Between the Moon - Ep 18: Three Signs of Spring with Bronwyn Simons

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

In today’s episode we explore how the three signs of spring relate to creativity and the tropical zodiac. We share personal experiences of the creative cycle as understood through the lens of the zodiac and the phases of the moon. Astrology teaches us to notice how energy starts, sustains, and shifts throughout each season. This conversation is about the story of spring told by #1 Aries who starts the fire, #2 Taurus who sustains the idea to bring it into form, and #3 Gemini shifts into new possibilities.Between the Moon is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.The Three Signs of Spring each have a unique approache to harnessing and directing creative energy. In the episode we offer examples of ways that each sign supports the one before and the astrological sign that follows. Notice the energetic signature that Aries, Taurus, and Gemini bring to YOUR cycles of creativity.Aries - Cardinal Fireinspiration strikesan idea sparks the creative firetakes action to begin!... and then runs out of steam...Taurus - Fixed Earthslows down and stabilizescreates a process and a containerdigs in and gets to work!...and then gets stuck...Gemini - Mutable Airgets curious and expandstalks to their muse and does some researchcross pollinates to bring in fresh ideas...and then has too many options and enters the next season...It’s so much fun to bring art and astrology closer together. If you’re like me then you probably want to keep playing with these ideas and apply them to your process…You’re in luck! Come play with the planets and your birthchart in an experimental masterclass called Cycles of Creativity Masterclass! Together we will explore the archetypes of each of the eight planets and how they relate to the creative process. Friday May 17, 2024 from 1:30-3:00 PM Pacific - replay will be available.We will show you how this sequence factors into the way artistry and expression unfolds in your life. You will personalize this flow by designing your own template for creativity based on your birthchart.Let's share creative practices in community to feel more connected and inspired!Also mentioned in this episode is the Creative Fire by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés. This series of three lectures is a gem and can be found on the Sound’s True website. Thank you for reading Between the Moon. This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit themoonismycalendar.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome, dear listener, to Lunar Currents, a special feature on the Between the Moon podcast with myself, April McMurtry and predictive astrologer Bronwyn-Simon-Simonds. Lunar currents is a moonly conversation about embodying the living sky, exploring how astrology helps us enter into the mythic nature of our life story, and musing on our relationship with time, creativity, intuition, and many other magical connections. Hello, hello and welcome. I wanted to make a couple quick announcements before we dive into today's episode. I am super, super excited to share this conversation about cycles of creativity and the zodiac. I've been loving, exploring art and astrology with Bronwyn-Simon

Simons. And what we share today is really, really beautiful. So the announcement is it took a while to get this episode out because I moved the podcast from one platform to another. And really, that shouldn't affect you or how you listen to Between the Moon. But I just wanted to let you know that Between the Moon is now available on Substack. And if you're not familiar with Substack, it's a platform for artists and authors. And there's really wonderful articles there that are inspiring. And it's a place for learning and connecting. So that is sort of part of the new chapter of how I want to be sharing the creative process. There's an opportunity to subscribe for free, which basically means you'll get notified whenever there's a new article or episode available. There's also an

option to become a supporter for as little as $5 a month. The second announcement is that in today's episode, Bronwyn and I mentioned wanting to teach a workshop or a class to go deeper into the ideas and the themes that we discuss. So at the time of recording, we didn't have the details for that yet. And I wanted to let you know that we are indeed going to teach a master class for cycles of creativity and planetary play with the birth chart. You are invited to join us. And the link for that that master class will be below. And if the time has already passed, then there is a replay that will be available. Just reach out. Okay, thank you so much without further ado. I'm so grateful you're here and you're listening to Between the Moon. Enjoy the episode. I'm here with

Bronwyn-Simon-Simons and we're going to talk about creativity, creative cycles and the story of spring and how that unfolds in relationship with the three main signs, astrological signs of spring. Aries, cardinal fire, Taurus, fixed earth, and Gemini, mutable air. So Bronem and I have been chatting and having many conversations about creativity behind the scenes, but wanted to record a conversation to share with all of you, to bring this energy and aliveness and insight into all of our creative practices and creative life. And so for those of you who don't know me, I'm April.

And my name itself connects me with the spring. Often people ask if I was born in April. It's such a beautiful connection, but I'm born in the winter. And so there's this part of me that's like alive in the spring with my name, but I was born in that close to the winter and the winter solstice. And I'm the creator of the moon as my calendar, really seeing how this calendar and working with the moon. And hopefully what you and I can share more of, Bronwyn, is that connection of the moon with creative cycles. And how our own creativity unfolds throughout the year, what that looks like, how we tap into that, what are our own practices or rituals for renewal around that.

and have more awareness of our own energy at different times of the year. Would you like to share a little bit, Bronwyn, about you and your work in that connection and curiosity around creative cycles? Yeah, so I'm Bronwyn, and I'm a consulting and predictive astrologer. My chart is really tied up with the story of spring. I have four planets in Taurus. I have a Gemini ascendant. So this is an important time of year for me, and I have a pretty strong archetypal and experiential

understanding of it. So my work like yours, April, is about helping people to understand and nourish themselves through attuning to natural cycles, the cycles of the seasons, of the moon, of the planets. And also like you, I'm a very, visual artist as well as a spirit worker. So having that connection, you know, the Gemini hands that like to keep busy and be in process and creating and having the Taurus, sun, and Mercury that are really concerned with creating beauty and how beauty nourishes and feeds us. So yeah, these are my favorite things to talk about. Astrology, art, creativity, the cycles. Yay. So rich. So rich. I wonder where, yeah.

