Ugh, talk about “speak of the devil…!” I’m sorry I even brought up the subject of warped ideological frameworks in my last post and then for the sake of contextual balance actually cited the example of those who claim to be pro-life and yet who bomb abortions clinics/murder those who work there, as under the first exact hit of the Saturn/Neptune square last week a man in Colorado Springs, Colorado apparently went to a Planned Parenthood clinic and shot up the place, killing 3 and injuring 9. Police also found propane tanks scattered around the shooter’s car in the parking lot and deduced that he had apparently been trying to shoot the tanks in hopes of causing an explosion. Source: CNN.
The marker of this whole situation indeed being a manifestation of the Lo-Fi potential of Saturn in Sagittarius squaring Neptune in Pisces was this little tidbit I read regarding what a journalist from the NY Times found when visiting the shooter’s home in Hartsel, Colorado. The journalist described the residence as a “white trailer with a forest-green four-wheeler by the front door and a modest black cross painted on one end”. Source: NPR. I will re-iterate what I said in my last post by stressing the problem lies with a mis-application of “spirituality”; a rigid and yet twisted interpretation of the supposed “word of god”. There is a definite distortion of morality and ethics occurring when the Ten Commandments dictate “Thou shalt not kill” and yet, as in this case, there are still those who selectively apply this precept. The existence of this kind of hypocrisy and double standards is not a phenomenon exclusive to any particular faith – putting it bluntly, there are people who do wacky shit under the banner of “religion” across the board (whether this is the Islamic Crescent, the Christian Cross, or anything else) so there is no sense in pointing to any particular faith as “the bad guy”.
This is why I made a point of saying the square between Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces presents an ideal time to take a hard and honest look at our spirituality and how we are applying it in an earlier post. No bullshit double standards or hypocrisy – now obviously this event is an extreme manifestation that illustrates the profound disconnect that can occur if/when we keep deluding and deceiving ourselves about whether or not we are legitimately walking our talk and truly practicing whatever it is we’re purporting to believe, but pseudo-spirituality can come in many different forms and there are a variety of ways to misuse “faith” as an excuse for escaping moral/spiritual accountability. Ergo, under this square it is always good to stop and take a time-out once in a while to do a spiritual reality check. Besides, if we don’t do it for ourselves, there is a very good chance that under this square someone else may come along and do this for us….
Saturn in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces is a tricky bit of business – in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, it seems some politicians are trying to put a stop (Saturn) to the immigration (Sagittarius) of Syrian refugees. That an entire population be judged based on the actions of a few extremists seems so many degrees of prejudicially wrong to me and utterly lacking (more Saturn) in compassion (Neptune). For the love of whatever Deity you prefer, people have just been displaced from their homes in a war-torn country…where is the humanity if we were all to simply turn our backs on them? What if the shoe were on the other foot and it was OUR country undergoing a civil war and WE needed safe haven in a foreign land?
This whole deal just smacks of xenophobia to me – excerpted from my December 2014 newsletter:
“…another Hi-Fi expression of [Saturn’s] passage through Sagittarius could involve better control and management of exaggerated fears; specifically of the things that fall under Sagittarius’ umbrella. This includes (but is not limited to) fear of flying; fear of horses; fears about religion (say of Hell, for example); fear of going away to college or back to college; agoraphobia, or conversely, claustrophobia; and fear of other cultures (xenophobia) or religions.”
The current square between Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces sure is bringing this theme to a head; it seems we are currently resonating with the Lo-Fi end of Saturn in Sagittarius’ energy by letting these exaggerated fears get the better of us – they are being used as an excuse; a cop-out. I’d like to think at some point, though, some sense (or compassion?) will eventually be knocked into us where we’ll get a grip to turn this around and start doing the Hi-Fi end of this placement. Learning to manage these irrationally distorted fears rather than letting them control us is key – our spiritual wellbeing depends on it.
From the same newsletter:
“…sometimes, without realizing it, our life experiences may form the framework of a (negative) bias or prejudice of some kind, and Saturn in Sadge can challenge these kinds of beliefs for the sake of putting a stop to them.
