Nightlight Astrology an Archetypal Astrology School offering local and online astrology courses, astrology readings, online astrology webinars, and daily horoscopes

It's a Mercury Kind of Day

10/29/2015

The Moon is in Gemini today, just separating from an opposition to Saturn and now applying to squares of Neptune, Jupiter, Venus, and Mars.

Again Mercury is highlighted by both the Moon in Gemini and her approaching aspects to several planets in Virgo. With Mercury in the sign of the scales (Libra), and separating from an opposition to Uranus in Aries, the following themes might be showing up right now:

* Receiving a difficult message, being confronted, an intervention
* Learning that politeness isn't necessarily authentic or actually supportive
* A shocking message or series of experiences that jolt or awaken
* The call to reform, reorganize, or adjust our thinking or perceptions
* Challenging negotiations, tact, strategy, and mediation
* Translating something, explaining, or arbitrating
* What is support and what is enabling?
* Lifestyle reform or technical improvement
* Being offended as a necessary part of some important change in thinking or living
* Understanding principles, abstract concepts, rules, laws, or governing systems of logic or information
* Learning a language or translating some element of a language to someone else
* Programming and being programmed...the benefits and shadows of how our thoughts and ideas influence each other
* Exciting new ideas, pristine, balanced, beautiful new thoughts
* Invention, progress, technical revolution or groundbreaking insights
* Simple, earthy, facts...learning how to communicate them with tact, subtlety, and grace

As it turns out, today I am translating a large body of research into curriculum plans for the next astrology program I'm teaching this fall.

Prayer: Bring us back to the spirit of learning and curiosity...expand our minds and teach us things we have no idea about.

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The Challenges of Purification

10/28/2015

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The Moon is exalted in Taurus today, just past full, though not making any more aspects until she enters Gemini tomorrow. Meanwhile, Jupiter, Venus, and Mars are all conjoined in Virgo, and ruler Mercury in Libra is fading from an opposition to Uranus.

Getting clean, getting sober, getting right with God, setting things in order, doing things the right way, setting off to make important changes or modifications to our lifestyle or diet, or coming to the authentic, simple facts of the situation are all described in the triple conjunction of Jupiter, Venus, and Mars in the sign of Virgo..a sign related to wholesomeness in the most basic, biological, material sense. And yet, with both Venus and Jupiter in detriment and Mars in the mix...this passage of purification or cleansing has the look of a struggle with our own demons. Or perhaps it involves getting real with other people about their demons. What keeps us from addressing each other honestly or adequately on these things? Mercury in Libra opposed to Uranus in Aries might have just sent a few shock waves through our relationships, or our nervous system, in order to wake us up. Uranus in Aries doesn't necessarily care if our feelings are hurt, or if it doesn't look good, or if it's not pleasant. From the perspective of the eternity of the soul, there is no offense. The simple message is more like a cold bucket of water, a finger in the electrical socket, or a slap across the face. A simple natural message, saying: "Wake up!"

Zoom out...Hillary Clinton is being directly accused of irresponsibility around the embassy attacks at Benghazi...she is claiming that blame is essentially a shallow way of dealing with what happened. Is this truth or avoidance? Some blend of both? Libra/Aries, Libra/Aries.

When a hard truth comes our way...in a relationship, at work, within ourselves...when we get cold cocked by life, do we take responsibility for our role in the situation, or do we automatically blame, shame or avoid?

Let me share a story. I come from a family where the men are prone to diabetes. During the past several months I fell out of my good habits during our move into a new home. Moves are hard on me, and I let myself get away from the lifestyle that keeps me balanced. This past weekend I finally had a physical meltdown related to my blood sugar. I felt the immediate temptation to blame my genetics, to complain that I can't just eat a little more loosely at times, etc. The shock to my system felt unfair, harsh, and scary. This week getting back to my supportive habits has been a tremendous challenge, like getting off a drug (essentially just too much simple sugars in my diet for too long catching up with me like it always does if I go off my good rhythms!).

The thing is that it's been a fight to get back on track. There's been support (Jupiter/Venus), but it's also been hard sledding (Mars). And in the mix of it I've been thankful but also resentful toward the wake up calls, my wife pointing out what was going on and trying to help, my body acting up, my inner know it all/guru/guidance saying "I told you so; you just didn't listen and now it's the hard way," etc.

