I Love Springtime in a Paradigm Shift

Though every moment in time is new, and every breaking day is as well, there are some times when new is even newer. Springtime is an example of extra newness. So is the beginning of a new age.

On March 23, 2023, just days past the spring equinox, powerful Pluto moves into Aquarius where it will stay until it retrogrades back into Capricorn for the summer, and then back for good by the fall.  Pluto will continue traveling in Aquarius until the year 2043!

History itself can become new through the eyes of foresight. The last time Pluto traveled through Aquarius was at the end of the ‘long 18th century’ better known as the Enlightenment. Scientific discovery was yielding so much exciting truth, it filled the atmosphere with questions. Both the French and American Revolutions occurred at this time. There was an unprecedented atmosphere of ‘thinking for oneself’. For their salvation no longer was in the church, but somewhere else.

This period gave way to the Romantic era of the 19th century, which pushed back against the Scientific reductionist view. Poets such as Wordsworth and Blake insisted on the ‘aliveness’ of nature; a potency beyond the measurable world. The only way of knowing this potency was through one’s private viewpoint; thus the spirit of individualism carried its way deep into the heart of the artist, which is everyone’s birthright.

Over 200 years later, we find ourselves in a new atmosphere that demands a new kind of “thinking for ourselves”. It used to be that physical space and imaginal dream space were the only spaces in which we could move about. Now, digital space is such a part of life that it has one questioning the nature of reality in a new way. We know we want connection, but we also know that connection is not a game of numbers. What is it that we seek? New ideas and old ideas are more accessible than ever. Less accessible are the instincts of nature that we are not only born with but born for. We were meant to perfect these natural powers of creativity and productivity and carry them to new heights and depths.

We navigate the digital space everyday amidst a sea of screaming salesmen wielding a thumbs up. The paradoxical freedom and alienation of a digital age is similar to the freedom and alienation of the Enlightenment. People were free of the church’s authority, yet alienated from a familiar and secure worldview. 

But the alienation is productive. It drives one towards a stricter grasp of what is meaningful and towards what is real. Some very interesting modern physicists argue that time is the realist thing in the universe.

Time’s arrow moves forward. Within every emerging moment is the spirited reality of newness. 

The question becomes not ‘what is life’ but rather: how do you want to live in a world that is, in essence, a continual Springtime?

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Toroscopes for March 2022

Aries

It’s that time of year again, Aries, when life renews itself by beginning again.  At your most infinitesimal level you are, by nature, a self-renewer.  You are a self-renewer in your commitment to beginning again.  Such a commitment is grounded in the ultimate reality, a reality that extends farther and deeper than science and perception.  It is the reality of the spirit.  The only thing that really matters in this reality is that the spirit keeps growing, come whatever may.  It grows by embracing all experience through the grace of love, and it aims to build something truly substantial.  By the 20th, spring will be here, with you as its cosmic ambassador.  Just lead the way!   

Taurus

Agents Mulder and Scully followed the belief that “The Truth is Out There”, and this month, Taurus, you would be wise to follow suit.  Your totem planet Venus is fired up with Mars, and by the 6th, these passionate seekers will leave the earth-born reality of Capricorn for the air-born reality of Aquarius.  The air-born reality of Aquarius says that the truth is indeed out there.  The truth is not in your head.  The truth is not relative to other things.  The truth is not subjective.  The truth is not an opinion.  The truth is out there, in the world, for all to share.  You may think something is a certain way but unless you investigate its reality, out there in the world, in your town, down your street, in your backyard, it remains unverified.  What truth are you hungry for?  Can you go out there and find it?

Gemini

Important events have likely demanded serious attention from you this year, Gemini.  The New Moon at the beginning of this month marks a crescendo of serious attention, as your planet will join serious Saturn in Aquarius, the sign of far-reaching possibility.  If you can manage to be serious about expanding your ideas of possibility, this next month will be ripe with rapid exchanges of new information.  By the 9th, your planet will be in Pisces, and information will come by means of rich feeling, you must allow yourself to be moved.  By the 20th, you will be ready to act on something, as your planet moves into Aries.  Turn your moments into momentum, Gemini, information in and information out! 

Cancer

It’s funny to compare the inner life of a person to the outer expanse of the universe, but for Cancers, this is a most natural association.  Sometimes, in the right conditions, with the right people perhaps, or the right smells in the air, or the right type of lights twinkling, an immensity is felt; an inner immensity that confirms life’s bigness.  The New Moon on the 2nd and the Full Moon on the 18th will be excellent opportunities to stretch rich moments from your innermost beholding to the outermost reaches of the universe.  Go big and go home.

Leo

Vacations don’t only restore by providing a space to rest and relax, they also restore by providing a space that is different and other than what you are accustomed to.  Your personality gets a vacation too as it basks in the otherness of a different environment.  A new street inspires a stroll instead of a hustle, a new breakfast ritual inspires a savoring instead of an uneventful hour.  This month, divert as much as you can from your norms, and take as much in as you can from opportunities that offer you fresh roads and routines.  By the arrival of spring, your engine, having received its tune up, will be ready to roll.                                             

Virgo

As experts of breaking down complex topics into smaller parts, Virgos manage to simplify and strategize like no other sign.  The astrophysicist knows how to work with outer space, which for most of us is a baffling infinity, and does so by breaking down the immensity into smaller, more understandable parts.  But what about the grand sweeps of innerspace?  The baffling infinity of the self?  How might one break that down without losing a sense of wholeness?  The answer is this:  Virgo must self-analyze only with the intention of re-creating the self.  This is the most basic principle of existentialism, the examined life that is very worth living.  A Full Moon on the 18th might provide some more light    for such potent analysis.

