This May Take Awhile

You gotta have a sense of humour…

Are things getting better? Worse? My feeling is both….we have no idea really, but in the end, how much have things really changed? Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, and others were teaching high and ultimate truths – from the perspective of our lifetimes – a long time ago….and people have been studying and practicing these teachings…and are we better off?

It doesn’t seem like it - maybe nothing really changes, but since linear time isn’t an absolute, what seems like forever may be just a moment.

What’s truly amazing is how dense this reality is and our total amnesia upon arrival.

Things are never what they seem and what will happen is going to be unexpected in many ways. Bush may get impeached this summer but is that really a “good” thing? Experts are also saying that everything is in bubble territory and the dollar is in its final free fall. I’m also expecting with all of the related transits that we will be in for some huge surprises for those with concrete psyches, as David Icke would say, as shocking things are revealed, including extraterrestrial involvement.

Looking to the polarity point can bring perspective and balance. I did this a few years ago in my ongoing quest for the meaning of Chiron’s placement in my chart. It is at 5 degrees Aquarius, retrograde in the 12th house, square Venus, trine Sun and inconjunct Moon, strong but veiled in some ways. I found the Sabian symbol for Leo 5 degrees – I know your are supposed to go to the next degree up, but this is the one that fit.

Rock formations tower over a deep canyon.
Keynote: The structuring power of elemental forces during the long cycle of planetary evolution.
Dane Rudhyar says: Dwarfing the time allowed to individual human beings, the vast periods of geological evolution not only awe our imagination, but allow the slow yet magnificent work of elemental forces as they mold landscapes and canyons, rocks and mountains. This symbol points to our need to acquire a much vaster perspective on what we are able to do – and on our yearning for prolonged youth and our pride in masculine achievements. The works of nature should make us feel humble and help us to “planetarize” our consciousness.

I love that. It reminds me of the Buddhist story about the bird who flew over the mountaintops with a scarf in his mouth….as long as it takes to wear the mountain down, that is how long it takes one to achieve enlightenment. Or not.

How to make your mark.

"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments,
but what is woven into the lives of others." Pericles

A 3 minute video

Mars on the Nodes and Homeland Security

The North and South Nodes are sensitive and powerful points where the pathway of the Moon crosses the course of the Sun. Whether as a symbolic representation in one’s personal chart or of our collective purpose, the nodes are karmic representations of the path we are on, where we have been and where we are going. Mars in aspect to the nodes is a definite push from the universe designed to stimulate movement forward, a pitchfork in the butt if you will, but one that often comes with violence or death as the tension of our resistance explodes.

On September 11, 2001 when the Twin Towers were attacked, Mars was at 1 degree Capricorn just three days from an exact conjunction with the South Node in Capricorn at 3 degrees. As we know, an applying aspect is the strongest, often 1 or 2 degrees before it becomes exact, when the tension is thick.

On January 23, 2003, just three days before an exact conjunction with Mars and the South Node at 6 degrees Sagittarius, Homeland Security was officially established. There was also and exact Mercury / Chiron conjunction in Capricorn at 13 degrees as well as the Neptune/Jupiter opposition and the Pluto/Saturn opposition. Developed after September 11 with a mission to prevent and be prepared for any further terrorist attacks should they occur, Homeland Security merged 22 Federal Agencies and their 180,000 employees.

I began thinking about this after learning that some Japanese friends of my Dad’s (whose daughter studies at Virginia Tech) are being questioned by Homeland Security. They are part of an international Christian organization that requires families to raise funds for living expenses instead of being paid a salary. Many missionary groups survive this way and fundraising is a time-honored tradition that my Dad used to support his wife and 5 children for over 30 years. This family has been here for six years and is in the process of applying for a Green Card, which they may not get because Homeland Security does not approve of the “economic model” being used by this organization. Well, just another example of private rights being meddled with.

Mars in an applying aspect to either the North or South Node often brings violence or death, but is also curiously tied into any pivotal Homeland Security developments and significant political events. On February 24 2004, with Mars exactly on the North Node in Taurus, the Bush campaign began with a speech against Kerry, a Jerusalem Bus bomb killed nine, and hundreds cheered in the streets of Haiti as insurgents took the city. Meanwhile, Secretary Ridge announced the Homeland Security Information Network, an incredible system linking all of the Federal agencies as well as all major cities with real-time computer collaboration system connecting, well, pretty much everybody. Uranus was also conjuncting the Sun in early Pisces and Mercury in late Aquarius.

Yassar Arafat died as Mars was 2 degrees from a conjunction with the South Node in Scorpio, exact on November 14, 2004. This was also when US troops were staging an all out offensive against Fallujah, known by some as the hidden massacre, and Bush had just won the presidential election amidst controversy including Ohio’s very narrow win. There are reports that Homeland Security and the FBI may have interfered with the vote count when election officials locked down the building in Warren County Ohio where votes were being tallied, blocking anyone from observing the count, in response to a terror threat warning.

