Astrological Influences to the Collective Mind

It’s been almost three years since I’ve written a journal entry! I have missed sitting down and taking the time to go into depth with the many moods of the sky and the impacts here on earth. So, I’ve decided to make an attempt at rescessitating this journal , for both myself and anyone who might benefit from reading regular, detailed analyses of the psychological, physical and spiritual implications of the movements of karma being carried by planets as they transit the 12 signs and 27 nakshatras.

In the years since I last wrote, the world has been experiencing some of the fallout of the collective karma that was initiated in 2020 with the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn, whose significance I cannot overstate (see https://www.maggiehippman.com/journal/2020/2/29/the-era-of-earth for more details).

This conjunction ushered in a new era (“The Era of Earth”) which necessarily requires some reconfigurations on the part of humanity. These are 200 hundred year cycles, so we have not really even gotten our feet here yet, but you can feel how the nature and quality of Time itself has changed since 2020. Significant changes in the course of history are marked by these Jupiter-Saturn cycles, so it is not so surprising that many people feel that the world has changed drastically, even in a few short years.

For the moment I’d like to focus on some of the smaller (but still very significant) transits that are directing the focus inside this larger change that has occured.

We can think of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction as the field or container inside which other transits will be operating for the next while. It opened the doorway and set the underlying tone or theme for what is to come, and transits which follow direct the details of this overarching change. Because the conjunction ushered in substantial change, I see the transits which follow as dolling out the specifics within that larger theme of foundational change. You may notice this in your life as well: a continual shake-up in one or more areas of your life, contributing to larger changes that may occur more quickly, and effect you more deeply, than previous changes in your life.

Recently, this disturbance has been fueled by a transit that began October of 2023 and will persist through December of 2026, with the expected peak coming in March of 2025.

I think it is important to note, right off the bat, that disturbance is not inherently negative, and is sometimes necessary for evolution and growth. I do believe that’s the ultimate aim of these transits (and of the entire system of karma in general), but the human creature will generally experience a resistance to disturbance and change, even if their current situation is dysfunctional. This is where equanimity—a specialty of the Buddhists—really saves the day. The higher the rate of change and potential chaos, the more an internal type of stability or equilibrium is required, which may be one of the reasons why the epoch of humanity that we’re currently in—called Kali Yuga—is a disaster for dharma (morality, spiritual laws, healthy functioning of the social order) but presents a rare opportunity for moksha or spiritual realization. The insanity of outer circumstances continually pushes us back toward our own center and connection with whatever form of divinity we subscribe to, which is really the only true refuge we have in a world that is so unpredictable. In a way, the reality of spiritual experience begins to become more real than the surreal circus of the world around us.

I do encourage the least possible resistance to whatever is written in Time by the stars, the sky, the planets, and our own collective and individual karma (the later being delivered by the former). Astrology is helpful here because it gives us a map of time, and shows us very clearly that the chaos is not letting up any time soon. It is better to practice your spiritual pliability in order to adapt to the continual change which is upon us (which was always the bedrock of reality, anyway) than to deepen your resistance to what is. You will tie yourself in knots that way. Better to let the grief of your disappointment and devestation wash over you and dissolve whatever hardness has built up in your system over the last few years (or decades), so that you might see things more clearly and position yourself accordingly.

Onto the transit itself:

What we’re looking at (and have been looking at for many months, now) is a sort of congealing of the energies of Rahu and Saturn in a certain corner of the zodiac.

Rahu and Saturn have a lot of similarities as planets: they both govern air, and are cold planets which can tend toward numbness and callousness, In some ways, Rahu is an amplification of Saturn’s energy. Saturn brings distance, separation and the resultant grief. He also requires us to work hard and endure, and will generally cause either physical or psychological pain, particularly if he is otherwise afflicted. He is also the planet associated with genuine spiritual maturity, which can result from pain, suffering and separation, as well as bearing the burdens he gives well.

Rahu rules disturbance and trauma, and tends to create situations that are feel ‘wrong’ and go against the natural order. He is disorder itself, shaking things up wherever he goes.

When these two get together they create what is called ‘storm yoga.’ They are a sort of tornado, with their wind combined and their tendency to create separation and disturbance. They have not been together in transit recently (since since 2013, when they conjoined in Libra), but they have been creating a line-up in the zodiac which is called ‘mala yoga,’ which basically means ‘bad combination',’ and has the impact of afflicting the sign that follows them, which in this case is Aries. Because of the year and a half long transit of Rahu to Aries that preceeded the mala yoga created October 2023, Aries has been afflicted in some way since the spring of 2022, and will continue to be until 2026.

The specific nature of the affliction is one of air, with the added flavor of tamas, which is type of experiential state associated with heaviness, lethargy and lack of clarity. This is very relevant to the collective as well, since Aries is the sign signifying the head and brain. The long-standing affliction in this specific area suggests deficits in thinking, discerning and remembering. It actually suggests some wide-reaching influence that is impairing brain function for everyone, which would have begun in the vicinity of 2022.

The transits also suggest that we will all be thoroughly exhausted, and somewhat disturbed, in whatever area of life Aries governs in our personal horoscope. Collectively, we may be exhausted from thinking about the various difficult realities we’re all facing, which will shift slightly as Rahu and Saturn move signs, but will remain influences that bog down the mind and make it difficult to be clear.

The specific line up of events that precipitate the disturbance in Aries can be seen from the sign (and house, in an individual’s chart) placement of Rahu and Saturn. Saturn in Aquarius shows events in the social and collective sphere, revolution, and all of the social containers that divide society into different camps: all of which can become polluted or outworn in their own way, but which are also necessary for the world to go on functioning in a way that make some sense. Saturn’s influence here over the past two years has created some positive changes which may have actually lifted up those that have been downtrodden or disadvantaged, but may have created other problems related to equality. The issue with Saturn’s democratic approach is that it is often more about destroying people in power or rebelling against any kind of authority (some of which is actually quite useful) than a genuine desire for equality, so some of that may have become confused here in collective sphere, as well as in your own personal life.

All of this is the antecedent to what Rahu in Pisces amplifies, which is a certain kind of foggy and largely unconscious confusion in what Carl Jung has called the ‘collective unconscious.’ I see this as coming from the pool of collective karma, possibly related to various disturbances of and pollution of nature and the earth, and/or ancestral traumas that are beginning to surface and disturb almost everyone on some subtle level that is not necessarily discernable or tracebale (yet).

Taken together, this means that there IS social disturbance, unrest and various reconfigurations of the collective public sphere that have caused separation and division (something that Saturn is very good at) and pain and disorientation in that area, AND the way that we’re all processing and understanding that is further disturbed by this unconscious influence from somewhere in the collective past which has the effect (in the sign of Aries: the mind) of disturbing our thinking, decision-making, memory, etc. This can manifest as something as apparently innocuous as brain fog or as serious as actual memory impairment or overwhelm that prevents normal functioning, as well as other issues for the physical brain itself.

Moving forward, what we need to know if that in the spring of 2025, Rahu and Saturn will come together in Pisces, to bring their windy forces together and create an even more potent form of that ‘storm yoga’ I mentioned earlier. This does not bode well for Pisces-type of envrionments like coastal places, islands, and anywhere near the ocean (environments associated with Pisces), or for natal placements in the sign. Luckily, it is a relatively brief transit, from late March to mid-May. But even after that, Rahu and Saturn will still be forming their ‘mala yoga’ that hits Aries, only now they will have switched positions, with Rahu retrograding back into Aquarius, and Saturn in Pisces. The effects of this will be distinct from the earlier transit, but will still continue to wear down Aries and planets in it.

In addition, there will be an eclipse cycle around the time that the conjunction in Pisces begins, which can create a bit of further chaos.

In terms of fortifying practices and ways to combat the negative influences of these transits, it is extremely important to engage in regular practices that you find work to clear your mind and strengthen your focus. This could be meditation, herbal formulations which help brain function (I do recommend taking care with this, since these generally need to be individualized to prevent unwanted side effects and unsure efficacy), time in nature, reduction of distracting influences, etc.

For those with natal planetary placements in Aries (or Aquarius and Pisces, for that matter) individualized recommendations can be made in the context of a personal consultation.

The next write-up will include more information about the conjunction in Pisces and the subsequent transits.

May This New Year Actually be New

There are both natural and ‘created’ boundaries in Time. Seasons are an example of Natural boundaries, which usher us in and out of different temperaments of Nature that have an impact on our actions. We cannot harvest corn in the middle of winter, for example. There are windows of Time when certain things are available. This is true in human lives, too. For something like child-bearing it is especially obvious that a door opens and then eventually closes.

Then there are boundaries we create in Time, like those of the Gregorian calendar which has divorced itself from the natural cycles of Sun and Moon. It is, essentially, ‘made up'. But it’s impact if far-reaching and therefore it cannot be ignored.

As we approach the end of the year in the Gregorian calendar, we find that there is no natural break in seasons to mark the moment. The most significant change in Nature is the recent winter solstice, which ushered us into the gradual brightening of the world. In the Hindu Calendar, January 15 will mark the beginning of ādana kāla, which is considered the depleting half of the year colored by the heating qualities of Agni.

So, in a way it is difficult to determine what, exactly, we are celebrating with a ‘New Year’ that is unattached to any discernible reality of Nature. We are, essentially, celebrating the attachment to regularity which was what ultimate motivation behind the solar calendar that has taken over most of the world. This means that the structure of our lives is determined by a predominantly solar i.e. masculine and extroverted system. Many of the older calendars were luni-solar, meaning that they were determined by combined motion of sun and moon, creating a more balanced structure for society to operate within.

It is good to know the context we are embedded in. And it does not mean we cannot celebrate the made up New Year! I welcome any juncture in time for reflection and re-evaluation of all that has transpired since the last made-up juncture in time. Ideally, ceremony is linked to some organic aspect of reality, but when we are not all that in-touch with reality we have to start somewhere.

All that was basically a preamble to get to the point of this entry: this past year in particular is an important one to take stock of. While the previous year saw us ‘adjusting’ to a new way of living and taking in the ‘newness’ of the whole experience, this last year began to tempt us to shackle those patterns into new ways of being in the world that are by and large, undoubtedly, dysfunctional. This happened on both an individual and societal level, and it happened alarmingly quickly. Adaptation is a wonderful thing, but not when it is used in service of perpetuating an untenable way of life. This is not to say that there haven’t been positive developments, but those are absolutely eclipsed by a palpable denigration of the social fabric and a concomitant numbing to circumstances we feel are out of our control. Exhale.

I see the end of this year as an opportunity to look back and be brave enough to see the changes that have occurred in both your personal life and the collective. What are you willing to live with and what are you absolutely not willing to adopt as a ‘new normal?’ Please feel for a moment how refreshing it is to even allow yourself to consider the possibility that life does not need to feel increasingly oppressive.

