This article is the second of a series of writings in which we will reflect upon the complementarity of the zodiac signs and how this may connect with the practice of yoga.
Something key to keep in mind is that the Signs are not separate entities, isolated from one another. They are actually connected in a way that is quite enlightening. To understand this, we need to discuss the Principle of Polarity and Polarization.
What is the Principle of Polarity?
The Principle of Polarity is the basic perceptual assumption that we live in a polar reality:
“Everything I perceive is dual, everything is in connection with another pole.”
For instance, we can speak of the cold because we are aware of the heat. If we didn’t know about heat, we couldn’t know about cold.
At first glance, this seems obvious. However, our usual perception is conditioned by a paradigm of polarization.
In yoga, we see this more explicitly in the practice of Yin Yoga. Based on Traditional Chinese Medicine and Taoist philosophy, it teaches us that yang contains yin and yin contains yang. There are no absolutes, and phenomena are defined by contrast, in the same way that they complement each other.
Yin Aerial Yoga Class
What is polarization?
This way of understanding reality assumes that the poles are separate, that they exclude one another, that one contradicts the other. It perceives these opposite poles in a fighting dynamic.
Our culture encourages and reproduces this perception: one pole is good and lacks any evil, the other is evil and lacks any good; one pole are victims and the other are perpetrators; one is the light and the other is the shadow; etc. We believe that ‘the problem’ belongs to one pole and the ‘solution’ lies in focusing on the other, attempting to eliminate the first.
Continue reading after the signs.
Aries
Tauro
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Acuarius
Pisces
The issue with polarization is that, perhaps inadvertently, it causes unnecessary and avoidable suffering.
Affirming myself in one pole is to acknowledge only one fragment of reality. This means leaving another dimension of reality in shadow. But when I light something up, it inevitably casts a shadow, and it is necessarily connected to it. The more I illuminate one pole, the more shadow it casts.
To crystallize myself in one pole is also to crystallize myself in the one I reject and consider contradictory.
What does ASTROLOGY propose? When we look into the Astrological Symbols…
Article written in collaboration with Steph S · Astróloga
