Meetings at the Crossroads

The intense planetary activity that is unfolding through the current Scorpio lunation is preparing the ground for ‘reset’ on November 25th when a partial Solar Eclipse at 3º Sagittarius ushers in a new lunation and re-appraisal of our goals for the year ahead. The Sagittarius lunation will bring out a more philosophical tone in which the depth work of the past month will begin to deliver its benefits, its true value become more apparent.

The Scorpio lunation has been strong and revealing, sometimes quite unexpectedly so. As some have reported it feels like the Samhain doorway has been left open, but, it has also been difficult to avoid the visceral impact of world events upon our deeper connections with Life. Where we have been collectively mislead and ‘going wrong’ is well and truly in the public spotlight and, although there is much resistance to change still being shown in the political and social arenas, this has very much been in keeping with the times and the greater processes that are unfolding within them. At heart we are all engaged in collective soul-work, whether we should choose to acknowledge it and go there, or not…….

For those who do make this choice, this is the clear mandate for creating a better future for our home planet, and this is open to us all on an individual level – in fact, our collective future as a species must surely depend upon how we engage with this work in personal terms. Scorpio thoroughness in the scouring and clearing of our hearts and minds supports a deeper appreciation of the soul’s purpose. The following Sagittarian lunation, leading up to the December Solstice, builds upon this with planetary and cosmological focus on a renewal of the soul’s contract with Life. Within the coming lunation a total Lunar Eclipse on December 10th anchors this renewed contract within the field for the next six months.

One crucial step at a time we are laying the foundations for our future and the name of the game, as if we haven’t already realised, is ‘Change’ – as the political and economic rhetoric shows not everyone, it seems, wants to play, or play fairly. Change, however, is taking over, and a tough stance against it will no longer prevail. And, well, as the saying goes, ‘when the going gets tough…….’ – in a planetary climate dominated by Uranus square Pluto that can mean just about anything when it is Change itself that is in charge! Popular movements against the resistance of the old guard could well give way to any number of means of guerilla warfare. This does not have to mean physical confrontation, however. Many engaging with the ongoing financial fall-out are indeed now withdrawing their personal funds from the banks and investing them in, for example, credit unions. Adaptablility will prove the tactical advantage, for now – its the longer term strategies that will count most and the field upon which these battles are fought will continue to spread. It’s been said here before, but, how well prepared we are really matters…..each step counts.

In times of global change, whose far-reaching implications and crucial impact take on global, if not cosmological proportions, the vision embodied within the scope of every one of our personal contracts with Life is also infused, beyond personal choice, with archetypal energy and influence. Alignment with a greater purpose is key and this is one of the defining characteristics of the Sagittarian lunation – it is also an essential strategy. Short-termism, which has been the bane of our cultural outlook, must be replaced with forward looking wisdom. The importance of the Scorpio process of the current outgoing lunation is revealed in this – revelation, acknowledgement and reformation of deeper emotional and psychological awareness funds us with the clarity that allows the new soul perspective to come into view. Through this the hologram of the individual soul, the spirit having a human experience, can experience its own intrinsic resonance within the greater hologram, the bigger picture, and the larger tides and forces of the times, the archetypal undercurrents of the zeitgeist, can be discerned as ‘the flow of the great river within which our spirit is swimming’.

As the I Ching reminded us of in hexagram Wei Chi with the image of the little fox crossing the great river, we must see the process through before we can arrive at the new vision. As the wit and whits of Douglas Adams pointed out to us in ‘Blind Bats with Spaghetti Soup….’, asking the right questions, that is to say, having the right motivation, is crucial to finding greater meaning that is in tune with this vision. And, as Coyotes journey to the shadowlands echoed Orpheus journey to the underworld, our own personal journey is brought to fulfillment when we are able to overcome our impulsive desires and trust to the process. This must spell an end to ego driven consumerism as the basis for our culture. In all cases, whether we are navigating the strong cross-currents of change, allowing the unknown to call us, or taking heed of Death as our advisor, learning intrinsic life lessons, the heroic journey of our personal life quest is empowered with profound and far-reaching illumination when we align our spirits with Nature and her greater cycles, our selves with the wisdom of Life. We can be re-assured, the planetary matrix is supporting us in this…..

