All posts by Mike Zonta

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Book: “Psyche Unbound: An erotic retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche”

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Psyche Unbound: An erotic retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche

Zenobia Neil

The celebrated beauty of Roman princess Psyche has enraged Venus, the Goddess of Love and Beauty. As punishment, Psyche is left naked on the beach to be sacrificed to a monster. When Cupid, the God of Love, swoops her up and flies her to the monster’s palace, Psyche mistakenly wraps her legs around his waist, looks into his eyes, and falls in love.

Blindfolded and tied to a bed, Psyche awaits the monster, vowing to be brave as she faces death. Yet when the monster arrives, he marries her on the condition she never see his face. As she grows to love her shadow husband, she can’t stop thinking about the God of Love. Consumed by curiosity, Psyche breaks her promise by lighting a lamp. Awaking in a rage, and furious with her betrayal, her husband banishes her from the palace.

Psyche begs Venus for another chance at love. Unmoved, Venus demands Psyche perform three impossible tasks. If Psyche succeeds, her husband will return. If she fails, she will be condemned to death.

Can Psyche satisfy Venus and win back her true love?

(Goodreads.com)

Banyen Book Jul 7, 2022 @BanyenBooksSoundVancouver hosts legendary clinical psychiatrists & researcher Stanislav Grof, PhD, in conversation with renowned psychologists and authors Brigitte Grof, PhD, Richard Tarnas, PhD, and Sean Kelly, PhD, for an in-depth discussion of the book, Psyche Unbound: https://www.banyen.com/products/psych… Psyche Unbound is an extraordinary compilation of 22 essays that honour the path-breaking lifework of Stanislav Grof, founder and chief theoretician of transpersonal psychology and the world’s leading researcher in psychedelic-assisted therapy, breathwork, and the exploration of non-ordinary states of consciousness. Banyen Books is Canada’s most comprehensive bookstore specializing in spirituality and healing. Located in Vancouver, Canada, since 1970, Banyen is open for in-person browsing as well as web & mail orders. Visit https://www.banyen.com/ for books, products, and upcoming events. Stanislav Grof, MD, PhD, is a clinical psychiatrist with over 60 years experience in research of non-ordinary states of consciousness induced by psychedelic substances and by experiential psychotherapy. He is one of the founders and chief theoreticians of transpersonal psychology, and the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association. Stan Grof teaches at the Department of Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He was formerly Principal Investigator in a psychedelic research program at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Scholar-In-Residence at the Esalen Institute. He is the author of over 150 scholarly articles and many influential books, including Holotropic Breathwork (with Christina Grof), When the Impossible Happens, and The Cosmic Game. Richard Tarnas, PhD, is a professor of psychology and cultural history at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he founded the graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness. Formerly the director of programs and education at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, he is a graduate of Harvard University and Saybrook Institute. He is the author of The Passion of the Western Mind and Cosmos and Psyche. He is a past president of the International Transpersonal Association and served on the Board of Governors for the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. Brigitte Grof, MA, is a psychologist, licensed psychotherapist, and artist with 35 years of experience in holotropic breathwork. She has led breathwork workshops and taught training modules in the US and in Germany. Currently she works in her private practice in Wiesbaden, Germany, and leads workshops and retreats. Since 2016, Stan and Brigitte Grof are happily married and conduct seminars, trainings and holotropic breathwork workshops worldwide. In May 2020, they launched their new training in working with Holotropic States of Consciousness, the international Grof® Legacy Training. Sean Kelly, PhD, is a Professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Department at California Institute of Integral Studies. He is the author of Coming Home and Individuation and the Absolute: Hegel, Jung, and the Path toward Wholeness. His current research areas include the evolution of consciousness, integral ecologies, and transpersonal and integral theory. Interview Host: Ross McKeachie Event & Podcast Producer: Jacob Steele Video Editor: Abdo Habbani

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Book: “Generations”

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Generations

William Strauss, Neil Howe

Hailed by national leaders as politically diverse as former Vice President Al Gore and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Generations has been heralded by reviewers as a brilliant, if somewhat unsettling, reassessment of where America is heading.

William Strauss and Neil Howe posit the history of America as a succession of generational biographies, beginning in 1584 and encompassing everyone through the children of today. Their bold theory is that each generation belongs to one of four types, and that these types repeat sequentially in a fixed pattern. The vision of Generations allows us to plot a recurring cycle in American history—a cycle of spiritual awakenings and secular crises—from the founding colonists through the present day and well into this millenium.

