Forecast for Monday 1 March 2010

Monday 1 March 2010

\Interspace/

True, I have pointed out March as a good month, for over-all progress and healthy developments. But it starts out with a whimper rather than a bang. The moon void-of-course for about six hours, plus its conjunction with Saturn, suggest a rather blah day. Hunkering down to routines is best for most of us.

You may feel irritated that you have been struggling to handle so many things, mentally, which just haven't fallen into place yet. Some have, but the rest bewilder you and could frazzle your mind if you dwelt on them too much. Getting lost in side issues could be a problem with Mercury exactly quincunx Mars.

"Extravagance, over-confidence and carelessness" are pointed out (by Robert DeLuce) as problems arising with the sun conjoined to Jupiter, and since this is in Pisces, drinking could also be a downfall. It's a desire for the easy path. Well, the only easy path I know is the path of G*d: Jesus said "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." Getting a better start through Divine Grace is always possible and perhaps is needed now.

Being firm with yourself in regard to health regimens you have decided on would be wise, e.g., less eating and more exercise.

Even those who have great wealth find that in order to enjoy it they have to work at something.

A male friend (or friends) may annoy you through his seeming inability to stick to anything decisively, or else his focus on his own concerns which have nothing to do with you so that he seems alien or self-absorbed. Well, he has his life and you have yours.

Is your home your private space, or do you share it, or want to share it? This could be an issue. I don't mean just family or roommate, I mean deciding whom you want to welcome into your home and when, and preparing for the "invasion." Some are natural hosts or hostesses, others are not but can handle any such situation through improvisation.

Some mysteries which cry out to be solved can only be solved through continued growth in wisdom. Tentative answers are useful until fuller answers develop.

Someone you like seems perhaps too individualistic, too involved in her or his weird (to you) personal processes. Communication at a distance may be possible when getting together is denied. Relationships are likely to be more important in March than they have been in a few months. You may sense this beginning, though today is not an easy day for it.

Some who seem sensual and seductive at one level are profound and beneficent at another level. Relating to them brings out surprising facets of your own character.

When it seems things have come to an end, along some line, it is more likely that they have hit one of those "interspaces" where they have to develop in a quiet invisible manner. Being aware of the cyclic nature of time, its ups and downs, will help you get past despair. You will leap over this barrier, but have to regenerate your forces before you do.

{Monday} /Interspace\

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Saturday 27 February 2010

Saturday 27 February 2010

*Full X-Men Moon*

The quincunx between Mercury and Mars can make for too much mental stimulation, an attempt to understand all things too quickly. This can take form as nervous exhaustion if you have been investigating things too impulsively or rashly.

Saturn's square with Pluto, although technically receding, is the only close square in the sky and has a tendency to make you impatient with communications, wanting to get people to cooperate with you more quickly or see things your way. You feel that if they won't do that you are wasting your time, but this is frustrating and maddening. Some who have more power than you in a hierarchical structure may sense your resentment of them unless you cool it down. You need to meet their requirements as well as they yours. Their spoken or (usually) unspoken critique of you may be partly correct. If you try to meet their requirements they will meet yours.

Robert Pelletier says of the sun conjoined with Jupiter: "You have enormous faith, although it does not follow any structured ideology, and it sustains you by enabling you to fulfill your destined role." That sentence is worth pondering. You are assuming that you are on an upward curve, and in fact you are. You may feel that no one and nothing can satisfy all your needs. Your emotional appetite is enormous. I would guess that only G*d could fulfill it. That is well, since these two planets are in Pisces, a sign of spiritual seeking and realization.

Mars's sextile with Saturn grants much patience with the details of complicated physical or practical situations so that you can get a thorough understanding of them. That in turn enables you to be a better craftsman, friend or guide, either for younger people or adults.

The sun's sextile with Pluto grants a certain panache in the more occult realms. You may study something which grants you unsuspected abilities, perceptions or powers. (We can all be one of the X-Men or Heroes.) Whether you share this with anyone else depends on how much you trust them. It's the Full Moon night (exact Sunday at 8:39a PT | 11:39a ET | 4:39p UT) so secrets have a way of floating around invisibly to be picked up by whoever is sensitive to them.

{Saturday} *Full X-Men Moon*

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Friday 26 February 2010

Friday 26 February 2010

*Confluence of Vital Enjoyment*

Sometimes I like to use orange on the moon-in-Leo day. The sun definitely seems a friend, except in places and times when it is dreadfully hot. Today could be a day for romantics. The Full Moon is approaching (Saturday-Sunday).

I would guess that, in order to escape drift, you have been making some nice, definite choices lately, perhaps about your daily schedule and routine. Eliminating both spatial and temporal clutter is certainly a helpful procedure. You want to be firm with yourself, holding to wise daily patterns you have worked out through suffering and relieved-suffering. The relief comes from doing things according to methods and schedules which you have learned to be beneficial.

Taking the stock market as a symbol of the gyrations of fortune, the indefiniteness of it has been disconcerting. If you are not an investor the uncertainty has come out in other ways. I shrink from making too definite promises, but I continue to maintain that February 28 through April 3 will be a good time to get as firm a grip on your plans and detailed intentions as we will have (until the next Bright Hermetic Epoch begins for two months beginning May 28). This time, almost the first half of the Bright Epoch has been blunted by Mars being retrograde together with odd and perplexing planetary configurations. Mars does not turn direct until March 10, but other changes in the patterns (too complex to enumerate) begin on the 28th, Sunday.

It is interesting how character develops and emerges over the years. The mature man is the same as the young man, yet not. He has definitely learned a few things. Most of them he could not even formulate in words. (Of course it is the same for women, but the pronoun problem is just too weird in English. We need a new neuter pronoun.) Today whatever you have so learned is bearing fruit in good relationships. You may realize that your strength and maturity draw certain people to you. Your skills, which you do not cease to practice, are stimulating to others, get their attention, and make you popular.

I am wanting this to be a promising forecast because I see no reason why it could not be a pleasant day; yet conscience requires me to mention the yod pattern with Mars at point focus, since it is prominent in the daily chart. To be brief, at worst it could be someone going off on an unexpected tangent, going wild or getting angry and hurting someone else. I have seen this happen under this aspect. I mention it not to ruin your day but to remind you to be careful, especially when around alcohol, drinkers, or the most violent demographic, young males.

