Star Watch
by Terri Smallwood
Welcome, star watchers,
to February, when the Sun has emerged from its lessons under January’s earthy
taskmaster, Capricorn, and is hanging out in airy and unpredictable Aquarius
before diving into Pisces’ ocean.
February,
the shortest month of the year, can seem like an eternity in the cold northern
climes. The days are obviously lengthening, but the Sun’s rays remain cold, and
the crisp Arctic winds are unforgiving. Regardless of what the calendar and
various erudite groundhogs have to say, spring feels a long way off and it’s
easy to sink into the doldrums. Uranus-ruled Aquarius does his best to break
these winter blues by offering us unexpected surprises, quirky people, and
unpredictable events.
The
idiosyncratic Water Bearer arrives at a fortuitous time in the zodiac’s cycle,
following as he does on the heels of hard-working and determined Capricorn.
Capricorn, which received short shrift in our January “mini-issue” of Metamorphosis, is typically not arrogant or
attention-seeking, but is still a cardinal sign of leadership and does like to
get his due. So before delving too deeply into the strange days of Aquarius,
let’s take a look back into January and the rewarding, if occasionally
unyielding, realm of Capricorn.
Capricorn is the
last of the cardinal signs, and along with Aries, Cancer and Libra, is
possessed of strong leadership capabilities and a competitive nature that
enjoys being first at the finish line. Its placement at the top of the
mid-heaven bestows its own special distinction upon Capricorn, along with some
important responsibilities.
When we place the
signs in their natural order on the horoscope wheel we see that the wheel has
two very prominent axes. The first of these lines, the horizon, divides the
chart into an upper and lower hemisphere and generally indicates that the signs
residing in the lower half of the chart look inward, while the residents of the
top half look outward. The vertical line that separates the left (eastern) half
of the chart from the right (western) half is called the meridian and marks the
contrast between the right-side signs that are motivated by others and the
left-side signs that are more driven from within. Poised at the very top of the
wheel, Capricorn is the ruler of the 10th house of the natural zodiac, and it’s
not any coincidence that this hard-working sign is both the first of the
self-motivated signs and occupies the highest place in the heavens.
The 10th house is
concerned with a person’s career, public persona and reputation. Saturn’s
influence is felt in the responsibilities denoted by the 10th house; in a broad
sense the career is indicative of one’s responsibility to contribute something
of value to society. Television talk-show host and famous Capricorn native
Oprah Winfrey is renowned for her work as a philanthropist, and she is an
excellent example of the best that can come when such a powerfully felt
responsibility towards society is combined with an internal drive towards
excellence.
Capricorn is ruled
by Saturn and, as such, is also associated with the concept of karma. Capricorn
understands more than any other sign the occasional necessity to suffer in the
short term to achieve a worthwhile long-term goal. In essence, this is what
Saturn asks each of us to do when approaching our karmic debts. Saturn, as the
Lord of Karma, is the planet that demands all of us to be responsible for our
actions. The rewards of accountability are great. It has been said that “Saturn
cannot follow Man,” meaning that the key to freedom from our karma lies within
ourselves, and that beyond the existence that we experience as humans, there is
a state of being that is not bound by the same repetitive cycle of lessons that
marks life on the purely physical plane.
The restless need
to achieve something of value, the strength of will, the honesty and focus that
characterize Capricorns are the gifts bestowed by Saturn, and they are useful
traits for all of us to learn as tools to accomplish the balancing of our own
personal debts. However, as useful as these gifts may be, it is easy for
Capricorns to take their obligations too seriously, and if not careful they can
begin to portray the negative characteristics of this sign, becoming
pessimistic, dour, miserly, insatiably ambitious, with a voracious appetite for
material goods. Capricorns who exist mainly on this plane also often distance
themselves from the experience of love — and appear to be cold, uncaring and
aloof.
Fortunately,
Capricorns are also gifted with the ability to become younger in appearance and
outlook as they age, so for the Capricorns who become pessimistic and
discouraged by the difficulties of life at an early age, there is often a
chance later in life to rediscover the mystic beauty of life on the more
spiritual planes.
Over the
past few months we have examined the signs in terms of the evolution of
consciousness and its relationship to the zodiac. We began in September at the
place of balance between Virgo and Libra, the place where consciousness changes
from a strong involvement with the inner self, to experimenting with the role
of self in relationships and the outer world. Libra expresses this energy in a
very relationship-oriented, highly social fashion. In Scorpio, this energy is
taken a step farther, as the Scorpion desire for merger, experienced either as
a strictly physical encounter, or when viewed from the higher planes, a desire
for merger with the deeper mysteries of the life force itself. These mysteries
continue to be explored in the life of Sagittarius as a desire for an expansion
of consciousness that goes beyond the occasionally narrow confines of home and
family.
