COSMIC WEATHER
The beginning of something has significance, and what happens in the sky relates to what happens on Earth. The process of individuation involves working with the personal planets, moving through the asteroid belt, then on to the trends of the social planets, with Saturn as the first level of boundary. Balancing the benefits of these key ingredients, and moving through the acculturated limitations allows the crossing of the Centaur bridge where Chiron leads to the transpersonal planets, with Pluto as the second level boundary. These are challenging bodies, requiring awakening, flow, and presence before integration and groundedness push out to the new level boundary, Sedna. Understanding these dynamic energies, as demonstrated through the ever-changing cosmic weather, allows a greater ability to live connected to purpose and meaning.
The Sun is the Invincible Spirit. So great is this universal wonder that it must come in small doses, distributed as it travels around the Zodiac over the course of a year. The Sun's position symbolizes the active presence of the Divine. The Sun entered Pisces on February 18, 2020, at 11:57 PM EST. Pisces, one of the dual signs, represents enduring compassion or the villain within. Tying up loose ends, Pisces holds all the extremes of sensitivities and fears. Music and humor are antidotes.
The Moon is the Receiver. As the Sun energizes her, she receives and moves through her angular relationship with him over the course of the month. She delights in shape-shifting. She delights in the repetitive ebb and flow from night to day, from New to Full in predictable sequence. She delights in being able to portray the Sun's invincible spirit through her silver light. We see this dance every month, beginning at the New Moon, timed for the Moon's alignment with the Sun. The soul connects with spirit. The February New Moon occurred on February 23, 2020 at 10: 32 AM EST at 4+ Pisces. The Sabian Symbol reads as follows: A warm-hearted crowd gathers at a church bazaar. This moon underscores the conviviality of Pisces, in the quest for completion.
HIGHLIGHTS 2020-2023
Saturn and Pluto joined with the Sun on Jan. 13, 2020 at 22 degrees Capricorn on the node of Saturn, with Jupiter not far behind. On a mundane level, the pressure is being applied to the US Pluto position of 27 + Capricorn. Opportunities for change abound as the business of leadership and the socio-political-economic structures whirl into the vortex of evolution. On a personal level, the body, soul, and spirit require endurance, as the emphasis is on building transcendent structures, however this manifests internally or externally.
THE ECLIPSE SEASONS
Eclipses occur in pairs or trios, and the effect can be felt two weeks prior to the first one as things heat up, the weeks between, and two weeks after the last one. This is called the Eclipse Season. In 2020, we have three Eclipse Seasons. The energies can be touched off at various times before or after the actual event, by transit of the Moon's nodal axis, or by the Sun, Moon, or Mars. Solar eclipses occur at New Moons, where the Moon blocks the Sun, and the Moon's shadow crosses the Earth's surface. Lunar eclipses occur at Full Moons, where the Earth blocks the Sun, and the Earth's shadow is entered by the Moon. The exactitude of the alignment defines the type (total, partial, etc.) Eclipses resonate at different levels of consciousness. Solar eclipses suggest beginnings; Lunar eclipses suggest endings. Because they involve the Moon's nodal axis, they have a "destiny" quality to them. The position in the zodiac will determine the domain; if you have planetary placements at the degrees, you will be called to growth. The dates for 2020 are listed below:
- December 26, 2019 Annular Solar 4 CP 07 Impact felt after: March 22, 2020.
- January 10, 2020 Appulse Lunar 20 CN 00 Impact felt before: May 4-5, 2019
- June 5, 2020 Appulse Lunar 15 SG 34 Impact felt after: March 1, 2021
- June 21, 2020 Annular Solar 00 CN 22 Impact felt before: April 25-26, 2020
- July 5, 2020 Appulse Lunar 13 CP 38 Impact felt before: Sept. 30-Oct. 1, 2019
- November 30, 2020 Appulse Lunar 8 GE 38 Impact felt after: August 6, 2021
- December 14, 2020 Total Solar 23 SG 08 Impact felt before: Sept. 30-Oct. 1, 2020
PLANETARY LOCATIONS
Mercury has 3-4 Retrograde (Rx) cycles every year, each lasting approximately 3 weeks, and each offering a period of reflection, recalibration, revision, and resolution, as Mercury and the Sun exchange the message of a particular degree of the Zodiac. Mercury's Rx periods for 2020 are: February 16 (12 + Pisces-March 9; June 17 (14 + Cancer)-July 11; and October 13 (11 + Scorpio)-November 3. Not far from the Sun, currently Mercury is Rx at 9+ Pisces, and will turn Direct on March 9 at 28 + Aquarius. The message of this recalibration with the Sun is one of metamorphosis and freedom.
