By Len Wallick
If you are reading this, you have survived the weekend with its unique Full Moon and the re-exacting of the Saturn-Pluto square. Please feel free to enrich us all by sharing the insights you gained in the comments section.
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This week we step onto new ground astrologically, but in the fashion of last week’s blogs, it may do well to start off looking at the big picture. Of course, the square between Saturn and Pluto continues. Given that these are outer planets of slow apparent motion and not forgetting the fact that this is a cardinal point phenomenon, this aspect is operative over a period of years, forming a background.
One other astrological relationship has been around so long we seem to have taken it for granted – the mutual reception between Neptune (in Aquarius) and Uranus (in Pisces). Now that we are nearing the end of that collaboration, we will take another look at it later in the week along with Jupiter’s applying sextile to Pluto.
Continuing the longer view, the long-time-coming conjunction between Chiron and Neptune will be exact on the 17th, although we have been feeling it for quite a while. Finally, this is the week when Imbolc, Candlemas and/or Groundhog Day, depending on your cultural orientation are observed in the Northern Hemisphere. In both hemispheres the mid-point between seasons is exact this coming Thursday.
Today, Jupiter opposes Vesta and Venus conjoins Nessus. Those two aspects are part of and flow into the bigger picture, so let’s start with Imbolc and come back to them.
The cardinal points–the first degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn–split the zodiac circle into four equal pieces of pie, one for each season. The middle degree of fixed signs–Aquarius, Taurus, Leo and Scorpio–are referred to as cross-quarter points because the the connecting lines form a cross that divides the pie into eight equal pieces. Eric has repeatedly observed that the cardinal points are expressed as a “personal is political” phenomenon and that the middle of each season resonates with that. Like the previous event of Samhain, also known as Halloween, the re-exacting of the Saturn-Pluto square is concurrent. This co-incidence has provided an opportunity to expand our consciousness to perceive all time and space as the same thing, present in the here and now. This finds further expression in the transits and aspects of this week.
The festivals associated with this time have in common the image of a sacred fire that is associated with the Sun, shadows, thresholds and prognostication. Ground Hog Day is the most mundane expression of this phenomenon. Candlemas (or “candle mass”) is the Christian co-option that takes it a little deeper by heralding the lengthening days with the use of candles and representing the purification of Virgin Mary as a way to subsume the ancient Celtic patron of Imbolc, Brigid the Light-Bringer.
In legend Brigid was born at sunrise as her mother was walking over a threshold. This state of being in-between connects with the seminal meaning of a cross quarter as being a time when the doors that separate are open to the here and now. Brigid is also associated with the sustenance of sacred flame, which connects with the cachet of the asteroid Vesta, and healing which resounds with the ambiance of the centaur planet, Chiron. Finally, she is also known to be the Gaelic goddess of poetry and smith-craft, two avocations that have come to be associated with men.
This takes us further, over a gender threshold and connects us with two brilliant comments from this space last week. The first being Eric’s blog last Thursday intuiting “the infusion of a transgender theme” as associated with the applying conjunction of Chiron and Neptune published with a photograph of an open door. The second being the cogent comments appended to my own blog on Thursday by wandering_yeti which advocated against the “kind of either/or thinking” that inhibits men and women from realizing their common humanity. Thus the experience of this recent Full Moon is continued here and now.
Which brings us to today. The so-called Vestal Virgins were the only female priests of ancient Rome. They were subject to the authority of no man, making them the notable exception from the restrictions of Roman law. Their duty was to maintain the sacred fire. In this role we find unification with the person of Brigid. The main-belt asteroid Vesta has long been a favorite subject here at Planet Waves. In the August 14, 2009 blog on Woodstock it was connected with “the creative fire within, and in the world”.
Vesta holds the key to resolving the “often injured, burdened and confused sense of our sexuality” through devotion. Now in opposition to Jupiter, the symbol of masculine preeminence in the Greco-Roman pantheon, the door is opened for our common creative fire to bring resolution to what’s called the “Western distortion” that divides the human race. This, in turn leads us to today’s second notable aspect.
Nessus is one of the minor planets referred to as centaurs. In astrology, the current consensus seems to be that centaurs represent “shadow material” (past traumas preserved as current psychological baggage) and the awareness of which can result in resolution. Here we find mythical connection with the shadow of the groundhog. It other words, it’s an auspicious time to look at our shadow material. Nessus specifically has been correlated with the subject of taking responsibility for the trauma of abuse endured so that we do not pass it on by abusing others.