In the run-up to the solar eclipse on the 25th the planets are supporting us with a mixture of subtle and strong apsects that will enable us to flow with the great river and arrive at the other shore, whole and forward looking. Mars has recently entered tropical Virgo bringing a boost of energy to our healing and envisioning. Currently opposite both Chiron and Neptune, Mars activates an inclusive clarity and attention to detail that will assist us right through until the end of the coming eclipses field of influence – Mars will remain in Virgo until mid 2012 and this time will include a retrograde period in which we can do a double check on how our plans are unfolding in the first quarter of the year. With this strong focus no stone must be left unturned, no hidden clauses within our soul’s contract allowed to undermine our progress – this is an imperative energy at work which serves us and the ‘greater good’ when we work with it. It may bring small and persistant doubts that cut across our confidence, but, with open communication and honesty we can use this time well for clearing out the detritus of the past (keeping our tails out of the mud!) and opening to the new world of possibilities onto whose shores we are and will be arriving. Each working according to our own ways and means, this is very much about ‘walking our talk’. More on this as the new year unfolds…….

Much closer to home, shortly after the total lunar eclipse on December 10th, Mars, in forward motion, will square the Moons Nodes. Further highlighting the importance of the collective soul path, this T square will bring out the grounded reality of that path as each of us experience it. It could be a particularly important time for dealing with all matters that throw up a contrast between restrictions on our personal liberty and the collective vision we hold for the future, particularly as they relate to the re-ensoulment of our human presence on Earth, the re-enchantment of our lives. The tightening opposition between Saturn in late Libra and Jupiter in early Taurus will bring this to a head not long after the solstice and, funded through beneficial aspects to Chiron and Neptune, this will signal a sea-change for how we deal with any conflicts arising where this contrast prevails. The new moon on December 24th, within orb of Pluto, will signal Jupiter’s forward motion and the solstice energy will be very strongly boosted by this. Once again, the ongoing process has the feel of hightening significance, but, with many beneficial aspects surrounding this years solstice we can look forward to a new year with all the inspiration and passion that our renewed soul’s contract and plans for the year ahead fuel us with. For now though, the better to engage with this process, it is to the Moon’s Nodes and the current transits involving them that our gaze must turn…….

The nodes are currently transiting the mid-degrees of Sagittarius and Gemini, and, at the time of writing, the North Node is in precise alignment with an intergalactic phenomenon known as the Great Attractor. This is an important influence for how we work on the vision that our soul work is centered around. This influence also bridges the current and following lunation right through solstice; it is as if we are being overseen by a far greater mind than our earthbound consciousness allows us to be aware of, a presence that is initiating us into the new paradigm at a subliminal level – so, what is the G A and what does its influence mean?!

In recent times astronomers and cosmologists have discovered that there is a great river of galaxies flowing across the universe. If this sounds like poetic license of on a cosmic scale, think again, this is very real! The source of the directed flow of this river, the Great Attractor, is a mysterious phenomenon of immense proportions and our galaxy, amongst many hundreds, is moving as one, its stars amongst hundreds of billions speeding towards this mystery at a velocity of 600 km/sec. – it truly is an immense river of light particles in which each particle is a star. What we know about this phenomenon is very limited, but, at 250 million light years distance from our galaxy we can be sure that its influence is super-galactic, focused and powerful – contemplating these factors brings the vastness of our cosmos into mind expanding perspective! Here is our first clue….

The Great Attractor’s name reflects the directed way in which this galaxy and its neighbours are uniformly moving towards its center. But, there is also a provocative energy attached to this name and astrologers have speculated on its meaning bringing ideas to the G A that imply irresistability and inevitability. Philip Sedgwick’s site (see sidebar) contains some useful info about the G A and how it can be worked with, or, what to expect once our attention is grabbed by it…..for the G A also has a magnetic quality whose symbolism matches the ‘gravitational’ pull of the physical phenomenon. The G A bends light through gravitational lensing to such an extent that it is possible to see behind it, as if we are given the glimpse of something hidden, beyond the normal range of our senses. Here is a second clue……

