By Len Wallick
People think I’m disciplined. It is not discipline. It is devotion. There is a great difference.”
— Luciano Pavarotti
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Let’s start with a brief summary of our theme since the past Monday.
The partial lunar eclipse last weekend superimposed itself over the perpendicular axis of a cardinal t-square. Thus a grand cardinal cross was rapidly precipitated. The eclipse of the Moon will unavoidably be followed by an eclipse of the Sun. The period between the paired eclipses can be considered to be a short-lived continuum with long-term effects. The cardinal t-square can be considered to be a long-lived continuum with immediate effects.
We are in the two week period when the two continuous phenomena are at their mutual crossroads. We are in the middle of that intersection. A place both of unparalleled perspective and unforeseeable, though apparent peril. Surviving the peril is our imperative. Making the most of the perspective is the means by which that challenge can be met. That’s where astrology comes in.
The planetary cycles synchronize. One informs the other. The shorter and longer cycles especially so. It is proposed by your humble reporter that the cardinal t-square is functioning as a sort of acclimatization process. Gradually, over a period of years, synchronous events are presenting us with the opportunity to release what will no longer serve and adapt to what will be required. This requires persistence and stamina. It corresponds with the peril.
It is further posited that the eclipse cycle is functioning to organize and compress the lengthier experience thus far. That requires awareness and strength. It yields a long term perspective. It is like sprinting through a marathon while blindfolded.
That’s where our daily astrology comes in. Breaking the overwhelming down into pieces that are more easily assimilated with the gradual accumulation of a bigger, wider, deeper perspective. To reiterate, the operative words for the aggregate daily processing are action, integration and relationship.
Today’s ephemeral aspects — like the two continuums — are linked. Mercury is separating from a conjunction with the asteroid Juno in the sign of Cancer. Mars likewise separating from a conjunction in the sign of Virgo, with the asteroid Vesta. Finally the Sun and Moon form a water trine linking Cancer and the sign of Pisces.
While there is no definitive interpretation of asteroids in astrology, there are a few that have begun to distinguish themselves. Juno and Vesta are among them.
In myth, Juno was the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Hera. She was the spouse of Jupiter (or Zeus, for the Greeks). Their marital relationship was a model for what will happen when commitment is not informed by compersion. It shows that dedication to an ideal can become a mockery when the mind is not integrated with the heart. So very sad that over thousands of years the dynamics of this mythological relationship remain the familiar norm.
Astronomically, it is interesting to note that the discovery degree of Juno (2+ degrees Aries) is where the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction is now situated. Opposed to Juno on the date of its discovery was, hello, Mercury at 2+ degrees Libra. Close to where Saturn is now.
So when we look at today’s first conjunction aspect, synchronicity takes us by the hand and helps with today’s connection to the two concurrent and current continuums. On the most apparent level the astrological values most commonly associated with Juno (commitment, harmony and balance in relationship) find sympathy in the the sign of Cancer, implied fourth house of hearth, home and nurturing.
Along comes Mercury with the idea that it would not hurt to detach and think it through a bit. Bet some of you reading can already feel the resistance coming up in your throat. After all, why mess with something that we are so deeply attached to and invested in that we don’t even know it? Why indeed. Because it’s time, that’s why.
When Juno and Mercury are currently in a tense aspect — a square (90 degrees) — to where they both opposed when Juno was discovered, when that axis is currently an integral part of the cardinal t-square, can there be any clearer indicator that it’s time to resolve tension rather than perpetuate it? Can it be any more plain that an integration of intellect with emotions is long overdue in our personal lives? Can it be any more evident that the relationship modeled by Juno and Jupiter is a paradigm we can afford to lose? So how do we get there, how do we break those chains we have bound ourselves with?
That’s where Mars and Vesta come in. Both have an association with fire. Vesta is named after the vestal virgins of ancient Rome. An honored and authentically autonomous tradition that took care of the symbolic eternal flame that sustained the empire from the inside. Mars, of course, was the patron of the military that used fire prominently as a weapon to protect the empire from the outside.
Besides fire in the literal sense, the soldiers and priestesses had one thing in common. Going through the motions was not going to cut it. Simply observing ceremony or following orders would not do the job. Dedication was not enough. In order to do their job, the internal flame of passion was required. Only then could the external, symbolic flame be sustained. Only then could the hotly contained battle be won. Only then could the most demanding standards be met and the most arduous labors completed. This is called devotion.
