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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.
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© Terry Lamb