Error as Intuition

 A Star Cluster

All of this post is intended for folks with some knowledge of or interest in astrology, so we recommend that general readers ignore it.

Well, this is interesting.  Our Planet is misaligned slightly, such that every year at midnight on the Spring Equinox, the Stars are in slightly different positions than they were the year before.  It’s a predictable movement, called the “Precession of the Equinoxes.”  Because it takes about 70 years for the Stars to shift one Degree (with is 1/360th of the Circle), we don’t much notice this day to day.  However, if we’re looking at phenomena that span several Centuries, we might indeed notice it.

We speak of Midnight on the Spring Equinox, because that’s when we can see the Stars – assuming there are no clouds.  To be technical about it, we need to look at the moment of the Spring Equinox, which could occur at any time of day.  Most of the jiggling is caused by Leap Years, but there are other jiggles as well.

You can do astrology hundreds of different ways, but there are two main schools of Western astrology, “Tropical” astrology and “Sidereal” astrology.  In Tropical astrology, one Degree of Aries occurs when the Sun crosses the Equator heading north, on its way to the Tropic of Cancer.  So it’s not “Tropical” as in hot weather with downpours every afternoon, but “Tropical” as in the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, two lines of Latitude that are 23 degrees and 27 minutes north and south of the Equator, respectively.  Tropical astrology watches the planets as they move relative to the Earth.

Sidereal astrology on the other hand, watches the planets as they move relative to the Sun.  For instance, Mars never actually goes backwards, that would be silly.  But when we watch Mars from our Perspective on Earth, it appears to go backwards every couple of years, because as we go around the Sun we pass it up.  The classic example is passing another car on the freeway.  If you’re just watching the other car, it looks like it starts to go backwards as we pass it.  If we assume the the Earth goes around the Sun, then it seems silly to look at things relative to the Earth.  However, Earth is where we live, so looking at things relative to the Earth is the same as looking at things relative to us. 

In Sidereal astrology, because of Earth’s misalignment, the Stars and Constellations are constantly shifting their position relative to the Spring Equinox.  Sidereal astrology assumes that we should define the Signs based on the Constellations they’re named after.  So we can map out the Sign Cancer, for instance, by when certain planets pass certain Stars.  Tropical astrology is based instead on Linear Time.  In Tropical astrology the Sign Cancer is defined as the first 30 days after the Sun gets to 27:23 of north Latitude – the Tropic of Cancer.  If in Tropical astrology we just renamed the Sign Cancer to be called “July” instead, it would make a lot more sense relative to the weather (though of course it would be Confusing relative to the wall calendar) and we wouldn’t confuse it with the Constellation Cancer and the Sidereal Sign.

Terminology aside, it’s always Both/And.  Both Tropical and Sidereal astrology contribute important information to our understanding, and their contributions are different.  The more Perspectives we can use, the wider our understanding, so Tropical and Sidereal astrology should Celebrate one another rather than Competing with one another.

Sabian Symbols are readings for each Degree.  They were channeled in 1925 by Elsie Wheeler, a California psychic.  Here’s some history…

http://sabian.org/sabian_symbols.php

I use Tropical astrology and always have, so I can’t speak for Sidereal astrology (in fact, even the above my be misconceptions on my part!), but Tropical astrology (and the Astrobuss blog) relies on the Sabian Symbols a fair amount.  In Sidereal astrology, one Degree refers to 1/360th of the Sky – roughly the width of a finger held at arm’s length.  In Tropical astrology, one Degree refers to one Day of the Year.  When Marc Jones hired Elsie to do the readings, he was a Tropical astrologer, and I don’t think he instructed Elsie about the difference between a Degree as a portion of the Sky and a Degree as a portion of the Year.

So when Marc asked Elsie what she saw relative to Taurus 25, we don’t know whether she was viewing the Sky and Stars, or a Day in mid-May.  It’s been 90 years since Elsie Channeled the Sabian Symbols, and since the Stars move 1.3 Degrees relative to the Spring Equinox in that time, it’s possible that some or all of the Symbols – whenever Elsie was thinking about the Sky rather than the Year – should be shifted by 1.3 Degrees.  The Stars move forward relative to the Equinoxes, and the Equinoxes move backward relative to the Stars.  This is not a new question…

http://www.timsmith7.com/faqs/astrology/faq_astro004.php

So when Elsie Channeled 24 Taurus as a Warrior with human scalps in his belt and 25 Taurus as A vast public park, the Star Capulus, signifying Aggression, was in 24 Taurus.  Capulus is now in 25 Taurus.  So if Elsie was looking at Capulus when she was reading 24 Taurus, we can make a good case that we should be looking to 24 Taurus and a Warrior for our interpretation of the Sedna-Mars Initiation.  But if she was looking at the Day in mid-May, we should choose 25 Taurus and Park.  To be safe, we’d just choose Both/And.  All Elsie had to go on was the phrase “24 Taurus.”  It’s easier to read someone’s mind than to read the Ethers, and Marc may have known about Capulus, but he had shuffled the cards, and he could not see which Degree was being read.

What about other Stars and Degrees.  If we take several Strong Stars and compare them to their Degrees in 1925…

• Algol (Female Passion) in 26 Taurus
• Zosma (Victimization) in 11 Virgo
• Menkar (Arising into Consciousness) in 14 Taurus
• Facies (Violence) in 7 Capricorn

We get some indications that Elsie was looking at the Sky, but it’s not consistent.

So, Capulus aside, there’s no strong evidence either way, but there is a strong indication that the Stars have significant impact apart from the Sabian Symbols.  So rather than try to Precess the Sabian Symbols, I’d recommend just adding major Stars to your astrological toolkit, as a separate process.

Procrasti Nation and Walking in Beauty

There aren’t many Stones or Minerals that combine the two Heart colors, pink and green.  Zoisite (Calcium Aluminum SoroSilicate) makes two of them – Anyolite (green Zoisite with Ruby) and Thulite (green and pink Zoisite).  This is a lovely chunk of “massive” (Crystalline but not a discrete Crystal) Thulite.  The third Heart Stone is Unakite, a combination of pink Feldspar and green Epidote.  These pink-and-green Rocks symbolize Relationship, combining the two flavors of Heart Energy.  I particularly like this one because in the center it has a band of the third form of Zoisite – the brown form that it makes when Zoisite forms discrete Crystals.  Brown is a Third-Chakra color, so the Stone signifies Relationship without Codependence.

 Φ   Φ   Φ   Φ   Φ

Sitting around feeling guilty because you know you should be doing it, but you don’t feel like it at the moment?  Welcome to Yintegrity. 

This is what it’s about.  What would you be doing right now if you could do anything you wanted?  I know, it’s hard, but Yintegrity is just one Energy of many, and we need to stay in Balance.  Right now, being in Balance means being in Yintegrity, bigtime.  Not a time to be shoulding on yourself.  You’ll feel more like doing that other stuff next week.

Or not.  Maybe that other stuff is what you’re being asked to leave behind, because it’s no longer in Alignment with your Soul’s Path for you.  That’s a hard one if you have a big investment in that other stuff – for instance, maybe it pays the bills, or you vowed till Death do you part, or you promised Mom.  Uranus will do Scorched Earth if you back it up against the wall.  But it doesn’t need to be that way.  You can PIAVA a gentle and loving transition, or you can even PIAVA Both/And.  Maybe there are ways that that other stuff can change so it’s more fun and fits your temperament better.  There’s no need whatsoever to be closed to Miracles.

In fact, Mr. Miracle-Chiron Initiates Mr. Action-Mars at half-past noon PST (http://www.jbuss.com/tt/pst12.htm) on January 31, about 8 hours before Ms. Yintegrity-Uranus Initiates Mr. Karma-South Node.  The Chiron-Mars Initiation occurs at 16 Pisces, “In the quiet of their study a creative individual experiences a flow of inspiration“!  That’s pretty cool.  Why are we drudging about now when something exciting like that awaits us?  We should be celebrating!  What about Uranus-South Node?  14 Aries, “A serpent coiling near a man and a woman.”  That’s pretty germinal.  No wonder we’re in the dumps – you know the “Chinese curse,” May you be born in interesting times.  Well, interesting times ‘r us, so we may as well party!

