photo credit: Laura Weyl
Kicking off the month of June, join a cohort of New York City’s radical creatives on a journey into expanded nature consciousness. It’s Pride Month, why not celebrate by Walking the Rainbow Bridge? ‘Wounded Healer’ Chiron is a magical creature of myth who’s half-man half-unicorn form symbolizes our human capacity for both differentiated rational thought (left brain/Solar) and intuitive awareness (right brain/Lunar). GOING INTO NATURE, GROUNDING, SHARING, & CONNECTING WITH EACH OTHER TO RAISE THE FREQUENCY OF THE PLANET AND EXPANDING AWARENESS… during this outdoor workshop participants go on a guided nature experience invoking the energy of earth and sky to heal and grow in a safe, collaborative container.
Included in the 3-hour Activation:
- A guided nature ritual at the pond led by Queens-native Psychic & Astrologer Kosmic Jedi King Adonnis
- Introduction to wounded healer Chiron and personalized, healing astro-insights with Midheaven Or Nah
- Meditative Breathwork activation & collective flower mandala making
- Introduction to Ecstatic Trance via Ritual Body Postures in the woods, facilitated by Fanny Perez
- Opportunity for journaling, reflection & integration
photo credit: @vvvalentina
All You Need to Know about Chiron
Chiron ‘Shaman of the Skies,’ is an asteroid (some prefer to call it a small planet) personified by the Centaur or Unicorn. Priest King of wounded healers, Chiron was a great teacher who initiated healers, warriors and magicians. Chiron rules the synchronicity principle, magical teachings and divination itself. With spherical energy like a bridge, Chiron directs us to the higher dimensions ruled by outer planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Chiron is the key to mastery in the form of the conscious evolution of self with magical forces. In Chiron and the Healing Journey Melanie Reinhart (1) explores intricately how Chiron reminds us the goal of healing is not about being pain-free or even comfortable. In every shamanic tradition, the shaman-in-training endures a period of illness or suffering – a trial which leads one to die to their former self and rebirth in communion with the world of spirits and nature, a future ‘channel for interspecies communication.’ When confronting loss and travail, Chiron helps one find the way to the center of our own labyrinth, our awakening consciousness.
The map is not the territory, insists Chiron, reminding us how whenever we think we have figured out ‘the answer’ we risk forcing ourselves into the corner of our own unconscious hopes and fears. Reinhardt explains that Chiron is about NOT asking what something means; but rather, assuming that we live in a meaningful universe and waiting for it to speak to and through us. Flying wind horse of our vital consciousness, Chiron embodies our cosmopoetic connection to the unified force field beyond what our senses perceive. When we begin to look at our own wounds in this way, we realize individuality is not an isolated phenomenon, but maintains value in transpersonal relationship. When suffering opens the heart, many different dimensions of experience enter in. The more fluid our understanding, the deeper our healing.
Fanny Pérez @fannnsystem
In Chiron: Rainbow Bridge Between the Outer and Inner Planets (2) astrologer Barbara Hand Clow explains how Chiron rules the place between dimensions which is timeless, empty and placeless – the interface point between the inner (personal) and outer (transpersonal) planets. Hand Clow writes, “The ancients worked with the outer planets as intuitive, unseen energies. In fact, they had no bridge to the outer planet energies – Uranus as kundalini energy; Neptune as the divine within; and Pluto as galactic evolution. So, they used magical techniques – occult technology – to contact those forces…with the sighting of Chiron, each individual can [now] walk the rainbow bridge.” Her book on the subject is a manual for initiates keen on ‘Walking the Rainbow Bridge’ of Chiron’s wisdom and is grounded in her radical association of Chiron with Virgo and the 6th house – what she identifies as the lower octave and physiological key to our work with Pisces and the 12th house of expanded consciousness, karmic endings and crossing over. Chiron’s association with the sixth house means Chiron rules the process of work and how we heal ourselves with initiation into our work as sacred. Based on the notion that we change the planet and future when we change ourselves (called the ‘Great Work’ by alchemists) Chiron is about turning our wound into our greatest gift. Belief in Chiron’s magic is a belief that alchemy alters matter. Hand Clow writes her book to a human species on the brink of collapse – having exhausted our obsession with control (Saturn) – most of us have become accustomed to limiting instead of expanding perception. Saturn being the planet which rules making structure and form in our Earth lives, with Chiron orbiting between Saturn and Uranus – Chiron energy is a bridge to the outer planets orbiting between death (Saturn) and life (Uranus). Since its discovery in the 70s, Chiron’s alchemical gate wisdom makes it possible to better understand Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
Chariklo, wife of Chiron
Chiron’s orbit being highly elliptical, it is the planet which rules spirals or the universal pattern of growth and evolution. Modern science reveals truths about the universe that echo spiritual intuitions about the spiral that have endured through time. Spiral formations, whole or unbound, fall into a kind of ‘serpentine’ flow, and are the marker of anything that is alive, that is teeming with vital energy. Mountain ranges, coastlines, rivers and anything that flows along (including the rivers of air within each hemisphere stabilizing our climate) spiral forward in this way. A symbol found in early cave art and archaeological treasures of prehistory as well as human physiology, plants, minerals, animals, energy patterns, weather, growth and death – the spiral represents the goddess, womb, fertility and life force energy, making Chiron’s story very much related to the resurrection of the feminine earth wisdom of ancients. Chiron’s spiraling orbit reminds us of our evolving journey in life – life’s ever unfolding miracle.
