Astonishment is the highest form of thought.
When you are astonished,
when all your references
have failed, you have access
to the highest form of energy.
You are in not-knowing. Eric Baret
**Coronavirus and 2020 as a Dramatic Play**
A Story of the Breakdown of the Structures that Maintain the Status Quo
In a Process to ReAlign with Humanity's Potential to Live in Balance with All Life
To contemplate the cosmic drama unfolding, we will view:
The night sky as a great stage,and its movements, a cosmic play.
The planets are the characters.
Their influences and actions mirror our experience on earth and provide clues for how to move with grace through each turn of the story enacted all around us.
The Setting: The Area in the Sky that denotes 22 -24 Degrees Capricorn
Capricorn is the territory in the sky that speaks to the structures and shared agreements that establish the status quo. It is the realm of governments, institutions and its leaders. It includes financial systems, the laws we live by, and the shared agreements between the citizens of a city, country or global world. It show us our relationship to authority and responsibility.
(Looking at our individual birthcharts: those of us with planets at 22-24 degrees of the cardinal signs (Capricorn, Aries, Cancer or Libra) will experience the transformational elements of 2020 more directly and be called upon to make some dramatic change in our thinking and way of life.)
The Plot: 2020 is an epic story.
Humans are compelled to engage in a transformational process that is initiated by the status quo being disrupted and destabilized. Each person is thrust into contemplating their relationship to a society in breakdown. Responding to a series of plot twists humans will experience a departure from what is habitual and tolerated. Hidden tensions surface as humanity reaches for a new way to organize itself and restore its rightful place in the dance of creation. It is a hero's journey,where each person is uprooted from what is comfortable, faces seemingly insurmountable challenges, finds supported in unexpected places, and if victorious, discovers something at the other end that makes the whole journey worthwhile.
Mounting crisis builds with each month, compelling humans to deeply question and fundamentally change the ways we govern ourselves as a world community informed by the values for how to be in relationship with each other, our work, the earth, and the role humanity is playing in the dance of creation.
When the future becomes unpredictable, the potential for new ways of thinking and moving then become available. The outcome is not predetermined. There must be a collective movement within humanity to move towards a new "North Star" - away from materialism, rugged individualism, the objectification of everything outside us, and a winner take all mentality. The stakes are high. Failing to heed 2020's invitation to change the course of our personal and collective ways will lead to increasing discomfort until we heed the message of change There is no returning to 'normal.' The old normal was not sustainable. Our mission, if we chose to accept it, is to create a 'normal' that is sustainable.
The Lead Actors:
Jupiter - Agent of Expansion - Lends itself to Inflating Confidence or Arrogance
Saturn – Agent of Structure - And the Responsibility and Accountability towards what has been built
Pluto – Agent of Transformation -Loss and Rebirth that emerge from following the Soul's Longing
Saturn and Pluto each usher in endings. They often herald the loss of something dear. They have a way of taking the pruning shears to what no longer serves us. In a culture that rewards continuous growth and expansion, times of contraction inspire fear. We can easily forget that every flow has its ebb and every mountain has its valley. No ending is final. It inevitably opens a doorway to a new beginning. Just as we prune a rose bush so that future growth is assured, we must welcome times of contraction as part of the natural cycle of life and renewed life.
When Pluto and Saturn join forces, as they do throughout 2020, our job is to lean into the pause, the uncertainty, and to be curious about what is showing signs of falling away from our life. It is a time of emptying out so we have the space to receive and move gracefully with what will come in with the new tide.
If we insist on having our days full of activity, full of ourselves, full with driving our current dreams into reality, the miracle that awaits has no room to enter. There is an opening up for each one of us through this crisis that awaits us if we are not hellbent on getting back to something known and familiar, if we can welcome the unknown and a potential that is not yet visible or definable.
Unfortunately, many people are not practiced in this or were never taught the skills on how to respond to cues that prompt self-reflection. Instead, the cue is interpreted as the opportunity to fight the thing we see is holding us back – the government, immigrants, the need for a haircut, a family member, the stoplight that won't turn green. While external change is the result of the journey,2020 invites us to let go habitual patterns, routines and ways of seeing so we become the change we seek to see in the world.
