Category Archives: Consciousness Explored

Jupiter and Spirit

19 Wednesday Aug 2009

Posted by in astrology, Consciousness Explored, Jupiter, natal placement

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JupiterSometimes we just need to feel that aid will come; I don’t mean that we’ll be rescued, as this is an understandable wish under many conditions, but not a healthy response to real problems, in the end. No, I mean we all need to feel, when we are in the midst of despair, that there are others who will muster their Will for us, who will say, “We can tackle it this way, we can go at it that way, and you are not alone.” Astrologically we see this most strongly in a Jupiter transit; help can come in a variety of forms: assistance from the social sphere, from those who are ‘bigger,’ from those who feel generous toward us, from those who would like to share their knowledge, educate us, or inculcate us with their religious fervor, or from those who act out a Zeus-ian role, perhaps quite literally appearing to us as if they can do anything–and of course wherever Jupiter is by House and sign in the natal chart will hint at others who may be available to help us (for instance, Jupiter in Capricorn may consistently bring authorities to our aid, while Jupiter in the 9th could suggest help from in-laws, the clergy, or one’s teachers), and in synastry those whose Jupiter touches something significant in our chart (particularly the Ascendant, Sun, Moon, chart ruler, or Venus) may assume that they are meant to help us in time of need, even to be loving and generous at all times. And, withJupiter increasingly being recognized as active at death, we must also acknowledge that the transcendence this energy offers can go beyond earthly problems, bringing under the right circumstances, perhaps, the ultimate healing.

Why talk about this? If we’re in a dark period, the one thing we need to remember is that things will change; that is the essence of hope, that there is reason to persevere, and nothing represents this better than Jupiter. If we are under pressure now, we can look to its next transit point for clues as to where relief might be found (and even if we’re not, we can see where opportunity may present itself). Now, I’m very much someone who believes that the answers are within–but, I’ve found that when we seek to do our best at the interior level, when we are oriented toward a loving stance (and it’s not enough to just avoid doing harm, we must actively meet our challenges with honesty and openness and a pure, good intent), then we often find our exterior world aligning to provide that aid or guidance or assistance we seek. Jupiter can bring a lightning bolt of inspiration, as well, of a very practical kind–bits of knowledge coalesce and in a flash we see the answer to our problem, and we can easily access the accumulated knowledge of those who came before. So, with Jupiter’s influence we can expect an array of possibilities that can expand or open up choice and alternatives, can offer the information needed to deal with things, and can offer freedom, particularly the kind that comes when we find a successful framework within which to solve our problems.

Jupiter has connection to the spirit, as well–witness the way it defines the invisible social fabric that connects us all, the way it embodies the religious spirit (giving some a framework to relate to the spiritual and to All That Is), and the way it has come to designate the greatest and most mysterious journey we’ll undertake, death. Optimism, a spiritual freedom of its own, is very much a part of the Jupiter energy. In part 2 I’ll discuss the chart of someone who embodies the Jupiter we’ve discussed here, and who has made a life work of bringing aid, both materially and spiritually, to others.

Knowing, Not Knowing, and Everything Else

05 Wednesday Aug 2009

Posted by in Consciousness Explored

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Is prediction knowing what will happen, and sharing it, or is it a guess, educated or not? And what determines whether something will indeed happen–is it already a foregone conclusion, or can we change the course of things? Does an event remain, Shroedinger’s Cat-style, in all possible states, until observation? Is there only one path to events, with both true and untrue visions parceled out like signs along a road (the ‘true’ ones) and decoys leading nowhere (the ‘false’)? I don’t know, but this evening I watched a movie, ‘Knowing,’ that poses a couple of questions: can the future be known ahead of time? The film asserts that yes, it can–and, to follow on this premise it poses the question, if you know what will occur (in this case, the end of life on Earth), what can or will you do about it?

