New Moon Solar Eclipse: 18 Leo 41

Two from a beautiful crew: come enjoy street dancers, performing on Friday evenings in Old Town Paphos, from the heart for all.

The sun (ruler of the new moon) and the moon (the Eclipser) will be receiving guests shortly in the royal summer play house of Leo. In attendance are Mercury (alternately preoccupied, shifty, wired-out and boisterous), Pallas Athene (the aloof strategist in chainmail tunic, occasionally clanking and chiming amongst her metal toys) and Hekate, the way-pointer currently in telepathic 3-way comms with Vesta (‘sacred hearth’ matters) and  Eris (strife and discord).

Along with the Sun, these three have been focused on their passion work for some time now. Over the previous weeks, as they have worked within allotted spaces and passed along corridors vibrating with life-force on the way to their place for New Moon rituals, each have encountered and paid their respects to the glowing orb-in-residence that symbolizes the Holistic Pursuits: the North Node point, currently at 5.5’ and just 12 god-sized paces from the top table.

More on that point here: When the Rubber Hits the Road and and The Traveler’s Essential Tool.

Casting a pleasant shade, the moon glides in. A bell rings and the pressure in the central fountain increases notably and holds; the surrounding pool level begins to rise. Bowls are set before all…and all are welcome!

We Note that elsewhere Venus squares Saturn. However, she also sextiles that North Node point. Venus is in Libra – her home territory and Saturn’s zone of exaltation. She is wired to soften the Boss’s message. Still, this kink in the line indicates that reality, with all its gore and glory, must be the foundation of lasting relationships and value-exchanges. No veneer or curtain will do just now and that’s for our own good. Practice firmness as kindly as you can without undermining your Self. The sextile tells us that when we are effectively working with others, we’ll have the capacity to co-create beyond our current limitations and see/hear/feel the proof. Be mindful, be observant.

That north node point is squaring a stationing Uranus in Taurus and for some, this is going to make mindfulness a lot harder to maintain. If this sounds like you, don’t fret – no, not by any means. ‘Failure is the elimination of the non-essential.’ – J.K. Rowling. So, let your Genius Muse out – and on the positive side, this contact will last a while...you’ve got time to practice: When Uranus is involved, tuck and ride the wave.

New moons are a time for Rest and Restoration, to re calibrate the mind/body balance. But life doesn’t always seem to cooperate! These are the times to practice centering while driving, while walking, while riding the bus. And again, center in the shower, the pool or under the garden hose. Center as you fall asleep and while you wait for the kettle.

Over the next several days, peruse your inner seed bank and select according to your Leo house placement. Consciously begin again to nurture your Joy. Make it a ritual.

• weaver

******

The Saros Series number is 2 New North, an eclipse family that “changes a person’s direction through the sudden collapse of an existing structure.” The structural breakdown could be anything from a belief system to something in our external life that unexpectedly destroys our daily routines. This may initially bring about confusion but the positive message of 2 New North is that in the long run the changes will prove deeply beneficial.  – many thanks to Sher Astrology’s Kimberly Maxwell

Perseids Meteor Shower – timeanddate.com are again offering a very helpful link. Type in your location to check the visibility in your area.

Cycles within Cycles & Mercury rx in the Fire Signs – Connect the dots about Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius (December 2017), in Aries (March 2018) and Now in Leo. Astro101 to wow you! More at the bottom of this post.

 

More for astro students to contemplate:

*JUNO opposite Jupiter and square the eclipse

*BML  in conjunction to Mars rx and square Uranus

*Hekate/Vesta/Eris fire trine

*Activate the water trine

 

Personalised Energy Coaching     weaver@neptuneandtheoak.com

Jupiter and Pluto 2018

Applied Chemistry
Around the 26th/27th of December 2017, Jupiter (in Scorpio) moved within the influence of Pluto (in Capricorn) at 16’ and 18’ respectively and a tango of sorts began. They are engaging one another. They want the same or similar things; this means that with just a few upticks of applied effort, you can  participate in evolving these two life zones during 2018. If you know this upfront, you can observe and learn. You can strategize, direct, receive and integrate these (quite different) archetypes with an expectation of results in your concrete world. You can go forth and meet the universe, accept the invitation to dance and do your best to learn the steps. I can tell you that this – an open attitude – is the only requirement for at least some measure of success and usually the measure is a lot more than ‘some’.

