Photography by Jennifer Elen Brid, 2021
The need for freedom. For working out the kinks in our existing life structures that inhibit rather than support our essence, or for overhauling them completely in all but the most foundational pieces. For living our passions, expressing our unique creativity in ways that breathes new life into ourselves and in turn, the world and all of Creation around us.
For getting to know more intimately the juxtaposition of many seemingly contradictory energies, themes, desires, and needs, all with the end goal of Union, Unity, Freedom and Justice for all Beings; for marrying the unmarriable, integrating that which seems impossible, and finding the balance point between that allows for the One Truth, One Mind, and One Heart to operate as one more fully on Earth (which requires many truths to be recognized and honored while simultaneously living our own!).
For getting to know more intimately the juxtaposition of many seemingly contradictory energies, themes, desires, and needs, all with the end goal of Union, Unity, Freedom and Justice for all Beings; for marrying the unmarriable, integrating that which seems impossible, and finding the balance point between that allows for the One Truth, One Mind, and One Heart to operate as one more fully on Earth (which requires many truths to be recognized and honored while simultaneously living our own!).
Badlands National Park, 2021 (Photography by Jennifer Elen Bríd) This all sounds like a tall order, but it’s the way of the Saturn-Uranus square, exact today for the second of three times during 2021. These themes, along with themes of Rewilding, Grounding, making major changes with brave and bold yet sensical moves over time, are the overarching call of the Cosmos in the ever-unfolding saga of Life On Earth. We have moved into times in which we must heed the call of what makes us come alive, to revisit themes from the deep past and honor traditional ways of living and structures that served us well that societal structural disconnect has severed us from. (If you think about the way indigenous cultures have lived the world over before colonization – a universal love of the land, an honoring of all its beings as sacred, an inherent knowing of much deeper cyclical cosmology and honoring of the cycles – Mitakuye Oyasin, pronounced “mi-TAH-kwee AH-sin” the Lakota Sioux phrase meaning “All My Relations” that acknowledges the interconnectedness of all things – you begin to get the idea).
Uranus continues to do its sacred shake-up work in Taurus, the realm of all things earthy, sensual, artistic, and valuation-related, with Saturn now retrograde in Aquarius at their second of three meetups (hence bringing back of old ideas and concepts around structures and mores that are beneficial to all of society, and a perhaps a call back to ancient traditional wisdoms kept by cultures far more attuned to the sacredness of the land than most in the modern Western world can comprehend). We might find ourselves pulled between what’s societally accepted as “normal” in our day and age, or in any given social norms that surround us, and finding our own unique path within it.
My Nomadism and Path to Rewilding Journey
A personal example I can share is in the way that my own values system – the things I want, the things I’ve discovered I actually need, and how to work the balance while living nomadically (and very, very happily) has shifted during this period, having left the UP of Michigan where I lived for nearly forty years to begin a new wanderer's life in the desert Southwest. During my trip, I visited places old and new, hiking and camping at the Badlands in South Dakota, exploring the Central Rockies with glorious hikes and day trips throughout the Carbondale/Redstone/Marble area, and have since landed in Flagstaff, Arizona, with some wonderfully sweet and soulful friends as a base from which to transition into van life by years' end.
I recently returned from a week and a half of camping in the mountains of Arizona - a period that has been profoundly life-changing for me for many reasons. After having left behind a life of Western “stability,” amenities, and “conveniences” is multifold, even being a skittish, retreating Cancer Moon creature-comforts homebody living out her Sag wildness, I can tell you this: I have discovered that I value the wild earth beneath my peacefully sleeping body snug and warm in my (obviously) drafty but cozy tent, the wind rushing around me at all times; the at-times unbelievably hot sun, the pattering of rain, right down to little bugs drawn to my lanterns at night outside – along with the occasional nighttime critter visitor hungry for food and adrenaline rush of unknown sounds in the middle of the night that used to leave even me feeling vulnerable and full of dread – and even inside my tiny living spaces, more than any Western conveniences could ever give me.
I recently returned from a week and a half of camping in the mountains of Arizona - a period that has been profoundly life-changing for me for many reasons. After having left behind a life of Western “stability,” amenities, and “conveniences” is multifold, even being a skittish, retreating Cancer Moon creature-comforts homebody living out her Sag wildness, I can tell you this: I have discovered that I value the wild earth beneath my peacefully sleeping body snug and warm in my (obviously) drafty but cozy tent, the wind rushing around me at all times; the at-times unbelievably hot sun, the pattering of rain, right down to little bugs drawn to my lanterns at night outside – along with the occasional nighttime critter visitor hungry for food and adrenaline rush of unknown sounds in the middle of the night that used to leave even me feeling vulnerable and full of dread – and even inside my tiny living spaces, more than any Western conveniences could ever give me.
Old ideas shattering; paradigms that once served us and saved as a safe and right evolutionary space begin to crack even more deeply, showing that what once was can no longer be if we are to step into who we are to become as destiny unfolds. The old must fall away as we are called to create more life-affirming structures within our belief systems, lives, and society at large.
If we’re feeling the call to revolutionize our lives in the direction of more authenticity, freedom of self-expression, living, and BEING – maybe even shunning ideas around “hustle culture,” money, status, and the like – how can we move into greater alignment with our essence while having our needs met in daily life?
