The Facets of Experience

Dissolution
Jupiter, Neptune, and Chiron

The triple conjunction is winding down now and as you can see, both the good and unpleasant aspects of the entities are at work, as is always the case with astrology, exactly like life. Some predicted a magical healing with great happiness, optimism, and loving collective togetherness. Others warned of disasters and false hopes. I've noticed a little of each, but mostly, I sense more of a feeling of suspension, people not knowing where it's all headed. This configuration is especially important since it will be carried over for an entire year as Jupiter transits Pisces and meets Uranus on its way into Aries. We've only just begun and not knowing the future is paramount at this juncture. No one knows what's ahead and once this fact is accepted the freedom inherent in the Saturn-Uranus oppositions can manifest.The future is ours to create.

People are grappling with hope and disillusionment in some way. And the main effect of Neptune .... dissolution. The negatives stand out and are actually supremely helpful since they guide people to problems in their psyches that if faced and worked with, can improve their existences. So running away from the negative can be a shortchanging of yourself.

This conjunction is the start of the year-long cycle culminating at 29 Pisces. It's hard to imagine much being accomplished in this chaotic loose jointed time. There's a sort of end-of-the-rope moment that beckons before the collective can move on. Things are breaking up and falling apart.

All moments are a combination of sensations. Neptune includes infinity, if only theoretically. People attach the positive or negative label according to personal needs of the present, so an overall plus for the whole crowd is virtually impossible. Individuals see reality differently. One's negative does not, however, ruin another's positive. They co-exist. When all facets coordinate and the value of the integrated whole is recognized, progress is made. That includes perceiving your foes as allies ultimately as we all help one another find understanding ... standing-under: feet: Neptune. So-called enemies are far too valuable to annihilate. They come back, anyway, as the mirrors they are. The ideological differences of Jupiter-Neptune are part of growth, and as you can see, there is a long way to go. How willing are you to allow opposing views an equal existence? Saturn in Libra on deck might provide part of the answer.

Aquarius governs rebellion and collective ideals, but it also is implicated in dictatorship as a fixed, often ego-driven sign. Many force their wills on events and insist that things are going to be a certain way. That's why the lessons of the sign include circumstances beyond our control. Neptune oversees socialism and cooperation, but the oneness of the energy can also mean totalitarianism. The desire in America for the obliteration of the opposing party is not indicative of advanced social harmony, especially since those who profess to be adhering to the lofty principle are among the perpetrators of the division. Hypocrisy, a favorite of Jupiter, has been rampant. During the transit partisan hatred has gone on unabated while chat about great collective strides forward has masked this primitive mode of operation. Movement is governed by the forces of equal and opposite and if we were all ideologically the same, I guarantee life would not be worth living. In fact, life would cease to exist. So celebration of diversity, no matter what the details, is the plus side of Jupiter-Neptune. Are you right? Yes. Are you right? No. Who has the answers? Everyone.

Real advancement comes when the hate and illogical fear of others end, and the power over yourself is decidedly yours. Banding together in mutual distrust is not really a path to enlightenment. Jupiter governs broad social urges beyond the one on one. Many people are reluctant to leave this cozy arrangement so they cling to the interpersonal in the form of gossip, the main ingredient in political discourse. The collective unity Jupiter-Neptune offers has been rejected by and large as the divisions are rigorously maintained. All groups spit others out.
You'll know when real evolution comes. When the malicious gossip subsides and people recognize their complicity in the games as a whole, with a natural urge to understand rather than denigrate, castigate, separate, elevate, anything but accept others into the human family with the magnanimity of Jupiter. The attempt to portray yourself as better than others translates into the hierarchy we see in society. It's ancient. We all do it. It successfully prevents the unity of Jupiter-Neptune and integration with the cosmos. Happiness? Not so much. Positive? Not very much at all. When the gossip lets up and is replaced by real talk of ways to solve problems and honest discussions of how to best govern ourselves, then progress will be evident. With Aquarius, leaders have to descend from the heights and join the efforts.

