Merry Christmas Part One

I do not know about you but for me the past week has been almost electrifying.  It started with the Full Moon last Tuesday the 17th, which was located at 25-26 degrees of Sagittarius /Gemini-opposite signs. The Sun was in Sag and the Moon was in Gemini. Gemini gives us information, Sag gives us the meaning of life. The position of the Sun, with the Moon mirroring from across the way, is at the GC or Galactic Center of the Milky Way, where a super Black Hole lies. The black hole is millions of times larger than the Sun and absorbs and transmits electromagnetic energy. As Austin says.."the Full Moon's alignment with the GC provides extra energetic support for releasing old beliefs, remembering our cosmic origins and realizing our life's purpose." (see TMA's December/January issue Stephanie Austin's piece on the Full Moon.) This Full Moon (Full Moons are always  synchronous with a "breakthrough" or "ah ha" moment) will give us information about the meaning and purpose of our lives, if we are looking in that direction that is, and will be in effect until the next New Moon on January 1st. 

That same day saw a station or apparent station, from earth's perspective, of Uranus at 8 degrees 35 minutes of Aries. Uranus will now move forward in the zodiac once again, after having gone retrograde from July 17th. Planet Uranus is our symbol for the revolutionary and progressive impulse in our lives; when things suddenly get turned upside down in your life, Uranus is active in your chart. (I just spilled my chai as I was writing this and yes it is in mine and this accident prone energy will be quite apparent for all of us into Christmas Day as Mars configures itself with Uranus). You need other influences to sustain the sudden intensity, but the excitement of the moment gives us a glimpse into the future. This is true especially as this Uranus station occurred simultaneously with the Full Moon at the GC.

And the news of the day of the Full Moon?  The front page of the New York Times had four articles,  demonstrating the future coming towards us.  Firstly, a federal district judges ruled that the NSA's program that is systematically keeping records of all American phone calls, violates the constitution. James Madison, author of the Constitution would be "aghast" that the government was invading our privacy to this extent, Judge Leon wrote in his 68 page ruling. (According to Eric Francis and his Planet Waves site, who obtained birth data on Leon, he is a maverick with his Sun conjunct Chiron-one who leads humanity forward, one who goes his way alone, a healer.)

Secondly, the drug company Glax-Smith-Kline has agreed to stop paying doctors to promote its products.

Thirdly an American organization of professors announced a boycott of Israeli academic institutions to protest Israel's treatment of Palestinians.  "People who truly believe in academic freedom would realize protesting the blatant and systemic denial of academic freedom to the Palestinians, which is coupled with material deprivation of a staggering scale, far outweighs concerns we in the West might have about our own academic freedoms."

And fourthly, Pope Francis replaced a conservative American cardinal on a powerful Vatican committee with another American considered more moderate.  The fact that the editorial board of the NYT,  which meets daily to decide which news stories to put on the front page chose these four stories on Tuesday the 17th, with the Full Moon on the GC, is significant. Remember in astrology it is not what happens to us that is important it is when it happens that is. 

There is another news story of note, that came in that week.  Glenn Greenwald (the Guardian reporter who broke the Snowden files story) and other national security investigative journalists have joined forces with the founder of eBay, to form a new media company, NewCo.  This is not "a same old" publication but one that augurs for the future. There are two components to New Co, one a technology company run for profit that will develop tech tools for making and distributing news and then selling those products to outside companies. The profits will then be funneled into the second segment of NewCo, a not for profit arm which will publish and support independent public interest journalism..
to be continued...

Pre Christmas Thoughts

Having set aside Friday afternoons for writing, I find myself with so many different threads that I am having a time of it coalescing the various pieces into a whole.  I often rely on my first impressions upon waking, when I remember them, as I find these carryovers from sleep life extremely valuable.  This morning's impression was about the planet Mars..

Mars is the first planet outside of earth's orbit around the Sun; so circles the Sun in approximately 2 1/2 years, compared to earth's cycle of 365 1/4 days. Last Saturday, the 7th at 3:41 PM, Mars changed signs and moved into 0 degrees of Libra, hypothetically moving in front of the area of the sky where the sign Libra, the sign of the scale resides.  Mars was last in Libra July 30, 2010 until September 15th, a normal passage of 6 weeks. (If you have kept a diary, then going back to those dates will give you a clue as to what the issues will be for you this time..) This year however, Mars is going to be in Libra now until July 27, 2014 more than 6 months!  This is when astrology or the study of planetary cycles can be so helpful. By becoming  aware of the possible repercussions of this long transit of volatile Mars, we can be pro-active, as they say, and use it, rather than being used by it. 

