2010 Is The Year The Gates of Cardinal Initiation Open

Countless astrologers have been writing and buzzing about the Cardinal configurations that are beginning to form in 2010.  Raymond Merriman, the astute and well-known financial astrologer, coined the term ‘Cardinal Climax’, but Jeff Jawer, another well-known popular astrologer, took issue and said, “Climaxes are high points, often at the end of an event or cycle, sometimes in the middle, but never at the beginning……..This is no passive release of the old, although much of the past will be left behind.  It is a commencement—a Cardinal Commencement, if you like.”  (See The Mountain Astrologer, Issue #147).  For some reason most inter-net astrologers have taken up the cry of ‘Cardinal Climax’ and continue in that vein.  It is a catchy phrase.

I agree more with Mr. Jawer that it is going to be a phase of initiation, a beginning of momentous changes about to take off with great force.  The months of June, July, August, and probably September herald this giant kick-off into the new and unknown for all of us on planet Earth.

Living in the woods, here in the Sierra mountains where dead wood is plentiful, I’ve been starting fires in our wood stove all winter long.  What does it take to get a good roaring fire going?  You need very dry kindling and a bit of paper.  You need to know how to position the kindling for maximum ignition.  I usually stack the wood like a little tepee.  Then you need to begin to build upon that initial kindling fire with wood that burns hot and fast like cedar, and finally you add the harder woods like oak.  You keep the air vent open wide until the fire is blazing and then you close down the vent to reduce the amount of air going into the stove so that a nice slow burn continues.  Many things can go wrong in this process if you don’t know what you’re doing and haven’t the experience of doing it over and over again: too little air, too damp of wood, too much stacked to start, or not enough, etc.  It actually takes some skill and experience to be a good fire starter and fire keeper, but once you get the hang of it, it almost becomes automatic.

What is it going to take to kindle the fires of change on this planet?  We know there is a lot of old dead wood that needs to burn!  There is a lot of old ROTTEN wood that needs to burn!  None of us have to be political commentators here to see that much of the world’s ‘Haves’ have gained their power and wealth by stealing from others and the earth.  This rip-off of natural resources, indigenous peoples, hard working, honest people and even other predators like themselves can’t continue much longer.  This obsessive drive is non-sustainable and will create some science-fiction scenario like ‘Mad-Max and the Thunderdome’,

The Handmaid

or a modern feudal-system kind of world where the wealthy and powerful create barricaded enclaves for themselves while the rest of the population are enslaved such as those in the novel ‘The Handmaids Tale’ by Margaret Atwood.  Science fiction times are with us, are they not?

There are so many places now on the planet that break one’s heart.  So many places where abject suffering continues unabated.     Look at the Palestinians where an entire people are walled in and walled off with next to nothing while their neighbors enjoy military might and advantage that my tax dollars subsidize.

Both allies, America and Israel, are breaking international law. (See The Goldstone report and Norman Finkelstein’s ‘This Time We Went Too Far”

Gaza War Crimes

Do your homework and find out what is going on!  Don’t listen to or read media-hype.  It’s owned lock, stock, and barrel now by the very powers that represent the elite plutocracy.

Poverty in Mexico City

Look at Mexico where the corruption of government and the drug cartels keeps an entire population at sub-levels of poverty—yes, 80% of Mexico’s population is below the poverty level of existence.

Dal Lake in Kashmir

700,00 Indian soldiers occupy Kashmir

Look at Kashmir where 700,000 Indian troops occupy a poor and beautiful land burning villages and rounding up the people like cattle so that their mineral rich land can be exploited.

Look at America where the ‘American dream’ is fast ending for millions of hard-working regular folks like those in Flint, Michigan where the unemployment rate is over 30%. Why?  Because the people of America have been sold a lie and they have bought it. There is so little fighting spirit left in the land of the free, the home of the brave.  There are so many places on this beleaguered planet that cry for help and nothing much seems to ever right the balance of inequality.  These are unjust times when a Supreme Court can rule that a corporate impersonal ‘body’ has as much civil rights as an individual.  How can the little person ever compete?  How can the Earth itself survive the rapacious hunger of predatory energies now unleashed all over the planet?  Every animal, bird, fish, tree, plant is at risk now.  Even the soil is poisoned and depleted.  The air we breathe is toxic.  The waters are polluted.

Starhawk gave a foretaste of what could become a reality in her magnificent novel,

I loved that book, and I also loved ‘The Last Waltz of the Tyrants’ by Ramptha.  Yes, it was written way back when….  But here we are.  What is it going to take to initiate the kinds of changes we need to right the balance?

