Finding our place of ‘ease’ in a world of ‘dis-ease’

The New Moon of 28th September falls in the sign of Libra, just after the Autumn Equinox when day and night become equal length.  New Moons are times of new seeds and new intentions.  Libra as a sign associates with balance, harmony, fairness, impartiality, equilibrium and ‘ease’.   Traditionally this was a time to prepare for winter by having festivals to celebrate the harvest and thank the Gods for providing them with food to see them through.

The only aspect this New Moon makes is an opposition to Chiron.   In Greek mythology Chiron was a wise centaur – notable for his wisdom and skills in medicine.   He taught the young centaurs in the arts of medicine, hunting, gymnastics and how to be young warriors.  In himself though he was different to the other centaurs in that he was intelligent, civilized and compassionate.   The other centaurs had the upper body of a man and the lower body of a horse, whilst Chiron’s two front legs were human, rather than equine.  He was also immortal and was, therefore, destined to live with the pain of a wounding from a poisoned arrow he received in his leg – he was unable to heal himself despite being a revered healer and astrologer, so eventually he willingly sacrificed immortality to be freed from the unbearable pain. This New Moon, therefore, is shining a light on where we are wounded, where we are facing difficulties.

If we overlay the chart of this New Moon against the UK chart, the New Moon lights up the UK Ascendant, Uranus and the South Node.  This puts the ‘wounds’ on the Descendant (significant others and partners) –clearly showing a divided, unhappy Britain.   The UK has an innate Libran approach of free speech, fairness, and democracy, which is surely being damaged now.

Saturn and the South Node are currently sitting on top of the UK Sun (a literal shattering of traditional values and methods), whilst Pluto opposes the UK Moon.   The Sun in a country’s chart represents its leader, which in the case of the UK could either be the Queen or the Prime Minister.  And what do we have?  Boris is deemed to have dragged the Queen into an unlawful act!  As a nation we were capable of easily surviving Brexit, but this constant stalemate is totally damaging and breaking the country (Saturn conjunct the Sun).      The spider imagery in the brooch worn by Lady Hale, Britain’s most senior judge, as she handed down the Supreme Court’s ruling was very powerful.  Spider imagery is apparent in many cultures as ancient and powerful symbols.  Arachne was a weaver who studied under the Goddess Athena.  However, Athena was furious as Arachne’s abilities surpassed her own.  Arachne hanged herself in shame and Athena turned her into a spider who would for ever weave beautiful creations.  This is the origin of the word arachnid.  Spiders have become symbols of creativity, as well as showing the shadow sides of our nature.   In this latter respect I see Pluto imagery            here as in the film ‘Spectre’– a darker side who is really pulling the strings in the shadows.

The Moon in the chart of a country represents the people, whilst Pluto speaks of power, power struggles, corruption and the murky depths of everything that is bad or rotten that is perhaps being shown to us right now.  Pluto often operates under a veil of secrecy – what is happening that cannot be seen.  So, who is pulling the strings?   As Pluto indicates extreme wealth, we should be following the money to see whether intentions are for good or for ill – maybe Soros fits somewhere within all the chaos?

So, whilst this New Moon falls in Libra, the sign of harmony and ease, events of the moment seem anything but harmonious or happening with any kind of ‘ease’ – many in the UK and indeed the world would say that we are suffering quite the opposite – fromdis-ease. 

Also in Libra are Venus and Mercury; Venus is strong in her own sign alongside Mercury and, by firmly squaring the South Node, Pluto and Saturn, both are really trying to bring some kind of balance, impartiality and voice of reason to crisis like situations every which way you look.    For me it feels as though there is a fated, ‘breaking down’ quality to the energy at this New Moon and how we might pull ourselves back into a life of ‘ease’ or perhaps more pertinently a life without ‘dis-ease’. 

