This portal helps free us from the effects of brainwashing and other influences that interrupt the connection with our essential selves. Scorpio has the power to go within in order to reveal and shed the automaticity of following or absorbing the behavior, perception or expectations of others.
An anonymous author has observed that it’s easier to improve as individuals than as a collective. Have you ever made progress with personal change, only to confront a tendency to get off track when interacting with others? Many of us are committed to finding peace within and sharing it, yet collectively we continue to support unsolicited military involvement in other countries. The Sabian symbol describes the social glamorization of obsolete institutions: “Scintillating with the flash of the instruments and the colors of the banners and uniforms, a military band is marching.” About this symbol, Terry Lamb asks: “Do those we adhere to share our deepest values, or is our allegiance based on habit and appearance, the enticement of a catchy phrase or flashy slogan?”
Such enticements are not limited to politics. The tendency to disown our perception and values in order to fit in or feel accepted permeates all kinds of relationships. In the 1960s, psychologist Stanley Milgram set up what has since becomes an infamous test, designed to detect where people would draw the line when a authority figure asked them to carry out a destructive act. Volunteers were recruited from the public at large as “teachers”, whose task was to punish “students” by applying shock treatments of increasing intensity each time they made a mistake. The students were actually actors who would complain when the simulated shocks began, protest increasingly and ultimately scream out in anguish as the voltage became higher. To the amazement of the psychiatrists running the test, well over half of the volunteer “teachers” continued to give the shocks right up to the highest intensity (450 volts). In her book, The Manipulated Mind, Denise Winn describes similar dynamics in settings that range from concentration camps to abusive relationships. Even in city streets, a group mind syndrome can paralyze bystanders who fail to intervene when witnessing an assault or even a murder.
On a lighter note, I have a humorous memory from my teens. An illustrious friend had invited my sister Susan and me to an event with a guru who was visiting from the Far East. We arrived at a beautiful home in the Larkspur hills a bit late, and obediently sought a place in the back of the large, crowded room so as not to interrupt. Just we were bending to sit on the wooden floor, a master of ceremonies introduced the guru, and the entire group in front of us began to kowtow. My sister and I began to follow suit, but since the situation and positions were for us a surprise, we stumbled and fell over ourselves. We were caught off guard while trying to honor the foreign customs of our host, but this Robbin Williams-esque scene evokes the fine line between positive cooperation and automatic compliance. How often do we go with the flow of the social environment before heeding our doubts?
Scorpio knows all about mind control, and in its most dexterous mode, has the power to shake it off. Jupiter helps free this potential, as it makes an exact semisextile and quinqunx to the Sun-Moon opposition in Luna’s chart. The ceremony below is synchronized with the cosmic gate now opening to release our minds.
Prayerful Altar-ations
- Light blue and/or white candle
- Wild flowers
- Sage smudge or incense
- A picture or symbol of an eagle to represent the overcoming Scorpio
- A picture or object that reflects or represents the real you
- Bach flower essences: Agrimony and Clematis
- Page and pen or journal for each participant
Ceremony
1) Light your incense or smudge as you say something like,
This is an offering for the Angels of Freedom help me discern and release influences and information that does not resonate with my essence.
2) Walk clockwise in a circle around the area as you say,
I am (we are) surrounded by liberating grace, which now removes me (us) from influences and situations of destructive programming.
3) Light the candle/s as you say,
Spirit’s radiance fills, illuminates and shields my mind so that I may by true my highest self.
4) Make a Brainwashing Release List, specifying the tendencies you would like to eliminate. The following examples from my prayer group may trigger your own independent discernment:
Taking mainstream news at face value
The tendency to console or comfort someone by joining in negative criticism of others, especially (name of person or group I do this with)
Continually wondering how others perceive me rather than what I feel, like or desire
Eating what others want
Allowing my partner’s strong personality to make me doubt my own worth or capabilities
Subliminal messages in ads, songs or media broadcasting
Toxic shame
Relationships that make me doubt my worth
Self-rejection due to body image (age, size and so on)
Wearing nylons and other synthetic clothing
Staying in bed later than I want not to elicit criticism from my partner
The idea that another’s striking qualities or achievements make me less worthy or capable
Tendency to criticize before understanding people or situations
Ignoring or belittling my intelligence in order to be humble
Decipher your own!
Write above or next to this list:
I have been given free will to choose what I wish to experience or reject, and I choose not to live with conscious or unconscious susceptibility to influences or suggestions, open or subliminal, that don’t go with the highest and the best for me. This intent opens the channels to the Grace that now sweeps through my mind and life, taking with it situations, behaviors and habits that don’t resonate with my values. I ask my guardian angel (or name preferred guide) to help me honor myself and the divine voice within at all times. Thank You, Higher Power, thank you, angel.
Continue to repeat affirmations like those above during at least 6 minutes each morning. Reinforce by taking brief breaks throughout the day to check within and affirm ideas like:
I am free from concern with the opinions of others; I am true to my highest values. I enjoy honoring and respecting myself…
A little bit of daily practice goes a long way to reclaim our centers and shake off destructive programing, especially if we start at or around this lunation in the sign of Power Itself and continue for at least 2 weeks. Scorpio likes to question, and so we conclude by stimulating the reader’s—and the writer’s—imagination as we wonder: could it be that the critical mass for a new paradigm of collective freedom is nearer than it seems?
References
Bills, Rex E., The Rulership Book (USA, American Federation of Astrologers, 1971)
Lamb, Terry, May 2011 Free Daily Success Guide (Daykeeperjournal.com, May 2011)
Ponder, Catherine, Dynamic Laws of Healing
Scheffer, Mechthild, Flores que curan el alma, Ediciones Urano Barcelona, 1993.
Winn, Denise, The Manipulated Mind: Brainwashing, Conditioning, and Indoctrination
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