Sunday inspiration: Shift happens

April 28, 2013 By 3 Comments

Uranus square Pluto 2011-2015

 

[There is] the arising of something new in humanity. I sometimes call it the unconditioned consciousness. But it is also a field of stillness, where you see the torn roots of the human mind. Once it emerges, it’s a process that cannot be reversed. It emerges more and more fully, and you become less and less identified with the structure of thought. And then thought is no longer dysfunctional. It is actually beautiful. It can be used for helpful purposes. It’s wonderful—you are no longer looking for an identity in the structure of thought because now you know that who you are is deeper. You are the very awareness prior to thought. You are the stillness that is deeper than thought, much vaster than thought. We call it “stillness” but it’s just a word. We’ve reduced it to something. It’s more than that. It’s consciousness itself, unconditioned. Which is the essence of each human being. It’s that when you meet anybody in a state of open, aware attention, without labeling them mentally or judging them, then that you are already operating as a current or conscious awareness between human beings.

That [will] dramatically change human relationships. When aware presence operates between human beings, they are no longer dominated by mind structures. On a deepest level, that is also love. That is the only dimension from where love can come into this world.

Eckhart Tolle, interview

We are in the transition from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius, and this ongoing planetary aspect between Uranus and Pluto is facilitating that process.  As the old ways are destroyed (Pluto in Capricorn) a new and radically different way of looking at the world through new eyes (Uranus in Aries) emerges and what is left, ideally, is a reality that extends beyond the boundaries of the small mind.

Uranus represents the Higher Mind – the intuition and insight that comes to us from a multidimensional reality that we are only now beginning to grasp.  In order to move into this new consciousness we must let go.  2012 was just the beginning – the process of consciousness shifting continues.

 

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Love song for the Solstice and a personal update

December 23, 2012 By

20121223-074412.jpg

Photo by Pierre LeClerc I have been AWOL from this blog for awhile, largely due to the illness of my mother who died this past Monday. With my Moon (emotion, mother, needs) conjunct Pluto (destruction and regeneration) it’s not surprising that she and I had a complex relationship. I hated her intensely, yet during her illness I found I loved her with a ferocity that shocked me.

After her husband died in 2000 she decided to move to North Carolina. Tis was bizarre because she and I were hardly in contact for about 30 years. I feel very blessed that over the past 11-1/2 years she and I were able to heal so much of the pain and reactivity that had marked our relationship. It took a great deal of effort on both of our parts but she worked hard to make changes and I worked hard to let go of resentment and anger.

I have reported in these pages that over the past few months the Uranus/Pluto square has been aspecting my natal Chiron exactly, opening up old wounds and forcing me to learn to release and grow. In addition, the intensification of my mother’s illness at the fall equinox coincided with the passage of my progressed Moon over my natal Saturn/Sun/Neptune conjunction. She was hospitalized when P Moon transited Saturn and died as P Moon transited Sun/Neptune, forming a type of New Moon and releasing the bonds of karma.

My mother’s funeral was December 21, 2012 and as my sister said, she would have enjoyed the idea that the end of the Mayan calendar was all about her. Because of the funeral I missed our community Winter Solstice celebration in which my friend Gary Phillips delivered a beautiful love song to the natural world, Beth Owl’s Daughter has reprinted it on her blog and I share it with you here.

Winter Solstice blessings everyone!

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Skywatch for December posted and musings on the Solstice and 2012

December 9, 2012 By

Better late than never!  The complete article can be found here and here is the introduction with thoughts on the Solstice and 2012:

INTRODUCTION: WINTER SOLSTICE 2012 AND THE MAYAN CALENDAR

For quite a few years now there has been a great deal of discussion of December 21, 2012 as the end of the Mayan calendar. There is some debate about whether this is the actual date of the calendar as you will see in these articles. I personally believe, however, that the idea of the end of the world, or the end of the earthly paradigm upon which we build our lives, would not have taken hold had there not been an energy of change that is palpable and impossible to deny.

When Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008 after 23 years in Sagittarius it began to break down (Pluto) the structures of our worldly existence (Capricorn) that were corrupt and decaying. Economic systems, centers of power – until Pluto leaves Capricorn in 2023 we will see continued breakdown of infrastructure and the underpinnings of our world which no longer fit with the expanding paradigm of human existence.

Between 2008 and this year there have been a series of planetary connections that have fostered tremendous inner change (Chiron/Neptune conjunction) and outer transformation (the cardinal alignments and the ongoing square between Uranus and Pluto). You don’t have to be an astrologer to see that the world is changing and will never again be the same.