In order to understand the whole (the long transit of Mars in Libra) we must investigate the parts.  Mars is the principle of energetic force, the impulse and capacity to assert, to act and move energetically and forcefully, to have an impact, to press forward and against, to defend and offend, to act with sharpness and ardor; the tendency to experience aggressiveness, anger, conflict, harm, violence, forceful physical energy; to be combative, competitive, courageous and vigorous.(from Richard Tarnas, Cosmos and Psyche.)

Libra is the sign of the scales, where we weigh and balance things. Justice who holds the scale wears a blindfold. Libra is a cardinal air sign, initiating Fall. Libra has to do with building one on one relationships, where, like the scales there is equality, communicating with one another and making peace. Libra loves Universal Harmony, Ideal Relationships, the marriage of Spirit and Matter. There is an urge to cooperate, to seek compromise, with an ability to make adjustments to encourage a more harmonious experience. (The Congressional budget compromise this week comes to mind as a manifestation of the change of Mars moving into the sign of compromise.)

If combining these two vastly different energies, Mars in Libra, brings a disconnect in your mind, you are not alone.  This combative energetic force (Mars) must be used for peaceful, humanitarian purposes (Libra) or it is bound to bring trouble. Mars in passing through Libra, Venus' domain, brings battles for just social causes or stalemates where one cannot decide which side to take. Mars is out of place in the gentle peaceful sign, preferring a cause to rally and fight for or defend against.  (Although Libras do make good generals as they instinctively need to know what the other side is doing-they can see both sides thus prepare themselves.)  

So where does this leave us so as to be able to use this transit and not be used by it?  Firstly, when Mars went into Libra last Saturday, he entered a new department of life in your natal birth chart.  It is impossible to say what area of life that is without knowing your birth chart. But you should have gotten clues this week as your energy, assertiveness and focus went in a different direction than before the 7th. (You can also go back to the times listed above when Mars was last in Libra for clues.)

Secondly, as we have said, Mars will be in this department of life for 6 months, not the usual 6 weeks, which can go by so fast that one hardly notices. But after a 6 month pass you are bound to notice the shift in focus.Your energies, your drive, direction and often work, will be different in August of 2014 than it is now. Even if you stay in the same profession or job, something about the situation and your direction or purpose in it will have shifted and it started this week.

Two more ideas come to mind. Firstly, When Mars went into Libra, the planet passes into 0 degrees of Libra which connects direcly with its opposite, 0 degrees Aries, the beginning of the zodiac. We all have that point someplace in our natal chart.  It is where we connect with the general public and what we will be known for after we die. Some of us have that point more strongly connected to our personal life than others. We had a HUGE demonstration of the impact of Mars entering Cardinal sign Libra this week with the death of Nelson Mandela. This event was brought to and mourned by the whole world. Rightly so, as if ever there was a person personifying working (Mars) on social justice issues (Libra) it was he; adding to that struggle is all the violence and destruction the working for social change unfortunately often brings.

The study of planetary cycles, as we do in astrology enables us, like Janus, the Roman god, to look both backwards and forwards. By looking into the historical cycles in US history, which are fairly well documented, we can get a sense of what is ahead for the country. (Your personal life can be managed this way as well, if you are a reflective person.) We are exploring Mars at 0 degrees of Libra, as this is what happened this week, but has happened before and will again.as Mars revolves around the Sun over and over again. 

In the natal chart for the USA, July 4th 1776, planet Mars was in Gemini, but "progressed" into 0 degrees of Libra September 15, 1940, as we were vacillating about entering the European conflict. FDR signed "The Selective Training and Service Act" the next day. This was the first time in US history that we had a peacetime draft called up. Early Americans considered a permanent standing Army a form of tyranny; militias were called up and disbanded repeatedly after a crisis. (We have come a long way from those founding perspectives.) 

On July 20th, 2006, 3 years into the Iraq War, progressed Mars in the USA's chart, still in Libra since Sept 15th, 1940,  appeared to stall. Although it is just an optical illusion, it is illustrative and useful in understanding cycles in history. Thus began an 80 year period when the planet of forceful action (Mars) is no longer speeding ahead but slowly, from earth's vantage point, appears to be moving from one side of the Sun to the other, "retrograding". During these months in 2006 a Congressional Iraq Study group was meeting and concluded in December that " US forces seem to be caught in a mission that has no foreseeable end", the USA's Mars went retrograde in Libra. The USA is and should be retreating (Mars retrograde) from the use of  military force to resolve conflicts.

In keeping with our Janus theme of looking backwards and forwards, the first time transiting Mars moved into 0 degrees of Libra after the birth of the country, was Dec 16th 1776. Congress had abandoned the capital, Philadelphia, amidst fears that British General Howe, already in control of New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island was ready to seize it. To forestall an attack on Philadelphia, as a tonic to his dejected compatriots, and before enlistments in the army expired at the end of the year, General Washington, says Ron Chernow (biographer), "began to think creatively"and  "awakened from his mental stupor" that had plagued him since the Long Island disaster. Just as Mars changed signs, moving to 0 degrees of Libra, the Continental Army crossed the Delaware and entered New Jersey, striking a blow against the Hussein mercenaries in Trenton. This became a huge victory for Washington. Mars in Libra-fighting for social justice-in this case for the colonialists to have the same rights as Englishmen everywhere.

