'Aka'ayah

'Aka'ayah accompanies the period from 21 to 25 April and belongs to the Seraphim. Its motto is «I have two souls, and one contains, masters and shapes the other». In this symbolic portrait, two impulses face one another: one wants to create, connect and act; the other withdraws, loses interest and struggles to move. The kaf between the two alefs evokes the way these opposites contain one another.

An important part of the gift lies in recognising your rhythms and giving form to the tension running through them. Difficult undertakings may engage you more than ordinary tasks: they call for attention, ability and a drive in which you recognise yourself. When an activity is too uneventful, you may end up complicating it or creating problems even where everything was going well.

The first step is to find a difficulty that has meaning, rather than producing one simply to have something to work against. The second concerns success: once you have achieved a result, you may keep going without rewarding yourself or resting. Your drive pushes beyond your resources and makes way for a tiredness that makes even what once seemed easy difficult.

The third step is to recognise the need to stop without treating it as a personal defeat. A pause can allow you to gather what you have experienced and recover your attention. The fourth is a return to study and preparation: before action, there may be a concentrated, patient and less visible period in which a new project takes shape.

This movement is a symbolic map for observing drive, fatigue, pause and renewal. Rest must not be confused with suffering that is left unheard. When sadness persists, pleasure disappears or daily life becomes difficult to sustain, seeking qualified help is part of caring for yourself.

The risk is recognising yourself in only half the journey. If you consider yourself authentic only when full of energy, a slower phase may frighten you. If you take on major commitments simply to escape a difficult moment, you may find yourself with unsuitable choices when your needs change. It is worth giving decisions time and distinguishing a relationship you want from one accepted to hold fear still.

Work, too, needs a sustainable rhythm. Preparation, rehearsals and action may suit you better than a continual demand for identical performance. Cinema offers a clear image: waiting and study alternate with the moment when everything must become presence. Changing deeply during a pause may feed the desire to tell others what you have discovered.

William Shakespeare evokes the ability to voice powerful human conflicts. Vladimir Nabokov, with the duel between opposing figures in Lolita, brings the theme of tension becoming narrative into this portrait. Jack Nicholson, Anthony Quinn, Silvana Mangano, Shirley MacLaine, Barbra Streisand, Al Pacino and cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa show the different spaces this intensity can find in film work.

In philosophy, Immanuel Kant represents the search for a firm point and principles able to withstand the encounter between reason and feeling. Max Weber evokes the relationship between a stern view of life and the drive towards economic achievement. Guglielmo Marconi, with radio links between the shores of the Atlantic, offers the image of a bridge between extremes that previously seemed separate.

Oliver Cromwell and Lenin bring the conflict into politics: a long period in the shadows, disruptive action and power that becomes rigid. Bringing opposites into a shared form can produce a work or an investigation; when it becomes a need for control, however, it risks closing down other people's space.

In relationships, the person beside you needs to understand what is happening without becoming solely responsible for your balance. Communicating, agreeing pauses and supporting the other person's needs too allow you to share the journey. 'Aka'ayah's direction is to recognise both impulses, study patiently and build a way of creating in which enthusiasm and rest can coexist.