Forecast: Thursday and Friday, 28-29 March, 2013

Sun in Aries and Moon in Libra-Scorpio
/moon void-of-course until it enters Scorpio
at 5:55p PT | 8:55p ET | 12:55a(F) UT
Moon in the Via Combusta all day
|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week all day

The resting careless one half-asleep sees a raven and a vulture.
The philosopher justifying battles reasons conflicts as necessities.
The rabbit peers and sniffs above his burrow. The planted bomb
Explodes without fatality. The proud observer folds his arms immune.


}Maintaining Integral Focus Within Conflict{
 

As I write several days before the date of this forecast, the talk is of serious problems in Syria, with Iraq and Iran in the mix, and John Kerry our Secretary of State in the region trying to work out compromises. Yesterday's forecast was ominous and today's does not look a lot better. A positive note is that the high-focus planet is Jupiter, and Kerry is a sun-sign Sagittarian, so perhaps Jupiter represents him at present in international affairs. Let us wish him well in his mission.

A cool and collected element is present, as if people under stress are pulling back, appreciating themselves and their ability to rise above crises. That is all to the good. Mercury's aspects are strong and healthy, except for the square with Jupiter which has been going on for weeks. And so it is possible to comprehend what is happening with sufficient attention and determination to understand. The anger in politics, and possibly in personal business, can be impetuous but in most cases will not cause lasting damage.

Whatever tragedies occur, even to deaths, seem to be a price of something working out, even if those who cause the tragedies are misanthropic, morose, secretive and revengeful. I myself am not happy with the idea of some innocents suffering tragic deaths for the sake of "the world" or "the rest of us." But because I believe in immortality and reincarnation, I take comfort that they will reap a reward for their sacrifice, and not so terribly far off in the future.

Being apprehensive about things is normal when there is uncertainty. It appears however that a philosophic or mystical realization of the nature of life will help, calming nerves, assuring us that nothing can happen without its rationale within the overall compass of human destiny.

The trials people suffer sometimes seem unexplainable, and philosophic or mystical rationalizations unsatisfying and uncomforting. Yet I attempt those, because we have to carry on (and, internationally, we have to Kerry on). Also of use at the present time are contrivances, machines, devices which help correct otherwise impossible situations when in the right hands. If some of these are military, I cannot say I approve, but we are at the present stage of human history and not at some ideal future stage.

Self-confidence, in some, can lead to presumptuousness. Yet one would wish one's friends, rather than enemies, to be self-confident. Belief in oneself is fortifying. But if it is not backed up, rather leading to carelessness in the midst of dangers, it does not help.

I do not believe that life is a battle. Yet it often has that appearance, and even in love, the yang-yin symbol suggests a wrestle of opposites. One has to learn to take advantage of every situation. This can be through trial and error, or looking ahead as best one can and choosing what seems the safest course out of three or four. Circumspection is specially important while (a) the moon is void-of-course, (b) in the Via Combusta, and (c) in the |difficult third|, as it is today.

Suffering which seems completely undeserved is the hardest to encounter (whether met by others or oneself). Here is where faith is necessary. In addition, an acute vision of future positive possibilities, as if looking into a magic crystal, can be wonderfully fortifying.

By remaining confident, but not too arrogant and remote from people, one can pass through wrong impetuous and arrogant actions of others without serious harm to oneself.

{Thursday} {Maintaining Integral Focus within Conflict}

Cosmic Piper

Friday 29 March 2013
Sun in Aries and Moon in Scorpio
/moon goes void-of-course at 1:26p PT | 4:26p ET | 8:26p UT
|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues all day
until Saturday afternoon

The dying fall around him as he sits upon the horse whose
Loyalty and valor have upheld his struggle and his triumph.
The dead live on in memory, the best of them; cycles resume;
A friend who is true drinks a toast to the lost and to-be-found.
 
~Valiant Persistence~
 
There is a profound element in everything. One ponders life and death; death as a backdrop to life; the deaths of others as signposts on the way to comprehending immortality and the way to it. Personal victory comes to those who are calm and persistent. They tend to rise beyond strong temptations toward inappropriate or depleting pleasures.

Cycles comprise "wheels within wheels" and are amazing to one who studies them. You may not think about them so much as sense them, as upholding you through memory and prospect. Someone who is devoted, a constant lover or true friend, innocent, is an inspiration even in dark hours.

Attachments, connections, smartphones, email, and any way you keep in touch with people, is emphasized as partly problematic, but continuing with it at the right time will prevent worries and problems. Probably doing that before the void-of-course period would be best.

You will control everything better insofar as you get a sense of the mechanics involved, perhaps in your craft, skill or profession, or in connection with technology, appliances or implements you use.

Daring attempts or exploits are not beyond you, although they are likely to stem naturally from your basic work. The hard part of life is a challenge you can meet. There are also easier moments of companionship with someone who is hearty and likes to share a meal or drink and chat about things and people in an easygoing manner.

People mostly know their limits and are able to work within them. At times you feel like blurting out things, asserting your childlike opinion whether anybody likes it or not. Perhaps you will think better of this if you realize that what you want to protest has its place in a larger scheme of things you can divine intuitively as if looking into space and seeing the connections among  apparently unconnected phenomena. Then the wish to argue with things is lessened.

The things which seem not to have worked out for you as you wished may be in your mind, with the moon conjoined to Saturn in Scorpio. Disappointment is hard, but interpreting it in the light of spiritual teachings or symbolic clues you get, even from entertainment perhaps, helps to make the disappointment more a signal of what you can still attain in the future.

Frustration can lead to lust, or sexual urges, as has been observed in animals and men from time immemorial. Something of this could happen, yet it seems there is a lid on it derived from common sense and past painful experience. Then the whole complex of things, desires as well as disappointments, takes on fresh revealing colors. Life is fascinating! This is true even during less-glorious or hardly-enthusiastic moments. Therefore the work you need to do, which looks important now, can be faced with interest or fascination which makes it enjoyable even when challenging.

{Friday}  ~Valiant Persistence~

Cosmic Piper