Modulation

By Len Wallick

Since this is your curmudgeon correspondent’s final blog of 2010, some expressions of gratitude are in order.

Profound and astonished thanks to Eric who plucked yours truly out of the back pew and put him in the choir without an audition or background check. Still don’t know what you were thinking, dude. May it come to pass that Karma reward you in proportion to your audacious, unaccountable decision. Thank you as well for your daily example of integrity, maturity, compassion and responsibility.

A huge debt of thanks also goes out to Fe Bongolan and Amanda Painter, my intellectual and creative superiors, for so kindly acquiescing to edit the mundane musings of (let’s face it, folks) a functional illiterate without portfolio, diploma or degree. Their gracious and patient support helped provide the readers of Planet Waves with something readable. Fe and Amanda, you have helped me to improve. Still trying to figure out how to return the favor.

Anatoly, thank you for providing the magic carpet and for the underlying presence of a true giant among men. Judith, Sarah, Carol, and other author-contributors, thank you for your inspiring words and for exquisite writing styles to aspire to. There are, for sure, others who have served me without introduction and my thanks go to them as well. To Tracy Delaney, Kirsti Melto and other great astrologers, thank you for showing how it’s done. Perhaps one shall eventually learn from your example.

And to you, the readers of Daily Astrology, thank you. It’s in your service, after all. Special thanks go out to those who comment, offering erudition, support, and keeping the old man honest. Barbara, Patty, Mysti, Lisa, Ursula, Yeti, Don, both Hazels, Lindas, Jere, Sophie, heck, please forgive me for not naming all of you. The sure knowledge that any one of you could do a better job than your unlikely hack makes one want to improve with each passing day. Please know that doing this — this astrology in service — is where the old guy’s heart is. It is a source of joy even in the darkest hours of the night. Even in the depths of fatigue it is never drudgery. It is the highest sort privilege. May you all see the passage from 2010 to 2011 safely and joyfully.

On to today’s astrology. Last night, this morning or later today, depending on your time zone, we find Mercury stationing direct one third of the way back into Sagittarius. We are on the last leg of an extraordinary retrograde period. First, consider the synchrony. Mercury entered the first echo phase, crossing the point where it is now, on the same day the Sun moved into Sagittarius. It will end the second echo phase, crossing the point where it stationed retrograde, about 48 hours before the Sun moves out of Capricorn. Sadge and Cap are the two signs over which the pendulum swings of this Mercury retrograde have taken place.

Even when one considers that Mercury is never far away from the Sun, those are remarkable tolerances. In terms of both the temporal and spatial boundaries of this particular cycle, Sol has been the soul inside the machine. It has opened the curtain. It has marked the stage. It will extinguish the house lights and break down the set after the last act. Fittingly, this retrograde, at least so far, has been a more luminous experience than we have grown accustomed to. Some of that may be accounted for by what came before.

The three previous retro events, going back to 2009, were entirely within Earth signs. They served well to provide time for sorting things out during the cardinal point T-square. But there was also a grind, a rub your nose in it quality that made those review periods a bit drab, even a chore. Then there were the concurrent weighty matters of whether our earthly enterprises, even our existence could continue as our planet rebelled and expelled putting us into our place and very nearly out of it. What did we learn? Consciously very little, if our continued unrepentant behavior is any indicator. Unconsciously? Well it appears that something did sink in, or at least sober us up.

Now, with two signs involved, our eyes have been lifted to the Sun, already mentioned as delineator. They’ve also been lifted to the center of our galaxy, thrice crossed by Mercury alone, and to a crucial cardinal point soon to be re-engaged by epochal planet aspects. We looked up to one of the two boundaries where the realm of Saturn and Jupiter meet (the other being between Aquarius and Pisces) as they manifest and meld complimentary energies of expansion and constraint. What are we learning?

From the frequent and repetitive conjunctions with and aspects to Mercury we have learned to discern our way through complexity. We have been breaking longer trends down and distinguishing the qualities of each day — at once like any other and on the other hand like none ever before. In the transition from the previous pattern to a new one we started to see both the consequences and the potential. Oil, copper, cotton, wheat and corn are recently more expensive and unlikely to become less so as the constraints of a finite world come into contact with expanding population and economies. Even as Jupiter applies to conjoin Uranus one last time in Pisces, today’s Sagittarius station indicates that we — each and every one of us as agents of change and innovation — can serve as a counter balance. We can manifest an expansion of creativity and adapt to a new reality rather than resist it. We need not be subject to circumstance, indeed, we are being presented with the opportunity to shape it.

