Monthly Archives: May 2009

Meditation increases the size of your brain

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meditationIf you needed an excuse to begin meditating or expand your practice, this could be it:

Push-ups, crunches, gyms, personal trainers –people have many strategies for building bigger muscles and stronger bones. But what can one do to build a bigger brain?

Meditate.

That’s the finding from a group of researchers at UCLA who used high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of people who meditate. In a study published in the journal NeuroImage and currently available online (by subscription), the researchers report that certain regions in the brains of long-term meditators were larger than in a similar control group.
Specifically, meditators showed significantly larger volumes of the hippocampus and areas within the orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus — all regions known for regulating emotions.

“We know that people who consistently meditate have a singular ability to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability and engage in mindful behavior,” said Eileen Luders, lead author and a postdoctoral research fellow at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging. “The observed differences in brain anatomy might give us a clue why meditators have these exceptional abilities.”

Research has confirmed the beneficial aspects of meditation. In addition to having better focus and control over their emotions, many people who meditate regularly have reduced levels of stress and bolstered immune systems. But less is known about the link between meditation and brain structure.

In the study, Luders and her colleagues examined 44 people — 22 control subjects and 22 who had practiced various forms of meditation, including Zazen, Samatha and Vipassana, among others. The amount of time they had practiced ranged from five to 46 years, with an average of 24 years.
More than half of all the meditators said that deep concentration was an essential part of their practice, and most meditated between 10 and 90 minutes every day.

Dr. Andy Newberg has done similar research on Tibetan meditators.  The brain of the meditators expanded in areas which regulate emotion and this could account for the increased adaptability of people who meditate to stress.  And then there is the additional benefit of connecting more deeply with the Source that lies within us, and what better time to accomplish this than during the conjunction of Chiron and Neptune!

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Why Sun Signs are Stupid

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I love this video from Jeff - and while I completely agree with his rant against reducing astrology to a simplistic look at sun signs, I would like to point out that all of us do have Suns, and they are all in signs, and that the Sun is the most important single piece of the chart.  However, it is still just one part of a celestial puzzle, and every piece is an important one.

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The Dark Night of the Soul

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dark night of the soulThis article was originally posted in September of 2006 when Saturn and Neptune were in opposition.  Many of my clients have been referring to a “dark night of the soul” resulting from the Chiron/Neptune conjunction so I thought it might be useful to repost it.

While I was on vacation I happened on a radio interview with Andrew Harvey, a mystic and Shakespearean scholar who believes as many do that the earth is heading for some troubled times. I was very impressed by the depth of his commitment to the spiritual life and his eloquence in describing the twists and turns that are required on the path to becoming one with the divine.

Harvey’s recent book is entitled The Sun at Midnight: A Memoir of the Dark Night , written about his long journey through the dark night of the soul. In the opposition from Saturn to Neptune, many of us are experiencing such a “dark night” in the form of the ending (Saturn) of our illusions (Neptune). Although Pluto is now associated with death and the principle of rebirth, before Pluto was discovered Saturn ruled over death’s domain. Death under Saturn is a cold hard ending as we come face to face with the fragility of our spiritual connections under Neptune. Although Saturn is a stern teacher, the rewards are great and when we face the hard lessons that Saturn brings we are given great rewards. In its opposition to Neptune, adopting or deepening the discipline (Saturn) of a spiritual practice (Neptune) will help to facilitate the progression of our cosmic education.

But there is a deeper death in Harvey’s writings: the death and regeneration that we associate with Pluto. The reclassification of Pluto into a new category along with Ceres and now Eris adds a new complexity to our concept of this transformation that we may not yet have the capacity to understand. Perhaps there is a clue in Harvey’s words from an interview he gave in San Francisco last year:

[Regarding St. John's "night of the senses" and "night of the soul"] This first dark night purifies all of the senses so that they can become the vehicle of the inner divine self. This first dark night is extreme, but it’s not as extreme as the second dark night. It’s a purification that enables the ordinary senses to start registering the divine world. Through devotion, through meditation, through intense mystical practice, you start to see the divine light. At first it just flashes, and then when the process is complete, you have an overwhelming experience in which you see the entire creation as a manifestation of the light, and your consciousness is one with that. This is not enlightenment. This begins what is called the state of illumination. Although the senses are purified, and although they’re able now to register the divinity of the world, the ego is still subtly present. So there has to be a second death on the path, which is the death of the personal identity. . . .

