© Terry Lamb

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We enter February under a cloud of confusion. What does the future hold? Who will travel the road with us? What is the next hill to climb? Meanwhile at least one thing in our life is on hold while something unexpected is in development. We may be disappointed in what isn’t happening, but at least there’s something that is moving ahead, and it provides a distraction from what isn’t in motion.

While the Sun is in Aquarius, we get a break: from our emotions, from the sturm and drang of what challenges us most. It gives us a chance to develop an objective viewpoint, to disentangle ourselves from emotions we didn’t know we had. We can let go of fear and uncover the joy that can’t come out while fear is present.

We now know these things, and for those who don’t know the planetary rhythms, what isn’t arriving may seem unendurably hopeless. But for we who know that all things change with the cycles of time, we experience a constructive interlude. All this is happening as we enter two new planetary playgrounds being brought by Mars’s and Saturn’s retrogrades.

Mars commenced his retrograde on January 23, at the time of the New Moon. Saturn’s begins on February 7, infusing the Full Moon with its vibration. What is curious about this timing is that both these planets place higher emphasis on individuation, the process by which we differentiate ourselves from the people and things around us. And they come to us during the time when Aquarius is the dominant sign, the quintessential sign of individuation in balance with group affiliation.

So how do we take advantage of this opportunity to grow, and what will come of it? In the context of our current shift in consciousness, we find it necessary to let go of situations from the past. Yet, we may find that some of them linger on in our lives. Now is a good time to let go of another layer of not-self, masked behavior, and the situations that go with them.

Most of the time, we will craft new ways of behaving and engaging with life, and the parts that don’t fit will sort themselves out. However, now we have a golden opportunity to see this process with exceptional clarity and to say no to what belongs in the past. Often, Mars and Saturn are about saying no to what we don’t want. Often, all the things we don’t want clutter our lives so much that they block our view of what we do want — we don’t even know. Saying no to even a few circumstances, behaviors, people, or inner attitudes loosens up our head for new ideas and people to pop through, like hitting the refresh button.

Mars is retrograde for almost three months (through April 13), and Saturn is retrograde for about five months, until June 25. Each provides a platform for growth. Mars emphasizes self-development and finding balance in asserting ourselves with others. Saturn emphasizes responsibility and building the structures we need to sustain ourselves in the world. Each of them is about setting boundaries, whether physical, psychological, or spiritual. There is no doubt that we will feel their energies in the foreground during this time.

Mars is also felt through how, why, and where we go after what we want. It ties to relationships through courtship ritual, love-making/sexual interaction, and physical activity of all sorts. In our psyche it is often expressed as anger, irritation, aggressiveness, although we find it as well in how we assert ourselves and hold our space with others. Some people will feel an abundance of energy available, while others will feel more drained than usual.

Saturn is the long path we take toward stability as we interact and find ways to take care of ourselves in the world beyond our aura — work, bill-paying, eating, sleeping — all the trappings of living in a physical body. It emphasizes separation and philosophically is associated with the process of forgetting our unity with all consciousness.

Just Say No — For Starters.
When we experience an emphasized Mars or Saturn, we usually notice. Mars often comes to us in the form of anger, irritability, impatience; Saturn is most noted for a “down draft” in our energy field, a feeling of heaviness. These feelings are neither inevitable nor permanent, and when they occur they indicate that we have old, dead energies in our energy field that don’t have to be there, can be released. Saying no to what we don’t want is an effective and satisfying way of doing that.

The process of saying no invites us to say yes to what replaces the old energy, a natural part of the sequence by which we can transform ourselves. The yeses may not come right away, and the manifestation of changes as a result may take time, patience, faith, and trust in the process in order to complete them. The hard part is the time in between, when we have neither the old energies to comfort us with familiarity nor the new energies to prove to ourselves and others that we’re on the right track. It takes time to shift our energy field into a new vibration, and the bigger the shift the longer it can take as we systematically remove all that obstructs our path in that direction.

Our Current Quantum Shift Provides the Context.
That’s where we are now as a species and as a planet, forced by survival needs into making a quantum shift. When we add our own personal challenges, it may seem like more than we can take. Yet somehow we come through. Mars retrograde emphasizes the urge to act and gets us to examine our impulses. It also gives us a time-out from the forward motion of things, and after it is over, we will see what good it has done for us — just right now we’re probably not appreciating the apparent delays, frustrations, impetuous acts from ourselves and others, etc.

With Saturn, there is also a feeling of being held back but there’s a constructive process taking place as well. With Saturn in Libra, this is happening in our relationships in some arena or another: They must deepen or die (or be allowed to end because they were already dead). Saturn’s retrograde begins at the last degree of Libra, giving the psychic impression that we had to take care of it all now, but we actually get until October 5 to complete the task. We just can’t let an undermining relationship keep us from fulfilling our path and making the most of the challenges we face outside our front door. It feels like survival.

Individuation Meets Manifestation.
So with this scenario, we are primed perfectly to accomplish a big transformation — the “2012” one that will occur over the next six years — in a number of small steps. We already completed a number of them last year, even if we weren’t aware of them. Now we get the Mars retrograde to do final earthbound preparations, after doing mostly internalized work to this point. The internal work will never stop as long as we’re alive, especially now, but the role we’re going to take, the shape of our future, will become clearer with each day, because the energies of manifestation are at work through the planets in the Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn). For more on how to use the Mars retrograde process, with specific info for your sign, get the report.

Neptune Re-Enters Pisces: The Final Portal to Tomorrow
Neptune enters the ethers of Pisces on the 3rd, where stillness and unity, image and mythic reality rule. Energies that move in swirls and spirals are more emphasized than the laser-like (curved) linearity of Aquarius. Healing comes from that stillness, as we write our own mythic reality, each a unique expression of the Creative/Universal Spark.

Neptune remains in Pisces (and each sign) for about 14 years. It is helpful now to take some time to look back at the transit of Neptune through Aquarius, which started in 1998. Wherever you felt it in your life, it asks us to dedicate ourselves to something beyond our personal gain, to make a sacrifice and then surrender to the process that ensues. We can feel remarkably unsure about the path we’ve chosen as we encounter the obstacles that ensue as we work to manifest our vision. What did you take on in 1998? This will give you an idea of the flavor of Neptune in your life. What is your new vision?

Neptune’s new yearly cycle begins on the 19th when the Sun catches it at 0̊36′ Pisces, a degree that participates in last year’s transformation. Its significant range of motion this year is 0̊22′ – 3̊09′ Pisces. If you have placements in Pisces, Virgo, Gemini, or Sagittarius in this range, you will feel Neptune’s energies with more poignancy in the coming year. Key dates are February 19, May 23, June 4, August 24, November 10 and 21.

This is the final of the outer planets to change signs in a remarkable series of shifts that have occurred in a very short time (four years), with planets that stay in a sign as long as 16 years in their current pattern. This phenomenon is as much a part of the feeling we have of being thrust into the future as anything else out there right now. It moves us firmly in the direction of the new. Whatever you took on in 1998, you’re done with that now!

