Astral Notes
Autumn, 2007

 

This page is a quarterly UFC supplement for Autumn, 2007. It has astrology information beyond the monthly entries for such basic astral events as lunations (New and Full Moons) and sign changes of fast-moving "inner" planets; and the occasional rare and auspicious alignment such as the Star of David/Merkaba at the Harmonic Concordance of November, 2003, and the Grand Quintile of October, 2004. 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.
We begin with the momentous Neptune-Pluto septile that has been in effect since 2000, and in Section 3, New Aspects for Fall, 2007, we'll look at Saturn's entry into Virgo (Sept. 2), his opposition to the Moon's North Node, or Dragon's Head (beginning Oct. 2, exact on Oct. 23) and the momentous day of Nov. 26, when Jupiter in late Sagittarius conjoins Pluto as both planets move toward their crossing into Capricorn (Jupiter on Dec. 18, Pluto on Jan. 26, 2007, weeks after the conjunction dissolves).

Here are the main players for autumn, 2007:
1. Master Aspects from 2005 to 2012:
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.
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.
“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)
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.
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."
2. Still Running from 2006:

Nov. 23, 2006 - Dec. 18, 2007: Jupiter in Sagittarius: Jupiter enters Sagittarius, the sign of his rulership. He'll be here until December, 2007. In the coming year Jupiter will square Uranus in Pisces (January) and the Dragon’s Head (February), move trine Saturn in Leo and sextile Neptune in Aquarius (March-April), then be sextile Neptune again in October-November.

The last notable synchronicity of 2007 is that on the day before a new tun (next) begins, Jupiter enters the sign where his power is greatest, and his most “positive” and “beneficent” energies are likely to prevail. The upshot of the aspects noted above is that friction in the Jupiter-ruled areas of law and government is most likely at the beginning and end of the year, when shocking revelations about official misdeeds will occur, and will alter political loyalties, both among individual citizens and in bloc alliances among factions and parties. From March to September, there will be mild relief from recent oppressive control. There will have to be, if only to forestall cataclysmic changes. The main Jupiter challenges come, however, from late next year, when Jupiter enters Capricorn and conjoins Pluto from December, 2007.

Nov. 24, 2006 - Nov. 18, 2007: Ninth Tun and Fifth Day in the Galactic Creation Cycle: This tun -- a period of 360 days in the Mayan Calendar -- is the "Fifth Day" in the Galactic Creation Cycle described by Swedish Mayanist Carl Johan Calleman. This tun begins the transition from the phase of Awakening in 2003 – 2006 into the phase of Glamour in 2007 – 2009. During this period of almost one solar year, new technologies of light will begin to emerge with such astounding brilliance that we may look for a moment as though we’ve all got it, and universal peace and understanding are at hand. If only it were so. We will see now such a parade of “spiritual” images, many of them illusions, that one true test of the time will be whether our hearts and our eyes have been introduced and are in accord, or whether our eyes fly off like birds on a wire to places where the heart prefers not to go. 

“Among other things,” Calleman writes about this Fifth Day, “the mechanisms by means of which banks ‘create’ credit will become transparent. The old abstract calculations of the left brain half will then no longer be consistent with the emerging values of the right brain half, which sees reality concretely. This conflict between perceptions will be the deeper and more fundamental reason that the world economy will reach a point where no further economic growth will be possible and if anything a negative downward spiral will start.”
3. New Aspects for Autumn, 2007:

Sept. 2: Saturn enters Virgo: Saturn exits Leo and enters Virgo, where he will be until October 2009. In the coming years Saturn will form challenging aspects with the Dragon’s Head (next), and Uranus, then into the dramatic T-cross with Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto in the summer 2010.

This is an important planetary transition. Saturn’s movement through Virgo over the next two years will bring him into opposition to the Dragon’s Head (see next) and Uranus (late 2008) in Pisces. As Virgo is the sixth sign of the zodiac and corresponds to the sixth house of the astrological chart, it will naturally follow that in the next two years the Virgo matters of health and illness, and service relationships, will come up for confrontation and clearing. Life changes in the interest of better health that we have seen as necessary, but have not yet made, may cause discomfort now, as Saturn tends to apply increasing pressure that can get more painful until the student finally complies with the lesson. Many service relationships that are all take and no give will be in for some systems busting between now and the end of 2009.

Oct. 2 - Nov. 10: Saturn opposite Dragon’s Head: Saturn in Virgo now moves into opposition to the Moon’s North Node in Pisces, and conjoins the South Node in Virgo. Their opposition will be exact on Oct. 23, the day the Sun enters Scorpio, thus forming a trine to the Moon’s Node and a sextile to Saturn.

