Saturday 31 January and Sunday 1 February 2015

Saturday-Sunday, 31 January-1 February

~Loyalties and Love~

Just some thoughts on this weekend. I shall work on the Nine Day forecast with data for each day and hope to post it by Sunday at latest. The data for this Saturday and Sunday have already been given in the Nine Days report posted last weekend. 

As for the Super Bowl, the coach of the Seahawks is a sun-sign Virgo, Pete Carroll, and the coach of the Patriots an Aries, Bill Belichick. That does not predict who will win and I do not choose to spend a lot of time trying to pick a winner, but if I did I would look at the charts of the two head coaches. I note, as of yesterday, that Carroll of the Seahawks has spent time conversing with some individuals who believe we do not have all the truth about what happened on 9/11/01 and, while not a fanatical believer in the conspiracy theories, is open to fresh ways of evaluating our warfare, as in Iraq, and our military strategies. That is all for the good, so I am inclined to feel even better about rooting for the Seahawks here in Seattle tomorrow. But the outcome of a game is not as important as what follows:

There is always more to say about the Hermetic Epochs, otherwise known as the Mercury cycles. In my mind, for quite a few years, they have been the major way to mark out human time--more important than New Moons, eclipses, and all the varied ways astrologers have used over the centuries to measure time.

I won't try to convince anyone of that. I will just report what seems to be true.

Here again is the current agenda: DHE = Dark Hermetic Epoch; MR = Mercury Retrograde

1/5/2015 DHE begins--> [1/21 MR begins-->2/11 MR ends] -->3/3 DHE ends

We are in the thick of it. It is not a bad but a good time, but it can seem "bad" when we are expecting things to go in normal ways. This period always defeats our expectations, always throws surprises, always challenges us to see our lives in a different way. 

For that reason it is a spiritually challenging time. And that is "good"--although it can seem "bad" to those who don't want to grow and evolve.

There is a major key. "Grow and evolve, or suffer" is one way to describe the Dark Hermetic Epoch and the Mercury Retrograde cycle within it.

We become reflective, ruminative. For some reason I have been thinking of my paternal grandfather, Frank Higgins, the past few days, and then today I got a post with a petition to help "save the bees" from the companies which are exterminating them through pesticides and genetic engineering, such as Monsanto, a big devil whom we have to corral as best we can. Grandpa Frank was a beekeeper and I used to go with him and my dad to capture swarms of bees who gathered, unwanted, in the trees of neighbors in a rural area. Then they became "his" bees whom he cared for. Thinking about him is part of my current Dark Hermetic Epoch experience. Maybe he is here with me, in some sense, in the multi-dimensional world invisible to ordinary eyesight. 

Things like that may be going on with you, whether you are conscious of them or not. (A link to the petition for the bees is on my Facebook page and I also sent it to Twitter where there is always a link to these reports.)

"Saving the world" becomes important at these times, whether it be the bees, preventing nuclear war, solving international crises, or whatever else remains (re-word) over from the past to be resolved (re-word) or remedied (re-word). Let's re-do it. Let's be aware of the crisis in Kashmir, for example, where both India and Pakistan have nuclear capabilities and a horrid war of extermination could begin. It has to do with water rights to the Indus River, for one thing. I need to be better informed about it. We can pray for a solution, which would include a surplus of water for both nations, which are suffering serious problems in that area--something hard for Americans to imagine. Some think that new desalination processes are a partial answer. Let us pray.

In your personal life this time can be poignant. "Whom do I love?" (especially now because Venus and Saturn remain in a square), "Who loves me?" (not as fruitful a question, maybe better to forget it), and so on. There can be a feeling of vacuum, nothingness. That is an opportunity for deep meditation and prayer. 

Feeling, sensing deeply one's loyalties is very significant, even essential now. These are not so much personal as collective, perhaps, but also may be personal to a degree. "What is worth living for?" is the question Mercury's review process puts before us. 

Many have found that when they put loyalty to the Supreme Lord first, instead of fifth or twenty-seventh, their other loyalties begin to fall into place.

{Saturday-Sunday}  ~Loyalties and Love~

Cosmic Piper

Friday 30 January 2015 }Lounging With the Moon{

Friday 30 January 2015

}Lounging With the Moon{

It is a tough time for me.

I do not want to be talking about myself here, except insofar as my experiences help you to see what is going on astrologically for all of us. That is the only reason I talk about myself.

And I prefer not to do it . . . but It is harder to write objectively "for everyone" while Mercury is retrograde, because we all get tangled and re-tangled in our personal concerns, tendencies, neuroses, confusions. That is going on, whether you realize it or not. 

I see it in everyone, but more definitely in myself because I am aware of what is happening with me "internally," with others only "externally." 

