The last quarter Moon is in Cancer today, squaring the Sun in Libra. Meanwhile Mars is moving into an opposition with Neptune and conjunction with Jupiter.
One of the most common themes that comes up with Mars opposite Neptune is the theme of victims, martyrs, saviors, and the death or downfall of heroes. In new age culture the word “victim” is a trigger word. Nobody wants to be a victim, and yet everyone is rising above their childhood traumas and other things that “happened to us.” Every time we go to a new workshop, go through another astrological transit, read a new book, take a new class, go through another breakup, we say, “I needed that, I see why that was necessary,” or most popular, “I’m just peeling another layer of the onion.”
So today, let’s peel the onion metaphor itself, in the hopes that examining our metaphors in playful practice might show us something new:
* There aren’t an infinite amount of layers to an onion..they eventually end
* If we imagine ourselves peeling onions as often as we talk about purging or going through another “layer” of our “stuff,” then we’re doing a whole lot of onion peeling…does anyone really desire to stand in a kitchen somewhere peeling onions on and on?
* Peeling onions makes you cry, but they aren’t “real” tears of sadness or release, in fact people often say “What’s wrong?” and we say, “Oh, nothing, I’m must peeling an onion.” Then we laugh. “Oh it’s just the onion.” Hmmm.
* If you were teaching a kid to peel an onion for the sake of cooking something tasty, you would probably instruct them to begin chopping it up into small pieces after peeling off the outer skin…you would probably see it as tedious and a waste of time for them to literally peel the entire thing, layer by layer…hmmm?
* Onions are almost never that great on their own. Most people like them as garnishes or flavor complements to something else. Is it possible that spiritual insights or experiences are sometimes better used as complements rather than main dishes?
In praise of onions:
* The flavonoids in onions are concentrated in the outer layers of flesh..apparently that means we’re not supposed to over peel them in order to get some of their most awesome benefits
* Onions prepared without too much of the outer flesh removed are connected to cancer prevention when they are a complementary staple of our regular diet
* Using low heat (rather than an intense alchemical boil) with onions in soup, again not removing too much of their flesh, will transfer their beneficial qualities into the broth rather than killing them
* Onions smell bad but they also fight colds, coughs, and viruses…it used to be believed that the smellier the onion was, the more powerful its healing properties
We could go on and on…and others could add different onion images in ten more directions, but the simple point is to get more creative with how we work the images we love. When Mars and Neptune come into contact it can be easy to feel like the tragic hero of life’s circumstances. It can feel like we’re rising above things that have “happened to us,” or like we’re peeling back or burning through another tragic”layer” of the karmic onion. It can help at times like these to play with our images a bit more freely. Are these “real” tears, or do I just love peeling onions? Does it matter? Why? Were these episodes in my past real episodes, are they still real, or do I just love the story of redemption through hard fought victories? Does it matter? Why?
Prayer: Stinky onion stew, how we love you. How we love both the false tears and the real, peel, peel, peel!
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