Sun in Aquarius

 John Singer Sargeant's Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth (1889)

There are really a couple of ways to look at this year’s month-long Sun in Aquarius transit. What we do as astrologers is looking at ingresses to see what they can tell us...an ingress gives us a marker of influences at a certain point in time, when the cosmic clock strikes whatever it strikes...

...If you know where the rock fell in the pool, if you have some sense of when that rock fell and how big the rock was, that gives you a sense of what sort of ripples you will face if your body and your life are part of that pool

Which it is. We are all part of what exists - that's the big message delivered by E=mc2'd and all the rest of astrophysics.

What happens out there matters. What happens here on earth matters.

It's all part of the self same thing.

So saying...

....As the Sun enters Aquarius, we have asteroids Sappho and Hel just ahead and the Moon at 7 Leo, meaning it’s just passed the ‘Full Moon’ mark.

(Which yes, we know because yesterday’s post was all about the Full Moon!)

We also know that Aquarius is an air sign. So this month is going to be a month where we tend to think in terms of the ideas, concepts, trends, statistics, and likelihoods instead of the facts, evidence, current status and needs of the moment. This Aquarius tendency to postulate instead of consider the reality means we’re going to hear more about income as part of an economy than your landing a job.

What does this mean personally? Though irritating to listen to for many of us, this actually lightens our load because we now get the green light to postulate: what might I do? What could I learn? What kind of benefit should I be able to bring to your company if you give me the chance?

Doors are open now to theoretical discussions. Expect to have them, expect to hear them. And remember - theory gets wacky. Not everything everyone is likely to come out with is going to make sense.


And yet it's always rather revealing - about them, about us, about a world in which such things get said.

Against this, we all will need to put across or demonstrate our willingness to work. Some of us have dedicated track records - and tracks record of dedication. Then there are those who ‘skate by’ or who shuck or jive their way through life. On both sides - the validated and fake, some end up mighty and some end up with a life which is merely flighty.

The dividing line is whether we are found or found out. And whether we are willing to take the time and put in the effort to find ourselves and find out what we are truly capable of doing and being...not merely to or for ourselves, but for others. Maybe even for our world, for people we will never meet.

There are validations for doing big and doing little. There is a necessity to be who we are as individuals and be part of our world - however big or small - around us.

All this is likely to now take another step forward in the realm of getting shaken and sorted out. It may not all come about instantaneously, but it will happen...maybe to a big degree, and maybe as just a chip of one stone on a very large mountain face...but it will begin happening now. You may not recognize anything all that instantly. The changes may not be all that immediate. But they will happen in due time.

How do we know that? Well, that we know because of a

little TNO named Rhadamanthus you might remember reading about a couple of blogs ago (in the Astro-Factors blog for WE0122).

That Rhadamanthus goes retrograde at 20 Libra at 3:41am (UT/+0) means it’s already going into retrograde (reflective) mode as the Sun reaches Aquarius at 10:20am (UT/+0) on January 20th. And given that Rhadamanthus is an emblem of ‘consequence’ (that which now done, cannot be undone) we know that all sorts of things which have been ‘done’ are now becoming clear to us.

But it's not all that simple or something we consciously grapple with until it hits. Any object classed as a TNO refers to events, incidents and realizations we don't normally deal with. So as concerns Rhadamanthus, the question thus becomes not just 'what have you DONE for me/us lately?'...but 'what have you done which shows you know how to do what you do'...

....AND...
 
'whether you should have done what you did. Or still do.

It can even be....'in choosing what to learn, what path to take - or what people to associate with, did you choose correctly?'

Where we haven’t done what in retrospect would seem to be the 'right' thing...or where we haven't dealt with live realistically, perhaps even where we thought only of ourselves and not of those we would/could affect or how our actions might affect them....that's where the Aquarian ‘know the rules, learn the facts – then choose. Then move on!’ comes into ultimate play.

