The New Moon in Pisces and the Temptation of Immensity

Transcript:

0:44
Welcome, everybody. Happy Friday. Hope you guys are all doing well. Today I'm doing a live stream to talk about the New Moon in Pisces. So I'm very glad to see all of you and I'm just checking the chat box. Yeah, tell me where you're coming from today. I'd love to hear from you guys in the chat box. I see Colorado, the Netherlands, Durham, Western Washington State, Sweden. Vrindavana. Jai Jai Krishna, beautiful Barcelona. Nice, nice Slovenia, Italy, New York City, Chicago, it makes me so happy to know that there's a community of people around the world who you know, participate in these in these talks. And I'd love to I always love to hear where you guys are coming from at the beginning. So at any rate, like I said, today, we're going to take a look at the New Moon in Pisces. So I am going to share my screen give you a look at the real time clock. And one of the first things that we're going to do today is to just reiterate what's special or important about this New Moon. And then we are also going to take it through the 12 houses. And then I want to talk a little bit about the underlying philosophy that I think is relevant for a transit like this, that's toning the entire moon cycle ahead. So that's our agenda for the day. And I'm going to do a pretty quick tour through the houses. This is just to give you a sense of where the New Moon is landing and your birth chart and, and therefore what you can expect.

3:46
Here's the New Moon forming today in the sign of Pisces. And you're going to notice that it doesn't perfect here in least in the United States and the timezone that I'm in Minneapolis, it doesn't perfect till pretty late tonight into tomorrow morning. But it's forming in a conjunction with Venus and Neptune. So Venus is moving into the conjunction with Neptune at the time of the New Moon. And so it is pretty significant and large and you've got Venus exalted a large stellium in Pisces here. So what I want to do today is talk a little bit about why this is significant. Again, take it through the 12 houses, so you have a sense of what kind of topics are likely to get activated by this very potent New Moon and toning your life for the month ahead. And then afterwards, I want to talk a little bit about some of the underlying teachings or lessons that we might gain by meditating on this new moon. So that's our agenda for the day. If you have questions, feel free to drop them in the chat box. I probably won't get two questions until the end. And I hopefully we'll have some time. It depends. Usually I don't have much time for q&a at the end. But if I do have time, I'll be happy to take your questions at that at that point. Okay, so one of the reasons that this is a significant Eclipse before we break down house by house is that we're we are essentially dealing with a Neptune sun conjunction and Venus Neptune Sun conjunction all at the same time with Venus being exalted. So that is a lot of emphasis being put on the, the Neptunian themes right now Neptune is very present in this, and that can usually bring a few different themes one is going to be inspiration, imagination, fantasy, vision, the kind of subtle and inspiring realm of thought, the realm of faith, the realm of belief, the realm of imagination, so these things can become very pronounced. And also, Venus is the goddess of good fortune and brings oftentimes especially with Neptune, almost this sense of the dream come true or it can bring glamour, it can bring fame, it can bring an an aura of beauty that's almost transcendental or otherworldly. So this has a very magical, romantic, emotional, moody, faithful, optimistic feeling behind it.

6:21
I've been kind of joking that it has this kind of sublime operatic quality to it, it feels like the high note of an opera singer or something. So a very theatrical and grand conjunction taking place between these four planets. Now, the downside is of course going to be things like intoxication or illusion, deception, foggy thinking, idealism, grandiosity. You know, that the just the general downside of Neptune that could be permeating this and the general downside of an exalted Venus that can Venus in any planet in its exaltation can almost overestimate itself or get sort of high on itself. So an exalted Venus in a double bodied sign of double bodied water sign like Pisces, you know, this, this is a place where Venus can get overly dramatic, theatrical, idealistic and can lack grounding. And can it can be sort of Shakespearean, you know, not a lot of people know that in some ways. Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's famous play was sort of a commentary on the foolishness of young love. I mean, it was it was a tragedy, but it was also a play on how foolish and last we get in our romantic reveries about things. So that's maybe one of the downsides, but no one will deny that that's an human experience, no one I don't think we should condemn the kind of the feeling of getting blinded by the light of someone or something is archetypal, it's not like we're going to do away with it. So these are the maybe some of the contours of the transit to keep in mind now what we want to do is I want to take it through the 12 signs, so that you guys have a sense of what's coming.