…the Hi-Fi side of this transit is well served by getting a handle on discrimination in all its forms; all the “-isms” of life like racism, sexism, classism, ageism, or whathaveyou. If we’re called on the carpet and held accountable for a bias of some kind during Saturn in Sadge, this is definitely the time to get it in check.”
Well I suppose we could consider this post a callout then, because I’m officially throwing down the “bullshit!” flag on this kind of discrimination. But….
“How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those who are more responsible than others…and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told: If you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it; I know you were afraid…who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease….there were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you…” -V for Vendetta
I do understand the “why” that is driving people to want to close the borders, so don’t get me wrong because in pointing out this apparent shortfall in the compassion and tolerance departments, my intention isn’t at all to downplay the severity of the global events that have hit us right where we are most vulnerable: our sense of safety and certainty. I recognize that right now we are still hanging out in the residue of the tumultuous upheaval that was Uranus Square Pluto. In fact, though this aspect will not perfect again, Uranus & Pluto are indeed closing the gap toward one another as we speak – during the entire month of January 2016, they will be a mere degree away from re-forming an exact square even though it never fully completes. This is still more than enough to radiate energetic shockwaves, however; recent world events serving as astrological proof of this fact. The square between these two planets remains within +-4 degrees of being exact between now & the end of April, so for all intents and purposes this energy should be considered re-activated for the entire duration of this time period.
Getting back to Saturn in Sagittarius and this xenophobia business, I try my best to understand other points of view even when I don’t agree with them – sometimes this is challenging, but if nothing else I try to strive for balance in my perspective. For example, although you may see me decrying the flimsy notion this kind of prejudice will somehow keep us safe (and truth be told, I think in many cases this is actually a thinly-veiled way for people to validate/defend/substantiate/justify their bias), I will also tell you – on the other side of the coin – about what happened when I saw this news clip:
I found it a charming, heartbreakingly sweet and naïve notion that “flowers will protect us” – this is the other end of the Saturn/Neptune Square; the Neptune in Pisces utopian idealism. As beautiful and romantic an ideal as it is, though, it’s not very realistic. I understand that I am probably going to catch hell for saying that, but the astrology absolutely backs it up and I am prepared to stand behind my astrological perspective. See, Saturn squaring Neptune is *the* reality check that bursts the safe, protective little bubble of our ideology and forces us to look at the problems with our philosophy/beliefs/worldviews/etc. rather than deny them. So while this certainly applies to the politicians who think that closing the border to Syrian refugees will make us “safer” (and as the father in this video points out to his son, there are bad people *everywhere*), it equally applies to those who believe that mere “flowers will protect us”. As the child initially protests, “But flowers do nothing” – out of the mouths of babes. We need real-world solutions that deal with our CURRENT reality; not just those that would deal with a reality “as we’d wish it to be”. And the reality is: How do we protect ourselves from terrorism? Do we pull a Chancellor Sutler move à la V for Vendetta by being complicit in invasive mass surveillance? Do we let xenophobia get the better of us and close our borders? Saturn in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces unfortunately makes a great Propagandist, good at using illusions for political/ideological goals. This is on ALL sides, from the politicians to the terrorists to the everyman – anyone looking to present a perspective of reality that is, shall we say, cockeyed.
Just think – it’s not even time for the 2016 Election yet. And this square will remain in effect for the next year – can you see the potentially problematic implications this may have for people looking to select their political leadership under such astrological conditions? Three words: Land Of Confusion
I digress, however, from my original point – how do we protect ourselves from terrorism? I do not pretend to have all the answers, but I think we might come a step closer by trying to understand the variety of sociological factors at work that breed these hidden enemies. To this end, I want to make an important distinction in that I see ISIS as very much being a cult; Saturn in Sagittarius symbolizes ideological frameworks and Neptune in Pisces represents a distortion occurring – Neptune in Pisces is where we drink the proverbial Kool-Aid. It is my opinion that we are collectively being challenged to understand the basic structure that goes into making one vulnerable to this kind of ideological framework if we are to to put a stop to it. This is hard to do, though; mainly because it is so foreign to us. But I see the problem as originating from a mis-application of “spirituality”; a rigid and yet twisted interpretation of the supposed “word of god”. And we shouldn’t confuse that to mean we should look at any particular belief system as “the bad guy” here (there is a shit-ton of Islamophobia going around these days, is there not?) – false constructs can exist anywhere in any faith, organized or no. For an equal opportunity example, look at what happened with Christianity during The Crusades, or with those who claimed to be pro-life and yet bombed abortion clinics or murdered those who worked there. There is a definite twisting of morality and ethics occurring when the Ten Commandments dictate “Thou shalt not kill” and yet there are still those who selectively apply this precept. The existence of hypocrisy and double standards are not a phenomena exclusive to any particular faith.
