These Galactic Times
Mercury is not always retrograde, but it's about to be retrograde again. It always seems to be about to go retrograde, or about to have just been retrograde, or actually to be retrograde, or all of the above. In actual fact, Mercury is retrograde for about three weeks out of every four months, and if you include the 'shadow phases' on either side, technically the effect is in force for about two months out of every four at even intervals.
When Mercury direct makes its exterior conjunction to the Sun (most recently, on October 25 at the moment of the Libra New Moon) you know you're halfway through the non-retrograde side of the cycle. That's kind of a little reminder bell.
As time has gone on, I've become more and more, well honestly, adept really isn't quite the word, but whatever, at timing things around Mercury retrograde. Adept isn't really the word because there is no such thing. Mercury is the trickster, and it's a trickster god, and you're not going to outsmart one of those every day.
Mercury retrograde is the basic nature of Mercury. It is where the whole 'messenger of the gods' business comes from. This star, seen by the ancients, danced around in the sky and shuttled between other planets, bringing them 'news', and so as technology advanced, it became associated with things like books, words, computers and phones, which, strangely enough, it actually is. We live in a world where our devices, structure and needs are all intimately entwined with all things Mercury.
After closely watching about 30 of these cycles go by, the only things about Mercury retrograde I can really say for sure, which are nothing other than everyone else has always said, are a) it's really not a good idea to make major purchases, fix important plans or sign agreements when this business is afoot; and b) Try not to mess around with your computer, except to back up data, which you need to do consciously, that is to say, paying attention and not doing anything else while you're doing it, such as watching TV or playing solitaire.
One more bit: No use trying to solve problems that don't exist. The retrograde is famous for making things look wrong that are actually fine, and making small problems look big. If you lose your keys, look in your purse. If you lose your cash card, wait till tomorrow to call the bank. If your computer is acting weird, try doing nothing, or have a nice talk with it. Patience is definitely a virtue under the current astrology. If you try to solve problems that are not problems, there's a good likelihood that you're going to create actual problems, thus contributing to the bad reputation of this transit.
Okay, one last: conserve your cash. Mercury is about money, money is about Mercury. Cash flows can be interrupted, and unexpected expenses can arise. Be prepared. Besides which, things you buy under this influence don't usually work, or work out as planned.
As for the rest, you really just have to dance with the trickster. There are many great opportunities under this astrology, particularly for getting out of mental ruts, seeing things from strange perspectives, and for ferreting out hidden information. And that may mean doing things that contradict all the usual cautions. Obviously, you have to do what you have to do. Sometimes, you'll have a funny feeling that you shouldn't be doing something; but it's not funny, it's a feeling and it would be wise to follow it.
Here is the short version of details re. the current transit. As of Friday, Dec. 12, Mercury is at 11 degrees of Capricorn and advancing less than one degree per day. It is, coincidentally, opposite Saturn at 11 degrees of Cancer. The slow motion of Mercury puts it in what some call the Mercury Storm phase - the few days before Mercury appears to stop progressing forward, and stations. Mercury is not actually stopping; it's blowing past Earth. Feel those planet waves.
The exact station occurs Weds., Dec. 17, 2003 at 8:00 am Pacific time. This is, coincidentally, on the 100th anniversary of the first flight of an aeroplane and apparently the day Bush is going to promise that next, we're going to conquer the Moon. Or maybe it will be Mars. The Martians have kicked our ass lots of times and it's our turn to get them back.
Mercury stations don't last long. By Winter Solstice, it's back to moving a degree per day (retrograde) and soon after, two degrees per day. On the last day of the year, it transits back into Sagittarius, the storm phase begins as it slows to another station, and then it stops spot-on conjunct the core of our galaxy, at 26 degrees Sagittarius and 16 minutes.
I know most astrologers don't reference the galactic core, and it has no stock meaning or interpretation. But on its face, by its most basic nature, it seems inherently meaningful without the need for a lot of window dressing or mythologising. At the centre of the 200 billion stars in our spiral galaxy, there is a black hole. Recently proven to be not merely theoretical objects, black holes are massive but relatively small hunks of dark matter and hence, gravity, and may well bind together the entire galaxy. As far as we're concerned, it's the centre of (local) creation.