We never want people to help us right up to the point where we demand that someone help us because nobody is helping us. The purification symbolized in the sky right now is about returning to simplicity and honesty with ourselves and with others. It's about how much we are responsible not only for ourselves but for others, and where is the line and how much intervention is needed? Also, what is grace and what is cheap grace or false positivism?

Sometimes we "respect" each other so much that we enable, and other times we violate and hover and attempt to control one another through coercion. With three planets in Virgo the image of youth and purity, of a return to innocence, and the need for guidance and careful intervention with one another, is pictured. But it's a testy situation with Mars and Uranus in Aries in the mix. A good learning moment, but not necessarily comfortable or without its share of shocking discoveries or revelations.

Prayer: Help us to remember that real, abiding peace isn't an image but a way of life that occurs in each moment, by the choices we make consistently in the relationships that define us more precisely than we define ourselves

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A Scorpio/Taurus Full Moon

10/27/2015

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Happy Full Moon Everyone!

Today the Moon is full in the sign of her exaltation, Taurus, while the Sun is in the first degrees of Scorpio. Meanwhile, Venus has passed Jupiter and is now applying to conjoin Mars in Virgo. Let's take a look at the archetypal symbolism of today's full moon.

Scorpio and Taurus are both fixed signs, which means they are steady, solid, secure, or stubborn. Scorpio comes during the middle of Autumn and Taurus the middle of spring. Whereas Scorpio reflects the intense need for emotional or biological security that comes in the presence of Autumn's death, Taurus reflects the need for material security, and pleasure or peace, that comes with the stabilizing of the spring season in all of its growth and flowering. Scorpio is the celestial house of Mars, and Taurus is the celestial house of Venus. We generally prefer life over death, peace over conflict or struggle, and harmony over contentiousness. This doesn't mean that Taurus is better than Scorpio, or that Venus is better than Mars, for both planets and signs reflect the totality and mystery of the divine.

When it comes to watching these two signs oppose one another, the symbolism usually boils down to any of the following themes. Taurus wants to make things stable and peaceful and comfortable and will thus avoid, neglect, suppress/repress anything negative, dark, or disturbing. Not talking about it, suppressing the truth in the name of good appearances or wanting to give off a certain impression to others rather than acknowledging certain basic truths...these Taurean shadows may be especially strong right now given the dynamic tension from the Moon in Taurus and the Sun in Scorpio. Some good questions to ask ourselves might be...is this tactic or strategy honest, is it accepting of the darker realities of life or the situation I find myself in right now? Am I participating in a pattern of avoidance, or collusion with others to avoid pain or the hard work that may be necessary at this time? Am I trying to control the unpleasant facts to remain in a "good place" or to guarantee the outcome I prefer? Do I only reward or support people who inherently go along with my take on the situation. Do I only validate the points of view that make my life easy and unquestionably "smoother?"

The Scorpio season is fundamentally about loss. The loss of solar light or the descent of the Sun in the solar year. The fixed quality of Scorpio thus has to do with finding a sense of "okayness" amidst the reality of loss. Or, it has to do with loss so deep and profound that there is no way to avoid it's complete dominance over us. Scorpio can thus be about the actual experiences of loss, the question of evil or moral depravity related to loss, the naturalness or virtue of loss, the philosophical or psychological meaning of loss, or the lack of wisdom related to how or why we lose things or why we fall away from the light. To exclude these archetypal realities in the name of mindless peace is to create a peace monster. Like a Stepford wife that finally short circuits and goes on a killing spree at the local gym...an image of peace as control...and Scorpio loves to see this image collapse like stars too must collapse into themselves.

On the other hand, Scorpio is a sign that can be unnecessarily suspicious, dramatic, dark, vicious, and vindictive. Taurus is the honest to god chill pill that relaxes the biological urge toward death, adrenaline, and fear. Not just a chill pill but something like resting power. The fullness of life and its total simplicity...here I am, I'm breathing, I'm not going to change shit about the basics, so I might as well relax and enjoy.

Greed and indulgence, power and loss, avoidance and difficult realities, what's hidden and what needs to remain simple and open, beautiful appearances versus the darker inner reality, control and peace, the wisdom of fear and the ignorance of peace...