I emphasize all this because I have found that I myself need to remind myself, continuously, hourly, that we are in the Dark Hermetic Epoch and the most difficult part of it, Mercury Retrograde. And I have to remind myself that, no matter what the skeptics say, making fun of the whole thing, it is very solid and true and a clue, constantly, as to how to live during these times. 

I saw this for the first time 36 years ago, and every time we enter this cycle I see it over again--as if I were rediscovering the whole phenomenon.

Some insights:

1. We can have bad timing at these times. Last night I bungled things so that I missed a wonderful opportunity which came up late at night--I declined the opportunity, and the reason was that I had mis-handled my timing of other things I needed to do and got behind. "Getting behind" in timing is a besetting sin during the Mercury Retrograde period. 

2. At other times, we can forget about timing to our profit! I realize this sounds like doubletalk. But it's not. These are two prongs of the "timing" question during MR and the DHE: 1. Don't get behind too far. Don't procrastinate or fiddle or blow bubbles so much that you then have to struggle to catch up with needed routines.  But also 2. Do allow yourself times to "just play it by ear" and have a blast, enjoy whatever happens, relax into "going with the flow" or whatever simile works for you, to recover your inner poise through spontaneity. This can happen wonderfully. It's when the Mole, when invited by the Rat (in Wind in the Willows), to go out boating, says he can't because of spring cleaning, and then finally says "Oh, hang spring cleaning!" and goes to have a delightful time with the Rat. There are times during MR when we should say, "Oh, hang this stupid job!" and go out for fun. 

3. Balancing these two worries may seem impossible. "Oh, I need to get this done by 4 o'clock." Then a friend invites you to do something exciting. Do you take the advice of 1. above or the advice of 2.? Unfortunately, there are no answers! You could do a horary chart, if you are an astrologer--but are you going to say to your friend, "Oh, wait for five minutes while I do a chart to see if I should go with you"? Not likely, and the friend may disappear. You could shuffle the cards or throw a coin. You could pray--I am not making fun of prayer--and do whatever seems best. Not knowing what is best at a given moment is extremely hard to bear during these time, so we can only do our best. We have to "play it by ear" much more than usual.

4. "Time out of joint" is another problem, related to the previous three. You juggle your schedule because the usual schedule has too many problems or impossibilities. So your schedule is out of joint. I am writing this report, for example, before I do my regular morning routines, and I have not done that in many months. But it seems best today. I had to get these insights down while they were coming to me. (Then after starting, I heard the coffee maker, in the bathroom because my kitchen is still unavailable, making strange sounds, went in to see and found it was running over, because I had forgotten, apparently, that there was still some coffee in the pot from the day before. This does not happen to me except in a Dark Epoch . . . )

5. So, "enjoy the chaos" could be a good motto. And I know no way of doing that other than knowing about these cycles, which is why I write about them, endlessly, as if in a strange circling fever dream . . . because I am a serious phenomenological astrologer trying my best to help us all to cope with this strange dream . . . 

Let me add that as I write the moon is void-of-course as it will be all day today. The above problems can be much harder to deal with while the moon is also void-of-course, and it is so quite a lot now because of the positions of the planets. Virtually all day Friday, which is right now as I write. That does not mean we can do nothing important or useful. I hope what I have just written is both. Thinking, pondering, reflecting can be excellent while the moon is void-of-course. 

I just read, online, unexpectedly, an interview with Bob Dylan. He is an "old timer" in relation to the current music scene. During MR and DHE we are likely to be reviewing things more than usual, even getting involved in the past or someone else's past. And in the interview, Dylan talked about his deep appreciation of Frank Sinatra, so that he was "reviewing" or going into the past of popular music--one "old timer" reviewing an even earlier "old timer." I found all this interesting and useful. 

I hope I can hear Dylan's new album of ten songs from earlier eras, golden classic songs he loves from those decades. Dylan loves Sinatra, but I wonder why no one ever mentions Frankie Laine and Dick Haymes? These were "crooners" from Sinatra's era who, in my view, equaled him in many of their performances. Listen to Dick Haymes singing "The Way you Look Tonight" and you will sense that no one, not Sinatra even, has done a better job on that song. It is my favorite version of that classic. But Peggy Lee's version is also very good. And has everyone completely forgotten Jo Stafford? She was very popular in the 1940s and early 50s and has a huge recorded ouvre. She is a no-nonsense singer, not jazzy or scatty but straightforward and wonderful. I wonder when she will enjoy the renaissance she deserves. All these singers are available on Spotify, which is so wonderful in preserving old classics. 

There I go, way into the past----Mercury must be retrograde.