And in Our Ongoing Relationship Saga . . .
The Mars and Saturn retrogrades will have a direct impact on our relationship life. Both planets take us into a process of recovering gems we lost on the way to creating the bonds we are building now. It’s as if we didn’t see them glimmer in the sands when we went by the first time, due to distraction or distortion of our perceptions. Now we get to sift the sands again and see the events we’ve already experienced with new eyes, as if for the first time. We have the chance to recover the warmth that we felt before the learning process started that brings us into mutual harmony, a year or two ago.

On the 1st we have a challenge in Venus’s opposition to Mars, that of fuller awareness of what’s real, and really important, to us. Whatever happened on January 31 – February 2, it was as if the universe was bringing the “feeling truth” to us. This new understanding gives us a direction with the remainder of the Mars retrograde.

We have more in store: This year is a time to “get it right” (= in harmony), as Venus also has a retrograde in late spring to help us iron things out. Gemini is the featured sign for this event. The combination of factors gives us a series of openings via which we can take small steps that bring gradual progress. This is the way to circumvent the huge emotions that often surface as we simultaneously bring a relationship into our lives and deal with the emotional blocks to it that we’ve been carrying from childhood and past lives.

The 2012 Transformation
We’ve had a break from the deeper issues surrounding us January 28 – February 8. They’ve been there, but we haven’t had to deal with them directly, except as part of an ongoing process of change with known factors. This change son the 9th when Venus enters Aries, one of the signs in the Cardinal Cross (with Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) that are featured in the changes. This opens the door to making more adjustments in our connections with others. For the next three months, our relationships will stimulate the processes of transformation. Surprises are afoot.

Let the Healing Begin (Again)!
Chiron gives us a boost of healing energy this month as the Sun hits the refresh button on its yearly cycle at 5̊09′ Pisces. Until the 24th, the old cycle is ending with all the attendant rush to complete what has been left unsaid, undone to clear our energy field. In Pisces, it is all about the unseen world, and it has acquainted us with this reality in two steps to warm the waters for Neptune’s final advent into this sign of the great oceanic consciousness that we all swim in.

Chiron played with Mars at critical points in its 2011 cycle, and now we speed toward the culmination of the processes triggered last year. If you have “leftovers” from last year (especially in relationship or health/injury/illness), chances are good it ties into this interaction in some way. With Chiron in Pisces, our healing process cannot be complete if we ignore the role of the spirit in the healing. Our woundedness is welling up from the deepest levels of beingness now, more likely tied to past lives and early in this lifetime than to current experiences, which only act as the trigger to bring these to the surface.  It is a good process. Without it, we will continue to carry burdens that we are scarcely aware of, so adapted are we to the habitual distortions they create in our daily experience. Freed of these burdens, we feel like we’ve just gotten a new pair of glasses on the world that appears brighter and more colorful. The sky is a deeper, limitless blue.

Shooing the old energies from our field is rocket-boosted along by a connection with Jupiter, the third of three, on the 14th at 4̊32′ Pisces/Taurus. The first two contacts were on July 2 (5̊13′ Pisces/Taurus) and December 6 (0̊59′ Pisces/Taurus). These times were potentiated by eclipses and planetary stations, so resolutions that occur now are multi-layered and complex.

Mutability Rules.
On the 18th, the Sun enters Pisces to bring out the Mutable energies again (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces). From that date through the end of the month, every significant planetary interaction involves one or more of these signs. (See Chart B.) We get a chance to really work through the situations that began to take shape in early November. This is an opening, a doorway, but it is not the only one; this tells us that there are many stages to developing the situations we find ourselves in now, and that a missed opportunity will return if we do not find it part of the flow to act now. There is a higher pitch of volatility in our circumstances now, by grace of the intensity of the planetary in-flows to Earth. At such times, small steps bringing gradual progress prevent overreactions due to moving too quickly.

The Mutable energies rely on flexibility to achieve their goals. They move around objects and obstacles, wait things out, and focus on wholeness and completions. They are the signs that “put out fires”, dealing with existing circumstances rather than starting new ones. Their first response is often to agree or avoid, even though they will not stay in this position. In fact, the Mutables do not hold positions, or hold onto things — sometimes giving up before fruition is achieved. To use the Mutable energy well, we need to stay in touch with what’s in our heart, and often stay with something longer than we think is wise.

It’s Time to Ground.
The energies of the Earth Grand Trine (Chart A) are coming together again, giving us the precious gift of being able to add form and abundance to our life. This is a process that began last June and comes to us in multiple steps and stages. This stepwise process is the way through the quantum leap in consciousness that we are embarked upon now. If you are alive now, you are meant to be here and experience this. There is a way through with more joy and miraculous experience than you can now see, but your imagination can take you there.

You will be amazed. ♥
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© Terry Lamb

All dates are based on Pacific Time.

To subscribe, please use the registration form at right. A free gift, “Mercury Retrograde Quick Reference Guide 2012″ will be sent to your email address. (If you did not register on this site, please do so even if you are already on my list.)

The next Mercury Retrograde begins to affect us in early November. Get the Mercury Retrograde Report for this important watershed time, only $14.00 includes insights for your sign.

and keep the energy flowing.

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by Terry Lamb ©

In November we enter a time bubble, when events will be tied by an invisible thread to each other, leaping across days, weeks, and months to connect us to a space where they exist in a single morphic field. We enter the new field on the 5th; it lasts through mid-June, although there will be echoes for the following 18 months. (See Chart A.)

This will be felt most by people who have natal placements (planets or points) early in the Mutable signs — Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces. The Mutables are the “follow-through and clean-up” signs. They integrate what has come before, complete things, put out fires, and adjust to circumstances. Their modus operandi is to work around the edges of something. Sometimes they avoid an issue, waiting for it to dissipate — a viable approach some of the time.

With all the “head-on” activity stimulated by the Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), some backing off and letting things rest is a balancing counterpoint. With the planets relatively spread out around the heavens, this means we get some consistent harmonious contacts (sextiles/60̊ angles and trines/120̊ angles) that serve as natural pressure release valves, and help us make sense of what’s happening. They bring the kind words, greater confidence, and loving support that make all the difference as we walk through the social storms sweeping the planet.

The key events that create this time bubble are generated by Mercury, Mars, and the Sun-Moon interaction of the Solar Eclipse. Mercury commences a new retrograde (as it does every 3½ months) on November 23rd; a Solar Eclipse occurs the 24th; and Mars starts to build energy toward its next retrograde from the 18th.

All these events are anchored at 2-3̊  Mutable, creating a theme or story line that will play out for us through next June. This could tie to a story that we have about what happened in 1996-8, or seed events that occurred in late February. Mercury will transit Sagittarius during its retrograde, while Mars will travel through Virgo. We must learn to work with these signs in harmony, although they are not naturally harmonious. Humans tend toward judgmentalism under this sign combination, but they can also be used for brilliant problem-solving through discernment, taking the projection of value onto the object of our attention.

Mercury in Sagittarius
Mercury in Sagittarius was considered by the astrologers of Egypt and Greece to be in its detriment. Mercury is about the details, but Sagittarius wants to get the big picture. Mercury in Sagittarius gets into trouble because it wants to skip steps. This makes things take longer than they need to because we have to backtrack to recover the missed steps. It also tends to jump to conclusions, often leading to unfounded judgments. Mercury helps us discern one thing from another, organize them in various brain-pleasing ways, and make use of them through their connections to each other. Sagittarius wants to make a stew of them all without too much bother to organize them.

