“Put your body in motion and your psyche will heal itself,” said Gabrielle Roth, the Aquarian founder of the 5Rhythms Dance Method. The rhythms: Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness. I don’t know she was influenced by the traditional Chinese five elements cycle or not but her albums have evocative names like Stillpoint, Luna, Trance, Totem, and Jhoom.
Born with the Sun + Mercury in Aquarius at the start of Pluto in Leo, she was a proto-boomer and embodied that generation’s higher ideals. Roth was also born with Jupiter and Saturn conjunct in Taurus squaring her Aquarius planets. She did her chart brilliantly: the physicality and shamanic instincts of Taurus driven to express via music, dance, and healing bumped up against the Aquarius so she invented an entirely new philosophy/scene.
When you’re Aquarius, you find it easier to innovate than follow and no matter how fulfilling something might feel, it has to make intellectual sense. Not only that, for something to make ‘intellectual sense’ to Aquarius, it needs to be stimulus. It has to have wow factor.
“Our soul, our true self, is the most mysterious, essential, and magical dimension of our being. In fact, it is not a separate reality, as traditional Western thought views it, but the cohesive force that unites our body, heart, and mind. It is not a ghost trapped somehow in the physical machinery of our body but the very essence of our being.”
Other than being super Aquarius – electric, kinetic, inventive, original – she was grounded by Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus in Taurus, Venus in Capricorn, and Neptune in Virgo. Her Venus and Neptune were in exact trine, the classic signature of a natural transcendentalist. She wrote and advised many profound things – she was talking about frequencies and waveforms well before 21st Century physics made them mainstream concepts – but the most succinct was her simple advice to ‘sweat your prayers.’
I’ve recently started going…whenever I read a quote from her I resonate with it so strongly. I saw she is born a day before me (though different year, I’m millennial) and ran her chart. We’re like Astro twins! Aqua sun, Taurus moon, cap Venus, Pisces Mercury
I’ve known one other aqua/Taurus moon and he was super into ecstatic dance
5 Rhythms was life-changing for me. I love it. I had noted Gabrielle’s Aquarian-ness, & am unsurprised by her earthy grounding & that fabulous venus-neptune trine. Thanks for digging into her chart!
I love her. So fortunate to be in NYC and able to dip into the vibrant, revelatory, celebratory, cheerful 5 RHYTHMS flow whenever i want. It’s healing and cathartic.
Oh she’s responsible for Five Rhythms! That thing is dope! I go as often as I can and always come out feeling much much better, looser, freer, and full of potential.
That’s so wonderful, I love the title of this blog post. Synchro as i was riding to the gym I was thinking about how sweat brings us closer to the soul, not the other way around…
And i never knew venus trine neptune was the signature of a higher neptunian…
Thx MM
I love that you wrote about Gabrielle Roth! This is inspires me to compare the charts of some of my favorite movement magicians…
Ooh, she sounds good . Maybe a mars retro role model for me. This :
“Attachment guarantees that you will wake up every morning with a mission: to prove you are who you think you are—today. But it’s a total energy drain. you’re so busy performing a role that you miss out on the freedom to improvise, to be real rather than rehearsed.”
Yes!!!!!!
YES!!!
I’m so tired of people’s insecurity about their identity and role and asserting some kind of bla , making them impossible to vibe with. I’m also going to consider what I wrote just then in the first person too, as a “holier than thou” reality check lol.
Ohh
How do I be her??
Sigh / lol..
Cappy moon and 10 th house stellium just really wants to Be Someone (noting irony here)
Saturn Leo still undermining faith in self
Nngghh
Aarrgh
Keep working pi
The challenges of a human life !!
aagh
.oh well what else would be doing, Haha
I love when you feature interesting people Mystic. Thank you!
I’m definitely checking her out. We have so many astrological similarities so I think she “understands” me (Aqua sun, Taurus Moon, Mercury in Pisces, Venus conjunct Neptune in Cap)
Kataka is a devotee of her philosophy and drags anyone she can to 5 rhythms nights around town. I’ve been to a couple of them and had a great time. A bit reminiscent of the dance scene in The Matrix with an eclectic group of friendly sexy people. Actually any singles out there wondering where to dance and meet people in a very relaxed and open environment should go along to one.
Personally I’m more into krsna style kirtan nights than 5 rhythms because there is a common thread of philosophy and less sweaty grinding. 😉
http://youtu.be/FwbwEZtpEZU
Lol, my Gem was in one of these movies, not this scene sadly. But he is quite friendly. They got extras from BJJ gyms and he said they all ate five steak lunches from the buffet.
Where are these 5 rhythms nights? Sounds aces!
hehe that’s funny that the Aries prefers the philosophy and the Cancer likes the sweaty grinding 😉
Ha x it’s interesting though. The kirtan has many of the same elements but totally different directions. Kirtan is basically devotional and can lead to ecstatic mind states, 5 rhythms is like shaking your mind lose, getting down into the body to experience the primal.
Honestly? I am super cool w Krishna, have wondered though exactly how much of the, as you say ecstatic mindstates relate to philosophy, and how much is from the marginal oxygen deprivation–which, cool if that is your jam–and once again, I am super cool with Krishna–I just happened to live with a toxic group of them…
*Them, meaning the devotees
I used to listen to Luna constantly… Gabrielle’s work was a big deal in Santa Cruz back in the day, lots of 5 Rhythms classes..
A bit surprised you hadn’t heard of her before, MM, ’cause you and she are on that wavelength, for sure! But I’m so glad you’ve found her now! Never too late for anything!
That quote regarding attachment and performing a role really speaks to me. And dancing is my religion. I must read her. Thanks Mystic! You dig up gems.
Dancing is my religion *sigh* How could I have forgotten this?
Yes. For me it was for some many years and then I got older and distracted and had a family. I sooooo miss dancing (dancing at home in the lounge room just doesn’t have the same vibe!)
I was lucky enough to do a dance workshop in 2007 or there abouts based on the 7 rhythms – moving meditation. It was perfect for me. I don’t think this was an accidental reminder of her and her work and how amazing it was for me when I found it.
Try No Lights No Lycra! I go there to dance every couple of weeks and it is the best thing for my mental health. I think there are two in Brisbane – look for them on fb.
Thank you so much for the recommend. You are awesome!! My Astro-almost twin!
You’re welcome and I hope you get to dance soon!
Ha! Smooth, PF 🙂
GR is a genius. I used to join a bunch of people once a week and the most awesome drummer would drum an interpretation of the rhythms and we would all dance around and it felt AMAZING. It was totally liberating. Those rhythms shake out all kinds of stuff, no substances involved or required. Just a warm bunch of souls shaking it up like maniacs in the old oil store building on a Wednesday night. It brought out this great basic love and acceptance in people. I found the stillness part really hard to express. Now I do yin yoga I get it now, but in my 20s I couldn’t slow down!
Or bush dancing. Where lord forbid, you had to hold someone’s hand.
Oh Yes! She was a saint to all Liberal Arts school dance majors here.
I remember what I was wearing the day a good friend gave me the book.
Love the beautiful expression of the Venus/Neptune aspect.
The philosophy that “the body is the ground metaphor of your life” made a huge impression that has stuck with me for years. So So wise. And 5 rhythm wave is the nicest stage to dance on at Burning Man. Sigh. wish I would have met her
Awesome.