As always, a “difficult” Saturn-Moon’s Node alignment may bring withdrawal from a group, even an estrangement from it, but the crucial difference here is that Saturn is in the exact and often hypercritical sign of Virgo, so that the separation may be caused less by feelings of unworthiness (as in Saturn-Neptune combinations) than by a feeling that one does not belong because of defects that one perceives in the others, or, equally if not more likely, in oneself. The emphasis and opportunity now are in recognizing our judgments of others, and their resemblance to the acts and issues that we will not yet forgive in ourselves.

Nov. 19, 2007 - Nov. 13, 2008: Tenth Tun and Fifth Night in the Galactic Creation Cycle: This is the fifth of the 360-day “Night” tuns in the 13-tun cycle, and will therefore be, if the concepts of Carl Johan Calleman are correct, a period when human beings will be less in alignment with spiritual consciousness, and more likely to be ruled by fear and passion. In the entries to come for late 2007, we shall see more about how the Fifth Night is likely to proceed, and what resources will help us navigate it, even use it for constructive purposes. It is worth noting here that this tun, like the third Night of 2003 – 2004 that culminated in the re-election of the Bush regime and precipitated many of the woes we have endured since, will include the next American presidential election, if there is one, and also another event of momentous importance, the Beijing Olympics of 2008, and with them a major step toward the emergence of the next great power.

Calleman's estimates for the Fifth Day that ends on Nov.18 (see above) have proved prescient, given the dislocation brought about in the week of this writing -- Aug. 9, 2007 -- as world stock markets reel from the crisis in the American housing market, caused by "subprime," if not subcrime, loan programs that are turning out to be ill-judged at best, larcenous at worst, proving once again that dark and ominous events may occur in a "Day" tun, just as encouraging ones may come in a "Night."

Calleman expects that this Fifth Night will entail “the last desperate attempts of the West, and power hierarchies based on materialism everywhere, to remain in control and strengthen their power in some new very oppressive way. . . . this is the time period when many of the scenarios described by conspiracy theoreticians may come true. Regardless of the concrete forms it may take, this is when everything will be made to keep people in the fold.” At a moment when the West's most formidable competitor, the growing economic powerhouse of China, is threatening to sell its huge holding of US dollars, thereby destabilizing still further an American currency that people in Prague called "toilet paper" last week, the prospect Calleman cites of the West's loss of power and control is hardly to be dismissed.

Nov. 24: Full Moon and Grand Cross: An arguable grand cross – with three planets and the Dragon’s Head rather than four or more planets -- forms now as the Sun in Sagittarius is opposite the Moon in Gemini, while Saturn in Virgo opposes the Dragon’s Head in Pisces.

 In general terms, a grand cross of this kind will feature separation and estrangement, and difficulty in teamwork with others, but may also favor advantageous, if modest, outcomes produced through painstaking effort. In this aspect and the next, the Glamour phase begins in a time of introspection that will lead some to new insights, others to an escape into fantasy.

Nov. 26 - Dec. 28: Jupiter conjoins Pluto in Sagittarius, and enters Capricorn: As he moves through late Sagittarius, Jupiter approaches and crosses the position of Pluto. The conjunction is exact on Dec. 11. A few days later, on Dec. 18, Jupiter enters Capricorn, but remains in conjunction with Pluto until Dec. 28.

A Jupiter transition from one sign to another is not a rare event, as this planet has a 12-year orbital period, and so enters a new sign every year. But this change is worth a closer look, as Jupiter leaves the sign that he rules in Sagittarius, where his power is greatest, and now enters Capricorn, where he is said to be “in fall,” so that his most “negative” and “difficult” energies will likely apply for the coming year. We can expect uncommonly arrogant and imperious behavior from governmental leaders, even by the standards of 2004 - 2007. With Jupiter in Capricorn, the reaction of control-obsessed authorities against the Aquarian momentum of awakening and freedom will be more pronounced than at any time during the Glamour Phase of 2007 – 2009, the third and trickiest of the four episodes in the drama of planetary transformation that may occur -- if human beings actually want and dare to do it -- from 1999 through 2012.

There’s an instructive parallel with a recent, similar event: Jupiter opposite Pluto from August, 2000 to May, 2001. As Pluto rules computers and all espionage and encryptation, this aspect lived up to its billing as a time of unprecedented conflict between the world cyberculture and computer industry against government authorities who fear the freedom and borderless communication of the internet. The US government’s legal victory-turned-defeat against Microsoft was only the best-known proof that the desire of people all over the world to conduct business, love and art online must inevitably prevail over the desire of governments to control communications, and along with them the collective human mind.

The Jupiter-Pluto opposition of 2000 – 2001 spawned a very slippery and uneasy alliance of monopolists, entrepreneurs, cybercompanies, freedom fighters and spiritual tricksters, all motivated by a common desire to free the internet, and all manner of new electronic communications, from the heavy hands of governments, corporations and other power pigs. The astral dynamic of 2000 – 2001 will be repeated now in 2007, though more briefly, for only a month – and this time the scenario will be more complex, with many high-tech companies co-opted by the powers that be, while others continue to be their adversaries.

