February is a month when we can look to the future all the while that we are being haunted by the specters of our past. As the saying goes: ‘If we do not learn from our past, we are doomed to repeat it.’
This statement is never as true as during this particular phase of humankind’s development. We are on a threshold of a paradigm shift, about to step across the threshold into a whole new paradigm, an operational mode far different from that with which we are familiar. Old ways will no longer work and we shall have to devise new methodologies with the recognition of totally different operational parameters. Increasingly, it will be important for us to test out new practices, try out new ways of doing things and appreciate the fact that things may occur not so much from our making them happen as much as unexpected situations arising with unanticipated variables involved. Before we fully cross the threshold into the new paradigm, we have outstanding matters to address, loose ends to tie up and old baggage that we need to look at, sort through and to eliminate that which is not appropriate for us to bring into the new paradigm.
This new paradigm asks that we not fall into a victim mode, merely reactive to conditions and circumstance but rather become co-creators with the universal unfolding. This new paradigm calls for responsibility and accountability without handing down severe judgments as we learn, practice and eventually develop the new functional methods for these times. This new paradigm necessitates our letting go of a belief in mastering our world but rather embracing the co-creation stance whereby we can be proactive all with an understanding of the universal rhythms of ebbs and flows.
This month of February begins with one planet in a Fire Sign, four planets in Earth Signs, three planets in an Air Sign and two planets in a Water Sign. We start the month with four planets in Cardinal Signs, three planets in a Fixed Sign and three planets in Mutable Signs. Four planets are in Positive Signs, six planets in Negative Signs.
February starts with two Stelliums of three or more planets in one Sign. We have a Stellium in Capricorn with Mercury, Mars and Pluto in the Cardinal Earth Sign. We have a Stellium in Aquarius with the Sun, Jupiter and Neptune in the Fixed Air Sign.
Similar to the January ingress chart, we start February with a bucket type of chart with all the planets, save one, bunched together in the Signs Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces and Aries. The singleton, or the handle to the bucket, is Saturn. The Saturn Uranus opposition, first exact this past November and continuing into the mid 2010, is in force with Saturn opposed Uranus exact again on the 5th.
This month allows us to move ahead even while being constricted by the limitations or constraints of our past actions. We are not looking to re-create our past – ‘been there done that’ – nor would we want to re-create some of our recent past which might have been as scary as the most terrifying horror film. We may feel as though we are caroming between old and new, testing the waters of new interests, haunted by our actions in the past.
In this paradigm shift, we are moving into a new reality. We are leaving behind the linear, sequential reality of beginning, middle and end. We are moving into the non-linear, asequential reality of the NOW, when past, present, future are all one, a phase when the time-space coordinates collapse and everything is NOW.
These are exciting times, although we might feel scared by the lack of instructional manual to navigate the currents. And, thus, the old and new are engaged. The old being a safety blanket we may, at times, revert to old patterns, shore up our past structures and assume that we only need to remediate in order to make old ways functional for our present and our future. Should I suggest that embracing the security blanket of the past will not work? The new may be mysterious, may be unfamiliar and may have us feeling like an innocent, vulnerable and unaware of how best to cope. Yet the new is also like a magical, mystery tour, stepping on the bus with the awe and wonder of childhood. And this new is a time when things can come out of the blue, when unexpected situations arise and opportunities come forward without us trying to make them happen.
Already, we are experiencing this new format. We can experience it, witness it, in the little miracles that are occurring in our lives. Consider them for yourself? The possibility of thinking about someone you haven’t thought about for a while and then suddenly being in contact with them. Your need for a parking space in a heavily congested area only to discover someone pulling out and providing you with the needed space. We needn’t try to force our will on situations as much as being open to the fact that the universe does work, if we will be in synch with the universe and the importance, at times, of getting out of our own way.
This February offers us opportunities of witnessing these minor miracles. It provides us fodder to try new things out, to develop new interests, to experience our sense of self by experiencing new ways and exploring new venues. We may not be able to cut the ties that bind us to the past. We might even be forced to address old issues and outstanding matters. But the indications are strong for us to consider options and alternatives, and then turn our hopes and dreams into a more manifested reality.
Increasingly, we may recognize the truth to the statement that ‘things can turn on a dime’.
As we begin the month, the emphasis on the Capricorn and Aquarius energies truly allows us to have our head in the clouds and our feet firmly planted on the ground.
We can consider options and alternatives we might not have taken into account previously. We can see how old patterns and old ways no longer work for us. We can create a best practices methodology to conceptualize and strategize our hopes and dreams.
This month provides some exciting times. Even though the keyword of these times, VOLATILITY, will be acting out with real whipsaws of up and down, back and forth; volatility breaks up the status quo and is a very dynamic energy. So too with this month of February.
The beginning of the month on the 1st brings an end to this year’s first of three Mercury retrogrades. With this Mercury retrograde having been transiting the Signs of Aquarius and Capricorn, we may have all experienced computer glitches, travel delays and car problems. Misunderstandings or miscommunications could also have been apparent. We might also have seen problems with the structures of our lives, whether that structure be our day-in, day-out routine… our physical structure with potential health problems associated with colds, flu, stomach bugs or skeletal problems… the structure and solidity of different societal organizations and institutions.
The times they are a’changing.
Mercury turns direct on the 1st and although we are still in its ‘shadow’ until the 21st, we can now move ahead with less misunderstandings or glitches or delays that we might have experienced while Mercury was retrograde.
During this month, there is not a great deal of Fire to inspire us or excite us. We may find that we are contemplating our future, hoping to pull out of the present, still haunted by our past. Ideas can be swirling around and we could be trying out different things but possibly without a great deal of passion as much as looking for change.
