There is a skene that binds past and future and, stretched ever more taught in the present, its pitch is rising……in the right hands great beauty can be plucked from its vibrating heart.
The 2012 mid year solstice is ushered in on the rising energy of a New Moon in the last degree of Gemini. This lunation lends it qualities to the solstice and asks us to bring matters we have been working through since the previous New Moon, which was also in Gemini at zero degrees, to a state of maturity. The challenge is that over the coming weeks focus shifts into a deepening ‘let it all go and think again’ mode. Solstice takes this to a more meaningful and long term level, setting the tone for the coming quarter and beyond.
As demanding as it sounds there may be some wisdom in this, however, it is a part of the challenge facing us now to find and attune ourselves to the wisdom we all carry. The patterns we create now have a lasting influence; as if testing out our assumptions for the future – amongst which, for example, include all notions of ‘co-creativity’ – the universe is lining up a lesson in making wise choices for the inhabitants of this magical blue orb we know as our home.
There is planetary corroboration here as well. With Jupiter now also in Gemini, the weight of this challenge comes through a powerful influx of idealism and youthfull envisioning pitted against the lessons of the past. Jupiter is transiting the south node, so the torsion between claims of grounded realism and ground breaking innovation will be building – in the process the generational divide between old style philosophical approaches towards life and the inspired vision of a ‘brave new world’ will become more noticable – the debate about ‘our future and how we are going to get there without repeating the errors of the past’ is amping up and the tensions and pressures to walk the talk are now coming to center stage.
On the solstice itself Gemini’s ruler Mercury is joined in Cancer by the Moon and squares Saturn in Libra while also sextiling Mars in Virgo, so both sides are raising the stakes and the depth of seperation between prevelant ideologies, which is already visible in the world, is going to become more of an issue upon which our most important decisions rest. This is going to throw fuel on the fire that burns where seperation between the will of the People and the will of the State is being expressed. Tensions here will be running high, and we can expect the supporters of the status quo to come out fighting once Saturn goes direct on the 25th, especially as this will also coincide precisely with the square between Uranus and Pluto becoming exact.
Jupiter feeds into the square through a building sextile to Uranus and quincunx to Pluto. As if we have not seen the rumblings already over the last year or more, the present generations are heading for potential collision with incumbent past generations in an attempt to wrest power from them and change our collective course. Last summer saw rioting, increasing disparity between ordinary citizens and State bodies, and Occupy picked up the baton – now the field is wide open and the action more organic, expressing diversity and resting on ‘intelligence’ – ground will be gained through surprise tactics and clawed back through clamp downs. Sound familiar….?
The heads and bodies of the beaurocratic power structures of the State are under pressure to meet the rising tide of discontent without recourse to the ‘old methodology’, for, to do so is to admit defeat, which they might be prepared to do if it wins them the battle! But, this will only further reveal just how rotten to the core they have become and, ultimately, further their inevitable demise and lose them the war, so to speak – people are sick of war and its all a matter of time now, a question of ‘how’ we make the transition out of the old death oriented paradigm into new Life.
With Jupiter also squaring Neptune through this time and heading for a trine with Mars at the end of the lunation, the religious orthodoxy will be looking increasingly out of touch and the Militia (and their covert allies) will be trying their best to keep their true alliegences hidden in the midst of it all, especially where the allience between these two archaic bastions of the old paradigm has created deep wounding of the collective soul – and this is a wound that has a global history stretching back over 5k years, and more.
In some sense humanity is being offered the opportunity to enter collective soul retrieval, something being voiced more and more in healing circles – one of the problems is that the wound also seperates so much of humanity from Nature, and Nature is the essential ‘where and how’ in restoring our condition to balance. We need the shamans within ourselves to come forward now and, working alongside the Peace Chiefs, turn the War Chiefs back around to protecting and honouring Life, the People, hearth and home. At the center of the circle is the Children’s Fire watched over by the Elders…..if you have it in you to work with the spirits, let them guide you in this work, let the light of your work with them illuminate your qualities of eldership and your path in the world now, expect it to take you well beyond your own familiar boundaries, and be prepared for whats coming as this will be a steep learning curve……we will quickly discover there is no room here for New Age bullshit.
Meanwhile, with Venus also sextiling Uranus, squaring Chiron and quincunxing Pluto the pressure will be building on those in power to come clean, admit liabilities and finally begin walking their talk (yes, that is a sardonic smile you can see behind this statement), especially regards their ‘concerns’ over the state of the Earth, ecological issues and the power relationships between these and global finance……and the tensions are such that this carries an ‘or else’ quality behind it! The alternative is to shut up, ship out and make way for the new generation of thinkers, movers and shakers. They themselves, if they do prevail now, will have an almighty mess to clear up before we can truly begin to establish the new paradigm that will ground the vision the youthfull idealists are so busy talking about.
