Thursday, September 25, 2008

October Update Delay

Because I'm moving at the end of this month, the October Astro Perspective will be a couple days late.

Hey, it's Mercury Retrograde! In Libra, no less (I'm a Sun/Pluto Libra)...

And the U.S. is going bankrupt...

And I only have a job for another month...

And Sarah Palin is running for VP of the U.S. of A...

And Stephen Harper is probably going to win and keep our soldiers in Afghanistan...and sign the North American Union...and serve up our country on a platter to the Americans...

And the "Blood for Oil" campaign shows no sign of slowing...

So please, people...cut me some slack. :)

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Last Quarter Moon in Mutable T-Square Formation


Tonight, we are experiencing a very spicy, perhaps achy and ouchy Sun - Pluto square in the 28th degrees of Virgo (Sun) and Sagittarius (Pluto). This leads us into a Mutable T-Square formation and a Last Quarter Moon tomorrow night.

I've written tonnes of stuff about the squaring of Pluto in Sagittarius from Virgo planets over the last few months, but again, here we are seeing deeply embedded and often hidden beliefs, truths and philosophies (religious, cultural, and economic) coming to the surface for purging with Virgo focussing on and analyzing what is coming up.

With the Sun here, we are very much aware of this process in our conscious moment.

The big topic these days, of course, is the U.S. economic meltdown...with much more to come there once Pluto re-enters Capricorn in November.

Economics is far from a hard science. There are elements of mass psychology and cultural belief at work here, and here, as Pluto kicks up dust in its last pass through Sagittarius for 248 years, we are forced to take a hard look at the belief systems and ideologies underlying our structures - those structures (like the economy and money system) that will be on the transformational agenda of Pluto in Capricorn. Before we transform the earthy concrete, we have to understand the truth about the beliefs/ideologies that are the basis for those structures and how we set them up.

For now, we are (or are becoming) quite aware of the excess of optimism (some would call it delusion) in the capitalist "borrow/buy now, pay later" system getting a big old reality check from more grounded forces. We are starting to see the fallacies of the capitalist system more clearly...the idea that it would grow and grow without end...the idea that you can put off paying the piper inevitably...and the idea that ANY of this is healthy, functional or sustainable.

The piper's coming a-calling.

And for those of us who know Pluto's ways, we know a Band-Aid solution (government bail-out) isn't going to cut it. You have to get to the root of the problem, the root of the dysfunction and reef it out. Nothing short of complete, core-level transformation will assuage this power player. The system's rotten to the core...so right to the core we must go for the solution. Band-Aid solutions just make things worse. They just make the inevitable that much meaner. They just make Pluto ANGRY! (Not really...but they do amp up the Plutonic process.)

But as Pluto stirs up our mortal fears, we will see people clinging to the structures that have started to crumble...maybe in denial...possibly using force to hold onto dying power...definitely reluctant to face the reality of the situation and the damage that has been done.

Cripes.

Tomorrow, the final full day of Sun in Virgo, we build all day to a Last Quarter Moon in Gemini in a Mutable T-Square formation with Pluto at around 11 p.m. MST.

This means we have the Moon at 29 degrees Gemini squaring the Sun at 29 degrees Virgo (forming the LQ Moon) with Pluto at 28 degrees Sagittarius opposing the Moon and squaring the Sun.

(In effect, we have a very loose Mutable Grand Cross, as Uranus in Pisces is at 20 degrees Pisces, forming the fourth leg of the formation.)

The Last Quarter Moon is the portion of the lunar cycle where we initiate change in our lives/selves based on what we have learned and experienced during the earlier part of the cycle. This is the time where we start to let go and internally move for change, understanding what needs to die in preparation for the New Moon.

In the last degree of Gemini, in T-Square formation in the last degrees of Virgo and Sagittarius, we have a sort of Grand Finale feeling...the big push of mutable-sign change following the force of all the smaller changes dealt with in the earlier degrees. Whoooosh! The seemingly neverending work of Virgo - detail after detail, adjustment after adjustment, is coming to completion. The results of our focussed, sometimes navel-gazing, purifying and perfecting are becoming known...

All we can do now is let go and follow the momentum for change in our own lives, making the adjustments as we go toward new circumstances (especially emotional circumstances).

Monday morning (Sept. 22), the Sun enters Libra and we have the Fall Equinox. A balance point, as day and night are in perfectly equal duration.

As I said in the September Astro Perspective, the Libra energy has its work cut out for it creating any kind of balance or harmony out of this mess! But lead to that balance and harmony, it will. Or at the very least, it will attempt to lead to balance and harmony with all its ability.

Venus enters Scorpio September 23 and will rule the Libra Sun for almost it's entire transit. This adds a sort of bottom-line, no bullshit intensity to our relationships...forcing us to deal with each other in full honesty and integrity, even when dealing with the ugly stuff - unequal power dynamics, domination-subjugation themes, hidden resentments, subtle emotional and psychological abuse or power plays, betrayals.

All that fun stuff that "can't we all just get along??" Libra looooooves to deal with.

Then, September 24, Mercury goes retrograde at 22 degrees Libra. Yep. Not so fast! We're going back over everything that has gone on since September 4. This means Mercury will also be ruled by Venus in Scorpio, forcing confrontation and transformation of our relationships with others even further...bringing it out into our daily interactions. Also in the media.

