“Every day she went on two walks: long meandering strolls that might take her up to the Museum of Modern Art or the Waldorf; walks for which she shod herself in tan or chocolate or cream suede Hush Puppies. … Often she went all the way to Washington Square and back, a loop of six miles, stopping to gaze in the windows of bookstores and delis, walking aimlessly, walking not as a means but as an end, an ideal occupation in and of itself.
‘When I stopped working, I preferred other activities, many other activities,’ she once said. ‘I would rather be outside walking than to sit inside a theater and watch a picture moving. Walking is my greatest pleasure.’ And again: ‘Often I just go where the man in front of me is going. I couldn’t survive here if I didn’t walk. I couldn’t be 24 hours in this apartment. I get out and look at the human beings.’”
– Olivia Laing on Greta Garbo in The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone
This is kind of beautiful. Greta Garbo was mega-mutable – She was a double Virgo (the Sun and Mercury) with Jupiter and Pluto conjunct her Gemini Ascendant and her Mars was in Sagittarius.
Of course, it is not just the Mutable signs who are more prone to be flaneurs or prefer walking meditations. They’re the archetypal restless souls, however, and anecdotally the most likely to prefer a stroll to a sit-down-therapy session.
Is it partly because Mutable signs prefer to talk to amuse or inform and the necessary tone of any discussion in actual therapy is not therapeutic to them?
In Ancient Greece, people like Aristotle and Co thought that the brain only worked when people were in motion. And it’s true that a daily long walking practice – usually solitary – is endemic among successful creatives.
Charles Dickens was apparently an obsessive walker – he was Aquarius but madly mutable – Virgo Rising, Moon + Neptune in Sagittarius, Venus and Pluto in Pisces with Jupiter on his Gemini Midheaven.
My walking is of two kinds: one, straight on end to a definite goal at a round pace; one, objectless, loitering, and purely vagabond. In the latter state, no gipsy on earth is a greater vagabond than myself; it is so natural to me, and strong with me, that I think I must be the descendant, at no great distance, of some irreclaimable tramp.
Charles Dickens, The Uncommercial Traveller
Thoughts?
Image: Greta Garbo walking in Manhattan – 1974
I am this! Being trapped at home is torture, I long for my solitary walks,
Stray wisdom from the sidebar! I just looked up Charles Darwin’s chart, the Sandwalk being such a famous feature of his life, he had Sagg rising conjunct Neptune and Mercury cj Pluto in Pisces.
A great radio programme on the history and current times of being a Flaneur
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0787dmb
Mulit-Sagg here – yes to walking and wandering for the enjoyment of the activity. Long walks are great but I’m also a massive fan of the spontaneous backyard sprint. My childhood home and first few sharehouses had tracks worn into the grass from my pacing and running around. If an idea isn’t working for me my first step is still to go outside and wander.
First thought was, OMG THAT UNISEX OUTFIT, CHEEKBONES, HAIR! Wait?IS THAT MY GRANDMOTHER?
Dead ringer.
I was just thinking this the other night as I was pacing the flat and contemplating the bracing night wind. I wish I’d gone.
Gloria Steinheim says when she’s writing, it’s the only time she doesn’t feel she ought to be doing something else. I totally agree but need to add in the walking or even night jogs. Even taking a bus when I have no idea where it’s going (although I’ve only done it 3 times at pivotal moments in my life. The numbers make no sense to me but I find I can think and write poetry during the measured meandering. I can observe people on busses too, which I love and it distracts me long enough to get over whatever existential crisis. Random busses are my version of Holly Golightly’s Tiffany’s.
Chases away the mean reds, the quietness, the proud look of it, nothing very bad could happen to you in a place like that.
It isn’t that I give a hoot about diamonds, or direction. Sometimes a Virgo/ Sag gal just needs predictable, planned movement which she has no control over. Also, I can’t get into tea, been trying for years. Busses feel like the next best thing. Sunglasses and hushpuppy type shoes with utilitarian outfit are de regeur
as are long strides and an inability to spell or care what anyone thinks. It’s a brain walk. ADHD brains look totally different when physically engaged, i.e. brisk walking than when static. Felt sorry for the guy carrying the MRI machine tho 🙂
SAME–I require lots of walking to feel sane–my chart is very FIXED actually–I do have Jupiter in Gemini though–Vesta in Sag, 6th house cusp on Sag–
I also have mars/venus conjunct (Leo, 2nd house)–I have concluded that for me, activity/receptivity is unified in the sense that being active is relaxing, being receptive is stimulating. And yes, this can be very sexy.
Multiple Gemini here, mutable as fuck in my way, moon conjunct jupiter in the 9th… i could literally walk right into a different life if i was willing to walk long enough. walking is essential to my creativity, sifting, ability to think things through. in fact i went on two walks today.
