Parting the Clouds and Seeing Clearly

This is how I would die into the love I have for You:

As pieces of cloud dissolve in sunlight.

– Rumi.

Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.

– A Course in Miracles

As the Sun moves strongly through the heart of Leo, the Lion, it will approach a powerful opposition to Neptune towards the middle of this month. Neptune is the sign of dissolution of the ego, and also the planet of the dissolving of all of our most cherished illusions. As it returns back to Aquarius for its final sojourn in this sign this century, we begin with this month the last run of a process of deconditioning and releasing of cherished illusions that has been taking place since 1996. This then is a month of disillusionment, of the dissolving of clouds, of the light of the Sun shining through, the potential for profound illumination.

As such it can be a difficult time. To the extent that we insist on holding on to any projections, to that extent will we lose the understanding of Love and Love’s intentions for us to grow into our Soul’s True Nature. Love is the calling-bell sounding in this month, as Venus sounds the bell of the heart-chakra from Leo, and of the heart itself, the very organ, vitalizing us and offering to us a powerful remembrance of who we truly are.

Surrendering Projections

Remember the deepest evolutionary intentions these next few years are for total structural transformation, and for personal empowerment and liberation, shown by Pluto and Uranus continuing to square all the way through to 2015. To participate in this consciously, it is absolutely necessary to let die all that is dying, and this does include our most cherished illusions. Ceres retrograding back into Pisces and squaring the Lunar Nodes means we are asked to look at the grief we have around this, around our lost innocence. Whatever grief has been collectively or individually avoided must be addressed and recognized. It is the avoidance of this grief that keeps us wanting to believe lies and disinformation and to hold on to cherished illusions and projections.

As Neptune quincunxes Juno in Libra, which squares the Lunar Nodes, there is especially an invitation to deal with the dynamics of projection as they show up in relationships, and any crisis in relationships should be viewed as an invitation to analyze the dynamics closely and carefully, to retrace the steps that led to this projection, and to name the projections. In most cases relationship crisis is resulting from some form of codependency, or misplaced loyalty, or repressed anger, all Juno themes. With Juno entering a conjunction to Saturn this month, this can be a real maturation time in committed relationships, a sobering time as well that can feel constraining at times. Of course with Neptune in the mix, there can be a desire to escape this and maintain the projections – but doing so constellates greater and greater patterns of crisis.

An excellent outpicturing of the collapse of projections and the crisis of codependency, is the “debt crisis” coming to a head tomorrow. This occurs as the United States continues to bumble through its Saturn Return (sad, as most of the Middle East countries – starting with Iran two years ago, Egypt, Tunisia, Syria this year – are showing us the liberatory possibilities of Saturn Returns these days.) Here again we have profound disillusionment, lies, confusion – all Neptune – afflicting and creating a crisis in the two-party “system” of the United States. The partners continue to project all over each other while their misplaced loyalties to the rich and powerful persist. This crisis exists to draw attention and analysis to the relational dynamics and the extremes of the government, but that is unlikely to be pursued except in the usual cynical ways, instead with the there is a disproportionate focus on the financial/security meanings of the crisis (Jupiter in Taurus ruling the skip-ahead North Node) and the relationship dynamics stay unconscious. So you can see how all of this crisis is a wake-up call, and this is the thing to be mindful of when parallel issues constellate in our personal lives.

All of this is the larger context in which Mercury retrogrades tomorrow, August 2^nd. As usual, Mercury retrograde is an opportunity to go within and to develop the intuition and improve our relationship with the right brain. The left brain is frustrated and confused this month, and must return to understand again the lessons of the heart and of the fiery Sun. The retrograde from Virgo shows that it is about correcting false information that has been taken in due to the projections. The linear brain is returning to a basic sense of purpose and love and when it meets the Sun in its retrograde, it will begin to be recharged. It returns all the way to the heart of the Summer season, where it meets the Moon, Emotional Reality, on August 27^th, as it turns forward and retraces its steps.

Letting Go of False Innocence

The theme of the month then is this dismantling of inaccurate perceptions, releasing cherished illusions and grieving them, allowing the Persephone in us to be abducted into the Underworld and begin her sojourn into night, releasing us into a clearer, more objective understanding of Life itself. As the clouds dissolve into the light that they are, illumination becomes possible: quite searingly! Remember the theme of Pluto in Capricorn (2008-2023) – nothing will ever be the same, internal security is the only security – so it is necessary to release all the naivete over the coming months, prior to Neptune’s entry into Pisces in 2012 with all the escapism and projection and millenarian/rapture fantasies it will bring.

