Today is the first of a three-day equinox. The Sun does not reach Libra till late Wednesday in EDT, when there is a nearly simultaneous Full Moon (early Thursday), but today, the Sun makes an opposition to two planets that are in a rare conjunction — Jupiter and Uranus. Len has been doing an admirable job of explaining the exact astronomy; I’m here to convey some of the energy, so this doesn’t take you by surprise. When you see Uranus in any planetary alignment, that’s the element to prepare for, or better, make good use of.
On one side of the zodiac we have this rare energy burst coming from Pisces. It’s late Pisces, indeed, the next-to-last degree of the entire 360; the end of the last sign. On the other side we have the Sun in Virgo, which by the way is not necessarily that receptive to the energy, but sends this message that it ‘needs’ to be shaken up and woken up. Before its too late. Passively; help me pay attention! Check in with yourself and see if that’s not the position you’re taking.
In between is the Earth, in maximum tension mode. You know, dangling like a pea in the midst of the Sun on the one side (lots of solar energy) and Jupiter and Uranus on the other (lots and lots of planetary energy). There is something here of the feeling of an unresolvable polarity; of needing to stretch across a contradiction; of having two concepts of who you are. Remember — Saturn in early Libra is still opposite Jupiter and Uranus. It’s not exactly opposite, but it’s close enough to be adding tension.
What then happens is that the Sun reaches the first degree of Libra, which is technically the moment of the equinox, the Moon sweeps into the alignment and opposes the Sun. That is the Aries Full Moon. This event has an “out of nowhere” feeling. It could shake up the news; it’s a big day (news wise) in any event: some of the most important provisions of the health care reform act go into effect that day. The Republicans come out with their new, improved plan to lead the nation (yay!).
Virginia plans to execute its first female prisoner since 1912. The Bible down there must leave out the “thou shalt not kill” part.
But there’s more than this in the wings. I cannot tell you what, exactly; but I know it’s there. Today, the thing to remember is — keep your focus, take it as easy as you can, and focus on modest goals while keeping your mind on your real goal. Keep that sense of perspective, of the great challenges and the small ones; your immediate desires and your highest dreams.
It’s not a matter of one or the other right now — its about seeing your life in context, and in perspective.
Please let me know what develops these days.
Yours & truly,
Eric Francis
You asked us to tell you what happens over the next few days: I spoke to a professor about doing a PhD on the psychological impact of being a criminal defence lawyer, began to use my 25 years of experience in business and communications to do some consulting, bought myself a flamenco guitar and am now teaching myself to play it; also decided to begin packing up the house so that when we find a flat (‘apartment’ for our American friends) we want to live in, we’ll be ready to go. I enjoyed the Oracle for today about responding to my own vision and making it real. That seems to be the lynchpin – and that’s what I’ve arrived at over the past several days. I think, all else aside, that’s what was missing. I am tired of constantly feeling obliged to react to people who mistake a compassionate person for a doormat while refusing to take responsibility for their own mental health and wellbeing, or to accept themselves as they are (different to everyone else, but with many commonalities) and are so constantlt defensive and making pre-emptive strikes. The Democrat/Republican joke you put up today illustrates that beautifully. It’s like “dude, clean your own conscience and grow up already!” I’ve always seen the conservative side of politics as extremely infantile – look at the conservative Liberal/National coalition who are think fully in opposition! here in Australia! “We did win so we’re going to demolish everything!” Trantrumsville. Same thing in America – curiously in Britain, the Tories seem more relaxed than the supposedly left-leaning Labour Party!
Maybe its generational change, maybe its having leaders who are comfortable with who they are rather than the usual ‘aspirational’ type you get in politics (you know the type – “I felt powerless as a child so I’m going to go into politics and get power so I can make my child-self feel more secure”). No fellas, politics is not about securing your own personal security but about the smooth and equitable running of a nation (or a state or whatever) – which is like administering the needs of a really big community, mostly comprising of adults, not children. So if the leaders are dysfunctional, insecure, self-absorbed types, who see themselves as father/mother figures, heads of a household of children, that’s the sort of country we’re going to get. That is of course, if we keep wanting Big Brother to solve all our problems! I was watching The View the other day – very strange show – and poor old Obama had to sit and listen to how so many people were “disappointed” by him.