Taking a wide view of people and things allows you to enjoy almost any form of entertainment. Sometimes we need to do this when a partner or friend enjoys something we don't. The classic ball game or chick flick? dilemma is an obvious example, extending to different tastes in music and so on. Today I think you will be happy to expand your horizons and tastes a bit.

A shared meal could be a good answer to inchoate longings. The familiar within the unfamiliar is reassuring, exalting, and one happy reward of a week's labor. Because people are wanting to experiment a bit, the unusual and spontaneous may heighten romance surprisingly.

{Friday} *Confluence of Vital Enjoyment*

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Thursday 25 February 2010

Thursday 25 February 2010

~From Laziness to Poised Readiness~

One reason I have been slow writing today's forecast is that the chart kind of flusters me . . . it is rather confusing. So I am not sure if I can say anything brilliantly relevant to your day.

I shall repeat that February 28 (Sunday) through April 3 is a month of progress, that is, you will be able to forward your plans then more easily than for the last three months.

Today there may be an infection of nebulousness, that is, a desire to "give up," or drop things which feel challenging. This is your personal dilemma to struggle with, so only you can decide what is worth doing now and what not. It is okay to have extra rest, play, or amusement. You may feel that this is making you weak, or else that it is restoring your ability to get back up and forge ahead. Mysterious reactions from people, especially males, make you wonder what they are really thinking or feeling. Chances are they are not sure themselves. A lot of detective-like investigation may yield clues but no answers.

It is good to recognize what you need not attempt at present. Even sportsmen need periods of recovery and do not train every day. I am not suggesting laziness, but wise choice of truly necessary activities. These could include business matters which have to be taken care of routinely (not anything brand new). You could be quite shrewd in sensing business or investment opportunities, but these should not be beyond your current powers.

On the other hand, a partner or someone close to you is competing with you, in a friendly way, or wanting to get you moving, summoning you to a bit of adventure. Of course that could be good for you.

Observations lead to tests of what you have seen which lead to further observations. That is the scientific method, as applied informally by every human being long before codified or termed "science." In doing this you can trust a bit to intuition, or your inner mind's subconscious remembrance of past coherences in your experience.

You may feel contentious about some matters, feeling that people are being stubborn; wanting to push them to see or do certain things they resist. Rather, you could elucidate to them what would help them, whether they are children or adults. They may not think of you as their teacher, but if you are sincere and honest in what you point out they will warm up to your presentation and respect you for it.

Love has a way of leaping over hurdles.

{Thursday} ~From Laziness to Poised Readiness~

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Wednesday 24 February 2010

Wednesday 24 February 2010

~Optimistic Experimental Groping Toward the Next Phase~

Things seem smoother and easier than yesterday. Tuesday you passed through a kind of test which you met according to your best insight. Today you will feel you can use whatever you learned.

It's better than yesterday for contacting people, making plans or arrangements, and social get-togethers. Some of the winter ice is melting, figuratively or literally.

Have you noticed people kind of meandering, mentally perhaps more than physically, dipping into this topic or that, conversing about this or that, tossing out cogent ideas but not following them up? There is more than one astrological cause for that, and it is good while it lasts, but I think it will change beginning February 28, when we will all feel more secure and confident in what we are doing and how to do it. From that date to April 4 is a time for straight-ahead as much as you can muster it.

It is good to keep on stating your position about things of importance. It may seem people disagree or refuse to listen, but you are making an impact. If you can't lead in a big way, you may be leading in a small way even if unaware of that.

The ancient tug-of-war between materiality and spirituality continues, but is not what it seems. We obviously need both sides of our nature. Even Plotinus, who taught that the Highest, the Good, the Supreme, is what we need above all, and what will satisfy us, immortal beyond the body and all its delights, yet taught boys in his school to learn a skill or handicraft so they could support themselves by earning an income through "physical" effort. But today your thought and mood may turn more toward the spiritual side, and that is fine. The world of the Spirit not only illumines but makes pleasing the world of material necessities.

Observing one's desires and how they push and pull is good, therapeutically and otherwise; the fact that one can observe them proves that one is essentially above them--those good servants but bad masters. You may be realizing more than ever which impulses of yours, no matter how delicious when they arise, could lead to impasses or bungles or embarrassments or imbroglios. Sigh. "Do I really have to give that up?" The answer is there.

Well, to be nice and encouraging, I could say, "Something better will replace it." Though in a transition state, that may be hard to perceive.

The strengths of the character you have developed are becoming more obvious (as well as already-harped-on weaknesses).

There are hazards in reaching too far away for what you want or need, that is, trying to use people callously as if they were things or servo-mechanisms. What is close up with intimates, or colleagues, or co-workers, is what will protect you from over-zealous projects which would end up collapsing.

Still, you are a pioneer in some ways. You do not have to consider all others on the frontier enemies, but can relate to them as those who may realize the value of your pioneer work much later on. Even now some of them will sense your value intuitively and be friendly.

{Wednesday} ~Optimistic Experimental Groping Toward the Next Phase~

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Tuesday 23 February 2010

Forecast for Tuesday 23 February 2010

~Tiger Circumspection~

It's a mixed bag of a day, with the moon square Saturn (very bad) but also trine the sun and Jupiter (quite good). I would be cautious when it comes to making any commitment or promise whatever. Take your time, expecting less of yourself and others than on most days, except if there is an emergency or crisis.

You are hopeful at times but then may become nervous and feel lost. It is wise to continue in any public role you have taken on. You might want to opt out, or cop out, but you are needed. You get things moving for people, even if you feel that is backward; they appreciate your stimulation. If you long for a break mid-day, fine; there are important things you can take up and finish late in the day or evening.

You should go at a moderate pace, in order to salvage important ideas and methods you have developed. Hurrying would blunt your aim. The confident archer pulls the bow without worrying that he will miss. The domain of work and business succumbs, eventually, to poise and persistence.

The evening is bittersweet, good for study. It has social potentials, but anyone you tangle with will have intense problems, spoken or unspoken, so you need to be gentle with that hornets' nest.