In Virgo the two aspects of devotion, Mars and Vesta, action and service, are integrated and grounded in a mutable earth sign, ruled by Mercury. This lends a supple discretion to this second conjunction, leading us away from the fixation and obsession that fiery passion can sometimes lead to.
Finally the sextile of today’s conjunctions in the sign of Cancer and Virgo can serve to encourage us that an opportunity is there to act on just as much as there is a tension. That opportunity being the integration of what inside us has been so long opposed. An integration, undertaken in the spirit of devotion, solidifies our relationship first with ourselves then with others.
And while all this is going on, at the same time, on the same day, our cosmic familiars, the Moon and Sun form a brief but powerful trine (120 degrees) from the mutable water sign of Pisces to the cardinal water sign of Cancer. That says something powerful: it need not be such a struggle. If we can start from the inside and employ our passion to implement changes there, then it will easily flow to the outer expression of devotion and bring about a new season for us all.
But here’s the trick. None of us can do it alone. We have to find a way to do it together.
Offered In Service
To the amazing PlanetWaves community, thank you from the bottom of my opened heart for your love, your words, your experiences, your sharing. I wish I had the time at this moment to reply to each one of you, to express how your words moved and affected me, the resonance I feel with your own experiences. I am enfolded, held, and lifted up by you all. Although our community is “virtual”, there is nothing virtual about the energetic field of love that we create. How powerful it is. In the end, while the cosmos performs its infinite, eternal grand dance, we, these tiny specks of stardust, do our best to “protect, and love, and greet each other” (thank you, Rilke, for those words that also touched my soul). For protecting, loving, and greeting me, I thank you. Many blessings back to you all, and Namaste.
Awesome, jseward. Tears were stinging my eyes, too, as I read your post. My hope is that we all can ride the energy reflected in the skies these days as well as you have done.
Your heart is free and you had enough awareness to make it happen. Hats off to you. Namaste.
Dr. Seward,
Thank you for so courageously and eloquently sharing your synchronous experience.
Moved beyond further words at the moment.
To all others,
Thank you for making the Planet Waves daily astrology blog a safe place for Dr. Seward to receive your compassionate support.
Len,
As always, this is a mighty thoughtful piece you have written. I would like to comment on your words, “Surviving the peril is our imperative. Making the most of the perspective is the means by which that challenge can be met. That’s where astrology comes in.”
Earlier today I was moved by the U.S. President’s words as he spoke about immigration reform, especially when he recalled how the Statue of Liberty came to be and what it stood for. it seemed to fit into an image I got when looking at the U.S. chart and how transiting Jupiter and Uranus were at the nadir.
If one thinks of the U.S. as a living plant with Jupiter and Uranus at the roots and Saturn at the midheaven, then the Aries conjunct planets might represent the plant fertilizer (or Miracle Gro, sorry Fe and other gardeners) stimulating new growth, while Saturn represents the earth and the container or space for the plant.
With Pluto on one side to prune the dead growth and the Solstice Sun, Eclipsed Sun and the natal Cancer Sun on the other side to provide the necessary water, the plant would either thrive or perish depending on how well the 4 necessities worked together. Too little or too much of Miracle Gro, pruning, watering and too dry or too moist the soil would determine the outcome.
As Pres. Obama spoke I realized that new immigration laws, like new healthcare laws or financial reform, or any of the other new possibilities discussed recently might be thought of as seeds or seedlings, then the same 4 necessary functions of the Cardinal T-square + the emphasis on Cancer in the U.S. Chart (Sun, Jupiter, Venus) seemed less threatening and more like an experiment in cooperation. Not as easy as it sounds of course, but the possibilities!
If Jupiter represented the seeds and Uranus the Miracle Gro, they would need to develop and be allowed to surface the earth, all the while the correct amount of water was being supplied. Pruning would keep the space for that “surfacing” free of weeds.
The emotional feelings that the President’s words awoke in me made me think that something wonderful might, just possibly, come to pass for this country, that he was watering the invisable seeds, and so, for-the-moment, I put aside the gloom and fear and concentrated on the wonder of this possibility. I’m making the most of this perspective and thought some of your readers might too.
jseward,
Thank you for sharing your experience and feelings. I hope you and your father will have more opportunities to share this long overdue awakening. Like Fe said, we are all feeling the love between you and your dad.
be
“Father” and what that means to me has shifted (with much conscious support on my part) with this last eclipise’n’cross.
