Portfolio: Introduction
Note: this is the first installment in a series on how I combine astrology, Feng Shui and energy healing. SEE THE COLLECTION HERE.
After years of following Western astrology, I can confidently say it is the opposite of what most people think it is: descriptions of 12 personality types. Astrology doesn't force each of us into a category, but rather is a way to observe how the passing of time scatters archetypal qualities into unique arrays.
Like the shapes and colors that collapse and reveal new formations with each turn of a kaleidoscope, astrology describes the ever-changing variety of experience that can emerge from a limited set of values. It's a shuffling of essences, set to the rhythm of the rotating stars. Your light shines, not through one of 12 possibilities, but in how you choose to live out the unique pattern that was woven through the archetypal matrix at the moment of your first breath.
The pattern described by your astrology - your natal chart - doesn't have to be your fate. It can be thought of as a blueprint for your default experience in the world. An arrangement of entrances, exits, windows, walls, and halls, this blueprint suggests a structure, but it's the plan, not the program. You get to decide how the blueprint comes to life. You can choose the colors, materials, and, ultimately, how you use the space. Some areas might be more accessible than others, which doesn't mean you can't remove barriers and open up new pathways, but it takes work.
Learning how read the blueprint of your life, then cultivate your strengths and accept your blind spots, is the journey of self-actualization. It's a way to make space for your true self in this world.
Another way to make space is with Feng Shui, a form of energy healing in which the layout of your home is a map of your life, as well as a diagnostic tool. Your home speaks to you through color, light, shapes, patterns, and objects, revealing parts of your life that need specific kinds of attention.
Spending time cultivating this energetic field where you begin and end each day is an investment in the quality of your subconscious life, a relationship that lays the psychic groundwork for a more finely tuned awareness.
Like the arched doorway where The Graduate's Mrs. Robinson first appears, unmistakably framing her within a certain trope of feminine power, your own home can establish the premise of your unfolding plot on a symbolic level.
Engage with your space as a living being, with whom you co-create your story by adjusting the quality and movement of energy. Then, notice how the scope of opportunity and volume of personal agency in your life begin to transform.
If your astrological natal chart is a blueprint of possibility within the span of your life, Feng Shui is a way to read the energetic signature of this moment in space and time. One is an engagement with a metaphorical structure that describes reality, the other with real structures that speak in metaphor. Together, they are a compass and a map; helping you observe where you are and orient yourself in the direction you'd like to go. Both practices divide the life into categories and qualities of experience, but one has 12 houses/4 elements, the other, 9 guas/5 elements. Their kinship is slightly offset, but where they overlap is a portal.
The portal opens when you become a conduit, aligning your true energetic blueprint with the world around you. Stepping through the portal is a departure from consensus reality into a choose-your-own- creative-adventure. It's the quest to discover your unique capacity for freedom, how you can cultivate it for yourself and others, and it is why you are here.
Photo credit: Jill Allyn Peterson, Copenhagen, 2022