Category Archives: About astrology

Ask Real Astrologers: Is 2012 Really Going to Happen?

This week’s question comes from Bucky in Saskatchewan:

I know you get this a lot, but do you really think that 2012 will happen? People said it a million times before and they say we should believe them. Should we?

Yes, Bucky, 2012 will happen … right after December 31, 2011. After that, 2013 and 2014 will happen.

OK, sorry for being a smartass, especially with a young person. But what the heck, if you can’t be a smartass with a young person, who can you be one with?

I assume that what you really meant to ask is whether I think all of the dire predictions for 2012 are going to happen. That’s actually a very good question and one I get from people of all ages who are rightfully concerned, given all the hype. My answer is definitely no. I can’t tell you who you should and shouldn’t believe, but I don’t buy any of the end-of-the-world, wrath-of-God-stuff.

The 2012 predictions are based on the calendar devised by the ancient Maya, who were exceptional mathematicians. It might surprise some people to hear that the Mayan Calendar does not say that the world is going to end in 2012. That date simply is the end of the cycle for which they calculated the calendar. The notion that it signifies the end of the world was proposed by several researchers of Mayan culture. Incidentally, they don’t even all agree on the end date.

That’s not to say that we aren’t living in interesting times and that 2011 and 2012 won’t be historic years. Events in 2010 already have a lot of people shaken up. I attribute these events to the cardinal T-square. It peaked over the summer, but it was so powerful that we felt it before and afterward. It was recently triggered by Mercury and Mars and will continue to reverberate into the material world.

There will be another cardinal T-square in 2011, although it will be different than this year’s in many ways. I did a preliminary article on it last year but will have more as we approach significant dates.

The T-square will be dissipated by 2012, but other cosmological forces will be in effect that will make it a landmark year in human history. Among other things, we’ll experience a rare Venus transit. When Venus and the Sun are exactly aligned, they will be on the Descendant in Washington, D.C., and Venus also will be in the seventh house of the birth chart for the United States (Sibly). This is a bit worrisome, as the seventh house rules enemies in mundane astrology, and the Mayans associated Venus with war.

Also, Uranus will begin an exact square with Pluto in 2012. We got close during this year’s cardinal T-square, but Uranus never quite caught up to the degree of Pluto. This square corresponds to extreme political unrest, and my guess is that the protests will be about basic survival – in other words, a class war. This unrest will continue well into 2014 and could be quite violent at times.

If you’d like to explore this topic further, I recommend Alison Chester Lambert’s book, The Future in the Stars: The Astrological Message for 2012 and Beyond (there’s a hint for you), and also a documentary film, 2012: Science or Superstition. I reviewed both of those items and found them very sane and informative.

Thanks for writing, Bucky. I’m gratified to see that people your age are asking about serious topics like this and that you’re taking the time to find reliable information. You’ve got it right.

Pat

Got a quick question? Click here to contact Ask Real Astrologers. You must use this form to contact me, or I won’t get your question. I do read all of your questions, although I am sorry that I can’t answer them all. If you need immediate guidance or in-depth advice, please contact me for a private consultation. THANKS!

Living Soul Astrology, Part I: Your Soul Sign

In today’s post, Ruth Hadikin takes us deeper into the exploration of Soul Astrology by explaining the concept of the “Soul Sign.” ~Pat

Stars on the Move. Image courtesy NASA/ESA.

The purpose of any spiritual path or practice is to support us in integrating our Soul and personality by developing Soul-awareness, recognition and identification.

Soul Astrology supports us in this process and our spiritual path by helping us to discern which of our personal qualities, traits, and tendencies are expressions of our Soul-light, and which is learned behaviour (personality-based).

When we begin to look at our natal chart from a spiritual perspective, it is important to remember that we are talking about energy. If you could see your natal chart in 3D (or better still multi-dimensionally), you would see a glorious rainbow-coloured mandala – indicating all the dynamic energies that combine to make up your energetic field. If you could see that visually, you would be able to detect a core vibration, a pure essence, almost like a fabric into which all the other energies are woven. This “fabric” would be your Soul Sign. A beautiful sight to behold!