Detachment, as if you were a Hindu sadhu or wandering yogin, will secure inner peace and then you will resist fatuous temptations which some part of your soul knows to be traps. The quick thrust of passion could entangle you in python-karma.

The Chinese sages tell us we are in a fresh Year of the Tiger. The mother tiger watches over her offspring tenderly, but is fierce toward any lurking predator. So you are protective toward those you value, and even some you do not like but feel responsible toward. With a little quiet thought you can determine which battles are worth fighting, and which are pointless or destructively dangerous. (Let us hope the commanders of NATO and other troops in Afghanistan are able to do that.) If you are not sufficiently ethical and circumspect, you may be taken for a predator yourself.

{Tuesday} ~Tiger Circumspection~

Cosmic Piper

The Powers of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

In Sri Aurobindo on Himself, in which frequently Sri Aurobindo refers to himself in the third person, the following passages, written by him, delineate to a small degree his yogic powers, as discovered or developed around the time he went to Pondicherry in 1910. I offer this copy of it (from page 38, emphases mine) to the Mother on this her birthday (February 21, 1878):

His retirement from political activity was complete, just as was his personal retirement into solitude in 1910.

But this did not mean, as most people supposed, that he had retired into some height of spiritual experience devoid of any further interest in the world or in the fate of India. It could not mean that, for the very principle of his Yoga was not only to realise the Divine and attain to a complete spiritual consciousness, but also to take all life and all worldly activity into the scope of the spiritual consciousness and action and to base life on the Spirit and give it a spiritual meaning. In his retirement Sri Aurobindo kept a close watch on all that was happening in the world and in India and actively intervened whenever necessary, but solely with a spiritual force and silent spiritual action; for it is part of the experience of those who have advanced far in Yoga that besides the ordinary forces and activities of the mind and life and body in Matter, there are other forces and powers that can act and do act from behind and from above; there is also a spiritual dynamic power which can be possessed by those who are advanced in the spiritual consciousness, though all do not care to possess or, possessing, to use it, and this power is greater than any other and more effective. It was this force which, as soon as he had attained to it, he used, at first only in a limited personal field of work, but afterwards in a constant action upon the world forces. He had no reason to be dissatisfied with the results or to feel the necessity of any other kind of action. Twice, however, he found it advisable to take in addition other action of a public kind.

February 21, 2010

Forecast for Monday 22 February 2010

Monday 22 February 2010

}The Direct Approach{

[Those who wish to avoid technical astrology might wish to skip down a few paragraphs to the daily forecast.]

It is interesting how the quincunx aspect in astrology has undergone so many re-estimates of its value and efficacy. Some great astrologers, such as Marc Edmund Jones and Grant Lewi, did not use it at all. They considered it a side issue which would only detract from serious consideration of all the "major" aspects.

Once a booklet was published entitled, "The Quincunx, Not So Minor Aspect." I wish I had it in my possession now, but like a lot of excellent books on astrology it disappeared; out of print. The field is so small and unrecognized that many very worthy books disappear in this way. I hope that now, with electronic saving of books possible, this will no longer happen and even now someone somewhere may be saving some of these out-of-print astrological treasures electronically.

At any rate, for me the quincunx (150 degrees, with a perhaps five-degree orb) has proved major. This is especially so when two quincunxes with the same planet (from two other planets in a sextile aspect) form a Yod configuration. Yod in Hebrew means "the finger or hand of God" and that is indeed what this aspect feels like. Fateful.

Mars, retrograde in Leo, is now at point focus in a Yod configuration with Pluto and the sun. Likewise, the sun is at point focus in the same kind of configuration with Saturn and Mars. Translating this into human language is not easy. Because Saturn is involved, plus Mars (planet of action) retrograde, we are in an odd slow-down phase, it seems to me. You may be more active mentally than physically and may feel that in some areas of your life you are in a rut. In other, more mental areas, you may be racing ahead with good insights.

The wintry weather (at least in my region and I think in much of the Northern Hemisphere) is another symptom of this double-yod, because Saturn is definitely the planet of cold and wintry weather. Precipitation (it's snowing here as I write) has a lot to do with the water sign Pisces and four planets are coursing through it, one of them (the sun) involved in the yod pattern.

So when I gave my weather prediction in December, saying that it would get warmer most places beginning January 14, although it was precisely correct, did not take account of this current yod involving Saturn and retrograde Mars (the planet of heat going backward equaling cold perhaps). I would say this would probably be easing up by the coming weekend (February 27th-28th) if not before.

Today, Monday, financial and business matters seem prominent, with good judgment possible since the moon trines Mercury. It might be good to review investments or financial instruments. Household costs are considered.

A vacillating, drifting mood is part of the picture though not all of it, so when it comes to important matters you can get control of the drift and proceed effectively. It might be good to take public positions or make public statements even if you have little inclination to do so.

People want to hear what you have to say, and learn from you. This may be surprising, yet true. A morose mood can be changed when you persist past the gloom. It is a better shopping day (for groceries or anything else) than tomorrow. There could be shared pleasures, though somewhat muted.

Temptation seems intense, at times, as if you had forgotten lessons you have already learned about submitting to dangerous passions. As the Bhagavad Gita says, Pleasures which are intense at the beginning lead to suffering later. Not something we want to hear, but I want you to be protected from hurting yourself. Many a man or woman has fallen through sexual temptation and spent years or decades recovering.

A direct approach in connection with your mission will bring success, if not now then soon, before April 4. You want to cut through red tape, or details which become hindrances the more attention is given them, and proceed with what will make a difference in the world, or for those in your family or group. You have been given that ability and power.

{Monday} { The Direct Approach}

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Saturday 20 February 2010

Saturday 20 February 2010

\Dormancy/

The yod configuration with the sun at point focus between Mars and Saturn (in quincunx to both) has brought us a touch of winter and an apparent slowing down of progress. The moon square Neptune invokes a need for spiritual consolation.

Decisions have to do with your security, that is, you feel insecure unless anchored to something totally reliable and you wonder what that is.

Health needs of people are important, but health is primarily spiritual. If they try to be useful they feel better. Being useful to G*d is even more important than being useful to one's neighbor . . . the first commandment is Love God, the second is Love your neighbor.

If you don't know how to love God, it could be a good project.

