Between Eric, Len and myself, yesterday’s cardinal grand cross got a lot of attention, all in the service of giving Planet Waves readers and listeners the most comprehensive, sensitive and constructive heads-up possible. Eric, in particular, has logged a tremendous number of hours on this season’s wildcard astrology.
That is, we’ve put a ton of energy into supporting a positive experience of this potentially frightening aspect.
The question of the day is, however, how are you experiencing it? Did you notice the buildup as anxiety and pressure, or as a sense of getting ready to launch? Or did you find yourself just kind of cruising along, putting one foot in front of the other, and playing a supportive role to others?
Chances are we won’t really know what this week’s astrology ‘means’ until at least after the April 29 Taurus New Moon and solar eclipse — and possibly much later. When slow-moving planets are involved (Uranus and Pluto in this case), the ripples can take a long time to spread out and develop fully. Jupiter’s involvement emphasizes that potential for expansion. Mars, retrograde in Libra, was the faster-moving, every-day-life factor that may have brought everything front and center in your personal life. Then again, maybe not? It’s retrograde, after all; it’s possible it’s flying somewhat under the radar of your awareness.
In any case, we’d really like to know what you’re noticing, and how you’re handling it. Thank you for your participation! If you’re not registered to comment on Word Press and would prefer to email us so we can post your experience to this thread, please send your thoughts to: editors@planetwaves.net.
Hi Folks,
Thanks for the column, and the space it creates to reflect – and for the invitation to feed back.
For me, with the grand cross was/is quite prominent across my chart, it has been a real rollercoaster ride!
I have been suffering with some mad heart palpitations, and a sense of massive anxiety, but also a strong feeling that everything would be ok – (effects “reined in” a bit by Rx mars?)
…and I have also really felt energised, in a contained way – and had some enjoyable times with family and friends.
I have felt a sense of belonging, and unity , and seen it in the faces of others. I have felt present in the moment.
I have decided to integrate yoga and meditation into what I offer my clients (I work as a counsellor), as a antidote to the physical effects of stress and anxiety. I have started a yoga teaching course, and have been meditating with my peers – lovely.
Now, I feel tired, and relieved, but I miss that tension – it was nice to feel it shared.
All good wishes,
Sheila
Hi all,
First, thanks for your various and insightful analyses of this amazing time which, despite alarming news from all over the world, I am enjoying life greatly (after going through a rough spell from about 2008).
My sun is 14 Libra with Mercury near and Rx, trine Aquarius moon/Saturn, and a recent Chiron return, so not surprisingly I am having some amazing experiences in the recent season. I’ve been getting into a lot of memories of past and ongoing relationships (all kinds), and really clearing out a lot of pain but in a rather detached way, analyzing as if I was reading a novel even. Meanwhile a very gentle soul has come along and has been romantically affectionate in ways I appreciate; it’s lovely and takes some getting used to not being the more eager one. Maybe it’s also a manifestation of years of yoga, the increase in love and gratitude I feel generally, and the decrease in suffering. My fantasy and play time world meanwhile are as queer as it gets and funnier by the day: a dear friend is coming for a holiday this afternoon and just for a laugh I will meet her at the airport in a full body Lycra suit and trench coat, or maybe Godzilla pajamas, I haven’t decided.
Work in the job sense is also very busy with the new semester and research too. In 1999 I was finishing a PhD and fiscally poor as heck but really loving the writing. Over the course of the last few years what seems like my lifelong research project has started to bear fruit. Lately (since last year especially) I’m putting out papers with a sense of flow and momentum, getting published, and finding great serendipity in the process, despite being in the midst of physically moving office in a less than optimally organized way. I’m finding resources I forgot I had. I’ve had years where I could hardly write, and am currently socked with deadlines but enjoying the pressure and even framing up a book proposal and the next stage of research.
Funny I’m working full time now but have been going through a pinch financially of late (in the sense of money numbers), and also as in 1999, just got in trouble with the landlord over having a cat. That’s weird. Yet again I lack nothing I really need, and I enjoy surprising levels of abundance wherever I go. Seriously, I am writing this next to a potted orchid in full bloom that just turned up a month ago.
Things have been very intense for me, most of the spring. There has been a lot of turmoil in my work live – almost a complete fruit basket toss up. I have been doing a fairly major home repair/remodeling project, which has involved workmen in my home almost every day for 3 months. And, then there are other events. I was called to jury duty on March 24, and ALMOST got assigned to a case that was similar in some ways to a crime that was perpetrated against me almost 35 years ago. My brother’s long term marriage with a person I dearly love is in great turmoil, and may not survive. My own inner world has been in quite a bit of turmoil, too, as I feel very isolated and disconnected in some ways, but in other ways feel very liberated and, I’ll say it, blessed, since the death of my own partner about 2.5 years ago. Details associated with his death are not complete, but I am in much better financial shape since his passing. Looking at the late 1990’s, I also had quite a bit of turmoil – basically my whole life disintegrated around my ears. That is when I started working with Eric, who helped guide me through that mess, which resulted in a near complete reorganization of my idea of relationship, and how my work fit into all of that. For those who want to study, my natal sun is at about 8 Gemini, conjuct both Vesta and Toro. This is all Sextile Uranus at 8 Leo. My ascendant is 12 Gemini. Planets I have at 22-25 degrees are Mars at 24 Pisces, Jupiter 22 Libra, Saturn 23 Sag, Chiron 22 Aquarius. I’m all ears if anyone wants to play with that. 🙂
I’m so pleased! I’m sure that you’ll find things will shift and change for the better for you, as they did for me. The best of luck and love!