As we have said, in studying planetary cycles we look both backwards and forwards because we are caught in our circular or elliptical solar system. All the planets moving around the Sun return to a position against the back drop of the zodiac repeatedly. Looking ahead, March 28th, 2086  the USA progressed Mars will end its retrograde motion and apparently move forward. Although I did not have anything to do with it, the place in the zodiac where this will be is  0 degrees of Libra, where it was on Sept 15th, 1940 when FDR called up the first ever peacetime draft. (Not a usual happening that we start at the beginning of a sign again,.) Thus the events of this week when Mars went into Libra and every time Mars has done that or will do that in the future, foreshadow the events in 2086.  We are talking specifically about the USA's chart here but the principle is the same, even in your personal life

Although March 28th 2086 is way beyond my lifetime, and everyone's else reading this blog, the study of historical planetary cycles-what happened the last time when...is illuminating. Hopefully we will have learned some hard fought lessons in the 146 years since the cycle began in September 1940, about our use of force (Mars) to make peace (Libra). Will a calling up of an army be necessary again? Will we have abandoned our standing military by then and directed the money into social justice causes? Or will we need an army to fight for a just cause and have learned nothing? The point is the US will have a second chance to redo our position on the use of force. Habits begun and perpetuated since 1940, began to be questioned in 2006 and by 2086 should be completely overhauled. .That is the value of a long retrograde time period of a planet. And if you really want your mind blown the USA progressed Mars will not leave Libra until Mar 2nd 2170!! We sure should be working on peace and harmony by then.  Next up will be Venus who turns retrograde on the solstice the 21st.
Thanks for your time...

Difficulty at the Beginning

Pursuing my ideas and blogging the connections between media pieces and the planetary cycles brings me joy. The question becomes; Why don't I take the time to do it more often? It is almost like the idea of the pleasure and satisfaction to be derived is enough;  I do not have to necessarily follow it through;  or am so good at delaying gratification that it has become a way of life?  Maybe I am influenced too much by the I Ching; the first part of my life is ruled by the hexagram "Standstill", the second, "Waiting". Or is it my over active Saturn?

It's not that my mind is hollow but that the effort to begin -just to begin becomes a significant hurdle to cross. Sometimes, however, like this morning, I see something that provokes me to write because it speaks of concrete evidence that our current economic events (in this case) are hurling us into the next Jupiter/Saturn conjunction, occurring on December 21st, 2020 at 0 degrees of Aquarius. Those of you born on or around January 21st, any year, will be a part of the next huge cultural shift.

These two planets pair up only every 20 years and when they do new cultural, political, social and economic paradigms begin. Jupiter rules beliefs, religious, social, economic, political or scientific; Saturn rules the laws of nature and society. Saturn makes our belief systems real as in laws to live by. These two planets are visible to the naked eye, the last ones in our Solar System that are, and have been used by the chroniclers of time since man started looking up at the sky to try to understand what the gods were telling us.

May 28 2000 was their last conjunction in earth sign Taurus, the month the the tech bubble burst and the stock market took its first huge nose dive. This event put all of us on notice that there was no more permanent security in the material.  Events since have reinforced this notion- with the tragic housing bust- that a boom to bust scenario (or visa versa) can come mightily speedily.

The next conjunction is in an air sign Aquarius, the sign of Universal Brotherhood, with an Ideal relationship between all things, cooperation in the highest sense and groups united around a common bond -not an earth sign. The conjunctions occur in one element (fire, earth, air or water) for 200 years and then morph into another. These "Grand Conjunctions" have been occurring in earth signs for 200 years, since 1802. (Excepting 1980-81, "Reaganomics", when the conjunction was in Libra, an air sign, and previewed the next 200 years starting in 2020.)  Grand Conjunctions in air signs, says Robert Blaschke, correspond to rapid social progress, significant intellectual development and new concepts entering human consciousness. 

Which brings me to the piece I got excited about this morning. It is in the New Yorker issue of November 25th, on the Financial page written by James Surowiecki, entitled "Gross Domestic Freebie". Surowiecki writes about the extraordinary valuation of the Twitter IPO's-  $24 Billion dollars, with revenue of $535 million, 230 million active users, 100 million using its services every day and one-half a billion tweets a day. Yet no one pays Twitter ANTHING.  How can a company be valued at $24 billion dollars but its value is not anything which can be held or accounted for.