Yeah, our entry point into this could be in so many, like, what's the doorway, the avenue to enter in. I mean, I'm always inclined to enter in through the lunar cycle. That's that lens and point of reference. So maybe we can start there and then begin that journey with the springtime journey with Ares through Taurus and Gemini. How does that sound? Yeah, that sounds great. And it's, as you were speaking, I was thinking, well, the Ares Ingress, where everything begins. So, and this is kind of funny because the work that we've been doing together has been about mapping those two.

They don't fit exactly perfectly. But I think they can speak to each other really well, the wheel of the zodiacal year and the lunar cycle. So we begin at the beginning, whether the beginning is the new moon or the Ares ingress, really wherever you choose to place it on the cycle, but the place that we're sitting now. is that just after that Ares ingress in the kind of new moon energy. Yeah. And that marking of zero degrees Ares when the sun is at that point of the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere. And that's all that relationship of tropical astrology specifically with the seasons offers us this language in a way to identify time that also gives. meaning to time. Yeah. Yeah. And that's that's the astrological new year, right, at a time when

actually many cultures do celebrate the new year around the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere. But a time when we are all feeling that, whether you follow along astrologically or not, it is a time symbolically when things are just emerging, emerging from the earth and the sun is beginning to warm us again. and we all feel that, or many of us can feel that re-infusion of light and life and growth and creativity after the so-called dormancy of winter or the root time of the dark time, the rest time, the root time. In giving language to these phases of the cycle, one of my awakenings of this connection

between the creative cycles and the lunar cycle is with the work of Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes and her lecture called The Creative Fire. Someone had recommended it to me and I listened to the audiobook thinking it was a book, so I tried to find the book. There's no book. It's a series of three lectures. And in it, she describes the creative cycle. And when the light bulb went off for me is the language.

that she used to describe the creative cycle. And for those of you who've worked with me over the years, you've heard this from me because I recommend the creative fire for this understanding of how that language is also a way to describe the lunar cycle and really all cycles. When things are in cycle, it's just like saying when something is in season. And when that's out of balance or out of whack, how pronounced that can be that it doesn't have that feeling of flowing in a way where there's a certain kind of a progression and unfolding that happens. So I just wanted to share the language that Dr. Estes uses. And, you know, like you said, Bronwyn, both being a visual artist and I'm imagining as

I'm speaking these words, seeing their own movement. So if you're, you know, listening now and in a place where you can draw or just want to visualize, how does that, what does that look like in that movement of energy? We'll start with the waiting period, a kind of a stillness and incubation. So these, again, are the words of Dr. Clarissa Pincoa Estes, the incubation that becomes a quickening. And then a rebirth with a rising of energy. to a zenith and then begins entropy, decline, and death, and moving into a waiting period of stillness and incubation over and over.

And that description in seeing the phases of the moon, the energy of quickening, that early crescent, that the light is back or that early, early spring hasn't even begun, but there's just those first signs and that quickening. And so when we're talking about the creative process of like what that experience, an embodied way, like how that feels when there's a, that sense of return. Yeah. And that moving into the rebirth. And so I've kind of in my own making of connections that mapping a rebirth onto first quarter, spring equinox aries ingress of that quickening then has actually become

more fully formed and pronounced. Yeah. And I love how you did that little intake of breath with that, because that's how it feels, that crescent moon moment, the early signs of spring moment, the blossoms that can just take your breath away or touching sight of the crescent moon, which the later crescent is visible in the day.

Signs of spring here, things start to bloom in our, we have a beautiful fenced-in backyard that feels very like a private sanctuary. And my husband, there's a little patch of lawn surrounded by flowers and my husband mowed the lawn for the first time on the weekend. And then he just kind of flattened himself like a, like, like, you know, spread eagleed in the sun on the grass. And he said, come here, come here. Lay down.