On the plus side, Mercury in Sagittarius is joyful, playful, and humorous. It also thrills to travel and adventure. Sagittarius is a Fire sign, the sparks that light the sky as embers crackle and burn. Fire is passionate but not naturally compassionate (look to Water and Earth for that). Sagittarius is about truth, the energy that rides on the arrow of the Hunter. But the truth spoken without compassion can singe us. We could forget about how others will hear our words (and sometimes we need to) in our desire to clear the air.

Fire signs are universally sincere, and hurt is usually unintentional. Knowing this can help us bring in the dose of empathy needed to soften our words without undermining the truth. Apologies and forgiveness are especially in order now. As past misconnections with others come to light, we will find admitting our mistakes a profoundly freeing experience. This vulnerability opens the door to deepened bonds and clears the path to healing our wounds in truth and authenticity.

Sagittarius uplifts us, and it can also help us cut away from things that have outlived their usefulness in our lives. We want to free ourselves of any structure that confines. Ultimately, the confining structure is the ego that creates the drama to begin with. Sagittarius allows us to transcend, and Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius challenges us to use these moments to rise above the story to the love and connection that lie beneath it.

For more on the Mercury retrograde, including insights for your sign, get my “Don’t Kill the Messenger” Mercury Retrograde report.

Enter the Eclipse!
Mercury’s retrograde is a vine that intertwines itself with the Solar Eclipse that comes a day after Mercury’s backward travel commences (Chart B). This would flavor the eclipse on its own, but it becomes doubly significant that the eclipse occurs at the same point in the Zodiac (~3̊ Sagittarius) that Mercury travels back to, making its direct station on December 13.

The eclipse marks the start of a new chapter, a new focus for us. We become unmoored from the ties and structures that have kept us afloat for the past six months as the eclipse shadow passes over the planet. Gradually, the ones that match us vibrationally (re)attach themselves. A revised story emerges from the mists. This one will be woven with new insights, moments of truth, and transcendence. We find ways we need to be mobilized and start moving.

With these two events occurring together, they make deeper tread marks in our consciousness. What happens as a result depends on all the factors in our natal chart and our situation at the time. It marks the beginning of a turning point, the opportunity to shift. We have more wiggle room than usual. Someone around us may seek more freedom, thus freeing us to explore something new. As each of us finds new ways to respond to the energetic shift, everyone is transformed. This also happens at the same time that a door to the miraculous is opened, lending support to our inspiration and bold initiatives.

Mars Waits in the Wings.
Mars’s contribution comes to us from Virgo, where it retrogrades on January 23. Its direct station in April happens at ~3̊ Virgo, in the zone with Mercury and the Solar Eclipse.

Mars enters Virgo, sign of the Grain Goddess, on the 10th, and starts communicating with us about what’s coming during its retrograde from the 18th. In Virgo, Mars will apply itself with vigorous precision, efficiency and logic to provide service and nurturance. Virgo works through persistent attention to details, until the big tasks are accomplished. Virgo tends to take its aggressions out on itself. People with Mars in Virgo are harder on themselves than anyone else would ever be, and they are often unwittingly critical of others as they imagine others to be critical of them.

Between November 18 and January 23, we will be walking through a time tunnel, with a gallery of people, spirits, symbols, and images to advise us on the way. We’ll be revisiting them while Mars is retrograde January 23 – April 13, being asked to put our money where our mouth has been. Because Virgo is such a hard worker, the tendency will be to over commit. We benefit by being mindful of our perceptions and actions between now and January 23, then be prepared to learn from our mistakes. We will find the ways in which we have under- or over-stepped our natural boundaries, allowing us to make adjustments — to learn.

We need to be willing to forgive, admit our own mistakes, and move on. Key in this process is Virgo’s drive for perfection. We may need to ask, “How is my need to be (appear) perfect preventing me from admitting my mistakes?”

So Mars will take us on a journey back to November’s time-space-story by April 13. We will find ourselves with a new perspective, position, and reality from which to view it. We will have greater insight into how to write or rewrite our story, a “do-over”. Then we get to rewrite it and move ahead “normally”, newly informed, April 13 – June 19.

If you want a comparison, think back to your experiences September 19 – October 22 this year and October 16 2009 – May 17 2010. This latter time frame is the last time that we went through the Mars retrograde tunnel (at that time, in Leo). Mars retrograde in general is a time to examine the ways in which our ego runs us.

The Healing Journey Continues.
In the meantime, on another level of reality, we are focused on our healing journey as Chiron and Neptune end their 5-months of retrograde (apparent backward) motion and begin moving forward through the Zodiac again. This focus is highlighted on the 2nd, 7th – 12th, and the 20th – 23rd, but it is with us all month. It is also incorporated into the time bubble process, as Chiron is tied to Mars and Mercury, and Neptune will be starting in February.

There’s a story in our life that goes back to late February (2011), which will be reworked in November (can be healed), and built on as we live out our experience of the time bubble. This story is about wounding and healing, and it involves elements of who we are that most get our attention — perhaps emotional and physical — so that we can create wholeness in the deepest part of our nature. No matter the particulars, it is a story of separation and finding our Oneness. The illusion of separation is the great wound of humanity that is the engine of all suffering.

Accept a Miracle (or Two).
Once the Sun moves into Sagittarius, we move into another miracle zone, as our great luminary harmonizes with Miracle-Maker/Awakener Uranus. This energy field opens to us on the 22nd, peaks December 8th – 18th. Sometimes we have to pass through an unpleasant realization to get to the miracle, and this may have already occurred in triplicate since about July 9. This release overlaps with the opening of the time bubble, so get ready to be amazed!

How Does Your Garden Grow?
We are still growing our Sacred Garden, which we may bury in the back of consciousness as we attend to more pressing matters. Yet, it is developing, fertile and robust. Nurturing your garden strengthens this new foundation and lends us strength as we explore ways to make the blossoming world-conscious reality work for us. This process has to do with Jupiter and Pluto, and began June 4. The more loving energy we put into our Garden, the more quickly it will grow. Until the end of December, it needs all the attention we can give it. After that point, it will need less attention, but as with all gardens it responds to our love.

This is especially highlighted, a valuable release valve, on the 10th – 23rd, as Mars recreates the Earth Grand Trine that launched us in late August–early September. We can see the blossoms as November starts, and some early fruit are already ripening, ready to pick and enjoy. The harvest will really flow starting December 25, when Jupiter’s retrograde period ends.

If you have planets in Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn), you’re enjoying this the most. You appreciate it when you make tangible progress in the three-dimensional world. But all of us need the steadying, grounding energy that structures bring. This is a time when new constructs and directions shape themselves around us, literally falling into our laps.

What’s Ahead
Dramatic times await us — we can see it all around. As we head into winter, what will become of the Occupy Movement? We’ll see some powerful developments in many fronts once Venus goes into Capricorn on the 26th. The following five days (through December 1) will launch a holiday tale of love and valor that will unfold through mid-January.