The entire world is now going through a massive crucifixion on all levels. It’s going through an environmental crucifixion — hundreds of species are vanishing every month. It’s going through a personal crucifixion. There are two billion people living on less than a dollar a day. It’s going through a crucifixion of all the patriarchal systems — look at Enron and what it has shown us about Corporate America. Look at the Catholic Churches’ scandals of pedophilia and what it shows us about authority. Look at the growing disillusionment of politicians of all kinds. All of the systems are being exposed as illusory and as fantasy ridden — as deeply corrupt and exploitative.

There’s another kind of crucifixion going on — crucifixion of purpose and hope. Everybody is totally bewildered. They know that the world is potentially on the brink of total apocalypse. There’s a tremendous danger that as people wake up to the horror of what is going on, they will run into political extremism or into fundamentalism of one kind or another. So it’s extremely important that the wisdom of the dark night gets across because if people understand the necessity for this crucifixion, and understand that it’s preparing the resurrection and the birth and an empowerment, then they will be prepared to go through it without fear — or without too much fear — trusting in the logic of the divine transformation.

See, the power that is doing this to us is coming towards us simultaneously with terrifying destruction and extreme grace and prosperity [emphasis added]. The destruction is, in fact, a form of that extreme grace. It’s quite clear that humanity is now terminally ill, and can only be transfigured by a totally shocking revelation of its shadow side. And this is what we’re living through, these shadow sides exploding in every direction because we have done nothing but betray the sacred in us.

We have lacerated the sacred in others. We have betrayed the sacred in an orgy of fundamentalism. We have brutalized the sacred in nature. We are now terminally destructive. . . .

You can lose hope. But if you know the wisdom of the dark night, then you are looking out for protection. You’re aware that through this terror, protection will be given. This is the universal testimony. They mystics have gone through this process. It’s the testimony of Rumi. It’s the testimony of the great shamans. It’s the testimony of St. John of the Cross, and it’s the testimony that I gave in this book. And it’s, of course, the testimony of Bede Griffiths. You are given tremendous divine protection, because as the human is being destroyed, the divine consciousness comes up. So one side of you is being annihilated, but the other side is stronger than ever in the ashes. So great dreams will come and light will become more and more vibrant. The divinity of life will become more and more naked to you. Miracles will take place to protect you. To anybody who comes to this path, the divine is both extremely ferocious and extremely tender. Ferocious to destroy the illusions, but tender to give the human being the courage to hang in there and do the work.

It’s becoming more and more clear to me that the newly tripartite nature of Pluto embodies the symbolism of this process: Eris creates the discord and strife that begins the death of the ego under Pluto, and Ceres presides over our emergence from the underworld and the regeneration of our lives.

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More thoughts on Obama and Neptune

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Barack ObamaI happened to watch CNN this afternoon while I was at the gym as they were discussing the appearance of President Obama at the commencement address.  Raymond Arroyo was a guest on the program, and he was shocked, SHOCKED! that President Obama had reversed his position on abortion from what he promised during the campaign.  Arroyo said that many Catholics voted for Obama because during the campaign Obama said that he wanted to see the number of abortions decrease, saying that this meant that Obama was against a woman’s right to choose.

Obama was very clear throughout his campaign that he was a pro-choice candidate, and he was endorsed by NARAL and other pro-choice groups.

This is an excellent example of how Obama’s natal Neptune/Sun square creates a Neptunian fog and illusion that can make it easy for others to see in Obama what they want to see.  This doesn’t make him deceptive; it simply means that he is an easy hook for others to hang their projections on.

