Black Unykorn Tarot and Astrology

Pluto in Capricorn/Penn State Scandal; Uranus in Aries/Leave Your Bank Day

2011-11-14T17:47:00.000-08:00

I circulate through four main news sites (Google News, Yahoo Finance, Alternet, and Al-Jazeera) and receive financial commentary from Patrick.net, John Mauldin, and Graham Summers. Today, I read an article from a man my age who is a Penn State grad who said he "had lost all faith in the leadership of my parent's generation." I can relate. I have written and spoken about the fact that my generation (born in the midst of the Civil Rights movement) does not have any Elders to guide us; our society has turned our would be Elders into second life teenagers, telling them to forgo responsibility to family and society in favor or vacations and extravagant consumption whenever possible. Many people I talk to who are within 10 years of me (33 to 53) feel lost or unguided at this time in their lives. Predictably this period coincides with a Saturn square, opposition, and second square; Pluto squaring Pluto, Neptune squaring Neptune, and Uranus opposing Uranus. These transits all represent transitions from adulthood to Elderhood and can prove devastating without guidance or enlightening with support.

The Penn State scandal is probably the model we astrologers could use to precisely show how Pluto transiting Capricorn transforms large institutions by revealing the "deep secrets" in such a way that we understand how the very institution is complicit in the secret and the crime. The tendrils of the situation are just beginning to spread outward and have already consumed individuals who probably thought they were the highest of the high, living without a worry about their safety or security. The most venerated and successful (Capricornian) coach in college football history was fired just days after the story broke and it was clear that the structure designed to help protect young people (through chain of command reporting and assumed action), supported the powerful and "loved" member of the football team coaching staff over the children abused. Other similar blow back has happened in other arenas, politics especially. The Occupy Wall Street movement is rather similar to the Civil Rights movement with all the same tropes and themes that were used at the start of that movement to discredit the protesters. Keep in mind that Pluto is still in the first decan (the first 10 degrees of the sign). When it squares with Uranus next year and starts moving into the second decan, watch for the European Union debt can to find the end of the road, no more kicking available.

Once you say something is too big to fail, Pluto says ... "really?"

Uranus in Aries will represent "Awakening to Survival and Independence." The "Leave Your Bank Day" proved dramatically effective as people leveraged the real vote left in our pseudo-capitalist society ... taking their money elsewhere. Corporations may have bought and sold our government, but banks are not the only game in town ... at least, not yet. Each sign interacts with each energy point in different ways, sometimes enhancing, sometimes neutral, and sometimes diminishing. Believe me when I say that Uranus in Aries is like putting a booster pack on lightening. The previous Uranian journey through Pisces was about the Awakening of Spirit and Spirituality, largely taking shape through rapid communication technology and the maturation of the Internet. Social Networking emerged while Uranus was in Pisces. Keep in mind that Pisces is probably the most fluid and ambiguous sign, especially since it reflects dreams and the mass consciousness (one giant Amoeba). Aries is the Warrior image, so imagine Zeus hurling thunderbolts and you have some idea of what Uranus will be like moving through Aries. The journey has just begun and the peak, several years out, will likely see the mass consciousness realize that voting as it currently stands is a choice between a pile of dog crap and a pile of cat crap ... and no REAL choice at all.

Monumental change is on the horizon and likely to emerge and explode between 2012 and 2015. 2012 is not only an ending, but also a beginning. And like all beginnings involving a movement from the status quo to a new status quo, the transition will be chaotic at times, but Pluto is moving through the sign ruled by Saturn to force transformation from the old ways into new ways. That will be done by unveiling the systemic corruption present in government and corporate business, by design ... but not before the current players go all in. Make no mistake that the wealthy will destroy themselves before they give up any of their possessions ... and they will eat their own, just ask Lehman Brothers employees.

The easy to miss and forget transit is Neptune in Pisces; it is watery, ambiguous, delusional, dreamy, and spiritual ... and entering its own sign while Pluto and Uranus do their work. I think we can expect to see issues with liquids, the two most important being water and oil, constantly entangled with one another as more deep sea drilling must be done to locate new sources of oil and millions of gallons of water must be used to separate oil from the "miracle" tar sands in North Dakota. And lastly, expect more gas in the water system as Fracking continues to develop with minimal regulation and maximum greed for alternative energy that is just like or just as good as oil.

Uranus square Pluto, Occupy Wall Street, and Karl Marx

2011-10-22T06:58:00.000-07:00

I've written quite a bit about the upcoming Uranus/Pluto square, as have many, many other astrologers. The situation has had me thinking about Karl Marx. Most people who denigrate Marx or claim Communism is a failed system have not read a page of Marx. In graduate school I took the opportunity to read not only the Communist Manifesto, but also Das Capital. Neither of these books are "light" reading. It's not surprising that Marx would be vilified by the elites and all those in the West who hope to one day be members of the elite group (meaning the vast majority) since he promotes a communal system, a more egalitarian sharing of resources, and the idea that resources are limited and must be managed properly.

Marx not only wrote about a complex problem in a complex way, but he accurately predicted various outcomes and his most important one is coming to pass right now. Marx argued that capitalism would have to be global before socialism and communism could be viable alternatives because capitalism has to reach the limits of the system in order to show its destructive process to the masses and essentially override any and all propaganda. He also argued that there was a short cut, violent revolution. But he provided a caveat, those who overthrew an existing dictatorship or oligarchy would have to give up the power it seized in the revolution, which has not ever happened. No "communist" country, especially Russia, has implemented Marx's principles; they have just traded one kind of top down power for another and clothed it in the word communism. In essence, Marx is on the side of the 99 percent.

Occupy Wall Street is in its infancy and will likely sputter along until the European debt crisis matures and wipes out bond holder wealth to a staggering degree. Look for that event to happen some time between now and the first Uranus/Pluto square in June of 2012. What Marx wisely predicted was the inherent problem with capitalism, which chugs along just fine so long as there are new frontiers and cheap labor to exploit. But once the system goes global, then inequalities become more and more apparent. Western workers are finding that their value is coming in line with the value of Eastern workers, and now that global commerce has taken hold Eastern workers are seeing a rise in their value because there really are no more labor markets to exploit. As John Mauldin, a very smart economist, entitled his book Endgame, we are beginning to see the Endgame of capitalism as predicted by Marx.

Many different layers will emerge during this transition period as we begin to reach the limits of our closed system. Not the least of which is the collusion of technology and population growth. As technology makes the need for workers decrease and population continues to increase the disparity between those who have and those who do not will continue to grow. Oddly enough an energy crisis could prove to be a saving grace (in the long run) for the human population. Watch for problems with liquids (oil and water) as Neptune traverses through Pisces. And, when energy and jobs become scarce, watch spirituality increase, from the infantile (fundamentalism) to the sophisticated (Hopi and Mayan).

In essence, the world has borrowed about three lifetimes of wealth which cannot be paid back. We could move towards this future consciously by engaging in some very radical changes, which would include conscious population management, rethinking private and public resources, eliminating corporate charters and the stock market. But, I suspect and expect the Plutonian/Capricorn elites to resist to the full measure of their greed and wealth, requiring a violent revolution to dislodge them and redistribute resources to the larger civilization. Nothing new under the sun ... Don't be surprised if they figure out that they need to shut down the Internet or close it down restrictively if the movement grows and thus dodges the mainstream media. Once the larger system collapses on itself (debt default), there will be the opportunity for people to come together and look for new, more mature solutions and Marx's prediction of a natural evolution to socialism and communism will prove to be true.

2012 to 2015 - The Coming Storm

2011-10-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

In his book on Lunation Cycles Dane Rhudyar emphasizes the cyclic nature of all energy points, not just the Sun and Moon. To understand the ebb and flow of energy using Astrology, one must understand the current cycle of the energy relationship between two points in the chart. The one to watch from 2012 to 2015 is the upcoming square between Uranus and Pluto. Since Uranus is the faster moving of the two, it passes Pluto approximately every 115 years (1850 to 1852 they were conjunct in Aries and 1965 to 1967 they were conjunct in Virgo). So, looking at the most recent conjunction, the 1960s represented the end of the cycle and the beginning of a new cycle. In America this transition played out significantly moving the country out of a stratified mind set and into changes that brought new and better opportunities for minorities and women. The whole period around 1958 to 1972 experienced the combination of Awakening/Transformation in the energy of Virgo, affecting skills, day-to-day work, and health. Not surprising, the 1960s represent a fairly clear shift from America of 1850 to 1960.

As part of the whole cycle, the energy points will square twice and oppose once. Significantly the first half of the movement towards the opposition is considered waxing (or increasing in intensity) and the movement towards the conjunction from the opposition is considered waning (or decreasing and preparing for the next cycle). So, as the full on square approaches in July of 2012, we can expect more volatility that will intensify through 2015 and leave lasting impact on the way to the opposition. Since the two signs involved are Capricorn (Pluto's transit) and Aries (Uranus' transit), there will be antagonism between big systems going through necessary change and people's survival needs. The Occupy Wall Street movement will grow as the large systems crumble and people realize that the war is between the 1% and the 99%.

Greece will default, and even if the European Union provides a bailout now, they will be trapped by all the other countries in need of defaulting or bailing out (Ireland, Portugal, Italy, and Spain). Sort of, well if Greece gets to cut as much as 50% or more from its bondholder responsibility (or 100% through default), why shouldn't the other countries get the same deal or make the same move. Basically the EU is backed into a corner. Iceland has been kept as far out of the news as possible because they gave the finger to British and Scottish banks, defaulted, were froze out of the international credit markets, suffered an economic fall off a cliff, and now (9 months later) are stabilizing and rebuilding their economy in more realistic terms for what the country can produce and sustain. They are, in fact, living within their means. The fact that Greece, which probably represents no more than .04% of the world economy, can threaten to bring the whole financial system to its knees helps you can understand how out of control credit lending became while Pluto was transiting through Sagittarius.

I also find it ironically interesting that the "birthplace of Western Civilization" is likely to lead to the "end of Western Civilization" as we have known it pretty much since the last Uranus/Pluto conjunction (during the time of the industrial revolution). Since the upcoming square involves Cardinal energy, the tension is more likely to be explosive than collaborative. Jeff Green, in his book on Uranus, points out that Aries represents, at its most primal, the need to survive. More broadly Aries rules the pioneering spirit, independence, arrogance, and selfishness. As more and more people see the big systems fail and the corporate and banking ruling class no longer hide as effectively behind both parties, it will become clear that the political system is rigged on both sides of the isle. Both parties are now, more clearly than ever, the tools of corporate greed, especially now that corporations are people too! We are also seeing how fully controlled the mainstream media is by the same powers, as they do their best to denigrate the protesters, put as the lead story the release of some woman accused of murder in Italy 2 years ago, and make claims (thank you Hermann Cain) that this protest against greed is Un-American. I wonder if Mr. Cain would feel the same about Civil Rights protests that helped put him into a position where his "work hard" did allow him to become wealthy. Obviously he did everything on his own.

Everything will be done to avoid taxing the wealthy since they have so clearly paid to put people in office to protect their interests. While 2012 may not be the year to throw out everyone from both parties, it will likely be the catalyst year when people finally realize that neither party is interested in protecting the larger populations interest for the common good. How radical could Pluto become with the antagonism from Uranus? How about the end of private/corporate donor money to politicians? Term limits for Congress? A line item veto or better yet, one item per bill? The stripping away of corporate charters and the elimination of the stock market and the privatization of all companies? Maybe at the end of the Plutonic transit. Right now I expect more the cutting of services and the end of Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlements, even though they will not be nearly enough to cover the debt and the most "essential" service, the military.

Unemployment will continue to increase and power will continue to consolidate. In the US only 4 banks own all the remaining banks and Bank of America is on its too big way to failing, leaving the other three to gobble it up (the rich eat their own, just ask Lehman Brothers employees). How many phone carriers remain; the magic number of 4 again (Verizon, ATT, Sprint, and T-Moble) with a merger underway. And keep in mind that, on the whole, advances in technology always eliminate more jobs than they create, which does not help when the population keeps increasing. The number they do not talk about in the monthly job report is the 65,000 jobs you need to create just to handle population growth (all those 17 year olds that become 18 year olds each month). So when you read about 103,000 new jobs in September, make sure to subtract 65,000 from that number to get a more correct number. Now consider all the months in which there was no job growth. And keep in mind that every time a Republican suggest cutting the deficit by cutting the budget he or she is really saying "let's put more people out of work."

The sad, difficult truth is that private companies cannot do all the hiring and that the government is a massive employer. Unemployment benefits keep the peace. Sports won't be enough to keep the masses distracted when they have to cut off their cable to have extra money to buy food. 2012 will be a big year, but 2013 and 2015 will contain all the real action. If the wealthy successfully block tax increases and new technology continues to displace people and we keep increasing the overall population, we will begin to see the survival instinct/awareness so basic to Aries begin to grow more restless. For the first time in human history we are actually reaching the boundaries of our closed system; there is no such thing as limitless growth on a sphere. And unless we develop a warp drive in the near future, we are likely to meet the boundaries in this century.

The Transitioning of America (Part 3) - Pluto

2011-09-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

Pluto just went direct two days ago (9/17), roughly at the time that President Obama presented a budget solution that finally includes raising taxes on the wealthy and the corporations. All of the other outer planets continue to be retrograde at this time and mostly what we see in the news are ongoing attempts to "return to normal" and avoid the day of reckoning for as long as possible, even though the event is likely just on the horizon. As he put it today, "we can't just cut our way out of this hole." Tax increases represent part of the Capricorn energy. Most people do not know that tax rates on the rich were once 91% (in the 1950's) and cut down to 70% in 1965 and much further (into the 28 to 35%) during the Reagan/Bush I presidencies.

Looming on the horizon is a Greek default, describes not as "if, but when" by economist John Mauldin. October looks to be the trigger month unless the European politicians "kick the can further down the road," which is always possible. In November, Chiron (11/11/11) and Neptune (11/10/11) will go direct, creating more "forward moving energy." If the can is kicked down the road, November may then become the move forward month. If not then, the end of December and the beginning of January 2012, could provide the final energetic push when all the outer planets (and Jupiter) will be direct. Expect fits and starts from now until the end of the year and never underestimate the power of denial. In the end, 2012 will likely be the explosive year many predict, but probably not because of natural disasters, though they may be part of the picture. The larger disaster ,considered in terms of human consciousness, is this mess with the global economy.

Basically, Pluto in Capricorn is showing us that we have borrowed our future away and returning to equilibrium is likely to be a very painful process without some very serious and significant changes ... and probably forgiveness of debt obligations. Many of the "rich" will find themselves in a "former employee of Lehman Brothers" situation if they cannot bring in the money on the debt they purchased through credit default swaps and they cannot "steal" through another TARP. Hard choices are coming and the best way to face them will be through local community connection and support. Clear whatever debt you can and network with friends and family in case you could get caught in the tidal wave looming on the horizon. The real tests will come between 2012 and 2015 when Uranus and Pluto square. It is not so much massive earthquakes or tsunamis that we face, but a massive upheaval socially that is already being played out microcosmically in the Middle East through various revolutions. These near future times will certainly be "interesting" to a degree not experienced since, really, the 1960s.

The Transitioning of America (Part 2) - Neptune

2011-09-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

Neptune has moved back into Aquarius, where it will stay until February of 2012. Once out of Aquarius next year, Neptune will remain in Pisces. While retrograde Neptune will almost reach back and touch the US Moon (less than 2 degrees) and is moving back and forth over the very bottom, most private part of the US chart. Neptune is about surrender, dissolving (washing away), and spirituality. As we enter a prolonged period of economic contraction, more and more individuals will find spirituality through scarcity, as well as potential bonding with our fellow human beings.

Click on Image to Enlarge

Neptune will stay at the bottom of the US chart for the entire duration of 2012. Coupled with the Uranus/Pluto square and the Saturn Return, we should expect 2012 to be what is generally predicted, a time of tremendous change. Setting aside doomsday theories, we will likely see one of the most volatile years in America due to the upcoming Presidential election and the ongoing debt crisis in Europe, the US, and pretty much around the world. As I posted in an early entry, we could also see, throughout the duration of Neptune's transit through Pisces, limits and problems involving all liquids, the two most important being water and oil.

Moving forward beyond 2012, Neptune in the movement through the US 4th House will reawaken spiritual feelings about family and culture. If another recession or a depression (publicly named) manifest in 2012, we can expect a long duration of adjustment, peaking or bottoming out (depending on the metaphor you prefer) around 2015, when the last Uranus/Pluto square takes place (there will be 7 times the energy points square over the period of 2012 to 2015). Neptune, rather appropriately, is returning "home" (to its own sign) and doing so in the US chart 4th House (of the Family). We will all be encouraged to see and engage our family and even address wounds (Chiron in the 4th at the same time).

The Transitioning of America (Part 1) - Chiron

2011-08-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

In previous posts I have written about the ingress of the outer energy points (Chiron from Aquarius to Pisces, Uranus from Pisces to Aries, Neptune from Aquarius to Pisces, and Pluto from Sagittarius to Capricorn). Just one of these energy points changing signs is significant, consider the shift in the US and the World when Pluto moved from Sagittarius (Expansion) to Capricorn (Responsibility) at the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008. During this current span of five years (2007 to 2012), all the outer energy points will transition from one sign into another and we can expect what we have received so far, a world in massive transition.

Click on Image to Enlarge

Our wound to face while Chiron was in Aquarius dealt with idealism across the spectrum of our lives. Chiron entered Aquarius in March of 2005, just five months before Hurricane Katrina. The sheer lack of preparedness and subsequent failures following the disaster was a wound of a very different sort than the September 11, 2001 attacks (under Capricorn and to our financial center). Throughout its journey, which ended in February 2011, America elected a President on the slogan of Change, We Can Believe In and got the Same Old, Same Old. At the time of this post Congress has one of the lowest approval ratings in American History and the President is fairing little better.

What can we expect with Chiron in Pisces? Pisces rules spirituality, dreams, and the larger consciousness of humanity. We can expect the wound to take shape around those energies from 2011 until 2019, when Chiron will permanently enter Aries. In the US chart Chiron resides in Aries in the 5th House (Sibley Chart, Whole Signs System). Americans actually wound themselves through their independence and warrior approach. No country has more successfully broken apart community and family at the micro and macro level than America. The uber independence ideal has created a fractured health care system , a stagnant education system, and host of other ills no longer fully offset by the benefits. In the current direction, what do you think we can expect when Chiron returns to its original position in April of 2024? Will Americans heal this wound or be wounded more deeply, thinking the way forward remains the path of extreme individualism?

Chiron also functions as a bridge between the inner energy points, ending with Saturn, and the outer energy points beginning with Uranus, so it connects the individual with larger human consciousness. Chiron is currently transiting through America's 4th House (of Family and the Inner Life). One interesting outcome of the Great Recession has been the sometimes forced reconnection of family as adult children and baby boomer parents find that they must rely on each other if one or both get swept away in the tide of economic contraction. Old or unresolved wounds around family will likely emerge with renewed and forced dependency. Healing will come in the form of renewed family connections, the creation of new non-standard families, and the re-localization of communities. In April of 2012 Chiron will conjunct Natal Ceres (the Harvest), retrograde back over nCeres in August, and complete its final forward pass in February of 2013. The 4th House sees a lot of activity; the Progressed Sun is nearly conjunct nCeres now, Progressed Neptune will reenter Pisces in February of 2012 and conjunct nCeres in April of 2015, and Progressed Pallas is approaching the midway point through the house. In all, we will see a refocus (pSun) on family while dealing with dreams/illusions/delusions (pNeptune) about family as we strategically think about family and its purpose in our lives (Pallas).

What this time appears to offer through these massive transitions, at least for Americans, is a rejuvenation of family, but not along past lines. Uranus just finished its journey through the 4th House and "awakened" and "revolutionized" the American family. If we try to "go back," as will be one of the strong suggestions during this time, we will find greater difficulty than if we find a way to mesh our strong individualism with a strong sense of family ... and, perhaps, more importantly, the inner life. Do not be surprised if, as resources and wealth dwindle writ large in the coming conclusion to the debt supercycle, people find a greater need for a more secure and abundant inner life instead of an outer life of consumption and constant distraction. Chiron will focus us all on issues of family and inner life, especially as the placement of Chiron plays out in the specific location of each individual's chart.

The Perfect Storm Approaching (Uranus Square Pluto)

2011-06-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

I was asked this morning what I thought the square with Uranus and Pluto would mean for the world starting in 2012 and going on until 2015. Based on human behavior as I see it reported in the mainstream media, blogs, and fringe media, I am willing to predict a global depression. The thing about naming a depression is that it usually takes a few years in to actually get the human denial machine to own up to it. When the global depression is written about one day in the future, the dates may reach as far back as 2007, the beginning of the Great Recession. Actually, for history buffs, the original Great Depression worldwide and in the US occurred from 1873 to 1896. This time period was renamed the Long Depression after the 1930s Depression earned the moniker the Great Depression. Maybe this one will be the Greatest Depression or the Really Great Depression.

We have a perfect storm brewing, mainly due to the collusion of population growth by way of non-renewable resources that we are treating as if they are renewable. I have yet to find even the staunchest conservative who would claim that more oil is being created at the same time and/or rate we are consuming it. Basically the argument boils down to how much oil do we have left and is it enough time for human ingenuity to pull our assess out of the fire when we use up all the non-renewable resources (including not only oil, but natural gas and uranium as well). You see, we do actually live on a planet with infinite resource, we just can't live the American/European lifestyle on a purely solar/wind/water energy plan. And even those plans require using some non-renewable resources to help in the capture of the energy. When religious texts say the meek will inherit the Earth, they must be predicting the time when non-renewable energy reserves are gone and the entitled people who live on them find they really can't manage to stay alive; they are not hardy enough to live without their petroleum based medicines or wise enough to return to living off the land (especially suburbia). I'll probably be one of the entitled to bite the dust, truthfully.

Hence, the Dark Ages prove one vital message for humanity ... we can go "backwards." 2012 to 2015 will be the spark of the mother of all spiritual forest fires. Oil and other non-renewable resources are part of our spiritual test, one we have failed miserably and will, apparently, continue to fail. Here's how you can learn that we are on the edge of failure; follow the stories about new energy source extraction and you will see it is more costly and more dangerous (deeper wells required, more out of the way places to get to it, more unstable methods to get to it). Eventually it will cost more energy to extract energy and that is the end game.

What makes this kind of prediction a bit more reliable than previous end of world scenarios. Well, we're actually, really reaching the limits of the biosphere for the first time in human history. We have operated with a frontier mentality for so long that we actually believe the planet is a limitless frontier instead of a round ball enclosed by an atmosphere that is like a true boundary. Use up all the non-renewable resources,that took millions of years to produce, in less than 50,000 years, and most aggressively in less than 5,000 years, and exponentially grow the population and you can see that we are actually reaching the upper limits of what the planet can sustain. You can not expect good things to happen when you treat a limited environment like an unlimited one. Let me use a basic logic problem to illustrate my point:

Let's say you have a container filled with a certain amount of water that constantly renews itself. An organism comes long an sustains itself by consuming the water. Luckily the consumption of the water at a certain level does not break the renewal process. So, to begin with, the new organism consumes and discovers there is plenty left over but never studies the closed system because the organism is NOT LARGE ENOUGH to see that system is actually closed and has a limit. So the organism consumes and expands AS IF the system expands with it or has no limits. But in truth, there is an optimum point when consumption will actually damage the renewal point and essentially break the system. That's humanities path at the moment. And if people, generally, are more worried about the future, globally speaking, I would argue that people quietly, in some deep subconscious recess, are generally realizing that we are hitting the limits of the system, especially the non-renewable energy limits. And more to the point, deep down, these same people know that truly renewable resources cannot ever REPLACE the lifestyle created by the non-renewable sources, much in the same way people considering divorce know that they will take a lifestyle hit if they have to go live on one income or have to start earning enough to maintain separate residences.

In the end, the Uranus/Pluto square is not about a new invention to "keep the status quo" but a globally enforced behavior change that we could consciously choose, but most likely will not. Greed, short sightedness, and an unwillingness to manage human population will lead to the mother of all bubble bursts. I know this is not uplifting stuff and truthfully, I just wanted to get it out. And let me tell you, I would be more than happy to somehow be "proven wrong," but I bet the horses I see and watch run. What I see is massive debt and insolvency that can only come with fiat currency and interest rates because we went off a natural resource standard (gold, which would have forced us to live within a certain limit), accelerated consumption of non-renewable resources, continuing population growth until outside pressure exerts enough force (via starvation, disease, war between heavily military nations for remaining non-renewable resources, unnatural disasters involving the pursuit of non-renewable resources) to reign it in.

Will the world actually end, no. Will humanity, as a whole, have to cut back, as in the number of human beings on the planet, yes. That will not be fun and it will be the end of the world for a lot people; their end. It will be messy for the world, painfully so. But deep down, I don't think we have to go the unthinking route, the denial, pretend it won't happen route. I think we can make conscious choices to make a better future, I just think its going to take the rough and tumble, dark side of Uranus/Pluto to get us woken up on a large enough scale to make the necessary changes.

More samples of Pluto in Capricorn

2011-06-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

Stores That are No More (Photo Series)

Recycling the Suburbs

Don't Own, Share!

Pluto's continuing work in Capricorn

2011-05-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

America's Foreclosure Wasteland

Macro EU - DOA

The Lost Generation and Merging Credit Bubbles

The first square with Pluto and Uranus is still a year away! Systems are failing to be restructured. Or written another way, "Systems are failing, to be restructured."

Pluto Working Hard In Capricorn

2011-04-21T05:19:00.000-07:00

Hello all, instead of an audio blog today, I thought I would provide real world examples of Pluto doing its work in Capricorn. Keep in mind that it is only 7 degrees into the sign and currently "backing up" (retrograde) until September, when it will get all the way back to 4 degrees before moving forward, which will allow Uranus to "catch up" and form an exact square in June of 2012, the first of 7 until March of 2015.

The US Housing Market and the Shadow (Plutonian) Inventory

Nuclear Fallout from Japan (Youtube video of Helen Caldicott) - don't be surprised if this video disappears.

Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid now in the discussion of cuts, but not the Military (article about the US All-Volunteer Military)

Education on the Ropes (see the movie Waiting for Superman)

Another Big System in Turmoil - the NFL Lockout and a sample of its potential impact

European Debt Crisis

As you can surmise, the list can keep going: US states bankrupt, Middle East unrest (over the whole region), rising Energy Costs, increased Severe Weather (storms of the centuries), Class Warfare worldwide, and on and on. Like a Hurricane building strength, we are only at category 3 and will reach category 5 during the 2012 to 2015 years. The very last remnants of the Pluto/Capricorn storm will not come until November of 2024. So, in the meantime, what to do?

Build your social support network; you may find you need to rely on people in ways you never thought you would (like moving in with them, carpooling, and bartering).

Accumulate assets where you can when you can; so long as the Government prints money, your savings account dwindles. If your retirement is a forced gamble in the casino of the stock market, consider long-term conservative investments. Pay off your mortgage if you can, own everything you can outright (cars, appliances, and so on).

Downsize, learn about your local community, figure out how things work (look under the hood of your car, know where your electrical box is inside your home, and how to repair or build something ... anything).

Take care of your health! Exercise regularly, eat organically, get regular check-ups. Take care of your eyes and teeth.

And most of all, work on your spirituality. What is the meaning of your life in the cosmic drama; why are you here now. What is your responsibility as a human being among human beings living on a living planet that provides for your needs. Wake up and if you are awake, help others wake up. Intervene in life, teach and share.

A Flock of Black Swans - Uranus Ingressing

2011-03-12T20:57:00.000-08:00

If the entry of Uranus into Aries is any indication of things to come, then we can expect a flock of Black Swan events to fly through the world over the next seven years while the energy point travels through the Cardinal Fire sign.

Regress, Progress, and Ingress

2011-03-04T04:48:00.000-08:00

In my previous entry I talked about some big decisions coming up in the US this week, possible Black Swans. The NFL labor contract was set to expire last night at midnight and the US Federal Government was set to shut down two days ago. Both situations reached the "11th" hour because two opposing groups could not agree. So what has been decided; in both instances the groups have agreed to allow themselves more time to disagree in the hopes that one side will eventually give up or give in and the other side will get what it wants. In the meantime nothing actually changes. Welcome to the "not" results of energy points ingressing. An energy point is in a state of ingress when it moves from one sign to the next. Pluto completed its ingress in Capricorn at the beginning of 2009. Neptune and Uranus are set to ingress this year into Pisces and Aries respectively. This blog entry is about the behavior we are likely to experience during these transitions.

