Kongo Kosmo 7

08/01/201708/01/2017

Tracking Venus

Leo season came in windier than expected. There was an uplifting of the shoulders, a stretching of the heart, an arousal of the breath, and a swift kick in the chest as the lion brings us to the stage of our personal light. Leo’s energy has a salient relationship with Venus due to Leo’s rulership of the heart and chest, which is the space where Venus stores our passions and desires. Venus traveling through Gemini, Cancer and Leo is the theme of this post, as it reflects the shifting weight of immaterial consciousness manifesting in our reality.

Planet Venus Facts: A Hot, Hellish & Volcanic Planet — Venus. Credit: NASA

When Venus was in Gemini all last month, it was a time of gathering information. Knowledge about our desired aesthetic was accessible, as we pondered how to get to what we want. Venus brings to consciousness the lifestyle and routine that we want to operate in eternally, and all of the monetary, social, and aesthetical necessities that come with that operation. Venus is about creation, and while in Gemini, mental aspirations come to the forefront of our thoughts. Venus in Gemini is akin to a seed that is fulled with the information of life, but has not been cultivated to grow. This transit directed us to our passions and deep longings. Our desires may have begun their manifestation in our reality in tangible ways, due to our airy thoughts swirling to the soil. We know we have the authority to want things, and we see those things coming to life, but there is still some fine tuning required before we can settle.

Venus is currently in Cancer, and the warm of the ocean shares a space with Leo’s ambition and fire, producing a steaming off feeling. This transit is in the warmth of the belly. I think of the Spanish word for pregnant “embarazada,” derived from the Spanish word embarazar, which still has an alternate meaning of “to impede.” It’s a sudden shift in consciousness, and a slowing of the breath after the quickness of Gemini season. Now we can stop and breath in for a moment. Here the seed of our desire has been planted, and the water is added. Water can be volative as the waves tests our seed to see if it is sentiment to change. But the seed must die so that life can come. With this energy, there is a loss of words; the nonverbal manifestation of dreams. The gut feeling of losing control and laying your head back in the flowing current. Venus in Cancer is the fluctuating dance of earth and water, and the desires of our heart must be grounded and known for them to come to life. Do the belly good.

Then, when Venus transits Leo on August 26, 2017, we will see the birthing of our light. This energy is wide open. We will be wide open about what we want, and the method of manifesting what we want. From the primordial waters of Cancer, Venus will emerge in the light needed to activate the seed. This activation will really begin on the upcoming new moon solar eclipse on August 21 in Leo. The solar plexus will be an energetic portal to receive the shine and confidence needed to feed our creation.

I rolled my dice to see which house should be the focus of this energy leading up to the eclipse:

I got the 9, representing the ninth house. This roll makes sense because this is the exact house the eclipse will be taking place. The sun, moon, and North Node will all be conjuncting in Leo in the 9th house on August 21. This is an important configuration because now is the time for expansion, higher education, and spiritual development. It is the time to move to where you want to manifest your harvest. It is the time to open your heart and experience a new way of approaching your dreams. You have the information, the manifesting methods, and the wisdom to grow and plant yourself. Enter a spiritual practice that grounds you as you understand that there are multiple modalities to one source. Growth is uncomfortable at times, but don’t make decisions from the growing pains; wait until you know when to connect to the source you need in order to decide with a cool consciousness. You can do things you need to do as the light strengthens you.

Much love and light

06/29/201706/29/2017

Mars and Mercury in Cancer Conjunct: the Armor of God

06/21/201706/21/2017

Dreaming of Cancer Sun 🌙

Oh cancer season. I want to share a few scattered thoughts about this energy.

Planets behave as we behave. The emotional nature of the moon is manifested most openly through cancerian energy. The birth of the emotional element of the zodiac brings to mind the things required of us to be whole, knowing the inner and outer layers of consciousness and subconsciousness. The sun casts its shadow on the surface of the moon, so our conscious awareness is ultimately connected to our emotional responsiveness.

