Enter the Sacred Garden: Planetary Currents & Commentary for September 2011

by Terry Lamb (© 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. (Those who have already registered ON THIS BLOG will receive this without re-registering. If you did not register on this site, please do so even if you are already on my list.)

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.

****************

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.
****************
© Terry Lamb

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