Now is a time to take stock of the prevailing acquired ‘mood’ of the last year, and to discern what is a natural part of your personality and reasonable response to your circumstances, and what is an unnecessary layer of darkness, possibly imbibed from the collective. Where have you been ‘hooked’ and pulled-in by the intensity of the shared social conversation (or rather: argument) in a way that has compromised your personal life in some way?

This year, New Years resolutions might be most powerful if directed toward cleaning up our internal environments. I have witnessed enough of the polarization of society to see that we are surely headed toward catastrophe if the majority of people are not willing to examine themselves and the influence of social forces on their behavior in a serious, sobering way. Let us not acclimate to the pervasive adolescent reactivity and remember the better part of ourselves, un-diluted by hypnotic social narratives that are so loud they can eclipse your own intuition.

Astrologically, this polarization is tied to the continual exaltation of the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu for the last almost 3 years—first in Gemini and Sagittarius, and now in Taurus and Scorpio. The nodes are the points of extremity of the mind (Moon) and tend to pull us toward either aversion (Ketu) or attachment (Rahu). When they are exalted in the transit they are even stronger to exert their polarizing effect. Their strength has made it much harder to stay in the ‘middle ground’ from which things can be evaluated with a reasonable degree of discernment and emotions are integrated into decision-making rather than projected in reactivity.

Were it not for the fact that this polarizing effect is taking place within an already tumultuous change of epoch driven by the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn, it may not be so devastating. This charged-energy of polarization can be used to good effect, but only if it is acknowledged and strategically integrated. There are many systems which work directly with polarities, such as tantra, and others which approach more indirectly, such as Buddhism. We will all need to figure out how to work with the intense energy that’s been churned up over these last few years if we are to have any kind of liveable future.

If you are not sure where to begin, I recommend any practice that brings you into your body in a way that does not involve imagination or visualization, but simple access through direct sensation. Body-work sessions and grounded meditation can be great for this. We are much more susceptible to polarization when we are not inhabiting our own middle ground.- the body. You might designate some time in these last days of the year to slow down and be with yourself so that you can really listen. Don’t attempt to ‘fix’ anything until you’ve really felt and understood it. More than likely what is required right now is a lot of letting go.

Blessings to you for the year ahead.

The End of a Beginning

We sit on several precipices, collectively, as significant astrological shifts edge closer toward us.

One major transition has already taken place, and this is perhaps the most significant transit to consider in the long range: that is the transit of Jupiter and Saturn intro Capricorn which began March 2020. No one will forget all that has transpired in the collective since then. I have written previously about the way in which Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions mark 200 year cycles which often coincide with the rise and fall of civilizations. In this recent transit they ended their 200 year long conjunction in fire signs (Aries, Leo and Sagittarius) to begin a 200 year cycle in earth signs. The repercussions of this change are significant, and have been discussed at some length here, in a post I wrote very early in 2020.

Since that time, the world has gotten to see what a change in ‘era’ actually feels like. We’ve gotten to feel, on the ground, what these two heavyweight planets can do when they get together, and why their combined transit has historically been considered significant.

The sign in which their transit is occurring is significant, not only because Capricorn is an earth sign and so begins this next cycle, but also because many of the themes of Capricorn have become center stage since the beginning of this transit.

Capricorn is the sign of the graveyard, and we have seen how the subject of death has become primary since the start of the pandemic. Many mainstream news organizations now have a ‘death toll’ counter running constantly to keep track of deaths related to the virus. A related theme that has been slowly gurgling up from underneath the unabated panic is the subject of death in general: our society’s relationship to it. The conversation regarding the ways in which we’ve allowed the very structure of our society to be built around an illusory “protection against death” will need to occur at some point, and the longer it is delayed the more collateral damage there will be. I believe this is actually one of the most important conversations to be had at this time. There is a way in which consciously bringing in the subject matter related to a sign can pacify the tendency of some transit to bring out its uglier side. One of the fundamental tasks of Capricorn is to become comfortable with the more aversive aspects of life. This is why Mars- the planet who indicates the left-handed tantric- is exalted here. Traditionally the burial grounds were where the left-handed tantric went to achieve moksha, or enlightenment: by meditating atop dead bodies to understand the transitory nature of life. The more we as a society continue to make everything look pretty and permanent and purposely conceal the rotten core of the tottering systems we’ve built our lives upon, the deeper the rot will be when it is finally revealed.

Capricorn is also the 10th sign of the zodiac, which relates to work. Jupiter and Saturn have the capacity to create a huge amount of change wherever they transit together. This began as a change in the way many people worked: large numbers of people shifted to remote ways of working. As time went on we began to see record numbers of people leaving their jobs altogether—particularly in the service industry. This reflects a fundamental change in the ways people are relating to work. I do not see this as a negative change, but a sign of a refusal on the part of many people to continue with ‘business as usual’ when the signs everywhere are suggesting that we are in new territory. If you are one of those people asking deep questions around purpose and career, know that Vedic Astrology Consultations can be one way to steer someone in a direction of alignment with desires, skillset and astrological timing.

Capricorn is a moveable earth sign. This means that it is an earth sign by nature, and is governed by rajas- a quality of nature associated with activity and movement. These two combined create what I like to call the bulldozer effect of Capricorn. It may not be pleasant, or pretty, but this sign—particularly when activated, through transits such as these—will create change no matter how much resistance there is. The more you are able to see what the intention of the transit is and get on board with what is asking of us, the more it can be a catalyst for positive transformation in your life. This can be said for the collective as well, and applies to ANY transit. This happens to be a big one, which cannot be ignored.

That bulldozer effect of Capricorn, along with the fact that this is the doorway into a new 200 year cycle, helps explain and make meaning of what many people have been observing in the last few months or so: the world is a different place than it was before December 2020. I don’t think that fractures have been created during this time as much as pre-existing ones have been revealed and deepened. Everything that was buried in the graveyard of Capricorn is beginning to surface, and we have all lost a bit of our innocence in the very short time since this transit began. We can expect more of that. There are more skeletons in the closest, and I would expect the psychological and emotional devastation to deepen even after the physical threat of the contagion itself weakens.

Jupiter leaves Capricorn to enter Aquarius mid November. This, in my mind, marks the “end of the beginning” so to speak, for this next phase of humanity. What we just experienced was a doorway, or threshold, which many people are mistaking for some sort of strange and forgettable interlude between acts of their manicured and controllable life. From my perspective, this was just the tip of the iceberg and things will only get heavier from here. This will require us to get to work, get our hands dirty, and start doing some heavy lifting—spiritually, psychologically, environmentally. We should take heart in the fact that the time has come when the issues we’ve all been sitting on can begin to actually be addressed. Nothing about the way most of us have been living is sustainable. And I think we can’t even begin to understand, from where we sit now, the number and depth of broken agreements with Nature and the cost to the human heart.

Returning to Earth

A lot has changed in the world since I wrote The Era of Earth which hopefully gave some context for recent events and an idea of what might be ahead. What may have felt like a disturbing but fleeting moment in human history has shown itself to be more pervasive than we might like. This is in keeping with the fact that the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Capricorn (in December 2020) brought in a new era: ending a two hundred year cycle that began at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. This shift is brought on by Jupiter-Saturn conjunction (which happens every twenty years) changing from fire signs during the last two hundred years, to earth signs, beginning last year.

We now have a better sense of what it actually means to have the collective foundations shift. This new terrain we’ve entered (for which Capricorn- the sign of the graveyard-is the doorway) has its own rhythm and challenges, and it will take time to adjust to these.

Fire eras—such as the one that’s just ended—are driven, directed, and achievement-oriented. There can be a one-pointed focus, as is the nature of the fire element, which can cause many blind spots. You can see that the last two hundred years were very achievement and progess oriented, and much of this achievement and progress was made at huge cost (to nature, mental health, physical health, etc).

The nature and objectives of the earth element—whose era we are just entering—are very different than those of fire. But just as changes in personal planetary time periods (called dashas) require the acclimation of the individual, these larger shifts can take time and do not come without disturbance.

In the Vedic system of Astrology, elements are considered the carriers of karma. They deliver karma to us through our own desires, which will take the shape of the configuration of the elements in our chart and in the sky: someone with a strong fire influence will be very driven, focused and sometimes a little harsh or militant. A strong water influence will tend to make someone more creative and highly impacted by their emotions and a desire for comfort and softness.

Then there is the larger configuration of elements driven by transits in the sky, which is constantly changing. The slowest moving planets are Saturn and Jupiter, which is why their transits and conjunctions are so powerful. They spend enough time in a given sign to get a lot of work done there. The nature of that work will depend on the sign and other factors. These two planets combined are said to have the capability of unleashing a tremendous amount of energy. They are slow, powerful and wise planets whose rhythm seems to determine the shape of the human experience in a way that no other planets can.

When they entered Capricorn, it seemed that the entire world blew up. And one of the elements of human experience that changed the most was the way we get work done. Capricorn is the 10th sign of the zodiac, which is the house of work. The 10th house in a person’s chart will show how they work, what type of work they like, how they are treated by bosses, etc. Capricorn reflects this area of life for the world at large. Saturn brought limitation and Jupiter (debilitated in Capricorn) brought the necessity of dealing with impurities i.e. potential disease and a fundamental disruption of the space between us. This was extremely disruptive, for obvious reasons, but also because the last two hundred years of fire has made the world into a machine whose primary focus is on productivity, economy, gain.

Even when Jupiter moved out of Capricorn in April, there was no actual return to normal, even if we attempted. This is because the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction is a threshold inside which we enter a new world. There is truly no going back to life as we knew it, largely because that life was predicated on a massive blindness. It will take time for this to sink in, but many people can already feel the fundamental disturbance in society. There is a dangerous fracturing that seems to only deepen the further we get from the point of initiation of the pandemic.

If we think about the way earth might meet fire, we might imagine the heating and drying effect of fire creating cracks in the earth (as in a dry, hot desert in summer), or loose earth getting thrown on actual flames to put them out. In this case, fire is contacting earth, so the first analogy is probably more appropriate. And it is in line with the deep lines of division we see even in basic social interaction.

And we can see, also, the earth actually drying up, at least partially as a result of the fossil fuels that came about in the last two hundred years during Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in the signs of fire. The earth is showing the wear of our collective drive and blindness, and is now demanding our focus. It might take some time, but this conjunctions should eventually bring our attention to the ground, to tend to the disturbance(s).

Jupiter will soon retrograde back into Capricorn from Aquarius, for a two month period beginning in September. There is the possibility of this initiating some new type of disturbance, and leaving no doubt in our minds that there is no return to ‘normal.’

