Symbols show what they mean. We can understand them directly.

Take Cancer. Let’s dive into the picture. Let’s pretend we know nothing. Where will this symbol take us?

It's a crab. There is an environment: the sea and its perpetual flux and reflux. Crabs appear on the shores when the tide is low. They disappear when it's high. Tides are following the rhythm of the Moon and like the Moon they come and go.…

Let’s be carried away by the sound of the waves.

This makes us feel in a certain way. How is it? A bit nostalgic? Dreamy? There are days and there are nights, there are ups and there are downs, sometimes we’re strong, sometimes we’re vulnerable, like babies…

Life is an eternal return. Women make babies, babies grow up, boys and girls become men and women. They make love, they found families. Women have babies, babies grow up, repeat.

Generations are waves. Waves speak of generations. Out of the water comes the crab, soon to be taken back in its embrace.

When the Moon, responsible for the ebb and flows, shines over the sea, we enter a world of dreams. We may wish we had a shell like the crab to protect our sensitive mood. We’re swimming in the world of the soul, all pictures and fantasies, yet instinctive and sensitive…

Water is fertile. Water is full of creatures that can't survive out of their environment. Babies‘ world is an emotional bath: in the nursery, when one starts crying, another joins in and soon they are all crying together, it's liquid… Mothers sing nursery rhymes, they don’t try to reason with babies, soothing passes through presence, intonation, feelings. Baby calms down and falls asleep… One wave after another…

Letting our mind and soul be impregnated by symbols allows us to follow threads of meanings.

Leo. A roaring lion, claiming power in broad daylight. After Cancer, that’s a completely different atmosphere!

Symbols make us feel the meaning before we find words to describe what it’s about…

Reading the part about Cancer

Focusing on the symbols, we can conjure up the spirit of the energies. “Conjuring up spirits” are words that belong to magic, and yes there is something magical in this poetic approach. Imagination is a way to develop our intuition. Imagination doesn’t mean making things up: imagination simply means forming mental pictures.

However, we shouldn’t naively believe whatever comes up in our mind. Reality checks are necessary.

Whatever we may come up with has to be consistent with standard astrological knowledge or be rejected. It may also be confirmed by the feedback we can get from others. Coming back to Earth is the healthy conclusion of the process. The alternative is drowning. Beware, Water is also a world of illusions.

The same imaginative approach works to explore the meaning of complex configurations. This may lead to psychic perceptions at times.

In a previous post, I used Venus in Leo square Mars in Taurus as an example of the method consisting of combining keywords to make meaningful sentences. Thinking in pictures is the “right brain” complement of this “left brain” technique.

Venus in Leo. Can you see this beautiful girl? She is the kind that can’t be missed. There is a little crowd of admirers around her. She laughs at their lines when they are good, there is a constant banter going on, she loves it. She decides on every move. She says “Let's go to the bar!” or “Let’s go to the beach!” … They all follow.

There is one who is not happy over there. It’s Mars in Taurus, her husband. He played the game, and he won. She found him different. He knew how to do beautiful things with his hands. He had a rooted style that fascinated her. She married him. He believed the game was over, but no. The game is never over. It’s just a game, but…

What happens next? I won’t tell you!

Let the story fall into your mind like a seed. Let it grow like a plant. Play with ideas, let them go, forget about the whole thing, think of your characters again after a good night’s sleep. It’s not assembly-line work.

Make an independent portrait of Mars in Taurus, before he met Venus in Leo. Love him, love her, understand how a square connection can be so exciting, in the beginning…

Maybe, something will come up and make you laugh, or touch your heart. We can’t take it for granted but it may happen. Sometimes it takes days, sometimes a split second. Sometimes it’s a good metaphorical story, and sometimes, it’s spot on.

I leave you to it.

Jean-Marc

Thinking of taking a class? What I have been describing in this post and the previous one (Sentences with keywords) is a mental gymnastic. Understanding how things work is great, practising it takes training.

There is a homepage on this website, and a contact form! Thanks for your visit!