Below is the US Chart for 3/4/2011, which is the chart I was looking at while recording this entry. Click on the chart to open it in a new tab or window and see it enlarged.

Saturn Return in the US Chart; Potential Black Swans

2011-02-20T06:56:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

I know, I know, its been a while. I hate to say it, but I think my process will be, at best, intermittent. Hopefully those of you who find your way here and back will find my sporadic musings worth your time and effort. I am still enamored of the audio recording process and have again recorded this entry. Below is the chart I used for this entry, the United States Sibly chart for March 3, 2011. The first week in March is rather a big deal, as two potential Black Swan events are looming. If you are not familiar with Black Swan theory, then check out my previous blog (link opens a new tab) on the Black Swan, a book by Nassim Taleb (click on Taleb's name link to go to Alibris.com to purchase the book).

The US chart for 3/3/2011 (click on the image to enlarge and open in another tab); below the image is the audio link for this blog entry:

How Astrology Works (Audio Recording)

2011-02-01T07:05:00.000-08:00

Hello once again. I am definitely finding the audio recording process very much to my liking, so here is a new recording for my latest blog entry.

A little background for this recording should be helpful. I do have a Facebook account and through that account I found an Astrology Bloggers group. This group is an excellent resource for professional astrologers who want a "teacher's lounge" and for serious students of Astrology. Novice visitors would likely find the discussions difficult to follow without a very solid foundation in Astrology jargon and theory. A member of the group, actually the founder, Jeffrey Kishner, recently posed this question: What do you think is "behind" astrology?

My written answer to the group was: Astrology, for me, is a very useful explanatory model, depending, of course, on which model you take up (Tropical, Sidereal, Cosmobiological, and so on). What's "behind it" ... all of the above and anything that is added next? I see the actual practice as a comparison of narratives. Clients come to me filled with narratives and ask me to read their chart, which is another narrative. We compare the narratives and see where that "takes" the client. How does the narrative of the chart reading fit against/with the narrative of the client (especially around common narratives like romance, work, health, and spirituality). Does the reading reinforce/support the existing narrative and leave the client feeling, "I'm on the right track" or does it challenge the client, "wow, I've got a bit more work to do, don't I?" Astrology trumps psychology for me because the language is, honestly, more beautiful, romantic, engaging, heroic, humanistic, juicy, and any other adjectives that describe, or are used, to describe/write a great story. Intuitively, I believe people are drawn to Astrology because its all about the outlier and the individual, its all about them and not statistical groupings.

My much longer answer is recorded on this digital mp3 file. Enjoy!

Astrology and Black Swans

2011-01-28T05:11:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

I have decided to try a new process. I am finding I cannot type fast enough for my thinking, so I want to begin recording my blog entries. This morning I decided to talk about a recent book purchase, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and how it relates to Astrology in general and my practice in particular.

Enjoy the recording!

Book Recommendation - Soul Sick Nation by Jessica Murray

2011-01-24T05:45:00.000-08:00

It is rather easy to find a essential books for Astrologers to read, such as Horoscope Symbols by Robert Hand or Astrology and the Four Elements by Stephen Arroyo. It is much harder to find essential books for both Astrologers and non-Astrologers to read, and so far, I have only found two. Perhaps readers of this blog will have some other suggestions; if so, I hope you will share them. Up until two weeks ago, I had only one book on this rarefied list, Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas. Today, I want to add Soul Sick Nation by Jessica Murray.

Why should you ... no, no, why MUST you read this book? Ms. Murray eloquently captures the true State of the Union for America and why it matters to the rest of the world. Like it or not, as she says, so goes America, so goes the World. And America is rotting from the inside and spreading that rot out to the rest of the world. Condemn us though they may, most people and most countries would like to have America's level of overindulgence. The problem, as Ms. Murray so astutely points out, is America's arrested spiritual development. We are a nation that has devolved into a country run by adolescent behavior. Spiritually speaking 13 year olds are at the helm of the ship, driving the car, and piloting the plane. And she gets at the root of the problem with Astrological incisiveness; America is living the shadow of its Pluto in the 2nd House, where "getting mine" is taken to a dark level in the pursuit of control of resources.

From a Super Size Me philosophy to a Wag the Dog war, America has pushed self-interest to darkly divine status, where "Greed is Good" and acting immaturely is revered. Murray chooses the Sibley Astrological chart for the Birth of the Nation and shows both America's potential and how the shadow side has erupted into the behavior of the common way. The Bush presidency is the purest, unadulterated expression of America's dark side, where all the world is either "with us or against us." No attempt was made to hide the fact that the rich have completely dismantled the safeguards that created a better country than had existed world wide, on the whole, for the benefits of its citizens. And from an Astrological perspective, we need more blatant disregard to wake up the world. I often joke that no one will really believe in Global Warming until the subways of New York are filled with ocean water and even then a large number of people in America will still believe it is a terrorist plot. People in this country, generally, have embraced an i"gnorance is best" policy that is shamefully astounding.

If you want to see the deep power of Astrology, not only to point out how and why things are F'ed up, but also the answer that is the way out, then go buy Ms. Murray's book RIGHT NOW! Really, no kidding, ALL CAPS. And if you do and you do read it, I want to talk with you about it. She has her pulse on a America and it's pretty erratic and headed towards cardiac arrest (can we say "implosion" of entitlement programs - Social Security and Medicare). But she also has a very fundamental solution that calls of us to action at a level we can all manage if we choose to take up the call. I am trying and I hope you will too.

Ophiuchus Addressed

2011-01-18T06:46:00.000-08:00

I'll admit, I'm going to cheat a little bit since other Astrologers have already responded quite eloquently to the issue of the "13th" Sign/Constellation. I will provide links to their articles at the end of this blog entry. But first, let me try to get at the core issue. Ophiuchus is not the core issue, but it does provide, to the non-Astrologer, an opportunity for Astrologers to reveal the core issue of Astrology, and it is this:

Astrology is the interpretation of data and an approximation of information into a meaningful narrative. Essentially, it is a game. And like a game it moves beyond the data and information to make a meaningful experience. Ophiuchus is data that has been consciously ignored and the real question before us is this:

Is the ignoring of Ophiuchus a deal breaker? Is it the Holy Grail of Atheism for Astrology? Is it the arrival of intelligent life from outer space completely obliterating humanity's belief that we alone have consciousness? Not really. But it clearly makes for good press! And here's why ... the Sun moves through/in front of none of the signs/constellations for exactly 30 days. In ALL cases the Sun moves in front of the constellations for differing amounts of time and the shortest of those times is through Scorpius (just 7 days), followed by Ophiuchus (at 18 days). Basically, Scorpius and Ophiuchus got mashed together to fit the 12 month Gregorian Calendar.

Equally important is the fact the Western Astrology uses Seasons, another approximation, to mark the beginning of the signs. So even though the constellations have shifted, we still keep the start of Spring marked at March 22. Here's what Ophiuchus really reveals about Astrology and, honestly, all "mystery"/spiritual systems. They vary. Even within Tropical Astrology you have multiple ways to cast a chart based on different House Systems (over 10). In Astrology generally, you have a two competing systems - Sidereal and Tropical. You have systems that cast out the Houses (cosmobiology, as promoted by Rheinhart Ebertin) and ones that cast out the Signs (Fixed Star Astrology as promoted by Jamie and Marina Darkstar, one of the linked authors below). Maybe Astrology is not your best guide; you can choose palmistry, Runes, Tarot, psychology, or science. Or mix it all up.

In Sidereal Astrology I end up with a Pisces Sun sign and when I look at the fully cast chart, I learn something useful about myself. I bet if I decided to run a chart with Ophiuchus and all the signs/constellations with exactly their time for the Sun to cross the path, I would learn something useful that way as well. The universe is big enough to teach us something using this constellation or ignoring it. What it does not do is throw Astrology into the trash bin; it really helps bring illumination on a subject that, I think, moving into the future, we are going to need more and more help from.

As promised, here's what others have to say:

Philip Young, PhD

Spirit Animal Reading for me by Archana

2011-01-08T04:26:00.000-08:00

Truly, the Internet is an amazing tool. Through Facebook, I met Archana, who lives in California. It was one of those random/non-random experiences, as she was really just a photo on a friend's page that caught my eye. We leapt into profound connection and exchanged readings with each other. I provided her with an astrology reading and she gave me a Spirit Animal reading, which I am sharing with you below, including my comments about each card. These reading processes are deeply helpful and, I believe, should become part of everyone's spiritual practice at regular (maybe every birthday) and as needed intervals. Below is a photo of the cards and the reading itself.

Archana,

Patience, I have found, is often rewarded ... and quite highly. This reading is most helpful and dead on accurate. I'll share my story after each position/card (and I did get the image of the cards, thank you).

On Sat, Jan 8, 2011 at 1:19 AM, archana sachdev <smilingbuddhess@yahoo.co.in> wrote:

Hey Philip,
Thanks again for your patience....

9 totem card reading expressing your soul's purpose and lessons in this birth

1-East-This animal guides you to your greatest spiritual challenges and guards your path to illumination.

Blue Heron:This card is about diving into the depths of your inner self......go into your own unconscious/shadow work,in order to find your spiritual essence....it will help you develop inner strength and certainty of purpose...and trust your path...Hero emerges from the unseen world of spirit into a new balanced sense of self....

In August of 2009, I had a mental break that turned out to be a spiritual awakening. I didn't have to be institutionalized or go on psychological medication, but I thought long and hard about both. Fortunately I had the human support around me to help through the deep soul work that really caused me to withdraw from life for a while. I'm still working through the tail end of it and in spiritual work terms that means probably another 6 months. It's all part of several mid-life transits beginning with Pluto square my Natal Pluto, Uranus opposing my Natal Uranus, Neptune/Chrion squaring my Natal Neptune, and Saturn opposing my Natal Saturn (from 37 to 45). For much of this time I have felt "lost" and unable to feel purposeful (especially the impact of Neptune/Chiron). The depth work is finally revealing and renewing my purpose as a teacher, but it has been one hell of a descent into the underworld.

2- south - protects the child within and reminds you when to be humble and when to trust/balanced personality

Frog- if you have been stressed take a break....relaxation/bath/cleansing....replenish your parched spirit..
getting rid of distractions...make the waters clear again...
frog people have clearing energy,to remove negativity from any environment...
so,the way to balance your personality would be-
to take a break and cleanse yourself of any person place or thing that does not contribute to a new state of serenity and replenishment...

In June of 2010 we had a family move in with us. The family was in pretty dire straits and we were looking for some intentional community to help us in the care of daughter and to ease the burden of life in general. We were hoping for a win/win scenario. Unfortunately the adult (single mother) has proved to be too unhappy to remain here and they are in the process of moving out. The situation that was supposed to help relieve stress became a terrible source of stress. It was only this past week that final arrangements to work out a plan to move out came into focus and I finally felt relief from a terrible tension. This weekend and the next few weeks as they move more and more of their possession out of the house and into storage is a clearing period of negative energy. Once they are completely gone, I will call upon the Frog energy to fully cleanse our home.

3- west- personal truth and inner answers...path to your goals

Raven- magic/unknown....
power of the unknown is at work,and something special is about to happen...
recognize it and use it to further your growth...
bring the magical messages that come from the darkness/the void, in to light....in doing so you will honor the magician within....

so the path to your goals is,to openly receive messages from the world of mysteries,in to the light of the day-share it with people...

Neptune square Natal Neptune is a profound transit and it is about SURRENDER. During this transit you must learn to react and accept what is given by the universe. I am deeply learning that lesson and it has been a challenge, especially for someone like me who has lived a life of control. Control may be an illusion, but even so, my illusion/delusion was a pretty strong one and one I enjoyed. Waiting for the mystery to unfold has been a great spiritual lesson for me, and not without some dark days. But in the end and over the course of the journey, I have learned to trust that some times in life are about deep and profound listening. And I do feel that many of the things I've heard since August of 2009 are messages I will share with the world, even if its just the people in my immediate life.

4- north- wise counsel and also-when to speak and when to listen

Dog- reminds you that your greatest loyalty must be towards your own truth

being loving even to people who have wronged you,since you have a compassionate understanding of human shortcomings....be of service

This attribute has gotten stretched almost to the breaking point ... at least well past the point of being taken advantage of. I have learned that while I need to be loving to people who have wronged me, I need to make sure going forward that I better guard against those in need who will be ungrateful or act entitled. I do understand human shortcomings, but I also have learned that people must be responsible for and accept the consequences of their shortcomings and some of those consequences can be very, very harsh. I have to help the people who want to be helped and appreciate help and turn away from the people who need to learn the lesson of failure.

5-above- how to honor the great star nation...dreamtime-personal access to the other world

Spider-
In order to access the other world, you need to 'CREATE'
or you might be coming too close to an entagling situation
use a journal to write down and review your progress-if you do this,you will be conscious about how you are creating a new phase of your won reality

My Sun has progressed into Gemini and I am still adjusting to the energy of this sign in my Solar path. I had no idea how active the Gemini mind is and I am still trying to learn how to manage this constant pursuit of new ideas and information. Writing has been the release valve, which occurs in my blogs and through Facebook actually. I am reading more than I ever have and that's not a small thing to say since I've had periods in my life when reading was my professional obligation (graduate school). I have novels and books on astrology and tarot clamoring around in my head that are not yet ready for the light of day, but are developing, percolating, peeking out, and at the ready to burst forth when the thoughts finally align.

6- below- about the inner earth,how to stay grounded on your path

Coyote- medicine is about laughter and joking....
what helps you stay close to your own inner earth is having a light hearted playful attitude on one hand,but on the other hand also making sure that you are looking beyond illusions since this card can have a trickster energy,which can take you away from the reality....
so - sense of humor and staying in touch with reality through meditation...

In the last 6 months, when doing a random draw from the Osho Zen Tarot, I have drawn the Playfulness card some 9 or 10 times. Before starting to draw that card and from August 2009 until really August 2010, I lost my smile ... my inner smile and could not muster the energy to laugh. Even my daughter's joy, which is immense and infectious could not penetrate deep enough to pull me out of my spiritual darkness. But she did provide me with a tether and her laughter did keep me from falling completely into darkness, as did the support of my partner Betsy and my parents. Without those tethers and many, many others along the way (friends, fellow astrologers, someone like you), I'm pretty sure I would have been swallowed up by the darkness. Now I am laughing again and trying to play more while certainly feeling I have been "touched" by reality ... that profound, non-duality of reality :-).

7 - within - heart's joy,personal truths....protector of your sacred space...

Owl- guides you to your personal truth by giving you a gift or 'clear vision'
nobody can deceive you.....you may not be awar of your abilities,but people do....owl people know more about people's inner lives than they themselves do (this is certainly a good quality for an astrologer)

you are being asked to use your own powers to intuit some life situation....owl might bring you msgs through dreams or meditation,you must listen in silence....maybe some omens...

Oh yes, I do feel my "eyes have been opened" about many things most recently and I am trying to manage how to use this newly found "clear vision." My astrology work has most definitely benefited. When I am in silence, I am listening with "clear ears" and it is amazing what I am hearing. Not only am I experiencing my personal profound transformation, I am hearing the profound transformation of our world. More than ever, I can see through people and this most recent situation involving the family has cleared a field of my vision in a truly dramatic way.

8 Right side- protector of male side- your father protector within, courage and warrior side

wolf- teacher...you might be called to write or lecture to share knowledge with the world...to help people understand their path in life...
shareing of great truths to take human consciousness to higher planes...
seek lonely places to commune with the teacher within....look for teachings/teachers everywhere....

I recently started teaching in college again. I have been allowed, by the universe, to find my way to a community college and I felt the most significant surge of my personal power teaching in a classroom again. It is one of my callings, of which I am finding there are three great ones. The other two are astrologer/tarot reader and priest. They all intertwine. I have thought of all the things I could be, could have been, and could still pursue, but, at the end of the day, I am a teacher and constantly being taught.

9 - left - protector of female side- learn to receive abundance,nurture yourself and others.... it also teaches about r'ships

Don't worry about the future,not meant to be mentally 'figured out'
"BE"
embrace the unknown and flow with the mystery....
leap into the void with implicit 'TRUST'
avoid interruptions and go into your own self discovery and healing process....
you will receive unexpected blessings.....

I have just reached this realization in the deep way necessary to reap the harvest of its message. I became lost to regain my faith and to rediscover trust.

Thank you so much for this reading.

Happy New Year

2011-01-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

Well,

It's been a while since I posted. The end of last year really filled up my days and I could not seem to find the right subject or the right time to write at length or regularly. I started writing a beginning astrology series that I do want to continue this year and entries on mid-life transits. I'm currently weathering my Uranus Opposition and Neptune Square, two transits people born between 1967 and 1970 will be experiencing until 2012. I'm looking in the direction of my Saturn Opposition as my next mid-life entry. I guess my new year's resolution, like many bloggers, is to try to write regularly and on topics of mutual interest to myself and my followers. And hopefully I will pick up more followers. Maybe I should plan a "Year in Review" entry that can coincide with significant transits and progressions. That should definitely be a blog entry for this week or next.

But today I want to write about a fantastic opportunity that started my new year. Back in December of 2005 I was ordained as a Priest of the Order of Melchizedek. I chose this Order because the Priests and Priestesses are all of unique and, for the most part, self-designed faiths and practices. At the height of my excitement I created a website for my priesthood which outlines my beliefs and practices. One role I am able to perform, but, until January 1, 2011, had not performed is a marriage. This past week, while trying to arrange a visit to my friends Adam and Anne, they asked me if I could marry two friends of theirs (Anna and Zachary). I, of course, said, "yes, absolutely." Our family traveled down to see them on New Year's Eve and we planned the wedding for New Year's Day. The ceremony was very simple, by a pond, in the woods behind Adam/Anne and Zachary/Anna's houses. It was such a fantastic way to start my new year.

2011 looks to be quite different from 2010 and the upcoming 2012. I like to describe it as a lull between storm fronts, a time to prepare. The storm has not cleared and the real thrust of it has not yet arrived; that will be the energetic work of 2012 to 2015, when Uranus (in Aries) squares Pluto (in Capricorn) and Neptune and Chiron permanently enter Pisces. We will really feel the New Age with Jupiter, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto all in new signs. But for this year, a time to gather your friends around you, save money, pay down debt, meditate, organize, ... prepare. I'll be advising all my clients to prepare! And that will mean different actions for different clients. For myself I am trying to manifest my family closer to me, increased savings, more work, and continued good health. I'm not looking to expand as much as I am looking to have enough and save my extra :-). I still have a spiritual awakening journey to complete and I have one current hurdle that should help me start to see the downward slide. 2010 was a humdinger ... and my spiritual ears are still ringing ;-). But I'm also still standing, and looking better in the pocket than Brett Farve ... who coincidentally is getting his Uranus Opposition at this time!

All in all, I want to wish everyone reading this blog a Happiest of New Years and appreciate your interest in my words. Hopefully I will have plenty of brilliant ones for you this new year!

Philip

Mid-Life Transits (Uranus square Uranus - 41 to 43)

2010-12-18T23:20:00.000-08:00

This blog entry will discuss the second of the four mid-life transits, the Uranus opposition (when transiting Uranus is opposite natal Uranus). Uranus roughly reaches the middle of its journey back to itself at 42 and opposes its natal position. When this happens we get a shock to the two houses involved in the opposition. In my case the lightening strike moved into and is going through my 5th House and reaching across to my 11th House. The Uranus opposition started impacting me in March of 2009, but really walloped me August 28, 2009 when tSaturn was conjunct nPluto at the same time that Uranus had gone Retrograde and backed up over the exact opposition for the second time. It was on that day that I had a severe panic attack on my way to help a friend and had to pull of the highway and call 911. I'm still amazed that my body could experience that much stress for several hours and still keep me conscious. I was thrown completely out of my preexisting state of life and it was not fun.

For several months after the initial incident I struggled just to cope with life. Fortunately, I had already quit my full time job, but unfortunately, I could not quit my role as stay-at-home parent. My life partner, Betsy, and my parents stepped in and kept me afloat as I worked through health problems that put me in the hospital thinking I was having a heart attack (about a week later) and through various stress and liver tests. Every medical test came back negative and my physician, who did a wonderful job with his tools, told me that after he went down the list, the one on the bottom was "its in your mind." At the height of the initial panic attack I was able to get some "medication" to help me manage the symptoms and function on days when I would enter extreme states of overwhelm. I put quotes around the word "medication" because it in no way offered me a solution to the core problem. And, I found, I only really needed it when, surprise, surprise, I was left alone with my daughter. When I had human support, I did not need the "medication." And here was my big 5th/11th house shake down.

The 5th House is, essentially, the area of our lives where we begin to establish our independence through our creativity ... it is, for me as an Astrologer, the house of the teenager energy ... creative, dramatic, full of one self, romantic, and playful. The 11th House is our commitment to community and our authentic role in community. The universe, without a doubt, brought me down a notch or 100 to teach me that individuals cannot actually "do it alone" and we really, really should not be as isolated as we are, especially in Western societies. When profound crisis strikes we do not have the human networks in place to help us manage the crisis in a way that can be completely healthy and decidedly healing. And if the crisis is "in your mind" as mine certainly was/is, then medical science is only helpful on a symptomatic level and not a curing level. Yes we have psychology, and it is useful, but what we really lack is a mature spirituality to address what is essentially a spiritual transformation. I thank Gaia for Astrology. More than any other tool or process, working over my own chart or having other professionals give me input has kept me off the drugs and limited my use of therapy, which was very helpful because I had a therapist comfortable discussion both Astrology and Past Lives.

As it turns out I'm getting a chance to correct a past life that occurred 1500 years ago in India, when I was a priest and father during a plague. In that life time I had a daughter, who is again my current daughter, Maya. Her mother was not present; it was just her and me. Due to my responsibilities and the situation of the plague I sent her away and could not forgive myself for doing so. Not long after our separation, I committed suicide by drowning. I was cruising along in my life as a father in this life time until she turned 4 and 1/2 and I am sure those past life feelings were activated (her Moon and my moon are almost exactly conjunct at 21D of Libra, for me hers is in my 11th and for her mine is in her 1st). Suddenly I became deeply worried about what would happen to her if something happened to me and wham, instant, overwhelming anxiety. Let me paint the scenario for you.

We live along a major road, not in a neighborhood (not that it would help that much in the US anyway), and Betsy's parents live 5 states away. My parents live over an hour a way. We do not have lives where people just stop by regularly. So here's a very real scenario; something could happen to me after Betsy goes to work early in the morning and my daughter would be without help until Betsy came home. If I blacked out, there would be no one check on her and that thought horrified (and still horrifies me). I immediately began to reach out to people and try to make changes that would prevent such a catastrophe. But this is the common "nuclear family" life in my culture ... and it is, thanks to my Uranus opposition, unequivocally and fundamentally wrong. Most of my life has been about "being the strong one for others" and "going it alone" and now I was face to face with utter horror of modern life and its disdain for family. We need community, not credit cards and indulgent consumption. We need networks of friends and family staying constant, gentle interaction because I can say, without a doubt, that being the sole caretaker of my child makes earning PhD like opening a Cracker Jack box and pulling out the diploma. I don't write these words with a smile on my face. Parenting is hard, parenting well is a monumental challenge.

I suddenly and deeply felt the "rightness" of community, but not haphazard community. What we need more of are intentional communities, thoughtful, supportive, with high expectations of members and the group. When I think of the best of an intentional community containing many parents, I think of "distributed responsibility," which helps take stress off of everyone. This country and my culture sure as hell needs a better model. With that in mind I began to look a radical (Uranian) ways of living that might put us in touch with this kind of community and help me heal with human support instead of pharmacological masking. While we did not find one that suited us, we did learn a lot and have worked instead on building our relationships much more intentionally. Its really a book's worth of material for each transit.

At the essence, image you are a tree in a storm and lightening bolt strikes from the top of your trunk searing down and splitting you all the way to your roots, exploding all your trunk and limbs out into the storm. That's what I got and what most people will get even if it all happens internally. Now, image that occurring on the global scale to everyone currently 40 to 42 in every country of the world!

Mid-Life Transits (Pluto square Pluto - 34 to 37)

2010-12-16T12:52:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to find my stride with this blog and have decided I want to take a new, more personal direction. Other astrologers do an outstanding job looking at global events, namely Jamie Darkstar and Richard Tarnas come to mind. I've taken a look at the US chart and have enjoyed writing about what I found there, which is mostly a lot of turmoil over the next 10 years. The world is definitely going through some growing pains. I've also started some posts on beginning astrology and how to get started. I hope to continue those posts intermittently over the course of my writing time, hopefully another 40 or so years :-). Maybe after I've posted on all 79 cards of the Osho Zen deck, I'll be ready to pick another deck and work my way through. Another writing project to unfold over the long hall.

But for right now and the foreseeable future, I'd like to pick up a new thread and write more personally about the series of mid-life transits that are currently kicking my spiritual rear end. I am currently 42 and if you are as well, then you should know my kind of struggle as well. In fact, the full range of mid-life transits essentially run from 37 to 45, peaking at different times for different people based on the year of birth. If you were born between 1965 and 1973, then you are at the beginning, in the thick of, or wrapping up four major energy transits involving the transiting energy point and the identical natal energy point. These are: tPluto square nPluto, tUranus opposite nUranus, tNeptune square nNeptune, and tSaturn opposite nSaturn. The severity and intensity of these transits will vary based on other birth chart aspects and transiting aspects. Those of us lucky to be born in the 1968 to 1970 range of the time period got our Uranus opposition as part of a t-square involving tSaturn opposite tUranus square tPluto!

On a personal note I began the journey to my spiritual awakening/shift in mid-March 2002 when I could begin to be influenced by tPluto on my nPluto (allowing for a 3 degree Orb of influence). In mid-March tPluto was at 17D44M of Sagittarius and the work of this transit began in earnest. During this year I finally decided to ask my wife for a separation and divorce. I had met my birth mother at the beginning of the year (we had been corresponding for almost a year, and we finally met in 2002). tPluto's work was pretty dramatic in the year plus leading up to the first exact opposition in January of 2004. One year to the day after my separation papers were filed (August 13, 2003), I met Betsy, my life partner and soul mate and change rapidly followed suit. We moved into together three weeks after meeting, we discussed having children and got pregnant in May of 2004, and bought a house (the one we currently live in) in October of 2004. Maya, our daughter, was born in January 2005.

Perhaps what I remember as most profound for me during the time of my separation was a sudden desire to have a child or be involved in a child's life (Big Brother or even foster care). That feeling was the most "out of the blue" experience for me, as I would have easily been voted by my high school and college classes as the person least likely to have children. Somewhere in my heart I guess I knew I should not have children with my wife and once free of that relationship the idea had some room to percolate. It would certainly take a book worth of writing to describe all the changes that occurred after a fairly stable period of life between 1994 and 2000. Granted that period of time had some big events, earning my PhD, getting my career job, an affair, but over a longer stretch of time and associated with other key transits (namely my Saturn Return). But nothing like the level and multiplicity of changes brought on by Pluto activating itself!

Throughout 2004 tPluto went square with itself three times (January <direct>, June <retrograde>, and November <direct>) before finally moving on out of Orb (3 degrees) in November of 2005. So the full range of impact lasted from March of 2002 until November of 2005 (from the ages of 34 to 37). tPluto was doing its work in my 2nd House of Values and Resources and, without a doubt, my values and resources shifted tremendously. I went from being married and owning a home to giving that home to my ex-wife and paying support to living in a one bedroom apartment (I loved that apartment) to owning a home again (but instead of me paying for it, my partner Betsy did). I got out of a failing and mutually unhealthy relationship, dated around, and entered back into a long-term relationship that, so far, has proven deeply healing and extremely healthy (and is not a marriage). I did not realize that this period was just the beginning of a period that will span another three to five years.

At the heart of the transition was the squaring energy of nPluto in Virgo in my 11th House with tPluto moving through Sagittarius my 2nd House. My community went through a radical change as I left my marriage behind and entered into a new, more spiritually invested relationship. One of our first dates was to the Body, Mind, and Spirit Expo in Raleigh, NC where we had our aura photos taken. We would visit the expo twice a year and soon after our first year of visits, I had gotten a booth to do tarot readings. My previous community, largely made up of friendships around my marriage and my relationships with my co-workers dissolved and reformed in a community of spiritually minded practitioners, ranging from psychics to massage therapists to henna artists and fellow tarot readers. I also completed the tattoo back mural of Pegasus flying over the ruins of the Temple at Tholos, a site for the Delphic Oracle.

Now that I write about these transformations, I really see the power of this transit and its broad and deep impact on my life. If you are between 30 and 33 and feeling some calm after your Saturn return, fasten your seat belt for the first of the four mid-life transits because, change will be a-coming!

