A New Zodiac: The Osani Circle Game

© 2010 by Joyce Mason

Look at this image! The most obvious reason I fell in love with it never occurred to me till a year later. These children form a human zodiac circle. They are the literal circle of life the zodiac represents.

More importantly, you’ll want to know the story behind this show-stopping image. The Osani Circle Game begins with Pygmy kids sitting in a circle, feet touching, all connected. Each child in turn names a round object: the sun (oi), the moon (tib), an eye (ue)—and then goes on to name a figurative expression of “round”—the circle of the family, togetherness or the cycle of the moon. As players fail to come up with a term that is “circular” they drop out. Eventually, only one remains. Tradition has it that this player will live a long and prosperous life. Osani is the Pygmy word for love.

This image is a visual offering for a most positive expression of the current Jupiter/Uranus conjunction—a game of friendship that teaches the blessings of community. According to the Circle Game, one lucky kid out of the entire human zodiac in this photo lives long and prospers, to quote another kind of Star Trek. (We’re lucky in real life that Jupiter touches more than one of us at a time.) I thought the Radical Readers would enjoy this, along with the interview of Susan Fassberg, who licensed this image to share with the world. Read about Susan on my other blog, Hot Flashbacks/Cool Insights, in ConnectingDotz: Seeing and Feeling Our Interconnectedness.

If you “see stars” in other images along the path of life, contact me and let’s share them with the Radical Virgo community.

I can’t resist these parting words. And here we thought that human problems get solved by putting our heads together …

~~~

Photo Credit: © 2004 J-P.Hallet, licensed to S. Fassberg. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission. Visit ConnectingDotz cards and prints; all Osani purchases help support The Pygmy Fund.

Rebirth the Earth

A Prayer for the Cardinal Grand Cross, Lunar Eclipse and Related Skyworks

Drawn and quartered on the Four Cardinal Points

I offer myself up to the earth and cosmos.

There is no more vulnerable position:



limbs spread

open wide

fully exposed

receptive to the seeds of creation

the soft sounds

the heartbeat

of inspiration

Naked virgin

Annunciation

I did not argue

with the Spirit

or stop to ask my head

to clear it

The messenger said,

“Will you be a Goddess?”

“Who me?” I thought

my usual modest

By dim moonlight

we communed:

Mother of Everything Fulfilled

your resounding yes

vibrates the cosmos

still

You taught us to bear

whatever we need

to let go, let God

let doubt recede

to accept gifts and omens

star-stalking astrologers see

to bear the present

of uncertainty

Mother of Vision

Mentor Sky

Midwife of New Earth robust

Bless me with your radical trust.

© 2010 by Joyce Mason

www.joycemason.com

~~~



Photo Credit: © Julie LEGRAND - Fotolia.com



About This Poem – This week, I had the insight that it was time to stop speculating about the Big Change Transits and simply to feel the energy of this powerful sky meeting, to switch from left to right brain. This poem came to me as part of that process, and I invite readers to consider a similar respite from focusing on head and what-ifs. Let’s gather under the same sky and feel what God/Goddess is asking us to create—to bear—as in to be born. Let’s share what we hear in the Comments. Since we’re made in the image of the Creator “both male and female,” a new world is being born through each of us individually and, together, through all of us.


I have a special resonance with the Blessed Mother, the Christian Goddess. There are many faces of Goddess, one for every spiritual path and culture. One day, I realized that I had been exposed to one since the beginning. When I was 38 and found my birth families, I learned I was originally named after her. I resonate most to updated images of Mary in modern art. Those images began to break down the barriers in my mind that she was from a time too different and “too holy” for me to find parallels between our lives.

In fact, her unabashed trust in Spirit turns out to be the thing we share in common—well, at least most of the time! Mary is the original Radical Virgo, and the Time to Trust has come again, that thing she modeled so well.

Need help with Radical Trust? One of my favorite flower essences that is can be very helpful under the current sky weather is Barnacle by Pacific Essences. It is specifically for “radical trust.”