This problem not unique to institutionalized religion, either – I have also seen these same problems occurring within the “spiritual” crowd; i.e. those whose concept of faith is more free-flowing and who don’t necessarily go to church/synagogue/mosque/whathaveyou or subscribe to any particular dogma. There is true Spirituality and then there is pseudo-spirituality – I learned to spot the difference between the two at an early age and see this issue as something that is truly non-denominational. So when I hear people spouting on about how the problem is supposedly “that” country, or “this” particular region of the world, or with “those people’s” religion, I shake my head. Because if anything, the problem lies with those who misuse “faith” as an excuse for escaping moral/spiritual accountability and their ability to hypnotize others into swallowing this homebrew soul cyanide.
It really is no different than brainwashing, and what we need to understand are the variety of factors that go into making someone vulnerable to wanting to merge with these kinds of cults so we can stop it there. In fact, my initial thoughts about “religion” being (mis)used as an excuse for a lack of spiritual accountability seemed further validated by a quick examination of some of the Fixed Stars involved with the Paris attacks – my attention was immediately drawn to Saturn near Acrab in the Scorpion’s head. According to Vivian Robson’s take on this pairing Saturn conjunct Acrab is “cautious, cunning, self-seeking, deceitful, progressive ideas, religious but hypocritical…”. As an interesting aside of further note, he also said that more generally Acrab itself causes “…extreme malevolence, mercilessness, fiendishness…”, while Elsbeth Ebertin – another authority on Fixed Stars – associated this star with “mass casualties”. Meanwhile, I noted the Moon’s North Node dangerously close to Alkaid; AKA “The Destroyer Of Nations”. 😯
But my point in explaining all of this is that I hope we will collectively challenge ourselves and work toward getting away from pointing fingers at those from different cultures, ethnicities, religions, etc. and using these events as, quite frankly, a bullshit excuse to support or defend bias. It is concerning to me, for example, that someone like Donald Trump actually has a shot at the presidential seat – what does his negative rhetoric (and the people supporting it) say about the United States? And I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic toward those who are scared, as I do understand we can’t forgo all sensible cautions either by expecting “the flowers [to] protect us” – indeed, it would be tragic if we were to indiscriminately dole out charity, aid, compassion to someone harboring a hidden, twisted ideological framework that could later be used to betray our kindness like the biblical Judas. Tragic because it is preventable provided we don’t rely on blind faith alone to support us. However, once again as the father in the first video above states “there are bad people everywhere”…even at home. Already – look at Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who had lived in the US for 11 years prior to the incident and who had even been put on a watchlist – looks like someone in the government was derelict in their duties there. So what do we do, then – deport everyone? We are a NATION of immigrants, for crying out loud – how would one even begin to determine who is “safe” and who is “a potential threat”? There has to be a balance; a way to help those who most need it without letting our guard totally down…..a way to manage and control irrational, exaggerated fears and a way to have checks and balances in place for the benefit of all so that our good faith and tender hearts also don’t inadvertently wind up causing our own undoing.
Almost a year ago in that same December 2014 newsletter, I said that Saturn in Sagittarius will bring us tests of faith – boy, is it ever. And I think if there were ever a time for all the religious leaders of the world to unite together as one singular voice and denounce anything, it would be now and it would be to speak out strongly against the paradigm of “justified” killing of any stripe so there will eventually be no more “killing in the name of”.
In the wake of the second round of terror attacks on Paris over the weekend (the first being the Charlie Hebdo massacre earlier in the year), my thoughts have turned to all who have been affected by these senseless acts – may radiant golden rays of regeneration (physical AND psychological!) envelop those who have been traumatized and aid their healing process!