Jupiter expands what it touches. Its presence amplifies the Saturn/Pluto agenda so there is no way to miss the message that tells us it is time to deconstruct what we know and be accountable for what have created.
Supporting Players
Eris -- Agent of Disruption and Chaos - as a means to correcting what is out of balance
Mars– Agent of Dynamic Action - Fueling the warrior and pioneer spirit
While Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn are center stage, Eris is the character standing in the shadows at the corner of the stage throwing one-line zingers to unsettle and destabilize the story. Her continued relationship with Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn throughout 2020 appears adversarial, when she is in fact helping further their agenda of societal transformation through the detours her zingers initiate.
Mars’ periodic cameo appearances turn up the heat, draw out the fighting spirit and help bring things to a boiling point where the need for change becomes immediate and imperative. Mars plays an especially pivotal role in Act 4 in the Fall of 2020.
Recap of Part 1: January -April 2020
To read Coronovirus Part 1, click here
January - ACT ONE: The Set Up
January 12, the story is set into motion; Saturn and Pluto form an exact conjunction squaring Eris. The year's story unfolds from what is introduced the middle of January. The first reported death of the Coronavirus is announced publicly and widely.
The main story associated with the Asteroid Eris is one where she brings an apple to a wedding. Her simple act of rolling an apple into the center of a wedding party lead to the Trojan War. True to form, when she squared Saturn/Pluto she rolled an apple into the room. The apple was covid19 and its presence exposed the weaknesses of modern society and led to an unravelling of the order and underlying shared agreements of how human's live together.
Eris, as the goddess of chaos and discord, does not create chaos for its own sake but to right a wrong and to address a great imbalance.
March/April: ACT TWO: Habitual Life is Interrupted
The plot of unfolds as humans move indoors and adjust to the interruption of 'life as usual'. The engine of modern society is turned off, the skies clear, and animals come out to roam. As animals are given permission to follow their instinctual nature, humans are asked to remember theirs.
Jupiter takes the stage to expand and fuel what is happening.
In early April, Jupiter conjoins Pluto for the first of three times. The virus spreads worldwide. Historically, Jupiter Pluto conjunctions have occurred during all the great pandemics – the Spanish Flu, the Black Plague, the Aids Epidemic….
Saturn, a catalyst for restriction moves into the air sign of Aquarius where it will be for two years. We are inhibited from engaging with activities associated with air: Air travel is avoided, a virus that constricts airways takes hold, many feel the claustrophobia of staying at home, and there is a chafing against the recommendation to where a mask in public with the complaint that it restricts free breathing. There is a collective cry, “I Can’t Breathe.” Repressed truths, fears and feelings surface with the constriction. They reach a climax in Act 3 (May to July) when the tensions become too great to tolerate any further and there massive public protests in cities around the world.
“It may be that when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work.
and when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.
Wendell Berry
May - July. ACT THREE: The Plot Twists
The Retrograde and Eclipse Season. The Nodal Axis Changes Signs
Delays, Adjustments and Discoveries. A door shuts, but a window opens.
Late April, Pluto turned retrograde at 24 degrees Capricorn
Pluto's movement backward signaled that the story of transformation was about to slow down. The analogy that comes to mind is found in the two ways to take off a bandaid: we can rip it off or slowly, cautiously take it off a microsecond at a time. As much as there was a collective desire to rip off the bandaid and arrive on the other side of change, Pluto turning Retrograde proclaimed the need to sit in a collective stew for a while, so what is hidden could bubble and rise to the surface.
From May to July, multiple and overlapping astrological events served to disrupt and jostle us about. We were meant to be disoriented, to not rely on our habitual way of orienting. Just as we got our footing, something else came in from left field to knock us off balance. The retrogrades, eclipses, and the nodal axis changing signs, happening around the same time most assuredly prevented any return to ‘normal’ or even being able to establish a ‘new normal’. Events and conversations offered niggling cues that deeper changes were happening - we were to remain open to the further shifts of awareness and circumstance so we can best meet the potentials that will emerge when the story of 2020 comes to a close.