Good times, kids. Good times. heh heh

Anyway, it's not all bad. We might not have the luxury of keeping it light and harmonious this Libra month...but we're doing the right thing in the long run. We're attempting to create real, soul-level harmony in full honesty and integrity. This might scare the Libra energy shitless, since the gloves will be off, but just like with anything Plutonic, it's best just to get it over with and do what has to be done. A Band-Aid solution just prolongs the dread of what's to come...which is generally not as bad as one conjures up in the mind's eye, anyway.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Come on, Pluto! Keep Digging...

So here are a few more tidbits dug up by Pluto's last months in Sagittarius (related, again, to getting to the core of personal beliefs, digging it all up, leaving nothing hidden):

Sarah Palin grew up and spent most of her adult life going to Wasilla Assemblies of God church in Wasilla, Alaska. She said she was "saved" at this church in a speech she made recently to high school kids there.

This church preaches the Armageddon. It believes that Alaska will become a "refuge state" for people as they flock there during "these End Times." (Direct quotes from the pastor, as Palin stood by his side.)

The congregation of the church speaks in tongues and the pastor preaches that the only way to salvation is through Jesus.

The video of this visit was on YouTube until it was mysteriously pulled. All clips of this visit and of the church's promotional Armageddon video seem to no longer be available, but I did find a watered down version in a story on CNN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBuPgYn1oFY&feature=related

So all these "Christians" are lining everything up for the end of the world. They're ready for it.

What they don't seem to understand is that they are making their own prophecy come true. It doesn't have anything to do with "God" leading them into the apocalypse. It has to do with greedy and blind people unable to overcome the desires of their lower natures, bringing us ever-closer to a nuclear World War III.

They want "these End Times." They seem ravenous for them...so their prophesies will come true and they will be proven to be the chosen ones who knew all along. They're ready for it. They're ready for the destruction of humanity on this planet.

Well, I'm not.

And again it brings me back to a strong feeling that Sarah Palin is just a pawn in this scenario. She is playing out her role because she is being told to - not by God, but by men who think their ludicrious actions are guided by God.

Take a look at these Iraqui babies born deformed from exposure to depleted uranium ammunition dust, and tell me that the war in Iraq is all just part of "God's plan," out of our hands. Looks like something out of a science fiction horror movie, but it's not. This is the result of U.S. foreign policy/the war in Iraq...led by men, not God.

http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/DU-Baby2003.htm

Skipping along, tra-la-la! Doing God's work committing crimes against humanity!

This is a woman who is not in touch with her own spirituality or her own personal, soul connection with the divine/other human beings. She would rather give her responsibility away to something or someone outside herself - an organized religion, an idea of God as something she can blindly follow. She chooses not to think for herself, and by giving away responsibility for her actions to "God," she won't have to. She just gets swept along in the mass-delusion of End Times. Then, all actions that bring us closer to Armageddon are "God's will," "God's prophecy." "It's all coming truuuuuuue!!"

Again...tail-end Piscean pitfall.

I read on another astrology blog today an astrologer say Palin is a "born leader" and that the "Left's attacks" are uncalled for.

(For the record, I'm not right or left. I'm about common sense and common human decency - which are not so common these days.)

But again, I ask...do we want to go where Palin and the current Republican regime are leading? Does it matter if Palin is a "born leader" if her direction is not one we wish to follow?

Again, I ask...do we really want the Vice President of the nuclear-armed-to-the-teeth United States of America ready and willing to bring about the destruction of humanity and feeling she is in the right for doing so? Do we want to follow a person who believes this is "God's will?" Will we follow these people to our demise like lemmings off a cliff?

This is not what Jesus taught. This is not what Jesus wanted for humanity.

He taught "to thine own self be true" (while understanding our connection to and context within the whole) because he knew there is nothing "out there" leading us...it's about being guided by our own personal connection to the divine. The relationship there. And with a functioning relationship there, one would see the connection between human actions and the absolute abominations against humanity that are going on.

I'm not sure what brand of spirituality is running through the White House these days, but it has nothing to do with the God I know.

Human's actions are what will bring about the destruction of humanity on this planet...not God's will.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

I'm Analyzing Sarah Palin - Not You.

There seems to be some confusion over the fact that generational placements (like Chiron in Pisces and Neptune in Scorpio, for example) are expressed differently in different people. There are infinite possibilities for how something like, for example, Chiron in Pisces, will show up in a person's life/being.

So just to make things clear here: I am not making blanket statements about everyone with the same generational placements as Sarah Palin. I am analyzing Sarah Palin's chart and her's alone. I'm talking about HER Chiron in Pisces ruled by HER Neptune in Scorpio, etc. in context with her personal planets. She has four or five planets in Aquarius, two in Aries. North Node in Cancer. South Node in Capricorn. Etc.

So within that specific context, I am looking at how her generational planets interact with her personal planets and vice versa. I'm also taking into consideration her personal beliefs and her way of governing...what is known about her and her methods.

I'm getting some flak from people saying, well, I have these placements, and I'M not like that.

Again...I'm analyzing one chart here...the whole chart...how all the placements interact within the context of what is known about Palin and her personal/political beliefs.

Generational planets are planets that stay in one sign for years...meaning, entire groups of people have the placements.

Chiron, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are examples.

So yes, many people have Chiron in Pisces ruled by Neptune in Scorpio...but very few would have the same chart as Sarah Palin. Very few would have the exact combination of personal and transpersonal (generational) planets. And even those who did could express them in a different way, depending on evolutionary orientation and such.