We look at the outer planets – Uranus, Neptune and Pluto – as indicators of the larger generational cycles of life and as a reflection of the collective unconscious or psyche of the time and the archetypal energies contained within these cycles.  We also look to Jupiter/Saturn as measures of socio-economic cycles.   The Industrial  Revolution occurred at the time of the beginning of a new 250 year Great Jupiter/Saturn cycle in the Earth element in the 1840’s, which particularly links with the growth of capitalism, mass production, banking, money systems etc.   The mid 1800’s were a time of huge progress technologically as well as socio-economically.  People moved from a way of life where they had stayed mainly in their rural birthplaces and embarked on a new habit of moving for work and of travel, facilitated by the invention of steam and the railway network.  A certain Thomas Cook at this time began his travel business and became a household name.  Planetary transits now, however, take no prisoners and have no regard for long-term tradition.   Having failed to keep up with the demands of a digital age Thomas Cook has collapsed under accusations of mis-management and big bonuses (very Saturn, South Node, Pluto energy).

We stand now on the brink of a new Jupiter/Saturn Great Cycle beginning next year – said to perhaps be the fourth Industrial Revolution – this time in the Air element – artificial intelligence, the mind, mental issues, space travel.  With the accent on artificial intelligence will humans eventually become superfluous to requirements?

But more than this – we also have a new Saturn/Pluto cycle next year too. This cycle was evident at the First World War and also the end of the Second World War, as well as in the early 1980’s.  It is characteristic of a Cold War and statements of judgement in the face of grave situations.

What roads have led to the dis-easeof now?  We have just emerged from a 10 year period of Pluto square Uranus between 2008 and 2018, which heralded turmoil, political rebellion, social rebellion, unpredictability, events which surprise and shock and also huge technological progress.  This generational cycle was characterized by an impulse towards accelerated sudden and new change, combined with a radical, ruthless use of power and social disruption.   Now any new cycle that is upcoming occurs within this backdrop of chaos and breakdown. With Saturn coming up to join Pluto in a new cycle next year we can expect more breaking down, characterized by a rooting out of what is broken and corrupt – some kind of end of an era or a destruction of a way of life which has perhaps been marked by decadence, a sense of entitlement and free spending. Pluto also associates with abusive sexual behavior or racial behavior, which is now being judged and given gravitas (Saturn), having been exposed and brought to light by Uranus.  Look at the emancipation of women, the ‘me too’ movement, the movement against racial oppression and the rise up by the young against what they see as errors of judgment with regard to climate and ecological disasters.

We have to experience some kind of breakdown, however, before a new paradigm can rise from the ashes and we don’t know exactly how this will play out.   Will it be war, recession/depression or some kind of unexpected black swan’ event such as 9/11 was?    Saturn, the South Node and Pluto are in the sign of Capricorn.  Capricorn is a cardinal Earth sign and relates to the corporate world of business, banking and governments, whilst ‘cardinal’ means some kind of action or movement.

Jupiter, who will likely only serve to expand rather than mellow the existing energies, will soon join Saturn and Pluto.  This is an unusual combo of energy that has been seen only twice previously in the last two millennia.   The first in 411 CE coincides with the Fall of Rome and the descent into the Dark Ages before we arrived at the Renaissance era.  After the Roman legions departed from Britain they were replaced by groups of migrants and invaders who were largely illiterate, which means we have fewer records to give us insight into the life of those particular  times. The country broke up into smaller territories and as I started to write this lunar article I wrote a line commenting that the atmosphere feels to me distinctly tribal out there.   It seems so many feel that their opinion is the right one and, therefore, almost bully others into ‘persuading’ them to take on their ‘correct’ view with no intention of bowing to democracy, what is beneficial for society as a whole or indeed ‘ease’.  It could very easily happen that Great Britain will break down into smaller territories.

The second such cycle occurred in 1146, which correlates with the second of the Crusades.  This second Crusade was the first to be led by European Kings and would lead to the third Crusade driven by religious zeal.  France and England ended hostilities between themselves to embark on this Crusade to recapture Jerusalem, with the English contingent led by the famous ‘Richard the Lionheart”.

History has a strange way of repeating itself but, because the backdrop of life has changed, the cycle may have similarities but will not be exactly the same.    I think we can all see how there are similarities between 411, 1146 and the current planetary energies, even if it is not playing out in exactly the same way.

