Lately, I have been looking into my horoscopes (from credible sources, not newspaper columns!), and despite a certain skepticism about personal horoscopes, I can see why my own energies have been all over the place of this year. Some days, it's like being turned upside down and shaken. Not that the planets are to blame. It is well known among genuine astrologers that "the stars incline; they do not compel." But there are simply too many significant correspondences between the movements of certain planet on my chart and my inner and outer experiences over the same time to dismiss.
(Sun in Mars, Moon and Ascendant in Virgo: speak of conflicted!)
For example, some recent planet - life correspondences in my charts:
Dec 2015 to mid-Oct 2016, Saturn sextile Neptune:
"Saturn currently supports your Neptune and grants you permission to once again believe in your dreams. If you hoped for too much in the past and were disappointed, this is definitely not a reason to be pessimistic from now on."
"This influence helps you bring your spiritual ideals into focus in the material world so that you can see precisely what role they play in your life. Consequently this is a time of sober reflection and deep understanding about your life on several planes ..... This influence has the effect of making your ego subservient to higher needs ..... no form of egotism, even if it goes by another name, is compatible with this influence."
This whole year has been one of deep reflection about my values, my ideals and my spiritual aspirations, and how I might apply those in the world. Have I the courage to step firmly and purposefully outside of my comfort zone, the heart to take action that serves others and rather than the demands of my ego, the humility to surrender my small will to the Will of the Holy? Frankly, even though there are periods in which all that feels more like joy than effort, I still don't know. I'm still working on it.
Apr 2016 to end Mar 2017, Uranus sextile Uranus:
"You are now in a phase of rapid change. You need these changes because they allow you to develop and live out your personal needs. If you fall in love more than once during this time, it is a sign that you are open to the world and all kinds of people. If this idea unnerves you, you should know that this is a special time in your life. Things will not always be as turbulent as they are now."
Turbulent? You bet. Some days I wonder if I have bi-polar, something I have often wondered, I confess, for my emotions rise and fall in great waves that at the time cannot be resisted. But this year, the high waves have been unusually intense, though the lows have been quite small, short and not nearly as unpleasant. Even certain experiences that once hit me with devastating force are not as debilitating as before, for I find myself more easily able to come out of them. Since I spoke to my spiritual teacher spoke about them, in fact, and have followed his advice, I haven't had one.
Fall in love? I had a dream many years ago in which I was with a man who was both wise and very affectionate. We were, I think, just beginning to fall in love. He leaned over to kiss me, and I was so ready for the kiss when he asked, 'Do you want me for your lover, or your teacher?' Instantly, I knew that I could choose one or the other, but not have both. And I answered, 'Teacher.' So it has been ever since. I fall in love with those from whom I learn the greatest truths, living and not, those whom I reverence as my spiritual teachers. That has to be enough.
August until Oct 6th, Mercury conjunction Moon:
"This is the best possible time to express your feelings and emotions .... pure reason and logic alone cannot communicate all that you want to express... On the other hand ...you will be a much better listener than usual. Your mind is receptive to the point that you receive not only words but also another person's moods and feelings."
If you read my blog posts or my facebook posts or know me personally, you might have noticed how open I have been about my feelings of late, and how deep those feelings have been. I cannot say whether I have been a better listener since August. Maybe I should ask my friends and family about that. But receptive to others' energies, yes, partly as a result of spiritual practices but also without intention. The problem with being receptive is that sometimes I feel another's energy so clearly that I mistake it for my own. There've been times around a person that I felt something strongly, then when I was on my own, the feeling was gone as though it had been switched off. It wasn't my feeling at all. Which is why I have learned to wait, to sleep on it for several nights before acting on a strong feeling, especially if it concerns someone else.
Oct 3rd to 6th, Mars trine Ascendant:
"Under this influence you will want to enlarge the scope of your activities somewhat. It will not be enough to express your energies as you have in the past. At this time you want to find new expressions, and you will look for people to share in this."
Exactly. This week, I've been thinking hard about starting up something that I had wanted to do before, but was not able. Not a business (there is not a single entrepreneurial bone in my body). A service for the elderly or series of creative workshops more like it. I won't say more until I've taken some action because the native Americans say that talking about your intentions takes energy from them.
Oct 5th to 8th, Moon in 4th house:
"This is a good time to go inside yourself and look at your attitudes, feelings and emotional orientation toward the world around you. You could do this by trying to bring out into the open those elements of yourself that usually remain hidden within you."
