Post by Sowelu on Jul 19, 2010 19:25:29 GMT -5
Crisis and Climax:
The Crosses of Summer, 2010
[/i][/size][/color]The Crosses of Summer, 2010
By Dan Furst[/b][/size][/font]
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There are two powerfully transformative planetary alignments in the summer of 2010.
A T-Cross on July 30, in the fiery dog days, of six planets — the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto — all forming a very "difficult" and "stressful" set of 90° squares and 180° oppositions in the cardinal signs of Aries, Libra and Capricorn.
A Grand Cross on August 6 of seven planets as Venus joins the alignment, and the Moon moves into Cancer.
In both the crosses, the planets link with each other in conjunction, or angle to each other in harmonious tension at opposition (180°) or sharply disharmonious tension in a square (90°). While the Moon always wants peace, and Venus is usually willing to conciliate in order to gain an advantage, the remaining planets are natural adversaries (Jupiter vs. his son Mars and his brother Pluto, Saturn vs. his father Uranus). And this time, under the terrific frictions of the moment, even the planets who are usually good at getting along with others (the Moon and Jupiter) can be stiff-minded and hard-hearted, and seem dead set on not being kind. In both crosses there is likely to be high tension, deep upset and plenty of conflict, possibly resulting in major political, social and religious change, even to the collapse of old institutions and the loud, difficult birth of new ones.
In both this summer's cross alignments there is as much hostility as any adolescent movie fan could possibly want among Mars the Warrior, Jupiter the King, Saturn the Teacher, Uranus the Magician and Pluto the Propagandist, appearing here in Capricorn in a rare public turn as the Demagogue, out there onstage, rather than slipping through shadows the way Pluto usually does, like the secretive guy who avoids the spotlight and controls the play from the lighting board. One sign of this summer's intensity will be the blatant overtness of Pluto. While he normally stirs the faith and fever of the masses from behind the scenes, through powerfully-crafted propaganda images in which he does not appear himself, he'll be getting right in our faces in mid-2010. We are nearly sure to witness a fear storm of lies and alarms sown by government factions. As their games of keeping control by spreading fear get more desperate, we shall see a parade of slickly-produced horror messages more fascinating and more false than anything ever done by human broadcasting arts.
The Summer's Choice: Iron Control, or Earth-Friendly Strength?
In this summer's two great crosses, there is little of the balm of a friendly, productive trine (120°), sextile (60°) or quintile (72°) — and that is why this transformational moment in the summer of 2010 has the appearance of a granite facade cracking and falling in pieces, as those who have power over other human beings and the health of nature now must decide whether they are going to hold their position by getting more heavily armored, and so even stiffer; or whether they will seek more flexible and sustainable relationships with a broader mass of human beings and other species in eco-friendly politics and commerce that aim to restore the planet's health. This moment is one of those that Gandhi meant when he wrote that a revolution is not a violent transfer of power, but "a transformation of relationships."
In essence, leaders have the simple choice of whether they're going to Go Prison Guard in fear or Go Liberator in love by 2010. The great squares of this summer will not bring any liberation about at once, but they will certainly accelerate its coming. Much will be shaken up and knocked loose in the weeks from July 26, when Mars joins the T-Cross, to August 8, when he leaves it. We look here at two moments within a half month of determined and implacable tension among seven planets, four of them "malefic" (Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto), none of whom want to make any effort to agree with each other or with Jupiter, the Moon and Venus, the latter three being "benefic" planets who suggest the best principles to remember and the means to use to get through this very volatile summer.
The T-Cross of July 30 is cast for the moment when Pluto aligns with the Ascendant (at left in the chart below, at 3° Capricorn 16, in Washington, DC). This position, with Pluto only one minute from the Ascendant in the first house, demonstrates the way in which a country may seek to project its power, here specifically through Pluto's media: espionage and secret codes, including computer codes, and extremely well-crafted propaganda. Why cast the T-Cross chart for Washington, DC? Because by now the USA has boxed itself into something like the Macbeth role of the corrupted, conflicted, once-admired hero whose outer image and personality (first house), money (2nd) and communications (3rd) are all at odds with spouses and partners (7th house), financial obligations and events of death and transformation (8th) and authority and the law (9th). Choosing that emphasis, out of many that matter now — and with the understanding that the USA is not trapped in any tragic fate, but can still choose to free itself and heal — yields this chart:
The T-Cross of July 30, 2010
At 6:10:24 pm EDT in Washington, DC (38N54, 77W02)
At first glance, we note that the upper left and lower right quarters are completely empty. All the chart's planetary and nodal energy is in the signs from Cancer through Libra in the 7th to 9th houses; and from Capricorn through Aries in the first to 3rd houses. There are four conjunctions, so most of the planets and other major chart points are in:
Aries, in an intrepidly happy and communicative alliance: Moon, Jupiter and Uranus;
Libra, in intense friction between Mars and Saturn, natural allies who are at odds now, and can't quite make up their minds about whom, when and how to fight;
Capricorn, in a powerful karmic harvest that is sure to bring crash and closure somewhere as Pluto aligns exactly with the Ascendant;
And in Aquarius, a dance so subtle and mystical that one can hardly see the partners touch, but may only feel the air stir as they pass: Chiron and Neptune are Conjunct in the master aspect that rules most of the year and more from late 2009 through 2011.