The Nodal Axis Shifts Signs – New Information Calls Out Unquestioned Beliefs
The South Node: how we have done things in the past
The North Node: the future direction and dawning potential
The Nodal axis shifts signs every 18 months, illuminating what to collectively move towards. To embrace the growth and evolution offered requires that we let go of ways of operating that no longer serve us. The eclipses during each 18-month period provide the disruption and opening necessary to actualize the potential held by the polarity of the current nodal axis placement.
May 5, The South Node shifted into Sagittarius
The North Node entered the sign of philosophy, religion and the laws that govern us where it remains until January 2022. With Sagittarius, we make sense of our world, our place in it and the meaning we assign things. Our most cherished beliefs are forged over years, if not decades, and create the lens in which we process and understand our experience. Our personal and collective philosophies are the rudder for navigating decisions and circumstances.
We are called to re-examine our most fundamental beliefs while the South Node is in Sagittarius. For a sense of how this may show up for us over the next 18 months, we can contemplate our previous experience of the South Node in Sagittarius: March 1983 to September 1984 and then again from October 2001 to August 2003. If we held rigidly to our beliefs and dug in our feet in the face of new information during either of these last periods mentioned, we may experience disillusionment or increasing entrenchment of outworn beliefs during the next 18 months. If we demonstrated flexibility to learn and expand our understanding of the world and ourselves during previous times the South Node was in Sagittarius, we are likely to embrace the coming months as a mind-opening experience, relishing the adjustments that enhance the clarity of our conscious awareness.
The North Node in Gemini brings new information to light.
New information enters that shifts our perception of the world, the past and the future. It is vital we seek out conversations with those who have differing viewpoints, possibly travel to someplace we have never been, and open to new streams of how we receive 'news'. From this, we will discover truths previously obscured from our awareness and find benefit from allowing our beliefs about ourselves and the world to be altered in some essential way. We may, in fact, not have to venture too far to receive an abundance of new information coming towards us from different directions. We can readily see how this is happening with events on the world stage, but we can also expect this in some form within our personal lives. We may initially feel overwhelmed or confused. We are advised to stay engaged, actively question, be inquiring, and stay open to learning something we didn’t know before.
A prime example of this nodal placement is found in resurgence of the civil rights movement. Information pertaining to the history of black citizens in the U.S. widely available. There was new and dynamic discussion about what had occured in post-civil war years and what has occured since the 60s civil rights movement. Details, events, laws and the recurring injustices that underlie and reinforce he systemic oppression of the black population in the US flooded into our awareness as the Black Lives Matter movement surged. It had many questioning what they had learned in school and what had been taught them. The opportunity allowed beliefs to change in response information that had previously been obscured.
If the world is to be healed through human efforts,
I am convinced it will be by ordinary people,
people whose love for this life
is even greater than their fear.
Joanna Macy
The Retrograde Season – New Pathways Are Found when the Old Way is Barred
Mid-May when the engine of the economy began humming again, there was a collective desire to just get on with it. This desire was not to be satisfied. Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn turned retrograde within days of each other. And within a few weeks Neptune and Mercury would also go Retrograde.
It is as if we were all sitting at a red light waiting for the light to change, and only a nanosecond after it turned green it immediately nrvsmr red again. The way forward was barred. We were compelled to back up, explore a detour, and rethink the road that would carry our dreams forward.
For those of us that didn’t heed the cosmic red light and stayed revving our engines, frustrated and yelling at the light turn green, the growing agitation festered into a road rage where we took the red light as a personal affront that curbed our freedom to move as we wished. The yearning to return to an accustomed way of living where could have a haircut, attend church, socialize with friends, and go to the theater was amplified. Some of us began asserting that our habits were essential to our wellbeing, when in fact we were just experiencing an inconvenience and the uncertainty that surrounds unpredictability. It was a time of contemplating conveniences we took for granted, wondering which are necessary, and questioning whether we could or should pick them back up when the pandemic subsides.
The gift of the retrogrades offered an invitation to go within, to re-evaluate plans, to tend to things that have slipped through the cracks and to ponder changes we wish to make. The difficulty for many of us is that we had just gone through a month or two of doing just that and were affronted at the prospect of being further restrained from moving forward.
Some of us felt it was unfair to extend this period of re-evaluation and defiant at the prospect of needing slow down even more. But in truth, in the context of transforming how humanity operates, this extended time of delaying decisions and forward movement prompted an even deeper consideration of shifts that are ready to take place.
