Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Your Prevailing Planet: The Medium Has a Message




An Astro-Games or Exercises Post


© 2012 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved


This new category of posts is designed to highlight fun ways to explore astrology. Since the arts as healing are a big component of Chiron in Pisces, it might be fun with value added!

A friend recently turned me onto Pinterest, which has become my newest social networking adventure. Pinterest’s own definition: Think of Pinterest as a virtual pinboard — a place where you can create collections of things you love and “follow” collections created by people with great taste. Some of the boards I have created have been very revealing to me from an astrological perspective: TV Shows I Still Miss, Movies I Can’t Forget, and TV Shows I Watch.

I used IMDB, the Internet Movie Data Base, to pin images to each of my boards. As I looked up each fave, I noticed the descriptions of the TV show or movie. In the process, I discovered planetary themes—and I believe which planet most colors my worldview. If you have a chart with multiple influences by several different planets, it might be a revealing exercise to list your 5-10 favorite movies and TV shows of all time. Visit IMDB and look at the adjectives that describe the shows.  I’d love to hear if you find your dominant planet, as I think I did mine, by taking a closer look at your taste in TV shows or movies. The TV medium had a message for me!

Here are some examples from my board, TV Shows I Still Miss:

  • Nash Bridges (probably my favorite show of all time) – Nash is described as a “smart alecky San Francisco cop,” definitely a rebel and a rule breaker.
  • Northern Exposure -  All about the characters in an “eccentric Alaskan town.”
  • Twin Peaks – no doubt, there’s Pluto involved in this one, but first, there’s another planet you might recognize in this description: “An idiosyncratic FBI Agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks.”

I’m sure I don’t need to go on for you to recognize Uranus as a key character in the TV shows that have been most memorable to me. There’s plenty of Pluto in many of them, too, but it’s the unique, rebellious, eccentric and idiosyncratic characteristics of these shows that draw me in.

As I’ve written many times, I’m an outerplanetary person and PUNC prominent (Plutonian, Uranian, Neptunian and Chironic). My media of choice are film and TV (Neptune) and my faves have a lot of Pluto along with Uranus, suggesting no one of my PUNCs works solo. (PUNC Solo. Wasn’t he a character in Star Wars?) However, if I were to grade prominence strictly by closest relationship of these planets to a personal planet or angle, the order for me would be: (1) Pluto, (2) Chiron, (3) Neptune, and (4) Uranus. In my historical TV choices, Uranus is at the front of the line, not third runner up. Along with the fact that most people who don’t know my chart think I’m an Aquarius after spending time with me, I have to question whether the outer planets, in actual practice, don’t ignore our assumption that the tightest orb equals the most influence.

You can do this exercise with movies, music, art on your walls, books on your shelves, or any other entertainment or aesthetic medium you enjoy. Just a little astrological game to play when you have a few spare minutes. Would love to hear about your discoveries in the Comments!


~~~

Photo Credit: © eugeneharnam - Fotolia.com

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Quotes for the Planets #2: Rumi Has It



© 2012 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved



While looking for the next Quotes for the Planets, I stumbled on a Rumi quotation site, and I didn’t have to go further to find a quote for every planet.

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muammad Rūmī lived 30-September 1207 to 17 December 1273. [1] He was a Persian poet, theologian, and Sufi mystic. [2] Here’s a place to sample some of his Love and Ecstasy Poems with beautiful visuals to match. There are Rumi sites all over the Internet (just jump on any search engine), and even though he is long gone, he has his own Facebook page. Last I heard, he’s the best selling poet in the United States. Here are some of the things he said in his lifetime that strike me as profoundly planetary. [3]


Sun - “Shine like the whole universe is yours.” ~ Rumi

Moon - “Moonlight floods the whole sky from horizon to horizon; How much it can fill your room depends on its windows.” ~ Rumi, Essential Rumi
 
Mercury - “There is a way between voice and presence, where information flows. In disciplined silence it opens; with wandering talk it closes.” ~ Rumi

Venus – “You think because you understand 'one' you must also understand 'two', because one and one make two. But you must also understand 'and'.” ~ Rumi

Mars – “Forget safety.
Live where you fear to live.
Destroy your reputation.
Be notorious.” ~ Rumi

 
Jupiter – “You are the Truth from foot to brow. Now, what else would you like to know?”  ~ Rumi

Saturn – “Very little grows on jagged rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are.” ~ Rumi

Chiron – “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” ~ Rumi

Uranus – “Speak a new language
so that the world
will be a new world.” ~ Rumi

Neptune – “I, you, he, she, we
In the garden of mystic lovers,
these are not true distinctions.” ~ Rumi

Pluto - “...the way you make love is the way God will be with you.” ~ Rumi

~~~

Photo Credit: © Emirsimsek | Dreamstime.com

Notes:

1. Rumi’s Chart. According to AstroDataBank, Rumi’s birth date is in question, but the emphasis of a Neptunized Sun/Moon in Libra and the placement of Venus/Mars in Scorpio makes sense to me. So does Chiron in Gemini trine Venus (out of sign); Rumi’s words so heal the heart.