What instantly comes to mind when I think about cancer energy is that scene from Belly (1998) of Keisha (Taral Hicks) laying across the bed in utter comfort and deep dark blue aesthetic:

This! Pure cancer aesthetic right here. The fittedness of the blue wavy texture. The darkness of the room, the snugness of the bed, the feeling of sinking into comfort. The sensation of slipping into a place of faithful stability. The depth of durability of uncovered skin.

The summer solstice of 2017 began with the moon in Taurus, waning crescent, in the sign of its exaltation. Powerful, adorned, relieving, like the exhalation after an emotional moment, the moon’s season commences with a discernment of the soul. The dream-like state we feel when gazing at the moon. We gaze at this liminal space between the sun and the moon, murky as a trance.

PIA12663_hires — Saturn’s moon Dione | The Cassini spacecraft | Jan. 27, 2010

I had a dream last night about being in a new house. The ideas of warmth and centeredness made me feel secure and whole. Cancerian energy is just that: the protection and security of arguably one of the most vulnerable parts of your composition—the soul. A house warming gathering of souls. The impression of pushing your heel downward into soft soil. Where wounds go to find healing salves.

The cardinal creator of the embryonic fluid. The stark awareness newborns have when they have learned how to control their necks. The elongation and celebration of the sun, knowing that emotions within rules the actions without.

Soul lurking Cancer.

The card I pulled for this post is: “Pictor” (Temperance) Air.

This card represents the artist’s easel, a small tool used to make their work. Cancer season/summer solstice is the time to create. Whatever creative project or work that defines the self should be initiated during this season. The card speaks to love and support in the atmosphere from people around. If there are any negative energies stunting creative growth should have been cut off during Gemini season. Now is the time to create from whatever state one is in, and the very act of creation will bring the emotional balance needed to feel secure. The card has a small canvas and a simple paintbrush stroke in the center. The summer solstice is a time of regeneration, a blank canvas to create a personal masterpiece. Opening the heart to unknown opportunities, although it feels vulnerable at first, will be met with divine assistance and prosperity, only when the movement to create begins. Creation is a practice of healing and being the full self.

05/28/201705/28/2017

Chiron as Ascended Master

Healing is the death of parts of one’s being, resulting in the birthing and (re)sustaining of new ways of thinking and interacting with the self. The concept is sooo much to me. It hurts. Yet it’s necessary to being whole. Healing has always been this vague term to me, something inside that was forever distant and difficult to articulate. There is a certain darkness that comes along with the word, a heavy work, and reshaping of the grim parts of the soul. Although we know the shiny result of healing, the journey seems dimmed with grunge and deep examination that some people may try to avoid. This word has been the focus of many intuitive astrologers and spiritualists alike and is the very thing many people are looking for. Luckily, there are several heavenly bodies that help us understand healing and the thick layers of reluctance, agitation, and liberation that come along with it.

One of these heavenly bodies is Chiron.

Discovered in 1977 by Charles Kowal, Chiron appeared to be coming out of the mouth of the ram in a constellation of Aries, answering the cry of healing that humanity needed. In western astrology, we know Chiron to represent the deepest pain that has come with us to the planet (as intuitive astrologer Sonja Marie would say). Chiron shows us our inadequacies, our personal wounds, places we may overcompensate, and in some cases, even our karmic debt. This asteroid teaches us what healing is and how to heal ourselves and others. It shows us our wounds, fresh and old ones, and teaches us how to heal them. Chiron has walked the path before us and knows which way is for our greatness wholeness. The process of healing is layered and dense, and Chiron shifts our consciousness in a way that new connections are formed, resulting in the repairing of wounds. It is through awareness that Chiron instructs us on how to heal.

The Centaur asteroids (there are a few like Chiron) serve as energetic portals between planets. Chiron connects the energies of Uranus and Saturn, which makes sense mythologically because Chiron was born of the union between the Titan Cronus and the goddess-nymph Phylira of Mount Pelion (Fiorenza). Cronus disguised himself as a horse to avoid being seen by his wife Rhea during his lovemaking with Phylira, resulting in their offspring Chiron, who was half horse and half human. Phylira (goddess of beauty, perfume, healing and writing, pure honey, elixir of the gods, protein of the future) abandons Chiron in a cave on Mount Pelion where he studied with the sage Apollo and learned the art and sciences of music, harmonics, healing, and other related arts of self-mastery (Fiorenza).

