The Cosmic Story: Cancer Lunar Eclipse, Uranus direct and the Saturn/Pluto conjunction 2020

The Cosmic Story: January 10 - 12, 2020

And so it begins!

2020 preview

Kyhu

Like many Baby Boomers, I remember celebrating the Harmonic Convergence (the first global peace meditation) on August 16, 1987, the beginning of the 25 year countdown to the big 2012 alignment with the Galactic Center and the beginning of a new Mayan calendar. I had just gotten divorced and August 16^th was my first ex-anniversary. I looked forward to a new beginning for myself, my family and my world.

As events proved, 2012 was just the beginning of an intense seven years that brought back all the issues left unresolved from the 60s conjunction of Pluto and Uranus. With the 7 squares between these two change-makers between 2012-2015, we were energized to overcome the obstacles to our visions of a new, peaceful, cooperative, just world. 

 

Well, that didn't work out as easily as we'd hoped it would either. We're still in the midst of 'overcoming obstacles' that the square left us with. And the world is a much darker place than we ever imagined. While many of us have been concerned about climate change since the 70s, most of the world is finally, at the last minute, starting to acknowledge we have to become a more sustainable society. Unfettered capitalism brought us to the brink of global disaster. 

 

We need a new vision for the future.

The old worldview is not going down without a fight though, because people are afraid and don't have a sense of that new vision. What we have is a vision of Australia, the Amazon and California burning, of immigrants being caged, of wars and assassinations, of governments that no longer function. 

 

And so we must provide that vision. This is the challenge of our times.

And 2020 is the year we'll find that vision. (Yay! It's been a long time since 1987.) It's not going to be an easy year. But it will be a transformative one. It's a liminal year of transitions, of endings and new beginnings. And hopefully by 2021-23, we'll have set a new course. First for ourselves individually, and then for the world. 

 

There are three big planetary cycles ending and beginning this year between Pluto, Saturn and Jupiter. The biggest change comes on Winter Solstice, December 21, 2020 – that's when Saturn and Jupiter finally meet up to start a new cycle of collective growth in the air sign of Aquarius. These two planets meet every 20 years and for the past 200 years, they've met in earth signs (except for their 1^st airy Libra conjunction in the 80s). Now these planets will meet in air signs for the next 200 years or so, and things will be different. More on that at the end of the year.

There will be a series of six eclipses with a change of Lunar Nodes on May 5^th from Cancer-Capricorn to Gemini-Sagittarius. Of course, Mercury will again retrograde three times in water signs that deal with our emotional bodies. Both Venus and Mars will go retrograde this year, with Venus transiting Gemini for four months from April 3^rd to August 7^th, aligning with the North Node in Gemini. Mars, which usually spends about six weeks in a sign will retrograde and stay in Aries for six months, squaring Pluto, Saturn and Jupiter. So don't expect things to move ahead quickly, because they won't. Hopefully, this will slow down any march to war (Mars in Aries is the warrior).

So get ready, finally, to commit to making a transition to a new life, to open yourself to your new vision and to be prepared to work hard and to take responsibility for your life and the life of the world.

Cancer-Capricorn Full Moon lunar eclipse & Uranus direct on January 10^th

The Cancer-Capricorn Full Moon lunar eclipse occurs on Friday, January 10, 2020 at 11:21am PST/ 2:21pm EST/ 7:21pm GMT.

 As you can see by the visuals, there's a whole of lot energy in Capricorn, all being channeled through the Cancer Moon.  It will help to stay grounded and emotionally centered.  Neptune in Pisces trines the Cancer Moon, so let your imagination open you to new possibilities, no matter what happens.

The lunar nodes have been in Cancer-Capricorn since early November 2018. With the North Node in Cancer, we've been discovering what is truly important to us, what gives us emotional security. The Capricorn South Node confronts us with old unresolved karma, especially on a collective level. The deep flaws in our patriarchal society can no longer be hidden and are being confronted on all levels of society. It's time, especially for women, to 'leave the Father's house'. It's been a time to let go of old habits that were shaped by those patriarchal rules and discover via the North Node in Cancer what truly nurtures us. And it doesn't surprise me that what's important now is community, especially transformational communities. 

 

This is one of the last three eclipses in Cancer-Capricorn. This Full Moon lunar eclipse can help you release any lingering 'rules' and behaviors that no longer serve you. Looking at the eclipse chart, we can see Pluto and Saturn preparing to join up on Monday January 12, so we are at the very last stage of this important cycle. As you'll see below, we are at the end of patriarchy as we know it.

The Sun conjuncts Mercury, (which is out-of-bounds, meaning the Mind can step out of its usually paradigm and see new possibilities), a few hours before this eclipse. It's a great time to focus our mind's intentions on integrity, harmony, and peace. 

 

Meanwhile Jupiter just passed over the Capricorn South Node, bringing up unfinished business that needs handling. Like stopping another war.

This weekend is a great time to meditate, journey, dream and imagine a different future. The stronger our imagining, the stronger the possibility of it manifesting.

