to look deep into the well of their own- and their community’s- subconscious. Since prehistoric times, cave art has been created deep within underground caverns as a parallel to the caverns, wells, and vortexes that we must travel in our minds in order to find that glimmer of truth, those profoundly powerful resources.
Intuitive Hits: The Spleen and the Heart
As I mentioned in last week’s episode, the next 5 weeks find us in Splenic territory, as the sun transits through the end of Libra season and into Scorpio and touches 7 Human Design Gates that are located in the body’s energy center known as the spleen. The energy of “spooky season” focuses on our most primal organ, whose task it is to filter your blood, to recognize and remove old, malformed, or damaged red blood cells. Likewise, this time in the wheel of the year is ripe for filtering the stories we tell ourselves, removing and recognizing old, malformed, or damaged stories.
In medieval times, the spleen was thought to be the literal, physical source of a hot temper. People thought that "venting" their spleens would remove excess anger. Perhaps this season, with all we’re dealing with on the collective stage, a little conscious splenic venting isn’t such a bad idea. In Chinese Medicine, the emotion of the Spleen is worry. This works in two ways; excessive worrying damages the Spleen, and a deficient Spleen can also weaken the mind and make us more susceptible to emotions such as worry. Feeling anger and frustration - and venting it (in non-destructive ways, hopefully) can be a good way to prevent ourselves from sliding into seasonal depression, obsessive worry, and incapacitating fear. Venting is another way of saying “telling new stories”- stories based on facing our fearbeasts, putting ourselves at the center of our own narratives, giving ourselves (and our inner children) main-character energy.
Appropriately, this week the sun is transiting through the Gate of Intuition, a splenic Libra gate that guides us from unease to clarity through the path of intuition. It’s hexagrams in the I’Ching are Wind over Wind, and it’s known as “spreading” or “gentle penetration”.
The Gate of Intuition: Wind over Wind or “Gentle Penetration”
From iFate:
Like gentle wind wafting through a village, hexagram number 57 suggests a time of influence and change. This is a time when clarity and truth can pierce through veils of illusion. Through earnestness and a sense of quiet peace, you can penetrate the hearts of those around you and spread goodwill and prosperity. This is a time to speak up and let your voice permeate the land. Communicate your wants and needs to those you love. The key here is to be gentle but continual with the expression of your dreams and wishes. Your will has incredible power to spread at this time. Be heard - but be true to yourself.
From Divination Foundation’s reading of the I’Ching:
A subtle penetrating effect is like a soft wind blowing through reeds that are bending gracefully, demonstrating flexibility and endurance. This symbolizes a quiet, relaxed effectiveness in action. A gentle influence is at work; but just as the wind can be ceaseless in its efforts, small forces can add up to produce lasting results.
Gentle penetration bodes well for new relationships or enterprises. Just as a summer breeze slowly penetrates the woods to cool the forest, the ideas of gifted leaders slowly reach and sink into the minds and hearts of people. In personal relationships, a gentle beginning can lead to a long-lasting union.
When using a force that is soft but persistent, careful aim is necessary; for only when a small force continually moves in the same direction will it have a cumulative effect. In human affairs, this kind of soft influence comes more through strength of character than by direct confrontation or active seduction. It’s important to have—and stick to—clearly defined goals. Maintaining a strong vision and following a steady course of least resistance will bring good fortune.
In the Gene Keys, Gate 57= Unease > Intuition > Clarity
Gate 57 highlights the capacity to perceive and act upon the quiet, inner voice or feeling that often knows the truth without rational explanation. It suggests that intuition serves as a crucial tool for protection, offering guidance and ensuring we remain true to our path.
This gate reminds us that intuition is firmly anchored in the present moment, much like an animal instinctively sensing danger. There is no future or past in the realm of intuition—only the immediate now.
This immediacy underscores intuition's role as a direct and powerful sense, guiding us to make decisions and react based on the present realities, ensuring our alignment with the most authentic and safe path forward.
Richard Rudd writes in 64 ways:
“When we one day begin to truly turn inwards through contemplation, meditation or some other form, we first of all must meet this deep discomfort that’s been driving us. We have to turn and face it, which takes courage because we can easily distract ourselves. We don’t really want to keep looking at this difficult place. I mean the more we become aware of it, the more it seems to dominate. It’s not a comfortable feeling. Nonetheless, the Transformational Way through this Gene Key has to tackle the unease. If we’re working with the Gene Keys, every Shadow we dive into is really diving into this unease. However, it’s rewarding work, this mining. We’ll begin to find some gems if we persist. Shadow work is hard, but it gradually begins to lighten our load. The unease doesn’t go away but moving it into conscious awareness prevents us from being a victim of it and chasing our tails in the outer world.
Occasionally if we’re lucky or predestined, we meet someone unusual who seems to have transformed this unease entirely in their being. We call these people masters. There’s an aura around them, a radiance, a sense of peace that some distant part of us remembers. We know what it was like to live without this unease. Imagine it for a moment - your body with no unease. These people are electrifying to us. We want to know how they did it. How did they transmute this unease?
Of course we want that for ourselves. It’s a huge turning point when we realise that it’s possible. That’s really what this Shadow is all about - getting to the heart of the matter, burrowing deeply into the form, into our DNA, which holds this germ of our suffering. I call it the Sacred Wound, and it’s a wound with many layers to it. The deeper our awareness penetrates this place inside, the more layers we discover and the more layers we transmute. This is the journey and it’s why we’re here. If we know this, then we’re blessed. When we know this, our journey has truly begun in earnest.”
This reminds me of a beautiful poem by Rumi:
I said: what about my eyes?
He said: Keep them on the road.
I said: What about my passion?
He said: Keep it burning.
I said: What about my heart?
He said: Tell me what you hold inside it?
I said: Pain and sorrow.
He said: Stay with it. The wound is the place where the Light enters you.
And the light, the light, brings clarity.
Richard Rudd continues on about Clarity, the siddhi of Gate 57:
“Clarity is a new world. With Clarity there is no I. Clarity can’t exist with a sense of identification. To get to the heart of the matter, we must let go of all that we’ve ever known. Our Intuition will take us finally to a precipice in consciousness.”
This week, give your overworked mind a little break and tap into your heart and your gut, your deep capacity for compassion and intuitive knowing. As Pluto makes its final foray through Capricorn and the sun tranists through the Gate of Intuition, remember the power of consisistent and gentle persistence in actions toward the world you envision. This is not a time of rapid exertion or even obvious forward momentum, but, as like the falling leaves of the season, a time to stop clinging to old comforts, to take baby steps toward embodying a new tomorrow.
All the love this week, my friends.
Talk to you next week as we celebrate Indigenous people’s day, the Gate of Continuity, and the full moon in Aries.
As always, if you find value in this labor of love, please share with a friend, follow me on Instagram at astro.somatics or cyclesoftimepodcast, click the heart below, or even better- leave me a comment to say hi!
xoxo,
Alison
Facing Your Fears with Intuition & Compassion