Living in the material world has never been more complicated. We have learnt to consume and discard. We have even done it in the space around our planet. Like a hoarder in their crammed home this 'space junk' could literally trap us as proposed by NASA scientist Donald Kessler, Kessler syndrome so we will urgently have to address the disposal of these potential problems. Having lots of possessions signified power in the past but will this have to change now that they appear to have taken possession of us..
Space Junk 'anything discarded' in space by us - about 600,000 bits
On 31stAugust 2012 the Moons Nodes will change sign. The north nodes move from Sagittarius to Scorpio and the south from Gemini to Taurus where they will stay until March 2014.
The North and South Nodes are positions in all our birth charts and if we think of them like points on a compass, there will always be a direction facing true North and one facing South. OK, so we pretty much know where we are - well almost.
These Lunar Nodes are not real objects but calculated positions based on the Earth's circular orbit around the Sun and the Moon's orbit around the Earth.These plotted paths are known as ecliptics and the basic principle is that where the two orbits cross paths is the location of two nodal points. The nodes are nearly always moving backwards through the signs and they move quite slowly changing signs about every year and a half. They are 180 degrees apart and in spirit level perfect balance with one another.
We
all have a North and a South Node in our birth charts and in our psyches, just as we all have the stars in the sky by which we can navigate our way home or journey away. The ascending North node is called the Caput Draconis, the Dragons Head or Rahu in Indian Vedic astrology and the descending South is the Cauda Draconis, the Dragons Tail or Ketu in Vedic astrology. Traditional Vedic astrology has seen both nodes as being bad influences - 'malefic'. Early Western Astrology often saw the head as masculine and the tail as feminine, although William Lilly writes 'this is the constant opinion of the Ancients, but upon what reason grounded I know not'. This obviously accounts for some interpretations still seeing the head as 'reasonable' and therefore rational and controlled and the tail as 'unpredictable' instinctual, reactive or even neurotic.
By calculating the location of the
North Node we can get very detailed information as to the path of our destiny
and purpose. By looking at the South Node we learn about our store of past
resources or genetics, some will say our past lifes or our literal past.
The North Node changing from Sagittarius
to Scorpio and the South Node correspondingly move from Gemini to Taurus will also see a shift from the
Mutable signs to the Fixed. This axis has to make an adjustment from moving adaptability to static immovability.
We
will all feel this clamp and squeeze, especially those of us with planets in Taurus and Scorpio or both.
Both of these signs are concerned with resources, what we own and what we
share, and as the nodes pass through these signs these issues are going to be
drawn into the spotlight much more, both personally and globally.
Possessions -'this seat's taken' @Barack Obama's official twitter feed (31st Oct 2012)
The US Presidential election campaigns are becoming fighting forums based on two different ideologies of greed and consumption (Scorpio/Taurus). The Democrats have espoused the concept of an alternative American Dream that would provide a new sense of purpose for the nation not based on consumption and acquisition but on social changes and the fact that it is global economic change that forced their hand to develop new ways of being in the world - adapt or die (Scorpio north node). Romney also wants to trim down by proposing the largest spending cuts in history. The North node will
guide us to what we should be doing and Scorpio wants to purge, cleanse,
reform and transform. Scorpio wants to feel, it wants to know, it wants
intimacy but it still wants control and it's after power. As it moves through a personal or country’s birth chart
it will bring surprise packages with regards to shared resources and finances, and
whatever it touchs with it's incisive power will undergo a crisis or a release, a healing or transformation.
Republican criticism (Taurus or Scorpio?)
Democrats criticise (Taurus or Scorpio?)
President Obama has shown support for the 'green' ticket a Scorpio/Taurus mix and Romney has based his policies on fossil fuel and a 'drill baby drill' attitude which is a mixture of Scorpio/Taurus. The nodal axis is appearing to be thrown from one candidate to the other and from one ideology to the other in a sea-saw action, at the moment.
Axis of Power & Possessions Ideologies
Taurus
is the South Node and the South Node is all about keeping things the same,
holding onto the past and standing firm. Actually this also sounds pretty much
like a Taurean desire. This south node/Taurus combination sounds like a marriage made in
heaven….well yes and no. It will make the comfortable more cosy, which
unfortunately means the likihood of allowing change and dislodging us from the
path of least resistance becoming quite a challenge. The Scorpio North Node
will keep prodding though, it has a fixed focus and wont be budged, but it has
changes and ‘no pain no gain’ on its mind. The Scorpio North Node will laugh in the
face of danger and say ‘well you can’t make an omelette without breaking
eggs!’..hmm Taurus wants the omlette for sure but it also wants the eggs…… This week 'The Economist' reported that one family in ten in the US use a storage facility. Demand for storage units keeps growing escalated by both the need for temporary arrangements whilst moving for work and consuming goods which won't go away such as plastic toys and garden furniture. This is very Taurus, but an equal problem could be seen as the Scorpio end of it - waste disposal, what to do with it and where to put it.