I thought it interesting (synchronicitous?) that this was the film that arrived in the mail today, considering that this evening was the final eclipse of this set, and that my own chart for it made me think of nothing but earthquakes (for the curious, here’s a link to the latest quakes worldwide http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.html) Of course, when I made my own prediction, I was well aware that the message I was getting via planet placement was likely a symbolic one (though it pays to take into account the chance of the literal)–and for myself, I intend to watch the coming six months (through to the next eclipse set) for symbolic seismic activity across the House axis where the eclipse fell (for me, the 1st/ 7th)–and I think everyone else should do the same.

So, does astrology allow us to know ahead of time what will happen? I, for one, think the answer is both yes and no (hey, I’m a Libra, cut me some slack!) I believe in free will, absolutely, but I see, in every chart I study, that there are patterns of behavior that we so identify with (natal placements) and respond to (the energy of a planet in transit) that it’s almost as if these responses send a wave out before they even occur, a wave that can be discerned before the point in time where the action’s placed, when the two, the natal placement and the transiting energy, connect. As we examine the individual and his or her proclivities as shown by the precise point in space and time when they entered this world (the natal chart), we can see a range of possible expression–but we never remove the factor of choice–it’s just that individuals, acting within the spectrum of character, will choose in a way that can be anticipated via the construction of the natal chart–and even the choice no one was expecting can be seen if we are looking for it, often hooked to the influence of Uranus, or to any energy that can manifest as destabilized within the chart, for instance, in hard aspect to Pluto.

Annunciation by Beato Angelico

Annunciation by Beato Angelico

So, is prediction of the future possible? I still say, yes and no (okay, I confess, I have four planets in Libra!) I think we follow the path we are most inclined to follow, one that allows us to express most characteristically, and that that is the essence of Fate: it is the expression of what is most characteristic to our own uniqueness as it interacts with every other form of energy, including other Beings, on this planet. In the movie, an extraterrestrial element took the puzzle outside of the parameters we deal with everyday; it implied we label the other world Beings we see as angels, and their whisperings as clairaudience, and somehow this took the fun out of it for me, operating as it did like a form of deus ex machina (angelus ex machina?) with the number puzzle ultimately being the whispered code of observers, rather than our own intelligence translating the harmonics of the Universe, represented by numbers that stood for those waves I mentioned, but this time generated by the whole human race, rather than a single individual. By the end of the movie, I knew that the end of life on Earth wasn’t something I was interested in knowing about ahead of time, if that was even possible; because, if one can’t do anything with knowledge, what’s the point?

See my books here http://dogandsunflower.wordpress.com

Hades, or Something Like It

25 Saturday Jul 2009

Posted by in astrology, Consciousness Explored, Pluto

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According to the best scientific data . . . the average and mean temperatures of Hell have risen 3.8 degrees since 1955. (Thus) occupants of Hell who in 1955 were standing night and day in boiling pitch up to their knees report that, owing to the expansion of pitch at higher temperatures, they now must endure the torment all the way up to mid-thigh, or even higher, during Hell’s warmer seasons.  –Ian Frazier,  The Temperature of Hell: A Colloquim from ‘The New Yorker’

Hell has been on my mind a lot lately, and not just because my computer crashed early Thursday morning and I spent the entire day trying to resurrect it. I was not successful, and it now sits, discarded, an emotional eyesore (“How could you?!”) on a side table. I went right out and got a new, sleek, smooth computer that actually seems to want to do what I tell it to–the only problem came when my new wunderkind was unable to run my Solar Fire–so now I’m in astrology limbo, armed with my trusty ephemeris, table of houses, pencil and paper, and whatever wits I have left after my epic battle to salvage my work–believe me, it’s a very small basket they all sit in.

I’m taking a few days off, then, from the world of push-button calculations (at least until the new program arrives next week) but I’m not exactly plunging in old school to working charts out by hand. Instead I thought I’d tell you about something that’s been going on for a while now, but which I only just connected the dots on. Let me preface my story by saying that I currently have transiting Pluto square my natal Mercury in the 8th,  sextile natal Neptune, also in the 8th, and trine natal Pluto in the 7th.

