Flying Dreams (Air/wide view)
In Western astrology, the four alchemical elements are earth, air, fire
and water. Pisces the Fish is, quite appropriately, a water sign, but Aquarius
is an air sign, so the shift is from sea to sky. Flying dreams allow Aquarius,
the curious investigator, to explore his inner space. Aquarius favors fair
weather flying (the uplifting dreams) because it's safer, more fun and permits
a panoramic view of the dream environment. Aquarius is future oriented,
a precognitive perceiver, alert to events forming on the far horizon. He
wants to foresee changes in the weather so as to seize a golden opportunity
or avoid an oncoming storm.
Flying is only one of many extraordinary dreams, including the psychic
ones. To humanitarian Aquarius, these Big Dreams are seen as the birthright
and privilege of everyone, rather than the exclusive possessions of the
chosen few. Aquarius will deliberately incubate extraordinary dreams in
order to nourish his untapped human potential. Flying, for example, can
aid nightmare resolution and lead to lucid dreaming..
Long-Term Dream Journal (Aquarius/investigator)
As a pilot, Aquarius knows the importance of keeping records for review,
not as notes scattered about, but as a log of succinct information. He uses
the long-term dream journal as a way to analyze the past, document the present
and plan for the future.
Aquarius acts as an investigative reporter and serves as witness to the
activities of his dreaming self. He can use his detective-like precision
to remember and report dreams, and to reveal subtle dreampsi. The long-term
dream journal aids the sort of dreamwork that takes into account his entire
life, waking and sleeping, personal and public. It also supports dream incubation
and the gift of sharing with fellow dreamers.
Reality Checks (Aquarian glyph/electric current)
The glyph for Aquarius is a picture of directed current flowing from
cause to effect. The Aquarian investigator searches for verifiable facts
about dreams. Once an answer is exposed to air, however, it is not forever
fixed. Aquarius favors a vibrant state of knowledge, in which ideas evolve
organically. Furthermore, Aquarian ideals of freedom, understanding and
brotherhood sustain mental investigation with a "human face."
Aquarius is goal-oriented, requiring an end to tasks so he can judge
their quality and efficiency. But he doesn't necessarily use linear logic
to achieve them. Electric Aquarius leaps all over the sky, creating a network
of lines, a framework of energy, a dimensional construct of dreams before
he finds a ground to land on. Unlike a fish, Aquarius can't keep floating
in his native medium forever. While Aquarius is quite intuitive, his intuition
is nested in a sturdy structure of tested knowledge.
Lucid Dreams (Uranus/revolutionary)
Uranus is the revolutionary who wakes us up. Whereas Pisces meanders
in a midnight mood, Uranus attempts to launch Aquarius at high noon. Air
infers the mental capacities, so this wake-up call is a mind revolution.
And a paradigmatic paradox: we wake while we're still asleep.
Becoming aware we dream is but the first stage of this Aquarian adventure.
Once lucid, detective Aquarius wants to explore and question what he sees,
testing the dream and comparing his first-hand experiences with others when
he wakes. This trailblazer in the interworld comes to perceive the dream
as a virtual reality where he can deliberately experiment with the illusion.
Aquarius is intuitively aware of the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including
psychic and astral realities. He tries to peer beneath the surface, beyond
visual wavelengths, right down to the DNA of the dream. He comes to appreciate
the dynamics of dream life and the underlying roots of the dream environment.
Dream Environmentalism (Aquarius/Water Carrier
and Star)
The symbol for Aquarius is the Water Carrier, also known as the "Star"
in the Tarot deck. Both male
and female images
picture an Environmentalist. The Water Carrier is transferring water onto
the land, into the water or into the mouth of a fish. This is not the salty
water of a polluted sea, however. It is pure, potable water that can be
poured onto a thirsty soil, nourishing it. The Water Carrier is concerned
with the health of the outer world, recognizing that the only effective
way to help the waking state is to clean up his personal world of dream.
No longer is basking in conflict and anxiety while asleep an acceptable
norm.
For the Aquarian, the dream is an ecosystem of nature and the field of
dreams is in urgent need of an overhaul. There's a scarcity of clear water
(unconflicted dreams) and a poverty of consciousness (no desire to change
the status quo). Environmental goals may include the reduction and clean-up
of man-made pollution (day residue that induces nightmares and anxiety dreams),
protection of unique or pristine ecosystems (such as positive dreams), development
of alternative, green energy sources (intentional incubation), preservation
and expansion of scarce or endangered species (extraordinary and other overlooked
dreams) and the establishment of natural biosphere reserves (user-friendly
dreamspace for the safe and sane exploration of psychic dreams).
Topsy-Turvy Dreamwork (Uranus/upside down)
There's a real revolution here. The planet Uranus
is positioned on a slant (its north pole is below the plane of the elliptic).
This eccentric posture turns dreamwork topsy-turvy. The shift is from post-hoc
dreamwork to pre-dream work and in-dream work.
Ecologically minded Aquarius knows he needs to observe a dream fish in
its native habitat, either first hand or at a distance, using the technologies
he invents and improves through steady use. The scuba diving technology
that brings him up-close and personal is lucid dreaming. The technology
that allows him to tag and track the water creature from the surface is
incubation. By intending to dream about certain topical fish, he narrows
the area of his search and makes it more likely that he'll find and understand
the living creature.
