I want you to know that I LOVE the many opportunities I have had to touch people’s lives through astrology in 2009.  I have had more sessions than ever before, with more interesting, growing, exciting people than ever before.  I have had a lot of requests to join my newsletter list and am very excited at how this ongoing conversation about how we humans can take charge of and change our lives using astrology as a power tool is expanding.

To mark my excitement, I am recommitting to this blog.  In 2010 I will continue writing timely, relevant posts designed to help you apply astrology’s wisdom to your real, actual life.  I write to you, my intelligent, motivated audience.  To remind us both who you are and what our relationship is, I am reposting one of my very first posts, called “I And Thou” in which I wrote our relationship into being.  I hope you are as inspired by it as I am by you.

Here is what I said to you on April 3, 2007.  After blogging for 2 and 3/4 years, it is even more true today.

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“If you hallow this life, you meet the living God.” -Martin Buber, I and Thou

The Necessity of Imagining an Audience
Every writer needs an audience. That audience is of necessity a fabrication, at least at first. It is invented out of pure imagination. In “inventing” you, I am adding you to my waking dream.

I am setting a high bar for myself. I know you are intelligent, discriminating and thoughtful. I know you are practical and desire more active participation in your own life. I need a reader just like you. I become a better person just thinking about you and the vast worlds we have to talk about together.

Here and now I get the opportunity to determine what you are like, but I also know that if I am to hold your attention I must remember that you have a reality beyond my imagining. So I choose to see you as a real person of stature and solidity, a person who is my equal (a Thou to my I) and a person who is capable of surprising me in a way a fiction can never be capable of. I have put out the shoes. If they fit, step into them.

You are adding me as a character in your dream by reading this and volunteering yourself for the relationship with your attention. You will self-select in or out of being here according to your needs. I trust you to do that.

Now that you’re here, please—pull up a chair. Join me here, at the fire.

Fireside Chat: Can I Be Frank With You?
I speak to you as to someone who understands, someone who “gets it.” We share certain values. You are spiritual but grounded. You have one foot in this world, one in a very different world. You are a spirit and a body and very interested in both. You are smart, subtle, psychological, metaphysical, but also motivated and driven. You are going somewhere in life (as I am) and don’t have patience or time for beating around the bush. You appreciate practical approaches to metaphysical matters. You’ll reach for whatever will help you move forward but if I am too woo-woo or new-agey you will get bored. I know that you are choosy and that I need to stay interesting or I will lose you. I respect that. It is a sense of discrimination I share.

Here, in this conversation, which is just between you and me, the medium is the message. Sometimes I will speak sharply; sometimes with infinite gentleness. It is my job to remind both of us again and again that life is marching on and each moment is too important to waste.

I keep to the realm of the universal, the classic. I talk about small, subtle experiences and large, general ideas. Things that pertain to you when you see how they apply to your life. All of it is useful. You find more here than you can use at one time, so you come back later to absorb the parts you couldn’t take in before. You are learning astrology despite yourself. Perhaps you came because you know some astrology and you want to learn more and you stayed because I’ve shown you new ways of thinking about it. You will never be the same.

I have very little use for knee-jerk negativity and “helpful criticism.” For this reason, I am letting you know now that I won’t have interest in comments that are critical but suggest no helpful change. But I am deeply interested in comments that add value to this conversation. In my view, you are an excellent person with much to say and useful experience to draw on. If you dilute that respect by speaking drivel it will be a loss for both of us. Mother used to say, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” I would say, “if you can’t say anything useful, wait to speak until you can.” Please don’t waste my time. I promise not to waste yours.

Hello, Thou. Who Are You?
You are adventuresome, growing, not judgmental, leveling, able to hold what I say gently in your mind. Your mind is open and curious. You are willing to consider any idea that might help you in your life.

You are an experimental person. This is because you’ve come to realize that there are no test runs in life, so your life is one big laboratory and you like to try things in it. You’ve had enough life-experience to trust your own assessment of the workability of ideas. You’re willing to grow-as-you-go.

You are a self-aware person. You notice your impact on others and your impact on life. This too enables you to experiment. When your experiments drive others away from you, you notice and perhaps change course. But you’re brave enough not to change course even if others are uncomfortable, in the times when you are sure you’re on the right track.

You have an idea where you are going, maybe sometimes only a general idea, but most importantly, you’ve got some kind of intuitive mechanism that lets you know when you are on-track, and when you are off. You pay attention to that. This gives you freedom to explore because you know that when you get off-track, you will eventually restore your course.

You are in the prime of your life but perhaps you don’t know it, because sometimes you’d rather be somewhere else. You have much more power than you’re using. You are at a nexus, a crossroads, a fork in the path. What you choose now will affect the whole future. New paths will open up, existing ones will close. There is no time but now for you to create the life you really want to live, to carve it out of the block before you. You are looking for what will help uncover the meaning of your life. What I’m writing will help you. At times it is exactly what you need. You are happy to have found me. I am grateful to have found you. We now have each other.