Infact, it would be naive in the extreme to expect the ‘establishment’ to simply step aside – more likely they will be turning the screw, restricting freedoms and trying to outwit and compromise the ‘opposition’, even more than usual. And besides, the ‘new generation’ will more likely be working outside of the power structures of the past and building a ‘new world’ regardless. Watch out, be discerning, as this will suit to draw fire and aid the underhandedness of any subversive, on either side and including the agents of the NWO, down to the ground. Tricky, very tricky – who’s to believe?!
This process is now becoming increasingly familiar, but, has been going on for generations – so, neither should we be so naive as to think that this is happening without the ‘establishment’ attempting to use any ‘organic mass movement’ of the People to their advantage. We need the voice of experience here to help us be discerning and navigate these tricky times. Who amongst us, we may well be asking, are our ‘real’ Elders and where are they when we really need them……..the answer in these peer led times is that ‘if the cap fits, the time has truly come, to step up to the plate, and wear it’…..are you being called?! Trust your inner wisdom…..
By the time this lunation comes to an end the matrix will be at flash-point sensitivity for radical change to manifest though direct action that releases the pressures and tensions that have built up over this month. The T between Mars in Libra opposite Uranus, both exactly square Pluto at 8 Capricorn at the July New Moon, is a hot potato and a taste of things to come. It could be a moment where the mechanisms tumble into place that release an ongoing runaway heightened dynamic and chain reaction into the course of global events (the Gemini Pisces square between Jupiter and Neptune has all the flavours of a chemical process gone crazy), but, however the energies pan out, the moment itself, marked by the July New Moon, will bring a much longer-term pulse into play that is connected more with the Solar than the Lunar cycles. So, the ‘turning point’ characteristics normally associated with the Solstice are being amped up significantly with the lunation beginning June 19th through July……
Theres more to support this notion. Something of note is happening with the harmonics surrounding the quarter and cross-quarter fire festivals, and this speaks of Earth changes. We need to touch on the science of this, and will do so in the next post, but, it will make better sense now if we consider the timeline first. From this time on, and over an extended period, we will find in the chart for each one of the fire festivals at least one noticably hard, tension filled or ‘flash-point’ aspect and the trend continues right into 2014 when we will see one of the most powerful cardinal grand crosses for many a year straddling the 2014 March Equinox and Beltane. That CGC will involve Uranus, Mars, Jupiter and Pluto, all in the mid decan of the cardinal signs, and they are all involved in the action here, almost as if in dress rehearsal for that time. The Norns themselves couldn’t have construed a busier agenda for themselves, or, perhaps they have. Whatever the channels through which they are working, the current lunation sets the tone. The dance between Fate & Destiny can manifest equally the struggle for survival and the ascent of the soul, and the two are inextricably linked……if there is an underlying theme to these momentous times, surely this is it.
During this intensely active and complex lunation we will see the planetary matrix go into a kind of overdrive that is akin to the flash of an entire life before the eyes of one about to either crash or return to spirit, and its all happening within the curiously slowed down sensation that we get as time speeds up that accompanies such experiences. Not everyone is going to be affected in the same way, but, at the very least, this will be a time of shifting focus as many planets are either stationing, and changing direction within the chart, or are changing signs, forming sharp aspects and opening vortices and arcs of energy between the inner and outer spheres. The next post will look at the nuts and bolts of these energetics from a cosmobiological perspective. For now, here are some of the main astrological steps taking us along this path through the current period :
19-06-2012 New Moon at 29 degrees Gemini
21-06-2012 Solstice – Sun enters Cancer
24/5-06-2012 Saturn direct, Uranus square Pluto exact
26-06-2012 Mercury enters Leo
27-06-2012 Venus direct
29-06-2012 Sun/Pluto/Uranus T square; Sun/Moon/Chiron grand trine
3/4-07-2012 Full Moon at 12 degrees Capricorn; Mars enters Libra; Moon conjunct Pluto; Venus/Mercury yod to Pluto/Moon
19-07-2012 New Moon in Cancer; Mars/Uranus/Pluto T Square; Jupiter sextile Uranus becoming exact……..
I had intended to leave it at that for now, but, on reflection, there is something else…….that matter of Elders and eldership.
There is no doubt that, whatever your personal take on the significance of the year 2012, we are creating more and more communication and feedback as it happens on the events and movements of our times. This is very much enhanced with the current Gemini influence, but, information alone is not enough to live meaningful lives and, as the Sun enters Cancer we get the drive to find meaningfulness in Life – this requires conscious self awareness and the ability to be led by more than meets the eye, or ear. Knowing of another order comes with eldership and it is the rhythms and pulses of the Earth and the solar system as a whole that reflect the kind of outlook and perspective that we might expect from the Elders of our Earth tribe that will serve us in the long run. Times like solstice help us to key into these rhythms and pulses, as the elders who live on within the ancestral realms know all too well. We would do well to ask of their council at this time.
Eldership cannot be fabricated – it can be recognised, but, it requires a community that is capable of doing so. Community elders have an aura of ‘time’ about them that can only be gained through experience so, outwardly, this comes through celebration of a life lived and honoured, the recognition that an individual’s life experiences are of great value to the community and serve to provide a deeper, wider and longer perspective on Life. Solstices also offer a time to honour and celebrate these qualities……every star is an ancestral fire.