Walking is a surefire cure for my troubles, particularly if somewhere new (Sagg moon, Virgo)
This totally clicks with me. I spend hours just walking and browsing through shops – going down every aisle, looking at all the items, muttering to myself. It’s something I find cathartic and I’m almost in a meditative zone when I do it. If someone comes along with me on this, they’d get very bored, i.e. ‘why on earth are you taking so long just strolling down the aisles looking at things you’re not even going to buy?’ Because it helps me zone out and brings me to a peaceful and thought enhancing state 🙂
Sun, Mercury, Venus in Sagittarius, Mars in Gemini, Pisces AS
Yes, multiple Virgo here and I do love to walk. Since I wounded my leg I haven’t been able to take my ritual daily walks and really miss them. I feel trapped in my home, my body and mind restless while I slowly heal.
I cannot wait until I’m cleared to walk again.
yes, I didn’t realize how much walking makes me feel centered and sane.
Asc Pisces mc in saggi and big Pluto Uranus pile up Virgo plus Dc so I’ve got to have some mutable somewhere. I like to be in the marketplace, the bustle, the pit of the stock market, I find life there but when I have that alone time I cannot stay in the house, I cannot remain or calm until I’ve been out in the wildest of places. In my down time I walk alone up into the Scottish mountains. I’ll cover 10-12 miles walking and running, rain or shine crossing streams and bog, hoping rock to rock and stumbling often on the wildest of wildlife.
It’s an absolute. A bit like oxygen.
I’m alone, usually hypoxic, muddy, wet through and without it I feel untethered, ungrounded. It is my place to connect back into me and the earth.
That and sex I suppose !
I love aimless walking- its like improvisation in music..tere’s no right . no wrong .no end..just adventures..getting lost and discovering a new park, or part of a neighbourhood. It keeps me sane (isn ) lol….walking in nature especially
Meh. Practically my entire chart is Mutable (Sun/Moon Pisces, Virgo Rising Gem Midheaven, 5 planets and 4 asteroids in Mutable signs) and I do walk everywhere but for me it’s definitely a means to an end. It’s cheaper and it’s the only means I have of staying in any kind of aerobic shape. Unlike Garbo I love nothing more than to stay cooped up in my apartment, walking endlessly in my dream landscapes. No weather, bugs or irritating humans to deal with.
Walking meditation I can relate to. Whenever I am walking I’m entirely caught up in my thoughts, seeing only what’s in my head. Often I end up home with no memory of being outside at all.
So-o-o relate to this post. Mercury rules my 9th H Sun/ Moon and Jupiter trines both from 1st H. Walking is not just a religion – I need to walk like i need to eat, drink and breathe. If i don’t get out and walk every day, i find it difficult to get to sleep. Walking in a city is the way to really get to know its soul. Walking in the mountains is the way i get to know my soul. Walking is my cure for everything – solving problems, relaxing, freeing the mind, musing, banishing the blues, feeding the mind or feeling the vibe.
*Walking is man’s best medicine.*
(Hippocrates)
Shoes are obviously important – always on the lookout for the perfect & stylish walking shoe.
*Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.*
(Marilyn Monroe)
Absolutely! I have left my house/hotel/tent with nothing but a water bottle and came back hours later. It’s the best for clearing out the mind and working out the knots. Now I live on the edge of a preserve and we have a secluded spot that is barricaded with a heavy tree line and a creek from the main part. I love to wander around, petting the ferns and finding bones.
During one if the Hacks, Kimmy recommended a core value exercise from her website – I have Saturn transiting my second house moon. Wandering (while walking) was one of the core values I came up with.
Mutables – Sag moon, Neptune, Eros. Gemini Mars, Lilith, Venus, Jupiter. Virgo Psyche.
Walking serves both as a meditation and a steam release. This neurotic brain starts to short circuit if too much time is spent static. I’m the one taking the stairs while others are taking the lift. Not because I have the deluded idea that those 3-4 flights will burn off my cappuccino, but because I know I’ll be calmer or more focussed by the time I get to my destination.
I should add that I’m a bit of a maze runner. I try to find alternate ways to get to the end point. Even if this means sometimes walking around the outside of the entire building.
Yep, me too. I was infamous for arriving late to school because i used to sometimes get lost trying different routes getting there. It was in a great, leafy and hilly area full of lanes, dead ends and hidden little parks. How could one resist?
Oh yes. Like a religion. I’m either taking a long walk or a hot bath to fix myself up.
Yep. Absolutely for me too.
There’s a well-known musician who I see walking around my suburb all of the time. Just checked – Virgo!
Interesting.
maybe that’s just me? i have mars trine uranus too…too much energy even when I’m tired. chart is a crazy mess.
i love walking when it’s quiet/dark/raining/deserted. I find i go into a trance with my thoughts which are more free forming than when I’m just stationary at home. less…in a box? I dislike walking around cities even with much to see & do. I do have Neptune in house 4 and alistair Crowley said that was common to go on bizarre midnight walks.