Saturn, Uranus & Pluto: Co-Rulers of Kundalini Shakti
But if only it were that simple or easy. Chiron forces us to heal through pain – through overwhelming, unbearable injuries to the soul that cripple us lest we acknowledge and work with their root cause. The major life cycle transits known as the Saturn Return (age 29), Uranus opposition (midlife crisis age 38-42) and the Chiron Return (age 50) together reveal the essential truth of Chiron’s poison come medicine. They also support Chiron’s rulership of Virgo in that the cycles of these three powerful planets are gateways to Neptunian compassion and unity consciousness. Chiron’s wisdom teachings are ‘keys to the cosmos’ accessible from the Earth plane exemplifying the struggle between Saturn (Time/Death) and Uranus (Life/Kundalini). The Saturn Return initiating the first major life-crisis or growth cycle is an opportunity to accelerate vibrations with growth – our cellular response to life itself. Life crises are designed to push one to recognize the soul exists in one’s body – what often initially feels more like the realization that the soul is imprisoned in one’s body. Chiron causes us to suffer until we learn to effectively master the body (6th house) in order to elevate into the Kingdom of Cosmic Attunement (12th house).
When we avoid the work these difficult planetary transits require, we unwittingly court death. As one encounters essential Chironic pain, one may experience the desire to leave this plane of existence. In Myth, Chiron was poisoned with the blood of Hydra, the nine-headed serpent beast often associated with Scorpio for whom every head gets chopped off by Hercules, three sprout in its place. Unlike Hercules who sets out to SLAY, Chiron is the anti-hero who understands that the Hydra’s poison not only represents what is repressed within ourselves, but is a kind of medicine in itself. For many, Chiron separates us temporarily from the Earth to create a space in our consciousness for realignment with the etheric planes or Source essence. Periods of suicidal ideation or self-destructive and escapist behaviors may test one thoroughly during these transits, demanding that one create better habits (Pluto), access Higher Awareness (Uranus) or submit to death (Saturn). While Saturn, Chiron and Uranus rule these three major life transits, Pluto is the evolutionary force which deepens and clears out energy in relation to the whole life cycle. As Hand Clow confirms in her case studies of clients, Chiron transforms or causes death. If the Uranus opposition is successfully completed at mid-life, a renewed being emerges with chakras open all the way up the spine, leaving the mind free to perfect itself during the forties in preparation for an open crown chakra at the Chiron return. Thus, when we find the courage to give our inner-Hydra space with wise awareness, we are redeemed. The healer is born.
Kosmic Jedi King Adonnis @devleohadonnis
What to Expect at the Wokeshop
During the ritual next month in Queen’s Forrest Park, our facilitators will be taking you on a sensory-oriented guided nature journey crystallizing our right relationship to the land through embodied wellness techniques from the ancient mystery school’s of astrology, divination, yoga and a lesser known technique known as Ritual Body Postures pioneered by anthropologist Felicitas Goodman. Followed by Pranayama (Breathwork) led by Or Nah, Fanny Perez will introduce us to Ritual Body Postures – a practical method to reach ecstatic trance mediated by posture and sonic driving. Used for healing, journeying, shape-shifting and connecting to the universal mind – the simple postures adopted in this practice are drawn from selected pre-historic and indigenous artifacts the world over and paired with ritual instructions. Practiced by people all over the world, field data reported by practitioners has shown that user experience of the postures evidence uncanny similarities irregardless of race, gender, geography and cultural differences.