Holding on to a wished-for innocence is transmogrifying in the worst way; as James Baldwin said it turns us into monsters, and we will likely see that unfold in the collective in some ways this month. Our Soul Work of course being to go the other way: to release that developmental stage and to withdraw the projections and wishes that someone “out there” can rescue us. This then empowers us to experience the Ultimate Truth of Unity that is beneath all of the dynamics of change that are reworking our world at this time, that Truth being the only place that can provide the sturdy roots that Jupiter in Taurus, ruler of the North Node at this time, is supporting us to develop.

Egypt's Revolution in Cosmic Context

The people of Egypt have been on the frontlines of Pluto in Capricorn these past few weeks. Pluto in Capricorn is all about deep structural change in the way the world is organized -- this is a 15-year period that occurs every 250 years, whose last two iterations took place at the time of the American Revolution and the Protestant Reformation. Events like the successful protests in Tunisia and Egypt, the aborted but highly visible protests in Iran in 2009, the near-collapse and continued limping along of the economy, are powerful seed-stirrings of our current iteration of the Pluto-in-Capricorn transformative arc, 2008-2023. Per the old Chinese saying, we live in interesting times!

Egypt's Saturn Return

On a more local level, Egypt's own chart -- the chart of the Republic declared June 18, 1953, 11:30 pm GMT in Cairo -- is experiencing its second Saturn Return. Saturn's return is a time when deep patterning and conditioning reconstellate, as well as the burdensome restrictions and consequences of these, and one is called to remember and recommit to destiny and the deep purpose of one's life. It is a rite of passage and a maturation. The old ones say that it must feel like dying and one must not be certain of survival for the transit to have its full effect. When worked with transformatively, major survival and fear-based patterns of the personality die and a more mature being comes forward with a deeper dedication to the life purpose.

The Republic is described through its chart as a center of learning and communication (Sun, nodal rulers, and chart ruler in 3rd house) and of training, deep learning, the passing on of trades and old lineages (Moon, Saturn, Neptune in 6th house), as indeed is the country's role in its region.
Egypt's life purpose is described through its chart as one of leadership in group action and service (North Node in Aquarius in the 10th) and healership (Chiron conjunct Midheaven). An Oversoul is described which can get caught up in its own dramatic internal "family dynamics" (South Node in Leo in 4th house; see for example the assault on Coptics a few weeks prior to the protests), but is called to take a more detached and impersonal stance in the world, and to become a strong model of what is possible in terms of group action (North Node in the 10th, Aquarius). In this way, the country continues to be a regional or global center of learning, but what is taught -- and how -- is transformed.

Powerfully, on January 25, the day of the first mass protest and the day that is now declared by the people as the Day of Anger, Day of Uprising, Day of Youth, and other names -- the Sun was exactly conjunct the North Node of the chart -- a profound statement of shining the light on the country's deep destiny. It is easy to see how recent events have involved a powerful embodiment of the call to lead and serve as a model of how group action can work.

The Sun on the Node, the conjunction of Sun and Mars in the sky, a replication of a natal Egyptian aspect, and the movement of Jupiter into the Aries Point (0 degrees Aries, a cruical point generally but one also emphasized in multiple Arab League charts, including the chart of the Arab League itself), describe the triggering of the mass actions in Tahrir Square.

The Energy of the 60s in the Arab World

More broadly, the unprecedented events in Tunisia and Egypt signal the next act in an ongoing cycle of Uranus and Pluto, which will likely be the most visible aspect pattern globally from now until 2015. We now hear news of people stirring in Damascus, Algiers, San'a, throughout the Arab world. The determination and excitement for transformation and democracy are palpable to people living in these places. And indeed, this energy is very exciting -- it is the same energy we saw dramatically acted out in the 1960s in Europe and the USA.

In the mid-1960s, Uranus and Pluto were together in the sky -- an astrological conjunction -- and released a tremendous upswell of transformative, revolutionary, paradigm-altering energy. As a conjunction, this energy had an instinctive, urgent quality -- it was time to do something! This energy went in all sorts of directions, opening new or revitalized forms of music, spirituality, philosophy, sexuality, putting an emphasis on human rights and freedom around the world. As Uranus continued past Pluto, the emphasis on all of these new possibilities began to wane, the world became somewhat less captivated by them.

