Planetary Retrograde and the Goddess Cybele
No doubt if you know anything about Mercury Retrograde, you've read it all; the good, the bad, and the ugly horror stories popping up in your feeds. This particular retrograde is coupled with the Jupiter retrograde can increase the general malaise that accompanies those familiar with Mercury Retrograde in that people feel a little more doom and gloom than normal. You may hear an increase of people feeling like luck is no longer on their side; even that God is no longer listening to them. Everything seems blown out of proportion, people lose sight of the big picture- and all this on top of the regular hitches in communication, travel delays and mechanical malfunctions that seem to run rampant during the season. Jupiter intensifies all of this, and the retrograde in Scorpio hits people right in the feels.
Its big, emotional, taboo, mysterious and intimate. Secrets will come out, and be misunderstood. All of the toxic habits and emotions will begin to rise to our surface, demanding to be dealt with. There is no better time to purge yourself. This particular set of retrogrades has had me really contemplating how we can best deal with these cycles. Coincidently, I've had the Goddess Cybele in the back of my mind, waiting quietly, as I slowly worked things out. Who better to help with release? Cybele, the goddess of catharsis. Catharsis is the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.
Cybele is an ancient Goddess, one who has been adopted and adapted into religions since 6th century BC. She was originally depicted as a mother goddess. Later, parts of her were assimilated into Rhea, Demeter, Persephone, and even Hecate. In mythology, even though she was assimilated, she was still held at arms length from the other Gods and Goddesses. She was respected but not included, mostly due to her followers and the cults who worshipped her, and more specifically for her very "un-hellenic temperament."
Even in mythology, her untamed, bold entrances were wild and boisterous; a fiery chariot led by lions followed by loud and unconventional music, and strange, low class or foreign people. Cybele, the original goddess of punk rock. Her gatherings contained healing, purging, purifying, celebratory musical cacophonies. Cybele, the goddess of joyous abandon.
Most of the cults that worshipped Cybele were referred to as Chthonic cults. Chthonic cults were labeled as such because the deities that were the subject of worship were generally considered dark. Not to be confused with evil; that is not the reference. The dark they are referring to is of the underworld, of the shadows of the self and humankind. A few other examples would be Hades, Persephone, Hecate, or any death deities. Current psychology defines chthonic as used to refer to the earthly impulses of the self, or ones material depths, not necessarily with negative connotations. Many spiritualists and practitioners now refer to this as shadow work- integrating and healing the darker aspects of the self to become whole and healed.
Cybele was said to represent the boundary between the known and the unknown, the civilized and the wild, the living and the dead. Cybele, queen of the misfits who harbor no doubts, and do not mind not fitting in. Ruler of the weirdos and the real and imperfect people, those who are not afraid to look into their darkness and work with it to be free. The people who understand what it means to ugly cry on your bathroom floor for an hour and the hollow feeling of relief that fills the space where the pain was.
Cybele represents what we can be if we accept our shadow
selves; if we embrace them and flush them to the surface to form a complete and
whole version of our selves. How can we help the process along? Crying is a great way to reach catharsis, but by no means the only way. Dance, meditation, screaming, singing, journaling, burning slips of paper with what no longer serves written on them. Fire is always cleansing, though dangerous, and should be handled with respect. Assign your darkness and pain to a rock and throw each in the ocean; water has an incredible cleansing ability.
Aggressive exercise, with caution to your body of course, drawing, punching a pillow, visualization, and breath work can also be used. Doing anything with joyous abandon works as well, as do carnival rides or stimulating or exciting activities. The important part of working with Cybele energy and the retrograde season is to make sure you are listening to your body, and to yourself at all times. Call upon her for help and see what ideas pop up. Release, rework, renew, rethink, reassess, redo, repair, and revisit. Revisit that pain and see if this time you can glean something new from it, to lessen your death grip on it a bit.
With this in mind, how much further can we get our selves spiritually during these few weeks?
For more information on Cybele and mythology, please visit a few of the reference pages I used listed below.
Comments
Post a Comment