By the way, to use the Sabian Symbols, or otherwise refer to Zodiacal Degrees, you always round up.  13:17 is 14 Degrees.  Why?  Because there is no “zeroth” Degree – 0:35 is in the first Degree of the Sign.  Aries 14 includes 13:01 through 14:00.  That means the Aries Point, 0:00 of Aries, is actually 30 Pisces, as Aries 1 (or 1 Aries) begins at 0:00:01 of Aries.  It’s better to read both Symbols, though, than to spit hairs – Both/And. 

Cusps are always transitions, and a good case can be made that Pisces 30 is actually the strongest point of Aries.  For instance, if a planet is 3 Degrees shy of a House Cusp, I regard it as being not just in that “next” House, but being “on the Cusp” of that next House, which in many ways is a place of great emphasis.  So if a House ran from, say, 16 Pisces to 14 Aries, I’d count planets as being in that House when they were between 13 Pisces and 11 Aries, and I’d count planets between 14 and 17 Pisces as being highlights of that House.  But when it’s important, Both/And is always better.

The reason I do this is because when two planets are Approaching one another, the Energy is much stronger than when they are Separating from one another.  So I expect Mars-Chiron Energy to be much stronger prior to noon on January 31, than it will be after 1pm.  I extend that logic to House Cusps, and to a lesser extent to Sign Cusps.  I consider a planet at 29 Degrees of Leo to be in Leo, but to be on the Cusp of Virgo.  Depending on other things (such as Conjunctions), I’d talk about the planet as having Leonine qualities, but I’d talk about the Energy as Initiating Virgo.

Sometimes the terms Approaching and Separating are used, respectively, to mean the Waning and Waxing phases of a Cycle instead.  I find that to be confusing and inaccurate, but the bottom line is that you need to be careful to be sure you understand what the speaker means when they use these terms.  Same with the terms “Sinister” (from the left) and “Dexter” (from the right) – even decades later there are some books that I still can’t decipher because they use those terms without clear explanation.

Of course the Chiron-Mars Initiation creates a Quincunx-Unx Bridge across the Nodal Axis-plus-Uranus Opposition and the Uranus-Pluto-Nodes T-Square, so it’s a Big Deal.

An Unx, recall, is our new name for a Twelfth-Harmonic or 30-degree Angle between two planets.  They used to be called SemiSextiles, but that’s much too clumsy.  The Twelfth Harmonic is about Pattern-Breaking, so when the South Node is lit up as it is today, it’s much too important to be considered as half of a Sixth Harmonic Sextile.  In general of course, there’s no better way to get your face rubbed in your Patterns than to get into Relationship (Sixth Harmonic)!  But that’s not necessarily what the South Node is about.

Chiron-Mars is also Square to Ms. Boundaries-Pallas…

There are some Boundaries that need to be Transformed here.  Often an experience of Guilt is generated in real time by Other People’s Expectations; it may not just be your own Programming.  Ask yourself, “Who’s bugging me here?” and take the first answer, then imagine holding a wardrobe Mirror up between you and them, facing them.  If after a minute or so your Feelings change, ask them (psychically) to use a different Communication channel.  Then you can just not answer the phone, and they’ll have to assume you’re otherwise engaged.  If your feelings don’t change you can try a second-most-likely person, but if your first few Mirrors don’t yield results, you want to PIAVA to take Responsibility for your Programming.

We aren’t against negative Feelings; we just don’t see any reason to Sustain them for longer than a few moments.  Why not get down to their root causes and shift the Energy.  Life’s too short to waste on bummers, except to make sure we’re comfortable with ALL Feelings, because it’s all one channel, so if we’re blocking out Guilt for Fear or Anger, we’re also blocking out Excitement and Ecstasy.  That’ll make it very difficult to Follow Our Joy.

Pallas also forms a Trine-Sextile Bridge across the Nodal Axis and the Pluto-Uranus T-Square, so Grace is available.

Mars-Chiron is also Decile to Ms Denial-Eris, and with the Chariklo-Hylonome Conjunction forms a Quintile-Decile Bridge across the Eris-Haumea Opposition.  The Conjunction of Ms. Charm-Chariklo and Ms. Grief-Hylonome is about…

Beauty has it’s own Karma.  By that I mean alpha males and alpha females miss out on a great deal of Life Experience by virtue of their natural attractiveness to others.  When someone is “spoiled” by their parents or other Power figures in their Life, or even stronger or smarter than the average Bear, or skilled in any admired characteristic, it’s a similar phenomenon.  So Beauty and Privilege are coming to some Grief here, and facing this Shift, where we’re sort of being “cut down to size” or brought closer to the norm, facilitates Miracles.  Resisting the Shift feeds Discouragement.  All Losses must be Grieved, and this is no exception; Embracing the Grief will move it through much faster.

