I wouldn’t have this self-created kind of website if it wasn’t for certain people in my life, and one of these is Barry.  From first seeing his mandalas in 1985 I was struck by their outstanding progressiveness and power.  I contacted him in 1987 when studying Tibetan meditation at Manjushri in London, and first saw the originals exhibited at the Festival of Mind-Body-Spirit in London in 1988.  I own two originals, but my house is overrun with mandalas now, which include my pale imitations.

Barry’s website opens with the words: *Mandalas are universal images which can be found all over the world and beyond.  They exist in the West, notably in the rose windows of cathedrals, and other forms of sacred art.”

Lana:   What do you see as the link between Astrology and mandalas, and how has Astrology slotted into your life in relation to this?

Barry:  Philosophically speaking, my exploration of mandalas and astrology are part of my experience and expression of Oneness. Both the mandala and astrology are based on the principle that all are connected and One.

The link below explores this principle and features the mandala Sacred Centres and zodiac poems of Lana:

http://www.mandalas.freeserve.co.uk/AstroSacredCentresopt.jpg

Also the text which accompanies the mandala Sacred Centres expands further on the subject.

http://www.mandalas.freeserve.co.uk/Sacred_Centres.html

Historically speaking, the experience of Oneness  arose in my late teen years and was part of my interest in meditation, philosophy, art, mysticism and depth psychology. Astrology came along a few years later. The first time I remember someone calculating my chart was in my early 20’s when I was living in “hippy communes”.  At that time there was some uncertainty about my exact birth time and therefore ascendant but my birth certificate clarified that some time later. In the ‘80’s I spent about five years in or near Glastonbury and it was then that I made a serious study of astrology, attended a number of courses and workshops about it and started drawing up charts which I continued to do into the ‘90’s. I drew up the charts by hand and used a design I made myself which had in the centre a mandala. My idea was to remind myself and others that all the energy, patterns and cycles and so on that astrology explores exist in the context of the unchanging absolute symbolized by the centre of the mandala.  In 1987 I was contacted by Lana and commissioned to paint her chart which was a synthesis of my understanding of astrology and my mandala art work.  This was completed at the time of the Harmonic Convergence.

That led to various collaborative activities with Lana including putting together an unpublished book called “Open Space”.  This writing process involved collaboration with Asia Haleem who was a literary agent at that time and for whom I painted a number of images of a mandalic nature for a book called The Atom & The Octave.

Astrology continues to be one of my interests and I often turn to it for understanding at times of bewilderment!!!

Lana:   Well that is certainly a broad answer to a broad question.   I hope this next question has enough bearing on your art.  If not, feel free to extemporize…I have always been obsessed with the point between the manifest and the unmanifest, in creation.  There has always been an unwillingness in me to move from non-writing to writing, and I find painting a painful exercise.  Creativity obviously flows much more easily for you.  Do you have anything to say about this point of creation of a mandala at the interface between the manifest and the unmanifest?

Barry:  Well the first point I’d like to make is that having seen you painting I am not sure how to take your statement that painting is painful….

When I first worked with the image in the ’70s I was fascinated with the idea that at a certain point an image or energy becomes so subtle that it almost disappears. In ’76 I wrote the following which expresses this sentiment:

Whether it is poetry, art or music,
Mystical expression is very close to dissolution.
When there is dissolution,
The One is attained.
Mystical expression is very concise.
The simplest words contain the most essence.
(Dorset 1976)

Also in the poetry section of my book Sacred Circles I have written:

When there is silence,
a higher vibration is attained,
than when there are words.
Silence, emptiness and stillness,
communicate the Truth more completely,
than any externalised word or deed.
The “Tao Te Ching” says,
“Better stop short than fill to the brim.”

I think it is true to say that in both instances I am resonating with what you are expressing re the manifest and unmanifest.

On another level I would say that an alternative perspective is to consider the manifest and unmanifest to be two aspects of one whole and as in the yin yang symbol each polarity contains within itself the seed for the other. So in that context life is an ongoing dance in which differences of whatever nature are continuously interacting in a vast cosmic symphony.

As I understand it we do not have any “choice” about any of this. As one teacher I came across said something along the lines that choice exists prior to the realization of Oneness. Post Oneness there is surrender. Choice is a subject that is given a lot of attention in our world both secular and “New Age spiritual”. I don’t think it has the same degree of attention in classical mysticism. As I understand it we have no choice about being creative or being manifest or unmanifest. It all arises in the vast expanse of consciousness which contains and transcends whatever the mind can conceive or not conceive.

Gate Gate Paragate,
Parasmagate
Bodhi svaha

Gone, Gone,Gone  Beyond

Gone Beyond the beyond

Hail the goer

Alternative propositions such as being manifest or being unmanifest, being creative or not being creative, having choice & not having choice arise in the realm of duality. In the realm of Unity polarities arise and subside, change into each other, merge and dance. Being aware of that underlying Oneness is what I call “creativity”. It may well manifest or may well decide not to!

One interesting interaction I once had relevant to this question was with someone who had been looking at one of the mandalas I call Shunyata. He was excited about it disappearing when he looked at it. Many people have had this experience with this particular image. In other words one moment you are looking at an image and the next moment an empty space. This was in a sense a culmination of my attempt to integrate and express the manifest and unmanifest as One.

On another but related tack I recall being at a meditation retreat with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi about 1968. He was saying that in the state of God Realization the difference between the manifest and unmanifest are more or less non-existent. Other teachers go further and say that there never was two and that it is all one. My own understanding is that when consciousness is perfectly centred in the “I Am” unity is the primary experience. Manifestation and form arise but are seen to be in essence One.

In terms of manifesting or not manifesting, I guess it’s true to say that manifestation has been my work in life in terms of mainly the mandala.  However it seems to me it’s a two way process, the energy “pushes” through and also is “pulled” through. One is somehow a “conduit”!  If the push and pull are strong enough,  manifestation happens!

Lana:  Who is interviewing whom by the way?!  I would love to ask more about the poetry/philosophy, but this is a finite interview.  Maybe I can interview you again in 5 years’ time.  The next question I have is about the use, or non-use, of earthier colours such as brown in your work.  If you can also extend this to the colour work of Aura Soma that would be most illuminating.  This question has been indirectly posed by Astrologer cj (Auntie Moon) in discussions about colour, and I thought it would be an interesting question.  I have also noticed that green is not prominent in your work, but (apart from green shunyata) tends to appear as part of the rainbow and not as a basis for your mandalas.

Barry:  My understanding of colour is that there are at least two considerations.  One is hue and the other is tone. Hue is the movement from red to violet and tone is the movement from white to black. Brown would be in the orange (hue) part of the spectrum and mid point between white and black (tone) or more or less depending on whether the brown was a light or dark version.

