Living the Spiral

Happy Monday, friends!

Welcome back to another episode of Cycles of Time, where we delve deep into the rhythms of the universe and unravel their impact on our lives.

Joining me on today’s episode is the insightful Lisa Broggi, my dear friend and a licensed therapist with a passion for merging astrology and expressive arts therapy. In today’s episode, we celebrate Taurus season and the vibrant festival of Mayday/Beltane, exploring themes of fertility, stability, and sensuality.

We’ll also discuss the significance of the moon in Taurus and how it influences our emotional stability and needs. Lisa will share her transformative experiences with astrology, particularly during her Saturn return, and how it has shaped her therapeutic practices.

As we explore the traditional and pagan rituals of May Day, we'll connect them with modern celebrations like International Workers Day, highlighting the importance of community and the collective voice. Our discussion will also cover the intriguing shift of Pluto into Aquarius and its potential effects on combining astrology with therapy.

Furthermore, we'll dive into the concept of innovation versus addiction thinking, examining how breaking habitual cycles can lead to profound personal and societal change. So, tune in as we reflect, share, and embrace the teachings that the stars and cycles of time offer us.

I provide a short weekly forecast, and then we dive into the conversation with Lisa at 26:00.

Thanks so much for listening!

Have a beautiful Mayday!

xo

Alison

Your Weekly Overview:

This week’s highlights:

* Wednesday, May 1: Happy Mayday, aka Beltane: the Pagan cross-quarter day of bright fire!

* Taurus season deepens

* We start the week with the sun in the Gate of Rationalization (Gate 24), known as “Return” in the I’ching, which is all about resting and returning to yourself.

* Then, over the weekend, the sun transits into the Gate of Receiving (Gate 2), or the “Direction of the Self”. which is all about being receptive to the world’s love.

This week’s themes:

* Celebration of the returning sun (make a Beltane bonfire!)

* Reflection on the power of work and workers (Across the world, Mayday is labor day, too)

* Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop. – Ovid

* Returning home to yourself

* Surrender and receive love

Our Place in the Wheel of the Year

* Medicine Wheel Direction: East 

* Wuxing Cycle Element: Wood > Fire

* Pagan Season: Beltane (Mayday) is celebrated Tuesday April 29- Wednesday, May 1

* Zodiac Season: Taurus (April 19-May 20)

* Moon Phase: Waning

* I Ching Hexagram/Human Design Gates: 24 (April 28-May 3). and 2 (May 4-9)

* 24 = Earth over Thunder (“Return” or “Turning Point”) or The Gate of RATIONALIZATION

* 2 = Earth over Earth (“The Receptive”) or The Gate of THE DIRECTION OF THE SELF

Your Weekly Forecast

Here’s the transcript for the weekly forecast, or if you’d prefer to jump straight to the interview with me and Lisa, click the player below!

The week's highlights are this Wednesday, May 1 is May Day, also known as Beltane in the Pagan wheel of the year. It is a cross quarter day, the halfway point between the solstice and the equinox, and it means bright fire. Taurus season continues, and we're deepening into that energy of flower flowers and blossoms and blooms and rest. We are also starting the week with the sun in the gate of rationalization, which is gate 24, and this is known as return in the I Ching, which is all about resting and returning to yourself. Then over the weekend, the sun is transiting into the gate of receiving, which is gate two. It's also known as the Direction of the Self, which is about being receptive to love and being just receptive to the world around you.

Themes for this week are celebration of the returning sun with a Beltane celebration, a reflection on the power of work and workers. Because on May 1, it's also Labor Day or International Workers Day, celebrated across the world. Another theme is returning home to yourself and surrendering to receive the quote for the week that I found is take rest. A field that has rested gives a beautiful crop. That's a quote by ovid.

Mayday and the Wuxing Season of Fire

Throughout spring, we've been in the season of wood, which is like a tree about upward growth from the ground up into the sky. A lot of energy in Aries season of just sprouting upward. And with the initiation of Beltane, of this cross quarter day between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, we're initiating the season of fire. So we're not going to be deep into fire season yet. And in the Taoist Wuxing cycle between each season, Earth is the element that holds the between season time. And so there aren't really specific dates for these transitions between seasons in this taoist system. But I do liken the Beltane day, this cross quarter day halfway point, and their association with fire in the European tradition, to the beginning of fire in the Wuxing cycle as well, at least where I am.

One thing I wanted to note about all that is that these seasons, depending on where you live, can be different. I am living again in New Mexico, up in the high desert, where the seasons seem to be quite on par with. There's a lot of distinction to the four seasons here, but wherever you live, or even just within your own body, there's a transition between these different elements, between these different seasons. And it. It doesn't have to be happening at the exact same time.

But in the northern hemisphere, in northern Europe and in China, where both of these systems originated, this time, between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice, are related to the returning of the sun in an earnest way. I know I have started to wear tank tops and shorts out on hikes. And so that really feels like, okay, I'm shedding the clothing. That means that it's a return of the season of fire. I've even felt hot a few times. I know that that's not the case in the north of the US right now, where I have some friends that are very cold. So just wanted to reference that this is not a fixed system, but as far as the symbology of the different archetypes, we are entering the season of early fire between wood and fire, where not only are we sprouting upward, but also beginning to branch outward. I don't know about you, but I definitely feel that in my body as well as in the world around me right now, there is an opening, an opening outward that's happening and bursting forth into this, into May. It's crazy. Here we are in a whole new month, the fifth month of the year already.

May Day is an ancient celebration that was celebrated across England and Ireland, Celtic peoples, in this season of the year, this cross quarter day. And it means, like I mentioned earlier, bright fire, for them, was the starting point of summer, where in bulk, back in February was the beginning of spring. And it's a celebration of the light and the growth to come. And it was associated with a lot of practices like fresh greenery being laid out and special baked goods being prepared and on most beltane celebrations, there was a lighting of the Beltane fire on the 1 May, which recalled the growing power of the sun and gave an opportunity to cleanse and renew community.

Because it was a time when animals and people have been inside in northern Europe, in Ireland, and in the Celtic people's lands, where you've been inside throughout the winter and spring, and it's now time to lead the cows out to pasture and to bring the people out into community celebrations. This fire was used to light the fires in everyone's personal houses and hearths, but it was a centralized fire where there were lots of joyous celebrations from the night of April 30 until in through the day of May 1 to ring. In this new season, you may be familiar with the May pole, the beautiful pole with lots of ribbons hanging off of it and the dances that are done around the pole. It's a beautiful tradition associated with Beltane and mayday, as well as this Beltane fire. So let me know in the comments if you are celebrating and if this is part of your tradition, to celebrate the return of the sun and summertime and late spring with May Day.

Mayday is also International Worker’s Day

Mayday also is celebrated as Labor Day in modern times. And I think that that's interesting, being in Taurus season, the season of kind of the hardworking bull, because it's associated with work, money and value. And Taurus is the natural ruler of the second house in the astrological chart, and that is the house of what we value and what is ours and the work we do in the world and money.

I'm finding myself thinking of this rendition of Mayday in connection with the pagan rituals of May Day as a celebration of the people, celebration of community. They are very different celebrations or very different holidays, but they do have that in common, that they're about the people, about people's work, about the animals going out to pastures, the work that they're doing to contribute to society. So there's a certain amount of this contributive nature to Mayday in the sense of International Workers Day as well.

And I'm definitely thinking about it a lot right now, looking at all of the student protests that are happening and all of the business as usual that's being shut down around the nation in support of free Palestine. And I'm just… I'm very inspired by what's going on right now as May Day is here and as we're celebrating the people of the world.

Thinking back to the time in 2011 when Occupy Wall street was happening, thinking about just the 99% versus the 1% and how that is kind of always what, for the most part, mass protests are about is the government or the people in power not being aligned with the people who are on the ground, who are doing the work. And so this May Day, I just want to give a big shout out to everyone who is putting that kind of work in to make a more just and fair society. And I won't go too much further into it, but just really wanted to mention that on this May Day, I'm glad that fire is returning and that people aren't backing away from what they know to be right. And it's not just work in the sense of raising awareness. It is in the sense of really asking and demanding that these universities, these major businesses of Columbia and Harvard and these huge institutions divest from military industrial complex and the big companies that are profiting off of war.

The Jupiter/Uranus conjunction in Taurus = Values, Work, Rebellion, and Using Our Voices

And so that, again, is aligned with Mayday, with labor, with work, with value, and with Taurus season in that way as well. Taurus season is associated with the throat and with speech. And so free speech is such a huge issue right now. And the fact that a lot of people are standing up for free speech and are really advocating for that at this moment in time is very fitting. And we have to remember, looking back through history, I just did a post on instagram about all of the Jupiter Uranus conjunctions that have happened since 1941. And again, that just happened a couple weeks ago, and we're still in the Jupiter Uranus conjunction. Energy right now. It's the most slow moving planet. So we are feeling that energy throughout this year, really. And that energy has brought from all of the years that they've come together in 1941, 1969, 1983. All of these years, there's a lot of evidence of people protesting for what they believe in. Lots of big rallies in the street, as well as massive breakthroughs in science and technology.

But what I learned from it in looking at all of these pictures and doing a lot of research on the different movements that have happened throughout all of these years, is that protests work. They mean a lot. And even if it doesn't seem like it, because they always do disperse at one point and don't last forever. But an impact is made from using your voice and from speaking out for what you value. And that's something just really to keep in mind this year, as we look at the beautiful parts of Taurus season. And they talk about flowers a lot. I know. But also thinking about Taurus being stubborn, knowing what they want, and being very clear about using the voice to enact what we value deep down. So thank you all for doing what you're doing. We are at a time in history where new concepts and new perspectives and new theories are rising to the top and confronting the powers that be. And it's really amazing to see that happening. A lot of people are feeling associations with the late sixties and the student protests that were happening against the Vietnam War, which was also a time when Uranus and Jupiter were together. So it is a time that it feels very powerful, where there is new perspectives being presenced. And that really relates to the gate that we're in right now. In the sun last weekend, just a couple days ago, transited from the gate of caring and nurturing into the gate of rationalization, or return in the I Ching.

Human Design Gate 24: The Gate of Rationalization or “Return” in the I’Ching

This gate is really, like it says, is all about thinking rationally. And rationally doesn't mean thinking in the ways of how things have always been. Rationalization is about innovation, actually, and it's about invention, and it's about this ability to bring new concepts to the forefront. “Return” in the I’Ching is symbolized by a thunder hexagram on the bottom and earth on the top.

And it's really all about kind of a thunderous desire under the surface, allowing the earth to break open and spill apart and provide nutrients and resources to the community, to the rest, through what is coming from inside us. And it's also about returning to ourselves. Like I mentioned a little bit earlier, it's about coming home after being on a long journey through this spring, kind of coming back to ourselves and sitting in silence and seeing what comes up in that silence.

Addiction vs. Innovation in Gate 24

It's also known as the gate of addiction. Because when we come home to ourselves, it can feel kind of uncomfortable to be back in a place where we are in a quiet place. And it can feel comforting to go back to what we know and to go back to what has been done in the past. There's a certain addiction to that comfort and stability of something that has always worked before, or at least we thought it has. But as we can see in what's happening in the world and in a lot of people that I've talked to, their personal life, what we thought was working is actually not working. And there's a certain addiction to just going back to the status quo that we crave.

