How often do we hear people use the word "energy" to describe something spiritual? This person has "good energy," the place/event/workshop was flowing with "good energy!" Or, in the negative, "I don't eat such and such food because it has "bad energy." Under this full Moon, in our astrology classrooms, I've been asking students to consider the idea that the word "energy" should be temporarily suspended from our vocabulary. It's not that there is anything inherently wrong with the word energy, it's just that all too often our favorite spiritual adjectives become meaningless clichés or dead spots in our language. It's kind of funny to think about it; the word energy nowadays is often very lifeless and empty. So why does this happen and what can we learn from it? And why, at this full moon time, should we pick on the word "energy" in particular?
Let's start with some astrological facts. Full Moon times are big energy peaks. By contrast, New Moon times are like energy lows. New Moons start the new lunar cycle, and they are metaphorically very dark, inward, cold and quiet. During a new moon time we can't see any light on the surface of the Moon because it is traveling so close to the Sun. During Full Moon times, the Moon and the Sun stand opposed by 180 degrees, so we get to see the full surface of the Moon. Hospitals fill up and crime rates rise, and people are generally maxing out energetically. The Full Moon time represents the fruiting period of the monthly cycle, so it's an intense period of heightened psychic, emotional, and physical activity.
What makes this Full Moon unique (though every Full Moon has something to teach us) is that it is happening amidst several greater planetary configurations. The one I'm especially interested in right now is called a "Grand Water Trine." This is a configuration that happens when three or more planets form successive 120 degree angles to each other in the sky, all within signs of the same element (in this case the element is water). The planets currently making this powerful aspect are Neptune and Chiron, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. What makes this especially powerful is the fact that the planets involved, for the most part, are very slow moving, so the aspect pattern of the Grand Water Trine (which is already a rare aspect) will last for a much longer period of time (a few months). Every time we get a Full Moon during this period the effects the Grand Water Trine are triggered, which means they can be felt more intensely than usual. That's what we're dealing with this summer, and this leads us back to picking on the word "energy."
The problem with the word "energy," in the simplest sense, is that it can be quite monotheistic. The word energy reduces the particularity and diversity of things, people, places, events, eco-systems, and so forth, down to essential "sameness." Instead of appreciating the unspeakable complexity of someone we just met, for example, we might say "she had great energy." On the surface it may not seem like there is anything wrong with this word choice, and I think we can all agree that seeing beyond the "separateness" of things and into what we share in common is a really great impulse. I would suggest, however, that our unconscious (and I emphasize the word 'unconscious') use of the word energy is reflective of an unexamined, historical, personal and collective monotheistic wound that many of us are still struggling with.
Here are a few quick things to notice about water in the collective right now, and then we'll list several questions we can ask ourselves personally to make sure we're in touch with the waters.
In the Collective:
1. Notice the subject of diversity in the news right now (the big stories are stories of race, creed, gender, religion, rights, etc).
2. Notice the global protests: the people (the many) are rising against the "king" (the one).
3. Notice the civil tension and the polarization of groups politically (each group reflecting a diverse point of view, and nobody can say there is 'one' easy answer).
Personally:
1. How willing have you been lately to make compromises? Good compromises mean a healthy respect for diversity. When we get so focused on thinking that we have the "right" or "higher" spiritual answers, or that there is only "one" right path to take, we miss out on opportunities for wonderful compromises and deeper complexity.
2. When we think we're receiving a message or a "sign" from the universe, do we speak back? Lack of participation often leads to us only having "one" experience when "many" are always available. So the next time you get a sign, instead of taking it as an "answer," think of it like a two way telephone conversation. Instead of thinking that the Universe is talking to you when you see an animal on your nature walk, for example, consider that maybe it's just that particular animal talking to you. Then have a conversation with it or consider its message for you without needing to think of it as "the universe itself" speaking THROUGH the animal. Consider for a moment that every individual thing communicates, rather than thinking that the universe communicates THROUGH individual things. It's a subtle shift, but it can make a real difference.
3. How often do you tell yourself not to get swept up by emotions? Sometimes that's a healthy thing to do for ourselves: to not get caught up in emotions. But other times it’s the exact wrong point of view. Emotions are like rivers and lakes and streams and rain; they clean us when we learn to flow with them. It's certainly true that they can overwhelm us if we allow them to, but it's also true that without them we're not alive. Right now our emotions have so much to offer us. All we have to do is listen to them very closely, without being impulsive, and we will find that they are speaking some very deep truths.
4. Next time you feel tempted to use the word "energy" to describe something, ask yourself this question first: does this description do justice to the full diversity and complexity of whatever I'm addressing? It's not that energy descriptions are bad, but we need to make sure that we are not reducing something living down to something abstract.
Emotions are very particular. They are each like little creatures, or like layers upon layers of little creatures. So let's stop calling emotions "energy." Let's stop reducing all phenomenon and diversity down to "oneness" and "energy," all the time. Let's stop thinking about "the universe" and instead think of the particulars. Otherwise, before we know it, the word "energy" will be as meaningless as flashing the peace sign with a gun in the other hand. This full Moon will be intense energetically (The Full Moon will fall in opposition to the Sun in the sign of Leo), but at the same time our actual lived experiences will be irreducibly "different." Can we take time to really honor the diversity? This is one of the great challenges of a Grand Water Trine!
Image by spencer77, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.