Astro-Archetype of the Week (May 26 - June 1): The Yogi
One must move before one can be still.
Astro-Archetype of the Week (May 26 - June 1): The Yogi
Informed by the planetary energy, we focus our care through one archetype in order to see all of the parts of us more clearly.
Key Astrological Transits:
May 25 - 27 | Jupiter in Gemini sextile Neptune in Pisces
May 27 | Mercury in Taurus sextile Saturn in Pisces
May 29 | Mars and Chiron conjunct in Aries
May 30 - June 6 | Jupiter in Gemini trine Pluto in Aquarius
May 31 | Mercury and Uranus conjunct in Taurus
June 1 | Sun and Venus conjunct in Gemini
One must move before one can be still.
This week is a sort of an eye of the storm. Flanked between two weeks of major energy shifts, we feel a calling to integrate the new ideas burbling up. We may even feel pressured to work on these ideas. To really make use of them. We may see this week as a prime time to “de-frag” the mind of old programs in order to make space for the new thought patterns of this season. When I think of “de-fragging” the mind, I think of meditation. Meditation helps our minds work – better, faster, with greater discernment. But what helps us meditate?
The Sun, Venus, and Jupiter are all in Gemini this week – a sign often associated with racing thoughts. And, our two “thinking” planets Mercury and Uranus are in devoted, sensual Taurus. We have Mars and Chiron converged in Aries, a sign of great energy and forward motion. To me, this combination points to the need (read: urgent) to slow our minds down enough to fully sense the new messages – and to use our bodies briskly in order to get there.
I’m deep into my year long Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training. This experience has been one the most difficult tasks I’ve assigned myself in this lifetime. I live in my mind. It’s often swirling, full of images and scenes and ideas. It’s entertaining in here and often I don’t want to experience anything outside of it. Just as often, I feel overwhelmed by the activity in my mind. And now–with a redirected gaze toward my body, my stillness, my edges, my grace–I see mostly how yoga supports my mind. Another path to what I’ve focused my life on.
You see, the yoga that is physical and full of many different postures is just one limb of yoga. The postures, the asanas, were designed to move the body so that it may eventually sit still in meditation for minutes, hours, or days. Once we move our body, we are more able to sit still and sink in.
The Astro-Archetype of this week is the Yogi. The one who knows their nervous system relies on movement in order to stabilize. This archetype asks us to move. To sweat! To stretch! To thank our creators for our bodies and our minds by moving them! And then to sit still in presence.
The sign of Gemini also rules the lungs. In most traditional yogic texts, the instruction is to prepare for meditation with the asanas and then breathwork.
So it goes like this:
First, we get our energy up. We conjure our Aries parts with movement, initiation, attempting.
Then, when hold our poses (asanas) and engage our strength. Taurus teaches us what sustained movement and holding can do for us.
Next, we breathe in and out. We welcome the outside in and exhale the inside out. Gemini is our receiver and distributor.
And now we are ready to practice no-thought and one-mind in meditation. Attempting meditation before we’ve moved or breathed thoughtfully is futile.
Moodboard for the Astro-Archetype of the Yogi
[1] Source unknown. Dancers and hurricane’d palm trees mirror each other.
[2] Egg Dance (1903). Oil on canvas, 171.5 x 105 cm. The New Art Gallery Walsall, West Midlands, England By John Collier (1850–1934)
[3] "It's health, it's understanding, it's creation, it's love especially. When you are open, love comes." ~Vanda Scaravelli, Italian yogini (1908-1999)
[4] Vintage photograph of yogi demonstrating nadi shodhana pranayama technique.
[5] Yogi Jessamyn Stanley in desert landscape.
Something big is happening this week [personal]:
Dara Barrois/Dixon’s work has been an incredible teacher for my own writing and I can hardly wait to meet her and see her read in person.
7pm Central on Wednesday, May 29, 2024
This is a hybrid reading ($ Give What You Can).
Attend the CrowdCast here. Or attend in person at Woodland Pattern in Milwaukee, WI.
I’ll be reading from the two manuscripts I’ve been developing (and maybe finishing this summer?!?!): the one about the throuple with an alien flash and one about the body and the land. I’d be so honored to have you witness <3
Mmm thank you for this delicious guidance this week KP! I definitely have been having the urge to move more, and this was the exact motivation I needed! Also ~ I want to dance like the hurricane palms.