But when we actually take the time to sit with ourselves and sit in silence and return to the place where we're always going to come back to, which is our own self. We're able to see a turning point a little bit easier when we're surrounded by distractions or surrounded by the world around us, it can feel a lot easier to go back to a pattern that we've already been in.

The Power of Silence

But when we sit in silence, in meditation, or just go to a place where there aren't as many distractions, I think sometimes it feels a lot easier to see a place where something can happen that's a little bit different. And we can not let doubts cause us to argue or make claims. And by keeping still, we're able to really get back in touch with what we truly value, a Taurus season theme. And not feel like we have to accept the way that things always are and always have been.

It feels like right now in the world, there is an incessant need to push and to consume. And there are so many things to be addicted to right now. But I find in my personal life that when I do come back to myself and be in silence, this gate is also known as the silent mystic. And to come back to that silent place is where. Where insights usually come from. Where inspirations normally come from and not.

From when we're working too hard and continuing to push and get feedback. And push and get feedback. So this week, the gate of rationalization is from today until Friday. And so throughout this week, it's a really good idea to try as much as you can to rest and to be in your own presence, the presence of your own thoughts and your own values, because there's so much to consume right now. And I just really feel it. I feel my phone whenever it's anywhere near me. It's like calling to me to see what the latest development on x, Y or Z is. There's always something to read or a new breaking news story about what's going on, and that's not going to slow down.

And so it's really just important in this week, after hopefully doing a little bit of caring for yourself and others last week, to take that and bring it in to yourself and just sit with it, just sit with your inner experiences and kind of not try to rush away from the discomfort that might come up in silence or from just being with yourself.

This Weekend: The Sun moves into Gate 2, the Gate of Recieving

On Saturday, after we've gone through this Gate 24, the sun is going to be transiting into gate two, which is known as receiving or the receptive feminine. And this is a beautiful gate, because it is the first gate that has Earth as the lower trigram.

So in I Ching, there's 64 gates, and they're broken into eight different trigrams that are stacked on each other in order to create the 64. So since the beginning of Aries season, for the past eight gates, we have been in the lower trigram of thunder. And you've probably heard me talk about it if you've listened to the podcast that it's something over Thunder Mountain, over thunder, water over thunder, and gate 24 is the gate of rationalization, or return is the last of the thunder gates. It's earth over thunder. And then on Saturday, when we move into gate two, we are moving into the next eight gates that will have earth as the lower trigram. And so, in a very earthy time of year, and the first of these gate two is Earth over Earth and Earth. What it looks like is three broken lines.

Again, there's broken and solid lines in the I’Ching representing yin and yang. And so the gate two, the hexagram two, is earth over earth, and it is all broken yin lines. So it is the most yin of all of the hexagrams and all of the gates. And in that way, it's all about receiving, being receptive. And it's really nice for that to come after going inward and having that inner spark of thunder, that thing that starts something and feeling like, okay, this isn't up to the world around me.

This is up to me and whatever is inside me to spring forth, to bring my ideas and to allow them to come into the world through that process of refinement in silence and in returning to yourself. And then when we move in this weekend and into the beginning of next week, into gate two, it is now allowing ourselves to receive from the world around us, from everything that we've poured out and everything that we've initiated over the course of this spring, it's time to really just sit with what is and suspend our disbelief and believe that there is goodness that will come to us if we are open to receiving it. It's a big energy of surrendering and knowing that when we surrender, sometimes that's when what we need comes to us. And it's sometimes a very hard thing to do.

Being Yin in a Yang Culture

We live in a very young culture, a very action oriented culture. And so deciding to not take action and to sit in that receptivity is bold. It's a bold move. And so this week, there's a lot of boldness in the. In the simplicity. You know, it's not a hugely active week ahead. We have. You know, it's this similar to Beltane, it's letting ourselves out to pasture. It's letting ourselves outside of the confines of what we've believed is possible in the past and allowing ourselves to be still long enough to allow something new, something that's never been thought of before, to arise out of the quiet, out of the silence and then, and to receive from there what the world has to give back to us after we have been in that silence with ourself.

So that's the forecast for the week.

Beltane on Wednesday, Gate of Rationalization from Monday until Friday, the Gate of Receiving on Saturday and Sunday. So it's a relaxed week. As tense as things might feel right now in the world, I hope that this can give you a little bit of a permission to sink into rest and relaxation, whatever that means for you. Just not trying to do too much or figure it all out right away, because that is not the energy that we're in at this moment, but just to listen to yourself and to others and to receive.

So with that, I was so happy to receive a lot of wisdom from the conversation that I had with my friend Lisa, the astro-therapist. You, I'm sure, will receive so much from her as well. So here is that conversation.

(This will take you straight to Lisa and my conversation, beginning at 00:26.)

Thank you so much for listening!

In this episode of the Cycles of Time weekly forecast, we discuss last Saturday's Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, the amazing history of Earth Day, Tuesday's full moon in Scorpio, and the sun's transit into the Human Design Gate of Caring (Gate 27). Themes for this week are self-love, "thy cup spilleth over", intimacy with others as a pathway to intimacy with yourself, and somatic, embodied awareness.

You can follow Cycles of Time on Instagram at @cyclesoftimepodcast or get the episode and additional resources in your inbox each Monday by subscribing to astrosomatics.substack.com.

Thanks for listening, commenting, and subscribing! May you have a beautiful full moon!

Hello dear ones,

How’s everyone doing after that eclipse week?

After the sun was eclipsed by the moon in Aries (in the Human Design Gate of Shock) last Monday, our bright star transited into the Gate of Growth from last Wednesday evening until today.

The frequency we were just in after the eclipse, the Gate of Growth, is also known as “Increase” in the I’Ching, and it has been encouraging us to look at life as as a series of cycles. This gate has invited us to remember that growth is always achieved by completing a cycle, and that it is essential to reflect on the cycle you’ve just been through so that past lessons are learned and old mistakes need not be repeated.

I know for me this past week has been filled with many reflections on past cycles. I found out on the day of the eclipse that a dear family friend passed away after a long fight with cancer. She was a beautiful soul, a passionate artist and environmental activist, and someone who inspired me so much in my early years. I spent time caring for her children when I was a teenager, and this past weekend I spent a lot of time reflecting on my childhood, and how lucky I was to have her as one of my elders in my community growing up.

I also spent a lot of time last week reflecting on the last total solar eclipse in 2017, as I was curious about looking into the effects of that eclipse in my life. Eclipses happen in cycles, and oftentimes the effects of them make themselves known in between when the event occurs and the next eclipse season 6 months later. I took some time to look at photos around August 2017 and the following 6 months on my phone, traveling back to that time period in my mind. It was super revealing.

The eclipse happened in my 1st house of selfhood, and leading up to it I was feeling quite unhappy with myself- stressed out, overworked, and not feeling seen. Right after that eclipse I rented an art studio and got into an into an artistic practice again, and getting back in touch with my passions. Then, 6 months later, on the next eclipse, I got pregnant with my daughter.

Reflecting back, I’m super grateful for that 2017 eclipse, and I could see from looking back at photos that it shook up my life for the better, although I didn’t know it at the time.

I think this is why I’m so into astrology human design and all of the cycles of time- by speaking these languages, I feel like I have a bit of a superpower to time-travel, and look at moments I’ve already been through so that I can integrate their lessons and not need to repeat old mistakes. Sometimes it just takes time passing to get a perspective on what a lesson was, and sometimes it’s helpful to be reminded which part in your past to revisit, and when.

Let me know in the comments if you experienced any reflections of your past cycles this week!

The energies are shifting post-eclipse, but not necessarily slowing down for the rest of April. No need to be afraid, just buckle your seatbelts! Tomorrow the sun is moving on to the Gate of Ordering, so we’ll focus on that, along with some major planetary activity in the sign of Taurus, in this episode.

Thanks for listening, subscribing, commenting and sharing! I deeply appreciate every bit of your engagement on this new project, so please click that subscribe button or send this episode to a friend who might be interested. Thanks soo much!

Here’s Your Weekly Overview:

* On Tuesday, the sun enters the human design Gate of Ordering, known as “Sprouting” or “Difficulty at the Beginning” in the I’Ching.

* On Friday, April 19, the sun enters Taurus.

* On Saturday, April 20 we experience an electrifying Jupiter-Uranus Conjunction in Taurus

CYCLES OF TIME:

* Medicine Wheel Direction: East 

* Element: Wood

* Pagan Season: Ostara

* Zodiac: Aries > Taurus (The sun enters Taurus April 19th)

* Moon Phase: Waxing

* I Ching Hexagram/Human Design Gate: 3 (March 30-April 4)

* 3 = Water over Thunder (Zhun: “Sprouting” aka “Difficulty at the Beginning”) or The Gate of ORDERING

The Gate of Ordering

We’ll start with the Gate of Ordering, since the sun is entering it early in the week, on Tuesday the 16th. The Gate of Ordering is known as “Zhun" in the I’Ching, the which means “Sprouting”. It is a combination of the trigrams Water and Thunder, and is also described as “Difficulty at the Beginning”. This is the last gate in the astrology sign of Aries, and to me it refers to the last stage of the evolutionary journey in the sign of the Ram.

After being born innocent into the world, the ram learns about the world around it, forms opinions, injects himself into the world, and the world shocks him back in return. He then reflects on this cycle in the Gate of Growth, and is inspired to begin something new with all of this information. But beginnings are far from easy.

A quick rule of thumb with the Iching Hexagrams is that the upper trigram represents external forces or energies, while the lower trigram represents internal forces or energies. In this case of thunder and water, there is a powerful, internal, thunderous impulse to begin something new this week, but it is met with the formless, shifting realities of the external world.

We all know that feeling that when something is getting started, there is great energy and enthusiasm from within, and oftentimes without as well. But when that initial energy and enthusiasm stops being matched by the outside world, there is temptation to seek a new direction or give up as soon as we started. During the inception of something, we learn that the energy must come from within us, even if the external world loses some of it’s initial interest and you are left with less feedback and affirmation than you desire.

We must continue to approach our new projects with different perspectives, and we must continue along in our present circumstances even if they feel difficulty- only then will we meet success.

Here’s a quote on iChing hexagram 3 from the divination foundation:

“The birth of a new venture or relationship is an entry into the unknown. New things seem to be rushing upon you, and confusion can easily take over. However, chaos is a powerful force when you harness it properly, so don’t rush things now. Do not let events overwhelm you. As you take the first step, stay calm and ready to persevere. Ask for guidance and support.”

People born with the sun (or another planet) in this gate typically know that the fundamental challenge of initiation is to transcend confusion and establish order. There is a creativity to this placement, a talent for playfully creating order out of chaos, for breaking down patterns in order to look at things a different way. If you’re born this week in the Gate of Ordering, let me know in the comments if this resonates with you!

The Gate of Ordering Leads us into the Season of the Bull

This gate of ordering or sprouting, aka Gate 3, ends Aries season, and leads us into Taurus season, so it is a link between the two signs. The sun moves into the Zodiac sign of Taurus on April 19th, and we evolve from the wise old ram’s visions to the baby calf’s execution! Like the first gate of Aries season, which was Gate 25 -Innocence, Gate 3 -Ordering is also about new beginnings, but with a more bullish nature.

