We are at a turning point in history, a juncture where many different possible futures open up for us. No longer is our future a more or less linear outcome of the past. All of the political, social, technological, and economic structures on Earth are being completely transformed. A whole new order is emerging that will shape the next chapter of humanity. Even our minds and worldviews are transforming.
While Eros eventually evolved into Cupid, the cute god responsible for inspiring love and romance, in the earlier mythologies of ancient Greece, Eros was one of the primordial Gods. Alongside Chaos, the original void from which all else emerges; Nix (Night); and Tartarus, (The Abyss); Eros was imagined as one of the original elements responsible for the birth of all else in existence, a non-gendered, procreative force spurring the creativity of the cosmos itself.
Just days after the total solar eclipse in Capricorn on December 24th, a Chinese doctor, Li Wenliang, raised the alarm about multiple mysterious pneumonia cases, the cause of which was unknown. (Eclipses are considered among the most significant astrological events, thought to correspond with significant events, often out of our control, that bring about changes that unfold over months.)
We tend to think change will require some great exhausting effort. That we will have to gear up for it and push really hard. But the change required now is to stop going about things in that way. To stop forcing and pushing. To do less, consume less, work less. Yes, Saturn in Cap lends itself to discipline and work. But as Saturn is with the South Node, we are called on to release the unhealthy patterns of Saturn, and that includes force and over-effort.
It becomes easier to discern the air we’ve been breathing all along. Through the hard work of examining our collective shadow--that many of us have been engaged in for many years--we can see better now how patriarchy and systems of power and control have shaped our thoughts, beliefs, and ways of life.
When we deny the shadow within ourselves, we tend to project it onto others. It becomes: we are good, they are bad (the most widespread and pernicious delusion). In its subtle form, it makes relationships difficult. But in a social context it leads to the logic that we ought to round up the bad guys and lock them away, or worse.
Pluto is a deep, roiling, transformative, force that wells from the earth and through our bodies, moving us in ways we don’t understand--offering us our power back; a power at odds with our current world. In the process, Pluto--sometimes rudely--shows us our shadow.
Astrologers have been talking about 2020 for a long time. It’s not just any year, astrologically speaking. Astrology measures periods of time by planetary cycles. The cycle of the Sun and Moon create the monthly lunar cycle, but every planetary combination signifies a particular archetypal combination and length of time. This year, several bigger cycles are ending and beginning, suggesting this year marks a significant turning point in the grand scheme of history.
Free souls live dangerously: how invigorating to stand at the precipice of all you know and turn your face to the wind of Mystery.
Yes, fresh air, what a relief.
But what is that niggling? What is that incessant anxiety like white noise in the background?
Quincuncx the Moon, a triple conjunction between Venus, Saturn, and Pluto speaks to closing a cycle. It’s the end of a chapter with regards to how we relate to and in relationship.
For all the faults of this culture extending from Greek and European thought, there are nonetheless threads of wisdom and spirituality that we might draw on as resources. And we might even use those very resources to reflexively analyze the traditions they derive from--that reflexive process is actually definitive of the tradition. We are not floating, without ground, in some new-age soup. There are roots, thick and deep, that we just need follow down a little beneath the surface to find life-giving wisdom and spiritual nourishment.
These last few weeks have been rough for many of us (Saturn-Pluto business). And yet, I feel such healing energy coming from this eclipse. Cancer is the energy of the Great Mother, the Cosmic Mother, that birthed this world, that creates existence itself. The eternal presence of this energy holds the fabric of existence together, supporting all life and creation in every instant.
Gemini’s great gift is as storyteller--the one who weaves the cloth of cosmos through word, who literally creates worlds--not in a grand scheming overarching theory-of-the-universe kindof way, but through shooting-the-shit. Through chit chat. Through myth, and jokes, and fairy tales, and long yarns, and tall tales. Through all the ways of sharing story.
We are at a turning point in history, a juncture where many different possible futures open up for us. No longer is our future a more or less linear outcome of the past. All of the political, social, technological, and economic structures on Earth are being completely transformed. A whole new order is emerging that will shape the next chapter of humanity. Even our minds and worldviews are transforming.