An Endless Essay for Taurus and Libra

Venus Entering Cancer: A Walk in Cancer’s Shoes for Taurus and Libra Natives

The morning of Aug 7, Venus leaves the sign Gemini where she has been since April and begins a month long journey through the sign Cancer.  First let’s talk about what we mean when we say a planet enters the sign Cancer.    

Cancer as Turning Point

Many people know that at summer solstice the sun rises higher in the sky than any other time of year.  The word tropic (as in Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn) comes from the Greek ‘tropicos’ meaning turn.  The summer solstice is the turning point in the ecliptic where we see planets turn from an ascending direction to one that is descending.  I often imagine a Ferris Wheel with the Tropic of Cancer being the position of highest elevation after which the seats begin to return to earth.  Any time a planet is in the first degree of Cancer it is at that point in the ecliptic of highest elevation.

Let’s look at the solar system from above for another perspective:  when we see the sun highest in the sky on June 21 it is because earth is in the point of its yearly trip around the sun where the tilted north pole is pointed toward the sun.  In similar manner any other planet entering the sign Cancer is moving into a position relative to earth where our north pole is leaning toward it, and in our sky we see that planet at the most elevated point of the ecliptic.

So on the morning of Aug 7 (east coast North America) Venus reaches this turning point.  But what does it mean?

Well…the sign before Cancer is Gemini.  In that sign Venus was slowly climbing to the highest point in the band across the sky.  In the case of the sun, we are still benefiting from an increase of its time above the horizon from one day to the next, but that increase is negligible compared to the gain we get in Pisces and Aries.  In those two signs we get about 2 more minutes of light every day, while in Gemini we go, in thirty days, from an increase of 1 minute 28 seconds per day to an increase of only 2 seconds.  Though we are still gaining light, the amount we are gaining is dropping off a little bit with each day.

What we are doing is measuring the amount of energy the earth is receiving from the sun, or other planets, in units of time.  If we imagine the sun’s energy as money going into a bank account, Aries would be the period when money is coming in so fast we can hardly count it, Taurus would be when the income starts to level out, Gemini would be when it slows down so much we start counting and figuring out how much we’ve got, and Cancer would be when the money starts to trickle out instead of coming in.  When any planet is in the sign Cancer, the time it spends above the horizon (in the northern hemisphere) diminishes a few seconds with each degree it moves forward.

Planetary Rulers Tell Who is in Charge

OK, I'm not beating around the bush, all this is to give some mechanical basis for the meaning of the zodiac signs.  With that information we turn to which planets are in charge of each sign- just like priests being in charge in churches, teachers in the classroom, and cashiers at the register, there are planets recognized as the ‘rulers’ of various signs based on the nature of their cycles.  The sign Gemini, where many small adjustments occur, is ruled by Mercury, the yo-yo planet that we see pass back and forth never far from the sun.  Mercury is associated with the mind, our ability to create within ourselves a facsimile of our changing environment. 

So while Venus is in Gemini she is ruled by Mercury, the planet of the mind, or basic intellectual processes.  Taurus and Libra have both been occupied with the Gemini process of gathering and filing information since April while Venus has been in Gemini.  I should back up here and explain for those who are unfamiliar with planetary rulerships that Taurus and Libra are both governed by Venus- so following Venus for them is like checking in with the boss.  When the boss is in her own office she has more control, but when she leaves it she comes under the influence of whoever is in charge of the office she is passing through.  During most of March, Venus was passing through Taurus and so able to rule her own territory.  People born when the sun was in Taurus or Libra enjoyed a short month of inner peace and friendship while the ruler of partnership was keeping melodious order in the house.  When Venus had to leave one of her homes (remember she also rules Libra) in April and begin her extended trip through Gemini she came under the influence of Mercury.  So if Venus has been getting her cues from Mercury- let’s look at what Mercury’s been doing.

Looking Back on Venus’ Trip through Gemini

(But First-We Define Pisces)

On April 3, when Venus first entered Gemini, Mercury was in Pisces, the last sign of the Zodiac where energy is seriously building up like the engines firing on a rocket as it begins lift off.  In the case of the sun passing through the ecliptic- (an aside here- we use the sun’s cycle to define the zodiac not just because it is the main source of energy in our system, but also because its cycle is the most consistent….every other planet (except the moon) stops and reverses course at some point in its cycle with earth…the sun marches at a fairly steady rate through the zodiac as we steadily circle it)—OK, back to the sun passing through the ecliptic… We gain 2 minutes 16 seconds of light every day for the last 10 days that the sun is in Pisces.  The ten days before that (sun passes through a sign in 30 days) we get an average of 2 minutes 14 seconds extra each day; and the first 10 days we gain about 2minutes 9 seconds per day.  The sun starts out in the sign Pisces rising quickly in the ecliptic and builds up in those 30 days to its greatest increase in energy units delivered to the northern hemisphere by the time it reaches Spring equinox.  Spring is not just spring because that’s when the sprouts pop out of the earth, it is also spring because that’s when the sun springs up over the celestial equator and ascends the ecliptic.  Pisces on the Ferris Wheel is like the part of the ride where the seats are starting to go straight up.  It is exactly like a ride in an elevator.  This is why the sign Pisces is associated with hope, there is so much energy getting poured into the system after the long winter nights, we can’t help but feel positive. 

So when Venus came under the influence of Mercury April 3, Mercury (the mind) was like a rocket in the early stage of lift off.  The first half of April was positive and hopeful for Taurus and Libra even though their boss was not in complete control.  April 16, Mercury entered the following sign Aries and was officially off the ground and on the way to god knows where.  This is the nature of Aries.  When a planet enters Aries it comes under the influence of high energy Mars and things are happening so fast you can count on surprises good and bad.  Beginning April 16, Taurus and Libra through this chain of command beginning with Venus, passing to Mercury, and finally to Mars because of Mercury in Aries, were in a state of high alert.  They were flexing their mental muscles eager to take on any challenge.

May 9, Mercury entered Taurus and all of a sudden the control, though indirect, was handed back to Venus.  Venus was still in Gemini and under Mercury’s rule, but Mercury was in her sign so looking to her for guidance.  They became a cooperative team, consulting with each other.  Taurus and Libra got a chance to calm down and turn their attention away from self assertion and crisis management, to more relaxed consulting on how to keep things running smoothly.

By May 24, when Mercury moved into Gemini, where it actively rules, Venus was on its way to passing between earth and sun and so appeared to be going backwards.  (It is because of this apparent backward motion that we saw Venus in Gemini for 4 months while she spent less than 30 days in Taurus.)  May 24 began a period of rapid and prolific information processing for Taurus and Libra.  But that was not to last long; on June 7 Mercury flew into Cancer, and I say flew because the little yo-yo planet was still on the far side of the sun where we see its relative motion at high velocity.  If we go back and count from May 24- June 7, the total number of days Mercury took to pass through the sign Gemini was only 14!  When Mercury hit the sign Cancer it was just slowing down at the same time it was peaking at the summer tropic; it was entering the sign ruled by the moon.  So Venus, still in Gemini, was now being ruled, through a chain of command going through Mercury, by the moon.  June 8-25, while Mercury was in Cancer, Libra and Taurus natives got an indirect preview of what’s coming tomorrow Aug 7, they got a chance to think like Cancer.  That’s not the same as their ruler being under the lunar influence, it was more a witnessing than walking in the same shoes, an observation of what it is like to experience the gravity of the moon.