In fact much of the time we spend on the Internet with its digital goods and services is given to us free of charge,Surowiecki says, and not part of any traditional accounting as in the G.D.P. for instance. In the Industrial Age this Gross Domestic Product was easily measured in what we produced for sale. The Digital Age is markedly different in that there seems to be real monetary value (Twitter's IPO), but figuring out the invisible value of the Internet and including it as a measure of the economy is not easy.  We seem to be valuing AIR. Hence my excitement in seeing evidence of what the next 200 years will be like-we will no longer be valuing material capital, but intellectual capital. 

Evidence in the seismic shift in cultural, political, economic etc. affairs coming at the solstice 2020 is everywhere you look (16 states have now ratified gay marriages). The Congressional hearings held this week, are another example. The legislators wanted to hear from professionals the pros and cons about "bitcoin"-the digital global currency. I found it hard to believe that Congress was already looking into it. It must be further along in the mainstream than I thought.  Can you imagine a global currency not connected to the banks?? How healthy would that be???

Stayed Tuned more coming...

Mercury Stations Today Post

As the planet of communications and writings slows to an apparent halt this morning, I have slowed down enough myself to actually sit down and write a blog; which has been writing itself in my head these last few weeks.

Lest anyone think that what we are witnessing these days in Washington is anything new, they should be reminded that the anti-government movement in this country was in place at our founding.  In fact a case can be made that the duel that Alexander Hamilton had with Vice President Aaron Burr, in which he lost his life and Burr his political life, was in part, over just such as issue.

Burr became the vice president by tying in electoral votes with Republican Jefferson in the 1800 election; which had to go to Congress to be settled. After 35 ballots in the House, Burr lost the presidency to Jefferson, whom Federalist Hamilton had supported. (Hamilton preferred a man with wrong principles to one without any). The Federalists, after 12 years of governing, had bequeathed to posterity a strong central government with a central bank, a funded debt, a high credit rating, a tax system, a customs service, a coast guard, a navy and many other institutions that would guarantee the strength to preserve liberty. (see Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton). 

But the slave holding states of the south and the Democratic-Republican ticket gained control of the executive branch in 1800 and occupied the presidency for approximately 50 of the 72 years following Washington's 1st inauguration. This was made possible because of the 3/5 rule-that southerners could count 3/5 of their slaves as property in calculating their electoral votes. Without this Constitutional provision Adams would have defeated Jefferson in 1800. Not only did the Constitution tolerate slavery, but it rewarded it. The long term effects of the compromise on slavery inflated southern power and wealth, won the south more elections and diminished the meaning of a true democracy.

Burr, desperate in 1804 for a future in politics, having lost the governorship race in NY, (allegedly because of Hamilton's disowning him) saw Alexander Hamilton as the cause of all his ills. Knowing that Jefferson would not keep him on the ticket for the fall election, Burr saw the trumped up feud with Hamilton that lead to the duel as a way to reignite his political career. Hamilton feared that if Burr stayed in politics, (Burr had been a lieutenant colonel in the continental Army, a brilliant trial lawyer, a NYS Assemblyman, a NYS Attorney General and a NYS Senator before becoming VP),  he, as a powerful force in NYS, could be a proponent of secession by the largely Federalist, abolitionist northern states, who were afraid of slavery spreading to the western states after the Louisianan purchase, even for so slight a reason as to get back at Hamilton. Hamilton, Chernow says, might have gone ahead with the duel in order to keep a foe of a strong federal government from staying in power. In other words, Hamilton feared that  Burr would be a party to breaking up the wobbly union of Northern and Southern states, which he, Adams and Washington had struggled and sacrificed so long and hard to forge.

On the night before the duel, July 10th 1804, Hamilton wrote to a Massachusetts Federalist to be wary of any secessionist threat, that it would do more harm than good. It was not only the Democratic Republicans, under Jefferson who were anti strong federal government and pro states rights, but even among the Federalists, there was talk of succession. (Hamilton had written a scathing pamphlet against fellow Federalist Adams because he refused to fund a standing army-probably contributing to Adams loss to Jefferson in 1800). Hamilton feared democracy-that is rule by the unruly masses or 13 independent states and in order to keep that ever present possibility in check dedicated his life to creating and maintaining a strong nation of states, as envisioned in the Constitution adopted in 1787 and going into effect March 4, 1789.

So what we read in today's papers is nothing new. Saturday's NY Times front page had a piece about the conservative coalition's efforts to defund Obamacare, having failed in the Congress, is being aggressively taken up in select individual states. Twenty-six states, since the June 2012 ruling by the Supreme Court that individual states could opt out of the joint federal/state program to bring health insurance to the 48 million uninsured Americans, have done so.  A well funded conservative coalition with paid staff in 34 states have taken the ruling to heart, convincing people not to participate. With their hatred of big governmen, the conservative groups are working to succeed where the Congressional effort to defund Obamacare by shutting down the government failed. The secessionist movement is alive and well in this country as it always has been. The solar eclipse of August 2017 whose shadow passes right through the center of the US  portends more of the same. 

