NOW History (JBull)
Updated March 20, 2008

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March 19, 2008: Open to Miracles You've Never Imagined Possible It may take a few years yet before the World wakes up to peace and collaboration, but there's no reason you can't do it now.   In fact, the World will never wake up if you don't help lead the way. Moon conjunct Saturn, 6:33am PDT, 4 Virgo, "Black and white children play together happily."

March 14, 2008: Focus Your Energies Vow to no longer waste energy on what you don't want.   Keep your attention on what you DO want and how sweet it will be when you finally release all your resistance and allow it to manifest. Moon conjunct Mars, 8:03pm PDT, 4 Cancer, "A Cat arguing with a Mouse."

March 12, 2008: Where is your Community? What you enjoy can be sustained.   What you don't enjoy will be effort.   Go for effortlessness. Moon conjunct Ceres, 12:06 am PDT March 12, 25 Taurus, "A vast public park."

March 9, 2008: Focus Your Intentions For the next couple of days the Force is with us, to spiff up our skills at focusing our intentions.   Really, that's all there is, focusing your intention.   That's the fulcrum.   Everthing else flows from that. Mercury conjunct Neptune at 12:52 am March 9 in 23 Aquarius, "A big Bear sitting down and waving all of its paws."

March 7, 2008: Talking Truth If you've been saving up a Truth or two that you'd like to share, and you'd like a large audience, and you'd like to be well received, today and tomorrow are the perfect days to spend some time visualizing exactly how that would look and feel, while lovingly and gently releasing any doubts that may arise. New Moon in 18 Pisces (Large crowd enjoying spectacular performance in big tent) at 9:14 am PST and Moon conjunct Uranus in 19 Pisces (Master and student) at 11:04 am PST on March 7, and Sun conjunct Uranus in 19 Pisces at 12:19 pm PST on March 8.

January 16, 2008: The Change            After nine months of wrestling with the edge of hopelessness, we finally turn a corner.   Time has provinces just like space, and we're entering a new one.   Hassles that seemed insurmountable last week will be readily resolvable two weeks from now.   The resolution may not be easy, but it's suddenly headslappingly obvious.   The lessons we've been learning, for the last nine months and the last dozen years, have been about realizing that despair is a state of mind rather than a statement about the World, and realizing that no hassle can be resolved when we cling to an agenda.   Reality is Paradox.   Rational is part of Mind, not part of Reality.   Now that we've had no choice but to detach from both our hopelessness and our dreams, we can allow them to manifest.            One catch - we still have to let go of our pictures about our dreams.   What we're manifesting is based on our deepest desires.   We all have shallow pictures of the reflections of those deep dreams, pictures based on our current understanding of the Cosmos.   News flash - our current understanding of the Cosmos is incomplete!   I don't care who you are, and I don't care whether your primary channel for receiving input is visual, intellectual, kinesthetic, emotional, auditory, psychic, or comedic.   Your current understanding of the Cosmos is incomplete.   So when our deepest dreams come forth, to the extent that we're attached to their reflections in our understanding, we won't recognize them.   To get past these shallow pictures, we need to stay with acceptance and gratitude, no matter what manifests.   You may create your dreams incarnate, you may create the mirage that you thought was your dreams, or you may create the screen that stands between you and your dreams.   If you get the latter, be very loving with all of the emotions that arise as a result.            If the Earth continues to split into Heavenly and Hellish segments, which will you choose?   This is a crossroads.   The choices you make in the last half of January are more important than usual.   Choose Love.   Don't be deterred by "negative" emotions - respond to them lovingly.            The action is on the Aries Points and the Power Points of the zodiac - new beginnings and powerful transformations, specifically the cusps of Capricorn and Cancer (compassion and pragmatism), and the midpoint of Aquarius (idealism and integrity).              The action that's ending is the Chiron-Pluto octile and the Mars retreat that opposed the Jupiter-Pluto-Mercury-FullMoon-GalacticCenter Solstice.   The third and last Chiron-Pluto octile is January 24, just one minute of arc and half a day of time before Pluto enters Capricorn.   Mars finishes its retreat on January 30, though after that it'll cross the Cancer cusp (March 3) and Pluto (March 6) for the third time.   And Mars stays out of bounds (strong) until April 25.   What we haven't been able to accomplish since mid-November, while Mars has been retrograde, we'll finish in spades between January 30 and April 25.            The action that's beginning includes of course the biggie, Pluto entering Capricorn, and a Venus-Pluto cycle on January 23 that coincides with the last Chiron octile.   Pluto will not enter Capricorn "for good" until November 26, 2008, since it backs into Sagittarius one more time on June 13, so 2008 in many ways may at times feel like sort of a "false start" into the new province.   In other words, things will change rapidly during the first half of the year, and a backlash will follow during the second half.   Of course the media will miss or misreport most of the changes, and overreport the backlash, so if you take most of your information from the mainstream media it could be several years before you realize how much has changed.   Pluto is about transformation.   Sagittarius is about burning away whatever is spiritually unnecessary.   Since most of us have involuntary reactions to fire, and since most of are attached to the spiritually unnecessary, the last twelve years have seemed kind of hard.   Even if we were good at releasing the unnecessary, we still had to grieve its loss.   Capricorn on the other hand, is just about seeing the obvious and attending to it directly.   The engineering solution.   For the next sixteen years we're likely to want to overengineer everything.   So for instance, instead of denying global warming, now we'll just want to fix it.   That's a great improvement, but the engineering solution doesn't address root cause, so come 2025 or so we'll have to fight this battle all over again, as Pluto in Aquarius again brings more tension between idealism and integrity, between belief and the obvious.   You can save yourself the trouble by just bypassing cause and effect and going straight to Source.   The contrarian side of Capricorn advises us to trust our serendipitous intuitions and unexpected impulses.            The Pluto-Venus cycle last about a year.   It'a about transforming our pictures of our values.   This one begins at 30 Sagittarius, "The Pope, blessing the faithful."   Sounds like kind of a do-or-die sorta thing, where our values demand our intuitive allegiance, over and above our intellectual conceptions of them.   For instance, what you now see as a "pet peeve" may transform into a more serious commitment to action, or, gods forbid, into an effort to get other people to conform to your notion of the way things ought to be.   We'll paint it positively, and call it a movement into more constructive and realistic pursuit of what's important to us.            Speaking of tension between idealism and integrity (Aquarius), as we were a minute ago, the other new energy dominating the next two months is about honoring our deeper values.   Both Mercury and Vesta cross Chiron on January 17, at the midpoint of Aquarius.   The midpoints of the fixed signs are considered the zodiac's Power Points.   Mercury represents awareness and communication.   While Venus represents what we value, Vesta stands for what we hold sacred - our deepest values.   Chiron is about healing, and particularly about coming to believe that what we previously thought was impossible, is now feasible.   Aquarius 15 is "Two Lovebirds sitting on a fence singing happily."   I read that as a very friendly influence over the next five years (the length of the Vesta-Neptune cycle), particularly with Pluto moving into Capricorn.   Of course the dangers of idealism (considering the intellectualization of some value to be more important than the value itself) and control (opposing the contrary values of others rather than supporting our own values) may abet the polarization that characterises the decade (the Saturn-Uranus-Moon-Pallas grand cross in the 1/1/2000 chart), but the two Lovebirds bodes a happy ending, even if the Chiron-Pluto cycle that began 12/30/1999 is too scary for you to interpret that way.   Since Mercury goes on retreat from January 28 to February 18, we revisit Mercury-Vesta on February 2, and Mercury-Chiron again on February 7 and March 4.            Chiron is moving toward conjunction, and the beginning of a new cycle, with Neptune.   Both planets stand still in the 27th degree of Aquarius ("An ancient pottery bowl filled with fresh violets") in late May 2009, but Chiron stops fifteen minutes of arc short of Neptune.   Some would consider this the beginning of the new cycle, and it will be momentous enough (particularly since it's conjunct Jupiter) that we may as well do that.   The full conjunction occurs in mid-February 2010, and it's also at 27 Aquarius, so we don't have to assign a double meaning to the cycle.   This is a loooong cycle - this one lasts 85 years.   The previous cycle began in September 1945, at 9 Libra, "Three 'old masters' hanging on the wall of a special room in an art gallery."   So while the last 65 years (as of 2009) have been about respect for tradition, the next 85 will be about finding new life in old forms.   The Chiron-Neptune cycle is about healing into Wholeness.            We bring this up now because when Mercury and Vesta cross Chiron, they cross Neptune soon after - and even provide hints about the impending change in this Big (ie, long) cycle.   The longer a cycle, the less experience we have with it, and the more likely it is to shift our reality beyond recognition.   Mercury crosses Neptune on January 22, then both Mercury and Vesta cross on February 1-2 at 22 Aquarius, and Mercury crosses again (in tandem with Venus this time) on March 8.   The Vesta-Neptune cycle is about channeling Deep Truth - recalling of course that Truth is in the Heart, not the mind, and that everyone's Truth is different.   Of course those who don't recall that could well experience this cycle as a need to straighten everyone else out.   22 Aquarius is "A rug is placed on the floor of a nursury to allow children to play in comfort and warmth."   With Mercury there, this five-year cycle may trigger the compassionate mind.   We'll hold that intention.

