Uranus in Aries and the “Democracy Virus”

Uranus entered Aries for the first time in this cycle on May 29, 2010, but it only visited for a few months before returning into Pisces. This gave us a brief glimpse of what was in store for us but when Uranus entered Aries fully on March 13, 2011 the game changed for good. Uranus will be in Aries for about 7 years or until 2018 and during much of that time it will be squaring Pluto, so it’s really time to take a look at what all this means as we are now able to extrapolate on what we have begun to see.

Uranus is the archetypal symbol of independence, of acting and thinking for oneself instead of blind acceptance of what authority figures may tell us. It is the iconoclast, the person who must challenge the prevalent beliefs and even attempt to destroy old, outworn structures, institutions, and symbols. This, of course, will be resisted by the structures in charge at the time, but especially if those structures are seen as dominating the people of that nation by dictators, autocrats, and monarchs. Uranus in Aries, amplifies this much further as Aries needs to be able to roam free, unfettered by outside figures who seek to control, limit or curtail the Aries spirit that seeks to act in a way that the individual Aries feels it must do. Together, Uranus in Aries will not tolerate restrictions from totalitarian authorities who the Aries will regard as corrupt.

However, it is important to make a distinction between how an individual responds to a potent transit versus how the masses do. In fact, they can act in very different ways. For an individual, the person will be inspired to break free from the past programming and desire to take risks one might not have even considered at other times. One may decide to pursue a path that they could not envision doing in the past, but now, it’s different. Now, one sees that to keep oneself in the status quo is a kind of soul-death. To feel alive, one must grow at all costs, leave the past behind and follow one’s Bliss, as Joseph Campbell (an Aries) put it. But when this type of transit is experienced by the people of an entire nation or continent, Uranus often becomes the chaos maker, seeking revolutionary change at all costs. People mobilize for social causes and for more than just governmental reform. Instead, it may seek revolution. The more severe the oppression, the more severe the response to that oppression will be. I have often wondered why dictators so often refuse to understand this. Mubarak is only the first major leader of an Arab country to ignore this truth and has fallen as a result.

The Arab World

What we are witnessing in the Arab world is truly historic. It is likely that we are seeing a fundamental paradigm shift in that area of the world. Admittedly, as is typical of Uranus, there is always great uncertainty about where things will go. All one knows is that there is a demand for change. No doubt some changes will be constructive, while others will be worse than what existed before. Unfortunately though that is the way of things, is it not?

We have seen revolution in Egypt and Tunisia. Libya seems to be on course to the overthrow of Qaddafi. Of potentially much greater significance, Syria is seeing mass killings by a dictator seeking only to stay in power, which of course, means that his power is likely to be on the way out. We see unrest in Bahrain, Yemen and other countries. Every citizen in the Arab world is watching developments closely resulting in the development of a spiral towards more and more countries falling to this growing desire for change. Each successful revolution motivates the citizens of other countries, emboldening them, and makes them more willing to die for their cause. Is this not a revolutionary spiral we’re seeing? How can we know where events will go? The truth is that no one knows where it will lead or when it will stop. The huge royal family of Saudi Arabia has got to be very concerned as their dominance is certain to be increasingly questioned and even attacked. We haven’t even had the first square of Uranus to Pluto, meaning that what is happening now is just a run up to what will be emerging in the next year.

Where is this going?

Many journalists are using the term I have chosen for the title of this article. The Arab leaders, in power for many decades and longer, are accustomed to having their form of dictatorship go unquestioned. It was assumed that it would never end. And, of course, the idea of democracy being introduced was unthinkable not long ago. But these assumptions are no longer true. So, the term ‘democracy virus’ is being used to describe what is growing exponentially in the Arab world. It is radically new and to the leaders at least, it is regarded as an aberration, a virus that must be destroyed and a threat to their idea of what their life is supposed to be. But it is growing more each day and is not likely to end.

As most of the readers of this blog know already, we can attribute this to the internet and the emergence of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter. Both of these are ruled by the planet Uranus and the sign of Aquarius. And of course, the smart phone, which is transforming our world yet again, bringing us closer together in some ways, but, in my view, farther apart in other ways. (But that’s for another time.) There seem to be two strategies to deal with democracy virus – the carrot and the stick. The dictators are using violence and payoffs as their only alternative. But how can this work for long if the real need of this part of the world is the kind of participation that can only be found in democracy or at least some degree of it.

