Sunday 8/31/08

In a year of reinforced earth power, we are aligned with primal nature, a fruitful development.

(Virgo new moon with Saturn, trine Jupiter in Capricorn.)

Saturday 8/30/08--Virgo new moon

Earthy intensity is getting to us, grounding us in simplicity amidst complexity.

(Moon meets sun in Virgo at 12:58pm Pacific time, Saturn at 7:21pm, trine Jupiter in Capricorn at 9:31pm.)

Thursday 8/28/08

Passionate heart, at a time of intensity seeking resolution.

(Moon in Leo, sun in Virgo with Saturn.)

Wednesday 8/27/08

Intensified physicality, saturated with feeling.

(Virgo sun, Cancer moon.)

Virgo 2008

The end of summer in the north, last of the three earth signs, a time of ripening, sorting and resolving in physicality. This year's historic reinforcement of earth power, the primal force of physical nature, is completing months of internalizing, charging us up with potential (and the sometimes unnerving feelings that come with it) which will, after September 8, start to turn forward into outflowing manifestation.

This year, expansive, creative, 12-year-cycle Jupiter and deep, heavy, 248-year-cycle Pluto have moved into the assertion of earthy physicality and constructive new beginnings, Capricorn. But they've been backtracking and internalizing (retrograde) for months, and are now going slower and slower, deeper and deeper, coming to a stop within us. This is good, charging us with power for grounded expression that will shift forward and start to come out very soon. But it can be unsettling, an intensified experience of physicality and the challenges of awareness amidst it. And even if we can handle it, we still have to deal with people who can't. Forget it. Ride it out. Retreat to simplicity and comfort for now, settled at the heart of whatever it's putting us through.

The Virgo new moon on Saturday August 30 is a peak of physical intensity. Then on September 7/8, both Jupiter and Pluto will complete their backtracking and internalizing and start to flow forward again, just as creative Jupiter in earthy Capricorn aligns supportively (trine) with grounding, centering, 30-year-cycle Saturn in the ripening practicality of Virgo. All the primal power that will be releasing is guided toward a truly fruitful new arrangement, a rewarding harvest we can share. With activating Mars, mental Mercury and beautiful Venus leading the way into Libra's loving awareness, where we're headed with the coming autumn, we are drawn toward the romantic color of celebration in the land of love, a sweet, magical, Indian summer garden party.

Right now we are getting charged-up with earthy energy, like a kid's toy car that you wind backwards and then let go, taking off as it releases. We're almost done with the wind-up part of the process, ready to launch into a historic autumn of progressive transformation. This is the internalizing midpoint in a big year of reinforced earth power. By late November, at Thanksgiving, we'll be living in a new world.

Sunday 8/24/08

Intensified physicality is internalizing. Mentally-charged sensitivity shifts into release Monday night.

(Sun in Virgo with Saturn, Jupiter nearing end of retrograde in Capricorn. Moon in Gemini, into Cancer at 5:18pm Monday night Pacific time.)

Wednesday 8/20/08

A solid core of passion anchored by deep power from the very bottom of things.

(Aries moon, Leo sun, Pluto in Sagittarius.)

Tuesday 8/19/08

Heart emerges into spring spirit just as action expression leads the way into loving attitude.

(Moon into Aries, Mars into Libra.)

Sunday 8/17/08

Vulnerable sensitivity.

(Pisces moon.)

humanity

Amidst all the power and drama of life, give in to your heart and see where it takes you.

"Love is the glue of the universe." --Albert Einstein

Saturday 8/16/08--Leo full moon

Today's Leo full moon eclipse in Aquarius, at 2:16pm Pacific time, is a historic alignment that can fundamentally transform the dynamics of life on this planet.

The sun is in Leo, peak passion, fed heavy power from the bottom of things--Pluto in Sagittarius for the last time this 248-year-cycle. The moon is opposite the sun in Aquarius, peak awareness, with deep feeling, healing sensitivity, and spirituality--Neptune, Chiron, and moon node. It is happening as this year's intensification of earthy physicality reaches peak reinforcement--retrograde Jupiter in Capricorn trine Saturn with Mercury, Venus, and Mars in Virgo. A big wave of polarized power is aligned and will now break open, releasing energy that's been building under the surface of our familiar structures, redrawing the landscape of our lives as we move into an era of adjustment and renewal.

This alignment defines the balance between the compelling fire of self-expression and an enlightened relationship with the community of all life. Accepting creation at every moment, the energy of passion and the solitary experience of spacious awareness, is the key to peace and health amidst life's interconnectedness and the drama of unfolding developments.

It is not our job to control reality. We must accept our place as intelligent agents of natural creation and allow divinity to have its way with us.

"All we are saying...is give life a chance."

Friday 8/15/08

Peak passion charged with deepest feeling, as heart moves into alignment with awareness.

(Leo sun opposite Neptune, with moon in Aquarius. Full moon Saturday.)

Wednesday 8/13/08

Intensified earthy energy is sorting itself out.

We're on our way to Saturday's peak passion full moon at the center of awareness. A new power alignment.

Tuesday 8/12/08

Energized earth power, guided toward fruitful development in mind and love.

(Moon in Capricorn with Jupiter, trine Mercury, Venus and Saturn in Virgo.)

Monday 8/11/08

Spirit hitting bottom with heavy power, rebounding tomorrow with grounded constructiveness.

