There
have been many transitions in the first two
weeks of September, Venus is Direct again, Pluto
as well, and Saturn all of a sudden is in the
sign of Virgo. It keeps our collective
consciousness busy with health issues, in as far
as we have time for that, that is, because Virgo
also means a deep feeling of the holiday season
being over, and work needs to be done.
Fall
starts this year September 23 f0r the Northern
Hemisphere, and we are probably already feeling
it, since Saturn is out of the sign of the
summer itself.
We
had a workshop with astrology students on the
day that Saturn moved from Leo to Virgo entitled
"from play to work" with astrology. At
the exact moment of entry though, it appeared
that the welfare of animals is probably going to
be one of the larger issues of Saturn in Virgo.
(All we did was noticing what happened around us
at that time and true enough, animals,
especially those around the house, are ruled by
Virgo).
The
eclipse season is behind us meantime and we may
have to wait until the next Full Moon (September
26) to see whether more earthquakes (emotional
ones or literal ones) occur, but it looks like
the previous eclipse season was more at work in
our own private lives than in World-events. And
b.t.w not even unpleasantly so in many
cases!
Friday
September 21 Mars will opposite Pluto from
Gemini, It will give energy, excitement, passion
and aggression in some cases (verbally so). It
may be wise to be careful on the roads. Later
Venus will oppose Neptune that day which will
give a sense of idealism, inspiration and music.
Whatever, it looks like September 21 is the most
interesting day of the remainder of this month.
Text
of a speech for astrologystudents on the day
Saturn went into Virgo
Astrologers
have their own energy field from which they try
to live in the world. It is the field of Uranus.
On an inner level it is quite an attractive
energy, but on an outer level it is often the
realm of the outcast. Ever since
Uranus was discovered it has gone
downhill with the status of astrology in the
outside world. Astrology no longer was part of
the academic curriculum in universities, and no
longer part of the status quo. Prior to the
discovery of Uranus, Saturn ruled Aquarius, and
astrology simply was part and parcel of all
scientific studies and of the status quo. (Saturn
is the planet ruling the status quo / mainstream)
Those times will never come back, just like
airplanes will never leave our world anymore.
Because if we look at other Uranian professions,
those who do "make it in the world",
we arrive quickly at the aircraft industry or
space-travel industry. The funny thing about
this is that also these people move around
hovering "above" the world, be it
somewhat more literal than astrologers:-)
To
live as an astrologer, to work as an astrologer,
is to live in a tense field between Saturn and
Uranus, between the mainstream and the freedom
of individualization. That is the reason that it
makes sense to start with astrology on a part
time basis, and not throw the old shoes away so
to speak, until the radical moment in life where
you go entirely for astrology, a moment where
you decide that rather than keeping in alignment
with the needs of the establishment, you wish to
live your own life, and are prepared to pay the
price of "excommunication by the
society" for that. Just like any authentic
scientist who is no longer prepared to pay
lipservice to the political games and
unscientific selfprotecting behaviour of the
academic field of science. The field of tension
between Saturn and Uranus is the eternal tension
of living life in this world with its
necessities to take care of the worldly things
in one's life, versus the need to be free and be
oneself.
How
is it possible that in the western world a new
profession surged in alignment with Jupiter in
Sagittarius by the way, called "a personal
coach" or a "life coach" in such
tremendous quantities all of a sudden? It is a
profession that is not recognized by "authorities"
either like astrology. And we do the same kind
of work as them. The question is however whether
life coaches do it as well as astrologers, who
always were life coaches anyway, but than in a
manner fitting the individual person rather than
the trend of the times. Why are these personal
coaches a hype (Jupiter in Sagittarius:-), and
why do astrologers barely survive in the world?
In
the first place this is due to our techniques.
We are burdened with a history where many of us
seem to think we need to prepare 6 hours for a
reading, and then spend 3 hours in conversation,
in reality charging only 1 to 2 hours work (in
Europe that is). Thus today we start a
course in "fast readingof a chart" (which
is btw what the workshop was about this day).