Surviving through all changes, places and connections requires deeper understanding.

High living is all right, but is hemmed in by practical and health considerations. You might feel trapped by your location: it is all right but you may feel bored.

Someone who wants to get you off your behind may be summoning you to a task, but you would rather sit and meditate.

To know what is not feasible now is to be relieved of dangerous activities.

You are qualified for more than you can do at present. Attempting to do what is important just now will qualify you for further opportunities.

One phase of things going into hibernation is not the end of it. It is a phase of letting-go. Thinking and praying are sometimes more useful than acting.

{Saturday} /Dormancy\

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Friday 19 February 2010

Friday 19 February 2010

\Mutual Allegiance Grants Substantial Liberty/

Many will be easing into a happy position today. This could be in career or income, control of one's life or general well-being.

Some in high positions could be favorable to you. That means "Go for it!" in connection with any favors you want to ask or agreements you wish to obtain from anyone. It could be "the boss" or a government official or anyone who has power over something important in your life. These individuals are likely to see things from your viewpoint if you are at all polite and the least bit convincing.

Choices you need to make need not be self-effacing. You care about your appearance and that is fine; you want to be a person of value, and seen as such. This is possible when you take charge of potentials involving service for friends. They will appreciate what you do for them more than how you present yourself.

Travel arrangements of any kind may be solidifying or clarifying.

You are choosing what is easier and less complicated rather than what is difficult and complex. That is fine if it is not undue timidity or carelessness. You are appreciating the finer things and wanting time and leisure to enjoy them, rather than overwrought striving for "success." If success does not grant time to live one's choices, what good is it? you feel.

The kind of success which is mutual, which includes sharing, is better.

You have a role of officiating something in a group or organization, or with family and neighbors. So you can take charge in a way which looks out for the welfare of all involved. Thereby you prevent the collapse of shared and mutual hopes. If people count on you to do what is best for all, you are happy to oblige. You can sound the note to which others will respond.

You show people paths to liberty. You feel free because life is showing you how your particular abilities are needed and appreciated. That is real freedom because it is supported by the community. Then you and others are dedicated to something transcendent which lives in and through your efforts together.

{Friday} /Mutual Allegiance Grants Substantial Liberty\

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Thursday 18 February 2010

Thursday 18 February 2010

*A Whole-View Enriches Competence*

The red is a joyful color, because the moon, still in Aries, is forming happier aspects than it has since Monday. I hope you will have a pleasing and confidence-restoring day.

A certain lazy mood could become turpitude or drift. Still, your mind is on your job or career and you hope to rise to heights beyond present attainments. So you could settle on some hard though wise decisions and hold to them manfully (or womanfully).

You can bring union and harmony to people by making the headquarters in which they dwell more amenable to their hopes and wishes. Commercial developments or opportunities could be in your favor.

You need to understand what you can do, and what is currently beyond your capacities. Of course, you can develop those capacities further, which is one reason for incarnation. But it is well to work within currently prudent limits. You are summoned to complete something you have begun. This will bring you more satisfaction than you anticipate.

The analytical and testing mind has its place, even when applied to spiritual matters or psychic phenomena. (See parapsychological researcher Charles Tart's recent book, The End of Materialism.) Observation from a height is a wonderful thing; you see the whole complex landscape in a way you could not when placed at one point within its detailed immensity. This sort of vision can come to you now, in connection with whatever is most important in your consciousness.

{Thursday} *A Whole-View Enriches Competence*

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Wednesday 17 February 2010

Wednesday 17 February 2010

*Toward Palmy Days of Triumph*

It's a mentally sharp day. Prosperity seems in the cards. You sense the best plan for long-term investment. Your job or career is blessed with good influences, plus good will from the top down and from the bottom up. When your skill and your position is appreciated, you brim over with justifiable pride and satisfaction.

People remain somewhat touchy, with the moon still opposed to Saturn, so you can make allowance for that by being low-key when you approach them, giving them time and room to decide on whatever you propose. They may give you a greener light by Thursday or Friday.

You feel somewhat enlivened by praise, even if it is your own praise of yourself, although others are recognizing something admirable about you. In business you are quick and able to see your advantages, grasping them while you can. People are playing cat-and-mouse games, subconsciously or consciously, and that is normal for the human race at this stage when so much of others' motives and desires is hidden from us.

There is less commotion and strife in your headquarters than yesterday. You are poised to be in authoritative command over the details for which you are responsible. This makes you feel palmy and on top of things.

As a general view ahead, I believe we will be seeing more pleasing results of our hopes and plans beginning February 28, in the second half of the Bright Hermetic Epoch, which lasts until April 4. Meanwhile it is more than possible to prepare for those good developments.

You may be aware of someone, successful in the world of business, who learned how to succeed by coming up from adversity. He felt lost in his humble beginnings, but learned how to navigate difficult waters until he arrived at conventional success in a big way. This person may be important to you or provide you with assistance or, at least, inspiration and comradeship.

It is interesting to consider how individual passions affect careers. Some manage to live with much public and financial success while carrying on clandestine affairs they would not want known. This can lead ultimately to loss or early decline. Others vigilantly squelch such longings at a fairly early age and seem immune to failure after that, living long and happy lives.

Considering this in connection with someone known to you might shed light on your own situation.

{Wednesday} *Toward Palmy Days of Triumph*

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Tuesday 16 February 2010

Tuesday 16 February 2010

~Stamina~

It looks tough. Things are tricky, confusing, and needlessly slow, or maybe needfully slow; that is, you just have to take more time getting them straightened out than you would like. Occasionally, even in the morning and afternoon, you may need a break: time to meditate or pray, letting yourself be your deeper self unbounded by compulsions of work.

Much is changing, or developing slowly, in connection with household arrangements, improvements, or housing for people, or travel and the accommodations required for it. Some of this will make you feel strong, competent, and in control, even if details remain puzzling.

You have a set of good, spiritually supportive friends, and can distinguish them from others who pull you into senseless dissipation.

It is painful to feel you have responsibilities you cannot carry out because of the weaknesses, failures, or misunderstandings of others. That makes you a victim, or else a martyr, if you persist in doing what you know to be right when it gets no recognition, or even contempt. But you can hold on to your highest aspirations and proceed, with some trickle of good results, either now or soon. Such stamina is praiseworthy even if no one praises it.

