The Bard’s Grove
I want to
resume my Emerging Archetypal Themes Blog by sharing some of my favorite fantasy
adventures with you. Fantasy novels tell
us stories that show how the archetypal patterns are shifting and being
renewed. Our human instincts are once
again expanding, growing and deepening to meet the needs of our changing world,
and these fantasy stories can help us understand how we are being renewed. Add to this the astrological energies of the
signs of the zodiac and I hope to tell you about bardic tales that will open
your imaginations and spark your vision.
From Guy Gavriel Kay to Judith Tarr, Patrick
Rothfuss to Sharon Shinn, the archetypal stories are being transformed from a
Disneyesque stereotype to a wondrous Lord
of the Rings enchantment. These fantasy stories evoke a strong response
because the really good ones follow the archetypal path of ancient myths and
fairy tales. When stories grow organically out of the
archetypal structures—the cosmic laws of life—they resonate with our DNA and
touch our hearts and minds. Archetypal
stories change us.
Virgo: Knowing Yourself and Naming Yourself
Virgo, the
sixth sign of the zodiac, is the Virgin.
To be a virgin in the ancient world did not mean a woman was sexually
chaste; it meant that a woman ‘belonged to herself’ – that is, belonged to no
man. Just as a virgin forest is overrun with life and possibilities, so too the
Virgin Mother of Virgo is filled with a harvest of possibilities. The Cosmic Story speaks of the energies
moving through our skies, telling us of the new life generated each year here
on Earth. When the Sun travels through
the sign of Virgo, we look at both our personal and collective harvest. The constellation of Virgo imagines a woman
with wings holding a sheaf of wheat, and this Virgin asks us each year from the
middle of August until the Fall Equinox in mid-September – what have you made of yourself this
year? (For more on the Virgo archetypal, see The Cosmic Story)
The Virgo
aspect of our journey through life is to get to know ourselves on all levels of
our being. We grow more self-aware as we
experience life and as we integrate what we learn in life—when we come to
acknowledge the meaning of our experiences. As we do, we change and grow, so each year we
need to figure out who exactly we are now.
Unfortunately, that is something many of us weren’t taught to do. The old cultural categories we’ve been given
to explain our personalities and our talents are work-oriented. You are
what you do. So our usual measure of
growth is how much more money we’re making or how old we are.
In ancient times
and other cultures, the wise women and sages knew that we are comprised of a mixture
of the four elements of life: earth, water, air and fire. And sometimes, the elusive and mysterious
fifth element, the quintessence or spirit.
Our modern approach to life disregards our connection to Earth and her
laws, and so we’ve lost touch with the powers within us that define who we are.
Sharon Shinn’s Troubled Waters:
Knowing and Naming Yourself
One who neglects or disregards the existence
Of fire, water, air and earth
Disregards his own existence, which is
entwined with them.
Lord Mahavir/Jainsim
But what
would it be like if our cultural norm was not only to understand who we are and
what our talents are but that everyone else understood them as well. Imagine a society where everyone understands
that there are different personality traits which give rise to different
talents, which are fostered and trained.
Imagine a society where you start off knowing yourself and your possibilities and naming yourself.
That’s the
basis of the society that Sharon Shinn creates in her novel, Troubled Waters. Instead of telling you the story, I’m going
to describe the culture of knowing
she creates. That doesn’t mean that
everyone in the novel is self-aware and honorable. It just means that people have a common basis
for judging actions, which is based in a good understanding of the psyche. Something we are often lacking in our
society. So since we are dancing in
Virgo, let’s look at how these fantasy characters know themselves.
Ms. Shinn
uses five basic types of personalities, most likely based on the five elements
of Chinese Medicine. I find them
fascinating, because each quality is associated with an element. The five are Elay (Air/Soul), Hunti (Wood/Bone), Swella (Fire/Mind), Coru
(Water/Blood), Torz (Earth/Flesh). See what you think you are!