As Venus and Mars are coming together in the sign of the harvest maiden, and these are the rulers of our full Moon, let's consider the idea that young people, in their simplicity, innocence, and lack of "adult" contrivances, may be an important mediating presence right now. Or let's consider that the simplest and most wholesome way of approaching things, the one you have to think about the least..the one that is both peaceful AND honest, in some ways maybe even naive, is perhaps the right approach for now.

Prayer: Help us to remember that all peace and all power, all that gives support and all that takes it away, are ultimately beyond our control...in that place of honesty and humility, may we find comfort and guidance

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Let's Not Make Nice About Scorpio

10/24/2015

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The Moon is in Pisces today, void of course. Meanwhile the Sun has just entered Scorpio, taking us here in the northern hemisphere into the middle of Autumn.

Let's discuss the symbolism of the Sun's entrance into Scorpio. Scorpio is one of the most seductive, powerful, and subversive signs of the zodiac. It's hard to talk about Scorpio without suspicion. It's hard to talk about Scorpio without power in your voice, and it's hard to talk about Scorpio without making somebody, somewhere, uncomfortable. On the simplest level, the Scorpion is a creature associated with fierce protectiveness, secrets and hidden motives, invisibility and poison, stingers, laser like acuteness, and the homeopathic cure or the venom become medicine. Though there are a variety of interesting associations with other animals this sign has, like the Eagle or the Phoenix, it's important that we put our foot down about a few things. First, Scorpio's significations are almost always better associated with death, depth, mystery, defensiveness, eruption, power, secretiveness, poison, and hidden cures, than it is with the word "rebirth" or the soaring spiritual symbols of birds.

People get obsessed in an ironically Scorpionic way with the word rebirth, and often what it points to isn't Scorpio's tendency to "rebirth" but rather people's love of emotional redemption. Rebirth is a powerful word that's become the red-headed step child of new age astrological dramatists constantly seeking the next emotional salvation. Let's try to rarely use the word "rebirth" when talking about this sign, and let's remember that many Scorpios are entirely suspicious of anything that would seek to destabilize, dramatize, or catalyze things unnecessarily. Being a fixed water sign, in fact, the Scorpion is prone toward a very deep level of stoic solidity, especially when it comes to the darker, deeper, and colder realities of biological life. Rather than wanting to catalyze some kind of holy roller altar call or born again spiritual experience, Scorpio is more like the perfectly clean and clear image of the green leaves of plants as seen through the first killing layer of frost in October or November. There is an emotional lucidity that comes by our intimacy with death...like the emptiness of the Buddha sitting under the Moon at nighttime, contemplating impermanence with perfect, frosty detachment. With this heightened instinctual awareness of death in nature there is also tremendous power, like the life force drawing back below the ground, into the seeds or roots. The feeling of potential nuclear detonation or "rebirth" we sense with Scorpio is therefore about mistaking Aries and the eventual return of spring with the middle of Autumn. The fact that both signs are Mars ruled does in fact connect the idea of coagulated inner power with an eventual explosion or outward thrust of the same energy, but to assign too much of this outward explosiveness to Scorpio is to try to make death into life, or Autumn into Spring prematurely. Can't we find just a little more patience with how we think about these things? What would the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe have been without the spell of winter, no Christmas, and the white witch?

Meanwhile, the wiles of Scorpio aren't to be underestimated. We hate talking about these things because we're always trying to make every sign as rosy and virtuous as possible...this tendency in fact betrays an important facet of earthly reality...namely the cold, deep, uncomfortable, scary, truths we live in the presence of each and every day. Scorpio isn't generally a fan of this rosy tendency, and more than most signs the Scorpion can smell out the presence of betrayal, deception, lies, and happy horse shit. Consequently, Scorpio is a sign that is often related with lies, dishonesty, secrets, viciousness, deceit, cunning, hidden plots or motives, vindictiveness and revenge, violence, evil or darkness, envy, greed, malicious intent, possessiveness and power lust. As much as we want to rescue every sign by saying, "it has both a light and a dark side," the Scorpion is justifiably suspicious of this happy making or all balancing perspective. Why are we so obsessed with balance? What's below that equilibrium fixated smile? Sniff...sniff....smells like paranoia. Smells like someone who only likes the nice things, and balance is simply the new word for "nice." But you can't hide from me...because I'm death...

