Separating wholes into halves
Yesterday, during an astrology group meeting I attend, a conversation came up that I have discussed many times with friends – it was a conversation on individual and societal growth. Being a part of the “alternative” world for over 20 years, this conversation comes up a lot. In fact, I think that the conversation has finally bled over into the new conversation of, “Wokeness – are you in or are you out?” We’ve all heard it, this celebrity is woke, that one is not. It usually comes with political affiliations of one’s said ‘wokeness’ or ‘unwokeness’, along with many assumptions about who and what that person stands for.
We used ask in my various drumming/Wiccan/alternative spiritualist groups, are they awake or asleep? An older version, I think, of today’s Woke vibe. I’ve heard and participated in these conversations before – are they on the fence, are they ascending, are they falling into low level vibrations and going to doom the human race to an apocalyptic extinction with ignorance, what does it all mean, Alfie? (That last part is me.) After really sitting with these conversations, and the feelings and thoughts I had about them, I realized the conversations that have been going on recently, and in my own recent past, have been conversations about duality. Now, you might ask, what does duality have to do with astrology? Frankly, a lot.
In astrology, there are 12 signs. (Please stop bringing in Ophiuchus – here’s the bottom line, it is not a whole and complete sign and does not get any energy as a division of the zodiacal wheel.) Ok, so, in astrology there are 12 signs. Each astrological sign is denoted by one’s date and time of birth, and sometimes place, depending upon when and where you were born. It’s sorta like being divided into a house in Hogwarts by the Magical Sorting Hat of Time and Mystery (the Earth and the Sun), or being assigned an astrological sports team from birth if you can’t relate to the wonder of the Harry Potter books and movies. So, here we are, at birth sorted into Capricorn sun sign, or Libra sun sign, or even the dreaded Scorpio sun sign, and we read our horoscopes and fun books on each sun sign and pick out what we do and do not resonate to. “Oh, I see, I’m very ambitious because I’m a Capricorn, and my brother, Frank, is so wishy-washy because he’s a Pisces,” we say to ourselves as we read such descriptions. “Aha!,” we might even think as we read further, “I knew Jane was a weirdo, she doesn’t hardly match her Sun Sign at all, which is really what being an Aquarius is all about!” We are satisfied – we knew were were different and special from our siblings, and this Sun Sign book proves it.
Except, sometimes, Frank seems awfully meticulous about how he dresses, and Jane is so bossy in her relationships. Not to mention, sometimes, all we want to do is stay at home and decorate, because while there are mountains to climb, we rather like our home environment to be welcoming. Nothing in there about that, so it must just be the wonderful diversity of being human! Then, later, if we start feeling a little itch about the differences we see in people and their sun signs, but probably things we see in ourselves that don’t match, we get an astrological chart drawn up. (I won’t go down the rabbit hole with students and practitioners of astrology too much here. Suffice it to say we REALLY want to understand, and with one answer comes yet another set of questions.) Suddenly, it all makes sense! “I am a _ Sun Sign, with a _ Moon, and gee, I can’t remember my Rising Sign, but I do know something is happening with Mercury this year!” Ta-da! Sorted, sorted, refined and….DONE!
Fantastic! This, friends and neighbors, is how we human beings live our lives – sorting, refining, and categorizing the differences and the similarities that are obvious, observable, testable and evident. In many ways, we are scientists at heart, even if we don’t recognize it. Except, hmmm, this is where another very human behavior kicks in, Us versus Them. Sorting, defining, and labeling, if you will. It’s how we learn and understand our world, and yet, sometimes our biggest strength is our biggest weakness. In understanding our world, we have the habit of grouping things together and minimizing or ignoring the commonalities. Ironically, we tend to do this with people most of all. Here’s where the duality comes in.
In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “duality” is a noun. The primary definition is this, “the quality or state of having two different or opposite parts or elements.” Let that settle on your mental tongue for a moment. Now, here is the secondary definition (the second most commonly used meaning), “a difference between two opposite things; a division into two opposite groups.” I’m here to state that I think when it comes to people, we often use duality in the secondary meaning, and I have come to feel that this lends itself to a misunderstanding of duality. Go back to that first definition, “the quality or state of having two different or opposite parts or elements.” There is an acknowledgement of some sort of connection between the different or opposite parts or elements. It is a state of having. A state of having two different or opposite parts or elements. It is the secondary usage that sorts them into separate groups; however, in the word “having” it implies, directly, a co-existence in of opposing parts that belong to the same element.
Ok, for those of you who are still hemming and hawing, let me put on my, “Captain Obvious” hat (a term my husband correlates to my frequent ability to state the obvious) – duality is two sides of the same thing. There is connection in duality, and it is in the expression that the differences exist. Duality exists within a larger structure that is one. There, that’s it, that’s the concept that astrology wraps back into the conversation with. How so? Aha, now you’re talking!
In astrology, the 12 signs are not stand alone energies. They have their polar opposite, the sign that is least like them in observable preferences, and who shares with them observable (or not so observable) similarities of expression or struggle. They are opposites of each other, two sides of the same coin. Those pairings are: Aries – Libra; Taurus-Scorpio; Gemini – Sagittarius; Cancer – Capricorn; Leo – Aquarius; Virgo – Pisces. In fact, the astrological symbol of Pisces, when written or typed, is the perfect illustration of this duality: ♓︎. Astrology even has a major aspect that again works on the principal of duality, the opposition. The two sides are expressions of the same energies. This is really obvious in medical astrology. For instance, in the Taurus-Scorpio axis, which rules the throat and the genitals, when one has thyroid issues (a gland in the throat), there is often an impact on the genitals (sex drive goes way down). It’s a medical fact. Yes, there are other issues, but there is the tie.