Generations is at once a refreshing historical narrative and a thrilling intuitive leap that reorders not only our history books but also our expectations for the twenty-first century.

(Goodreads.com)

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The Burghers of Calais

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Burghers of Calais
ArtistAuguste Rodin
Year1884–89
TypeBronze
Dimensions201.6 cm × 205.4 cm × 195.9 cm (79+3⁄8 in × 80+7⁄8 in × 77+1⁄8 in)
LocationCalais, France
50°57′8.5″N 1°51′12″E
The Burghers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Burghers of Calais (French: Les Bourgeois de Calais) is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in twelve original castings and numerous copies. It commemorates an event during the Hundred Years’ War, when Calais, a French port on the English Channel, surrendered to the English after an eleven-month siege. The city commissioned Rodin to create the sculpture in 1884 and the work was completed in 1889.[1][2]

History

In 1346, England’s Edward III, after a victory in the Battle of Crécy, laid siege to Calais, while Philip VI of France ordered the city to hold out at all costs. Philip failed to lift the siege, and starvation eventually forced the city to parley for surrender.[3]

The contemporary chronicler Jean Froissart (c. 1337 – c. 1405) tells a story of what happened next: Edward offered to spare the people of the city if six of its leaders would surrender themselves to him, presumably to be executed. Edward demanded they walk out wearing nooses around their necks, and carrying the keys to the city and castle. One of the wealthiest of the town leaders, Eustache de Saint Pierre, volunteered first, and five other burghers joined with him.[4] Saint Pierre led this envoy of volunteers to the city gates. It was this moment, and this poignant mix of defeat, heroic self-sacrifice, and willingness to face imminent death which Rodin captured in his sculpture, scaled somewhat larger than life.[5]

According to Froissart’s story, the burghers expected to be executed, but their lives were spared by the intervention of England’s queen, Philippa of Hainault, who persuaded her husband to exercise mercy by claiming their deaths would be a bad omen for her unborn child.[4]

More at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burghers_of_Calais

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Anais Nin on seeing

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(Courtesy of William P. Chiles)

Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell (February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the daughter of the composer Joaquín Nin and the classically trained singer Rosa Culmell. Wikipedia

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Venus Retrograde – The Descent Into The Underworld

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(astrobutterfly.com)

When Venus is retrograde, she disappears from the sky for a couple of weeks.

The disappearance marks Venus’ metamorphosis from an evening star (rising after sunset) to a morning star (rising before the Sun).

Metaphorically, Venus retrograde is similar to a descent into the underworld: a part of us must die so that a new version of ourselves can emerge.

One of the most significant Venus retrograde myths is the Sumerian myth of Inanna’s descent into the underworld.

Venus And The Myth Of Inanna

Inanna is the Sumerian counterpart of Venus. Inanna was the Goddess of fertility and abundance and the most important deity of the times.

The myth of Inanna’s descent into the underworld is nothing else but an allegory of Venus’ retrograde cycle.

  • The myth starts with Inanna deciding to travel to the underworld to visit her sister Ereshkigal, the Goddess of the Underworld. To the Sumerians, Venus disappearing under the horizon meant Venus went to the Underworld
  • Inanna passes through 7 gates to Underworld and she has to remove a piece of clothing or jewelry at each gate–> she needs to let go of her old identification of the self
  • She finally arrives in the Underworld, but her sister decides to kill her –> this is the phase when Venus is conjunct the Sun and a new Venus cycle starts. To start anew, a part of us must die
  • Ereshkigal, the goddess of the Underworld is nothing else but our shadow side, which we need to learn to integrate
  • Emissaries from the Earth come to rescue Inanna and resurrect her. Inanna is resurrected and comes back to Earth –> this is the phase when Venus appears again in the sky, this time as a morning star.

Inanna’s myth is the story of Venus retrograde when Venus ‘shapeshifts’ from Evening Star to Morning Star.

Two things are important to keep in mind about Venus retrograde:

  1. Venus changes from an evening star to a morning star–> Venus retrograde is a metamorphosis from one state of being to another
  2. Venus starts a new cycle –> Venus retrograde comes with a rebirth of the heart

Just like Venus is born again, this time in the morning sky, a new you will emerge.

Venus Retrograde And The Heroine’s Journey

If we compare Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey to Inanna’s heroine’s journey we notice some similarities. The Venus cycle is also about a descent into the Underworld followed by a return. But, unlike the hero, Inanna doesn’t venture into the open.

