This is the week of the exact cardinal grand cross aspect. On Wednesday, retrograde Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and retrograde Pluto align around the Earth in a perfect X. This aspect has been building for years; nothing like it has happened any time recently — not since 1999.
I have avoided making predictions about what will happen under this aspect pattern, mainly because it’s not predictable. Rather, I’ve invested my energy into describing the potential of the four primary planets involved working together in such a focused way. All astrological patterns describe potential, and that is often (indeed usually) driven by the creativity of whoever is reading or experiencing the event.
This aspect looks like a turning point on a global scale, though is effects might not manifest immediately. There is an eclipse of the Sun coming on April 29, and that may be the moment of full expression; and sometimes influential patterns have effects that stretch out over many years. Let’s leave the global scene off to the side for now — I come back to it in a moment.
Let’s focus on the personal level. Speaking in broad terms, there are two ways this aspect pattern might shake out. The first is the bubbling up of intense feeling — “whether it be anger, angst, or anxiety” as one of my email friends just wrote to me. Those who have planets or points at or close to 13+ of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn are more likely to be feeling this kind of response.
The other is as motivation, focus and strength — essentially, the opposite response as intense emoting. There is plenty of energy to harvest with this aspect, and it’s there for you to put to use if you want to. The difference is essentially whether you take the astrology in an active way or a passive way. Do you view it as your tool, or yourself as its tool? If you’re going to be aware of and work with astrology, this is a choice to make with some determination and commitment.
There’s a third possibility: the shit is just flying and you don’t know what to do. If that is true for you, I suggest you slow down and assess your situation carefully. Do your best to get out of reactive/automatic mode and get yourself into clear decision mode. That is just about always an option. It may take some special focus to make it real for you — for example, an hour or two of journaling, a therapy session, a day set aside to reflect on your life.
That would be wise in any event; astrology this rare is calling out for a moment of reflection.
As for the world situation: this aspect describes the Earth at a crossroads. That is exactly where we stand. It may be possible for “the planet” to make a decision, though it’s more likely that many people will make individual decisions that facilitate a collective tipping point.
For that to happen, the process will start with you but it won’t end with you; your awareness, your decisions, your actions, will all go far beyond yourself. Yet you are the initial point of focus, and the seed of action — and there’s more in those things than you may have ever imagined.
To anyone considering a veg. diet, check out “Healing with Whole Foods” by Paul Pitchford (subtitled: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition).
Also consider seaweeds, algaes, and nutritional yeast.
Peace,
Jere
To anyone considering a veg. diet, check out “Healing with Whole Foods” by Paul Pitchford (subtitled: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition).
Also consider seaweeds, algaes, and nutritional yeast.
Peace,
Jere
Dawn, I’ve been an ethical vegan for 26 years and haven’t had any health problems whatsoever from it. In fact, I’m the only one in my family without high cholesterol – the rest of my family take statin drugs. I think the key is eating a whole foods diet. I could eat oreos and pringles and be vegan but I wouldn’t be healthy! The only nutrient that vegans need to be careful about supplementing is B12, but it’s my understanding that a lot of meat eaters are B12 deficient as well. And most of us (vegans and omnivores alike) are deficient in trace minerals because they’ve been depleted from our top soil.
T Pluto is on my 5th house cusp, right between my Moon (13 deg) and Saturn (15 deg). Opposed by T Jupiter on my 11th house cusp. That also means T Jupiter is opposing both my Moon and Saturn. T Mars is on my 2nd house cusp going Rx back into my first house. It is opposed by T Uranus on my 8th house cusp which is 5 degrees away from Eris (at 9 deg ) in my 7th house. T Chiron is just inside my 7th house cusp. T Neptune is inside my 6th house and 4 degrees away from my Sun.
I have been dealing with a LOT of feelings about my family of origin, my created family, their prospects in life, my own issues with making friends and dealing with family baggage which is affecting my relationship with my kids at times. Also dealing with my body changes since menopause and grieving the loss of parts of myself.
Recent changes mean I will have to go back to school (for the student loan money to live on) and that sucks because it means my son gets a lot less of my time and energy than he needs. It changes the tenor of the household to one that is stressed, pressed for time, and lacking the energy and time to be what I need to be. No one ever said I would be such a focal point in the family for their needs but I am.