The Paradox

Here is what I find the most interesting. On one hand, we see that Aries is a sign of individualism. One of the chief ways this is emerging in the U.S. is the revolutionary spirit that regards government in the same way that many citizens in the Arab world think of their autocratic leadership. Does anyone find this odd? Is it the same? Is the U.S. system a monolithic, dictatorial system?

In Egypt, what really angered the people the most? The answer is clear. It was the corruption in the Mubarak government. I don’t know if he would have been ousted if it weren’t for this. Is this not where the anger really comes from when there is revolutionary talk? So, in the Arab world democracy is seen as the answer to corruption, but what about in the U.S.? Are the people of the U.S. asking for more democracy? Well, in some ways we are seeing this. In a very unusual move, the people of southern Arizona want to form their own state. They’ve named it Baja Arizona. Why? Because the people of Tucson feel they have no power in their very conservative state. These are the liberal and moderate people of Arizona who do not feel their voice will be heard no matter how loud they scream. But will the rest of Arizona permit it? Will the state allow their southern counterparts to have two liberal officials suddenly appearing in the U.S. Senate? Obviously, the greater number of conservative voters are not going to give permission for this to happen as it would totally nullify the conservative influence the state of Arizona now has in the Senate. And there are other states where a similar theme exists and is occurring from both sides of the aisle.

So, what does this tell us? As I mentioned Uranus brings in new paradigms, new ways of seeing problems and even more new ways of solving them. If we focus on events only, the coming 3-4 years may bring about much talk within states that can change the structure of the U.S. It could be like what we are seeing in Arizona where one state splits into two or there may be secession talk. Already we are seeing states refuse money from the ‘evil’ federal government. Is the U.S. government truly the same as Mubarak in Egypt or Assad in Syria? But we need to look at more than just events. We also must value the coming opportunities for new thinking and new approaches that are outside the present political two-party system.

Let’s see how astrology might help us. The fact is that no sign exists alone. In fact, I do not believe that it is possible to fully understand one sign if you do not also understand it’s opposite. So, to understand Aries, one must know about Libra as well. By definition, a ‘set’ is composed of two sides, each of which depends on the other in order to exist. When this is seen thoroughly, it can help us move forward. When a set of opposing forces is seen, we recognize that the first step is to realize the limitation of approaching any problem that is posed in a dualistic manner. So, if Aries is the archetype of individualism, then Libra as its opposite sees how important social equality and harmony is for a society. Libra knows that the social contract is important. This means that a society must find a balance between the forces of individualism and social harmony, which is naturally a state of tension. Each of these archetypal needs must be validated as necessary. Tension can either break us down or it can motivate us to find creative solutions.

To apply this to politics in the U.S., I am suggesting that to label people as either conservative or liberal is itself an underestimated problem as it prevents our present form of government from being able to solve problems. Instead, let’s suppose that two things were added to our approach to government. First, suppose the citizens of the U.S. found a way wherein they could approach solving specific problems on an individual basis and secondly, found a way to debate those issues in a way that was truly informative before the decisions were made. What would happen? I believe consensus could be developed about many issues, because despite the seeming rancor constantly bombarding us by the 24-hour news cycle, most reasonable people would agree on many things if the issues were broken down into manageable problems. But this would mean the destruction of both parties as they exist now. It would also mean the destruction of the incredibly powerful lobbying groups who have so much influence over the decision-making process. Is this even possible given the fact that these forces dominate the entire process? Must we not either find real solutions to the significant problems we face or be bogged down into immobility?

My purpose here is not to propose or predict a possible future as much as it is to suggest a truly different paradigm for how decisions could be made in a democracy. In fact, I am suggesting we become more of a democracy than we are now, where money rules all decisions. Is this our definition of democracy? Or is this the definition of corruption? I think it is the latter. These ideas are not inconsistent with Uranus in Aries because Aries can be bold and give more weight to the individual while Libra, as its opposing force, reminds us that we also must have a relationship with our fellow citizens.

