Order Prevails? ~ 25 August 2007
Before getting to the theme of this GT, the Virgo era ahead, it is worth noting the pattern involving Venus, Sedna and Neptune. Presently, Venus retrograde opposes Neptune (What is it I want again? Oh yeah, the more soulful stuff, not just glamour, glitz and goodies.) and both those planets square Sedna (Make a good choice. Make a good choice. Make a good choice.). This pattern stays in place pretty much through the time Venus ceases her backward motion on September 8th and turns about takes her sweet time to clear the pattern around September 23rd, or on the heels of the equinox. Clarity in needs and wants requires inspired vision, lofty aspiration and a smidgeon of deliberation. Distill hype and impulse down to: Will this really serve my purposes?
This week I rummaged through the back of my file cabinets for copies of ancient Galactic Times. Back in the late 70's and early 80's I used to mail these things out... and they were typed on a typewriter! Anyway, I was looking for one issue I remembered from when Saturn entered Virgo last time around. I had cleverly used a hodgepodge of fonts for the title: “Saturn Enters Virgo, Order Prevails.” Actually, it was a sight-gag on order having all the topsy turvy fonts creating the headline and gave me a chance to use up an aging scattering of those rub-on dry-transfer font decals. I was hoping to pick an insight or two from that old GT, but I made reference to nothing much of substance, instead noting the epidemic of radically changing hairstyles as Saturn left Leo. Huh? Not that useful really.
Useful brings up an interesting Virgo archetype: Is it useful? Does it further? What contribution and attribute can an idea, comment or inspiration offer?
Just in the past couple days with the most gravitationally potent and massive body in our solar system - our Sun - clearing out from Saturn’s waning days in Leo and entering Virgo, the air seems fresher - still hot in Arizona, but fresher nonetheless. A hint of renewed optimism blows in the breeze and the weight of the world evidently shed a few ounces. It was downright heavy and suggestions, opinions and rendering of others, while well-intended, seemed like immovable, time consuming, energy-devouring tasks or lessons in impossibility. Maybe a few well-applied Virgo hints from the Sun, handed back to Saturn make his September 2nd ingress into Virgo easier.
A concept that appeals to me about Virgo comes from the sign’s ability to ponder things critically and creatively. Let’s be clear that critically does not imply the “I’m right, you’re wrong,” You’re inferior and I’m superior,” down the nose slants nor the “You are so much an ignoramous,” attitudes poorly attributed to the sign. Critical thinking formulates and asks crisp, insightful questions. For instance, if the outermost planet in the solar system symbolizes a boundary marker of competence and functionality in life, why did those attributes not get reassigned from Saturn to Uranus when the tilted planet was discovered? Good question. The ability to cite oxymoronic thoughts applies as well. The antiwar slogan popularized during the 60's and 70's, “Fighting for peace is like f***ing for chastity,” fits that characteristic neatly. With this line of logic intact, the door for an inspired, alternative thought with an allowance for an oblique or abstract spin is left open. The art of m. c. escher comes to mind. Of course, logical conclusions can jump the tracks as can a recklessly driven choo-choo. As one of my favorite comedians notes, if one puts a plant in the Sun and one in a closet and compares them after two weeks, one might linearly conclude that clothes kill plants. Right and the restless moving of branches on hyper-active trees causes wind.
During the days of Saturn’s last passage in Virgo, I worked in micro component development for a large electronics company. My own Saturn in Virgo saw heaps of problems with our plant and I decided to go on a campaign to improve those flaws by justifying my case with the horoscopes of the parent corporation and my plant’s first day of operation. The plant manager listened patiently and when I finished documenting the plethora of problems I observed, he dryly replied, “We know what the problems are. We just don’t know how to fix them.” What a shocker that was to me. Here I thought I was being all insightful and I was really being an annoying pain in the ass and using up his problem-solving time. Too chagrined to make a second pass there, I developed my creative “rule of three” rule for Virgo problem-solving. Mercury, ruler of Virgo (or at least associated with Virgo’s thinking in a big way) must orbit the Sun three times for both sides of its surface to enjoy the benefits of conscious clearing sunlight. For every problem noted, report three creative solutions and render the solutions in advance of citing the problem(s). Once solutions offered received a speculative “Hmm” from the target of those suggestions, then decrypting how things got that way can untangle the mess.
As we go into the Saturn in Virgo era, Ceres, the upgraded dwarf planet who bears a strong affinity to the symbolism of Virgo, meshes nicely with Mercury, who like the Sun, lead the way for Saturn to step into the wheat fields. There’s yet another correspondence here. Both Ceres and Saturn have sickles and scythes figured into their glyphs. Both can be used to harvest the wheat and reap sown crops. Both could be use to cut down or destroy. An idealized image of Saturn notes that he seeks to inspire improvement, enhance quality and get it right again. Notations of Saturn as grim reaper, taking a harvest of souls can easily be transferred to the upgraded dwarf planet, Charon. That was really his job. Saturn works to set it straight here before completing the task of incarnation. Saturn harvests time and bounty.
I’m reminded of two axioms my Sagittarian father passed along: “Any job worth doing is worth doing right,” and “If you don’t have anything helpful to say, button it.” I had to sanitize his last axiom to make it work in the context of Virgo.
As Saturn enters Virgo, he’ll pass over a series of black holes that require impeccable attention. Note all ideas at the time of appearance. Document every idea fully. Share the idea or copy it to every relevant application. Minimize no thought that tracks from well-intended inspired places. Filter garbage. Cull consciousness. Restore simplicity in your work place.
Doesn’t that feel better already? Ah, yeah, that was a rhetorical question not requiring e-mail response.