8:17
Aries

8:18
So I'm going to put Aries on the ascendant, we'll start off with, if you're an Aries rising, in particular, this is what your whole sign house lineup is going to look like you're going to have Pisces as your 12th whole sign, in which case, we're talking about the 12th house, which was called the joy of Saturn and the house of the evil spirit. And that house traditionally was associated with anything that might pull us out of our sense of control or agency. And that's not always a bad thing. I mean, sometimes losing control or getting a little bit lost is exactly what the doctor ordered. So the 12th house also, like Saturn has a relationship with mysticism, and with those meaningful existential sojourns that we take in life where we don't know where we are, we don't know where we're going. We feel a little lost alienated, isolated, alone in between worlds. And yet it's purposeful, there's something in that. So this New Moon in that house can bring up any kind of influence that will come in as very grandiose, but possibly sidetracking you, taking you off course somehow and probably in a very seductive way. It can also stand for anyone or anything who who takes too much from you. So boundaries are important with this new moon for Aries. It could also signify finding something beautiful while in a space that on the outside might look to others like lost or alone or even sick. So there's something potentially to be gained from a difficult environment or circumstance, some blessing that comes through a liminal space of some kind. So that's kind of how I'm looking at it for Aries rising.

10:11
Taurus

10:11
I'm going to take it forward to Taurus rising, then we're putting the new moon in the 11th house, which is the place of friends. This is called the joy of Jupiter in the house of good spirit. And it has to do with influences that are generally conducive to our actions and ambitions in the world. They may not be good ambitions, but this is the place where you find friends and allies and different forms of support that enhance or help you get where you want to go. It could be professionally but allies come in a lot of different forms. So the nice thing about this transit for Taurus rising is the way that help comes from other people, beneficial influences, beneficial support the green light or thumbs up from people that are going to help you get where you want to go or make a dream come true, or something like that. Now, you also have to be careful of who you're associating with. All that glitters is not gold with this transit, be careful that you're not getting used or that before you sign up for something or receive the help or support of something or contract with somebody that you know what you're getting into, and that it's the real deal. That would be my basic advice for the 11th house.

11:21
Gemini

11:22
We take it forward to Gemini rising and we're putting Pisces in the 10th house. So Pisces in the 10th house is going to affect your work environment, a New Moon like this. With Neptune and an exalted Venus could very well indicate that you're starting something in your workplace. So new job perhaps or something in an existing workplace that is very attractive, or that has the promise of success written all over it. Or they could represent that there's even love or something seductive or erotic happening in the workplace. It might be good, maybe that's not so good depends. Also, people are going to chase the dream in their professional life with this transit, make sure that it's substantive. So those are a few things to think about if you're a Gemini rising.

12:16
Cancer

12:16
Now, if you're a Cancer rising, this is going to appear in the ninth house in your chart, which is the place of the higher mind, religion, faith and spirituality mysticism, also foreign countries in long journeys. Could this indicate that you're about to travel or making plans to travel or that you're starting to study something or find a teacher or that in the month ahead, you're going to become absorbed in a new topic that inspires you for example, again, going back to school, or studying something finding a guru or a mentor, maybe you're teaching something yourself. Also, questions about ethics, fairness, the law, those belong to the ninth house. And again, anything pertaining to travel or foreign cultures, places, things like that. So watch for those things, if you're a Cancer rising.

13:07
Leo

13:07
Now, if you're a Leo rising, we're going to put it in the eighth house. The eighth house is the place that well, I feel like the eighth is one of the more complicated to explain. The most basic way that I always explain it is that it is a place of debt, it is a place of debt and penalty. But debt is not the same as penalty. A debt could be something that you owe somebody and there's not necessarily anything, you know, malicious about it, or there's nothing, you know, toxic or negative about it. It's just, you owe somebody something. And this New Moon could indicate that you're going to pay somebody something that you owe emotionally financial financially, that there's some kind of indebted karmic experience, you know, that you're going to some indebtedness that you're going to be looking at this month. On the other hand, everybody owes the debt of their life, everyone, nobody gets out of here alive. So sometimes you will see the theme of death. But usually it's more metaphorical than literal, it's going to be the expiration date of something. And oftentimes the end of different kinds of contracts or soul, let's call them soul contracts that you have with other people will come up when you have lots of eighth house action. The other thing that can happen is that other people are going to owe you something and this transit would be very good for receiving very beneficial kind of magical support from other people. Again, you want to be careful that it doesn't come you know that it's a buyer beware situation potentially or it's a beware of what you accept from other people or what you give to other people the potential to be used is there. Also changes in a spouse or partner's financial or professional life could occur during this time. And sometimes even things like inheritance or is going to come through taking out a loan getting life insurance. Those are eighth house kinds of things dealing with other people's money.

15:16
Virgo

15:17
Okay, now, we go on and we put Virgo on the ascendant and then this energy is focused on the house of relationships is a new relationship entering your life, is there some element of deception, illusion, or intoxication in an existing relationship? Are you about to be swooned by someone or something that maybe looks really nice, but isn't as substantive as you think it is. On the other hand, the romantic energy could be just lovely and really enjoyable. And don't you know, don't think twice about it, just enjoy it for what it is while it lasts. But I like this energy for seventh house, especially Virgo if you're a Virgo rising person and you tend to have a hard time opening up to others emotionally or finding faith and a sense of of certainty, Virgos by nature are Mercury ruled, they're going to tend to be a little bit more on the rational and critical side mentally, which is good, that's their skill, they can be really good craftsmen. They're very detail oriented, they have oftentimes pure desire to serve and help and use skills to be helpful with people. Sometimes it's harder to let go and experience that overriding emotional sense of ease or fluidity. So maybe that's coming into your life through a relationship this month. And you know, don't resist it too much. Allow yourself to perhaps, be swept up in something, especially if you tend to hold on to too much too tightly with worries or fears. You know, I was joking the other day about like a Don Juan character, you know, you know, singing outside your window or what's the I forget John Cusac from say anything with the boombox. There's something Shakespearean about this transit, so it can definitely be pretty theatrical in the in the house of love for Virgos this month.

