Trigger Warning

The Second House in astrology deals with food, nourishment, wealth, values, habits and your voice.

Family is also a significant aspect of the Second House. Especially our parents.

Our very first impressions of the world are shaped by our parents. They plant the seeds of what we eat. Their wealth determines our wealth. They influence our habits and values. And they can help us find our voice and express it. Or suppress it.

It's an incredibly important relationship to understand.

Considering that the Second House is a storehouse, our parents, seem to be the strong box of our gratitude. And the dump of our blame.

If you are reading this, you probably had some kind of care giving in your initial years. It's what made you survive. But it's probably very specific to you.

Perhaps you grew up in a single parent household. Maybe you had caregivers instead of parents.

Styles of parenting too, are varied. Degrees of authoritarianism. Degrees of freedom.

However is there a way we can still explore this aspect together?

Look Ahead

Houses in astrology are rarely understood in isolation.

One important aspect on any house, is the influence of the house sitting opposite it.

The Eighth House is looking directly at the Second.

If the Second is about the assets of your birth family. The Eighth is about your inheritance.

The Second is about food and nourishment. The Eighth is death.

The themes of the houses are connected, and yet distinct.

What's Hiding?

The 8th is the deep, dark place of secrets.

Secrets bind families together. Against the world.

Secrets also tear them apart. From inside.

The 8th House is the house of trauma.

And unfortunately, it seems to be a widely held belief, that our primary caregivers, are at the root of our trauma as well.

It's Complicated

Some stories are very difficult. They require special attention.

I'm not touching on those here.

I'm talking of the median. A general approach.

Culture Calls

Even though parenting styles are culture-specific, the internet has leveled our trauma.

There is a wide spread social phenomenon these days. Psychological trauma has become the primary lens through which we view our identity.

Psychology itself has become popular.

PTSD, trigger, gaslighting are words that you simply cannot avoid hearing.

Most people talk of themselves as empaths. And paint 'the other' as a narcissist.

People are at battle with their trauma. They are survivors. Warriors.

It's Unfortunate

But it seems as though a person has to talk about their trauma, to come across as a relatable human being, these days.

Gabor Mate, says Trauma is our wound. When parents do something bad to you, you are wounded. And when parents don't do the good, they were supposed to do, you are wounded.

It's a bit of a no-win game.

There is no possibility of perfect parenting, or a perfect life. This makes us all wounded. And makes our parents stand on a tight-rope.

And for those of you, who are parents yourselves.....you are in a special position...Do you hand over the baton of your trauma, or do you drop it?

Burdened

G Mate, goes on to say the way out of this problem, is for us to identify the root. To study the situations where we abandoned ourselves in order to stay safe.

He says we need to work on somatic practices. And release the stored memories from our bodies.

To clear triggers.

And work towards compassion, community support and humane parenting.

The Catch

The pathway to hell is paved with good intentions. Parents don't set off to be mean and nasty. It just happens.

More often than not, because of the community around them. The culture.

Because no matter how old we get, we seem to seek parent-child relationships.

We elect father figures to authority positions.

We seek approval. We want someone to tell us -everything is going to be alright.

We fear abandonment. And isolation from the group.

And we impose our fears and insecurities. On our kids.

We do a certain strange kind of parenting to ourselves, as well. A strict voice of disapproval when standards are not met. Shaming ourselves. Coaxing voice in our head to improve. Guilt if we slack off somewhere.

We are trying to be perfect. Shining examples. As our parents would approve.

Nature Calls

Taoism says there is no Virtue in living according to a code. If you set out to be righteous. You are setting up a trap to actually fail.

So we can't rely on ideas of humane parenting.

We can't pin our hopes on community support, until the culture changes.

And as regards to storing trauma in our bodies....For sure the mind and body are connected. But no biologist can point where a certain memory is stored. It is more like a room in our imagination. That we access.

When we are under stress, or in poor nutritional phases, we access these memories differently. And when we are well fed, and not in stress, we access our memories differently.

Culture, the food we eat, our environment. They matter.

They can help us change our perspective. And a different perspective is where it starts.

The Lens Of Advaita

Is popular today, as well. More and more people are gravitating towards it.

And here....Karma decides where you are born. Who your parents are. What happens to you.

Everything you encounter leaves traces in your chitta. In your awareness. These traces are called Samskaras.

As these traces deepen by repetition, they form Vasanas. Tendencies.

And these Vasanas give rise to Vrittis/Desires.

On the Kundali, you chose to hold a belief (1st House), turn it into a repetitive habit, a value (2nd House) that will go on to become the Kama/Desire of the 3rd house.

I come across an ad with chocolate. It brings up repetitive patterns associated with chocolate that I have stored. And now I want chocolate.

I access a painful memory. I repeat it. See what else comes up. What I could have done....Where it is stored...And I want to release it.

The catch here is, the more time you spend on the Vasana, the deeper the groove becomes.

A Return

In Advaita the only way to free yourself from this loop, is also through awareness.

Awareness that the world and everything you perceive is an illusion.

Your sorrow, that you think is caused by your parents, is actually caused by a false identity.

The ego.

The root cause is the fundamental mis-identification. You thinking you are just the Ego.

The false base on which everything else is built.

And so it is dropped. And the ego is asked to turn towards its source.

And to simply allow karma to play itself out.

The Week Ahead

Jupiter and Venus are conjunct in Cancer.

There's a Amavasya/Sun Moon Meeting on June 15th.

16th is Sankranti. The Sun moves into Gemini. He joins the Moon and Mercury.

17th the Moon moves in to join Jupiter and Venus in Cancer.

18th Jupiter goes into his Atichari/ Very Fast Movement Phase. The same day will see the Moon and Venus conjunct in the same degree, directly opposite Pluto.

The Kala Sarpa energy continues. With all planets, except Pluto, in the Snake's Belly.

17th and 18th are incredible windows of planting seeds. How's your garden coming along?

You can also use this window to plant seeds of intentions. Re-set goals. Reinforce plans.

There maybe powerful emotions coming to the surface. Allow them to bubble away.

And it's the one week before another string of events will take flow. Despite everything, this week's got some real beauty. Mars in domicile. Mercury also. Forming a powerful conjunction with the Sun. The Moon moves into his house. Small, intense Pluto, stirring up the deep.

It's wonderful for any creative work. Writing. Cooking. Art. Conversation. Changing perspectives.

Enjoy your time. See you next week, in a whole new month.