Vacancies

A reader Wonders…

“I just realized I am not well versed in the ‘vacant spot’ and how to read it; for example, 19 Virgo (near my Natal Jup) – Is the vacant point an important piece to incorporate Natal planet positions to understand creating the pattern within the transits?  Or is the vacant spot more an indication of what is to be understood from the pattern configuration?  If you have any references from your posts that I could study further?  Or maybe a quick explanation will do the trick.”

Yes, when you’re at https://astrobuss.wordpress.com/, there’s a long column of keywords (“categories”) to the right of the text.  If you’re looking at a specific post, it doesn’t show up.  I try to add a keyword to a post only when the post explains the term, but I’m not totally consistent about categorizing all posts.  I notice that there are two cubbyholes for “Vacancy,” one under “Planets etc.” and one under “Astrologuese.”  They should be combined, as there’s no difference in how they’re used – but it would take me about an hour to combine them, so I won’t bother.

But let’s go ahead with a quick explanation, as we never know what we’re going to find from the keyword list – I “improve” my astrology constantly, so I’ll just tell you how I use Vacancies now…

Configurations in a chart are combinations of planetary angles that, usually, fill the Zodiac (usually that means they add to 360 Degrees).  For instance, the Grand Sextille comprises six planets each two Signs or 60 Degrees apart, 6 x 60 = 360.  The Grand Sextile (and the Grand Anything) is considered to be much more Powerful than six Sextiles randomly placed around a chart or less well organized.

I consider it an Almost-Grand Sextile when five of the six Positions are occupied, because if we supply the missing Energy in the sixth Position, then we Complete the Grand Sextile and Enjoy the Benefits  (kinda like Bingo or the Lotteries, of a Full Hand in Poker).  It’s similar with other Almost-Grand Configurations – Quintile, Septile, etc. Occasionally, when it seems appropriate, I’ll consider a Configuration with two Vacancies to be Almost-Grand.  Like the four adjoining Septiles we had at the 25 April 2020 Pluto Station, where just for the heck of it we looked to see if there were Stars at the missing three Positions (still in my queue, Bob!).

Notice that an Almost-Grand Cross is a T-Square – the primary Benefit of any Grand Configuration is that it’s Balanced, including the Grand Cross.  It combines four T-Squares, but it’s In Balance, so it’s not considered as Troublesome as the T-Square.  The primary Challenge of the T-Square then is to Create Balance from it.  We don’t usually consider the Vacancy of a T-Square, but it wouldn’t hurt to do so.

We were looking at a 19-Virgo Vacancy in the Almost-Grand Sextile in the 7 May Full Moon chart.  I don’t have a way to check to see if a Vacancy may be occupied by asteroids (or even dwarf planets) that I don’t usually use – I wish I did, as it would help a lot.  If anyone has a way to do this, let me know.  So if none of the “planets” (meaning planets, asteroids, dwarfs, Lights, Nodes, etc) I use are there, I look for Stars nearby.  That’s an iffy proposition, as there aren’t that many Stars that are cataloged for use by astrologers.  However, if there’s a Biggie there, like Arcturus or Regulus or Sirius, that’s Huge.

Whether there’s a Star near the Vacancy or not, if you have a natal planet there, you automatically Complete the Configuration, without even trying.  So for you it’s a full Grand Sextile, because you Embody the Energies of your natal chart.  If you have natal planets near any of the other planets in the Configuration, that’s worth noting as well, because that natal planet will be Lit Up more than usual.  As Huminals (Huper Animals), we’re like Viruses, with those little Spikes all over, corresponding to the planets in our natal chart, each of which is an Antenna for broadcasting and picking up (and maybe getting Stuck on) Energies from outside of ourself.

So that Almost-Grand Sextile in the Full Moon chart comprised…

• Klotho – Beginning New Timelines
• Sun-Mercury – Awareness of our Essence
• Neptune – Our Relationship to Energies Larger than Our Own
• Hylonome-Veritas – Insights into our Codependence
• Moon – our Instincts

If we add a Jupiter to that in the Vacancy, which would apply only to you, we Expand everything.  A Grand Sextile itself is about fabulous Grace or Good Luck in combining the Energies in each Sextile, which in turn is about Projects where we take the First Step and the Universe takes over after that.  So for the next several weeks (Full Moon charts impact the following 2-4 weeks) we might be finding excellent progress around Expanding New Projects that involve Trusting our own Instincts more, and Listening More to (and/or PIAVAing the Assistance of) our Guides, instead of Playing to or Soliciting the Opinions of Others.

Now, for most of the rest of us, without a planet in or near 19 Virgo, we have to Consciously add the Energy of the Vacancy in order to take advantage of the Enhanced Grace of the Grand Sextile.  For a guess about what that might mean we’d read the Sabian Symbol for that Degree, 19 Virgo: “A Swimming Race.”  To me that means Efficiency at processing our Emotions.  So for the rest of us for the next several weeks we might find great progress with New Projects that involve Trusting our own Instincts more, Listening More to our Guides and Soliciting their Assistance more, and Trusting our own Emotions (as Opposed to our Thoughts About them of course), instead of Trying to Please Others.

For all of us, the Programming we received from our Mothers is likely to be particularly Lit Up, since the Saturn Station occurs on Mother’s Day.  And we can’t ignore the fact that the Moon goes Out of Bounds on Mothers Day, so it’s all going to be a lot more Emotional than it would be usually – though telling Mom to Butt Out of our Choices will probably always be a Chancy Conversation.  But its a Grand Sextile, suggesting very Positive Outcomes from any Project that we Initiate, so it may be the best time ever to Begin our Self-Liberation.

Or, you can take an Easier path, especially if your Mum is Difficult (or Deceased), and use your Mirrors instead.  Either way our Relationship with our Dear Mother is Changing, so we want to Make the Best of the Opportunity in whatever way Feels best to us – that is, by Trusting our Emotions.  If our Emotions are Conflicted, as they’re likely to be, what an Opportunity to Stay Present with our Confusion and Avoid trying to Fix it.

