Aquarius

EVERYBODY KNOWS the secret to life is being okay with yourself; being your own friend. We also live in a freaky, as in frightful, time in history, wherein the name of the game is conquer and divide. Conciliation and reconciliation are in short supply -- or is it low demand? Do we not understand the value of working together, of getting along, and of mutual support? Well, I guess we're learning. There's still time. The main issue, it would seem, is that people are divided against themselves. Your mission, at this time of your life, is to be a teacher of selflove; of self-joining.

Selflove is a mystery, particularly in our world where three major influences teach us to hate ourselves: family, marketing and religion. Selflove is often confused with egotism and vanity. These are the dark, pointless reactions to being taught to despise who and what we are. The first step to selflove is seeing those judgments and consciously choosing not to take them on. (This first step usually gets repeated a lot.)

If you have attempted a growth project like this before and have fallen short, no worries. At the core of your change is an awakening of your function as a creative entity; as a person with a deep and vivid imagination who expresses that imagination. You've always known this, but art is elusive. Despite your ability to play the game of the world on many different levels, you know your values system has nothing in common with the prevailing ideals on the planet. Now you get to express this aspect of your nature with revolutionary passion, and use it as a means of reconciling with your inner being.


RECENT YEARS of your life have provided you with many ideas, and perhaps with experiencs that document what happens when you live for ideas alone. The recent (and approaching) sudden changes have grounded you in a space where you must not only think, but feel. Thought, to the extent that it happens, becomes an experience that exists simultaneously in your head and in your heart. I'm not talking about emotion in the conventional sense of the word; there's true logic to this kind of thought, but it's a soft logic, flexible and understanding of needs and feelings.

There's quite enough love to go round, but with love, the other necessary element is to take it in, to absorb, to become and then to create. You could say that's the formula for perfection: what is made of love makes more love: and that would be you. You know this. You know how good the world can be. I imagine it's frustrating that you notice so much of what can be made right, but that you can't actually get it to happen on a grand scale.

But you are making it happen on a personal scale. You are learning that you do in fact learn. The long sense that you've had that there may be 'something wrong' with you is starting to lose its strength and its influence. In these seasons, your relationship with being human (Aquarian to begin with) is intensified, and you get to make peace with the failings that seem to come with being in a body.


DESPITE THE REFRESHING optimism you may finally feel about your own life, you have your deep concerns about the state of the world and the state of the Human race. Humanity seems to be proof that a whole lot of really smart people can form one hulking idiot of a group. Most people can live with this; I don't think you really can. You, cousin Aquarius, are a group resource on our planet, on your block, in your company, in your home or on your softball team. You are the recipient of collective instructions and methods. Like a computer programmer, your job is to get it right and send it out. The work of one person thus saves the work of thousands.

Lead from the front, the center or the rear; try and see what works best. But lead you must.

'Group', however, does not include two. In meetings of two I strongly suggest you work to be conscious of and avoid running the 'group mind' thing on a relationship. You must handle one-to-one encounters with the skill of a mediator, listening to your side and your partner's side with a measure of true impartiality. No matter how intelligent, innovative or 'right' you are, you have to listen. So please, listen.

I know this can be challenging for the rapid mind of Aquarius that just knows, and understands so little beyond its own translation of reality. Listening takes practice. It's something you do not just with your ears, but with your body. Your body will tell you a lot about how you feel and remind you of what is true. With Pisces as your 2nd solar house, the sense of being in body can be rare to feel. With Uranus there, your body has an increased presence, but it's an energy presence, and that energy needs GROUNDING.

So here's an Aquarian idea. Instead of living your values as ideals, I suggest you park them firmly in work process. Not just your job, but rather the work that you know needs to happen. Some use terms like socially conscious or community work. The constellation of factors in your charts is adding up to an image of you taking a few years to create your ideals into something with tangible form and lasting value.

Saturn in your solar 6th house is a good example of this. You need to be a master of your work patterns, and you have the strength and focussing power to create the discipline you need. The world needs so much help right now that everyone who is inclined could work triple time and there would still be plenty to do. It happens that your particular alignment gives you plenty of will, impetus and most important, the need to do what you know is right and true.

Nothing less will satisfy you. You are beginning to remember your original instructions. They have been delivered to you many times in many forms. Perhaps you've had reason to set them aside, but now is a great time to make them the center of your reality.



IN THE SYMBOLISM of astrology, Aquarius is the vessel, not the water. You're used to containing yourself, your feelings and the flow of your reality. But freedom is the freedom to feel. We may do what we wish, move about the face of the planet, say what we want and refuse to do what we think is immoral. But none of these actions comes close to the freedom to feel. There is a revolution happening in your life. Some changes will happen slowly; others are happening with surprising speed. Feel your way to the truth of who you are, and call nothing less being alive(???).

Message from Eros

Study up on full-body orgasm and indulge yourself in the experience. Learn a little about the history of sex. Attend a tantra workshop. There is an excellent book called Sexual Secrets: The Alchemy of Ecstasy that's pretty easy to find. There is another published in 1964 called Eros Denied by Wayland Young that will put a lot in perspective for you. Betty Dodson's new book Orgasms for Two is excellent on the subject of male-female sex play, sex education issues, partnership, monogamy and polyamory. Her first video tape, available at http://www.bettydodson.com/ is awesome. Know thyself! Know what you value! Be sexually literate.

Aquarius Moon
The worst vulnerabilities are the ones we don't know about. Hence, one aspect of feeling safe and being safe involves understanding the ways in which you are vulnerable. This has been your life story for some time, and I think you're getting the hang of it. But there is a better way to learn, what you might call the proactive way. Maintain a policy of vetting(???) all prospective people who enter your life. Psyche them out and assess their motives. Conduct routine perimeter checks, and clean and oil your locks. Locks are symbolic. I consider them shamanic objects, as are keys, and their use to be a sacred ritual. Locks are not the source of your safety, no more than they are the source of your faith. But it's nice when both work.