I am the cold rigor mortis that finally stops all attempts to avoid, delay, change, uplift, or encourage above and beyond...and if you don't stop for me, ritually, if you don't grieve, mourn, fear, suspect, and grow cold and still...when I come it will feel all the more like a predator stalking you...

Prayer: no more tom foolery...help us to stop and smell the death

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Saturn/Neptune and the State of Astrology

10/22/2015

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The Moon is in late Aquarius today, applying to trine the Sun in late Libra. Meanwhile Venus, Jupiter, and Mars continue their triple conjunction as early morning stars, and Mercury is moving into a square with Pluto. Meanwhile Saturn is approaching a square to Neptune. So today, a meditation that is Saturn/Neptune inspired...

As I'm currently studying the astronomy of calculating birth charts, I've been surprised by how much the mathematical side of astrology has to offer us. For starters, even after you learn how to do the necessary math for constructing a chart, we still don't perform the majority of the work provided to us by the Ephemeris, the Atlas, and a book of tables.

As I'm trudging my way through this material it occurs to me that modern astrologers (including myself) may suffer from "say anything" syndrome. We can make the symbols say too much because in place of the pain staking and precise work of astronomical calculation or knowledge in our craft, we now have the concepts of the transpersonal, the multidimensional and cosmic multivalent psyche, alongside of depth psychology, personal growth, quantum uncertainty, and the idea of an endless/infinite cosmos. We can say anything and just sort of nod at each other..."Yeah, you know it too don't you! This shit's all infinite. Everything is everything. You're a Scorpio so I know you know it!"

I don't mean to make an idol out of the math and science of astrology, that's would be annoying, but yesterday as I finally started to wrap my head around some of the physical laws and concepts that bring the structure of a chart together, I had a small "Eureka!" moment. I can't put it all into words just yet because I'm still in the midst of studying these concepts, but sufficed to say it had something to do with the pain, the labor, and the realization of just how much Saturn (you might say) is working in the midst of our field.

In our obsession with personal growth and free will, or the super sexy "evolution," we sometimes forget that astrology is largely about understanding the nature of fate and destiny. Whether we see the birth chart as a set of possibilities, an outline for evolutionary potential, a blue print of character, or a highly deterministic forecast of life events, we are inherently suggesting that certain elements of life are fated.

Some people have related this idea of "fate" to the idea of the daimon, or the soul guide/image. From this standpoint the birth chart is filled with the images of our path to the realization of this overarching divine image that lives within us. Our free will is part of how this divine image comes into being, but it is also to a certain extent beyond our control. As Auden once wrote and James Hillman loved to quote, "We are lived by powers we pretend to understand."

On the other hand, why are we so obsessed with reaching some golden image of our potential? We love to imagine our lives as being a story about growth and development, but aren't there other metaphors or myths available to us? I recently heard an astrologer say something like, "people stop evolving, and it's a great sickness." But I often feel the problem is just the opposite, "People won't stop trying to evolve, and it's a great sickness." There is something wonderfully liberating about letting go of the endless and monotonous task of trying to become something we're so certain we're "here to become." There is something liberating about the idea that our lives are not our own, and that by contemplation of the greater celestial laws that we can't help but participate with, we are set free...even while losing ever more of our freedom to the vision of our fate or the unavoidable nature of circumstances. Now that's a real paradox!

I don't consider myself deterministic in any ultra strict sense, and I of course still value quantum indeterminacy, multivalence, infinity, and all other mind shattering concepts that challenge the standard "linear" ideas of cause and effect or the image of a strictly mechanistic universe or creator. Add to this that I don't think astrology should try to map out every last deterministic detail of our lives, nor should it eliminate the idea of participatory magic or the co-creative capacity of consciousness. The simple realization for me in studying the incredibly rigorous but beautiful math and science behind astrology charts lately has been that without reminding ourselves of the limits and bounds that fundamentally ground our craft, we float too freely in the ethers of relatively unbounded concepts about ourselves, the universe, evolution, indeterminacy, and free will. As a result our field is sometimes nothing more than an ambiguous feeling mass of endless adjectives describing nothing and everything at once...all of which has something vaguely to do with "personal growth" or "spirituality."

