VERNAL SPRING EQUINOX and the Next Three Months

Vernal Equinox 2013

When the Sun hits 0 degrees of Aries we arrive at that pivotal point once again when the day and night are equal in length—-ever so briefly.  Nothing is static in our revolving solar system within the larger galaxy within the larger universe.  All is ever changing.  Yet we tropical astrologers mark the high turning points of each revolution by paying attention to the Solstice points and Equinox points each year as our planet makes its own revolution around our star, the Sun.

I am sharing the exact moment of this Equinox with a chart for Washington DC in the USA because this country, for better or worse, continues to impact the rest of the globe mightily.  We see a Pisces rising chart with Sun/Mars/and Uranus all intercepted in the 1st forming a strong T-square with Pluto in the 10th in Capricorn, and the Moon in Cancer in the 4th.  Dynamic tension exists here setting the stage for the next three months.

So let’s talk about the Fire of Aries.  Aries likes to impulsively push ahead through the resistance and inertia of the past (Pisces).  The force of spring does that in the northern hemisphere whilst in the southern the descent towards autumn has begun.  Where in your life is it now necessary to push through something?  Where do you need to strive with a great blast of fire to overcome the inertia of the past?  Do it!!  These four turning points of every year are Cardinal in nature, but none more so than Aries.  Aries doesn’t like to muck around, stall or debate.  Aries likes to take immediate action on what is impelling from within to burst outward.

Containment and Control

The reason I am urging you on is because there is way too much inertia still.  The forces of Pluto in Capricorn are daunting because they represent the great weight and over-bearing power of centuries of institutionalized programs and structures that require massive change or they will literally snuff the life out of all of us, including our planet’s eco-systems (Moon in Cancer) that now hang in the balance.  They are like a great dam which attempts to totally control the watery realm of feelings, caring, nurturing, and natural flows and rhythms we so desperately need to stay alive.

A watery time ahead

You see Uranus in Aries is now the only solid FIRE we’ve got for quite a long while.  Right now we have Mars joining it for a few weeks, as well as the Sun for just a few short days.  Then what?  Yes, we have a bit of air from Jupiter in Gemini, but predominantly we have water, water, water.  And that watery realm will increase once Jupiter joins by entering the sign of Cancer of June 26th.

So where is the balance?  There is quite frankly, very little balance right now.  Things are pretty skewed, screwy, off-kilter.  That’s why we need to exaggerate the fire for a bit within ourselves right now.  Yes, go ahead and get angry at all the injustices around you.  But don’t just get angry.  Do something about it.  Act according to your conscience.  Act with determination and passion.  Act as if your life depended upon it, and your children’s lives, and your grandchildren’s lives, and the life of this dear, precious planet that is our only home.

Helen Caldicott

One woman acting with this much anger, passion, and intensity because time is running out is Helen Caldicott.  She proves that anger is a force which gets things done positively.  She inspires.  She motivates.  That’s the kind of anger needed now.  When you see what is wrong, get angry and DO something about it that is a force for good.  Even Christ did that when he drove the money changers out of a holy place.  Our earth is holy.  It is sacred.  We have plenty of money-changers to take care of now, do we not?

On this same theme, here’s a book to raise your consciousness:   Soul-Sick Nation, An Astrologer’s View of America by Jessica Murray.  I consider Ms. Murray to be the most articulate and eloquent mundane astrologer writing today.  No man touches her with the clarity and punch she delivers.  This book has many chapters which are tour de forces of high-consciousness delivery designed to awaken us all to the true beast that America has become with its dominant Pluto in Capricorn now running the show.  Ms. Murray takes it all on chapter by chapter until you really see the under-belly of what can only be labeled ‘soul sick’.  Perhaps only a woman could write like this at this time.  I’ve read almost all the male versions of mundane comments on the world scene and they mostly pussy-foot around all the emperors with no clothes.  She tells it like it is without rancor, and with a great deal of compassion.  But she speaks to truth in a way that simply can’t be refuted.

I give you a couple quotes from her book by way of illustration:

Chapter Five, “Power Madness”, Pluto and American Hegemony:  “….Americans are starting to notice the connection between the fact that they heap more non-biodegradable trash upon landfills than can be absorbed and the fact that they heap humongous social debt upon future generations because they cannot pay for what they consume.  The phrase throwaway culture was not even in the lexicon a generation ago; now someone can make reference to the forests cut down for the sake of the Sunday paper and everyone gets it.
As is usually the case with Plutonian subject matter, however, the most troubling features of the issue are the last to be talked about.  Far more worrisome than barges of garbage carted out to sea are the tens of millions of American computers and cell phones piling up in dumps—-in the Third World, where they are picked apart for reusable parts by, in the many cases, the tiny fingers of children.  The peculiarly toxic nature of these consumer goods—compounded by the fact that their manufacturers build them to self-outmode at faster and faster intervals—raises the horrific issue of environmental injustice:  the tendency of carcinogenic, chemical refineries, nuclear plants and toxic dumps to be built either in impoverished foreign nations (Chernobyl is only the most notorious example) or in parts of the USA where the populace lacks the political and economic clout to stop them.
The idea of a throwaway culture is a deeply uncomfortable one.  The notion of a throwaway world is more than merely uncomfortable; it is apocalyptic.  The twin issues of global warming and peak oil have recently exploded into collective consciousness, taking the idea of misused wealth to a new level of relevance and urgency.  Americans are beginning to realize that the way they use their resources is going to mark the difference between planetary health and ecocide.”

