Its last quarter Moon today, and the Moon is in Pisces. Meanwhile Venus and the Sun are traveling closer and closer to an exact opposition with Saturn.
The Sun and Saturn have such an interesting relationship. This morning it brings to my mind a passage from the Tao Te Ching: “Contraction pulls at that which extends too far, weakness pulls at that which strengthens too much, ruin pulls at that which rises too high, loss pulls at life when you fill it with too much stuff. The lesson here is called ‘The wisdom of obscurity” — the gentle outlast the strong, the obscure outlast the obvious. Hence, a fish that ventures from deep water is soon snagged by a net. A country that reveals its strength is soon conquered by an enemy.”
As the Sun and Saturn oppose one another we might see any of the following themes:
* What has been overextended will be cut back
* What has been overly visible will retreat
* What is overly confident will be humbled
* What has been naturally obscured will become clear or visible
* Ignorance will lead to clarity or vice versa
* Sickness, old age, and mortality will be at the forefront of our mind
* Paternity and rites of passage between generations of men or father figures
* An alchemical process of purification will take place
* Consequences for current choices, past actions
* Growing up, maturation, and confronting basic truths that we have been avoiding or in denial about
* Depression, isolation, judgment, seclusion, and bitterness being seen or understood, as poison drawn from a wound
* Wisdom traditions and the focus or commitment of the mind on certain subjects or practices of enlightenment
* Renunciation…the purposeful humbling or relinquishing of something
* The violent opposition to something whose time has naturally come…jealousy, revenge, bitterness directed from older people to younger people, etc.
We call Saturn a “malefic” in traditional astrology, but we have to remember that both the Tao Te Ching and the I Ching were being perfected during the same time period that western horoscopic astrology was gradually coming forth in the world. The malefic designation is no different in ancient astrology from the natural place of contraction, weakness, and ruin, mentioned above by Lao Tsu, or mentioned in the numerous “bad” omen hexagrams and lines of the I Ching. The logos, or divine intelligence, of Saturn is beyond good and evil, in other words, while the effects of Saturn in this material world are often experienced as destructive or difficult. I look forward to Saturn/Sun oppositions not for the challenges, because it’s not honest to say that I enjoy them, but because I like to prove to myself and to the Universe that I can say “yes” to all seasons of life…that I don’t just pray for help when times are rough, but I pray the prayer of thanksgiving all day, all year, all my life…because God is good, because I am alive, and because all seasons of life are sacred…even those natural periods of contraction!
Prayer: Help us to pray the prayer of thanksgiving, all day, all year, all of our lives, even when we face inevitable periods of contraction and difficulty.
The Sun and Saturn have such an interesting relationship. This morning it brings to my mind a passage from the Tao Te Ching: “Contraction pulls at that which extends too far, weakness pulls at that which strengthens too much, ruin pulls at that which rises too high, loss pulls at life when you fill it with too much stuff. The lesson here is called ‘The wisdom of obscurity” — the gentle outlast the strong, the obscure outlast the obvious. Hence, a fish that ventures from deep water is soon snagged by a net. A country that reveals its strength is soon conquered by an enemy.”
As the Sun and Saturn oppose one another we might see any of the following themes:
* What has been overextended will be cut back
* What has been overly visible will retreat
* What is overly confident will be humbled
* What has been naturally obscured will become clear or visible
* Ignorance will lead to clarity or vice versa
* Sickness, old age, and mortality will be at the forefront of our mind
* Paternity and rites of passage between generations of men or father figures
* An alchemical process of purification will take place
* Consequences for current choices, past actions
* Growing up, maturation, and confronting basic truths that we have been avoiding or in denial about
* Depression, isolation, judgment, seclusion, and bitterness being seen or understood, as poison drawn from a wound
* Wisdom traditions and the focus or commitment of the mind on certain subjects or practices of enlightenment
* Renunciation…the purposeful humbling or relinquishing of something
* The violent opposition to something whose time has naturally come…jealousy, revenge, bitterness directed from older people to younger people, etc.
We call Saturn a “malefic” in traditional astrology, but we have to remember that both the Tao Te Ching and the I Ching were being perfected during the same time period that western horoscopic astrology was gradually coming forth in the world. The malefic designation is no different in ancient astrology from the natural place of contraction, weakness, and ruin, mentioned above by Lao Tsu, or mentioned in the numerous “bad” omen hexagrams and lines of the I Ching. The logos, or divine intelligence, of Saturn is beyond good and evil, in other words, while the effects of Saturn in this material world are often experienced as destructive or difficult. I look forward to Saturn/Sun oppositions not for the challenges, because it’s not honest to say that I enjoy them, but because I like to prove to myself and to the Universe that I can say “yes” to all seasons of life…that I don’t just pray for help when times are rough, but I pray the prayer of thanksgiving all day, all year, all my life…because God is good, because I am alive, and because all seasons of life are sacred…even those natural periods of contraction!
Prayer: Help us to pray the prayer of thanksgiving, all day, all year, all of our lives, even when we face inevitable periods of contraction and difficulty.
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