Mercury Retrograde 12/11/2010 to 12/30/2010

2010-12-11T05:06:00.000-08:00

Mercury will retrograde from Capricorn back into Sagittarius energizing us to slow down on our goals and plans and review our intentions. I like to think of Mercury Retrograde like the proofreading and rewriting phase of a school paper, article for publication, or writing a book. We thrust ourselves into the creative writing process by developing an idea or story in our minds that eventually becomes a first draft, both manifestations of Mercury Direct. After the first draft is complete, we should take the time to review the work and refine it because, very rarely, is a first draft sufficient ... and even email or Facebook comments can most often use a proofreading. In general, at this time, we should all be feeling pretty good, or much improved, as all remaining energy points are direct. Uranus finally released on 12/6/2010 and went Direct, following the release/Direct of Jupiter, Chiron, and Neptune. When Mercury goes Direct on 12/30/2010, every energy point will be direct until Saturn goes Retrograde on 1/26/2010.

Mercury gets a bad rap when Retrograde because we live in the Western mindset, which is a frontier, forward moving, go hard at all times mentality. So, when a natural rhythm to slow down, proofread, review, take inventory, check safety protocols, check the service on your car, comes up and we DO NOT do any of those procedures or follow any of those actions, we usually get a mess, a wreck, a bad business arrangement, a faulty contract, and broken this or that. As I've studied Astrology more and more and found myself getting more and more in tune with my body, I'm observing more of the patterns. Last night I laid down on the sofa at 7PM, moved to the bed at 9PM and got up at 7AM. Now, normally, I will fall asleep around 10:30 or 11PM and get up, like clock work, at 5:30AM ... not so on the first day of Mercury Retrograde.

With Mercury Direct in Capricorn we should all have been feeling, in our thinking, a desire to pursue or establish goals and achievements based on the house occupied by Capricorn in our charts and aspects of Mercury in Capricorn to other energy points in our chart. This period should have been like the creative idea bursting out onto the first draft of the page. Now with Mercury going backwards in Capricorn and into Sagittarius, we need to spend the next 19 days reviewing, proofreading, and revising our goals and aspirations in those areas of our lives. Use this period to slow down and take your time, including in your Christmas shopping ;-). But most of all, especially if you like to have a New Year's goal list, go over it twice, maybe four times. Think about your long range plans for 2011, which will, based on energy movements for the year, be pretty quiet compared to the fireworks planned for 2012 and until 2015.

Happy Holidays to all!

Tarot Meditation Card for the Day - Osho Zen Tarot - Ace of Water, Going With the Flow

2010-12-07T17:30:00.000-08:00

The Ace of Water is always a positive card to draw, even if executing the message is difficult

This card is difficult in its simplicity because we often do not want to accept certain flows of emotion, especially if a situation calls for us to let go of and emotional situation that is obviously flowing away from us. Drawing this card at this time in my life is profound because I have been battling anxiety that arises from my constant worries about the state of the world. You would think that, as a child of the 80s, and thus a child living at the peak of the cold war and the constant threat of nuclear annihilation, that I would have used up my worry quotient a long time ago. There was no movie quite as frightening as Wargames even though it was a story told mostly as a comedy.

Little did I know or could I know what real worry feels like until I became a parent. And now, I would have to say, this time is different. At no point in human history have we actually come close to having a profound negative impact on the entire biosphere, but we are reaching that point. And for all my Zen studies and "trust the universe" spirituality, I have been acutely attuned to the out of control behavior of our species at a truly global level. I am, to say the least, having some trouble going with the flow when it looks like the flushing of a toilet. But, if it is ... the flushing of a toilet ... then I need to get on board with the flow and try to enjoy the swirl. More to the point this card asks us to look at how we placed ourselves in life. I, for example, did not choose to be a policy decision maker, either as a corporate CEO or politically elected official. I have no designs on the White House or even Mayor of a small town. I will be buffeted by decisions out of my control because, spiritually speaking, I didn't come here to make the effort to play at that level.

When I sit with that knowledge, I begin to see more clearly the real flow of my life, as a father, a teacher, a counselor (through Astrology and Tarot), a partner, a son, and a friend. Drawing this card tells me not only to go with the flow, but to go with my flow and I like my flow very much. When or if a flush comes, I'll adjust my flow, but trying to satisfy worry over the untold future really is a pointless endeavor. Find your flow and go with it!

Tarot Meditation Card for the Day - Osho Zen Tarot - Ace of Rainbows, Maturity

2010-12-01T10:44:00.000-08:00

I am glad I drew the Ace of Rainbows, Maturity, today. The card is beautifully positive.

"The distinction between the grasses and the blossoms is the same as between you not knowing that you are a Buddha, and the moment you know that you are a Buddha. In fact, there is no other way to be otherwise. Buddha is completely blossomed, fully opened. His or her lotuses and petals have come to completion ..." (159). Interestingly, in the Osho Zen Tarot, the Ace comes at the end of the sequence, not the beginning. When you draw this card you are asked to think of all the completions you have attained at this time in your life and how they have blossomed.

Specifically, for me, I relate the card to my journey in education. In 1996 I earned my PhD in English from UNC-Greensboro and began a career that spanned 11 years and, apparently, concluded in 2007 when I retired from UNC. In the three years since, and actually two years before my retirement (2005), for a total of five years, I have not taught in a university setting. I had considered that my teaching career in that venue was likely finished. However, about six months ago I decided to dust off my Vita and polish it up in an attempt to look for a teaching position. I knew, without a doubt, that it would be a long shot for me to get a position having been out of the classroom for five years and out of the academy for three. Fortunately, several of the local community colleges allow you to put your Vita on file, giving one the opportunity to be contacted in a time of need instead of seeking a standing position. Such was my luck.

About two months ago I got a call from the head of Wake Tech's Division of Continuing Education to teach a GRE Seminar. I was most thankful for the call and very interested in the opportunity. Since retiring and going through all that I have gone through, I felt and currently feel that I have a much more profound understanding of my profession ... a greater Maturity ... if you will. I was 24 when I taught my first college class, Beginning Composition at UNCG in 1992. Looking back, I can hardly believe the university turned me loose on a group of students, several of whom were older than me at the time. In all, and on the whole, I think the experience was positive for everyone, but now, with so much more life under my belt (a marriage and divorce, retirement from a career, the birth and primary care of my daughter) I feel just mature enough to be teaching :-). My GRE course was a great pleasure to teach and now I have two English courses out in front of me for the Spring semester of 2011.

I am glad that teaching is not done with me, and feel, instead, that maybe now I'm mature enough to really do great work in the classroom. It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

A Great Time of Transition: 2008 to 2015

2010-11-27T07:30:00.000-08:00

The most powerful constant in the universe is change. The second most powerful constants are various cycles. Some are large, like the 25,800 year cycle of the Earth's "wobble" (on its axis) that causes the precession of signs, which has lead to the split between Tropical and Sidereal astrology. In Tropical astrology, if you are born between March 21 and April 21, you have an Aries Sun sign. Thanks to precession (since 600BCE), when Tropical astrology was calculated on the 0 point of Aries, if you were born between March 11 and April 18 (in 2007), your Sun Sign would actually be Pisces. Some are small, like your birthday. All occur in linear, forward moving time in a constant state of change. There is no permanence, just change ... in various shapes and sizes and intensities. We are currently living in a period of intense change. Human and planetary history is filled with easily identifiable intense periods of change, whether we are looking at World War I or the Ice Age, the Discovery of Penicillin or Volcanic Eruptions and Earthquakes, or a host of other significant events.

Human history has entered another period of significant change and transition, beginning with the Great Recession at the start of 2008. In recent history, the 20th Century, we can mark the great periods of transition with inventions (cars, planes, space flight, the Internet), wars, social upheavals (the 1960s), and so on. In all those cases we can find key transitions occurring between Energy Points in the sky as part of large and small recurring cycles. One of the most profound relationships in astrology occurs when Uranus and Pluto transition at significant angles with one another. The last such significant transition occurred in the 1960s when they were conjunct and their energies merged in the sign of Virgo (Tropical) and Leo (Sidereal). Today they are in a square relationship, which will be exact 7 times between 2012 and 2015 and involve the signs of Capricorn/Aries (Tropical) and Sagittarius/Pisces (Sidereal). As with all situations involving large and complex energy, the impact of the energy can be felt and active outside the "ground zero" time frame.

For this reason, we are still "heading towards" the reckoning of and repercussions of the exact squaring that will occur between 2012 and 2015. The "aftermath" will likely last well into 2020, when Pluto begins to end its travels through Capricorn (T)/Sagittarius (S). For most of the world, this will continue to be a time of great instability, which is not particularly comfortable, but very necessary for growth and/or readjustment. In fact, spiritually, humanity is likely to experience spiritual growth through a readjustment to physical limitations. The lesson of cycles is the lesson of living within a closed system. Closed System thinking is radically different from Frontier/Constant Growth thinking. A Closed System reality can appear to be a Frontier System if the participants in the system are unable to see the boundaries of the system as a whole. In the current vernacular a phrase that is gaining ground is "the End Game." And a word is growing in use: Austerity. Within a large closed system, small skirmishes occur that reveal to various members of the system the closed nature of the system (species extinction, contamination of water supplies, destruction of usable land, global warming). But in all of human history, the overall boundaries of the system has not been reached or breached at the whole level. We are living the age when we can finally begin to see the boundaries of the whole system and how close we are getting to them.

Breaching the whole boundary system would be catastrophic for humanity, no so much for insects. The breach may occur without human activity in an Ice Age way, but even with Global Warming reaching high levels, its unlikely that we are yet in a position to break the ecosystem in an apocalyptic way. Though it is certainly within our power and ability (think Wall-E). During this next major transition we are very likely to have to face readjustment to consumption/resource uses as more of the world wants between 70 and 80 degree homes in the winter and summer. The financial crisis is a "shot across the bow" of the ship, and let's hope its not the one named Titanic! Though, that story is an apt metaphor. People did survive the sinking of the ship ... a much smaller number than would have survived if precautions had been taken, warnings heeded, and safety protocols followed.

Big transitions have a common earmark; they reach into the common levels of human experience. Not just one group feels the impact, but members of all groups while certain groups especially feel the impact across almost all members (usually the poor or lower classes). While many of the rich are getting richer during this process, quite a few have also lost everything and quite a few are experiencing economic decline. Granted their total assets may now be worth 900 Million instead of 2 Billion, but loss is loss. I went to a job interview recently and one of the other people interviewing said something interesting, "being early is the new on time." I have to wonder if this transition will be the one that nakedly reveals that we do have limited resources that we are using as if they are unlimited, which is really the behavior bugaboo we need desperately to overcome and reverse. Its fine to think of solar power as unlimited energy, wind and water as renewable, but not oil and gas. This transition period is likely to be marked by the outside world exerting pressure on behavior change internally at a mass scale. Much in the same way the Great Depression or American/French Revolution time periods exerted change.

We are all, definitely, in it together.

Jupiter in Station, Turning to Go Direct

2010-11-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

Did anyone else begin to feel it today ... the energy of Jupiter stopping its retrograde motion to begin moving forward again tomorrow? I certainly did. Yesterday, I was talking to Betsy, my partner, about feeling a shift, a positive one. And today the feeling just grew stronger. Astrology is all about motion - cycles, approaching and separating energies, Lunation phases, ingress from sign to sign, and retrograde/stationary/direct. What has made this time in life so very profound and interesting is convergence of many kinds of motion. Alone any one of these patterns holds significance, but when they converge, big shifts happen.

This December will hold especial power as all the energy points, at two different spans of time, will be direct. Unfortunately no major legislation or meaningful global/state/local decisions will be made. But we should have some very positive feelings around the holidays. It will be a good time to think out "next steps." What do you want your next steps to be and can you chart a positive route to achieving them. There's still a number of big cosmic storms on the horizon and the largest of all will be Pluto in Capricorn squaring Uranus in Aries for 3 years between 2012 and 2015. From every level, it will be good for all us to use 2011 as a time to save, rest, and prepare ... not only in terms of the most obvious financial crisis, but in terms of spiritual development. We have not seen the last of the Tea Party negativity or protectionist thinking. These energies will be amassing for the 2012 election cycle.

They must be challenged, but not in the same vein as they present. We must challenge them in our daily lives by being caring, helpful, and supportive of our community, family, and fellow human beings. We must show by example that we understand the kinds of fundamental changes in behavior that we all need to make with regard to our use of resources and what each of us rightfully deserves to take from the earth to meet our needs. I encourage everyone to fully enjoy the tremendous amount of positive energy that will flow once Chiron and Neptune (the last two energy points still retrograde) go direct (even in the face of a Mercury retrograde through the middle of December). Mercury will retrograde in December, but it is always the same meaning ... slow down, reassess, review, and rest.

I urge all of us to spend deep time thinking of New Year's resolutions to put forth on January 1 and to reassert on March 21, the first day of Spring. 2012 will be tumultuous and how we prepare in 2011 will be essential.

Born in 1967, 1968, 1969 -- Struggling in 2009, 2010, 2011

2010-11-17T07:59:00.000-08:00

If you were born in the years 1967 to 1969, then this post is for you! I was born April 12, 1968 and I can say that the years of 2009 to 2011 have been and will be ones of tremendous transition. In our life cycle we have many astrological cycles, described as Returns. When you are born every energy point eventually returns to its degree placement in the sky. Some you will not live to experience, like your Neptune Return (165 years) or Pluto Return (248 years). If you live to be 84, you will experience your Uranus Return. All other energy points will return if you live at least until 50, when Chiron Returns. We celebrate our Solar Return each year on our birth day (though that's not always the exact day of the return by actual degree, but its close enough). While all energy points return, astrologers tend to focus on the longer patterns of Jupiter (12 years), Saturn (29 1/2 years), and Chiron (50 years). We human beings often feel and experience big shifts in our lives coinciding with these returns and their three other significant aspects (two squares and one opposition). When we add in the squares and oppositions we get predictable times of transition that allow us to mark certain periods in our lives as times we will go through big internal, external, or both internal and external changes. Any singular transition is a big deal:

your Jupiter angles every 3 years,
your Saturn angles every 7.5 years,
your Chiron angles every 12.5 years,
your Uranus angles every 21 years,
your Neptune angles every 41 to 43 years,
and your Pluto angles every 62 years.

As you can see by the numbers, you also can get "double or tripled" up at certain times in your life. For those of born at the end of the 1960's we're getting a double whammy from our Uranus opposition (current Uranus opposing our natal Uranus) and our Neptune Square (current Neptune squaring our natal Neptune). Additionally, we have current Chiron also squaring our natal Neptune and current Pluto squaring our natal Chiron on its way to a square with our natal Saturn. If you have felt "struck by lightening" (Uranus Opposition) AND dislodged from stability (Neptune Square) in the last two years (much more so than everyone swept up in the Great Recession), then you are not alone and you still have at least one to three more years to weather the transition!

I've shared my personal story in other posts, but it bears repeating especially for this post. In late 2009 (August) I experienced a Spiritual Awakening that struck me down to the depths of my soul/consciousness. The transits I just mentioned above were all beginning to align, with then transiting Saturn crossing over and conjuncting my natal Pluto. Since the initial "lightening strike" I have been caught in the undertow of Neptune square Neptune, which Robert Hand describes as a time when illusions run high and are broken at the same time. A person feels a strong desire to manifest dreams but the energy in life is not readily available to help manifest the dreams and can, in fact, push us into delusion. Now for each person the real impact will play out wherever the current Neptune is in relation to the natal chart houses and the natal Neptune. In my case the energy is playing out with my fundamental identity (1st House) ruled by Scorpio and my family (4th House). ruled by Aquarius The Spiritual Lightening of Uranus struck my house of Community (11th) by opposing itself in the house of my Creativity (5th) in Virgo and Pisces respectively.

And here's what I got for my troubles :-). My Heart Charkra basically got blown open, which left me overwhelmed by the stresses and strains of the current world situation. I could and still can feel the planet groaning in pain from human behavior; I can feel we are reaching a Tipping Point (around energy, water, food, communication, financial institutions, health care, education and so on). Like the convergence of personal energy via my transits, I feel a convergence of problems that will require some very big leaps in human behavior and decision making to overcome and help humanity evolve. And we're not talking about biological evolution, but civilization evolution. At times like these, we are not guaranteed forward progress, feel free to read up on the Dark Ages as an example of devolution and regress.

I was also deeply struck on a personal level to question how we make/sustain human families in this country by way of the so-called nuclear family. The answer I found was deeply troubling. We are all powerfully isolated and I feel a deep knowing that our current way of manifesting family is profoundly wrong. We have utterly destroyed community and our housing debacle is really a way of exposing how crass, as a nation, we have become about greed and moving up at the cost of healthy support networks. Most families do not live near each other and most communities are in a constant state of two to three year transition, so there is no "rootedness" in our communities anymore. There has been spotty response to this damaging phenomenon, apparent in the spread and rise of intentional communities, but on the whole our fast paced world has "out paced" us. The Recession is a natural slow down response, a gift in many ways and a reasonable consequence of too much greed. My shift has made me realize how isolated our family (of three) really was. Our network of friends are geographically dispersed and helping each other in a time of crisis would face the simple barrier of geography. For this reason, we looked into intentional communities and opened ourselves to the possibility of sharing our home with another family. As it turns out, the second manifested instead of the first.

On a more personal level, I have been completely thrown out of my comfort zone, my deep and long tenured sense of confidence and faith in the way I fit into the world has evaporated. I have talked with other members of my age group, not a statistically valid sample, but enough for confirmation that they too are "off balance" and unable to get their footing. That's what Neptune square Neptune feels like. And its meant to teach us what out of balance feels like so we can do a better job with balance when the energy finishes its work. Like millions of other people around the world, we are moving back to a savings mentality ... but more profoundly, I am learning to be grateful for the simplest of things. In this time of deep internal work, I know I need to appreciate this transition. If you are feeling a similar shift because you were born around the same time, then know that the time to work through the shift is limited (3 to 5 years). Who knows what the world will be at the beginning of 2012, but those of us born in the late 1960s should be through our work, if we do our work, around that time.

Tarot Meditation Card for the Day - Osho Zen Tarot - Breakthrough XI

2010-11-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

"To transform breakdowns into breakthroughs is the whole function of a master." (25)

This card has a powerful meaning for me today and reading the description has been especially profound. "It is the greatest adventure in life to go through a breakdown consciously. It is the greatest risk because there is no guarantee that the breakdown will become a breakthrough. It does become, but these things cannot be guaranteed." Boy how I have been feeling for this card ... feeling around as if I have been trapped in a darkness and unable to find any kind of purchase that would allow me to escape. I can only have faith that my wandering around and groping is actually progress in some, as yet, unknown way. I am hopeful that drawing this card is my soul's way of sharing the possibility that a breakthrough is, in fact, happening from my breakdown.

The description goes on to say, "your chaos is very ancient -- for many, many lives you have been in chaos. It is thick and dense. It is almost a universe in itself. So when you enter into it with your small capacity, of course there is danger. But without facing this danger nobody has ever become integrated, nobody has ever become an individual, indivisible."

"Zen, or meditation, is the method which will help you to go through the chaos, through the dark night of the soul, balanced, disciplined, alert." Today I woke very early and stretched on the floor beside my bed. After taking my daughter to school, I went to the park and practiced my Qi Gong and Tai Chi and felt my practice deeply, felt the energy move from earth to sky and back again. Recently I have talked to my partner, Betsy, about losing faith ... losing my way. I want to find a way again, but I don't know what that way is ... and I think right now, I'm not supposed to have a way ... such is the lesson of the breakdown. But deep in my soul I do not think I am supposed to stay broken or broken down. I am trying to be Patient (my previous draw). I am trying to listen and still keep persevering. This card was a good draw today.

Learning Astrology 04 - You Have Books, Now What?

2010-11-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

If you are following the instructions of these blog entries, you should now possess a copy of your birth chart from Astrodienst using the Whole Sign system. And you should have purchased and now have copies of:

Astrology and the Authentic Self by Demetra George
Asteroid Goddesses by Demetra George
Take Charge with Astrology by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma
Astrology for Beginners by Joann Hampar
Horoscope Symbols by Robert Hand (if you want to do charts for others as well as look at your own)
Astrology of the Moon by Amy Herring
Spiritual Astrology by Jan Spiller and Karen McCoy
The Sabian Symbols by Marc Edmund Jones

Before we get started make sure you have pencil or pen handy, you will be writing in your books. The best way to learn astrology is to personalize your books by marking information that pertains to your chart in each of your books. Then you expand by marking the information of your significant other(s), your children, your other family members, and your friends. This practice is the "magic trick" to learn deeply what you need to know.

You can set Asteroid Goddesses, Horoscope Symbols, Astrology of the Moon, and Spiritual Astrology aside. They are the second tier books of the first tier of your studies. As to the rest, you can select one to plow through completely or use all four simultaneously. If you decide you want to go book by book, then I actually recommend you begin with The Sabian Symbols instead of one of the beginner cookbooks (Astrology for Beginners or Take Control with Astrology) and here's why. When you look at your chart, you will see that each energy point is placed on the wheel at a specific degree and minutes. I will use my chart as an example (be sure to click on the image to see it at a large enough size to see the information clearly, a new tab will open and you can toggle back and forth between the blog and the image).

Let's start with my Sun, which is at 23d14m in Aries. I grab my Sabian Symbol book and my pen and I look up 24 Degrees of Aries. Always round up, no matter how few the minutes. 23d01m is still 24d in the Sabian Symbol. If your minutes for an energy point are less than 15, go ahead and read the preceding degree. In my case, I would also want to glance at 23 Degrees of Aries. In the book there is the imaginative description and then the interpreted meaning. 23 to 24 Degrees of Aries is "Blown Inward By The Wind, The Curtains Of An Open Window Take The Shape Of A Cornucopia." The keyword is Munificence and "when positive, the degree is an irrepressible genius for capturing the richer rewards of life and providing a wider distribution for the higher realities, and when negative, a smug and petty self-importance in dispensing favors to others." (Sabian Symbols 172)

Every energy point in your chart has a Sabian Symbol and you do not need to associate the meaning of the symbol with the meaning of the energy point at this time. Simply go down the list of energy points in your chart legend at the bottom of your chart page and go to the Symbol in the book and WRITE your NAME and the ENERGY POINT. So, in my Sabian Symbol book I have Philip/Sun next to the 24 Degree of Aries. I have Philip/Moon next to the 22 Degree of Libra, Philip/Mercury next to the 11 Degree of Aries, and so on. Once you have gone through all your energy points see if you notice any themes in the keywords. Mine tend to reflect a life of spiritual growth while my partner's, Betsy, consistent theme is the care of others. Once you familiarize yourself with the meanings of your energy points you can refine your knowledge of the Sabian Symbols to reflect the interrelationship of the Symbol meanings and the Energy Point meanings.

In the case of your Moon, you will blend your emotional state into the Sabian Symbol and in the case of your Mercury, you will interpolate the Sabian Symbol through the energy of Communication. Learning astrology is a process of building complexity out of discrete information and then building complexity on top of complexity. The meanings of the Sabian Symbols and the Energy Points are discrete and separate. Your task to unlock your chart is to combine the two to derive a more nuanced meaning. From there you will add on more and more discrete pieces of information, constantly refining and individualizing the general meanings into a coherent narrative about yourself.

Perhaps you would rather start out with all of the books and jump around a bit, just to see where the journey takes you. That's a fine approach as well. Keep your pen handy and follow the same steps as before. Get your chart out and note which sign and house your Sun is in and then open one of the beginning astrology books to the section on signs and houses and write in your name and the energy point. In my case, I would put Philip/Sun next to Aries in the signs and the 6th House in the houses. Do this process for all your energy points and you will get a very quick grasp of your chart. It will still be a bit raw; after all, roughly 10 million people are born each month currently and as many as 355,000 are born on the same day! (Census Bureau) Just keep in mind that each sign and house cover a central theme with a lot of territory. One manifestation of Aries is adventure and another independence and these are both affected by your family, culture, and socio-economic status and many, many more factors. The Aries born on the same day at the same time who has repressive parents will manifest his or her energy differently than the one with supportive parents and the outcomes may not be what you anticipate.

So get your books out and your pens/pencils and mark up your books. Look up and read about all the information specific to your chart. Don't worry so much about reading the books straight through. You can do that after you "make the books your own." Get the raw data down and next we'll talk about synthesizing!

Tarot Meditation Card for the Day - Osho Zen Tarot - 7 of Rainbows, Patience

2010-11-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

I appreciate the Osho Zen tarot because the imagery so often perfectly communicates the concept described by the keyword on the card. This card, the 7 of Rainbows (Patience), has one of the best pictorial representations of all the cards in the set.

When you draw this card you face the task of accepting that some things in life have a rhythm that you cannot speed up or slow down! Hence the card shows us the phases of the moon and the woman who is pregnant. These natural processes follow predictable cycles, especially the phases of the moon. The human body is not quite as predictable, reliable, or hard to manipulate as the Moon orbiting Earth orbiting the Sun. We all have situations in our lives where we want things to either speed up or slow down and we have trouble seeing the optimal process.

This circumstance is especially true when two or more people are involved. We want someone to "get it" so we can move forward, trying to ignore the process of the other person in favor of what we want. Or perhaps we are the person trying desperately to "get it" and we cannot make the process accelerate. Maybe we "get it', but don't "want it" and we do everything we can to slow or stop the process. Patience is not just a state of right activity, but also a state of right understanding.

On a personal level, as I have been on the journey of a spiritual awakening, I have had many a day of impatience, wishing I could "get on with it" and "be done" with the drama and struggle of being thrown completely out of my comfort zone. I know what a comfort zone feels like and many days wish I could get back in one, not the one I had before, but the next one I'm moving towards. Unfortunately, the transition often has its own agenda and sometimes what is best takes time. Drawing this card is often very calming for me, a message from myself to myself to "settle down" and let things unfold as they will ... because they will. Trying to force the issue before the right time or out of the right rhythm almost always results in negative outcomes.

As you read this post, think about any area of your life, any situation you feel impatient about and take a step back mentally. What is the lesson in the "not happening"? What is the cycle and how are you out of step with it and how do you get in step? Where in your life do you need patience and how can you support that patience in your actions and thinking?

Learning Astrology 03 - Book Recommendations - Essentials of Your Astrology Library

2010-10-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

If you want to study and practice Astrology then you must love to read and problem solve. No one book is adequate and many will scratch the surface in a way that is more misleading than helpful (as is the case with most Sun Sign books). Keeping in mind my first post, almost all books you buy that are current will use the Placidus system as the default. If that's the case, then why not simply write from that perspective? Well, I've found the Whole Sign system not only makes a certain kind of sense, but is easier to learn and teach because the Signs and Houses align perfectly (30 degrees for each and contained within each 30 degrees). With the Placidus and other House Systems, you end up with irregular House widths, some spanning more than 30 degrees and other less. In beginning studies this design creates a fairly significant hurdle to learning, as you have to come to understand concepts like interception and deal with bizarre chart configurations if a person is born near either of the poles. House Systems are hotly debated topics and can really cause your head to pop off, so to simplify for the purposes of learning for the first time, I'm going to use the Whole Sign system, which means the first book you will need to buy is Demetra George's Astrology and the Authentic Self.

As you will see from your Astrology chart (printed from Astrodienst), we will be working with many additional Energy Points, including the 4 Asteroid Goddesses (Pallas Athena, Juno, Ceres, and Vesta), which means you will need to purchase another of Demetra George's works, Asteroid Goddesses. I have brought in and use these Energy Points to balance out the chart so that there are an equal number of masculine and feminine energies. But before you start reading this book, you will need to get a good "Cookbook", a text that gives you the basic explanations of Energy Points, Signs, Houses, and Aspects. Believe it or not I recently came across a good new book by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma, Take Control with Astrology, which nicely fits the bill. Another good nuts and bolts book is Joann Hampar's Astrology for Beginners. But if you want to take the training wheels off right from the start, then the book to get is Robert Hand's Horoscope Symbols.

The final set of books to buy focus on the Moon and the Nodes of the Moon, which emphasize our deep personal selves and our destinies in this and past lifetimes. You will need to purchase Amy Herring's Astrology of the Moon and Jan Spiller/Karen McCoy's Spiritual Astrology. And lastly you need to buy Marc Edmund Jones book The Sabian Symbols, which will give you a simple inroad to imaginative language about your chart based on specific degrees of the Zodiac. So for each Energy Point in your chart you can read a Sabian Symbol about its degree placement.

