Jupiter Stationary Retrograde, Conjunct Neptune and Chiron: Astro-Success Week of June 15, 2009.

Jupiter turns retrograde this week, this means that in areas of spirituality, ideology, and the things of life which give us an enthusiastic sense of opportunity may go slightly out of sync with our normal way of incorporating those ideas; ultimately it may not be noticeable at all.  Except of course for the day it actually makes the switch of direction, which will be Monday, June 15, 2009

When I planet makes a station, it puts on the appearance of standing still; it is slowing down in observable motion before it starts to appear to move backwards for a period of time.  Since backwards is considered "wrong" a retrograde planet is supposed to be "bad".  I think a retrograde motion to any planet will add a level of subjectivity, i.e. more apt to be influenced by psychological biases, and therefore prone to errors; but I have yet to find any planet's effects noticeably awry when it's gone retrograde and I've been watching these things for over twenty years.

Like I always say, thing go "wrong" when a planet makes an aspect to a malefic planet; that's when the real trouble ensues.  When astrologers say that things go wacky when Mercury is retrograde I'll bet money that at the time they make that observation Mercury is also making an aspect to Mars, Saturn or Neptune (which they are oblivious to).  Therefore to them when Mercury is retrograde to them it means it is "bad"; however, when Mercury makes an aspect to the aforementioned malefics and it is direct at the moment  and things go wacky for a little bit, you might get puzzled look from them but that is all.

There is an alarming dearth of rigorous empirical study to astrological matters, which proves to me that humanity relies on predisposed ideas and biases instead of seeking experiential validation of those ideas.  But I have to be grateful because they make me look so good .  I'm not being especially negative here; in many areas of human thought (spiritual, political, intellectually, etc.) people do not actually think things out, rather they merely go along the lines mentally according to their conditioning; their parents, siblings, teachers, media icons, etc.  To many it would seem getting along and not rocking the boat is more important than getting to the truth.

This time around Jupiter is conjunct Neptune, which can have the effect of throwing things into interstellar levels of wonder, but probably not for what is practical for the here and now.  Nevertheless the feelings of transcendently radiant hope may be giving great potential to the future; if we can continue to ride those waves of cosmic delight that Jupiter and Neptune can produce we can indeed transform the world.  No amount ecstatic joy however can substitute for the hard work of building that new world; but at least the vision will inspire us.

I should also say that Jupiter and Neptune are conjunct that asteroid/planetoid Chiron, which has never spoken to me.  Rather, I have never found the need to use the wounded healer motif that Chiron supplies, which has not already been supplied by the traditionally rulership/planetary scheme of astrology.  Frankly, I see the clinging to the very idea of "wounded-ness" to be unnecessarily limiting, if not absolutely fatal to the victory of the soul in its earthly odyssey.  I have found through every challenging situation that I have been presented to offers me the choice of accepting the paralysis (however temporary) of the stress and pain, or else just throw it all away and penetrate my vision to see the blessing and virtue behind the "problem" before me and embrace that.  So I don't have the time to entertain my "wounded-ness", much to the chagrin of an entire industry built around it.

Wounded-ness to me is irrelevant, illusory, and my enemy; for it tells me everything that I am not: powerless, weak, and without hope.  As the pinnacle of creation of the universe, I was endued with unlimited power, light, and the means to overcome the worst that could be pulled out of any hell in the universe.  This is Truth, which I choose to believe; so I guess Chiron as a concept does not speak to me.

At any rate, this week is chock full of aspect to write about; I still am in the thoes however of the upgrade to this site which is still not completely done so I may be a little tight with words still this week.  However I have some good stuff coming soon (including the return of the graphs), which I hope will make SWN the regular go-to astrology site on the web.  Yes, I have the ebook on the next few years in the writing, which has been not so easy to put together; but it will be out also very soon.

The site will be having a new look; more blog-like and less like an online magazine; for geeks like me putting that all together is quite fun.  Sorry to say, but I most likely will be switching my email newsletter service and that means everybody will have to re-subscribe to it; but I may be able to manually transfer the list of addresses. 

