We start this Autumn fast out of the gate, but during this Autumn we might wonder whether we are in the race to nowhere. There is a great deal of intensity this Fall. We may be passionate, determined and looking to engage new areas that allow for greater autonomy, independence and the ability to put our own mark on things. At times, it may seem as though people are like male dogs, marking their territory. Such a tendency of ‘marking’ could be a result of increased anxiety, a deepening sense that things are just not right and a difficulty in seeing how things could right themselves. What we need to realize is abnormalcy is the new ‘normal’, that we cannot go back to times of old and that we are unable to re-create the past. We should also acknowledge that we would not want to re-create the past even if we could. Things may seem a lot happier, more exuberant and secure in retrospect. But we are in a period of crossing a threshold into a new paradigm and during these times the playbooks for the past just will not provide effective plays in the present, much less the future.
We are on the dawning of a new day, even if we feel at times that we are in the dark of the night.
These are exciting times, if not stable and secure times. Instead of assuming that we know how things should be, let’s keep our eyes and ears wide open in order to gauge the possibilities and the inclinations for the future. Certainly, the extremes of volatility can whipsaw us if we try to hold on to assumptions and beliefs and accept the consensus opinion as to what is really going on. Like little children, we might want to be open to the awe and wonder of these changing times, the shifting sands, a dynamic period when things swing wildly but in so doing also allow the most unexpected situations to arise.
Autumn begins on September 23rd with the Autumn Equinox, as the Sun enters Libra. At the time of the Equinox, we are enmeshed in the Cardinal Climax of Aries, Libra and Capricorn with the Sun opposed Uranus in Aries and the Sun square Pluto in Capricorn. We start the season with a Stellium of three or more planets in Libra with the Sun, Venus and Saturn in the Venus-ruled Cardinal Air Sign. The Moon in Leo conjuncts Mars and both trine Uranus.
We may be feeling good about ourselves, looking to take machete in hand and carve our own path. We may be dismissive of the authorities, the powers-that-be and shake our heads in disdain at how badly they seemed to have mucked things up. The evidence of their inabilities and ‘pay to play’ corruptions could be seen everywhere with various traditional institutions under assault and with people walking away from believing that the powers-that-be can rectify a situation that seems like a runaway train. We have witnessed episodes of the general public discontent — the Arab Spring, the riots in Eurozone countries, the dismissive public opinions polls on the ‘leaders’ in the US.
As we drift away from reverence for people, things and institutions larger than ourselves, we are likely to empower our selves, our individual abilities to deal with things as they are and turn them into opportunities and possibilities for our selves. I have written it before, I shall write it again: these times do not speak so much to the ’60’s refrain of ‘power to the people’. These times speak to ‘power to the person’.
And we begin this Autumn ready to engage the unique, the different, the iconoclastic. We are not interested now in fitting in but rather now in standing out. We want to be free. We want express ourselves. And we want to explore and discover the possibilities for ourselves and for our future. We are not interested in stepping on other people’s toes. Our sense of competition can diminish, for we are interested in doing our own thing and in cooperating and encouraging other people to do their own thing as well.
While we are energized by our own prospects, we may see further problems asserting themselves in the collective and on the societal level. The end of September highlights this Cardinal Climax. On the 25th, the Sun opposes Uranus, followed by the New Moon on the 27th with Mercury opposed Uranus, one of my least favorites aspects for air travel. Things may crescendo on the 28th as the Sun conjuncts Mercury and both square Pluto. With the New Moon impacting the next fortnight and until the Full Moon on October 11th [someone’s birthday… well, probably, a lot of people’s birthdays but mine as well], this two-week period can be an interesting time. Of course I use the term “interesting” as in the Chinese proverb, some would call a curse, may you live in interesting times.
Yes, this end of September into early October could prove very interesting. There can be difficulties associated with air travel, internet connections, computer problems, solid institutions not so solid and a ratcheting up of concern over the global economy and its ingredient national economies with a sluggish recovery [we could only hope] and the tax man multiplying his various charges.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
We might find this Autumn period to provide the necessity of our further developing our individual skill set, honing our talents and learning the ability to do more with less. Whether there are breakdowns in infrastructure systems or we become ever more aware of rising costs and a stagnant revenues stream, we may have the opportunity to become ever more resourceful and focus our energies and our resources on the most meaningful and essential aspects of our lives.
The beauty of these times is the new reality that we don’t have to do it all. We do not have to feel as though we were rolling a boulder up a mountain. Unlike Sisyphus, we can use winches and devise a best practices approach to get the boulder to the mountaintop. And our best practices approach might allow for a little magic, the synchronicity of things developing in a non-sequential manner. Those serendipitous moments, when things come out of the blue, can become ever more rampant and evident. All we have to do is to take off our blinders, be open to the possibilities and be willing to engage serendipity.
We do not have to make things hard for ourselves but rather we can recognize the truth to the wise saying that we never get more than we can handle.