You look at your life differently because of what I have said. You are someone willing to do that. You are willing to change your whole life now, today, because of something that happened this moment. You are open to wild insight and willing to suspend disbelief long enough to entertain crazy ideas. You are willing to rearrange your brain. You are not stuck in ideas. You are also not stuck in a rigid “flexibility,” an ungrounded state that cannot find anchor or center and cleaves to nothing. You know your center when you’ve found it. For this reason, I can speak strongly to you. Thank you for that.

Thank you for listening; I see you are on the edge of your seat. That’s good because it’s your life we’re talking about here. Even when you are skeptical or the subject doesn’t grip you, you read to the end anyway, because you’ve learned to trust me. You know it will be just for you again very soon and you are watching eagerly for that moment.

What I Plan To Do With Your Attention
The conversation has already been going on. Somehow we entered in the middle of it. Our relationship? We are human beings. Sometimes we are up off the planet observing phenomena in ourselves, each other, other humans, the world; sometimes we are down in the thick of it, immersed in our lives, our points of view, our perspectives. Sometimes taking strong positions, sometimes not so much. We immerse ourselves, then pan out and look at the big picture. We are always deriving value from the comparison between the subjective and the objective.

I tell the truth and tell it often: on myself, on you, on others, on life. You respect me enough to hear it and to select what you need to hear from among the things I say. Sensibly, you discard the rest. You give me the infinite gift of changing your life because of what I’ve said here. I galvanize you; you allow yourself to be galvanized.

I respect you, I know your strength and I’m standing for it. I won’t tolerate you being a wimp. In speaking to you this way I am saying “I know you are already conscious, although sometimes you look asleep. Look at your life and take charge of it. It’s yours—no one else’s.”

Now I see others have joined us here at the fire. That’s ok—they can listen. This is still just between you and me, but if others benefit from it, that is very, very good.

Look at the fire. That fire is the urgency we feel: life is being lived now, here, whether we are paying attention or not! The dancing flame is never the same twice: in every moment comes another chance to change it all. In every moment comes another chance to leap in and shape this life according to our joy. To do that we need to give up resentment and discontent, accept how things are and then find the hope to move.

If you are still reading, then you belong here. You and I are connected, as we always were, as we always will be. This ever-existent connection has lain dormant in the back of our consciousness, waiting to be born in this moment, when you showed up and read to the end of the entry. And this, dear reader, is the beginning of our relationship.

While you are in a dream, you find yourself in a beautiful, ancient forest, filled with tangled trees and brush.  You sit quietly, feeling at peace with the world and your place in it.  Among the trees you spy two beings who must be gods because they are larger-than-life and they glow.  You sit very quietly and watch them from behind a tree.
Neptune is a slim woman, dressed in a flowing garment that is always moving.  Sometimes it looks like water, sometimes mist and sometimes clouds.  As you look at her, you can’t quite get a fix on her position, even though your peripheral vision sees that she is there.  It’s like the way some stars are so faint you can’t see them dead-on; you have to look a little to the side.  She is like that.
Chiron is a little more solid.  He is a centaur, standing strong on his four horsy legs while his naked human torso rises proudly from his animal body.  He seems comfortable with his odd self, which makes you feel comfortable too.
The two are having a conversation, which you are able to overhear.
Neptune:  I have always loved this beautiful green place.  I love how it could be on any continent, anywhere on Earth.
Chiron:  Me too.  What do they call this?
Neptune:  It is the Wood Between The Worlds.
(And if you ever read the Narnia books as a child, particularly The Magician’s Nephew, you now know exactly where you are.)
Neptune picks up her skirts, which go green to match the surrounding leaves and she spins, casting off green sparks of living energy.  Then she laughs and sits on the grass, her skirts gathering around her but still ever-moving.  She reaches out her hand into a nearby pool of water and gently touches its surface, smiling meditatively.
Chiron:  What world is in that pool?
Neptune:  It’s the ideal world of that silly little human over there, hiding behind the tree.
You freeze, wondering how she knew.
Chiron:  She’s a goddess, silly!  That’s how she knew.  You can come out now.  We’ve turned down the volume on our divine presence, so you won’t get blasted.  It’s safe.
You slowly come out from behind the tree.  Neptune is beckoning softly.
Neptune:  Why not have a look?
You:  What am I supposed to do?
Neptune:  Sit here beside me.  Meditate and make your mind very still.  Take the armor off your heart and reach way down into your belly for the last moment of real bliss you felt.  Then, when you’ve done all that, put your hand in the water.
You are nervous, but you obey.  Making your mind still turns out to be harder than expected, and removing the heart-armor is hard too.  After you’ve done those things, feeling the bliss is fairly easy and soon you reach out to the pond.
As your hand slips into the water, you become aware of descending into a beautiful landscape.  As you look around you, you notice it’s just like the everyday world you know, except everything is just a bit brighter and warmer.  There are people in this place, and they are happy—really happy, deep down, not just in a phony way.  You see that they are doing what they love to do and somehow it all fits together.  There is no sign here of all the things you hate and fear:  war, poverty, disease, and the rest.  This is a well-functioning world.  Everything is as it should be; everything is perfect.
You are struck by the disparity between the world you long for and the world you live in and you begin to weep.  You realize that you need to bridge this gap in order to make yourself whole.  With that realization, that there IS a way to this beautiful place, your heart breaks open and you can feel sunlight streaming out from it.  Peace descends upon you.
As you come back to yourself, you realize Chiron’s hand is on your shoulder, touching you reassuringly and giving you strength.
Chiron:  Do you know what you must do now?
You:  I have to create that world, on Earth, in my own life.
Chiron:  Yes, exactly.  You are the bridge.
Neptune:  You are the one, the only one who can do it.  Don’t wait for someone else.  Your world is special; everyone must create their own heaven on earth.
Chiron:  And it’s not a burden, not something you must do, but something you get to do.
You:  Woah.
Chiron:  Yeah, “Woah.”  That’s right.
Neptune and Chiron link arms and stroll away through the wood, leaving you to ponder this.  As they walk away, you can still hear their voices, fading but ringing clear through the trees.
Chiron:  Do you think that one knows what it’s going to take?
Neptune:  Nope, there’s absolutely no clue.
Chiron:  It’s probably better that way.