June 26 Mercury entered Leo and the party for the mind began.  While the sun was in Cancer the party was sketchy, because the moon ultimately had the reigns, everything depended on the mood of the moment.  July 22, when the sun entered Leo, the party of the mind was unstoppable.  Libra and Taurus through Venus’ answering to the basic intellect were approaching things from a more spiritual level.  The conscious mind began running the show instead of an urge to make a partnership work.  This handing over control to the ego can seem less spiritual, unless we see spirituality as being true to our individual destiny as opposed to the pull of relationships.

Today mercury is completing its passage between us and the sun in the sign Leo.  Leo is the fun sign.  It is like the part of the Ferris Wheel ride where everyone is dropping down and screaming.  The sun rules the sign Leo.  We feel intensely alive at that point of dropping, we are hysterically laughing at our own fear, we are cresting on the outgoing energy that came from the sun-Leo.  The sun is now (Aug 6) in its place of power and mercury is nearby at the celebratory banquet, they are both in the sign Leo.

Leo is a place of strength.  No king or queen rules forever, no summer is endless.  But summer is summer, and Mercury (Gemini’s boss), now so close to the sun is in this place of spiritual strength and power.  The mind is under the influence of the spirit (Sun in Leo), enjoying what it can do, like a child enjoying the long days of summer.  This happiness of the mind impacts Taurus and Libra as long as Venus (their boss) is in Gemini. 

Looking forward to the Next 30 Days of Venus in Cancer

As soon as Venus hits that turning point of Cancer it comes under the influence of the moon instead of Mercury.  From where we are, the moon is a whole lot faster than even liquid mercury and a lot bigger.  The moon, because it is so close to us has a major impact on our lives from one moment to the next.  Think of a baby, so small, so incapable of sustaining its own life, but so important to its parents because of life’s connection.  The moon is the soul, it is our connection to other lives.  Taurus and Libra will go from an intellectual focus to a focus on others, and get swept up in the gravity of emotions. 

Following the Moon Aug 7-Sept 6

Let’s take a quick look at some of the many changes the moon goes through in its path through the ecliptic in one month:

The morning of August 7^th the moon will be in the high energy sign Aries; so the planet of stability and balance will come under the pull of others at a time when emotions are in a state of excitement.  This is very similar to the crisis people experience at the birth of new life.  But by sunrise Aug 8, the moon will be in Taurus, and disturbing emotions will be grounded in useful tasks for the next two and a half days.  The night of Aug 10, when the moon in is Gemini and lining up with distant but very large Jupiter there will be a chance to review the new landscape.  The moon’s proximity to Jupiter will infuse emotions with an expansive sense of hope and purpose.  That sense of hope should carry for the next two days.

The morning of Aug 13 the moon will be in Cancer lining up with Venus.  This will be the point when Taurus and Libra feel the strongest attachment to others.  It will be like the magic that happens when friends are on a raft in the middle of the great Mississippi, weightlessly traveling toward their next adventure, two hearts beating as one.

By lunch time Aug 15 the moon will be in Leo and something we have not talked about will be impossible to ignore- Mars lining up with Saturn.  This passage of the moon thru the territory of the ego will intensify the test of will subjected to discipline of the Mars/Saturn conjunction.  Bonds formed from Aug 7 till the 14^th will be strained.  The needs of survival and individuals will supersede those of connectedness.  Mercury, still in the sun’s sign, will speak to the moon of how much fun our own thoughts are, how creative we are when we shine our own light- and there goes happily ever after.  The child in our raft mate (every one has a child in them) is after our attention and we would rather be shining our own light, but they will not stop till they get a reaction.  At this point our ability to laugh and be entertained will be most important.  We have to be able to look in the eyes of that other person we are connected to and see another light, a different light that holds our attention.

Skip to the night of Aug 17 when the crisis has had its way with us and the moon enters Virgo.  Here we become students, if we imagine ourselves still on that raft, we are now analyzing our partner, our surroundings, recent activity.  It is a time to adjust to the reality that surrounds us on either shore of the river, to discuss how we can cook the fish differently to improve the quality of life on the raft.

When the sun rises Aug 20^th the moon will be in Libra, and on the night of the 21^st it lines up with Mars and Saturn.  Mars will have completed its alignment with Saturn but they will still be close.  It is as though the moon’s passage through this area brings added gravity and reflective new light to the crisis of Aug 14-16.   

Cancer’s View

Here I want to shift to the perspective of Cancer natives, who are gaining sympathetic companions with this transit of Venus into their sign.  As Taurus and Libra natives are dipped in the healing waters of love, Cancer becomes like a minister whose flock has gained members.  People who normally take pride in their ability to stand on their own two feet (Taurus), or see friendship as an agreement instead of a life and death bond (Libra) are given over to the lunar influence which governs the lives of Cancer natives.  Until we are at the top of that Ferris Wheel about to take gravity’s plunge we have no idea what it is like to live life as a Cancer.  Just as childless adults are baffled at the emotions that transform parents, many of us cannot understand the powerful emotions that drive Cancer natives.  We can’t understand their fears.  We cannot see the edge of the cliff where they stand looking at the ground wayyy down below.

So, for the month from Aug 7- Sept 6 while Venus is in Cancer, Taurus and Libra sun people will get a taste of what it’s like to be a Cancer- and Cancer natives will get the support of willing partners working beside them and witnessing the reality of what they live with every day.

Return to the Following Moon

Back to following the moon through this month when Taurus and Libra join the Cancer club as honorary members- Aug 22 the day begins with the moon in Scorpio.  When the moon is in Scorpio the time it spends above the horizon has diminished markedly from when it was in Cancer.  While the moon was in Cancer it was above the horizon for more than 14 hours a day, Aug 22, when it enters Scorpio, it is above the horizon for less than 11.  We have less time of conscious awareness of our feelings and the period of unconscious awareness is increasing.  We are now looking at the feelings under the surface.

The moon reaching Sagittarius at sunrise Aug 24^th, is a critical stage in the Cancer walk; the moon is preparing to ‘bottom out’ in the lowest energy point of the cycle.  I often think of Sagittarius as the point on the Ferris Wheel ride where the seats are close enough to the ground that riders can see the network of power cables supplying the push that gets all those rides to spin and whirl.  Then I picture a tube of toothpaste that looks empty- how if you’re not careful a big blob will squirt out when you roll that envelope up thinking there is hardly anything left in there.  Sagittarius is about directing the diminished incoming energy to achieve the most effect.

It happens that the later signs are occupied by two outer planets; Pluto is in Capricorn for the next several years and Neptune is in Pisces till 2025.  Once the moon passes through Scorpio/Sagittarius and enters the ‘mature’ signs occupied by slow moving planets, emotions will be affected by wider ranging issues related to the longer term flow of history.  The night of Aug 26 the moon will be approaching lineup with very distant and small Pluto. 

Returning to the journey on the raft, when the moon is conjunct Pluto the night of Aug 26 it will be like getting a sense of what’s on the bottom of the river.  How deep is it?  What is making the water change course in areas where there is no visible obstruction?  In Capricorn we are at the lowest point of the energy cycle.  All we have is what’s been saved and built up.  The plunge has been taken, emotions have spun out, and here we begin the process of rebuilding.  We pull ourselves together, control our emotions, and do what needs to be done.  By dinner time Aug 27 when the moon opposes Venus, Taurus and Libra can see how much stronger they are because of the bonds they have formed with others; they will be 3/4ths of the way through the month long journey walking in the shoes of Cancer, and have enough experience to make a sober assessment of love’s power to heal and nurture life.  

