So we have an election in the UK very shortly…It became clear 31 years ago I did not have a talent  for correctly predicting the outcome of an election.  I was writing a column for “Good Life” magazine (circa 1977-1980) and was invited to an Editorial luncheon at the Café Royal near Piccadilly (circa 1865-2008) where Astrologer Roger Elliot (1937-1993) was giving a talk.  He said Sagittarians would have airline tickets in their handbags, and I wondered if he had x-ray vision, because I did have.   Afterwards the Editor of my magazine asked me who I thought would win the forthcoming election.  I plumped for James Callaghan, on the grounds that Saturn would be going through Margaret Thatcher’s Sun sign the following year…Thirteen years later I watched an Astrologer friend very meticulously analyse the election prospects and technically argue that a Labour win would be written in the stars.  The Conservative stronghold was to continue another five years…Since then, I have just left it to the experts in Mundane Astrology.  Marjorie Orr writes on all sorts of subjects, but has a high degree of accuracy in political assessment in her “Astrology of Today’s News” and Political section of her website.  Whatever you are analyzing in your life you may see the intricate interweaving of events and perhaps even gain an overview on Tuesday (13^th) with a semi-sextile between Uranus and Neptune.  This semi-sextile has been around us for at least a year, but this is one of those times we can see it with something approaching crystal-clear precision.  It is one of those times that you can appreciate how much the larger plans of life can be dependent on small details or the roles of folks who keep a low profile, and even any creature down to the tiniest insect.  You can see the orchestration of the Universe under such an aspect.  Wednesday (14^th) brings a New Moon in Aries, and you may be able to trust that the new season and the new astrological year is here, and hear the songs of Spring.  It is a new beginning in nature, and in our experience of ourselves.  We see ourselves anew, and envision the possibilities for the new year, make plans, and obtain glimpses of where we are going and growing.  Between Masterchef series, we may be at a loss for television viewing, but if we are interested in the future of our country Thursday (15^th) brings a live debate at 8.30 pm on ITV for the three who are hoping to become Prime Minister, and of course it is a first in terms of emulating the American style of debate.  Will any of them exhibit oratorial skill?  I could not possibly say.  If you have a special social event to attend on Saturday 17^th, you could not have much of a greater blessing that the Venus sextile Jupiter which graces the evening.  Jupiter in Pisces could add a touch of magic, while Venus in Taurus ensures warmth and affection.  You could get swept away by new acquaintances.

Time travel is a regular feature of my work as a past-life therapist, but I couldn’t help being fascinated by the metamorphosis from one Dr Who to another.  I have been fascinated ever since I incidentally saw David Tennant transform into Matt Smith at 9 pm on New Year’s Day…David Tennant at that moment had the North Node on his Moon/Mars and so fate decreed that he relinquish his title.  Matt Smith was of course destined to succeed with Pluto the planet of transformation opposite David Tennant’s Sun.  So when Matt (he of the Scorpio deep-sunken eyes) began his mission on our screens at 6.20 pm last night Saturn (the Lord of Time) was exactly on the Ascendant trine the Part of Fortune on the cusp of the 9^th House (the Joys of Time Travel)…It is a week of metamorphoses, with major movements from some of the heavier heavenly bodies.  First of all, Chiron changed signs over Easter, from Aquarius to Pisces.  What was Chiron through Aquarius all about?  Chiron entered Aquarius in 2005 which laid out new patterns of working in groups to achieve healing.  What will Chiron in Pisces be about? It is about working in a deeper way to achieve healing, rippling out from the group consciousness and taking the explorations to a deeper level.  Often healing is achieved on one level, then the experience returns to be healed at a deeper experience. On an individual level, there will be an examination of the issue of selfishness vs selfishness because Chiron in Pisces is about giving oneself; how much one is prepared to give, how much one needs to give, and whether that is healthy.  If you were reading last week, you may be wondering how Venus is doing.  We last left her dallying with the gardener in Taurus, and promised to catch up.  She is in a respectful trine with Pluto tomorrow (Monday 5^th) when balance can be achieved on a deeper level in relationship.  Metamorphosis and transformation come up again, specifically in relationships.  An hour later Mercury squares Mars, so the relationship shifts trigger an effort to understand by the rational mind, and in the frustration, hasty words could ensue.  Geminis and  Ariens may need to process before they react, and listen to the understanding of Pisceans and Scorpios.  By the end of the day, most signs will have a fuller picture to draw upon.  On Tuesday 6^th the mental understanding catches up with the emotional understanding, with Mercury trine Pluto, and may even be in a position to write a thesis or dissertation on the subject.  “Eureka!” will say the Gemini scientist.  A metaphorical light bulb will shine on some scientific mysteries.  Having beamed its searchlight up to 5 degrees of Capricorn, the next day (Wednesday 7th)  Pluto turns retrograde, and it may be a good time to survey the themes of Pluto in Capricorn in your life. What has Pluto in Capricorn been about?  Pluto entered Capricorn in January 2008, and now is the time to do your review.  The area of your life in which the transit of Pluto falls has given you a chance to really understand, and test out your understanding in a particular area of your life, and now it’s revision time.  Going over old ground can seem like a chore, but if you want a second chance, it is a good opportunity.  Time travelling, and reframing earlier decisions and contracts, and changing old patterns of perception, will benefit from this retrograde phase of Pluto.  Later the same day Saturn, having toured Libra to the 4^th degree and squared Pluto, now re-enters Virgo in its retrograde motion.  What has Saturn in Libra been about for you?  Again, it may be a good time to survey the themes of Saturn in Libra in your life, and its karmic dilemmas in relationships. Saturn entered Libra in late October 2009, and you may have noticed understandings and traditional models of relationship being tested by the square to Pluto and the loose opposition to Saturn from Uranus.  These are long-term processes and part of the Cardinal T-square we are working with over the next two years.  The first step is understanding the problem, and that is the phase we are now in.  With Saturn now turning retrograde, we look to the past to see what was wrong with the old models and why they don’t stand up.  In this lifetime, outside forces such as economics may have shaped a relationship.  In a past lifetime there may have been pressures from the karmic group.  If you are searching for more authentic relationships, a little time travel wouldn’t go amiss here.

