Growing Wings: What does it mean to be free?

The next new moon on Monday 3 June places the Sun and Moon at 12 degrees Gemini (ruled by Mercury), and Mercury himself is at home at 27 degrees Gemini.

Time then for some creative inspiration!

The sabian symbol for the new moon Sun/Moon conjuction is:

A FAMOUS PIANIST GIVING A CONCERT PERFORMANCE-

One moves into new realms and successfully challenges the fears, the insecurity and the lack of self-confidence of the past in oneself – all negative attitudes which, while conditioned by the social environment, have become engraved upon the unconscious. Having achieved this liberation, one can bring to the environment the power generated by self-discipline, skill and self-confidence.

One has become at least a potential SOURCE OF INSPIRATION.

The message continues:

Having entered upon the path of individualized experience that brings him in touch with broader or higher realms of superpersonal inspiration, the individual person is able to become himself a source of inspiration, an agent for Man and the formative Powers guiding human evolution.

The kind of questions I am asking this lunar cycle, and in my Moon Lodge circle is:

What gems lie in the seat of your soul waiting to grow wings?

and…

What fears, insecurities and negative attitudes inhibit you from flying and becoming a source of inspiration?

Many of us have been conditioned to believe that what is ours to offer, the life juice that makes us sparkle, is in some way unacceptable. What is more acceptable is to ‘toe the line’, and fit in, not attracting too much attention to ourselves, and choosing socially acceptable (career) paths which may permit us some success through hard word and diligence. Creating false or reduced identities that, while may be agreeable to our families, communities and culture, is likely to leave us feeling unfulfilled, frustrated, and even in some way dead.

What stops us from revealing our true and unique nature? What have we allowed to keep us small, and why? Confronting this is no simple matter or easy undertaking, it requires deep diving and potentially a showdown with the psychic structures that are firmly in place.

How far are we willing to admit that internalizing the values and judgements of others, we have diminished ourselves in a bid to be accepted and fit in- and that a part of our soul is dying? This can be very subtle… we may believe that we are happy and fully expressed- and perhaps we really are- though perhaps, if we are honest, we are not, or not entirely.

We may recognize our own undoing- the compromises and self imprisonments as well as external influencing factors: The family that molded us to be just like like them; the spouse whose spoken or unspoken expectations lies heavy round our shoulders – the place where our wings should be growing; the friends whose subtly raised eyebrow suggests disapproval or ridicule; the cultural strata to which we are told we belong; financial limitations; debt… actually, the list of ways in which we prohibit the true expression of our deepest being is endless.

It may seem safer to resign ourselves to a comfortable life of mediocrity, and not risk exposure of a Self we don’t know. Who are we really?

We may have a sense of what lies beneath, waiting in the wings for a chance to surface and shine but we don’t know for sure what it will look like, and perhaps we are not fully in control. Jung says that the life of a creative person is not his or her own, and is motivated by a creative principle which he referred to as the ‘daimon’. Dare we surrender to the daimon?

And what of the deeper, more occult agendas at work in our psyche- are we willing to smoke them out? When did we learn that it is better to suffer in silence that be rejected, laughed at, judged or punished? And who exactly is it that thinks the thoughts we think are ours? Have we become so accustomed to our contrived voice that we take it for truth?

What lies beneath your carefully constructed persona? My bet is that some of it is messy, unbalanced, unsure, wild, a tad reckless… maybe even a bit mad.

And the voices will say “But you can’t do that”, and “What about xxxx”(fill in the blank according to your own personal executioner).

What does it mean to be free, and what does it take to be free?

This coming lunar cycle is a wonderful opportunity to express yourself and open your box … if not to step out of it entirely, then just enough to let the light of the gods illuminate your soul. With the Sun and Moon in Gemini, and Mercury also in Gemini, calling on Hermes Trismegistus – trickster, magician, and messenger of the gods , may help guide us between the world of our ordinary conditioned selves, and the potential –  what we may become if we allow the voice of the gods (our higher self, if you like) to speak.