Healing the trickster
For the last week or so, I have found myself totally lacking in inspiration about what to write here. Lots of things have been stressful, so that I lapse into my usual tendency to think myself in circles and drive myself mad. A quick glance at my current astrology transits reminds me that Chiron is conjuncting my natal Mercury, and all becomes clear.
Chiron is shaman and healer, an asteroid located between Mars and Jupiter. Symbolically and literally, it forms a link between our individual concerns (symbolised by the inner planets Mercury, Venus and Mars) and the cosmic realm of the outer planets. It's currently travelling through the early degrees of Pisces, where for me, it encounters Mercury. Mercury rules the mind, how we communicate and how we think. But it's not all air and logic, Mercury is also a trickster spirit - in Greek mythology, Hermes (Mercury is the Roman name) was up to mischief when still in his cradle, stealing Apollo's sacred cattle and charming his way out of trouble. Mercury as trickster uses guile, cunning and trickery to get his way. Jung saw the trickster as a part of our collective shadow, the part that makes us sabotage our highest principles and subverts our attempts to reach our goals. Mercury in Pisces has this trickster energy, relying on intuition and instinctive knowledge rather than the ordered reason that society tells me I should be following. For me, this manifests as daydreaming and wishful thinking, instead of focussing my mind on what I am trying to achieve. But there are gifts in the chaotic energy of the trickster - an idle daydream last week, backed up by a little synchronicity, led me to a definite plan for something I've been wanting to do for years (I'll let you know how I get on with actually manifesting it!).
Chiron transits always bring spiritual guidance into our lives, whether we are accustomed to listen for it or not. It might be a gentle push such as finding just the right book (or in my case, just the information I was looking for), or something more challenging. Either way, we are given a new perspective, and are moved on in our journey. We are forced to focus on our intuition, or to seek intuitive guidance in others, and indeed many people seek astrology readings for guidance during Chiron transits (although they might not have known about the Chiron transit before their reading!). You'd think that trusting my intuition might come easily to me, with Mercury in Pisces in the first house, but this is actually something that I really struggle with. As I navigate this transit, I'm finding that if I want something very badly, I find it very hard to reach my true intuition at all. It's as if my mind, true to Mercurial form, plays tricks on me, convincing me that I'm intuiting something which is mostly wishful thinking. Chiron is showing me which parts of my life I can change right now, and what I have to let go of, however badly I want it.
The answer, as ever, is to tune into the energy on its own terms. Instead of grasping and trying to define my intuitions (have I mentioned that my Mercury in Pisces trines Saturn in Gemini ?!), I need to learn to go with the flow. When I have found mental calm, these last couple of weeks, its been sitting to meditate, just letting the thoughts and feelings flow through my overactive mind. Music is also good for moving out of monkey mind, anything that communicates nonverbally. My daily card today is the Page of Cups (the Kingfisher I talked about in my last post), so I shall listen to my feelings and let the stressful thoughts subside.
Chiron is shaman and healer, an asteroid located between Mars and Jupiter. Symbolically and literally, it forms a link between our individual concerns (symbolised by the inner planets Mercury, Venus and Mars) and the cosmic realm of the outer planets. It's currently travelling through the early degrees of Pisces, where for me, it encounters Mercury. Mercury rules the mind, how we communicate and how we think. But it's not all air and logic, Mercury is also a trickster spirit - in Greek mythology, Hermes (Mercury is the Roman name) was up to mischief when still in his cradle, stealing Apollo's sacred cattle and charming his way out of trouble. Mercury as trickster uses guile, cunning and trickery to get his way. Jung saw the trickster as a part of our collective shadow, the part that makes us sabotage our highest principles and subverts our attempts to reach our goals. Mercury in Pisces has this trickster energy, relying on intuition and instinctive knowledge rather than the ordered reason that society tells me I should be following. For me, this manifests as daydreaming and wishful thinking, instead of focussing my mind on what I am trying to achieve. But there are gifts in the chaotic energy of the trickster - an idle daydream last week, backed up by a little synchronicity, led me to a definite plan for something I've been wanting to do for years (I'll let you know how I get on with actually manifesting it!).
Chiron transits always bring spiritual guidance into our lives, whether we are accustomed to listen for it or not. It might be a gentle push such as finding just the right book (or in my case, just the information I was looking for), or something more challenging. Either way, we are given a new perspective, and are moved on in our journey. We are forced to focus on our intuition, or to seek intuitive guidance in others, and indeed many people seek astrology readings for guidance during Chiron transits (although they might not have known about the Chiron transit before their reading!). You'd think that trusting my intuition might come easily to me, with Mercury in Pisces in the first house, but this is actually something that I really struggle with. As I navigate this transit, I'm finding that if I want something very badly, I find it very hard to reach my true intuition at all. It's as if my mind, true to Mercurial form, plays tricks on me, convincing me that I'm intuiting something which is mostly wishful thinking. Chiron is showing me which parts of my life I can change right now, and what I have to let go of, however badly I want it.
The answer, as ever, is to tune into the energy on its own terms. Instead of grasping and trying to define my intuitions (have I mentioned that my Mercury in Pisces trines Saturn in Gemini ?!), I need to learn to go with the flow. When I have found mental calm, these last couple of weeks, its been sitting to meditate, just letting the thoughts and feelings flow through my overactive mind. Music is also good for moving out of monkey mind, anything that communicates nonverbally. My daily card today is the Page of Cups (the Kingfisher I talked about in my last post), so I shall listen to my feelings and let the stressful thoughts subside.