2009 July : Big Sky AstroBlog

Jul

23

This may seem ironic in view of my last post… but here are a few things my colleagues are up to that I thought you might find interesting.

The witty, urbane, and whimsically Canadian Matthew Currie has published the first in a series of small yet delectable e-books. This one provides a thoroughly readable introduction to planetary aspects. When I was a student of astrology, and later a teacher, I quickly learned that aspects separate the Sort of Interested from the Future Astrologers. Learning to combine nouns like “Mars” and “Saturn” with verbs like “quincunx” and translate them into intelligible sentences is a little tricky, but it’s the difference between learning astrological grammar and becoming conversant. Aspects are tough to master and tough to explain – and it helps a lot to have someone as entertaining (and well versed) as Matthew to break it down for you. Note: Geez, he works fast – he’s already got a second one up! Haven’t seen that one but it is not doubt delicious. Consume! [Ed. 7/24 to add: Okay, I read the second one, and it is heee-larious!]

My friend and MoonCircles colleague Simone Butler has introduced a unique report combining Feng Shui, your birth chart, and the New Moon. If you haven’t caught it yet, check out her article in the August/September issue of TMA. If you’re anything like me (and if you are, God help you) you will quickly become utterly captivated by the correlation between the houses of your chart and the bagua.

Jessica Shepherd has just published a whole passel of terrific articles on one of my favorite topics, eclipses. I’ve also had a sneak peek at her book, A Love Alchemist’s Notebook (debuting early 2010), and I am telling you that this is one you are going to want to buy by the crateful and pass around to all your friends who are single and looking.

July 23, 2009 | 2 Comments

Jul

21

In the past couple of days, I’ve become preoccupied with two things: snacks, and Airstream trailers. The former is a textbook response to a looming Solar Eclipse (tonight at 7:35 pm PDT) in the food-loving sign of Cancer. And as for the Airstream… well, they’re so darned cute, cozy, and self-contained. Shiny, portable shelter – these little land dinghies have always made me think of a crab’s shell.

If the sign of Cancer teaches us anything, it’s that there are moments when it’s best to crawl into your shell for a while and close the door behind you. I’ve been feeling that way since the lunar eclipse, and until the last couple of days I haven’t had the luxury of taking some time out. Consequently I’m feeling tired and oversensitive (not to mention bloated, from all the snacking). Plus, the avalanche of New Moon/Solar Eclipse messages in my inbox is making me feel anxious, because OMG, I didn’t write anything for the New Moon, and it’s an eclipse (to end all eclipses), and I’m supposed to be kind of an eclipse gal. My career is over! (Cue swirly falling graphic and dramatic music a la Jimmy Stewart’s terrifying plunge in Vertigo…)

It’s the same feeling I get if I spend too much time on Facebook, reading blow-by-blow accounts of all the fabulous writing and readings and everything else that my colleagues are doing. I find myself anxiously comparing my output to theirs (or at least, my perception of theirs), which I realize is sort of crazy because I’m just one person, and it’s not as though it’s one person doing all those things, it’s an entire Facebook friends list. Nevertheless, the honest truth is that while part of me is intrigued and inspired to hear what other folks are up to, an increasingly shrill part of myself is covering its eyes and ears and screaming to be left alone.

So until the Leo New Moon I’ll be giving myself a summer vacation in the fetching vintage Airstream in my mind. Internet service there is unreliable, so I’ll be severely limiting my visits to Facebook, astrology blogs or websites, and my email inbox.

My heart is trying to make itself heard. I get the feeling I’ve come to the end of a long road… and now I’m going to trek across a lonely, quiet field for a little, carrying my little Airstream shell behind me, until I find where the new road begins.

Well. I guess I wrote something about the New Moon in Cancer after all.

How are you doing? Where’s the eclipse (29 Cancer) falling your birthchart?

July 21, 2009 | 9 Comments

Jul

11

… until you learn to listen for them, and then it’s more like a shout.

We’ve were visited last week by Australian astrologer Lynda Hill, the Queen of Sabian Symbols. For the uninitiated, Sabian Symbols are a set of 360 word pictures – one for each degree of the zodiac – given to astrologer Marc Edmund Jones through spiritualist medium Elsie Wheeler. Wheeler channeled the symbols in an epic 8-hour session conducted here in San Diego’s Balboa Park in 1925; Jones transcribed the symbols and later published them in his book The Sabian Symbols in Astrology. Dane Rudhyar also included the symbols in his book The Astrology of Personality.

Lynda Hill is astrology’s foremost champion of both the symbols and Elsie Wheeler, and she is passionate about researching Wheeler’s life and honoring her contribution to the Sabian Symbols legacy. If you’ve ever had any interest in them, you can imagine what a treat it’s been to have astrology’s premier Sabian Symbols expert hanging out at my dining table. Lynda eats, drinks, and breathes the symbols, and her passion for them is contagious.

Last night Lynda gave a lecture about Elsie and the symbols for the San Diego Astrological Society, and in her introduction VP Deborah Parker said that after hearing Lynda speak for another group on Wednesday, Deborah spent the night “dreaming of sabian symbols.” I wonder if I did the same thing last night, because this morning I woke up to a rather lovely realization about the Sabian Symbol for my natal Sun, 14 degrees Leo: “Cherub-like, a human soul whispers, seeking to manifest.”

Is it any wonder that in 1988 (with absolutely no knowledge of the Sabian Symbols) I fell hopelessly in love with a German film called Wings of Desire, the story of two angels in modern-day Berlin?

Although Damiel and Cassiel are pure observers, invisible to all but children, and incapable of any physical interaction with our world, one of the angels, Damiel, begins to fall in love with a circus trapeze artist named Marion…Eventually, Damiel too longs for physicality, and to become human.

One of the film’s more effective techniques is the low buzz of whispers that accompany the angels as they move through the city, listening to the thoughts of everyday humans. Eventually, as Damiel tires of his role as a dispassionate observer of humans, the whispers become louder and louder, until he must cover his ears to get a rest. (I can relate; as anyone who knows me can testify, I’m freakishly sensitive to noise.)

It’s hard to overemphasize the impact this lyrical, poetic film had on me. I saw it numerous times in the theater, bought it on VHS the minute I could find it for a reasonable price, and finally, some years ago, tracked down a print of the original promotional poster, which now hangs in my office. More importantly, I’ve used themes from the movie, again and again, as metaphors to illustrate various astrological placements.

It’s a lovely, critically acclaimed film, but I’ve seen plenty of those without becoming semi-obsessed with them. To call Wings of Desire “my favorite movie” is woefully inadequate; it’s become part of my personal mythology. Now, with the help of the Sabian Symbols, I understand why. It’s my personal story, and that of all the listeners born with the Sun at 14 degrees Leo. We’re the world’s observers, bearing witness to the world’s worries, hopes, fears, and dreams; who long to fully inhabit our own humanity and to make our own voices heard.

The world speaks to us in symbols, if we will only listen.

July 11, 2009 | 4 Comments

Jul

6

I’ve posted a new essay for the first of three eclipses in the month ahead – Tuesday’s Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse at 15.24 Capricorn (2:21 am PDT/5:21 am EDT):

Live and Learn
This Full Moon ushers in a new, two-year-long cycle of eclipses in the signs of Cancer and Capricorn. Welcome to a critical phase of redefining safety and security and of figuring out how to provide for yourself and your loved ones. Our household is okay at the moment, but we do live in California, a state that is teetering on the precipice of bankruptcy. Many of our friends are unemployed, and others with government jobs have had their hours cut through furlough programs. It’s a little hard to see where it will end up, but I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be pretty…. (read the full article)