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astrology, culture, Earth healing, planetary aspects, planetary nodes, retrograde planets, Root Medicine of the Stars, Transition of the Ages

Creating The Path Is The Path ~ Mars Stations Direct

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In the early hours of June 30th Mars stations at 23°03′ of Scorpio and, from our Earth perspective, begins a new two year cycle of direct motion.  Mars direct offers us a springboard for informed action that is in alignment with our deepest desires. However, to gain the optimum benefits of this impulse it is well advised to first align with Mars slowdown, to realign ourselves with our own internal drives before putting new plans into action. As Mars slows down to standstill after ten weeks of being retrograde, it is now time to take a moment to reflect on the most important lessons we can draw from the last two months or more.

If you have felt as though, in some important areas of your life, you have been driving with the handbrake on, from the end of June into early July you can expect a sense of emergence and greater freedom to come into play – allow some time to let your wings to unfurl and feel their power before taking off for the wild blue yonder.

If you have been able to bide your time or have treated this time as an opportunity to have fun with the retrograde period, doing handbrake turns and making circles in the road, this is now a time to stop burning rubber senselessly and take a more serious view towards your own agenda – draw breath and for the next couple of weeks show yourself just how adept you can be at taking the potential of your own life seriously.

The gist is that Mars retrograde  is a time to either slow down and go with the flow or to let off steam, both being preparation for a coming time of focus and concerted effort. Either way, in Scorpio Mars ultimately gives us a deeper sense of our own power and its place in the world, and, with this apparent change of impetus a change of perspectives comes into play. The third quarter of 2016 will undoubtedly challenge us to face up to how we are using our energy in pursuit of our most deeply held desires.

Reassessing our deepest passions at a personal level inevitably brings us face to face with limitations to using our personal power that we have experienced in the past. The expansion of imagination and (self) knowledge that we can bring to bear on this process will directly affect the world view we have, especially when Mars enters Sagittarius again just after Lughnasadh, at the beginning of August. This will be a good time to embark upon new fields of learning, to broaden our skills base and thinking.

Collectively, in the face of current circumstances, this shift in perspective meets a longer term necessity; we know  we must become more worldly wise, especially as we now enter a time in which the will of the people will be increasingly tested against the will of the power brokers in this world. Where these clash, where we experience dissonance between our own agendas and those that have we have been co-opted into, ‘a new level of understanding’ is the optimum prerequisite – it signals a time of ‘consciousness raising’ and any action that lacks this fundamental requirement runs the risk of repeating our mistakes, as well as of instigating confrontation and violent reprisal. Conversely, with the higher goal firmly in our grasp we stand a good chance of seeing the ‘groundswell’, the resurgent ‘will of the people’ that was seeded at the Spring eclipses bearing first fruits.

The cultural and global impact of this effect will bring fresh challenges to the status quo, and a refueled sense of purpose is a prerequisite for making our actions count, in the face of any resistance to systemic change it may catalyse. I am anticipating a third quarter of dynamic attempts at restructuring the relationship between personal and institutionalised power, and we need to be ready and well informed!

Mars will be carrying the Scorpio imprint of unwavering focus and determination forward in its new cycle so, where there are clashes of agendas, we can expect hightened friction to colour the mundane world as we shift between the Ages. However, the planetary matrix indicates that we will see this dynamic upping a gear sooner rather than later. Towards the end of August the red planet will return to 9° of Sagittarius, the degree in which its retrograde period began – the preparation we can undertake now and ensuing the sense of direction we have chosen will meet its first real test.

swordwoman

On August 24th Mars will meet with Saturn on the fixed star Antares, squaring the lunar nodes, a strong indication that the prevailing focus will be on how the wilful use of aggression is shaping our world, and what its antidote is. At its ‘higher octave’ Antares martial focus belongs to the individual who champions the underdog, the ‘David’ like figure who stands up to ‘Goliaths’ of this world and fights for liberation. People power starts with each of us and activism will be more effective if it is ‘knowingly applied’, organised, keeping the bigger picture firmly in mind, rather than simply as a collectively realised personal reaction to events. A skilfull use of our personal power and knowledge is favoured over crude use of force that follows the herd.

