#season

Astrology functions as an assessment of temporal quality, but is the archetype of time ruled by any particular sign?

Preface
The wheel of the zodiac is often depicted with Aries on the left, thus keeping it in line with the houses: that is, Aries corresponds to the ascendant and first house, Taurus occupies the second house, and so on.

However, there are some interesting patterns that emerge under other rotations. Rotating the wheel one sign counter clockwise, so that the first house is held by Taurus, we find Cancer and Leo on either side of the nadir, the lowest point of the wheel. This emphasizes the wonderful symmetry between each pair of signs that share rulers:

The exception being, of course, the Sun and Moon which rule one sign each. This might point to a secret identification between these forces, which are typically conceptualized as the most fundamental opposites: consciousness and the unconscious, light and dark, etc. The arcane marriage of these principles is a motif which humanity has been pondering since antiquity. Positioning this syzygy at the bottom of the wheel gives the impression that the other signs spring forth from this coupling as a series of portraits from one luminary to the other; as call and response music, or dance steps. One can say that the entire zodiac functions as a mythological alphabet that elaborates of the riddle of the Sun and Moon.

Time
Under this cosmic lens, let’s examine a feature essential to our experience of the universe: time. Where does time show up in the zodiac? Can any particular sign be said to govern this concept? At the very least, we can draw the strongest general associations between time and these signs:

If you ask astrologers which sign most corresponds to the concept of time, Gemini would be a common and reasonable answer. It is the traditional ruler of clocks and measurements of time, and is said to rule the time-dependent concepts of transit and commuting.

Capricorn is another traditional response, since it rules the schedule, the time table, the restriction of time, the inexorable march of time. Father Time, the bearded old man with the scythe and the hourglass, is one of the most well known personifications of Saturn.

Aquarius is a bit more esoteric in this regard, but perfectly valid. Aquarius is most associated with the concepts of the instant, the moment … suddenness! Moreover, it is the traditional ruler of kairos, the ancient Greek idea of “pregnant time.” From Wikipedia:

The ancient Greeks had two words for time: chronos (χρόνος) and kairos. The former refers to chronological or sequential time, while the latter signifies a proper or opportune time for action. While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative, permanent nature.

Chronos is a clear attribute of Capricorn, therefore these two notions of time are represented by the two Saturn-ruled signs. These two signs are farthest from our supposed origin-nadir, the Cancer/Leo threshold. Capricorn is opposite Cancer, and Aquarius is opposite Leo. This suits the mythological conception of Saturn as the demiurge, the architect of mundane incarnation, the mechanic of the machinery of the cosmos.

To complete this symmetry, we would hope that Virgo is also associated with time. That way, Saturn-ruled signs can roost up at the dome of time, representing its furthest limits, while Mercury ruled signs can reflect each other as attendants to the atemporal solar/lunar archetypes, initiating those forces into the game of time. Gemini does this job perfectly for the Moon, showing how time is “reflected” in the mind through the image of the clock.

So, is Virgo then one of our rulers of time? Ever humble and self-diminishing, Virgo does not jump out as readily as the others, but it does indeed complete a very crucial and unglamorous role. Any astrologer will tell you that Virgo rules punctuality. That is, the adherence to time. If Gemini is the clock at the train station, and Capricorn is the schedule, and Aquarius is the fortune of sliding through the closing door, then Virgo is the plain fact of showing up on time.

So it is clear that there are affinities between rulerships. The two mercury-ruled signs rule basic, mundane relationships to time: time measurement and time observance. The two Saturn-ruled signs rule the extremes of time: time’s bondage and time’s potentiation. There are also affinities between elements, which we explore later. But there are also delightful parallels between the pairs of signs which share no essential qualities. Consider that Gemini and Capricorn both rule structural, objective attributes of time, summarized by the clock and the schedule respectively. The other pair rules more subjective qualities of time: Virgo corresponds to the season, and Aquarius to the zeitgeist.

Elemental Purports
What does it mean that all four of these time-governing signs are earth or air? At the most obvious level, we should note that in the cultural imagination water and fire are characterized by motion, while earth and air are not. Air is about potentiation; it is the closest element to pure yang. It is the breath, which corresponds esoterically to the pneuma, the coherence of spirit which vivifies matter. It is atmosphere: that which surrounds every atom, and every germ of life, from the smallest bud to the egg of the cosmos. In a sense, pure potentiation means being eternally unborn. It is actually full activity—boundless perpetual motion—or “unlimited wind” in the Vedas—the inexhaustible first word of creation which has no duration, and obviously no equivalent upon the time-dependent material plane.