The first gate of Aries season was open ended and wide-eyed, coming out of the womb of the year that was the infinite depths of Pisces season into a fresh new cycle. But the transitional gate into Taurus season is different. It has more memories of the last phase of life in it’s recent memory. Instead of innocence, Gate 3 is coming into the world with the knowledge of how chaotic life can feel. All the emotional ups and downs, actions, shocks and disappointments of Aries season are felt in the body of the newborn calf, and all he wants is stability. Order.

All Zodiac signs are associated with a unique combination of an element - earth, air, fire, water, and a modality- cardinal, or initiatory, fixed, or stable, and mutable, or changing. Taurus is the only Fixed Earth sign, and these ancient descriptions describe the relative and necessary stability of the season. The emerging, delicate sprouts of Aries season are now fixed into the earth with solid roots.

During the first part of Taurus season, the protective husks around the growing green sprouted plants naturally peel away when it’s time to blossom. This gate of Ordering, or Difficulty at the Beginning, makes a lot of sense when we think about it as this point in the life cycle of a plant. Taurus is the season of middle-spring, of blossoming flowers. If you were a flower who had never bloomed before, think about how excited you might be about the prospect of this inevitable new beginning! And also, think about how scary it might feel to do so, how ultimately difficult it might feel to bloom on your own.

But luckily flower’s don’t feel worry, at least I don’t think so.

“Flowers don’t worry about how they’re going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful.” – Jim Carrey

It’s a week to nurture our dreams from within, and the first step is making the first baby steps to make order out of the chaos- perhaps, as Jim Carrey said, by opening up and turning toward the light.

I heard a beautiful quote that referenced the word “order” last week from my wonderful qi gong teacher, Jaye. She said: “The definition of artistry is the ability to put order to our obsessions”. To be an artist is to organize our obsessions.

I absolutely loved this quote, and had never heard it before. It really spoke to me as I was thinking about moving from the Gate of Growth to the Gate of Ordering. The Gate of Growth, which we’re just finishing up, along with the vibes of Aries season, are about living, unafraid and unashamed. Putting ourselves out there and receiving what the world has to offer in return. Being open to this call and response flow, or dance, and allowing ourselves to become obsessed with something- because it feels good, because it makes us excited. That is the Cardinal Fire of Aries season in a nutshell. Ignite, catalyze, be a spark, receive sparks from the universe.

Shifting on Wednesday into both the Gate of Ordering and Taurus season doesn’t dampen the sparks, but instead it just roots them, grounds them a bit. In the life cycle, Aries is represented by an infant, a newborn, who is developing her vision while open to the world around her. If you think about it, infants are passed around, carried, worn, and for the most part kept off of the ground.

Taurus, in turn, is represented by a toddler, the stage of early childhood. At this stage, she is laying on the ground on her tummy, face in the grass. She is crawling around, touching the earth more than she ever will for the rest of her life! She is still so curious, but also more aware of danger than an infant is, and she craves the stability that her caregivers and her environment can provide her. Next week, the sun enters the first Human Design gate that is fully within Taurus season, and it is fittingly called the Gate of Caring.

I love thinking about Taurus season as toddler season, thinking about when my daughter was a little toddler during the spring and we would just get lost together in the curiosity of dandelion puffs and dewdrops and roly-poly’s while laying in the grass. Taurus, we all know, is also known for being stubborn- which means they know what they want- and that is also a toddler trait. No offense to Taurus placements at all on that- it’s a really good thing to know what you truly want and what makes you feel safe. That’s something we all lose as we get more conditioned by what other people and society tells us we should want.

When we think about this season from the point of view of the Medicine Wheel, this quarter of the year from mid-March to mid-June, spanning Aries through Gemini seasons, is the season of the East- which is also known as the season of childhood. When we think of Aries as an infant, embracing the world with fresh eyes, Taurus as a toddler exploring their senses, and Gemini as a chatty, social kid, this correlates beautifully.

In the Wuxing 5-phase or 5-element cycle, spring is the season of Wood, growing out of winter’s Water. When I think of Wood, I also think of spring’s fast-growing plants, and also how quickly children grow. My daughter sprouted an inch and a half over the past month alone! So much visible growth is happening all around us this time of year, like plants emerging from the soil. The gate of ordering is about weeding the garden a bit, cutting the hair, and getting some sense of control over the infinite possibilities where this growth can take us this year, this life.

By doing some pruning and ordering during this season, we are able to show the world what we value. In this way, Taurus is the sign of values- rather than letting just anything grow in our garden, we are able to trim out invasive species, plants that would take over all the rest. By acting to create order so we can protect the delicate sprouts that are still rising up, or the flowers who might be overtaken by weeds, we help to define what we want to see our garden look like and produce as it flourishes through the summer months.

A big week in Taurus: Jupiter and Uranus meet in the sign of the bull

I’ll chat more about the themes of Taurus in coming episodes for sure- over the next month, we’ll have the sun, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus in the sign of the bull, so beyond the normal solar season, all the other planets there will add extra emphasis to the theme of the bull! I’m hoping to start having special guests on each month going forward, so an upcoming episode will hopefully include an interview with a powerful Taurus! Stay tuned!

This week we’re already going to be feeling an extra dose of Taurus energy, because on Saturday April 20, one day after the sun moves into Taurus, we will experience one of the most talked-about astrological events of the year. The gas giant Jupiter is meeting at the same degree of Taurus as the outer planet Uranus. This is a big deal, guys.

Jupiter and Uranus only meet up in the sky about once every 14 years, and they haven’t met together in the sign of Taurus since 1941! Jupiter is the planet of expansion, benevolence, growth and opportunity. Uranus is the planet of liberation, revolution, rebels, geniuses, and the future. So wherever they meet up, their energies collide.

Jupiter conjunct Uranus throughout history has been linked with revolutions, the hopes, dreams, and wishes of humanity, quantum leaps and freedom of expression. Jupiter is known as the great benefic in traditional astrology, and has always been associated with luck. I read that astronomically, Jupiter actually protects the Earth, and other planets close to the sun. It does this because the the giant gravitational field around the huge planet prevents the outer planets from orbiting too close to the sun and smashing into the closer planets! Fascinating!

I was born in 1983, when Jupiter and Uranus were conjunct in Sagittarius, so I feel the effects of this transit on my life. If you were born in 1941, 1969, 1983, 1997, or 2010 you also have Jupiter conjunct Uranus in your birth chart.

An article from Astro-Charts.com says;” An aspect of Jupiter Conjunction Uranus in the natal chart indicates a person who is comfortable riding the winds of change, goes all out in the things they set out to do and knows how to stay enthusiastic about their own ideas, particularly unconventional ones. “

Oftentimes, Jupiter-Uranus conjunctions indicate big technological or scientific advances and breakthroughs. 1969, when they met up in the relational sign of Libra, was the year of the Apollo Moon Landing as well as the major protests agains the Vietnam war, the freedom of expression in the hippie movement. In 1983 they were conjunct in the wisdom-spreading sign of Sagittarius, and both Mobile Phones and THE INTERNET were brought to the public. In 1997 they were conjunct in futuristic sign of Aquarius, and Dolly the first cloned sheep was born. Then, in 2010 they were conjunct in Aries, which was the year of the Arab Spring, Space X’s first rocket, Wikileaks, the first of electric cars in the marketplace, and the start of the CERN Large Hadron Collider. It goes on and on!

The sign where the conjunction happens definitely influences the breakthroughs. In Taurus, which is the sign that rules our values and what makes us feel secure and cared for, this conjunction could mean big boom, expansion, or revolution in that realm.

What we value and what makes us feel secure could definitely be money- since Taurus is a sensual sign of spring, it can definitely be associated with material pleasures. It can also look like food, agriculture, and the earth. This conjunction can also mean a liberatory expansion to our values in regards to security and basic needs.

Looking back to 1941, the last time the two planets were in Taurus, was the year Rosie the Riveter was introduced. We were in the middle of WWII, and women were being recruited to work, and paid for their work too. This was a major milestone in the expansion and liberation of women in the workplace, which would affect the next generations a lot, even if we are still working toward equal pay.

This year, both climate change and the genocide in Gaza are calling our attention to food security, famine, and the incredibly unequal distribution of wealth and resources on this planet. We are in the midst of protests and uprisings surrounding these issues.

Meanwhile, there is also so much happening in the realm of technological breakthroughs that it’s hard to see what will stand out when we look back on it. But here is a list, which includes Taurean things like utilizing AI in environmental R&D, making great leaps with Green Chemistry to reduce plastics and lithium-ion batteries, and, well… going back to the moon with the new Artemis mission that aims to land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon by 2025. Only time will tell how this time affects us globally, but it is fun to look back at these 14 year intervals and see the wild, expansive, and revolutionary things humans have been up to.

Jupiter-Uranus in the Gate of Assimilation

While the sun will be in Gate 3 this week, the Gate of Ordering or Sprouting, Jupiter and Uranus are hanging out a little bit further ahead in the sign of Taurus, in Gate 23: The Gate of Assimilation. I’ve also heard this gate described as “The Alchemical Wordsmith”. The sun will reach this gate in early May, so this is a bit of foreshadowing of that season. The energy of Gate 23 is all about the potential to effectively translate complex ideas into digestible, actionable insights. Like the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction itself, the part of the wheel it is happening in is also about breakthroughs!

This weekend, know that breakthroughs may come to you, not only in an intellectual way, but from connecting to your deep intuitive understanding. Pay attention to your gut and your intuitive hits, and you may reach a deeper level of comprehension. Look expecially for alignments with the greater good, the big picture, this week, and you will find a deeper sense of purpose and fulfillment.

Don’t be afraid to speak about what insights or breakthroughs come your way- they are a part of a beautiful weaving of voices from around the world, as we all experience this rare transit.

How Will You Personally be Affected by this Planetary Meetup?

In addition to the general look at where the planets are meeting up in the wheel of time, it’s also a good idea to check out your birth chart and look to which of the 12 houses Taurus falls for you personally.

The sign Leo was coming over the eastern horizon when I was born, so I’m a Leo Rising, with Leo in my first house. This means that the sign Taurus was directly overhead when I was born, or in other words, I have Taurus at my midheaven or in my 10th house. The 10th house is the home of career, the public, status, and the way we show up in the world, so Taurus season might tend to generally emphasize my career and public image. This Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Taurus is also calling attention to my 10th house…. so we’ll see if something lucky or expansive or revolutionary happens in this realm this week!

Of course, these planets are both slow moving, so they’ve each been in Taurus a while. While the sun spends about 1 month in each sign, Uranus spends about 7 years moving through a single sign. It has been in Taurus since 2018 and will stay until 2026.. Jupiter spends about 1 year in each sign- he has been in Taurus since last May, and will leave Taurus for Gemini on May 25 of this year.

Since Taurus is in my house of career, I’d look at my career life since 2018. I would definitely say that the planet of liberation and revolution shook up my career that year- I had a baby and went on parental leave, then went back to my company in a completely new role for a few months, and then ended up leaving the company in early 2020. This was definitely a big, Uranian move, as I had founded the company in 2011 and worked nonstop on it’s formation and growth for 7 solid years!

Since then, my career life has been completely overhauled- I’ve taken the past few years to study, learn, and establish myself as a mother, an artist, an astrologer, and a somatic and breathwork facilitator. During the time Jupiter has been in my 10th house, I have started my Substack, started this podcast, and started working with clients giving readings and sessions, expanding my reach into the world. So regardless of what this week’s exact conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus does for my career, I’ve already seen the effects in a big way!

