And how many deaths will it take till we know that too many people have died?
— Bob Dylan
The Virgo Sun squares the center of our galaxy at 10 am EDT Wednesday, asking how many times that aspect need repeat before we get it. Square aspects relate objects or points occupying different signs that share the same quality, either cardinal, fixed or mutable. Virgo is mutable, as is Sagittarius, where the Galactic Core is all but stationary. All squares represent a test of some sort, and the tension we feel when being tested.
Mutable squares test whether we are ready to release old patterns and enter a new season. Every time the Sun assumes mutable character, it means a new season is approaching for the whole world at once. Twice a year, when the Sun squares the Galactic Center, it always means the impending new season will begin with an equinox, which implies a test on the subject of equality.
At its most fundamental, equality means no difference. Twice a year, we receive an illumination from the center of the solar system, demonstrating that there is no difference when it comes to the most fundamental phenomenon of life on Earth — the light of the Sun.
During the days of equinox, every being on this planet has an equal experience of the Sun, belying any and all attempts to assert difference as a valid concept. Yet somehow, human beings either miss, ignore or deny the Sun’s lesson every time in recent memory. We instead persist with insistence that difference is fundamental, wondering why every endeavor so conceived consistently fails.
Rather than consider the possibility that difference is a fraudulent concept, human beings consistently blame those perceived to be different for the failure of the fraud. The blame game, in turn, provides convenient justification for organized thievery, coercion and murder from which none are ultimately spared and for which a power greater than the Sun is conveniently postulated to support denial of the solar lesson. Any such assumptions of a higher power that would preside over and override the Sun, however, are not supported by any observable fact. In fact, the opposite is true. If there is anything to which the Sun would be subordinate, it would in fact be the center of our galaxy.
The facts that we can observe support the model of the Sun as the source and symbol of earthly life, and its fundamental truth of equality. We now know that, just as the Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun orbits the center of our galaxy. We know that the Galactic Core is a source of gravity and radiation, just as the Sun is.
Other than in scale, there is no fundamental difference in how the Sun and Galactic Center function. They are consistent with each other. By implication, any inconsistency in the systems over which the Sun presides is doomed to failure. That would include systems devised by human beings. That would also raise the question of how many times we can fail to be out of harmony with the Sun before we fail to exist.
There are those who conjecture that human beings are incapable of change. There are those who say we cannot embrace equality, end war and live in harmony with the cycles of the Sun. Yet, there was almost certainly a time when we did. There was almost certainly a time when bigotry did not and could not sanction behavior that some now think to be inherent and hard wired in our being. Were there not a time when we were, of necessity tolerant and one with each other, we would not have survived to get into our current predicament, a situation symbolized twice a year when the Sun squares the center of our galaxy.
The tension that arises within each us on the eve of every equinox is symbolized by the Sun’s square to the Galactic Core, but it has its source in reality. The disquiet of conscience concurrent with the square of the Sun to the center of its own orbit is a sure and certain understanding that we have strayed from harmony with the way of life on Earth, and by clear implication everywhere in the galaxy. Since our origin and composition is the same as the cosmic systems of which we are a part, our own systems can, and must, return to compliance with the solar and galactic model. That imperative is the test we face together, and must pass at once to enter the impending new season of our kind.
In order to survive, we long ago and well learned to adapt our behavior to the cycle of earthly seasons. That adaptation consisted of releasing attachment to patterns of behavior that were suited only to a previous season. Somewhere along the way, however, that admirable proficiency took us down a blind alley of attachment to behavior that is out of synchrony with greater cycles, longer seasons, and higher aspirations than survival.
The question of how many times we can persist with our attachment to being different from the Earth, Sun, Galaxy — and from each other — is becoming urgent. That is what Sun square the Galactic Core means and none of us are exempt from what we must do if any of us are to remain. It begins with you. Any time you find yourself differing from or being against any other human beings, you will have in fact lost contact with the Universe, and entered into conflict with yourself. How many times will it take before you get that?
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
“Without direct insight into the conditions that caused the suffering, most of us simply recreate the scaffolding or delay the inevitable reckoning that suffering exacts”. Yes.
Again, thanks for the dialogue, mystes. I have definitely found that moving through menopause has made all the difference. Entering and staying in The Stillness is now expected and accepted.
And from it Things Come.
So I don’t know why I feel like we are riding two different elephants.