Recap

Here are the books to buy and have handy for your study of Astrology and your Astrology Chart:

Astrology and the Authentic Self by Demetra George
Asteroid Goddesses by Demetra George
Take Charge with Astrology by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma
Astrology for Beginners by Joann Hampar
Horoscope Symbols by Robert Hand (if you want to do charts for others as well as look at your own)
Astrology of the Moon by Amy Herring
Spiritual Astrology by Jan Spiller and Karen McCoy
The Sabian Symbols by Marc Edmund Jones

And here's the place to buy them: Alibris Books

In the next blog post, I will talk about how to read and use these books with your Astrology Chart to create your Astrology Profile.

Knowing Really Is Only Half the Battle

2010-10-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

This morning I had a very important chance encounter with my Astrology mentor and instructor Randy Wasserstram. I am gradually working my way into colleague status and certainly felt a great thankfulness to have the chance to talk to him today. The conversation ranged, but a large portion of it dealt with my Spiritual Awakening, which I am still deep in the middle of and, on some days, like today, just trying to survive. Randy knows my chart and he knows what it means when I say I have a good road of hoeing still in front of me thanks to tPluto squaring the Stellium of nEnergy Points in Aries while tUranus opposes nUranus and prepares to conjunct the very same Stellium during the same duration of time. Mercilessly tSaturn is 5d approaching nSaturn in opposition, which means, it, too, is lighting up my Aries Stellium. And last and certainly not least, tNeptune and tChiron (Aquarius) both square my nNeptune in an exact (0d separating) aspect. Oh, and just for shits and giggles, they are both Retrograde, which means they will form an exact square with Neptune yet again before moving on to form an exact square with my Ascendant! There are no atheists in foxholes!

Thanks to Retrograde motion, my Uranus opposition is also in a tight approaching degree (less than 2). Approaching and separating energy are very important and an element in beginning astrology often ignored. When you have aspects approaching, energy is building, and when you have aspects separating the energy is releasing. Retrograde motion can make certain transits particularly wearing because you get a 3/3 experience, 3 approaches and 3 separations, a really good "driving the point home" experience. I want to share my story because we all get some dose of what I'm getting. Hopefully most of you will not have the kinds of transits I'm having, but if you happened to have been born in 1968, then the outer planet to outer planet aspects are something we're all getting (such as the Uranus opposition along with the Neptune square and the Saturn opposition). How much it affects you depends on other Energy Points in your chart. I happen to have Neptune 2d separating from my Ascendant, so any aspect to my nNeptune have a profound effect on my Ascendant (my presentation of self and the perception people have of me). To say both are going through tremendous change would be putting things lightly!

So what happens when you look into your chart or a client's chart and you can see years of turmoil and struggle? Lots of choices abound and most of mine involve metaphors about "treading water", "holding on by my fingernails", and "battening down my hatches." You may be feeling some of those same feelings as well if you were born between 1967 and 1969. The lesson here, I believe, is perseverance and a deep appreciation for the mundane. My breakfast this morning, both company wise, food wise, and location wise was wonderful and deeply valued. I am happy to make it through another day, knowing that eventually the pressure from Neptune, Chiron, and Saturn will relent even if Pluto and Uranus have plenty in store for me for a while yet. 2012, when the first exact square between these two occurs, will mean my Stellium gets the double whammy. By then Jupiter will be helping me out and I should get some positive energy by conjunction.

In truth, Astrology has helped me immensely. Without it and the narrative it provides for the energy I am feeling day in and day out, I'm not sure I would be able to manifest a positive response. I am also thankful for the support I have in my life from my partner, Betsy, my parents, our new family living with us, and my wonderful friends and professional colleagues. Knowing is half the battle, the other half is the doing and learning. Hopefully as I write about the doing and learning, I will be helpful to others.

Learning Astrology 02 - You Have Your Chart, Now What?

2010-10-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

This post assumes you have your astrology chart from Astrodienst printed and available to you as you continue reading. If not, go back to the first post and get your account set up, chart info entered, and your chart printed out. I'll be happy to wait for you.

So you have your chart in hand; what are you looking at? You are looking at a story, told through symbols and data. Let's look at the middle of the circle and work our way outward. The X in the middle of the circle represents you at the location and time of your birth on Earth. Image a three dimensional projection/hologram of our solar system where the earth is about the size of a beach ball and you are standing in the middle of the hologram. All the planets are moving and you have a hand held device that will allow you to enter your birth data (time, location, date). Once entered the hologram moves all the planets into position using that data. A little red dot appears and blinks on Earth where you were born. If you were to draw lines from your point of birth to each planet, the Moon, and the Sun and extend that line through the planets to the constellations behind the planets, you would have the angle of degree each planet, the Sun, and the Moon in relation to a zodiac constellation. So, if you were born between March 22 and April 22, the line would pass through the Sun and hit a degree of the Zodiac sign Aries. In my case, being born April 12, my Sun is at 23d of Aries.

In our imaginary holographic planetarium, you want to leave with a print out of your solar system birth moment, so you hit the print button on the hand held device and everything that is 3 dimensional gets compressed down into 2 dimensions and printed out in the form you see the chart you got from Astrodienst. The blinking red light is replaced by the X and Earth is replaced by the hub circle in the middle with 12 spokes coming out. The 12 spokes make up 12 pie pieces, which are numbered 1 to 12 starting from left, going down, and around counterclockwise. In the Whole Sign system, the each house is occupied by one sign (as well as the Equal house system); in other house systems houses and signs are irregular and signs will overlap from one house to the next. If you are interested in a detailed explanation of house systems, feel free to visit the wiki page. For purposes of getting started, I've chosen the Whole Sign system as described by Demetra George in her book Astrology and the Authentic Self: Integrating Traditional and Modern Astrology to Uncover the Essence of the Birth Chart, which you should immediately purchase! There will be several other books to buy. The study of is astrology is nothing if not a source of many book purchases.

In each, but not necessarily all of the pie pieces, you will see symbols representing the Sun, the Moon, planets, asteroids, and calculated points. Collectively I refer to these symbols as Energy Points. I do not sloppily refer to everything as planets because they are the most abundant of the astronomical bodies symbolized. The Sun is a star and the Moon a satellite. Ceres has been upgraded to dwarf planet (from an asteroid) and Pluto downgraded to 134340 (an asteroid number, from a full planet). Other points in the chart are calculated and do not represent a body in space, such as the Part of Fortune or the Ascendant (when the Sun crossed the horizon at birth). In an astrology chart, in the narrative of the symbolized story, each point exerts energy on the chart and the individual; they interact energetically through angular relationships known as Aspects. The Aspects are shown by red and blue lines, which as a whole, make up your personal Cosmic Circuit Board. The moment of your birth is frozen as a snapshot of the location of all the energy points in your chart, and you will see I use quite a few more than the traditional base 12 that make up classical chart interpretations after the discovery of Pluto (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, the Ascendant, and the Midheaven). It is especially the addition of Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta that bring into balance the old masculine dominated system (where only the Moon and Venus represented the feminine).

If you track your eyes away from the chart circle down to the left bottom of the chart page, you will see a legend that identifies all the symbols with the Energy Point they represent. The legend also includes symbols for each Aspect relationship between Energy Points; the most obvious to point out quickly are the blue triangles for Trines, which are Energy Points approximately 115 to 125 degrees apart, and the red squares for, yes, Squares, which are Energy Points approximately 85 to 95 degrees apart. These energetic relationships have a host of knowledge and interpretation, which will unfold in discussion further into the blog entries. If you want to explore aspecting now in greater detail, visit the wiki page. You now have 3 of the 5 elements of astrological interpretation: Energy Points, Houses, and Aspects.

The 4th element which you see on the outer rim of each pie piece includes the symbols for the Signs. Astrodienst nicely color codes the Signs to match with their elemental signature. Aries, the first Sign of the Zodiac is red (for Fire) and looks like a fancy V, which symbolizes the horns of the Ram. Next to Aries going counterclockwise is a green symbol that represents Taurus (an Earth sign) with a circle and two tips on the top to represent the horns of a bull. The signs move around the circle in a procession of Fire, Earth, Air, and Water. In a default chart, not cast for a person, Aries rules the First House, Taurus rules the Second, Gemini rules the third and so on. Rulership simply means that the Sign and the House go together energetically; Aries is a Fire Sign and the First House is a Fire House. Most charts do not have Aries filling the First House. In the case of my chart, Scorpio fills the First House. In your chart, which Sign fills the First House?

So now you have 4 of the 5 elements that make up the Astrology Chart, so what is the Fifth Element (besides a pretty fun movie with Bruce Willis)? The Fifth Element is Free Will or Spirit or Soul or Consciousness. It is the part of the Astrology reading that is made of the person or people "looking at" the chart through a pair of eyes and interpreting with a Mind. It is also the most important and powerful element. Astrology is not deterministic in a Grand Sense, which is to say, no free will exists and all we are left to do as human beings is react to Fate. However, Astrology does provide us with boundaries and some things that are determined, in the same way that being born male or female gives us certain determinations or being born in American or Japan, being tall or short, and so on. Even with these "determined" aspects to our lives we still make choices and some are guided as easier or harder depending on these determinations. If you will allow me a bit of play, you will have to be very "determined" if you are female and want to play football in the NFL in the US.

With certain energies in certain places in your Astrology Chart, you will have inclinations, limits, boundaries, encouragement, and so on with regard to spiritual and behavioral matters. Some of us resonate strongly with "relationship energy" and others resonate with "career" energy; all of us have some blend or another. We can embrace our energy or "rail" against it; that's the choice of consciousness. The Astrology Chart is your Cosmic Circuit Board that shows how energy flows in your body and life. Once you can read your chart you can determine better your choices and understand better how the world interacts with you, including people, places, and individual situations.

Recap

So, to recap, the chart you are looking at is made up of the 5 following components:

Signs (12 in all)
Houses (12 in all)
Energy Points (We will be using 20 primary points and a few extra secondary points)
Aspects (Angular relationships between energy points - basically, the conjunction, sextile, square, trine, inconjunct and opposition)
Free Will

To learn Astrology you will need to put all of these components into deep memory so you can recall meanings without having to look them up each time, which will we will begin working on in the next blog entry.

Learning Astrology 01 - Getting Started - Getting Your Free Chart

2010-10-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

There are many ways to enter into the study and practice of astrology ... many different doors. I want to take you through a particular door and down a particular path to help reduce confusion until you are in a better position to evaluate all the variables that make up the Astrological Field. To help this process I want to actually throw some of the complexity out in front to show why trying to teach all the nuances at the beginning can be more self-defeating that self-enlightening. The field has an over 5,000 year history, beginning with Babylonian Astrology around 3,000 BC. As you can imagine, there are probably well over 100,000 in and out-of-print texts (including cuneiform) about the subject. All three major civilizations have a form of Astrology: Western (Europe/America), Eastern (China/Japan), and Indian (India/Pakistan). Within each civilization there are many different branches and interpretations (think of the denominations of Christianity as an example). In Western astrology, you have Evolutionary, Psychological, Ancient, and Predictive. Deeper in you will discover that there are over 15 different House systems that can be used to construct a chart (Placidus, Koch, equal, whole signs ... just to name four). There is even a schism in the West and East between tropical and sidereal astrology that leads to some very unruly debate. With all this knowledge and information swirling around beginning can be a bit overwhelming, which is why most beginning books just pick a door and get going. Its a good process, probably the only useful process, but one I want to reveal the assumption all the books make explicitly because so many new students start out believing there is one "correct" way to know and practice astrology when, in fact, there are many. It can be come extremely confusing to go down one path and get far enough to figure out that there are many paths and you could have actually chosen a different one to start.

Here are three different systems that could be starting points, with the most common one at the beginning. If you pick up most any beginning book on astrology through Amazon or in the US, you will be cast into Tropical Astrology using the Placidus House system. It is most often the default system in the West. With a little bit of knowledge you could begin with a Sidereal system, either Vedic (Indian) or Western (made popular by John Frawley and Robert Powell). With a little bit more knowledge, you could begin with Cosmobiology, developed by Rheinhold Ebertin, which is a system that throws out the Houses altogether, works with a 90 degree dial, and utilizes midpoints. If you have made it this far and want to keep going, then here is the big reveal. I will be teaching you astrology using the Tropical system and the WHOLE SIGN House system. If you want to understand the difference between Tropical, Sidereal and Cosmobiology right now, then your should read Vaughn Paul Manley's web page on Tropical versus Sidereal and the Wiki article on Cosmobiology. Now, let's get started!

I firmly believe that getting started with astrology should begin with a copy of your birth chart in hand. You should obtain a fully rendered chart and have it handy at all times when you read an astrology text or this blog. So this very first entry will walk you through the steps to get a free chart that contains a large number of energy points and shows all your primary aspects (lines connecting one energy point to another) ... your cosmic circuit board if you will. Below is my birth chart, fully aspected (click on the image of the chart to enlarge, a new window/tab will open):

I obtained this chart from Astrodienst (http://www.astro.com) and you should go there right now and get your account set up and your chart cast and printed off. Here's the steps to follow and its important to follow them correctly since there are a number of charts you can get and there is one I want you to use specifically through out this learning process.

To create a new account, go to the registration page.
Once your account is created (or if you already have an account) and you are logged in, you will be at a page to enter new data, referred to as the My Astro page (link for this page is in the upper right corner of the heading that appears on all pages).
Select the link for Add New Astro Data and enter your own data (birth date, birth time, and birth location)
Once you have completed the data entry, you will return to the My Astro page and be able to select your own name
This link will take you to the Free Horoscopes at Astrodienst page.
You want to scroll down that page until you see the option: Extended Chart Selection, A wide selection of horoscope types, house systems, asteroids, etc. (DO NOT select the Chart Drawing, Ascendant option)
When you get to the next page, you will have a lot of data to select from, most of it you can leave alone; however, you will need to change the "default" setting under the heading Options > House System to whole signs
Scroll down the page until you get to the bottom and see Additional Objects. Push down your crtl button and click on the words Pars Fortunae, Lilith, Chiron, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, and Eris.
Move your eyes to your right and in the check boxes next to these words select "aspect lines to all"
Hit "Click here to show the chart" and you are finished.

Once you have the chart on your screen, print it out.

In the next entry, I will orient you to the data, symbolism, and shorthand that appears on the chart.

Spiritual Resume Reviewed

2010-10-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my partner Betsy asked me what my most significant spiritual transformation had been to date. It was not hard to pick since it was last year when I had my severe panic attack. For almost a year I talked about the attack in terms of a problem instead of a solution. I now know that the break down was a solution to an ongoing problem that could only be addressed when I was forced to come to nearly a complete stop in my life. Fortunately I had enough support around me to allow me to work through the transition without having to rely heavily on modifying drugs and now feel myself on a good path to understanding the deeper lessons that will allow me to enjoy a new equilibrium, one that will be more enduring than my previous one.

As I thought more about her question, I began to think back to other times in my life when a significant spiritual event, or turn, occurred in my life. There have been many and some, actually quite a few, were accomplished in a fairly quiet way that only I would really fully understand even if others had been around when they happened. In other words, the reality show that could be made of my spiritual transformations would be pretty boring from a viewers standpoint -- a dream when I was sixteen, the move from Massachusetts to North Carolina, learning to lucid dream, and so on. Outwardly not much happened while inwardly a hurricane swept through.

As an astrologer I have become more and more fascinated with the timing of events and the cycle of energy. As an example, my Jupiter is in Leo in my 10th House and around the time of my first Jupiter return (at 12), I remember a very significant event in grade school, one I look back on as a deeply transforming moment. By 10 I was showing academic promise to be among the gifted and talented, which meant being tracked and treated a certain way. My tracking was pretty well established in English and the Social Sciences, but my Math placement was not yet done. At eleven, when my Jupiter would have been transiting my 9th House of education I was placed in a GT math class for 2 weeks. At the end of that 2 weeks I was in class when we were working on problems on the board in front of the class. I was called to work a problem and somehow, even then, I knew that the correct or incorrect answer would pivot my destiny in a particular way, either back to the next lowest math class or into the highest level math class. I got the answer right and moved into the higher class.

Now what's interesting about being tracked into GT is that once in, it's actually rather hard to get kicked out. The teachers do more to help you as they see you as a gifted and talented student. The also forgive more; you have available to you more "bad days" and more understanding. And you have access to better teachers, assignments, and materials. You enter and elitist world and, yes, first class is better ... not on all levels, but on many that count. My second Jupiter return occurred at 24, the year I entered my PhD program, and my third, at 36, occurred when I made the decision to become a father and planned to leave my career at UNC. It is very helpful to review one's life resume and see the key dates and how the astrology matches up. Once you see the patterns you can begin to look forward and see how energy will play in your future and how best to anticipate it.

If you have not done a life resume, I highly recommend creating one. The exercise alone can be personally revealing. And you don't always have to look for obvious outward examples, like a move or quitting a job, though those may be of importance. Many internal decisions represent spiritual opportunities for growth or spiritual misses that inhibit growth (say not leaving a relationship when you should or avoiding consequences by lying). Even when we are similar to others in many and profound ways, we still unfold a unique destiny. What has been your unique destiny so far? What boats did you get on for new adventure? What boats did your avoid, and therefore missed an important journey? Who did you let in your life and why? Have you allowed them to overstay their welcome or are you trying to hold onto someone who should be let go? How have winded through your personal path?

Symbols in Astrology - Meaning on the Degrees of Your Chart

2010-10-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

When you were born the Sun was in a particular Sign of the Zodiac, at the time you were born it was in a particular House, and at the date of your birth it was in that Sign at a particular degree. All the energy points reside at a particular degree at the time of your birth. I have my Sun in Aries at 23d14m and it resides in my 5th House using the Placidus system and in the 6th House using the Whole Sign system. The degree placement is very important and many books have been written about the meaning of each degree, beginning with The Degrees of the Zodiac Symbolized by Charubel and Sepharial first published in 1898 and most famously The Sabian Symbols in Astrology: A Symbol Explained for Each Degree of the Zodiac by Marc Edmund Jones published in 1953.

These books provide an easy access into your astrology chart as a novice or beginner student. If you can read the basic information on each energy point and then look up the degree meaning in one of these books, you can gain immediate access into useful knowledge about your chart without having to fuse together a lot of discrete information (energy point in sign, house, and with aspects to and from other energy points). Another excellent resource is The Zodiac Image Handbook: The Cardinal Signs - Aries - Cancer - Libra - Capricorn (v. 3) - Paperback (Nov. 1991) by Helen Koppejan and Willem Koppejan (the other two volumes are for the fixed and mutable signs). These books and the degree meanings rely on vivid imagery in short description to capture the deeper meaning of the degrees. Below you will find my Sun interpreted through The Sabian Symbols and The Zodiac Image Handbook. When researching your degree, always use the degree following your existing placement, so for 23d14m Aries, I look up 24d Aries. In both of these books there is a lower and higher vibration expression of the energy.

The Sabina Symbols: Marc Edmund Jones

An open window and a net curtain blowing into a cornucopia. The keyword is MUNIFICENCE. When positive, the degree is an irrepressible genius for capturing the richer rewards of life and providing a wider distribution for the higher realities and when negative, a petty and smug self-importance in dispensing favors to others. (172)

The Zodiac Image Handbook: The Cardinal Signs

First Image, Outer Symbol: A young man lazily stretched out on a carpet, with his right arm supporting his head, plays with glittering balls, or beads, of different colors. Standing behind him on the carpet, an almost nude woman wearing only a belt beset with precious stones, is watching him with an air of dominance and disdain.

Janduz calls this the degree of "no value". (89). On the low level this person is lazy and mediocre. On the high spiritual level "there is complete control over the senses and a return to the highest purity through morality, so that past mistakes and sinful experiences will not be repeated". (90).

Second Image, Inner Symbol: A window curtain blown inwards, shaped as a cornucopia.

Here is the archetypal symbol of life itself. Rigidly one repeats one's feelings until suddenly awakened by the entering storm wind, the passion of the gale.

Low and high, negative/shadow and positive, the weak form or the strong form ... all energy has levels of expression along a continuum from very base to highly spiritual. The weakness of this degree is arrogance and laziness and its highest expression is generosity, sharing, and awareness. With my Sun on this degree, my life path will run along the continuum of accomplishments. The degree gives the energy to accomplish but does not ensure that it will be done well or valued. To dispense favors with smug self-importance suggests attaining a position of power, but treating it poorly. Storms in life open the rigid mind of this degree, and I've had a few of those storms and hope I am more awakened because of them.

You can easily track down various books that work with each degree and you do not need to know the challenging art of integration to pull the energy point into sign/house/aspect to come up with the proper interpretation of the energy point. You merely need to know the degrees of each energy point and have book to give you the interpretations of the degree and you are off and running. This process is a good, simple inroad into astrology.

Tarot Meditation Card for the Day - Osho Zen Tarot - Fire to the South, Sharing

2010-10-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

When I make a one card draw the question I like to put in my mind is "What do I most need to contemplate today?" The card I drew today is Fire to the South, Sharing.

The Osho Zen Tarot Deck makes a number of changes to the traditional Western deck and the use of directions to mark the "court" cards is one of my favorites. Instead of using the Queen of Wands, we see a triangle pointing downward in the Southerly direction. When this card is drawn you are asked to think of what you can share "without tak[ing] inventories or put[ing] aside for later." You "dispense your treasures without limits, welcoming all and sundry to partake of the abundance ..." (50). Perhaps what you have to share is material: the opening of your home to guests, feeding and entertaining them, or giving money to a charity or people in need without prompting. Perhaps you have knowledge you are willing to share freely, in a blog or talking openly among friends and strangers alike.

The more you give, the more you may receive. But if nothing comes in return, it does not matter. There is such a thing as "right giving" and it entails no expectation of any thing in return, not even a thank you and certainly not a gift. However, it has been my experience that the more I give, the more life gives me back in return, especially, sometimes when it may seem hard to give. During those times I do my best to give my trust to the universe that good energy out will invite good energy in. How and where do I share openly, am I doing enough sharing, and what are the things, talents, or knowledge that I have to share with a sense of abundance of, "giving it away without expectation or concern"? How have you shared today and in your life?

Of all the "things" we can share without concern for "running out," Love is the unending abundance. This card also asks of us to open our Heart Chakras completely, a process that often happens for men via Kundalini rising during the Uranus Opposition at 40 to 42. The birth of a child can also burst open the Heart Chakra and completely shift our view of the world and how it operates. In this time of recession, emerging austerity, and future scarcity of world resources (oil, water, food), our sharing will be most crucial, downright necessary in fact for our species to avoid some very painful consequences. We will need to become abundant with our time and our care of others, family and strangers, wherever they need care. We are all the Buddha and nothing we own is permanent, so why not share as much and as often as possible. Share your smile, share your laughter, share simply and at grand level if possible.

2011 in the US - The Year Ahead, The Year of Adjustment

2010-10-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

To perform this forecast, I have chosen to look at both the Transits and Progressions of the United States chart (Sibley, 7/4/1776, 5:10PM, Philadelphia, PA) using the Whole Signs system as written about in Astrology and the Authentic Self by Demetra George. In terms of global transits, 2011 will be much quieter year than the last three (2008 to 2010), which included, significantly: Pluto's transit into Capricorn (January 2008); a Saturn (Libra), Uranus (Aries), Pluto (Capricorn) T-square with Saturn opposing Uranus (2009-2010); Chiron/Neptune conjunction in Aquarius; Jupiter/Uranus conjunction in Pisces; and Jupiter, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto all moving towards and/or back and forth over the ingress point between signs (Virgo/Libra, Sagittarius/Capricorn, Aquarius/Pisces, and Pisces/Aries). Jupiter separates from Uranus and will move entirely through Aries, Saturn nearly completes its journey through Libra, Chiron permanently enters Pisces and begins to separate from Neptune, Uranus moves permanently into Aries, Neptune and Saturn trine by the end of the year, and Pluto settles more firmly into Capricorn. The ass-smacking square between Uranus and Pluto will not ramp back up until 2012.

While the global transits basically give us a breather, we need to take that time to "batten down the hatches", "stock the root cellar", "pay off our debts", and any other save and conserve measures to protect us from stormy weather and rainy days. The Cosmic Storm brewing with Uranus/Pluto is going to be much more volatile than the last one, when they were conjunct in the 1960s. We will also get a feel for the new way of things as the world economy continues to be stagnant overall and contracting (debt unwinding will become the business as usual if we can detach ourselves from debt accumulation as business as usual). Uranus and Pluto will square in 2012 and dance a "square dance" 7 times until 2015. Given how the global economy represents a "fragile" complex system at this time and entropy is on the rise, we may see many different avalanches over the course of those 3 years depending, largely, on what each world government and the banking system decide during the next two years. If we stick with business as usual (debt to pay for debt), it won't be a pretty picture.

The US, in particular, is going to continue to feel strains, both from the transits and certainly from progressions. I have written about the pVenus/pMars opposition, with tSaturn conjunct pMars, in a previous post, which augers, I believe, a time of fighting to deny the changes we need to make to get society to a healthy place. Mars and Saturn together often indicate war and aggression and tSaturn will be dancing over nSaturn in one hell of a Saturn Return. A lot of what we can expect from 2011 will be set up in the November 2010 election. I suspect we will actually get more of the same even if the Tea Party has major victories and the Republicans return to power in the Congress. Pluto in Capricorn is showing us that the big systems are failing and "work from within" is not likely to bring about any significant change. But what does work from outside look like? It looks like Uranus in Aries in the 5th House of Creativity! America does have tremendous resilience, but what we need is truly revolutionary thinking, not the watered down change offered by Lobbyists for corporate interests.

Whatever we don't do in 2011 to right the ship will only show up in more "men, women, and children overboard" in 2012 when the next Presidential election occurs right near the time of the first exact square of Uranus/Pluto. 2011 will truly be a Year of Adjustment, so let's look at the significant Hot Spots for the year. Follow this link if you want to see all the monthly charts cast for 2011.

Progressed Venus conjunct Natal Chiron opposes Progressed Mars, Transiting Saturn, and Natal Saturn

This set of configurations represents one of the two Heavy Action areas of the US 2011 chart (the other one involves pMercury, tNeptune, and tChiron conjunct nMoon). pVenus will progress from 20d29m in Aries in the 5th House to 21d30m over the course of the year, forming a 1d Separating Conjunction with nChiron. On a societal level, our 1 to 1 relationships and our contracts have merged with the wounding energy of Chiron in Aries (doing whatever we want as individuals without regard for others, and suffering the consequences). The shadow expression of Chiron in Aries is a wound that comes from doing whatever we want (Aries/5th). Our greatest asset, Aries independence and creativity, is our greatest potential harm, as deregulation has opened the door for theft at an unprecedented level, one that threatens not only US economies, but world economies. With pVenus conjunct, we will, at this time, feel the high or low vibration of nChiron in Aries in our 1 to 1 relationships, our marriages, and our business dealings (note the recent review of foreclosure proceedings).

Opposed is pMars at 18d34mR (retrograde) in January and 18d31mR in December, less than 4d Approaching Conjunct to nSaturn (at 14d48m) and in tight opposition to pVenus. It is a time to strike balance with masculine and feminine energies or watch them go "back and forth" against each other, vying for the upper hand. Mars and Saturn represent the Great Malefic(s) and here they are conjunct, doubly so since tSaturn is at 17d6m in January and not even 3d Separating Conjunct from nSaturn. "We have seen the enemy and he is us." Mars retrograde can mean holding back action, reviewing plans, or becoming impotent. Unfortunately, pMars will remain Retrograde until 2086 (having gone Retrograde in July of 2006), for an 80 year span. pMars will re-conjunct nSaturn and move all the way back into Gemini. If American is an empire, then this span will likely show its fall from power or impotence on the world stage over the duration of the time. We are likely to see our "gains" diminish as this progressed energy moves longer and longer through the Retrograde phase. The positive shift is learning to live with less, re-tooling and rethinking our ambitions.

Among the various great returns in individual charts, the Saturn return is likely number one (Jupiter occurs every 12 years, Chiron returns at 50, and Uranus at 84). The Saturn return is the "big test" period of our lives when we evaluate what we have done and either give ourselves high marks or learn that we need to make some big changes. Considering the national and household debt, the state of education, the corrupting influence of banks and corporations, I think we will find this Saturn return about making some big changes. However, it will be hard, as hard as realizing your marriage is not good, but you don't want to give up the lifestyle you can only have with 2 incomes or 1 person supporting the other. Obligations, like children or family may add difficulty to making the necessary changes. Many people reach their Saturn returns, find their lives lacking, and keep staying the course. Saturn is not a change agent, that's what Pluto is for, which is making its way towards a future square (not in this year) with Natal Saturn in about 10 years. We are going to have to make dramatic changes to the "unchangeables" - Social Security, Health Care, Education, and the Military. If we "stay the course" or continue to rejuvenate the old course, we'll find ourselves hitting the iceberg without the number of life boats needed to save everyone. And like trying to turn the Titanic, it will be too late to make the turn when we actually see the iceberg!