Aquarius is hell on those who don’t deal with realities. While known as a sign of ‘hopes, dreams and wishes,’ what Aquarius really embodies are those ‘if I do xyz, then I can….’ frameworks which require that yes, we DO the ‘xyz’ part first. In other words, you can’t have the party to celebrate the new job until you get the new job. And you can’t get that new job without applying for a job that you have the qualifications/willingness to do.

Yes, this is one of those fixed signs which tests our ability want the result so much that we put ourselves through the hassle of doing. And learning how to do. And honing our skills. And proving our worthiness –first and foremost to ourselves!

And that’s where the ‘fakery’ can come in. Saturn is Aquarius’ first ruler, Uranus the second. So you have to make the Saturn grade before you get to fly to the Uranus stars.

And Rhadamanthus retrograde, that just puts us in a place where we get what that means. Who we have been has gotten us to where we are. Like it or not (which for many of us would be ‘not!’), that’s where we start from now.

Okay. So that’s sort of the ‘usual’ approach to this Sun entering Aquarius thing. But the other part of the astrologer’s-astrological equation would be what happens while the Sun is in Aquarius? 

Yes, I know…you wanted me to do that ‘what it means to my Sun sign thing’ – what astrologers, for better or worse, call “cookbook astrology.” And here’s the deal with why you think that sounds a little funky. It is.

Why? Because what you ask for when you say ‘what does that mean to my Sun sign?’ is ‘what does that mean to – not my life – but to my life force. The Sun is energy. Call it will, call it vitality…it’s not your “life” per se. Yes, it can represent career – but only as a field. Saturn represents the accomplishment. And yes, the Sun can represent intellect – but Mercury is the thinking part: what you do with your intellect.

So though do the cookbook thing once in a while I don’t do it all the time. It bothers me that you would think that's the whole picture - it isn't. So today...? Maybe to honor the quirkiness which is so Aquarian or the Aquarian ‘new conceptualization’ vibe, today we’re going to look at the what else happens thing.

(And yes, you can comment and/or gripe all you want – no problem!)

But really…

...To the point of much of what we have been talking about, not only is the Sun entering Aquarius in the wake of a (duly blogged about) Solar Eclipse about changing times and changing life structures, but the two symbols OF societal, social and personal ‘structural’ growth, enlightenment and learning (Saturn and Jupiter) are both doing a celestial number while the Sun is passing through Aquarius.

On the Jupiter side we have a big red planet – the biggest planet in the whole solar system – moving into Aries. That means a couple of things:

One: Jupiter is currently at 29 Pisces, the last degree of the zodiac. The question thus becomes “what have we learned/what have we yet to learn?” You will hear and see this everywhere you go right now.

Two: In being in the last degree of the zodiac, Jupiter is revealing some pretty big chinks in our armor, holes in our plans and everything else you might go “OH NO!!” about.

Three: Once Jupiter commits to its transit of Aries on the 22nd, a natural whole-sign sextile will be set up between Sun in Aquarius and Jupiter in Aries. There are two basic concepts thus set up – the first being the 3rd sign harmonic set up from the Sun to Jupiter which asks us to choose, learn and to speak up about what isn’t working. This does not favor complaining, though there’s plenty of that likely to be going around! Yet the real point is that of seeing an opportunity in wherever you find or spot a gap, weakness or lack.

Think of life as a marketplace. Those gaps and lacks are exactly where a ‘new product’ success can be achieved.

The other harmonic here is from Jupiter to the Sun – and that’s an eleventh house dynamic…the very essence of Aquarius and Things Aquarian. For those looking to be (more) “successful” in whatever way, this pair of indicators is your ticket to adventure.

However! With that adventure comes some endeavor, courtesy of Saturn – a Saturn which come the 26th will go retrograde. More specifics will be forthcoming on this to be sure, but given that Saturn is going retrograde in Libra, that sets up a Sun-to-Saturn whole-sign 9th harmonic which would be all about (1.) moving ahead with new plans, working through the glitches and challenges which will surely surface along the way, and (2.) expanding one’s knowledge base and point of view.