As I’ve written previously, the biggest mistake one can make right now is holding on to the idea of getting back to life as it was. That will tear you apart, as reality takes you into this new terrain but you hang on to a past that is never returning. It is best to attempt to acclimate to the new challenges and potentials of this earth-era environment as quickly as possible. There is (and should be) a huge amount of grief involved in this process, which most of us are still attempting to hold at bay.

The Center of the Storm

“Everything in nature grows and defends itself in its own way and against all opposition, straining from within and at any price to become distinctively itself.” - Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

The instinctual dedication of Nature to become itself is something worth contemplating any and every day. And of course it’s not relegated to the rose and pine. The drive to flower into the full beauty that was intended at inception shapes the human experience, though we often get lost somewhere along the way—stalled in distraction or self-loathing or the devastation of loss.

How Nature has taken form inside you is seen from the unique configuration of planets, stars and sky at your moment of birth, which is like an x-ray of your psyche and karma. That moment is the seed of you and who you are destined to become, given proper conditions. Aligning with and understanding the shape that Nature took at your birth creates the least resistance in your life, and can generate the most beauty.

The pressures which might obscure the intentions of Nature grow stronger with each day in this modern world of sense stimulation, addiction and continual crisis (ecological, political, health). There is more we must defend ourselves against in order to protect that seed of Nature within us that will attempt, at all costs. to become what it was meant to be. Because the birth and flowering of this seed can—in most situations—now only arrive in resistance to its context, it might look strange and even unwelcome to the hostile environment it has to now attempt to survive inside.

I’d like to unpack what was just said into two parts: 1. what is it we must defend ourselves against, and 2. what are the implications of being in continual resistance to one’s environment?

First: It is not necessarily guaranteed that Nature is allowed to arrive in us. There are plenty of examples of people who have become extremely distorted through addiction, mental illness, trauma and countless other influences which cause us to lose touch with our center, which is the place from which we receive the information required to properly sprout.

You can probably think of several celebrities with incredible ability who fell pray to addiction lost their light. If you actually look at people you will see how a large portion of the population is under the influence of some numbness which is dulling their beauty. It is a dangerous place to be: if we are not operating from center then the ship is likely to be steered off course, so to speak. And it’s pretty plain to see that the ship of humanity has, indeed, gotten alarmingly off-course.

To be ‘natural’ in this context becomes almost impossible. And if you are hearty enough to be determined to make space for your own nature, you will likely encounter a fair amount of resistance in the process. This is due to the weighted crush of expectation to somehow fit in to a gigantic and extremely dysfunctional global “cultural avoidance system” (as one of my teachers calls it). And if your ‘nature’ is fructifying in rebellion against a toxic context, then can we really call it ‘natural?’ It will have some added layer of protection- like the species of fauna that grow thorns and spikes to fend off predators.

You can begin to see the difficulty of the moment. It is hard to get off either offense or defense to just be and allow something unencumbered to come forth. But problem solving inside this dilemma may be the most important task of the moment.

Second: the resistance to one’s environment is something we’ve probably all experienced, particularly if you’ve ever been a teenager(!). Existing inside situations that are not supportive of your health can create a certain tension that your organism must somehow tackle. What you become as a result of that tension is not who you would have been without it, just as animals adapt all manner of coping mechanisms to survive in their environment.

We cannot label these adaptations “bad.” They are necessary, if any goodness is to survive. But they certainly shift the psycho-ecological landscape that the human species has become accustomed to over thousands of years of relative stability in terms of development of technologies and culture. Managing technological devices, advertising, high-speed everything, traffic, pollution and pesticides on food and a pace of life not conducive to anything natural can sometimes cause the human creature to feel like they are actually fighting a war to protect what is most valuable in themselves.

I think what I am getting at is it seems we are at a historical moment where we are in the process of attempting to generate a new adaptation—a spiny exterior or an extra antennae or night vision—that might allow Nature to survive in this nature-hostile environment.

It brings to mind the Vedic writings about Kali Yuga—the dark age of man, which we are now in—where crooks become kings and good people go to prison. Kali means “discord,” and this time period: beginning about 5,000 years ago and having about 430,000 remaining, is defined by contention. Because we know that this will somehow be a part of our lives, it is up to us all individually (and collectively) to decide what is worth fighting for. During Kali Yuga dharma, or morality, is severely reduced, while Moksha, or enlightenment, becomes more accessible. This may be due to the fact that the discord is so evident, the divisions so sharp that the polarity itself becomes almost mythical, and sometimes comical. Things become so wild that It is easier to take a step back and consider whether one really wants to play this game of polarity.

And if you start to see through the veil and opt out—not through suicide, but through internal distance from the immediacy of the drama and to give your deepest self space to become what it may, the outcome may not be palatable to either side of the polarity. Or it may be medicinal—its hard to tell, and the verdict is still out!

It may be that this adaptation on the horizon has to do with equanimity—the ability to dwell in the middle ground between opposites, observing them but not becoming involved. We must somehow find a way to adapt to the presence of the divisions without becoming them. Eastern religions developed a solution to this problem thousands of years ago in the variety of meditation systems developed for the purposes of enlightenment. Buddhism, in particular, has as its specialty this ‘middle ground’ between desire and aversion where one might actually dwell in some form of peace and clarity.

The poles and extremes are seen from the nodal axis in Vedic astrology. They are the mental and emotional pushes and pulls that can makes waves in one’s life. They’ve been exalted in transit for almost two years now, highlighting the divisions in society, which continue to tear us apart. On a personal level, the nodes are the mind (Rahu) and body (Ketu). In the mythology they are sliced apart at the neck, with Rahu forever being a disembodied head, and Ketu a headless body. It is always good to remember that they are actually two parts of the same body, in the same way that the apparently polar opposites are somehow mirrors of the same thing. Being able to draw back into some form of equanimity is what allows this to become clear. Arriving at this perspective will require that you first take care of your personal Rahu-Ketu situation by re-attaching your head to your body, if it has gone astray (as it so often does). I recommend a regular meditation practice, now and forever. Everyone needs a place to return to themselves in the center of the storm. Don’t neglect this, there is nothing more important and it is easy to forget—life seems to be designed that way.

The Era of Earth Part II

As the dawning of this astrological ‘era of earth’ begins to reveal some of its complexity and character (we’re about a year and a half in at this point), I thought that in the spirit of aligning with the earth element it might be helpful to get concrete and specific about some of the qualities we can expect to be emerging over the next two hundred years(!) Please review the previous article here to catch up.

A brief summary of the importance of this astrological moment: Saturn and Jupiter conjunctions measure 200 year cycles of time wherein they continue to meet in the same element (earth, fire, water or air) for the course of those two hundred years before cycling to the next element. These changes in elemental conjunctions have historically ushered in new cultural and historical eras. In 2020 their conjunction arrived in an earth sign after 200 years of fire-sign conjunctions. In a way, this marks the end of the industrial revolution, which brought us the birth of many of the technologies that have caused the unintended complications we will be forced to sort out in the coming era of earth.

The Vedic Sciences, particularly Ayurveda, have mapped out the qualities of the five elements beautifully. They are considered the building blocks of the material world, which live in our environment, bodies and minds, and whose balance is key to maintaining or regaining health in any sense of the word.

The qualities of fire, or Agni, are: hot, sharp, minute, light, dry, clear and rough. Any prolonged contact with this element will produce these qualities in mind and/or body. This can be contact with physical fire, or foods and activities which contain heat or hot qualities such as chili peppers or intense physical exercise.

The qualities of earth, on the other hand, are: heavy, hard, slow, stable, clear, dense and large.

The elements also have directions that they tend to move in and gunas—specific effects on the mind. Fire moves in the upward direction and is associated with rajas (one of the three gunas) which is very active and busy and concerned with accomplishment. Earth moves in the downward direction and is associated with tamas (another of the three gunas) which is equated with inertia, rest and regeneration.

This change of direction and guna related to the astrological shift in element may be key to understanding what is to come and how to navigate this period of transition as we edge our way into a historical-cultural-enviornmental context that will look much different than the one we’re leaving.

The last two hundred plus years has been all about ascent and progress, driven by the heat of the fire element which brought us many of the transformative fire-related technologies that changed the shape of the ‘civilized’ world. A shift in direction toward the ground can bring our collective focus to what is underneath and actually supporting us: away from where we want to go and to where we actually are, which is on a planet severely damaged by the effects of industrialization and human apathy towards nature.

And the change in guna from the high activity and almost frenetic productivity of rajas to the rest, recovery and destruction of tamas will eventually bring us toward lifestyles and patterns that are more sustainable. The question is whether we arrive at them willingly or are forced into simplicity by the natural consequences of our actions. Tamas , or inertia, is actually a necessary counterbalance to rajas—which might be something like momentum and inevitably burns itself out.

You might begin to notice these changes in yourself and your world in a subtle way. The pandemic certainly brought in many of the qualities of earth. Even in the way many people have been describing the last year + you will often hear earth-laden words such as ‘hard’ and ‘heavy.’ And many people will have experienced the way in which the sharp quality of fire was softened by quarantine and lack of social connection. Normality seemed to melt around us and the day-to-day might have felt dense.

The purpose of understanding the transition between these two elemental epochs is to get some context for the changes you might be seeing around you and experiencing internally, and to create some realistic expectations for what might be ahead as many people try to understand whether what we just came out of was something we can all forget about and move on from, or a sign of changes to come.

The astrology suggests that the difficulty we’re ‘coming out of’ is just the tip of the iceberg.

We will see and feel more qualities of earth coming in in the coming years. The issues we are facing are large, dense, heavy, stable (i.e. persistent). These issues exist not only on the level of environment, politics and economics and social justice but also mental and spiritual health. Collectively we are a bit like an addict that has not quite arrived at the ‘come to Jesus’ moment where some surrender might take place and the long, hard effort of recovery can begin. We are still driven by the memory of the fire we’ve been built around.

Everyone alive today was born into a world driven by fire and its ideals of success, intensity and evolution. The deep alchemical transition to earth will begin to work on and in each of us, so that we might experience and have already been experiencing our fire (drive, desire, intensity) coming up against earth (heavy, hard realities that probably mostly look like obstacles right now). This is okay and part of the threshold process of transitioning. The more you can recognize where you are in the dance between qualities of fire and those of earth, the more you might be able to develop that commendable quality of earth called patience.

If you’d like to know how this transition is effecting you specifically, according to your natal chart, check out my consultations.

Astrological Alchemy and the Influences of the Elements

I am thinking, this morning, about how circumstances shape us. Specifically, the types of internal and external pressures, temperatures, textures and forces we are exposed to which have an undeniable sculpting effect. No matter how strong the individual willpower may be, the constant and repeated influence of environment on the human psyche is a force much stronger. That is not to say that the occasional enlightened individual cannot become somewhat immune to the pressures of their environment over time, but for the majority of people what we surround ourselves with becomes the hands that sculpt us.