It's as though the patron of our field has shifted from Saturn to Neptune in the past few centuries, but we haven't properly realized it because Neptune's invisibility, distance, and vast imaginative power has taken us so far "beyond" Saturn that we now feel fundamentally at odds with Saturn while intoxicated by Neptune...as though trigonometry is the new sinfulness and precision or prescription or reason are the newest form of fascism.

I've been incredibly inspired lately by the work of Chris Brennan, Benjamin Dykes, Christopher King, and a number of other traditional scholars of astrology whose line of work I had found myself generally opposed to for no apparent reason other than my love of infinity, psychedelic states of consciousness, and my general fear of details, math, and more challenging levels of reading and study. But as soon as Saturn entered Sagittarius last winter and began his square to Neptune, I suddenly found myself incredibly tired of humanistic, indeterminate free will astrology. I found myself worn out with the unbounded concepts of evolution, divine potential, co-creativity, and psychological infinity. I felt infinity'd to death, you might say. And at the very least I longed to study something new and challenging to my assumptions. Since then, I feel that Saturn and Neptune as the patrons of two entirely different eras of astrology, have been working together within my life to bring about a new form of astrological practice and inquiry. Naturally I'm at a phase in this process where I feel that I'm sort of returning to understand what might be called "the dignity of Saturn." With the Moon in Saturn's favorite sign today, it feels appropriate to write this small ode to Saturn. At the same time, it would be a mistake to throw out infinity (I'm not sure that's possible?) or what the invisible awareness of the outer planets and humanistic, self-realization style astrology brings to the table. In some ways I now see modern astrology with its emphasis on personal growth like an elaborate play on the old use of talismanic magic by certain kinds of ancient astrologers. It's not necessarily new to think that our chart is more or less rigid or fixed. These debates have raged for a few thousand years...however our current fixation with the total potentiality and freedom shown in the birth chart seems to be leaving my system...as if I'm coming out of a strange bender. My initial grouchiness toward the Neptune fog of modern astrology feels like it's part of the process of initiating a new phase of learning...just like a hangover makes your head hurt and it makes you somewhat irritable the morning after.

Sufficed to say, studying the celestial mechanics, alongside of some very challenging old texts and concepts, has put me in touch with a new way of pondering what I do...and for me these changes are the equivalent of a deepening prayer life.

Prayer: Open our minds and hearts but also show us our limits, so that we might imagine ourselves and our circumstances within the time and place of our souls...fashioned and forged in the mind of a divine intelligence far more precise than the word infinity sometimes has room for

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Venus and Jupiter Together Again!

10/21/2015

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The Moon is in Aquarius today, continuing her trip through Saturn row (Cap/Aquarius), and making a trine to Mercury later today.

Meanwhile, Venus is catching up with Jupiter one last time after several conjunctions since last June. This time both Venus and Jupiter are in Virgo, along with Mars who has just recently separated from Jupiter. Let's take a look at a list of themes that might be present given this combination and others currently moving through our skies.

* The faith and good will of young people (Venus/Jupiter in Virgo)
* Good luck, exciting possibilities, expansiveness and success (Venus/Jupiter)
* Women, girls, daughters, and the subjects of the body, sexuality, purity, wholeness, innocence, and eroticism or sensuality (Venus/Jupiter in Virgo)
* A burst of hope, optimism, and positivity (Venus/Jupiter)
* The rapid acquisition of new skills or abilities (Venus/Jupiter)
* The return to a simpler or more wholesome way of life (Venus/Jupiter in Virgo)
* Love, harmony, peace, and expansion (Jupiter/Venus)

Meanwhile, all three planets in Virgo are currently in Mercury's sign, and Mercury is in Libra, moving back through the retrograde degrees he covered several weeks ago. Soon Mercury will square Pluto and then oppose Uranus in Aries, which means that all the themes above might find themselves in the mix of a kind of political or social debate or argument of some kind. Watch for hot topics surrounding love, purity, chastity,morality, sexuality, monogamy, sexual health and disease, or gender/sexual identity generally. We should expect some fierce challenges or standoffs in the midst of an overall positive and growth oriented full moon this month.