On July 8, 2005 Mars was exactly conjunct the North Node in Aries, and of course, the London bombings happened the day before. Shortly afterwards on the 13th, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff announced a major revamp of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

August 31 and September 1, 2006 has Mars exactly conjunct a Virgo South Node. On August 28, 49 die in the Kentucky plane crash,

And finally we have the VA Tech massacre, which happened with Mars in applying aspect to the North Node, in Pisces. But Mars was also 8 degrees away, and typically there is an event much closer to the conjunction, which would be……this week! Mars will be exactly conjunct the North Node in Pisces on Wednesday / Thursday April 25/26 with Uranus only 2 degrees away.

Kurt Vonnegut's Gone.

I was at Children’s Hospital in Denver all day yesterday while my son Damian was having dental surgery, and so I just found out through my Dad's blog that Kurt Vonnegut had died. My Dad wrote:

      Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday. Down at the bottom of this page and every page on my website is a quotation from St. Paul (check it out). This phrase is one I have chosen as a guide for these senior years of my life. The choice was inspired by something in one of Vonnegut's novels, "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" (1965). In this novel Mr. Rosewater speaks to some newborn babies. "Hello, babies," he says. "Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. You've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies -- '___ damn it, you've got to be kind.'"
     Vonnegut's mother committed suicide. During World War II, as a prisoner of war in Germany, he survived the Allied fire bombing of Dresden. These events confused and demoralized him and led him to fictionally propose a new religion, the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. It was this inability to make sense of the meaning of life that led to his signature phrase, "So it goes."
     There was a two-year period in my life, beginning in August of 1996, when I too felt that God was the Utterly Indifferent. I could make no sense of the catastrophe I was experiencing. I felt embarrassed and stupid for my inability to stop believing in God. It was at this point that I read six or seven of Vonnegut's 14 dark but humorous novels. They reflected my angst perfectly.
      Fortunately, and providentially, in the years immediately ahead, I had the opportunity to ponder at length, without the interruptions of daily responsibilities, the meaning of life. This led to the reconstruction of my personal worldview, the reintegration of my life, and the fresh orientation with which I seek to honor God today.

Waldron Scott

By the way, the quotation at the bottom of every page on his site is “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love." I do love that. In the end, the reality that we all die and that as part of humanity, we are all precious as life is precious, brings me back to the core truths. I feel sadness at the loss of a writer whose works were a deep part of both my culture and consciousness, just as I felt the loss of Robert Anton Wilson who died on January 11 of this year. Kurt Vonnegut moved on as Saturn at 18 Leo was aspecting his natal Sun / Neptune square at 18 Scorpio / Leo.

Venus Visits the Pleiades

This week, about an hour after sunset facing west, you can still see the most beautiful Venus in Taurus next to a small cluster of stars known as the Seven Sisters or the Pleiades. On Wednesday evening, April 11th Venus is closest, only 2.5 degrees apart. The Pleiades can be hard to see unless the night sky is very dark, but with Venus nearby they should be easier to spot.

A gathering of women, sky goddesses,
Beautiful, gentle and light.
Women in the company of women,
Valuing life, casting silken scarves of
Prismatic light across the global earth.
Laughing the twinkling lights
Into existence.
The snake tail rattling sounds of
Honey and ambrosia and
Love brings life.
Intelligence is pulsing
On the beats of the heart
And singing awakens
The ancient nuances of our souls.
DNA spiraling down and exploding out
To converse with the flowers and the trees.
I feel the breath calming the body
So it can dance and make love
With the trees as we are blessed with love.

Spitzer's Seven Sisters

The Secret Behind The Secret

I was thinking of this as a title for a piece when I saw that Abraham Hicks have produced a DVD with the same title. I haven’t seen it, but these guys, a group of entities channeling through Esther Hicks and calling themselves Abraham, are truly the masters of the Law of Attraction. Esther Hicks was originally in a contract with Rhonda Byrne of The Secret to receive 10% of the profits for a major part in the film, but ended up being the narrated voice over in what Esther Hicks felt was not a pure version of “the message”. The original version was redone without the Hicks who still feel the contract was violated, and pulled out with some obviously bitter feelings between the two parties.

We all know that the idea is not new and I had eagerly read all the biggies in my early days…Psycho-Cybernetics, Think and Grow Rich, Seth Roberts material, much of the Abraham material, more recently the The Science of Getting Rich (still a favourite) and so on. And yet, I came to understand how unattainable these concepts can be in real life for many people. My first exposure to the idea of thoughts creating reality came when I read in an earlier book by the controversial (then) Da Free John (now Adi Da) that he reached “enlightenment” by watching every single thought. That made a huge impression on me and I have since been a self-proclaimed thought watcher.

I was somehow hooked into the very beginning of the internet advertising for The Secret, which was both outrageous in its pretentiousness and intriguing since they seemed to promise something brand new, and I cannot pass up anything that is a secret, comes from lost knowledge, or is brand new. And so the day it was available on internet viewing for $4.95 I watched it. There was a tinge of disappointment when it turned out to be the same old thing in a different garb, although in my higher mind I had known not to expect anything more. Reality in this dimension is more complicated and things are not so straightforward and simple.