And I lay down next to him. And I looked up and there was the crescent moon right above us. And I did that little gasp. And he said, yep, that's why I wanted you to light down. So that correlation of that opening crescent that can take your breath away with that freshness of spring. there were the smell of grass and the smell of daffodils. And it's all carrying that same energy of excitement and possibility and renewal. And I think I wanted to say that about renewal too,

because we started the conversation talking about, well, where is the beginning? And I said, oh, it all starts at the Ares Ingress. And in a sense, that's true. But one of the truths that we very quickly really, realize about cyclical time is that you can begin anywhere. And you were talking about Dr. Estes and how she begins with the, again, so-called dormant period. What does she call it? The time of incubation, which is the balsamic moon or the deep winter. The point being, you can begin anywhere in the cycle, and that's the beauty of cyclical time. You can choose any moment in the cycle, and it makes sense

that that's the beginning. You can jump into the circle anywhere, which is why we celebrate New Year at all different times. Yeah. So I just wanted to mention that too. There's no one right place to begin. And I think that's important wisdom for our personal creative cycles, too. There's no one right place to begin. Yeah. And so I'm just thinking of that inquiry for each of us to consider, like, if we are in process. I mean, so the process and with cyclical time, like, it's always ongoing. And maybe that dormancy may feel longer than it so-called should be. I'm just even thinking for myself that kind of what it is for enough of the pressure to build up around bringing what's ever been stewing or brewing on the inside to actually bring that up and out.

Yeah. And so what applies that pressure? And it makes me think of heat, and that heat makes me think of Ares. Yeah. I was just, as you were saying, that internal pressure, I was seeing the little seedlings. I've started some flowers from seed this year. And you see when they're emerging, some of them are still carrying a little husk of the seed and you see how that internal pressure has just ripped open that seed casing.

And I think this is something we overlook about Aries or that Ares helps us to understand that we often overlook about spring because our popular cultural stories about spring are like, oh, look at this soft, cute little animals. And, you know, there's a sweetness and a softness to it. But Ares is ruled by Mars. And there's also that I hesitate to call it violence. But there's this very strong, assertive, and yes, sometimes violent energy that comes with that growth. It's sometimes it's painful and things burst and things break. And there's another Mars quality is courage, the courage that it takes to burst through and burst out into the open. And it is the result of that built up pressure.

So I wonder if sometimes we think about creative inspiration, the same way we think about like the softness of spring and the little, you know, huddly bunnies and the soft. We think of creative inspiration as being this sort of flowy, woozy, lovely thing. And it can be. Yes, it is, this thing that can come in and sort of Neptunian gwash. But it also takes the almost violence. it varies sometimes to push you forward. So it's a really interesting mixture of themes and feelings that we get in the springtime that is not to be underestimated. There's a lot going on that is yes, soft and beautiful and fragrant and gentle and also life comes at a cost and creativity comes

at a cost and it does take courage and it does take a headstrong push sometimes. I was just feeling that like what it is to be underground in the dark to actually push through and seeing, you know, all of, it's such so visual in spring to see that energy having pushed through, whether it's through the soil or through leaves or buds coming through a stem of an opening, a cracking open. That combined with, in thinking of this, the pressure that builds up, like, keeping a lid on, just in reflecting on each of our own process of what it, what sometimes can help to keep a lid on something so that it doesn't it's not just released and that makes me think of sort of that

end of spring energy of of Gemini season of what then through the air I'm just going to talk about it and I have all all of these things and then it goes into the air and it dissipates and disappears rather than having a creativity needs a container yeah it needs a container to keep a lid on long enough to build some heat. Yeah. That's where the Taurus energy comes in, right? And in that story, Cardinal Aries, fixed Taurus, mutable Gemini. And each season tells that story of the beginning, the middle, and the end. What initiates, what holds and grows and cherishes, and then what dissolves and releases. We can map that on to the lunar cycle as well. But that three-part story of each season. And I think there's an understanding there too with Arias that like not every

seed that you sow is going to become a full bloom. And that takes some of the courage of Aries too. But once you've done that courageous work of bursting through and beginning to grow, then then you need all the Taurus yumminess. You need that warmth. You need time. And you need need some kind of container for the yeah you need a container of creativity and you need the you need to start thinking about aesthetics and thinking about harmonizing and thinking about what you're going to dedicate yourself to because it can't be all the things right what what is it that gets the focus and attention and what can feel like then this relationship to abundance and scarcity around, oh, all the time, all the materials, all the ideas, all the

everything, and then really, and to hone in and fine tune and actually work within limits, which doesn't have to mean feeling that there's scarcity around them, but working within the giving definition or structure. Yeah. Like here, here's the reality that I'm working with. Here is where I am. Here's the one patch of ground that I get to garden.

That's, and the slowing down and that idea of the kind of the corrective quality that each sign lends to the sign before. Mm-hmm. That just when we're kind of getting a little bit too much of Aries, then, Because Ares moves really fast. Yeah.

That's a lot of force in one direction. And Taurus just doesn't. And Taurus comes along and says, okay, slow down. What do we actually want to create here? What do we want to nurture? I feel like in like a manual stick shift in the car of like a down shift, right? Yeah, it is. Full speed ahead.

Like go the speed. energy. And right now I'm working on a series, the paintings for the next year's lunar wall calendar. And before knowing what the theme was going to be, I could put all kinds of energy in all kinds of different directions, but nothing was coming together. And it felt like sometimes when it can feel like, oh, this is just, this isn't going anywhere. And with Ares, when things kick in, it's like, oh, no, I can, I can have speed because I have direction. And I wonder, you know, anytime we're talking about like lunar currents, creative currents, there's this element of the unknown where it's not mapped out. With the lunar cycle, yes, there's still a mystery around it, that kind of unknown quality around what is going to unfold.