17:12
Libra

17:12
Anyway, if you take it forward and put Libra on the ascendant, you're taking this into the sixth house. The sixth house was called the house of misfortune and the joy of Mars. And so this is an interesting one, because you have the feeling of grace, or ease, or something very beneficial, or perhaps uplifting, and almost healing or redemptive, coming into a house that is usually associated with very hard work. Oftentimes, with frustrations, enmities and strife, sickness. So for Libras, I like it as a month, that you may you may be, there may be almost like a sense of relief or release, especially if you've been dealing with health stuff, if you're a Libra, this could be a month where, okay, you've got some bad news, but it changes your heart, it changes your mind, suddenly, notice there's nothing there's nothing more helpful sometimes then, like falling on hard times, because it's in those times that we tend to kind of get back on to our metaphorical knees. And, and we're humble again, and we're filled with joy and love. And we remember what matters. And I could see that for Libras this month as being a grace filled month, because of certain kinds of hardships or maybe even health problems that come up or challenges in the environment around you. So look for the silver lining this month. If you're a Libra I think that's my main message.

18:45
Scorpio

18:45
If you are a Scorpio rising, then this is in the fifth house and it's really if you have children, it could be very focused on them. It could be focused on the topic of pregnancy or birth, creativity, and especially this transiting the fifth for Scorpios I could see this being a very romantic and creative month where the question of joy is emphasised is there enough joy in your life? You know, that's that's a good question to ask if you're a Scorpio this month, are you happy? Are you are you having enough fun and the right kind of fun? Is there a form of pleasure in your life that is intoxicating you and ultimately unhealthy? That would be a Neptune fifth house kind of question as well. Maybe there's something also coming in that's very joyful and magical and childlike creatively or with literal children or pregnancy.

19:37
Sagittarius

19:38
Okay, so we'll move to Sag on the ascendant and if you're Sag rising, then this is falling in your fourth house which is going to be related to home family, property, parents and land or your roots. Your roots can be psychological and they can be literal. So family, karma is on the radar for you. If you're a Sag rising, that could mean moving that could mean You know, new relationships in the family, a sister brother, someone's getting married or a new child coming into the family. This kind of has a miraculous uplifting feeling to it. And there may also be, I was kind of joking about this. Because I have a friend that's a Sagittarius rising. And I was like, Well, you could have a staycation this next month. You know, with COVID some people can't travel and because of work, it's hard to travel anyway for most people. And this person really needed a vacation. I was like, Well, you've got this big New Moon in Pisces in your fourth house, maybe you can have, you know, for flight for Valentine's Day, my wife and I had a babysitter come over and we sequestered ourselves into our bedroom and just like watched movies and hung out and you know, it was it was like our own little staycation. We had a good time. It was like we had to get creative this year because we you know, we weren't going out. So maybe there's something magical that you can invent or create in your home this month. That might be another thing for Sag risings. So watch for that area to be activated anyway.

21:05
Capricorn

21:05
Alright, so we'll put Capricorn on the ascendant. This then places the stellium into your third house, that is a place that's often associated with messengers. So watch for messengers or messages to be very important this month, as well as your communication with other people. What you hear from other people this month may have a very big impact on you or something that you need to say or lead out, you may also find that it's just a really nice time for conversations with friends, or that you're finding like a like mindedness that's very uplifting and inspiring. Sometimes you're going to find a creative medium for communication, maybe you're going to write a new song, or maybe you're going to start a blog. There's the need though for almost like romantic, emotional, uplifting and inspiring communication. And, you know, this could be a time to where you get really absorbed in a fantasy novel or something, something otherworldly that starts occupying your mind and inspiring you in some way. That could be spiritual, too. I also like this as a time where you may see some some magic around siblings, your sibling relationships, and also the need to the need for your mind to be absorbed in things that are grand and big and imaginative. Make sure of course, that you don't get diluted by something mentally because this could be a month where there's a little bit of fuzzy thinking. Okay, so I laugh because I'm actually just feeling bad that you know, every time we talk about Neptune in Pisces, all the Pisceans out there like look, I'm not just an irrational fool dancing naked in the streets. You always make it seem like that. So I just imagined some some Pisces sitting there listening to this being like, they're always ripping on us. No. Mostly I feel like the Pisces energy is where we get that sense of renewal and faith and hope from and I think that it's overwhelmingly positive. Remember that as a traditional astrologer. I don't believe Neptune rules assign traditional astrologers generally don't accept outer planets as sign rulers, do we accept them as having powerful influences? Yes. But once you study the essential dignities of ancient astrology, you realise that the outer planets can't really be sign rulers. It's very elaborate the way that sign rulership is constructed. You don't just throw one onto a sign. But anyway, I won't go off on that soapbox. Okay, so the reason I say that, by the way, is just so that that way, you know, if you have a lot of Pisces energy in your chart, I don't believe that means that you are Neptunian. I think there's some significant differences. Maybe at some point, I'll do a video on that.