Self Storage Secrets
This dilemma, a Scorpio North Node vs a Taurus South Node is familiar energy in my own chart….oh dear, complacent Taurus voice right there. I have found that it is
about getting the balance right between the periods of peace where I can rest, gather,
build and grow, against the periods of total and absolute chaos, churning through the crisis and
gut-wrenching change that I have instigated, sometimes just for the sheer Hell of it. This sea-saw may
an emerging pattern for us all until 2014. Plus there is the tug of war between
the amount of material/physical matter that may be ‘collected’ (Sun Spotlights Hoarding) and the regular
moments of total shedding where not even the kitchen sink or, in my case, children’s
birth certificates and passports are safe (still sorry about that kids). This 'baby-bathwater' style of re-cycling will also be highlighted and you may find yourself swinging from accumulation to release in quite dramatic ways.
Artist Michael Landy sent 5,000 personal objects including his car to a pulveriser in 'Breakdown'
We
all have Scorpio and Taurus in our charts and they have command over a specific
zone or ‘house’ for all of us. As the dragon (moons nodes) journeys through this zones the flavours and symbolism of that sign and house position will be ‘where’ all the action takes place. Over this next year and
half, watch the changes here, notice what is leaving and what you rigidly try
to keep a tight hold on. Basically all that we like to control within the boundaries of Taurus and Scorpio in our charts will come into play. This has got to reflect on what we eat and how what we get to eat. In the US two-thirds of adults are considered obese while in France they have passed laws to prevent thinness with over 40,000 anorexics and the high profile death of model Isabelle Caro at 28. Israel also has passed law against the use of unweight models.
Worldwide obesity has doubled since 1980, according to the World Health Organisation with 65% of the worlds population living in countries where obesity and overweight kills more people than underweight. Food will be been doing a strange balancing act on the Scorpio/Taurus beam because we could be in the hidden grey lands of consumerism and addiction.
'You know, he’s fatter now – I’m thinner.' says Kate Winslet (north node Scorpio) of Leo DiCaprio
The
‘arrival’ of a Node in our personal chart house positions, whether through a transit,
progression or direction, brings a burst of energy. Relevant to its sign and
house, the node can literally seem as if it rushes in from ‘outside’, it may not look that its time there is that long lasting but its effects can be. Astrology can really help us ‘lookout’
for those key times by logging this nodal sweep through the signs.
As the nodal axis moves out of Sagittarius and Gemini where it has been for the last year or
so, we will consider using the knowledge gained to affect the deep seated changes and healing we have planned or envisioned while the Nodes were occupied with the Archer and the Twins. Remember both Sagittarius and Gemini love to hoover up all sorts of ideas and information. With the axis now moving to the Scorpion and the Bull maybe we can really get down to the grinding grist and molten core of these changes and how do we implement them...
Sinead O'Connor (south node Scorpio north node Taurus)
credits:Lilly's christian astrology & economist & politics Rolling Stone & 7-health posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs
The 2012 London XXX London Olympic Games was an amazing show of community and power of the human spirit plus they were a lot of fun and a celebration of human abilities and prowess.
Waiting in the wings ready to make its entrance and continue this spirit is it's companion, the Paralympic Games.
Film director, Stephen Daldry is overseeing the opening ceremony. Fellow film director Danny Boyle orchestrated the curtain raiser for the Olympic Games (Venus Aflame At Olympic Opening Ceremony) and shares with Stephen Daldry (film credits include ‘Billy Elliot’ and ‘The Hours’) a
Mars (sport, action, drive) in Pisces (film, fantasy, story-telling).
Jenny Sealey
Jenny Sealey, who is deaf, is the director of the leading disability theatre company called Graeae Theatre Company is joint artistic director with Bradley Hemmings.
The show is set to challenge and change our perceptions of disabilities it will include Paralympians and injured soldiers.
The Archers started off the Paralympic Movement in 1948
The Paralympics has its origins with injured British veterans of World War Two. It was set up at Stoke Mandeville Hospital for servicemen with spinal cord injuries to be able to participate in competitive sports. Originally called The International Wheelchair Games it was envisioned and instigated by a academic german refugee, Dr Ludwig Guttmann and gained its nickname, the Stoke Mandeville Games.
