Reconfiguration

By Len Wallick

Today the Sun and Moon double down in Sagittarius, covering a couple of big cosmic bets. That will be our focus for this blog.

Further into this week Mars moves on to Capricorn followed by Mercury’s retrograde station in the same sign. Before we get to all the details of those things it would be worth our while to look back at the past several days while we have a chance to look back at all.

If you are reading this you have survived quite a weekend. It started off last Friday when Mars squared off with Uranus although most of us were feeling the tension inside of us days before that. Considering the potential, things could have been a good deal more disruptive. After nearly a year of notorious unpredictability, it appears that Mars is finally getting back to a more traditional pattern of being as strong or stronger in application as it is in aspect and/or separation.

Another modulating influence may have been that in astrology, just as in real estate, it’s location, location, location. In an interesting synchronization, Friday saw the functional Aquarius conjunction of Chiron and Neptune at the same degree of that sign as Uranus in Pisces and Mars in Sagittarius. Think of it as a buffer. For example, are you one of the many who uncharacteristically and unexpectedly overslept at least once last week? What felt like an inconvenience at the time could have been a saving grace.

Saturday saw the Moon begin a literal and figurative crash course in Sagittarius. Mercury channeled the energy once removed in a brief conjunction with the Capricorn lunar node. Considering that Old Fleet Foot was but a week away from stationing, some may have had a glimpse of how head and heart will modulate during the retrograde period.

Then yesterday, we witnessed the “crowded house” New Moon when the two luminaries conjoined in Sagittarius within goosing distance of a dozen other objects. That of course does not count the exponential number of aspects to other signs. It is as if the solar system were running a global utility, reaching into nearly every corner of the zodiac cleaning house, preparing for something new.

Last night, when Uranus stationed direct, we got a glimpse of what that might be. As you are reading this, all nine of the so-called major planets are in apparent forward motion. That does not happen very often. It will last until Mercury stations retrograde on Friday. This is a good opportunity to pay attention to what is happening to you and what comes to your awareness. Compare it to last week and the week to follow. See what you come up with.

That’s a brief review of the eventful three days since our previous correspondence. Three days that gave us a sobering perspective. We watched one corporate poseur after another drop the pretense and expose themselves for the shills they are as they figuratively lined up to slip a shiv to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. It poses a legitimate concern and some reasonable questions. If he can be shut down and cut off, any of us can. Indeed, all of us can. Whether or not this is actually planned remains to be seen. The potential is out in the open now and we can see how it would work and consider alternatives.

One alternative is to begin getting better acquainted with other human beings within walking distance from where we live. Another is to re-locate close to those who constitute a community that reflects our interests and values. That is one thing yesterday’s New Moon may have been symbolizing for us. It may not have been a crowded house at all. It may have been an assemblage for a purpose.

Now it’s Monday. The Sun and Moon are still the featured players and Sagittarius is still the playing field. It is not rare or unusual for either of the luminaries to conjoin with the Great Attractor or the Galactic Center. It is an annual event for Sol and a monthly meet-up for Luna. Today is a bit more unusual and hence, auspicious with mutual conjunctions on the same day.

The Sun starts things off this morning by sliding over to exact its yearly hook-up with the Great Attractor. Let’s break it down. As objects move around the zodiac chart, it is a representation of how they appear (or would appear, in some cases) from our perspective here on Earth. The angular relationships between two or more objects are called aspects. Different angles mean different things and these meanings are incorporated with the interpretation of the objects themselves and the signs and/or houses where they are located.

Among aspects, the conjunction is most fundamental — two objects at the same longitudinal position. That seems simple, but right away you get into some choices. Is it a zero degree or a 360 degree angular relationship? It may sound silly, but it makes a difference to some people all the time and nearly everyone some of the time. It introduces another parameter — in what direction are each of the conjoined objects moving? The evident unification of energies is also not so basic. It can be said that they work together but it may be easy and harmonious in one case while tense and contentious in another. Finally, when two objects are conjoined, they are essentially one, making it difficult to distinguish one from another for a short time.

Because it is the star at the center of our solar system and the fundamental fact from which our existence is derived, the Sun is as plain as the nose on your face. As a matter of fact, in astrology it can be representative of your face. The conscious, willful and creative expression of self, shining out into the world for all to see. It is familiar, essential and we are thoroughly integrated with it.