Yet now, beginning last year and continuing until 2015, Uranus and Pluto are meeting again, this time in the 90-degree aspect, a First Quarter Square. This means that the instinctual, all-directions, somewhat unconscious energy of the 1960s, all those seed possibilities that were sprouting then, certain ones of these now take a concrete form in the world, a more directed and focused approach. Not surprisingly given the emphasis of the Aries Point in the Cardinal formations of these years and in the natal charts of many of the Crescent states, this area of the world appears to be a primary arena where the energy of the 1960s is coming into its own at last.

As this occurs macrocosmically, in the microcosm of each person the "people" are stirring to life as well. The importance of freeing ourselves from repressive internal regimes becomes more pressing these next few years as Pluto and Uranus square off. There is an accelerated quality of change in each person and collective for which the events in the Arab world are both harbinger and trigger (consider the effects to the world's "structure" -- Pluto in Capricorn -- as this region, center of the energy supply under the current paradigm -- attempts to transform; consider also how threatening this will be to the status quo). The Egyptian people are an inspiring example of the courage we are all capable of, seeking change and transformation, being willing to put one's own life as one has known it at stake, recognizing that precious little is more valuable than freedom. For the theme of Uranus/Pluto, running from now until 2015, is freeing ourselves -- from within and without. The central location of the Cairo protests aptly names this transformational aspect: Tahrir Square -- the Square of Liberation.

Pan Lives! And Capricorn Transforms

People with the Capricorn or the 10th house emphasized in your chart (Sun, Moon, Ascendant, or other major configurations) have much to celebrate this solstice! And indeed for the remainder of Pluto's transit of Capricorn, lasting until 2023. The opportunity of this period is the rehabilitation and the revitalization of the archetype Capricornus, the most conditioned of all the zodiac signs. With the recent conjunction of the North Node of the Moon and Pluto in Capricorn, and the solstic eclipse, this period is well and truly launched.

The once-in-a-lifetime potential here is a deep rework and transformation, a pulling up by the roots whatever is rotten in Capricorn. And this is a sign in which much has been distorted and devolved, a sign that has suffered during the Age of Pisces more than almost any other. For Capricornus was the mer-goat, originally associated with Pan and with pleasure, prior to what it has become for us today.


Pan was the Greek nature god, who was associated with the mountains, the wild, forests, fields, music, and sexuality. He carried and played a simple flute and was renowned for his virility and sexual energy, as the companion of the highly-sexed nymphs. As a nature spirit, he predated the emergence of the Olympian gods, although his story was subsequently retold with him as the child of Zeus and a human. Pan's energy was lusty and erotic, earthy and natural. With a satyr-like apperance as half-goat and half-human, including the horns of the goat, he was prone to seductions, carrying on, and causing trouble, or panic, a word derived from his name. He could turn himself into a Pan-swarm, disrupt existing orders, and in general was a mischief-maker. At the same time, he was known as a wise prophet, who shared among other gifts the secret of prophecy with Apollo.

In one of the most striking stories of the Greek gods, however, Pan was said to have "died" in the early 1st century. A legend arose among sailors and caught on throughout Greece and the ancient world that Pan had died. Not coincidentally, this was around the same time that Paul of Tarsus began to consolidate the early Christian church. As the Age of Pisces began, the collective unconscious had begun to turn away from Pan's embodied, sexual, natural energy towards a dualistic view of higher spirit and lower flesh. The body and its urges and desires became a source of guilt -- something to be disciplined, controlled, and transcended.

As Pan died, so too did one of the great Pan-like festivals, the Saturnalia. A winter solstice festival celebrated in the Roman Empire, it involved much merry-making, gift-giving, home decoration, masters serving slaves, partying, and letting loose. It was a celebration creating light and warmth and joy at the darkest time of the year, and celebrating the oncoming lengthening of days. Yet as the Age of Pisces entered, the Saturnalia and its celebratory energy was gradually tamed and harnessed into the narrative holiday of Christmas.

Pan and Capricorn

The Capricornus archetype was intimately related to both Pan and the Saturnalia. The Saturnalia was a festival for Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn, and it took place at winter solstice, when the Sun enters the sign of Capricorn. The symbol of Capricorn is the mer-goat, the upper body of a goat and the lower body a great fish-tail, one of the forms Pan took when he had created some trouble and needed to swim away quickly. We can feel the wet, juicy, earthy-muddy flavor of this archetype at its heart through this powerful symbol, which was also held to represent great wisdom, through descending into the depths of the deepest waters and ascending to the heights of the highest mountains. In Capricornus was a potent combination of pleasure and prophecy, of descent and ascent, of flesh and spirit.