The challenge is to use the will to higher ends, to temper our tempers, to use the fiery life force at large constructively, and to keep the focus on significant and beneficial long term change rather than short term victories. There is a philosophical flavour to the view that will emerge, bringing the more traumatic consequences of ‘short-termism’ into sharp focus.

As Mars moves beyond Saturn a moment of hiatus may crystalise following events that, for example, cause us to severely question and make a concerted effort to bring an end to the misuse of  our vital energy and its co-option in the pursuit of conflict and war. This will coincide with Mars transit of Uranus south node, a crucial point already activated by Saturn’s station retrograde three months ago.

Saturn’s retrograde will itself come to an end shortly before the meeting with Mars when the Moon transits the ringed planet on August 12th, so the lessons of Saturn’s own retrograde period must also be taken into account before hand, as a part of our preparation. These reach back to March 24th 2016 when, just hours after the full Moon/lunar eclipse, Saturn slowed to a standstill within 30′ of arc of the south node of Uranus in Sagittarius.

Embedded within the 36 year cycle between Neptune and Saturn this astrological event underlined the question of who we are and why we are here, the meaning of our mortality and relationship with death within life. With these two planets currently in a tight square and the lunar nodes closing to square Saturn over the coming months the third quarter of 2016 has a philosophical quality about it that underpins the ongoing global transformation already underway.

Uranus seven squares with Pluto have undermined the power structures of ‘the Establishment’ and we are now dealing with the effects of this, the turbulence in their wake. Saturn’s presence also carries the Sagittarian signature forward, putting everything that has stood for maintenance of the status quo into a ‘global context’ of reconfiguration at ground level.

The challenge is to avoid falling back into old patterns and materialise a break with the past that commits to working for a better future. Collectively, this could be a magical and inspiring time, if our personal will is able to operate beyond habitual constraints and we have the imaginative ability to re-envision the human imprint upon our home planet. Every individual’s contribution counts.

In Saturn’s square with Neptune the anthropocentrism of the human presence on planet Earth is questioned in its relationship to the ecocentric spirit and aspirations of our times. This relationship is bringing increasing tension into the world as we question our own collective purpose in the light of environmental disturbances and their relationship to our use of power and technology within the current cultural and spiritual paradigms. This is an aspect that brings the imaginative and spiritual realms of consciousness into question through the lens of pragmatic worldly analysis. When we get into this frame of mind, the constellation of Piscean archetypes and the dynamics of imagination can ground in new forms within the Sagittarian field, but not before exposing both our spiritual deficit and our hubristic tendencies. Uranus can also indicate where the trauma arising from these tendencies continue to affect us, where we need to raise our consciousness to a new level.

Saturn and Neptune’s rhythm is deeply instructive. In the human realm the 36th year marks the first waxing square after the first Saturn return, a moment of maturation that tests the validity of the gains we have made in the process of coming home to the reality of our selves. It is the equivalent of three Jupiter cycles, an expansion of our personal power that requires a new level of maturity, and presages the need to consolidate our gains towards meaningful ends, a process which is tested at mid-life. As we enter the very beginning of the current period of recapitulation and preparation, as Mars slows down and turns direct, we now find Jupiter and the Moon’s north node conjunct in Virgo. They are exactly on Uranus and Pluto’s meeting point at the beginning of their current cycle during the mid sixties.

These times carry some potent connections across time and question our capacity to embrace the wider view through time towards the future. Uranus in Aries is quincunx Mars as he stations direct in Scorpio – and Mars rulership of both signs reflects a time to claim our own sovereignty. Mars also trines retrograde Chiron in Pisces – self compassion is the key to healing our spiritual wounds, the sign that we are ready to reclaim and strengthen the link with the wisdom of our ‘higher self’.