23:54
Aquarius

23:55
Anyway, so Aquarius, rising, this puts the stellium and the new moon with Venus and Neptune in your second house. That's the place of resources, whether they're financial, or it's someone like an advisor that you have, or a counsellor or lawyer. This is the place of your time, money, energy and resources, often financial, but anything that serves as a resource to help support you in a very direct way. So a new moon in this house will often mean a new resource developing over this month or coming in, and maybe it's very temporary, maybe it's very long lasting, maybe there's a shift in how you're managing or using resources. I like the looks of this with Venus and Neptune for there to be a very uplifting and renewing form of support coming into your life. The only thing I would say here is be careful of buying something or investing in something or craving for some kind of resource that really isn't necessary and that could actually be wasteful. So that's one thing to keep in mind. It's like the old adage, you know don't go to the grocery store on an empty stomach, especially when Neptune and Venus are exalted and will make things appear very glamorous. Here's a good story. So I went shopping for some Thanksgiving food, because we're vegetarians and so I wanted to go pick some things up and both my wife and I can cook a little bit, but we're not like really big wizards in the kitchen. So I went to Whole Foods anyway. And I was like shopping around. And it was just funny because I hadn't eaten, like, I got up, it was like, I went in the morning, you know, and I hadn't eaten and stuff like that. And it was like, everything was so magical. Because I was so excited about the holiday, I just get really pumped up about holidays, I think I'm really sort of nostalgic in that way. But so anyway, I'm just looking like, everything's so magical. And I got to the checkout line, and I looked at my cart, and I was like this is there's some unrealistic things that have happened here. I need to back away and assess the situation. So I did that. And, and that's something you may have to do a little bit of if you are an Aquarius rising with this new moon in your second house.

26:23
Pisces

26:24
Okay, so last but not least, if you're a Pisces rising, this is in your first house, it's pretty existential when it's in your first house, it's about your body, it's about your appearance, it's about your wardrobe, it's about your attitude, or your style or something very personal in terms of how you show up to the world that you may want to revise or rework or something, some new personal development that you're having. I often see this come when people do have plastic surgeries or when people have some kind of cosmetic thing fixed with their dentistry, you know, I mean, it doesn't have to be anything that some vein it sometimes it is, but it can be things that are just like touch ups on the body or appearance or wardrobe, something that some people might consider sort of superficial, but still very important. And on the other hand, sometimes you're going to see people really deeply evaluating their character, their identity, their behaviour, they're going to be seeking a therapist or they're going to be looking that mean self help comes to mind with this transit. Sometimes that means also that you're going to do something to treat yourself well, a day at the spa, or the need for some kind of self care that can be more pronounced because of the emphasis on Venus and Neptune as well which, when it comes into the first house that imbues us with the need for cleanliness, Venus was the planet of cleanliness, and, and beauty and connecting us to something relaxing and sort of otherworldly. And that's the Neptune and flows. I would not be surprised to see Pisces rising people have a story about the spa or swimming or some kind of act of self care that feels necessary at this time. Of course, grandiosity, delusion, delusions of grandeur, and potentially getting high on oneself would be I think, one of the bigger challenges of this one.

28:18
Okay, so that takes us through the 12 signs. I hope that that's helpful for everybody. I'm going to check in on the chat box and see if you guys have any questions before I go on? What I want to talk about next is are what I feel are some of the underlying spiritual lessons that might be a part of the month ahead.