Generally speaking I use “spectral” colours which are colours with very little or no black in them. This is because I am endeavouring to represent luminous vibrant states of consciousness and in my perception spectral colours accomplish this more effectively than colours with grey or black in them. I do appreciate the darker, earthier colours and they are present in my photographic work as part of my exploration and celebration of “earthly” beauty. Earthly beauty can also become heavenly beauty….. I refer you to the photos on my web site to see what I mean by this. The reverse is also possible – heavenly beauty can become earthly beauty. I see it in terms of vibration.

With regards to Aura-Soma, which I am not really qualified to talk about,  my understanding is that it recognizes that we all have a unique vibration and are drawn to bottles accordingly. So in my case I am drawn to the more pastel bottles. They do have some deep coloured ones but when you shine light through them they become much more luminous. They may well “birth” a brown bottle in due course. Who knows?! Perhaps it will be called the St. Francis bottle as Franciscan monks wear brown robes!!!

This relates to the apparent absence of green in my work though it is present to a certain extent but is not dominant, but neither are several other colours. I have a bias towards the blue end of the spectrum. It is a question of vibration and resonance. We all vibrate on a certain frequency and are on a specific ray which has a colour associated with it.

Lana:  Your originals certainly have an incredible luminosity – the birthchart you painted actually glows in the dark like a fluorescent light. Moving on, you say in your book Sacred Circles that you were aware of your evolution in terms of the upward triangle of evolution representing the (my words) call of the divine and the downward triangle of involution representing the more grounded phase of evolution, which comprise the six-pointed star as described in the work of Alice Bailey.  In earlier discussions you felt that my view of your description was a little awry.  Can you put me right on this? And also if possible describe the moment when you had this realization in this lifetime.

Barry:  Many symbols and ideas put forward the idea of two complimentary forces such as for example the yin yang (male and female), the six pointed star (ascent and descent) and the cross (vertical and horizontal). This involves the idea of balance or equilibrium. However this “balance” is not a static state. Within this context of balance is to be found that of growth.  A symbol often associated with growth is the spiral.  I have combined the spiral and the six pointed star in the mandala I call Rainbow Spiral.  At any point on the ongoing process of balancing and growing specific energies can become apparently dominant, but as in the yin yang any energy includes the possibility of its opposite. So what I was saying in our previous discussion was that at a certain point a specific energy was dominant and at another time a different energy. In terms of the previous question about colour it is like at one point adding a  specific colour and at another point a different one which gradually builds up an image which comes to fruition in due course. In my case for instance for quite a while most of my painted mandalas had blue, lilac and gold or variations of these colours in them and not much of any other colour. Then later on I felt a need to include the full spectrum in the form of the rainbow. Later still I worked with all the colours in the Shunyata Series. In present time I am considering the options which appear to be and actually are infinite……

With regards to when I had this “realization” it was in the early ‘80s. As the general theme of this answer suggests it was preceded and succeeded by different realizations….

Lana:  Have you an awareness of your Soul Lineage as an Artist honing your skills through many lifetimes?

Barry:  Although it seems I have rather exceptional recall of events in this lifetime I have limited memories of past lives. I have had a certain amount of past life recall in the way of visions, dreams, experiences of one sort or another alone or assisted by others but have no specific memories of being an artist prior to this lifetime.  Ramana Maharishi says something to the effect that we are blessed not to know all the details of our past lives because we are already burdened by memories from this life time. Though having said that he himself did seem to know the details of his disciples’ past lives in some cases at least. The question however does raise the consideration of what we mean by “honing artistic skills”. I see art in the wider context of being “all of life”. I have never been that impressed or convinced by the idea that it is particular “art form”. In this wider sense I am sure we are all being refined over many lives to facilitate greater insight and enlightenment.

I am aware that you work extensively with past lives so am not sure how the view expressed above fits into that. My feeling is that the path of awakening from the dream of this or another life involves tuning into “The Eternal Now”. I recognize that the past and future are of relevance and interest but only in the context of facilitating awakening. My understanding is that from the perspective of The Eternal Now movement forwards or back in time can occur without generating further impediments to Enlightenment and may as your work and studies suggest facilitate it.

Lester Levenson says something to the effect that time is like a movie reel. We can see it all at once but for one reason or another we see it frame by frame. For me past and future can fit into the context of the previous question in that they may be considered to be complimentary concepts. Awakening or Enlightenment would correspond to the centre of the mandala.

Lana:  And so we come to the Now!  I am looking forward to filling in my colouring  book, and hearing more magical tales of labyrinths from you.  What is your current focus?

Barry:  Well the last few months I have displayed on my round table the angel card of Healing. I usually select three cards and change them fairly frequently, but I decided to leave the healing one out indefinitely. So I guess that implies that my current focus is healing. It involved initially a series of “cleanses” and I may well do another in due course. Meanwhile I am as far as possible eating a “pure diet” which is vegan and has plenty of raw ingredients. There is the occasional “blip” when socializing but that is the general ongoing principle in terms of diet at the moment. On other levels healing is also ongoing and if one extends the term to mean “wholing” one could possibly say it is a lifelong endeavour.

In terms of work and creativity I have not been that prolific the last year. I have however updated and extended my book Sacred Circles and also created a  Line Mandalas for Colouring book which you refer to in your question. It is a quiet time in terms of giving workshops, commissions, sale of prints and so on. I am in the middle of painting a mandala that I began in Latvia in 2005 but am not sure how it will work out right now…..

As for Labyrinths, I am considering having a section in Sacred Circles which explores that theme as I have tuned into them a fair bit over the years.

So life flows on and continues to flow on….. from and into the One in a Vast Cosmic Spiral.

Barry’s Website:

