As the Sun has just finished its passage through Scorpio it is appropriate to reflect back on what this month has been about. The visual transformations that the Sun's passage in Scorpio brings are seasonal. This time of year the Sun appears lower in the sky, light and heat lessen, the leaves turn and the animal, plant, tree and flower life around us begin to hibernate. There is consolidation happening below the ground as the earth takes in energy even from the solar system, to replenish itself so that there will be a renewal next Spring. This is the regular process of death and rebirth that all life forms process through.
This is Scorpio in its essence, something dies so that something else can be born again. "Deaths" in the natural world become "crises" in our personal lives which can manifest on many levels, physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual or psychological. In each event there is a separation from what was previously there. Between the end of something and the beginning of the new, the crisis occurs and a decision has to be made.
Each of us "dies" daily when we fall asleep (even that demands a decision). A crisis in our lives, especially when it happens suddenly is accompanied by a "little death". Crisis comes from the Greek meaning to separate or decide. In medicine "crisis" is used to signify the turning point in an illness when there will either be recovery or death. Scorpio is the sign that rules over the "deaths" and "crises" of our lives. We are having an unusual amount of Scorpio energy around us since Saturn moved into Scorpio on October 5th.
Saturn only passes through Scorpio every 30 years; last time being December 1982 to May 1983 and then late August 1983-mid November 1985. Those of us who can remember what happened then, can predict what area of life will experience some kind of crisis ( financial, health, emotional, psychological etc.); or the death of an old way of life or a transformation so that life is never the same again, that will occur this time. We all have Scorpio someplace in our charts, ruling some department of life, even if we are not Sun Scorpios or Moon Scorpios or Ascending sign Scorpios, or who were born with Saturn in Scorpio. Those people who do are the ones who will be most deeply affected during the next 2 1/2 years.
More energy in the same area creates more developmental pressure. Adding to Saturn's passage through Scorpio, we had a Solar Eclipse on the 13th of November at the New Moon at 22 degrees of Scorpio. No other astrological/astronomical event changes our lives more completely than Solar or Lunar Eclipses if they are affecting our charts. (The next Full Moon on the 28th is a Lunar Eclipse.)
The last time there were eclipses in Scorpio were 1993, 94 and 95. The last time we had an eclipse in this same spot in Scorpio was November 1993. A solar eclipse is like a light switch, something turns on or something turns off. New Moons are new beginnings that are in effect a month until the next New Moon. Eclipses effect us years into the future. Anything begun now will take time to unwind and fulfill. Being in the same sign as Saturn, the gods are pounding the same note in our lives. Saturn was not in Scorpio in those previous years when the eclipses were in Scorpio.
This eclipse is interesting for another reason. Bernadette Brady in her book The Eagle and The Lark explores the meaning of each eclipse based on the beginning moment of the series which it is a part. The current eclipse brings with it the joy that comes from a commitment. Some new undertaking or responsibility we take on with this eclipse brings a sense of joy with it. We can use this Solar Eclipse New Moon to identify who, where and what we will commit to, knowing that this commitment will transform our lives. It would be in keeping with the sign Scorpio that this commitment arises out of the dark, out of nowhere obvious.
There is still more Scorpio activity this month. The planet Mercury entered Scorpio the same day as Saturn, October 5th. Mercury has and will again pass over the degree of the eclipse igniting it. Other planets passing over trigger the eclipse even if the passage occurs up to 3 months previously. (Mars passed over the eclipse degree back on September 27th-so your commitment could have been ignited back then too.) Mercury first hit the degree of the eclipse October 22nd and will move back to forward motion on the afternoon of the 26th and pass over 22 Scorpio December 5th. With each pass of each planet over the eclipse degree there will be some news, message, purchase, communication, mental activity or travel connected with what you are committing to.
Still further, Venus moved into Scorpio the evening of the 21st (and the Sun moved into Sagittarius). Our desires, values and what we are attracted to are now more keenly felt. Our "darker emotions" can arise. Love is less platonic and diplomatic and more assertive and passionate.
Scorpio time of year is the middle of the Fall, when we are really experiencing the depth of its message. It is not transitioning into or out of the season but firmly in. Scorpio, like Taurus, Leo and Aquarius, each in the middle of their respective seasons, have a stubbornness and resistance to change quality to them. The fixed signs all have a streak of dig your heels in and "I will not budge". That characteristic is fine if you are building the pyramids (Age of Taurus) but not helpful when cultural changes are necessary and flexibility is needed. The transformations that occur in Scorpio often have dramatic quality about them as there has been a determination to keep things the way they are. We might have had hints of some changes that were needed in our lives but were good at not taking action on them, until a crisis happens and we have no choice.
I wrote this blog because I was struck by how many people's lives have been temporarily or permanently altered this past month here on the East Coast from Hurricane Sandy and the second storm. Adding to that are all the people across the country who have finished their activities around the Presidential election. Crises and transformations of this magnitude are what Scorpio is all about.