The Venus cycle is complex and mysterious, beginning while Retrograde as an Evening Star, moving through conjunctions with the Sun, and shifting from Evening Star to Morning Star, and back. It allows Venus to recalibrate her relationship to the Sun. When an Evening Star--calm, mature, settled, and knowing her brilliance, as Venus is best seen outside the clutch of the Sun--she begins her new cycle. We are currently in the Venus cycle that began at the retrograde October 5, 2018 at 10 Scorpio 50. Here Venus is at her detriment, not particularly social, but diving deep to weigh out the work of Jupiter's journey through Scorpio in 2018. Currently, Venus is a Direct Evening Star. When the Sun sets, Venus becomes visible, shining brilliantly for the next few months. She will begin her new cycle on May 13, 2020, when she turns Rx at 21 + Gemini. Currently, Venus, at 18 + Aries, having just past the Aries degrees, where she went Rx in 2009 and 2017. The attraction to beauty is fired up!
Mars will also have a Rx cycle this year, while at 28 + AR September-November. Mars is now at 4+ Capricorn, aligning with the South Node and the December Solar Eclipse degree. Mars is also out of bounds until March 2. Some action can be expected through out March, and especially around the 22nd, as Mars is exalted in this sign.
Jupiter is currently at 18+ Capricorn, not far from Pluto and Saturn. Jupiter aligns with Pluto three times (in early April, at the end of June, and the end of November) before joining Saturn in Aquarius at the Winter Solstice, 2020.
Saturn is at home now, in the earthy, grounded sign of Capricorn. Saturn reveals that practicalities are necessary, and shows the cracks in the foundation, which require repair through effort, and karmic resolution. Now Direct, Saturn has moved past the conjunction with the South Node, and past the conjunction with Pluto. Saturn, currently at 27 + Capricorn, moves into Aquarius on March 21, 2020, soon after the Spring Equinox on March 19 at 11:50 PM. This significant ingress at the significant degree offers a preview of the longed-for arrival of the Aquarian Age at the end of the year, when joining with Jupiter.
URANUS, NEPTUNE, PLUTO, and the NORTH NODE: Twists and Turns
The outer planets push us toward the transpersonal realm of consciousness. The twists and turns of these bodies facilitate our evolution, sometimes disturbing peace of mind. Uranus, the Awakener, currently Direct at 3 +Taurus. Uranus will remain in the sign of Taurus for the next 7 years. We are waking up now to the issues of the earth.
Nebulous Neptune, bringing the vicissitudes of the tides forward, is now Direct at 17 + Pisces. Oceanic, it brings fog as well as rhythm and depth. Neptune's ethereal nature continues to dissolve and deliver vision in a dreamlike kaleidoscope of colors and shapes. This is especially so now, with the Sun, Moon, and Mercury flanking in Pisces.
Unequivocal Pluto is currently Direct at 24 + Capricorn. Changes will continue to take form in transcendent structures that serve to shift perspectives into a sense of before and after.
Rudhyar described the nodal line as a fateful space. The transiting North Node of the Moon continues its Rx motion on the Cancer-Capricorn polarity. The North Node is currently at 6+ degrees Cancer. The various plays of the outer planets have been driving home the need to review the past, release entrenched, enmeshed patterns, integrate transpersonal energies, and expand the limits of what is possible. These energies are working together to purify all that is not truly authentic.
SEDNA lies beyond Saturn's Chaldean boundary, and beyond Pluto's transpersonal boundary. As the new outermost planet in our solar system, Sedna represents a new boundary, a new world order, one related to a spiritual evolutionary consciousness. Sedna is moving Rx at 27+ Taurus, at the Pleiades/Seven Weeping Sisters Fixed Star Cluster (29 degrees of Taurus). The Seven Sisters have something to cry about: pouring into consciousness is the idea that the greatest problems plaguing the earth right now are climate, food, and health. Sedna moves into Gemini in 2024.
