Navigating The Best Of Times, The Worst Of Times: Part 2

‘News You Can Use’

How have you been experiencing the new waves of energy these past two months symbolized by Chiron conjoining Neptune in Pisces?  Are you opening yourself to this new vibration impacting the billions of humans on planet earth, or are you fearful of the unknown that it brings with it?  These two together symbolize a bridge into the transcendental world that Neptune will offer us all in Pisces for the next 14+ years.  At last Neptune is going to be in the watery realm that suits this planet best.  Neptune rules Pisces, the oceanic, the universal, holographic experience of Oneness where the entire ocean exists in one drop, and where ‘I am you and you are me’.

We’ve had Neptune in Aquarius along with Uranus in Pisces for seven years to bring physics and metaphysics together.  These two have mirrored the giant inter-net web that is now the norm allowing you, the reader, to instantaneously see my message no matter where you are on the planet.  We are now united by a digital world that was only barely conceived of back in 1977 when Chiron was first discovered.

Here we are.

Where do we go as Neptune moves from Air into Water?  Will not Water become an enormous focus for us all?  Pure water.  Non-toxic water.  Living water.  And what about our feelings?  How will we feel about ourselves, each other, the planet, the Universe?  Will we open finally and truly feel?  Will it be safe to do so?  Many questions here.  Many unknowns.  How about the extra-sensory realm that Neptune in Pisces loves to embrace?  Will we become more empathic?  More telepathic?  Will we enjoy being so ultra-sensitive and vulnerable?  Will true Compassion become the norm rather than the exception amongst us?  Will we move beyond divisive judgments and prejudices?  Will Neptune help to dissolve our sense of alienation and separateness as individuals, groups, and nations?

Thankfully, there’s plenty of time to explore these questions and more.  We’re just at the beginning of this long journey through the realm of letting go of the ego which Pisces is all about.  Chiron will also keep us aware and help us to bridge from here to ‘there’ over the next 9 years before moving on into Aries, where Uranus is already beginning to break us open into fresh new frontiers.

For this moment in time I simply want to present an example.  I have found a man who embodies all the necessary qualities we need to not just learn to live with Neptune in Pisces, but to thrive with this energy.  He is that marvelous mix of Chiron/Neptune and thus qualifies as a living guide.  We can emulate his approach simply by applying key principles of character and action to our own lives.

I am writing about Ken Bradshaw, the ‘Wave Warrior’.  Have you heard of him?  If not, let me tell you some of what I have learned.  He was born on October 4, 1952 in Houston, Texas.  I don’t know his time of birth, so you see below his Sunrise Chart.

Those of you experienced in reading charts will immediately see his amazing ‘Kite’ configuration involving Saturn, Mercury, and Neptune, all in Libra, forming the head of the kite opposite his Moon in Aires, constituting the tail.  In turn, the Moon in Fire, trines Mars in Fire (Sagittarius), and Pluto in Fire (Leo).  Pluto and Mars trine each other forming that marvelous Grand Trine in Fire of a naturally gifted athlete.   Then Pluto sextiles Neptune, as does Mars, creating something all together unique which blends with true mysticism (Neptune). This is a man who is by nature strong and fiercely independent who has integrated his dream of becoming one and harmonious with the greater whole into a life devoted to surfing.

The Maverick/Chiron aspect (and he is called a ‘maverick’) shows up with his Sun strongly squaring Chiron in Capricorn solidly positioned at the very Nadir of his chart. He is the ‘Warrior, Teacher, and—yes—Healer’ of the surfing world.  He is an ethical man who has shunned chasing publicity because he equated it with ‘the greed that causes some surfers to steal other surfers waves.”   He also has a Cardinal T-square with Uranus in Cancer at the top of his chart at the apex showing his constant engagement with change and all the risks that are implied in whatever he does.  What a guy!

Now take a look at what he actually does.

Yes, that’s him all right.  The Wave Warrior. Go to his web site and watch the videos of him riding wave after wave, seemingly without effort, in the grace and true style of a Libran.  He started surfing when he was only 13 years.  He is passionate about what he does (Pluto), and he is disciplined and dedicated (Sun/Saturn/Mercury).