I’m actually really touched by thinking about my 10th house in Taurus, and what Taurus means, because the way my passions about the earth and her cycles are showing up in my public work was completely unexpected to me. I was drawn to astrology and breathwork and immersion in nature as healing paths after my last career kind of unexpectedly broke apart, and now, by this Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, I’ve started to see how the common thread between all of my passions and practices is feeling connected to the earth herself. <3

Long story short…

This week encourages us to weed the garden and start to put some order to the chaos, but also to maintain flexibility and open-mindedness as the week progresses into this Jupiter-Uranus conjunction. Both the Gate of Ordering and this conjunction tell us to open our hearts to advisers, collaborators, and new people in our lives, as these intersections will likely be the place for new opportunities and solutions to old problems to arise.

Keywords for this week:

* sudden opportunities

* striving for freedom

* idealism, not accepting unjust conditions

* potential windfalls

* creative genius

* consciousness-expanding perspectives

* exposure to completely new aspects of life

* speak your mind

* align with the big picture, the greater good, for the best results

What a week! I hope you have a beautiful entry to Taurus season, tending to whatever gardens are in your world, from your body to your home to your community.

xoxxo,

Alison

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This week on Cycles of TIme: It's A New Moon Solar Eclipse in Aries, and the sun transits from the Human Design Gate of Shock to the Gate of Growth.

Your Weekly Overview:

* Medicine Wheel Direction: East 

* Wuxing Element: Wood

* Pagan Season: Ostara

* Zodiac: Aries

* Moon Phase: New Moon Solar Eclipse in Aries (April 8)

* I Ching Hexagram/Human Design Gate: 51 (April 5-10) transits into 42 (April 11-15)

* 51 = Thunder over Thunder (Zhen: “A Powerful Jolt”) or The Gate of SHOCK

* 42 = Wind over Thunder (Yi: “Increase”) or The Gate of GROWTH

Prepare to embark on a cosmic journey as we dive into the latest episode of "Cycles of Time"— your ultimate astral guide. This week’s episode, "A Shocking Solar Eclipse", beckons you to explore the intricate dance of celestial bodies and the profound impacts they have on our inner landscapes.

🌑 What’s New This Week?

Get ready for an electrifying exploration as we find ourselves caught in the embrace of a new moon, shaded by the penumbra of a solar eclipse. We're not just moving through any phase but the vivacious season of Ostara, under the banner of Aries, whilst in the stirring direction of the east in the medicine wheel, and coursing with the lifeblood of the Wuxing element of wood.

👁️ The Gates of Human Design

As we speak, the cosmos is transiting through the human design gates 51, known as the gate of shock, leading us into the introspective gate 42—aptly titled growth. Alison aligns this transition with the life stages of Aries' symbolic creature, the ram, guiding us through the revelations and evolutions this celestial movement heralds.

⚔️ Chiron's Echo in Our Lives

Our host delves deep into the mythos of Chiron— the wounded healer archetype. She paints his tale in the skies and in the shadows of our own stories. Alison urges us to use this eclipse as a mirror to reflect on unresolved wounds and blind spots, offering a chance for profound introspection and healing.

🌱 Growth, Change, and Self-Acceptance

From the wood's steadfast growth in spring to the lessons in the gate of growth, everything points to one truth—life is a cycle of actions and reactions. Embrace the inevitable force of change, beautifully expressed through a profound quote from Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower," that sees change as the universe's divine engine.

🚀 Looking to the Heavens

Take in Alison's reflections on the current solar maximum and the heightened solar flare activity. As we experience these astronomical events, she encourages us to think about their energetic and emotional impacts on our lives—reminding us how universal movements are deeply intertwined with human existence.

💬 Stay Connected

Your thoughts and experiences matter to us! Join me in conversation through our Facebook group or connect on social media as we navigate these cosmic cycles together. Don't miss the opportunity to share how the solar eclipse resonates with you.

This week's episode is teeming with wisdom, waiting to guide you through the stars. Tune in to "Episode 5 Week 4" for a timeless voyage through the mysteries above and within.

May you find peace and growth in the shadow of the eclipse.

Your celestial companion,

Alison

🌐 Join our Community: https://www.instagram.com/cyclesoftimepodcast

💌 Share your Eclipse Story: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1078755676718362

P.S. Experience the eclipse in unity with fellow listeners. Share this newsletter and invite them to witness the change alongside us. #CyclesOfTimeCommunity

Your Weekly Overview:

* Medicine Wheel Direction: East 

* Element: Wood

* Pagan Season: Ostara

* Zodiac: Aries (March 19-April 19)

* Moon Phase: Waning

* I Ching Hexagram/Human Design Gate: 21 (March 30-April 4) transits into 51 (April 5-10)

* 21 = Fire over Thunder (Shi Ho:“Biting Through”) or The Gate of the HUNTER/HUNTRESS

* 51 = Thunder over Thunder (Zhen: “A Powerful Jolt”) or The Gate of SHOCK

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Hello everyone, welcome to the 3rd week of the astrological year! It is Monday, April 1st, and this is your forecast for the week ahead.

We are deep in the middle of Aries season, with the moon waning from the full lunar eclipse last week toward the new moon total solar eclipse next week, on Monday April 8th.

This time between eclipses is known in some circles as an eclipse portal, where we are feeling the dynamic push and pull between people and things from our past that we need to release and things we are feeling hungry for in the near future. This in-between time is a liminal space and can feel quite exhausting- a lot may have been catalyzed and let go of with the lunar eclipse, but we’re still waiting for what new energies want to arrive, and they haven’t yet taken root.

Since the spring equinox on March 19th, the sun has transited through the first half of the Zodiac sign aries, which has included several energetic shifts between gates of the iching. We began in the Gate of Innocence, filled with universal love and open to everything, then transited through the Gate of Opinions, forming ideas about the world around us through our experiences, but still remaining openminded, childlike, and curious.

Starting on Saturday, the sun transited into Gate 21, the Gate of the Hunter or Huntress. Then, on Thursday this week it will move into Gate 51, the Gate of Shock, where it will stay through the Solar Eclipse.

We will be talking about both of these gates this week as they relate to the wheel of the year and to the evolution of the Aries archetype, and we’ll get into what you can expect from the upcoming eclipse, as it’s a big deal especially here in America, where it’s crossing 15 states in full totality.

So, for those of you just tuning into the show, I like to think about the gates of human design and the hexagrams of the I Ching as small slices of pie. The Zodiac slices the wheel of the year into 12 pieces, giving us mythological and archetypical information about a month-long period of time. The human design system, drawing from the ancient Chinese I Ching, or book of changes, slices the wheel of the year into 64 pieces, called Gates, giving us mythological and archetypical information for about a 5-6 day period of time.

Looking at all of the archetypes that the sun is transiting through each week, from the seasonal qualities to the Zodiac qualities to the more specific qualities derived from the wisdom of the I Ching, gives us an insight into the season in a multidimensional way!

So here, in early spring, the season of water transitioning to wood, in the climax of the season of the ram, we find ourselves also in Gate 21. In the I Ching, this is known as “Biting Through”. In Human Design, it is most commonly known as the Gate of the Hunter or Huntress, and also known as the Resource Manager.

People with the sun, moon or planets in Gate 21 have a deep desire for independence, self-reliance, and financial freedom, and blossom when they are given control. Most of the time, they don’t like to feel any control from others or from society- they are self made, love to be their own bosses, and work independently.

Like a hunter, the energy of the sun in this gate, like it is this week, is to go out and get what you need, and then manage the fruits of the hunt. There is a generosity here too, the desire to share the bounty with others, as long as they have control over it. The I Ching describes it as biting through, which means that there is always problem to be tackled, and usually you are the one who needs to get your teeth into it.

This problem could be a physical one, like hunger, making the hunter go out and find food, or a metaphysical one, like the desire for truth, making the hunter gnaw through the illusions of separation. Like there is something between your jaw, in your bite, and all you want to do is bite through it to achieve unity and completion. Chewing or gnawing on something indicates success through discernment and hard work, leaving no stone unturned in a quest.

The I Ching hexagram is a combination of two trigrams, shi and ho, or fire over thunder. In Ancient China, this was a legal hexagram, that indicated justice being served by strict laws that discerned between right and wrong. To bite is to discern, to bite is to comprehend, and in order to form a harmonious society, the enforcement of justice is necessary. The hunter/huntress shows up here in the belief that no crime-against society or an individual0 should be allowed to go unpunished.

We can also think of a thorny bush that cannot be untangled, but instead needs to be cut through in order to proceed along your path and reach your goal. This is a very proactive gate, and this week’s energy involves taking action based on the opinions you formed through your experiences last week.

I always like to think of people I know personally who are born with the sun in the gate we’re talking about. Last week, in the Gate of Opinions, I gave a shoutout to my mom, and this week is my dad’s birthday week- hi dad! I always knew both of my parents were Aries- and they are both highly energetic and adventurous for sure. But learning that they are influenced by energies of different gates within the larger archetype of Aries really opened my eyes.

My father, to me, SO embodies the gate of the hunter. When he was 5 years old, a friend of his dad’s showed him a buffalo nickel, also known as an indian head nickel. He told him that because of it’s rarity and collectability that this nickel wasn’t worth 5 cents- it was worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. My dad started hunting for rare coins as a young kid, and became the youngest coin dealer at shows across the US. He is a born entrepreneur- he’s never worked for anyone else in his life. Eventually coins turned into other rare antiques and art, and he made a business traveling to antique stores as well as basements and attics across the US and Europe looking for ‘elusive objects’, things that have rarity and thus value. As a lifelong nature lover, in his later years, he began birdwatching, and he loves nothing more than to spot a rare and uncommon bird with his binoculars. If this doesn’t scream literal “hunter/huntress” energy, I don’t know what would!

In the realm of the Zodiac, I think of week one of Aries season as a cute newborn lamb, innocent and pure. Week two, last week, the lamb finds his voice, and begins to baa and bleat to express what he is discovering in the world. In this third week, his horns are growing in, and the adolescent rams begin to play together by butting their horns, realizing where they stop and another begins.

In the Daoist 5-element Wuxing Cycle, this time of year is the transition from the Water element of winter to the Wood element of spring. Similar to the ram, I see the early days of a tree as an innocent sapling, absorbing the influences of the world around it from its fresh new leaves. Over time, the sapling grows thicker bark, more of a differentiation and discernment between itself and the world around it.

So too, the hexagram “Biting Through” and the gate of the hunter/huntress comes at a time in the wheel of the year where we are beginning to truly distinguish where we end and the other begins, what we believe to be right and wrong, and what we truly desire to go after in this life.

The sun is transiting through this gate until Thursday, so I invite you to spend the beginning of the week contemplating these ideas, leaning into what you are willing to work hard to seek out in your life. There might be a lot of exhaustion or an excess of built up energy this week, as your baby ram horns are coming through, so I recommend getting into your body and get some exercise so that you can rest better at night.

Then, On Thursday, the sun transits into gate 51: The Gate of Shock. The sun will be in this gate until next Tuesday, right after the Solar eclipse, so I’ll speak about it now and a little bit next week as well, as the next episode will come out on the day of the solar eclipse.

