Aug

17

Twelfth House Moonwork

Filed Under Natal chart factors | 14 Comments

dog-runningNothing beats the joy of watching my dog Jupiter come running through the field, ears flying and tongue flapping on his happy face! I said this to myself an hour before he was suddenly and mysteriously limping in pain. I’ve visited the vet too often this year, and no matter what the malady, it’s always a minimum $300. This time it’s arthritis, which I’m confident we’ll resolve, as we have his other troubles. I’ve heard that dogs absorb their owner’s karma, dutifully taking karmic bullets for their masters, in which case Jupiter has been working overtime this year, with skin infections, epileptic seizures, and now arthritis in the hip. He’s taken pills, worn a cone, and will soon get massages and energy treatments. I am grateful. Even so, I couldn’t resist throwing a tantrum in the veterinarian parking lot after laying out yet more money I didn’t have to spend.

I have a Leo moon, which means I’m emotionally dramatic. But it’s in the 12th house, which means I try to compose myself with spiritual dignity and pretend I have no feelings. Those of us with 12th house moons have a long journey with our feelings. First we learn that no one wants to hear about them. We stop our crying to study the emotional rise and fall of our caretakers, endeavoring to keep them happy so we might be so. This is about as efficient and successful as a Rube Goldberg machine. So finally, much later, after we’re well-launched from our childhood home, we learn to take our eyes off others and begin the excavation of old energy in the body, digging up and releasing everything we pretended not to feel. This can take a long time, but it’s a wonderful initiation into the intricasies and power of the emotional life. The 12th house becomes a temple and we the priest or priestess who finally takes our feelings seriously. That means no emotion is too small to warrant tending–with a little insight, sympathy, humor, and creative ritual.

When I got home and contemplated my bank account, rather than shovel disappointment into the receptacle of my heart, I placed a black candle on my altar and briefly wailed, “Oh woe is me! Oh woe! I had to pay another $300 to the vet! Oh woe!” Then I lit the candle to hold vigil for my grief. Within an hour my grief had moved lightly on, and the next day, Jupiter was again joy-ing my heart as he went running through the field.

Aug

7

Mars as big as the Moon!

Filed Under Astrology trends | 1 Comment

mars Nah. Mars never did get as big as the Moon… back in August 2003 when it came within 35 million miles of Earth, its closest approach in 60,000 years. But now, every August, sure as the blackberries start ripening, the “Spectacular Mars” emails start circulating, and I hear from excited clients wondering how this whole Mars thing will affect them. The truth is that Mars draws close to Earth every two years and it was relatively closer in August 2003. I remember watching it from a lawn chair with a martini in hand. Mars hung low in the night sky, a fuzzy reddish-orange star. Even a second martini couldn’t grow it anywhere near the size of the Moon.

Mars rules action, aggression, and war. In March 2003 Bush invaded Iraq; in May he declared his mission accomplished; by August, as Mars stared down at us, the chaos was in full swing, remaining so even as Mars wheeled away. In August 2009, Mars is not so big. Sidling near Venus in the morning sky, he’s on the other side of the Sun and can’t be seen without a telescope. Still, I wonder about his annual August appearance now… in the faux solar system of the internet. Perhaps every year till we die we’ll see this breathless email in our inboxes: “No human alive will ever see Mars this big again!” What shall we do with it? See it as an opportunity to remember what horrors rash macho action can bring? Or simply observe how Mars is traveling through the culture? This year he seems to have mustered an army of angry (and insurance-industry-fueled) warriors who like to disrupt town meetings, shouting “Down with government health care!” But perhaps our internet Mars wants something grander. As the lion gives way to the grain goddess every August, maybe we could grow our inner warriors bigger than the confused child of our moons. Wouldn’t that be something… if we could use this internet Mars as a reminder to stand tall and fight for something truly awesome?

At the least, we can always learn more about the state of our inner Mars, which April Elliott Kent is facilitating this August with her “Mars Needs Women” research project. Learn more here (scroll down the page).

marsneedswomen