A closer look reveals a terrifically-charged set of squares and oppositions. Mercury in early Virgo opposes Chiron-Neptune in late Aquarius. And the explosive centerpiece is the T-cross in early degrees of Aries, Libra and Capricorn. These signs, positioned at 90° on the zodiac wheel, are called cardinal because they open each new season and turn the hinges (Latin cardines) of the year wheel. They all favor different kinds of beginnings, and in an arrangement as potent as this they can bring everything from proactive genius moves to inspiring leadership to impetuous initiatives to unbelievably dumb loose cannonades, all at the same time.
What do all these positions and angles mean? In the simplest general terms, figure that with Pluto on the Ascendant, politicians prance and preen for more than they're worth, and get more trouble than they thought they were going to risk. With Mars and Saturn bumping each other, the army, the lawyers, bankers, bishops, imams and televangelists are all butting heads and trying to figure out which allegiances they can shift for survival's sake without fatally compromising whatever power and honor are left. The Moon, Jupiter and Uranus, working smoothly together to defuse the tension, dissuade anyone from throwing furniture and keep the scene as light and entertaining as they can, while Chiron and Neptune seem to be doing something very impactful, perhaps even holding the whole scenario together, though we have no idea where they actually are behind the scenes.
Most of these players are either not on speaking terms, or are talking too loud, hard and fast to hear each other much. Or they're trying earnestly to get through, but softer voices like the Moon's can hardly be heard over all the racket of claims, opinions, accusations, and everything else but concord and common sense. Amid all the aggressive, inflexible postures, patience is unlikely for too many people, and compromise all but impossible. Most of the players are determined not to listen, much less to yield; and to uphold iron principles of ideology and dogma, prejudice and patriotism that do not give them the freedom of movement to give an inch or take a break. In this tremendous clash and clap of interests and energies, we have little idea yet just what is going to give. But something will.
The most assertive action in the mix is in the cluster of the Moon, Jupiter and Uranus, all positioned for the introducing of reforms and other aggressive Aries measures in the third house of communications. This trio opposes a tight combination of Mars and Saturn, who were in exact conjunction four days ago and are still very close in the first degree of Libra. These five planets, already abrading and facing off with each other, are all in a 90° square with Pluto and the Ascendant in Capricorn. Pluto, Lord of Death and Regeneration, has come to deliver a master class in garbage disposal on a heroic scale by teaching us how to restore our planet's health and remove venal and corrupt regimes by intention, not by violence.
The People's Choice: Putting Their Masters Back in the Servant Roles
What will surface in late July 2010, and has already been evident to some, is that the true people's genius for choosing their battles — when they're on their game, that is, acting in a communal spirit of courage and common sense — may express itself this time not in taking up arms against anything, but in taking power away from governments, corporations and churches. If there is one thing authorities can't bear, it's to be starved of attention by their own people. The ruling elites will not last long when citizens start to withhold not only tax revenues and other physical tributes, but the spiritual currency of allegiance and respect. This will inevitably happen as more people come to see that overempowered institutions are the only animals having the qualities of both predator and parasite, and must now be removed from the masters' roles they have arrogated, and put back in the service role that they may legitimately aim to play.
Some of the pleasant news here is that there will be no need to terminate anything by the usual means of steel. What is most needed is that the people hold concentrated, connected intentions that there need not be an overthrow, just an overslide, as those who are tired of fighting for power slip of their own weight and glide to the ground like brown leaves. They will have to, because fewer and fewer of us will be propping them up from below. We'll have perceived that our heaviest codependent relationships are not with our mates, our families or our friends, but with institutions of authority who can keep holding power over us only for as long as we continue to enable them. Once we make it clear to churches, governments and corporations that we will no longer empower them as vampires who get to suck away our money, vitality and joy, then they will fade for lack of food and devotion.
These institutions won't disappear, because there are still legitimate economic needs to be met and administrative tasks to be handled. Roads must be repaired and snow cleared by those who are here to serve the people, not try to own them. And we'll always have people who find comfort in hierarchies. We'll see them congregating in the government buildings and churches that haven't yet turned into music spaces, rave clubs, community centers and other things that Aquarian people prefer and need. And — whatever happens, there will always be nostalgic hierarchy hobbyists, who'll be like those re-enactors who dress up and stage historic battles. But the old power institutions themselves will become less and less central to our lives. In the end they'll be like miniature golf courses or drive-in movie lots out on the edge of town. Most of the people who once inhabited them will have moved on to seek employment of a truly useful nature.
The prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said that the three most wretched men are a king out of power, a rich man now penniless and a learned man laughed at. We'll see all three of these in a whole midsummer menu of vulnerable characters in motion. As they navigate the transition from VIP to DIP (Dangerously Indignant Person), they should be given enough room to swing their arms and try to call attention to themselves. The kinder we are to them, the sooner they will see in themselves the ordinariness that connects us all, and once they get this, life will start to be so much simpler for us all.
Entr'acte: Between the Crosses, July 31 to August 6
The two great crosses of summer, 2010 are not discrete events happening at an interval of a week, but a continuous pushing and moving of energy by hotheaded, humor-challenged planets. Even Jupiter is more hard-hearted than hearty now. In the days just after the T-Cross of July 30, Mars moves precisely conjunct Saturn (7/31), Jupiter enters into an exact square with Pluto (8/2) and Mars is precisely opposite Jupiter and square Pluto (8/4).
On Aug. 6 they form the Grand Cross of seven planets that follows below. While most of the players are in the same zodiac signs they were in a week ago, one planet has shifted its position in the cross, and another has just joined it. The Moon has moved some 90° from Aries into Cancer, the sign of her rulership, and thus she has enlarged the T-Cross into a full, four-armed Grand Cross; and Venus in late Virgo joins the cross on her way to Libra, one of the signs she rules. This strong new feminine presence in the Grand Cross is a clue to the sequence of actions from one cross to the other, showing that the T-Cross of July 30 aims to deliver hard kicks to structures that are on the point of collapse, but the Grand Cross of Aug. 6 — while necessarily forceful, as all crosses are — has far more constructive and positive play to it in bringing allotments of medicine, physical and other, to help people get through stress and fear in the high summer of 2010.
The Grand Cross of August 6, 2010
At 10:06:30 pm EDT in Washington, DC (38N54, 77W02)
Astrologers will see at once that yes, this chart has been "cherrypicked." It could be cast for any time between afternoon on Aug. 6 and two hours before dawn on Aug. 7. During these 14 hours, the fast-moving Moon completes the fourth leg of the Grand Cross. So . . . which time do we choose? It should be when the Moon is in the early degrees of Cancer, and so more sharply angled to the other planets in the Grand Cross. Casting the chart just after 10:00pm on Aug. 6, as we see here, emphasizes the cardinal positions of all four sets of planets by aligning them with all four of the angular points on the wheel:
Aries: The Jupiter-Uranus conjunction is on the Ascendant;
Cancer: The Moon is at the Nadir;
Libra: The new triple conjunction of Venus in late Virgo and Mars-Saturn in early Libra flanks the Descendant;
Capricorn: Pluto is conjunct the Midheaven (MC).
While this moment in our planet's history is precarious and is very serious business, it does contain qualities of high farce. Uranus is only 2 minutes of a degree from the Ascendant, and is conjunct Jupiter, maximizing the likelihood that someone, somewhere, more likely many people in many places, will do things that are too hasty and harebrained for anyone's good. The Moon at the Nadir, opposite both Pluto and the Midheaven, is just as impulsive, though likely to be moved by so many little flits and miffs of spite, envy, vanity and other small silly emergencies that she may not be able to see at all the larger opportunities and interests that affect everyone. The Moon's posture here is a dangerous element in this Grand Cross, because at the moment when her most adept Wise Woman qualities are needed, she can be distracted by petty slights, like the mother so caught up in sliming the snotty neighbors while talking to Venus on the phone that she doesn't notice her one-year-old is about to stick a teaspoon into a power outlet.