[headline h=”5″]Your Soul Sign[/headline]

Your Ascendant (Rising Sign) is the essence of your Soul, because it comes in first. It is because your Soul is already resonating at that vibration that it can incarnate at that time and place. Your Ascendant creates a window of opportunity for your Soul to incarnate at that precise moment, in that precise location, because it is the same frequency. So for example, it is because you are a Cancer Soul that you incarnate when Cancer is rising on the horizon. It is your “wavelength,” and so you are able to “beam in” on this frequency!

It is important to be clear that it is not because Cancer is on the Ascendant that this makes you a Cancer Soul. You are a Cancer Soul already. Your Ascendant heralds the “dawn of your life” and, as such, is therefore the most important sign in Soul Astrology and can be considered your Soul Sign.

One of my mentors, Soul Astrologer Errol Weiner, explains in his book Transpersonal Astrology how your Soul stays in the same sign for seven incarnations, and it is possible, by measuring the degree of the Ascendant, to estimate how many lifetimes your Soul has been in this sign. So, in our example, if you have 14º Cancer on the Ascendant, you may have been a Cancer Soul for three or four lifetimes.

So have you always been a Cancer Soul? No. Your Soul is growing, changing, and passing through stages of development, just like your physical body does. When you were an infant, you went through the developmental stages of eating solid food, teething, sitting, standing, walking, and talking. Similarly, according to The Tibetan in Esoteric Astrology by Alice Bailey (AB), your Soul also passes through developmental stages.

[headline h=”5″]The Stages of Soul Development[/headline]

For the purpose of understanding Soul development, we can think of the twelve zodiac signs in three categories. The first four signs are the signs of “preparation.” This is where your “infant” Soul is growing, developing qualities, and taking shape. The next four signs are the signs of “crisis” or “challenge” where your “teenager” Soul has to begin functioning and applying these qualities. The latter four signs are the signs of service, where your mature Soul recognises its purpose, is skilled, and knows what to do in order to serve for the highest good of humanity.

The Signs of Preparation: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer
In Esoteric Astrology, the Tibetan (AB) explains how your Soul begins in Aries as a “point of light in the mind of God.” In Taurus, this point becomes a beam of light, and in Gemini, the beam splits into multiple beams of light. In Cancer, the light becomes the diffuse light in form.

The Signs of Crisis or Challenge: Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio
If you have one of these signs on the Ascendant, you will recognise that struggle and/or challenge, have been major themes throughout your life.

In Leo comes the first “battle.” Your personality has to “fight” to individuate and separate from the mass consciousness of Cancer. The light form has to individuate and become a “Self.” In Virgo, this Self turns to Service by flowing love and light into physical matter.

In Libra, there is an apparent “resting phase” where your Soul exercises ethical choice to harmonise opposite polarities. It is a time of synthesis. (Similarly, in childbirth there is also sometimes a brief resting phase after contractions and before pushing begins). This is important, because there is a kind of birth in Scorpio. As the final sign of “crisis,” Scorpio enters the battlefield, where the lower desires of your personality battle the higher calling of your Soul. Crucifixion of your personality and integration with your Soul happens in Scorpio.

The Signs of Service: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces
In Sagittarius, the true goal is recognised, and there is the potential for true liberation of your mind. Capricorn is the sign of the disciple – the goal is known and your Soul at this point begins the inner journey, walking the spiritual path that leads to the ultimate goal.

According to Esoteric Astrology, in Aquarius your Soul becomes the “World Server,” and in Pisces, the “World Saviour.” These latter signs are the most mysterious and esoteric of all, because humanity has not yet reached an evolved stage of consciousness whereby we can fully understand the true spiritual meaning of these signs and their Divine energies.

At the level of Soul vibration, it is probably best to think of the twelve zodiac signs as twelve Divine Intelligences, or Beings that are working with us, at each stage of our Soul’s development. It takes us around 84 lifetimes to complete a “Soul cycle” through all twelve signs. What happens once our Soul completes a full cycle? No one knows for sure, but my guess is that we start all over again, only from a higher position on the spiral, and so we evolve.

In Part II we will look at the personality signs, why they form an important part of your spiritual journey, and what it means to be living Soul Astrology, as part of your spiritual practice.