This book was written in 2006.  As I write this article we are faced with the impending and horrific construction of the Keystone Pipeline through the heartland of America.  You won’t get the facts through main-stream media or official Whitehouse statements.  Only sites from people concerned will give you the truth such as  Tarsands Action.org.

In her chapter ‘Kill Your Television, Pluto opposite Mercury’ she states:  “Part of America’s current crisis of self-revelation concerns media hegemony, bias and corruption, all of which have been duly outed in a flurry of bestsellers (e.g. Weapons of Mass Deception) and films (e.g. Outfoxed) exposing the news industry as an intellectual property cartel.  But we have seen that myths grow up around Pluto, keeping it strangely isolated in the chart.  These serve to protect the planet, perversely; from scrutiny and integration…….Obsolete notions and fantasies about free speech (Mercury) in a plutocratic economy (Pluto in the second house) abound in the national ethos.
One of these myths is that the availability of five hundred television channels means freer choice and higher quality programming—-a notion that falls away when we consider the ramifications of the fact that the same four corporations own everything from TV satellites to billboards.  As industry watchers know, these mega-companies do not really compete with each other.  Like a mafia family, the form a cartel that operates through a carefully controlled arrangement:  Fox movies have to be sold to HBO, Warner cable has to take Fox because they’re the one with sports teams, and so on; all of which keeps the power locked in, and the independent producers shut out.”

Which takes me back to this Equinox chart where we see Neptune (planet of both vision and illusion) conjoining both Mercury and Chiron in Pisces squaring Jupiter in Gemini.  We are living in a time of high propaganda.  It takes a highly discerning mind to filter out the lies that are disseminated daily from so-called experts and authorities (trine Saturn in Scorpio)

This chart has some amazing configurations which point to further control of people through manipulation, secrecy, and double-speak or to grass-roots movements of people everywhere tuning out the ‘official platforms and dogmas’ of mass media and connecting the dots by sharing and disseminating news from all the many outposts that by-pass officialdom.  That would take us right back to Sun/Mars/Uranus, wouldn’t it?  We can’t afford to stay asleep at the wheel right now.  This Equinox is one more wake up call before the next Uranus/Pluto square becomes exact on May 21st, a month before the Summer Solstice.

There are so many ways to analyze this chart with its T-square in Cardinal signs, Grand Trine in Water, Kite pattern with Pluto at the head, Moon at the tail, plus two (count them!) Yods. (Fingers of God/Destiny aspects involving both Saturn and Jupiter) Whoever is born on this day will have a major destiny to unfold!  Let’s hope these new little beings are infused with high levels of consciousness.

I just want to address before closing the Kite pattern:  Pluto at the head of the kite is neutral remember.  It simply represents a death-rebirth process that includes a breakdown of whatever it touches.  It can represent the darker, more secretive powers at work which wish to break-down the all others into dependent and defenseless creatures (opposite Moon in Cancer) at the mercy of it its ruthless power and will.  That would be symbolic of one scenario playing itself out like ‘Lord of the Rings’ on the planet right now.  OR, it can represent the rising up again of the feminine forces, archetypally-speaking, (Neptune in Pisces trine Moon in Cancer, trine Saturn in Scorpio all inter-acting with Pluto at the head of the Kite) that connect the dots and work with the powers of alchemical transmutation to invoke a rebirth out of the ashes of that which must surely decay and die (Pluto in Capricorn).

We who adhere to metaphysical knowledge and wisdom know great cycles are coming to an end now.  We know the last-gasp clutches of old patriarchal systems are attempting to maintain control.  (Witness what is going on with the Catholic Church right now as a literal example).  We don’t really know what the future will bring.  Not really.  Prophets are meant to warn us of the future in order to awaken us, but not necessarily to truly ‘know’ what lies ahead.  I do feel we need to be AWARE in the deepest sense of the word.  We can not flinch from the perversities and degradations we witness, but I feel we also need to stay strong and willing to do whatever is calling us to help to create a better world for those who will follow us.  Finally, I feel in my bones that thankfulness for each new day is tantamount, whatever is to take place.  When I walk in the woods I thank the trees, the birds, the little salamanders, the ravens for continuing to be there.  They are gifts just as they are.  I do not need to own them nor use them.  They live as I do right now.  And I am thankful to simply BE in life with them in kinship together.

Water free to flow

This Equinox chart shows us a mirror in place for the next 3 months.  We initiate change with FIRE, we spread the word with AIR, we connect through the realm of WATER with our feelings, and we invoke the powers of EARTH to ground deep spirituality into the crass materialism that is attempting to control and contain the natural flow of life on this beautiful planet Earth.