It started when I first noticed I was having dreams that didn’t make any sense. At least, they didn’t make any sense to me; theyPluto and Proserpina typically involved a feeling that I wasn’t ‘there’ at all. (And here’s where I should say, I’m no aello, who interprets dreams so effectively here http://dreamorpheus.wordpress.com/  In fact, I was on the verge of submitting at least one of the dreams to her when something clicked for me.) In many of the dreams I was an observer, but just as often I was a character in the dream, a person with a full history of which I was aware, who didn’t look or think or act like me, but whose life I was plunged into at what appeared to be a moment of stress (and the difference was distinct–I was vaguely aware, as David Byrne says, that ‘this is not my beautiful house, this is not my beautiful wife,’ while being extremely clear on ‘my’ past, and all the ‘whys’ of the present that would normally be fuzzy conceptions in dreamland at best) .

And this stress is what happened to be the key to understanding the entire sequence of dreams, because I realized that, though the situations were stressful for the individuals, they weren’t necessarily anything I thought was terribly difficult, threatening, or upsetting. For instance, in one dream I was a young woman living in Boston with my boyfriend, and the problem was a neighbor, a big tall man wearing basketball shorts, a headband on his ‘fro-ish hair, tall knee socks and a tank top (very ‘I think I’m an athlete’ a la 1977, the year it happened to be) who came almost daily to our apartment door while walking his brindle great dane; he would bang and bang on the door, demanding that my boyfriend come out to the park (a large open area behind the apartments)–apparently the boyfriend had made some objections to the man about his dog, as no animals were allowed in the building or the park area. This was causing an escalating stressful situation, as the couple was beginning to feel targeted, under siege in their own home by a man they believed was unbalanced. It was, in a word, their own special hell.

That’s what finally clicked for me: I realized that in each dream, I was seeing, and sometimes experiencing, a stress, a hell, very particular to the person in question. One more example will suffice, one where I was an observer, and this is the interesting thing with all the dreams: where the individual was known to me, whether personally or from the world stage, they were dead–and I had to wonder if I was indeed privy to their own unique version of hell, their lot in the afterlife.

In one of the observer dreams, I was at a small Midwestern US high school at the half time of a basketball game (and here I have to wonder, do I have some special association between the game of basketball and hell? Something to ponder!) There was a kind of popularity contest being voted on during this break–two girls stood in the middle of the court, and I knew that one of them, though she looked completely different, was actually Princess Diana (and I’m writing about how they stood “in the middle of the court” and think I was seeing her situation symbolically, translating ‘court’ to my non-royal way of thinking).

The outcome of the vote was announced, and Princess Di was not the winner; she began to sob. There was some comment that she was up against a ‘local’ girl, and that’s why the other had won–but she was inconsolable, crying that she was sure she was more popular than anyone else, that she should’ve received the crown. Though only All That Is can say for sure whether this is a true glimpse into the late Lady’s Soul, it’s not an improbable version of hell for her, given the events of her life.

I don’t claim to know why I’ve had this series of dreams, but will assume it’s to help me develop empathy, to show me how very specific and particular hell is for each and every one of us–and how, whether we admit it or not, hell is definitely a circumstance springing from our own choices, from the demands of the ego, where hell is decidedly of our own making.

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Thanks very much to all who commented on the Solar Eclipse article–I appreciate that each of you took the time to read and comment, and I apologize, I was unable to come to the site and answer in any timely way. It was a period of non-stop work for me (note to Self: any connection to explosion of computer? Naw!) –fun but exhausting–and now I have something of an enforced break until the new program arrives. Obviously, I won’t be posting a detailed Weekly Forecast, but I do have a few remarks on what to look for: Mercury/ Jupiter opposition for a few days at the end of the month=oh we want to talk! The pull to tell all we know, to learn, to expand the Self’s image (Leo), will be strong. Mars through Gemini assists, and with the Moon waxing this week the unconscious may push to expand its influence, as well. Expect the effects to run the gamut, from braggardly to scholarly, and for the ego to be (often sneakily) a more prominent motivating factor than usual–that means step back and ask yourself, In whose best interest is it that I believe (or swallow whole) what I’m hearing? That will make things clear.

And whatever you do, have a great week!

