The river looking like an abstract painting
Photos: Willow
Does anyone remember the 1985 movie Cocoon where the old people find alien pods in a swimming pool? The pods emit an energy that makes the old people feel like a million bucks. At first, only a few oldsters know about the pods and use the pool on the downlow. They visit once in a while, swim around, feel good, and then go back to their regular lives with renewed energy and vigour, end of story.
But before long, the other oldsters in the seniors community want to know why those guys are feeling so good. Soon, everyone finds out about the swimming pool full of alien pods, and all hell breaks loose. Hordes of seniors jump in the pool, practically dry humping the pods. They're all having a heck of a time, swimming around, laughing, doing cannon balls, trying to break the pods open to see what's inside. But unknowingly, their antics drain the pods of all their energy, spoiling the fun for both the aliens and themselves.
(Energy healing + aliens = a strong Pisces-to-Aquarius themed film) This is why I'm using the phrase "being cocooned" to describe some Old Pisces dynamics.
"Being cocooned" happens when someone in your vicinity is attracted to your spiritual energy and then tries to get closer and closer to the source of it through you. They might sense in you a calmness, a peaceful groundedness, an inner knowing or strength, and they desire to be in that place, too. To try to get to the source of this and to understand it for themselves, people will create situations where you are in a tight dynamic of energetic interaction with them.
For example, they might ask you one question after another to keep you talking, putting you under the microscope and examining you in an intense way.
They might lock you into a one-sided conversation where they do almost all the talking, requiring you to listen and process the word-energy they're downloading into you.
They might delve into their personal problems in inappropriate ways, pushing the emotional energy or trauma of their situations onto you in an attempt for you to process it - or maybe just to relieve themselves of the burden for a few moments. This is the classic over-share, and it can happen even with people you've just met.
People might find flimsy excuses to come into repeated contact with you.
Or they might try to set the dynamics up in an attempt to make you feel as if they have something you need. (The opposite of what's really going on.)
People might be curious about the spiritual energy or healing energy they feel coming from you, especially in times of uncertainty or crisis. They might want to know what you know and how you've gotten to that place. They want that spiritual peace and that calm sense of knowing, and these dynamics allow them to take it in as if by osmosis.
To a small extent, depending on personal tolerance levels, this can be OK. The problem comes when people start dry humping your pod!
This is the point in interactions like these where the dynamic starts to drain, and it starts to become what is often called energy vampirism - one person bolstering themselves with the energy of the other and feeding off it surreptitiously. This is a dynamic very relevant to these times as we transition from the end of the Piscean Era to the beginning of the Aquarian Era.
Under the Piscean Era umbrella (during the past 2,000 or so years), spiritual relationships were often set up in a master-student format. The master was considered "above" the student, so the master was, in effect, feeding the student spiritual energy and knowledge and herding the student along the path. It was not a relationship of equals. As we are now leaving the Piscean Era, this dynamic no longer works. The dynamics are now more egalitarian, and living under the dictates of spiritual hierarchy will have increasingly detrimental repercussions.
During the Aquarian Era, we're all responsible for ourselves and for interacting from a place of integrity to our own energetic needs. We can no longer agree to sacrifice our own personal reserves past the point of it being comfortable. Allowing our own needs to be chronically sacrificed for the needs of others is an Old Pisces tendency that is not designed to work any longer. We are not meant to accept a disadvantaged position in relation to others or within a group in a misguided attempt at spiritual service.
What we’ll come to realize as the Age of Aquarius deepens is that we all have access to spiritual love, knowledge, and source energy if we wish to access it - some are just more aware of this than others and are willing to take it on and develop it more fully. Everyone who recognizes a connection to spiritual source has a personal responsibility to develop and maintain that connection for him or herself. For those who have already developed this relationship, the responsibility lies in lovingly breaking any draining, Old Pisces dynamics that are no longer serving anyone. To break these dynamics and shift into something better and healthier, we can:
* Become aware and stay aware of draining dynamics, relationships, or situations, dropping any guilt or ego that might be keeping us in these roles. It can be flattering to know that someone thinks there's something special about us, including spiritually, but this can also inflate the spiritual ego to the point that we go along with the dynamics of spiritual hierarchy, rather than re-configuring into a new and healthier expression of Pisces for the Aquarian Era.