http://www.mandalas.co.uk/

The high energies of Jupiter conjunct the Sun are stirring up the waters in Pisces and opposing the Full Moon in Virgo (Mother Earth).   Climate change deniers may have to start admitting there is something unusual going on, instead of exacerbating the problem by diverting time and resources from where it is really needed.  Jonathon Porritt recently wrote in his blog that it is getting beyond a joke, adding later: “The damage done to the credibility not just of climate science but also of the entire approach to climate change is already serious – and getting worse.”  With the earthquake in Chile, and storms raging around the world, we might find it difficult to enjoy to the full this conjunction of Sun and Jupiter.  The Moon if left to its own devices in Virgo could be quite placid.  But the two happen to oppose each other today, and if say you are having a family get together, the kids are likely to be extra lively.  If you are running a country, you might lose your temper or resort to bullying…our Gordon has done his best to develop his social manners and curb the temper of his Mars-ruled Ascendant in Aries since taking up a position unsuited to his Sun in Pisces naturally introverted personality.  And he seems genuinely outraged at the talk of abrasiveness on stairwells when he was developing his personality and learning to smile for us.  I feel this has been his spiritual path…But for today, invite your inner child out to play and celebrate life – it’s a day to live life to the full.  There may be a cosmic giggle to tune into.  I remember during the great hurricane of October 1987 having an experience of being at-one with the elements as a cosmic dance.  There may be energies liberated in you, which need to be stirred in order for you to take notice or awaken  If you need to ponder your own spiritual path, you may find my interview with Laura Dane answers some questions, posted on Friday.  It’s a Theosophical path, in contrast to the previous two.  Tomorrow, Monday 1st March, Mercury enters Pisces and there is a change of mental focus from intellectual to compassionate.  It starts to nestle in the sea bed of Pisces and gather new information, readying itself for a constructive meeting scheduled later in the week with Pluto well-earthed in Capricorn.  Wednesday and Thursday 3rd and 4th are special for meetings and greetings, with a conjunction between Venus and Uranus at 25 degrees Pisces.  You may be invited to a social occasion, or if you have time to spare or insomnia bites why not listen in to Kim Gould’s radio show on BlogTalk Radio and learn more about the Human Design System and past lives? (see my even earlier blog “Astrology meets Human Design on Air”)  I will be taking part, and exchanging impressions with Kim.  Mercury meanwhile will be establishing itself in Pisces and reaches a sextile with Pluto on Thursday late morning (UK time).  It picks up a theme from the ocean of the collective unconscious and investigates it more deeply, following through its implications.  This favours self-understanding, social work, mental health issues, looking at sibling rivalry for instance, and can also promote true meetings of the mind.  If it is your birthday, you will have the gift of the gab to move hearts, and if a freind or family member has this birthday they will take you with them on their journey to the centre.

Laura and I have known each other for over 12 years since we met up at the “Light Body” course held at The School of the Living Light, then based in Ely.  Ever since then, we have phoned each other every week to report on and catch up on each other’s spiritual progress.

So, picture this:  it’s 9 pm on a Saturday and I am huddled in a chilly hallway by the phone, wrapped up in a blanket and with mug of cocoa in hand.  Listen up……………

Lana:  Laura, since I have known you, you have been communicating telepathically with the Masters. Can you describe your unique relationship with the Masters, explaining who they are, and provide this readership with a brief outline of how your telepathy works?

Laura: In order to understand “the Masters”, you first need to understand that everyone in humanity is treading a long, long path of spiritual evolution over many thousands of lifetimes until he or she has completed the “human” evolution and have become perfected beings. At that point, they are known as “Masters” although the Masters themselves regard themselves merely as perfected men and elder brothers of humanity.

Most of those who achieve the level of Master move onto Sirius to continue their evolution but a few remain on Earth inspiring humanity.  At their head, is the World Teacher, Maitreya, who is also known as The Christ, the Iman Mahdi, Krishna, and the Messiah.  Ever since the dying days of Atlantis, they have withdrawn from working openly with humanity but have continued to inspire it from behind the scenes.  They are now preparing to emerge to work openly with humanity again, led by Maitreya who has, since 1977, been living in London.  For any reader who is interested in learning more, I would direct them to Share International at www.share-international.org

I would not regard myself as having a unique relationship with the Masters.   I talk most often with 2 particular Masters through telepathy and occasionally, for reasons I do not always understand, with others from time to time.

Telepathy is a form of non-verbal communication which occurs at all levels of human expression and even in the animal kingdom.  The most familiar to most people is that of the medium who communicates through the solar plexus.  There is a higher level, where communication is either soul to soul or mind to mind and requires the telepath, as a personality, to be somewhat in contact with and subject to the guidance of his soul.  This is how I communicate telepathically.

Lana: Am I right in thinking that your background is one of Theosophy? If so please could you explain a little about the essential facts of that historically and its role in your developing spirituality?

Laura: Yes, you are right.  It’s a long story reaching back to my teens which will require a rather lengthy answer.

Looking back now, I realise that there has always been a strong spiritual theme in my life. My first experience was an orthodox one, attending Methodist Sunday school and accompanying my mother to weekly service at the Chapel, most of which I found utterly boring and I dreaded it.  As I hit my teens, I became frustrated by the superficiality and ignorance of Christian teachings and the total lack of any real religious teaching in schools.  There was a part of me which yearned to learn more, particularly about other world religions

The opportunity to learn more came when I became a student because this gave me access to wider range of books.  I searched and read, following a pull to “move Eastwards” and eventually came across “The Ancient Wisdom” by Annie Besant, a simple book on the essential teachings of Theosophy.  Reading it gave me the answers I had been searching for in a practical, common sense way: it was like finding water in the desert.  This was quickly followed by a reading of the Bhagavid Gita and the two together shattered my illusion that the world “out there” was true reality. I would say now that “The Ancient Wisdom” provided the occult path to spiritual understanding while the Bhagavid Gita provided the mystical path.  This deep shattering of illusion put my life on hold for about 3 days as I absorbed this new realisation. I had found what I had been searching for – the deep spiritual knowledge, both occult and mystic, provided by Theosophy.

Theosophy, for any reader who is unfamiliar with it, is the wisdom and knowledge which stands behind all the world religions (past and present); science and philosophies known to man and shows that, far from being inimical to each other, these different branches of knowledge are simply individual  routes to the same source of wisdom.

I then left the subject entirely alone for another ten years or so when I began to realise and reject the dull daily routine of work/life and the accumulation of material stuff.  I found myself asking “is that all there is?”  The answer came as an idea in my mind to return to spirituality.  So, I returned to Theosophy and joined the Theosophical Society in London which gave me access to like-minded people and the richness of the Theosophical Library.  I started to read the books by Helena Blavatsky,  which provided the foundation of Theosophical knowledge but was quickly “moved on” by events to the books of Alice Bailey.  The ideas they propounded were very challenging at first but, after a great deal of contemplation and brooding, they began to make sense.

The Theosophical Society has been invaluable in another way because  its Dhyana Centre taught me how to meditate and to understand the true purpose of meditation.

Theosophy, for me, is a spiritual compass to help me recognise what, if anything, of any new spiritual theme or idea I encounter can be accepted as truth.

(For any reader who would like to know more about Theosophy, I would direct them to The Theosophical Society in England  (www.theosophical-society.org.uk) where they can also find details of the free meditation programmes provided by the Dhyana Centre and to the Lucis Trust (www.lucistrust.org.)

Lana: How fascinating. I have known you 12 years and hadn’t heard your story. Now for question 3: Astrology may not be a central theme of your work, but it is nonetheless compelling for me that you often receive astrological information along the lines of the Esoteric Astrology of Alice Bailey. Many people find her work a difficult study. Is there any interconnection between exoteric Astrology as practised by most Western Astrologers (the old bottle) and esoteric Astrology (the new wine), or is the future of Astrology in your view entirely new?

