Taurus Balsamic Moon
—June 24

Jim Morrison of sixties band The Doors influenced the collective with countless poems and lyrics inspired through a quote from William Blake, who once wrote that “if the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite…”

Endless. Blissful.

Today’s lunarly impact, by degree, represents such a notion…

Blake continued this sentiment, though little recognition has been brought to the conclusion: for man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern… from which he may very well have been inspired through Plato’s cave theory.

Today’s energies reflect upon burdens—past and present—and the conscious ability to free oneself from these burdens—real or imagined.

Plato and Blake and Morrison alike, all in their individuated ways, understood that the human mind is in itself a burden, a limitation, a sort of prison… that our very thoughts can entrap us into a reality that, beyond our minds, simply isn’t so. It’s no wonder that Mercury, the planet associated with the mind, with thoughts, ideas, illusions, and imaginings is also termed ‘the trickster’, and the term ‘mercurial’ describing that which is changeable, volatile, fickle, or erratic.

As astrologer Dane Rudhyar explained of this degree and its symbolisms, that “the traditional teachings concerning man’s nature are somehow reconciled with the youthful enthusiasm that sees in every problem of growth an issue between the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’… the symbol suggests that the real enemy is within the mind; it is the ego and its attachment to possessions… the mind is shown in the likeness of a ‘bag’, now empty, and needing to be aired in the sunlight—but the ‘window’ must first be opened and the bag emptied… even more to be cleansed is the container of perceptual images—the ego mind…”

Perhaps a little (self-administered) psychoanalysis is necessary?

Particularly, as we move into Cancer season—by “holding onto everything old or outworn in your environment or, indeed, inside your self, you create clutter that restricts your well-being and your future… consider discarding anything that doesn’t measure up.”

Do you really need the thoughts you think?

Do you really need to hold yourself to all of your routines?—mental or otherwise…

Do you really need to cling so tightly to specific memories?—emotionally or otherwise…

What relevance do any of the above have toward your future?

It’s a good time to talk to someone you trust should you be needing to rid yourself of some of your thoughts and feelings, though I would recommend you communicate and share these with someone you fully and wholly trust… though, again, as we move into Cancer season—keeping thoughts and feelings to ourselves is most natural and preferable to exposing any vulnerabilities. Still, as the moon weakens to be reborn, it’s an ideal time to surrender some of your inner darknesses, those thoughts and feelings that haven’t yet seen light… to see some light for better understanding.

Better understanding, and perhaps—maybe, just maybe—a new and unexpected perspective…

Whatever you do—leave the cave, get out of your own mind, go way beyond your own natural or preferred inclinations, let the sun shine in.

❝The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.❞
——Friedrich Nietzsche

🖋️ by Jamie James; 📷 by gaglain

Goldsmith, M. ‘The Zodiac by Degrees.’ Weiser Books; ©2004.
Hill, L. ‘360 Degrees of Wisdom.’ A Plume Book; ©2004.
Kaldera, R. ‘Moon Phase Astrology.’ Destiny Books; ©2011.
Rudhyar, D. ‘An Astrological Mandala.’ Vintage Books; ©1973.