If your Mother is the type to Demand Commitment, what an Opportunity to Stand your Ground (Veritas-Hylonome) – “Mom, I hear that you’re Asking for a firm Commitment, but I’m not Ready to do that, so we’ll have to leave the whole Issue Dangling till I am Ready, and I don’t know when that will be.”  Then, while the odds of Success are Great (Grand Sextile), you get to Practice Not Trying to Fix or Manipulate your Mother’s Emotions!

You might think this all sounds Daunting, but it’s a Critical and Natural part of Claiming Your Power, and as we’ve said, there may never be a Better Time.  Trying to stuff your Mother’s Heavy Emotions into your Carrion Bag for the Ascension Flight won’t work.  They’ll bump you off the Flight for overweight.

Squares, Nodes, Mission

A reader asks…

“I’ve been reading about the ‘problem’ of resolving squares to the Nodal Axis.  What would you feel a strategy might be to resolve my natal square from Uranus to my Nodes?  I’ve often been confused – or been given confusing information about – the nature and function of my North Node in Aries in the 4th House.  Some say its a Mission to become more of ‘I,’ with a strong identity.  Within the realm of the 4th, which is supposedly focused on home, hearth, family and tradition, it almost appears I have my nodal axis upside down, and the North Node SHOULD be in the 10th, and vice versa.  With North Node in the 4th, is my Mission to become, as Garrison Keillor put it, a bachelor Lutheran farmer in Lake Wobegone?  The word and process that I reckon I’m tripping over is ‘resolve.’  Resolve what, and how?”

Yes indeed, a ton of meat here, much of it important.  For instance…

• Squares as “problems” that need to be “resolved”
• Squares to the Nodes
• Uranus
• The Fourth House
• Aries
• SHOULDs
• The North Node and our Mission
• How do we pick our way through the Maze?

There’s a fair amount of astrologuese in here, which would normally be indented in normal (non-italic non-bold) type.  But the astrologuese is pretty basic, and I explain it pretty well as I go, and this is a good example of how astrology is useful, and how it’s done.  So we’ll leave it in “general-reader” format (bold italic); skim any parts that bore or Confuse you – or Ask questions.

Squares as “Problems”

A “Square” is formed when two planets are three Signs apart.  Traditional Western Astrology regards a Square as, in so many words, a Curse.  Dane Rudhyar, one of our astrological mentors, regarded a Square as huperity’s Evolutionary Edge.  We consider a Square to be Mastery through Challenge.  There is one sense in which a Square is a Curse – Squares involve perpetual Frustration.  But we shift that by shifting our Attitude.  It’s our need for Perfection that is Frustrated, so if we Identify with Perfection (or even Satisfaction), then yes, Squares are no fun.  We could say that’s a Choice, but our own Identity is transparent to most of us most of the Time, so we have to bring it up into Consciousness before it becomes a Choice that the Ego makes – as opposed to a Choice that the Soul has made.  Clearly “Someone” Chose to be born into a Lifetime featuring a Square, so if we postulate some sort of Consciousness superior to the Lifetime, “Soul” is as good a term as any.

Squares to the Nodes

The planets and other sensitive points (such as the Nodes) in a Square involve Expectations.  In general, we’re likely to Feel a bit out of sorts when we’re Identifying with the South Node, because we’re likely to be engaged in Karmic Self-Sabotage of some sort, but likely to Feel pretty good about ourself when we’re Identifying with the North Node, since we can literally Feel the Future getting easier as we give ourselves permission to move closer to our Deepest Desires.  In the normal course of Life, this is a progression.  We’re Motivated by our crummy South-Node Experiences to find a lever to improve them, and we’re Motivated by our Deepest Desires simply because they dominate our Consciousness (whether we know it or not).  So all of us naturally Expect ourself to be moving, on average, with detours, away from Self-Sabotage and toward indulging our Deepest Desires.  A Square to the Nodes Frustrates that Expectation.

This is true of any Square.  For instance, a Square from Venus to Mars will Frustrate our Desire for a Satisfying Relationship.  A Square from Jupiter to Saturn will Frustrate our Desire for a Satisfying Social Life.  So, why would “we” (our “Soul”) Choose to live such Frustration?  Because “we” Chose to Study How to Create a Satisfying Life in regard to the nature of our Square, rather than Choosing to Enjoy a Satisfying Life in regard to the indicated arena of Life.  Once we realize that our Unconscious Objective is to Study the Process involved with our Square rather than to Enjoy it, Frustration dissolves, because when we’re Studying something, every “failure” provides more information to help us understand the Process.  No one ever “resolves” a Square; when we Master one level of our Study, we move on the next level of Subtlety.

Have you ever heard the axion “Those who can Do, Do; those who can’t, Teach”?  It’s often meant as an insult to Teachers, but it’s not that at all.  If you’re a Natural at something you can hardly Teach it, because it’s Unconscious for you – that’s what it means to be “a Natural.”  If you’ve struggled to Learn something and explored all of the blind alleys that lead only to perversions or subversions of your objective, you certainly don’t Feel like a Master – but you are!  And you have become the “Natural” to Teach it.  

There are two steps to appreciating your Squares: Honor the Mastery that’s hidden under your lifelong Frustration, and switch from Identifying with your Frustration about never “getting it right” to Identifying with your Mastery gained from Studying all the ways there are to “get it not quite right.”  So someone with a Square to their Nodes is someone who is, as Goethe put it, immer strebend, someone who können erlöst werden.

When the Zeitgeist is stable, the “Expert” is someone who knows all the right answers.  When the Zeitgeist is in flux (which it sort of is these days, just a little), the Expert is someone who’s Studied all the blind alleys – the folks with Squares.  

So someone with a Square to their Nodes has become a “Natural” at Teaching others how to Transcend their Karma.  I wouldn’t call it a “resolution,” I’d call it something more like an “accommodation,” or an “appreciation,” but there are two steps to such a “resolution” – Honor your Mastery, and switch your Identification from Frustration to Highly Motivated Student of the Subtleties.