For the type of manifestations that these concepts promise, pure thought must be coupled with both pure desire and action. At least that has been my experience, and that is not easy because it requires both effort and noneffort. It is not as simple as visualizing what you want hard enough and thus making what you want happen, which is the way I am seeing many of my friends operating with this knowledge.

While it is true on some level that our thoughts create our reality, it takes time and experience to be certain about the reality we want to create! We are influenced by other people’s ideas, what we think our responsibilities are, and what we think is actually possible. An important precept is to accept where you are in the present moment without guilt or judgement. The incidious notions of guilt and unworthiness refined by the Piscean age and taken to new heights with the New Age movement is something to watch out for. If you get sick, are having trouble paying bills or haven’t perfected your life in other ways, watch out for the internal and external voices that tell you there must be something wrong with you, what you are doing or what you are thinking. This only propogates keeping us in our small selves that flagellate with self-talk of criticism and self hate. It’s dangerous stuff. To judge your or another’s process is risky and actually contributes to the fear and worry which will bring more fear and worry. Negative thoughts can be lovingly embraced as the part of us that they are, and lovingly released with little to no charge if one is just watching the thoughts, simply noticing the fear, worry, hate, insecurity, and then watching them float off perhaps to return another day, and perhaps not. It’s a journey.

There is a level of narcissism with most desires, especially in our western culture, which again we should accept as part of our conditioning in a loving way so that it may be transmuted to a higher level of operating. Our ego may have us convinced that a certain way of living is truly what we want, but it may or not be, or it may include other people who may or may not have the same desire. It can be very focused on one’s personal needs, forgetting that there is a level of interconnectedness that influences us all. Faith that what is in the Highest Will and highest good of all will bring the greatest happiness, is a hard one for the ego who thinks it needs to be in control. It’s a defense mechanism that helps us survive in an unpredictable, insecure and unloving world. But I have found that the safest approach is always to add the phrase “if it’s in the highest good of all concerned” to my thoughts, as well as “this or something better” a phrase I believe came from The Science of Getting Rich.

When life has given you enough experience in an area for you to be very certain about what you want from both a thought and desire plane, then what Deepak Chopra calls “slipping into the gap” happens where something manifests seemingly overnight that either you asked for or maybe you didn’t ask for but when it comes you realize it is exactly what you really wanted. That is the effortless part. But there is also some amount of effort also. Not much, but that is just the way the third dimension works.

For example, about 12 years ago I was recovering from an unexpected divorce with two young daughters to raise and working very hard at a business that I thought was the only thing that would allow me to stay at home. There was no question in my mind that as long as it seemed appropriate, I wanted to homeschool my daughters. How I would pull that off was not nearly as clear. When my Uranus opposition hit, what I knew to be clear at the time was that I did not want to work as hard as I thought I needed to in order to maintain our current, rather cushy lifestyle. It would take too much away from my mothering. And so I decided to downsize. As I was driving around looking at much smaller places, I had a strong but fleeting thought about how nice it might be to share a house with another family. I didn’t even know why I thought that because with my sun in the fourth house, I am both very private and need to “rule the roost”. I let the thought go and continued on to pick up some groceries at Alfafla’s, glancing at the community bulletin board as I walked in, and there was an index card advertising the basement of a family home that said “perfect for a single mom”. I remember in that moment feeling overwhelmed with gratitude for the magic and protection that life can bring. It turned out that I knew the family by acquaintance through the yoga community, the house was in a great neighborhood, and the basement suited us perfectly. It gave me some time to recouperate from the previous two years without money stresses and was exactly what I needed at the time. It seemed an effortless experience, but it wasn’t really. I was at a higher level quite clear about what I needed and desired at that point of my life and stayed open to all possibilities, following all leads, and being quite proactive.

Gratitude is another precept, whether for what you have in the moment or what you are focusing on with your goals and desires. The universe responds to both love and gratitude as well as pure thought, desire and intent. But this orientation takes practice and awareness, and it is also hard work to monitor your feelings and thoughts. Most of us don’t do the ongoing work and then wonder why the visualizations don’t materialize.

What didn’t happen were other possible options such as winning the lottery or having huge success with minimal effort from my business. I was not in resonance with winning the lottery so that could not have happened, and I had very mixed feelings about the business I was in, so that could not have happened either. In fact, the situation forced me to slow down enough to think about what I was in resonance with relative to right livelihood. That is when I began charging for my astrology work.

But it is still a journey and a process. At this point what I bring in with astrology does not support my family’s needs and yet it is the only thing that manifests what seems like effortless results because the work I do makes my heart sing. The message is clear. Follow your bliss and life can work. But the doubts and conditionings are still there. How can I raise a child with special needs and all of those extra expenses let alone put two girls through college and eat organic food? And so I look at more lucrative business ideas that I have had success with in the past, but the results are not effortless. Everything slows down. So at some point, through experience and awareness of the sabotaging thought patterns, courage to follow the path of the heart and so on, one’s ego can let go of all doubts, get clear on all levels, and slip into the gap. The important thing is to accept and love where you and everyone else is right now.