Toward A Deeper Understanding of our Country

It has occurred to me lately that we can use this Mars retrograde time frame to help us understand these interesting times. In the chart we use for the birth of this nation on July 4th 1776, planet Mars is at 23 degrees of Gemini square the planet Neptune at 23 Virgo. Those 2 signs being mutable, that is those signs  that coincide with the change of seasons, means those 2 planets are at 90 degrees to one another.  Our planet of assertion and aggression and will forces will always have Neptune connected with it. Neptune symbolizes our delusions and idealizations that have no basis in reality. In the USA chart in August of 1995 planet Mars entered 18 degrees of Libra, became stationary within one minute from October 2004, turned apparent retrograde October 2007 and will not leave that one degree of the zodiac until April 2017, when it goes back to 17 degrees of Libra. That makes 22 years that the planet that symbolizes how we use our energy is in the same spot in the zodiac.  We are not moving forward.

As we are experiencing another time frame of Mars retrograde now, since January 24th, we can associate what we are going through now:  a lessening of energy and drive to move forward, initiatives started becoming mired in frustration and delay, old arguments and fights coming back to haunt us, becoming impatient and acting prematurely, with what is going on in our country in regards the use of the military.

In August of 1995 NATO began the bombing campaign of Serb artillery.  We began "Operation Enduring freedom" on October 7, 2001 when ground troops went into Afghanistan.  The 2nd Iraq war began March 20, 2003, with Bush declaring "Mission Accomplished" on May 1st 2003 and the end of combat operations.  We know that that war did not end until Dec 18, 2011.  Each year that went by from October 2001 in Afghanistan through March 2003 into Iraq saw Mars slowing in speed and apparent direction as our troops got more and more bogged down.  October 2007 saw Bush asking Congress for 189 billion dollars to support the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, just as Mars was retrograding officially.

If we have any doubts about the effects of Mars retrograding in our country's chart we can look no farther than the 4th deployment Sargent who went from house to house on a killing spree in Afghanistan last week and the burning of the Koran by US soldier on February 20th.  These 2 grave acts of aggression occurred in the current Mars retrograde period starting January 24th,  directly at 23 Virgo right on top of our natal Neptune square Mars, the misuse or idealized use of aggression potential in our natal chart. We are in a critically dangerous period until Mars passes 23 Virgo again mid June.  We will also be in a critical period 6 months from now when our progressed Moon passes over that Mars.

So what can be the best outcome? We seriously need to consider alternative ways of solving problems other than invading foreign countries.  And when we consider that not only is Mars retrograde in the USA chart, causing us to reflect on the efficiency of our current use of force, but so are Mercury, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn.  That makes 5 out of the possible 8 planets that can apparently go backwards are.  When they say we are a nation in decline that is why they say it. It is time for some self reflection.

What's Up???

I don't know about you but I didn't think things could slow down more than they already have with Mars in apparent slow motion, but now we have to add Mercury to the list of situations that coincide with stumbling blocks.  We look to the motion of the planets in signs as symbols, that give us meaning not causes, of the situations in our lives. As of tomorrow morning at 3:45 AM  Mercury, in the same degree of the zodiac since March 8th, will finally move from apparent standstill to apparent backwards motion. Astrology is about finding meaning in our lives, if one is interested that is.

The Mars retrograde period affects Scorpios and Aries individuals, making them less forceful and passionate in Scorpios case and less bossy with Aries.  When planet Mercury does its loop it affects Geminis and Virgos more strongly because they are ruled by him.   Mercury is apparently stopping at 6 Aries after having passed over the planet of upsets and surprise, Uranus, last week on the 5th.  Uranus is our planet symbolizing lightening strikes, sparks of genius, surprises, mental awakenings and lots of nervous energy.  The current retrograde motion of Mercury means that Mercury will back track and come back to Uranus again on the 18th-inciting that same nervous energy and then for a third time on April 22nd, after Mercury goes forward again on the 4th of April at 23 Pisces.  So watch  what happens in your life between now and the 22nd of April and see how your thinking has changed.

This will affect everybody in the part of your chart that holds 6 Aries to 23 Pisces.  Aries wants to start something and Pisces just wants to let things float and see what happens.  They are very different energies-but lie adjacent to each other.  Our need to be part of the collective in Pisces gives way to the Arian initiatives that are inspired by our Piscean meditations. Mercury as the messenger of the gods, is the only one who could leave Olympus and go into Hades and come back (very important!).  Therefore looking for symbolism-Mercury is going to bring up some new information that you might not have noticed before-or somebody kept hidden from you.  This will have to do with selling, buying, travelling,communicating, young people, teaching, learning, negotiating, thinking.  Do all projects with the words" re" in the beginning and finish up old projects before starting new ones.

