Today, we are looking at Moon cycles and Astrology through the perspective of systems and fields, in order to gain understanding of how they impact the ones we belong to. Whether our family system, the first one we are exposed to coming into this world, or other, often larger systems that we may be a part of, they each have an impact on us as individuals, and we on them. Nothing and no one exists in a vacuum – as Francis Thompson once said, “Thou canst not stir a flower without troubling of a star.”
There are many such systems or fields, as Rupert Sheldrake describes in his ground-breaking work on morphic resonance, which postulates that all living beings, whether fully developed organisms or cells within an organ or body, belong to fields of organization, also called biological fields or morphogenetic fields. According to Sheldrake, genes are a part of the equation, but they do not explain everything. This theory suggests that morphogenetic fields work by imposing patterns on otherwise random or indeterminate patterns of activity. These patterns are passed down generations, and sometimes modified by positive or negative experiences that have the potential to change the field in one way or another.
“Social groups are organized by fields, as in schools of fish and flocks of birds. Human societies have memories that are transmitted through the culture of the group, and are most explicitly communicated through the ritual re-enactment of a founding story or myth, as in the Jewish Passover celebration, the Christian Holy Communion and the American Thanksgiving dinner, through which the past becomes the present, through a kind of resonance with those who have performed the same rituals before.” Rupert Sheldrake, Morphic Resonance and Morphic Fields – an Introduction.
These fields have a unique energetic signature that defines the group we belong to, whether a school, workplace, church, social group, sports club, etc., but more importantly family, tribe, community, nation, species, planet, galaxy and beyond. Even our body parts and organs belong to systems, and drilling down into the micro level, cells, atoms and more. One level is a component of a greater level, or field, which contains and surrounds it, which is then part of another field, not unlike Russian dolls. There are also fields that are overlapping rather than encompassing, somewhat like the overlapping spheres of the Flower of Life model that has existed in the human psyche for as long as we can know.
All of these fields and systems express an underlying order, a natural order if you will. When the members of a system work in conjunction with the other members, where lines of communications are open and clear, whether it be the cells/organs of our body or the members of a community, there is a natural harmony that allows for growth, creativity, vibrant health and beauty in the uninterrupted flowing of Life energies.
When this natural order is disrupted by traumatic events, injuries, catastrophes, death, loss of the homeland, etc., the system “takes a hit”, and may flounder a while before righting itself again. Our bodies usually heal rather well on their own, thanks to the innate healing capacities of the same natural order mentioned above. A family system or larger community will also heal, however its members, often several generations down the line, may carry the trauma forward to be softened by time, with the hope of eventually repairing the damage that was done.
As noted earlier, we have systems at every level of being, whether the micro (atoms, cells, organs…) or the macro (communities, nations, planets, galaxies…). From our perspective, the human individual falls precisely at the meeting place of the macro and the micro, expressed as the Human Energy Field. This field is responsible for every process and every trait of every individual human being. Someone famous once said, “It’s the field that forms the object, not the other way around.” If this is true, then we are eight billion bubbles existing within larger bubbles, or fields of belonging, that are found within even larger bubbles, all the way to the One Great Bubble of Existence. In this scenario, WE ALL BELONG. And we are all connected to one another, in one way or another. Every system we are a part of affects us, and we affect it. Perhaps this is one possible meaning of “As Above, So Below.”
The Ancients devised a way of interpreting the movements of the Sun, the Moon and the planets to reflect important events taking place on our Earth plane. They later refined it to apply not just to major events and players, such as kings or prophets, but also to individuals. Thanks to a concept known as Time, they were able to track stars, planets, the Sun and Moon and apply their interacting archetypes to our individual and collective experience. This art form, once considered a science, is known to us today as Astrology.
Astrology is a field, albeit one whose scope is so great that it is impossible to comprehend all of its complexities and applications. From our limited perspective, it cannot be “wounded” or traumatized like our bodies, our family systems or any system with a human component, because it operates beyond those realms of interaction. That being said, it is an extremely useful tool to “divine” when and to what degree the trauma, change or event, whether positive or negative, might occur.
Because Astrology was devised by humans (although some claim non-human intelligence was behind it), it is a direct reflection of the attributes associated with human character and behavior. Astrology is also the realm of the gods (planets), who embody the human archetypes in their purest form. Finally, permeating the whole system is a sense of divinity and connectedness often associated with universal Oneness, or God.
The field of Astrology, set within the framework of time, can be a very precise and useful predictor of human and earthly events, because the interaction of the planets on the backdrop of the zodiac can be seen days, years, even millenia before actually occurring. In ancient times, this gave the diviners a quasi-god-like quality, that is until their interpretation was off and they could lose their lives over it. Not the safest profession to be in, back in the day!
In short, Astrology gives us a sort of magic mirror or reflecting board that can turn its focus to any point along a timeline to interpret past events and predict future ones, in order to help us understand and heal the past, and be better prepared for the future. As a system created within the human psyche, we might assume that it is not subject to the wounding and trauma that other systems undergo. That being said, perhaps we do not have a large enough perspective to experience trauma on that vast a level of existence. For example, if one of the planets were to be destroyed by a passing astral body or some such unfortunate event – which may very well have happened at one point, resulting in the Asteroid Belt – then we might see some trauma in this field, which may then play out in the human domain. In fact, the asteroid belt may be a very good example of how the divine Feminine was maimed – remember, the main asteroids, Juno, Pallas Athena, Ceres and Vesta all embody separate feminine attributes – leaving its fragmented components to err through the void, not unlike what has happened to women in modern society.
The cycles of the Moon give us a bi-monthly opportunity to take a look at our path and the themes that have become prevalent in our lives. Are we in a time of intense creativity, or rather just floating along? Are we in harmony or in conflict in relationship? Do we long for something different, or revel in the present moment? The new Moon offers us a time to reflect on the past and create intentions for a future that is more suited to our needs and desires. The full Moon carries a sense of completion, of birthing into being the intentions set during the previous new Moon. When we make these intentions and visualize the unfolding of them in the context of a field, such as our family system, or even our own energy field, rather than being blown into the ethers, they have a place to land, fertile soil to grow in. For example, if I have intentions for healing a rift that has grown between myself and another, by seeing the healing happen as the result of the field that connects us, there is a beautiful opportunity for love to heal that rift, the love that already exists in the field. Visualizing the field to which the protagonists belong adds another dimension to the healing process, and provides a supportive framework to work with.
For this full Moon in Pisces, please receive my wishes for the harmonious resolution of conflict and a gentle nudge in the direction of self-care. Love and blessings,
Sarah Songbird
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