Friday, February 26, 2010

Mercury in the Eighth House - Looking inward

**Though natally I have no 8th Hse planets, this transit brings out the best in my Mercury conjunct Pluto (Pluto = 8th House = Scorpio)...

At this time it is good to look inward and reflect upon deep psychological truths within yourself. This influence often signifies conversations and intellectual encounters that have a profound effect upon your mind, causing you to go deep within yourself and make changes in your point of view or ways of thinking. This time is conducive to very deep thinking, sometimes including thoughts about your own and your loved ones' mortality. Reflecting upon these matters from time to time in moderation can help to keep your life in perspective, but don't get too carried away by thoughts of death, because this can draw you away from the here and now.

The interpretation above is for your transit selected for today:
Mercury in the 8th House

Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Moon's Nodes - Individual Soul's Path(s) of Least and Strongest Resistance

Understanding the balance, the fine connecting line (at the spine) which bonds the dragon's head with it's tail and vice versa, is key to understanding the highest function of Lunar Nodes. They are BOTH equally constructive or destructive, depending upon right use and not abuse of the karmic energies available to the individual soul (the Moon itself). In my experience I have found that when one node is operating excessively or dysfunctional then the other is as well, for the North and South Nodes of the Moon are truly interdependent functions, like inhaling and exhaling.

Excessive action and future orientation of the super Type A personality can lead one astray from contentment with the present, an insatiable restless urge that cannot sit still and be. Contrary yet similar to this, too much sanctuary dwelling, clinging to a familiar comfort zone born of the past, can become complacent and unwilling to embrace new experience, essentially going nowhere. One is obsessed with the future the other stuck in the past, and oftentimes it is simply alternating between the two extremes, living in the past and in the future but rarely if ever in the present.

In Indian Astrology as contrasted with the West, the North Node represents not spiritual aspiration but material ambition... I choose to exist in this world for the purpose of achieving my previously unfulfilled desires, to become what I am not already and be lead temporarily astray from the Dharma or spiritual purpose in life. In this human incarnation I seek to experience everything and be immersed in life's illusion as the only way to truth and liberation. As has so often been said before "the only way out is through".

The north node represents our sense of future... It says "I wanna do and experience all that life offers". According to Vedics we reincarnate fir many lifetimes due to unfulfilled desires in this world of maya or materialism. Upon reaching the pinnacle of achievement one is still unfulfilled, letting go is the south node function upon disillusionment with the material world, which is the path of least resistance that leads beyond the cycle of continuous birth death and rebirth. Detachment however is not possible without first having the experience from which one becomes disillusioned and detached. Abstinence and renunciation are only appropriate for the few who have truly gone beyond, those whom have really and truly seen it all.

The South Node represents what most of us in the West have lost touch with... the "downstream flow" and the "road of least resistance". Unless we first allow ourselves to be carried by the stream, going with the flow and continuing to let go, all activity and aspiration will lead one down a path of delusion and self-alienation... the socially isolated or aggressive (or passive aggressive) individual who brings only destruction upon the path because he is not aligned from within, not aware and creating resistance or friction everywhere he goes. Much of the Western World is this way, focused on achievement at the expense of inner peace and universal connection.

JDZ

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Uranus and Neptune - The Cosmic Masculine & Feminine

With the Outermost Planets the sense of inseparability becomes greater, as Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are of a unitive universal vibration... they are three aspects of the Spirit, what Hindus call Sat-Chit-Ananda, Existence, Knowledge, Bliss Absolute. Existence applying both to Saturn (outwardly/materially/physically) and to Pluto (inwardly/psychically/spiritually), while Knowledge or Cosmic Wisdom is the function of Uranus, The Higher Mind, in the highest super-conscious sense (beyond Jupiter's more personal, social & subjective intuitive function); and finally we come to Neptune the beholder of Bliss Absolute. If there is any absolute here to complete this picture it is the Sun itself, as one microcosmic individual solar spark of universal energy-essence is of the macrocosmic infinite absolute itself.

Here I find myself in an interesting position, as a thinker and student of the cosmos, to mark and clarity those subtle yet powerful differences between the yang and the yin elements of being that Uranus and Neptune (respectively) represent... and which Pluto embodies, empowers, manifests and evolves at the individual soul level, which microcosmically (as consistent with the size of Pluto physically) becomes our own personal practice, with all the emotional-mental baggage to go with it. Because Pluto represents the union (as in a sexual union) of Uranus and Neptune, and exists predominantly to magnify-expand-empower (as well as eliminate and negate) at the Quantum level our being.

Pluto's negation and elimination function, an inner feng shui or mental/emotional decluttering process, is worth mentioning here. Working with both Uranus and Neptune the destructive nature of Pluto (the aspect of Lord Shiva) has it's death/rebirth transformative and regenerative power operating. As Uranus discovers the new, Pluto removes or disposes of the old... Pluto is the "unlearning" aspect so key to Uranian learning and new discoveries, which is why Uranus exalts in Pluto Ruled Scorpio. Neptune is the openness of compassion and all inclusiveness or unconditional love... while Pluto works to rid Neptune of all its illusions and fogginess, the pipe dreams and fantasies that no longer serve and which we outgrow. Together they are a process of dissolution, death and return to our deepest oceanic true nature, the deepest depths down to the core of an eternal/timeless Collective Soul Reality.

In short Uranus is the movement, the constant change, the inquiry and desire to know, all that is proactive and affirmative. It is the outward discontent with establish social norms, rules and restrictions. It revolts and shakes things up, turns life inside and out and always encourages us to feel the four winds all around us. This energy has developed quite well (here in the western world) though still perhaps operating among a minority.

Neptune, that eastern world gem of humility, is where most of us here in the United States needs develop... it is the surrender, the unconditional acceptance, wisdom of the heart, the rapture of not knowing, the bliss of no self, and the innocence of a beginners mind. Where less is more, where the conqueror falls down in defeat and kneels humbly prostrating unto his Lord. Whereas Uranus is "freedom of the self", or discovery of the Eternal Present Moment(um), Neptune is "freedom from the self", the liberation that is dissolution and the end of all seeking for knowledge outside, and the end of time. Shiva, the Lord of Dissolution into Pure Consciousness or what Buddhists call Nirvana.

I believe this essence of Divine Love or Bliss will flower as we collectively move from Neptune in Aquarius to Pisces. Are we to take sidereal astrology into consideration here? This could mean a longer wait as sidereal-ly Neptune is just moving into Aquarius, whereas tropical-ly it will be moving out in 2011, in 2012 permanently. Right now we are tropical-ly in Mutual Reception... Uranus in Pisces (sign ruled by Neptune) and Neptune in Aquarius (sign ruled by Uranus). Uranus is the said "Ruler of Astrology" ... and In this light, Neptune is said "Ruler of Spirituality", astrologically speaking.

Uranus will very soon move into pioneering adventurous (and rebellious) Aries, which esoterically is an exaltation (Libra and Aries both, according to Alice Bailey). Pluto is in Capricorn, the boiling pot of corruption and destruction in the higher echelons of society, and the Plutonian Will that will dissolve all false self-seeking authoritarianism in this world. Powerful dictators will crumble, as will the authority of the Church and its high handed judgment of morality. The Uranian Spirit will lift us up in a spirit of bold rebellion and the urge for change while the Neptunian Spirit will teach us that "Love conquers all".

May we find the right balance within ourselves, our own natal outer-planetary influences, of the Masculine and Feminine aspects of the Universal Divine/Human Consciousness, as is quoted in the serenity prayer "serenity to accept, courage to change, and wisdom to know the difference".

JDZ