That plane is brought to us in part by earth, the closest element to pure yin. It is easy to understand how “pure passivity” is not comprehensible within time—easier than the concept of “pure activity” which we looked at previously. There is only ever the appearance of stillness in our perception; never an object which is actually fully static. The signature “movements” of matter may be entropy and decay.

We should also understand the conventional elemental associations with the astrological attitudes: cardinality is “like” fire; fixidity like earth; mutability like air. Therefore these time signs are:

• The airy part of air (Gemini)
• The airy part of earth (Virgo)
• The fiery part of earth (Capricorn)
• The earthy part of air (Aquarius)

So earth is implicated in three of these, and air is implicated in three of these. The only exception to air is the fiery part of earth; earth in its cardinal aspect. This means it is the apparent, self-projecting aspect of earth; earth with its essence on display. Capricorn governs, if you’ll remember, the bondage aspect of time, and the sign that is the most common answer to the naive question of time rulership.

The only exception to earth is the airy part of air: Gemini. This is notably the second-most common response to the question of time rulership. And, as we have seen, together Gemini and Capricorn account for the objective qualities of time. Here’s a weird one: if Gemini and Capricorn are the most obvious rulers of time, perhaps that is partially due to the subjective quality of our time, which is so concerned with, and aware of, objective qualities!

Or maybe it is the fact that the subjective qualities of time are defined by contradiction, and thus more difficult to understand in any age. After all, what is the “earthy part of air” and “the airy part of earth”? There does seem to be an especially elusive mystery about Aquarius: the concept of kairos, but also of the wish, and of heaven. What are we to make of the fact that Aquarius is “familiar to the alien”? Or the fact that it is associated both with the moment and with “timelessness”? We have seen air as pure potentiation, necessitating boundless movement; how could there be a “fixed” expression of such a principle?

In contradiction to the most “alien” sign, Virgo is typically tagged as the most mundane sign. The relative anonymity of Virgo is also contrasted with the radical idiosyncrasy of Aquarius. And its tradition-mindedness would appear also to chafe against Aquarian novelty. Yet let us remember what these signs share: they given definition to the subjective attributes of time. We mentioned that Aquarius holds both the uniqueness of the moment, and the unchanging eternal, but Virgo holds this mystery too. Virgo’s anonymity comes from a deep, intuitive understand that we are all the same. That is why the goddess and the virgin go by so many names. In fact, they necessitate that many names, because the multiplicity of the expression is part of the expression. Virgo is the scattering of the atoms; matter in full possible diffusion. The secondary ruler of Virgo, besides mercury, is not one planet but an abundance of asteroids. Virgo knows both “I am a link in a chain” and also “I am this link.” What is punctuality but specificity? What is a unit of matter but a detail? Virgo knows both, “This season has come before,” and also, “This summer is this summer.”

Summary
The wind of Gemini is the wind that blows in the quality of time, existing in some unknowable potentiation beyond this world. Capricorn is the slow-burn of matter upon which quality plays, and is thereby bound. Virgo rotates the wheel, perpetuating the cycle through its incremental movement. The rotations are then recognized by their quality of motion. Aquarius imagines the wheel stopped, glimpsed in gestalt, and the wheel is recognized by the quality of its stillness. Cumulatively, these four archetypes collaborate to describe the terms of the dance through which psyche extends itself into its many other guises.

My body clock has been extremely messed up lately.  Not from shifting time zones (which does take a minor toll), but seasonally.  For the past couple months I have been convinced that Winter, and more specifically, Christmas, will be coming soon.  Unfortunately this is not the case, and in fact the opposite is happening. Each and every week it is getting hotter- scarily close to the 50 degrees centigrade (122 fahrenheit) point where it will likely remain for all of June, July, and August.  

