The Four Astrologies
Recently, someone asked me the precession question.  It is one of about four questions I hear over and over again from people who are curious about astrology despite having been taught to be skeptical of it.  I have already answered it here and so I don’t need to answer it again, but it leads to another interesting question:  if the seasons and the constellations no longer line up, and if Western astrologers use the seasons, why do Vedic astrologers use the constellations, and how come both systems work?  Don’t they contradict each other?

All over the Earth, people have observed the sky and discovered correlations between those observations and their own human lives.  The body of knowledge that grew out of that study is astrology.  Four distinct astrological traditions emerged in different regions, mostly isolated from each other—Western, Vedic, Chinese and Mayan.  It should be no surprise therefore, that different peoples observed and measured differing phenomena.

Continental Divides
The Mesoamerican peoples (Incans, Toltecs, Maya, etc.) derived a lot of meaning from the cycle of Venus.  They conceived of Venus as a warlike, male deity called Quetzalcoatl, who went through a death-and-rebirth cycle paralleling Venus’ shifts from morning star to evening star and back.  By contrast, Mesopotamian peoples (whose traditions spread to Egypt, Greece, Rome and finally up into Europe and then the United States) conceived of Venus as a beautiful woman, a seductress and lover.  Modern Western astrologers that come from that tradition interpret Venus in a natal chart as an indicator of relationship and don’t much use the morning/evening star perspective.  These two perspectives are about as different as it’s possible to be, and yet both perspectives have worked in the context of their traditions.

Similarly, Vedic (Hindu) astrologers use the constellations as the measure of sign placement for a planet (a planet traveling against the backdrop of the constellation Aries is said to be in Aries), while Western astrologers use the seasons as their measure (a planet traveling through the patch of sky where the Sun is in early spring is said to be in Aries).  The measurements may be different, but as long as they are used consistently, and as long as their results are applied and interpreted within the same tradition that has used those measuring sticks for thousands of years, they are valid.  What does not work is to mix apples with oranges, for example to use Vedic measuring sticks with Western interpretations, and vice versa.

Differing Traditions, Differing Measures
The problem of the equinoxes is not one of differing ways of measuring phenomena.  Two ways of measuring can come up with different results and yet both be valid.  Suppose you gave two scientists, a mathematician and a chemist, the same problem:  define the pertinent characteristics of this chocolate bar.  The mathematician might measure the length, width and height of the bar and calculate its volume by displacing water with it.  The chemist might analyze the chemical content of the bar and report the temperature at which it melts.  What the two scientists choose to notice, observe and measure about the chocolate bar will be different and will be given by their scientific traditions and what those traditions deem important.  The scientists may even argue about which measures are the most significant.

It’s the same way with astrology.  Different traditions have noticed, observed and measured different pieces of astronomical information and have come up with different ways of interpreting that information.  But all around the globe, astrologers have made use of the skies to interpret human lives in ways that are meaningful and useful to the people they serve, despite these seemingly fundamental differences.  Traditions do not continue for thousands of years unless they help people survive.

The Real Point—Why Astrologers Do It All (And Please Pass The Chocolate)
But all this is merely data.  Add to it the truly exciting thing that astrology does:  use of this data in human lives.  Astrology is one part science and one part art and it is the artistic/interpretive aspect of astrology that distinguishes it from astronomy.  Astronomers might have you think this is astrology’s downfall, but I believe it is astrology’s greatest glory, because the best use of astronomical data is to apply it to astrological interpretation in ways that benefit and improve human quality of life.

Vedic and Western astrologers don’t spend much time arguing about the precession of the equinoxes and the way it has led to differences in types of data gathered.  Astrologers would rather move on to using the data to improve human life because for them, the proof is in the pudding.  If a tradition works for your clientele, you use it, that’s all.

Similarly, how long is one going to stand around measuring and chemically analyzing a chocolate bar?  That soon becomes boring, for the real point of a chocolate bar is, does it serve its intended purpose?  Wouldn’t you rather stop listening to someone who is overanalyzing the bar and instead eat, savor and enjoy its melty, chocolatey goodness?

I thought so.

“Wake up!” says Uranus.  “Are you facing chaos? Lately I’ve turned your life upside down.  This year I’m making you an amazing offer:  to not only restore the order you used to experience, but to shift your life in a global way so that the problems you used to experience—the ones that led to this chaos—are not even relevant anymore.”

Today Is A Pivotal Day
When a planet turns retrograde it makes a pivot in the sky and also creates a metaphorically “pivotal” experience for human beings.  Today, that planet is Uranus.  It’s as if Uranus is telling us, “You can’t go on avoiding this change forever.  Today I’m delivering a wake-up call.”  If Uranus is touching a planet in your chart this year, this message is for you and it will have very specific meaning, depending on what planet that is.  That planet, and the part of you it represents, is in a massive uproar.  It’s time for a shift to a whole new level.  Today is the peak of Uranus’s wake-up call, but it could happen anytime within 5 days surrounding today.

Initiation Leading To An Inner Journey
Sometime between April and now (July 9, 2011) , Uranus showed us an area of life in which we are due for a change.  What he delivered was an initiation and it was our first chance to catch a clue about paradigm shift to come.  That clue may have been obvious or it may have been subtle, but we’ve been shown an area of life in which something new and startling is possible.

The clue was delivered, but did we notice?  It’s human to go into denial.  As spring proceeded, we may have said to ourselves, “Maybe I don’t have to do anything about this.  Maybe it was just a one-time thing.  Maybe I can just move on.  Maybe I can get away without paying attention to this.”