And so when there is this, when there's direction, there can be speed. And so once for me at least the theme and the scope and the elements were all together, then the process happened so quickly that like three paintings just came out in a week. Whereas what, it had been months and months and months. And so going from the unknown to the known, how we navigate that. And that feels very much like the new moon. and if we map that time of that incubation to Pisces and the energy before leading in, right, before the beginning, the before time, to have built up some tolerance of not knowing

and going through a process and enough times, and I still go through it to trust that some clarity will come. And you've given such a beautiful model there of those first three steps. I'm still thinking about the zodiacal order of doing the Pisces time. Here's the thing about Pisces time is it's open-ended and unlimited that can go on for days, months, or a lifetime, that we can be awash in the creative possibilities, that things can be growing deep beneath the surface. And then at a certain point, Pisces needs Ares to commit to the page. And you had that beautiful creative surge of the first three paintings. It's Aries energy is driving it forward.

And what has been incubating just emerges. Yeah. So when does Aries need Taurus? When you get to the end of those first three paintings and, you've run out of steam you have nine more because you've committed to this project and you do right like aries runs out of what do you run out of like the cardinal energy the excitement of beginning is what you run out of the excitement of beginning so what torus brings are those classic tourist qualities endurance loyalty to right and just um you know it takes an element of stubbornness to see a creative project

to the end. Yeah. It really does. You have to dig in and you have to enjoy that digging in. Slow down and remember what you love. Like, I know that it's the first pieces in a sequence that can just emerge in a sort of fiery blur. But then we go into the sensuality of tourists where we're reminded, oh, you know, why I'm doing this is because I love the sensuality of paint and the the sensuality of the process and the physicality of the process and it's okay to slow down. And is that how you're feeling? Like, where are you? Are you at the end of those three and you've moved on to having some sense of slowing down

and digging in that feels good? Are you still sort of hovering at the edge of Aries and looking to be re-inspired? That's such a good question. And the thing that I wrote down when you were talking about Taurus is what it takes to stick to something when that initial excitement wears off and then it becomes work. Then it becomes, oh, now, what is it going to take to follow through and how to retain some of that freshness, like the newness and the freshness that comes with the energy of Ares.

And as we're talking about this and giving these names. the word Ares in that signifier, that whole container for all these archetypes, you know, could be named any sort of thing. Like it could be named quickening as it could be named the Christmas. That would be a really good name for Aries. For me, it comes in the form of how to stay motivated, like how to keep that fire lit. Because I was getting up early and first thing going in and like, here's the paint. Like it's coming out.

coming out so fast that it just any waking moment. And then there was some recovery time from that to stand back and okay, okay, regroup. And now I feel like I'm in more of the tourist energy with this particular project, where it's starting to feel slower, which to me can feel discouraging. And so how to stay encouraged, but also get to step back and sort of a pretty, Oh, here's this, here's this direction. And there's enough structure to it that the freedom within it, there's different variables to play with.

And I'm getting more fluid with the materials of I'm working with watercolor on board instead of paper. And so it doesn't, it behaves differently. And so now I'm getting a feel for it where I can look at the first one I did and say, oh, it's not as refined now because I'm learning and growing. And that's the whole point. So I could go back to the first one and start over and make that one better. But then here we go with the cycles of beginning somewhere.

And then with the learning and the growing that unfolds through whatever the project or process might be. I mean, for some people, it might be making pie crust, figuring out the proportions and the temperatures. all these small details that go into how something turns out, for me at least with painting then, to not follow the impulse to want to go back to the start, like to go back to the starting line because of feeling dissatisfaction because of more fluency with the materials. Yeah. No, this is something so essential to that point. that Aries-Toros point in the creative process because that process of taking the idea into

material reality is what Taurus is all about. And the pitfalls of that movement, of the perfection of the idea, I think without the Aries drive, how would we get from Pisces to Taurus, right? Aries just has to push us through, to have the courage to start materially. Yeah. Because the reason we have to slow down with Taurus is because of the nature of the material world. It's imperfections and its beauty. But we're not in the realm of ideas anymore. So everything isn't just spontaneously generating because we think about it.

We have to deal with the reality of materials. That's Taurus, the physical reality. And then our problem is how do I make this beautiful? how do I make this beauty? And what, you know, defining beauty very broadly. How do I make this functional? How do I make this balanced? How do I make this whole?