Perhaps the stars will conspire to synchronize with us humans, and new, fresh change will begin to burn once again.  The trick will be to keep it controlled enough not to move into a conflagration.  The dates of FIRE begin May 27th as Uranus, the great harbinger of unpredictable change enters Aries, a true and righteous fire sign.  The kindling process begins in earnest as fiery Jupiter, planet of expansion and growth, enters Aries on June 5th.  Then within three short months this summer we see 15—yes, count them—major celestial configurations blaze us with change.  This is condensed and powerful energy and that is probably why Mr. Merriman called it a ‘Climax’ for it will truly initiate the powerful changes that need to happen between now and 2015 as Uranus in Aries (revolutionary change) continues to square-off with Pluto in Capricorn (the powerful elite institutions of the plutocracy).

It’s going to have to be a sustained change because Aries is known for its impulse but not its staying power.  You’ve got to keep feeding a fire.  It will go out if there isn’t enough fuel to keep it going.  So these three months ahead are really INITIATORY.  The gateway is opening.  Change is coming thick and fast.  And Fire is the great purifier.

Here are the key dates for those of you wanting to keep track and make note of the actual time-frame of astrological events for the next year.  I wish to thank Laurie Baum, another wise and helpful astrologer, for her compiling of this list of key dates:

December 31, 2009 –  Lunar Eclipse *Sun in Capricorn-Moon in Cancer
January 15, 2010 – Solar Eclipse *Sun and Moon in Capricorn
January 17, 2010 – Jupiter enters Pisces
January 31, 2010 – Saturn in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn
April 26, 2010 – Saturn in Virgo opposes Uranus in Pisces
May 22, 2010 – Jupiter in Pisces opposes Saturn in Virgo
May 27, 2010 – Uranus enters Aries for the first time since 1935, Uranus was
last in Aries from 1927 to 1935
June 5, 2010 – Jupiter enters Aries for the first time since 2000; Jupiter was last in
Aries from early 1999 to early 2000
June 8, 2010 – Jupiter in Aries conjoins Uranus in Aries
June 26, 2010 – Lunar Eclipse *Sun in Cancer – Moon in Capricorn
July 11, 2010 – Solar Eclipse *Sun and Moon in Cancer
July 24, 2010 – Jupiter in Aries squares Pluto in Capricorn
July 26, 2010 – Saturn in Libra opposes Uranus in Aries
July 30, 2010 – Mars in Libra opposes Uranus in Aries
July 31, 2010 – Mars in Libra conjoins Saturn in Libra
August 3, 2010 – Jupiter in Aries squares Pluto in Capricorn
August 3, 2010 – Mars in Libra opposes Jupiter in Aries
August ¾, 2010 – Mars in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn
August 16, 2010 – Jupiter in Aries opposes Saturn in Libra
August 21, 2010 – Saturn in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn
September 18, 2010 – Jupiter in Pisces conjoins Uranus in Pisces
December 21, 2010 – Lunar Eclipse *Sun in Sagittarius – Moon in Gemini
January 4, 2011 – Total Solar Eclipse *Sun and Moon in Capricorn
January 4, 2011 – Jupiter in Pisces conjoins Uranus in Pisces
February 25, 2011 – Jupiter in Aries squares Pluto in Capricorn
March 28, 2011 – Jupiter in Aries opposes Saturn in Libra

As you can see, the Cardinal signs are repeated over and over again with these key alignments of celestial energies.

Let’s now look at the Cardinal signs themselves, and the planets moving through them.

In astrology we call the Cardinal Axis the four signs of initiation and/or change which herald the points when the seasons change:  The Spring Equinox commences as the Sun enters 0 degrees of Aries, the Summer Solstice commences with the Sun entering 0 degrees of Cancer, the Autumn Equinox brings the Sun to 0 degrees of Libra, and finally, the Winter Solstice occurs as the Sun enters 0 degrees of Capricorn.  These are the four great gateways of new beginnings in astrology and they require ACTION.  All Cardinal energies are intended to act.

The first sign in the tropical zodiac is Aries, the Ram. This is ‘The Fighter’ sign.  This is the archetypal warrior sign.  Aries has to push forward or be swallowed by the collective chaos of Pisces, therefore Aries is impulsive and reckless in its thrust to overcome the inertia of Pisces where the last cycle has just ended.