‘Rebellious youth’ must, inevitably, become ‘responsible adult’ and humanity, having acted for too long like a kid in a Ferrari, must realise that the red light that is flashing in the periphary of our vision is not simply the cops giving chase, the past catching up with us, but, also the sign that our tank is approaching empty and we may be running on air. The ‘fly-boys’ and hedonists of the world are about to get their comeuppance! But, we don’t want to be taken down with them…..

longship

Make good use of the coming weeks to get with your own inner beat, develop the meaningful art of understanding your own rhythms, and re-orientate your life towards worthy causes that your own passions align with naturally. With a sense of liberation and willingness to navigate through unknown territory the world takes on a dynamic vitality that reflects Mars impulse to get up and live; as the July new Moon approaches we can prepare for fresh fields, an expansion of our personal and collective scope, and carry the momentum forward with a deepened sense of responsibility.

No matter how small you may feel in the face of our current global challenges Mars message is to be confident in yourself. There is great power in this. Take this time personally, make it your own, but, remember, everything you do has a meaning and a purpose that reaches well beyond the known – this is the age of transition and, in it, creating the path ‘is’ the path.

Root Medicine of the Stars

The Great Unravelling

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buffalo robe

There is a Lakota story that tells of an ancient Grandmother sitting within a hidden cave weaving a panel of Porcupine quills into a great Buffalo Blanket. She has been working on this robe for thousands of years and, at her side, licking his paws and watching her all the time, is Shunka Sapa, the black dog who is her companion. The cave is lit and they are warmed by a great fire above which a cauldron hangs in which wojapi, sweet berry soup, has been slowly cooking since the fire was first lit.

Every now and then Grandmother rises from her work to stir the soup and feed the fire, but, as she does so Shunka Sapa  grabs the end of a quill in his teeth and sets about undoing her precious work…..you know how dogs can be! On returning to her blanket the ancient Grandmother comes to a stop infront of her unravelled work, sighs and, after pondering a moment, sits down once more to begin again her sacred work with the great medicine blanket.

There is an understanding amongst the people that, while the sacred work is made never-ending by the mischevious hound, should the Grandmother ever complete the robe, the moment she weaves the last Porcupine quill into the blanket, the world as we know it will come to an end……

When the tsunami hit Fukushima Daiichi at 3.36pm local time on March 11th 2011 Uranus was just three minutes of arc from crossing the Aries equinox point in the tropical zodiac. Jupiter was in the 11th degree of Aries and Saturn, retrograde in the 16th degree of Libra, was conjunct the fixed star Merga in the constellation of Bootes, the Bear-warden. Slow moving Neptune too was on a cusp and would enter Pisces twenty three days later, just as the Sun and Moon met at new Moon in 14 Aries.

In the myth Bootes, having been given a flask of wine by Dionysus, was murdered by a group of shepherds after they had become insanely drunk on the potent sacred wine he had shared with them. In consideration for the grief of Bootes daughter Erigone and their faithful companion, the hound Maera, the Bear-warden was immortalised by Jupiter as a constellation in the skies.

Some say that Erigone, whose name means ‘She Who Knows’, became the constellation Virgo and that Maera was placed in the constellation Canis Major where the great dog star Sirius resides, but, the name Merga is derived from Marra, meaning a hoe or rake. In starlore the fixed star Merga marks the reaping hook held in the reaper’s left hand, Merga also having been known for millenia as Marrha. Saturn’s sickle bites likes the dogs teeth…..

When the new Moon eclipses the Sun on 20th March 2015 they too will be occupying the ultimate degree of tropical Pisces their orb covering the exact place of Uranus in the Fukushima tsunami chart. As the ultimate point of transition in the zodiac this degree is a place symbolic of unravelling as the necessary precursor to the sacred task of a re-weaving of the blanket of Life, begun with entry into Aries. In the Lakota story that moment is also marked by the Grandmother’s pause as she stops and ponders Shunka Sapa’s crucial if destructive intervention and, understanding what must be done, opens herself to re-envisioning of the sacred robe.

