During the last several days, the United States underwent a major paradigm shift due to a natural disaster. Hurricane Katrina hit landfall at Buras, Louisiana at 6:10 am CDT on August 29, 2005 after bouncing off the coast of Florida as a category one storm. Lives are lost. Families separated. Friends unfound. And millions of wildlife and pets lost. Emotionally the toll is heavy, both for those who lost so much and those who survived. Many people had some sort of connection with the city of New Orleans or the other surrounding city and states. We still wait to hear the news. Even those of you who have no actual connection with this region can feel the emotional grip in the air. Some people look at this shift solely through the eyes of geologists and earth changes. Others are concerned with the economic costs that will ripple through the United States. Yet, for most people, the really concern is for the souls that are leaving this planet too quickly through global disasters, whether created by humans or nature.
Another major paradigm shift is the death of Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist on Saturday, September 3, 2005 in the evening, east coast time. Another soul is lost to the passage of time and poor health. The man served as long as his body let him. And, he left a strong legacy behind. Now, President Bush is able to leave a legacy of his own as he appoints two new members to the Supreme Court.
September is a month of healing. It’s a time to review your various relationships and the commitments you’ve made. Organizations will deal with ethical questions and leadership changes. Meanwhile, you’ll need to gain a better understanding of what you value and how these values propel you through life.
On September 2nd, Pluto turns direct. Usually, this change of direction is not very obvious. Pluto moves slowly. When it was retrograde, your feelings of having any power over your life were thwarted. With it turning direct, this energy is crying out for you to take control of your life, especially in areas of personal security. It’s also crying out for you to feel your connections with your family and neighbors.
One day later, on September 3rd, the new Moon occurs in Virgo. As with all new Moons, this is a period of new beginnings. When the new Moon falls in Virgo, it’s time to look at your health and take care of any problems that you are ignoring. There is also a desire to take care of others during this time. With the disaster in the United States, you’ll find many opportunities to help, even if those opportunities just mean that you write a check to one of the charitable organizations established to help hurricane survivors.
On a governmental level, there will be judicial changes. With Pluto on the Ascendant in Washington, DC at the time of this new Moon, difficulties occur between President Bush and Congress. Overseas spending is taking its toll on the economy. And, you may be feeling confused as to what this means for you both economically and socially. The reality is that even the experts don’t know.
As Mercury enters Virgo on September 4th, the need to focus on your own health continues. If you have a health problem, stresses of the world may cause those problems to surface. At the same time, you may be feeling information overload. You may even find it difficult to communicate your feelings to other people, including those people you love. This is a good time to spend writing about your feelings. It’ll help you sort out those feelings and pull them out of your subconscious mind and puts them into a concrete form where you can understand them.
As Venus enters Scorpio on September 11th, things actually seem to get easier for you. Normally, Venus isn’t comfortable in Scorpio. The energy of Scorpio means that you need to understand the values of other people before you can proceed with getting what you want out of life. Under other circumstances, this could indicate that you’re confused about how to proceed to get what you want in life. But, Venus now forms a mutual reception with Mars in Taurus. This means that understanding your feelings in the context of the needs of others becomes easier.
A mutual reception, for those of you who are not astrologers, is when two planets, found in uncomfortable signs, are in the signs that each other rules. This brings forth a better understanding between the two energies. This indicates that the energies have found a way to harmonize. And, this mutual reception is more important than at other time periods. The reason, as written in the July 2005 article, is that Mars, which entered Taurus on July 28, 2005, will remain in Taurus until February 2006. Usually Mars remains in one sign only for about six weeks.
Venus represents your desire for love and affection from others while Mars represents the need to move forward as an individual and show how vital you are to the world. With these two planets in mutual reception until October 7, 2005, it’s important that you find your internal comfort zone before you take any serious actions in your life or even share that information with other people. The danger in sharing too much information at this time is that you may not have all the facts you need about your plans. This could make it difficult for other people to supporting your plans. This is another reason to take time to write down your feelings and gain an inner understanding before communicating with other people.
On a mundane level, there is still confusion over the direction of the country and the best way for handling any national crisis. Trade agreements can cause difficult for the economic growth of the country and need to be reviewed. Meanwhile, the weather is still very unpredictable at this time.
