#3: You Don't Have to Go Far to Go Far
The Power of Nostalgia
This Week’s Tarot Reading
MIND: Two of Pentacles
BODY: Nine of Cups
SPIRIT: Nine of Wands
I decided to pull the same spread each week for this newsletter because I imagined there would be patterns. And sure enough…
We had the 9 of Cups appear again, in the exact same position as last week, and the 9 of Wands in the Spirit position progressed from the 8 of Wands we saw this past Sunday.
You’re transforming and you know it, because life has you juggling who you used to be…and who you’re becoming. You’re still indulging in the material world, but the way you’ve been operating isn’t sustainable. It’s Manifestation 101 that if you’re unclear about what you want, it’s difficult to get it. You’re going to have to make some real decisions soon.
If you’d like to book a personalized Tarot reading, you can find my offerings here. 11% of every reading purchased is donated.
This Week’s Astrology
Wednesday, March 2: New Moon 12° Pisces @ 12:35 PM EST
Thursday, March 3: Venus + Mars + Pluto conjunction 27° Capricorn
Saturday, March 5: Venus + Mars enter Aquarius
The Pisces New Moon is a beautiful lunation. It’s ruled by Neptune, with Jupiter co-present, and it’s bursting with expansive, dreamlike energy. Not surprisingly, it relates to our Tarot reading this week. Transformation is imminent, so what do you want your life to look like on the other side? Wednesday is the moment to plant the seeds of your grandest dreams. You can have everything you desire and more, you just have to do the work.
If you’d like to book a personalized Astrology reading, you can find my offerings here. 11% of every reading purchased is donated.
I almost didn’t title last week’s newsletter “The Beginning of the End” because I thought it might seem a little…extreme to people. I debated for a bit but ultimately knew better than to censor what I KNEW was, in fact, going to be an extreme time and used the title anyway.
Less than 24 hours after the first exact U.S. Pluto Return transit last week, Russia invaded Ukraine. The Beginning of the End.
Legitimate astrologers have known for years that this wouldn’t be a “light” or “easy” period in America’s history. It’s not about trying to drum up fear, but acknowledging that fear abounds now and occult practitioners are much less surprised by it than others.
Astrology is an archetypal predictability tool, and if you’re familiar with it, you might feel better prepared to handle life’s “unpredictable” moments than others.
It’s understandable to be overwhelmed right now, and for many, if not most, that can mean wanting to check out from reality. An escapist tendency is even more prevalent now because, of course, it’s Pisces season. Pisces always wants to get away from it all, and especially so in the face of heightened stress.
What I learned getting sober, though, is that using drugs and alcohol to dissolve into the ether for a while doesn’t dissolve the issues you’re trying to evade. They will remain there, patiently awaiting your return.
I’ve been pondering these vicious cycles of stress and escape (ahem, Virgo/Pisces axis, anyone?) a lot this past week, worrying about millions of Americans crumbling under the additional weight of what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine and what it could mean for our country.
I hate the idea of us being so overwhelmed by fear (U.S. Pluto Return) that we’re unable to face this darkness as strongly and confidently as we’re capable of.
I started asking myself how we might be able to remove ourselves from reality, at least temporarily, without causing any harm. Where could we find some healthy relief, and maybe even learn something, without losing ourselves so completely that we couldn’t contribute to building a new, better America?
Synchronistically, a NYT email landed in my inbox this weekend titled: “The comforts of nostalgia” which sent me down quite the Piscean rabbit hole.
The article says that translated from the Greek, nostalgia means “a longing to return home” and I immediately associated that with Pisces/12th house energy. Personal planets in Pisces/the 12th house can have you reaching beyond the veil, outside of normal reality to somewhere that feels more familiar…to truly return home.
I continued to research and was shocked to learn that nostalgia was actually coined as a medical term, described as a psychopathological disorder (!!!) that impacted people living far from home who had become physically ill with malnutrition and hallucinations, among other serious concerns. Worse still, soldiers with the “disease” were punished and shamed fiercely and unapologetically until the 19th century.
Blessedly, in modern times, we’ve learned that nostalgia is not a disorder that requires a “cure” at all…and that instead, it might actually be the cure ITSELF.
If you’re brave enough to travel this yellow brick road (what I see very much as the collective unconscious), the sometimes beautiful, and often very painful journey that ensues can result in your own homecoming. Your metamorphosis. OUR metamorphosis.
Treated like an investigative tool in a search for higher truth (rather than a rose-colored fantasy), nostalgia truly has the power to transform.
We’re all being asked to step onto the beckoning, winding path in front of us right now. It’s a trek that’s likely to feature a few villains…but relief can be found by searching deep within ourselves for the remedies we’ve already come to know before.
“Nostalgia can be a poetic creation, an individual mechanism of survival, a countercultural practice, a poison, and a cure.”*
"The imperative of a contemporary nostalgic: to be homesick and to be sick of being at home—occasionally at the same time.”*
*I wanted to include SO many quotes from this phenomenal essay by Svetlana Boym (and no I don’t take it as a coincidence that she was Russian-American…).
If nothing else, I hope you’ll find solace in the fact that this moment won’t last forever. Hasn’t nostalgia at least taught us that?
Until next week’s magic,
Erin River Sunday