The hexagram of gate 51 is represented by two thunder trigrams- thunder over thunder, and symbolizes arousal, initiation, and, yes. shock. In Gate 51, that energy of the budding ram horns and sprouting trees is met with the shock that when we insert ourselves into the world, the world fights back. It’s kind of like the saying “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”

To us little teenage rams here in Aries season, the actions- and reactions to our actions- from the larger world can come as quite a shock. If we think of this period of time in spring as so fresh and new, it can also feel truly shocking to see the power of our own impact on others and on the larger world. Think about the adolescent rams with their baby horns playing with each-other, having fun, and then, as their horns grow bigger, they actually getting hurt by a head butt, or hurt someone else. This is shocking!

Shock can be a scary realization, but it has the power to transform us through cracking our hearts open to what is really valuable to us individually and beyond. Each time the world truly shocks us, we have the potential to discover a deeper truth about ourselves, to consider why the event that happened was so shocking to begin with.

If your birthday is this week or next, that means that the sun was transiting the gate of shock when you were born. You may have encountered shocking experiences along your lifepath, or find that you tend to shock others with your risk-taking aptitude! For everyone, as you go about your life during the end of this week, this weekend, and into early next week, you may feel more desire to take risks, and you may feel a certain shock or arousal from things that happen to you. Take note of this, and try to look at these moments as initiations into a deeper and more aligned version of yourself and your personal truths.

Next Monday, we will have a solar eclipse in Aries in the Gate of Shock. To me, this fact in itself is quite arousing and shocking! Eclipses occur at different times throughout each year, so the fact that this eclipse is happening to fall in the Gate of Shock is pretty incredible. Eclipses, in folklore around the world, are known to be shocking, catalytic moments that usher in endings and new beginnings.

At this upcoming solar eclipse the sun and the moon meet in Aries in this Gate of Shock. Also hanging out in this part of the sky, right in the Gate of Shock, is the asteroid Chiron, also known as the wounded healer, an archetype that shows us how we can heal ourselves by confronting our deepest fears and secrets. Needless to say, this planetary configuration and eclipse could be quite shocking.

This eclipse is being popularly referred to as the Great American Eclipse because it passes over western Mexico, 15 US states. and eastern Canada. There are already so many conspiracy theories floating around about the Eclipse. I was sick last week and instead of watching Netflix, I let myself indulge in way too many instagram reels about the upcoming eclipse. Luckily it was the gate of Opinions, so I heard all of these opinions and also kept a curious open mind about them!

Everything from the government using the eclipse as a scapegoat for a cyberattack to the rapture and the second coming of Christ have been considered for this eclipse, so as we approach next week, something you see, read, or hear about may indeed shock you.

I by no means want to add any fear to anyone’s heart, and am saddened by a lot of the information out there being so fear mongering. But even so, hearing the word “shock” does something immediate to my body- like no, I definitely don’t want to be shocked, thanks! So as we move through these transits and this exlipse portal, I’d like to reiterate and reimagine the word shock as “arousal” instead.

Think about how shocking it feels to jump into a cold pool, lake, or ocean. This isn’t something many people would choose to do for fun, but it has been shown how healthy it is for our immune systems to shock them in this way, between hot and cold. I’ve personally become a huge fan of this type of therapy- my partner and I built a cedar hot tub in our yard last year and recently added a horse trough cold plunge to the mix. I’ve seen great benefits, but it’s still never easy for me jump in the cold plunge. Over time, I’ve heard, you grow more accustomed to the cold, and can learn techniques like deep breathing patterns to overcome the initial shock to the system.

If you feel a shock from your interactions with the world in the upcoming week, I invite you to think about it like jumping into cold water. The shock, whatever it is, won’t last forever. And to get through it, it’s important to move slowly and breathe deeply, knowing that arousing experiences can be shortcuts to better alignment with yourself and your truths.

And not to worry- a couple days after the Eclipse, by next Wednesday, April 10, the sun will move out of Shock into Gate 42, the Gate of Growth. This gate will help us grow out of what shocked us and tap into the widsom of cycles, realizing that nothing is permanent and that growth happens in bursts, rather than a continuous steady flow.

I hope all of you out there are taking care of yourself as if you were a baby ram or a sapling. Be slow when you need it, but also don’t be afraid to show the world what you’re made of. It’s all a process of growth.

Thanks for listening to the cycles of time weekly forecast! I’ll see you next week for the solar eclipse in Aries. All my love.

xo,

Alison

PS.- If you’d prefer, you can also subscribe and listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you listen to podcasts! Thanks for listening!

Hey friends,

Here is the weekly forecast, interspersed with some reflections from my recent trip to Costa Rica during last week’s Gate of Innocence. I have a bit of a cough and sore throat, so my voice is a bit raspy in this episode- apologies for that!

This episode goes into the lunar eclipse on the Aries/Libra axis. During this eclipse, the sun was in gate 17, the gate of Opinions, and the moon was across the sky in gate 18- the gate of Corrections.

Opinions come out of Innocence, as we start to assimilate all the information that we’ve perceived in the world around us. The gate of Opinions is about finding patterns within our experiences to influence our thoughts. Being so close to the beginning of this cycle of the year, and so close to the end of last cycle where everything was whole, this week’s energy still has a lot of hope, optimism, and knowledge that we are all connected. With this in mind, our opinions can be formed with the greater collective in mind, the desire to use our pattern recognition to help and support the larger world.

The full moon in Libra, in the gate of Corrections, reflects this wisdom. With the eclipse energy, it also brings to our attention difference between using the patterns we see for forming hopeful opinions that inspire action and using them for criticism, only seeking out problems, and blaming others. There’s a fine line between Opinions based in a greater love and opinions based on critique and correction, and this week will bring that to light in our lives in many different ways.

Sending love and care to you all! Take it easy on yourself and others this week, and give yourself space to breathe.

As the sloths say in Costa Rica, “Don’t hurry, be happy”.

See you next week for the Gate of the Hunter & Huntress and preparations for the Solar Eclipse in Aries the following week.

All my raspy-voiced best,

Alison

Your Weekly Overview:

* Medicine Wheel Direction: East 

* Element: Wood

* Pagan Season: Ostara

* Zodiac: Aries (March 19-April 19)

* Moon Phase: Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Libra (March 25th)

* I Ching Hexagram/Human Design Gate: 17 (March 25-29) transits into 21 at the end of the week (March 30-April 4)

* 17 = Lake over Thunder (Sui: “Following”) or The Gate of OPINIONS

* 21 = Fire over Thunder (Shi Ho: “Biting Through”) or The Gate of the HUNTER/HUNTRESS

Here is some food for thought for this week of Opinions, from The Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson. (Thanks to my mom, whose birthday is today, for sharing this with me!)

If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.

If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.

Parents often have a sense of inadequacy when confronted on the one hand with the eager, sensitive mind of a child, and on the other with a world of complex physical nature, inhabited by a life so various and unfamiliar that it seems hopeless to reduce it to order and knowledge.

In a mood of self-defeat, they exclaim, how can I possibly teach my child about nature, why I don't even know one bird from another?

I sincerely believe that for the child and for the parent seeking to guide him, it is not half so important to know as to feel.

If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow.

The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil.

Once the emotions have been aroused, the sense of the beautiful, the excitement of the new and the unknown, a feeling of sympathy, pity, admiration, or love.

Then, we wish for knowledge about the object of our emotional response. Once found, it has lasting meaning. It is more to pave the way for the child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts he is not ready to assimilate.

Hello and welcome to the first of my weekly horoscopes!

This episode/written transcript is quiiite a bit longer than most will be, so heads up, sorry, and you’re welcome :) I decided to start by outlining the format I’ll use for each episode (with a little bit of my personal philosophies thrown in), and the second part gets into the details for this powerful Spring Equinox week ahead.

Listen by clicking the audio above or read it at your leisure- your choice! Scroll past the transcript to find some of the resources, photos, and diagrams mentioned in the episode as well.

You can also subscribe to the podcast wherever you find podcasts, like Apple Music or Spotify:

Thanks for being here! <3

xo,

Alison

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome here, everyone! 

This is a transcript of episode one of Cycles of Time, where we’ll be tracking the passage of the seasons from various vantage points, cultures, and perspectives. This is your weekly forecast for the week of March 18-24th, 2024: Spring Arrives! 

Your Weekly Overview:

* Medicine Wheel Direction: East 

* Element: Wood

* Spring/Vernal Equinox: Tuesday, March 19th

* Pagan Holy Day: Ostara (Tuesday, March 19th)

* Zodiac: Pisces > Aries (The sun enters Aries March 19th)

* Moon Phase: Waxing Moon

* I Ching Hexagram/ Human Design Gate: 25 (March 18th-24th)

* 25 = Heaven over Thunder (Wu Wang: “Innocent Integrity”) or The Gate of INNOCENCE

Thanks for your listens and feedback on the pilot episode, where I went through the who, what, and why for this podcast. If you haven’t listened to that, I recommend doing so, but it’s not required! 

I do recommend checking out the image I’m sharing in the show notes, which is a diagram I put together showing how each of the cycles of time from different cultures and backgrounds aligns with eachother. It’s pretty cool! Of course, if you’re driving or taking a bath or something, check it out later, but if you’re on your computer you can visit cyclesoftimepodcast.com or click the link in the show notes. And while you’re at it, please click subscribe... Thanks!

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Logistics aside,  I’ll start by giving you a little download about the structure of this show, and then we’ll dive right into the forecast of the energies that this week holds.... and it’s an exciting one!

This week is spring equinox, which jumpstarts the astrological new year with the first sign of the zodiac: Aries, the sign of the enthusiastic and driven ram. I feel spring in the air in a big way, do you? People are coming out of their shells in a big way, starting stuff, making moves... I love it!

It was just daylight savings where I live- springing the clock forward 1 hour. So many people have been grumbling about how hard it has been to wake up over the past few days, especially all the parents of little kids that I know, myself included. Growing up, I remember hearing that daylight savings time was created to benefit farmers, but now I know that was a total myth. 

Daylight savings , which moves an hour of sunlight from the early morning to the evening, was apparently suggested initially by Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century. As the industrial revolution took hold over the next 100 years, a standardization of time was implemented  to make railroads work efficiently. Before that, there were a lot of local “sun times”, where the people of each  town or village would decide the time according to the sun in their particular place. In the 1840s, as railroads were built throughout towns in Europe and America, the powers that be created standard time, and in 1883, a coalition of American businessmen created the timezones in the us- pacific, mountain, central, eastern. Then, in the early 1900s, daylight savings time was implemented across Europe and the United States, in order to theoretically save on energy costs and reap economic benefits.

I learned a lot about daylight savings time from a recent NYTimes article!... for example:

China, India and Russia do not use daylight saving time. Nor does Hawaii or most of Arizona.  In October 2022, Mexico ended daylight saving time for most of the country, but carved out an exception for the area along the United States border.

The European Union and several U.S. states, including California, Florida and Ohio, have either considered dropping the shift or taken steps to do so.

In 2020, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine called for the abolition of daylight saving time. In a statement, the academy said the shift, by disrupting the body’s natural clock, could cause an increased risk of stroke and cardiovascular events, and could lead to more traffic accidents.

I personally don’t love daylight savings, with its un-natural and capitalistic history. It reminds me of the gregorian calendar, coming in to mess up natural cycles of time for economic and power-driven reasons. No thanks! 