Or maybe not.  Today Uranus turns up the volume and gives us a reminder.  “That big change you’re due for?” he says, “It’s crucial.  And I’m putting it right in your face until you do something about it.”  Today, Uranus’ retrograde journey begins and with it begins a period of soul-searching during which we must reflect upon and seek to understand the massive shift we feel coming.  Uranus will continue moving retrograde (i.e. backwards) until the day it turns direct, which is December 9, 2011.

Every Breakthrough Begins With A Breakdown
Uranus teaches us a fundamental truth:  a fresh, more inclusive order only comes after a chaotic mess.  A transit of Uranus is accompanied by a restlessness that causes you to want to dash it all to pieces.  You don’t actually have to destroy everything you’ve built in order to shift to the next level, but you may have to tolerate some uncomfortable mess as you search for the new frame to put it all into.

Uranus brings the “Eureka!” or the “Aha!”  From Uranus comes that moment of insight, that lightning-bolt-from-the-blue that disrupts your normal everyday assumptions and introduces an idea so new, so startling, so crazy that it just might work.  The best response to a Uranian insight is to open your mind up and engage in a search for a new frame, a new context, a new order in which all the old pieces make sense, and the new ones also fit.  Uranus turns your head around—that’s what he’s for.

Is This Story Your Story?
If this feels true for you, it may be that you are personally touched by this transit.  Uranus may be triggering a planet in your own chart, thus bringing these themes up for you.  This year Uranus is covering the space between 0 and 4 degrees of Aries.  If there is anything in your chart in 0 to 4 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn, you will feel this.  And knowing it can help a lot if you’ve been feeling surrounded by chaos and you don’t know why.  If Uranus has touched you this year, this could be the year when you finally liberate yourself from old, self-entrapping ways and instead bust out into a whole new way of being.

What Area Of Your Life Is Being Affected?
Good question.  It will have to do with the planet in your chart that’s being triggered by Uranus.  If Uranus is affecting your Venus, you may find yourself feeling restless and wanting more in your relationships.  You don’t have to destroy all your relationships to satisfy that restlessness, but you do need to shift them to a whole new level now.  If Uranus is affecting your Mercury, you’re getting more crazy, paradigm-shifting new ideas these days than you usually do—use this time of genius for your long-term benefit.  And if you are between 39 and 42 right now, this could be a year that calls forth your genius and the tremendous restlessness that goes with that, calling you to reclaim your lost youth and demanding that you live into your potential once and for all.

Uranus’ Gift
The promise of Uranian chaos is that it leads to a new order.  Uranus doesn’t really want to leave you in a chaotic mess for the rest of your life—and if he ever has, you’ve not responded to the situation with your true power.  The mess Uranus causes is only a temporary state—although a necessary one—on the way to something much bigger and better.  Sure the ride is messy, but what does that matter?  Isn’t being the most amazing you possible worth a little chaos?

Want to know more about how this Uranus transit affects you?
Contact Jamie at pandora@pandoraastrology.com
to schedule a reading.

Pay attention to self-care during tonight’s complex New Moon in Cancer, which is also a Solar Eclipse.  Influences from Saturn, Pluto and Uranus combine to put demands on your ability to understand and respond to your own needs.  You’ll find yourself crashing and burning if you don’t honor their demands.

Details About This Eclipse

Date: July 1, 2011
Time of eclipse: 1:54 AM PST
Type: partial (moderate in intensity)
Visible in: a small patch of ocean between Antarctica and southern Africa.
At: 9 degrees Cancer
Shadow Agents: Saturn (in Libra), Pluto (in Capricorn), Uranus (in Aries)

Does It Affect You Personally?

If your birthday is on any of the following dates, you most likely experienced this eclipse:
June 26-July 6
September 27-October 8
December 26-January 5
March 25-April 4

Remember, not every eclipse touches everyone, but when it does, it’s usually noticeable.  A solar eclipse is likely to be marked by an external, real-world event (unlike a lunar eclipse, which is likely to bring up strong emotions and to be experienced as a subjective event).  The following script is just one possible way it could go.

You hear a knock at the door.  You answer it. The Sun and Moon sweep in, carrying trays of food.  Behind them crowd Saturn, Pluto and Uranus, carrying loads of cushy, comfy things.
Moon:  Mange, mange!  You’ve got to eat something!  You’re wasting away to skin and bones.
She pinches your cheek and fills a plate for you.
You:  But what if I’m not hungry?
Saturn:  Actually, you are hungry.
Pluto:  To be precise, your soul is hungry.
Uranus:  Hungry for freedom . . .
Pluto:  For change . . .
Saturn:  And maybe hungry for structure.
You:  I’m confused.
Sun:  You should be.  There’s a lot going on during this eclipse.
Moon:  The main point is you need to take care of yourself, or you’ll crash and burn—
Sun:  —and because this is a Solar Eclipse, you’ll see the effects in your life, out where everyone else can see them too.
You:  So what do I need to do?
Moon:  Take care of yourself.  Take good care of yourself.  Really take good care of yourself.
Saturn, Uranus and Pluto have been arranging pillows, cushions and other comfort items on the sofas.  The Moon is tucking you in while the Sun props a pillow under your head.  You begin to relax deeply and suddenly you remember it’s been a long time since you’ve allowed yourself this.
Saturn:  Take such good care of yourself that your responsibilities do not weigh on you, and you don’t need to choose between fulfilling promises to others and being kind to yourself.
Uranus:  Take such good care of yourself that you feel liberated, freed and energized by it, instead of trapped.
Pluto:  Take such good care of yourself that you can maintain a sense of safety and security even when life throws its biggest ups and downs at you.
You:  And what if I don’t?
Sun:  All kinds of bad things can happen.
Saturn:  Job loss, financial pressures, heavy responsibilities.
Pluto:  Deep gloom can descend.  Negative thoughts everywhere.  Emotional meltdown.
Uranus:  Chaotic disruptions.  Feelings of entrapment.  Rebellious outbursts.  You could really blow it!
Saturn:  Yes, this is definitely a test of your ability to care for yourself.
You:  I think I get the point.  It’s about self-care.  And all of you have reasons why it’s important.
Sun:  You’re darned tootin’ we do.
Saturn:  It’s time to wake up and become your own best mother, because nobody’s going to do it for you.
And off they go, leaving plates of food, cushy pillows and fuzzy blankets behind them.