Lots of things going on and a general unease but with a sense of proactive choices and changes that (in some long-term issues) will be beneficial and positive.
I am making choices right now; using the energy as a tool to make the changes and decisions necessary for where I need to be.
So yeah; I can feel it. I always feel it (often well before “it’ even happens).
Thank you all for the camaraderie as we center in our square this week.
Thanks Judith for the Secret Life of Plants movie link. I read the book years ago, and it changes everything. My Native American teacher once commented that plants enjoy the trip through the digestive system. I didn’t gather my wits in time to ask if the meat of animals enjoys. It seems a different relationship. Dandelion greens are coming into season. I had some for breakfast today.
My chart has Ceres at 12 Cap and Poseidon at 15 Libra. Jupiter is at 20 Cancer. My big story is that my exact Saturn return retrograde version is during this 2 weeks between Lunar eclipse Grand Cross and the Solar Eclipse. I am spending more time in ceremony and quiet, and allowing myself to be changed. I have to. Can’t keep operating with the old patterns. The Grand Water Trine is where my natal chart is congruent with this current chart. Saturn, Sun, Jupiter/Uranus. Since Pluto sits astride my midheaven, I guess Pluto’s participation in this figure has something important to say to me. Enjoying the ride, and very glad that I am free to take good care of myself, and manage stress during this pass.
Happy trails, blessed Earthday Everyday, and bon appetit!
Aword, I have always thought that as well, and think that is why home canned food always tastes better even though it’s processed as much as that form the cannery. After Judith and everyone else posted, I remembered some old Jesuit notes we happen to have, given to us by an old Indian friend who is a medicine man. The Indians always have believed that all living things have spirits. When you cut down a tree, you release the spirit to move on in its soul progression and that is the reason for thanking the tree. Same goes for animals killed, and rocks broken in a sweat lodge. But this is different.
My mars is at 13 Aries, so I’ve been feeling Uranus for a long time, really since the eclipse last October – but even more so since January 1 of this year. It’s like everything I believed is no longer valid, or it has shape-shifted into something else. Even my rising sign changed when my mother told me my birth time was different than what I always believed. I had a spontaneous kundalini experience at the first of the year when someone who died contacted me, and a big part of it was to tell me to forgive all. It’s like my true north pole went awry, but I feel like I have more ability to see how we link to the past, which is apparently running concurrently with our present, and our future. We make everything so hard on ourselves.
This is a most interesting & useful discussion. As an organic gardener who grows/gathers/preserves all the fruits & vegetables I can, I can vouch for the difference in both taste & the energy surrounding/given by plants grown with love & gathered in gratitude.
I’ve been leaning toward vegetarianism for years, & find I eat less & less meat as time passes. Eric, you mentioned the anxiety that accompanies eating food not compassionately raised, & I agree. I read somewhere that when one consumes the meat of a factory-farmed animal, one is “consuming its suffering”. That thought registered as a chilling truth. No wonder even those of us who try to eat sensibly & avoid toxins are often so un-nourished or have disagreeable energetic/emotional responses to food.
I have long believed that plants, too, are sentient beings, of whom the most powerful, probably are the trees. I can feel the grief of a forest when trees are cut, & likewise the sorrow of land which has been herbicided, pesticided & mono-cropped until there is little to no life left in it, even at the microbial level.
This is “Earth Day” – which, since its inception, has struck me as a dark irony: Earth gives us everything, including the elements that create our bodies & the food & water to nourish us – & we give her a DAY???
It’s clear from the discussion here that many of us are increasingly aware that this beautiful planet has limits, & collectively we’re pushing them. She will right herself, as the geological record shows she has before, but it may not be an easy ride for her lifeforms, including us.
Thank-you to everyone for your thoughts & stories. I feel a bit less alone as I trudge through my personal experience of the grand cross. The sun is out, the snow is melting, & my bedding plants are thriving. It is a hopeful season.