The USA Today

I noticed with surprise yesterday's ruling in the Manning trial, acquitting him of the most serious charge of "aiding the enemy", while convicting him of the other 21 charges using the Espionage Act of 1917. This still means of course that he will spend decades in jail, but he is not facing the death penalty.  Being quite callous and assuming the government (especially a military court) would find him guilty across the board, I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case. I attribute this to the winds of change blowing across our country, strengthened by the actions of a few radicals (Assange, Manning and Snowden)

And where would this country be without our radicals?  Where would we be without Samuel Adam's secret society, The Sons of Liberty, some of whom dressed up like Native Americans, dumping the cargo of British tea overboard in Boston Harbor on December 16th 1773? That act and every one taken after, including signing the Declaration of Independence, were treasonable offenses, punishable by death.

Private Manning, arrested in 2010, working in Army Intelligence in Iraq, gave 700,000 pages of unreleased documents and videos showing the military"day to day"events of the War in Iraq; including some embarrassments and mistakes, the military's "dirty laundry", to Julian Assange's WikiLeaks, and other international media, like the NY Times, who broadcast them. 

Since then Ed Snowden, working as an intelligence officer for the National Security Association disclosed in June, the inner workings of the NSA and their unwarranted (that is without a warrant-as needed according to the Constitution) surveillance of USA citizens and our allies overseas.  The revelations, as well as Snowden's flight to Hong Kong, then to the Moscow airport, have caused quite a controversy. US Attorney General Holden had to write a letter last week to Russian officials declaring that if Snowden is returned to the USA, he will not be tortured or put to death.  (Have we really come to this-that this is what other countries assume to be true about us?)

Also last week was the House's amazingly close vote (217-205) in regards a proposed amendment to limit the NSA's surveillance power.  Ninety four Republicans and 111 Democrats stood up against intense lobbying from the government and its spy agencies to vote for the amendment to limit the survelliance only to those persons in targeted investigations.  No one knew the vote was going to be that close.

Another recent development, attributed to Snowden's disclosures, is about The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and its FISA court set up to handle the government's requests to collect phone and internet data broadly. The judges who sit on the court are appointed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts. These judges are presented with only the government's side of the case.  There is no one arguing for the other side-in this case the American citizens who are being spyed on. The rulings and articles of law that decided the rulings are secret. The NY Times did a front page story on Roberts and the FISA court July 25th, if you wish to read more.  

My point here is that what these brave 20 year olds are doing is no less important than The Sons of Liberty's Boston Tea party in 1773.  The two planets Uranus and Pluto were in an aspect then and are in an aspect now again-2012-2015, as we have mentioned before. Uranus brings sudden surprises and a revolutionary impulse.  Pluto brings up buried or repressed or secret agendas that get exposed-"dirty laundry".  If 4.2 million people have security clearance in the US-how important are all these secrets?

The NY Times editorial said it today... some of the information Manning released was quite harmless; other pieces of information healthy for the public to see as it helps us come to a conclusion about the continuance of the Iraq War.  Manning has pleaded guilty to some of the charges-so should be punished.  But if you look at the record-The Obama administration has brought espionage charges under the Espionage Act of 1917, twice as many times as all other previous administrations combined. If 4.2 million people have clearance and 92 million documents are classified as secret annually -the public can rightly begin to lose trust in the government.  Punish Manning with a moderate sentence but the government "should do something about its addiction to secrecy". 

In a cycles scientist's language, Uranus and Pluto are speaking to one another (metaphorically) and these issues will not go away for years.  All this country's buried resentments, rage, secrets and dirty laundry" is and will get exposed.  Curtailing the media, which the founding fathers understood was needed to keep the government honest, is a necessity.  The obsessive prosecution of investigative journalists prevents stories from being covered and hampers an informed electorate. Why our addiction to secrecy?  What are we afraid of?  These brave and self sacrificing young men are leading us forward.  The outcomes for each personally do not look bright.  But their cause-what they are shedding light on is in accordance with these times. 

Mercury Direct Today

As a planet changes direction, towards or away from the Sun from earth's perspective, it apparently goes into slow motion and stays in one spot for a time-days or weeks depending on the distance its orbit is from the Sun. In the case today it is Mercury, and so, if one is sensitive to the planetary shifts or just willing to act on intuition, we have an opportunity to slow down our coming and goings (Mercury governs movement- thoughts and travels) in order to reflect. 