Modern scientific devices just recently arrived at the edge of our own little solar system (which, by the way, we are arriving at for the first time as the Voyager 1 spacecraft reached interstellar space, 8.4 billion miles from the Sun, on Nov. 5). Voyager 1 was launched in 1985 and took 18 years to get to the edge of the solar system. By contrast, to reach the galactic core, it would require travelling at the speed of light for 30,000 years.
To me, the galactic core represents a mystery. Just what does it feel like at the centre of all those stars? Who lives there? Is the sky so bright as those stars draw denser and denser that it's like daylight in the middle of the night? What happens to time and perception as you get closer? Is what we think of as God hanging out there?
Back to Mercury retrograde. It may be just plain cool that it makes its station direct in a conjunction to the galactic core, but I like to think of it as communication from the great Sagittarian beyond. The fact that it's a station means that Mercury holds that approximate position for the week between Jan. 3 and Jan. 10. The galactic core is once again summoned when Venus stations retrograde exactly opposite this point on May 17, at 26 degrees Gemini and 8 minutes.
Perhaps this is a radical proposal. The zodiac we use is reckoned to a place called Zero Aries. Maybe that's not quite the place, or not quite the only place. I propose we reckon the zodiac to 27 Sagittarius and start counting from there. The difference between Zero Aries and 27 Sagittarius is one of reference; the Aries point is referenced internally against the seasons and Earth's movement round the Sun. The galactic core references astrology against the immediate group of stars of which we're a living breathing part. The Milky Way is our island on space; it is our home, and 27 Sagittarius is the way to the centre.
Is it remotely possible that we're alone among sentient life in this galaxy?
FYI the Sun aligns with the galactic core each year around Dec. 19.
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There is a newsletter called The Galactic Times, not affiliated with Planet Waves, but we like to quote it a lot, and I stole the title for this week's edition. You can subscribe to The Galactic Times free by writing to galastro@aol.com. It's good stuff.
Art or Temperance
The Tarot card associated with all this galactic Sagittarian stuff is the 14th trump, Temperance in the traditional decks and Art in the iconoclastic or icon making Crowley/Harris deck, which dates to the 1940s. It's also called the Thoth deck, by the way. The theme of the card is synthesis. In the traditional deck, one of the archangels, I forget whom, stands with one foot on the water and the other on land, pouring water from one chalice to another. It's almost an image of Aquarius, in which the star goddess Nut (or Nuit, being night) pours water from her urn into a river or sea, most probably the Nile. She waters the land from heaven.
The image of Sagittarius is an archer or centaur, depending on which era of history, which writer and which school of thought you check and, some would say, which psychological level you're working on (which I don't want to get into at the moment). In any event, the centaur is half man, half horse and has four feet on the ground. His name is Chiron.
Sagittarius and Aquarius do have quite a lot in common, being the highest-minded signs of ideas, and extremely useful concepts like justice, equality and independence. Both signs have immediate connotations of collective or cosmic reality.
In the Crowley deck, the Art card is a different image. It is an amalgamation of the Lovers card (trump VI) wherein the polar opposites represented by the lovers (sometimes called the Brothers) themselves become one creature, with several pairs of breasts, four arms, and a kind of (serenely) double-faced but unified head. This being, a morph of all different kinds of opposites, is making a potion of fire in a cauldron (very Sagittarius), assisted by a lion and an eagle who is spitting coins into the golden pot. I mean dig it.
A double crescent Moon is suspended in front of him/her, one of them angled to either side of his/her face.
On the wall behind this creature is written a Latin inscription, the approximate translation of which is: Travel to the interior of the Earth, and there, through rectification, you will find the hidden stone.
The Occult works in layers of symbol. Sagittarius is indeed the sign associated with the Earth, but this was not published until 1950 when Alice A Bailey brought out Esoteric Astrology, probably the most ignored, and simultaneously most influential book in the past couple of centuries of astrological publishing. But the hidden stone at the centre of something could handily apply to the image of the dense, dark body that resides at the core of the galaxy in which we live, but so rarely call home.
Your Weekly Horoscope
Appeared originally as the Dec. 10 edition of the Jonathan Cainer Daily Horoscope at http://cainer.com/. Eric will be standing in for Jonathan next week, beginning Monday.
Aries (March 20-April 19)
Be prepared for a positive development in your professional life that may come in the form of an apparent bungle or delay. The stars say trust it fully. You are coming up with an entirely new professional vision for yourself and this will buy you just enough time to put it into action. You don't need to worry about coming up with excuses for everyone else to delay their plans; the upcoming Mercury retrograde will be taking care of that quite nicely. You can safely plan on about a month to get your thoughts together. Just await patiently that one odd inspiration or solution that defies conventional logic but works brilliantly.