This year the Games are 'coming home' and with Venus currently in the sensitive sign of hearth and home, Cancer, it is going to be emotional for all of us. 'Prepared to be moved' (Venus Bathes In The Emotion Ocean)
Called ‘Enlightenment’ the Opening Ceremony boasts a team of 3,000 plus
volunteers, including in their ranks rehabilitated military personnel, the ceremony drawing together scientific progress and sporting progress. Professor Stephen Hawking, a quadriplegic himself, focused on scientific discoveries including the Higgs Bosun and the drama of reproducing the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in the stadium at Stratford.
Opening Ceremony Opens & Closes With a 'Big Bang'
There was a
promised fly-past by ‘Aerobility’ and breath taking acrobatics 35 metres above
the stadium. Stephen Hawking is also due to participate with a narration through history and scientific acheivement celebrating his own Jupiter in Gemini 'Look up at the stars and not at your feet.. and be curious'... Jupiter Makes A Move
Here
is the chart for the opening ceremony, set for 20.30 which gives 1 deg Aries Rising:
The astrology is fascinating but lets focus initially on Chiron the wounded healer Chiron in Pisces Goes Retro part 1 & Chiron Goes Retro part 2. Currently passing through the compassionate sign of Pisces. This is very descriptive of the Paralympian spirit, working through a wound, hurt, or pain that often sets you apart from others in society and by which you can then inspire and ‘heal’ others. Chiron in Pisces, redemption and salvation through compassion and self-sacrifice not only sets the scene, placed as it is in the 12th house of the opening ceremony chart, but it also ties in with the director Stephen Daldry who was also born with Chiron in Pisces.
Here
is the chart for Stephen Daldry:
This is a celebration of what is being called the ‘Super Humans’ at the biggest Paralympics ever with 4,200 paralympians.These athletes who have and are overcoming immense difficulties to arrive in the arena of supreme testing and strength of spirit. We will focus later on some of these remarkable sports stars each one will have an amazing story to tell but for now the attention is on tonights big event - the opening extravaganza.
The
Sun is shining in the sign of Virgo (Virgo Sun Diamonds In The Details) is also interesting as there has been much
debate about it’s ‘true’ ruler. Mercury is the current ruler but there is an
argument that Virgo is ruled by the planet Vulcan a planet just waiting to be
discovered. Vulcan or Hephaestus in mythology, was born lame and was considered ugly and
consequently rejected. He would return however with
his own special skills as he was a master of fire and arts and craft. Vulcan was cast out from Olympus but has never really gone, it appears.
This month on 31st August 2012 we will be under the influence of a Full Moon in watery Pisces.
Pisces is one of the most ancient constellations in the sky but also one of the most difficult to see. The sign of Pisces is represented by two fish held together by a chain or ribbon. In legend they are the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite and Eros (the Roman Venus and Cupid) who had disguised themselves as fish to escape deadly Typhon, the father of all monsters. Venus and Cupid had tied themselves together so that they would not be separated from one another.
The last full moon was on 2nd August 2012 (Relax In The Full Moonshine) so this one will take the total to two full moons in one month, an unusual occurrence since there is usually only one a month. This second full moon is dubbed a ‘Blue Moon’. The phrase “once
in a blue moon’ suggests that this is something out of the ordinary and unusual. 19th century London slang had it as 'a long time' phrase or an indefinite period 'I only do this once in a blue moon'.Traditionally a Blue Moon had referred to the 4th full moon in a season. The four seasons, three months each, have three full moons and the twelve moons all have names like the Harvest Moon. The extra thirteenth full moon comes around about every two or three years according to the ecclesiastical calendar. This the 'odd one' was christened 'Belewe' (Blue) Moon or betrayer moon. Some say the name may have come from the Farmers Almanac listing the date of the first full moon in red ink and the second in blue. Also, in March 1946 Sky & Telescope amateur astronomer James Pruett made an incorrect assumption with the two full moons in a month interpretation but now by any definition Blue Moons average out at every 2.7 years, sometimes more and the next one is in July 2015.
A calendar based Blue Moon occurs more frequently than suggested by the phrases such as 'never in a blue moon' or even '12th of never'. Yet geographically some parts of the World like New Zealand or Kamchatka near eastern Russia will not get a full moon until after midnight on Saturday 1st September and so technically will not get a Blue Moon at all this month.
An actual visible blue moon, or at least the appearance of one, is more rare and does not have to be a full moon. It can be caused by factors involving volcanic ash and forest fires throwing up a lot of debris and smoke and dust particles. The eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 when the island blew itself apart created blood-red skies as far away as Norway (Edvard Munch's Screaming Saturn Return) and caused a series of blue moons for two years.