Chiron and Vocation: Do What You Love and Wholeness Will Follow

© 2010 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

This is the thing that I was born to do.

~ Samuel Daniel

The Chiron myth suggests that astrological Chiron has influence over many areas of life—and much more than a chosen profession. Chiron is that force inside you that hones a multitude of skills to prepare you to perform, for the rest of society, that special thing that only you can do. Your unique skills and style of delivery are needed in a certain time/space continuum. One aspect of Chiron insists that you do what you love or suffer an incurable longing for lack of doing it.


Wage Slaves and the Price of Postponing Your “Real” Work in the World

Most of us have had experience with this pain. I began to realize it the first time I heard the term “wage slave.” For most of my 31-year civil service career, I really wanted to do something else. The lure of a steady paycheck and the kind of benefits you no longer even hear of—these things kept my nose to the grindstone for the long haul. For my spirit to survive, however, I had to do what I loved—on top of it. I multi-tasked and spent many of those years doing at least two jobs, working as an astrologer and writer on the side. Those of a certain age will understand my metaphor: I was a one-woman Ed Sullivan Show, riding my unicycle and spinning plates on long rods with both hands, while balancing a ball on the end of my nose.

Eventually, once I added marriage and the weight of a number of personal losses to my spinning plates, I needed to let go of my side jobs and take a time-out for the sake of my health and well-being. I continued to suffer for not having the financial moxie or risk-taking capacity to make the full leap into doing what I loved. The concept behind book title, “Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow” became a bitter cliché. (Sure, in how many years while I starve in the meantime?) For me, the more right-on title would be the title of this article, do what you love and wholeness will follow.

Chironic Counsel

In a perfect world, this would have never happened to me—or you. We would have had a Chiron who assessed our talents, skills and gifts, as mythical Chiron did with his heroes in the making on Mt. Pelion. He would then proceed to give us whatever training we needed to actualize ourselves. There would never have been a moment of putting a round peg into a square hole or a writer into the cubicle/box of a government analyst. We would have been honed from adolescence to be our best selves and to contribute our unique gifts. We would have been fed, clothed, and housed equally, no matter what role we would play once we matured. I’m not sure to whom in society I’d assign this Chironic role in a modern context. It’s probably too “Native American” for most high school guidance counselors, but whoever is the shaman or wise one in a kid’s life—that’s a good place to start. It has more to do with how they see themselves, their heart (what they love) and their unique perspective on living. It probably has little to do with college entrance exam scores. Here’s to a day when making money and making a difference in our own inimitable way are easily one.

"The talent given to you and me, we must develop faithfully—so we can be good Mousketeers!" ~The Original Mickey Mouse Club theme song

The Gift in the Wound

I talk often about how the Chironic wound contains all the gifts we’ll ever need to be fulfilled. In addition to whatever else it holds, our natal Chiron sets up a series of theme-related pains and projects to keep honing the gift of the rare gem inside us that is our authentic self. Whether or not we want to admit it, we sometimes choose the pain. Something inside us knows we need its gifts.

My utopian, “every kid has his Chiron” fantasy, is not how it works for many, if not most people. My biggest regret: That I didn’t do whatever it took to start my adult life as a writer instead of having to beg scraps of my own time to become one by the slow boat of work on the side, decade after decade.

Now I’m retired from my government job, and it’s all coming together for me. I feel like myself for the first time in my life. Bringing the disparate parts of a person back together sounds remarkably like the shaman’s role that many people so clearly see mythical Chiron playing. There were things I learned being a social worker, a government analyst, and all the other roles I played—things I needed to have for wholeness. I needed those jobs to have the content, depth, and experience to write and “read” astrology charts in a soulful way.

I’m old enough to have gone through my midlife transits, Chiron Return and many of the major astrological initiations, including my second Saturn Return. At times along the way, I got glimmers that Do What You Love Deprivation might actually be a curriculum that ultimately ends in becoming the hero of your own life—and heroic in contributing your special something to the world.

What you need for yourself is exactly what others need from you.