Thank you dear Lizzy…you’ve given me comfort and a lot to think about which is a good start to help me change my thinking about all of this. Xx
Just want to add, dear PWO – I recognize a lot of myself in you about being a victim. I’ve had to battle with this one all my life. What I’ve learned is that if one feels like a victim, one will attract circumstances and people that will support this belief. I slowly and with great difficulty let go of this (but still spring back to it), and as I did so my life changed radically. Start realizing the strong and beautiful woman you are – and you’ll send those nasty family members scurrying back into the shadows, or better still, trasform your relationship with them, for the better.
Dear PWOutsider,
I can imagine how terribly hurt you must be feeling. But it’s not chance that all these things are coming up and hitting you right now. In my experience, when I get constantly whacked like that, it’s because things are coming up for healing, and as our dear astrologers here tell us – so much of what we’re being with faced now is about relationships. This is really confrontational but healing energy, that takes ones breath away. I’m being faced with some of my real horrors at the moment.
Sounds to me that you’re carrying a lot of stuff that isn’t yours, that you’re a kind of vessel for people’s crap, that they project onto you – which is so often the case for sensitive souls. It also sounds as if you have a wonderful partner, which is something to really celebrate. If you can find a way to open up gently to this old stuff you’re carrying -find something that works for you, be it meditation, therapy, healing bodywork. I’m sure you’re about to release some very ol stuff right now. So have faith. Much love.
Well, I thought everything was going well, perhaps a bit too well! Life with my partner of 25 years was cruising along, we are happy and love each other dearly, he’s just started his annual leave and my birthday was on 22nd Apr and I was looking forward to the start of my 56th year! I knew it was all too good to be true. A family member turned up unexpectedly on 21st to “kill time” while he was waiting to collect his boss from the airport. He spent a few hours talking about himself as we hadn’t heard from him since his wife died a year ago, that was fine, then he started to do the usual stick his beak in and try to stir up family problems that have been going on for nearly 20 years now. Background: My partner’s family have backstabbed, gossiped and given me a hard time from the word go…we both decided enough was enough a few years back and we had nothing to do with anyone (for about 5 years) until a couple of years ago, when this same family member turned up out of the blue and asked us to please come back into the family fold and start over again. We did so gladly as we missed having “family” around and have bent over backwards trying to move on from all the past hurt and pain and start afresh but were puzzled that nothing had changed at all. It seemed that all the family wanted was to have my partner back but not me! So we have just stopped trying so hard and were coming to terms that it wasn’t meant to be the way we hoped and just ring occasionally and send a birthday and christmas card etc but no hard feelings. Anyway, when this family member started bringing up all the unpleasantness I decided to ask the question I was always too scared to ask “Why did all the family hate me so much?” and I got the answer. He said “as far as all the family were concerned, I just had hold of my partner’s dick and that I controlled him via his dick and that I had just used my partner as a replacement for my previous husband because I couldn’t stand being by myself” and it went on from there! My partner and I just about fell through the floor when we heard these words…he was in total shock and then said that that was the biggest load of bullish*t he had ever heard, that no one really knew him or me that well and everyone could just get effed. This person just sat there and gloated and I just stupidly sat there and said something feeble like, I didn’t care what people said about me BUT I DO! I made an excuse then to get rid of him and I just lost it. I had no idea that this has been what it’s been about for damn near 20 years. I have fallen into my usual victim thinking, I’m so upset and hurt after thinking that maybe things might have improved over time but they haven’t. I’m devastated, feel betrayed, angry, so many feelings. It’s now been a few days and I just can’t get my head around all this although I know I need to change MY thinking about it, I just keep falling back into my same old wounded, victim habits. This sort of thing has happened nearly all my life and I’m sick of it. My mother used to bash the daylights out of me, still hates me, somewhere, somehow these patterns keep repeating. I have to do/think something different and I don’t know where to start. Today even a shop assistant got stuck into me and called me a liar because I returned a little thing to the store because it didn’t work and she said I’d just changed my mind. I’m at the point I’m just so sensitive about everything and feel (as always) that it’s me that’s always the problem, Mum is right. I’m sick of the whole bloody human race! Sorry, sorry, that’s my rant for now…I’m just hurt and in pain and don’t know what the heck to do any more. My partner says just not to worry but I do. I’m unhappy now, no one ever to talk to, I never write or talk like this to anyone but I’m at the end of my tether with life and the world generally.
Hello all at PW,
Leading up to it, I was feeling very agitated and as though something was about to happen but I was not sure what. I am in the southern hemisphere in Queensland, Australia and one of my very fave musicians was to play in Brisbane on the night of the 23rd and I live about 3 hrs away, so the trek into the city was on my mind and I was worried that if something really major was about to happen, I would not be at home with my partner and I would be in a large city I am not all that familiar with yet and it almost caused me to cancel my plans.
But, I realized that was crazy and so I went. My train ride into the city was delayed by 2 hrs. Not a great start. When I got to town finally I had a couple of hrs to kill before I was to meet my friend after work and head to the concert. I was thrilled to be back in a big city after about 6 months in a small town (I lived in Toronto, Canada most of my life prior to this) and so I was like a kid in a candy store doing the fast shop and browse of the designer shops etc. (I am writer and interior designer) and this was overdue in terms of visual stimulation and inspiration for me. So that part of me was fed. On to the show.
The concert experience was stellar!!!! It was one of the best shows I have ever been to in my 50 something years on this planet. The energy was so intense and the entire venue just came alive as soon as he came on stage (Michael Franti and Spearhead). Michael spent a good deal of time in the crowd and it was as though his aura was just lighting up the room (The Tivoli theatre). I swear not one person in the audience was not touched by him both spiritually and physically as he worked his way through the audience stopping to hug people, dance with people, high five people. It was really a collective feel good, fun, alive show. Truly awesome.