Yes, there are the familiar lessons repeated at least three times a year as Mercury reminds while reversing. Patience is a virtue. Conscious and careful communication is an imperative. Attending to closure and thrift are a responsibility. We can expect to be confronted by the synchronized challenges to the electronic devices and modes of transport upon which we increasingly rely and take for granted. Therefore we can best prepare by either reducing our dependence or preparing alternatives.

Finally, lest we forget, this particular Mercury retrograde contains within it another cycle. An eclipse cycle. With all the distractions of holiday season, we can be excused if we did not notice a different texture since the Full Moon darkened with a ruddy flux. We can be easily forgiven if we noticed the shift but ascribed it to a simultaneous change of season. This has been as stealthy an onset to eclipse energy as memory will serve to recall. But make no mistake, it will not feel that way on the other side. We will notice.

The co-creative improvisations associated with jazz have been a touchstone in our blogs this week. One of the characteristics that distinguish the flavor and challenge of that art is the modulation. For most of the history of music that term was reserved for describing a change of key that functions to provide structure and form, discerning one part of a piece from another.

With the advent of jazz, everything was subject to modulation. Tempo, timbre, phrasing, you name it, and on the fly yet. This, of course, requires not only proficiency but compatibility among the participating musicians so that the collaboration retains some form of coherent continuity. One must listen and play with no predetermined structure and no net. One must trust and be trusted. The reward is an act of true love. Love for music and for the limitless human potential that music at once inspires and represents. The really great thing is that, considering the reward, the penalties of messing up are rather negligible. The worst thing that could happen is consignment to the woodshed until humility, devotion and practice allow a musician to return to the common, creative fold.

The partial solar eclipse on January 4 will represent just such a modulation. Even as the Mercury retrograde is in its final movement, the key, tone, rhythm and dynamic will change again. This time it will not be obscured or overshadowed. It will be explicit and it will be appropriate. For just as this special Mercury retrograde period has risen from the boundaries of earth to bridge sign, season and dispositor, it will also serve as a crossing from one calendar year to another. What better way to do that than by exercising the tool of modulation?

Fear not, this is music. After all, would you really want to play in a new year with the same old song just because it’s safe and familiar? So, get loose, relax, limber up your fingers and prepare your embouchure. Listen, the cats are already starting to warm up. That’s where we pick up next Monday in our first blog of 2011. Can you dig it?

Offered In Service

31 thoughts on “Modulation”

  1. Carrie declares: “behind the scenes you also seem to know exactly when and how to offer the caring hand of love and gentle inspiration.”

    Hear-hear.

    M

  2. Thanks Eric, Len, PW and everyone here for all that you do This is truly a remarkable place.

    For me, the three Merc Rx’s have been financially extremely trying. We are already very low on accessible resources; when things break down during Merc Rx, it costs us money we really didn’t need to spend on those. I have four computers (all given to me, all used) that we have because the kids use these to homeschool (homeschool is actually cheaper than putting them in public school…I am NOT kidding). Some are fairly new. First Merc rx, one hard drive died and had to be replaced. Second Merc Rx, another hard drive died and had to be replaced; it was less than a year old and was a different one that had died during the previous year’s Merc Rx. It was the most important HD because it had all the family pics on it and documents. I cried because it will take $1600 to retrieve that info from a clean room data recovery company and we don’t have that kind of expendable income. We also had to have our washer fixed, and the owner of our rented home had to replace both a dishwasher AND an electric stove. This last Merc Rx, my washer again needed the same part replaced that we had paid for the previous Merc Rx AND our third computer is now not booting, my husband’s laptop wouldn’t boot AND our car now needs a $700 repair for a new AC compressor that if left unrepaired will eventually sieze the engine up. He cannot drive it and his job is 50 miles away…one way. We do have another car but that means leaving me with no car to take the kids to their various enrichment activities (they have one per week which is free) or to Dr. appointments etc.

    Can I say I HATE Merc Rx yet? :::sheepish grin::::

    I have learned that I must back up everything on the computer but as for the car and appliance issues, we already maintain them very well but cannot save money for repairs or buy warranty coverage because we haven’t the resources for those. So what I have learned about Merc Rx and my life is that it sucks and we brace ourselves. It is often difficult to remain positive during these times.

    I hope the Merc Rx’s of 2011 are less financially taxing on us.

    Other than that, I remain optimistic and hope this next year allows us to do the things we need to do to raise our kids with good brain connections, kindness, compassion, open minds, and the ability to keep thinking for themselves.