As a card-carrying member of CND in an earlier incarnation, I was very pleased to hear that Barack Obama announced Friday that he and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had agreed to nuclear cuts.  The Sunday Observer this morning is full of praise for Obama, on this and other issues: “suddenly the rest of the enormous canvas on which the modern US president operates seems broken with shafts of light”.  Over on that beacon of astrological rigour “Nancy’s Blog” she comments: “Nothing like a Mars station to make Obama seem really tough and on top of his game to the world: first opposite his Jupiter for the first three weeks of March and then slowly all this week through next Tuesday conjunct his Mercury.”  Saturn is also trine his Jupiter, cementing his reputation as a man of principle.  What President Obama brings to the U.S. chart is that his Mars stimulates the Neptune (spirituality) of the U.S. chart.  It is interesting that the proposed plan was announced on Friday when the Sun was square to Pluto (which represents nuclear energy).  That is a good example of turning around a difficult aspect to bring it up to its highest expression.  Life goes on, and tomorrow Venus is sextile Neptune which is good for setting social and romantic ideals, fine-tuning what you believe in heartwise.  The Moon is at the full in Libra in the early hours of Tuesday (30^th), when you may be able to keep things on an even keel, and take one step towards peace, with whoever else is attuned and staying up to watch her.  This Moon aligns with two fixed stars in the constellation of Virgo: Vindiematrix and Porrima, both of which relate to the assimilation of new ideas, according to “Starlight Elixirs” by Michael Smulkis and Fred Rubenfeld.  The light of stars is further illuminated in my interview this week with Kim Gould who works with the Human Design System.  The link to her website is currently down, but do persist as it will be well worthwhile. On Wednesday Venus glides into Taurus, leaving the wrangles but also the passion of Aries behind her.  She will be on home territory, home and dry and earthed.  She will be relieved, but some might find her more dull and boring.  She will be able to get on with her gardening, and moneymaking, and doing things in her own groove in her own patch.  It will be easier for her to focus on what matters to her.  If you are strongly Venusian you will enjoy the naturalness and harmony of Venus in Taurus.  On April Fool’s Day Thursday 1^st,  Mercury sextiles Neptune, not a good day to try any tricks because it’s a sublime day to reveal truth and separate it out from illusion.  The antics of Derren Brown, David Blaine and other illusionists would be irrelevant.  On Friday 2^nd, Mercury enters Taurus, so Venus acquires a helper in tending her garden, and one who can help her to articulate her feelings.  Good influences for writing nature poetry, documentation, public speaking or anything which allies feeling and written or verbal expression.  Things may get a little out of hand on Saturday 3^rd though, with Venus squaring Mars.  There may be some tittle tattle about Venus and her gardener, and Mars may experience a little jealousy.  The tabloids will have a field day.  Can Venus redeem her reputation?  Tune in next week to find out.

It gives me great pleasure to present an interview from that fount of Human Design knowledge, Kim Gould, whose website “Love Your Design” is such a refreshing running resource to read and enjoy.  The Human Design System is an amalgam of 4 spiritual systems: Astrology, Kabbalah, the Chakra System and the I Ching.  It’s still very new to me, and I hope you find it just as fascinating!  I like the philosophies behind Human Design, and particularly its unconditional nonjudgemental approach, which gives you permission to be yourself.  There’ s nothing like beginner’s enthusiasm…

Lana:  Kim I love the approach of your blog.  It seems to have a lot of old baggage swept away and is very futuristic, and has drawn me to investigate the Human Design System. As Astrology is amalgamated with other esoteric systems, how do you feel that changes the Astrological picture?

Kim: Astrology gives me an immense wisdom bank to draw on when looking at how the archetypes play out in the Human Design Chart.  I draw from sources like Martha Lang-Wescott’s research on the Asteroids.  It’s great to know that there’s some solid observation behind the interpretations given.

My own observations of how a planet plays out in various Gates and Centres could expand our understanding of the meaning of that planet.  As we find links between Astrology and the I Ching, Tarot, the Kabbalah and other systems, we begin to see new links, new ways of thinking about the planets.

A great example is the new Dwarf Planets. We can see what energy centre they were in at the time of their discovery and what specific hexagrams of the I Ching (Gates Human Design) they have moved through since then.  For slow moving planets like Eris and Makemake this brings clarity to the newly arising archetype.  Makemake has been in the Solar Plexus Centre/Chakra since the middle of 2006, in a gate that connects our emotional and sexual energy.  Since Makemake was only discovered in March 2005, knowing about its placement in this Gate helps us understand that some of the foundational archetypal meaning of Makmake must be about the emotional and sexual experience, and how those two energies interact in a person’s life.

Lana:  That’s fascinating, especially about the dwarf planets.  Could you tell us a little of the background and origins of the Human Design System, and how you relate to that, e.g. how it has evolved for you.

Kim: The Human Design System was originally revealed in 1987 to a man by the name of Ra Uru Hu.  The original elements have been evolving ever since, with various people taking them in different directions.

The underlying ‘system’ is a precise correlation between the hexagrams of the I Ching and the horoscope.  Each hexagram is 5°37’30” of horoscope arc.  Each hexagram in the I Ching has 6 lines each of which is 56’15” of horoscope arc.

So for example, today (22 March) the Sun is at 1 degree Aries 31’32”.  In Human Design that would be Hexagram 25 line 4, except we call them Gates rather than Hexagrams.  To take it a step further, we then place that Sun position on the chart and Gate 25 is always found in the Heart Centre, in a position that relates to a connection between Ego and Innocence / Unconditional Love.

Unlike Astrology, a Human Design chart uses two sets planetary activations.  The standard chart uses the Natal Activations plus an additional Pre-Natal Activation, taken at 88 Solar degrees prior to birth.  This Pre-Natal Activation gives us access to a simple, natural self that operates under our conscious awareness.  We can literally see our sub-conscious at work in this layer of the chart!

I believe Human Design is a unique tool that brings us a whole new way of thinking about who we are, and how the human race is evolving.   There are many ideas in Human Design that are quite different to astrology.  Like, astrology though, each chart has its own very unique flavour and exploring that uniqueness is very liberating and empowering.

My personal journey has involved a lot of time spent alone contemplating what the transits reveal about the elements of the System.  I’m very tuned into the collective consciousness, and I pick up the subtle shifts and can then share that information with others through writing in my blog and doing readings.   It has always been very important to me that the person I’m working with has some sense of recognition of what I’m telling them, even if sometimes the new concepts of self take a while to sink in.

Lana:  Yes, I have recently realized that if you make a statement about something someone hasn’t yet experienced about themselves it makes no sense to them!  Right now I have a queue of people with a host of basic questions about Human Design …What would be the best way to start learning about it?  And as a question, to kick-off, many people are curious to know if there is any advantage to having centres filled in, or blank?

Kim: Well Lana let’s organise a Q & A webinar or blogtalkradio show with talkback and they can ask all the questions they want.  I’m writing a series of courses at the moment – some free some paid – which will be available soon.  There’s quite a bit on the web.  People can get a free chart on my site.

