Honour Your Seasons
Hermann Hesse — In Libro Veritas (@InlibroV) September 11, 2024
The masses honour others more than they honour their own seasons. By "seasons", I mean the different phases in our lives. The kinds that forces you to hibernate or put yourselves out there and say "hey, that's me!" In our world today, you have celebrities being conferred great honour for their craft, and in the world of modern-day evangelism, you see the likes of celebrity pastors and church leaders also being conferred great honour.
I think as a society, we've missed the mark. Many of us struggle to listen to our own voices because we're so used to "giving honour" to others. We've looked outside of ourselves for so long that we've forgotten to honour ourselves, that is, our own seasons, and it's time we start looking within.
The real tragedy of man is what dies inside of him while he’s still alive.
— The MAGA Astrologer (@PathfinderAstro)
People who deny, reject, and ignore the voice of their own souls are confronted by all that repressed psychic content after they die.
The secret of succeeding in life is to honor your Sun.
pic.twitter.com/L1TCN9fg3c
March 26, 2025
The unfortunate truth is that by allowing others to drown our inner voice, we inadvertently end up postponing our own seasons by doing things that just don't quite fit into our timeline. And the most tragic of all is when we end up postponing seasons that cannot be postponed. If you're fortunate, you might get a second chance, but the harsh reality is that sometimes we end up carrying our unlived seasons to our graves.
For the first quarter(?) of my life, I failed to discern my own timeline, because I just couldn't hear myself clearly. Are my wants and desires that of someone else or my own? People would say something is good, and that "good" thing felt right logically, but instinctually, it just felt wrong. So what is the right answer? These were the thoughts that ran in the background of my subconscious mind. And it reminded me of what Adam Mastroianni said in Excuse me but why are you eating so many frogs:
Strangling your passions in exchange for an elite life is like being on the Titanic after the iceberg, water up to your chin, with everybody telling you that you’re so lucky to be on the greatest steamship of all time. And the Titanic is indeed so huge and wonderful that you can’t help but agree, but you’re also feeling a bit cold and wet at the moment, and you’re not sure why.My then-analyst would tell me that I was always mentioning what Tom or Mary said, but none of them were my own voice. That came as a bit of a shock to me and it was something I really needed to hear, because at that time, I was truly under the illusion that I was making decisions based off my own prerogative.
That voice telling you to play it safe is the same one that will haunt you with 'what if' on your deathbed.
— Dan Martell (@danmartell)
May 3, 2025
One way you can avoid honouring your seasons is by dimming that inner voice — that voice that asks you to do what's intuitive and right, not that logical, sensible decision that everyone applauds. But that inner voice that tells you to have faith and go do it. That is a question I have been asking myself; do I have faith that things will work out despite the irrationality of it all?
I'm still learning to listen to that voice, and I wished I had listened and followed that much earlier on in my life.
The good news is that it isn't too late if you're below the age of 40. I say 40 because, as some random quote puts it, “Life really does begin at forty. Up until then, you are just doing research.” ¹ And I think that's what many of us need to hear. Of course, magically, we'd all love to have started our lives in our early 20s but hey, it still isn't too late.
The only thing that is stopping us is ourselves. And one of the ways in which we rob ourselves of a fresh start is by imagining our punishments.
While we have the choice of choosing whether we should honour our seasons, many in the past didn't. And they were dealt with by a mixture of ancient culture, fate, and the divine.
The 12th House: Joseph
In the biblical story of Joseph, one can see that Joseph was in a season in his life where things were just not going right. God had plans for Joseph, and clearly, if Joseph had any plans of his own, none of them were working out.
If we were to view it from an astrological lens, one can say that Joseph was in a 12th house year, and whether or not it's a 12th house profection year or 12th house placements in his Solar Return chart (his birthday 🎂), we don't know. But the 12th house themes are consistent: isolation due to being sold to slavery and being imprisoned after being falsely accused of rape; his dreams both working against him and for him (in the end); and his brothers being his hidden enemies. These are all themes that echoes the 12th house.
Joseph could have moped and cried and blamed God for how unfair his life was, but he didn't. Instead, Joseph was responsible and resourceful, and his isolation turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Continuing with an astrological lens, how do we retain that resourcefulness in the changing seasons? As I write this, Jupiter is currently transiting through the tail end of my 5th house of creativity and pleasure, so should I have bought fancy and expensive art materials? Honouring your seasons can be done with care - think - what do I have at home that others will deem as trash, and use that. Creativity cannot grow without limitations - and I'm learning - I'm learning to work with the little that I have. Yes, I did let go and spent a little more, but it's not asking you to be reckless.
When you learn to honour your seasons, life gives back to you in ways that will exceed your expectations.
Navigating Your Seasons as an Individual
In The Crowd is Untruth, Kierkegaard emphasised a lot about being a single individual — that when you focus on the crowd, you risk neglecting your individual identity, which in turn will affect how you navigate the different seasons in your life.
A crowd is indeed made up of single individuals; it must therefore be in everyone's power to become what he is, a single individual; no one is prevented from being a single individual, no one, unless he prevents himself by becoming many. To become a crowd, to gather a crowd around oneself, is on the contrary to distinguish life from life; even the most well-meaning one who talks about that, can easily offend a single individual.
Many individuals who are lost tend to look to gurus and well-meaning people for advice. While their advice may seem sound and inspirational, it can thwart the process a person needs to become who they're meant to be, which reminds me of what Jung has often said many times about prioritising the individual over the theory when dealing with patients. In Man and his Symbols, Jung says: "before we construct general theories about man and his psyche we should learn a lot more about the real human being we have to deal with". Like Jung, treating ourselves as individuals is key to knowing ourselves without and within. And so by surrendering to your seasons, you get to watch who you are unfold in the changing seasons, as opposed to a static image. David Perell once mentioned about surrender being a loss of control:
Surrender is terrifying at first. It comes with a loss of control. Chances are, you’ll disappoint your parents, teachers, and probably even yourself. The vision you had for your future won’t come true because that vision was predicated on the person you wish you were, not the person you actually are.
In the process of surrendering to who you are, your seasons can get tangled up with your inner voice and the voices of others. If you're not careful, things won't pan out, not because you're not worthy, but because you're trying to engage in skills or qualities that are not inherently yours. And in order to hear your inner voice clearly, you'll need seclusion, so don't discount those moments or even years where you feel isolated or trapped. It's teaching you to listen.
In his newsletter, 3-2-1: On selective ignorance, courage, and living a life that burns bright, James Clear states that cultivating selective ignorance can lead to an improved life.
Ignore topics that drain your attention. Unfollow people that drain your energy. Abandon projects that drain your time. Do not keep up with it all. The more selectively ignorant you become, the more broadly knowledgeable you can be.
This includes actively and repeatedly choosing not to pay heed and internalise the comments of your parents, your friends, or even your relatives. There is a cliché saying that has been echoed by many successful individuals like Clear himself, Leila Hormozi, and many others, where it basically says that when you choose to say no to many things, you're technically choosing to say yes to one thing.
So where are you in your life, that requires you to obey that inner voice and honour your seasons?