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Astral Notes
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December 2009 - February 2010
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This page is a quarterly UFC supplement for December 2009 - February 2010. It has astrology information beyond each month's daily UFC entries for such basic astral events as lunations (New and Full Moons) and sign changes of fast-moving "inner" planets; and occasional rare and auspicious alignment highlighted in a UFC prelude, such as the Star of David/Merkaba at the Harmonic Concordance of November, 2003; the Grand Quintile of October, 2004; the Aquarius Stellium of February, 2008 and the great Chiron-Neptune Conjunction of 2009 - 2011. Thus the Astral Notes cover the "middle ground" between the biggest events and the more routine ones, and chart important astral currents that are already in effect, or are coming several months ahead.
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We begin with the momentous Neptune-Pluto septile that has been in effect since 2000, and in Section 3, New Aspects for December 2009 - February 2010 we'll look at Jupiter's entry into Pisces, and the beautiful Aquarius Stellium at the New Moon of Feb. 18, 2010.
Here are the main players for December 2009 - February 2010:
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1. Master Aspects from 2000 to 2012, and Beyond:
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2000 - 2019: Neptune-Pluto Septile: A septile is one-seventh of a 360° circle, and is thus an angle of about 51°. While astrologers normally do not devote much space to septiles in reading for their individual clients or the planet as a whole, they're making an exception for the one that began in September, 2000 and will continue until well after the End of Time forecast for 2012. As Neptune, now in Aquarius, and Pluto in Sagittarius are the two slowest-moving planets in our solar system, angles of relationship between them tend to be very long-lasting, as this one is. It continues through Pluto's crossing into Capricorn (2008) and the entry of Neptune into Pisces (2011), and does not begin to fade until 2019.
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Both these planets pertain to specific areas of mass consciousness. Pluto is more political, social and technological in his sphere of influence, governing mass movements, the collapse and regeneration of governments and other institutions, and such technologies as computers and encryption and espionage systems. Neptune is more mystical and aesthetic, holding a greater sway in the realm of mass spiritual and religious beliefs. Thus Tem Tarriktar of Mountain Astrologer expects this aspect to entail “global war and blatant propaganda, with extreme polarization on many levels,” as occurred when these planets were last in septile in 1937 – 40. Tarriktar quotes a valuable take on this septile by astrologer Edward Gilliam, writing about the actions of seventh-harmonic (7H) personalities, and the premise that a seventh-harmonic person or event, like the discordant interval of a seventh on a musical scale, represents a temporary harshness and discomfort that the music may go through until it resolves into the harmony of the octave.
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“This journey into the dark, the shocking and the chaotic," Gilliam believes, "appears to emerge when we examine mundane and natal seventh-harmonic charts. . . . [The] seventh harmonic . . . can be a dark and overwhelming place - full of fears, surprises, taboos, and confrontations with ‘otherness.’ The 7H individual is someone who appears to be "living on the edge" as a ‘disorderer,’ renegade, or iconoclast, or someone who prods social conscience. The 7H event (typically a shocking human act) appears unannounced and unwelcome but may be a desperate final cry, from the darkest places in the collective psyche, perhaps to ‘re-balance' power relationships and to acknowledge the rights of disowned and dispossessed peoples.” (Mountain Astrologer, Feb. – March, 2003)
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We are now about a third of the way through the Neptune-Pluto septile period, and we can readily imagine what some of the 7H events have been and will be. And the 7H people, including such candidates as Osama bin Laden, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela -- no wonder assassins are after both -- and, for that matter, the indigo children, who are here to bust old systems and limits, and clear them away.
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Feb. 2005 - Feb. 2011: Chiron in Aquarius: For these six years, except for brief moves back into Capricorn and ahead into Pisces, the planet of the holistic healer will be in the sign of friendship and community, with all that this implies for individual health and planetary healing achieved by growing teams of like-minded light physicians. See Carolyn Brent's Shamanic Astrology website for her article "Chiron in Aquarius: The Kindness Revolution Elixir."
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January, 2008 to March, 2023: Pluto in Capricorn: Pluto's entry into Capricorn is one of the most momentous events of the years leading to 2012, as Pluto in this sign – ruled by Saturn, the black-robed reaper whose scythe cuts away what is no longer useful to humanity’s purpose – signifies a time of extreme possibilities. Pluto in Capricorn is the placement of the dictator, and of all ambitious gamblers who seek perilous positions. It is also a time when the deconstruction of obstacles to freedom can begin to occur. A brief glance at two earlier Pluto-in-Capricorn eras will deliver the point. In 1512 – 1526, Magellan sailed round the world and Cortez toppled the Aztec empire, Luther launched the Protestant revolt and the French, no longer as terrified of Rome as they once were, invaded Italy and took the holy city. In 1760 – 1774, the Seven Years’ War and the Enlightenment cracked the remaining control of Europe by church and crown, and loosed a current of rebellion that would begin to sweep the whole royal structure away a few years later, when Pluto was “in fall” in Aquarius. In the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America, the movement toward independence began in protest and resistance that grew far more physical from the Boston Massacre of 1770.
