Out with the Old and In with the New

So many times last week I wanted to write to you, but other commitments got in the way. On Wednesday, February 17, Saturn made its first square to Uranus, activating the theme for the whole year. 2021 initiates a transition away from old ways of doing things, old attitudes, old behavior patterns, old triggers and reactions, and old belief systems that cannot carry us forward.  

Saturn symbolizes the structures we have created in our reality, showing us what works and what doesn’t. The way we live is a product of our collective will and/or apathy. Slowly we have evolved into patterns of work, of daily life and relating to others. We are deeply embedded in duality and that’s because we’re mired in the details of our difference and not focusing on the truth that binds us as a humanity.

Uranus, on the other hand, is the archetype of freedom, individuality and rebellion against all forms of injustice, inequality and oppression. Uranus is known as the Great Awakener because it functions through surprise. Something unexpected pops into our lives and we have to find a way to respond. The old ways are no longer effective.

We talked about squares last time. They create tension and call for action. So we have the established way of life being activated by a call for change. We have some serious challenges ahead and since we created these problems out of the status quo, we have to look elsewhere for answers. We have to experiment and try a new approach. We have to evolve our awareness.

As Saturn was perfecting the square to Uranus, both planets revealed their meaning through synchronicity. On the one hand, Donald Trump’s failed casino was demolished in Atlantic City, leaving an 80-foot-high pile of rubble that will take until June to remove. (Interesting because the second Saturn/Uranus square takes place in June.) This one event is a perfect metaphor for the impact the last four years have had on our nation. We have a giant mess to clean up. Also on that day, Rush Limbaugh crossed over. These two symbols of extreme conservatism, of separation and conflict, are passing out of our reality.

On Thursday we learned that Texas had lost power because of a sudden winter storm.  People were stranded with no heat, no light, no water and now no food as a result of deregulation. Children died of hypothermia because Texas alone was off the grid, in order to avoid any restrictions from the Federal Government. That includes pricing. The same people, who had no service, are now receiving staggering electric bills as high as $17,000, taken directly from their bank accounts! The sudden loss of power (Uranus) revealed the lack of responsible stewardship (Saturn). Texas leadership lamely attempted to pass the buck, claiming that the Green New Deal, which is only a proposal, was responsible. As we all know, Senator Cruz fled to the Ritz Carlton in Cancun. Hopefully the Texas voters will wake up and realize they can’t count on the integrity of their elected officials.

On the other hand, that very same day, the rover Perseverance landed safely on Mars. Talk about out with the old and in with the new! In addition, the USA rejoined the Paris Climate Accord. While we still have metaphoric debris to remove, we are looking to the future, beginning to explore a whole new frontier and joining the rest of the world to tackle the most serious problem humanity has ever faced.

On Saturday the 20th, Mercury quietly turned direct. We are facing forward again and the future is looking brighter. The “Winter of our discontent” is coming to a close and Spring is right around the corner. I heard yesterday that we might achieve herd immunity in the next few months, although others think it will happen by fall. And it looks like Justice is making a comeback. In his opening statement to the Judicial Committee, Merrick Garland proclaimed his mission to serve the people and fight for racial justice. We have many civil rights laws on the books that haven’t been enforced. The NAACP is suing the perpetrators of the attack on our Capitol on the basis of the Ku Klux Klan act. We’re beginning to remove the rubble.

Perhaps the most striking example of Mercury’s shift forward was the Supreme Court’s refusal to protect Trump’s tax returns. Literally more than a million pages of information have been handed over to the Manhattan District Attorney. There is at least one Grand Jury in Trump’s future.

New Moon in Virgo

Saturday, shortly after midnight on the West Coast, the Moon came into perfect fulness in the sign of Virgo. The chart for this lunation is powerful because the Moon is the apex of a Yod formed by two quincunxes from planets sextile to one another. Saturn at 8+ degrees of Aquarius is 150 degrees away from the Moon at 8+Virgo. Likewise, Chiron forms a second quincunx from Aries.

There is a lot to unpack here, but first I will remind you that a Yod is also called a “Finger of God.” It’s a cosmic pointer alerting us to great significance and we would be wise to pay attention.  The 150 degree aspect is a challenge to become more aware of what’s going on in subtler levels of our being. Let’s begin with Saturn.

Saturn is our ally. He helps us grow up. We blame him when our life isn’t going well, but that’s not the fault of anything other than the unconscious choices and behaviors that sourced our problems. Saturn maintains our boundaries. As we become more self-aware, as we take more responsibility for our creations, we make wiser choices and reality responds. As we bring more of our presence forward, as we apprehend the nature of the mind and stop believing the stories it spins, as we become conscious of the impact we are having on others, our lives begin to flourish. We learn to stop struggling against our soul’s desire. We refrain from self-sabotaging or destructive behavior. We form loving relationships and bring the best of ourselves forward to meet the world.