So, will Uranus in Aries be simply a revolt against ‘big government’, which we are seeing now, or will it become the introduction of a new paradigm about how a people can have influence over the problem-solving process that affects us all? Will Uranus further democracy and seek to oust or minimize corruption, or will it do the opposite and give even more control to the powerful influences controlling the entire decision-making process? By the way, since when do we really believe that a corporation is a person? What is the effect of the Supreme Court deciding that it is? And more importantly, how is this view actually promoting or valuing true individuality? Isn’t that what Aries wants and needs?

Summary

Whenever Uranus is in play, and especially when it squares Pluto, there are opportunities for very significant change. But by change I do not mean revolutions that simply oust one group in favor of another group who have the same basic values and way of operating. This is the time when new kinds of structures can be created, where new values replace the outworn ones and when those who really have the power lose it in favor of a true spirit of democracy. Is this too idealistic? Perhaps it is. But at least in the true spirit of Uranus, the ideas are being expressed. What will happen with these idealistic ideas is unknown, but the coming transits will likely bring forward very unusual and out-of-the-box approaches for consideration.

Here’s a really fun website that you might enjoy about the imaginary debate between the economists John Maynard Keynes and F.A. Hayek that goes into the two opposing ideas of how an economy should be run. It’s called the Economic Fight of the Century.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts. May they come from both sides of the aisle and also from the true iconoclasts among you.

My Response to Astrology Critics

I wrote an article in last week’s newsletter that critiqued the work of Parke Kunkle who claimed that the way that the signs are presented in astrology today is wrong and has been for many centuries. Of course, his real purpose, noticeably unexpressed, was to debunk astrology, using arguments that are basically the same ones used by scientists for many years. We did receive one lengthy reply to my article from Mike which was well thought out and which, I believe, deserves a proper response. You can read his reply at the end of the article here:

The first thing I must add is that I agree with some of his critique. Astrologers have put themselves in a position where they are open to parts of the valid critique being made here. The critical question is this: Can astrology make consistent, reliable and concrete predictions? The answer, despite the claims by John Frawley and others is that it cannot. Much of Mike’s critique is actually due to his own misunderstanding of what astrology can be when it is practiced in the proper manner. But he is hardly alone in this view. Let’s get really truthful about this. If astrologers could make concrete and reliable predictions, they would be flooded with clients, some of whom would be rich, and they would, in turn, become rich themselves. Unfortunately we know that few astrologers are rich. In fact, every rich astrologer I know either made their money in a field other than astrology or they inherited it. To practice and even be amazed at the wonders of astrology does NOT mean we must give up our common sense.

The next area to examine concerns Mike’s critique of astrology as a ‘vaguely worded set of personality profiles.’ This is where he begins to go off the rails due to his own lack of knowledge and experience with high quality astrological practice. He clearly knows nothing about it, which is not entirely his fault. Like most people who rely solely on ‘rational’ thinking as the only way of knowing or revealing truth, it is easy to prematurely dismiss any field of study that they “know” (or believe) is invalid on its face. Why would Mike study any field for 1-2 years in order to test its depth or possible promise, if he has already dismissed it out of hand? He won’t, of course, and neither will the vast majority of scientists and their followers.

Astrology as an Archetypal Language

As I have written many times in this newsletter, astrology is archetypal in nature. This means that all of us, because we are human, share basic human themes. So, what is an archetype? One definition is that an “archetype expresses the most primordial and common responses of all human beings to the most basic of life situations. They can appear as symbolic images in dreams, as well as in all myths or religious conceptions. These images have enormous psychic power and can sway vast collectivities, resulting in wonderful heights and the lowest of depths. They have a dark as well as light side and manifest in different ways depending on the times and culture of the specific person or collective.”