I mean this not only environmentally—a subject I have discussed at length in the past, and plan to continue in the future—but also the independent textures and pressures of circumstance. Many people who have had rough lives, for example, can be quite soft. They have allowed the sharpness of grief to tenderize them. Sometimes the loss is too much, the roughness too coarse—eliciting too much resistance—and the individual becomes tough and hard to combat the unrelenting pressures of life.

Sometimes when a person has encountered too much softness and comfort without much challenge they are not activated. The internal fire is not inspired to spark, and so they remain somewhat unformed—unable to harness the internal structure and discipline necessary to fully become who they are.

Some people come from very dark places and manage to become bright as a result of forming themselves in contrast. Others will not be able to slough off that heavy cloak and remain darkened until death. From an astrological perspective this is largely a result of the quality and quantity of karma an individual is carrying into this life. It cannot objectively and ultimately be said that it is a tragedy to remain in darkness. That type of statement is still coming from a place of attachment (to light) and aversion (to dark). To carry a heavy burden into life and battle it without ‘victory’ can still be considered the “working-out” of karma. The struggle itself is a process of digestion. Something was achieved in that loss.

It is a gigantic leap, to step down from the sharp ledges of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ that are so unconsciously ingrained in the anatomy of the human psyche and push the attention toward the nuanced qualities of experience. Living in a world made only in the black and white of light and dark is actually blinding. Anyone who has ever come out of a shaded place into bright light knows this through direct experience. The vision can become much more nuanced and interesting in the middle ground of grey tones. This is a place from which we can leave off the questions of success and failure and instead consider the unique creature we’ve become as a result of the qualities of experience we’ve been shaped by.

Astrologically, there are rough patches. A Rahu dasha, for example, can be a rough ride. It will apply a specific pressure to someone’s life. And there are softer periods of life where we are allowed to melt a little bit and maybe even reform into another shape. There are fast periods of life where we may feel like we’re being pulled into a pace we can’t quite keep up with, and this has a specific effect, too. How you are in these circumstances is determined largely by your elemental predisposition (based on the birth chart). It’s all an alchemy between your constitution and its container(s).

This whole alchemy of experience is the container we’re constantly immersed in, not always seeing the phases of our evolution clearly or understanding why things feel the way we do and/or why we’re changing in ways we may or may not like. Seeing oneself as a creature in the midst of a grand and delicate transmutation can be helpful in beginning to develop a relationship with the forces that are working on us. Then a conversation can be had, and a choice can be made.

Astrology can be helpful in this regard, allowing us to be very specific regarding qualities of influences and how to engage them. If you’re interested in guidance here, check out my consultations.

Pisces and the Practice of Leaving

Recently I have been writing about the ways in which we can learn about the nature of a sign by understanding the nature of the environment or ecology it is associated with. Each of the 12 signs ‘rule’ certain places which carry the significations of that sign—these are the places on earth that the signs manifest themselves, thereby influencing us. There are simple lists—each sign associated with one type of ecology or environment—and then more complex lists that can encompass any possible environment on earth: a courtroom, for example, would be Libra due to the association of the scales and justice. A graveyard would be Capricorn—for reasons I won’t go into here.

I’ll stick with the broader regions and associations for the purpose of this article, and I’ll focus on the sign of Pisces—because I happen to be near the ocean and that is where my mind is wandering to these days!

Pisces is the end of the zodiac—the last of the 12 signs before we begin again in Aries. It’s associated Environment is the ocean—the life-sustaining body of water whose coastline creates a very abrupt and obvious ‘ending’ and ‘beginning’ between water and land. Pisces signifies endings in various ways: the end of life (death), the end of the day (sleep), the end of the self (moksha or spiritual liberation), the end of the body (the feet). The way the sign and its ruling planet Jupiter are disposed in an individual’s chart will show how that person relates to these things.

There is an art to endings, and leaving, and a real utility in clear demarcations of ‘before’ and ‘after’ and ‘together’ and ‘apart.’ If you look out at a coast you will see a thin band where land ends and ocean begins. If the two were too deeply entangled we would have miles of mud and quicksand instead of the clear indication of change that is the coastline—and in fact, this can start to happen in places whose natural ecologies have been disrupted. Being “stuck in the mud” is an excellent description of how it feels when we cannot, in life, make a clean break where it is necessary.

Jupiter —the ruler of both Pisces and Sagittarius—is the primary planet governing decision-making. In Sagittarius (a sign ruling the battlefield) the primary decision is whether or not to fight, in Pisces the decision is whether or not to leave: through sleep, death, moksha or even dissociation (Pisces also ruling the unconscious, which when it overpowers the conscious mind can cause dissociated states).

Although there is a certain amount of discipline required in the art of leaving that Pisces teaches, you will see that the ocean itself is not a highly ‘disciplined’ environment in the way a vegetable garden might be (an environment ruled by the sign opposite Pisces: Virgo). Leaving is much more about surrender to the reality of circumstance than it is a personal power trip.

Anyone who edges up against the ocean will have felt the pull toward surrender that such an expansive environment encourages. And anyone who has attempted to surf or otherwise navigate those waters will also understand that the human is not in control in such a situation—they are only playing by the rules dictated by the water. There is a giving oneself over to the larger rhythms of the water and the dictates of life, here.

As we come to this final sign of the zodiac there is, ideally, an acceptance of what is, after the resistance has been thoroughly exhausted in the previous signs. Sleep comes as we accept that our energy is not infinite, death comes and we see that one lifetime expires, and moksha comes when there is absolutely no resistance between the container and the contained. The analogy for moksha, or returning to the infinite, is that it is like a doll made of salt walking out into the ocean.

Pisces teaches us this dissolution. I suspect that the art of leaving takes a lifetime to learn. It is a potent contemplation, though: how do you leave? Willingly or by force? Do you hang on until a situation is toxic and you are forced out, or do you leave before anything has even had the chance to fructify? This becomes a question of ‘when is the fruit picked? Too early, too late, at the moment of most deliciousness? Jupiter is the planet ruling fruit, so we see again how all of the indications of planets and signs weave into and inform one another.

Jupiter, as ruler of Pisces, is the planet governing the space element. So ultimately, everything that has been discussed here—endings, leaving, decisions— can be best understood as a function of space, which itself is the binding factor for the other elements. Space holds things together or allows them to separate. The healthier the space element (i.e. Jupiter in a chart) the higher the probability is that endings are healthy. This means also that decisions are clear.

One of the best ways to create healthier space is through meditation, where the internal space is allowed to expand through bare observation, awareness and equanimity.

Karakas: the indicators of everything

What makes a system like astrology work is that all the planets taken together can account for every single thing that exists- including thoughts, emotions and actions. This means that any one planet is tied to a multitude of things, people, places, and the study is one of understanding the qualities of each planet so deeply that anytime something new enters ones environment it can be understood in terms of its planetary makeup.

In the Vedic system, these correlations between planets and specific things, people, areas of life, etc. are called Karakas. Venus, for example, is the karaka—or indicator—for vehicles. But there are many kinds of vehicles. Bicycles are Venus-Saturn (they have been, historically, a ‘poor peoples’ form of transportation, and Saturn is associated with poverty- we could also say a hearse might fall into that category, since Saturn is associated with old age and death), Venus-Mars might be a sports car (Mars is the athlete), and Venus-Sun could be any kind of transportation used for people in positions of power (limos, for example).

Another example: Mercury rules plants and trees. Jupiter is associated with flowers, so flowering plants would be Mercury-Jupiter. Beautiful, decorative plants would be Mercury-Venus and plants with healing herbs would be Mercury-Moon. Within those categories there are subcategories. Black pepper can be used medicinally, but itself is ruled by the Sun. So this specific medicinal plant might be Mercury-Moon-Sun. This goes on forever, with every nuance of life and experience being accounted for in the planetary association.

This is very descriptive in that it shows us that we are constantly ingesting the planets- both through our senses and even internally through the food we eat and air we breathe. Just as in Ayurveda where every different kind of water (from a river originating from these mountains vs. those mountains, moving in this direction vs. that direction, from lakes in the summer or springs in the winter or rain during a specific season or wells in a specific location and at a specific depth) has a specific effect, everything we are exposed to throughout our day has a specific planetary influence. And we will tend to be attracted to those specific planetary combinations which align with our natal horoscope. If someone has a strong Mercury-Moon combination well disposed in their chart they may study herbalism or some other form of plant medicine. If Venus is related to career they may sell vehicles or work with clothing (another Venus indication).

Natal combinations can be strengthened or modified by working directly with one’s environment. If Mercury needs strengthening we might bring a lot of plant life into the home or grow a big garden. If we want more Moon in someone’s life they might be advised to live near water or spend time near rivers. There are actually an infinite number of ways to work like this, including cultivating an internal approach related to a planet (softness for moon, enjoyment for Venus, spaciousness for Jupiter, etc).

To me the most fascinating aspect of Karaka—outside of how magical it can be to get in there and begin working directly with the planets as they appear in our life—is that everything belongs to something, in this system. You could point to anything you’ve every experienced and it can be described by some combination of the planets. Every location on earth, type of person, color in existence, smell in the air, weather pattern is ‘ruled’ by one or more planets. So, nothing is really free, including us as humans who are under the influence of all this. Everything is entangled in a gigantically complex and mysterious karmic web that pushes and pulls us constantly beneath the level of awareness.

To contemplate the opposite of this: the complete absence of attachment to any sort of plan or natural law feels a little bit like starring into a gigantic void. That kind of freedom is actually moksha or final liberation, which is a type of death to the self, and probably not the kind of freedom the Western Mind is after, which seems to be more about freedom from the type of belonging which requires participation with Nature and Her laws.

When this belonging is embraced then all loneliness is eliminated. We are always in the presence of the subtle influences of our environment and awareness of this dynamic can actually pave the way for some beautiful gift-giving, praise and reciprocity which is where remedial measures attempt to work in Vedic Astrology.

I was thinking, this morning, about how I cannot see the stars from where I am now—in Southern Utah I had a crystal clear view of the night sky. But because I know that the stars and planets are in everything around me—Venus in the roses and Saturn in the wind, the Pleides in the grape vines and Ursa in the bears and the Big Dipper in the ladles used for offering—I can look for them there. And so, too, can you!

The Generosity of the Archetypes

When things feel chaotic and confusing, it can be helpful to return to basic foundations. In astrology, foundations are found in the planets themselves, which are the 9 root energies from which our entire reality derives. These energetic qualities are points of orientation much like a fable or myth can be orienting on an almost subconscious level.