Before we get there, each of us is a shaman being torn apart, sometimes by competing realities like making a living and living our true vocation. Before we’re put back together again, in the underworld, it feels like hell—because it is. Being pulled apart that way is akin to being drawn and quartered.

When you’re on your own Chironic journey, looking to find truth, examine what makes you angry. One of the things I cannot abide from my Catholic roots is how, as a kid, people in my home religion talked about priests and nuns getting “a vocation” or the calling to religious life. The word vocation is used only in this context, as if the only calling on earth were the seminary or joining a religious order. Ire rising cued me into how important vocation really is to everyone. No one has a copyright on vocation. It’s as essential to fulfillment as breathing. Most of us need more vacations, but we cannot fulfill ourselves without one good vocation.

Summer Solstice may seem an odd time to write about vocation, but it’s actually perfect. Vocation is something you enjoy doing so much, it feels like play. While you’re out having fun this summer, you might just stumble over your vocation.

If you doubt you’ve found your true vocation, ask yourself from a totally centered place, to fill in the blank: “I am a _____.” My answer has been writer since before I knew the question. Vocation does not necessarily equate to job. Your vocation could be mother, friend, confidant, or life of the party.

I am lucky that despite all my side roads to “make a living,” I still stayed on course with my essential vocation. I used those side trips to hone my craft. I wrote extensively in every job. Chiron tells you something about your vocation, and you begin to become whole when you live and breathe that essential part of yourself. You need it, and your tribe (society) needs it. It’s your calling.


How Will I Come Together?

This think piece offers no simple answers, only an opportunity to explore deeply one area of Chiron’s influence.

Ask yourself these questions about Chiron in your chart: (My own answers are in parentheses for examples)


• Chiron’s House – It will tell you about the subject of your vocation (6th/ writing, healing, service)

• Chiron’s sign – Style of vocation (Scorpio/drama, depth, mysteries of life)

• Chiron aspects – How easy or difficult it is to express your vocation (square Pluto, sextile Moon)


If you’re looking for that Chironic skeleton key to unlock the secrets of your own vocation, remember to look at the path of least resistance when you explore your aspects to Chiron. If you have a trine or sextile or another easy-flow aspect, take a look at what it might have to tell you about getting to vocational wholeness. We are so used to doing things the hard way; we sometimes forget that there are hints in our charts for shortcuts, too.

When Chiron was relieved of his immortality and suffering for an act of self-sacrifice, he was raised to the heavens in a constellation—a group of stars. Helping others and finding our place in a group is the world put right. It’s the happy ending we all crave. There’s no more important fit than how we fit in.

Lastly, when contemplating Chiron’s message and your vocational path, don’t forget those things you said as a kid that you wanted to be—or do—when you grew up. Mine are embarrassing to write down, but here they are. I wanted to save the world (I actually said that out loud as a college freshman!), and I wanted to make people happy.