Prayer: Thank you Venus and Jupiter...for all your blessings, one more time!

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False and Cold

10/20/2015

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The Moon is in Capricorn today, applying to square the Sun in Libra as we cross the 1st quarter threshold of our new cycle.

With the Moon in the sign of her detriment today, and the Sun in the sign of his fall, this 1st quarter Moon looks somewhat daunting. Let's look at essential dignities of the lights today with an eye for what these debilities might signify and what we can learn from them.

When the Sun is in Libra two challenges tend to appear. One is the tendency toward vanity, superficiality, or the lack of substantive personal identity or volition, and two is the tendency to become overly passive, pleasing, or deferential. One tends toward falseness and the other to indecision, ambivalence, or victimization. Though there is an entire archetypal world we could discuss related to Libra, these archetypal challenges might be the ones most intimately related to the classic debility of the Sun in the sign of the scales. At least, this has been my observation with regard to the archetypal meaning of the Sun's fall in Libra.

Similarly, when the Moon is in Capricorn certain challenges appear. One is the tendency toward hardness, coldness, or emotional and environmental rigidity, and the second is the tendency to starve or be starved, to exhaust or be exhausted, or to operate from a place of ruthless necessity or deprivation without knowing when to stop, rest, or relax.
When we put these two debilities together right now we might get something like superficiality, vanity, and lack of substance within cold/hard and rigid environments, work places, or within the home or family. We might get the overall feeling that something about where we come from, or where we live or call home, is unpleasing or lacking in substance. Alternatively, we might feel superficially judged, misunderstood, or placated by people in the work place or some common or familiar environment.

On the other hand there might be a temptation right now to defer to someone else for the fear of losing an important position or place in the pecking order. We might fear that having our own moral or ethical standpoints will get us kicked out or exiled, or we might feel the desire to say anything or be anyone in order to make it through some challenging situation.
The tendency toward selfish or Machiavellian political/social moves right now is strong...so we should be careful to examine our motivations and think carefully through each of our decisions. A compromise in our personal ethics could easily create big problems right now, and it might be easy to feel strong armed into a position that simply represents "what the other wants to hear."

Meanwhile, the potential to work through various difficulties by means of intelligent diplomacy and simple reality checks is the upside of this transit, and it should be considered alongside these traditional debilitation signatures.

Prayer: Help us to examine our falseness and our fears, and return us to the images of God that live in our souls.

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Personal Truths and Phony Compassion

10/19/2015

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The Moon is in Capricorn today, about to conjoin Pluto and trine Jupiter and Mars before squaring Uranus by this evening.

What do you do when someone tends to judge you for having judgments? Put differently, how do you relate to someone if they withhold their love, respect, or affection if you share your true feelings, opinions, or responses to their behavior or choices?

What's the difference between judging someone and having a natural response to their actions because you are in a relationship with them?

Here in the US we live in a Cancerian environment where everyone wants intimacy, warmth, privacy, and familiarity. We all want to feel safe with each other, and yet the environment of our culture (Moon in Aquarius) is often cold, distant, and prone to feeling judged or hyper protective of individual rights and personal freedom. This tends to make things sort of falsely warm. Our emotional sense of intimacy with one another is based on a kind of unspoken pact to not have actual, instinctual, biological responses to one another because of our tacit respect for detached individual freedom.

We all have a good reason for demanding this distance and respect. We all have a story about how we were wounded, how nobody really understands, or why it's our goddamn rights at stake. And to a certain extent this story is true because this is a real story at the heart of our national, cultural, ethnic, familial, and religious histories.

It's sometimes like we're a nation with a borderline personality disorder. Is there any clinical/psychological metaphor more useful for understanding our intolerance of people having personal responses to us as individuals while simultaneously demanding warmth, intimacy, safety and security from one another? Is there a better metaphor for understanding the extremes in our political body or the literal problem so many people have with immigration and the borders of our country?

Maybe that's too harsh...regardless, it's difficult to have honest and authentic relationships with one another if our definition of friendship has more to do with the space and freedom we give one another, the absolute intolerance to judgment or value differences in relationships, than it does with real intimacy.

