"Playing" with Astrology

Elvis' chart, considered in our last post, certainly merits more evaluation than just his Sun/Moon combination and I will be coming back to him and other famous folk, as time goes forward, but for now I'm keeping things simple so the basics of using the B.I.D.E. Interpretive System can be explored. There are free downloads of my book, Astrological Repair Manual, and a short version of the system that explains how to use it.

Last post saw me beginning to Play with the system and this post will show another astrologer taking the Play a bit further. My system of interpretation is intended to be played with, seriously; it was created to be a stimulus to your own creative interpretation—a Guide that let's you lead...

~~~~~~~~~

The quotes below are from a comment to our last post:

"I am not certain where to begin my soulful playing with so many rich and diverse symbols at my disposal except to turn my gaze first upon myself and Clarify (Saturn) Seeing Things From Other's Perspectives (Libra) in order to Be Who I am In The World (10th house).

"Feeling rambunctious in spirit and charmed by your open invitation to play with your system I will manifest the highest intention of my Saturn by taking the liberty to re-invent a phrase or two describing my Central Life Purpose in the immediate present,

"Vitalize (Sun) Creative Play (Leo) in order to Merge With Others (8th house)."

{ I found this looking at herself first, using her own phrase ("creative play"), a beneficial use of the system—to be aware of what in yourself is doing the interpretation of another's life... }

"After reading the wiki biography of Elvis the phrase that resonated most for me was of your creating,

Vitalizing a Desire for Enduring Patterns in order to Be Aware of his Worth.

and I would like to spontaneously add to Capricorn the phrase

a traditional discipline

Integrating (Sun) a traditional discipline (Capricorn) in order to Focus on My Resources (2nd house).......in honor of Elvis mixing and matching musical styles."

{ This adding of her own phrase again is something I encourage everyone to do. Certainly, we should add meanings that stay within the bounds of each category (Aries is Aries and not Capricorn, Sun is not Moon); extending the system, letting it grow... }

"moving along to the Moon.... I was struck by the lunar presence of emotional comfort, safety, and security when Elvis said, 'Since I was two years old, all I knew was gospel music. That music became such a part of my life it was as natural as dancing. A way to escape from the problems. And my way of release.'

Enfolding (Moon) Visionary Initiative (Pisces) in order to Be Aware of My Immediate Environment (3rd house),

spoke to me of creatively adapting to childhood vulnerability (the Moon)......"

"the possibilities unbound, the spirit of play glorious, I await another time, another chart."

~~~~~~~~~

Next time, we'll look at Janis Joplin's chart...

Let's Play ! Seriously . . .

Dedicated to
Lauren Lesko

This post is an examination of certain particulars of Elvis Presley's chart and also an exploration of the necessity to Play with the interpretive system I've created. This system is introduced in my free-to-download book, Astrological Repair Manual. You can also have a free download of a special edition of the interpretive system all by itself. I strongly suggest you download at least one of these so you can follow along with the interpretation of people's charts and, hopefully, offer your comments and suggestions for other interpretations in the comments!

Last post, I introduced an analogy to help you understand the approach I offer with my system. I used the words: Fire, Air, Water, and Earth to designate levels of interpretive perception. Last night I received a lesson of extremely helpful critique about the use of those particular words and the confusion they may cause for people already familiar with the elements as commonly used in astrology.

So...

I'll re-introduce that analogy and give you words that won't cause any stress in philosophic understanding.

My approach to astrological interpretation is based on the ancient aphorism, "As Above, So Below". In the four decades of my study and practice, I've come to the firm conclusion that the most honest and valuable approach to astrology is to start Above and work your way down to Below. Reversing the direction is one of the most serious mistakes an astrological aspirant can make...

The highest level of interpretive perception is the Spiritual, followed by the Social, Personal, and Practical levels. Each level enfolds or encompasses the level below...

My system was designed to enable you to begin at the highest level and Play your way down through the others to find the most appropriate interpretation for any concern or issue in your life.

