The Longest Night
I noticed a fraction of gloominess in the air, but I always expect that right before the winter solstice and the longest night of the year. I prepare after so many seasons on earth, and I'm a night person so I can deal with it quite well. As it goes, though, I always sense a subtle shift immediately after when the days start to lengthen. The mood lifts.
What strikes me as somewhat odd is that optimism builds just as the Capricorn season arrives. There's something about Saturn and facing reality, which society seems to have done in the past few weeks. A kind of relief and willingness to travel into the future. Expectations nicely balanced.
It makes me think that hidden in the fabric of the upcoming Capricorn years could be the so-called "hope" mentioned so frequently, and certainly solid accomplishment would be one reason to feel that way. It came in with the luggage.
Illustrations:Steven Arcella:Nicolette Ceccoli
posted by jm at 2:43 PM
36 Comments:
So tell me, JM, do you ever read this exceedingly scary dude's writings?
I know the system has to collapse, but geez, it's cold outside now. Can't we wait until summer???
Might as well follow up my own comment...
What I mean is, I'm so susceptible to the debilitating emotions that follow reading stuff like Kunstler's. This really sucks, because I want to be happy-excited, not depressed into dysfunctionality.
I don't think Kunstler is necessarily correct, because his viewpoint omits the possibility of grace and serendipity. He also doesn't appear to have a spiritual bone in his body. I would rather focus on letting my own personal energy flow instead of thinking, "My God, where can we move and buy a little farm?"
Here in Taos it's awesomely cold and snowing like crazy. Tomorrow will be a beautiful mess.
For me, the light can't increase soon enough!
HA HA!! I'm not collapsing 'til summer! You can join me!
Good stuff, John. I'm so in the mood for reality. For some reason Jim's articles are a comfort and I'm ready to do what needs to be done. He emphasizes local solutions and I completely agree. I think the very first thing we all can do is refrain from expecting the next administration to solve it now. I knew that when I saw the cabinet being constructed. Whew! Shocking. But it's all in the game and we'll work it out. Lots of people won't get hurt, especially those in the service professions. A major overhaul of American habits is coming. It's not the government's job to fix us. Rather the other way around. We have to fix ourselves and the government will follow. Local governments are more in tune with us already.
Nothing is respected including rules and personalities.
I like this statement of his. Self respect is the domain of Capricorn. It has nothing to do with any president.
The years since Jimmy Carter have produced an astoundingly flaccid public, sunk in various addictions and distractions, but this is about to change. The darkling mood of political protest and violent activism that saturated my own young adult years is scudding up again on the horizon.
Sounds about right. Aries-Capricorn with trigger happy Uranus. How it stages itself is unknown but I'm not at all afraid. I'm ready. It's needed and it's time.
We could retain our federal ties if the federal government can scale back appropriately from the bloated, feckless enterprise it has become. Otherwise, it might only get in the way and make matters worse, and the public in one region or another of North America might reach a decision that they are better off without it. That would be what's called a revolution.
No doubt. Again, it remains to be seen who does what. Important factor again -- the government is not going to magically transform. And again, I think a decentralization of power is a good route.
Awhile ago I was not in the mood for revolution but I'm changing. I want it in some physically non-violent form. The amazing protest of the last week was an example. Different from the '60s. We will be forced to abandon the overstuffed laziness of years past.
Mr. Obama would be most successful if he could persuade the public how much more severe the required changes are than they currently realize, and inspire them to get with program of retrofitting American life to comply with these realities.
Yeah. The guy's on a learning curve. His language should be changing as the reality rolls in. This is not an FDR redux. Something new and different is in the works. My thing -- Pluto in Cancer and Uranus in Aries back then .. the government bailed the people out. This time ... the people bail the government out. By getting rid of it in its current form, speaking of bailouts! They sure took the money and ran.
Even though Obama is a revolutionary at heart, he's now entrenched in the system so the bottom up effort is the only solution. Easy when you realize it.
There are a lot of good statements in these articles. Thanks john. Just relax until summer. And don't even think about 2010!
Now as far as the spiritual dimension and harsh reality go they are not mutually exclusive.
This really sucks, because I want to be happy-excited, not depressed into dysfunctionality.
Those are just moods. They vary continually according to your inner goings-on. In Capricorn times, the depressive might come more often but it's supposed to. It shouldn't regress into dysfunctionality. We need you too much!
If real change at our own hands started to present itself I imagine the excitement would be beyond what you're experiencing now. The group participation enhances it. A dreamy life of bliss could get boring, but hey! Either way.
I would rather focus on letting my own personal energy flow instead of thinking, "My God, where can we move and buy a little farm?"
You can do that if you want. A graceful serendipitous life away from social struggle is always an option. But there seems to be an odd calling for people to get engaged. You always have the choices, though.
Sometimes struggle and hardship are the next step in spiritual development and the lower aspects of human behavior have to be looked at and incorporated successfully.
I think we all have separate paths within it, but we know what to do. Not to worry excessively and become dysfunctional.:-)
Sometimes I feel like a soldier awaiting orders these days. Relaxing is essential no matter what.
The years since Jimmy Carter have produced an astoundingly flaccid public, sunk in various addictions and distractions.
I can't repeat this enough. Uranus in Aries is bound to be a finger in the socket moment but I've had that all my life and it's not always bad. Not at all. Even if people aren't interested in society there will be alterations in their personal lives ready to be made. Peace has to be found within the swirl of life which never seems to cease as long as we're alive. And spirit permeates everything.
Oh, btw...for dysfunction? I take an aspirin.
Thoughtful, intelligent responses. Thank you.
I agree with you about the farm thing. Been there, done that, actually. I dropped out in '71 (Ozark woods hippie culture) but found myself all alone. What I did learn is probably a good lesson for the future, though.
One night I was sitting at the tiny little desk I'd made inside my 8 x16 foot cabin outside of Fayetteville. It was just above freezing, and an awful cold rain was pouring down, but I had a kerosene lamp, a fire in a little fireplace, and coffee made with water from a well 15 feet from my front door. Suddenly I realized I had it made. I had no money and I was completely alone, but I was warm and dry and I wasn't starving. At that moment, it seemed like the most incredible accomplishment and deeply satisfying.
Onward.
An aspirin for dysfunction...
Good comeback. :-)
I usually take a far more complicated route, making as many people as miserable as I can and then sleeping for days. I know I have a guardian angel because I've never run anyone down in my car or thrown the cat into the wood stove.
Your method puts dysfunction in its rightful place, however. I'll give it a try, though I may take a few other things along with the aspirin.
That is beautiful. So beautiful. One moment like that is enough to sustain you for a lifetime.
I had no money and I was completely alone, but I was warm and dry and I wasn't starving.
Omg.
It's amazing, john, and I'm so glad you linked me. Awhile ago I would have bristled had I read Kunstler's stuff but now I'm excited. That's how I know things are changing. These old wizened revolutionary farts will be able to help us now and they're excited. The masters. And you old spritual farts can add your wisdom and make up for their lack.
It could be interesting and rewarding, but it will be hard, no doubt. A lot of innovations are headed in to replace the outmoded ways but the transition is bound to be uncomfortable, as they always are.
There is big class warfare scheduled and the widening gap was the prelude, as well as basic battles against the status quo. The 16 years of Pluto will do something.
There are two more Saturn-Uranus oppositions to form the separation but they look to be easier perhaps. The Uranus entrance into Aries is a doozy, but none of it means violence especially if we get going now, building strength and determination. It's too late for fear.
The whole Uranus-Pluto square - 7 years - is a fantastic opportunity. And that's where spiritual knowledge figures in with its help.
The wealthy class has got to be diminished in one way or another in order for the system to survive. Let's try and make it easy on them to avoid too much trouble.:-)
HA HA HA!!!
I usually take a far more complicated route, making as many people as miserable as I can and then sleeping for days.
You're hilarious. They probably deserve it. Same thing we me and my car. Whenever I hurt anyone, it's myself, and that I can live with.