Not so the Capricorn we have inherited after 2000 years of Piscean Age conditioning. The Capricorn most of us come to know early in our astrological learning is staid, professional, controlling, power-oriented, responsible, serious, administrative, guilt-ridden, and governed by a work-ethic and a need for appropriateness. Split off, killed off with Pan, has been the playful, lustful, earth-and-water-wise sea goat. And indeed, this energy was even demonized, as the goat became associated with the devil and demonic forces, as pleasure and desire became subject to discipline and punishment increasingly through the Age.

Yet Pan still lives in the archetype of Capricornus. We can confidently assert that the legend of Pan's death was a lie, one of the earliest of the Age. Deep in the Capricorn psyche there is a powerful, pulsing, lustful, pleasure-oriented, creative, and erotic passion. It is a natural earth-based energy that most of us have learned through conditioning to attempt to control and regulate away (for we all have Capricorn somewhere in our charts).

Finding the Pan in the Pan-demonium

Now, with Pluto in Capricorn, a huge rework, a death and rebirth, is possible for this archetype. This is possible at the large-scale level, and indeed during these periods throughout history there has been a shaking of the "foundations" and "administrative centers" of the world, much as our current economy and empire are shaking (creating Pan-ic; or consider also the Pan-demonium arising over Wikileaks opening the Pan-dora's Box of diplomatic secrets...)

The macrocosm will relfect the microcosmic ways we address this potential transformation. The questions are: how does the spirit/body split live in my own life? Where do I live according to conditioning about what is appropriate? Where does irrational guilt about natural pleasures and desires constrain my life? Especially for those with Capricorn emphasized through the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, or other prominent configurations, this is a time for profound and life-altering healing. It is a time for claiming one's prophetic, lusty, earthful power, for restoring the flow of eros and letting crumble away the encrustations of guilt and conditioning that overlay this. Earth-based ritual and healing is especially potent during this time, for Capricorn is the most deeply shamanic, even typhonic, of the signs, ascending and descending through the many worlds.

As we undergo the topsy-turvy shifts of structures that have defined the past 250 years, and indeed the past 2000, the world needs the medicine of Capricorn, and for Capricorns everywhere to claim their deepest nature. Once more, the world needs Pan, and he is stirring. Can you feel him?

The Eighth Saturn Return of the United States

Over the next nine months, Saturn returns to its natal position in the United States' chart, with the exact aspect occurring on December 2, 2010; March 20, 2011; and August 21, 2011.

The return of Saturn involves a revisitation of the key karmic dynamics in a chart. It is a time of facing one's fate and finding one's destiny. It is a pivotal opportunity for completing incomplete initiations, and for this reason it is a challenging time. Saturn rules the spine and the skeletal system. We are asked to structure ourselves, not according to the conditioning around us, but rather from our own spine, our own sketelal framework. As with any initiation, some emerge from a Saturn Return strengthened, matured, and able to stand taller in the world from an inner confidence of having in some sense "passed the test". Some never emerge. And in modern times with little help from initiated elders, some emerge from the Saturn Return with their fragile egos more defended and compensated than ever, requiring life to continue to generate continued circumstances designed to somehow get through to them. Unfortunately, with the exception of the 1865 Saturn Return, involving the end of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, this latter has applied to every Saturn Return undergone by the United States chart.

The Father Complex

For the United States, the return of Saturn is especially significant because it highlights what is arguably the central dynamic of the USA chart. This dynamic begins with an intense father complex. The chart shows that the individual's identity will be restricted in some way by the father (Saturn square Sun), creating a crisis in which action is required (First Quarter Square). It makes sense then, that the "birth" of the United States was its Declaration of Independence from the abusive "father" in the form of the British Empire.

However, the problem with this solution is that the individual is left to go it alone in terms of structuring a self, which is also the function of Saturn. While the aspect is suggestive of great independence and strength, it also suggests a potentially deep insecurity that is the result of never receiving the social vestiture from the Father, if severance from the Father is not followed by some form of meaningful initiation.

Absent this initiation, the chart describes an intense pain around the masculine resulting from the Father severance (Chiron in Aries opposing Saturn and squaring the Sun) which is then acted out through an idealization of aggression and power, a kind of narcissistic compensation for intense fears of being weak or ineffectual (Mars, dispositor of Chiron, square to Neptune). Yet even as the nation acts out and shows off its power, there is simultaneously a very private yearning for a Father (Pallas, "Daddy's Little Girl", conjunct the Moon).