I was so glad I had decided to attend the show. If you don’t know him, he is a combination of reggae, hip hop, folk, rock and blues – I like to call it “world music”. He is a poet and peace activist, always involved in social justice issues. Nuff said.
He is truly an inspiration and as authentic as they come. (he also practices yoga, is vegan and the result is physical beauty as well.)
So, the timing was really right for me as I think being near him and being a part of that collective spirit was like a catalyst to jump start my efforts to lead a more cause driven life and start doing more than I have been doing up until now. He inspired me in a most profound way, really emphasizing the importance of how even small steps in our own individual lives can lead to making a difference collectively. I have always believed that, but somehow this was a nudge to take it a step further.
This outcome was clearly positive and not at all what I expected. Two days later I am still feeling tingly and excited about what is next. Travel delays were the only negative – the trip home was even worse – driving this time, and it took nearly 7 hrs to do a trip that usually take 2.5 hrs because of a multiple car accident that blocked the highway for hours.
I am looking forward to making some changes and plans and think the CGC will be transformational for me. I expect I will look back on this time as a turning point.
Cheers from Down Under,
Debra xo
On Monday and Tuesday, I was very distracted and in the anxious-spectrum of mental states. I found it helped me greatly to have the understanding that what I was experiencing had/has a transpersonal element. I was able to deal with the sometimes almost mind-numbing anxiety w/o taking it on as wholly personal.
There is something both exciting and terrifying in the sense of what is fomenting right now. I hope it is good for life here on earth. We earthlings are ready for a little good news.
First some perspective- my natal sun at 8 degrees Cancer has landed me smack in the center of the Uranus-Pluto square since early 2012. Nothing can ever trump the liberation that happened with the first square. Natal Mars at 10 degrees Cancer- it all continues. Natal Uranus at 18 Cancer- it’s a long series of outer planet squares hitting me dead center. When you’ve been living for a couple of years with (in Eric’s wonderful words) “everything all at once”, it really IS hard to top. I wasn’t expecting show-stopping stuff from this Grand Cross.
The week leading up was low-grade but debilitating illness/dysfunction- somewhere between a flu and a hangover without the party. I find it very interesting to read here that others had weird stresses last week that settled before the cross as well.
One really curious side effect this past week is that the loops running in my head seem to be disappearing- all those long-running conversations inside me, it’s like I forgot about them and they just vanished. I keep wondering what it was I was supposed to be fussing over, and not remembering.
I’ve been seeing clearly for a few years now that Chiron is the saving grace in these transits. Trining out my Cancer planets when the rest of the universe is power-washing them with lightning and volcanic lava. This is a time of huge healing for me, and I feel very gifted that it is happening. So many of my female ancestors never got the chance to heal from these ancestral wounds, but it’s happening in my life now.
This week/month? Weird and wonderful but not so big. These years? Absolutely amazing, difficult as can be, and a true gift.
Basic cross stuff I call it that because Uranus, Pluto and Jupiter have been where they are for some time now so the cross formation with Mars isn’t entirely “new” (seeing as natal Mars is already in the mix). Uranus has been on my Moon/Eris in Aries although he’s getting a bit of a wide orb now. Jupiter’s been on natal Ceres (12 house) and Pluto is forever (it seems) upon natal Mars. So for me, lots of Mars.
Feels a bit like supressed energy–I want to really run and play hard, really hard…
MC (with Hera and Pallas in tow) is at 0 Taurus, so the whole Sun thing is in play for me too. Really does still feel like “eye of the storm”. Not like nothing’s going on, just that “steady as she goes” is the only thing that IS.
The topic of food keeps coming up. Jupiter on Ceres and Ceres on the half-shell, I mean opposite the sun on Card Cross Day?
I’m ‘steady as she goes’ although I could use a miracle or two–that for the past decade.
The last Grand Cross ’99 was the shooting at my kids’ summer camp, I was wondering what would show up this time. Only jury duty, it seemed. Today when I got out of court for the day I was delayed getting to the metro–when I arrived police everywhere, and my train shut down; someone allegedly “jumped in front of” the train.
So–perhaps that was one of the requested miracles…..still no fear or anxiety, but grateful to be safe, sound and reluctantly still on jury duty tomorrow…LOL! But then again both Pallas and Hera are at the top of my chart in the wee early degrees of Taurus. Must be a sun thing. We’ll see what the 29th brings.
xo
So glad you asked, Eric & Amanda, and glad to see what others are experiencing. It’s a long story for me, but I’ll try to be concise. This Cardinal Grand Cross is right on my angles: Cancer MH at 12 degrees 50, Libra Asc at 11 degrees 16, etc. I’ve been aware of its approach and reading about it for as long as Eric Francis and Jessica Murray have been writing and talking about it, and I’ve both felt trepidation and have learned (or at least tried) to face it with acceptance ~ ‘what will be will be.’ Pluto has begun moving into my 4th house. It won’t settle there until next year. A few years ago, one relocation astrologer told me that if I move back to North or South America I will be homeless because Pluto will be in my 4th house ~ perhaps for the rest of my life. (I’m already almost 70.) However, I talked to two other relocation astrologers and they did not concur with that prediction. Meanwhile, the means to make the transcontinental move from Europe back to my beloved Colorado, which I’ve longed for for more than a decade, became available.
So for the last year and a half, I’ve been working nearly full time on making this move happen, including a full year spent getting my beloved husband another green card. And by the time the Grand Cross happened yesterday, we were back where we lived, in exactly the same house where we lived before we relocated to Europe.
