Embodying Your Bones in Capricorn Season
Your bones want to know themselves
Photos of bones look so… dead.
I thought this video may show the aliveness of my bones. Bones with muscles that make fluid dances over this beautiful pond.
Capricorn Season is from December 21 - January 19th. The Zodiac symbol is the sea goat. These are not sea goats, but adorable baby horned goats to brighten your day!
In Astrology*, Capricorn in the body is associated with our bones. Capricorn is ruled by Saturn.
Words associated with Saturn are dense, restrictive, boundaries, resiliency, tenaciousness and maturity. Saturn teaches us to come into our body and accept reality. There are some body systems that are more etheric in my experience, but bones are tangible. They are perceptible by touch. They bring us here in our bodies.
Bones are our structure. They have strength and malleability. As living tissue, bones are full of marrow. Marrow is soft and spongy and makes blood cells. Bones are full of immunity.
When we grow, cells and fluid form our structure. Our structure can be experienced as fluid. When our limbs grow, they start out as little limb buds that have no joints yet. Our bones twist and spiral into form.
You can’t fake postural alignment. You can try to hold yourself up by your muscles and force yourself into shapes, but it will often result in pain. When muscles pull, they can pull your bones as well. It is hard to move with ease if you are pulling or gripping your muscles for strength. If you can sense your bones in movement, your muscles won’t have to work so hard. Through your bones, you can find a sense of effortlessness in movement.
Referring back to the words associated with Saturn, we find less restriction, and more resiliency.
Bones respond to pressure. This is also a Saturnian quality. Bones can change due to compression by surrounding tissues and organs. We need to know our bones to know ourselves and our boundaries. Body-Mind Psychotherapist, Annie Brook, said in her class about bones, that when we don’t have our structure, we can collapse into each other. If we have our structure, we can meet others with more clarity.
Our bones respond to touch, movement and perception. Our bones want to know themselves.
With all our body systems, there may be a different “mind state” to them. I’ve offered some words about bones that may fit for you, or you may have another experience. It’s important to feel what is true for you.
There are layers to our bones:
Periosteum is a fibrous sheath that wraps your bones. It is like the skin of your bone.
Compact bone is the hard bone. It is dense and smooth. It contains blood vessels and nerves.
Spongy bone is lighter than compact bone and is found mostly at the ends of bones.
Bone marrow is found within the spongy bones and within compact bones in the medullary cavity.
About 95% of the body’s blood cells are made in your bone marrow!
An embodied anatomy practice
An embodied anatomy practice truly is a practice. It takes time and repetition. It is a process of getting to know your anatomy.
Look at some anatomy images of the hands.
Touch your pinky finger (or go to another bone in your body of choice).
Try closing your eyes. Sense through your skin, fat layers, muscle, and all the way to your bone with your touch.
Allow your bones of the hand that is touching meet your pinky finger, and your pinky finger meet the hand that is touching.
You do not need to “get” it. Bring curiosity to this experience of familiarizing yourself with your bones. There’s nothing to do but be with them.
If you start to focus too much inside and it becomes disorienting, open your eyes, look around your room. Become aware of your environment.
Move through each finger of your hand, connecting to bone.
When you complete this practice, notice how your hand feels in comparison to your other hand. How do you feel? There is no wrong answer. “Nothing” is also an answer.
Repeat this practice with the other hand and fingers.
Writing practice
Write about your bones after finishing the above practice.
Free style it! Let the words flow out without judgement. Really - just let yourself write whatever comes out. This is the random stuff I just wrote about my bones:
Why am I so cold to the bone? Alive bones are not cold. They are not brittle and white, like the deer bones I found at the trail head in the snow. They are bloody, alive and vital, carrying lifeforce and circling red colors inside me. I need to remember that spongy bones look like tiny honeycombs. Can I imagine my bones made or warm honey?
Lastly…
Find a way to honor your bones. It doesn’t need to be long. Even 5 minutes a day.
If you have an altar, place something that reminds you of bones on your altar space. Move your body with awareness of your bones. Write a love spell for your bones. Make art about your bones.
Your bones may ache. They may be broken or healing. They may feel old and tired. Accept where you are. Offer gratitude to your bones.
*If you are interested in understanding more about Astrology and embodiment, I highly recommend my friends at Embodied Astrology.
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