The New Moon in Mutable Air on the 3rd June 2019 at 11:01am BST
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne
It takes two.
Though it may seem that you are alone, encased as you are within a body, conscious that there appears to be a finite boundary where you ‘end’ and where someone else begins and though you may feel separated from others, isolated within a rich inner world, struggling to communicate the depth of reality within which you live, you are not alone. You are physically conceived as a direct consequence of the union of two sOuls and contain within you their DNA as well as the DNA of all those who came together to bring your parents, grandparents and so on into being. At birth, you are brought into the world through your mother and immediately held by her. At death, you leave this world held, directly or indirectly, by those with whom you have connected and simultaneously greeted by those who have already departed. Throughout your life you are constantly surrounded by others and are continually interacting with them whether in person or through their actions or inactions. Though there will be times when you feel truly by yourself, frustrated by your life, unable to find a language to articulate your passion, disappointed that things have not worked smoothly and bereft of meaningful intimacy, you are still not alone, since it is during those times that you will seek comfort or distraction within the inner worlds of another communicated through the mediums of blogs, videos, books, art, lyrics or photography. Those inspirations will speak to you and move you to an act of creation, which may lie unseen for a time before it too will serve to inspire another, as it is truly human to seek without to help the within.
It is truly rare for a creation to be conceived alone. Even for those introverted sOuls who prefer solitude to the noise of the distracted world so that they can commune more freely with their own voice and imagination, they will come into contact with ‘another’ through the books they are drawn to read, the music they listen to, the ‘art’ that they move towards. Unless you live in a padded cell, several kilometres underground, your awareness is continually being drawn outside of yourself, as you continually come into connection with others, albeit briefly. However, those moments of interaction are always meaningful as you are handed the opportunity to ‘see’ yourself through your reactions, interactions and inactions to what you perceive you have encountered.
And we need this mirroring so that we can a better awareness of ourselves. We need this connection to help to hone and refine our own creativity. We need this interaction so we can find better balance and perspective. Even if that connection is between you and the invisible you, you and the higher you, or you and gOd! It is often said that two minds are greater than one not because one person cannot conceive and produce something, but because feedback, perspective and ‘seeing’ things through another’s perception of reality, oft times help to sharpen and more actively develop your own perception. A famous historical example is that of the Inklings in the 1930’s-40’s., who were a group of British writers comprising C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien who, over alcohol and cigars, discussed literature and sharpened each other’s stories. Neither a club nor a literary society, reading and discussing of the members’ unfinished works enabled a refinement and tightening of the inner world of the writers, from which Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Lewis’s Out of the Silent Planet arose.
Even if you don’t have a close companion and see your path is an isolated one, remember that you are in deep company with the thoughts and idea of others, as your companions sit on your book shelf. Books contain the reality of another and can foster in you inspiration, their passion opening up channels for your own passion, their musing whetting your appetite for further thought and reflection, and their prose propelling you to create something that will further develop the union between you both. Of course books can antagonise and confuse as much as uplift and inspire you, but you are interacting with another sOul through the very act of reading.
And so you are not alone. You are surrounded by the interior reality of another though the inventions, ideas and inspirations that make up your world; you are surrounded by people who are helping you come to terms with the scripts and patterns that are held within your cosmic DNA; you breathe in the air molecules irrevocably altered by the intention of another that animates and enlivens your physical and psychical being; and you are made up of the physical DNA of many sOuls, each of whom lives within you. The vital “Air” you inhale deeply into your being is not simply there to aid you to receive the necessary oxygen to keep you alive. It allows sound and light to circulate. Information is carried on those light and sound waves. The quality of the sound and light that you give permission to penetrate your Being is important since you become what you think about in the same way that you are what you eat. The natural exchange of information from you to someone else not only leads to a cross-pollination of perspectives but it empowers you to acquire knowledge thereby enhancing (or otherwise) your understanding of your life, supporting you to make more informed decisions. Coming away from such an exchange having received a higher revelation is the ultimate raison d’être of our seeking communion with another Soul.
Image Credit – Unknown
The notion of this two way exchange between you and ‘another’, whether literally or figuratively, is known in astrology by another name – Gemini.
Its very existence is a testimony to the fact that we, as humans, actively need to interact with each other, sharing ideas and perspectives, collaborating and colluding with each other to promote growth and perspective, whether painful or joy filled. This misunderstood archetype, often reduced to being seen as a flighty, excitable, restless social butterfly, who possesses the concentration span of a goldfish, replete with a mind whose sole purpose is to retain gossip, whose personality is built to socially network, and whose stomach aches with an insatiable hunger for information, accounts for the fact that your world is merely a mirror of you and a bridge exists between you and your world through your ability to communicate the spirit that exists within you. Without Gemini there would be no ability to exchange ideas; there would be no collaboration; there would be stagnation; bad ideas would remain bad; the potential of a more conscious, more impactful and fulfilled life would be diminished; and you would be truly alone.
The intent imbued within the words that you use carries as much importance as the actual words themselves. I am sure that you can think of examples of stories that you have read which were not especially literate, yet there was something intangible emanating from the ‘aura’ of the story that seemed to capture your imagination and shaped your consciousness. So during the Geminian lunation on the 3rd June 2019, I would invite you to reflect on whether you are truly devoid of any cognitive interaction with another sOul; whether you are truly alone; how collaboration, direct or indirect, has sharpened your creative process; and on the quality of what you are reading, thinking and communicating.
Art by Ella Engelbrecht
Remember you do not have to be born during the time when Sol skips through this sign nor do you have to have a celestial body located within this sign to have a relationship with Gemini. For those familiar with astrology, you can explore the arena of life wherein this sign falls (the house) and how you have experienced this active need to share and exchange thoughts and ideas; you could cast a circle and sit in the area of the circle associated with Gemini and listen to the images, thoughts and feelings that are invoked whilst in that protected state, so you can tangibly experience the way in which this sign is interplaying with your consciousness; of you could look your interaction with those sOuls in your life born with a Gemini signature and ‘see’ how comfortable you feel in the presence of someone who actively understands that they are not alone and who is eager to reach out and share the contents of their inner world with you!
But the simple fact remains. You are not alone. You never have been and you will not ever be alone. You are part of a community, no matter how active, function or healthy it maybe. And you are collaborating with that community. The question remains what you are putting out into that community, what you are receiving and the quality of the exchange that you are ‘both’ experiencing. Please spend some time, therefore, during this rebirthing of the Gemini archetype, to renew your commitment to sharing information, to receiving information, and in raising yours and their consciousness through the interaction that you have together.
All rights reserved – www.andrewsmith.ie www.cosmicintelligenceagency.com and Andrew Smith. Completed at 09:55 BST, 12th May 2019.