Unfortunately, many people are not practiced in self-reflection or do not have the skills to hear what we ae being cued to pay attention to. Without exercising this muscle of reflection, we simply identify external circumstances as the problem and blame them for unnecessarily restraining or inhibiting us.
Plans needed to be re-evaluated and re-evaluated, and further adjustments needed to be made. The gift of the Retrogrades was in the prompt to continually slow ourselves down. What arose from this was the potential to redirect our energies away from an automatic way of handling things and, instead, engage our imagination in pondering something unprecedented. The first responders, and those of us who continued to work to meet society’s basic needs, may not have had the space and quiet to reflect, but they also experienced this as a time of being present and responsive to the unexpected and holding off on making big decisions about the direction of their life. We all engaged in a 'wait and see' mode of living.
Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web,
we do to ourselves.
Chief Seattle
Venus Retrograde in Gemini May 13 to June 25– I Can’t Breathe
Venus turns Retrograde every 18 months for 40 days and 40 nights. It is a journey into the darkness, into what is hidden within us, to explore what is missing in our life. We contemplate our values and how our values are expressed or not expressed in our relationships, actions, and engagements.
Gemini rules communication, exchanges between people, and our lungs. It rules breathing. Venus Retrograde in this air sign can create a feeling of claustrophobia, where we feel cut off from normal exchange. From this space, we contemplate feelings of disconnection and new pathways to making connections.
During her Retrograde, we forged new avenues for communication and exchange in our workplace and with those we loved. Businesses, schools and service industries that rely on in person interaction were thrust into inventing new ways and protocols to serve their customers. Virtual conversations and Zoom stock soared. The virtual classroom emerged and businesses established how employees could work remotely. The temporary solution for how to keep certain businesses afloat lead to many people now permanently working remotely.
During this time of introspection, we became aware of how we had compromised our values to settle for the life we had (pre Covid19). Values around listening, expressing and being understood took on added significance. So, in the midst of the global shutdown, groups of people said 'there is something more important than the pandemic, something that needs saying'. People gathered to publicly protest the lockdown and to protest the use of masks. The Black Lives Matter movement surged in the wake of George Flloyd’s death on Memorial Day, giving way for people across the globe to give voice to values, give voice to what was hidden and pervasive.
The restraints of the previous months put us in touch with truth and realities that we more readily glossed over and tolerated when life was going full speed. With time to ponder, we recgonized how certain circumstances were truly not tolerable and from this we felt a desire to validate and assert values we had previously compromised in the name of 'getting along'.
Starting a conversation is one thing, but voicing ultimatums during Venus Retrograde does not create an easy or clear path. It tends to generate confusion, misinformation and misunderstandings that will take an extended period of time to unravel for resolution to occur. Still, Venus Retrograde forced different conversations to the surface, conversations that may not have occurred if Covid19 had not come to destabilize business as usual and open us to what lay festering inside us.
June 18 - July 12: Mercury Retrograde in Cancer
My Family, My Home, My Safety
With five planets retrograde, Mercury joined the retrograde parade. With Mercury in Cancer, our attention turned from the preoccupation with world events to give focus to our homes and families. We considered how world stage events affected our personal lives and we gave renewed efforts to increasing our sense of security and feeling of belonging. We looked to nurturing the safety and wellbeing of what is close to us.
June 29: Jupiter and Pluto - Their 2nd exact conjunction
The Pandemic is Fueled
For the second time in 2020, Jupiter and Pluto came together. The number of reported Covid cases in the U.S. surged in the wake of this conjunction just as they had done following their exact conjunction in early April. Other countries began to experience a second wave.
Look deep
Into nature
And then you will understand
Everything better.
Albert Einstein
June 6 - July 4: The Eclipse Season
Each year there are two sets of eclipses. Typically each set has two eclipses, but in the summer of 2020, we experienced three eclipses (June 6, June 21 and July 4) during a period when half the planets were retrograde.
Eclipses create a disruption in the electromagnetic field where the continuous energy streaming onto the planet is interrupted. Likewise, our automatic way of seeing, moving, acting is interrupted. In that interruption, something new is introduced. The effect lasts for six months until the next set of eclipses. These summer eclipses served to dislodge us from ways of operating as a society that are unquestioned or taken for granted.