As a writer, I have the capacity to do both of those things in my own way as I twinkle my distinctive light in the constellation of my community, now as big as the planet, thanks to the Internet. You’re grown up now, too. You have the same capacity share those visions of who you are and what you have to offer. They were conceived from your childhood innocence, the home of great truths. And it doesn’t matter whether your vocation is butcher, baker or astrology maker.

~~~

Photo Credit: PUZZLE TOGETHER © Eric1513 | Dreamstime.com

Thanks to Zane Stein for first publication of this article on his wonderful website, Chiron and Friends. If you’re interested in Chiron and the centaurs, bookmark Zane’s site and visit often.

Summer Solstice Shares

• Terra Wolfe has written the best synthesis of the Cardinal T-Square and other Big Change Transits at the Summer Solstice on her new blog. The article is called Cardinals at the Eclipse--and a Comet! 
• Need a Summer Solstice Ritual? Read Astrologize! Jump Over the Solstice Flame in a Spirited Dance of Life.
• For some tips on the psycho-spiritual aspects of summer and natural wellness suggestions for the season, check out Summer: The Growing Season.

Radical Readings Return!

Joyce Mason Reopens

“Inner Growth Work”

Dear Radical Readers,

It’s time for Writer Joyce Mason, aka: The Radical Virgo, to become a reader again. I’m putting my shingle back above my virtual door and the Open sign in my “Windows.” As noted in the sidebar, I’ve been taking appointments for a few astrological readings per month, as my writing schedule allows. This post is to say the experiment in re-entry has worked. I’m back—and it’s official!

One of my current life lessons is Things Don’t Have to Be All or Nothing. I missed the deeper one-on-one connections I had with individuals through consulting. I put a toe back into the Aquarian waters over the past six months, and the water is more than fine. I’m enjoying this work at a new and exciting level!

Since I write an astrology blog, it’s good to have the pulse on how the current sky is working for the real people living under it—in practice, not just in theory.

At first, I was going to limit my reopened practice to astrology readings. Inner guidance nudged otherwise. My astrology-plus practice worked well in the past. It wasn’t broken, and I don’t want to fix it! (What was a bit broken was yours truly—from overwork. A seven-year sabbatical from readings and retirement from my day job has glued me back together.) In addition to astrology, I’ll continue to offer tarot, dreamwork, and flower essences. My hint to keep Inner Growth Work intact, with its eclectic toolbox, came from the fact that I suddenly found myself writing posts about astrology and dreamwork, astrology and tarot, etc.

I’ve been experimenting with a new way of doing readings by e-mail. The test runs on this method have worked beyond my expectations! Clients report they are quite happy with a 3-4 page personalized report, attached as a PDF document. Phone readings can be arranged, if preferred.

The description of these new services and fees are available on my Personal Consultations page on my website. Since there are several different services available, it’s easiest to e-mail me and discuss what you’d like to do—then I can send you a payment request via PayPal for whatever service(s) we agree on. You may also pre-pay by check or money order. My brochure, service menu and pricing structure are all available on the link in this paragraph.

If you have any questions after reading the Consultations page—or in general about what I do and how I do it, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Astrology is a language. If you understand this language, the sky speaks to you. ~Dane Rudhyar

As a Radical Return Special, readers who schedule and pre-pay for personal consultations by June 30 will receive free copies of both my e-books as a grand reopening gift—Chiron and Wholeness—a Primer and Poems to Heal the Healer: The 12 Chiron Signs. If you already own one or both of the books, we can discuss an alternative token of my thanks, one on one.

I look forward to working with many of you in the future. Thank you for your support, as always!

Blessings All,
Joyce


~~~


Client Feedback

The following are comments by clients about their consultation experiences, published with their permission:

Thanks, Joyce, for a comfortable, enlightening experience. I felt a deeper sense of context in life brought forward by your guidance, wisdom and heart. –RP, Bay Area, CA

I love your style of readings...they are easy to understand and you are so down to earth. You are a natural at it and your personality and humor only add to the experience.” – TF, Placerville, CA

Your reading was remarkable and life altering. I've had readings before, but never like this one. I got a thorough understanding of the various planets and houses and what they meant for me. You also gave a number of practical and helpful suggestions regarding career and other aspects of my life. Your personal warmth and welcoming manner made our session even more special. I heartily recommend you. ~ MW, San Francisco Bay Area

Thanks again, Joyce. Our reading today was not only affirming, but amazingly insightful in very practical ways. At times, I felt as if you’d opened a secret door and were respectfully peering inside my psyche, asking just the right questions, which in turn helped me to discover the answers. Anyone who is at all fearful of the process can rest assured they’re in capable and loving hands with you as their guide. – LB, San Francisco, CA

Photo Credit: Open - Neon sign  © Steve Estvanik Dreamstime.com


Congrats to Lana, winner of the Name the New Species Contest on my Evolution post of March 30. Her clever entry was Homo Astrolopithecus. (Those who claim to come from a long line of astrologers now know where it all started!) Lana won a copy of my new e-book, Poems to Heal the Healer: The 12 Chiron Signs. If you haven’t yet visited her fantastic blog linked to her name—or if you haven’t visited lately--give yourself a treat!

