Seeing Stars with Mark 16 - 22 January 2010
Dear Friends,
How are you feeling as you sit to read this? On New Year’s Eve, we had a Lunar Eclipse at 10 Cancer. This eclipse required that we release something from our past that was preventing us from moving ahead in a responsible, sensible, and pragmatic manner. Just this week, Saturn stationed and is now slowly moving backwards through the heavens, giving us time to integrate the lesson of his first ten weeks in Libra. Whenever a planet moves into a new sign, there is a shift of planetary energy into a new mode of expression. Saturn was in Virgo from September 2007 to October 2009 and the emphasis was on work, health, and service. In October 2009, Saturn moved into Libra, bringing the focus of its energies to Libra-ruled areas like relationships, balance, and harmony. We have all had a pop quiz these past ten weeks to see how we are in our relationships. Now that Saturn is retrograde, we have some time to ponder the results of our quiz and to make the adjustments necessary in order to move forward with more balance.
The Solar Eclipse at 25 Capricorn on January 15th brought the need to incorporate the Capricorn qualities of restraint, practicality, dependability, patience, and authority to our emotional nature. We are just completing a year of massive changes socially, economically, and politically, and perhaps even personally. Part of this process of change has been fueled by the need to evolve from past habits that, although at one time useful, do not serve us well now. The Lunar Eclipse on December 31 put a definitive stamp on that need. If we are to grow successfully and happily into our futures, we must accept that some our past must be released to make room for the new. Letting go of the past is difficult, often because we are so used to the patterns of our pasts that without them we feel adrift, lost, and unconnected. Well, maybe we are, but that isn’t bad, and sometimes we must accept a certain level of discomfort if we are to grow. Remember those “growing pains’ we had as children and teenagers? Well, just because our physical bodies stop growing, does not mean that our emotional and spiritual bodies stop. The Solar Eclipse is pointing out to us that now is not the time to be sentimental, scared, or dependent. We must use our more practical and earthy qualities to see us through this time of apparent turmoil. Panicking during a crisis is not the answer to surviving it.
On this same day, Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn is stationing as it conjuncts Pluto. Mercury represents our minds and our ability to process and share information. In Capricorn, Mercury is very practical, systematic, and patient. Normally quick and fleeting, Mercury in Capricorn is slower and methodical. Pluto brings intensity to any situation and cuts straight to the core of the matter. Again, the message for us is to be focused on the REAL issues, the core of the matter, and to address them with the gravity they deserve. Superficial or careless attention to the issues facing us will only make them worse.
Both of these eclipses involved a Sun-Venus conjunction in Capricorn. This cycle started in late March 2009 with Venus retrograde in Aries. This was a time when we should have been doing a personal makeover, shifting our desires to be more in line with what we need, creating the possibility for receiving more from ourselves and our experiences. Now, we are in the “accepting” responsibility phase of the cycle. Whatever we did or didn’t do, we are now being called to take responsibility for it, even as we are called upon to release the worn out expressions of our pasts. While Venus was conjuncting these two eclipses, Mars, the rules or Aries, was retrograde, making Venus the more powerful planet. Venus rules Libra and Taurus, and as such has dominion over relationships, finances, and creativity. Finding practical ways to implement these themes into our release of the past and focused engagement with our future will surely bring good results.
The higher octave of Venus is Jupiter. Where Venus works on a personal level, Jupiter works on a social level. Jupiter expands our experience. On Sunday, January 17th, Jupiter will move into Pisces, a sign which it rules. Pisces is the sign we associated with spirituality, sacrifice, and selfless devotion. Jupiter is very happy in its own sign, and we will see people being more generous and more focused on expanding their spiritual connectedness. This is great news, because the world could use some of this healing, selfless energy right now. It is interesting to me how we are already seeing this outpouring of kindness and generosity with regards to the tragedy in Haiti. The response to this natural disaster seems more swift and more coordinated than responses to other natural disasters in the recent past. We CAN learn from our mistakes.
Venus herself will move into Aquarius on Monday, January 18th. Aquarius is the sign we associate with humanitarian ideals: it is the great Red Cross of the zodiac. Although Venus looses some of her personal charm in this sign because of the “big picture” view of Aquarius, energetically, it distills the larger message of Jupiter in Pisces down so that it can be consumed on a personal level. We may see people behaving in more humanitarian or altruistic ways during this period, and since Venus rules money, we can also expect people to open their wallets for the causes in which they believe.
The lunation begun by the Solar Eclipse of January 15th will come to a head with the Full Moon at 10 degrees 14 minutes Leo on January 30th (EST) which will be conjunct Mars retrograde, giving us the strength to express our needs. Mercury will be retrograde only in Earth signs this year, and this makes the call for practical and common sense approaches to our lives very clear. Now is the time to be practical, loyal, patient, determined, and realistic: these are all qualities of Earth signs. Authority, structure, and common sense should be the guidelines we use to make decisions and to direct our thoughts and our actions. Saturn and Uranus are still in opposition, and Jupiter will enter this equation once he moves into Aries, expanding the upheaval we associate with Uranus at 1 degree of Aries, a very significant degree of Aries. The summer has some big surprises in store, so get a jump on things and start being PRACTICAL.
with love
m
phenomenon I discussed a few weeks back. Nevertheless,
whether we consider your life, my life, or what’s going on
around the entire globe we don’t have to look too hard to
find evidence that it’s time to take stock a little bit and make
sure we’re on solid ground. An idea that stuck out like a sore
thumb to me this week when I tried to watch the first episode
of American Idol 9 which I discuss in this week’s video and
post at my Higher Consciousness In Unlikey Places blog.