Monthly Archives: January 2012

Year of the Dragon

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Year of the water dragon

This is the Year of the Water Dragon, which evidently is a very big deal in Chinese culture.  I confess that my knowledge of Chinese astrologer doesn’t extend far beyond what’s printed on the placemats in Chinese restaurants, but I do know that I am a Dragon which made no sense when I was younger.  It’s only now that I am aging that I see the Dragon within me.  But that’s another story…

 

Evidently the Dragon year is a very popular year during which to have children because it is thought that Dragons will be successful financially.  Dragon years are periods of growth and change, and evidently attract events that are larger than life.  It’s interesting to me that mainstream publications that don’t traffic in Western astrology will often make a big deal out of Chinese astrology, such as this one:

 

According to CLSA, Asia-Pacific Markets, the word for “Dragon,” in Chinese is spelled “Lóng.” Automatically that is a good sign for markets, as we are always hopeful for long markets and lots of profit. The Chinese Zodiac takes into consideration all five elements of metal, fire, water, earth, and wood, and in the Year of the Dragon, the zodiac predicts that markets will steadily drop until about mid-August when a huge surge will take place and a “Lóng” market takes us well into the next Chinese New Year. Predominant elements this year are water, which could douse any fire in the markets, and is expected to be a powerful force in February and March, and so the Dragon says to liquidate (yes, liquidate) any funds you have during that period (CSLA).

 

There’s an interesting corollary between the Chinese Year of the Water Dragon which combines the element of water with the natural fire of the Dragon, with the combination of Uranus in fiery Aries and the entry of Neptune into watery Pisces.  I suppose it’s possible that Neptune in Pisces, with its penchant for delusion, could indeed douse the over-the-top enthusiasm of Uranus in Aries.

 

While there are twelve animal years, each animal year has an element year and since there are five elements in Chinese philosophy this makes for a 60-year cycle.  So this next year, my 60th year, is actually my Dragon Return, the first time the Water Dragon has returned since the year of my birth.  (Which I guess is now no longer a secret!)

 

So I have been wondering, what does it mean that this is my Dragon Return year?  I asked the proprietor of the local establishment of Chinese cuisine that I frequent, and he shook his head.  ”Not usually a good year,” he said.  ”Sometimes it brings out the worst in you.”  That was not very encouraging but I can see where that would be the case.  Just as with any astrological cycle, much of what occurs depends upon how far we have grown during the preceding period.  And since in this case the preceding period is my entire life, I suppose the question will be how far along I’ve come in my mastery of Water Dragon-ness.

 

In any case, Happy New Year to all!  And blessings for taming the Dragon.

 

 

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The Astrological State of the Union

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astrology of the USLike people, countries have astrology charts that are based from the date and time of their inception.  There is a great deal of argument among astrologers over which is the “real” chart for the US, and if you like you can read more about that argument and why I use the Sibly chart here.

In my Astrological State of the Union post from 2009 I wrote:

The United States is at an astrological crossroads.  The US progressed Mars turned retrograde last year, and is searching for a new direction.  Pluto, god of transformation, has been challenging the US Midheaven, the point of public perception.  The qualities that gave the US its power over the past 400 years will not work for the next 400, and the nation will have to adapt.  Economic systems are changing and becoming much more tenuous and fluid as they go global.  Traditional social systems are weakening and require a new way of looking at the way humans form families and cultural groups.  As a people we must become more lithe and limber so that we can adapt to the changing collective, or we will not survive the 21st century.  This is not a time to look back and long for the conservative values of the 1950s – those days are over.  There is a new day dawning, and we will have to be ready for it.

This is no less true today.  The transit of Pluto, planet of destruction and regeneration, in a square to the US Midheaven oversaw the breakdown of much of American life which resulted in the appearance of a decline in the American role as world superpower.  Uranus, the planet of radical change and revolution, is preparing to transit in opposition to the US Midheaven.  Uranus is known as the “awakener” because it stimulates a view that is different from the everyday world view that keeps our lives in order.  Under this Uranus cycle there will be a growing awareness among the common people that the lives that many of us knew have been irrevocably changed, and there will be a growing unease about the future.