Real intimacy is forged in the dynamic interactions we have...the ones where our values or opinions or self images clash and yet we come through with a feeling...not an idea or an intellectual peace treaty...of safety.

Right now with the Sun and Mercury in Libra, and Venus, Jupiter, and Mars in Virgo, it's quite possible that we're learning how to share our most honest responses to one another, without as much defensiveness. But just because we share with others our "truth" doesn't mean we should expect they will like, respect, or agree with us. We have to get over the idea that the real courage is to just "share your truth regardless of what others think." Instead we should consider that the interaction that follows truth sharing does matter. In fact it matters a great deal more than the inflated ideas of rights and personal dignity. Unless we want to remain isolated in a fortress of values or personal rights.

What's the worst that could happen, anyway? Our position is strengthened through positive challenges, or we drop our position because we've just learned something new..learned how to see or think differently because we've had the courage to involve others with "my truth."

One of the worst forms of compassion is the one that exists because we think we ought to or should. The worst kind of coercion is the kind that exists in relationships where we know to show unconditional agreement because anything else creates more difficulty than is worth it. When we say "my friends are great because they never judge me," is it possible we mean, "my friends know better than to judge me?" There is an icy, cold chasm we sometimes call compassion..but that doesn't mean it's actually compassion.

On the other hand, the tendency to judge one another too harshly is also very real and part of the reason we may tend to isolate or hide ourselves from others. So both sides of the equation, like both sides of the Libran scales, should be considered from one moment to the next. Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that we are relational creatures...we belong to one another as much as we belong to ourselves. This is the definition of family and tribe, as well as ecology. I'm not sure how green or eco-friendly we'll ever become on this planet unless we recognize this level of ecology as well.

So for today, just for today, let's consider the idea that it's sometimes braver to allow space for authentic responses to one another then it is to demand we all walk on egg shells while demonstrating compassion toward each other's personal "truth."

Prayer: Teach us how to be diplomats of our honest responses...not just diplomats of an idea about democracy

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Mars/Jupiter Conjunction!

10/17/2015

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The Moon is in Sagittarius this morning. You could see it last night as a little thumbnail or ivory sliver in the sky. Today Mars conjoins Jupiter at sunset and will be conjunct all day tomorrow as well.

Let's talk about the Mars/Jupiter conjunction today.

Mars was traditionally considered the "lesser malefic," because of his excessively hot and dry nature. The word "malefic" sounds pretty menacing to our ears today, but originally its malefic designation was associated with its relationship to the life of plants and crops. Excessive heat and dryness or excessive coldness and dryness (Mars/Saturn qualities) are bad for the life of most plants. Whereas the moderate life giving qualities of moist and warm (closer to the benefic planets, Jupiter/Venus) are supportive of the life of most plants.

Right now Mars is overtaking Jupiter in the sky because he's the faster moving planet. As he approaches and overtakes Jupiter the qualities of Mars and Jupiter start to blend together. Mars represents strife, conflict, challenge, competition, aggression, violence, destruction, opposition, cutting or separating, desire or lust, selfishness, heroism, courage, and speed. And Jupiter represents growth, expansion, faith, optimism, luck, blessing, confidence, aspiration, breadth of vision or experience, wisdom, unity, and opportunity. When we blend these qualities together we get a mixture of faith and courage, or heroism and expansion. We might see opposing or competing beliefs, or a confident heroic challenge. We may see growth and strength going hand in hand, or aggression and wisdom. Violence and religion or competition and the confidence of our beliefs or ideas. We might see cultural or religious expansion through violence or strife, or we might see growth that comes fast but includes challenges and requires courage.

The next step is to include the sign of Jupiter and Mars. Since both planets are in the celestial house of Mercury and Mercury in Libra is just now picking up speed again after his retrograde, it might be said that Jupiter and Mars are accomplishing something, or working through challenges that are directly related to Mercury in Libra's recent retrograde cycle. Mercury direct in Libra might signify the recovery of something that was lost, set back, or delayed. The ironing out of details or the implementation of new ideas and strategies. The need to communicate something challenging to others, or the new plan or strategy being implemented at last. Mars/Jupiter may signify the rapid expansion, success, or growth of these changes and all the challenges associated with them.

