Who Let the Lions Out
As a 12th house Sun with Neptune opposite, once in a while I am gifted with a TRUE DREAM. This is a dream that transcends the normal, bringing a teaching beyond the personal. Accessing the realm of the collective unconscious, streaming through in Uranian brilliance, these dreams become precious jewels in the archetype of my life unfolding. I keep them close. I listen. I embody their teaching.
The other evening I received one such dream. Upon reflection, I realized it was a teaching about a REASON for astrology, its core PURPOSE and part of its energetic magic. I would like to share this.
In the dream, I was a human being among a small group of other humans. We were traversing a multi-leveled building, walking over metal floors which held cells containing something we could not quite 'see' through the grated floors. Suddenly I tripped on the floor, triggering the 'hold' to open, revealing its content. Inside the floor was a room full of LIONS! Full grown, golden lions.
These large and beautiful animals quickly RUSHED from their under-floor prison and came into the room. They were formidable - snarling, baring teeth, dashing about with menace. We were terrified. Not sure how dangerous they were, nor of what they were capable.
Suddenly a large lion lunged at one of us, drawing blood. I felt myself rise to this moment, stepping forward from the group and energetically engaging with this animal. A song came from within me - from my intuitive self, my higher self. The song was beautiful and melodic, ethereal. I could feel it winding itself around the lion, enfolding it. The song, I quickly realized, was EXACTLY the song of the lion's energetic frequency. I sang to this lion, FOR this lion - singing HIS song, to him. He listened in rapture. It felt glorious to be the channel for this music of truth, and I was aware that this particular song would only arise for this particular beast, that it was his blueprint. His frequency. His SELF.
When I was finished, the lion was transformed. From tempestuous and angry, he was passive and satisfied. The lion then decided (or so it seemed) to leave his lion form and to transform into a small glass vial of glittering coloured powder. His instinctual rage was gone and, in its place, a beautiful and magical container of essence - benign, harmless, magical.
When we sing the song of the lower self, TO the lower self, the lower self is quelled. The anxiety and fear, the rage and need for self-expression, the animal instincts - they are satisfied. Somehow, when we energetically 'match' the personal instinctual and reflect it back to itself, we are able to 'wake up' from this primal nature. We wake up from our animal. We are liberated. Our soul or autonomous self has more room to come in. We are freed from fear and threat and defensiveness. We are safe to become more human. More in our heart. More in control.
Astrology, as far as I experience it, is the art of this reflection. When you receive a birth chart reading, someone outside of you is singing the song of your self RIGHT AT YOU. A good astrologer can match your resonance perfectly, providing a beautifully accurate reflection of you. Your instincts, your primal scars and pain, your talents and formidable traits. And when we receive this, something magical happens. A space is created. An opening. A clarity. A window through which our soul can shine more brightly, our 'human' self can come more clear.
We all have animal selves - lower selves that engage in drama, upheaval, conflict, karma. And our job in this life is not to kill the lower self, but to tame it. To bring it on side. To have it literally lay down its snarling defense and CHOOSE to transform into a glittering colourful vial of magical essence. So that our higher self can come in and be safe to embody. Safe to be here, on earth.
My prayer, before each reading I offer, is that the highest evolutionary good of my client be served. That they are able to see themselves more clearly, to be liberated into an ability to choose, to be empowered into freedom. This dream, and the countless clients I have seen transform before me, is humbling acknowledgement of the beauty and power of this sacred science. I am honored to be a channel for its expression.