Forecast for Thursday 20 August 2009

Thursday 20 August 2009

\Maintaining Stability/

We're in a New Moon! Or maybe a New Moon is in us. I gave the time of it (very early today) in yesterday's report. The sun is in the second-to-last degree of Leo and the moon in early Virgo, and we have Prime Time until the time given in the last paragraph. (The only thing which would interfere with Prime Time is the Dark Hermetic Epoch, but since that lasts until October 14 I shall not be commenting on it every day. Prime Time during a Dark Epoch is "less prime" than in the Bright Epoch but I have not come up with a designation for that).

Balancing a budget, investment program or financial transactions could be an issue to deal with as astutely as you can. There are so many things to consider you could get lost, so it is well to decide on the basic ethics of the situation and then proceed with common sense after that. I am still not sure how the stock market will act during this particular Hermetic Epoch. So far, so good, although I would suspect a mild downturn on Thursday and Friday perhaps.

Venus's trine with Uranus can yield explorative joy of life and a sense of freedom. Her quincunxes with Jupiter and Neptune can stimulate conscience and religious-spiritual dedication. These two trends do not contradict but complement each other. You are willing to do whatever you need to do to attain mastery over yourself, which then grants mastery over your situation and people who will help you. You dare to be great by daring to serve in an intelligent way which serves yourself.

Something you had once set out to do would make you strong if you proceeded. You may sometimes abandon the project for less than worthy reasons. It involves studying and calculating things carefully. You may feel that you would be competing fruitlessly, and your efforts would not get recognition, but your inherent joy of life could stick with this endeavor, winning friends and fulfillment through it.

There is a cost for whatever wisdom you gain. This is not a cost you cannot afford and is well worth it. Those who are on your side supporting you have a wisdom which at first might look depressing because it requires more from you than you would like to expend in time and energy. But when you recognize the value of what they suggest, you accede and succeed.

Disappointments come from trusting the untrustworthy. They may be sincere in their own way, but what they present does not stand up to long scrutiny and fails at crucial points when tested. When you realize that something or someone is in this category you can move on to something better.

Someone who is truly beautiful is in your thoughts. This person has all the subtly glorious qualities of her or his sex. So you are willing to gamble a bit and put more weight into time spent with him or her than cold calculation would merit; the heart's attraction means more.

The harsh aspects of Mars, including squares with both Saturn and Uranus and an opposition with Pluto, do not have to take violent form, although they did yesterday and today, when I warned about them, in the deaths of almost a hundred people in Iraq "in the worst attacks since U.S. forces handed over security responsibilities in June." (New York Times.) June 12 was the beginning of a Bright Hermetic Epoch while Tuesday this week the beginning of a Dark one. Unfortunately, the old astrological thesis that Mars square Uranus equals violence came true again. For most of us, though, it was not direct violence but something more internal. Perhaps we were confronting the results of past violence, or confronting impulses toward violence, or working to prevent future violence. Then again, as humanity evolves, this aspect will not be violence at all, but stimulation, akin to hard play, sports, or a taunting joke. It has its dark brooding side, especially because this time Saturn is involved. Individuals who attract you may be brooding and suffering in one way while smiling or laughing on the surface. It is possible to move toward the happier side of things in consciousness and thereby evoke it.

Somewhere in this morass of suffering Mars is finding his way toward something better, and Venus, with easier aspects now, may be leading the way. Even in military ethics, serving and being subordinate is a test of masculine strength, although subordination is considered a feminine virtue by many. So we are getting to a place where we recognize the essential identity of feminine and masculine strengths, despite their varying manifestations and womanifestations.

Maintaining stability is a way of building toward honorable outcomes which satisfy everyone, and stability can endure through the ||retreat third of the week which begins today at 2:24p PT | 5:24p ET | 9:24p UT and lasts through Friday and Saturday until Saturday at 11:13p PT or Sunday at 2:13a ET | 6:13a UT.

{Thursday} /Maintaining Stability\

Cosmic Piper