Including the mythic/archetypal qualities of Virgo, the idea of learning new skills, implementing detail oriented plans or visions, a rapid period of harvesting things that we've been working on for quite some time, or the general fascination or attraction to youth, innocence, health, skillfulness and purity. We might find ourselves launching a new campaign, organizing a new system, or strengthening some element of our spiritual, professional, or religious practices.
By contrast, we might also find that something is challenging us right nwo and thus magnifying some area of dysfunction in our lives. Where have we been excessive or over the top with things? Sometimes sickness or setbacks appear suddenly and dramatically in order to instruct us or correct bad habits.

In general Mars/Jupiter provides something like a furnace blast of growth, action, challenge, and expansion. The changes might be somewhat mundane or earthy with modest Virgo in play, but we shouldn't underestimate the power of the moment to accomplish something good in our lives right now.

Prayer: Help us to move confidently in the direction of our dreams and goals, taking joy in each simple step along the way

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The Poet Between the Lines

10/16/2015

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The Moon is in Sagittarius this morning, about to conjoin Saturn in Sagittarius and then moving into aspects with Mercury, Neptune, and Venus by this afternoon.

Since Venus is almost exactly opposite Neptune, let's talk about the Venus/Neptune dynamic today.
While Venus is the goddess of love, beauty, desire, harmony, and happiness, Neptune represents glamour, intoxication, imagination, fantasy, delusion, drunkenness, and the transcendent or transcendental. When you put these two planets together you get a pretty fantastic mix of beauty, grandeur, allure, desire, eroticism, mystery, altered states, and aesthetic or artistic intoxication. The Venus/Neptune dynamic isn't a rare alignment by any means, but it's definitely not as widely or popularly written about by astrologers as larger/slower moving planetary cycles.

Venus/Neptune dynamics are notorious for creating the unquenchable romantic longing. Relationships or lovers may never be good enough, dreams and fantasies never actualized, longings interrupting life to the extent that just about anything may seem unbearably "normal" or "boring." For these reasons, Venus/Neptune can be one of the most irritating transits out there. Sometimes with clients I will use the phrase "divine discontent" to describe Venus/Neptune contacts...as though nothing is ever good enough and yet this very state of "never good enough" is like a glass of wine that simply can't be put down..it just tastes so good to ache and yearn so much for something we can't have. In this way, Venus/Neptune is a bit like a kind of erotic torture chamber or a fantastic foreplay that never ends. Our ability to enjoy the Venus/Neptune dynamic may depend upon whether or not we can delay gratification, or recognize the fantasy and essentially let go of whether or not its "actually" realized.

With Venus in Virgo (the sign of her depression/fall) it's also possible that we're experiencing a divine irritation with the smallest imperfections or impurities within our relationships, our partners, or ourselves. If we're looking in the mirror and constantly finding the smallest flaws, or dealing with a kind of romantic level of dissatisfaction with ourselves, our wardrobes, our artwork or the appearance of something...Venus/Neptune with the Virgo flavor can definitely create these kinds of irritations.

On the other hand, Venus/Neptune is also known for profound artistic or spiritual inspiration, channeling, or transmission. States of revelry or being profoundly connected to the muse might take place with Venus/Neptune in opposition right now.
The fact that Neptune is in the sign of Venus' exaltation might also suggest that someone or the influence of some outside presence might take something mundane or simple and make it appear transcendent. Like a makeup artist who sees the beauty we don't see and then presents that beauty to the world. Or a hairdresser or interior designer who can take a little and make it into a lot. The idea of Neptune, planet of glamour, taking something simple and maybe self conscious (Venus in Virgo) and making it into something other worldly and hypnotizing is quite strong right now. This might be part of some kind of elaborate deception or delusion too...it all depends.

So simple advice for the day: allow for the simple to become other worldly and allow for the other worldly to become simple.
Prayer: Help me to see the loyal hands of the simple poet between the lines of grace.

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<<Previous

It's a Mercury Kind of Day

The Challenges of Purification

A Scorpio/Taurus Full Moon

Let's Not Make Nice About Scorpio

Saturn/Neptune and the State of Astrology

Venus and Jupiter Together Again!

False and Cold

Personal Truths and Phony Compassion

Mars/Jupiter Conjunction!

The Poet Between the Lines

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