How did it feel? I’m very glad to back where we are, but it has been a strange week, with stressful encounters with several other people’s anxiety, including strangers as well as old friends. Yesterday, the Big Day, I awoke with a headache and feeling exhausted. Today as well. It’s as though all the considerable stress of the last year and a half finally demanded that I stop pushing myself, even though there is a lot to do to complete getting moved in. I full expect that this story is not over and that Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto will have more to say before the Ur/Pl square is over. But at least I am back home in my own country (such as it is, with all its insanity) among people who can understand what I’m talking about.
It’s hard to know what exactly was hitting what on my natal chart. All I know is that the points were all close to the AC, MC, DC, and IC points. There were also a lot of exact aspects with my natal Mars in Aries and Uranus in Libra.
Having said all that, I experienced two things which on a deep psychological level are linked. First, my mom sent me an “email bomb” which put me slightly on the defensive and I needed to find self empowering ways to communicate while not being pulled into old paradigms and history. Then, I had (and have been having) really amazing sex with my girlfriend a few days later. I’ve been making lovely breakthroughs on that front and more which at times was jangling, but really incredible too. They’re linked because there is a common energy space, and some old shadows can sometimes ask for attention and release.
This week, I got a cold but I took my resting as an opportunity to do Reiki on myself and reprogram old stories as they were surfacing.
There is a lot of energy moving with this cross in the middle of 2 eclipses. If ever I wanted to clean up my life, move forward, get clear, and appreciate all the amazing experiences that have put me smack dab in the centre of my mandala – this is most certainly it.
Playing open mic at one place for awhile I forgot I could play covers in other venues. During the grand cross I began including covers in my live set again. Tori’s songs especially seem to say “sing them in your own voice!” re-shaping the tones to fit my animal form. The songs I play now all began coming to me since 2008 when Pluto entered Capricorn. Including covers is helping them grow up and introducing them to new people by hooking attention with familiar songs before presenting my own compositions. My songs aren’t sugar coated nothings so much as shamanic storytelling. It’s hard to connect in the early stages of presenting music publically- pubs, bars, cafes- by coming on hard with the sonic alchemy.
Covers are also helping my songs grow up in that they allow me to learn new songs when I run out of things to say. I’d rather learn covers to keep practice and novelty than force myself to write songs that don’t grow naturally. The added energy from the new songs, new because I’m playing them in ways their originators would never have done inspires my own compositions to get stronger. Especially with Tori it’s continually challenging for me to sing along with her which then makes increased strength and flexibility available to whatever I do musically.
I’m also noticing a generally increased ability to adapt to any instrument within a group music context, mining my audio memory on the fly to support the singer. Since I play an instrument and sing I can do either part in a way that strongly supports another singer or instrumentalist. Since I can play all the instruments in a blues/rock/funk/R&B band I can adapt to the other instruments wherever I end up in the group. And all this is a musical metaphor reflecting increased ability to navigate interpersonal relationships by cultivating the ability to shut up and listen before taking action.
Some voices in my head question my devotion: you’re 40, what makes you think you can break into the music world at your age? Well, no one who meets me can tell how old I am unless I tell them. I’m a Capricorn with a retrograde Saturn on my south node: late bloomer is a kind way to put it. I have stories to tell that the young of our time can’t tell just like I can’t tell their stories. I don’t even want to be famous. I just have songs who are looking for the people they came to Earth to serve.
The weather locally drives me into shelter from time to time as Spring is our new storm season. I envision touring by bike in the warmer months. Maybe someday I’ll make it to the other coast. Maybe not. Cascadia is big enough to keep me going by bike for a long time. I’m trying to be more indigenous and I just don’t have time to learn another bio region. Nevertheless the practice now is continuing to play open mics twice per week and practicing every day.
Life has been frenzied up to the point of the eclipse, when a sense of calm settled over my life. Prior to, work, obligations and neurosis ( all the insignificant details) occupied my consciousness. Saturn in the 3rd at 12 and change Capricorn has been under fire for the past year(with more to come from retrograde Mars & Pluto) But in this calm space that surrounds me I am etching out a path….. A larger canvass is calling my brush strokes, and with nudges and clues from the talented and caring writings of planet waves I have found the courage to show up.
I forgot; Mars is in my 2nd house backing up into my first and Uranus is on my 8th house cusp. So money issues (mine and one I am linked to) are definitely going on. Pluto is on my 5th house cusp between my natal Moon and Saturn in Cap. Jupiter is on my 11th house cusp. Not sure how Jupiter is affecting me but I feel that Pluto messing with my 4th and 5th houses (home and kids).
piscesdos seems to have had an experience that resonates with mine … which might not be surprising since the Grand Cross conjuncts — one point exactly by degree, two one degree out, one three degress out — Chiron in my 10th House, my Pisces Ascendant, my Capricorn Descendant, and Uranus in my 4th House respectively.
I feel like I’m in a process of metamorphosis, and it has ranged from feeling zingy, to joyous, to too much energy to contain, to a death-like experience where the ground feels shaky beneath me.
At the beginning of the month, I did a shadow-work intensive with Bill Plotkin and Sheila Belanger of the Animas Valley Institute, and on Tuesday, the day before the Grand Cross, I officially embarked on a six-month Sexological Bodywork qualification. Put it this way: I am seeing new things about who I am in so many ways that I can’t recognise who I was. And my relationships are changing in synch with this, many, many falling away — some very close — and some becoming closer than I thought possible. And that, my friends, is a shit-scary prospect! Bring it! 🙂
I feel like I am trying to launch. The day of the lunar eclipse I felt a lot of pressure in my head in the morning which relented towards the afternoon. My son and I went out and watched the eclipse under a clear sky in southern Oregon. very cool.