As the moon moves on to Aquarius the afternoon of Aug 28, consciousness will be lifted out of the body, up above the treetops where we see the river’s water going to sea.  Though Venus is still in the moon’s sign, and under lunar rule, the moon will be in a place of detached observation.  If we turn again to the image of the Ferris Wheel, Capricorn and Aquarius are the two signs at the very bottom, where we find the mechanic insuring that the system runs smoothly.  There is no sense of danger or adventure for the self; thoughts are on the safety of everyone, and the integrity of the machinery.

At sunset Aug 30 the moon will be full and lined with distant Neptune.  Aug 30- Sept 1 are the days assigned to compassion in this Pisces stretch of the month long journey.  As the moon climbs toward the equinoctical midpoint it spends an increasing amount of time above the horizon. There is a sense of being lifted up in the sign Pisces that infuses us with hope. 

When the sun rises Sept 2, the moon will be back in the high energy sign of Aries.  This is where it was when Venus first entered Cancer on Aug 7.  But this time around the sun and Mercury will be in studious Virgo instead of pleasure seeking Leo, and the trial of Mars contacting Saturn will be a known event in the past instead of an unknown event to come.  Martial drive will be in a position of quiet power, instead of having to bow graciously to necessity.

But the most interesting aspect of Sept 2 will be Venus coming to a place 90 degrees behind Saturn.  While energy is over the top with the moon contacting Uranus in Aries, Venus will be teaching authoritative Saturn a lesson about the importance of love in balancing the scales of justice.  I wonder if this means Taurus and Libra will have to stand up to some one and challenge them to a more loving interpretation of fairness. Cancer will certainly be prepared to speak up as they always are when kindness is an issue, and they will appreciate the support of allies.

By the afternoon of Sept 4 things will be more grounded with moon in Taurus.  At this point Venus is in the last couple degrees of the sign Cancer, Mercury is almost across from earth on the far side of the sun and moving fast.  Minds will be sparking and there will be lots of activity around documentation.  The month of Taurus and Libra walking the path of Cancer will be over by lunch time Sept 6- Venus will enter Leo and the tender lessons learned about love will now seem like child’s play.  It will be time for Taurus and Libra to shine and have some fun. 

Wrap up

Before I sign off this interminable post I want to say one more thing to Taurus and Libra- Venus has been in Gemini since April, that’s 4 months of wonder and amazement at the variety of the universe.  You are about to be carried on the wave of life instead of observing it, to leave the detached world of ideas and enter as a participant into the flow of events.  Beliefs will cease to be things you study like a naturalist, or theories to advocate among cohorts; they will propel you forward, and by the actions you take, reveal what matters most to you.

Taurus natives will be amazed and intrigued at the direction they take.  Librans (as if they haven’t been doing this for the last two years) will feel the responsibility of following through and standing up for others.       

  

August 2012 Horoscopes

Aries:  An infectiously upbeat attitude becomes more vulnerable on the 7^th.  While diplomatic tensions peak with a sobering test of courage Aug 13-15, kindness will rule and fairness will be appreciated.   From 1:30 pm Aug 22- 11:30 am Aug 23 you have a brief chance to strategize without repercussions, after that you are the pilot on a private mission.

Taurus:  Aug 7 you answer the door and find an alien infant in a basket making disturbing noises.  The next day the feeling of crisis will give way to the routine of life support.  By the 13^th you’ll see how caring for others is as indispensable to life as leaves on trees.  This month’s crisis is a chance to find out what you’ve learned and which skills you want to sharpen.

Gemini:  On Aug 7 the harmonizing influence stabilizing your life since April will move on at the same time your creativity becomes free to explore further afield.  You are in a good position at the middle of the month to gain philosophical or musical understanding from contractual tensions.   This month’s challenge to gracefully fulfill an obligation under pressure is a chance for Gemini to shine.

Cancer:  A relationship that’s been casual and intellectual since April will become more familiar after Aug 7.  You are a mother coyote this month, caring for a pack on the edge of civilization.  Religious rules about eating are institutions to preserve certain alliances.  The more scarce the resources, the more a pack must encourage discipline.  Aug 13-15 you are encourager in chief.

Leo:  Leo’s are exceptional teachers because their reverence for casual conversation elevates it to a higher level.  They spark beauty with openhearted enthusiasm to sharing ideas.  Aug 7 begins a tour spreading the gospel of pleasure; Aug 16 early risers see Jupiter, Venus and maybe even Mercury rise before the sun.  Your community rewards you for preserving traditions.

Virgo:   In 1848 when tax exemption for the nobility was abolished in Hungary, The Married Women’s Property Act was passed in New York, and the first Women’s Rights Convention was held; sorting out the language and helping define the aims of these social movements was tedious and largely thankless work…but everyone involved thought the dream was worth it.  We’re in a similar time, and starting late on the 22^nd, attention to details will bring new visions into clearer focus.

Libra:  The skill most respected in politicians, teachers, and business owners is the ability to compromise and to cooperate with a wide variety of personalities, to strike a deal with a friendly hand shake.   A strong wind does not destroy structures designed over time to receive the force, and the rest will get a chance for renewal.

Scorpio:  After Aug 23 truths will become secrets waiting to get free.  Before that you will have no control, but perfect opportunity to decide which truths are most vulnerable and how to protect them.  Pickled, salted, or is mummifying the only option available for the time frame involved?

Sagittarius:  Somewhere between 1995 and 2008 you shed innocence.  Some people toss it like a shirt on the bed, others fold it up and put it in a closet hoping one day to reclaim it.  Some people fleeing oppression leave innocence in the woods and grab whatever clothing will let them pass unmolested.  This year you feel as blessed to look back on that process as a historian who finds witnesses.

Capricorn:  Aug 13-15 is time for baptism in the waters of religion, history, and tribal myth.  The more we know about the roots of traditions, the less we are slaves to self destructive belief systems.  Aug 1-22 get the word out and keep as many parties at the table as feasible; after that start privately strategizing for various outcomes.

Aquarius:  The first of the month an organizing principle balances theatrical flare, and the end of the month it gives ideas for adjusting the script.   Emerging developments Aug 5, 6 should be interesting when the moon lines up with your planet (Uranus) in Aries.  Aug 15-18 look like a lot of fun as the moon passes mercury.   

Pisces:  Aug 3,4 and 30,31 are good days for flights of pure imagination outside graduated cylinders. Aug 11 your tender sense of luck this year is highlighted.  Tension is high Aug 15-17, but Aug 22-26 the sun opposing Neptune highlights clarity, and the moon illuminates exiles in healing  institutions.

We are Living in a Spherical World

One of the most damning ‘observations’ made of astrologers, by defenders of modern objective science, is that they make decisions based on how the planets are aligned.  Aside from the obvious corollary of making a thousand daily decisions based on the motions of a mechanical device that crows from beside the bed, this reminds me of the doctor who forcefully asserts that levothyroxine made in a lab is eggsactly like what your thyroid makes.  Thus speak the righteous scientists.  And then there’s religion.  But of course its all political to me.  Its all political to me.