Jupiter is positive and upbeat at times, but the full reality is more. Neptune represents longing for alternative dimensions or the question of whether or not these places can, in fact, exist in the real world. Jupiter is concerned with long journeys, so the desire for inspired travel through these territories in our imaginations is a large driving force of the transit. "Hopiness" is a mere fraction of the spectrum of Jupiter-Neptune.

In the search for transcendental experience, longings for painful sensations are also included, as evidenced by the uncontrollable desire to see more images of torture, hopefully worse than before. The peep show ruled by this purveyor of fantasy. The pictures remaining hidden is actually a good sign, the ideal being a loss of desire to look at humans hurting humans. That evolutionary point is a on a far distant shore. As long as people want to watch it, the phenomenon will continue. The ongoing Colosseum of the collective mind. Theatrical enjoyment. Rings and rings of circus. The same applies to the deceptive and manipulative news media people condemn. As long as eyes are focused there, they flourish as is. An understanding of complicity, again, is required. Do we want to be deceived? Yes. As long as Neptune is around. The line between healthy non-fact and destructive lying is often blurred and the need for coverup remains until the time for revelation comes. How much truth do we really desire and how do we ever know for sure?

Conjunctions can be the most difficult of all with both planets competing for power in the same place. Jupiter ruled Sagittarius and Neptune ruled Pisces are naturally in a square aspect, so some trouble could be anticipated. Pisces is unspecified faith and Sagittarius is religious hierarchy with authoritative figures and traditional ritual. In that respect, the election results in Iran make perfect sense. In fact, all the participating factions are religiously backed and all are corrupt. The evolution in the Islamic world as theocratic rule is gradually joined by secular has been going on for a long time and it's going to take a lot more. Change needs reactionary elements to move against and as Pluto travels into Capricorn, those energies can be expected to increase at first. The year of Jupiter in Pisces could assist this change but things will go slowly, perhaps showing significant development when Pluto crosses Pisces and the Age of Aquarius sets in later on.

In the meantime, the events of the last days eclipsed the soaring spirits aroused by the recent speech hoping to unite the whole world in pleasant common purpose. This promises to be the pattern all year as hopes rise and fall in bipolar order until the graph flattens and the Uranus-Neptune mutual reception ends, where fantasy and reality can cease the constant argument. What and whom to believe? Which ones to follow? Who's jiving who? A harmonious world of peace and cooperation will probably not be the result but fortunately, we keep trying, and always succeed in some places. It's a good time to realize that hopes naturally come and go. Feelings aren't permanent.

Chiron

Real healing comes with the understanding that there's no such thing overall. One pain disappears, another one comes. Wounds open and close. Like breathing.
I think Chiron is concerned with the knowledge that comes with wounds. Knowledge that the wound is permanent, but that's exactly as it should be. Hurts instruct and, again, guide humans to problems in the psyche. The good sensation comes in knowing we're able to live well with the less than perfect parts of ourselves we'd like to disown but never can. Cures come and go. Wounds keep opening as if speaking. One can listen.

Neptune governs the most beautiful fantasies we can create, but it also can bring the fake with no satisfying depth of experience. Fake optimism, fake spirituality, fake badassness, fake leadership, fake talent - you name it, the false has shown its costume. Phony gurus (Jupiter) have been waxing poetic (Neptune) as Jupiter brings out the holier-than-thou in so many of us. Long soliloquies on consciousness are often an exercise in ego power, and not much of an example of advanced spiritual achievement, which tends to be peppered with some obscurity, sparsity, sincerity, and silence. Good advice is always around, too, though. And some truth-tellers have ventured out of the closet, undoubtedly under protective influences.

And then there's the dilemma surrounding USA Neptune activated by this special conjunction. Are we the ones to moralize to the world and dictate to other cultures how to behave? This country who gouges the wound in Afghanistan and continues her horrendous imprisonment practices, economic terrorism, and governmental intervention around the globe. Who are we to talk about peace, love, and harmony as savior of the world?