Bette
Here’s a movie for Earth Day — The Secret Life of Plants from ’79. (Be warned: getting through the first few minutes of this is as painful as reading the first couple hundred pages of Michener’s Hawaii — yikes! But worth it.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_X2Z9v8-6Q
“Way back when” we got the connection to living things, re-established our conversation with Devas and Faeries at Findhorn, which continues to evolve, etc. … and all that was ancient info, being re-membered, then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWLzkJU1WAk
If we can gather wisdom from trees, and totem animals commune with us, it might be worthwhile to discuss with a begonia how to meet her needs, and/or hear what broccoli thinks. Just sayin …
As well, I think the emotional/passionate portion of what we’re seeing these days — be points to Neptune’s influence, and Chiron, of course, as the representative of “sadder but wiser” — is an opening of heart that is sensitizing us in a potent way. I’m getting a lot of reflection from folks that the violence/pain stuff (newly) has their attention and they’re not happy about it; that signals the growth of compassion. A pisser that we have to experience this kind of thing to finally get “enough” of it, but I’m encouraged that — now that it’s too loud a noise to drown out, and politics is waving the whole punishment/victimization thing like a flag — we’re beginning to seek out other options.
I hear you, P. Sophia — earth changes = body changes. One more time, listening to hear what our body is telling us, and screening that through common sense and intuition is more useful than a visit to our local MD, in many cases. Evolution is on a rip, but — like the plants, who move too slowly to see with the naked eye — it will take time for this to “bloom.”
REALLY enjoyed this post, ef, it hit all the buttons to activate awareness of this (awesome) moment. And thanks, too, for the conversation, everyone — most appropriate for the day!
Transiting Mars @ Libra 14r in my 7th is heading quickly opposite transiting Uranus which is now at my 1st house. Uranus will conjunct my natal Mars around the same time, and Jupiter will complete an exact square in my 5th house.
I feel creatively pregnant, ready to stir up some deep-ass shit.
Eric. . something you said about Chiron (in Cardinal Cross: To the Edge and Beyond) being like a mentor to the Sun (as it conjuncts Chiron’s discovery degree in Wednesday’s cardinal cross chart); the whole Consciousness of Healing theme of these times took me back for a look at the Aries Equinox chart of March 20.
In that chart Chiron (14+ Pisces) trined Jupiter (10+ Cancer) and Moon (17+ Scorpio), so he appears to have put together a curriculum of broad social study (Jupiter) and current events with a deeper (Scorpio) emotional (Moon, ruler of Cancer) understanding (Jupiter) . In the March Equinox chart Chiron sextiled Pluto (13+ Cap) who opposed Jupiter and sextiled Moon. Chiron of course also semi-sextiled Uranus (11+ Pisces) who squared Jupiter and quincunxed Moon.
This combination of aspects/planets would be the focus of Chiron’s curriculum on the study of the Individual vs. the Establishment. The brunt of the lessons would cover Jupiter’s (square from Uranus and opposite Pluto) role of over-expansion from the perspective of family. For the Moon’s part, the challenging depth of discovery (Scorpio) aided by her sextile from Pluto (ruler of Scorpio) and stimulated by Uranus (a quincunx to Moon that pushes for adjustment) from the perspective of the individual (Aries).
In the Taurus solar eclipse chart for April 29, Jupiter will be at 14+ Cancer trine the March Equinox Chiron at 14+ Pisces. To me it signifies Chiron’s mentoring (teaching) will hone in on society’s role in over-expansion. Later in the upcoming Cancer Solstice in June, Saturn will be at 17+ Scorpio (where the Moon was in the Equinox chart), and Chiron will be at 17+ Pisces stationing retrograde. That appears to be a 2nd semester emphasis on the people’s (March Equinox Moon, symbolizing The People which June’s Solstice Saturn now conjuncts) role in the healing process. Transiting Chiron will continue to retrograde back to 13+ Pisces before stationing direct again in November, after October’s set of eclipses.
That retrograde would also include Chiron at 15-14 degrees of Pisces in the September Equinox when Jupiter at 14+ Leo will provide evidence of Chiron’s mentoring efforts since the March Equinox when he sextiled Pluto. (September’s Equinox) Jupiter will fill in at the apex point of a yod to March’s sextile of Chiron and Pluto. September’s Jupiter will oppose the March Equinox Venus in Aquarius who provides a target for the combined energy of Chiron-Pluto-Jupiter. How much harmony and balance and love of fellow man will we have achieved by the September Equinox?
