The World Needs Hugs
We live in a world that began some 15 billion years ago – a world that has seen many changes, a world that has seen many civilisations come and go. During this time man has evolved and developed. Man discovered the Laws of the Universe and he called them Science. He discovered that science was organic and developmental. Science comes from curiosity. But some discoveries upset people and they would ‘shoot the messenger’. Many years down the line it was discovered that many of those messengers had been right and the world was sad.
Science became arrogant and rejected a world that saw itself as a living being endowed with a soul and intelligence. Science rejected the idea of an Anima Mundi, or World Soul, emanating from the essence of the divine and the eternal laws. Science rejected the idea that there is an intrinsic connection between all living things on the planet, even though we can still see in the animal world an intuitive understanding intertwined with instinct. Within humans these archetypes became separated and some were dismissed. The moral is that there is never just ‘the’ science.
Dr Zach Bush recently highlighted the dictionary meaning of the word Nature - “the phenomena of the physical world ….. as opposed to humans or human creations”. How far off the sat nav have we come when we no longer see ourselves intrinsically connected to nature but rather as being “opposed” to nature? Man is having a short human experience on Earth as a part of nature, and by not resonating with nature he has lost his way. Rupert Sheldrake reminds us that natural systems inherit a collective memory from all previous things of their kind. Humanity, however, for some reason has come to think it knows better than nature and has chosen to lose its connection to our intuitive qualities. Animals, however, retained their instinctive knowledge – they ‘know’ how to look after their young, birds migrate thousands of miles to the place they instinctively know to be the best for producing young and creatures intuitively sense danger.
It is thought that these instincts emanate from a tiny gland in our brains – the pineal gland. The pineal gland was commonly dubbed the “third eye” for many reasons, including its connection to the light/dark cycle and the production of melatonin. Named because of its likeness to the pine cone, we can see this symbolism within the elongated ‘pine cone’ shape at the top of the head of Buddha. Mystic and esoteric spiritual traditions suggest the pineal gland serves as a metaphysical connection between the physical and spiritual worlds and is the seat of the Soul.
On March 13th we arrive at New Moon time and this New Moon, with four planets in Pisces, is likely to prove to be a time of heightened sensitivities. Pisces is the sign that desires to transcend and connect with the numinous – the divine, the God complex - our connection to Soul. Pisces is a water sign and as such is a repository for the emotional realm. Pisces’ symbol is one of the chaos of two fish swimming in opposite directions. Many creation myths define chaos, or the void, as essential states for the creation and shaping of new life or new forms. However, rather than emptiness or nothingness, these places of chaos actually contain the unconscious, the patterns that come eventually to create order. In our current void of confusion and chaos we must slow down so that we can see into the fog and allow ourselves to go into that chaos and connect with what the unconsciousness of the waters reveals. Hug that void, hug that point in your life that seems in chaos and connect with your Soul, connect with Nature and become a part of the bigger community that is the World Soul. Decide which fish you are – the one swimming upstream against the tide or the one who just drifts.
Pisces has two rulers – Jupiter and Neptune. Working at the highest level Jupiter can allow an openness to the metaphysical laws of nature and the ability to follow one’s own internal and intuitive guidance. However, at a lower level Jupiter may lead to the ideological God complex. Using Neptune’s highest influence we can connect with the highest bliss of the cosmic consciousness of the World Soul; at Neptune’s lowest level we may see only our own reflection in the waters, reinforcing a belief that we are indeed God.
Pisces is a very dreamy, visionary energy that does not recognise boundaries between people. Pisces seeks to dissolve boundaries. On the one hand this is positive because boundaries of race, gender, poor, rich do not exist in the Pisces world. The world is one and everything is interconnected. However, in a world of myths and archetypes the Pisces world struggles to remain pure. And because it would much prefer to drift, it is easily contaminated by the harder core energies. Without recognising appropriate boundaries Pisces can become the victim, easily influenced by the shadow qualities of deception, confusion and illusion. This energy is very apparent right now.
We still have three planets in Aquarius and we will be under the influence of the main planetary energy of Saturn in Aquarius square to Uranus in Taurus for the next two years. Uranus and Taurus are definitely not happy bedfellows. Uranus wants to shock and disrupt whilst Taurus seeks safety and security. I think we can see Uranus hard at work right now. On a physical level Taurus is a sign very much connected with earth and nature and we have seen an inordinate amount of earthquake activity during the last week or so.