Read about other eclipses coming up: 2011 Eclipses.

This month’s Full Moon is also a Lunar Eclipse and it’s setting up to be a doozy, with Mercury as the Shadow Agent.  The Moon is in sunny Sagittarius, while Mercury and the Sun are in cool Gemini.  Gemini and Sagittarius are polar opposite signs, so these factions are involved in a tug-of-war.  This eclipse is total, adding to its power.  Will you get caught in the middle?

Details About This Eclipse

Date: June 15, 2011
Time of eclipse: 1:14 PM PST
Type: total (strong in intensity)
Visible in: Australasia, Japan, Asia (except the north), India, Africa, Europe, South America (except the northwest).
At: 24 degrees Sagittarius
Shadow Agent: Mercury in Gemini

Does It Affect You Personally?

If your birthday is on any of the following dates, you most likely experienced this eclipse:
June 10-20
September 12-22
December 11-21
March 10-20

Remember, not every eclipse touches everyone, but when it does, it’s usually noticeable.  A lunar eclipse is likely to bring up strong emotions and to be experienced as a subjective event (unlike a solar eclipse, which is likely to be marked by an external, real-world event).  The following script is just one possible way it could go.

You hear a knock at the door.  You answer it.  Mercury stands there, flanked by the Sun and Moon.  Apparently they are all having an argument and Mercury and the Sun are ganging up on the Moon, who is losing badly.  She walks in, looking sulky.
Moon:  Why is it so wrong to hope?
Mercury:  Logic dictates it makes no sense.  Even the Sun agrees with me on this.
Sun:  On any other day, I’d be on your side, Moon, but right now I’m in Gemini, so I do agree with Mercury.  Logic is important.  Besides, it makes me look cool.  The Sun pauses to check his appearance in a nearby mirror.
You:  What’s the problem here?
Moon (weeping):  they’ve burst all my balloons!  All my wonderful big ideas, my hopes, my faith, my sense of sweeping possibilities.  They’ve popped them all.  She opens her hands and shows you a set of sad, empty, bedraggled pieces of rubber that used to be balloons.
You:  Now, guys, why’d you have to go and do that?
Sun:  Because they were there?
Mercury:  No, because they were illogical.  They made no sense.  She had no foundation to back up her hopes.  Based on nothing but hot air.  How could I resist?
You:  Mercury, you can be really mean sometimes.
Mercury:  Just doing my job.
You:  And what’s that?
Mercury:  Showing you the shadow side of Sagittarius—unfounded hopes, big dreams that lead nowhere and castles-in-the-air with no foundation on the earth.  You see, you have no idea how she was before we burst her balloons.
You:  How was she?
Mercury:  Insufferable.  Impossible.  Puffed up, loaded with ego, zealous and certain of her rightness.  Completely not open to other ideas.  Pushing her ideas on everybody.  Again, shadow-side of Sagittarius.  It’s my job to show that up during this eclipse.
Moon:  Without my big ideas I have nothing.  I am nothing.
Sun (aside):  Strictly speaking, that’s not true, but she might never learn it without having to lose those big ideas she’s so attached to.  Next time these two are trined in the sky, they’ll get along fine.  For now, the Moon will have a big meltdown, she’ll cry for a while, then she’ll be over it.  Mercury will argue, but he won’t really mean any of it.  He’ll regret it all later.  Want us to stay and show you?
You:  No, I think I get the point.
Their job done, their point made, the trio depart.

Read about other eclipses coming up: 2011 Eclipses.

This Is A Pivotal Day
If you are one of the millions of people having a Saturn transit this year, today is likely to be pivotal for you.  Sometime around January 25, when Saturn turned retrograde, you were cast on an inner journey to discover what your unavoidable responsibility is.  By now you should have done a lot of soul-searching and reached some conclusions about what’s in front of you.  You’re work is cut out for you and now it’s time to hunker down and, in a serious push lasting several months, complete all those tasks leading to a tremendous accomplishment.

“What is a Saturn transit like . . .”
When Saturn is affecting your chart it tends to feel heavy. You feel the weight of life more than usual. You feel serious, and the pressure to take a more professional approach is enormous.  You are more aware of your limitations than usual and you feel you must take steps to improve your situation.  A Saturn transit is never comfortable, but it calls out the best in us and demands that we perform to, or even beyond, our standards.

