"Reach Out and Touch Faith"
Typically, when we think of touching, we think of it in terms of how something feels sensually. To touch is to make physical contact with another being or object. Touching is often directed and purposeful in that it's intelligently driven by both the will and desire. This desire doesn't have to be sexual in nature, it may be that we desire to feel the fabric of a soft piece of cloth. It may be that we desire to express nurturing affection toward a loved one—or to stroke the furry coat of animal.
Touching, however, is used liberally when exploring a partner intimately. Touching both incites and expresses mutual desire and pleasure. Where this contact is made, warmth grows and spreads like wildfire.
This sense of touch can also be applied when determining the temperature of something. If something is too hot, we move away from it to avoid harmful contact. When our environment is too cold, we bundle up our flesh to maintain our own internal temperature. While this all may very well be common "sense", it's also knowledge that we take for granted because we falsely believe we've mastered it. There's always something "new" to be gleaned from something "old".
As already stated, to touch is to make contact with. But this contact doesn't necessarily have to be purely physical or sensational. In football, when a player makes a touchdown, they've reached the goal with the ball in hand. We reach out to extend our hand, and we use our hands to touch. When a flight safely touches down, it means that it's landed on the earth.
When we are emotionally touched by something, we feel moved to tears of joy or sadness. When we move an object with our hands, we must first touch and make contact with it. Physically touching a person can stir up emotional activity in them. When we harmfully touch a person, they feel compelled to move toward (fight) or move away from (flight). To contact or to touch is to set something into motion.
When we want to "keep in contact" or "stay in touch" with a person, we mean to say that we'd like to continue communication. We stay in touch even across long distances, where actual physical contact is not involved. Touch, then, can also mean communication—verbal or otherwise. This requires language and intellect. When we "touch upon a subject", we discuss it.
Astrologically speaking, touch is attributed to Virgo (ruled by and exalting Mercury) and to Venus. Mercury and Venus also oversee communication. Venus is related to the desire nature and to propagation, and Mercury to knowledge and the mind.
The color green and the plant kingdom is associated with Venus as well. A person, or a gardener, with a green thumb is knowledgeable in the manipulation of plants to flourish. A person with a green thumb has the power to control the growth of plants through skill, physical labor, nurturing, and handiness. Hand comes from Latin's manus. Both man and manus are derived from the same root *man-. This should, hopefully, make the relation of the hand, the mind of man, and the faculty of touch/contact obvious. Will as power, intelligence as direction, and emotion/desire as motivation: To (pro)create.
Just keep calm and "Stroke the Furry Wall!" - Get Him to the Greek
This concludes today's article for my 30 Days, 30 Posts challenge. Tomorrow's topic of discussion is Dating. Yesterday's article was on Meditation.