Personally, I am skeptical of the claim that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012. Mayan elders say that this is very like saying our calendar ends on December 31st. But this iconic event has become the symbol of the transformation that is taking place and for that reason it is important.

The Winter Solstice chart is not particularly significant astrologically, and will not mark a particularly powerful time of planetary energy. It IS interesting that the Solstice occurs precisely at 11:11 GMT which has numerological interest as a master number. Regardless of the trigger that we use, there is no doubt that change is afoot. We can either open to transformation willingly and allow ourselves to be repatterned into the new energy, or we can resist and become stuck in fear. The choice is ours.

MAJOR INFLUENCES FOR DECEMBER

December continues the pattern of the past few months with a relatively quiet planetary climate. The larger planetary cycle of Uranus square Pluto is still operative (the two are still within five degrees of an exact square formation), so the process of destruction and rebuilding with new paradigms continues to apply pressure on our individual lives as well as in the global arena. But other than this, there are no major planetary challenges this month.

A harmonious trine from Saturn to Chiron continues to provide us with an opportunity to diligently work (Saturn) on healing any wounds that hold us back (Chiron) so that we can release them and emerge with new wisdom and clarity. Chiron and Neptune continue traveling together as they have for the past five years or so, never allowing us to forget that we are soul beings having a human experience.

Uranus turns direct this month so its energy is quite strong now. Uranus governs illumination and ascension, as well as the type of radical departure from the ordinary and the rigid that is occurring now. If Uranus is aspecting your personal chart you will likely experience difficulty sleeping as well as a continual pressure to liberate yourself from any area of your life which is not serving your highest good.

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The astrology of 2012

October 25, 2012 By

A portion of this article was posted in 2011. 

(click image to enlarge) The Mayan calendar is usually said to end on December 21, 2012, but that date seems to have little relevance to the actual Mayan calendar, although it has come to bear great mythological significance for the current age.  According to that great source of modern wisdom Wikipedia:

In 1975, the ending of b’ak’tun 13 became the subject of speculation by several New Age authors, who asserted it would correspond with a global “transformation of consciousness”. In Mexico Mystique: The Coming Sixth Age of Consciousness, Frank Waters tied Coe’s original date of December 24, 2011,[d] to astrology and the prophecies of the Hopi,[42] while both José Argüelles (in The Transformative Vision)[43] and Terence McKenna (in The Invisible Landscape)[44][45] discussed the significance of the year 2012, but not a specific day. It was only in 1983, with the publication of Robert J. Sharer‘s revised table of date correlations in the 4th edition of Morley’s The Ancient Maya,[d] that each became convinced that December 21, 2012, had significant meaning. By 1987, the year in which he organized the Harmonic Convergence event, Arguelles was using the date December 21, 2012 in The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology.[46][47] He claimed that on August 13, 3113 BC the Earth began a passage through a “galactic synchronization beam” that emanated from the center of our galaxy, that it would pass through this beam during a period of 5200 tuns (Maya cycles of 360-days each), and that this beam would result in “total synchronization” and “galactic entrainment” of individuals “plugged into the Earth’s electromagnetic battery” by 13.0.0.0.0 (December 21, 2012). He believed that the Maya aligned their calendar to correspond to this phenomenon.[48] Aveni has dismissed all of these ideas.[49]

What do the Mayans say?

There’s something romantic and thrilling about the end of the world occurring on the Winter Solstice, but some scholars debate the date of December 21, 2012 as the true end of the Mayan calendar.  For example, Alejandro Cirilo Perez Oxlaj, the 13th generation Quiche Mayan High Priest, and a Grand Elder of the Continental Council of Elders and Spiritual Guides of the Americas, said last year:

We don’t know exactly if it is going to be 2012 or if it is going to be later on. Because 2012 is a Gregorian date, sometimes it does not coincide with the Mayan calendar. There are many reasons why we don’t know exactly the timing. It has to do [with] when the invasion came, a little over 500 years ago [Spanish Conquistador invasion], the [Mayan] men and women of wisdom were the first ones to be assassinated. Then Bishop Diego de Landa, during the invasion, gathered all the books where all the information was, and they set them on fire. So they burned all the information. … The calendar that was at that time in effect, they have gone through so many modifications. . . Like in this Mayan council, they left out days; they didn’t count just to catch up with time. Then with the Gregorian Calendar, all the months are so irregular in length, like the months of 28 days, 30 days, 29 days, 31 days. So this is why it doesn’t [align]. But one thing is for sure, it is certain that you all will know when this happens, because it is going to be a long period of darkness. It is a change of sun; it is another sun that is coming. So, like now, we see the north, and in the other time, it will [be] a different direction.