This is because, whether or not you are aware of it, you are part of the plot. You—or some remote part of your mind—can locate yourself inside the archetype in the same way that you might identify yourself with a character in a story, or even inside the sentiment evoked from a particular plot twist. By recognizing the presence of an archetype—either in yourself or in the world around you, you can begin to locate yourself inside a story.

Many modern-ish minds (Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, among many others) have done a remarkable job of detailing the guiding power of story and the almost medicinal qualities of myth. It is becoming obvious that humans actually require story—it seems to satisfy some meaning-making capacity in us that simply cannot survive the gigantic vacuity of sterile rationality.

But a story is more than a fictitious series of events transcribed onto a page and read to children before bed. Stories are wound up into every nook and cranny of our waking lives, in the same way that archetypes are not a static idea frozen in time and discussed in new-age college classrooms, but living principles that actually inhabit us just as the planets do.

Archetypes are also stories—that is to say: patterned energies that can be recognized, with practice, and which can alert us to the presence of the myriad of qualities related to that archetype and inform us as to the presence of concomitant energies and events of that archetype. Understanding these root energies allows us to navigate some of the less-rational areas of our lives in the same way that myth can—through the evocation of the “spiritual potentialities of human life,”—to paraphrase Joseph Campbell. Any one archetype can constellate its own map of the moment, alerting us to other features of that archetype.

An astrological example: if you are somehow under the grip of Saturn (through dasha, Sade sati transit, or otherwise) then you may experience loss, grief or separation as a prominent feature of your life. You may actually be able to identify an almost physical weight that inhabits you as a result of Saturn’s influence. If you can understand that “this is what Saturn feels like” you can separate yourself from the immediacy of his impact, take a step back from your own experience and see the various events and qualities of consciousness in your life at the moment that are archetypally “Saturn.” These things are no longer disparate, meaningless events, but the hand of Saturn teaching responsibility, limitation and ultimately non-attachment. You can then also know that the medicine for the darkness of Saturn is the light of the Sun, and can introduce more solar energy into your life: making sure to wake up with or before the Sun, illuminate your environment as much as possible and think bright thoughts.

Planetary archetypes can be helpful in collective ways, too, as they indicate ‘changes in the air’ that are felt across the population and foretell patterned changes.

These archetypal understandings tap us into the instinctual intelligence acquired over the millennia of human history in our adaptation to Nature and life. Jung’s belief was that archetypes are born from the collective unconscious, which is a gigantic storehouse of information gleaned at the interface of humans and nature over time. It is the instruction manual for how to be an actual human, as I see it. And its treasures are largely untapped in an age when hyper-rationality blocks the gateway to these more fluid, less concrete ‘knowings.’

Archetypes are, essentially, Nature’s intelligence as it is communicated to and through the human mind and imagination. Without an understanding of archetype, life can feel like a series of disparate and meaningless experiences that leave us with a numbing feeling of spiritual vacancy. Archetypal intervention is precisely the type of help we need at the moment.

Accessing this storehouse of information contained in archetype requires going beyond the rational and opening up into the imaginal realm of experience. Please take care here to watch how quickly your mind associates ‘imaginal’ with ‘fake.’ Imagination is the mind’s capacity to open itself to possibilities of experience which have not yet arrived. The Western Mind may associate imagination with child’s play, but any real artist or change-maker knows that it is a source of vitality and the womb of creativity.

There are some very substantial mythologies and archetypes inhabiting this historical moment. The political and socio-cultural stage can feel crazy-making if the events it produces are not put into their storied context. Even some basic mythological parallels can be incredibly relieving, and are necessary if what Joseph Campbell believed is true: that myths and archetypal motifs emerging from the subconscious field to play out in human experience are mirrors which reflect what a given culture does not want to see about itself.

The planets are archetypal energies which we all align with in different ways depending on their position in the sky at our moment of birth. They map out the story we move through that is our life, and constellate certain patterns that shape us against their unique tensions. Our ability to adapt to these influences and accept the challenges we are dealt will determine, to a large extent, how well we are able to inhabit our own lives. The more firmly grounded we are in who we are supposed to be (based on our nature) the less rattled we will be by the turbulence of the moment and the more capable we will be of creatively incorporating its challenges into our own becoming.

Astrology can be extremely helpful in this department: describing the archetypal uniqueness you are meant to inhabit (configuration of planets in your chart), the places and times (planetary periods, aspects and transits) you are likely to be pulled astray from your own nature, and methods (remedial measures) for getting back on track.

This is the generosity of the archetypes: that they allowed themselves to be perceived as the patterned-energies that they are, so that humans might map out some meaning in their existence and tune their senses to the complex weave of Nature’s interconnected intelligence AND realize themselves as a part of all this beauty.

Astrological DNA

A symptom is not made in an instant; it is a story with an origin that is often obscured from view. These days, almost everything seems like a symptom of a larger dysfunction or disease we are all suffering- a sort of cultural dysmorphia with an amorphous beginning.

Inside the cultural disease that I would call collective amnesia, or dementia, that structures our lives and to a large extent our psyches—we inevitably develop our own forms of dysfunction in order to survive the insanity of the cultural void that begets an almost unbearable sense of emptiness in the absence of the buffers of addiction, mental illness, numbing and ‘checking out.’

In other words: your personal symptoms are not separate from the larger symptoms of the diseased culture you were born into. You personal symptom—whatever it may be (whether physical or psychological or both)—may have been planted before your birth. And from the astrological perspective this is absolutely the case.

There is something like astrological DNA which shows up in the charts of families, and even cultural groups, that shows inherited patterns. I often see the charts of family members, and without fail I find the ways in which certain planetary strengths or combinations are passed down. This can be seen from comparing the birth chart of both parents and the child, or it can be seen from within one chart as I examine the divisional charts inside that one chart which show maternal and paternal lineage. This allows me to see where either a curse or a blessing is coming from.

Countries have birth charts, too, which show what that locale as a whole is working with, karmically speaking. But I have also noticed planetary patterns in specific states that tend to repeat in the chart of individuals born there. There are a lot of Venus issues in California, for example. Venus shows relationship, beauty and enjoyment, signaling that those who were born in or have been attracted to California have a tendency to have something to resolve here. I have noticed in Utah a lot of 9th house issues: 9th house being the place of worship, religion, and authority. There is a depressing influence there in many charts I’ve seen in the state. One can easily see the connection between this being the headquarters of the Mormon religion and the concomitant issues with authority and religion.

My suspicion is that these planetary patterns which show up in places are not a result only of cultural dynamics within that place, but also reflect some aspect of the landscape that is having a subconscious influence. Venus, for example, is exalted in Pisces which is the ocean, and is the planet ruling the water element. The presence of ocean along the coastline of California must be influential to the psychology of Californians—particularly those born and raised in that state. Saturn (The planet I have often seen show up with the 9th house issues in Utah) is an air planet which dries things out. Utah is a desert, and certainly has a heavy air influence due to the low moisture content in the air and land. This is not something we would frequently consider as having a psychological effect, but I believe it does—especially for those who dwell in a place over time.

In this view, we can place the root of symptom not only in our cultural history but also in the landscape we inhabit. And as our environments begin to deteriorate as the result of pollution, exploitation and disregard, the planetary influences derived from them will hit us harder. Another example: Salt Lake City, Utah often has some of the worst air quality in the nation. This causes the influence of Saturn to act in a more negative fashion, probably combining with the other air planet: Rahu, who is the polluter of the zodiac. And as the oceans become more polluted you can bet that Venus will also begin to act more like Venus-Rahu which is essentially the perversion of all things Venus.

Rahu, by the way, is also the forgetter of the zodiac. He causes a thick blanket of tamas, or inertia, to come over us so that we can not remember. So the stronger he becomes in the sky by way of environmental pollution, the more we will tend to forget. This is a dangerous trend which can cause us to lose our sense of what is important. Please take a moment to allow the possibility that you are missing something very big, that you are so saturated with the numbing and dulling influences of generations of forgetters that you cannot remember what it means to be a truly vital, creative human being on this planet. Wonder into what it would mean if you had so deeply adapted to the dysfunction of the culture you’re embedded in that you are barely able to be aware that something is wrong OR you attribute all the ‘wrongness’ to a personal failure.

Now that everyone has been thoroughly disturbed, I’d like to suggest that the supreme disturbance we are living through—which is facilitated by the aforementioned forgetting and pollution (the type of pollution that’s occurred could only be allowed if we had collectively forgotten quite a bit about how to live on this planet in good relationship to Nature)—is part of the chaos necessary to rustle us from our forgetful torpor of comfort-induced complacency. It is inside chaos and upheaval that a true change in course is possible—not when you’re sitting comfortably inside the regularity of your deeply carved routine.

It is a probability that those in positions of power will attempt to use this opportunity to their own advantage—Rahu also shows corruption, after all. This is another hurdle we will have to navigate—in Kali Yuga (the age of man we are currently in, filled with corrupt leaders and moral degradation) it is extremely rare to have a leader that is honest and has good intentions. Best to assume that anyone in a position of real power is somehow obscuring the truth or has ulterior motives.

On a personal level, you can do your best to stop resisting the change and discomfort and actually lean into the possibility that it contains. You can become suspicious of your own comfort and begin to carve some space into your life where genuine change can occur (if your life is filled with work, social media, and worry, then there isn’t much space for anything new to grow). You can also become suspicious of your own inner authority, if they have slyly taken over the show and turned your life into a dry and depressing regimen (from: regime) then you might start to question who or what is really in control. This brings us full circle back to the astrological DNA, because many of those inner voices that often come to eclipse us are inherited. It is from these neuroses that our various symptoms often derive.

The main point of this article is that context is important. The Western Mind is made to think that ‘personal freedom’ means we can be somehow independent of influences and carve a life for ourself without being impacted by the generations preceding us, the culture always pushing in on us and the landscapes we inhabit. In reality there is probably only a very tiny fraction of us that is independent of these influences, and attempts to bring something new into the world in spite of the continual weight of habit and pattern pressing down from all angles. This part of us is like a fragile little flame, in danger of being blown out by the myriad influences just described. Guard your flame, and do your best to elbow some space around you inside which it might grow.

All about Capricorn

Different transits bring into focus different signs: the signs are the context for karma instigated by the planets that move through the fixed signs (i.e.stars) .

Capricorn has been highlighted for some time now, by the transit of Saturn and Jupiter, which together instigate a huge amount of potential energy from this sign. They call into question the central questions of Capricorn—a moveable earth sign, ruled by Saturn whose environment is a graveyard and whose symbol is a sea monster or crocodile (Makara is the Vedic name for Capricorn, which translates as something like crocodile). All of these elements become important in understanding the fundamental qualities of the sign, whose essential energy is one of upheaval or “moving earth.” This earth will be moved in a Saturnian way, which suggests seriousness, gravity, limitation, discipline and enormous effort.

