Astrology: surrender with clear boundaries
By: Janette Dalgliesh – Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
Neptune is the slipperiest customer in the zodiac. Lord of the ocean, he dwells in a realm where all boundaries and barriers are swept away.
That means his special remit includes the worlds of the intangible, the worlds of dreams and the imagination.
Mercury, on the other hand, is all about boundaries and barriers.
His special remit includes systems and structures, networks and the dynamics of individuation.
There’s a school of thought which says before each of us arrives on planet Earth to live our human adventure, we’re part of a great swirling soup of pure positive energy, connected to every other spark of energy in the Universe.
At birth, we become separate, unique, bounded by the skin-bag which keeps us physically distinct from one another, a complex biological and neurological symphony of subtle and sophisticated systems and networks.
And so, while the journey of life is the journey of individuation and self-expression, there’s a part of us which yearns to fully surrender to the collective, to lose ourselves in deep connection.
Sometimes it feels like we have to choose.
Either I BE fully me, separate, glorying in my uniqueness.
Or I allow myself to be subsumed by the collective, satisfying my deep urge to belong by losing my own self in order to fit in.
We’re about to have a spotlight shone on this seeming dichotomy.
And it reveals there is no dichotomy.
It’s not either/or.
It’s and/and.
Neptune, still moving through his own dreamy swirling sign of Pisces, is about to lend his potent capacity for dreaming to the North Node. It’s as though our own audacious “leading edge” is set free from all restrictions and barriers.
That leading edge North Node in Cancer wants to find emotional connection, to find ways to nurture and demonstrate compassion and blessings. It wants us to tap in to our emotional home ground, the place where we are willing to be vulnerable, to experience intimacy. Internally it’s about our heart; externally it’s our home.
Neptune says “there are no limits – connect and connect and connect!”
Meanwhile Sun and Mercury both move into Gemini, Mercury’s own sign, bringing a fresh energy for clarity of thought and communication when it comes to our own unique identity.
We humans are hard-wired to belong.
That does sometimes mean immersing in the collective or losing yourself for a while, perhaps through meditation or a solid nap or the world of literal dreams or a really good novel.
And it also means returning to yourself and recognizing that our true capacity for belonging comes when we live an authentic life.
In other words – find your best pathway to satisfy the urge to belong by being true to yourself – not by losing yourself in order to “fit in”.
AND make space for the deepest connection via healthy moments of surrender, chosen from a place of sovereignty and resonance.
The Lunar Nodes are all about the relationship between past, present and future; but Neptune’s character is not wedded to time as a linear phenomenon. That means the “rules” of time hold less sway than usual, and your relationship with the past is looser and more easily changed than you might think.
Some good ways to get the best synergy from these dynamics include:
- Start keeping a dream journal and USE it. Please don’t google the meanings of your dreams, and don’t use a dream dictionary – rather, ask yourself what you’re trying to tell yourself in your dreams. The more you do this, the better you’ll get at it. One trick is to step into the role of every person, animal or important object from your dream, one by one, and gently enquire “what did you want to communicate to me in that dream?” You might not always get a clear answer, but asking the question shows you are curious and paying attention, so future dreams have a good shot at being clearer.
- Take up meditation, or try a new-to-you meditation technique by way of experiment. Be the impartial observer and notice what works best for you.
- If you notice an urge to explore something new, indulge it in the spirit of curiosity – consider keeping some “field notes” in a journal, as though you are your own anthropologist.
- Start reading or writing poetry, especially the kind which helps you know who you are. Favourites of mine include Rumi and Shakespeare but yours will be different. Here Google is your friend, or lose yourself in a poetry-dedicated site such as the Poetry Foundation. Skip the academic critiques and focus on poems that simply feel inspiring.
- For even more poetical-mystical oomph, consider a very special gift to yourself. My dear friend Jodi Cleghorn has created a beautiful initiative called The Daily Breath, consisting of a daily very short cut-up poem paired with a beautiful image. You can find out more here.
- Devote time to both “ends” of this dynamic. Set aside time for daydreaming, without limitations. And set aside time for exploring what your own unique expression of that dream might look like – how it might sound, what it might say, what you might hear.
- If you have a magical practice, apply it retroactively. Linear time is loose, Neptune lends himself to magic and it’s a good time to use this power.
As you activate both the swirling super-connected dreams and the thought habits, systems and structures most suited to supporting manifestation in your world, you leverage this dynamic duo exquisitely. Enjoy!
Exact times (US Eastern)
May 21, 3:59 AM – Sun enters Gemini
May 21, 6:52 AM – Mercury enters Gemini
May 22, 12:46 AM – Neptune (18 Pisces) trine North Node (18 Cancer)
Janette Dalgliesh has a simple mission in life – to help every person unlock their capacity for resonant joy, and live it. A keen student of astrology, brain science, chaos magic, law of attraction and positive psychology, she serves her people through strategic astrology, coaching, teaching and writing. Her international clientele raves about her wildly accurate, individualized readings, but she doesn’t do general weekly predictions – for those, Janette recommends Kim Falconer (www.goodvibeastrology.com) and Mystic Medusa (www.mysticmedusa.com). Find Janette on Facebook or via her website – or you might like to pick up her free brain-rewiring resource, Identity Shift 101 here.