While the early Autumn may seem like scenes out of Alice’s Wonderland or a Hieronymus Bosch triptych, relationships can be interesting and challenging. We might bump into people who, like messengers on a scavenger hunt, provide us clues of new possibilities or inclinations of what we might look for next.
This Autumn is a time for us to explore and investigate but without feeling the need to make definitive commitment or create solid foundations of new interests.
The mid-October can be fairly pleasant, especially if we are willing to embrace the sentiment that the best things in life are free.
The Stellium in Libra that began the Autumn season is replaced by a Stellium in Scorpio as of October 23rd, when the Sun enters Scorpio and joins Venus, which exited Libra on the 9th to enter Scorpio, and Mercury which entered Scorpio on the 13th. Our focus definitely shifts in October as we become ever more interested in looking beyond surface appearance, stripping away the veneer and looking to see what is really going on. We may also become more aware of the bite being taken out of our paycheck and our finances as price increases become increasingly evident and we learn of increases in user fees or taxes.
October would be a time for us to budget our resources — our time, our monies, our involvements. Some of us may choose to downsize or concentrate on our personal debt reduction. We may also see some nuggets of worth whose value has gone unrecognized and unappreciated and could provide solid foundation stones for our future and the changing parameters of the world-at-large.
Let’s keep in mind the volatility of these times and not be swayed by momentary trends that may merely be a brief reaction to extremes. Maintaining a conservative approach to our resources and our expenditures would provide a cushion against any severe bumps that might otherwise prove costly.
The end of October allows for due diligence, all the while that there can be extreme whipsaws. If we can maintain an even keel amidst the storm-tossed seas, then we shall successfully ride out the waves. Some black swans of unexpected situations that we might have been aware of may suddenly become more prominent and could create an upswell of anxiety and concern. It will be essential that we maintain awareness, mindfulness and be ever vigilant to the vagaries of these times.
Confusion can be rampant as we come into November. I have noted before, shall reiterate now, that I have been startled by the number of charts that have a pronounced Saturn transit during this latter part of the Autumn on through the winter period. Since I have seen it in so many charts and in many different types of people, I have to presume that something occurs on the collective level or societal level that has a heavy, serious impact on many of us. A Malthusian quandary could be upon us, with some event or situation having a dramatic impact on the world at large.
Although it seems that national leaders have chosen a less than coordinated game of kick the can, kicking substantial issues and fundamental problems down the road, at some point there is likely to be a kickback. I have suggested before, reiterate again, the fact that the astrological signatures now have an eerie correspondence to the patterns in effect at the time of the late 1920’s, early 1930’s. I have also indicated long before now my belief of a liability towards a double dip recession. With third quarter results for corporate entities coming in during this Autumn, the meager economic growth of this year may look healthy in comparison.
Unfortunately, the players on the world stage are oblivious to the epochal change, the paradigm shift and the crossing of the threshold from the way things have been to the ways things could be. Past solutions are ineffective for present and future conditions. And once again, I suggest that these times speak more to the ‘power to the person’ than to ‘power to the people’.
Each of us, in cooperation with one another, can find our way and develop a new consciousness and a new way of being. We are going through a transformation, both individually and collectively, and this shape shifting is akin to the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into the butterfly. We can only scrape our wings along the ground for so long before we are forced to fly.
November is a month when it is essential that we read between the lines, accept nothing at face value and be ever skeptical of presentations long on rhetoric and flourish but short on facts and pragmatic solutions. We may come to realize that we are not the problem, but we are the solution and a solution acted upon the individual level.
We may feel truly empowered as we come into mid-November. Thanks to Mars moving into Virgo, we have an Earth Element Grand Trine with Mars trine Jupiter in Taurus on the 16th, followed by Mars trine Pluto on the 23rd. We may feel confident about the steps we have taken to both preserve our resources, be resourceful in our daily dealings and focused on how we can improve our personal situation while the world seems hell bent on falling apart.
Thanksgiving day in the US, on November 24th, is also the day that begins this year’s last Mercury retrograde cycle. Mercury retrogrades back through Sagittarius and turns direct on the 13th of December.
Although there may be a great deal of confusion during much of the November period, if we stay true to our individual path, focus on the most meaningful interests in our lives, then we are likely to not only empower ourselves but make forward progress towards our hopes and dreams. We may feel driven with a sense that the baton has been handed to us. Although we might not have a roadmap regarding the terrain ahead of us, we have honed our skills, become far more adept at trusting our inner voice and far less distracted by the noise of the maddening crowd.
Although December continues with varied twists and turns, we are becoming used to the dance. As if our anxieties have been deadened by the constant scares, we are able to cope, less reactive to the unexpected events that arise and able to circumnavigate any difficulties that lie in our way.
It is said that this journey on the earth plane is a school of constant lessons with various tests along the way. We may have found ourselves tested over the course of the past few years, and during this Autumn time, but we have risen to the challenge, come to a fuller understanding of our own personal journey and have determined to makes these volatile times the best of our times with a hope that the best is yet to come.
Autumn 2011… why take the race to nowhere…