The Great Attractor was discovered in the 1970’s but it was not until 1986 that its position was measured and in yr 2000 the G A was found to be at 14º02’ Sagittarius within the geo-centric tropical zodiac. What makes this especially interesting for us now is that the Moons North Node has been transiting the middle degrees of Sagittarius and slowly coming into alignment with the G A over the last few months, an alignment that happens every 18 years or so. However, this is made exquisitely rare this time around as Venus and Mercury, the G A and the North Node will all become conjunct together in alignment on 13th/14th November…

…..although carrying what might remain a powerful but otherwise unnoticed and otherworldly subtlety, the meeting of Venus and Mercury at this cosmic crossroads not only brings to the conjunction an elevated rarity, it carries sublime influence at this time and seeds the souls field with all the potential we carry, that we have earned insight into through our inner work over this lunation. But, there is more – the conjunction and ongoing influence comes in at the beginning of a Mercury retrograde period and so, not only precedes the two eclipses, but, focuses our attention on and infuses it with the G A’s influence, and, remember, eclipses offer us an opportunity to hit the reset button on our lives. With the Great Attractors ability to expand our vision and see beyond what is known to us this can be a time for great envisioning at a soul level……there can be powerful and uncanny effects to this.

We may be taken with compulsive knowing that simply has to be followed, even if we are not able to reason this out, simply because we feel it within our souls. With Mars square to the nodes this could bring a major shift akin to a tipping point or critical mass, that aligns soul energy with archetypal energy on a collective scale – for some this will be the signal of a first wave of manifest co-creative activism, but, its subtley may pass you by if your attention is too distracted by emotional reactions to earthly concerns. What can really serve us best in this time is regular quiet time for centered inward focusing, meditation and clearing of the heavy and gross energies from our energy field – a good balance to this is free-form creative expression, just letting the ‘creative river’ flow through and around us. Both will work best when centered in and infused with deep heart energy. This energy flows from the heart of the mystery manifest in the point of singularity within every point in the manifold matrix of the multiverse, and we can source it within our hearts, our inner balance point.

An astonishing feature of alignment with the G A along its axis is the manifestation of the Einstein Cross. Gravitational lensing produces four images around its center of the hidden light sources behind it – bringing an equal armed cross, a medicine wheel, of the unseen into view. An image of balance and centered manifestation, this is powerful medicine from a deep source. And, there’s yet more…..

There is also an opening up of the archetypal field from within here that can manifest as synchronicities, meaningful co-incidences, in which we find strong correspondences between our outer and inner worlds. This can only be good – for bolstering our confidence in Life and re-enchanting our lives with numinous presence, synchronous reality confirms the living intelligence and loving nature of all Life. The path with a heart that tells us we are on the right track, walking our ‘medicine way’….

Through this special time we can make strong medicine work of all that we do. The spiritual warrior at work, ’……the tough get going’! There is a powerful resonance within this symbol, the Rainbow Warrior, when we work with the G A. The singularity at the heart of the Great Attractor is a mystery and yet……

What we do know about the Great Attractor is primarily down to scientifically measurable effects, most notable amongst which is the way in which it bends light. Its gravitational lensing is far more powerful than any other single source known to us within the physical universe. Interestingly, one might expect there to be a super-massive black hole at its center, but, this is not the case as astrophysicists have established that there is no event horizon associated with the G A. While it is an anomolous mystery, we also know that it radiates and connects across the entire spectrum of energy……

The many awakened souls now bringing their focus to bear upon the global changes we are now collectively involved in can step up a gear through this time and utilise the cosmological forces and influences coming into our solar system and inner cosmos to activate a catalystic wave of transformative co-creative energy into embodiment. The individual soul path we choose can be brought into alignment with this activation, become an expression of it. When the eclipse of the 25th November closes the Scorpio lunation and opens the Sagittarian we can initiate a meaningful path for our selves to follow that is in alignment with the most heartfelt and significant vision that we have within. Collectively, the field will reflect this back to us with the December lunar eclipse and we can increasingly speak our truth with the great power of self authority in the world. When the December solstice arrives we will be ready to walk our talk having set a clear purpose and bring to the light the power of our personal vision for the coming year, born from the heart of creation, the Great Mystery, and watch it grow as the year unfolds……

Our small blue planet, so beloved by, and of such intense interest now both to us and the cosmological community at this time, is asking for us to bring the fearless power of Love home with pragmatic impact. At the meeting at the cross-roads, THIS IS OUR TIME………are you ready……..