A Blue Moon may have an accompanying drama attached to it but how much astrological
significance does it have in itself is debatable. Popular songs have used it as a symbol of loneliness or sadness, the expression 'feeling blue' means low in spirits and a bit maudlin. 'Blue Moon you saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart...' This Blue Full Moon in Pisces will also have a story to
tell. (Frank Sinatra - Moon in Pisces)
Whenever
the moon passes through the watery sign of Pisces, as it does each and every
month, for those few days our senses are attuned to vibrations which do not
necessarily manifest on the physical level. We see, hear, and feel information
which is unseen, invisible and hard to grasp. We are more sensitive generally
and question whatever is placed in front of us - somewhere inside we sense
that ‘this is not all there is’. Endless possibilities of every option spread
out in a vista in front of us, boundary less and infinite, throwing us into a whirlpool of
wonder and wondering.
We ask of ourselves and others 'well what is the best
course of action, where shall we/I steer this craft, has every stone been
investigated?' One big judder. This juddering serves a purpose, and should not
be dismissed as ‘flim-flam’ or ‘ditzyness’ or any such other derogotiary term. One
thing it does serve is the ‘right hand side of the brain’, that part of us
which is non-rational, non-linear, creative and intuitive.
Those of you born with the Moon in this sign are probably used to being told
you are ‘spacy’, oversensitive, a gentle petal, or wishy-washy, and you may well
be at times, but this is not the whole picture. Other sides to Moon in Pisces includes a perceptive and wide ranging mentality, able to pierce the veil and see beyond where 'ordinary' folk stop looking. However, regular as clockwork the moon will meander down the Pisces
path every month affecting us all to a greater or lesser extent depending upon
our own unique and individual receiving station (our birth chart). The White House has had at least 20 years of Piscean energy in First Lady form.
Hilary Clinton Moon in Pisces
Laura Bush Moon in Pisces
Michelle Obama Moon in Pisces
Full
Moons, blue or not, are always a time of gathering, of picking up the fruit and goodies which
fall in our lap as a result of our efforts in the time between the last new
moon two weeks previously. It is a time to gather our thoughts, digest the
experiences which entered and pulsed through our lifes. On 31st August the Full
Moon picks up rays and vibrations from quite a feast of planetary energy: Think
of it like a shopping bag that you take home stuffed full of Pisces goodies
since it has just held hands with Neptune in Pisces. Also in there is good
stuff from Mars and Pluto, always good to have them on side. Also in there is a
lesson from Uranus as the Moon has been semi-sextile Uranus in Aries. Nothing too
undigestable or unpleasant hiding in there so far. It contains a lesson about
how we can instigate changes and express ourselves more freely, but overall
nothing too gut-wrenching on the surface, nonetheless it has been brought to our awareness. Just
as we get home and start to unpack our bag and use all the goodies – 'ah yes
I will pluck up the courage to ask my friend to finally repay that ‘loan’ I
gave her that is well overdue' (trine Mars in Scorpio) or 'I will take up that
job offer' (sextile Pluto or Capricorn), or 'I am going to book an appointment
at the health spa' (conjunct Neptune in Pisces).
Bioluminescent Seascape
Maybe we should try and instigate some of those 'once in a Blue Moon' things we have just dreamed about perhaps they are not impossible but just appear impossible at the time. We are all capable of infinite invention and creativity.
Leonardo da Vinci Moon in Pisces (European Space Agency)
In
addition the Moon is holding hands with Chiron, the wounded healer, it will be
conjunct in Pisces. Maybe the Moon is feeling a little blue after all. What essentially this means for us all is that we shall
have a period in which to catch our breath and ponder upon what it is that we
really want to ‘cure’ and heal in our lives. We may take a glimpse through the veil and wonder at all the new possibilities passing before our minds eye. For ‘whatever ails you’ there is
always a cure close to hand, like a dock leaf growing near a stinging nettle,
help may be nearer than you think. Perhaps a Blue Moon cocktail (gin, blue curacao and a twist of lemon) or simply a Blue Moon beer, a Blue Moon ice cream or sorbet, sit in a Blue Moon bar or hotel, watch Manchester City FC (quite popular this blue moon) or just watch the night sky and charge your batteries under the amplified lunar beams of blue.
Elvis Presley Moon in Pisces
credits: nasa & desktop nexus & firstladies.org & european space agency
The North and South Nodes are positions in all our birth charts and if we think of them like points on a compass, there will always be a direction facing true North and one facing South. OK, so we pretty much know where we are - well almost.
