Dreams of the Future, Chimeras from the Past: Our Tangled Planetary Web and the 27th Degree

May 13, 2009

© Terry Lamb

There is a quiet orchestration occurring right now in the heavens, a celestial conspiracy to create harmonic resonance in the human consciousness at the 27th degree (anything over 26̊00'). It is at once perilous, powerful, and beautiful, with the potential to lift us up out of ordinary consciousness and create miraculous change. To get at what’s going on here, we have to look at the contributing planets and their cyclic interactions.

The Contributing Planets
From May 21 through June 10, four slow-moving planets will be at 26 degrees and change in their respective sign: Uranus (Pisces) and Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune (Aquarius). On May 26–27, Mars joins them from its position in Aries, boosting the chance of a harmonious human response. (See image above.) They will all be vibrating on the same “note” of the 12th harmonic, and this opens the door to profound change. It also allows us to check in on changes we began as a human collective in 1992.

The entire time that any of these planets is at this degree spans a broader expanse of time from April 14 through August 10. Since every planet but Mars backs off this degree, they will return to it later but in a dispersed form, with Jupiter reaching it first at the end of December, Chiron-Neptune connecting at that degree in February, and Uranus reaching it in March. This suggests that, whatever comes up now feels like a now-or-never “crunch time” that we must respond to urgently; and that a more dispersed and gentle resolution to the issues that develop will come about early in 2010 — that is, if we respond well to those issues.

The Simple Take
At first glance, this means that any person, group, leader, or nation that has planets at this degree will be transformed by these energies. It also means that issues that began showing up in April will face turning points in the next two weeks, when critical decisions will be made. What issues are we talking about?



We can get a clue about the answer by looking at the US chart. Depending on the time you use for it, the Moon may be at this degree. (However, it is not in the chart I use.) Regardless of that, the US directed Jupiter is at 27̊05' (or thereabouts) in Aquarius, the degree at which transiting Jupiter will station on June 15. (See image above.)

This is a “hook” into the US chart, and it suggests issues that affect society and its well-being. In the chart I use (Dobyns-Boehrer timed for 9:36 am), this falls in the 6th house of workers and the health of the nation. It suggests that we are not doing all that is necessary to support the engine of the US economy, its workforce, and that we are also weak in health (care). These must be rectified in order to live long and prosper as a nation.

What’s It All About?
Accordingly, here are the matters that seem to tie in to the planets at the 27th degree.

Health Care
From Max Baucus’s one-sided meetings with insurers and big pharma (pointedly excluding proponents of single-payer plans) to President Barack Obama’s more universal approach, there is no doubt that health care is on the table and will be dealt with in some form in the coming months. If it follows this time table and is addressed wisely, we will see a new plan in place by the spring of 2010.

The Economy
We have to regulate. This may mean some reinstated or revised regulations (like breaking up the big banks — a MUST!), or simply enforcing the regulations that are there (like the Sherman Act). Nothing must be too big to fail anymore; and the Wall-Street mindset of Geithner, Summers, and the big bankers must be opened to consider what is happening to the people who are (currently still, sadly) their victims. It is beyond belief that so much money could be pumped into the financial industry and so little benefit (in fact, even more punishment) extend to the people. The banks (with some exceptions) remain adamantine in their disregard for the people who drive the economy and therefore their wealth. For more on what’s going on, stay tuned to Rachel Maddow, especially her May 12 interview with Eliot Spitzer, and read the blogs of Spitzer, Paul Krugman, William Greider, Robert Kuttner, and David Cay Johnston. Bill Moyer also covers this topic regularly on his Journal, as does Fareed Zakaria on CNN.

The Environment
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is proving to be a Bushie in Obama clothing. He has refused to increase protections for the highly endangered polar bear and has allowed permits to go through for the mining of uranium near the Grand Canyon, a direct threat to the water supply of southern California, as well as the area surrounding the mining sites. These permits are currently being challenged in court.

Directed Jupiter in Aquarius in the US chart can also signify the level at which people are direct participants in maintaining or (re)gaining their freedom. Transiting Jupiter’s retrograde station on this point could signify a necessary learning curve for the public in the need to become more actively involved in creating the world they want to live in. The alternative is for lobbyists to continue to be the driving force behind the direction the country takes.

On a Deeper Level . . .
There is so much depth and richness to this set of planetary interactions. There are three new planetary cycles beginning (Jupiter-Chiron, Jupiter-Neptune, and Chiron-Neptune), as well as a trigger to one that started in 1992. The latter is the Uranus-Neptune conjunction, which occurs every 171 years or so. The word on every tongue at that time was “reinvention”. What are we reinventing? Nothing less than the way humans live on the planet, the way we dream about our possibilities, and the ways we live, interact, and communicate with each other.