She goes into the metaphorical underworld. When Venus goes retrograde, it’s not the world we need to conquer, but ourselves.

Inanna, the queen of heaven and earth, and Ereshkigal, the queen of the dark underworld, comprise the two aspects of the female psyche. The journey to reintegration is not fought on the outside – but inside ourselves.

There is no dragon to kill, it’s our own shadow that we need to integrate, it’s our own dark side we need to show compassion to. It’s our own unexpressed feelings and desires that we need to honor.

Venus retrograde is a journey to our heart. But how do we find the way there?

We do what Inanna has done – we look inside. Inanna has spent 40 days on her journey to the underworld and back. Jesus spent 40 days in the desert to overcome his doubt. Buddha fasted and meditated for 40 days before reaching Samadhi.

What do all these journeys have in common? Reflection and introspection. When Venus is retrograde, we really want to take the time and make a commitment to look inside.

We could go on with our lives the same as before – and ignore the call – or we could make a conscious decision to go along with the cosmic flow and see where it takes us.

Venus retrograde will ask you to look deep inside your heart. Who knows what you may find? Love, sadness, joy, separation, forgiveness, or anger – the longing of your heart will eventually help you find a deeper intimacy with yourself.

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Tarot Card for July 21: The Two of Swords

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The Two of Swords

The Lord of Peace is a friendly Sword, which comes as something of a relief when we have spent so much time dealing with his more belligerent cousins. However it must be noted that the card often comes up to indicate that a conflict has been resolved or a breach healed, so there will have been trouble earlier on.

It indicates that a painful and difficult situation is being reconciled. Friendships are rebuilt, old wounds are healed. However in this context it is very important to look carefully at the cards which follow it, for there is often a feeling that a relationship will never be quite the same again as it was before the conflict or quarrel. If the Four of Swords comes up nearby, this is a clear indication that one should remain cautious and thoughtful, not giving too much in the way of trust, for some time. If the Moon was up in the reading, we would be forced to consider the possibility that all is not as it seems.

At an inner level, the Two of Swords really comes into its own, for it marks the period of tranquillity and calmness that can arise when we have finally made difficult decisions, and acted upon them. Often it will come up to show that, now we have got to grips with our confusion, we can rest and recover.

The card will also come up to show that we have let go of old fears or anxieties that were holding us back. It’s a still card indicating a time to rest and recuperate.

The Two of Swords

(via angelpaths.com and Alan Blackman)

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Weekly Invitational Translation Group

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Translation is a 5-step process of “straight thinking in the abstract.” The first step is an ontological statement of being beginning with the syllogism: “Truth is that which is so. That which is not truth is not so. Therefore Truth is all there is.” The second step is the sense testimony (what the senses tell us about anything). The third step is the argument between the absolute abstract nature of truth from the first step and the relative specific truth of experience from the second step. The fourth step is filtering out the conclusions you have arrived at in the third step. The fifth step is your overall conclusion.

The claims in a Translation may seem outrageous, but they are always (or should always) be based on self-evident syllogistic reasoning. Here is one Translation from this week.

1)    Truth is that which is so.  That which is not truth is not so.  Therefore Truth is all that is.  Truth being all is therefore total, therefore whole, therefore complete, therefore full, therefore happy. I think therefore I am.  Since I am and since Truth is all that is, therefore I, being, am Truth.  Since I, being, am Truth, therefore I, being Truth, am total, whole, complete, full, happy.  I, being Truth and I, being Mind, therefore Truth is mind (Consciousness).

2)    Emotional healing is required prior to physical healing.

Word-tracking:
emotion:  feeling, touch, contact, tact, taste, integer, not touched, not broken, entire, intact
heal:  repair, to make ready, fix, mend or correct
physical:  manifestation, done by hand, physique, natural, native.

3)    Truth being all that is and I being Truth, therefore Truth is my Nativity.  Truth being all, therefore whole, complete and perfect is cannot be in need of repair, mending or fixing.  Therefore there is no healing in Truth.  Truth being whole, complete, and perfect, is therefore intact, untouched.  Yet Truth being all, Consciousness being all, is in constant contact with all.  Therefore Truth is integral connection with all.  OR Truth is all-feeling, all-emotion.

