Given we’re in the sign of psychedelic Sagittarius, I was waiting and hoping for a trippy oracle and here we go: In The Left Section Of An Archaic Temple, A Lamp Burns In a Container Shaped Like A Human Body is the symbol at 11° Sagittarius. It is, in fact, all about getting back into your body after going to far out with your mind, so it’s on theme if not a bit inverted, with what I was expecting. We are being asked to count on the wisdom of our physical selves—I often discuss physical intelligence with clients, reminding them that the body “knows” how to do things like circulate blood and fight infection and digest food, things, which if it were up to our minds to handle would certainly end in ultimate failure. We can know too much. And we can be held hostage by our intellect and concepts of quantatitive value. Yesterday we saw opportunity and abundance. Today we are saying that enough is enough and that food for thought can be super fattening. We must not only decompress at times but actually decondition ourselves. Ruled by Aquarius in a twelve-fold sequence we are looking at the Waterbearer’s effect on our own rejuvenation and necessary rebirthing and individuation. Especially in this day and age when we are so plugged into collective thought, via technology—perhaps we don’t realize how much mass thought is infiltrating. We do need to unplug.

I think of my very niche generation as being caught in something of a balance. Stella is convinced we are a kind of lost generation. We grew up changing television channels manually without so much as an answering machine, going out to play for three hours after school without parents having a clue of your whereabouts or shenanigans; we typed papers on electric typewriters, using white-out or corecto-cartridges to fix our mistakes. I studied abroad and would send my parents postcards or, every once in a while, wait for a telephone booth at a post office. In summer, from the time I was seven, I would just be out somewhere in our tiny New Jersey beach town; it’s like our parents had inherited their ancestors insouciance about child mortality or something. Point is, it was a very anonymous time. The millennials know nothing of this. They grew up pressing buttons and going on scheduled playdates. They have helicopter parents and obsessive gaming addictions, cellphones, earphones, headphones, iphones. How do you unplug from consumerist mass conciousness if you’re part Borg? I guess you become a steampunk, opening a donut or honey or vinegar shop and dressing like you just walked out of the pages of a Jules Verne novel. Luckily I still remember what it was like not being a reliant on quantitative values. Nonconformity was the norm, especially for a happy social self-impelled outcast such as myself.

Of course there is a meaning closer to home than the one I’m attaching to this symbol. The original Greek cupbearer is Hebe, the daughter of Zeus and Hera (Jupiter and Juno); and she basically kept all the gods dosed with nectar that was the source of the eternal youth, if not life. She is, indeed, goddess of youth. Like other Aquarian female archetypes, like Iris, goddess of the rainbow (how Aquarian?) and Eos, goddess of the dawn (likewise), Hebe is romantically linked with a human or, in her case, a demi-god, Heracles (meaning glory of Hera)—it’s best to remember that Hebe, though a goddess in her own right, is also Hera in her maiden aspect. All this high-minded mythological mumbo jumbo to say that this degree of the zodiac is about recuperation and getting in touch with the mortal, bodily aspect of self. The soul (or anima, animus) is wedded to the physical body for better or for worse. And your (overactive) mind is not your friend. It will wear you down to the point of exhaustian and even cellular death. As someone who has been burning the menora from both ends, I’m here to tell you that this symbol couldn’t come at a better time for me personally. And it serves as a reminder to all of us. Depending on what planet you might have at this degree of Sagittarius, and how it is aspected by other planets and so forth, your penchant for recuperation might be great or compromised. I for one am ready to get out of my head and into my body. I have afforded myself that luxury for the next five days especially. With our upcoming show at Joe’s Pub written, now is about embodying the words and getting my voice into some semblance of tunefulness. I spend much of my year producing and promoting other people and their shows. My hope is that our friends and fans will turn out for us this December 20 at Joe’s Pub. We are working hard and presenting an entertaining and enlightening program. My only job is to be rested and to do my best and for that I am thankful for today’s oracular reminder of what is at the core of all happiness and success. Chillability.

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