My friends and I call them ‘night hikes”.
I like that 🙂
wow! i’ve never heard that about Neptune in the 4th but makes total sense to me.
I’ve Neptune in Cap intercepted, in 4th…never been too sure what it meant or how it played out in my life but, sweet Jaysus, do I love a midnight walk!
one needs good fuel efficiency and so on to allow success @ nuburgring
Gemini Rising. For many years I walked the world. The hardest thing for me after parenthood was losing my night walks. Walking at night in the city was always a fav activity. I miss it dearly – another 4 years and It’s back on the menu whenever I desire it – yay!!!
Love night walks in cities. Also the wee hours of the morning. Used to have a 6am start in Covent Garden.The city felt like a giant slumbering animal slowly awakening. There was a special camaraderie amongst us early birds – stall owners, caff workers, street cleaners, guards, delivery people, night owls on way home – like a weird family.
Ah night walks…love them too! used to get in big trouble with by then-bf/now-husband about walking in Boston at night…we’re from the Irish countryside ourselves. But I loved it. It refreshed me. I could finally hear myself think. And I never felt unsafe.
I’ve walked in so-called nefarious areas at night all my life just walking around and observing folks and never encountered drama. Most of the harrassment I experienced was during the day and near “safe” areas, lol.
Yes, that was one of the hardest things for me to lose to parenting as well. It’s not the same pushing a pram. I used to walk for hours at night, in the city.
Ditto. I love to land in new places at night, too. First time I went to Hawaii I landed at night on a Lunar eclipse – I still remember the black puddles on the roads left over from the rains. And the breeze. And random encounters, lol.
Reading this took me right back to 2008… I’ve always been a big walker but it went to a new level then, just had moved into my own apartment in the heart of a city. Post big breakup, etc, still in college. Anyway, when I wasn’t working or busy with school (walked to both anyway) during my downtime I’d just walk, just like she describes. Often with headphones in but not always. It was so enjoyable. Nice to read this and go back there for a min. I’m like 90% Pisces and Sag btw.
Yes, I am a very mutable Mutable. I can only really meditate in action, so walking for everyday maintenance meditation and dancing for extreme moments. I do exactly what Greta did, for the same reasons. Will often walk 8 or 10 km just in any direction, and have done all my life. As a six-year-old my dad would regularly get calls from our distant neighbours in the country where we lived, asking if he wanted them to keep me for the night or if he wanted to drive out to pick me up. I would walk and walk, just to be able to think clearly. Walking and looking and walking
I am not that mutable: only asc and venus are in mutable signs. However, walking meditations are the best for me!
I love finding local labyrinths to walk through!
Find your own labyrinths near you here:
http://labyrinthlocator.com
this is amazing! I am actually researching labyrinths (psychic / allegory and also the physical construct) as a concept right now… thank you for the link.. 🙂 xx
well you COULD get a smiley face or you could have a little box that says:
01F
642
haha
Glad you are enjoying it! A labyrinth would be perfect today for me but is very rainy here. 🙂 staying indoors and potting new snake plants to zoosh up $$$sector of bedroom. NASA says these plants clean the air of pollution. Plus they give off fresh oxygen at night,,opposite of other plants!
We call them Mother Inlaws Tongue : / props spose to be rude
I have heard those plants called that too, but snake plant sounds so much more auspicious and wise! 🙂
wholeheartedly support (and live) this philosophy / practice. walking is low impact and the kg’s just fall off, if that’s a thing for anyone. emotional processing, de-complicating, getting perspective, seeing what’s new out there… getting a feel for a place – my gem rising finds all kinds of little niches, nooks and crannies around a city that i would never ever find if it was not for my psyche-restoring (hmm. psyche in 3rd house Virgo lol) urban rambles.
for best soul-maintenance though = beach or oceanside walks. This 9th-houser needs a horizon <3
I heartily agree Pi ?my best walks have been walking out of the city down to the beach -the world just opens up and out and it’s like you’re staring into the face of the universe- magical restoration for the soul.
Love this post Mystic – I’m currently out on a walk myself and have just stopped for coffee. As i walk, I feel like I’m dropping my baggage and walking through and out the other side of my fears – which have been v powerful lately. Im Virgo sun, chiron in gem, mars, Neptune and uranus in sagg.
Ps the question mark was a smiley
oh yes the way the light changes and the landscape opens out and there you see space and freedom aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh exhale
Was just having same conversation with a Gemini sun yesterday. Ocean walks perfect for finding calm and that distant horizon is both a symbol of infinite possibility as well as a reminder of how small we are in perspective to the greater world.
You weren’t wearing the right sandals 😉
only pisceans can do that, with our holier-than-thou thing