Mars into Taurus- the Will to Stabilize

In the light of recent events, this title’s concept will likely be quickly felt. Felt in the right spot too. That is the mysterious space of the internal mileu, where good and bad are physiologically known.

It is through the avoiding of what’s bad, and the seeking and assimilating of what’s good that keeps us in a state of homeostasis. Just imagine what would happen if we always ignored that good drink of water when we were thirsty, or took no precaution to step out of the way of that bad oncoming city bus.

These value judgments are constantly at play, in every moment. They make themselves known to us through feelings.

Feelings are, according to neuroscientist and author, Antonio Damasio, “mental experiences of body states”. He talks about certain feelings as “basic homeostatic feelings”, in that they help to regulate the stability of our internal milieu. Homeostasis, as he talks about it, is a two-sided process. One side is the automatic unconscious physiological side, where the heart goes on beating, etc. but the other side is conscious. It is conscious by means of these basic feelings. These feeling can include hunger, thirst, malaise, wellbeing, pleasure and certain types of pain. These are feeling that can become known to us.

He makes a point not to confuse feelings with emotion. Feelings are the mental experience, the awareness of what you feel. Emotions are, as implied by it’s name, all about motion. There is a stirring in the body, you can see the anger on someone’s face, or the joy in a smile. Feelings may also cause stirrings within the body, but they are, by nature, more reflective. And they serve to keep us on track with “managing life”, or in other words homeostasis.

An interesting point that Damasio makes about homeostasis is that it is not only meant for survival, but also for flourishing.

He says , “life is regulated within a range that is not just compatible with survival but also conducive to flourishing, to a projection of life into the future of an organism or a species”.

Taurus is this fascinating mystery of homeostasis. The management of life that happens from within an internal mileu in a relationship of constant response and action to it’s world in which it lives.

This past week, television all over the US displayed shocking video of violent disregard for our own nation’s right to stability. Stability not just understood as surviving but a chance to flourish as well. Such flourishing can only occur by listening to the promptings of our moral understandings. Understandings, as Damasio suggests,. are deeply embedded in our very physiology. In our internal mileu. Where we respond to our world, in each and every magic moment.

Mars went into Taurus on January 6th, after 7 long months in Aries. It will move into Gemini on March 3rd.

Happy astro pondering!

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

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Metaphorcast for the week of Monday August 24th through Sunday August 30th

Virgo Season has begun, with its specific charm so homespun.  In the evenings you may notice an increase of space between the crickets chirps as the temperature starts to drop.  Count the number of chirps in 15 seconds and add 37- the number you get will be an approximation of the outside temperature.  The complexities of nature become astonishingly simplified by Virgo and her science.  From her close-up and studious vantage point, she peers into eternity.

Teilhard de Chardin describes evolution as process that leads to increasing complexity, and with this increase of complexity also comes an increasing of the “within”, a certain interiority, which forms the basis for all our knowledge- a consciousness, a spirituality, call it what you may.  On Virgo’s opposite end swim the fish of  eternity- the place of poetry and dreams.   Science measures the treasures of mystery- and the complexity finds its unity in simplified understanding.  Poetry does a similar thing but in reverse- as it takes the likeness of a moment, simple as it may be, and elevates it to what feels like a rightful divine status.  From mundane to miraculous.

Virgo Season is ripe with moments- small little droplets of time- measurements of life itself.  As novelist Cesare Pavese wrote “We never remember days, only moments.”

Moments are absorbed into memory, as sure as nutrients are absorbed into the body.

Moments are classified by the most authentic of scientists, who are in touch with the sacred privacy of their own interiority – their own inner space- constantly expanding as an appetite for learning increases.

Virgo days are comprised of complexity and simplicity.  In the most modest of moments may come floods of understanding- in the most complicated of scenes may come tranquility of thought.  Simple and complex- she wouldn’t have it any other way.  As Virgo Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe said “Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine.”

The science of that space between the crickets chirps may measure the temperature, but the poetry of the space elevates the moment- as the silence caresses a busied mind.

As Rumi said “In silence there is eloquence. Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves.”

Mercury, the planet of mind is strong and adaptable in its seasonal sign of Virgo.  Moving into a supportive trine aspect with the great awakener Uranus- a flexible outlook may lead to a breakthrough in understanding- as you make headway with the powers of Virgo-adaptability.  As writer Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand wrote “Like a kingfisher I have made my nest on the waves.”

Venus moving deeper into the waters of Cancer and receiving supportive aspects from both Jupiter and Neptune- the Goddess supported by Sky and Sea- is there nothing that love can’t do or be?  Chardin saw Love to be the agent of universal synthesis- and that with every increasing evolutionary complexity comes the growing unity of Love and consciousness.    

Mars representing the only fire in the sky- burning hot in the late degrees of Aries and making a dynamic square to Saturn.  An eager Will in a barroom brawl with Time itself.  Who will win? Maybe time will tell.  Maybe will will will.  Will ultimately comes out pretty strong over the dominion of time as long as we hold true to the power of the moment.  As Abraham Maslow said “I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act.”

Jupiter Saturn and Pluto all in Capricorn and retrograde- Pattern, Law, and Transformation all in the sign of Standards. A growing human race of complexity, a growing center of compassionate unity- Laws and Patterns that are in need of timely transformation.

Uranus in Taurus- the value of a moment

Neptune in Pisces- the growing space of within.

The Moon

The Moon starts the week off a waxing crescent in Scorpio, the sign of magic.  In the Season of the Maiden, this is simple magic, everyday magic, the beyond-logic realm of connectedness- encircling everyone with its web homespun.  Choose a thread, any thread, look at it but don’t tell anyone!

By Tuesday the Moon reaches its first quarter in Sagittarius, the high-flying horse of zest.  The sense of unity that comes form these elevated vantage-points, when patterns are perceived in full, and the business and noise seem so far away.  Such  a lifted perspective encourages optimism and sense of unity- The upward nature of fire and the cohesive nature of Love. 

By Thursday afternoon the Moon continues to wax gibbous in Capricorn, the sign of time and mastery.  Thomas Mann said “Order and simplification are the first steps towards mastery of a subject.”  In these late days of Summer, Virgo lights our sight with a snap of attentiveness- deeply absorbed in her orderly instincts- she flows naturally towards a goal of mastery, just as water molecules form beautiful hexagons under the influence of the cold.    

By Saturday night the Moon goes into Aquarius- the only air in the astrological line up!  The sign of Man- the water bearer- the consciousness sharer- the awakening awarer- Separating from the crowd while at the same time merging with a greater humanity- Complex with originality, simple with a shared human flame- As an interiority increases so does a range of response, an expanding spontaneity, a freedom of vision. Maybe in moments, we can experience shifts towards the Aquarian Age, as Consciousness grows and unites.

As Colin Wilson wrote, “Man does not yet exist.”

As Always, happy astro pondering

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

Neptune podcast: the song and the memories of the sea

Back! Back beguiling sirens!

The latest podcast is all about the seductive beguile of the planet Neptune.  Wherever Neptune is found in the birth chart is a place where the beauty and the spell of the sirens live within.

The collective unconscious is the ocean that lives within each one of us.  During dreamtime, Poseidon’s chariot is literally navigating us through an ancient world of memories, connecting to more memories.

Tune out and tune in!

PODCAST    –then scroll down to find the episode “Neptune, the song and the memories of the sea”.