Laura: In my understanding, there is most definitely a connection between the mundane Western astrology  and the esoteric astrological information set out in Alice Bailey’s “Esoteric Astrology” because both are elements of a Greater Astrology.

Mundane astrology relates to the personality and appeals to those who are personality-centred – both astrologers and their clients – because the astrological explanations and predictions match the personal experience. For these people, mundane astrology offers a wide field of investigation and experience.  However, as the individual evolves and start to connect to and become influenced by his soul nature, he finds that mundane astrology no longer works and that is because his soul contact is opening him up to (for him) new astrological influences which are not considered in mundane astrology.

These new influences are the increasing influence of the astrological signs (i.e. the constellations of the sign); the higher power of the planets and the subservience of the planets to the power of the signs.  Not only do the planets transmit their own energy but they also transmit the energy of the signs.  Thus, in order to understand esoteric astrology, the astrologer’s central focus of attention has to shift from the planets to the signs and to understand the transmission of energy inwardly to the Earth from the signs to the planets and also from without the signs from the Stars to the signs.  The whole pattern of astrological influences becomes not only more powerful but also expanded, more complex, fluid and synthetic.

The future of astrology will be, in my view, the expansion of mundane astrology into esoteric astrology and the combining of the two together with esoteric astrology as the dominant influence.

Lana: An excellent clarification. I need to clarify the term “mundane” for the readership. As far as I understand it, in exoteric Astrology the term “mundane” is used for the Astrology of current affairs and politics. As far as Laura uses the term from her more deeply esoteric standpoint, she is using it in the way I use the word “exoteric”. In non-astrological terms the word mundane is used to mean everyday affairs.

When I first knew you, you were working in the material world and commuting. How do you find it works now that you are a freelance Company Secretary? How do you interweave the two experiences in your life, the inner life and the more mundane CoSec work?

Laura: The interweaving of my work as a freelance Company Secretary and my inner spiritual work is not under my conscious control.  It  is, as far as I can tell, an area under the control of my soul nature and one which I follow as each step is revealed to me.

I really can not say any more than that.

Lana:  You were born in a year when Chiron was in Capricorn, in common with other teachers such as Caroline Myss who has a definite style of teaching. I wonder if you can describe the particular healing needed for this placement, and if possible also how you see your Inner Healer.

Laura: I have not found it at all easy to understand role of Chiron in my life because I have not been able to understand the common astrological description of the Chiron, the wounded healer, who had to give up his immortality to heal himself.  I have had to seek information from my guides on this subject.  So far, I have been given three ideas:

1.  In relation to the theme of “immortality. The “immortality” as it applies to humanity, is the belief in the immortality of the personality and therefore its God-like status, to which everything else must be subservient.  We eventually learn, however, that the power of the personality is limited and that in order to progress and gain the power to which we aspire, we must give up our sense of personality immortality and allow our soul nature to control and guide the personality.  It is akin to an adolescent child recognising and accepting that adults have greater wisdom and power than he and that aligning with it is to his benefit.

2.  In relation to the “wound”. There is a part of us which is highly sensitive and therefore more vulnerable to being wounded.  Because we are not aware of it, we cover it up with a psychological shield, scarring or some other form of protection which acts as a barrier between it and the world.  We have effectively walled it up and separated it off from the rest of our personality. That is the first wound. That highly sensitive part of us – indicated by the house position and sign of our natal Chiron – is a gift designed to act as a compass to keep us to our true selves.  The barrier we erect is, symbolically, the “immortality” of Chiron which has to be released in order to recognise and heal the wound.  The resources we draw upon to heal the wound (and to continue to heal the wound as we re-create it by going off-course) becomes a healing power in ourselves which we are able to share with others.

3.  The healer within us is often the most powerful aspect of our Chironic nature because it is that aspect which enables us to recognise the wound and to evoke the correct healing.

My natal Chiron, being in my first house, indicates the nature of wounds which occur when the sense of self and self expression is not able to flourish because the personality finds itself in an unsupporting environment.  The healing comes from the soul and being able to understand the soul’s perspective of the personality, which it loves unconditionally.  In the end, I think it just comes down to loving oneself as the divine loves its creation. So, the continuous development of self love, self esteem, self regard etc is extremely important and essential to healing the wound.

According to Barbara Hand Clow’s excellent book on Chiron, a Chiron in Capricorn requires the personality to recognise the importance of joy and laughter and not to take life so seriously as it is wont to do due to the influence of Saturn!  I agree with her analysis.

Lana:  Thank you for a very rich answer, full of food for thought (for another interview!) My next question, possibly the penultimate, is about suffering. From what I know of your pattern, you live out the suffering which arises from your evolution in this world, and when you have worked on it to your utmost, insights come from the Soul or the Masters which release you from that particular struggle. What determines how long the suffering continues? Is it a karmic issue?

Laura: I would like to start by putting this question into some sort of context.  Humanity, as a family, is on the 4^th ray of harmony through conflict and therefore, its way of evolution is through the use of conflict.  The struggle is for the spirit or divine spark in each of us to overcome its imprisonment in the world of illusion (mental matter); glamour (emotional matter) and maya (etheric-physical matter) so that it can control rather than be controlled by the world.  In short, “to be in the world but not of the world”.  This imprisonment is the source of our suffering, whether we are conscious of it or not.

As an individual evolves to a point where he is in contact with his soul nature, the pace of evolution quickens, intensifies and expands in scope and, with it there is a growing awareness of suffering and the problem of how to respond to the suffering both within ourselves and the “world out there”. .

I recognise that my life over the past 15 years or so, ever since Pluto moved into my 12^th house, has been one of intense spiritual growth.  I have always been driven by the “need to know”, to find the truth and the spiritual route is the only which has provided the answers I seek.  Thus, I accept that the present intense spiritual growth is a response from the soul to satisfy my “need to know” and, while frequently overwhelming, is ultimately very rewarding and fascinating.

As far as I can understand my own process, the soul sets the agenda and arranges for the next “crisis” to emerge in my life which I frequently sense, as feelings of aggression (Mars); being undermined in some way (Neptune), a blockage (Saturn) or breakdown (Pluto) which lead to feelings of depression, despair, hopelessness, powerlessness and an inability to see my way out.

I have to sit and wait. What I have learnt is that the planets do not cause these feelings, they reveal them and their role is to help us recognise and release the cause of these feelings which is some thought or behaviour we have created and which is not to our benefit.