And the Opposition between Ms. Revelation-Eris and Ms. Rebirth-Haumea…

There’s a major Rebirth awaiting on the other side of the Grief, but it involves facing up to some Denial.  If it feels like you’re being treated unfairly, then this is what you’re up against.  Rather than indulging your Anger or Offendedness at the unfairness, open to the Grief instead.  And rather than intellectualizing the Anger or Offendedness, PIAVA to Lovingly and Gently take full Responsibility for what you’ve been Denying.  You probably wouldn’t feel Offended without an underlying Feeling of Inferiority or Defensiveness.  There are clues there, but be very kind to yourself.

We and the Universe are always in Balance.  Whatever elements of our Life appear to be Out of Balance, these elements must be Balanced in the Unconscious.  It’s not fun to feel Inferior, so we shove it into the Underwhere whenever we can.  That’s compensated by a bit of a chip on our shoulder, so we’re Offended where no Offense is intended.  Once you explore it once or twice and develop the habit of looking through the Funhouse Mirror at yourself, these Imbalances are easy to resolve.

Just check the Angle of your jaw and spine.  If your nose is in the air a bit or your shoulders back, PIAVA what sort of Inferiority you’re hiding from yourself.  If your chin is pointing down or your shoulders forward, PIAVA what sort of natural or hard-earned Superiority you’re discounting.  Don’t forget to Change the Subject and Pay Attention (https://astrobuss.wordpress.com/category/manifestation/piava/).  Miracles await.

You may have noticed that these techniques can apply equally to either situation – we could easily have pointed our Funhouse Mirror at ourself to resolve our Guilt about what we thought was procrastination, and we could easily have pointed our wardrobe Mirror at our protagonist to resolve our Offendedness over what we felt was unfair.  It’s Both/And – both techniques are valid, useful, and instructive in most situations.  The only “rule” is Safety First.  If we push ourself onto unsafe ground, we can easily create trauma that impedes our journey into Expanded Consciousness and can even reverse it. 

So you might want to do the wardrobe Mirror (facing them) first, but without Blame.  Even when Mirroring someone relieves your discomfort handily, it doesn’t mean that the dynamic is really them pressuring you.  This isn’t Newtonian physics, it’s quantum.  You don’t know who or when or why or how you got Entangled with them.  You could make up Stories, but they’d be one of many that applied.  The notion that your Ego is Separate from theirs is an illusion, part of the Trance that makes up the Veil.  They’re just an actor acting out another part of you, and vice versa.  You’ll probably feel safer though after doing the wardrobe Mirror as if they were your protagonist, so your Funhouse Mirror (facing yourself) will be less biased toward the Defensive.  We can hardly Open to Denial when we’re Defensive.

The Main Effect: Yintegrity I

Blue Jade (A Calcium Magnesium Iron Silicate) is a great aide for making Deep Change easier.  If you don’t happen to have a Blue Jade boulder handy, print out the picture and put it in your pocket.  The picture will hold the Energy for you.

 Θ  Θ  Θ  Θ  Θ 

The current Portal actually runs through at least the Ides of March, with peaks January 19-20 and January 31-February 1.  That is, if you’re taking your Yintegrity exercises seriously. 

Our Yintegrity exercises mean that we’re working to Lovingly and Gently move from

Doing What We Said We Would Do (Yangtegrity)

to

Doing What We Damn Well Feel Like Doing, When We Feel Like Doing It (Yintegrity).

Of course, to do Yintegrity in a Yangtegrity World, we’ll probably have to

Reduce our Commitments and do a fair amount of Renegotiating, even occasionally making Amends when we have a Yintegrity emergency.

This shouldn’t be a surprise, we’ve been working on it since 2012.  These big astroevents end abruptly when we’ve done our homework (in this case our Yintegrity homework), and complicate the rest of our lives (and beyond) when we don’t do our homework.

For instance, suppose since 2012 you’ve been feeling more and more Restless, and more and more unwilling to put up with Bullshit in your Life.  And suppose since 2012 you’ve vowed to Control your Restlessness, rather than Nurture its Roots (which is basically your Soul telling you that certain things are no longer in your own Best Interest).