* Stay true to ourselves in the moment during all interactions. This is trickier than it sounds. To do this, we have to stay connected to how we’re feeling while interacting with another person (or shortly following the interaction) and make adjustments accordingly so that we don't fall into habitual patterns. This is often tricky for people with a high level of empathy or compassion (often people with a strong Pisces, Neptune, or 12th house signature) because they can be drawn into what the other person is feeling or experiencing so strongly that they lose contact with themselves. To counteract this, we must hold awareness of what is going on in each moment while trusting and taking action on our perceptions. People-pleasing habits or fear of the other person's reaction are some additional elements to work through.
* Recognize the point in the interaction where it becomes unhealthy or draining, and consciously re-direct. Avoiding certain topics or situations altogether can be helpful to these ends.
* Direct people to the love, wisdom, and spiritual sustenance they have inside, instead of taking on a lazy master-student role in which we spoon-feed people what they want to hear or experience while leaving ourselves drained and grumpy.
* End contacts (at least temporarily) if they continue in these Old Pisces dynamics. This type of separation might be necessary to break a karmic loop that has been playing out repeatedly in your life or in your relationships.
* No more giving until it hurts (more of that Piscean self-sacrifice). By the same token, no more taking from others in a way that drains or disadvantages them. We're looking to create the Aquarian win-win.
* Be conscious of what you're feeding with your energy, and withdraw or re-direct if you are feeding a detrimental, undesirable, or unsustainable dynamic.
* If a person is further along as far as understanding spiritual principles or holding spiritual knowledge, this should be acknowledged openly, rather than allowing dynamics of "energetic or spiritual siphoning" to go on invisibly. If a person is acting as a spiritual healer, this must be recognized by those involved so proper boundaries can be put in place.
Because these dynamics are invisible, they can be very slippery and difficult to pinpoint. People can often become angry or insulted when we start to actively shift out of these dynamics. Long-term friends and family members might be used to interacting with us in a certain 'Old Pisces' way and could have some trouble adjusting to a healthier 'Pisces for the Aquarian Era' expression. Despite these reactions, shifting out of these dynamics is the best thing in the long run, like pulling the Band-Aid off in one quick pull.
Refusing to be cocooned (and refusing to cocoon anyone else) is one of the healthiest and most loving things we can do for ourselves and for other people as we shift out of the astrological Piscean Era and into the astrological Aquarian Era - people just might not recognize this at first!
We're now leaning into stronger Aquarian Era energy and themes with the Jupiter and Saturn transits of Aquarius and soon (as of March 2023), Pluto transiting Aquarius. As part of this, we're consciously moving out of some entrapping and highly-karmic Piscean Era dynamics. We're putting stronger boundaries in place, including an enhanced sense of self-preservation, and creating healthier energy dynamics in our relationships, in general.
Cosmic Spotlight planet Jupiter is making an initial dip into the sign of Pisces from May 13 to July 28, 2021. Jupiter has just stationed retrograde at 2 degrees Pisces on June 20. This transit puts the spotlight on all things Pisces, including the shift into a new and healthier expression of Pisces for the astrological Aquarian Era. As part of this, we could be seeing an intensification of Old Pisces themes so that we can become more aware of the dynamics and how things need to shift moving forward. Jupiter will re-enter Pisces on December 28, 2021 for the remainder of the transit that lasts until May 10, 2022, putting these themes under the Cosmic Spotlight once again.
Neptune in Pisces is also very strong in the zodiac at the moment. Neptune stations retrograde at 23 degrees Pisces today, June 25, in a conjunction to female warrior asteroid Pallas Athene at 26 degrees Pisces. This, too, indicates an intensification of Pisces themes, including any old Piscean Era dynamics that we must actively and strategically fight our way out of (Pallas Athene).
We'll be working with increased understanding (Jupiter) of these Piscean themes during the transit of Jupiter in Pisces as we transition into a spiritual expression that works for the new astrological era. Active participation is required. We will see the fruits of our labours (as well as any areas that still need some work) as Jupiter and Neptune come together in a beautiful conjunction in April 2022 (exact April 12 at 23 degrees Pisces).
Saturn in Pisces will bring up the rear from March 2023 to February 2026, and the taskmaster planet will certainly be testing us on what we've learned during the transit of Jupiter in Pisces.
Under the astrological Aquarian Era umbrella, we all have to row our own canoes. We're responsible for our own energy, our own healing, and our own boundaries, and we must also require that those in our lives take on these responsibilities for themselves. "Taking it all on our backs" for other people or for society in general is an Old Pisces tendency that is just not designed to work anymore.
There are new parameters to put into place in an active way, especially for people with strong Pisces/Neptune/12th house signatures, and refusing to be cocooned is one of these parameters!
Murky Piscean issues becoming more conscious...
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