December 17, 2007: The Return of Light            Don't think I've ever seen a chart so conducive to waking up as the chart of this Solstice, which is a major governing horoscope for us until August.   It's blessed with four sources of creative stress.   The first source is huge, and its stress is a tension between The Future and the old notion that to succeed we must struggle to compete.   The Future outweighs the incumbent by about 800%.   The second source is merely big, and its stress is about balancing emotion, inertia, identity, and wisdom.   The third and fourth stressors are smaller, but still significant.   The third stress is about sustainability in the face of despair.   And the fourth stress has to do with contrasts between our values, our ideals, and our Truth.   All of it is about waking up.   Fortunately, each of these sources of stress has an accompanying easy route to resolution.   The first and third stresses are resolved by spurning business as usual while respecting and wisely applying our existing skills to sustainable, flexible, Future-seeking goals.   The second stress is resolved by being The Future rather than trying to work to create it.   It's not about effort.   The fourth stress is resolved by carefully choosing the path in between obedience and rebellion.            Simple, eh?   Of course we still have two other prominent energy fields with us until the end of January - our opportunity to review and revise our doingness and our seminar in working with despair.   Some of that will come through as anger or self-doubt.   Self-doubt is anger turned inward toward the self.   Our anger is like our despair and anxiety.   Always always lovingly embrace the emotions (and their bodily source if there is one), but never ever believe what your mind says under their influence.   They're intoxicants, they're addictive, and they never speak Truth.   Truth is calm, peaceful, and self-evident, never strident or scared or hopeless.   Yet your anger, despair, and anxiety hide great Truths.   To find these jewels, it is necessary first to be in the present moment - when you're in anger or despair or anxiety, in the present moment you're under the spell of Harpies who aim to lead you away from the treasures.   First you must reverse the spell, by loving the Harpies for who they are.   They are Goddesses, employed by your Soul Self to make sure that the route to your Truth is not easily forgotten.            The purpose of anger is to distinguish our Earthbound self from Other.   Our Heavenbound Self is One with Other.   But our Earthbound self is Separate, and balancing that ultimate duality, with compassion, is what allows us to "walk the spiritual path wih practical feet," as Angie Arrien puts it.   But when anger is operating properly, we don't feel it as anger.   We feel it as simply "in our interest," simply self-evident.   When it roils our emotions, it's speaking for a former self of ours that was violated, and our task is to lovingly embrace the emotion, and to embrace the present moment experience of it in our Earthbound body.   Separation from Other will take care of itself, once we've learned to be loving with our anger as anger.   In December and January, we're likely to experience it as frustration, but the assignment is the same - embrace it for itself, and recognize that only the emotion and the physical sensations are real.   The thoughts that come along for the ride are metaphors, echoing truth or fact but far from Truth itself.   Don't believe a word of their stories.            The first source of stress is an opposition (contradistinction) between on the one hand a retrograde (under reconsideration), out-of-bounds (strong) Mars (competition, energy, doingness) and on the other hand the Solstice Sun (return of the Light) and Jupiter (an amplifier) and the Galactic Center (something a lot bigger than we can imagine) and Pluto (the force of history, transformation, the appearance of fate) and an out-of-bounds (strong) Mercury (mind, communication).   Mars is even stronger because of it's closeness to the Earth and resulting prominence in the heavens.   The resolution to this stress lies in a golden rectangle (very tightly organized blessing) with another opposition between on the one hand Saturn (structure, history, business as usual) and the Dragon's Tail (our existing skillset, inertia) and on the other hand Pallas (wisdom, appropriate assertion) and the Dragon's Head (our destination, our curriculum).   This second opposition forms a Grand Cross, which is the second source of stress, with the opposition between Juno (identity, merging, joining, belonging) and an out-of-bounds (strong) Moon (emotions).   The tension in the Grand Cross is resolved through a meditative approach (Mars retrograde) to the Future (Solstice Sun-Jupiter-Pluto-Mercury-Galactic Center), and through attention to the sacred (Vesta).   A major symmetry is completed by a vacancy in early Leo (around 2-5 degrees), so your own natal planet in that zone would make yourself an additional Tool of the Universe in resolving these tensions.   A potentially fateful time for you in other words, in a very positive sense.            The third source of creative stress is a square from Ceres (sustainability, nurture) to Chiron (healing, despair, empathy), resolved by a trine from Ceres to Saturn (tradition).   That doesn't endorse business as usual, because of the way Saturn's involved in the previous paragraph.   On the West Coast of the US, Chiron conjoins (opens) the Vertex (a portal to other dimensions), making our despair homework so very important.   The fourth source is another square from Venus (what we value) to Neptune (our relationship to God, our cultural heritage, material confusion), resolved by a trine from Venus to Uranus (integrity, the chord connecting us to our individual soul). Timetable:            At 11 minutes after noon PST on December 18, Jupiter enters Capricorn.            At 9 minutes after 6am PST on December 19, Saturn begins a retreat across 2-9 Virgo.            At 10 minutes to 11am PST on December 19, Mercury crosses Pluto in 29 Sadge ("A fat boy mowing the lawn of his house on an elegant suburban street").            At 17 minutes before 7am PST on December 20, Mercury enters Capricorn.            At 7 minutes before 2pm PST on December 20, Mercury crosses Jupiter in 1 Cap.            At 17 minutes after 4pm PST on December 20, the Sun crosses Pluto in 29 Sadge.            At 8 minutes after 10pm PST on December 21, the solstice occurs.   The first degree of Capricorn is "An Indian chief claims power from the assembled tribe."            At 29 minutes after 10 am PST on December 22, Mercury opposes Mars.            At 4 minutes before 10 pm PST on December 22, the Sun conjoins Jupiter in 2 Cap ("Three Rose windows in a Gothic church, one damaged by war").            At 15 minutes after 5pm PST on December 23, the Full Moon occurs.   The corresponding initiatory New Moon was on December 9, in 18 Sadge, "Children playing on the beach, their heads protected by Sunbonnets: The need for people confronted with the future to discover a new way of living and more wholesome surroundings" (Rudhyar 1973 p.221).   Rather prophetic, eh?            At 14 minutes before noon PST on December 24, the Sun opposes Mars.            At 8 minutes before noon PST on December 26, Mars opposes Jupiter.   The Mars-Jupiter cycle began September 26, 2004 at another Aries Point, 1 Libra - "In a collection of perfect specimens of many biological forms, a Butterfly displays the beauty of its wings, its body impaled by a fine dart."   What a comment on the effectiveness of our doingness for the last three years.   The phitile or culmination of this cycle occurs July 2, 2008, thankfully before the next election.   The next cycle doesn't begin till February 17, 2009, however, so the election occurs in a Mars-Jupiter void - which is good, since the Mars-Jupiter cycle symbolizes one of the more yang energies.   This next cycle births at 11 Aqua ("During a silent hour, a person receives a new inspiration which may change their life").            In January and February there's a complex dance between Mercury (intellectual awareness), Vesta (the sacred), Chiron (healing), and Neptune (God) that will awaken us even more, but we'll write about that later.

November 15, 2007: The Big Picture            For the next eleven weeks, till February 1, 2008, we get our doingness challenged.   That's always a fantastic opportunity to focus on being instead, but to the extent that doing 'R us, a challenge it is, particularly the mid-November transition.   We just finished, in July-September, having our beingness similarly provoked, so this challenge is at least rounding.   This process happens every two years, so while it throws us a bit off kilter for a while, it's no "2012."   The primary lesson for the next eleven weeks is empathy - the work is about compassion and being asked to examine how we project our doingness onto situations where empathy (which is about being, not doing) would be more healing.   The lesson we got in August was about how we weave self-love, self-criticism, and self-transformation together.   While these lessons are technically over by the end of January, it'll be next September before we finish muddling through them and begin rebuilding our relationships on the foundation of what we've learned.            So as long as we're muddling, and since these two trends sit at the heart of our emotional life, and since we're still in the middle of a very transformative healing that might easily be confused with a bummer if we don't attend to keeping our thoughts pointed toward what we want, what say we take a rare look at the Big Picture, eh?   Out of the Big Six fields on the Planet, the four biggest are waxing.   That means that new energies are growing, even if it may not always be apparent.   That makes it all the more important to keep our thoughts focused on the Greatest Blessing each of us has, which is the God-Given Desires that lurk beneath our domesticated pretenses - like peace and joy and excitement and permission to be ourself, for instance.   The other two fields, the two that are waning, are about healing - healing our relationship with OurSelf, and healing our relationship with God, or whatever we want to call our NotSelf this week.   That they're waning means that we need to set our old beliefs aside so we can be open to the new field when it arrives.   In these departments it's more effective to just surrender to don't-know than to focus on what we want.   Don't-Know is especially important around our relationship to God, because that brand-new field opens with a big bang in 2009.   So for now it's dunno about God and dunno about "Who Am I?" and I want about everything else.   Of course I want is a little tricky when we're agnostic about just who "I" is, but really all there is to that trick, is to let it change moment to moment.   Don't get stuck on the picture of what you want, stay focused on the felt sense of what you want - how will it feel in my body when I get it?   Ask that question over and over again and let it change from one moment to the next.   Remember this, and it'll be easy, we can just watch, nothing we have to do, no one we have to be.            Mars (doing) begins an eleven-week retreat (reconsideration) November 14-15 spanning 25 Gemini to 13 Cancer - mostly the Cancer decanate of Cancer (compassion, nurturance, on their own accounts).   The beingness lesson was a retreat of Venus through 17 Leo to 3 Virgo (self-love etc.).   The shift next September is a Venus-Mars conjunction at 16 Libra, "After a storm a boat landing stands in need of reconstruction."            As for the Big Picture, the Neptune-Pluto cycle (God manifesting) is at the waxing septile (building power), and not to be ignored, since it's the largest field around us.   This cycle Initiated in 1891 at 9 Gemini, "A quiver filled with arrows," which Rudhyar interprets as "Man's aggressive relationship to natural life, as a basis for survival and conquest."   Ouch.   Only the quiver and arrows are given - what else can we do with them?   Maybe think Zen Archery instead, and the necessity to maintain one's consciousness at the stillpoint, to "hold your mouth right" as my father used to put it?   The Uranus-Pluto (extreme authenticity) cycle is at the waxing binovile (sleeping), but sass a sleeping bear at your peril - this is the cycle that blooms in 2012, when "the 60's become permanent."   The Uranus-Neptune cycle (Enlightenment) is at fourteenth harmonic (integration) and waxing.   This is the Berlin-Wall-falling cycle that began 14 years ago at 20 Capricorn, "A hidden choir singing at a religious service" - listen for that OM tone, and pay close attention to it.   We've already written at length about the Chiron-Pluto cycle.   It's the Chiron-Uranus (healing authenticity) and Chiron-Neptune (healing gratitude) cycles that are waning (let it go), and the Chiron-Neptune cycle that's waving its arms most vigorously - a new cycle begins very powerfully (when both planets are stationary - strong, and conjunct Jupiter - magnified) in 2009 at 27 Aquarius, "An ancient pottery bowl filled with fresh violets."   The Saturn-Chiron (healing the ego), Saturn-Neptune (identifying with God), and Saturn-Pluto (the appearance of fate) cycles are all waning (let it go), and only the Saturn-Uranus (deep integrity) cycle still waxes, and that one's almost at opposition (culmination).   So clearing the way for ego rebirth is clearly what's in order.

26 October 2007: Big Perigean Full Moon            It woke me up in fear.   In the late 80s, when this newsletter was print, I'd be writing late at night and feel a surge of fear, as if a prowler was outside.   More than once I'd throw open the door to see, and find myself face to face with - the Full Moon.   I experience unintegrated Power as Fear.   Twenty-five years ago I began an effort to recover my emotions, and that led me to another effort, to recover my intuition.   One of my teachers in that endeavor, Susan Osborn, used to sing, "I will go Moonbathing tonight / and feel my Shadow."   Tonight, after a couple of attempts to pin my fear on health or safety or some other artifice of Mind, after locating the feelings in my body and smothering them with love, and after calling in a couple of Angels, I found myself singing to myself, "I will go Moonbathing tonight and feel my Shadow."   It's clear here, so I opened the shades to bathe in the silver glow.            I'm reminded to write about anxiety and despair.   When I learned that anxiety is a process of the Mind, rather than a property of the outside World, it was liberating to focus my attention, lovingly and gently of course, on the inner process rather than the outer projection.   Despair/hopelessness is like anxiety.   It's a process of the Mind, not a property of the outside World.   Despair and anxiety are islands in the Mind, tangles of neuron pathways that have few neuronic connections to other parts of the brainbone.   If we get stranded by some reminiscent experience on one of those islands, it can so easily feel like there's no way out.   So we heal by literally building the bridges and ferries to connect these islands to the Mainland, where we can get grounded.   We do that by holding consciousness of both realities at once - feeling the real emotions that engender the anxiety/despair island at the same time that we hold tight to a symbol that grounds us to the Mainland, like Moonbathing, or locating and loving a physical bodily experience.   In the Recovery days they used to teach us to hold onto our car keys (a symbol of freedom, eh?), or to ask ourself, "What color is the wallpaper?"   Of course, colors are different in Moonlight, but it's still wallpaper, still the Present Moment. The biggest configuration in the Full Moon itself is a grand trine between the Moon, Vesta, and the Dragon's Tail.   That means a spontaneous (grand trine) recovery, through emotional channels (Moon), of ancient truths (Dragon's Tail) about the Sacred (Vesta).   Bullseye.   And because a Full Moon opposes the Sun and the Dragon's Tail always opposes Her Head, we have five points of a grand sextile, with the vacancy at 4 Cancer ("A Cat arguing with a Mouse"), significant if you happen to have a planet there.   Then there's a Jupiter tsquare across the Venus-Uranus opposition, bridged by a trine from Uranus to Juno.   We could call this an amplification (Jupiter) of a contrast (opposition) between our mundane values (Venus) and our Soul's mission on the Planet at this time (Uranus), a contrast which we can integrate (trine) by adjusting our identity (Juno).   But of course this is a Full Moon, which means to interpret it fully we need to investigate the previous New Moon.   That was 18 Libra, "Two men placed under arrest: A breakdown in the constructive relationship between the individual and society" (Rudhyar 1973 p.183), and coincided with the Venus-Saturn-Dragon and Vesta-Pluto-Galactic Center initiations we discussed immediately below.