Ruth

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Ruth Hadikin – Soul Astrologer

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

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Locational Astrology

In today’s post, Helene Schnitzer introduces us to locational astrology. Wherever you are, I hope you enjoy it! ~Pat

Usually, when reading a horoscope with a view to prediction, the question we ask is when things are going to happen. In addition, Locational Astrology is asking where they are going to take place.

[headline h=”5″]Early Techniques[/headline]

Locational Astrology is really a very old branch of our art. Ptolemy, who lived ca. 150 AD, established the first list of correspondences between certain places and astrological signs. These lists were expanded and refined during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Still, they would not go much further than, for example, “Italy is a Leo country, so being an Aries, you should have a lot of fun there,” or “London is a Gemini city, so as a writer or merchant, you should be doing well.”

Horary Astrology also makes use of the locational descriptions attached to the signs. However, this also doesn’t go much further than, “The planet signifying your lost cat is in Scorpio. It’s probably stuck in a murky swamp nearby.”

Eventually, the directions of the wind were attached to the various signs as well. For example, Taurus would be connected to the South, Scorpio to the North, and so forth. But there was no consensus; one astrologer might tell you to look for your lost cat in the North, whereas another would send you in a completely different direction.

[headline h=”5″]Local Space [/headline]

This lack of consensus was remedied with the development of so-called Local Space. This technique works with the astronomical reality behind the horoscope. For example, the Midheaven in the chart indicates the highest point in the sky, which the Sun reaches at noon. Therefore, the Midheaven is always pointing to the South. The Ascendant in the horoscope signifies the point on the horizon where the Sun would rise, i.e. the East. If a planet was situated in the eleventh house of the chart, i.e. between Ascendant and Midheaven, it would consequently be pointing towards the South-East. On the basis of this simple reasoning one can erect a Local Space map that shows in which directions the planets were pointing at the time of someone’s birth.

The theory, having been proven correct many times over, is that one evokes a planet’s energy by going into its original direction. For example, buying your groceries under your personal Moon line will likely give you exactly the nutrition you want (unless the Moon was strongly afflicted at birth). If you do the same under your Saturn line, you may find that your “fresh” vegetables are wilting and your bread is stale or sold out altogether when you arrive at the bakery.

A Local Space map is very useful within your home and local community. You can also take it with you when traveling, to help orientate yourself in a foreign city. However, your map loses its potency after about fifty miles from where you are at the time, due to the curved surface of our planet.

[headline h=”5″]AstroCartoGraphy
[/headline]

In the 1970s, Locational Astrology was revolutionized when American astrologer Jim Lewis developed AstroCartoGraphy. His genial realization was that, had you been born at the same date and time but in a different place, certain planets would have been positioned on one of the four angles of your horoscope.

The so-called angles are the Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendant and Immum Coeli (lowest point of the horoscope, bottom of the chart). They are “incidental,” which means they depend on time and location, due to the rotation and tilted axis of the Earth. Any planet situated on one of these points has prominence and tends to strongly express itself in the life of an individual.

Lewis’s theory was that a person could emphasize a planet’s effect by relocating to a place where this planet would have been on an angle at birth. Calculating where this would be, he found that each planet/angle combination forms a line circling the whole planet more or less vertically. At some points, these lines cross each other, forming a so-called paran, a line where two or more angular planets are at work and which circles the Earth horizontally.

Since Jim Lewis developed this technique and called it AstroCartoGraphy, it has helped many thousands of people to find the right location for their specific purpose – be it a career move or simply a relaxing holiday. However, should you consult an astrocartographer, please do not expect miracles. Remember, if it’s not in the natal chart, it won’t happen!

Helene

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Helene Schnitzer is an astrologer living in Glastonbury, England. Her specialities include Traditional, Horary and Hellenistic Astrology, and Astro*Carto*Graphy. Click HERE to read her full bio.

Aquarius-Leo: Why Your Ego Matters in the New Age (II)

As promised, here is the second installment of Ruth’s excellent article on Soul Astrology. ~Pat

In part one, we discussed Nietzches’ three stages of consciousness: the Camel, the Lion and the Child.