28:54
Okay. The thing that I want to talk about next, is something that I'm calling the temptation of immensity. And it's something I've been reflecting on a lot lately, as all of this Pisces energy has been passing through. And, and I've been reflecting on it in my my meditation in my job of practice every day. I think that one of the things that comes up for a lot of people these days is I'm reflecting on what my clients are saying what they're going through. What I see people, you know, dealing with in my client practice on a day to day basis is this feeling of overwhelm. And I think this has been around for a while now. And I think we've become so accustomed to people talking about feeling overwhelmed that we almost take it as a baseline. Like, yeah, everyone's overwhelmed all the time. It's not even something to talk about, or we've normalised it. So I want to talk about that today, because I think that that can be a Neptunian quality. And I think that very likely, things are going to shift when Neptune moves out of Pisces and the Zeitgeist is going to shift a little bit and I kind of doubt that the same degree of overwhelm, or the same type of overwhelm will exist when Neptune changes signs. In a double bodied water sign, it's very easy to get overwhelmed in this kind of emotionally overwhelmed in an intangible an abundance of intangible qualities and energies. So we can't pin down what exactly is overwhelming us. The things that suddenly trigger us into emotional breakdowns feel really disproportionate. And we can't figure out why. And so we sort of throw our hands up and we say, Well, I'm just so overwhelmed. Life is so overwhelming, everything in the world is so overwhelming. We start pointing at energy fields, start pointing to things like collective shifts, collective enlightenment, you know, fields that we're moving through, we start we start pointing to things that are either too vast to really comprehend, or things that are too subtle to really understand. And this feeling of being overwhelmed by immensity is there. It's something that's immensely overwhelming, and we can't figure out what exactly it is.

34:15
And I see people dealing with this every single day, like, I'm just so overwhelmed like, well, what is it? They're like, everything. So where's that coming from? Because I do think that unique. It's not unique to be overwhelmed. But it's unique to feel overwhelmed by something you can't name, something that feels pervasive and subtle and overwhelming, something that feels grand and vast and too too big to wrap our heads around. We face negative overwhelm, we're often tempted also to look for an escape. So something that we do very naturally when we feel overwhelmed, we feel just inundated and flooded by too many things to name or wrap our heads around. The influences are too subtle to see, everything feels disproportion and out of whack. We want, we look for an escape, or another way of putting it is that we will look for something to completely absorb us or absolve us of the difficulties or tribulations that we're experiencing.

35:23
So let me give you some examples. I feel so overwhelmed. I feel so flooded by challenges or difficulties or hardships. And so I'm going to reach for a luxurious vacation on an in an exotic place like Bali. Why do we do that? There's nothing wrong with Bali, per se. But why do we do that, because we want to shift from being absorbed into some vastness that we can't possibly it's like trying to empty the ocean with a little Dixie cup. It's just too much. And so we say I need to be completely absorbed in an environment that counteracts that. So place me in an environment that is overwhelmingly tropical, teeming with life, teeming with goodness, teeming with happiness and luxury and relaxation. So we look for paradise when we feel like we're in hell. And not that we walk around feeling like the world is hell not not that we wouldn't necessarily give it that name. But more and more, I'm convinced that that's sort of what it is that people feel so overwhelmed by things that they don't understand, or can't put a finger on that then they look for an antidote that is equally absorbing and overwhelming, just bring me to this tropical location, give me an IV of Margarita, as you know, it's like that. On the other hand, it could be something simpler and more mundane, like, I'm feeling so overwhelmed, I don't care, I'm going to drink a whole bottle of wine to myself tonight, we get a I don't give a f, we get it we give ourselves and I don't give an F night off. Right and then we just completely absorb our consciousness and something that's equally overwhelming but that releases us releases the mind releases us from having to deal or cope with or try to name or figure out what's going on. We also binge on things we binge on media or TV or we binge on a person or we binge on a product or a food or or some form of media we watch an entire series of something. Why do we do that? Because we feel so absorbed and overwhelmed again, by things that are so immense are so subtle that we can't name them or grasp them that then we go to the opposite extreme and to compensate, we look to absorb ourselves in something that's equally vast but but somehow gratifying or somehow absorbing it.

38:04
So at any rate, that's that's what I've noticed in in myself, as well as in the lives of my clients that I work with every day. Then what happens though, is that after the vacation is over, after you come back from Bali, after you finish your bottle of wine and wake up the next morning after your I don't give an F night off after bingeing someone or something, after we leave the world of being absorbed in some kind of temporary bliss, we have to come back to the same old world again, where we're overwhelmed very quickly, all over again, by the same things that we can't name are graphs that are either too big or too subtle. That's Neptune's realm. It feels to me like a good way of understanding the Neptune in Pisces transit, in a sense, why this has become so pervasive, and there's specific things that we can look at. Again, because our overwhelm is not coming from just one thing. We will think that it's coming from one thing, but it's not, it's actually coming from a combination of things. And this is why, you know, I'll talk to clients and they'll be like, something triggered me the other day that my kid did or that my spouse did or, you know, something that happened to me at work, and it was minor, but then suddenly, I just, you know, I felt like I was completely flooded and losing it. And what have we seen over the past 10 years, we've seen people losing it in mental and emotional breakdowns that then flood a public space, like a mall or a church or a nightclub, with violence and death, concerts, sporting events. So what's going on here? And usually, it's not just one thing, it's not that the it's not that the shooter, let's say, stubbed their toe, it's not that the shooter, you know, just happened to go through a breakup. It's not just that it's something far more pervasive. You might say systematic. I'm a little hesitant about that because then people get really certain about what the problem is. But I don't want to become too certain about what the problem is I want to become aware of vastness and immensity and how to have a relationship with it because vastness and immensity is something that comes in to can come in through anything. We can get energetically or emotionally overwhelmed through absolutely anything. If we don't have a way of keeping certain kinds of boundaries psychically and energetically. I'm not saying anything, probably anybody you all don't know already.

