Celestial Notebook Overview July 2008

‘Come gather round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.’ Bob Dylan

Dane Rudhyar, a remarkable astrologer during the previous century, viewed astrology as a cyclic symphony: a symphony in twelve great movements, twelve great tests, twelve avenues of victory – or disintegration. The birthing process in Aries, the first sign, is where we meet the test of isolation – victory is being ever more distinct, not different, from others. Taurus brings the test of creating meaning through wealth – failure being when we identify our destiny with wealth and live in total poverty of the spirit. The test for the Gemini within each of us is to align our intelligence with the greater intelligence underlying all of life.

The fourth great test which we encounter in every cycle of individual experience is the test of stability. When the Sun is in Cancer we need to stop grasping at sensations and experiences: it is the time to assimilate, integrate and create a solid foundation from where we are able to operate.

To grow spiritually we need depth and depth implies nearness to our centre – and at centre there is no-thing, gravity ceases. Gravity of thought in its utmost depth....is humour. When nothing else remains, we always have the energy release of laughter. When we know and accept our self in-sight out, we can only laugh...from our centre, through the void and the stillness, the answers come.

The Sun in a chart is Spirit, the Moon is Soul. Elevation, exaltation and ascension all reflect the qualities of spirit; in contrast to the spirited yang experience there is the more soulful spirituality, reflecting as much a harmony of purpose as a willingness to descend into the dark abyss.

With the Sun in Cancer, the sign of the Moon and a cardinal water sign, we will be taking emotional action, plunging away from our well-ordered, well-lit and well-controlled lives. The times they are a-changing and we are embracing the reality that everything changes and fades: to burn out, to suffer betrayal, to experience failure, to have our heart shattered – all of these compel us to engage life more fully.

All the outer planets (Uranus (), Neptune () and Pluto ()) as well as Jupiter () are retrograde (seemingly moving backwards) for the entire July and August. Planets are channels for the expression of signs and in that sense they are all extroverted – when a planet is retrograde a portion of its energy is directed deeper into our being, toward the unconscious, away from the world. The Universe is conspiring to make us more attentive to our subjective world: we are getting to know our self better and better so that we are able to stand in our own truth, less moulded by external structures.

If ever there were a time to let go of who we thought we were, it is now.

On 4 July Mars () crosses 1° Virgo (the degree of the 20 February lunar eclipse). In some way, whatever we have been working on since then, will become so clear that we will be spurred into action, motivated to bring improvement not only in our own lives, but to the lives of others.

Mars is in Virgo () till 19 August, persuading us to discernment in action – exploring which activities really get the overall results we want and which ones are simply distracting busywork.

With Mars, Our Inner Hero, and Saturn, the karmic Taskmaster both in Virgo, the Virgo area of our charts will be activated by dogged determination and sheer hard work. The Virgin is not a symbol of inexperience, she is an image of purity in the sense that she is detached enough to be unbound by earthly drama: she wants nothing, is not attached to anything and fears nothing. ‘She works on herself. And to pass the time, she helps out where she can.’ Steven Forrest

We can only try...

Chiron (), The Wounded Healer, conjunct the North Node () in Aquarius () opens the portals to healing. The two wavy lines that make up the Aquarian glyph are often viewed as water; another interpretation is that those lines are serpents, symbols of knowledge and, in time, wisdom.

We are being supported to receive love naturally – to be alert to the window of opportunity and respond to those who come into our life to love us. We are learning how to go with the flow – to tell the Universe what we want and to allow life (with its perfect timing) to fulfil our needs.

We do live in interesting times.