I find myself in a point of tension.  The personality attempts to escape by pulling into my awareness all the thoughts, feelings and related past experiences in order to get me to take action.  I find that I can’t.  During this phase of tension and waiting, the subconscious and hidden thoughts and feelings which hold sway over me by remaining hidden are brought into the light.  Everything connected to the theme of the crisis is pulled out and collected together.  They lose power, are weakened and can be ejected from the personality by the soul as the new comes in.

At this point, revelation can come (and with it, the end of the suffering related to the crisis).  The revelation is  the new understanding or approach being given by the soul to the personality but which can only be received when the personality has let go of resistance to the new. Sometimes, that is helped by a phrase or comment given to me by my guides.

Then, there is a phase of calm when the new is integrated into the personality life.  Then, the next crisis can be set up.

Is it a karmic issue?  Not in the sense commonly understood of “suffering” because I imposed suffering on others in a past life.  But in the sense that this lifetime is about taking advantage of a “karmic opportunity” for accelerated spiritual growth.

Lana:  You take delight in encouraging others to do what they love in terms of work, and so for this last question I would like to ask how you see your future work and creative expression?

Laura: Like my Company Secretarial work, my future and/or creative expression is an area under the control of my soul nature and one which I follow as each step is revealed to me.  For the present, it appears to be a long process of (1) observation and the gathering of knowledge, rather than practice, over a wide field and (2) the integration of the mind and heart to a higher creative level.

I do receive hints from time to time as to what I will/could achieve in the future but, until and if they manifest, I would prefer to remain silent on this matter.

I thought it was instant karma, as I had just begun the interview series on my blog, but Human Design practitioner Kim Gould has invited me to be a guest on her radio show.  I am also hoping that I can provide an interview with Kim for my readership later in the series.  Kim has one of the most dynamic and spiritually uncluttered blogs I have seen, Love Your Design.  She wants to explore what we can discover about our past lives from looking at the Human Design BodyGraph and Astrology.  Human Design is an amalgam of 4 spiritual systems: Astrology, Kabbalah, the Chakra System and the I Ching, and I have only just recently connected with it.  I feel it has much to offer in enhancing the levels at which I look at Astrology, e.g. energetically.  This is a debut on the air waves for me, though Kim can talk for Australia (she is based near Byron Bay), so wish me luck!  I am not focussing on first-time nerves, but on enjoying the prevailing aspect on the day/night of Venus conjunct Uranus which promises a sparky meeting between Human Design (Venus) and Astrology (Uranus).  I will be learning more about Human Design from a newbie perspective and Kim will be hoping to pick my brains on Karmic Astrology – we’ll be looking at and comparing celebrity charts, as well as taking calls from listeners.  If you are interested in any of these areas of exploration, be sure to tune in.  It’s an internet based show and anyone in the world can listen.  The show airs at 10 pm on 3rd March in the UK, which is 5 pm in New York or 9 am on 4th March in Sydney.

Here are the links:

to listen in:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kim-gould/2010/03/03/exploring-past-lives-in-your-human-design

Kim’s blog:

http://www.loveyourdesign.com/blog/

Just freshly back from a 100% riveting workshop on Soul Contracts by Judy Hall, I have to report that there have been 2 dings on the Customer Complaints Desk this week.  One (just before I left for the workshop) took me to task over my over-optimistic Sagittarian approach (this is due to Sagittarius also being my Chiron sign as well as my Sun sign, and I heartily apologize if this has caused anyone any extra suffering).  The other complaint was waiting for me on my return and bemoaned my tardiness, with the words “Some of us are paralysed with inactivity and cannot get on with our lives until you have posted”.  Again, I heartily apologize if this has caused anyone any extra suffering.  If you are of the former disposition, please adjust my commentaries to a more pessimistic view, and if you are of the latter disposition then please be assured that you have not missed anything today as we do not have a major aspect. Tomorrow (Monday 22nd) the Sun is aligned with the Fixed Star Fomalhaut, and according to “Starlight Elixirs” by Michael Smulkis and Fred Rubenfeld: “This star has an excellent ability to release addictive states by bringing to consciousness the purpose of addictions.”  If combined with Dabih in the Constellation of Capricorn: “For many people there will be an improved sense of belonging.  This can be a feeling of being able to merge with society and do what is needed, but then being able to easily detach when necessary…Combined with Fomalhaut there can be a reduction of the hold of addictions on people because of these underlying principles.”  The Fixed Stars can be powerful in healing, and I for one will be tuning in tomorrow.  We’re working our way towards a sextile between the Sun in Pisces and Pluto in Capricorn on Tuesday 23rd.  I have been finding that Jupiter in Pisces has been making it easier to work in a deeper way, and this aspect will show that graphically.  The other main aspect of the week is Mercury conjunct Neptune on Saturday 27th.  This is an aspect which connects the rational mind (Mercury) with our spiritual pathway and sources of inspiration (Neptune), so that you are able to bring through subtle impressions, step them down and decode them with the rational mind.  They can then be used in the capacity of a spiritual messaging service for such things as writing poetry, mental healing or inspiration in dancing.  The mind may initially perceive the energy as confusion.  Many actors channel whether consciously or unconsciously in their craft (for example Shirley Maclaine), and the arrestingly beautiful Gyllenhaal siblings Jake and Maggie are a case in point.  They both have this conjunction between Mercury and Neptune which means they are guided in their work, and it is a family and probably soul group pattern because it is directly inherited from their father the Film Director and Poet Stephen Gyllenhaal who has the same aspect in his chart and the same distinctive features.  Scorpio Maggie was recently interviewed in the Guardian and shows the mental sensitivity of this conjunction in some of her remarks: “The older I get, the more vulnerable I get” and “I used to think that if I did my very best work, then everybody would love it, but I’ve realised that not everybody thinks the same things are good”.  This aspect can be mentally exhausting and you will want to conserve energy on Saturday for the Sunday, which has the gifts of Sun conjunct Jupiter to be harvested, and a Full Moon in Virgo which is very exacting.  I hope to post another of my interview series soon, as a few of them are nearly complete, and it has been an amazing experience for me – to ask, and receive…