This cardinal cross has produced a lot of energy which I am using to move forward with my artwork and spirit life. I found it interesting that my son, who is 24 y.o., has the exact natal 13 degree Jupiter/Neptune opposition, 7th/1st house. I asked him if he felt anything weird or noticed any difference, he said no. I notice however, he is a little lighter in his attitude and seems to have a lot of energy – moving forward too.
In 1995 I had realized my now ex husband was a cheating fool of a man and was moving forward with a divorce and making a decision to move to Oregon. 2013 events involved working with a stressful client who kept changing her mind re a web site I was creating for her – I quit the job and came to the realization that art for me, is about finding my true inner happiness and balance despite my weariness of this disjointed world we live in – a revelatory moment.
Thanks for all the info re this eclipse and cardinal cross phenomenon, I appreciate your presence in the world.
Christy
Crazy.
Last week I got several calls on Thursday that meant I had to regroup and act fast. The fallout may be good…or not. Depends on how I look at it. It means back to school for me (need the student loan money to live on) which will suck my time and attention and energy away from my family (and my young son) who need those. I am SO not looking forward to going back to that again.
I started therapy (and for the first time with a female therapist) last Wednesday and went again yesterday right on the Grand cross. Of course that dug up a lot of crap but I have BTDT before so I am ok with it.
When I think back to August 1999, I remember living in the condo with our three young daughters, Dave working and me staying home and volunteering at the school where the twins (in first grade back then) were attending. My youngest daughter was still at home (and 4 years old) and I was 39, approaching my Uranus opposition. I was reading Planet Waves even back then (had started back when it was Star Navigator in 1997) and remember the transition to Planet Waves as the business it is now.
We were struggling financially (which we have always been except for maybe one or two years of our entire 26 years of marriage) but able to just manage. Things were getting better though and remained getting better until 2004 when the real shit hit the fan in the economy (yes, I know, most people think it happened in 2008 but it started in the financial and billing world earlier).
Now I have three young adult daughters and one young son living at home and we are still struggling financially because after doing better in the late 90’s, Bush II and the economic policies he and Cheney and Co. did caused us to slide into a hole we still have not crawled out of.
The adult daughters feel a sense of betrayal and a lack of hope for their own futures; they live in a time when some males in power are doing everything they can to make being female with agency a crime. Also a time when the economy is geared to create serfs who will scrabble for any crumb possible for the 1% (think of the dumbing down of their curriculum, the push for “rigorous” school work even in college, and the lack of full-time jobs) just to “survive;” not to actually live. “Is this all there is; work yourself to the bone for someone else while forever living just barely above poverty and having no decent chance and having a comfortable life?” they ask me. This is, after all, the only life they are sure they will ever have.
So we are sort of feeling like we are in limbo; not really moving forward much and not really getting anywhere despite our efforts at progress. And not always as sure of the positive progress these times are maybe going to cause as some say we should be.
marymack – Remember it’s only a transit. It’ll pass… and provoke some mighty changes 😉
Really, I’m right with you on this one. I have natal Saturn rx in Sagg in my 2nd house, in quincunx aspect to 8th house Cancer Moon. Talk about issues! But I think I’m on to something.
My 8th house is a busy one, and I’ve always understood it better than my 2nd, where the cheese stands alone. But at last I think I’ve defined a lesson in this (daunting!) placement that I can really work with: that my 2nd house of self esteem and possessions is simply about self-possession. The containment of Saturn combining with the broad world view of Sagg means I already have everything I need, because I am everything I need. All else will flow from that, and toward it.
If that makes sense to you, too, I’ll be delighted. 🙂
I wasn’t sure what to expect with the grand square happening precisely on my house cusps – asc/desc & 5th/11th.
What I’ve so far experienced includes several days wherein the loneliness I usually feel here (in the absence of close, kindred spirits) became quite excruciating. I have been resisting the wish to compose a long & careful letter to someone who loved me, who I left in 1998 & treated badly. I doubt he’d bother to read it, but I may need to put the words down anyway, whether I ever send them or not, perhaps to illuminate my reasoning at the time & release some of the guilt I’ve borne ever since.
I’ve also had one of my beloved cats ailing, during a spell of weather that would have made getting to a vet impossible. Thankfully, he seems to be on the mend.
As a fixed-income senior, I am constantly dealing with financial constraints, particularly as the cost of pretty much everything I purchase, from food to heat/light/communications, is rising. Those limitations are the background to anything I want or need to do which involves additional outlays. So the issue of trusting that there will be “enough” requires ongoing cultivation, & has been felt more intensely during the grand square, even though my “financial” houses don’t take direct hits.
I am profoundly appreciative of the work everyone at PW has done to help us navigate this intense passage, & thank-you also to all who have shared your stories. The water grand trine energy seems more accessible now, & it feels wonderful.
Bette
I recently made the decision to open my life to others in a greater extent. at the moment there is lots of household churn as I sort through a life time of “collections” to make room for the family of my surviving son to share my living quarters. In addition, I am looking for an attorney to handle a custody case for my other minor grandchildren from their stepmother, who has moved out of the house, leaving my deceased son’s children with HER children.
Knowing that there is pressure from astrology makes it so much easier to deal with the pressure in relationships, IMO.
I don’t even know where to begin!
The cardinal grand cross is conjunct, within a 1-2 degree orb, my ASC (Mars), DC (Uranus), IC (Pluto), and MC (Jupiter). The energy that has been generated by this aspect definitely feels trapped. Or rather, it’s like attempting to control how quickly it’s released because it’s a super powerful and potent energy!