We can expect similar conditions now. Whether they need be turbulent will depend largely on whether those who want to bring about the Aquarian transformation can use spiritual means to catalyze it.
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2. Still Running from January - November 2009:
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Jan. 5, 2009 - Jan. 18, 2010: Jupiter in Aquarius -- Jupiter has moved from Capricorn, the dark and sober sign his father Saturn rules, into the much more congenial environment of Aquarius.
Jupiter enjoys Aquarius, as this air sign feeds his fire and love of a good time. More than this, however, Aquarius brings out Jupiter’s justice and magnanimity. This placement thus favors humanitarian efforts, and projects of political and social reconstruction. The major aspect he will form in 2009 is with Chiron and Neptune, whose long-running conjunction he will join on April 25. For more on this, see Section 3: New Aspects for Spring, 2009.
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Feb. 2, 2009 - Dec. 31, 2011 -- Chiron Conjunct Neptune: This is a very long aspect, spanning almost three years from Groundhog Day in 2009 through, interestingly, the very last day of 2011. For this entire time the mystical dance teacher and the wounded healer will move backward and forward through late Aquarius and into Pisces until the faster-moving Chiron finally disengages and moves ahead.
While responsible astrologers will hesitate to crown any of the aspects that form from 2007 to 2012 as the “most important” one – if only because planets act together in a holistic design – this Chiron-Neptune conjunction is clearly a contender. In its run of almost three years, it links the last year of the Glamour phase with 2010 and 2011, the first two years of the climactic phase of Liberation and Transformation. Much will be written in years to come about this combination. It brings the opportunity to clear and heal the deepest issues of unworthiness and self-hate, the illusions of those who feel most isolated, the fears of those who see the world “outside” them as hostile. This is the time for the cleansing of wounds and wounding habits, and above all for facing and dissolving the original wound, misunderstood as “original sin”: the misperception of God as distant and awful, waiting to condemn and torch us. In fact, many will come to see now that God has been embracing us all along, waiting for us to feel Her arms around us. For more on the Chiron-Neptune conjunction, see links at the bottom of this page.
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Aug. 21: Moon's North Node (Dragon's Head) enters Capricorn. On this day the Dragon’s Head moves from Aquarius into Capricorn, where it will remain until March 3, 2011. The Node’s main aspects through this time are a trine to Saturn in Virgo (Sept. 20 – Oct. 19); a long, overlapping sextile to Uranus in Pisces (Oct. 7 – Jan. 29, 2010); a brief sextile to Jupiter in Pisces (March 22 – April 10, 2010) and a conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn (Oct. 12, 2010 – Jan. 9, 2011).
This placement of the Dragon’s Head in Capricorn – and the Dragon’s Tail in Cancer, sign of the home – has clear implications, both easy and tough, for the coming year and a half. This time is excellent for team-building and organization, and for defining and communicating clearly the goals and principles of those who will work together in the service of large groups and communities. At the same time, ego competition and jockeying for position can be expected, as can some discomfort among those who consider family values paramount and communal values irrelevant. The transition to 2012 will be easiest for those who can broaden their vision and see that healthy families and healthy communities want the same things.
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Oct. 11, 2009 - Sept. 15, 2010: Saturn squares Pluto in Capricorn: This, like the Chiron-Neptune conjunction noted above (Feb. 2), is a long-running aspect of major importance. Saturn forms two squares to Pluto: Oct. 11, 2009 through March 9, 2010 – with the square exact on Feb. 1 – and July 26 – Sept. 15, 2010. Thus fall and the coming winter are impacted by this aspect, which recurs in the summer.
“Difficult” Saturn-Pluto aspects, like the Saturn-Pluto opposition in late 2001, can manifest in practical, predictable ways, in everything from pinched wallets, frayed health and bumpy love unions suffered by individuals to the collapse of corporations and other institutions, to the agonies of whole countries. Tension between the slowing and inhibiting energy of Saturn and the transforming but secretive force of Pluto affects everyone. That is the special role of Pluto, who can act as a kind of astral amplifier, pumping individual issues up and out so they impact entire societies. When Pluto goes against Saturn, we can go through radical changes, often painful ones that come from soul lessons long evaded or denied. The ordeal can be even harder when we are unwilling to talk the trouble out, as though it were somehow heroic to endure pain in silence and isolation rather than to seek healing and reunion through speaking the truth.
