ASTRO-DEBRIS.... and some SHAMANISM

 AN EMERGENCE FROM THE UNDERWORLD

It's been a helluva transit of Sun-Mars in Scorpio over the last month. It's been described outwardly by the deep scouring of Gaza by the Israelis. What gruelling unconscious contents have you been exposed to in that time? There was an eclipse early on, and then an eruption around the 13th, as Uranus opposed Sun-Mars: the Gorgon finally showed her face.

We are moving to the sunlit uplands in the next few days as the Sun then Mars enter Sagittarius. You can look back from a brighter place and get perspective, understand yourself. The square to Saturn in Pisces will push you on this one to start with. Look to the bigger picture of yourself.

It looks like being reflected also in a resolution of the Israeli hostage crisis and perhaps a scaling down of hostilities.

 

 

AI and PLUTO in AQUARIUS 

 

 

Last autumn, as Pluto first moved towards Aquarius, ChatGPT was released and astonished us with its human-like AI abilities. 

 

This autumn, as Pluto (empowerment) again moves towards Aquarius (AI), the AI world has been stunned by the sacking of Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, that created ChatGPT. Pluto will be moving towards his 3rd and final Ingress into Aquarius next autumn. I wonder what might happen then? Maybe legislation, and the hyping of apocalytic fears around an AI takeover?

 

MUGGLES

Muggles can only see from their own point of view. We magical people can see from many viewpoints. That is what magic does, that is its wisdom. So we don't fill the world with a cast of bad guys to blame, who we imagine to be in control. 

 

We don't need to, because we don't suffer from the envy and powerlessness behind this Punch and Judy view of the world. So we can see everyone as humans like us. Our magic gives all the inner power and riches we could ever need.

 

 

URANUS and THE US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

I think the outcome of next year's US Presidential election is impossible to predict at this stage. Not just because of the potentially tight race, but because of all the other factors involved. It is looking like Trump vs Biden. But who knows? There are Trump's legal problems and his Gemini trickster energy, Biden's mental capabilities, the family corruption hidden in his son's laptop.....you couldn't make it up.

This unpredictability is reflected in next year's hard transit of Uranus to the US Moon in Aquarius (the people, the voters); to Trump's Mars and Angles; and to Biden's Scorpio Sun. Watch for the Uranus station at 27 Taurus in Sept 2024.

 

SHAMANISM AT THE EDGE

(From my other blog at shamanicfreestate.blogspot.co.uk)

I just saw an ad for Contemporary Shamanism - Safe Practices. Harrumph! Is the Sundance, where you dance until you are exhausted and your breast torn open, 'safe'? Is a Sweatlodge, where you struggle to bear the searing steam, 'safe'? Is a Vision Quest, where you are exposed to the elements for 4 days, with no food, 'safe'? Is a trance dance that takes you to the point of possession by the spirits, writhing on the floor and speaking in tongues, 'safe'? No, the whole point of these things is that they are not 'safe'. Think of the young Siberian Shaman, called by the spirits to his vocation, and ill until he accepts the calling. An illness that may kill him unless he yields: an offer he cannot refuse.

The whole point of this shamanic path is that it takes us to the edge, it dismembers and rebuilds us. There is risk involved. And in that process we find gold, a source of guidance and connection that comes from deep within - or without - that can be trusted, that renews us, and that serves the world. If your shamanic practice is 'safe', it will remain superficial. The role of teacher is often safe too, they hide behind it.

