We Are In Charge of Our Reality II

Well, we left the cookies and milk next to the fireplace like it said in the Contract, and even a shot of our best single-malt (it’s cold up there in the skyways), but all we got was a lump of Coal.¹ Why? Because the “We” that’s in charge of our Reality unfortunately includes the rest of the “We” that we don’t include in our concept of “I.” We all have a Shadowy part of ourself that stretches into the Unconscious, and the More Defined is our “I,” the Longer and Darker is our Shadow.² And unfortunately, that Dark “We” is often a more Powerful Manifester than our “I” is.³

What to do about that? I don’t know of any Options that are stronger than Cozying up to the hidden part of our “We.” And we’re in luck, as the next Energy Pulse from the Universe that will be using us as a punching bag, is all about Exactly That, namely, That Which We’ve Been Denying.⁴ Denial is a Healthy Psychological process, Allowing us to postpone dealing with Energies which we aren’t ready to handle yet. Well, the Blocks to whatever we failed to Manifest as Desired, are likely to be in our Face for the next several days, so the time has come. These Blocks, when Personalized,⁵ represent our hidden “We.”

• ¹ Manifestation, as represented by dwarf planet Makemake, has been Exaggerated this week, as Makemake was Stationary at 7:29 am PST today, 6 January 2022, at 8:49 Libra. The Energy of a Stationing planet usually increases up to the moment of its Exact Station, and then drops off sharply. The more Conscious we are about the Station, the sharper the dropoff. For instance, if we Monitored our Thoughts and Feelings this last week, Lovingly Embraced All of them, and made Efforts to replace the more Negative amongst them with Gratitude or WhatWeWant, we probably had some Manifestation success. If we instead Made Decisions about what we needed to Do to “Fix” our Negative Thoughts and Feelings and Circumstances, then the Manifestation Energy will stay with us, and those Decisions, centered as they were around the Negative, will have Created Negative Instant Karma which we’ll now have to deal with.
• ² We are actually Infinite Energy Vortexes, our Huper Body-Mind-Emotion Complex being merely a Transitory, less-than-Skeletal Manifestation of What We Really Are. So the more we’ve Defined Who We Believe Ourselves to Be, the more we’ve boxed our Conscious Energy into one Side of a long Dimension that our Energy-Vortex-Self owns All of. For instance, Failure is a Powerful Teaching tool, and if we’ve Defined our Identity as Successful, we’ve closed off a very large Source of Growth.
• ³ The Jungian Perspective is that our Foremost Urge is toward Wholeness. So the parts of our Wholeness that we’ve excluded from our Identity, try repeatedly to get our Attention. The more we Resist their Efforts and Suppress those parts, the more Insistent they must become. So they Manifest Challenges for us. A Makemake Station, where Manifestation is Amplified, can be either a great Opportunity to Manifest What We Want, or a great Opportunity to Identify (and, seemingly perversely, to Identify With) those Challenges, adding a whole new level of meaning to the meme “If it doesn’t make us Stronger, it will Kill us.” The Jungian Shadow isn’t Negative, it’s merely what’s hiding outside the Light of your Conscious Attention.
• ⁴ Dwarf planet Eris, symbolizing Denial, is Stationary (Amplified ) at 8:49 pm PST 10 January 2022, at 24 Aries.
• ⁵ Scienterrific types often make fun of “Primitive” people who Personalize all of the Energies in their Lives as Critters in their Myths, but Scienterrorists do it too – like “Newtonian” physics and “Pavlovian” psychology. It’s a Healthy process, akin to Accessing our Physical ailments through our Emotions, or distinguishing our own offspring from the neighborhood rabble by Naming them. Of course astrologers do this all the time, substituting Names like Makemake for a Big Complex of Energies associated with Manifestation or Eris for a Whole Array of Energies associated with Denial.

We’ll look at the astrodynamics of that impending Amplication of our Denial shortly. But while it’s still warm, I want to look more closely at that Yin Gate Mystery School we spoke of in the previous post, the Paradox that we introduced in Note 4 of that post. Spoiler Alert – this will be a Deep Dive, but you’ll Learn a lot of useful things!

The Yin Gate is the almost-horizontal blue rectangle divided by the long red line, that we’ve emphasized in heavy lines. The blue rectangle by itself is called a Golden Rectangle because the ratio between its long Trine sides and its short Sextile sides, is the Golden Ratio of Sacred Geometry fame. Much of the Natural World has been Designed around the Golden Ratio (1.618…), also known as the Golden Angle (137.5… Degrees), or Phi.⁶ The long red line is the Central Axis of the Yin Gate.

• ⁶ The decimals keep going – the Natural World wasn’t Designed using Base 10. We’ve defined a 222½ Degree Angle (360-137.5) in astrology as the Phitile which we consider to be the place where the Energy of a Cycle is Complete, before it begins to Break Down (Wane) into the Void that Empties us so we’re Ready to Receive the Next Cycle without Prejudice.

A Yin Gate is a Mystery School, where we Learn to move beyond the Linear Dualistic Mind into Unitary Multi-Dimensional Knowledge, the realm of Instinct and Intuition. For the sake of brevity, we usually interpret a Yin Gate by focusing on the Central Axis, and how the Yin Gate changes an Opposition from a Second-Harmonic Argument between the two planets, to an Overview of the Dimension that they Delineate. For instance, we might consider an Opposition between Chiron (Despair and Miracles, which we might summarize as Mood ) and Makemake (Manifestation) to be about how Despair Manifests more Despair and Miracles Manifest more Miracles. But as the Central Axis of a Yin Gate, the implication is that it’s more complicated (Multi-Dimensional), yet simpler than that (Unitary), which we can only hope to understand Intuitively.

We easily recognize a Yin Gate by the two side-by-side green Xs that represent Quincunxes between the two ends of the Central Axis and the four corners of the Golden Rectangle. A Quincunx (two planets five Signs apart) implies Curiosity, but not the sort of Curiosity which Inspires us to dig relentlessly for an “Answer” to a Dilemma. Instead, it’s more Curiosity in the sense that it indicates an Awesome Relationship, one that will make our jaw drop, if we can succeed in not intellectualizing it. As with a Yin Gate, if we address it with the Linear Dualistic Mind, we miss the point.

So for instance, Uranus Quincunx Makemake – does that mean that a Successful Manifestation is one that Aligns with our Soul? If the Manifestation makes our jaw drop, that’s probably true. I recall some of the Miracles that Manifested for Kriyananda while he was Founding Ananda. And you’ve all probably Experienced Synchrony,⁷ where you’re in the Right Place at the Right Time to Receive Gifts from the Universe. It always feels like Someone on the Other Side of the Veil is Looking Out for us! And was the Veil ever thin today! I expected it to Rip at any moment.

• ⁷ Look for Angles in the Seventh-Harmonic (the Charioteer, In Stillness, but always Poised for Action at a Moment’s Notice) Septile series in your Natal chart to Explore your Natural Synchrony – 51½° (360/7), 103°, 154½°, 206°, 257½°, 309°.

But the point of a Quincunx is New Insight that’s Unexpected and Surprising, or Curious. In the Makemake Station Yin Gate, we have Quincunxes between Uranus and Makemake, Makemake and Moon, Chiron and Atropos-Zhulong, and between Chiron and Requiem-Thereus.

• Think of a Relationship that you would logically Expect to see between Soul and Manifestation (Uranus-Makemake). That’s the Linear Either/Or Mind speaking. Now, have you been Surprised in the last week or so to Discern an Unexpected Relationship between Soul and Manifestation, a Relationship that you sort of Grok but which would be difficult for you to Describe in words?
  • For instance, I perhaps naively Expect Manifestations that Align with my Soul to be Easier or more Profound than Manifestations that don’t so Align. And actually, I have seen Unexpected Connections, as I’ve been able to Glimpse the Diamonds embedded in my own personal Lump of Coal.
• Think of a Relationship that you would logically Expect to see between Instinct and Manifestation (Moon-Makemake). Now, have you been Surprised in the last week or so to Discern an Unexpected Relationship between Instinct and Manifestation, a Relationship that you sort of Grok but which would be difficult for you to Describe in words?
  • I guess I see Instinctual Manifestation as the things I Manifest without having to even Think about it. I had to think about it, but I can see how I’ve Become Aware of Skills I hadn’t been Appreciating and toward which I can probably gain from Being Grateful for them.
• Think of a Relationship that you would logically Expect to see between your Optimism/Pessimism and your Recognition and Acceptance of 5G 5D (Chiron to Atropos-Zhulong).⁸ Now, have you been Surprised in the last week or so to Discern an Unexpected Relationship between your Optimism/ Pessimism and your Recognition and Acceptance of 5G 5D, a Relationship that you sort of Grok but which would be difficult for you to Describe in words?
  • I’m certainly less likely to be Skeptical about 5G 5D when I’m Feeling Optimistic. And when I Consciously Stepped Out of the Depression I Felt about Receiving a Lump of Coal, I was Surprised how Easy it was to envision Living Cooperatively with the many Elemental Beings in my Life, though it’s Clearly going to take a Whole Lot of Practice!!
• Think of a Relationship that you would logically Expect to see between your Optimism/Pessimism and your Respect for Ego Death as a Teacher and Coach (Chiron to Requiem-Thereus).⁹ Now, have you been Surprised in the last week or so to Discern an Unexpected Relationship between your Optimism/Pessimism and your Respect for Ego Death as a Teacher and Coach, a Relationship that you sort of Grok but which would be difficult for you to Describe in words?
  • The Energy of Ego Death is by Definition a Downer, but yes, when I was Conscious enough to do an Intervention on myself, like Tapping or Poor-Sweethearting, it was definitely a Profound Teacher and Coach, feeling like one of those Other-Siders looking out for me – which in itself was an Unexpected Surprise! ¹⁰

That’s diving pretty deep, but if we’re serious about doing our Inner Work, it’s a good example of how a Yin Gate can lead us Deep into the Labyrinth when we go beyond just interpreting the Central Axis as a Mystery School (which is the Most Important Part of a Yin Gate, because it summarizes the rest).