And Torres gets very dug in and engaged with that. That's the work of Taurus. And to do that successfully, I think there's an element of just love and appreciation for the materials in and of themselves and the materials is teacher. Whether it's pie crust or a painting or, you know, know, welding things in an engine back together. I don't know. Doesn't matter the material, Taurus is about understanding, having, because that can very quickly become frustrating. Yeah. If you don't have that sort of Torean willingness to dig in and love the materials that you're working with and let them guide you and respect the wisdom of the material world

instead of seeing it as something that's just getting in the way of the perfection of your ideas. I was even going to say making it delicious. Making it delicious. Yeah. So moving from in the sequence and the order within the zodiac, and it's energy, right? It's like how energy moves and travels and slows down and speeds up. So after a tourist and this place that I find myself in,

of kind of slowing down, being a little more methodical. For example, all of the water signs are going to have their own, they're blue. And I thought, oh, I'll be methodical about it and mix the blue and then do all three water signs so I have the same color. But then the color wasn't matching. And so there's this practicality piece around like, oh, wait, how did I actually make that color to go back? Again, it's like this going back to the starting place of it just came out. it worked the first time. How do I make it work again? Like, how do I? Because part of, you know, that unspoken intention is to have some of this cohesion, but also not to have it be a cookie cutter,

like just using blue out of a tube. Yeah. So then how I'm mixing this, but then also matching it. And even with one of the yellows too, I was like, I don't actually even know. It was just in this, like, moment and fit of inspiration. I'm like, how did I make that shape? And not having... And that's like Torres and Aries talking together, like not understanding each other. Right. It's almost this like the internal, like, why weren't you methodical about it? Why didn't you mark down how much you were?

And I was like, I can't create that way. My creative process often just starts with just go for it and leap. And that's that kind of Aries dare of like, just jump. You'll just, you'll find out along the way. Don't worry. You'll grow wings or whatever. like sometimes delusional but yet helpful push, whatever form that comes in. Venda needs some like record or trace of how you got from this to that.

Yeah. Because I just have to laugh because it's such a classic touristism that, why weren't you methodical about it? Some things are just not methodical. And it's the job of tourists to bring the method to it. it. But here's a thing. Here's where you need the next correction because it's the rut. It's okay, we have a method. So great, that method is working for us. But then Taurus is just like in that track and we'll go plottingly. They're giving them like a not so nice Taurus word. Just

go along methodically. This is the way we do it. This is the way we do it. We do it this way. this is the way to do it, it gets entrenched. I mean, think about that. I just see that, like that muddy trench that bowl is trying to pick its way through. It's good till it's not. And then you find yourself mired. And that's where Gemini is the perfect antidote because it just opens everything up. But there's not one way.

There's, well, let's start with two. And then there's four. And then there's, and pretty soon. Exponential. Yeah. But Gemini has to kind of come in, and this is my internal conversation that's always happening between Taurus and Gemini. You can't say to Taurus in their one groove, there's a million ways to do that. That's not going to work. Just two. How about two? There's two ways to do that. Taurus can get a hold of that. So get into another track. And then by then, Gemini, Mercury has his little

hook in you. It's like, well, if there's another way, then there's the trickster, right? Yeah. That's just having me, has me reflecting on the kind of like almost little psychological tricks that each sign has to play on the one before to get it to go, to get it to go. And this isn't, I mean, this is the seasonal, the way it unfolds seasonally. We can think about that and how certain things, there's a better climate for them. during that season. But we have all of these 12 spokes of the wheel are running all the time inside us. And one of the things, ways that I love to work with clients is just like what we're talking

about, those internalized voices of each of the signs that are, ideally it's this beautiful council table and everybody is collaborating and everyone knows their job. That's really not the reality inside most people. But the seasons and this show. especially these beautiful moments like we're in now, the shifts between the seasons. And by seasons, I'm talking about zodiacal seasons, like erie season, tourist season, those shifts between the signs during the year gives us a chance to reflect on those inner dialogues.

And hopefully that gives us a more creative way to look at our own process. So it is linear and it's not. It can look at that sequence and it's really interesting to see how one shifts into another. We can also run it backwards. there's, you know, retrograde planets. There's the nodes that always move backwards. So we can run it backwards and do the self-correction backwards. We can put it in the circle or we can see the reality that it's all happening at once.

And we have all those voices all the time. And this is just our opportunity to kind of hone in on one little part of that inner council and see what's going on between your inner Ares, Taurus, and Gemini. And how the three of them can work together to really, get your creative process rolling. Because it's not like once you move into the tourist work of materiality and focus and commitment, you're still going to need to go backwards into Aries for your inspiration and forwards into Gemini for more new ideas to kind of feed.

It's not like you just stay in that one place. Yeah. I love how you've described that. All of the wisdom and all of this inner council. And so bringing this conversation that we're having and sharing. with that intention of how do we how do we inform our creative process, our creative practice? How is, how are we, how can we be informed by the energies and the motivations of the signs and the gifts?

I mean, both the gifts and the challenges to, you know, I would say for me, probably because I have so much earth in my chart to like not get stuck, to not get stuck in one place. But to bring in the movement, yeah, the fire, how we have the spring. And we're talking about the energy of fire, lighting or sparking something, reigniting, having that ember. And even for this cycle with the new moon in Aries, I've been thinking about, you know, and just creating a visual for a mandala for myself this cycle of adding to it and adding just a couple little flames each day and thinking what are those practices in our life that help us to blow on the ember.