Neptune-Chiron: Projection, Hurt, and Ownership

12 Tuesday May 2009

Posted by in astrology, Chiron, Consciousness Explored, current events in the sky, Neptune

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The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian by Honore Daumier

The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian by Honore Daumier

At least since December, when Chiron and Neptune entered each other’s orb, we’ve seen an ongoing test of our connection to reality. Now, everyone has areas they’d rather not look at too closely, places in our lives where we keep our perceptions in soft focus around the edges. I’m not speaking of those things we accept or let pass or don’t inspect too minutely, out of an already full life plate, or the simple reluctance to admit something isn’t perfect–that’s not only human, it’s probably vital to healthy functioning, as we could be easily overwhelmed by too much detail, too many things to ‘fix.’ I’m talking about those few of us with a relational disconnect in the overall world view, where the individual’s idea of who they are, and who others are, is deeply and fundamentally off.

This conjunction was early on imbued with both a spirit of Self and aggression and a mentality that framed dissonance as a personal power struggle, with the transits of both Mars and Juno to this combo.

The energy became more prominent as Jupiter neared the conjunction of Chiron/ Neptune; its presence boosts the need to project, to broadcast, related ideas and concepts as a means of expressing one’s belief in them, and thereby, at least to the mind that’s confused, proving their validity–it’s a Self-righteous energy that feeds on belief/ faith in an ideal that does not correlate to the reality picture. Jupiter also brings in the social element, the possibility of reaching out and imposing the ideas in the social sphere, again as an expression of their ‘truth’–“I wouldn’t be able to say this publicly if it weren’t true!”

The big problem with all of this is, Chiron and Neptune both hold expression pitfalls for those who are prone to fantasy, delusion, obfuscation, as the conjunction marries the urge to embrace illusion with the primal wound, the sense of hurt that, if left unclaimed and unexplored by the individual, becomes ripe for projection, and that is essentially what we’ve been seeing the past few months, an insistent sense of victimhood which has taken (temporary) hold of a dispiriting few.

How do we sort ‘true’ victims (as there are those who suffer legitimately at the hands of others) from those who have simply taken the worldview that they are victims, fueled by the easy Self-empathy of a complete mis-perception of role, actions, or intents? One easy way is to ask, where does this person ‘live’? Is their sense of Self seated in a me (or us) v. them mentality, where they are ‘done to,’ where others have bad intent, where they are a crusader for good and right in the face of those who are insensitive bullies? In this regard, anyone who disowns the potential to be the aggressor themselves becomes a candidate.

This is not, on its own, definitive, as there certainly are bullies, insensitive louts, and those who mean us harm, and sometimes the world does divide up into sides. There are other factors that distinguish those who are suffering under this transit (and suffer they do, as the pain they feel is real–the problem comes with their clear misunderstanding of where it originates). One distinguishing trait is, they are the aggressor–they pick the fight, typically based on an indignant reaction to what someone else has said or done that violates their delusional sense of Self. Often this has been sought out–the Neptune-challenged individual goes looking for a savior, or at least someone to support their fantasy Self, and when the mirror the other person holds up doesn’t show them the illusion they expect–well it must be that person’s fault, right there–the reflection is wrong, the mirror is wrong, and the person holding the mirror is wrong–because, they firmly believe, it couldn’t be them–in fact, that’s a basic assumption they enter the situation with, that in no way are they misguided, or have anything to learn–a real irony when the situation is a teaching or guidance one.

It’s also common that the person they choose to blame is someone ‘safe,’ someone who will likely not reject them, or who is not involved in the real problem. It’s almost a form of scapegoating, the ancient practice of designating someone or something as the carrier of all the village’s problems and sins, and then driving the bearer out of town–in this case the ‘village’ being the Neptune-influenced individual, who does not recognize the internal schism that prevents acknowledging the problem as their own.