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
Carl Jung said that most religion was a substitute for religious experience. Experience is calling you right now, though it's not necessarily anything that the Pope would personally certify. True religion grows out of the ground, rains from the sky and rises up from your belly like a wave of heat and thunder. It doesn't need to be taught, merely felt, seen and embraced. And there's nothing New Age about it. It's the oldest stuff going, and it's going strong for you right now. Get yourself outside and feel the love of nature and life in your cells. You are being ordained a priest or priestess of earth, air and sky.
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
Who sets the terms of your relationships? Is it you and your partner? Or is it some unseen force working in the background, handed down for many generations? There is a vast conspiracy at work in your life to derail an old plan you've only vaguely suspected you were following. You were told, among other things, that to be open and vulnerable meant to be a victim. You were not told that when you shut down, you cut off your source of nutrients and life force. You are getting a very clear message to open up and receive right now. You have nothing at all to lose.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Unusual developments in your relationship life now arrive when you're deeply sensitive to the influences of others. Tune in to what a close partner is experiencing. You don't need to influence anything or say anything, just be receptive. The turning point belongs to you as well. You have a rare opportunity to break the mould on a particular kind of relationship model that's based on expectations and conformity. You've been craving an opportunity for this kind of emotional freedom for many moons. Just breathe into it and keep your heart open. It's unlikely to be what you were expecting, which means it could be a lot better.
Leo (July 22-Aug 23)
The reason most people work day jobs instead of pursuing their creative passions is partly economic, but mostly it's because there's an even greater risk involved. True creative force emanates from the most chaotic part of the soul and threatens to cancel out known reality. A poet alone can tell the truth and a painter alone can depict it. But then what becomes of all the friends in your life who are chained to their worldly principles? If you follow your current inspiration, you'll be gambling just about everything you knew to be true in the past. Every now and then, that's a really healthy plan, and the risk pales against the rewards.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
Generally we're taught that if we want to succeed we need to conform. I've heard harrowing tales from my British clients about how structured the idea of a profession can be in the UK, and it's not that much better in the US, as we get shuffled through college majors and requirements with no room to play or experiment. But you've reached a time in your life when you can finally wage a revolution against all your conditioning to be proper, right and good. There have been few less proper times in your life than the current season, and your soul is daring you to do what you feel and risk what you desire. You're not breaking any rules by following your impulses. In fact, you are upholding the world's great tradition of revolt, rebellion and originality.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
You've got two distinct choices for how to relate to the people in your life today: Love and tough love. The first is a miracle; the second is a contradiction, though it may be a rather tempting contradiction. Love is gentle. When dealing with children and younger people in any aspect of life, stay close to the feeling of being a child. It's challenging and we often avoid that kind of vulnerability. What everyone needs is emotional contact right now. There is a touch of the truly miraculous in the air, and by using your authority to hold open the space of compassion, you'll let the miracle in too.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
You have the right to change your mind. You also have the right to change it back. You have the right to take as long as you want to get clear about anything you want. Money is at stake, and so is your integrity. But the most important is whether your life is the expression of who you are, or the expression of something else. Give this a few weeks. Important factors and motivators will become obvious in that time, and your vision for what you want and need is likely to expand radically. Don't sell yourself short, or fall for any promises from one known to speak from both sides of his mouth.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 22)
Few people you've ever met can cut through the façade of so-called reality like you can, and your lasers are about to fire at full power. The question is one of your worth. I sense you've been struggling with a distortion lately, one that has led you to the depths of self-questioning. In this process, you've seen how what you felt was your value to the world was exclusively determined by other people. You have, at least, seen that those values were false. Now you're being shown the truth, which will have the feeling of suddenly reaching the summit of a very high mountain after a nearly impossible climb.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
It may suddenly feel like you're being released from isolation or long captivity, and you're clearly bursting at the seams emotionally. In fact for some Capricorns the energy may be so overwhelming as to have you feeling rather unstable or deeply emotional. This is the best thing you could hope for right now, even if you suddenly need to face the source of those isolations or emotions. This is a genuine moment of personal healing for you. While you're here, claim full responsibility for your issues. You may feel lured into projecting them onto others, but to do so would mean missing a true opportunity.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
Be patient. The angels are at work in your life, both weaving your dearest wishes into reality, and helping you heal long-forgotten hurts. You may feel like you're on the edge of something but you're not quite sure what, which is exactly the situation. You have no need to probe the future, pull away the veils or discharge the strange sense of anticipation you may be feeling. To put it mildly, a revolution is coming into your life: a revolution of the heart, which, for an Aquarian, means a revolution of the mind as well. You are in the last days of a life that has grown old and familiar, but those days are fading fast.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
The line defining the difference between lovers and friends usually feels like China's Great Wall rather than the silk curtain it should really be. As someone occasionally accused of having poor boundaries, you know how sad this is, because the more popular boundaries become, the less access people have to one another, and we are what we need most right now. All that is changing for you, and it's changing fast. Pay attention, and keep people in your life out of well-defined categories they may think they belong in, because pure loving magic is possible. On this note, if you spend time the next few weeks looking up old friends, you'll strike gold.