Neptune and Chiron will be doing their dance in the sky from May of 2009 to November of 2010.  They will make 3 passes.  The first and last pass will be inexact but extremely close.  The middle pass will be exact on February 17, 2010.  If you have any planet in your chart between 25 and 27 degrees of fixed signs (Aquarius, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio), you are bound to feel this.

If you want to read other articles about 2009’s triple conjunction of Neptune, Chiron & Jupiter, look here on the Trends For The Year 2009 page.

Details About This Eclipse

Date: August 5, 2009
Time of eclipse: 5:55 PM PST
Type: penumbral (weak in intensity)
Visible in: People in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, western Russia and western Asia will see this eclipse begin. People in Africa, the Middle East, Europe (except extreme north) South America and North America (except northwest) will see it end.
At: 13 degrees Aquarius
Shadow Agent: Mars in Gemini

Does It Affect You Personally?

If your birthday is on any of the following dates, you most likely experienced this eclipse:
December 31-January 10
March 31-April 10
July 2-12
October 3-13

Remember, not every eclipse touches everyone, but when it does, it’s usually noticeable. A lunar eclipse is likely to bring up strong emotions. This particular eclipse may bring up emotions relating to the polarity of individual vs. group. The following script is just one possible way it could go.

You hear a knock at the door. You answer it. Mars is standing there. Funny how he seems to be in motion, even when he’s standing still. He’s a little bit hyper. Behind him stands the Sun, a jolly looking man in a bright orange jacket. And behind the Sun stands the Moon, a mousy woman wearing gray. They all seem to be having an argument between them, which continues as they enter your house.

Mars (to the Moon): Do you have trouble being seen in groups? Do you struggle to get the attention you deserve? Does it make it hard for you to take action?
The Sun (also to the Moon): Some part of you wants to take center stage. You know you do.
The Moon: Yeah, maybe that’s easy for you to say. You’re comfortable receiving attention. But what about all the other people who deserve attention and aren’t getting any? Sometimes it’s important to back off and let someone else get a chance.
Mars: The logical thing to do is to back off sometimes and to start conversations so everyone can be heard. Then there will be room for the individual and the group too. Don’t you see?
The Sun: Mars, you get a little weird when you’re in Gemini. All talk and no action. Where’s your drive, your initiative?
Mars: When I’m in Gemini, I find I have to think before I act. Otherwise I just fritter my energy away in nervous activity that accomplishes nothing.
The Sun: Hrumph. Look, my point is, I’m just not willing to make myself small to make other people comfortable. It’s important to express oneself in life. Individual creativity is crucial to the community.
Mars: Why don’t you shut up and give the Moon a chance to speak?
The Sun: Since you ask directly, instead of covertly, sure, I’ll shut up. Moon, what do you have to say?
The Moon bursts into tears.
Mars: Now you’ve gone and done it. He pats her back awkwardly. There, there—it’s not so bad, is it?
The Moon: I was just thinking of the Star Trek moment when Spock is dying and he says, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few—or the one.”
The Sun: Outrageous! That’s a ridiculous notion, promulgated by a few who want to interfere with self-expression!
Mars (through clenched teeth): Zip it!
The Sun actually becomes noticeably smaller.
The Moon: When one person’s self-expression becomes too large, it takes away from the voices of others. If the individual is willing to diminish himself just a little, so many more perspectives can be heard!
The Sun: But not at the cost of squashing the individual!
The Sun here gets so large that the Moon begins to fade away. Mars places himself between them as the Moon starts to breathe heavily, as if she’s having an asthma attack.
The Sun (to the Moon): Why do you have to be so passive aggressive? All I want is space to be myself.
Mars: You need a little more awareness of your impact on others.
The Sun: I’m not the only one! She needs to get that groups are made up of individuals, all of whom have an impact. And if the individual is stifled out of fear of expressing himself, the group suffers.
Since the argument has turned into a shouting match, you stand on a chair and interrupt.
You: Quiet, everybody!
There’s silence. You actually have their attention.
You: I want to know why you are all here. Why are you arguing in my home?
Mars: Isn’t it obvious? We have a message for you.
You: You do? All of you? Together?
The Sun nods and the Moon stops breathing heavily long enough to nod also.
You: Well, out with it then!
Mars: It’s that you need to let your creativity be guided by what the group actually needs. Are you giving what you want to give, what will feed your ego rather than what will serve the collective best? Let go of the need to stand out from the crowd. Instead, allow yourself to be embraced by your networks of like-minded people, let your soul find a home and a purpose there. Serving that will fill a place in you that ego never could.
The Sun: Hmm, now there’s some food for thought.
The Moon actually breaks into a smile. The three of them leave quietly, while you meditate on their message.