Uranus has been slowing down and will turn direct a few hours after this eclipse. Uranus rules genius, inventions, originality, experimentation. Uranus has been retrograde since August 11, 2019, turning its radical awakening energies within, working on us from the inside out. Now it's time to see how some of those internal changes have reshaped our lives. It's time to step forward and speak our truth, open our hearts and stay peaceful. It's time to take over the world with love – remember our hippie slogan: Make Love, Not War!

Uranus in Taurus forms an inconjunct with Mars in Sagittarius in this eclipse chart, so watch out for sudden accidents or surprises. Mars symbolizes our 'doing' nature and rules our desires as well as our will and focus. Mars energy can constellate anger and aggression or courage and determination. With Uranus in the mix, you're going to want to do things differently. Try new and unique approaches to things and go for it! But watch out for frustration, which can turn you aside from your intentions. Stick to them and ignore those who try to pull you back into old relationships or ways of doing things. Remember, it takes time to transform the material universe. Patience is the virtue we want to cultivate now.

Saturn conjunct Pluto at 23* Capricorn on January 12, 2020

With Saturn's 28-30 cycle and Pluto's slow progress, they meet up every 35-38 years or so. Last time they started a cycle was in 1981-82 in Libra. What makes this new cycle so important is that these two planets haven't come together to start a new cycle in Capricorn, the sign of our society and social structures, since 1518 – the year Martin Luther confronted the Catholic Church and started the Protestant Reformation. Which in turn, changed the world and led to our modern world. This conjunction re-configures power structures. It's up to us to make sure power goes to the people. 

As you can see, the Sun and Mercury bookend these two planets, so try to make conscious choices about what you want the future to look like.

 

Pluto has been in Capricorn since 2008, when the financial crisis struck. Pluto in Capricorn energizes evolution in our society and our social and economic structures, bringing up what is no longer viable and exposing it so we can let it go and make room for a new paradigm of society. 

 

Patriarchy has devolved into capitalism, making MONEY the bottom line. This is what has to change. With the North Node in Cancer, we need to make family and community the center of life again. We need to create more art and beauty, more positive visions. The economy is just one of many things that sustain us. We need to move the economy out of the center and put it in its place – as a tool of life. Not the source of life.

Pluto squared Uranus in Aries in a series of seven squares during 2012-2015, bringing up all the issues from their conjunction (beginning a new cycle) in the mid-60s. Women's issues, the environment, social justice, equality, immigration, health. This opening square is all about overcoming obstacles. And this is our work now to complete what we began in the 60s. We won't see the full results for another 40 years, but it's up to us to stand up and create the changes now so their full flowering can be achieved.

This conjunction between Saturn and Pluto is a game-changer. Saturn is all about structures and limits and responsibility while Pluto evokes death and rebirth – evolution. This conjunction wants to re-structure society. It's about going beyond patriarchy into partnership, beyond domination into equality, beyond materialism into spirituality.

This conjunction heralds the end of patriarchy and the beginning of a new world-view. One in which we each have to take responsibility for our lives and our world. And most importantly, we have to become Stewards of the Earth, which is humanity's purpose in Mother Earth's biosphere. 

 

Conjunctions are like New Moons. They are a time to plant seeds, set intentions, begin something new. That's why it's so important to take time between the lunar eclipse and this conjunction to go within and imagine the future. Things won't be changing dramatically on this day. New beginnings start in the dark, the quiet, the invisible. That's what we're called to do now.

It's time to live out our new story now --- time to shine out the light within us and bring healing to ourselves and the world. People are looking for answers to questions about life, about spirituality and the future. We are all looking for meaning. So if you're a healer, a coach, an astrologer, a therapist, people are going to need us as the old world falls apart. But everyone who stands for the Light, in whatever capacity, is called.

Become a spiritual warrior, balanced within between the return of the Divine Feminine and the rising New Masculine spirit that is her mate. My work on the return of the Goddess as Wisdom (Wisdom'sDaughters) taught me that our world needs Wisdom now if we're going to get through this transition out of patriarchy and into Aquarian openness and partnership. The Age of Aquarius begins in our Minds. Now is the time to go live there. Others will follow when they can.

Alice Bailey, the esoteric astrologer and theosophist, described 10 Seed Groups that would bring in the Age of Aquarius:



Telepathic Communicators

Trained Observers

Magnetic Healers

Educators of the New Age

Political Organizers

Workers in the Field of Religion

Scientific Servers

Psychologists

Financiers and Economists

Creative Workers

Adapted from Alice Bailey, in her book: Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. 1 (pages 35-42) "intensifying points of life embedded within the NEW Group of World Servers through which new types of energy enter into the human race. The function of these groups is to intuit and anchor new ideas and methods within the consciousness of humanity. They work on every level of human awareness and activity."

Which group(s) do you have an affinity for?

May the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine bless this new decade and new year,

Walk in the Light.