But looking at a silver lining, it has been totally lovely to look out the window at dinnertime and see the sun still high in the sky. I’m personally not a morning person, so this extra evening light is really springing me to life!

Daylight savings happens at a different date each year, always set to the 2nd Sunday in March. It’s usually close to spring equinox, which is happening on March 19th this year, when the sun moves north along the ecliptic so that the days and nights are of equal length.

So... SPRING!  before diving into the energy forecast, I’ll give you a little outline of the podcast format

The Format of this Podcast

The format of the podcast will be a little different every week depending on what’s happening in the cosmos, but will follow this general order:

Astronomy:

We’ll start with the astronomical, the basic position of the sun in relation to the earth. This, ultimately, is the basis of all of the traditions and philosophies in the cycle of time. 

Of course, since a lot of these cyclic philosophies were channeled and created, we have gone through the copernican revolution and now are aware that the earth rotates around the sun!  But we’re going to look at the sun/earth relationship from our point of view here on earth. The sun, planets, and moon always move through the same path in the sky, a special invisible line which is known as the ecliptic. There’s a great video on youtube that shows this that I’ll post in the show notes!

Through this podcast, we’ll trace the sun as it makes an apparent annual revolution around the earth along the ecliptic from our point of view. 

Then we’ll look at the energies of the current week within the current season, through the lenses of the different systems . 

If you’ve looked at my diagram, we’ll begin with the center of the wheel, and work our way out. The wheel of the year is broken down into many different segments by each different system of thought, which divide the year into different seasons. If we imagine the circle of the year as a pie, different cultures throughout history have sliced the pie up differently.

The Medicine Wheel

On this podcast, we’ll start with the 4 cardinal directions of the medicine wheel, which divides the year into 4 slices of pie- 4distinct seasons- spring, summer, autumn, winter.

The 5-Element Wuxing Cycle

Then we’ll talk about the 5 elements of the wuxing cycle. Like the medicine wheel, the Wuxing system actuallydivides the year into 4 main seasons too - wood, fire, metal, and water. The 5th element, earth, represents a shorter period in late summer, and ALSO represents the 4 times of the year when the seasons are transitioning from one to the other, like late winter, late spring, late summer. 

We can think of these two, the medicine wheel and the wuxing cycle, as two seasonal frameworks from different sides of the globe, and we’ll be feeling into their parallels and differences as we track the weeks.

The Pagan Wheel of the Year

Next, if the week ahead includes one of the 8 sabbaths or holy days of the pagan wheel of the year, I’ll be sure to speak to that. The pagan wheel of the year slices the pie into 8 pieces, and a sabbath happens just about every 6.5 weeks throughout the year, so we’ll be talking about them quite often!  These festivals are equally spaced throughout  the year, celebrating the solsitces and equinoxes, and the cross quarter days that are halfway between each equinox and solstice.. 

The Zodiac

Each week we’ll also chat about which of the 12 zodiac signs the sun is transiting through, as each sign corresponds with about 1 month. When the sun is changing from one sign to another, we’ll spend a little bit more time on that sign,  but I’ll always be sure to mention how the archetype of the sign is showing up in the week at hand. If there is a big event happening between other planets during the course of the week, I might go into that a bit too, but am mostly focusing on the sun’s apparent movement around the elliptic throughout the year. 

The procession of the equinoxes- many people have heard that the stars of the zodiac don’t line up with the seasons anymore, due to the earth wobbling a bit on it’s axis. This is true! Back in the day, about 3-4000 years ago, the constellation of the ram lined up perfectly with the spring equinox. But now, because of this wobble of the earth’s axis over time, the constellation Taurus is actually lining up with the sun this week. In Indian, or Vedic astrology, as well as a newer branch of astrology called Sidereal, both carve up the pie of the sky based on where these constellations currently are, so Aries wouldn’t line up with the equinox anymore.  HOWEVER, the European branch of astrology called Tropical astrology, which I practice, continues to carve up the pie of the sky based on the equinoxes and solstices, instead of the stars.

I don’t think one is better or worse, at all, but as a worshiper of seasonal cycles, the Tropical zodiac system that thinks about the equinoxes and solstices as markers of time resonates more with me. I believe that the Zodiac constellations and their myths and archetypes were created mostly based on people’s relationship with the seasons, and in that way so the equinoxes and solstices are more important and accurate than the incredibly far-off stars. I look at the stars as a painted backdrop or set of a play, where you are the audience and the sun and planets are the actors that are moving in front of that backdrop.The backdrop is important because of how it sets the environment for the actors, but the set is not a character in and of itself, it’s more important how the actors tell stories about their environments.

If the week includes one of the 13 full moons I’ll include that too!  

The I Ching Hexagrams and Human Design Gates

Finally, I’ll be chatting with you about the energies of the week through the perspective of Chinese book of changes, also known as the i ching. The i ching is an ancient divination system that dates back to 5000 years ago. The book is made up of 64 hexagrams. They are called hexagrams in english because each figure is composed of 5 broken or unbroken lines, that represent yin or yang, respectively. 

​​The typical mythological view attributes the authorship of the I Ching to China's first emperor, a god-like figure, half man, half dragon, who went by the name Fu Hsi and is said to have lived about 5,000 years ago. Fuxi is credited with creating humanity out of clay and inventing music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking! 

One day, according to legend, he saw a dragon-horse rise from the Yellow River. On it's side were markings which inspired the earliest version of the I Ching.

There are a lot of myths about this, but Almost 2,000 years later, significant changes were made to the original I Ching by King Wen of Zhou. Invited to the capital under false pretenses, he was imprisoned by the emperor for a period of seven years, where he languished awaiting a death sentence. During his imprisonment, King Wen studied the I Ching. He rearranged the 64 hexagrams in an order which appears somewhat arbitrary, given its original binary sequencing, and then wrote extensive commentaries on each of the hexagrams."

These 64 hexagrams are also the basis of the popular system of human design, and in Human Design hexagrams are known as gates. I’ll be using “gate” and “hexagram” interchangably in this show. The 64 hexagrams or gates are arranged around the wheel of the year in their  original order, using the Fuxi or the binary sequence. 

So, for our purposes here, as the sun moves around the ecliptic from our point of view on earth, it’s moving through each one of the gates in a particular order, just like it moves through the seasons or zodiac signs in a particular order. Because of this, We’ll be learning from the energies of a different hexagram or gate each week, and sometimes 2!

Yee! So that’s the slicing up of the pie from all of the different philosophies, all of the cycles of time. 4 indigenous seasons, 5 taoist elements, 8 european pagan sabbaths,12 babylonian zodiac signs, 13 moons, and 64 hexagrams or gates. 

I want to note that some of these won’t change each week, of course - we’ll be living in each of these energies for various amounts of time. For example, Spring and the direction of East lasts about 3 months, and Aries season will last about 1 month. I plan on talking more in depth about each part of the year when there’s a change or transition, so I’m not repeating myself each week! 

So now that all that’s out of the way, let’s get into the week ahead: March 18-24. 

The week ahead: March 18-24. 

This week contains some potent energy and big transitions as spring begins. 

This week is spring equinox, which jumpstarts the astrological new year with the first sign of the zodiac: Aries, the sign of the enthusiastic and driven ram. I feel spring in the air in a big way, do you? People are coming out of their shells in a big way, starting stuff, making moves... I love it!

In the Medicine wheel, Spring is in the direction East. This direction is related to the element earth, childhood, the color yellow, and the physical realm. 

In the Daoist Wuxing cycle, this season of the wheel of the year is represented by the element wood. Wood is symbolic of spring in the sense that after absorbing the water of winter, trees begin to sprout up and grow.

In China, the lunar new year happened back in february. Lunar New Year is also known as spring festival, and so in that tradition, spring has already arrived over a month ago.. 

I won’t talk a ton about the chinese zodiac here, since it is a complex 60-year rather than an annual cycle, with each year being represented by 1 of 12 animals and 1 of the 5 elements. I do want to mention, though, that this year, starting last month in february 2024, is the year of the Wood Dragon- so spring energy is strong all year.

Moving on to the Pagan wheel of the year, where we’re celebrating the spring sabbath of Ostara, which happens this Tuesday the 19th on the spring equinox. Ostara is a celebration of the German goddess Eostre, and is also the origins of the Christian Celebration of Easter. As the beginning of Spring, Ostara is a good time to plant seeds for the future. 

Like I mentioned, in the tropical Zodiac, Spring Equinox is always the first day of Aries season. 

In the cycle of a human life, Aries represents birth and infancy. 

In the life cycle of a plant, Aies is the sprout bursting out of a seed.

In medical astrology that considers parts of the body as ruled by different sign, Aries rules our head, - think of the ram’s horns, as well as our muscles and blood. 

Aries is known to be driven, hungry, impatient, enthusiastic, urgent, energetic, and ... .innocent.

Which brings me to the last part of this week’s energy footprint. The chapter of the iching that the sun is transiting through this week is hexagram or gate 25, which is known as Wu Wang, or  the gate of innocence. 

This archetype radiates gentleness and has a childlike innocence, even if his life path is complex and demanding. He has cultivated a deep trust that the universe will look after him and that love will conquer all. The Innocent is not designed to bring love into the world in any specific way, but rather to love without discrimination. He empowers others with the potential to love life and everything in it equally. This archetype has a deep compassion for all life, but not for any one individual over another.

The Innocent knows that the world can be healed through love and trust, but easily overestimates how capable the collective currently is of loving and trusting. The challenge for this archetype is understanding why other people do the things they do. When he witnesses something he perceives as not loving, he can feel confused. However, he is not here to tell people how to behave differently or how to love. Instead his natural role is to be a role model.

What the Innocent brings to all his relationships is honesty, truthfulness, and sincerity. This sometimes leaves him vulnerable to be taken advantage of by others, but his innocence shouldn't be mistaken for naivete. He is learning discernment and his deep optimism remains untouched. This comes from a true acceptance of the physical form and what it is to be human.

The Innocent will repeatedly and often unexpectedly be tested by life. As he starts to perceive these shocks as spiritual initiations, he grows into a love warrior that is ready to stand up for the human spirit and uniqueness no matter the circumstances. Initially, he may emerge a bit bruised from such initiations. Little by little, he learns to land on his feet and deepen the innocence into wisdom. His triumph and survival enriches his spirit and the spirit of those around him. His aura radiates the love of being.

The initiations of the Innocent include embracing his deepest wounds, no matter how dark or painful they may seem. When he goes to these places and takes others there and accepts the constriction, healing spontaneously happens.

If you don't know what cannot be done,

you will accomplish great things.

Like a kite cut from the string,

lightly the soul of my youth has taken flight. – Ishikawa Takuboku

To conteplate this hexagram and how it relates to Spring, Wood, Ostara, and Aries season I would love to read a passage from Kari Hohne, author of the book “The Essential I Ching: 64 Degrees of Nature's Wisdom”  After this passage, we’ll wrap up for this week!

Hexagram 25: Innocence

“When you turn back, you are returned to a state of innocence.” Approaching the gateway of perception, you can cherish the opportunity not to know to move beyond all sense of boundaries. Baby birds do not develop their colorful beaks and feathers until adolescence, when the territorial urge begins. Until then, their coloring allows them to remain hidden and protected. This is the protection offered to a state of innocence.

