Energies: This Autumn begins with the Autumn Equinox and the Sun’s entrance into the Cardinal Air Sign of Libra on September 22nd – 23rd. At the time of the Autumn Equinox, there are no planets in a Fire Sign, four planets are in Earth Signs, three planets are in Air Signs and three planets are in Water Signs. There are three planets in Cardinal Signs, three planets in Fixed Signs and four planets in Mutable Signs. There are three planets in Positive Signs and seven planets in Receptive Signs. By Sign, there is a T-Square in the Cardinal Signs with the Sun in Libra square to Pluto in Capricorn and Mars being in Cancer. Fire Sign Aries is the missing Cardinal Sign in the mix. The season begins with a Stellium of three or more planets in one Sign with three planets in Mercury-ruled Virgo with Venus, Saturn and Mercury itself. Mercury is retrograde conjunct Saturn, both of which are in opposition to Uranus.
The season of this Autumn continues the alchemical process, a period of purging and eliminating, a season of deathing in order to provide the fodder for a rebirth. Like nature in the Northern Hemisphere with the leaves falling from the trees and the skeletal structure of branches, limbs and trunk exposed, we may feel as though during this Autumn we are being stripped down to the bare bones, being rid of excesses and cut to the essence of our very being. There is a purging going on, a dropping away of those characteristics of our lives that have served their purpose and now prove no longer functional for us. We are likely to experience this stripping away as individuals, as a society and as a community. Back in early Summer, I posted on my website an Autumn Alert which detailed the different factors in society that I believed could create a perfect storm for this Autumn period.
The Autumn begins under the influence of the Virgo New Moon back on the 18th – 19th of September, a Lunation with the Stellium in Virgo opposed Uranus in Pisces and impacted by the forthcoming square to Pluto in Capricorn. This Lunation and this Autumn are highly significant, for they offer a vision of our forthcoming future when the opposition of Saturn Uranus that has gone on since last Autumn of 2008 is ratcheted up by the opposition moving into a T-Square with Pluto in Capricorn.
I would suggest that some of the dramatic changes we have seen since August of 2008 and continuing on into the present are but the tip of an iceberg. There is more to come as we go through the transformative process — the alchemical process — of dying to the old to be born to the new. We are at a paradigm shift, a time when a particular style and manner of operating in life are falling away and a new style and manner of living are coming forward. We may not know the ingredients, the unfolding, or the outcome of this shift clearly, but we are all likely to sense and feel the process of this falling away, deathing and labor pains of incipient growth and eventual rebirth.
During these times, it is essential to embrace flexibility and adaptability. During these times, it is important to allow the jury to be out regarding what is really going on. There can be no rush to judgment, for all the factors and unanticipated variables have yet to be revealed. What we can be secure in is the fact that unexpected situations are likely to arise. We must recognize that old solutions no longer work for the present, much less the future. We may not have a detailed playbook regarding how to cope. We may have to experiment, try things out and hopefully without total commitment until we have proven to our satisfaction that new ways are more appropriate for our future and offer better days through brighter ways.
This Autumn asks us to take our time, even as things are accelerating and we are being asked to handle more now than ever before and all with the recognition that new ways of operating might have to be used. It is essential that we use due diligence, look at things from as many facets as possible and always with a jaded eye, or at least a healthy skepticism, regarding the ‘answers’, the ‘solutions’, the ‘leaders’.
These times are very confusing since our subconscious tendency would be to re-create our past, and even if the outer environment is totally different, we have to be careful that engrained, conditioned, habitual patterns do not impose themselves on our judgment, opinion, choices and decisions. We are not looking to re-create our past nor could we. And it is important that any change is not merely a case of ‘meet the new boss, same as the old boss’.
All of us might want someone to come forward, ‘have the right answer’, and then do it for us. Perhaps this attitude seems like a nice concept in theory but such a disposition is totally out of present reality and unfolding reality when both individual accountability and individual responsibility are demanded of us. We are in times when no one can do it for us. We are in times when we have to step up to the plate, act as adults and make our choices with the recognition that the choices do not, and should not, be carved in stone but that our choices, no matter what our choices might be, have ramifications.