Now, some examples of Playing with the system while we consider Elvis' chart (that link will open another window so you can easily reference the chart while we go through the interpretation {Check out Wikipedia if you want to read a fascinating biography).

I'm only going to cover two of Elvis' ten planets—the Sun or Central Life Purpose and the Mooon or Style of Doing the Life Purpose. This analysis isn't intended to be complete but it is intended to show you how to find a few indications of the Man behind the Media and the Soul behind the Music...

We'll start with his Sun in Capricorn in the Second House. Since my system provides 64 interpretations for each placement, I'll simplify things a bit by giving you three that seem to me to express Elvis' Central Life Purpose:

Focusing Structural Innovations in order to Realize his Heritage.

Integrating Constructive Initiatives in order to Ground his Plans.

Vitalizing a Desire for Enduring Patterns in order to Be Aware of his Worth.

Yes, those are very abstract interpretations yet they give us the Space necessary to consider much more than what the entertainment press ever offered about Elvis' reasons for being who he was. And, yes, those sentences demand that you spend some time thinking about deeper issues than just his gyrating body or hypnotic voice...

Now, I want to Play a bit...

I'm going to take part of one of those sentences and mate it with part of another:

Vitalizing a Desire for Enduring Patterns in order to Realize his Heritage.

Just a hint from his biography: He was early on a lover of Gospel and it seems to me he immortalized a soaring spiritual presentation of whatever he sang...

Now, the Moon—the Style of doing his Central Life Purpose.

Considering the last symbolic sentence from the system for Elvis' Sun, here's what I came up with for his Moon placement (in Pisces in the Third House):

Nourishing Universal Feeling in order to Make Connections.

Connections? How about connections between his Heritage (Gospel) and his Audience (the Universal Audience he attracted...)...

Soon, I'll be introducing the phrases for my system that permit interpretation of aspects between various factors in the chart. For now, consider that Elvis' had a Sun/Moon relationship expressed through the waxing Semisquare. Now, consider those two symbolic sentences I constructed for Elvis' Central Life Purpose and Style of Doing that Purpose with the meaning of their relationship included:

Vitalizing a Desire for Enduring Patterns in order to Realize his Heritage

finds intense expression through

Nourishing Universal Feeling in order to Make Connections.

And, connections he did, emphatically, make. People who love Elvis, who have no other social connection, find soul-mates when they encounter another Elvis lover. Music created from the depths of human suffering—Gospel and Soul—now have a connection to people who have never suffered the depravities that gave that music birth...

No matter the way he died, I feel he more than accomplished his Style of Doing his Central Life Purpose...

~~~~~~~~~

Now, it's your turn: Download my system and Play with all the possible interpretations of Elvis' Sun and Moon, Play with the act of discovering more than the media could ever tell you about a Musical Icon. And, hopefully, share your experience in the Comments...

What's Important To You?

I was going to look at Elvis Presley's chart in this post but that will have to wait. There's a more important topic that should be dealt with since I've launched into showing you how the interpretive system in my book (Astrological Repair Manual) can be used to arrive at more honest and positive insights into those strange entities called charts.

As you noticed in the last post, while considering Adolf Hitler's chart, my focus isn't from the ground, up; it's from the sky, down...

I didn't try to find the evil actions of Hitler in his chart, I considered the positive factors in his life-blueprint and gave a few reasons why he didn't fulfill his positive potential. Hitler was born with all the positive potential for creative contribution to our human family as any of us but his environment and his own free-will conspired against his developing a desire to be a trustworthy member of the human race.

Our ego minds seem to never get enough of seeing life as good/bad, white/black, for me/against me...

But, we all have higher or, if you prefer, deeper minds that can bridge the gap between "good" and "bad" and find a position of Best, for ourselves and for others we relate to.

Here's an analogy to help you see why I propose that a top-down interpretation is always better than a bottom-up one:

Let's consider a view of the ancient alchemical elements Earth, Water, Air, Fire. In fact, that ordering of the elements (which is at least 4,000 years-old) is very valuable for getting from a street-view of astrology to a cosmic view of the potential our inner solar system contains.

Important Note: This consideration goes beyond how much of each element you have planets in. Don't forget, we All have All the elements at our disposal. Matter of fact, the view I propose can help us "activate" those elements we may think we don't have...

Earth is where we all live, the place of daily chores, relationships with other humans, and, eventually, our body's grave. If we fashion an interpretive process that sticks to the Earth, we only have at our disposal a view that's limited to concrete processes; and, our range of tools is reduced to our own physical experience or the "indications" of chart factors borrowed from other's physical experience...

When we shift to the Water perspective, we don't lose our Earth bearings because Water encompasses and enfolds Earth. What we do, though, is to widen our range of tools in our astrological kit. We have now the powerful tools of empathy, sympathy, compassion and concern. Our astrological bedside-manner becomes more valuable because we're relating to the other person (or, even ourselves) with a gut-level understanding. The trials and temptations of a merely physical life are tempered at the fountain of fellow-feeling...

It takes more willed work but transition to the Air perspective has valuable rewards, for ourselves and those we may counsel. Now, we have a point-of-view that encompasses and enfolds both Water and Earth yet can operate above their enticing attractions and give us a far-seeing approach that can warn more effectively of approaching danger or steer more efficiently across the canvas that Earth and Water have given birth to...

Finally, for we earth-dwellers, is the realm of Fire. Few can maintain their position within this framework for long, mostly because they have no tools to help them maintain their interpretive focus at this intuitive and dramatically dynamic level of astrological awareness. The Fire perspective enfolds and inspires creative responses at the levels of Air, Water, and Earth...

I claim that the system I present the basics of in my book, in the section at the back called The Instructions, and which I'll be using to consider the charts of famous people {and regular folk like you and me when you begin to contribute to the comments section about your experience with it}, this system can and does operate at the Fire level. It stays above the possible confusions of the Air level, above the possible swampings of the Water level, above the possible petrifications of the Earth level, while still offering aid and assistance for all those realms.

Download the book, try the system on yourself or a few friends (be sure they get to pick their own options!), and seriously consider sharing your experience in the comments. The more we Share, the more we Grow.

Next time, Elvis' chart...

A Positive Interpretation of Hitler's Chart ?

Click Image To Enlarge

Overheard at the Café:

Susan: "Well, of course he was evil. His Venus was retrograde in the 7th House. And, his Moon and Jupiter were both in Capricorn—cold man..."

John: "Yes, and Neptune and Pluto in the 8th, my God what a bad position!"

Andy: "Then there's his will-to-power with Mars in Taurus and Saturn in Leo in the 10th..."

Really? Is everyone with Venus retrograde in the 7th and Moon and Jupiter in Capricorn cold?