11 October 2007: A Long Moment of Truth            There are two significant energies born here.   One is short but strong, the other longer and even stronger.            The first is about paying very close attention to your thoughts and paying very close attention to how your programmed belief systems edit your experience.   In other words, there are unimaginable treats here - "magic is afoot" as they say in the grove - treats which, if you accept them, will help carry you safely, peacefully, and joyfully across the 2012 threshhold, whatever that turns out to be for you.   This energy is finished by April 2008, so I highly recommend that you don't waste it.   It'll go underground soon, to resurface loudly towards the end of the year.   How to recognize it?   It's fairly simple - your skepticism will give it away.   Any time you see yourself rejecting anything as too unreasonable, see if you can take a moment to suspend your disbelief.   Let yourself indulge in imagining for a few moments.   What if that was what I saw?   What if that was true?   Then, once you set yourself free for a moment, let your mind consider the implications - if that was true, then what else in my "normal" mindset and "normal" reality is false?   You'll never regret taking this luxury.            The second energy is about discriminating and choosing the right path for yourself from the bewildering array of choices that confront us.   Do you see how these two energies are related?   Your path isn't anybody else's path, and your truth isn't anybody else's truth.   If you see these two energies as conspiring to crush conformity, you won't be far off.   The key to this energy lies in paying attention to what is sacred to you - not what somebody else told you is sacred, but what is sacred in your own personal unique heart of hearts.   It's no longer business as usual, the World has changed, and we need to change with it.   We need to live and choose consciously now.   As the Planet speeds up, we need to slow down in proportion, so we don't make sloppy choices from habit.   The first energy is manifesting now to help you make this distinction.   This second energy lasts for two years; after going underground it reappears at the next equinox, about the time when the first energy is fading.   Remember, these energies aren't just windows, they're learning opportunities.   Sure, the energy fades as the cycle moves on and other energies become louder, but meanwhile we've tasted the fruit, and we have the power to recall these tastes anytime later, as talents, whenever we need them.            Two other energies are born in the last half of November, and those energies conspire to keep us chained to the past that has already died.   Learn these first two energies well now, so you'll be wise enough to resist the temptation to race after the fife in November.            The first energy arises from a quadruple conjunction of Venus (what we value), Saturn (what we focus upon), the Dragon's Tail or Moon's South Node (what we already know if we can access it), and the fixed star Regulus (the Eye of Leo, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalyse), in 5 Virgo, signifying "becoming aware of nature spirits and normally unseen spiritual agencies: opening of new levels of consciousness" (Rudhyar 1973 p.153).   The Venus-Saturn square (when the energy goes mainstream) occurs in early January 2008, and the phitile (when the energy fades) occurs in mid-April 2008.   Since many people experience Saturn as negative and limiting, it's very important to be watchful for that and reframe it positively.   For instance, a virus might have you feeling tired, irritated, and unexcited, while you stress yourself about how much work you're not getting done.   You might reframe that as an opportunity to slow down and rest, to give yourself a quiet space where inspiration can find you again.            The second energy is spawned from a triple conjunction between Vesta (that which we hold sacred), which is out of bounds (very strong), Pluto (that which we cannot avoid, and which changes us), and the Galactic Center (overarchingly inevitable) at 27 Sagittarius, which signifies "a sculptor at work: the ability to project one's vision upon and give form to matter" (Rudhyar 1973 p.226).   This energy enters the common thoughtstream (ie, the Vesta-Pluto square) in mid-April of 2008, and surrenders (ie, the phitile) at the end of September 2009.   Vesta is out of bounds from 26 September till 11 December 2007, during which span it is much more important than usual that we respect what we feel to be sacred.   Venus is about what has heart and meaning to us, while Vesta is about what is sacred to us - the difference is subtle but meaningful.   If you believe that your Planet's future depends on collaboration, I recommend plugging into Lynne McTaggart's Intention Experiment.            There are three other prominent astroprocesses occurring here that will have profound effects on all this.            First, Mercury turns retrograde today (11 October) until 1 November, it's retreat spanning 24 Libra through 10 Scorpio, and the entire process spanning 21 September through 17 November.   The Gemini decanate of Libra and the Scorpio decanate of Scorpio are profoundly different; in the former we question what treasures we may have given away in the name of harmony, and in the latter we examine how we feel about that, often exploring feelings that any "spiritual person" would find odious.   This of course is the paradox of Scorpio - finding a way to love the least lovable parts of ourself, because any part of ourself that is not fully loved is mirrored to us as evil in the outer World.   Look to see if any resentments arose for you between 21 September and 11 October - those are the meat for your meditations between 11 October and 1 November.   Of course, of particular interest will be any concerns about values which have heart and meaning for you, or which you hold sacred.   While Mercury is on retreat, you are released from the burden of communication.   Give yourself the space to sit quietly.   It's the ideal time to meditate on releasing yourself from any compulsion you might have to believe your thoughts.            Second, Mars (physical energy, action, assertion) moved out of bounds (became stronger) on 4 October, until 25 April 2008 (notice the parallel timing with the Venus-Saturn and Vesta-Pluto cycles), in preparation for its own retreat.   The retreat itself spans 15 November 2007 to 30 January 2008 and 25 Gemini to 13 Cancer, the whole retreat process covering 28 July 2007 to 4 April 2008.   The Aquarius decanate of Gemini and the Cancer decanate of Cancer is the time when we review and regret the ways we've been flaky to others, and strive to make amends.   We're not saying Gemini is flaky - what we're saying is that Gemini is about trying new things, usually a whole bunch of new things at once, and in Gemini mode we easily violate the expectations of others.   Toward the end of Gemini and the beginning of Cancer it is easy to rue what can now appear to us as selfishness, and want to re-establish connection with those we love and those we fear.   Bearing in mind that the main effect is about holding true to our own values and to our own notion of the sacred, you may want to consider redesigning those connections rather than just re-establishing them as they were.            Third, Chiron finishes its annual retreat on 20 October.   This retreat spanned 11 to 16 of Aquarius, and began on 4 May 2007.   The entire process covers 3 February 2007 to 3 February 2008, and includes the three octiles to Pluto.   11-16 of Aquarius is the first half of the Gemini decanate, and the Gemini and Cancer duads, of Aquarius.   This is the time when we review our connection to our individual soul chord, our mission, and, in the case of Chiron, heal it.   Chiron is always about healing despair, because it is shortcomings in our beliefs that prevent us from healing.   As we approach the 2012 transition, we're healing negative beliefs that we didn't even know were beliefs - such as cause and effect, linear time, death, materiality as reality, "human nature" as a limiting force.   We thought they were aspects of reality, not fully realizing that reality is what we make of it.   Believing that events are beyond our control is the ultimate in despair, despair so deep we don't even experience it as emotional.   Recalling that Pluto represents Scorpio, and that Scorpio represents the depths of emotion, it would be a great time to deeply experience how loss of control really feels.   Healthy control, the kind of control that allows us to set our own boundaries, to discern what brings us joy, and act to manifest just that.   What misery, to lose that kind of control.   That loss is exactly what our programming has sold us.   Time to transform it.            The two cycles nascent at the end of November are Pallas (wisdom and defense) conjunct the Dragon's Head or Moon's North Node (what we're learning) and the fixed star Formalhaut (another of the Four Horsedudes of the Apocalyse) at 3 Pisces ("petrified tree trunks lie broken on desert sand; the power to preserve records of achievements inherent in mature cultures" - Rudhyar 1973 p.270), and Mercury (thought and communication) conjunct Juno (joining and belonging) at 27 Scorpio ("a military band marches noisily through city streets: aggressive glorification of cultural values" Rudhyar 1973 p.207).   Not that we wish to disparage culture, but it's cultures of cooperation and respect that will prevail, while cultures of competition and control rot away.   Don't fall for conforming to expectations of cooperation - that's just more control.   The surviving cultures will respect you enough to allow you to travel your own path.

11 September 2007: The Eclipses In the short term, this season's eclipses take a back seat to the major energy happening (see below).   What they ask us to do is to process our emotions more quickly, and to be more respectful of our Sources.   They'll have more meaning for us over the next nine months. The September 11 partial solar eclipse occurs just as Pluto is stationary octile Chiron and a few days after the Venus station.   It's 19 Virgo, "A swimming race."   It makes a weak grand cross, opposing Uranus and squaring the Mars-Pluto opposition, so it could easily carry the Chiron-Pluto energy (below) into the next nine months, as eclipses are wont to do.   So we may need to process our emotions quickly, in order to return quickly to holding the space for Peace, Clarity, Abundance, Liberté, and Égalité.   This is actually a major lesson that Dubya is teaching us - Karl called it "message discipline" - it means holding your beliefs steadfast regardless of the reality you see in front of you.   Sure, it's psychopathic, but it's also how we manifest.   The keys to the castle in the September 11 eclipse chart are a trine-sextile truss between Mercury, Chiron, and Vesta-Jupiter (at the trine midpoint), implying that we heal ourselves and the planet by amplifying our connection to the sacred, mindful that each conscious being on the Planet holds a different notion of what is sacred (how else could we keep the Planet in balance?).   The Vesta-Jupiter conjunction also trines the stationary Venus, so any dissonance we have between what has meaning in our Heart (Venus), what is sacred to us (Vesta), and what we think about it all (Mercury), will be in our face for healing (Chiron).   Bear in mind as well, that some of us are here to explore the limits of this sort of dissonance, so be merciful with yourself and others.   In the Pacific time zone, Chiron conjoined the Vertex, enabling healing to pour in from parallel lifetimes and other dimensions. The August 28 total eclipse of the Moon manifests the energy in the August 12 New Moon which occurred at 20 Leo, "Zuni Indians perform a ritual to the Sun."   That New Moon opposed Neptune (our relationship with all things larger than our self/Ego, especially "God," whoever that is to you).   The Grand Cross in this chart was across the Moon's Nodes, with Vesta-Jupiter on one end and Mars on the other, bringing into awareness any contrast between what we hold sacred and where we invest our energies.