Chiron was ABANDONED by his mama of all people (or of all goddesses…)! Chiron was left in the dark, so he truly understands the murkiness that wounds carry. Chiron was emotionally wounded only to know how to work the mechanism of healing and beauty. One story reveals that Chiron was struck by one of Hercules’ poisonous arrows. He could not die because he was immortal. Although he was a great healer, he still felt the pains of the poison and could not heal himself. Giving up his immortality, Zeus placed Chiron in the stars as a tribute to his legacy. Chiron holds the key to life and immortality, and he knows how wounds are carried and resolved.

Chiron will station retrograde at 28 degrees Pisces on June 30th. This retrograde will last until December 5, 2017 at 24 degrees Pisces. Chiron understands the energy of Pisces because it is at home here. What better salve is there than the psychic two fish of this zodiac sign? Pisces is all about the ethereal, the subconscious, hope, imagination, and spirit. Admittedly, many of our wounds lie in our subconsciousness, and Chiron in Pisces works at that very level. Chiron has been in Pisces for a minute, but this retrograde will be impactful as Chiron calls us to revisit any wounds that hinder our wholeness. Chiron teaches us how to be undivided, and the lesson must be learned before liberation is accessible.

Because of this, Chiron should not be bound to the wounded healer archetype but should be received and conceived as an ascended master, just as any other spiritual force who has come to this realm of reality to assist us. With its Saturn-Uranus nature, Chiron directs us to mastery, teaching us how to be whole and how to break free from the damaged cycles triggered by our wounds. Chiron as an ascended master is not wounded any longer; it is not the small centaur stuck in a dark cave, abandoned by a loved one. Chiron has ascended to a higher state of existence and sparks our consciousness to an elevated place of healing. This is where Chiron’s Sagittarian energy initiates a creative ambiance that dares us to explore and employ the universe to receive the healing we know we deserve. Chiron’s healing balms bring wounds right in our faces (Saturn) and instruct us of new and innovative paths to healing them (Uranus). This is the lesson of Chiron’s retrograde; reconsider Chiron’s “wounded healer” epithet and allow the ascension of consciousness to bring holistic healing. As the master surgeon (who has mastered the medical arts) with such concise detail, Chiron tells us the exact methods of healing.

On Chiron’s healing and ascension properties, astrologer Nick Anthony Fiorenza states, “Chiron makes way from the bounds and limitations of our past structures in consciousness and established modalities of living and helps us to realize and integrate new alternatives and paths in life, as it helps us to break trail into a new and refined neurological resonance.” The archer of old points to a new paradigm that leads us to our personal balm.

I pull a card from the Cosmos Tarot & Oracle Deck with every post, and this card came up:

The Ursa Minor card is an interesting connection with mythology because the card depicts Arcas, born from a forbidden union between Zeus and the nymph Callisto (similar to the hoohaaa love-making that produced Chiron). Hera turned Callisto into a big bear when she found out. Arcas, the son of Zeus and Callisto, was hunting one day and almost killed the bear that was his mother. But Zeus intervened and made them both constellations. This card represents a hidden nature that lies beneath the surface. It is a call to “look deeper” to avert close calls and crisis (doing healing work to amend crisis). And that very description is Chiron actualized. Chiron’s quick Uranus nature makes us aware of the deep wounds below the surface of what we usually emit. The card has fish shown beneath the bear-shaped boat- a Piscean connection to healing and shadow work. This card also speaks to a chance encounter with someone who will cause both of you to ascend to levels of healing and understanding. Despite the torn, wounded past, Chiron is creating a honey solution to fix the gaping pains that crises have wrought and shifting our consciousness to new ways of approaching healing and wholeness.