For more about this year’s eclipses, see this:
2009 Eclipses and their Shadow Agents

Date:  July 21, 2009
Time of eclipse: 7:35 PM PST
Type:  total
Visible in:  northern India, eastern Nepal, southern China, in cities like Delhi, Calcutta, Kathmandu and Shanghai.
At:  29 degrees Cancer
Shadow Agent:  Uranus

This eclipse falls in the sign of Cancer, which means it shows us our shadow in the area of emotions, feelings and our inner life.  The funny thing is, this is a solar eclipse, so it’s marked by an external, real-world event (unlike a lunar eclipse, which is mostly experienced internally).  So during this eclipse our inner life may be symbolized in the outside world by a physical event.  The eclipse may also stimulate events in Cancerian arenas, such as family (meaning both the family you grow up with and the family you create as an adult), the home or private sphere and one’s emotional life.  The eclipse is total, so it is likely to have a stronger effect on those it touches than the other 5 eclipses this year.  The Shadow Agent for this eclipse is Uranus, acting gently by a harmonious trine.

Remember, not every eclipse touches everyone, but when it does, it’s usually noticeable.  The following script is just one possible way it could go.

You hear a knock at the door.  You answer it.  Uranus is standing there.  He’s a funny-looking guy, a little cross-eyed, wearing a beanie cap.
You:  I’ve seen you before.
Uranus:  I tend to bring the unexpected.
You:  Uh, yeah, I’ve noticed that.
Uranus:  Don’t worry, I’m acting by trine today, so this won’t be so bad.
He sweeps past you into the house and starts rearranging your furniture.  You’re amazed and more than a little taken aback. When he moves the sofa to a totally different spot, you interrupt.
You:  Hey—I liked that there!
Uranus:  You’d gotten too stuck in your ways.  This will be better.  Trust me.
You fall silent and watch.  In a few swift moves, suddenly he has made everything different.  You sit on the newly-placed sofa and notice that things look very different from this new angle.  They feel different too.  There’s a freshness and you don’t really know what it all means.
Uranus:  You have more space now.
You:  More of something, but I’m not sure what.
Uranus:  That should come clear within a few days.
You:  I’m going to have to get used to this.
Uranus:  Yep.  Sometimes people don’t know what they need until it happens.
You (still in shock):  I can’t tell if this is bad or not.
Uranus:  Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.  You decide.
He tips his silly hat and goes.

Art by Kristin Plescow.

For more about this year’s eclipses, see this:
2009 Eclipses and their Shadow Agents

If you’ve read my blog much, you probably know by now that Mercury moves in cycles lasting four months, or three cycles a year.  Mercury moves retrograde (or backwards) for about three weeks of that cycle, and forward for the rest.  Twice during each cycle, Mercury crosses (conjuncts) the Sun, once while both are moving forward (but Mercury is faster than the Sun), the other while the Sun continues forward but Mercury is moving backward.  Those days when Mercury conjuncts the Sun are days of epiphany.

The Sun, by the way, is always moving forward, never backward.  If an astrologer ever tells you that you have the Sun retrograde, they are pulling your leg.

The Mercury cycle is great for working on projects.  Using the natural flow of the Mercury cycle can be like getting on a ride that helps your project get done. When Mercury is direct, as it is now, great forward progress can be made.

Today is July 13, 2009.  Mercury is now moving forward, and crosses the Sun this evening around 7:18 PM Pacific time:  today is Epiphany Day. Now is the time to bring your project to a culmination–the atmosphere is ripe for a peak of office energy and efficiency.  Maybe you’ve had your moment of clarity already; maybe there is more to come.  Look for and make use of it!

In the upcoming weeks, Mercury will continue moving forward, but will begin to slow down by the end of August, preparing to go retrograde in its usual way.  At that time, the office energy will be winding down and preparing to hibernate.  So get everything done that you can now, while it’s easy and the astrological weather supports progress.

If you don’t know what sign your Moon is in and you want to find out, you can order your own personal Astrology Chart Decoder.  This is a special tool I’ve invented that puts your chart’s details in 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.  Your Moon sign will be right at the top.

The Moon in a chart is connected with a person’s emotional life.  It is like the small, tender inner child in all of us, which is there inside even the most toughened adult.  If you want to re-parent yourself, you need look no farther than your Moon to find out what is needed to do that.  Your Moon Sign describes what you need to feel safe, secure and well taken-care-of.  It also tells you how to access your intuition and which bad, security-based behaviors to beware of.  What does this mean for you personally?

If You Have. . .

Moon in Aries
You need honesty and directness, both in yourself and from others you can trust. You need to be able to be your real self, without apology or pretense. You also need to be in touch with your gut, so right action is your path to intuition. Beware of acting too impulsively and then defending yourself with a fiery blast when others attempt to correct your course. Believe me, they have no idea how sensitive you are under the bluster.