The Water Carrier who gets close enough to share his gift of consciousness
is developing a first-hand relationship with his dream fish. Humanitarian
Aquarius doesn't slice up a dead dream fish and slather it in a sauce of
waking projection to serve his hungry ego. He realizes that the dream is
a world where his dreaming self dwells. And a self is not a possession
to do with as he pleases, without consequence. It's an organic being that
he serves, he helps, he waters. Ask not what your dream can do for you...
From Healing to Health (Water
Carrier/standing on own feet)
Aquarian willingness to do reality checks converts emphasis from healing
into health. In the best case scenario, Aquarius will invent a triage system
to determine whether troublesome dream content refers to causes physical,
physiological, socio-cultural, religious-philosophical or psychic, in addition
to the primary Piscean presumption that dream attributes are personal/psychological.
He'll discover the specific type of problem that a dream is portraying by
using his investigative techniques. Only when a diagnosis is confirmed,
will appropriate treatment be applied. Favored methods will include active/behavioral
therapy and mental/cognitive therapy, as well as the fruits of cutting edge
brain/mind research.
However, the ultimate for Aquarius isn't healing, as eternal process,
but health, the achievable goal. Future-thinking Aquarius endorses preventative
medicine, so that he won't have to have a nightmare in the first place.
Initially, this can require the sort of clean up and repair work that converts
salty conflict and anxiety into clear, fresh water. Once in maintenance
mode, Aquarius realizes that a healthy psyche requires continued nourishment,
lest it fall into dis-ease again. Incubation of healthy dream themes helps
him oxygenate the subconscious prior to sleep. In-dream skill development
becomes dream aerobics.
Community and Communication (Aquarius/humanitarian)
Uranus starts with a "U." Not a "me" but a "you."
Although Aquarius can be stubborn, holding onto his personal and U-nique
outlook, he is an eccentric against a backdrop of multiple worldviews. As
lightning arches from point to point, so Aquarius likes to be connected
to the world beyond him. Under Aquarius, there is a shift from dreamwork
as monologue to dreamwork as dialogue, requiring communication between people.
Aquarius favors the interview method of the investigative reporter, questioning
the dreamer to find the subtle connections between her waking and dreaming
life. Add his electric nature to his social nature to his view of dreamland
as a virtual reality and you can see why the Internet is just his cup of
coffee.
The Water Carrier is positioned squarely on the verdant roots of group
dreamwork. Cooperation, co-experimentation and consensus decision-making:
these are his procedures and protocols. From these ideals come group dream
sharing, group brainstorming to create a common glossary, group consciousness-raising
and the pooling of common resources. Humanitarian Aquarius sponsors social
activism and group projects as well as interdisciplinary and participant-observer
research.
Mutual and Telepathic Dreams (Air/communication)
The Aquarian perception of dreams as an inner world peopled by dreaming
selves supports the idea of meeting in that virtual reality. Aquarius doesn't
just share dreams; he has shared dreams. He doesn't just make these in-dream
connections passively; he does telepathic dreaming on purpose, as part of
his expanding repertoire of developing skills.
Once Aquarius ventures into social dreamspace, the rules change. Under
his partnership paradigm, morality, manners and humane ethics become real
issues. Within the dream, dream environmentalism is the premier communal
project. Aquarius prepares the soil, shares the bounty and co-creates user-friendly
dreamspace to share with fellow dreamers.
Pisces, Exalted (Aquarius/Water Carrier and
Piscus/Parental Fish)
In the old texts, Pisces is drawn so that the constellation consists
of 2
fish, tied together at their tails, each pointed in different directions.
Pisces is a loyal follower, and the first fish is swimming towards the constellation
Andromeda,
the woman who was sacrificed to a sea monster. This perfect picture of the
long-suffering maiden was subsumed under the image of the long-suffering
Christ when patriarchal Jehovah/Jupiter ruled the age. In the first stage
of the Neptunian transformation, Uranus strips away the old persona, revealing
Pisces in her female aspect, under the guise of Gaia. This is still a wounded
woman, however.
The second fish is pointing directly at the constellation Aquarius. Aquarius
provides Pisces with a new model of existence. The Water Carrier is pouring
oxygenated water into the mouth of a fish. This is Piscis
Australis, the parent of Pisces. Piscis Austrialis swims at the surface,
mouth open to accept the gift of clear, potable liquid offered by Aquarius.
So this fish is not only an ocean occupant; it can transform into a fresh
water fish.
How will Pisces fare in fresh water? The prognosis is good, if Pisces
follows her parental example and learns to swim upstream, against the flow.
Can you picture determined Pisces, leaping the rapids, traveling towards
a fresh water nursery to really be born anew? Then Gaia, the passive
victim in constant need of saving and healing, transforms into Terra, the
active athlete, who exercises her own free mind and will.
There is an even more radical picture of Pisces that's gradually evolving
under Aquarian influence. This is Pisces, as a dolphin. The dolphin is a
true air-breathing mammal who, nonetheless, prefers life in the flowing
river or sea. She is smart and sensual, playful and sensitive, aware of
the benefits of having other dolphins around, especially to nurture and
protect the young. Streaking through the blue-green waters, this dolphin
is a picture of art in motion. Personally, I can't wait to experience the
healthy and humorous, sexy and creative, vigorous and vital dreamplay of
Pisces, transformed.
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