We are called to be exactly as we are as we continue to grow, learn, and find new ways to support each other that uphold our authenticity and create social structures within which everyone can thrive (I would argue that this authenticity is the crux of our growth, and do believe that we are continually presented with opportunities to shed that which has never really been “us”).
No one person can ever be as another entirely, nor do we need to be. As Rick Levine said so wonderfully and clearly about the Aquarius archetype, it’s “Together but not the same.” Or, to quote the great Hunkpapa Sioux chief and holy man Sitting Bull, "It is not necessary for eagles to be crows."
If we’re feeling the call to revolutionize our lives in the direction of more authenticity, freedom of self-expression, living, and BEING – maybe even shunning ideas around “hustle culture,” money, status, and the like – how can we move into greater alignment with our essence while having our needs met in daily life?
We are called to be exactly as we are as we continue to grow, learn, and find new ways to support each other that uphold our authenticity and create social structures within which everyone can thrive (I would argue that this authenticity is the crux of our growth, and do believe that we are continually presented with opportunities to shed that which has never really been “us”).
No one person can ever be as another entirely, nor do we need to be. As Rick Levine said so wonderfully and clearly about the Aquarius archetype, it’s “Together but not the same.” Or, to quote the great Hunkpapa Sioux chief and holy man Sitting Bull, "It is not necessary for eagles to be crows."
As Mars begins to make its way through the robustly expressive sign of Leo through the end of July, we’ve got an enormous opportunity to heed the call of robust and brave self-expression that makes us who we are. At the same time, we might find ourselves wondering exactly how to go about that self-expression. How do we communicate what’s most potently, unwaveringly on our hearts and minds that must be poured out into something beautiful, raw, poetic, life-changing (that does not mean it has to be complex or “perfect,” but rather, authentic, cathartic, and transformational for the one creating it). As Mars forms a quincunx to JUPITER in Pisces and Mercury forms a quincunx to Mars, many of us will be called to BIG, bold creative endeavors at this time, whether it’s something that will go on to touch hearts in the collective beyond what we could understand now, or for the purpose of bringing more joy, life, and fun into our own lives – and by doing that, we are naturally turning the tide in creating a more joyful, vibrant world.
These themes, along with shifts in how we use and perceive technology, are all manifestations of the Saturn-Uranus square. And last weekend’s separating SUN-NEPTUNE square is also embedded in the energetic imprint of this alignment, the middle chapter in the unfolding of this potent cycle. Letting go, acquiescing to things far bigger than ourselves, perhaps in ways that send torrents of emotions or other unnerving or numinous energies coursing through us and out into the Cosmos, is required for our next steps forward. Compassion, forgiveness, holding space with those who are grieving – I’m thinking people from every walk of life who have been colonized, subjugated, brutalized, suppressed, discriminated against or treated poorly in any other way especially – will help us walk the walk in creating that more equitable world that Aquarius is all about in its highest vibrational expression.
Sacred cave near Flagstaff, AZ (by Jennifer Elen Bríd) I write this at a table at an outdoor café’s busy parking lot, watching people of all walks of life roam by, contemplating my own path and deep creative endeavors. I have a stopover home with friends, but with the goal of transitioning to van life before years’ end. I drift here and there, finding new and different places to work, dream, scheme, and contemplate; hiking the woods, camping long-term miles out of town, leaving offerings of water, tobacco, song, and energetic healing blessings and honoring the First Nations people of the land and all spirits and ancestors of place as I go. I write this coming off of my first-ever original music composition drafting ceremony and session yesterday, as energies move through me that are unlike anything I have experienced in my life. I am learning to become the Hollow Bone through which Source can express all the things I came to express – not knowing where the river will flow to, only that it flows, and that I am to give life to something new, and beautiful, and life-affirming as it does.
I am giving way to forces that have been knocking on the door of my consciousness for years now. It is time. Are you feeling the call to action (and ironically, perhaps towards letting go of the illusion of a different sort of control to achieve your goals) in ways that feel foreign, supercharged, or just plain confusing? Trust that more clarity will come as the days go on, and especially after Mercury goes direct at 16 degrees Gemini on June 22.
I am giving way to forces that have been knocking on the door of my consciousness for years now. It is time. Are you feeling the call to action (and ironically, perhaps towards letting go of the illusion of a different sort of control to achieve your goals) in ways that feel foreign, supercharged, or just plain confusing? Trust that more clarity will come as the days go on, and especially after Mercury goes direct at 16 degrees Gemini on June 22.
Whatever you feel called to do now, know that we are in deeply transformative processes, and that we will be revisiting that which we set into motion due to Mercury’s current retrograde cycle.
How are you experiencing these powerful energies as we make our way through the last of this summer's eclipse season energies? Many blessings to you, Dear Ones - may grace, ease, and joy in the unfolding of the path ahead be yours!
How are you experiencing these powerful energies as we make our way through the last of this summer's eclipse season energies? Many blessings to you, Dear Ones - may grace, ease, and joy in the unfolding of the path ahead be yours!
© Jennifer Elen Brid, 2021. Unauthorized use or duplication of this material without express and written permission from the author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to this writer with appropriate and specific direction to the document containing the original content.
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If you feel called to receive more support and guidance through one-on-one healing modalities to experience greater healing, peace, clarity, and joy via holistic and spiritual modalities - energetic healing, intuitive/psychic issue clearing, astrological consultations, card readings, and more - it's an honor and a joy to hold space for personal healing in this way.
Please email jhowell1221@gmail.com or call (906) 399-6326 to schedule.
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