Well, by April this Yintegrity Energy will have moved on, and another Zeitgeist will take its place, and you’ll have missed an opportunity to greatly enrich your experience of your Life.  Don’t get me wrong; Yintegrity will continue to Wax for many decades yet, but you’ll have flunked a grade, and you’ll basically never quite catch up.

No worries, it’s always Both/And, and it’s always Perfect.  You may have come into this Lifetime with the primary purpose of Learning how to distinguish Ego from Soul.  In that case, by Resisting Yintegrity for the last several years, you’ve just earned a Master’s Degree in Discernment.  No Judgment here; if you’re Feeling Regret about not being as Yintegrated as the Joneses, well, that’s a Teaching about Yintegrity, isn’t it.  You just need to Witness your Regret instead of Being it.

 Θ  Θ  Θ  Θ  Θ

If you’re new here, a note about format.  This kind of font is meant to be read and (hopefully) understood by everyone.

But this kind of font is meant to be read and understood by astrologers and anyone interested in enriching their Lives by learning a little about astrology by osmosis.  This isn’t homework, it’s casual reading.  Skim it, if it makes any sense fine, if it doesn’t, skip to the next Bold Italic type.  But if you skim it every week, pretty soon you’ll have picked up a good deal of astrological wisdom, without even noticing it.

And this kind of font is serious astrology teaching.  It explains obscure terms and concepts.

 Θ  Θ  Θ  Θ  Θ

So this “Main Effect” we’re referring to, is Uranus Squaring Pluto, which happens to occur just as Uranus is crossing the South Node.  Since it’s a Big Deal, let’s do a little deeper…

We base a lot of what we do on astrological Cycles, which begin when a faster planet (such as Uranus) crosses a slower planet (such as Pluto), as happened with Uranus and Pluto in 1965.  When a Cycle begins, the Zeitgeist changes.  Uranus and Pluto are considered Unconscious planets, so the Consciousness of Humanity changed in 1965.

If you were otherwise engaged then, it was when the Pluto-in-Leo generation (“I Gotta Be Me!”) came of age and refused to be drafted to go be land-mine fodder for Big Money’s Colonial war against the Vietnamese People because they were uppity enough to want some Control over their own Destiny and rejected their French overseers. 

And listened to the Beatles and Bob Dylan and Pink Floyd, dressed funny, grew their hair, wore Flowers in it when the went to San Francisco and Furthur, fancied most anything experimental, and generally rejected the values of their Pluto-in-Cancer (“Security Above All!”) forebears.

So as an astrocycle evolves, it eventually gets to what’s called a “Square,” which is what astrologers call it when the faster planet is one-fourth of the way around the astroloop ahead of the slower planet.  The new Zeitgeist kind of goes underground after the Cycle starts (think Disco!), while folks recover from the initial burst of lawlessness (relative to the old Zeitgeist) and try to integrate who they were before, with who they became during the Rush of New Energy.

But once we get to the Square, the once-new Zeitgeist emerges from the Underwhere and pushes it’s way into blatant Consciousness. While it’s trivial, legalized Marijuana, whether you inhale or not, is a perfect symbolic example.

We refer to the Square as “Mastery through Challenge,” because it’s always a huge Learning Opportunity.  We’re Motivated to Master it, because on some level we recognize that it’s a Waxing Zeitgeist that we need to adjust to.  But it’s not easy, as we have to Change things that aren’t easy to Change. 

So it’s a Challenge – but in one way or another we do Master it.  We usually Master it a lot better than we think we have, because we don’t really fully understand tomorrow’s Zeitgeist (let alone today’s!) yet, and we Expect a lot of ourselves.  But after all, it’s a Co-Creation, so the actual Zeitgeist Changes to the extent that we’ve cumulatively Changed it!  So…

To some extent over the last three years we’ve Mastered Yintegrity, which is what Uranus-Pluto is all about – Living from the Heart or Soul or Intuition rather than the mind or our reasonable plans, or someone else’s Expectations of us.  If you don’t feel ready to graduate, know we aren’t done yet, and know that like Camus said, no one is keeping score but you, and you need to be Loving and Gentle with yourself.

If Yintegrity is about anything, it’s about being Loving and Gentle with ourself!

There’s a couple more things that’d be good to know…

Saturn (The Most Important Thing) and Chiron (Converting Discouragement to Miracles by Changing our Perspective through Empathy) were closely involved.

We get a clue about the nature of a Cycle’s Zeitgeist by looking at its “Sabian Symbol,” which is a reading for the individual degree (our of 360) of the Zodiac that the Cycle begins in.

The Sabian Symbol for the Uranus-Pluto Cycle is “A Ouija Board.”  So…

A lot of the new Zeitgeist is about Trusting our Intuition and our “nonscientific” ways of Knowing, and bringing deeper levels up into Consciousness.

Song of Mars

Tourmaline is traditionally one of the stronger Healing Stones because of the Boron in it.  Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly, and Boron is the fifth-lightest element.  There are officially 29 different Tourmalines, as the Crystal structure is complex and has many substitutions and variations.  The Lithium-rich version of Tourmaline is called (by geologists) Elbaite.  Lithium is the third-lightest element!  So these Angels can really fly.  Informally, Elbaite comes in several varieties.  The pinky-reddy ones, like this lovely example, are called (by non-geologists) Rubellite.

 

Well, this remarkable opportunity…

“This is a remarkable opportunity to Let Go of any and all Patterns, especially Relationship Patterns, that keep us from living out our Deepest Desires.  Not only are they up in our face, but there’s very strong Grace behind our Intentions.”

may not feel so hot, when all or our Limiting Beliefs and Self-Sabotaging Patterns really are up in our face, eh?

But take heart.  At half past 6pm PDT on May 19, Mars turns Direct, and once that happens (or once you realize it’s happening – it works like that, it’s called Consciousness, and it’s an alternative to Victimhood), the flavor should lighten up.  As we’ve said often, a planet’s Song is strongest when it’s Stationary, ie, now.

Mars works with our Assertiveness.  Without Mars it’s difficult to set effective Boundaries.  The Passion to follow our Joy comes from Mars.  Western Culture rewards highly the folks who can allow their Mars to run amok without remorse.  The rest of us get the trickle-down, which has been pretty much in the red lately.  So if we aren’t already sociopathic, there’s a couple of things we can do. 

First, we can be loving and gentle with our remorse.  Remorse is a good thing actually, because it motivates us to do the second thing, which is to improve our skill at Assertiveness.  It’s totally possible to be consummately effective at setting solid Boundaries while harming no one and being completely charming about it.  We just haven’t figured out how to do it yet.  We’ll probably need to PIAVA that.

So let’s review what we know about this particular Mars Station…

The most significant characteristic of this Mars Retrograde Period is it’s entanglement with Jupiter and the Uranus-Pluto Square.

Retrogrades, Repeating Events, and the Can-Opener:  Remember that when a planet entangles with another during a Retrograde Period, it usually makes the same angle with the other planet three times.  The first event we’ve called the “Can-Opener” because it pops the lid off of some drama we’ve been keeping in the basement, usually catching us off guard and throwing us out of our comfort zone.

The Can-Opener is usually the meat of an issue.  The other two recurrences are much less memorable, unless we’re in the habit of counting our Blessings, of course.  In this case, the Exposition or second pass for all three Cycles – Mars-Uranus, Mars-Pluto, and Mars-Jupiter – occurred at the same time, in April.  How was that for you?

The Exposition and Confidence-Builder:  The second pass we’ve called the “Exposition” because the same drama recurs, but this time it unfolds more slowly, giving us the opportunity to practice our skills at dealing with it.  The third time is the “Confidence-Builder,” because now when the drama comes back we deal with it pretty easily, having extended our comfort zone by learning and practicing new skills.

Responsibility:  All this assumes that we’ve taken Responsibility for it at the Can-Opener, or at least during the Exposition (often we’re too off-guard at the Can-Opener to be present with Responsibility.  That’s not Blame, that’s the willingness and ability to Respond, as opposed to being the Victim of the drama.  The longer we delay taking Responsibility, the more adamant is the Universe at rubbing our face in the issue.

Stations:  Between each of these three events the offending planet is Stationary.  That is, the soon-to-be-Retrograde planet passes the other one once going forward (Can-Opener), then it Stations and turns Retrograde, then it backs up and passes the second time going backward (Exposition), then it Stations and turns Direct again, before finally crossing the entangled planet for the third time (Confidence-Builder).  And as we’ve said, the offending planet is strongest when it’s Stationary.

