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Monday, May 31, 2010

The Sun in Gemini

The Sun in Gemini: Communication

The Sun entered Gemini on May 20. Ruled by Mercury, this Air sign rules communication and commerce. The six o’clock news, the newspaper, the political pundit, CNN, MSNBC, FOX and Google are all under the influence of Mercury and the sign of Gemini. What did we do before Google? All the information on the web, whether factual or fanatical, has Mercury/Hermes as Muse. The technology of the Internet may be associated with the planet Uranus, but the content is Mercury and Gemini. In mythology Mercury/Hermes was a trickster. All you have to do is channel surf and you hear a trickster talking and spreading his story over the airwaves. Other factors influence communication. The planet Neptune rules inspiration as well as deception and illusion. Communication is influenced by Neptunian ideology and the collective unconscious. On May 31 Neptune went into its six-month retrograde phase. On that day Neptune was opposing Mars (assertion). When these two planets connect there is always the possibility of talk that may or may not be true. This Neptune/Mars aspect is also a potentially disappointing omen for the outcome of the Gulf Oil catastrophe. Whatever we hear during these Gemini days may be only half-truths. Communication may be slick, like oil.

Challenges and Opportunities

The planetary activities have been challenging for months. Now we step into accelerated urgency as we address complex national and global problems. It just seems that there is no rest stop on the road for many weeks to come. There are challenges but there are opportunities. Saturn went direct on May 30. Projects and plans that have been delayed can now get going. If you have been working behind the scenes on your projects or if some big chore you need to complete has been delayed over and over again, now is the time to take action. Saturn is currently in Virgo at 28 degrees. In another seven weeks Saturn will move into Libra for two years. People born in the late degrees of Virgo, Pisces, Gemini and Sagittarius are finishing up some big karmic jobs in the next seven weeks (before Saturn moves on to Libra). The pay off can take a concrete form, like a longed for job, a project completed, a new set of rules or regulations (financial reform) or some serious situation resolved (here’s hoping). The outcome may be subtle: an experience painted with wisdom and maturity.

Uranus and Jupiter in Aries

In early June Jupiter enters Aries and joins Uranus. This will give all of us a glimpse of our uniqueness. Furthermore, in some area of your life you are ripe for change. Jupiter will give a positive lift to that change feeling and for some change will come swiftly. Just remember that Jupiter will take a retrograde turn back into Pisces in September. If you can’t make that change in spite of your current enthusiasm, don’t worry. Jupiter will spend many months in Aries in 2011 and changes can happen. Right now, plant the seed. Now that Uranus has entered Aries we need to seriously think about our unique life spark. What is your passion? What is special about you? How might you express that specialness? Of course I am assuming that a person will ask that whatever s/he does be in accordance with the Highest Divine Will. Unfortunately Uranus in Aries has the potential for fanaticism and immaturity. Put Jupiter and Uranus in Aries on the same chair in the living room and you get a big head with impulses fueled by ego. While the Sun travels through Gemini, and Uranus and Jupiter are in Aries, we might expect even more outrageous verbal and written expressions of opinions. In our current global atmosphere there is also the possibility that uniqueness will take violent forms.

What To Do.

The New Moon on June 12 will form difficult connections with Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus. Jupiter opposing Saturn means immature souls will be frustrated when they don’t get what they want in the moment. Astrology suggests that we all be careful with our thoughts and words during this time. That means patience and it means take time to listen to others. In addition to a stressed New Moon in the sign of communication (Gemini), there is more difficultly. Mercury, ruler of Gemini, ruler of communication, will be irritated by aspects with Mars and Neptune. Again, what we hear may not be the truth. Again, people may say things they later regret. Some will speak from heated discontent, deception, anger and fear. Many will be caught in lies. The truth gets more and more uncertain and illusive as we babble ideology and neglect compassion. We hear so many words, but we don’t know what to believe. What is the truth? Does it even exist here in the physical dimension? How do we hold the tension of complexity in this bizarre realm we call reality? Sometimes you just have to wonder, is it all true and I just don’t get it? But if you are reading this, you know you are here in this life during these evolving times for some reason. You do not have to be a billionaire or a famous somebody or a winner on American Idol to have purpose in life. Be yourself, be authentic, think about what you can set in motion to make your life mean something for yourself, for those you love and for all life on our planet.

From The Emerald Tablets, translated by Dr. Doreal: "Man’s search for understanding in the laws which regulate his life has been unending, yet always just beyond the veil which shields the higher planes from material man’s vision the truth has existed, ready to be assimilated by those who enlarge their vision by turning inward, not outward, in their search."