This informs us that all of the building blocks of astrology (the signs, planets, houses, aspects, etc.) are the same for each of us. The truth is that we share much more with each other than we tend to think. Our similarities may be greater than our differences. What makes us different and unique from one another then is the very specific way all of the common building blocks come together. To understand this requires interpretation and as in all professions, there are practitioners with a wide variety of skills. But what is important to know is that a natal chart is very complex. We are so much more than our Sun sign and it is very unfortunate how few people understand this. In fact, in some charts, the quality of the Sun can be quite weak. So, why do scientists even attempt to judge astrology? It would take 1-2 years of effort and study before a person could begin to be able to interpret a natal chart. Are scientists going to spend this amount of time on a subject that they ‘already know’ is way off base? Of course not. For some reason though, they believe they have the right to opinions about a subject of which they know practically nothing. This is their arrogance and demonstrates, seemingly without their awareness, that they approach science as they would any belief system with its own dogmas. This has been its history and it still happens today.

Consciousness Does Matter

If we approach astrology as an archetypal language, it will immediately infer there are freedoms available to us potentially. Archetypes manifest in a multiple of ways, from higher to lower ways of expression. Astrology does not control us as some people think if we bring consciousness to bear in all of our behaviors, attitudes, beliefs systems and motivations. Again, psychology tells us this over and over again.

It is better to think of astrology in terms of levels of abstraction from the general and thematic down to the specific way an archetypal principle manifests for a particular person. I am referring to some of the amazing work of Alfred Korzybski who wrote a seminal book called “Science and Sanity”, which outlines the importance of the principle of levels or ladders of abstraction. This approach is so different from the way most people think about astrology. This is what Mike is doing when he speaks about the problem of personality profiles. His concern is valid. He just doesn’t know that higher quality astrology is aware of this and consciously discriminates between how we are both similar to and different from each other. In other words, astrology does not strictly speaking yield a perfect understanding of a particular person’s personality. It does accurately describe tendencies and alternative ways of being that can range depending on how conscious (self-aware) or unconscious the person is. In other words, if we are open to learning, to self-discovery and alternative ways of being, we can move to higher ways of being-in-the-world.

One example is a person with Mars on their Ascendant. That person could a very assertive, even acerbic personality. But with awareness and understanding, that assertiveness can move from being mere belligerence and argumentativeness to discrimination and the careful picking of one’s battles. It is more up to us than we may think. We do not have to be slaves to our chart…. unless we make no effort to become self-aware.

At the end of his critique Mike comments on the fact that a planet has no more influence on us than a person sitting next to us. Again, this assumes that astrologers believe that the planets are causing us to do something. I know that this is how astrologers do speak and I have done it myself. But the truth is that astrologers do not know how astrology works only that it does. There are other theories for why it worked, including the notions of ‘synchronicity’ which is a concept popularized by Carl Jung. Scientists have been criticizing him from the beginning, but the quantum physicists are much more cautious as they do not pretend to know how connected every bit of matter is to every other bit. To them, the universe is much more unknown that scientists think. Sometimes, I think that what scientists lack most is simply a lack of imagination, though this is not at all true for many of them

At the end of Mike’s critique he attacks astrology with the famous P.T. Barnum quote that a sucker is born every day. To me, he has come full circle for it is he who, in his ignorance, has fallen prey to his faith in science and rigid logics, by exposing his own bias and even blindness.

As I have said before, people resonate with astrology not out of mere superstition, but due to the fact that it does speak to our psyche and soul. The recent controversy reveals how much astrology is valued and will always be. So to scientists everywhere, surrender, you’ve lost, and take note that “Resistance is futile.” Your uneducated attacks only serve to give us life.

Purpose vs. Meaning

How Astrology Can Be Helpful

One of the questions I am often asked by clients and students alike is – “Can astrology tell me what my purpose really is?” I looked at the astrologer advertisement section of the recent issue of ‘The Mountain Astrologer,’ and found that one of the common themes of these ads is that astrologers are openly saying that astrology can ‘tell you’ what your purpose is. Sometimes they will say ‘Soul-Purpose.’ The mere mentioning of this will be so hypnotic that the reader of this ad could feel very enticed by its potential promise and so might want a reading so that they can learn what their purpose really is. It is indeed, a truly important human need, is it not?

Why is it so important to us? Perhaps, the most basic reason is that most of us feel, at least at some point, lost in life. We want to know such things as what we should be doing, where will I find fame and fortune, will I be successful and then we believe or hope that astrology can answer these types of questions, so we go to astrologers for our answers. It is my view that this subject can be so fascinating that one can jump headlong into a search for answers without asking one very important question, which has two basic parts. They can be described as follows:

What are the actual assumptions of my question?