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By the end of November, we’re mostly looking ahead. If we feel tension, there are also release points, and we have an amazing opportunity to create new structures as old ones dissolve. Unleash your Inner Artist, the one that paints your life and writes its soundtrack. Make sure You use rainbows of bright color and joyful lyrics set to sweet melodies. Deep change is the Source as we weave the threads of this precious, richly textured Fabric. We are still in a time when anything is possible. Let old limits dissolve, knowing that they prevent the openness we need to truly be ourselves and fulfill our unique gifts.

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November In Depth
For a day-by-day picture of November, please subscribe to Daykeeper Journal. I have been writing the Daily Success Guide for their subscribers for more than two years. With a unique entry for each day, you get more detail from the Daykeeper Journal. Please follow me there, at www.daykeeperjournal.com.

For a list of the planetary events on which this article is based, go to Significant Planetary Events.

If you have enjoyed this article, you can get a reading from Terry here . . .
learn to ride the Planetary Currents in the Time Masters Program

or keep the energy flowing by donating. . .

© Terry Lamb

To subscribe, please use the registration form at right. A free gift, “Mercury Retrograde Quick Reference Guide 2012″ will be sent to your email address. (If you did not register on this site, please do so even if you are already on my list.)

The next Mercury Retrograde begins to affect us in early November. Get the Mercury Retrograde Report for this important watershed time, only $14.00 includes insights for your sign.

Get a reading from Terry.
by Terry Lamb ©

Two overlapping patterns are the source for our experiences in October. We start the month in full Libra mode. The New Moon in Libra on September 27 (4̊00′) happened with three other planets in the sign: Mercury, Venus, and Saturn (plus Sun-Moon). This carries forward the balancing process that we work with while we are working under the sign of the Scales.

This is more than your average yearly balancing process, getting ready for winter by preserving the portion of the harvest that needs to be saved for the months of dormancy ahead. We’ve already seen an amazing outpouring of solidarity in the #occupyWallstreet movement, but even those who remain in the background are participating in the equalizing process in their own quiet way.

Libra: Equalize Yourself
In Yijing (the Chinese Book of Change), it is referred to in Hexagram 15, “Humbling, Equalizing”. It describes the very powerful tendency of energy to fill in gaps and to naturally seek balance and equality with other energies. The process of equalization is described:

“Heaven’s Way is to lessen what is overfull and augment what is humble. Earth’s Way is to transform what is overfull and spread what is humble. The souls and spirits that govern the world [weaken] what is overfull and bless what is humble. The people’s way is to hate what is overfull and love what is humble. Humbling brings dignity and makes things shine. It is modest and does not try to go beyond what is there. Through it [we] can accomplish and complete things.” (Karcher, Total I Ching, p. 163)

Another way to look at this is that if anything sticks out too far, it gets lopped off. Yijing
gives us suggestions for how to manage energies in whatever form they take. In this instance — relevant advice for October — it counsels us:

• First, that humbling is beneficial when energies are unevenly distributed.
• The benefit is that it will release us from constraint and bring creative (or dynamic) balance.
• Don’t go to extremes.
• Be agile and alert.
• This gives us a handle on the power to realize who we are meant to be.
• It clarifies things by cutting away complication in favor of simple rules and principles.
• To equalize things, think about what their value is in your life and adjust their placement accordingly.
• Become aware of and express your adjustments quietly, more through action than word.

This is how we can use the energy of Libra to bring the extremes in our life into alignment with who we are and where we want to go. This can apply in any area; many of us will feel the need to balance extremes in relationships with others and in resources (e.g., financial). This suggests taking mild steps without fanfare. This approach does not stir up the ego, either in ourselves or in others, making it easier to accomplish our goals.

In relationship, equalizing often means taking back power you’ve given away or returning power to someone you’ve (unintentionally) taken it from. In the first case it means standing up for yourself and taking up your share of the space around you. In the latter it means confessing our errors and apologizing, or otherwise stepping back inside your own aura with this person.

In a general sense, it means ensuring that we give from fullness. If we are empty and try to give to others, we create a greater inequality, and this creates extreme experiences. For example, if a child asks for cash and you give them your rent money instead of saying no, you may have the extreme experience of having to negotiate things with your landlord.

Open the Doors to Healing.
Similarly, we want to keep our physical energies balanced at this time of year so that we do not become ill. Spring and Autumn are transitional seasons and so are best for cleansing. They prepare us for the viral challenges that winter often brings.

For several years, we have had the opportunity to heal ourselves at a deep energetic level through the conjunction of Chiron and Neptune. While the strongest expression of this occurred in 09, these two planets of healing are still dancing with each other, now across the cusp between Aquarius and Pisces. In October, they provide us with a doorway into the healing realms as Venus, Mercury, and Sun connect with them. (See Chart A.)

This creates a healing portal that blends the straight-line mental-electrical healing energy of Aquarius with the swirling, spiraling, figure-8-ing energy of Pisces. The portal is most active on October 5–9, 12–13, and 23–24. It’s not that the portal is not there outside these times; it’s just that it will be more pronounced on these dates. Healing can take place on any level, but here the energy coming in to us is naturally drawn to emotional and spiritual blockages. Since these are often tied to physical blockages, physical healing can take place as well, or healing of conditions we have been enduring in the physical world (such as being without a job).

The healing portal and the planets involved are not enough to say how you will feel them in your life. How these and other contacts combine with your chart is also a factor.

Scorpio: Time for Regenerative Release
Another pattern comes to us through Scorpio. We begin to experience Scorpio when Venus enters it on the 8th. This is intensified as Mercury adds its layer to the mix on the 13th, and finally Sun on the 23rd. They mix and mingle with Jupiter directly across the sky in Taurus. (See Chart B.) We can see two right triangles in the chart, indicating that there are release points for the situations that arise. If the solutions are not the ones we want (and they could be), at least they are solutions — perhaps they are for the best.

The mostly good news is that whatever develops in October is developmental, not final — at least for most of us. That means there’s more to come. Don’t take bad news as final, and don’t assume that good news is the last word. Where we’re at in the overall planetary pattern tells us that we still have more to do in order to fully understand and work through the situations we’re in.

Still there will be progress. It is the harvest season, and this still counts for something even though the planetary cycles bring more harvest in November and December than October.

While the planets are in Scorpio, they help us break through particularly stubborn blocks, especially emotional ones. Scorpio uses emotional will to break through things and sometimes feels out of control as emotion-driven strength comes forward. Scorpio energy is the type that comes forward when we feel impelled by a big change in our life — it is instinctual and transformative.

October: Relationships & Release
In general, October is a much mellower month than September. The contacts with the Cardinal Grand Cross are completed for the moment (except for the connection from the Moon on Monday-Tuesday each week). Under the Cardinal Grand Cross, people frequently experience more than one problem situation at a time. This makes it hard to work with. Chances are, one is a long-term ongoing issue to which a new one is added that makes both more difficult. This will vary from person to person, but relationship and freedom from oppression are key themes for everyone.

In October we continue learning more about and from our relationships as Mercury and Sun hook up with Saturn. This continues a process begun on September 29 and will extend through the 13th. What we learn now comes from deep within, wisdom gained often through isolation. With Saturn, sometimes it works better if we figure out what to say “no” to, not what deserves a yes.