Saturn and Uranus are both co-rulers of Aquarius, Saturn the traditional ruler and Uranus the modern ruler. Interestingly Uranus was discovered 290 years ago exactly to the day of this New Moon. At that point Uranus was in Gemini very close to the degree of my Sun, one of the reasons probably why I have always leaned towards being the non conformist. Saturn’s energy of control, limitation, authority and tradition, however, being linked with the innovative, future looking, humanitarian sign of Aquarius always puzzles me and pricks my curiosity button. Saturn is a realist – Uranus an idealist. The mythology shows us that Saturn, the son of Uranus, answered his mother Gaia’s pleas to save his siblings from their father’s cruelty. For the sake of his mother Saturn cut off his father’s balls so he could no longer pro-create.
And so realism kicked idealism into touch. But when Saturn threw Uranus’ genitals into the sea, out of the void of the ocean came Venus. Saturn’s manifestation in Aquarius can be seen in terms of ‘doing the right thing’ – of one’s moral code towards humanity as a whole and can be defined in terms of the norms of society. And the arrival of Venus reflects the rights and status of women. So at points when Saturn and Uranus are in a tricky aspect to each other we have an interplay between the real and the ideal, destabilisation and the putting into place of structure. We see an accent on social rights as well as the rise of the feminine energy. Saturn as Father Time tempers Uranus’ more knee jerk and erratic reactions. Saturn makes rules – Uranus breaks them. And in times of need Saturn can also be the rebel. We can see just how complex Aquarius really can be,
Aquarius is a sign that can detach itself and Saturn’s influence can be one of aloneness or even aloofness – it’s the idea of literally ‘cutting off’. Within this energy we can see the mentality of ‘lockdown to flatten the curve’. In March 2020 Saturn first entered Aquarius and we in the UK had our first lockdown – society was ‘cut off’. This experience was novel, the weather was glorious and we still had the energy to care about others and care about Nature. However, by the time of Saturn’s full entry into Aquarius in December we began our third lockdown and the energy was felt very differently. Society had become more distant, fear had crept in and our sense of social connection was removed. Man is a social animal – in a civilised society he suffers without human touch and human relationships. Where and when, apart from prison, are hugs and human touch banned so inhumanely? The drip drip drip of literal human torture procreates fear, and fear gradually makes the human mind accept things that under normal circumstances it would never otherwise do. Only further down the line, just like shooting the messenger, will we realise the true extent of the damage that has been done.
Pisces energy is often one of great yearning and longing, which draws the individual towards ideological rather than practical ways of thinking. Right now it feels as though humanity has never been more polarised – literally like the fish swimming in opposite directions. The divide between the rich and the poor has never seemed so great with the wealth being transferred at an alarming rate into the hands of the tech billionaires. Those with enough money to control the world have become by default the influencers of how the world moves forward. New Moons are narrow in thinking, which makes them ideal for making new intentions, but this New Moon also serves to highlight how diametrically opposed ideologies can bring a sense of chaos and confusion in a myopically obsessed world.
If we look to the actual constellation of Pisces we can see symbolically a fixed star called Al Rescha who sits within the Sacred Knot at the centre of the cord that joins the two fish. This is the point of marriage between different ideas, different fonts of knowledge, different concepts. We need to find the connection between our higher consciousness and ourselves, and with our Soul and its purpose in this lifetime. We need to re connect with our instinctive side and see ourselves as an integral part of nature – integral as in an essential functioning part of nature and integral as in acting from integrity.
The polarisation within society literally risks separating us from our souls. Phillip Pullman in his Northern Lights trilogy brings to life the Greek idea of the daemon who guides the soul and gives the individual the character and drive that he will need to carry out his Soul’s purpose. The daemon is the inner driver of how we express our soul – the idea of knowing and inner being. Pullman shows it graphically in terms of the power animal who walks with the individual. If that cord of connection is cut – just like Saturn cutting off Uranus’ balls - then the individual’s particular drive and character is lost.
Human beings are meant to be curious. Astrology indicates that whilst we have an innate nature, we are meant to evolve and grow through our lifetime on Earth – we can only do this if we are curious and we question. Have we really reached a point where we must question why we must not question?
Pisces water energy is purifying and refining. All the fish must try to swim together, find the wisdom in the sacred knot that joins them and work out how to create something out of the chaos and the void. Part of this will come from ritual and part of ritual is becoming one with Nature. Contemplate beside the waters of the Earth – her seas, lakes and rivers. Breathe the air within the lungs of the Earth – her forests and woodlands. Ritual honours our connection with something bigger. Ritual connects us through prayer, meditation, song, yogic practices. Through ritual we can vision what we need to create from the void and the chaos. And part of ritual is the need to hug and touch. Our world needs hugs and Love.