News - Planetary Energies Autumn Equinox 2008

Here in England we’ve finally had a week of dry weather, and the fields are humming with combines gathering in the harvest that has at last had a chance to dry out. We are still in the harvest window energetically, the period in between Lammas and Samhain when we take our wares to the market, (literally or symbolically), consider our creativity and use of energy, and use the zest of summer to complete projects.
The last New Moon (August 30) was conjunct Saturn in Virgo and this has set the tone for a month which for many has been a period of hard work and tough decisions.

The next New Moon (September 29) falls at 7 Libra and squares Jupiter, indicating extravagance and general buoyancy. Certainly a lot more fun than Moon conjunct Saturn! But insufficient realism can be a problem, and over-reaching is a possibility. Whichever way it plays out, October looks to be a more upbeat month than the hardworking, belt-tightening one we have just been through.



The Autumn Equinox This Year

The Autumn Equinox is exact this year in the Northern Hemisphere on September 22 at 11:45 am Eastern, 8:45 am Pacific, 4:45 pm GMT, 5:45 pm European Time. Day and night are of equal length. Symbolically the equinoxes are times of equal balance, and the Autumnal Equinox, occurring at the juncture between Virgo and LIbra, is a time for making clear-minded decisions that balance our lives more healthily and harmoniously.

At the Equinox the Sun enters Libra, where Mercury, Venus and Mars are already situated. It’s a good time for a party, for beautifying something, and for falling in love. A couple of days later, on Sept 24, Venus enters Scorpio, and the atmosphere gets more passionate.

At the Equinox the Moon is in Cancer, so it’s a good time to be at home with loved ones. Venus sextiles Pluto, right at the tail of Libra and Sagittarius respectively, an aspect which is good for creativity, making money, and getting to the heart of relationship issues.



The Planets September 22 – October 31

The two eclipses of August, combined with the turning direct of Pluto and Jupiter, the conjunction of Neptune, Chiron and the North Node, and the September New Moon conjunct Saturn, all combined to take us on a roller coaster ride for the past six weeks, culminating in the financial shenanigans of recent days. It’s a time for shedding that which is no longer required or no longer works, and the more actively we have engaged with this process the better off we will be.

The rest of September and October should be calmer, as there are no major aspects or changes in direction of the heavy-duty planets, and the New and Full Moons don’t make intense aspects with outer planets.

Mercury is retrograde from Sept 24 to October 15, so delays and glitches in communication need to be allowed for. Plans made and contracts signed during this phase may have to be revised later. While Mercury is retrograde the affairs of the world tend to slow down, so we’ll get a chance to integrate all the changes of August and September.

Venus is in Scorpio for this period, from Sept 23 to Oct 18, which traditionally is seen as a time when passions are deepened. The positive side of this is increased intimacy and connection, the shadow is obsession, possessiveness and jealousy.

Mars is in Libra until October 4 when it joins Venus in Scorpio. So from Oct 4-18 passions are heightened all around.

Venus makes a series of aspects from Oct 5 – Oct 11: sextile Jupiter and Saturn, trine Uranus and square Neptune, complicated by squares from the Moon in Aquarius. The weekend of October 11-12 is particularly intense as the Moon adds to the mix, being in Pisces and trining first Mars and then Venus. This second week of October is the most romantic period of the next six weeks, but not without complications. Mercury is stationing so there may be miscommunications and misunderstandings, issues with exes and old relationships returning for a replay. The Full Moon on Oct 14 is in impulsive Aries, yet Mercury is standing still. Look before you leap!



Notes on the World

So, Pluto at the end of Sagittarius turned direct on September 8, and Jupiter turned direct in the sign of Capricorn, and all hell let loose in the world financial markets.

We are teetering between Sagittarian optimism, with people saying it will all be sorted out in a year (“look, the governments will handle it by bailing out sick companies”), and Capricorn caution (”hang on, this is going to take a decade to sort out”). With the knowledge of astrology, I fall in the latter camp. Pluto brings deep change. Our current problems are at least partly rooted in the inadequacy of unbridled capitalism as a system and this is unlikely to get sorted out overnight. Plus, the Uranus Pluto square (explained in more detail below) is effectively operational until 2017.

The changes we are seeing now involve several astrological factors. The first is Pluto’s shift into Capricorn and the change in collective energy from Sagittarius (boom and confidence) to Capricorn (caution). The second is Jupiter’s year long stay in Capricorn this year. And the third is the upcoming square between Uranus and Pluto.

Pluto rules big amounts of money (plutocrats and plutocracies), long cycles, death and rebirth. The sign it transits appears to influence the underlying collective mood, and the sign of Capricorn rules big business, government, ad social organization and bureaucracy. Jupiter rules ideals and philosophies, among other things, and influences levels of enthusiasm. Uranus brings the unexpected, and liberates old patterns of thought.

The stock markets and indeed the whole infrastructure of money under capitalism rests on confidence. Much of it is an illusion. With Pluto in Sag, and especially when Jupiter was there too, in 2006 - 7, confidence was at an all time high. Now that Jupiter is in Saturn’s sign of Capricorn, and with Pluto hovering on the cusp, caution is replacing exuberance.

Uranus and Pluto are square from 2011 – 2016, but given the orb of influence, we are probably feeling this already. The last time Uranus and Pluto were square was 1931-1935, when Uranus was in Aries and Pluto in Cancer. These were the years of the Great Depression and the rise of fascism in Europe. This time Uranus is again in Aries, (worryingly, as this sign is associated with militarism), and now Pluto is in Capricorn, sign of finance and government. There will be yet more regulation, but let’s hope it makes life better by regulating the sharing of wealth in more equitable ways.

The lessons of history can help us to some extent (beware excessive militarism and charismatic leaders, for example) but at the same time, the world is different in several crucial respects than it was in the 1930’s and Pluto acts differently in Capricorn than in Cancer. So while it is useful to pay attention to the past and learn from it, we must also stay very present to the moment, doing whatever work we feel called to do in good heart, and resisting the temptation to take refuge in simplistic solutions — in neither doom and gloom, or Pollyanna-ish optimism.

That said, it’s hard to get way from the historical evidence that Uranus and Pluto squaring is one of the most difficult of the outer planet cycles. Uranus square Pluto puts the individual in conflict with the collective, and particularly the unconscious elements of the collective. Revolution and deep social and economic change are signified.

It’s a collective wake-up call. There is no way to sugar coat this. We are walking into difficult times. But we have enormous abilities at our disposal. Our humanity, our caring for each other and for the planet, will see us through and enable us to create a better world out of the issues that rise to the surface under the tension of Uranus and Pluto.

Pluto in Capricorn has coincided in the past with great flowerings of culture, often, it has to be said, encouraged by a despot of one kind or another (Charlemagne in the eighth century, Kublai Khan in the thirteenth, Suleiman in the sixteenth, Catherine the Great in the eighteenth). There’s a history of deep financial changes during these eras that brought much greater wealth long term, which fits with Capricorn.

Meanwhile, we have something to look forward to later this year: Jupiter is approaching its problem-solving trine to Saturn in mid-November, just around the time the Hadron Collider is scheduled to be back in service. With this trine occurring in Earth signs, maybe we’ll figure out some secrets of the universe, fix at least some of our collective financial woes with some realistic but clever thinking, and in our individual lives, find solutions to practical issues.

Source : planetaryenergies