The Great Attractor is almost none of those things. It is not plain to see. We can’t see it at all. Our physical senses are useless in detecting it. It is far away, beyond what we can imagine far to be. There is no point of reference. We don’t know what it is. We only know what it does, or seems to do. Millions of galaxies like our own — each consisting of billions of stars like our Sun — are moving in its direction. This is apparently due to gravity, although even that is not absolutely certain. It’s just the best explanation we have. It is not, so far as we can tell, essential to our existence. We got along quite well before we became aware of it and would appear to be able to go on very well without it. It is not integral to our being.

So when you get right down to it, it is the Sun that makes our existence possible. On the other hand, it is our knowledge of it that makes the existence of the Great Attractor evident. Their conjunction is that of mind and consciousness. It is the unification of direct self-awareness and inductive reasoning. One is close and familiar, the other is unknowable and far from our experience.

Our day ends with a converse conjunction between the Moon and the center of our galaxy. While Luna is not the first principle of existence that the Sun is, it is not so far from being so. If it is not essential to life itself, it is at least important to the continuation of life as we know it. By serving as a sort of gyroscope, the Moon stabilizes the motion of the Earth, giving rise to the regular cycles of days and seasons. It is through and from these cycles that existence is elevated to living and learning.

The Sun provides the nourishment, the Moon provides the rhythm. So it is in astrology that Luna complements Sol by representing that which balances the conscious or willful or expressive with the unconscious, emotional, and intuitive. To express it another way, the Earth is of the Sun, the Moon is of the Earth.

The Moon in conjunction with the center of our galaxy is a more familiar, less polarized and paradoxical pairing than the Sun and Great Attractor. The Galactic Center is more amenable to definition. We can actually see it and define it by deductive reasoning. It is identifiable as the axis about which a discreet and finite number of bodies trace their orbits. With that it has something in common with Earth and the Moon can relate by association. But it is an association twice removed. It is as if ephemeral, sensual awareness were confronted by abstract and spiritual mystery. There are analogous means by which the difference can be bridged, but there is nonetheless a great chasm between perceptions.

The conjunction of the Moon with the Galactic Center is like a conversation between an ordinary human and an ascended master. The same aspect between the Sun and Great Attractor is like an exceptional human attempting to communicate with an alien life form. Metaphorically, one might seek to complete the circle and make sense of these nearly concurrent aspects by asking what the ascended master and alien life form might have in common.

What the center of our galaxy and the Great Attractor have in common is the sign of Sagittarius, the highest evolution of the fire element. Retaining the spontaneity of Aries and Leo’s need for fuel it elevates fire to a purpose. This purpose is to carry on from Scorpio’s metamorphic and transformational imperative and make it manifest, then extend that manifestation into an ideal that will take form in Capricorn. It is a mutable sign which reduces the previous season out of structure so that structure can be initiated again. Finally, far beyond the extent of any other sign it takes on an identity from its two long term constituents.

In other words, there is a symbiosis at work here. It is not eternal but it is indeed epochal. The Galactic Center has been in Sagittarius since the early centuries of our current Gregorian calendar and it has a couple more centuries to go. The apparent movement of the Great Attractor is even more imperceptible due to its distance. Taking in consideration the designation of ninth house in the traditional western zodiac (and extending to sixth in the Thema Mundi), neither the Sun nor Moon are indigenous to Sagittarius. It is indeed a place evolved beyond earthly existence trying to converse with that which is not of the Earth at all.

Our familiar luminaries contact the unfamiliar today. In doing so they acquaint us with what might be in store this new lunar cycle. We are also prepared for a solar transition in a few short weeks, functionally concurrent with the fulfillment of what the Moon started yesterday. So if you feel out of sorts or out of place, if you find yourself uncertain or undefined, take heart. You are a part of it all. This is a good time to be alive. Things are not falling apart and we are not helpless. There is an opportunity given to those of us who exist on this planet at this time. It is a chance to manifest our own existence into form, a form that has the potential to last a long, long time. It is in our everyday, mundane choices that process will take place.

Choose carefully, think of yourself as a part of it all when you do. You are making a difference one way or the other, whether you know it or not. Try a conjunction of your own — that of your choices with your intent.

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