Photo: Annie Sempill
Also called the Old Way of the Mountains, the path led me up, over and through the mountainous regions of Northern Spain between Bilbao and Villafranca del Bierzo. Just as the name promised, the path invited me to rediscover what had been forgotten – to remember.
To remember what it is to live in awe and joy, noticing the beauty of our wonderful earth.
To remember a way of life intimately connected with nature and the natural seasonal and daily rhythms.
To remember the inner spark of my true essence and to rejoice in how that plays out in the world – to remember who I am.
Times of expansion are always followed by a time of testing.
The expansiveness needs to be integrated, and integration often comes through challenge!
Whatever I might wish, I am not exempt from this process and challenges are presenting themselves.
As I write this, I am in the UK in the days after a family funeral.
When I return to Spain on Friday, I have a week to move out of my apartment which is used as a holiday rental in July & August.
I start volunteering on an Asturian Organic Farm on 1st July and currently do not know where I’ll live from September 1st!
I’m reminded of the fast-flowing mountain streams that accompanied me on the Camino Olvidado.
Full from copious rain and snow melt, they burbled and tumbled joyfully between rocks and through narrow gorges.
Suddenly being the river has taken on a different feel!
As I write, the moon, in its monthly rhythm is approaching fullness again. It will be full on the 21st or 22nd June, depending on your location – close to and therefore, it is believed, activated by the energies of the Solstice.
Can you feel its pull?
At the full moon, an astrological chart shows the sun and moon opposite one another. As we gaze into the night sky, for just a short time, no earthly shadow is cast – the moon is revealed in its full radiance.
Ancient cultures and modern astrologers believe that the full moon builds upon the energies and intentions set at the previous new moon, bringing them to fruition, bringing a cycle to completion.
They also believe that the energy of planets in certain geometrical aspects to the sun and moon are illuminated or activated, and so their energies are more strongly expressed in the world. We can notice how they play out, through exploration of the archetypes of their names and myths.
Rather than predicting events, or determining our fate, studying the rhythms, myths and wisdom of the stars offers us guidance on our journey of personal and collective maturation or growth.
This is why it fascinates me!
We can be awakened to new insights as we transcend the layers of reality, from physical, through emotional and mental, to archetypal (the level of beliefs, myths, archetypes, ceremony etc) and on to the spiritual or energetic layers.[1]
Many say that the teacher comes when the student is ready. . .
The same principle applies in Astrology.
Many believe that a new planet, interpretation of the myth after which it is named, or intuitive knowing related to its story appears as our teacher – when we are ready.
Let’s explore a little more and see if a new teacher has arrived!
The upcoming full moon at 1⁰ Capricorn lies next to (conjunct) Venus and Mercury. The sun, conjunct the dwarf planets Ixion and Quaoar and the Centaur Pholus, is opposite at 1⁰ Cancer – providing an opportunity to grow through the challenge that opposition always provides.
Whilst the interplay of all these planets is important, my focus today is on just one – the Centaur Pholus.
To me, the introduction of Pholus as our world circles on through crises and chaos seems poignant and apt.
~
I’m basing this short telling and interpretation on the work of Melanie Reinhart[2] (another new teacher for me), with some of my own thoughts!
The myth invites a much deeper exploration, but for now the story goes like this.
Pholus the centaur – half man, half horse, kind, generous and hospitable in nature, was said to be the son of Silenus and an ash-nymph. He lived, like other centaurs in a cave and was the guardian of a sacred jar of wine that had been given to him by Dionysus.
The jar was said to be the communal property of all the centaurs and vague instructions were left, stating that it was not to be opened until the advent of Hercules (the Hero).
Eventually, Hercules did visit Pholus. Whilst enjoying his meal, Hercules asked for wine to accompany the roasted meats he had been served. Although Pholus was unsure about opening the jar of wine, Hercules reminded him that it had been placed in Pholus’ care four generations earlier, awaiting his arrival.
So Pholus opened the jar of wine. As the seal cracked the wine’s potent aroma was released into the air.
The intoxicating scent reached the whole centaur race. It drove them berserk, and they stormed the cave with firebrands and pine trees, hurling rocks and trying to enter the cave that contained this powerful intoxicating liquor.
Defending himself and Pholus, Hercules started firing poisoned arrows, killing many centaurs, but in time, he and Pholus were driven from the cave.
Once the chaos had subsided, surrounded by dead centaurs, Pholus was astonished by the power of Hercules’ tiny arrows.
Hercules had coated his arrows with the poisonous blood or gall of Hydra, a multi-headed serpentine monster who lived in a swamp.
Wanting to understand how the arrows had had such devastating effect, Pholus picked one up to examine it. It slipped from his hand, fell on his foot, and piercing his skin poisoned him, causing his immediate death.
Melanie Reinhart explains that in myth, the death of a centaur symbolises transformation through release.
Death implies crossing a threshold, receiving a new level of awareness, entering the next stage of the journey.
For Pholus, death or release is the instant result of his curiosity, his wondering about the deadly effect of Hercules’, (the Hero’s, the immature ego’s) arrows.