The next astro tips will address the Lunar Eclipse on June 26th. Stand by.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Uranus enteres Aries May 27, 2010

What will happen when Uranus moves into the first sign, Aries? On the day of the Full Moon in fire sign Sagittarius (Thursday, May 27), Uranus gives us about a ten-week preview of the next seven years. In August Uranus returns to Pisces until March of 2011, then back to Aries. Uranus moves from a water sign to a fire sign. Water is emotional; fire is energetic and active. Pisces is the last sign, the results of the collective. Aries, the first sign, is the individual, the pioneer, and the warrior. Pisces is sensitive; Aries is tough-skinned. Aries is me, me and more me. Aries takes action based on courage and intelligence. Since Saturn will be in the opposite sign, Libra, there will still be need to cooperate and strive for fairness in all activities. One would expect Uranus in Aries to bring great inventions. New celebrities will surface in science especially. There will be new trailblazers, heroes and social reformers. It’s good to be grounded in ones purpose in life. The Aries energy, however, is known for impatience and forging ahead regardless of the consequences. Uranus in Aries could mean individualism carried to terrible extremes. We can’t forget that Mars, the god of war, rules Aries. Furthermore, Aries is the first sign, so it suggests immaturity. We do not get to choose from the nice side of the list. Aries has courageous and innovative energy and Aries can go on the warpath.

Jupiter also will move into Aries and join Uranus in June. A conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus may bring some help to our many problems, both personal and collective. However, Jupiter/Uranus in Aries will be making a stressful aspect to Pluto (now in Capricorn). On the day Uranus enters Aries Venus will be in Cancer. This too is a stressful connection. The chart of the United States has Venus in Cancer. Venus rules money. Ergo: Uranus and Pluto will be affecting our country. There are and will be challenges to our values and our monetary system. Astrologers who specialize in astrology’s connection with the financial market must be looking closely at this one.

It takes Uranus eighty-four years to travel around the Zodiac. When Uranus entered the pioneering sign of Aries in April of 1927, Bell Telephone made the first successful long distance television transmission. It was an image of Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce. Uranus was in Aries from 1927 to 1935. These were very insecure and difficult financial years in our country. If we have gained wisdom from the past, then Uranus in Aries offers hope because it is the first sign. Aries can initiate new methods and new solutions. Uranus in Aries invites all of us to put aside fear and be courageous. Uranus in Aries gives us the opportunity to re-invent our lives if we have the resources and wits to make it happen. Ultimately Uranus is about awakening: to who we are, to our individual talents and contributions, and to the bigger cosmic picture that connects us all. We are each unique in the big web of life.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Mercury Stationary Direct May 11, 2010

Mercury Stationary Direct May 11, 2010

Mercury’s retrograde phase ends Tuesday, May 11. Whenever Mercury goes retrograde or direct, we refer to the planet as stationary. That means Mercury will be moving very slowly for another week or so. If you brain cells feel like they have been sitting out in the cabbage patch or under a flower pot (!), rest assured you will start thinking again. It might take a few days. If you want to be really technical, Mercury’s retrograde period through Taurus will end on May 28. On that day Mercury returns to the degree in Taurus where it went retrograde April 17. Perhaps Mercury retrograde has an unconscious component. This time, in Taurus, we have been unconsciously sorting through what is important to us. As the days of May unfold you may find yourself starting to take action on what is important. It could be letting go of something you no longer need. It could be planning something that is the next step for your life purpose.

This has been an eventful retrograde period. The Icelandic volcano erupted and delayed travelers. The oil spill in the Gulf region is forcing humanity to re-examine a civilization based on buried black gold. The near collapse of the stock market seemed to have been caused by an individual’s computer error (a typical Mercury retrograde happening but in this case producing a near financial catastrophe). Finally, information about the financial situation in many European countries has surfaced for global dissemination. Greece is being saved by the European Union; however, unless Greece and its citizens re-examine how they are managing their resources, little will change. Part of the problem in Greece apparently is simply how few people actually pay taxes. Can nations exist without contributions from their citizens? Is Greece a small microcosm of the large global problem? Mercury retrograde in Taurus has exposed the awful truth: the people who live on Planet Earth are in big debt. We have to re-think how we do this journey. The financial news from Europe tells us again that we are all connected. What affects one affects all.