I wrote about this phenomenon in an earlier post and compared it to my own natal Neptune/Sun and my experiences of being a target of the confusion of others.  There has been considerable hysteria among the astrology-savvy about Obama’s Neptune/Sun square that trickled down even into the comments of this usually very reasonable blog, especially during the election.  ”Obama is like Hitler.”  ”Obama is the Deceiver.”  ”Obama is Satan.”  There is already a full-length movie called “The Obama Deception.”

Astrologer Barry Perlman wrote eloquently last year about this phenomenon:

But when the Leo Sun squares Neptune, however, that purest light of ego-self (Sun) is interfered with by a mystifying cloud of fog we can only partially see through (Neptune)… leaving us to fill in specific blanks with what we wish to see, or what we wish not to see. Individuals born with a Sun-Neptune square often possess a hard-to-read quality, their sense of self somewhat obscured by context–who they’re with, what they’re trying to get across, how they’re feeling that day. Neptune, after all, seeks to dissolve ego boundaries, causing it to become less clear where another person actually ends… and where our own investments in who we imagine them to be (the good or the bad) begins.

There’s an inherent glamour and romance to Sun-Neptune people, in that we may pin our most idealistic imaginings onto the mysterious blank-slate in front of us. They appear larger than life (especially with a Leo Sun), able to rise above the common fray… and we wish for them to lift all of us up, too, on the wings of the faith we place in ‘em. Neptune promises such blissful transcendence from our daily woes, if only we can keep our faith intact.

Just as significantly, though, Neptune also tempts us to flirt with our own self-delusions. And as such, Sun-Neptune individuals often attract our suspicions just as readily as our admiration. Those not instantly drawn in by the promise of who the Sun-Neptune person might be–and unwilling to proceed on faith alone–may instead sleuth for hints of them being something wholly different than who they appear. Their sympathetic slipperiness of self is so quickly misunderstood as active deception, creating anxiety or paranoia aimed squarely at them… though, again, not necessarily based on who they actually are.

This kind of paranoia over the Neptune/Sun square is itself Neptune at work, creating confusion, illusion and delusion.  With Neptune square the Sun there is often a desire to sacrifice the Self for the good of the collective and this aspect is often found in the charts of people who dedicate their lives to the public,   Franklin D. Roosevelt , Bobby Kennedy and Sir Thomas More all had a Neptune/Sun square, and so did Maximilian Robespierre, engineer of the French Revolution.  It is also found in the charts of people who destroy themselves through their own illusion, such as Chris McCandless who wandered Into the Wild of Alaska and lost his life due to a romantic idea of survival.  The late River Phoenix and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, who lost a large part of his life to mental illness, both have Neptune square the Sun.  But so did Franz Schubert and Jonathan Winters.

Planetary aspects manifest in an infinite number of ways, which is why a “cookbook” approach to learning astrology can only go so far.  One person with the Sun square Neptune will behave in one way, and yet we will find something completely different in another.  The Neptunian fog, however, does make it easy to project all of our hopes, dreams, and fears onto the Neptune individual which makes us the dangerous ones, not Neptune.

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Quotes on Science and Psychology

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These quotes are from a very interesting, but fairly technical, article by Douglas Boyd entitled “Inner-active Psychological Astrology” (courtesy of the Starcats site).  This article was originally posted in 2006.

“Only after I had familiarized myself with alchemy did I realize that the unconscious is a process, and that the psyche is transformed or developed by the relationship of the ego to the contents of the unconscious.”
C. G. Jung; Memories, Dreams, Reflections: P. 209.