In answer to that last question, there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ in any element of the system.  A coloured centre has a different quality to an uncoloured centre.  We call the coloured centre ‘defined’ and they have a constant way of operating in the world.  When a centre is not coloured, or undefined, it is always being affected by the people around you.  There is perhaps a bias towards the coloured or defined Centres, but I don’t share that view and often approach the chart by focusing on what’s not defined since that is where we are most sensitive and can develop the most wisdom in life.

Lana:  Are you trying to drag me into the world of 21^st Century technology with talk of a Webinar?  In that case, I can’t say no!  Here’s my next curiosity: Of the four systems used within the Human Design System (Astrology, Kabbalah, the Chakra System and the I Ching)  I am most puzzled about how the I Ching is used.  Could you explain the use and value of it in the evaluation of a chart?

Kim: I had never even read the I Ching when I first discovered Human Design.  And you don’t need to know anything about any of these other systems – Astrology, Kabbalah, Chakras and I Ching – to understand your design.

When I evaluate a chart, I start out by looking at the Centres – what’s defined, what’s connected, what’s conscious.  This is a level of evaluation that can easily be overlooked when people want to gain as much information about their charts as possible.  But the Centres alone can reveal an astonishing amount of information.

After that I begin to look at the detail of planets and gates.  The Gates are the same as the Hexagrams of the I Ching, so it’s important to observe where the personal planets are, they give great meaning to our lives and can be a wonderful source of contemplation.  They are often quite startling accurate.

A great example is Princess Diana, who had her Sun in Gate 39 line 1, the commentary for which reads:

“When one encounters an obstruction, the important thing is to reflect on how best to deal with it.  When threatened with danger, one should not strive blindly to go ahead, for this only leads to complications.”

Well Princess Diana certainly did encounter an obstruction that was very dangerous!

As well as the actual commentary that we can find in any I Ching book, we can also look at the structure of the hexagram – is it ying or yang, shallow or deep, how do the trigrams relate to each other?  For example, Princess Diana’s Gate 39 is a yang hexagram, it’s trigrams are Water and Mountain, giving a quality of letting go of impatience (water) and struggle (mountain) and allowing time to properly understand a situation – this takes us from a shallow understanding to a deep understanding so that we can move forward with the natural flow (water).

Lana:  You seem to use a huge number of asteroids and other heavenly bodies in your work, and enthrallingly so!  How important are they, and could you let us know a little about your view of the meaning of Chiron?

Kim: Well firstly Lana let me say that we can tell a huge amount just from the mechanics of the design.  As I’ve said, just knowing what’s coloured in your chart, which centres are connected to each other, what reaches the Throat Centre for expression, where there’s gaps between Centres, etc.  These ‘mechanical’ aspects of interpretation are so important.

I use the asteroids to bring a more subtle flow to the energy of the chart.  For example there may be quite a difficult gap between, say, the Heart and the Throat. These gaps are often places where people struggle immensely in life and they often have physical symptoms in that precise area of the body.  When I look at the asteroids I might find that there is a Dwarf Planet that bridges the gap.  This gives us a way to explore how we could create a bridge between those two disconnected parts of a person’s energy field.  I also look at fixed positions – fixed stars, the Galactic Centre, black holes, etc, when there is an important connection with personal planets.

Chiron is the one asteroid included in the standard chart.  In my work, Chiron is a place in the energy field where we may have specific sensitivity.  That sensitivity is always a place of great power, but to begin with we may need to examine the possibility of wounds that need to be addressed. In Human Design we can see which energy centre Chiron falls in, and we also get to see the Pre-Natal Chiron in the chart as well, so we can track family patterns of wounding.  I find working with Chiron extremely powerful.

Lana:  That spurs me on to use Fixed Stars and deep space objects such as Clusters in my work more.  How much of your work is mental analysis, and how much of it is spiritual intuition?  And though it is not written yet, how do you see your work evolving?

Kim: Great questions Lana.  I have Mercury and Uranus creating one channel from the Crown to the Ajna, and another with Moon and Ceres.  So I work with an inspired creative mental energy.  The connection between the two centres means that I can’t separate the Crown from the Ajna – they always work together as a team.

My work is all about evolution.  You would be aware of the idea of the archetypal expression of the planets evolving.  Saturn is a great example.  I also see the I Ching, the Kabbalah and Chakras evolving.  As these elements shift, so does our understanding of the Human Design System and therefore our understanding of our energy fields.

For example, my Moon is in a Ajna Gate that says I’m oppressed and exhausted and that’s all there is to it.  Not very cheery!  When I work with people with this gate in their personal design, I know that they have a role to play in helping people shift the way they think.  When we think in the wrong way we create a life that can feel oppressive and exhausting.  When we think in a more natural way we create a whole different life.  If someone has this Gate in their personal design I can support them to be more empowered by explaining that this evolution in their thinking is actually part of their role in the evolution of all humanity.

I work specifically with helping people to understand themselves in this new reality we are entering.  Most of what we know about how to be happy and successful isn’t working anymore.   Using Human Design I can show people a whole new way to experience themselves and a whole new way to make decisions that is really unique.

My main focus is to help people to recognise more subtle layers of self that have gone unacknowledged, and to support them to bring them into their daily reality.  I do that through exploring the different layers of the multi-dimensional charts and the archetypal layer of the natal chart and then helping people to anchor it through the main integrative layer.  It sounds complicated, but when it’s your own chart it just flows so easily and naturally because the recognition is there for you.

Kim’s Blog:

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

Kim’s Website is also a mine of information:

http://www.loveyourdesign.com/

Kim’s BlogTalkRadio Show:

http://www.loveyourdesign.com/radio.php

E-mail me from my Contact page if you would be interested for a Webinar to take place ~ Lana