Elay Hunti Sweela Coru Torz
(Air) (Wood) (Fire) (Water) (Earth)
Joy Courage Innovation Change Serenity
Hope Strength Love Travel Honesty
Kindness Steadfastness Imagination Flexibility Health
Beauty Loyalty Clarity Swiftness Fertility
Vision Certainty Intelligence Resilience Contentment
Grace Resolve Charm Luck Patience
Honor Determination Talent Persistence Endurance
Spirituality Power Creativity Surprise Wealth
SOUL BONE MIND BLOOD FLESH
The grace
and power and imagination and surprise and wealth of this form of personal
power—this knowing your name/element/Self—is what helps move this story
forward. Perhaps if we want to move
ourselves forward in understanding our true nature, we might see which category
we fit into and live consciously with it, embracing our strengths and
weaknesses alike. It makes for a much
rounder personality.
The first
thing I loved about Ms. Shinn’s world was that when a baby is born, the father
must wait five hours (they do everything in terms of five) and then go out into
the street and ask three strangers to give his child a blessing. They have these blessings (the above
qualities) inscribed on coins which you can get at any Temple of the Five Elements,
a place to go meditate when you need to rebalance yourself and ask for
guidance. When you ask your question, you can take a ‘blessing’
coin out of a giant cauldron, see which quality of character you pick and find
an answer to your question. Then you
carry that coin with you until you are asked to give it to someone else.
So, each
baby gets three random blessings which define their future. But they also carry within themselves these
traits in greater or lesser amounts, with one as their defining element. So a woman who is Coru might be open to
feelings, changeable as water, flexible in situations. A man who is Sweela meets the world head-on
with intelligence, charm and imagination.
And all the world knows that’s just who he or she is. The naming helps people accept each
other. That doesn’t mean you aren’t
responsible for your actions—there’s still a moral imperative to live to your
highest abilities.
Here are
some examples of how Ms. Shinn describes these elemental qualities.
SWEELA
(FIRE/MIND)
“Sweela (fire) was not a restful element at
the best of times. It exhorted you to
feel, to care, to think, to love, even to remember. Zoe closed her eyes and unlocked her heart
and let her mind flood with images of her father. Laughing.
Arguing. Dancing with her
mother. Flirting with a strange
woman. Reading by candlelight. Listening to music. Meditating.
Sleeping. Coughing.
Suffering. Dying.”
“He was a sweela, with brushy red hair and ruddy
complexion. … He kept a neutral expression on his face, but it was clear he was
a passionate man, quick to anger, quick to laugh. She had a sudden, swift,
visceral memory of boisterous conversations at his house, loud arguments and
outbursts of gusty merriment.”
When I think
about these traits in my fire sign friends, I often forget that they are
related to their inner connection to fire.
Always on the move. Always
creating something, whether a meal or a garden or a dress. Sometimes destructive, like their passion
fierce. They are Fire!
TORZ
(EARTH/FLESH)
“But that
was the torz gift—connection to
humanity, connection to the world. You
might apologize for bumping into your neighbor, but then you would smile, you
would whisper a comment about the weather.
You would feel human again, part of the great, messy pageant of
life. You would cease to feel so alone.”
“The big man…looked
like a creature made entirely of soil and clay—a little dull, a little slow,
but powerful. Patient. … he could wait
for a decade to destroy his enemies, but when he had the chance, he would crush
them under his relentless weight. … Then he smiled at her and she saw the other
side of the Torz (earth) personality—not
charm, no, but a certain earthy appeal. … he was the kind of man who always had
a dog at his heels, a grandchild on his knee, a serving girl bringing him an
extra portion. The kind of man who liked
to surround himself with other people and who won their affection without even
seeming to try.”
I have a
brother who has all earth signs for his Sun, Moon and ascendant. He is so very much like this, especially the
part about winning people’s affections without even trying. Everyone loves him—he’s easy going, kind and finds
something to enjoy about everything and everyone. And he is always there when you need him. He is
Earth!
ELAY
(AIR/SOUL)
“This was
always the element that spoke to Zoe the least, conveying as it did a sense of spirituality,
occasionally even visions. But elay also equated with hope, a renewed
belief that the world could be restructured or at least comprehended. Yes—of course—she was puzzled now, a little
lost, but eventually the world would make sense again.”