Know anyone with Neptune and Pluto in the 8th? You do!? Hm... Trick question: they were conjunct back in the late 1800s and won't be again till the 2060s... Do you think they thought or will think that was or will be a bad position?

Mars in Taurus and Saturn in Leo in the 10th... Let's kill 'em all before they breed!

Far too many astrologers are working their craft backwards. They learn a bunch of good/bad "indications" and use them like a bludgeon—beating people with good clubs or bad clubs so they'll fit into the mold—the predetermined "meaning" of the chart factors. No room, it seems, for free will; no time for grace; no patience with positivity...

I've known people to attend a class on positive thinking, leave with malice in their hearts, then claim the methods didn't work.

I've also known people who had all the "bad" aspects and all the "afflicted" positions in their charts who turned out pretty well. In fact, if you look at my chart, you'll understand the utter unfairness of a student of mine, asked to analyze the chart (not knowing it was mine) and tell me who they thought it was. They said, "Charles Manson"...

Naturally, trying to guess who belongs to a chart is a hapless profession but I did the experiment to prove a point—back-reading a laundry-list of "indications" into a chart is exactly the wrong way to do astrology.

Certainly, if someone, due to their own free-will or the oppression of another's free-will, becomes evil, astrology can see the factors that were warped. Try reading this biography of Hitler while keeping in mind what those folks in the Café were saying and you can see some of the places in Hitler's chart where the wrong external or internal pressure was applied. This still does not justify reading a chart and attributing negatives automatically...

It's my very carefully considered opinion, after forty years of study and counseling, that astrology must be used to help foster the positive development and/or help heal the negative experiences of fellow members of our human family.

That's why I took 20 years to create a system of interpretation that was as honestly positive as I could make it—a system that gives people the best possible chance to use the blueprint of their chart to help them develop their latent potential toward constructive and affirmative ends.

This system is available in The Instructions of my free-to-download book, Astrological Repair Manual. In fact, I'm going to use the system to reinterpret those claims made by my imaginary Susan, John, and Andy. 

Since each combination of Planet, Sign, and House can have 64 interpretations in the system, I'm purposely going to choose the ones that emphasize Adolf's challenges. Even though the symbolic sentences produced by the system are positive, I think you'll see where he needed more encouragement at a young age, more positive nurturing, more constructive use of his free-will, more support for the soul inside that was abused and frightened...

Venus retrograde in Taurus in the 7th: (retrogradation demands that the factor be interpreted as highly unique and internalized, capable of development in ways that challenge the norm.)
Valuing Individual Worth in order to Be Aware of the Other Person’s Perspective.
He was not given enough support for his individual worth...

Moon conjunct Jupiter in Capricorn in the 3rd:
Nourishing and Expanding an Objective Attitude in order to Be Aware of his Immediate Environment.
His immediate environment was ill-equipped to help him be objective...

Neptune conjunct Pluto in Gemini in the 8th:
Being Idealistic about and Regenerating Intellectual Freedom in order to Merge With Others.
He got the intellectual freedom part but was impeded in his efforts to merge with others... (the activity in the 8th is a consequence of the activity in the 7th—see Venus and Mars)

Mars in Taurus in the 7th:
Being Driven by Individual Worth in order to Find a Compensating Viewpoint.
The close conjunction with Venus here, and not having had enough support for his individual worth, made the compensation come from his unconscious—the shaky and defensive soul that he didn't feel he could unburden...

Saturn in Leo in the 10th:
Organizing Dramatic Concern in order to Express his Social Role.
He had the drama and could definitely organize it yet his other challenges and his lack of self-worth warped his sense of his social role...

O.K., now it's your turn; to add some feedback or argument in the comments. Or, at least go away from this post considering how you can help support the development of another member of our human family...

Pulling Out The Stops . . .

I'm a maverick. Whatever I've studied concerning astrology was never taken in without a deep sense of "proving" it—making sure it made sense in the larger scheme of things—things like what people actually do and what most of them are never willing to do...