Uncannily, the last time we considered real health care reform was in 1993, when Harry and Louise — a front for the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA), a health insurance industry lobbying group — put the brakes on the Clinton health care plan. We get another shot at this now, as Uranus and Neptune resonate with each other once again. It gives us yet one more layer of awareness to make the right thing happen.

Lunar Illumination: Mr. Obama Goes to Town

February 9, 2009

This morning’s penumbral eclipse was not visible in locales where weather obscured it, but it is still being felt around the globe. In the United States, it has a particular impact, since it hits several significant points in both the US chart and that of our national leader, President Barack Obama. This tells me that this eclipse is one of the more important to be experienced by the nation in recent times.

Can You Say, “Stimulus Package?”
The interactions between the US chart and the chart cast for the eclipse in Washington, DC, speak to the discussion that fills the news — the economy and the stimulus package that is supposed to rescue the American people. Most notable among the interconnections is the conjunction of the US Lot of Fortune (Fortuna) to the Ascendant of the eclipse chart. Fortuna has, obviously, to do with “fortune” or money, but it also has to do with well-being or health. The health of the nation is therefore highlighted, more in terms of economic health (this being in the US 8th house) than literal physical health.

The Wound Is Being Healed.
Chiron is there too, very close to Fortuna. This suggests that a long-standing wound in the national psyche is being addressed, if not healed. These placements, found in Aries, have to do with the tendency for people in power to place self-interest over the interests of the nation.

Highlighting this factor is the location of the eclipse itself, at 21̊ Leo-Aquarius, lined up on the US Moon, the symbol of the people. The people are the linchpin in the process before us, and the people will lead the way forward. Already we can see this, as President Obama appeals directly to the public today and tomorrow through a prime-time press conference and town-hall meetings in Elkhart, Indiana, and Fort Myers, Florida. In doing so, he is making ample use of the planetary energies available to him.

Watershed Moment for Our Leader
This is something of a watershed moment for Mr. Obama, as the eclipse Full Moon opposition is aligned critically with his Ascendant-Descendant (the east-west horizon line of his chart). This can feel like a make-or-break time for him, as if he is being called upon to dig deep into his character to muster the “right stuff” for this task. He is called upon to reassess his way of relating to others, and to make adjustments — which he is doing. I believe that this has to do with his “bipartisanship initiative”, turning it into a long-term project instead of something he can use as a foundation of his approach to the legislature in the current moment.

The importance of this process to the nation is underscored by the fact that the Sun of the US chart, representing the life force of the nation, is squarely on the IC of the eclipse chart. This takes us all to our heart, to deeply question what is important to us, what makes this country thrive, and which political viewpoint (if any) we resonate with.

Given the other planetary pattern out there — the conglomerate in Aquarius — the way of the future will not be the way of the past, and the new way forward will prevail. Even though it looked last week like the Republican retro-economic plan was going to steal the stage, Mr. Obama is reshaping the dialectic quite eloquently, much to the dismay of the Republican right, which is still struggling to find its feet in the dawning new era.

I don’t believe that this stimulus package has it all perfectly correct. I’m with progressives like Novel Winner Paul Krugman, Robert Kuttner, and Rachel Maddow on what we need (so far) — to spend more on things like infrastructure and to make sure jobs are created. The government CAN do this, but it is not going to get as much bang for the buck with so many tax cuts.

When Will the Stimulus Package Be Passed? Once Again, Mercury Is Involved.

January 6, 2009
We have much to cheer about as the new year opens. A new president is about to be sworn in, after an unimaginably disastrous eight years of GW Bush destroying the concept of government, the freedoms upon which the nation is based, and the Constitution that codifies both. It is with relief that we see our republic spring miraculously back to life.

However, we know, as much as we may hope otherwise, that life does not proceed in a straight line. It follows a zig-zag path, something that both astrologers and practitioners of the I Ching can agree on. We are about to encounter a zig-zag in the path to a better economy in January.

It’s (Not) All About Mercury.
Yes, it’s time for a Mercury retrograde again. It’s the time when Mercury appears to travel backward in the heavens when measured against the backdrop of the degrees of the zodiac (called the ecliptic). While I hasten to add that this is an apparent motion related to our position on an orbiting planet, the results in the world around us look very real.

Mercury in mythology was the messenger of the gods, and this is his role in astrology as well. Although a “minor” planet, he has the power to unleash the furies of the heavens during his retrograde period, which occurs every 3½ months for about three weeks. Mercury naturally has to do with communication, and this is a cornerstone of all human activity. But when Mercury makes contact with some of the planetary heavies during its retrograde, we get that extra dose of drama that, while blamed on Mercury, is not of his making.