    My husband and I are mortgaging our “retirement” and old age in order to do that but my kids are worth every second of time and every penny. No one else will invest in them so we choose to do so, despite the negative feedback we often get from society, our extended families, and our peers for doing so.

    My Mom has been here since the Lunar eclipse and won’t leave until the Solar one….she is driving me crazy with her controlling, her criticizing, her bragging about how great her new house and life is, her bragging about how great my brother’s kids are, her bragging about how mucvh money my brother will be getting in his new job ($238K) and her reminders about how she helped both my brothers in BIG ways financially which allowed them both to be financially stable while I am not. Her being here hurts so much at times that i ask myself why I allow her to come yet I do it because I am trying to be a decent human being and honor the good things she did for me, hard to remember though they may be. I am not her favorite but I am the one the seems to want to latch on to and suck all the attention from while controlling. Why do people of her generation seem to want ALL my generation’s attention and groveling while they seek to deny my children a decent future by voting to get rid of every educational advantage or every financial social safety net?
    Just a few more days….then we will have peace.

  3. Ah Len. What many here may not know about your already wonderful kindnesses and words of lyrical poetic compassion and light is this: behind the scenes you also seem to know exactly when and how to offer the caring hand of love and gentle inspiration. You did that for me and it worked wonders. I imagine you have done it for many others throughout your life and these people are the better for your efforts.

    Folks, Len is a quiet and compassionate hand in your darkest moments. He touches you so lightly and carefully and with utmost sweetness that you are instantly renewed and able to walk again in the light.

    For that and all that you openly do, I love you to pieces, Len and wish you the best 2011.

    You are truly a joy-giver.

  5. I can’t say much more than this, since so much has been said already.

    Thank you, Len, for your stories of the stars. I don’t always get the finer points, but no matter: the others will fill me in, and make me feel less dense. As time goes by, I have learned those waypoints of the stars and let them point out the path to me.

    Thank you, everyone, for all the conversations, facts, stories, and poetry this year. May the changes we seek come to fruition, and those we don’t die on the vine.

    Happy New Year!

  7. Patty:

    Love the list. I think I’ve covered alot, but I’m going to print this and keep up on the fridge. Going to work on a couple of classic books that I’ve never read to start with. I have brought over home made plum upside down cake to my neighbor on my right but not on my left. And I do swear by my cast iron pots!

  9. “Blessed are the way-show’ers for they shall shine brightly!”
    Amen to that Jude — that’s a clever and beautiful beatitude for our *one of a kind* Len. Thank the heavens (along with Eric’s intuition and astute plucking and placement of Len at the helm for three awesome mornings a week) — what would we do without a certain west coaster’s “curmudgeonly” 😉 charm three mornings a week, to set us on our merry ways each day, I ask myself?

    I pull into the PW harbour each morning alongside all the other explorers, seeking reassurance, and in turn I get *untold* scholarly guidance about the stars. What an education you have been, Len — thank you so much. Then once I’m topped up and sort of “get” the picture, I feel set for my daily dance.

    Thank you to Len, and to Eric and everyone that puts together the PW site, and to all who grace the site each and every day sharing their energies and wisdom, making this such a wonderful place to drop in. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’ve grown immensely since I started dropping in here, and it’s all thanks to this amazing site that brims with integrity, wisdom and community.

    Thank you everyone, and I hope you all enjoy ringing in the new year, and the brand new decade, tomorrow night around our globe!

  10. Got this in my email, and don’t know if it’s been posted before, but this just seems right for the thread and the PW community – good advice all round:

    Captain Beefheart’s 10 Commandments of Guitar Playing

    1. Listen to the birds.

    That’s where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren’t going anywhere.

    2. Your guitar is not really a guitar Your guitar is a divining rod.

    Use it to find spirits in the other world and bring them over. A guitar is also a fishing rod. If you’re good, you’ll land a big one.

    3. Practice in front of a bush

    Wait until the moon is out, then go outside, eat a multi-grained bread and play your guitar to a bush. If the bush doesn’t shake, eat another piece of bread.

    4. Walk with the devil

    Old Delta blues players referred to guitar amplifiers as the “devil box.” And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you’re bringing over from the other side. Electricity attracts devils and demons. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.

    5. If you’re guilty of thinking, you’re out

    If your brain is part of the process, you’re missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something that is fur bearing.

    6. Never point your guitar at anyone

    Your instrument has more clout than lightning. Just hit a big chord then run outside to hear it. But make sure you are not standing in an open field.

