Dear Friend and Reader:
Well, it’s been two weeks on the road with a brief stop home last week — and at last I’m here for a while. I have been teaching, thinking about, writing about and doing astrology nonstop most of that time — and a lot of ideas have come up, particularly some excellent revelations in the Omega Institute workshop. Thankfully there are a lot of people waiting to have their pictures taken and I am definitely in the mood to indulge myself in art rather than in ideas.
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One of the underlying themes underlying the Omega series of classes was the ethics of prediction. Using Chiron process as a tool, we learned how to listen to the client, how to observe the passage of time and events in the chart, and how to bring the discussion into the choices of the present moment. It pains me to think of it, but we are all aware that some people are attracted to astrology for the power that it will supposedly give them. And most of the time that is about predicting or in some way controlling the future.
Astrology does bestow a certain kind of power, but it’s merely an extension of the power of awareness. Awareness is connected to the power of decision. Between awareness and the ability to make decisions, we have just about all the power we need on this planet, where we feel irrelevant all too often. Awareness is the real energy that helps us witness the world and ourselves, and to make the changes we need to make.
Astrology provides a set of metaphors; a language of energy; a way to observe the passage of time; and a way to conceive of situations in their diverse aspects instead of as one amorphous blob. When you look at a chart, there is sometimes a strategic method of analysis that helps you spot issues and define themes. Once you have that, you have awareness and you can start making decisions if you want.
Yesterday for the final three-hour morning session (after doing Eris and the castaway woman, and then a discussion of key life transits), we took an hour and did the Sept. 11, 2001 chart. I’ve done this a lot of times, just one other time in a class (in Toronto), and I have to say it was beyond intriguing to talk about it.
Wish me luck that I got all of this on my digital recorder, because if so I plan to post some of the best discussions to the web for all of our readers here.
I can say this, by way of claiming a victory — by the end of the second day, we had a room full of mostly novice astrologers seeing the astrology go by, and many people doing it; everyone was trained in the use of the ephemeris; and by the last morning, I think everyone followed the discussion of the Sept. 11 chart point by point. This included house and sign rulers and even this fancy little thing called mutual reception that is so crucial in the Sept. 11 chart.
I want to thank Omega Institute for having me, for the on-the-ground conspiracy of Chronogram readers who apparently got me the gig, Genevieve Salerno for being a most excellent teaching assistant for the full four days of the work, and all my students who had the patience and energy to make 24 hours of astrology class over four days (!) fun, exciting and in truth pretty easy. I have always believed I could teach astrology in a day or two, and I feel like I gained some solid evidence for that theory this weekend.
As for today’s aspects. Mercury stationed retrograde yesterday. Besides any little bits you may have noticed about your computer acting odd (I noticed them acting slightly off last week, before the station, actually) or misplacing your cell phone, can you feel the shift in the course of the discussions with the people around you? It’s sometimes subtle — an alteration in direction, the conversation pauses or seems to jump tracks, issues appear or disappear, something unknown comes to the surface…if you can handle some of the frustrations that come along with it, and if you remember not to push the river of time too hard, it can be an extremely interesting time to sail through consciousness.
One minor planet aspect that jumps out is Amor opposing Pandora. Just the title of the aspect says a lot. Martha Wescott, one of my favorite astrologers, gives us the delineation “the ‘conditions’ that one places on unconditional love” for Amor.
For Pandora, she gives us: “Encountering unexpected consequences; getting ‘more than you bargained for’; being enticed by a curiosity, new idea, person or situation — and finding that it has set you on a whole new path.”
So when you put these two factors together, face to face in an opposition, you get an interesting equation, particularly with the aspect going from Taurus to Scorpio! The issue is attachment, but remember that the issue beneath that is self-esteem. If you have self-esteem, you believe people love you, and you will have the strength to give them the space to be free. If you believe that people don’t love you or you spend your precious time figuring out how to control them, I would say you need to work on that elusive self-esteem thing. The first and easiest place to start is by learning to take in nourishment.
Happy retrograding.
Tuesday 27 May 2008
Mercury (21+ Gemini Rx) sesquiquadrate Chariklo (6+ Scorpio Rx) – Near Miss Only
Mercury (21+ Gemini Rx) quincunx Jupiter (21+ Capricorn Rx) – Near Miss Only
Venus (3+ Gemini) semisquare Varuna (18+ Cancer)
Mars (9+ Leo) septile M87 (1+ Libra)
Sun (6+ Gemini) semisquare Eris (21+ Aries)
Eros (16+ Gemini) semisquare Apollo (1+ Leo)
Pandora (11+ Scorpio Rx) sesquiquadrate Hades (26+ Gemini)
Sun (6+ Gemini) quincunx Chariklo (6+ Scorpio Rx)
Sun (6+ Gemini) sesquiquadrate Jupiter (21+ Capricorn Rx)
Amor (11+ Taurus) opposite Pandora (11+ Scorpio Rx)
Aug 01, 2003 – Libra – Weekly
The double entendre of the planets has finally become clear. You’re being summoned by your sense of adult responsibility and the need to make your way in the world. And you are being summoned by a visionary sense of what’s possible beyond anything you’ve ever experienced — truly, the vision of a child. You may not think what you see in your heart is possible to attain in the world; you have been disappointed before. But the planets are not going to disappoint you this time, as long as you’re willing to experiment with the idea that your deepest true responsibility to yourself is to explore your highest ideals, and to put just a grain of faith in yourself.
A student within the Astrology workshop at Omega this weekend, I wanted to publicly thank Eric and Genevieve for their sustained passion, presence, and patience over four days of stimulating classes. This is not always an easy feat, as those who have done teaching or training know, and the energy they both brought into the space (which was, interestingly enough, a Movement Studio) kept the energy circulating while igniting new currents as well.
As a humanisticly/ phenomenologically-trained psychologist, I was particularly appreciative of Eric and Genevieve’s client-centered approach. Attention to the client’s story– or more correctly, to the patterns and energy that lie therein— was touted over and over as the point of entry and return within an astrological consultation. Beginning with attention to the stuff of life (the lived-world or Lebenswelt, as the German philosophers referred to it) is what phenomenology is about, and I have met few healer/counselor-types who do this well. Eric is one who does this very well.
Apropos of the workshop, today’s Oracle ends with “…your deepest true responsibility to yourself is to … put just a grain of faith in yourself.” This class, it seems to me, left its students with more faith in themselves. It seems both provocative and ironic that attending to what is in front of us with an attitude of openness, a sort-of not-knowing, cultivates faith in oneself. Teachers who make a practice of unconditional love and/or awareness of and responsibility for those conditions that are sometimes present with love also provide the space for students to nurture self-faith. Lots of thanks to two such teachers.