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Venus in Shared Space
When Venus is experienced in a shared space, it is often described as relational—bringing people together, encouraging harmony, inviting connection. For many nervous systems, especially those shaped by trauma, group spaces can feel complicated. Expectations of togetherness can arrive before safety does.
The Venus gong does not require togetherness to look any particular way.
You are not asked to merge with the group.
You are not asked to synchronize emotionally.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


Boundaries Are Part of Harmony
I want to speak directly to boundaries here—because Venus is often misunderstood as softness without edges.
Harmony does not come from dissolving boundaries.
It comes from respecting them.
The Venus gong does not blur the lines between you and the sound.
It does not ask you to merge.
It does not ask you to give up orientation in order to belong.
Your boundaries are not interruptions to connection.
They are what make connection possible.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


Pleasure Without Obligation
I want to be careful with the word pleasure.
For many people, pleasure has not felt free.
It has come with expectation.
With performance.
With the sense that if something feels good, you are supposed to respond a certain way—or want more.
The Venus gong does not ask that of you.
It does not require enjoyment.
It does not chase comfort.
It does not assume ease is the goal.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


When Care Does Not Ask for Reciprocity
Many of us learned care as something conditional.
If you receive, you must give.
If you are held, you must respond.
If you are supported, you must soften in return.
The Venus gong does not operate this way.
It does not ask you to meet it halfway.
It does not wait for your response.
It does not require emotional return.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


Beauty Without Performance
The Venus gong does not require that.
It does not ask you to find the sound pleasing.
It does not expect gratitude.
It does not need your approval.
Beauty, in this listening, is not something you perform.
You are not asked to soften your face.
You are not asked to relax your body.
You are not asked to respond with enjoyment.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


Venus Does Not Ask You to Drop Your Armor
Venus is often spoken of as love, beauty, softness, and connection. For many bodies, that language has not felt gentle. It has felt like expectation. Like pressure. Like being asked to become permeable before safety was established.
The Venus gong does not ask that of you.
It does not ask you to drop your armor.
It does not ask you to soften your edges.
It does not ask you to become emotionally available.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


Jupiter as the Inner Teacher
Jupiter Gong — Post 8 (Closing)
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


Jupiter in Ceremony — One Mind, Many Bodies
Unity does not require sameness.
The Jupiter gong does not ask a group to feel the same thing, believe the same thing, or arrive at the same insight. There is no emotional synchronization required. No collective mood to match.
Each body remains its own body.
Each nervous system keeps its own pace.
Each listener stays inside their own experience.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


Joy and Optimism Without Performance
Jupiter is often described as joyful, optimistic, abundant.
I want to slow that language down.
In many spaces, joy is treated like a requirement.
Optimism becomes something to demonstrate.
Abundance turns into a mindset you’re expected to adopt.
The Jupiter gong does not ask for any of this.
Joy here is not excitement.
Optimism is not positivity.
Abundance is not something you have to believe in
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


The Softening of Holding
I want to speak carefully here, because bodies hold for reasons.
In many traditions, Jupiter is associated with the liver—an organ connected with processing, flow, and the holding of suppressed anger. This listening is not about forcing release. It is about creating conditions where holding may soften—if it is ready.
The Jupiter gong does not demand emotional expression.
It does not provoke catharsis. It does not ask you to “let it out.”
For some nervous systems, holding
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


Expansion Without Boundary Violation
Jupiter is not about breaking through boundaries.
For many people—especially those shaped by trauma—“expansion” has been framed as something unsafe. Pushing past limits. Ignoring signals. Being told you’ll be fine after you override yourself.
That is not what happens here.
The Jupiter gong does not push.
It does not flood.
It does not overwhelm.
Expansion, in this listening, happens up to the edge your nervous system can support—and no further.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


From Solid Ground to Atmosphere
Jupiter is the first planet in our solar system where there is no solid surface to stand on. It marks the transition from defined terrain to atmosphere, from certainty to becoming.
The Jupiter gong carries this quality.
Listening here may feel different than listening to planets with firmer edges. There may be less sense of structure and more sense of openness. Less focus on where you are, and more awareness of the space around you.
Nothing needs to resolve.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


Safety in Widening
The Jupiter gong offers something different.
Jupiter is associated with the benevolent father—not authority, not command, but support without intrusion. When this gong sounds, widening does not feel like being examined. It feels like being backed.
There is no sense that you are doing it wrong.
No feeling that you should be more open, more confident, more joyful.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


Jupiter and the Permission to Expand
So much of the language around growth carries pressure—be more, reach further, open wider. For nervous systems shaped by trauma, that kind of language can feel unsafe. It can feel like demand disguised as encouragement.
The Jupiter gong does not do that.
When Jupiter sounds, it does not ask you to push beyond yourself.
It does not measure your readiness to grow.
It does not reward optimism.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 152 min read


Chiron as Witness, Not Healer
Chiron does not come to heal you.
It does not arrive with remedies, methods, or solutions.
It comes as witness.
A witness does not intervene.
It does not correct.
It does not require change in order to stay present.
The Chiron gong remains near what has endured without approaching it.
It acknowledges pain without entering it.
It stays with survival without asking it to soften or resolve.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 151 min read


After the Gong Ends, You Remain Yours
Listening ends cleanly.
You do not carry the sound forward unless you choose to.
You do not owe it attention afterward.
You do not need to hold onto what occurred while it was present.
For many people with post-traumatic stress, experiences linger when they are not wanted. Chiron does not do this.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 141 min read


You Are Not Required to Feel Better
Many healing spaces quietly expect improvement.
A softening.
A shift toward relief.
Chiron removes that expectation.
This listening does not measure success by how you feel afterward.
It does not aim for calm.
It does not promise ease, release, or resolution.
You are not required to feel better for this listening to be valid.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 141 min read


Sound That Will Not Cross Your Boundaries
The sound is intentionally restrained.
It does not swell dramatically.
It does not arrive suddenly.
It does not push for emotional release.
There are no surprises built into this listening.
The Chiron gong stays within a range that respects the nervous system’s need for predictability. It does not test tolerance. It does not challenge thresholds.
If your body pulls back, the sound does not follow.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 141 min read


Pain Does Not Need a Story Here
The Chiron gong does not ask what happened.
It does not search for meaning.
It does not translate pain into a lesson or a path forward.
Some experiences resist narrative for good reason.
Words can flatten what was overwhelming.
Explanation can feel like exposure.
Chiron does not insist on coherence.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 141 min read


When the Body Chooses Distance
Chiron respects this choice.
You are not asked to move closer to sensation.
You are not invited to drop inward.
You are not encouraged to “lean into” anything.
Listening does not require proximity.
You may remain oriented to the room.
You may keep your eyes open.
You may stay aware of exits, walls, light, and sound outside the gong.
Julie Jewels Smoot
Jan 141 min read
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