Anyway in which the cardinal cross aspects shake out (angst, focus, confusion) for us it looks like Chiron is ready to provide a form to make this rare astrology the tool for grounding (trine Saturn) and understanding (trine Jupiter) our feelings (conjunct cardinal cross Venus, grand water trine). It will shed light on what our role in the unfolding new society (cardinal cross’ Saturn-trine-Chiron-trine-Jupiter) should be. It will likely take the form of some type of pain we want to relieve; just follow the yellow brick road to find it.
be
Thank you once again, Eric, I’m truly fascinated now by the Grand Cross. I have only my natal Moon at 10 degrees of Aries, and then the True Node at 14 degrees Libra. That’s it.
I’ve been feeling both energized and exhausted, sometimes simultaneously. Well, we’ll see what happens on the other side, won’t we?
My Ascendant is at 14;08 Cancer. I feel very charged right now to birth what is in me. It feels overwhelmingly eminent, as if I am beyond the point of not. I am becoming something I cannot define or even control. I feel like I’m on a roller coaster just atop the peak of the largest drop-off.
A cool dude once said, “It is not what goes into a man’s mouth that defiles him, but what comes out of it.” Of course, when the well is poisoned all thirst is quenched with toxicity – and I don’t in any way intend to discount or diminish the profound importance of purity (on all levels) of food production. (Ceres in Cancer in my 10th house, fer chrissakes.) However, I wonder if the material symbol of toxic thought and feeling – i.e. our food – is being focused on here disproportionate to the underlying toxic system that – OMG – I can feel dismantling … I think the transformation in lifestyle and habits, etc., is the outer reflection of a step up the evolutionary ladder in terms of our psycho-emotional evolution: we are moved and empowered to dare release patterns that simply can no longer be supported if we are to move forward … I can feel the Spirits close by, it is a numinous time. The profound Piscean influence in this power dance represents the proximity of spirit and our reconnection with soul. It’s What’s For Dinner.
This is interesting. Last Wednesday, Michael Egan filed a lawsuit against Hollywood director Brian Singer for sexually abusing him when he was a kid. The day he filed, Mars Rx came into a precise inconjunct angle to Chiron. Also interesting, the alleged abuse happened in 1999. This kind of abuse has been an open secret in the industry for decades. Sounds like Nessus material spilling beyond its boundaries. QB1 at work?
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-xmen-director-bryan-singer-accused-of-1999-sexual-assault-20140417,0,5240173.story#axzz2zZFYSJYu
The synchronicity of these posts (on this thread) to the present cardinal cross astrology might be found in a simultaneous set of planetary moves; one by Mercury and one by Neptune. As the cardinal cross aspects “go through the chairs” (as my Masonic father might say), or proceed through the individual aspects to each other, the last of them takes place on the 23rd and is between Mars square Pluto. The one preceding that one, also on the 23rd is between Mars opposite Uranus, and between those 2 aspects Mercury will enter Taurus and Neptune will leave the degree symbolized (Sabian) by the large cross on the rocks and enter the degree of a girl (yin) blowing a bugle.
Nobody who knows the signs of the zodiac would argue that food and Taurus are nearly synonymous. Mercury, symbol of thinking and communicating data, changing from the individualistic self-motivated sign of Aries into the tangible value-oriented sign of Taurus will, if only briefly, make the topic of food and how it is grown and consumed a focal point of the cardinal cross energies. Anybody blowing a trumpet is calling attention to something, and a girl, as opposed to a woman, indicates something “young”, and yin.
Looks to me like this particular blog response is a classic example of (at least part of) the gathering of cardinal energy’s intention and it fulfills the seeding action Eric sees as the process of decision-making. Fascinating stuff to read and thanks to everyone for expressing your feelings. That would be the Neptune part – feelings. Even though the bugle sounds a call to action, it is in the sign of peaceful Pisces.
be
“To the food conversation; I’ve noticed I “inherit” a lot of anxiety more from consuming ANY food that has not been cultivated, or processed with some level of compassion/love than from any other issue such as meat or plant.”
This makes a lot more sense to me. It’s not about an arbitrary definition but rather a workable idea…there are others.