As a non-sporty Sagittarian (excuse: Taurus Ascendant) I took a glancing interest in sport this week.  First came the upsetting news about David Beckham (he’s a double Taurean, so there’s my excuse gone).  His injury (Mars) shows up as the red planet squaring his Achilles heel (Uranus in his 6^th House of Health and Safety). Friday night I watched Sport Relief and yesterday I accompanied my daughter to a Sports Shop.  That is 3 times my usual involvement in such matters.  Today continues to support the efforts for the various projects in Sport Relief, with Mars trine Sun.  All systems go, especially for those born under Aries and Leo.  It’s a day of firsts and records may be broken.  It’s a Now sort of day, and very suited to Yang or Macho energy.  It’s the third day of the first Blog-a-thon, concentrating on the Uranus leg of the Cardinal T-square with Saturn and Pluto.  Skip over to cj wright’s website, but not before reading my interview of this week which serendipitously  happens to be cj wright herself.  On her site (named “Auntie Moon”) you will learn about the surprises that Uranus can bring to our lives, and her conclusions about that based on her experience as an Astrologer and her readers’ experiences.  Tomorrow (Monday 22^nd) in contrast the Sun opposes Saturn, so it’s more of a grinding-to-a-halt day.  We have talks ongoing in the U.K. about air and train travel strikes which are proposed and ongoing.  Athletes may be nursing blisters, those who are driven by nature may need to watch their adrenal energy levels if they overdid the weekend activities. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  Mars has been stuck at 0 degrees Leo for three weeks, and depending on how that shows up in your chart you may have been suffering a recurring stress during that time, or have been waiting on the starting block of a project for all that time raring to go.  If so, things may now be starting to shift.  It was during this period that little Sahil Saeed was kidnapped on 4 March, with Mars at around 0 degrees 30 minutes of Leo, then 6 days later Mars turned direct, and 6 days after that on 16 March when Mars was at the same point, he was joyously returned to his family.  That must have been a highlight of news viewing for many people this week.  Tuesday (23^rd) brings more recovery, and more re-balancing in our lives.  Mars sextiles Saturn in Libra, so we may have knocked ourselves out at the weekend, had an enforced rest on Monday, and now (Tuesday) are picking ourselves up again, and assessing what we gained/what we lost.  We may conclude it was equal, but with no regrets, especially if it has all gone to a good cause.  Tuesday is a particularly good day for deliberate, pre-planned action, and for taking the next logical step on your journey of the week.  If it’s your birthday, give yourself a pat on the back for the fine balance you have currently achieved in your life.  People generally may take time to savour the concept of “balance” as it applies in their life and what it means to them.  Being centred is important at this time, as the tension begins to build towards Friday (26^th) when Sun in Aries squares Pluto in Capricorn (the individual versus authority).  The balance sways towards excess, and someone or something may demand your extra attention.  The Pluto articles of the Blog-a-thon are archived on Donna Cunningham’s blog (Sky Writer) if you are trying to cope, or working towards mastery.  If you are meeting a friend for coffee that day, you’ll put the world to rights working out where it all went wrong, set up your own political party or TV channel over the table, and then maybe reverse the process and dismantle the whole thing, emerging a few calories heavier, a little lighter in the pocket, but an hour wiser.

This week we are blessed to meet another Auntie, and actually I am just getting to know her myself, so you can enter this journey with me…cj or Auntie Moon hosts an informative Astrological website and blog, and is one of the co-ordinators of the 1st International Astrology Day Blog-a-Thon starting tomorrow, which  “brings together a collection of helpful, insightful and informative articles on handling the challenges of Saturn, Uranus, Pluto and the cardinal t-square”  according to her blog.  Her answers are sparkling and intelligent, and she comes across as serene, perceptive and modest  (I wonder if she’ll let me say that…?)  As the Numerology Editor for All Things Healing www.allthingshealing.com she is content with being number 6.

Lana:  I often think Astrology is a giant hologram where each person can start at a particular point and explore infinitely.  I have the impression from reading your blog that your interests are multifaceted, you have the Astrology, the Tarot and the Numerology, and you have two names…Is there any sense that you see yourself as a specialist within Astrology?

Cj: My interests are multifaceted, but I don’t consider myself a specialist in any particular system. Blending the symbolism of the three different systems reinforces each system’s message. For example, when looking at a tarot card I see not only the imagery on the card but draw on its astrological associations, as well. I also associate numbers with planetary energies, which acts as another dimension of the symbolism. It’s been my experience that a tarot reading often reflects the energies that are activated in a person’s natal chart or transits. Using the systems together is not unlike the “rule of three” in astrology where we look for a symbol three times in a chart reading.

Numerology is a beautiful system. It reminds me of the board game, Othello – “a minute to learn, a lifetime to master” because of its initial simplicity. That simplicity becomes a camouflage for the depth numerology actually has. It’s not unlike sun sign astrology. The primary symbols soon reveal themselves to be incredibly complex and multi-layered.

I used to make birthday gift books that included a delineation of the natal chart, numerology chart, and the tarot cards associated with the major planets. I became less and less surprised that a natal chart and numerology chart carried similar themes for a person, and that those themes were so beautifully executed in the tarot’s imagery. It’s why I refer to my posts on the tarot as the Astrological Picture Book.

I can spend six months immersed in one system, six months in another, and then switch to something else for a period of time, all the while learning as much about the other systems as the one I was immersed in at the time. That’s probably not a good way to become a specialist, but it satisfies my hunger for symbolism and connections.

Lana:  That has answered a lot of personal questions for me in regard to Numerology and Tarot, and given me a new regard for both.  You do give out a real zest for Astrology.  What do you think people are missing if they don’t have Astrology in their lives?

Cj: As long as people have a sense of wonder in their lives, they may not be missing anything. Astrology is only one of many ways to access that sense of wonder. It might be easier for me to answer by turning the question around, “what are people gaining by having Astrology in their lives?”

First, they are gaining a symbolic language, poetry. In its most basic sense, Astrology is the language of the seasons, light and dark, a connection to nature—the elements, temperaments, the night sky, and worlds beyond our own. We learn that we really do revolve around our sun, and that it takes more than 365 days to make that journey. It takes a lifetime.

We are able to explore the patterns of life that go beyond the rites of passage that most people only know as sweet sixteen, becoming of legal age, midlife crisis, or retirement. “She turned 30” becomes “her first Saturn return,” or “he completely lost it,” might mean Uranus opposed his Sun. Those terms speak volumes to the astrologer who can see the cycles unfolding in a life, like pages turning in a journal.

Astrology gives us a look at our own star map, a guide for the journey. But it never loses its sense of wonder because it’s never completely predictable. We may have the map, but we’re explorers in an unknown territory. We don’t have all the details—the peculiarities, histories, and desires of the people who travel with us, the turns we take along the journey, the cultures we encounter, the victories and defeats, pains and pleasures—all of those give a dialect to the language. That’s what makes it poetry.

Lana:  That’s breathtaking,  cj.  My next question is: What is your relationship with time, and how important is it to you?  We hear there’s no such thing, and it is important to be in the Now, and it seems different in Mayan Astrology.  I have kept a diary since I was 15, and it has been a precious resource, and it seems to me that for a Western Astrologer, time is a stock-in-trade.  Is this a silly question?