How do you know when you are dealing with someone thus afflicted? “You think” may be the first words of many of their sentences–they speak as if they’re psychic (Neptune, again!) and yet what you’re hearing has no relation to what’s actually in your mind or heart–and you quickly discover that contradicting them brings out the emotional flood, anger or hurt, one and the same. They come at you claiming a wound, blaming the hurt on you, and yet this doesn’t make sense–it’s like they’ve set off huge emotional smoke bombs, deflecting attention from the real source of upset, determined to extract energy, attention, and penance from the accused–and if you’re the accused, you may think they have a point–until you realize that you are not reacting from emotion, or a need to Self-defend, and that even offered apologies or clear explanations as to your intent are ignored–the individual has a stake in taking a stance that demands you accept their indignation, and that you be responsible for their hurt, even if it doesn’t make sense, and it’s the one-sided, punishing nature of the interaction that is your biggest and best clue that this person is under the Neptune/ Chiron spell, using you as a screen for projection and Self-justification. Even those who claim to speak for the oppressed can be subject to this–for just as likely that they are correct in their remarks is the possibility that they are taking a passive-aggressive tack toward judgment and blame, typically engaging in precisely what they accuse others of.

It’s a sad situation; it can bring to ruin perfectly good relationships, as the Neptune individual does not, will not, cannot allow themselves to see the imperfection in their reasoning–as that would require a release of the illusion of victimhood–and right now, for them, that just feels too good, too safe, and perhaps is the only way they can feel right.

And to those who may feel injury at the hands of others, it’s good to remember, that no one can injure you without your consent.

You may want to check out several of the excellent posts here http://questionofmindfulness.wordpress.com/ as they touch on the same topic, and offer some facets I might have missed.

Idealism in Action

09 Saturday May 2009

Posted by in aspects and placements, astrology, Chiron, Consciousness Explored, Mars, natal placement, Neptune, Pallas

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Two interesting and dynamic individuals take a stand http://wonderwall.msn.com/movies/mia-farrow-ends-fast–richard-branson-takes-her-place-1514520.story/?gt1=28145  I’ve written on both Farrow and Branson before; now I’ll post both charts and add extended remarks later. We can note, though, that both have that behemoth of idealism, Neptune, in Libra (others, or acting as a partner); Farrow has a natal Neptune/Chiron conjunction, perhaps stimulated now by the current Neptune/ Chiron union in Aquarius (group welfare, trine by sign), while Branson has a Mars/ Neptune conjunction, signalling the willingness to act on ideals. Farrow may be motivated as much by intense empathy as by anything else (Chiron), while Branson embodies the true activist whose actions follow his principles.

Both have a ‘warrior’ energy, he through Mars, she through a Pallas conjunction to the Chiron/ Neptune combo, and both have these idealism in action significators below the horizon, suggesting personal, internal motivations behind their efforts.

Mia Farrow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Branson

Is Your Love Conditional?

14 Tuesday Apr 2009

Posted by in aspects and placements, astrology, Consciousness Explored, relationship astrology, Venus

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Unconditional love is the love we’re all seeking, all the time, whether we’re aware of it or not, and in our ideal life, we’d be surrounded by it in every circumstance. But how often do we inspect the quality of the love we offer others? Often, we give it with expectations, assumptions, and qualifiers; and we may then ask, is it still really love? Yes, it is, it’s just that we may without realizing it hook needs of our own to loving someone else; ideally, we will in the course of a lifetime (or many!) learn to love purely, without those requirements or pre-conditions–but how?

Our expectations are often quite reasonable; for instance, we should expect to be treated well within an intimate relationship, as healthy Self-respect and Self-regard demand it. We run into a problem, though, when we say through our behavior, “I love him; he’s rude, arrogant, thoughtless, and cheats on me, but because I love him I must stay engaged in the relationship and try to change his behavior.”  This is based on the belief that everything would be fine if he would just conform to the mate’s expectations of treatment.We feel justified in demanding this because, well, we say we love him. But what we fail to realize is that love is beside the point; love can exist no matter the behaviors of any of the parties, it’s intimate relationship that’s where we must choose to be with those who treat us well–and we must do this by recognizing and accepting another’s behavior as it is, not as we think it should be.

Too often we are attracted to someone, draw closer, and then immediately begin to judge their attitudes and behavior. We feel that we can criticize and demand changes because we claim to love the individual–but what do we love if we don’t accept them as they are?