I think one of the points that rose to the surface of this discussion is the nature of consciousness, and what defines it — specifically, do plants have consciousness ? This question has been bandied about for many years, and was studied back in the 1960’s by Cleve Backster– former FBI agent, and student of astrology strangely enough. His work was never accepted by science as he did not follow scientific protocols in his testing, but is nonetheless interesting if you want to check it out. Here is a more current article on plant consciousness from reality sandwich that is also worth checking out: http://realitysandwich.com/170176/plant_consciousness/
Thank you Eric for further defining this brilliant, exciting moment of “seed of action”, will surely go beyond what we could ever imagine!
Regarding the discussion of nutrients, I have been almost completely vegetarian for 25+ years. From young age, even as was not in fashion and I was teased at the time, red meat was not agreeable to my digestive system. I rarely eat chicken and fish now as well, overall hunger and food intake is lowering recently and I am now mostly, naturally driven and can advocate for an Alkaline diet verses acidic foods to knock years off your body and face not too mention acidic foods have been tied to cancer.
Regarding diet, headaches (Aword, I also had a horrible one all day yesterday) and the timing of the Cardinal Grand Cross centered between the the eclipses, April 23rd Libra Retrograde activation, non-magnetic polarity, of merging the Male / Female into Sacred Oneness, Christ Consciousness, and 13 degrees…have recently reading about the integration of these influencing cosmic rays to liquid light and the awakening 5D bodies to The Crystalline “Light’ Body.
May have been discussed here in the past, but apparently channels and light workers for many years have been foretelling our bodies are changing from carbon based systems to monoatomic based systems.
“In the old system, you had to eat food to replace depleted carbon which is necessary for body functions. In the monatomic-crystalline system, you will power the body by Liquid Light. Your body will convert sunlight directly into electricity to power the body.”
There is much information and many sources online but in an effort to condense the here the way these particles are used by the body can only be understood by learning more about the 13th Gateway. The 13th Gateway describes the energy portals running through the body. And I find it interesting the timing of this, as is our Grand Cross aspect also now sits at 13+ degrees. So seem like a good time to open up the discussion…
“The transference of the body into crystalline looks and acts differently than our old body template. Now there is a central shaft running from the crown opening at the top of the head, down to the opening at the bottom of the base chakra at the perineum. This shaft is a transducer. It receives and transmits light and love frequencies. This shaft is the central core of which every grid line of energetic pathway in the human body exits from and enters to. It is like a rail system in the body. The infrastructure is made of pure golden light, in which all colors are possible. The crystalline atom structure transmutes the light out to the body, around the body, and back to the core shaft. There no longer is waste. All things no longer needed by the body exit out of the body, through the shaft, and become more light. It is returned to creation. Now energy, instead of pulsing through the dense energy centers, rides up and down the central core shaft. It pulses through the energy centers, as before, but now is refined light. The vector for this light is love and it is what we refer to as The Source, OR The Force. This is the light love energy that connects everything to All That Is.
The body will be capable of more now. There will be fewer limitations on what we can do. We will have the adept abilities we have only dreamt of until now. Telekinesis, levitation, teleportation, resonate telepathy. All of this is on the level of light transference. We now have the body to accomplish these, and more. Every point on the grid, that which now acupuncturists access with needles, is an energy exchange point. The light love force energy pulsates through these points of entry, these portals, through the body. Healing now means accessing these light grids and keeping them flowing in harmony with everything else. Light healing techniques will be predominate.”
A humorous note on chicken and animal feed. As with many smaller communities in farm areas, there was a local grain elevator and cooperative north of where I live. The grain elevator and all but one building were demolished about twenty years ago. The producers coop moved across the street and the property was sold and developed into a commercial store. The business failed in the recent economic downturn, foreclosure followed and the property became bank owned. About a year ago, environmental engineers were swarming about the property, digging test holes and poking around. Seems they found an underground storage tank. Older residents knew about the tank. It was (and still may be) filled with molasses needed to make the “Sweet Feed” sold by the producers cooperative. I still snicker when I think of this “environmental crisis” for a large bank. One can only wonder what they would have done if it had been the site of the vinegar works, pickle factory or honey processor.
