DEATH CAFE
A GOOD METAPHOR for this year is the increasingly popular Death Cafe — where people “drink tea, eat cake and discuss death.” Here we have the friendly detachment of Uranus forming an unlikely alliance with death-reckoning Pluto in a way that inspires deeper Jupiter meaning and perspective. This “camaradarie-through-self-reckoning” theme continues throughout all of 2017 — an enlivening injection of relational realness from the ongoing T-Square between Uranus, Pluto and Jupiter.
Why Trump Won?
It is in the interest of advertisers and politicians (same/same) to keep the populace metaphorically dumbed down. Why? Because when the brain is trapped in a symbol-starved groove of literalism, imagination-triggering phrases like “drain the swamp” become inordinately powerful and seductive. Minus a daily dose of felt archetype (as provided, for ages, by the astrological worldview), voters are easily entranced by a politically co-opted Neptune. That’s why I consider myself not just an astrologer, but an astrological activist, empowering students worldwide to see through the lens of felt archetype. (See: Styles of Awakening Training).
Koan for 2017
By beloved Buddhist teacher-friend, Jane Brunette, calls the part of the brain that’s blind to the Shepherding Presence, “The demon that thinks things through.” Now there’s a devil I can believe in! In times of shocking change (Uranus) and eruption of the collective shadow (Pluto), it’s hard to harvest Jupiter-inspired meaning and direction from a perception that’s stained by the same lonely literalism that’s dying to be “Trumped.” Lest we forget: it’s the job of Samsara to build up, then breakdown, “the knower” so life can sprout (from the ground of our “somebodyness”) a meditatively shrewd dreamtime detective. It is in this Trump-friendly spirit, that I offer the following koan for 2017:
The “knower” was born traumatized, begging to be Trumped.
January Transits
January opens in a mood of professional introspection (New Moon in Capricorn on Dec 29th), perfectly paired with the ongoing Mercury retrograde in Capricorn. Ready to transition out of robotic responsibility into reputable loving? Starting now, until Jan 8th (when Mercury retro goes direct), is the perfect time to chant on the following mantra:
Before it was my duty; now it’s my meditation.
Eager to take your business to the next level? Keep trouble shooting your business plan and bouncing it off of professional cheerleaders until the middle of the month when Mercury is well out of its retrograde shadow. Then launch away!
New Years Eve
New years eve is drunk on a Mars/Neptune conjunction. Venus joins Neptune on 2nd and 3rd. Will you drug yourself free of Capricorn’s grim, Darwinian worldview or will you stay lucid enough to be downloaded with a new, soul-nourishing vision for the new year?
Trump’s Inauguration- Jan 20th
On inauguration day (Jan 20th), Saturn is conjuncting Trump’s 4th house Moon and Mars is squaring it. Ouch. Frustrated desire may give rise to wrong action. This can play out through Trump’s words/actions or in the actions of the many protesters marching against him at this time. Either way, it is a visibly embattled beginning to his presidency and the threat of violence is very real. Fortunately, Uranus trines his heavy Saturn/Moon transit, helping him transcend personal hurt with awareness of what serves the larger citizenry. How will the Rooster-King respond to relentless political obstruction, delays and deep feelings of lack of support? Will he descend into impatient reactivity or demonstrate a more mature, measured response that calms his supporters and demonstrates a trust-building temperance, worthy of emulation? Will his Gemini tweets synthesize into a coherent Sagittarian worldview that inspires and guides the country, or will he resort to the immediate zing of inflammatory sound bites? Whichever way it goes, Trump’s opening response to this Saturn conjunct the Moon square Mars will likely set the tone for his entire presidency.
Personal Transits
Saturn
Got planets between 21 and 27 degrees in mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sag, Pisces)? Saturn says, “commit deeper or get out.” Good time to sign up for disciplined course of study, hire a business coach or a trainer at the gym.
Uranus
Uranus shifts radically, left or right, for the purpose of liberating us from paradigm paralysis. (Hello Trump.) Got planets between 24 and 28 degrees in cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn)? Uranus wants to jolt you out of stagnation. Time to reframe shock as an unfamiliar breed of excitement.
Neptune
Got planets between 11 and 14 degrees in mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces)? Neptune wants you to relate as awareness, to awareness, whilst staying embodied, realistic and impeccably on time.
Pluto
16-19 degrees in Cardinal signs? In these areas, it’s “transform or die” time. Tried therapy? Consider an empowering separation or divorce. Not sure which? Confess more. Let truth decide the form of the relationship.
Three Styles of Navigating the January T-Square
During January, you are likely to find yourself and the people around you moving between the three poles of the Pluto/Uranus/Jupiter T-Square.
There are Plutonic times when a sudden boiling over of the personal and/or collective shadow scalds us back into our pain body so we can mercifully meet, feel and release a lingering karmic wound. In this way, life drives a stake into the heart of our disembodied numbness to the Shepherding Presence. Looking back, the pain will feel worth it. In the mean time, your choice is simple: be self-consciously distraught or be mad enough to let storyless, uninterpreted energy rip through you.
There are other, more Uranian times when the shock of personal and/or collective shadow catapults us into the sky of pure awareness so we can watch, with detached, universal compassion, the conditioned me-stories rolling, like storm fronts, through our own and others inner sky. In this way, we mix Aquarian equanimity into Scorpionic healing crisis. Are you being “too detached” and remote or are you providing a quiet harbor for those caught in the storm?
Finally, there’s the philosophy-clown, Jupiter, who cures meaningless suffering by injecting playful insight to head-buzzy Uranus and emotionally embroiled Pluto. Question: Are you asking soul-illuminating questions or are you burdening others minds with implied directives and presumptuous advice?
January’s mission is to equalize our appreciation for all three styles of ego-cleansing (Pluto, Uranus & Jupiter) so we can move (or help others move) more gracefully between them. Thank God for the subtle energy language of astrology that keeps us congenial and positively engaged amidst the healthy heartbreak of this year’s Death Cafe.
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