But then I think love is political.  I think love is a highly charged political action.  Like, who you love is a political choice.  I think a lot about the politics of love- what rules a society imposes on acts of love.  What makes an act of love illegal?  Are acts of love privileges which require license?  Driving a car is a privilege.  Like a lot of privileges, driving is taken for granted by those who have a license.  But many of our neighbors are denied a license to drive.  Why do we deny people a license to drive?  A license to enter our country?  Why is it ok to have our cookie and appliance factories in Mexico?  Is it because the labor and environmental laws there are more favorable to corporations and work is mas barata.  All life is basically cheap there.  Death is where the money is.  Down in Mexico guns are illegal, but we don’t respect their border and let them flow across freely, so they have heads literally rolling in the streets.  Gun control rules in Mexico.  Guns are big in Mexico, like they are in Russia, Afghanistan- where else do we see guns in the streets, strapped over the shoulders of people in public (usually men).  How did those guns get there?  Where did those madrassa students get all their weapons and pick up trucks?  Where did the money come from?

Right, though, we’re talking about those stupid (stupid!) astrologers (how could they be so turned off by reality?  How hard they work at weaving their stories of la la land!)  And when a prediction comes out wrong, they just change the date.  They are worse than prostitutes and we can’t seem to get rid of them.  But people give them their hard earned money!!  They are worse than high interest credit card offers and pawn shops.  They are worse than NASA, the EPA, and ICE combined; astrologers just want to run our lives and it’s a real shame to see people get caught up in that bull.

Well, the moon is catching up with mars in libra today.  This is like the visit of a loved one or the food truck at the camp.  Mars is really showing off his most charming side this month whether he or she likes it or not.  It is really important to see mars in the females in your life as well as the males.  The will to survive is strong in every one.  Right now we are actually starting in on a wrap up of almost thirty months of gaining a sobering understanding of fairness.  Saturn will soon descend even further down the ecliptic, below the celestial equator.  This month mars is catching up with the old one, and today, the swiftly changing moon.  All three in libra-saturn, mars and the moon.

Mars will catch right on up beside Saturn about Aug 16.  When that happens the sun, moon and mercury will be in leo, with venus in cancer.  That should be fun. 

The new moon was beautiful last night.  How could any people who follow the moon believe the earth is flat?  It is when the moon is really new, or really old and all we can see lit up is a curved sliver, like a tiny blanket of light on the bottom side of a Christmas tree ornament, perfectly curved, illuminated by a candle from a lower branch; that it is obvious we live in a spherical world.

Astrology Slut

Sorry, for the offensive title, I'm super bummed.  Just had a great day exploring astronomy sites, ancient history- getting to know the difference between a Philistine and an Amorite.  It was such a great day of study.  I had stumbled onto a really cool astronomy site called Bad Astronomy.  I was looking for more info about the Vela C region.  The European Space Agency just published some beautiful images of this region 2,500 light years from our sun which was referred to as a star nursery.  The Bad Astronomy blog didn't have additional info about that but did have a neat video showing water drops in slow motion, forming craters in various substances (to illustrate how peaks formed in craters on the moon).  I was so excited.

After reading the most recent posts on the Bad Astronomy site I clicked on an archived post about astrology.  Heart break.  It seems that astronomers respect astrologers about as much as Christians respect atheists.  So I did leave a very brief comment.

I guess it is just these awful moments that remind me why I devote so much time to astrology.  It has made me whole.  It has made me feel that I am not crazy for feeling lost in a world of clocks and calendars; that time is holy and not something generated by a mechanical device, but something spun out of the same miracle that gave birth to the stars and planets and me.

In the last 18 months of writing a monthly horoscope column, I have gained a better understanding of why astrology is so reviled.  Some of the comments posted on the Bad Astronomy blog provided even more insight.  In fact in my studies today I came across a Christian site about Armageddon that was astonishing in the depth of detail and number of posts and followers. Religion really is powerful stuff!  So powerful I don't see it going away any time soon.  I think the best approach is to marry religion with what we know about the real world. 

I will continue to enjoy the Bad Astronomy site.

But I think that dose of disrespect calls for some serious poetry.  Here is one (of five) by Adrienne Rich which was reprinted with original date of publication, in The Nation magazine, on the occasion of her death in March 2012 at the age of 82.  She had contributed twenty one poems and several essays to The Nation over her lifetime.  I have no idea what Ms. Rich's attitudes were about astrology; I do believe she had a deep love for humanity.

At Willard Brook
November 18, 1961

Spirit like water
moulded by unseen stone
and sandbar, pleats and funnels
according to its own
submerged necessity-
to the indolent eye
pure wilfulness, to the stray
pine-needle boiling
in that cascade-bent pool
a random fury; Law,
if that's what's wanted, lies
asking to be read
in the dried brook-bed.

I feel like such a feeble and inadequate champion of such a worthy cause.  But then I am reminded of Boethius and my eyes are lifted from this dull earth to the starry heavens.  I know of no better faith than that which bows in reverence to the real firmament.  The stars, conscious or not, gave birth to us.  They do not need me to speak for them.  It is other humans, longing for some sense of life's purpose, that need to be acquainted with their real origins, their real home, the real flame that they carry within their mortal selves.  We did not create the stars and planets.  We come from them.  It is right and proper that we follow them and seek to feel at home among them.  Clocks are mere inventions of humans, crude imitations of earth's relationship to the sun.  Astrology follows all the planets as though they are our neighbors, as though they matter to us, as though they are something more than objects to mine for minerals or water.  The other planets in our solar system are extensions of earth just as electrons and protons cohabit atoms.  Astrology helps us feel as snug in our corner of the Milky Way as an electron in a carbon atom.

Good astrology fosters reverence for the real universe. 

Our Sky Horoscopes July 2012

Hey!  Here is July!  I feel so extraneous posting these horoscopes after I look at the fields of them all over the internet; I have seen one with cool illustrations by the  astrologer who writes the horoscopes.  The following link Ode To Scorpio video by Michael Lutin was sent to me by my friend Todd Clayton.  Mr. Lutin is a first rate performance artist bringing quality astrology to the public.  Michael Lutin NY     <--------click on that for his web site.

 

So here's MP's contribution for July, 2012

Aries:  A complicated string of contacts, beginning with a friend that’s like a brother or sister, will tune you into a lunar channel and take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions July 3-21.  The tension will be high on the 17^th when you’ll get a chance to weigh all sides of a contentious issue.  July 28 as you approach a test of fairness, you’ll be eager to argue your case.  July 30, 31 though severe restrictions are highlighted, you will have a sporting attitude.

Taurus:  The apostle Thomas had to touch the wounds of the survivor before he could fathom the miracle.  You are walking away from a fact gathering mission to understand your own twist of fate.  Like Thomas you will have a range of emotions to sort through until July 22 when enough celebratory energy is spinning out to brighten all feelings.

Gemini:  Penetrating humor July 1,2 gives way to darker insights the 3^rd and 4^th followed by work on a far reaching vision.  July 9, 10 you get kudos for originality and then on the 14^th meditation gives way to socializing and family fun.  July 22 you come under the spell of summer.

:Cancer:  July 17 be there and be square- People will be motivated to forge some kind of holistic agreement.  Pour a little sweetener in that big jar of cool aid, stir in ice cubes for an attention getting clink against the glass and watch folks get down to business.  July 24, 25 a courageous push to build lasting support systems is highlighted.