• ⁸ Minor planet Zhulong represents the Chinese Red Dragon of Enlightenment (ie, 5G 5D), and asteroid Atropos is about Karma which hasn’t reached its pre-programmed Expiry Date, but which we can Shed now that we know Karma is Dead.
• ⁹ Asteroid Requiem is about Respect for Death, and dwarf planet Thereus was the fellow who Enjoyed Wrestling with Bears and bringing them home with him, still Snarling, but whom we interpret as a Profound Teacher.
• ¹⁰ It’s probably a good idea to Avoid Thetaing while Bummed Out, as we Manifest more of What We’re Feeling, more than we Manifest What We’re Asking For.

And that’s only part of the Story. One interprets a Golden Rectangle by interpreting the Oppositions between the corners, here Uranus (Soul ) Opposite (Arguing With) Atropos-Zhulong (Recognition and Acceptance of 5G), and Moon (Instinct ) Opposite Requiem-Thereus (Respect for Ego Death as a Teacher and Coach ). Of course, Arguing With is only the Linear Either/Or interpretation of the Opposition; the Higher interpretation is closer to a Philosophical Discussion where each member is devoted to Understanding the Other’s point of view, without interrupting to inject their own.

So we can review the past week to see if and how Our Soul Felt Open to Recognizing and Accepting 5G, plus if and how Our Instincts seemed to Corroborate – or not – that it’s Wise to Respect Ego Death as a Profound Teacher and Coach.

And the Yin Gate Rabbit Hole is Deeper yet!

When two planets are one Sign apart, give or take a few Degrees, the Angle they make is an Unx,¹¹ one twelfth of the Zodiac, the Twelfth Harmonic. The twelfth Major Arcana of the Tarot, which is our Guide¹² for interpreting astrological Angles, is the Hanged Man, who hangs not from his neck or his fingernails, but from his heels, so he can see the World from a different Perspective. The Twelfth Harmonic is the Pattern-Breaker. Any Yin Gate includes four Unx Angles, facilitating our bringing into Consciousness (which is how we Zero Out our Karma and replace Fate with Choice) any Self-Sabotaging Patterns we may have around the Relationship between the the two planets in the Unx.

Bringing a Karmic Pattern into Consciousness is the First Step in Changing the Pattern, and an Unx is like the Get-Out-of-(Karmic)-Jail-Free card in Monopoly. By Noticing the Changes that the Unxes in the Station or other charts suggest, and comparing that to our Experience, we’re more likely to be able to make the Changes Permanent, and with less Effort and Resistance.

• ¹¹ The word “Unx” literally means one twelfth of something.
• ¹² Angeles Arrien, The Tarot Handbook.

The Makemake Station chart includes Unxes between Moon and Chiron, Chiron and Uranus, Makemake and Requiem-Thereus, and Makemake and Atropos-Zhulong. Meaning…

• Any untoward Patterns we have between our Instincts and our Optimism/Pessimism are up for Revision (Moon Unx Chiron). I’ve noticed that over the past week I’ve been less likely to let my level of Optimism or Pessimism Dominate my Identity. It was a lot more automatic for me to recognize them as my Feelings rather than my Identity. Anything like that evolve for you?
• Any unproductive Patterns we have between our Soul and our Optimism/Pessimism are up for Revision (Uranus Unx Chiron). My gift of Coal discouraged me for a day or two, but the sense that someone on the Other Side of the Veil was looking after me was Strong, and the material that I picked up to read had a Strong Impact. It was like a Treasure Hunt, with a series of clues from “random” places leading me out of Darkness. Gay Hendricks’s discussion of Einstein Time and how we eliminate Time Pressures by Owning that We Make Our Own Time, in his The Big Leap, was particularly Inspiring.
• Any Self-Sabotaging Patterns we have in the Relationship between our Manifestation and our Respect for Ego Death as a Teacher and Coach are up for Revision (Makemake Unx Requiem-Thereus). It’s not like I suddenly Realized, “Oh, this is an Ego Death, Yipee!” But the Effect was the same. Any Experience like this for you?
• Any untoward Patterns we have between our Manifestation and our Recognition and Acceptance of 5G 5D are up for Revision (Makemake Unx Atropos-Zhulong). I can see that my Attachment to Receiving from the Outside, rather than from Integrating my Identity into the Flow, was the primary Block that resulted in my Lump of Coal. This was one of the Diamonds in the Lump. So you see any sign of anything like this in your own prior week?

Outside the Yin Gate, there were three other Unxes in the Makemake-Station chart and corresponding Opportunities to Drop Karma relatively easily: Untoward Karmic Patterns in the Dance between our Instincts and our Thoughts (Moon Unx Mercury), Unhelpful and Negative Thoughts (de facto Prayers) about Global Climate Change (Mercury Unx Pholus-Quaoar), and Dysfunctional Patterns around Health, Longevity, and Learning (dwarf planet Varuna Unx Requiem-Thereus). We don’t spend much time on medical astrology in this blog, though we give a lot of Strong hints about How to Heal. And one such hint that Varuna Unx Requiem-Thereus suggests, is that we Regard any disturbance in the Healthy Functioning of our Body as Information about Changes that would Behoove us to make, rather than Symptoms to be Removed ASAP.

Rebirth Full Moon III

♥ Prominent Feature Number Four is easy.  Our Merger of Instinct and Genius (Moon-Ixion Conjunct) sits in front of the Galactic Center.  That means several things.  It means that everything we’ve said should be multiplied by itself several times when we’re determining Importance.  It means that Headquarters is sick of the Petty Huper Ego screwing up our end of the Galaxy, and is making it very Clear that we need to get our Shit together instead of bathing in it.  It means that whatever Illusions we have about Making a Difference, are just Ego Trips – the notion that we’re In Charge here is a Cosmic Joke.  We just need to Surrender and Live the Best Life we can.

♥ The fifth Big Banana in the 17 June Full Moon chart is what astrologers call a “Grand Cross.”  It should be a lot Bigger Deal than it actually is, because it consists of four LifeLong Frustrations (T-Squares) back to back.  But that very back-to-backness means they actually abet one another in weird ways, so a Grand Cross person is more likely to be a High Achiever and Skilled Multi-Tasker than a Champion of Frustration.  Rather than four Frustrations, it’s more Realistic, Empirically, to look at a Grand Cross as two intertwined Dichotomies (Oppositions).

We’ve already been discussing Dichotomies, so we’re on somewhat familiar Ground.  Let’s examine each of them…

• While we’re Aware that Our Life as We Have Known It is falling apart, we’re also Conscious that Rebirth is in the air (dwarf planet Haumea Conjunct asteroid Veritas), so Ambiguity is rife.  On the other hand, we can see, with our own eyes and through the eyes of Others, that there are things in our Life that we can no longer Ignore (asteroid Klotho Conjunct dwarf planet Eris).  These seem almost Complimentary, so where is the Dichotomy?

That’s for us to Discover.  Astrology often makes synonyms Opposites, and we just have to Live with it.  For instance, we could hypothesize that our Fear about having to Face something we’ve been Ignoring is juxtaposed against our Intuitive Excitement about an Impending Future Feeling very Close at hand.  Wall Street’s maxim that a Bull Market “climbs a Wall of Worry” is a timely example.  We have no idea what’s going to Happen, but we know Something is, and it’s likely to be Big.

If we’re Comfortable with our Pluridimensional Intuition, we know that all Dichotomies are Fake News, because the Universe is a lot more complicated than that.  But if we Live in our Dualistic “Left” Brain, not knowing whether to reach for our Pinstripe Suit or our Life Jacket can be torturous.

• One end of the second Dichotomy is about Getting Conscious of the Places where we Lack Self-Love or Overestimate ourself (asteroids Sappho and Juno Conjunct).  The other end is about Questioning whether we can Trust our Self-Confidence, or Trusting it Blindly (Pluto Conjunct dwarf planet Chariklo).  If we’re in a tight situation, making a Dichotomy out of these two could either Delight us or Terrify us.  “Excellent!  I know where to beef up my Self-Love!” or “OMG, what if they Notice that I’m Faking It!”