Moon in Taurus
For you, emotional safety is linked to physical safety. Filling your bank account & your fridge goes a long way toward reducing anxiety but beware of using food or shopping for comfort. Your body is the key to your intuition, as long as you are eating right for your body type, not indulging in bad foods or purging with bad diets. Put good habits in place because you are likely to maintain (set & forget) them. Gardening & cooking soothe you.

Moon in Gemini
You love stimulation. You probably read in bed, to comfort yourself so you can sleep.  You have little tolerance for people who won’t talk with you and the “cold shoulder” affects you greatly. Watch out that your nervous energy may make you a chatterbox—sometimes you’ll need to slow down and just feel a thing without putting it into words.  Soothe your soul by keeping a journal, where your inner conversation can thrive.

Moon in Cancer
You are a very sensitive soul with a strong tendency to give nurturance & care to others.   Be careful not to drown them in affection and attention and also to avoid hidden contracts where you are giving in expectation of repayment in kind. Not everyone is as capable of giving endlessly as you are. If you’re unhappy with your childhood, become the parent  that you wish you’d had. Soothe your heart with frequent trips to large bodies of water.

Moon in Leo
Attention is the key to your soul. When others pay attention to you, your heart feels nurtured and fed, when you are ignored or not noticed, it cuts you deeply. Remember that your creativity is your own, not dependent on whether others see it or not. Your best intuitive compass is to follow things that make you expand and avoid things that make you contract. To soothe yourself, stare into a candle flame or a campfire.

Moon in Virgo
You have a deep sensitivity to order in your environment and it’s important for you to take charge and create order in all the ways that have meaning for you, instead of giving up and surrendering to entropy, which depresses you no end. Nothing satisfies you like a clean, fresh area, ready for use, so make that happen on a regular basis. Try not to impose your standards on others because they may not care about these things as you do.

Moon in Libra
Fairness is one of the most important things in your world and you can become quite paralyzed when you feel discriminated against. This being said, you must not wait for the world to deliver what you deserve—you must go out and get it. You’re a relater, so get into partnerships (business and personal) because your intuition is founded in how other people’s ideas make you feel. The feel of air moving across your skin is soothing.

Moon in Scorpio
It’s hard to imagine a more passionate or sensitive soul than you. Once a Moon in Scorpio person learns that gaining control of their circumstances can lead to a feeling of safety, they soon discover that no amount of control is enough. You’ll have to give it up, but be judicious about where you give up control and surround yourself with people you love and trust. As with Cancer & Pisces, make periodic visits to large bodies of water.

Moon in Sagittarius
The thing you need above all else is freedom and the room to expand.  Live in a home with high ceilings and lots of light and air.  Or live in a tiny, well-ordered place that you can carry with you, like a turtle.  This is my way of saying that travel soothes your soul, so get out into the world and explore it! Play early and often. Your adventurous soul needs scope, not rope, and tying you down creates a very sad & sorry Tigger.

Moon in Capricorn
What really makes you feel secure is to be recognized for your achievements, because you’re convinced, deep down, that nothing you do is ever enough. Other people sometimes need to beat compliments into you. Absorb praise, take it in and remember to create an inner praising voice loud enough to sometimes drown out the inner judging voice. When you need soothing, go sit with the most ancient tree you can find.

Moon in Aquarius
Friendship is the highest value you hold and so it may be hard to understand why sometimes people would want more from you than that. Go ahead & prize your intelligence, but don’t let it get in the way of connecting with others. Wear your geek badge as an attractant, not armor. Be warm and really connect with people emotionally, rather than intellectually, and this will give you the social contact your soul needs.

Moon in Pisces
Perhaps the most important need you have is for dreamtime:  meditation, visualization, prayer, whatever you call it, it means time to let your imagination run free. When you are feeling escapist, this is what you’re longing for. Set up ways to get it that don’t damage your body or your focus and you’ll be in good shape. Hang around people that feel right, because you are your moral compass. And remember to visit those large bodies of water.

Want to know more about the Moon in your chart
or the chart of someone you care for?
Contact Jamie at pandora@pandoraastrology.com
to schedule a reading.

Don’t Know Your Mercury Sign?
If you don’t know what sign your Mercury is in and you want to find out, you can order your own personal Astrology Chart Decoder.  This is a special tool I’ve invented that puts your chart’s details in 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.

Got your Mercury sign now?  Great.  The following paragraphs will let you know what element your Mercury is in and what it means.

When you have Mercury in the Fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius), you learn by pratfall and adventure.  Fire is spontaneous and action-oriented—you need the freedom to just try stuff and be ok with failing.  You need to apply what you learned right away, so you can really take it in.  Mercury in fire has a visual learning style and will do best when presented with the big picture first and the details later—in fact, the details will make no sense to you without the big picture to contextualize them and you won’t be able to retain them without it.  You’ll also learn best if you can put your own creative stamp on the project, infusing it with your own personality.  Fire signs enjoy being seen and showing off, so doing a presentation to the group about what you’ve learned can be a way of cementing your understanding of what you’ve learned.