The 2nd has Venus exiting Pisces and entering Aries, a Sign of its Detriment where Venus is not all that comfortable. Although we may be enjoying our friendships, group activities and social interactions, we could be self-focused and far more interested in how relationships serve us rather than a total win-win situation. With Venus entering Aries we do pick up some Fire but the Fire may be more associated with our personal needs and interests and could contribute to some ill-feelings in our interactions with other people at times.
On the 4th, Mars exits Capricorn and enters Aquarius. As it does so, Mars reinforces the Aquarius Stellium with Mars joining the Sun, Jupiter and Neptune in the Fixed Air Sign. With Mars exiting Capricorn, we lose our Stellium in Capricorn. Our focus may be more on socializing, emphasizing our own personal self interests and looking to our future plans without always considering a best practices approach by which to realize such plans.
The 5th is one of those potentially hazardous, or difficult, times with relationships. The 5th could also prove a rather difficult time in general, since we have both Venus square Pluto and also the Saturn Uranus opposition exact. The back and forth of old and new could be accentuated and we could even consider throwing certain things out, including people, if we assume that they are solely related to our past and inimical to our future. Around this time we could get a little headstrong, tending to knee-jerk reactions and feeling weighted down by responsibilities that we might seek to cast aside. These energies can be testy regarding our commitments, our interactions with other people, and a willfulness of standing against the powers-that-be. Belligerence can be in the air. Demonstrations for change or against authority could capture the news headlines. For ourselves, it would be wise to count to ten before we act or react. We could be impetuous, acting impulsively, asserting our individual selves without considering the parameters, circumstances or conditions. This is a time when we have to be wary of acting without reflecting on possible consequences.
The Leo Full Moon on the 9th, a Lunar Eclipse, accentuates the world of possibilities, although some of the possibilities to us might be real delusions. The caveat for this first part of February is to contemplate potentials, all the while looking at the specifics, aware of the particulars and considering both the likely consequences of embracing certain possibilities and the impact upon our commitments and obligations. More than once, we might be willing to throw baby out with bath water, make dramatic changes for the sake of change without fully considering collateral impacts.
This second week of February could have us liable to the pitfalls of wish fulfillment and illusions. We may want to believe what we want to believe, even assume it to be true, indications to the contrary notwithstanding. Not only do we have the Leo Full Moon on the 9th opposed both the Sun and Neptune, but the Sun conjuncts Neptune on the 12th. We could easily fall prey to buying into images and appearances without considering the details or the conditions.
On the 14th, Mercury enters Aquarius adding greater force to the Stellium of three or more planets in Aquarius as Mercury joins the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune in the Fixed Air Sign. Our idealism is engaged. A desire for greater democratic actions and a wish to embrace our uniqueness all the while appreciating other people’s individuality and character quirks would seem increasingly strong now. We may be looking more to our future than dealing with our past or our present. No matter how much we step off into the abstract world of potentialities we are at a time when we can’t get away from past actions that are having present impacts.
The third week of February seems a highly active, upbeat and expansive time. Jupiter is aspected initially by a Venus sextile on the 16th, followed by Mars conjunct Jupiter on the 17th. We are far more focused on the ‘what could be’ or ‘what can be’ rather than wringing our hands over the past or even dealing with our present reality. A sense of ‘can do’ spirit seems to pervade these times, some of which may seem a natural consequence similar to the mythological bird the phoenix rising from its ashes.
Venus sextiles Mars on the 18th, the day that the Sun exits Aquarius and enters Pisces.
On one hand, we may feel as though we are ending a cycle, a particular phase of our life experience. We might see the wasteland of crash and burn that has gone on regarding institutions, societal structures and even matters and plans in our own lives. On the other hand, we could feel a manifest destiny, a sense of dharma unfolding, and the ability to move away from our past into a whole new landscape for our future.
The Sun sextile Pluto on the 21st provides us an opportunity to see what ingredients we wish to bring forth into our lives for a well-structured, essential-based future. We can cut away the dross, like some late winter cleaning, getting rid of those ties that bind, or at least taking stock of those things that we intend to be rid of.
The New Moon in Pisces on the 24th continues with this sense of clearing out elements that no longer work for us or no longer speak to us. This New Moon sextiles Pluto and there is a Mercury Jupiter conjunction. Our faith seems renewed, restored as we recognize that whatever we have gone through over the past eighteen months has been a period of letting go, separating the chaff from the wheat, and ridding ourselves of the superficial and the extraneous. On the 25th, Mercury sextiles Venus.
This end of February offers us a second wind. We may realize that we are not out of the woods yet but the distant pastoral setting bathed in sunlight seems within our scope.
This February can be a time of mental meanderings but also creative visualization. Even if we assume that we need to carefully budget and plan, especially after some of the slams of recent months, it is far more important for us not to be weighted down by the past but to appreciate that clearing may have been created in order to fill it with new hopes, new dreams, a world of greater possibilities.
We still have work to do, we still have cobwebs to clean out, we still have issues to look at, to deal with and bring closure to. But we also have the opportunity of becoming increasingly aware of the paradigm shift, increasingly recognizing the minor, or major, miracles in our lives, increasingly appreciating the fact that life is moving more towards synchronicity and the wonder of the unexpected rather than locked into a linear progression of action, reaction, resolution.
During this process, during what might seem like a tug of war between old and new, it would be wise to keep in mind the adage that we never get more than we can handle.
February… from the wasteland, a land of possibilities…