Moving earth can be thought of as change requiring destruction. This change can be positive, neutral or destructive—and often it is all three depending on which role you are playing in any particular event. For example, in the case of laying foundations to build a home: moving earth is positive for the people who will occupy the home but may be negative for the field of wildflowers that formerly inhabited that tract of land.

We’ve seen quite a bit of substantial change since the beginning of the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn—this change being of many different shades. The key word is substantial. Earth has substance, and any change involving earth will similarly carry weight. This is the power of this transit—it can create real, lasting impact in the world at large and in your personal life. And often only the passing of Time will reveal the essential positive or negative nature of events, and ultimately from the perspective of the larger play of Cosmos it is all neutral.

Getting on the side of this transit requires getting to know a bit about the way that Saturn works. Saturn is often associated with laborers—the working class who may perform the physically demanding work which allows our day-to-day lives to function somewhat smoothly. This is the work that is often unacknowledged, but without which our society would quickly collapse. So Saturn puts in the behind-the-scences effort (he does not require recognition like his opposite—the Sun) that essentially greases the wheels of the collective. He is associated with shadows and darkness, and now you can see why: he can literally go unseen or unacknowledged. Saturn is the back we all stand on to reach the heights we crave. In mythology he is associated with Kurma—the turtle—whose shell is used to churn the ocean in order to extract the Amrta or nectar of immortality. (This suggests to not ignore the small, routine and laborious tasks in your daily life that seem to ‘not really matter’ but may be supporting you in ways you do not realize).

Saturn goes unnoticed until night comes and the isolated shadows gather into a completion of darkness. In life this night comes in loss or death and destruction. Capricorn rules graveyards, which are not only the place of death but the place of liberation. Mars is exalted here because he is the left-handed tantric, and knows how to use the potency of death and destruction (and ultimately our human aversions toward those ‘disgusting’ elements of life) for the purposes of spiritual emancipation. The fertile ecotone between life and death that is Capricorn contains this potential: to understand something about the boundary between life and death and the physical, material world and the subtle, spiritual realm and the way that our attachment and aversions pull are actually what steers our course between these polarities. All kinds of mistakes can easily be made here, and Saturn is not soft about consequences. This leads to the symbol of the sign, which is the sea monster.

Mythologically speaking the symbol is prolific and many-layered. But in keeping with what was just mentioned, an animal which is able to inhabit both the aquatic and terrestrial world is something like a bridge, which is also a characteristic of an environment such as a graveyard which connects the world of the living with that of the dead. So Capricorn has the characteristic of connecting extremes (life and death, water and land) , and the outcome of that quality can be a facilitation of deep, substantial change (the moveable earth). Death itself is certainly a substantial change, as is moksha or the spiritual liberation sought after by the left-handed tantrics in the environment of Capricorn—it is nothing other than total annihilation of the individual self in favor of inhabiting a universal consciousness. We could suspect that this transit (and the larger cycle it instigates) might instigate a move toward a more collective consciousness than the one we’ve been inhabiting as a species.

Clearly Capricorn is asking for a break-down of some sort, and I think the central question of this time and transit is: how can we breakdown gracefully? In other words: how can we choose our own decomposition so that it does not have to choose us in undesirable ways? This is a question both for the individual and the collective, and it is not one that can be answered quickly or easily. I have written previously about how this transit ushers in a new 200 year cycle, so we are just beginning to edge up agains this question collectively. There are still many illusions about a return to a dysfunctional normalcy which Saturn and Capricorn will absolutely not tolerate.

One last thought, which may be helpful: a break-down does not have to be unpleasant, particularly if what is being broken is itself unsustainable or negative—such as a way of being in the world which is ultimately unsatisfying. So we do not have to imagine this time we are in as some sort of hell that we will be lucky to make it through—the disintegration of what has not been working can be incredibly space-making, liberating and ultimately beautiful.

Turning toward the Soft and Subtle

All that is subtle and unseen can seem very remote—and even unreal—when there are challenges on the material level which occupy the entirety of your attention. I have written before about the density of this moment, which is largely related to the gravity being released from the very heavy sign of Capricorn. It is that weight which can cause us to prioritize the familiarity of depression, anxiety, numbness and addiction over the information and experiences contained in the subtle realm0—which becomes increasingly difficulty to access when we are in a state of fear or panic.

I thought of this when I realized I had been brushing off my dreams recently, when in the past I would routinely spend time with them each morning, exploring the seemingly limitless doorways they open up into psyche. As the seriousness of the various catastrophes in the world increased, I began to (almost unconsciously) believe that such a flimsy thing as a dream couldn’t be helpful here.

I made a point to show up for a webinar on dreams created by Machiel Klerk (founder of Jung Society of Utah) and was instantly energized by remembering the potency of dreams in particular but also the entirety of the subtle realm in general, especially in circumstances that are dire, when guidance is required and some essential message is clearly trying to break through the thick crust of humanity.

There is something very human about being driven to dive deeper into the realm of cosmos and unconscious when things get tricky in the external world. It would be in times of tribal disaster that the shaman or seer of a group of people would be called to interpret dreams, make predictions based on the stars and other natural phenomena, and attempt to chart a course toward safety based on this information from the intelligence of Nature (which speaks through dreams, the sky, all of the natural world).

This is a fascinating conundrum: there are crises on all levels, occurring simultaneously, which can have the effect of causing a certain numbing or emotional emergency which makes it much harder to access your own subtle reality of sensation, emotion, intuition, etc (none of which is accessible when we’re in fight or flight). But those are the very places where we will find the information we might need to steer our way through this morass of unconscious, undigested toxicity built up over generations that is now oozing forth like the puss over-cooked inside an infected wound.

In order to avoid the almost inevitable depression that can result from disconnecting from the wisdom of body, dreams, sky:, my suggestion would be to make what is subtle and easily forgotten a priority. Make time in your life for dreams, meditation, astrology (!), and be weary of the voice in your head that is so convinced that anything not aimed at immediately addressing a material emergency is a waste of time. I think that is where we can get stuck in survival mode and lose touch with soul.

There is, of course, another danger: and that is retreating into the non-physical realm as a form of escape. This is just the flip side of the “woo-woo will not be helpful here” coin, as it is equally divisive and a form of retreat. This tendency has been in play for generations, and actually gave birth to many of the “New-Age” techniques we now utilize today in an attempt to make palatable living in a psychotic world nearly completely disconnected from Nature. Buddhism (which is not at all new age, but still relevant for this discussion) may have developed as a technique to come to terms internally (through equanimity) with what was an extremely violent, unfair and spiritually devestating external situation (the entire concept of Moksha or final liberation is a very curious one—what would drive a people to want to escape the cycle of birth and death?).

Along with that, astrology in many forms has historically been used to escape the physical world in one way or another. Blaming every earthly phenomenon on one transit or another is not a way to become more a part of life. As with any technique, it is the way in which it is approached and applied which will determine the results. A study of the stars and planets can be read as an instruction manual for how to be on earth, rather than an excuse for why your life is the way it is. In consultations I am always attempting to ground the information in the stars in the direct experience of an individual and suggest ways to deepen that connection.

Once again it is the middle ground we are looking for here, where we might carve out a little island of habitation beneath the stars, but firmly planted on earth, where we can remain connected to both earth (material reality) and sky (subtle reality) and as a result be more insulated from the turbulence that can result from living in either extreme. What we are aiming for is neither escape nor rejection, but deep consideration of the various landscapes and paths available.

The ‘two worlds’ of material and subtle/spirit realm are actually touching, and can be found inside one another. This means that is you want to keep your eye on the ‘mystery,’ you can look right into what appears to be solid, material, dense. if there is depression, do not accept it as a flawed part of your personality and attempt to live around it: dive right into it and discover in its gross density a world of subtle sensation and emotion that is actually a message from your psyche regarding how to come out of it. If there is a racist uncle, do not accept the frustration you feel towards him as a fact of your reality that you compartmentalize in order to pursue your ‘spiritual goals.’ Invite it into your dreams, explore it in meditation, fully incorporate even the very aversive aspects of reality into your daily life. This way you don’t have to feel like you are running from anything. AND, in these types of integrated practices we can all begin to weave together the deep divisions we see all around us (and which are undoubtedly IN us) and break some of the charge of polarization that threatens to electrocute us all.

The Map of Sky

In this time of supreme disorientation, it becomes increasingly important to have a way to get your bearings.

The sky is an impartial map of the moment which is a form of communication for those who speak its language. The sky is its own landscape, which is not an antecedent for what takes place on earth, but an elegant mirror of earthscape. Just as light needs dark (See previous post) so, too, does earth story need sky story. The indigenous perspective is that the story in the sky must be played out on the ground. There are very specific examples of the rising and setting of constellations throughout the year and the events they have trigger on earth throughout human history: from agricultural events to ritual and prayer. The collective eye was once turned toward sky for instructions for daily living. This is how the netted story of life perpetuates itself.

When we opt out of this larger participation—whether knowingly or unknowingly—the story begins to unravel. This unraveling looks like ecological destruction, mental and physical health crises and maybe the most devastating of all: a loss of connection between humans and nature and with it a loss of appreciation for the abundance of beauty that sustains us.

So while astrology may appear “New Age” or as a form of escape from earthly reality, historically it was a map toward becomes more enmeshed in and committed to life on earth—it was a way to know where to be and when, and what prayers to utter at which moment so that life could go on living (in both the human and ‘natural’ worlds).

Pretty much every indigenous culture had a way of interacting with the stars to guide their actions. At that time there is abundant evidence that the intelligence derived from the sky was used much more for the collective well-being than for personal purposes. Even today it can be used that way, to understand how the individual fits into the collective and what the larger purpose is. Transits can tell us where the collective energy is going, where it is disturbed, and if we care to look it can tell us where we might make a prayer.

In this way, astrology can certainly provide a means of orienting to the moment. We are clearly quite lost as a collective. The sky is still spinning its story and still available for guidance to those ears that would welcome its wisdom. Many are turning towards astrology at this moment, almost instinctively, with a sense that humans as a species will need to return to some organic root in order to relocate ourselves in the larger scheme of life and Nature. Indigenously, the stars are considered to be the roots of the trees of the world above ours, their movements literally rooting us in this lovely world of ours that is now in so much turmoil.

If you’re interested in diving into more specifics of how to read this wonderful sky-map, consider joining my upcoming course.

Winter's Dreaming

As we enter the New Year in the Gregorian calendar, it may be helpful to remember that this is not the only New Year. The Vedic calendar doesn’t have the New Year beginning until spring, when all of life is approaching organic newness. In the same way, the Vedic day begins at dawn while the day in the West begins in the middle of the night.