Cathy

The Cosmic Story: Gemini Full Moon 2019

The Cosmic Story: Gemini/Sagittarius Full Moon 2019

Speak Your Truth With Kindness

Advent: Preparing for the Rebirth of the Light

Many Christian churches celebrate the season of Advent, the four weeks before Christmas, as a time of expectation, preparation and meditation as we let go of the old year and await the promise of the New Year as the Christ Child.

As 2019 comes to an end, it helps to remember and acknowledge what we experienced in the year and be grateful for what we learned. We can do the same with the astrological energies, looking back at the energies of 2019.

Jupiter can help us do this since it takes a year to go through a sign. And because Jupiter is the archetypal energy of curiosity, storytelling, truth, expansion and spiritual vision, I'm going to use it as a marker for the year. Especially since Jupiter spent 2019 in his home sign of Sagittarius, gathering up our visions for the future so we can now begin to manifest them while Jupiter moves through Capricorn this year.

 Jupiter

On December 2^nd, Jupiter finished his stay in his home sign of questing Sagittarius and moved into practical Capricorn. Jupiter will add more expansive energy to the brewing Saturn/Pluto conjunction on January 12, 2020. On one hand, it's already adding to the frenzy in American politics, at the same time as it's helping people ground and implement new ideas and visions to deal with climate change and other social issues.

The last time Jupiter traveled through the sign of Sagittarius was 12 years ago in 2007. Back then, when Jupiter moved through the degree of the Galactic Center of the Milky Way Galaxy, he met up with Pluto, the archetypal energy of evolution, of death and rebirth. 

Pleiades 

I incubated a dream that night – I dreamed that I saw the constellation of the Pleiades, shining brightly in a daytime sky. Very vivid and brilliant against the blue sky. In the opposite direction, I saw silvery threads floating down to earth as old constellations broke up and dissolved.

I spoke with Jean Houston, the transpersonal psychologist, about this dream. She thought it symbolized a new dispensation – a new opportunity for Spirit to guide us. There are many ancient myths and legends about how humans were 'seeded' here on Earth, in part by the Pleiadians.

The 7 stars that make up the Pleiades are an early summer constellation, rising in the sign of Taurus. They have become markers for the change of seasons: their rising before the Sun or setting after the Sun heralds either the hot or cold seasons. So they have become a symbol of change.

The Pleiades are also a symbol of higher consciousness in hermetic theory – being the active, intelligent aspect of the cosmos. So, the dream promised an opportunity to 'start again', to expand my/our consciousness. Which certainly is a theme of the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction channeling the wisdom of the Galactic Center back in 2007.

Looking back 12 years, we all did a lot of growing up, a lot of 'starting up the 60s revolution' again. We went through the financial collapse of 2008; the Mayan alignment of 2012; the 7 squares between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn from 2012-2015 which were reflected by a renewed engagement with all the issues we brought up in the 60-70s at the conjunction of Pluto/Uranus. 

 

 

And finally, we're approaching – and already feeling the effects of – this January's Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn. We are at the end of a cycle – a bigger cycle than Saturn/Pluto conjunctions in other signs. The last time these two planets met in Capricorn, the sign of government, finance and culture, was in 1518 – a few months after Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation, a religious, political, cultural and intellectual upheaval that broke up the Catholic Church's power in Europe and gave rise to our modern society.

Saturn forms the boundary between the planets we can see with the naked eye and the invisible outer, collective planets. He stands in both worlds. And so he can build a structure that can channel Pluto's evolutionary energy and make it stronger. Thankfully, Venus is also included in this conjunction at the Full Moon to add the feminine touch. She is in her Elder phase as Evening Star and can take the energy flow of Pluto – since feminine energy contains and channels power and doesn't try to own it.

These Capricorn planets, now including Jupiter, call for the restructuring of our society, a society that lives up to its ideals and is compassionate to others. We need the divine feminine energies of life now more than ever. Will we stand up to lies, hypocrisy, control, corporate domination, bullying and fear, so we can recreate democracy world-wide? Or will we allow the complete takeover of the planet by corporations and right-wing fanatics in religion and government? These are some possibilities this conjunction offers us.

Personally, if you haven't deleted the 'patriarchal rules' app on your consciousness, do so immediately! You can't live a new story based on the old rules!

Twelve years later, on November 24, 2019, Jupiter conjoined another planet on the Galactic Center. This cycle Venus joined him. Now Venus will be the archetypal energy that reigns in our belief system for the next 12 years. An Evening Star Venus, who is the Great Goddess of Love, the Body and Wisdom, will be our guide.

Photo: Robert-Williams-Hanover-PA

Venus & Jupiter

Venus plays a big role during this week's Full Moon in Gemini/Sagittarius, as she joins both Saturn and Pluto within days of it. She'll channel the Pluto energies and give it form along with Saturn.  She brings kindness and caring, community and nurturing to this potent mix.  She puts herself in the middle of these tranformative times. Just as women are doing all over the world.