In any case, the LibraRising website has a wonderful depiction of the Mayan calendar (shown above)  that is clearer than any other I have seen, outlining all of the larger cycles and the breakdown into smaller cycles.  This article is a bit on the New Agey side, but one interesting aspect to this depiction of the cycles is the fact that the first cycles are extremely long in duration, and as humanity evolves the cycles of evolution become shorter and shorter, reflecting what we have actually seen in the progression of human consciousness and civilization.

What about the astrology?

Most astrologers agree that there is very little of significance in the chart of the 2012 Winter Solstice (shown here in GMT).  The biggest aspect we have been able to come up with is an exact YOD formation (not depicted on this chart) involving a sextile between Saturn and Pluto which is quincunx Jupiter, all within a degree.  A quincunx (150 degree) aspect creates tension with no possibility of resolution.  There is a sense of being stuck and uncomfortable and a need to find an adjustment in order to achieve release.  The harmonious sextile helps to lubricate that difficulty and bring out the best of the focal planet that is under pressure.  In this case that planet is Jupiter, and it is pressured by Saturn and Pluto.

This is an interesting aspect, but not one that in my view would cause the end of the world or even a major shift of consciousness.  The Yod does require a certain amount of letting go so that the requirement adjustment can occur, and this could facilitate the continuing transformation of the square from Uranus to Pluto that requires a release of the past (Pluto) and a transition into a new energy (Uranus).

So what will happen on December 21, 2012?  Just as with every other day, it is up to us.

 

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Pluto turns direct and transformation continues

September 17, 2012 By

personal transformationIf you feel as though your life has intensified over the past week, you are not alone.  If you open up a newspaper you will see that all over the world conflict is heating up as old failing systems begin to break down so that new paradigms can take their place. It is 2012 after all!

This is what the Uranus/Pluto cycle is all about.  Pluto tears down old and outmoded structures that are no longer working, and this is especially true when Pluto is in Capricorn as it is now.  Capricorn is the sign of the power structures, and ever since Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008 we have seen a shift in the way we look at how power is held by organizations and individuals.  Uranus, on the other hand, is about authenticity and liberation – radical change that shakes us to our very bones.  Uranus is in Aries, the sign of the individual and the warrior.  It is no wonder we are seeing the balance of power shift from the Superpower era to an era of small splinter groups that rule through intimidation and warfare.

Pluto turns direct on the 18th, meaning it will change direction after a retrograde turn that has lasted since April.  Planets don’t really orbit backwards, but because we observe the movement of the planets from our own perspective they sometimes appear to do so.  Outer planet represent transformational forces and when retrograde they tend to operate primarily on an internal level, and when Pluto turns direct (to appear to move forward again) there is a sense that the buildup of tension is released along with the transformative force that is pushing from behind.

Pluto turns direct just one day before the second exact alignment of Uranus and Pluto in a 90 degree (square) aspect of conflict and challenge, which means that pressure for change and evolution is extremely strong.  On a personal level the stories of our lives are being completely rewritten, and this necessitates a letting go but also a visionary approach to the magic and mystery of our lives.

When we are dealing with this kind of power and majesty there is a certain amount of surrender that is required.  But at the same time we are the co-creators of our destiny, and we must always remain aware of the fact that every moment brings us the choice whether or not to step into a conscious future.

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Chart for the Summer Solstice, 2012

June 20, 2012 By

by Lynn Hayes

image by Visual Alchemy.  The Summer Solstice (northern hemisphere) occurs in the tropical zodiac at the exact moment when the Sun enters the sign of Cancer.  This coincides with the longest day of the year and the most fertile season in agrarian cultures in the northern hemisphere.  (Of course for my Aussie and Kiwi friends as well as those in southern Africa the seasons are reversed and the Summer Solstice occurs in December with the entry of the Sun into Capricorn.  If you’re curious about astrology in the southern hemisphere, check out this article.)

Cancer is the sign of nurturing and is ruled by the Moon, yet at the Summer Solstice the Sun is at its peak in its rulership of the sky.  Even when the Sun is at its most strong, its brilliant rays need to be filtered through the lunar light of emotion and instinct, symbolizing the need for the uniting of male and female energies in order for each to truly be expressed.

This Summer Solstice follows a New Moon in which the energies of the Sun and Moon are fused in a fresh new evolutionary cycle, and the New Moon was in Gemini, the sign of duality.  Are you sensing a theme here?  Dark and light, good and evil, Sun and Moon – balance and integration is the key.