Nothing in an astrological chart exists in a vacuum. It's inter-related. So there is no single way that any placement will be expressed...no blanket statements can be made...or are being made here.

I hope this clears things up on that front.

The Scorpionic Flavour of Palin's Chiron in Pisces Wound

And it just keeps coming, folks!!

Word is that when Palin was mayor of Wasilla (1996 - 2002), the city made rape victims pay for collecting the forensic evidence (rape kits) for their own criminal cases. It was billed to either the victim or the victim's insurance company.

In 2000, the then-Governor of Alaska Tony Knowles signed a bill making it mandatory that the municipalities pick up the tab for collecting this police evidence. All other locations in Alaska already paid for this, but not Wasilla! It was complaints about the practise in Wasilla that prompted Knowles to pass the bill.

This bill was opposed by the Wasilla Chief of Police (appointed by Palin), Charlie Fannon, who claimed he didn't want to "burden taxpayers" with the cost.

The rape kits cost $300 - $1,200 each. In a town of 8,000 people...well, you do the math. Not exactly going to break the bank. (Even taking into account that Alaska has the highest rate of rape in the U.S.)

But there's that free-market-at-all-cost governing again. Dollars and cents over any form of compassionate humanity or responsibility to hurting citizens. Aquarius without Pisces.

Here, again, we see this fanatical individualism and rational detachment from feeling in Sarah Palin's form of governing (unchecked Aquarius/Aries).

You can see the Scorpionic flavour of her Chiron in Pisces wound very clearly in this case, which is ruled by Neptune in Scorpio.

With Scorpio involved, the wound is connected to sexuality and power...or lack thereof. The powerlessness of a rape victim lying on a table in a hospital and a distinct lack of compassion from those in power. Not only a lack of compassion, but an exertion of state control, making them pay for being the victims of crime. Victimizing them again with the system.

Palin is also anti-abortion, even in the case of incest or rape. Another show of wounded Scorpionic ruthlessness and lack of compassionate understanding. Another show of the state's control over women's bodies and sexual reproduction. Her Capricorn South Node coming into play...

In Palin's perfect Neptunian dystopic world, not only do you have to pay for the collection of forensic evidence after you've been raped, you will be forced to carry any child that is the product of that rape - even if it's your Daddy's!

Sure, we're going to have (and are already hearing) the obligatory denials that Palin knew this was going on.

But let's look at the situation and use our own analytical skills here, shall we?

This was going on for four years under Palin's mayoral tenure...until a bill was passed by the Governor of Alaska with her town, alone, in mind. She fired the previous Chief of Police (who supported closing bars at 2 a.m. and cracking down on concealed handguns) and appointed Fannon herself. Fannon spoke out about his opposition to the bill in the media - not something a hand-picked Chief of Police would generally do if his boss were not of the same mind. In a town of 8,000 or so people, is it possible Palin did not know what was going on? Is it possible she did not know before Governor Knowles passed the bill in response to complaints specifically about Wasilla?

I would actually go so far as to say that Palin is embodying the underlying collective hatred for the feminine. The subconscious (and not-so subconscious) collective desire to punish the feminine.

With Pisces and Scorpio involved, she is definitely bringing something deep out of the collective, something hidden.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Sarah Palin's Chiron in Pisces

I’d like to talk a bit about a topic coming to the forefront these days as we hurtle ever-closer to the official start of the Aquarian Age. And that is, the importance of first learning and integrating the lessons of the Piscean Age. We can’t truly move forward in any sort of progressive way until this is mastered.

And I know she has been talked about ad nauseum lately, but an example that keeps slapping me in the face is Sarah Palin with her stellium of planets in Aquarius, North Node in Cancer and a Pluto - Uranus conjunction in Virgo opposite Chiron in Pisces.

See, Pisces is the sign related to Jesus (as a figure) and the spread of Christianity. And as an evangelical Christian attempting to become the Republican Vice President of the United States of America, I see Sarah Palin as a prime example of the danger of jumping headlong into Aquarian leadership without first mastering the finer points of Pisces.

Now, I’m not holding Jesus responsible for everything that has been done in his name, but with Pluto moving forward over the last degrees of Sagittarius, I think it’s pertinent to point out the differences between what Jesus is reported to have said and what the Christian right wing is doing under the banner of Christianity.

Jesus understood that we are energetically connected on this planet. In effect, what is done to one person affects all people, and we are responsible for our actions toward others and toward our surroundings, in general. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Treat each other like brothers and sisters. Thou shalt not kill. You know, don’t destroy, terrorize and hurt each other because, in effect, it is destroying, terrorizing and hurting yourself. Have compassion for each other. Have compassion for the pain of another because it’s the universal pain of human existence. Help and love, don’t harm.

When you look at what George Bush Jr. and Sr. (and Co.) have done over the course of their regimes, I really have to wonder: What Would Jesus Say??

The actions of this so-called Christian right wing are so far removed from actual Christian tenets that they are unrecognizable. And this is the party with which Sarah Palin is now aligning herself.

Many estimates of over a million Iraquis dead (and counting) since the first Gulf War. Soldiers from the first war dead and dying of Gulf War Syndrome while their government denies it even exists. Four thousand (and counting) dead U.S. soldiers from the current war alone. Thirty thousand (and counting) completely disabled from injuries. Ninety-seven dead Canadian soldiers. Many others I do not know about. An epidemic of cancers and other radiation-related diseases in the populations of Iraq and Afghanistan (not to mention the former Yugoslavia) as a result of the (continued) use of depleted uranium ammunition and bombs. An epidemic of hideous radiation-related birth defects in babies in Iraq.