Pluto is the planet of power on the scale of mass movements, and is thus connected with broad currents of nationalism, religious zeal, propaganda and mass consciousness. As Pluto rules Scorpio, the eighth-house sign of death and transformation, he is also the agent of profound and often disorienting change. In classical mythology Pluto is the king of the underworld, and his energy is thus connected with information that is hidden not because it's esoteric or arcane -- this mystical role is shared by Saturn and Neptune -- but because there is someone in power who wants to keep the skeletons concealed. Thus Pluto is the spymaster of the solar system, the artist of espionage, black operations, secret budgets and encrypted information, especially sensitive data stored on computers. When in opposition to other planets, Pluto often brings a forceful shaking of old habits and beliefs -- and the other planet's stress on Pluto can force the exposure of secrets long and firmly held. The tough news about a Saturn-Pluto square is that conditions can be uncommonly stressful. The good news is that extraordinary reserves of strength and endurance are available now to those who can tap them, and whose powers of perseverance may seem superhuman – so much so that it’s no wonder the Saturn-Pluto combination has always been applied to adepts and magicians.
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Nov. 7, 2009 - Nov. 1, 2010: The Sixth Night: In the Galactic Creation Cycle described by Carl Johan Calleman in The Mayan Calendar: Solving the Greatest Mystery of Our Time, this month begins the next-to-last of the 360-day tuns in this 13-tun cycle.
According to Calleman's design, all of cosmic time consists of nine cycles, ranging in length from the enormous -- the billions of years from the Big Bang to the present -- to the 260-days of the "last" tzolkin round. All of the cycles will be running concurrently in 2011, and all will, Calleman believes, end at the same time at the moment of Galactic Creation on Oct. 28, 2011. Calleman envisions the years from 1999 to 2011 as a 13-tun cycle consisting of seven "days" in which humanity gradually awakens into spiritual consciousness, alternating with six "nights" which are not necessarily dark or negative in their import, but provide intervals to integrate the infusions of light coming in the day tuns. Calleman has gained wide attention for his prescient forecasts of what is to come in each tun, particularly for his accurate calls on the economic turbulence in the United States, and the shifting of the world's economic center of gravity from west to east, in the Fifth Night of Nov. 2007 to Nov. 2008. In this night too momentous changes can be expected, especially in the summer of 2010.
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3. New Aspects for December 2009 - February 2010:
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Jan. 18: Jupiter enters Pisces: The first significant planetary transition of the year comes now, as Jupiter, the bringer of jollity, enters the sign of mystical consciousness. Over the coming year Jupiter will be in Pisces until June 6, in Aries June 6 to Sept. 9, then in Pisces again Sept. 9 through Jan. 22, 2011. See also June 17, 2010 below.
Jupiter in Pisces is the placement of altruism and benevolence, of the ability to enjoy serene happiness that is modest and comfortable rather than extravagant. Jupiter’s love of sensual pleasure, in the sign of altered consciousness, may also manifest in heavy use of substances that are illegal, or that some people think ought to be. Sales of tobacco, alcohol and recreational drugs are likely to spike in 2010. Jupiter's enthusiasm, and his love of variety, is likely to be at its peak in May and June, when he conjoins the position of Uranus in late Pisces, then in Aries.
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Feb. 14: Stellium in Aquarius at the New Moon: Valentine’s Day is uncommonly auspicious this time, as Sun and Moon, Neptune and Chiron form a four-planet conjunction in late Aquarius at this New Moon, and Mercury in early Aquarius is the fifth planet in the Stellium. At the same time Mercury opposes Mars in Leo, who is sextile to Saturn in Libra, who squares Pluto in Capricorn, who is sextile to Venus and Jupiter, now conjunct in early Pisces.
While the emphasis here is not necessarily on large groups gathering in the same place – as Uranus and the Dragon’s Head, do not aspect the other planets -- this day should be, and likely will be, the focus of worldwide global meditations. The Venus-Jupiter link favors gatherings that are festive as well as sacred, and will resemble the heady spiritual party that will become a kind of signature ceremony of the Age of Aquarius.
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| 4. Coming Attractions for March - May, 2010: |
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April 2 - Aug. 21: Saturn Opposite Uranus: This aspect comes to exactitude on April 17 and July 26, and then continues through Aug. 21. It is the third in the series of five Saturn - Uranus conjunctions spanning the two years from mid-2008 through mid-2011. The first opposition was exact at the transformative moment of Barack Obama's election as US president in November, 2008; the second was in effect at the beginning of a time of political and economic upheaval from August to October 2009; the third comes now, the fourth will be one of the major players in the most powerful and dramatic alignment of the Summer 2010, and the last will come in the summer of 2011.