Monday, June 15
While this day could be causing everyone to be riding high, later on the mind may be in the space to make psychological breakthroughs.  Some obsessive tendencies are sensitized as well, which may bring up situations that could be misused unscrupulously.  (Jupiter stationary retrograde, Venus quintile Jupiter, Mercury quincunx Pluto)

Tuesday, June 16
An acute sense of urgency, alarm, or dissatisfaction may agitate the mind and emotions; in extreme cases accidents and injuries are possible. A  little extra care and patience may go a long way to avoid that "pound of cure" thing.  Significant relationship development may occur.  (Mars semisquare Uranus, Sun square Juno)

Wednesday, June 17
Unusual or sudden relationship developments may occur, which will be most satisfying if both parties can avoid the temptation to control or cling to the other.  A powerful sense of illumination and inspiration may be present, which may be blessing to those of creative occupation.  (Sun trine Jupiter and Neptune, Sun and Venus aspecting Uranus)

Thursday, June 18
No peaking influences

Friday, June 19
Unusual, sudden, or challenging relationship developments may ensue.  (Juno conjunct Uranus)

Saturday, June 20|
No peaking influences

Sunday, June 21
Powerful relationship dynamics may be set off, some of which may be rather unsubtle.  (Venus conjunct Mars, both aspecting the Sun)

Monday, June 22
More muted, controlled, or practical consideration will enter relationship situations; but there should still be a very strong undercurrent of desire/obsession affecting the outcome.  (Venus and Mars trine Saturn, Venus sesquiquadrate Pluto)

Astro-Success for the Week of May 25, 2009

Topping out an eventful month astrologically, the last set of configurations touch off on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday (May 27, 28 and 30) this week.  As I wrote about a couple weeks ago, I felt May could be one of the more pivotal months for some time to come.  Understand though that many events go on under the radar screen but their repercussions surface weeks or months later.  Sometimes events occur on a level other than what parades across the testimony of our eyes; there are collective subconscious events that are only hinted at in our conscious awareness.  Before anything can happen in the physical world, there has to be an a priori subconscious expectation of it.

Image below: Northern Hemisphere, about 3-4 am looking southeast, for Southern Hemisphere look East, constellations will be inverted.  Neptune is not visible in the night sky.

This week with the conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune, followed by Neptune turning retrograde one day later one could expect a powerful surge of the tendency of people to project their highest feelings of divinity onto any subject or situation, to feel rapturous ecstasy at the anticipated ceasing of all struggle, pain and suffering therefrom, and a deepening of compassionate regard for others.  The sense of bondaries and separation seems to dissolve.  These are two very "unrealistic" planets, they deal in the realm of possibilities, potentialities, and the future.

This is a once in a twelve year cycle, the last occurrence was in 1996-97.  You might recall the popular song "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal that seemed to be coming from everywhere at that time.  Clinton won a landslide over Dole, the US stock markets were at the very crest of a peak which they have never regained, I got married (not one of my best decisions), the Hale-Bopp comet showed promise but ultimately fizzled in the sky, the Heaven's Gate religious group committed mass suicide, and Mother Theresa and Lady Diana died.

All of these events were a very Jupiterean-expansive, and Neptunian-sensitive nature with positive and negative overtones.  There were many more events in 1996-97 of course; and there were more planetary factors involved, but those above seem to indicate at least the effects of Jupiter and Neptune conjunct and we can use them to project onto the next 12 months or so.

Of course we now have the first year of the Obama administration, with all the promises and hopes of his campaign.  Sadly, behind the electoral hype Obama seems little more than big-moneyed knock-off from the Bush mold with the expansion into Afghanistan, continued involvement in Iraq, continued  US renditions and torture, increasing involvement in Eurasia, Pakistan, and of course the bailouts.  The list goes on ad nauseam; but already we can see the hype being presented in the media about the stock market coming back, the benefits of the stimulus packages creating opportunities, and that the administration is determined to "bring back prosperity".  So everybody is high on renewed optimism, never mind the workforce reductions, plant closings, and exploding inflation.