The 13th also starts a new yearly Saturn cycle, so the completion also marks a decision point, where we renew our commitment to someone or something. The relationship process that we started in October 2009 will not be complete until Saturn leaves Libra in October 2012. Even if we choose to leave a relationship, we will continue to learn from it until that time.

No planets change direction in October. They are all settled into their cyclic relationship to Earth without pivoting. Jupiter in Taurus is the big player. In opposing sign Scorpio, the Sun reaches the halfway point of its yearly cycle with Jupiter on the 28th. Like a Full Moon, a “Full Jupiter” brings a peak in Jupiter’s energy in our world. Whatever you have been building in Jupiter’s “playground” since the end of August is halfway complete, at least in consciousness. You’ll see what remains to be done in the next two months before the energy shifts December 25.

How Does Your (Sacred) Garden Grow?
This is made even more potent by the fact that Jupiter and Pluto make their 2nd of 3 harmonious trine connections, re-emphasizing the opportunity to create earthly abundance at the same time as the Full Jupiter (Sun-Jupiter opposition). This couldn’t be better timed! This gives us a chance to engage in seemingly unconnected efforts dovetailing to accomplish a goal. New insights lead to adjustments in our plans and direction as the best way forward becomes clear.

Venus and Mercury are traveling companions all month and reach Jupiter before the Sun, on the 14th and 17th. Love comes first (Venus), then logic (Mercury), then action (Sun) — all emotionally motivated from as deep inside as we can reach.

Jupiter and Pluto are the source of the Sacred Garden opportunities we have now. (For more details, see September’s Planetary Currents.) We can cultivate our own Sacred Garden:

• Keep track of what happens in your life August 28 – October 17. A simple event diary will do, although a journal of inner processes will enrich your awareness of how your inner reality enhances the process.
• Pin your experiences to events and circumstances on/around April 6 and June 27.
• Finish the sentence, “If all obstacles were removed, more than anything else I would like to ___________.” Set your course toward that goal, trusting that you will be guided to it.
• Allow the yourself to hear internal messages and get external signals that suggest pragmatic ways to achieve your goals. Although they may not carve out a strictly logical path, they will make sense later. Trust in what you receive and be willing to act on it (but it must be your choice).
• Be wary of the quick fix or easy way out.
• Allow your creative juices to flow! Let things grow in your life, not expecting immediate results.
• Visualize a field ready to plant, your own garden. Plant the seed-thoughts of what you want to create. Imagine a groundswell of energy pushing the seedlings above ground — the support of Earth, friends, and universal consciousness.
• Help your garden grow with visualization and warm thoughts. This “holding space” is how we build yin power.
• Give yourself time and space, and be receptive to what comes in. Let it rain on your crop.
• Expect to work hard, but within your capabilities.

Take Action Where Action Is Due.
There is one process that spans the entire month, from the 2nd – 28th. This is the inter-activation of Mercury-Venus to Mars-Jupiter. Mars and Jupiter connect on the 2nd, making us want to do something. We will be at our most impatient, due to doubts about the viability of our enterprise, whatever it is. Because there is so many more contacts to come after that, we will be clearer about what action to take by the end of the month. Note that the 28th is mentioned here too; this is a third major planetary event to happen on the 28th. (See Chart C.) This process will overlap and be prompted in part by the Sacred-Garden project(s) that we are cultivating. Expect to be focused on clearing obstacles to your garden’s growth.

Comet Elenin
A small piece of space dust and ice was recently discovered that is making a transit of the solar system. Even though comets are notoriously small, effects of these “strangers” on our psyche have been noted. See if any of Elenin’s transits are significant for you:

Perihelion to the Sun    13̊ Libra        September 10
Conjunct the Sun           3̊23′ Libra    September 26
Closest Pass to Earth    13̊ Leo          October 16

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What’s in store in November? After a relatively stable (if not calm) month, November brings substantial changes our way, as Neptune, Chiron, and Mercury change directions; and we have a Solar Eclipse. For now, we get to focus on transforming those things that have stayed stuck way too long in our lives. Time to pry them loose and let them go!

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October In Depth
For an in-depth picture of October, please subscribe to Daykeeper Journal. I have been writing the Daily Success Guide for their subscribers for more than two years. With a unique entry for each day, you get more detail from the Daykeeper Journal. Please follow me there, at www.daykeeperjournal.com.

For a list of the planetary events on which this article is based, go to Significant Planetary Events.

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by Terry Lamb (© Terry Lamb)
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A bit of a retrospective: I suggested in last month’s Planetary Currents that the Mercury retrograde would be mild. It was not. It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t really Mercury that created the stress and strain; we can attribute it to the “heavier” planets whose messages Mercury carried. The real foreground activity was carried by Mars as it traveled through early Cancer, reactivating the Cardinal Grand Cross (Uranus in Aries, Pluto in Capricorn, Saturn in Libra – in order of activation). Mercury sat politely in the background, getting the mental chatter out of the way so that we could experience the truth that our emotions carried. We were buffeted about by the currents of our feeling responses/reactions to the awakening energies of Uranus, the submerged-emerging energies of Pluto, and the social bonds we are working with through Saturn.

Look for the Groundswell
We learned more about how we really feel, and if we did not push it back into the hidden realms we can use our new insights to fertilize the soil of our new path. I use this metaphor of earth imagery consciously, because we are working with Earth energy right now. There is a Grand Trine (a triangle) in the heavens in the Earth element (signs Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn). This brings us an opportunity to lay a new foundation for whatever is next in our lives. In this, as in all times of rapid change, there is a chaotic profusion of possibilities. Like seeds sprouting in the spring, we can’t tell what is growing yet or which sprouts are hardy enough to withstand the vicissitudes of the hot sun of our deeply held purpose and the cold night of our doubts.

We must find the groundswell — where there is a big enough potential that it will sustain us for years to come. Its roots are to be found in 2007 in some way, a tiny urge that gave birth to this burst of creativity. It was given the breath of meaning in 2008 as we began to grapple with the great need for change and started the long socio-cultural and ecological transition in which we are now engaged. Now it precipitates into form, as large as ourselves, with its own life force. It magnetizes us, like a parent drawn to find her child in a crowd of other children. We can feel it when we are in alignment with it, and we can feel its absence when we are not — look for what carries you, and nurture it to full bloom and succulent fruit.

The Golden Triangle
This is the Golden Triangle, anchored by Pluto in Capricorn for power and depth, and by Jupiter in Taurus for magnification and abundance. All it takes is for a planet to move through Virgo for the Golden Triangle to be activated. This happens most brightly when the Sun and Venus make the connection complete August 21 –  September 2, and Mercury September 9–17. However, this lunar month (August 28–September 26) carries and fulfills the energy of this pattern because the New Moon fell exactly within its range. (See Chart A.)

While this is not the only energy we’re managing right now, it can give us support and stability as we deal with the more challenging ones. Practical ideas come to mind now, ways to make your new life work. They may not be your true life path but a way to get there.

