The Aspects

First up on Sunday morning we have a mellow trine between the Sun and Neptune enabling us to take advantage of the night’s guidance.  We will be primed spiritually, preparing us on some level for Uranus square Pluto, though it is relatively not as powerful an aspect as Uranus square Pluto.  It will help us to set our psychological tone.

At 9.12 a.m. (UK time) on Sunday the first square between Uranus and Pluto (Change vs More Change) becomes exact, and perceptions and courses of action may be required.  I have prepared a separate blog for this event, so if you want to know more, read the full blog at http://www.lanawooster.co.uk/blog/2012/06/uranus-square-pluto-a-guide/

The monumental square between Uranus and Pluto is followed on Monday (25^th) by another only slightly less monumental square between giants: Jupiter and Neptune (it’s very unusual to have two such events in one week).  This I equate with a struggle of understanding between religion (Jupiter) and spirituality (Neptune). Thus you may see wrangles between different sections of the clergy intensified over  issues of current contention  such as homosexuality and gay marriage.  The aspect brings confusion on such matters.

I remember very well the last occasion that Jupiter was square to Neptune in January 2006. It was a big time for me. I was launching this website (the blog came a year later).  Eternal gratitude goes to Felicity Cook (the hostess with the mostest) who very kindly offered to host an Astrology & Past Lives workshop for me in Cambridge.   I was intrigued to see that Jupiter would be squaring Neptune.  I looked upon it as an opportunity to work with religion and spirituality together.  In preparation I created a set of past life cards for each sign of the zodiac – the Jupiter-Neptune square unleashed a lot of creativity in me.  Ideas proliferated (as they did in the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction of 2009) and like an overgroaning buffet table I prepared too much material for the workshop.  Both Jupiter (expansion) and Neptune (nebulosity) are proliferators, and so one of the things I learned not to do under this square is to overcomplicate things, but that ideas could be synthesized.

Jupiter and Neptune together can also bring spiritual meetings and magical experiences.  I was fortunate to meet, among other wonderful people, at that first Astrology & Past Lives workshop, Sinhagupta (who recently wrote a guest blog “Towards a Scientific Meaning of Past and Future Life Work” available under the category Future Life).  She had been billed as a Buddhist, a Psychotherapist, and an Astrologer, and I was fully prepared for the possibility that I might have to hand the whole workshop over to her! …But instead, when I shook hands with her I immediately felt the connection that we had trained together on aspects of the Buddhist path in Lhasa a few centuries ago, and this knowledge supported me through my task.

Also in that group was our very own Sarah Berry, who talked openly, maybe for the first time, about her channelling, with her guide Hendry.  Neptune rules channelling, and Jupiter provides openings.

Other issues which may be highlighted in a challenging way that day are legal issues (Jupiter) and oil (Neptune).  Which is why we need a remake of the series Dallas…

At 8 a.m. (four minutes after the Jupiter-Neptune square),  Saturn turns direct, enabling us to ground any changes we feel to be sound.

Mercury enters Leo on Tuesday (26th) and we will be communicating and debating with more confidence and creativity that day.

The next day Wednesday (27th) Venus makes progress, turning direct.  Relationship issues will start to make headway again.

You can’t afford to rest on your laurels for more than a day though for on Friday afternoon (29th) Pluto opposes the Sun in Cancer making emotional issues difficult.  Situations in connection with home and family may force decisions, possibly as a result of directives from authorities.

Thirty five minutes later, at 15.37 hrs, there is light relief (or black humour) as Mercury and Jupiter team up in a double act to quicken business deals, broaden the mind through travel, or simply produce some cheap laughs such as slapstick humour (a Miranda Hart DVD will do nicely).

We need that restorative interlude, for another surprise twist in the proceedings occurs in the evening courtesy (or discourtesy) of Uranus squaring the sun, highlighting again perhaps some of the life material  which surfaced on Sunday, or an innovation required on an ongoing project.

Saturday (30th) ends the week with a beneficent trine between the Sun and Chiron, bringing out the healing potential from the week’s proceedings and enabling us to catch up with ourselves.  As a Water sign trine, it will also enable us to shed a little emotion.

Pre-Wimbledon Report

Wimbledon runs this year between 25 June – 8 July.  I hope to watch some Wimbledon next week, and will blog as and when.  Last year, after an appalling record of trying to track and predict, I finally redeemed myself (see below, under Sharapova).  Though the draws as I go to press have not yet been announced, I will kick off with a few, and then update my Wimbledon Watch throughout the tournament.

Here are a few tasters:

Novak Djokovic: At the start of Wimbledon Mars squares his Uranus, so he will need to keep his temper under control in order not to upset his applecart.

Rafael Nadal: At the start of Wimbledon 2012 Saturn squares his Mars, so it is possible that some awkwardness may result in injury, though maybe not serious in nature (something that if he rests for a day or so it may pass).

Roger Federer: He is looking good at the start of the tournament, with Mars sextile his natal Uranus (tensile strength) and Venus trine his Jupiter (mellow relationships), plus Saturn sextile his Neptune (realism and clarity).  Saturn is however conjunct his natal Pluto at that time, and some part of him may be feeling a little downbeat.

Dare I predict an overall win for Federer for the (I believe) third year running? I have been wrong before…

Sharapova: From my 2011 blog: “I redeemed my Wimbledon blogging reputation slightly yesterday at the Ladies Singles Final, by remarking that Sharapova’s aspects were not too good, and that Kvitova (who won) would be inspired.  Sue Barker, on interviewing Sharapova afterwards, stated:  ‘You came across a player who was inspired today’.”

At the start of Wimbledon 2012 Sharapova has Uranus square her Neptune (confusion), and like Djokovic Pluto sextiles her Pluto, and Pluto conjuncts her Neptune, which does not seem very promising.

Azarenka: There are going to be flashes of brilliance for Azarenka at the beginning of Wimbledon with Uranus trine her natal Sun, but at the same time Uranus squares her natal Saturn and Pluto transits her natal Saturn, so the Uranus-Pluto square affects her chart strongly.  She will be spirited at the start, but may not be able to overcome conditions which are not to her liking.

Kvitova: At the start of Wimbledon, Saturn squares her Saturn, but Pluto sextiles her Mercury (acute concentration).  From her natal chart we know she has good powers of concentration generally, so that is enhanced.  Jupiter also trines her Venus at this time (gracefulness) and North Node sextiles her Venus (karma in harmony).  Not bad.

The week in bullet points:

• Sunday – Spiritual reminders; Conflicting forces
• Monday – Spirituality and Religion: a regrouping; Grounding
• Tuesday – Debate and creative thought
• Wednesday – Green light on Relationships
• Friday – Psychological challenges; business deals; surprises
• Saturday – A Healing balance

24th June 2012, 09.12 Hrs in the U.K.

Astrologers have been giving out intimations about this square for some time, and it is now almost upon us.  So I am gathering my thoughts together and hopefully something I write will be relevant or useful to what is going on in your life.  Pluto and Uranus will be at 8 degrees 24 minutes of Capricorn and Aries respectively.  This is the first pass of the square, which will recur several times between now and March 2015.  This square was prevalent during the Great Depression of the 1930s, so economically we are seeing a parallel as well as in other ways.  It is a different time though, and the purpose of the square is to shed old forms to eventually make way for new forms.  With that in mind, you may start to see new and higher ways of doing things, and new pathways.  If not now, then be open to the possibility.

Identifying the Square

First you need to identify the action of the square in your life, if it is not glaringly obvious.  Basically two different energies in two different areas of your life have been building up a storm.

Knowing your Chart

If you know which areas Pluto and Uranus are currently transiting, it is easier to make sense of how they are affecting you, and your nearest and dearest.