But
in the second place it is due to the fact that
astrologers really have a Uranian profession and
not Jupiter-like alone such as a"life-coach".
Jupiter is freedom in the world. Uranus
is freedom from the world. Jupiter
is success in the world, Uranus is evolution to
the truths within. Jupiter/Uranus in combination
is a good one for making it in the world as an
astrologer:-) So this real Uranian
profession is a bit of a black sheep profession,
which at least over here in Europe, for a long
time was conducted by people who also did not
make it in the world in another manner. If you
don't make it in the world normally, why should
you make it in astrology? So we see many people
rummaging around in the margins with astrology,
which is even more so the case with
tarotreaders, numerologists and palmreaders,
whose sole contribution to the world of business
in the previous years was entertaining employees
of companies at parties. A hype which also is on
its return already. In any case all of this does
not provide for a climate which is attractive
for the current generations of people who are
professional, businesslike and success-oriented
(with Pluto in Sagittarius currently). I realize
that in America situations are different. There
is no social structure there for people who do
not make it in the world, so everybody works
over there the hardest way possible, just to
survive, and also in astrology. It has
created more professionalism in astrology than
elsewhere in the world, but on the other hand,
they suffer as much from being outcasts as
anywhere else, considering the fact that they
always seem to busy themselves with the fact
that there is no academic acceptance of their
craft and in spite of the fact that we live in
modern times, some of the states in America live
in medieval times even where astrology is
forbidden.... So we do have vast cultural
differences)
However,
coming back to the Uranian nature of the
profession of astrology, astrologers indeed do
need to live and pay energy bills and taxes as
well. Just like people who would like to forsake
the world for their spiritual path, the tension
between the Uranian and Saturnian fields remain.
The fact of the matter is, that as astrologers
we hardly have any successful rolemodels of
practicing this profession and making a decent
living of it. Actually, this is the problem I
have concerned myself with over the past ten
years. To be succesful in a profession it is
best to surround yourself with others who are
successful in that profession. But astrologers
hardly have rolemodels here, on a societal level,
many of us are losers to be quite blunt.
Hardly anyone in astrology earns enough to share
and give. So, much of our knowledge is kept for
ourselves alone in a cramp and fear of surviving
ourselves. There are no places to learn
the art and craft at another astrologer's
business, or hardly. With this we can ask
ourselves the question, is astrology in reality
a profession? Should we want to make a
profession out of it?
Now
that Uranus is in Pisces, maybe it is time to
make some choices, confronted with the fact that
Uranus is now in the last part of the
zodiac above the horizon (symbolizing the world)
and will retreat below the horizon from 2010
onwards (somewhere around , I think from an
ISAR conference, there is a tape which can be
bought from a lecture I did once on the recent
history of astrology in the western world and
the movement of Uranus around the horoscope,
with Aries on the Ascendant). Should
we even want to practice astrology
professionally or are there other ways? We then
need to split up between the "world"
with its demands and make our money a different
way, and be astrologers on "the inside"
only. Yet, with that, nothing has changed then
from the previous century where astrology always
was practiced like that and where we lead double
lives.
In
both cases however, and in as far as I can see
it properly, something is needed that is very
fitting for the upcoming Pluto in Capricorn
trend, and now Saturn in Virgo. And that is the
necessity to stop rummaging around in the
margin, and take ourselves seriously. To stop
having the world walk all over us now that
Uranus is in Pisces. For that the world does so,
is a fact. So we can do two things, retreat from
the necessity to keep making it in the world, or
turning within and rediscovering the inspiration
and soul of astrology within somehow and then reinvent
ourselves when Uranus gets into Aries from 2010
onwards.