JannKinz
I know a lot of people who feed their dogs vegetables and fruits, and my grandfather raised dogs and always fed them homemade cornbread. Back then it was whole meal grains (pre 1950). Growing up in the 50s, we ate a lot of whole grains (cornbread, buckwheat pancakes, whole grain bread) and beans, and meat was mostly served at Sunday dinners. Eating a lot of meat seems to be a relatively new phenomenon. I have my mother’s chicken feed recipe, and it includes seven different whole grains and calcium. She used to have the guy at the mill make it up for her. Good luck finding a working grain mill (elevator) these days.
Transiting Jupiter sitting on my natal Uranus, within 17 arc minutes . . . Transiting Mars on my natal Venus and Saturn . . . Ooooh whee. I’m feeling this cardinal grand cross, all four ways. Couldn’t sit this one out even if I wanted to.
After almost three weeks of feeling poorly (related somewhat to eating “commercial” foods activating a virus), today I’m finally without aches and pains, feeling alert and aware, and almost energized.
So, I’m taking all three possibilities – the “anger, angst and anxiety” and, after reflection and assessment over the next few days, utilizing the energy as “motivation, focus and strength.” I’m counting on the help from the transiting Sun trine natal Chiron. No matter which way, it is to proceed with caution, in small steps.
Thanks, Eric, ever so much, for the continuing light and encouragement during this crossing.
JannKinz
To the food conversation; I’ve noticed I “inherit” a lot of anxiety more from consuming ANY food that has not been cultivated, or processed with some level of compassion/love than from any other issue such as meat or plant.
In the meantime, Pluto on natal Mars (square transiting Mars) opposing Jupiter on natal Ceres. Sun is on my MC and Hera /Hades /Pallas. (Aries is Hera’s son,yes?) Lotta Mars going on (including my multitude of planets hosting Uranus in Aries) I’m on the “motivation, focus and strength” bandwagon. It’s been a long time coming–more or less a loud and consistent (albeit painful) raising awareness since Aug 1999.
The top of my head began hurting like crazy since last night–as though I had run into something and had a severe bruising. Nothing there but the feeling….I’ll go with the idea of opening chakras….:)
Thx E. Helpful and Supportive writing as always.
Good question Eric. Remember Linda Goodman said that to live forever you should only eat fruit, which naturally drops from the vines and plants. I just realized recently that Genesis informed us that the people and animals lived peacefully together, and even the animals were vegetarian. The seed from grasses and wheat would be a fruit during those days, and the plant withers away when the harvest is near ready – the natural cycle of its life. Noah lived to be how old? 600 years? 800? I’d have to look it up. Anyway, the people were vegetarian until after the flood, when it states that God gave Noah and the people dominion over the animals. Somewhere in all that is a ton of shadow material and lies. Which are from man, which from the dark spirits, which from the lesser gods, which from God? There are quite a few references on line to review. So, I’m wondering if we still had a toehold in paradise (the 5th dimension) until after the flood, and then the separation became a little more complete. Just thinking out loud. Our dna has probably changed quite a lot over the years to accommodate meat eating, but there are a lot of animals that are still vegan. Some of the ascension websites discuss DNA changes quite extensively. Since I have personally experienced the door opening to the other dimension several times, I know it is real. Heaven is literally right here , or as Jesus states it, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” The whole ascension lesson of the New Testament is coming around to a lot of people quickly now, and I feel myself being pulled over but I always stop it because I feel like I have too much left to do and make up for so I don’t have to come back. If that makes me certifiable, so be it.
Thank you Dawn for your concerns too. I am ok with eggs and milk products for now and I’ve read that a lot of people have problems with becoming vegan. My mother is 88 and has excellent health, but doctors tend to want to over-medicate and that causes most of her problems.
I believe all life forms have the capacity to thrive or suffer. The feelings of dis-ease Patty and others experience may be caused by the negative energy created by the industrial ‘farming’ of livestock, and the monoculturing of plants. We would probably agree that neither practice is inherently ‘natural’ nor life or death affirming.
Honour and respect for the life force inherent in that which we consume goes a long way to informing our choices of what is wholistically healthy for our bodies and our souls.
Patty, you might like to read about the nine amino acids our bodies must obtain through eating and the essentials of food combining which allow you to achieve this without eating meat.
http://www.wikihow.com/Combine-Food-to-Make-Complete-Protein
Dawn, you may wish to consider that up until the advent of American chains like McDonald’s and KFC, a majority of the human population (including but not limited to, Indian Hindus and Asian Buddhists) were healthy vegetarians. Veganism – the eschewing of all animal products – can be dietitically problematic, I agree.