The bulk of the first volume about astrology that I wrote, Astrological Repair Manual (free download), is contained in the first 26 posts of this blog. What isn't here, yet, is what's called The Instructions—the unique and most honest approach to interpreting a chart that 40 years of teaching, counseling, and study could produce. I urge you to download the book and give the B.I.D.E. System of interpretation a try. You won't find easy answers to your life problems, you won't find a bunch of good and bad "indications", you won't find me telling you what to do. All you'll find is a method of taking the glyphs of Planet, Sign, and House and turning them into Symbolic Sentences—Affirmations—about which you will have to decide what to actually do.

I've worked hard to work out of my system all the "good", "bad", "afflicted", and, basically, Dangerous attitudes that still linger in too many astrologer's heads (and, hearts).

I'll be selecting some famous people's charts and using my system to create some ponderable issues for all of us to consider.

If you have (or will be) using my system with your own chart and want to share the results/insights you've received, I'll be happy to consider shaping a post around your experience!

Next post, we'll consider Adolph Hitler's chart...

Galactic Visitors

We've arrived at the last chapter of my Free-To-Download book, Astrological Repair Manual. But the adventure of revising and expanding the single book into a ten book series has barely begun...

This blog will now take on a life more infused with speculation, yet firmly grounded in the major Truths of astrology I've shared so far.

Let's get way out There where the power of astrology was born:

"The last chapter may have been a bit weird for some people: planets not forever circling in stable orbits, catastrophes that ravaged our ancestors, plasma that powers the stars...

"Let’s take that last fact. If plasma does make the Sun glow so ferociously, where does it come from? Well, it’s pretty much all over the place when you look at things from a universal perspective; ninety-nine percent of all the stuff there is. So, it comes from the space that surrounds the solar system. All those atomically-small charged protons and electrons that make up the plasma that’s streaming into the system and lighting the Sun are the most obvious and most continuous Galactic Visitors there are.

"But astrologically, just like the case of the hordes of small bodies we considered earlier, in this perpetual stream of particles, it’s not the particles that concern us; it’s not the particles that can be used to give meaning in astrology; it’s the Stream itself—the patterns and convolutions and dance of the plasma stream have meaning.

"Naturally, since humans have only been considering this plasma in any serious way since the space age dawned, there isn’t a heck of a lot of considered opinion about what this Galactic Visitor means. Except, maybe, this:

"The universe is literally teeming with a tenuous and yet powerful substance that can create stars and galaxies—a substance that has the characteristics of a Cosmic Mother.

"In early Egyptian mythology there were the archetypes of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis: Atum, the first god, and his descendants: Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nuit, Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Nuit was the sky goddess, in contrast to most other mythologies, which usually had a sky father. So, just maybe, we can consider Nuit, as Cosmic Mother, contributing the essence of her body to our Sun. This causes the Sun to burn with Purpose. The Sun gives birth to the planets and (with the help of the plasma streams the Sun itself creates) our home Star brings about a dance that we, creatures of this system, have lodged in our unconscious minds. This internal Plasma Dance resonates with the one in space and, we, if we let ourselves, see the synchronicity and wonder of it all, can draw maps of these cycles, attribute psychological meanings to the interactions of the cycles, bring meaning into our lives...

"There isn’t much more to say...

"And also, I could go on forever attempting to describe the insights I’ve gained in the past four decades of courting my sweet lover, Astrology. Back when I first met her, I really wasn’t capable of appreciating her beauty and strength. I misunderstood her motives, misinterpreted her signs, attributed things to her that were all my fault. But she hung in there; she loved me enough to not leave while I went through many convolutions of perception and understanding.

"She remained, always, so attractive that I could never abandon her to the people who would try to pimp her secrets on the newsstand.

"But she was much more mysterious than they could imagine.

"She let them do whatever they wanted, completely unconcerned about her 'reputation'...

"How could the Spirit of the deepest unconscious archetypes worry what a few mortals said about her?

"How could the daughter of the Sky Goddess trouble herself over people that not only didn’t understand her but actively tried to pretend she was something else...

Plasma Love

image credit
Well, we've finally gotten to the Sun in the journey from my Free-To-Download book, Astrological Repair Manual.

After the next post (the last chapter in the book), I'll be free-forming it in this blog—going where most astrologer's fear to go—exploring a new form of astrology that puts You in the driver's seat. I'm hoping for many more comments and feedback. This blog is about you telling me what you think so I can incorporate those perspectives in the expansion of the existing single volume into 10 modular volumes that can make anyone their own astrologer...