Not Knowing your Chart

If you do not know which areas Pluto and Uranus are currently transiting, you may be able to sense which area is being affected by Pluto energy, and which area is being affected by Uranian energy.

Pluto

The area containing Pluto is the more passive but psychologically demanding area, and the area in which you will by acceptance and absorption achieve the most work over a long period of time.  (Pluto and Capricorn the sign it is transiting are both slow and deep-seated).

Uranus

The area containing Uranus will be the ignition or trigger for events and the surprise factor, as well as the rebellion.  It will make more noise and be more active (Uranus and Aries the sign it is transiting are both active and volatile).

Degrees of Involvement

If you have a planet or planets at 8 degrees of a sign, you are more likely to be involved in events, and the effect of the square will be enhanced.  You may feel some benefits to the square if Uranus or Pluto are trine one of your natal planets, or at least a mixed influence.  An example of this is Aung San Suu Kyi whose natal Pluto at 8 degrees Leo is currently receiving a trine from Uranus in Aries, and is now touring and expressing her physical freedom.

Meditation

Meditating on the Uranus-Pluto square is very beneficial.  Both planets can topple the existing order, and tuning in gradually through meditation helps you to understand and anticipate each twist and turn, and reveal their meanings.  You can meditate on bringing Uranus and Pluto together in harmonious ways, seeing them working together to create change in a meaningful way with minimum suffering.  Create a balance between them.

Health

Many of you have health issues or know someone in a long-standing health situation.  Go within to find the causes, but use everything you need:  bring together conventional and the unconventional medicine if necessary.  Everything plays a part, and more than one person may be of help, or a certain person will be the right one at a particular point in time (e.g. a dentist!).  Above all, be kind to yourself.

Space

We need to co-operate but equally we all need our individual and authentic space and integrity.  Leave space in your diary for digestion and meditation.  Many of us are getting cranked up to achieve more and more, and working half-tired and not achieving our full potential, ironically.  Some of us, conversely, are zonked out, on benefits, possibly feeling worthless, and could do with some work and money and a little activation delegated by those who are overworked.  The Uranus-Pluto square is like a mechanism to shake the system in order to ultimately produce a new order, and this applies socially as well as in other fields.

Resistance to Change

Those with mainly Mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) will take to change more easily.

Those with mainly Fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) may feel more innately opposed to change (though Aquarians less so, being ruled by Uranus).

Apparently, you cannot put new wine in old bottles, and like many people, that is what I often try to do.

Apparently, you cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs either, which is what I also try to do.

I have always been in favour of evolutionary change rather than revolutionary change, feeling that it involved less suffering.

However, this square is a test of the maxim “Where there is no resistance, there is no harm.”

Chaos and Creation

Something which may not appear to be connected directly with this square, but which in the last year and more intensively recently, is the phenomenon of people talking to me about ownership of their ideas.  In stories in some cases going years back, people have been saying their ideas were stolen or they do not how to achieve boundaries about the protection of their own creations.  The book “Energetic Boundaries” by Cindi Hale deals with this in a useful way.

I myself have had experience of this recently, and wonder if it is to do with our Creativity being challenged by the current Chaos.  So we might expect to see in this period issues about ownership of information.  Julian Assange’s twists and turns (currently he is seeking asylum with the Ecuador Embassy in London) seem to mirror the big squares in recent years, so in some way he may be playing out a collective karmic issue.  Though not directly related to the issue I have highlighted here, there is a subtle link in that he was giving out information which in many cases was personal to people.  In your own case, if it is relevant, you may want to look into copyright and patency issues at this time.

It may be worth thinking about that often when ideas are seeded from the Unmanifest worlds they are seeding around the same time in several different places, and then take root where they can.

Archetypes

I have identified a gap in the market, for those able and willing to take it up.  We have the wonderful work on Archetypes by Carl Jung.  We have Archetype cards by Caroline Myss.  What we could do with are Archetype models, like model soldiers, we can push around and play with in on a board representing our Psyche.

Suggested Archetypes

Knight

Inner Warrior

Goddess

Priestess

Inner Child

Peacemaker

Archetypes to take a back seat

Victim

Saboteur

Tyrant

Judge

How to Play.      

1.Assemble pieces if you have a set, or in your imagination.      

2.We need Harry Hill or his model to bring them all to life and announce the start of the game.   

3. Shuffle the Archetypes around until they form a sensible working model of how life should be

 

Do’s and Don’ts

This is not a time to be trying to initiate something new, or purchasing anything new, unless it has presented itself as a necessity.  It is a time of trying to deal with present realities.  It is a time describable as “Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold” (Yeats and Chinua Achebe).  So depending whether, to skip to Hindu terminology, you are the Shiva (Destroyer), Brahma (Creator) or Vishnu (the Preserver) you will try to deal with this in different ways and have different roles and aims.  To take an example, the NHS:  If you are a Conservative politician (maintaining you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs) you may try to destroy the NHS, if you are an NHS worker you may try to preserve, nurture and cherish the NHS, and if you are an old-style Labour politician and upholder of the original Nanny State which created it, you may do all you can to save it.

Do Exercise your Free Will

[Apologies for mixing Archetypes and Hindu Gods in one blog]

The Global Picture

The global picture of the Uranus-Pluto square looks quite stark at the moment.  As I put it in a recent blog about the intractability of three key issues (10 June):

“You may have an idea of how clashing forces in your life are squaring up.  In the world situation, it relates to the dilemmas and intractable complexity of the Euro (to bail out or not to bail out), the Syrian Question (to intervene or not to intervene) and the climate issue (climate change or climate change denial).”

These issues could reach a peak this week.

Finance

All have been affected by the 2008 credit crunch through the 2009 recession denial , the 2010 wobble and the 2011 double dip and now the acuteness of the 2012 Euro crisis, from the rich man counting out his money and thinking he hasn’t got a big enough bonus to the single parent on the breadline counting each penny, some obviously more than others.

We are on the possible brink of a huge collapse economically, with all eyes on whether or not Greece will leave the Euro, and fears of the consequences.  For the moment, they have voted to stay in.  Even President Obama has urged Europe’s financiers to act, with the global economy balancing on this situation.

Eventually, the money system may have to change altogether.

Syria

Another key cause for concern at the moment: Bashar Al Assad is intransigeant in the face of civil war and almost universal condemnation.  The world is horrified at the suffering of the Syrian people, but Russia and China refuse to sanction any outside intervention or humanitarian relief.

The Middle East in general is in turmoil.  Foreign troops are still in Afghanistan, Iraq has never recovered from the Western intervention of 2003, and Israel and America are nervous of Iran’s nuclear capability.

But the most pressing situation, the one which could erupt further at the time of the Uranus-Pluto square, is the Syrian question.  The Iran question may wait at least until the next pass of the Uranus-Pluto square in September.

Climate

The question is whether it is nobler to act to alleviate climate change, or deny that climate change exists.

James Lovelock

James Lovelock, who formulated the Gaia theory, is one of those we automatically think of in relation to the climate, has Uranus exactly square his Nodal Axis, which is symbolic of the fact that he has done a U-turn from his original position that we must save the planet.  He now takes the position that she can and will save herself, and never mind us.  According to an interview in the Guardian by Leo Hickman he is relaxed about this change of mind (as befits one who has Uranus square the Nodal Axis): “But Lovelock is relaxed about how this reversal might be perceived.  He says being allowed to change your mind and follow the evidence is one of the liberating marvels of being an independent scientist”.  He dislikes wind turbines.

Other players voicing opinions on climate change include:-

George Monbiot (pro-nuclear and pro-GM crops) and Nigel Lawson (climate change denier)

Al Gore (in favour of saving the planet), Jonathon Porritt (against nuclear reactors) and Caroline Lucas (against nuclear power and pro-wind turbines)

It is possible that Gaia may have something to say on the subject this week.