Saturn is due to arrive at US Neptune soon and I have my doubts about this country's ability to save the world at the moment. She has her own problems to face.
The ideal with Jupiter-Neptune is to see ourselves as part of the whole, not the exception, an age old problem this country will eventually have to tackle. Some of the country's promise has been fulfilled, some has not. Soon it will be time to make an accurate assessment. This conjunction seemed to have diminished the exaggerated state of grace and redemption so hoped for. The country has some debt to pay.

There is nothing exceptional about US leadership right now and if it gets there, it probably won't be for some time. It's wise to accept that. When we act as if we are equal and one with the world, then we can talk about it successfully. Rescuer of the human family seems kind of ludicrous as Saturn heads for Neptune and the days and months ahead might bring relief from having to pretend. Jupiter governs promotion and advertising and next year in Pisces, as it approaches Uranus and Aries, salvation might not be the most salable product for the magazine cover. And maybe when Pluto transits Pisces, the savior idea will lose some of its juice altogether.

People are symbols, rulers are marionettes. No one has the power. Even though the puppeteers are pulling the strings, they, too, are being controlled by the collective force and its decision-making prowess, always a constant. The group rules itself. Power is always always shared. No one gets to keep it. We're all players in the game. The hierarchy is a collective fabrication and until we understand why and how we create it all together we are bound to be confined by its structures getting glimpses into egalitarian cooperative behavior as we go. And everyone has to be included if it's real. "The People" are just as corrupt as the leaders as a whole or else the chosen ones wouldn't be there. They are us. We might not have any choice in time but to turn within seeing the symbolic projection for what it is.

So now the earth is prepared to go on to the full year of Jupiter-Neptune and the grand finale at 29. It's wonderful to think that the crowd is making a sudden big shift into higher consciousness, but you know it doesn't work that way. After the rocks are dropped, and perhaps some guns and bombs laid down, progress is thinkable. Every individual has to come to awareness in order for the whole to reflect it. It won't happen noticeably until all become familiar with the deeper and larger entities within, and thus depend less on outer personalities, including planets, to do the work for us. We best become more self-governing. Movement happens slowly over time, but Neptune does provide the moments of magic to keep humans inspired and will continue that gift giving. 

The job of Neptune with Uranus in Pisces, and Jupiter soon joining, is to dissolve the outer bonds, I think, in order to get to the inner guiding entities. The leaders/celebrities won't do it. They're exactly like us. Afraid, confused, lost, overwhelmed, wandering, wondering, searching, quivering in the magnitude of it all ... things highlighted in these end of wheel Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune days. Leadership is dissolving and even if the grip tightens at first, many of the personalities are due for failure. The idea is to get to the source of authority with Pluto in Capricorn. The source within the individual. The real and singular seed for the end of oppressive government. When groups can successfully manage themselves the need for oppressive rule dissipates. History has been a fascinating study of how human aggregates try to accomplish this. 

Predicting precisely what the planets will do in 2012, 2022 or otherwise can be fun, but the results are questionable. No one came close to predicting the events of this alignment. Life is a trickster. The celestial bodies don't know any more than you do. The thing is writing itself. Good becomes bad becomes good, truth and lies play catch, sorrow becomes joy then loops back to despair, birth becomes death becomes birth, and wrong and right are ultimately impossible to distinguish in the never-ending flow of experience. I have no choice other than to trust it. The joy of Neptune. Every step one takes includes an element of faith.

All civilizations decline and perish eventually as new ones are born. We don't know where the collective is now. That's discovered in retrospect. We can't say where the United States stands in her evolution, either, and probably won't until after the Pluto return. You can think it's all positive if you want to. The pessimists could be right too. But anyone can live an exemplary life, and by doing so, probably contributes the most to collective advancement. The stars and planets don't make the decisions. We think it up all together. And it's full of surprises. Infinitely multi-faceted.