• You can probably Imagine how the Confluence of these two Dichotomies can result in either a Nervous Breakdown, or a flurry of High-Functioning Multi-Tasking.  If we have to prepare for two possible Futures and we’re a dynamite Multi-Tasker (for example, we have a natal Grand Cross), we can stockpile Dinty Moore and Water in the garage, while we Pretend to be Hypercompetent in our make-or-break bid for the New Big-Money Client or the New Position and the Big Raise.  If we can only Focus on one Thing at once (for example, we don’t have a natal Grand Cross), we could be making a Choice, Questioning ourself, and swimming in Anxiety.

The Bottom Line is that there are very many high-profile Uncertainties in our World today.  Is it too late to sell the house at the Beach?  If I Go For Broke here will I be losing money on every transaction and hoping to make up for it on the volume?  The kids are still in school – I can’t just move to Kentucky and hope that factory doesn’t close too!  Which option will keep me out of jail and out of the hospital – Lie at the border, or tell them I’m bringing back $3,000 worth of Insulin?

♥ Well, astrology does offer a clue here (Prominent Feature #6).  One of the four corners of the Grand Gross is more of a Blessing than a Frustration (the Haumea-Veritas T-Square is a Diamond Star or Self-Resolving Challenge).  So there’s a greater probability that the Impending Rebirth that we can Sense, will Save our Ass.  The clue even suggests a Course of Action – Acknowledge our Fear of the Unknown, and Trust our Skillset to find a path out of the Wilderness if necessary (the Finger of God that converts the T-Square to a Diamond Star is based on the Sextile between dwarf planet Sedna and asteroid Karma – Remember we have Good Karma too!).

♥ A few more items left, so have patience, we don’t need to hurry.  The impact of New and Full Moons is felt more after the event, so we’re still okay…

♥ Golden Rectangle

The Hidden Treasures are…

♥ Nemesis-Mercury-North Node

♥ Upcoming Stations

Wow VIII

Just to slow us down when we do lapse into Trying to Understand, the next-most prominent elements of the Chiron Station chart are two Yin Gates.  A Yin Gate happens when three planets are one Sign apart, each Opposite another planet, forming a rectangle bisected in the long dimension.

Put Mercury (☿) at the bottom of the chart to see one of the Yin Gates, characterized graphically by two green Xs in a tall blue rectangle, with a red asterisk between them.  Put Ixion and Pholus () at the bottom of the chart to see the second Yin Gate.

A Yin Gate symbolizes a Mystery School, the purpose of which is to move the Initiate past the Duality of the mind and into Recognizing the Unitary Multidimensionality of the Real World.  Which means, from the perspective of Dualism, Paradox.  The Real World is nonlinear, the primary manifestation of which is that Contradiction is a property of the Observing mind, not a property of the Observed World.

The primary Paradox is Illuminated by the central Opposition – here Chaos (Unlimited Potential) Opposite Ixion-Pholus (Responding to our Forbidden Genius), and Mercury (Awareness) Opposite Sedna-Lachesis (Reframing Fear).  The four corners of the blue rectangle, and the diagonal Oppositions, flesh out the nature of the paradox.

So for instance we might initially believe that the likely result of Responding to our Forbidden Genius would be Punishment, as that has likely been our historical Experience.  In general, an astrological Opposition (Second Harmonic) doesn’t imply a Logical Contradiction, since the Second Harmonic is about Ritual.  The Opposition implies the Duality that we must Do the Ritual correctly or it won’t work, because the Power of Ritual lies in Repetition.

So the proper Cultural and Religious Ritual is to quite purposely NOT Respond to the Desires of our Forbidden Genius.  Responding would Open a social can of worms, of Unlimited Potential for Disorder.  Dwarf planet Chaos by itself doesn’t symbolize Disorder, it implies Unrealized Potential.  The proper Esoteric Psychological Ritual is that we MUST Respond to the Desires of our Forbidden Genius, or suffer forever remaining a Partial Person.  The proper Esoteric Religious Ritual is to Constrain Response to the Desires of our Forbidden Genius within the bounds of Rituals that are kept Private from the general public.

The proper 5D Ritual is that Responding to the Desires of our Forbidden Genius (and tolerating the actual or perceived 3D social condemnation) is necessary for Yintegrity to function.  As Rudhyar said, “When you don’t follow your nature there is a hole in the universe where you were supposed to be.”

Recovering your Forbidden Genius is a prerequisite for moving to 5D – where you will have Unlimited Potential to Manifest your Deepest Desires.  If you feel like you Understand that, you’ll have to Let It Go, because Paradox isn’t something that we Understand, it’s something we have to Accept, and something that’s Initiated by Confusion and Curiosity.  There are still miles to go before we sleep.

Native American New Moon II

Earlier…  “The other Significant Configuration in the New Moon chart is about being Reborn into the Unimaginable through taking small steps toward Embracing our Orphaned Forbidden Genius.”

“A Golden Rectangle between dwarf planets Eris, Chaos, Haumea, and Ixion, with Centaur Pholus Conjunct Ixion, the New Moon Conjunct Haumea, and Uranus Conjunct Eris.”

The New Moon Conjoins dwarf planet Haumea.  Haumea was Pele’s daughter, and a Fertility Goddess.  We usually interpret her namesake dwarf planet as Rebirth.  

Next June, Uranus Conjoins dwarf planet Eris.  Eris was the young lady who threw a Golden Apple inscribed “for the fairest one” into a banquet full of Greek Goddesses.  The resulting melee, as the Goddesses argued over the rightful owner of the Apple, eventually resulted in the Trojan War (after codependent and corrupt intervention by the Gods).  So we interpret Eris as the Revelation of what has been Denied (in this case Vanity and Competition), or as New Information.  Keep in mind that Denial is a healthy process, allowing us to postpone dealing with issues that would Overwhelm us, till we’re ready to deal with them.  

We usually put this kind of talk in doubly-indented italics, reserved for folks who want to learn astrology.  But we all need to get in touch with these new players in the Unconscious Realms, as it’s where our Evolution lies.  So let’s review…

• dwarf planet Haumea – Rebirth
• dwarf planet Eris – Revelation of what’s been Denied

A New Moon itself represents a small Rebirth; add Haumea and we’re due for a Big Rebirth.  Probably aided and abetted by New Information that was hidden under a rock before.  Uranus symbolizes the Individual Soul; its rendezvous with Eris means we’re due for some shocking information about who we are.  After our Rebirth we probably won’t recognize ourselves.

Haumea-New Moon and Uranus-Eris Oppose one another.  Oppositions are about resolving Dualities.  The Second Harmonic is symbolized by the Priestess; the Priestess defends a Tradition, so an Opposition involves confronting the Rules.  Maybe we understand the Ritual correctly, but the Zeitgeist has moved on and the Ritual needs revision.  Maybe we’ve been getting the Ritual wrong.  That would explain why that Frog keeps singing at our back porch.

So there’s something coming up, something irrupting from the Unconscious most likely, that’ll shock us into realizing that the “Rules” we’ve been Living by don’t really do the job we’ve been Expecting them to.  Sometime in the next few weeks, perhaps, since the Energy in a New Moon often evolves over the following 17-18 days.  Most likely we’ll discover that we didn’t know we were following “Rules” – we just thought that was how the World worked.

The other Opposition in the Golden Rectangle is between dwarf planets Chaos and Ixion, with Centaur Pholus Conjunct Ixion.

More review…

• dwarf planet Chaos – not Disorder, but Unlimited Potential, the Zero Point Field
• dwarf planet Ixion – now there’s a complicated fellow worthy of more discussion…

Ixion was a psychopath, someone who just followed his own Lust without regard for anyone else.  I don’t know about your country, but my country is ruled by psychopaths, the 1% and 0.1% who care only about themselves.  If we’re going to evolve into something beside self-appointed royalty and a return to feudalism, we have to get Conscious of the way we worship psychopaths, admiring their wealth and falling head over heels in love with their propaganda about how if we work hard enough and greedily enough, we too can be psychopathically wealthy.

But it’s not that simple.  We were each of us born with unusual Talents.  You know people who worked hard to develop their unusual Talents.  And you know people who hide their unusual Talents under a bushel, probably because in their youth they were Shamed or Intimidated into having to hide their True Self.  There are parts of yourself that you regard as unhealthy, or unacceptable in polite company, or psychopathic.  Those parts are probably your unusual Talents, warped by Shame or Intimidation.  These parts are due to be exposed.  Before they are, in order to avoid reliving Shame and Intimidation in public, we should get in touch with them, lovingly and gently, and find out what they look like when they’re seen as unusual Talents rather than psychopathic faults.

• The dwarf planet Pholus (who was a Centaur in Greek mythistory) represents Taking Responsibility

Pholus was a pretty Responsible fellow, but as a result of a crime committed by a friend that made Pholus look irresponsible, he ended up getting dead.  So we think of Pholus as demanding that we Take Full Responsibility – for our unusual Talents that we may see as psychopathic faults.  A few folks may actually be exposed as perpetrators of unforgivable behavior – we all have a short list of names of public figures we’d like to see fall into that category.  But for more folks it’s likely to be about behaviors for which they were Shamed or Intimidated, behaviors which are not abnormal or pathological, but supernormal.  Your Inner Banksy who was punished long ago for drawing on the wall, for instance, and who hasn’t drawn since.  Remember that Responsibility means being able to Respond – relatively Consciously – rather than Reacting inappropriately.