This is an image for our times folks.  We’ve got to be able to do that too, and soon.  Are you ready?  Please don’t take me literally here.  He is an example.  Whatever we are doing in life, we need to be that willing to handle the ‘big waves’ that are going to be taking us further and further from the known into the vaster places of the unknown, and stay balanced and focused like Ken.

Here’s his methodology.  He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke, he’s a vegetarian.  He, like Chiron, kept to himself for many many years just practicing daily, living right by the sea in his little hand-made house. He shunned fame and glory for a long, long time.  He just wanted to be the best he could be, and he loved the sea.  In his own words taken from an interview in Nature, “The ocean represents balance in my life.  I get frustrated with the daily struggle of my “real life” out of the water, and being in the water in the surfer world is the antidote to that.”

Where does this love of water show up in his chart?  Venus in Scorpio sextile to Chiron.  This is where he is healed and can heal others obviously.  Venus is also close enough to Neptune to carry the dream into reality.  He spends hours studying the wave motions of the ocean.  He goes out there daily and merges with it, becoming one with the sea.

The Moon rules his house of Career and Venus trines it.  Is he not, then, deeply connected to the Feminine in his own Masculine way?  I find this so beautiful;  a natural athletic warrior embracing the feminine. Just to show you how tough a guy he is, here’s a quote from another recent article by William Langewiesche  about him in Vanity Fair. “If you punched him hard enough, you would break your hand.  If you hit him with a bat, you might break it too.”

Like Chiron with the rowdy, selfish, Centaurs, he’s had to face their unscrupulous behaviors alone a mile from shore where too many are vying for the best waves.  Here’s Bradshaw’s way of handling those confrontations when another tries to cut him off from his ride (taken from the same article): “…Afterwards he paddles up to the offender and warns him.  If there is a need for a second warning he paddles up again and says, ‘O.K. that’s two.  You will go in on the third one.”  He means he’ll send the man to the shore, usually by breaking the fins on his board.”  This is the world of the masculine, and he has had to get strong and tough even though he is ‘considerate, unpretentious, and polite.’.  Sounds like Chiron to me.

They say he is now married to a younger woman after years of unsuccessful unions with women unwilling to live the life he demands, being so dedicated to his art and living such a humble life-style.  They say that soon he will probably be a father, and I’m sure he’ll make a wonderful father.  He’s already a gifted teacher of young people.

Here’s an image promoting his school:

On January 28, 1998 at 11:30 am he surfed the largest wave any man or woman had ever been recorded to ride.  It was estimated at 80-85 feet.  He could not have done so without modern inventions, however.  This is where Uranus enters the picture, and remember he has Uranus in Cancer at the top of his chart.  His buddy had to tow him with the aid of a  jet ski out to where the giant swells with barrel tubes were, because a single surfer could never swim fast enough to reach those enormous waves.  By then shorter boards had also been crafted.

Some may criticize the faults of our technological world, but in terms of our own evolutionary path on this planet we now have advances that enable us to physically experience wild and wondrous feats such as sky-diving, deep-sea explorations, white water rafting, trips to the Moon, and big wave surfing.  And what will we think of, and create next as we push the boundaries out further and further of what once were our limits?  This is the world of the transcendental, the world of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

Ken’s life proves that preparation and consciousness are needed.  The opposite of Pisces is Virgo.  Virgo demands a daily practice to master something.  Virgo demands the critiquing of how to improve.  Virgo demands the discipline and dedication to a path of mastery.  We cannot hope to ride the waves to come without having spent time in preparation and devotion to our fervent hopes and dreams in life.  Ken describes in one interview what it feels like to get wiped out by a wave, “I would say that it feels like getting hit by a car, a soft car, and then spun around in a washing machine.  This all happens in complete darkness, so that once ou stop spinning you’re presented with the challenge of finding your equilibrium and figuring out which way is up.  Not to mention the pressure change……..If you survive the pounding of one wave, you can be hit by a second one in less than 20 seconds, and then a third can pull you down into what we call a ‘triple bold’.”  Virgo is an Earth sign and we do have to experience the hard knocks as we learn.

