A Time for Setting Things Up

It is always a fun challenge to try to encapsulate the nature of any particular period our planet is experiencing at any given moment. One of the reasons I began to become attracted to astrology did NOT come from an astrological book or speaker. It actually began as I was reading the works of a French philosopher and author, Rene Guenon. He wrote quite a few esoteric books on Hinduism as well as being a commentator on the nature of western civilization in general. One of his books that struck me very strongly was entitled “The Reign of Quantity.” This book was a critique of a civilization that so evaluates itself by quantitative measures that it has lost the awareness of the fact that what makes life meaningful and worth living is when the quality of the moment matters most. It’s not the quantity of what is accomplished, for example. Our culture places great importance on numbers, polls, and values everything accordingly. It assumes that every moment is just like every other one, and that what is possible in one is just as possible in another. But is this assumption true? Can it be questioned and investigated?

One cannot take astrology seriously if one believes that every moment is the same. In fact, astrology is based on the notion that every moment is, in fact, totally unique and unlike every other moment. It is based on the sense that each moment in time has its own unique quality, which can even be felt. To me this is one of the reasons why the study of astrology can be such an exciting and illuminating field. Having said all this, let’s get started looking at what the ‘tone’ or ‘quality’ of the present moments are. I am going to focus most of all on the coming week as well as the effects of last week’s powerful transits.

Last week, the world experienced a square between Jupiter and Pluto. The seeking of understanding (Jupiter) was deepened by Pluto’s compelling need to discover what is really going on for us in the depths of our being. Many people were in deep processes struggling to discover why they do what they do and what they must do to become more empowered. Because last week’s transit included a conjunction of the Sun and Mercury, many referred to their process as an intense urge to ‘find their voice,’ to be able to express themselves truthfully and authentically. At times like this, one must dig deep in order to discover what is in the way of being able to do this. We may discover the events in our life that have caused us to fear the open expression of our own personal truths. The tension of a square in astrology pushes us to act upon what is coming to the surface, rather than to only ‘think about’ what is emerging. Last week many people were in profound crises where they needed to find ways to relieve the great tension building up in them. Not surprisingly, Pluto can take us back to childhood where we are forced to confront and face the wounds, rejections, and feelings of abandonment that we are find are still operating in us now. But the journey into one’s depths is important and potentially quite valuable as this is where the greatest of treasures can be found, the gold that can enlighten and free us from the tortures of our past. That is the aim of Jupiter. It is to free us from the pressures of the past (the real definition of the term ‘karma’) so that we can live in the moment and feel its unique quality.

This is the quality that many are taking into this week. While Jupiter is moving away from its aspect to Pluto, it is now moving into it opposition to Saturn. The stage is being set for something quite significant to emerge, either in our internal world or our outer one. Saturn creates structures, but the ones we are interested in the most are new ones and sometimes these changes are going to be paradigm shifts, real revolutions rather than mere reforms.

What appears to be happening in Egypt is an excellent example. What the citizens of Egypt seem to be trying to create is a real democratic system of governing that is unlike anything existing in the Arab world. This is huge if it is accomplished and will have repercussions for many years to come. It is one thing to overthrow a dictator, which is what they may have done. It is quite another thing to create an entirely new form or system of governance. This type of phenomenon is under the rulership of Uranus in astrology. It governs radical change, paradigm shifts, many of which arise unexpectedly, seemingly out of nowhere and disrupt everyone involved.

Before Jupiter opposes Saturn, Uranus will enter Aries, the sign of new beginnings, on March 11, 2011. This is what is being set up now. Many pundits have begun to describe 2011 as one of those unusual years that is extremely unsettled, when many governments could become unstable and even be overthrown. The last year that is similar to this is 1989 when the division between East and West Germany ended and the Berlin wall was torn down. The Soviet Union was beginning to come apart as well. If we take a look at what’s happening now in the Arab world we have no idea what countries are vulnerable to rebellions. Jordan and Lebanon are just two countries where anything could happen and with Uranus involved we could be surprised at what country becomes a tinder box of change.

For us personally, we are beginning to be able to go through our own radical changes. They may appear internally or externally, depending on how one’s own chart is affected. But all of us can be changed by what is happening in the heavens right now. One of the best paradigm shifts of all is the one I referred to in the beginning of this article. All of us can be inspired to live with concern for the quality of each moment and cease to measure ourselves by the quantity of things we have obtained or what others might think of us. We are moving into a time that will encourage us to become creative on some way, including being open to making significant changes in the way we live and approach happiness.

We are just beginning to see the opportunities for change growing. The opposition that Jupiter is beginning to make with Saturn will certainly bring up resistances to that set of changes, but the best use of Saturn’s energy is to slow down and whenever possible to consider carefully what changes we are willing to make. Saturn asks us to be realistic, but I suspect many of you are more willing now to allow for some deeper changes than you are used to making. Begin open to that is to be encouraged.

As always I would like to encourage you to make comments on how you are being affected and on what is being set up for you as we get closer and closer to a time of great changes. HINT: the Aries New Moon of April 3, 2011 will have 6 planets in Aries and include a Mars/Uranus conjunction. We ain’t seen nothing yet.