8 August 2007: Deep Churn   (modified 3 Sept 2007)            In some ways 2007 is the pivotal year of the decade - and thus a turning point on our serendipitous journey toward 2012.   In August and September we again experience, as we did in March, the possible malaise or even despair of this rebirth.   We won't go into detail about the astrological origins of this transformation here, because we deal with it at length in our forthcoming book, The Path to 2012: Part I - The Polarization Decade (send your email address to jbuss@juno.com if you want to be kept posted on the book's progress).   For now, the important thing to remember is that it's not personal, it's global - in fact, it's even bigger than that.   Bottom line, it's extremely positive, but it requires a very deep release before we can plug into the potential.   Go back and retest the healing tools you've tried over the years that didn't seem to work as well as you wanted them to - they're likely to be much more effective now.            Can we ignore this energy?   Yes, definitely, if you can get away with it.   Letting go is always the first thing to try.   For many of us, it feels at the least enervating, if not depressing to the point of despair.   If you can get around that cognitively or by burning it off with your spiritual fire, by all means go for it.   The energy is transformative, but we need to recognize that it may overwhelm our existing physical and emotional processes, and those processes may require upgrading so they will be able to handle the load.            We get a lot of blank stares when we tell people to step outside their hopelessness and look back at it empathetically.   But that's the quickest path through this muck, and the quickest route to creative and productive ways to move forward.   So how can we rephrase that, to make it more understandable?   The Universe we live in is limitless.   Miracles abound when we open to their possibility.   So despair is never a bottom line, it's always a dark emotional/intellectual culdesac that we've stumbled into.   While we're transforming our emotional/intellectual relationship to the Universe (another part of The Path to 2012), such culdesacs abound.            When we're moving forward joyfully and creatively, we know we're on the right track.   So what if in every dark culdesac there lived a loving Mother figure, someone larger than yourself who loves you unconditionally, and who is willing and eager to embrace you and soothe you and tell you convincingly that it's okay, that everything is going to be all right, and who will then turn you so you're facing into the dawn and send you happily on your way with your innocence restored?   Well, there is, and that Mother is you.            By their nature despair and hopelessness overwhelm us, and when they do we lose track of our ability to nurture ourself.   So the first step is to recognize, lovingly, that we're in despair, and remember that we can take off our dark glasses and be loving with ourself, right where we are.   If you've never known a loving Mother figure, you'll have to do the best you can to imagine one.   There are only two things to change, nothing more.   First, direct your gaze at your self, as consciousness.   Second, embrace yourself with love and gratitude and respect.            There is another process that is extraordinarily healing, and which is relevant during 2007.   In this process, rather than embracing your discomfort from outside of it, you move as much of your attention as you can directly into the center of the discomfort.   Serious discomfort is usually surrounded by a ball of fear, so you may need to just send nonjudging attention into the fearball for a while.   The fearball will feel centerless, but keep at it.   After a while, you'll dissolve the fearball and find yourself in the center of your pain or anger or despair.   By then you've already jumpstarted the healing process, and it will proceed on its own.            This period provides a strong opportunity to learn to shift our reality away from the negative not only because the leverage is so great, but also because the self-rescue habits we build now will be very useful over the next 18 months.   Over the last 18 months we've become clear about our priorities, and over the coming 18 months we may feel compelled to take some risks to defend them.   To do that we'll need to keep our priorities clear, and we'll need to stay loving with ourself as we abandon or confront old realities that no longer serve us.   What we'll be defending comes from the Heart, so there will be no question about their defensibility.   But there may be questions about our resolve - we may be tempted to fudge a little to keep old friendships alive, or to avoid conflict with old belief systems that our ego is attached to.   The assured outcome here is Integrity, so there is no need to compromise.   There may be calls to make amends over situations where we've compromised under our old belief systems, if we now see them as contrary to our values and important to our mission.            Remember this.   If you are having difficulty manifesting a lifelong Desire, it is usually because an obsolete Ego blocks the way.   If your old Ego was capable of manifesting it, it would have been doing so effortlessly all along.   We change the World only by changing ourself.   That doesn't just mean that the World changes one person at a time.   It also means that when we change, the World changes with us.   If we felt guilt over receiving something, anger over not receiving it, or fear over how we would adjust to it, then the World reflects that.   When we let go of our guilt or anger or fear, we allow the World to mirror Grace and Abundance to us.   So how do we manifest the Ego death/rebirth necessary to create this?   We could (and will) write a book about this, but for here let's keep it short.            Spend as much time and energy as you can muster imagining how you'll feel when your Desire manifests.   Completely bypass mechanisms (How will it manifest?) and outcomes (What will it - or he/she - look like?).   Both mechanisms and outcomes are old-Ego tricks to make miracles seem impossible.   The feeling sense of your Desire is your Heart's Truth.   It will guide you unerringly in ways you haven't even imagined.            Chiron octiles Pluto on March 25 and September 10, 2007, and January 10, 2008.   The January occurrence finds Pluto in the last few minutes of Sagittarius, which colors the entire Pluto-in-Capricorn journey (2008-2024) just as the Chiron-Pluto conjunction colors the entire 2000-2010 decade and 2000-2099 century.   The illuminated degrees are 12 fixed, 12 mutable, and 27 mutable.   The Chiron-Pluto square occurs 2028-2030.   The September octile finds Pluto stationary (ie, very strong), as Pluto ends a retreat across much of the Scorpio duad of Sadge (the last two and a half degrees of Sagittarius) on September 8.   For the last dozen years, we've been learning that "the way out" is to "let go."   Do you remember the lesson plan for 1983-1995?   It was "the way out is through."   We've been learning to let go for a dozen years now, but during 2007, while Pluto crosses the Scorpio duad, the way out is again "through."   On this path, we'd make ourself physically safe, then surrender completely to our despair.            Until September 21, Mars opposes Pluto, so the Chiron-Pluto energy may be extended till then if we don't release it.   The Mars-Pluto cycle began in January (with Mars out of bounds) at 28 Sadge, "An old bridge over a beautiful stream is still in constant use."   The Moon is out of bounds (exacerbating everything) from August 7 to 10, August 22 to 25, September 3 to 7, and September 17 to 21.   The outabounds Moon ignites the Chiron-Pluto degrees on August 8, August 22-23, and September 4-5.   And of course the partial solar eclipse of September 11 (see above) could well extend the Chiron-Pluto energy's prominence into the next nine months.   No harm there, since this energy is growing anyway, so the more familiar and comfortable we are with it, the more effortless will be our experience of the next few decades.            Meanwhile, since July 28, Venus is on retreat in the last half of Leo (a re-evaluation of the things we congratulate ourself for).   She trines Pluto (waning) on August 14, and finishes her retreat on September 9 at 17 fixed.   Her broader retreat period (wherein we examine whether our lifestyle matches our values) spans June 24 to October 11.   She meets the Sun in inferior conjunction on August 17 at 25 Leo, initiating a new Venus-Sun cycle.   She'll rise as the Morning Star starting August 24 or 25.   Venus as the Morning Star is kin to Pallas Athena, Goddess of War and Wisdom. She is finishing a stint as Venus Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Receiving, and now transforms herself into the Goddess of Good Boundaries.   25 Leo is "A large Camel is seen crossing a vast and forbidding desert," or, as Rudhyar paraphrases it, "Self-sufficiency in the face of a long and exhausting adventure."   The Venus cycle runs 19 months; the next one begins March 27, 2009 at 8 Aries ("A large woman's hat with streamers blown by an east wind" or - Rudhyar - "Protection and spiritual guidance in the development of consciousness").   The one after that, in the Summer of 2012, is the second in the pair of once-every-250-years Venus "transits" (the astronomical term) across the face of the Sun.   But we'll talk about all that in The Path to 2012; here let's see if we can find out more about this "long and exhausting adventure" that awaits us over the next 19 months.            The cycle that's ending (which we should know all about, eh?) started in January 2006 at 24 Capricorn - "A woman entering a convent" or (Rudhyar) "Total commitment to a transcendent goal."   Look back over the last year and a half - what transcendent goal did you find yourself committed to?   (Mine was Joy, give or take.)   Hint: you would have experienced your commitment intensely in October and November.   So, over the next year and a half, take care to reframe all difficulties you encounter as speed bumps (not brick walls) on your road to that transcendent goal.   Whenever we ask for something, we always get illustrations of the reasons why we haven't manifested it effortlessly all along - it's by releasing those reasons that we come to receive it as Grace.   Next, the larger Venus cycle takes eight years (five shorter cycles - there are always five larger cycles going on concurrently), so we can look at the last Leo cycle, which began August 20, 1999 at 28 Leo, "Many little birds on a limb of a big tree," or (Rudhyar) "A wide, and perhaps confusing, openness to a multiplicity of inspiring potentialities." Since 1999? Boy, ain't that the truth! Okay, so by now we've been offered a zillion new belief systems, and we've chosen one that we think might carry us forward for a while.   So this arduous adventure is about purging the places where our old belief systems stop us.            The action actually began even earlier, but more effortlessly, as Saturn trined Pluto (order arising from mayhem) on August 6 while Jupiter was stationary (rapid expansion), finishing a retreat across the Aries decanate of Sagittarius (opening the space for copious new energies to flow in), and sextile to Chiron (lots of healing potential).   Both the trine and sextile were waning (opening space but usually leaving a void best left unfilled till the next cycles begin - in other words those copious new energies may puzzle us; if so, let it be, confusion is good).   The trine closes the 9/11/01 Saturn-Pluto cycle - we'll have its dying screams in late 2009.   Yes, that's the 9/11 cycle - isn't that a Blessing!   The sextile is a parting gift from the Jupiter-Chiron cycle that began in June of 1990 at 17 Cancer - "The unfoldment of multilevel potentialities issuing from an original germ" or "The life urge to actualize one's birth potential" (Rudhyar).   Whoa, isn't that an interesting twist considering what Venus is up to!   The next Jupiter-Chiron cycle begins in May 2009 at 26 Aquarius, "A garage man testing a car's battery with a hydrometer" - tuning up our Energies in preparation for our 2012 launch.   This cycle reaches opposition in 2012.   The ending Jupiter-Chiron cycle originally opposed Saturn and Neptune; the next one conjoins Neptune.   The bottom line of this is the healing of our relationship with forces larger than the Ego and larger even than the Self (Neptune), as well as bringing those forces to bear on the healing of what formerly kept us limited.

21 June 2007: Rock the Worldview This season, and the year that begins at the solstice, is about learning, healing, and growing.   Ego death means that our concept of ourself is dying, or rather, is being reborn.   If we focus on the death, it's painful.   If we focus on the rebirth, it's glorious.   It should be pretty easy, but if it ain't, shift your focus to the rebirth.   Focus on your highest truth, on your single most important value, on that which holds the most life-or-death meaning for you.   If you get it wrong - that is, if you focus on your programming or who your elders wanted you to be or who you think you are, rather than on your true self, on who you really are - then no worries, it will be stripped away.   That will hurt, but only for a bit.   You'll actually find that it's a lot easier to let go of than you expect.   If you get it right, then you find deep healing.   That is, you find deep healing either way, eh?   We can't lose here.   Even anger can help you find your way here.   This summer is about the loss of the veil that the birth of the decade promised us.   It's incredibly exciting if you can trust it, or suspend your disbelief, or discover enough to put it all together, or recognize that we'll never understand.   Yet we've always understood, and that's the level you seek.   Suffering, for more than a few moments, isn't even optional - it's unnecessary.   Do stay alert for projection - whatever it is that you're thinking about them, it's not about them, it's about you.   If it's negative, turn it around, translate it from a fault to a strength, from a problem to an opportunity.   "Your playing small does not serve the World." This is a complex chart, but the themes are clear.   First, Venus (Meaning) conjoins Saturn (Focus) in Leo (Truth) opposite the impending conjunction of Chiron (Healing) and Neptune (Our God-Connection), which at the moment are both retrograde (Subtle).   Jupiter (Growth) and Juno (Identity) bridge the opposition in trine-sextile.   Mercury (Mind) squares (Tension) Juno but quincunxes (Mystery) both Jupiter and Vertex (the Veil, or a Portal through It), making with them a "Finger of God" (Pay Attention!).   Mercury also trines the Dragon's Head (What We're Learning), which sits between Chiron-Neptune (Healing through Surrender) and Pallas-Uranus (Defending our Soul-Space), meaning of course that it also sextiles the Dragon's Tail (What We Already Know) that sits between Moon and Venus-Saturn (Defending our Values).   With Mercury retrograde, we're learning with the Heart, not the Mind.   Then Moon (Emotion) opposes Pallas (Wisdom) conjunt Uranus (Yin Integrity), which is stationary (Very Strong), and this opposition (Our Mission) is semi-sextile/quincunx (Mysteriously Connected) to the Saturn-Neptune opposition (Expanding the Ego).   The solstice Sun (Essence) opposes Pluto (Acceptance/Transformation), which trines Mars (Assertion).   And finally, Ceres (Sustainability) quincunxes Vesta (that which You Hold Sacred), which sits on the US-West-Coast IC (Security).   Vesta is retrograde, so we're being taught about deeper levels of our personal spirituality.   The "loss of the veil" promise was the conjunction of Neptune with the Dragon's Tail in the 1/1/2000 chart.   We're also within the Chiron-semisquare-Pluto zone that runs from January 2007 to January 2008; this will evoke the 1/1/2000 chart in another way, by re-awakening the Chiron-Pluto-conjunction (Healing Is Not Optional) energy.   The essence of this energy is that Healing begins with a Symbol, evolves into deepening of Perspective, then moves into Telling Everyone that the Door Is Open (12 Sadge, "A flag turns into an Eagle which turns into a Rooster heralding/rousing the Dawn").