“Wait a minute Mrs. Astrologer, what?!?” you might say to me if you’re reading this. “I am a Taurus, but I’m nothing like those nasty Scorpios! Have you ever met one, they are the kings and queens of drama and emotional baggage?! I’m steady, stable, and calm, and I hate drama and baggage.” Well, on the surface, yes you are; however, you are two end points of the same line. Taurus and Scorpio both deal with desires. Taurus wants, Taurus gets, Taurus sticks to it. Scorpio wants, Scorpio gets, Scorpio digs out the darkness, transforms it, wallows in the feelings of it, and Scorpio sticks to it. Taurus is a child of springtime, Scorpio is a child of the fall. They are beginnings and endings, but they are not the start or end point. They are the initiation of desire and the physical initiation of sex, and they are the results of sex, the impact of desire, and the transformation of the body and soul from sex. Or, more simply, for every Yin there is a Yang. It’s actually really beautiful, when you think about it. If there was only ever the beginning of Spring, of sex, of eating, but no ending of Spring, hibernation of the energy creeping back into the earth, only sex but no birth, only eating but no purging of what we cannot use in the body, life would not grow and that is stagnation, which is a form of death if not actual death.
Here is where I get back to people and duality – without our polar opposite, there would be no growth. Underneath our difference, there is a shared existence that the duality arises from. I am a white human, you are a black human. We look pretty different, may have different national origins, maybe share the same nation but have different birth cities, have the same or different religions, etc. BUT, underneath all of that we are a physical organism that shares blood, bone, muscle, fat, and sinews. We are different down to our DNA, which is actually such a minute difference that a few changes and we’d be a different species of animal on the planet Earth. You are Jewish, I am Christian, and our neighbor is a Muslim – we all came from the same religious root that shares a monotheistic viewpoint and a shared bloodline by virtue of a shared father from the same Jewish father.
When we focus too much on the differences, we cannot see connections or we ignore the similarities. We do not see what we share, and that makes it very easy to separate, to disconnect, to prejudice, to avoid, and to even hate. Without the differences, we do not have the very friction that causes us to grow, learn, and to (hopefully) transform and evolve. What is the antonym of duality? One or Single. Let me propose to you that Duality arises from Oneness. Working in astrology, we know that with the opposition aspect, it is not a process of learning to shun one side while nurturing the other – it is a process of balancing and integrating each side to create a new direction. Oneness that generates a new way of being. It’s pretty cool, actually, because how can you know where to grow if you do not understand where you have been focusing?
So, circling back to “Wokeness”, or “Awakeness”, or Political Divides, or even Race Divisions – duality arises from oneness. If you feel me on that, if you can vibrate with this, then let me take it a little further – be careful of separating, discerning, and discarding. Are we throwing away the wheat with the chaff? More importantly, be cautious of promoting yourself above or away from others and discarding the possibility of connection. I will be the first to admit, there are choices in life that lead us down a specific path. Humans have committed atrocities against each other. Specific acts have specific consequences. We need the discernment, but hesitate before saying someone is incapable of meeting you in the middle and transforming. Because we live in a world of duality, we must be prepared for past behavior to predict future behavior, AND we must be open to the possibility of transcendence of separateness and transformation. You know the saying, “Look how much you’ve changed now that I have!”
What I see in the conversations that divide is the “You versus Me”, and “Us versus Them” structure. This leads us to infighting, friction, and it DOES promote change. However, without integration of both sides, we become imbalanced. No one person is one single behavior, action, belief, biology, or thought. When we stop focusing on “Us versus Them”, stop trying to change “Them”, and instead focus on ourselves, who we were, who we are, and transforming ourselves, that sends an example out into the world. Others will follow. Give them the space to choose, and try to avoid the temptation of elevating yourself above others who are different from you in thought, word, action and deed. We are all living examples of two sides of the same coin in so many different ways, and we are incomplete without the other side.
If none of that makes sense to you, let me nerd out on you for a moment and remind you of the ending of, “The Dark Crystal.” That movie scared me as a child. Skeksis were gross, selfish, and evil. The urRu, or Mystics, were beautiful, kinda, and good. It was the Age of Division. Their world had gone to hell in a handbasket, and everyone blamed the Skeksis. Yeah, they were sucking up the life energy of the Crystal, which had gone dark under their reign, and the Skeksis and the Mystics were dying along with their world. BUT, a couple of Gelflings came together and healed the crystal but shoving the missing part back into the Dark Crystal. Suddenly, the Dark Crystal becomes….THE WHITE CRYSTAL. The Land HEALS! Green proliferates the world, life has returned, and…hey, lookie, the Skeksis and Mystics were gone…sorta! They healed, too, and became one with their opposite parts and became (again) the urSkeks! – wise and spiritual beings. The world was a lush and living place again!!! And, here’s the thing, neither the urRu, nor the Skeksis, were their best selves apart, but together, they were more than they had ever been alone. I see people like that, too. And, guess what, some had died, staying separated, and that’s how it was, but the world wasn’t better for it. People are like that, too – we are better together, and the world is better when we act together and don’t try to kill off the parts of ourselves that we do not like (both within and without).
Be Kind to One Another –
Your Favorite Scorpio Astrologer
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HeatherySortofStars 