Uranus

Now we get to Uranus as the Squaring planet.  The traditional Western astrological interpretation for Uranus is “Disruption,” because traditional Western astrology is oriented toward the Ego, the Material, and the Status Quo.  Uranus Disrupts that which is no longer in Alignment with the Soul’s Path in the Lifetime.  Uranus represents the Personal Unconscious, another concept that matches pretty well with the concept of “Soul.”  

So as we Honor our Mastery and Identify with our Student of the Subtleties, we need to be Mindful that Soul – Uranus – will be constantly bringing us up short whenever we start to Ego-Identify with any sort of Certainty.  In an undergrad course you get good grades for demonstrating your Certainty about some approximation to the “right” Answer.  In a graduate seminar you get good grades by raising new Questions to challenge the established Answers.  The Student of the Subtleties Teaches, but not because they know the Answers.  They Teach because they know what sort of Question will move someone to their next stage of Growth.  

If it’s already occurred, your Experience of when Uranus in the Sky crossed the place in your natal chart where the North Node sits, will Teach you a great deal.  Meditate yourself back into those Experiences.  If it hasn’t occurred yet, watch for it and Pay close Attention to the Experience.

The Fourth House

As the Zodiacal Sky is divided into twelve Signs, the Zodiacal Earth is divided into twelve Houses.  They correspond to one another, but while the Signs are about Energies, the Houses are about how Energies Manifest into hard copy.  The Fourth House, corresponding to Cancer or The Nurturing Mother, represents Security.  The Tenth House, corresponding to Capricorn or the Industrious Father (in the gender bias of Medieval Europe, where traditional Western astrology arose), represents Community.  The traditional meaning of the Tenth House is Career/Profession, but that’s a bias of the Industrial Revolution (which, recall, we’re leaving) and the introduction of Wage Slavery.  In Feudal Europe (most of us, except for our alternative efforts, are returning to a form of Feudalism, as the 1% hoard the planet’s Resources and enslave the rest of us; of course many have been there all along) before Industrialism, this was Community: the Cobbler made shoes for the Cooper, and Cooper made staves for the Brewer, and the Brewer made Kraut for the Cobbler’s kids.

The South Node in the Tenth House implies that you’ve brought into this Lifetime a good deal of Self-Sabotage around Community.  The Tenth and Fourth Houses are opposite sides of the same Coin; in traditional society Security depended very much on Community.  So the current Life is about Learning Security.  Chances are you grew up with little Security, so you may not be a “Natural” at it, based on your early Life Experiences.  However, the South Node is more than just Self-Sabotage.  It’s also Unconscious Skills.  You brought with you into this Lifetime a carpetbag full of Skills around Community.  Even as they remain Unconscious, if you look objectively at your Life, you can see how your Unconscious Skills with Community have kept you Alive and relatively Well.  

The South Node is also called the Dragon’s Tail.  Our Hidden South-Node Skills are symbolized by Smaug’s Treasure; Smaug is the Self-Sabotage that we need to “slay” (actually, befriend) in order to recover the Skills we developed in “Past Lives.”  We can also think of Smaug as the Veil that prevents us from reaching into the Zero Point Field (aka Akashic Records) to recover any Skill we need.  In modern biology, the direct connection between our Mitochondria and the ZPF is blocked by Held Emotions and/or stored Toxic Substances.  In the standard Hero’s Journey, we need to stand, in our fully Grounded Presence, face to face with our Greatest Fears, our “Past Deaths” so to speak, in order to overcome our Upper Limits or Self-Sabotage.

If my South Node were in the Tenth House, I’d sit in Meditation while evoking every Fear, or other Negative Energy, that I hold around Community.  Will my Community be there for me when I’m on the Edge of Survival?  Where do I Feel that in my Body?  Can I Embrace it Lovingly?  “You poor Sweetheart, you really feel Abandoned, don’t you.” – or whatever parallel Empathy is appropriate.  I’d stretch myself a little bit around Community; maybe go to a Meetup of some sort, and then afterwards Sit with all of the Feelings that arose before, during, and after.  We also may need to focus on Cleansing toxins out of the Body.  In our South Node we chronically underestimate ourself, as we Focus more on the Sabotage and seldom appreciate our Natural Skills.

You can also PIAVA Security; Imagine how it will Feel in your Body when you are completely Secure, and rehearse that Feeling frequently.  Work on your Discernment of Insecurity in any form.  Do you instantly recognize Anxiety as an Emotion when it arises, and Empathize/Embrace it on the Emotional level, or do you focus on the intellectual noise that Anxiety creates?  Security for you is a Choice.  Every day when you wake up, the first thing you want to do is PIAVA that you bring Insecurity fully into Consciousness.  You can’t Choose Security while Insecurity is Unconscious. 

Aries

Then there’s Aries.  South Node in Libra implies Self-Sabotage and Unconscious Skills around your relationship to Other.  If we are All One, who the Devil is Other?  If we’re each the Center of our own Universe, then Other is on the Periphery.  Go into Trance and have a look at how that is, objectively.  What’s the nature of the Attachment between you at the Center and Other at the Periphery?  Are you facing one another, or facing away from one another?  How far away?  Mutually Supportive, or adversarial?  Or ambivalent?  Are there Pitbulls between you, or Kittens?  Are you holding hands?  Arms crossed?  Akimbo?  What’s the Feeling?  Play with it, move the players around on the stage, add or remove props, till it Feels more comfortable and comforting.  Do that whenever you feel the need.

Aries is the “dumbbell” of the Zodiac, as it brings with it zero Experience on the Planet.  It’s driven by Spirit.  Ask Aries what it’s up to, and if you get an honest answer it’ll be “I don’t know.  It’s all an experiment.”  If it’s an Experienced Aries, “Ask me in five years” will follow.  Aries starts things,  It’s not in charge of finishing anything.  In retrospect, if Aries Trusted themselves and started what their Intuition told them to start, and didn’t let any Unbelievers (including their own Shoulds) talk them out of it, the Inventions of Aries will be remarkable.  But they’re of the Future, they make no sense in the context of the Present.  With North Node in Aries you’re flying blind.  Did you Trust your Instinct yesterday?  Then you’re on the right track.  There will be no confirmatory email.  It’s just Trust your Guidance.  That’s it.  Doesn’t matter whether it Feels right – that’s just Emotional noise.  There will be a very subtle nod of approval from the Soul when you follow your Guidance, but easily drowned out by the much louder Emotions.

