April 2024
Dear friends,
We launched our #BeyondRecipes project about a year ago and would like to take it further with a newsletter. A regular tool to share inspiration, ideas and new events with you.
This first newsletter was born under the influence of a particularly significant sky: a full moon in Scorpio and the sun in the sign of Taurus.
The day of the full moon is an important time in astrology when the energy associated with the astrological symbol in which it falls manifests and brings to light the themes associated with that symbol in the annual cycle.
Astrology, the study of the planets and zodiac signs, before they became the "weekly horoscope", was used as an extremely fascinating symbolic language to describe the complexity of being human, our inner world and the infinite relationships that connect us with the cycles of the earth, nature, the movements of the sky and the entire universe.
Today I want to tell you a little bit about the symbolism of these two signs because they seem to me to best describe many of the aspects that are at the heart of the #BeyondRecipes project.
Under the Taurus archetype: the earth, the body, the senses, material and manual labor, food, taste, nourishment, growth, the simple life in harmony with nature.
Under the Scorpio archetype: the water, the psyche, emotions, inner work, transformation, eliminating what is no longer useful, the ability to look deeply.
The themes represented by these two symbols may seem diametrically opposed at first glance, but if we look at them more closely, we can see that they are rather two sides of the same coin and that one is somehow complementary to the other.
The material world as we know it consists of a constant change and movement of polarity - a duality that is defined in Eastern culture by the terms yin/yang and which we can translate as female/male, night/day, sun/moon, cold/warm, solid/liquid, etc. The 12 astrological signs are therefore arranged in pairs at the poles of an imaginary axis to symbolize this inescapable duality.
Whenever we try to reduce reality to one of the two aspects, we overshadow the other and polarize ourselves to one extreme while neglecting the other.
An attitude of exclusion and polarization can hardly lead us to find balance and harmony, as the axis remains unbalanced all on one side. For balance to be possible we need to integrate, embrace both sides and harmonize them into an imaginable center.
This is exactly what we want to do at #BeyondRecipes. We want to use simple daily exercises to improve our ability to unite what has become polarized and keeps us in constant tension and imbalance.
We believe that the kitchen can be a wonderful gym where we can practice first discovering these polarities and then bringing them back into balance. In the kitchen, we take the time and space to bring the body back into harmony with the psyche. The manual work of preparing food is combined with inner work. By becoming aware of the sensations in our bodies, we learn to become conscious of our feelings.
Food preparation resembles an alchemical process and allows us to symbolically explore the processes and times of inner transformation. By understanding what influences our diet, we slowly become able to choose what enhances our growth and avoid what hinders our growth.
At #BeyondRecipes we want to use our hands to nourish our bodies, touch our souls and explore the infinite possibilities of encountering these seemingly distant aspects.
With the hope that this reflection may be an inspiration to you, I warmly greet you until the next exchange.
With love, Maria-Lucrezia
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