If we look around at our world today there may be a significant number of individuals who are indeed waking up and walking their own individualised spiritual path, but there are an even greater number of “Camels,” who still follow the herd, follow the group, want to belong, be in a gang, go along with the family, “toe the Corporate line,” want to “fit in,” not “make waves,” follow the latest fashion, drop out and use drugs, alcohol, TV and many forms of Piscean-type escapism.

The polarity of Aquarius’ opposite sign, Leo, is needed, for Leo brings with it the path of Self-Realization. It takes a Lion’s heart and courage to begin our inner journey to Self-realization. If we polarize too far to the Aquarian extreme, we run the risk of making “humanity” – a utopian ideal of the collective – more important than the individuals within it. This is when ecological idealism becomes imposed on people rather than structures which support individuals in developing their self-awareness. Indeed this is where communism went wrong.

Our present-day experience of Communism is an example of when the ideal Aquarian group utopia is implemented before people are ready. Camels cannot do it, and the result is a faceless collective in which individualism is suppressed. Individuality is squashed and people are not allowed to make waves. This is where our lovely Leo will stand up and roar: What about ME? There is a real Self and a false Self, and it is Leo’s job to figure out which is which, by exploring the Self.

The Aquarian Age is the “new age” that we are entering. We are on the cusp of that age now as we leave the Piscean age that began in AD 1. Each age lasts approximately 2,160 years*. Esoteric Astrology tells us that during this new age we will each experience our own Soul. This will be a gradual process and not a sudden, blinding revelation. It is important to note that we are not in the Aquarian Age yet; we are still in the Piscean Age, but on the cusp. So our minds are still fogged by the illusion, fear, and confusion of lower Piscean consciousness.

Every individual matters. Every Lion who has the courage to stand up and choose an individualised path, who breaks free from the old patterns of “tribal thinking,” will make a difference – especially when those individuals have begun to walk the path of their own inner truth. Look at some of the most “radical” people of our age: Nelson Mandela, and most recently Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi. People who stood alone and stood out were persecuted for it, and yet on a personal level radiate such warmth, love and peace. It is through such heart-centred and courageous individuals that the Aquarian dream of equality and humanitarianism will be realized in the Aquarian Age.

Our collective spiritual awakening will be a gradual process that will take place over the next 2,200 years. The Age of Aquarius will bring “mystic revelations and the mind’s true liberation” (just as the song said!). But we aren’t there yet. We need a bridge, and Soul Astrology can be just such a bridge for those who resonate with it.

Soul Astrology is the Astrology of our inner journey. It supports individuals in waking up and embarking upon their own unique spiritual path. It is a bridge between the old world and the new age. It allows us to read a natal chart from a conventional perspective and from a spiritual perspective. It is a vehicle which can ferry us across the river on our journey to higher consciousness.

Ruth

* The earth makes a 25,625-year orbit through the 12 constellations of the Zodiac – the precession of the equinoxes. This is known as a “Great Year.” During this time it spends about 2,160 years in each sign. In addition, the Great Year can also be divided into five “World Ages,” which last approx 5,125 years. These are the World Ages of the Mayan calendar; however sometimes a World Age is referred to as the 2,160-year period. There are also other systems which refer to World Ages, such as the Yugas in Hindu cosmology. Although this seems potentially confusing, all becomes relevant in terms of Soul Astrology. While the dates vary, the conditions they describe do not. So if we are speaking less in terms of a physical tangible time period and more in terms of a “developmental stage in consciousness,” they become meaningful and make more sense.

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This article is an extract from “Evolving Consciousness, Soul Astrology and the Aquarian Age,” an ongoing series in the “Living Soul Astrology” section of Life Coaching Magazine.

(You can read more about Ruth on my new Associates page. ~pq)

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

Aquarius-Leo: Why Your Ego Matters in the New Age

I am very pleased to introduce you to Ruth Hadikin, my colleague in the UK who specializes in Soul Astrology. In the first part of this two-part article, Ruth introduces us to the origins and fundamentals of this esoteric branch of astrology. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. (You can read more about Ruth on my new Associates page.) ~Pat

Soul Astrology draws upon Psychological Astrology, Transpersonal Astrology and Esoteric Astrology. Soul Astrology is a bridge to get us from ‘here’ to ‘there’. Where is here? Our current psychological state in which our sense of identity stems from our egoic mind, and self-concepts based on personality traits. Where is ‘there’? An evolved post-egoic state in which our sense of identity comes from a true ‘realization’ of ourselves as spiritual beings: based on our own inner experience.