Last Word

If in doubt, and if the going gets tough, remember you are a multidimensional being and have access to spiritual help from many sources in the Universe.

An Unlikely Combo

The Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama has very kindly agreed to grace the United Kingdom with his presence during the Uranus-Pluto square.  That truly is a blessing on proceedings. If you need spiritual inspiration over the next week, you can turn to Tibetan Buddhism knowing that he is on our turf.  He is here to promote his message of dialogue, peace and compassion.

Russell Brand

Russell Brand, who introduced the Dalai Lama to an audience of under-25s in Manchester last night, has found some inner peace through Tibetan Buddhism.  The position of the upcoming Uranus-Pluto square in his birth chart is interesting:  Pluto is in his 12^th House of Unconscious, urging deep inner change, and this is square to Uranus in his 3^rd House of Communication, leading to the urge to express his new ideology.

He expresses the inner conflict produced by the Uranus-Pluto square nicely:

“I’ve made mistakes in the past, I won’t lie to you, but this one I’m on my game.  I’m going to behave.  He’s a holy man, it’s not pretend authority, it’s proper authority of God.  I’m going to improvise and I am going to be playing for laughs, but I’ve got to be entirely respectful of his holiness and that’s going to be no problem because I’ll tell you why, genuine respect.”

The Aspects

We are working our way towards a New Moon at 28 degrees Gemini on Tuesday (19^th).  If you know which House that falls in for your personal chart, then you know where to channel that energy.  If you don’t know your birthtime or chart, then Communication is the watchword: It’s zippy for emailing poetry, visiting elderly relatives, or just using your Senior bus pass.

Keep the essence of that experience in mind, for on Wednesday (20^th) almost the opposite applies: Communications fall flat, trains get delayed, the weather is a nuisance, with Mercury squaring Saturn.  Knowing how communications should be, from Tuesday’s template, may help you to forge your way through these inconveniences.  Just bear in mind, with the patience of the Dalai Lama, that if you send a text arranging to meet in an hour, the text may not arrive until the next day.

In the evening the Sun enters Cancer and it’s the Summer Solstice, and normally it would be a good time to picnic under the stars, but the conditions may not be conducive.  You will need to create an indoor equivalent, or a virtual one, to mark the occasion.

In the early hours of Thursday (21^st) it’s a case of:“Wait a minute, it stopped hailing, Guys are swimming, guys are sailing, Playing baseball, gee that’s better, Muddah Fadduh kindly disregard this letter”(Allan Sherman).  The rain may only stop metaphorically, but the aspects certainly brighten up.  First Venus sextiles Uranus, which is socially upbeat and full of surprises, meetings and invitations.  There is a whole blog about it under the category Aspects if you would like to explore further.

Later in the morning Mercury sextiles Mars, and it’s back to zipping around and communicating, only with even more gusto than on Tuesday!  If you are well-versed in the language of Astrology, and are short of a conversation piece but provided with like-minded friends, your topic will probably be the Pluto-Uranus square.

Uranus square Pluto

The square between Uranus and Pluto, a mandatory transformation, becomes exact for the first time next Sunday, so I will be posting some sort of guide to this aspect on Friday.  Read it then if you would like two days’ preparation time.  Until then, try to make sure your own Inner Uranus and Inner Pluto are in tip-top condition!  Both planets are pushing for change – urge them towards a constructive direction. More next week…

The week in bullet points:

• Today and Tomorrow – Prepare for communications; write drafts
• Tuesday – A new start in communications; two steps forwards
• Wednesday –  One step back in communications
• Thursday – Thrills, followed by another forward step in communications
• Friday and Saturday – Prepare for the Uranus-Pluto square; revisit this blog

~ A time and Motion Study

[The Uranus-Pluto square is almost upon us and next week I will be putting on a suitable gruff voice.  So I thought this week I would put on a hysterical falsetto voice…]

8 a.m. – Arise and have breakfast, read the Guardian

According to Sabra Ricci in “Lobster for Leos, Cookies for Capricorns” Sagittarians do well to have apples (for detox) and cinnamon (for lowering blood sugar), so I put them into porridge.

9 a.m. –  Reply to daily email inbox: This takes half an hour because the computer is getting doddery, and keeps seizing up.  This is distressing, knowing that all the research is stored on it.

9.30 a.m. – Cold Call no. 1:
“Hello this is just a courtesy call about your PPI…”
Me: “More like a discourtesy call.  I don’t have a PPI” (Moon in Libra graces have just gone out of the window)

10 a.m. – A trip to the locally sourced Supermarket for provisions.  Imagine my surprise when opening the vegetarian cabinet I find that Linda McCartney has produced some “fish free” king prawns!

10.30 a.m.: Cold Call no. 2:
“This is an Insurance Company. What would you do if the sky fell down?”
Me: “You are trying to employ fear  tactics. I am trying to eliminate fear from my life!” (panicking at standing up to a Cold Caller).

11 a.m. –  Start work on a new baby chart.  Receiving a text about a new baby being born – There is definitely some sort of baby boom going on.  Babies are being born at a faster rate than I am able to do their charts…

11.30 a.m. – Cold Call no. 3:
“Hallo Mam (a call from Mumbai) I am phoning about your credit card”
Me: “I have never had a credit card”

12 Noon – Break for lunch. A yoghurt designed to lower cholesterol

1 p.m. – Resume work on said baby chart

1.30 p.m. – Cold Caller no. 4 sounding like the same person as the 3rd call:
“Hallo Mam.  I am worried about your computer”
“Well I’m not” (I am actually, but I am not going to admit it to him)

2 p.m. – Research the latest celebrity in the news just in case it is the hot topic next Sunday

2.30 p.m. – Cold Call no. 5:
“Is that Lana?  How are you today?  Are you aware that the government can help you with Solar Panels?”
Me: “Thanks. I already have Solar Panels.  Can you help me with my obsession with Wind Turbines?”

Cold Caller: “Uh?  That’s not on the script”

3 p.m. – Daily Meditation

3.30 p.m. – Cold Call no. 6:

“Hello Lana, or can I call you Lan for short?”

“Is that Jade from the Apprentice?  I can honestly understand why Sir Alan fired you…And before you ask, I don’t have a credit card or a computer you’d be interested in, and I have Solar Panels.”

4 p.m. – Filing all the paperwork generated today

4.30 p.m. – Tea and Cake

5 p.m. – Research astrologically why so much paperwork was generated today

6 p.m. – Cook a gourmet meal of fish free king prawn curry

Hubby: “I’m sorry, I can’t possibly – “ (rushes out to the kitchen to make himself a cheese sandwich)

7 p.m. – Research why I received so many cold calls today.  Thinks…Might do a blog about researching.

8 – 10 p.m. – Watch reality television (anything will do, I am a captive audience by then)

10 p.m. – Retire to bed, pondering the reasons for unproductiveness…

[I am sure other Astrologers are more efficient and I would welcome suggestions for improvement!]

Prince Philip

As it is his 91^st birthday today, and as I looked at the chart of his wife last week, I thought it only fair and balanced to look at his chart this week.  There are a couple of breathtaking features in common between the Duke of Edinburgh’s chart and his wife’s binding them despite being opposites in many ways.  He has the Sun in Gemini, and so all that he processes is through his intellect and the mental plane.  He is known for his witty, acerbic comments, which sometimes hit the mark (Sagittarius Archer ascending) and sometimes emerge as gaffes (Sagittarius rising again).  Sagittarius is very different from Elizabeth’s Capricorn rising.  But he knows his own mind (Moon closely sextile to the Sun), and he undoubtedly came into this world to play a specific role.  One of his main roles is as a spiritual bodyguard to the Queen.  He has a warrior’s chart (Sun conjunct Mars trine his North Node) and karmic mission.  Mars conjunct the Sun in Gemini indicate a more verbal than physical style of warriorship.  The stunning similarities with the Queen’s chart are his Moon in Leo (born to rule) and his Saturn exactly conjunct the Midheaven just as she has (defining his Career Path as one of duty and discipline, and showing just how close his path has been to hers).  Also worthy of mention is his sextile between Mercury and Jupiter (a much travelled life).  Uranus is square to his natal Pluto (bladder) at the moment, which gave rise to the stress of last weekend on the Thames Pageant, being denied proper human loo break rights for senior citizens. So it is good to see that he has been able to return home from hospital in time for another celebration.  Happy Birthday, Prince Philip!

