Stories have played a central role in our lives from childhood. They support our growth and development as children. They entertain, yet they influence too, presenting beliefs, attitudes, values and norms that shape a child’s perception of reality. Not only are stories an integral aspect of learning to read, they help shape a child’s world, stretching the imagination and opening connections with life’s processes and challenges in safe ways. Without stories a child’s world remains limited; its intelligence and imagination inhibited by the confines of its immediate physical existence.
Stories still influence us as adults. They’re an integral part of life’s rich tapestry. They help us make sense of our world; they can interest, inspire and motivate us or challenge, even plague, us. Some stories from childhood stay with us well into adulthood. They touch us with magic or meaning that is enduring. Yet our stories can and do change as we mature – you don’t still believe in monsters under the bed do you? Major life changes give rise to new stories, sometimes despite our endeavour to cling to the old one. The same is true collectively. The ancients made sense of their world in different ways to us, as did the previous generation, our mothers and fathers. The story of our lives is constantly changing, never more so than now. Who in this world has not been affected and influenced by our collective experience this year? Humanity’s story is changing, as is our own. ‘New norm’ anyone? Can anyone find it? Does anyone want it? The truth is right now we are between stories. That may look one way in your life personally and perhaps a different way collectively, yet one thing is sure. The security rug has been pulled from beneath our feet.
In these uncertain times astrology can provide pointers towards the process of our shifting story, personally and collectively. These pointers are energy maps, not predictive (as the outmoded view of astrology would have us believe) but both rhythmic i.e. with a seasonal and evolutionary basis, and archetypal i.e. inwardly orientated, revealing how we may respond to that evolutionary process. I’ve written much in previous blogs about the deconstruction process we’ve been navigating for years, even decades. How long is a thread, and where does it truly start? Yet without doubt 2020 is a benchmark year. This is plain to see isn’t it? Its astrological rhythms and the arising circumstances are a bridge between our old story and the potential of a new one. We’re in a tentative time. Just like a child learning to walk we may be taking one step forward, wobbling and falling, until we find our new balance and grounding. That’s as true for humanity as a whole as it is for you as an individual.
As we approach the month of June universal energies are pointing towards dynamic shifts. Given the bigger picture these shifts are not vast yet they are catalysts and are meaningful. They begin to highlight where we are going as well as the old story and its deconstruction. They reveal to us the necessary changes and the inspiration to implement them. That in itself is heartening. We begin to see clear possibilities yet there is also a moderating factor: the implementation of change is lagging behind except on a personal level. The shifts we can rely on come in our immediate world. They are related to how we navigate our personal lives and the stories we tell about them. That may seem small given the huge challenge of our collective circumstances but nonetheless change begins with the individual. Our perception – and what we give meaning to – gives rise to the stories we build. When we change our perceptions our story changes. This month will see a ground swell of change building that has potential to take us beyond our currently limited consciousness.
The month of June starts with the Sun conjunct Venus at 13 Gemini. This conjunction starts a new 8 year Venus cycle with the potential for uplifting and renewing the most intimate aspects of our self and our lives: love and relating, connection and communication, letting go the stories we tell our self that are no longer valid or valuable. With the Eclipses in Gemini and Sagittarius also flavouring this time through to 2021 renewal of how we use our mind is a key element to our evolution.
On 5 June the Lunar Eclipse at 15 Sagittarius arrives. This eclipse is the first of six eclipses in Gemini/Sagittarius through to December 2021 highlighting our stories and what they mean to us, information and how we process it, our perceptions and belief systems. Eclipses are game-changers and this one opens up the themes of the Gemini/Sagittarius series over the next 18 months in your life.
Our internal world, as well as the more obvious external one, is shifted this year. Internal is the operative word here. How that translates externally is dependent on choice but is also influenced by the slow pace of this year’s planetary energies as well as global circumstances. Here we come to paradox and perhaps the most vital question of all this year: Am I a victim of circumstances? Or do I live beyond them with wisdom, connected to inner integrity and collective responsibility? That’s not always easy is it? But it’s truly where the power for building the new story lies.
