Spell-ing

Mercury in Aquarius

Words are heavy.

More and more, I’ve found myself with something to say and no easy way to put it into words. The image I see in my mind, the thought I sense in my head, the feeling I notice in my body - they are all so perfect, so vivid, so real. Then I try to sound it out and things get so clunky that I very quickly want to give up. It feels like I’m speaking a foreign language, that I just don’t have access to the vocabulary I would need to deliver the totality of my message.

I remember once when a friend and I met for brunch in New York and we were so mortally hungover that neither of us could manage to finish our sentences. So we decided there was a conversational special on the Mexican-inspired menu, an option to instantaneously abandon a stream of words already in progress. “I’ll take the special,” we’d say, as we stopped trying to talk it out and let the usual lively verbal exchanges evaporate into laughter at our own incapacity. It was awesome, and the connection between us was even more joyful than our more functional dates.

I’ve been taking the special a lot lately, especially when it comes to describing my (increasingly vivid) dreams. For example, you know when you’re at home in a dream but it’s not really like your home in waking life and it’s also a university amphitheater where the actors are getting ready to perform a musical number about space-time? There’s no word for that. Not even close. And I bet you do know what I mean about things in dreams that are familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, but neither of us is going to be able to effectively translate that into speech because it’s an experience that didn’t happen in the physical world.

So maybe I’ve been feeling the heaviness of language more because I’m more aware of how I exist beyond these lips, these hands, this brain, this body. And as my life feels more imbued with a sense of universal oneness - the connection we all share - the physical world can feel awfully cumbersome. This brings me back to the recent shift in energy when the Lunar Nodes changed signs, the collective invitation we all received to loosen our rational processing and let more light in. It also echoes the sentiments of the brilliantly communicative non-speaking children featured in the Telepathy Tapes, a self-proclaimed “podcast beyond words.”¹

At the same time, I’m also a writer and I love putting things into words. Language is so beautiful, and when I write, I feel how every single letter brims with meaning.² Language helps us to organize and share our thoughts and feelings in the physical world, and it’s one way that our brains can receive information from the people around us. Words crystallize our beliefs, and they shape the subconscious structure through which we relate to ourselves and the world. So as awkward as it might be to speak sometimes, words matter.

When I look up, I see how Mercury - our cosmic scribe - is spelling out this message in the sky. Mercury came into the studied sign of Aquarius earlier this week, and it now draws our attention to the ways that we solidify our thoughts into words. As an air sign, Aquarius is interested in the mental landscape - and as a fixed sign, it wants to bring stability to our neural networks. Aquarius helps us see that the words we repeat will become our beliefs, that every syllable spoken has the potential to rewire our brain.

So Mercury in Aquarius shows us that words really are spells, that language brings form to our lives through spell-ing. It is deeply empowering to know that you can change your life just by changing how you talk about it, that you can become a new version of yourself if you start describing yourself in a new way. Our words also reveal the beliefs we hold in our subconscious, and it can be arresting to listen to your voice when it says things that are less than pleasant. Notice how you feel about yourself when you start a sentence with “I can’t” - that says it all.

I felt this wisdom in my bones on Wednesday as Mercury arrived for its annual rendez-vous with Pluto. This smallest planet’s³ cosmic clout is not to be underestimated, and the profound impact of this icy rock on our consciousness reminds me that little things (like words) matter a lot more than you might think. This year’s Mercury/Pluto conjunction brought me a short video detailing a technique to change your energy through speech and movement, and with it a poignant reminder that you are what you say you are.

In the clip, Paula - a skilled therapist - cautions us to be very mindful about the difference between “I am” and “I feel.” Because our subconscious records everything we say, she advises us to use the language of feeling rather than the language of being if what we want to express is anything less than divinely positive. There is, for example, a vast difference between “I am sick” and “I feel sick.” One of these you own, and the other one is just passing through.⁴

So as Mercury makes its way through Aquarius these next two weeks, I invite us all to pay more attention to what we (say we) are. I also encourage you to put a note in your calendar for Sunday, February 9 when Mercury will pass through the heart of the Sun in a blazing cazimi. This is a fantastic time to burn away limiting beliefs about who you are (answer: everything) and what you can do (answer: anything). And as Mercury looks to the ruling representative of Aquarius - Saturn, currently swimming in open-hearted Pisces - be sure to see the version of yourself that you’re leaving behind with compassionate appreciation for the wisdom they have offered you.

For my part, I’ve developed a daily practice of putting cosmic opportunities into words (and images) here on Substack. You can find these in your feed or on my homepage, and I’d love to know how they land. This is from yesterday:

And if you’d like to take advantage of what’s happening up above to clear limiting beliefs, release negative thoughts, and open up more space in your mind - click the button below and join me for a taste of Energy Coaching.

Love,

Patrick

PS: If you enjoyed reading this, it would help me so much if you could like it, write a comment, repost it or share with a friend. My words for this year are “enriching community”, and it warms my heart to know you’re here with me. ❤️

1. Somehow I never noticed this subtitle until now! I love it when something is sitting so perfectly in your awareness that you don’t even need to know what it says to know what it is. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to listen to this podcast. You’ll find a wonderful new way of seeing the world 💖

2. I remember two years ago when my friend Shivaun lovingly pointed out my accidental reference to “seismic shits” in a post. One little letter can make all the difference!

3. Pluto’s demotion to “dwarf planet” in 2006 never made sense to me, and perhaps this episode shed light on how the planetary classification scheme is (like so many things) made-up by humans and hence embroiled in human politics. So I’m taking back my power and choosing to call Pluto what it feels like to me. A planet by any other name would smell as sweet.🌹

4. Some languages have a built-in way to express transient states, like the difference in Spanish between ser (I am always) and estar (I am right now).