2. Wikipedia, Rumi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi

3. Even though these are all Rumi quotes, I've kept the attribution at the end of each one to make it easy to identify the source when copying specific quotes.



Need some Mercury Retrograde inspiration? Fortification? Revisit these posts:






      
Flower Remedy for Mercury Retro - Until it came up in dowsing for my own recent essence blend, I had never realized how perfect Cosmos is for Mercury Retrograde. It is for integrating ideas and speech, coherent thinking, and mercurial expression. It's an antidote for being tongue-tied, mentally muddled and other tricks of the Trickster traveling in reverse!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Uranus Square Pluto: Seven Exact Aspects, Seven Chakra Realignments



© 2012 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved




We are currently in dire need of evolutionary advancement
and don’t have the time for a slow, gradual evolution.

co-authored with Steve Bhaerman


One of my colleagues says her most important take-away from the recent United Astrology Conference (UAC) was from a talk by Serbian astrologer Aleksandar Imsiragic. Aleksandar said that the seven exact hits of Uranus square Pluto, the first on June 24, correspond to realignment of our seven chakras. I deeply resonate to this idea, and it seems too important a concept not to share.

From what I hear, since I did not attend this particular presentation, Aleksandar’s remarks on this topic in his lecture on the Political and Mundane Track on Crucial Fixed Stars Influence, 2012 to 2015. (Reminder that CDs from the conference are available: http://www.uacastrology.com/).

The chakra realignments idea makes so much sense. Pluto forces us to let go or implode by clinging to what no longer serves us and has become toxic. Its focus in Capricorn is on structures. Our physical body has a skeletal structure and an energetic one; the latter anchored into the body in our seven invisible energy wheels or chakras. Electricity is ruled by Uranus. The two are intertwined. They support each other and our very being.  I believe we now have the opportunity to let go of our limitations on handling higher energy frequencies. What could be faster and higher vibrating than Uranus in Aries? And where else could such a change take place than in our own, personal energy centers? I believe the chakras are where we interface with the energy of the cosmos. This is why I so resonate to the “password” affirmation I learned in SpringForest Qigong:

I am in the universe. The universe is in my body. The universe and I are combined together.

Many astrologers are metaphysically inclined, and we’ve heard about energy frequency shifts since the Harmonic Convergence in 1987. We are being rewired to handle a bigger energy load. This will give us the juice to become quick-change artists—to evolve not at a snail’s pace but rapidly to meet the growth spurt whose brink we’re sitting on. Most of us sit there in some degree of discomfort. That’s only because our circuitry awaits this Uranus square Pluto awakening and rebirth. Since we sit on our first chakra, my choice of words (unconscious until I reread them) makes sense. The cosmos also has a great sense of humor. To fly by the seat of our pants—to respond and react from instinct in the highest way that these new energetics will allow us—we need to start our realignment in the chakras from the bottom up, starting with first two where we sit. And, indeed, sitting in meditation is how we make it happen.

Let’s look at each exact alignment of Uranus square Pluto [1] and its associated chakra. Below is a review of the features of each one and a suggested short meditation or affirmations for focus during the months that specific chakra realignment is being activated.


First (Root) Chakra
Uranus square Pluto June 24 2012 – 8 degrees

Color – Red, Element - Earth. The first chakra is our grounding cord, our interface with the Earth on which we walk. To run high frequency energy, grounding is essential or we’ll blow our circuits. This energy center is related to issues of security and safety. A stable first chakra, indeed, is the “root” that allows other changes to grow from it.

First/Root Chakra Meditation: I am safe, secure and grounded. I expand my ability to manifest and bring into practical application my spiritual idealsmy beliefs, goals and desires—and to meet my material needs. I embrace the element Earth, where I walk on sacred ground.

Second (Sacral) Chakra
Uranus square Pluto September 19 2012 – 6 degrees

Color – Orange. Element – Water. Associated with creativity and sexuality.

Second Chakra Meditation: I create from the river of life and send my creations back to the Ocean of All. I express myself with passion, gratitude, joy and generosity. I open to limitless creativity and passion and the happiness that comes with them.

