At the nexus of earth and sky, is the sensing soma:
on full-body immersion and divination
When Nicole and I were in our early twenties, we each had the experience of independently assisting in coral reef research that explored different ways of monitoring reef health and recovery. The work involved us getting into the water, counting fish and measuring substrate rugosity— the textural complexity of the reef.
And so it came to be that we learned how to skin dive, swimming to deeper and deeper depths without the aid of scuba equipment, holding breath for longer periods of time.
“The sensation of being a tiny human with soft skin, two humble lungs and relatively slow maneuvering skills, moving through a wild world of many others was something that I will never forget. It gave me a profound reference point for what sheer aliveness and embodied presence could feel like. Tracking my body and breath and needs for air, while simultaneously being very, very alert to my surroundings — I never thought I would encounter something like it again in my life.” (Nicole)
But now when we are asked: What are living astrologies? Why is it plural?The image and the sensation of skin diving through a coral reef very often comes to mind.
“I remember one day I was swimming through clear, open, blue water — and then was quite suddenly enveloped by moon jellyfish. They surrounded my arms, they coated my face, they were all in between my legs. There was nothing for me to do but be in the experience. And the thought that crossed my mind in that moment was, Oh! I had no idea they were here.” (Nicole)
In experiential astrology, often we are struck by a similar kind of surprise:
Oh! I had no idea this was here.
I had no idea it could be this way.
Oh, yes, this too.
This creature lives, and belongs, here too.
We design our experiential astrology containers as immersive spaces for us to “get into the water” or “ground into the earth” in more full-bodied ways, and to practice engaging and honing our ability to track our systems and our surroundings for signs of life. For symbols to come forward in new ways. For places inside of ourselves, to be witnessed, felt, dis-covered and divined again.
“Along with reef diving, I was also a frequent wreck diver. I found that wrecks too are creaturely — whole worlds of memory, sensation and atmosphere. Repositories that can stay sunken or be descended to, to reclaim and plumb the sunken life back into aliveness. We each have sunken selves showered in barnacles, algae, seaweed — food for other creatures, shelters for other beings. Living astrologies help us grow our lungs our somas to dive deep — to explore these hidden lurking dimensions and revivify lost lives.” (Amanda)
We invite you to imagine the living landscape of astrology (and the dreaming body of the astrologer) as akin to a coral reef ecosystem. Like a reef, notice how the health of astrology might be reflected by its rugosity – its endless folds and ripples, textures and variegated patterns – its ability to provide habitat to innumerable creatures and support connections within and across life’s polyphonic web.
Alternatively — do you find that there is another image or memory that resonates more with what living astrologies mean to you?
Multiple sites of reception
Wherever in our lives we’re most accustomed or susceptible to referring out to external authorities in ways that attempt to smooth out life’s rugosity with outside-in, homogenized perspectives, it is immensely helpful to have full-bodied practices where we are supported in staying loyal to particular insights that come through our own soma. Through our unique ways of being, multi-faceted intelligences and relationships – where we are witnessed, encouraged and affirmed in our deep inner knowing – while still remaining soft and pliable to what comes through others, as well.
As stewards of this reef-like ecology, we tend new “ways in” to the field of astrology that encourages and facilitates intimacy with the unknown, reciprocity and revelation. We give astrological symbols multiple sites of reception – multiple bodies, minds and imaginations – each lending their creative flair and depth of lineage to help sustain / ongoingly reveal the hidden rugosity and effervescence of the field.
We practice opening through enactments and process, offering our bodies, our soma, as fresh sites of reception. We practice inhabiting our own particular multiple bodies (physical, emotional, imaginal, conceptual) as a question and with curiosity, moving their operatic sensitivity in different ways to make more surface area available and delectable to how the powers / presences want to be heard, allowing our sensing soma to resonate uniquely with myriad others within and around in myriad configurations and constellations.
With a larger surface area we offer a greater landing site – a reliable landing site – for the powers and presences to play us into life and us to play with them. In this way, experiential astrology is not just a guided meditation, but a dynamic conversation between the whole instrument of our participating consciousness, in time and space and relationship. Participation is an active process of turning towards, and this willingness shows the gods, powers, presences that we can be reliable receivers. They, in turn, show up, move through us, feeling our willing and want, without grasp and grab. It is a touching and a tending that is reciprocal and responsive. That recognizes the vast scope and scape of the living field, is in service to this, as a response to the current call both collectively and personally.
Increased surface area makes more space for surprising and remarkably precise illuminations. Such moments mark a threshold, a kind of “before” and “after” akin to an initiatory experience, which can be metabolised, enfleshed, and made actual through living into this direct discovery. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. Once you sense it, you can’t un-sense it.
This quality of direct encounter can gently open us up to places of ache and agony that we have become numb to, increasing the volume to life-loving messages we’ve learned to turn down out of self-preservation, whilst being held within this benevolent witness and mirror of the sky, containment of story and fellowship with humans and other-than- humans that can offer resonance with our experience.
When we can feel, we can heal
When we can feel, we can heal. When we feel affected, we damage life less because we feel the impact acutely. And, importantly, where this acuteness of feeling may have previously led us to armor ourselves, experiential astrology honors our need for emotional safety and protection while simultaneously bolstering and en-couraging our hearts to open to the wilder places of deep feeling, where the soul lives.
Experiential processes invite and guide our sensitivities to come out of hiding and reveal their strength in shepherding previously missed, forgotten or discarded feelings into place – into a home, into a shelter within myth, a shared understanding, a relational framework. Rather than a weakness or disadvantage, it is precisely because of its exquisitely sensitive antennae that our deeply feeling nature gets to enter into a more enfleshed, exuberant and electric participation with the world.
Experiential astrology invites and supports letting go of the armor of perfectionism and individualism as it shifts our focus from delivering tidy, polished packages of wisdom that prove our intelligence or the worthiness of our words and shares in a group setting – and turns our attention towards whether our words invoked spirit and nourished the field of relations. Whether the act of speaking changed us, making us more like a healthy coral reef, of endless folds and ripples, textures and patterns that offer habitat for lives gorgeous array.
Your Turn
Designate a part of your room (either just in your imagination, or mark it physically with an object) the part of the zodiac where Gemini turns to Cancer.
Stand in the space the represents the final degrees of Gemini. Notice what you are with here — what thoughts, sensations, emotions, memories, instincts arise.
Step into 29°59’ Gemini. Notice what comes up here as the element of Air converges with the element of Water. What creatures emerge or sharpen in image along this edge, inside this place of tension, transition, friction, dialogue and exchange?
Step over the cusp into 00°00’ Cancer. As you do, notice what’s activated. What does it feel like for you, in these first seconds of getting into the water?
Take a moment to capture what you’ve experienced, through writing, sketching or whatever creative modality feels most supportive to your meeting the moment and reflection.
And as always, we welcome any reflections you’d like to share with us.
To diving deep and re-surfacing,
Nicole & Amanda