The respect demonstrated by so called ‘aboriginal’ peoples for the cycles of life and death has been subsumed by our ‘consumer’ culture. It is this respect we need to reclaim.
And now for some Canadian comedic content –
http://youtu.be/Ov5Jgw_Nwx4
Signed, double Virgo, Ceres in Scorpio, Vesta on the MC Gem.
Ooops. Its, not it’s. I hate when I do that. 😉
Life gives to life, I guess. I had a steak for Easter dinner. I don’t always remember to thank my food, but I do feel intense gratitude for it’s nurture. And I ask my body to release the parts of my food that aren’t good for me and make the best use of the parts that are.
I think that any honest discussion of the feelings of animals needs to include the feelings of plants. I have every reason to believe that plants think, feel, communicate and are just as alive as anything or anyone else. Saying, “I don’t eat animals because they are sentient” while forgetting the fact that plants possess intelligence has always seemed a little weird. Life is life. Do you think that the broccoli plant you ate waned to be severed at the stalk?
Patty, I’m with you on not eating animals. Many people I know are turning away from forms of sustenance that create suffering for other beings and the Earth. It could be part of the transformation we are experiencing right now, which includes increased respect for our planet, animals and also protection and justice for children.
That said, humans are also animals, so eating meat is an expression of our animal natures. I’m just no longer choosing to do that. Blessings.
Hi Patty,
I used to think I wanted to be vegetarian, when I was younger, but am glad I didn’t. It can lead to nutrient imbalances in the body, that eating beef, chicken or fish supply. I’ve read of others, who nearly ruined their health eating vegetarian. I still lean towards higher veg/less meat, which my genes and blood type corroborate, but cannot hope to be healthy without meat.
Eating no animal food sources can lead one to be high copper/low zinc. The body needs to be in balance to function correctly. It is something I would watch, if you chose to be a vegetarian – perhaps getting copper, zinc and ceruloplasmin tests now and then to watch levels, and perhaps supplement zinc.
But there’s also the high omega 6 of veg, and getting little epa, dha, and iron, which alone can cause inflammation, balanced by high epa foods. Good iron and ferritin levels are important for thyroid and hence, adrenals. The whole body can go out of balance.
I would also wonder why your mom stopped eating meat. Was it that she had eaten plenty and perhaps was high zinc or glutamate, or having slowed digestion, or some other symptom and was listening to her body say no more for now?
In theory, not eating animals sounds great. I am not sure though, that in practice, unless very careful about supplementing missing nutrients, it is the best option.
Native cultures ate all the animal, and thanked the animal for providing them with food, clothing and housing. I do the same. I thank the grass-fed beef and chicken for giving their life, so I can be healthy. I thank the chicken for the organic eggs I eat every day.
I do not wish to dissuade anyone from vegetarianism. I would just make sure you get all the nutrients, in the same amounts, you would have gotten by eating animal foods.
Thanks, Eric, you’ve answered a question I was going to send on to planetwaves.fm, that is, how to apply this stuff personally. You write above: “Those who have planets or points at or close to 13+ of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn….” Bingo. My natal Moon is at 12 and a half Aries in the 9th opposing Neptune in the 3rd. Guess that’s pretty personal.
My natal Mars is not far from Uranus (7 degrees away) and feeling the Mars opposite me w/ Uranus in my pocket (so to speak) and Pluto and Jupiter on each shoulder (almost like an angel/devil encouraging me forward. The Mars opposite me seems to symbolize the confrontation that I’d rather not deal with in my new Zen approach to life but I must move through and so I’m making my way. Saturn is sitting on my Moon, not even a degree from my natal Saturn so it’s a 2nd Saturn Return for me and I hardly have the words to describe all the energy within and without … all I know is where I am is not sustainable.
mm.
I’ve become a vegetarian in the last two weeks. I suddenly started feeling the anxiety of the animal I was eating, plus a lot of other spirit related things have been going on since last October. Then my mother told me this week that she just couldn’t eat meat anymore. I’m wondering if anyone else is feeling that way?