Yeah. Especially when it feels like that ember is like near going out or isn't in like a maybe hasn't been fed for a while. And so again, being a visual artist and needing visual reminders of things to actually mark and draw some little red flames so that over a whole lunar cycle and. creating this visual of the creative fire. But that creative fire comes through a daily tending, the small little things like the changing the dirty paint water so that it's fresh and clean again. Oh, that's beautiful. Yeah. So you're reminding yourself to resource yourself with that Ares energy

throughout your days, throughout the year with a beautiful visual reminder. I love the analogy of paintwater too because that really murky, that's so Taurus, like it starts to build up the silt at the bottom. And then you're working with some old mucky stuff, which Taurus can get into. So clear it out. And you can go in either direction to the Gemini with new ideas or to the Ares with the fires of inspiration. Yeah. Clear out when the Taurus gets mucky. Well, and this is this, just as you're speaking, I'm thinking of how Earth's,

signs, which by nature earth signs have a more fixedness to them, but Taurus being a fixed earth sign that is the most fixed of the fixed. There's this pivoting, this like the invitation is which direction for earth especially. The other ones may need that for other reasons, but for earth of which way am I going to pivot towards the fire, towards the air? Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot that's there. And as you're describing Taurus too, because of modalities that each season have, there's an energy that starts it out and then holds it in place and then shifts it so that the movement, all of this is pointing to and speaking to like movement and change and impermanence is always the name of the game and how it is learning about astrology,

but also living and identifying when the energy of each of the signs is present or comes up, then helps us be in that game of change and not get stuck or hold on to I just want this phase. Like I just want the zenith phase. I just want the full moon phase. I just want the phase where like the project is over and I'm just celebrating and reveling and getting all this attention or that however the full moon zenith presents itself like summer solstice. we may have a preference of which part of the creative cycle, which part of the lunar cycle, which part of the whole solar year we have as like a feeling of a sweet spot. That's so interesting because I was just thinking like for me that's the rest and dream of what's

next is where I would just like to stay. in that infinite possibility and the calmness of the resting after and before. And I was born under a new moon. I have a lot going on in the 12th house. So that resonates with my chart. But it may or may not. And that's just a really beautiful thing to reflect on. It's where is it that I want to stay in the creative process.

And I know I'm going to have to move through each part of it. But I think the other piece here is knowing that, and this is a lot of the work that I do with people too, is the way that your chart is designed is so perfectly beautiful for you. So it's not like you're thinking about where in the creative cycle you want to stay as, oh, that's the thing I have to overcome then. It's actually the opposite. It's like, that's where I want to stay. So that's kind of where my genius is. And that's what I want to lean into. And yes, I may need some help or encouragement to access the parts that feel most difficult, whether it's the visibility of the full moon or the getting started or the sticking with it. Like we're all going to have those places where we feel like we fall down. We all have a place like that. And it's okay to reach outside ourselves, whether it's for that symbol, like that visual reminder of the fire or whether it's collaborating with somebody that holds an energy that that complements yours

or that idea of interdependence, I think, is also something we're discouraged about, like, yes, we contain all the potentialities, but we don't contain them all in equal measure so that they can all perfectly do their perfect thing all the time. We have places where we're more comfortable, and those are going to be our power places. And then we have places where it's okay for us to ask for help because they're not as full of power. So it's the uses of that self-knowledge. I mean, we both talk about that self-reflection, self-study, self-knowledge. But if we're just using that to criticize or berate ourselves or to try to point out our weaknesses,

that's not going to get us very far. And I think maybe it's something that holds people back from understanding their own process because so much of that in the culture is geared towards, find out what it is so you can fix it. Or how about find out what it is so you can lean into it, enjoy it, and use it. I don't know. When you were describing those places of, yeah, what are all those places around the creative cycle?

That brings us back to the lunar cycle, right? And that brings us back to the lunar cycle. And that what you mentioned, too, of the natal moon phase. and how that really can possibly offer some of that information around our own expression, in relationship with creativity and that energy that flows through. And I was just thinking for me, that's the disseminating moon. That's like after the full moon, after the project has been completed. And then what?

And then what happens? Like once something's done, it's to be. has a life and that's the it takes on a life of its own and and some of the work then is the sharing and the spreading and everything that the disseminating moon that energy of like really beginning the release and that entering into seasonally like the peak of summers over and so then what happens after that and that again a whole that whole other half of the cycle that in the words that I read at the beginning of, of Dr. Estes's entropy, that beginning of the beginning of the entropy.

It's like, oh, I got that beautiful pear, but now it's really mushy on one. Maybe is that, did it tip over into now it's compost? Or is it still like, what is that, the life that went into that? Where is that going? What form is it changing? and transforming into the wisdom of the disseminating phase, right, is finding that line of perfect ripeness. Because that's when you want to share when it's in that place of perfect ripeness.