With Alice Bailey as his ‘channel’*, the Tibetan wrote the work known as ‘Esoteric Astrology’. It was said at the time of publishing that we really wouldn’t have the consciousness to understand most of it, and that it would take Astrologers of the future to interpret it. Esoteric Astrology concerns itself largely with ray energies, the destiny of humankind, and nations. It is a science of energies and triangles, that are used to create energetic fields which, in turn, support creation and sacred geometry. In comparison with the personality-based Astrology of the day, the role of personality was minimised.

The Astrology of Rays and the Science of Triangles will become increasingly relevant, once we have collectively transcended ego, but we are a long way from that Aquarian utopia. If we try to run before we can walk there is a danger here of great delusion. We can believe ourselves to have surpassed (transcended) ego when indeed we are still in the pre-egoic state. In order to transcend our ego, we must first pass through this important stage in our spiritual development.

The challenge for the Aquarian age is to separate beliefs, man-made ideas and delusion from spiritual truth. The German philosopher Friedrich Neitzche spoke of three stages of consciousness: the Camel, the Lion and the Child. The Camel represents tribal consciousness, where we follow the herd, follow the masses, and go along with the collective consciousness. The Camels are sleeping – no great awakening here! This is the pre-egoic state.

The Lion represents individualisation – the ability and the willingness to stand alone. Separate. Apart from the herd. In terms of our personal spiritual development this is the development of, and identification with, our ego. The Lions (represented by Leo) are waking up. This is our currently emerging egoic state.

The Child represents the ‘free spirit’ once we are liberated from our egoic challenges and delusions. This is the post-egoic state. Our spirit is ‘free’. The Child is our fully awakened, or enlightened, Self.

[headline h=”5″]Why Your Ego Matters![/headline]

What is our ego? The word ego is misused so much in so-called ‘new age’ and spiritual circles, and often in a derogatory way. (Indeed it is often used in such a way as to try and suppress the newly-emerging ego). A simple definition of ego is ‘when the mind is thinking about itself’. If you are thinking you are (or are not) something, that is ego. Who you really are cannot be thought about.

We spend a lot of time and money trying to get rid of our ego, thinking we have transcended it, only to trip over it and realize – oops! There ‘it’ is again! Yet our ‘ego’ is very important, and without it we could not experience our own, personal, individualised, Soul.

Without individuals experiencing their own inner spiritual journey, there would be no ‘new age’. There would be no spiritual age of awakening for who would be awakening? It is individuals who awaken, not ‘collectives’.

To be continued …

Ruth

* I use the word channel, but it is often thought that the Tibetan (who later became known as the Master DK) was alive and well and the Abbot of a monastery in Tibet at the time. So this could have been an example of telepathic transmission between their two minds.

[hr]

This article is an extract from “Evolving Consciousness, Soul Astrology and the Aquarian Age,” an ongoing series in the “Living Soul Astrology” section of Life Coaching Magazine.

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

Horary Astrology

In an effort to broaden the knowledge you find here on RealAstrologers, I’m inviting a select group of professionals with different approaches and other areas of expertise to become RealAstrologers Associates. Today I’m happy to introduce you to Helene Schnitzer, an exceptional astrologer in Glastonbury, England, who presents an introduction to Horary Astrology. ~ Pat

Horary Astrology is a divinatory technique that finds the answers for simple questions in the moment they were asked. The thought behind it is that question and answer are made up of the same ingredients, like the two sides of a coin. The same energies that are needed to formulate the questions make it possible to find the answer.

The origins of this technique are nebulous, but many of the rules for interpretation were preserved by Medieval Arab astrologers, whose writings often referred to ancient Greek and even Egyptian sources. It is quite possible that Horary was developed in ancient times for clients who didn’t know their date of birth but had their questions like everybody else.

In Europe, Horary Astrology became increasingly popular from the 15th – 18th centuries. But with the advent of the so-called Age of Enlightenment, astrology fell into disrepute altogether and only made a comeback during the last century.