    7. Always carry a church key

    That’s your key-man clause. Like One String Sam. He’s one. He was a Detroit street musician who played in the fifties on a homemade instrument. His song “I Need a Hundred Dollars” is warm pie. Another key to the church is Hubert Sumlin, Howlin’ Wolf’s guitar player. He just stands there like the Statue of Liberty-making you want to look up her dress the whole time to see how he’s doing it.

    8. Don’t wipe the sweat off your instrument

    You need that stink on there. Then you have to get that stink onto your music.

    9. Keep your guitar in a dark place

    When you’re not playing your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. If you don’t play your guitar for more than a day, be sure you put a saucer of water in with it.

    10. You gotta have a hood for your engine

    Keep that hat on. A hat is a pressure cooker. If you have a roof on your house, the hot air can’t escape. Even a lima bean has to have a piece of wet paper around it to make it grow.

  12. Thanks Len and Eric….with a favorite verse from Dylan that sorta makes me think of everyone here…

    Shelter from the Storm

    I was in another lifetime one of toil and blood
    When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud
    I came in from the wilderness a creature void of form
    “Come in” she said
    “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”.

  13. susyc:
    DimeStories? Cool! As regards to the 3-minute limit, that would appear to be their problem, not yours. Congratulations on being being so creative within such demanding limits. Sort of like Saturn square Uranus?

    Jude,
    You are so very generous, thank you. Will always look to your example of mastery in writing, ACIM and grounded perspective.

  14. Only one other person besides you Len, ever encouraged my interest in jazz. That would be Billy Taylor who died last Tuesday and he was 89 years old. I remembered watching him play the piano on TV in the 50’s and got a bit nostalgic for the “good old days”. Curiosity led me to his birth chart where I found a perfect trine between Pluto in Cancer and Uranus in Pisces. A different time and a different aspect in the never-ending cycles of life. He came in when the water signs were trumpeting their harmonious trine and he goes out as the harsh square of these generation-marking planets are in cardinal signs. He was also born 47 days before a Jupiter and Saturn conjunction and he died 90 days before the final opposition between them of this cycle. There really is a time for every thing and every one I am sure.

    The cycles we find ourselves in now are different, maybe harsher, more sophisticated in some ways, but people do still love music. Maybe not so much the same music, but with jazz I guess it lives on and never dies but it recreates itself. I’m pretty sure that’s what you are saying we should do too, “as long as we retain some form of coherent continuity.” Well, that sounds doable!

    However, I for one would like to ring out the old year with a bit of the same old song. . . . We’ll take a cup of kindness yet for Auld Lang Syne.” Thanks for making this a better year and a better world for all of us Len. Cheers and Happy New Year to All!
    be

  15. PS. Thanks all for your compliments on my little story which I am sure is not to everyone’s taste, but I must boast I did get an Honorable Mention off it on DimeStories when I read it this month. I might have placed if I’d been willing to read it within the 3 minute limit, but I would have had to sacrifice my twangy drawl, which was too much for me as an artiste! (She said in a self sacrificing minor key.) 😉

  17. Len dear, you’re a poet and troubadour, a wise one and a fine, patient teacher — all those things, despite your protestations. But mostly, you are a Master of Heart. It is woven into your every thought and word so what can we do but love you back? You, like others of us here, have dipped our toes in the waters of ACIM’s notion that “giving and receiving are one,” and found the water fine. I know that what you ‘offer in service’ serves you as well and, essentially, that is humankinds real template for tomorrow. And so I’ve written a beatitude for you:

    Blessed are the way-show’ers for they shall shine brightly!

  18. susyc:
    (1) Thank you for your musical “soap opera”.
    (2) Eric never “hired” me, i serve without salary so that my love will have a place to go.

    Fe:
    Thank you for relating that story. Did not know that. It’s a great comfort to have someone see in me what i cannot see in myself. Thank you for that.

  19. Len, it is apparent that your heart is in it. My thanks to you. Much of the writing here is over my head, but I truly appreciate it.

  21. Len, darling:

    When I first read your comments here on the PW blog, I always thought they were written with cadence, style, rise and emotion — exactly, as I described to Eric, “Like music”.

    Editing you has been like learning a new piece of music on the piano, and its alot like dramaturgy–which I do outside this web universe — finding the music inside the words and letting that song out of its cage. And Len, believe this. You are truly a celestial musician and composer.

    Looking forward to more in 2011.