Neptune can have the ‘wipe-out’ effect on the soul unprepared to hold steady and keep their equilibrium.  Neptune can be disorienting, confusing, and all-devouring/engulfing, so Virgo preparedness is an absolute necessity.  Look at your own chart and see where that polarity lies. Spend time looking at the placement of Virgo in your chart.  What area of life do you need daily practice and discipline for starters.  The opposite house will be where the Neptune waves will wash in and, at times, engulf you.  Or, if you are prepared, you will ride the bigger ones with a thrill and ecstasy unrivaled.

The final example from Ken’s life that I want to bring out is this:  the spiritual truth of Neptune is not about world glamour and being on a stage with all eyes riveted on the super-star.  It really isn’t.  That is the illusional/delusional aspect of Neptune.  Neptune is about this:  Ken had a rival who sought publicity at every turn and wanted the cameras on him constantly.  He was an opportunist seeking to be No. 1 in the eyes of the world—-fame, glory, wealth; you know the routine that our capitalistic, mechanistic world exalts.  Claw your way to the top.  One day, following many disparaging encounters, this man named Mark Foo showed up while Ken was surfing and they began to surf together.  Everything was perfect for smooth and consistent rides that day.  They were doing it and Mark said, “This is it, huh?  This is as good as it gets, isn’t it?”

(continuing to quote from Vanity Fair’s article on Ken) Bradshaw was surprised.  He said, “Yeah?  Yeah, Mark, it is.”

Mark said, “But, no, no, this is really it, isn’t it?  Just two guys in the water.  Fifteen to 19 foot swells,  Perfect waves.  No sections. This is as good as it gets.”

Bradshaw said, “Yes, Mark.  This is what it’s about.”  A light came on in his head.  He thought, Wow, Mark actually does get it.  He actually understands why we do this.  Bradshaw said, “there’s just the two of us in the water.  You’re riding some of the best waves of your life, and having a great time.  How cool is that?  No photographers, no cameramen, no nothing—just us.”

Will the rest of us finally get that message as Neptune in Pisces brings it on?  Can we just be?  Can we experience life in all it’s wonder without all the fanfare and endless quest for something the egoic world tells us is important?  Ken knows what all mystics have always known.  When you immerse yourself in the natural world, you experience the divine.

Sadly, Mark Foo didn’t ‘get it’.  In December of 1994 while the two of them were surfing cold-water breakers in Maverick’s (there that Chiron again!) near Half Moon Bay, Foo slipped back into his old ‘centaur’ pattern and tried to steal the biggest wave once Ken had readied himself to take it.  Ken pulled back and Foo took it, immediately wiping out.  Over an hour later they found his body floating facedown in the water, a fragment of his board still leashed to his ankle.  Bradshaw by then had love for the man and said, “Death is part of life–I know that, but we had just made this turn together, and he ends up dying…..It was a tough one in the big picture of what you’re chasing and what you’re doing it for.”

As a footnote, I’m putting in the charts of Neptune’s first entrance into Pisces, it’s Retrograde, it’s back-up into Aquarius, it’s Direct date, and finally it’s re-entry into Pisces for the next 14 years hence.  Perhaps in future articles I’ll look at some of these entrance dates and examine the aspects to Neptune.  In the meantme, some of you will want to look for yourselves.

Here, also, are the lists of key dates for both Chiron in Pisces and Neptune in Pisces, with Chiron listings by month only:

Chiron

First enters Pisces June 2010

Back into Aquarius August 2010

Re-enters Pisces March 2011

First enters Aries May 2018

Back into Pisces October 2018

Second entry into Aries March 2019

Neptune

Enters Pisces April 4, 2011

Turns Retrograde June 3, 2011

Retrogrades back into Aquarius August 5, 2011

Turns Direct November 20, 2011

Re-enters Pisces for 14 more years February 4, 2012

First enters Aries March 31, 2025

Retrogrades back into Pisces October 23, 2025

Turns Direct in Pisces December 10, 2025

Leaves Pisces for final time and enters Aries January 27, 2026

Keep in mind that these are guide post charts.  I may refer to them again as we move back and forth between the realms of water and air for a few more months.  This gives us time, doesn’t it?  Time to be fully prepared to catch the big waves.