This is why as soon as Uranus and Jupiter enter the sign of Aries together we’re going to see a mighty push ahead with some type of impulsive thrust, even recklessness.  Maybe nature will give us more earth-shaking thrusts.  Maybe people will finally get truly angry at their predicaments and stop being so passive.  Of course we’re seeing this in the hot spots all over the globe all ready, but these people are usually labeled ‘terrorists’ to keep the rest of us passive and superior in our foggy stupors of comfort zones.  The Neptunian fog has been subtly blinding and simultaneously dissolving away much alertness and gumption from regular folks under its guise of false promises and misleading propaganda which the spin meisters use to keep the masses under control. This is especially true in America where Neptune has been transiting the Moon (the populace). When Uranus (Prometheus) enters Aries he’s going to take some of that ‘fire from the gods’ and give it to the People.  So here it comes full blast as Jupiter fans the flames of unrest with the disenchanted masses perhaps.

The danger of this time will be hot-headed actions with no plan.  Reckless behaviors will be squelched by stronger, well-thought out think-tanks that have the resources and means to out-last and even out-smart the ‘rebels’.  Only those who have enough wisdom and foresight will be able to sustain any type of fight to the finish where there is an actual rebalancing of injustice and inequality on the planet.  Don’t for one minute think that the predatory powers that have been amassing wealth, power, and the arms to both attack and defend themselves have not been using astrology as part of their plans.  Astrology was always used by the leaders of people, not the people themselves.  It is only since really the 70s that astrology has finally caught on with the regular people like you and me.  Astrology was always a tool of the elite.  Don’t forget that, and know that they have seen this coming too, and are prepared.

Have you ever watched a soap opera?  The ‘bad ones’ are always secretive and deceptive.  The ‘good ones’ give away too much.  They blab out their truths.  They are too forthright and thus the ‘bad ones’ always know what to expect and how to deal with them.  Good people need to use some discretion and keep their counsel wisely.  They need to read the signs and not be overly naive.  They need to see who their enemies are and not trust to blind faith.  This is no time for the ostrich effect of not facing what is wrong every where you look these days.  The evil in life is human made.  We all have the capacity within ourselves to go one way or the other.  It requires unflinching honesty to look evil in the eye both within ourselves and with others.  Seeing the shadow for what it is takes courage and an unflinching gaze. Aries needs that more than any other sign.  Use the innate integrity of the sign to see whether what you are facing has integrity or not.  Predatory treachery always uses camouflage and deception, like ‘stealth bombers’ in the night.

Uranus is going to blast us open as it moves into Aries.  We get a brief hit of it only this summer in June, July, and August.  It comes back again not until mid-March of 2011.  It will take some effort for people to keep the fires going and not allow them to burn out between that time and 2011.  The forces of deception will still be at work to both conquer and divide any kind of unification going on.

The second gateway of Cardinal energy is Cancer. Cancer, the Crab, likes to withdraw into its shell when faced with a threat.  This watery romantic sign protects its soft vulnerable places.  How is it then, that the great world-power known as America is a Cancer nation?  Such paradoxes we’re seeing now aren’t we?  The land of promise for all peoples irregardless of race or creed has gradually become the big military stick establishing bases in strategic spots all over the globe while the people inside its belly are increasing daily in struggle and loss.  Perhaps the shadow of Cancer is a kind of bravado to mislead others as to just how insecure and vulnerable Cancer really feels.  Does America have a ‘security complex’ here?  Cancer never does anything as directly and forthrightly as Aries.  The shadow of Cancer is manipulation.  There is much in America’s chart that speaks of misguided power and the shadow of the plutocracy inherited from that fiery Aries nation, England.  Pluto will gradually return to its original place in America’s chart after its cycle since 1776 around the Sun.  Pluto in Capricorn.  Yes, America has that signature and now Pluto is in that Cardinal sign opposing all of America’s planets in Cancer one by one.  Remember, Pluto strips bare, down to the bone.  The Lord of the Underworld will have its way even with fat and sassy America.  It will have its way with America’s staunchest ally, Israel, as well.  They both share Venus in Cancer and this is a signature of valuing home and comfort for oneself.  America has Jupiter here, so it is truly a very big issue now  as Pluto strips to the bone many of the comforts taken for granted for so long.  Israel lays claim to a much longer legacy than America, but the Earth belongs to all, not just a few.  The age of nationalism is fast ending.  Conquest and dividing the spoils of war happened both with and after the last World War II.  That type of action and entitlement has got to end or we are all doomed.  The Earth is a bountiful planet but her bounties are her own and humans need to know their place and find a way to share with their neighbors.  These are lessons that both America and Israel as nations have yet to learn.  I tend to view America as now in its adolescence phase.  Growing up may be hard to do.

USA with transits

No planets are moving through Cancer.  Only the marked Saros cycle of Eclipses stir this sign.  Everything  impacts it from opposite (Pluto in Capricorn) or from a 90 degree angle of hard challenges (Uranus and soon Jupiter in Aries, and Saturn joined by Mars in Libra).