My reflections concern the nature of time.  As an astrologer or a cycles scientist, as I prefer to refer to myself, one uses the orbiting planets with the backdrop of the zodiac to frame time as circular, not linear. The earth is circling around the Sun year after year, coming back to one spot in the zodiac and continues to cycle. Of course all the planets are revolving around the Sun, each planet is in its own orbit, and each comes back to one spot but at different times, making it impossible to have the repetition of a particular moment in time.    

President Obama made headlines yesterday with his speech on the Zimmerman verdict, relating his personal experiences being a black man in America, "Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago". My attention was sparked when he illustrated a role reversal. What if Trayvon Martin had been older, carrying a gun would he have been able to stand his ground if Zimmerman were following him and been shot because Martin felt threatened?  Would the outcome have been the same? In my head I said the answer as "no" it would not have been. I heard David Brooks from the NY Times say that hearing the President's speech reminded him of the old empathetic Obama during his first campaign, 2006 and 2007, this is the Obama we voted for and do not often see. But why this week?

President Obama was born on August 4th 1961 with planet Jupiter at 0 degrees of Aquarius. Jupiter is there for about a week every 12 years. Jupiter governs our belief systems, our faith, the place we expand, magnify, progress, incorporate that which is eternal, see the bigger picture and have our successes. The sign of Aquarius is the water bearer spreading ideas as he splashes the water around.  Not only does Obama have Jupiter in Aquarius but he also has Aquarius rising, (as did Lincoln) so keenly understands this modality. Aquarians are concerned with humanity, with equality for all, brotherhood and the common man. Obama's strength and success lies in his maintaining and conveying the ties to the eternal values that sustain all men. The inner chord that he was born to sing woke this week with the upcoming Full Moon.

Every time another planetary body comes into contact with a planet in our birth chart, an inner chord is struck and one has an opportunity to speak our truth (or not). A planet's place at our birth moment connects us to the circular aspect of time. The Full Moon on Monday the 22nd is at 0 Aquarius, repeating Obama's natal position and reverberating forward to the next Jupiter Saturn conjunction at 0 degrees of Aquarius on December 21st 2020.  Time becomes cyclical, as what is arising now this weekend is a foreshadowing of what will come up again 7 years from now, when Jupiter and Saturn begin a new 20 year political, social, cultural and economic cycle in the same place in the zodiac.  Of all the successes that Obama will look back on, my guess is that he will be most proud of this one- bringing to consciousness our historical unconscious bias about race.  

Returning From Seclusion

I have not written since the end of January and some of you have asked me "why"? I have always been hesitant in writing about the upcoming eclipse season or the next dreaded Pluto/Uranus square, as no matter what is said the interpretation always brings a sense of fear and dread, which I abhor promoting.  Even in picking a topic a writer inadvertently sends a message that "something is happening" and therefore the reader's defenses go up.

The focus on this column has been in Marcus Aurelius' words "seeing the whole world as one living being" which brings to the fore seeing the correspondences in world events and viewpoints that connect with the planetary cycles. One such correspondence came to my attention, enough to write about it after over 4 months, in last Sunday's Times, in an article in the News in Review section entitled "Fixing the Digital Economy", by Jaron Lanier a computer scientist, researcher for  Microsoft and author of the book, "Who Owns the Future".

In essence, Lanier is saying that there are two big trends occuring in the world, which seem to contradict one another. One is that computer networks are disrupting centralized power all over the globe and putting it into the hands of the individual ( e.g. Wikileaks, the Arab Spring and most recently Edward Snowden's leaking the news of the extensive surveillance by the National Security Agency-another blog about that soon);  the other trend is the acceleration of the disparity between the rich and poor in rich countries around the world. 

Both trends are real and related Lanier says-the disruption and decentralization of power and the "seemingly unbounded concentration of power" at the same time. As a planetary cycles scientist, there can be no better manifestation of the ongoing Uranus/Pluto waxing square (opening right angle turning point) than this seemingly stark contrast between 2 very different perspectives.  The disruption and decentralization of power into the hands of the individual corresponds to Uranus, the planet of revolutionary upheaval and rights of the individual versus Pluto and the concentration of wealth and power into the hands of the "plutocrats". We are in this struggle between these 2 planets and differing points of view between 2012 and 2015

But we can go further. Lanier suggests that by losing the middle class as customers, we put both our economy and our democracies at risk. Markets need customers and democracies crumble when wealth is overly concentrated. In today's digital world more and more people will not be paid for what they are doing, even if what they are doing is needed.  As technological automation increases in the years to come, these robots depend on data that comes from people, people "behind the scenes"supplying the computers with the data needed to perform the action.  