I'll let the book speak now:

"The Sun. Our Star.

"Source of Light and Life.

"Mystery to this day!

"Scientists are having a horrible time making sense of how the Sun works. Astrologers miss many of the most important aspects of the cycle of this Function.

"Many people feel that this function is the only part of astrology. (Except, of course, for those twelve Signs of the Zodiac that are popularly given costumes and asked to play parts they’ve never read the script for...)

"You might think that, this being the next to the last chapter of the book, I’d want to calmly summarize and draw all the other chapters’ information to some grand conclusion. The thing is, I don’t intend to actually 'conclude' this book. I want you to enter The Instructions (in the Free-To-Download book) with Wings! I want you to soar through the Realms of Astrological Meaning!! I want you to Really Live!!!

“'Calm down, Alex. These people may not realize what treasure lies at their feet. They may still think this astrology-thingie is a fancy parlor game that makes for witty conversation. They may not understand it when you throw out concepts that aren’t accepted by most reasonable people.'

"Hmmm...

"Well...

"All I can say is that this very close Star, this fantastically beautiful beacon of Purpose has me all fired up! So...

"Start to get used to the idea that our solar system is not what you may have heard it was in high school. The planets may not have always been where they are right now...

"The Sun and its orbiting progeny may not be floating in some lonely backwater of the galaxy, like many astronomers would like you to believe...

"The Sun has been said to hold the planets in orbit with its gravity. This is not capable of being true, which is born out by the latest interdisciplinary scientific studies...

"There are many aspects of the planets, individually and collectively, that want to tell a very different story.

"For instance, the ancients talked about a 'sun' but its characteristics don’t match the one that gives us a tan. They do match the planet Saturn. Also, Venus was thought to have been much closer to Earth in the past and so was Mars. As a matter of fact, there was a time when people saw Venus in front of Saturn, Mars in front of Venus, Jupiter hidden behind Saturn and the whole party steadily revolving at our north pole. There was also a time when this configuration broke up, and there were shudderingly graphic 'wars of the gods' in the heavens which rained debris, electromagnetic bolts, and terror on our ancestors.

“'Oh, my! Poor Alex has gone off the deep end and doesn’t even have a
spaceship’s lifeboat to crawl into. He’s Sun-drunk and his little brain is melted.'

"Hmmm...

"I’m putting some information in the references at the end of this book that will help you find sources that confirm everything I just said. At this point, I’m going to say that this magnificent Star, our Sun, is the Center of our solar system, and it’s also the Center, the Focus of any interpretation you dare make with astrology.

"Focusing, Centering, Life-Giving, Light-Bringing, Purpose-Revealing Sun.

"One extremely important fact of astronomy that every person using it should know is that ninety-nine percent of the universe is plasma. You surely remember your solids, liquids, and gases, right? Plasma is the next state of matter, the most rarified form of substance, yet capable of organizing, moving, and creating new organizations of the other three forms of matter.

"Our Sun is floating in a Sea of Plasma, electrified Plasma, powerful Plasma...

"If you’ve seen neon signs or arc-welders, you’ve seen small versions of the process that lights our Sun and every other of the billions upon billions of stars. The regularity of the orbits of our planetary system (as well as the previous orderings and the transitioning chaotic states) are maintained by the streams of plasma and the power contained in this almost 'spiritual' form of matter. Even the weather on our Earth (as well as the weather on the other planets) is influenced and driven by the power of this all-pervasive Plasma.

"It's much more the case that the planets are ordered by a form of Cosmic Love—a force that transcends mere gravity and material forces—a power and vitality that centers all our concerns...

"If 'Love' holds it all together, it certainly must be a Plasma Love...

"And, if love is the power that binds it all together, we could say that:

Pluto is the Regeneration of Love.

Neptune is the Vision of Love.

Uranus is the Transformative Power of Love.

Saturn is the Clarity of Love.

Jupiter is the Expansiveness of Love.

Mars is the Externalizing of Love.

Venus is the Valuing of Love.

Mercury is the Perceptiveness of Love.

And, our ol’ familiar Moon is the Style of Love’s expression.

The Sun is the Center of it All...

"To make sure this chapter goes out with a sense of the ineffable—the truth that defies rigid expression—here’s a poem by Emily Dickinson:

Love reckons by itself — alone —
"As large as I" — relate the Sun
To One who never felt it blaze —
Itself is all the like it has —

The Art of Awareness