North Node in Aries in the Fourth House: your Guidance is your Security.  If you try to steer using your Emotions, or second-guess your Guidance intellectually, or devolve into Certainty, go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.  Of course your Deepest Desires are your own, but once you work your way through the pretenders to that throne, you may find that your Deepest Desire of All is to Trust Your Guidance.  Not Faith in your “Self,” Faith in your Guidance.  If you Identify with your Guidance, you’ll resist Change.  You want to Witness your Guidance.  You get there by Discerning any Resistance to that and Loving it to death.  “You poor Sweetheart, Trust is Hard, isn’t it.”

SHOULDs

Of course our SHOULDs are mere intellectual noise.  Any semblance of Should must be recognized immediately as Captain Farrell, a diversion from the true path.  Ask who’s SHOULDing on you, see if you can develop a dialog with them.  If it’s you, how old are you?  What were you Feeling at that age – ie, what are they Feeling now as they’re SHOULDing you?  Empathize with them, see what their positive intentions for you are, and see if you can get them to Support what you Want by Supporting what they Want.  Make friends with them; once you negotiate Win-Win, they’ll be a strong part of your Guidance.

If it’s someone else, who?  What is it they want for you?  Even if their intentions are good, you need to Mirror them.  You don’t need them running your Life any more.

In this case, where you think the North Node SHOULD be up in Libra, in the outgoing section of the chart, you can probably blame your grade-school teachers.  Schoolteachers wouldn’t be teachers if they weren’t Extroverts.  Extroverts have no understanding whatsoever for Introverts.  They believe Introversion is a sickness, or a regressive gene that needs to be overcome, and they made that unequivocally clear to us when they had Power Over us.  When an Extrovert gets worn down, they recover their élan by being with Other People.  When an Introvert gets worn down, they recover with Solitude.  We’re all some of each, but usually one or the other dominates.  Which for you?  The Fourth House is deep inside us, some say deepest inside us.  You may need to Honor your Introvert here.

The North Node and our Mission

So no, no bachelor Lutheran farmer in Lake Wobegone for you.  Your children may be below average.  That would be constraining the Future, and Aries will rebel at the next crossroad, of which there will be many.  When Aries rebels, it will take you on a Heuristic detour.  Instead of moving forward in leaps and bounds, you’ll be tangled up in a remedial class in the briar patch.  If you Pay Attention to the lesson plan, you can get back to the High Road quickly.

When you’re tempted to follow your Emotions, or Believe your mental symphonies, and especially if you feel Certain about something, stop and Ask for Guidance.  Not Guidance for next week, Guidance for the next hour.  One step at a time.  That’s how Aries works.  So yes, a stronger “I,” but certainly not as in Certainty.  A stronger “I” as in constant and consistent Surrender of Control to your Guidance, constantly and Lovingly watchful for signs of Ego wanting to take credit for your many successes.  “You poor Sweetheart, you really wanted to take credit for that, didn’t you.”

How do we pick our way through the Maze?

Of course, your Nodal T-Square is only one element in your chart.  There are many others, and they all connect to one another.  For instance, what if dwarf planet Eris was near your North Node and dwarf planet Quaoar near your South Node?  Then Quaoar would Channel all manner of critical Survival Wisdom about Other and Community, while Eris would be constantly throwing Golden Apples (Revelation of what’s being Denied) into the ring.  So you’d have to Learn how to phrase your Golden Apples so as not to alienate their recipient.  Listen to a recording of one of Byron Katie’s sessions if you ever get the chance.  When she reads someone else, it sounds terribly Abusive.  But the person she’s reading is all smiles and nods, appreciating the Mirroring of their own Self-Abuse and the confirmation of their already Knowing how to escape into Self-Support.  It sounds Abusive to a third party, but if it’s an accurate Mirror for their own pain, it’s Comfort, not Abuse.

If your South Node is in early Libra, it was profoundly affected by the recent and ongoing dance there between Makemake, Juno, Lilith, and the North Node.  Your Nodes will Return to their original position every 19 or so years, and reverse their position halfway between.  With the North Node currently backing into Virgo (implying breakdown of the old Ego in preparation for Rebirth into Courage), it will have recently backed over your own South Node.  What was that like?  Your Soul’s Path in the Present Moment (North Node in the Sky) will appear to be the opposite of your Soul’s Path in the Lifetime (the South Node in your natal chart).  If you weren’t Conscious of this reversal, it could have been terribly Confusing.  If you were Conscious of the reversal, it would have been terribly instructive.  It could still be very instructive, in review.  If it was Confusing, fabulous; Sit Lovingly with your memories of that Confusion, it was the first stage of Growth.

Finally, it’s a T-Square, so there’s a potent Vacancy lurking Opposite your Uranus.  You have to Consciously supply the Energy of the Vacancy to complete the Grand Cross and bring the T-Square into Balance.  Add the Degree position of one of your Nodes to the Degree position of your Uranus, then divide by two.  Round up to the nearest full Degree (unless it’s x:00, in which case use Degree “x”) and look up the Sabian Symbol of that Degree.  That’s how you Consciously contribute to your own Progress in the Lifetime.  I think you’ll Enjoy that part.  Most of the rest of our natal chart has a Life of its own, whether we’re Witnessing it or not.  Our Vacancies are our opportunities to get involved with a lot of leverage.

Full Moon Yin Gate and Portal 7.5-15

Swallowtail Selenite, a Crystalline form of Gypsum or Calcium Sulfate.  The same stuff that the inside walls in your house are made of.  Like Feminine Power – often so subtle that it’s not even seen, but what would you do without it?  Look at those subtle colors!

* * * * *

As we’ve said about the Full Moon’s Yin Gate…

“The Core Issue is the Mysterious Relationship between our Soul’s Path and our Personal Mythology.  And the way that Mystery is Changing, as our Personal Mythology changes, and as our Soul’s Path evolves and adapts to the Choices our Ego makes. 