Absolute crimes against humanity that will affect generations of people. And all for control of oil and monetary gain. What has been done cannot be underestimated or explained away.

This is the administration touting itself as good Christians. This is the track record Sarah Palin is now aligning herself with in her quest for political power and prestige.

Which, to me, is a very solid example of Chiron in Pisces combined with her large amount of Aquarius and Aries planets. Wounded sense of faith. Spiritual disconnect from what Jesus was really talking about. Intellectual detachment from humanity and the suffering of others. Incomplete understanding of the energetic connection of human beings. Inability to really connect compassion with actions. Or conversely, actions with painful and harmful consequences.

It’s all just blistering individualism for her.

With a North Node in Cancer (which I see her ignoring for the more prestigious spoils of the Capricorn South Node), Palin is being asked to develop her own personal soul connection. Not to just hand over her power and responsibility to an organized religion and what its structure tells her to believe and do, but to develop her own emotional/soul self, to develop a rock-solid anchor there as a guidance mechanism. And THAT will help heal her Chiron wound. That will start to bridge the disconnect, to help her tap into the emotional, soul-level part of her own spirituality.

Making the connection between feeling the pain of an Iraqui mother watching her baby die from radiation-related birth defects and discontinuing the policies and actions creating and causing that pain.

I have to believe this is a deeply conflicted woman.

Palin has a son fighting in Iraq. She claims she hates war.

But she keeps talking about “God’s plan” for the war there. She keeps taking those “good Christians’” words for it, that there is a plan, that it is divinely inspired. She keeps handing over her own responsibility to "God."

And here is a big misstep in these tail-end Pisces days. Taking anyone’s word for it over your own. Being guided by anything other than your own personal connection, your own moral code, your own emotional anchor. And thinking that the sins being committed against humanity right now will have no consequences for us all.

Until she stops doing that, I’m afraid Mrs. Palin will just be along for the ride, taking all those good Christians’ words for it. And that’s one ride I don’t care to take.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Sun - Saturn Conjunction in Virgo

So the day of the Sun - Saturn conjunction in Virgo, I found out that the owner of the store where I work is planning to close/I am out of a job AND I will have to move apartments due to very unforeseen circumstances in the building. Home and work both in upheaval at the exact same time. 

I have been having problems at work for some time now, but this really is a shock, since we just moved into a new and much better location in the mall two months ago. Just barely got going in much improved circumstances, I thought, and word is we are out at the end of September. I will have to move apartments at that time, as well, due to another quite shocking turn of events in my building... 

Well, Virgo...you sure are one mutable son-of-a-bitch, aren't you? 

I felt things shake loose during the eclipses in August - things felt very unglued and up-in-the-air...which eclipses are designed to do (one backdrop ends, another begins). But with so much Uranian energy involved, it was even more erratic-feeling than usual. 

At the time of the August 30 Sun - Saturn conjunction, three degrees from my natal Saturn, I had just returned from a week at my parent's farm - the first time off I've taken from this job in almost two years - and I learned the news about my job and apartment...within about 24 hours of each other. 

The Sun - Saturn conjunction made the eclipse shake-up concrete. My structures are dissolving. They will reform, in time, sure. But all I can focus on now is the dissolving. Wow. 

I am planning to continue doing bead designs on my own, but I'm quite upset that my job is over and Art of My Heart will soon be no more. I really thought things would go differently. I guess something could still happen. It could come back in another incarnation somehow, but I won't hold my breath.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

All right, all right...

Disclaimer: There is a possibility that Sarah Palin has a Capricorn Moon. As far as I know, there is no birth time for her at the moment...so if she were born in the morning, her Moon sign would be Cap.

This WOULD change things a bit. It would add an Earth sign to her personal planets...albeit one that was tied to her South Node. A Moon near the South Node would indicate to me someone emotionally attached to her own past achievements and past ways of getting to those achievements. So this doesn't necessarily change my analysis of her and my suggestion that she is letting her career ambition and quest for power to bring about her future vision (a vision I do not care to live through) drive her...rather than the concerns and emotional needs of her family and herself.

With a Capricorn Moon ruling her Cancer North Node, her nodal axis would be related to the balance of home and career, emotion and ambition. Blending the two - but doing the emotional work she needs to do would still be priority number one.

And still I would hazard a guess that maintaining that balance would be next to impossible as the VP of a nation hell-bent on war and imperialism...which, under McCain, would likely continue...

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Why Sarah Palin in Power Scares the Crap Out of Me - The Wounded Extremist

In addition to the fact that she is, as someone I know put it, an “anti-gay, anti-abortion, member of the NRA, evangelically-backed, oil lovin,' hockey mom of five,” her chart shows a level of extremism and wounded extremism at that. A person with a strong vision for the future, but a partial and fragmented vision. Not the kind of person I would want with her finger (or influence) near the nuke button, so to speak.

