Well, now that my Aquarian fourth house isn’t  weighed down with planetary transits, I can see that developing a routine of practicing shodo every day has really helped me cultivate a sense of peace in a very chaotic time. 

Every month my good friend and I do a daily drawing challenge based on a prompt. I developed a daily drawing routine last year but wanted to spice things up this month and try doing shodo for the challenge.

My friend and I chose an old prompt but we liked this one best.

I started my shodo practice when I was frustrated. The Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars joined Pluto in Aquarius in my 4th house and all of my best laid plays fell by the wayside.

The first plan that got messed up was a trip I planned to FL to meet up with 2 rockstars: one is an old friend who looks like he’s from Mount Olympus and the other was a love at first sight connection I wanted a second chance with.

One morning I woke up and said, “That’s it, I’m going to after both of them in FL,” and started planning a trip.

I was ready to take a chance for the sake of change and in the name of trust.

I was ready for serendipity and adventure.

I used the holiday season to stack cash. I was worked long hours at my part time retail job. So I worked HARD for that vacation. I cried ny eyes out at my part time job slaving away under the abuse of crazy holiday shoppers. I spent the holidays alone because I worked so hard and booked my trip on Christmas as a victory lap.

The plan was to fly to Tampa to see Rockstar #1 and see how that goes. Then take the train to Fort Lauderdale to see if serendipity favored me for a second chance after I experienced love at first sight with Rockstar #2 during a chance encounter in Denver.

I think I packed more lingerie than outerwear because I was ready for my sexcation.

I read the stars but should have gotten a second opinion on my timing because I failed to consider what houses auspicious transits fell in …

… plus I was scheming with Aphrodite and I guess the gods found my scheme conniving because a snowstorm RUINED my trip and I had to cancel at the LAST MINUTE. 

I lost ALL the money I worked for on cancelations too!

Then I tried to enter an art show to cheer myself up and things kept going wrong.

I got booked to read a short story and I got scheduled to work at my part time job and missed sharing a really great story.

I definitely had a temper tantrum because no matter what I did, I kept ending up at home. I was so frustrated that I finally pulled out my astrology books and learned that 4th house is the house of developing new routines and focusing on day to day activities. I thought that sounded boring as hell.

But I had time to take space to figure out what means most to me. In the end, I picked my creative life. So I decided to quit my part time job and I’m wrapping that up this week.

But I did pick up a new routine without realizing this is exactly what I was being called to do.

So now, every morning I practice shodo (Japanese Calligraphy).

First, I practice my word on my white board.

Then I move to paper and use my practice pens.

After that, I use my brush pen.

Lastly, I try sumi which is a different kind of style but I enjoy that too. 

I must admit, I’m not great at shodo or sumi but the shodo community on Instagram is very supportive and encouraging.

And I’m starting to feel a way back to Japan opening. I woke up one morning and knew. I couldn’t tell you when, the time to return is coming soon.

So I’m preparing to write a charm for lunar new year to gain more insight.

I feel excited to create this charm but I’m confused as to what characters are best to write because the direct translation is not what I’m seeing shodo artist writing. So I’m not sure which way is correct. I may have to ask someone but I’m shy! 🤔💭💭💭💭 

This weekend, I’m going to buy a board for writing my charm at the Japanese grocery store. I bought a shodo kit and some paper so I’m ready to practice. 

And this is how I’m finding peace these days in the midst of chaos.