The cardinal T-square is over, right? So why does it feel like the gift that keeps on giving?

There are a few different ways to answer that.

First, it’s not officially over yet. It has dissipated for a time, but it will be back in the spring, after Jupiter and Uranus are back in Aries, and then it will be activated on and off throughout 2011.

Second, a configuration like this doesn’t just happen and then “go away.” When the planets were aligned in a similar fashion in the early 1930s, a decade of economic depression followed, even though the planets were no longer aligned in a cardinal T-square. Something was initiated, which is what happens when planets are in cardinal signs. As they progress through the zodiac, the seed that was planted takes root and grows.

We are in that phase now. It’s interesting to note that economic writers who don’t follow astrology are talking about similarities between conditions in the early 1930s and current global economics.

Third – and here’s where I segue into this week’s forecast – the lunar North Node gradually has been moving toward the early degrees of Capricorn and conjunction with Pluto, who was the focus of the T-square in 2010.

As I noted in a post last week, there’s a dramatic conjunction on Tuesday of Pluto and the North Node, which at that hour (1:12 p.m. EST) is still retrograde. It turns direct two hours later, just two minutes before the Moon conjoins Pluto. The node remains direct for four days, until 11:31 a.m. EST on November 13. During these four days, the North Node will remain within three arc minutes of Pluto. For all practical purposes, that’s an exact conjunction.

As far as I know, there is no astrological record of what happens when the North Node goes direct in conjunction with the Moon and Pluto, so I am speculating here. What I think may happen is that many of us will have a fleeting glimpse of the true nature of time, and that could mean a lot of premonitions, as well as past-life recognition or feelings of being in another time and place. It may happen in your dreams or while you’re awake. If it’s the latter, you could feel disoriented. I strongly recommend keeping a notebook with you this week.

I’d like to compare notes with others to see whether we can identify a pattern. Perhaps there’s something in the collective waiting to be discovered, and we’ll all get a glimpse of it together.

Otherwise, there isn’t a whole lot going on this week, astrologically speaking. On Monday, Mercury enters Sagittarius. It’s the sign of his detriment, and yet our mental processes tend to speed up. So does traffic, commerce, and other Mercury-ruled activities – to the extent that circuits can get overloaded and break down. At the very least, our sense of humor should improve, and we should feel a bit more optimistic.

Before I conclude, I want to share with you an e-mail I received from a client last week. He described his experience over the past several months like this:

[callout][It’s] like I am at the plate, bat in hand, and God is a stud pitcher throwing all his best stuff at me – curve balls (Uranus), sliders, breaking balls, fast balls … I keep swinging, it’s what I am supposed to do. If I crowd the plate or get too aggressive or expect too much (Mars), I get creamed with an inside pitch to the side of the head (Saturn). I guess I have to accept and wait for my pitch. They say that when the big league players are on their game, the ball coming at them is huge (like Jupiter). They see it almost in slow motion, swing, and wham, it’s outa there.

I keep thinking of Kirk Gibson. In the 1988 World Series he had a stomach virus and could barely walk because of knee injuries sustained in the series before (he was literally beat to shit). He could not play his regular position. The coach put him in to pinch hit and after battling through six pitches, he connects and the ball is out of the park. I will never forget that.

Here’s to seeing the pitches.[/callout]

Sports metaphors aren’t my forte, but I know a home run when I see it.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat