Bustling Astrology Creeps Up on Us

8.31.06


Maybe it's because I've been so engrossed in everything I'm doing, split in sixty directions and trying my best to keep the plates spinning and the balls in the air.

But today, I opened my eyes wider… and noticed how much astro-action is currently lining up over these couple weeks. Like, crazy amounts of major stuff.

Maybe it's no wonder I'm so friggin' busy (dear reader, have you been busy, too?), considering what the planets have set before us. Let me give you a quick run-down (because 'quick' is apparently all I've got time for), to help you see what I'm talking about:

1. Earlier this week (Wed Aug 29), Jupiter and Uranus formed a trine for the third and final time during this phase of their cycle. Since Nov 05, when they first trined, we've enjoyed expanded benefits whenever we took audacious risks or snubbed our noses at outmoded orthodoxy… as well as an increase in the urge to act out or break away, just to be contrary or 'just because'.

The best Jupiter-Uranus results have come from following emotional wisdom and intuition, rather than intelligible logic or pragmatism. The trine, after all, is in the element of water, which refuses to hold consistent shape or abide by the rules of rationality. Recently, two magical grand water trines formed when first Mars (in early May) and then Venus (late last month) moved into the third position, creating a triangle of synergy. Any unforeseen (and hopefully fortuitous) developments you witnessed during those times will exemplify just what this influence can do.

As the final peak comes and goes, this is our last big opportunity for allowing those uncanny hunches and gut feelings to lead us away from the norm, into unknown territory… and toward a radically new type of good fortune. Listen for the currents' pull.

2. Today (Fri Aug 31), Saturn and Neptune move into the first of their three exact oppositions… the astro-aspect that, more than any other, will characterize the tone of our next several months. I've already written about it here, and I'm midway through another article on it, which will show up on the site in the very near future.

Suffice it to say, the most important point to make here is: We're officially under the sway of Saturn opposing Neptune. Start to familiarize yourself with the themes it raises, since you'll be hearing about it repeatedly from me and any other astute astro-commentator you follow.

3. Then, next Monday (Sep 4), Pluto goes direct, after having been retrograde since late Mar 06. Ordinarily, this isn't something I'd bother drawing your attention to, since Pluto spends a good chunk of each year in the retrograde groove. But considering Pluto has both been moving extra-slowly in advance of this station, adding emphasis to his location in the sky, and making major news headlines all over the world (a 'dwarf planet', eh?)… I'd say he's worth watching.

It's not a coincidence, incidentally, that all this Pluto business is happening now. Pluto is currently forming a double-square to the lunar nodes, two celestial points that represent our karmic position vis-à-vis the past and the future. The lunar nodes are central to the determination of whether a new or full Moon is upgraded to eclipse status. If the Sun and Moon are within a certain orb of the lunar nodes at the right time, we have an eclipse.

Therefore, the next solar eclipse—which occurs on Sep 22 06, in the last degree of Virgo—will also create a square with Pluto. (Interesting timing, indeed.)

4. But first… before the solar eclipse shows up, we'll be welcoming a lunar eclipse full Moon next Thu (Sep 7) in the sign of Pisces. You will hear more from me on this eclipse next week, but I wanted to mention it now, in the name of comprehensiveness.

This impending arrival of two eclipses over the next few weeks, of course, is enough to qualify our current moment as an 'eclipse period'—those twice-a-year concentrations of rapid-fire evolution, dramatic climax, and lots of activity that frame the end of one 'chapter' and the start of the next.

For the next month or so, it'll be hard enough to keep your own head screwed on straight, let alone to hold everything else together. That's okay, though. We can only do what we can.

And if all that isn't enough to occupy your attentions… well, maybe I should hire you to handle a few of my spinning plates.