Again we have some aspect of “Rules” involved; it could just be that exposing your unusual Talents is against the Rules you Live by.  The bottom line here is that once you Take Full Responsibility to make Amends for what you feel Guilty about, and Take Full Responsibility to begin nurturing your Forbidden Talents, your Future becomes Unlimited.

The Golden Rectangle means that the two Oppositions complement one another perfectly…

We could even draw a Get Out of iDeath card when we land on the Ego Death square that usually precedes the Rebirth square.  There’s some sort of Grace around…

• What irrupts from the Unconscious,
• What we’re asked to Take Full Responsibility for,
• What we’ve been hiding under a bushel,
• Our Rebirth, and
• Our Unlimited Potential.  

They’ll combine in unexpectedly positive ways.  It’ll look differently for each of us, so we can’t really get more specific.  Maybe we can make up an example, though.

Suppose you were Shamed or Intimidated for knowing that the “party line” was wrong.  Some redneck junior-high teacher tried to Shame me once for reading a paperback in study hall, for instance.  Fortunately I didn’t fall for it, since the book was about the history of the Universe.  But last month I was Shamed for practicing Permaculture in my Garden, because it didn’t look like the monoculture that the Powers That Be thought a Garden should look like.  I did fall for that, because it triggered the Powerlessness I felt in my family of origin.  Not having been in contact with that for many years, this might qualify for an irruption of what’s been Denied.  Let’s see if I can Manifest an Unlimited Future by Levitating over that razor-wire fence.  Taking Full Responsibility could just look like doing that Levitation, or otherwise seeking Healing.

Square Planets Up Your Nodes

Manganvesuvianite – the Manganese-rich form of Vesuvianite, named for the Volcano that decimated Roman Pompeii.  Vesuvianite symbolizes the Mother Goddess, Creator of All That Is, and her Power to Heal “Miraculously.”  It appears as a Miracle to the Limited mind; it’s everyday to the Goddess.  The Manganese clears away Confusion so we can see the Growth that’s hiding behind it and Embrace it.

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A reader asks…

“Can you talk more about those of us who have a planet squaring the nodes?”

Which is an excellent question.  It’s a similar situation for folks with planets Conjunct either Node. 

A “Square” is two planets that are separated by one fourth of the Zodiac; they’re near the same Degree but three Signs apart.  A T-Square is two Squares connected end-to-end, or two planets Opposing one another with a third planet halfway between them.  Both mean Mastery through Challenge, the T-Square’s Challenge being more Challenging than a single Square’s Challenge.

First though, let me address another reader comment…

“That discussion of squares/Tsquares got me – depressed – no, actually, I recognized that feeling as despair when I read it.  Your writings have taught me to recognize that feeling –  despair.  And unconscious despair.  I never knew what that darkness was.  It’s been interesting to note where, when, how often it comes.  That’s helped clear a fair amount of it to an extent…just recognizing it for what it is.  That post brought it on.  Condemnation.  I always thought squares were Mastery Through Challenge.  So there is no ‘never.’  Mastery comes.  Not just ‘getting it’ but MASTERY!!  I feel like they should be called Infinitely Perpetual Challenge then.  Give it up.  You ain’t getting anywhere.”

Well, Infinitely Perpetual Challenge isn’t far off – till you Change your Objective.  Let’s take any of us that have Squares to Mars or Venus for an example – that’s timely, with Mars Initiating Venus and Wabi-Sabi Stationary.  We don’t even need a Square between Mars and Venus, just some other planet Squaring Mars or Venus.  Those movie scenes and ads about Perfect Romance and Perfect Bodies and Perfect Faces are irresistible to us.  Pant, Pant.  And that’s the whole idea – it ain’t Real, it’s a Trance.  I’ll wager that every Relationship you’ve ever been in had some positive feature.  If you cut out each one of those boons and pasted it on your Ken or Barbie doll, you’ll witness your Mastery first-hand.  You just haven’t put them together all at once.

That’s actually a great way to move toward What You Want – list the pieces or characteristics of your Desire, check to see which ones you’ve already Manifested, and then work on the others.  When you get most of them checked off, list all the combinations – A+B, A+C, B+C, etc. and start working on those – you can Plan and Execute, or PIAVFA, or both.  Then if you need to, work on the triplets – A+B+C, A+B+D, B+C+D, etc. – and the quadruplets.  Sound too complex?  Hmmm.  Maybe it’s your Desire that’s too complex.  Maybe you need to Prioritize a little.

Let’s try a thought experiment.  Think about your unfulfilled Desire.  Now pick its two most important characteristics.  Just for the sake of illustration we’ll call them Passion and Security.  Sound contradictory? 

That may be part of your Frustration.  Contradiction exists only in the mind, not in Reality.  In Reality it’s Both/And; in Real Life it’s called Paradox, not Contradiction.  If we’re striving for two Paradoxical qualities that we Believe are Contradictory, we will be doomed to Infinitely Perpetual Challenge.  It’s very difficult to Manifest what we don’t Believe – this is part of the Powerful “Placebo” effect.  So the first thing we may need to PIAFA is that we Believe our Desire is Possible.

Back to Passion and Security.  Ever feel Passion toward your Desire?  If not, Imagine it (Feelize or Visualize or …).  Shake It Off, take a drink of Water, and then think about the times you’ve felt Security around your Desire.  You may not have met any of your other requirements, but you felt Security.  If you haven’t Experienced Security around your Desire, not even for a few minutes, then Imagine what it’ll feel like when you do.  (If it’s a Relationship Desire, think Friendship.)  Then Let It Go, Dance a bit, another drink of Water, then recall or Imagine Manifesting both Security and Passion around your Desire.  Add Belief if you need to.

Feel good?  Or are their Yesbuts squeaking in the background – or shrieking in the foreground?  Yesbuts can feel Frustrating, but they’re just information about what else your Desire needs.  A frequently Unconscious Yesbut is whether or not you Deserve to Manifest Your Heart’s Desire. 

Virtually all of us went to the same Obedience School, where we were given a biscuit if we got the right answer, and if we’re very lucky only fingerwagged when we got the wrong answer.  Lots of folks would consider it Sociopathic if you Believed that you just Deserved things without having to Earn them.  Well, you do Deserve to Manifest your Heart’s Desire, right or wrong.  If your Heart’s Desire is punishable by Life or the Chair, so be it, you’ll just have to face the music.  But that’s not about Deserving; it’s about what your Culture permits and how well you finesse it.

Okay, you’ve Shaken It Off and Let It Go again and danced around the Fire, and now you’re sitting there feeling what it’s like to Believe in and Deserve to Manifest Safety and Passion around your Desire. 

I know, they’re still Yesbutting you, but Imagine that Belief, Deserving, Security, and Excitement are all you Want, that they’re Enough.

Ahhhhh! – Wonderful, isn’t it!

No?  Well, that’s it then. 

Desire is indeed an Infinitely Perpetual Challenge.  The basic problem is that Desire is misspelled.  It’s really spelled M-o-t-i-v-a-t-i-o-n.  Now there has to be a Balance between Motivation and Satisfaction, or else we’ll never feel good about Life.  So what to do?  Well, we certainly don’t need to give up our Desire, that would be the equivalent of Death.  We might need to dial it back a little, and approach it one piece or characteristic at a time, or set intermediate and achievable Goals that we can Celebrate along the way, so we can enjoy the Journey and not just the possibly hallucinatory Destination.

But the real key to Enjoying a Square or T-Square is shifting our Objective from Desire to Learning.  We’re always Learning, so we can Celebrate some quantity of Learning (even if we don’t understand yet what it is) from every Experience.  So a Square or a T-Square is about Learning about our Desire.  Once we make that shift we’re free to Play.  Learning is usually Surprising – otherwise we’d already be Learned.  So we’re open to Surprise as well as Success.  We really can afford to Play with it, because when Learning is our Objective, the bigger and faster our failures, the more we Learn.

That is MASTERY.  You’ve actually experienced it in your Life, around lesser Frustrations, like Spelling or Story Problems or DiffyQ or Asking for a raise or maintaining your Health.

And in fact, with a Square or T-Square, you are a Master, because you’ve always been Motivated to Explore the Edges of your Infinitely Perpetual Challenging Desire.  Take Music as an example.  If you’re Mozart, you were a Master at Birth.  If you’re Salieri, you’ve been working your butt off all your Life, and he gets all the contracts.  But suppose you’re Vivaldi, and you’re trying to figure out whether you want a minor or major key for your concerto about Spring.  Mozart could tell you in a flash.  But Salieri would be able to tell you why you need a minor key. 

If you were depending on Mozart you’d need to ask him again for each Season.  The answer you got from Salieri would allow you to figure it out on your own.  So who’s the real Master – Mozart or Salieri?

This is Real, it’s not a rationalization or a PR trick.  You may need to start your process by Believing that it’s possible to shift your Objective from your Desire to Learning about your Desire.