“He looks the agent of destruction straight in the eye, and engages it with a question. . ..
Pholus is freed through enquiry intended to gain insight”[2]
[2] Chiron, Pholus and Nessus: to the Edge and Beyond by Melanie Reinhart
Weaving in and out – alongside the story of the Centaur Pholus another myth has been rolling around my psyche, teaching me (not always gently) for about 18 months.
This one from mythologist Martin Shaw, called “The Red Bead Woman”, tells of another talking horse, another swamp-dwelling monster, another time of chaos, another death-rebirth transformation.
Briefly summarising Shaw’s florid telling, the story goes like this.
The longing of a wise crone brings life to a mysterious, earthy young woman from the edge, who is to become the long-prophesised wife of the prince at the centre.
As in all myths, (and in us) before such a union of the sacred feminine and sacred masculine can take place, both must mature through initiation and a challenging process of growth.
Just as the young woman is forgetting the way, she encounters a terrible sorceress, who steals her face, her identity and her life.
The sorceress deceives the prince, his family and community, and silences the last surviving talking horse.
A wedding does take place but rather than beautiful red beads of wisdom being spoken as prophesised, slugs, toads and all manner of slimy creatures fall from the fake-bride’s lips.
Contamination from the sorceress at the heart of the kingdom results only in darkness and decay. As the earthy young woman, now reborn begins to speak out her story, the last of the talking horses speaks with the king, revealing the deception that has occurred and explaining the course of action now needed for cleansing and renewal.
The sorceress is appropriately dealt with. The young woman and the prince separately endure their death-like processes, are cleansed, humbled and tempered until they are ready to come back together.
Even now, only kindness breaks the final spell so that the beautiful, prophesised union of the Red Bead Woman and the Crow King can take place.
At the true wedding – the integration of sacred feminine and masculine, as the prophesy predicted, beautiful red beads fall from the bride’s lips, to be gathered and joined for the renewing of community.
This myth, through several readings over the course of three weeks, accompanied our Spring Camino.
Acknowledging that all the characters from a myth also live within, each one playing their part in the rich tapestry of our psyches, our pilgrim circle felt into the story, noticing where they found themselves.
Which character, image or scenario most resonated or repelled them?
How did this change with each hearing and with time?
And sometimes, I would ask specific questions, which I now direct to you.
Remember a time when your face, your authenticity was stolen from you – what is the story that now needs to be given voice?
How will you share your story? With whom?
And
Remember a time when your inner sorceress was unleashed.
Instead of speaking beautiful wise constructive words, ugly, destructive words splashed and poisoned everything around you.
Are you willing to acknowledge the possibility that such a one lives in the swampy depths of your psyche, an inner saboteur, determined to dampen the spark of your true essence?
Are you willing to look this agent of destruction in the eye and engage it with a question?
Now, whilst the revelation of my Soul’s purpose might carry terror and awe, it would give clarity, direction, and in its implementation, immense joy and satisfaction. Knowing that I’m doing what I’m here to do would at last fulfil the existential crisis that has been my life!
It feels as if this would ease any lingering fear of stepping into the future!
Facing the fear of moving forward also challenges me not only to return to the mantra “live like the river flows”, but to replace it with
Finding connections between the stories, we notice that in both, the agent of destruction had its origins in the swamp, whilst its poison spread far and wide.
I was aghast when, finding myself in an inner swampy place, I, like Pholus first looked the agent of destruction in the eye!
I came face to face with my own inner sorceress!
I’d done a good job of deceiving myself that “the witch”, the entity that stole my face in moments of anger in my younger years, had been securely confined and would no longer bother me.
It turns out, the walls I’d built to contain her had become fears and self-imposed limitations. I knew they were there but facing them squarely in the eye didn’t feel appealing!
However, for me, curiosity and the pull towards greater understanding and wholeness always wins!
Rather than being swept away in chaos and confusion, I now find like Pholus, the practice of wondering out of curiosity leads to greater insight and freedom.
I remember the boggy places on the Camino Olvidado – sodden paths churned and almost impassable to humans after the cows moved to their summer pastures.
The outer experience helps me to remember that care is needed when entering an inner swampy place.
I test the ground with each footstep, pick a route through the miry places, find support as necessary and enquire
What is this?
What is this really about?
What is my part in this?
And then,
Is this coming from health or contamination?
Is this an expression of my true self, that fractal expression of cosmic consciousness, of love?
or
Have I been deceived?
Has union with the sorceress poisoned my words and actions?
In my own inner explorations, I find swamp and shadow to be almost interchangeable.
And so, at the time of this full moon when no earth shadow can be seen, I invite you to consider and feel your way into the stories I’ve shared.
Where do you find yourself?
Which character, image or scenario most resonates with you?
Where do you need to remember who you are so that you can confidently face your shadow to be released and transformed?
Have you slipped into a swampy place and need to find your way to solid ground?
What is revealed when you ask, “What is this?”
Watch this space for more information and
I’m looking forward to being with you soon,
Be happy, be safe, be well,