40:36
So let me talk about some of the things that for me, I've noticed contribute to that feeling of being totally overwhelmed again, either by something too big to name or too subtle to grasp. Okay and this is something I noticed in the lives of my clients too. These are the kinds of things that we're taking in, in addition to the normal stressors of our lives. We're taking in, oftentimes television series, and not just one but multiple television series. And not just a short story that has an immediate resolution, but often an epic saga, that is part of an entire world. Now I have no problem. I love fantasy, I love going into worlds. And I love people who build worlds and things like that. But imagine when this is just one and a list of things we're going to talk about that tend to implicate us in just more than we can psychically handle. We are trying to grasp and process character developments of multiple characters, worlds, the different problems that people are having in worlds and how they're dealing with them. And we're processing all of that, and not just one, two and a half hour movie, but oftentimes multiple series that have multiple seasons of 40, you know, sometimes upwards of 40-50 hours. So, and a lot of the times we have multiple things like that going at once. In addition to that maybe you're not that kind of person who has multiple series going on like that. But it's important because never really in the history of media have we had so many engaging characters worlds plotlines, philosophical, moral and ethical dilemmas unfolding in different worlds that we are taking in regularly in addition to living in a real world, and that, you know, real world that's not on the screen in other words, that has its own set of characters problems, etc.

42:38
We are constantly inundating ourselves with social media where there isn't just one interaction that's happening, but streams and streams and streams of voices, and voices of opinions, differing opinions, and we can't hold or resolve the multiple conflicts that are not just present in the logic that someone's presenting, but in the tone that they're using. That is not just present in the belief that they have, but in the way that people treat others. And we are trying to hold space for mentally, and we are trying to resolve those conflicts on oftentimes a more unconscious level, daily, because we are helpful problem solving beings, souls want love and love resolves things. And if that's how we are and we have multiple worlds we're watching with all these characters dealing with all of these things, our soul becomes the meeting ground for those problems, we work out those problems in our soul. If you go back and look at the ancient theory of theatre, in, say, Greece, and you look at what people have said throughout history about what theatre does, it produces within the soul catharsis, we have to join the characters and their struggles and work through them ourselves on a subtle plane. That's why things can move us so deeply, emotionally, we can be so invested in the characters. But we're doing that not just in one world in one short play, that's a couple of hours. We're doing that now in these epic worlds. And then, on top of it, we have multiple streaming media platforms where we're working through the problems of 1000s of people every day. Because we can't have you see it. It's like saying, you know, don't imagine a white elephant as soon as someone says that you imagine a white elephant, right? So when you are taking any of us when we're taking in social media streams all day long, where there's all of these differing opinions, we are problem solving beings, we start taking on all of that. It's not that we take it on as though I have to literally go and solve it but we start working those problems within ourselves. We are not meant or designed to solve that many problems that are outside of our actual living sphere of influence and activity. So that's just my humble opinion, because that's what I've noticed in myself.

45:05
Because we're helpful problem solving beings, we want to do something to help. And so we take on these conflicts and try to work them out. Now, the same thing happens with the news, where there are multiple political parties, cultures, groups that are often at odds with one another, or conflicting over resources or prioritisation of values and, and missions in life, ethically, morally, politically, financially. And if we're really, really honest with ourselves, most of the time in a given day, if you were to scroll through the news, the media, social media, etc, you will find that you are able to sympathise with contradictory people and ideas regularly. Sometimes it's because of the tone that one person uses. Sometimes it's the logic that a person presents, but we are beings who are also very comfortable with holding paradox and withholding the tension of different opposites. And yet, most of those worlds operate as though it is a sin. Or it is it is, you are a flawed or marked person in you've got the Scarlet Letter on you if you're someone who can sympathise with opposing position simultaneously. And actually, that's what we're always doing, because the soul is a love seeking being. And so it's one thing to do that, you know, from time to time with a really thoughtful, interesting television series or a drama or something that you really like. But to do that with multiple series, multiple worlds multiple social media streams with multiple people voicing multiple opinions, and multiple news outlets with multiple groups that are constantly battling with one another. And the fact that we tend to be sympathetic, empathetic creatures, who are looking for the resolution in love of opposites. That is a shitload of stress to place on ourselves, right, and then there's advertising, then we're taking an advertising all the time and being told what we should think or what we should buy, or what we should consume. We're being offered more choices than we know how to process. And oftentimes, we are taking on way too many activities than we actually have time to process or even enjoy. So to me, that's sort of the problem is that then when you try to take on your normal sphere of activities, where you're a parent, or you're a worker, or you're a sister, or you're a friend, or you're an artist, suddenly it's just like there's any one thing that is hard or challenging to resolve to hold space for in the heart, suddenly, makes it feel like you're the whole tower is getting top toppled, and you're going, I just can't do it. I can't do this anymore. Good. That's a natural response. That's the response that I feel I have to come back to that response every single day.