Conjunctions and Oppositions are similarly Heuristic.  Oppositions Challenge us to escape Duality by recognizing that while the Heads and the Tails distract us from what’s really happening, focusing on the Coin will trigger our Intuition.  Conjunctions Challenge us to Accept that just because our Perspective on the World isn’t popular, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.  In fact, the more unusual our Perspective, the more Powerful.  You may end up writing things that won’t be understood for 200 years, or that only six people on the Planet will grok, but the Value in that is immeasurable. 

Squares and T-Squares are members of the Fourth Harmonic, which is basically Mastery or Dominion; the Emperor.  But it’s the Fifth Harmonic that’s about Learning, so we must be wrong, eh?  No, we Master each Harmonic by adopting the Perspective of a higher Dimension.  The First Harmonic, Conjunction, is about Self.  The Infinitely Perpetual Challenge about Self is Other, which is introduced by the Second Harmonic, Opposition. 

The Challenge of Self “versus” Other is resolved by Love, the Third Harmonic or Trine.  The Infinitely Perpetual Challenge about Love lies in resolving Codependence, via Healthy Control or Dominion, the Fourth Harmonic – Squares.  We resolve the Frustration of the Fourth Harmonic by using the Fifth, Learning, the Quintile.  We resolve the Paradox of Inequality between the Student and the Teacher by moving to mutually respectful Partnership, the Sixth Harmonic or Sextile.  And so on.

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Squares to the Nodes

Okay, finally we get to the original question.  But I think you’ll agree that the detour was useful. 

We’ve been equating the North Node to Desire and Mission, and now we’re talking about Squares as if they represented Desire.  These are two different flavors of Desire.  A North-Node Desire is hardwired in.  Moving in the direction of a North-Node Desire produces the sense that we’re on the right track, even as Satisfaction avoids us.  North-Node Desires evolve without much Frustration; we don’t recall how different our current North-Node Desires are from our picture of it five or ten years ago.  The basic sense is one of Progress.  A T-Square Desire on the other hand is an unachievable chimera that we set up to Motivate ourselves.  It’s a picture of Perfection.  It probably hasn’t changed substantially since we were five or ten years old.  The basic sense is one of Frustration.

So, if we put them both together, Progress with Frustration, gradual evolution with our Perfect Pictures, the whole process can be very Confusing.  And we may not remember that Confusion is the first stage of Growth.  That’s probably the key we need to resolve a T-Square to the Nodes – remembering that Confusion is the first stage of Growth.

Note that since the Nodes by definition Oppose one another, a Square to the Nodes is always a T-Square.

There are a couple of productive processes for dealing with Confusion.  We can acknowledge it with Gratitude.  “Omigosh, there’s Confusion!  Thank Goddess I’m Growing out of that dilemma!  That’s Exciting!”  And Curiosity.  Unlike the programming we got in school, real Learning is always Surprising.  If we had any idea how a real Life dilemma would be resolved, it wouldn’t be a dilemma.  So acknowledging Confusion as the first step of Growth almost automatically inspires Curiosity.  And Curiosity, like Love, is Goddessly, as both eschew Judgment.  We don’t want to strive for Curiosity about how our T-Square will be resolved – because we’d get stuck to our Perfect Pictures again.  Curiosity about what we’ll Learn next about our Desire fits perfectly, however.

We come to the difference between Desire and Fantasy.  Suppose for instance that we crave Acknowledgement.  If as ankle-biters we weren’t Valued for who we really were, we’ll spend our Lives craving Acknowledgement.  We have a picture of how that might happen.  We might be “Discovered,” for instance.  That’s a very nice alternative to Earning Acknowledgement.  Once who we really are is Discovered, everything else will fall into place, and it will all be easy.  That’s how we know it’s a Fantasy – everything else becomes easy.  Fantasy is a Manifestation-killer. 

When we detect Fantasy we need to substitute Curiosity.  We don’t know what it will look like when we’re Acknowledged – we’ve never been there.  We know the Perfect Picture we daydream about, but our Desire is behind that Picture, not in it.  When that Picture arises and we recognize it (how can we not? – we’ve been daydreaming it all our Life!), we need to pull the cord next to it so it rolls up like an old-fashioned window-shade.  Behind it there’s a Wilderness, and it’s Delightful and Dangerous and Exciting and very Compelling.  You can’t Imagine what’s in there!  But doesn’t it inspire Curiosity!

So let’s take some examples.  Suppose Saturn, which represents The Most Important Thing, Squares our Nodes.  It’s never this simple, because many other influences are afoot – such as the Sign of our Saturn, and other Angles to it from other planets.  But we could have a Lifetime Frustration about knowing what’s The Most Important Thing.  Is it Learning new Skills or collecting boons by using the Skills we have?  Is it Love, or is it Power?  So we need to find a reliable way to move from Confusion to Curiosity around The Most Important Thing.

In Psychic School one of the first tricks you Learn is “What if you did know?”  When Duality wants you to do Either/Or and you aren’t in touch with your Intuition enough to understand how Both/And might work in this circumstance, you can Ask yourself, “What if I did know?”  Chances are you will have already rejected at least one answer to the question, and that answer will probably pop back into Consciousness.  There’s a danger here.  This is an exercise for developing your Intuition, it’s not your Intuition. 

The answer you get is an excellent trial balloon, and a great first guess about what’s The Most Important Thing.  It’s worth trying.  But it may only work for a few steps.  West might be the correct direction for the first three strides, but you need to be alert for when Confusion arises again, and Ask again.  The next four might be North – or West again.  If you decide that one direction is Most Important forever, you’re likely to end up in a swamp.  After you practice this for a while it will become your Intuition, and you’ll develop the habit of recognizing Confusion and shifting immediately to Curiosity.  Eventually you won’t even notice the intervening steps, you’ll just Intuitively know what comes next.

But it’s still a Square; you can never sit on your laurels.  It will always be evolving, and you’ll always be Learning more about how to define The Most Important Thing, on more and more subtle levels, till you finally realize that there’s no one you can compare notes with, because no one else knows as much as you know about it – you are the Master.  It Squares your Nodes, so knowing it is The Most Important Thing in your Life.  When you Celebrate your Certainty about knowing the Most Important Thing, you’re about to step into the muck.  Celebrate Learning more about how to discern The Most Important Thing instead.

Now, think back over your Life.  How many times have you repeated this dance, and how many different ways have you Learned for dealing with it?  Include all the ways you’ve forgotten that you Learned (what if you did remember?).  In truth you’re the Master of this Process.  There’s no one better than you to teach it to others, because you’ve Explored all the blind alleys and discovered all the thoroughfares.  And more important, you know how to find the mainlines that haven’t been discovered yet. 

The primary characteristic of any Square is a shortage of Self-Acknowledgement.

That’s another process for resolving a Square in any given moment – moving to Gratitude – make a list of what is working for you.

Or Jupiter – what if Jupiter Squared our Nodes?  Jupiter is about Fortune, Expansion, Amplification.  When Jupiter dances with your Nodes, your Mission is always foremost in your Attention.  That’s fabulous, as no one will ever be able to accuse you of not immer strebend.  But it’s never Enough, is it.  Jupiter’s the Great Benefic, but Never Enough is a bummer.  So Self-Acknowledgement of your Enoughness has to become your mantra.  You’ve beaten it practically to death, but Enoughness is your Mastery.  Now you need to Master Not-Quite-Enoughness.  Your Challenge is to Learn to feel good about Performing at 90%.  When you get pretty good at that you can try 80%.  You’ll be More Than Enough at 50% – you can spend the other 50% having Fun.  You’re already doing this, aren’t you.  That’s MASTERY! 

We just can’t Acknowledge that we’re actually Manifesting the Power to Serve Effectively when we’re the Victim of our own Unconscious Motivation.  Dominion requires the Ability to Respond to “threats” to our Healthy Control.  As long as the Power to Serve Effectively is our Goal instead of Learning to Use the Power to Serve Effectively, Frustration follows, because Life is a moving target and “those people” – who really are less competent and less dedicated than you because they don’t have Jupiter Squaring their Nodes – are your Teachers, Unconsciously of course.  You’re underemployed, but you won’t be able to leverage yourself into a position where you also have the Authority and Responsibility to Serve Effectively – and the rewards, until you Learn to Honor yourself. 

There’s still time to remember all of the little and big Successes along this course, and Celebrate each one.  They’ll feel burdensome until you reframe them from Frustration about Failure, to Excitement about Learning.  Buy three big sheets of gold-colored cardboard and a “Sharpie” permanent marker.  Take an hour each week, choose one of your historical Frustrations, fully Embrace your Grief about how your hard work was unseen and unacknowledged and even actively thwarted, and then Ask “What did I Learn from this?”  If what you Learned feels negative, Ask “What was the positive function of that?”  “What was one positive thing that came out of it?

When you feel good about that Learning, cut a trophy honoring yourself for that  Success out of the gold cardboard, and give it a title and an approximate date.  As you process each historical Frustration there will be too many trophies (it’s Jupiter after all!) to keep on your mantle or altar all at once, so keep the extras in a box.  Each morning choose one trophy to put back in the box, and replace it with a new one chosen “randomly” from the box.  Spend a minute remembering the Frustration you felt as you climbed that mountain, and find the Relief you felt when you Learned that Lesson.