September: A Sacred Space Opens in Which to Build.
We get 4 months to lay the foundation of this new path, as these planets help us create a sacred space in which to build. This has to do with two events that potentiate the Golden Triangle, the stations of Jupiter and Pluto. When a planet is trine the Sun (except for the Moon), it is in the process of changing direction from our perspective on Earth. With two planets in this relationship to the Sun, they are both at a turning point: Jupiter reversed its forward direction, commencing retrograde motion on August 30; Pluto returns to forward motion on September 16 after its five-month retrograde.

Retrogrades Accelerate Our Growth on This Planet.
Each planet beyond the Earth retrogrades, accelerating our growth in consciousness when it tracks back over a small portion of the zodiac, then returns over it a third time. This essentially compresses three cycles into one, a “three-fer”, one of the ways our soul education is ramped up on this fair planet. At the times of the stations themselves, the planets beam their energies to us in concentrated form from a single point for days at a time. This is so with Jupiter at the beginning of the month, and with Pluto at mid-month, although we’re already feeling it because it moves so slowly.

Pluto is releasing us, the arrow from the bow, from a situation that we have been transforming since last December, with major turning points at April 6 and June 27. It is an iceberg in our lives, with much of the fermentation internal, invisible to those around us. Although such transformations are by nature multi-year processes, we are cleansed and light-ened as old patterns are cut away.

Time Plateaus and Wormholes
The commencement of Jupiter’s retrograde creates a time plateau, a playground where we can frolic safely within the boundaries set by our intention for this planet’s retrograde period, based on our way of advancing through the time wormhole that occurred August 1–30. Pluto’s station direct pulls us out of its time plateau, where we’ve been since April 6. Now we move through another wormhole to a new playing field, one that’s still structured by our experiences and choices since December 26.

The sacred garden is open to us for four months. While other events and circumstances distract and embellish our lives, it is good to return to this space when we can — or even better to hold it in consciousness as a reference point, sanctuary, and anchor for everything else.

Enter the Sacred Garden
Here’s how we can make use of the Golden Triangle:

• Keep track of what happens in your life August 28 – September 17. A simple event diary will do, although a journal of inner processes will enrich your awareness of how your inner reality enhances the process.
• Pin your experiences to events and circumstances on/around April 6 and June 27.
• Finish the sentence, “If all obstacles were removed, more than anything else I would like to ___________.” Set your course toward that goal, trusting that you will be guided to it.
• Allow the yourself to hear internal messages and get external signals that suggest pragmatic ways to achieve your goals. Although they may not carve out a strictly logical path, they will make sense later. Trust in what you receive and be willing to act on it (but it must be your choice).
• Be wary of the quick fix or easy way out.
• Allow your creative juices to flow! Let things grow in your life, not expecting immediate results.
• Visualize a field ready to plant, your own garden. Plant the seed-thoughts of what you want to create. Imagine a groundswell of energy pushing the seedlings above ground — the support of Earth, friends, and universal consciousness.
• Help your garden grow with visualization and warm thoughts. This “holding space” is how we build yin power.
• Give yourself time and space, and be receptive to what comes in. Let it rain on your crop.
• Expect to work hard, but within your capabilities.

September’s Second Story
Another of September’s energy patterns involves the circumstances that developed in June. This is related to the eclipses, whose degrees become sensitive points that when reactivated trigger unconscious recall that prompts us to take follow-up action in the last half of September (the 11th–26th). The action starts with the reconnection of Venus and Mars on the 10th, retriggering the June 15th Lunar Eclipse. The Full Moon on the 12th amplifies this, increasing the emotional tone so that we become more aware of what our deepest priorities are — what makes us truly happy. Reversals can occur now, as people realize that the choices they made previously are not as fulfilling as hoped. This is also the halfway point between two sets of eclipses, as the Sun squares the Lunar Nodes (the transiting eclipse markers); we will look very deeply into issues of path and purpose, feel the pull of karma and dharma. We’ll be able to make progress related to the steps taken then. (See Chart B.)

As if this weren’t enough there are other augmentations of our June experiences, a cosmic insurance plan to make certain that we get it right. This time it is intensified by other contacts as well (such as the Full Moon). The Last Quarter Moon on the 20th is also near the degree of the Lunar Eclipse June 15, extending our time of action in these matters and allowing time for adjustments. If you remember the stand-out events of June, you’ll know what areas of your life will be activated during this time.

It’s Not Over Till It’s Over.
There’s a third story in September, the one being told in our lives through the Cardinal Grand Cross. This time it is told from the perspective of Libra, the sign of balance, harmony, and one-to-one social interaction. It begins as an undercurrent when Venus enters Libra on the 14th, reawakening us through Uranus and transforming us through Pluto.

This is all foregrounded more dramatically when the Sun enters Libra on the 23rd. The energy peaks within multiple crosscurrents, with Moon, Sun, Mercury, Uranus, and Pluto all interacting over four days, September 25–28, as Venus reaches Saturn. It brings these circumstances into stark relief and requires action in the form of decisions. Those decisions we’ve made since a year ago are up for consideration and discussion now. Have they stood the test of time? Have they begun to bear the fruits we anticipated then? See Chart C.

These thoughts are embedded in our experience of the next lunar cycle, starting the 27th. This seed time for the coming month carries many interwoven threads of lessons, stories, and effects, including the start of the next Sun-Saturn cycle that begins on October 13. The jury may still be out on the answers to our questions until mid-October, although a clear understanding that prompts action should not be ignored.

This will affect our ongoing saga in relationships — really our ability to love ourselves. When we love ourselves, our relationship path is clearer and our interactions with others freed from drama. Issues of equality versus control resurface if they have not been resolved. Libra demands reciprocity in our ties with others.

The New Moon falls at 4̊00′ Libra, a point that has been triggered again and again, mostly in 2010. As a result, we’ll be revisiting incomplete situations and unresolved patterns from 2010 during this time, especially those which arose in June, August, and December.

August Leftovers
If you’re still confused about what August was all about, much of that confusion will clear around the 8th, when Mercury makes its third (of three) oppositions to Neptune. The point of clarity we reached around August 2nd may have survived the slings and arrows of Mercury’s retrograde — if we can remember what that was. No matter: We’re ready to take on the next ball of confusion now. This contact is excellent for getting perspective on what confounds us. Seeking another’s input augments the natural reflective process that takes place, especially where Neptune is involved.

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Pluto Is the Linchpin.
It can be a challenge to make sense of all the energies moving in our environment; it helps to think of them as coming in layers. The layers of energies engage in a dance that swirls and sways, rises and falls around us, sometimes combining, at other times diverging. We have been dealing with two layers since December — the cardinal layer and the mutable layer — that this month establish a way of interacting and releasing harmoniously through the Golden Triangle. These stay with us for the rest of 2011 and extend through mid-March 2012. Nice of the universe to open a portal just when we need it!

The linchpin of the connection between the two layers is Pluto. This means that any Plutonian process we engage in will help us manage and manifest both patterns. Transform, dive into your unconscious processes, explore what’s mysterious or unknown; look for the truth behind appearances; learn to read the symbolic world.
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© Terry Lamb

For the Astro Calendar (the daily breakdown) and pdf of the entire forecast, click here.

by Terry Lamb (© Terry Lamb)

To subscribe, please use the registration form at right.

