
Venus and Pluto meet tomorrow in an exact conjunction at 25° Capricorn. The Sabian symbol is:
A NATURE SPIRIT DANCING IN THE IRIDESCENT MIST OF A WATERFALL.
KEYNOTE: The ability to perceive the hidden and creative spirit of natural phenomena.
Here we are dealing with the revelation of the spiritual or psychic forces related to the element water. It symbolizes the constant flow of vital energies, the fluidity of a consciousness which finds itself stimulated by change. The great cycle of water within the earth’s biosphere (oceans, clouds, rain, river) symbolizes the basic phases of universal life processes, the ascent and descent of emotional energies and of love. We can personify these phases and speak of “the soul of nature,” and at a cosmic level of “the World-Soul,” anima mundi. Water is the substance of the telluric manifestations of this soul. It is a magical substance.
The consciousness here becomes sensitized to the downward flow of OCCULT ENERGY in its bountiful natural aspect.
The Sabian Symbols are 360 unique representations of vibrational energy that invite us into the imaginal realm to connect with a deeper reality.
When I feel into this symbol the archetype that comes alive for me is the Maidens of the Well from the “Elucidation.”
The Elucidation is an anonymous Old French poem of the early 13th century, which was written as a prologue to Chretien de Troyes’ “Perceval le Conte du Graal” and tells the tale of how the powerful country of Logres (England) came to be destroyed.
Previously the land was well and thriving, rich and poor alike benefitted from the bounty and abundance created by the court of the Rich Fisher. The many flowing and sacred wells were presided over by beautiful maidens who joyfully served pleasing food and refreshing drinks from a golden cup to all passersby, wayfarers, and journeymen.
One day King Amangon -who should have protected the maidens- forced himself upon one of the maidens, deflowering her and carrying her and her golden cup away to serve only him. Soon after the king’s men followed suit and violated the other maidens until all of them disappeared.
In their absence the wells fell silent, and the land went to waste
The kingdom went to ruin
The land was so dead and desolate
That it wasn’t worth two bits
The land was so wasted
That no tree ever bloomed there again
The grasses and flowers withered
And the streams dried up
Afterwards no one could locate
The court of the Rich Fisher.
In the time of King Arthur, the good knights wished to restore the wells and took an oath to protect by their arms the maidens and their bowls, and to destroy the lineage of those who had harmed them.
So began the quest for the Grail.
Because of the maidens there were many battles in the land…
As with all myths the story of the Maidens of the Well is a richly textured and multi-layered tapestry working on many levels of consciousness to reach us where we. They offer wisdom in a way that we can receive it… myths are living entities.
Why were many battles fought because of the maidens and why was the wisdom they embodied so essential to the living land?
Are the battles still being fought on the inner and outer planes?
Where are the Maidens of the Well now and how do we call them back?
Are we the Maidens, open hearted, magical women captured by a tyrannical King-both inner and outer-who desires control of the restorative power of the feminine?
This myth is calling to us… the voices in the wells are returning.
Water is life, without water there is no life.
In alchemy Water is connected to “Solutio” or dissolution, it is the womb through which rebirth takes place… it is rejuvenation, immersion in the creative energy flow, and as its word root implies, the solution of problems.
Solutio is a descent into the unconscious, the maternal womb from which the ego is born.
Water causes one form to disappear and another one to emerge, it expresses and embodies the feminine condition of renewal.
In our current paradigm water is treated poorly, toxically, without respect, bottled in plastic, calcified; our sacred wells destroyed and dried up, our rivers and seas a dumping ground for industrial waste.
No renewal can come from this profound disrespect of the womb of the Mother and divine creativity of the feminine principle.
The Venus Pluto conjunction and Venus retrograde cycle can help to facilitate a reset in terms of how we are relating to the feminine principles of life.
Dissolving outmoded structures, changing our relationship with water, and trusting in our individual and collective re- birthing process is the potential of this time.
Begin with a simple water ceremony.