“Most of
them were elay (air), people of soul
and air. The women frequently were great
philanthropists and social reformers, always working to improve the lot of the
poor, while the unmarried daughters often went off to serve in the temples. The men tended to be philosophers or
tinkerers or writers.”
Because of
my air ascendant, I can relate to this element a lot. I think my writing is very hopeful, sometimes
has vision and is definitely connected to my spirituality and my Soul-Centered
Counseling practice. There are other air
people I know who live their values, believe in fairness and justice or are
witty and mentally agile. We are Air!
CORU (WATER/BLOOD)
“Gradually
Zoe felt her muscles relax, her hurt and confusion start to drain away. In the temple, this was the gift of the coru;
it washed you clean of worries. Your
troubles were carried away in the river’s insistent hands.”
Describing
the coru (water) heroine: “There is humor
in you, is there not? A deep appreciation of the ridiculousness of the human
condition. And a certain tolerance for
the vagaries of human nature.”
“From my coru
mother, I inherited a certain amount of resilience. I think this means that, no matter what my
situation, I can look about me, I can appreciate what it offers, and I can
adapt.” “I am a woman of water…I am more
likely to slip away in stealth than to blaze up in wrath.”
“A coru woman seeks and seeks for passage
through an unnavigable space. She will
rise to any level or turn into any channel.
And if you attempt to block her way, she will flood the banks and sweep
everything ahead of her.”
“I love you,”
she whispered against his mouth. “No
matter what changes, that will always be true.
Spoken from the heart of a coru
woman.”
I can relate
to this element too. I have a water
Moon, and I am more at peace floating in the water than anywhere else. Water calls to me, and I have been learning
how to channel the power of water, of feelings, of the imagination. But I never connected to the fact that it is
my watery nature which is open to change and travel, gives me my flexibility and
resilience, my swiftness and persistence.
I am Water!
HUNTI
(WOOD/BONE)
“In the
Temple, the hunti pew…was painted a
handsome ebony and seemed to be so solidly bolted to the floor that no
catastrophe could budge it by so much as an inch. Zoe felt herself grow stronger, surer, as she
sat before the sigil for wood and bone.
Her spine stiffened; she drew herself up taller.”
And
descriptions of the hunti (wood)
hero: “After that first greeting, she
didn’t say a word. She simply watched
him, simply waited. He was hunti, he could be as stubborn as oak
itself, but she was not going to yield.”
“And there is no ending an argument with a hunti man. He takes a stand and will not yield it, even
when the battle no longer rages.”
“I love you,”
he answered. “And that will not change though
the rest of the world is made over. Word
of a hunti man.”
Someone you
can depend on. Someone who is strong and
safe and yes, utterly sure of himself.
My three sons have this quality.
They all have some earth in their charts, and because I raised them on
good fantasy stories, they had an ideal to look up to. And so yes, these are other people you can
depend on. They are Wood!
How We Might Prosper by Knowing Our
Name
We could do
worse than see ourselves in terms of the four or five elements that comprise the
powers of Nature. If you are into
astrology, perhaps you need to explore which elements rule your Sun, Moon and
Ascendant. You can discover a lot about
yourself by naming which qualities are innate to your personality and
purpose. Then you can see which
qualities you lack and work to incorporate them into your life.
When you
name yourself through an element, you can also begin to own your power, instead
of denying it. If you are a water
person, then you have to learn to use your feeling nature and trust it. If you are a fire person, perhaps you are
scattering your energies instead of focusing them into some creative project. If you are an air person, are you sharing your
vision? And if you are a wood person,
are you shouldering your responsibilities?
If you are an earth person, your connection with other people is your
gift.
Ms. Shinn
has created an interesting world where people name and own their powers. And while we might describe this story as just fantasy, I say we can learn a lot
about ourselves if we just step into the imagination of these personality
traits and discover how we are connected.
From The Bard’s
Grove,
Cathy