48:07
And this is one of the reasons why you know, I've said in a tongue in cheek way that I feel a-political, I don't really mean that I feel a political as in I don't have, you know, my own values that I may vote for. What I mean is that, I feel like I'm learning that I have to back away from the world of that kind of engagement with the world, I have to come back, I remember what it felt like when I was a kid, you know, when I was saying, I don't know, 16-17, before the internet was really a big deal. I remember biking to friends houses, I don't mean to like, you know, I'm not trying to be like a get off my lawn, Grandpa or something. But I just remember what it was like to not live in a world that felt like it was so flooded by either, again, things that are too subtle for me to grasp, or too big for me to comprehend. I don't feel I feel like we are political animals that, you know, we all have a way in which we are political. But more and more I feel like it's we have to be very careful of the temptation of immensity, that there's a temptation that it's so vast and big and grand and sublime, to enter into that big world and some people will, some people will be able to handle working in media or, you know, in these larger spheres, and they'll be able to handle it. But I think a lot of us aren't capable of handling it that well. And we need to be very careful that we try to be the best version of ourselves within a smaller sphere of influence and which with a much smaller amount of data and input coming into our our hearts and souls.

50:02
So I wrote this I said, until we were called that immensity, the sublime can be found in a grain of sand in the granular detail of our lives in the actual lived experiences that we are engaged with in our in our day to day lives. Then it's impossible to carry beauty into the actual sphere of influence that we live in. It's impossible to feel and see the results of our actions as meaningful, because we're not in touch with the actual sphere that we live in. We're trying to take on problems in a world that is too vast to actually find ourselves having a place in it, a meaningful place, a real place, a humble, grounded, but participatory place. It's impossible to feel the results of our actions. In the larger world inundated as we are by so much no matter what we do, we still feel overwhelmed. And we wonder if anything that we do actually matters. This, in turn, I've noticed in myself drives us into deeper cynicism and narcissism. We either become hyper vigilantes disconnected from what we think we're actually fighting for, like we become the banner carrying soldiers for something that really is not how we're living our day to day life that's really not in sync with how we live and treat others or the actual sphere of influence that we live in. Hypocrites, in other words, underneath the surface of our self righteousness in whatever direction, because you have to be self righteous, you have to sort of pump yourself up, you have to inject yourself with the machismo of certainty to try to deal with that much bullshit flying at you in so many directions at once. With those many challenges. And, again, what is the heart's desire to resolve it in love? Well, there's so much flying at you at once. The easiest way to resolve it is to develop a kind of confidence, certainty and righteousness that's just out of sync, it's out of proportion, you have to do that you're overcompensating because there's too much to deal with. Certainty is in that sense, like a tool that we're using to to, to manage more than we are certain we can handle.

52:26
So, we become disconnected from the greatest in a sense, the greatest saving grace that we have, which is our hypocrisy. It's a weird thing because no one wants to be a hypocrite and no one should be a hypocrite, but knowing that you're a hypocrite saves you from a lot of stress, that certainty is not going to save you from. Or I like to say we become minor hedonists. What is a minor hedonist? A minor hedonist is not a major hedonist. You know, a major hedonist is like Jabba the Hutt, just, you know, just clearly a big slimeball, you know, and instead, we become minor hedonists. We are hedonistic. In other words, just we become self serving, we say, I can't deal with all of that yet, we still keep consuming the stuff we can't deal with. I can't deal with it. And so no one should blame me who could deal with this. So there's a self justifying thing under the surface that's actually well placed, like who could deal with all of this. So underneath the surface, I say, Well, I can't I can't deal with it. And so I'm going to, I'm going to persist in a kind of benign minor hedonism. I'm lamenting the fact that I'm hedonistic, but it's like, who could blame me? Who could you know? I'm sorry, I'm overwhelmed. I've reached a place where I just have to do things for me. And I know it's not the greatest. I'm kind of lamenting that I have to do it. But I don't know what else to do. And I don't care if anyone judges me. So there's this kind of lamenting minor hedonism. We can sympathise with it because we know that in a sense, it's coming from people who are overwhelmed but it also may not know how to reduce or eliminate the things that they're being overwhelmed by.