Physically and emotionally I’ve been all over the place. These aspects are bringing up very old, deep wounds that I had believed I had dealt with (wrong!). What’s being brought to the surface comes from a very dark period in my life. Lots of secrets and a lot of pain that changed me to the core. However, I have 12 years of perspective gained and am healing in a new way. This healing involves an old relationship, but what I love is my current relationship is beginning to benefit! I am seeing myself through a different lens. It’s a bit disorienting to believe you are one way, and then have a mirror held up to you that reflects the total opposite.
I’m also in the midst of starting my own business and everything is falling into place, just not as quickly as I would like (Mars Retro maybe?) That is what I am experiencing as of now, but it feels incomplete and I’m curious about what the upcoming eclipse will bring!
I’ve noticed a strong need to have a clear focus on exactly what I’m doing minute to minute, and the need for what I do minute to minute to always be serving the bigger picture of my life. Simply put, I’m done wasting time. However, the grand cross is not making me feel like it’s absolutely imperative that I rush out into the world and try to make my vision happen right away and all at once. The urgency is there, but it feels a bit latent. I assume that’s Mars retrograde. I’ve been tending to the day to day details of everyday life, while keeping my eye on the prize.
The Grand Cross also has me feeling like I can never go back. That’s not a dreadful feeling. It’s a feeling of relief and opportunity that acts as a focusing agent. I haven’t experienced any notable jolts in my life, or in my mind during the past few days while the Grand Cross has been exact. I haven’t noticed anything in my community, or immediate environment that screams “CARDINAL GRAND CROSS!”. Although I sense that the people I’m closest to can feel that I’m focused. When they look back at these times they’ll say, “And that’s around the time he really grew up, and he was never the same.”
I hope this helps. Let me know if you’d like me to expound. Thanks for everything!
Hello All,
The experience of this Grand Square is vastly different for me than the one in August 1999. I am sure that, like the 1999 Square, I will be looking back in another 15 years and, only then, be able to articulate how this 2014 celestial event has touched me. I have studied both charts copiously lately as they relate and have related to my natal chart.
As I look back today at the 1999 square, I am aware of how it so dramatically catalyzed a long period of taking apart my entire view of the world, my work, commitments, and even my sense of home. All the copious studying of this chart that I remember having done at that time could not have prepared me for the power that this event had on my life for a decade or more. As painful and confusing as I had experienced life in the last decade or so, I am yet grateful for the person I have become as a result of the “remaking” of so many aspects of my life and experience. That is the short version.
Today, I feel so far that this current Square carries with it a sense of rebuilding and re-establishing a foundation that works more authentically for me. I feel more comforted than terrified or anxious as I remember having felt in 1999 when I somehow intrinsically sensed that lots of sh!t would be hitting the fan and for a long time to come. This square is indeed intense but the planets involved seem to be supporting a consistency and the building of a foundation in my literal world that had seemed to continually elude me or disintegrate in my hands since 1999.
Hope this is helpful!
Grateful to be a longtime fan of Planet Waves!
Shirley
Eric & Planet Waves Folks,
I feel great! Loving and generous as always. A few little moments where life tries to get me to move faster but my Zen approach to life keeps me grounded. I have had several (large) financial gains and a couple minor unexpected expenses arise, however I am coming out on top in manners I could only imagine.
This may have something to do with my Venus placement???
Thanks and continued success!!
Virginia
Lately I have felt shaky, as if there were a subterranean tremor. I was watchful and uneasy, as if I needed to be defend myself or be prepared for something.
April 23 was unsettling – a day of unexpected screw-ups and unforeseen delays. I kept making telephone calls and tried to “fix” things, but eventually realized that I was like a frantic monkey in the middle. I coped by dragging myself back into mindfulness, supported by prayer and Bach flower remedies – especially when I could hear the neighbors shouting and swearing.
At the end of the day I was grateful for Eric’s insightful comment, which made me laugh. “The shit is just flying and you don’t know what to do.”
Hi all,
Yes, the excitement was building for weeks and culminated for me in a manic episode of creativity. April 22 was the day my cohorts and I launched a new project that will have a very powerful natal chart. (It remains to be seen how this will play out!) On 4/23, the energy was so intense I could barely reside within my own skin. But all in all the Grand Cross was energizing, inspiring, and productive. (It aspected perfectly my 5th house natal Vertex at 13 Capricorn, where Pluto is transiting now; my natal Aries moon and Mars in Libra were off to one side cheering.)
So yeah, it was very positive!
Big swings all around… the only planet getting a direct blast of all this 13 energy is my Mercury, so things are happening in sometimes unexpected ways and much of it around communication, and writing projects. The 2nd and 5th houses seem very active right now and really grateful for Jupiter’s strong position of counter-balance. The urge to LEAVE and build another life is huge sometimes…but completely impractical for the moment…still the dreams are strong, vivid and tugging all the time.
-A big project that has been on hold for 2 years FINALLY changed momentum and got re-started… huge relief.
– another project popped up out of nowhere and relies on skills I had developed over 20 years ago and have not used in nearly 8 years but it all feels fine and good. Sadly, the company that wants the work continues to NOT pay me… forging ahead as if all will be well, fingers crossed.
– another project that someone else did about my work came to fruition this week… was broadcasted and has been well-received… no idea on what shore those ripples will land.
– discovered I was unexpectedly owed some MUCH-needed income (royalties) from a European company, fingers crossed that they will pay me before their company folds, which is scheduled for next month.
