Mercury enters Libra

Astrologers are nothing more than poets of real time.  They take organic time and space and turn it into story and verse that make these alien phenomena which we understand less since the invention of clocks, even though we continue to be created and shaped by these limits as in the days when we studied the changing heaven to see how our lives evolved under the lights in the darkness turning around and around us; they make these intimate realities, so strangely alien and frightening to us, a delight at least as often as a horror to ponder.  They talk about the comings and goings of heavenly bodies as though we really are all one.  They elevate us to the whirling variations, syncopations, reversed ambulations, little dropping or hopping perturbations, among and over all the determined directional constants.  Plato called them the circle of the same and the other.  He talked about how they cross each other and make an X which they referred to in his time and place as Chi.  Kai?   

He talked a lot about psyche.  No kidding.  I was surprised to see someone so associated with early scientific thinking so thoroughly expostulate on psyche like it was some kind of cradling breath of the universe or something;  psyche is actually one of the main concepts discussed from many perspectives in Timeaus.  I’ve always wondered what exactly that word means.  I was in psychotherapy for a couple of years all together with two very cool, professional therapists.  I learned more about love from them than anywhere else except among loving friends and family.  I learned a lot in church.  But there were a lot of things that baffled me, and it was these two very sober minded therapists with a glimmer in their eyes, who helped me learn to reconcile the welter of thoughts swirling around in my restless mind.  Since they were called psychotherapists and what we were doing when we got together every two weeks was called psychotherapy, I had some idea that psyche had something to do with the mind.

Then there is the word psychic used nowadays I guess to refer to someone who tells you what is in your mind.  Plato refers to something along that line when he discusses the oracular priests at Delphi.  He explains that someone else is trained to interpret what the oracles say.  The interpreters sound a bit like government trained psychoanalysts.  Reading someone else’s mind or predicting which ship will sink sounds like aggressive advertising.  Most actual stories that I’ve read from those times make it sound like the Delphic pronouncements appeared unrelated to the upcoming events that seekers were anxious about.   It was only after the events unfolded that a definite meaningful connection was made between the words of the oracle and the outcome of events.  This sounds like hindsight being more accurate than foresight. 

Geez, now I am thinking about the difference between Aquarius and Scorpio.  Aquarius is far seeing into the eastern heaven, with little view of the western heaven, while Scorpio is the opposite.  In Scorpio the future’s field of view is short compared to the view of what’s disappearing under the horizon.

The Aquarian scientist and the Scorpio sleuth of the past, especially a past that is sinking lower and lower under the horizon. 

I know I will be horrified if I live to see my dream come true, still I wake every morning thinking of how to make this language as thrilling to people as learning to do a set of sun salutations from a yoga manual.  I don’t know how I will be horrified but a few Edgar Allen Poe stories flit regularly through my mind.  I know the whole experience will be far more complicated than anything I can imagine, that there will be at least as many parameters that I did not consider in my hopes and fears as the ones whose direction and speed I tried to control.  I know the ones I failed to think of will surprise me and make me rethink my best laid plans.  This is learning to live as a limited individual with a certain amount of time to experience existence in a certain way, under the unique perspective of a certain set of chronic limitations, different in some ways, in others similar, to those of my peers.  Others like me, but not exactly like me.

That’s my meditation today for Mercury entering Libra.

Sun meets Jupiter during Sober Period of Lunar Cycle

Whenever I feel good during the Moon’s line-up with Saturn and Pluto I study the charts to find the culprit.  The period when Moon is lined up with Saturn is serious business for the soul.  No fooling around.  These years, as Saturn draws closer and closer to Pluto the meetings get heavier as we go.  One day we’re faced with sobering realities that take a back seat for the rest of the month, and then a few days later we’re faced with an awareness of what it’s like to live on the edge of a bustling community of planets, humans or other life forms.  I’m talking about when the Moon is lined up with Pluto; every time that happens, every month, we are made aware of a tiny distant body tracing out an exceedingly long and eccentric cycle.

So when I felt hopeful, recognized, and engaged this weekend during the monthly sobering passage I wondered….

A Tangent about Jupiter in the last Quarter of its Cycle with Saturn

Well this morning it came to me.  I was fiddling with the cycle of Jupiter and Saturn.  Jupiter is just entering Saturn’s 10^th house this month.  We’re talking about the 10^th step in a 20 year cycle between the planet of limits (slow Saturn) and the planet of opportunity (fast Jupiter).  So even though Jupiter is now passing from Leo to Virgo, two fairly inexperienced signs, it is in a position of authority with the planet of limits.  Every day Jupiter is already high in the sky when Saturn is coming up in the East.  While Saturn is taking action to set or impose a limit, Jupiter is already up and waving its inspiring flag of  “if at first you don’t succeed try, try again.”   Try another door, push a different button, ask a different person for help.  Ask the same person, maybe they are in a better mood.  Try, try again.  Jupiter.  Since  Ms. Try Try again is now  in Virgo maybe the appeal is for information or help fixing some piece of techno gadgetry.   Take a Shot, What Have You Got to Lose!  is on the midheaven when Wait a Minute, Let’s See what Kind of Pitfalls Could be Hidden that Might Cause Trouble if we Rush into Action is just making its appearance from around the ‘far side’ of the Earth. 

Every day, Jupiter (faith) is on the midheaven when Saturn (limits) is rising.  They will continue in this stage of their relationship for many months.  Remember, the cycle between these two planets is 20 years.  Jupiter will not begin succumbing to the limits of Saturn until 2019, when it is in the last house while Saturn is rising.  We’ll talk more about that as their 20 year reunion approaches.

Why these 4 Days of Moon Lined up with Saturn and Pluto Don’t Suck 

Ok, that’s some background stuff about Jupiter and Saturn, now I can get to why this 4 day period when the Moon is near Saturn and Pluto does not feel as sobering as usual.  This week the Sun is in its yearly meeting with Jupiter.  The Sun is right near the planet of faith.  Sun is spirit.  It is the flame.  The Sun lined up with Jupiter is translated as the spirit lined up with the risk taker. 

Figure 1

So, this past weekend, today and tomorrow, while the Moon goes through the sobering part of its monthly cycle, the Sun is in the hopeful part of its yearly cycle.  

I was going to stop here, but let me elaborate just a wee bit.  The spirit can take a lot.  It just goes and goes, no matter how good or bad the going gets.  Sometimes the spirit gets so used to trudging through existence that it forgets how much faith it takes to keep on going.  Well, in the case of humans in bodies pinned to revolving Earth, there are a few days when Jupiter, invisible mind you, is lined up like a biggg fuzzy friend on the other side of a see saw from the creatures crawling around and flying through Earth’s atmosphere.  The Sun, also known as spirit, is the fulcrum in the middle, and Earth is directly across from Giant Jupiter. 

Figure 2  Check out Luna lined up with Pluto!

 

In the astrology chart (fig 1) we see the Sun right beside Jupiter.  We're supposed to know Earth is in the middle in astrology charts.  In the sky Jupiter is invisible because the Sun’s light is so bright.  Although it is invisible this is the period of fulfillment between Earth and Jupiter, the few days when faith perfectly balances our position in our journey around the Sun.  

One last little note.  Saturn looks like it is in the beginning of Scorpio in theplanetstoday.com screenshot (fig 2) but it is actually almost in Sagittarius.  In order to make it appear more accurately among the other planets you have to zoom way out and then they won't all fit on the screen at the same time.  You have to zoom way out and then wander around looking for it like a solar system scout traveling from planet to planet in the vast void of inky darkness.

That’s all folks!  I’m off for more playtime with Stellarium.