Let’s start by running through a sample list of descriptors for the archetypes.

Jupiter: the beneficent king, one able to bestow blessings/good fortune, ruler of philosophy, religion, law , the expander of boundaries of the mind and physical reality, the broadcaster, the indulgent one, carefree, spontaneous. Jupiter symbolizes confidence, faith and courage in the face of the unknown.
He’s transiting Scorpio, the land below land, the underworld. Here there be pirates, rats and manipulators and here there be hermits, faithful lovers and friends and the enlightened ones. Scorpio rules the pairing of any two persons bonded by blood, chemistry, love, money. Scorpio rules matters of life and death and matters that feel like life and death, of what’s seen and unseen.
Even before you check the life zone that Scorpio rules for you, can you recognize any of the these effects happening? Jupiterian influences are lighting up your Scorpio zone. There are issues and happenings that you are supposed TO SEE, to learn about and integrate into your fixed emotional parts.

Pluto: this generational soul-churner symbolizes the true state of affairs beyond our mortal application of Time. Everything is either in the process of birthing out or expiring in even as we are caught up in the fixation of the moment, the season, the decade. To be caught up in the fixation of someone or something is to forget or misjudge the importance of all else. In the birthing of new relationships, the exchange consumes us. At some point we might become (finally!) comfortable, secure. We want to feel we know where we stand. We take comfort in knowing all is ‘the same’ as long as ‘X’ continues to treat us with (care/consideration/indifference/contempt). We feel secure in knowing all is ‘the same’ as long as we continue to see a paycheck show up in our bank balance each month, even as yet another tax is deducted. Fact is, ‘the same’ is always some version of what’s expiring and what’s birthing. Successful forecasters learn to take the eagle’s perspective in evaluating matters that may be invisible at ground level.
Capricorn is the systems and hierarchies that are your life; it’s the traditions and culture you come from and those that you join into; it’s duty, responsibilities, capabilities, that which is expected of you and pride in attainment; fear of disappointing the tribe, fear of existing outside the tribe weighs heavily. It’s awfully hard for Pluto’s message to get through Capricorn’s barricades – but you can be certain that Pluto always gets through. From these descriptors, can you identify your Capricorn life zone? Hint: it’s the one zone where you would most likely never admit to reading about astrology!

Ok, that’s the two basic scenery, props and characters templates for you to overlay. We’re looking at two seemingly unrelated areas – one more intimate/confidential/having a lot of feeling-value at stake for you and the other most likely quite public/concerning modes by which you are known within your community.
So…as we were saying, these two archetypes nodded and bowed to one another around the turning of the year; in other words, matters in one zone held the potential to assist and aid matters in the other zone. You may or may not have welcomed this – who wants to discover their laundry displayed in the front garden or feel they are the butt of another’s joke? How about a secret admirer that comes out and won’t go back in?!
There was a lot going on at the time and you may not have noted the correlation or may have misconstrued its highest potential. Have a think on that…

By end of February, Jupiter’s contact ‘gets in front of’ Pluto’s grinding machine work but then hovers stationary as March begins, reversing course on the 9th at 23 scorp 13.
By March 31st, Jupiter is at 23’, Pluto is at 21’. It feels as though we are now in the part of the story of how glowing, pulsating Jupiter cannot escape the transformer’s magnetic tug. I imagine the Beneficent whirling in flowing golden robes, lighting up the dark lord’s dimmed space. He glides out for some solo moves that might appear unseemly or too poorly choreographed for Pluto’s liking and prudently reels himself in. No one with brains messes with the dark lord. However, the more you dance, the more you learn. If you are paying attention, you can see so much more: the weaknesses, strengths and favorite go-to moves – in yourself and in others. You begin to develop the legitimacy to make judgements concerning how these two life sectors can facilitate mutual growth.