One of the big tests during this next little while is going to be theory against fact – optimism against proven results. And guess which one is going to look foolish and which one is going to win?

Uh-huh….credibility now goes to the doers and provers, not the pie-in-the-sky believers and postulators. A lot of people are going to get called out on a lot of stuff this month. A lot of plans will fall through, a lot of vows will be shown up to be merely empty promises.

It is our job to learn from mistakes and move on. Wasting one’s time being furious is just that – a waste of time. And who are we really mad at? Once Saturn is in retrograde, the suggestion is that we’re really mad at ourselves for not having been more careful, more realistic, more savvy, more discerning.

Still, those who sit and fume stand to waste a relatively short (five month) window of bonafide opportunity.

The other side of this Saturn/Sun relationship is from Saturn to the Sun, a fifth sign harmonic which with Saturn in retrograde indicates a need to polish our skills and bone up on whatever ‘tools’ we need to move ahead.

As the Sun moves along though Aquarius, the tone of day-to-day life will change as the Moon, Mercury and Venus change signs. But nothing compares to the two celestial signposts we call Jupiter and Saturn.

No matter what Sun, Moon, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Ascendant, Nadir…or anything else you have in your chart, these concepts will hold. So ask yourself – what do YOU want to do with this month ahead?

After all, in the end, yours is the only answer which in your life, really counts...

 ...and so drops the rock into the pond.

.

Full Moon at 29 Cancer

That every month the Full Moon happens in a sign opposite that the Sun is transiting…is an interesting thought. With the astronomical matter here being the Sun ‘revealing the full face of the Moon’ that would seem to be about ‘revealing’ all sorts of lunar matters.

Or maybe exposing them. And if they’re being exposed, that suggests they were hidden. Was that willful? Accidental? Out of denial?

Then again, considering how what we see of the Moon increased day by day during every month’s ‘waxing’ period between New and Full Moon, maybe the Full Moon is simply the full realization of something. Or something coming into ‘full being.’

This last is a bit closer to the astrological lore, but there doesn’t seem to be any reason not to at least consider some of the other implications.

Maybe it depends on the sign? Maybe so. That point seems particularly apt this month, what with the Sun being in Capricorn and the Moon in Cancer, coming to this Full Moon formation on January 19 at 9:22 in the evening.

(Yes, I mean as calculated for UT/+0)

Capricorn is all about ‘leadership.’ In a nation, that’s the government. In the government, that’s the head of state. In a corporation, that’s the CEO or president, in a society that’s the government and commerce, as the machinery, the ‘inner workings’ of a society’s economic system.

Against this we have Cancer. If Capricorn is the government, the oppositional sign (Cancer) is the people. The population. The citizenry. Against commerce – the gears and cogs of any economy -  Cancer would be the culture, the national lifestyle and community or family – the basic human units which together make up a society.

Both these signs are cardinal by mode – they do what they need to do and learn from results. But as they’re in different hemispheres, their motivational drive is somewhat different. Situated on the pro-active, assertive side of the horoscope wheel, Capricorn is about ‘making a world.’ Cancer, being on the receptive/reactive side of the natural zodiac wheel represents how people respond not just to current conditions, but to all the traditions and human knowledge which has come down through the generations, years or merely recent experience.

So that makes this….what, a feisty Full Moon? A face off between governments and populations? Maybe. A feisty-festive time? Maybe. Maybe also a ‘full steam ahead’ sort of time.

In fact, with this Full Moon happening at the last degree of either sign (29 Cancer, 29 Capricorn) feelings will not merely run high as they usually do around the time of a Full Moon (the Full Moon being the symbolic ‘high tide’ of monthly emotional issues or triggers)…but with an intensity not generally associated with other Full Moons.

