By Len Wallick
“From supermicroscopic no-bug / To huge Galaxy Lightyear Bowell / Illuminating the sky of one mind- / Poor! I wish I was free / of that slaving meat wheel / And safe in heaven dead” – Jack Kerouac
Jack must have written that on a Monday. Sounds like a Monday, doesn’t it? The sky agrees. Simultaneously unwinding from a full Full Moon weekend and starting a new month at the same time. Who could blame if we are weary? The Full Moon is always a climax of sorts, bringing things to a head, especially in our personal lives. The Chilean earthquake was very nearly concurrent. Many of us have had an experience sympathetic with that event, our own interior tremors or tsunamis. As such, please be gentle with those you come into contact with today as they regain balance and bearings. If that describes you, remember to take one thing at a time so as to avoid being overwhelmed.
 |
As if in support the Pisces Sun is separating from the magnifying conjunction with Jupiter to sextile the centaur planet Asbolus, in Taurus. Among other things, sixty degrees of separation are similar to a scholarship or a grant. Possessed of evidence that an aptitude has been acknowledged, effort still needs to be directed and applied for results.
It’s been nearly two years since Asbolus has been explored in this space. It has been noted that it plays an important role in the natal charts of those characterized as survivors. With the larger luminary in support today we are each encouraged to find the survival quotient in ourselves and put it to work with the faith that we can and will prevail even if we get knocked off our feet every so often.
Virgo Moon is feeling the push-pull of a busy Monday as well. Starting the day with an inconjunct aspect to Eris, the post modern indicator of identity crisis, can be compared to waking up not knowing who or where you are. Opposing Venus soon thereafter is an opportunity to re-connect and integrate the polarities within, but it will require awareness of that state and a conscious effort to be whole. If that can be done, Luna’s ingress into Libra will be easier. That’s where the Moon will make its monthly conjunction with Saturn, still in retrograde until Memorial Day. That will be followed by a square to Pluto in Capricorn as the day draws to a close.
The first key to navigating today’s lunar transits and aspects is to be fully present. Find yourself first, just as you would find your socks and cell phone. Then the trick is to be creative. Look at the big, long term picture of the cardinal point activity. There will be change that cannot be denied. On the way there will be stress. For each step to be taken there is a firm place to put your foot. Sometimes it is there to be found, sometimes you need to make it. Finally, look for a through line that will connect the events of the weekend with the near and long future. If you find something that makes sense that will be a good day’s work and a solid foundation with which to begin the week and the month.
As if aware of our Gregorian calendar, Mercury has timed a significant change of its own for today. First it winds up its eventful tenure in Aquarius with an opposition to the hypothetical point called Transpluto, situated for the long term in very late Leo. It has been noted in Cosmic Confidential that this imaginary object tends to put narrow, specific focus on the place where it is as well as the qualities of whatever it is in aspect to.
With Transpluto’s laser pointer directly on Mercury’s last hours in Aquarius the specific issue would seem to be issues of communication between the individual and the collective. This can be a rather one-sided affair. The pressure to conform is always with us. The reward of yielding to that pressure is being accepted with a role to perform and a place to occupy. The penalty is having to give up or hide one’s true identity. This polarity can lead to a conflicted way of being. To quote Nathaniel Hawthorne from The Scarlet Letter, “No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.”
Resolution to this conundrum involves the worthy risk of making ourselves known for what we are and not what others want us to be. Worth the risk because transparency will make us whole in our private and public lives. Worth the risk because any form of acceptance based on a lie is continuously in peril of being revealed as fraudulent. Worth the risk because integrity sustains our relationship with others. Worth the risk because of where Mercury is headed next.
Shortly after its telling opposition, Mercury moves to Pisces where it is traditionally said to be in fall. A planet is in fall when it is in a sign opposite of where it is exalted (in this case, Virgo). When a planet is in fall it as if it has been muted, unable to express its identity or assert its power. Thus we are entering three weeks when communication may be colored and muddied by the emotional mysteries of Pisces. If we can enter this time with a firm commitment to expressing ourselves clearly and fearlessly we can maintain a kind of momentum that will keep us out there and participating.
Thus are today’s aspects tied together. The events of the Full Moon, magnified and particular at the same time might provoke us to retreat and hunker down. Such a withdrawal however, would come at precisely the time when we should be engaging with the world so as to make ourselves valuable and trusted participants for the long term. If we can overcome reaction and focus on action we will find a place that is stable and sustainable. Affirm life, put off “safe in heaven” for another, more appropriate time.
Offered In Service
Apologies for not acknowledging your response Len…. as a child of mercurial wonder,
all I can say is “summin ‘appened” ……in true cuspal tradition!!
PH
Musicman…as always, thank you for helping me to see things from an entirely different perspective. Your fearless consciousness is a gift to the entire Planet Waves community.
Len…As always…the eye of the needle…the whirling dervish.
If I may respond to the plea for gentle integrity, I have only one issue. This I may propose as the topic for tonights debate.
There is no collective ….only a summation of individual thought!
“issues of communication between the individual and the collective. This can be a rather one-sided affair. The pressure to conform is always with us.”
Consequently…there is no pressure or ensuing manipulation of identity.