“. . . and how do I know when I’m having one?”
First of all, you know by feel.  If what I’ve described resonates for you, it’s likely you’re having a Saturn transit.  (If it resonates, but only a little, you may be having a transit, but by a planet other than Saturn.)  That sensation of heaviness and duty that’s peculiar to a Saturn transit is because there’s hard work to be done in some area of your life and Saturn is making you aware of it.

You can find out whether you’re having a Saturn transit by peeking at your chart.  This year Saturn is covering the space from 10 to 17 degrees of Libra.  It will affect you if you have any planet in the space from 10 to 17 degrees of any of the four Cardinal signs (Libra, Capricorn, Aries, Cancer).

If you don’t have your chart, or don’t know how to read your chart, you might want to order your own personal Astrology Chart Decoder.  This is a special tool I’ve invented that puts your chart’s details into English, instead of astrology symbols.  Your Decoder tells you where every planet in your chart is located:  the sign it’s in, the house it’s in and the exact degree it occupies.  When you’ve got your Decoder in front of you, check to see if you have anything at all in 10 to 17 degrees of Libra, Capricorn, Aries or Cancer.  If you do, you are definitely having a Saturn transit this year.  And knowing that gives you a chance to understand the change you’re involved in and to make use of the pressure, instead of feeling overwhelmed by it.

“How long does it last?”
A Saturn transit will typically last for about 9 months.  This year’s Saturn transit will be over in September of 2011.  Today is just one part of it, a pivotal day in its flow.  If this transits is affecting you, the timing of it will be unique to you.  It takes an astrologer to look it up—it’s not something I can just tell you in a blogpost.  In an astrology reading you can find out the timing of it and how to move through it consciously, instead of spending this valuable time agitated and disturbed.  You can also find out which part of you (i.e. planet in your chart) is feeling the pressure to take responsibility.  Is it Relationships (Venus)?  Career (Saturn)?  Home (Moon)?  Or it could be something more subtle.

“What do I do now?”
People generally respond to a Saturn transit one of two ways: either they roll up their sleeves and get to work on the area of life where the pressure is or they run away and stick their head in the sand.  Are you using the pressure as a motivation to accomplish things you’ve been wanting to accomplish for a long time or are you avoiding the responsibility you know darned well is right in front of you?  The good news is that the moment you decide to be responsible and you take action towards that responsibility, the feeling of heaviness lifts.  Saturn has been propitiated and he eases off.

Saturn’s Gift
The principle behind Saturn’s pressure is extraordinarily simple:  do the work and you’ll get the reward.  That’s all.  It’s a simple input/output machine and there’s nothing complicated about it.

Face the hard work.  Approach it in a practical way.  Break down what there is to do into small tasks and do them.  Awaken your ambition to build something great out of what you have, and let it take over.  Paradoxically, practice, when done properly, does lead to flow, that elusive state where time melts away and you are one with your practice.  Ultimately your effort will pay off—that’s Saturn’s promise and believe me, his word is good.

When it’s over, it’s over
Every transit only lasts so long and this one will only last a few months longer.  I’m a big fan of taking advantage of transits while they are happening, instead of spending the precious time resisting or waiting for them to be over.  A transit is the most powerful while you are in the thick of it.  That may be the hardest time to change but it’s also time when the most pressure to change is brought to bear.  You cannot afford to be lazy during a Saturn transit because it feels so much worse than laziness usually does.  If you decide that Saturn’s pressure is your friend, you can get him on your side.  And with Saturn beside you, you can climb—and move—mountains.

Want to know more about how this Saturn transit affects your life?
Contact Jamie at pandora@pandoraastrology.com
to schedule a reading.

(Seen this post before? That’s because Chiron goes retrograde every year. This year, does it affect YOU? Read on to find out. . .)

“Wake up!” says Chiron.  “Are you feeling wounded?  Recently I brought you a difficult experience.  It was also a reminder, an echo of a difficult experience from your past.  I have a special message for you about how to heal it once and for all.”

Chiron Turns Retrograde June 8–A Pivotal Day
When a planet turns retrograde it makes a pivot in the sky and also creates a metaphorically “pivotal” experience for human beings.  This time, that planet is Chiron.  It’s as if Chiron is telling us, “You can’t go on avoiding this change forever.  Now I’m delivering a wake-up call.”  If Chiron is touching a planet in your chart this year, this message is for you and it will have very specific meaning, depending on what planet that is.  That planet, and the part of you it represents, is being sent on a healing journey.  It’s time for old, wounded places to surface so that real, deep healing can happen.  June 8 is the peak of Chiron’s wake-up call, but it could happen anytime within 5 days surrounding that day.

Initiation Leading To An Inner Journey
Sometime between February and now, Chiron showed us an area of life in which we are due for a change.  What he delivered was an initiation and it was our first chance to catch a clue about the healing journey to come.  That clue may have been obvious or it may have been subtle, but we’ve been shown a way to heal something deep.  And the road to that healing may be pretty rocky.

The clue was delivered, but did we notice?  It’s human to go into denial.  During the spring we may have said to ourselves, “Maybe I don’t have to do anything about this.  Maybe it was just a one-time thing.  Maybe I can just move on.  Maybe I can get away without paying attention to this.”

Or maybe not.  Now Chiron turns up the volume and gives us a reminder.  “That deep healing you’re going through?” he says, “You’d better get with the program.”  This week, Chiron’s retrograde journey begins and with it begins our healing journey.  Chiron will continue moving retrograde (i.e. backwards) until the day it turns direct, which is November 10, 2011.