Definitely!!! I highly recommend a few little things with the aspirin. My life's prescription.
Humor is the best medicine and your cabinet is well-stocked. We need our own cabinets now!
We emotional wreck types are going to have to cope. That's all there is to it. We can collapse next lifetime.
I should wait longer before posting, har.
As for "emotional wreck types" waiting for the next lifetime to collapse, I've actually been collapsed for a number of decades, so I figure I already did that. In my next lifetime, I'm going to be Harpo Marx. Or a badger.
In all seriousness, I completely agree with you about having to cope. (Dammit!)
I don't want to cope, I want a Harley. Hey, maybe that's the same thing.
I love Harpo!!!! But Chico is my main man. "Datza my brudder. Heeza dem anna duff."
A badger? A badger??????
Don't say Harley! I'll need an aspirin. I thought I was going to coast forever in silent bliss when I moved here and next door - in moved the loudest Harley I've ever heard in my not-so-short entire life.
But I'm coping. It'll be easy when the cannons come.
Actually I think coping goes on automatic pilot. It's just different for each person. The nuthouse is a good way for some. Probably more sane than the nuthouse out here.
John... I really enjoyed your thoughts. Something big has shifted. I feel like I'm molting... shedding a skin. Itchy all over and it's in an early stage so I still can't cast it off yet, but my inner being has already irrevocably changed. This incomplete shift makes me feel...dysfunctional, and somewhat fraudulent in my current form.
Any more on that mpk? It's so fascinating and well said. It describes the effects of Pluto perfectly which is on the way to your ascendant, your outer persona. I think Pluto brings the inner self's desires to the surface, indicated by where Pluto is natally, which is in the 10th house of achievement for you. 1 Libra, really being activated now.
It's interesting because in mythology, Pluto can come to the surface, invisibly, but the surface can't go down unless dead. Maybe there's a partial death in this meeting which creates the moment of dysfunction.
It looks like it started about four years ago when Pluto opposed your ascendant ruler, Saturn.
I'm having a similar experience with Pluto transiting my ruler. I think that's why I left myself temporarily and hooked onto outside forms, part of the death of the old persona. People I don't really identify with, and now the rerouting is occurring as the rebirth starts. It's been rather sudden and I'm in a standstill waiting for directions. This conversation gives me an idea about what I'm leaving.
My era of achievement in it's current form is drawing to a close. A while back I mentioned I was promoted at my job, but the promotion I got is the end of the line in this engineering job. And it's largely symbolic or longevity rather than any meaningful achievement. I'm no longer the flavor of the month, nor do I wish to be.
It did all start four years ago! Even then I knew I was on the way out. That's when I bought my house as an exit route. The shift hit sooner than I was ready for though. I was counting on 2010, but I may not last that long, I still need the money if I can get it so I'm staying even though I feel that I should be done. Hence the dysfunction and disconnection. I feel it's my responsibility to get out of here as soon as I can. There's another form waiting for me. I don't feel like doing anything at all right now. I'm in a cocoon and a new dreambody is being constructed that needs my attention. It needs my inward focused attention. I'm weak right now, a creature between stages, survival feels shaky, not at all guaranteed, but I see beautiful possibilities if I can just spread my new wings. To do that this dead shell has to drop off and I need, at least temporarily, a reprieve from responsibilities.
Perfect. Pluto on the MC is a life purpose deeply connected to your inner drives. You are so brave. 2010 is exactly when Pluto crosses your ascendant. I cannot believe how in tune you are with universal rhythms. Wait - strike that - I do believe it.
I know if we suffer whatever weaknesses and so forth that are required the payoff is big when these chances are offered. I can't even begin to describe what has been lost in my life these last years and how some of my reservations about what I've had to do have plagued me. And how long I've had to wait. But underneath was healing I didn't expect. I'm still pinching myself. I had to stop to do it.
To do that this dead shell has to drop off and I need, at least temporarily, a reprieve from responsibilities.