That will not be easy during this Solstice season with Uranus nearing its first exact “square” alignment to Pluto.  This is a planetary cycle of change and transformation during which very little will be left unchanged.  We are birthing new paradigms now – any cultural dynamics that no longer serve the modern world will crumble and fall away.  This will lead to much fear and hysteria, but to get lost in fear is to miss the fine truth that the changes that occur now will serve the purpose of rebalancing the human experience.  In the midst of chaos and destruction new structures will be created that better serve the evolving human experience.

We also have a challenging alignment between Jupiter (expansion and faith) to Neptune (transcendent spirituality) that will peak on the 25th at the same time as the Uranus/Pluto square.  The Jupiter/Neptune square tends to promote spiritual (Neptune) judgement (Jupiter) and illusory (Neptune) ideals (Jupiter).  This can be a confusing time as we struggle to fit our belief systems and philosophies (Jupiter) into our values and ideals (Neptune), and if these are not in alignment an adjustment will be needed.  This is true not only for us personally, but for the global political arena as well.

The combination of these two challenging dynamics will make for a very interesting summer!  It’s time to let go of any attachment to ideas or philosophies and maintain an open mind, especially since Jupiter is in Gemini for the next year.  Our reality will be shifting and reframing itself as the old paradigms begin to fall away, and failure to recognize this will make it more difficult to adapt.  On the other hand, maintaining an observant and open perspective will bring new opportunities (Jupiter) for an enhanced connection with the divine flow of life (Neptune).

for daily planetary cycles visit my Facebook and Twitter pages.

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The 2012 Transit of Venus: Cataclysm or consciousness shift?

May 26, 2012 By

Photo from Psychedelic Adventure. On June 5th Venus will transit the Sun in a rare occurrence that will happen only twice during our lifetime.  This astronomical event is a bit like an eclipse in that Venus will obscure a portion of the Sun during this transit event.

Venus transits come in pairs, and the first of the current pair occurred in 2004.  It’s an interesting coincidence that this major astronomical event corresponds to 2012, but it is not likely to bring about the end of the world.  Much has been made of the fact that the June 2004 transit of Venus preceded the tsunami in the Phillipines by about six months, but other deadly tsunamis have occurred when there was no transit of Venus.  I am having trouble finding any significant events that are tied to the Venus transit that occurred in 2004.

Transits of Venus always occur on the Gemini/Sagittarius axis which is the axis of knowledge.  Gemini learns through experience and assimilation, where Sagittarius is more about finding the One Truth and then disseminating knowledge to others, so some astrologers have predicted a great Consciousness Shift during the Transit of Venus.  There is no doubt that consciousness is shifting and has been for the past 60 years or so, but I think it’s unlikely that the upcoming Transit of Venus will bring with it a a major event of the type that some are predicting.  

The Mayans were very attuned to the cycles of Venus and used these cycles for the timing of wars. This fact has been used by some to predict a major war beginning with this Transit of Venus, except that the Mayans used the heliacal rising of Venus rather than the transits for predicting wars and attacks.

There is some indication of heightened hostilities between Israel and Iran in June and July, but that is tied more to the upcoming square of Uranus in Aries (warfare and rebellion) to Pluto in Capricorn (established power structures).

Venus has come down to us as rather a cartoonized version of the Goddess of Love.  The original love goddesses, Ishtar from Assyria and Babylonia and Innana from Sumeria, and later Astarte and Ashtoreth who was mentioned in the Bible as the wife of Jehovah – unlike their later versions (Aphrodite and Venus) these goddesses held the keys to sexuality, power and magic.

Venus was retrograde during the 2004 Transit, and is retrograde now in Gemini.  Communication and learning, conversation and shifting the way we think about our interactions with others are highlighted now.  The way we bond and connect with others can empower us or denigrate us, and during this retrograde phase we have the opportunity to find greater balance.  Rather than look for cataclysmic events in our outer world to transform our inner world, I believe it is better to look within for the keys to transformation and them use those keys to help to create change in all aspects of human life and consciousness.  In that way the outer world will surely be transformed as well.

For an excellent analysis of the Transits of Venus 2004/2012, visit this site.

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Interesting view of the upcoming Galactic Alignment

May 26, 2012 By

This year there is much talk of a Galactic Alignment that has been described in Mayan texts and has been used as a prediction by some that the world will end in 2012 and by others that we will somehow become immediately transformed into light beings and ascend into an elevated level of consciousness.

According to Wikipedia,

[T]he Sun’s December solstice position (in the northern hemisphere, the lowest point on its annual path; in the southern hemisphere, the highest) is currently in the constellation of Sagittarius, one of two constellations in which the zodiac intersects with the Milky Way.[63] Every year, on the December solstice, the Sun and the Milky Way, from the surface of the Earth, appear to come into alignment, and every year, precession causes a slight shift in the Sun’s position in the Milky Way. Given that the Milky Way is between 10° and 20° wide, it takes between 700 and 1400 years for the Sun’s December solstice position to precess through it.[64] It is currently about halfway through the Milky Way, crossing the galactic equator.[65] In 2012, the Sun’s December solstice will fall on 21 December.