By way of these designations assigned to Time, different cultures are planting different seeds. Since the moment of initiation is the seed of what is beginning it would make more sense to ‘plant’ a year or a day when Nature is brightening, rather than in the coldest, darkest time of the daily or yearly cycle. The structure or rhythms of a culture matters, and you can see that in the West the basic structure of the calendar already puts us out of sync with Nature. So that even if we are driven to align ourselves with natural cycles, the entire society in which we are embedded will be continually be pulling us out of that more organic rhythm.

Nonetheless, I think we can all welcome a doorway right now. Even the whiff of a new beginning—however manufactured it might be—can lend a little hope to this dense moment. If we must plant our seeds in the middle of winter and the dark of night, so be it: let’s make them as beautiful and as hearty as possible so that they might survive (even in a dormant state) until spring, when Nature can take them under her wing and breathe life into what are now quiet wishes.

Winter is an excellent season for wishes and dreams. It is the dreaming season, after all, when Nature drives everything deeper into itself. The shoots of Spring are brewing in you already, whether you’re aware of it or not. Make space for that silent, internal growth by touching down with yourself regularly. And when it seems hard to stay close to the vital part of yourself we might call soul, remember that whatever is good in culture and humans today got to us only because some of our ancestors were dedicated to the preservation of this type of beauty—and the conditions under which they fought to preserve their culture and soul were likely much more dire and devestating than ours.

Something similar is being asked of us now, though the details are different. The degradation of soul and sanity seems to accelerate exponentially all around us, and our attention becomes increasingly fractured. Sometimes it is hard even to remember what is important inside the haze of overstimulation and collective anxiety. The task now is to retain your sanity and focus inside an absolutely insane world, which grabs at your attention from all angles relentlessly. The deleterious effects of the technologies and social platforms we interact with constantly cannot be underestimated. There is an entire generation now whose life is in danger of being stolen from them—they can hardly see the world beyond their screens.

Like those that preceded us, we are asked to hold tightly to ourselves what is most essential and protect it at all costs. And though we are not forced to flee physically, as our ancestors might have been, we can easily flee in a multitude of other ways—through cyberspace, addiction, distraction. We are being asked to stay right here and not wander too far with our attention into the limitless rivulets of stimulation that hook us, only to dead end in some dry field, having wasted us.

The pulls are strong and the stakes are high. Preservation of soul and the fending off of the mediocrity that our society almost demands will require your full attention. Winter is the training ground for this dreaming into soul, spirit and memory which can become the type of full blown creativity (come spring) we will need to imagine a reality worth living in.

The practice of dreaming can be very small: you might eliminate one energy-wasting activity from your day or week and instead dedicate that time to a meditative or creative practice that feeds you. If you can carve even a very small space for such a practice into your life now, who knows what it could grow into in one, five or ten. years time!

Big Wild Swirl

As we approach the end of November, we are edging toward a yoga (literally: union) between two planets that can generate a huge amount of energy. Saturn and Jupiter are the heaviest planets in the zodiac, meaning that they carry a lot of weight—karmically and otherwise. 

The type of spark generated between them is not ephemeral or weightless, particularly not in the earth sign Capricorn. What these planets will be mobilizing in Capricorn has incredible weight and consequence (like the earth element itself) requiring real ‘muscle’ to move. In advance of this we can feel a stuck and heavy energy as what is intelligent (and mostly unconscious) in us attempts to adjust to this changing momentum.

It is actually an entirely new gravity that Saturn and Jupiter are bringing in Capricorn. Capricorn is an incredibly weighted sign, being moveable earth and ruled by a psychologically and karmically heavy planet- Saturn. Both Saturn and Capricorn carry heavy consequences and teach us about integrity. They can pull us back to ‘center’ in very harsh ways. Many of the lessons come through grief and loss of what is not recoverable. The stakes are always high here, as they are now.

Saturn has been in Capricorn since the beginning of January 2020, and we all know the scale of loss that has been experienced since then. No one wants to have to learn the lessons Saturn has to teach, but those who are squeezed through his wringer come out the other side fundamentally altered. Saturn is a spiritual teacher of incredible depth because he pushes us right into the heart of life, which is actually surrounded by the grief-stricken reality of devastating loss. It is only a thin membrane that protects us from this reality of life most of the time. When the veils is thinned in certain moments (and with certain transits) we can feel like we are completely exposed to the most devastating aspects of life. There has been some of that with this transit—more for some than others, depending on natal chart placements.

If you are feeling worn thin and like your energy stores are near exhaustion, fear not. Jupiter enters Capricorn on November 20th to bring his resources to the sign, and bless Saturn with some positivity. It is true that Jupiter will be in debilitation for the year that he transits Capricorn, so he may not be able to express his buoyant optimism with the same strength that he normally would, but he is still Jupiter. Jupiter is debilitated in Capricorn because he has to get a little bit dirtier than he would like. He’d rather not deal in death and loss, and Capricorn is the sign of the graveyard, so Jupiter is forced into these less-wholesome places. He prefers the purity of meditation and vegetarianism, but in Capricorn he is forced to eat meat, so to speak. He is thrust into the darker realities of life and forced to find nourishment there, and despite his discomfort there he can do good work.

And it is this combined influence of Jupiter’s purity and spaciousness with Saturn’s hard-hitting material-bound nature that makes for such a potent and transformative effect. Notice that I did not say “positive” or even “enjoyable"—there will be change and it will be strong but it may not (particularly initially) be comfortable. It will, however, be necessary.

Whatever is to come, it will require a new type of mobilization which the whole world is gearing itself up for right now, albeit mostly unconsciously. And it is the aches and pains and awkwardness of this that we may be feeling right now. Let it be weird, that is okay. This will require some adjustment and muscle soreness. I suggest simply making space for yourself to be different, make some space for change with the understanding that you are not the decider as to how it’s going to look. The fact that there are forces at play larger than my individual will has always felt like a relief to me. Maybe we can all back off from ‘trying’ for a little while and just enjoy being part of the big wild swirl that is Time and Life.

The Karma of the United States

It feels okay to be on the edge of the continent right now, in the same way it feels okay to be at the edge (and not in the center) of a large crowd that is just beginning to get rowdy. Even though the Pacific Ocean is not much of a place to escape to, I imagine the center of the country bearing the full weight of the collective political and ideological tensions right now, like a person being pressed into the front of a stage while the masses press in from behind.

Here in the United States, the division that may have existed since the inception of this country is beginning to boil over, and it is hard to make sense of both the volume and intensity of hate making itself apparent in the last days, weeks and months.

Ideologies are examined largely from the sign of Sagittarius, which is the 9th sign of the zodiac and carries the dharma or ‘purpose’ along with the belief system. It is noteworthy that the symbol of this sign is a man with a horse’s body and he carries a bow and arrow—showing that fighting for one’s beliefs is an archetypal facet of the human species, not something unique to modern history.

Sagittarius is actually fairly well protected right now, which leads me to believe that the current conflicts are not actually about beliefs. This seems to be about destruction—a place to put the unconscious impulsive to obliterate what is not understood. Obviously this has much deeper roots than this week or this year, but it’s current manifestation can be seen directly in the sign of Pisces—the 12th and final sign of the zodiac, which indicates release from the body in the form of death, moksha (final liberation) and sleep. There is what’s called a Yama Yoga or “death” yoga influencing this sign right now, which may be contributing to the volatility. From what I have seen, the impulses driven by Yama Yogas are very difficult to control even when there is a degree of consciousness in the individual. When these yogas are not accompanied by any consciousness then they can be very destructive. This combination is at play until 12/24: Merry Christmas!

So there is a collective unconscious impulse to end life. This can manifest in large and small ways: from overt violence to self-destructive habits along with disregard for the natural world. Understand that this self-destructiveness is an echo of the larger pattern of intimidation and violence which we see at play right now. Making this connection can be an inlet in relating to collective malicious behavior which can seem incomprehensible. The patterns of transits are always operating on multiple levels simultaneously, but sometimes their impacts are so subtle on a personal level that we don’t take notice. Connecting our larger context to our “personal” lives is where the rubber hits the road, in terms of both agency and inspiration.

The United States (seen from it’s official ‘conception’, on 7/4/1776) entered a period in 2016 which begins an 18 year cycle of confusion in the realms of leadership, identity, purpose and ideology. It is a Rahu dasha, which always involves some degree of upheaval, and Rahu in the chart of the U.S. is creating a huge amount of disturbance, confusion, manipulation and misinformation. It indicates extremely negative karma related to desecration of natural environments and the sacred places associated with them. This is most certainly a dark sliver of the time for America. There is some hope in that there is a possibility for reversal of fortunes at some point during this dasha (possibly not until 2032) which would bring appropriate leadership and maybe even some respect for the land.

One of the fundamental flaws I see with this chart is that it is largely oriented toward comfort. This actually creates loneliness and separation (our American independence) which is a huge weakness of the chart. Those of us living in the U.S., because we are under the influence of this chart, must be on guard for this tendency in ourselves.

This is one of those places where there is really on rule-book, or the old rules don’t necessarily ‘work.’ It’s okay to flounder and feel confused and overwhelmed. In this times I usually try to focus on what life is trying to make out of me. I feel like a bunch of herbs in a pot trying to transform into something medicinal.

Tiny Pockets of Light

Time is not a clock ticking away on a screen—it is the living fabric of life that brings in an infinite variety of textures and flavors on its many rivers and rivulets.

Vedic Astrology is the study of Time, in both its quantitative and qualitative dimensions. When I am looking at a chart and seeing the landscape of an individual’s karma, I am also seeing a sort of ‘timescape,” which is the perceptible influence of Time on a person’s direct experience.

Different times in life bring in different people, events and experiences. Along with these there is often an underlying ‘feeling-tone’ to certain time periods of life. This is particularly true with dashas, which are the planetary time periods which can govern anywhere from 10 to 20 year sections of life. These dashas press us into the moods of the planets ruling the dashas, so that in a Rahu dasha we might often be anxious, while in a Moon dasha we might be emotional and in Saturn’s dasha we are more likely to be depressed. All of the other events taking place are actually happening ‘inside’ this larger mood. It can be an extremely helpful exercise, to regularly check in on your overall mood this way: the mood of the day, the week, the month and the year(s). It may be that you have been in a negative mood for years, accepting it as normal. We can become so fixated on the details of the day that we miss the larger context of the habitual mood we are operating inside. These unidentified moods can turn into calcified ‘personalities’ that leave little breathing room for the inherent nature of an individual. This is one way in which we can lose ourselves.