Leo:  Some high energy days are July 1, 2, for lively conversation and 9-11 for defending an opinion.  July 14, 15 are friendly days.  The 17^th is a tense day as several conflicting needs compete.  The moon is a thin crescent July 22 when sun enters Leo.  July 24,25 you’ll have to take care of business.

Virgo:  July 3^rd is your day of independence- when the martial planet of survival leaves your neighborhood and crosses below the celestial equator.  Still, until July 22, the spirit of generosity will have you at the mercy of fluctuating emotions.   After that you’ll be like the traveler in Rome enjoying the colorful customs without judgment.

Libra:  Virgo’s independence is your new challenge, but with 2 years of carrying the weight of the world you are prepared to handle anything.  As the sun descends from the Tropic of Cancer your main concern will be reading emotional cues like tail wagging, ears back, teeth bared or belly presented for a friendly rub.  By the 22^nd even mad dogs will fetch a toy from the water.

Scorpio:  A beaver having its way is not building a cement pond.  Protect the trees you really need and relax.  Some people pay good money to have experts alter their landscapes, while you are getting organic changes for free and the unexpected surprises that come with friendship.

Sagittarius:  This year Sagittarians are finding out what their dream looks like when it comes to fruition.  Don’t panic if you suddenly realize something that should have been obvious- like behind every successful business is an owner juggling problems.  By month’s end you’ll accept what you’ve gained like a good sport.

Capricorn:  The looping chain of communication that you are stuck with until August leads to the dreaded boogie dwarf July 3, 4.  You are becoming very familiar with this marginalized subject, but the rest of us only get a sound bite once a month.  July 22 your self restraint will begin to pay off and you’ll have a couple of weeks to get a few persuasive words in.

Aquarius:  You have 5 more years of being a hero.  This month you’ve got the job of befriending someone at a time when they are talkative but speaking in riddles.  At first you’ll be challenged to sort out the moods behind the performance.  By July 22 you’ll be familiar enough with their quirks to enjoy their humor without mental translations.

Pisces:  Sometimes the most important way we show love is through meaningless conversation with no points to be driven home or lessons to be grasped: the delight of language just for fun.  Then too a free flow of information is the best support for those who want to stand on their own two feet.  This year you are nurturing with words more than deeds.

June Horoscopes

Aries:  In the second week of June you will feel your confidence drop as worries make it hard to think objectively.  Ancient students of rhetoric had to practice speaking with marbles in their mouth.  Think of this as training; you’ll be a star speaker by the 26^th thanks to this temporary handicap.

Taurus:  Feeling like a forgotten potato in the pantry with tender roots reaching for that honey jar on the first shelf?  Wondering how much longer before you get pitched into the compost heap?  You’re not finished yet; private adventures June 7-25 will show you everything you need to know about the next chapter in your life. 

Gemini:  You rule the first week of June and then you’ll be trapped inside the looking glass for almost three weeks.  When the month begins to wind down you will have lived through many nonsense rhymes that once made you laugh, and will be coming up with originals of your own.

Cancer:  According to legend we got the Our Father when the people asked Jesus how to pray.  I always wondered why he didn’t just throw his hands up in disgust and say “I give up!  You fools are hopeless!”  Instead he produced a formula, quick as a glass of instant milk, that we still repeat today.  Your job this month is to outline the facts of caring. We are all gods trapped in flesh from the same god, but are lost without your reminders of how this is so.

Leo:  You get plenty of respect till June 7 when an emotional techie messes up the cue frames or you are overwhelmed by the news and have to cut to station identification.  Mature associates will provide the lines you need to keep the broadcast rolling.  Though you won’t be in charge yet, by the middle of the month you’ll have willing assistance because you stood up for a difficult story.

Virgo:  The first week of June we look to you to get the facts straight, then some of us can jump in and all you have to do is give pointers to the confused helpers and answer questions to keep us on the right track.  In the middle of June you get a bigger project to set up, but it won’t upturn your life and you have a year to complete it.

Libra:  You are a social butterfly with an invisibility cloak, which may come in handy the second week of June when the accounts of loss and dependency start coming in.  It just so happens as you adjust to the various requests for understanding, the cloak will be shrinking, but what matters is that visible or not, you can help people locate their own source of pain. 

Scorpio:  You lose control starting June 7.  You’ll have the reigns for a crisis June 12-14 but then it’s back to dealing with whatever comes up as best you can.  Think of yourself as a contractor finishing up construction on a house, you have to coordinate various experts as they become available.

Sagittarius:  If last your last year was dark night of the soul, the one starting June 12 is the year of impersonations, and you had good coming attractions in May going from wasp to caterpillar to butterfly.  June 7 your butterfly morphs to penguin and on the 26^th you become a dolphin. 

Capricorn:  After a week of productive research you go back to the kitchen for a few weeks and work on the stew.  As business comes to a standstill and tensions increase, the idea of celebrating will appear more strategic than frivolous.  A bit of theater gives you a chance to set the tone as the next round of negotiations approaches.

Aquarius:  Guerilla sword play with facts is fun, but starting June 7 there will be more players crying foul or requesting a time out to discuss the rules of play.  This won’t be as entertaining as electronic documentation of witless criminals and public officials, but it will give you a chance to outline your views on our evolving rules of privacy.

Pisces:  On the 12^th you get direct access to information that previously came from a friend or ally, even as they are drawing closer to you.  To Pisceans trivia is the milk of kindness.  After the 27^th your friend will be on their way as the dialogue is becoming festive. 

Introducing a New Writer on Our Sky Blog

Introducing a New Writer on Our Sky Blog

Kenny Grey The 4th House of Home has agreed to let me post some more of the writing he has sent me over the last couple of months.  We reconnected via internet this past March after being blown onto different paths at the end of high school 36 years ago.  I never knew Kenny very well- just saw him when he came in to Surfside Pavilion to get a drink or bite to eat when I worked behind the snack counter.  He was the coolest surfer on the beach which is saying a lot since Holden Beach was the coolest beach around.  It was a super place to be a teenager because it was just a beach with pinball machines, foosball, friendly waves and a fishing pier.  Ok there was also air hockey, put-put golf and a few pool tables.  The best parties were at the end of dirt roads hidden among live oaks and sand dunes. 

In the three summers I worked at the Pavilion I never learned anything about Kenny.  So when I made a day trip to visit him and his family this past March I was flabbergasted to see that he lived right near the boat houses that I had looked at countless times, and wondered about, whenever I crossed the bridge over the water way.  I also did not know that his favorite little league coach was a close friend of my parents; I only knew that Kenny was the surfer with the sunniest disposition who always treated others with respect and consideration.

It was a wonderful surprise to learn that Kenny writes, documenting his heritage as a native of Brunswick County.  In the last several weeks I’ve gotten to read about all the ways he has enjoyed the beach and waterways over the years with friends and family; he’s written about kayaking, surfing, camping around the state and family reunion fish fries to list just a few of the topics.

Today I'm posting a few paragraphs from an excerpt he sent from "the surfing diary", and I've sent him the 'keys' to the blog, so he can start posting at his convenience.  Aside from a brief introduction to his birth chart, Kenny is new to astrology.  I will be looking for ways that natural time is reflected in the themes of his posts and the moments he hits the publish button.  Welcome Kenny!

Excerpts from the surfing diary......