What about Venus?  Venus stands for our Values, so you’re probably often at odds about which Value of yours to follow.  Having multiple Values is fantastic – no danger of becoming a Zealot, eh?  But boy, those Zealots sure look Satisfied, don’t they?  Compared to my Confusion, that looks like a Blessing!  What if being Multifarious was the Blessing?  It’s a Square, it’s always a moving target.  I think of a Spiral, where we revisit the same issue over and over again but with slightly different circumstances.  A friend and reader uses the metaphor of “an elevator which stops at identical floors, but different things happen depending on where your head/vibes/frequency is.”

But the constant about is this is Constant Learning.  Your Values are Universal, but for every moment a different Hierarchy of Values applies.  If you’re anything like the rest of us, you’ve been programmed to apply the Values that were handed down by your family heritage in every moment.  You’ll be Learning how to stop and reconsider every moment, so you can apply the Values that work best in the circumstances.  You’ll know when you got it right because there will be a short burst of North-Node Satisfaction, the sense that you’re on the right track.  Till the Square’s Never-Quite-Right Energy butts in again.  No worries, it’s just Confusion, the first stage of Growth.  Isn’t that Curious!  I wonder which Values apply here – Growth or Certainty?

The Centaur Nessus Squaring the Nodes?  Confusion over Action, how to meet one’s needs with finesse rather than force, and how to replace that Confusion with Curiosity and Self-Acknowledgement.  Passive Pacifism isn’t worth much.  A Pacifist who knows how to Embrace and Master their own need to Dominate is a Teacher of Value.

The dwarf planet Ceres would tie us in knots over what’s Sustainable, and beg us to replace our Preaching and Self-Abuse about it with frequent PIAVFAs about how to make it stick. 

The poster child of dwarf planets, Pluto?  Sorry, your Life Path is intense, and you won’t bargain your way out of it.  You’ve probably already been in and out of Addiction, as there’s no faster way to understand Control.  Your Hero’s Journey is the Heroin’s Journey, figuratively or literally.  So what if no one listens to you – you see the Future, and they don’t.  Let them stumble; it’s their Learning Experience.  Your Certainty is a hindrance, though.  See if you can reprogram your Trance to seek Curiosity instead – you’re the Master of Trance-Re-Formation after all, even if you haven’t Recognized it yet.

If it’s the Centaur Hylonome Squaring your Nodes, Grief is your constant companion.  She’s just over your left shoulder.  Don’t push her away any more; Embrace Her.  Once you let Her swallow you like Inanna was swallowed by the Sun, over and over again, you’ll emerge Surprisingly quickly, each time having gained deep Insight.  Be Curious about where Grief will lead you next, as it’s a deep service to Humanity and to the Planet.

Inanna’s symbol is the Grand Octile – the Eighth Harmonic is where we go to resolve the puzzles presented by Magic.  This Ouija Board Uranus-Pluto Cycle is about Magic, and you know what comes next.  You are a Visitor from the distance Future, come to try to steer us away from impending disaster.  Embrace that Perspective without succumbing to Certainty or rejecting your constant Grief about being Unrecognized.  Grief is your greatest Tool.

Ah, Lilith.  It feels Confusing only because you’re ahead of your Time.  The World is moving toward Yindependence – Universal Respect for Self-Sovereignty – and you’re the advance guard.  Let yourself be Curious about how you can best help move the Planet forward.  The Hero’s Journey is well documented; it’s up to you to document the Heroine’s Journey for us as well.  Starhawk’s Truth or Dare is a good starting place for you.

Then there’s Uranus!  Yes, there are deep mists between you and your Soul, and many false profits.  You can’t dispel Confusion with Certainty, it must be Embraced.  It’s all Metaphor, Both/And.  What will happen if you Surrender to Confusion? 

Anyone else wanting to come forward?

One More Extension

Hopefully this will be the last extension to Portal 1.2-1.9, or 1.2-1.12 as it’s become.  The Moon moves in to intensify the process on January 12, while Venus moves in to help soften it.  However, it’ll take Venus several days to cross this activation zone, and there are other Portals coming up, most of which are related to this one, so we should probably just plan on things being pretty unstable until at least February.

Venus and Juno remain in a Golden Rectangle with the Nodes till January 16-17, though the Energy will begin to fade after January  15.

Not as unstable as this past week, as the Eris Station (the attempts to bring Denial out of the Shadows) is behind us.  However, the media is reporting that literally millions of “first-world” folk are out demonstrating about how THEY think of themselves as the Victims of Colonialism come home, so while on the global level Denial might be out of the Shadows, it’s not getting far into Consciousness.  Hope you’re doing better with whatever Personal material is arising for you.

Venus might help us a little here.

The Moon crosses the North Node at quarter to 9am PST (http://www.jbuss.com/tt/pst9.htm) January 12, exciting the Main-Effect Pluto-Nodes-Uranus T-Square, which of course is about our Yintegrity, or our Willingness to accept our Soul’s path for us.

Venus moves into position to make a Golden Rectangle with Juno and the Nodal Axis.

A Golden or Mystic Rectangle is a beneficial Configuration comprised of double Trine-Sextile Bridges across each of two Oppositions that are separated by Sextiles.  A Bridge shows us an easier way to approach a Challenging Angle, so a Golden Rectangle is kind of a free tutor.  The Oppositions are Challenges to Let Go of Duality and locate our Intuition instead. 

The Oppositions in the Golden Rectangle are…

• Moon-North Node (Manifesting our Destiny) to Uranus-South Node (Our Limiting Beliefs Are Obsolete; We Need To Let Them Go Before They Cause Real Trouble For Us!)
• Venus (Supporting our own Values) to Juno (the Edges of our Consciousness)

Complicated of course by the Square from the Nodes to Pluto.

In a Golden Rectangle, the ends of each Opposition are the Bridging planets for the other Opposition.

So the Nodal Opposition is Bridged by Venus and Juno, and the Venus-Juno Opposition is Bridged by the Nodes, which are hosting visitors Uranus and the Moon.

Venus and Juno Bridging the Nodal Opposition implies that

We may be able to reduce the aerodynamic drag on our Progress that’s created by our Unfinished Business, by Opening our minds and Hearts to reconsidering which of our Values are Most Important to us.

(We didn’t draw it in on the chart, but Saturn is still making an Octile-Trioctile Bridge across the Nodal Axis as well, bringing in Prioritization as an additional Bridging technique.)

Just taking the Global level as an example, “civilized” folks still regard their own personal Security (ie, safety from the Fear of “Terrorism”) as a higher priority than other people’s Security (ie, safety from Drones, Slavery, War on their turf, Sea-level rise, the Poverty resulting from Centuries of Colonial exploitation, etc).  It’s still Us versus Them, or Justice spelled JustUs, instead of “Gee, I wonder how I might be contributing to Insecurity in the World!”

I’m sure there’s a parallel somewhere in your own Personal Life.

What’s the Venus-Juno Opposition about?

There are Conflicts between our Consciousness and our Values.  In other words, we Sabotage ourselves, we act and think in ways that are contrary to our own best interests.

So how can the Moon, the Nodes, and Uranus Bridge those Conflicts?

Whatever difficulties we’ve faced in the last week or two, are Educational.  They illustrate to us how we Sabotage ourself.  Are will still Victim to those events?  We need to leave that posture behind.  How do we go from Victim to Responsibility?  Remember, Responsibility is not Blame, it’s the Ability to Respond.  It doesn’t work to Respond by bashing the alleged Perp.  We eventually all just lose to the biggest Perp.  We need to begin to take Responsibility for our own Victim.

What could we have done differently to avoid being Victimized?  In the Global case, Mutual Respect, instead of self-righteously insisting on our right to Humiliate and Enslave others, would go a long way.  We’d need some Empathy as well.  Some sense of what it’s like to live under real or de facto Colonialism.  The movie 12 Years a Slave might help a few people.  Malidoma Somé’s book Of Water and the Spirit maybe.  It describes the French version of Colonialism.

In general, it’s Fear that feeds Bullies.  Unfortunately, we usually have to get to the place where we have nothing left to lose, before we’re willing to stand up and say no to Bullies.  You might want to look up the Velvet Revolution, Czechoslovakia’s release from Bullying.  We’ll have to stand in Solidarity with the people Bullied by Colonialism, though, and that’s probably not likely anytime soon.

On the personal level, where it all starts, Grounding helps.  You just imagine a cable running from the base of your spine to the center of the Earth.  Food is also Grounding.  Tapping out Fear will help as well.  Of course we’ll have to Witness our Fear before we can Tap it out.  We can PIAVA that we do that. 

Once we’ve Witnessed our Fear we can also Empathize with it; once you get the hang of that (“You poor Sweetheart, you’re really scared, aren’t you”) we can move our Fear even faster than Tapping, and the results are likely to be even more Miraculous.

We didn’t draw the Quincunxes on the chart because we wanted the new element, the Venus-led Golden Rectangle, to stand out.  But there are Fingers of God to both Chiron (from Juno and Moon-North Node) and Juno (from Pluto and Chiron), making Juno (Expanding our Consciousness) and Chiron (Using Empathy to Shift from Despair to Miracle) the most important elements in the chart.