Complicating the picture here is that the Moon rules Cancer. Astrologically, this gives us the picture of something totally ‘on it’s own,’ whether that makes it totally independent, the proverbial ‘loose cannon,’ or an idea, feeling or position which is either ‘isolated’ or ‘unconnected’ to anything else…in the society, in life, in reality – whatever.

But because the Moon rules Cancer, we are given yet another sign of ‘strength’ in a sense astrologers call “weighting.” Think of it as a “rating” scale for a placement or astrological situation.

1. This is a Full Moon. So score one for high emotions. 

2. This Full Moon is in a critical degree. So added another point for intensity in the emotion department.

3. This critical degree Full Moon is in Cancer, and Cancer is ruled by the Moon. So this is emotions ruling the emotionality of the moment, all in a sign which is about one's native mindset. Or about citizenship, customs, lifestyle or a national population. Cancer is emblematic of the family, a culture, our traditions,  habits, homes, real estate and receptivity.

And our ability to respond to situations.

And our sub-conscious - and all which lurks within.

 A Full Moon

photo credit: Andrew Choy

Meanwhile...to have such a Full Moon we have to have the Sun in direct opposition to said Moon. So that puts the Sun at 29 Capricorn, a degree which, while it displays Capricorn’s legendary ‘collected’ (some say ‘cool’ or even ‘distant’) even poised, perhaps serene...or even melancholy or withdrawn, separatist or 'the cut apart'... this is still a Sun in a critical degree. And in Capricorn, critical degree is fervency of determination, which can spell drive, can spell need, can spell conviction or can simply spell fervency - the wanting what you want because you want it to be true (for you or everyone, depending).

As a degree which emphasizes ‘nature’ and thus certain sorts of ‘inevitability,’ this seems not a dogged, determined moment, but one which is perhaps more about the drive, the need, the conviction that you can cope or need to cope.

With the Sun conjunct Mars/Hel at 3 Aquarius there is a struggle in the works. Some are martyred, some are gritting their teeth and holding on, some are motivated by wanting to honor those who have paid some price they feel needs recognition.

Capricorn being ruled by Saturn, we then look to Saturn, seeing it poised at 17 Libra, a degree which is usually about a highly appealing sort of emotionalism which is built on deep seated rationale and seemingly irrefutable logic.

Usually, you say?

Uh, yes. Though we might think this would be a moment of earnest exhortation winning a difficult  day, that Saturn is opposite Eris (Aries) sort of blows that beautiful daydream right out of the water.

 Effect of a Butterfly

by Anastasiya Markovich

This isn’t a picture of disaster, though it is possible (as is always true at such indicated moments of high emotion) that there will be something which arouses an eruption of feelings. And let’s remember, this is the second month in a row where we have had a Full Moon at 29 degrees…much like the three months in a row (November, December, January) which had New Moons in signs at 13 degrees of succeeding signs.

That series ended in the January Solar Eclipse. This series – which is again going to be a three month series (hint, hint – through February ) is playing off the Lunar Eclipse of December 21st. (Note for exactness sake: for those in the mid-Pacific time zones it was still the 20th when the Lunar Eclipse occurred.)

Lunar Eclipses are emotional, the moment is emotional, and with the Moon in many senses ‘unconnected’ to all else, this could be a riotous moment.

Then again, it could be a moment in your life which in being a truly focused, feeling moment helps you see has happened, what’s going on, what now needs to be done. Just don’t plan on this being a day of pixie dust and flowers. Today (of all days!) Jupiter conjuncts Scheat – at 29 Pisces.

It’s another dollop of intensity, this time in a sign all about feeling our own feelings and the need to sort reality from fantasies, longing and yearning. That this happens as asteroid Atlantis goes retrograde at 2 Libra as we talked about in the Asteroid Factors blog a couple of days ago (on the 16th)....that suggests that this is a moment of 'letting go.'

As that happens, Jupiter/Scheat becomes the finding of knowledge amidst or against a ‘background’ of dissatisfaction (Scheat) which for some will be seeing how to fix what is wrong.