  22. And thank YOU Len for your spectacular blogs, and thanks to all of you talented folks at PW.
    With love and lots of good wishes for 2011. “If music be the food of love…”
    Liz xx

  23. The lovely thing about music, especially music that invites and expects improvisation, is that many ‘mistakes’ can be turned to the advantage of the player and the group and often contribute to the development of the piece. I find the same thing in my artwork. It takes acceptance that part of the process is out of my control and, that that’s not always a bad thing. I like to think that many mistakes are Creator getting into the mix out of our silly Creator’s irresistible urge to play with her children.

    Your appreciations at the beginning of your piece today, Len, make me appreciate you and all those you mentioned even more. I think it’s great that you got hired without a background check. Hmmmm… I wonder if Eric chose you for your chart…. Maybe he did a star check on you.

    Anyhow, before your musical theme is completely over I want to share this fabulously silly creation with you and your fans. Consider it a gift in the spirit of the season. Love, susy

    Musical Interlude-A Soap Opera

    Rainbow Cello had married an eight string lyre who had her cryin’ all of the time and playing her tiny violin in self-pitying melodies in minor keys. He was always leaving her at home alone with the infants cheating on her with Viola who, while shapely, was never in tune. “I don’t care about that bastard,” Rainbow said to herself furiously. “He’s always had a tin ear, and one of these days he’ll empty his rainstick into the wrong cow’s bell and get the shit beat out of him by an angry bassoon.”

    Her constant jealousy was depressing. That lyre had a new lie to tell on each of his eight strings, and he’d never stop being able to piss her off in C major or tug on her heartstrings in D minor with all his excuses and begging. And to add insult to injury, it was clear now he’d never find that spot on her G string and even if he did, he wouldn’t know what to do with it. Simultaneous double stop finger fluttering was so far beyond him he’d never even heard that angelic note she trilled when a lover got it right.

    Finally her girlfriend Dulcimer said, “Come on honey, bring your chickies and come out with me. You’ve got to get out and quit playing the tiny violin for that stinkin’ lyre and have some fun. Let’s go to the traveling carnival! The babies’ll love it and you will too.”

    Despite her sweet name, Dulcimer was a Taurus and persistence was her middle name, so Rainbow didn’t argue. They scooped up the babies, of which there were eight now, Profligate Fecundity being Rainbow’s middle names, and took the night bus to the carnival.

    The babies radiated around them peepin’, pluckin’ and bouncin’ spiccatos with excitement as they wandered the fair. Dulcimer’s dad may be a juice harp, but he had deep pockets and a generous spirit, and Rainbow’s fragile heart swelled as her babies got to ride the zippers, ferris wheels, and teacups — boogers, wet diapers and major blowouts notwithstanding.

    Suddenly a shakade percussed in the midst of a traveling band and a five string banjo with washboard abs and twinkling eyes caught Rainbow’s attention with his bright smile. Besides his pickin’ he was finger lickin’ good, takin’ to her and the babies, makin’ promises out the kazoo, puttin’ her all in a zither and a dither about what to do, what to do…

    Dulcimer went home alone from the carnival that night, full of her friend’s promises to stay in touch and comforted by the knowledge that five string banjos had honest and faithful hearts, not to mention fabulous lovemaking skills and super-sensitive G string manipulations. He’ll make a much better partner and lover than that eight string lyre, she thought, and little didgeridoo, pennywhistle, fiddledeedee and the rest would find happiness with their joyous mother who could finally throw away her tiny violin and quit cryin’ all of the time….

  24. And what you’re saying about music…yeah. My life has a lot of it right now. The interface between martial arts and musical arts is a fruitful one for the process of self transformation, root building, and strengthening of calm and clarity of mind.

  25. Len,

    Welcome 😉

    I’ve noticed a shift for sure. With Saturn at 0º Cancer and Sol~Mercury at 12-14º Capricorn you bet I notice. Throw in Saturn opposing my Chiron and getting himself conjunct the ascendant of my next solar return. Bla bla bla…that’s how the sky looks from here in my local space. The ground looks like more collaboration with more different kinds of people than I’ve ever known before.

  30. I’m pretty sure I read this in one of your blogs this year, it may have been you writing, or it may have been one of your readers, but I wrote it down and read it every day – “May all your kindness make its way back to you this year”, for you and all of Planet Waves. I thank you all for being here.

  31. Profound and astonished thanks to you AND Eric ! I am filled with gratitude that you bless me with your words 3 times a week. I look forward to each and every segment.

Leave a Comment