Third (Solar Plexus) Chakra
Uranus square Pluto May 21 2013 – 11 degrees

Color – Yellow. Element – Fire. Associated with personal power, accomplishments and instinctual knowing or “gut instincts.”

Third Chakra Meditation: I trust my feelings. They are my power. My body responds to all questions and provides answers. The universe is in my body. I open to interpreting and following my instincts.


Fourth (Heart) Chakra
Uranus square Pluto November 1 2013 – 9 degrees

Color – Green. Element – Water. Associated with acceptance, surrender, love, empathy and compassion and “humanity.”

Fourth Chakra Meditation: I send tender thanks to my heart for pumping life through my body and being. I protect my heart in the glow of universal love, as I gently open it wide to forgive, forget and expand my ability to love and be loved. I open to becoming more human.


Fifth (Throat) Chakra
Uranus square Pluto April 21 2014 – 13 degrees

Color – Blue. Element – Air. Associated with communication.

Fifth (Throat) Chakra Meditation: I communicate with crystal clarity the truth and power of All I Am. My words heal, join, and send love into the world. I open to quickened, clear communication.

Sixth (Third Eye) Chakra
Uranus square Pluto
December 15 2014 – 12 degrees

Color – Indigo. Elements – Air and Water. Associated with intuition, clear-seeing or clairvoyance.
 
Sixth (Third Eye) Chakra Meditation: I see life with the inner eye of universal love and knowing. I open to visions, cosmic wisdom and seeing the vast possibilities of my own potential and the evolution of all humanity.

Seventh Chakra
Uranus square Pluto
March 17 2015 – 15 degrees

Color – Violet or Brilliant Light. Element – Ethers. Associated with God realization or cosmic consciousness, self-knowledge and self-awareness.

Seventh (Crown) Chakra Meditation: I am that I Am. I let cosmic information and inspiration flow into my crown. The universe and I are combined together. I expand this energy funnel to know without limits.

Planetary Associations with the Chakras

I’ve encountered differences of opinion in my research about which planets are associated with each chakra. I resonate most to those in Ray Grasse’s Astrology and the Chakras:


7th – Sun
6th – Moon
5th – Mercury
4th – Venus
3rd – Mars
2nd – Jupiter
1st - Saturn


Some of these associations are no-brainers—Venus with the heart chakra and Mercury with the 5th/throat chakra, for instance. Mars fits the 3rd/solar plexus because this is where people can “cord” and manipulate us, seizing control of our personal power. It’s also where we feel negativity or psychic attack when it’s thrown at us, as well as where we receive friendly lobs of good vibes that enable us to trust someone immediately. 

I also understand the reason for limiting the chakras to the seven classical planets before the discovery of Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Chiron. The chakras are a Vedic concept and these are the planets used in Vedic astrology. They also correspond to our idea of “personal” planets. I had a little trouble with Jupiter being associated with the 2nd chakra, until I thought of how creativity and sexuality are so expansive and bring joy and laughter. (The Inuit or Eskimo word for sex translates to laughing together in bed.)

I do think that the outer planets have a place just outside, if not within the chakra scheme. Ray Grasse doesn’t state a planetary association with an additional 8th chakra that rules transcendence and inspiration. Letting the outer planets into the act, I’d assign that to Neptune. All great ideas are in the cosmic soup. We transcend and are inspired—we access these ideas—by tapping into the One Mind.

Uranus awakens power in the chakra system. Chiron acts as a transformer. It amps energy down, as needed, to help bring highly resonating Uranian information to the chakras at a speed they can absorb as they adapt to the new message on the cusp of amplification. I believe this because Saturn rules form, Uranus rules electricity and electro-magnetic fields. Chiron orbits between these two planets and acts as their intermediary.  I believe Chiron acts as a bridge between Saturn and Uranus in the chakra scheme, too. In Chiron’s famed role as a healer, wellness often comes from shifting energy flow (chi or qi), stimulated by tools such as acupuncture needles or qigong exercises. Healing is closely connected to energy shifts.

Pluto, the bringer of birth-death-rebirth and end/beginnings handles the cord of this energy system. Pluto either yanks the cord out or plugs it in and is quite adept at both. We are born. We live and die a million small deaths during one lifetime on Earth, and after each demi-death, we are we are reborn again. (Plug in, plug out.) For those who join me in believing in reincarnation, this is also true in the larger sense after our one actual death in this lifetime. Unplug and replug into a new birth and incarnation.