Everyone
will have to come to some decision for
themselves, with how we want to live in the
world as astrologers. My plea today is for the
most part to whatever choice we make, take
ourselves seriously and stop expecting the world
to take ourselves seriously if we don't even do
that ourselves. If we are after recognition from
the mainstream, or after recognition from
academic sciences, we keep weakening ourselves.
We have not found our way within society and the
question is whether we ever will, given the fact
that we are determined by the energy of Uranus
and therefor live a little "distant"
from the world. So it is useless to seek
external recognition. How can we strengthen
ourselves, stop giving authority away, take
ourselves more seriously? By understanding that
each time t hat we have a deep conversation with
a client, we provide an amazing service,
something unique, something that the client
can't get anywhere else! We have to upgrade our
selfrespect in other words, and stop having the
world walk all over us or even allow them to do
so by invoking it with all the cheap commercial
websites with sunsigns and what have you
alongside pornography sites so to speak. (And ps
I am not even against sunsigncolumns as such).
I
admit that much of these realizations have been
strengthened by the fact that my computer got
infiltrated earlier this year, I had a case of
identity theft, and misuse (plagiarism) of my
work. So I went into a revolt and took my
website out of the air for some time. How
fitting for Uranus (astrology) and Pisces (going
on strike:-) I'd rather work on an airport
then.... I have a Uranian colleague with
much of the same experiences be it in her own
way who also reached the same conclusion and
"gave up". So we are "giving up"
now that Uranus is in Pisces, but this giving up,
is a kind of silence before the storm, a silence
before a new beginning, a new timeframe, where
we will reinvent ourselves. Because if
astrologers fall under Uranus, they now
collectively are in the 12th house (equaling
signs with houses), the house of imprisonment,
the house of hospitals, the house of isolation...
and if you are as a studying or even practising
astrologer shocked by these statements then know
that 1) this is all "in general" and
you do have a birthchart of your own.... but 2)
this conclusion is historically exact.
If
I look at the dynamics of the Saturn transit
cycle (described at length in my book which
unfortunately has only been published in Dutch
but is around on various tapes from
various conferences in English) I can
have a look at what it means when Saturn
transits the Ascendant coming from the 12th
house. It is also the phase where someone
reinvents him-or herself. In the 12th house
phase we unconsciously solve a lot of karma of
an unknown and sometimes collective past, and
more over, we come to the conclusion that our
life no longer is our own, we are being lived
instead. Because adjusting to external needs
started with Saturn crossing the Descendant and
is turning to a peak, as well as a final phase
with Saturn leaving the hemisphere above the
horizon soon in this 12th house. From the
moment Saturn hits the Ascendant (in zodiacal
terms, the 0-Aries point), we become conscious
of the fact that we have a personality of
ourselves and start to reinforce that from that
moment onwards. Oftentimes I will say to
someone who has Saturn nearing the Ascendant but
still in the 12th house, and having relationship
issues, that now the time is coming to stop
twisting yourself to suit another one's needs
and only accept relationships where you can be
yourself.
If
we apply this to astrology and the zodiacal
transit of Uranus, then apparently (and as usual,
grin) I am far ahead of my times, because only
from 2010 onwards we will need this idea for us
as astrologers. First comes the message to take
ourselves more seriously.
When
Uranus entered Pisces in 2003 I lectured to a
group of students on a boat (of course we
specifically organized it on a boat:-)
that astrology would move into a direction
completely different from mainstream
expectations in astrology, because everybody
thought that astrology now would make it in the
world of academics (with Kepler college) and in
the world of business. I saw these students
looking very disappointed. Fortunately I could
tell them that they have a chart of their own,
as well. And everything depends, in
essence, on how much we are allowing the "world"
to determine our lives. The "world"
can adjust themselves to us in the near future:-)
Whatever,
Saturn leaves Leo today and enters Virgo. We
move from playing around to work... but as
usual it can only happen if we do not give
Saturn (authority) away, and internalize it
first.
Joyce
Hoen DF Astrol S (©) September 2, 2007.