There’s a lot to do today on the spiritual and emotional planes.  In no particular order, we have to reassure our loved ones of our unconditional love (St. Valentine’s Day), we have to honour the energy of the Chinese Year of the Tiger, and we need to make sure we have set our intentions for the New Moon in Aquarius.  By the end of the day, we should also have fulfilled the agenda of healing our soul (Sun conjunct Chiron) and dreaming our dreams (Sun conjunct Neptune).  Phew!  Where to start?  Of course we all know there is no such word as should, and especially if you are living in the flow.  If the postman has not delivered a Valentine’s card (and it is Sunday) know that with today’s Sun conjunct Neptune, the Valentine’s greeting may be delivered purely on the spiritual plane…(good excuse for some).  The Year of the Tiger this year coincides with the year of Jupiter in Pisces, and the energies couldn’t be more different.  Sometimes the two are in synch, but not this year, so you may notice two very different strands of energy this year.  Jupiter in Pisces reveals and delivers the hidden treasures of the soul, and the Year of the Tiger expresses a vibrant fearlessness.  Where the two astrological worlds come together will be in the conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus in June, for by then Jupiter and Uranus will be in the first degree of Aries, much more an expression of fearlessness than Jupiter in Pisces, and Uranus will add the stripes of the tiger.  The fearless expression of truth will be reborn; we will have harnessed some of  the treasures of the past (Jupiter in Pisces) in order to live in the Now (O degrees Aries).  If you sense a loss of form in my blog by the way, it’s due to my creative juices being diverted to co-ordinating my Interview Series and hours spent thinking up questions.  The second post (Felicity “The Voice” Cook) is now available, and a few others are bubbling away.  The New Moon in Aquarius took place in the early hours of this morning, and hopefully you woke refreshed and renewed and knowing how you wanted the day to proceed, and the ensuing month.  If not, you can gainfully spend the day on that project, but the afternoon is for healing (Sun conjunct Chiron) and the evening is for meditation (Sun conjunct Neptune).  So pace yourself accordingly, if you are living astrologically.  Hard on the heels of tonight’s meditative vibration, tomorrow morning (Monday 15th) sees a sextile between Venus and Pluto.  Venus-Pluto energy is not the easiest to negotiate, but this is a smooth-running aspect, so you may experience a regeneration of your relationship(s) on another level.  If physical, it may rise to the emotional level.  If emotional, to the mental level, and so forth.  If you are working on money rather than relationships (both Venus) then your cash supply could regenerate.  Later tomorrow Mars sextiles Saturn, which is good for cementing gains and following through with practical action.  Wednesday 17th is the real Valentine’s Day this week with Venus conjunct Jupiter, good for declarations of love, celebrations, engagements and marriages.  Relationships could make rapid progress this week.  And again, if it is money that you are after, you could take a step closer to your pot of gold.  It is a lottery day, and you may at least recoup your investment.  Chiron is also conjunct Neptune on Wednesday, so everything could come together: Healing and Spirituality (Chiron and Neptune), Love and Bounty (Venus and Jupiter).  On Thursday (18th) the Sun enters Pisces and the balance of energies shifts further towards Pisces from Aquarius.  At the start of the week the Moon, Sun, Mercury, Neptune and Chiron are in Aquarius.  The Moon imminently moves into Pisces and by the end of the week you find the Sun, Venus, Jupiter and Uranus are all in Pisces.  Life is more soft-focus.

I would like with some of the interviews in this series to try to bridge Astrology with other disciplines and healing arts, and feel that Flick has met me half way with this.  Flick of course will be no stranger to regular readers of my Blog!  With her Sun conjunct my Jupiter we are constantly making each other laugh even under extreme stress.  Flick is a Sun sign Aquarian and the future of Voicework.

Lana:  Flick, I see you as having been born to voice work.  What is your relationship with voice, and what do you think it is about you which makes it your vocation?

Flick:  This is a rather long in-depth question you have posed here!  Not as straightforward as one might imagine.  You ask what my relationship is with voice.  If you are asking about my own voice then…with my voice itself it is a love relationship, with singing it is a love-hate.  I believe the reason for this is that my love of voice is nothing to do with singing.  It is to do with the authentic voice within, the spokesperson for the soul; this is what interests me.  I believe I have always been a voice psychotherapist (though currently in training for the psychotherapist aspect of the work) rather than a singer/teacher.  Voicework, if it is to do with the emancipation and enhancement of the human being, is where my passion lies.  To hear that which is contained within the vibrations of the sound, the colours and qualities of that vibration, is a gift which I acknowledge I have been given and feel grateful for on a daily basis.  It called me at an early age to find my voice, to free myself and my family on a deep level; it is ongoing work. “Speak your voice to me and I will know you.”

Lana:  What is your relationship to Astrology?  I wonder if you can reveal anything about the new work that has been given to you “Harmony of the Spheres”.  It sounds Astronomical.

Flick:  What an interesting question.  I have always felt I long to be right in the thick of Astrology and the amazing information it has for us, but have always felt on the outside, as my ability to see clearly how it all fits together is obscured by Neptune perhaps?  I’m not sure!  As for the Harmony of the Spheres I am treading very carefully as I really can’t impose anything on this work.  It has to evolve in a timely manner, in a way where I am out of the way and it comes through me.  I don’t yet know what it will involve or indeed how it will evolve.  All I know is I need to give myself over to it and what I might be called on to do with it. I believe at this stage that it is something about drawing others into a sound orb of stillness where we each wait to be given sound(s) for a collective opening of harmonies to emerge…this is not about singing.  It is about sounding.  It is cosmic sound I am speaking of.

Lana:  You have Neptune rising in Libra, so it is a key planet for you, and I always say a healthy Neptune is something to aim for.  Neptune also represents your vision.  When we were meditating on the forthcoming T-square a year ago, you said: “As we go into the T-Square in about a year’s time, the Lightworkers will resonate in a way which holds the planet safely – a Tensegrity – just as the guides have been holding the Planet until now.”  You described it as a time when “a resonance of clear energy which has a vibrancy of life never seen before on this planet.  The whole body will sound, not just the voice.  The body will be the instrument of love and as such it will sound in complete unity and harmony with all other beings around it”, but you said not everybody would be able to hear or see it…Can you expand on your vision of Tensegrity?

Flick:   This is quite a question Lana!  I feel I was channelling when I came out with that information.  I don’t yet know how this will look.  I do feel however that we are gradually moving towards it and I certainly am in my work.  Sound is vibration.  We are – all things are vibration.  If we constrict, restrict, fix in any way, we clamp down inappropriately on our own true vibration.  Whe we as human beings are vibrating with freedom and ease we cannot help but be in balance with our own sound, our place in the grand scheme; this is Tensegrity of Sound and vibration – the supporting of a structure through its own balance of tension and integrity.  One could say this is perfect suspension.

“Tensegrity was a term used by Carlos Castaneda to refer to some movements called magical passes (a series of meditative stretches, stances and movements) that he said were developed by Native American shamans who lived in Mexico in times prior to the Spanish conquest.” – Wikipedia

This may also be of interest! www.cleargreen.com/english/tensegrity.cfm

Lana:  You also linked it at the time with the Light Grid Mandala (which is pictured on my Mandalas page) saying that was an accurate visual representation of it.  I want to turn now to the power of sound to heal.  How transformational is the power of sound?  And could you give examples?

