The map is not the territory

Scorpio New Moon Deep Dive

“Maybe that’s enlightenment enough: to know that there is no final resting place of the mind, no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom…is realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go.” -Anthony Bourdain

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“The map is not the territory” is a phrase used to convey the fact that people often confuse models of reality with reality itself. In other words, models stand to represent things, but they are not identical to those things in practice. The map is a simplified, two-dimensional approximation that provides a reference point from which to orient as you traverse the actual terrain under your actual feet.

While useful, the map is limited. It gives you no hint of the scents you’ll be smelling as you hike, or how the landscape changes with the seasons. It may not convey just how steep that hill is going to be, or how your legs will burn with the effort of ascent. The map won’t give you a head’s up that a wild boar will cross your path, or that you’ll tense up and stop breathing while the great beast lumbers along. The map won’t hint at the music you’ll be listening to on the train on your way back to the airport. The music that, every time you hear it in the future, will immediately conjure the full sense memory of your excursion.

These are the 3D experiences that give our life depth and meaning. These are the spaces in which all of the magic happens. A series of moments, colored by the rich sensory experience of being undeniably alive.

November 13th’s Scorpio New Moon is an invitation to experience the mundane miracles all around us all of the time. It’s a perfect opportunity to connect with all of our senses, psychic and otherwise, and to experience the totality of the territory of our lived human experience— not just sit around and talk about it or theorize about how best to navigate it or stare at images of it through the filtered patina of our screens.

This is a New Moon of wonder and awe. Of a beginner’s mind. Of pure creativity. Of depth of feeling. Of starting over and releasing previously held assumptions or old, limiting stories we tell ourselves.

The Scorpio New Moon is a celestial reminder that the most meaningful and magical bits of our lived experience elude any effort to squeeze them into a linguistic taxonomy.

But trust me when I tell you: that doesn’t stop the world of woo from trying.