Happy Valentine’s Day

 

Unending Love

I seem to have loved you in numberless forms numberless times,

In life after life, in age after age forever.

My spell-bound heart has made and re-made the necklace of songs

That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms

In life after life, in age after age forever.

 

Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, its age-old pain,

Its ancient tale of being apart or together,

As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge

Clad in the light of a pole-star piercing the darkness of time:

You become an image of what is remembered forever.

 

You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount

At the heart of time love of one for another.

We have played alongside millions of lovers, shared in the same

Shy sweetness of meeting, the same distressful tears of farewell –

Old love, but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

 

Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you,

The love of all man’s days both past and forever:

Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life,

The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours –

And the songs of every poet past and forever.

~ by Rabindranath Tagore

 

Rabindranath Tagore (1861 – 1941)

Tagore was a Bengali poet and polymath born in the 19th Century.  Biographer Krishna Kripalani writes of him:

“Among individuals who made these forces creative in shaping the destiny of India, two stand out as pre-eminent, Gandhi and Tagore. The contribution of Gandhi is too obvious to need telling: that of Tagore was subtler and deeper, for it released and fed the hidden fountains of creativity in fields which the politician is powerless to exploit.”

In this, he had an opposite and complementary emphasis to Gandhi’s chart: Aries/Taurus to Gandhi’s Libra/Scorpio.  Gandhi (1869 – 1948) had Sun and Ascendant in the peace sign of Libra, and Mercury and Venus/Mars in the warrior sign of Scorpio.  Rabindranath Tagore had Moon/Ascendant and Neptune in Aries, and Mercury, Neptune/Venus/Sun in Taurus.  Between them, they shaped the history of India in that period.

Rabindranath had O water planets, which is surprising as his poetry is very emotional, or evokes emotion.  There is plenty of Aries passion and Taurus feeling in evidence.  His Venus conjunct Pluto also drips with emotion and feeling.

The Asteroid Chiron (the Wounded Healer) is however in water sign Pisces, together with the Part of Fortune (Joy), so these are wonderfully expressed in his poetry.  As Kripalani says: “He lived as he wrote, not for pleasure or profit but out of joy, not as a brilliant egoist but as a dedicated spirit, conscious that his genius was a gift from the divine, to be used in the service of man.”

What I find fascinating about Rabindranath’s chart is his North Node conjunct Midheaven (the capacity to shape history) in the 9th House of Philosophy.  The Sun/Venus conjunction in his chart also trines the Midheaven/North Node, raising his profile even further in society, and also highlighting the karmic themes in his life and work.

He also has a very fortuitous and positive trine between his Ascendant and Jupiter, bisected by exact sextiles from Mars.  The trine of the Sun to his Midheaven/North Node is also bisected by exact sextiles from the Part of Fortune.  Some beautiful symmetry and rhythm then, in his chart, as well as in his poetry.

 

Aspect(s)

There is only one aspect, in effect, during this week, and that occurs right at the beginning, on Monday (15th).  After that, there are two changes of sign for planets.  So my account will be short and sweet!

On Monday (15th), Mars sextiles the North Node.  This aspect is about fighting the good fight, if you believe in fighting at all.  It is about standing up for what you believing, and doing it fairly and ethically.  You could take your role model as Mahatma Gandhi, or Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela.  As it is the only aspect, you can make it your theme for the week and allow it to fire your enthusiasm for getting things done.  Even if you are a passive type, there must be something you want to get done!

Of the three of these icons of non-violent resistance only one had Mars sextile North Node natally – that was Nelson Mandela, who started out as a freedom fighter.  The sextile is quite wide (7 degrees) but does illustrate his life purpose quite well.

In a natal chart, it confers a destiny which often involves leadership or physical fitness.  The late incisive interviewer and broadcaster David Frost had Mars (his ruling planet) exactly sextile his North Node, and was quite a warrior on the chat show sofa.  Passionate songstress Joan Armatrading has this sextile within two degrees.  Sensuous poet John Keats had this sextile within 4 degrees.  Trailblazing Astrologer Linda Goodman had it exact.  Feisty actress Natalie Portman has it within 1 degree.  All these sound like a variety of qualities, but the vein of authenticity runs through them all, a quality of both Mars and the North Node.

On Wednesday (17th) Venus enters Aquarius.  Perhaps love and loyalty have been the theme while Venus has been in Capricorn, and now you are ready for a new paradigm in relationships.  Venus goes into Pisces on 12th March, so until then relationships can be more freedom-loving and progressive, and in some ways idealistic.  It is time to explore new possibilities within relationships.

The Sun enters Pisces on Friday (19th), so while we are Venus in our feelings and relationships, in our general way of being we may become more introverted, more sensitive, and in need of peace and quiet.  It is a good month to become aware of mental health issues, both in our personal lives and relationships, and in society and politics (such as in NHS services).  Hubby and I made a promise to a certain young man a year and a half ago that we would join the charity MIND, and we still haven’t done it, so we should take action this week!  Mindfulness, in its most delicate sense, is a good watchword for the Sun in Pisces.

Next Week: Piscean Animal Totems and Archetypes

The week in bullet points:

  • Monday – karma in action
  • Wednesday – new approaches to relationships
  • Friday – sensitivity rules
Date: Feb 9th, 2016 · Comments RSS · Tags: Aspects · Poetry