The Aspects

Jupiter in Gemini

The week could begin tomorrow with a surge of optimism, as Jupiter changes sign at 17.22 Hrs (U.K. time) from Taurus to Gemini.  A change is as good as a rest, at this point.  However, it may come with a certain realism about finance.  Today is a good time to review investments, at the end of Jupiter’s sojourn through Taurus, and even cut your losses.

Raymond Merriman on his financial astrological blog says of this last week of Jupiter in Taurus:

“Both the Federal Reserve and ECB (European Central Bank) pleaded with politicians to start doing their share of supporting a growth-oriented economy with sensible fiscal policies and not to rely so heavily upon them to continue with monetary stimulus policies.”

A change of tack may be due…

We are moving on, philosophically.  New ideas will be coming in, though not necessarily of the economic variety just yet, and new ways of thinking.  My Gemini hubby, who’s had a lifelong interest in philosophy, has had a book ever since I’ve known him, entitled “Thinking about Thinking”.  That’s what we’ll be doing this week.  We’ll be thinking deeply about the processes of our thoughts, and receiving insights.  Communication will also be stimulated, both in your personal life and in the Communications Industry.  Publishing too may have a revival, and initiatives in Education. During Jupiter’s last transit of Gemini in mid-2000 there was a sense of a new start: we had been reprieved from Millennium apocalypse fever.  Now we are tussling with the End of the Mayan Calendar, but even those who had proclaimed 2012 as “End of Times” are soft-pedalling now and seeing it as a change of consciousness.  If you are a Gemini you can look forward to growth this year, with a special surge when Jupiter transits your actual natal Sun.

Other Aspects

19 minutes after Jupiter enters Gemini (in the U.K.) Mercury squares Uranus, so the whole tea-time period could be experienced as a “sea-change”, e.g. you may decide to go vegetarian.  Mercury square Uranus brings a change of thought, or a surprise which affects you on the mental level.  Imagine my surprise this week when opening the vegetarian cabinet at my local supermarket I found that Linda McCartney had produced some “fish free” king prawns!  It is this sort of change which could greet you at tea-time tomorrow.  I haven’t had a prawn curry for over 25 years…Make sure you read the instructions on the packet though, for in the early hours of Tuesday (12^th) Mercury also opposes Pluto and changes/surprises could be unpalatable or indigestible, under a T-square of Mercury-Uranus-Pluto.  It is an important time to grasp certain issues in your life, though, because it will relate to and prepare for the actual square of Uranus and Pluto later this month (the first pass is 24^th June).  You may have an idea of how clashing forces in your life are squaring up.  In the world situation, it relates to the dilemmas and intractable complexity of the Euro (to bail out or not to bail out), the Syrian Question (to intervene or not to intervene) and the climate issue (climate change or climate change denial).

Mercury goes on to trine Chiron on Tuesday, affording some healing and protection to the nervous system after the jangling of the T-square.  We will recognize the need for rest and space in our diaries, and may recoup a little.

Wednesday (13^th) brings another trine, between Saturn and the Sun this time, at lunchtime.  This assists the stabilization of thoughts, ideas, plans and creativity, and helps you work with the promises of Jupiter in Gemini more easily.

On Saturday (16^th) Venus squares Chiron, and problems arise and solutions are sought in affairs of the heart, and in the realms of art and music.  If crises arise, know you can turn them around and find extra meaning, for Chiron helps us to think outside the box.  Opening at the Hayward Gallery this week, on the entry of Jupiter into Gemini, is an Invisible Art Exhibition of blank canvasses and plinths, many by famous artists, such as conceptual artist Yoko Ono (who also has a retrospective at the Serpentine Gallery).  Some might find the exhibits relaxing, some might find them irritating, and some might find them bizarre.  But it will get people thinking about thinking.

Transit of Venus Aftermath

I watched the Horizon programme about the Transit of Venus, which was not what I was expecting to see (and others had yet other ideas).  A biologist on the programme was explaining how the research may lead to us finding out if there is life on other planets, and we were also shown a reconstruction of Captain Cook’s travels in the 17^th Century to ascertain the exact positioning of the event, which led to being able to size up the solar system.  In our imaginations about it, we each go on a different tangent.

Thanks for all those who sent in your reports of your experiences during the Transit of Venus. I will put them all in a file. Then I will transfer it to the Akashic records, so that if I am an Astrologer in the next century, I will retrieve the research when Venus next transits!

The week in bullet points:

• Tomorrow – A new outlook; some uncomfortable ideas
• Tuesday – Mental stress, then some mental healing
• Wednesday – Some stabilization
• Saturday – the heart needs healing; some uncomfortable art

The Queen

The stoical virtues of earth signs Taurus (her Sun Sign) and Capricorn (her Ascendant) have been very evident in the hard work the Queen has put in to making her own Jubilee year a success.  She has the South Node conjunct her Ascendant, and that is often seen in one who puts their own wishes aside for others, i.e. in this case for public service.  These qualities are reinforced in her chart by Saturn on the Midheaven (Careerpoint) defining her Career Path as one of duty and discipline.

The wealth that has accompanied this destiny is very simply portrayed by Jupiter at the beginning of her 2^nd House of Finance.  Often you will find with millionaires that they have had Saturn in the 2^nd House, and their means of acquiring and holding on to their millions has been a matter of keeping track of every penny.

Her Jupiter is in conjunction with Mars at the end of her 1^st House, which gives her indefatigability, but also I think reflects her love of horses and corgis too.  Jupiter rules horses and Mars rules dogs.  Her Jupiter is exactly opposite her Neptune, which I think highlights the separation of religion and spirituality.  This is symbolic of her role, but also reflected in her character and personality: something she has taken on karmically with the role.  These form a T-square with her Saturn/Midheaven, so she has to compartmentalize parts of her psyche in order to play her role or roles.  This may have held her back from expressing her spirituality, but may have earned her karmic brownie points.

She has the Moon in regal Leo, and so to dominate emotionally comes naturally to her.  This is a role she doesn’t have to feign.  Her other female planet Venus trines Pluto, which as her ruling planet, gives her considerable strength and fortitude.  Venus is in Pisces, and this gives her the Vision required to carry out such an all encompassing role.  Especially when the Commonwealth was inherited by her and the size it was then, the trine gave her empathy with the Third World (Pluto in Cancer, the sign associated with the African continent).

Uranus (the capacity to support change) trines her Saturn/Midheaven, and her grandchildren have been praising her this week for her ability to adapt the monarch into the 21^st Century.

She also has Chiron at the end of Aries conjunct the Sun at the beginning of Taurus, and the life role designated to her will have been a tremendous challenge to her individuality, and a test of her strength and steadfastness. The Sun/Chiron conjunction is in the 4^th House of Home and Family, thus showing her to be the upholder of tradition and her genetic heritage.  I have not yet examined the charts of future contenders to see who might be carrying this baton.

For now, this Jubilee weekend Saturn transiting in her 10^th House trines her Jupiter (recognition and good will) and Jupiter from her 5^th House of Pageantry sextiles her Uranus (a right royal celebration), and I hope you all have a good time.