One other thing-be sure to look up in the evening sky these nights and watch Venus and Jupiter come closer and closer together.  Venus is brighter and on the right.  Jupiter is on the left.  They will conjoin early morning on Thursday the 15th.  The combination can coincide with some over indulgence.  Venus is love and money and Jupiter is lots of it.  In spite of the fluctuations of Mars and Mercury, we will be able to focus in on our hearts desire and allowing for some extra time and renegotiating be rewarded with actually obtaining our hearts desires.
 

Mars Retrograde Halfway Point

We are at the halfway point in the apparent Mars retrograde cycle as the Earth in its orbit around the Sun is passing in front of Mars, which because it is moving at a slower speed, outside our orbit, is appearing to go backwards.  The phenomenon is very like two trains passing.  You are in one train that is moving quickly,  the one in the next track is moving more slowly and appears to be going backwards.  The Sun and Mars are in opposition, with the Earth in between. Mars is closer to us than in any other time in its orbit. This occurred Saturday at 3:10 PM.

We should be now having some sense of what this Mars cycle is about.  Of course for each of us it will be slightly different and affect different areas of our life, depending on which house or department of life is the Virgo house in our natal chart. If you happen to know that you will have an easier time reflecting.  You have until the July 4^th weekend to figure it out though, when Mars finally finishes with Virgo and moves into Libra.  By then it should be abundantly clear what area of your life has been reworked, even if you do not know what house is Virgo natally.  Frustrations, false starts and recommitments to doing things better will be noticeable after the almost 8 month sojourn (November 12^th-July 4^th) of Mars in Virgo.

The position of Mars helps us to understand what we should be noticing.  We have been talking about Mars and how our activities are in slow motion or so it seems. If the Sun represents our purpose, our goals and what we want to accomplish and Mars represents the will force that is needed to actualize that purpose then when Sun and Mars are in relationship, the job is easier.  If we feel like we have only been treading water since the end of January, that our actions were feeling fruitless, then this weekend is the time to begin to get clarity.  The time to actually move forward is not until after April 14^th, but realization of what the issues  are what it is we want to do about it should be coming now.

Mars rules our efforts and work, where we put our energy, and in Virgo demands that we are healthy and have integrity . We might be feeling that there is a new exercise, diet or health regime that we want to start but the will to go forward is lacking.  We will spend lots of time in the strategizing stage before actually committing, figuring the best way to make it work.  This is appropriate for this time.   Or we can be moving too aggressively in some direction and either our physical body is reacting or we are not getting a desired outcome. It is very unwise to initiate anything new now, as those affairs are likely to bring obstacles and challenges too great to overcome.  (The talk this weekend about Israel bombing Iran’s nuclear sites comes to mind-whoever initiates during a Mars retrograde cycle LOSES). But recommitting to projects already begun and editing them or revising them is appropriate.

The other situation which could arise now is being forced to rework some aggressive action that we took and that is coming back to haunt us so to speak.  We question..was that the best way to handle that situation? Is there another way to assert myself? Maybe a friend or colleague has reminded you of an old situation which is still not resolved satisfactorily.   Or you might become aware that you are still angry at someone and by becoming aware of it now can bring it to the surface and with some emotional detachment resolve it more satisfactorily. Mars retrograde periods can bring back these uncomfortable relationship issues and are excellent times for resolving longstanding disputes. Reviewing our behavior is called for now, our own actions, motivations or those with our sexual partners, fathers, husbands and all other males.

Pisces New Moon

The Moon is in Aries as I am writing this,  just having separated from the Sun after their marriage in a New Moon last Tuesday evening.  It happens each and every month, and along with knowing what planets are retrograding, like Mars, that we have been speaking about, it is useful information to have on hand.  Why? Because at the New Moon we have the opportunity for a new start.

The coming together of the two luminaries, the Sun representing our purpose and goals meets the Moon, representing our emotional body, which is responsible for the interactions that bring the new purpose into fruition.  The new beginning this month was in the sign Pisces.  I think one of the problems with people not understanding astrology is that the language we use is not correct.  The Sun and Moon are not "in" anything actually.

From our perspective, that is the Earth's, the Moon's orbit around us comes to a position in front of the Sun, which, again from our perspective, is in front of the section of the band of the ecliptic where the constellation Pisces is. (And actually this is no longer astronomically correct-it is no wonder astrologers have such a difficult time convincing people of its validity!!)

Anyway, whatever department of life, or "house" as the Greeks called them, that is governed by the sign Pisces is where the new beginning will be for you. This new beginning  reaches culmination at the Full Moon 2 weeks later and then gets integrated into your life and winds down, ready for the next new beginning in the next sign along the ecliptic 2 weeks after that (which will be Aries).

Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac, the wisest and most spiritual of all signs, because it encompasses all the others.    It is where we want either to escape to the paradise of our choice,  or where we want to help all our suffering fellowmen.  Its symbol is the two fishes, representing our dual natures human and divine, held together by a silver cord. Listening to music, composing poetry, doing yoga, swimming in the ocean, meditating, cultivating compassion, philanthropy, getting visions for the future are all appropriate activities now.

We spoke about Pisces a few weeks ago as Neptune has just entered it.  So this New Moon has an extra dose of Neptune in it-letting go and letting God is one of the ways I like to think about this time period, especially as Mars is retrograding.  And one more bit of advice..do not think that you have missed the boat if you did not start something on Tuesday.  In fact it is always best to let the Moon move a little away from the Sun before acting.  You have these 2 weeks as the Moon is increasing in light to begin-as the Moon is gaining light each night we humans too are gaining momentum, this month in our spiritual life.

How is Mars Retrograding Working Out??

I just wanted to check in and see how this Mars cycle was manifesting in your life?  Arguably this time period from Jan 24th to April 14th affects Virgos with Aries or Scorpio rising the most.  They have double trouble with this back tracking, as they can feel that their whole life is coming apart and has to be restarted.   Whatever piece of their life they put in motion last Fall has to be redone.  I know two of them and it really is true.  I also have a friend with her ruling planet Jupiter between those sensitive degrees 3-23 of Virgo, and she too cannot seem to get going.  She has a confirmed mortgage commitment but each house she finds and bids on, falls through.

We all have Virgo someplace, in some department of life, and that is where Mars is staying an extra long time period, 8 months instead of 2.  This started last November and Mars will not leave Virgo until the beginning of July.  It is a good time  to ask ourselves questions like:  What is working in my life?, What am I striving for? What am I doing? How come my actions are not showing any results?  What work do I really want to do? Why am I so angry?  Where can I put my energy?  Where can I take a risk?  Where am I being asked to move ahead?  You do not have to know astrologically which house in your natal chart is the Virgo one, I am sure you will know by taking a moment for reflection.  If you are an Aries or Scorpio rising, or have a lot of planets in either those 2 signs it can be bigger, it an be your entire life's direction.

If you are lost and frustrated, watch the time around March 3rd as there is a lineup of Mars, Earth and Sun. You will get a good sense of where you will be heading.   Mars connects with the Sun which is our deeper purpose.  Your energy, drive and will forces (Mars) connecting with your purpose/goals (Sun) magically  reconnects them inside you.  Virgo is all about efficiency and integrity.  The work you do must be authentic to who you are inside, if you are going to be happy, that is.

And speaking of happy, Mars' complement Venus will do her backsliding May 15th to June 27th in Gemini. Mars rules are efforts but Venus rules what we want.  By the time we finish with both these retrograde periods (and throw in a couple of Mercury's)  we have the chance to change what we want and how we are going to get it.  There are some things in life that we have no control over, but these 2 planets orbiting on either side of the Earth we can work with.  Those people with these planets important to them will find that from last November to this summer their whole social world has changed.

Is It Good or Bad and What Does it Mean?

After the last post on Neptune moving into Pisces, I received the above questions, which I'd like to address now.  As Marcus Aurelius says from the First Century, the universe is made of one substance.  It is only our dualistic mind that wants to see things in good or bad, black or white, mind or body, rich or poor.  It is easier for the mind to divide things and make sense of the parts, rather than seeing the whole.   Science and medicine do this all the time.  We have an illness. Modern medicine tends to treat a body ailment either with specific drugs targeted to that symptom, or by replacing the diseased organ with a new one, as if the body were a machine, instead of seeing the body as a whole and treating body, mind and spirit as one.

When I was at Hunter in 1967, I had a philosophy professor who asked the class if the world was many things or one thing.  Most of the class, including myself, answered many of course.  Yet the early Greek and Roman philosophers knew differently, and the 60's were beginning to bring that fact back to cultural consciousness.  Another sociology professor gave me Herman Hesse's book Siddartha, cautioning me that she was not sure she should, indeed I left Hunter and NYC soon after that in the middle of winter for an alternative lifestyle in a log cabin in Vermont.

It is not good or bad that Neptune is moving into Pisces for 14 years.  It just is. The meaning of it is up to us to assign.  Astrology marks passages and cycles of time and can be quite helpful  in assigning meaning.   When we talk astrology and what the planets are doing, all we can do is take note of what transpired when Neptune was in Pisces previously.

