“It’s not a measure of health to be well adjusted to a very sick society.” Krishnamurti
As I begin to write this newsletter, retrograde Mercury and the Sun are moving toward a conjunction at 00 degrees of Libra, initiating a new Mercury cycle on the World Axis. When planets trigger this axis, the impact ripples around the world. Everyone is affected.
So what is the World Axis? I have written about Cardinal signs before. These are signs that initiate action and change: Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. The Solstices and Equinoxes take place when the Sun reaches 0 degrees of each of these signs. These points mark shifts in the relationship between the Sun and Earth. At the Aries 0 point, the Sun crosses the equator moving north. Light and life return with the Spring. At the June Solstice the Sun reaches its highest point in the northern hemisphere in Cancer and Summer begins. In September the Sun once again crosses the equator heading south this time, kicking off Autumn in the northern hemisphere. It reaches its furthest point south at the December Solstice in Capricorn when our nights are longest. The Winter Solstice marks the beginning of the return of light.
This apparent motion of the Sun is actually the result of Earth’s tilted axis, 23 degrees off vertical. Without this tilt, we would not experience seasons. We wouldn’t have a waxing and waning of light – the balancing of Yin/Yang in our dual natures. We all feel these shifts and see their effect in the world around us. Zero degrees of Libra is the Autumn Equinox in the North. The Sun enters Libra, this time accompanied by Mercury.
Traditionally Libra is about relationships. The first half of the Zodiac focuses on the development of the self. When we reach Libra our perspective opens up to others and the world in which we live. Libra is the domain of Venus with her themes of love, beauty, harmony and peace. The symbol of Libra is the Scales, sometimes seen as the scales of Justice, or the scales in which our souls are weighed against a feather as we depart this world. But the balance we must seek in Libra is that between self and other, which immediately creates a dilemma. Two basic human needs come into conflict. We need to be authentic, to express ourselves in the world, be seen for who we really are. At the same time, we need to belong.
We have been conditioned since birth to know what behavior is acceptable and what is not. We learn to tame our instincts, suppress our thoughts and feelings in public. We develop a persona that is acceptable to the world and in the process lose our connection to our true selves. Ironically, when we lose that precious connection, we cannot truly connect with others, because we are not bringing authenticity into relationship.
In our current paradigm we are forced to live inauthentic lives. We come to believe that we aren’t good enough and so we dissemble, hide our imperfections. But this lie turns us into social zombies. The fault lies not within ourselves but with a socially accepted belief system that stifles originality and difference. We are taught to compete rather than cooperate, to fear rather than love, to think and ignore our feelings. We learn to distrust and suppress our aliveness. In our attempt to fit in, we lose ourselves. Herein lies the source of alienation. There is a worldwide crisis of loneliness, exacerbated by the pandemic. England now has a Minister of Loneliness!
The truth is that we are all suffering, deeply, from a disconnection with our true selves, with each other, with the healing splendor of nature. And look at how sick we are as a result – mental illness, fatal disease, chronic pain and debilitation, escalating suicides, epidemics, addiction and violence. We live in a matrix of fear and it is choking the very life out of us and our beloved planet.
We have reached a crisis of enormous proportion. Having ignored all the symptoms, dismissed all the pain and suffering in our world and plunged on ahead in our pursuit of wealth and power, we face the demise of civilization and possibly the extinction of the human race. And still we cling to our illusions.
This ship of state will not turn on a dime, even though we long for change, it is agonizingly slow. We feel frustrated, powerless, hopeless. We came here as agents of change and our reality is not reflecting our work. What do we do?
An enlightened society begins with the creation of a context – an inspiring idea and the space to hold, support and nurture it. That’s what we’re here to do – create the space and plant some seeds.
With Mercury starting a new cycle at the very moment that the Sun crosses our equator, the message is clear. This is a new beginning and the planetary climate supports change. Time to clean up our messy minds, root out false beliefs and shatter damaging illusions. By the time of the New Moon, Mercury has moved backward into Virgo giving us yet one more opportunity to search our souls. What isn’t working? What needs to change? What am I afraid of? What don’t I want to see about myself? It’s truth-seeking time.
With the Libra New Moon we are invited to reflect on how we can be our authentic selves and have authentic relationships. Venus tells us it all begins with inner peace and self-love. To be our authentic selves, we need to know our authentic selves. We buried them beneath layers of conditioning, false interpretations of experience, an ocean of painful emotions and fantasy stories that justify our suffering.
Last night I dreamed that there had been a storm and I awoke to find a high wall of sand that blocked my view to the South. It was an enormous obstacle, but after some thought, I suggested that all we need are a few good men and women with shovels. Later, there was a knock on my door and when I opened it, there was a crew standing with shovels ready. I exclaimed, “The Shovel Brigade!”
At first I saw this as a personal dream, but now I see it is also collective. We are buried beneath the damaging illusions of a sick society. We cannot see beyond the wall of our beliefs. Time to start digging and clearing the way to unobstructed vision.
So let’s take a look at how the planets are lining up for this tumultuous month:
Fixed Cardinal Cross
The New Moon takes place on Sunday, September 25th at 2:54 pm PDT. For the last two lunations, we had a Fixed Cross – planets in fixed signs at loggerheads, basically locked into conflict. Now the Cross shifts to Cardinal signs – all four activated. Sun and Moon are at 2+ degrees of Libra in the USA 10th House – our public life, our society, our place in the world.
To emphasize the gravity of the moment, the New Moon falls on the Super Galactic Center, a black hole that emits 10 to the 17th power times the energy of our own Sun. This super massive black hole devours all matter within its reach. It’s like a cosmic vacuum cleaner. The message is clear – it’s house cleaning time.
Philip Sedgwick says that the Super-Galactic Center contains a super-massive hunger for the perfect relationship, but as humans we fall prey to co-dependence. We get swallowed up by the Other, sacrifice ourselves and our autonomy for love. Eventually we realize that no person can fill that need. This Black Hole speaks to the insatiable hunger within us all for connection to the Divine.
At the 3+ degrees of Aries, opposite the New Moon, is Jupiter retrograde in the 4th House of unconscious conditioning. Jupiter brings a lot of energy to examine the wounds of our collective consciousness, blowing up the picture big enough for us to see the details. Jupiter will be moving back into Pisces at the end of October, spotlighting our spiritual lives and the state of our Oneness.
The USA natal Venus is at 3+ degrees of Cancer in our 7th House – a double emphasis on relationship. Spirituality is all about relationship – to one another, to ourselves, to our planet and beyond. The Other reflects back to us what we may not want to see in ourselves. This is a good place to start processing. Who’s pissing us off? What scares us? Rather than being a victim of our fear and anger, we can shift our attitude to curiosity. “Ah, I wonder what the message is here? What am I seeing in this person that I am not owning in myself? What am I afraid to feel?”
The Cross completes with a stellium of a centaur and two dwarf planets in our 1st House. Dwarves move very slowly, so they exert their influence for a long time, forming a context for our experience. Ixion is at 0 degrees of Capricorn and Quaoar at 5 degrees. Ixion at an unconscious level is “bad-boy behavior.” The Q-Anon movement is an example of this – conspiracy theories to justify an outburst of violence. But there is another side, a more enlightened side to Ixion. When it operates through an awakened mind and loving heart, it manifests as the pioneer spirit. We see what is wrong and rather than grabbing our guns, we step out of that reality and explore alternatives. Mercury in Virgo helps us examine the fine print.
Centaurs in general were the lawless frat boys of mythology – heavy drinkers, carousers, rapists and destroyers of property. They orbit between Saturn and the outer planets, forming bridges to transpersonal realms. All the centaur myths had to do with wounding. The males got pierced by poisoned arrows. Some of them chose the high road. Chiron became a teacher, mentor and healer and represents inner wounds that are poisoning our psyches.
Pholus was a “bad boy” who raped the wife of Hercules and got shot as a result. Pholus chose the path of wisdom, learning from his experience. In our 1st House, Pholus is pointing to the wounds of our past crimes against humanity, which are poisoning our society and sabotaging our Union. We are wounded, yes, so how do we live with these wounds? How do we heal? How do we help one another heal? We do it by seeking answers to these questions and following the path that opens before us, not by continuing to deny reality and ignore the suffering of minorities.
Finally we have Quaoar at 5+ Capricorn closely conjunct the Part of Fortune. Quaoar is a creation god/dess who creates through joy. It is an energy field of immense potential. To me the message here is that it will be to our good fortune to address the transgressions of our past. We cannot form a more perfect union until we face the truth about ourselves and become authentic.
Complex Configuration
Saturn is involved with a lot of other planets, forming some interesting patterns and involving a mix of energies. Saturn is sextile Eris, square Uranus and trine Mars. Uranus is trine Neptune, Saturn is quincunx Neptune and Mars is square Neptune. Mars is sextile Eris which is involved with a T Square including Pluto and Haumea which is opposite Eris and quincunx Sedna. Pluto is Trine Mercury and Venus is opposite transiting Neptune which is opposite our natal Neptune.
Sorry if that gave you a headache. I just wanted to point out the interweaving of spiritual energies that form the complex support system of this lunar cycle. It would take a novella to explain the intricacies. Suffice it to say this is a climactic time in our nation’s future and all the heavenly bodies are in play. We are fighting an epic battle and we need to be alert. The battle goes way beyond our national politics. We are defining who we are as a nation and a citizenry; who we are in the world. Are we the leaders with inspiring solutions, or crackpots and couch potatoes acting out in violence or hiding in complacency?
The great thing about discovering our true selves is that we can be free of self-doubt. We can trust the love, wisdom, caring and goodwill that resides in our core. We can allow our authentic selves to connect with others. We can have it all – fill our need for autonomy and authenticity while connecting and belonging in the world – the perfect Libran balance which calls forth beauty, love and peace in our lives.
Over the next two weeks Venus moves into its home sign of Libra on Sept 29th; Vesta enters Virgo bringing devotion into our inquiry; Mercury stations direct at 24+ Virgo on October 2nd; Vesta turns direct on the 5th and Pluto on the 8th. On October 9th we have the Full Moon in Aries. With so many planets turning direct in the month of October, the pace will pick up. Take advantage of Mercury’s retrograde to connect deeply with your inner world and build a strong foundation of authenticity.
Felene
overwhelming but needed both personally and nationally