At eclipse Uranus will be exactly opposite Saturn’s place in the Fukushima chart, squaring Pluto for the seventh and last time in this part of their current cycle. Many things come to a head in this immediate time and culminate in an unresolved state, such is the of nature the waxing square belonging to this part of the cycle. This square marks the point at which Uranus finally begins to break free of the Plutonic undertow and sets out to sow new seeds of divine intiatic power within the matrix beyond the midpoint of Aries. If we look to the degree of the eclipse and the Sabian symbols associated with the last degree of Pisces for insight we find this aspect of the moment deepened through their gnostic wisdom.

They speak of the “power of clearly visualized ideals to mold the life of the visualizer” . They tell us this is a “most fitting symbol for the last phase of the cyclic process. Within the end of the cycle the seed of a new beginning exists in potency — unless the entire cycle has proven to be a failure.“

The last phrase is highlighted, not to invoke such a sense of failure, but to emphasise the crucial significance of recognising where failure is present. It is hugely important to us now to not only look for the re-envisioning which will renew our world, but, to realise that the unravelling, while it may seem contrary to our vision for the future and may not have been our own intended or conscious doing, is itself both a catalyst for the work in hand and a reminder of a greater cycle of change. Three decades will pass before we begin to see Uranus oppose Pluto from Virgo.

beading

Many indigenous traditions carry stories that speak across great time of this crucial necessity, the relationship between our unconscious motivations and our highest wisdom, as well as between our ancestors and ourselves. They also tell us of the ‘worlds’ that have gone before ours, our cyclical re-emergence into the world following catastrophe, each time of unravelling different from the one before, but, all carrying the underlying thread of renewal, their seed potential. They show us how the way we live in our world, the pattern woven into the blanket of Life carrying the vision of our sacred relationship with our Earth, differs from those preceding and help us to understand how what comes of this is up to the ‘people’.

Grandmother’s vision for the future is writ in the stars and given the most powerful poigiancy through this solar eclipse and the beginning of a new cycle. Like Shunka Sapa’s disruptive work, undertaken behind her back, the ultimate fate of our planet stares us in the face. The destruction of the blanket of Life we are witnessing began while our backs were turned, many years before we were born, but, the Grandmother shows us our task. The full import of this is emphasised at the following full Moon.

At the full Moon on April 4th 2015 the Sun will be close on Uranus and Mercury will be close on the lunar south node, now on the same degree that Jupiter occupied in the Fukushima chart. The message here is clear ~ we cannot risk repeating the errors of the past without increasing consequence, and opening to the reality around us, as well as the power of the vision it demands of us, requires presence of mind and powerful intent. The ancestral fire must be tended beneath the cauldron of sweet medicine, but, as the story of the Bear-warden also reminds us, the gifts of the gods can easily be over-estimated in their strength and we are required to be wise to the consequences of their misuse. As wise as Saturn? The poigniancy of this is brought home as the April full Moon will transit Saturn’s degree in the Fukushima chart in mid Libra. Libra reminds us of the importance of right relationship, so central to all that is sacred, and the foundation of meaning this brings to all sustainable work we undertake.

At the April full Moon the Sun will be at the same degree as the new Moon that followed Fukushima, just as Neptune was then entering tropical Pisces. Neptune has been highlighting the dangers of intoxication under the inflationary influence of the ‘archetypal’ since entering Pisces, itself a powerful reminder of how an excess of the Dionysian wine has gone to our ‘heads’ inducing the global consequences of a destructive stupour that infects the world. Pluto and Uranus too have engaged us very tangibly in the field of their archetypal struggle since Fukushima, one equally wrought with the Neptunian signature. The Fukushima disaster is shot through with hubris, deception and dissemination of falsehood masking the thirst for power and control. Hubris as much as fundamentalism are human failings, but, who can deny where the ultimate responsibility lies in correcting this.

