Sagittarius Full Moon & the Next Grand Cross

Dear Friends Around the World:

One of the purposes of this column is to provide a window into basic astrology and help those who are curious get their foot in the cosmic door. The question is always where exactly do you begin? All writing presumes that the reader knows something (if only how to read). It's not really possible to point to one agreed upon beginning of astrology study, but you could say it begins when someone has a real experience of astrology working or being personally meaningful.

As for the study of words and books, the important thing is to pick up the discussion somewhere you feel that's interesting and maybe just a little out of your depth. If you're learning, you'll be making use of an astrological dictionary and learning new words pretty regularly. It's easy to let the vocabulary be discouraging, but I think that's one of the most useful obstacles to get over.

Another is a sense of getting overwhelmed by the sight of a chart. When you're looking at a chart, you really have two choices, one of which is to apply intuition, and the other of which is to apply some analysis. However, once you get a grip on this particular chart, you'll likely notice that for astrological reasons it's pretty whelming -- this weekend's Sagittarius Full Moon:

At the Full Moon the Sun and the Moon are in opposite signs. Say that to somebody and they will think you're a real astrologer. The aspect of the Full Moon is "Sun opposite Moon." One is on one side of the Earth and the other is on the other side. The three are in alignment. The Full Moon is a peak of energy. It's an exciting time of the month, where people start to go a little bit wiggy. The split personality syndrome of the Full Moon is accentuated by the fact that the Sun is in Gemini.

The split personality phenomenon of Gemini is like having a talking dog in the family. Even if you don't believe dogs can talk, when the dog starts talking, you might want to listen. I have a Gemini friend who told me that one of her coworkers has two names for her. The guy is not an astrologer, he's just perceptive. So, in whatever you look for, look for the distinction of two missions, two personalities, two of anything. Give it two names. And when your dog starts talking, listen to what he's saying.

The position of the Moon in this chart is interesting; it's in Sagittarius, located at the midpoint of two galactic points. At 14+ Sagittarius we have the Great Attractor. At 26+ we have the Galactic Core.

I've covered both of these points already, but the upshot is that it's a LOT of energy and it's strange energy because it doesn't feel terrestrial; it's the original cosmic exotic. And right now the Sun, Earth and Moon are aligned at the midpoint of the GA and the GC, which is going to move some energy, and for sure energy is moving. It's moving personally and there is a whole lot of political news coming out of Iraq and Washington DC, just check the cover of truthout.org and you'll get an idea.

Now, as if this were not enough, we are in the middle of yet another version of the fixed grand cross that's been hanging around since late last year and will be present in one form or another into 2007. But it's quite precise right now. See if you can find it.

You can see one end of the cross, a cluster in Leo to the top right. Then look at 90 and 180 degree angles. The orange 4 to the left is Jupiter in Scorpio. The orange key toward the bottom is Chiron in Aquarius. The blue trident toward the bottom is Neptune in Aquarius. The blue lady's room symbol to the right is Venus in Taurus. Venus is moving fast and is focused precisely in the cross Thursday and Friday, though it's applying to Neptune (meaning it's moving faster and has a lower number, hence the aspect is forming).

The same is true of the Mars-Saturn conjunction in Leo. See if you can pick that out; Mars (red guy's room symbol) is close to Saturn (yellow lower case H). The thing between them (red Chevron symbol) is Vesta, the eternal flame of devotion. Mars is moving up on both Vesta and Saturn and the two form a conjunction very close to the Cancer ingress of the Sun, also called the summer solstice in the northern latitudes and the winter solstice in the southern climes.

Which brings me to a point I've mentioned a few times before in this space: the solstice Sun makes an exact square to the lunar nodes, which are currently sitting exactly on the Aries Point. The North Node is in Aries and the South Node is in Libra, and the Sun in about 10 days makes an exact square, setting off the current sky and a whole bunch of other charts from the past five years all of which have prominent Aries Point correspondences.

This tells me something big is coming. By big, I mean in the transpersonal world, you know, The World, the one outside the beauty parlor. The fixed sign energy speaks of a sense of "the inevitable." That is, whoever is planning what is very determined to go through with their plans. The Aries Point connection suggests it's something that affects everyone.

There is the personal level to consider: how all this feels, and if you ask me it feels like pressure. It's important to be strategic now, and to point yourself in the direction of where you need to be. The interaction of people as individuals and their wider environment is enhanced by many factors. This is a get real moment. Under astrology like this, we can be sure it will happen one way or another.

Yours, tongue in cheekily,
The Curiously Irreverent Christian

Dear Curious Christian:

I am aware of a tradition of some who study Kabbalah, only doing so during the day. Kabbalah is an ancient system of mysticism and symbol study that is at the base of the Hebrew tradition. I don't know the source of the tradition of not studying at night, but I know it exists. And I can offer some personal observations about why this might be. One is that at night, we begin to move more deeply into the unconscious world and lose the protection and discernment of daylight and the strength of full consciousness.