In looking ahead at the energies of August, it was an effort to find a synthesis in order to report them to you. I suspect we are all facing this quandary as August opens. I was reminded of Doctor Dolittle’s Pushmi-pullyu, a very ineffective animal that was always in conflict about which way to go. In August, we may feel like this animal of myth as we try to find which is most harmonious for us among two choices.

This dilemma stems from the counteracting influences of Mercury Rx (which gives us so much internal dialogue that it suppresses action) or Mars in Cancer, which stirs our feelings to stimulate the Cardinal planets, the very epitome of the desire to take action. These two diametrically opposed energies are compelling, and we may find ourselves vacillating: Act or wait?

During August it may be that just as we think it is time to act, if we hesitate the moment passes, and waiting seems better. This brings up the indecisions of the past few months, where we sit on the fence trying to reconcile opposites that seem equally tantalizing, or impossible without some additional conditions being met. This is the process of August, the alchemy of action versus non-action.

Non-action becomes easier to manage if we define how the non-action is to occur. Enlightened non-action is “attending” or “holding space” for the thing we want to create while we wait for the right time to act. This is an evolutionary process, where the right time comes when we are clear about what action to take. A time of confusion is not a time to act, because this means that our emotions are still entangled with our pure intentions.

This dilemma is an illusion, because inaction is a decision in itself. If we ignore or doubt our inner compass in such a situation, we may end up with an outcome we did not intend and do not want if we wait over long.

Our Story Thus Far. . .
We have been in a time of marvelous experiences, in planetary terms events that occurs less frequently than once-in-a-lifetime. As difficult as it has been, as much as we have had to let go of, would you have it any other way? For most of the people I know, they have been freed of circumstances that they have been unable to shed for many years, clearing away misconceptions and attendant jobs, relationships, and conditions that are simply unbearable for one minute longer.

The place where we have been hit most singularly is in relationships. Themes within themes, stories within stories — they all seem to find a relationship at the core. This frame has been established in particular by Saturn in Libra and an atypically high level of interaction between Venus and Mars, but aided and abetted by the remaining crew of celestial wanderers.

The Summer of Five Eclipses
Right now we are emerging from an amazing and disorienting inner journey. After an unusual three eclipses (2 Solar and 1 Lunar) between June 1 and July 1, we had an eclipse of Venus on June 30 and one to Mars on July 27. Called occultations (to ‘occult’ something means to hide it) by those in the know, they are alignments by both longitude and declination of a planet with the Sun or Moon. In this case, the Moon blocked our view of first Venus then Mars when it passed between us and blocked our view of these more distant solar satellites.

The effect has been profound. It has fully exposed our feelings of love/value (Venus) and our feelings of assertion/aggression (Mars) to us through the filter of the unconscious mind. All is revealed, although we may not want to take action in exactly the ways we feel prompted to. It brings into question the role that we give to our feelings in our daily life. We may find that our unacknowledged emotions are controlling our behaviors and producing unwanted results. We may also find that our acknowledged feelings are a veneer over what we really feel, as these celestial events take place.

During eclipses, we are disconnected from our customary set of structures related to the planets involved. With the Solar Eclipses June 1 and July 1, we were cut loose from our sense of purpose and direction, even our sense of self. With the Lunar Eclipse on June 15, our emotional patterns were disrupted so that we could see what we really feel. With the Venus Eclipse on June 30, we saw what we really value — perhaps who we really love, as all the masking of “shoulds” was stripped away. We may have felt “hooked”or attached, and reacted to that in various ways.

With the Mars Eclipse on July 27, the masking of the ego was stripped away, uncovering anger, impatience, anxiety, and indecision all in one swirling pool of energy. Our ego was revealed to us in all its urgency and childlike nature. It affords us a wake-up call to what is driving us unconsciously, if we listen to the messages underneath all the drama. Mars also lends itself to decision-making, and in Gemini we needed to get out our sorting hat so that we could see clearly what stays and what goes.

Nothing Good and True Is Ever Lost.
The overall effect of these five events is sometimes a feeling that something has been taken away from us but nothing given in return. We may feel emptied, gutted, filled with longing for what we aimed toward as we let go of old and outworn structures. We may feel betrayed, abandoned, unloved, undeserving (see, I told you it wouldn’t work), lost, angry, anxious, humiliated, fearful, sad — however we have learned to react through our past emotional miseducation.

But there is beauty in the breakdown, and we clear ourselves of old fears and wounds. Then we watch as the orchestra starts up again to initiate a new movement. We find the new path (perhaps somewhat different than what we envisioned) and are given the option to step onto it. Life begins anew, in its own time and way according to our circumstances and the other players on our stage.

If you have birth chart placements in the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) — especially late degrees, you will find yourself more deeply affected by these. The roots of what we experience now can be found in the Lunar Eclipse of last December 21st, then ramped up with the one on June 15.

August: Patience Gives Way to Productivity.
With Mercury turning retrograde right at its opposition to Neptune, we seek clarity. (See Chart A.) Something is missing, has vaporized, or isn’t working right — needs fixing. By the 26th, most of us will find that timing and circumstances have changed for at least one aspect of our current reality. We’ll get our answers in general the end of the month, when the universe offers a big doorway of manifestation as the Moon, Sun, and Venus create an Earth grand trine with Jupiter and Pluto.

This launches four months of greater productivity for our efforts, as we pinpoint our direction and define our goals. Everyone can tap this energy, but it is especially beneficial to those with birth placements in Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn). We’re eager to launch as the month opens, but we’re not ready yet. The right balance of action and waiting will begin to open doors by the month’s end.

It doesn’t matter who you are, something will touch you in August. If you’re a Fixed sign (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius), you’ll see lots of action that shows you where to expand and what is most valuable to you. If you are a Mutable (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces), you’ll see the tip of an iceberg that surfaces in November and takes on more importance next winter-spring. If you are a Cardinal (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), I don’t have to tell you what you’ve been through! It’s all over but the action now, as Mars moves through Cancer to activate those dreams you have not yet launched.

We begin a three-month illumination process as well, as the Sun reaches the halfway point in four of its yearly cycles involving the major players (specifically Neptune, Chiron, Uranus, and Jupiter) by the end of October. Each of these planets can be associated with one of the stories currently playing out in our life. This begins on the 22nd, with the Sun’s opposition to Neptune, a clarifying process. This will show us what remains of the past to be healed, dissolved, or re-imagined as we move fully into our new future. On the 26th, our healing experiences are amplified when Sun opposes Chiron. Be willing to go into your painful places to get the most from this contact.

Mercury Retrograde: Clarity Emerges from Confusion.
This promises to be a gentle, if revealing Mercury retrograde, since Venus is there to soften the process, and Mercury makes three contacts to Neptune, the planet that shows us the shape of inner reality. This retrograde will make us aware of the divide between the visible and invisible worlds, offering the opportunity to bridge the gap. Mercury is retrograde August 2–26, starting at 1̊12′ Virgo and moving back to 18̊42′ Leo.