I would be remiss to mention the Jupiter/Neptune connection to the spread of viruses, or at least the expansion of the illusion of viruses as a threat to our society.  Hyped, clandestinely synthesized, or actually real; the growth (Jupiter) of ill-health conditions (Neptune) is not out of the realm of possibility.  As the planets connect with others in the coming months, this issue of epidemics could have developments forthcoming.  This is one of the subjects for my special report to be published very soon.

If you look at the trends in Washington, DC you can see a literal media campaign going strong of Barak and Michelle Obama with pictures on coffee cups in gift shops, magazine interviews, photo ops, comic books, new pets at the White House, and political fashionista news.  Never mind the falling popularity rating of the President and his corporatist-fascist maneuvers, it's the image, the good feelings, and vague generalizations of hope that are important.  Is it a coincidence that Jupiter and Neptune are conjunct in the sky?

To get a deeper insight at this you need to take a look at Jupiter and Neptune's dispositor (Saturn, the planet ruling Aquarius where Jupiter and Neptune now are sidereally).  Saturn is in a state of debilitation in Leo, which has the effect of degrading the astrology of Jupiter and Neptune, bringing out the bad points instead of the good.  There are good things that can come out of this configuration (increased compassion, sensitivity, and spirituality), but the debilitation of Saturn can have the effect of delaying, obstructing, or misdirecting them to an extent.

You could also attribute a degrading influence upon this configuration by Jupiter also disposing malefic Pluto in sidereal Sagittarius.  if you don't take dispositors and disposed planets into account in predictions, you are missing out on over half the info you need to be accurate.  That goes for natal chart interpretation as well.

Mercury turns direct again on Saturday, May 30; otherwise known as the traditional green light to start important initiatives.  I hardly sweat retrograde Mercury at all, I'm more concerned if Mercury is making an aspect to a malefic planet than if it's moving backwards; the connection to a malefic planet is much more inductive to miscommunications or mental mix-ups.  A retrograde Mercury can be thought of as in a more subjective/reflective mode, taking a little longer to reach its conclusions.  One of the reasons that there is a Star World News is to alert the world at large when Mercury is making aspects to malefic planets and therefore mucking up the normal course of affairs.

I will never forget noting that a fatal train accident in Los Angeles resulting from an inattentive engineer pushing the wrong button occurred precisely on a day when Mercury was aspecting Neptune.

We are building up to a significant set of astrological configurations coming to exactness in late 2009 and 2010 that most likely will coincide with significant world developments which are possibly world changing; the astrology of May (as highlighted on this site over the last few weeks) may well have already incited developments which will have direct bearing on those times ahead of us.  This report hopefully will be ready in two weeks.

DAY BY DAY:

Sunday and Monday, May 24-25
No peaking influences

Tuesday, May 26
Urgency is added to an already excited state of expectation; be wary of motivations based on misguided thinking, subtle self-sabotage influences, or unrestrained arrogance.  (Mars sextile Jupiter and Neptune)

Wednesday and Thursday, May 27 & 28
While transcendent forces are at work, there could also be some deep blocks of stumbling in relationships to be worked out.  Physical vitality may be affected, and behaviors could be strange in some.  Be careful of addictions, sensitivities, and chronic conditions.  Significant events can occur which may have suspect or self-deceived intent behind them.  (Jupiter conjunct Neptune, Venus aspects Saturn and Pluto)

Friday, May 29
Restrictions  on self-expression may be felt more acutely, inciting some to make changes.  (Sun quintile Uranus)

Saturday, May 30
Mental work should get a good kick into action, this should be a positive day for verbal and intellectual work.  (Mercury stationary direct)

Sunday, May 31
Frustrations could be strong. Be careful of accidents and injuries; obstacles and difficulties do not yield simply through force.  (Mars sesquiquadrate Saturn)

Monday, June 1
Relationships may hit some rough roads, the feeling of love may seem a little dry.  In some cases love may be replaced by "hate", which is always love's lesser replacement.  (Venus parallel Saturn