Along with Pluto, of course, as head of the T-Square.  Pluto tells us that the River is in flood, that if our destination isn’t downstream we’re in for a difficult journey (even before Mercury turns Retrograde on January 21).  The key to Pluto is Trust, Trust that outcomes will favor us, even if we don’t see how yet.  Pluto of course is about Transformation, Trance (Re) Formation, including usually Ego Death.

The Galactic Center recently Initiated Hylonome as well as Quaoar.  The Galactic Center is at 28 Sagittarius, “An old bridge over a beautiful stream is still in constant use.”  Maybe it’s time to review our opinion of the River Styx.  How might we see it as a “beautiful stream”?  It might help to understand that we can cross that stream in either direction.

While Fear of Ego Death, especially Unwitnessed Unconscious Fear, never leads to good outcomes, the combination of Overpopulation and Fear of Death is not one that promises a lot of comfort.  Can we cross this River in either direction at Will?  Depends on Who is doing the Willing.  Someone is.  Why not you?  No?  Why not PIAVA it?

That would be a great resolution to these Galactic Conundrums – we’d stay Grounded for all of the Fear-mongering, and we’d resolve the Uranus-Pluto-Nodes T-Square by Expanding our Consciousness to include our Soul!

The Second Harmonic

A reader’s question…

“When you speak about the two oppositions in the Mystic Rectangle besides the central Opposition on the back to back Yods in the Yin Gate, you use the word ‘subsidiary Issues.’  Are you using the word “Issue” in the sense of ‘problem,’ or in the sense of ‘way out’ or ‘solution’ to the central Opposition?

Let’s take our recent Full Moon Yin Gate as an example, since it’s still very much in effect.  The central Opposition is Uranus to Vesta-Ceres.  The “subsidiary” Oppositions are Venus-Saturn and Lilith-Chiron.  It’s a “derivative” of Lilith, but we can refer to it as Lilith because that’s the primary new Energy involved.

“Problem” is a relative term.  If I’m into eustress, a “problem” can be motivating, even exciting.  If I’m into stress, then I certainly don’t need more “problems,” I’ve got plenty already!  The word “issue” is a more neutral way of referring to what would appear to be a problem to someone in stress.  I don’t use the word “issue” to mean “way out” or “solution.”  But there’s more to it than that.

An Opposition presents a “problem” only to someone stuck in the mind.  An Opposition is a Duality.  If we’re in Either/Or mode and feel like we have to “pick up on one and leave the other behind” as John Sebastion so eloquently put it, then you bet, we have a problem.  And there are certainly some cases where we do have to make a Choice.  Suppose we felt that we had to Choose between Following our Joy (Uranus) and being True to our Creed (Vesta).  That’s a problem.

In Both/And mode we could PIAVA to modify our Creed to be more Sustainable (Ceres), which I think is the real proposition being offered to us here.  (We probably wouldn’t Choose to modify our Creed because most of our Beliefs have roots deeper than Choice.)  The Opposition will illustrate to us which portions of our historical Beliefs are obsolete relative to whom we’ve become.  That could be a problem if we’re locked into some Life situation where specific Beliefs are required, but other than that it should be liberating to rebalance our Beliefs with our joie de vivre.

This is a very fundamental “issue.”  Angeles Arrien (Tarot Handbook p.30) defines the Second Harmonic as…

“The universal principle of intuition, independence, self-trust, and self-resourcefulness.  This is the androgynous figure who archetypally represents balance. … Mythically, this archetype also represents the journey homeward or the return to oneself.”

In other words, the journey from the Duality of the mind to the Inclusiveness of the Heart.  Sounds a lot like Lilith, actually.  The Second Harmonic is represented by the High Priestess, and the High Priestess is the quintessential guardian of the specific Rituals and Doctrines of her Lineage – in her linear role – quite the opposite of “intuition, independence, self-trust, and self-resourcefulness.”  Yet like the Empress she has the power to express Compassion.  Another situation where we want to look at the Coin rather than the heads or the tails.  The Coin here is Both/Either.  Oppositions always invite us to look for the Coin.

As we’ve said many times, there are no contradictions in Nature; contradictions exist only in the mind of the observer.  Nature is Unitary and Multifarious; the observing mind is Dualistic.  The Opposition appears to involve contradistinction – between, say, being self-directed (Aries) or being other-directed (Libra).  The Aries-Libra Coin is Orientation.  Heads is self-direction, tails is other-directed.  What’s the Coin? is a very powerful question to Ask whenever we find ourselves stuck in Either/Or.  So on a more fundamental level the Yin Gate is asking us to examine our Orientation.  Do we habitually look for the Rules, or look for Joy?

So, what about the “subsidiary issues?”  They provide additional information about the central apparent dichotomy.  To rebalance Joy and Creed in our Lives we may need to also rebalance Beauty and Order (Venus-Saturn).  We may have been hedging our Values in order to maintain Discipline, or letting Pleasure distract us from keeping our Focus on The Most Important Thing.  What’s the Taurus-Scorpio Coin?  Stability would be a good approximation.  Balancing Work and Pleasure enhances Stability.

If we consider the other Opposition in the Mystic Rectangle to be Lilith and Chiron, what’s the Coin there?  What universal principle underlies both Despair/Miracle and Yindependence?  That Coin is Power – we either give away our Power (Despair or Subservience) or we keep it (Miracle or Suzerainty).  The Coin for Virgo-Pisces is Completion.  So we’re being called to Finish Business in the places where we’ve habitually given our Power away.

So “in a word,” the deeper indication is that we are Reorienting our Relationship to Power and Stability.  That certainly rings true for my Life lately; does it for yours?  If this was a natal chart and we were talking to a client, and they didn’t immediately resonate to that very concise formulation, we could bring in details about Creed, Joy, The Most Important Thing, Values, Self-Direction, and Perspective.

The Yin Gate is an Initiation into Mystery.  This one Asks us to sit with the Mystery of how Joie de Vivre and the Sacred fit together Sustainably in the World and in our Lives.  A Mystery is something we don’t have to figure out.  We don’t need to know the mechanism that makes it work.  We don’t need to know why it occurs, or how, or when.  Your Science may have a number of tidy definitions of how Plants make Food from Sunlight – it’s about the Chlorophyll or the Electrons or the Fertilizer, depending on who you talk to.  But it’s a Mystery.  By defining it we make it into a machine so we can pretend to be the only Conscious and Powerful Entities about.  By defining it we lose respect for its Magic.

I mean, truly, do you really Believe that by always Following Your Joy you can manifest Power and Stability?  For most of us it’s quite the opposite.  That’s the Mystery.  The problem in that first sentence is the word Believe.  Believing is Seeing; we Manifest what we Believe.  But we don’t change Beliefs by Choice.  How do we change them?  Another Mystery.  I wonder what Curiosity might do for us here?

The Mystic Rectangle

Wulfenite – Lead Molybdate.  Lead helps release Held Emotions and other toxins, helps us move from hopelessness to Excitement, and helps us create the kinds of structures that facilitate self-confidence.  Wulfenite connects to the Dynamic Creativity that we don’t usually recognize in ourselves.

A Mystic Rectangle is no slouch.  It brings substantial Grace and Balance, and the current one – which runs through February 4 – will help ease our transition from our old rigid Either/Or Ego-shell to our new more flexible Both/And Ego-shell.  I think that’s the most blatant symptom of personal Growth or Growth in Consciousness – we go from Either/Or about something to Both/And.  That’s usually as much an Emotional experience as it is intellectual.

We could interpret the four Grace-full Angles in the Mystic Rectangle, but let’s instead follow the “textbook,” and look at the two Oppositions.  A Mystic Rectangle, after all, is a big “X” that’s two Signs wide (Sextile, Sixth Harmonic – Creative Grace), and four Signs tall (Trine, Third Harmonic – Dumb-Luck Grace).  You get the Rectangle by putting the X in a box.  The opposite corners of the X and the box, are six Signs apart (Opposition, Second Harmonic, Ritual).

Sobonfu Somé, in her lovely little book The Spirit of Intimacy: Ancient African Teachings in the Ways of Relationships, has a lot to say about Ritual – a whole chapter in fact, pp.40-54…

“A ritual is a ceremony in which we call in spirit to come and be the driver, the overseer of our activities…  In ritual we call in spirit to show us obstacles that we cannot see because of our limitations as human beings.  Ritual helps us to remove blocks standing between us and our true spirit or other spirits.

“In the village, everybody is addicted to ritual…  They need to be constantly involved in ritual because it’s like an energy that gives a high that lasts, perhaps three or four days, and as soon as they start coming down… they need the high again.

“Every ritual must have a very specific purpose, a clearly stated intention.  It must have something to resolve.

“Every time you want to move into a ritual, you need to recognize that there’s a whole line of ancestors behind you, there’s a whole spirit world around you, there is the animal world, the ground world, the trees, and so forth.  If you have a way of saying to these forces, ‘Come and be with us in such a way that we can feel and do such-and-such,’ then you’re already in ritual.