So follow Venus' lead and trust your higher Self and listen to your Body. Let those two souls inform your mind about what you really desire and need to help make your life thrive in the coming years. And then make conscious choices. Because relationships make life juicy and joyful – when you get it right!

Gemini/Sagittarius Full Moon

We're in the weeks before Winter Solstice, when the darkness is deepest. This is when we go in search of the Light, both without and within. 

 

The Gemini/Sagittarius Full Moon on 12.12.19 (EST) is the last Full Moon of the decade. And it occurs at 12:12 am EST. Twelve is the number of completion, wholeness and spiritual strength, so let's finish up our old business and clear the decks for the future.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 20* Sagittarius is: In an old-fashioned northern village, men cut the ice of a frozen pond for use during the summer. Instinct tells us to prepare for the future. But we've come so far from our instincts! Do we even listen anymore? Well, it's time to change that. Get back in your body and listen. That is how to prepare for the future.

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 20* Gemini is: A modern cafeteria displays an abundance of food, products of various regions. We have gathered all the nourishment and ideas and knowledge from the whole world. Now is the time to discern what we need. Otherwise, it just becomes overabundance. 

 

This week's Full Moon in Gemini conjures up a mixed bag of truths and lies. Just when we need to be speaking our truths, especially to those we love. So pay attention to what you're thinking and take a breath before speaking.

The mixed bag comes from adding a square to this Full Moon from Neptune in Pisces. The Gemini – Sagittarius axis concerns how we use our minds, how we think and speak about our beliefs, and how we express our deepest needs. Sagittarius wants us to see the truth, while Gemini doesn't mind seeing all sides of the picture and not choosing where he stands. Adding a square from Neptune in Pisces brings on the confusion, the lies and the projections that are flying around on Capital Hill these days. Don't let it catch you up.

On the positive side, Neptune in Pisces can add creativity and imagination to the mix. The Sagittarius Sun can give focus to your Neptunian imagination. Don't let your Gemini mind scatter your focus. Just make sure your imagination is in service to the Truth. Otherwise, this energy can be deceptive and create false narratives to suit our own purposes.

The Sabian symbol for Neptune at 16* Pisces is: In the quiet of his study, a creative individual experiences a flow of inspiration. This is the time to turn within for guidance and inspiration. Not a time to be influenced by outside forces, which will lead to a mob mentality.

Other aspects occurring during this Full Moon:

We talked about the possibilities of the Saturn, Venus and Pluto conjunction happening within days of this Full Moon. That forms the background energy of everything else happening this year and next. If you have planets or chart angels from 20-26* of cardinal signs, you're up for transformation!

There is a creative breakthrough possible with the Jupiter in Capricorn trine to Uranus in Taurus. Both these planets are in earth signs, so watch for breakthroughs in technology and environmental concerns, as well as unexpected windfalls for yourself. Open up to your belief in yourself and your dreams.

Mars in Scorpio trines Neptune in Pisces, making for a gentleness and imagination regarding our actions now. These planets are supporting the transformative Capricorn energies, so use the grace and finesse of a dancer as you become your best Self. At this time of endings, let go and surrender. Let Neptune wash away any resentment you hold onto. We're all trying to learn our lessons. Go easy on yourself and others.

Winter Solstice Sun rising at Stonehenge

On December 21, the Sun enters Capricorn on the Winter Solstice. The Moon is in Scorpio, helping us release the past and the darkness so the Light of the World can be reborn. A Winter Solstice Ritual can be as simple as lighting a candle to bring back the Light.

There's a Capricorn Solar Eclipse late on Christmas night, at 5* Capricorn, visible in the Middle East. This solar eclipse is conjunct Jupiter and trine Uranus. This will make for a joyous, interesting Christmas Day. It's a great time to set your intentions for the New Year as you begin the 12 Days of Christmas.

May the blessings of the Light shine within you in this dark time.

Cathy

The Cosmic Story: Taurus/Scorpio Full Moon 2019 & Mercury transit to Sun 11.11.19

The Cosmic Story: Taurus Full Moon: Mercury conjunct the Sun

Listening Within For What Fulfills Us

Harvest

This Scorpio season started off with a bang. The Scorpio New Moon on October 27^th was opposed by Uranus in Taurus, breaking down our emotional barriers so something new and interesting can occur. Did the week of Halloween/Samhain bring you unexpected insights? Was your intuition especially strong then? On the Day of the Dead, could you connect with any ancestor spirits hanging around?

Uranus tilts to the side

Uranus is the closest it gets to Earth all year and if you live under a dark sky, you can even see it dimly shining between the constellations of Taurus and Aries. Being close to Earth, Uranus brings us the unexpected and unusual and can make you more rebellious than usual. Since Scorpio stands opposite Taurus, these two signs resonate together, so they'll both be vibrating at high levels for the next 6 years. In fact, all the fixed signs will be vibrating at higher levels.

While the Scorpio New Moon was intense, the energy calms down a bit as we get to this week's Taurus Full Moon. Taurus likes to take things at a leisurely pace. Peace, love and the sensual pleasures make for a happy Taurus Full Moon. The Moon is 'exalted' in Taurus, meaning that its energies are powerful now, so take advantage of its bright light next Monday night. Shut off your technological toys and go out into nature – not matter how cold it is. A Taurus Moon bath will open you up to the pleasures of being alive. 

Frosty Taurus Full Moon

 

How can you find your own inner peace in these tumultuous times? Turn within and dive deep! As you know, the only way to really change the world is to change yourself. With the Taurus Full Moon, we are reminded that it is the quality of the things we want that is more important than the quantity of what we have. Enjoy what you have to the fullest. Open all your senses. Live large!

Scorpio brings us passion and intensity and the ability to dive deeply into our emotional hangups. The Taurus Full Moon wants to release those hangups and replace them with promise. The promise that something new is on the horizon. Taurus is the Builder of the zodiac. So build something new to last.

The Taurus Full Moon occurs on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 5:34am PST/ 8:34am EST/ 1:34pm GMT.

 

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 20* Taurus is: Wisps of clouds, like wings, are streaming across the sky. This is an image of mystical self-expression and awareness. Use the power of the imagination to see the positive future.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 20* Scorpio is: A woman flings open dark curtains closing sacred pathways. A mystery revealed. It's time to look at the spiritual legacy you brought into life with you.

The Moon's helpful trine to Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn turns our eyes to the things that really give us peace and pleasure. As we approach the end of the Saturn/Pluto cycle, we prepare ourselves for a new way of living by really getting down to the nitty-gritty truth of what makes for a happy life. By now, we all know that 'things' can't fill up the empty places in us. As the Beatles sang more than 50 years ago “money can't buy you love”.  

The Taurus Moon asks us to take time for ourselves. I am being reminded of its sensual energy by my new kitten. She loves to stretch her little body and delights in my petting. She loves to play and explore. Everything is interesting. She snuggles up against my neck and face and purrs loudly when I go to sleep. She is bringing me back to my own pleasure in my body, stretching and moving and hugging and loving. That's Taurus energy!

On November 8^th, Neptune retrograde in Pisces and Saturn in Capricorn sextile for the 3^rd time. Whenever these two opposing energies sextile, it makes it easier for us to bring Spirit (Neptune) down to Earth (Saturn). Saturn provides a container for all that Neptunian energy and imagination. This is a great time to write, paint, dance, make music. Art as a spiritual discipline! Play with these cosmic energies while you can.

Neptune in Pisces is a big player in this Taurus/Scorpio Full Moon chart. It trines the Scorpio Sun and sextiles the Taurus Moon. What this means is that the imagination, spiritual vision and going with the flow are easily available to us now. What do you do with your imagination? Worry and fear are the negative use of the Imagination. Our task is to stop getting caught up in the collective chaos of politics – let the politicians play. Our task is to ground in Spirit and let its light shine out of each of us.

It is always darkest before the dawn.

Mercury passes over the face of the Sun\

Mercury is making a rare pass (about 13 in a century) over the face of the Sun on Monday, November 11^th in the morning hours in the States. It's exactly in the middle of the Sun at 10:22am EST and 7:22am PST. When the Sun lights up Mercury in this way, we could say that symbolically we need to pay more attention to how we think and talk about ideas and people, about how we process our lives and about how we communicate in general. We need to recognize and see where we aren't speaking out truth. Since this rare event occurs in the water sign of Scorpio, we might want to process what's going on inside through any of the arts. Once again, we see the truth that art is a path to our spirituality and growth. 

Mercury retrograde transiting the Sun

 

The Sabian symbol for Mercury retrograde conjunct the Sun at 19* Scorpio is: A wise old parrot repeats the conversation he overheard. There's a transmission of knowledge available today if you turn within and listen.

And speaking of truth, the planet Jupiter is on the degree of the galactic center on this Full Moon. Jupiter in Sagittarius wants to seek out the truth and live by it. Jupiter is ending his year long stay in his own sign of Sagittarius on December 2, 2019, when it enters Capricorn and proceeds to catch up with Pluto by April 2020 and with Saturn in Aquarius at the end of 2020. Jupiter will either help us create a new forms of collective well-being or make the mess we're in even messier. That's why it's up to us to make sure our inner patriarchy is dead and buried this year. (Look for my special Journey offer to help you understand what you really believe as Jupiter leaves Sagittarius.)

Milky Way in Sagittarius

The Sabian symbol for Jupiter at 26* Sagittarius is: A flag-bearer distinguishes himself in hand -to-hand battle. A flag-bearer doesn't go into battle to fight; he goes into battle without a weapon to hold the standard of his king or lord. It is an honor that is dangerous, since he isn't armed. The image suggests that we have to be ready to stand up for what we believe in, even if we don't feel equipped to do it.

Venus in Sagittarius rules this Taurus Full Moon and she squares Neptune retrograde in Pisces, challenged to find the inspiration she needs to explore and grow. She gives this Full Moon a sense of adventure but also of truth and inspiration. Be inspired and have hope.

The Sabian symbol for Venus at 14* Sagittarius is: The Great Pyramid and the Sphinx. What is more inspiring than that. The Sabian symbol for Neptune at 16* Pisces is: In the quiet of her study, a creative individual experiences a flow of inspiration.

May the beauty and wonder of creation open your hearts and minds.

Cathy

It is Hard to Have Hope ~ Wendall Berry

It is hard to have hope. It is harder as you grow old,

for hope must not depend on feeling good

and there is the dream of loneliness at absolute midnight.

You also have withdrawn belief in the present reality

of the future, which surely will surprise us,

and hope is harder when it cannot come by prediction

any more than by wishing. But stop dithering.

The young ask the old to hope. What will you tell them?

Tell them at least what you say to yourself.

Because we have not made our lives to fit

our places, the forests are ruined, the fields eroded,

the streams polluted, the mountains overturned. Hope

then to belong to your place by your own knowledge

of what it is that no other place is, and by

your caring for it as you care for no other place, this

place that you belong to though it is not yours,

for it was from the beginning and will be to the end.

Belong to your place by knowledge of the others who are

your neighbors in it: the old man, sick and poor,

who comes like a heron to fish in the creek,

and the fish in the creek, and the heron who manlike

fishes for the fish in the creek, and the birds who sing

in the trees in the silence of the fisherman

and the heron, and the trees that keep the land

they stand upon as we too must keep it, or die.

This knowledge cannot be taken from you by power

or by wealth. It will stop your ears to the powerful

when they ask for your faith, and to the wealthy

when they ask for your land and your work.

Answer with knowledge of the others who are here

and how to be here with them. By this knowledge

make the sense you need to make. By it stand

in the dignity of good sense, whatever may follow.

Speak to your fellow humans as your place

has taught you to speak, as it has spoken to you.

Speak its dialect as your old compatriots spoke it

before they had heard a radio. Speak

publicly what cannot be taught or learned in public.

Listen privately, silently to the voices that rise up

from the pages of books and from your own heart.

Be still and listen to the voices that belong

to the streambanks and the trees and the open fields.

There are songs and sayings that belong to this place,

by which it speaks for itself and no other.

Find your hope, then, on the ground under your feet.

Your hope of Heaven, let it rest on the ground

underfoot. Be it lighted by the light that falls

freely upon it after the darkness of the nights

and the darkness of our ignorance and madness.

Let it be lighted also by the light that is within you,

which is the light of imagination. By it you see

the likeness of people in other places to yourself

in your place. It lights invariably the need for care

toward other people, other creatures, in other places

as you would ask them for care toward your place and you.

No place at last is better than the world. The world

is no better than its places. Its places at last

are no better than their people while their people

continue in them. When the people make

dark the light within them, the world darkens.

~ Wendell Berry ~

(This Day: New and Collected Sabbath Poems)

The Cosmic Story: The Wheel of the Year: Samhain 2019

The Cosmic Story: The Wheel of the Year

Samhain: Day of the Dead: All Hallows

The Crone and Her Cauldron

The Celtic New Year: Samhain, the Last Harvest

While our culture, and the whole world, has embraced Halloween, most people don't know why we celebrate the way we do. Why do we become someone else, grab all the sweets we can, and wander through the night, sometimes (at least in the old days) wrecking a tiny bit of havoc?

On Samhain, it was believed that the deceased came to Earth in search of food and comfort, while evil spirits, faeries and gods came in search of mischief.

We celebrate the Celtic New Year on October 31^st-November 1^st: it is Samhain, the pagan New Year, it is The Day of the Dead, it is Halloween and All Hallows. This is the time of year when the veils are thin and the beloved Dead come close and wander around for a bit. It is a day to honor the Dead and our ancestors. That's where the costumes come from-- we want to 'try on' another life. And since we want to honor our Dead, we offer them some of the food they loved in life. That's where the sweets come from. And the havoc comes when we don't honor those spirits properly.

Unfortunately, most of us have forgotten this ancient rite. Halloween is just another excuse for a party. But if we don't honor Death, we will be afraid of it. We get a chance, each year (and for women, each month with our bleeding), to release what is dead from our energy bodies, so something new can be born in the New Year. And when we add to this release the honoring of where we've come from, we can go forward into the next year with hope. And perhaps even an ancestor spirit to guide us in the coming darkness.

This is the time to put a layer of protection around yourself – may I only attract energies of the highest vibrations within myself – if you're going to open yourself to the ancestors. Because we know that there are both positive and negative energies, spirits and souls that do get attracted to us, especially when we're open to it. Open yourself to the highest spirits and bless your ancestors.

We are about to descend into the darkest part of the year in the Northern Hemisphere (while in the South, the sunlight will be growing and you'll be celebrating Beltane! Dance the Maypole for me!). What is darker than Death for us? What if we accepted a small death now, so that something new can take its place? One of my friends said, “I sometimes feel like I'm out to pasture.” I know the feeling as an elder, but not really! This is not a time to stand back and let the world flow past you. It is a time to stay centered in a larger vision and hope, while you engage in the world in the best possible way.