What we must learn not to do is tie our own willingness to love another to how they treat us, how they behave, or what they are out in the world; and we can only love another by seeing and accepting who they are. What I’m saying is this: we must learn to love without condition, even as we love ourselves enough not to continue in relationship with those who don’t love and respect us. It’s very simple: at the bottom of every successful and loving intimate relationship is a love for Oneself that says, “I love you no matter what; but to stay in intimate connection to me, you must continue to behave in a loving and respectful manner.” If the partner doesn’t treat us kindly, we can continue to love them, but we don’t need to remain in an intimate relationship with them–in fact, we cannot stay in intimate relationship with them if we love ourselves. Part of our weakness in loving both ourselves and others is to confuse the two, to believe that a love relationship exists even when our partner is behaving in an unloving way. It’s true that love may exist, but a loving relationship does not–and that is the heart of how we must choose our companions. It’s noble to continue to love someone who mistreats you–it isn’t noble in the least to remain open to, vulnerable to, and in intimate contact with someone who mistreats you. A truly loving attitude toward others is not based in how they treat us, but a relationship is.

One of the most mature and loving things we can do for ourselves is to recognize when we are in a close relationship where love and respect are not shown to us and to say, as Buddha is reported to have done when confronted on the path by an angry man, “I respectfully decline your gift of anger, and ask that you keep it for yourself.” You see, we may love someone, but just because they offer us something ugly or destructive doesn’t mean we must accept it. To subject ourselves to the unloving denigration of others is to treat ourselves in an unloving way–and if we don’t love ourselves, we don’t have love to give others–because we simply can’t give away what we don’t have, and if we don’t have a resource for ourselves, tangible or intangible, we are unable to share that resource with others. So, to remain in a relationship where we are treated badly is to be unable to love, since to continue involvement says we do not love ourselves, and so cannot truly love another.

Where do we find the conditions we might place on our love? In the state of Venus in the natal chart, of course, but also in the situation of the Sun, as this represents the Soul, the essence of the pure love known as life energy, and in the condition of Neptune, as representative of our ideals. The Moon, too, might give us useful clues, as significator of the feeling nature and the intuition, and the Moon, Venus, and Neptune elaborate on how we relate to others in intangible ways.

With these ideas in mind, let’s look at the chart of Clara Petacci, 29 years younger cousin and mistress of dictator Benito Mussolini, born 28 February 1912 at 10:15 AM Rome, Italy. Clara’s Venus sits on the Midheaven just minutes inside the 10th in Aquarius and conjunct ruler Uranus which sits in the 9th, making the love nature the most visible part of the Self, seen publicly and emblematic of the reputation, making it almost, unfortunately, Clara’s career. Being placed in Aquarius likely only confused the matter for her, as Aquarian Venus may mistake ideas for love, and values having modern attitudes toward relationship–and what could be more modern in tradition bound, early 20th century Catholic Italy than ‘free love’ (very Aquarian!) and status as an openly acknowledged mistress? clara-petacci

Her Venus rules the 1st and 6th, making it integral to the persona and to everyday interaction and activity. It trines Mars, ruler of the 12th, and here we have a suggestion that co-operation with the male energies in the life might be not only easy and comfortable, but an expression of love with origins in the subconscious (12th connection). The only other aspect for Venus is a semi-square to Juno, automatically linking Venusian subjects to personal empowerment as a woman. With so few contacts it may have been inevitable that Venus was able to express in only the handful of ways she knew how.

Her Moon is in Cancer in the 2nd, making for a sensitive and nurture-seeking and giving nature, the success of which likely was reflected in how she felt about and saw herself, a Moon expression more vulnerable than most to the emotional appeal of a mistress’ situation of caretaking and ‘special’ status. Her Sun is in Pisces conjunct Chiron in the 11th; this may have only reinforced the idea that she and her nature were the commodities she had to share with the world. It’s a hyper-sensitive combination and placement, to some extent dependent for identity security on feedback from friends and other allies, and likely imparting the feeling that she was very much synchronous with the Collective.

