“Birth Trinity,” 1983, needlework on mesh canvas, by Judy Chicago as part of her Birth Project.
Dear Friend and Reader:
If you feel like you’re not entirely sure what just happened, hang in there. Today (Sunday) featured some pivotal astrology. But as the energy from these events settles or changes direction, you might find that your perspective shifts, or that insights come through in a new form.
We’re in an unusual moment; and I say “moment” referring to the last year and a half or longer, as well as to today itself. Speaking in the short term, the Gemini Full Moon just peaked and Mercury just stationed retrograde.
“A mother gives birth to her son. This photograph captured a momentous introduction of a mother and baby’s first exchange. The baby is suspended in time, half way inside his mother and the world; being guided out by his mother’s own hands.” Photo and caption by Tara Garner, friend and doula of the mother / National Geographic Photo Contest.
Immediately this week, Mercury will retrace its slow path backwards through late Sagittarius, making the second of its three conjunctions with Saturn, centaur Pholus and the Galactic Core.
So on one level, you’re being offered an immediate review and new level of introspection regarding anything that felt like a ‘cosmic message’ coming through. It might have had to do with taking a new level of authority over your life; you may simply be feeling that you’re part of something much, much larger than you, and wondering how to embody your role in the grand scheme.
Speaking in the longer term, we’re experiencing the latest waves in the fallout precipitated by Donald Trump’s rise to the highest office in the U.S.: things such as burgeoning neo-Nazism; the FBI’s investigation of Trump’s associates for collusion with Russian agendas; the very real threat to Net Neutrality (that is, having an open-access internet — which is arguably the linchpin of our current environment); the popping and apparent draining of the social boil that is sexual harassment and assault of women by men abusing their power.
Viewing those cultural events and others astrologically, the standout aspect representing them is the Uranus-Eris conjunction in Aries, still in full force. As you may recall, this is the ‘expect the unexpected’ aspect. Uranus-Eris is a symbol of much of the subversion, media chaos, identity chaos and seeming revolution we’re experiencing on a daily basis.
And as Eric recently noticed, the dwarf planet Haumea is currently in Libra opposite Uranus-Eris. Haumea is a slow-moving planet, and was named after the matron goddess of Hawaii: the goddess of fertility and childbirth, with many children who sprang from various parts of her body. You might think of her as a kind of midwife.
If that’s the case, what on Earth is she birthing right now? It’s certainly possible to look around and assume that only terrible things are afoot. Yet perhaps that is shortsighted?
At the end of the play Scorched by Lebanese-Canadian playwright Wadji Mouawad, the character Nawal asks her two adult children, who were conceived in rape:
“She is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.” She Is a New Creation, oil on canvas, by Amanda Greavette for her Birth Project series.
Where does your story begin?
At your birth?
Then it begins in horror.
At your father’s birth?
Then it is a beautiful love story.
The play speaks not only of the repeating cycles of its characters, but of their breaking of the cycles to end a long silence, and to begin the complicated process of healing after discovering the full truth of their mother’s life. It is this idea of breaking cycles of silence with a new action, a new conversation; of coming to a fuller understanding of the truth, and being willing to accept the responsibility of what it means to live with that truth, that is speaking loudly to me right now.
What had been for me, initially, an exhausting experience of reading each new set of allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful, famous men — and the personal #metoo stories by women I know — is strangely starting to feel very powerful and encouraging. Perhaps this is because I’ve been fortunate to read thoughts by those (both women and men, people I know personally and those I do not) who are taking the conversation into thoughtful, nuanced territory; territory that is aimed toward healing, empowerment, and inquiries into how we can do better.
I also received a thought-provoking message this week from a reader that said, “I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Eric said the chart of last year’s presidential election suggested a female winner. I think he was correct even though Trump won. Women have been empowered ever since the election, rising up, exposing men who have wronged them. 2017, the year of the woman.”