4)    Truth is my Nativity. 
        There is no healing in Truth.
        Truth is intact, untouched.
        Truth is integral connection with all. 
        Truth is all-feeling, all-emotion.

5)    Truth is my Nativity and I am at ease with all the perfection that surrounds me.  

The Weekly Invitational Translation Group invites your participation as well.  If you would like to submit a Translation on any subject, feel free to send your weekly Translation to zonta1111@aol.com and we will anonymously post it on the Bathtub Bulletin on Friday.

For information about Translation or other Prosperos classes go to: https://www.theprosperos.org/teaching

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Venus Retrograde Conjunct Lilith – Emotional Catharsis

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Astro Butterfly Jul 20, 2023

The upcoming Venus retrograde in Leo (July-Sept. 2023) is quite a ride.

The intensity peak of the Venus retrograde transit is between August 6th-August 9th 2023, just when Venus is conjunct Black Moon Lilith and squares Uranus at the same time.

This is an insanely intense combo that is almost guaranteed to lead to an emotional catharsis of some kind.

What is emotional catharsis?

Emotional catharsis is a process in which our emotions are displayed in all their rawness.

Even though it’s often quite “dramatic,” emotional catharsis is not negative. Quite the contrary – it is very liberating. Emotional catharsis helps us understand and express what we’re feeling.

When we ‘think’ about what we feel we don’t actually feel. We do the opposite – we suppress our emotions. It’s not feelings that gets us in trouble. What gets us in trouble is containing or denying our feelings.

When we suppress our true feelings for too long, the eruption of these bottled feelings can take everyone by surprise – including ourselves.

But there are ways to consciously work and even induce emotional catharsis. In fact, catharsis was a process Sigmund Freud used at the beginning of his psychoanalysis sessions.

Venus Retrograde Conjunct Black Moon Lilith

Coming back to Venus – and why this Venus retrograde will bring emotional catharsis. Venus retrograde is by default a wild card, especially in the sign of Leo. Leo is the sign of the Self – Leo doesn’t really care what others think. Leo just wants to express him or herself.

Venus retrograde in any sign is an unpredictable Venus because it goes against the norm. Venus direct is what everyone finds desirable. Venus retrograde is what YOU find desirable and worth pursuing.

And then we have Black Moon Lilith. Lilith was Adam’s first wife. The legend says that when she refused to be submissive, she was cast out of Eden. Lilith didn’t like that – so in a chart, or by transit, Lilith is the pure expression of the wild, unleashed feminine spirit.

Lilith is our raw instincts, the forbidden fruit, the liberator. Lilith is called Black Moon Lilith because she is literally black – she is not a planet or an asteroid, but a mathematical point calculated when the Moon is at apogee – or the farthest distance from Earth.

Because Lilith doesn’t actually exist in physical form – she rules our deepest repressed desires that are difficult to be expressed in the material, 3D reality. It speaks to the darkest parts of ourselves that we’re often afraid to acknowledge or where we feel criticized or misunderstood.

Black Moon Lilith is where we refuse to submit to others and seek equality. Lilith is a symbol for the dark side of the feminine energy; ‘dark’ not because it’s negative, but because it’s not acknowledged.

When we suppress our emotions (Venus), they will eventually erupt in unprecedented ways.

Venus Retrograde Square Uranus

Venus retrograde and Lilith are also square Uranus. Uranus is the planet of freedom and liberation. Uranus strikes like lightning, illuminating the obvious in a flash. Uranus doesn’t care for social conventions – it only cares for truth.

All these energies combined: the unpredictable Venus retrograde, the raw Lilith, and the freedom-seeking Uranus – and we know we’re up for quite a ride this Venus retrograde.

How to work with this very intense energy? The worst thing would be to try to suppress it. This Venus retrograde is not about avoiding things “I’m not doing ‘this’ because Venus is retrograde”. With this energetic buildup it’s next to impossible to avoid what’s coming.

Your raw, bottled-up feelings will come to the surface anyway. So a much better approach is to tune into this energy and work with it, rather than against it.

Aphrodite’s Diary 40-Day Challenge

And that’s exactly what we are doing in Aphrodite’s Diary 40-day challenge. From July 23rd until September 3rd (when Venus is retrograde) we will work with 4 powerful Venus archetypes: Persephone, Lilith, Eve and Aphrodite.

These archetypes are not random. They mirror the actual transits Venus makes with other planets, as well as the 4 phases of the Venus retrograde cycle.

