July Skywatching

Are you someone who goes out at night and just marvels at the sky? It doesn't take a giant telescope to enjoy things - just a little idea of what you're looking at.

Here's a handy skywatching link to that ever skyward bound bunch at NASA. Every month they put together a little video on what's going on. I keep the current link posted in one of the sidebar 'links' boxes, but hey...a little nudge sometimes also helps.

Happy skywatching!

INGRESS TRANSIT ALERT/JULY 2ND and 3RD

 "Dog Star" Sirius - source: NASA

Positioned at 12 Cancer at the seasonal ingress, the south Lunar Node told quite a mortal tale about what we want…or at least what we think we want.

The degree here is the part of the story which says it’s about working towards something. Or wanting something. Maybe a lifestyle. Or a relationship. Or a plush retirement. Or….

But when you get there, when you get the thing or achieve the goal, it doesn’t satisfy. Maybe not even vaguely.

That’s 12 Cancer as a specific degree. And as we consider the lore of the degree, let’s also remember that Cancer is an emotional sign representative metaphorically of the surf zone. High tide, low tide, ebb and flow of tides, big waves, little waves, stormy times eroding the ground you stand on, maybe forcing you to take refuge in some “reef” like Cancer’s totem animal – the crab – does.

On top of this is the decanate. Signs are divided into thirds, and the second group of ten degrees (the second decanate, degrees 10 thru 19) are all about feeling. How we feel. The process of feeling.

So this degree is all about how we feel about the tides of life. Our ‘standing’ in life. What we face in any given moment – focusing on those things we work towards. Or don’t work towards. That’s right – 12 Cancer can be as much about the thing we work towards which doesn’t satisfy as the task we avoid, maybe because we fear failure, maybe because we fear being disappointed, maybe because we are afraid of the responsibilities which would come if we got what we think we want (which amounts to an inner knowledge that the dream isn’t always the reality).

Into all this comes the South Node thing. Lunar nodes are always about interactions with the life around us. It could be with society, groups, friends, the job market, our thinking about what to do with our lives, our situation, this world…there are a zillion ways to go here.

The North Node is the ‘should’ part of this equation – it’s about what we should do. Nobody likes the North Node (and that’s the BIG ‘nobody’…as in NOBODY, NOBODY, NOBODY!) We don’t like North Node things because they entail hard work which is specifically outside our comfort zone. So I reiterate: nobody likes North Node stuff.

Conversely, the South Node is what we do like. It’s what we feel totally equipped to do. We get it. We like it! We’re into it.

Unfortunately for us, life apparently wants us to do the North Node stuff. In fact, the lesson is that if you will just DO your North Node thang, you will “automatically” get all the South Node “riches” you might want. But if you cling to doing the South Node thing ignoring the North…then you encounter problems. Specifically, problems associated with the house and natural sign which rules the house in which your South Node resides, which would be the universal and symbolic way of lighting a firecracker under our fannies so we get off our duff and get on with doing what we should do instead of amusing ourselves….uh….well, doing whatever it is which we amuse ourselves doing. (Clear enough?)

At the time of the solstice/seasonal ingress, (fixed) dog start Sirius was right close to the South Node at 14 Cancer. So to the above we need to add Sirius’ message, a comment on the nature of charisma. Charisma is a lovely thing. It can help get you where you want to go. But particularly when associated with the South Node, it can undermine your determination to do what you should do.

Another part of the Sirius message is about understanding that with charisma comes a certain kind of power which means that small choices or actions on your part can have enormous repercussions in the lives of others. So you have to be careful what you do. Connected with the South Node, this thus represents how things you do maybe fairly casually (or without thinking them through) can have big – and maybe unintended consequences. It may even mean that during this season you will deal with coming to a better understanding of how your charisma works – maybe through having to sort out something you’ve already done which has had all sorts of unexpected repercussions.
 
All that comes into focus as on July 2nd, the Sun conjuncts the transiting South Node – which is now at 11 Cancer, arriving at 12 Cancer (the degree of the ingress South Node) on the afternoon or evening of July 3rd (depending on where you are).

The 11 Cancer part of this still has the native ‘surf-zone’ Cancer vibe and that second decan emotionalism – all expressed in a degree which speaks to various kinds of naïveté and lack of/under development which can get a person into trouble. Given that both parts of this equation are colored by the South Node, the real question is whether the lack of ‘savvy’ (if you will) is about actual innocence or simply not having thought things through (charisma-wise). Situations, relationships, encounters – they all will raise these questions and considering human nature, projection is the easy way out. And let’s be real…with the South Node so prominent in this two-day equation, we’re all going to want the easy way out!