Palin was born Feb 11, 1964. These are her planets:

Sun 22 Aquarius
Moon 1 Aquarius
Mercury 1 Aquarius
Venus 1 Aries
Mars 23 Aquarius
Jupiter 16 Aries
Saturn 25 Aquarius
Uranus 8 Virgo
Neptune 17 Scorpio
Pluto 13 Virgo
True Node 10 Cancer
Chiron 13 Pisces

The first thing that stands out to me is five Aquarius planets (a stellium) and two Aries planets. No earth (groundedness, in touch with reality) or water (emotion, compassion, intuition) in the personal planets. All yang, little yin. Extremely masculine/outer and individualistic. The Aquarius air feeds the impulsivity, aggressiveness and leap-before-you-look Aries planets. So let’s not be fooled by the fact that she is a woman. She has very little yin receptivity - despite the fact that our structures, especially business/political structures, are crying out for that energy to balance the extreme masculine. And the water planets that are represented in her chart are tied into her wound and her dharma - a dharma she seems to be eschewing to a certain extent.

This is a woman with a Cancer North Node, meaning her dharma (life path/what she is required to develop and take on in this incarnation) is to focus her energy in the direction of nurturing familial growth and development and creating a cohesive and secure emotional environment. Not to mention, developing her own inner world, emotional nature and soul connection. Learning to use her emotional responses and connection to the feminine as a guide for her actions. Creating a connection to the Earth and making it just as important as fiscal considerations. A lot of development needs to happen here.

It looks to me as if the ambition of her Capricorn South Node is what is driving her actions right now. Capricorn strives for ever-increasing power, recognition and status in the public/business world. But with a South Node Capricorn, this direction of energy is not going to be successful on a soul level. It may be what society thinks is successful and what Palin herself thinks is successful, but the South Node relates to an area that we’ve already mastered to a certain extent. We’ve pretty much gone as far as we can go there and have to direct ourselves to the North Node in order to stay healthy and balanced. Insisting on staying in the South Node creates karmic experiences that happen in an effort to force us onto the North Node path.

Karmic experiences like, well, giving birth to a baby with Down’s Syndrome. A baby with Down's syndrome needs more care and attention than a baby without, more care and attention than a nanny can provide or from being passed around from sibling to sibling.

Or a karmic experience like, well, a 17-year-old daughter becoming pregnant and choosing to give birth to the baby, which will occur about a month before Palin would be (heaven forbid! Seriously, please - forbid!) inaugurated into office.

Both these children require an intensive amount of support and care from their mother.

How much intensive support and care will Palin be able to provide her family as Vice President of a nation that would be heading ever-closer to World War III? To me, this is a job that requires 100% commitment of time and energy. I would hazard to suggest that it would be impossible for Palin to fulfill the requirements of her North Node in this position. A mother choosing to work 35 hours a week at the local K-Mart often finds it difficult to have the time and energy to properly nurture and be there for her family. How will a woman with five children, one with special needs and one who’s having a baby of her own, who is Vice President of the nation manage this successfully?

Now, I’m not suggesting all women need to give up careers and be the little Mama at home. But someone with a Cancer North Node who is the mother to five children really does need to direct her energy there, taking on the more difficult challenges of the North Node rather than falling back on the familiar ground of the South. This is a woman who has already developed the ability to rise to the top in the public world. What is being asked of her is to develop as an emotional being, as a woman and a mother, in combination with her professional pursuits. The extreme focus on career ambition and quest for power in the big boys club of U.S. national Republican politics are South Node pursuits for her and will lead to further karmic over-extension.

Another thing that unnerves me about her chart is the extreme amount of Aquarius combined with Chiron in Pisces. To me, this indicates a problem I've been talking about in the past - diving head-first into Aquarian leadership without having first learned and integrated Pisces lessons. Recipe for disaster.

From a previous post:

“The main thing Pisces teaches us is that we're connected. What affects one affects all. We're part of a whole, an energy that has no real separation. A slight against one is a slight against all. There is no escaping the connections to each other or to the planet.

Aquarius without Pisces is science run amok, detached to the point of dehumanizing. Think Nazi scientific experiments done on captive people. There is no emotion, no compassion, no understanding of the importance of human life. It is science used only to control, manipulate and enslave the masses. Instead of using science as a tool to improve conditions for all human beings, using it as a tool for the wealthy and powerful so that they can maintain/increase their wealth and power by any means necessary.

Science has the power to completely destroy life on this planet if it is controlled by those without an understanding of Piscean concepts. The nuclear war games currently being played around with are a good example. Which is why it is crucially important for the people who haven't grasped the Pisces lessons to do so now.”

Without the understanding of energetic connection, compassion and “what affects one affects all,” the amount of Aquarius emphasis in her chart is downright scary. And this leads to her Chiron wound in Pisces.

Chiron in Pisces is a wound related to faith - the ways our faith has let us down, especially faith in the spiritual goodness of people and in the connected nature of energetic reality. This person has been hurt by her own spiritual idealism and then the bubble bursts when it is discovered that reality is much different from the rosy Piscean dream. Thinking the best of people, helping them, and then being let down, being bitten in the ass. Being hurt by one's own naively open and loving nature. Being damaged by trusting divine guidance or faith or by being spiritually naïve to unpleasant realities.

Her Chiron in Pisces is disposited by Neptune in Scorpio, so spiritual betrayal on the deepest levels. Scorpio is a sign of extremes, and I think this points to the possibility of an individual acting in extreme ways out of the personal wound she carries. This could involve vengeance, violence, spite, us versus them, black and white-type thinking (U.S. as the Good Guy, anyone standing in its way as the Bad Guy). Wounded Scorpio tendencies. Pisces and Neptune relate to the subconscious, so this is stuff she would not necessarily be consciously aware of, and it would not be clearly visible to the mainstream public who do not yet have the ability to see through these veiled behaviours. But again, not someone I necessarily think needs to have her finger (or influence) anywhere near the nuke button, so to speak.