Nowadays, only a certain number of astrologers have mastered this technique, which is quite different from natal astrology. But if your astrologer knows how to interpret a horary chart, you can hand her or him your question and possibly the date and time of the moment it arose. However, most Horary practitioners stick to the rule that the moment the astrologer hears and understands the question is crucial.

Your astrologer will first establish whether the chart is “valid.” Sometimes you may be told that it is too early or too late for your question, or that the chart is unreadable. This is not a cop-out on the astrologer’s part; there are interpretation rules for such cases. For example, some astrologers refuse to read Horary charts that feature Saturn in the seventh house. This chart area signifies, among other things, the astrologer, and Saturn in this place indicates that he or she might make a mistake.

But if the chart is “valid” – and most of them are – the astrologer will then look for the significators (representatives) of your question in the chart, to analyse their individual strength and their relationship with each other.

Let’s assume the question is, “Will I find my lost car keys?” The astrologer will identify the planet signifying you and the one representing your keys. If they make no connection in the chart, you may be advised to call the locksmith. But if they do, and the aspect between them is favourable, you may have to wait a while but you will get your keys back. In some cases the astrologer will even be able to tell you exactly where to go and look for them!

One question people ask very often is, “Will my lover (husband, wife) return to me?” Again, if the two significators make a connection in the foreseeable future, the answer is yes. But beware! If the connection between those two planets is tense, the querent may just be confronted with the same old arguments and yet another break-up. Or, if the planet signifying the querent is in a weak position, the return of the partner may not be in the querent’s best interest.

If you are about to give Horary a try, please remember to keep your question simple. Some people try to cover every eventuality by formulating complicated sentences, packing three questions into one. Maybe they think that this way, they will definitely get their money’s worth. But it doesn’t work like that. The simpler you formulate your question, the clearer the answer will be.

Right now, I am wondering whether this piece of writing will be published. Let’s see. The Sun signifies the article and is in the third house of communication and writing, so yes, the chart is valid. The Moon, another significator of the article, is in the fifth house of creativity and entertainment. OK, that shows how much fun I have writing. However, the Moon in Capricorn is not at its best and this is not high literature, sorry. Luna is also very close to the North Node, a point of destiny – these words had to be written! The next connection the Moon will make is a favourable partile aspect to Mars. Mars represents the ninth house of foreign countries and of publications. So yes, this piece will be published, and on a website in another country than where it was written.

I hope you enjoyed reading it!

Helene

Helene Schnitzer is an astrologer living in Glastonbury, England. Her specialities include Traditional, Horary and Hellenistic Astrology, and Astro*Carto*Graphy. Click HERE to read her full bio.

Every year, usually in late summer, Llewellyn releases its Daily Planetary Guide for the following year. The 2011 edition is now available, and while it’s a bit early to order it if you’re just using it to track planetary aspects from day to day, it couldn’t hurt to get it now so that you’ll have it when the new year begins. You might even add it to your holiday wish list.

For me, it’s absolutely essential, as I rely on it to write my forecasts in advance. Do you think I go through the ephemerides and hand-calculate when each aspect will occur? Gracious, no! It’s all here in this book, which provides a daily rundown of all aspects between the Sun, Moon, eight planets, Ceres and Chiron. It also tells you when the planets change signs and when they go retrograde and direct – all extremely useful. Exact times are noted, for both the east and west coasts of the United States.

Before I write my forecasts, I go through the book and highlight the key aspects. That’s how I know what the week, month, or year is going to look like.

Sometimes I need the ephemeris, though, and that’s in the back of the book, in Universal Time, and it includes Juno, Pallas, and Vesta. There are additional features of the book that I don’t use at all, but they are quite helpful for the beginner. The first few pages contain a quick astrology lesson and explain things such as the void-of-course Moon.

I include all of the week’s most important aspects in my weekly forecasts, but if you have at least a beginner’s knowledge of astrology and would like to have a peek farther ahead, you’ll find this book invaluable. With some guidance and a little practice, you can learn how to use this calendar to create your own transit charts for the big events in 2011.