Whoever you are – come dance your dance. Whatever you do – it will be perfect since it's you.

What is it like to dance with death? Words can't take the place of experience. Imagination can get you there. Having a power animal along with you to give you strength, cunning and instinct and an ancestor who can give you clarity is one way to do it. Out in the desert, we dance all night at this time around an alchemical fire, We dance a bone dance.

The Celtic witches honor this time as the passing of the king, the death of the green man of summer. Men especially can look to the Green Man archetype to learn how to live, to love and to die at the proper time. Seasonal renewal, ecological awareness, the Green Man, his face masked behind leaves and branches, is a archetypal energy of growth and fertility, who also knows when to let go and die.

There are legends of him (Khidr) in which, like Osiris, he is dismembered and reborn; and prophecies connecting him, like the Green Man, with the end of time. His name means the Green One or Verdant One, he is the voice of inspiration to the aspirant and committed artist. He can come as a white light or the gleam on a blade of grass, but more often as an inner mood. The sign of his presence is the ability to work or experience with tireless enthusiasm beyond one's normal capacities. In this there may be a link across cultures, …one reason for the enthusiasm of the medieval sculptors for the Green Man may be that he was the source of every inspiration.

[William Anderson, Green Man: The Archetype of Our Oneness with the Earth. San Francisco: Harper Collins, (1990).]

Women can turn to Persephone's myth, the Maiden who is ravished away from her Mother to the Underworld where she claims her name – Persephone – and becomes a queen in her own right, away from her Mother's power. Persephone is the strong one who each year descends into the Underworld and welcomes the Dead, leading the way through the dark to new life. Her work is to abide in the Underworld for a season, with patience and calm, to invoke the next generation, the next phase of life. She is 'brewing beauty in the Underworld'. (Caroline Casey) She is also strong enough to ascend and come back in the springtime to bring that new life with her. 

 

Both the Green Man and Persephone lead us to renewal.

Renew yourself and your soul ancestry as well as your human ancestors by releasing the old story lodged in your DNA. We can make a leap in evolution with our self-awareness and our values. Understand your place in the beauty of creation. Take responsibility for your world. It is time to take our place again the the biosphere of Mother Earth. It is time to reclaim our bodies, our souls and our spirit.

Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio

The Faerie Queen & King at Samhain

As Fate would have it, Mercury is here to help. Our messenger/psychopomp is about to reverse direction on Halloween (11:42am EDT). The Sabian symbol for Mercury turning retrograde at 28* Scorpio is: The King and Queen of Faerie are solemnly welcomed to their realm. Quite perfect, don't you think? When these archetypal energies return to the inner world or other dimensions – in a solemn manner – we are called to follow. Now is the time to turn within and contemplate our inner landscape, our innersphere. 

 

Mercury has spent this year, and will spend next year, retrograding in water signs. I guess the cosmos (the Mercury retrogrades and Cancer North Node) wants us to look at our emotions and heal them. This is Mercury's 3^rd and last retrograde this year, the other two occurring in the signs of Pisces and Cancer. This Scorpio retrograde can help us work on those shadow qualities related to other people in our lives – family, friends, co-workers, strangers. 

Mercury can lead us to see how we choose to hold ourselves apart from intimacy, from sharing ourselves emotionally, from diving deeply into life. What's holding us back? Fear of betrayal, fear of failure, fear of being unloved and unlovable? Terror at being dominated or worse? Fear of the unknown or the stranger? Fear of our desires and passions? Fear of the Dark? 

 

For these 3 weeks, from October 31^st to November 20^th, we can let Mercury lead us back to the source of our wounds, which will become the source of our healing. Take the time and meditate and/or journey with Mercury into the deep inner reservoir of your emotional body. Face your fears, release and thank your shadows, and embrace the joy of emotional freedom. Leave the trauma you learned with in the cauldron of regeneration and claim the gift of your initiation.

Re-member, re-lease, re-deem, re-claim, re-new, re-dedicate, re-enchant and re-turn to your original state of blessing and wholeness. Let the old king die so the divine child of Light can be re-born at the Winter Solstice.

Mercury moving in front of the Sun

[Sky Alert! On the morning of Monday November 11, Mercury will cross the face of the Sun – looking like a tiny black dot! If you still have your glasses from the Great American eclipse, pull 'em out. Also, find an observatory. In Rhode Island, Frosty Drew Observatory is opened from 7am to around 1:30pm.]

The Astrology of Now

Sun at 15* Scorpio Power Gate 

The intense Scorpio New Moon on October 27^th was opposite the planet Uranus in Taurus. Many people found it hard to sleep those nights – the energy was high. A Scorpio New Moon plants the seeds of emotional death and rebirth, embracing an awakened awareness of life because we face death. With the awakener Uranus opposing this New Moon, our psyches are energized and electrified with an awakened body as well. Uranus in Taurus is an awakened Earth – our awareness can align with Earth's awareness now. Our wholeness has to include our bodies, our hearts and minds and our spiritual awareness. This is it! This is what we've been working toward, preparing us for the big upheavals of 2020 and beyond.