Footnote: Let me make my own un-bias clear (much like Jeremy Hunt at the Leveson this week).  On the matter of the monarchy I am neither pro- not anti-royalist (though I think I was on the side of Charles II in the 16^th Century).  I am live and let live, except for issues such as Prince Charles’ carbon footprint.  I am not keen on pageantry, pomp and circumstance, nationalism and patriotism (in whatever country).

The Aspects

Tomorrow Mercury trines Saturn, a sober but productive aspect.  It is particularly good for preparing documentation, and getting down to serious tasks.  It is vital to get such activities under way early, as you will have other astrological features to attend to later.  You have to pace yourself, on such days.  Late morning (in the U.K.) there is a lunar eclipse which is a Full Moon in Sagittarius.  Your mind may be full of global issues, or at least full of issues.  Look for the highest and widest solutions, the philosophy which will encompass all things, and which may turn out to be simplicity itself.  In the evening Neptune goes stationary, prior to turning retrograde.  If you are not a fan of Neptune, this may throw you into confusion, perhaps even when you thought you were beginning to master the sorting of reality from illusion.  Sigh…as always there is more to learn, over the horizon.  Another level mastered? You are obviously ready for another shift.

As you retire for the night (morning of Tuesday 5^th), your head full of complexities and puzzles, the very early hours just over the threshold of midnight, brings a new conundrum: Venus square Mars.  This may be a social or personal issue, which has its own fine lines to decipher.  Where do you cross the boundary between friendship and intimacy, what is the protocol when greeting someone (e.g. is cheek kissing acceptable?)  You may be pondering some issue in connection with a meeting later that day.  What will someone else think?  Should you say what you think?  It could be a real dilemma, and better put out that bedside lamp and ask the Universe to solve it while you are asleep.  The actual meeting might prove a little awkward, but hopefully no more than that.

It is while you are falling asleep the next night (early hours of Wednesday 6^th) that the answer to yesterday’s conundrum may fall into place, and you will find in your mind and heart that all is unity, and love is at the heart of the question.  For the Sun conjuncts Venus at this time.  Yes, this is the Transit of Venus, or the occultation of Venus, the rare and long-awaited event.  It occurs at 15 degrees of Gemini, so if you know what House that falls in within your birth chart, it will give you some idea of its application.  It may give you the chance to solve an emotional or artistic riddle, though it may throw up even more questions.  Either way, it will be some sort of watershed, as the Universe surely doesn’t waste its time and energy on such displays to no avail.

I am still reeling from Engelbert’s penultimate placement at the Eurovision Song Contest last week.  My insight that his great hit “Release Me” represented his Chironic wound (as his progressed Sun at that time was conjunct his Chiron) then led to an insight that the same issue was recurring in a song title with a similar theme “Love will set you Free” in his struggle to find the right note.  His natal Chiron is close to the degree of the Transit of Venus, in Gemini (which needs freedom to breathe), and the current position of Chiron is Pisces (which represents inner freedom).  The current world wound is the struggle to find the freedom of the Soul within the imprisonment of society’s forms.

On Thursday (7^th) Mercury enters Cancer, so whereas you may have been feeling super-logical and goal-orientated in your mental processes earlier in the week, you will suddenly go soft focus and take a side-step, like the crab.  You might approach a mental problem from a side angle, for instance.  Or you may take into account feelings into a logical argument, which will be more realistic if the issue is not black and white.  You may turn your attention to a home project which has been in your mind for some time, but can now start to plan and implement.

Again, as you are falling asleep or tossing and turning in the early hours of Friday (8^th) you will be feeling restless, but this time it is more connected with the energy influx of Sun square Mars.  You may be experiencing anger, or the need to stand up for yourself, and be trying to resolve this within your sleep time so as not to act it out too literally in the day time (by confronting someone without having thought through your own responsibility in the matter).  It may be a good idea to check home safety before retiring, such as closing windows and extinguishing lights.  Reduce stimulation generally that day, and calm down energies.  This will ensure that over-stimulation does not cause events to spiral out of hand.

Mercury trines Neptune in the early hours of Saturday (9^th) morning (Aah, those Summer Nights…) and if you are still awake, it will be a much more pleasant experience.  You might try your hand at Lucid Dreaming, which will be easy under this aspect.  Any vision which arises in dream or half-awake state, can be engineered and crafted and re-moulded to your liking.  If you are doing a spot of Future Life Progression on yourself at 1.49 a.m. when this aspect occurs, you might experience your Optimum Future!  You can project your ideal days onto the forthcoming weekend, and see how effective that is.  If you are having a late night, you may be dancing to the early hours, for Mercury and Neptune could produce some fancy footwork.  If you are just plain awake and itching to do something, give yourself a pedicure and use some peppermint balm to soothe those extremes of your anatomy. And if you are a fantasy writer, use a notepad to record your ideas in advance of the day.  Leisure and luxury could be prominent features of Saturday’s activities.

Transit of Venus

The Transit of Venus that occurs on Wednesday morning highlights changes of perception about Money and Love.  Please see Asia Haleem’s blog on a historical slant to this astronomical phenomenon entitled Venus and the Bears http://www.lanawooster.co.uk/blog/2012/06/venus-and-the-bears/

Another friend who has input this week, and who has been tracking the Universal story with her own inner process, is Laura (of the Interview Series no. 3) http://www.lanawooster.co.uk/blog/2010/02/interview-series-no-3-the-spiritual-world-of-laura-dane/  In relation to the current financial crisis, rising panic and austerity, she states this morning:

“The crises are really about the nature of mankind’s beliefs about life and its purpose to which money has become enslaved and consequently reduced to merely supporting these limiting, limited and cruel beliefs. They are, in reality, crises of liberation from enslavement.”

With the internet, we don’t need to make any effort to find out when there is an astronomical phenomenon in this day and age.  Last word goes to Peter Aughton describing in his book “Transit of Venus” how the efforts of Jeremiah Horrocks (“Father of British Astronomy”) were rewarded in the 17^th Century:

“When he returned to his room and his telescope, he was overjoyed to see a large, dark, round spot already full entered upon the image of the Sun.  It was without doubt the transit he had been waiting for, the marvellous reward for all his hours of observation.  He did not want to be accused of seeing no more than a sunspot, even though it would have put him in the company of Kepler.  He would go to great lengths in his treatise to explain that Venus appeared on the Sun’s disc as a perfectly circular dark spot.  He was overjoyed with the spectacle.  It was an event which he knew had never been seen before in the history of astronomy…”

The week in bullet points:

• Monday – practical considerations, then global emotions, then a spiritual U-turn
• Tuesday – social faux pas
• Wednesday – changes of perception in love and money
• Thursday – a mental step sideways
• Friday – energetic conflict
• Saturday – finding the right note

With the anticipation and atmosphere hotting up towards Wednesday’s Transit of Venus event (1.09 a.m. in the U.K.) and in the throes of Jubilee and Olympic fever, we have another scholarly piece from Asia Haleem. Asia is no stranger to this blog, indeed I think of her as our resident Astro-Archaeologist…! Asia started out as an Art Historian (London University) but when embarking on a doctorate to explore the roots of astronomical imagery in the ancient near east, got sidetracked into writing two books using the information she came across, about priestesses and goddess festivals in the ancient world. For more information about her background, please refer to her very popular guest post (Babylonians, Mexicans and the Total Count), and interview (No. 1 in the series). For my penny’s worth on the subject, I would recommend reading ‘Transit of Venus’ by Peter Aughton about an English Astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks. If you are interested in 17th Century astronomical history, it’s a must-read!

