28 Aug The Medium and the Messenger ~ August 29th -September 4th, 2016

“The Greek myth of Narcissus is directly concerned with a fact of human experience, as the word Narcissus indicates. It is from the Greek word narcosis, or numbness. The youth Narcissus mistook his own reflection in the water for another person.

This extension of himself by mirror numbed his perceptions until he became the servomechanism of his own extended or repeated image. The nymph Echo tried to win his love with fragments of his own speech, but in vain. He was numb. He had adapted to his extension of himself and had become a closed system.”

– Marshall Mcluhan from Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man.

Echo and Narcissus by John William Waterhouse

Things feel like they are getting serious. The second week of Virgo season will be an immensely vivid time where life will be lit up in high-definition. This extra clarity and color will be catalyzed by Mercury’s retrograde in Virgo followed by the New Moon Solar Eclipse in Virgo.

Virgo, priestess of divine order, is the medium and the messenger of Gaia herself, the planetary mother of humanity. Thus, this week, with the Sun, Moon, Mercury and Jupiter all in the sign of Virgo, expect to be initiated into deeper ecological awareness.

With a little imagination, this week will offer you a moment to break free from the closed system of narcissism that is endemic to our time. As you become more aware of your entanglement with all other life forms, that break from numbness summons deeper love and deeper sorrow.

Ecological awareness atrophied in the West for many centuries as the reigning paradigms categorically identified humanity as being independent from other forms of life, even defining nature as being a separate entity from civilization.

This plague of narcissistic narcosis has created a legacy of atrocities in regards to the treatment of what is termed, nature, falsely conceived of as being something that exists outside of humanity. However, the dawn of the Information Age has engendered the synthesis of scientific and philosophical concepts in which the separation between nature and humanity is starting to wane.

It has become apparent once again that humanity is nature and that sentience is a pervasive fact of all life on this planet. This notion and all of its liberating effects is what is now termed, ecological thought.

(Note, that the basic principles of astrology rely on ecological awareness where human connection to the planets is implicitly understood.)

Despite these breakthroughs on the leading edges of thought, much of the world remains shrouded in narcissism and numbness. Thus, Virgo’s animistic intelligence and instinct for healing is needed more than ever.

But first, the source of the illness and the madness must be identified. 

If you grew up on television and are a consistent internet user, then your consciousness has been irrevocably shaped by electronic mediums which inevitably hijack the imagination and blunt the senses. Raised in this altered state of consciousness, you were cut off from your innate connection to the Earth’s consciousness.

This is why the great media theorist, Marshall Mcluhan, offered some warnings in his book, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man.

In short, he says that it does not matter what the content of media is but the manner in which the content is delivered that makes powerful changes to your consciousness. Therefore, media must be understood as something which produces ecological shifts in the environment of the human psyche.

Mcluhan looks at all media, from print to radio and television, as mediums of communication which forever changed the way humans relate to one another and their environment. In his Playboy interview from 1969, Mcluhan said,

“…all media, from the phonetic alphabet to the computer, are extensions of man that cause deep and lasting changes in him and transform his environment.”

Ecological awareness requires one to acknowledge how media, as an extension of the human psyche, is an expression of nature. As an aspect of nature, it must be properly regarded as something filled with both sweetness and danger. 

Like the eyes of a poisonous snake, the language of digital media uses the powers of hypnosis to transpose virtual reality over sensual reality. The lines between authentic and simulated blur.

Through induced trance, electronic mass media (television/internet) opens the subconscious mind like a dilated pupil to receive messages. This trance stuns the senses and predisposes you to technological narcosis.

Allowing this paralyzed condition to become static is the real problem. We must learn to exert enough willpower to disconnect from the simulation and its hypnogogic numbness. 

Look at the parallel conditions. Just as the Earth is polluted with chemical waste, so too is your psyche now polluted with authoritarian ideologies. Just as the Earth is mined for resources, so too is your psyche mined for reserves of creative genius. As within, so without.

Despite these challenging conditions of dehumanization, all is not lost.

The Solar eclipse in Virgo this week will offer you a catalyzing moment of clarity. Virgo’s antidote for media oversaturation is a renewed devotion to ecological wisdom that prevents degeneracy into madness and isolation. You will feel a resurgence of animism, the perception of the animated soul or sentience within all living things. When you are open to perceiving the infinite web of life, a closed circuit system of technological narcosis has very little chance of usurping your mind.

 

Monday/Tuesday: Graceful Embrace

On Monday, Venus gracefully glides into Libra, one of her signs of rulership. In Libra, Venus takes on the role of consummate taste-maker, devoting every one of her talents to harmony and beauty. Thus, the intensity of this week’s revelations will be softened by Venus’ loving hand, smoothing out much of the anxiety.

When Venus spends time in Libra, society becomes her art form and she loves to act as its most brilliant visionary by putting the right people in the same room together to mix and mingle. To Venus in Libra, people are like paints that must be blended through experiments until the subtle hue that matches her vision of the sky is finally created.

Therefore, when Venus is in Libra, it is as much a time for romantic relationships to find their momentum as it is for artists to collaborate on a project or for entrepreneurs to invest in a new business venture.

With Venus on one side and Jupiter on the other, on Tuesday, Mercury will turn retrograde in Virgo, his sign of rulership and exaltation. This begins an interesting three-week retrograde period, guided by a lot of grace and benevolence from the benefic planets. Re-negotiation, revision and recovery will be highly favored during this time.

Let no fears disrupt your days or nights. This retrograde marks a period of deep thinking and connection to the primordial wisdom of the Earth that you may use to heal yourself and others.

Wednesday/Thursday: Season of Eclipse

On Thursday, the New Moon Solar Eclipse occurs in the sign of Virgo. This solar/lunar conjunction in Virgo will be in a T-square with Neptune in Pisces and Saturn in Sagittarius.

Eclipses promote wild vacillations of energy that resound for 3-6 months afterwards. Thus, the effects of the major changes that begin around this time will continue to substantiate for at least a season or two.

This eclipse in aspect to Saturn and Neptune indicates that your perceptions of reality will be refreshed by imagination (Neptune) and informed by materiality (Saturn). The power of this eclipse will turn cognitive dissonance (Saturn/Neptune) into keen perceptions of hidden truth. Thus, your perception of sentience in everything will become illuminated.

Thursday’s eclipse will change the way that you interact with the world around you and initiate you into the hard work of strengthening your integrity. As your integrity grows, so does your wisdom. Therefore, if remain dedicated to the work you begin during this season, you will have a light with which to guide others for the rest of your life.

 

Friday/Saturday/Sunday: The Medium is the Message

The weekend offers immediate relief from whatever severity the eclipse may have evoked. On Friday and Saturday, Mercury retrograde will conjunct Jupiter in Virgo once again. This return of Mercury to Jupiter’s benevolent influence is suggestive of receiving an unexpected benefit which may have been overlooked or hastily ignored last week.

Since these are the days following the eclipse, it also suggests that you may feel instantly rewarded for whatever you do to strengthen your integrity. Expect good news and surprising synchronicities to lighten your day and inspire you to keep exploring. This is a lucky aspect that will enable you to feel the benevolence in the order of the universe.

On Sunday, the newly waxing Moon will be in the sign of Libra, offering you an opportunity for much needed rest and recalibration. Spend the day feeding your imagination with beauty.