Now I try to limit my dietary intake of news for a litany of reasons I shan’t enumerate here, but suffice to say this story managed to insert itself in my consciousness nonetheless. I was struck in particular by how – in the days immediately following this tragedy – the media was quick in raising speculative concerns the Paris attacks could have possibly been orchestrated via the use of encryption apps. This flagged my radar, as encrypted messages are très Mercury in Scorpio, and with the Scorpio Sun joining with Mercury it makes astrological sense we would see a spotlight being put on this issue now. But what I find unsettling is how this conjecture could easily be used by politicians as an excuse to push for more intrusive data gathering processes, à la Patriot Act v2.0.
Therefore, I find myself compelled to point out that encryption apps themselves are neutral entities, and like any other tool it is the user’s intent and not the app itself that defines whether they are used as a force for good or evil. Before I go further, a general disclaimer is due that I am a fairly Plutonic person and the old “Those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear” adage has NEVER held resonance for me. I value privacy and appreciate having a choice of whether or not to allow a deeper level of knowing/intimacy with people I personally hand-select and trust; therefore I do not care for the idea of somebody else making (or attempting to make) this decision for me by telling me I have to put all my cards on the table up front (regardless of whether it’s in the name of national security or not). That said, I’ve also never felt the need to use an encryption app but fully understand why some people might want to – nobody wants to feel like they’ve somehow regressed back to their teen years when their parents would surreptitiously pick up the other phone line to listen in on their private conversations in secret, right?
I would consequently wager that encryption apps have enjoyed a surge in popularity largely due to people resenting things like the intrusions of the Bush-era Patriot Act and the NSA’s overreaching mass surveillance practices. And to be fair, I am sure there are people from the cult of ISIS (and that’s exactly what it is; a cult – more on that in a future post) who are indeed misusing and abusing these apps for their own ends (much the same way they’re co-opting Youtube, Twitter, et al) but I’m fairly certain there are probably going to be a few political leaders who will point to this speculation about the potential for mis-use of these apps as an excuse to push their own political agendas for tightening governmental surveillance.
Why? When the Scorpio Sun and Mercury answer to Pluto in Capricorn, Big Brother is always watching. Where does it stop, though? Should we allow the threat of terrorism to continue to be used as an excuse for more invasive/restrictive government? Because Pluto in Capricorn can very easily corrupt law; especially via mis-uses and abuses of “authority” or in the name of “protection” – I have said for many years this energy can have a very totalitarian streak to it if we aren’t careful. So instead of the subject of encryption being painted in an entirely suspicious and negative light, I’d like to see a discussion that goes a LOT deeper and that provides more balance from ALL angles; including the reasons why it seems people feel an increasing need to protect their privacy from things like wire tapping, data mining, and covert intelligence gathering. Not just from government, either – some want to keep their information safe from hackers, for example. Or from other prying eyes – do you know that I just found out (to my horror) there is actually a smartphone app that lets parents read their kids’ texts? IMO, normalizing these kinds of spying behavior is a sign that something is indeed systemically screwed up. This degradation didn’t happen overnight, either – it has taken its time in unfolding. But now the issue is: Will we address the root cause(s) and put a stop to it, or will we continue to allow the destruction of boundaries? My concern is that if we don’t check this now, things could get *really* interesting (in a bad way) in a few years when Saturn moves into Capricorn and joins w/Pluto…
In part 1 of this series, I spoke of how Pluto in Capricorn represents the concept of something deteriorating over time. When a planet or personal point in our chart is touched by this placement, things don’t just fall apart on us “all of the sudden” – it’s gradual and slow; ostensibly because of the gravitas attached to this transformational process. When a termination occurs under Pluto in Capricorn, it’s not uncommon for it to be a drawn-out, prolonged sort of demise – the blessing in this is we have ample time during this transitional state to put our ducks in a row and prepare for the new reality or “new normal” that awaits us on The Other Side so it’s less of a shock to the system. A planned ending or extraction may indeed come into play; possibly one that runs on a delay while all the proper elements/steps are calculated, organized, and then systematically executed. For the transformation of Pluto in Capricorn isn’t likely to be quick or easy; it is hard, time-consuming work that is often fraught with obstacles, so we may need to take our time. If we are spiritually inclined, this may be an instance where petitioning Ganesha – the tusked pachyderm deity known as the Remover of Obstacles in the Hindu pantheon – may come in handy.