Perhaps Transpluto opposite that last tight degree of Mercurial Aquarius is about the way we communicate ABOUT the collective…ie Mercury’s relationship to the conceptualisation of our group work.
The collective itself is the synthesised view of it…by an individual…….or one’s experience of that larger group of individuals. For in a musical piece, the contributions of all of the parts enhance the collective….and do not compromise their integrity ever.
My instincts tell me that there is a genuine issue here….but all of your thinking is welcomed. If you feel that this is pedantic….please contemplate a little while longer….thanks!!
May I suggest..
1 if you are going to refer back to something later…”its in the chicken….”
2 if anybody gets a little flooded….”time out”
The Astrology of Marxism awaits….
By the time Mercury is comfortabley muted in Pisces….Karl Marx will be wide awake in that “safe in heaven”
PH
Fe – it’s called synchronicity. The chart’s the thing. If an astrologer can do justice to a chart, this sort of falling in to place will happen. Congratulations on your new production. Important it is to remember that it’s not some sort of pop culture news story. Its about real people between a rock (the disease) and a hard place (the health care system). Thank you for doing the good work.
Planetistas:
Fe finally checking in from her travels across the universe.
Jeebus H. Christo, Len.
Since I am working feverishly to get a new play on the boards about life and death and surviving with AIDS in the 21st century, could you have come up with a better article on the metaphor of choosing to live for my current week?
It’s called “Dancing With the Clown of Love”.
I will report in as soon as I figure out where I’m at.
Asbolus! I almost forgot about him. Carbon dust. Opposes my Venus in Aquarius (retrograde). I have a bass amp that survived a house fire (when Sol was in Leo alas) that’s a pretty visceral symbol of that opposition. Carbon: that’s what it means when someone says Osiris is a black god. The speaker cabinet burned, but the speaker left unscathed. It’s worth looking into the centaurs. Thanks for bringing Asbolus back into view Len! He’s not one you want to leave running around in the dark.
This was just lovely Len. A much more serious tone, as required for such a serious report. As you are a valuable and trusted participant in the world conversation, we will all heed and appreciate your advice. I especially look for a firm place to put my foot; today and for some time to come it looks like. Hope Asbolus is SOMEWHERE in my chart!
Today’s words seem to be tailored for our elected officials especially. In fact, this weekend CNN featured a group of retiring congress people answering questions honestly, for a change, as their answers were no longer dependent on financial backing. At least that’s how the program was billed. I didn’t get to hear it for myself. Well, it’s a start!
be
Len, thank you for your words of wisdom. Luckily I woke up early this morning and have been able to take time to ground myself before I start what will be a hectic day. I always enjoy your poetical approach, no more so than today. I am learning so much from you, and the other posters here at Planet Waves. Being a novice, I have much to learn, but I’m really enjoying doing the research to understand much of what is written here. Your offerings in service are a wonderfully specific service to me.
Cheryl
” For each step to be taken there is a firm place to put your foot. Sometimes it is there to be found, sometimes you need to make it.”
Len,
Truly a powerful statement , one that brings me back to a particular morning over
the summer, when I chose to take a swim on a beach that my family and I frequented
as a child. Lost in my own little world, I did not realize the strength of the undercurrent
until I tried swimming back to shore. When I realized I was making absolutely no progress at all, adrenaline flooded my senses and the reality that I had to apply all that
I had learned over the years took over. I began to swim vertically towards the shore, making no progress at all. With the thought of having no other options I decided to take it head on. I am a strong swimmer, yet no match to this unfamiliar resistance blocking any forward motion. Suddenly I felt very small and alone…..”so this is how I’m going out?”. At that moment my toe brushed the ocean floor. In the next moment I was digging into the sand, my toes became claws with each step towards the shore. I began to focus on the rock that was midway to shore. One that was like a lighthouse to me, and one I knew well. What was probably a few seconds seemed like eternity. The waves tossed me onto the rock breaking open the skin on my knee. A badge I wear proudly to this day. Once I made it to shore, I turned around and looked at the magnitude of the waters I loved as a mother. What I did not realize is the “footing” was there the whole time.
~ If I had bothered to check the forecast prior to my swim, It would have alerted me
to the fact that there was a huge storm working its way up the coast. ~ 🙂
Dear Len –
Thank you, thank you for today’s piece. If I wasn’t so groggy I would give you back a more pertinent response. Apparently, I need to get a new chart done that inlcudes all the new findings eg: Transpluto issue, et al. – however I don’t like any squares to Pluto, and with Capricorn!
Changing subjects, although not really, I hate inaccurate reporting and wanted to comment further on the Chile earthquake. I saw a byline on a national media saying this last earthquake was the strongest earthquake in centuries. Incorrect. Chile had a 9.5 earthquake on May 22, 1960 in a town called Canete, 435 miles from Santiago, causing tsunamis to race across the Pacific Ocean and affecting Hawaii, Japan, the Phillipines, Eastern New Zealand, S/E Australia and last, but not least, the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. This is the highest recorded earthquake to date. Even if folks don’t buy into the logic of the stars (astrology), I’m not clear on how they would deny astronomical effects on our planet and the rest of the galaxy. Hi Jack!