The bold question is: What if she is right? What if something good came of all of this? What positive outcomes could there be?
Given the cyclical or spiral nature of existence, it makes a certain sense. It also serves as a reminder that good is far more likely to come of all this if each of us takes an active hand, in small ways or large ways, to guide (or maybe push?) the spiral in that direction.
If you were midwifing this birth, what would you do? What are your ideas about the good that might emerge from our current moment of history? What do you see as steps — or even one thing you can do — to help it arrive and take its first, wailing breath?
We’d love to hear your ideas. Feel free to email Planet Waves at cs@planetwaves.net.
In the long run, a large part of what is given birth to may depend on the type of work that is undertaken. Coincidentally published today by the BBC, this report on research by Cambridge scientists into the structure of women’s arms over several millennia suggests the daily grind in early farming communities would have given women more power to their elbows than is achieved by today’s modern championship rowers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42173236
Small steps may well be the best way forward, although some civilisations may have further to travel than others. In case you feel despondent about progress in the West:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-42218618
Also, Cate Blanchett in “The Missing” conceived in rape. In a movie directed by Ron Howard, its amazing how deep he goes into her trauma to the point where she says: “I don’t know how to leave her”. I thought she was really incredible in “Robin Hood” as well.
The expectation of birthing, traditionally – was the excitement of, Girl or Boy… now it’s a whole new ballgame.
There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.
“Maybe,” the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.
“Maybe,” replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “Maybe,” answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. “Maybe,” said the farmer… – in short – no one knows for sure <3
Tug — exactly. That Taoist story has always been a favorite of mine. No one knows for sure what the future will bring. Yet, at the same time, how far does one look back in the cycle or sequence of events to decide if something was “good” or “bad”? I guess all we ever know is that things are constantly changing, and there are many lessons to be learned — from those with a small, immediate focus to those with a broader, longer-term focus. So where do we choose to focus? What’s more empowering? And so on…
🙂
Twenty-three years ago I was touting a post-punk band called The Judgment of Solomon for their song Nuke Jerusalem.
Perhaps I should clarify my previous post, since Mercury is retrograde and everyone else seems in thrall to the chutzpah of Trumpski, the current Bolshevik president and Commandant of Capitalism (Speak no evil for fear of Auschwitz, etc.)
From Wikipedia:
1 Kings 3:16–28 recounts that two mothers living in the same house, each the mother of an infant son, came to Solomon. One of the babies had died, and each claimed the remaining boy as her own. Calling for a sword, Solomon declared his judgment: the baby would be cut in two, each woman to receive half. One mother did not contest the ruling, declaring that if she could not have the baby then neither of them could, but the other begged Solomon, “Give the baby to her, just don’t kill him!”
The king declared the second woman the true mother, as a mother would even give up her baby if that was necessary to save its life. This judgment became known throughout all of Israel and was considered an example of profound wisdom.
So it would seem to me that a modern-day Wisdomite would recommend the total destruction of Jerusalem in order to satisfy all parties (or none). The true ruler of Jerusalem would therefore be judged to be the state which accepted this decision but said: “No. Let the other side have it all. I would sooner the great city continued to exist rather than it be destroyed.”
It should therefore be possible for the United Nations to organise a coalition of the seven nuclear states – not including the USA and Israel – to make a credible threat to the continued existence of Jerusalem in order that it might continue to survive. Deterrence worked in the Cold War and there is no current evidence that it has been replaced.
Thank you for the added explanation, Geoff. Still processing it, but at least there’s more context to go on than in your original comment, which was a little disturbing at best and certainly inscrutable (for me).
Thanks, Amanda. It was originally intended as a comment on something I felt I was birthing 23 years ago that had just come of age.
The question really is: How would the Jews, Muslims and Christians who each lay claim to Jerusalem as their sovereign city respond if a modern-day Solomon applied the judgment delivered in the disputed child case to the question of rightful ownership of that city today?