These dynamics are very visible to an observer of US history. The longing for a Father plays out in multiple elections, and it is especially notable that the Presidents in office at the time of Saturn Returns have evidenced the father hunger well: Jefferson (the "founding father" who wrote the Declaration), Jackson (the "bad father"), Lincoln (the "good father"), Cleveland (about whom there was intense ambivalence, on-again, off-again, served two non-consecutive terms), Harding ("the negligent father"), Truman ("the unquestionable father"), and Reagan ("the saving father"). The public frequently becomes angry when there is expectation of rescue by the father and the father fails -- as was very much the trance around President Obama. At these points, there is a huge desire to take down the father. At the same time, the compensatory displays of power by the nation are also very evident, right down to the specifics of wars for oil (Neptune rules oil, Mars war).

An Identity Crisis

With this level of acting out, it is very easy for the pain of this dynamic to be hidden and overlooked (Chiron in the private fourth house). Yet the pain is without a doubt the critical element to embrace and encounter to complete the initiation process that began with independence, and completion of this is essential for the nation to move through its very basic identity crisis.

The importance of this is highlighted by the most prominent configuration in the chart: the T-Square involving the opposition of Saturn and Chiron, each squaring the Sun. The simplest description of a T-Square with the Sun at the pivot point is an in-built identity crisis. It describes a situation in which the Oversoul's consciousness seeks to integrate the opposed archetypes (Saturn and Chiron) into its identity (Sun). This is an especially critical action for this chart as the Sun is its "implementer of destiny" (Sun rules Leo North Node).

Unfortunately, too often an opposition involves the tendency to identify with one side of a polarity, and to disidentify with the other. In the case of the United States, the tendency has been to over-identify with Saturn in Libra in the 10th house, and to under-identify with Chiron in Aries in the 4th house.

The "global policeman for democracy" is a perfect description of Saturn in Libra in the 10th. Saturn is "in charge" and has power. It wants "fairness" -- its own version of fairness -- and is a heavyweight. It is interested in boundaries and keeping everything in its place (including those pesky immigrants). The United States historically and presently has no difficulty in relating to itself in this way, and embodying this part of the polarity, indeed it is over-embodied.

Yet the fourth house Chiron asks us to recognize the deep pain the United States holds in its emotional body. It is a deep pain about one's own power and right to exist, as well as about a sense of belonging (remembering that this is in fact a nation of immigrants who did not "belong"). And it is a pain that the government, leadership, and most of the populace remain unconscious to, resulting in its being carried by the tribes (4th house) of the Native Americans, and the minorities and immigrants (all of whom are told in various ways, "you do not belong"), while the country consciously identifies only with its ever-compensating strongman image.

Alchemizing the Medicine

Yet the reluctance to embrace Chiron amounts to the reluctance to embrace our own destiny. While Chiron is the Sacred Wound, it is also the Sacred Medicine. Chiron the centaur was the Wounded Healer, an old, old archetype describing the transformation of suffering into wisdom. The medicine we have for the world, and our real leadership role that is described in the 10th house Saturn, cannot be alchemized without this necessary trip to the private 4th house Chirotic pain, and the willingness to hold and integrate that part of our experience as well.

In practical terms, what would such a journey look like? Most definitively, it involves integrating the Native Peoples and the minorities and immigrants in our country. Which means we will all have to look at and feel the pain that is currently carried by only a few. Healing will not come from the center or the center-stage, the legislatures and the "leaders" -- those are 10th house concerns and at this time the leaders we select will continue to be the uninitiated men and women who can only re-enact the drama of the insecure masculine. Healing rather will come from the edges, the shadow, and the shadow carriers, the ones who have born the projections and the wounds for a long, long time. In simple terms, this Saturn Return and all those before it ask us to connect with the deep grief and anguish that is at the foundation of this country's self-identity, and yet which we so rigorously deny. The chart suggests there is not another way to resolve the identity crisis described above which keeps us ensnared in the drama of the father complex.

At the personal level, as each member of the country participates in this Oversoul, this Saturn Return is a time to feel into one's own wounds around the family, around the sense of belonging, around one's personal power. And of course, as Pluto and the North Node continue their conjunction in the sign of Capricorn, with Ceres a little further out, it's a great time to deal with any of those Daddy issues in one's own life.