1 March 2007: Removing Your Mask September's Focus, Focus, Focus fades into the background now, and what comes to the foreground for the next nine months is authenticity.   In the second half of March we get to finesse - or wrestle with - the gaps between our authentic self and our habitual way of reacting to the World.   But in the first half, it's all about just letting it out, not hiding anything any more.   You'll probably be thinking about getting really drunk, but guess what - you won't need to - you can practice just being you without any artifical aids.   In the second half of March we experience the supposed reasons why we "can't" be authentic all of the time.   If you consider this a backlash, you lose.   If you consider it a teaching about what you need to change so you can enjoy that effortless selfhood allatime, you win.   All told, effortlessness reigns.   Discouragement is a paper tiger - all you need is a strong puff of wind to breeze through it, so don't let it stop you from breathing.   The healing is taking place out of view, but we can completely trust that healing is taking place, and while we're at it we can recognize that it's not us that does healing, healing happens to us when we can get outta the way.   While all this will be really strong in March, it remains in effect for the rest of the year. The 3 March (4pm PST) total lunar eclipse (illuminating the contrast between authenticity and emotional attachment) opposes (illuminates) Uranus (yin integrity) and squares (brings into sharp focus) the Vesta-Jupiter midpoint in Sagitarrius (overwhelming attention to that which is personally sacred to us), in the same 13 Virgo-Pisces degree (liberation) as the Ceres-Uranus initiation in note (5) below.   And as if this wasn't enough, Jupiter (friendly) sits in a Grand Fire Trine (spirit erupting effortlessly) with Venus in Aries (beautiful) and Saturn in Leo (confident) - so it's not just about letting ourself be authentic, it's about being authentic in public, especially after 7 March, when Mercury comes out of retreat.   The eclipse is visible in Europe and Africa; in the Western Hemisphere we'll just see the tail end of the elcipse as the Moon rises, and only the beginning of it will be visible as the Moon sets in South and Western Oz.   Eastern Oz sees nothing of it. The 18 March (8pm PDT) partial solar eclipse (iluminating essesnce and mission) at 29 Pisces (revealing the hidden) conjoins (is not distinguishable from) Ceres (sustainability) and squares (necessity) Pluto (bringing light to what's not yet illuminated).   But Venus (grace), now in Taurus (sustainability), also trines (effortlessness) Pluto, and Uranus (integrity), now conjoining Rahu (progressive movement), still squares the Vesta-Jupiter midpoint, with Jupiter still trining Saturn, which by now opposes Neptune again (note (2) below).   So it's going to be a lot easier than it seems at first, to transform our resistance to the natural flow.   This second eclipse is three days past the Mars-Chiron initiation described in note (8) below.   No worries about seeing this one - it's in Siberia.

12 January 2007: Oh, the Addictive Drama of War When we know we're right, it's so intoxicating to stand up and shake our fist.   Do we choose an eye for an eye, or turn the other cheek?   There is a third path, and it's time for all of us to choose it.   No, we can't say what it is, because we haven't gone down it yet, have we.   The gate to it is as hidden as the back door to the Dragon's lair.   We just know by now that neither war nor capitulation work.   So whadda we do?   We intend.   We let go of the intoxification of righteousness, we let go of the false pride of humility, and we stand straight, chin level, and consciously channel all this power into that third way we don't know yet.   When we take out all the righteousness and fear, that's what's here, raw Power.   We need to use it just right, or it'll bite us in the butt. Mars, out of bounds, begins a new cycle with Pluto on 12 January at 28 Sagittarius (An old bridge over a beautiful stream is still in constant use).   Ceres begins a new cycle with Uranus on 3 February in 13 Pisces (An ancient sword, used in many historical battles, is now retired in a museum).   Let's assume for a moment that this beautiful stream is harmony, peace, the effortless path that nature intends us to take.   Then this old bridge would be the shortcut that commerce decrees is necessary "for the common good," which of course really means for the good of greed.   "But we gotta feed the people," says the God of Commerce.   Of course the God of Commerce is so very good at stoking the people's need to be fed ever more and better, but we'll let that go for now.   And of course "the people" is actually our tribe, and of course that other tribe wants more and better too, so of course the bridge ends up being the path to war.   So how do we find this third way, besides war or capitulation?   Well, lets look to Saturn, symbolizing our power to focus, and Pallas, symbolizing our power to negotiate around war. Saturn is working on a closing trine to Pluto, complete in August 2007.   This trine is beyond the Saturn-Pluto phitile, representing what we've learned from the Saturn-Pluto cycle that's beginning to wind down.   Recall that 9/11, the excuse for the Iraq War, was the crowning event of the Saturn-Pluto culmination.   That cycle began 9 November 1982 at 28 Libra, "a person becoming aware of spiritual forces surrounding and assisting them."   This suggests that we don't try so much to focus on what we want, but that we ask for what we want, exercising our trust that all prayers are in fact answered, whether we notice or not. Pluto last initiated Pallas recently, 27 January 2006, at 26 Sadge, "A flag bearer in a battle; are you ready to assume the role of a conscious and responsible agent for all of humanity?" (Rudhyar 1973 p.225) - quite a challenge to us, eh? The Mars-Pallas cycle is dying; the next one begins 13 April 2007 at 6 Pisces, "A parade of army officers in full dress: the dedication of human beings to the service of their community, and the assurance that it will be emotionally sustained by the people at large" (op.cit. p.272).   Easy to see the next several months as a watershed between "community service" for war and community service for peace. Pallas is about to be initiated by Chiron, on 23 January at 10 Aqua, "A man who had for a time become the embodiment of a popular ideal is made to realize that as a person he is not this ideal." We can think of an example or two of who such "a man" might be.   But this begs for a broader interpretation.   Rudhyar goes on, "The need to deal with human beings as persons rather than as screens upon which one projects one's dream and ideal" (op.cit. p.254).   Again, we must intend a third way.

1 January 2007 The most prominent theme of 2007 is release, particularly in the year's first half (1).   We are opening to drastically different orientations toward Life, the Universe, and Everything, and to prepare for that we must release the old notions that limit us (2).   Unfortunately, those old notions also provide us security, through the illusion that we know what's happening.   So along the way some grief, and even fear, is inevitable.   Fear and grief are both natural responses to seismic changes in our beliefs about the World.   What's important is that we respond lovingly whenever either one arises (2a). Sabres may rattle in the last half of January (3) and in April (4), but they should be sheathed by February (5) and June (6).   There is a teaching underway that the old violent ways of dealing with conflict no longer work (7).   But the deepest healing process is in a hidden phase (8), so the forces of violence must learn through their own failure to prevail (8a).   The last half of 2007 feels more constructive (9). While most of our attention will be focused on what we're letting go of, there is a strong constructive process in play in 2007, and that's a deepening commitment to integrity (10).   We can't talk about integrity without distinguishing yin integrity from yang integrity.   Yang integrity is about doing what you said you was gonna do.   Yin integrity is about doing what you dang well feel like doing, though of course yin integrity also means you call to say you changed your mind when it conflicts with yang integrity. No discussion of early 21st-century time would be complete without considering sustainability (11).   Global Warming was a prominent theme during 2006, and while it's not nearly so out-front in 2007, it remains strong, likely grabbing headlines in February (12) and July (13). (1) Of the major squares and trines in the 1/1/07 chart, all but one are closing (that is, they follow their respective oppositions). (2) We're in the middle of Saturn opposing Neptune, August 2006 through June 2007, which cycle began in March 1989 at 12 Capricorn, "An illustrated lecture on natural science reveals little-known aspects of life."   In the 1/1/2000 chart (for the century and particularly the decade), Neptune conjoined Ketu, which we regard as "Loss of the Veil."   In 2007, Neptune septiles Pluto.   Power grows in secret at the septile.   The Neptune-Pluto cycle began 2 August 1891 at 9 Gemini, "A quiver filled with arrows."   Pallas begins new cycles with Chiron on 23 January at 10 Aquarius (Disidentification from ideals) and with Neptune on 23 February at 13 Aqua (Disillusionment).   See also Venus-Mars below. (2a) Mars begins a new cycle with Neptune on 25 March at 22 Aqua (A new rug in a nursery brings warmth and comfort). (3) Mars, out of bounds, begins a new cycle with Pluto, quite near the Galactic Center, on 12 January at 28 Sagittarius (An old bridge over a beautiful stream is still in constant use). (4) Mars begins new cycles with Pallas on 3 April at 6 Pisces (Army officers in full parade dress) and with Uranus on 28 April at 18 Pisces (A village views a spectacle in a giant tent). (5) Ceres begins a new cycle with Uranus on 3 February in 13 Pisces (An ancient sword, used in many historical battles, is now retired in a museum). (6) Pallas begins a new cycle with Uranus on 18 June in 19 Pisces (A master instructing a disciple). (7) Uranus quintiles Pluto.   This cycle began in October 1965 at 18 Virgo (A Ouija board), opposite Chiron.   This is the cycle that reaches the critical stage in 2012.   See also (2a) above (8) Chiron noviles Pluto. The Chiron-Pluto cycle began 30 December 1999 at 12 Sadge (A flag transforming to an Eagle which in turn transforms to a Rooster), and the novile is about contemplation.   Mars begins a new cycle with Chiron on 15 March at 14 Aqua (A train entering a tunnel).   Mars-Chiron is the energy we use for healing. (8a) The 1/1/2000 chart featured a grand cross between Moon, Pallas, Saturn, and Uranus. (9) Vesta is initiated by Jupiter on 30 August at 11 Sadge (In the left section of a temple a human-shaped lamp burns) and by Pluto on 11 October at 27 Sadge (A sculptor at work).   Pluto initiates Jupiter on 11 December at 29 Sadge (A fat boy mowing the lawn of his house in an elegant suburb).   See also (13) below. (10) In the 1/1/2007 chart Uranus tsquares an out-of-bounds Moon opposite Jupiter, and Moon-Uranus is the only opening square in the chart (the opening square occurs prior to the opposition).   Uranus represents yin integrity, and the Moon, especially when it's out of bounds, signifies emotional attachment.   The outer planets are all behind the Sun in the northern winter.   See also (6) above. (11) Ceres conjoined the Ascendant of the 1 January 2000 chart. (12) See (5) above. (13) Mars begins a new cycle with Ceres on 10 July in 12 Taurus (A young couple window-shopping).

24 October 2006: Letting Go and Moving On We finish two years of self-exploration, during which time we've learned a lot about our own emotions, how they operate in relationship, and how they lead us to God.   Now the current shifts, and we spend the next couple of years learning about letting go of what we've enjoyed, in order to allow deeper and broader satisfaction and meaning into our lives.   The more intense it feels, the more important it is to let it go.   Within a year or so, we'll see a lot more people feeling strongly about protecting their home planet from abusive profiteers, and helping their planetmates of all stripes survive sustainably. Venus-Mars-Sun conjunction at 11pm PDT on 24 October in 2 Scorpio, "A delicate bottle of perfume lies broken, releasing its fragrance: the accidental nature of opportunities that impel one to break away from a past, the remembrance of which is still poignant and cherished.   A new and greater realization usually demands the sacrifice of something which has brought loveliness and fragance to a lesser form of living and feeling" [Rudhyar 1973].   The conjunction squares Chiron from behind.   The new Crescent Moon is out of bounds, and an out-of-bounds Ceres moves toward conjunction with a stationary Neptune.