The Cardinal sign of Libra represented by ‘The Scales’ is both the Artist and the Diplomat of the zodiac.  Libra tries its best to find a harmonious balancing point.  This is no easy task in today’s world of rampant inequality and injustice.  Saturn entered this sign back on October 29th, 2009 after wading carefully through the Mutable sign of Virgo.  Saturn in Libra will require effort to right what is out of balance.  It will require hard work.  It is a strong note of gravity upon us and it is barely into the sign.  It turned retrograde on January 13th and re-enters Virgo once again on April 7th right on back to the 27th degree of that sign before turning direct on May 30th (as Uranus enters fiery Aries) and re-entering Libra finally on July 21st.  Here it will stay, hopefully encouraging justice for all, including the voiceless ones of planet Earth, until October of 2012 when it enters the intensity of Scorpio.

I feel that some of the key Cardinal dates will be when Mars enters Libra and joins forces with Saturn.  The Equal Rights movement needs to be very well organized during that time to make head-way again against all the racial injustices still being inflicted on black, brown, and indigenous peoples everywhere. The Women’s Movement will also need an organized push ahead during this time, for sexual inequality is still ever-present through-out the world. While we’re at it, the Animal Rights movement and all movements for Earth Justice should also move forward to get the added momentum of change going. The alternative health and Green movements is already in full stride with Uranus in Pisces and now Jupiter in Pisces, but new technologies will surely be introduced as they both move into Aries.  The dates to watch and be involved with in some sort of activism yourself are mid-July through end of August.

China is a Libran nation.  With Saturn in Libra China is being tested, yes, but their resolve to get stronger and stronger on the world stage is growing.  Don’t underestimate their power.  They hold America’s debt to a large extent.  America’s hubris blinds it to the consequences of allowing this.  I’m not an expert on Mundane astrology but I make note that almost everything I buy in America is made in China.  I’m not too happy about that.  Much of it is cheaply made and of poor quality.  It falls apart quickly.  I wonder who planned that??

Finally we come to the last Cardinal sign of Capricorn, that old goat, the Devil himself/ha.  This is the melancholic sign of the dutiful person, but it is also the sign of institutional power.  Capricorn likes to build slowly but steadily over a long period of time.  It is a dynastic sign.  Do dynasties still exist in this modern world?  You bet they do!  There are all sorts of hidden dynasties still active and alive.  Can Pluto in Capricorn reveal them before they gain even more control and power?  Hopefully, but it will take Uranian fire to challenge them.  Pluto has proven, as it slowly wends its way through each sign that complete and utter change isn’t necessarily what it does best.  When Pluto was in Scorpio our sexual and power dysfunctions were revealed, but they are still with us.  In fact corruption gained a stronger foothold during that short 12-year passage.  When Pluto was in Sagittarius religious bigotry and fanaticism was revealed and the world of higher education was marked for transformation, but we still have extremism everywhere and education is stripped bare of much of its public funding, at least in America where I reside.  So Pluto reveals what is rotten, but often the Lord of the Underworld gains further power collectively.  Corporations gained their global consolidation of power while Pluto was in Scorpio, sign of business and wealth, not to mention, the IRS. The Federal Reserve is a Capricorn institution created by private bankers and run still by private families/dynasties, if you will.  It is being revealed for what it is, but the government that gives it license and freedom is now riddled with insiders who profit from the arrangement and the tax-paying people continue to pay and pay with their life blood.  This is all still the ‘Last Waltz of the Tyrants’ as Pluto and Saturn square off in a gripping drama of effort to holding the power of the few at the expense of the many.  Richard Tarnas in his book Cosmos and Psyche explains these constrictive patterns and cycles of Saturn and Pluto as some of the most repressive and dire in human history.

Only the fiery entrance of Uranus and Jupiter together in Aries coupled with the crying need and hard work for ‘equal rights for all’ of Saturn and Mars in Libra is going to create enough force of will and heart energy to break through this strangle-hold we see playing itself out on the planet now by those who steal from others and hoard for themselves what was never their right to have in the first place.  Can predatory power continue much longer?  The answer is a resounding NO.  It is completely and utterly unsustainable and it must be stopped.  It will take the will and strength of heart of every conscious being to go to work now to end this terrible imbalance.

I have to stop.  I’ve said my piece.  Build your fire within yourselves, but keep it controlled and strong.  Look at this Cardinal energy and where it falls in your own chart.  See it.  Work with it.  Stay vigilant and keep awake.  Don’t go to sleep now.  Stay awake.  Join with others that you trust and work together for a regeneration of human effort in cooperation with the energies of this planet, a tiny, fragile ball in space that is our Earthly home.  We each can do our part to co-create a beautiful world together!