Smile and Say “Ease:” Hints from Aura Photography

Many years ago, I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Thelma Moss speak, a pioneer researcher in parapsychological experiments at UCLA in the 1970s. Her work involved Kirlian or aura photography. I was wowed when she shared that researchers could detect, in pictures of an individual’s energy field, a disease such as cancer six months before physical symptoms showed up in the body. In other words, we create dis-ease—and conversely, ease—from our energy fields inward to our bodies. What we change at the level of energy, usually starting with our thoughts, changes us first and fundamentally. As Robin Williams used to say in his act of the same name, “Reality—what a concept!”

This reality still rocks my world and is my personal reason for wanting to be in conscious coordination and harmony with the current and upcoming opportunities to rewire each of my chakras. I suspect that people who do so will have a much easier Uranus square Pluto than those who don’t—and I hope to hear back from readers on your experiences.

More Meditation Suggestions

There is plenty of time over the next three years to focus on each chakra whose “expansion” is on tap. Here’s something to try during your regular meditations. Focus feeling the energy of the particular chakra that’s being touched by Uranus and Pluto. Envision the chakra wheel enlarging or spinning faster. Tune into the changes and how you’re doing with the issues represented by each chakra.

You might consider opening your meditation with the affirmations for each chakra, envisioning the colors and element of each one, enhancing your overall energy flow by this acknowledgment. Spend more time on the Now Chakra, the one being aligned by the current close Uranus-Pluto square. If you have Cardinal planets being activated by the Uranus-Pluto Square, meditate on the issues they represent, too. When focusing on the chakra that’s up for realignment now, be sure to clear your mind and just “run energy” so that this chakra can talk back to you. My first spiritual teacher used to say praying is talking to God; meditation is listening to him. During meditation, it’s important to quit talking—even our affirmations or mantras—long enough to let All That Is get a word in edgewise.

If you explore the sites on chakras in the Notes, you’ll find many other tools for working with chakra alignments. Some include resonant gems, homeopathic remedies or flower essences. Be sure to work with the physical at some level, especially during this First Root Chakra Alignment. Garden, dig in dirt, have bodywork. (You’ll need it after the gardening.) Count your money. Count your blessings for every material gift—aloud, even if only to yourself. Involving the physical continues to anchor every change. 

These years of major transformation are a great time to keep a journal, written or audio, on how your body-mind-spirit is absorbing this Cardinal realignment. You’ll be growing so fast, you might want to go back and look how you got there—and be able to share tips for accelerated evolution with your friends, loved ones—maybe even the world.


Cardinal Vote

Here’s one last metaphor to contemplate. In the Catholic Church, the College of Cardinals—the assembly of priests who have risen to the highest rank of Cardinal—determines the next Pope, the leader of them all and head of the Church. The Cardinals hold the ultimate power, because they choose which one among them will represent God on Earth. Ironically, it’s only during the conclave to elect a new Pope that the college has any ruling power. [3]

While Catholicism may not be your spiritual reality, our two astrological Cardinals—Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn—indeed have assembled us. They’re offering us an opportunity to determine who will rule our world and our energy fields. Remember the collective impact of billions of votes among people like you. Check your choice of who rules:

  •  You As-Is, perhaps scared of what’s to come, or
  • You Expanded to meet rapid evolution.
As the Hopi and many others have foretold, we are the Ones that we have been waiting for. If a simple but profound chakra tune-up helps us rise to that occasion, let’s sit in stillness as often as possible during this critical rite of passage and let the brighter, new cosmic light flood through our bodes, minds and spirits. 

For those of us born into these turning-point times, I think it’s our job. After all, to quote the wisdom of a great prophet, “You are the light of the world.” [4]

~~~

Photo Credits: 7 Chakras Color Wheel with Mandalas © Artellia - Dreamstime; Chakras Meditating © twentyfree - Fotolia.com

New Resource! 

I was thrilled, after writing this article, to discover The Grounding Touch. This site has everything you need to focus on retuning each of your chakras, including concise info about each one, yoga poses, mantras and aromatherapy. Enjoy!


NOTES

1. Source of alignment dates: Elsa Elsa/ The Astrology Blog

2. Sources consulted on the chakras:

Angel’s Love/Chakras” http://www.angelslove.net/chakras.htm

Marsya, Integrating Yoga, Art and Life/ Chakra Properties: http://www.marsya.com/Chakra_Properties.html
A Reconnecting of Body, Mind, Spirit/ The 7th Chakra http://www.areconnecting.com/crown-chakra.html
Weejee’s Magick/Auras: http://www.wejees.net/aura.html
Erin Pavlina, Spiritual Wisdom for Conscious People/The Difference Between Auras and Chakras
http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2010/05/the-difference-between-auras-and-chakras/

3. Wikipedia/College of Cardinals:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_of_Cardinals

4. King James Bible, Matthew 5:14.