I think this is one of the most vital parts of growth. The not-doing. Having an early death of a parent is a responsibilty beyond the norm and sometimes I think it hits later. A weariness and a need for a breather.
Maybe that's why you like John who seems to have a special wisdom about life's responsibilties. They are so not what others think they should be.
A lot has dawned on me today. These words from you guys are strung up in an uncannily sensible form, timed so perfectly with the coming light. Being vulnerable, weak, and shaky is not given a gold star but it probably shows more courage to reveal it than a lot of other things.
I get the feeling that a new story is emerging and the pecking now can be used as a line to the source. It's amazing, it hasn't been done yet, whatever it is. That's the joy of being an Aries with unlimited potential energy, Pluto notwithstanding.
It's interesting if you follow transits. There are all different types of stories. Some are quickies, with action, drama, and a temporary diversion. Others, like Saturn, can be like reading a textbook, and you want to go out and frolic instead. Neptune brings fantasy trips which can be sublime or horrid, and they get lengthy. Pluto, being so slow, is a really extended story, largely psychological I think, but an element of suspense that makes one want to follow it to its conclusion.
What I find interesting is that often they happen concurrently and I find myself picking specific ones that I want to focus on. I have Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto exact now, but Pluto seems to be the story I'm reading. Maybe I'll catch up later on the other two.:-) It's just the Moon. Being a Cancer I'm familiar with that spectrum.
The interesting choice is whether to follow my story, their stories, or its story. Whichever one is THE story? A quick perusal of most of it is probably advisable and settling in with the good story is the best. One knows. You know, the satisfying one.
I'm amazed at how you can read the transits. I really need to spend more time studying them. Your brilliance has made me a bit lazy about expanding my own skills in the area ;-) Your writing is a great gift.
Writing feels good. A dependable pleasure that will remain forever. I also adore the flow of ink under my fingers so I hand write as much as I peck.
It's interesting, the disconnect that came with the typewriter. I wonder why the space, which increased with the computer. Out of touch or in touch?
You know what's going on anyway. Quite a skill, I would say.:-)
I loved geometry in school and I think that's one thing that appeals to me about astrology. The idea of reading my psyche in a neat little wheel tickles my imagination to no end. My feelings as angles, my experiences as abstract symbols. The ancient gods and goddesses visiting me daily. No phone required. I disconnected from the telephone ages ago. I wonder if I'll ever return to that particular umbilical wire.
I also love driving so the transits are a road map, probably adding to the sensation of being a traveler, without the cost and hassles of expensive vacations, which do not appeal to me at all.
It still amazes me that the Roman pantheon ended up permanently related to us universally.
If I could learn to read what I know internally anyway and map it to the signs the way you can, the increase in insight would be more than double. Knowing the pattern in some way and conveying it are different skills. Maybe it's like playing a guitar and singing at the same time :-)
I don't think it would increase the insight. Just the communicability. The best way to learn is to be free of other activity and become immersed. It does take time and people who are attracted to the system and wish they could learn it, really can. Desire motivates all, and I found a mentor when I became seriously aroused. She had a weekly study group and it was wonderful. But most of it I learned myself through used books and 12 hour stretches of concentration. It was another realm and I gladly tuned out the world around me.
Most of my insight comes at day's end when I run through the dailes and learn what really just happened. I do it every day and have for many years. Most things I give a few days to settle in with all the harmonics before I understand. So the real understanding comes from my own thought process outside of astrology, even.
I think some of your writing conveys your perception, but that, too, seems to require the freedom you plan. Probably your engineering mind would adapt immediately to the astrological language. You'd be a great one to share the knowledge with.
But just understanding Saturn is enough to start with in your case with Sun-Saturn, Cap rising, and the NN in Cap. Mixed with Gemini. It's the logical path through your own mind to articulate the non-linear. Feelings. Tricky but satisfying.
I always approach it by asking, "Why so much Saturn, especially the ascendant?"
"Why am I being clamped into an orderly progression?"
"How can I use it?"