Mercury in the Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) learns best by doing. Mercury/Earth is a kinesthetic learner.  If this is you, you’ll do best when you can proceed slowly and deliberately and learn in a deep, thorough way.  Other types (especially Air) may have grasped the material while you can end the course feeling that there’s still so much to learn and that the class only scratched the surface.  Earth also does well when presented with a pre-created structure, a conceptual set of bins or a toolbox, into which the new ideas can fit.  When presented with the structure first, you Earth types learn eagerly, because you’re enjoying getting cool tools that go into the toolbox.  Mercury/Earth types like learning things that have a real use and will retain information best when shown how to apply it.  Useless ideas are . . . useless.

Mercury in Air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) types love ideas for their own sake.  If this is you, you’ll embrace theories and have a love of the pure, pristine quality of a beautiful idea more than you have interest in applying it.  You’ll grasp ideas quickly and you’ll like to keep moving, so you tend to skate over the surface while a subject’s depths may not capture your quick-moving mind.  Mercury/Air types like to learn the abstract notion behind a thing before thinking through its applications.  Since the Air learning style leans toward auditory, you learn well from lectures, often grasping and retaining lesson material the first time it is delivered, without even taking notes (which is especially frustrating to Earth types, who can take notes religiously and Fire or Water types whose note-taking can be atrocious).  Mercury/Air types are avid readers and often go on learning far beyond school, because they naturally love information and the written word.

If you have Mercury in the Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces), you are an emotive learning type.  You learn by feeling your way along.  Your style is intuitive and you are capable of making great leaps and grasping material instantaneously or sometimes not at all.  You may have muddled around in your childhood for years before figuring out how you work as a learner, especially if your childhood home was a turbulent one.  You need to keep your emotions clear in order to absorb and remember new material and on days when you are upset, learning may feel impossible.  If you were lucky enough to come from a stable, loving family, you probably did well in school, even though you often can’t explain how you got to the conclusions you reached.  The teachers you had the most emotional affinity with were your best ones and their fond indulgence of you may have led to some of the best learning of your life.  You learn from what others feel and you’re sensitive to teachers’ emotional states and can be suspicious and resistant to learning from teachers who put off a different vibe than they say they do or who want you to do as they say, not as they do.  Having to shut off or ignore emotions while learning cripples you and slows you down, sometimes stopping you entirely.

The Types Compared
Most education and schoolwork is oriented toward Air-style learning, so those able to learn by listening to lectures and doing writing assignments and reading books do well.  Teachers love them, not least because such students are a pleasure to teach and make a teacher look good.  The other types, especially Water, do not do well and often are viewed by teachers as slow or obstructive, which is sad, because it’s not a matter of intelligence, but of style.

Earth can succeed in the standard system through sheer diligence.  By persisting and exercising a little ambition, Mercury/Earth types can rise to the top of the class.  Mercury/Water types can go to either extreme—sheer brilliance or sheer failure.  Their natural tendency is to hang back and absorb slowly, learning best from teachers they have an emotional affinity with.  An unfortunate student-teacher chemistry can lead to disaster and throw off a Water child’s whole academic career.  Mercury/Fire types can also go to extremes, but they tend to be so charismatic and enthusiastic about the subjects they are interested in that the extra attention they put in at those times makes up for the horsing around at times when they are bored.  When a Fire child is bored, the best thing the teacher can do is to give them a wacky, challenging assignment, especially one that puts them in the spotlight—then they will scramble to look good.

For Teachers:
If you are a teacher and able to find out something about the Mercury position of your students, this can help you teach them the way they need to learn.  Even if you can’t get details of your students’ charts, identifying the types I’ve described and responding to them as suggested can help you more effectively teach the variety of styles you’re likely to encounter.  And if you teach large classes as if all four types were represented, you can let your students self-select the way they want to learn and more of them will succeed.

A really fine teacher can adjust or supplement their style to accommodate all types of learners and then students do not have to come away feeling stupid or wrong for learning the nonstandard way.  Just being able to validate all 4 styles and work with them goes a long way toward awakening in a child the passion for learning.  If you can avoid being the kind of teacher who presses your own style on students as if it’s the one right way, you will have done a very fine thing.  Simply acknowledging that there are different styles, each of which is valid, helps marginalized learners feel good about the way they learn and better able to use their style instead of being a victim of it.

Want to know more about your chart and your unique style?
Contact Jamie at pandora@pandoraastrology.com
to schedule a reading.

What Do These Planets Want From You?
They want you to dream a big dream of community and togetherness.  They call for you to heal your community and yourself by taking up your full space in your public social arena and being visible.  They say there’s some part of you that you’ve been hiding, some place in you that feels split and has kept you participating only halfway in some communities.  They say that if you connect those communities you will not only make yourself whole but also make room for others who may have felt marginalized to express themselves.  They say that community can be a spiritual experience.

They say you should trust your intuition and they add that this time is a special opening in human consciousness—people are looking for answers.  People are disillusioned but ready to dream again.  People know that it all needs to be redreamed.  These 3 planets are telling you it’s time to believe six impossible things before breakfast.