Since joining Ted Nottingham's Inner Work for Spiritual Awakening group about a year ago, I have been practicing Gurdjieff's Fourth Way methods, the basis of which is becoming self-aware. Self-knowing is a core spiritual precept, and having at an early age discovered Socrates who said that 'an unexamined life is a life not worth living,' I have used many different approaches over the years to help me look within and learn to discern what is real and what is the result of conditioning and life itself: meditation, mindfulness, contemplation, journalling etc. All have been helpful. But I think that working with Gurdjieff's practices under Ted's guidance has grounded this kind of work in a way that it was not grounded before.
This week, I also began a course in Mindfulness that is deepening my practice and also teaching me a great deal about the real life benefits of self-awareness, so that my inner considering practice is now becoming central to my daily existence. That is the significance of this week, I expect, that what was work for spiritual growth and self-knowing is becoming part of the way I perceive and experience each moment. Maybe I will get distracted again, as I do so often, but the clarity of this new way of being, and the immense pleasure I derive from opening those inner gates of perception as wide as I can will ensure that I will return to mindfulness before long. I really like the feeling of being transparent to myself.
Sun in 3rd house: 16 October 2016 until mid-November 2016
The Sun in this house turns your attention toward your immediate surroundings and increases your interaction with the people you deal with every day. It is a good time to look at how you handle these casual relationships that are so important for your life. .... In fact, clear communication should be one of the goals of this period. With the Sun in this house there is a temptation to pour out energy and take none in. But try to avoid this. Instead of always being the active agent in communication, be the passive one, too - in other words, listen!
Jupiter conjunction Neptune: 30 October 2016 until 9 November 2016:
During this time your ideals will be aroused as they seldom are at other times, and you will approach life with a greater sense of compassion. People who cannot help themselves will win your sympathy especially, whether you encounter them personally or through working with others in a charitable enterprise. Your primary concern is to help individuals by giving them a hand. You may be less concerned with transforming the social order that has given rise to the conditions that oppress the people you are dealing with.
Your interest in spiritual, religious and mystical philosophy is likely to grow at this time, and you may become involved in a group that is studying these subjects. This world no longer seems to meet your needs adequately, so you have to turn inward to find a world that can give you what you really need. Here, too, you will discover that the ego's drives for self-gratification and self-assertion may be the major factors in preventing you from getting what you want out of life. At this time the demands of the ego must be quieted at least a little, so you can hear what the inner self is really saying.
The Sun in this house turns your attention toward your immediate surroundings and increases your interaction with the people you deal with every day. It is a good time to look at how you handle these casual relationships that are so important for your life. .... In fact, clear communication should be one of the goals of this period. With the Sun in this house there is a temptation to pour out energy and take none in. But try to avoid this. Instead of always being the active agent in communication, be the passive one, too - in other words, listen!
Jupiter conjunction Neptune: 30 October 2016 until 9 November 2016:
During this time your ideals will be aroused as they seldom are at other times, and you will approach life with a greater sense of compassion. People who cannot help themselves will win your sympathy especially, whether you encounter them personally or through working with others in a charitable enterprise. Your primary concern is to help individuals by giving them a hand. You may be less concerned with transforming the social order that has given rise to the conditions that oppress the people you are dealing with.
Your interest in spiritual, religious and mystical philosophy is likely to grow at this time, and you may become involved in a group that is studying these subjects. This world no longer seems to meet your needs adequately, so you have to turn inward to find a world that can give you what you really need. Here, too, you will discover that the ego's drives for self-gratification and self-assertion may be the major factors in preventing you from getting what you want out of life. At this time the demands of the ego must be quieted at least a little, so you can hear what the inner self is really saying.
And so it is!
Checking one's horoscopes can take a lot of time, so I don't do it often, but I do hope to learn more about cosmic astrology with the help of Richard Tarnas and his book, Cosmos and Psyche, and his youtube lectures because the correlations between astrology and events on the global level have proven to be very strong and historically verifiable. I'm almost through the third and last video of Tarnas' 'World Transits 2008-2020' series, not easy listening but definitely worth the mental effort.
Link to Richard Tarnas lecture 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXIZJEwNZQg
Link to Ted Nottingham's spiritual work group: http://www.innerworkforspiritualawakening.com/
The Pleiades by Elihu Vedder (1885)
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