Uranus and Pluto are getting ready to face off in a powerful cycle such as the 1960s when the alignment of these two stimulated the social change and upheaval of that period.  In 2014 and 2015 the square (90 degree aspect) between these two planets will reach the degree of the Sun in the US chart and stimulate some radical events that are likely to continue the ongoing battle between the forces that seek to return to the ways of the past, even though the bridges have burned behind them, and the forces that demand change in a radical and perhaps unsustainable form.

In the meantime, though, there is a “double whammy” of Uranus and Jupiter events beginning with a square of transiting Uranus to the US Jupiter this year beginning in April.  Jupiter in a national chart represents the national ideology and belief system, and with Uranus demanding a radical departure from the past we are likely to see a further splintering of religious dogma and organized religion over the next year.  But this cycle will also stimulate excitement and greater readiness for the changes that are necessary in order to move into the next phase of the nation’s ability to sustain itself.  Then Jupiter will conjoin Uranus beginning in July (through next February) which could stimulate greater innovation and new ideas.

The death of an old way of living leads to a new beginning, but only if we can let go of the past and move forwards.  This Uranus/Jupiter “double whammy” can provide the fuel for this to happen if we allow the change to unfold.  If we cling to the past, things will not go well under this influence.  Change is inevitable.

In the summer of 2012 there is a large number of Jupiter cycles which will create expansion and help the changes to find their ground and become anchored in the new reality.  After that point the transits are generally favorable for growth and national confidence that can put the nation’s finances back on track.

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Sunday inspiration: The web of life and grace

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 Art by Willow Arlenea. It’s hard to deny that we are being pulled into a vortex towards a new future that is unlike anything any of us have ever known.  This is exhilarating for some of us and frightening for others, but our reactions and programming don’t really matter now.  The change is happening and we are a part of it.

This guided meditation is taken from Joanna Macy’s fine book Coming Back to Life and titled “The Web of Life.”  I’ve made some changes to fit with the intention of integrating with the process of the earthly incarnation and the purpose of the Change that is afoot.  I invite you to read it aloud, or perhaps record it and then play it back when you are able to relax with your eyes closed.

Feel your breath, glide on the breath as it flows in, and then flows out.  The oxygen ignites each cell, stirs it awake as it burns in the metabolism of life…. Extend your awareness deep within to feel this energy…. It is all around you , too – sustaining your body, sustaining great circles of air, water, fire and earth flowing through us all… weaving us into the web of life.

 

See these interlacing currents, like threads of light…connecting you with everything else in the room you are in.  Expand your awareness beyond the room – to your entire home, to the street on which you live, encircling your entire community, encircling the Earth.  This great multiplicity of strands, formed of the emotions and thoughts and laughter and tears you’ve held in your being and shared with others…they hold you in place.  Sense those filaments – lie into them.

 

This web sustains your bones and blood and skin, concocted so intricately out of the food you have eaten and the soul of the earth from which that food has come.  The soil that yields the grain for your bread, the boughs of the tree that bears the fruit you eat…all are part of your body now.

 

Back through time this web extends, back through your mothers, fathers, all of the ancestors…extending back through countless generations to the very stars themselves from which we come.  For it is of star stuff evolving that we are all made in the flowing of time… We are each a jewel in this vast net that called us into being…. Each of us a unique and wonderful jewel, sparkling with awareness, reflecting the world.

 

There is pain, too, along the strands of the web and perhaps this pain has become stuck in the filaments.  A memory of loss…an aching of rejection and betrayal – open to these sorrows…breathe them in so that the channels may open once again and the beautiful sparkling web may flow smoothly with the energy of life and change and love and joy.  There is power in the flowing of this fluid net, love that has enriched us and love that we give.  Feel the opening of your heart as you breathe love in and breathe love out, nourishing and feeding the web with love and grace.

 

Open your inner eyes and your heart and your mind to the pulsing of the web and all of its murmurs and whispers as deep as time and life itself.  You are a part of it, and it is a part of you.  Open to it all – unafraid, relaxed, with perfect love and perfect trust.  You are the Universe, knowing itself and flowing with

divine inspiration and courage.

