Pythia and Power
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the mental landscape that I am exploring with my fellow journalers as a cave.
We’ve all individually tapped into a realm of thought that’s curious; we’re exhibitionists about ideas (because we realize the consequences of repressing them). People often wonder why cave divers feel the urge to risk their lives for the sake of exploration. I wonder the same of myself with regards to my mind wandering.
In the fourth episode of Awakening From the Meaning Crisis, John mentions Pythia. There’s so much in this archetype. I’ve explored that of Lilith and Algol. Then I began to embody the archetype of Hestia (Vesta), keeper of the flame. I’m such a slut when it comes to genies. Such is the life of a Gemini. I wear many masks, and during this time that Mars is stationed at 25° of Gemini, I am flipping through them like a rolodex.
Pythia was the Oracle of Delphi: She was sought after by the gods as a medium for prophecy. What this means to me. The most powerful of beings went to this Pythoness. Pythia: from /pytho/ in reference to the rotting smell of a python that was slain by Apollo. What I like about etymology is that it is somewhat brief, at least relative to following the evolution of a myth.
In biology, the fossil record is constructed by humans. In the same way that scientists like to use the argument “Men wrote the Bible”, we can expect there to be mistakes in the fossil record because the intention is to find the “most parsimonious path” for evolution to occur. Any biologist will tell you that it probably didn’t happen the exact way we think it did. There is wiggle room for interpretation, despite a lot of it being literally set in stone (one way that fossils can be made). Myths, in a similar way, evolve into a more diluted expression of the genes that once made something quite unique. The through line remains. That through line is communicating a message.
I’ve started to check the transits in the morning when I first wake up. I’ve always been an early bird and this habit is a lot better than just laying in bed trying to decide what to do for the day. So I record this on my YouTube as an attempt to be a cosmic reporter. I personally enjoyed putting together the intro and outro so much that this is turning out to be something I like doing. It gets me off to a good start and that used to be something I relied on my journaling to do. I imagine my journaling may begin to evolve as a reflect daily over the transits, just as it already has with my bi-weekly conversations over the Awakening Series.
Today, the kids will be getting home early from school. Its interesting that just having them around opens different pathways of my mind. Seeing life through the eyes of children is sometimes challenging. As adults we become so jaded and cynical. Its been a process to reclaim that innocence. Its an exciting time for me to be living in absolute fascination of life. I’ve turned my spectacles inward to reflect outward. Instead of pacifying with self indulgence, my mind is back in the womb, open to possibilities. This makes sense to me with Jupiter re-entering the sign of Pisces. My natal Jupiter is in my 3rd House which is the House of the Goddess; everyone she may encounter in her daily life at the kingdom. Siblings, neighbors, the community, and can also be associated with early childhood-particularly for those that associate the third house with Gemini. Because my natal Jupiter is also firey, I’m imagining that being extinguished in me, that drive toward my career. There’s a momentary pause of martian energy and I’m just floating in the ether of life in suspension. Timelessness.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ve been idle. I have decided which transit I want to really focus on each day this month. I see now why Kelly Surtees describes November in two different sections: the first half and the second. Isn’t that just like an eclipse to feed us this plate of shit. Just thinking in terms of my own life, the idea of ‘rot’ when it comes to Pythia is all too appropriate. The body is a beautiful thing but decay comes for us all. This will be the topic of my meditation tomorrow. Venus is in her detriment (opposite her home sign of Taurus) in Scorpio. Its funny, when I chose to take on Vesta, Venus was in her home sign of Libra and about to dance with the Sun and it was all so pretty and glam. Now she’s a zombie bride, covered in blood, walking through a cemetery.
Pythia. Interesting character development but it makes sense because Venus did get burned in the heart of the Sun, if you recall. This all means that we are letting something go. Slowly but surely its all rotting away. When Venus comes into her conjunction with the South Node, days before a Lunar Eclipse, I think we can expect a big release of energy. What does that mean? Honestly, I don’t know. I have things in my mind, in my life, where this could apply. I’ll have my eyes on those scenarios, but I dare not say them. That should tell you something. As someone that is pretty open in my journaling, I don’t even want to think the thoughts that could manifest. I’m just tiptoeing through this transit.
As Scorpio is about decay, in the death and rebirth, it is also the evolutionary power that drives us to that point. Power is the operative word in that last one. Pythia was powerful because the gods thought of her as powerful. It reminds me of the struggle that Socrates had when the oracle told the gods that there was no man wiser than Socrates. Is there any Power greater than that of the Oracle?
Originally written in Collective Journaling at The Stoa