Cj: No, it’s not silly at all. No pun intended, but it’s a very timely question because you’re asking it during a period when there doesn’t seem to be nearly enough of it. It is important to be in the Now. Eckhart Tolle brought that idea to the general public with his bestseller, “A New Earth,” a book that was a great influence on me. I do try to stay aware of the present moment, but there’s no denying that time exists and that it slips away. I’ve never worried too much about the years passing, and only as I’m nearing my late 50’s have I thought about it much. A lot of people look at time through the lens of regret and that makes me sad. It seems the future holds so much more potential than the past, even as we age.

I’ve never been disciplined enough to keep an ongoing diary, but have a great admiration for those who do, because we can forget the details of our lives so easily. Journaling can be quite cathartic, and I do tend to quasi-journal when I’m sorting things out, but it’s usually on little snippets of paper that I come across months or years later. The time when they were written comes rushing back and so many feelings are revived. Those memories are so vivid they take on a 3-D quality. That could be the reason I never committed to journaling—the memories were too vivid.

Blogging and forums are journal-like, and a fantastic tool for astrologers. We talk about current aspects and the effects we find in our lives. Other people add their experiences. It all happens in real time and then—poof—it’s a part of our history. We didn’t have access to that scale of real-time sharing until the Internet arrived on the scene. I think we’ll really appreciate it as time moves on.

There are two lessons I’ve learned about time that I try to keep in the forefront of my mind. A teacher once said that we could change our past simply by changing our perceptions of it. I try to embrace that, but it can be incredibly difficult to make that kind of change. The other is a piece of scripture, “This too shall pass.” Maybe the best anecdote to time is patience, sort of a homeopathic remedy.

Lana:  I have found that Jupiter in Pisces has made it easier to work in a deeper way.  Is that how you have found it?

Cj: Jupiter’s entrance into Pisces has certainly coincided with a time when I’ve found myself more deeply immersed in work than usual. Its entrance in January also signaled the beginning of my research for the IAD Blogathon, so I’ve been exposed to a lot of websites that may have taken me much longer to discover without the intense focus of the research. I’ve met some people who are true experts and amazing teachers, definitely Jupiterian figures. It has already expanded my horizons. 12 years ago, Jupiter was also in Pisces. That’s when I first started writing about the Moon for a monthly Moon group. That year holds some of my fondest memories. I wouldn’t mind a rerun of that kind of energy. It was lovely.

Lana: Astrologers vary in how much they use Chiron, and I wonder to what extent you do use it and how you experience your Chiron in Capricorn if this is something you have a sense of.  Also, taking the astrology aside, how would you describe your Inner Healer (which may, or may not, be the same thing)?

Cj: I have minimal experience with the asteroids, so I don’t have a good sense of it in my chart. I know Chiron indicates a wound, and that it’s a healing point. It’s also in my 12^th house. An astrologer once told me that it was a beautiful placement so I didn’t pursue it. I’m a firm believer that sometimes we just need to let the mystery be.

I don’t really know how I would describe my inner healer because I’m not sure I’ve actually gotten a grip on it yet. I think I heal most when I stop talking and thinking and start listening. That opens a lot of doors to understanding. I’ve found that help has always arrived when I’ve needed it most. There are messengers who come when answers are needed. They’re real people—bank tellers, random phone calls at the office from a stranger who needed to tell a story, poets, and grocery baggers. They’re all around. I just have to be receptive and hear the message. They’ve always been there and they make the path smoother. Solitude is a great healer. Listening within.

Lana:  Thank you for persevering with the Chiron question.  I thought as many of the interviewees have this placing, the answers collectively might tell us a great deal of how it plays out in people’s lives.  Here’s my next question: Your website is called “Auntie Moon”.  How important is the Moon to you personally, and in your work?

Cj: Oh, Lana, the Moon is everything to me. She represents so much, and I wouldn’t have the joy of this work I love without her. She represents hope, romance, grief, love, longing, and the ever changing cycle of our lives.

I was one of those kids who laid out on the hood of the car at night and looked up at the sky dreaming of possibilities, what ifs. I fell madly in love with the Moon and stars then, and they’ve always been in me even if they’ve been eclipsed by other things that stole my attention for a while. So my journey started with wishing on the moon and has led me to looking for her in every part of life, in the details. I can see the zodiac signs represented in so many things just by tracking her on God’s heavenly clock–everyday things that we take for granted, but that bring us little pleasures.

She opens the door to understanding on a level that truly touches the heart. It is that gorgeous hide-and-seek playing Moon that makes it all worthwhile to me. She helps me find the divine.

Lana:  Your words really carry the reader with you. My last question is about Numerology. Do you find any disharmony between Astrology and Numerology or do they dovetail when you work with them?

Cj:   No, I don’t find any disharmony, at all. As a matter of fact, I’ve found that our personal numbers naturally dovetail with our natal charts. It’s an amazing thing! You might think that two different systems would carry different themes, but there is a repetition that I find downright mysterious. It’s not cut and dried, though. A person may have a strong Capricorn Moon and be born with a Life Path of 1, both associated with leadership or the desire for it. The Capricorn theme may be repeated with a name number of 7, which can indicate a tendency for withdrawal. A Libra might have many 2’s in their personal numbers, just the right amount, or a complete lack, all of which bring forth the themes of partnership and the need for balance but with a different emphasis on the lessons to be learned or taught. It’s never the same—which is what I mean by cut and dried—but there is always a reciprocal support between the two systems.

What this dual symbolism means to me is that there is a rhyme and reason behind the mysteries of life. Math really is the universal language. Everything can be reduced to a series of digits, whether it’s our DNA, the programming that allows us to talk to each other over the Internet, or the composition of the stars. It’s far from meaningless. Opening to these mysteries and allowing the subtleties to reveal themselves is what it’s all about for me. It’s about discovery and connection. Numerology, tarot, astrology, and the search for spirit–and finding it in the tiniest things–have opened many doors to the wonders that surround and bind us together. It’s the grandest adventure I’ve ever taken.

