Shark water

...a swim with Mars/Neptune, beyond the station

Apr 29, 2024

mars/neptune themed big wave surfer with deep longing in his heart and a fear for what lies beneath- imagined by DALL-E

I woke up today to a BBC headline about a British man surviving a shark attack in Tobago. I then was scrolling through X waiting for my water to boil and saw that viral video of a man on a tiny fishing vessel in Hawaii getting absolutely hammered by a tiger shark. And then I remembered: it’s Mars conjunct Neptune today!

It’s incredible how headlines and cinema (Neptune domains) are so effective in some regards, and utterly useless in others. Successfully, most people are terrified of sharks; all it takes is one or two headlines early on, maybe a sub-10 watch of Jaws, and you're there— the imagination swimming in shark water for the rest of your life. Terrifying. The problem is that vending machines kill more people a year than sharks. Dogs, cows, snakes, horses, and many others kill way more people than sharks, yet we are left with the irrational fear of what lurks beneath. Often, when Mars is with Neptune it’s not the shark that is going to get us, it’s that mosquito in the corner of the room at night (also the #1 killer by a long shot). In other words, there are many directions our imagination can run wild.

Neptune has much to do with the imagination. I like to think it’s our greatest natural resource, yet it is being squandered and exploited like so many other non-renewables. I’d like to think of imagination as renewable, but if we lose access to it, it is hard to get back. Allowing these machines to imagine for us is a hydra-headed issue. We must keep it intact—especially as students of the hermetic arts. If we can’t imagine, we can’t interpret, and if we can’t do that, what are we even doing?

We do swim in dangerous waters currently. Some would say, way more than ever before; others might push back and remind us that we live in the best time in human history by many metrics. In the end, it’s all subjective. What really matters is how we are relating to it all now. With Mars/Neptune, we scan the horizon for fins, for patterns in the weather, or a message in a bottle to help us remember what is true and what is not. Would you rather be a big wave surfer or lobster-red Brit on the shore who has never swam in the sea. The same goes for our imaginations. We must jump right in!

The water is nice…for now.

much more below

-adam

If you’ve been thinking that you’d like to know more about these tricky Mercury cycles I’m always writing about, I am currently offering the best way in the world to get familiar with them: Mercury Journeys. Each session is scheduled on a key date within the Mercury cycle and we spend all of our time exploring all the expressions of Mercury in your chart. Tracking a Mercury cycle has become one of my top 5 astrological techniques. I look forward to them starting. I look forward to them ending. Ultimately, I’m always excited to see what the magi has to teach us. If you’d like to learn more about how Mercury can change your life, just click him below:

Also, the Venus Mahadasha class went well last night despite the tech glitch in the first half of it; I wanted to share these videos and it axed my audio. It got fixed and we learned some surprising things about the goddess as well:

I also did a solo pod this month to explain the new show, why I made the change, and a few examples with the current sky. Have a listen:

My latest piece of writing going into the Jupiter/Uranus conjunction:

Gathering Thoughts

ADAM SOMMER

APR 15

“It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met.” — Kenkō Now that we have made our way into the most exciting transits of 2024, it’s not a bad idea to ref…

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I’ve also had an idea to widen the net of support over on Patreon. So, historically, the $100 tier was a limited one given to my personal students—and still is—but what I’d like to do is include an option for it to also apply to follow-up readings with me. As you know, doing one reading is never enough. I do offer packages, but I understand things are tight out there. And so, moving forward if you’d like to support my work, gain access to all our monthly classes/parlors/practice charts/apprenticeship recordings, and also get a reading with me each month, this is now an option. You can pledge your support HERE:

I’ve also got a couple of slots to take on students one-on-one; if you are interested, you can learn more about the Apprenticeship HERE; You can also just watch the classes and learn. Certification isn’t required: