I had an amazing time at Oakland’s monthly Art Murmur. It has become quite the event drawing throngs of supporters out to see the exploding local art scene. It’s feel grateful that my surrounding culture so deeply appreciates and serves the arts! And it was a super fun Gemini Sun start to the gathering and cavorting energy of the Summer!
On my walk home as I cruised down the last street of art galleries I was riveted by one last painting. This painting depicted a handful of monkeys surfing on tsunami-sized waves as a volcano erupted in the background.
The image immediately reminded me of a talk I heard back in February by Liu Ming on the Year of the Dragon. He described our current Dragon Year as a year of limitless possibility. Yet, contrary to my first impression, he explained that limitless isn’t always good. Limitless energy comes in the form of tsunami’s – it can be overwhelming and if we don’t work with it well it can be quite overwhelming.
However he explained that one of the archetypes that thrives in a tsunami-type year was the Monkey! Monkeys are clever, they see big waves as a chance to surf and play. They know how to ride it out! They can climb to the top of a tree, jump on the back of a floating piece of cargo and surf, they know just when to slip out before things get uncomfortable and they know how to read the signs.
And geez, it has been overwhelming lately. Right?
The changes, losses, limitations, insights, evolutionary directives, the intrusion of the dream world, the uncertainty, the raw emotions, the tight bodies, the dissolving of form, the despairing news – it has been SUPER overwhelming.
Monkey is a Trickster, and most of the HUGE astrological events of the moment are going down in Gemini ruled by Mercury, the quick-moving Messenger God – a Trickster. We are in a Trickster workshop, opening to the fast-paced, quick-as-lightening adjustments in thoughts and conditions.
The Solar Eclipse on May 20th was in the sign of Gemini, the Lunar Eclipse on June 4th was in Sagittarius (opposite Gemini), and the Sun, Mercury and Venus (and soon to be expansive Jupiter on June 11th) are ALL playing in the realm of Gemini.
Eclipse energy already has a quickening quality and to experience it all through lightening-speed Gemini has been quite the accelerated ride! Gemini is also thought of as the twins – a back and forth, push and pull, cross-pollinating kind of dialogue. It can make you feel a little crazy! But it is really there to help you see from this angle and then from that angle whatever life is illuminating for you.
Mercury, The Trickster, knows how to dance with change, how to cross borders, make things happen, what joke to tell to break the mood and what face to show to make important connections. Mercury is also the only God that can easily travel from the Underworld and back up to the surface of consciousness.
Gemini also rules your nervous system, the communication highways within your own body. So this is a powerful time to do energy work, Cranio Sacral therapy, yoga, take baths, deep breaths, lay on the earth, and any other way you might support your nervous system. Our electrical bodies are being re-arranged and we can help them through this time of adaptation through body-awareness and tender care.
Imagine Mercury is inside your nervous system/energy body moving like intelligent lightening through your electrical highway clearing out any roadblocks (old beliefs, memories, self-criticism, etc) that impede your creative process. This might be kicking up some mighty energy from your Unconscious, but He is lubricating your nervous system, showing you how fast we can adapt if we are nimble, allowing and light-footed.
That’s not to say we are all super adept at embodying and trusting Trickster energy, not all of us are wired to make such lightening-quick movements but I think it is, nonetheless, the requirement of the times we are living in.
In fact, one of the ways this nervous system process seems to be manifesting is through increased reactivity! Our electrical/emotional bodies are reaching their limits and volcanoes are exploding! (See my previous post on Reactivity).
Primarily, I am observing in others, and experiencing in myself, a lot of rage and anxiety.
It seems we’ve all HAD ENOUGH (of something)!
I know for myself I have had enough of putting Others needs first!
I’ve also had enough of the guarded energy I place over my heart in an unsophisticated attempt to protect myself from the very dynamic that I am creating!
I have been feeling a lifetime’s worth of rage connected to my unmet needs for self, autonomy and protected time and a lot of separation and isolation due to my protective guard. During the Venus retrograde (reviewing relationships) I’ve noticed a great desire to project and blame everyone around me for this loss of self and isolation.
But the true power lives in claiming and taking accountability for the beliefs and habits of relating that I bring to the dynamic. At the core of it all is a fear of being myself, of getting my ass in gear and going head first towards my own fears and evolutionary tasks. I’m afraid to ride my own waves! While there are real parts of my history/survival mechanisms that created this Other-first mentality it has become more comfortable to hide in the Other then to be my Self.
I’ve had enough of all of this! I’m calling on the fun-loving, ready for the party, adaptable, fearless inner Monkey-Trickster.
I’m getting on the surfboard. How about you?
What have you had enough of?
What is your reactivity telling you?
Can you let the quick-lightening of Mercury clear away obstacles?
Can you call on the Trickster within you and ride your own wave of fear?
What nice thing can you do for your nervous system today?
PS: Though this post is primarily about Gemini and the Trickster, underlying our Gemini journey has been the all-important Venus retrograde and on Tuesday June 5th we had the rare event of Venus passing over the Sun. (So cool!) If there is one thing I keep hearing from Venus, it’s this: with all this urging, fast-paced, reactive and overwhelming momentum towards change there is only one way to get there…. the evolutionary directive of the moment is to Love. Feel love, open to love, bath in love, be guided by love and offer love to your fellow travelers. Trickster encourages us to PLAY in the midst of all this change and Venus encourages us to LOVE.
COME PLAY WITH LAURA
If you want to treat yourself to an afternoon of ritual, community and playing on a mountain, Laura is offering a Summer Solstice Ritual Event on Saturday June 23rd on Ring Mountain in Marin County. There are only a few more spots left. Come join the fun! Email Laura for more information at journey@lauratabet.com.
Image: Monkey vs Shark by Teja Astawa