We'll take a brief pause in our journey from my Free-To-Download book, Astrological Repair Manual, just before we get to the Sun, and consider another astrology blog that I read regularly and most heartily recommend:

Astrology :: The Art of Awareness
Authored by Lauren Lesko

Go there now and see astrology in Action!

Next post, I'll meet you at the Sun...

Messenger of the Gods

We just left Venus and were nearing Mercury in the voyage from the Free-to-Download book, Astrological Repair Manual. This is Chapter 12 and includes just a bit about retrogradation...

"It’s getting pretty warm now, so close to the Sun. Things are heating up as far as cycles go, too. We’re at Mercury, dealing with a function that may seem very cut-and- dried, but certainly is not.

"Mercury: Intelligence, Concrete Thought, Perception, Communication. All these things can seem so normal that they hardly need comment. But comment I must since they’re all ripe for illusion and disarray!

"As I’ve affirmed before, none of these astrological functions stands alone; they all work together. If we use our free will to hide, subvert or bury any of them, we open the floodgates to problematic living. That being true, our intelligence and our different ways of communicating certainly shouldn’t operate in a vacuum. The first function that will help Mercury's functioning is the planet we just left—Venus. Feelings and values are the perfect complement for intelligence and communication.

"Wonder why they seem to be at odds so often? Check your culture; look closely at the social environment these functions develop within. From where I’m sitting in the United States, I must admit that this country’s culture has been very unkind to a smooth marriage of these two functions for far too many years. I’m sure that the situation is similar in most cultures around the world. It hasn't always been this way. I know that there were times and social situations when it was different, families and groups within which it is different, and I predict that the whole world will get it right eventually. Since the two planets are physically close, and since their cycles are similar in duration, one could wonder deeply at the rank perversions heaped upon using them together.

"To cut our feeling from our thinking is a crime. Yet one of the most valuable uses for astrology is to hold our various functions and their proper relationships up to us in a symbolic mirror. We can See what should be and, most often, find the best way to iron out persistently irritating wrinkles—those warps of function induced by family, culture and the press of living in a world changing faster than it ever has before.

"I mentioned the phenomenon of 'retrogradation' before—the apparent backwards flow of a planet’s function. I pointed out that I hate that word 'retrograde', but I haven’t come up with a suitable alternative yet... I also pointed out that, when a planet is doing 'that', it’s a time to focus on the function's meaning in an internal way, to ponder the depth of the function in our lives, to let the function dive into our unconscious. Then we can return with fresh energy for the journey.

"Mercury does this internal journeying about every three months; it lasts for about three weeks. This Mercury Retrograde period has gotten some of the worst astrological coverage! What’s been said has had a quality of 'negative truth'—an inappropriate reporting of only the undesirable aspects. The real problem is that this 'negative truth' is touted as the Whole truth. Just because many people suffer from erratic thinking during these periods, just because they are forgetful or can’t concentrate on what they think is important—these things are no reason to blame the planet Mercury or to make a baldfaced assumption that Mercury Retrograde is somehow automatically a bad time, to be merely suffered through.

"Think about this: People are told that they have an opportunity, every three months, to use their perceptive qualities to find fresh and highly individualistic solutions to things that may have been causing some bafflement in their lives. These people believe what they're told, at least enough to give it a try. So, they schedule time during this period, time apart, to reconsider a few things, to look at things from other angles, to Let some new thinking happen.

"I can hear someone saying, 'Naw... I really don’t have the time to slow down and rethink anything. My spouse and my boss wouldn’t understand. Do you have any idea how hard it is already, just trying to keep up?'

"Actually, I do understand. I pity this person’s inability to understand that continuing to barge ahead when their natural cycles demand internal action might be the cause of the problem.

"I just love to talk to the people I’ve met who have Mercury Retrograde in their birth charts. They usually have a lifelong ability to do this 'backward' thinking. And they just happen to be some of the most creative, original people I know!

"Being this close to the Sun is starting to get to me. Its' ferociously brilliant splendor is acting like a plasma magnet. I’m being pulled toward its' awesomely prodigious, life-giving waves of light...

"Come on! You don’t want to miss the fun, do you?"

Till the next post.........