Problems with work are teaching you patience: the ability to hold on to details and work through them when they seem complex or insuperable. This is building your competence.

What is "the crunch" when it comes to your spiritual interests, your sadhana in Hindu terms, your prayer regimen if you are Christian or Jewish or Hindu or Muslim? Something is happening to fortify and enrich your spiritual life. I hope you are sensing what it is and taking full advantage of it.

Studying the laws of G*d takes patience and vigilance. It seems that somehow we all need to do this for ourselves, although the sacred books have the teachings we need. (In the sacred I include some recent writers such as Sri Aurobindo and a few others, not many.) What the teachings "really mean" is a function of where we are in our lives and our consciousness. Therefore we have to find it out each in his or her own way.

{Tuesday} ~Stamina~

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Monday 15 February 2010

Monday 15 February 2010

~Goals Pinpointed~

Not a bad day for ordinary business. You may be considering things to do to improve your home living. The peculiarities of friends need not be overly disturbing but must be faced. If friends did not have peculiarities we probably would not be friends with them, since the cosmos wants us to have friends who challenge us somewhat.

You are careful, and able to wait for what you want. You expect people to admire you and treat you almost as royalty. They will, if you maintain a demeanor and image which impresses them, and that you can do without premeditation if you are truly yourself. You are stirring your community or family to appreciate what you have to give it, even if that is just a boost to morale.

You know how to work from home, or job headquarters, to gain advantages.

Any trend toward gambling is likely to come to naught. It is better to think of nature than of clever ways of gaining through taking advantage of people. When you confront a natural scene near you, whether in snow or sunshine or both, you sense what is truly important and how to carry on with your life in a natural way which leads to satisfaction.

A differentiation between spiritual aspirations and material business is helpful, with the former more favored at present, although it is a mistake to consider these two enemies. They are friends, for business which is truly successful in a lasting way is based on spiritual principles, realities, or trends.

Tests of endurance involve feelings that something you have been doing has led to a wreck from which you need to be salvaged. It is good that you are perceiving that warning, for otherwise you might not prevent yourself from serious loss. As it is, your powers of concentration are intense and you can choose your goals and pursue them with confidence. You are preparing yourself for the long haul. It may be harder to press on during Tuesday and Wednesday, days of test; easier Thursday and Friday, but today you can get the lay of the land and fortify yourself.

{Monday} ~Goals Pinpointed~

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Saturday 13 February 2010

Saturday 13 February 2010

}Self-Restraint and Charity Lead to Happiness{

We approach the New Moon, exact tonight at 6:52p PT | 9:52p ET | 2:52a(Su) UT. The New Moon of Aquarius is always the Chinese New Year. Happy Year of the Tiger!

Energies and optimism tend to be lower on the last days of a lunar cycle so you may not feel like achieving a whole lot. You may devote the day to mysterious things others don't comprehend.

Risks are necessary to have any fun at all. There is jealousy in the air, but it need not spoil things. It could be "creative jealousy" if you let it pique you toward creativity. You want to compete for someone's approval or affection? Fine, go for it!

You can be efficient in organizing important factors. These may be tiny details of housekeeping, wardrobe, car maintenance, bathroom or kitchen cleanliness, or the like.

It is said that pride precedes a fall, so it is well to be careful you don't get too big for your breeches. Humility and silence can have a greater impact than showy self-display. Or the latter can emerge naturally from the former. If it goes the other way around, that is the "fall" just mentioned.

Your conscience is holding you to high ideals, and it is better to stick with them than give in to momentary self-indulgence. Putting someone else before yourself is wise, teaching you important things and improving your karma.

Spiritual study can lead to illumination.

Things and people converge, not always as you would wish, perhaps in a way that feels like crowding. When forced to be closer to people you are up against their failures and weaknesses and this can be unpleasant. Here is another test of charity, defined as the ability to be kind to people who don't seem to deserve kindness. It is the mark of a big soul. Believe it or not, it leads to joy (even if through paths of discomfort).

There are people who keep to themselves, self-restrained and committed to justice with kindness. They may seem remote at times but when you get to understand them you see that they are secret pillars of the community. You may be one of them.

{Saturday} {Self-Restraint and Charity Lead to Happiness}

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Friday 12 February 2010

Friday 12 February 2010

}The Rarity of Compassion{

Internal strength is just that, internal. External strength is good but requires constant effort to maintain it (as in body-building) and you may not feel like that today; or, if you do, could do it sub rosa in a place where no one sees you. If you went more public it would be in the hope of attracting someone via your stunning appearance.

The moon winding down (or dying, as it were, before rebirth as a New Moon Saturday evening) suggests holding to old paths, although recombining them in novel ways. Much is budding, spiritually, in this new Bright Epoch lasting until April 4. You most certainly want to get a new grip on your spiritual path, or should I say a better tread on it; and you are seeing how different paths combine. This is the age of the multiple guru! Almost no one follows just one guru or one path. That is all right, but it is important to choose your primary guru or gurus, teacher or teachers. Then the others will settle into place naturally.

What prevents you from falling? It is wise to consider that and hold to it when you feel yourself slipping into passions with dangerous consequences. "Thus far and no farther" is a good Biblical saying to remember at such times. You rightly feel that you are coyly cunning and that someone attracted to you can be manipulated in subtle ways. Oh the glory of it! Until she or he turns on you, which is possible, unless you decide "thus far and no farther . . . ".

Moral or ethical training can prevent people from going over the edge, when it comes to anger, revenge or violence. Much maladjustment in these areas comes from not believing in or trusting the laws of karma, which are taught in one way or another in every religion. People had better know that they will suffer from vengeful acts, or vengeful acts will never end. Someone with unique or strange qualities who feels alienated can become especially bitter and dangerous, unless the world recognizes his or her good potentials and fosters them.