22 September 2006: Focus, Focus, Focus This is a theme for the next nine months: Focus, Focus, Focus.   Growth doesn't occur because we encounter something new, it occurs because we begin to distinguish some feature from the background noise.   The feature was there all along, we just weren't attending to it.   Our intention is a powerful tool for choosing what it is that we want to change.   Manifestation follows attention.   Be watchful for grief.   It's less important to know what it is we're grieving - it may not even be personal - than it is to allow room for the grief in our life.   That means being gentle with ourself and giving ourself as much open time and space as it takes.   Grief has its own timetable, it can't be rushed.   Other things just have to wait for it to finish, particularly our "shoulds" and guilts.   Don't let anyone guilt-trip you about your selfishness - this adventure is about the way you want to shape the world.   Let them take responsibility for how they want to shape the world. Annular solar eclipse at 5am PDT on 22 September in 30 Virgo, "Totally intent upon completing an immediate task, a person is deaf to any allurement: the total concentration required for reaching any spiritual goal" [Rudhyar 1973].   Meanwhile, Pluto squares the Dragon from the Galactic Center, while Juno, Venus and Vesta cling to the Dragon's Tail.   30 Virgo is the last degree of the personal half of the zodiac, the final flushing of self-focus before the transpersonal half begins.   Be careful not to see the transpersonal as good and the personal as bad - our personal work underlies our transpersonal work, and is thus even more important than our transpersonal work per se, because without our underlying personal foundation, our transpersonal edifices are merely sham projections of our unfinished personal business.

18-31 August 2006 (waxing)         1 September 2006 through 3 October 2010 (waning) It's not the ego per se that's melting, it's our realization that what we thought was hard reality is just a mirage.   The net result is that we have to take more responsibility for the shape of our World.   Not they have to take more responsibility for the shape of the World, but we have to take more responsibility for the shape of our World.   This energy symbolizes a contrast between Personal Identity and Connection to Spirit.   So to the extent that we identify with the material world or the personal ego in a way that's inconsistent with our Oneness with All, this could be a painful ego death.   To the extent that we identify with our God-connection, this can be a glorious opening to Spirit.   We choose, moment to moment.   If any pain arises, open your Heart and Mind to it, find a picture in which the pain is a blessing, and embrace it.   The energy is not about the individual soul, so it isn't about our spiritual path per se, it's about the Universal Oneness.   So even if we identify with our own Spiritual process, we can still be called to a larger vision of it.   The energy is about what we personally hold sacred, so it will be easy for any of us to assume that they aren't doing it right, but also easy for us to see beyond those limits.   It's a good time to review our boundaries, both those which shield us from our dislikes, and those which tie us to what and who we love, but as always it's more powerful to respond to what surprises us, than to act to head off surprises. Saturn-Neptune culmination 31 Aug 2006; initation 4 Mar 1989 at 12 Capricorn, "An illustrated lecture on natural science reveals little-known aspects of life."   Phitile 3 Oct 2010. Vesta-Uranus culmination 30 Aug 2006. Juno-Uranus culmination 8 Sep 2006.

10 August through 4 October 2006 (steady) We examine our boundaries on a deep level here.   Let yourself be relentless, but remind yourself to be loving. Juno in Virgo.

23 July 2006 through 8 September (steady) Listen closely - they're not bitching, they're talking about their feelings.   See if you can translate, it's a great way to win friends and influence people. Mars in Virgo.

5-28 July 2006 Reconsidering our boundaries.   When do we stand up for our own needs, and when do we yield to the needs of the Other?   Can we hold out for win-win?   It's about trial-and-learn, experimenting, letting ourself look foolish, giving ourself permission to not have to get it right the first time.   Actually, it's always about that, isn't it.   Just a little louder now. Mercury in retreat over 22 Cancer-2 Leo.

18-31 August 2006 (waxing)         1 September 2006 through 3 October 2010 (waning) It's not the ego per se that's melting, it's our realization that what we thought was hard reality is just a mirage.   The net result is that we have to take more responsibility for the shape of our World.   Not they have to take more responsibility for the shape of the World, but we have to take more responsibility for the shape of our World. Saturn-Neptune culmination 31 Aug 2006; initation 4 Mar 1989 at 12 Capricorn, "An illustrated lecture on natural science reveals little-known aspects of life."   Phitile 3 Oct 2010. Vesta-Uranus culmination 30 Aug 2006. Juno-Uranus culmination 8 Sep 2006.

7-17 July 2006 (waxing)         18 July 2006 through ______________ (waning) Juno-Neptune culmination 17 Jul 2006.

4 June through 10 August 2006 (steady) Lots of completions here (see above), implying change, but the kind of change where you just notice one day that things are different. Juno in Leo.

23 July 2006 through 8 September (steady) Listen closely - they're not bitching, they're talking about their feelings.   See if you can translate, it's a great way to win friends and influence people. Mars in Virgo.

6 June through 2 December 2006 (steady) The places where our lifestyles aren't sustainable get clearer. Ceres out of bounds in Aquarius 4 Jul-2 Dec.   Ceres in retreat over 13-27 Aquarius 6 June-2 Oct.

7 July 2006 Feel the "emptiness"?   It's not emptiness at all, really, it's just that we've suddenly expanded by a factor of about five, so it's not surprising if we have a hard time finding the railings.   Be mindful of your thoughts here, as our intentions are even more powerful than usual, and each thought is an intention, as is each feeling.   Take it easy, this is heady stuff.   But don't hold back. The Saturn-Chiron energy that's dominated the last 20 years has climaxed, and we've opened out of a tsquare with a stationary Jupiter near the power point of Scorpio.   Big Changes, in other words.

1 February through 23 June 2006 (waxing)         23 June through 6 July 2006 (waxing)         1 November 1987 through 23 June 2006 (intermittent)         23 June 2006 through September 2011 (waning) This is the last chapter of a project we've been working on since 1987.   It's mostly about healing despair or hopelessness, but it's more subtle than that.   The real opportunities hide in the places where you believe that you or the World are actually limited, where you don't expect miracles.   These are the places where you "despair" unconsciously, the places where you believe that Grace isn't huge enough to allow you to see your most incredible dreams made manifest, where you don't even know you're stuck in hopelessness.   What would that be for you, the places where you believe that the World can't deliver lasting ecstasy to you?   See if you can open up around those places, dream a little, imagine a miracle or two.   If you find any pain at all here, particularly before 23 June, embrace it.   Meet it softly, gently, lovingly.   The World will open up like a Spring morning between 23 June and 6 July.   It will take five years for this energy to fade away completely.   If despair visits you over that time period, it will just be an echo.   Put your arm around it and take it for a walk in the park.   We're done with hopelessness, but of course we'll have flashbacks, we always do.   Just hallucinations, we won't need to take them seriously. This is the last opposition between Saturn and Chiron, finishing a pattern that's been with us since the Harmonic Convergence.   It occurs at 10 Leo.   The initiation was 13 April 1966 at 24 Pisces, "On a small island surrounded by the vast expanse of the sea, people are seen living in close interaction."   Not a simple initiation, it was conjunct Pallas, square Jupiter, and trine to Neptune-Ketu, with the Moon and Vesta out of bounds.   The Uranus-Pluto conjunction of 9 October 1965, which itself opposed Chiron and sextiled Neptune, was still exact at 18 Virgo, "A ouija board."   The Uranus-Pluto links Saturn-Chiron to 2012, and the Neptune-Ketu links it to 1/1/2000.   As at the Saturn-Chiron initiation, the current opposition squares Jupiter, and the Jupiter-Saturn initiation was the one in May 2000 which ended the Dot.Com Boom - "A jewelry shop filled with valuable gems," 23 Taurus.   The Saturn-Chiron culmination runs through September 2011.   This last opposition is also not simple.   Uranus, Jupiter, Juno, Vesta, and Mars are all intimately involved, and Jupiter is stationary through 6 July.

22-30 May 2006 (waxing strongly)         30 May 2006 through July 2007 (waxing slowly) If there's anything you've been wanting to say to the people who are most important to you, but you haven't yet figured out how to say it clearly or cleanly, no worries, it comes out between 7pm PDT and 10pm PDT on 30 May, whether you're ready for it or not.   It's good, to get these difficult things out in the open like this, it needs to happen to clear the air, so keep your mindbone tuned to the positive while it's happening and afterwards.   If you aren't sure whether they'll ever speak to you again, ask them.   If you aren't sure whether you'll ever speak to them again, tell them.   They need to know whether they've just irritated you, or violated your most sacred trust, and you need to know this about them.   To a fundamentalist (someone who believes their own mythology - but don't we all?) it could seem like a life-and-death thing. In the bigger picture (22 May through July), there's a shift into new territory for our primary relationship and our memberships.   Our memberships are the organized or unorganized groups, the social trends, and the political/religious beliefs with which we identify, or in which we invest ego energy.   That is, an affront to such groups or beliefs, is felt as a direct affront to us.   Our family of origin makes a fine example, as does a deeply-held value.   These memberships are a lot more important than most of us realize, as their exploration is probably the most productive avenue we have for spiritual growth.   Not to discount the impact of such a shift on our primary relationship, especially our relationship with ourself.   In relationship, it's important here to stay focused on curiosity - what is it that you can newly learn about your partner and/or yourself here, rather than focusing on how your partner or yourself may be disappointing your expectations.   The shift could begin with some fireworks.   The major consequence here is that we won't know what we're doing or who we are.   It's an important time to recall what Fritz Perls said, that "confusion is good," as confusion indicates that we're growing beyond the mental cages that have kept us confined to a narrow view of "reality" and have hence limited our ability to manifest what we want and need (see below).   How do you respond emotionally to confusion?   Anger is common, as are fear and grief.   It would be a powerful jump to use this opportunity to become aware of our habitual response to confusion, so that in the future we could examine the source of that emotion to see if confusion was the trigger.   Then we could redirect our thoughts, and rather than allowing our thoughts to serve the secondary emotion by providing justifications for our anger or fear or grief, we could focus our attention on the excitement of growing into unexplored territory. Mars initiates Juno at 28 Cancer ("A Native girl introduces her white lover to her assembled tribe") on 29 May, squared by Venus on 23 May from 24 Aries.   The cycle culminates between 1 June and 13 August 2007, and lights up strongly in February 2007.   The prior cycle initiated 5 December 2002 at 3 Scorpio, "A house-raising party in a small village enlists the neighbors' cooperation."   The out-of-bounds Moonbone crosses Mars-Juno at around 10pm PDT on 30 May, while an out-of-bounds Mercury moves into opposition with a Galactic-Center-aligned Pluto, culminating a cycle which began at New Year in 25 Sadge, "A chubby boy on a hobby-horse: The anticipatory enjoyment of powers one can only as yet dream of utilizing" [Rudhyar 1973 p.224].