What to do? If you are not a player at high level, and even if you are, you likely want the system to work and can't abide significant change, then you need to do your best to make changes on your personal level. Do away with debt any way you can and don't take on any new debt, buy a used car, rent a home. SAVE, SAVE, SAVE. If you do buy, but real assets and own them outright ... like land. We may all be farmers again one day. Network, build your personal tribe and community of support, consider joining an intentional community, get rooted and learn about your local community. Learn how to live more simply, carpool, learn to share resources; these strategies will help you regardless of how the future unfolds.

pMercuryR, tNeptune, and tChiron conjunct nPallas and nMoon

Pallas is not a commonly used energy point unless you are a student of Demetra George after she published Asteroid Goddesses, which I am. Pallas represents logical thinking, strategy, the art of planning with the mind and it is tightly conjunct the US Natal Moon in Aquarius in the 3rd House (of Communication) and nearly conjunct the 4th House cusp (of Family and Culture). Americans are "Idealists at Heart" and we certainly have the rhetoric for community activism. We have also been on the forefront of many changes in community, though not so much of late, probably an impact of pMercury being Retrograde since late 1994. (though gay marriage is staggering forward even as the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell failed). Retrograde Mercury is also a time for re-evaluation, slowing down, reviewing, and listening! It is the listening part that America struggles to master, especially since it has such good luck (Part of Fortune conjunct Mercury in Cancer in the 8th) talking and speaking as a moral authority (the mother sign) in its relationships (8th House).

Now, however, is a time to take care of our own, our deep self with the pSun moving through the 4th House and Pisces (6d). American will be "feeling itself" in the home. The financial crisis has not only thrown people out of homes, it has driven people back home, trapped people in homes, and opened up wounds in families. Chiron and Neptune represent a very dynamic combination, much in the same way that Uranus and Jupiter (in 2010) presented. Unfortunately, the shadow side of these energies represent wounding and delusion and often get more press and play than the higher vibration healing energies available in both. They will both be Direct at the beginning of the year and the end and Retrograde in the middle. Chiron will move into Pisces while Neptune will remain in Aquarius. Most likely, the illusions of the past will hold fast as businesses and government try to reanimate the consumer monster (debt supercycle), military superiority (failed, failing, or unproductive wars), and world authority (while owing everyone else for buying our bonds). At home we will need to do some serious, deep healing and embrace compassion (Pisces) instead of idealism (Aquarius). The size and duration of unemployment, and more importantly, underemployment will keep distractions to a minimum as communities and families slow down and turn inward.

In essence, these energies suggest a countrywide turning inward phase. Coupled with the Saturn Return, America is in for a year of navel gazing while the "powers that be" try their level best to keep the population gazing at the TV. Distractions may prove harder to come by, especially after the new Congress fails to accomplish anything of import; they will slash programs, but not the budget!

Other Hot Spots of Note

tNorth Node conjunct nAscendant - Learning to re-present ourselves to the world. We will know we need a "new look" out in the world.
pMoon approaches nSaturn - Emotions start to have more of a role in the rules, when pMarsR hits we could have a "boiling point".
Lunation Cycle - Full Moon - Analyze and Perfect, develop a plan. We need a long range strategy, but will we get one? We, as a country, are very used to operating in the Hedonistic Now, and what we need is a "long view". If we don't start developing one now, when this cycle end s(around the same time Pluto gets out of Capricorn), we may really see a fallen empire in 15 years. The potential is in the energy for amazing change, but leadership is going to have unite and lead instead of divide and stagnate.
pAscendant ingress the 10th House. We need new work, and not just for the unemployment problem, but a new way of thinking about, distributing, and enacting work. We need, entering Virgo, to bring manufacturing back into this country, adjust the wages, do whatever is needed, but we need people here producing instead of consuming.

2011 will be the quiet before the storm and there will be a storm in 2012 because a soaring stock market and high unemployment are an explosive combination showing the elimination of the Middle Class. Frustration will likely be the brew of 2011 unless local communities and individuals can begin to create new opportunities and compassion as the world shifts and sifts through an ongoing economic struggle.

Tarot Meditation Card for the Day - Osho Zen Tarot - The Master

2010-10-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

The Master is a card unique to the Osho Zen Tarot Deck because it is not a card of the Major or Minor Arcana, giving this deck 79 cards instead of only 78.

When you draw this card, you are reminded that your life is about your own mastership. People can teach you, people can guide you, people can even tell you what to do (and you can give them all your power); but, ultimately, you are supposed to determine your own destiny and understand your own story. In Zen Buddhism one tries to follow the Eightfold Path, which involves: the Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. In all situations in life there is the Right choice or solution, not too much and not too little. Not perfect, but optimal ... the best at any given time. Finding your Zen is about finding your Right Path in life and through life.

Drawing this card raises the question of "where am I?" in my life drama. What does your mastership look like. In my own story, at one time, I thought it involved teaching knowledge at the collegiate level. Currently I am trying out a destiny as a full-time parent, which is a good fit, but only part of the story still unfolding. I certainly feel in Mastership when working with the Tarot and helping others transform, which was really the basis for my pursuit of my degree and my desire to teach. What is your Right Path and when you face decisions, do you make them with Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration? Who is the person in the world you most admire, look up to, would trust to guide you ... well, then you should become that person or use and leave behind that person because you are meant to be a Master in your own right.

This card is also a reminder, by being outside the standard number of cards, that the Tarot is a tool we use and not a tool that uses us.

Tarot Meditation Card for the Day - Osho Zen Tarot - 6 of Air, The Burden

2010-10-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

In the Osho Zen Deck a number of the Air cards are not what you would describe as "happy" cards (2/Schizophrenia, 3/Ice-Olation, 4/Postponement, 7/Politics, 8/Guilt, and 9/Sorrow); not surprising in a deck based on Zen Buddhism, which considers the mind the ultimate source of suffering in life. So, when you draw the 6 of Air, the Burden, look at your life and see where you are taking on the burdens of others.

Life can be an uphill climb much of the time and doing it without extra weight on our backs is certainly the way to go. Here the figure on the bottom represents the querent who is trying to climb the mountain of life with someone riding him, and as if to really drive the point home, there is a rooster on top of the Fop unwilling to make his own climb. The card, though, has a double meaning. It is very possible that the Fop being a burden is the querent as well. Are you burdened or a burden to others?

In either case the card expects us to refuse to continue to accept the burdens of others or to stop being a burden to others. This challenge can be very personal, especially if family members are tied to the reading or the first thought that crosses the mind of the querent is of a family member. This card is not about helpful support but the clear abuse of another person's goodwill and strength. If we immediately think of a person in our life when this card appears, then that person needs to be challenged as does the expectation to carry that person's burden. In essence, we all get one life to make as our own in this lifetime and we should not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of ... and this card is about ALLOWING. Nor should we take unfair advantage of others when we can "walk on our own."

A young couple walks down the high street, window shopping.

2010-10-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

Recently I have met a number of accomplished astrologers who have been more than willing to share knowledge and recommend great astrology books. One such person I met through Facebook and he recommended three volumes from Helene and Willem Koppejan entitled The Zodiac Image Handbook: The Cardinal Signs, The Fixed Signs, and The Mutable Signs. These books assign meanings to each degree of the Zodiac similar to the Sabian Symbols communicated by Marc Edmund Jones. Today I have been reading each of the degrees associated with energy points from my Birth Chart. The title quote comes from the 12th Degree of Taurus, where my Mars sits (in my 7th House). At the beginning of the description is, perhaps, the best, ideal description of community, that I wish to share in this blog entry.

"A human found another human. The two-in-one -- the 'one-two' --do what every couple loves to do: walking and talking among shops (Gemini) after joyful work. They have saved some money and want that to be circulated back into the community (Aquarius), and they would buy something of beauty made by another human's life energy. Wise accumulation of goods is a proof of one's inner wisdom and discernment, and one's being well-placed in the 'recycling process' of the community where one earns a living (Taurus)."

Book Recommendations - Astrology of the Moon by Amy Herring and Astrology and the Authentic Self by Demetra George

2010-10-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

Amy Herring is a student of Steven Forrest and her book Astrology of the Moon reflects his Evolutionary Astrology approach.

The book focuses on two primary readings of the Moon in the chart, its placement in the birth chart and its progressed status at any given time in your life. She is thoughtfully non-deterministic, writing about general influence and possible ways to manage the energy of your natal and/or progressed Moons. Each section (natal Moon and progressed Moon) is broken down into two sub-sections: by Sign and by House. Each sub-section has headings that cover the positive and negative influences. In the by Sign section of the natal Moon chapter, the repeating headings are: Living, Loving, Losing Your Way. While this book is a cookbook, it is one of the highest and most useful order.

Once you have read up on your natal Moon sign, get a chart cast that shows your progressed Moon and read about your current Lunar influence. The Moon progresses through each sign at roughly 2 and 1/2 years. If you use the Whole Sign system, like I do, then it will progress through each House and Sign at the same time. If you use an unequal house system, most commonly Placidus, then the progressed Moon can stay in a House while moving out of a Sign or stay in a Sign while moving out of House. Herring reminds us to stay cognizant of the fact that we are always, for our entire life, defined by our natal Moon's fundamental energy even as our progressed Moon EVOLVES us.

While Herring does not talk about the Lunation Cycle, her book is an excellent companion to Demetra George's Astrology and the Authentic Self, which does lay out the Lunation Cycle.

We are all born into a specific area of the Lunation Cycle, which is made up of the Eight Phases of the Moon cycle: New, Crescent, First Quarter, Gibbous, Full, Disseminating, Last Quarter, and Balsamic. You determine your phase based on the location of your Natal Moon from your Natal Sun. In my case my Moon is 178 degrees from my Sun, placing me in the very last section of the Gibbous Moon Phase. The keywords for this phase are: evaluate, analyze, and perfect (148). Like the fixed quality of my Natal Moon (in Libra in my 12th House), I will spend my life time working on "analyzing self-expression in order to find better techniques for doing things or facilitating personal growth." (148). Following the movement of your Progressed Sun and Progressed Moon, your pMoon will eventually "catch up with" and pass your pSun and restart your Lunation Cycle. Movement through each phase takes almost 3 years and full cycle is completed around 30 years.

To get the full sense of your Lunar Story, begin with Herring's book and read about your Natal Moon and current Progressed Moon. Next, get George's book and determine your Birth Lunar Phase and your Current Lunar Phase. My Lunar Story begins with my Moon in Libra in my 12th House. I was born near the very end of the Gibbous Phase and found it worthwhile to read about the Full Moon Phase (which is about clarifying my purpose, illuminating and fulfilling my ideals). Currently my pMoon is in Taurus in my 7th House, which is about regaining peace and equilibrium in my one-to-one relationships. I am also in the Balsamic Phase of my Current Lunation Cycle, which will end and begin anew in 2013.

I highly recommend both these books.

For an outstanding and much more detailed review of Demetra George's book, visit this link.

Life Magic, Synchronicity and the Law of Attraction

2010-09-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

I study and use Tarot and Astrology to help me attain "Right Alignment" with my daily life and my role in the universal drama. Right Alignment occurs when we do our spiritual work both intensely at specific times in our life and ordinarily in our "every days." Most days we move back and forth over the ideal alignment and some times we find ourselves way out of alignment (to the tune of anxiety, depression, and panic). As I've written about in previous posts, I found myself way out of alignment a little over a year ago and have spent the last year trying to regain my Right Alignment, mainly to find out that I needed to leave my Old Alignment and start working on a New Alignment. In our lives there are usually at least 3 to 5 times (based on common astrological cycles) when we need to rebirth ourselves and let an Old Alignment go. Some times we get a kick in the pants when energy points do some aligning of their own (as Transiting Saturn did when it aligned with my Natal Pluto, preceding my Spiritual Awakening last year). Whatever the case may be, human beings are in constant states of aligning and realigning.

My favorite metaphor for describing this process involves learning to ride and mastering riding a bike. When you first begin (if you don't have training wheels or a parent helping), you swing wildly from left to right/right to left trying to master moving forward and the balance needed to keep the bike upright on two wheels. As you get more proficient, your left/right/right/left movement refines itself. At the height of master is gliding, taking your hands off the handle bar and gliding or peddling without using your grip on the handle bars to keep you straight and upright. Now here's the amazing physical thing, you are still going left/right/right/left, you are just doing it with such precision that it appears as if you going "straight" and without any adjustments. Aligning with your Astrology can give your this very feeling in your life. And when you do, you can often "see" days of Right Alignment and have clear experiences of what Jung calls Synchronicity or Hicks calls the Law of Attraction.

Yesterday was such a day for me and here's some background and how it unfolded. My partner, Betsy, has been talking with her employer about a promotion; she is at the end of a cycle in her career where it is time for her to move up. Two opportunities have been brewing and the one she liked the least became available first and the second one was still in limbo as of yesterday. We have a friend of mine from high school who moved in with us in the hopes of finding new, better work in this area than the previous area she was living in. To date she has not been able to find full time employment even though she has been able to get some very good part time employment. I have been looking for some part time employment, especially something "basic" that would not tax my primary responsibility as a stay-at-home parent. In that vein I have been applying to places like Lowe's Home Improvement, Toys R Us, and Barnes and Noble. Nothing yet has come of these application attempts. So this is the background.

Further, Betsy and I practice patience and trust with the universe. We work hard, but we don't push or set expectations. We listen and allow. We "position" ourselves to be ready and we tell the universe what we want as clearly as possible so we can be sure the universe is able to help us out. Subconscious or internal confusion is often the source of stagnation. Too often I meet with clients who "want a relationship," but the tarot reading or astrology reading show clearly that they are not "in a true state of readiness," which helps explain why they are not in a relationship, in the relationship they want, or healthy in relationship. Right Alignment has to come from a Spiritual place, where your conscious and subconscious are harmoniously aligned.

My lesson of late has been to slow down, be patient, be clear, and be ready. So here's what happened yesterday. Betsy came home for lunch and we were talking out on the deck after eating, enjoy the truly beautiful day (sunny, clear, 78). She came home to tell me that the second position, the one she was hoping for was coming into alignment and she was being offered that position. As almost always happens, she gets exactly the result she puts out to the universe as her request. In that state of happy discussion, I told her that I would really enjoy finding some mundane (not in a derogatory way) work that would allow me to plug into the working world at a very basic and ordinary level. About an hour after she left, I got a call from Toys R Us asking if I would be interested in seasonal work at $8.25 an hour. I really have wanted to work at Toys R Us, so I was thrilled. I sent Betsy a text about my phone call.

Now here's a funny part of the story. Betsy does not always get my texts immediately, so about an hour after my call from Toys R Us, she sends me an email about retail news where the lead story is "Toy R Us plans to hire 45,000 seasonal workers" to which I respond, "yes, I'm one of them." When she got home, she told me she did not understand my reply to her email until she finally checked her text messages. Embedded in this story is another email, from a former graduate student of mine who is a managing editor for an advertising agency. Just so happens they are hiring for his old job, a full time position as a junior editor. They are seeking someone "who is a perfectionist and loves writing." Well, that would be my friend living with us. So I forwarded the position to her. As Betsy put it, the "jobs Gods" decided to reach out to all of us on the same day.

I choose to believe that the Right Alignment of these opportunities have been presented to us because we are clear with the universe and the universe now has opportunities for us. I know many people "want a job" but I think the vast majority are not in Right Alignment and hence the high rate of unemployment. You certainly cannot hope to have Right Alignment, in terms of jobs, in a debt driven economy. But within even a Great Recession or Great Depression, those who work or who find work, most likely have some varying degrees of Right Alignment in their lives. Bad Luck (or the Good Luck of Others, but not yourself) is what you have when you are spiritually unaware. Astrology and Tarot are not "politically correct," nor do they try to cover up "struggles by design" that we all have in our spiritual journeys. I have some pretty potent "afflictions" in my chart (Moon conjunct South Node, Neptune conjunct Ascendant, Saturn conjunct Sun opposing Moon) with a majority of my energy points in "weak houses" (6th and 12th). But the one truly Free Will power I wield; that we all wield, is the power of our Attitude. I certainly don't consider it "beneath me" to work stocking toys at a toy store; in truth, I love that kind of work ... it shows results in the most fundamental way. And, hell, its toys!! Maybe I'm finally going to get in an environment that will help me master that friggin' Playfulness card :-) ... that is, if they decide to hire me! I'm letting the universe know that I'd appreciate the job if I get it and I appreciate the opportunity if I don't.

Tarot Meditation Card for the Day - Osho Zen Tarot - New Vision XII

2010-09-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

New Vision is the 12th Card of the Major Arcana:

When you draw this card, you are "now presented with the opportunity to see life in all its dimensions, from the depths to the heights. They exits together, and when we come to know from experience that the dark and the difficult are needed as much as the light and easy, then we begin to have a very different perspective on the world." (Osho Handbook, 26) Recently I have been engaged in a blog discussion about an Astrological reading done by Jamie Partridge of Darkstar Astrology about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Jaime's interpretation of Ahmadinejad's chart is very thought provoking and I recommend reading it to understand why this card resonates so powerfully with me, especially if you read all the blog comments.

As a professional astrologer myself, I am certainly feeling a heavy dose of the heavy-handedness of the universe right now. I just finished a blog entry myself about Saturn and Pluto and it doesn't get much "darker" than talking about those two energy points in some kind of relationship. The most recent aspect was a square (Saturn in Libra to Pluto in Capricorn). Steven Forrest does not mince words about this aspect in the Inner Sky, where he states flatly that the square is about combative, enemies energy. On its best day the square probably would describe two hard fighting gladiators, who, at the end of the contest, if both are still alive, respect each other for going all out against one another. On the lower vibration, you get gridlock in Washington and little real forward movement on some very big problems.

This card reminds me that we need Recessions and Depressions when we go too far and we have clearly gone too far. Just yesterday, I heard that temperatures in LA, Ca peaked at 113. This morning, while doing my Tai Chi, I had the thought that global warming is the Earth's equivalent of a fever to get rid of an infection. And you know who/what the infection is! Fevers serve a purpose; Ahmadinejad is serving a purpose; the Great Recession is serving a purpose. That purpose is to help all of us attain a New Vision. For me the New Vision involves some old concepts mingled with new technologies: Intentional Communities re-localizing food production/consumption while having access to knowledge and people from around the world via the Internet and Mobile Phones. We need to slow down our material consumption to speed up our spiritual growth. We need more time with family and friends we choose/intend and less time looking to be "entertained" or "meeting obligations" that clearly do not help or support our own personal development.

In traditional decks, this card is represented as The Hanged Man, which I always describe to clients as "Knowing Sacrifice;" something conscientious parents understand all too well. I knowingly and happily sacrificed my academic career for my family; I have a long vision for the future that sees great gifts in wise sacrifices in these current moments. We need New Vision and it may take some darkness for us to see the the light we cannot currently see because of all the "glitzy" lights trying to distract us that have been part of our behavior since 2001 and Pluto's journey through Sagittarius. What does your New Vision look like?

Saturn Aspecting Pluto, Times of Major Change

2010-09-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

Well, we recently finished the triple square of Saturn and Pluto 11/15-16/2009 (both direct at 1 degree 43 minutes), 2/1/2010 (Saturn Retrograde, Pluto Direct at 4 degrees 21 minutes), and 8/21-22/2010 (Saturn Direct, Pluto Retrograde at 2 degrees 55 minutes). Robert Hand says of this transit, "you may find it very difficult to make the changes in the world you would like to make. [...] Sometimes the experience of this transit is much like struggling against chains that hold you down." (Hand, Planets In Transit, 360). At the level of the United States chart I think we clearly saw this problem in the very poor legislation that passed for Health Care and Financial Reform. Change was certainly needed, but resisted, so our nation came away with a half-hearted attempt at reform. Hand continues to say, "Of all the Saturn squares, this one most requires that you get rid of the dead and useless structures." (360) Well, that didn't happen; at least not in any controlled, higher vibration way. We certainly saw a number of banks fail and social programs snuffed out. Businesses restructured by going out of business, but these were handled by the forceful nature of Pluto and not the conscious choice of leadership. The shrinking that was done did not alter the fundamental structure of banking or business, which is what this transit really wanted to activate.

On a personal level, during this time, in the areas active in your chart, you should have felt the same kind of energy. For myself and my partner Betsy, we decided to look seriously into intentional communities and even put our house up for sale. We were definitely ready to "chuck it all" and go with the Pluto transformation., but as you can guess, it was the worst time to try to make a move of this kind. The binding chain was actually our mortgage, now even more restrictive in a plunging real estate market. In the end, the universe had a different plan, which we were both open to and happy to accept. To put the house on the market we cleaned it out and had three entirely empty rooms, just enough space for a friend from high school and her 3 daughters to move in with us this past June. Now our home (and the structure of our life) is getting its "full use" and we could not be happier.

Saturn and Pluto, to put it bluntly, kick us in the ass when they join forces. That is most apparent when the two transiting energy points are conjunct, a transit approaching all of us January 13, 2020 at 22 degrees 45 minutes of Capricorn. This transiting conjunction will be quickly followed by tSaturn conjunct nPluto on February 24, 2020. Both energies will be direct and will only conjunct once. Again, quoting Hand, "this transit often causes financial problems or other kinds of shortages." (359). In the section on this transit, he talks about restrictions from government (police state, increased taxation, fewer services). Whatever the particular results, the transformation will come through restriction or limits, and it will apply, if using the Sibley US chart, in the area of Values, Needs, and Personal Resources (2nd House). The belt tightening will peak or hit bottom, depending on your metaphor during the years before and after the exact conjunction. In a materialistic society, this information probably does not sound very good, but it is so very necessary and offers a real opportunity to look past material concerns and into the hearts of our spirituality and connections with others. This transit will provide a great shake down.

On a personal level, I can attest to the massive change this combination brings about. In my life I have had two Saturn transits over my Natal Pluto. Both times the transit occurred three times thanks to Retrograde motion that threw tSaturn across my nPluto on 10/8/1979, 4/27/1980, 6/17/1980, 11/28/2008, 2/4/2009, and 8/14/2009. In each span of time I experienced fundamental and massive changes, the most recent a spiritual awakening that really forced me to come to a nearly dead stop in my life (anxiety strong enough to simulate a heart attack and send me to the hospital in September of 2009). The 1979 to 1980 period brought me from Massachusetts to North Carolina in the fall of 1980 at the age of 12. Below are the three charts of that period of time (click to enlarge):

The other energy points playing strong roles during this time included tJupiter conjunct nJupiter (1st Jupiter Return), tPluto conjunct nMoon, tChiron conjunct nMars, and pMoon moving over my Aries Stellium. I remember the significance of this move because it brought us back to the state where our family lived (both sets of grandparents lived in Winston-Salem, NC) and (though, not known at this time) I entered a Junior High School and High School (Southeast Guilford) that I would attend from 7th grade until 12th grade, the first time I stayed in a school for more than 1 or 2 years. The Jupiter Return meant the end of a cycle of expansion and the beginning of a new cycle of expansion. In short, it was a BIG year for me.

In 2008 and 2009, the seeds were being sown for a mental breakdown, which finally occurred on August 28, 2009, just 14 days after the last tSaturn conjunct nPluto. During this time the powerful energy connections running parallel included my Uranus Opposition, described by Barbara Hand Clow as the natural time of Kundalini Rising. Since I was ill-prepared for the energies of this time, I was basically "struck down" (Uranus) and reduced to a small, confined space (basically my home), as I was unable to get out much without overwhelming anxiety. As I have worked through the energy, I have now come to label my experience as a Spiritual Awakening instead of a mental breakdown, even though breaking down was what I need to wake up spiritually. Below are the three charts for the three conjunctions (click image to enlarge):

As you can see my pMoon is once again traveling through all of Aries, entering Taurus just before my shift. tJupiter, tChiron, and tNeptune are all conjunct in my house of Family and the Deep Self (4th). tPluto and pAscendant are conjunct in my 2nd House, reshaping my Values and Needs. The journey to explore intentional communities became intense as I felt the strong urge to get away. I think I was also feeling the tremendous shift worldwide as the economic crisis began a tremendous awakening process. If you want to know about a time of powerful change in your life, and the life of nations, look to the times of the tSaturn over nPluto to see what they were.

In the US chart, the conjunction previously occurred in January of 1991, generally considered the year the Cold War ended (click image to enlarge).

As you can see from the chart, the other key energy in play included tSaturn conjunct tNorth Node and tChiron conjunct nPart of Fortune. This time was one of the recorded recessions in the US, occurring: "After the lengthy peacetime expansion of the 1980s, inflation began to increase and the Federal Reserve responded by raising interest rates from 1986 to 1989. This weakened but did not stop growth, but some combination of the subsequent 1990 oil price shock, the debt accumulation of the 1980s, new banking regulations following the S&L Crisis and growing consumer pessimism combined with the weakened economy to produce a brief recession." (Wiki List of US Recessions). Pressures from other energies did not and will not match the kinds of pressure we will see in January and February of 2020, when tSaturn, tPluto, tJupiter, and pMoon will all be approaching or conjunct nPluto that year! Progressed Ceres, tLilith, and tChiron will be conjunct in Aries in the 5th House and pSun, pVesta, and tNeptune will be conjunct in Pisces in the 4th! Much ado about something in 2020.

Playfulness, Still Needing to Get the Message!

2010-09-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel like you are in a cartoon and you are the character getting whacked over the head with the frying pan in an attempt to "be given the message"? Well, that would be me and I got another whack yesterday just before a birthday party where I was going to be reading Tarot Cards for the guests. Often, before an event, like the Body/Mind/Spirit expo or the Expo at Journeys, I will draw a card to "get the energy flowing" in the deck. Last night when I drew my card, once again, I drew Playfulness.

That draw made it 4 times in the last month. In one aspect of interpreting the card I feel like I'm making progress. I am trying to take the world "less seriously" in the face of some pretty serious Astrological energy and world events. I am trying, as Betsy would say, to "be the duck"! All that is unfolding is as it should be and will be and I am more and more confident about my role and why I've chosen to be here now. I understand about "unwinding my seriousness" and not taking myself "too seriously," which is no small task after you've been through a PhD program and you've worked for the "flagship" university of the North Carolina system. But it can be done and a little spiritual crisis goes a long way in realigning your perspective; well, at least, it has for me!

For some reason, though, it is the actual playfulness that I'm struggling with and probably why the card keeps trying to "whack" me upside the head. Tangent alert! The drawing of this card, repeatedly, is also one of the reasons I find any esoteric system fascinating. I'm sure a mathematician or statistician might be able to crunch some numbers and "explain away" the repeated draws, but not to a level of satisfaction that would have me dismissing the meaning I find with each subsequent draw. And I'm not making many draws in between each appearance of the card. The settings are different, the cards are more than adequately shuffled, and so on. If you make a draw the way I've made the draws, you cannot help but "pay attention." But paying attention is not the same as embracing the card. So when I sent Betsy a text about the card and she sent me a text back asking, "what makes you feel playful?" I was honestly stumped.

You would think someone with so much energy in Aries (6 energy points) would have a playful streak, but I know its not that simple with my Astrology since one of those energy points is Saturn, my rising sign is Scorpio, and I was born during a Lunar Eclipse, which happens to be conjunct my South Node (past life work). In most of my past life regression work, I continue to find life time after life time as a Priest or Priestess and have already been ordained, once again, in this lifetime. I'm pretty confident my daughter is here to help me, and every so often she does. This morning was a great example. I went to wake her up and she was definitely not feeling the get up and go, so I decided to lay down and try to roll her out of bed by rolling her over me. She is not a small child and is very strong physically. When I tried to move her, she worked effectively against me and I started to laugh at how well she was keeping me from rolling her over. Then she started laughing. We tugged of war for a few good minutes, laughing back and forth each time I tried to move her and failed. Finally, I had to put some real effort into it to move her, but she was, by then, fully awake and we were both smiling.

Sadly, I suppose, when I look back over my life, I can easily say I was happy ... but playful? No, not really. Silly definitely is way outside my scope. And I wonder, can you be playful alone? The card certainly seems to communicate that message, so how do I unlock this very apparent need for playfulness in my life. Should I go to Wiii Bounce and jump around? Should I get a toy for the cat and see if he can help me out as well? Maybe I just need to keep working on the "not too serious" part, no small accomplishment for me. What do you do to be playful?

Clearly I need more guidance from my daughter.