Health is still an important consideration as the full Moon occurs on September 17th. Yet, now it’s time to look at the health of your personal and professional relationships. You may feel constricted by some of these relationships. Or, you may feel overwhelmed by personal commitments you’ve made to others, especially in the area of volunteer activities. The best way to maintain good health at this time is to maintain your healthy relationships and release the constricting relationships. It’s also important not to over commit yourself to external activities.
Jupiter forms a sextile to Pluto on the same evening that the full Moon occurs. Sextiles represents opportunities that you can either make or take in your life. While Jupiter represents personal ethics, Pluto represents the power of implementing your belief systems. Therefore, you will feel empowered as you decide which relationships are valuable to maintain and which are not. Even your ability to feel tolerance for others with different belief systems increases.
On a global level, especially with Mercury entering Libra on September 20th, you see changes among top leaders. And, you’ll also see relationships between some of the top leaders change. On a local level, you’ll see changes with community leaders. Even non-profit organizations may undergo leadership changes. If members in organizations are not sympathetic to the needs of others, there could be some difficulties within that organization.
The need to integrate who you are as an individual and where you fit into organizational structures is emphasized on September 21st when Saturn forms a quincunx to Uranus. This is the first time in a series of this aspect occurring. It will occur again on January 19, 2006 and July 31, 2006.
Saturn represents culture and society. It also represents all the rules you were taught as a child so that you can live in society. Symbolically, Saturn is the image of a chair. This chair can represent the seat of success in life. Or, it can represent a place where you sit immobilized and unable to move forward. Uranus represents individuality and search for innovation: That rebellious spirit that sometimes causes you to throw out all old matters and concepts and start totally new. Symbolically, Uranus is the image of squiggly lines. This represents your willingness to be flexible until you find a way to implement your new ideas. Or, it could represent your unwillingness to make commitments because you don’t want anyone else to define your form.
This could be a difficult time for organizations that expect rigid rules to be followed since the need to innovate is very strong. Any conflicts in life at this time surround your need to understand when it’s important to maintain your traditions and when it’s important to take innovative actions.
Groups will go through leadership changes. There may be strife in the groups as different sides vie for what they believe are the spiritual or ethical direction of the group. Emotions will be extremely strong between the different sides. If compromise can’t be found, the group will fail or split into two or more different factions. The true karmic lesson with this quincunx is to understand where you can compromise without giving up your ethical values.
Basically, the foundation to any organization needs to be built with solid leadership that understands the values of society so that any changes reflect the needs and aims of the people and not just the desires of a single special-interest group.
It helps that the fall equinox occurs the next day on September 22. The power of the fall equinox energy could enable you to meditate on individuality vs. group consensus and tradition vs. innovation. The fall equinox is a time when you need to think about all the things that you accomplished over the past six months and whether your life is continuing in the direction you want it to go. This time, the meditations and reflections need to focus on whether the groups you are involved with support your individuality.
If you choose to meditate to gain a better understanding, the symbology of the chair and squiggly lines can help at this time. Just imagine that you are sitting in the chair as the energy of the lines move above your head. Sit in the chair quietly for at least 20 minutes and just let thoughts move through your conscious mind. After your meditation, write down what ever thoughts came to you in a list format. There’s no need to write major sentences or narrative paragraphs. What you write down will be able to help you understand how to integrate your individuality in a group structure.
This is also a good time to evaluate your fears. Fears can lead to disease because they decrease the body’s resistance. At the same time, fears can also represent your mind’s attempt to protect you from taking action that may not be in your best interest. The Sun, Mercury, Moon’s South Node, and Jupiter are all in Libra emphasizing your need to understand which relationships are important in your life and how to enjoy those relationships.
Sometimes there is a sense of mourning during this cycle because not everything worked out the way you planned. Yet, if you can feel that integration between your personal needs and those found in your relationships, you won’t feel the sense of mourning. Rather, you’ll feel the support that can come from those who really care about you.
Understanding that your health is tied to personal relationships is very important. And, this understanding even works on a global level through treaties between countries and communications between the various leaders. Part of the karmic lesson for this month is to understand that you can’t do it all on your own. The other part of the karmic lesson for this month is to know that it’s important to maintain your ethics and individuality as you integrate who you are into your community and group involvements. Through this, you can maintain a healthy approach to life.