22-29 May 2006 (waxing strongly)         29 May 2006 through July 2007 (waxing slowly) A shift into new territory for our primary relationship and our memberships.   Our memberships are the organized or unorganized groups, the social trends, and the political/religious beliefs with which we identify, or in which we invest ego energy.   That is, an affront to such groups or beliefs, is felt as a direct affront to us.   Our family of origin makes a fine example, as does a deeply-held value.   These memberships are a lot more important than most of us realize, as their exploration is probably the most productive avenue we have for spiritual growth.   Not to discount the impact of such a shift on our primary relationship, especially our relationship with ourself.   In relationship, it's important here to stay focused on curiosity - what is it that you can newly learn about your partner and/or yourself here, rather than focusing on how your partner or yourself may be disappointing your expectations.   The shift could begin with some fireworks.   The major consequence here is that we won't know what we're doing or who we are.   It's an important time to recall what Fritz Perls said, that "confusion is good," as confusion indicates that we're growing beyond the mental cages that have kept us confined to a narrow view of "reality" and have hence limited our ability to manifest what we want and need (see below).   How do you respond emotionally to confusion?   Anger is common, as are fear and grief.   It would be a powerful jump to use this opportunity to become aware of our habitual response to confusion, so that in the future we could examine the source of that emotion to see if confusion was the trigger.   Then we could redirect our thoughts, and rather than allowing our thoughts to serve the secondary emotion by providing justifications for our anger or fear or grief, we could focus our attention on the excitement of growing into unexplored territory. Mars initiates Juno at 28 Cancer ("A Native girl introduces her white lover to her assembled tribe") on 29 May, squared by Venus on 23 May from 24 Aries.   The cycle culminates between 1 June and 13 August 2007, and lights up strongly in February 2007.   The prior cycle initiated 5 December 2002 at 3 Scorpio, "A house-raising party in a small village enlists the neighbors' cooperation."

What we're doing here, and why. What we're doing here, is "reading the stars" not for any individual, but for the Planet as a whole.   Each paragraph describes an energy or wavelength that's impacting the Planet, with an approximate timeline for it.   At any given time, we put the most important energies at the beginning.   As a cell of the Planetary Being, on some level you'll be experiencing what we write about, though every individual will experience it differently.   Bear in mind that when anyone "reads the stars" out loud, they can't help but make an interpretation, and every interpretation is one out of a great many possibilities.   So you may have to stretch your imagination to see how a given energy is affecting you.   Sometimes such a stretch will be very useful to you, sometimes not. Why do we do this?   It's simple, if obtuse.   So you won't bother personalizing these energies.   What does that mean?   Well, each of us is impacted by our own personal "work," but we're also impacted by the "work" of our culture, and the "work" of our Planet.   The way we deal with each of these "works" should be quite different.   For instance, if your culture shifts toward fascism, you might respond by enriching yourself on opportunities it offers you, by resisting it, or by visualizing its opposite, so as not to feed the shift.   But if you see yourself shifting toward fascism, we would hope you'd rush to seek counseling.   With Planetary energies, we believe the appropriate response is usually to take advantage of the opportunities they offer us, and this is how our interpretations are structured.   There's little to be gained by resisting Planetary energies, because they're simply too big.   But a lot can be gained by interpreting them positively.   For instance, Saturn-Pluto energy, as was about in the last half of 2001, can feel dreadful.   But the core of Saturn-Pluto energy is a very powerful one-pointed focus.   Knowing that, you can direct that focus into intentions that align with your personal values. Knowing which energies to personalize and which not to personalize can help you let go of them.   As a friend once said, "I know that 'this too shall pass,' but you know when!"   If you don't like the feel of an energy, you always have at least three choices: you can let it go, you can move more deeply into it, or you can embrace it.   The first option is always to let it go, because that's the nature of energy, it's always moving on.   If letting go doesn't work, then moving more deeply into it can be a great teacher.   The difference between moving into it and embracing it, is that you become the energy when you move into it, and you separate yourself from the energy when you embrace it.   You step out of the energy in order to reach back and embrace it, rather than stepping into it.   Knowing that an energy is temporary, how long you're likely to have to endure it, and that it may not even be yours, but the Planet's, can be a great aid to letting go and moving on.   When we're conscious of an energy, it fades quickly when it's finished.   When we aren't conscious of it, it can linger in our field long after it's gone from the Planet's field, simply because we haven't let it go. At the end of each paragraph, in gray text, we describe what it is about the stars that we're interpreting.   If you know some astrology, you may make more sense out of the energy by reading the gray text, though of course even the choice of what to include and what not to include, is an interpretation in itself.   We use some strange terms, most of which are explained in our glossary. And what's with the rocks? Each type of crystal, or mineral, has it's own distinct energy, wavelength, or vibration.   Your own response to any given mineral, at any given time, will be different, depending on your (physical/emotional/mental/spiritual) body's needs at that moment.   You can find books which tell you how each mineral is likely to impact you, and some of them are quite good.   The best book for you is the one that you resonate with - get to know a mineral or two, and then look them up in the book to see if you relate to the book's stories about the mineral.   In the end, though, your response to each mineral will be uniquely yours, and you may resonate with one crystal one day, and another the next.   Since crystals can be expensive, we put these pictures of them here so you can "try them on" to see how they fit before you buy one.   And the picture conveys some of the vibration of the stone itself, so often it may be enough to gaze at the picture.

1 February through 23 June 2006 (waxing)         23 June through 6 July 2006 (waxing)         1 November 1987 through 23 June 2006 (intermittent)         23 June 2006 through September 2011 (waning) This is the last chapter of a project we've been working on since 1987.   It's mostly about healing despair or hopelessness, but it's more subtle than that.   The real opportunities hide in the places where you believe that you or the World are actually limited, where you don't expect miracles.   These are the places where you "despair" unconsciously, the places where you believe that Grace isn't huge enough to allow you to see your most incredible dreams made manifest, where you don't even know you're stuck in hopelessness.   What would that be for you, the places where you believe that the World can't deliver lasting ecstasy to you?   See if you can open up around those places, dream a little, imagine a miracle or two.   If you find any pain at all here, particularly before 23 June, embrace it.   Meet it softly, gently, lovingly.   The World will open up like a Spring morning between 23 June and 6 July.   It will take five years for this energy to fade away completely.   If despair visits you over that time period, it will just be an echo.   Put your arm around it and take it for a walk in the park.   We're done with hopelessness, but of course we'll have flashbacks, we always do.   Just hallucinations, we won't need to take them seriously. This is the last opposition between Saturn and Chiron, finishing a pattern that's been with us since the Harmonic Convergence.   It occurs at 10 Leo.   The initiation was 13 April 1966 at 24 Pisces, "On a small island surrounded by the vast expanse of the sea, people are seen living in close interaction."   Not a simple initiation, it was conjunct Pallas, square Jupiter, and trine to Neptune-Ketu, with the Moon and Vesta out of bounds.   The Uranus-Pluto conjunction of 9 October 1965, which itself opposed Chiron and sextiled Neptune, was still exact at 18 Virgo, "A ouija board."   The Uranus-Pluto links Saturn-Chiron to 2012, and the Neptune-Ketu links it to 1/1/2000.   As at the Saturn-Chiron initiation, the current opposition squares Jupiter, and the Jupiter-Saturn initiation was the one in May 2000 which ended the Dot.Com Boom - "A jewelry shop filled with valuable gems," 23 Taurus.   The Saturn-Chiron culmination runs through September 2011.   This last opposition is also not simple.   Uranus, Jupiter, Juno, Vesta, and Mars are all intimately involved, and Jupiter is stationary through 6 July.

18 April through 20 October 2006 (waxing through 16 September) This is a really beautiful gift to us.   All of our self-sabotaging patterns come up for healing, and they arise in benign ways.   Usually we have to shoot our foot clean off before we pay attention and get motivated to change the habits that mess up our lives.   Here our True Self is so strong and clear that we notice right away when we start to betray ourself, and change course easily.   Declare this intention, and it'll be easier yet! Uranus initiates Venus at 14 Pisces, "A lady wrapped in a large stole of Fox fur," on 18 April, making a grand trine to Jupiter at the Power Point of Scorpio and Vesta out of bounds, while out-of-bounds Mars squares the Dragon and Mercury rides the Dragon's Head.   The Venus-Uranus culmination spans 16 September to 20 October.

13 April through 3 June 2006 (steady) A softening of the hard edge of doingness that our nervousness has pushed us into for the last few months, making it easier now to be loving and gentle with ourselves.   The gift here is that it will be easy to practice being outside of ourself.   This is a critical skill as we move into June.   There is a huge difference between leaving our bodies and being outside of ourself.   When we leave our bodies, we leave no one home to inhabit the present moment.   When we step outside of ourself, we're fully present to embrace ourself, much more so than when we're simply inhabiting our body naturally.   Some of us - perhaps a mythical "some" - have never had to leave our body, so we can inhabit it comfortably and naturally.   For those of us who have suffered trauma of some kind or degree, we have to stand next to ourself, and reach back lovingly into ourself, to reintegrate the soul fragments that split off under duress.   When we try to relate to another person before we've done this work, only fractions of ourself are available to connect. Mars in Cancer.   Mars is initiated by Juno on 30 May at 28 Cancer, "A Native American girl introduces her white lover to her assembled tribe: Inner rebirth through a total acceptance of the primordial values manifest in the human body and its natural functions" [Rudhyar 1973 p.128].   Mars also opposes Pallas on 16 May, beginning the last phase of a long-running culmination that spans 5 June 2005 through 7 July 2006.   The Mars-Pallas cycle began 7 January 2004 at 14 Aries, "A Serpent coiling near an Man and a Woman: Identification in bipolar relationship with the impersonal rhythm of natural energy" [Rudhyar 1973 p.59].   Rudhyar goes on to say something germinal relative to the current time: "The Serpent represents the acceptance of relationship by the two polarized human beings.   There must be polarization before there can be fulfillment... [We] do not understand... the meaning of entering into the Serpent, ie of developing eonic consciousness and that transpersonal living which was once characterized by the words: Not I live, but Christ lives me" [pp.59-60].

5 April through 16 June 2006 (waxing till 7 April then waning slowly) An important homecoming, do please take advantage of it.   In mid-June we enter the final phase of the 20-year process of owning our own healing.   As we move toward June, we could encounter whatever old despair still lurks in our personal dungeons, mirroring the keening of the planet as we reach the extremes of the decade's polarizations.   April is about opening the drapes and sweeping the cobwebs from the dark corners of our dungeons, so we're clear during May and June that there is no need for hopelessness in the present moment.   If we're clear about that, then we have no doubt that the despair we see is old, and clear that the only appropriate response is compassion for those who are despairing, particularly if it's us.   We're clearing the space for a mid-June launch onto a whole new journey. Mars-Pluto culmination from 7 April till 16 June 2006, culminating the initiation on 28 January 2005 in 24 Sadge, "A Bluebird perched on the gate of a cottage."   This is the Bluebird that sat between "Two lovebirds sitting on a fence" and "Illuminated by a shaft of Light, a large cross lies on rocks surrounded by sea mist " (see Relationship 2002-2005).   The culmination drops us directly into a Mars-Vesta-Saturn triple initiation on 17 June in 9 Leo, "Glass blowers shape beautiful vases with their controlled breathing."   That is, remember to breathe, and the result will be lovely.   Then on 18 June Uranus begins a retreat at 15 Pisces ("An officer instructing his men before a simulated assault under a barrage of live shells").   And of course the final Saturn-Chiron opposition is 19 June, with the Jupiter square exact a few days later.   It's a busy time.   They're both back in-bounds by mid-June, but recall that Mars and Vesta have been out of bounds lately - Mars from 6 March through 17 May and Vesta from 14 January through 28 May.   The Uranus retreat spans 11-15 Pisces, lasts till 19 November, and its shadow period spans 2 March 2006 through 6 March 2007.   Pisces 11 is "People traveling a narrow path, seeking illumination."   The essence of Uranus energy is Integrity, and its perversion is Obedience and Rebellion.   So the overall picture is about giving up our excuses for being the way other folks wanted us to be, and allowing ourselves to be ourself.