Venus joined Jupiter in the sign Pisces Thursday, and will be there through March 6. This is an especially favorable combination for spiritual search, or should I say spiritual realization. Your previous searches have a chance of coming to consummation. Of course, the ultimate Consummation is off in the future for most of us, but it is well to accept what one can when one can. Mira Alfassa Richard, the Mother of the Sri Aurobindo movement, is Pisces, and Venus, today and Saturday, is right with the sun and Venus in her birth-chart (February 21, 1878). Jupiter is joining the place of the sun in the birth-chart of Meher Baba (February 25, 1894), a quite different sort of spiritual teacher yet one I have learned much from. Pisces is considered by many astrologers to be the sign of the Avatar, although no such sign has that exclusive privilege; Sri Aurobindo is Leo, Sai Baba Sagittarius (or Scorpio-Sagittarius). At any rate, regardless of your path (Pisces is also a Christian sign, the early church using the symbol of the fish), this period is a period in which Love, divine love more than single-person-focused romantic love, is becoming pronounced and available through streams of grace.

Personal love is not ruled out; but one will notice when it becomes too clannish, and try to open it up to the universal, such as a loving couple embracing the world rather than merely locking themselves in their boudoir. A spiritual conscience knows that love has to be cosmopolitan, and that compassionate conscience is active now.

Those who search and persevere, when others would have given up, are those who find.

With the higher love goes an indifference to personal needs, not totally careless but perhaps carefree, for when love is the motivation, one's personal gain or loss seems less important, except that one's gain is good when used in a kindly way to make life happier for all. Good judgment puts you in places where you are truly needed, and there you are protected.

{The Rarity of Compassion}

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Thursday 11 February 2010

Thursday 11 February 2010

}Hidden Love Lost but Hinted{

It's a pretty mysterious time. True we are in the Bright Epoch when things are easier to understand and plans can be settled. Today, however, with the moon declining (toward the New, Saturday evening) and other interesting phenomena, you may feel you are locked up within your mind, pounding on the walls or peering through cracks to figure out what is really going on.

You want to be accountable for your life and what it means. And somehow this means being accountable for the past. We usually feel the past just happened to us. From a deeper viewpoint, we created it, although it is hard to own that viewpoint; it is said that we understand these things after death when we can see unhindered by the mechanisms of the flesh and nervous system.

A part of you is cunning in looking out for what will support its own advantage. So you consider how to "use" people, probably. There are risks, and you have to choose one path or another, each risky in different ways. The safest, perhaps, is founded on deep philosophy which endures past momentary deflections of interest. You sense that you are trying to prevent a plunge into the darkness of a detour delaying your true destiny.

You become serene by looking past passions, which could rise up unexpectedly, and surrendering to your deeper soul's perspective, which sees past temporary diversions toward what is reliably satisfying in your life. That involves service of one sort or another. "Gotta serve somebody," sang Bob Dylan; not as an ethical imperative so much as a law of survival.

A feeling of drift, as if on a raft seeking land after a shipwreck, could serve you if it awakens you to possibilities ahead which you never would have found if you had gotten to your original bland destination on that bourgeois steamer. (Shades of the TV series Lost.) The unexpected is not always your friend, but it can be.

At a mundane level, you buy and sell, sell and buy, either in trivia, necessities, or large lots of consignment for future gain; and this is mostly promising.

Venus and Mars are both locked, temporarily, at point focus in two different Yod configurations. How interesting. The sexes are not really linking very well, although they peer over the impasse with curiosity. Each has his or her imbroglio and imbroglio-extricating strategy, and they do not fit together. Self-control and adaptability could add up to devotion, although you are devoted less to a person than to an ideal, at this point. The person has diverged from the ideal in a way which makes you feel alienated. But the ideal endures, to be embodied now or later, somewhere or somewhen . . .

{Thursday} {Hidden Love Lost but Hinted}

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Wednesday 10 February 2010

Wednesday 10 February 2010

\Satisfying Progress at Headquarters/

The day gets more relaxed as it proceeds. Much has been accomplished since Friday when the Bright Hermetic Epoch began (it lasts until April 4). You probably feel caught up in a flurry of important and necessary activities. Major goals seem nearer.

Even if you have nothing to do with the military directly, there is a military flavor to things. The older and younger members of the various branches of the armed forces are interacting in surprising ways, despite the contrasts between them. Deployments and assignments are changing, mostly favorably. Going to a new assignment means leaving an old one and buddies there.

Building or materials for building could be important. You are sticking with potentials of home improvement, demonstrating an aptitude for making things cozy and interesting, while drawing favorable attention to yourself. When people have something definite to do in the family or neighborhood, they feel industrious and useful, interacting with less friction.

You are salvaging things which recently seemed almost lost or beyond repair. The discipline of an almost ritualized method for achievement gives you real importance, not just self-importance, and you are happy with the headquarters in which you exercise your abilities.

You have some authority within the community or a specialized group. This makes you and others feel at home rather than adrift, when you exercise it appropriately. Questions of travel and of where people can lodge may be worked through successfully.

People are friendly when you and they can work together on anything at all which makes sense to both. The continuity running through your interests over the years is paying off.

{Wednesday} /Satisfying Progress at Headquarters\

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Tuesday 9 February 2010

Tuesday 9 February 2010

\Long-Suffering Patience and Adroit Concentration/

I am not just a cheerleader. I have to point out the difficult days and this is one of them.

There is bravery in the air, but it has to be based on work, that is, not empty tooting of one's horn or whistling in the dark, but bravery based on willingness to do the work you were cut out to do, your mission at the present time.

The pressures may seem inhuman. "Why does it have to be this hard?" we all ask at times.

There are pressures from those in power positions who have some say over your work. There are other pressures from your own desires and perhaps from individuals with whom you would like to share life in an enjoyable way. Caught between these two trends, you have to choose; not that you need to reject totally one or the other, but balance them without losing your own balance, pressing on, most importantly, with the job you feel you need to do to feel proud of yourself.

Another side of you is lazy or self-indulgent, appreciative of your own charm or attractive powers (whether feminine or masculine) and wanting to get by on the admiration you evoke from others. That is all right up to a point; beyond that it becomes narcissism.

Another side of you is furious that certain things are not working out as you feel they should, and wants to throw in the towel or make a huge protest or throw over the traces---all such terms we have for desperate acts when people feel their patience has run out. Then there is a voice which says, "You do not have to do this." Indeed.