Quotes for the Signs #5

ARIES: The heart is cooking a pot of food for you. Be patient until it is cooked. ~ Rumi

TAURUS: Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves. ~ Dorothy Parker

GEMINI: To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. ~ Lao Tsu

CANCER: Home is the girl`s prison and the woman`s workhouse. ~ George Bernard Shaw

LEO:

I wish I was a glow worm,
A glow worm's never glum.
'Cos how can you be grumpy
When the sun shines out your bum!

~ Author Unknown

VIRGO: Whenever you fall, pick something up. ~Oswald Avery

LIBRA: You'll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart. ~ George Michael, "Kissing A Fool"

SCORPIO: Being a sex symbol has to do with an attitude, not looks. Most men think it’s looks, most women know otherwise. ~ Kathleen Turner

SAGITTARIUS: Those who are brutally honest are seldom wo with themselves. ~ Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, 1966

CAPRICORN: Problems are only opportunities in work clothes. - Henry J Kaiser

AQUARIUS: Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~Judy Garland

PISCES: A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body—the wishbone. ~ Robert Frost

~~~

Photo Credit: AND I QUOTE © Zitramon  and STARS IN THE BLUE NIGHT SKY © Petra Roeder Dreamstime.com

Crave more Quotes for the Signs? To pull up all the Quotes links at once, enter quotes into the Search This Blog window.

Astrology and Flower Essences

© 2010 by Joyce Mason

#3 of 3 in the Astrology-Plus Series

Astrology is mental. Understanding the relationships between planets and their meanings sometimes requires Olympic-class gymnastics of the mind.

The personal growth challenges in your astrology chart, on the other hand, are usually emotional. That part’s not a head trip whatsoever, especially when it comes to thorny natal issues or challenging transits. Social work was my first occupation, so I’m used to matching problems with resources. I discovered one of the most useful tools ever in pairing astrology with flower essences.

Flower essences offer something you can do to help yourself through the emotional turmoil of tough transits or natal challenges because they transform emotions.

Flower remedies are infusions of flower petals in spring water exposed to the sun, then preserved in alcohol or apple cider vinegar. The petals are removed and the vibrations of the flower remain in the liquid. After further dilution in a dosage bottle, a few drops are taken several times a day under the tongue. Essences are chosen by matching your current emotional issues with the corresponding flower, proven in repeated case studies to catalyze that emotional pattern to completion. Up to five flowers are typically taken in a blend, usually for three to four weeks. (For more details, there’s a primer on flower essences on my website.)

You got a taste in an earlier post of how flower essences can help some of the tougher transits: Flower Essences for Pluto and Resilience: “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” To give you even more a flavor of their potential, let’s look at how flower remedies match issues reflected by planetary energies. I’ll mention one to several essences per planet, but there are often many others. Some of the same essences work for more than one planet, so a mention under one doesn’t mean it’s exclusive. That’s a good thing because we’re influenced by all our planets at once. We’d need the whole flower pharmacy if there weren’t some overlap! For an easier read, information on manufacturers and where to purchase essences will be covered in a separate section.


Flower Essences and Planetary Influences

Sun ~ This one’s literal! The consummate essence for Sun issues (father, ego, self-esteem) is Sunflower. If you have stressful natal aspects or transits to the Sun, this essence helps balance extremes of poor self-worth to an inflated ego. Whether you’re a man or a woman, when life calls for your male energy to be out there in a warm, soulful, positive and charismatic way, think Sunflower.

Moon ~ Got mom trouble? Natal mother issues? Get Mariposa Lily. Often called mother love in a bottle, Mariposa Lily soothes lunar issues connected to your relationship with mother or your primary nurturer and your need to feel loved. It’s a balm whenever your transits leave you wanting a hug or wishing you could crawl back into the womb.

Mercury ~ There are many communications and thinking essences. Madia is for focus, when you really need to concentrate on a project or study for an exam. Dill helps people who are overwhelmed by so much going or so much on their plates; they can’t digest it all mentally and are left stunned, scattered, and overwhelmed. Trumpet Vine is for someone having a hard time speaking up. This essence helps you “trumpet” your voice out to the world. Cerato helps you speak your truth.