Merging Energy Fields, the Art of Relationship Astrology

2010-09-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

All professional astrologers, I believe, have an area of astrology they enjoy working with above all others. For some it may be celebrity charts, while others deeply enjoy Astrocartography. Perhaps the best work of one astrologer is Horary astrology, while another just loves getting a request for Birth Charts. The best professionals can do a variety of charts and use a variety of techniques, but we all probably have one type of chart reading that just sings to us. For me, I really enjoy relationship charts, especially romantic relationships and parent/child relationships. I suspect it has something to do with my Moon in Libra and Neptune conjunct my Ascendant in Scorpio, the sign that rules intimacy and transformation. Very few things in life are as transformative as intimacy with another human being.

When astrologers work on charts for any reason, "Am I in my right career?" "What should my career be?" "What kind of person is my best match?" "Is this person right for me?" "What is my destiny?" "Where do I belong?", we work on formulas to help answer these kinds of questions for clients. A formula involves a look at certain energy points and houses over and above other energy points and houses. Take money/career/material gain as a quick example. The usual suspects to consider are the Earth signs (Taurus/Virgo/Capricorn) and the Earth houses (2nd, 6th, and 10th) and their rulers, Ancient and Modern, (Venus, Mercury, Saturn, the Midheaven, Vesta, and Ceres). Through a reading of these energy points and energy containers (sign and house), we can construct a helpful interpretation of your particular energetic relationship with money/career/material gain.

Relationship charts are fun, and more complex, because they require interpreting two charts individually and then in relationship to one another. When compared by overlapping the charts (by sign), the astrologer is doing a Synastry chart, which allows us to see where energy points aspect (connect with each other) and where energy points influence areas of the partner's life (my Sun "solarizes" my partners 4th House of Home and Family, for example). When considering romance, I always begin with the Moons, which represent how each of us gives and receives love. As ruler of the 4th House, the "deepest" house of the chart, the Moon is our most intimate and fundamental emotional self. The question in the bar should not be "What's your sign (Sun)?" but rather "What's your Moon sign?" A Scorpio Sun and Leo Sun could have a life long love affair if they share highly positive energy between their Moons. Numerous other factors go into the basic formula that begins the analysis of a Synastry chart for me, including a look at the 1st House as a representative of "what you bring to a relationship" and the 7th House as a representative of "what you seek in a relationship." The 8th House shows "the nature of intimacy" and the 2nd House reveals your "values and needs."

The formula is a guide and very flexible because so many factors have to be taken into account and they are not all equal in all charts. Truly, a conglomeration of energy information must be assessed and ranked (in order of importance) to build the Synastry chart reading. At a glance, I look to see any and all aspects that might be active between identical energy points (Sun to Sun, Mercury to Mercury, Venus to Venus, and so on). Strong aspects (conjunction, square, trine, and opposition), the "tightness" of the aspect (degree of orb), and whether the aspect is approaching (building energy) or separating (waning energy) all increase or decrease the soul connection intensity. If those exist, they generally get first mention in a reading. If none exist, then I generally start with conjunctions among differing energy points to see the nature of the relationship (issues and focus). With Synastry charts you quickly overwhelm "canned" programs and will want a professional astrologer to refine and personalize your reading.

Besides Synastry charts, you can also look at a relationship through a Composite chart, which combines the two individual charts using a midpoint method to come up with a chart of the "couple" as a single entity. When the two of you are in the room together, you represent a merged field as well as two individual fields interacting. The merged field is your Composite chart. In my case, my partner and I, end up with an Aquarius Sun, which is something of a disadvantage for her, with a Scorpio Sun (square by sign), and a boost for me, with an Aries Sun (sextile by sign). In terms of Life Path, the relationship favors my Sun. Nicely and with challenges, though, for our daughter, who is an Aquarius, she gets a parental unit that has the same Sun Sign. Our Composite Ascendant is Sagittarius, which really shifts us both because individually we are loners, but together we do tend to be more outward, expansive, and willing to "see the world." Lately we've been talking about selling everything and getting an RV when we get later into life and just going. I would never make that choice on my own. Such is the impact of merged energy fields.

Other chart calculations exists to further explore relationships. Just recently (yesterday) I discovered the Davison and Draconic charts reading the excellent blog of Marina and Jaime Darkstar. You should read their post on Soul Mate Compatibility. From there you can get to a sample chart reading that employs these two additional charts. Each time I read their blog I end up finding a new astrology book or technique I need to buy and study! Today is a great time to be alive and using astrology or getting astrology done for yourself. Skilled practitioners abound (still, unfortunately, so do charlatans, but better professionals are increasing in number).

The Synastry work is clearly among my personal favorites. If you are looking for, in, or just out of a relationship and want some in depth insight, then you should definitely explore what astrology can reveal about relationship for you.

November Election, A Shift in Stagnation

2010-09-22T13:57:00.000-07:00

I find specific predictions in astrology to be lucky at best and discrediting, all too frequently, at worst. So when I think about and engage in future considerations it is with thoughts towards energy patterns or energy waves (so well described in Understanding the Future: A Survivor's Guide to Riding the Cosmic Wave*The Major Astrological Predictions from Now to 2020 and How They Will Shape Our World - Paperback (Sept. 2, 2008) by Lyn Birkbeck). The Tea Party is a perfect fit for a specific kind of energy wave coming more and more into play as Lilith approaches Uranus, leading to an exact conjunction in March of 2011. Since the exact conjunction is a good ways out, I am inclined to think that Tea Party/Republican wins will be substantial, but not enough to move the gridlock in the American political scene that never wavered after the Obama election (only 58 Senators were Democrats, two were independents, then Edward Kennedy died and a Republican, Scott Brown, took his seat). Republicans will need to pick up 17 seats to get to the majority needed to override Presidential vetoes. I doubt this kind of change will happen, so we will essentially experience what I want to call a Shift in Stagnation.

The stagnation comes from the fact that both parties support a welfare state and debt. For Democrats the welfare state revolves around Civil Service and for the Republicans the welfare state revolves around Military Service. Actually, the Democrats don't have much luck cutting the welfare state of the Military, but the Republicans can seem to make inroads into cutting social programs. Neither will make actual cuts to the overall budget; any cuts made will be to welfare programs of the other group or outside the big "untouchables": military, social security, and medicare. What we will see is more removal of the old political guard, and we need that to happen so the American electorate can learn that old or new congressmen and senators DO NOT MATTER. Governments are, in essence, behind the times, slow to the game, sound and fury signifying ... well ... not much. Why? Because Democratic candidates and Republican candidates will get their campaign contributions from the same large pot (Corporations and Banks) and often from the exact same little pots (Merkel will give 1 million to the Democratic AND Republican candidate). Really, what does it matter to a corporation or bank, which can move fluently worldwide, without much regard for borders, who PRETENDS to run the country so long as their agendas are covered based on campaign payments.

The Tea Party members will not be immune to this influence and their presence in politics will NOT represent a major shift in American economics. For this reason, I do not see the impending energy shifts, begun first with Pluto's ingress into Capricorn, to be followed by Uranus' ingress into Aries (finally and fully in March of 2011) and Neptune's ingress into Pisces (finally and fully in February or 2012) as having their full on impact until the end of 2012 or 2013. Since we are talking about some pretty big movements of energy, I am comfortable with a leeway of 2 to 3 years, observing as I do that rock bottom probably won't occur until 2014/2015. If balance sheets in countries do not begin to show some kind of decline between now and 2013, the next Recession will be a Depression and the illusion of government "control", "policing", and "care of the public good" will be revealed in such a fashion that truly radical change may finally be possible. Expect some violence to rear up during that time as it often does when times get truly desperate.

Now, can a dark scenario be prevented and even turned into a positive scenario? Of course. These energies are forming and playing out for that very reason, for humanity to take advantage of the lesson and emerge into a brighter future. But we will face the toughest challenge of all, and its not about resources, technology, or "growing our way out of the problem", but about CHANGING BEHAVIOR, the most monumental of all tasks! Hopefully Uranus in Aries is up to the task because Pluto in Capricorn is certainly putting to task all the "big structures" and their presumed hubris of being "too big to fail." We will absolutely need a completely "new and shocking" way of thinking while Pluto and Uranus move in parallel in the cardinal signs of Capricorn and Aries until March 2019.

US Astrology: The November 2nd Elections (2010)

2010-09-19T05:04:00.000-07:00

A look at the transits and progressions active in the United States astrology chart for November 2, 2010 reveals a tremendous amount of important pressure being exerted on key energy points of the US birth chart. There continues to be ongoing debate about the exact time to attribute to the birth of the US and I am comfortable accepting that all well-researched times reveal various important truths about this nation. For my own work I have found the Sibley Chart, which assigns a birth time of 5:10PM, to offer highly significant interpretations in line with current events. I want to provide an interpretation of the upcoming election day within the framework Steven Forrest and Northwatuppa provide in their videos about the Cardinal T-Square (see my previous blog to view the videos). Forrest talks about the amount of pain we must encounter and endure before we are ready to face our difficulty and seek the proper healing. Northwatuppa discusses the Uranus/Lilith conjunction that reveals kinky dark energy prepared to shock us by coming forth more openly over the next year. I relate this energy to the expression of the Tea Party movement currently active in American politics. So what does the 11/2/2010 US transits and progressions chart show us along these lines and others. Below is the chart; I am using the whole sign system as written about by Demetra George in her book Astrology and the Authentic Self.

To view a larger image of the chart, click here.

There has been plenty of time given to general discussions of the T-Square of Saturn, Pluto, and Uranus and other transits. In this post I want to put these and other relationships into context against the birth chart energy of the US. This chart includes a second set of evolving energies, progressions. Progression calculations allow us to slow down the faster moving planets and see their energy impact over longer periods of time, much in the same way we look at Jupiter through Pluto because they cover time ranges from 1 year to 15 years per sign. Progressed Sun to Progressed Mars, gives us the same 1 to 10+ years of duration. The chart above is one of the most "complete" astrologers can cast because we see all the energy points apply over longer durations of impact. While it is very important to note the transit and progressed aspects (like the tPluto square with tUranus and pMars oppositie pVenus) in and of themselves, the most powerful aspect to consider is the conjunction, when energies merge, not only transit to transit or progression to progression, but transit and/or progression to the birth chart energy point. As you can see we have two powerful transit to transit conjunctions occurring currently and on 11/2 (tNeptune/tChiron and tUranus/tJupiter). And, of especial importance, the tNeptune/tChiron conjunction is also conjunct the natal US Pallas Athena and Moon (nPallas and nMoon)!

Suffice to say, the 11/2 elections are going to be a big deal! A lot will be happening, a lot of potential and possibility, all with strong implications for lower and higher vibration expressions. I like the Sibley whole sign chart because the transit of Pluto occurs in the 2nd House of values and security, personal home security (your individual wealth and material needs/standing). A Capricorn 2nd House is very fitting for a nation that believes its home should be its castle. We are driven (Capricorn) to achieve in our personal material gain and put forth our own values (privacy and independence, getting what is ours). Pluto rocking this house reflects the kind of personal transformation in values and status that comes in a Recession and Depression. Of important note is the conjunction tPluto will have at this time with the tNorth Node. The North Node represents a need to express something while lacking the full understanding of how to express it. Basically, we need to find new values (or more appropriately revive some very important old ones ... frugality, savings, integrity), we feel this energy deeply but remain unclear how best to manifest it (North Node). It is times like these that open the door for charlatans and opportunists (like Mussolini, Hitler, or Stalin). We will hear many simplistic solutions to complex problems and the "easy" choice will present itself as very attractive, especially to a society grown "fat" with entitlements unearned (debt Supercycle unwinding). The Tea Party is an excellent manifestation of this energy combination. Once you move beyond the "stop government spending" slogan, the details become very antagonistic to specific groups (for the Nazi Party it was the Jews, for the Tea Party it is the Immigrants and Liberals ... and the parallels are tLilith eerie, noting that tLilith is in the 4th House of the US chart).

We can only wonder if this Lilith expression can either gain majority support or have enough focused minority support (while the majority remains largely apathetic) to gain control of government decision making. Considering some of the moral character shown by Tea Party candidates, I suspect Big Business and the Banking Industry will be very happy to have these people available to their lobbyists. The candidates we need elected are the ones NOT receiving large donations from special interest groups, but the irony in the current age is that a candidate cannot run unless he or she has a very large "war chest". We face real limitations in change due to the design of the current system, which is why tPluto is making is move through Capricorn, to bring about fundamental change to large systems.

Let's get back to the chart and two progressed energy points that stand out, both for their current aspect with one another and their conjunct/opposition aspects with the US chart energy points. I am referring to pMars (Libra/11th) opposite pVenus (Aries/5th). Here's why everything in this country feels polarized; the masculine energy and feminine energy are in direct opposition and they are in opposing sign energy (Libra is ruled by Venus and Mars is ruled by Aries), so the energies are in mutual reception. More than ever we need collaboration, not compromise or combat. Unfortunately, energetically, pMars is conjunct nSaturn and nJuno, making the desire to change very difficult. With these energies in the 11th House of Community, pMars inclines us to think we will best help society by doing what we want selfishly (the shadow expression) or by restoring local community health (higher vibration expression). Libra's shadow expression is "follow the rules" no matter what while its higher vibration is about making proper judgments as circumstances change. Think of the financial crisis this way; government has done all it can to hold up the very institutions and their behaviors with as little change to the rules as possible. Note too that tSaturn will be conjunct nSaturn during this election cycle as well. Change to the "status quo" is available, but may only turn out to be apparent.

Saturn and Mars have a "go to war tendency" and we can certainly feel and see that energy in American politics. Opposite this energy is pVenus conjunct nChiron, which means we are in touch with our wounds via our relationships. Who now does not know someone adversely affected by the economic downturn. Seemingly independent adult children are moving back in with parents and parent retirements suffering financial hits are forcing new conversations with children about end of life plans. This whole configuration (pMars/nSaturn/nJuno opposite pVenus/nChiron) could be summed up as, "we are our own worst enemy." The great potential of this configuration could be using the drive of pMars to make changes in our laws (nSaturn) and our personal contracts, of which marriage is the most fundamental, (nJuno) for the betterment of society (11th House) while balancing (opposition at the higher vibration) the healing opportunity (nChiron) with our familial and cultural relationships (pVenus) in the area of our creative self-expression (5th House). It is a matter of conscious choice. What do you think is most likely to happen?

Finally, for this entry anyway, I want to focus on perhaps the most powerful transit scenario in play on 11/2, the tNeptuneR (R for retrograde) conjunct tChironR conjunct nMoon in the 3rd House near the ingress point of the 4th House. Having a natal Moon so close to the 4th House is, I think, indicative of Americans passion about and for privacy. Our Sun in the 8th House and in the Northern Hemisphere, along with our Sagittarius Ascendant gives this country its profound outward expression in the world. The Cancer Sun gives us our Hero complex. But the Moon near the cusp of the 4th House shows how deeply private and personally hidden we often want to be. Neptune deals with dreams/delusions and compassion/insanity while Chiron is about healing/wounding and collaboration/compromise. Both of these energies have been in conjunction during the time of this Recession and both have been dancing over the end of Aquarius/3rd House and beginning of the Pisces/4th House. Their final movement through the sign of Idealism unveils the wounds of our dreams/delusions. Many articles written about the financial crisis use the phrase "The End of the American Dream". During the Bush Presidency, the American cache of goodwill was not only spent, but also put into debt. Being the lowest part of the chart, we are wounding ourselves and deluding ourselves. Much of the rhetoric of the upcoming election will likely include a "return to glory" theme. We need to "go back" ... to smaller government, protectionist policies, and states rights strength.

In the positive, I think the current energy of this configuration is trying to tell us to slow down, refocus on local community, and turn reflectively inward (not fearfully inward). Forrest does not directly say we have not yet experienced enough pain, but I think he gently implies that our country and the people worldwide have not actually hit rock bottom yet. And we most likely need forces outside us to help us along the way, like global warming that moves coastlines into fertile soil or resource depletion that begins to affect our ability live our "normal" lives. It has been written that, in America, the children of my child's generation may be the first to have a shorter life span than her/their parents, thanks largely to a lifelong artificially (not organically) provided diet. We are seeing the signs of "too much of a good thing is bad" and feeling the effects of over extension.

In the end, I think the fact that the 11/2 elections will occur while four energy points are Retrograde (Jupiter, Chiron, Uranus, and Neptune) and they are "back" in the sign they are leaving, we will see votes being cast to try to get us "back to where we were before" instead of "ahead to where we are going." I expect very reactionary voting which will lead to further reactionary decision making at all levels of power in an attempt to staunch the inevitable change that Pluto is bringing to our most powerful institutions. The financial crisis and subsequent bailouts nakedly revealed the true power governing the world, and it is not world governments. They tooled up to protect the real power managers. All the potential for higher vibration fundamental positive change is very much present, but it will require, thanks to the various configurations, a great deal of conscious effort to bring about the positive manifestations. Paradoxically, we may need more darkness (tSaturn on nSaturn, tLilith approaching tUranus, tNeptune/tChiron on nMoon, pMars on nSaturn, and tPluto approaching nPluto) before we see the light. Even so, everyday, we can choose to see the light whenever we want in front of or ahead of any victimizing darkness. In my life I'm choosing to see the light and trying to be beacon, however small for others. I hope you will too.

Debunking the Debunker - Flawed Attempt to Disprove Astrology

2010-09-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

When I went to do a search on Astrology on Youtube, one of the most popular posts comes from James Randi (260,000 plus views), well known for his million dollar offer to any psychic who can prove, under scientific restrictions set up by Randi himself, that the psychic phenomenon is valid. Astrology is often one of Randi's whipping targets and his favorite test is one of the weakest and mostly discarded forms of astrological reading, the physical characteristics by sign (Aries have prominent foreheads, Virgo keep their appearance neat and groomed). Some novice astrologer will be brought on to identify 10 random people by sign by looking at them. As expected, they do no better than guessing (statistically speaking). And Astrology, once again is debunked. The video below is another technique for proving that astrology is smoke and mirrors; however, the "scientific method" applied is deeply flawed and I will explain why after you watch the video.

There are a number problems in the design of this experiment. First, there is no control group. A control group would include individuals who received actual astrology reports based on their actual information. This way you could have members of the audience who could disagree with a chart and raise a much more profound problem for astrology than a vague chart that could be broadly applied into a particular life so that the reader could make the chart fit his or her circumstances. This simplistic experiment does proves something, but nothing profound; it proves ignorant people are easily deceived. Another way to strengthen this experiment would be to have 20 or so professional astrologers in the room and try to hand them the horoscope Randi handed this audience. Again, this attempt would likely fail miserably because the astrologers would begin to ask what technical information was used to come up with the interpretations. And, again, if he could pass the chart off on a professional astrologer successfully, then he would have a much stronger experiment and result.

Something interesting, but not intended, does emerge; two things actually. One, I think it is interesting that you can provide 20 plus people with the same narrative and they all think it applies to them. Does this say something useful about the human condition; maybe we are all more alike than different. Would it have mattered if, among the people in the group, some were from different countries, especially ones that have a strong astrological tradition ... Middle Eastern or Indian. Again, the group shown here is too homogeneous (in terms of culture) to really provide a good test result. Second, is a question of the narrative provided and its level of generalization. It's one thing to say, astrologically, "that this is a time of financial struggle" knowing that even in good times most people feel they struggle in some way financially. It is another thing to say, astrologically, "that you will experience financial challenges in matters of personal concern and the formation of your identity; you may, at this time have to devote extra effort to the work that matters most to you and that helps you find your career path (Saturn transiting your 1st House)". If you are retired or a homemaker or a teenager receiving the second reading you might have reason to raise your hand and say, "um, this doesn't really apply to me."

I think it would be possible with a certain kind of generalization to make the experiment about debunking the medical community by saying things like, "do you have trouble concentrating, finding you start projects you do not finish, perhaps trouble sleeping through the night." If the group gave mostly 4 and 5's to this reading, they would all be diagnosed as ADD. I'm sure I could find general language to make everyone in the group depressed too. It's obvious that one thing the horoscope did NOT include was the most basic starting piece of information in any chart reading, Your Sun Sign is in X; therefore, you life path is guided by Y. Had that information been prominent, several of the participants would have immediately sniffed out the ruse. You could not make everyone the same Sun Sign and get away with it. No professional astrologer of any note would leave this information out of a professional reading; it is the very way we put our selves on the line as practitioners. We allow our clients to know the information we are using so they can verify it for themselves.

Additionally, I read through the comments of the people very much enamored of Randi and this particular experiment. Among the comments was a personal favorite of mine that again shows misguided thinking, though it does sound rather damning.

@camij79 - astrology has not cured any diseases, or provided any means of improving sanitation or water supplies, has not assisted in exploration of our world or the cosmos, has not improved living conditions for anyone, has not provided any improvement to infrastructure anywhere, the list goes on.

Astrology has lined the pockets of astrologers and astrological pretenders, and preyed on the gullible.

Well, in point of fact, I would not hire an Astrologer to build a rocket ship, I would hire a rocket scientist; and I would not hire an Astrologer to operate on my appendix, I would hire a surgeon. But it also follows that I would not hire a surgeon to provide me with spiritual guidance or psychological help. Astrology does help people, individually, not collectively. Science great contribution is its collective application. Astrology's great contribution is its individual application. Astrology, really, is all about you. This point does lead me to a final topic that I am sure will challenge some Astrologers. I do not consider Astrology a science, not even a "Cosmic Science". I know it sounds good to throw "Science" in there because science has really made tremendous inroads into human life, almost as if Astrology can co-opt the word and get the benefits of "acceptance" or "success" or "reliability" that science offers (water boils as 100 degrees Celsius, a bridge designed with these materials and supports can handle a specified amount of weight). I do accept that we use science, specifically Astronomy, as an underpinning, but once we enter the realm of interpretation, we enter the realm of imagination and narrative. Astrology is a narrative psychology, a psychological art form, a creative dialogue between a client and astrologer. It is humanistic, not scientific. And I know its quite fun to talk about Astrology and Quantum Physics or theoretical science as the place the two merge, but let's be honest, when we throw Science into a title for an astrological text we can expect that it is being done (maybe by the editor and bookseller) to ride the coat tails of mechanical science and its "provability" and "repeatability", both of which are doggedly effective and, well, reliable.

And finally, the debate only really matters, or can matter if the scientists in question are spiritual and the spiritualists appreciate science. Randi strikes me as the Atheist of the highest degree. There is only this lifetime, consciousness is a product of chemical/electrical evolution, and death is nothingness. People do not have a destiny, spiritual path, calling, or any other "woo woo" way through the world. In that case, there's really nothing to prove to this man. If he wants to take to task charlatans in our profession, I'm all for it. But if he thinks the charlatans are the profession, then I feel compelled to write a blog entry like this one. I think he would certainly think I am somehow a sophisticated delusional person, if he would be willing to grant that I am intelligent, having earned a PhD and all. And it does not help that some astrologer is willing to take on his badly designed "Astrological Test". Maybe if Randi were to use a better methodology, I would be more inclined to think his conclusions worth considering. In the end, I do want to respond because his video has 260,000 hits and Steven Forrest's excellent video on the current T-square has less than 3,000. And here, I would say we have a case where the volume of hits does not necessarily reflect the quality of content.

The Year of Gratefulness

2010-09-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

Each year I try to think of a word or phrase that best encapsulates that year. In 2009 my phrase was "Buddha by the River". I decided to sit down by the river and wait for the world to come past me, and it did. I met people from Argentina, Japan, Canada, Estonia, Macedonia, and numerous states around the country ... all in my home via my astrology practice and meetups.

This year my word is "gratefulness", which reached full bloom when I went to visit my grandfather in Ronda, NC two weekends ago. While there I felt profoundly grateful for his home and the gift of retreat that it offered me at a time when I clearly needed slow movement and silence. I was able to read, rest, and enjoy lazy days with him, all while enjoying the best in country cooking and sweet tea. I look forward to returning in about three weeks.

While there I experienced gratefulness in so many areas of my life. I remain in awe of my relationship with Betsy and Maya. Both add such joy to my life that words will be lacking no matter how eloquently woven. I will suffice to say I love them both and feel their love daily. I became grateful for my Spiritual Awakening, even as it has been challenging and many days debilitating. Over the duration of the experience, still ongoing, I acknowledge the amazing gift of transformation and rebirth that is happening to my soul and personality. I am grateful for my community and where I live. Cary is a diverse, intelligent, soulful area that provides me and my family with great safety, health, and opportunity. I love that Betsy and I can walk to her job, that we can have a pool for Maya and her sisters Zelda and Elanor, that Maya can go to an outstanding Montessori school only 5 miles from our home, that we have a movie theater 1/2 a mile from our house, and lots and lots of local business to enrich our community.

I have been grateful for Alibris Books.com and Ebay, which have allowed me to build my Astrology and Tarot library at nominal costs, providing me with rare and hard to find books that Barnes and Noble will never carry. I am grateful for Barnes and Noble as a place for me to have mini-retreats and enjoy a sweet snack as I read a comic book graphic novel. I am grateful that my parents live nearby; I just wish they were closer and we could spend more time together. But I love going down for a visit and playing golf with Dad, sitting out by the lake in their backyard, and enjoying a home cooked breakfast from Mom. I am grateful for the medical and psychological professions that have helped me through my Spiritual Awakening without judgment as they did their best to identify my problems, helping where they could and understanding where they could not.

I am grateful for the mundane, "easy to take for granted" aspects of my life. My home, which keeps me dry when it rains and cool when it is hot. Flushing toilets, man, am I grateful for those! Every working flush is pure joy. Working stoplights, paved roads (smooth or rough), sidewalks (even though we could use more of them), my lawn mower starting each time I use it, the A/C in my van when I have everyone in it (6 of us). I love this computer and the free services I get for blogging and email (gmail). I am grateful for fresh water, a state with four seasons, a local government that picks up my trash and recycling. I am grateful for the wind on a hot day, the bright sun on a clear day, bees, and our cat, Chula, who keeps the moles and mice out of the yard.

This year, I am grateful.

Cardinal T-Square, Change We Can Believe In!

2010-09-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

I am opening this post with two videos, one from Steven Forrest and one from Northwatuppa, both professional astrologers of good standing, who talk about the current Cardinal T-Square that is in play until March of 2011. I will follow the videos with my own thoughts about this important configuration.

Steven Forrest on Cardinal T-Square

Northwatuppa on the T-Square, Stellium, and Lilith

I doubt that even Barack Obama is prepared for the change unfolding, and it will be change we can believe in because, as Forrest suggests, we will finally feel enough pain to choose to react to many of the realities we have ignored: overpopulation, energy shortages, food shortages, environmental damage, and so on. The financial crisis is a precursor and wake up call to help us begin the process of averting the very negative human responses to these global and human problems. We can choose a lower or higher vibration, which is why I believe our next President will either need to be in the mold of Lincoln/FDR or open the door for a Mussolini/Hitler. The times are that profound. The most recent Tea Party Victory in the Republican Primary race for the Governor of New York is a prime example. A very focused, Lilith group of people have chosen someone of negative social character because he is vocally expressing this group's anger and frustration over the financial crisis.

Sarah Palin's sustained presence in the media is another example of the Lilith energy Northwatuppa talks about. It will only increase throughout 2011. The question of the fall elections will be how much of this kind of energy enters the political landscape of this country. As John Mauldin, an outstanding economist points out, there are not good choices at this time, only less bad or painful ones. Currently we are following the same policy decisions that created the first Great Depression and we may need a Second one to get us to the level of pain that opened the door for FDR/Churchill, who coincidentally "ruled" at the same time as Hitler/Stalin/Mussolini. The current stock market gains and sustaining numbers are as much of a mirage as the 8.5 million jobs created on the foundation of debt. Now that the debt is unwinding, that illusion is reaching the basic levels of society.

In small pockets throughout the world, ideas like relocalization, sustainability, conservation, and even shrinkage are emerging. These ideas are humanity's future. We actually need consumption to decrease; we need new ideas about how to build neighborhoods, and slow life back down. We need to do it consciously with the knowledge that it is going to happen in the form of a dead stop over a cliff if we don't start making changes during this very exciting and challenging time. I am a "guarded optimist". By that I mean, I believe all the Steven Forrest believes about the deep, transformative nature of this T-Square, but if I bet the odds, I'm inclined to expect that we will have a real chance of electing Sarah Palin or her equivalent in 2012 if unemployment continues to make its way to 20% based on the more accurate and inclusive U6 measure.

On the more personal level, the T-Square will exert its change influence in the areas of your life where Saturn, Pluto, and Uranus appear in your chart. I'm getting my work in my Spirituality/12th House (Saturn), my Communication/Learning/ 3rd House (Pluto) and my Service to Others/Health/6th House (Uranus). And boy am I feeling it. Additionally, Pluto is squaring the stellium (6 energy points) in Aries/6th and Uranus will soon be conjunct all of them as it works its way through Aries. No wonder I got a Spiritual Wake Up call last year that is and will be ongoing for at least 10 years (whoopie!). If there was ever a good time to get your astrology chart read, now would be that time.