And there's much more. Mars, Saturn and Venus all opposite the Ascendant guarantee that some of the people will push at any poundage and temperature to get what they want, and others will give in without giving up, nurturing passive-aggressive grudges that can erupt at any time not as action against anyone, but as help that is withheld when it's most needed. Others will feel that the best response to all these alarms is to . . . Go Shopping! and buy things that are in shockingly bad taste. The Spanish proverb that "Only God helps a badly-dressed man" will now seem to apply, as never before, not just to males, but to persons of both sexes.
And, as if all this were not enough, Pluto is sitting right on the Midheaven (MC). This is a classic power position, and it appears in the birth charts of many people who achieve leadership, or at least aspire to it. And not only in the obvious arena of politics. As Pluto is the planet of mass movements and mass consciousness, he may be prominent also in the makeup of spiritual leaders and founders of religious movements, especially the ones who are skilled in using symbols, subliminal messages and ceremonial images to stimulate and direct other people's need to belong, and their scarred desire to love and be loved, into great heaving waves of followers who look for leaders to guide them. Pluto on the MC in this chart represents a whole range of possibilities, from visionary, altruistic aims to help make things better, to the cocky strut of insecure men looking for validation, to a messianic urge to bathe in glory, to an urgent ache to purify the world by punishing whomever one hates.
When We Find Our Voices . . . No Need For Dictators!
All these roles will be in the show. The ferment of the time will cast them to center stage, because while the other dynamics of the August 6 Grand Cross will likely generate a heat that frazzles many holders and seekers of power, Pluto on the MC will deliver new leaders whose moment comes now at the nexus of their ambition and others' need. Why have we had so many dictators in the 85 years since Mussolini took power? One reason dictators began to proliferate when they did is that in the 1920's the new technology of radio could broadcast a few chosen voices to audiences of millions, while taking away the voices of all the others. The listeners, now dispersed among their homes rather than gathered in one place, where their presence and pressure could influence a town meeting or a live speech, became a silent, unseen abstraction, no longer a real live force to be reckoned with.
In the time since, television and the Internet, SMS, iPod and other gizmos, which have a curious way of bringing together yet isolating the people who use them, have reduced many of the people they operate to little more than perpetually wired, hungry cattle who low endlessly for news and novelties, thrills and scandals, orders and reassurances. It's no wonder, then, that in today's most "developed" society, so many inarticulate "dittohead" men tune in daily to the band of rage, inadequacy and dread where they live in nervous anticipation of changes that they can't see, and don't think they can possibly affect. Nor is it any wonder that a new dictator — literally the speaker, the one entitled and empowered to deliver in speech the laws of the state and the longings of the people — seems always ready to rise, whether from a church or a statehouse, or from those who claim to speak for the Galactic Federation, the Pleiadian Council, the Comte de Saint Germain, St. Michael the Archangel, or whoever else people seek to tell them what's going on.
Osho pegged all this helplessness decades ago. "All the dictators in the world," he said, "are created by us because we want someone else to tell us what to do. There is a very subtle reason for it: when you are told by somebody else what to do, you don't have any responsibility for whether it is right or wrong. You are free of responsibility; you don't have to think about it; you don't have to be worried about it. The whole responsibility goes to the person who is giving you the orders to do something. . . . [People are] always looking to the politicians, looking to the priest; looking to neurotic-type people who proclaim themselves prophets, the sons of God, messengers of God."
It could be, for all we know, that the whole point of the great Crosses of Summer 2010 is to open us to the startling and scary possibility that it is time to put dictators behind us, even to overcome our addiction to leaders and take up the Aquarian challenge to be responsible in ways we have not yet imagined. We may even learn that hierarchy, the unequal division of power between a few who are corrupted by having far too much and a great inert mass of those who have little or none, has been an ingredient in the recipe of our misery for far too long. It may be time now for synarchy, the active, creative and far more empowering art of sharing power among equals.
"In dreams," Yeats wrote, "begin responsibilities." With Neptune and Chiron in a long conjunction over the entire year of 2010, the dreaming is likely to be vivid, even lucid and creative. It may be medicinal too — as in the dream therapy practiced in the temples of Asklepios — if we actually believe that the power to achieve wholeness is ours to see and use as the nightmares of summer 2010 become dreams in practice by fall.
Found here
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Copyright 2008-2010 Dan Furst. All Rights Reserved
Copyright 2008-2010 Dan Furst. All Rights Reserved