Do you see me smiling and waving?
Burning River… elusive, huh? Mmmkay. Yes… and that other thing (what’s it called again? oh yeah:) No. You’re right, it ain’t a cheap date. My experience of this dynamic can and does degrade, but there are very technical and quite extensive processes to stabilize that awareness.
As I go along though, there’s a part of me that is LIt’sAO as it becomes clear that these equilibria *emerge naturally* after the reproductive phase of life wears off. You really don’t have to do much, except for clean up the karmic aftermath of your reproductive era. So bizarre to see the religious and spiritual literatures recommend to people in their 20s, 30s, 50s that they behave as though they are 70. Hahaha. Good luck with that.
But the first time I entered this space I was in my teens, and again for substantial periods every few years. Don’t find it elusive at all, but do find that it has its own calendar and reasons for emergence. I’ve learned to trust that. And it always, always, always trumps whatever it was I *thought* I was doing!
YMMV.
The little thing I have gleaned from those periods is that ‘helping’ is often anything but. Without direct insight into the conditions that caused the suffering, most of us simply recreate the scaffolding or delay the inevitable reckoning that suffering exacts. Compassionate witnessing can help shorten the process, but rarely ever supplants it.
Thanks, mystes. I think that where i am going is beyond the seeming to me Neptunian swim. That point that you mention where, when you breathe again, you move beyond It, I have experienced, To me, whatever That Was is kind of bullshit, because it is so elusive. That is why I call it Neptunian. I also have been in The Zone, I have heard it called, during the artistic trance of writing or dancing, the timeless flow of something way beyond myself, but concrete at the same time because something visible is a result of having BeenThere. And to me, the morality/responsibility that you refer to seems to me to never be able to be wholly avoided when we are in a Oneness discussion because the One is composed of The All. Perhaps however my thinking about this is because that is my personal dharma–the inescapable need to be alive, but alive, fully and myself, on purpose.The need for concrete application, as I believe you are referring to when you mention the artist’s experience, is what I am after, after many years of being ok with the invisible, mental, spiritual confusion that I am finding the clarity to remove myself from. So, maybe we are talking about two different elephants, and I will just listen, and enjoy the images and sounds.
Warmly.
BR… to clarify: cognitive is not the same as intellectual. It seems like you might be using these interchangeably, and if so, I apologize for the cold fuzzies. The apprehension of the Real is one of those weirdly dynamic, internally-balanced dealios, where you have a sense that you are perceived in exact proportion to your perceiving. It is not just sensory but proto-sensory. Hold your mouth just right, and you’ll get that this discernment *starts* just before it splits into the sensory modalities.
It is an intensely physical engagement with the world, and that’s why I am puzzling over the idea of a) activity, b) scale, c) mediums, oh and d) astrology as yet another expression of that beeeeeyoootiful image offered up by Diva Swim in the ocean in the dark and the galaxy comes down to the water, galaxies and giant stars become very small, the size of a pixel, or a period, or a poppy seed, and glow in the dark, and move, and shine. in homage to Len.
Responsibility still has the built-in cuticle of morality. There’s always more going on in any given scene than that frame can hold. Hence the need to develop a cognitive/artistic/immediatist practice that allows you to do/be exactly what you said: “belonging, but still separate.” And equally the inverse. At once. *8^D…
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Thank you Len 🙂 for this very interesting share on the link between the Virgin Sun and the Galactic Center
Mystes– thanks for your thoughts. Being part of a whole I accept cognitively but have no intrinsic sense of its “reality” at a deep, or wide, invisible level. That everyone “out there” is also “in here” (inside this electro-magnetic/flesh-and-blood field I call Me) is perhaps the closest I come to experiencing my place among people on this planet in oneness. In junior high school I was with someone who ten years later killed his parents. In my horror and dismay at the news I also realized that if I had had his life I COULD have ended up doing the same. That is what I mean by what is out there is also in here. Any CEO that gets my blood boiling today, I have to remind myself, I COULD HAVE BEEN if I had had to live their life. I cannot separate myself out, cognitively, even though I cannot sensibly (with the emotional/sensate/invisible meaning of the word) opt in either. In my meditations–whether in ordinary reality or non-ordinary–my realization is that of belonging, but still separate. But it is my responsibility to The Others that “makes us one.” Whaddya think?
