The year is new. 2012. Did you feel a shift? What’s the cause? And more important still, what’s the effect? In a year that’s got so much hype built around it, be it the Mayan prophecy (the end of the long count calendar), it’s a numerological FIVE year (major change) and the Chinese New Year of the Water Dragon (more major change), or the discovery that neutrinos may actually travel faster than the speed of light (a contradiction of Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity), something major is afoot. These are only a few examples of the ever changing landscape of impermanence pulsing through the current zeitgeist of our human awakening. Stated beautifully in the iconic lyrics of Buffalo Springfield’s 1967 hit, For What It’s Worth...
“There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down...”
Everybody look what’s going down. Watch closely the (ego) structures teetering on the brink of collapse. Anything’s possible with all this available energy. Time will tell. Astrology will forecast. Ego will attach. The higher Self will let go.
The moon just passed over Saturn, and is well into Scorpio as I write this. A reminder to feel what needs to be felt, then transmute the intensity of our feelings into creative contribution. And while this transit is brief, it carries with it a sign of things to come. Many of the structures our ego relies upon will be sacrificed at the altar of truth when Saturn moves into Scorpio later this year (October 5, 2012). This can be a painful process if you’re unprepared. If, however, you listen to the indelible frequency of your intuition when feelings of groundlessness arise, grace will guide you.
Saturn will reach the end of Libra and then, like a part of you that’s ready to die but you just can’t bring yourself to let it go, the planet that maintains form will go retrograde (February 7 - June 24) and lead us into a review of how our outdated habits hinder our growth, and the growth of those with whom we relate. We have to let the curmudgeon otherwise known as the ego return to its role of serving our truth, instead of allowing it to commandeer our thoughts, dictate our actions and perpetuate our inauthenticity.
What is the ego? In a nutshell, it’s the conceptual identification we all have with our individual existence as separate from the whole. The polarity of this is best expressed in the eloquent words of Martin Luther King...
“We are everlasting debtors of known and unknown men and women. We do not finish breakfast without being dependent on more than half the world...All life is interrelated. All people are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly...A person’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things possessed, but in those treasuries of the heart which no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.”
The thief and the moth in each of us is up for reconciliation in a big way. As Saturn spends most of the first half of this year retrograde, along with Mars retrograde (January 23 - April 13), the ego’s old way of running the show won’t prosper the same results. Any attempt to do things, or force things, or hold on to things in ways out of alignment will not only feel incongruent with our spirits, but the results will likely perpetuate the challenges we’re trying to overcome. Why carry forward a past that’s ready to die?
With the immovable object (Saturn) and our aspiring energy (Mars) retrograde, our task is to be aware of our tendency to over do, over compensate and try to make things happen. While conscious attention and intention factor considerably into what we accomplish, there’s a force greater than our ego, or separate self, that we can (and must) open up to like never before. And that’s the capacity to access our feminine intuition and receive guidance from cosmic mother energy, represented astrologically by Neptune. When Neptune, the planet that represents unity with the greater whole, enters Pisces (February 3), the sign it rules, our visions, dreams, and our extrasensory perception will be available like never before. That may be too much for some to grasp, so let me ground this with the transits of Jupiter and Venus, two planets in fantastic positions to serve the manifestation of our conscious intentions, or in the parlance of the times, our New Year’s resolutions.
Jupiter’s transit through Venusian ruled Taurus expands what we’re attracting into our lives and gives it tangible, earthly form. Translation, dream big. Check the doubter mechanism of ego at the door and play big. The biggest planet in our solar system has your back. Because he’s in the sign ruled by Venus, it behooves us to pay attention to this attractive planet. The potency of Venus’ transit through Aquarius offered insight into the
illusions we’ve been living in, and the strong feeling that how we relate to others has a direct influence on how people relate with us. Aquarius is quick to bestow a feeling of
empowerment when we show up in service to our fellow man, and just as
quickly disempowers when our actions are based in any form of ego
identification. And how many of us act based on ego identification?
Plenty. And often. You know the electricity and shocks you attracted over the last month or two? Not all shocks are bad, but all offer reminders to stop and check in. We’re still in winter, so give yourself adequate time to rest and reflect on EVERYTHING as a version of you.
The aforementioned shock waves created space for the dream weave of Venus’ current transit through Pisces. This is usable cosmic energy. Venus is the cosmic body that influences what we attract, and she will work her magic in Pisces, her sign of exaltation. She reminds us of the beauty of our imaginations. Free of ego’s filter, we attract with grace the relationships aligned with our co-creative Self. Venus just passed over Neptune, so listen close to the intuitive wisdom of your imagination. Tap into your creative potential. The frequency has never been louder. With Venus in Pisces reminding us that love is the final goal of the evolutionary process, infuse your creativity with nothing less.
The first few months of this year offer an orchestra to soothe and revise the limbic attractors that conditioned our false identification with separation, which perpetuates the feeling of fear that disconnects us from functioning in harmony with our imagination.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." Albert Einstein
With the Sun on its way out of Capricorn, where all kinds of ancient wisdom has surfaced, and into Aquarius (on January 20). The shock waves will continue, and they’ll have the Sun’s energy fueling them. Allow your heart-centered intentions to function as a gravitational field that channels these waves into the tapestry of your creative alchemy. Easier said than done. But absolutely real. And essential to fulfilling our individual parts in contributing to the greater whole.
To recap, as Saturn moves into retrograde we will have a rare and obvious purview of where and how our outdated conditioning and attachments obscure our truth with egoistic delusion. With Mars soon to be in retrograde, we’re not only being called to listen and be supported by our feminine intuition, we’re also supported by the rebel in us that refuses to accept any limitations. Uranus in Aries gives us access to a force far greater than Mars. Mars takes things personally. Let that part of yourself take a much needed rest. Uranus doesn’t waste his energy on the lower vibration of personality. He plays with the transpersonal. He opens us to work with the energy of the collective or universal mind. Play with the cloud computing analogy from my previous post. Let your awareness explore the vast amount of energy and information available to you. Open your mind fully to your imagination. Let it guide you. Allow that which you once took personal to be what it is, usable energy. If a victim storyline or circumstance remains in the fabric of your consciousness, let it die. Give it a ceremonious death. A great day to pay attention to, and perform such a ceremony, is January 23. We have a new moon in Aquarius and Mars goes retrograde. Let the war with ego be over. Use the available energy to fuel your hero’s journey and contribute your magic to the collective. And have fun doing it.
Stellar blessings and Water Dragon New Year's blessings,
Ryan
For individual and synastry readings, please visit www.bodyworkastrology.com for more information.