The Daily Planetary Guide doubles as my desk calendar and appointment book, and I carry it with me whenever I leave town. I truly would be lost without it.

I created a link in the left sidebar in case you’d like to order it from Amazon, which offers it at a great discount. I predict that you’ll get hooked on it, too!

Pat

Llewellyn’s 2011 Daily Planetary Guide
208 pages
ISBN: 978-0738711287
July 2010/Llewellyn Publications
US$12.99

Saturday Extra! Brain Chemistry, The ‘God Particle’ and the Space Between the Eclipses

In my consulting practice as well as my continuing study of astrology, my focus is on using astrology as a tool to predict how invisible energies flowing through the cosmos might manifest into material reality.

I’ve taken this approach for years, despite the lack of any evidence whatsoever that these invisible energies exist or that they somehow coalesce into tangible objects and events.

So imagine my surprise when I came across an article in the Guardian the other day quoting a leading particle physicist describing just such a process and encouraging his colleagues to start contemplating the “hidden world” behind our material universe.

It’s what I’ve been saying all along! I just didn’t have the scientific background to be able to describe it. Then, neither do most particle physicists. It is only recently that the idea has gained visibility, thanks to a new high-energy particle accelerator in Switzerland that may help prove the existence of the Higgs boson, a subatomic particle believed to be the bridge between unmanifest potential and manifest reality. For that reason, it has been dubbed the “God particle.”

This is exciting news for astrologers, because it might establish the groundwork for understanding how astrology works. Of course, we then have to make the leap into understanding what the movement of the planets has to do with energy manifesting into matter. That will require another level of discovery, but I believe it will happen, and maybe in my lifetime.

How invisible energies manifest into reality is especially important now, when we have an astrological configuration that is unprecedented in human history. In our lifetime, we’ve witnessed bits and pieces of the cardinal T-square, but never anything like what’s coming up this summer.

We’re also at a crossroads in the evolution of human consciousness. Indeed, the very idea that any physicist would look at hidden worlds rather than taking a narrow view of material reality is quite a leap. On the whole, scientists are solidly in the left-brain camp. I would bet that those proposing these radical new ideas either are particularly brilliant — blessed not just with a high IQ, but with a highly evolved intuitive side — or they’ve recently had a “spiritual” awakening.

And what exactly is a spiritual awakening? First, it’s not a one-time event, but an ongoing process. We continue to evolve, although there definitely are “spikes” along the way. Indeed, we might expect lots of spikes with Uranus in Aries amplified by Jupiter.

Second, there’s a brain chemistry factor. Within the human brain, a chemical reaction must take place to bridge the gap between the transmitting and receiving terminals of the neurons. The bridging mechanism is called the synapse, derived from the Greek “clasping together.” When something goes wrong in that process, the result can be depression, which is a sort of separation sickness — two poles in the neuron without a bridge to connect them.

Interestingly enough, the function of synapses in the nervous system was discovered in the 1800s. During those same years, Neptune was discovered, and toward the end of the century, the term “New Age” was coined to describe the upsurge in spirituality.

I have a vague sense that spiritual awakening involves brain chemistry and that impaired brain chemistry even may explain the polarization of humanity and the separation between the divine masculine and divine feminine. What if the source of this story from the beginning of time is literally in our mind? What if the separation is in our own brain chemistry, perhaps a necessary step in the evolution of the human mind and body?

I see parallels between this separation of logic and intuition, male and female, and the separation of unmanifest energy and physical matter. And, in both cases, they need some kind of a bridge across the gap between them in order to re-connect, be it a “God particle,” a chemical, or an electrical impulse.

Eclipses are windows on time. This morning’s lunar eclipse will be followed in by a solar eclipse in Cancer on July 11 (Cancer is the sign of birth and the urge to manifest into form). What will bridge this two-week gap? What will connect us? What thought forms will fill this empty space and perhaps give birth to a new reality?

These are all questions I’m asking myself. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Pat

Help for the Mercury Retrograde Challenged

Detail of Farnese Gallery ceiling in Rome, by Annibale Carracci

Detail of Mercury, from Loves of the Gods, a series of frescoes by Italian painter Annibale Carracci, 1597. Palazzo Farnese (currently the French Embassy), Rome, Italy.