When Venus is retrograde, but still visible in the sky, we tune into the energy of Persephone.

And then, in early August, when Venus goes into the underworld (i.e. becomes invisible) we work with the Lilith archetype. This is also when Venus meets Lilith in the sky, so the archetype couldn’t be more accurate.

Then, on August 13th, when Venus and the Sun meet in a conjunction, starting a new 584-day Venus cycle, we embody the 3rd Venus archetype: Eve. Eve was the primordial woman, and she is a symbol of pure feminine energy.

Finally, in late August, when Venus makes her first appearance in the sky – this time as a morning star – we celebrate the 4th Venus archetype – Aphrodite.

Just as Botticelli’s Aphrodite made her sumptuous appearance on a seashell, Venus rising as a morning star is that time in the Venus cycle when a new YOU will emerge.

This is your time to start afresh, and make a statement: this is who I am, and this is what I want.

Hundreds of people have already joined Aphrodite’s Diary 40-day challenge. We hope you will join us too!

Here are more details and the registration link:

Aphrodite’s Diary 40-day challenge

PS: Do you have any questions about the challenge? Reply to this email!

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Free Will Astrology: Week of July 20, 2023

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JULY 18, 2023 AT 7:00 AM BY ROB BREZSNY (Newcity.com)

Photo: Museums Victoria

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Your deep psyche will soon well up with extra creativity and fertility. I hope you will eagerly tap into these gifts. You should assume that you will be more imaginative and ingenious than usual. You will have an enhanced ability to solve problems with vigor and flair. In what areas of your life would you love to gently erupt with a burst of reinvention? Which of your habits might benefit from being cheerfully disrupted? Give yourself permission to change whatever bores you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): My teacher Paul Foster Case said the color yellow is midway between warm, exciting red and cool, calming blue. “Yellow has an equilibrating influence,” he wrote. “It stimulates the finer functions of the brain, is of assistance in developing alertness and discrimination, and helps to establish emotional balance.” According to my astrological analysis, Taurus, you should emphasize this hue in the coming days. If you call on yellow to help strengthen the qualities Case describes, you will place yourself in sweet alignment with cosmic rhythms.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Because I enjoy joking with you, I am slightly tempted right now to give you one of the following nicknames: Fidgety, Twitch, Jittery, Quivers or Shakes. But I will take a more serious tack. Let’s instead see if we can influence you to slow down, stabilize your rhythm, get really steady and secure, and stand strong in your foundational power spot. Would you consider adopting any of the following nicknames? Anchor, Unshakeable, Sturdy, Rock Solid, Staunch, Steadfast, Resolute.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The sometimes overly clever author Oscar Wilde said, “When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.” I reject that warped view of reality and assure you it will have no bearing on your life in the coming weeks. If you formulate your prayers with care and discernment, they will lead you to rewards, not problems. Maybe not the exact rewards you imagined, but still close to your hopes and helpful in the next chapter of your life story. (PS: No sloppy, lazy, careless prayers, please. Be precise and clear.)

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo theologian Bernard McGinn defines mysticism as “the consciousness of the immediate presence of God.” In other words, people having a mystic experience are filled with a visceral sensation of the divine intelligence. It’s not just an idea or concept; it’s a deeply felt communion infused with intimate tenderness. You Leos will be more likely than usual to have such contact in the coming weeks—if you want it. If you don’t want it, or don’t believe it’s real, or don’t think it’s possible, well, then, you can of course resist it. But why not give it a whirl? There’s nothing to lose, and it could be fun.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Here’s a parable for you. Once upon a time, there was a woman who could read the future in the night sky. She regarded the planets and stars as her divine informants. On one moonless evening, she took a walk down a dirt road near her home. It was so dark she could barely see two feet ahead of her. Oops! She should have brought a flashlight. Lost in wonder, she gazed up at the heavenly bodies, watching and listening for revelations they might have for her. Then one of the lights, the planet Saturn, whispered, “Stop and look down, friend.” The woman turned her eyes from the sky to the ground just in time to find she was two strides away from stepping into a deep, muddy hole. What’s the moral of the tale? Here are some possibilities. 1. Sometimes the heights provide useful information about the depths. 2. Soaring visions may help you tune in to practical details. 3. To become aware of important facts you’ve overlooked in your daily rhythm, consult your higher mind.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): A Libran writer I know received many rejection notices when he launched his career. I was amazed at how undaunted he was. In fact, he was the opposite of undaunted. He taped copies of his rejection notices to his bedroom wall. Seeing the evidence of his failures motivated him. It drove him to improve his writing and churn out even more articles. It fueled his search for a wider array of publications that might host his work. During the fourth year of this approach, luck and fate turned in his favor. Within the next eight months, twelve of his pieces appeared in print. My muses tell me, Libra, that you need to hear this story right now.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The cartoon character Bart Simpson is one of the stars of “The Simpsons” animated TV show. According to him, “Life is a paradox. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” While that principle may sometimes be true, I believe you will be exempt from it in the coming weeks. In fact, I suspect you will be as free as it’s possible for a human to be of grueling contradictions, frustrating oppositions, clashing truths, and paralyzing contraries. There’s a good chance you will also outwit and avoid annoying incongruities and silly arguments. Congratulations in advance, Scorpio! Take full advantage of this phase of simple clarity.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The dragon has appeared in the myths and legends of many cultures. Europe, China and Mesoamerica are just a few places where the fire-breathing flying reptiles have fascinated the human imagination. In some traditions, they are dangerous and predatory. In China, though, they have been harbingers of good fortune and symbols of great power. Emperors claimed the dragon as their special emblem. In assigning the dragon to be your soul creature, Sagittarius, I am drawing from Chinese lore. What would you like to accomplish that would benefit from you having access to fierce, dynamic, indomitable energy? Call on the dragon for help and power.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “There is a world of people who will love you for who you are,” writes author Cheryl Strayed. “A whole, vibrant, fucked-up, happy, conflicted, joyous, and depressed mass of people.” In the coming months, one of your prime tasks is to specialize in communing with these folks. Make it your intention to surround yourself more and more with interesting, imperfect, ever-changing life-lovers who appreciate you for exactly who you are—and who inspire you to grow more and more into the full idiosyncratic glory of your authentic self.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): What psychic or prophet is most popular with a-list celebrities? I can assure you it’s not me. Few of my millions of readers are world-famous. What about the planet’s most scientifically accurate astrologer? Who might that be? It ain’t me. I don’t regard astrology as a science, and I mistrust those who say it is. In my view, astrology is a mythopoetic language and psychospiritual system that nurtures our souls and helps liberate us from our conditioning. We shouldn’t try to get “scientifically accurate” information from it. Now I encourage you to do what I just did, Aquarius. Have fun telling people who you are not, what you don’t believe in, and which goals you aren’t interested in pursuing.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): To come up with your astrological reports, I study the positions of the sun, moon and planets in relation to your sign. That’s the technical part of the work, the framework within which I unleash my intuition and imagination. To augment this work, I meditate and pray, asking higher powers to guide me in providing useful information for you. I often consult books written by my favorite astrology writers. (Currently reading Steven Forrest’s “The Elements Series.”) I also ask my deep mind to slip me info that might not be accounted for by traditional factors. How about you, Pisces? How do you do the work that you love and care about? Now is a good time to take inventory and make necessary adjustments.

Homework: Is there anyone you love that you could or should love better? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com

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Georgia O’Keeffe on Success, Public Opinion, and What It Means to Be an Artist, in a Letter to Sherwood Anderson

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By Maria Popova (themarginalian.org)

Georgia O’Keeffe (November 15, 1887–March 6, 1986), celebrated as America’s first great female artist, was a woman of strong opinions on art, life, and setting priorities and an uncommon gift for committing to words what she committed to canvas. But some of her most revelatory insights on art and the creative experience were shared in a series of letters to writer Sherwood Anderson, who had befriended legendary photographer Alfred Stieglitz — O’Keeffe’s husband and her correspondent in volumes of passionate love letters. Encountering O’Keeffe’s art in the early 1920s had inspired Anderson to pick up the paintbrush for the first time and begin painting himself. Meanwhile, the two developed an epistolary fellowship around their shared ideas about art and their amicable intellectual disagreements. (Only three years later, Anderson would come to articulate his own unforgettable wisdom on art in a letter to his son, very likely influenced by O’Keeffe and their creative rapport.)

Found in Georgia O’Keeffe: Art and Letters (public library) — an altogether unputdownable out-of-print volume released in 1987, a year after O’Keeffe’s death, to mark her centennial — the letters stand as a sublime paean to the kind of creative integrity that rises above public opinion and blazes with crystalline clarity of conviction. At the same time, one can’t help but wonder how O’Keeffe’s art — how her sanity — might have suffered had she lived in our present era of perpetual sprinting on the social-media hamster wheel of public opinion.