Will the answer being told to me by another person actually be sufficient or truly satisfying?

The Assumptions

It can be helpful to really look and discover what it is that one is seeking. What is the nature of the drive in us that seeks to discover our purpose? Where are we looking and how can we find it in that place? Can a person tell another person what their purpose really is? These are some of the questions that can be ignored in our sometimes frantic and vague search.

The thoughts I will express here are certainly not the last word on the matter, but hopefully it can give us a good starting point. What I have discovered when I’m with a friend or client who is asking this type of question is that they are experiencing an ‘emptiness’ along with a great fear of that ‘emptiness.’ There is a consideration that if that emptiness is filled, that one will feel better, and that the way to filling it, will come from knowing one’s purpose. But what is one seeking when they look for ‘purpose?’ Is it an answer that is focused on an external role, job or relationship that, once found, will hopefully take away the pain and doubt caused by this dreaded ‘emptiness?’ It is my view that what we are really seeking is relief from a fundamental anxiety that all of us feel, simply because we exist. It is arising out of the fact that we are alive and we don’t know whether or not our life has any meaning. We are in real doubt about this and hope that if we find our purpose, we also will find our meaning.

But will we? If I tell someone that their purpose is to be a chef, CEO, spouse and/or parent, will that really help us? Sure, it can be helpful to learn of the role we can play in the world. I do not mean to trivialize this need. But will it give us the relief we are actually looking for in an existential sense? In fact, can any external factor give us this? Will money, success, fame, etc. give us the meaning we are seeking? I don’t think it will and my guess is that most of my readers don’t believe it either.

So, if astrology is to be of any real assistance to us in the deeper sense of which I am speaking, astrology needs to be capable of more than just advising us in external matters. For it to be helpful to us in our existential challenge, it must help us discover meaning. If it attempts to answer these important questions only by focusing on external factors, is it not limiting itself greatly and making itself irrelevant to the question of meaning and a sense of purpose that goes beyond the roles we play in life? And finally, if astrologers do this and only this, are we not contributing to the illusion and false hope that if we only know what we should be ‘doing’ in the external world, that we will suddenly become filled with a great sense of meaning and thereby cease to feel that quite genuine experience of ‘emptiness’ and the fear we have of that?

Astrology at Its Best – A Tool for the Discovery of Meaning

So, yes, astrology can contribute to our discovery of our purpose in the external world, but that is not when astrology is at its best. What astrology is capable of being is a tool that opens us to having a different relationship with our life and with the world in general. This is what can help us and can even begin a process where we can deal directly with the issue of ‘emptiness’ or lack of meaning we feel. How can astrology enter this area of life, an area usually reserved for religion, philosophy, psychology, etc.?

Actually, it is this factor that causes me to prefer teaching to consulting people only. Yes, an astrological consultation can be helpful as we navigate our way through our everyday life and confront the present problems we face. Astrology is indeed capable of assisting us in this. But when we begin to learn more about the world of astrology, something much bigger and more profound can occur. I asked several graduate students to tell me how the immersion in astrology affected them and all said that it changed their world. However, it changed them more on the inside than the outside. Their view of their life had become richer and their understanding of time and their relationship to it has transformed them. How can the study of astrology do this?

Here are some of their edited and shortened synopses, some of which have to be in my words rather than theirs:

1. When I realized (not just cognited) that my life revealed by my birth chart was linked to already existing archetypes, I felt that I was connected to Life itself and to time as well, i.e. past, present and future. I found that this feeling of deep and profound connection was reducing my sense of alienation and emptiness that had been my constant companion.
2. The more I studied my transits, the more I felt that at certain moments, I really was free to make choices that could send me in a much better direction than where I had been. I just needed to be more conscious of my programming or patterns, which astrology helped me to see, so that I could choose to operate in a different way. I didn’t see astrology as forcing me to do things or controlling me, but as a tool for discovering my patterns which were controlling me and as way to greater freedoms.
3. The more deeply I got into the planets, signs, houses and aspects, the more I understood better ways to deal with my life. I had no idea there were so many levels to life. The more I understood, the more I felt free and could see that life is not meaningless.
4. It’s all about learning. That’s what life really is. I can go through life unaware of what I’m doing and never really learn from life or go through it with awareness and find that each day is an amazing opportunity to discover new things and grow.
5. When I had learned the astrology basics, I began to look at both good and bad events in my past. I looked at transits, progressions, solar arcs, etc. I was shocked to see that what was happening to me in my life, all the events which I believed were just random events, turned out to be cycles of unfolding and not random at all. Events which I thought were disconnected from one another, turned out to be completely connected. I just couldn’t see it at the time. I was so immersed and focused on the crisis that I couldn’t see it in a broader perspective. With time and perspective, this changed and a deeper pattern was revealed so that I began to feel that I was evolving rather than just revolving like being on a merry-go-round. Life had meaning, after all.

Astrology Reveals Life as a Process

When we see, even in a small way, that life is not a random, meaningless set of events, our way of Being-in-the-World changes and life becomes a much richer, meaningful set of opportunities from which we can learn and grow. Each day becomes full of meaning and discovery.

I’m certainly not suggesting that astrology is the only way, the only path to this, but it is one way. And when it is used in this way, it becomes one tool of transformation where we no longer feel that life is meaningless and empty. This is why I used astrology as a therapist and now use it as a teacher. When practiced in the ways that I’ve described, astrology can be a very powerful way of assisting us to move to higher levels of consciousness and even evolution.

This subject of this newsletter article has been motivated by the crisis of a close friend of mine. May it help this person as well as many of my readers. As always, I encourage you to respond to this article and express how it affected you.

A Deeper Look at the Personal Side of the Jupiter-Neptune Transit: Part III

Jupiter is the planet that signifies expansion. It does this in many ways. It can expand our learning by urging us to seek greater understanding through the study of philosophy, religion and higher (abstract) concepts. Also, Jupiter can motivate us to travel which can enable us to experience people, societies and cultures completely outside our own personal limited experience which provides us a platform for discovering a broader basis for finding meaning in our lives. Every time you feel your mind expand or your understanding grow, you are living in Jupiter’s realm. For the most part, however, Jupiter does stay in a relatively conventional area. When Jupiter dominates a person they often find themselves in careers of law, education, or religion, etc. Maybe even a quantum physicist or two will be found as well. What they have in common is that they seek to understand how the world works and perhaps desire to teach what they have learned.

Neptune though, takes us into very different territory, a world that is beyond mere words or knowledge. Its world is one of imagination, dreams and an idealized sense of how we are all united in some way, though the feelings often cannot be described. Neptune destroys that sense of separateness and as such can confuse us and bring about an enormous sense of groundlessness that is somehow both scary and exciting at the same time. With Jupiter we can talk, discuss, theorize, debate and write all kinds of books and treatises, but with Neptune we become speechless and seek ways of communication that go way beyond mere words, such as music, art, painting, and theater, etc. We feel moved to enter the world of the universal or archetypal, or whatever words we use to describe that which underlies the mundane world. We sense that the ‘real’ world is a mere superficial layer of existence, the tip of a very deep world that actually creates and supports us.

Jupiter and Neptune Coming Together

When we look at charts of people who have strong aspects between these two giants, we see visionaries, idealists and people of great compassion and imagination. They see through the lens of Love… not a love limited to the personal, but a devotional, even an impersonal love that makes no distinctions between self and another. In music we find Enya, Bob Dylan, John Coltrane and Judy Collins who exemplify the incredible ability to tap into deep wells of human desire for some sort of perfection. In mythology, the pioneer Joseph Campbell saw the universal archetypes operating throughout the cultures of the world. Carl Jung developed a philosophical system that combined psychology and spirituality in a way that is so new and historic that it is still being developed today and is affecting many different disciplines.