Because we’ll be practicing in nature, we recommend wearing comfortable clothing and bringing along your journal, a few flowers for our mandala, a water bottle and a sturdy yoga mat. For the nature-lover’s and earth warriors out there, I recommend the Spider Rock Mat by Yune Natural. Heavy and dense, Yune’s eco-friendly natural rubber mat makes it easy to bring your practice anywhere. With a soft and smooth top and a firm, sticky bottom – this super durable, aesthetically pleasing mat is as versatile as your practice itself. Printed digitally with eco-friendly UV cure inks, all Yune mats are made with natural rubber and free of Phthalate and Latex. Anti-tear and non-slip, the mat is easy to clean, moisture resistant and machine washable.
Find it HERE
Walking the Rainbow Bridge: Chiromancy as Magical Will
Chiron as primordial teacher of astrology, yoga, divination and other forms of somatic healing holds the keys to physical mastery of the body as the gateway to Neptune’s mysticism and magic, affording a clearer understanding of the 6th (health/disease) and 12th (transcendence/death) polarity. Chiron’s association with Tarot, or magical divination (hence the antiquated term chiromancy) deals with the conscious search for the exact place and time of awareness which is a gateway to its opposite – Neptune or the cosmic soup. Chiron, The Magician (the first card and beginning of the magical quest) is at one both in the self and in the spiritual world. It’s curious that all the planets have a major arcanum card in the Tarot except Chiron. Chiron has no corresponding card because it is Chiron that rules the Tarot reader, the chiromancer. When we work with Chiron to analyze our natal chart as a whole we must call upon Pluto as a tool of action and will and the major planetary transits above marking the initiation which reveals our gift and highest path of soul growth shown by the Lunar North Node or Dragon’s Head. From the awareness of our Chironic wound, our deeper purpose emerges. Personalized Chiron insights provided during the workshop help to flesh out the meaning of our deeper purpose in this world, the path ahead and how we can best serve expanded consciousness here on Earth.
OR NAH, photo credit: @vvvalentina
Ultimately, Chiron reminds us of a time when each person was a nerve in the community with a gift to be shared. Hand Clow connects Chiron to the Egyptian teaching known as ‘Weighing the Heart of the Soul.’ At death, the soul of the departed was instructed to go through 42 gates by way of uttering the correct sacred word at each gate. Each one of the 42 gates is an arcanum or enzyme which stimulates the psychic understanding of the seeker. According to Hand Clow, we go through this same journey approaching the age of 42 when we move through our Uranus opposition or midlife crisis. When the Kundalini rises as part of this organic stage of psycho-spiritual development, we experience either transcendence or psychosis. For far too many men, what is often experienced is a heart attack. For women, throat chakra blocks often hold us back from actualizing our voices as agents of change and healing. If the issues are faced and the cycle is completed successfully around age 41-42, the inner gates or ‘chakras’ open so that the kundalini consciousness of Uranus can reach a higher frequency.
As humans, we access Chiron’s wisdom of the higher mind when the right and left brain work together in synergy. In other words, the movement of soul-development toward androgyny and balancing the internal male-female polarities as a basic building block of enlightenment. During the workshop we will work with a pranayama designed to integrate the twin hemispheres of the brain known as Nadi Shodhana (Sanskrit for channel purification) or ‘alternate nostril breathing.’ Did you know that your nostrils have a cosmic rhythm corresponding to the new and full moon cycle? The principle behind alternate nostril breathing is that throughout a typical day, we almost always have one nostril dominant – based on whether we are left-brain or right-brain oriented at the time. Not only does the predominant nostril affect the constitution of the elements in our bodies, it designates which activities we would be most suited to. The nostril channels IDA (feminine) and PINGALA (masculine) rule together or apart, syncing up for ten breaths at dawn during the nirvana-like state known as Sushumna. Every dawn and dusk we experience this ‘joining time’ when the twin hemispheres of the brain harmonize and we enter a clear wind-dominant meditative chord of balance and harmony. This entails integration of our masculine/feminine energies in the body crystallized in the nadis (nostril channels). The nostrils also share an hour aligned with the ruling planet of the day – Monday (Moon) through Sunday (Sun).
While our right brain responds to the creature instincts of touch, creative sensory stimulation and emotion, our left brain governs logical thinking which enables focus, decision-making and discernment. Integration of the left/right brain is one way to look at Chiron’s archetypal union. We also feel this merger deeply within our solar plexus, through our gut instincts or seat of the soul. Recent studies show that the gut, or moreover the “Gut-Brain-Axis” provides 95% of the body’s serotonin (3) – the feel-good hormone that regulates mood and plays a fundamental role in the body’s processes of perception, anger, aggression, appetite, memory, sexuality and attention. Gut health is directly linked to immunity, digestion and mental health. In order for us to effectively work with Chiron’s medicine, we must run a fine-toothed comb through our daily habits, diet and work routines (6th house).