“Mathematics has been and will continue to be the qualitative language of science, but astrology will become the qualitative language of the human condition.” – William Tiller – Professor of Physics, Stanford University

“Sooner or later nuclear physics and the psychology of the unconscious will draw closer together as both of them, independently of one another and from opposite directions, push forward into transcendental territory, the one with the concept of the atom, the other with that of the archetype.”
– C G Jung; Aion (1951). CW 9: Part II: P. 412

“That we can now think of no mechanism for astrology is relevant but unconvincing. No mechanism was known , for example for continental drift when it was proposed by Wegener. Nevertheless, we see that Wegener was right and those who objected on the grounds of unavailable mechanism were wrong.”
– Carl Sagan

“In Jungian psychology there is a clear appreciation that great transformative wisdom resides in the inner world of our dreams, fantasies, and feelings. However, synchronicity shows, that occasionally, this wisdom, this transforming meaning, expresses itself in the inner and outer worlds simultaneously. Appreciating this re-enchants and divinizes the world. From an astrological perspective, we might say that wisdom continuously speaks to us through planetary motions.”
– Victor Mansfield; Physics and Astronomy Department, Colgate University

What is most remarkable and philosophically significant about astrology is that its symbolism is grounded in a time/space map and not simply projected upon the physical world…. we need presume that ‘reality’ is multileveled beyond the simple sensory/empirical level. The symbol is our way of understanding something which is ineffable, yet something ‘real’ which lies beyond us and is beckoning us ‘forward’ (or ‘higher’ or ‘deeper’ depending upon our preferred metaphor). These symbols appear to ‘work’ by general agreement, hence astrology becomes a technology of self knowledge and transformation, a direct participatory and largely dialogical process.”-- Richard Tarnas Ph D–”The Passion of the Western Mind”

“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”
Jesus Christ; Taken from the Gnostic Gospels uncovered at Nag Hammadi.

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NASA and Mercury Retrograde

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NASA seems to really like Mercury retrograde.  NASA first launched the Discovery space shuttle on August 30, 1984 when Mercury was retrograde.  The Discovery launched the Hubble telescope on April 24 1990 when Mercury was retrograde.

After the initial launch of the Hubble scientists discovered that the optical mirror was flawed.  Because the Hubble was supposed to be shooting photographs of deep space, this was a real problem.

Often Mercury Retrograde periods can be used to repair problems from previous Mercury Retrograde events.  For example, in July of 2006 problems during Mercury Rx kept the Discovery from a successful launch, and the December launch, also during Mercury Rx was successful.

Yesterday, with Mercury Retrograde,  the Atlantis space shuttle was launched with a crew to repair the Hubble telescope.  Immediately after its launch scientists discovered some damage to the exterior of the shuttle but it was termed “minor.”

This is a good illustration that Mercury Retrograde periods do not necessarily need to be feared.  Yes, problems occur but they are rarely fatal.

Joseph Mina adds in the comments:

NASA was created by an act of Congress on July 29, 1958. At that time, Mercury at 2 Virgo conjuncted Pluto at 1 Virgo, both sextile Neptune at 2 Scorpio. Just prior, on July 20th, Mercury entered its retrograde shadow at 24 Leo with the retrograde station occurring on August 9 at 7 Virgo. So Mercury Retrograde would be a natural rhythm for NASA. Add the Scorpion juice of the Pluto conjunction to the mix and you have some high octane rocket propellant. One other interesting astrological point – Chiron in the July 29 chart is 21 Aquarius. As transiting Chiron is now moving back and forth over that degree with Jupiter, a renewed energy is building to take NASA in a different direction. Very happy the Hubble Telescope repair is underway. The images coming from that device over the past 19 years have redefined our understanding of the Universe in extraordinary ways.

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Are the stars aligned to pass a health care bill?

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President Obama says that the stars are aligned to pass his health care agenda this year.  Well, we are in a unique position to see if the President is correct!  The House of Representatives pledged today to pass landmark health care legislation by July 31st.

Obama may be on to something.  The triple conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune will still be a tight formation as the three planets retrograde together within four degrees until early September, putting the pressure on all systems (psychological, social, governmental) to heal and evolve.  Saturn (convention) and Uranus (change) will no longer be in alignment, minimizing the partisan opposition that was so powerful from the fall into early in 2009 with the two were tightly in opposition.