Georgia O’Keeffe by Alfred Stieglitz, 1918

On August 1, 1923, she writes to Anderson:

This morning I saw an envelope on the table Stieglitz addressed to you—I’ve wanted so often to write you—two things in particular to tell you—but I do not write—I do not write to anyone—maybe I do not like telling myself to people—and writing means that.

First I wanted to tell you—way back in the winter that I liked your “Many Marriages”—and that what others have said about it amused me much—I realize when I hear others speak of it that I do not seem to read the way they do—I seem to—like—or discard—for no particular reason excepting that it is inevitable at the moment.—At the time I read it I saw no particular reason why I should write you that I liked it—because I do not consider my liking—or disliking of any particular consequence to anyone but myself—And knowing you were trying to work I felt that opinions on what was past for you would probably be like just so much rubbish—in your way for the clear thing ahead—And when I think of you—I think of you rather often—it is always with the wish—a real wish—that the work is going well—that nothing interferes —

I think of you often because the few times you came to us were fine—like fine days in the mountains—fine to remember—clear sparkling and lots of air—fine air.

After a characteristically evocative note about Stieglitz’s health that spring had rendered him “just a little heap of misery—sleepless—with eyes—ears—nose—arm—feet—ankles—intestines—all taking their turn at deviling him,” O’Keeffe expresses deep gratitude for the very thing that led Virginia Woolf to term letter writing “the humane art”—the soul-salving power of a letter sent by one human being to another:

You can see why I appreciated your letters—maybe more than he did—because of what they gave him—I don’t remember now what you wrote—I only remember that they made me feel that you feel something of what I know he is—that it means much to you in your life—adds much to your life—and a real love for him seemed to have grown from it

And in his misery he was very sad—and I guess I had grown pretty sad and forlorn feeling too—so your voice was kind to hear out of faraway and I want to tell you that it meant much—Thanks

Aware of misfortune’s one-way mirror of hindsight, she adds, “I can only write you this now because things are better.”

‘The Lawrence Tree’ by Georgia O’Keeffe, 1929

O’Keeffe and Anderson continue their correspondence and in another letter sent a month later, she defies her self-professed distaste for “telling [herself] to people” and instead divulging — with the exhilarating intensity of expression that both her art and her letters to loved ones emanate — a magnificent glimpse of her inner life and creative spirit. She considers the role of form in art and the experience from which art stems:

I feel that a real living form is the result of the individual’s effort to create the living thing out of the adventure of his spirit into the unknown—where it has experienced something—felt something—it has not understood—and from that experience comes the desire to make the unknown—known. By unknown—I mean the thing that means so much to the person that wants to put it down—clarify something he feels but does not clearly understand—sometimes he partially knows why—sometimes he doesn’t—sometimes it is all working in the dark—but a working that must be done—Making the unknown—known—in terms of one’s medium is all-absorbing—if you stop to think of the form—as form you are lost—The artist’s form must be inevitable—You mustn’t even think you won’t succeed—Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant—there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing—and keeping the unknown always beyond you—catching crystallizing your simpler clearer version of life—only to see it turn stale compared to what you vaguely feel ahead—that you must always keep working to grasp—the form must take care of its self if you can keep your vision clear.

In a remark of extraordinary humility and wisdom, especially in the hindsight of both O’Keeffe’s present status in the canon of art and Anderson’s in that of literature, she considers the feebleness of any present metric of success against a creator’s ultimate significance for posterity:

You and I don’t know whether our vision is clear in relation to our time or not—No matter what failure or success we may have—we will not know—But we can keep our integrity—according to our own sense of balance with the world and that creates our form—

In a sentiment that calls to mind Maurice Sendak’s famous dissent with a common classification of his work — “I don’t write for children. I write — and somebody says, ‘That’s for children!’” — O’Keeffe adds:

What others have called form has nothing to do with our form—I want to create my own and I can’t do anything else—if I stop to think of what others—authorities or the public—or anyone—would say of my form I’d not be able to do anything.

I can never show what I am working on without being stopped—whether it is liked or disliked I am affected in the same way—sort of paralyzed—.

All of Georgia O’Keeffe: Art and Letters is a treat for eye and spirit alike. Complement this particular bit with Anna Deavere Smith on how to stop letting others define us and Rilke on why external interference in the artist’s private experience poisons the art.