Her Neptune is, like the Moon, in Cancer, but in the 3rd, perhaps showing vulnerabilities in communication, and an idea that she may have felt connected to the Collective through thought and ideas–but it can also suggest she may have believed she knew what the Collective was thinking, and this is something she badly misjudged. At war’s end Clara Petacci suffered the same fate as her lover, shot, then the next day dragged through the streets, hung upside down, and mutliated by an angry mob, and I can’t help but wonder how shocked she must have been at the Collective she probably felt so much a part of, and which she was sure she understood, turning on her as all the things she valued through Venus came crashing down.

Clara Petacci clearly attached love to the world of concepts and ideas, to the subconscious, to animus energies in herpetacci-portrait life (and it appears she probably ceded her own animus to Mussolini, as well), and had a deep need to be loved and nurtured on both an individual and a larger, public level. Like all of us, she was looking for unconditional love and acceptance in the only ways she knew how. It’s rumored that in the last hours of her life she was offered the chance to go free, but she declined; and what kind of life would it have been for her if she had, having lost her Venusian status, the man who carried her animus, and her illusions about the nature of love and her role within the Collective? Clara confused her relationship with love itself, and in not sorting out the difference, would have suffered at the end of the war whether she’d gone on to live or ended her life as she did, at the hands of those for whom she was a symbol of the worst of Venus.

Please note, this article uses a Placidus chart for analysis. See my book on the astrology of intimate relationships at Dog and Sunflower Press http://dogandsunflower.wordpress.com

States of Being: Moon v. Neptune

12 Thursday Mar 2009

Posted by in astrology, Consciousness Explored, Moon, Neptune

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Sometimes we tend to lump all states ‘not conscious’ into one category; after all, if we’re not aware of them, what’s the difference? True, to some extent, and in some situations the concepts are interchangeable, though when we look closely, we notice some potentially big variations between the unconscious (Moon) and subconscious (Neptune).

I like to sort it out by thinking of the subconscious as containing material that’s close to retrieval, that in fact may have been gained consciously, or at least during a conscious state, and then stored, ignored, or ‘forgotten.’ These are things that motivate us, often with the (subconscious) intent of bringing the information or connection to the surface of the mind. Neptune represents this form of information storage; think of a wall shrouded by fog–that wall is plenty real when we run into it! And no less solid just because we can’t see it. If we ‘feel around’ we may find and identify the wall before it becomes a problem. We access it in dreams, reveries, creative and imaginative activities, and in the Collective emotional atmosphere; with the latter element we feel it in the air all around us. It’s the tenor of the times, showing us things about ourselves via a mechanism where our attention is drawn to those external items and incidents that are also part of our own internal state. This is the way we use the idea that ‘We are the Collective, and the Collective is Us.’ clem_earth_moon

With what’s unconscious, we are, for all practical purposes, disassociated from the material. It’s a ‘What, me?’ mindset, one that can be the source of very strong (and basic) motivations, but which carries no obvious connection to the thoughts or the life, at least for the individual; onlookers may see the patterns that spring from unconscious material quite clearly, however. It seems that what we cannot, for whatever reason, cradle consciously within the emotional reality, we must place in that portion of the Moon that contains the unconscious, a psychic version of the physics axiom that energy is never lost, it just changes form. In this case it disappears, but it’s influence is felt, though camouflaged in such a way that we do not recognize ourselves as the source. This information is difficult to access, only because there are usually reasons of Self-protection and need for a sense of psychic or mental/ emotional safety that caused us to place these perceptions where we did in the first place.

We can gain insight into the Moon’s unconscious aspects through the energies it aspects in the natal chart and its placement, through those who perform a Lunar function for us, or for whom we serve this function, in the matters of the House with Cancer on the cusp, and in some functions of the planets and points associated with Cancer in the chart. We might also, in a very subtle way, get a glimpse of this material just by looking below the horizon of the horoscope; this shows us what energies we may be more identified with, or that we may keep as assumptions about ourselves, and in this way they can link to either the subconscious of Neptune or the unconscious of the Moon.

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