Obama has interesting planetary cycles during the month of July that will assist him in passing legislation.  First is a square from Mars to Uranus in his chart – this can be a time of irritation and reckless behavior but it can also provide the pressure needed to stimulate change.  His progressed Sun makes an exact sextile to the Midheaven in his chart, the point where we express our Self in the public arena.  This is an extremely favorable event that signifies not only success, but also that the result will positively reflect on Obama’s public image.

It will be an interesting dance to design and implement a new health care design that serves the majority of Americans while not bleeding the treasuries even more.  But Saturn remains in Virgo, the sign of health care, through the end of the year so this is the time to make it happen!

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The astrology of Wanda Sykes: Did she really say that?

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Wanda SykesWanda Sykes is an American comedian known for her sharp and blunt wit and was chosen to appear last week at the White House Correspondents Dinner.  Although she has been excoriated by many for her ruthless skewering of conservatives, her fans know that the Wanda Sykes that appeared at the dinner was a watered down version.  The real Wanda is armed with much sharper barbs and insults.

The birthchart of Wanda Sykes (born 3/7/1964, time unknown, Portsmouth VA) is very interesting.  Wanda has the Sun in Pisces, the sign of the shapeshifter.  Pisces is known to be sensitive and strongly spiritual, but their ability to adapt to every situation makes them excellent comedians and stage performers of all kinds.  Wanda’s Pisces Sun forms a harmonious trine to Neptune, the ruler of Pisces – an astrological “double whammy” that tells us that the Pisces/Neptune principle is very important in her chart.  The presence of Neptune inspires us to seek a higher purpose and a loftier goal, and to forge a deep connection to our true Self.

Wanda’s Sun is part of a stellium (big conjunction)  that includes Chiron, Mars and Mercury.  The presence of Chiron, reveals a deep insecurity and a struggle to define a sense of her Self.  The combination of Mars and Mercury explains her barbed (Mars) wit (Mercury) and a sharp  mind.  Mars also adds an impulsive element to the manner of speech (this is a quality shared by Joe Biden, who also has a Mars/Mercury conjunction).

When the Sun, Chiron and Mars combine there is typically a great deal of anger in the individual that stems from an inability (Chiron) to express and meet one’s needs (Mars).  But Wanda is more comfortable with her inner aggression because Jupiter, the planet of optimism and good fortune, is in the sign of Aries which is associated with Mars.  In Aries Jupiter grants a strong sense of initiative and an easy ability to grab for what we want.  There is still a sensitivity with the Mars/Chiron, but its expression in the outer world becomes easier than it would be otherwise.

This big stellium is opposed by the Uranus/Pluto conjunction that was in effect in the mid-1960s and individuals born between 1962-1968 carry the dynamics of revolutionary (Uranus) transformation (Pluto) in a much more personal way.  For Wanda, the comedic process is no doubt a way to release her anger in a way that she hopes will create serious change in the world around her, for that is the intention of the Uranus/Pluto conjunction in any chart.

While Uranus and Pluto are widely opposite all four Pisces planets, Pluto is exactly opposite both Mars and Mercury which are only about a half degree apart.  The addition of Pluto here adds a power and force that intensifies everything Wanda says.  There is an intense drive and a compulsive need to speak one’s mind that cannot easily be stopped.

It’s interesting that Wanda was involved in a campaign entitled “Think Before You Speak” that was aimed at youth in an effort to prevent anti-gay prejudice.  She wrote a book entitled

Yeah, I Said It which is an interesting title that reflects her “I don’t give a s&*t what anyone says” brand of humor.

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Unfriendly fire in the US military

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A US soldier stationed at Camp Liberty in Baghdad has allegedly killed five fellow soldiers and wounded three others at a stress clinic which has been set up to handle cases of psychological problems.

Already there has been an eruption of news articles with revelations about friendly fireconditions on the US military and the increasing stress that servicemen are under from these long years of war.  Five soldiers in Iraq try to kill themselves every day.  Sexual assault cases are up 26%.  A 2007 FBI report on gang activity found members of virtually every known gang to be present in the military.