There are, however, strong motivators for easy, happy cooperation, even creative acts of empowerment and actual beauty at the moment of exact conjunction on Dec. 11 -- and under the unlikeliest conditions. Mars in Cancer trines Venus in Scorpio, both of them sextile to Saturn in Virgo. Mars and Venus are both in signs where they are said to be "in detriment," while their ponderous uncle offers sympathetic help that could be useful if it can only be seen. So the lovers are inclined to play Cosi Fan Tutte in reverse, with the passionately, recklessly empowered goddess and the bewildered god -- wondering if he'll ever find a way to get her to be less mad at him -- asking the advice of the mentor who now suddenly seems no longer world-weary and cynical, but ready to suggest a cure that is simpler -- not necessarily easier -- than either lover imagines.

4. Coming Attractions for Winter, 2007 - 2008:

Dec. 18: Moon’s North Node (Dragon’s Head) enters Aquarius, and South Node (Dragon's Tail) enters Leo: This day is doubly powerful because on the same day Jupiter enters Capricorn (see last), the Dragon’s Head moves back from Pisces into Aquarius, and the Dragon’s Tail moves back from Virgo into Leo. The nodes will remain in these signs until August, 2009.

 The Moon’s Nodes change sign positions now in ways that will be most meaningful for the countup to 2012, as the uniting force of the North Node enters the sign of friendship and community, and the splitting force of the South Node enters the sign of creativity, play, children and sexuality. The North Node in Aquarius, and offers new possibilities for growth and self-realization through friendship and the building of community. “I get high with a little help from my friends” will take on whole new meanings now. And on the other side of the wheel, the South Node brings up unresolved issues of power, more likely power used in careless and even hurtful ways than power not yet claimed and used at all. Now the slow-moving planets Chiron and Neptune, and the Dragon’s Head, are all in Aquarius. They guarantee that for the next two winters, stellia (alignments of five or more planets in the same sign) at the New Moon in Aquarius will highlight far more than the Chinese New Year. They will likely herald the coming time of freedom.

Dec. 23 -  24: Full Moon: This Full Moon is exceedingly powerful, as Sun, Mercury and Jupiter in early Capricorn, and Pluto in late Sagittarius, form a four-planet conjunction opposite to the Moon and Mars in early Cancer. This majestic six-planet opposition is linked by quintiles to Saturn in Virgo and to Uranus in Pisces, and also by trine and sextile to the Dragon’s Head in the last degree of Aquarius, while Venus in Scorpio squares Neptune in Aquarius. Thus every planet except Chiron is either in the main eight-planet or otherwise related to one other planet.

 This design will make for anything but a merry little Christmas. Unresolved disagreements within families, and conflicts within the private soul, are likely to flare now. This will be one time when lovers of concord will agree with the upper-class Victorians who prohibited at the dinner table, for amity’s sake, all discussion of politics and religion, the two subjects surest to ignite the opinionated instantly. Those who live in harmonious community, and not only in fractious families, will have an easier time of this holiday season, thanks to the reconciling, heart-bonding influence of the Dragon’s Head in Pisces.

Jan. 26, 2008: Pluto enters Capricorn: Pluto enters Capricorn on this day, moves retrograde back into Sagittarius on June 14, then enters Capricorn again on Nov. 27, this time for a stay of 14 years and more, until March 2023.

This is one of the most momentous events of the years leading to 2012, as Pluto in Capricorn – the sign ruled by Saturn, the black-robed reaper who comes with his scythe to cut 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 accept 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 change can use the spiritual means of Aquarian transformation to bring it about.

Feb. 7: Five-Planet Conjunction in Aquarius at the New Moon, and Annular Eclipse of the Sun: This New Moon features not only a stellium, but a brilliant five-planet conjunction in which Sun and Moon, Mercury, Chiron and Neptune are all aligned within a band of only some eight degrees in Aquarius. The Dragon’s Head is also in Aquarius, though not close enough to conjoin the planets.

 While every year from now through 2011 will have a stellium in Aquarius at the New Moon, this is the only one in which all of the planets will actually be in conjunction. The moment can be magnificently empowering, combining as it does the energies of intellect (the Sun), intuition (the Moon), language (Mercury), medicine (Chiron) and mystical wisdom (Neptune), all aligned in superb concord with each other. This is an invaluable moment of opportunity for spiritual alignment, and will be used and celebrated as such throughout the world. Much of this festivity will concentrate on the power of the Moon to bring us together in ceremonies of intuitive intention. Not only does the Moon come into annular eclipse of the Sun, which is “in detriment” in Aquarius; but this mid-winter New Moon has been celebrated since ancient times as the beginning of the new lunar year. It is still the New Year date in the Chinese and other East Asian calendars, but this year, and for the four years to come, its significance is global and universal.

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