Saturn of course can also represent our stubbornness and resistance, our egocentrism, our preoccupation with ourselves. The less aware we are, the more we act out of our conditioned egos. We repeat attitudes, beliefs and patterns learned from our parents. Most of all we are wounded. We all have had our hearts broken at some point. We carry this burden of pain and belief and it becomes the context of our lives. This is where Chiron comes in.

Chiron is the Wounded One who has become a wise and compassionate healer, teacher, guide. He brings up our wounds through flashes of memory so that we can finally make peace with them. Chiron teaches us both how to heal and how to live with the scars. This beautiful archetype reiterates the mission of Prometheus – the only Olympic demi-god who cared enough about humanity to bring them fire, warmth and light. For this he was brutally tortured for all eternity. It’s the same theme as the Christ story. Jesus taught us that the answer to everything is Love – in all its expressions – compassion, caring, service, humility, gentleness, generosity. The Golden Rule, that we take completely for granted and conveniently forget, asks us only to do unto others as we would have others do unto us.

So simple. So why don’t we do it? Because we carry pain and believe in suffering, because we adhere to the point of view of our parents, our teachers and authorities. So before we can stop focusing solely on ourselves, we need to free ourselves of the burdens of our past.

Chiron can teach us how to heal ourselves, how to release our wounds and awaken to their blessings, how to see the purpose behind the pain – how our life’s path has unfolded as a result of it. We allow ourselves to see a greater truth, which is that every painful experience served to bring us to awakening and healing. We finally see the perfection of our lives and feel gratitude for all of it.

The day my mother died, I fled to the beach. As I walked, I would see images from the past. My mother doing laundry, my mother making an apple pie – best I’ve ever had. At one point up came an image of Mother saying goodnight to all her children. She was wearing a gold lame evening gown. My father was in his tuxedo and they were headed to a Country Club dance. The scene wrenched me with its poignancy – my beautiful mother who loved us all so much. I bent over and sobbed until I thought I would turn inside out. When I could finally stand up and breathe, I looked out at the ocean. I simply stared for a while at the golden sunlight twinkling on the surface. One of the sparkles began to grow and move toward me. I simply watched in awe as it completely engulfed me. I was fully embraced by this beautiful bubble of light and a voice said, “She gave you life, and now she gives it back to you.”

Instantly I saw that my life now was my own to create and I knew it was time to clean up my past, to take full responsibility for everything. I spent the next 9 months before her memorial, plunged into my own depths. Every day I meditated and went deep into my past. One relationship at a time, I revisited everything that had happened between us and saw how I was responsible for it – either through a false belief, or a defensive reaction, through my choice to get angry, blame, resent and so much more.

I spent hours writing about each meditation in my journal and exploring more deeply. One morning, after months of this work – I received another message in meditation. I was crying because I had hurt one of my siblings. I could feel the pain in my soul and a voice said, “The ones who hurt you the most are the ones who love you the most.” I realized that the people who hurt me were suffering on a soul level, as was I. I saw that their soul had agreed to play that role in my life so that I might awaken and fulfill my soul’s desire. On the deepest level we are all soul mates, here to serve each other.

This Full Moon offers us all the opportunity to do deep inner work and free ourselves. The Sun is sextile Uranus, energizing our psyches. All these elements are at 7-8 degrees – Sun at 8 Pisces, Moon at 8 Virgo, Saturn at 8 Aquarius, Chiron at 7 Aries and Uranus at 7 Taurus. This perfect confluence of energies is supporting our awakening to freedom.

The Moon is about receptivity. We can open up and let these energies flow through and around us. We are ripe for growth. Jupiter is trine the North Node of the Moon opening the way to a brighter future. Venus is moving toward her superior conjunction with the Sun where she will be energized with more love, truth and beauty from Spirit. One month from today she will catch up to the Sun in Aries. Meanwhile they are both transiting Pisces, the final sign of the Zodiac which asks us to surrender our fear and embrace Love.

Fear is the great separator and resides with the ego that is constantly trying to hold together the story of who we are. Pisces informs us that like everything else in manifestation, we are Spirit, and we are One. We are in the midst of the Lenten season. The rebirth of Spring is three weeks away. Who do we want to be in the Aquarian Age? What stands in the way? Love is always stronger than fear. The past few years have loosened the soil of our resistance. We are less embedded in the past. We have already let go of so many conditioned patterns. What else is holding us back? Use the Virgo Moon to feel into your past and discern what still tethers you to the old story. Aries brings a new beginning. Now is the time to prepare.