According to yogic science, food should feed our soul as well as our indwelling gods and goddesses. Agni is the fire of digestion, the God in our bellies to whom we make an offering at every meal. When our digestion fails, what goes with it is the fundamental capacities associated with our sense of self or ‘inner sun’ – our boundaries, our purpose, our capacity for focused action. Eating organic whole foods, grounding regularly with moving meditation and paying attention to everything our inner sun must ‘digest’ (including our media, environmental toxins, emotional labor) is all part of the work. We may benefit from periodically resetting your microbiome balance with probiotic foods and/or supplements. I recommend BioEvolve Probiotic, a clinically-proven digestive health aid formulated with seven diverse probiotic strains delivering twenty billion active cultures by the vegan beauty & supplement brand Veracity Selfcare. Root-cause wellness for radiant health inside and out, Veracity’s BioEvolve Probiotic supports the balance of gut, skin and hormones. A simple and science-backed holistic remedy – Veracity offers proven and safe solutions optimizing long-term health for stronger immunity to disease, better digestion and glowing skin.
Find it HERE
Join Us….
Meet 12pm at the George Seuffert, Sr. Bandshell, Forest Park Dr, Woodhaven, NY 11421
Energy Exchange $40 Scholarship Pricing Available*
DM @parvati_slice on Instagram for info
Reserve your Spot today HERE
To learn more about Chiron, including Astro-insights by sign, refer to my previous Beauty News feature “Snacks for the Wounded Healer in You: Astrology of Nutrition According to Your Natal Chiron.” To learn more about your natal chart & cosmic potentials *written in the stars* book a reading with Midheaven Or Nah HERE. Follow the celebrity Astro-oracle on Instagram @midheavenornah
About Your Facilitators
Fanny Pérez *fannnsystem* is a visual & movement creator and a facilitator of practices to reach altered states of consciousness such as Ritual Body Postures and Sacred Whriling. Through her work, she brings forward experiences of transcendence and connection to the divine. She seeks to demystify important aspects of life that we’ve been conditioned to undermine to usher in the ‘lifting of the veil’ a.k.a., the apocalypse. Fanny has been invited to perform and work with local and international artists and organizations such as Universidad Iberoamericana (MEX), Persian Parade Foundation, Ecuatorian Cultural Center, SundanceXMoondance (MEX), West Chelsea Festival of Art, International LitFest, NOoSPHERE Arts, Center for Remembering and Sharing, Laura Ríos (MEX), The Brooklyn Nomads, Stanley Love Performance Group, Culture Push, Dance to the People, Harlem Dance Club, Nancy Azara, El Otro Mono (MEX), Sinestesia (MEX), among others.
Follow Fanny on IG @fannnsystem
Follow King Adonnis on IG @devleohadonnis
Artist and yogi of over 20 years, Katie Cercone *Or Nah* hails from the blessed coast. A long-time Kundalini student of Siri Rishi, Or Nah received her 200-hour YTT with @Mamamedicine and has led sacred arts rituals in venues throughout the US, UK and Asia. Cercone has exhibited Art at the Brooklyn Museum, Bronx Museum, Whitney Museum, Dallas Contemporary, Momenta Art, C24 Gallery and Changjiang Museum of Contemporary Art (China). Her work has been featured in Dazed, MILK, Interview, Japan Times, Huffington Post, Hysteria, ART PAPERS, ART 21, PAPER, Washington Post. Katie was a 2015 J.U.S.F.C. Fellow and received a Franklin Furnace Fund Award for performance art in 2021. A pioneer of Hip Hop Yoga since 2011, under the umbrella of ULTRACULTURAL OTHERS Urban Mystery Skool her work brings modern day mystics together in magical, substance-free wellness happenings.
Follow Or Nah on IG @parvati_slice @midheavenornah
NOTES
1. Chiron and the Healing Journey Melanie Reinhart London: Starwalker Press (2009)
2. Chiron: Rainbow Bridge Between the Outer and Inner Planets Barbara Hand Clow, St. Paul: LLEWELLYN PUBLICATIONS (1988)
3. “The Gut-Brain Axis: Influence of Microbiota on Mood and Mental Health” by Jeremy Appleton, ND. National Library of Medicine (2018) 17(4): 28–32
