What Is Authenticity?

The quest to understand the Self can sometimes feel like a riddle, a dream, or a haiku.

As a Leo Sun/Leo Moon born with six planets in retrograde; I know a thing or two about the pilgrimage to the frontier of Self. We Leos are often misunderstood as being Self-focused and Self-centered (which is 100% true at times) however, what we are really here to express, is the medicine of Authenticity.

The riddle is that there is a biological and ecological truth which is that the Self only exists as a part of a Whole. We are not separate from nature. We are nature. And everywhere in nature, there is autonymous expression. There is cellular consciousness. Every microscopic cell that makes up the living world is doing its part to contribute to life and to death. For me, this is the meaning of a Dance.

Authenticity is really just another word for Truth. It is not something that we craft or design, it is something we access. It is our capacity to live and relate from our core values and beliefs moment to moment, maybe with a little style and grace.

It can be really difficult to know who we are in a world where unhealthy enmeshment is normalized and our attention is a commodity. This is why the first stage of a meditative process is to turn our gaze inwards instead of outwards. It is a radical act to reclaim our bodies from the systems and stories of control that have separated us from nature.

I do not believe that we can live out our Authentic life purpose at the expense of other people and the planet. We can however, foster and embody our Authentic gifts as a means of contributing to the whole.

(To Be Continued...)