Venus ~ As you’d expect, with the multiplicity of challenges in relationships, there are many flower essences that help—and wouldn’t Venus herself have an affinity to flowers? Holly helps you let go of jealousy and envy in a relationship. (Good for Venus/Pluto transits or natal Venus in Scorpio.) Evening Primrose helps those who have difficulty forming committed relationships due to feelings of abandonment or rejection in childhood. Calendula helps overcome argumentative tendencies. Bleeding Heart is another one that’s literally named. It helps you get over a broken heart, and if you’re still in relationship, it helps dissolve clinging and co-dependence.

Mars ~ My favorite essence for Mars-ruled Aries is Impatiens. It helps people with many aspects to Mars or planets in Aries learn the P-word—patience! Mountain Pride balances the Mars of anyone facing adversity, bringing positive strength, assertiveness, and the traits of a Jedi warrior. Snapdragon helps rein in verbal abuse and angry outbursts. (Good for Mars/Mercury aspects.)

Jupiter ~ For those whose passionate idealism is overenthusiastic, overbearing, or fanatic, the antidote is Vervain. Since people with an emphasized Jupiter or numerous planets in Sagittarius are playful—here’s the essence they should give others to help them join the party: Zinnia. Zinnia brings out the playful inner child and is a great way to unleash your natal Jupiter from a party-pooper transit. Agrimony helps the Jupiterian type who drinks or uses substances to excess, to create a cheerful persona and hide his or her true feelings.

Saturn ~ Elm is for feeling overburdened or overwhelmed with responsibility. It’s also good for perfectionists who need to lighten up on themselves. (It is often the “type remedy” for Capricorn Moon.) Larkspur helps the overly executive and hard-working type balance his or her leadership qualities with cheerful service instead of being overly dutiful or overly impressed with him- or herself. Oak helps someone with strong abilities accept responsibility without pushing beyond his or her limits.

Chiron ~ Literal Alert! One of the key essences for this centaur is Centaury. A large aspect of Chiron is giving your gifts and service. Centaury can ease a feeling of over-responsibility to the point of not taking care of yourself or when giving disintegrates to servitude. Since Chiron is also about discovering, honing, and giving back your greatest talents to society, Wild Oat is the essence of choice when you’re looking for your true vocation or meaningful work. Self-Heal is a balm for contacting your inner healer and internal forces that help you recover from life’s slings and arrows.

Uranus ~ With the current Jupiter/Uranus conjunction, Star of Bethlehem could be the star of everyone’s medicine cabinet. “Beth” is for shocks or unexpected shake-ups. For the Uranian quality of “not fitting in,” take Shooting Star. (Is it just me, or are you seeing stars, too?) Shooting Star is for those who feel like they come from another planet. It promotes warm caring for all that is earthly and human. Lastly, for Uranian upsets, Rescue Remedy or Five-Flower Remedy is a must for everyone’s pocket, purse, or first-aid kit. It’s a blend to overcome the shock, fear, and worry of emergencies. Star of Bethlehem is one of its key components.

Evolution: Homo Sapiens Morphs from Homo Asinine to Homo Improvement

Whadda ya say we all lighten up a little on the Big Change Transits? [1]

I’ve had so much piled on me—husband’s stroke (see Shocking), a dear friend dying, and a variety of personal challenges that could make my head spin. Yet I’m still putting one foot and chuckle in front of the other. I hope I’m a trendsetter. Do you think this is why Jupiter joined Uranus in the opposition to Saturn? To send us lightning bolts of laughter while problems as big elephants are standing on one or both of our feet?

I admit; I told someone recently that I was going to go back to bed, pull the covers over my head, and not come out until 2013, assuming there’s still an Earth. After a good night’s sleep, rapid evolution doesn’t seem quite so awful. Actually, it’s exhilarating.

Scuba Gear and Lemonade for PUNCs

For years, I’ve written that the discovery of Chiron in 1977 heralded a new species. I call our new evolutionary line homo improvement. I don’t think anyone would argue that we could use a new and improved human race, considering the havoc wreaked by the people in the really “off”-shoot species, homo asinine. You know, the Missing Their Link. The folks who destroy their home, wage bloody wars in the name of the divine, and collapse an entire global economic system out of personal greed. The George W. Bush Administration was just a preview of what we’d have in store if we keep teaching our kids miscreationism. No more kid stuff! God/dess is asking us to grow up, and it’s about time.