I wonder how many of these people can run a household of two fulfilling everyone’s wishes at all times (not possible!), let alone the complex organism that is a national government. Trantrumsville yet again. Of course they’re disappointed! Because they’re deluded if they think that one human being can change and fix in two or three years, nearly 30 years of bag governance led by people who are in the game to make themselves feel important (voted in by people who allowed that to happen!). From what we gathered here is Australia, Obama was about showing people, encouraging people to empower themselves and engage positively with the political process from a grassroots, individual level (eg, if you don’t like something, for goodness sake, get active about changing it, as opposed to the Bush model: “there, there, Daddy W will fix it”). Hopefully, given that his model is a shift in paradigm, voter/citizen attitudes will change in time.
But judging by the audience of The View (and the archetypal ‘little girl’ herself, Barabara Walters, who seems to run the show with the zeal of a Head Prefect), voters had nothing to do with the choice of their leaders, did they (no! I want Daddy-Obama to make it right!)? Choose leaders carefully folks, and understand the role we’re asking them to fulfil (running a government, allocating our resources, not making the hurts of childhood go away) – and remember, that psycopath Hitler was real, and democratically elected! Life throws up so many things we can’t control (floods, snowstorms etc), let’s choose wisely with regard to the things we can.
The
Thank you Eric & Len, for all service as we wander no, wonder, together through this, and all energy.
Personal observations (stellar leo): focus building always learning, towards what feels like resolution, if not outright lightning intense revelation, personal & otherwise.
Raw, babbling enlightenment peaking, (hopefully only the babbling part), redirecting from spiritual awareness to spiritual guidance as new focus to come.
Returning and building lasting connections to authentic self, interrupted by revisiting
long resolved family and personal issues, including revelation that home is not a place for this transient soul, but a feeling of completeness, not yet achieved.
Need to keep to path, without distraction, with assistance from soul compatriots, wise interpretors, of which I count you, and my guides, who I contact with assistance this special evening @ sunset, as I do this daily in so many ways on my own.
Knowing that the disturbances emitting from my sun, are there to assist me, teach me, through you learned wisdom-bearers.
Riding away from the masses & city lights to experience the joy of the equinox & beautiful full moon…
Happy, peaceful and joyous tidings to all…
oh. and i think, as i am listening to lyrics before bed, that david bowie is probably more on piont, everything-wise, than my little monk-infatuation thing re: cohen. word-wise. public words matter. i need to go back to life-school asap.
ok. done. xm
@Hazel1 — You describe it SO well. Exactly. I was so close to weeping several times. “I never thought I’d need so many people..”
I hope you have a restful sleep.
xm
WARNING: LONG COMMENT and I should probably edit very much but I am too tired.
I chose to not read comments just yet. You asked a question. (I will read comments after.)
I approached the day with an idea to possible “lessons learned.” Pas facile.
I slipped back and forth today, from being utterly, and I mean utterly, calm, to completely fucked. (Sorry. On the f-word. I get that it doesn’t work for some people but when there are no words sometimes it’s the only word. Plus, sometimes, it enhances words.) I think my family saying is: oui et non. I was raised that way.
The best description I can come up with: Straddling past and future. SO much of the past yet to work out yet all my energy must move to the future. Blaming came up over and over. And each time, I refused it. And I recognize that my vacillation is possibly inborn and now being intensely drawn out.
And SO… I am walking down the trail (a 40- minute walk) from the bank that helps me NOT – to my daughter who needs hope for HER future. (I can’t, for sure, explain all this in a comment. Suffice to say that everything I know co-mingles with everything I do not. And I give her the best of that mix. As much I can.)
What I discovered today: The people who care for me need to know I GET that they care for me. They NEED to know it. And the people that I care for NEED to know that I care for THEM – which is just about everyone. SO… expressing care. Despite and beyond all the shit going on. And there`s lots over here, for sure. Yet… I NEED to get my own shit together. Again : balance.
Also: I love Leonard Cohen.
Also: I’m sort of wondering, in light of all this planetary business… What, if anything, it means, that I FEEL that I am at the cross-hairs of all planets. ETC.
Everything that was right is wrong and everything that was wrong is right and the fact is there is none of it. And I have to re-write all my loves, which includes all my intellectual pursuits… And… Everything that felt wrong, in certain circumstances, feels right again. (I know the right and wrong thing is forgone.)
SO: Final word. Balance. So easy to say and write. SO much harder to live. But worth every effort.
I may be in a totally different place on Friday.
XX to Len and Eric. And Amanda with the Lady Gaga piece. (I am definitely out of the loop on that stuff.) Today was quite the day and you helped with perspective – though it is mostly still in my head.
PS: I do not have the time to re-read everything and I feel like I am missing SO much. But I shall focus on balance. It feels like what I need to do.
