Fixed Grand Cross

 

October 28, 2005 (with chart)

 

http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/oct28.html

 

Dear Eric,

 

I understand that November is going to be a challenging one, due to the squares and oppositions in fixed signs (Saturn in Leo, Mars in Taurus, Sun and Jupiter in Scorpio).

 

I have been told by an astrologer in the past that I have a Grand Cross in fixed signs (Mars in Taurus in the 5th, Neptune in Scorpio in the 11th, Saturn in Aquarius in the 2nd and North Node in Leo in the 8th). Even if the North Node was not included, it leaves a T-square.

 

I would really appreciate your interpretation and guidance as to how the November planets may impact on me, and how best for me to "weather" the transits.

 

Many thanks

 

Claire

 

 

Dear Claire

 

The last time we had a grand fixed cross on this scale was in the summer of 1999, for the grand cross-total solar eclipse of August 11. This was a monumental turning point in that it ushered in an era in history that to most was unforeseen; the very next year we experienced the stolen election -- and so on and so on and so on.

 

For many, this was a time of profound personal change, development, and acceleration of growth. Working as an astrologer at the time, I felt like a ferryman guiding people one by one across the enormous divide between the past and the future; I have never had so many clients show up so fast with such intensity in their lives. It was quite a summer. My chronicle of it is posted here.

 

But one thing I noticed was that two clients who already had a fixed grand cross were basically cool, calm and collected. I recognize that two people are not a statistical study, but it certainly made an impression on me. It seemed as if they were already quite accustomed to that fixed + grand cross energy, and basically took the changes in stride. Now, I do not have follow-up interviews; who knows, maybe they are reading. But I can tell you that they were the two most calm and clear-headed discussions of that summer.

 

Before we get to your chart, I'd like to offer a few quotations from Alice A. Bailey's book Esoteric Astrology on the subject of the Fixed Cross. Whenever you get into a discussion of one of the three crosses -- cardinal, fixed or mutable -- Esoteric Astrology is the place to go; this is one of the specialties covered by this book.

 

Basically, the idea I get from looking over her comments is that the fixed cross is the process where the density of personality is lightened into the awareness of the soul.

 

Much of one's experience of the cross depends on one's stage of growth. But many of us are having the kind of experience where, paraphrasing the Course in Miracles a bit, what matters, matters and what does not does not. But this whole process is intuitive rather than literal; it's a way of transposing experience such as events or experiences that may have produced a dense, difficult reaction in the past now are approached from a more loving, more aware and less polarized frame of mind.

 

"Substance, the ocean of life, water, the symbol of desire and the impulse to incarnate are transmuted into soul light substance and the urge to tread consciously the path of return, plus the longing to serve," she says of this cross. Referring to the Taurus-Scorpio polarity, where much of this activity occurs, she says, "The personality is humbled and brought to grips with the soul."

 

Or, as my old teacher Alan Cohen has said, "The ego makes a great slave and a terrible master."

 

So, that's a little bit of esoteric wisdom on the Fixed Cross. As for your chart. Quite a journey along the razor's edge your live has been, yes?

 

It is in part the positions of the planets, but also their framing along the Lunar Nodes that make this chart so intense -- as I am sure you've pondered. It's as if you have your special mission, and that is that. This is the feeling of the Node. It's like a vortex in the chart that feels compelling and creates a kind of inevitable sense of focus whether we like it or not.

 

I would feel a lot more confident discussing this chart after an hour of interviewing you -- but I can tell you that the Mars-Neptune opposition, squaring the Nodes, is really the essence of the picture. This opposition is a particular frame of mind that you need over and over again and, I sense, are working to slowly express on the highest possible level.

 

There is an extremely powerful desire nature suggested here, an even more powerful imagination, and the sense that you're going to have to keep dealing with yourself, over and over again, until you really have an understanding of who you are -- and can express yourself in the world clearly and without compulsion.

 

The transits that are coming up speak of many different processes; for example, Saturn is close to opposing its natal position. Neptune has just completed a square to its natal position. Mars is returning to its natal position. And there are many inter-relationships among these.

 

Honestly, Claire, this is not about "weathering" anything; this is about going to a whole new level of life. Note that astrology can be used to make a kind of simplistic prediction about things being difficulty -- or it can be used to reach layers of meaning and understanding relating to the inevitable process of growth.

 

These transits are about coming to terms with yourself, a complete reorientation, and experiencing yourself an entirely new way. And they are about the discovery of something quite amazing in the form of Uranus going over your Chiron-Jupiter during the next few months. This rather brilliant third house placement is likely to offer you ideas you had never even considered -- coming right from you.

 

I am talking about something new, that you may not have ever considered; this is opposed to the information that you possess, live by, and hold dear which you may be called upon to go beyond and see differently. When you get the hang of it, I don't think you'll mind.