Flick:  Well, on this question I believe there are far more experienced people than me to answer it!  I will say however, that Hazrat Inyat Khan believed that sound will become the next big healing breakthrough.  Going back to my answer for question 3, we are vibration.  Music has the power to heal due to the resonance.  If we look at the work of Hans Jenny and Cymatics www.cymaticsource.com we realise sound can be used heal or to destroy.  Those of us who are sensitive will feel a dis-ease when listening to certain forms of music which jar against our own harmonic structure.  It is believed that certain composers, Mozart for example, will appeal to those people who feel a pull towards the DNA structure of Mozart.  I believe Don Campbell is the person to read on this subject: www.mozarteffect.com.  I have had the privilege of hearing the sounds of a dying body, the sounds of the planet, and hearing how sound blasts cancer cells.  Whilst this is my peripheral knowledge and interest I can safely say my area to work with transformation is through each individual’s personal sound and the collective use of voice.  I have seen this work transform lives many times.  The more we are able to vibrate our true vibration the more we will be able to segue into the next vibrational level for mankind.

Lana:  Thank you!  And last but not least for Question 5, other facets of your work are Healing and Psychotherapy (I am not sure which year of training you are in).  You have Chiron (the wounded healer) in Capricorn, and I wonder if you can describe to me your Inner Healer?

Flick:  Hmmm…You do like to throw the cat into the pigeon’s nest, don’t you?!  I am actually in my 3rd year of Psychotherapy training and really enjoying the journey.  As a healer I trained at the Snowlion School in the South of France and this was in Psycho-Spiritual Energy Therapy.  I use it now in my world in an indirect way as it has informed my wholistic approach to life and my work.  As you say, I have Chiron in Capricorn.  I feel this is a difficult placing for me along with one or two other significant astro placings to do with my mother.  It has been a challenge for me to let go of the workaholic and see where this has come from.  If I am answering the question from the *healed* place I see it is connected with my Aquarius Sun very strongly…to do with groups, humanitarian quests etc.  I feel my work is on the cutting edge and quite difficult to give birth to, as there is nothing like it that I know of, apart from voice recognition where the results are generated by hi tech equipment.  My inner healer is holding group consciousness, group and individual wounding and offering space for this to be transformed.

Here are the links to Felicity’s websites:

http://www.voiceworks-uk.com/

www.thevoicedbodymind.com

www.thesingingsoul.co.uk

Singing-Sensuality-Serenity

“What men or gods are these?  What maidens loth?  What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?  What pipes and timbrels?  What wild ecstasy?”

~ John Keats

The brief triple conjunction of Venus-Chiron-Neptune at 25 degrees Aquarius today and tomorrow in Aquarius suggests people getting together for the purposes of healing and entertainment.  There’s a hint of the biblical phrase “For when two or three are gathered in my name, there am I with them”.  Venus with the other fellows may also bring poignancy in love, like the figures on the Grecian Urn lyricised by Keats.  These are the things which are conjured to mind in the imagination.  The reality may be very different.  Looking at my diary for the next two days, I have a get together with old friends today (Aquarius) in which the talk is likely and necessarily to turn to ailments (Chiron).  Tomorrow is a family get-together (Aquarius) at a funeral.  There will be refreshments afterwards (Venus) but thoughts are likely to turn to spiritual links (Neptune) rather than the Neptunian activity of dancing.  There may be a sense of closure (Venus conjunct Chiron) or a mood of serenity (Venus conjunct Neptune).  Venus-Chiron-Neptune at its best could bring the sublime and the miraculous.  The Venus-Chiron part happens today (emphasis on health and healing) and the Venus-Neptune tomorrow.  If you are interested in colour healing, magenta will bring together a group, while peach can bring out spiritual love (Venus conjunct Neptune) and salmon pink  Universal love.  The emphasis and tone of the week is characterized by the quick romp of the minor planets in contrast to the dominance of the heavies last week.  While the activities of the first half of the week emphasize sociability, the second half is dominated by Mercury and could be more cerebral.  You can keep your brain sharp and active by doing crossword puzzles and sudoku if you’re retired like me (though I’m finding nature abhors a vacuum and I don’t feel retired at all!)  Or you can whizz round visiting people on public transport (expressing the Mercury principle) if you’re not engaged in office work or board room wrangles.  Alternatively, if you are leading the more natural life, you may be paying extra attention to weather and the environment (Mercury) or exercising by walking (more Mercury) and refining your awareness of the nuances of climate change (ditto).  Down to specifics: Mercury enters Aquarius on Wednesday 10th and so joins the party, but from the other side of the room (Venus and Co are gathered at the end of Aquarius).  There may not be any direct contact between them (and the Sun shining in the middle of Aquarius), but they will all be singing from the same songsheet, i.e. Aquarius, which will be useful for wider group endeavours.  But the group will only enjoy the company of Venus one more day, for she moves on to Pisces the next day (Thursday 11th).  They may miss her harmony and warmth, but she will become more harmonious and warmer and more voluptuous for being in Pisces.  She will also be more emotional, gushing and sincere.  The other characters will be asking “What’s got into her?  One minute she’s this, and the other minute she’s that”.  Glamorous female celebrities may change their image or switch back to ex-partners.  Now that I am not wearing glasses I am able to zone out the covers of Heat and Hello magazines at the supermarket, nor can read the fine print on the cover of the National Enquirer, so I don’t know who has more claim on Brad Pitt these days…(ignorant bliss).  Mercury trines Saturn on Saturday 13th, which means you can apply your mind and possibly even tackle heavy mental tasks such as assembling your case for the pensions Ombudsman.  If engaged in studies, a good dose of reality will be what is learned from early morning, and later Mercury opposes Mars so there may be debate and lively discussion.  Minor accidents could also be on the cards, so drive safely.  Mercurial brain activity is not the contemplative kind, it’s more prosaic, but take a couple of moments out in your right brain to set up a happy outcome for Sunday (I know, I’m spilling over again) when the New Moon in Aquarius can cement social alliances and remind us to take pride in being part of the human race.

Growing a little tired of my own voice, and with Jupiter recently entering my 11th House of Friendship, I thought I would set up a few mini-interviews with people whose voices I have great respect for!

Asia Haleem has been a friend since 1986, when we discovered we had shared past lives as Astrologers in the Ancient world.  She’s a Sun Sign Virgoan.

Many years ago the embryo for Cosmokrator, based on a Stone Age ball in the Ashmolean Museum, was devised in discussion with the late mathematician, Charles Muses, a friend of Linda Goodman.  It has taken two decades to fully fledge.

Asia has recently revamped its website, and I thought it would be an opportune moment to launch my interview series and bring Cosmokrator to the attention of a few more people.

Lana: Could you describe the origins of Cosmokrator in your own words?

