Oct 2010
When Loss is Gain
The Cardinal Climax is giving us a breather as we move into October, offering us a chance to stand back and take stock.
Uranus and Jupiter have retrograded into Pisces, easing off the fiery intensity of the Aries Point. Saturn is moving forward in Libra, past the relentless exactitudes of its square to Pluto and opposition to Uranus. Pluto is still (again) hanging out at the first couple degrees of Capricorn, biding its time.
Big and Small
The weather is changing, the Wheel of the Year is turning. We’re heading into an eventful Equinox.
Among the planetary cycles clicking into new patterns all at once in mid-to-late September (discussed in detail in the 4th lecture of my 2012 series; see box at right): Pluto, star of the Cardinal Crossroads, makes a station on Monday the 13th. Five days later the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction is exact for the second time. The Equinox itself is on 9/22-23, with the Full Moon peaking a few hours later.
Sep 2010
The Shadow Side
People like to talk about their problems. This may seem contrary, even pathological; but I think it stems from something organic. Because we want to solve our problems, we focus on them. Just as Nature created itches to motivate scratches, She instilled in our minds a tendency to obsess about what we think is wrong so that we’d apply effort to get it right
Tea Time
Have you noticed that every time you think the culture wars couldn’t possibly get any wackier, they get wackier?
Saturn, the planet that is supposed to keep us sane and grounded, is under stress. For the past two years it has been slapped around by Uranus and Pluto, and it’s now opposed by Jupiter (exact on May 22nd and Aug 16th, 2010, and on March 28th, 2011). Jupiter represents our beliefs, and Saturn is our reality structures. The battle between them is particularly obvious in the USA, whose group soul is entering its Saturn Return (described in Soul-Sick Nation, chapter 12).
Law of Cure
The WikiLeaks story hit the headlines under one of the most powerful Full Moons of the year, July 25th (see second lecture in the 2012 series box, at right). Mars, the planet of war, was conjunct Saturn, a combination associated with the army. Saturn was within hours of making its last exact opposition to Uranus — a contest that had been going on for two years.
I guess we found out who won that round.
Aug 2010
Tinderbox Moment
As the month of August begins, the Saturn-Uranus opposition has just peaked for the final time, after two years of spinning us dizzy. Mars is conjunct Saturn and opposed by Jupiter, which is conjunct Uranus; and they are all squaring Pluto (dismantling) in Capricorn (nation states; the economy). Into this fraught setting the New Moon will arrive on August 9th.
At Her Service
Sometimes feeling overwhelmed is a good sign. Under skies like these, to feel overwhelmed means we’re not shut down. Personally and globally, late July and early August should raise urgent questions in all of us. The Full Moon on 7/25th and the New Moon on August 9th (see the lecture series announcement in the right-hand column) are bookends to an explosive two weeks.
Jul 2010
Shifting Currents
When planets change signs (make ingresses), there are shifts in the ethers. The more we sensitize ourselves to the ingress, the more we benefit from its energy.
It only makes sense to honor the planets when they do something noteworthy; e.g. enter a new sign, station direct or retrograde, or lend their heft to an important transit like the Cardinal Climax.
The next major milestone of the Cardinal Climax centers around this month’s Full Moon (see lecture series box in right-hand column).
Pandora’s Well
I know I’m not alone in feeling perversely gratified that oil has made its way to the white sands of Florida. Certainly I wish no ill to the local tourist industry, any more than I wish more suffering to befall the fishermen in Louisiana (who, screwed and angry, are calling the compensatory pittance BP has offered them “shut-up money.”)
Jun 2010
Making Transits Your Own
For years I’ve had up on my bulletin board a copy of the chart for this month’s Full Moon. The paper is now curling at the edges and the ink is faded from the Sun.
What’s happening on June 26th not just any full Moon; it’s a Lunar Eclipse. (My lecture series on the powerful transits upcoming begins with this eclipse; see Announcements at right).
And it isn’t just any eclipse: it’s the world’s formal debut into the Cardinal Cross years. Its chart features a tight Grand Cross made up of no less than seven planets. We’ll have Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto in a T-square; with the Cancer Sun supplying the final vertex. The reason predictive astrologers are watching this chart like a hawk is that the extreme tension in such patterns is often associated with dramatic outer-world events…