Yeah. Just after culmination. So do you want to talk us through just briefly how each of those phases maps onto the, I think we've talked about a couple of them, but maybe not in the sequence. Right. That whole, that sequence. And what I love about this conversation too and what you and I talk about so much is like the fractal nature of all of this, of this cycle of movement of energy could happen throughout the day. Yeah. Over the course, you know, over the course of a day or a lunar cycle. And the bigger things like creative projects that unfold over, I mean some things over. over decades, that there's also, there's no, there's no sort of set length of time that has to be ascribed or associated.

But having this language has just been so helpful for me for understanding creative cycles. So what you've shared about that waiting period and the incubation and stillness and that that time of the lunar cycle where there isn't really light. There's no way to really access, visually access the moon. And that might be the time of a creative project where maybe you're trying to visualize or see or make some shape or give form to something, but it's still really blurry. And that maps on to Pisces of where we can be in the space of Pisces,

where there isn't definition. And so it's beautiful because then it can take any form. But to create something is to give something form. Is it? I said that, but I'm like, is that true? To create something is to give it a form and a shape of some kind. Again, it could be sculpture or ceramic or, you know, something like three-dimensional.

But it could also be like where the seeds are going to be planted in the garden and what relationships of plants are going to be formed. So that place of incubation and stillness and the infinite possibility that then when a little bit of the spark or the fire or the distance between the sun and the moon starts to grow and then that form, at least for the moon, takes shape or that form. or that form of the of the idea then gets a little bit of its definition. And there's a particular energy there. And that's what we've been describing is this the story of spring starts with that,

that quickening. That little bit of light, just a little bit of light. She's taking just a little bit of light. It's such a beautiful moment. Yeah. in the creative process where, yeah, that's really such a mysterious place where it does start to take form. Where things almost like, and my experience, I mean, it's so fresh for me of going from what is the theme going to be and messing around with really feeling like I'm fumbling around in the dark, just like bumping my head against these walls and to then some things clicking into place. And so moving from that, then this can relate to, you know, if you know you were born under or around the crescent moon, our own natal moon phase is another way to really to personalize.

And see where we may be drawn or may have like gifts or skills or something to offer from that place that stations us around the whole circle and the whole site. cycle. And then there's the first quarter. So then there's more shape that's given and there's more light that's visible. As I'm speaking, I'm like, oh, yes, and here we are talking about eight phases, the eight and the 12 of how, right, this is the work we're doing with lunar and nature and reinventing the wheel of the years. There's 12 months and 12 and a little bit of lunar cycles that fit all within this solar year. And yet there's these eight moments or eight phases that have been named within a lunar cycle or within the points on the wheel of the year.

So in the eight and 12, they don't like line up perfectly. They don't. And there's that the syncopation creates. I don't know. I think there's an opening there for. There's something really special about that. And this is some of the work that we've been doing together this year has inspired me to to learn more about the history of calendars and the way across cultures and across time.

We've attempted to resolve that sun moon issue of how they just don't fit together neatly. They do fit together, but they don't fit together neatly. And it's actually inspiring to learn about all the different ways that cultures through time have resolved this in creating their calendars. And there's, I mean, we're still working on it. There's no perfect fix. And some cultures have decided to live with like a lunar calendar that's for the spiritual life and a solar calendar that's for civic life, which is kind of what we do in our own

culture. There's a sort of like a subculture of people who work with the lunar calendar for spiritual reasons and creative reasons. But I think it's something about this world that we're. we live in is that almost perfect fit and the developmental challenge of there being an almost perfect fit and the creativity that it inspires and it's modeled for us by our two luminaries. And what are we going to do with that? Be frustrated by it. Can see it as a problem or use it as an opening for creativity the way so many peoples and cultures have used it in the past. It's really,

really interesting to learn about the history of calendars. Who knew? There's so much there about how we deal with time and what we think is important. And the sun and the moon and what each of them mean for us and what each of them have meant symbolically to different cultures. It's really rich. So rich. And that it's not fixed. I mean that that even for me moves from this more like Taurus or fixed sign understanding of this is the way it is. And this Gregorian calendar is fixed. And this is how, you know, there's one way and this is it. Then to move into a Gemini understanding of like, wait a minute.

It's like this kaleidoscope that could be rearranged in so many different ways. Yeah. That really then shows points to. to where there are values, what's valued, what's given value and worth. And all of our ancestors throughout time have looked to the sky. Yeah. To understand the passage of time and to give meaning and story and life bring to life what those markers are.