Asia: All my life I’ve been interested in gifted people who experience synaesthesia which means they see colours when they hear musical notes, or experience shapes when they taste different foods.  The idea that different levels of matter are linked in musical octaves goes back to ancient Egypt and Hermes Trismegistos’ famous saying As Above, So Below.

Lana: You’ve called it an instrument, an icon and a toy: can you describe it to me?

Asia: It is like a little football – a cuboctahedron with 14 coloured facets for the 12 signs plus the Black-White Polar Axis going from Pole to Earth.  Starting from a person’s Sun Sign you can play games by finding out how compatible you are with other people by locating their sign and colour on the model.  My own feeling is that once made, its beauty alone sets off all sorts of natural associations.

Lana: This product brings together many facets of your life’s work, as a teacher of iconography, researcher of ancient history, and of ancient astronomy.  Please could you let us know a little about your passion for these subjects?

Asia:  I find ancient knowledge quite riveting and relevant to our lives today: in a strange way very ancient and very modern people understand each other – extremes meet!  That’s why I now have degrees in art history and archaeology, and a particular interest in the extraordinary work of the Babylonian astronomers (Cosmokrator Book 7A) whose clay tablets, on display in the museums of the world, contain lists matching the Signs with colours, plants, materials, shapes and events.

Lana:  How do you define an icon, and specifically in relation to your creation?

Asia:  An icon is a support for contemplation, a doorway to higher worlds.

Lana:  For someone like myself, who is daunted by geometry, is it easy to use?  One of my friends, who bought one, describes it as impressive and exciting.

Asia:  The model is sent to you already drawn out, scored for folding and colour printed: all you have to do is assemble it.  No knowledge of geometry is required – just a tube of glue.  The website gives guidance. (If only we could afford the version suggested by Element books: made of interlocked semi-precious stones).

Lana:  Does it rest on sound astrological foundations?

Asia:  It is astrologically tried and tested for accuracy, based on ancient records.  I have one on my mantelpiece with the current sign facing up as we go through the year following the colours of the months.  It helps to show up the nature of World Age Axes (Aquarius-Leo is Mauve-Gold, for instance).  Ultimately it serves as a support for spiritual work, and provides alphabets of the universe that children could be taught from kindergarten.   It truly is a polyvalent instrument which can be light-heartedly used as a toy to start with – the best way to learn what it can do is through making and playing around with it!

Here are the links, which also appear on my Contact page:

Cosmokrator model explores Astrology/Colour/Sound/Music/Shape:

http://www.cosmokrator.com/

For more information about Asia’s life and work:

http://www.layish.co.uk/ (still under construction)

Today sees the second phase of the Pluto-Saturn square, which occurs in the evening in the U.K.  In your own life, you may be part of a group which is trying to resolve a long-standing dispute (Saturn in Libra), and today may see the group resting on its laurels, having recently made grand overtures from one side to another.  You may not even be aware of the group, or the dispute, as it may be something subtly played out on psychological levels over a wide area, such as within an extended family, the executives and non-executives within a corporation, or on a societal level such as the rich-poor divide.  There may be a sense of “It’s nothing to do with me” what the other side get up to or even the fact of their existence.  Two examples on the world stage are the overture from Karzai in Afghanistan towards the Taliban (while the world has a sharp intake of breath and tries to assess if it is a good thing, or not) and the current negotiations in Ireland on the subject of devolution.  So we are in the midst of delicate and complicated negotiations and bargaining, and these things cannot be rushed.  A Saturn-Pluto process is a long one, and a serious matter, involving deep psychologies.  One of the delicate balances in the art of Astrology is to give the proper weighting to astrological events, taking into account such things as the strength of the planets involved and the rarity of the planetary interactions.  At the beginning of this week we may see that recent overtures and efforts have taken a step forward, but things may still look bleak.  But at the end of the week, there may be more of a sense of triumph and progress, and this may be linked with the difficult enterprise of the early stage of the week.  A certain amount of letting go needs to be taking place at least until the middle of the week, e.g. mourning over compromises you might have made (for the greater good?) or wondering if you have shared too much (information must be shared if the human race is to evolve!).  But consequently around mid week you need to turn your mind around and work with the positive forces and hopefulness of the upcoming Jupiter-Pluto sextile at the end of the week; the turning of a bleak attitude into one of hope and looking forward to the future.  Do all you can today, and then rest on your laurels, or even take a step back and breathe.  Allow the mental processes to settle until mid-week.  Tuesday (2nd February) brings a conjunction of Mercury with the North Node.  This will allow you to coolly and mentally assess the karmic implications of any of the wider efforts in a partnerhip, group or organization.  I will be looking back on my 40 years as a student of Astrology.  It will be 40 years to the day since I picked up an Astrology text book in this lifetime, and realized that I already had this knowledge.  It was therefore also the beginning of my understanding and recognition of past-lives, my work in this sphere, and seeing its links and interaction with Astrology.  It will be a serious evaluation, as Mercury/North Node will be conjunct my Midheaven (Careerpoint) and trine my Saturn, but I hope to have some cake, too.  My birthday dinner party was cancelled because of the snow!  Wednesday and Thursday are suitable for acknowledging the difficulties in life but seeing that there is always a positive route to travel towards (in this case Jupiter’s sextile with Pluto at the end of the week, which is an attempt at rebalancing an intractable situation).  After you have faced the facts, you may for instance feel that you have a case for demanding a recount from your accountant or bank manager.  The Chilcott enquiry into the Iraq war will welcome Clare Short this week to give evidence, and she appeared on the Andrew Marr show hosted by Sophie Raworth this morning.  Clare gave a taster of her evidence, in the form of vignettes of coffees supped with Gordon Brown at the time,  and the extent to which he was not involved in the war decisions.  Clare is a no-nonsense Aquarian, and quit the cabinet at the time of the war, followed by Robin Cook.  I was fascinated at the time how they were born within a fortnight of each other in the same year, and both quit within a short space of time, as Saturn was transiting their North Nodes (their consciences not allowing them to continue to support the war).  Robin Cook sadly cannot give his story, as he died in 2005.  But his spirit may be one of those presiding!  By Saturday 6 February hopefully you will be actively able to do something to shift your personal affairs or to assist the unlocking of a greater deadlock.  Another more minor aspect steps up to lend assistance to Jupiter’s endeavours with Pluto: Mercury sextiles Uranus on the morning of Saturday 6th.  If you set your mental alarm to problem-solving in the second half of the week, the alarm may go off with a joyous ring and a brilliant idea for the way forward, which will assist and pave the way for the bright new plan of Jupiter sextile Pluto.  Jupiter sextile Pluto brings a breakthrough, not a cure-all, for Saturn square Pluto is a long slog.  But nevertheless Jupiter puts the wind beneath our wings for at least a few days, and we may have something to show for our response to it.