A statuette of Ganesha courtesy of the Walters Art Museum.
I should also speak to another important facet of Pluto-in-Capricorn endings, as they’re apt to be very matter-of-fact. Capricorn’s energy has the effect of minimizing the potential trauma attached to this ordeal so it’s more of an “Alright, let’s get on with it” kind of thing where we handle the situation an adult manner instead of kicking and screaming about it. Anything that dies on Pluto in Capricorn’s watch should be looked at as legitimately non-functional, and while a post-mortem autopsy as to the cause(s) may prove useful, the expiration may have been more or less anticipated for some time thus dialing down the drama-factor considerably. When we’ve seen it coming and/or know that normal life expectancy has more or less been reached in a situation, it can be considerably less upsetting/tragic. The Hi-Fi use of this energy handles endings maturely; seeing no practical good in making them any harder than they need to be and preferring instead to conserve energy for rebuilding.
On that note, picking up where I left off re: this placement’s capacity for “constructive destruction”, I think of it as a “controlled implosion” similar to the demolition of the old hotels and casinos along the Vegas Strip. Capricorn is the Architect and Master Builder, and if the metaphorical footings are rotten or a structure is obsolete in our lives, building code dictates that it’s going to have to come completely down if a new skeleton is to be erected in the footprints of What Once Stood Before. We cannot simply piecemeal things together – we have to scrap it and rebuild, but the RIGHT way! As I alluded to earlier, it is a systematic overhaul, and these kinds of things are never overnight.
When Pluto in Capricorn touches a planet or point in the nativity, sometimes instead we are able to salvage something that is still useful to us or that can be repurposed…this may simply be the “life lessons” we’ve distilled by experiencing this process of disintegration. But in cases where a full razing isn’t required, it is important to take our time reinforcing the weak areas that have been degrading in order to build them up from the inside out – consider this metaphor in a psychological context as well. I would say that in certain cases, the destruction of Pluto in Capricorn may indeed be preventable, but the problem is preventative maintenance is often let go with this placement so that whatever has fallen into disrepair eventually goes off the rails completely. A failure to hit the brakes before this point-of-no-return can absolutely prove fatal, so when we see fissures appearing in the walls the keynote is to stop and address them because they’re not just cosmetic and more than likely indicate a severe underlying issue.
Whether we start over on more solid underpinnings or are able to arrest the process of deterioration in its tracks with the aid of some heavy restructuring, it’s important that any demo work be done carefully and respectfully. Something *has* to come down when Pluto in Capricorn touches our chart, but by handling the teardown process responsibly and with honor, we set the right energetic precedent for the “rebuilding” part of the equation. In some respects the moment we stop resisting the letting go process the reconstruction can already be considered underway, because it’s all about eliminating stale, locked-up energy; especially that which has somehow become ingrained in the status quo. And holding space for this to unfold in due time is important, because a quality restoration matters.
I have already touched upon the “delusion-busting” potential of the approaching square between Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces in a previous post, but now it’s the “illusion-busting” part I want to focus on today as this certainly is a key and pervasive theme we’ll see playing out over the next year while the energy of this square is active. Soooooo on that note, remember how I said in my October newsletter that we would start seeing the effects of the approaching Saturn/Neptune square by the end of October even though this formation wouldn’t be exact until late November? Well almost right on cue, it appears we have been given Exhibit A: The recent news surrounding young social media maven Essena O’neill.
Essena is a 19 year old Australian girl who was, until very recently, a rising star of Instagram, Youtube, etc.. Just a few days ago she made headlines for abruptly decrying how “Social media is not real life” through exposing the illusory nature of her carefully crafted Instagram pics et al and then subsequently quitting social media. If you really want to get a clearer feel for this astro-energy, do an internet search of her name and read some of the news stories concerning this hoopla.