The summer eclipses activated the Sagittarius/Gemini nodal axis which encouraged dialogue, conducting research and seeking out new information as a re-evaluation of our belief systems. What was unique with the summer eclipses is that two of the three eclipses were in Cancer/Capricorn which invigorated the Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto effect happening in Capricorn. We received a jolt, a prodding to 'think globally, act locally' and give ourselves to restructuring and renewing the bonds of family. Central to this, was the opportunity to speak our truth in a new way, listen to and respect other's truths, so that the glue that holds a family, or a relationship, together is based on shared truths, rather than propped up lies.
The July 4 eclipse was especially activating for the United States
The New Moon eclipse occured on the country's birthday, making this alignment prominent in the country's solar chart for the coming year. The country's natal Sun eclipsed by the eclipse portends a instrumental shift in the country's identity and how it defines itself.
August: Intermission
August brought a breather of sorts as it was the one month this year that did not light up drama, intensity or confrontive dynamics. We could take a break, hit the concession stand, take a vacation. It was a time for regrouping.
Mars moved into Aries stirring our pioneering spirit and the fire within us.
Within August, we could feel something firing up within us, readying to take decisive and bold action. But then, near the end of August, Mars began to slow down as it prepared to go Retrograde.
Live as though
Everything is rigged
In your favor.
Rumi
September – November. ACT FOUR: The Climax
Recap of Act 1 -3:
The year is about a deconstruction of the status quo in order to reformulate a way for us to live together in better alignment with nature and the purpose of humanity. Government and leadership, financial systems,laws and institutions are challenged as the shared agreements that make up a society are asked to be accountable. (Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn in Capricorn)
Covid19 was the domino that created a chain reaction. Its presence illuminated the weaknesses, blind spots and inadequacies of the societal structure. It was akin to the apple that was rolled into the wedding feast that became the catalyst for the Trojan War (Eris square Jupiter/Saturn/Pluto/)
New information and truths that had been masked came to the surface to be engaged as a way to reshape core beliefs about ourselves and the world we live in (Nodal Axis in Sagittarius/Gemini)
We were cued to take focused time to be present to what was bubbling within us, to what we had previously avoided, minimized and hadn't had time for. We realized what we had tolerated was not really tolerable (six planets retrograde simultaneously) and something vital had been compromised.
The need to give voice to feelings, to perceptions, and beliefs led to discovering new avenues for communication and exchange of information. Examples of this can be seen in the rapid growth of virtual conversations, online classrooms and public protests
Mars Takes Center Stage - Passions are Stirred, Bold Action gets Pushback
Mars Retrograde- September 9 – November 13 and in Aries until January 6, 2021
Mars typically moves through a sign in roughly 6 weeks. Because of the retrograde cycle, Mars will be in Aries for six months. The house where Aries resides in our natal charts will indicate which areas of life where we can strike out in a bold new direction and where we can expect to experience unexpected frustration or delays throughout the fall. With Mars in Aries, we are working with and learning how to better trust our instincts, have the courage to step towards the unknown, and blaze a new trail. While Retrograde, we need to be patient with ourselves around making progress with this.
Mars entered Aries in August but as the month wore on it slowed down and slowed down until the beginning of September when he came to a full stop. Then, he turned Retrograde, something he does every other year. Sword drawn, feeling the passion of the Aries fire running through his body and ready for battle, he instead found himself going backwards, retreating from the battle he was pumped up to wage. Mars, of all the planets, has the most difficult time with the retrograde process as he has no patience for re-evaluating, compromising, and being flexible to changing circumstance. Yet, this is what Mars has been charged to do, go back and revisit the plans, the blueprints, the strategy for how to move forward.
Likewise, we may have come into September ready to take a big stride forward. Instead, we became dismayed with how the winds shifted and momentum was lost. We may feel stuck in a quagmire, frustrated or impotent, as if the fire to act decisively eluded us or that we have encountered a strong headwind where outer circumstances prevent us from striding forth.
The way to move with a Mars Retrograde and the Fall 2020 Dynamics:
Slow Down. It is not to stop, avoid or ram an agenda through. We are simply to slow ourselves down.
