Sidney Hall's (1831) astronomical chart illustration of the zodiac Capricornus. Original from Library of Congress. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.
(Image by Free Public Domain Illustrations by rawpixel) Details DMCA
A would-be army of some 500 Capricorns
Read their horoscope on Rob Brezsny's website.
Maybe, like me, many of them
Were sipping their morning coffee.
(Could be more than 500, could be less
But just for this fantasy
Let it be 500 Capricorns!)
"CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19)
Better than most, you have a rich potential
to attune yourself to the cyclical patterns of life.
It's your birthright to become
skilled at discerning natural rhythms
at work in the human comedy.
Even more fortunately, Capricorn,
you can be deeply comforted by this awareness.
Educated by it.
Motivated by it.
I hope that in 2023,
you will develop your capacity to the next level.
The cosmic flow will be on your side
as you strive to feel the cosmic flow"
and place yourself
in closer and closer alignment with it."
"The cosmic flow will be on your side", hmmm,
Thought 200 of these Capricorn Brezsny fans,
All them weary of the human comedy.
See, Rob Brezsny, (if you don't know this already),
Is a gifted astrologer and intuitive.
His readings are taken seriously by
People from all walks of life,
Not just retired poets and dream workers,
But there is the contractor, the social worker,
The plumber, the free-lance journalist,
The car sales associate, the lawyer,
The minister, the teacher,
The professional clown, politician . . .
Few of them regular followers of astrology,
They are just fans of Brezsny.
He is that good!
So when I and 199 other Brezsny Capricorns
Mulled over that phrase "The cosmic flow
Will be on your side",
We could, just then, (as I imagine it)
feel that flow,
Tugging us out of our funks, our business as usual,
Our closed-caption scripted future . . .
And boy, did it feel pretty good!
Then 50 of us thought,
Maybe this is the year!
(The year to stop letting the ego (or the boss)
Or the economy,
Or even our health
Call all the shots.)
This is the year to trust my deeper/ higher purpose!
Even if I don't know what that is
Just let me be guided by the larger currents
Of my destiny!
Trust.
And for 25 of us it was like mounting a wild horse
That wanted to take us somewhere.
It was 25 of us who stepped into a canoe
Covered with symbols
Of the moon and stars
And the wild creatures
That would have our backs
On this prophesied journey
Following the flow of the water.
But it was 10 of us who asked ourselves,
What do I need to do
To make this real?
What might be expected of me?
How do I own this amazing entreaty
To align myself with the stars?
And it was just five of us who remembered
How many times
We have counted ourselves among the lucky
And the blessed,
Only to find
The very next day, we were back
To bemoaning our fate,
Wishing and praying for a break!
But it was just 3 of us who thought:
This is what I've been waiting for.
The world has never been so needy.
And so we sat up straight,
Moved forward, resolute
Army of three.
....................
I held this poem in my head for a few days before attempting to write it. I liked the idea of an army of Capricorns, or an army of any contingent that is out to serve the higher good. Like the Salvation Army . . ., but lately I've been reading about the Yippies and radical environmental groups, like Green Peace and Earth First!, the seeds for which were planted in the 60s by psychedelic entheogens (like LSD, psilocybin and cannabis). In all three of the above mentioned groups, there is / was a movement behind them and a vision guiding them and a sacred purpose motivating them. This might even be news to many of us, but history shows that Green Peace and Earth First! were more than just politically motivated. They were founded by folks who had had the "doors of their perception" opened by a personal experience of the sacredness of life and they were kind of like environmental evangelists who had funneled their awareness into action. They weren't waiting for the system to wise-up to make a difference.
I have never "found" myself in a group, even when I joined the Freeze Movement (in 1981); it was because they were active in my neighborhood in Baltimore and nuclear power and weapons were a hot issue at the time. I was more interested in saving whales and might even have been the one who suggested that the Baltimore Freeze Movement and the Save the Whales movement join forces. (Baltimore was / is home to the National Aquarium.) But I always thought that if I did join a group, I would need it to be radical and free-thinking (not tied to special interests but autonomous) and big-thinking and gutsy, like Green Peace.
Anyway, back to this poem: I wanted to write about how it works when something we read or see or hear might inspire us to some kind of shift or awareness but 9 out of 10 times, we drop the ball. The inspiration fades as we move on to something else and the moment of transformation is lost. Sound familiar? This poem tracks that process of signing on to something that excites us on a deep or spiritual level, and even evokes solidarity with others who, we imagine, have likewise been empowered or drafted by the same message or challenge, only to lapse back into brain fog or, slip back into the Matrix. Except in this poem, I don't slip all the way back, but, along with 2 hypothetical others, I imagined us raising the colors, or the flag (if you will) or the symbol of our cause, in this case supported by the cosmos, and going forth.
This poem is tongue in cheek, but it is also dead serious, as is much that I am writing these days!
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