If you hadn’t heard of her up until now, don’t worry because neither had I. I am by no means a pop-culture junkie, but I do find it useful to attune myself to it on occasion purely for the purposes of more clearly illustrating the workings of key astrological energies. And when this story floated up to my consciousness, all I saw was the Saturn/Neptune square in action. The tearful video explaining the pressure that she felt to project herself a certain way, the selfie she took and re-captioned “THERE IS NOTHING REAL ABOUT THIS”….one key thing this square does is distort our perception of reality, and it appears Miss O’neill is tired of it all and wants to “keep it real” so to speak. The effects of this square are a lot like a record scratch; a sudden and full stop where the music suddenly cuts out. Or a buzzkill – pick your metaphor. The point is this square represents a time where we can and should expect the Great and Powerful Oz to be exposed as simply being “the man behind the curtain” – he isn’t really a wizard and certainly shouldn’t be anyone’s guru/messiah (more to come on that line of thought later)…it is only an illusion. Or perhaps more accurately: a projection based upon what we WANT to believe. But if and when it doesn’t serve our Highest Good to believe in a False Prophet, rest assured the energies of this square will help to provide us with a little reality check.
Now there is a flip to Essena’s story in that many are calling it a publicity stunt. The point is not whether it is or it isn’t; the point is there absolutely IS a kernel of Truth in her message regardless under the Saturn/Neptune Square.
Virgo – the sign of health and wellness – has been quite supercharged lately! Jupiter arrived in this sign for a year-long tour (see excerpt from my newsletter) back in August, but more recently the planet has also been joined by asteroid Hygiea, Mars, and even Venus! The long and short of it = our wellbeing is (and had been) a pretty big running theme as of late, and with Jupiter’s energy anchoring this whole collection of planets I think it important to take a macro, more holistic view of things rather than just focus on the typical Virgo nuts-and-bolts of diet, nutrition, and exercise alone. Things get a little more “woo-woo” anyway with these planets making oppositions to both Neptune and Chiron in Pisces, so our viewpoint on health matters benefits from looking at health in a more spiritual context as well. Pisces, as the polarity of Virgo, is a more restorative energy than its busy bee counterpart, and we bring our bodies into better balance by also incorporating complimentary practices for healing and wellness that are more reflective and still in nature. Solitude, meditation, yoga, cultivating a connection with The Divine, focusing on good quality sleep, and even reflexology (which deals with the feet; a Pisces keynote) are favored at this time.
On that note, I decided to make a reflexology appointment the other day. In conversing with my reflexologist, I found myself quite intrigued by how the feet serve as a map for the body’s various systems and internal organs, from the pituitary gland to the spine, liver, and even the lymphatic system. There are corresponding “points” in the feet for EVERYTHING, and her gentle touch served to both relax and to also stimulate all the internal mechanisms of my body that nutrition and exercise alone couldn’t reach.
The health of our feet can say so much – in Western society, we tend to get hung up on aesthetics rather than look at their appearance as possibly being a helpful diagnostic tool in assessing the potential for certain imbalances within the body. For example, if you have calluses, what points in the body do they correspond to on a reflexology chart? Your spine? Your parathyroid? Maybe it’s not just your shoes or your gait that are causing them…perhaps your body is trying to “protect” these areas with extra skin because the organs they correspond to in the body might be weak or injured for some reason? What about the dreaded cracked heels – do we possibly have some lower back issues and/or are we potentially deficient in Fatty Acids? If we REALLY want to get woo-woo with it, could those cracked heels actually be a sign of a Root Chakra issue? Perhaps some underlying security fears exist and may need to be addressed and there might be some asanas we could also do to help out on that front.
Now I’m obviously neither a doctor, nor a reflexologist, nor do I specialize in medical astrology. But I always find it interesting to examine the subject of health in a more holistic multi-dimensional sense, even if this includes using a more abstract point of view from time to time. So why not use the energy of this Virgo stellium to take a look at YOUR tootsies? Non-judgmentally reflect upon their condition and try to figure out if there’s something they might be trying to tell you about the state of your health?
Have you ever had the surreal experience of seeing somebody that you “used to know” from afar? Time and distance causing their familiarity to erode and making them virtually unrecognizable to you, almost as if they had been a complete stranger? And I don’t mean the physical appearance changing so much; rather that the path of your soul’s development and theirs seems to have diverged so widely for so long there is a profound disconnect where barely even a dim spark of recognition can be made. It’s as if you are worlds…or perhaps oceans…apart.