The common theme in all these alignments is that the irresistible force of Uranus and the immovable object, Saturn, are so antipathetic that one can well believe the horrific bond that linked them as father and son in classical mythology. This aspect involves a furious struggle for reform, freedom and change against limiting, frustrating forces. This aspect perfectly expresses the years from 2008 until 2011, that is the years before 2012 when the momentum of planetary awakening and liberation must collide repeatedly with the inertia and resistance of hierarchic forces that are determined not to give an inch or a dollar, or to surrender the slightest atom of the control they have enjoyed through all of Earth's history as an experiment in duality and struggle that must be resolved in the end, but not without a terrific fight, into unity and acceptance.
This theme of sweeping, transformative change is even more relevant in mid-2010 than it was in the nearly two years that have preceded this moment because the two opposed planets are now in a 90° square to Pluto in Capricorn, with all that these aspects of disharmonious tension imply in changes that are not likely to come smoothly and willingly.
For the basics about this opposition, see Oct. 12, 2008. For the complications of the plot, see the combinations of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto below, from May 15 to July 14.
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April 20: Chiron in Pisces: (To July 20): A major sign transition. Chiron enters Pisces for a three-month overture before going back into Aquarius in July. He will enter Pisces again in March 2011, and remain there until April of 2018.
Chiron’s emphasis now shifts from the Aquarian period of late 2005 through early 2010, which favor holistic health networking and communal healing ceremonies – and the working out of individual karmic obstacles to friendship – to the Piscean dimension. The Chiron focus for the coming three months is on the deep feeling of mystical union with all human beings and the Earth, on medicinal theatre and dance for planetary wellbeing – especially in the Beltaine festival of May 1 and the Moon Goddess rites of the Solstice on June 20 – 21 – and in facing personal issues of self-delusion and self-torment, particularly the fog demons of unworthiness that keep awakening souls separate from their communities. Communal outreach to pain jockeys is favored now.
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May 15: Jupiter conjunct Uranus and opposite Saturn: The plot that began on April 2 between Saturn and Uranus thickens now, as Jupiter joins the Saturn-Uranus opposition that is already in effect (see April 2 - Aug. 21). While fast-moving Jupiter goes beyond close opposition to Saturn June 15 - July 26 – going retrograde on July 23 – we may as well think of him as being continuously linked with both Saturn and Uranus through the end of August. Jupiter is exactly opposite Saturn on May 23, and in exact conjunction with Uranus on June 8.
This opposition is not explosive, but aggravating. Think of it as a generous, altruistic producer (Jupiter in Pisces) and a dreamy, spiritually turned-on film maker (Uranus in Pisces) trying in vain to convince the know-it-all, grudge-fixated bean counter (Saturn in Virgo) to move beyond his withholding games, and his wallowing in not being understood by others, so that he can get with the program and help it work for everyone. This will be an exasperating time for many who are working to bring needed change, as it is clear that so much is possible now, yet it is being held up by only a few people who will not give up petty and punitive scenarios of milking the situation for us much recognition and ego gratification as they can get. Patience is not just a virtue now, but a treasure.
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May 28 - Aug. 14: Uranus in Aries: Uranus, like Chiron (see April 20), moves this year into a new sign, then appears to go back to his “old” sign of Pisces on Aug. 14. He'll then enter Aries again "for good" in March 2011, and stay there until May, 2018.
This brief Uranus-in-Aries phase amps the tension of the ongoing opposition between Saturn and Jupiter-conjunct-Uranus (previous) because Uranus has now moved out of the relatively passive, mystical and watery sign of Pisces and into the active, muscular and fiery sign of Aries. During the seven-year period that now begins, Uranus' revolutionary impetus to change is in the zodiac's most aggressive sign of impulsive energy and impatient drive. We can expect now, at the very least, the early skirmishes in the more heated and protracted battle of ideas and fight for reforms that will intensify next February. Zealots of all kinds will do anything fair, foul or fearsome either to bring in the new, or to crush it before it spreads. The great astrologer Reinhold Ebertin, writing about a century ago, associated Uranus in Aquarius with “dreamy enthusiasts and utopians.” Now, and especially next year, it may at times be hard to distinguish these floating types from the more grounded Aquarian practitioners who are working together to bring about the changes that must come between now and 2012.
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The Chiron - Neptune Conjunction of 2009 - 2012:
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For Prelude (November, 2008) and Acts 1 and 2 (April - August, 2009), see UFC Index
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2012: The End of . . . What?
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Copyright 2009 Dan Furst. All Rights Reserved.
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