In
esoteric astrology, Sagittarius is described as the “One-pointed Disciple” who aims arrows of Light that illuminate
life’s secrets. Capricorn’s mission is presented as the “Dweller on the Threshold,” the point
of the zodiac where the Soul accepts its responsibility to serve others and to
atone for personal karma. Sagittarius, the Archer, aims his arrows high into
the sky and watches them arc out of sight, while Capricorn the Goat, with his
determination and strength, actually makes the long climb heavenward. From this
mountaintop perch, the soul moves into Aquarius and acts as “The Light that
Shines on Earth, across the Sea.” The
sea can be represented by Pisces, the last sign of the zodiac, whose oceans
represent the repository of human knowledge and understanding accumulated
during the soul’s sojourns in the previous 11 signs.
The
hopeful light that is Aquarius entered our consciousness this year on January
21 and remains with us throughout much of February. Aquarius is the 11th sign
of the zodiac, airy, fixed and masculine. Called the Water Bearer, he resides
in a region of space known to the ancients as “The Sea,” which was named for
the large number of water-themed constellations in its vicinity. The
constellation of Aquarius is depicted as a kneeling man, pouring out an urn
filled with water. The etymologists among you will recognize another link
between Aquarius and water, as the name Aquarius is derived from the Latin word
aqua, or water. Even the astrological
glyph for Aquarius is reminiscent of watery waves, ripples
on the surface of the ocean. In meditating on the glyph of Aquarius, one can
begin to comprehend why an air sign should be associated with so much water.
Aquarius, like all the air signs, is considered by astrologers to be a
“human sign,” air being the element that governs the mind. In Aquarius, air
represents the intuitive, inventive aspects of the mind. Intuition, by its very
nature, is a flowing, elusive phenomenon, and people experiencing its flashes
will characterize the experience as “following a hunch” or having a
“gut feeling,” but rarely can they intellectualize this experience, rarely can
they verbalize what they feel from it, and most rarely of all can they take
this mysterious sense and develop it into a facet of their conscious mind. That
is, unless they’re Aquarians, because this fusion of intuition and
consciousness is what Aquarius strives for. It’s the force present in an
Aquarian visionary, inventor or prophet when he sees his dreams of the future
and begins to realize that potential now. And it’s the gift that Aquarius,
whose strongest inclination is to serve humanity, is trying to share. The
ripples on the surface of the ocean are the winds of Aquarius, the winds of
change, seeking to inspire us all.
The 11th
house, the natural domain of Aquarius, rules groups, especially those that come
together to fulfill a greater purpose. As we move ever more firmly into the Age
of Aquarius, this concept of group endeavor is becoming increasingly prevalent.
Many New Age thinkers and authors have talked about the importance of these
so-called, “Soul Groups” uniting and sharing in a common vision of service to
humanity.
The
rulership of Uranus over Aquarius cements this drive to brotherhood and
service. Eccentric perhaps, but Uranus is also strongly associated with genius
and vision. And while their airy nature makes Aquarians appear to be flighty
from time to time, they are also a fixed sign, and that means stubbornness and
dedication. Aquarians will work tirelessly for a cause they believe in, or to
manifest their futuristic visions in the here and now. As is often the case
with prophets and geniuses however, many Aquarians are misunderstood by society
as a whole, which cannot fathom the revolutionary concepts that come so easily
to Aquarius.
In the Christian tradition, John the Baptist is a Biblical figure often
associated with Aquarius. His role was described as, “A voice of one calling in
the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ”
(Isaiah 40:3.)
John was
a blustery prophet, a seer, and a man unafraid to break with convention. He
baptized his followers with water, but said, “I baptize you with water for
repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose
sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
with fire.” (Matthew 3:11.)
The astrological parallels are many. John the Baptist was charged with
the mission of preparing the masses for the arrival of Jesus, the Biblical
figure typically associated with the unconditionally compassionate waters of
Pisces. Aquarius precedes Pisces in the zodiac, and the Aquarius, as the
second-to-last sign, encompasses a great degree of spiritual knowledge and
wisdom from accumulated from the previous 10 signs. Like John the Baptist, the
Aquarian prepares the way, pouring waters of consciousness and understanding
from his urn, baptizing his brothers in preparation for a more peaceful and
spiritual time dawning on the horizon.
|
