5 February 2006 – 11 February 2006
The week begins with the Sun moving from the alignment with Neptune on Sunday evening to making a right angle with Jupiter 12 hours later on Monday. This culminates, for now, the Jupiter – Neptune concentration of the past few weeks. The Sun's involvement makes this unifying and expanding energy personal and brings it into our daily lives, into our centers. The expansive pull of both Neptune and Jupiter seeks to bring us out of our family and home lives, out into the society that surrounds our homes and beyond to connect us religiously and mystically to the universe. Jupiter uses ideas, philosophy, and religion to expand our minds. Neptune uses symbols.
So we're at a coming together of religion and symbols when Jupiter and Neptune connect; the square connection is tense and challenging pitting the intense emotional commitment of Scorpio against the radical politics of Aquarius. Symbols unite us. Think of the flag, the cross, the star and crescent, the swastika. These symbols focus people in groups that share a common vision. They become more than simple diagrams as people project their hopes and dreams onto them. People follow flags into battle at the risk of their own life. So people react to flag burnings or t-shirts. Totemic symbols identify and unify clans, tribes, and nations.
Muslims are still infuriated by a political cartoon from last week that depicted the Prophet with a bomb as a hat. The conflict between Jupiter and Neptune is perfectly expressed by this furor. If a group's symbol is insulted, the whole group is slighted.
Neptune operates to unify us through other less elevated symbolic means. Glamor and celebrity are two of his tools. Charismatic rock stars, preachers, politicians unify people by their magnetism and charm. These unifiers present a mirrored surface so that a wide range of devotees can see themselves reflected and/or bask in the shining light that they emit. Frank Sinatra, Elvis, the Beatles and Rolling Stones, and Hitler are all examples that come easily to mind. Being a fan is belonging to a cultural group and has a mild form of worship at its core.
Advertising uses the symbols of glamor and celebrity, as we all know. Another expression of the Jupiter – Neptune energy surge is this weekend's Super Bowl, a veritable festival of advertising and sports clan symbols. Millions of viewers were unified, sharing the same experience in the same moment. The Rolling Stones sang “Satisfaction” at half-time and with its media savvy lyrics.
“When I’m watchin’ my tv
And that man comes on to tell me
How white my shirts can be.
Well he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke
The same cigarettes as me.”
Satisfaction is an issue when Neptune shines on us. He shows us things beyond our reach: expensive cars, beautiful people, ageless and clear skin, “erections lasting over four hours.” He acts to expand our reality, to lure us out of the commonplace and ordinary and lead us to the experience of another larger world. We're wired to be attracted by the perfections he displays. Many of us have problems on the return journey from his mountaintops. Some of us numb the pain of this descent with alcohol or other drugs. We can feel teased and cheated. “We can't get no satisfaction.”
In a world now awash in symbols, manipulating symbols, we need to keep in mind that images of perfection can be used to confuse and arouse us rather than point us toward the sublime and magical reality that we inhabit. So someone draws a satiric political cartoon, perhaps not very diplomatically, and those who feed on political tension use it as a rallying cry for violent protest. Many, if not most, political positions exist because of divisions among people. Red and Blue states, rich and poor, good and evil all generate tension that can be focused, “ridden” and amplified beyond simple differences in POV into moral dichotomies. Welcome to the astral plane of duality.
So this Jupiter – Neptune flow is an opportunity to step beyond whatever boundaries contain us and share experiences ranging from sports celebrations to mystical mind explosions. But we need to remember there are many different fishes swimming in Neptune's sea and that staring directly at the light for too long can blind us.
Notice for Los Angeles area readers:
Ongoing Classes:
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.
Sunday, March 12th – A discussion of the Lunar Eclipse in Virgo at 10:00am followed, at 11:00am, by a talk entitled “Swimming with the Fishes – the Pisces experience.” At the New Age Bible and Philosophy Center, 1139 Lincoln Boulevard, 310-395-4346 or me, 818-316-0702, for details.
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:
February 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
Somehow Mercury in square to Mars and the Sun aligned with Neptune make for a very enjoyable Super Bowl in the U.S. and beyond. Millions united at a 21st century pageant. The Moon goes Void at 1:00pm and doesn't enter Gemini until late at 11:32pm/2:32am. Pass the chips please.
Mercury is precise and surgical as he connects with Pluto around midday. It's easier to get to the heart of the matter or solve the puzzle today. We're restless from the Sun in square to Jupiter so get outside and to the heights if you can.
The Gemini Moon harmonizes with the Sun and Neptune this morning. Words that express our hopes come easily and people can understand and share them. Don't try to reduce everything to a single solution, look for options.
The Moon is briefly Void from 7:04am/10:04am until she enters Cancer at 8:33am/11:33am. You may wake up with a last minute answer before then. Don't waste time with decisions or important meetings during this period. With Mercury entering Pisces this evening and the Moon in Cancer, our inner life has shifted focus from our heads down to our feelings.
The Moon passes opposite Venus in Capricorn, who continues to keep the social scorecards up to date, early this evening. Once the judging is over, the Moon moves into a nice connection with Jupiter. And our hearts can open.
After the Moon connects with Mars at 12:53pm/3:53pm she goes Void until 7:44pm/10:44pm. The Mars contact may serve to remind us of a project that we need to keep pushing to complete.
The Leo Moon shines bright light and raises the tensions in preparation for tomorrow's Full Moon. Much of the glitter, sound, and fury of the past weeks returns with tomorrow's Full Moon at 8:44pm/11:44pm. Overhead in Washington D.C.
Visit the Celestial Weather Web Site at http://www.celestialweather.com
Copyright 2006 Rich Humbert