Oh World, I Cannot Hold Thee Close Enough -- Venus, Mars, and Eros Together in the Sky

In recent days at sunset, long before the darkness arrives, through the pinks and oranges and blues of the evening sky, Venus shines into view. She is fast approaching the brightest she ever becomes.

Venus is currently in the middle of a very visible 9-month dance with Mars, in which they meet three times in the sky. Their first two meetings take place in the evening sky: first in the sign of Libra, partnership, late last month; and next on October 3rd in the sign of Scorpio, sexuality and regeneration. Then they each slowly take the journey into the Underworld, disappearing from view (because of their proximity to the Sun), and re-emerge in the morning skies early next year, joining one final time in the sign of Taurus, comfort, on May 23rd.

Venus and Mars are the ultimate cosmic lovers. Their passion for one another is legendary. In any individual they represent the masculine, yang, active principle and the feminine, yin, receptive principle. They are highly personal, individual planets. They show up in life in our passions, our creativity, our relationships, our pleasures, our zest for life. In what we seek out and what we attract.

This year, so much has been taking place further out in the solar system, between the heavyweights Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto. Transformation, change, intensity, at every level. Certainly this seems to be the focus of the daily news. It has also been the focus of most astrologers, myself included. It is very real, and it is affecting every one of us.

And yet . . . there Venus is shining more brightly than ever, seductively drawing any upward-turned eye. Few can ignore her; any skyward glance is compelled to linger on her beauty. Soon she will even move more and more slowly before standing still in the sky for two days. Venus wants our attention! Our hearts, our loving, wants our attention!

While we are in the middle of tremendous change and transformation shown by the outer planet aspects, the inner planets have a message for us that shining very brightly. And the message from this special 9-month period is: The Heart is the Way Through. As we participate in the big changes underway in the world and in each of us, as we weather the ups and downs of the Uranus storms and the Pluto overwhelms, Venus and Mars shine brightly in the sky to remind us of the needs of our personal, embodied selves to experience love and creativity.

Even more remarkably and rarely, as Venus and Mars do their dance of love, they are joined by the asteroid Eros in the same place in the sky. Eros was the love-child of Venus and Mars. Eros is love, energy, creativity. It is an incredibly powerful time to follow our passions: to get into the body and dance, paint, play a sport, make love, to live, and to live in the most personal way possible. As Rumi writes, "Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love." These are personal, intimate energies, ones that we can feel deep in our hearts and at a cellular level in our bodies. Each of us will manifest them in our own ways, some in relationships, some in the mystic marriage of masculine and feminine inside. Yet the message for all of us is this: it is a time for love, creation, and passion. Follow your bliss, your bliss will lead you through. The nighttime sky puts all the world events into perspective: its loudest, brightest message right now is to love.

And heart-based living in our times promises beautiful new births during this time. The last time this conjunction series occurred in these three signs was in 1978-1979, years of remarkable developments in balance (Libra) around sexual and gender issues: the first national gay march was held; for the first time women equalled (slightly exceeded) men in college enrollment; the Equal Rights Amendment came the closest it ever would to passage; and Judy Chicago first exhibited The Dinner Party, a huge work of art in which women took their "place at the table" in history and mythology.

Consider the sexual symbolism of the nighttime meeting in Libra and Scorpio, a mystic marriage and its consummation -- and then the sensual, fertile symbolism of next year's "morning after" in earthy Taurus, ruler of the fertility cults and child-bearing Venus. As well, it is a 9-month series of conjunctions, the time a child takes to grow from conception to birth, and then of course there is also the presence of Eros, love-child of the god and goddess. If we truly open our hearts, so many love-children can be born into the world right now: relationships, friendships, creative projects, new connections with the land and the earth, and indeed children themselves. And the sky tells us that these love-children are the ways our bodies, our most personal selves, will be renewed to make the transition to the next age with us.

So each time there is news of fresh disaster, in one's own life or in the world; each time there is news of another political imbroglio, in one's own life or in the world; each time some huge transformation racks us; we are called to open our hearts, more and more widely, to feel our passion for this world, this time, this planet. It is a great time to remember the words of Edna St. Vincent Millay:

Oh world, I cannot hold thee close enough!
Thy winds, thy wide gray skies!
thy mists that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with color! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, world, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,
But never knew I this;
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart. Lord, I do fear
Thou’st made the world too beautiful this year.