– decided to use the energy to write to other firms that owe me money who have not paid due to the recession
– managed to find homes for 3 cats that had been dumped at my neighbors during the -25 degree nights of winter, that feels really good.
– 3 of my very best and long-time friends, all Scorpios seem unable to forgive some simple misunderstandings and have apparently written me off. This hurts but may be part of that letting go process we’ve been warned about.
– on the day itself I was sick in bed…HIGHLY unusual for me. Drifting in-between planes of the Dreamtime with fever, exhaustion and the weight of the moment….easy to surrender to knowing what was going on. Grateful beyond measure to have a safe place to curl up.
-COMPLETELY overwhelmed with all the human suffering…especially for the families in South Korea, Syria, and Nigeria who have suffered unimaginable tragedy and are mouring the loss of their children…. and remembering that it is all a huge, ongoing tapestry that we all co-create and that death and life are but two polarities of a whole that continues on. Nothing is ever really lost. All is just comings and goings. Every day is a fresh start. Make it a good one!
At the beginning of the month, I joined a 12 step program and was shocked at how much I needed it. Stuck with it. Mid-month I fell into a deep funk as all the processing… processed. By the eclipse, I felt a little better. Today I feel great. I do have the sense that there’s a decision that needs to be made, but the thing about this decision that feels different is that I know for sure that I am the only one who can and will make it. There are no opt-outs, and it would be ludicrous to expect someone else to know what I should do — how could they possibly? So I feel very solitary in the world right now, but while that really freaked me out mid-month (Libra in 7th stellium), now I’m just going with it. It just isn’t time to make my decision yet, even though it also feels like I should have made it months ago.
Thanks Amanda, I’m curious too about how this astrology is affecting others. For me, physical issues like lack of sustained energy have dominated my decision-making; due to the weather and my “health”, most of my job completion dates have been unpredictable. I never know when the need for sleep will cut short any activity, consequently there has been little direct progress in any of several projects.
Annoying as this is, I’ve attributed the minor aches and pains, weird sleeping schedules and what have you to ascension and astrology and age and try to roll with it for the most part. Knowing others are also having to make adjustments during this overly-fluctuating period keeps me from thinking I’m completely balmy. It’s a real balancing act – sometimes on the high wire even – this “crossing over” business, but somebody here referred to these times as an adventure. A shared adventure. That attitude helps keep things in perspective for me.
Overwhelm is the sense that is always in the background. Not enough of anything; time, money, energy, drive to meet all the demands. For a water-sign sun that can lead to moods of depression, always temporary (blame them on the Moon) thank goddess. With a natal cardinal Sun-square-Jupiter in the line of fire of this astrology, it is tough to focus and plan long term. Rather, I spend much time putting out fires (figuratively), always thinking I will get to the rest of “it” in due time. There is a phrase popular with some of the cheerleaders of Ascension – stairsteps; going up the stairsteps one at a time. This helps keep things in perspective too.
When looking back over the last 2 or 3 years I bet we all can see how our lives have changed. Something is guiding us to a “new place”, physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually, and, for me – and others it appears – the understanding we get through astrology is the railing on the stairs that support us while we inch our way up to a new threshold. What would we do without you guys? 🙂
be
jinspace … my heart goes out to you (me) on this money thing 🙂 as it’s a bit of a mofo for me anyway. the aries/libra axis is on my 2nd house – 8th house and so it’s feeling like it’s about me-self-esteem and coming at me from others in relationship feeling like it’s a death of part of me. please feel free to contact me if you want … anytime.
mm.
Todo bien para mi. I’ve been a moving target — flying internationally on the date of both eclipses this month. I admit, being in the states was the last place I wanted to be when all this shit went down. But I feel good… I feel reconnected and ready to blaze! This has come after a difficult few years in which I made some pretty heavy decisions, and recently some risky ones… but ultimately (by following my heart) I have emerged on the “other side”… reclaiming ownership of my life and my power. In a few days I return to continue my life in a foreign country, where I am not yet established, have only a loose plan, and struggle with communication… but it is where I feel alive!
What this cross has brought up is questioning what I am doing and why I am doing it… especially after the “warnings” from the PL about making decisions in direct opposition to one’s best interest. It would be easy to return to my home state, where there are people who love me, and whom I love. I am lucky to be able to have options — I could return, get a job, settle down (yet again), have babies (meh), and make more traditional decisions. VERUS adventuring further into the unknown, where nothing is stable, truth is elusive, and I need to be totally self-reliant. To me, the choice is obvious… I think!… but I don’t want to turn around years later with regret (ie “what was I thinking?!?”) — and miss out on a life that “could have been”.
So what I am doing is using this sense of tension to empower myself… as I step forward into Adventure… and I’m gonna kick some ass! 🙂 Come what may…
Thank you, Eric and crew. Your writings, information and guidance over the years have been invaluable.
Jann & marymack – I thought the health and money issues were just me 😉
You both make me want to remark that I’ve struggled with both for a very long time, and that nothing’s really changed in re either except my perspective on my situation. But that seems to be everything. Needless to say, lightening up has altered the way people receive me, and I them, and every day the world seems to want to cooperate more. What loomed huge and horrible before has been reduced to just normal stuff. (As for the bad days? I tell myself it’s the planets and it’ll pass, and I do my best to lay low).