The Mercury retrograde last fall (September 24 – October 15) was one of these furious retrogrades. As it made challenging contacts to expansive Jupiter and Great-Wound combination Chiron-Neptune, the markets lost confidence and the investment world fell apart, taking the economy with it. It was testimony to the power of these heavy planets, and only to Mercury as their messenger.

Up to His Old Tricks Again
If you count the days, you’ll figure out on your own that it’s almost time for another Mercury retrograde. Indeed, if you’ve had the clear skies and high visibility that southern California has enjoyed on the evenings of the past week, you’ll have been treated to the pleasure of seeing four planetary bodies in the western sky at sunset. Bright and easily visible were the crescent moon and Venus; not so visible but just as stunning were the two lights hugging the horizon but dimmed by the Sun’s afterglow: Mercury and Jupiter. Over the past week, we could watch Mercury move slowly past Jupiter.

When Mercury is even visible to us, it’s a sign that it is near its retrograde. So it is now. On January 11, it will make its standstill before moving backward across early Aquarius and late Capricorn. It returns to forward motion on January 31. This, as you might expect, establishes the potential for drama in the world around us.

Now, think about it. If Mercury goes backward over a segment of the zodiac, it covers some of this celestial turf three times, right? Ah, therein lies the rub! This segment of the heavens gets overstimulated, along with all the bodies that resonate at those degrees. The time when Mercury crosses this zone before and after its retrograde are called its “retrograde shadow”.

The themes of the retrograde emerge when Mercury first enters its shadow. They are confronted as problems or issues during the retrograde. Finally, they are resolved when Mercury makes its final pass through the shadow after the retrograde.

So, what snags in the fabric of life will Mercury’s energy get caught on this time? What issues is receiving obsessive interest by the media right now? It’s the economy, stupid. Everything is about the economy. And now, as Mercury slows down, the stimulus package offered up by soon-to-be-inaugurated Barack Obama is the source of much Pavlovian salivation.

The Good News
Mercury makes only two contacts (and one near miss) during this retrograde. These contacts are conjunctions (a neutral contact) to Jupiter and Mars. These are fairly benign as contacts go. They bring stimulation without the easy potential for major cock-ups. What’s more, Mercury and Jupiter as the two mental planets are a natural pair. Even more than that, Mars is in Capricorn, the sign that it performs best in (its exaltation). This is good news! It means that some combination of objectivity and pragmatism may reign.

The Big Question: When Will the Stimulus Package Pass?
Everyone is speculating on when it will pass as much as on what form it will take. With Congress’s swearing-in ceremony tomorrow (January 6), they cannot help but consider the stimulus package during Mercury’s retrograde. Since this is the case, Mercury establishes some nearly certain timing constraints on the situation. Here’s a time line for how it will affect the passage of the stimulus package:

December 25 - January 10 (Mercury Shadow 1): Anxiety and anticipation build as the reality of the weak economy hits home. The shortcomings of the bail-out devised during the last Mercury retrograde are fully revealed. The hue and cry rises for stimulus in the real economy to rescue “Main Street”, as it becomes apparent that the first ($700bn) stimulus package has been squandered. December 31 (Mercury conjoins Jupiter): More bad news from the economy and American manufacturers, especially automakers.

January 11 - 31 (Mercury retrograde): First, nothing will pass while Mercury is retrograde. There will be the predictable sense of urgency, but nothing will gel. It will be a time of fruitful and clarifying discussion. New facts about the economy will emerge. Under-represented viewpoints will be heard (perhaps progressives Paul Krugman, Robert Kuttner, David Cay Johnston, and James K. Galbraith). Partisan politics will threaten to take over the process. January 18 (Mercury-Jupiter): More bad economic news pushes the debate in a more progressive, Keynesian direction. January 26 (Mercury-Mars): The real economy, manufacturing sector, and blue-collar workers rise in prominence.

February 1 - 20 (Mercury Shadow 2): Stimulus legislation will begin to move forward. Although it is possible for it to occur sooner, a bill will probably not be ready for signature or signed until on or after February 20.

Caveats: Although the masses most frequently follow the norm of planetary timing, it is always possible to respond above expectation. This makes it possible for Congress to pass legislation before February 20, but it is relatively unlikely, especially before February 1.

One thing that will certainly spur action is whatever happens at the time of the Solar Eclipse on January 25, coinciding with a major stellium (cluster) of planets in Aquarius and the Mercury-Mars contact. This could be a game-changer.

Impact on the US
This is “Mercury retrograde lite” for the US chart, since Mercury only contacts the US’s destiny line, the nodal axis. This suggests a major shift in direction for the country but does not imply any complications more than are inherent in the issue (and they are huge).

There is no doubt that there are more facets to the situation than I can anticipate or that lie beyond the depth of this inquiry. However, there is no doubt that Mercury and its compadres will play a role in the unfolding of events.