{"id":45814,"date":"2011-09-22T00:01:32","date_gmt":"2011-09-22T04:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=45814"},"modified":"2011-09-21T23:41:50","modified_gmt":"2011-09-22T03:41:50","slug":"striving-for-balance-the-equinox-as-inner-healer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/astro-daily\/striving-for-balance-the-equinox-as-inner-healer\/","title":{"rendered":"Striving for balance: the equinox as inner healer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Photo by Amanda Painter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today is Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011<\/strong><\/a>. The Moon starts the day in the cardinal sign Cancer, transitioning to Leo at 9:54 pm EDT. This transition could feel energizing, like a dose of courage and desire chased down with your favorite energy drink. This is also the last day before the Sun moves into Libra at the equinox, and planets about to change signs often come with significant tension. It will pay to be awake, alert and composed.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Earth<\/a><\/dt>\n
<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

The fall equinox (also known as the Libra equinox; it heralds spring in the Southern Hemisphere) is a kind of celestial crossroads, and one of the more important ones. In my article on the ‘Honey Moon’ of June<\/a> (this link takes you to premium subscriber content), I talked about how intersections like this are a big deal in astrology. They form a kind of crossroads, which have the potential for a lot more action than other, quieter stretches of the celestial highways. <\/p>\n

Humans being the creatures of habit they are, often this action translates into some kind of conflict, which jolts us out of our ‘automatic pilot’ mode of consciousness. So, the function of this conflict is to wake us up and to help us learn. However, as spiritual texts like the Tao frequently point out, this is not the only way to learn. The awakened Sage can learn as much from contemplation as from conflict. From this point of view, it could be useful to contemplate the nature of the autumnal equinox.<\/p>\n

Astronomically speaking, the autumnal equinox is the point where the path of the Sun crosses the equator going south, toward the tropic of Capricorn. Here, as at the vernal or spring equinox, the Sun’s crossings of the horizon as it is rising and setting become aligned again with the east\/west compass points. This means that the days and nights are of equal length. This is reflected in the very word equinox, which comes from the Latin aequus<\/em> (equal) and nox<\/em> (night), denoting a time of equal length night and day — a time of balance. This idea of balance is reflected in the symbol for the sign Libra, the seventh sign of the tropical zodiac. Tropical probably arrives from Greek tropos<\/em> — meaning to spin or turn. So, the entire tropical zodiac is a fixed geo-centric (Earth-centered) coordinate system based on the seasonal solar ‘turning points’.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As we cross this turning point, which is about equality and balance, we might wonder what exactly it is that we are supposed to be balancing. From an astrological and alchemical view, the psyche is made up of four elements: fire, earth, air and water. As Dennis Hauck, the author of the popular book on alchemy The Emerald Tablet: Alchemy for Personal Transformation<\/em>, puts it: \u201cOn all levels of reality — physical, mental and spiritual — everything is made up of a unique combination of the four Elements, and everything in the Universe is striving for a complete and balanced expression of these elements.\u201d <\/p>\n

Stan Grof, the famous psychiatrist and teacher of Richard Tarnas, calls the force behind this striving for balance \u201cthe inner healer.\u201d Since we are passing a turning point which is all about balance, it is safe to say your inner healer is being activated. How aware you are of this presence may determine whether you are lost in contemplation or conflict. Or it could depend on which pair of elements you are in the process of balancing.<\/p>\n

Bringing this back to the astrology of the current week, it is interesting to note the peculiar mixing of elements the Great Alchemist in the Sky is showing us. This has been a week of quincunxes, which are alignments between signs five spaces apart on the zodiac wheel. The first we talked about was Sun in Virgo quincunx Neptune in Aquarius, a mixture of earth and air. Next we talked about Mars in Leo quincunx Chiron in Pisces, a mixture of fire and water. Today we have a quincunx between Venus in Libra and Jupiter in Taurus, which means we have come full circle back to the mixture of air and earth. <\/p>\n

As my colleague Eric Meyers has pointed out in his latest book, Elements and Evolution<\/em>, the mixtures of fire\/water and air\/earth have commonalities as useful to explore as the much more familiar comparisons of ‘compatible’ elements (fire\/air and water\/earth). Meyers describes these groupings as \u201ccharged\u201d (fire\/water) vs. “neutral” (air\/earth). Another way of saying this might be forceful vs. detached, or perhaps even conflict vs. contemplation. In order to complete and balance the four elements within at this solar turning point, we may need to resolve some conflict as well as contemplate it afterwards. <\/p>\n

In terms of the air\/earth pairing we have with Venus and Jupiter, the message is about expanding our ideas of what love, togetherness or relationship look like on a practical level. That is, even if something does not look like it’s about relationship — maybe it just seems a matter of practicality — see if you can check it out from a higher vantage point. With a little perspective, it may indeed have the markings of relationship. Consult with your inner healer; as you find some understanding and balance in your relationship with yourself this equinox, you may be able to extend that acceptance and equanimity outward. And that, to be sure, is love on a practical level.<\/p>\n

By Gary Caton with Amanda Painter<\/em><\/p>\n

Looking for insights on how this week’s astrology affects your<\/strong> personal Sun and rising signs? Try out Planet Waves Light<\/strong><\/a>, our streamlined horoscope service. For deeper cultural context and astrological investigation, the premium Planet Waves subscription<\/strong><\/a> includes the same horoscopes, plus extensively-researched articles on Fridays.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011. The Moon starts the day in the cardinal sign Cancer, transitioning to Leo at 9:54 pm EDT. This transition could feel energizing, like a dose of courage and desire chased down with your favorite energy drink. This is also the last day before the Sun moves into Libra at … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1734],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45814"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45814\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}