 

In this time of change we may go through a dark place, but we do not go alone, and we do not go without the timeless wisdom of the web which nourishes and sustains us, which cradles us in the arms of ancestral power and love.

 

You are already home…there is nowhere you can go where you’re not held in grace.

 

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Neptune re-enters Pisces February 3, 2012

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This is an excerpt from a longer article that can be found on my website here.

By its very nature, Neptune is difficult to talk about. It tends to be evasive and dreamy, and full of imagination and artistic creativity.  It also can become lost in the illusion of fantasy and encourage sacrifice of the individual self, sometimes for a higher purpose and sometimes in a codependent loss of Self.  In its highest form Neptune inspires us to transcend the material world and connect deeply and directly with an experience of the Divine.

Before Neptune was discovered, Pisces was ruled by Jupiter.  Jupiter, being one of the personal planets, operates on the worldly plane where Neptune, a transpersonal planet of transformation, inspires us to go beyond this world.  Where Neptune governs the direct experience of transcendence, Jupiter presides over the more intellectual construction of what gives life meaning.  Jupiter therefore is more concerned with religion and theology where Neptune deals with matters of spiritual experience.  Both planets also have a hand in popular culture.  Neptune is found in areas of artistry and entertainment, where Jupiter is more involved with the actual media through which entertainment is  delivered to the masses.

With Neptune moving into Pisces, there is the potential for tremendous spiritual transformation, but also mass delusion such as has never been seen before.  The last time Neptune entered Pisces was in February 1848, shortly after its discovery in 1845.   1848 is the year that the gold rush began in California, leading one reporter to complain that everyone in the state was under the spell of gold fever.  This kind of fever, or mass hysteria, is emblematic of Neptune in Pisces.

The transit of Neptune in Pisces this time around once again (as it did in 1848-1852) coincides with a strong aspect between Uranus and Pluto that inspires revolution and radical change and the destruction of the status quo.  The Neptunian influence can cast a spell of delusion over the fever for revolution, or it can inspire us to greater love and compassion for all of humanity.

As we move from the age of Pisces into the age of Aquarius, humans are waking up out of their sleep of delusion that religious dogma has cast over the world during the past 2000 years of Piscean mystery.  Aquarius is more concerned with the rights of the individual, although it can be brutal in its efforts to accomplish social equality as we have seen throughout history in events such as the French Revolution.

As we stand at the doorway of the Age of Aquarius, this passage of Neptune in Pisces represents a completion of sorts – a final test of our ability to rise above the urge to lose ourselves in unconscious urges and escapist behavior and instead achieve a higher level of conscious awareness in the elevation of our ideals and dreams.

Neptune wants to inspire us to transcend ordinary reality, and its ideal expression is to seek this transcendence through a connection with the divine.  This is the source of the creative fire, as we channel any type of creative output through our more limited conscious experience.  As Neptune travels through Pisces we have an opportunity to more easily stretch ourselves beyond the limits of our intuition and conscious awareness.  Our capacity for compassion for the suffering can grow and our hearts can open.  If we ground ourselves in a spiritual practice we will be able to take advantage of the opening flower of divine wisdom that will be available to us, especially during the period in which Chiron is also in Pisces.

With Uranus squaring Pluto over the next four years, revolution and radical changes in the global landscape will be a major part of our experience.  Neptune in Pisces can inspire us to either escape from the difficult intensity into new heights of avoidance, or to seek the higher path of elevated consciousness that can help us to create real change and transformation.  Neptune in Pisces offers opportunities for unparalleled creativity and imagination which can combine with the powerful Uranian influence for invention in ways that can create amazing things for the world of the future.

The symbol for Pisces is two fish swimming in opposite directions.  Pisces is said to be the sign of the saint and the sinner, the priest and the addict. It is our choice, as it always is, whether we will take the easy road of sleep and unconsciousness,  or remain awake and utilize the powerful energy of change that is coming.

For daily planetary news, visit my Facebook and Twitter pages.

