Potential and Possibility

By Len Wallick

I dwell in Possibility – A fairer House than Prose”
— Emily Dickinson

Things may be looking or feeling a bit weird about now. Over the last few days, some of us may have experienced or witnessed something that just does not add up. Now that Jupiter is in Aries and Saturn is retrograde, some elements of perspective have most probably synchronized in a shift of background, direction or both. The objective of today’s astrology is to be of service in maintaining or recovering at least some degree of orientation.

Our purpose is not only to endure but also to make the most of current and impending transitions. In the process we will catch up with two of the personal planets (Mercury and Venus) as well as some of the minor ones. For some time now, Jupiter and Saturn have played a very important role in the astrology, extending their influence by occupation or deposition. That means two things. First, the signs they have each occupied for months on end are in places where they were well and powerfully positioned to assert their respective character. These two planets have been in their element. In addition, the signs ruled by both planets have been in the places where many other bodies have been congregating and collecting. Thus, both the expression and interpretation of those other objects has been through the filter or lens of the trans-personal pair.

In synchrony, the complementary energies represented by Saturn and Jupiter have been prominent in the personal and political aspects of our lives. In the case of Jupiter, it may be principles and practices of expansion. For Saturn it could have been the contrasting, complementary concept of limits and boundaries. The result has been a balanced dynamic of exchange and interchange, giving things a certain shape or trajectory.

Now it may seem as though the wheels have come off — that things have veered suddenly and unexpectedly off course. Please do not yield to the temptation to cave in, but be encouraged to feel pressure as something to press back against. There does seem a bit of method to what may appear to be madness. Think of it as a remodeling project. This part will pass and there will be a new decor for us to live in. The key is to keep working and participate in the shape of things to come. After all the things that all of us went through together during the cardinal T-square last year, it is not as though we should be surprised or unprepared.

As indicated earlier this week, a lot of this has to do with relationships. Specifically, there are the emotions we each bring to our participation. The involvement of the trans-personal planets, Jupiter and Saturn is a clue. We may want to examine where some of those feelings come from. Are they the result of our own personal experience in our own, current lifetime? Is it instead possible that we may have picked up some of our emotional responses in another way? Are they learned, conditioned, emulated, are they really ours? It’s no easy task to trace back to the origin of what we so closely identify with, but it may be worth our while to try.

For the time being, there is one other thing to keep in mind regarding Jupiter and Saturn. Indeed, what may turn out to be the most important thing to remember is the time frame. Within the past week one of these big planets has changed sign and the other has changed direction. In June it will happen again. Within days of each other, Jupiter will change sign and Saturn will again change direction. That will close the phase we have just entered. Hopefully, that will help you to understand that this whole process has an understandable structure. There will be a way to make sense of it if we can take advantage of that knowledge and pay attention. This phase had a beginning and it will have an end, just like a story. We can locate those points in time. Therefore, we can participate in writing the story.

In addition to our sensitivities, there is also the question of inertia in relationships. When things establish a direction, they tend to stay that way. When the road curves however, it is generally advisable to steer so as to stay on pavement. That is where the personal planets may come in. When it comes to their apparent motion through their respective signs, Mercury and Venus are both moving really fast right now, faster than the Sun. Let that tell you something about the rapid sequence of events in your personal life.

Mercury is just less than two-thirds of the way through Capricorn as you read this. By this time next week, shortly after the New Moon, it will be in Aquarius. Both signs, remember, are ruled by Saturn. If your thoughts are racing night and day, consider it to be evidence of synchronicity with the personal planet that corresponds, among other things, to how we think. Use the consistent background of a common, ruling, trans-personal planet to help you organize those thoughts. After all, the positive, constructive part of limits and boundaries is that they help us to define ourselves as well as our relationships. Let your mind hold on to and follow that thread and perhaps the twists and turns will become a discernable pattern, negotiable even as our thoughts continue to accelerate .

Venus, for its part, is just over two-thirds of the way through Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter. As with every other object that has moved through this sign recently, it is encountering a gauntlet of powerful conjunctions. This includes a series of centaur planets — the most recent was “small cause/big effect” Pholus. Each centaur in turn has imbued the Venusian experience with the shadowy memory of injury sustained or healed. Then there are the Great Attractor and Galactic Core — powerful points of confronting mystery — also in Sagittarius. What is happening to our inner harmony, our sense of balance and our perception of beauty as these encounters add up, one after another?

First, it is important to remember that the adventure of Venus in Sagittarius is not just about you. We are all going through it in one fashion or another. Like a gauntlet, we can utilize it as a means, however daunting, to witness character, our own and that of others. This in turn will give us an opportunity to exercise compassion. Just think, nearly everyone you meet is going through the same series of challenges to faith and values that you are. How could we possibly feel the right to judge them? How could we even consider taking the judgement of others upon ourselves? In a little more than a week, Venus will be in Capricorn. Until then consider your own shape, as if you were a piece in a jigsaw puzzle and take this opportunity to contemplate what shape will suit where you want to fit in.

Vesta knows. This main belt asteroid, invoking spiritual flame at the core of an ancient empire that was both profoundly corrupt and culturally profound, knows the voyage that Venus has not quite completed. Tomorrow, Vesta leaves Sagittarius behind. Since the first week of December 2010 this object, implying the power of devotion for its own sake, has fire-walked through the first realm of Jupiter, taking it all in. Now it will be Vesta’s turn to change signs, crossing over into the first realm of Saturn. How has our connection to this little planet fared during this time? How has the spirit in which our service is rendered been shaped by the mutable flame? What new paradigm will we find to define that shape and our own conformation in turn? By what means will our relationship with that emerging prototype be sustained? How will we know what Vesta knows?

We will feel it. The Moon will see to that.  We will find that Luna has extended the pattern by which it continues to define itself during this new year. Once again it will occupy a cardinal sign co-incident with the beginning of a new week. It will be Capricorn once again and there, in the very first degree, Vesta and the Moon will encounter and they will not be alone. Joining them at the fixed cardinal point of solstice will be the Lunar North Node — one of the two moving hypothetical points that, more than any other astrological feature, define the perpetual polarities of relationship. If, by grace and gratitude we should be granted to rejoin as writer and reader this coming Monday, we will have known this triple conjunction in our mutual awareness. It will be our point of departure when we meet again.

Offered in Service