Uranus, planet of shock, disruption, rebellion and breaking boundaries is also in an Earth sign.  It is in Taurus, which also has an affiliation with banking and money, but for me it is the sign most associated with Mother Earth, our security and stability, extremes of weather/earth issues and climate.   Uranus is a revolutionary, forward thinking planet discovered in the “Age of Enlightenment”, a time in Europe of innovation, discovery, and a scientific outlook.    Uranus energy is, however, an awakening, liberating, extreme energy. So behind the breakdown effect of Saturn and Pluto I feel that Uranus is trying to wake us up to what is really happening and to take action.

Prometheus in mythology is very closely aligned with Uranus –  Prometheus thought it was unfair that Zeus would not allow mankind to share the gift of fire so he secretly took fire from Zeus and gave it to man to allow man to be set free.   Uranian energy is mainly designed to liberate us and set us on a new path, just as Prometheus’ gift of fire was meant to do for mankind.   However, if we see Uranus as having a disruptive effect on Mother Earth, we only have to look at the devastating fires currently raging in Australia, where they are having a seriously bad start to the season of fires, and in Russia, Siberia and the Amazon.  Whilst some of these may occur naturally, many are down to the deliberate action and greed (Saturn/Pluto) of man. 

We are all becoming much more aware of, and individually active in, doing our bit for the protection of our planet Earth.   But our bit is nothing in the face of the ravaging caused by these fires.  Wildfires are now at unprecedented levels releasing harmful and toxic gases into the atmosphere.

In the Amazon experts say that deforestation and a practice called ‘slash and burn’ are to blame for most of the flames.   Areas of forest are cut down, allowed to dry out and then set alight to make way for agriculture and other development.  Many of the fires correlate to areas that were deforested earlier in 2019 and then set ablaze in August.  The Amazon is the largest tropical forest in the world, standing at around 2.1 million square miles and representing one third of the world’s forest.  It acts as a carbon sink, absorbing more CO2 than it emits, whilst releasing oxygen.  About 20% of the Amazon forest has disappeared in the last half century, with a huge increase of late.   It has been described as the ‘lungs of the world’.   We can see here, however, a conflict between individual needs for money, those higher up the food chain who can profit from this, as well as the larger global needs. 

So, how can we find our own point of ease amidst all this dis-ease?    The one thing we do have influence over is our own actions through the turmoil. Just as Chiron was different from the other centaurs and used his voice to educate – so Uranus represents what is different or ‘alien’ to us.  Libra associates with two main symbols of reference – one looks like a bridge across a straight road whilst the other is the scales of justice. In general it is about seeing both sides, finding a happy medium.

At this New Moon we are being asked to find our voice (Venus conjunct Mercury in Libra) to have an opinion but also to take responsibility for finding our own knowledge to reach our own conclusions so that we are not driven by the agenda of others, the chaos and the fear.  Libra is a Cardinal sign, so this is not about crawling into a hole until the storm has passed – Venus was not just about love and beauty, she was also a fierce warrior queen.  Libra suggests that we need to find our own place of calm and ‘ease’ however we may individually do this – meditation, yoga, being outside in nature – so that we can really look at all sides of a situation without buying into the drama.   We need to protect ourselves with strong boundaries so that our emotional fires are not stoked by the agendas of others.    There is some kind of huge change coming but perhaps it doesn’t have to be as drastic as the Fall of Rome and a descent into the Dark Ages and we don’t have to still have one foot in the Crusade era, with wars and disagreements fuelled by the zealous views of others to join their gang.

The choices we make now alongside current events will likely have long-reaching effects because this New Moon squares the eclipses of this coming December and June next year.  But there are positives to the energies also -Saturn/Pluto can bring a real moral courage in the face of darkness.  It can also give intense will to take on tasks that require great determination to tackle issues which have enduring consequences.

So putting this all together – be prepared to gain knowledge. Put in the will and effort.   Be creative and do something rather than do nothing.   Strengthen your own boundaries so that you don’t buy into other people’s agendas.  Do your own research and above all find your own place of ‘ease’.