VENUS AND THE BEARS
©ASIA HALEEM 2012

At the heart of ancient near eastern art 3000-500BC lies a visual language expressing the passing of cycles of time, actively used to keep abreast of the calendar in centuries long before clocks. Astronomer priests’ main role was to measure time (tempus/temple) by direct observation of the planets against the backdrop of the stars. As we come up to the Transit of Venus – which will occur during the evening of 5 June up to the early hours of 6 June* – I would like to pinpoint one interesting aspect of Venus that appears on Mesopotamian seal designs during the Second Millennium which is intriguing because it links in to our own Glastonbury Zodiac in Somerset. Due to space constraints I can only give a brief summary of what I explain with full references in the Lion and Prey Rear Attack Catalogue at www.layish.co.uk – relying on the pictures to speak for themselves.

* See my earlier blog on this website about the 2012 Venus Transit in the Mexican calendar.

In the seal impression below, Venus stepping up onto the back of a lioness holds a double lion-headed mace in her right hand, and in her left a dog-leg shaped weapon (harpé) which I believe deliberately refers to the outline of Ursa Major. Behind her, a king offers respects to the Sun, Shamash, rising over the back of a lion.

Miniature harpé (top) as held in the left hand of Ištar on a seal from Tell Asmar (bottom)

I see the scene as referring to Venus and Sun rising together – but what may the role of Ursa Major be?

Ill.19- 219 Ursa Major’s position on any one night gives the time of year and the sidereal time for that day

One answer is that it is possible to tell the time of year not only by the rising of the Sun against the Signs of the Zodiac, but at a higher level of the sky – as a double-check – by the degree of turn of Ursa Major from a fixed viewpoint at the same time (midnight) every day (this is a different matter from the 360° circuit Ursa Major makes every 24 hours – for at each round there is a slight slippage backwards).

We know that because 5 Venus cycles equal 8 Earth years (almost to the day), the Venus cycle was important for cross-checking New Year Day – hence for the Babylonians ranking with the Sun and Moon. When Archaic Greece adopted the eight-year cycle for their calendar they instituted athletic Games at key temple sites such as Delphi and Olympia as a reminder, and to celebrate it – later making them every four years to mark the half-way point also. But a cross-check to the cross-check was to notice the position of Ursa Major in the sky and the fact that Venus holds it downwards points to the time of year the Year Start would be measured from. There are Mesopotamian texts that specifically link Venus to the Sibitti (the Seven-star group which can refer not only to the Great Bear, but also to the Seven-day week which the Mesopotamians lived by (inherited by us).

A Syrian king pays respects to Venus with dove on her shoulder and holding a seven-fold mace (one merges with the flower on the border)

Above is a drawing of a 2M seal from Alalakh, Syria where Venus has a square hat. Apart from the Ankh signs referring to her, she holds in her upheld right hand a symbol of the Sibitti (Seven-Star) but she also has a pigeon or dove on her shoulder – a well-known symbol for Venus.

At this point we jump briefly to look at the main outline of the Glastonbury Zodiac (I have reversed the image to our more habitual Earth-view). It is said to date at least to the Second Millennium BC, if not to the late Third Millennium – and clues that it was inspired by Sumer come from the word Somerset itself, as well as other place-names – the River Parrot in the county is the name of the Euphrates for example. At the centre of this land zodiac is a bird – which we could call a dove – marking the Polar Centre.

Ill.7- 40 Mary Caine’s reworking of the Glastonbury Zodiac (1989), reversed (the addition in red of the head to the Aquarian Phoenix is mine)

Does the Dove here mark the position of Ursa Major – or Ursa Minor? Anyone ignorant of astronomy today still knows how to find the Pole by using the stars at the side of Ursa Major to run a line up to the tail of Ursa Minor at the Centre. Let us not get into the displacement of the Polar Centre over the millennia – the basic indicators of that fixed zone of the sky have since the Second Millennium been the Two Bears – and it is feasible that Venus’s dog-leg weapon refers as much to Ursa Minor’s seven stars.

I have a sense of several calendrical dovetails coinciding in the first week of June when not only Is the Queen’s Jubilee Bank Holiday of Tuesday 5 June marked by the Transit of Venus with an Olympic celebration in London following, but also a lunar eclipse the day before (4 June, reconciling lunar and solar years), accompanied by a cumulative gathering of nations in the Capital that starts with the performance of all Shakespeare’s plays in different languages at the Globe Theatre (a circular building representing The World) and ends with the Games after a Grand Eight-Year cycle of Venus marked by rare Transits of Venus (2004 and 2012). I recommend you on June 5 at midnight you check the position of the Great Bear and then wait up for the end of the Transit of Venus at dawn on June 6 (via its reflection in a bucket of water) – and you should have lined up the benchmarks for the World to make a new beginning! I deal you The World Tarot card!

Disco Giants

Donna Summer

In the week or so coming up to the glorious mediocrity that is Eurovision, we lost two disco giants, capable of inducing nostalgia in many hearts: Robin Gibb and Donna Summer.  Their musicality is portrayed very differently in their charts.  Donna in life and in personality tended to swing between two extremes, the full blown licentious emotional self-expression (Sun conjunct Jupiter in the 5^th House) and the puritanical (Saturn conjunct the Ascendant in Virgo).  She had several planets in the 5^th House of Disco and Hedonism.

Robin Gibb

Robin Gibb’s exuberance was firmly rooted in his family connections, especially with his twin Maurice and his older brother Barry.  This is shown by the Moon conjunct Jupiter in his 4^th House of Home and Family (he was ever grateful for these connections, apart from a short spell finding himself after some sibling rivalry).  Venus (Song) was exactly conjunct his I.C.  (Security and Roots) in the 4^th House, so that his song writing was to a great extent inspired by the family connection.  He was, as Paul Gambaccini intimated, a musical genius, and this Venus/I.C. conjunction was blessed by an exact sextile with his North Node (karmic reward).  He was able to take advantage of this karmic grace in his career, with the exact trine of the North Node to his Midheaven (Careerpoint).

Eurovision

The musical nostalgia we resurrected for our U.K. Eurovision entry did not make an impression on the judges this year, giving us penultimate place in the vote.  This is because the acts that did well this year impressed by their visual performance (Sweden, who won, and the Russian Grannies notably).  Engelbert Humperdinck sang well and his song was no worse than average, but there were no hi-jinks or spectacular Kate Bush style gyrations from him.

If you followed the adventures in this blog of the phobic four who went off to Duesseldorf for last year’s extravaganza, you might wish to know that we decided at the time not to follow on to Azerbaijan this year, just as well considering the political climate.  We had one on the way, for little Roxanne signalled her pleasure from the womb, at Jedward’s performance.  So we did gather again from the comfortable atmosphere of Cambridge, but then there were five. We did wave our flags again for Jedward (the Irish entry) but though their performance was up to its usual standard, the song was not as catchy as last year’s. And we did sample some amazing flavoured ciders, such as strawberry (to be recommended), so a good time was again had by all.  Just a footnote: the Eurovision cure for the phobias did work.

Engelbert did have a reasonable transitting sextile of Saturn to his natal Jupiter to make the event happen for him, but though an accolade at his age (76, about the same age perhaps as the Russian Grannies) the performance did not distinguish him in that setting. Although I carried out my threat to walk out of the room at his performance, my feelings gave way to compassion when country after country refused to give him any points.  Maybe it was my own 17-year old angst which was at fault, for his 1967 hit “Release Me” was a painful expression of his progressed Sun reaching his Chiron (Wounded Healer) in the 5^th House of Self-Expression.  The prevailing transit to the U.K. chart was not looking bad yesterday: Pluto sextile the U.K. natal Jupiter. Maybe that will translate into other benefits for the U.K. around this time.  The winning country Sweden (who may just about be able to afford to stage the 2013 Eurovision) have a powerful transit of Pluto sextile the natal Saturn at this time.  And their winning performer Loreen Talhoui, who fulfilled the brief of visual performance, hi-jinks (expressing the song lyric Euphoria) and spectacular Kate Bush style gyrations, was actually under the constraints of a transitting Saturn to her Sun in Libra, so it was a very studied performance, and  consistently touted beforehand as a favourite.  Ah well…the mysteries of Eurovision are now behind us for another year.