“This is the central Opposition from the Vesta-Ceres Conjunction to Uranus, the central axis of the Yin Gate.”

“As in any Yin Gate, there are two Subsidiary Issues.  The first is the Mysterious Relationship between the concept of Order in your Personal Mythology, and the concept of Beauty in your Personal Mythology.  Do you know what it means to a Native American to ‘walk in beauty’?

“One of the other Oppositions in this Yin Gate is between Venus and Saturn.

“And the second Subsidiary Issue is the Mysterious Relationship between the concept of Miracle in your Personal Mythology, and the concept of The Feminine in your Personal Mythology.

“The link is indirect, which we’ll explain in a while, but the third Opposition is between Chiron and a derivative of Lilith.  Derivatives were not reigned in after they caused the Worldwide 2007-8 crash.”

Here’s a picture of the Yin Gate…

A Yin Gate is a Golden Rectangle (two parallel Trines with Sextiles between their ends, the blue lines) with embellishments – namely a planet that bisects each Sextile.  The two bisecting planets create back-to-back Fingers of God or Yods (the green lines) with the opposite corners of the Golden Rectangle.  Which means that there are three equally spaced Oppositions involved (the dark red lines).

In a Golden Rectangle, the two Oppositions provide the Energy, and describe any conflicts or Learning Opportunities that might arise.  But in a Yin Gate it’s the central Opposition that provides the Energy and intrigue, by virtue of the back-to-back Fingers of God.  A Finger of God (two Quintiles from a third planet to each end of a Sextile) basically means Pay Attention to this!

In this case the Core Issue is realignment of the Balance between the Yintegrity that we’ve been working with since 2012, and the re-examination of our deepest Values, which we’re in the middle of.

The actual Initiation of Vesta (our deepest Values, or that which we hold Sacred) by Ceres (Sustainability) doesn’t take place for a few more weeks, but they’ve been dancing together for a while now, so we can consider these realignments with our Yintegrity to be part of the Initiation, which as we said earlier was about “A child giving Birds a drink at a fountain: Manifest Form reconnecting itself to its overlighting Spirit.“

* * * * *

Sacred And Sustainable

As it turns out, this re-examination of our Deepest Values is very profound.  Take a look at this intense ten-day Portal that spans July 5 through 15 – though we’re actually already well into the preliminary training…

• July 5: Ceres Initiates Vesta at 22 Libra
• July 5-6: The Moon crosses Mars, Ceres, Vesta, and North Node
• July 12: Ceres Initiates Mars at 25 Libra
• July 13: North Node Initiates Vesta at 25 Libra
• July 13: North Node Initiates Mars at 24 Libra
• July 14: North Node Initiates Ceres at 24 Libra
• July 15: Vesta Initiates Mars at 25 Libra
• July 16: The Sun Squares almost everybody from Cancer (the Sun Squares Mars a few days later)

As if any combination of the The Sacred (Vesta) and Sustainability (Ceres) isn’t important, the involvement of the North Node means that new parts of our Mission in the Lifetime are coming into Consciousness.  Mars brings Energy and Excitement into this Renaissance.  And the Moon manifests it from Potential into Form. 

These Initiations span the Gemini and Cancer Duads of Libra, which imply that we as Individuals and as Cultures have worked our way through Social Self 1.0, Social Self 2.0, and Social Self 3.0, and we’re embarking on Social Self 4.0…

We’re bootstrapping a whole new way of doing business with Other (primarily Other People, but also any Entity other than what we habitually think of as Me and whom we habitually Defend as Me, which for most of us includes the Planet).  We’re basically starting over in July, rebuilding all of our Relationships on a very different footing, one based on Compassion.

Social Self 1.0 was based on Reaching Out (Libra), 2.0 on Barter (Capricorn), 3.0 on Excitement (Aries), and Social Self 4.0 will be based on Nurturance (Cancer).

The feet of the Vesta-Ceres Finger of Yod are Chiron (Despair, Impossibility, Miracles) and Venus (Beauty in every sense of the word, including Coherence)…

We can expect two things from this bootstrapping – Elegance, and Miracles.  Be very watchful here and in July for any sign of Despair, Cynicism, Skepticism, or any sense that something otherwise important is impossible.  When you catch yourself in Doubt or Disbelief,

Cancel, Neutralize, Upgrade.

Let me repeat that with emphasis, because it’s critical for the Planet. 

Be very watchful here and in July for any sign of Despair, Cynicism, Skepticism, or any sense that something otherwise important is impossible.  When you catch yourself in Doubt or Disbelief,

Cancel, Neutralize, Upgrade.

There is something you Want very deeply.  Never give up on that; it’s one piece of the jigsaw puzzle called Planet Earth.  When you encounter any reason why it’ll never work, forget everything you know, quickly PIAVA Both/And, and Change the Subject.

* * * * *

Yintegrity

The other pole of the Core Issue is the work we’ve been doing since 2012 (since the 1960s really) on our Yintegrity.  To review…

Yintegrity means doing what we feel like doing, moment to moment.  Yangtegrity means doing what we said we were going to do – the traditional measure of Integrity in a male-dominated World.  In order to live in Yintegrity we probably have to reduce our Commitments, renegotiate broken Agreements, and make Amends when necessary.  Avoid Explaining yourself whenever possible.

Not hard to see the connection between our Yintegrity work and Sustaining what we hold Sacred. 

The feet of the Uranus (Yintegrity) Finger of God are Saturn, and that funny little upside down “T” that we’ve drawn in the upper right corner of the blue box.  Saturn’s easy…

Saturn tells us that maintaining our Yintegrity – not giving away our Power or allowing someone we Love (or someone we don’t) to have Suzerainty over us – is The Most Important Thing.  We’ll be continuing our re-examination of the Sustainability of our Deepest Values in the context of our Yintegrity, not the other way around.

When there appears to be a conflict between Yintegrity and the Sacred, it’s your understanding of the Sacred that needs to be renegotiated, remembering that Now we see through a glass darkly.