Hey Len, I was musing this article as I wandered around today, thinking about what it takes to move into that sense of continuity that characterizes the Real. Funny thing is that once there, there is no other, per se. You do have a kinaesthetic sense, like ‘bulges’ in the whole, where apparent individuation can ever-so-briefly occur; but which quickly smooths out after the ‘bulge’s’ function is discharged.
I hate to say it, but the exhortation to love one another and see each other as parts of a whole is essentially futile. Our separation is not a *moral* failing but a *cognitive* disability, and cannot be solved by ethics or morality. We’ve tried, lord knows we have. But 5000 years of religious warfare resound with that mismatch.
Art comes close to solving the riddle, but I’ve about decided it is in the making of art, not the ‘enjoyment’ where the Real is engaged. But there’s also something about the contemplation of the cosmos, and of scale in different mediums — as Diva Carla mentions — that helps trigger this as well. She did say ‘swim’ which is as active as art.
But the moment you start expecting yourself to love because it is better than something else, you’re sunk.
Catpaddling along…
M
The question of how many times we can persist with our attachment to being different from the Earth, Sun, Galaxy — and from each other — is becoming urgent.
Swim in the ocean in the dark and the galaxy comes down to the water, galaxies and giant stars become very small, the size of a pixel, or a period, or a poppy seed, and glow in the dark, and move, and shine. As ever, beautiful writing and a perspective I haven’t come across before. Many thanks.
Len,
You have once again caused me to feel that certain feeling wherein I am oh! so large as the Universe and oh! so minute as it’s smallest part.
As Be points out – and to your Dylan homage – the answer is blowing in the wind; as a part of that wind, I am surely a part of that answer.
To Embracing the Square! and as always –
in Gratitude for your Service,
Linda
Amanda: Thank you for the video. i agree with Burning River, the solar system is tracing a huge helix through space with (if you think about it) over 250,000 strands wrapped around the core. Now, if only we could cease and desist mutating that helical structure with plutonium. Talk about sending a message. If we ever get a response, it may very well be in kind.
be: Thank you for being so generous and kind in your comments. You are among those who inspire my efforts in service.
Burning River: You are most welcome. Your perception of the “still point” reminds me of a famous poem that Eric has more than once explored on Planet Waves. Thank you for the further example that above and below must flow.
Chief Niwots Son: Delightful and appreciated is your comment. Thank you for the chuckle.
Mia: Your kindness is exceeded only by your acute perception and eloquent expression. Thank you.
There are times when we are spinning so fast in our very own orbits that it can be difficult to remain sensitive to the feelings of others. I had that experience recently and it made me stop and think how easily we can hurt those we care about when we are thoughtless and not listening to ourselves and to them. Think of the damage we can do to random strangers.
Thank you Len, for your beautiful words.
“The facts that we can observe support the model of the Sun as the source and symbol of earthly life, and its fundamental truth of equality.”
The only place where the “Sun as the source and symbol of earthly life” is remembered in our culture is at sporting events. There you find both the spectators and cheerleaders repeating the Ancient Egyptian Sun-God Chant:
“Ra! Ra! Ra!”
PS- Great video Amanda!
“Any time you find yourself differing from or being against any other human beings, you will have in fact lost contact with the Universe, and entered into conflict with yourself. How many times will it take before you get that?” Getting it is helping me know and accept and forgive myself faster. Thank you, Len, so much, for your help in this matter.
Amanda-thank you for that vedeo . I often am meditating and try to imagine the reality of not being still (as I am connecting to The Stillness) but in “reality” spinning, revolving, pivoting and all of that spinning dancing and spinning and orbiting–what a dance–and that video makes me think somewhat of the double helix of DNA chromosomes.
(((Pwers)))
What a lovely way to tell the story Len; you never cease to amaze me with your observations and perceptions of the messages provided by the cosmos. We may, as student of astrology, perceive the meanings in the aspects but putting those aspects into a cohesive and meaningful lesson takes a real artist. I for one, had never connected the equinoxes this way. . . as the followup to the Sun’s square to the Galactic Core/Center in the transitional signs, asking us to understand that equality is basic and universal. That answer is indeed blowing in the wind and I do hope this time we will get it.
Once again, thanks for your simple but majestic offering of clarity today.
be
funny, just last week this super-short animation of our solar system’s movement through space came to my attention.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWxcgJUCDxg
despite its brevity, i think it’s actually rather profound if you let yourself think about it.