Mars, Aries, Uranus, Pluto and The North Nodes
At 18 years of age I took a jump. Skydiving sounded like a thrill and I got a feeling to do that and to push myself to experience and accomplish that. it was a bit of a rite of passage. Taking a risk. Leaning into uncertainty. Jumping into my future from a place of what's known, safe, comfortable, familiar and secure (the plane, who I was before the jump, my securities) to leaving that, what was unknown, uncertain, unfamiliar and scary. In so doing, creating a "new normal" so to speak and growing from new experiences, stepping up ladder rungs. It’s about believing in yourself. Having courage. New experience, the unknown. Going it alone with balanced support and letting go with trust.
Talking about this experience here in the video:
I forgot! A song I should have mentioned as well in my video is actually “Jump” by Van Halen! I was a complete Van Halen fanatic back then. I started playing guitar because of Eddie Van Halen. Might as well Jump! JUMP! Maybe that’s why I wanted to do this ha! “You got to roll with the punches and get to what's real” ain't that the truth.
Things can lead up and happen fast in our lives, it's easy to get overwhelmed. A situation like this had me sitting crouched on a single propeller airplane in no time and although there was nervousness and fear, it was time to be calm and get up and trust myself and the training I got that day. In these moments you are very much in the present.
There comes the time when it's time to jump. The time to jump on a skydive is a small window. It’s time to have courage, act, seize an opportunity. At that moment I’m crossing a threshold, I’m passing through an evolutionary gate with trust. An ultimate letting go experience is about to take place, no turning back.
This was not a tandem jump. You step out onto a little step outside the plane under the wing and on a 3 count you jump by letting go and pushing off. Two instructors grabbed hold of me as we left the plane. Over 100mph we fall. They represent teachers and guides even parents and duality. When the chute opens they let go, your on your own. They lead and and teach and then they go. They only take you so far and then it’s up to you. Loving detachment and trust on both sides. We teach, show by example, share experiences for growth and we love, care about and are grateful for the people that we learn from and show us these things in our lives. Your safety training puts you to the test, you have that knowledge in you. In my case, my parachute opened but it was twisted like a Twizzler and I fell still continuously quick. My training took without a gap of thought and I did what I was told and what we had practiced to save myself. I just knew what to do through education and training.
Happy landing, accomplishment! And although it’s nice to get applause and accolades, words of a job well done or “that was tough, but you did it” and being proud of from family or close friends, that is not always the case. Many challenges and accomplishments we experience happen through us individually with no one is there to give us the positive, loving feedback and recognition. It is so important to acknowledge that our selves and pat ourselves on the back and to actually be conscious of that and make it actually something for yourself. You deserve it! That’s self-love.
The experience of that jump I use as a mental talisman for when I come up to something that requires courage and another "jump" into unknown willingly accepting what's next, new, meant for me. Skydiving is an extreme example of moving into unknowns. You don't have to be doing dangerous things to experience the call to adventure. Sometimes we initiate these things (but really it’s our subconscious most likely). Definitely read into Joseph Campbell on these themes of the Here's Journey if you are not familiar. His stuff was a major step for my personal way as an artist and mystic. This is a perfect chart description of The Hero's Journey.
I chose to do this and was given a lot of preparation for this but there’s nothing like actually doing it. A lot of times things come to us that we have no control over and we actually have to jump, there is no other choice or sometimes initiating experiences, especially from being a kid to adulthood, can be horrible, unwanted, you're unprepared and they can be traumatic. Initiation and rites of passage experiences come in many forms throughout our lives. This stuff is always scary and comes with fear, that is natural. But it's about saying yes to the call to adventure, that Sacred Yes is most powerful, trusting, having confidence in yourself and following the feeling of what's right for you or meant for you in a lot of circumstances, easier said than done. Some of these experiences, these calls, happen unexpectedly, without intention. We can be thrown into facing, dealing with, and experiencing such things. These are the things we're meant to experience and grow from no matter how good or bad, we grow from them. In that context all experiences are meant for us without the terms "good or bad" and in this mindset sometimes the feelings of victimization can be healed or accepted with a new perspective for growth. The bad turns out to be good, the negative turns positive. They are gifts, packages with treasures inside. Jewels grow in dark caves. We approach things that happen to us with a mindset and that's up to us on how we react and respond.
Listen to this story told by Alan Watts, one of my favorite philosophers.
Or as like an artist, you go deep within to grab the jewels, very personal, and using your own unique individual expression to bring this out into the world into consciousness for people to experience or for yourself to consciously see or hear and it helps you or others. Self expression. Having a purpose whether it be to yourself or to others.
When we land or return, when we go out and come back (metaphorically too within/without) there’s a new you in some way. Something gained, something that builds you. And for some of us we share those things and we bring wisdom to others, we share, we inspire and we encourage others. It’s the Quest and the return, bringing something back.
I think about my mother and father and them having the experience of letting go and think about our people that we’re with when we're making these decisions and how they feel experiencing loss they are also experiencing of insecurity, the the familiar, having you be there, the way you are and you leaving, and the sadness that comes and it is because it they love us that's why it hurts or is hard. But like our loved ones, our dear good friends and our teachers, they may not be with you physically especially in challenging times as we experience things on our own but they are always there to support you in a special way.
This jump and these themes in relation to Astrology have to do with Aries and the planet Mars is desire, a desire to experience and experience new things, will. It's masculine energy, initiating, starting, action, pioneering into new things, adventure. Fire and Air combine with this initiating outgoing activity and acting on a desire and I literally experienced A LOT of air (it’s hard to breathe on the descent! Air rushes into you with great force) and achieving this in the sky.
This is also Uranus energy when we are talking about experiences that we are thrown into suddenly and unexpectedly, doing something independently and things that are necessary for our soul’s growth even though we don’t know it yet.
Pluto is transformation and going through change, we go through a gate and we are never the same or we go out on adventure and come back with something new. An ending and a beginning.
And most of all, this is related to the Nodes of the Moon as our soul can have an energy growth from security, the safe, what’s known, the past, into and towards the scary, unknown, un-secure future in order to grow and transform. Eclipses especially have these nodal energies activated like passing though cosmic soul gate stages.
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