With this Chiron wound and related pain, combined with the other placements, I can see someone completely turning his/her back on Piscean principles and focusing purely on Aquarian/Aries individualism and detachment from humanity.

I think nuclear war could be more likely rationalized by someone with these placements. Depending on the level of emotional disconnect, any kind of atrocities could be rationalized. This is a woman who sued George Bush for putting polar bears on the endangered species list because it would interfere with oil drilling in certain areas. Again, not understanding the connection humans have to each other and to the environment/animals, especially on a spiritual or soul level. Not understanding that what we do to the environment will eventually cycle through human systems, as well.

Palin’s Uranus and Pluto are in Virgo, so the abundance of Aquarius in her chart is ruled by Uranus in Virgo. The co-ruler of Virgo is Chiron, so there is the woundedness at the forefront again. It all comes back to that Chiron in Pisces wound, ruled by Neptune in Scorpio.

Virgo without the balancing effect of it’s opposite sign, Pisces, can be dangerous - as can any sign without a tempering polarity point. Remember, Virgo is related to purifying. Aquarius is related to humanity. Purifying humanity - according to whose ideals?

Without understanding the nature of the whole, Virgo can become obsessive about the way things should be, the right or proper way of living and doing things. I think we can see this in her personal beliefs about gay people, abortion, religion - pretty much everything. To her, there is a right way to live and a wrong way to live. Virgo can dissect and reject anything it considers dirty or unnecessary. In order to fulfill its function in a balanced way, Virgo needs to be tempered with Pisces - compassion, understanding, connection, love, faith. Without integration of these Piscean concepts (or with a wounded sense of them), it is far too easy to have a futuristic vision (Aquarius) that does not benefit people.

The Sabian Symbol for her Uranus in Virgo is: An Expressionistic Painter Making a Futuristic Drawing.

So we see a person here who is driven by her vision for the future. But is it a vision we all want to live and take part in? Is it a vision that will benefit the planet/humanity as a whole…or just the select few already in power?

The caution for this symbol involves, among other things: Not seeing the complete picture. Being unrealistic. Losing touch with the real world. Thinking the worst will happen. Being stuck on one version of the future.

I see that this is a distinct possibility, considering the rest of her chart. As I said, extreme yang/masculine with little yin/feminine, and what yin is there is wounded or related to a dharma she seems to be shrugging off to a certain extent. Little earth and what is there opposes her Chiron in Pisces - so a wounded polarity prone to wounded application of its energies.

Palin's Aquarian vision for the future is definitely not a vision I want to live out.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Willow's September 2008 Astro Perspective

We start September slowly progressing into the new post-eclipses lunar cycle after the New Moon Black Moon in Virgo on August 30. Slowly because Saturn is involved, and Saturn brings a certain sombre weightiness with it that can seem to make the proceedings slow to a crawl. Saturn relates to making concrete structural changes and progress, and in Virgo, it’s about perfecting all the nitpicky details, making all parts of the whole function together properly. Realistic progress here is slow, sometimes arduous and even depressing at times. But at the same time, things still feel uber rocky to me after the eclipses…nothing seems on solid ground. Not sure if this is a universal thing or if it’s because I just had my Saturn Return. Anyway…

The first major aspect of the month is the Moon in Virgo squaring Pluto in Sagittarius on September 1, as Pluto slows to go direct for the final time in Sagittarius for 248-odd years (and odd they certainly will be, I think). This square echoes the squares of Mars, Mercury and Venus in Virgo to Pluto in Sag last month (that I talked about quite a bit in the August update and the New Moon update) and brings up some emotional reconciliation related to the themes there. Again, this is related, partly, to getting to the bottom of what people really believe, deep down, and deciding how to refine our personal roles in relation to that. Being very precise about how we perform our function, what we say and just what/whom we will support, based on what WE really, deep down believe.

The emotional work shifts to outer-expression work (all that Virgo work, work, work!) as we move to a Sun - Saturn conjunction in Virgo on September 3. Again, this is a weighty sort of aspect related to growing up and taking on the responsibility of our roles and who we are. Can feel pressure-filled and stressful. Here, we’re refining and maturing ego, personality and self-expression as we come closer to self-mastery. Channelling who we are and how we express that into a role that serves a purpose for the whole. But also finding what is fun and inspiring within our responsibilities. Gleaning joy from a more grown-up role that only we, with our special talents and characteristics, can perform.

September 4, Mercury enters its retrograde shadow in Libra. All that happens now - from September 4 until Mercury goes retrograde on the 23rd - will be coming back up for our perusal and discussion. And a lot there will be, it seems!

September 5 and 6 are very quiet days. Almost no aspects at all, and I can see why. We’re leading up to both Jupiter in Capricorn and Pluto in Sagittarius going direct within about 24 hours of each other. We need some time to take a deep breath and prepare!

