Let the Water series start!
Today, after having spent a few hours copying my ‘Decan walk’ articles on Substack to my website, I was thinking whether I already start writing about the first decan of Virgo or not. In the end, I decided to leave it for later and launch the water series first. As I mentioned before, I will start ‘metonic cycle’ very soon as well, just a few more details to be taken out of the rabbit hole.
Before spelling the first quality out, let’s go back to the very beginning, the time before birth, when we first interact with water, where our journeys first start. Where do they start? In water, in our mothers’ wombs…Before we take our first breath outside, we are literally natural swimmers knowing what it means to float on water or to be immersed in water. Then we unlearn it to learn it once again in a later stage in our lives; not always though…However, the connection doesn’t stop there. When the baby says the first hello to the world, water is used for cleaning the baby. And as our life starts in water, it ends with a touch to the water. Our still bodies are washed, given bath before we are welcomed into eternity in some cultures.
Our encounters and relationship with water are not obviously limited to this. Let’s first go back to the basics to lead our footsteps to mythology, astrology and water element in charts.
I will be using this photo of mine in all the ‘Water’ articles; same photo, different quality, different article…
H2O – When I just said basics, I wasn’t joking.
This the simple molecular formula that we learn at the school without thinking about the importance of this important element in our lives. As the average percentage of water in human body might be 55-60%, it may vary from 45% to 70% depending on different factors. And when it comes to the earth, 71% of our blue planet is covered with water of which 96.5% is salt water according to NASA data. (https://plus.nasa.gov/video/how-much-water-is-on-earth/)
Literally, water is everywhere but unfortunately getting scarcer and scarcer.
As I mentioned in the introduction article* I believe that one of the most striking qualities of water and astrological water might be ‘power’ which might bring other qualities such as ‘strength, resistance and perseverance’ along with it.
Water is liquid (though not always liquid, I will elaborate about this more in one of the following articles), and liquid takes the shape of the container they are put in but at the same time they are incompressible. Thinking about this quality of water, it feels like that water tells us that it will fit in, get along, behave itself until…Until that it doesn’t fit in anymore! In this regard, in my humble opinion ‘deluge’ is one of the most powerful, resistant, insistent face of water and it has been the subject of different stories, myths as well as real life. Normally, we wouldn’t imagine (or would we? I personally definitely would imagine, no doubt) that water signs, Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces which are normally known as emotional, sensitive, feminine, the introvert, ‘yin’ may have that power in them. But why wouldn’t they, no? In Darby Costello’s book called ‘The Astrological Elements Water & Fire Book One’ there is a great remark about it: “…If it is stopped by an obstacle, it will wear it away, given time. Its action is to smooth anything that it touches, given time, and eventually wear it away, absorb it into itself, dissolve it…” I believe that it might feel like a punch you receive on your face in the most unexpected moment. That might be scary, maybe we should be really keeping our guards up since we never know what kind of a reaction may happen.
To emphasise the strength along with power, I would like to quote the following as well: “…The most appalling quality of water is its strength. I love its flash and gleam, its music, its pliancy and grace, its slap against my body; but I fear its strength. I fear it as my ancestors must have feared the natural forces that they worshipped. All the mysteries are in its movement…” Nan Shepherd – The Living Mountain **
In wearing it away, there is resistance, but there is also perseverance. However, if I don’t wrap up for today with a very nice story, I don’t think so that it will be fair. And for the ones asking at this point, how we might explore all these qualities mentioned today in terms of water signs, I will be simply saying ‘please wait for the next article’. One quality/qualities followed by one exploration article. (And at this moment, even though I have nearly everything ready, I am still in famous panic mode with full of what ifs…)
Now, let me go back to my story.***
Imagine that we are in Japan. It’s Edo period. 18th century. Our hero of the story is Rosetsu Nagasawa**** who was one of the prominent painters of his time. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a very long life in this world. This story was from the time that he wasn’t ‘there’ yet! In Maruyama school, under the guidance of master Ōkyo, everyone seemed to progress except Rosetsu. He was losing hope, he was thinking that he wasn’t receiving enough encouragement from his master. He had come to the point of giving up everything because he was sure that he wouldn’t become a good painter. Until one day…Some time before dawn, Rosetsu was lying down under the pine trees all hopeless and he heard a splashing sound. It was a large carp****** jumping in and out of the water to be able to reach a piece of sembei ******that was just there, lying on the ice of the pond. Believe or not, after trying for three hours, getting hurt sometimes, carp got what it wanted. This was a great experience and lesson for Rosetsu proving him what ‘perseverance’ can let someone achieve in life. He decided to be like that carp, not to give up until he got what he wanted. After offering his gratitude to the deity in the local temple, he went back to his school and told this story to his master along with his decision. Ōkyo was impressed and did everything in his power to help his student to improve. In the end, Rosetsu became one of the greatest painters in Japan.
So, power, strength, resistance, and perseverance…If you especially have natal water placements, please give it a think while I prepare the article for water signs and how we may explore the said qualities in them.
Let’s be like the carp!
All the best,
Teri
by Teri Nudelman a.k.a. amethystastrotarot as in Hello from Amethyst! –
** https://www.themarginalian.org/2018/07/09/nan-shepherd-living-mountain-water/
***“A Carp Gives a Lesson in Perseverance (Ancient Tales and Folklore of Japan) p.93 Richard Gordon Smith 1908
****https://investigatingedo.asia.si.edu/art/gamboling-puppies/
*****https://web-japan.org/trends/11_culture/pop202309_nishikigoi.html
******https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Senbei%20or%20Sembei/1438486