54:19
This is maya, illusion we get we get caught up in it. I do this is I mean, these realisations are coming from my own life and for what I see with my clients every day. So what is real immensity, there has to be some positive version of immensity admits that he's not just the, you know, some kind of demon. Real immensity begins by eliminating unnecessary worlds problems, characters and dramas so that we can live in the more immediate world or sphere that is actually in front of us. That doesn't mean people should become ignorant of the world. Not watch movies, not Dude, I'm not telling you to go anyone to be austere and renouncing the world or something like that. But it's like, recognise that maybe there's a series that we watch once or twice a year, maybe maybe you don't watch any TV, maybe you take in the news. For me, here's what I do, this is how I've handled it, I'll just give you what I've done for myself. Because it may or may not work for anyone, right? But so for me, I limit my news intake to about five minutes a day. That's it, I look at a few media sites that I like, and everyone's gonna like different sites, whatever. But I take in about five minutes to see what the headlines are. That's me, for some people, it might be your job, or your calling to be more invested in the media or in some of the worlds that are streaming through the media. And I'm not trying so I'm not trying to judge anyone. But for me, that's it. It's like five minutes of news a day. No more. I'm about to get off Facebook, because I find that Facebook is one of the places most filled with people's warring and battling opinions and self righteousness. And I just can't handle it I because naturally, I find that I'm sympathetic to a variety of different positions. And then participating in that is, is deeply painful for me, it like hurts my heart, and it hurts my mind. So I just I can't do it. So I'm having my social media manager, Cat, post, my blog updates on Facebook, so that people who follow me there know what my latest video is, or whatever. But I'm not personally interacting on Facebook starting in June. That was a plan that I implemented last summer. And I had to wait until my classes were done with their forum groups on Facebook, which happens in June. That's something that I've done.

56:53
I do not generally spend a lot of time on social media at like at all anymore, just like I like doing my updates. And I like corresponding with people about the astrology content that I make, or sometimes about Bhakti or spiritual topics that I'm interested in. And I have some a few podcasts that I listened to about bhakti yoga in particular, and about astrology. And like, I'll take those in a little bit here there. So I've limited my social media like that. There's a lot of other things I don't want to try to I'm not trying to be prescriptive, so I should just shut up. But my point is, if we can try to limit the sphere of things that we're constantly taking in and trying to resolve, you know, we're becoming martyrs because you don't realise that the soul's tendency is to try to resolve contradictions in love. And if it can't do that, then it often takes up a banner of dogma to defend and protect itself with. It's understandable. It's just not an effective strategy. I said, I wrote this, I said, this is just in my journal.

57:59
"Real immensity begins by eliminating unnecessary worlds so we can live in the world that is actually in front of us. Real immensity begins by focusing on our own hypocrisy within our own world. And then trying to do good simply within our sphere of influence, without losing touch of our hypocrisy, staying in touch with it day by day, not justifying it, but not flagellating ourselves over it, either." It's sort of like, here's when I feel that I see real beauty, and I'm overwhelmed by how amazing everything is. It's when I stick to what do I have to do today? What's in front of me? How can I do it with heart and soul? And when I mess up, whether it's my tone of voice, or you know, my anger, my frustration, or how I parent or you know, my relationship with my wife, or my friends, or whatever the case might be my clients, my students, when I when I just go through my day to day, and I do the best I can, and I take inventory when I screw up. And I stay close to it because it keeps me humble. That is when I start noticing very small things that are immensely beautiful to me, that are profound. And I don't and I noticed that the more I'm being asked to enter into some fully absorbed world that's bigger than I can manage. I increasingly feel like oh, that's not a good idea. That's not a good idea, because it's more than I can deal with. And, and, and so again, that's just how I've dealt with all of this. Stay close to your hypocrisy. Stay close to it. It's your friend. It's your guide. It's your teacher not that we dwell in it and exalt ourselves in our faults in our flaws, but that we it keeps us honest and it doesn't it curbs that desire to try and tackle problems that are bigger than we can handle. I'm going to go solve the problems of the world when I have, you know, I have to try to be a more patient dad. You know what I mean? Like I feel very deeply that that in the moon cycle ahead as we face this intensely Neptunian, Venusian exalted, Exalted, watery Jupiterian energy, remember Pisces is ruled by Jupiter. That the temptation to get involved in a world or a scene far vaster than we can process or handle or that the complications are too much for us to resolve, that's the temptation to avoid. And instead, if we try to renew ourselves by bringing the sphere of our lives in a little bit closer and making it more manageable, that we will find that our lives are permeated by grace, by humour. You know what your faults and your flaws your hypocrisy becomes a trickster guide that's helping you to laugh, you know.

1:00:45
Okay, that's what I've got for today. I hope you guys found this interesting, just some musings that I had. Typically, the way that I come up with these talks people have asked me about that lately, is I literally just look at the transits and in my prayer journal, or in my daily meditations, and in my life, I just talk about what's coming up within me that the kinds of things that are meaningful for me personally, or that I see very prevalent in the lives of my friends or clients or whatever. So this is what I'm noticing with this one, and I hope that it's helpful for all of you. Thank you guys for listening. I'm going to end it here today because I've got to get ready for my client for the day and I hope that you guys have a fantastic rest of your, your weekend. And I look forward to being together next week.