There abide Faith, Hope, and Charity, and the greatest of these is Charity – there is no Love without Self-Love, and Yintegrity is the purest form of Self-Love.  With reduced Commitments, Renegotiation, and Amends, Yintegrity is also the purest form of Other-Love, as it eschews deception on all levels.  Yes, it sounds like Chaos when you’re in Resistance or attached to the status quo, but the status quo is Unsustainable.

So what’s that upside-down T all about?

There is no planet at the upper right corner of the blue box in the picture above.  This is the 18-degrees-of-Virgo Vacancy that will draft you into serving the Collective version of the Yin Gate if you have a natal planet or other “hot spot” there.

Okay, this isn’t really a Yin Gate – it’s missing a foot!  To avoid discriminating against the disabled, we call the missing foot a Vacancy, and invite one and all to fill it with a token from their Nativity.  True, but we should put it this way too.  It takes six points in alignment to make a Yin Gate.  When we have five of the six points, the Yin Gate is there in Potential.  We manifest it into form by invoking the Vacancy.  We can do that in several ways.

We can find someone who has a planet or other hot astrospot close to the Vacancy; they’ll be sort of a living key for opening the Yin Gate.

We can look for an obscure asteroid or a fixed Star hanging out there, and cast the implied meaning of the ‘roid or Star as the key that opens the Gate.

We can look up the Degree of the Vacancy, discover its meaning, and supply that Energy Consciously.  The Sabian Symbol for 18 of Virgo is…

“A Ouija Board: the ability to contact deeper recesses of the unconscious psyche, and sensitivity to psychic intimations and omens.”   That certainly very much complements our work finding a Sustainable Sense of the Sacred, and dropping enough of our Masks to find our Yintegrity.  In fact, it’s probably necessary work for the task!  A prime purpose of the PIAVA process, embedded in the Pay Attention part of it, is to become sensitive to psychic intimations and omens – aka the Unconscious Surround that we haven’t differentiated into Consciousness yet.  Most especially our self-sabotaging Patterns.

When we write about the second element of the Full Moon chart we’ll see how incredible this actually is – the second element is dominated by a Finger of God and a Mjolnir (not just Pay Attention, but also Epiphanies) pointing at Juno, our symbol for the Edge of Consciousness.  And shitohdear, why does that Ouija Board sound familiar?  Because it’s the very degree of the Pluto-Uranus Initiation in 1965, the beginning of the Yintegrity Cycle we’ve been working on!

When we find corroborating evidence like this – several indications pointing in the same direction – we not only know we’re on the right track, but we know that it’s an especially profound process that we’re working on, as the Heavens are making sure we aren’t going miss it!

But it turns out there actually is something near 18 of Virgo in the Full Moon chart.  The upside-down “T” in the upper right corner of the blue box in the picture below is the symbol for a “Midpoint,” which is just a point halfway between two planets.

Midpoints are sensitive places in a chart where the Energies of the two planets are blended.  Obscure, yes (except perhaps in Germany where their study originated, at least in modern times), but also meaningful.

Earlier we referred to it as a “derivative of Lilith” – it’s the Midpoint between Lilith and Ceres.

These are some pretty fundamental Goddesses we’re working with here – Ceres or Diana, the Goddess of Grain; Vesta or Hestia, the Goddess of the Hearth (who was honored in ancient Greece before honoring Zeus and after honoring Zeus, giving you an idea of who was really important); and Lilith, the Goddess of Yindependence.  Nobody does Yintegrity without first learning Yindependence.

Feminine Power often works invisibly. 

Just as this particular representative of Lilith (we’ll soon encounter another) is “imaginary” or symbolic, Lilith is pulling strings from behind the curtain, through her Midpoint with her co-matriot Ceres.

The symbol we routinely use for Lilith Energy is the second center of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth.  The Moon’s orbit is an oval, and ovals have two centers.  One is the Earth.  The other is a place in the Heavens that we call Lilith.

There is a subtle intimation that you may not get your macaroni unless you respect Ceres – certainly it’s true that you won’t get fed psychically without seeking your Yintegrity.

* * * * *

Whew, that’s a lot!  And it’s only the first of four major themes in the Full Moon chart.  How could I summarize this?  I’d just say Wow!  Zowie!  This is Big!  If you’ve lost the plot, go back to the parts in red and burn them into your eyelids in a large font.

Natal Planet in a Transiting Vacancy

“Transiting” means in the sky now, versus “Natal” which means when you were born.  A good deal of astrology is done by studying the relationships between the Transiting planets and your Natal planets.  We don’t do that here because we don’t know where your Natal planets are, unless we do a reading for you.  We just work with the Transiting planets because we’re all under their spell.

A loyal reader asks, “So when a natal planet fills in a vacancy?“

Right on, that’s a Biggie!

First of all, for the rest of the World, you deliver the Energy in the Configuration, in this case the Grand Sextile.  A Transiting five-planet-almost-Grand-Sextile is like everyone’s walking around starving, or walking around in the winter without a coat, and they don’t know what it’s like to eat or be warm – they know there’s something really scrumptious just out of sight, but they have no idea what it is.  Imagine a movie where everybody knows something really Big is about to happen, but nobody knows what, and everybody’s running around asking everybody else what they think it might be and getting all hyped up with Expectation and literally, Lust, for something they know is so good they can taste it.  But nobody knows what it is.

Then you walk in, with your Transiting-Vacany-filling Natal planet.  Everybody runs to you because you exude the Energy of knowing what it is.  Doesn’t matter whether you do or don’t (it’s all too multidimensional for most Perceptions anyway), you just find that suddenly everyone’s falling all over you, because you personify the plug for the Whole in the Universe.  You don’t have to do anything – you’re it, it all happens without your consent or, in most cases, knowledge.  You just wonder why suddenly everybody’s sucking up to you.  It’d make a great Steve Martin movie.

And since it’s a Grand Sextile, you have the Midas Touch – you see everything that’s just about to fall into place, and you can give it that little Sextile Shove that converts it from Potential to Creative Grace.  You can Heal, grant Wishes.  You are rightly in demand, because others don’t have that Vision.  Don’t take it for granted, or let it go to your head – by October somebody else will be It.  Milk it for all it’s worth, the rest of us need your far-sightedness!