I started out the week with a lot of energy and ideas (new ones) and I got tons done, made a list of the weekly stuff to do, etc., got a lot done, but today I hit the wall and was for some reason totally emotional and weepy. I literally walked in circles in the kitchen, trying to figure out what I should do today, I had so many things planned – major analysis paralysis. In Len’s article today he talks about diving off a small boat in the middle of the ocean in the dark, well I sure feel like I’m on a small boat in the dark, at least today I do. And I have no desire to dive in, at least not today. I did get some stuff done though. It’s all coming at me so fast and I have to slow it all down, it’s like diving in the ocean and thinking “how am I going to swallow all this water? There’s too much to take in…..”
Portland, Oregon. I had a hard time establishing a regular practice for a long time but I have a friend who started practicing push-hands with me on a regular basis and taught me the basics of circle walking, and an arsenal of breathing techniques, transmitting what he’s internalized from his teachers. Astrologically we have lunar node reversal conjunct oppose, whatever you call that. I suppose I’m teaching him stuff too, but it’s hard for me to know what that is. I ultimately learned a form from beginning to end with the help of youtube videos of old lineage holders doing the forms in between visits with my friend and his teacher. The tube can’t replace direct experience, but it’s a great study aid.
“A feeling of an unresolvable polarity; of needing to stretch across a contradiction.” That was the phrase that hit the nail on the head for what I am feeling and experiencing. I was involved a powerful romantic relationship with man 3 years ago. We live on opposite sides of the world—there’s the unresolvable polarity. It was the first time I followed my heart and not my head—quite a contradiction for me. It was a transformative experience for both of us and once connected we remain drawn to each other. Despite that it did not last as long as we both would have liked, I think of him often and we remain in touch a few times a year. These past few days I have had an aching/yearning for our relationship to return and have always felt in my gut we would get a second chance at things. To further that feeling, for months now I kept seeing his initials in license plates in cars in front or next to me when I am in traffic and then hearing his first name in random ways or in snipits of others’ conversations. Yet, nothing has changed. So that is the contradiction the universe seems to be handing me right now that I have to continue to get past. Thanks Eric for the coining the above phrase that captured something so complicated and contradictory to me. And, any idea on when unresolvable polarity feeling will lessen or be resolved?
testing 123
oh yeah, i came home and cancelled a commitment i had made in the am, feeling that i needed to keep my plate as clean as possible for 2 weeks.
very accurate depiction of the energy. I almost want to say that i do not remember this in the past decade. very uncomfortable too, like something coming loose. I was sitting at a cafe this eve (@ Paris right now and most unhappy about it) and all of a sudden, something inside me said: “we are on the eve of a big change. Something is going to happen.” I was looking at the light: Brilliant sun here, 23 C, summer extending into fall. Can’t explain the feeling. so, what’s up, Eric?? what is your prognosis?
yeti —
is that portland maine or the other one? 🙂 just in case someone wants to take you up on your offer…
btw — i love your tree practice. i’ve dipped my toe in taiji/qi gong but have never managed to make a disciplined practice out of it. amazing stuff, though.
Standing (the taiji kind) alternately with trees and rivers is my bag of sand. The trees are still sane even if the humans are going batshit 😉
It’s like this: I choose my posture, stand facing a tree, pick a point on the tree and let my vision rest there. Count 49 in-out breaths, sink down from the perineum and grow up from the crown simultaneously. I recently started a pattern of 3 sets of 49 breaths with Empty Stance on each side and Horse Stance. Practicing with a tree helps human get the knack. I swear if you focus on a tree long enough, something looks back. Taoists don’t practice with trees just cause it’s nice and pretty. Boy wants to teach this stuff? His tree gotta weather some storms. Nothing like someone trying to knock you off your root to develop its strength.
Correct — three of the gas giants in an opposition: Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus (joined by Sun/Moon) and then Neptune by quincunx (close to an opposition but with that feeling of slipping on the floor). I suggest you keep a little bag of sand on your belt, and spread it liberally when necessary.
Drunken verbal warfare, exploding dogs, and lots of taiji practice in parks to stay out of the house as much as possible. Anybody in Portland want someone to turn their lawn into food and teach them what I can of Chinese martial arts in exchange for a room? In the meantime I’m looking for a job. Kinda. Mostly riding my bike, practicing my energy arts to shake off all the vibrations from alcohol fueled boy-girl fights and poorly disciplined canines. This is heavy weather. Is it all the gas giants gathered together into an opposition and a quincunx? And now Sol and Luna. Strrrrrrrrrreeeeeetch. Owee.
I learned it all covering the Sewerage Authority at the Echoes-Sentinel.
Eric,
Thank you for the gift of your insight on the unprecedented and power astrology we are moving into. It’s fortunate that we can benefit from your steady hand and balanced integrity.