I think you've already got that figured out. And if you have questions about any configuration, just ask me. I'm getting interested in us again. And that includes myself.:-)
The crowd is not getting very far. Not that it should. But group goodness is rather an impossibility since they cling to leaders that pretty much ignore them. Ones that are immersed in their own neuroses. So the group follows hoping some magic wand will fix these misanthropes. When the repeats keep repeating - that age old smoking repeater - and the hoped for lessons aren't absorbed, one can get antsy. Stagnation gets troublesome. I've been thinking that individual attention might be the antidote for now.
Belief in magic is necessary, but the I think results are important too. Or else go into alternate dimensions where I usually hang my hat. But honestly, those dimensions are here among the battered and beaten crowd. I think that's what John was getting at.
Yes, this is how it has been with me, as well, with the excessive Saturn.
And I echo mpk's comment about how you read the transits, jm. It's really amazing to me.
Please inquire then. I know I get in my moods, but I think the reality of the new administration has come. We are not getting our promises fulfilled in keeping with traditional political fashion. We knew that. It's as it should be for now. More room for freedom. They're all trapped in the game. The inaugural turn of events is even further than I thought the bottom was. So I do believe we might have to go to the cesspool in Middle Earth for a brief look after all. I hope it's brief. We're looking at it right now in fact.
So I find that Saturn is a welcome relief right now and all you wise and accurate Saturnines really fit the bill. I'm just in the mood. The more you contribute the better. And your input will even become more valuable as the transit progresses.
There's a lot to cover. I'll have to decide how much to devote to these unfortunate creatures trying to lead humanity. You can guide me. I'll do my best to articulate my confidence in the group buried somewhere in there. I'll find it. Magic glasses for the eyes might help.
Magic glasses for the eyes might help.
maybe a little, but this lovely circle of thought helps a lot.
Happy new year by the old reckoning deerheart.
Oh my heavens. My sweet sweet sticky bun. Happy birthday (haha) and new year (which has possibilities.)
What a wise reminder and back to our circles. Our own thoughts are our gems. Our selves, most of all.
So good to see you my love.
And you were right all along.
right?
who knows what is right.
It is good to listen to your thoughts, i've missed you.
Are you snowed in?
Thank you for remembering my birthday. It was an odd day, snowed in which meant everyone else snowed out. Perfect quiet. Just about made to order this year. (heh)
No, it's warm here. Warm and mild.
I've missed you too. I was wondering about the birthday with the end of your Pluto transit and all the losses and gains of these past few years. Everyone snowed out sounds perfect for such a day.
You're right about right. I feel a cycle of some sort but can't quite make it out. You know, the ending and beginning thing.
I was anticipating the Pluto transit to our Mars-Aries points and the beginning nature of Aries, so it could be a new chapter. Yet here my old friends are like rocks by the river. Are things just blending into one another with no need to define boundary-wise? I have the strangest sensation of moving ahead but returning. Interesting.
I have the strangest sensation of moving ahead but returning.
Ah, you're not alone.
Here I am in my home town after decades away; living with Mom, who's getting up there; and all around me are people my age and even younger doing exactly the same.
Maybe we're all here to rediscover community-making, which this town is strangely good at; rediscover quiet (relative to what we knew); rediscover DIY entertainment and society.
It's fun.
And, thank you jm, Joe, John, and mpk for the wonderful conversation.
Here I am in my home town after decades away; living with Mom, who's getting up there; and all around me are people my age and even younger doing exactly the same.
You know, yesh. You're onto something. The treatment of the aging population with Pluto in Capricorn is bound to be a big issue. I like what you guys are doing in that quiet DIY haven. Re-discovering community-making looks logical and I agree ... fun. Saves money, too, taking care of the wise old ones trying to enjoy a little rest for a minute. They turn up the TV's so loud though!
I agree, it's like echoes down a long hallway. Something seems to be circling back. Not there yet.
PS they have fabulous hearing aids now!
HA HA!!! But will they use them?? They can be stubborn.
I love the image of echoes in the hallways. Going ahead and listening to the echoes creates a twirling sensation. I'd call it dance.
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