October 1994, just before Halloween...Steve Strutski and i are the only ones out, both of us on nine foot long boards. Perfect waist to chest glass, long rides, warm water and air. A great day with a good friend. Rescued a pelican who caught a surf fisherman's live bait and got hooked through his bill.  I was surprised how weak he was; obviously built to glide.

 ...Around September, 1995, we had several days of the most excellent waves, thanks to hurricane Luis passing by offshore. Big waves, some over head high, offshore winds and perfect glass made Holden Beach a surf mecca for a few hours one day. I was out at the bridge; in between sets, the ocean would appear dead calm. This made it difficult to be in the right spot, as there was no lineup of surfers just outside the break zone like usual.  Fear kept my adrenalin pumping as every twenty minutes or so a huge set, much larger than the rest, would stand against the horizon and i would burst into a full speed paddle straight out to sea, to try not to get caught inside as these waves would break much farther out to sea than the rest.  Knowing that a wave breaks when its height is about two-thirds the depth of the water, i knew that I had to get outside the shallow sandbar where the normal waves break. But the waves, although huge and powerful, were breaking very slowly with the strong northeast wind blowing against them, so the takeoffs and drop ins were effortless, almost as if i was in slow motion. The rides were extremely long, and i often got tubed twice on the same wave as the shorebreak was still chest high or higher. I got barreled so many times that day i lost count. Got tubed twice backside on the same wave. 

A week later hurricane Jerry passed offshore and great chest to head high waves again. Perfect glass for several days at the bridge, the pier, and Surfside, my favorite old spot. I lived across the river then, as i still do, and i would paddle my board across the river and surf all day and paddle back home in the dark. My first board was an eight foot long Claude Cogdin "Lightweight" model, so named because it weighed a scant sixty pounds. It was like walking with a ship's anchor. It was too wide for a scrawny fifteen year old to get his arm around, so i had to carry it on my head like the "Endless Summer" guys. I had a knot on my head for years after selling that board. 

May Horoscopes

May 2012 Horoscopes

Late again!

You can always find Our Sky Horoscopes on time at The Triangle, including Fluffy Cosmos, DJ Pancakes and many other inspiring writers from the glbt community.  Click on the link and check them out!

Aries:  On May 9 your mainline to hot information will be compromised, but a helpful channel will be an inspiring example of patience and restore your faith in partnership.  By the 24^th your access to intelligence will be effortless; you’ll soon look back on the last several months and appreciate the knit fixing that seemed to go nowhere. 

Taurus:  Virtual life is for the birds, but get used to it; you’ll be up in the air till August.  After a low spirited May 9, you’ll start examining rooftops to orient yourself.  May 13, 14 you’ll still be lost and paralyzed but full of hope.  Call and respond, listen and talk back, you’ve got to hang in the treetops for awhile and learn to chat with the avian tribe.

Gemini:  The wind continues at your back till the 9^th, and then those pedals will need more torque.  Your best bet is persuasion May 11, 12- but cooperation will be threatened May 15, 16.  The weekend of the 18^th is not in your hands; May 25-27 is the high point of the month. 

Cancer:  May begins with a problem to solve and your best chance to gaze on the fleeting nature of perfection.  Don’t run out for a new radio when urgent signals are dropped or seem to become fainter as the month progresses.  You will have to feel your way for a while, and guess at the meaning of the few messages that get through.  Keep a steady hand and after the 24^th you’ll get an inspiring jump in reception. 

Leo:  When I look at Leo’s chart for May 13 I get a nostalgic urge to reread “The Brotherhood of the Grape.”   At the same time I picture a child, dragged against their will to work in the field, discovering grown up pleasures they would have missed, had they not been pressed to carry grown up weight.

Virgo:  May 1 the moon highlights the ongoing challenges you’ve dealt with since Nov.  May 3 and 4 take care of contract duties while you’re motivated to speak up.   The quest to find creative solutions for practical problems peaks before dawn May 22.  May 26 your ability to take on a bit of chaos will feel like the triumph of a survivor.  May 28-30 things are improving, but there is still a little way to go.

Libra:  May 4 your cool head prevails, then on the 9^th the moon points to the dispossessed while mental activity digs in for an understanding of how things work.  May 13 if you can let go, wander dissolutely; the better for your reflexes on the 17^th when tempers flare.  May 18-20 get busy behind the scenes while the moon closes in on the sun.  Visit like a butterfly May 26, 27.

Scorpio:  You retain the initiative through May 9 and then your will to fix things gives way to necessity.  Not to worry, hidden information will start to come out after the 24^th at the same time the fix-it train is picking up speed.  You still have plenty of influence.

Sagittarius:  In May conversations will rise and fall like the feathers from an old fashioned pillow fight; by the 9^th the pillows will be worse off than the birds whose down stuffed them and the air will begin to clear as gravity takes over.  But then on the 24^th someone lets in a breeze and stirs things up all over again.  The air shows no sign of staying clear till the June rains come.

Capricorn:  You’re still vulnerable till the 10^th, when hot heads run out of steam.  Then, as folks begin to cooperate with each other you’ll forget the rancor, or at least not dwell on it.  Your work as a diplomat becomes more intricate on the 24^th when you start managing all the input.

Aquarius:  You can handle the stress of war.  The real threats since Nov come from the failure of equipment and disregard of critical protocol.  Give up wrangling from May 9-23, but then go back out like a bee after honey and the lines of communication will hum with efficiency.

Pisces:  Your tour in the nursery has been extended- they want thrillers till May 9 and then you can bring out the sleepers till the 24^th for quiet time.  The scariest part of the month comes when everyone wakes up from a nap eager to tell a story just like you. 

Mars and Jupiter in Earth Signs

 Blogspot has changed the format and I feel like I'm driving in an automatic after years of a stick shift. 


Not sure if this is Mars finally picking up speed after so many months in Virgo- but I tried to play a cd in the dvd player plugged into my little tv in the living room.  Except for computers we haven't had a working cd player in the house for more than 4 years.  They aren't as plentiful in thrift stores as they once were.  I remember when you could get a decent boom box for 8-10 bucks.  So, since the dvd player does play cd's; I've done like Dorothy did in the Wizard of Oz, I clicked my heals and got the music I could have had all these months.

There is a middle eastern disco beat pulsing in the living room.  A nice call and shout number is on the second track with women responding to men and lots of hand drums.  I get this stuff at the store where I buy olives, olive oil and feta cheese.  There is a really beautiful woman who treats me like a sister.  She is from Egypt and has a baby boy.  I have spoken with some of the other women at the store a bit, but she is the one who literally took me under her wing.  Since then I have noticed that she is outspoken with the men.  Though I'm sure she is not yet 30 years old, she has the spirit of a matriarch.

I love the combination of violins like plentiful water rushing over rocky creek beds and hand drums like many feet pounding the bare earth.   I will have to ask my friend what they are singing in these songs.  I tried to learn the alphabet in Arabic, but failed twice.  One day....when there is more time for these things.  

So crossing the obvious technical hurdle to get music could be Mars finishing up its extended stay in Virgo, but what to associate with the international theme it has fed in my world?  Maybe Jupiter in Taurus.  That stay has been a bit longer- about a year, and it has felt like a time of putting down roots, realizing a commitment, coming to an understanding of loyalty among people from faraway places.  Without traveling from my home, I have made a place in my life for strangers.  It has been very difficult; I am exceedingly selfish with my time, my words and attention to the lives of others.  My son and dog and housemate live with my antisocial behavior every day.