But there’s another side to this formula…namely that 11 Cancer is about ‘getting/giving another chance.’ And when we either get or give such chances now, the results are generally happy so long as we learn better and don’t just take the easy way out because it’s easy. The North Node in the solstice picture is in effort/self-discipline/responsibility-honoring Capricorn. All those things we do to actually build that satisfying life we obviously want…those are Capricorn. But we can’t be selfish, narrow minded or dictatorial about this – as noted by the solstice North Node being conjunct asteroid Amphitrite and fixed star Vega. Vega can make even a tyrant sound good, but if in the end they’re still a tyrant, they’re still a very negative influence.

And Amphitrite? Amphitrite asks us to look deep within for our truest feelings, our emotional worth, worthiness and to own up to the difference between being overwhelmed, overcome and filled with satisfaction. They often look alike, but aren’t…and over the next couple of days we can expect that life will give us plenty of reason to reflect on same - in our own lives and in the doings of the world around us.  

News Brief: Spies coming of (Aquarian) Age

Pisces Zodiac sign - Chartres Cathedral, France

If you were alive, breathing and listening to anything besides voices in your head during the 1960's, you heard a song called Age of Aquarius from a musical called "Hair." (And yes, if you know the song, it's now going to be in your head all day.)

That song was about something real - a real event; we are moving from the Age of Pisces (as above) into the Age of Aquarius, aka the Aquarian Age.

The change won't be instant; astrological ages merge one into the other like the colors of a rainbow. And yet, if I said that Aquarius rules all things electronic...such as computers, TV and cell phones AND how it rules systems - particularly those based on other Aquarian precepts such as electronics...

Then you'd think Internet...networking sites...online shopping...and you'd go 'Oh...! So the Aquarius Age started to take hold, and computers and all this other stuff became part of life.' And you'd be absolu-ta-mente, proverbially, bull's eye right.

The whole Age thing is a giant, fascinating subject, but we won't get into it whole hog right now. Nor do we have to, as each astro-age lasts 2,160 years. (So we have time.)

The point is that each Age has it's own chart - the "coloration" of the Age through which everything we know of as Earthlings is well,....colored !

What this amounts to is how a slow but important focus shift is going on right now. And this recent nabbing of a bunch of Russian spies in the US of A pictures the whole thing rather well. 

In order to get how this works, here's the chart of Ye Olde (outgoing) Age of Pisces:

 And here's one for our spanky (almost brand) new Aquarian Age:

The name of an Age tells us what sign is on the Ascendant - the far left hand point of the horizontal axis line ("9 o'clock" if you will).

Each one of those 'pie shaped' pieces being called a 'house', we count and number them (always, always, always) in a counter-clockwise direction. So with Pisces on the Ascendant and coloring the 1st house in the Piscean Age, and Aquarius on the Ascendant and coloring the 1st house in the Aquarian Age, we count our way around the wheel.

The last house - the 12th house - is colored by Aquarius in the Pisces Age, and Capricorn in the Aquarian Age. 

With me?

Okay - so now we come to how this relates to the Russian spy thing. Espionage is a  12th house issue. Being a spy? Also a 12th house thing - each house describes traits, professions and the nature of various actions. In this case, anything 'behind the scenes' or done (even imagined) in a manner which is 'unseen' is 12th house.

Throughout the Age of Pisces, espionage has been about stealing information. And 'information' as a concept is a very Aquarian thing - hence the Aquarian Age being already known in the media as the 'Information Age.' 

And as the ages have "overlapped" we've sort of had a double dose of Aquarius - meaning spying has become about stealing technology. And the act of spying has  become highly electronic. All that fits with what we said about Aquarius coming in - that it's all about things techy, electronic, computerized and new-fangled.

But Aquarius doesn't stop there. Aquarius symbolizes a functional society which at one end is about fitting in, equality and universality, and which at the other is about rebellion, the anarchist and all those who feel they know 'better' when in reality what they know is simply what works for them. Or their interests.

Given this, what have spies been doing for lo, more than several past centuries? Their primary function has been to help find the (Aquarian) know-how/information so some group could overthrow some government or 'ruling cadre.'

And that's where the change is coming in. The spies so recently snatched up are part of the incoming (Aquarian/information Age) trend. They were looking for corporate information. They weren't aiming at besting a government - at least not directly. They were looking to get corporate research, trade secrets and the like.

Which leads us to the ultra-important thing to recognize about this incoming Aquarian Age: that it's about commerce. In the Age of Pisces, government ruled. The image of the two fish going in either direction tied by a golden cord is all about one body in charge, one being ruled.

But remember what we said about Aquarius - that it's about systems, universality and equality? Pisces supported the concept of the 'ruling cadre.' Aquarius levels the field, making the "classes" subservient to the system.

In time, government and its society will be equal. The corporate/commerce system will either be part of, or on a par with government. But here at the end of the Pisces Age we still have some of that Ruler-and-ruled vibe going on.

So at the moment, it's a struggle. In fact...since time only moves forward (at least in this dimension) those who rule commerce may currently be in a position to more or less rule government - at least in the short run.

It does explain a lot, doesn't it?