Here’s some conversation overheard among Neptune, Chiron and Jupiter:
Neptune:  The human family seems to have become splintered.  I think they forgot how to love and accept each other.
Jupiter:  I’ve noticed that some human beings keep themselves pretty small in their lives.
Chiron:  Yeah.  I think it’s because they forgot their own power, maybe got caught up in their own broken places.
Neptune:  Everyone has broken places.  That’s what makes life so interesting.  That no one is perfect makes it all so . . . perfect.
Chiron:  Neptune, you’re full of paradox, aren’t you?
Neptune:  That I am.
Chiron:  I suspect that if people dove right into the most painful places, they would find the ways we are all connected.  Then they could stop isolating themselves and rejoin the human family.
Jupiter:  No one is an island, eh?  I subscribe to that belief.
Neptune:  Me too.  But it sounds uncomfortable.  A person would probably have to feel deeper alienation before the healing happened.
Chiron:  True.
Jupiter:  Do you think humanity is ready for that?
Chiron:  I’m not sure.  But I’ve noticed some pretty big dreamers among them.  Those few could open up the way to a wonderful new world.
Jupiter:  And there are a few crazies who are ready to hope again.
Neptune:  Let’s blast the planet with some cosmic energy & see what happens!
Chiron:  What will that do?
Neptune:  I’ll send each human being a beautiful vision of their ideal community. . .
Jupiter:  I’ll give each person the confidence to do something about that vision. . .
Chiron:  And I’ll break each person’s heart just a little, so there is a crack in the armor for the love to seep in by.
Jupiter:  Ok, let’s do it!
They huddle up and form a giant blast of energy, which they release at Earth.  Poof!  Green and gold sparkles everywhere.
Neptune:  Nice!
Jupiter:  Now let’s go get coffee.
Off they trot, arm in arm in arm.

What will the results of this triple conjunction be?  Only time will tell over the years to come.

To begin the thread you are in at the beginning, read this:
May’s Triple Conjunction of Neptune, Chiron & Jupiter

If you want to read other articles about 2009’s triple conjunction of Neptune, Chiron & Jupiter, look here:
Jupiter Conjuncts Neptune: Let Your Dreams Run Wild
Jupiter & Chiron Ask “Am I Too Big Or Not Big Enough?”
Neptune & Chiron Ask You To Bridge Heaven And Earth

In my previous post I introduced the 3 characters in the present Triple conjunction in Aquarius:  Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune.  In this post I’ll talk about what it means that they are in Aquarius (see more posts on the nature of Aquarius here).

Aquarius Is About Change
This sign is associated with breakthrough, change and experimentation.  Aquarius is radical, progressive and drawn toward the cutting edge.  This Fixed Air sign loves ideas and abstract thought—a well-thought-out idea is valued for its own sake.  Aquarius is associated with breakthrough thinking and paradigm-shifting, giving access to the “Eureka!” experience—that moment of insight when the light bulb goes off over your head.

Aquarius Is About Science and Technology
Aquarius (and its ruler, Uranus) is the Scientist (sometimes the Mad Scientist!), the Brilliant One, the Nerd.  This sign is experimental, loving to step back and look at things objectively.  Aquarius is cool and collected, intellectual and logical.  Uranus rules electricity and networks and Aquarius loves the rapid changes and developments in the computer field.  Having to keep current with computer and software updates is a joy to Aquarius.  This sign is fascinated with all things scientific and technological.

Aquarius Is About Community and Networks
Let’s face it, Aquarius loves people—but at a distance.  Aquarius is the Humanitarian. the Social Activist, sometimes even the Scapegoat—willing to take the hit for the progress of the team. This is the sign of the Rebel or Revolutionary, the one who overthrows the King (Leo, Aquarius’ polar opposite) and decentralizes power, bringing it to the people.  But Aquarius has difficulty getting intimate with actual individuals in real time.  Connecting a little with a lot of people while keeping them at a cool distance is much more comfortable for this ultra-gregarious sign.

The Aquarian Dark Side
It’s easy to see how this sign, while associated with beautiful themes, can also go too far.  Aquarius can be overly analytical, cold, emotionally detached, preferring hard logic over feelings or even inhuman to the point of being a sociopath who does not feel a part of the rest of humanity.  Embracing social change can go too far, resulting in a radical who wants overthrow of the current order regardless of consequences or a social changer who wants their group’s agenda forwarded with no regard for the cost to others.  Aquarius is prone to groupthink, to loss of individualism within the group-mind.

What It Looks Like When Neptune, Chiron and Jupiter Act In Your Life Through The Medium Of Aquarius
Neptune, the Spiritual Awakener, acting through Aquarius will bring you into contact with groups of people for the purpose of spiritual growth.  Neptune in Aquarius says:  “I am the spinner of dreams and fantasies.  In Aquarius I’m dreaming of ideal communities, places where people can come together and feel a sense of universal connectedness in humanitarian causes.  Some of the visions I dream up may not work in material reality and may lead to disappointment, but I’ll dream them anyway.”  Neptune’s dark side expressed through Aquarius can bring you into contact with groups of deluded people who together subscribe to a shared point of view that alienates them from the rest of humanity, instead of connecting them to it.  This is the sort of place people end up when they crave acceptance and will do anything (or believe anything) to get it.