29 March through 5 April 2006 (waxing) As Neil Young put it so long ago, "Don't let it bring you down, it's only castles burning."   It's just Change, in other words, you can adapt.   Yes, you're thinking about who you are and what that means, but you really don't need to take it so seriously.   In fact, both you and The World will be much better off if you don't take it so seriously.   It's not about what you say or do, it's about who you really are, and the less you think about that, the more Integrity you'll manifest.   Integrity is particularly important in your relationships.   It'll feel stressful, giving up the mask that your parents said you had to wear, like it or not.   But that's what we're doing.   It'd be good to make a game of it.   It's been an emotional winter/summer, but in the long run well worth it.   You may encounter some despair in here - if you do, love it to death, it's just old movies.   If it aint fun, just take your bonbons and leave the theater. At 6am PDT on 5 April, Saturn finishes a retreat through 5-12 of Leo, maintaining a close waxing trine to Rahu through the whole retreat.   The retreat began on 22 November 2005 and the shadow period spans 19 August 2005 through 10 July 2006.   The retreat began with Venus and Ceres out of bounds, and finishes with Mars and Vesta out of bounds and Juno squaring the Moon's Nodes from the Mars-Vesta midpoint, as the First Quarter Moon makes a tsquare to Pallas.   The vacancies are 4 Capricorn (Juno-Nodes) and 16 Libra (Pallas-Moon) - you might find it all a bit more trying if you have a hot spot in either place.

28 March through 21 September 2006 (waning) After the huge download at the end of March, we gradually integrate the new energies into our lives, in preparation for the big transitions of 2012.   It's something about getting serious around what we hold sacred, but we don't even have to be conscious and clear about it, we just have to be willing to say NO when it's necessary.   One of the most important things to remember is that it's never either/or, it's always both/and.   Someone else's very different beliefs do not negate yours.   If you have to deal directly with folks who seem determined to destroy what you hold sacred, don't resist it.   It's not about defending what you hold sacred, it's about honoring it.   Just as an example, let's say you believe in Fairies, or World Peace, but the Town Bully is going around stomping on Fairies and destroying the Peace.   Do you martyr yourself?   Sometimes you would.   But not here.   In this time you meet secretly with the other folks who still believe in Fairies and World Peace, and strengthen what you believe in through mutual support and nonjudgmental community.   That's the most important work to be done.   Resisting the Bully is just more war.   You probably didn't read Brautigan's In Watermelon Sugar, but if you did you'd recognize iDeath here.   It's not about you - it's about what's sacred to you, and how carefully it's nurtured. Total eclipse of the Sun (complete Attention) in 9 Aries ("A crystal gazer") at 3am PST 28 March while Pluto (our apparent destiny - which is to say, those things about which we are not yet conscious enough to realize that we have choice) stations (is very strong) at 5am PST in 27 Sadge ("A sculptor at his work"), almost exactly in front of the Galactic Center (a Source even more profound than our Sun, but much more subtle to our level of consciousness), while Vesta (what we hold sacred) and Mars (energy/exhaustion) are out of bounds (stronger than usual).   Uranus (Integrity) conjoins Mercury (Communication), which on 26 March finishes a retreat through the Cancer decanate of Pisces.   So we're thinking (Mercury) with compassion (Pisces) about how we might better nurture (Cancer) our True Self (Uranus).   This conjunction trines Vesta, so we're releasing old self-sabotaging ways of thinking and talking (waning Mercury-Vesta trine) and learning how our True Self is fed by respect in deed and word for what we regard as sacred (waxing Vesta-Uranus trine).   The Vesta-Uranus initiation was 30 April 2004 in 7 Pisces ("Illumined by a shaft of light, a large cross lies on rocks surrounded by sea mist: the spiritual blessing which strengthens individuals who, happen what may, stand uncompromisingly for their own truth" [Rhudyar 1973 p.272]) - see Relationship 2002-2005.   The Vesta-Uranus culmination spans 30 August through 18 November 2006.   Saturn trines Rahu (another message to Pay Attention!), while Jupiter makes a waning square to Neptune (opening to Surprise and Delight brings big opportunities for spiritual growth).

28 March through 4 June 2006 Relationships are likely to be sweeter here.   If you don't have one that's special, be gentle and loving with your longing for it. Juno enters Cancer.

21 through 29 March 2006 (waxing) This is a huge download - take time out to just sit quietly and be with it, while you remember to breathe.   It's information we don't want to miss, because it's essential preparation for the big transitions of 2012.   On the next level in, it's about getting conscious and clear about what it is that we hold sacred.   This isn't about holy wars, this is about honoring the unique role you yourself are playing in lifting the species out of slavery, equally to your respect for the parts that everyone else is playing, especially those who seem determined to destroy what you yourself hold sacred.   Simply put, Angels fly because they take themselves lightly.   But they don't discount themselves, or anyone else.   If you're energized here, go for it, but do take time out to breathe and "listen."   If you're exhausted, you may be pushing against the current, and it becomes much more important for you to slow down and listen to your own heartsong.   What is it that you really wanna do?   Declare the intention to let go of all the reasons that you've told yourself about why you can't do it.   You can indeed do it, you just haven't finished building the foundations for it yet - but you're getting close enough to get busy expecting that you will do it.   Expect surprises that delight you. Total eclipse of the Sun (complete Attention) in 9 Aries ("A crystal gazer") at 3am PST 28 March while Pluto (our apparent destiny - which is to say, those things about which we are not yet conscious enough to realize that we have choice) stations (is very strong) at 5am PST in 27 Sadge ("A sculptor at his work"), almost exactly in front of the Galactic Center (a Source even more profound than our Sun, but much more subtle to our level of consciousness), while Vesta (what we hold sacred) and Mars (energy/exhaustion) are out of bounds (stronger than usual).   Uranus (Integrity) conjoins Mercury (Communication), which on 26 March finishes a retreat through the Cancer decanate of Pisces.   So we're thinking (Mercury) with compassion (Pisces) about how we might better nurture (Cancer) our True Self (Uranus).   This conjunction trines Vesta, so we're releasing old self-sabotaging ways of thinking and talking (waning Mercury-Vesta trine) and learning how our True Self is fed by respect in deed and word for what we regard as sacred (waxing Vesta-Uranus trine).   The Vesta-Uranus initiation was 30 April 2004 in 7 Pisces ("Illumined by a shaft of light, a large cross lies on rocks surrounded by sea mist: the spiritual blessing which strengthens individuals who, happen what may, stand uncompromisingly for their own truth" [Rhudyar 1973 p.272]) - see Relationship 2002-2005.   The Vesta-Uranus culmination spans 30 August through 18 November 2006.   Saturn trines Rahu (another message to Pay Attention!), while Jupiter makes a waning square to Neptune (opening to Surprise and Delight brings big opportunities for spiritual growth).

14 March through 6 September 2006 (waning) The critical element here is to maintain curiosity about your partners in your relationships.   It's so easy to slip into judgment when they don't meet your expectations, and judgment kills relationship.   Whenever you're tempted to judge your partner, instead recognize that you're seeing the edges of something new, something that you don't know about yet.   It looks like they're pulling a weapon similar to the one that wounded you once, but the similarity is only in your own mind.   If you can manage to set aside your fear and anger, you'll be forever grateful for the new horizons that open up to you. Penumbral eclipse in 25 Virgo on 14 March, forming a grand cross with the third opposition of the Juno-Pluto culmination.   Pluto initiated Juno on 25 December 2003 at 21 Sadge, "a child and a dog wearing borrowed eyeglasses."   The culmination spans 23 October 2005 through 21 June 2006.   The Saturn-Chiron opposition trines the Nodes, which form a second grand cross with a Pallas-Vesta opposition.

5 March through 18 May 2006 (steady) A great time to allow old anger to come up to the surface for release.   It aint always easy to tell whether anger's present-moment or old, but here's a clue - is someone abusing you in this very moment?   If you're stewing because somebody abused you last week or even yesterday, then it's old anger yer dealing with, and your recent abuse is probably triggering anger over more serious abuse somewhere in your personal history.   You may also need to practice setting better boundaries, so yer safer during the actual moments when someone does try to abuse you.   This probably isn't the best time for that, simply because the old anger is likely to lean you toward exaggeration, and good boundaries don't mix well with exaggeration.   The function of anger is to motivate, so don't let go of the motivation to learn how to set better boundaries.   Put it on your calendar for June.   For now, our discomfort motivates us to cough up the old anger hairballs and get them out. Mars out of bounds in Gemini and Cancer.

13 January through 29 May 2006 (steady) Nothing slows us down like self-sabotage.   In fact, nothing slows us down except self-sabotage.   This is an excellent time to ferret out self-sabotage, especially 5 March through 18 May.   Self-sabotage happens when our habits conflict with our values, and our own behaviors push away the objects of our Desires.   We ferret out self-sabotage by seeking clarity about our values and Desires and priorities, and taking a "searching inventory" of our habits and behaviors, to see whether they promote or hinder our priorities.   Be gentle with yourself.   No need to worry about changing our habits at this point; once we have awareness and motivation, the technology for change will find us. Vesta out of bounds in Cancer.

1 February through 23 June 2006 (waxing)         1 November 1987 through 23 June 2006 (intermittent)         23 June through 6 July 2006 (waning)         23 June 2006 through September 2011 (waning) There is a subtheme to the first half of 2006, and it's basically "I'll never get this right.   It's hopeless."   If you aren't in touch with it, seek it out.   Our Inner Eyore, it's a part of us that begs to receive our unconditional love.   Until it's conscious, we can't help but experience it as us, and believe its stories.   By sending love to it, we make it our ally.   Part of this is about accepting and grieving our limitations.   We need to do that before we can transcend them. The last opposition between Saturn and Chiron, a pattern that's been with us since the Harmonic Convergence.   It occurs at 10 Leo.   The initiation was 13 April 1966 at 24 Pisces, "On a small island surrounded by the vast expanse of the sea, people are seen living in close interaction."   Not a simple initiation, it was conjunct Pallas, square Jupiter, and trine to Neptune-Ketu.   The Moon and Vesta were out of bounds.   The Uranus-Pluto conjunction of 9 October 1965 (which itself opposed Chiron and sextiled Neptune) was still exact at 18 Virgo, "A ouija board."   The Uranus-Pluto links Saturn-Chiron to 2012, and the Neptune-Ketu links it to 1/1/2000.   The Saturn-Chiron culmination runs through September 2011.   This last opposition is also not simple.   Jupiter, Juno, Vesta, and Mars are all intimately involved with it, and Jupiter is stationary through 6 July.

13 through 19 February 2006 Another dance with the "We have found the healer and it is us" theme that's been with us for the last 20 years.   The subtheme here is about loving ourself in such a way that we respect our unique skills without inflating, and embrace our inner critic without deflating.   That's a big sentence, let's break it down.   Sit up and think of something you wish you were better at.   Check the curvature of your spine and the orientation of your nose.   Your nose may be pointing downward, and your belly pulled in so your spine is curved.   Now think of something you do well.   Check the curvature of your spine and the orientation of your nose.   Your spine may be straight, and your nose pointing straight ahead.   Now think of a time when you were proud to have bested someone else in a contest.   Your nose may be pointing up and your belly moved forward.   There are subtle gradations in our skills and our attitudes toward them.   If we feel the need to be world-class before we honor ourself, it may be inflation, it may be the innate knowledge that we have an important role to play in this lifetime, or it may be that we're hearing our inner critic as judgment rather than input.   The angles of our nose and spine might help us determine the difference.   Honoring ourself means that we accept our right to receive what we need from our community - our right to do what we love doing, and live well while we're doing i