Cycles, Spirals, and Waves That Move Us

You’ve probably already observed that nothing in nature moves in straight lines.  Everything moves in cycles, spirals, or wave motion.  The planetary bodies that move with us around our star/Sun are also cycling and spiraling as they move.  We astrologers who study the mirroring effect of these motions as they appear to synchronize with our own human movements through life do pay attention to what is called retrograde motions. Right now we’ve got six bodies in our solar system moving retrograde!

Since one of those planets is Mercury and this body is traveling through the technical sign of Virgo I thought it might be interesting to look at the phenomena once again.

Robert Hand in his book HOROSCOPE SYMBOLS has a really clear explanation of what is meant by retrograde motion complete with great illustrative diagrams.  Those of you seriously interested can check this out on pages 41 through 46, but briefly what appears to be retrograde motion is created by a planet moving closer to us on Earth than usual.  If it’s Venus, for example, as soon as she moves between us and the Sun it looks as though she is moving backwards against the backdrop of the fixed stars.  With any planet orbiting beyond us in space, when we overtake them in orbit, “it is like a faster moving car overtaking a slower moving car on a highway.  Seen from the faster-moving car, the slower moving car appears to be going backward, even though it is only going forward more slowly.”

Moving more slowly seems to hold a special meaning here.  When any planet is retrograde it’s a good idea to slow down within the sphere that it has jurisdiction over.  Mercury, being such a speed demon, really sends that message out loud and clear whenever it retrogrades three times per year.  In Virgo it’s been telling us to take care to analyze and be more discriminating before proceeding full-steam ahead.

Another clear indicator of slowing down is now going to be the dual combo of Jupiter and Uranus which together entered Aries back in June and started the high-voltage jump-start towards major changes of action but are now both retrograde and moving back into Pisces.  Pisces isn’t a place of fire; it’s a place of water.  Water usually puts out fire, so pay attention to what dampens your enthusiasm over the next few months.  On the positive side, Pisces beckons us to go within and seek a greater sense of oneness.  Pisces is the most Universal of the signs.  Re-connecting with spirit and wholeness can deepen the next wave of fiery energy when these two emerge from the watery realms next March and really start to shake things up big time.  It is within Pisces, however, that a great deal can heal so that we can let go of the past and move forward with greater joy, and childlike wonder.

Do you begin to see how both nature and the celestial work together to move us forward, then spiral us back before moving us forward again?  It begins to feel like a wave motion, or like breathing in, breathing out.  The beauty of working with astrology is in the ability to move with rhythmical patterns of both the natural world and the universe I feel.  It’s about catching the waves as they rise and sinking back into rest and waiting when they fall.

Let’s now look at Neptune and Chiron moving together through the air sign of Aquarius.  They’re both almost at the very end of the sign yet they’ve both now moved into retrograde motion; Neptune until November 7th, and Chiron until November 9th, when they’ll both move forward starting at 26 degrees of Aquarius. This Aquarian place has brought us all sorts of new discoveries that merge science with metaphysics as in the alternative healing fields.  It is also symbolic of the global net-work and all the technological tools that keep us connected via the air waves like cell phones, i phones, inter-net, SKYPE, etc.  Chiron will gradually move ahead of Neptune into Pisces and Neptune will continue on until she reaches her ‘own sign’ by April of 2011.  These two in Pisces may bring increases in telepathic networks that no longer need technology and hopefully a reconnection with interspecies levels of communion as well.

We also have Pluto moving retrograde where it’s been for several months at the 2nd degree of Capricorn until September 14th.  Why, that’s just around the corner following Mercury’s direct motion on September 12th.  Pluto has been showing us the cracks in infrastructures of all large organizations built to either support or control the collective.  While the Saturn square to Pluto has mirrored the effort to maintain these structures, the next phase will come as Saturn moves away, and Uranus moves forward into Aries and begins to add new explosive energy to the widening fissures of unsustainable structures.

Keep in mind that the three transpersonal planets (I am including Pluto here) are continuing to be in the three most collective signs: Pluto in Capricorn, Neptune in Aquarius, and Uranus, retrograde, in Pisces.  Collective issues are huge now and global change is increasing due to many factors that are now compounded by global warming.  I don’t think any of us can maintain the ostrich effect of keeping our selves unaware.  Wherever we are on the planet and in whatever stage of life there is imminent need of awakening and getting ready to do our part to create a sustainable future for the generations that will follow us.  As one impassioned lawyer, mother, and activist said that I recently heard on my car radio, “I want my son to live in a world where he can wear his Halloween polar bear costume and know that polar bears still exist.”

Use this time through early December (Uranus will finally turn direct on December 6th) to review and research carefully what is important in your life and how you can strengthen your own resolve for positive change both for yourself as well as the circle of life spiraling around you in its myriad forms.  They’ll be more high waves to catch soon enough!