April, the first full month of Spring has arrived. April, which means “to open” is where we begin our inhalation. Summer will be the peak of our inhale where we are full as the flora ripens. Eventually we will exhale and autumn will drop any remaining fruit from trees serving to remind us that life remains even when its fullness has inverted. At the depths of winter, we remain empty and available knowing Spring will return. Here we find ourselves at a new dawn. In the pattern of 9’s utilized in Katonah Yoga using the magic square (a sigil invoking a direction for the archetype of numbers; a “recipe for joy” in the words of my teacher Nevine Michaan), April is the name we use to describe this 4th month of the year. Having moved our goal (“2”) through the heart of a felt sense (“3”) we find an opportunity to envision (“4”) what our imagination wishes to move toward. Personally I’ve been using the cherry blossoms as inspiration to imagine my own passage of opening.
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I use the magic square as a reminder to not get stuck in the fixation possible whenever an aim (“2”) is left unidentified. Or perhaps it has been identified but we see no path outside fantasy. Whether in the body, our environment, or community - with an objective recognized, our aim is made singular. With focused attention it is possible to create, intentionally; this is the path of The Magician (an archetype previously explored). Perfectionism (the force of “Resistance” in one of it’s forms: as identified by author Stephen Pressfield in“The War of Art”) may find it possible for a creator to focus upon increasing minutiae - paralyzing movement forward into fruition. The end product is always in some stage of incomplete. My own editing process often finds me in this shadowy cave, chasing a flickering candle of ideal - rather than bringing “the” finished presentation into the light, exposing my creation in all its potential imperfections. A time is respected where the felt sense of the heart (“3”) holds the goal. We remember why we embarked on a journey, or we abandon the path. “4” is a time of envisioning and potentially reevaluation, we move closer to what the goal (“2”) will look like or - with new information - imagine something else to move into.
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If we never identify a goal, preferring only felt sense (moving from 1-3 and skipping the intentionally set in the “second” “stage”), we travel a path synonymous with “The Fool.”* Playing the fool, may find us on a more erratic path, blown by ever changing winds. The fool, whether enlightened or ignorant stays in touch with the totality - but remains powerless to affect it. Meandering along, a fool can achieve greatness but this will be the profit of circumstance. Please don’t mistake my writing as a value judgement, I play most of my life as the fool, but on occasion strategy is a useful tool. James P. Carse wrote a wonderful book “Finite and Infinite Play” on the virtues of playing infinite games, where competition and strategy are less valued than collaboration and experience. Sex is among my favorite examples of an infinite game, where being a fool is often a better practice than the magician intent on some well-defined goal. Perhaps we could live in a world where business relationships too have more spirit of play, but currently the market doesn’t favor whimsical creatures and the spirit of competition is more suited to formulas such as those of an alchemist, turning iron to gold; or a magician, using language to manifest their desired aim.
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*(The numerical system of the magic square is not synonymous with Kabbalah/Gemetria however analogies can be made).
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My partner Kaeti Frady of Root and Branch Bodywork, recently reminded readers of her newsletter that “anger” is the emotion Traditional Chinese Medicine attributes to Spring. The element of wood cuts through the soil that was its womb for a time. Healthy infants rarely enter this dimension calmly. Creation reaches a climax as directed force assets itself as primacy over its known environment. Spring’s aim is singular and it is certain. The intentions (“2”) established in February become clear (“4”) as spring initiates a deep inhalation that might sustain this cycle. May you fill yourself with everything you wish to circulate through your essence.
This Blog was posted on April 1st via my Patreon and shared publicly 3 weeks later. Please consider supporting my Patreon for $5 where I release two similar writings on esoteric subjects each month.