Second of all, for the “Native” (you, the one with the Natal planet in the Vacancy), it puts a huge emphasis on that planet, like it’s the Star of a really big Show in Las Vegas.  In the case of a Grand Sextile, it’s a huge blessing descending on whatever that planet means in your Natal chart.  Suppose it was a planet in the Eighth House, for instance.  The Eighth House is about Power.  With an Eighth-House planet lit up like a skyrocket, people will be hanging on your every word, looking for any little way that a little of all that Power might rub off on them.  You know the way it was in high school, where everybody tried to elbow their way into the good graces of the ones with the Power.  In high school that was the cheerleaders and quarterbacks.

Just for review, Power is the same word as Politics and Ego.  Most of us work with good old “Office Politics,” the grown-up version of high school, in one way or another.  For some people, it goes to their head, either positively or negatively.  They think of their role in the organization as King or Queen, or Jester or Serf or Maid, or the one with the Golden Apple.  We always have to balance our revulsion for the Politics with whatever gain we can eke out from rubbing elbows with Power.  Most folks admire a Big Ego, and some folks are pretty good at helping to polish it.  Folks say they’re disgusted by Big Egos, but watch how they behave around one.

Watch to see how your own Ego reacts this month, as you encounter folks who want to hobnob in case a crumb of Power falls their way, and folks who are inexplicably bitter because they resent your ease with Power.  Not that Power is something you’re necessarily familiar with.  Maybe this huge Blessing will be about your coming into Consciousness about Power.  Just because you have it doesn’t mean you know you have it.  And don’t forget that Power is changing – the Olde Male model of Power is waning.  Lilith/Eris Power is replacing it – Standing Firm to Protect the Innocent.  Unwavering because you’re Standing in Truth.

And don’t throw away the fruits!  You’re likely to be blessed with new Responsibilities and/or Authority and/or Compensation.  Politics is a two-way street.  With a Natal planet in the Eighth you’re no rookie, but those who dole out the Power aren’t either.  Don’t take Responsibility without Authority and Compensation; that’s always their first offer.  It’s a test of your own Power, to see whether you’re willing to Stand Firm for yourself.  Ever wonder why there are so many mismatches between Responsibility, Authority, and Compensation in any organization?  It’s because nobody every gives Power; it’s always taken.

Just to pick a planet at random, for an example, suppose your Natal Vacancy-Filler was Pluto.  Whoa, Pluto in the Eighth!  You live and breathe Power!  And now it completes a Transiting Grand Sextile!  Are you thinking of running for Governor?  There’s a Huge Gift here!  And just to embellish our imaginary Natal chart, suppose Pluto was Conjunct your Natal Sun.  Wouldn’t that be a stunner!  With Sun-Pluto you wouldn’t be Living your Life, rather Your Life would be Living You.  You’d be left running to try to catch up with it.  If you were in Resistance to that, it’d be a living Hell.  You just have to put your canoe in and let it go.  You can steer – Pluto is Transformation as well as Inevitability, but it’s not you that decides where you’re heading.

So maybe the Huge Gift here is that you finally stop Resisting, and let Power take you where it will.  Like Don Juan compared to Castaneda.  Jumping on your Ally’s back and hanging on for the ride!

“Sometimes you can trip out so far that you never get back to know that you’ve left,” as Kesey put it. Why not?

I mean, what is there to lose?  Your sense of Control is only imaginary anyway.  It’s an outstanding chart.  Nothing in it to Fear except, as Winnie said, Fear itself.  Or was it FDR.  I know, it takes your Breath away, but since the decisions aren’t really yours to make, there are no wrong choices.  Totally benevolent, just fast-paced.  Hard to relax when you’re always out of Breath, but that’s your task.  Tap on it.  The World needs you to stop hiding your Light under the bushel.  The World needs your Power in a bigger arena, and it’s likely to fall out of the sky into your kitchen.  Go for it!  Easy for me to say, but we need you!  We need ALL of us to stop hiding!

The King and Queen

I’ve been reading Eugenia Oganova’s blog about Pi, the Lady who has replaced Gaia as the Planet’s Fairy Godmother.  As I’ve said, I’ve been finding Pi enormously helpful when I Ask her for help on something.  Eugenia has some fascinating things to say about what we’re up to.  For example, from her June post,

“The healthy electric King is all about support, patience, cooperative strategies and responsibility, and his healthy magnetic Queen is the presence of love, connectedness, wisdom and pleasure.  Together these energies will change our internal and external worlds. The dynamic interplay of these two healthy and complimentary opposites will generate inspiration and passion for our further awakening.”

One of the reasons this strikes me, is that the King is symbolized by the Fourth Harmonic – and we’ve been working with a Fourth-Harmonic Configuration or two, and the Queen by the Third Harmonic – and we’ve been working with those as well.  And we’ve just been dancing with a couple of Grand Sextiles, the Sixth Harmonic, which if anything is about “The dynamic interplay of these two…opposites” which we hope are “healthy and complimentary.”

Let’s look at the chart for half-past midnight PDT on August 12…

We’ll talk about why we chose that time in a little while.

You can see our Kingly Fourth-Harmonic Angles in red, and our Queenly Third-Harmonic Angles in blue, and you can see the hole at the bottom of the chart, where Venus and the Moon have moved on, and are no longer filling the place that completed the Grand Sextile.  Bummer, eh?

The Grand Sextile

Well, Eugenia talks about how Pi expects us to be “grown up” and take some responsibility.  What can we do – petition NASA to try to get an asteroid in there ASAP?  No, but we can take responsibility for supplying the Energy that would complete the Hexagram.  That hole in our bucket is at 12 degrees of Virgo.  Adding that Vacancy to our chart gives us…

Presto, the Star of David is back!  Okay, so just how do we go about supplying the Energy represented by 12 of Virgo?  The Symbol for that degree is “After the wedding, the groom snatches the veil away from his bride.”  Bingo.  What does that mean?  Well, okay, we’re talking about not just partnership (Sixth Harmonic) here, we’re talking about ritual confirmation of partnership.  The King seems to be Acting abruptly.  At least he isn’t prematurely ripping her bodice.  But wait, what is he snatching?  Her Veil.  That which prevents him from seeing her clearly.