Is there a purpose? What are we supposed to think when our home and all our earthly possessions have floated away? What new decisions and commitments have to be made as a result? Will we succumb to the unbearable burden or pull ourselves together and build a new life? This is all Scorpio stuff. Crises are events that force us to look at things differently, to make a decision. We are forced to be present to the moment, and to grasp our reality (Saturn ) in a new way, the past is gone, the future not clear. Our new in Scorpio fashion commitment can be to that- to be fully present to what is arising right in front of us and to each and everyone we meet-especially those who are in dire need- and thus to feel the joy associated with the giving.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Another View After the Storm
For me writing these blogs can be a little upsetting as things are never as perfect as I'd like them to be. I can always think about something else I should have said or explained differently. And then there's the fact that I think of something I'd like to say and I procrastinate long enough that another idea comes in my head and then I lose the excitement with the initial observation.
Adding to that is the chaos that happens when an event like post-tropical cyclone Sandy occurs at my back door. I am sure that it has not been lost on any one of you that the tri-state area of the USA has been spared any consequences of climate change until now. (I bow to those who have experienced the pain and suffering caused by the droughts, fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis and floods that the rest of the country and world have experienced.) Even Hurricane Irene last year did not have such an impact as Sandy. Sea levels are gradually rising and will likely do so at a faster rate now and into the future. This Sandy is a game changer and is causing a "massive reordering of priorities."
In reading the NY Times last weekend I was struck with how much of the paper was focusing on the ideas for infrastructure changes in and around NYC to protect the City "before next time". New mossy wetlands strapped like a beard across lower Manhattan's chin would help to mitigate storm surge; oyster beds in the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, not only to clean the waters but to protect the shoreline, and a huge storm-surge barrier across the Arthur Kill channel between Staten Island and NJ are some of the ideas proposed.
Some scientists have been working behind the scenes. According to the Times, there was a conference in March 2009 at NYU's Polytechnic Institute called "Against the Deluge: Storm Surge Barriers to Protect NYC". There was one journalist and one paying exhibitor. In the reporters words: "It had the sad air of what was then an entirely lost cause". But no longer...
From an astrological perspective we must go back to Pluto and Uranus. Those two planets symbolically represent innovative changes (Uranus) in our lives that affect lots of people (Pluto); transformational experiences which suddenly (Uranus) affect us so that our perspective shifts, we think of new solutions and take different actions. Events that cause sudden changes in perspective are the "new normal" now. There has been something brewing below the surface for a long time (Pluto) and then a sudden event (Uranus) occurs that ignites the unstable condition. This can happen in our personal lives obviously as well.
We can go back two years, December 17th to the desperate fruit peddlar, Mohamed Bouazizi, in Tunisia who lite himself on fire because he could no longer stand the injustice of the system. The act of one man spread to Egypt, the whole Middle East and eventually across the globe, starting the Occupy Movement, because the time is right. These events are outer manifestations of the geometric pattern Uranus and Pluto are making. NYC's birth chart is strongly affected by these two planets. But you do not need an astrologer to tell you that. You can look at the news (if you have power) and see it. We are in these shifting times through March 2015. And they can make one quite nervous.
Adding to that we have planet Mercury apparently turning retrograde. Actually we are passing by Mercury in our orbit around the Sun. (Just as when you are in a faster train and a slower one passes next to you it appears that that train is moving backwards). The key is our perspective!!! Earth never goes retrograde.
Mercury rules communication and travel, writing, speaking, moving from place to place, contracting, negotiating, buying and selling, our thoughts, what we fill our head with and what we speak. During this time as Mercury is changing its orientation to the Sun, or going into the underworld to get new information from a mythological perspective, we can expect to feel stuck, that things have come to a standstill. We get caught in a mouse-in-the merry-go round internal dialogue which gets no where. Watch for it. Also be careful with what you sign and agree to. It might come back to haunt you.
This Mercury retrograde periods, as all others, affect some more than others depending on whether the position it is when it starts (6:04 PM tonight) apparently moving backwards, hits your natal chart significantly or not. There are easier Mercury retrograde times and harder more confusing ones. This is a confusing one. Mercury hates going at slow speed so that is why there are more problems.
There are good things to do now too. Everything with the words" re" at the start are recommended. It is not a bad time and not a time to be feared. It is a time to get caught up, to catch your breathe, to re think things. Everyone's life out here has slowed down at this Mercury station, power outages and now a gas shortage. The longer "shadow period" of this time began the 19th of October. If you need a change in perspective you will know it as NYC knows it.
This is the first time this has happened on Election Day. Mercury was making a station but turning direct, that is leaving the backward time on Election Day in 2000. It did take 3 weeks or so to get the results of that election. Mercury was also in the middle of its retrograde period in the election of 1960 with Kennedy and Nixon which was very close and we did not have the results right away.
Most astrologers are saying that this Mercury retrograde could affect the election today by not having a clear winner after the polls close. But one can also say that Sandy and all the chaos it has caused, with the threat of another coastal Northeaster tomorrow, has already manifested the predicted chaos, confusion, stalling and delaying inherent with the combination of Election Day and a Mercury station retrograde day. But it has never happened before so we have nothing to go by. So much of life is like that these days.