You’re late for your date, stuck in the mother of all traffic jams, and forgot your iPhone. After driving around for what seems like forever, you finally find a phone booth and make your call, only to discover you had the wrong day.

It’s classic Mercury retrograde!

Named after the mythological messenger of the gods, Mercury rules communications, contracts, traffic flow, business negotiations, partnerships, and small electronics. Three times a year, he goes retrograde — an astronomical term used to describe the optical illusion of planets moving backward in the sky from one day to the next. His next retrograde starts this Sunday, April 18.

Mercury was known as a trickster, and when he’s retrograde, his “practical jokes” are anything but amusing. We get our wires crossed, don’t say what we think we’re saying, and don’t hear what the other person intended. These snafus can be irritating at best and at worst can break up relationships.

Here are a couple of true stories from my past, honest to goddess, no embellishing!

During Mercury retrograde in April 2004, I was living in a small village in the south of France. Road construction on the main thoroughfare left a narrow, one-way street as the only route in and out of the village center. If two cars ended up there at the same time, one had to back all the way out and let the other pass. Now, even in the best of times, country Frenchmen will not yield to each other, probably due to some malfunction of testosterone, of which they always had too much, in my opinion. It doesn’t take much of a leap to figure out what happened with Mercury retrograde in hot-headed Aries.

I watched from my second-floor window as two cars met on the street below. Instead of the usual stand-off, one driver got out of his car and started screaming obscenities (I understood most of it!). Without a word, the other guy got out of his car, locked it, and went straight to the nearest pub for a drink. The first guy got so angry that he grabbed a nearby dumpster and hurled it at the parked car, then proceeded to back out of town via a frighteningly narrow alleyway.

Here’s another car story, this one from Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius later in the same year, just after I arrived on Vashon:

The people whose house I was renting had left their car in a neighbor’s parking space while they were away. A friend of theirs e-mailed and asked to borrow the car, which they agreed to, and they contacted the neighbor with whom they’d left the car to let him know that their friend would be picking it up. Normally somewhat absent-minded, he totally blanked out during Mercury retrograde. When he discovered that the car was missing, he called the cops, who tracked it down. The friend had some fast explaining to do, but managed to work it out with the police. When she returned the car to the forgetful neighbor, they got in a big fight, and she ended up in tears.

Fortunately, that story ended happily with apologies all around — after Mercury returned direct, of course.

Situations like these can be avoided if you just remain aware of the pitfalls of Mercury retrograde. Several years ago, I devised some tips for “safe handling,” and I repeat them here for you:

• BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER FILES early and often. I can’t say this enough.

• Avoid all major purchases, especially computers or anything to do with communications and transportation. If you don’t end up returning them, they’ll give you headaches for the rest of their lifetime.

• If you can avoid it, don’t travel. If you can’t avoid it, then be obsessive about confirming all reservations. Give yourself plenty of time to get to the airport, and keep a very low profile going through security. No joking with the security guards. I don’t have to tell you how that could end up.

• Signing contracts is a big no-no. Renegotiating existing contracts to get better terms is OK, but be sure to read and re-read the fine print.

• Speak clearly and watch your words. Although we can never tell how another person will take what we say, it’s more likely during Mercury retrograde that someone will take offense where none was intended. If you need something, state it simply and directly.

• Likewise, if someone says something insensitive, stop and think before taking offense. They probably didn’t mean it. And even if they did, this isn’t the time to get into it.

• If a misunderstanding occurs, don’t automatically blame the other person. You might think you were being perfectly clear, and you may be even more sure that the other person said what you think they did, but you wouldn’t believe how many times, in hindsight, I’ve found that both sides were technically “right” during Mercury retrograde. This is one of the biggest unexplained mysteries of the Mercury retrograde phenomenon.

• We all make mistakes, and they’re even more likely while Mercury is retrograde. My best advice is forgive and forget. As I’m so fond of saying, otherwise intelligent people say and do stupid things during Mercury retrograde.

• Laugh! When you think about some of these situations, they’re funnier than any Hollywood script.

Have a safe and happy Mercury retrograde!
Pat

RealAstrologers

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Help for the Mercury Retrograde Challenged