By April 15th, Pluto has secured the frequency lock. Way past nodding, bowing and showing off, pirouette 2 is in motion. If we are willing, we’re learning about which root lines are crumbling up the flooring of our public square. At this point, Jupiter has some reversed momentum but Pluto digs in heels and intensifies, hovering stationary for reversal along its deep-wave baseline course on April 23rd at 21 cap 17….I’m going to break with my dancing metaphor for a bit here… 😉

Collectively speaking, when outer planets reverse and no key points are contacted, the shift is too subtle to register. But over the long haul, it can’t help but become apparent. This is Titanic-turning stuff: whatever Pluto has been busy at transforming in your Capricorn life zone, he’s been at it for ten years now. At this point in the timeline, it seems we should be downright eager to take advantage of even the tiniest avenue of assistance on offer. Now Pluto is saying to Jupiter, ‘Keep pressing on, illuminating the hidden truths and lies over there (in that life zone) while I focus on backwashing and checking trench retention here (in this life zone) for its rightful ruler (Saturn).’ [between 18 cap and 21 cap 1] Yes, it is true that further mudslides can occur with every backwash…some ways and means are expiring and some ways and means are birthing. But here’s the point: the more you learn and apply in authentic power-bonding, the less mess there will be in your public square/on your rung of the ladder.

Eagle Eye Note: The ruler of Earthly Matters (Saturn) will be arriving at this – his – Capricorn space by mid-March of 2019 and by the first week in May 2019, the master builder (Saturn) reverses course at 20’cap 30 giving us clear indication that these degrees mark issues requiring extra efforts this year to insure secure foundations, free of worm and rot; there are no construction shortcuts for genuine and lasting fortress and reputation building. Thinking ahead we can see that in just over a year’s time, the job boss (Saturn) will build and then double check for integrity over the excavator’s (Pluto’s) purge through this space. What story lines in your world come to mind when you consider this?

By the 7th of May 2018, Jupiter begins to enjoy his singular trine of the year with cohort Neptune in Pisces. At this point, I’m thinking ‘Whew! Let’s take a break!’ and we should definitely be scheduling some R&R. Of course, we’re still still receiving and sending, so we can mention the potential here is about the softening of hypocritical judgement, about the releasing of false power positions, about the revelation of dark ops, about the need to live one’s life by the Golden Rule no matter what everybody else seems to be doing. The spectrum of channels that may tempt us include fudging the evidence, investing in clique-ish groups mushrooming up – only to wilt in short course from the scene, an inability to accept/act upon the facts, egoic tension-overload/dramatics and exhaustion.

By the first week in July, Jupiter is slowing its reversal and by the 11th, we can measure forward motion from 13’scorp 21.

Eagle Eye Note: whadaya know…saturn also halts his 2019 retrograde course at 13’ Capricorn on the 18th of September. It seems that in order to get the building site stabilized and in optimum condition for upgrading next autumn, some calendar time in 2018 must be devoted to exploring the depths of your scorpio life zone. And there is truly no shortage of light on matters here; just keep an eye on Neptune. Not all that glitters is gold. Not all mistakes are lost steps.

By the 3rd week in August, Jupiter is recovering ground and applying in sextile to a retrograde Pluto at 19’. The momentum here is great and we return to the dance floor as Jupiter glides into the leading arms of a stable partner about to station just one step back. I imagine the sense of gravitational pull in these matters will be palpable as the golden robes begin rising and illuminating again around the dark and tireless transformer. With renewed confidence and faith, we begin to dance in orbit again. Everyone’s toes are much safer and that’s because everyone’s toes are more likely to be just about where they should be. 🙂

By the 10th of September, and for the 3rd time this year, Pluto secures a lock on Jupiter’s fullest potential as rhythmic partner and guides him in a mutually enriching spin that lasts for the rest of the month. Finally, Jupiter bids Pluto adieu and sails off the dance floor and into the comfy recliner next to the moon in Cancer; she’s ready with some well-earned refreshment. (Oct 3rd/4th)

Remember that while this may seem complicated upon the first reading or two, we are talking about 2 basic life zones and the complimentary ways in which you can channel Jupiter and Pluto descriptors in each of them. Yes, this is tough going for bright and sunny Jupiter, having to slog it out inspecting the sewers. But there are going to be moments of pure joy upon unexpected discoveries made along the way. And there are going to be riches and rewards for such a long time to come for those who stuck to learning the moves. Remember, also, that perfection is an ideal and ideals aren’t reality.

There will be many transits over the year that will further enhance and guide your dancing lessons, so believe that you can do this and do it well. One try at a time. I saw a work-out shirt that said, ‘It doesn’t get easier. I get stronger.’ and I comfort myself with the logic that it must then get to a point where it feels easier day by day.