Every Healing Journey Begins With Pain
Have you ever had a medical condition that had to get worse before it could get better?  Perhaps you had a broken bone that set wrongly and had to be re-broken and set properly before it could really heal.  Perhaps you had a dislocated shoulder that had to be pulled out and dropped back into place.  Perhaps you had an abscess that a doctor needed to dig into and clean out before it could finish healing and seal over.  All these experiences reflect the fact that real, enduring healing often requires the opening of an old wound.  Chiron, the Wounded Healer, is in charge of this process.

Chiron’s process is connected to the homeopathic “doctrine of similars,” which is a principle that a very small dose of exactly the same thing that harmed you will assist your body to heal itself.  This principle is also the theory behind vaccination.  Similarly, you can have a life experience that delivers a small amount of emotional pain in the present, but that also brings up a whole mass of previously unexamined feelings from the past.  This brings us to Chiron’s “healing crisis.”

A “healing crisis” is a moment in which we feel worse, but we’re actually getting better.    This is a powerful moment and the way we respond to it determines how things unfold:  do we get caught up in the symptoms and mistake them for the reality of the situation, allowing them to propel us into a more difficult future?  Or do we recognize the symptoms as an opportunity to heal more than the surface discomfort?  It is normal and human to get caught up in the pain of the moment and it usually doesn’t occur to us to question its deeper roots.  But amazing things can happen if instead we stop and ask ourselves, “What does this remind me of?  What does this connect to in my past?  And is there something ancient there which, if healed, would liberate me?”

Is This Story Your Story?
If this feels true for you, it may be that you are personally touched by this transit.  Chiron may be triggering a planet in your own chart, thus bringing these themes up for you.  This year Chiron is covering the space between 0 and 5 degrees of Pisces.  If there is anything in your chart in 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 degrees of Pisces, Gemini, Virgo or Sagittarius, you will feel this.  And knowing it can help a lot if you’ve been feeling smacked down by the universe and you don’t know why.  If Chiron has sensitized you this year, this could be the year when you finally let go of all the old baggage and gain access to more of yourself than you’ve ever had before.

What Area Of Your Life Is Being Affected?
Good question.  It will have to do with the planet in your chart that’s being triggered by Chiron.  If Chiron is affecting your Venus, you may find yourself in a painful situation in a present relationship that brings a larger relationship pattern into focus.  Now is your chance to heal this so as to stop unawarely bringing the past into the present.  If Chiron is affecting your Mars, you may find yourself feeling wounded about how you express anger or hold boundaries—this is an opportunity to heal this deeply in a new way.  And if you are turning 50 this year, then you are having your Chiron return, which is an enormous life passage loaded with healing themes and opportunities to clear the past and create a more powerful future.

Chiron’s Gift
A wonderful thing happens when we choose to examine a present pain more deeply.  Chiron links the past with the present such that, if we heal the new wound in the present, the healing echoes into our past.  Similarly, if we delve into our past and heal the ancient root of the problem, then the present wound can disappear as if by magic.  And the very best part is that whatever part of us was caught up or locked into that old wound gets released and we find that Chiron’s healing journey has left us more whole.  The part that’s released may be some part of us we haven’t had access to for a long time—we may even have given up on it long ago.  It’s funny how it ends up feeling like finding buried treasure, right in your own backyard.

Want to know more about how this Chiron transit affects your life?
Contact Jamie at pandora@pandoraastrology.com
to schedule a reading.

“Wake up!” says Neptune.  “Recently I showed you that there is more to your life than what can be experienced with the physical senses.  I demanded that you look deeper.  Now I’m telling you again:  it’s time to re-dream your life.”

Today Is A Pivotal Day
When a planet turns retrograde it makes a pivot in the sky and also creates a metaphorically “pivotal” experience for human beings.  Today, that planet is Neptune.  It’s as if Neptune is telling us, “You can’t go on avoiding this change forever.  Today I’m delivering a wake-up call.”  If Neptune is touching a planet in your chart this year, this message is for you and it will have very specific meaning, depending on what planet that is.  That planet, and the part of you it represents, is receiving a vision of what is possible; during this time you’ll be asked to re-dream that part of you.  Today is the peak of Neptune’s wake-up call, but it could happen anytime within 5 days surrounding today.

Initiation Leading To An Inner Journey
Sometime between now and the beginning of last November Neptune showed us an area of life in which we are due for a change.  What she delivered was an initiation and it was our first chance to catch a clue about the spiritual reorientation to come.  That clue may have been obvious or it may have been subtle, but we’ve been shown a way to become much bigger and much more like our ideal.  And we may have to push through some uncomfortable delusions to do it.

The clue was delivered, but did we notice?  It’s human to go into denial.  During the winter we may have said to ourselves, “Maybe I don’t have to do anything about this.  Maybe it was just a one-time thing.  Maybe I can just move on.  Maybe I can get away without paying attention to this.”

Or maybe not.  Today Neptune turns up the volume and gives us a reminder.  “That redreaming you’re going through?” she says, “You’d better get with the program.”  Today, Neptune’s retrograde journey begins and with it begins our journey into our personal land of dreams (and nightmares).  Neptune’s retrograde journey lasts until the day it turns direct, which is November 9, 2011.