Take Small Steps. Give ourselves to projects we can complete within the course of an hour or a day. Rather than looking ahead or attempting something ambitious, we take life one step and one tasks at a time. If we deal with the task in front of us, the one we know we can do that needs doing, this will lead to the next and the next.
Be Willing to Revisit Plans and Conversations we Thought were Done. If we find ourselves going over territory we have already covered, this is good. Chances are something is missing or needs adjusting, so that when Mars goes direct, we are moving forward in a way that promises a more beneficial outcome.
Practice Patience. When we are overheated, take a break. When we are ready to explode, take a walk. When something is not happening the way we anticipated, we are to relax and not push the river.
Stay Moving. There is a lot of energy wanting release. Hanging out on the couch or pulling the covers over our heads will not help ease the pressure we feel within. Finding ways to engage in physical activity: chopping wood, cleaning out a closet, doing yardwork.. will serve to relax and calm us.
Have a Disciplined Steadfast Approach. We are facing a headwind, not a tailwind. It is not a good time for impulsive actions or rash decisions, but to give a steady focus on the areas of life we we wish to see movement. Great strides can happen, if we do not get ahead of ourselves.
Make Decisions after Considered Deliberation. Rash or impulsive decisions are likely to get us in hot water. Decisions from a sense of urgency will as well. Take the time to thoroughly vet a plan and make a decision, feeling calm and informed.
The thing of it is: this isn’t a typical Mars Retrograde
Mars Retrogrades are always a frustrating business because life is not moving at the pace or in the way we thought it would.
What is notable about this Retrograde and why it has moved Center Stage in the unfolding drama of 2020, is that Mars is is square Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto throughout its Retrograde cycle.
For the collective, Mars represents the individual and both Saturn and Pluto represent authority. There is a battle between the individual and authority that is being waged. This battle is also inherent in the Jupiter/Saturn/Pluto story in Capricorn as those who benefit from the old systems, meaning those with power and wealth, will be fighting to prevent or postpone the changes that are needed.
Here in Act 4, Mars brings fight, passion and urgency to what is already a volatile situation. His presence turns up the heat. Whatever is stewing will, in all likelihood, reach a boiling point. The momentum that has been building since January comes to a head.
In the friction caused between Mars and Jupiter/Saturn/Pluto the bottled up tensions will have a tendency to blow. The desire to release the pressure we feel, the desire to pick a fight is accentuated. It is all fine and good to advise that we do our best to slow down, be patient, take things a step a time, and to avoid rash actions or angry words. And yet, there will likely be a moment we, or someone around us, snaps and says: enough is enough. This is is the moment when the heat of the moment can lead to explosive outbursts, blow ups, and rash actions. It is a display of 'might' that is seeking to counterbalance the feeling of powerlessness and impotency. The problem is that it does nothing to offset the insecurity we wish to resolve.
The mounting tensions of 2020 are likely to culminate with the Mars Retrograde as it squares Jupiter/Saturn/Pluto
Mars has stepped into the play as the character that is to goad, fuel and stoke what remains repressed and oppressed, so it fully rises to the surface. To a greater or lesser degree all human beings feel the undue sacrifice made in accommodating an industrialized world that cuts us off from the connection with the natural world and our indigenous soul. The pain of this sacrifice can no longer be endured. It is killing our species and the planet. The Mars Retrograde stirs the desire to wage war to restore our inherent rights as human beings and the inherent rights of all living beings. Let us hope that what we learn and gain through these months positions for the 'good fight' of working together rather than the 'bad fight' of battling each other so the outcome is a win/win for humanity and the planet.
Some of us think holding on makes us strong But sometimes it is letting go.
Herman Hesse
Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio, October 13 – November 3
This is when things get really interesting. Mercury Retrogrades would not be so troublesome if we lived in a culture that valued patience, taking a step back to re-evaluate, engaging in conversations to learn something we don’t already know, and feeling the urge to re-evaluate processes and laws when something goes awry. Mercury Retrograde at this time emphasizes the importance of the tactic of taking a step back. We can practice this in our personal lives, but what will happen in the collective may be another matter.
Mercury is in Scorpio at the beginning of its Retrograde sparking deep thought and a desire to plum beneath the surface to understand the truth of what is really going on. There may be further revelations of hidden information that has been kept secret.