In mundane astrology, the study of planetary events on events and nations, the military is represented by Mars.  Mars in the US progressed chart has been sitting prominently in the tenth house of the US natal chart since 1942 reflecting the power of the military (Mars) in United States government (tenth house).  The crossing of progressed Mars over the US Midheaven coincides with the dramatic transformation of the military from a small defensive force to a large military industrial complex.

The US progressed Mars turned retrograde in the summer of 2006, just as one of the main architects of the Iraq war, Donald Rumsfeld, resigned from his post as Secretary of Defense.  The country has not been able to regain its footing since 2003 when the Iraq war began, and many astrologers (including this one) feel that the retrograde turn of the US Progressed Mars marks the weakening of the United States as a military power.

When Uranus enters Aries and begins to square Pluto in Capricorn, it is extremely likely that we will see the real military power lies in the splinter groups and radical fringe groups (Uranus) who will by then have access to sophisticated weaponry (Aries) as they face off against the establishment (Capricorn).

At this time, when Chiron and Neptune are causing all of us to reach into the depths of our souls for answers, this event that occurred today is a symbol for the underlying disease (Chiron) that has caused us to lose our way (Neptune).

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More thoughts on the Chiron/Neptune conjunction

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Chiron Neptune conjunctionI did a reading for a brand new baby the other day.  I love doing consultations for parents of beings that have just entered the earth plane, because it’s all about possibilities and choices and talents and skills.  Challenges too, of course, but when we understand the charts of children, parents, spouses, siblings – really anyone! – a new level of conscious awareness improves the way that we relate to each other.

Anyway, this baby of course has the approaching conjunction of Jupiter to Chiron and Neptune. This triple conjunction has been building for quite some time and will culminate within a half a degree on May 26.  All children born at this time have this conjunction in their charts, and in fact all children born between around March 2008, when Chiron and Neptune first entered the orb of their conjunction, and around April of 2011 when they meet for the last time, will be the “Chiron Neptune” generation.

Neptune is the planet that drives us to fulfill our spiritual longing.  Every individual has in their nature a longing for an experience that will provide us with a connection to our inner Self.  For some of us this manifests in a desire for the perfect bowling score.  For some it is an experience of God in a Church.  For some it is a few beers when we get home from work, or losing ourself in a beautiful piece of music.  The experience is different – the motivation is the same.

When we add the experience of Chiron, the Wounded Healer, it becomes necessary to process any psychological and emotional blocks in order to gain that Neptunian experience.  Chiron doesn’t just invite us to enter the inner world of our abandoned psychic debris – it throws that stuff up in our face where we have to face it.  Our emotions can run wild, feeling out of control, as any old undigested memories or emotional angst surfaces so that it can be dealt with.  This process can be exhilarating if we surrender to it and treat it just like cleaning out the basement.  It’s a painful process to go down there and see all of the crap that has accumulated, but a thrilling feeling to be rid of it once and for all.  The Chironic process helps to open the heart more and more fully, and in this process we gain greater wisdom and a phenomenal sense of peace.

The addition of Jupiter here is a two-edged sword.  On the one hand the conjunction of Jupiter to Neptune expands (Jupiter) the longing for spiritual redemption and renewal (Neptune) which can lead us to incredible experiences of spiritual advancement now.  On the other hand, Jupiter can lead to excesses of escapist behavior and flights of fantasy, both of which fall under the dark side of Neptune’s domain..

If this triple conjunction is triggering a planet in your own chart, you are likely experiencing a highly emotional state right now and some resistance to the surrender that is required now.  Letting go to the river of spiritual evolution isn’t easy, but if you can stay in the canoe during this exciting whitewater ride of the triple conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune, you will emerge having freed yourself and able to enter a higher level of awareness and conscious action.

The generation that embodies this planetary combination will, I feel, be extremely sensitive and easily wounded.  But they will also possess the tools to process their wounds quickly and emerge as deeply human but also amazing spiritual beings.

I found this gorgeous art on the web but it was unattributed.  If you know who created this piece please let me know!

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