One Thing at a Time

By Len Wallick

…if I shall have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it.”
— Mahatma Gandhi

Later today, about 5:20 pm ET, Mercury enters Aquarius, joining the congregation of Sol, Luna, Mars, Neptune, Chiron, Ceres and at least nine other minor planets. Less than eight hours later, Venus ends its long Sagittarius odyssey, moving into Capricorn. Its going through the zodiac at well over a degree per day — faster than the Sun. Both Capricorn and Aquarius are ruled by Saturn. That combination of events and influences will be the subject of our blog today.

First and foremost, many thanks to those of you taking the time to read this offering. As a reflection of current astrology, our personal and collective lives seem to be busy and crowded. There is a lot of competition for our attention. It is difficult to know what’s important or where to begin. Perhaps it does not matter. It could be that the most appropriate approach is to take your pick and deal with one thing at a time.

As we move into the second month of what is shaping up to be an eventful year, some patterns are beginning to take shape. We knew going into 2011 that some sort of transition was in the offing. Last year’s T-square arrangement of trans-personal and historical planets in the the first degrees of three cardinal signs set the stage for the prolonged and epoch making tension between Uranus and Pluto that will begin next year. The question was, what would transpire in between — where we are now?

With one month of experience behind us, we gained a bit of symbolic perspective. For example, it is evident that today’s Mercury ingress to Aquarius is more than just a planet entering a sign. It is a McLuhan-esque representation of our daily experience. The Aquarian ambiance is like an alternating electrical current between the individual and the collective. Reversing direction frequently, cycling rapidly, binding the one to the many while at the same time leaving a clear distinction between the polarities. We each can distinguish our own needs and schedules while at the same time maintaining an awareness of the flow of information amongst our kind. Thanks to the advent of multi-tasking portable electronic devices, that awareness extends across vast distances and to great numbers.

Not surprisingly, Mercury is relatively comfortable in the sign that incorporates the element of air with the quality of fixity. Named after the messenger of the Greco-Roman pantheon, this little planet is closely associated with communication, transportation, information and the application of electricity to those ends. Its disposition to Saturn, one of the rulers of Aquarius, thickens the plot when the flow of people, data or electrons encounters inhibition, limitation or containment.

How that process of contradiction expresses itself over the next three weeks or so will further define the experience of the 2011 transitional continuum. While the details are currently unavailable to mortals, one general outcome is strongly indicated. The degree to which the properties of Mercury are able to freely operate on a social scale will heavily influence our individual and collective state of mind when Old Fleet Foot closely follows the Sun into Pisces later this month.

Which leads us to Venus in Capricorn. The abrupt transition of this particular object from mutable fire sign to the entirely new template of cardinal earth may correspond to a similar shift in our state of mind. But let us first fall back on the approach we started this blog with and take one thing at a time. First and foremost, this particular change means that all three personal planets are in signs ruled by Saturn for several weeks. The implication is that the shorter experiential cycles of months and years are now being subjected to, confined by and defined through longer-term generational trends.

Those of us who are over three decades on this planet may find frequent occasion to reflect on our youth. Alternatively we may see ourselves in what a younger generation is now going through. People who are only now coming of age may find their immediate options limited or defined by the choices of their elders. Whether this is uncomfortable or revelatory, the indications are that an enhanced consciousness is available through the auspices of our mundane, daily experience. A kind of epiphany is at hand for those who avail themselves of it, bringing an awareness of connections not previously evident — like an artesian spring makes us aware of water flowing under the ground. This is a temporary situation, but also a means by which we are being given a chance to better comprehend longer cycles.

Venus has been prepared for this new phase of its journey. After the expansive and mystical experience of a Sagittarius fire walk, the spaces of Capricorn may seem a little inhibited, a trifle confining. Fortunately, the last Venusian aspect before changing signs — a sextile to anaretic Chiron — is a portent of the saving grace that Saturn is in Libra, a sign ruled by Venus. This mutual reception, as it is called, is not happening under the best of circumstances.

Libra and Capricorn have a history that is still fresh and tender. The whole cardinal T-square of 2010 and the epochal cardinal alignment that will distinguish 2012 started almost exactly 18 months ago when Saturn and Pluto exacted their first square at the first degree of those two signs. Now, it is entirely appropriate that the place of initial confrontation should become the location of eventual healing. There is great power in this — the power that has allowed the material world itself to be wrought from intangible belief.  It may not be easy, it will almost certainly be uncomfortable, but the next four weeks that Venus spends in the province of cardinal earth may very well coincide with a period we can look back upon and say that it was the best thing that ever happened to us.

As the Moon enters Pisces for the weekend, lead with your feelings. Allow yourself to acquire the taste of new and unusual harmonies. It may not be the sort of music you are accustomed to but then, neither will our future. Open your heart and listen for a new song that even now, we are composing. One note at a time.

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