“Next you must state your purpose, being quite specific about your needs or goals…  All you need to do from then on is go deep into your heart and listen to the rhythm of it…  Usually, if you ask one spirit to come, it will not come alone.  It gathers its friends, its relatives, friends of its friends, and so on.  And all these spirits will come to you.

“A ritual has to be made specific to the people who are involved in it…  We think that someone must bring a secret book of ritual recipes so that if we have a toothache, we go to page 129, read paragraph 2, and that will take care of it.  When in fact, you are page 129, paragraph 2!  So I’m saying, trust in yourself, believe in your ability to hear.

“Emotion is very hard to resolve intellectually.  That’s because the mind doesn’t know how to feel; its logic cannot fulfill the heart’s desire.  And this is why it’s so important to realize how ritual, the feeling within ritual, can be a helpful tool in resolving crises…  Spirits love to intervene in our affairs.  But they don’t do it against our will.  They are waiting over there for us to give them a job to do.

“We cannot begin by figuring out in our brains exactly how a ritual will work before we get into it.  We have to start by telling spirit that we recognize we don’t know.  There’s nothing wrong in not knowing.  There’s something wrong in not saying you don’t know.  Actually spirits love to hear that you don’t know because they do.  And they will take it as an invitation to do what they have to do.”

So, which rituals are involved in our Mystic Rectangle?  Jupiter Opposite Pluto, and Pallas Opposite Chiron-Juno.  How to wrap words around these?  Maybe…

Spirit, I can tell from the dissonance in my World and the discomfort in my Body, that you’re demanding (Pluto) that I Grow (Jupiter).  But I don’t know how.  Help!

and

Spirit, I’m up against Edges (Pallas) where uncomfortable (or worse) feelings and thoughts live (Chiron).  I don’t feel confident that I will succeed here.  I can feel that there are so many dimensions that are wanting to Change that I feel overwhelmed!  Will you help me restore my Faith in myself and in you?  Will you remind me frequently that I don’t have to do everything myself, I can actually relax and let you do your Magic! 

The rest should take care of itself.

Foggy Groggy Woggy (Portal 11.13)

What else do we know about this here Neptune Station that’s due at 11am PST on November 13?  As Pogo would have said, Friday the 13th falls on Wednesday this month.

Uranus Quintile Yod

I think the most prominent subplot is the Uranus Quintile Yod that’s supported by Pallas and Saturn.

During this suspension of the normal rules (that is, Neptune Stationary), we’ll be downloading important information about how Focusing on (Saturn) expanding specific Edges and beefing up specific Boundaries (Pallas) will help us improve our Yintegrity (Uranus).

The Moon crosses Uranus at 4pm PST on November 13, so this Portal will be open from Neptune’s Station (the fog should clear a bit after 11am PST) until about 10pm PST, though this Learning Opportunity will probably be most intense between 11am and 4pm.

Jupiter-Lilith

Lilith Initiated Jupiter in mid July (Cancer 4, “A Cat arguing with a Mouse“), and now that Jupiter has turned Retro, Jupiter is heading back for an Expository review with Lilith, which occurs at the end of November.  For now, starting today, Jupiter and Lilith are Conjunct (using our normal three degrees of Sensitivity).

Which is the Cat, and which the Mouse?  What comes to mind, since Lilith represents independent Feminine Energy, is the White Olde Male Cat passing all these new misogynistic laws in a vain attempt to try to keep the disorderly Minority Feminist Mouse in line.  Minority aligns with Feminist, at least to some degree, because most non-European cultures are far more Yin than is Whitey.  It’ll be interesting to see how much of their Power Women and Minorities reclaim for themselves during the rest of November.

At the Neptune Station, the impending Jupiter-Lilith Conjunction – which is barely within Orb now, so we wouldn’t otherwise emphasize it – makes a Septangle with Mercury and Moon-Uranus, and a Short Quintangle with Vesta and the South Node.

A Septangle is three planets all in Seventh-Harmonic Relations (Magic, Timing) with one another, and a Quintangle is three planets all in Fifth-Harmonic Relationship (Learning) to each other.  While a full Quintangle is two Biquintiles (2 x 360/5 = 144 degrees) and a Triquintile (3 x 360/5 = 216 degrees), filling most of the Zodiac, a Short Quintangle is two Quintiles (360/5 = 72 degrees) and a Biquintile, occupying a much smaller segment of the pie.

The Septangle should mean something like…

By liberating our Yintegrity (Moon-Uranus) to Speak Her Truth (Mercury) when the moment is ripe (Septangle), we liberate our Independent Self (Jupiter-Lilith). 

We could also say that…

Our work on our Edges and Boundaries (Moon-Uranus – see above) will increase our Awareness (Mercury) of the parameters of our Independence (Jupiter-Lilith) and our ability to find and move through the Portals (Septangle) that lead to our Liberation.

While the Short Quintangle may manifest as…

We’re up for Learning (Biquintile) how our concepts of the Sacred (Vesta) and our Limiting Beliefs and Emotions (South Node) interact with one another, and how our Liberation (Jupiter-Lilith) can inspire us to transcend both.

In many cases, our Karmic Limiting Beliefs result from our having gotten stuck on particular Fundamentalist religious Patterns in a previous life.  So while our concept of the Sacred is powerful, it may need to be transcended if we are to Liberate ourself from our Karma.  Bear in mind that this is not just individual work – our cultures and other Entities larger than ourselves (which Neptune after all symbolizes) are also working to release their own Karma.  Not just as accumulated collectives of individual Karma, but also as Archetypal Entities in their own right.

Pallas-Neptune

Which brings us back to Pallas-Neptune – our Spiritual Edges and Social Boundaries.  While Pallas makes Fifth-Harmonic Angles to Moon-Uranus and Saturn, it also makes a Second-Harmonic Angle (Opposition) to Neptune.

While the Second Harmonic indicates a Blooming, or Completion of the work required to (in this case) set Boundaries and stretch Edges enough to establish a Marketplace, the Second Harmonic also represents the Intuitive Wisdom, Independence, Self-Trust, and Self-Resourcefulness (Angeles Arrien, Tarot Handbook, p.30) we have gained in that process.

But as the Priestess, the Second Harmonic is also tied to Ritual, Tradition, Followership, and defense of rigid rules.  Studying under a great Master, one follows the instruction closely, in order to internalize the Wisdom of the Master.  But there is a thin edge between following instructions and Fundamentalism.  If one never clicks in to the Wisdom itself, one gets stuck on the rules.  So the Second Harmonic can represent either or both – rigid adherence to Tradition and Ritual, and/or the Intuitive Wisdom, Independence, Self-Trust, and Self-Resourcefulness gained by clicking into the Wisdom behind the Tradition.

So one of our Edges here involves examination of what we consider to be Sacred, to uncover how much of our zeal is rigid adherence, and how much is Intuitive Wisdom.

Venus-Pluto

Which brings us a step further, to Venus-Pluto.  Pluto Initiates Venus on November 15th.  In the Neptune Station chart, they’re Conjunct, Square to Moon-Uranus, Sextile to Chiron and the North Node, and Trine to the South Node.  Without working through the “logic,” we can just say that…

Our Addictions are likely to be up for some very Graceful Healing here, including the places where we aren’t really addicted, but fear that we may be.

Venus-Pluto has another role to play here as well.

Neptune-Vesta

The Neptune Station makes a Triseptile Angle (3 x 360/7 = 154 degrees) to Vesta.  So there is…

Opportunity for windows to open around which of our bottom-line Sacred tenets have served us well up to the present, but are now obsolete with regard to our Spiritual progress, and must be respectfully closed.  We may also find some Sacred tenets that have been sabotaging us – those are literally begging to be closed.

And there is a Septile Bridge across this Triseptile – Vesta Septiles the Sun which in turn Septiles Pluto, which makes yet another Septile on to the Neptune Station.  So…

By connecting to Source (Sun), our Addictions (Venus-Pluto) and obsolete Sacred tenets (Vesta) are, at the proper time (Septile), brought into our Consciousness (Neptune) for release.  Take notes, as these windows could open only briefly.

The Neptune Station closely Trines (Grace) Mercury (Awareness).

Then There’s Eris

Given the thick layer of Olde Male pomade that obscures our Clarity about the avaricious predatory capitalism and its perps that rule Western culture in the places where Community should have hegemony, whenever Lilith Acts Out, Eris is probably not far away.  And lo, adding Eris we find that she’s Septile to the Neptune Station, Biseptile to Pluto, and Triseptile to Vesta.  That creates two additional Configurations – A Vesta Septile Yod with Eris and Stationary Neptune at the base, and a Pluto Septangle with Vesta and Eris.  As well as five sevenths of a Grand Septile.

It turns out that our Revelatory adventures (Eris) with our Sacred Cows and Golden Calves (Vesta) aren’t optional (Pluto) after all.  If they aren’t optional, and their timing is important (Septile), then there’s a good chance they’ll catch us off guard (Neptune).  If any uninvited Energies nudge their way into your space during this Portal, open up to them, as they’re likely to carry important messages.

Lots going on, eh?

While Fluoride stiffens bones and teeth, it’s the poster-child Mineral for Liberation from behavioral, intellectual, emotional, and Spiritual rigidity.