Journey Into the Imaginative Realms
The veil between physical and nonphysical realities is thin right now.  If you close your eyes you can reach right through it.  You can enter that place between the worlds where nothing is actual and everything is possible, that magical, in-between place where imagination is rich and you can dream up your future to be whatever you want it to be.  Neptune is the stuff fantasy books are made of.

But Neptune is also the planet of illusions and delusions.  While Neptune is retrograde (until November 9) you will be pulled into circumstances that bring your delusions into sharper focus.  Examine your life carefully—are there places where you are pretending things are different than they are?  Are there places where you are living a fantasy because it’s nicer than the reality you face?  Sometimes a fantasy is a form of healthy escape that helps us cope with a painful but necessary reality, but at other times escaping from reality keeps us from coping and from courageously changing our reality to better match our ideal.

This transit can be great for those who live by their imaginations:  writers, artists, filmmakers and creative people of all stripes.  It can also be great for those who know themselves to be psychically sensitive.  Neptune’s action is gentle and so subtle that it can be hard to notice unless you are already the kind of person who pays attention to your imagination.  This is a great time to attend a dream-group or keep a dream-journal or to do Morning Pages.*

Is This Story Your Story?
If this feels true for you, it may be that you are personally touched by this transit.  Neptune may be triggering a planet in your own chart, thus bringing these themes up for you.  This year Neptune is covering the space between 28 degrees of Aquarius and 0 degrees of Pisces.  If there is anything in your chart in 28 or 29 degrees of Aquarius, Taurus, Leo or Scorpio, you will feel this.  You’ll also feel it if you have anything in 0 degrees of Pisces, Gemini, Virgo or Sagittarius.  And knowing it can help a lot if you’ve been feeling sucked into other worlds and you don’t know why.  Neptune has you in a walking dream this year, because she has an important message for you.  Your ideal life is calling and if you listen to her siren song, this could be the year you make a subtle shift in direction that leads to a whole new future.

What Area Of Your Life Is Being Affected?
Good question.  It will have to do with the planet in your chart that’s being triggered by Neptune.  If Neptune is affecting your Mercury, you may find yourself a little mentally fuzzy and more prone to daydreaming than usual.  What’s happening is an awakening of your intuition, so make room for that.  If Neptune is affecting your Venus or Juno, you may become aware of illusions you’ve had in your relationships.  You’ll want to clear those away.  If Neptune is affecting your Moon you may have a psychic opening or a very active dreamlife this year.  Pay attention to your dreams—they will contain wisdom for you.

But whatever planet Neptune is affecting, you can bet that the dreamworld is catching hold of you now.  You may find yourself more distractible, more prone to daydreaming.  You may even want to sleep more.  It’s as if there’s another you, who dwells in your dreams.  That other you is activated right now and when s/he is awake, you must sleep.  This is normal for a Neptune transit.  Get the rest you need.  Pay respect to Neptune and in return, she’ll make your dreams come true.

Want to know more about how this Neptune transit affects your life?
Contact Jamie at pandora@pandoraastrology.com
to schedule a reading.

*Morning Pages are a creativity-priming technique devised by Julia Cameron and described in her book The Artist’s Way which I recommend highly.

This month’s New Moon is also a Solar Eclipse and it’s also an occasion for lightening up.  That may seem like a contradiction, because an eclipse tends to have a heavy feel, plus Saturn is involved, which also feels heavy.  But this eclipse falls in the Air sign of Gemini, and draws on Libra, another Air sign.  Lightening up could be the most responsible course of action during an eclipse like this one.

Details About This Eclipse

Date: June 1, 2011
Time of eclipse: 2:03 PM PST
Type: partial (moderate in intensity)
Visible in: eastern Asia, northern Alaska, northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, northern Scandinavia.
At: 11 degrees Gemini

Shadow Agent: Saturn (in Libra)

Does It Affect You Personally?

If your birthday is on any of the following dates, you most likely experienced this eclipse:
May 28-June 7
August 30-September 9
November 29-December 8
February 25-March 7

Remember, not every eclipse touches everyone, but when it does, it’s usually noticeable.  A solar eclipse is likely to be marked by an external, real-world event (unlike a lunar eclipse, which is likely to bring up strong emotions and to be experienced as a subjective event).  The following script is just one possible way it could go.

You hear a knock at the door.  You answer it.  Saturn stands there, appearing today as a well-manicured older woman in a twin set and skirt.  Her graying hair is in an attractive, streamlined cut.  She is the very model of social appropriateness.
Saturn:  Good afternoon.  I’ve brought you something.
You:  What might that be?
Saturn extends her hand to you, opening it, palm up.  In it is a small, beautiful butterfly, flexing its wings.
Saturn:  Consider the butterfly.  A butterfly does not live long, but enjoys the days it’s given.  A butterfly stays light and follows the moment.  A butterfly is always well-dressed.
You look closer at the little insect and notice its beautiful coloring.
You:  Do you think I should be more like that?
Saturn:  You take life too seriously sometimes.  You need to lighten up.
You:  Look who’s talking!
Saturn:  Sometimes everything depends on rising above the dirt and grime of life.  Sometimes everything depends on a graceful word spoken at the perfect moment.  Sometimes everything depends on good manners.  You’ve got to have the ability to respond in those moments.
You:  I’ll think about that.
Saturn:  Please do.  Especially in your relationships.  All of them.
With that, Saturn opens her handbag and releases a flock of butterflies into your living room.  You panic and begin chasing them down, in an attempt to catch them all.
Saturn:  Stop that!  There’s no need!
You:  But they’re everywhere!
Saturn:  Just observe.  It’s a meditation.  Relax.  Let them have your home for a while.  They will die soon enough.  For now, just watch them move.
You sink into a chair and soon are lost in a trance, watching the colorful wings flutter, land, flutter again.  Eventually you realize that Saturn is gone and you are alone in a room full of beautiful moving symbols of pure grace.