1520-34 saw the Protestant Reformation spread across Europe, Henry VIII established the Church of England and dissolved the monasteries, Magellan circumnavigated the globe, Spanish invaders collapsed the Aztec, Inca and Mayan civilizations.  1685-99 saw the Salem witchcraft trials and the apparition of Our Lady in Lourdes. 1848-63 saw the rise of Karl Marx, Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species, the Opium Wars with China, the stress that the continuation of slavery was bringing to the country,  the start of the Civil War, the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale, Louis Pasteur's discovery of the existence of bacteria and the discovery of oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania. (for further elucidation see The Mountain Astrologer magazine Dec/Jan 2012 edition).

All the above events( taken from all the events in the periods) conform to the symbolism of the combination  of Neptune and Pisces which time period we have entered again.  The common themes of all the previous periods are water, spreading, dissolving, idealizing, the banishment of one way of life, the blending of the imaginary and the real world and the appearance of the previously unseen.  There is not just one influence occurring at a time of course, and nothing ever repeats exactly; no moment in time is like an other, but we can imagine what could happen knowing what happened before.  Imagining what will happen does not give us any answers to whether this passage is good or bad or assign any meaning, for that is completely up to the individual and his perspective.

Neptune and Pisces

One of the biggest astrological events of the year is today at 1:52 pm as planet Neptune changes signs, leaving Aquarius, the water bearer who sprouts out ideas, and moves into Pisces the sign of the two fishes moving in opposite directions, held together by a silver cord.

This every 14 year shift is significant.  Neptune is the planet that represents our dreams, visions, escaping tendencies, addictions, spiritual longings, denial capacity, longing for the unattainable, sacrificing capacity, martyr complexes, victim mentalities, compassion for the disenfranchised and those forgotten by society, selflessness, ego dissolving, gullibility, self martyrdom, mistaken illusions, sensitivity to everything around you, susceptibility, appreciation of idealized beauty, communion with the divine, imagination, creativity, and our believing in something that we want to come true, that we think is true, even though it may not be.

As Neptune entered Aquarius in 1998 we had the widespread use of the internet, introductions of Windows 98, Google and the IMac.  We became infatuated with the the lure of technology and the proliferation of information.  Just as Aquarius the water bearer pours out freely to all, without thought of merit or need,  Neptune's orbit around the Sun, traveling in front of Aquarius brought us the perception of the benefits of the technological revolution with its revolutionary gadgets, cell phones, Iphones, Ipads and phones that talk back to us.  We became enamored of all the quick and abundant information that this highway, open to all, and used by dissidents far away from each to start revolutions, in some cases, or bring injustices to light that would otherwise have been buried and forgotten.. Certainly there is some good here.

But as I heard a top surfer say on TV this morning, he liked the old way when the surfing world was really small groups of people at the various surf beaches all over the world trying new moves and visible only to those select few on the beach.   Today, if a surfer does some fantastic new spin the video goes viral and it is all over the world in a matter of minutes.  Not the same experience. Our allure with the vast use of viral videos will begin to fade.  Look at the news this week with the blackout of certain Internet sites to protest attempted legislation to restrict the Internet.  The rights of the individual versus the need to freedom of expression, where can we draw the line?  Neptune hates boundaries and technology has had none so far.

Now with Neptune moving in front of Pisces (in the Tropical zodiac) we are going to be idealizing all Piscean matters, not unlike Neptune's rulerships cited above as Pisces is ruled by both Neptune and Jupiter.  Pisces is a water sign so all things having to do with water, ocean storms, fish, the intangible, the unconscious, psychicism, sleep, poetry, liquids, boats, drugs, intuition, the sea, the mystical, water healing, energy healing.    The two fishes represent humanity's dual nature, human and divine.  They pull in different directions but are held together by a silver cord, joined but separate.    

As Neptune travels these next 14 years we are going to see a renewal in all aspects of the unseen in our lives.  Instead of having to call someone holding a device to our ears we are not going to need to do that.  We are going to use more of our spiritual natures, more of the unused portion of our brains and innate intelligence in the human body to create what we need and to effect our physical universe, without the hand held device.  More studies will come forth about the consequences on the sensitive human body of the overuse of these devices.

We will also see the sacrifices being made on the part of the disenfranchised exposed-(this has also to do with Pluto in Capricorn and the purging of institutions of all kinds).   There was a piece by Adam Gopnik in last week's NewYorker (Jan 30th) about the teeming prison population in this country.  Between 1980 and 2010 the number of people incarcerated has more than tripled. The US has more that 6 million people presently in prison -more than were in prison under Stalin at its height.

There are lots of changes in perceptions coming especially for you Pisces, Pisces rising people and everyone else as we all have Pisces someplace in our charts.  As a planet changes sign it also changes the department of life that the sign rules so as the clouds clear over our Aquarian idealizations and we see more clearly they are moving into Pisces placements and sensitivities.