Inwardly, for one entering eldership, the recognition is a self-reflective knowledge that the events of ones life have all been meaningful – even when we are not sure exactly what that meaningfulness mounts up to there is a feeling of trust in life that Life ‘knows’ and will make use of our experience and bring out those true values that arise naturally from it when the time is right. An Elder who has embodied the natural processes of maturity will also have developed their connections with the cosmos, that bring this wider knowing. This brings solidity mixed with a certain otherworldliness to a true Elder, and we can often sense this in such people. And, just for clarity, the word Elder is capitalised here to distinguish the role and state from that of being ‘elderly’……..somehow we have to re-unite these two notions of age and maturity, and in this we are all Elders in the making. Go well, and peace be in your heart…..
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Apologies for the lackof pics with publication of this article – look out for these in updates!
owlmirror 
Establishment. Interesting word. Establish [ih+stab+lish]
Came across a concept called ‘culture-bound syndrome’ in which members of a particular group claim to suffer, and
for which their culture (agar in a petrified wish) provides an etiology, diagnosis, preventative measures and regiments
of healing.
Culture-bound…sounds like something castor oil would fix. Heard of Gabriele D’Annunzio? Now he was full of shit that
was new for his age.
Always good to read you. And, I always love how we dovetail. The general foundational framework is the same, though we do it in our own unique ways. You know, going right now through that phase of life for a woman becoming an Elder is entirely different. And one that, as a friend of mine said, “used to get us all put in psychiatric hospitals.” I feel it is a much more earth bound, crazy-wisdom that needs to re-organize itself in the female body and, indeed, as anyone who has passed through menopause can attest to, it can look pretty darn crazy at times. And here is where I think the notion of Pluto and being with our plutonic selves is key to attaining that maturity. We do have to slug through the messy and actually enact/embody our messy (taking that risk) in order to arrive as that Elder of experience and equipoise. I think, during these times, particularly those of us in healing professions (I am also a bodyworker and former psychotherapist), we need to remember we are not outside of all of the events that will transpire. And this is where we can develop our intimate relationships – with those willing to catch us when we aren’t looking to cool and embrace us and correct us.
Anyhoo, always like reading you.
amelia
Thank you Rob – good to have your regular input again.
Eldership has been much on my mind too over the last little while. It seems to me one of the important functions of an experienced elder is to know how to listen to the ‘youngers’ without judging, because they have ‘been there’ and gained knowledge, and the tee shirt. This capacity to pause, hold a reflecting space, put things in perspective, is so needed at all levels today. The common sense experience of ‘what works’ and holding on to the intent to follow it – in the face of more glittery or entertaining options [and I include the hype of the media] – is I think a mark of eldership. And after a certain number of years / custard pies / disappointments /feet in the doo-doo ETC ETC we have hopefully come through with a healthy and essential sense of humour.
So given there are some – many – who would fill the elder shoes in their own unique and beautiful ways, my question has been – how does the community/person in need of a bit of eldering know who they are? badges? a national register [joking]???
An ongoing discussion I think – I am sure the heavens are dancing us towards answers, and I am sure the starry powers that be have a sense of humour! Blessings heart to heart. Faith x
Enjoyed your post, Faith. However, I really think there needs to be a true understanding of the different paths to eldership. The male and female paths are, indeed, very, very different.
I was watching a special on LinkTV here in the US about the Dalai Lama’s mother and women as enlightened beings, in general. The doc was a retrospective of the DL’s relationship and observations of his mother and, by relationship, women in general. In it, the Dalai Lama states very clearly, though I am paraphrasing here as I watched it last Winter, though it is available on CD, “My mother and all women are the embodiment of enlightenment. She gave to and fed everyone who came to her home. She just did what was necessary and right. We, we (males) have to “teach” this.
To whom? Is my question. To men who do not “get” true enlightenment?
And, dear sir, DL, if your MOTHER was the true embodiment of enlightenment, then, well, why are we sitting at YOUR feet, instead of hers?
That is the question of the hour. In that documentary and to ourselves as a whole.
I think we really need to discern what “enlightenment” and “eldership” is as defined by the subjective “whom” and how each needs and does get there eventually. Well, women are already there, we know. Males need to “learn” it. Enlightenment and Eldership are not “THINGS.” They are a state of being and becoming which, as the High Holiness states, women simply are the masters. Men have to learn it.
And wise women of old and now have been diagnosed, by our psychiatric/patriarchal community, as psychiatric in-patient candidates, or subjects for burning and drowning or whatever such eliminative nonsense. As a former psychotherapist, I also knew highly intuitive and perceptive people who were, absolutely within the allopathic, medical male paradigm, psychotic.
I think we need to re-define and broaden our perspectives on who and what “enlightened” people are. The patriarchal paradigm just doesn’t fit anymore.
I highly suggest the book, “Shaman in a Woman’s Body,” by Barbara Tedlock, to start to engage in dynamic, intelligent archeological digs of what shamans and enlightened beings truly are.