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Mars retrograde and the biggest solar flare hits Earth

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As an astrologer I am always looking for coincidences and interesting links, and the release of a huge solar flare the day that Mars turned retrograde is one of those interesting connections.  Mars represents fire, enthusiasm, drive, it’s an aggressive force.  A solar flare comes from the Sun, but it is fiery in nature and the quality of the eruption has a Martian flare.

From our perspective here on Earth, the electromagnetic energy from the solar flare could create havoc with telecommunications systems and the fact that Uranus, planet of electromagnetic energy, is in the sign of Aries now (ruled by Mars) suggests that an increase in electromagnetic anomalies would not be unexpected.

There has been a great deal of fear of the collapse of the electromagnetic grid as part of the 2012 phenomenon which supposes that the Solar Max period will occur in 2012, but the Solar Max is actually expected to take place in 2013 or 2014.  There is real astrological significance to those years because the cycle of Uranus in Aries squared by Pluto in Capricorn will be reaching its peak at that time.

In any case, with Mars retrograde our attention is turned to our own inner needs to assert ourselves and find a way to energize our desires and dreams.  The added fiery influence of the radiation from the solar storms may affect our own electromagnetic energy fields and perhaps we can find a way to harness that energy to assist us become more conscious of the way energy works in our mind/body/spirit system.

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New Moon in Aquarius, January 22-23, 2012

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Aquarius New Moon 2012The Sun and the Moon will unite in Aquarius at 2:39 am on January 23rd (Eastern) or 7:39 am GMT.  We call this the New Moon but it is technically the “dark” of the Moon – not even a sliver of the lunar light is reflected by the Sun.

The New Moon marks the beginning of the new lunar cycle, and it provides an energetic boost to us as well.  Each month we have a New Moon in a different sign, and the New Moon falls in a different house in our natal chart.  This offers us an opportunity to begin anew with a fresh slate and a clean vision.

The symbol for Aquarius is called the “Water Bearer” – Aquarius carries the emotional realm (signified by water) into the realm of the practical.  The traditional ruler of Aquarius is Saturn, after all, and although we modern folks tend to focus primarily on the modern aspect of Aquarius as the eccentric (the gift of Uranus, its modern ruler) Aquarius is also the scientist and the innovative technician, both Saturnian models.

This New Moon is highlighted by Mars, which has slowed down to a station and turns retrograde just after the Sun and Moon conjoin in the New Moon.  When a planet is stationary its influence becomes more powerful, and even now Mars has slowed to a crawl and we are seeing reversals and surprises reflected in the world around us.  (See this article for more about  Mars retrograde.)

Mercury is in a harmonious trine to Mars on the day of the New Moon which will help the mind accelerate to keep up with Mars activity, and that will help us to channel the high energy that Mars will be beaming on us.

The Aquarius New Moon on the 23rd contains that beam of energy, and is focused on creative originality and new beginnings. Again we have a “double whammy” because the Aquarius Moon and Sun harmonize with Uranus, the modern ruler of Aquarius. Uranus inspires radical change to the status quo, and urges us to innovate our lives with new ways of thinking and ideas that seem to come out of nowhere.

We also have a square from Jupiter to the Sun and Jupiter now squares the Moon as well so there is some frustration as the our confidence expands and the soul yearns to find its highest expression in a world which is limited.  In addition, Saturn is within range of a square to the New Moon and seeks to cancel out Jupiter’s confidence with a healthy dose of self-doubt. A strong Jupiter influence can sometimes cause us to respond with a lack of sense, especially if we are more impulsive by nature and Saturn’s strong presence in this dynamic will almost ensure that this occurs if we fail to consider the practical implications of all that we do now.

Aquarius is all about change, and with so much Jupiterian and Uranian energy combining with the assertive strength of Mars right now, change is just about assured.  As always, we have a choice: we can either go willingly and trust the Universe to bring our lives into greater balance, or we can try to resist and hold on to the aspects of our lives which we know in our hearts won’t fit the new reality of our changing lives.

