17 Feb The Color Purple ~ February 18th-24th, 2019

This week begins with the final hours of the Sun’s passage through Aquarius. Though your perspective has widened and your mind has expanded, the cold and distant environs of Aquarius are difficult and uncomfortable. Thus, you can expect a sense of sweet relief on Monday when the Sun dips into the drowsy and dreamy waters of Pisces.

Imagine a blue horizon deepening into purple twilight.

After a long and tiring journey through the zodiac, the Sun’s entrance into Pisces invites you to relax, floating gently into sleep. As you drift into a half-lit dream world, you yield to the flow of the currents trusting that you will be carried to wherever you need to go.

As the last sign in the zodiac, Pisces is the culmination the Sun’s annual journey. At the conclusion of the story of the zodiac, the Sun identifies its light with Divine Consciousness. This encourages the themes of compassion, gentleness, and dissolution.

Only a day after the Sun moves into Pisces, the Moon will become full in the sign of Virgo. The Moon is considered to be Full when the Sun and the Moon are directly opposed one another, creating an opportune moment for the integration of polarities.

This opposition between the Sun in Pisces and the Moon in Virgo represents a concrescence of water and earth: an experience realized in the poetic truth that “we are spirits in a material world.”

The Sun in Pisces speaks through transcendent visions and the Moon in Virgo speaks through the soul of the Earth. Thus, this Full Moon will reveal how the senses and the poetic…the physical and spiritual….the mundane and the soulful are woven together.

To connect more deeply with the themes of this week, seek out revelations of the divine. Look for the soul in the world. Immerse yourself in beauty, swimming in the poetic where imagination ripples and compassion swells.

A fine example of this kind of revelation can be found in the novel, The Color Purple, by the African-American writer Alice Walker.

Growing up black and poor in the south, Alice Walker experienced the injustice of deeply embedded racism. She rose to become a respected professor and creative writer. By the time she was in her late-30’s she became inspired to write a novel that told the story of her grandparents’ generation.

The principal character in The Color Purple is a woman named Celie, who first appears as a 14-year-old girl who is writing a letter to God. Feeling alone in the world, she tells God the tragic story of her abuse.

Celie maintains a dialogue with God throughout the most difficult years of her life. But her rigid religious image of God leaves her feeling lost and unworthy of love.

Celie’s best friend and lover, a woman named Shug, eventually helps her to discover a genuine connection to the divine. This spiritual awakening unfolds in a beautiful dialogue they share about the nature of God.

Shug shares her unconventional definition of God as “nature”, which is a perfect encapsulation of the ecological wisdom of Pisces and Virgo.

“God ain’t a he or a she, but a It… God is everything…Everything that is or ever was, or ever will be”

Celie’s imagination is stirred. Her former image of God as a distant and domineering male dissolves into infinite possibility. New feelings are inspired. New faith is born.

But Celie hesitates, fearing that God may judge her sexual relationship as being dirty. Blissfully relaxed, Shug responds like a perfect channel for the soul of Pisces:

“Naw, she say…God love all them feelings. That’s some of the best stuff God did…just relax, go with everything that’s going, and praise God by liking what you like.”

Celie realizes that she has been living in shame her whole life, thinking that she needed to be subservient rather than appreciating her life. Having always identified God as being wrathful and punishing, she asks Shug about what it is that makes God angry.

Shug responds ,

“People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back…I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”

With the title of the novel contained in these sentences, it is clear that Alice Walker meant the reader to think of this lesson as essential. If nature and God are one in the same, then appreciation for the beauty in the world is sincere worship. Even more importantly, the relationship between nature and humanity should be intimate and romantic.

This dialogue in The Color Purple reminds the reader that to deny the pleasure of life is to deny divinity. The beauty of a purple flower is like an intimate kiss from the divine. And the joy you take in this pleasure is your grateful kiss in return. 

Monday/Tuesday: “Well, us talk and talk bout God, but I’m still adrift.”

At the beginning of the week, Mercury will perfect a conjunction with Neptune, opening your vision to the transcendent. As you explore this swirling sea of images, a new picture of the universe will emerge, one of vast cosmic interdependence and connectedness.

On Tuesday, the Full Moon in Virgo occurs. The clarity and exactitude of Virgo will help you to distill the Piscean dream world into words. This distillation of language and vision will create the most potent seeds of magic. In service to your future, you may be drawn to purify your body and mind, refining your relationship to divine order.

Wednesday/Thursday: “Everything want to be loved.”

The waning Moon continues its travels through Virgo, opposing Mercury and Neptune. A gentle wave of imagination will overlay your connection to nature. Witness how the sparkling purple of flowers summons a flood of memories. Feel how the scent of earth transports you into daydreams.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday: “God love everything you love.”

On Friday, Mercury in Pisces will square Jupiter in Sagittarius. This is a combination that will inspire true faith in the benevolence of the universe. Let yourself relax and float upstream.

On the same day, Venus in Capricorn will conjoin Pluto. You may feel somewhat relieved by the release from Venus’ recent conjunction with Saturn. But the intensity of her conjunction with Pluto will ask you to remain responsible.

Venus conjunct to Pluto increases the volume of your deepest desires. No longer subconscious or sublimated, you will feel long lost pieces of your soul rise up to be nurtured and satisfied.

Overcome by needs and passions, you may be tempted to feed your dark side. But this conjunction will also summon the power to attract new support and resources to improve your romantic relationships and finances.

If you feel overwhelmed or disarmed, find a way to nurture what you love. Remember that, “God love everything you love.”

 

Much Love,

Rachel