My own biological has only served the negative more and more over his (and my) years – making the abuse I suffered under his hand and tounge (hitting with both) louder and more overt as the year/s pass.
My mother chose long ago to live out her years withdrawn and in denial, never altering the situation of her life externally.
And so jseward; your story tears me too…for this moment is upon me too – only I must do it without my father’s help; or without his positive reinforcement.
To find MY truth within his deceit is not a contest to pit child against father as experience or history might suggest but rather – an opportunity for me to use the circumstances I have been given to find and use my truth to enlighten the world around me. If my father should ever recognize my life differently than he does, that too, is his choice.
Does that make sense? Len I apologize – I haven’t actually read you yet – your choice of quote spoke so loudly that I posted ahead of myself….Devotion not discipline is certainly at the core of the bridgeless chasm between Father and mySelf.
I too, thank you, jseward for sharing your wonderful story – both for the reality it is for you/us and for its representation of this shift we must now make…….may we find release from choices our fathers made – those that are not ours to take forward.
Jseward,
I read your message this morning before going out. Walking to the hospital to have a blood test, I was thinking of it. I feel a lot of feelings, but the main thing I want to express is my support to you and your father. I understand so well what you are talking about. It must be a specialty of fathers of a certain age to be like this, maybe.
I was asking myself if my father was the same. Non exactly. He is asking for ‘duty’, but one day he cried in front of me saying that it was love that he has always wanted. You can imagine what that moment has been.
Today I had two blood drawings in the same day, and I am usually quite scared just for one. So after the second I went to see my parents. I felt like ‘wanting mum’! My father was there, and he said “I am here, I’ll cheer you up!”. So I told him all what happened. Then my mother came, and she said “Two blood tests, that’s nothing, come on…” And he replied: “For HER it was something”. You know? He almost never showed comprehension in this way, acceptance.
You are doing something wonderful. All my support and love to you.
jseward:
I am moved by the release of the tremendous weight that both you and your father agreed to let go. There is so much power in sharing this, and by and large, it feels as though the love between you and your father, come to full expression in this moment, is being felt by all of us.
I am crying too! I was at my father’s side for his passing as well, and it was the most powerful spiritual experience of my life. Blessings for finding joy and peace in your journey.
Shebear13 – you are a beautiful soul, now I am the one who is crying 🙂
Thank you for your blessings and loving support – many blessings back!
J
Jseward:
Tears flowed down my cheeks as I read your post this morning. Thank you for sharing with PW the powerful reconnection you had yesterday with your father.
How beautiful that you found the courage to follow your intuition and created the necessary space for the hidden love between the both of you to rise to the surface. From personal experience (hence my tears) I know this moment will center your life more fully in love and devotion.
Blessings on both your journeys.
Exquisite, as always, Len. I would like to share a personal illustration of your insightful interpretation of the current cosmos. My dad is soon to be leaving this earth, after a long illness. I’ve been showing up at his bedside, doing my “duty” to help along the process, but was increasingly aware that there was some unfinished business that was keeping my father here, long after he should have made his transition. Through a wonderful psychic, my intuition was confirmed that, indeed, my father did have unfinished business having to do with our relationship, specifically his wish for me that I open my heart to him in the dying process and stop phoning it in.
In other words, to turn my discipline to devotion.
His part of the contract was an apology for having steered me in that direction to begin with, as his own heart had been compromised by early abuse, and he had gone into his intellect for protection. Now, in his dying hours, he had learned the lesson that love is all there is, and wanted to be sure to share it with me before he passed. We had a wonderful opportunity to heal this piece of business yesterday, between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. EDT (wonder what the planets were doing then?); my heart opened, my discipline turned to true devotion, and my father moved one significant step further along his path to transition. And today, we have reinforcements of family coming in to further ease his passing (and my flame-keeping), making the passage easier for everyone. Len, I know the personal is political, but the personal is always the cauldron for what comes next. As my father leaves I know I’ll be freed to take this new realization into the world of action in the community.
Thank you for your beautiful insights and images, I carry them through.
Blessings!