It is a strange thing indeed, like stepping into some sort of temporal vortex.
On that note, speaking of time warps – I am considering the phrase “Use Your Illusion” (referencing of course the Guns N’ Roses albums of the same name) an appropriate and totally relevant theme for the approaching Saturn/Neptune Square. Astro-geeks will appreciate knowing the first album was recorded as Neptune and Saturn were conjunct in Capricorn. Fast-forward 26 years and here we are with these two planets squaring one another from Pisces and Sagittarius, respectively – echoes of the past haunting the present…
So it’s Public Service Announcement time, as we are officially gearing up for the first exact square between Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces on November 26th, 2015. One huge theme that keeps resurfacing in my consciousness with this square is the idea that we had damn well better be practicing whatever it is we’re preaching and doing our best to get a handle on any behaviors that might be considered *ahem* hypocritical, as one of the things Saturn presents to us in Sagittarius is lessons regarding honesty!
The hazard with Neptune involved in an ongoing, contentious serious of squares to this planet is that it’s very easy to become delusional about whether or not we’re “getting right” in a spiritual sense, so this is a really good time to start looking at any possible incongruity between what we believe and how we put this into practice so we don’t wind up with egg on our face. Or worse – Saturn in Sagittarius represents the good reputation and with Neptune’s tidal waves repeatedly crashing against it over the next year, our good social standing could well be washed out to sea if we aren’t careful. Saturn + Neptune would have us get real about our own human faults and foibles – especially in a moral or spiritual sense – and do the work needed to keep us humble and honest; ensuring we’re not applying some kind of feigned high principle or double standard and then fooling ourselves about it. Our belief structure and how we apply it comes into question, and we while we may try to pull the wool over our own eyes, there’s a good chance Divinity will see what we’re up to & provide adequate consequences that will serve as a bit of a “reality check” under this series of squares – this may or may not come in the form of someone else calling us on our bullshit. 😉
So consider this fair warning.
But instead of getting defensive about it and slipping into self-protective denial that there may, in fact, be a problem, this may be a challenge to take a hard and honest look at ourselves and our spirituality. We don’t have to beat ourselves up about it, either – we ALL make mistakes! But the goal is to work on anything that might be preventing us from staying on the spiritual straight-and-narrow, and in this instance the best approach is leading by example. We can lecture and/or sermonize all day long, but the REALLY hard part involves applying the same spiritual rules to OURSELVES. It’s not going to be enough to just pay a high moral or ethical standard or ideal lip service with this energy; we have to roll up our sleeves and actually apply it to our own lives. The takeaway? Hard and honest (yet compassionate) self-reflection does us good now – remember, this is only the first of 3 exact squares we’re facing, so we have a long way to go yet. These squares will be the prevailing influence from now until the latter part of 2016, so if we’ve somehow gotten spiritually off-track, there is still plenty of time to right the ship.
An anecdote that perfectly illustrates the current Venus in Virgo opposition to Neptune in Pisces, which will be exact tonight at 10:53PM EDT –
I was out running some (Virgo) errands this morning and one of the things on my to-do list was to stop at the grocery store to pick up a few stray ingredients I needed for the pozolé I intended to make later. I needed *something* to counteract the dreadfully damp and windy autumn chill in the air, so a hearty pot of soup seemed like a suitable antidote! I rolled up to the grocery store – noting that for some ungodly reason the parking lot seemed to be an absolute mass of confusion – and once I managed to make it past the guy who was traveling out-of-his-lane and threatening for a moment to hit me head-on, avoided 2 clueless pedestrians darting in front of my vehicle on their way into the store, and skillfully maneuvered my way around an 18-wheeler that had been left idling unattended (presumably offloading a delivery) in a very bad spot, I breathed a sigh of relief and miraculously parked without further incident.
Approaching the front of the store, I saw some kind of stand had been erected near the front entrance – it was a table with three men seated behind it, and two women standing a bit off to the side. As I drew closer, one of the men smiled kindly at me in greeting and then said something I didn’t quite hear over the din of the 18-wheeler’s rumbling idle, so I closed the gap between us and asked if he could repeat himself since I didn’t catch what he had said.