These connections between the Fukushima chart and the March solar eclipse are deepened further as the eclipse precedes equinox by just hours. Perhaps Venus presence in her home sign of Taurus will bring us down to earth and help our hearts to balance our heads as she is exactly quincunx Saturn, retrograde in Sagittarius at equinox. Saturn can also be the redeemer, if we have the ability to listen, accept the truth and, stepping across the threshold he keeps the keys to, undertake the work.

The stories from the past which address such archetypal themes have been passed down to us with good reason. They are ancestral reminders of times in which we have faced the need to undertake the ‘great work’. And, as in many medicine stories such as that of the Grandmother and Shunka Sapa, the understanding of its deeper message rests not upon explanation, but, on our own ability to allow the spirit of the story to speak to us within, so that we might see our own place within it and how each part of it sits within us.

colequillwork2May the opportunity brought for renewal by the eclipse open us to hearing them, allowing their medicine to work within, and may the blessings of the equinox enable us to grow in our understanding so that we may yet continue the sacred work with an ever more powerful intent…..

Root Medicine of the Stars

A Lunar Healing

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Shipibo

Over the three days of the full Moon in Aquarius a square between the Sun and Saturn is brought to a head and, with the exact mid point of this lunation, brings a dynamic balance and opportunity for release of the tension within that square.

The release of this energy is best served through vocalising and giving sonic form to its potential. It is a time for putting our words into action, for walking our talk. The ideal is to find the rhythm of the moment and let it take you where it will ~ let the power flow through you, but, be careful to keep a clear head! Here the hoof beats of this lunation’s wild horse energy find a balanced rhythm and the instinctive animal powers come into alignment with the human need for structure. For healers working with the drum this is a golden opportunity for making big medicine. The Aquarian Moon pulls on our collective connectivity.

The world view now sees a wider perspective unfolding more visibly. Now that the inflationary square between Mars and Jupiter has subsided we will notice the background emotional signature of the times more clearly and, within this, a sense of primary trends and ongoing changes within the collective will be more easily discernable. If you are of a mind to use that rhythmic power for global healing this is a good opportunity, but, again, following the call and paying attention to what pulls most deeply on your concerns in the world has precedent. Key amongst the reasons for this is the ongoing trine between Chiron and Saturn ~ this aspect has held good through much of this year and is keeping a spiritual focus for the application and pragmatic use of our deeper healing energies as an underlying presence at work in the background. Every major event in the world, as well as in our own lives, is an opportunity to make use of this energetic presence and now is a prime time to do so.

Uranus is also in a long held quincunx with Saturn, an aspect that asks us to work at reconciling the Uranian impulse for innovation and breaking from the past with the deep need for practical solutions and security that the problems of the present manifest in our lives. Many of those problems are themselves the result of the unresolved issues we have inherited from previous times, just as they also stem from persistant application of outmoded elements in traditions. The cognitive dissonance that arises from too rigid adherence to tradition is in the spotlight with this Sun Saturn square and this Moon in particular brings this into focus as a part of its underlying tension. It is a collective focus, being in Aquarius, one we are all a part of, which we can all feel to some degree. But, Saturn also indicates a stronger meaning at work as the ringed planet is now exactly opposite its August 1999 position when we saw a full solar eclipse in Leo. Saturn was also opposite Mars at that time and square to the Moons nodes – remember that last detail.

Saturn is a strong defender of tradition, of the cultural memory that lives on within us through its morphic resonance, but, all traditions must evolve, must embrace the change that is the essential dynamic of Nature and an intrinsic need of human cultural innovation, and, if we look back 15 years we find some revealing examples of the morphic resonance of the time.