So there’s our first clue about how to bring this chart into Balance –

Clearly see the Feminine.

Not as an object, of course, but as an equal, or better yet as a Guide.  The Yang, with his strength and intellect, is great at doing and planning.  Doing and planning what?  Well, something Valuable, eh?  The sense of Value is Yin.  Something Creative, or Sustainable?  Both Yin.  Does it feel better already?  It’s not about Boys and Girls.  It’s about respect for the Power of the Magnetic, as opposed to the Power of the Dynamic – PIAVA rather than Plan-Do.

Of course our ideal is to complete this marriage within ourselves, to balance our Inner Male and Inner Female so our own Yin Energy supplies “the presence of love, connectedness, wisdom and pleasure” while our own Yang Energy presents “support, patience, cooperative strategies and responsibility.”  Well, to understand how that’s working we need to look at the Venus-Mars Cycle.  The one we’re in Initiated in April at 20 Aries, “A young girl feeding birds in winter.”  Birds, since they fly, often symbolize Spirit, and winter a time of low Light or low Vitality.  Traditionally, as The Kin of Ata reminds us so well, food is scarce in winter.  So we have Spirit nurtured in Scarcity by Yin Energy, and in particular young or Innocent Yin Energy.

The Mars-Venus Initiation occurred Conjunct the Sun (this Cycle is Essential), and Conjunct Eris (time to reveal what’s been hidden).  It’s in a Sixth-Harmonic relationship (partnership) with Lilith (she of perpetual Innocence), and forms Twelfth-Harmonic Angles (breaking out of Limitations) with the Nodes (our Evolution and Devolution in Linear TIme) and Mercury (Awareness).  In one sentence,

This Cycle represents a very important time to Clearly see the Feminine.

The Angles echo the Symbol, multiplying the significance of the Cycle.  Lots of Validation here.

The T-Squares

We’re left with two T-Squares.  By now you know that a T-Square represents Mastery through Challenge.  Most of us would just as soon do without too much Challenge.  T-Squares are frustrating while we are expecting performance or results.  They don’t become interesting till we realize that they’re Learning Opportunities.  We didn’t take the lifetime to shine, we took it to Explore.  We can have fun Exploring, but Expectations will get in the way.  The Uranus T-Square is to Pluto and Pallas-Jupiter.  So we’re being Challenged  (T-Square) to realign our sense of Self (Uranus) to bring it into Harmony with where the Future is going (Pluto), by Expanding (Jupiter) our Boundaries (Pallas).  You know, the old new-wing-on-our-birdcage drama.  Confronting our Judgments, in other words.

As Eugenia puts it,

“We must know that “Everything just IS” – i.e. at first we must know that there is no right and wrong, no agenda, that everything IS.  We must be synchronized with the energy of ISSNESS – the Spirit.  This is the “foundation of Grace”, without which nothing is possible during Pi’s tenure on Earth!“

Eugenia says that this is essential for Creating Abundance, but as a T-Square it’s only a Learning Opportunity, not something that bears Fruit.  If it was a Grand Cross instead, the Energies would be Balanced, and the Challenges would complement one another.  How do we make it into a Grand Cross?  We take the initiative to supply the Energy that’s missing, by filling in the second Vacancy…

Twelve degrees of Libra – “Miners are surfacing from a deep coal mine.”  Whoa, there’s that low-Light Pattern again, and it sounds like Yang Energy moving into the Light.  So our second clue for completing this chart is

Yang Energy needs to Ascend a bit.

Short of a Skyhook, how to do that?  Maybe by focusing on “support, patience, cooperative strategies and responsibility“?  Support and responsibility for…?  Well, what would Lilith do?  Focus on Collaboration and Cooperation?  Eschew Competition?  Neither fight nor flight, but Stand Firm in Truth?  Just sayin’.

The other T-Square is another we’re familiar with – Juno and the Nodes (to the tune of Bernie & the Jets).  It’s about self-sabotage – our Unconscious Identity (Juno) Exploring (T-Square) all the ways to get our Ascension (the Nodes) wrong.  Juno wants us to Explore – we just want to get it on because it’s painful trying to live with one foot in each World.  How do we complete the Juno T-Square?

By taking responsibility to supply the missing Energy of 11 Leo, “Children play on a swing hanging from the branches of a huge Oak tree.”  Indestructible Oak was the center of the Grove, the meeting place, the source of Merlin’s Wand and Arthur’s Table.  It represents Strength, Sustainability, Solidity, Grounding, and the link between Earth and Sky or Matter and Spirit.  And here children swing from her branches.  More Innocence.

Innocence protected by the Immovable.

So these are the three Energies we need to supply, in order to restore the Balance – Clearly see the Feminine, Upgrade the Masculine, and Stand Immovable to Protect Innocence.

Why August 12?

So, why did we pick this chart?  It’s when the Moon (Manifestation, Authenticity) Opposes (Awareness) Eris (Epiphany).  The nature of the Sextile is that it symbolizes Creative Grace – it smooths our Path only after we make the first step.  As does Pi.  She expects us to take responsibility, and to take the initiative.  Take the first step.  PIAVA What am I not seeing?

Pi, would you be willing to loving and gently show me what I need to see and do in order to move out of this place of being stuck?

Throw that at your lifelong Limitations, at your lingering dis-ease, at your Fear, at your Scarcity, at your Pain, at your Self-Sabotage, at your Frustration or Grief.

The all-but-the-Vacancy Grand Sextile persists into September, with Lilith replacing Pallas-Jupiter at the fifth corner, and with the Sun completing the Grand Sextile for several days at the end of August and beginning of September.  The Vacancy will shift a little as the other planets move, but we will be able to use these three Conscious Energies as powerful tools to move Heaven and Earth for the next month or so.  The August 12th Moon-Eris Opposition is a brief Portal that gives us an Opportunity to break through our malaise and stuckness to new Insights.