Late September 7, Jupiter turns direct in Capricorn, and there is a lot of action involved in the direct station. Throughout Sept. 7 - 9, we have Venus, Mercury and Mars in tight conjunction in Libra exactly squaring Jupiter. All three of these personal planets (moving in conjunction) will square Jupiter in turn and all three squares could create a squeezing, stressful feeling. Stationing planets are already very potent, appearing from Earth to be motionless in the sky, and these squares will create the tension necessary for a strong initiating energy. The things begun at this point forward, given a strong cosmic push, have legs and will for a while. The ways we are expanding the structures in our world, the ways we are broadening our public role or status and our optimism related to the concrete progress we are seeing are all getting a check from the Libra planets. Libra warns: Don’t forget, in the raised dust of all our expansion and business agendas and material goals, that it’s our relationships that really count! It’s our relationships with others and with nature that bring things back to a place of balance…rather than allowing for free rein of the full-speed-ahead expansion and plans of Jupiter in Capricorn.

Mercury conjuncts Mars September 8, as well, and will again as it slows to go retrograde on the 23rd. In Libra, this conjunction has a balancing, tempering effect. Balancing our interactions and actions so as to maintain diplomacy with the people around us. This is not a time for aggressive, blatantly ambitious moves or for focussing strictly on what you want. We’ll have to balance our needs with others in order to make the progress represented by Jupiter in Capricorn.

Libra energy has a tendency to passive aggressiveness, especially when being squared by either Capricorn or Cancer. Considering it is the sign of partnership, Libra can be pretty selfish…all the while claiming otherwise. Doing things for others it doesn’t want to do…while angry about it underneath and acting out in passive aggressive ways instead of being honest. Honesty is another thing Libra has to work on. It’s too concerned with how other people are going to react a lot of the time and this makes for wishy-washy behaviour that causes problems for everyone involved. Not being honest seems like a selfish thing to me, regardless of justification. This is the caution here. Our communications and behaviours could have a passo-aggro tone if we're swallowing something we don't like but don't have the balls to speak up about it. Don’t get poisoned or play into any of those games. If we don’t get sucked into tit-for-tatting passive aggressive behaviour, hopefully this conjunction, active throughout the month, will help us to verbally call out some of that behaviour and bring things back to a true state of peace.

The symbol for Libra is the scales of justice, and justice is what we need to keep in mind as Jupiter starts moving forward in material goal-conscious Capricorn. We must build and expand with an eye towards making things right, making things fair and just, living within a natural balance.

The capitalist system has run amok, and we now seem to be living in (and leaving, I hope!) a system that banks on inequality, injustice, the benefit of the few from the subjugated position of the many. The structures and the “way things are” are operating according to some bizarre man-made production march - very far from the ebbing and flowing cycles of nature. The mainstream of society no longer seems to take its cues from the world around it, and we can feel that. Things don’t feel right. We’re not all that connected to our food sources, our water sources, or to the origin of many of the products we use each day. The sun and moon are no longer comforting constants to be viewed throughout the day and night, giving us a sense of timing and grander purpose. Gazing at the celestial bodies no longer gives us a daily dose of soul nurturing. We can’t even see the stars from a lot of places in our urban centres! The production/consumption cycle keeps us disconnected, as we buy things in the store without much thought about where they come from or who made them (although, this is changing to a certain extent). Driving is the way of life for most in North America, and people sometimes spend only minutes a day with their feet on the Earth. All this adds up to a lifestyle that exists as a sort of veneer over the natural world - never touching the earth (literally and figuratively), never getting our hands dirty, never listening to the cues of nature. Not that this is the fault of the people - it’s the way things have been set up, how things have been structured. And this is what now needs to be addressed. The further we get from the wisdom of the natural world and its cycles, the more of an imbalance is created. Addressing this imbalance is Libra territory.

At the same time, with the Libra - Capricorn squares, there is tension between getting along and getting things done. Capricorn has the material goal in mind at all times and strives for it, sometimes to the detriment of those things Libra rules - balance, harmony, relationship with others, social justice, beauty, enjoying life for what it is. The old saying “business and pleasure don’t mix” is one theme of the Libra - Capricorn relationship…probably from the Capricorn standpoint!

Again, though, there is a balance, as with all things. And there is a holistic whole that must be kept in mind. Nothing exists in a vacuum. Nothing can be severed or denied for the sake of the progress of something else - although this has often been tried and possibly with great “success.” In the end, though, we always pay the piper. We can spend 60 hours a week at the office, living on coffee and processed food. But our health and our relationships will eventually suffer. We can pour ourselves into work and buy into the obsessive focus and drive that is so valued in a corporate capitalist system, but in the end, we will realize how much we have missed, how many relationships we have let slide, and how we have been duped.

Keeping in mind the health of the holistic whole is what Saturn in Virgo is asking of us these days. Virgo relates to living close to the Earth, to natural cycles, in order to live in attune with “the flow” so to speak. Saturn in Virgo trines Jupiter in Capricorn September 8, bringing these themes into play, as well, and infusing Jupiter’s steps forward with these considerations. Here, we are challenged to bring those Virgoan principles into our structures, especially into our business practises. All parts, all aspects of life and self, matter. They all need to be taken into consideration - something that needs to be worked on in our “anything for money, status and power,” yang-heavy structures. Sustainability, “greening” business and corporate responsibility are all things coming into focus during Saturn in Virgo.

Pluto goes direct at the tail-end of Sagittarius the day after the Jupiter station, in the evening of September 8, but because both Pluto and Jupiter are almost motionless in this window of time, in effect, they are stationing at the same time, combining potent energies of transformation and expansion. This sets up the work of Pluto in Capricorn, which begins again in November. We are dredging up the beliefs that we have based our structures upon in the past and getting rid of what doesn't serve us anymore (after first looking it square in the eye), so that we can transform those structures to better suit our needs now and in the future.