When Chiron, the Wounded Healer, is in Aquarius, the time is ripe for healing past experiences of groups.  Chiron in Aquarius says:  “I’m going to get you into situations where you feel like an outsider so you can deal with the sense of alienation and rejoin the human family.  I’ll also bring opportunities for joining groups that give you a sense of community in areas of your life where you may have not thought it possible.  If ultimately you come to the understanding that we’re all in this together, my work will be well done.”  The dark side of Chiron in Aquarius is the witch hunt, a situation where one person is cast out, misunderstood and the group is pitted against them.  A witch hunt is hard to distinguish from a intervention, where a group gathers to show an individual his own shadow, because they love him and want him to stop some destructive behavior.  Whether a situation is a witch hunt or an intervention often depends on your perspective and whether or not you take a victim stance.  It is possible to endure something you may at first call a witch hunt and ultimately to respond to it in a way that make you more whole, not more broken.

And last, but definitely not least, Jupiter in Aquarius will create opportunities for playful, growthful and expansive group experiences.  Jupiter says, “Go do a workshop, because your personal growth will go better with other people around.  Throw a party and have fun with like-minded folks.  Gain confidence in your ability to hang out and take up space with lots of people around.  Expand your social network and enjoy all the varieties of people you’ll meet.”  Jupiter’s Aquarian shadow side has to do with grabbing the group spotlight and puffing oneself up to be bigger than others.  Jupiter in Aquarius secretly thinks, “of course everyone is equal—but some are more equal than others,” and sees himself and his contribution to the group as superior.  This attitude can be leavened with a little humbleness to bring Jupiter back onto a level with his peers.

What is the mission of the Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune conjunction?  How can we use it to make our lives better?  Tomorrow I’ll finish up this 3-post series by bringing it all together.  And maybe we’ll overhear a dialogue among these 3 planets.

To begin the thread you are in at the beginning, read this:
May’s Triple Conjunction of Neptune, Chiron & Jupiter

If you want to read other articles about 2009’s triple conjunction of Neptune, Chiron & Jupiter, look here:
Jupiter Conjuncts Neptune: Let Your Dreams Run Wild
Jupiter & Chiron Ask “Am I Too Big Or Not Big Enough?”
Neptune & Chiron Ask You To Bridge Heaven And Earth

Here’s Neptune.  Think of Neptune as the Dreamer or the Visionary.  She’s wearing a long, flowing dress that shimmers.  You look carefully, but you can’t tell whether it is made of stars, water or wind.  She is beyond lovely so that it actually hurts your heart to look at her.  She gazes at you with compassion, and restrains herself from showing you her full glory because she knows no mortal could take it.  Although her mouth doesn’t move, you hear her voice anyway, as if it’s coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

She says:  “I am the weaver of dreams.  I bring you beautiful visions of what could be.  My gift is longing. Once you have seen my visions, you will be caught in the place between wanting and having because my visions are always of things that are to be or could be but are not now.  That is their nature.  A vision is a beacon.  It is not for having—it is for filling your heart with courage to pursue its beauty.

Next comes Chiron.  He’s a centaur, a strange creature who is half beast and half god.  You feel discomfort as you look at him, because you recognize his divinity but his beastliness is unattractive and it seems impossible the two could be blended in one being.  He’s a reminder that to be human is to be an uneasy union of the beastly and the divine, and that our job as human beings is to bridge gaps and make ourselves whole.

Chiron says:  “I’m the wounded healer.  I bring you an experience of irreconcilable differences, a duality within yourself so profound that it splits you in two.  Your job is to bridge those disconnected worlds within yourself and your life and thus to make yourself whole.  Wholeness can only come from accepting and truly healing the break between the side you judge beastly and the side you judge divine.  My work is shadow work and the wholeness that arises from it is my gift.”

And finally, Jupiter appears.  He’s a large, jolly fellow dressed in a flamboyant, flowing cloak in bright, fiery colors.  His coat swirls when he moves, lending grace to his large frame.  He is the Sage, the Storyteller, the Explorer and the Seeker, always on a quest.  His voice is just a little too loud for comfort, but it feels so good to be around him that you don’t really care.

Jupiter bellows:  “You must grow and expand!  Get out and try new things!  Life is an adventure!  You are capable of greatness—you owe it to yourself and others to pursue that greatness.”  While your mouth is hanging open at the sheer force of personality emanating from this deity, he deftly pours a liquid down your throat from a flask he wears.  Suddenly you are filled with exhilaration and confidence and the certainty that you can do anything you set your mind to.  “There you go—that’s my gift,” chuckles Jupiter.

These 3 deities have much to say to each other during their triple conjunction, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.  This post is post 1 of 3 coming up this week.  In my next post, I’ll talk about what it means that these 3 are in the sign of Aquarius.

Parts 2 & 3 of this thread are here:
What Does It Mean That The Triple Conjunction is in Aquarius?
Rejoining the Beautiful & Loving Human Family

If you want to read other articles about 2009’s triple conjunction of Neptune, Chiron & Jupiter, look here:
Jupiter Conjuncts Neptune: Let Your Dreams Run Wild
Jupiter & Chiron Ask “Am I Too Big Or Not Big Enough?”
Neptune & Chiron Ask You To Bridge Heaven And Earth