Celestial Notebook Overview November 2009

Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass – it is learning how to dance in the rain. (Anonymous)

We live in momentous times: Pluto’s () entry into Capricorn in 2008 closes a chapter in our development and we face a great number of social, political, environmental and economical challenges. We are already aware that the world has become a global village and that we are as a collective much more closely connected than we ever dreamed of. Addressing these challenges will alter how we interact on an individual and global level.

Something is dying and something is struggling to be born – a process familiar to Scorpio. For most of the month the Sun () is in Scorpio (), the sign associated with Pluto. With Scorpio, the glyph is outwardly extended, depicting an energy that is not easily constrained; its impulse is to penetrate, to invade and when it does so its manner is unswerving and focussed – it is after all a fixed water sign!

As the days grow shorter and the dark descends, the veils between the living and the dead are at their thinnest and, especially with the Full Moon on 2/11, you will be provided with an opportunity to face what has been influencing you below the threshold of your awareness. Take an inventory of your life and weed out everything that doesn’t support who you are becoming; clean house physically and emotionally, purge old resentments, be willing to forgive and allow the healing to happen. There is power in the dark, in your unconscious, and this Full Moon illuminates where you have to confront some old demons and albatrosses.

Chiron and Neptune end their five-month retrograde periods around the time of this Full Moon. Chiron (), Celestial Centaur, lower half horse, upper half man, turned direct on 30 October at 21° Aquarius (), smoothing the way for you to integrate your lower animal and higher human nature. Accepting and loving your own humanness is not only liberating but creates the space for others to be human and real.

On 4 November Neptune () at 23° Aquarius () turns around to go direct, lifting the fog on issues that have been unclear and unresolved since his retrograde phase began (29 May 2009). Neptune in Aquarius represents understanding and living the truth that we are all part of a larger whole, the family of humankind.

Since May Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune have been conjunct in Aquarius, the sign associated with Uranus. The latter is moving through Pisces (), the sign associated with both Jupiter and Neptune. In astrology this is called mutual reception and strengthens the celestial messages from the planets involved. This configuration is very rare and pertains to immense hope that problems may be solved almost magically.

Energy follows thought and to have hope, not in the sense of anticipation, but in the sense of a positive attitude toward that which will come to be, brings you into the right relationship with the unknown; it is also a great antidote to the fear that grips you when you perceive the structures of your life as you knew it, changing irrevocably.

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This conjunction asks you to make a leap of faith to know that we are all connected through the consciousness that forms the underlying fabric of this universe. With strong beliefs anything is possible.

Saturn (), Master of Form, entered Libra (), the sign of fairness and justice on 29 October and makes its first of three passages in a waning, cardinal square to Pluto in Capricorn. The cardinal signs are action oriented and the first two or three degrees of the cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn) even more so.

For many years astrologers have written about this Cardinal Climax and as the Aquarian Consortium of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune, slowly disperses, Saturn in Libra bites deeply into a square with Pluto in Capricorn. In the sign of the Sea Goat, Pluto’s transformative drive is directed at transforming large-scale social schemes and political institutions. Pluto often brings into the open the shadow of political power or personal ambition; any entrenched groups are forced to surrender their privilege or face revolution or moral-spiritual bankruptcy.

At a more personal level the challenges will be about cooperation, integrity and interconnectedness: taking responsibility for creating your own life and being scrupulously honest about your humanness.

The two unusual celestial events described above are like opposing dynamics in our lives: immense hope and immense change.

We are being challenged to apply with acute awareness our fresh perspectives – perspectives which are hopefully based on Aquarian principles. The spiritual essence of Aquarius is unity in diversity, the recognition of the uniqueness and equality of each individual and the creative power that comes from communal efforts.

There seems to be much darkness in the world: things are changing. In the alchemical process of turning lead into gold, the darkening process heralds the beginning of the shifts that bring forth the gold: the darker the shadow, the brighter the light.

Consciousness allows us to celebrate whatever we are given. Celebration lets the love in and love blesses whatever physical, mental or spiritual lessons there are for us to learn. To let go of the disguises and illusions of the external world is to find that, at the heart of it all, it is about joy, love and acceptance.