In any event Saturday the 17th brings Mercury and the Sun together and the hardest part of this period is over. The new information that we needed that was hidden from view has surfaced.
Stay tuned for next time when we talk about the Scorpio Solar Eclipse New Moon on the 13th.....
Adding to that is the chaos that happens when an event like post-tropical cyclone Sandy occurs at my back door. I am sure that it has not been lost on any one of you that the tri-state area of the USA has been spared any consequences of climate change until now. (I bow to those who have experienced the pain and suffering caused by the droughts, fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis and floods that the rest of the country and world have experienced.) Even Hurricane Irene last year did not have such an impact as Sandy. Sea levels are gradually rising and will likely do so at a faster rate now and into the future. This Sandy is a game changer and is causing a "massive reordering of priorities."
In reading the NY Times last weekend I was struck with how much of the paper was focusing on the ideas for infrastructure changes in and around NYC to protect the City "before next time". New mossy wetlands strapped like a beard across lower Manhattan's chin would help to mitigate storm surge; oyster beds in the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, not only to clean the waters but to protect the shoreline, and a huge storm-surge barrier across the Arthur Kill channel between Staten Island and NJ are some of the ideas proposed.
Some scientists have been working behind the scenes. According to the Times, there was a conference in March 2009 at NYU's Polytechnic Institute called "Against the Deluge: Storm Surge Barriers to Protect NYC". There was one journalist and one paying exhibitor. In the reporters words: "It had the sad air of what was then an entirely lost cause". But no longer...
From an astrological perspective we must go back to Pluto and Uranus. Those two planets symbolically represent innovative changes (Uranus) in our lives that affect lots of people (Pluto); transformational experiences which suddenly (Uranus) affect us so that our perspective shifts, we think of new solutions and take different actions. Events that cause sudden changes in perspective are the "new normal" now. There has been something brewing below the surface for a long time (Pluto) and then a sudden event (Uranus) occurs that ignites the unstable condition. This can happen in our personal lives obviously as well.
We can go back two years, December 17th to the desperate fruit peddlar, Mohamed Bouazizi, in Tunisia who lite himself on fire because he could no longer stand the injustice of the system. The act of one man spread to Egypt, the whole Middle East and eventually across the globe, starting the Occupy Movement, because the time is right. These events are outer manifestations of the geometric pattern Uranus and Pluto are making. NYC's birth chart is strongly affected by these two planets. But you do not need an astrologer to tell you that. You can look at the news (if you have power) and see it. We are in these shifting times through March 2015. And they can make one quite nervous.
Adding to that we have planet Mercury apparently turning retrograde. Actually we are passing by Mercury in our orbit around the Sun. (Just as when you are in a faster train and a slower one passes next to you it appears that that train is moving backwards). The key is our perspective!!! Earth never goes retrograde.
Mercury rules communication and travel, writing, speaking, moving from place to place, contracting, negotiating, buying and selling, our thoughts, what we fill our head with and what we speak. During this time as Mercury is changing its orientation to the Sun, or going into the underworld to get new information from a mythological perspective, we can expect to feel stuck, that things have come to a standstill. We get caught in a mouse-in-the merry-go round internal dialogue which gets no where. Watch for it. Also be careful with what you sign and agree to. It might come back to haunt you.
This Mercury retrograde periods, as all others, affect some more than others depending on whether the position it is when it starts (6:04 PM tonight) apparently moving backwards, hits your natal chart significantly or not. There are easier Mercury retrograde times and harder more confusing ones. This is a confusing one. Mercury hates going at slow speed so that is why there are more problems.
There are good things to do now too. Everything with the words" re" at the start are recommended. It is not a bad time and not a time to be feared. It is a time to get caught up, to catch your breathe, to re think things. Everyone's life out here has slowed down at this Mercury station, power outages and now a gas shortage. The longer "shadow period" of this time began the 19th of October. If you need a change in perspective you will know it as NYC knows it.
This is the first time this has happened on Election Day. Mercury was making a station but turning direct, that is leaving the backward time on Election Day in 2000. It did take 3 weeks or so to get the results of that election. Mercury was also in the middle of its retrograde period in the election of 1960 with Kennedy and Nixon which was very close and we did not have the results right away.
Most astrologers are saying that this Mercury retrograde could affect the election today by not having a clear winner after the polls close. But one can also say that Sandy and all the chaos it has caused, with the threat of another coastal Northeaster tomorrow, has already manifested the predicted chaos, confusion, stalling and delaying inherent with the combination of Election Day and a Mercury station retrograde day. But it has never happened before so we have nothing to go by. So much of life is like that these days.
In any event Saturday the 17th brings Mercury and the Sun together and the hardest part of this period is over. The new information that we needed that was hidden from view has surfaced.
Stay tuned for next time when we talk about the Scorpio Solar Eclipse New Moon on the 13th.....
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