The 8th House shows us our relationship to other people's resources, as well as to sex, death, and things that are hidden. In this house, I have my Neptune retrograde in Sagittarius conjunct my Part of Fortune. This conjunction indicates, among other things, my interest in occult spiritual matters, and suggests that good things come from this interest. This is also the house in which my Nature Child archetype resides. The Child is the last of the four survival archetypes that plays a role in all of our lives, and the one that most are already somewhat familiar with (the Inner Child we sometimes talk about). There are many different facets of the Child archetype...whether it be the Nature Child, the Wounded Child, the Abandoned, Dependent, Innocent, or Divine Child...many of us are influenced by all of these aspects at different times in our life. But there is always one that resonates most with the patterns the Child has formed since childhood. In my case, it is the Nature Child. Often times these people form strong bonds with animals and commune with nature spirits. That would be my inner child. In fact, cats are the animals that have always been with me since I was born. There has always been at least one cat in my life, throughout my years...that I have either inherited a special bond with because of my mother (inheritances of any kind also fall under the 8th house), or I have formed bonds with on my own (the cats I have called 'familiars'...much more than a pet). So, my Cat totem also influences this house...as Cat has been my first and ever-present totem, it is intricately influential to my Inner Child.
The Child is our guardian of innocence. From this archetype, we learn about our dependencies as well as responsibilities. We learn about our perceptions of nurturing, family, and life in general. These are the lessons of maturation. And in my own process, my Child connected me more and more to the natural world...but at the same time, farther away from things that seemed unnatural to me (such as anything to do with money). This is the lesson I'm still learning from the Child within. My parents, in fact, would still ground this Child if they could (literally and figuratively). The Nature Child tendencies I have in this 8th House area of life have already given them enough grief for not adhering to their 'better judgements' of how I should've gone about living my life as an adult.
As a clear example, they still get irritated at the thought of me dropping out of college after two years and not finishing to get my degree. They see it much differently than I do, of course...but they are still experiencing my Nature Child's reaction to feeling unnaturally confined. My parents wanted us all to go to college and they paid for us to do so. So I did so, not thinking anything was wrong with that at first...it just was how it was going to be, that's all. But my Nature Child met others there who didn't have their parents paying for anything, Abandoned Children who had to work hard just to be there. On the flip side, I saw many Dependent Children as well, who never really did grow up and their parents were paying for everything (and more) as well. That was when guilt started to set in. I didn't mean to be dependent on my parents; I didn't even want to be that way. I tried to live on as little as possible, and worked two part time jobs just to feel like I could survive on my own. But the thing was, I wasn't paying for my schooling myself...and so the unnatural feeling was still there.
So...I jumped at the first chance I got, really. The man who would later become Alyrica's father introduced me to a job working as a tour actor for Omaha Theatre Company. I thought, do I stay where I don't feel I'm experiencing life to its fullest and feel unnaturally bound to other people's resources...or do I travel the country doing something I love while making good money for it. To me, it seemed like a no-brainer (though I did, in fact, use my brain to decide). So I left, much to my parents' chagrin and confusion. They never could forgive Alyrica's dad for how all that played out, of course. But it was all my own decisions. I wanted to be free of my previous situation, and experience the world on my own terms. So that's what my Nature Child did. A turning point decision in my life, and it has made all the difference.
by Felina Lune Kavi
Like the Cat, her Child
scratches at the door
demanding freedom
to play outside.
Inside is everything
she needs to live.
'But that's not living!'
the House Cat cried.
How will she ever know
how to survive
if she's given
all that she gets?
'Keep my claws unclipped
and my neck untagged!
It's not our nature
to only be pets.'
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