Or is it that adventures, or at least the messages that urge you in an adventurous or discovery-filled direction, choose you? Here are a small number of Word Images that I’m thinking may come up, stand out, or describe a situation in your life, probably through the period between now and the next Full Moon September 17th, which also happens to be a Lunar eclipse.

Carelessness causes a splash of boiling water on one’s ankle. It’s important to note that the ankle belongs to the person wielding the boiling water. Symbolism linked to the ankle includes the personal ability to receive pleasure, a measure of flexibility in the course of life events, the degree of emotional and/ or spiritual stability, and the ability to move forward in life. Boiling water is an element in an extreme state; it’s never meant to come in contact with the physical body. This image suggests to me an extreme state current in one of the ‘ankle areas’ listed above, a situation where we’ve somehow swung way past reasonable and may be in fanatical territory, almost certainly out of an intense positive desire to deal with life events successfully and/ or to have a positive impact on our world. Moderation is key. If the right side of the body is involved, concentrate on material situations, while if the left is involved, look to the spiritual or the unseen.

A group gathers for a drink, congratulating themselves on something they haven’t done yet. It’s more than the cart before the horse, here: it’s an unwillingness to acknowledge reality. When we are living so far in the future that we believe we’ve accomplished what we’ve yet to really start, we’re in deep trouble, and unlikely to know it. Are you seeing this around you, or are you part of such a group? Your vantage point will tell you whether you actually need to ‘wake up’ yourself, or whether you are an observer who may want to reflect reality back to those who’ve lost their real-world anchor.

A long delayed artistic project is on the verge of completion, and you suddenly find yourself questioning its worth or beauty. If you are a normal human Being, then you have some Self-doubts–that’s to be expected. Is that small voice inside criticizing your choices, questioning your talent, or simply insisting your creation (or you) aren’t ‘good enough’ to be presented to the world? I could say, Ignore that voice, but that’s not an easy or realistic thing to do, so I would instead advise shifting your perspective: realize that after a certain point, artistic creations take on a life of their own, beyond what their creator intended, and probably beyond what that creator is able to fully control. That means that the creation takes on a kind of right to exist that it didn’t have in the early stages, and that ‘right’ allows the creator to step back a bit emotionally and recognize that completion is required for the object or project itself, as a way to honor its evolution from idea to manifestation. With that step back the whole thing stops being so personal, and so allows us to stop trying to impose our internalized criticisms, judgments, and fears onto it. It goes from ‘it will be’ (when we have complete control and responsibility for achieving) to ‘it is’, when we are no longer birthing it, but now for the most part simply observing and appreciating it, as a creation very much separate from ourselves.

A ‘Your Speed Is’ sign goes up on a street where the speed bumps make it very hard to go too fast. What gives, when someone is implying a condition or behavior that really doesn’t exist? It sounds to me like an excuse to exert control over others for their imagined slights or misbehaviors. Is there someone in your life who is insisting that rules or restrictions must be in place, despite the lack of need for them? This is the kind of effort that occurs when someone is trying to gain a preemptive sense of authority in areas where they really should hold none at all. Look to the natal House where Saturn is currently transiting (Pisces) for clues as to who might be trying to exert more control than is appropriate (and is likely trying to obscure, distract, or outright hide those efforts, using the Piscean energy). In the 1st you might be too hard on yourself or your body, in the 2nd those with a say in financial matters or talent management may be involved, in the 3rd siblings or neighbors, in the 4th your family, in the 5th your creative efforts or your children or gambles taken, in the 6th health or work colleagues, 7th with the spouse or the public at large, 8th shared assets or inherited matters and those who handle them, the 9th in laws, teachers, or religious leaders, 10th the career scene or social order, 11th with friends or groups to which you belong, in 12th large institutions or the Collective or even the Universe itself.

You want to exchange all the furniture between two rooms, fundamentally changing the use of each, and it’s a big job. This is about using your space (whether that’s your actual surroundings, the atmosphere around you, or your mental, emotional, or creative space, external or internal) however you want, and not because someone long ago decided a particular ‘room’ had to be a dining room or a living room or a bedroom, even when that doesn’t fit your needs. To follow one’s own course may seem overwhelming, especially if those around you aren’t into how you’d like to alter things, but this large effort is doable, with patience and persistence. Just follow that old saw about eating an elephant: you do it one bite at a time.

Painting By Amrita Sher-Gil ‘Two Elephants’ 1940 {{PD}}