The article goes on, but the point Lanier is making is that in order to keep the middle class strong we ought to be thinking about instituting a "universal micropayment system".  This system would keep track of where information comes from and pay people when information that exists, because they exist, turns out to be valuable. This is where another future planetary cycle pattern is manifesting, that is the next Jupiter/Saturn conjunction at 0 degrees of Aquarius on the winter solstice 2020, which is being previewed here and now. 

Jupiter and Saturn conjunctions (marriages) come around every 20 years and start new social, cultural, political and economic developments for those 20 years.  The last conjunction was May 22nd 2000 in Taurus and in square aspect to the planet Uranus (jolting unexpected movements-that was the first time the market dropped 500 plus points in a day). The conjunctions occur for 240 years in one element; since Jan 26 1842 that element has been earth-with its emphasis on material resources and productivity.

When the next Jupiter/ Saturn marriage occurs at the winter solstice 2020 it will be in Aquarius, an air sign. Relinquishing the material side of life where wealth comes from the earth and her resources, the emphasis that we are walking into, will be on global social developments, ideas, information, community and relationships. Mr. Lanier is prescient in his prediction that an idea for keeping the middle class going in the future, is to pay people for their ideas, no matter if they intended to provide them or not.  

Inauguration 2013

January is named for Janus, the two-faced Roman God, looking both into the past and into the future. He is the god of beginnings, transitions, gates, doorways, endings and time. Our President certainly evoked Janus in his Inaugural address Monday by looking backwards to the Constitution's tenet "that all of us are created equal" and with his historical references to the progress we have made on social issues; and by looking forward to the work that still has to be done so that that phrase has meaning for gays, blacks, women, immigrants and all Americans, regardless of economic status. Civil rights in our founders time merely meant white land owning males. In the 21st Century it has to mean more. Why is this?

The dawning of the Age of Aquarius-some say it lasts 325, others 1,000 years. We are undoubtedly in it now as evidenced by the Presidents's speech and his redefinition of the words in the Constitution to include ALL the people. The dawning (few can agree as to the dates) might have begun around the time of  the last Neptune and Pluto conjunction in the late summer and Fall of 1891 and Spring of 1892. These planetary cycles conjunctions occur once every 490 years and initiate huge political, social, cultural shifts.

If you take the meaning of the planets individually, Neptune is our faith in the Divine, the unseen, the unfathomable, the boundless, the longing for an idealistic world and Pluto is power shifts that slowly but irrevocably undermine the old way of doing things, we get a sense in this time period that human consciousness must be morphing into a more permeable state. With this might come an understanding that our supposed classifications, our arbitrary distinctions of gender, religion, creed, faith, color of skin, social class, ethnicity, geographic boundary, sense of separateness, individualism and narcissism do not actually exist.

In redefining for the 21st Century what "all of us are created equal" ideally means President Obama is paying heed to his innate Aquarian ideals, having that sign rising on the eastern horizon in his birth chart and which sign the Moon, representing the people, is in in the US birth chart. Those of us who have Aquarius in our natal chart-be it on the ascendant, as did Washington, Adams and Monroe and President Obama does,or whose Sun is there, Lincoln and FDR, (Jefferson had Sun connected to Uranus-a similiar dynamic) are humanitarians.

Aquarius is an air sign so connected with truth, knowledge,and communication to groups of people. The water carrier is a man, the only human zodiacal sign, spilling water out of the bucket to reach as many people as possible. Altruistic, with a strong sense of First Principles, they investigate, coordinate, synthesize, plan and reform. They can be unconventional, inventive, intellectual, detached and individualistic, but are there to support groups.  There are some Aquarians who look backwards to Capricorn and therefore are more conservative, while others who look more forward to the next sign of the zodiac, Pisces, where understanding and sympathy reign. January, Janus' month, includes the beginning of Aquarius which began last Saturday the 19th at 4:52 PM EST.

Our Constitution dictates that the Presidential Inauguration always occurs on January 20th at noon, therefore always with the Sun in Aquarius. This year there were 2 oath takings as the 20th fell on a Sunday.  This is interesting for cycles scientists or astrologers as we have 2 charts to look at to foretell what Obama's 2nd term will encounter when. Actually we can only guess at how the symbolism might play out, but we have a good suspicion of when. The Sunday chart is alot more heated than Monday's chart for the inception of the new term, as the Moon has left Taurus and its contact to a very prominent Mars and moved into Gemini which is about to meet Jupiter in Gemini and was very close to Obama's Moon during his Inaugural Address (which happens once a month).

The President was on his game on Monday with his speech defining not so much the specifics, but the forwarding looking  philosophy behind his second term.  As David Brooks said in his op-ed piece in the NYT yesterday, Tuesday the 22nd, President Obama made a case for a "pragmatic" and"patriotic progressivism".  Patriotic progressivism sounds to me very much like our January god Janus, looking backwards and forwards at the same time. Go Aquarius- you humanitarian where the rights and dignity of all are respected equally.