If we're going to have an awakened Earth, we have to be the agents of that awakening. The Sabian symbol for the Scorpio New Moon at 5* is: A massive rocky shore unchanged by centuries of storms. We have to remember that there are fundamental principles of life that can sustain us in these stormy times. We have to find our strength, because who knows when a fire, flood, storm or earthquake will demand that strength from us. 

 

Uranus in Taurus is an awakened Earth spirit. Our mother, Earth, will help us survive those hard time is we're open to listening to her wisdom. The body knows! We have moved so far away from living in our own skins that we no longer know how to eat, to sleep, to stay healthy and relaxed. Uranus in Taurus wants us to get back into our bodies. That's when we'll confront the poison in our food, our soils, our atmosphere, our waters. If we don't feel it, how can we heal it?

Mercury joins the Sun the day before the Taurus/Scorpio Full Moon. Always an intense time of year, the Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn trines this Taurus Full Moon and sextiles the Scorpio Sun. Simply put, this energy of release before a new cycle of power and re-structuring starts will push us to go deep and find out what it is we really love and desire.

As Caroline Casey says, while Venus is in Scorpio, we are brewing beauty in the underworld. Then Venus will quickly move into Sagittarius on November 2^nd and into Capricorn the day before the Sagittarius New Moon on November 25^th.   Mars is challenged to work for peace and harmony rather than self-aggrandizement at the Samhain power gate.  Mars leaves Libra on November 19^th for Scorpio, settling in to transform the Libra lessons into passion and power.  

 

December starts with Jupiter finishing up his time in his home sign of Sagittarius (where does time go?) and moving into Capricorn, where he'll meet up with Saturn and Pluto later in 2020. 

 

And it's a big year for eclipses. Including the late December 2019 Capricorn solar eclipse, in 2020 we have a total of 7 (6+1) eclipses in Cancer/Capricorn and Gemini/Sagittarius coming up in the New Year, along with the much anticipated Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn on January 12, 2020 – to be joined throughout the year by Jupiter and Mars. Big energies for transformation and rebirth are due in 2020. 

 

So. Prepare Yourselves. Open the Way.

Samhain Blessings,

Cathy

It Is Hard To Have Hope – Wendell Berry

It is hard to have hope. It is harder as you grow old,

for hope must not depend on feeling good

and there is the dream of loneliness at absolute midnight.

You also have withdrawn belief in the present reality

of the future, which surely will surprise us,

and hope is harder when it cannot come by prediction

any more than by wishing. But stop dithering.

The young ask the old to hope. What will you tell them?

Tell them at least what you say to yourself.

Because we have not made our lives to fit

our places, the forests are ruined, the fields eroded,

the streams polluted, the mountains overturned. Hope

then to belong to your place by your own knowledge

of what it is that no other place is, and by

your caring for it as you care for no other place, this

place that you belong to though it is not yours,

for it was from the beginning and will be to the end.

Belong to your place by knowledge of the others who are

your neighbors in it: the old man, sick and poor,

who comes like a heron to fish in the creek,

and the fish in the creek, and the heron who manlike

fishes for the fish in the creek, and the birds who sing

in the trees in the silence of the fisherman

and the heron, and the trees that keep the land

they stand upon as we too must keep it, or die.

This knowledge cannot be taken from you by power

or by wealth. It will stop your ears to the powerful

when they ask for your faith, and to the wealthy

when they ask for your land and your work.

Answer with knowledge of the others who are here

and how to be here with them. By this knowledge

make the sense you need to make. By it stand

in the dignity of good sense, whatever may follow.

Speak to your fellow humans as your place

has taught you to speak, as it has spoken to you.

Speak its dialect as your old compatriots spoke it

before they had heard a radio. Speak

publicly what cannot be taught or learned in public.

Listen privately, silently to the voices that rise up

from the pages of books and from your own heart.

Be still and listen to the voices that belong

to the streambanks and the trees and the open fields.

There are songs and sayings that belong to this place,

by which it speaks for itself and no other.

Find your hope, then, on the ground under your feet.

Your hope of Heaven, let it rest on the ground

underfoot. Be it lighted by the light that falls

freely upon it after the darkness of the nights

and the darkness of our ignorance and madness.

Let it be lighted also by the light that is within you,

which is the light of imagination. By it you see

the likeness of people in other places to yourself

in your place. It lights invariably the need for care

toward other people, other creatures, in other places

as you would ask them for care toward your place and you.

No place at last is better than the world. The world

is no better than its places. Its places at last

are no better than their people while their people

continue in them. When the people make

dark the light within them, the world darkens.

~ Wendell Berry ~

(This Day: New and Collected Sabbath Poems)