Aquarius teaches that change and innovation doesn’t have to be frightening – that transformation and personal growth fulfill our soul’s longing for purpose and connection to our higher selves and a life that is far beyond what we can conceive of today.

For daily planetary news, visit my Facebook and Twitter pages.

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Film review: Five Star Day and the Solar Return

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Our friend John Townley has posted a review of the film Five Star Day which was released in 2011 but comes out on DVD next month:

The premise is simple: protagonist Jake Gibson (Cam Gigandet, Christina Aguilera’s love interest in Burlesque) reads his newspaper Sun-sign horoscope which tells him he’s going to have a wonderful birthday – love, money, career outlooks all superb – and then proceeds to have the most disastrous day of his young life on all three fronts. Confusing destiny and predetermination, and infuriated that he has been somehow deceived by the ancient art itself, he sets out to debunk astrology utilizing a project for his college ethics class. His method: to find several other people born at exactly the same time and place as he (February 6, 1982, at 10:32 PM in Chicago), who presumably would have had totally different birthday experiences than he, thus somehow disproving astrology. Not exactly an airtight experiment, but perhaps enough speculative fodder for an ethics class.

 

But his presumptions are soon dashed asunder, for as he travels cross-country to meet three others whose identical birthdays he wants to hear about, he discovers that two also had life-alteringly dreadful days, and later finds the third’s was even worse.  He is treated to it in-depth with his first contact and subsequent love interest Sarah (Jena Malone, of Pride and Prejudice, Sucker Punch, lots more), and the rest follow suit.  It’s an unexpected conundrum. Does this mean astrology is for real? Is there no free will in this world? Well, of course there is, as he discovers from getting creatively entangled with the troubled lives of all three. With a little help from Jake, everyone manages to make lemonade out of their birthday lemons, with engagingly suitable episodes of drama, love, and comedy along the way. Ill begun may be half-done, but the other half is up to you, as they all discover, ultimately earning Jake a good grade (we hope) in his ethics report.

The idea that the protagonist had a bad day on his birthday caught my attention, because my birthdays are typically not so great either, something I attribute to the fact that my Sun is flanked by Saturn and Neptune and squared by Uranus, a pretty stressful planetary combination.  On (or near) your birthday the Sun returns to its place in the chart and illuminates your natal solar position.  If your native solar position is challenging, your Solar Return will call your attention to ways in which your solar experience needs to be improved.

The chart given in the film, February 6, 1982 at 10:32 pm in Chicago, shows a nearly exact Sun/Chiron square so the solar return chart would illuminate the painful wounds of that planetary position.  Chris Brennan’s interview posts the chart of director Danny Buday which curiously does not have a solar aspect.  In fact, Buday’s chart shows a singleton Sun – it makes no aspects to any other planets.  I’m not sure there is any relevance of that to the discussion of the film, but I found it interesting nonetheless.

In any case, it sounds like this film is one of the first to treat the subject of astrology with any respect and will probably be worth seeing.

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The astrology of SOPA

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SOPA astrologySOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act currently under discussion in the US House of Representatives.  At first glance, stopping online piracy sounds like a good idea.  I know that I myself have found plenty of my articles circulating on the Net under someone else’s byline.  But when you dig a little deeper into the language of the 75 page bill you find requirements that internet provides monitor the usage of its customers to ensure that rogue sites are not visited, and gives the Justice Department the authority to shut down websites that do not comply.

From an astrological perspective, the Internet is ruled by the planet Uranus, the giver of technology and innovation.  Uranus entered the sign of Aries last year, bringing the energy of aggressive force and self-orientation (Aries) into Uranian realms and intensifying the natural rebellious tendencies of Uranus.

Pluto is the planet of death, power and transformation, and it governs experiences that take us to the limit of endurance and then push us a little further.  In 2008 Pluto entered Capricorn,  the sign of social and economic structures.  Pluto seeks to consolidate power, while at the same time breaking down existing structures that are weak or corrupt so that they can be rebuilt, and the mission Pluto in Capricorn is clear: force the rebuilding of the very fabric of society.