Libra

Yours is the sign of the keen observer whose still waters perfectly reflect the world around it.  You take people as they are, and build off of what they give you, in other words, you have the ability to be quite charming.  But lately, there are ripples in these waters.  There is heat in the kitchen.  There is a bursting forth to meet reality on a higher level, where sunflowers blaze like a Van Gogh painting, words carry their mysterious histories, and people’s souls shine bright through their eyes.  No need to lose your footing with such intensity of course, just let the beauty renew you, so you can renew others as well in your oh-so refreshing Libra way.

Scorpio

Honest to goodness, Scorpio, have you bit the proverbial gold coin lately just to find that it was indeed authentic?  And not to say that you are now rich, but rather in the immediate presence of something real.  When things are undeniably real, and important, energies are awakened from the deepest reserves, and this is where you shine, Scorpio.  Yours is the sign of summoning slumbering vital energies.  Your body is renewing in a direct relation to the reality that you grasp.  Make sure you remember your role and reality’s role though; you are the hero and it is the landscape.

Sagittarius

Allen Ginsberg said that the poignancy of a photograph comes from “looking back to a fleeting moment in a floating world.”  Your high-flying tendencies have been on the frequency of a buoyant float ever since your totem planet Jupiter entered Pisces at the end of last year.  Perhaps this has to do with a maturing, more reflective attitude, a more in depth awareness of time fleeting.  With such an awareness, a floating world is not a world in which you have less control, but a world in which you are more open to its width and depth.  It’s a world that you gladly relinquish a constant flexing of control so that you may be influenced best where to turn next.  The New Moon near Jupiter on the 2nd might provide some clues.  

Capricorn

What is the difference between the words true and real?  Is a true statement the same as a real one?  A real sandwich the same as a true one?  It is said that in general, ‘real’ pertains to things that exist physically and ‘true’ applies more to concepts and facts that can be verified by ‘real’ things.  But for you Capricorn, at the turn of this Season of winter, I encourage you to experiment with using true and real interchangeably.  Look earnestly at your situation, and see what is real about it, what is true about it, and how you may have been fooling yourself with false beliefs.  If you have to start with a hard look at your sandwich and the meaning of its existence, that is fine.  

Aquarius

Ever since your totem planet Uranus entered Taurus in 2018, your aspirations seem to be building on eachother like legos with a lofty blueprint.  This transit will last until 2026, and in the meantime, other transits will play with that ultimate elusive dance of timing.  As spring charges in this year, so does the dynamic duo of Mars and Venus, as they will enter your sign together on the 6th of March.  This is a passionate affirmation of Aquarius’ gift, which is the gift of seeing patterns that exist in the world and holding them as true in your heart.  The sun rises each day.  Birds sing in the spring.  Blossoms bloom and then leaves fall off.  Light makes shadows which better enhance the nature of the light.  Welcome these relations with all the poetry in your heart and you will see a clear path ahead of you.  

Pisces

Don’t be surprised if you find others looking to you for guidance this month.  It is a most spectacular time of year, with Jupiter the planet of expansion and Neptune the planet of dreams both in the soft atmosphere of your cosmic hometown that is Pisces, the season we find ourselves in now. Not everyone knows how to recieve things with an open heart, or intuit things without a sense of being an imposter.  Not everyone knows how to, in the words of Sir Paul McCartney “let it be.”  Your naturalness will be in demand for sure, but also, open yourself to gathering more trust in this sacred flow state of the fish.  An important feature of this is to never forget to register, realistically, the feedback that finds you from the actions you take.  Gather clues  from a special New Moon in your sign on the 2nd.       

A Very Verdant Verity! Spring Begins.

On Saturday, March 20th, at 5:37 am, the Sun will move into Aries, commencing the vernal equinox, the long-awaited first day of spring.  

Buckminster Fuller said, “I seem to be a verb.”

There is some very verdant verity embedded in these words, and in this time of year, when life becomes obvious again. As the green takes back over the scene, we might ask ourselves, where does spring begin within?

Where is the verifiable and veracious place inside from which we renew ourselves?

From his last written book, To Have Or to Be? psychologist and philosopher, Erich Fromm described two primary modes in which people orient themselves to the world: the “having mode” and the “being mode”.

The “having mode” is based upon possessing and owning, whereas the “being mode” is more about “aliveness” and “authentic relatedness to the world”.  

He writes that modern society has become overly materialistic, and prefers “having” to “being”.  He sees this leading to a loss of one’s inner self.  An out-of-touchness with one’s own inner activity. 

Of the two modes he writes,

“Having refers to things and things are fixed and describable.  Being refers to experience, and human experience is in principle not describable.”

He asserts that in every mode of life, people should ponder more on the “being nature” and not towards the “having nature”.

“The mode of being has as its prerequisites, independence, freedom, and the presence of critical reason.  Its fundamental characteristic is that of being active, not in the sense of outward activity, of busyness, but of inner activity, the productive use of our human powers.” 

Happiness, from the having mode lies in “superiority over others”. From the being mode, it lies in “loving, sharing, giving.” This is the very verdant peace and naturalness of green. The ease on our eyes and in our hearts. No games, just truth. Just aliveness, in relating to the aliveness in others and the world, and not in some deadened status-charade.

Is this why the Ram’s horns turn inwards?  Inwards to a place of verdant inner activity?  Towards a true and vernal orientation?  The place where “I” is a verb? Life is you, you are life?

Novelist Charlotte Perkin Gilman said “life is a verb not a noun.”

Some scientists now believe that life may have begun on Mars, symbolically the primordial verb.

A very verdant verb indeed.  Verifiable in the vernal internalness.  

Happy first day of Spring and as always, happy astro pondering!

Astro Art by Johnnie Day Durand.

https://www.happyastropondering.com/