Not only does this Autumn ask, demand, that we focus on due diligence, consider the specifics of our lives with the backdrop of a constantly changing landscape of the world-at-large, and then make choices and the commitment to accomplish and achieve no matter how difficult the process might be during these radically transitioning times.
This Autumn also suggests the need for us to consider our health regimen, decide how best to take care of ourselves mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Just as society is going through a transformative process, so too are we. We are going through what the first nations peoples would refer to as shapeshifting. And in this metamorphosis of ourselves, like the caterpillar going through the chrysalis to be the butterfly, our physical bodies are under a great deal of stress.
Added to the natural stress of our own transformative process, we have the stress that occurs with significant seasonal changes as the dramatic variations in the outer environment and weather systems place greater stress on our physical bodies. We also have the stress of the changes occurring in society and in our community as old practices, ways and means fall away to be supplanted by…. What? How? When? With What Effects?
Added to all these dis-stress factors, we also have the town criers screeching about pandemics, virus systems that could be plague-like and that bring up trace memories of previous world contagions such as the black plague or, more recently, the Spanish flu early last century.
Amidst the revelations of the different factors triggering stress responses and amongst the realizations of the various corrupt aspects of life on the earth plane, we might find our immune system breaking down unless we take responsibility and engage the Christian biblical admonition that cleanliness is next to godliness.
Whether our physical body, our mental body, our emotional body or our spiritual being, the more we can clean up our act during this Autumn period, the more prepared for the future changes we shall be. Let us see this season as a conditioning program, an accountable and responsible process by which we are preparing ourselves not only to meet the challenges of the next few years but to move from mere survival during difficult times to a true thriving no matter the conditions prevalent around us.
We start the Autumn with Mercury retrograde conjunct Saturn. Outstanding matters, old issues, even mental meanderings down Memory Lane can all be part of our early Autumn phase. We may be able to see how present situations are recurrent patterns as a parade of similar past situations comes up in mind. While we might wish to change the pattern, on the short term it is far more important to be an objective witness. Like standing under a waterfall and letting the water droplets run down our back, we would best use any past remembrances as a reflection of where we have been and how we have done life but without overly critiquing or judging it. Instead, let’s just allow our thoughts and reflections to wash over us, keeping in mind that before we can change a pattern or correct a situation, we must first be aware of them.
If we feel as though we are behind the eight ball, having to react to circumstances rather than controlling the conditions, let’s bear in mind the paradigm shift of these times is moving humankind away from being able to control and master its universe. We are moving away from an egotistical self-absorption and moving towards co-creating our reality and getting back into greater syntony with the natural unfolding. No longer masters of our universe, we can be free to work more effectively and successfully by being in harmony with natural coordinates and universal cycles. How liberating! How freeing up! And how far more productive and successful life could prove to be!
This Autumn can have some wrenching aspects to it. Either we let go of certain situations or they are pulled from us and gotten rid of. We might not like the process, but it would be wise not to judge it but rather keep in mind the wise saying that god and the universe have far greater plans for us than we could ever imagine for ourselves. Or, if you prefer, when one door closes, another door opens.
In reflecting upon my past experiences, I know and I can see that what I considered at the time as some of my greatest tragedies opened the door to some of my greatest successes. Yes, life is mysterious and increasingly so. And that is why it is important for us to suspend judgment and affirm that the best is yet to come… even if we have difficulty imagining such a thing.
During some of this season we may feel that we have stepped through the looking glass, entered a Dali-esque surreal world and encountered a hallucinogenic time frame that might seem a perfect reflection of the classic Western movie title ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’.
Although we have been playing tag teams with the Saturn Uranus opposition since last Autumn of 2008, we are shifting the focus briefly from this interchange to a different and possibly more difficult interchange. At the end of October, Saturn moves out of Virgo and enters Libra. As it does so, it moves into a square with Pluto exact on November 15th and fully influencing the Scorpio New Moon on November 16th and the following fortnight.