Over the next few years  the revolutionary fervor that we have seen over the past year with Uranus in Aries will continue as Uranus and Pluto face off in a challenging square (90 degree) aspect.  As the power structure (Pluto) finds it more difficult to control the freedom (Uranus) of the masses it will seek more egregious measures to do so (Pluto) , which will be followed by more resistance and rebellion (Uranus).

You’ll notice during this period that the power brokers appear to work from both sides, such as in the case of Rupert Murdoch who is one of the more vocal supporters of internet censorship through SOPA in the US while simultaneously fighting for freedom of speech in the UK wiretapping scandal.

The Internet began its existence as a wild and untamed forum for free expression, but power brokers have long sought to harness and control it for financial gain.  This dynamic is perfectly symbolized by Uranus in Aries (individual freedom) vs. Pluto in Capricorn (business and power).  I suspect that this issue, in a variety of forms, will be one of the major factors in the Uranus/Pluto square over the next few years.

For one of the most cogent articles about SOPA, see this article on the Huffington Post by 16-year old Aaron Wang in which he clarifies:

The bill itself even reflects the inability of Congress and the entertainment industry to grasp a correct understanding of the Internet. The bill allows for the blocking of a domain name but not the numeric IP address. Users can still access the blocked website if they know this IP address. This completely contradicts what the bill stands for — it blocks websites most popular to Internet amateurs like Facebook and YouTube, while tech-savvy users can easily search the IP address of their favorite illegal movie streaming website and access it. What we get as a result, is the censorship of the Internet similar to that of China, Iran, and Syria.

Over the next few years it will no longer be possible to remain complacent.  Just as in the 1960s when Uranus and Pluto conjoined and social upheaval and transformation was inevitable, each of us must determine which principles are important to us, and be prepared to fight for them.

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Sunday inspiration: Working with the Hierophant to create our destiny

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My friend Beth Owls Daughter writes that 2012 is the Year of the Hierophant according to the Tarot numerology system. The Hierophant in the Tarot is traditionally associated with the Pope as a symbol for religious structures and dogma.

The word Hierophant comes from the ancient Greek that means ta hiera,“the holy,” and phainein, ”to show.”  In ancient Greece the hierophant was the priest who interpreted the sacred mysteries and served as the bridge between the spiritual experience and the individual worshiper, just as the Pope later took on that role.  The word Hierophant is also considered an advocate, proponent and supporter.

Beth quotes Caitlin Matthews (creator of the Arthurian Tarot)

The ancient Tarots make this card a Pope, while the more recent ones return to an older tradition of the hierophants of the Greek Mysteries.  Both Pope and Hierophant draw upon earlier traditions and represent important concepts. Drawing upon pre-Christian Roman religion, the Pope is called the pontiff or bridge who, in his own person, bridges this world and the other.

The ancient Mystery Religions were largely about the revelation of myth through dramatic representation or sacred ritual.  This is still an important part of our divinatory profession whereby the Tarot-reader bridges the everyday and the deep worlds for the client, through the medium of the cards’ story.

Beth also posts a Tarot spread created by Ms. Matthews to work with the energy of the Hierophant, the arbiter of the “Triple Crown” as she says of Fate, Free Will and Destiny. If you are a Tarot aficionado you may want to try this spread, but we can all use Caitlin’s outline of this spread as a map to unwind our past so that it lays out before us as a map to our future, without using a single Tarot card.

Wisdom of the Years Behind Me.

Begin by making a list of everything you have learned from the experiences that you have been through during your lifetime.  We often find that the most difficult and intense times of your life (often denoted by transits of Saturn and Pluto) are the times in which we gained the most insight and wisdom and deep understanding.

Sometimes it helps if we begin by listing the most intensely powerful and challenging experiences of our life, and then extract the gifts that came out of those experiences.

How I Wisely Traverse 2012

While there is nothing particularly significant astrologically for the year 2012, this is the year that Uranus and Pluto make their first exact square after coming close in the summer of 2011.  When the revolutionary (Uranus) and the destroyer and rebuilder (Pluto) face off in battle, the result is often intense and always involves endings and new beginnings.