I felt like the veil was very thin the day of the Cross itself. In both my healing sessions & my ordinary life, my communications with the other side were more clear & conversational than they have been until now. The run-up, however, kicked my ass. Beginning with the lunar eclipse, I nearly destroyed an incredibly important relationship, I broke through the passive-aggressive bullshit of another (at least temporarily), my entire digestive system went into revolt, my menstrual cycle short-circuited such that cramps & bleeding are a week early, & I’ve felt an excruciating pressure to take some unnamed action all week. Through all of that, I was able to cross an important threshold personally, & leave behind a lifelong attachment to unhappiness/pain. It feels surreal to have that attachment gone, like I’m living someone else’s reality. BFD territory for me. (Full disclosure: Uranus is conjoined my Eris, Pluto my Vertex, & Mars transited my Uranus on its way into this Cross.) For me, most of the intensity happened several days before the Cross, but Mars often goes off early in my experience. Good Times!!
“Other” in my life is where there is a ton of stuff happening (or so I project anyway) … I had happily stumbled into this glorious place of zen — a mentor (I’ve been looking for forever) and a daily practice of zazen and with it a place to be unafraid and free. This was such a gift and a divine experience that is only shattered periodically by my sense of “what the fuck am I doing HERE??!!?!?” So I am periodically sullen and distant when faced with my future (and present lack of income) interspersed with blissful moments of zen practice. when I interact with others it’s a crap-shoot as to my mood and what will come out of my mouth, which makes me weary …
thank you Amanda, Eric and Len for all you do
mm.
I began the month with a look at seemingly insurmountable financial obligations, but with a sense that “it will work out.” Though I haven’t won the lottery (oh, yeah, gotta buy tickets…right), and income has been less than minimal, I still have the sense that it’s going to be okay – just keep persevering (and also do billing). Somewhat lesser work demands mean I have had time to absorb the great info from PW on this transit and how to approach it. Much of the week before the Cardinal Grand Cross had been about de-stressing and physical health issues, the latter of which have blessedly cleared.
Sunday through to Wednesday morning seemed to be much more energized, feeling “ready to launch.” The caveat is to avoid paralysis and/or getting sucked back into the vortex of “anger, angst and anxiety” when it starts swirling around me, generally when I am tired. On Tuesday, Earth Day(4/22 at 4:22 p.m.), I finally did a smudging and ritual at my office building that has been for sale for three years, sending out intentions to the universe of letting go and getting sold. When I feel those twinges of that “A” list, I call to mind the wisdom and practical astrology from everyone at PW, and move along. So, today and tomorrow and beyond are about reflecting while moving on. That must be the expansiveness of Tr Jupiter sitting exactly on my N Uranus: without being deluded, much is possible.
The subscription info as well as the blog postings have been invaluable. Thank you to all at PW.
JannKinz
Via email
In the month or so prior to this time, and day specifically, I have been absorbed and obsessed with indecision about a choice I need to make. The paralysis became so much larger than the actual decision itself and its implications, involving the deepest wounds and associated patterns. As of yesterday and today, I entered a slightly more serene place, very noticable because of the excruciating tension involved up until now with lots of new information coming in . The decison is not completely made, but I have more to go by now. Libra sun at 16 degrees, mercury at 11 degrees libra, + a lot of other transits including chiron return, (natal chiron exactly to the minute oppose natal Pluto).
I thought I would combust, quite honestly.
The pressure I have received from some individuals (which feels like an emotional assault), to have their way, has me spinning of my axis.
Saturn is conjunct my natal Moon, Mercury and Neptune, in the 12th House.
To me the energy has been feeling entirely positive, Amanda. There’s a huge amount of change in the air and I’d say “ready to launch” is a very apt description. After much mulling over and many false starts, plans I’ve been working on for a very long time – several expressions of a single project – are all beginning to fall into place, and the pace keeps accelerating. It almost feels that they’re taking on a life of their own, though of course I’ve been laying plans for ages, anywhere from one to ten years, when I began my original research. Really a long time coming.
That, and over the past week I’ve had an excess of nervous energy, part physical, part mental, which I’ve been channeling into getting a lot of loose ends tied up before this imminent (and fruitful) activity I’m sensing.
Something else I realized earlier this week, really extraordinary, is that there’s some kind of psychic movement within my family – specifically the women on my mother’s side. It’s manifesting itself very physically, and seems amazingly connected at a very deep level to my research, which is rooted in my maternal heritage. My ancestors’ forced migrations are a large part of the story, and now quite suddenly, several members of my family, all women except for one cousin (but he’s from my mother’s side of the family) have either recently moved or are about to: me, my mother, my sister, my niece, and the one cousin. My mother’s sister and her daughter are also looking for new homes. We are ALL having to move because of external circumstances, not just because we feel like it. I thought about our Sun/Ascendants (those that I know), and came up with this: the definite moves include a Cancer/Capricorn; a Capricorn; an Aries/Pisces; a Leo/Scorpio (with Cancer Moon & Venus);and an Aquarius/Cancer. The two others contemplating are a Pisces and a Capricorn/Leo.
Not much time to comment, dear Amanda – but it’s been (and still is) pretty intense and painful, bringing up a lot of stuff aboout relating to others and how they relate to me, and how much I need others to think well of me, which makes me particularly vulnerable to people’s neediness and/or projections – coming up really strongly now. Many thanks for this piece, found it really helpful.
In the month or so prior to this time, and day specifically, I have been absorbed and obsessed with indecision about a choice I need to make. The paralysis became so much larger than the actual decision itself and its implications, involving the deepest wounds and associated patterns. As of yesterday and today, I entered a slightly more serene place, very noticable because of the excruciating tension involved up until now with lots of new information coming in . The decison is not completely made, but I have more to go by now. Libra sun at 16 degrees, mercury at 11 degrees libra, + a lot of other transits including chiron return, (natal chiron exactly to the minute oppose natal Pluto).
The Wyoming fire and the cardinal Grand Cross http://bit.ly/1f8FOH0