But today I am alone in the house with my dog who does not complain about my choice of music, getting the dishes washed with a lively beat, a foreign language and foreign musical flourishes gracing the air.  But I am late to clean a house...  jumping jupiter!

Looking forward to New Moon in Taurus

I am anticipating the Taurus new moon April 21 with peace already suffusing my happy heart.  The meeting of Jupiter and Venus in March was the highlight of a hope filled year for workers, even with all the violence of tiny people shaking their fists at death dealing weapons of the rich and powerful. 

Every day the atrocities are in the news.  The violence is just impossible to ignore.  And yet people still cry out for more, still refuse to return quietly to their humble homes in the shadows of well groomed palaces and lush gardens walked in peaceful meditation by the urbane shapers of their limited destiny.

Who is misbehaving?  Who is in need of a civilizing influence?  Are these people, who are splashing paint all over the walls in the street, thugs on drugs?  Do they require the iron hand of tanks and machine guns to make them respect the rights of others?  Where is this sense of entitlement coming from, that people are willing to kill and be killed in order to get their message heard?

I wrestle every day with the knowledge that this wave of destruction and chaos could reach my peaceful little world and suck me into despair.  What will I do when put on the spot?  I too am a no body, subject to the fickle winds of history; what will I do if forced to publicly declare what matters most to me?  Will I stand in front of an immigrant friend and say you take them away over my dead body?  Or will I crumble in cowered silence as they are taken off to work in a factory south of the border where heads get lopped off and rolled in the streets? 

I share responsibility for the suffering of others, but I live in peace.  I enjoy too many comforts to count, yet I live in fear that they could be snatched from me any day.  How?

The exercise of looking at crude maps of the solar system and seeing how its configuration changes from day to day helps me live with this real sense of foreboding.  I imagine my body rotting or going up in smoke when I die, all the mass of water, carbon and minerals just dissipating into the vast sky, evaporating peacefully from the ground, or violently in a stoked furnace, to my former home before individual existence.   I have a good idea of where I will go when this trip on earth is finished. 

With this awareness I can turn my attention to the niggling task of how best to love and accept love from the people around me, feeling like a somewhat educated flea, determined to enjoy the ride on my host and get the most out of it.

The 4th House of Home

Walked down to the river around three a.m,  the quiet roar of the surf breaking on the beach just over the dunes. To the east, i can hear the sea buoy outside the inlet, its foghorn echoing the familiar lonesome moan across the water that i have known since childhood, as regular as the ticking of a clock. The forlorn cry of a whippoorwill reminds me that no one is awake but me and my horse; a dark silhouette that snickers at my approaching footsteps and lowers its head to continue grazing. There is no moon, but the glow of a million stars lights the old worn path that my father and grandfather walked for generations. I imagine them walking beside me now, wishing i could shake hands with their ghosts and talk of the times and tides with them. I can see my greatgrandfather herding a stray hog back into the peanut field, mending the split rail fence behind him as he curses the hour and the obstinate nature of the beast. I can picture in my mind the indians who lived here a hundred years before him, roasting their oysters over a fire just as we still do today, hunting deer with bows and arrows and growing their corn and tobacco in the remote meadows of high ground among the swamps. I long for the days of my youth when no houses were in sight of ours; when we walked a mile through the woods to our nearest neighbor along the two deep sandy ruts that granddad told me was a horse and buggy road when he was a boy.

I call out loud for their spirits to come walk with me, but the hollow sound of the foghorn mocks my voice. I wonder why i am still here, toiling this land as they did, a slave to this little piece of earth bound by fetters and chains i willingly forged with my own hands. I am planning my escape, but just as a prisoner relies on his cunning and the complacence of the guards, i must bide my time until others afford me the opportunity to barter away my heritage, my home, my very soul. Then maybe i can reincarnate in another time, another place, another life.

Kenny Gray 

March 30, 2012

Holden Beach NC

March 2012 Horoscopes

Our Sky Horoscopes are published monthly, (and on time unlike the posts on this blog) in The Triangle with Tragic City Comics by Q Allen

Aries:  Now is time for the line drive.  You are shooting for the outer limits so expect surprises.  There will be extra thrust March 20-22.  By lunchtime the 23^rd romantic mists from late Feb return and you’ll have to feel your way through the explosive weekend.  March 25, 26 the pleasure of enjoying what you have comes over you. 

Taurus:  You rule from March 5-April 3, and by the 10th it will be evident.  If your ship does not come in by the 14^th, something equally uplifting will renew your faith in patience and hard work. 

Gemini:  This month you are like one of those performance chefs at Kanki amazing those around you with your ability to slice and dice and catch a flying knife by the handle.  On the 23^rd you move to the sushi table and concentrate on rolling rice in soaked seaweed while trading stories with relaxed guests.

Cancer:  The 7^th is heavy lifting day, plan to work hard.  Though positive attitudes continue to prevail, on the 10^th you will feel the weight of responsibility by evening.  March 15, around 11pm, whether you are awakened from sleep, dancing with friends, reading or watching a movie, allow yourself to grieve for someone you care about.  Big ideas come March 19, 20.  Watch out world on the 22nd.  Peace 25, 26; spirited birdsong 27-29; shelter 30, 31.

Leo:  Rest and relaxation begin for you on the 5^th.  If the weather is not right for gardening you can make bread.  By the 20^th you will be propelled into critical intellectual activity which will last till the 23^rd when stories and poetry take center stage.

Virgo:  Mars has not spent this much time in your sign since Nov 64-April 65.  (OK, Nov79-May 80 there was an abridged version.)  The language will be so far off the charts the night of March 4- March 6 you’ll have to laugh.   A measure of diplomacy will bring some relief the 9^th and 10^th and then it’s back to threats and demands.  With the neurons this fired up you’re bound to get something useful done that you can start to enjoy by the 25^th.

Libra:  Like Taurus, you rule this month.  Take a look at what Virgo’s up against and let them know they are not crazy, the world really is against them.  Don’t tell them that, just agree, or nod thoughtfully.  Let them vent, not too long though, and then gently move the conversation in a more neutral direction.  They will really mean it when they thank you.

Scorpio:  You get to feel pretty civilized this month as the words fly like a food fight in a high school cafeteria.  The more people posture the more you wonder if they understand what they are after.  The 11^th and 12^th are two days you’ll feel some answers that ring true to you.  By the 25^th the crusading will take a backseat to more immediate desires.

Sagittarius:  The morning of March 5, a bolt will strike the lightening rod minutes after you sit down to breakfast after feeding the hens.  (As if you didn’t already appreciate what farm workers do to get produce to market?)  The high voltage activity continues till March 23, but you’ll be canning at the wood stove after that close call so you won’t have to worry about it.

Capricorn:  This month (starting March 5) you find out the difference between dominating and being exalted.  While you can’t make anyone behave the way they ought to you can show them how to be good sports.  This is like the teachers playing kickball against the students.  It’s not whether you win or lose, but that you kick the ball pitched by people who look up to you.

Aquarius:  One year down and seven to go.  The eve of March 7 the critical force driving the current web of necessity will be illuminated.  The night of the 10^th the spotlight swings to you; people will be ready to hear a practical, balanced assessment of the situation, including a respectful nod to high hopes.  In spite of all the hot air, there is an urge (after the 4^th) to listen.