The Mercury in Taurus theme continues a little longer. This Thursday, May 13, the New Moon joins the Sun at 23 degrees of Taurus. Matters of money, stock markets, debt and value systems will continue to be spotlighted. Congress will have no choice but to find some way to regulate the financial arena. There may be disagreements about how to do this, but the pressure is on to find ways to insure our national financial security. We are all a part of this collective problem. How do we re-think how we are utilizing what resources we have? Will we get a chance to find new systems for managing our global economy? Or will change be forced upon us because we have already created something that is unstoppable? Hopefully Mercury in Taurus heading in a straight direction (as well as the New Moon falling in Taurus) will give the people and leaders of the world common sense, insight, tenacity and strength to address our acute global problems.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Sun in Taurus: Gaia

Sun in Taurus: Gaia

Years ago we began to see maps depicting Earth changes. I always wondered about those maps. Would the day come when Dallas would be a seacoast? Could New York City really disappear? What kind of imagination was creating these new landlines? Maybe someone was tuning in to 2010. Of course that somebody was Edgar Cayce. Cayce’s prophecy said that a new age would begin around 2000. It would be accompanied by a polar shift and loss of landmass all over the world. Now it is 2010 and we have had enough big Gaia disruptions to fill a year and it’s only the first of May. The recent eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano was a sight to see in pictures and video. Wow. Mother Earth is getting our attention. A couple of earthquakes was not enough. We need a big volcano to speak to us. We need massive flooding in Appalachia. We are being hit over and over again with a message: we aren’t really in charge here. And if we are even minimally in charge, we need to think hard about cause and effect. Now we have the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. If you go digging around in Neptune’s territory, Neptune might get mad. We might have to look at what we have created. I am not meaning to place blame on any corporation or person. Accidents happen. It’s the accident itself that needs our attention. What have we, as a collective, created? We are visitors here. The Earth will hopefully endure no matter what we do, but it would be nice if we could figure out how to be polite guests.

The Sun travels through earthy Taurus while Mars in fire sign Leo makes a cranky aspect to the Sun. By the time we reach the New Moon in Taurus, on May 13, the Sun and Moon will have been in cranky mode with Neptune also. It’s possible that it will take a lot of energy to overcome the damage of this oil spill. We can spend our time blaming a company. We can be really crazy and spend our time blaming environmental saboteurs. Or we can come out of this crazy, crazy dream and try to solve some very real problems. Maybe we cannot continue to behave as if we are the honored guests on planet Earth. Maybe turtles are as important as I am. When the Moon gets Full on May 27, and Neptune has squared the Sun and Moon, we will be immersed in the urgent message about how wounded the oceans are. The oil spill will be an invitation to educate humanity about our living, breathing oceans. Expect lots of educational programs on the seas and their importance to our survival and the survival of all living creatures.

Did you ever hear this expression: I was asleep when I thought I was awake? I cannot remember where I heard this little phrase but it is a fitting handful of words for the astrology of right now. This now continues for several more months. We are just getting started on our journey of awakening. Pluto, ruler of the underworld, is very tense during 2010, and the underworld has erupted. Pluto, ruler of the unconscious, is making square aspects with both Saturn and Uranus. What does this square thing mean? It means urgent! It means conflict and pressure. It means challenge because it is an invitation to aim for solutions and something better. But first we have to become conscious. All this time we thought we were awake. But we were sleeping. We really believed we could always fly when we wanted to fly, eat what we wanted to eat (will you miss gulf shrimp?) , live where we wanted to live, have what we wanted when we wanted it. Pluto and Uranus say wake up. We have been sleeping. We thought we were more important than those turtles sinking in the oil.

We associate the Sun’s passage through Taurus with reverence for the Earth. During May we celebrate Wesak to remember Buddha’s birth and enlightenment. The Full Moon in Scorpio, last month, was the actual time for Wesak but there are celebrations throughout May all over the world to honor the Buddha. Buddha’s enlightenment included his connection with the present and with the beauty and preciousness of everything around him right here on Planet Earth. How appropriate for the sign of Taurus. This is a challenging year. The least we can do during the days of Taurus is to wake up to the preciousness of where we reside. During May we can meditate on the awesomeness of lightening bolts flashing around Eyjafjallajokull. We can hold our own private ceremonies to honor the dead creatures in the Gulf of Mexico. We can send our loving energy to those who are displaced by floods and Hurricanes and Tornados. We can be reverent for our home. Taurus days are a time for planting, a time for mating, a time for earthly pleasures. In addition to the sensual delights that the energy of Taurus brings our way, the planetary alignments are speaking clearly. We are waking up to a living, breathing planet. We live here with a lot of other living, breathing, sentient life.