Here’s cj’s website link:

http://auntiemoon.wordpress.com/

And be sure to get the most from the Blog-a-thon:

http://auntiemoon.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/international-astrology-day-blog-carnival/

It’s Happy Mother’s Day here in the UK and if you are a mother in any sense of the word, your appreciation from the Universe may arrive a day or two later, until after the New Moon in Pisces tomorrow night…Meanwhile, it’s full steam ahead until Thursday with the aspects, starting with Sun conjunct Mercury today at 23 degrees Pisces.  Write that poem, rehearse those lines, do your homework, for later in the week.  There could be a memorable occasion in the offing this week, and today’s efforts will be part of it.  Tomorrow (Monday 15^th) is the actual New Moon at 25 degrees 10 minutes of Pisces.  If you are planning an event tomorrow, it could have tremendous emotional impact.  Hard on the heels and a degree away but only 39 minutes later (21:40 Hrs in the UK) Mercury conjoins Uranus.  The two events have to be considered all of a piece, and today’s  Sun conjunct Mercury is also part of that cosiness.  An intense concentration of energies in an emotionally-driven area of your life could produce an astonishing realization.  On Wednesday 17^th the Sun is conjunct Uranus in the morning (again UK timing) at 26 degrees Pisces.  This too is part of Monday’s manifold configuration, but emphasizing a different aspect of it: Individuality, Creativity and Originality.  In the afternoon Mercury enters Aries: and some of the Piscean intensity is relieved.  There’s going to be a tendency for people to stop pussyfooting and to speak their minds.  Accountability and transparency will be the order of the day, with Mercury highlighting O degrees Aries, heralding the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction which will take place there in the summer.  The hauntingly truthful  and powerful words of Reinhold Niebuhr

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;

Refers to the advent of the Cardinal (T-square) Climax over the next year or two.  This astrological event between Saturn, Uranus and Pluto represents the Structures and Strictures we have to work within.

But Lo! Do you feel the accelerating dynamics of the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction approaching?  This represents

courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

This is the counterbalancing gift this summer.

Donna Cunningham’s blog tells us it’s 5 days until the International Astrology Day Blog-a-Thon: “Celebrate International Astrology Day with articles and media from over 50 fantastic astrologers on Saturn, Uranus, Pluto, and the Cardinal T-Square starting March 19, 2010!”  This will be all you can eat on the subject of the T-Square, so register with the Forum and enjoy.  We need to be fully equipped  It would seem that the symbolism of the T-square is encapsulated in the current political situation in the U.K. coming up to the election with the Conservatives (Saturn) opposite the Labour Party (Uranus, Old Labour in its close-to-Socialism purity, and New Labour dislocated from its moorings) squared by the Lib Dems (Pluto, now holding the balance, and the balance of power).  Andrew Rawnsley writes in the Sunday Observer: “The Lib Dems will be intensely pressed during the campaign to jump off the fence, especially when opinion polls put us in hung parliament territory….So the Lib Dem leader has been given equal exposure and status with Gordon Brown and David Cameron which treats him as a candidate for prime minister even though he is not.”  On Wednesday evening Mercury is trine Mars – so seize the day (even if it’s in the evening) – Time and tide wait for no man! (Platitudes rule this week).  He who hesitates is lost.  Now last week Venus (feeling) was under fire, opposing Saturn and squaring Pluto. (Pulled out of my comfort zone, I found myself shielding myself from a spotlight with a tomato at an Arts Festival – you couldn’t write such a script). This week it’s the turn of Mercury (mentality).  So on Thursday (18^th) Mercury opposes Saturn, and again I say he (or she) who hesitates is lost, but it is already too late.  You had to act yesterday, for this aspect is mentally flattening or paralyzing.  On Saturday (20^th) Mercury squares Pluto which is mind-blowing , taking you to mental limits of endurance.  Getting through that, later in the day (17:32 Hrs) the Sun enters O degrees Aries (Spring Equinox)…and if you can let go of a whole lot of mental baggage, you’ll be born anew.  And now for something completely different: If you have an interest in Homeopathy, Channelling or any space or combination between the two, suspend the mind and read this week’s interview with Sarah Berry. This summer is all about the new, with Jupiter conjunct Uranus, so how about a surprise move of Vince Cable for Chancellor of the Exchequer?

Geminian Sarah has a double interview, as I first asked Sarah the questions, and then invited her guide Hendry to comment as well.  She and I graduated in the same year (1998) at the Awakening your Light Body course at Lita de Alberdi’s School of the Living Light, together with Laura Dane.  Sarah is in the final stages of her Homeopathy training, but has channelled Hendry at Light Pod for about 10 years.

Lana:  What do you see as the link (if any) between Astrology and Homeopathy?

Sarah: It’s as huge and as old as the Universe.  I believe all things in existence are connected at the innermost level.  So any discipline will interact with another and contribute to the whole which aids the practitioner in their art. I think a particularly close link exists between Astrology and Homeopathy in explaining the makeup of an individual, their Constitution; whether they are demonstrating  recognisable characteristics – as in Astrology, or out of balance – as in Homeopathy, and in giving insights into a suitable remedy. There is also family history, and karma, to consider.

Hendry: Greetings…I think you do know deep down of many incarnations in times gone by at the beginning of the Universe and formation of the Stars and the study of planetary aspects and undertaking of nature the essence and study of which turns into homeopathic remedies, essences and elixirs.  Connectedness as Sarah says is the key, and the remedies are tailored to the individual make up and requirements.  The two can be used together and one enhances the other.  The link is very deep and very great, and part of the whole, understanding and unfolding.  You will use them in a greater capacity.

Lana:  How did you first get into the subject of Homeopathy?

Sarah: I’ve been surprised at the challenge this question has posed to me, and the difficulty of replying clearly. My first thought was that I was introduced to Homeopathy in the late 70’s when as a 20-something I became interested in Yoga .

Nowadays with support and encouragement I have recently completed a college course. I studied and experienced the energetic responses of remedies, as well as continuing my own treatment, and I feel that I have always known about Homeopathy. It’s like my inner self has this knowledge and it is important to me in practice to let my intuitive-self match my academic understanding. The learning is ever expanding I think.

Hendry:  There is a spiritual background in which Sarah was guided into this field.  Homeopathy found Sarah rather than the other way round.  Indeed, all people are part of Homeopathy and have used it in so many ways.  The knowledge was lost, but the elements were always there and it has recently suffered challenges in our society.  One strong challenge has recently become powerful, but the question is not about being alternative, there is only one alternative.  Artificial chemicals and materialism will have to come to an end.  Otherwise there would be a loss of instinct, intuition and telepathy, which are part of understanding and seeing. The inner elements are especially difficult to translate from the inner planes, if they are to be utilized fully in earthly life.  You need to bring as much of Heaven to Earth, the inner work to the outer, to contribute to the Ascension of the planet in times ahead, and this involves crisis and beauty.

Lana:  One of your skills is Channelling.  I think you are hugely talented in this.  Please could you tell us what you know and sense about your guide Hendry.