Then again, for some this will be finding out exactly how much IS wrong. Or expounding on how wrong someone or something truly is...whether for real or because we just are so convinced, and thus want everyone to believe as we do.

So this combination can be a classic moment when ill feelings erupt, especially if you're the type who simply loathes giving up whatever it is you have your heart or mind set on in the moment.

Then again, it can be much ado about nothing. Or learning better. Or knowing you're right and having everyone reject you and/or your ideas. Remember, this is a Full Moon - it's a very emotional moment.

But then, it is also just a moment!

For those who are willing not to 'define' themselves through insistence, by defiance or simply in response to someone else's opinion or taste, this can also be a moment when a true comprehension of how things work can dawn and crystallize. And as it does, you're likely to also perceive - with clarity of deep compassion - why you are who you are why others are who they are.

And through that you may well come to better understand your own humanity. And some very real, very valuable possibilities.

And yes, this can be all and simply about you. After all, the world is made up of several billion ‘you’s, each of which has a sense of life as something as vital and important as you do – right now, today, in this moment.

Venus/Jupiter Direct, Polyhymnia Retrograde: Traction...Attraction...Understanding

The Morning - by Philipp Otto Runge (1808)

Today, planets Venus and Jupiter go direct. It's time for us to stop having to deal with learning (Jupiter) about our Venus needs (and neediness) on the inside and start with the doing and having of real time, real life experiences and experiential situations which will allow us to get somewhere, do, accomplish and enjoy ourselves.

Or at least, that's the plan, right?

Astrologers (and astrology) once referred to 'good' and 'bad' planets - the 'benefics' versus the 'malifics.' It was a bit of an old time silent movie, I gotta tell you...Venus was the good and beautiful maiden, Jupiter was the rich uncle, Saturn was the wicked bad guy (which probably made Saturn's rings the mustache said bad guy was always twirling) and Mars was sometimes the hero and sometimes the dastardly murderer.

There are still forms of astrology (notably Vedic, which comes from a more 'fated' point of view) which tend to see planets and planetary motions and statements as 'decrees.' But western astrology, which for reasons I loathe to explain is known as 'tropical astrology' (hand me the coconut, please?)...western astrology has gone all psychological.

Thus planets are associated with human attributes, and in the same way that we know the Moon pulls on the oceans causing tides, the whole of the solar system - indeed the cosmos - becomes a giant clockwork mechanism.

 Clockworks in the Deutsches-Uhren museum (detail)

photo credit: HNH (2008)

Planets don't "do" anything...but the influences they are simply by being what they are, those wavelengths of gravitational magnetism or whatnot...or merely the ripples of space distortion a planet sends out by moving through space (like a boat's wake)...those ripple through our solar system.

Astrology is just the watch on our arm. A wrist watch doesn't define time. It isn't 'time itself.' What it marks is a relative position in time which allows you and everyone else to be oriented and synced up. Knowing that the Moon does the same thing for the tides, over the past six thousand years or so attentive human beings have been amassing information on what planetary movements do.

That body of 'knowing' (Jupiter again) is made real (Venus) in astrology. And very helpfully, science is now catching up with us planet watchers. Slowly but surely, experiments and theorems not only prove out how the universe works, but that astrology is real and thus astrologers are not nitwits.

Okay, so some of us well may be nitwits - as people. But astrology, providing it's treated as a science and not a toy... that's  real. As real as that Moon and them ocean tides, astrology is the 'wrist watch' which tells us when cosmic clockwork strikes some hour as planetary, asteroidal, TNO, dwarf planet or any other kind of influence reaches us on earth.

I hope you find that moving, as Polyhymnia is going retrograde today. It's thus a very good day to allow yourself to be moved. And as Polyhymnia goes on being retrograde in the months to come, it pays to remember that to be moved, you have to allow yourself to feel.

Which yes, for some is scary. And for others, it's so carefree and evident that while it can be wonderful, it can also prove problematic. Even dangerous.