It is good to become peaceful when disaster threatens. When there is a wreck, one can find peace nowhere but within. Nothing outside seems to promote peace so one has to find it Elsewhere, or in one's soul. Then one can pick up the pieces and move forward.

I am always wary of postponing possibilities, because I do not want to be promoting laziness or lethargy. On the other hand, though we are in the Bright Hermetic Epoch as of last Friday, other ominous astrological aspects---I shall not waste time by giving a litany of them---seem to stick with us like a closed vise until early March. However, there should be a more resilient and less disturbing period beginning tomorrow, at least late in the day, through the weekend.

Concentration is a key. Choosing what you really want to get accomplished and focusing on it, first in your armchair or on your meditation-or-prayer cushion, then in activity, will do wonders. Then, rather than being in a vise yourself, you will have your objectives in a vise.

When fortune does not seem to smile, and one has seemingly less to work with, one's cleverness and adroitness are improved.

There is a blessing for the saintly and long-suffering when they maintain the courage of their convictions.

{Tuesday} /Long-Suffering Patience and Adroit Concentration\

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Monday 8 February 2010

Monday 8 February 2010

*Limits as Security Toward Hopes*

It seems a day for heroism. You are confronting "the enemy" of your career: more likely one of your habits or weaknesses then a person. Past it you chase toward victory with flying colors.

Another side of you, weaker and more passive, looks toward Something beyond yourself to save from conflict. This is not wrong but, as suggested, "another side of you." It is willing to give up a lot in order to maintain regular habits of an almost ascetic stature. You feel companioned invisibly, even when alone at home.

Money is on your mind, and good things are developing in your financial outlook. You have salvaged your hopes, if not your immediate bank balance, so you are willing to go slow when circumstances require such a deliberate pace. You have not given up on goals, focusing on them with intense concentration, seeing beyond hindrances from hidden obstacles toward ultimate victory.

Aware of what can be, you feel you already possess solid evidence of a home you are proud of and an estate within the Estate of your family or nation. This is possible even to apartment dwellers or those living in a furnished room or hotel. In other words, you sense your implicit heritage and its guarantee of a place for you even now, though the future has something better.

Despite an undercurrent of seriousness, the moon's sextiles with Neptune and Venus, increasing into the evening, provide luxurious potentials into which you can put down a tap root.

{Monday} *Limits as Security Toward Hopes*

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Saturday 6 February 2010

Saturday 6 February 2010

~Calming Down Toward Greater Security~

Our old friend, Luna void-of-course, is with us again, beginning at 8:12a PT | 11:12a ET | 4:12p UT until she enters Sagittarius at 4:05p PT | 7:05p ET | 12:05a(Su) UT. These frequent periods are not a nemesis, but if you observe them carefully you will see that things are less definite and more inchoate, hard to pin down, during those times. This is not a problem if you are doing something safe and useful. It is more often a problem in the Dark Epoch, which we escaped yesterday. Today it means, don't over-plan, take it easy.

The stock market's gyrations this past week are a symbol of everyone's finances going through major changes, but things are getting better and moving toward stability over the next two months.

A friend who is strong and more superior than he perhaps realizes, since he has been going through difficulties, could surprise you with his developing assurance and poise. (I use the masculine pronoun because I am looking at Mars, but this could be a female.)

A relaxed, trusting trend is with us while the sun is close to Venus and Neptune. You will be feeling that you can make do with what you have quite nicely, even enjoying some luxuries, and feeling content.

Insecurities you feel are likely to be legitimate concerns magnified beyond their gremlin-like possibility of harming you. That is, you are more secure than you realize, and can get help when you need it. If there are any real dangers, they can be met with resilience and foresight.

Benefits are on their way, perhaps in surprising ways, when you settle down to routines which have proved themselves and now make even more sense to you than they did over the past two months.

Someone with a unique attribute or appearance may be furious, inwardly, about something you don't surmise. This is more likely to be a remote than an immediate problem. It is subject to spiritual control, that is, through insight, contemplation, and prayer. When people suffer and blame someone else, they can become unmanageable to themselves, but if they become aware of the problem (as through a 12-step program for example) they can find happy and useful channels for the energy which derives from insecurities. This process need not be excruciating even if it involves adjustments.

{Saturday} ~Calming Down Toward Greater Security~

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Friday 5 February 2010

Friday 5 February 2010

~Liberating Awareness and Insight~

If there is anyone who has not noticed what I call the Dark Hermetic Epoch which lasted from December 9 through yesterday, February 4, I guess he or she is living on another planet, or else pretty unconscious of what is going on. To finish the last day of that Epoch, yesterday, the stock market fell by 3 per cent, after more falls in the past three weeks. This hit the high-fliers as well as ordinary investors, while the earthquake in Haiti hit low-fliers and those who are trying to help them. It has been a tough period. The health-care debacle is another sign of it.

From today through April 3 we have a better opportunity to get control of our lives.

Shortly before or shortly after noon, depending on your time zone, the moon exits the Via Combusta. You may feel you are seeing your way more clearly, with less Halloween scariness. This is specially true because the moon then moves to a sextile with Mercury. Many will be reconsidering their finances and investments, as well as their careers, and they have a good chance now of coming up with better plans or formulas.

Times like these turn people toward astrology, because only it is capable of illumining the time-scape.

Reinvestment could be a keyword.

You are quite sure of what in you is superior. It is not egoistic to know you are superior in some ways, but such awareness of self-worth can keep you moving forward toward a more fulfilling destiny.

There is a trend toward evaluating worth, whether of individuals, of items up for purchase, stocks or whatnot. You are not willing to take any of this at face value, but want to be skeptical and certain of the value of whomever or whatever you deal with. You are in a good position to make sure, at this point. That need not make you morose or hyper-critical.

Information leads toward benefits. You bring a spiritual touch to everything you say, and find it hidden in everything said to you. Neighbors are basically goodhearted; you may see that better now than in the past few days of the Via Combusta. You can bring about accord among people, so a Friday-evening party mood could lead to happy events.

You have been able to bend with the winds of the Dark Epoch, and recover. A lot has been developing within you the value of which is only now becoming apparent. You know what is good, and can manifest such goodness serenely in your living, choices, and connections.