Yeah. What marks that passing? Yeah. Well, we've gotten up to the first quarter. moon. I wonder if we go through. I'm like, but that's actually kind of perfect because that's, I mean, even if we just left it there, that's Ares tourist Gemini. If we want to imperfectly map the 12 onto the 8th. Right. That gives us this, this slice of the pie that that goes from a winter solstice to spring equinox and then a little bit beyond into the into the Gemini season where the

something that occurred to me when when you were talking and I loved this about what each sign has to do to kind of encourage the one next to it. Yeah. To shift is like some of that Gemini conversation is like, oh, but yeah, your your petals are so beautiful like this form of the flower, this form that that Taurus gives us like the earthly form. It's like, oh, but just like, you know, drop all the petals, like let all of the butterflies and insects come and visit and like basically help you to reproduce yourself and in that process of like letting go of your beautiful form, then you're like giving, giving of yourself to then all the

many seeds. That nectar goes out in those bees or so. Was it you that was talking about bees and Gemini? I was talking to somebody recently. I wish it was you. I mean, I don't know if we had the conversation, but that's how I've always associated Gemini with the pollinators. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It makes so much sense. And that's that's such a beautiful way to view that tourist Gemini relationship. It's like, here come the bees and hummingbirds. I mean, yes, you can just rest in that fragrant deliciousness of being an old rose in full bloom, but you have so much to offer. Oh, I love that.

Well, speaking of offering, we have been, I mean, I have been loving this conversation with you, Bronwyn, about creativity and how we can understand even deeper our own sort of template of how our creative process works and unfolds. And so we have been talking about, like, what kind of fun workshop might follow this or grow? out of this. Yeah, we had been sharing just how it is that we can look to our chart to understand how for each of us there isn't one set way that creativity unfolds. Yeah, that different, basically different planets come in at different times to, that help to move the process along or inform, inform the process along the way. So, yeah, Yeah, we've just been talking about, like, ways to explore this and play with it, really, of bringing in astrology and creativity into our life and bring all of this alive in a way where we're playing with it. And we have access to tuning in, tapping into the signs, but also the planets in their unique configuration and in each of our charts.

Yeah, I think we can all share the templates of a creative cycle, like in terms of the lunar cycle or the year, we can all relate to the seasonality or the phase. But we also each do have our own unique imprint of, it's almost like a little piece of melody that's where how my own creative process. maps onto those sort of perfect forms. And it's, the chart offers so many beautiful ways to look at that. Like so many different ways that we could break down your natal chart in terms of your creative cycle. But there was,

there is a really beautiful method that I learned from my mentor, Anne Ortley, who originated this method, but I use it a little bit differently than she does. She calls it the pinball method or a creative flow. I kind of like to think of it as the energy flow of your chart. And even if it can be a complex technique, but it can also be very simple. So even if you're just beginning with astrology, it's a great technique to play with,

to get to know the archetypes of the planets and kind of how they show up in your chart without all the layered complexity of even science, houses, and aspects. It's just the planets and how they play together in your chart. So it's actually a great technique because it has a lot to offer even professional level astrologers, but also it can be a beautiful entry point when you're just learning about your chart. And it maps particularly well. People will recognize it. Like as soon as you offer this technique and a simplified version, you will recognize yourself in the creative pattern.

You will just, I mean, we've both had this experience too. I'm just like, you lay it out and you go, oh my gosh, that's exactly my process. Yes, those are the places I get stuck. Yes, those are the places where I'm dormant. Yes, those are the exciting spots. So we're brewing up a way to access this technique in a really simple way, accessible to you, no matter where you are on your astrology journey. And April, it will be bringing in some hands on. Let's do some Taurus and make something beautiful from this to help us understand to get the hands and the eyes and the symbols in the mind all working together.

How's that for Ares Taurus, Gemma? Oh, it's all right there. And then it becomes the tool of inquiries and having it right there in front of you to see, like, here's this layout. But then what does it mean and being curious? I think that's for me what I love about it is like, oh, how can I be curious about this? Not that it's determining how things should be or like that it would have any like control or power over me and my process, but that I can understand the creative process and how it unfolds. and be in dialogue with this layout of the arrangement of the planets in this particular way. And play with it and be curious in that very, you know, Gemini, youthful kind of, I wonder what, I wonder.

Yeah. Playful curiosity. And that I'm, I thank you for those words because it's such a good reminder that this is another way that Gemini creates the antidote for tourists. like, you know me, I'm a tourist is tourist. I'm very tourist, but we can get a little dogmatic. Like, once we get fixed on an idea, we can kind of be like, no, this is what it looks like. This is the way it is for everybody. And Gemini, Gemini won't fight you on that. Gemini will just come in and say, yeah, maybe, but also, what about this? When you like to play with that? The invitation to play. So that's what we'll do. And when this, when this, episode goes out, the link will be there if you're curious, want to come and play and learn

and learn with us. Yeah. This has been so much fun. I'm so grateful, Bronwyn, for this, really this way to play with and kind of rearrange and look at and not even just look at, but embody and feel and understand and have examples of how the signs. play out and the wisdom that's within the zodiac that can be applied to the creative process. Yeah, such a fun conversation. There's room for many more conversations on this topic. It's really exciting.

All right. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. And all the links will be below. And until next time, thanks for tuning into Lunar Currents. If you like this podcast, please subscribe, leave a review, share it with a friend, all the things to help it reach more people who will benefit in some meaningful way. I'm April and I'll be with you next time on Between the Moon.