This full Moon sees the Sun return to the same degree of the August 1999 full solar eclipse, an eclipse that was experienced by many millions and which preceded a pivotal moment in our current era.  It is essential we now bring light to the persistent shadow of that time. Take time to review what was transpiring in your life at that time.

Eclipses halmark the six month period following with their influences. Within that period, in the run up to YK2, for example, the world saw growing concern over the potential crash of the global computer network on the eve of the millenium. This stands as a good example of how our collective media driven emotional energies can be misdirected and manipulated, and, of course, nothing happened. It could, in fact, be justifiably labelled as a global false flag…..and, false flags are rife in our world right now, a favourite political strategy of the key players.

If the Scorpionic power of discernment and penetrating intensity, its ability to bestow stoic determination, is now being brought into concentrated Saturnian focus, this is one area of our collective lives where we can turn our healing attention at this full Moon. Clarity of perception, pattern recognition and fierce discernment can disarm, expose and defuse false flags, and, in the coming months this is going to be essential knowledge and skill, for us all. Petitioning the greater powers for help in developing these skills is in keeping with Uranus’ part of the bargain here as well, but, as a harbinger of higher awareness, the price for not paying attention will be high if we don’t!

Vladimir Putin replaced Boris Yeltsin during that six month eclipse shadow of 1999. Putin is very much a key player on the political stage right now, and his natal MC in Leo, closely conjunct natal Pluto, is being activated by this full Moon. He is also a Scorpio rising and his first house Venus is being given a warriors boost by transiting Mars, while Saturn is coming into exact opposition with his natal 7th house Jupiter. The wider embracing idealogy of his foreign policies is being challenged by both the broader and border issues of Ukraine, and the intrinsic role of the US within the Ukrainian government, while the media prefers to play blind to it,  will not have escaped his attention in respect of this. He is likely to be feeling emboldened in his moves now, but, he is a shrewd politican and, remaining strategically ahead in the political chess game between him and the US administration, neither side is far from immune to strategic deceptions and false flags…..plus, Saturn is currently applying in square to Putin’s lunar nodes, which, if you remember, was Saturns apsect to the nodes back in 1999 as well.

This will be a real test for him as a leader, how well he can manifest the innate skills he has in pursuit of ‘new ground’, and, with Pluto currently opposite the USA’s 8th house natal Sun the pressure is on both sides in this issue. Putin’s alliance with BRIC, the growing alternative to the hegemonic dollar based economy, brings his natal Venus into full play. Much that was seeded around the turn of the millenium is now finding its critical moment.

We know that the world is in major need of not only economic, but, political overhaul, that the ‘weaponisation of democracy’ is an unacceptable and contemptuous misuse of the power of the People in the pursuit of both by the powers that be.

For the people of Palestine and Israel this is a crunch issue……here the past is used as justification for action and as a defence, but, the deceptions are, once more, rife. This is a situation that must change……thousands are marching in the streets of many capitals at this time, including in London from where I am currently writing, to see that change become a reality. Here too we can join with that movement and bring our focus and healing to bear in breaking with the past and its destructive patterning.

With Mars currently approaching Saturn this aspect of the current lunation sees this current issue in particular coming to a head and the conjunction becomes exact at new Moon. But, more on that and the wider environmental issues, Fukushima not withstanding, in the next post.

The second half of 1999 also saw major earthquakes, many claiming significant loss of lives. The cycle of extreme weather that we now see accelerating has its solar roots at this time, a time where the solar minimum saw more sunspot activity than our present solar maximum. Many of these environmental events are deeply affected by the state of our Sun……but, while the Sun in Leo is leading by example, in a manner of speaking, we could take this opportunity to allow the solar/lunar heart beat of our planet to speak through us at this full Moon.

Where-ever we turn our attention over the coming days, we have a powerful opportunity now to work with the cosmos and bring the potential healing power of change present within the matrix into manifestation here on Earth. May our voices be strong and our prayers be answered……