Moon in Sagittarius meets Pluto 2:04am Tuesday Pacific time, into Capricorn 4:42am.)

Sunday 8/10/08

Heart spirit getting down to the bottom of things.

(Moon in Sagittarius.)

Friday 08/08/08

Passion energized with magnetic intensity.

(Sun in Leo, moon in Scorpio.)

Tuesday 8/5/08

Heart sensitivity in love awareness. Energizing tension building between earthy action and emotional wisdom, passionate mind and visionary dreams, peaking tomorrow.

(Moon in Libra. Mars in Virgo opposite Uranus in Pisces, Mercury in Leo opposite Neptune in Aquarius, releasing at noon Wednesday Pacific time.)

August

Leo, being the middle, peak fire sign, is the time when energizing pressure heats up to the boiling point, and August is notorious for situations that have been long simmering finally breaking out into dramatic manifestation. It can be the heat of destruction or the power that drives the train of progress forward. This year, with primal earth nature reinforced and deep mind in vulnerable sensitivity, things are really getting to people. Part of the process. Let's give in, cool out, and see where it leads.

Leo 2008

The new moon eclipse in Leo on August 1 was a convergence at the peak of passion, a powerful turning point in this year of historically reinforced earth energy, the physicality of deeper nature, magnifying our experience and responses. Now this built-up wave of energized passion breaks out into expression, moving us forward. In two weeks, at the full moon on August 16, it will forge a new power alignment, the full heart enlightened with the dream of spiritual healing.

This year, big influences are shifting to physical manifestation. Expansive, creative, 12-year-cycle Jupiter is in Capricorn, the first of the three earth signs, rebounding off the bottom of our seasonal cycle with primal power. (You can see Jupiter, big, bright and beautiful in the southern sky at night.) Its counterbalance, 30-year cycle centering, grounding Saturn, is moving through Virgo, the last of the three earth signs, guiding all the new physical energy that Jupiter is generating toward a truly fruitful outcome. Deep, heavy Pluto, moving into Capricorn this year for the first time since 1762, has now moved back into the passion of fire sign Sagittarius one last time before completing its historic shift into Capricorn at the end of November. Right now there is great energizing force grounding us in the physicality of nature, with the weight of deep transformation anchoring us in the passion at the bottom of things.

There is much talk of 2012 and the Mayan Calender. People have heard that it is the culmination of a 5,000 year cycle ending at the winter solstice on December 21, 2012, when, it is sometimes inaccurately alleged, our planet's axis will be aligned with the galactic center for first time in 26,000 years. This scenario sounds pretty grand, but the reality of 2012 is much bigger than that.

The groundbreaking research and insight of the Swedish biologist Carl Johan Calleman seems to have cracked the code on the Mayan Calendar, and it is truly stunning. What Calleman has found and described (Barbara Hand Clow has also written a book attempting to distill his work) is that the cyclical rhythms defined by the Mayan Calendar actually trace the energy dynamic which has driven the process of life evolution on our planet since the Big Bang that initiated the spreading manifestation of our "universe" over 16 billion years ago. Calleman has shown how the calendar outlines a systematic developmental process that periodically jumps to a new level with an accelerated vibratory energy, catalyzing the initiation of new life forms through nine essential levels that precisely parallel what modern science says has been the timing of evolutionary emergence. And according to this more accurate delineation of the Mayan Calendar, it culminates on October 28, 2011 with the simultaneous completion of all nine levels and the graduation of human intelligence and life on this planet into a clarified relationship with universal interconnectedness.

The period that began 5,000 years ago (suddenly seems like six months with a spiritual learner's permit) has been an awkward and troubling transition, mythologically described as the "fall" of human consciousness from integrity with nature, where expanded cognition and awareness left us confused and uncomfortable, seeking either intellectualized control-assertion (figure out what is right and make it happen) or dangerous denial (tune out what troubles you and go for compensatory gratification), growing a social reality based on domination, exploitation and insensitivity, even as most people everywhere are really good at heart while struggling to create a decent life in a world threatened with scarcity and hostility. This, it is alleged, is being superseded by the forces of nature that are now being intensified (especially since 1999) to the point of reclaiming our mis-aligned planetary culture and, by 2012, restoring the natural harmony of divine interrelationship to humanity and this planet, whatever the trauma of transition.

The Leo new moon eclipse of August 1, a reinforcement of passion in a time of intensified nature force, has generated a powerful wave of heat and light that now moves out into our world, taking us with it. I remain concerned about what this could bring where old tension and restrained hostility are reaching the breaking point, and the planet itself may manifest the magnified physicality we are all experiencing. But the reinforcement of deep nature is a good thing, catalyzing truth and strengthening the foundation of healthy living. At the full moon on August 16, the fully-empowered heart sensitivity (moon) will be counterbalancing impassioned soul vitality (opposite the Leo sun) in the visionary awareness of the enlightened mind (Aquarius), joining the forces of healing, spirituality and dreams there (Chiron, moon node and Neptune). This is a glimpse of where we're headed: Beyond this year's shift to earthy physicality is next year's energized meeting of healing and dreams in enlightened awareness.

Let us all awaken to acceptance of underlying nature at every moment, allowing it to have its way with us, freeing us from misplaced tension and anxiety, bringing us into the peace and health of a purified relationship with the miracle of creation.

Sunday 8/3/08

Passion comes out in energized earthiness.

(Sun in Leo, moon in Virgo with Saturn and Mars, trine Jupiter in Capricorn.)