Each planet, the Moon, Sun and stars, the Earth herself, embodies a specific aspect of our personal and collective Mythos. Myth is the reality of the Soul; our lives are driven by our myths. This Autumn's spectacular celestial conjunction of the crescent Moon, Venus, Mars, Mercury and Jupiter, laden with mythic impact, has enormous implications for the unfoldment of our evolving spiritual/cultural/personal drama.
The myth of this unique celestial configuration is contained in the fairy tale Rapunzel, eloquently revealed by William Irwin Thompson in his article "Rapunzel" in the magazine 'Annals of Earth', Vol. 5, No. 2, 1987.
The story tells of a husband and wife who desperately desire children, but are barren. The wife, wasting away, insists that her husband bring her some of the herb rapunzel growing in the garden of the old witch/Crone, there below their window. The husband complies. Feeling much better after eating the rapunzel, the wife demands that her husband go into the garden again, to procure even more of the herb. Though with trepidation, he again goes into the Crone's garden, where he is caught in the act by the old woman. Explaining himself, the old Crone allows him to take the rapunzel to his wife, stating that it will cure her barrenness, but only if he agrees to turn over to her, the witch, their first-born child. To this he agrees. When a daughter is born, the witch shows up to name the child Rapunzel and lay claim to her. Raising the girl in a tower, with access only through a high window, the old Crone keeps Rapunzel isolated from the world.
As the story progresses, a young Prince passing by the tower hears the song of Rapunzel and calls out as he has observed the witch doing, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair." He climbs her tresses, and she, never having seen a man before, is fascinated. They continue to meet in this illicit manner, have relations, and ultimately their affair is discovered by the Crone. The old witch banishes Rapunzel to the wild forest, to live in abject survival, eating only roots and berries. The Prince she casts out the high window into the brambles below, where the thorns pierce his eyes, blinding him. He wanders then in the darkness. After some time, the wanderer hears Rapunzel's sweet singing in the wilderness and makes his way to her. Seeing him again, Rapunzel sheds tears of compassion upon the Prince, curing his blindness. Soon after, twins‹ a boy and a girl‹ are born from their earlier union, and they live together as a family thereafter.
Encoded in this fairy tale myth are the dynamics portrayed in our evening sky by the aforementioned celestial bodies (except for Jupiter, which will be brought into perspective in a bit). The old Crone is the Moon, Mercury the husband, and Venus is his wife. Rapunzel also is Venus, and Mars is the wandering Prince.
Weaving the elements of the Rapunzel story (and the understanding of their correlation with the planets) with the aspects of our Mythos, a tapestry rich in the knowledge of human awakening is revealed.
Venus is in the form of the wife who is barren, and is drawn to the healing powers of the matriarchal knowledge symbolized by the old Crone/Moon, wherein the mystery of childbirth is contained. To be paid is the price of child‹right by the matrilineal matriarchy. The husband (Mercury) clearly has little self will, doing the bidding of both his wife and the witch, though he knows better in each case. Mercury never reaches high into the sky, and is identified usually by its association to either Venus or the Moon. Typified herein is the position of the male within the Matriarchy‹ having status only in relationship to his wife's or mother's clan, and never fully individuated as a fully realized Self.
When the girl‹child is born, we see Venus ascending after her 260 day (9 month human gestation) transit of our sky. Reborn now as Rapunzel, the Crone/Moon seeks to hold her in the constrains of the Matriarchy. Rapunzel, however, experiences Man from an innocent perspective, instinctually, free of the cultural confines of the Matriarchy. As punishment, the old Crone sends her into the wilderness, a state of primeval survival.
The male principle is also re identified, in this story as Mars, the wandering Prince, implying the not-as-yet fulfilled potential of the man in his quest for freedom from the role position assigned him by the cultural dictates of a female dominated society. He responds instinctually to his meeting with feminine innocence, as Rapunzel had to him. Blinded as a consequence of his actions, he wanders the path of self-realization through the dark night of his soul.
We can see here the dance of the celestial bodies in the night sky. Mars, the lone wanderer, conjuncts Venus, who is freshly arisen from the underworld. Soon thereafter the crescent Moon rises in the West, to find them in their lover's embrace. The Prince is 'cast out' into the wilderness, that is, Mars descends below the western horizon, out of sight. Venus, meanwhile is moving across our western sky, no longer in the visual embrace of the crescent Moon.
When again Venus and Mars conjunct, now in the morning sky, seven months later, a great transformation of both Rapunzel and the Prince has transpired. The Prince has matured into the wandering Warrior/Shaman, self-individuated and honoring of life. The maiden, freed of the matriarchal paradigm, has gained her autonomy and is able to respond with compassion to the wounded male. What has been born of the re-union of the individuated male and female is nothing less than a transcendent spiritual quality known as romantic love. It is this essence of romance that then enables both man and woman to rise above their inherent instinctual drives to bond together in wedded partnership. From this stable relationship arises the ability to raise children within the context of Family. The bonds of love carry the members of the family forth in perpetuity as a cultural unit of choice, rather than where the relations of man and woman were but the means of child producing. as in the previous cultural model where the children were seen to be the domain of the matrilineal matriarchy,
A cultural shift of enormous proportions has evolved from this spiritual development within human consciousness. It is the birth of the Patriarchy. Far in implication from the current Dominator paradigm in which we find ourselves (amidst its death throes), the cultural form of the patriarchy has allowed for the creative application of human consciousness to lift us above the instinctual/survival existence level of our ancestors 6,ooo + years ago.
We find ourselves now, however, on the very edge of a collective paradigm shift, equal in import to all that has gone before us in the evolvement of culture from the primitive through the matriarchy and on into and in completion of the patriarchy. It is through the presence of the planet Jupiter that we are now undergoing a compression of 13,000 years of humanity's history and cultural movement. Jupiter, astrologically, gives the import of expansion to whatever else is going on in the chart of our skies. This seeming paradox can perhaps be understood through the metaphor of a computer program that has been compressed, then expanded into full function by means of a releasing code. Jupiter, here, provides the trigger of release for the full spectrum of human cultural history contained within our Mythos. This means that we, as a species, are in a very short time (9 months) recapitulating the 13,000 years that has gone before us, so that we might bring to resolution any unfinished experiences of our genetic programming.
We are embodying the developmental stages of our past in a very short and intense time. This is occurring in our culturally ordained frameworks and in our individual lives as well as on the inner plane of consciousness. There the seeming conflicts of masculine/feminine, male/female, and culture/instinct are being brought into direct and personal experiential realms. It would behoove us to remember that dynamic tension between opposites is a way of building strength and appreciation, and need not disintegrate into battle.
In these times of transition we are witnessing many who are seeking to re-invent the outmoded forms of the matriarchy, and those who wish to perpetuate the rigid structures of the patriarchy. Neither one is appropriate in the service of humanity's movement forward toward manifesting our birthright. While we must honor the value and knowledge of the matri/patri-archies of our ancestors' times gone by, and integrate these into our newly evolving forms, we cannot afford to subsume our spiritual evolution to the comfort and security provided by those isolating paradigms.
What, then, lies ahead in our sojourn of spiritual/cultural unfoldment?
Shamanism is humanity's oldest and most enduring spiritual practice, accessible to all. It holds sacrosanct the Vision and methods of enabling each individual to seek, find and fulfill their own autonomous path of self-realization.
Anarchism is the social form which is free from the imposed dogma and beliefs of any dominating authority.
When we synergize these two concepts, we come up with Shamanarchy. Shamanarchy is, then, the life expression of individuals following each his/her own and unique path of spiritual empowerment with love, honor and respect for one's self and each other, in mutual support of the other's cultural/spiritual expression. I feel strongly that it is through this embodiment of our Spirit's natural progression that we, as a species, may at last re-establish balance and harmony in our inner lives, with the planet, and in relationship to the Cosmos.
From our origins in the archaic, let us honor the lessons of the Matriarchy and Patriarchy, and move on into the Shamanarchy. Let us create a world of compassion, diversity and peace.
Many thanks to Daniel Giamario for turning me on to the W. I. Thompson material which provided the foundation research for the explorations contained in this article.
On the evening of Nov. 23, I went out with drum, feather, and tobacco to bear witness to the spectacular configuration of Mars, Venus, Jupiter and crescent Moon. I sat in contemplative review of the significance portrayed mythically, there in front of me, to my own life and current circumstances. It was then I understood that I was, without conscious planning, already expressing the Mythos in my life. With the full impact of that revelation hitting me full force, I chose to embody the prevailing Mythos intentfully, to be the Wandering Shaman/Warrior, roaming through the Darkness of my Soul, recognizing my blindnesses, and seeking maturity of my status in the Light of Love.
As Mars now descends into the western horizon, so do I now set forth upon a Wandering, wherever Spirit shall guide me, without plan or map. I have made the vow to wander thusly until Mars and Venus shall conjoin once again, in the morning sky of July. I carry this vow for my own renewal, and on behalf of humanity.
All of these celestial events are currently taking place in a realm of the sky directly in the region of the residing place of Oannes (Constellation Vela). Oannes, the Silver Wolf, is the Mytho‹Historical progenitor of our Mongolian people, the Father of our race. He is the bringer of culture, arts, science, animal husbandry and the secrets of knowledge. His primary expression through Men is the one who seeks, requires and asks no permission of Woman. That is, he enables us, as Men, and the masculine aspect of our Soul, to become fully self‹individuated. The synchronisitiy of the Mars/Venus/Moon cycle occurring within the domain of Oannes is far too significant to ignore.
My wife, Shell, and I have chosen to separate. I have purchased a motor home and set out upon my Wandering. Where I will be is where Spirit wills that I be. I shall continue to be available for Shamanic services. I may be in your region, or you may wish to meet with me where my Wanderings have taken me. Should you, my many friends and aquaintances, clients and ceremonial participants, desire to sponsor Ceremony, receive Doctoring, or simply wish to say hello, I now have a voice mail service upon which you may call and leave a message (I'll check it frequently). You may also write me.
JADE WAH'OO GREGORY
2675 W. 89 A #1021
SEDONA, AZ. 86336
VOICE MAIL: 520-282-6883 X 222