I linked this to the Book of Revelation because it's well known to be a masterpiece of occult symbolism. By "occult" I mean that it speaks in symbols, which have meaning that is veiled under the surface. Here is an example, from chapter 17:

"Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, 'Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters...'"

Now, that would appear to be a reference to she whom we refer to today as the Goddess. But it's clear enough that this is veiled language, and resembles dream imagery. This goes on and on through the Book of Revelation and as anyone who's read it knows, it gets pretty intense.

The reason you would not want to study the Book of Revelation at night is the same reason you would want to tell ghost stories at night: It's scarier.

It's worth reading, to see what's there and to get a sense of what the author or authors are getting at. As Hunter S. Thompson pointed out, it's as rich as anything you'll ever read -- but you can find it for free in any hotel room.

Here is a bit more on Kaballah.

Astro*Carto*Graphy and Relocated Charts

Dear Eric:

I'm curious about astro-cartography. I know that theoretically there's a study of this whole notion of the astrological impact of certain places on the earth on people but I have no idea about the mechanics. I just read a horoscope that mentioned a "relocated" chart. As I'm about to move to a whole new country, I'm wondering how I might be able to interpret the impact this new place might have on my chart but don't know the first thing about how to start. Does one simply cast a birth chart but with a new birthplace? Or does this have anything to do with planetary power lines of the new location and how they match up to my natal chart? If so, how do you find them and what do they even mean?

Tell me how it works and then I can go and do the interpretation on my own birth chart by myself. The move is set to take place in early August.

Thanks!
-- A.M.

Dear A.M.

One thing about the current revision of the world is that we have a lot of choice about where to be. Many people still tend to stay fairly close to where they were born, but we do have the option to be elsewhere. The issue of "where" is vital to astrology, both for the casting of charts, and when we can do something about the place we live. I've addressed the theme of locational astrology before in this column in this edition, but I'll add a few points for you.

First, in terms of what locational astrology is: it's the chart cast for the same time but the new place. This is super duper important: the time does not change and the time zone does not change. The idea is to end up with the exact same Greenwich Mean Time or Universal Time (same basic idea) but the new geographic coordinates.

What you get is a chart with the same planetary positions, but different angles and houses. This is called your relocated chart and it gives a picture of your life in the new place. In my prior response, I emphasized the issue of considering the culture of the place you are considering as being a helpful factor in interpreting the chart for that place. Places with very similar (i.e., identical for most purposes) charts can have very different feelings, for example, the strip in Las Vegas, or the open desert a 10 minute drive from town.

If you're looking at Belgium, for example, you'll probably have the same chart for Brussels and Antwerp. However, in one town, you'll speak French or English; and in the other, you'll speak Dutch and people will look at you like you have three heads if you start speaking French. So, culture is a big factor that today's modern worldly astrologer factors into the discussion.

The lines you see on the Astro*Carto*Graphy chart are where the different planets would fall on the ascendant and midheaven for any given place. If you get the chart and then experiment with a locational chart for that place, you'll be able to put the two together and see what's going on. In other words, if your Mars in Leo ascendant line goes through Moscow and you cast a relocated chart for Moscow, you'll see Mars in Leo rising.

A relocated chart is different than your Astro*Carto*Graphy chart. This is a chart (now done by other programs as well) that gives you an overview of the entire world. You use this chart to see the spots you like, and then you investigate further with the precise locational chart.

To get an Astro*Carto*Graphy chart, you go to the website of the originator, Astrocartography.com. If you're in London you can walk into the Astrology Shop in Covent Garden and they will make up your chart while you're standing there.

Other programs, such as Io Edition for Mac and Solar Fire for PC, do the same function, it just looks a little different. Some include Chiron and others do not.

Now, my usual word of caution about materials written by Jim Lewis, with apologies since he is not here to defend himself or edit his work, but they are pretty negative. In other words, he tends to emphasize everything that can go wrong on a particular line, the kinds of diseases you're going to get, and so on. This is not only not true, it's not necessary. Every place we live presents problems and opportunities. We need to take a balanced view, considering the chart, the person and the place with equal weight.

Last, about who you should get to do your locational astrology: I highly recommend astrologers who have actually lived many places. Astrology works a lot better when the astrologer feels it working, and the way to feel locational astrology working is to live places. It's not enough to travel and visit. You have to live in a place long enough to have transits and the kinds of life experiences that only happen with time.

Last point: the actual natal chart (original place) for whoever is considering relocation is always a helpful chart, and there are transits and placements that indicate the kind of place we might like to live; it can hint at whether we might wander far from home; and transits can tell us when we might be more inclined to move. In this respect, Saturn is one of the most useful planets I can think of, as well as any and all transits to the 4th house, the 9th house, and their ruling planets.

