1 January 2006 – 7 January 2006
My dear friend Allan, a dream-warrior, sent the following epistle this holiday season:
“The other night I woke from a nightmare. I was living in a post-apocalyptic world, and as dreams always are, it felt so real. I was awash with feelings of loss and destruction as I lay there...Slowly I started to realize how many negative thoughts and emotions I had been carrying with me from the daily barrage of horrific news and images. My ability to edit...had been rendered senseless...much of it was going straight in...as inevitable fact.”
He goes on to caution us to control the “images of the world” we take in. Good advice.
We also need to keep in mind that we're living in extraordinary historical times. The Aquarian Age is finally and completely upon us. The 2000 plus years of the preceding Piscean Age have ended. A long and broad look back at the 20th century shows how technology and science, Aquarian in nature, have changed the world...have shrunk the world...have brought the world into our homes. Many of us felt the upsurge of this energy in the late 1960's when Uranus aligned with Pluto. Uranus went on to align with Neptune in the 90's. They moved forward as a pair into Aquarius as the century closed. But our institutions have not changed. They no longer reflect a world of instant communication, a world operating in a single time zone, a world unified by the Internet.
Room has to be made for new growth. The old must be plowed under for fertilizer and the fields re-seeded. We are in a period of deconstruction and breakdown. It is important to understand the growing chaos as a necessary and even healthy part of human evolution. What lies ahead is unknown, yet to be created, or created and yet to fully blossom. The emotional, Cancerian, part of all of us finds this unknown frightening. We all seek security for our loved ones and our families.
As the old age continues to self-destruct, we need to filter our input, as Allan advises, but we also need to have faith that a better future for all mankind lies ahead. We need to remember that media news is now a for-profit business measured in eyeballs on screens. And fear fascinates; it calls to our limbic system. So we're not likely to hear as much good news as bad. Here in Los Angeles it's almost laughable with “breaking news” and rain classified as “storm watches.” Here the news seems designed to keep us feeling under assault and fearful of strangers.
Last Friday there was a New Moon in Capricorn, a sign that cherishes tradition, and the comfort of tried and true friends and family, the warmth of the hearth in contrast with the winter cold outside. We understand the power of the organic human community that sustains and protects us all in hard times. We are in hard times and with Saturn (Capricorn's power source) in the love-sign Leo, these are times to remember the responsibility that comes with love. The ability to respond, to be there, to be useful. This is the time to think about time and generations and how we can leave the world better, in whatever way (small or large) is possible, for those who follow us into our future.
Saturn and Capricorn are closely linked with our sense of time as we can see in their New Years symbols and our celebration of the year's passing and the beginning of a new cycle. We celebrate the continuity within change that now more than ever seems to exist mostly in our personal lives.
This Friday's First Quarter Moon shows the Sun and Moon in square angle both linked with Neptune. All three are in the 16 degree of their signs. This is a better time to make “resolutions” than on New Year's Eve. With the Aries Moon, Capricorn Sun, and Aquarius Neptune there is energy available to us to bring the best of value from the past into a new beginning. We should consider how our past decisions and what we willed into being was conditioned by our vision then of what was possible.
Neptune's connection links in the long-term ”cosmic cross” pattern that includes Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, with Neptune. You'll find them located at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock respectively in the chart for this week. This cross is reflected in the ongoing stress about government power and secrecy, the religious civil war in Iraq, and more generally in conflicting visions of the future. This cross falls in the center of the fixed power signs: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. If you're feeling pulled apart, fragmented, forced to choose when you're not feeling ready, you can bet your horoscope is connected with this cross. You're being forced to balance your personal desires and resources with your public and social concerns. It will help to think carefully and understand that every solution will require some sacrifice for some gain. Expect these pressures to continue to build through the Mars – Jupiter opposition and Mars – Neptune square coming in two weeks between the 15th and the 18th.
Notice for Los Angeles area readers:
Ongoing Classes:
Beginning January 21st:
1:00pm – Intermediate Class in Predictions. Using the charts of well-known people, the effects of progressions, transits, and solar returns will be taught and explored. The class is open to people who know the basics of astrology.
3:00pm – Beginner’s Class. All are welcome. There are no prerequisites except an open mind and curiosity. This class will cover the signs, planets, and houses and show how to interpret these symbols and analyze birth chart patterns. Call the New Age Bible and Philosophy Center, 1139 Lincoln Boulevard, 310-395-4346 or me, 818-316-0702, for details.
Long Range Forecast:
On the website: A look at the high energy dates for 2006.
December 24th – Venus turns retrograde until February 3rd. Second impressions may be the most reliable during this time. This is not a good time to form partnerships unless you are “re-forming” them. The time is suited to review and re-organize your finances and wardrobe.
Long-Long Range Forecast:
January 14, 2009 – August 21, 2010 - Saturn makes a series of squares to Pluto newly in Capricorn. The end of business-as-usual politics. The nationalistic dinosaurs will enter their twilight times. The transition to organic regional government will not be smooth…the result may be some corporate feudal mixture.
June 24, 2012 – March 17, 2015 - Uranus in Aries forms his first major hard aspect to Pluto, a square angle, since they were aligned in the second half of the 1960’s. Hippie dreams may come true when the ecology and/or petroleum-based economies fail. Plan to live where there is food and water and you don’t need a car. Plan to live where you’ll know your neighbors…maybe even love them. What a thought! We may have to choose between eating grain on a commune or growing very thin in the city.
Daily Forecasts
Venus backs into Capricorn – still retrograde – under the Aquarius Moon. Tonight the “cross” pattern is charged by the Moon moving to align with Neptune. Making a break with old thought patterns is helped by the Sun contact with Mars. Think practically in small steps.
More heavy dreams linger in our minds today. As occasionally happens, events in dreamland may be more important than in waking life. Pay attention to messages from your deeper self.
The Moon has entered Pisces after a Void period that lasted from 3:44am/6:44am until 4:43am/7:43am. Clean up some last minute details with Mercury in the last degree of Sagittarius so you can move into your future. Mercury enters Capricorn today at 1:27pm/4:27pm. You may suddenly see how to solve your puzzle when the Moon aligns with Uranus this evening.
A good day for concrete action. We have an earth Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Practical goals can be set and first steps taken. With Venus moving backward look for something to revive that you've put aside. Maybe a relationship can be cast in a new light.
The Moon changes again after a brief Void period from 4:10am/7:10am until she enters Aries at 6:44am/9:44am. Start late and look for help from someone older or in authority late in the day.
Clear your mind this morning of clutter and worry. Focus on precise images of how you want your future to unfold. Do this before 10:56am/1:56pm when the First Quarter Moon is perfected.
The Moon is Void all morning from 6:34am/9:34am until she enters Taurus at 11:09am/2:09pm. Then roll up your sleeves. Tomorrow the “cross” stresses re-assert themselves. Perhaps we can think of them as a psycho-spiritual exercise machine. We're building inner power as we define and maintain our personal goals and values in the face of external pressure.
Visit the Celestial Weather Web Site at http://www.celestialweather.com
Copyright 2006 Rich Humbert