Pluto spends a little shy of three more months in Sagittarius, and that is it for 248 years! It will continue its work of dredging up the deep, dark stuff and bringing it to light, forcing us to address things we often would prefer not to, confronting us with anything that is detrimental to the unfolding of new cycles of soul growth. Once confronted, we can cut away any dead weight that is holding us to old dynamics and free ourselves for regeneration and transformation. Again, in Sagittarius, these are things related to belief systems, concepts of “the truth,” religion, culture, higher education, foreign countries, and philosophy, among other things.

I think we are seeing this tail-end Pluto in Sagittarius dredging up quite a lot in politics - especially with the U.S. election coming up. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how honest elected officials are having to be about their personal beliefs and how their beliefs affect how they do things and the decisions they make. It seems to be going beyond polished political veneer - we may just be getting somewhere! (Although…it is politics…let’s not be too hasty.)

Venus and Mars come together in Libra September 11. Should be a nice supportive aspect balancing our personal will within our relationships. Also making sure that we are valued for what we do, especially for those things that often don’t have a dollar value in our society - building relationships, maintaining peace, making things beautiful, keeping things harmonious.

The Sun in Virgo opposes Uranus in Pisces September 12. This sets us up for the Full Moon in Pisces September 15. The Moon conjuncts Uranus in Pisces just before it becomes full on the 15th, and this conjunction infuses the entire Full Moon phase.

This Full Moon seems to be a culmination of the shocking shake-ups we’ve been dealing with as we enter the Aquarian paradigm. We're being "handed off" from Pisces to Aquarius and the changes have been challenging, to say the least. Bizarre, confusing and exhausting to be somewhat less diplomatic about it. Things can feel unbearable during a Full Moon as everything is brought to an emotional head, and in Pisces (conjunct Uranus), anything is possible! The veils will be thinner than usual and could stir up some karmic unpleasantness…odd events or becoming emotional or overwhelmed as we deal with odd events...psychic powers are strong…we will be very aware of the suffering going on on the planet as we move through these bumpy times, but we should also have the strength of Piscean faith to guide us through. When Pisces is strong in the sky, we often have to surrender and be carried along. Of course, with Virgo (Pisces' opposite sign) also strong this month, we have to participate actively. So here is the balance theme again - determining when to coast and when to dig in. We have to know what we can influence with our actions and what is beyond our conscious control. Navigating these times as an active participant but also knowing when to "give up" and let go of the wheel for a while.

Sometimes, the only solution to our problems is divine intervention, and this feels like one of those times.

The Fall Equinox happens September 22. The Sun enters Libra and the day and night hours are of equal length, perfectly balanced. Our focus now turns from self-improvement, personal health, role, function, service and general nitpicky Virgo navel-gazing for the sake of perfection to our relations with others, partnerships, balance, justice, peace.

The Libra energy has its work cut out for it creating balance and harmony these days!

Venus enters Scorpio September 23, a few hours before Mercury turns retrograde in Libra. Our relationships take on a bottom-line intensity and either get stronger or break apart. Anything holding us back from our highest soul-directed growth potential will fall away…or sometimes be stripped away in gut-wrenching ways. The more we hold on to what is dying, the more it hurts, so we must go through the process of Venus in Scorpio aware that we may be asked to cut to the bone for the sake of our own soul survival. This gets annoying to hear, I know. But there are processes at work right now so powerful that to try to buck the flow would cause some damage.

September 29, we have a New Moon in Libra. A new relationship cycle…whether new people are involved or new dynamics with the same crew. Ruled by Venus in Scorpio, this New Moon will start us in the direction of our most important soul growth…bringing new soul mate work to us through other people and finishing old cycles of it. Disengaging from people and relationship dynamics that are done and have lost their charge.

I wrote this about soul mate relationships and thought I would include it:

“Soul mates are the people with whom you have relationships based on mutual soul work that can't be done alone. It requires the coming together with another person (or animal) and interacting with the hope of getting something done that your soul desires to do/work through/complete. The feeling of familiarity with the person comes because your soul recognizes the person as someone you are meant to merge with in mutually beneficial ways - not necessarily for a long time, but until the charge has been played out. There is a emphasis on busting through karmically entrapping energetic dynamics with these types of relationships, working through issues and traps in relationship dynamics. They are not the types of relationships that necessarily always feel good. They are more about being in it for the long haul, until the work is done, working through the events that come up with a strong commitment to seeing it through. Family members, friends, work relationships, lovers, marriage partners...any relationship that challenges us and triggers us to grow or become better or stronger in certain ways in the ways our souls most desire can be a soul mate relationship.”

Soul desire is a big theme of Scorpio, and since Venus in Scorpio rules this New Moon, this is part of the flavour of what is beginning now.

The Sabian symbol for Venus’ place in Scorpio at the time of the New Moon is: Deep-Sea Divers with Special Machinery. This adds a little more interpretation...

“In the situation facing you, you may need to get deep below the surface to find out what’s really going on. It is down within your subconscious and intuitive wisdom that you must search for solutions…You may feel a huge pressure from the world you have dived into…You can handle the pressure as long as you are not pushing against it, or by changing your perceptions of that pressure…Remember, you have special machinery which can help you in this other world.”