• weaver

 

 

 

Personalised Energy Coaching      weaver@neptuneandtheoak.com

 

 

Sunday Surfing: Jupiter in Scorpio

For some time, Jupiter has been increasing its broadcasting frequency range in Scorpio (nowadays, its booming forth from underneath Everywhere!) and there is the obvious overlap with Pluto in Capricorn (one of our baseline chords). Collection here is based on key word-imagery employed. While some of these ‘waves’ are indeed illuminating the sabotage of the sheeple, its not all doom and gloom. The most personally applicable examples here offer universal pointers for evolution along the true Power Path.

*************

On The Myth of Economic Growth…  ‘Perhaps because the movement found its voice through people’s dissatisfaction following economic crisis, many confuse degrowth with the idea of ‘unsustainable degrowth’, which is often synonymous with economic recession and social instability. On the contrary, the core of ‘sustainable degrowth’ is the concept of ‘progress’, but a progress not related to an increase of the GDP, large-scale production, or over-consumption. As Tim Jackson puts it, ‘Every society clings to a myth by which it lives. Ours is the myth of economic growth’. And exactly this is the myth that the degrowth movement seeks to demystify. (source)

 

“Illinois is like Venezuela now, a fiscally broken state that has lost its will to live, although for the moment, we still have enough toilet paper.
But before we run out of the essentials, let’s finally admit that after decade upon decade of taxing and spending and borrowing, Illinois has finally run out of other people’s money.” John Kass (source)

 

Vehicles of Profound Transformation –  Fear, grief and despair are uncomfortable and are seen as signs of personal failure. In our culture we call them “negative” and think of them as “bad.” I prefer to call these emotions “dark,” because I like the image of a rich, fertile soil from which something unexpected can bloom. Also we keep them “in the dark” and tend not to speak about them. We privatize them and don’t see the ways in which they are connected to the world. But the dark emotions are inevitable. They are part of the universal human experience and are certainly worthy of our attention. They bring us important information about ourselves and the world and can be vehicles of profound transformation. – Miriam Greenspan (source)

 

Replacement Wheels for the Bicycle of our Mind
Here’s the story we’ve been telling ourselves about AI for decades: it’s man versus machine, creators versus their creation, a ball of wrinkly meat versus a smooth block of silicon. Whether it’s our immediate worries about AI (machines stealing your job, self-driving cars making deadly mistakes, autonomous killer drones) or the more far-fetched concerns about AI (taking over the world and turning us all into pets and/or paperclips), it all comes from the same root fear: the fear that AI will not share our human goals and values. And what’s worse, we’ve told ourselves that our relationship between ourselves and our AI is like a chess game: Zero-sum – one player’s win is another player’s loss…
For the last few decades, the story of AI has been one of a rising hero – or is it of a rising villain? In 1997, an AI beat Garry Kasparov at chess, and in 2011 and 2016, AIs beat the world’s top humans at Jeopardy! and Go. And now, many fear that AI will take over our jobs, or even take over humanity itself.
Meanwhile, the story of IA (Intelligence Augmentation) has been one of a tragic fall. Starting out strong with Doug Engelbartο’s Mother of All Demos, the idea of IA has slowly been forgotten, as technology shifted from tools for creation and more towards tools for consumption. Someone stole the wheels off the bicycle for our mind.
But now, these two story threads may be starting to wrap together, forming a new braid in history: AIA – Artificial Intelligence Augmentation. IA can give AI the human partnership it needs in order to remain aligned with our deepest goals and values. And in return, AI can give IA some new replacement wheels for the bicycle of our mind. – Nicky Case (source)

 

How to Understand Your Gender – another great book by Dr. Meg-John Barker,
writer, therapist, and activist-academic specialising in sex, gender and relationships. See the launch discussion here.

 

‘What will you and I do about the 21 trillion dollars missing from US government accounts? What’s going on? Where is the money? How could this happen? How much has really gone missing? What would happen if a corporation failed to pass an audit like this? Or a taxpayer?
This means the Fed and their member banks are transacting government money outside the law. So are the corporate contractors that run the payment systems. So are the Wall Street firms who are selling government securities without full disclosure.
Would your bank continue to handle your bank account if you behaved like this? Would your investors continue to buy your securities if you behaved like this? Would your accountant be silent? … we must know US financial law and know about previous struggles to enforce US laws about finance.’ – C.A. Fitts (source)

 