Like a hatchling protected from early danger, you can approach the threshold of perception with a sense of discovery. The master said: “Those who do not know what cannot be done can accomplish great things.”

Wu Wang means ‘not attached,’ or not caught up in defending yourself against unfolding events. Exerting the will can sometimes create disharmony in the flow of life. Unattached, you can observe your fundamental harmony with what unfolds. The master said: “those who know no limits meet with no obstruction.” This state of innocence ensures your success.

Innocence allows you to see how events cultivate your power of your Te. It requires three things: compassion when relating to others, an appreciation for the ‘uncarved block,’ or the ever changing aspect of life by remaining simple in your desires not playing the host but remaining the guest of a greater unfolding.

Even while you are the ruler of your empire, you do not dare take the lead, but follow. You can discover a new way of perceiving the world where a return to a state of Innocence will allow you to cultivate what is to come.

“One who possesses virtue in abundance is comparable to a new born babe. The baby goes without knowing where it is going, and merges with the surroundings, moving along with it.” Wu Wang is the image of not wasting time lost on the by-paths where you wander away from where you need to be. Unattached to that place that would generate a response, you do not contend and therefore, nothing blocks your way.

Transcending unnatural distinctions, it is now, you have arrived, and you are just so. You make the choice of whether you use mind to establish boundaries or tear them down. Observing the emotions that trap you in your ability to discover, trace their illusions and let them go. At this threshold, observe how anxiety and fear attach you to expectations about the future, while guilt and anger tie you to actions of the past. Recognizing and discarding these responses, all that is left is innocence.

“Like a baby that has not learned to smile,” move to that place before the response to participate with how life is shaping you. Although “desire brings you to observe life’s manifestations,” having no attachment to the passing scenery, is the key to your success.

Evolution brings about variations, but these random changes rarely improve what already works well. Creatures adapt in ways that are not always beneficial, and natural selection comes to purge mutations and reveals why the Way is described as turning back. As one of nature’s self-organizing systems, you seek stasis, while life leads you to transform. Every plant and animal on the earth has outlasted a struggle for existence that is three and a half billion years old. This means that moving forward without worry will not be second nature.

Wu wang, ‘not attached,’ and wu wei, ‘taking no unnatural action’ allow you to move forward unattached to the past and not creating an unnecessary response. “I alone, am inactive and reveal no signs; listless as though I have no home to go back to.” The home you would have gone back to houses your paradigm. Let go of what you believe cannot be done and you will accomplish great things.

Resources:

1. A video about the Ecliptic, the path of the sun and planets around the sky from here on Earth:

2. The NYT article about Daylight Savings Time:

https://www.nytimes.com/article/daylight-saving-time-questions.html

3. Hexagram 25: Wu Wang, Heaven over Thunder, The Gate of Innocence

4. The Fuxi Cycle of the I Ching in a Grid and Circle

5. The Hexagrams and Zodiac on the Human Design Mandala

(You’ll notice the Fuxi Sequence and the Zodiac Wheel begin with gate/hexagram 25 on the left side of the wheel here, and on the right side of the wheel in my Cycles of Time combined diagram. This is to correspond with the seasons of the Medicine Wheel.)

6. My article for AstrumOpus astrology zine about Aries Season 2024

https://astrosomatics.substack.com/cp/142587893

7. A guided meditation for Aries Season

That’s all for now ! See you next Monday!

All my love,

<3

Alison

Welcome to the New Year! This is episode one of Cycles of Time, where we'll be tracking the changing seasons from various perspectives and cultures each week, taking note of how they're showing up in our personal lives and in the collective.

This week rings in spring with the Vernal Equinox, Aries season, the Pagan sabbath Ostara, and the I Ching gate of "Innocent Integrity".

With so many transitions happening, this is a great week to tap into the innocence of a newborn baby. Go with the flow, stay wide-eyed and absorbent, and don't impose your will on situations too much. Stay open. That is where the wisdom lies.

Happy Spring y'all. Thanks for your listens, comments and subscribes!

Follow Cycles of Time on Instagram at @cyclesoftimepodcast, or get a written transcript and additional bonus resources in your inbox by subscribing to astrosomatics.substack.com.

Your Weekly Overview:

Hi lovely humans,

I’m so excited to share with you my latest project: the Cycles of Time podcast!

After writing an article here every new and full moon for the past year, I was inspired to deepen into my relationship with the cycle of the cosmos in another format: audio!

Cycles of Time is a weekly horoscope podcast that gives insights into the current energies here on Earth as we make our yearly revolution around the sun. In each episode, I’ll be synthesizing myth and meaning from around the world to help you root into the present moment as the seasons change. The ancient systems of astrology, the I Ching, the medicine wheel, the wheel of the year, and the Daoist 5 element cycle are all circular calendars: cycles of time. Join us in an engaging weekly exploration that links together the cosmos, the seasons on earth, and your life. (Follow along on Instagram at: @cyclesoftimepodcast!)

I will be sending out a weekly newsletter here with the audio recording, a written transcript, and bonuses of related visuals. It’ll be in your inbox each Monday morning with a forecast for the week ahead. Listen by clicking the audio player at the top of the page and read the transcript here, or you can find it and subscribe anywhere you listen to Podcasts!

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on iHeart

Thanks so much for listening, forwarding it along to a friend who might like it, and sharing your comments and ideas with me! This is a labor of love, my brain spilling out into the airwaves, and it’s definitely a collaboration with all of you- and the universe :)

A Visual Diagram of What I mean by the Cycles of Time

Cycles of Time Podcast is an exploration of the wheel of the year and our relationship with the seasons, from cultures and perspectives around the globe 🌏🌞🌎.

To make it easier to understand, I made a diagram to show the interconnections between some of these incredible wisdom traditions!

The center of it is the 4 directions of the Medicine Wheel, the black/white/yellow/red circle in the middle of the diagram. Medicine Wheels can be traced back to ancient Siberia, and have been used throughout European and Indigenous North American traditions.

The next ring is the Taoist Wuxing Cycle, which traces time through the 5 elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. (Earth is considered a transitionary element between each of the 4 seasons, and also represents the time of late summer).

The third ring is the Pagan wheel of the year, which breaks the year down into the celebration of 8 holy days: the 2 solstices, the 2 equinoxes, and the 4 cross-quarter days.

The fourth ring out is the wheel of the Tropical Zodiac, which originated in Mesopotamia around 4,000 BC. The order of the signs is flipped horizontally from how you normally see them on a birth chart, so that it lines up with the directions of the Medicine Wheel, the Wuxing cycle, and the other systems. Aries, the first sign of the Zodiac, is displayed here on the right side of the wheel, representing the east and Spring Equinox.

The outer numbered ring, right inside the markers for the solstices and equinoxes, is the wheel of the year from the perspective of the I Ching, the ancient Chinese Book of Changes. These 64 numbers represent the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching, and also correspond with the 64 Gates of the Human Design and Gene Keys systems. This order of the hexagrams/numbers is called the Fuxi sequence, dating back to 3000 BC.

A circle has no start or ending point, but I recommend starting with the time of year we’re in, Spring, on the right side of the wheel, and going clockwise through the seasons from there.

In addition to the podcast, I’m going to start offering personal Cycles of Time chart readings soon- follow me here or on Instagram for updates on that!

I hope this visual aid helps you see the interconnections of all of these beautiful philosophies that span space and time! Happy Spring 🌱💓

Pilot Episode Transcript: The Wheel of the Year… Welcome to Cycles of Time Podcast

INTRO

Hello, and welcome to Cycles of Time, your weekly guide to what’s happening here on Earth as we make our revolutionary journey around the sun. For time immemorial, our human ancestors have created myths and meanings to help us adapt and thrive as seasons change. Join me each week to explore the intersections of these ancient cycles, from the indigenous medicine wheel to the Pagan wheel of the year, the babylonian and  Greek Zodiac to the iching, the ancient Chinese book of Changes.  I’m your host, Alison Dale, and this- is the Cycles of Time Podcast.

Hello everyone! Thank you for joining me for the pilot episode of the Cycles of Time Podcast! I’m so excited to start this project, which has been incubating as a seed in my brain for many years as I’ve dived deeper and deeper into multidimensional studies of our precious planet Earth and her many seasons.

This first episode will give you an introduction to the who, what, /’lmand why behind the podcast. The second episode will be the first of the weekly horoscopes, where I’ll give you information and guidance on our current place within the wheel of the year, from a multi-cultural perspective.

I am intentionally beginning this podcast on the Spring Equinox here in the northern hemisphere, which is the time when I personally celebrate the new year. Celebrating on January 1 with the times square ball drop and a bottle of champagne never made much sense to me in my body. It’s kinda weird to begin anew in the dead cold of winter when all I want to do is cozy up by the fire or sleep! 

Spring Equinox happens on March 20 or 21 each year. it’s the moment in the year that is halfway between the summer and winter solstices, when the day and night are equal length, when the sun crosses the celestial equator going north. In the Tropical or western Zodiac, Spring Equinox signifies the beginning of Aries Season, and the beginning of the astrological new year. Aries is symbolized by a glyph that looks like ram horns, bursting into a new season. The glyph also looks to me like a dicot sprout coming out of the earth, a symbol of spring. After a slow, inward, winter, I feel spring in the air- and in my body.

I’m starting this podcast because I’ve fallen in love with tracking ancient human stories along with the turning of the earth. It connects me deeply to both space and time, to my ancestors and to the environments that I live in. 

For the vast majority of human history, all of our calendars were cyclical, and were based on seasons and planetary cycles. The calendar we use today, the Gregorian calendar, divided time up outside of the natural cycles, based on the will of powerful men and pragmatics for tax collection. The older I get, the less the Gregorian calendar makes any sense to me! I still use it, of course, to be able to communicate with other people for daily scheduling, but as far as holidays and ceremonies, I have returned to using the natural cycles of the earth, sun, and moon. 

Over the past year, I have been writing a blog on substack every new and full moon. This project helped me build a deep relationship with the signs of the zodiac, the seasons and the stories. It was a truly enriching project, so much fun for me to see how the moon and stars related to what was happening in my personal life and the collective throughout the year. You can read it and subscribe at astrosomatics.substack.com, which is also where I’ll be sending out transcripts of this podcast going forward!  

As I’ve been writing astrosomatics, I also started studying the medicine wheel, practicing qigong, and learning more about human design and the i ching, All of these ancient, circular systems that hold so much beauty, so much wisdom, and so many interconnections, and I decided to start this podcast as a way to learn and teach about them!

The cycles of time hold such great wisdom- and I’ll give you some examples of what I mean by cycles of time. 

Throughout human history, different peoples have divided up the great wheel of the year in different ways, and many of these practices and philosophies are emerging again today after being pushed down and discredited by the powers that be. It feels like there is a renaissance of ancient wisdom coming to the surface today as we collectively awaken to the universal truths of our place within the larger universe, and zoom out a bit from the stories we have been fed under colonialism and the predominant modern patriarchal culture.

Recently, I have met many people that are paying reverence to the cycles in their daily lives. I know a lot of folks who celebrate the Solstice and the Equinoxes, live by the seasons, and are tapping into holidays that their European ancestors celebrated, such as Beltane which is aka mayday, Samhain, aka halloween, and Yule, aka christmas.  The wheel of the year is a cycle of time.

I have met many people who are learning from the wisdom of the medicine wheel, which is a beautiful unified synthesis of the 4 directions, the 4 seasons, and the 4 stages of life created by people Indigenous to North America, Europe and Siberia. The medicine wheel embodies the Four Directions, as well as Father Sky, Mother Earth, and Spirit Tree—all of which symbolize dimensions of a healthy and vibrant life.  In New Mexico, where I’m from, the state flag is the Zia symbol, another incredible indigenous symbol that resembles the sun. The symbol is 4 lines emanating out from each side of a circle, again representing the four cardinal directions, the four seasons of the year, the four stages of life, and also the four sacred obligations one must develop in the culture of the people of the zia pueblo: a strong body, a clear mind, a pure spirit, and a devotion to the welfare of others. The medicine wheel and the zia symbol are cycles of time. 

I have been studying qigong with a couple of wonderful local teachers, and through them have learned about the ancient Daoist Wu Xing cycle, a 5-stage mythology of the seasons and the life cycle through the elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. This cycle shows the ever changing and interconnected nature of everything on earth, from the basic elements to the seasons to the cycles of life. The 5 element philosophy is a cycle of time.

We all know about the harvest moon, and it is becoming more common for full moons to be talked about by their Indigenous names- the Wolf Moon, the Snow moon. are generalized names that have been popularized by the Farmer’s Almanac, among others. In reality, there are hundreds and thousands of indigenous names each of the 13 full moons of the year, varying by language and geographical region, each relating to the habits of the flora and fauna during that season. The yearly knowing of the 13 moons is a cycle of time. 

I also know many folks who are deeply immersed in Human Design and the Gene Keys, which are relatively new methodologies that are fusions of astrology, the I Ching, the Hindu-Brahman Chakra system, and quantum physics. I have studied these systems as well, and despite some initial skepticism, I have found that they benefit my life in practice. I am especially intrigued by how they have unveiled wisdoms from the I Ching, the Book of Changes, to a huge new audience.

. 

The I Ching is one of the oldest recorded divination systems in the world, dating back to 4000 bc and before. it’s composed of 64 hexagrams, which are symbolic contemplations about living in harmony with the earth and all her beings, including our human neighbors. In Human Design and the Gene Keys, the Fuxi sequence of the iChing (dating back to around 3000 bc) has been transposed onto the wheel of the year, so that 1-2 hexagrams or “gates” correspond to one of the 52 Gregorian weeks. The Iching, too, is a cycle of time.

As all of these cycles have been revealed to me, my artist’s brain couldn’t help but make a mandala of the union of them all in my mind’s eye. The 4 points of the medicine wheel, the 5 elements of the Wu Xing cycle, the 8 holy days of the Pagan wheel of the year, the 12 signs of the zodiac, the 13 moons of the year, the 64 hexagrams/gates of the I Ching, all superimposed around a circle. The circle, of course, is the path of the earth around the sun each year, and each of these ancient methodologies is a breakdown of that year into meaningful parts. 

A visual aid is clutch here, so I encourage you to check out the image on the cycles of time podcast website to see it in perspective, how each of these beautiful systems interrelates to eachother.! 

Of course, there are many more ways of breaking down the cycles of time, but over the course of this podcast I’ll be focusing on these. 

I also want to mention that  will be coming from a northern-hemisphere perspective, as this is where the majority of these systems have been born out of, but I’m very curious about studying cycles from an equitorial and Southern Hemisphere perspective in the future! 

The cycle of time is infinite, but by learning about it through these various lenses and mythological breakdowns, our relationship with Mother Earth, our home environments, our neighbors, our ancestors and ourselves can deepen and blossom. 

So... Now that I’ve talked a bit about what the cycles of time are, I’ll let you know a little about me and my deeper why for starting this podcast.

- I’m an artist, writer, entrepreneur, and a somatic breathwork guide, and a consulting astrologer I’ve been studying and practicing astrology for over a decade. I love astrology because it’s a body of knowledge that dates back 4000 years to ancient Mesopotamia, tracing its history through Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and into it’s modern-day renaissance- it’s so cool to see how many people are interested in deepening their relationship with the planets and stars and human mytholgies today!

 I think astrology is beautiful because it ties our place among the other planets and stars to the stories and history of our ancestors. the more I learned about the myths and symbols of this specific language, the more interested I become in living in harmony with the Earth’s seasons- and the more interested I became in other stories of the cycles of time from around the globe. 

After living most of my adult life in big cities, throwing art shows and starting businesses and meeting a ton of incredible people, in early 2020 I moved back to the land I grew up in. Currently known as Santa Fe, New Mexico, the high mountain desert where I was born is the traditional home of the Tewa and Tanos people, the Dine and the Anasazi. As a kid, I spent a lot of time visiting the pueblos they built, most of which are centered around a kiva, a round ceremonial building used for both ritual and monitoring the cycles of the cosmos. From an early age, these buildings gave me me idea that a circle was the way time worked- not a straight line. The high altitude and lack of air and light pollution also gave me amazing access to the night sky, and some of my best memories are of watching brilliant meteor showers from my trampoline and rooftop each summer with friends and family. When I left home for New Orleans and then San Francisco at age 18, I missed the constellations and planets like I missed my cats and dogs!

After years of hustle and hard work in urban environments, I had a baby, and decided to move back to New Mexico to be near my parents. I named my daughter Tala, which means Star in Tagalog, and who is the goddess of the Morning and The Evening Star- aka Venus- in the ancient Philippines, where her father’s ancestors are from. I didn’t realize how much of a reunion I would have with the night sky when I came home to the desert, but witnessing my 1 year old notice the phases of the moon and name the Big Dipper as one of her first words just made my heart explode. My little star-girl showing me the truth of our inherent connection to the cosmos above. I had studied astrology as a hobby for a few years already, and as the pandemic lockdown gave me time to immerse myself in the stories of antiquity and the science of the planetary movements.  Being in relationship with the stars and planets again, after almost 20 years away, felt like a homecoming to myself.

I have studied with several great teachers, in many modes of astrology- evolutionary, Hellenistic, traditional, modern. I don’t believe that any one investigation is more “right” or better than any other. It honestly just gives me a lot of hope that so many people are paying attention to how their bodies and minds are affected by the seasons caused by the revolution of the earth around the sun, and also the interwoven dances of our closest celestial neighbors, the planets. 

There is a lot of technicality within such a long-standing investigation, but it’s definitely more of an art form than a science. I consider astrology as an art of living, a way of tapping into the wisdom of the ancients about this rapidly changing planet as we spiral through space. I believe this perspective is needed so much at this point in time, a time when many of us feel like we are spiraling out of control. 

Another beautiful homecoming I felt when I returned to the high desert was a reconnection with distinct seasons. Santa Fe is at 7000 feet elevation, so though we are in the Southern Part of the United States, we experience distinct changes in climate between Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Springs are brisk and windy, summers are hot, with temps in the 80s and 90s, autumns are crisp and filled with golden leaves of cottonwoods and aspens, and winters are freezing and often snowy. While living in humid and warm New Orleans and then the Mediterranean climes of the San Francisco Bay Area, I missed the distinct seasons of New Mexico. 

When I came home and began to deepen into studies of the Zodiac, I also began to deepen my relationship with the seasons, too. In doing so, I noticed how profound the signs of the Zodiac were in their lessons for living in tune with the changing weather of the year. I like to consider myself an ecological astrologer, as I love to find reminders in the myths of the Zodiac of what is happening in the lives of plants and animals within the wheel of the year. I am a student and practicioner of astro-herbalism, a practice that explores the commonalities between the stars above and the earth below. 

Remembering and giving attention to the wisdom of cycles has become an obsession for me, an act of reverence for the people who have come before me and the environments that I live within. My place within my neighborhood, city, state, and country are my personal environments, just as our planet’s place within our solar system, galaxy, and universe are my transpersonal environments. Are of these relations with place and time affect me, and tie my experiences to other people’s experiences within this life. To me, this is so simple, and so profound. 

There is no beginning or end, per se, but this week is my New Year- the coming of spring. In episode 2, I’ll be talking about the direction of Spring in the medicine wheel, as well as the spring equinox, known as Imbolc in the Pagan wheel of the year. It is the first day of the season of the sign of the Ram, Aries, and we are early in the season of the Wood element In the Daoist Wu Xing cycle. This week contains the full moon in Libra, also known as the _ moon. In the iChing sequence, we are moving through gate 25, the gate of innocence. 

This is a powerful week of beginnings, and  I wish you all a very happy new year! This week is jam packed with myth and meaning for this current moment in the cycle of time, and I’m excited to share with you. This week includes  a Pagan holiday, a full moon, and an entrance into a new season, so it happens to be extra dense, but  know that not every week will be quite as full.

I’m by no means an expert on these systems, and am first to admit that I’ll be along for the ride with you all as we explore the cycle of this year In real time  In addition to these weekly forecasts, I look forward to having guests on the podcast who are involved with these cycles in various ways, from elders to teachers to practitioners. Please let me know if you’d like to be a part of this project as it evolves!.

I’ll be offering personal readings using the Cycles of Time framework, where we meet one on one to dive into symbolism, stories, and synthesis for your personal chart. I love working one on one with people, and am really excited to offer this cross-dimensional perspective as an intro to all of these systems. 

For those who are interested, here is my Cycles of time chart, as an example!  

: I was born in early September when the sun was in the part of the sky known as Virgo. I’m an early fall baby, corresponding with the West, the color black, the earth, the evening, and the adult phase of life in the Indigenous medicine wheel. In the Daoist 5 element philosophy, I was born in the transition time from Fire to Metal, in the element of earth.  

In the corresponding yearly cycle of the Iching, which is used in Human Design and Gene Keys, I was born when the sun was in hexagram or “gate” 64. This is the final chapter of the book of changes, which is called “Before Completion”. It is known as the gate of confusion or imagination. This gate symbolizes the power of the human mind to make sense of chaos through the infinite potential of our imagination. In the human design bodygraph, gate is in the head or crown chakra. Reching up into space to balance  out all the earth energy in other systems.

This is the placement of the sun in my birth chart, through a multi-cultural and multi-historical perspective of the cycles of time.  Of course, we exist in relationship to the moon, stars, planets, asteroids, and beyond, which are all fun to look at in a chart reading! What I love about all of these cyclic systems is that they are holistic- we all are made up of the entire circle- we each contain energies from all 12 signs, all 64 gates, all 5 elements. 

If we have a luminary or a planet in one of these areas when we are born, we may have more focus on those energies in this lifetime, but the whole circle of there. For example, I have my moon in the sign of libra, my sun in virgo, and my rising, venus, and mars in Leo, so these mythologies and archetypes feel relevant to my life. But all signs of the zodiac are part of my experience.

I hope that by tracking the cycles throughout the course of a full year will help me- and  you all build a new understanding and deeper relationship with each of the breakdowns of time, so you can decide where you want to dive deeper. You may want to listen carefully on weeks where we’re talking about signs, gates, moons, and seasons that are relevant to your birth chart!

Really excited- its my first podcast, so I look forward to seeing what emerges. I had a college radio show in New Orleans about 20 years ago, and loved sending vibraqtions out into the airwaves, so really look forward to connecting with new folks and new ideas through this channel. 

Thanks for being here, for your curiosity and interest! I’ll see you next time as we dive into Week 1 of the wheel of the year: Spring Arrives.