The Six of Pentacles as depicted in the Robin Wood Tarot; A wealthy patrician judiciously distributing alms to the needy.
“Would you like to make a donation?” he inquired. I was close enough now to see the stand was for a local halfway house for the developmentally disabled. There were decorations, pamphlets, etc. and even a large platter of home-baked cookies laid across the table. With barely a nanosecond of time elapsing between his query and my response, I smiled back and said “Sure!” as I reached into my purse for my wallet. I am very much a softie when it comes to charitable causes, so I pulled out the $20 I had earmarked for the groceries and instead put it into their collection tin. It was then that I realized the three sweet, cheery-looking men who sat before me were all presumably residents of this halfway home; my heartstrings twinged sympathetically while bidding them adieu and wishing them a great day. Screw it, I thought – I can always use my debit card for the ingredients.
So how is this story astrologically relevant, you ask? Venus is money; Virgo represents the everyday chores and errands we perform, such as buying groceries with that Venusian money. Neptune in Pisces is the very essence of charity; the outflow of concern and compassion for our fellow Man and the resultant willingness to sacrifice the personal for The Greater Good. Is it any wonder that someone might elect to give their pocket money for groceries away under such astro? Their timing and location seriously couldn’t have been better for this fund drive!
If we take this a step further, Venus is not traditionally considered well-placed in Virgo, which is the sign of her fall. She makes a great budget, sure, but her preference for having each cent allocated and accounted for may mean that under ordinary circumstances she might be less inclined to give away any funds she had earmarked for other purposes. There can be another angle of Venus in Virgo in play, too – the influence of Virgo (being a Mercury-ruled sign) tends to shrink things….if this is Venusian dollars we’re talking about, sometimes it may just mean that she has a smaller budget to work with and simply doesn’t have it to give away. But put a powerful, astrologically dignified Neptune in Pisces into this mix opposing her and suddenly it’s very hard to resist the surging feelings of altruism that would have us part with our cash. Even a modest donation would surely allow our money to do some good in the world and help others in need, yes?
In this specific planetary face-off, Neptune in Pisces always wins. As such, if we’re going to give our money away to a cause, it’s good to do our Venus-in-Virgo due diligence about a charity when possible to make sure the funds are going to the right place and being utilized appropriately. Websites like CharityNavigator.org can help us make prudent choices about where to donate. In my specific case, I was peripherally familiar with this small, local, community-based nonprofit, so felt reasonably confident the money would be going to a good place and directly helping those in need. Moreover, the *feeling* I got from the representative faces that had been soliciting this donation left me with the distinct impression these men were happy and well-cared for – the two women caretakers who had been standing off to the side seemed warm and appeared happy to unobtrusively help encourage their independence by letting them run the show.
Perhaps in the opposition between Venus in Virgo and Neptune in Pisces, it isn’t Neptune that wins the day so much as love; the infinitely tender heart beating somewhere inside each of us that is able to find the worth and value inherent in every single Being without regard to circumstance ❤
The Universe is absolutely amazing sometimes…! Tonight while at my yoga class just ahead of the impending Libra New Love Moon, my teacher happened to have this song on the playlist:
Lyrics:
“Remove all fear;
Come from where you are to here.
Let your eyes
Meet mine.
For a moment let your heart be mine.
Come to me, I will take away your sorrow. Come to me, I will open your tomorrow. Come to me, I will open up your heart. Come to me, we will never be apart.
May love mesmerize your soul. May the devas make you whole. Can you align yourself in constant devotion; Find your liberation?
The tears of kindness come When you love everyone. Your precious soul is finally found. Love, infinite love, brings you ‘round….
Come to me, I will take away your sorrow. Come to me, I will open your tomorrow. Come to me, I will open up your heart. Come to me, we will never be apart.”
What a lovely, sweet, and fitting message for the Libra New Moon now upon us…! If there had been any doubt in my mind about this correlation, it was promptly dispelled when I noted the name of the album this song came from – “Wings of Peace”! Peace is such a Libra theme, and perhaps with winged messenger Mercury also residing in this sign (on the fated North Node, no less..!) this message was meant to be shared tonight ❤
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