Sarah:  My initial intention was to consciously find my guide, after Graduating in 1998 from Light Body with Lita de Alberdi. So I attended her Opening to Channel course for this purpose, where I became aware of my first guide called Speller. Channelling simply happened on this quest almost without me noticing.  My guide called Hendry became known to me when I attended the second, Intermediate, course and has been with me for Channelling ever since. My early Light Body work was enabled with lots of visual experiences. As I became more adept with expanded energies I understood connection without needing to ‘see’.  So I feel my connection with Hendry, and discovered quite quickly that solo verbal channelling was not successful. (I do write up daily insights at bedtime and have come to realise that my answers are via my guide, and have probably been so for many years or even all my life). I am lucky to be able share verbal channelling regularly with you, Lana, my Light Body compatriot, and this is when energy expansion takes off.  I have become aware that Hendry is like the spokesperson for a group of Higher Beings. They are happy to answer, as is best for us to know, any question we pose. More importantly, there is encouragement to continue our growth in all aspects spiritual, Lightbody, physical, emotional, to be in our flow and as fully conscious as we can manage. To be true to ourselves and follow our path as we can best understand it, contributing to continued evolvement of mankind.  I am aware of huge energy and colours and patterns, but find this hard to bring back into the present time. There is always much love and encouragement, tempered with quiet power and challenges for us in our current physicality.  I have come to believe that the group may be closely linked to The Ennead, if not the actual group itself.

Hendry:  So, dear ones, you are asking for a pin-up portrait of some sort, some explanation you can hang on to in your earthly way.  Look beyond the outward wardrobe to the power of the inner group, watching and guiding.  It is not about huge talent, but about matching energies and being open and available, able to cope in a powerful way in the higher energies.  The group requirement is for your earthly abilities to progress in the wider energies, expanding more towards infinity.  Great joy can ensue on the wider levels, where you can expand and are more able to see clearly how a group of souls are poised to be used in greater light energies.  It is necessary to meet with the kindred spirits, because the power is not easily held individually.  On your own too there is a danger of too much enjoyment and indulgence and less work produced.  So meet with like-minded individuals.  But there is free will, these things are not dictated, and energies are not lost, as you will see more clearly at the right level at the right time.

Lana:  I am going to ask a Light Body question now.  Chris Griscom defines the Light Body as “The highest octave of the physical body which exists in the etheric”.  I have a Light Body page on my website, but have not written about it in my blog.  Sarah, you went on to study the Ascension path, and I have always been fascinated with the Merkebah (vehicle of light travel), from reading the works of Joshua David Stone but also from my own experiences, and feel that it relates to the Part of Fortune in the birth chart.  I particularly found your own description of the Merkebah interesting.  Could you give us a brief description of what it is and your experience of it?

Sarah:  The version of  Merkebah that I was introduced to is a Light Body vehicle, created in our Light Body using certain energy states and involving the Central star from above and the crystal heart of Earth. It is possible to use it to travel through the Universe and also dimensions. When I first made my Merkebah I was regularly visiting the Light Grid surrounding our planet and I found this experience wonderfully enhanced when I travelled there in it. Light Grid work has since Ascended. I have been occupied more recently with grounding myself and thoroughly embracing my current physicality so I have not been Star travelling. Your reminding me must mean it’s time to get back out there.

Hendry:  With regard to the question of the function of the Merkebah, a later question about Cosmokrator (of Asia Haleem) comes to mind as the answer is similar.  The connection has been made but not yet fully experimented with, because further power and energy is needed; a wider platform, before Sarah can use it.  It is indeed such a wonderful vehicle, but for now you are on a karmic path and there is no point in being elsewhere.  There will be a time of giving back in a wider universal way and meeting the divine in a more continuous way, but for the time being stay where you are. The earthly path is slower, but you will leap ahead when the time is right, not yet. When the Merkebah was used to visit the Light Grid that was appropriate, and now you have been reminded again of it, but it is no longer needed for that purpose.  We have progressed beyond needing that.  The work ahead will need its joy and lightness, but we do not interfere with your freedom and will.  Humour and Love are important.  Something not coming from Love would not be coming with our encouragement.

Lana:  An honest answer, thank you. The next question is actually about your relationship to Asia Haleem’s Cosmokrator.  You sensed immediately that you might have work to do with it in the future.  Can you elaborate (however briefly) on that?

Sarah:  I forget how long ago, but it was several years, that I saw the Cosmokrator on Asia’s website and sent for one. It is easy to create, arriving in a flat state. It is beautiful to behold, which I do most days even if only a glimpse.  It has recently changed location and come into full view on my dining room table, overlooking a window.  I felt I needed it urgently but haven’t worked consciously with it yet.  It does have a presence and now you ask I think I have been waiting until I felt ready to interact.  This represents deep, inner work, both my own which has recently occupied me, and how I may be able to use the Cosmokrator now I’m more fluent with my true self.  The possibilities seem suddenly exciting.  I intend to do more work with the material which is presented on the website http://www.cosmokrator.com/

Hendry:  Dearest Ones, there is much about all of this which at this time is not fully known. There will be wider and greater connectivity and usage of it that will come to the fore, and preliminary work now of dipping one’s toe in and playing is appropriate.  It is a plaything. But whatever seems simple and playful nevertheless has importance, love and fun, and there will be more experimentation for you. More understanding will arise after work has taken place which is acceptable to you. Certainly Sarah’s feelings about it have foundation, and there are cycles and spirals, which start at one  point and then go on to the next stage.  It is a transitional stage of work, progress and changes resulting in regrouping and about to forge ahead with more challenges and work.  Pleasure, meetings and guidance to come, work taken far and still further to go and is continuing most greatly.

Lana:  Thank you!  Like some of the other interviewees, you have Chiron (the wounded healer) in Capricorn.  What (if anything) does that mean to you, and I wonder if you can describe to me your Inner Healer (not necessarily in astrological terms)?

Sarah: The Wounded Healer makes me think of Archetypes, which I am rather vague about. I’m not disputing them, but perhaps am challenged, so hope I am dealing with it as I progress.  I think I have had to deal with sorting mine and family karma and this has occupied me. Rather like channelling, healing is something I don’t consciously set out to do.  I know myself as an enabler, and to achieve this I guess healing takes place.  My struggle has been to find my real self, and this has felt life-threatening, personality and emotionally-wise. So I have needed to heal my inner self. Along the way it has been possible for me to support others.

Hendry: Best Beloveds, of vital importance is the influence of Chiron in life as the inner healer and in Sarah’s work and the path she is undertaking.  This significance  comes slowly to her, and she is currently not too aware of it.  However there will be rebirthing later in the year, including processing and progress and functionality.

Lana:  Since you began the study of homeopathy I have seen you combining channelling and homeopathy to create your own brand.  Does that resonate with how you sense your future work?