References

Sonja Marie. “Chiron..” wordlifeastrology.com
Nick Anthony Fiorenza, “The Astronomy and Astrology of the Centaurs Chiron, Pholus, Nessus, Asbolus & Chariklo” 2001-2017.
“Ascended Master Lord Chiron” cobalt.com.au

05/13/201705/28/2017

Words are Spells

To begin, I am thinking about words, and my love for them, and their power to bring life and deadness to our realities. My journey as an English professor and astrologer has brought me close to the weight of words. Our psychological connection to language is the very foundation of our existence here on earth. People are looking for that one word, uttered from their depths, that would shake their foundation and grant them the freedom (or control) they desire. In my experience, I notice how folks interact with words and use them to define their persona, hide their insecurities, and feed their demons. Students worry about finding the correct language to fulfill a prompt. Astrology clients are concerned with the cosmic word, language to define their astrological body. The foundation of our cosmological and physical manifestations quite literally rests within the word.

Not to make this post to English teacher-y, but I want to define a term that has led me to believe that words are spells (prayers, a beckon to manifestation, a constant definition of desired reality) and that words have a very physical presence when we speak. And it is with this understanding that I teach, I read the astrological charts of others, and I work my own magic. Coming from a “name-it-and-claim-it” Pentecostal church background, I think there is a wealth of information concerning words and manifestation embedded in Black American spiritual discourse already. I want to tease the fact that speaking words is the same as casting energy and calling desired forces into your purview.

The term I want to define is “metalinguistic awareness.” It is the ability to objectify language as a process as well as an artifact. Simplified, we use a different lexicon of words depending on the audience who receives them. We are aware of how we speak, and we change our language according to our audience. Some of us would never speak to a parent the same way we speak to our friends, so we are aware of the impact words have. We indeed have the ability to objectify language, or make words into physical objects that alter reality. Words then become objects that we use, play with, transform, and silence in order to receive the desired result. Language is always evolving (process), but it can be recorded as a historical document (artifact).

So, how do we get “words are spells” from metalinguistic awareness? It is the very act of prayers/spell casting/incantations/meditation that our metalinguistic awareness is employed and heightened. We know the prefix “meta” means to “go beyond”- so in metalinguistics we are going beyond linguistics (language). The speaker knows that words are indeed mean more than the words themselves. Spells and prayers are nothing but our ability to speak meta-vibrational patterns into our present narrative and co-create (co-writing with vibrational patterns around you) speaking into the objectified structure of everyday reality. Words are vibrational patterns that have a metaphysical effect on our narrative. Once we realize that we are not stuck in our present situation (we are not disconnected from the words that define our existence nor from the words that other objects radiate), then you can speak the language of higher vibrational patterns to change to present waves. You are now objectifying surrounding vibrational patterns into the objects of language (language as the system we use to give meaning to this earthly experience). By knowing that words that are structurally defining your energy, we must begin the process of choosing which words we are allowing to define us.

With the kind of upbringing I had, I can’t get away from the bible when it comes to making sense of spirituality (I’ve literally tried running to atheism, agnosticism, and many belief systems, but I’ve settled on a pantheistic version of spiritualism). John 1:1 reads, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The word has the foundation of creation. Logos, information, and the Divine were intertwined with and in each other. There was an original word that sparked consciousness. As Zora Neale Hurston said, “six days of magic spells and mighty words and the world with its elements above and below was made.” We have the power to use words in manifestation because words are the very mechanisms for such actions.

I’d like to pull a card from my lovely Cosmos tarot deck to go with this post. Here is the card I shuffled and chose:

Lmao, of course, the deck would bring up the “Gemini” card for this post. How original… Who else would understand the deep magic of words and lilt-like connectivity than the energy of Geminis, ruled by the planet Mercury (the God-messenger, wing-footed owner of our ability to fix things in our minds mentally only to manifest those thoughts into words)? But, this air sign card makes sense since this post is about words and manifestation. The Gemini twins represent the duality that exists when using your metalinguistic awareness in this realm to create higher vibrations in the spiritual realm. On the card, the man on the left has sparks of light coming from his head: that’s a divine connection to the metaphysical. The man on the right has a strong back and a darker appearance: that’s grounding our words on earth in manifestation and building a solid foundation. We must have both because words lead to materialization. The phrase “words are spells” is just a mystical way of letting you know that your words manifest your own reality.