{Friday} ~Liberating Awareness and Insight~

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Thursday 4 February 2010

Thursday 4 February 2010

~Decadence or Refinement~

The presence of the moon in the Via Combusta, 15 Libra through 14 Scorpio, is a fascinating phenomenon. I experience it as a little spooky, the Halloween phase of the zodiac (the sun is in that segment at Halloween, as a matter of fact). People are slower, more introspective, and doubtful.

However, Luna also forms good aspects with Pluto and Jupiter, so this could be a day of contented decadence. Something like raiding a tomb and finding all kinds of treasures. Then, perhaps, realizing you can't eat them or make love to them.

You care about making your position known to those in high places. This could have a political tinge, or may involve businesspeople among whom you have to take a stand.

As mentioned, there is a lazy or decadent trend, as if you wanted to rest or coast on what you already have rather than press forward. Who can say when this goes too far? You are the one to decide. This may be a natural moment of poise or pause, in connection with some matters. You can, however, guard what you have gained or settled against invaders, that is, against those who, not appreciating your life-choices or situation, would erode them, not knowing what they do.

What are the benefits you want to extend to your neighborhood? When you do that, your neighborhood extends benefits to you. This can be community-at-large, closer neighbors, or relatives. Then everything becomes cozier and happier.

Lurking within some, or maybe all, are angry impulses. We have been learning how to transmute these while Mars has been the high-focus planet, most of the time for the past several months. Oddly, I have watched a lot of episodes of Lost and Heroes, two TV shows which have a lot of violence, even killing, in them. Interestingly, those killed in these shows have a way of being resurrected. This is a symbol of the self-resurrecting Mars at its best, which does not really harm anyone but stimulates. So competitors in a tennis match or football game could come away with both sides strengthened, lose or win.

(I am not sure whether shows and movies which show people resurrected from violence are good and helpful, or the reverse, since it could be argued that they suggest, too easily, that it's okay to harm people, because they will recover. I leave an extended study of that subject to psychologist-philosophers and ethicists. The opposite viewpoint would be that such fantasies help people face and deal with angry impulses by objectifying them in a harmless way. It's an interesting topic, and it revolves around the planet Pluto as well as Mars. I may be mentioning it partly because the moon is in Scorpio [the Via Combusta part of it], ruled by Pluto, the sign of death and resurrection. Both of these popular series also show doctors repeatedly bringing people back to life, and Scorpio is a sign often connected, beneficently, with the medical profession.)

Gentler trends suggest lazing around, letting yourself nap on the floor as if a cat or dog, playing with life as if a toddler rather than adult. Why not, for a while? Often what is done in refined ease is more effective and helpful than what is done in precipitate hurry and strife.

{Thursday} ~Decadence or Refinement~

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Wednesday 3 February 2010

Wednesday 3 February 2010

}Fog Clearing, Faith Rekindled{

Moods are likely to be breezier than Tuesday. There could be mental confusion about choices or purchases while the moon in the Via Combusta squares Mercury, so I would go slow with major changes, waiting until Friday afternoon or next week.

You feel some exhilaration about your career and what it offers in self-expression.

There is ardent partisanship in connection with political, legal, business or military matters; you sense what is right from your viewpoint and do not want to compromise, but sway people in your direction. You are sufficiently intuitive about important career matters that you neither rush them too much nor hold back too much; this is a balanced turning point where you are gaining wonderful perspective. You are aware of important phases of a mission you intend to carry through.

For accomplishment, one has to learn to be imperturbable no matter what temporary annoyances turn up, and this you are doing. The resulting sense of strength gives you ardor in communicating with people in a way which thrills them or wins their compliant cooperation. If they are slow, or back-and-forth, in doing this, you can continue to pour on the sugary incentives while the moon is via combusta, and wait for them to come around. There is enough aspiration and inspiration, coming from both ends, to bridge the gap.

A multitude of interests and presumed needs in people converge in a narrow space, as if you had to take a little piece of everyone's ambitions and desires along with you just by being near them. That requires self-restraint and pulling back, so you aren't overwhelmed, even while you recognize that people need friendly assurance and give them as much as you can in the circumstance.

Letting go of some aspects of the past, in order to proceed, is a natural phase, just before the Bright Epoch begins on Friday and next week. You are clearing away what has held you back. This can be weakening, temporarily, because it involves disappointment with things which have faded, or which you need to understand in a different way even if they remain valuable.

So you could give in to lethargy, mildly bewildered as to how you are going to proceed. This is temporary and you should be able to recover from it even today, or by evening. Don't worry if some details are still foggy. You have seen how faith pulls you through, and it will this time also.

{Wednesday} {Fog Clearing, Faith Rekindled}

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Tuesday 2 February 2010

Tuesday 2 February 2010

}Desires for Change Held Back for Development{

Moods are likely to be down, or even dire, much of the time, although there is a feeling that it is possible to catch up with important things. So there is "can do" but also, perhaps, "don't feel like doing it" but probably the former will win.

You are determined to be yourself regardless of what friends think or how they react.

Communications fraught with differing opinions can still be carried on, when you feel a responsibility.

Someone away from you, at a distance, is displaying his or her prosperity, wealth, or luxury, in a way which could be infuriating.

The structural or regulative changes in the banking sector in the U.S. are related to Saturn's square with Pluto. I gave the long-term period of this in yesterday's report.

Your intuitions are leading toward affluence. You sense long-range plans which could pan out eventually. Adventures which would take you traveling could be more likely than you have thought, especially in February through April when better planetary aspects will fortify your ability to take charge of where you want to go, when, and how. It is too early today to see the final details.

Your headquarters is your fortress; it is subject to disruptive changes, yet you are secure there. Gains through work or business will help you make home and work-space more like you want, closer to the heart's desire. We are entering a lucky time for career security, even if you have doubts about that under today's lunar depression.

(Venus nestled between the sun and Neptune:) Despite moods which fluctuate, often downward, you sense prosperity developing through patience and providence. Pleasures of the senses and the intellect are available, although you want to be just to yourself and everyone by delaying them when there are responsibilities to take care of first. Music could uplift you; or in silence you could luxuriate in the music of the spheres, most refreshing of all.

{Tuesday} {Desires for Change Held Back for Development}

Cosmic Piper