Tarot Meditation Card for Today - Osho Zen 10 of Air - Rebirth

2010-09-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Betsy and I did a small fair at Journeys Spiritual Center in North Raleigh. She brought her paintings and crafts and I set up to read tarot cards. Before the show got under way, I drew two cards individually. The first was the old standby, Playfulness, but the second card was new, Rebirth:

The 10 of Air was a very appropriate card for me to draw at this time. As you can see from the image, each life time is a time of Rebirth and within a life time there may be several rebirths. The 10th card in each suit represents the end of a cycle that will begin anew with the Ace. When you draw this card you are directed to think about Rebirth within your life and present moment. Perhaps you need a rebirth; perhaps you have recently completed a rebirth. For me, the card makes me think of my Spiritual Awakening at the end of August 2009 that has led to a period of rebirth stretching over the last 2 years actually. All of 2008 was the setting of the stage of the death of my old spiritual self. That self truly ended and my new self emerged when my Kundalini Rising struck with full force on August 28th of 2009. An old self burned away, making room for a new self that I have been slowly cultivating for the last year. The process is ongoing.

I think the Playfulness card drawn prior to this card really represents the kind of rebirth I should be embracing. I have been a very serious soul most of my life. I study serious matters ... the fate of the world, the fate of this country, the destiny of my clients, and the destinies of my family members. But now I feel charged with several new perspectives ... trust instead of fear, gratefulness instead of entitlement, compassion instead of arrogance, and wise judgment instead of unhelpful criticism. For almost 9 months I did not laugh inside or out; I had to relearn how to laugh. All that is happening in the world is part of a bigger picture of rebirth and we each have our own personal rebirths likely to occur during a global time of rebirth. Hopefully with each rebirth we gain wisdom, courage, and understanding. I certainly enjoy this new journey and appreciate it more and more each day.

Book Recommendation - Spiritual Astrology: A Path to Divine Awakening by Spiller and McCoy

2010-09-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been fortunate to run across a number of excellent books on Astrology. Currently, at the top of my list, is Spiritual Astrology: A Path to Divine Awakening by Jan Spiller and Karen McCoy. I picked this book up just before my visit to see my grandfather two weekends ago. Up front, this book focuses on the past life/karma aspect of Evolutionary Astrology and talks about the placement of each energy point by sign and house in terms of past and present contracts with the universe. Especially enlightening is the last part of the book on prenatal Solar and Luna Eclipses, which Spiller writes, "I found that for the vast majority of people (4000 charts studied), their solar eclipse sign indicated lessons they had come to teach their fellow beings, while their lunar eclipse sign guided them to the lessons they needed to learn in order to continue on their own soul growth." (p. 205). A very simple table in the back will show you which sign the Solar and Lunar Eclipse occurred in before after your conception and before your birth. In some cases people (like myself) have double Solar and/or Lunar Eclipses. I happen to have double both - Scorpio & Aries for Solar and Aries & Libra for Lunar; I was born during the Libra Lunar Eclipse.

You can imagine the conundrum I face with both a Solar Aries prenatal eclipse and a Lunar Aries prenatal eclipse. I am, apparently, in this lifetime, learning to teach independence and figure out how to be independent in one and the same life time! Besides this excellent section on eclipses, the first part of the book covers all the primary energy points beginning with the Sun and ending with Pluto. Since Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are all generational energy points, the house placement of each one in your chart is immensely important. My generation, with Neptune in Scorpio is concerned with, "realizing the higher levels of shared material ownership on a planetary level." (p. 120) We are certainly the generation to come into ownership of the "Global Economy". Personally, with Neptune in my 1st House (using the Whole Sign system), my potential "unconscious expression" is self-deception and delusion. On the "conscious level" I learn to speak my truth openly and honestly. Throughout the book the authors make sure to deal with the positive and shadow expressions of all the energies as well as a host of other layers of interpretation, including:

Your Window to the World,
Your Achilles Heel,
Your Past Life Gifts, and
Self-Actualization

Additionally, this book is very accessible to novice astrologers. You just need a casting of your chart, which you can get done for free at Astrodienst online. Once you have your chart in hand, you can go through the book and learn a great deal about your contract with the universe and what you should be doing and how you should be doing it. A must have for your astrology library.

Book Recommendation - Wismatic by Pam Yount

2010-09-10T17:37:00.000-07:00

This book was given to me by my partner, Betsy, at the end of the Body, Mind, Spirit Expo on August 29th. When I turned over the book to read the back cover I discovered a photo of the Temple of Tholos at Delphi. It is the same temple I have tattooed on my back with Pegasus flying over the ruins. As a believer and practitioner of Jungian synchronicity, I knew immediately that the book was required reading. As is often the case the week after the show, I am in recovery and realignment mode, so I did not get a chance to open the book. Fortunately I had planned to go visit my grandfather Labor Day weekend and I packed the book, along with Jan Spiller's Spiritual Astrology, Powers Vol 2. graphic novel, and Kaplan's GRE Test Preparation Study Guide (I was hired to teach a GRE prep course for Wake Tech on Thursday before I left on Friday). I started reading Wismatic Friday night between classic movies.

The very short synopsis would be the following: a book by a mother whose son died of AIDS at 27 and the spiritual journey and opening up that came about during his seven year battle with the disease. Her voice is honest and passionate and just what I needed to be reading during my visit with my grandfather. As I read each chapter I became more in touch with gratefulness - the gratefulness of my full life; the love of my grandfather, two grandmothers, my parents, and my birth mother; my health; my growing spiritual awareness; and deeply the love of my partner, Betsy, and my daughter, Maya. The key message Ms. Yount shares with each of us is the responsibility we all have to find our spiritual destiny and how it is ultimately a journey only we can take. We cannot be given it by another, no matter their exalted status. Teachers can offer guidance and people with similar vibrations can show us what they have learned, but no one can get us to our destiny but ourselves. We are the gods and goddesses of our own story.

Reading this book also helped me address an ongoing internal dialogue regarding the issue of judgment. It all sounds good and well to say, "judge not lest ye be judged," but living in a 3D, linear time existence, by default, requires us to make judgments day in and day out, whether they small and functional or large and spiritual. Ms. Yount talks passionately about being involved in the world and the epiphany that emerged around judgment, especially the judgment of a cause or another person's plight or behavior, is whether or not we intend to INTERVENE. Her son's illness lead her to INTERVENE and challenge the judgments of others and her upbringing (Southern religious ... so her son was most likely a gay man who deserved god's punishment ... which she judged to be wrong-headed). And she did choose to intervene, by writing her congressmen, by learning all she could about the disease, by opening herself to other spiritual paths that would allow her to see the lesson and destiny in her son's illness (for him, her, and everyone touched by his illness).

I felt a tremendous shift by the time I finished the book and I am thankful to her. Ms. Yount, Thank You.

I would be remiss in recommending this book if I did not point out some of its limits, a tip of the hat to my "serious" life as a scholar of writing. I only do so to say that the flaws did not bother me because the message was so important and delivered with such honesty. Some of the failings are the editor, glaring grammatical errors appear throughout. Some of the flaws are the writer's, where she does not follow a line of thought to a conclusion or she picks up a thought without the needed preamble to understand the context. These are not frequent, but they are jarring. If you are looking for another writer of Deepak Chopra's or Eckhart Tolle's polish, then you will not find one in this book. But if you are looking for a writer with a revelation of truth from a "common" voice, then you must read this book. The wisest person I have known in my life is my mother's mother, my Nana. She never finished high school; but she was full up with wisdom and kindness. No amount of book smarts, and I've put my time in to accumulate a fair amount, will ever allow me to surpass her innate soul wisdom. Pam Yount has that same quality and she shares her wisdom with us in her book Wismatic.

Making Sense of Aspecting Transits - Saturn and Pluto

2010-09-10T15:23:00.000-07:00

Your birth chart represents a snapshot of the energy points in the sky at the time of your birth. When you took your first breath, you initiated a new consciousness into the drama of the universe, carrying that snapshot energy with you throughout your life time. As the universe continues to unfold the cycles of energy impact your birth story through moments of energetic impact when the energy points of today align by certain angles (aspects) with the energy points of your birth chart. When you are around the age of 7, Saturn in the sky would have been approximately 90 degrees from your birth Saturn position. So, if you had Saturn at 5 degrees of Aries when you were born, then at 7 Saturn would be at 5 degrees of Cancer. It would have transitioned from your birth to the current location at the time of 7 years of age. An astrologer would say, "Transiting Saturn is square your Natal Saturn." Transits are extremely important because they alert us to key moments in life when energy is spiking for us and how we can face the particulars of the energy spike.

At times, two transiting energy points can form their own aspect, as happened recently when Saturn in Libra was square (90 degrees from) Pluto in Capricorn. Saturn is the energy of restriction, the past, and rules. Pluto is the energy of transformation. So its not hard to imagine that when these two energy points align by aspect there is some serious energy spikes occurring. Saturn resists change and Pluto brings about change. And Pluto is STRONGER. Change, as the paradox goes, is the one constant in the universe. When Pluto initiates a change by entering a new house and sign, the world and the individual are forced to take notice. Pluto entered Capricorn in January of 2008 ... notice anything? And in the US chart that meant that Pluto entered the 2nd house, the home of personal wealth, needs, and values. Capricorn is about paying dues, and guess which energy point rules Capricorn ... Saturn! With Pluto in Saturn's sign we can expect fundamental changes to our most long standing and long lasting structures. The claim that anything in this world is "too big to fail" is hubris in the face of life's ever changing and evolving energy.

So what can happen when Saturn and Pluto connect energy via the energy cord of an aspect? Old structures begin to crumble in order for new structures to emerge. However, as with any process involving these or any other energy points, there is always a continuum of negative to positive expression. Saturn's positive expression is "the right structure or rule at the right time." Its negative expression is "to resist change at all costs." Pluto's positive expression is to embrace necessary change and help facilitate it. Its negative expression is to manipulate change for subversive or selfish gain. The change, however, is going to happen. Keeping in mind the positive/negative expression of energy, let's look at three aspects between these two energy points that started in November 2009 (with Saturn/Libra square Pluto Capricorn) and that will end March 2020 (with Saturn conjunct Pluto in Capricorn). During this transit period, both energy points will oppose the US Venus, Jupiter, Sun, and Mercury. As a nation we will be facing some of the most fundamental and structural changes of our history.

From November 2009 to October of 2010, we have felt the influence of Saturn and Pluto squaring one another. Squaring energy is highly conflicted and difficult to manage because the two players involve very different kinds of energy. In this case, the air energy of Libra and the earth energy of Capricorn are both trying to take the lead and have control. As I stated earlier, Pluto is stronger, so the Plutonian drive has the greater impact on reality. Consider the financial crisis; the government and private sector attempted Librian solutions (tax credits, bailouts, new financial rules); however, they did not do so in the spirit of the deep change brought on by Pluto in Capricorn. They have tried to save the system that caused the problem and hope to revive it in the nearly same form as it was leading up to the problem. They have played a language game (Air, communication), calling this shift a recession instead of a depression, and talking about slow growth instead of steady contraction and shrinkage. They are trying to use laws to keep the existing system in place (bonuses for CEOs, increasing the size of the few remaining big banks, transferring tax money to debt institutions). The square provided an opportunity and, I think, we saw essentially the negative expression of both Saturn and Pluto in our leadership.

The positive expression would have possibly looked something like this: only fixed loans would be available for new home purchases and new buyers would have to come with 20% to closing. Bad loans would fail and properties seized and transitioned onto the market, causing a nearly 50% drop in home values (or a return to basically the tax value of a home). Derivative markets would be closed; the stock market would be closed and only private investment would be allowed. Banks would no longer be usury institutions. Lobbyists would be removed from contact with political leaders. That's the kind of radical change in structure that is possible with this energy in play. We are a nation overburdened with debt and it is beginning to unwind and piling more debt on top will not bring about fiscal health.

Up next will be a sextile or 60 degree relationship between Saturn and Pluto beginning in December of 2012 until October of 2013. This relationship is more harmonious than the square and will involve an interesting situation called mutual reception. Saturn will be at 9 degrees of Scorpio when Pluto is at 9 degrees of Capricorn. The energy points will mutually receive each other because they will be in the ruling sign of the other: Saturn rules Capricorn where Pluto will be and Pluto rules Scorpio where Saturn will be. They will each receive energy from the sign placement of the other that will amp up their energies. Pluto in this case will be even stronger than during the square when it was connecting with Librian energy instead of Scorpionic energy. Now again there will be a chance to express positive or negative energy in helping to use structure to facilitate change. Now we have Saturn in the sign of deep truth, emotional commitment, and transformation. Pluto will still be chugging along with the unwinding of our world and US economy, but now Saturn will show and see the New Normal for what it is and will be. Major institutions will again face a chance to make significant changes in line with the Plutonian transformation or ... bury our heads even deeper in the sand and grab what power we can in our respective roles and lives.

Note that this transit aspect will be in full swing after the next US Presidential election. The first 6 months of the new President will either show great courage or intense fear. We will get either Churchill/FDR/Lincoln or Mussolini/Hitler/Stalin. This time will set the tone for the biggest transit aspect of them all, the conjunction, when the energies actually merge and show us the new structures for the next 35 to 40 years. Saturn/Pluto were conjunct in 1947 and 1982. Consider the shifts of American power for both of those times shortly after (our rise to power as one of the superpowers and then our move to become the lone superpower). With these two energies conjuncting nearly opposite the US Sun, those of us living in this country can expect a full reckoning of our nation's activities. If we arrive at that time as a nation in deep debt, we may find ourselves "bankrupt" and out of options. If we arrive having made significant changes asked of us by Pluto that require new structures and, in all likelihood, new frugality and humility, then we will continue to be a nation that leads in this world. We have a lot of work to do between now and 2020. Some of the work will be foisted upon us by newly emerging realities (resource shortages, deflation of assets, limited work opportunities, a large aging population, overpopulation), which will require some very honest assessments and innovative problem solving (fortunately, Uranus will be in Aries and again we will have an opportunity to express/leverage the positive energy of this transit). And, as it so happens, Uranus and Pluto will be square from 2012 to 2015.

If you are alive now, then you have chose to be born in one of the most dramatic and exciting times in human history. We may easily surpass both World Wars, The Great Depression, and the Revolutions of the 60s in this next 10 years alone. We could make a massive leap forward or backwards; it will all depend on our intentions, our thoughts, and our actions. I am glad you are all here sharing the journey with me.

A Happily Spiritual Journey

2010-09-08T04:13:00.000-07:00

I have many posts I want to write, including several book recommendations. But first, I just want to write about my trip to visit my grandfather (Papa). The trip was very special and important for me; I really needed some time away and I have not spent time with him for a while (too long to recount without some internal shame actually). I left Friday morning after I took the girls to school. The day before I'd taken my truck in for inspection and service, opting to get several recommended upgrades in preparation for my drive (a little under 150 miles) from Cary to Ronda (just outside of Wilkesboro). I was not in a rush to get up there, so I planned to drive at a leisurely pace (just at or under the speed limit), stop somewhere along the way for lunch, and visit the old trailer park where he and Nana (my mom's parents) and my Grandmother (my father's mother) had lived. Nana and Grandmother have long since passed, but Papa is still going strong at 91 (b. 1919). Every time he trades in for a new car (usually after 2 years) he racks up about 80,000 miles (he used to drive trucks for a living).

He lives in a very nice double wide trailer on a piece of land that was in Nana's family, surrounded by other family members across the road and on one side of him. I did not fully realize the spiritual nature of the land until this visit; I don't think I could "hear" the land until this time in my life. The drive up was quite pleasant even though it was the last hot day (over 90) before the cold front arrived on Sat. I drove straight through Burlington, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem until I got to Clemmons. The Clemmons exit was the one we used to take when we would visit them in the trailer park. I stopped there to eat and see if the trailer park was still around. The change at the exit was grand, a mini shopping center had been built and the old road leading back to the trailer park had been diverted to the end of the shopping center. I ate at my first Zaxzby's, a standard chicken and fries place and unwound a bit from the drive.

When I left I went down the old road and found the familiar brick house that marked the turn into the trailer park, Chardale Drive. The road went up a slight hill on the other side of the house and a flood of memories began to cascade into my mind as I came over the crest to find the trailer park still there and, basically, frozen in time. The first trailer, which was the one where Grandmother lived, looked exactly like hers from 30 years ago. I was stunned how much emotion swept into me as pulled into the main drive and started passing all the trailers. Nana and Papa lived in two trailers, one on the main road and one down the hill in a cul-de-sac. I swear the one I passed on the main road was the same one I'd played in as a child; even the concrete parking pad had the same chipped out sections! I drove to the turn that would take me down the hill to the first trailer they had lived in and this one was obviously not the original, but the lay out of the park, the spacing of the trailers, everything else was the same. Yes, you could see the time stamp in the decks that need replacing and the central air units (instead of only window units). Time had passed and stood still. I wept as I left; tears of joy actually, just so many good memories there.

The rest of the drive did not take long and I actually arrived a bit early. Papa was not back and I was locked out, which was not a problem because his home has a breezeway between the garage and main trailer. Even though it was hot, it was not humid, and I'm very heat tolerant, so it felt great to sit down on the outdoor sofa and just relax. The breeze was blowing through and I could feel how special this visit was going to be for me; how important it was for me to be up here, in this place, at this time. After about 30 minutes Papa arrived and our visit began.

I really only had simple intentions for my visit, talk, eat, read, watch TV, sleep. Fortunately these are all things Papa enjoys doing as well. We quickly settled into his routine, beginning with a Cary Grant movie, followed by a Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake movie, then off to Subway for some dinner. After dinner we watched another Alan Ladd movie and got ready for bed. I have to share a funny observation about the classic black and white movies I watched; everyone in almost every scene was either smoking or drinking or both. If we think advertising in movies now is blatant, it was starkly clear which companies were helping to bankroll the movies of the 30's and 40's. Three of the male characters in The Blue Dahlia had a drink routine, "give me a bourbon with a bourbon chaser."

Saturday started off fantastic; I stepped out onto the porch as the sun was just starting to rise (6:00AM) and I could see my breath! I am ready for the fall; more so this year than in years past. I feel more in touch with the seasons and am ready for some less humid weather. Papa is an early riser as well and he was up soon after me. We got dressed and he took me to a small country restaurant and we had biscuits and gravy, eggs, and bacon. He had his usual black coffee and I had the best sweet tea I've had in a long time. We both reminisced about Nana's biscuits and gravy, they were the best, and made with lots of love. All in all, already, I was feeling my blessings. My grandparents loved me deeply and I could feel all that love filling my heart on this visit.

After the breakfast we headed back to his home; he watch a little TV while I sat on the breezeway, read, and soaked in the beautiful morning. Around 10 he suggested we go up to the North Wilkesboro speedway and watch the races. The speedway had been a hub of activity until it was closed in 1996 due to a dispute between the two owners. This past Labor Day weekend was the inaugural re-opening of the track and featured 4 races. Time trials started at 11AM so we headed up there around 10:30. I've watched some racing with Papa in the past on television, but I had never been to a live race. After we arrived and got out of the car, the first thing to hit me was the noise of the race car engines. And it hit me hard. I have very sensitive hearing and did not realize the amount of sound the cars would put out. Imagine movie theater loud over 2 football stadiums from the source! In the end my desire to share this experience with Papa was greater than my desire to get as far from the noise as I could. Eventually I found a rhythm with the noise and was able to enjoy the time trials and 3 of the 4 races (the last one was 200 laps and would go past dinner time).

There were many important spiritual lessons in my time at the race track and the most important one aligned with a book I began reading Friday night after I got to Papa's. The book was Wismatic by Pam Yount, a North Carolinian writing about Wisdom as she learned it from her son's death (at 27) from AIDS. I will be writing a full review of the book in another post, but suffice to say, her message was, rather pointedly, to say that we are all on our spiritual journeys alone, and another person's journey in this life is a spiritual contract they made with creation and we should not judge unless we intend to INTERVENE. I can admit to more than a few judgments regarding "the country", "race car fans", and "southern behaviors" over the course of my life. But on that day, at the track, I chose not to judge, but to appreciate everyone and the experience of watching and being part of the race environment. I let myself feel the excitement everyone had about the reopening of the track and could see its importance for the community. I could feel human history in the gathering of these people for an event and how much that gathering meant. It was wonderful.

After the race we went to another small restaurant that served meat and vegetables (and sweet tea of course) and talked about the race. Papa always has been and still is a lucid thinker and very good conversationalist, and he is also comfortable with silence. There is no strain in our time together. After dinner we went back and he watched some more TV while I did some more reading. Eventually I stepped outside to walk the land a bit and eat some blueberries of his blueberry bushes. They were ripe and delicious. While in this moment I recognized how amazing this area of North Carolina really is. The entire area is made up of small and large farms; there is a healthy local economy and I had no doubt that the food I ate both restaurants was grown locally. Lately my body has been very reactive to food and I have switch to an almost solely organic diet. I knew I would not find much "organic" store food so I told my body I would be eating the food of the area and to appreciate it. Had I eaten what I did eat here, in Cary, I would have been miserable in a day. Again, I chose to accept and appreciate and all was well.

My original plan was to return some time Sunday, but I wanted to stay another full day and return on Monday morning, so I decided to stay one more day. Sunday really turned out to be my day to fully digest all that I had experienced so far and I was deeply, soul level grateful for my visit and my time with Papa. Again, we were both up early and had found our routine. He would watch some TV while I did some reading. Eventually I would join him, to find him watching his favorite, a western. Since it was Sunday, he planned to go to church and this time I decided to stay at the house. I wanted to commune with the land more, which I did. In that time I asked my soul about the land and its purpose in my life and found that it was and is to be a place of sanctuary for me, a place to retreat and recharge. This awareness and knowledge was the tremendous gift of my trip. The rest of the day was a glorious time of all the things I came to do and when I left Monday morning I felt full up and truly happy.

I wanted to share this story, this time to convey how much each of us needs a place of sanctuary. I hope you all have such a place and the ability to access it from time to time. I know I will be returning soon to visit my grandfather and many times over in my future to visit the land and let it help heal me.

Two Card Tarot Reading - Osho Zen Tarot

2010-09-01T18:06:00.000-07:00

The video below is another two card tarot reading using the Osho Zen Tarot. If you would like to view the introductory video that talks about the origin of this reading and its use in my seminars, click here.

Tarot Meditation Card for Today - Osho Zen 5 of Rainbows - The Outsider

2010-09-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

I drew the 5 of Rainbows after writing about the two Major Arcana cards, Existence (1) and Change (10).

This card resonates with me on many levels and, I think, is very appropriate as a global expression regarding the state of the world and our role in it. From the book, the description points out: "The small child is standing on one side of the gate, looking through it. He is so small, and so convinced he cannot get through, he cannot see that the chain holding the gate is not locked; all he has to do is open it." (146) We have a magnificent world we can enjoy and co-create, but instead we believe ourselves blocked. The gate can be a metaphor for any difference that separates us from the natural world and ourselves (war, ethnicity, culture, gender). We believe we need a gatekeeper to let us out to the other side, whether it is a politician, guru, teacher, parent, or any other authority figure. In fact, we do not.

I am responsible, and so are you. Guides, acting in the best interest of others, will help each of us attain authenticity, humanity, and connection. To draw this card is to "feel yourself an outsider. This is good. This is a transitory period. Now you have to be alert not to fill yourself with pain and misery. Now that God is no longer there, who will console you? You don't need any consolation. Humanity has come of age. Be a man, be a woman, and stand on your own feet ..." It certainly helps me to read the words "be alert not to fill yourself with pain and misery." The behavior of our people, all people, generally, is not at its best. I have had my own challenges with greed and am constantly feeling the need to be vigilant against scarcity thinking. Such thinking has created a global crisis in economics and resource management. And the paradox is this: we perceive scarcity in this world today because we want more than we deserve, are willing to work for, be patient for, or the world has to offer. The world is fully abundant if we do not make demands beyond its abundance. As one writer on the economy put it, you cannot change the weather by adjusting the thermometer and you cannot increase the amount of oil in the ground by adjusting the instruments recording our consumption of it.

I feel an Outsider most days because what has been normalized has become very foreign to me. And so I find it very interesting that a new phrase from economist John Mauldin, The New Normal, is gaining ground. I am hopeful that the new normal will be more and more of what is on the other side of the gate ... that we can leave behind the behaviors that have brought us to a period of significant transformation and bless this transformation. I think we can make the changes if we embrace sustainability and throw away growth as our mantra for existence. I think we can make the changes if we slow down and take care in life instead of trying to move ever faster and consume in greater quantities. I think we can make these changes if we share openly and transparently our knowledge and experience, instead of trying to privatize everything and act as if we own anything. I am trying to do my part each day :-).

Free Will and Fate in Tarot - Osho Zen - Existence (I) and Change (X)

2010-08-31T11:43:00.000-07:00

Hello all, I am back and settled in after the Body, Mind, Spirit Expo this past weekend at the State Fair grounds. If you were able to attend, I hope you had a wonderful time. Today I want to write about Free Will and Fate, two very hot topics in any metaphysical practice and study. The cards I want to explore are Existence, the number 1 card, and Change, the number 10 card, of the Major Arcana of the Osho Zen Tarot. In traditional decks these cards are better known as The Magician and The Wheel of Fortune.

Life, I would put forth, is a dialectic with a back and forth between Free Will and Fate, but how can that be if Fate is involved. I would like to present the idea that Fate and Free Will move in and out of one another, taking and giving stage at different times and for different intervals, very much like wave/particle theory regarding energy. In the above card Existence, we are shown the "smallness" of our place in the vast universe and the "immensity" of our uniqueness. Nothing else in existence occupies the same "place" or space as you do. For this reason, Astrology loves twins, triplets, and so on. How better to show the flexibility of a birth chart than to have 2, 3, or more individuals with same exact birth chart out in the world. They will not express themselves in the same way because they do not occupy the same space in the universe, nor will they experience the same set of events. To draw the card of Existence is to remember that you are unique and you have a unique impact on the world, whether it is small (early death after childbirth) or large (Ghandi, Lincoln, King Jr, Mother Teresa). To exist is to be able to choose, even if the limits of choice are great.

To draw the card of Change is to remind yourself that many events happen outside you that you must choose how you will react or find yourself forced into certain directions because there is only one choice (funny how we forget that when we say, "I have no choice, but to ...", we really mean to say, "I have only one choice and this is it." I often explain the Change (or Wheel of Fortune) card this way in my seminars. Imagine that you drove here (as most people do) and you go outside and find your tire is flat. Fate has stepped in. You were moving along, with faith, that you would be able to go out to your car get in it and drive away only to find out that now you must react to the unexpected. How you choose to react is the choice offered by acts of Fate. And acts of Fate are usually choices we made spiritually to be present in so we can test ourselves. As the saying goes, "no one gets their character tested when things are going their way."

Over the weekend a new astrologer I met through Facebook provided me with a reading of my Uranus transit in exchange for me reading his Neptune transit. In his fantastic interpretation of this transit, he had many deeply insightful things to say, not the least of which was to remind me to stay positive and hopeful while presenting some pretty tough knowledge and insight about current and future events. The globe, and thus everyone personally, is going through a major shift. I have written about two major aspects of this shift in my blog on transiting planetary Ingress involving all of the outer planets and the recent T-square involving Saturn/Uranus/Pluto. Big change is happening and more big ... even bigger change is coming, and with these changes there will be a lot of hard work (which will be interpreted by a great many as hardship). We need this change; the planet needs this change. What matters most is how we choose to react, and there will be plenty of reactionary action.

Deep down, I'm an optimist, though it can be hard to see past my Scorpio Ascendant sometimes ;-). Jupiter and Uranus will both be direct in Aries soon enough and we, as a people, and individually will have the opportunity to choose how to express the expansive/creative energy of these to points moving through Aries. In many ways we are going to have to deal with the Change card first, as the Present Moment, and Existence as our crossing card, our challenge. Housing prices are going to continue to drop, services will be cut, taxes will rise, government/bank/corporate corruption will try to keep doing business as usual and all of it will result in a truly "Brave New World" shift. The question for each of us will be how will we play our role. Will we move in the direction panic and doom or see these changes as the necessary steps to forge new intentional communities, re-localize our food and services, restart manufacturing, and make healthful behavior changes. In essence, it will not be changes in technology that "save us," but rather changes in our behavior.