Although a planet’s periods will push us into certain moods, there are ways to work with this influence so that it doesn’t overwhelm you. Even just knowing that you’re in a certain planet’s period and understanding its influence can be helpful in distancing yourself from the immediacy of the experience.

And no matter what time period you’re in, there are doorways into vitality everywhere, tucked inside the fabric of unfolding Time. It is a matter of identifying where and when these are. They often appear quite and inconspicuously, in moments when we feel that we can do something different, move in a more positive direction, let go of an old habit, or feed a new positive habits. Any moment where we feel we have a genuine choice where we formerly didn’t I consider to be a doorway opening in Time. And we may or may not choose to walk through it, but it is helpful to begin to know when these openings appear as they are our own personal crossroads— the places where (in my opinion) our willpower is most appropriately applied.

Mythologically, the crossroads is the place where a deal is made with the devil. This ‘deal’ has been demonized as the selling of one’s soul, but if we go deeper it is actually the commitment of the soul to one particular path. Modernity pushes us towards limitless options and the absence of commitment. But that is not a place to live—being available for anything but wedded to nothing.

Each crossroads—whether of an individual or of humanity at large—is a place to reaffirm what it is you are actually after. Where are you going? If you are certain of your direction you are less likely to be blown off course, and it becomes clear which path to choose at each crossroads and open door.

We are approaching a massive crossroads of humanity at large, shown by the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in a new elemental sign that marks the end of a 200 year cycle and the beginning of another. There will be many doorways opening, decisions to be made and directions to be evaluated. The question is what will commit ourselves to, as a society? Economic growth has guided our decisions for some time, and has determined how we pivot as a collective. This crossroads will call into questions whether acquisition and financial gain is a worthy North Star.

Your personal North Star or guiding light is like the spinal column of your life: the thing which supports you even when the entire weight of the world is bearing down on you. For some people this is God, for others a cause they are committed to. If you are unsure of what is guiding you, you are more vulnerable to being blown asunder, as I said.

Try looking back at the course your life has taken and attempt to identify what it is that has been moving you. It will be important, as we enter rougher waters collectively, to keep your eye on this target which may appear to be external but is actually at the center of yourself. When you enter your own personal rough waters, in the form of planetary time periods or transits, this target can help steady you. It is a compass that can guide you toward the tiny pockets of light available in those doorways, which reside within the larger map of Time which is the natal birth chart.

Transitions

On my way out of Utah—en route to California—I stopped at the salt flats north of Great Salt Lake. This landscape is somehow the climax of all that Utah has been for me: extreme, devastatingly beautiful, and largely uninhabitable.

There was an unexpected softness underfoot when I walked out onto the salt, my eyes tracing the prolific cracks. This breaking of the earth is the result not only of the drying effects of salt, but also the fact that the floor of the Great Basin is actually being pulled apart. Geologists say it has been stretched to 100% of its original width. 

Maybe we all feel a little bit like this right now—stretched thin, maybe beginning to crack a little under the tension of the moment. It’s nice to know that the result of this type of discomfort can be so sharply beautiful. Certainly the hard edges and unrelenting pressures are making us into whatever it is we need to be: more humble, weather-worn, closer to our own natures. 

Transition: “the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.” 

My personal transition exists inside a much larger collective transition. I think this is important: a transition requires unequivocally leaving a former state or condition, to arrive at a new place—physically, emotionally, spiritually. Implied in this is loss or sacrifice (voluntary loss). It is potent to be embedded in a concrete form of transition.

Moving tends to push me into the painful (and sometimes enlivening) reality of the ephemeral nature of everything. It often feels like a door is closing behind me—one I cannot ever enter again. Even if I were to return, the variables would be different. The experience cannot be repeated. The many moments and memories collected in the decade I spent in Utah will not open again. 

I think this is the place we are at collectively, as well. The shape of life that we had become accustomed to is already becoming a memory. The door is quickly closing on the time when we could carelessly ignore the devastating exploitation of people and planet. The terrain on the other side of this door is fundamentally different. 

Something about the squeeze in walking firmly through this doorway of time will sweeten us, I am sure. Hard edges, numbness and stupidity may surface first, but this type of churning is going for the gold and will not stop there. The transits, as I have written previously, show us that we are at the end of a 200 year cycle, and the beginning of another. These Saturn-Jupiter conjunctions show us the rise and fall of civilizations, and are not something to be taken lightly. 

In moments of transition it is helpful to get yourself on the side of what is coming, so that you don’t get so stuck to what is leaving that it holds you back. It is extremely human to want to cling to what was familiar and comfortable, and can feel a little like death to say a firm goodbye. The pain is increased when you have pieces of yourself on both sides while the door is closing (as you can imagine), so the practice will be to carry all of yourself across this threshold. 

This brings to mind the story of Lot’s wife, who became a pillar of salt when she looked back at Sodom as it was burning. There was some kind of longing in her gaze that decided her fate. The task of the moment is a refocusing of that longing for a past that was more comfortable, more predictable and carefree to the tasks of the moment—and there are many. What if we applied our longing to a future worth living in?

Ayurveda on Epidemics

As the world continues to unravel around us, I think it can be helpful to refer to traditions with deep roots for guidance and understanding. Vedic Astrology is one of those, as is Ayurveda. Ayurveda is the system of health associated with both Yoga and Vedic Astrology which has an enormous amount of perspective to offer when it comes to both epidemics and natural catastrophe. In the view of traditional Ayurveda, these two are related.

Probably the most referenced classical text of Ayurveda is the Charaka Samhita—a treatise on health covering everything from proper position and attitude required for a woman to receive the male ‘seed’ in order for pregnancy to occur (!) to extensive and detailed preparations of herbal formulas to address nearly any ill.

This text is ancient: dated to pre 2nd century CE (the tradition was alive in oral form long before that) and basically forms the root of the modern practice of Ayurveda. Charaka addresses epidemics and their causes and gives specific recommendations for maintaining health in such a situation.

Essentially, he says that the root cause of an epidemic is adharma, or acting against the laws of nature AND one’s own better judgement! He details the various characteristics of unhealthy air, water, land and seasons resulting from these repeated transgressions.

“Sins of the present life or the misdeeds of the past life are at the roots of the vitiation of all these factors viz., air etc. Intellectual blasphemy constitutes the origin of both types of sins. ...when the rulers of states, towns, cities and countries transgress the righteous path and rule their subjects by sinful means then their sub-ordinates and subjects inhabiting villages and cities, and merchants add to this sinful situation…Because of the disappearance of righteous acts, even the gods desert the people living in these places. Such are the places where seasons get impaired. Consequently either there is no rainfall in time or there is no rainfall at all or there is abnormality in the rainfall; air does not blow properly; there is abnormality in the earth, water (reservoirs) get dried up, drugs lose their normal attributes and get impaired. Then there is impairment of the country because of the impairment of the food and drinks.” Cha. Vi. 30/19-20

(Keep in mind that most of the classical Vedic texts were translated by the puritanical British who colonized India. So if the texts sound a little Christian, it is at least partially an issue of translation. )

There is a certain tipping point described where the accumulated ‘sins’ of a people or country become so enormous that the entire population is at risk. While I think a heavy dose of nuance needs to be added to the word ‘sin’ to de-Christianize its meaning, I think it is fairly obvious that the number, depth and persistence of collective transgressions against nature and conscience has everyone on earth in a pretty dire situation. And while the morally corrupt leadership is something that must be tackled over time, the “intellectual blasphemy” which is—according to this system of thought—at the root of the both epidemics and seasonal changes, is something that each of us can begin working with now.

This can be thought of as acting against your own consciousness, or what you know on some deep level. Actually these actions can become so persistent and normalized (both within your own life and socially/culturally) that we don’t even recognize that we might be acting against our deeper knowing. You can imagine how an entire lifetime and even generations of this type of behavior will result in a substantial disconnect from nature’s rhythms, intelligence and needs. So making the connection between collective adharma and epidemics/changes in nature’s cycles in not so difficult: we violate our own natures, disconnecting us from the Nature around us and arrive at the point where we don’t recognize a serious disturbance until it slaps us in the face (which it has to, to get us to listen).

So each one of us must figure out how to crawl out of the cycle of transgressions against nature. Probably the best way to do this is to begin offering. Ritual and offerings made to the various deities associated with Nature has been going on probably for as long as humans inhabited this planet. Some cultures still maintain these practices that are thought to feed Nature, making it so that She can also feed us. (more on this below)

Interestingly, among the changes in elements of nature (air, water, land and season)—changes in season i.e. climate change are considered to be the most serious, since the seasons are the container for the other elements.

Another classical author, Sushruta, also has something to say about this:

“As long as the seasons do not deviate from the natural course, the vegetables and water also remain normal; their use enhances prana, longevity, strength, vigor and vitality.

Their season’s catastrophes are caused by unforeseen factors. As cold, heat, wind and rain happens o be unnatural, they produce unwholesome effects on the herbs and water.

By the use of the same (abnormal food and water) onset of many diseases and outbreak of epidemics take place…

In such a contingency, change of place, pacifying action, atonement, auspicious rites, repeated recitation of sacred incantations, lighting of sacrificial fire, offerings, sacrifices, salutation with folded hands, penance, preceptors, and devotion to Gods, Brahmanas and the teacher should be followed; thus the well being is restored.” Su. Su. 6/15-20

Once again, I think it’s time to pray—but more for what is alive in Nature than for ourselves. Most of us in the Western world were probably not brought up with ritual or offering, so we usually have to invent some sort of practice, which often feels awkward and ineffectual. I think that Nature likes our awkwardness and even small gestures make a difference. Remember how much your mom liked those ugly rocks you painted for her in kindergarten? I think it’s like that: it’s the gesture that counts (at least at the initial stages). Vedic Astrology consultations can also suggest specific practices to feed the hungry places shown by your natal birth chart.

For taking care of personal health during an epidemic, Charaka suggests that “physical health should be maintained with such drugs (herbs) as are collected before the onset of epidemics…adoption of preventative measures, tranquility, protection of the self by mantra, etc., search for things as are good for the self…” Ch. Vi. 30/12-18

The idea is that daily maintenance of health is probably the best thing you can do to protect yourself from illness. We are again entering cleansing season (spring and fall), so you might consider doing a simple cleanse to relieve your body of toxins accumulated over time, particularly if you have been ill or exposed to environmental pollutants. My favorite easy and gentle cleanse is the Ayurvedic cleanse done (online) by Dr. John Douillard.

Mantra can also be very potent, particularly if it is personalized. This is also something I offer in the remedial measures that are part of every consultation. If you’re not into mantra then prayer of any kind is lovely, particularly if it is for the benefit of the world. Something as simple as spending a few minutes each morning with the thought “May all beings be happy” has an impact.