kronos vs kairos time

The Nature of Time, Post-2012

kairos time

A moment in the life of my driveway, after the rain. Photo by DK.

As I’ve mentioned on a couple occasions, we are experiencing time differently in the post-2012 era. A key catalyst behind my choice to stop writing and recording monthly horoscopes was the realization that most people would continue to read them as prophetic or oracular.

In an interview in The Mountain Astrologer, Laurence Hillman (astrologer, son of James) noted that the ancient Greeks had two different words for time: kronos (Saturnian time or what we might now call ‘clock time’) and kairos, which is the experience of the quality of the moment. Astrology, Hillman said, is a way of tuning into the quality of the moment that allows us to discern which archetypes want our attention now.

As our experience of time becomes more kairotic and less kronological, we are beginning to realize that everything can change at any moment, to the extent we are able to truly believe that to be the case. When we read a horoscope to find out what is going to happen in the future, we’re operating (perhaps unconsciously) from a kronos mindset. If we then give our internal agreement to any limitations (another good Saturn word) expressed in the horoscope, we are essentially limiting what can happen. Continue reading

Authority Issues

Mars Opposition Saturn: Challenging Authority

Monday’s exact opposition of Mars in Gemini and Saturn in Sagittarius is activating our authority issues. How this transit can energize you to rewrite your life story…

Mars is the action planet. He heats up whatever he touches, inflaming passions, escalating aggression and anger, urging us to move. Saturn is the authority, the judge, the guardian of the status quo. He is cold, impassive, objective, heavy.

It’s probably worth noting that the word authority contains – and comes from the same Latin root as – the word author. The Latin auctor includes the meanings: “promoter, producer, father, progenitor; builder, founder; trustworthy writer, authority; historian; performer, doer; responsible person, teacher,” literally “one who causes to grow”. (Online Etymology Dictionary) Continue reading

The Hidden Meaning of ‘Speak Truth to Power’

women collective story

Choose your own adventure by chiaralily on flickr.

Power vs. Force and the Roots of Anger

I don’t know why the statement “We need to speak truth to power” popped into my head last week. But it wouldn’t stop rattling around in the old noggin so I asked myself, “What does it mean to speak truth to power?”

I did a little research and apparently the phrase first appeared in a book published by the Quakers (Society of Friends) in 1955, although it is also attributed to Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin.

I have a lot of respect for the Quakers. My great-grandmother was a Quaker in Indiana. I dig their whole non-hierarchical, non-violent thing. And I have a ton of respect for those who risked their lives during the Civil Rights movement to try to win equal status for African-Americans in our society.

This slogan may have been perfect for the collective consciousness in 1955. But its hidden meaning is actually profoundly disempowering in our time.¹ Continue reading

The Taboo Against (Healthy) Pleasure

Why the Revolution Starts With You

life is art

“Life is grim.”

That was one of my late grandfather’s stock responses to my mother when my mom was a child and couldn’t have or do something she wanted.

His other chestnut was a paraphrase of one of Jesus’ sayings in the Sermon on the Mount: “Into each life some rain must fall.”

We all heard things like this when we were kids. Often delivered either in a tone of mocking humor that demonstrated – consciously or not – the parent’s contempt for our desires. Or laced with enough anger to shut us up and back us down. Continue reading

Tales of a 4th Grade Cut-Up

Kids Creating Music

4th Grade songwriters

The creative minds and voices behind Dangerous Panda.

This is the story of how 12 fourth-graders with a smart, creative teacher wrote and recorded a catchy pop anthem about danger, pandas, Olaf the snowman, and electrical engineers…all in less than an hour.

Read about our songwriting process and listen along as the song evolves here: Making Music in School: The Story of Dangerous Panda

Listen to the podcast:
[powerpress]

Scorpio Full Moon – Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Reframing Your Life As The Story of You Finding Your Joy

mystery garden

Today’s Full Moon falls in the 21st degree of Scorpio, the sign in which the Moon is said to be in her fall. This is a traditional formulation that probably has more to do with the Moon being exalted in the opposite sign, Taurus, than it does with Scorpio itself.

However, the traditional cautions bear keeping in mind. The challenge with a Scorpio Moon boils down to Scorpio’s penchant for fixating emotionally on the object of its desire or fascination. As we’ll see in a moment, though, this can be a gift at today’s lunation. Continue reading

Clearing Mental Clutter

Making Room for the Big Idea

I’ve been working on a Big Idea for a while now. If I told you how long, I’d have to kill you. But let’s just say it has been percolating in my creative unconscious since at least 2014.

This past week, as Mercury stationed direct, I felt the gears starting to click into place. (There are a lot of moving parts here!)

My initial reaction was mild euphoria, followed immediately by suspicion: “Whoa! Can this really be it? After all this time? But what about…?” Continue reading