We can more readily flesh out a strategy, develop a plan B, but - if possible - hold off on setting the plan into motion until November 13 - the end of the Mars Retrograde which will happen two weeks after the Mercury Retrograde ends. The truth is we don't yet have all the information that is slowly coming to light. And as new truths are revealed, plans will be adjusted accordingly.
Mercury will retrograde back into Libra on October 27 and our thoughts will shift to ideas of justice and fairness. While Libra is about harmony, Libra is also capable of a warrior spirit that fights for what it believes is right for everybody. The key is to discover how to approach a fight, a confrontation with others in a way were we treat them in the way we hope to be treated.
To thrive in life you need three bones
A wishbone
A backbone
A funny bone
Reba McEntire
The U.S. Election - Disorientation
Leading up to November 3 when Mercury turns direct, Mercury will have slowly backed its way right into a square with Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn.
Our minds may be ramped up with righteous thought, with the desire to care and respect all life and yet we may have a simultaneous desire to throttle those who do not share our way of thinking. This, of course, is the day of the US Presidential election. The confusion surrounding this election and concern around the outcome of the election is warranted in light of the astrological alignments. It may very well be the building crisis within the US in 2020 will climax with the events surrounding the election. Or, as with the other plot twists, such as the unexpected introduction of a pandemic or the protests surrounding Black Lives Matter, that we are in for another plot twist that comes out of left field. We are meant to be disoriented, to be dislodged from our automatic way of acting, processing and responding. This is all part of the unfolding story of transforming the way we live and move as a human society.
Jupiter and Pluto Conjunction November 12
Jupiter and Pluto will make their third and final exact conjunction on November 12. As the two conjunctions earlier this year coincided with a surge in reported cases of covid, it is not unreasonable to expect this last conjunction will also see a surge in coronavirus cases. Mars will still be a wide conjunction to Pluto/Jupiter helping to fan the flames of this potential.
The other side if Jupiter/Pluto teaming up is that it can create a superhuman drive to put something into action. It can embolden leaders or be the making of emerging leaders. There may be bold statements, movements and decisions that occur.
My heart is at ease knowing
that what was meant for me will never miss me,
and that what misses me
was never meant for me.
Imam Al-Shafi’i
December: Act V – The Denouement
Unlike a dramatic play, the story of 2020 will not just end on December 31. It will continue into 2021, but by December all cards should be on the table. The bulk of information we need to know will have come forth and the work before us will be certainly clearer than it was a year ago when tensions and truths were still hidden.
Eclipses - November 30 and December 14: Cherished Beliefs are Challenged
The pair of eclipses near the end 2020 echo themes of the summer eclipses. There is continued emphasis on being open to receiving new information that is discordant with what we have come to know, being willing to shift our perspective, and to engage in a deep inquiry where we question our beliefs about what is true and where we have let ourselves be deceived.
Within the U.S., there is growing confusion about the definition of democracy or if we were ever a democracy. What we thought was commonly understood has unraveled. There is a crisis surrounding the values, the meaning of the constitution and and an argument about the principles that created the country. There is a growing crisis around reconciling with the country’s history or whether we need to do this at all. The foundation of the US is shaking as the very beliefs that define this country come into question.
The US is entering its Pluto Return for 2021-2022. Pluto is returning to the place it was at the country’s founding. The Pluto Return will test the very principles of what defines the country and bring about a transformation to uphold those principles or to to formulate new ones. Pluto resides in the 2nd house of the US Sibly Chart. This is the house of Values, Land and Money. These themes will continue to be hot and volatile topics as the country moves through its Pluto Return. As US citizens, we can lean into the opportunity of the eclipses and the current position of the nodal axis to do the work to clean the lens through which we perceive and process information. We can re-examine and be willing to refine our own beliefs so we can navigate the changes that will happen for the society we live in.
Look deep
Into nature
And then you will understand
Everything better.
Albert Einstein
December: Light at the End of the Tunnel
December 21: Winter Solstice and the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction: A New Dawn
The Winter Solstice on December 21 coincides with a powerful alignment. Jupiter and Saturn come together once every 20 years. Their exact conjunction is on the day of the winter solstice reinforcing that this day portends the dawn of something new.