The Aspects

All eyes are again on Mercury this week, starting with a transit of Mercury conjunct the South Node this weekend, causing us to revisit old events and patterns: in my case, as mentioned above, I was reunited with the crowd I went with to the Eurovision Song Contest last year in Duesseldorf. Mercury is also conjunct the Sun, providing a focal point of consciousness and intellectual energy in whatever natal House the conjunction falls. Late in the day Mercury sextiles Uranus and a bright idea may come to you, possibly as a result of revisiting old events, and constellating your consciousness. The power to change circumstances or thinking is coming from the house which contains transitting Uranus.

Tomorrow the Sun sextiles Uranus bringing co-operating between the same combination of Houses, but instead of ideas (Mercury) creativity (Sun) will be born. However, later on Mercury squares Chiron, and mental strain could be in evidence, or health issues challenging, so pace yourself – don’t overreach yourself, but do honour your creativity, inventiveness and originality.

By Wednesday (30th) health issues may continue to be a pre-occupation. You may solve one area of healing (e.g. The mental component) only to find there is a deeper level ( that of the Soul) to explore, with the Sun square Chiron.  The Soul of course does not need healing, your connection to it just needs strengthening.

In the early hours of Thursday (31st) Mercury squares Mars and you may be woken with a physical discomfort e.g. slight tummy troubles, headache or inflammation. Alternatively you may experience a conflict type of dream, in an effort to resolve a healing crisis.

The good news is that there is every chance of health or conflict resolution by the end of the week, due to Friday’s (1^st June) conjunction between Mercury and Venus: a dialogue of reason and the heart. Writers, negotiators and peacemakers come into their own. Cafe culture thrives: with decaff and gluten free options available in most establishments these days there is no reason to fret or experience guilt these days.

The week in bullet points:

• Today – re-visiting the past; crystallizing consciousness; mental leaps
• Tomorrow – brilliant ideas and creativity, then mental strain
• Wednesday – health pre-occupations
• Thursday – health and safety issues
• Friday – cafes, and notebooks at the ready

Gemini New Moon Mandala painted by Sarah Berry
Line Mandala from Mandala Colouring Book by Barry Stevens
available at http://www.mandalas.freeserve.co.uk/colouringinbook.html

This is the seventh piece in an occasional series written about the expertise of each Sun Sign. I am still looking for the Capricorn who can write a guide to Ambition, and a Libran who can write a guide to Relationships. If you think you are the person I am looking for, please get in touch. Or alternatively if you should know the ideal person. The articles will be found under the category “Zodiac Masterclass” so that eventually there will be 12 such articles, e.g. “The Cancerian Guide to Parenting”, “The Gemini Guide to Communication”,”The Leo Guide to Leadership” etc. Each article will be written by someone who has the Sun Sign in question.

Here guest blogger Janet Leng writes about Gemini as teacher. Janet is a schoolfriend, and also happens to have been born 3 days before my husband in the same year, so I have been able to track their astrological parallels over the years, e.g. my husband is also a teacher. The blog was written under the aegis of a “writing” aspect: Venus sextile Mercury.

Two other fascinating facts about Janet: In the late 60s she negotiated her own dual degree course (Biology and Language) which was unheard of in those days, and the subjects reflect Gemini very well. The other fascinating fact is that she is a competition champ: her Gemini mental agility, which she demonstrates in this guest blog, has seen her through life manifesting what she needed by winning the relevant competitions. Another fact (possibly only fascinating to me) is that she introduced me to mandalas.

A word about the mandala: It is orange, which is in the portion of the colour spectrum I associate with Gemini, and that is uncomplicated. But, maybe due to the fact that it was painted on last’s year’s Gemini New Moon Eclipse, it has led us a merry dance to get it here. The paper the watercolour was applied to was the crinkliest of all the mandalas, and eventually, after many efforts including an unsuccessful repainting, we obtained a photograph of it which might work. A slippery Quicksilver Geminian customer, if every there was one. And it was painted by Geminian Sarah on her birthday. Do let us know if you have any unusual experiences with this mandala. Some background history: this line drawing from Barry’s colouring book was based on an early ‘70s line mandala inspired partly by cruciform mandalas found in churches, drawn at a time before he was painting mandalas, so it was not painted.

Revolving Doors, or “The Gemini Guide to Communication and Teaching”

by Janet Leng

I love being a Gemini. It’s a life of few disappointments . Who could stay miserable for long when lost opportunities simply bring the freedom to look for the next open door and when you can wonder what you’ll be when you grow up – right to the very end. You probably haven’t built up a huge pension pot but you’ll be rich in experience and boredom will be a foreign word. You might have to keep on working past retirement – but who wants to pass up all those new experiences just waiting for you out there on the horizon.

So, where does this Masterclass start? It probably starts out on the Somerset Peat Moors where I had a fixed term contract as Field Archaeologist on the Somerset levels , living in an isolated cottage with only the owls, the buzzards, the shrews, rats and weasels for company in the midst of the peat fields. Now this, I have to admit, remains my dream job but notice I said “fixed term” so the dream couldn’t go on.

Instead of moping I thought to myself “What would I like to do next?” The answer was “I’d like to go and live in a Moslem country.. Somewhere the very opposite of the Somerset Levels. Just to see what it’s like. Now how can I do that?” It wasn’t difficult to find myself on a TEFL training course through International House leading to a placement in noisy, busy, exuberant Cairo.

I can’t say I had any great wish to be a teacher having fallen into it in true Gemini fashion via the quest for change and new experiences . But once I was in Egypt I loved it. It wasn’t the subject and wasn’t the syllabus or the work per se. As with all my future drifting in and out of teaching, I couldn’t pretend to have any great passion for the subject . It was the people who mattered. I’ve never been able to stand up and spout in front of a class but running an interactive , mutually beneficial learning process is one of the most fulfilling things you could wish for. And in Cairo, I felt I learned more than I taught.

Back in York some years later, as a single parent, I needed to find a way to support myself and my four old daughter. Once again I thought “Now how can I do this?” and once again I fell into teaching, taking a PGCE Secondary level. I can not claim any lofty ideals. The grant I received was more than I’d been earning in part time work and the timetable fitted in with my daughter’s school times and holidays.

Once again I could not pretend any great passion for the subjects I took. Unsurprisingly I gravitated into special education where on and off over the years I’ve worked in the old style sin bins (the class of naughty boys), autism units, and become deeply involved with pupils with profound and multiple learning disabilities and those with severe physical disabilities.

I loved them all. You might think that a Gemini driven by the need for communication and mental agility would find such work frustrating or even boring but that never happened. In fact it was the reverse. The more disabled children are, the more locked up in their own little words, the more sensitive you can become to them . You become aware of such tiny little things and tiny little changes that communication occurs at a very deep and satisfying level. And in York, as in Cairo, I felt I had learned much much more than I taught.

This type of work is also physically exhausting. Heavy wheelchairs, children who cannot move their own bodies; a constant need to be fully alert to every little thing going on, alert to any sign of physical distress in a child, alert to signs of imminent seizures …. It isn’t a job for the feeble but I got to the point where the physicality was too great for me and my own health was being compromised.

The thought of going back into mainstream education was horrific. Children in mainstream these days don’t really NEED you. There is none of the deep communication and the strong relationships between teacher and pupil. The possibility of relationships with your class are minimised by the day to day struggles with discipline and order. No self respecting Gemini has any interest in imposing restraints, discipline and order!

I still had no great drive to change the world or pass on love for any particular subject – so what next? How would I find new excitements and new paths?