Pictures at an Exposition:  So we might see the Exposition itself as occurring in three stages, once at the Retrograde Station, again at the second crossing, and finally at the Direct Station.  That gives us five events, and five is the number of Learning.

So just what is it we’re likely to be learning here?

The Mars-Uranus Can-Opener occurred around Christmas (2013).  It was an Opposition, a minor culmination of the Mars-Uranus Cycle that began in March 2013 at 9 of Aries, “A Crystal gazer: The development of an inner realization of organic wholeness.”

Sabian Symbols:  In the same way that each astrological Sign has a flavor or meaning, each degree of the zodiac, all 360 of them, has it’s own flavor!  The flavor or deep meaning of an individual degree is called its Sabian Symbol.  We put it in quotes and italics, and often amend it with Dane Rudhyar’s expansion on it from his book An Astrological Mandala.

Is there a part of yourself that’s been brewing for a little over a year, that has to do with integrating various parts of your Life, and that allows you to bring more of your Passion into the pursuit of your Deepest Desires?  Or at least a strengthening drive to seek your Passion or Follow your Joy?  Maybe some issue or decision or process that was lit up last Christmas?  You could easily have breakthroughs here.

The Mars-Pluto entanglement here is a Waning Square.  Its Can-Opener was during the last few days of 2013, and this Cycle began in late November 2012, at 9 of Capricorn, “An Angel carrying a harp: The revelation of the spiritual meaning and purpose at the core of any life situation.”  Mars-Pluto usually doesn’t screw around, so this sounds like it’s right out of Pi’s playbook around Responsibility.

Squares – the Motivators:  A Square between two planets – when one is a quarter of the way round the loop from the other – I’m sure you know by now if you’ve been reading for long, is an Angle symbolizing Mastery through Challenge.  The Waning Square is the time of debriefing, for reviewing what we’ve experienced and learned, so we can be sure to take it with us when we leave.  The Waxing Square is when a Cycle’s Song gets into the elevators, or the Energy becomes permanent.  Prior to the Waxing Square, the Song was mostly in the background.

Remember Northern Winter Solstice 2012, when the Mayan Calendar ended and Pi replaced Gaia as the Goddess inhabiting the Earth?  Seems like only yesterday, right?  Whoa, no way.  That was lifetimes ago in subjective time.  Can you detect a qualitative difference in your own Life?  This is a real good time to Pay Attention to what’s Changed, what hasn’t Changed, and what still need to Change.

The Mars-Jupiter Cycle began in July 2013, and hit the Can-Opener of its Waxing Square in January of this year.  The Initiation was at 6 of Cancer, “Game Birds feathering their nests: An instinctual dedication of self to new forms of life.”

There are new stages of your Life being born here.  Do you feel them?  Are they part of your own Intention, or are they being forced upon you?  Are you Resisting?  (It’s futile, y’know.) 

Meanwhile, Mars has also been dancing with Vesta, Ceres, and the North Node.  Mars came sashaying right up to all three of them in late February, but stopped a few degrees shy of overtaking them, as they all turned Retrograde at one big party around March 1.  In July, once Mars gathers momentum again, it will overtake these three and Initiate new Cycles.  So there are a number of Energies that are fading into history here.  Probably wouldn’t hurt to talk more about those too, as we’ll be Intuiting those Futures too here at the Mars Station.  But we’ll do that later; for now…

And Endings Galore. 

We’re growing increasingly frustrated about following a course we’ve been considering to be Sacred, as we see Moths eating holes in that tapestry.  The Sacred is important, we can’t just abandon it completely, so something else will be taking its place.  Do you have any sense of what that might be yet?

We can’t keep following paths that aren’t Sustainable.  Changes are coming down there too.

Passion about our Mission?  Hard to do when we aren’t sure what it is.  But you actually do know.  Ask yourself, “What if I did know?” and then stop, back up, and pick up that first answer that you rejected so quickly that you barely noticed.  It’s impractical?  So…what’s your point?  It’s Disruptive?  Well, what will it Disrupt – that fraying old Unsustainable portrait you had of what you used to think was Sacred?