Career Question: Neptune Transit?

Dear Eric,

I've been looking for work for some time now and having serious trouble finding something concrete. All kinds of connections and tips and networks are caving right before my eyes. I am curious as to whether this might indeed be about the impact of Neptune transiting my sign and nearly on top of my Mercury and Sun.

OR, would this be more closely related to Pluto trining my natal Pluto?? Or Saturn in my 6th house??

Thank you for any and all insights!!

Mary

Dear Mary,

You mentioned that Neptune is [about to be] transiting your natal Sun and Mercury, but you forgot your ascendant! That adds quite a bit to the discussion, because the ascendant makes the Sun and Mercury even more personal.

This time in your life is not about finding work -- it's about you changing. In a very big way, indeed, entirely. When any slow moving planet goes over your ascendant, that can indicate one of those life points of no return. I would count from Jupiter on out as a slow mover. Neptune certainly qualifies, but it works differently than any other planet, particularly in Aquarius.

Aquarius is about crystallized patterns, and Neptune is about dissolving things -- including patterns. A basic natal chart reading of your chart could say: you are an original, innovative and intelligent person, but you have a tendency to think in patterns that hold for many years, maybe even since childhood. I would describe that thought pattern as reasoned, beholding to tradition, somewhat nervous, perhaps ahead of your time.

With Neptune sloshing all over your Mercury, the whole pattern of your mind and senses is being rearranged in the most in-depth way. In other words, all that you were is basically melting and something entirely different is forming, with a lot of help from a new element -- water. Aquarius is an air sign, and Neptune is a watery planet. Aquarius often emphasizes the container, while the Neptune transit is connecting you with what that container has held for so long.

This is a pretty big change. Content is being emphasized over form. Every pattern you've known is disappearing, unavailable, different, inaccessible...but what is replacing these things has yet to manifest. What is clear is that it's time to start doing things differently, if you have not already begun to get that message. Of course I would not be surprised if you had NOT started getting that message because Neptune can have an effect of making things different to perceive, like the message from intuition that we ignore.

So, the key to this transit is to tune in. Listen to yourself different ways, and imagine what your personality would be like if you were less mental and more, well, the word is spiritual.

Let's briefly take a look at your progressed horoscope for more information. The progressed horoscope is an extension of your natal chart, pushed ahead about 51 days, since you're 51 years old. This is literally the chart for your 51st day of life, which takes effect now.

Here is your progressed chart.

Two things really stand out. One is that you're in a Full Moon. For people wondering how to read a progressed chart, you read it the same as any chart. The context is a little different, but it is a chart, for the moment you select the chart to be cast for. The big mystery to progressions is that there is no mystery. Well okay the mystery is that they work at all, and you have to just live with that; the implication is that there are patterns in time that science has not noticed, such as that the 51st year of life has something to do with the 51st day of life. Science ignores this, unless the science we're talking about is familiar with fractals and chaos theory. Both of these branches of science, to me, provide substantial evidence for how the patterns of the planets can interact with the patterns of our lives in a meaningful way. But that's a different discussion.

Basic story is, you're having a Full Moon by progression, which happens every 28 years or so. The New Moon was 14 years ago. Apropos of that, what were you doing in the summer of 1992? If you had to use that summer as a "before and after" point, what was the before, and what was the after? Don't rush this one. Take your time. We're talking about a long life cycle, that only repeats two or at the most three times in the course of a normal lifetime.

Without getting into too many specifics about what a progressed Full Moon "means," it means change. It means a threshold, a gateway, a shift of energy. It would seem that you're close to a breakthrough, but that you need to think in an entirely different way.

We get another clue from the fact that your progressed lunar nodes are about to be crossed (met at 90 degrees) by the current transiting nodes. This is a crossroad. That is, this is not a time to make a small change, but on many accounts, a rather large change; to go in an entirely new direction, perhaps one that you had not considered -- or for that matter, one that you have considered a long time but have not opted for.

With Neptune so prominent for you right now, and about to become more so, you do need to refine your intuition and, truth be told, that will involve a leap of faith. In truth it's impossible to say who you're becoming, as you're very much a work in progress, but -- progress is abundant, if you dare to see your life a little differently -- or a lot.

---

Planet Waves Weekly is the only place online to get the weekly horoscope of Eric Francis, both emailed and posted to the Web on a subscriber homepage each Friday. Eric is now writing Parallel Worlds, the 2006 annual edition of Planet Waves with the year-ahead forecasts, available to all subscribers. As a subscriber, you can keep up with Eric's essays on astrological developments, chart reading techniques, Tarot cards, and world affairs. Experience Eric's unique perspective as an astrologer-investigative reporter. Read more than three years of archives of essays and horoscopes. We invite you to look around and become one of many satisfied readers of Eric's daring and innovative astrology journal.