The moral: we feel the feeling. What we do about that... whether we embrace that, act on the spirit of being moved usefully or gracelessly, whether we deny difficult feelings and only go for the easy or candy floss - those are factors which contribute to how our life goes.

You know...in that old silent movie vein.

Poster for 1914's "The Perils of Pauline," 

quiet easily the most classic (or at least archetypal) of 

hero-villain-'damsel in distress' silent movie tales.

Getting back to that for a moment, Venus and Jupiter are not all good. That old term ('benefics') didn't take into account that security and satisfaction (Venus) doesn't make you a happy person. You can have it all (Jupiter) and still be miserable. Saturn requires effort and holding ourselves to an internally-defined standard, but Saturn is also the great symbol of what you earn you get. Saturn promises achievement if we will try, try again. Or just keep trying (dedication-wise).

As modern astrology acquires more points and the astrophysical science of our cosmos becomes more evident, more and more we are faced with the reality that its our willingness to be who we are and to deal first and foremost with ourselves which determines what we get out of life. And this is not about wealth versus poverty. It can't be - look around. There are a lot of very unhappy wealthy people and a lot of contented people who have very little.

Its about us. It's about our expectations. And this moment, this tri-party station, is in many senses all about expectations.

That said, we have a few other indicators. The first is where all these celestial objects are, and what is 'with them' and what is 'against them' (in opposition).

Venus being the most basic of attributes in this station recipe, we'll start with Venus - our cause/effect ability to make things happen and by that, feel secure (or otherwise) in life. Going retrograde at 9:17 in the evening (Universal Time/+0) Venus is positioned at 27 Libra with Atropos (endings). This is if nothing else a 'getting real' signal, so we can safely say this is a time when we either cut something out, or stop being unreal (the 'anti-Venus' concept, if you will) about who we are, who others are, the value of what we are/aren't doing and what we need to do in life in order to achieve our "Venus goals" of feeling satisfied and secure - at least with who we are and how we live.

Because Venus is going direct and Atropos is in direct motion at this moment, it's very likely that situations or (Libra) interactions deliver a message now about this 'reality' - or lack of same - in your life. You feel moved, to use the Polyhymnia term. And maybe that's the point! Maybe things you couldn't/wouldn't see or hear now become obvious. It's time to deal with (Venus) reality - and yes, realities - if we are to ever get where we want to go in being our own person, and in life as a whole.

A nice note comes from the 27 Libra quality, which here lends a note of 'intangible implacability'...which again suggests that we're getting real. Or that maybe someone is our life says something which cuts through all the mental foo-foo and really gets us where we live. Maybe something happens and we just have to accept it and move on from there.

It could be one...or all of these things and more.

Big red Jupiter, our Jovian (if not jovial) planetary aspect - the thrill of enlightenment, one might say...Jupiter goes direct at 4:53 pm (UT/+0). (Remember to adjust to to your local time zone!) Going direct at 23 Pisces, the most exact aspect to Jupiter in this moment is an opposition to Nemesis at 23 Virgo.

Nemesis being the 'standing up for the truth' (whether we like that truth or not) sets this opposition up to be a moment of discomfort. Not necessarily tragic, but probably not what we wanted to hear, see or think - most of all about ourselves. Nemesis being at 23 Virgo adds to this dilemma by describing a frustration between a resistance to realities or one's own nature. This may be about limitation(s), then again, it maybe part of that 'I've taken this position and by gum, I'm going to stick with it even though I know its' wrong, it's ridiculous, its even damaging.'

In other words, expect some ego to be in the mix today. And though you may well experience it in others, the most critical point of ego transition here is yours.

Remember: transits, like life events, on the metaphysical (as opposed to spiritual, which tends to be more "fate" oriented) level are not about doing things 'to you.' or even 'for you.' Much as we tend to experience or internalize them that way, if we believe the great central metaphysical statement that...