On Getting Both Sides of an Issue since 1987: You’re on Your Own
The Fairness Doctrine [repealed in 1987] required that TV and radio stations holding FCC-issued broadcast licenses to (a) devote some of their programmings to controversial issues of public importance, and (b) allow the airing of opposing views on those issues. This meant that programs on politics were required to include opposing opinions on the topic under discussion. Broadcasters had an active duty to determine the spectrum of views on a given issue and include those people best suited to represent those views in their programming. That meant you had to relay both sides of an issue. (source)

 

The Square and the Tower; Networks, Hierarchies and the Struggle for Global Power: an interview with Niall Ferguson spanning history and its implications in the present that I found fascinating. (youtube link)

 

My Greatest Freedom   As we meet life as it presents itself and rest in the unknown, then the magic of knowing or receptivity can bubble forth. The Earth is the essence of being receptive. It carries and preserves all things that live and move upon it, without expectation. Maybe like the Earth, we too can learn that we no longer need to use force to make life as we wish it but, can meet it on its own terms, being receptive to its ever-changing ebbs and flows. To live in this way does not necessarily mean one is always passive. When it becomes necessary to act, one does so, but without ego and without any attachment to the results. The ‘Receptive’ can be very active in its ‘form-building’ aspect. This includes bringing much needed reforms into the world.
If I am blocked from moving forward and I accept this, I comfortably adapt and cease fighting. I simply wait and see if the situation changes and act accordingly. I can even feel ego and fear melt away, so that my experience of internal conflict drops away, even if my situation has conflict in it in my external world. Most of all, I begin to see that my greatest freedom is to not let external events control my internal state of consciousness. Perhaps, this is the greatest freedom of all.– Jim Sher   (source)

 

This is about our System’s Imbalances…
‘…what we need to be talking about is the crisis in masculinity, the crisis of extreme masculinity which is this sort of behaviour and the fact that it is not only ok but it is represented by a man…there are many, maybe not to that degree, but does it have to be to that degree? …This is a gender disfunction. and the other thing it is, is a public health issue. This isn’t about one man’s crimes against women. This is about our system’s imbalances, our system’s gender crisis. And we have to act on this. We have to turn this on its head. We can’t allow this to continue because what it means is that vulnerable people will continue be preyed upon…’  Emma Thompson ( youtube link)

 

Math & Science versus Feeling:
In mathematics and physical sciences, a nonlinear system is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Therefore, nonlinear problems are of great interest to engineers, physicists, and mathematicians because most systems are inherently nonlinear in nature such as weather, climate, disease, and life itself. Nonlinear systems often appear to be chaotic, unpredictable or counterintuitive. This is beyond the imagination or understanding of the average individual. Hence, this stands in opposition to the much simpler linear system which the average individual understands. This is why most theories are based upon whatever trend is in motion will stay in motion.
The fundamental analysis fails every time because it is trying to reduce the market behavior to a linear theory of simplistic logic. If people fear banks and government, some will buy stocks, others property, and still others gold. Each will buy whatever they “feel” most comfortable with. The trend is to sell public assets and move to private, yet all will benefit.
Fundamental analysis is therefore worthless because what moves a market is “belief” not logic. That is why real traders coined the phrase: Buy the rumor but sell the news! It does not matter what the fundamentals are if the people believe something, the markets will move accordingly even when that rumor turns out to be false. (source)

 

I think if you just pick a day of the week, you’ll have like a different faction of people who are either mad at you or super happy that you said something about somebody they hate online. You know, because it all coalesces around hate. They have this victim fantasy, that everybody is coming for conservative white people, and of course the truth is it’s exactly the opposite… – Jesse Farrar (source)

 

An explosive slap on the face for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. LOVED this BLATANT example!

A listing of U.S. anti-Russia ‘think tanks’ (aka lobby groups) (link) funded by:
Latvia’s Defense Ministry, George Soros, Airbus, Google, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics and DynCorp, L3, Vencore, CACI, Mantech, NATO, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Company,The UK Foreign Office, Ukrainian World Congress, the US Air Force, Navy, Army and Marine Corps, Northrop Grumman, FireEye, Bell Helicopters, BAE , USAID, the US State Department and the Department of Defence, National Endowment for Democracy, US Mission to NATO, NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division

 

Empire is coloured neither blue nor red, it is silent until it isn’t, and it is always deadly.   – Gordon White

 

The Moment
by Margaret Atwood
The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,
is the same moment when the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can’t breathe.
No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.