Read about other eclipses coming up: 2011 Eclipses.

“Wake up!” says Pluto.  “Recently I initiated some part of you into a death-and-rebirth experience.  Now I’m telling you again:  this is a time of profound change.”

(If you’ve seen this post before, that’s because Pluto goes retrograde every year.  Some years it will affect you directly, some not.)

Today Is A Pivotal Day
When a planet turns retrograde it makes a pivot in the sky and also creates a metaphorically “pivotal” experience for human beings.  Right now, that planet is Pluto.  It’s as if Pluto is telling us, “You can’t go on avoiding this change forever.  I’m delivering a wake-up call.”  If Pluto is touching a planet in your chart this year, this message is for you and it will have very specific meaning, depending on what planet that is.  That planet, and the part of you it represents, is being melted down to its essence.  After this period, that part of you will be fundamentally changed.  April 9 was the peak of Pluto’s wake-up call for 2011, but it could happen anytime within a week surrounding that date.

Initiation Leading To An Inner Journey
Sometime between now and the end of last November Pluto showed us an area of life in which we are due for a change.  What he delivered was an initiation and it was our first chance to catch a clue about the profound metamorphosis to come.  That clue may have been obvious or it may have been subtle, but we’ve been shown a place in our life that would benefit from letting go of control and accepting that the old way of being must go so that a new way may be born from its ashes.

The clue was delivered, but did we notice?  It’s human to go into denial.  During the winter we may have said to ourselves, “Maybe I don’t have to do anything about this.  Maybe it was just a one-time thing.  Maybe I can just move on.  Maybe I can get away without paying attention to this.”

Or maybe not.  Today Pluto turns up the volume and gives us a reminder.  “That metamorphosis you’re going through?” he says, “You’d better get with the program.”  Today, Pluto’s retrograde journey begins and with it begins our journey inward to discover what part of us needs to be allowed to die and how we can accept that death and grieve its loss.  Only after we grieve can new life spring from the old.  The upcoming few months of Pluto retrograde will demand that we trust our own process and allow things to unfold as they must.  Pluto’s retrograde journey lasts until the day it turns direct, which is September 16, 2011.

Where Must We Face Death, Loss And Change?
The sign Pluto is in tells us how it will affect us.  Right now Pluto is in Capricorn, a practical, ambitious Earth sign.  While traveling through Capricorn, Pluto will transform our relationship to structure, discipline, order and career.  Pluto asks, “How do you handle structure?  Are you self-disciplined?  Do you have good, healthy order in your life?  Are you on a meaningful and purposeful career track?  Are you building something real, concrete and useful to leave behind when you die?”

Pluto says, “There are things you need to let go of.  Things that aren’t serving you.  Places where you stop yourself from having the discipline, integrity and ambition you really want to have.  I’m taking those things away from you now.  You don’t need them anymore.  You won’t know that at first–in fact, at first it will feel like you yourself are dying.  But you’re not.  You’re just changing.  Let go of those things you don’t need.  Grieve them.  Then watch new life spring from the old.  This is always my promise to you:  new life comes from the passing of the old.”  Pluto says, “This is me helping you get out of your own way.”

Is This Story Your Story?
If this resonates for you, it may be that you are personally touched by this transit.  Pluto may be triggering a planet in your own chart, thus bringing these themes up for you.  This year Pluto is covering the space between 4 and 7 degrees Capricorn.  If there is anything in your chart in 4, 5, 6 or 7 degrees of Capricorn, Cancer, Libra or Aries, you will feel this.  And knowing it can help a lot if you’ve been feeling like you’re melting down and like you want to hide under the covers and you’re generally more sensitive this year than usual.  Pluto may be trying to tell you something important, and if you listen, your discomfort will ease and the change you’re in can begin to flow instead of paining you.

What Area Of Your Life Is Being Affected?

Good question.  It will have to do with the planet in your chart that’s being triggered by Pluto.  If it’s Mercury, Pluto is metamorphosing your mind and killing off old ways of thinking.  If it’s Venus or Juno, Pluto is metamorphosing your relationships, giving you the possibility of a whole new way of being in relationship in the future.  If it’s your Sun, the very core of you is being melted down and reshaped into a whole new person you will not even recognize.  But whatever it is, you’ll have that feeling of emotional intensity, grief and loss and a powerful need to assert control as everything around you melts down.  That’s Pluto.  He’s a Big Scary Monster to meet in a dark alley, but his gifts are great.  Because he lives in each of us, we all have the ability to leave behind our caterpillar ways and become the butterfly we always meant to be.

Want to know more about how this Pluto transit affects your life?
Contact Jamie at pandora@pandoraastrology.com
to schedule a reading.