 

....then we have our tantrum or elation de jour, then we get on with recognizing that events are meant to evoke (Polyhymnia) in us whatever needs to be better understood and 'grown' (Jupiter) so that we can, in time, be secure, be satisfied and have the life we want (Venus).
Meanwhile, about the Polyhymnia evoking thing...yon muse of evocation (and one hopes happiness) herself is going retrograde at 0 Leo. Leo being the sign about what I do for my own enjoyment means we recognize now that some facet of our enjoyment or the really being happy with (or because of) said facet requires us to do some more inside work....that being indicated by the idea that Polyhymnia will go retrograde in 0 Leo but immediately retrograde back into Cancer...the land of family, habits which have grow out of childhood conditioning, basic needs (roof over head, food - that stuff) and how all such things tie together.

Mixing this Polyhymnia/0 Leo thing in with the Jupiter-Nemesis thing it would seem apparent that there is a temptation, yea verily a longing (do I hear a deep sigh?) to buy into that slogan, that excuse, that 'hey dude, it'll all be the same in a hundred years, why sweat it?' thing.

And no doubt some will do just that now - they will cast the idea of working towards lasting personal growth into the wind in favor of growing some personal pleasure (Leo)...probably one which is...fairly new to them (0 Leo).

We also know that at this time a lot of outside influences are in the mix. How do we know that? That we know by the fact that Jupiter and Venus are both in third decan degrees of respective signs.

Remember? First decan: zero to 9 - personal and proactive qualities. Second decan: 10 through 19 - emotional attributes. Third decan: degrees 20 through 29 of any given sign, this being where the sign manifests through external means. It may be feedback, it may be invitations, it may be goading, it may be people or external (3rd decan) situations which get us where we live - either physically, or on the inside.

So the Jupiter and Venus of it all are situational. Or responses from others (or corporate entities, etc.) But the effect is on us. And with Polyhymnia in what is technically known as an out-of-sign opposition to Circe (the sorceress who reduces people to an animalistic state)....and Orpheus (magical talents which can save us or cause us to sacrifice ourselves)....AND Scheat (public disapproval)?

Oy! There's a whole lot of input going on!

Our senses, never mind our internal Bank of Cravings is likely to be overflowing...or broken, busted and feeling desperately in need of contribution. It's a tug-of-war between ourselves and ourselves in projected form. What we see out there - whether it's a temptation or its our own press (reputation) that we're believing - it's a whole sort of reality/unreality test. It's "Damn Yankees" or "Bedazzled" or any of a hundred other stories, movies or sagas which rest on that Faustian idea that we have only to surrender our "soul" (our control of self) so as to have unlimited pleasures and knowledge.

 Rembrandt's dry-point etching/engraving of Faust (1652)

And it doesn't matter whether what your pleasures of the moment are to live in your own little peaceful world or if your pleasures are intellectual, spiritual or absolutely wanton. The point is that when we give up on working on ourselves, no matter what we gain after that, who really are we?

That's the Faustian problem...and thus why in every version of Faust's story the protagonist finally realizes that realism...with all its highs and lows, its ouches and pleasures...that ownership of self is the real human deal.

Being a successful person, no matter what we would like to think, is about accepting that life is not all sunshine. It's not all light. If it was, nothing would have shape. The richness of life is the shading of our experiences.

So while there's likely to be all sorts of worldly personal drama around at the moment, maybe it pays to bear in mind that just as shadows give depth and form and beauty to an image, so difficulties and the acceptance of pain, loss and reality not as a 'happy life' but as something which moves us to be better people or experience every day of our lives in all the grandeur, with all the sweetness and yes, with the bitterness of some finalities... maybe that's what really gives meaning and ultimately, a sense of accomplishment to our existing here, in this time on this planet.

Yes, maybe that's the reason for life, and to recognize that life is both amazing...and in reality, all too fleeting.

 An April dawn...our life springs eternal as long as

we are willing to grow and be renewed, and remade anew

in our own better interest by our own better knowing

of who we are...and our better regard for our nature

and that of the world in which we live.