Sarah:  Since studying homeopathy academically over the last three years I have finally recognised my true self in this incarnation.  I’ve said this before but it’s so fulfilling for me that I hope you don’t mind the repetition. The last ‘jigsaw’ parts fell into place, allowing me to let go and become energetically connected both inwardly and consequently outwardly, for the highest good of all concerned.  Reaching my Saturn Return also contributed to all this. I’m sure it’s an ongoing journey but I have brilliant guidance now, trusting the Universe and myself.  So I found that using Intuition was my way of using Homeopathy. I have plenty of text books and a wealth of experienced practitioners for reference when required. I learn things about remedies constantly. I am still feeling my way forward with how my future work will develop, but I see now that channelling, in various forms, is a part of my way of being and will always accompany my activities.

Hendry:  We are delighted that you have agreed to undertake this work…Sarah trusts instinctively and accordingly is able to receive its gifts.  The energies of this work, like Reiki, are all linked energies of healing and part of connectivity.  It is not necessarily to rely on knowledge and learning, though we do not underestimate its value, but the work as has been mentioned before is about matching energy for another person, about timing and about working to assess their needs and allowing through the right remedies.  Homeopathy, Astrology and Past-life work are constantly changing.

Lana: Can I please clarify Hendry whether you are talking about Sarah working with Astrology and Past Lives or my own work with these?

Hendry:  Sarah is not consciously aware but does deep down know the work with Astrology and Past Lives, more than she realizes, but she does not use it.  However for now it is necessary to keep the vibrations high in running the light body energies and making a shift upwards.  The skill and space to create the right conditions for this work are to be undertaken only with strong and high abilities.  There is a question of whether or not you need the mundane work.  Sarah and Lana are both channelling in their work.  There is a quality of propping up others.  They each have their specialisms, which do resonate.

P.S.

Lana:  In the light of the proposed NHS cutbacks on the use of homeopathy, what would you say to persuade the government about their efficacy?

Sarah:  I don’t think my lone voice can persuade the government. There is a danger of over and emotional reaction to the Report from the Commons Science and Technology Committee which does seem to be a propaganda exercise, and the committee members were not impartial. However advice to not make assumptions about motives is important. Homeopathic representation from experienced practitioners is underway, and information is available on the website (www.hmc21.org/).  I was reading an Invocation for something else and was struck by this part to ‘open the closed hearted and open the closed mind’.  Meditating on this I can and will do.

Hendry: This is a demonstration of the old element of fear of change.  It is not about the modern or New Age, there is no newness about it.  All things stem from the original forces and elements, and it’s a circle with no beginning or end.  It’s a time of big alteration.  There are elements reluctant to let go and closed minds.  However much evidence could be found it would not make a difference.  All the telepathic information would not have any influence.  All the pieces of paper and experiments would not affect the climate of thinking.  So go bravely into the work, and know the truth of it, and eventually there will be breakthroughs.  All will see the Light eventually.

Hermes (Lana’s guide): If I may interject, Scientists themselves are in various states of evolution, many of them on the threshold or actually aware of technological lives in Atlantis.  The younger generation especially, known as Indigo children for example born from the 1970s, have brought through sufficient consciousness to work with higher levels of awareness in combination with the prevalent scientific climate.  The evolution of the human brain is itself in a state of flux, and developing light centres in order to accommodate the new energies.  The general trend is forwards.

Hendry: Indeed, the trends are growth and expansion of consciousness and connectivity of all living energy.

Venusian types are chivvied along by the Martians twice today.  At lunchtime, Venus enters the battleground of Aries, so she is not on her home ground, and forced to quicken her pace.  The meandering pace of Pisces was more suited to her placid nature.  And then in the evening (UK time) she engages with Mars in a trine, which would be equal footing if she were not on his home ground.  So if you are Venusian, centre yourself and make sure that you are able to work at your own pace.  If you are Martian, curb your impatience if you want the dance of life to be a success.  I am a Venusian and hubby Mike is Martian, and though he is trying to chivvy up the blog this morning, I feel he deserves a special mention for his help during my Radio Show with the lovely Kim Gould on Wednesday: plying me with cups of tea throughout the one and a half hours, and even going out and buying extra phones just in case.  Thank you, Mike.  The Radio Show itself went well, especially in terms of the flow of information back and forth between Kim and myself on the subject of Human Design, Astrology and Past Lives; and the link to listen to it is at the foot  of this blog, as well as permanently posted on my past life page (try saying that quickly).  Venusians need to make the most of today because later in the week they may be even further out of their comfort zone.  In fact, they may find they need the Martian energy, and today may be good training.  Tomorrow’s good too (Monday 8^th), especially for Geminis, Virgoans and Sagittarians, as Mercury conjuncts Jupiter at 11 degrees Pisces.  This is a good aspect for broadening your mind, business meetings and catching up with your reading.  This week’s interview is rather a long one and features Barry Stevens, the Mandala Artist.  I know many people have been looking forward to his interview, and I don’t think they will be disappointed.  What I would recommend  is to visit his website first, and take the tour of the stunning galleries of mandalas, then to read the interview, making sure someone is plying you with tea throughout.  If you do nothing else this week, please read it.  Tuesday (9^th) has an opposition between Venus and Saturn, and Venusians will feel a little flattened (after being flattered on Sunday) but Capricornians will feel warmed.  If Taureans or Librans are interacting with Capricornians, the latter may get the best end of the deal, but ultimately it is an equal exchange – it just may not feel like it to some.  For instance, the Venusians may propose a creative venture, and the Capricornians may throw a wet blanket on the deal.  But the fact is that the Venusian may not have thought it through, and meanwhile something may click with the Capricornian for a future collaboration.  It takes time for Saturnian seeds to grow: Venusians may like a slow pace, but Capricorns like it slower.  On Wednesday (10^th) Mars goes direct, and the sleeping lion wakes, the ram is ready to butt, the tiger to roar.  Ariens and Leos feel that Spring is already here and ready to go.  Why wait until the Equinox, they might feel.  Virgoans may disagree, pointing at the calendar.  But the Venusians by now are dealing not only with the opposition with Saturn, but also an impending square with Pluto, and this is stress which may affect the throat chakra.  Plenty of rest, honey and lemon to be recommended.  Colourwise, blue scarves.  Thursday (11^th) is the actual day of the square, and Plutonians may ask more of Venusians than they currently can easily offer in terms of stamina and resources.  Plutonians and Scorpios need the answers to searching questions about life and love, and the cycle of incarnations.  Venusians at this point need to find a quiet corner on the Martian battlefield and go into meditational retreat, and regroup their forces, before re-engaging.  The battles may rage in the background, but the inner stillness is needed to ensure that you are true to your original incarnational blueprint, your pre-birth lifescript.  We all have Venus and Mars in our charts, in varying measures and interplaying in various ways, and are likely to find out a great deal about ourselves this week.

To listen to Kim Gould’s Radio Show:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kim-gould

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/