In 2010, Uranus enters Aries and from next year into 2012 we shall have a Cardinal Sign T-Square with the Saturn in Libra opposed Uranus in Aries and both square Pluto in Capricorn.
If the Saturn Uranus opposition since last Autumn of 2008 has wreaked havoc and triggered major transformations and forced major changes, then this next phase of the Saturn Pluto during this Autumn might prove ever more challenging and still serve as but a prelude to the Cardinal Sign T-Square from 2010 into 2012. In light of these forthcoming energy configurations, it can be seen that perhaps we have only experienced the tip of the iceberg in the radical shifts and dramatic changes that have already occurred.
With Saturn moving into Libra at the end of October, we may experience tests regarding our personal relationships and those things — whether work, activities, friendships and self-identity — that help to complete us and even define us. The ‘other’ for all of us will be up for questioning. We may also experience a ratcheting up of the ‘blame game’. While true reality now is asking us to be accountable and more responsible for our choices, there will be many people resistant to such maturity. Instead, they will see their problems, their difficulties and their frustrations as not a cause of their own personal choices but rather as a result of other people’s actions. Talk about giving up control!
Although we are all having to let go of control over our lives and the world around us, such a shift does not mean flipping to the other extreme of feeling reactive or playing the victim. On the contrary, we move into a phase whereby we are co-creators, doing what we can with the recognition that we are working in synch and in league with the natural unfolding. No judgment, no opinion regarding how our lives are going but rather doing what we can from our integrity and with the best of intentions and with our plans written in pencil with a large eraser in hand so that we can adapt and change as shifting circumstances warrant.
The Saturn in Libra can raise many issues with personal relationships with a likely uptick in divorce and domestic violence. Although relationships, the Libran energy and the archetypal seventh house that Libra rules represent the ‘other’ and offer a completion to our selves, they also represent the shadow side to our selves, that part of our selves about which we are least familiar and have little, if any, knowledge. It is through relationships, the Libran energy and the seventh house that we learn about ourselves in order to integrate ourselves and become whole. While the Saturn in Libra will offer us the focus on these areas, before the integration we might experience the conflict and discord. In truth, we are fighting within our own personal selves. Rather than addressing our own personal issues, we can reflect those issues outward and assume that other people, other situations, circumstances beyond our control are the trigger points for our discord and disharmony. Eventually, we can come to a synthesis, an integration but before what degree of collateral damage?
The Saturn in Libra squares Pluto this year and by Sign over the next several years. In 2010, Uranus moves into Aries to create the Cardinal Sign T-Square. To some large extent, we should be grateful that this significant energy pattern occurs in the Cardinal Signs, for it will allow for initiations, start-ups, changes that are begun rather than merely reactive changes or being so stuck that change comes about solely by an eating away. No, this T-Square will allow for initiated change, proactive movements and a willingness to try and experiment in order to move forward.
We are living during what the Chinese proverb, some would call a curse, states: ‘May you live in interesting times.’
We are living in deed during interesting, challenging, and even, at moments, tragic times. And we are living during times that offer incredible opportunities, a time of a dramatic paradigm shift, moving into a synchronistic world of asequential reality and out from the linear, sequential reality of the past. We are moving from the fourth dimension of space-time with the three dimensions of space confined within the parameters of time sequence in past – present – future. We are moving into the fifth dimension of NOW, a collapse of time with past present future all now and a limitless space of infinity.
We may be unaccustomed to the change but ready for the adventure, if we keep in mind the truth that we never get more than we can handle.
We are going through an alchemical process — a phase of turning base mettle into gold. We are shapeshifting, morphing, transforming. If we can be open and receptive, then while the adventure may seem chaotic at times, we can also come to the full appreciation that life is good.
This Autumn continues the roller coaster ride but allows us to put together our own conditioning program. We may need to rid ourselves of the extraneous and outworn. We might want to build up our strength, tone our bodies, focus on wellbeing rather than dis-ease, and be willing to surf the emotional tsunamis that are liable to come with these times.
Life is exciting. Life is good.
Autumn 2009… between a rock and a hard place, a gem is discovered…