Jupiter and Saturn coming together set a new direction for the next 20 years. For the last 200 years, each time they have come together, they have conjoined in an earth sign. Earth signs deal with the material world and the earth’s resources. For 200 years, we have actualized, perhaps to a fault, the impulse to maximize the earth’s resources and to create more material comfort.
Jupiter and Saturn will meet in the Air Sign of Aquarius
This is the beginning of a new 200 year cycle. Every 20 years for the next 10 cycles, Jupiter and Saturn will meet in an Air sign. And just as we harnessed the power and opportunities of Earth, we will now do this with Air.
Humanity will shift its focus from harvesting the earth’s resources and begin looking to air, to electromagnetic wavelengths, to the energy that pours into our atmosphere to be the engine of our economy and society. There will be another giant technological revolution that include leaps in air travel, communication devices and how artificial intelligence is utilized. Many of what will be discovered and implemented will be of great benefit as long as we are mindful to not manifest the shadow side of Aquarius to further mechanize humanity.
Jupiter and Saturn come together in Aquarius, the sign of the humanitarian. A progressive vision, and plans will be devised to benefit all people. There is emphasis on resolving conflicting views through the exchange and discussion of ideas. The great conjunction happening on the Winter Solstice points to the dawning of a new way, a new thought for how we can all live together on our beautiful planet.
The center of the world
is exactly
where you stand.
Talmud
A Mutable Grand Cross with Neptune, the Nodal Axis and Vesta
A Grand Cross on the day of the Winter Solstice reflects a great tension which demands resolution. As stated previously, the nodal axis in Gemini/Sagittarius is inviting us to question our beliefs in a way where we can encompass another way of seeing ourselves and our relationship to the world. In mutable signs, it calls us to be flexible and willing to adjust our position.
Neptune's role in the Grand Cross opens us up to mystical insight, to flights of imagination and the welcoming of divine intervention.
Vesta's role, as the eternal flame, grounds the intuitive and creative opening. In this Grand Cross, she focuses our attention to the fire in our heart so imagination focuses on what we hold as sacred, and to stoking the devotion to caring for what is sacred. A spiritual awareness is possible that has us view everything in a new light.
In a Greek Tragic Play, the Denouement occurs in Act V when the conflict and crisis have reached a breaking point, where no resolution cannot be found with human effort alone. A deity enters the play, bringing the missing element. We can approach the Solstice with the recognition that the solution and the desired future is beyond our human capacity. Leaning into the opportunity of the Grand Cross, we can open ourself to divine intervention, to the grace and blessing of a eternal presence that has served humanity since the beginning of time.
In many respects, the year's crisis is born from human society's profound disconnection with the divine and the living world. Centuries of humans endeavoring to control nature, the elements, each other and the course of their lives has created a profound sense of separateness from natural and cosmic order that has us feeling isolated and lonely. Western civilization's great endeavor to have control and certainty has come at great expense and will be the cause of its own extinction if its course is not altered in a dramatic way. 2020 has introduced the appropriate chaos, the needed turbulence that jarred us from the habitual dependence on the status quo, on 'business as usual' so we can reach for a new dream of how to live together. This dawning of this dream begins on December 21.
I invite us each to open up our calendars and put a circle around December 21, then to develop a plan for that day that has us to sit by a fire, to contemplate what is truly sacred, to soften our adherence around what we already know, and provide a welcoming space for the insight that awaits us. We can then take time to write what we feel, what thoughts emerge, and what comes to us. These are the seeds that will give rise to a way of living previously not within our grasp. As 2021 emerges, our task will be to nurture and water the seeds presented us on the Solstice.
The entire year has been a necessary preparation to creating an opening for the potentials available on December 21 to be received. Jostled from our habitual patterns of living, jolted by unpredictable events, we have been collectively thrust into an unknown and uncertain future These conditions have been necessary to disentangle us from our participation in the shared agreements that hold the status quo in place. We are questioning things about reality that we thought were constants - from basic realities (ie, the continuation of social security or the post office to larger truths around government, global warming and having basic needs met). The destabilization of what we have come to know and trust leads us to envision something beyond that is a departure from how we know to create a life that is sustainable for generations to come.
**October Special**