Pisces:  The heat is building up in our energy account and we’ll soon be caught up with the southern latitudes; meanwhile on the right, we glide past Vulcan’s furnace and get a peak in the steel shaper’s window.  This is where that sword from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was born.

The Apprentice Generation in the Crucible

All this month we have a chance to see Mars up close.  It rises in the east by 8pm and will glow deep red, like a bicycle tail light tracing a slow motion arc across the night sky.  Saturn comes up behind Mars at about 11pm.  And our favorites Venus and Jupiter illuminate the early night this month for at least two hours after sunset; they are the first lights in the west, visible as soon as the sun goes down.

Mars has been in Virgo since Nov and will not leave the sign of the apprentice till July 3.  This six month period is an opportunity that might not be fun, but will certainly train us to be the best we can be.  Think along the lines of a drill sergeant taking over Miss Manner’s School of Practical Perfection.  Where Mars is, is where the adrenaline flows.

For anyone with a planet in Virgo, fidelity to an ideal matters, and with Mars there now, anyone with a planet in the middle of that sign is put on the spot; that includes the people born form 1960-1967.  Pluto is currently at the beginning of Capricorn which is actually fun for non-Capricorns born in the 60’s; they are like student masons showing off how good they are at combining the infinitely differing shapes of stones that make humane institutions.  The problem is adjusting to this more aggressive level of operating. 

Imagine you are an apprentice stone mason working on a walkway to the governor’s mansion, and some veteran points out a few stones that are elevated from the rest.  Sure enough, when you stand away from the path you can see that they stick up so far above the surrounding stones you will have to take up all the stones, sand underneath, and landscape fabric to dig away another layer of soil.  Discouraging work, but necessary, in order to make the stones waiting to trip a guest, level with the rest.  When you try to remove another layer of soil, you uncover the roots of a massive Maple shading the pathway, and realize the depth of the problem. 

The Virgo experience is about reaching for perfection and coming to terms with the impossible nature of that goal.  So ultimately it is about becoming our best selves and in the process accepting the aspects of who we are that we want to change, but cannot.  For the Pluto in Virgo generation that means reaching for a perfect society and learning to adapt to the roots in the way.

Frozen in Time

Many years ago, when I was first studying astrology and in psychotherapy with a therapist who speaks astrology, I remember telling her about a dream theme of people 'frozen' in blocks of plexiglass.  There was no sense in the dream of death or tragedy; it was more frustrating than disturbing. I was comfortable at the time employing transits and progressions (tools for looking at the passage of real time), and mundane (historic time) astrology.  I believe she observed that the plexiglass people sounded like photos as opposed to videos.


I never felt like I quite got my hands on what those dreams were about.  Sometimes I felt like I was going through files of 3 dimensional playing cards of countless people, some of whom I recognized and others not.


In the last two months I have copied over three hundred charts from the Horoscope Drawings and Calculations section (click on Horoscopes and the option for Chart Calculations drops down) of Astrodienst; thus satisfying a long held desire to watch natural time from one moment to the next the way I watched the clock as a student in elementary school.  In the process of copying all these maps,  plotting where the planets are from one four minute period to the next; I have finally gotten a feeling for how astrology works.


In spite of my deep love for this subject which is at the very roots of our culture, it always felt too much like magic; a trick of language that as an astrologer I was playing on myself and the people whose charts I translated to 'plain English'.  I felt like a magician using a stage prop I did not understand, or a car driver with no knowledge of how the internal combustion engine makes the wheels turn.


In the centuries after the zodiac was defined (about 419BC) time became something to be managed rather than studied and understood; spherical geometry and time graduated from subjects to be researched and discovered, like unknowns in the classic 'black box,' to tools for researching still other mysteries of life on earth.  Once the Babylonians and Egyptians had amassed and analyzed thousands of pages of raw data showing the positions of the planets and their movements for short and long increments of time, a system as elegant as the periodic table of elements was developed (the zodiac) and there was no more need to follow minutes to understand why some constellations rose more swiftly than others on the eastern horizon, or winter days in Alexandria were shorter than those in the Nubian Desert: western culture had reached a historic plateau.

By the end of the fourth century BC, astrology/astronomy had evolved to a system that people could use without understanding how it worked, much in the way many of us drive cars and consult computers every day without understanding how they perform the magical wonders we have come to take for granted.  Imagine a future where the vast majority of literature preserved on paper and electronically; not just Mark Twain and Margaret Atwood, but works that outline the development of computers and computer programming languages, basic works on subjects ranging from electronic engineering to molecular biology; imagine it ALL GONE.  Gone, like the works of Aristarchus.  That's what happened sometime between the development of the zodiac and the Rennaisaince; the literature outlining how astrology/astronomy evolved was for the most part lost to posterity.


Twenty five years ago, without a computer and expensive astrology software, or access to the internet, it took me an average of 80 studious minutes to calculate an accurate birthchart.  While I found the task pleasurable, it was time consuming.  Fast forward to 2009 when I returned to studying astrology with the benefit of broadband access to internet.  All of a sudden I could have charts calculated for me in less than 10 seconds!   


Thanks to the computer programming magicians at Astrodienst (and other sites that offer free chart calculations), I have been able to travel wayyy back in time and get some idea of what hundreds of astronomers working together twenty five centuries ago experienced when they first completed a systematic analysis of the starry bowl's motions.  They must have gotten the same thrill as the people receiving data from the Hubble Telescope.


Until recently I did not know that Aristarchus (born around 310BCE) proposed that the earth revolves around the sun, or that in his time spherical geometry was employed by astronomers.  I expect to repeat these facts often in my career as an astrologer; I think it is a largely ignored part of our heritage that should be given more attention.


But back to my dreams of people trapped in plexiglass like three dimensional playing cards; I believe I was frustrated by the way astrology was being presented.  Daniel Chenneviere (a compatriot of Eric Satie who immigrated to the US in 1916 and soon after changed his name to Dane Rudyar), advocated an approach to astrology that viewed the chart in the context of all the cycles surrounding the moment analyzed.  He was my favorite astrologer in those days when so much about astrology was right before me, but trapped in vinyl tablets like the ten commandments brought down from the burning bush to the desert valley.


In these last two months I have gotten in the habit of drawing a chart for the day before leaving to clean houses.  I do not go to work without a list of the number of minutes it takes each sign to rise.  Instead of keeping up with clock time, I have attempted to become more aware of organic time.  This is difficult without the luxury of being able to actually gaze at the heavens.  On Jan 15, 16 when I did not have to work, I just spent the day copying charts and noting my thoughts and activities for the entire day.  Instead of clock watching, I was virtual sky watching.  In those two days, what flowed through my hands onto a couple hundred pages of charts, was a cartoon style flip book of how the starry sky moves over our heads from one moment to the next.  I can flip back through the assembled charts and see the ecliptic gradually widen, until it suddenly blossoms like a flower, then closes at variing speeds, and repeats the process.  I can see why the ancient astronomers divided the zodiac into twelve sections and have a good idea of how the system evolved.


As Neptune passes from Aquarius to Pisces, and I experience that awful sense of panic that so many of us are feeling as the mother ship leaves the harbor, I can now not only name that fear, but have a clear understanding of its place in real time.  I am more at home on the currents of darkness as the ship picks up speed and heads out to sea.