Dear Friend and Reader:
It’s Monday morning, and Mercury is applying in a square aspect to the Galactic Core. The aspect is exact tomorrow, but it’s in full effect right now, and to make things interesting, Mercury is precisely square a point called Hades today. Hades is a touch of the dark side, and it’s likely the collective mind is grappling with a bit of that.
The Galactic Core is friendlier, but difficult to grasp. Since most people have not heard of the Galactic Core, I’ll link to an article about its discovery in 1932 from The Spiral Door, last year’s annual edition. It has a position in every astrological chart — approximately 26 degrees of Sagittarius. It is a fixed point. It does not move with the seasons or decades; it precesses very gradually as the Earth wobbles.
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Normally when we think of God, we think of Him as being “up there, in heaven.” I am Quaker and we are the crazy lot who thinks of God as existing within — the Inner Light, as we call it in our little book, Faith and Practice. Many traditions teach this, from A Course in Miracles to Buddhism; God is something you carry with you, and which leads you to make loving decisions. This is contrary to the paranoid, divisive notions of the ego.
However, if there is a God “out there,” it is probably in the approximate direction of the Galactic Core. If that is not literally true, we may feel the pull in that direction. The Galactic Core is theВ centerВ of our very small island of 30 billion stars in the vast, endless deeps of space.
If anything should have what we think of as POWER in astrology, it is the Galactic Core. It is huge, it is broadcasting on nearly every frequency, and plainly visible all summer long. But more to the point, it source of “the force” that holds together our safe haven in space, without which our Sun would go flying off with all its planets. Thanks to the Galactic Core, we are held in a stable orbit along the galactic plane.
Now Mercury in Pisces is coming along and making a 90-degree angle to the Galactic Core. This is like the mind being at odds with the idea of God, or playing God, or violating its own inner spiritual guidance. It can feel like delusional judgments, or like the pressure to make a decision that violates one’s own instincts.
Astrology always presents us with a choice. We don’t have to play along with this, but if you’re feeling upset, freaked out or wondering where you fit into the picture, consider what you are doing with your mind.
Someone pointed out the other day that the entire planet is in a low-grade state of depression. We are quite literally held down — depressed, which means pressed — by some force, inner or outer or both. This is on a cultural level. I have been doing what I do since the mid-1980s — writing about issues, editing publications for a medium-sized audience, serving in communities in many contexts, and relating to people one-to-one. It is getting more difficult all the time to get anyone excited about anything — to get any response or even reaction at all.
It is difficult to notice nearly anyone looking forward to anything except their next vacation (if one is forthcoming) or cup of Starbucks (more within reach of most people). True, there are always the persistent ones whose good mood and positive outlook pervades funerals, train wrecks and stolen elections. There are the ones who get up and paint, take pictures, write and spread good vibes every day. If you’re not one of those people, you can be if you want.
But something is holding us down collectively. Call it sleep, or ignorance, or being exhausted from life. One of my editorial assistants is pretty sure it’s all about mood stabilizers, which tend to suppress both mood and affect, while lubricating our sense of worthlessness so that we can get through the day. This is Neptune in Aquarius at work, by the way. At a certain point, we have to live for another reason than that — a reference to Chiron in Aquarius, which is here as the awakening antidote.
Here are today’s aspects. My own writing project for the day is the Aries birthday letter, which will go out to subscribers first thing Tuesday morning.
Monday, 31 March 2008
Venus (22+ Pisces) trine Pandora (22+ Scorpio Rx)
Eros (28+ Aries) trine Juno (28+ Sagittarius)
Pallas (10+ Aries) trine Pholus (10+ Sagittarius Rx)
Juno (28+ Sagittarius) semisquare Nessus (13+ Aquarius)
Sun (11+ Aries) septile Chiron (19+ Aquarius)
Mercury (25+ Pisces) square Hades (25+ Gemini)
Sisyphus (27+ Libra Rx) septile Quaoar (18+ Sagittarius Rx)
Jupiter (20+ Capricorn) trine Sedna (20+ Taurus)
Amor (19+ Aries) sextile Chiron (19+ Aquarius)
Eros (29+ Aries) sesquiquadrate Great Attractor (14+ Sagittarius)
Mar 01, 2000 – CANCER – Monthly
Much of what we call the spiritual path involves a process of “finding oneself,” which is another way of saying being secure in who you are, or more accurately, who you are becoming. While unexpected or sudden change is not your favorite experience, these years have seen you accumulate so much sameness, so much predictability and, though it may not have felt that way, stability, that you seem to have forgotten how to change. Now, for an extended period, you will be reminded. But it’s worth mentioning just how stable you truly are, deep within, through any process of change that shakes your foundations. Much of that stability rests on what great friends you have, and how much they have to offer you, and how much you love them.