Understanding the fluid relationship between Free Will and Fate (wave and particle); the quantum"ness" of life helps us be more capable when our times of choice come and more flexible when our limits of choice come. I hope my work in the world and through this blog reaches the higher vibration of hope even as we move through an impending lower vibration of scarcity, which will really be a true vibration of re-balancing. Astrology and the Tarot are just the ideal tools to help us move through these powerfully fluctuating times.

As I prepare to leave to pick up the girls from school I have drawn a rather fitting card, which I will write about in my next entry. I will leave it for you to contemplate:

Tarot Meditation Card for Today - Osho Zen Major Arcana - Thunderbolt (16)

2010-08-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

Drawing the Thunderbolt card is not for the weak of heart; in a traditional deck this card is represented as the Tower. I find the card a fitting one to draw on the anniversary of what I want to henceforward refer to as my Spiritual Awakening. And for me it was very much a Thunderbolt event, a lightening strike that utterly obliterated who I was previously. I am still sifting through the rubble and building a new self. I definitely feel the fire burning in my heart chakra from day to day as the natural kundalini awakening and subsequent rising occurs with the Uranus Opposition. If I were to designate a card as the Uranus Opposition, this card is the one I would choose. The lightening strike is the awakening and the fire burning at the base of the spine upward is the rising. Since most of us in the West have no knowledge of kundalini, and thus no preparation, we get a Thunderbolt experience.

Again, I will refer to the Liquid Light of Sex: Kundalini, Astrology, and the Key Life Transition by Barbara Hand Clow. This book is a must read for anyone between the age of 35 and 40 in preparation for the Thunderbolt that will be the Uranus Opposition. What does it mean to have a self decimated in a single extreme moment? And how do you choose to move forward. As Clow points out in her book, many people return to the former self, failing to take full advantage of the kundalini opening and opportunity. If it is particularly frightening, then a return to the familiar is not surprising, but it is spiritually devastating. We, in the West, have largely lost touch with or never even had a eye on spiritual development and the natural phases of the process. Astrology shows us a map of development. Whether it is the 12 year cycle of Jupiter or the nearly 30 year cycle of Saturn, there are Spiritual key moments. The only one we deign to recognize these days is the yearly Solar Return, on our birthday. And we don't recognize it spiritually as much as we do materially (how many gifts did I get, what gift do I want). The first Saturn Return (28 to 30) is a tune up for the Uranus Opposition (40 to 42), which is a tune up for the Chiron Return (49 to 51), which is a tune up for the second Saturn Return (58 to 60).

The story of the Major Arcana is the story of spiritual development. After Thunderbolt comes Silence:

More contrasting cards could not appear next to each other in the story. After Thunderbolt, you need Silence; only through obliteration can you hope to hear true Silence.

Noticing a Lack of Forward Progress? 5 Energy Points are Retrograde

2010-08-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

If it feels like the world is experiencing the doldrums (a state of inactivity or stagnation), that's because it is, at least from an energetic standpoint. And how's this for synchronicity, the definition provided by dictionary.com has a usage example and the example says, "August is time of doldrums for many enterprises." I wonder if the editor is also an astrologer? Right now Mercury, Jupiter, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are all retrograde, which means we are in a period of reflection, rejuvenation, and rest where each of these energies are involved in your chart. Today I will talk about the impact of these retrograde periods on the United States Birth Chart (cast using the Sibley data - July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia, PA, at 5:10PM), which you can see below (click on the image to enlarge it):

It is surprising how many people are familiar with Mercury Retrograde, which has earned an unfairly bad reputation for being the cause of wrecks, failures in communication (electronic or human), and bad business deals. Mercury facilitates communication and like all energy points, it needs a period of rest as well. Think of the times you've gone to your online bank at some obscure hour (Sunday morning at 3AM) only to find that the system is down for routine maintenance. Mercury Retrograde gets so much bad press because we are supposed to slow down and we don't, and that's when and why accidents happen. The suggestion from astrologers to "lay low" during a Mercury Retrograde really has nothing to do with greater danger and more to do with the proper rhythm to employ during this phase, which now is from August 20 to September 11. In the US chart Mercury is transiting the 10th House; the house of public responsibility, business, and large systems (think banking, education, government, military, and corporations). Now is a good time for all large systems to review their books, reflect on their current status, review contracts, and reread documents pertaining to votes of law. Do all the things involving review, reflection, and rest. The same is true where Mercury is transiting your chart.

For the slower moving energy points, beginning with Jupiter, which I will talk about in conjunction with Uranus (because they are currently conjunct), the retrograde phases last longer and have broader and deeper impacts. Jupiter began its retrograde phase on July 23 and will conclude this phase on November 17. It will move back from Aries and into Pisces, suggesting that exploration and expansion need some more time on the "dreaming board" (Pisces) before being put into action (Aries). In the US chart, the 4th House of Family and Culture and 5th House of Creativity and Children will be affected. Essentially the proposed solutions to solve our financial crisis (that is impacting so many families) need review and reflection. We also need new thinking and it needs to be more radical than we realize, which is what Uranus conjunct Jupiter and also retrograde moving back from Aries to Pisces tells us. Uranus went retrograde, after just edging into Aries (less than 1 degree) July 5th, and will not be done until December 5th (well after the November elections are over). Families in the US (4th House) have certainly gotten a shock (Uranus) to their dreams (Pisces) with this financial crisis. Uranus was 15 degrees into its transit through Pisces when the crisis began (1/2008), and now the depth of the shock is sinking in with remaining high unemployment, deflation of home values, outstanding debt, and a long term out look for slow or no growth, and even retraction. As a nation, we won't really feel the Aries push for innovative solutions until March 2011 since the retrograde phase will take Uranus all the way back to 26 degrees of Pisces.

We have another pair of energy points conjunct and retrograde, Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius right on top of the US natal Moon. Chiron started its retrograde phase June 4 and it will last until October 31. Neptune started its retrograde phase May 31 and will remain retrograde until November 6. Chiron deals with the wound we must heal while Neptune deals with our dreams and delusions; these two together are potent for deep, deep spiritual and psychological work and they are moving back and forth over the 3rd and 4th house of the US chart, the very depths of the US soul and activating the soul energy point. This country is filled with idealistic notions, many of which have been achieved and most of which now have been corrupted. This conjunction of energy is revealing that our capacity for bringing a new light (a certain kind of democracy and development of society) to the world has been tarnished by our greed (quite simply, the debt supercycle we face is a fundamental case of living beyond our means). We have borrowed against the future to have more of everything now instead of pacing ourselves within our means. Ideals have been perverted to such a degree that our nation's exalted status (generally speaking) is largely damage beyond repair. We face a new age as the center of the world shifts to China, the only "solvent" country thanks to its dominance in manufacturing. But keep in mind, this conjunction and retrograde energy is also affecting an area in China's chart, and Russia's, and all countries. Personally we will each be getting a heavy dose of depth work involving wound/healing and dream/belief energy. Welcome to the dark night of the soul.

Finally, Pluto is retrograde, and unlike the other four outer planets, it will not cross back over into Sagittarius. The US got a very heavy dose of the "bill collector" when Pluto entered Capricorn in January of 2008. The full disclosure of the over extension (Sagittarius expansion) is still unwinding and will do so for the duration of Pluto's transit through Capricorn (until 2025 ... yes, another 15 years). Pluto is the transformer, the destroyer, and the rebuilder and his next work is in the area of big institutions (Capricorn) in the arena of the US chart dealing with Security and Values (2nd House). We will see a tremendous change in those two areas of our lives as we learn to live with less and must make do with less. If our country had to settle its debts today, we would have to declare bankruptcy and essentially start over again. In some ways, such action would be best and honest, though extremely painful. If we never enter an outright Depression, we will likely experience recurring recessions because Pluto entered Capricorn at a time when large systems are overextended. California and Illinois are precursors to what we can expect when the stimulus money runs out, especially since "no new taxes" is fully the accepted mantra. Services will unwind and superstructures will begin to show bigger fractures than they already have. Too big to fail is usually Plutonian code for "the process for failing has already begun." But this need not be a terrible process, Pluto is also about rebirth and we will need to rebirth civilization over the next 20 years and hopefully we will be able to avoid the choices of the 1910's to 1930's when Pluto entered Cancer and rolled over the US Sun and opposed itself in 1935. During this transit Pluto will oppose the US Sun (2014) and conjunct itself (2022). We will experience the Pluto return for this nation, and all that has been sown in 240+ years will be reaped. Jeff Green, perhaps the leading authority on Pluto, predicts, "On a national level it is interesting to remember that Pluto is in Capricorn in the US chart. The day will come when the United States will 'fall from grace.' One day it will not be the world power that it is today (writing in 1993); it will be one nation among many. This will force a restructuring of the national Soul so that a new collective self-image can evolve. The national sense of security (2nd House) linked with being a world power will have to change as a result of this evolutionary necessity." (Green, Pluto: The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul, 192).

Finally, I want to point out the large triangle or T-Square connecting the one outer planet not retrograde, Saturn (in Libra in the 11th House of Community) in opposition with Jupiter/Uranus (in Pisces in the 4th House of Family and Culture) and square Pluto (in Capricorn in the 2nd House of Security and Values), which itself (Pluto) squares Jupiter/Uranus. We are dealing with a great deal of tension during this configuration and the balance point is in Cancer in the 8th House of Death and Transformation. We must transform and in the vein of caring and nurturing (not rugged independence and "get yours while you can"). It is hard because the point/energy is "hidden" and not active because there is no energy point transiting in the house of the needed activation. Yet the activation needs to happen on our country's Sun, its Life Path and it will also affect our relationships (Venus); how we grow, expand, and teach (Jupiter); how our country communicates (Mercury), and our destiny (Part of Fortune). Exciting times to be sure.

Tarot Meditation Card for Today - Osho Zen Major Arcana - Conditioning (15)

2010-08-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

"This card recalls an old Zen story, about a lion who was brought up by sheep and who thought he was a sheep until an old lion captured him and took him to a pond, where he showed him his own reflection. Many of us are like this lion - the image we have of ourselves comes not from our own direct experience but from the opinion of others. A 'personality' imposed from the outside replaces the individuality that could have grown from within." (Osho Zen handbook, 32).

Whenever I draw this card or a client draws this card, I and they must look at all the aspects of our lives that do not reflect who we truly are or want to be. I have been writing quite a bit about a spiritual/mental break that occurred to me almost a year ago to the date (8/29). I was thrown into a state of chronic anxiety that I am still managing with greater and greater success each day. I drew this card in a reading the next day while in the depths of the initial attack. It is fitting that I would draw it again so close to the anniversary of my deep shift. Who I was before that day and who I am now and still becoming feel very much like the image of this card. I accepted and embraced many roles that did not suit me, especially the one of husband, and surprisingly, the one of academic/professor (a role I thought I prized above all others). The transition to my truest self is still unfolding and really began when I initiated my separation in 2002.

I can image now what it must be like for the lion in the story to have to learn to be a lion and let go of all things sheep. It is also no coincidence that the animal images involved are the lion and the sheep. If you were to draw this card or it resonates with you at a deep level as you look at and read this blog, then think of all the things in your life you are still doing sheep-like that need to be cast off so you an have more time for your true lion-hood! There is even a fantastic book I found in the used bookstore that reflects the depth of this card; I recommend you put a copy in your personal library: Facing the Lion, Being the Lion: Finding Inner Courage Where It Lives by Mark Nepo.

We must all act authentically. The universe, this world, your community does not need duplicates or clones. Isn't it interesting that only the simplest of life forms reproduce by cloning, while the more complex develop by means of increased difference. Even twins do not occupy the same space and time in life and thus develop their similarities differently, uniquely. We may all be part of a great "Oneness," but in the three dimensional, linear time existence we are all enjoying, we do so to explore and express our authenticity and individuality. I like to call it finding my Zen. My Zen is to teach and to help others along or find the start to their authentic paths, which I found I could not do as well in a University as I can reading Astrology charts and Tarot cards.

Beginner Astrology Books and How to Read Them

2010-08-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Before I provide the list, I want to set the stage. Astrology is a vast and deep field of study, which has, in the study of it, three very broad layers or gates. The first layer is the data layer, the fundamental information needed to study the craft. Even this layer has its pitfalls. Just going in you can choose from Tropical Western Astrology (the most common in the US and Europe), Sidereal Western Astrology (based on astronomical precession of the stars over time - example: my Sun is Aries in Tropical Astrology and it is in Pisces in Sidereal), Vedic Astrology (Hindu/Indian), Cosmobiology (developed to eliminate the House systems from Tropical Astrology, which are numerous), and on and on. Every culture on the planet has some form of Astrological practice. The books I provide in the list below are for Tropical Western Astrology, the kind of Astrology I practice. In this first layer, the student faces the daunting task of learning vast amounts of information that simply have to be memorized. You have to have at the tip of your tongue the meanings of all the energy points, signs, and houses. You have to memorize the meanings of the various aspects that connect energy points. You simply have to know this information cold if you want to move beyond raw data into useful interpretation.

The second layer or gate is actually the most difficult to penetrate or pass through. The second layer requires the conversion of the raw data into a meaningful interpretation. You can look up and write down that a Sun in Aries is a pioneer or individualist and you can look up and write down that a Sun in the 6th House is a person in service to others. But what do you say about a Sun in Aries in the 6th House ... this person is or should be independent in his or her service to others, meaning s/he should probably work alone and not as a part of team. His Life Path will focus on work/health issues (6th) and s/he will have to be wary of burning out (the shadow side of Aries drive ... being overdriven). At some point you have to ENRICH the raw data with meaning, and that skill is the MAGIC of Astrology. I compare this step to learning a foreign language. At first you are very conscious of interpretation and you mind goes through the process mechanically until you "smooth" out the back and forth to the point that you refine the translate/translate process until you can no longer "see" the process. When I look at charts now, I don't see discrete pieces of information, I see the full interpretation.

The final layer/gate is what I like to think of as the "wonder layer;" the vast, beautiful sea of knowledge and wisdom, the quantum theory of the practice. This layer is the esoteric layer, where the mystery resides, and unfolds, and becomes mystery again. Some days I am just in awe.

The stage setting is almost complete. As a former English professor, I have some very clear ideas about how to read books more or less successfully. Having a reading strategy to approach the beginning books will make them more enjoyable and less daunting. Whichever book you buy, plan to have two items with you when you sit down to read: a copy of your birth chart and a pen (not a highlighter, but you can have one of those as well). You can get a free copy of your chart at the outstanding website Astrodienst. The print out will include a legend that tells you which sign each of your energy points are in and then you can see which house based on the numbers inside the pie pieces. Once you have your chart in hand and you have read the introductory chapters of the book, get your pen out and approach the cookbook part of the book by looking up your chart information only. Don't read Sun in Aries, then Sun in Taurus, and so on without any kind of personal reference. Start with your Sun sign and read about it and write your name next to the description. The move on to your Moon sign and so on through all the energy points. Next, get a friend, family member, lover, or co-worker to give you their birth data and the repeat the process using their chart. Do about 10 to 20 of these and you'll find you way through almost all of the data, but with intent (to figure out your friends, family, lovers, and co-workers).

Write everyone's name next to each energy point description. You may be very surprised to find certain patterns and a lack of patterns. When I did mine the first time (and have kept adding since) I found most of my friends were fire and air signs, and most of my lovers were Aquarius and Cancer (really, 3 of each, and none of certain other signs), and most of mentors were Sagittarians and Capricorns (not surprisingly). By reading the book with chart in hand, you will not get drown in data that has no immediate connection in your life. By noting all the data from the charts that IS MEANINGFUL in your life, you will more quickly absorb the facts and "save" them in your mind's hard drive.

Here is a list of the best beginner books:

Alan Leo's Astrology for All by Alan Leo (Hardcover - May 23, 2010) (an older book republished, but full of great information)
Horoscope Symbols by Robert Hand (Paperback - Mar 1981) (good book for the person wanting to become a professional astrologer)
Take Control with Astrology: A Teach Yourself Guide (Teach Yourself: Health & New Age) by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma (Paperback - Jan 19, 2010) (a very good new book, I found a couple of months ago)
Alan Oken's Complete Astrology: The Classic Guide to Modern Astrology by Alan Oken (Paperback - Oct 1, 2006)
Complete Horoscope Interpretation; Putting together Your Planetary Profile by Maritha Pottenger (Paperback - 1995)
The Inner Sky: How to Make Wiser Choices for a More Fulfilling Life by Steven Forrest (Paperback - Nov 1, 2007)

Alan Leo's Astrology for All by Alan Leo (Hardcover - May 23, 2010) (an older book republished, but full of great information)
THE PRINCIPLES OF ASTROLOGY by C.E.O. Carter (Hardcover - Jan 1, 1939) (still a great beginning book)

How to Read Your Astrological Chart: Aspects of the Cosmic Puzzle by Donna Cunningham (Paperback - Jan 1, 2008) (not a cookbook, but a good companion to a cookbook)
Intuitive Astrology: Follow Your Best Instincts to Become Who You Always Intended to Be by Elizabeth Rose Campbell (Paperback - Jun 3, 2003) (not a cookbook, but a good companion to a cookbook)

If you cannot a good price for some of these books on Amazon, then let me suggest Alibris Books online; they have a great selection of used dealers and you can often find copies at very low prices.

Uranus Opposition, Heart Chakra, and Trusting the Process

2010-08-22T20:32:00.000-07:00

In her book Liquid Light of Sex: Kundalini, Astrology, and the Key Life Transitions, Barbara Hand Clow (Paperback - Sept. 1, 2001) provides one of the most lucid explanations of the Uranus Opposition. Generally she says that men will experience the opening of their Heart Chakra and women will experience an opening of their Throat Chakra. This opening is delivered with Uranian explosiveness as the body is literally rewired with electrical energy. Men should not be surprised if, during the Uranus opposition, they experience symptoms akin to a heart attack or anxiety centered in the chest; I experienced both and still continue to experience anxiety in my chest. Clow's book is one of several that helped me come to grips with a process that sent me to the hospital thinking I was having a heart attack (in September of last year) and, a week later, one night, had me on the floor of my bathroom shaking as if I was having an epileptic seizure. Thankfully my partner and our good friend Rhonda, a Shaman, were there to help me through. A Uranus opposition is not a time to be without support, especially since it normally lasts over 2 years and the exact opposition occurs 3 times (1 direct, then 1 retrograde, and 1 more direct).

The process is not gentle and trusting it is difficult. I wanted a medical problem and solution; there is a world of action at the ready for a heart attack and solutions are often very finite and clear. But this process involves the mind shocking the body. And while traveling the road of traditional medicine I found, through my doctor, that stress and anxiety can simulate all the symptoms of many different illnesses. The Uranus Opposition is the equivalent of a mind/soul reboot, with the hard drive literally getting shut down and restarted throughout the process. Clow, honestly, chastises us for being so ignorant of this process, one which will happen to every living human being that makes it to the age of 43. Mid-life crisis is the Uranus Opposition and its behavior can scare the hell out of you. It certainly did me, at first.

Here's the kicker, and this point is true of all significant transit processes, knowing the cause does not eliminate the hard work or the necessary pain/anxiety/transformation that defines the transition. As it turns out we also have many actions at the ready for powerful mind shifts, including psychology (talk therapy) and psychiatry (talk and drug therapy). Fortunately, and with wise guidance from a good friend, I was directed to a psychologist very comfortable with spiritual language. I needed to explore my narrative with Astrology, past lives, and other spiritual ideas as part of the process. I did even partake of pharmaceutical solutions in the moments of extreme anxiety and considered a general program as a possible aid through my transition. Ultimately, and so far, I have chosen to try to weather this cosmic storm with all the resources short of medications, and the most powerful aids I have found are my family and friends.

For the first time in a long time, probably since I was even a teen, I was not the person being called upon to help someone in need, but the person in need. I had to surrender to help. I'm still learning to surrender if the truth be told. For me, at least, I realized the drugs provided a bridge when human support was not available; the times I was alone with my daughter and felt waves of panic seize me as I worried about her fate if something happened to me during the day. This world is not the same as my childhood, when I used to travel from house to house with my friends, coming and going in and out of homes in the community with neighbors in near constant contact throughout the days and nights. We live so isolated now and my Heart Charka was feeling that isolation with great dread and anguish. I realized and felt deep fear around the fact that I could blackout early in the day and she would not be "found" for an entire day (until Betsy came home from work). No neighbor would stop by, no one would phone regularly just to say hello. A deep part of me felt the inhumanity and recklessness of the situation and that drove me into a state of panic.

How do you correct that problem? How do you fix isolation? Not with a medication, of course. Not long after the initial panic attack, almost 1 year ago exactly, Betsy and I began to explore intentional communities. We even visited an emerging one in Hickory Nut Valley near Asheville and talked with the founder of another one at Black Mountain. We were prepared to sell the house and make a radical change that would put us deeper into community on purpose. We were profoundly open to changing our family dynamic and the universe did not disappoint. As it turned out, instead of selling our home and moving into an intentional community, a dear friend and her three daughters moved in with us. Circumstances created a situation of tremendous mutual benefit for her family and ours. Now we are a family of six (the eldest daughter started college 8/14) and receiving the benefits of a three adult and three child community (5, 5, 10). The pressure of being primary care taker and play mate during a time of tremendous transition has lessened enough to allow me to fully experience the process of this transit.

The anxiety in the center of my chest is still present, teaching me and I am trying to do a solemn job of listening. At the suggestion of my Shaman/Psychologist, I am learning to go into the anxiety instead of fighting it. I have the human support to trust that my daughter will be safe and I have the time to be in my crisis and learn its lesson. No small feat in a society hell bent on being hell bent all the time. Truly, I have attained a new thankfulness for my life, the strength and good health of my body, the laughter and tears of children, and my own laughter and tears (there was a long stretch where I did not have a smile inside or out and laughter had become foreign). In terms of the process of Uranus' transit over itself, I know I am on the last leg of the journey, the final direct pass will occur in October (10/10/10 to be exact). I have to trust the process because there is still a fair amount out in front of me.

A Very Rich Astrology Reading Experience

2010-08-22T07:31:00.000-07:00

Astrology and Tarot are interesting practices, not only in and of themselves, but because of the way they are perceived and used in the world. There is a constant round of narratives attempting to prove and disprove the validity or truth or science or effectiveness or accuracy (pick any word that equates to "its real") of these two and many other esoteric fields. Some pieces of the narrative that are on the side of Astrology cause more trouble than help (daily Horoscope, Sun Sign only Astrology) and some skeptics prove invaluable to sharpening the thinking of the brightest Astrologers. Ultimately, I believe and experience Astrology as a personal journey that enriches my life and, apparently, the life of my clients, who are very impressed with the usefulness and accuracy of their astrological readings. Other narratives abound within the conglomeration of professional astrologers; namely, how each of us comes to accept and wear the mantle of "Professional Astrologer." A very common and compelling narrative is the skeptic turned astrologer. I am a mild version of that narrative. The hard version is the person who set out to disprove Astrology, actively and aggressively "going after" Astrology with the starting hypothesis that "Astrology is bullsh*t." I never had that as goal or my inroad to Astrology. I approached it more from the view that I would like to see if Astrology could prove itself. And, for me it has, many times over. And yesterday was a shining example that I want to share with everyone.

Let me first provide a little more of a setting by way of the skeptics. I have tried to track down the study I read in graduate school (way back in the early 1990's) that debunked astrology by giving a study group the same chart and interpreting the chart as the study member's chart. In the study they were able to get all participants to believe the chart being "read" and interpreted for them was their own chart. They did not change the interpretation of the chart, so each individual was essentially told the same thing about the chart and they all "believed" the chart to be "accurate." The final coup-de-grace of the study came when the writers announced that they had used Adolph Hitler's chart for all the participants. I have done my best to track down this essay, which I believe was published in the Journal of Personality and Individual Differences. As an former academic, I generally don't like to make references I cannot track down, but I think the spirit of the essay is pretty clear. I also think the conclusion is off; the study did prove something, but not about astrology. It clearly proved that people can be deceived when they are kept ignorant.

For those of us who work with Astrology and clients regularly, we know immediately that the entire study group would need to be born under the sign of Taurus to even get this deception to fly at the rudimentary level of sun signs since Hitler's sun sign is Taurus. You could have mixed signs among the group and press forward so long as your interpretation didn't begin with, "Ok, with your Sun in Taurus, your Life Path is guided by the energy of fixed earth ..." The first non-Taurus participant would go, "Now wait a minute, my sun sign is Aquarius," even if you hand them a chart with their correct birth information and the incorrect output. The interpretation instead began with, "You like to ..." It's easy to debunk bad Astrological practice; there's plenty of it out there. And its not much of a "win" for the skeptics when the research is so poorly designed. Too much of the skeptical narrative goes after "low hanging fruit" or what I used to teach in my critical thinking classes as "the weak form of the argument." Arguments and ideas have weak and strong forms, going after the weak forms is like plain old bullying, which is why debunking the daily horoscope is not really much of a challenge to the Astrological work of Robert Powell, Dane Rhudyar, Robert Hand, Demetra George, Richard Tarnas, Robert Blaschke, Jeff Green, Steven Forrest, and on and on. When you have informed participants and Astrologers who are willing to give clients a solid foundation in the basics of the Astrological reading, the Hitler study does not even happen.

And so, here's my very rich experience with Astrology from yesterday. Two of my regular clients (I see them yearly when they come into town to visit each other) came to see me for my Hot Spots Astrological reading. Both of them are nearing their 2nd Saturn return and are past their Chiron return (so they are between 50 and 60). They are highly intelligent, professional women. Not easily deceived and not going into a reading doe eyed. These are the clients you want because they can see through BS, so you'd better not be slinging any. We started bright and early at 9AM and were cruising through the reading for about 20 minutes when we discovered that I had cast the chart wrong. Instead of putting in her birth year as 1953, I had entered it as 1963. What make the mistake embarrassing immediately was the fact that I had used the hardcopy of the chart I cast for her 2 years ago to get her birth information to reenter the data into Astrodienst, a great free online service. I never even looked at the two charts side by side, which would have alerted me to the error before the reading began. And, I skipped a step in my reading that I never skip with new clients, I didn't read the chart information at the very start of the reading (these are the kinds of errors that happen when you have an Aries Sun conjunct Saturn and a North Node ... I'm trying to learn how to be more precise in this life time; it does not come naturally for me, so its easy to have a slip from time to time).

So, how did we get so far into the reading before the error was discovered and how was it discovered since everything I had said up to the point of discovery was "dead on accurate." Well, the only thing wrong was the birth year. I had the date and time correct, which meant that the house placements and the Sun sign would be and were the same sign and house in the 1953 and 1963 charts. And the first part of the reading dealt with the Ingress of all the outer planets we are experiencing right now, which meant I was talking about their movement along the line between the houses and signs (using the whole sign system, which I do, means they are the same line). Once we moved away from the Ingress discussion the reading started to "fail." When my client finally asked about relationships and children, the chart in front of us did not bear any resemblance to the chart used 2 years ago and then we started to struggle. In part the struggle occurred because I kept reading what was in front of me and the chart in front of me had no energy points in the 5th and 7th houses (children and partnerships). My client was doing her best to make sense of her previous experience and the current one and that's when she spotted the error on the chart (I always present my client with a copy of the chart and take them around it).

Two important factors helped us ferret out the error. She asked about information that was dominant from her previous reading, which at that time we did verify all her information before we began. And I did not try to read something into the chart in front of me about relationships that was not there. If I didn't trust the chart and I wanted to "keep my client on the hook" I would have done some fancy mind work to make the chart work on the relationship issues. That didn't happen. Like a pilot who has to trust the instruments more than his "feelings," because certain kinds of spiral dives will not feel like the plane is out of control, I have to trust the tool. In doing so, the reading created the situation where the error became obvious. This experience was ... profound. Fortunately, my clients were able to return later in the day after I recast the chart and redid the prep work. We did the other client's reading before they left and when they came back we read the corrected chart, which now had Jupiter in the 5th house, and 8 energy points in the 7th and 8th houses. Now were were on track.

I wanted to share this "mistake" with you because it shows the "strong form of the argument" of Astrology. The best Astrology will have involved clients who are self-aware and the tool has to be trusted. You have to read what is there. If the 7th House is empty, then partnerships are not emphasized in this lifetime. I give all my clients their chart, walk them through my process, and give them a couple of excellent beginning books as references in case they want to follow up behind me on their own or spend more time studying some part of the chart that I talked about (or did not talk about). Most are happy to leave all the work up to me, but I want them to know that I'm using data they can verify on their own and not just riffing my way through a made up story. An Astrology reading is a narrative journey, your narrative journey. Its all about you. And if you trust yourself and know yourself, you can even figure out when the Astrology is wrong. Pretty amazing if you ask me.

Below are the two charts (without the name of the individual). The first chart is the INCORRECT chart and the second cart is the CORRECT chart.