Happy New Year II

I am sure I wasn't the only one, when writing the date on a check this week (if you still use them as I do), who made note of the turning of another year. I also found myself wishing everyone a "Happy New Year". But what is it that we are celebrating?  Unlike the Mayans who ended their calendar on December 21, 2012 at that winter solstice, based on the Sun's apparent path through a particular spot in our galaxy, we are noting the passage of time in a calender system that has no basis in any actual astronomical event.

Should we care whether our celebrations are connected to our revolutions around the Sun or not?  Do we lose something when we have mandated turning points in time that have no connection to what is happening in the sky?  The ancients celebrated at this time of the year because they wanted to make sure the Sun would end its solstice (standing still) and rise back up higher in the sky. Epiphany, which we celebrated yesterday, reminds us that the Magi found the Christ child following a star in the sky. Easter is always celebrated on the first Sunday after the Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox. Some of our celebrations are connected with actual astronomical events and some are not. It seems our January 1st "new years" are more psychological than anything else. If you had a "bad" 2012 then you are glad it is over, if you had a "good" one then you do not want it to end.

In any event, this time of the year makes all of us aware of the passage of time. In throwing out our old calender and starting a new one we naturally think of time as linear-one day, one week, one month, one year following upon the last.  Many of us got caught up in the Mayan "end of time" hype because we are used to this linear concept of time. One span of time ends and we suddenly experience fear of the unknown because a calender ends.

But there is another way to understand time-connecting it with where we are in space. The orbiting of the planets around the Sun and the rotation of the earth on its axis makes time cyclical. Ultimately time has to be coordinated with earthly and apparent Sun movements (as the Mayans knew). Even today, with the GPS system, scientists correct our clocks based on the earth's rotation. Historically time and space have always been connected. Einstein in his relativity theories has mathematically proved this to be so. The concept of time depends on the spatial reference frame of the observer. That is why in astrology we speak of the Sun making a revolution-because that is what we are seeing from our viewpoint.

If you begin to tune yourself into these more subtle nuances of our concepts of time, that time is circular, you will begin to understand that you have a "new year" at times other than January 1st.  Astrologers or cycles scientists understand this connection between time and space when we draw up charts for a moment in time in a specific location.  A new beginning occurs when any of the orbiting planets around the Sun "returns" to the place it was when you were born.  This means you have had one complete revolution-be it a day, month (Moon), approximate year (Mercury, Venus), 2 1/2 years( Mars), 12 years (Jupiter), 29 1/2 (Saturn)  and so forth, depending upon how long it takes the planet to orbit the Sun.  These are the planetary cycles beginning at a moment in time and where the planet is in space following through and ending at another point in time when that planet returns to the same place in space. Each one is a "new year" for you.

New beginnings are all over the news. Each new beginning is associated with a moment in time, when that new beginning is based on the Sun's apparent revolution or earth's rotation on its axis. No moment of time repeats itself exactly. The Constitution has mandated the day and time a new Congress opens each year, but each time it convenes the only planet that is approximately in the same place is the Sun, as the Sun returns to the same place in space (apparently) each year on the same day (approximately).

The 113th Congress convened last Thursday at 12:01 PM.  Astrologers, or cycles scientists, make a note of the time and draw up the moment of convocation for this new Congress in DC, which will be in effect until it ends on January 3rd, 2015. Everything that is going to happen in this Congress's life span is contained in the enfoldment from the moment of its inception. As long as we are here on earth we are under the spell of the Earth's rotations on its axis and in its orbit around the Sun. Space and time are coordinated. What happened in the 112th Congress will be different than what is going to happen in the 113th because it was initiated at a different time and the planets were in a different place. What happens in Obama's 2nd term can be seen in the chart for the moment his oath of office is take on the 20th at noon. His first term will end and a new one will begin.

January is named for the Roman god Janus.  He is the two-faced god looking backwards and forwards at the same time, from the present moment.  As Einstein developed in his relativity theories-time is dependent on where one is in space.  When an astrologer or cycles scientist sets up a chart using the time and place the action is taking place whether it be a baby's birth, a marriage ceremony, a new job, a new Congress, signing a paper that initiates a new endeavor, laying of a foundation stone for a building or an Inaugural oath, this chart represents the space and time continuum-the revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the rotation of the Earth on its axis.

We are a part of something greater outside ourselves that we have no control over. Whether you begin to understand and feel this unique relationship we have to the cosmos through  a 12-Step program, a yoga, pranayama or meditation practice, through a religious ecstatic experience or are given a spontaneous grace hardly matters.  What does matter is that we recognize and feel viscerally, the truth that our friend Marcus Aurelius spoke in the First Century-we are all made of the same stuff and connected with all that is was and ever will be.