The main reason for my seasonal confusion is simple, but it is bolstered up by various minor factors.  The big part is that though I’m now in the ‘real’ working world- I’m overly accustomed to the school calendar.  School finished when I graduated in December, whereas the end of the “year” celebrations, the “school’s out for Summer!” parties are, you guessed it, usually reserved for the Summer months.  Further confusing myself- I did, in effect, take a Summer break after graduating!  I spent time in the pleasant Caribbean and then two months in Southern and Eastern Africa- where it was Summer.  So when all of that ended and it was time to get back to being productive, I felt like my Summer break was coming to an end, and thus it must be September (though it was really March)!  Seeing as that this was all two months ago, now (May) would seem to really be November- and therego, my seasonal confusion. 

The minor parts that perpetuate the feeling come and go.  Today was particularly bad however.  For one thing, it was an unusually cool day in Cairo.  Having just arrived yesterday from hot Dubai, I thought to myself. “oh it is getting colder- must be Winter coming.”  And though this was a particularly cool day, this is a weekly happening- weekends in the warm UAE, and then the week in Mediterranean Egypt- always feels like Summer moving to Autumn / Winter.  Then, this evening, while in the office, somebody opened a window and suddenly the smell of roasting fire wood came in.  We weren’t sure what it was from- but even a colleague of mine said, “ah it smells like Christmas” and starting singing “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. .. Jack Frost nipping at your nose…” of course that meant I had to play that song on my Ipod (the Justin Bieber ft. Usher version, duh).  

So here we were, moving from hot to cold weather, smelling a wonderful wood fire, singing Christmas songs, AND two months separated from a “Summer Break.”  And though quite misleading and possibly disappointing (when the present do not arrive), I’ve decided that it is nice to think Christmas is around the corner.  It gives me a cheerful attitude, makes me appreciate things a bit more, and at times provides a nice retrospective lull to take over.  

Christmas is wonderful.  Christmas time is better.  This year, I’m happy I get a bit more of it than usual.  

oldfarmhouse:

wonders of AUTUMN

https://www.instagram.com/mg92672/regram

Like or reblog if you save, sweetheart x

As a student, Primark can be a life saver especially when you have socials week in and week out and on a personal level, can give me my monthly dose of affordable Disney and Harry Potter products and basically I like to have a nosey for any bargains. Just the other day I was browsing the beauty area and although I have tried and loved the lip crayons, I noticed eyeshadow palettes.

At my Primark there was two different palettes but I thought I’d go for this one for the autumnal colours for the season and I just love warm shades anyway. Unfortunately I can’t find any particular name for this specific palette but hopefully you will be able to find it if you want to.

Details of the palette;

The palette costs £6, yes you read correctly, six whole pounds. In this you get 12 overall shades breaking down into 5 shimmer shades and 7 matte. The palette does not come with mirror however, I know a lot of cheaper palettes in the drugstore don’t come with a mirror, heck, Kylie didn’t include a mirror and you’re paying 5x more. Although, I quite like the idea of a window so I can see the shades more clearly and easily and chances are I will be using my main mirror so this doesn’t affect me.

Pictured above is the swatches of the palette, as you can see or not see, 2 of the matte shades are quite pale and actually match my skin tone however, on my eyes I have noticed it does come up. From just swatching each of the shades I find them all fairly pigmented, a touch of fallout but nothing outrageous. In particularly, I am in love with the 8th shade which is a gorgeous purple shimmer which only took one swipe for that pay off. Alternatively, the first shade although gorgeous, is not as pigmented I found however would say it would be good for an inner corner highlight.

A look;

So I tested out a few of these shades to create just a simple autumnal look. I’m no mua, I haven’t been taught or anything of a sort and I am still learning so please bare with my final looks but…I found these shades easy to work with, they’re pigmented a lot more that I expected however found they are still easy enough to blend out. Please excuse the dodgy photos, my camera isn’t the best for these types.

Final thoughts;

Overall, I would recommend this product. The Master Eye Palette is a bargain in my opinion for 12 great shades that are open to creating several different seasonal looks and just the texture of the shades are soft and creamy. Bonus, if you’re looking for a cheap palette to practice or if you’re similar to me being a student and don’t want to be going out spending £20+ for a couple of shades, I think this could be a great investment.

Have you tried this palette from Primark, or anything beauty by them? If so, what did you think and should I try it? Is there anything I should keep an eye out for and test for you?

Till next time, xo K

spring bird enjoy swinging 2021.