I have been debunking the idea that the 2012 phenomenon has anything to do with astrology.  Several years ago Pluto transited the point of the galactic center, which to me was a crucially important planetary event (here are links to some articles I wrote on that topic). I also believe that we are in the transition now between the Piscean age and the Aquarian age which is bringing about intense shifts of planetary energy as well as personal consciousness. But any particular significance of this year’s Winter Solstice has eluded me.

Recently there was a huge flap among astrologers when a group calling themselves the Cosmic Intelligence Agency declared 2012 the Year of Astrology.  Because the 2012 phenomenon has nothing to do with astrology as we know it, many astrologers decried this as a sham connection.

However, astrologer Linea Van Horn has written an amazing and beautifully illustrated article about the event that is the first article on the subject of 2012 to make real sense to me.  One of my arguments against this sort of phenomenon that creates hysteria among the masses is that these huge cycles don’t happen overnight.  Linea clarifies this in her article:

This won’t happen overnight. The disc of the Sun is about ½ degree. The rate of precession is 1 degree every 72 years (360 degrees X 72 years = 25,920 years), so it takes about 35 years for the disc of the Sun to precess over a given point—and the Galactic Center is hardly a single point, although 27 degrees of Sagittarius, tropical, is the central area of the entire zone.

 

The process began in the mid-late 1990’s, and reaches its maximum in 2012. The exact date is open to debate. Most experts agree it occurs late this year. However, since the entire process takes about 30-35 years, does the exact date really matter? It cannot be reduced to one day! This is a years-long process which reaches its maximum in 2012. It has been building for some time and it is happening NOW!  After 2012 the portal will slowly begin to close and the opportunity will pass.

Read the entire article here, and then let me know what you think in the comments.

I personally don’t believe that the portal will begin to close and the opportunity for transformation will end.  To me the transition into the Aquarian Age is changing everything energetically, and the square between Uranus and Pluto, which won’t conclude until 2015, will continue to break down the old structures that no longer serve us (Pluto in Capricorn) and begin the rebuilding process.  Pluto will not leave Capricorn until 2023, so throughout that time we will be breaking down and rebuilding. After that, Pluto enters Aquarius and begins the real job of transforming awareness and energetic structures, so there is plenty of change ahead.

In any case, the more aware we are of these changing energetic patterns, the more able we will be to utilize them rather than become overwhelmed by them and resist the inevitable alterations in the patterns of our lives.

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There’s a reason they call them cosmic!

April 26, 2012 By

cosmic raysCosmic Ray Origin still mysterious

I don’t know much about cosmic rays, but I do love it when science can’t explain everything.  Cosmic Rays are a bombardment of tiny electrical particles to earth from deep space and scientists recently discovered that the supernova explosions or gamma ray bursts which formerly were thought to cause these rays to enter our atmosphere are not actually the cause, leaving  us to wonder what is really going on here.

We who are working in the field of consciousness and personal evolution talk about how the energy is changing now, and about the shift in consciousness.  But we never discuss where this energy creating these shifts come from – there is a general consensus that we can feel these energetic changes but not being scientists we tend not to analyze their source.

Wired News reported in 2010 that incoming cosmic rays reached a new high in 2009.  Space scientist Richard Mewaldt of Caltech is quoted in the article: “It’s sort of like everything’s working in the same direction right now, to allow cosmic rays greater access to the inner solar system.”  This occurred during the “solar minimum” when the sun’s energy was at its lowest, perhaps permitting more of the powerful rays to reach the earth’s atmosphere.  Some speculative journalists like David WIlcock have written of a stream of new energy coming from the Galactic Center, and astrologically Pluto conjoined the Galactic Center in 2006-2007 which potentially could have opened a doorway for these forces.

For a fascinating article about planetary and consciousness changes, read this article.

 

 

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Wow: a big solar eruption

April 17, 2012 By

The sun has been very active over the past few years; as I wrote in August 2010 the prolonged “solar minimum” period meant that the maximum period which follows would be delayed somewhat beyond the predicted 2012 date. Solar cycles tend to last anywhere between 9 and 14 years, but they average about 11 years. Most astronomers now say that the current solar maximum cycle will peak in late 2013, thereby relieving the stress of doomsday predictions which suggest that a breakdown of the electrical grid could cause the predicted end of the world in 2012.

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