Enough of this coddling and safety. There will be trigger warnings next, and a #metoo group for anyone who has had a fierce power animal. We have been prosperous for too long, we have cast out the warrior instinct as toxic and patriarchal, and little that is real can happen in that context. Though the groups we attend may serve our social needs and award badges of shamanic attainment: everyone's a winner. Good luck with that😎

NOT A TALKING HEAD

I've recently created a video course for Watkins Books, as a companion to my book The Medicine Wheel. There are 11 sessions, and I had a fun time doing it: it brings something out in me that writing alone cannot. I think you'll find my style engaging - it's more enthusiastic fireside chat than polished talking head 🤣 

 

The intro is free and the link to that is here

 

The course itself can be found here 

 

ISRAEL WILL DO WHAT SHE FEELS IS NECESSARY 

 

Here is the New Moon chart for 13th November, set for Tel Aviv. You don't need to know much astrology to see that it's pretty powerful. Sun-Moon-Mars in Scorpio, on the Midheaven. It is, however, easy to get down on Scorpio, and think this chart has to be pretty horrible, and what a nasty country Israel is. It probably will be horrible in many ways, but for a Scorpionic reason: Israel is attempting to ensure her long-term survival, which is a Scorpio issue. If this line-up were in Aries, I would say it is a war of conquest. But in Scorpio, it is defensive.

The line-up is opposite the Israeli Sun at 23.39 Taurus, so there is a national renewal, a re-setting of goals. Uranus is opposite the Sun-Moon-Mars, so it is impossible to predict how Israel will go about reaching its goals. But reach them she will, by whatever means necessary. It is a one-way fight, so as painful as it is likely to be, it could be a lot worse. This chart does not concern gratuitous violence: just whatever is necessary so that Israel cannot be attacked in the same way again. She is looking with an unwavering Medusa eye to this end. And she probably has the international backing to do so.

This is not about fairness or justice or morality. This is about survival, quite a different thing. It is Pluto's realm, that is not human. By the same token, the New Moon will be in pretty much the same place above Gaza: in their case, it signifies the pulverising and dismemberment that is also Scorpio territory. What will be left to rise from the ashes is, at this stage, imponderable.

 

 

THE LUNAR ECLIPSE 

 

The Full Moon this weekend is an eclipse. So pay attention to the Taurus-Scorpio axis: do you need to lighten up from your dark broodings, and enjoy the pleasures of the senses and the natural world? Or are you consumed by everyday life as a way of avoiding your demons, and your deeper, more demanding gifts?

 

 

THE VEIL BETWEEN THE WORLDS

We are in Scorpio season, and Halloween aproaches. This is when, we are told, the veil between the worlds is thin. If the veil wasn't originally thin on Oct 31st, it is now, through the power of repeated ceremony.

Scorpio is comfortable with death and blood and guts and transgressive behaviour, because she understands they are just part of life. She understands that there is in reality no veil between the worlds. Life and death are one. Death is completely normal, no-one even notices it, from the point of view of death. Or so I was shown in a dream a while back, where death was happening by the thousands every moment. "It is as natural to die as to be born", said the philosopher Francis Bacon.

So keep doing those things that give meaning to your life, while you have the time. If you do that, you will have nothing to regret. Just remember to have that coin in your mouth to pay the ferryman.

 

 

MERCURY CONJUNCT MARS IN SCORPIO 

 

Mercury will be in an applying conjunction with Mars in Scorpio until 29th October. Time to speak truthfully and directly all those things that need saying, but which get put to one side because they are inconvenient, or because you want people to like you. This is about the truth you see directly, that you know in your viscera. The force of that will prevail against those who can usually dance around you with words and logic.

 

 

WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING IN THE BEDROOM....

Behind Venus, through which a man is attracted to a woman, lies the Moon, the mother figure that he seeks, who he imagines will take care of his emotional needs. And behind Mars, through which a woman is attracted to a man, lies the Sun, the father figure that she seeks, who she hopes will provide protection and financial security. Of course, this is schematic, and it's never that simple. It is generally unacknowledged, or it would kill the romance. And it may be necessary, it is not 'bad'. It is normal, it is where the idea of the 'other half' comes from.

A relationship begins in the 7th House, and then moves to the 8th House, the House of Sex and Intimacy, which catalyses our unconscious longings. You may find yourself there for many years, before you move into the clear light, the wisdom of the 9th. If indeed you make that shift. And you will probably find yourself on your own if you do.