I had done some casual spells of work for a training company as an instructor in business English delivering individualised one to one courses to business people from abroad. I could only handle short bursts of this of I would have died mentally and emotionally. Despite the need for building good relationships in one to one training, a clientele of largely workaholic Germans from Deutsche bank and VW, left me feeling as if in a straight jacket. It certainly wasn’t the same two way enlivening process as in special education and going down this route permanently was never an option . Sadly I did not feel I learned more than I taught in this post HOWEVER I heard that another of their trading arms was developing BTEC courses within the Kuwaiti oil industry.

A little flash of inspiration hit me and I went to see the boss, suggesting that if he included me in the Edexcel training for BTEC assessing procedures, I would be ready and available if he needed to send anyone out to Kuwait at short notice. And that’s exactly what happened. I had the training. Two weeks later whilst visiting in Manchester I got a call on a Sunday – could I fly out on the Tuesday? Could I? Of course I could.

And that is how at the age of fifty six I considered myself very fortunate to set off on a new adventure. The revolving door spun and I was back in the Middle East.

Here at last I did feel a greater connection with the subject matter had to deliver training in essential soft skills such as Interpersonal Skills, Team Building and Team Working (and many more) , to groups of very bright young Kuwaiti s on the graduate development programme and in addition provide continuing professional development courses to larger groups of older employees from right across the oil industry .

Can you imagine, there I was in the training centre in the middle of the desert, arthritis vanished, working within a very strict Islamic culture with employees at every level, engineers, geologists, doctors, nurses, lawyers, refinery workers, firemen, storemen, IT specialists, from the highly educated with their doctorates to the teams of very young and very wild Bedu tribesmen. Heaven!

Yes it was heaven although at the beginning I was faced with the daunting sight of a formal U shaped room set up, tables covered in starched white cloths Realising this was another potential Gemini straight jacket I soon sought the biggest rooms available and had the room attendants arrange tables cafe style so I could waft around the room at will, put the trainees into teams, constantly shuffling them into new teams for every task.

In this job I’ve had the freedom to the present the training in my own way, almost 100% interactively and fun! NO death by Powerpoint here but lots of physical activity in the kinaesthetic learning style I prefer.

How lucky I was to spend a part of my working life surrounded by lively, responsive young Arabs, absorbing their mental and intellectual energies. To say I felt it kept me feeling youthful is an understatement. In a desert culture with a strong oral tradition, the relationship is everything . And so it was in Kuwait that I felt I learned one thousand times what I taught.

Now we are up to May 2012. I’ve spent the last six years leading a double life. Very Gemini! I compare it to walking through C.S. Lewis’s wardrobe into another world and then back again four or five times per year. Some might find that disorientating but not a Gemini.

Sadly, my company doesn’t have any Kuwaiti contracts at the moment . I could moan and complain about the loss of my other life in the Gulf but I won’t. I don’t feel I am done with Kuwait just yet and anyway the lack of work gives me the freedom to accept just about anything else that comes my way.

So there we have it: a life of travel, communication, never standing still and spinning that ever revolving door.

I wonder what’s next?

The Aspects

On Sunday 20^th May the Sun enters Gemini at 15.15 Hrs in the U.K.  You may have been communing with the Pleiades on Saturday 19^th, but a new mental focus will come about on the Sunday.  I am planning for the latest in the Zodiac Masterclass series “Revolving Doors, or the Gemini Guide to Communication and Teaching” to magically appear at that time, written by a special Geminian and accompanied by a mandala painted by another special Geminian: a double act.  The New Moon in Gemini follows in the evening, and is an eclipse.  The New Moon in Gemini last year was also an eclipse, and the mandala was painted on that day, so there is something of a resonance.  Eclipses are especially important for people who have planets near that degree (0 degrees Gemini), and can be turning points, or can just be tricky to negotiate.  The trick that you, if you are affected, may need to negotiate, may be a turnaround in your thinking.  For example, you may start out irritable about something, until you understand the cosmic significance of what is being asked of you.  Geminis particularly, could find themselves having to make an important decision.  If all goes to plan for me, the Geminian Masterclass article could eclipse this Aspectarian.

Tuesday (22^nd) is good for business and sales, travel and learning.  Your mind will be elastic and safely stretched today, even if it is not normally…(see my section on Phone Apps to test out how stretchy it is at the moment).

Wednesday (23^rd) however, is a different kettle of fish, with the Sun squaring Neptune.  If you have been travelling the day before, try and make it to dry land by Wednesday, for you could feel at sea with this aspect.  You may feel foggy or confused, and need special x-ray specs to see through the illusions of the day.  Not a day to tackle a task which needs precision and attention to detail – best save that job for tomorrow.

Mercury goes into Gemini on Thursday (24^th) and the spiritual fog and mental dullness may subside and give way to clearer thinking, and better communications and travel, but this may only be a brief interlude, unless you have achieved enduring clarity on the Gemini New Moon.

For on Friday (25^th) Mercury squares Neptune, so you will need to use your mind to negotiate another swathe of fogginess.  The spiritual lessons of Wednesday may enable the mental lessons of Friday, again if painstaking attention has been paid.  The mind needs to be a tool honed to perceive whether or not something is an illusion, even though the “mind is the slayer of the real” (Helena Blavastsky) and some spiritual teachers advocate “having no head” etc.  We need all our faculties: if some truth resonates with your heart, your mind, your soul and your body, then trust it.

Smart Phone Apps

Some people are obsessed with their Apps, and those I do have I enjoy.  But my i Phone is too antiquated to receive some of the new Apps. Here’s a wish list:

The Mandala Meditation App

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mandala-meditations/id447475759?mt=8

I have had a glimpse of this App, and would have one if I could…It is a moving mandala meditation, named Luminescence and produced by Meditation Oasis featuring Barry Stevens’ mandalas.  Click on the link above to find out more.

If you have an i Pad you can obtain the following version:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mandala-player-visual-meditation/id512339348?mt=8

The Spiritual i Phone Apps

1.  Past Life Pets
2.  Future Life Pets
3.  Past Life Lovers

These Apps have been created by Anne Jirsch, pioneer of Future Life Progression, to enable you to discover your past and future life links with pets, and past links with lovers.  Irresistible!

For more information, have a look at Anne’s website:

http://www.annejirsch.com/

Book Recommendations

The winning of Britain’s Got Talent by Ashleigh and mongrel Pudsey last weekend just proved how deep a bond can be between a pet and his or her owner.  If you recognize this phenomenon you may want to read a book by healer Madeleine Walker entitled “Your Pets’ Past Lives and How they can Heal You”.  It is profound and heartwarming.  As a result of reading it, and training with Anne Jirsch, I am now intending to offer Past and Future Life sessions in relation to pets, in addition to my existing services.  I mentioned this casually to a friend, who thought I was going to regress the pets themselves, which caused a bit of mirth.  So just to clarify: if you have a deep bond with a pet which you would like to trace in the past, or look forward to in the future, you would have a chance to experience that in regression or progression.

The second book, which I read this week, and highly recommend, is “Dying to be Me” by Anita Moorjani.  It is about one woman’s near death experience.  If you wonder what is different about Anita’s experience which you might not have read about in other books on the subject, it is that after all her bodily organs shutting down after 4 years of decline from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, she had a near death experience and realized what the psychological causes of her illness had been.  She then decided to come back, and she brought back the healed consciousness patterns. Within days her body had healed itself, and the surgeons were confounded that all the tests showed there was no trace of the cancer.  This is a book of universal significance, for the central issue was that in her life she had not been able to be herself.  Her story is amazing, and her subsequent philosophies expounded after the event ring so true.  The moral of the tale is that we all need to live that level of authenticity, now.

The week in bullet points:

• Sunday – Communication, Communication, Communication!
• Tuesday  – Mind-broadening
• Wednesday – Spiritual fog or confusion
• Thursday – Mental recuperation
• Friday – Mental fog or confusion