Nessus in Aquarius, the sign of the collective implies Eric’s well-founded assertion that we all have been abused and that this can serve as a ground for healing each other even as we heal ourselves. Venus conjunct Nessus in Aquarius holds the promise of bringing us to our senses. What we have in common should serve to bring us together, not divide us. The force of attraction that Venus symbolizes now finds opportunity to bring us together into harmony with the awareness that the oft-used ability to wound each other can be turned the other way. First in conscious and aware restraint. Finally, through the ultimate, enduring and proactive power of love. And that’s a fine way to start a month.
Offered In Service
Thank you Len & most definitely Wandering Yeti – I read your posts with awe & sincere gratitude.
I found that leading up to the full moon I was dealing with the shadow aspects of myself & using them for positive internal discussion eg why is this particular issue making me angry? oh yeah! it’s because it’s about an issue I’m passionate about.
As this happened so light shone in the shadow areas (thank you Brigid) and their negative controlling pull became an upwardly spiralling strength.
Since the full Moon I have realised that the largest shadow aspect – that of my constantly physically & mentally abused self had allowed the abuser to be my inner & outer authority whilst manipulating all my behaviour patterns & skewing any view I had on life to it’s perverted aspects.
Before the full moon I would avoid the pain associated with the abuse by floating up & hiding in the spiritual clouds. Intense fear had prevented me from exercising my own power & fear of change (after nearly 42 years) prevented me from changing or dealing with these patterns.
As of the last 12 hours I am my own inner & outer authority. I am grounded in love & able to receive the love from mySelf to mySelf. The proactive Love that you mentioned has shedded through the former fear corpse into a true human Being.
Liberation has happened & with it has come the practical ways & means to fulfil this mind, body organism’s purpose.
wandering yeti, Like Fe, I really want to thank you for your comments. We all have different ways of connecting to the higher and inner self, and most likely, what we have experienced in life, up to the point of taking on the new practices, determines the path we follow. Yours is something I might not have known about if not for your description and explanation. We all appreciate your openness.
Fe, another happy birthday wish and hope it is the start of a great year for you. and that goes for arts and animals tomorrow. . . and brother too! For the rest of you have a pleasant Ground Hog Day!
Len, a wonderful piece. I love that you never fail to observe the asteroids (and centaurs) important role in the daily pattern of our lives. Almost as important as you and Eric too!
be
On Friday – before the exact full moon, I had a session with a gifted psychic. He is notoriously hard on people. But when I got on the line he immediately started telling me what a wonderful being I am and that everything is coming up roses! He did say I need to do some revising on the book I am (or was) nearly finished writing.
On Saturday morning, I had a healing session about being “seen” for who I am. For countless lifetimes I have been an initiate in an ancient hermetic goddess tradition, and have hidden from the world. This lifetime, I continued to hide. So . . . at this full moon, I opened up and healed that pain from this and every other lifetime! See me? I am a healer, writer, animal communicator, and maker of flower and gem essences!
Wheeee!
wandering-yeti:
“Your post was stunning and heart rending, as well as hopeful. You are on an amazing journey of love, and its beautiful to read your clarity.”
omg yes Fe.
I second that.
Simply blown away w-y.
Thank you.
Ursula
Wandering_yeti:
Your post was stunning and heart rending, as well as hopeful. You are on an amazing journey of love, and its beautiful to read your clarity.
Great article, Len. Your comments about Nessus and Vesta are highly significant to me right now cause my Venus, Jupiter, Vesta and Nessus are all being activated. The reflection in the pool of manifestation has been music, African studies and Chinese martial arts. The abuse thing has been bright in my awareness cause the class I’m taking now is all about the history of Africa during the past 400 years. I just read a book called Exterminate All The Brutes by Sven Lindqvist. His thesis is that Hitler doesn’t represent an exception but the norm of European foreign policy, the practice of imperialism. People just freaked out because he invaded Russia instead of the Americas, Africa, India, China, Australia, or various small islands far away from the shattered Roman Empire. It’s like as soon as more than a few people realized that the church’s power wasn’t absolute a whole bunch of them set out to be their own absolute authorities, like little spores of Catholic abuse spread over the entire world. Genocide was official policy. The lesser races deserved to die, obviously, because white man reigns supreme. The theory of evolution was used to justify genocide. The reading materials for this class are a list of atrocities that make it all too plain that abuse is the essence of our European and Euro-derived cultures. Sweeping awareness under the rug is something we were deeply trained to do by centuries of horrible living conditions, fear of God, witch burnings, and a value system that forces you to postpone happiness until after you die. This is what I’m grokking right now.