Cooperating and Working With this Transit

The way in which this transit will affect an individual will, of course, depend on the nature and potentials of that birth chart of that person. Some will not feel this transit very much as they may not be able to resonate with its subtle urgings. But for those of us who can feel these forces, when expansionistic Jupiter meets boundless Neptune we are moved to reach some sort of higher (more inclusive) ground. But this journey is not something that can be mapped out or planned. To fixate on a goal is to prematurely create a limitation that could needlessly confine us. Moving into a truly new experience always involves a letting go of the past (conditioning) and an embracing of the unknown. What we may find however, may be something that feels eerily familiar. As we break free from rigid confines of our inner structures, we may discover openings to our deepest Self. This “free state” may be sensed as our own ‘real home’, a state that is, at least for a few moments, completely unconditioned. Could this feel unreal? Of course, but we may do well to consider that it isn’t as unreal as we think, but closer to being our true state. This is where we experience a hope that regards anything and everything as possible, that we live in a boundless, multi-dimensional universe that is hidden from us only by our own conditioning.

These are the dynamic potentials of Jupiter and Neptune operating together. It is possible that some could have a ‘peak’ experience that can last for quite a while. But what is more likely is that we will open up or be opened for brief moments that give us a hint, a smell of something far deeper than what we usually allow ourselves to feel.

Sorrow or a Beautiful Sadness

There is no avoiding a side of Neptune that is so difficult to describe, but it is necessary to try. Imagine you are in a spaceship from another solar system and you are entering this one. You have sensors on your ship that can measure the joy and pain of the people living on a planet you are investigating. What do you think the readings of planet Earth would look like? Would you see a lot of joyful readings? I don’t think so. You might be seeing measurements of so much pain and sorrow you would turn your ship around and get away from our solar system as fast as possible. Life on planet Earth is rough and to begin to feel it requires a deep sensitivity, but also something else. It would require a willingness to feel something that we don’t like to feel at all. The planetary pair of Jupiter and Neptune could open a door to our being able to perceive the deep sorrow of what it is to be human. But there is more as well. For alongside sorrow is a nobility and beauty that reflects the co-existing other side that is immensely joyful. To know the sensation-emotion of ‘beautiful sadness’ is to begin to know what it is to be truly human and that is the gift that awaits when we surrender personal ego and immerse ourselves into the consciousness of life.

The Shadow Side

As always, there is a negative or shadow side to any transit of which we would do well to remain aware. The first is the attempt to escape from one’s own (or the World’s) shadow. True integration always demands that we see all sides of any situation, including our own nature. Each of us has aspects of our psyche that we don’t approve of, which we then repress. This is what the term ‘shadow’ means. Some have called this tendency the ‘spiritual bypass.’ We leap so high and feel so good that we want to stay in this feeling of great joy or ecstasy and will do whatever we can to bypass all those things that could bring us down. One friend calls this –‘staying in the cumbaya moment.’ It is vital that while we validate these idyllic moments for they are indeed harbingers of future, potent possibilities. But to actually live in these higher states, we must honor the dark, grungy, yucky, sucky feelings that compose a part of each and every day of our lives. This is our battle, isn’t it? We can be enticed into staying in our Shangri-La sense of perfection or commit ourselves to engage in the ‘holy’ battle with both sides of our nature, which can lead to what is perhaps an evolutionary state for the human race.

The second area of concern is zealotry. An amazing spiritual experience or insight MUST be shared, right? We are full of life and want others to feel it too. But did dogma or the reading of a book or maybe the attending of a lecture or seminar take us to the heights? Or were we blessed by a Grace we do not understand and did not control? And can our journey be duplicated for another or is the truth that each of us has our own journey, a journey that is uniquely ours to travel and be transformed in just the way we need? Perhaps there is no path but our own. If we find ourselves wanting to share our good fortune, perhaps we also can retain the knowing that the Divine is never asleep and that no one needs to be converted.

By the way, a wonderful example of the Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron in Aquarius archetype can be found on the new show called “The Philanthropist.” Its appearance on network TV completely coincides with this transit. Our hero uses his fortune to seek ways to overcome national boundaries and create solutions to the world’s major problems. It is utopian, unrealistic and impossible in the ‘real’ world. Gotta love this stuff!

Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron: Part I

Our nation and the World is going through quite a few significant transits, but one that I want to take an in-depth look at is the Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron conjunction that is in effect right now and will continue in varying degrees through late 2010. To be more specific, on July 22nd, as Pres. Obama was making a speech on the health care debate going on in Congress, Jupiter conjuncted Chiron at 24 degrees of Aquarius. This transit is one of the chief factors driving the attempt to reform the U.S. health care system as Chiron, the wounded healer, calls our attention to the weaknesses of a system where the ever-increasing costs of health care combined with steady decreasing benefits in the insurance system is creating a crisis that may finally result in some kind of reform. On Dec. 7, 2009, Jupiter will conjunct Chiron again and then conjunct Neptune on Dec. 24th at 24 Aquarius. After this, Jupiter moves on into Pisces, but Neptune and Chiron will dance together for most of 2010.

In my view, this 2-year dance between these two giants and the one asteroid (Chiron) is doing much more than focusing our attention on health care, especially in the U.S. The reason why it is especially significant here is that all this is going over the Moon of the U.S. chart, which is at 27 deg. of Aquarius. The meaning of the Moon in a nation’s chart is important for it reflects the national mood of the people. It amplifies our sensitivities to all those things that enable us to feel safe and secure as a people and where we are vulnerable. Obviously it can also cause the nation to feel vulnerable, worried and concerned about where we are at as a nation without knowing from where the feeling is coming. (I’m not going to focus on the economy in this series of articles though this factor is clearly influencing all of the issues involved in these transits).

Neptune, the planet of dissolution, affecting a nation’s Moon does more than just create confusion and uncertainty. It can bring about the sense that everything we have depended on in the past is no longer something on which we can rely. We begin to feel the need to question everything not knowing if it’s even possible to come to any clarity. Because of the fact that Neptune moves so slowly, taking over 150 years to orbit the Sun, transits of this order affect a nation in a huge way. The collective consciousness of this nation will not be the same as it was before it all started.

So, what might be the issue that is forcing its way into the collective framework of the nation and the World? To me and to other astrologers the issue that is underlying all of this is the issue of climate change or global warming. This issue is certainly being regarded as important, but a very high level of denial is still in place and still rules any attempt to have a real debate about what to do. The so-called many reasons for not doing anything significant are still controlling the issue, at least for now. But I do not see how this will continue in the next year or two as Neptune will bring forward any issue that cannot be handled by only one nation. The issue of climate change is such that the only way it can even begin to be worked on is by the nations of the World, especially the industrial nations, coming together. And before this can happen, something fundamental must change in the collective consciousness of the people, which is the Moon of a nation. A huge paradigm change is becoming absolutely necessary. Most scientists know it. Most people actually know it. But, I believe that it is this transit that will create such a profound mark on us, that we will be forced to begin contemplating real action. Perhaps this is the issue that will bring the entire World together in a way that is truly historic, but that seems so far off that it is barely worth mentioning.

The astrologer and author, Jessica Murray, has written a wonderful book about the United States chart called “Soul-sick Nation” as well as a recent article in “The Mountain Astrologer”. In her recent articles, she states that ‘humanity as an intelligent collective’ is undergoing a ‘mass meltdown.’ Before anything truly new can be incorporated into the collective consciousness there first must be an often painful process of letting go of all of the old assumptions and trusted views of what life is and how it should be lived. This at first will be experienced as a very real threat. I’m not referring to the actual threat of global warming and climate change, but to the way in which humanity first responds to this threat. Denial is often the first response and is the one we are still seeing.

In the election between Obama and McCain it seemed to many that a ‘culture war’ was underlying the entire debate which lead to confusion, not only about the candidates themselves, but even about why one supported one and rejected the other. To me, Neptune over the Moon of a nation will amplify this and in fact, this transit hasn’t fully begun yet. It’s not merely about being conservative or liberal? In fact, it’s not about anything we can understand clearly. It’s deeper and more fundamental than that. We can think of it as more of how a person reacts to uncertainty and the feeling of chaos. Some people have great difficulty with such feelings and react with fear and blame. On the other side a person can react with the sense that new things are now possible and see the crisis as an opportunity for great new paradigms to be born. Most of us are likely to react in ways that are a little of both as we can sense that something very good could arise from something that remains elusive and unclear.

I will be writing much more on the Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron theme in future newsletter articles as this theme is likely to capture our attention for many years to come.