Sagittarius Birthdays
People born in the last week of Sagittarius are among the visitors to Earth who have travelled the greatest distance to get here. I say this because this is the week that the Sun and Earth align with the galactic core; from our perspective, the Sun aligns with the central Sun of the Milky Way and that influence just pours into the soul level of consciousness. If you are born this week and you have always felt different, this may offer you a cosmic image as to why that is. Try something physical as an experiment: go out and take a look at the Sun this week, and imagine the core of our great spiral galaxy exactly, directly behind it, merged with it. The Sun is a transmitter of every form of energy, including the shape of the planets that surround it and the stars with which it aligns.
In The Secret Language of Birthdays (one of my very favourite esoteric tools of all times), the authors seem to agree. For example, Dec. 16 is The Day of the Soaring Imagination (Arthur C. Clark, Beethoven, Jane Austen, Margaret Mead). Dec. 18 is The Day of Mammoth Projects (Steve Speilberg, Jonathan Cainer, Robert Moses, Steve Biko), and Dec. 21 is The Day of the Great Enigma (Frank Zappa, Jane Fonda, Florence Griffith Joyner, Thomas Beckett).
It is a trippy time of year. And this trip around the Sun, the galactic theme is very much in evidence: beyond, beyond, beyond. First, though, some practical considerations. You have many reasons to get organised around money. This is going to do more for your self-esteem than anything else: better than a new job, better than a new lover, better than surgery that enhances your toe cleavage. Feel good about money, know where you stand, get yourself organised, claim what is yours, and much else will fall into place, but particularly when it comes to how you feel about yourself.
It would appear that, like most others born under your Sun sign, you have been working with enormous energy on the whole question of self-esteem. As I've written in the past, though, this is an elusive concept. I prefer self-respect. That's more clear and more direct. Are you someone whose actions, ideas and ideals you can respect? You may have been asking questions so deep along this theme that you've gotten lost a few times. At other points, the whole issue seems to defy words, and that feeling of being less-than or unworthy-of just surfaces.
Now you're being given a chance to go beyond elusive feelings and get clear with yourself in terms that you can relate to, consider and, most important, respond to. If you can break the questions down to specific elements, you'll feel less inclined to judge and more inclined to reassess, and make decisions. Along this line, you'll probably feel better if you can get a close friend or loved one in on the discussion. You may have some past situations you want to go over and offer for healing. Talks of this kind will bring you closer to people in your life, shift your viewpoint and go a long way to teach you gentleness toward yourself.
Part of your ongoing crisis of existence involves the extent to which you are a radically innovative pioneer while at the same time you have some very traditional tendencies. But those traditions are your cornerstone. You know how wide, wild and unpredictable the physical universe is, and you know that on Earth one must at least keep one foot in the earthy realm, on solid ground. While you are extremely capable when it comes to spiritual and intellectual abstractions, I really encourage you to think of yourself in the most salty terms you can come up with.
What you're likely to discover is that you are extremely emotionally sensitive and have been unduly judgmental of yourself in recent seasons. You have, in particular, judged your fears and insecurities to be a reflection of who you are on the soul level. This is simply not true. You have been working diligently to get to the root causes of your fear, and it's more than likely that you'll be proceeding in life with more of the devil-be-damned for which you're so famous, and for which we need so badly here on Planet Chicken.
Planet Waves Weekly | International Edition
Dec. 12, 2003, Version 1.01
Published by Planet Waves, Inc.
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