When astrologers want to understand the archetype that underlies a zodiac sign, they look to the mythological stories that center around the deity that rules the sign.  To understand Gemini, we look to Mercury, ruler of thought and ideas, wearer of the winged cap.  To understand Libra, we look to Venus, goddess of love and beauty.  Her nature as siren, tempestuous lover and self-indulgent hedonist helps us understand both Libra and Taurus, the two signs Venus rules.  Clearly Venus and Mercury were well-identified by the ancients and interpretations of their movements that worked thousands of years ago still work today.  All the other bodies visible with the naked eye (the Sun and Moon, Mars, Jupiter Saturn) were also clearly identified and associated with the right archetypal principles and so their zodiac signs are well-understood.  But astrologers have had a challenge when it comes to Aquarius.  This sign’s ruling planet, Uranus, may have been misnamed.

The deity Uranus is not one that has much mythological tradition surrounding him. There are not many stories to look to in discovering the meaning of this sky god.  We know he was father to Saturn and that Saturn overthrew him, we know he was a primordial sky god.  And that’s about it.  No long tales to tell, no intricate personality quirks.  And the things we do know about Uranus only fit Aquarius marginally.  It’s occurred to one astrological thinker that there is a different deity whose stories and personality do fit the qualities of Aquarius, and that would be Prometheus.  The astrologer is Richard Tarnas, whose discovery and line of thinking are detailed in his book, Prometheus the Awakener.

All of this gets me to my point, which is:  Aquarians, the myths of Uranus do not have a lot to tell you about your own nature.  But the myths of Prometheus do.  Here is his story . . .

Our tale begins in a time before human beings existed, when the world was fresh and new, and populated by gigantic gods called Titans.

Prometheus was one of the Titans.  Animals had already been created and they were wonderful, but Prometheus wanted to make something better, so he created Man out of clay.  He made Man in the shape of a god, which was rather arrogant of him and resulted in Man thinking a bit much of himself as well.  By the time Man was made, all the gifts of life (wings, feathers, speed, strength, fins, etc.) had already been disbursed among the animals, so that there was no special gift for Man.  Prometheus had an idea what to do about this, so he took himself to Mt. Olympus, the dwelling-place of the gods, and got some fire and gave that to Man.  This was an incredible advantage over the other creatures, because Man could keep himself warm, cook his food, and make tools using fire, and the other creatures couldn’t do that.  Fire gave Man enough safety and leisure to cultivate arts and commerce.

(Here I could tell the story of Pandora, the first Woman, but I’ve told it elsewhere, so I’ll skip over it for now.)

According to Bullfinch’s Mythology, Prometheus is represented by the Greek & Roman poets as “a friend to mankind.”  But Prometheus’ gift was gained at a price:  Jupiter (Jove to the Greeks) was angered at the theft of fire and he, as king of the gods, punished Prometheus.  Prometheus was chained to a huge rock where every day a giant eagle came and ate his liver from his still-living body.  Every night the liver grew back—so this was an unending torment, because Prometheus was a god and could not die.  Prometheus was in possession of a secret about which of Jupiter’s offspring would eventually overthrow him.  Jupiter swore that Prometheus might be released if he would reveal the future usurper’s name.  Prometheus refused and stubbornly endured his punishment.

Prometheus’ release eventually came, through the actions of Hercules and Chiron—but that is a different story.

The tale of Prometheus contains a number of themes that connect with the Aquarian temperament and mark him as the originator (planetary ruler) of that temperament.

1.    Prometheus loves humanity.  The sign of Aquarius is well-known for producing individuals who are “people persons.”  Some Aquarians love humanity more as a concept and less in terms of one-on-one relating, but Aquarians are famous for standing up for human rights.
2.    Prometheus demonstrated a refusal to support monarchy, holding out instead for decentralizing power.  This strongly parallels the Aquarian tendency toward political activism and democracy.  Aquarius comes down solidly on the side of the people as opposed to Leo, its opposite sign in the zodiac, which represents monarchy and centralized power.  The best illustration of this is that around the time of the discovery of the planet we call Uranus (which, I’m arguing, should be called Prometheus), revolutions began happening as a phenomenon.  I’m speaking of the French and American revolutions.  The people joined together and rose up as one against an oppressive monarch, on two continents at the same time.  These revolutions were soon followed by more revolutions, in Russia, China and elsewhere.  Since the middle 1700s, revolution exists as a thing in itself, as it never before used to.  When Uranus was discovered, the Revolutionary that lay hidden in humanity’s collective unconscious reared up and was activated.
3.    The theft of fire from the gods and the giving of fire, with all its power, to humanity, was an act of rebellion on the part of Prometheus.  He was a rebellious god, stuck in his own ideas and doing his own thing.  He was a trickster.  In a similar vein, the planet Uranus brings out a quality of rebellion in people when it’s strong in their charts.  Uranian types tend to be rebellious, reactive and strong-minded.  They sometimes enjoy rule-breaking for its own sake.
4.    Fire itself represents insight, inspiration and one central symbol for Aquarius is lightening.  We speak of thoughts having the speed of lightening and ideas striking us like lightening.  Thought itself is the passing of electrical impulses in our brains—and it does happen at a lightning-pace.  Sudden insight and the overthrow of old thought-structures is at the very heart of the archetype of Aquarius—and it’s the source of the famous Aquarian inventiveness.

To live fully into one’s sun sign it is sometimes necessary to invite a god into one’s life.  Aquarians, your god is above all things a rebel, a revolutionary, a paradigm-shifter and rule-breaker.  Your god loves humanity, even when that’s not the popular thing to do.  Your god is willing to take the hit for humanity and endure great suffering and pain in order to take a stand for humanity’s right to be just a little bit godlike.  Your god gave us the gift of startling ideas and brilliance.  He deserves the biggest temple you can build him.