This means that the messages Mercury carries this time come from Neptune. Neptune is as unbounded as the ocean and as diaphanous as a cloud; it is the essence contained in the structures we see around us — the soft redness of the blanket, the warmth in a smile. We engage Neptune when we meditate, create, or tune into the invisible world in any way. Neptune brings blessings by Divine Grace and the realization of (our own individual) inner truth. We can invoke its energies (and receive a blessing) by giving something from the heart.

This is the energy that we have the opportunity to activate in August. If we give from the heart, we will receive a blessing in return. It will time itself according to Mercury’s interaction with Neptune. Observe your experiences on July 28, August 8, and September 8 to see how they are connected for you.

Another facet of this is the need to surrender. In the midst of the action-versus-non-action dilemma may lie a core of resistance. If we are holding back on something it stops the flow. We become stuck, and energy wants to move. To break free, we need to surrender to what we are resisting. We may feel like we are giving in, giving up, and losing something of value; but what is truly ours will return, and we will not be forced to accept anything that we do not want. Chances are we will find new options and unexpected responses when we let go and walk the path that appears. (Note: The cat is enjoying the warmth of the engine. He is secure and happy, not stuck.)

A Venus Peak
This retrograde is softened by Venus, who sweetens our experiences just at the right times. She is the Sun’s companion all month, like having a friend by your side to give you all the “attaboys” you need. She won’t solve your problems, but she will make the job easier. She’s there to remind us that we should bring joy to every situation and remember to have fun along the way. Her process in our lives culminates on the 16th when Mercury also makes contact as it retrogrades. This is a time for potential reversals of awareness and behavior as we learn what we really value and seek it out. (Chart B.)

Neptune Helps Us Clear the Last of the Past.
August’s process is made more complex by the fact that on the 4th Neptune returns to Aquarius after a four-month wade into Pisces’s waters — the last of the slow planets to make its scheduled arrival into a new sign. As Pluto, Chiron, Uranus, and now Neptune move into a new sign they signal a new impulse in human consciousness because these sign changes occur so infrequently. In an unusual pattern, all these planets have made sign changes starting in 2008, reflecting the newness we are all experiencing on every front. As Neptune is the last of these planets to change signs (Aquarius to Pisces), it offers us one more chance to clean up.

We get until next February to complete processes of spiritual growth and inner awareness that began in 1998. Since then, we have been learning to perceive the vast inner realms from a mental-linear perspective, to disengage emotionally in order to grow, and to become more aware of group processes and how they affect us. Through this, we become aware of our essential connectedness with every other form of consciousness, the brotherhood of all forms of life without hierarchy or preference. We return to this perspective for a few more months. After that, onward fully and completely into the new!

Jupiter Brings Expanding Possibilities.
Jupiter has been flying under the radar in early Taurus, making few contacts to the other planets as it goes. The exception to this — and it’s a big one — is Pluto. A soothing trine brings opening doorways of opportunity, some of which swing wide at the end of the month. There are caveats however, as this also brings the advent of Jupiter’s four-month retrograde. This establishes a time frame around our expression through whatever opportunities appear by August 30, when the retrograde starts. Through contacts on August 1 and 4, we send out a renewed call for what we want to create; we get our answers back by the end of the year, shaped by our intentions, focus, and actions.

Great, usable power is contained in the time from August 24–September 16, as the planets carry light from Pluto to Jupiter (See Chart C.). In the meantime, get ready to participate in the magic of co-creation during this period! Even as our current transformative process moves into the final stages of creation, another will just be beginning, each mutually supportive.

It Has to Happen Anyway.
Some things are irrepressible, and Mars falls into this category in general, but no more so than when it is in Cancer. Our feelings must, finally, have their say in our lives — the hell with logic or social convention. What is dissolving in our lives through Neptune’s process is clearing the way for the things we’ve been wanting to create but couldn’t see how. We’ll be able to take the leap across the chasm, thanks to Mars, however imprudent that may seem. We may be saying, “I had to do it sooner or later.” Perhaps no wiser words can be said, or actions taken, if they come from our true nature.

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If we have been going through a spiritual rebirth, then we are now entering our Divine Infancy. We’re still learning to breathe the new air, assimilate the new energy, and find comfort in the new constructs of our life. Soon we’ll find our legs, be walking and talking again.

© Terry Lamb

For the Astro Calendar (the daily breakdown) and pdf of the entire forecast, click here.

by Terry Lamb (©)

To subscribe, please register in the form to the right.

Bigger image of Chart A

It’s been a long, strange trip, this swimming through the netherworld. Three eclipses have enchanted and distressed us, freeing us from those things that need to leave, to make space for what’s new. We are reminded that the universe abhors a vacuum, so if we want the easy path to something new, create space for it, be clear about what you want, and it will pop into place, like so many daisies in a summer field.

Creating mobility is the key process as two of the eclipses take us into Gemini-Sagittarius. People everywhere are lightening up, purging their lives of outmoded possessions, or Continue reading →

by Terry Lamb

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Bigger image of Chart A

It’s hard to tell exactly when it started, this digging down deep for the Source of Who We Are. I can date it from last June’s Cancer ingress (when the Sun entered Cancer, June 21) with regard to my experience energetically. We dove in at the end of June, for the whole month of December, and then April presented us with the mother of all cold boots in consciousness.

April gave us a time loop, a time out of time’s linear path, when we got to experience what is real. I have heard so many stories that run the gamut from deep internal searching and cleansing to the heights of joy to the peace of knowing oneself (One’s Self). The goal was to set us forth on the road of our individual and collective futures. No matter what you experienced, it was exactly what you needed to get in touch with your new direction. Even if you still have questions (or even are totally befuddled) about it, your new path is now unfolding.

This is the real 2012. The event of the Sun’s December solstice contact with the Galactic Center marks the change of the Great Season, but just like with our quarterly seasonal shifts, we rarely see the weather change on the actual day. The Cosmic weather changed in April, and we’re all looking for our wings to rise from the fires as a Phoenix, reborn in our new self.

Even if we did not feel it — and millions didn’t — we were reborn then. We went into the flames and burned off our old reality, our old ways of seeing the world, the old Not-Self. Our rise from the ashes is not instantaneous, however, but longer, slower than we would like.

The Long Rebirth
I call it the Long Rebirth. Because we went in so deeply and shed so much, Continue reading →

This is what I wrote on Facebook in late April:

“This isn’t the easiest of times, but sometimes it takes tough times to bring out our strength. We see things more clearly because we have less to lose, and what calls to us shines more brightly.”

This, in a nutshell, is what I saw transpiring around me as April unfolded — and within me as well.

It couldn’t have been more dramatic. The planets were in extreme patterns, calling out extreme experiences. Because Mercury was retrograde, it drove the energy inward, where we couldn’t ignore any longer our pent-up needs and unresolved issues. It wasn’t just Mercury’s retrograde though; in fact, it was the other contacts through which we co-created our experiences. Mercury just made us acutely aware of them so we could articulate and resolve them.

The first of these was Mars the Warrior (we could say “Irritator”) connecting with nearly everything. (See Chart A.) During April, there were only two planets that were not at some point in a cardinal sign (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) — Chiron and Neptune. All of those planets were in contact with Mars by the end of the month.

If you have planets in any of the cardinal signs (especially if you “are” one of these signs), I don’t have to tell you that it’s been intense. Continue reading →