Chiron is the bridge to the outer planets, spanning the turf from Saturn (the old way of doing things) to Uranus (the new and progressive). Thanks to the healing teachings of Chiron, we can get from Here to There when it comes to great change without having to deep-sea dive in the Ocean of Chaos without scuba gear. I know, it still feels like we’re 20,000 leagues under the sea in thick debris with no visibility, but:

Here’s where two of Chiron’s most appealing teachings help: humor heals and you can make lemons out of lemonade.

Some of us have lived our entire incarnation at the lemonade stand. We are what I call outerplanetary (extraordinary) people, those with the outer planets prominent in our charts. [2] I also call us PUNCs for Plutonian, Uranian, Neptunian, and Chironic. In the near future, I will be revising and updating my OPP (OuterPlanetaryPeople) series [3] that appeared in Welcome to Planet Earth magazine in the ‘90s to give us PUNCs more scuba gear for plunging the depths of change. We are the people who live on the leading edge of evolution who need it the most in the current universal shake-up! Pack your sense of humor in a watertight back.

Something to think about: Those heroes Chiron mentored did extraordinary things. These extraordinary times call for the development of inner heroism. When I think of Chiron’s students, the three that pop to mind first are Jason, Hercules, and Asclepius. Jason went on an epic quest for the Golden Fleece; Hercules had legendary strength; and Asclepius grew up to become the Father of Medicine. To me, this implies:

Chiron helps us in the quest for hidden gold in our lives, in finding our inner strength, and in developing our healer within. All the resources are inside us and the journey is deep into ourselves.

Something I’ve noticed about the “thick” energy and impact on my most personal planets by the Cardinal T-Square Plus is the fact that there is so much going on; I can only deal with one challenge at a time. I’m learning to live in the Now, that virtue spiritual teachers tout. I have no time to worry about what’s next, except for a vague peripheral awareness that there’s a lot more on my plate. I need to keep up my strength, to focus it in present time while keeping some in reserve for what comes next. The urgent nature of today’s problems brings to mind my definition of hero:

A hero is someone who acts unselfishly from his or her Higher Self in urgent circumstances.

When life is coming at you hot ‘n’ heavy, it’s trusting your inner wisdom that gets you through the day. These are times to gather our wits, including being witty. (Don’t put your head in the oven. Go for the laughing gas instead!)

We don’t have to go through the birth canal butt first and create a struggling, breach rebirth for ourselves—another symptom of acting like homo asinine. Whenever there is a large-scale emergency like 9/11, New Orleans, or Haiti, to name a few examples, we get to see what we’re made of and our huge capacity to help one another. We don’t have to wait for localized earth changes to do the Chiron thing—to help others in spite of our own pain. You probably have friends, family, and colleagues who are up to their eyeballs in alligators from the Big Change Transits. They need your time and attention and sense of humor. By being there for them, you can ease their tension and help them get back to center where their power and resourcefulness lives. Giving and receiving are a flow of energy that heals the healer and the healee. We’re all hurting in these times, and we need to focus on love and laughter, not on holding our breath till we turn blue. The more I have reached out, the more my own challenges fall to the background. They are put into perspective in a web of rapid evolution toward living more from the heart.


“The Sky is Falling”

The prevailing tension and worry about the Big Change Transits brings to mind the old fable, The Sky is Falling, about Chicken Little or Henny Penny. An acorn falls on the chicken’s head, so she thinks the sky is crumbling. I was fascinated to discover in the linked Wikipedia article that the story, told for centuries, has different endings. Sometimes Foxy Loxy eats all the other animals (that one’s for the Scorpios) and in differing versions, Foxy may or may not get comeuppance for his heartless murders.

The happy ending version suggests not to be a “chicken,” to have courage, and not to believe everything you’re told. This goes for the Big Change Transits, too. Or to quote my favorite line in the Wiki article:

The Chicken jumps to a conclusion and whips the populace into mass hysteria, which the unscrupulous fox uses to manipulate them for his own benefit, sometimes as supper.

Let’s do our best to avoid whipping the world into mass hysteria over the current outerplanetary line-up, lest we get eaten alive. My mother had a great expression for folks who are slow on the uptake, “Some people need a house to fall on their head.” Let’s help others—and ourselves—get the point of the personal growth the current planetary line-up requires of us. Let’s start when the impact is that of an acorn and not wait till it’s a house falling on our head or the whole sky falling down. Above all, let’s offer a helping hand instead of hyperbole to both others and ourselves during interesting and intense times.


To-Do List

I believe the vast majority of the readers of this blog are PUNCs, because I think the content of The Radical Virgo would appeal primarily to outerplanetary people. Here’s a checklist I offer as a summary of this article, in lieu of The Sky Is Falling, to help yourself and others navigate changing times:

• Acknowledge the times may be no cakewalk, but encourage living on the upside of the zodiac and all the planets, houses, signs, and aspects within it.

• Never leave the house without your sense of humor, even if it’s gallows humor. The only way to navigate heavy energy and intense challenges is to lighten up.

• Help someone, and don’t wait till your friend or family member has a challenge of crisis proportions to offer a hand. It’s in helping that we’ll heal during fast evolution.

• Set aside time every day to plunge your own depths. Deep change comes from within and cannot occur without regular introspection. Some suggestions are meditation, journaling, or looking at your own astrology chart regularly with “beginner’s mind.”

•  Monitor your language. We are what we say we are; things become what we affirm. In talking about the current tension among the planets, remind yourself and others how all growth comes from discomfort and resolves to something new, usually better, and often comforting. Look at the squares and oppositions in the charts of famous people and your own evolution for confirmation. Focus on the positive outcome, not the uncomfortable “getting there.”

Species Renaming Contest

Do you think you can improve on homo improvement? In light of this “conversation,” I am beginning to like homo hearty for a new species moniker, but I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Comment with your idea(s) for a new species name through June 13, and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a free copy of my new e-book, Poems to Heal the Healer: The 12 Chiron Signs. Winner announced in the June 14 post.

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Notes
[1] As of this writing, Saturn has retrograded out its Cardinal position in Libra. Since this is temporary and it’ll be back to Libra shortly, I’ll still call the Pluto/Saturn/Uranus line-up The Cardinal T-Square for the sake of simplicity. When I refer to The Cardinal T-Square Plus, I’m including some of the other challenges like Chiron/Neptune quincunx Saturn and the join-up of Jupiter with Uranus by conjunction.

[2] I consider the outer planets prominent when two or more of the outer planets (Chiron, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) are in close aspect to personal planets in your chart (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars). You are especially outerplanetary when all the outers aspect your personals. Outer planets placed near the angles or aspecting the angles also qualify as prominent. An additional qualifier for outerplanetary is four or more planets in the signs the outer planets rule: Aquarius, Pisces and Scorpio. For these purposes, I count Chiron as an outer planet because of its role in helping us understand and handle the energies of the planets beyond Saturn. With its rulership controversial, let your personal opinion govern which sign to count, if any, as the sign Chiron rules. See Wholeness and the Inner Marriage. I always say, if Chiron has to rule a sign (and I’m not convinced it does), it would be Virgo because it is the transitional sign from the sign of One to the signs of Other and Many Others.

[3] See Articles by Joyce Mason on A Place in Space starting with Outerplanetary (Extraordinary) People, Part 1.

Related Material: Christine Grant has another great checklist and article about navigating the Big Change Transits in her most recent newsletter. Sign up on her website.

Photo Credit: Cartoon Prehistoric Man © Clairev Dreamstime.com