What in your life are you ready to let go of?  Where is change needed in your life, and what do you need to do in order to achieve a flexibility of spirit so that this transformation can occur?

The Wisdom of the Years Ahead of Me

When you look ahead along the timeline of your future, what do you see?  Is the future blank and filled with fear?  Do you see a long and open road that is ready to be populated with people events?  Do you have a dream, a vision or an idea that can carry you into your future?

Whether or not we have a vision for the future, we will create it out of what we carry in the present.  Creating a vision for our future timeline is not the same as making a plan: the work of visioning requires a higher and broader view and a desire for a sense of purpose.  The transformation of the Uranus and Pluto square will continue through 2015.  Consider where you would like your life to be when this Great Transformation period is complete.

This Tarot spread also lays out three defining tools:

The Hand I’m Dealt (Me and my Fate)

In the astrological language, the hand we’re dealt is the birthchart.  This defines the potential of our personality and whether certain areas of life will be difficult for us or easy and harmonious.  Modern-day astrologers have learned that fate and destiny are two different things, and our free will is the determining factor of how one becomes the other.  The family we are born into, the circumstances over which we had no control – these are our fate.  What we do with that fate is up to us.

Looking along the timeline of your past, how can you define this hand that you were dealt?  What are the tools that you were given either to facilitate your progress, or to create challenges for you to overcome?

The Game I Play (Me and my Free Will

How we play the cards we are dealt is up to us.  Say you were beaten by your father.  Are you going to allow that experience to create bitterness and rage that will destroy your relationships and your future?  Or will you seek the help that you need to find the empowerment and compassion from the experience that can help you to become a mentor and healer?

This is where the path of Life becomes interesting.  We read about Free Will every day in the newspaper: how some people surpass incredibly horrific life experiences to accomplish great things, and others turn to a life of crime.  It’s all a question of how we play the game with the cards we’re given.

The Hand I Create (Me and my Destiny)

The question over whether or not we have any control over our Destiny is a thorny one and has been the subject of much debate.  Most dictionaries define Fate and Destiny as being synonymous, but my own belief is that they are quite different.

Using this triad of experiences, our Fate is the hand we are dealt, and our Destiny is created by how we play the Game.  Through the Free Will we have been given, we can make choices in our life that can alter the trajectory of the life that we are living.  In my theology, our higher self and celestial teachers assist in this process, speaking to us like the proverbial angel on the shoulder, helping to guide us towards the Right Actions that will help our destinies to unfold.

Most of us spend a great deal of our lives listening instead to the little devil on the shoulder which urges us to react in habitually patterned responses rather than break free of those bonds.  It takes wisdom and attention to learn to tell the difference between those two voices.

Where has your own voice of old habits and patterns held you back from making the transformations that are needed?  Where can you make better choices which will help you to break through the blocks to bring you closer to your own Destiny?

This is a beautiful exercise for the New Year and I thank Beth and Caitlin for their inspiration.  Please share your experience in the comments!

 

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Posthumous astrology

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natalee holloway declared deadIt’s interesting how astrology continues to work even after a person has left their physical body.  I happened to see that Natalee Holloway has now been officially declared dead, nearly seven years after her disappearance in Aruba in 2005.  Seven years is one Saturn cycle, which naturally also intrigued me to look into this a little further.

Natalee Holloway (born October 21, 1986, Clinton MS, time unknown) disappeared on May 30, 2005.  At the time, transiting Saturn was approaching a square to her Sun which culminated on June 30, 2005.  At the end of December transiting Saturn conjoined her Sun and less than two weeks later Natalee was finally declared dead at yesterday’s hearing.

Saturn presides over endings and the cutting off of things, as well as situations in our lives that challenge and test us.  Important events in our lives often come in seven year cycles, and because Saturn takes 28 – 30 years to make a complete cycle within the birthchart there are generally 6-8 years between Saturn cycles.  I’ve written about the “Seven Year Itch” and the fact that many marriages end at the seven-year point.

For Natalee Holloway, one transit of Saturn to her Sun witnessed her disappearance, and the next transit to her Sun witnessed her final demise.

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