Also I used a video my kung fu teacher sent me a link to on youtube to finally learn a full Taiji form so I can practice without watching a teacher. I’ve only been doing warm up exercises, standing, and circle walking for years cause I was never able to totally grok a whole form while only being able to observe it two days per week in class. But since I’ve been studying for so long it only took one day and I know the whole pattern cause I could rewind over and over again as long as it took to figure out what he was doing. I want to stress that it in no way replaces a teacher. If I didn’t have flesh and blood teachers in my life the video wouldn’t do me much good. But it sure makes my private study time more productive.
This relates to the abuse. I think internal martial arts are second to none as self maintenance practices for human beings. With a daily taiji practice and regular instruction from a good teacher, someone who understands the depth of the art and not just the superficial aspect of fitness exercises, abuse patterns melt away as your body learns to move with only the necessary effort. Any lingering Hitlers in your unconscious stand no chance of hiding out and undermining your life from behind if you practice every day. Chiropractors, massage therapists, talk therapists, and acupuncturists are great, but all of them involve a lot of someone else doing the work for you. With internal martial arts you learn to sense your own being and keep yourself healthy. I guess you could stick it into the preventative medicine box of the post industrial American ontology.
Well, I guess it’s no panacea. After all you have to reach a certain point of emotional maturity before a Taiji practice can do you any good. Those other healers are really important too. Without them my own abuse was a master a preventing me from undoing it. I’m beginning to understand my personal experiences of abuse from the spanking that rearranged my spine to years of being talked to with resentful, abusive excuses for discipline as part of Christendom’s emotional plague that wrecked Africa, scoured North America, bled Asia, assfucked Australia and maintained the Dark Ages willfully and with greedy intent. It lives in me and tries to replicate itself whenever I fall into a jealous, condescending, resentful state of mind. It took me this long to get this much out of Taiji because I was too angry to focus. Nessus trines my Libra ascendant from Gemini, 9th house. Hello astrology! And how about that…9th house-foreign lands-Chinese martial arts that I was initially introduced to through books- Gemini- Tao of Pooh when I was 18…had no idea that it was the philosophical aspect of Taiji and Bagua at the time. But the main thing is, undoing the abuse so I don’t pass it on through my (ascendant) behavior.
g
Happy Birthday, Fe!
Mine is tomorrow and my brother’s on the 3rd.
HAPPY AQUARIUS!
Thanks Planet Wavenskys!!
I am doing my part in making this a good solar return.
Wonderful Len.
Oh and Happy Birthday Fe (again) Imbolc babe…x
Oh my, quite beautiful Len. Tears flowing at this end, from this Celtic lass.
May the light of Brigid show us the way and the courage to make room for our shadows which are starved for the healing power of light and love.
Níl gach uile fhánaí caillte
(NEEL gukh IL-uh AW-nee KYLE-chuh)
“Not all who wander are lost”
P.S. Happy Birthday Fe — have a fun day!
Ah, Aquarius … and thank you, Len. You have a way, don’t you! and I’m inspired to search out that part of me that encourages dialogue and imparts wisdom.
Saturn in Libra squared Pluto in Cap has always struck me as about a dismantling of the legal system , as we all witness just how unjust the system really is. Laws written by scoundrels are just as binding as those written by the fair-minded and those of us who’ve spent a lifetime with lawyers (and the lawmakers) are finding a little validation in witnessing the collapse of the very system they’ve “perfected” crumble.
mm.
Thanks for stunning blog dear Len. Astrology really is amazing – the way it gets it so right. The issues of abuse have come up very strongly for me over the last few days. The emotional and sexual abuse I received as a child has made the whole issue of giving and receiving a very difficult one for me. I’m always afraid to give too much of myself away, while at the same time feeling that it is expected of me – so there is this sort of push-me pull-you effect, and I know I confuse people with my mixed messages. But I’m finally becoming aware of how this has conditioned my life from behind the scenes , that the more I’m able to trust and let go with the giving, the more I’ll receive…
Love
Liz x