It is probably too late for me to help you get through Friday (January 30) but I will post this now in case it catches you mid-day and gives you helpful perspective while the moon is v-c.

And who was the pop singer from the '40s whose theme song was "Racing With the Moon"? Anybody know?

{Friday}  {Lounging with the Moon}

Cosmic Piper

Wednesday-Thursday 28-29 January 215

Wednesday-Thursday 28-29 January 2015

}Serious Friendship{

Note to those born in the sun-sign of Virgo (August 23-September 22 or so) and to those who care about one or more Virgo individuals:

Good news! The ordeals and sufferings of Virgo individuals are likely to recede later this year, after the sun enters their sign (August 23, 2015).

I have three special Virgo friends, for many years, and all of them have seemed to me to be in a "withdrawal" phase for quite a few months. I wondered what I had done wrong to offend them, at first, and then I realized that they were not just singling me out but were in a "rejecting" mood against everyone, as it were. Sour. I even mentioned here that Virgos, when they get older, may become sour and lose that youthful kindness which is one of the attractions and glories of the sign. That may, sadly, be true in some instances. Wasn't it Greta Garbo who was reputed to have said at a certain point in her life, "I vant to be alone!" She was a sun-sign Virgo. I felt that these three Virgo friends, one female and two male, were in just such a state of mind. Virgo is known as the "hermit" sign, sometimes, though not always, and the hermit trend can set in in their later years. 

However, I have just found something which explains why they may be going through a difficult time and a sour mood at present, since their birthdays in 2014. It is a method of "solar returns" for a whole sun-sign, for everyone born in that sign no matter what year. It applies to Virgos who are 9 as well as 90. I realize some may think this preposterous, but astrology is nothing if not preposterous! Thank heaven.

It works. I have been checking out the method for a few years and the proofs of its accuracy are piling up. Whether I can write and post here some forecasts for the sun-signs, for a whole year from birthday to birthday, is a question: I used to do that, for astrology magazines, for pay. Doing it is time-consuming and requires enormous research. I am not sure I have enough readers to make it worth while.

Anyway, the chart for Virgo individuals from August-September 2014 to August-September 2015 is a tough one. No wonder my friends are in sour moods. But the chart for 2015-16 is much smoother. I do not have time here to go into details. I just want to say, as first aid: Virgo, keep your head up. And realize that the discontent and hyper-criticism you are feeling against everyone or everything or the world as a whole or people as a whole or your special loved ones or relatives is a temporary thing. The planets are not ganging up on you but are giving you a tough time to bring out something in your character. You are therefore more likely to be thinking about serious, hard or harsh questions and issues, and feeling morose or hyper-critical or even angry at people, perhaps more than they deserve. You see into their faults, their ignorance, their mistakes, and it pains you. It pains you enormously. You may want to help but that requires sacrifice and tolerance and you may seem to run out of that. 

I cannot give you the complete answer as to how to maneuver through the rest of this year (seven more months) but I hope it will help you to know it is a special time of challenge and test. So you will not think you are losing it or that the world has lost it or that everything is going to pot (oh, I guess it is, in Colorado and Washington). Pardon the silly pun, Virgo, I am sure it does not please you! You seem to have lost your sense of humor, but it shall return.

The year beginning near your next birthday in August or September 2015 (until the same time in 2016) will be a relief. I do not have time to say more but I hope this will help you. Meanwhile, dealing with the issues you have now will prepare you for the best in that period. You have my sympathy. Best to you!

As for the rest of us, we are still going though the square between Venus and Saturn, plus the Mercury Retrograde period. You and I are both tired of my moaning and wailing about that. It has been hard for me at certain points but after the void-of-course period on Wednesday, when there were two stars ** in the Nine Day forecast, I felt a lot better and connected with a few friends who made me happy. This could be connected with Luna's trine with the sun in Aquarius later, in the evening, for Aquarius is a friendship sign.

And that will be with us also on Thursday, together with Luna's sextile with Jupiter, always inspiring, even though the |serious third of the week| remains. So "serious" friendship can be uplifting.

{Wednesday-Thursday}  {Serious Friendship}

Cosmic Piper

Monday-Tuesday, 26-27 January 2015 \Mommy Blue (Endless Love?/

Monday-Tuesday 26-27 January 2015

\Mommy Blue and Blue Children (Endless Love?)/

There are a lot of strong aspects--close ones--to comment upon, some of them excellent such as Mercury sextile Uranus and Mars sextile Pluto. Unfortunately, astrologers in general tend to focus on the hard aspects, because they seem so much more intense and need attention in order to exorcise them of their power to do mischief. The "hard" one now, in my view, is Venus square Saturn. (In effect by ten degrees from January 21 through February 6; by a tighter six degrees, from January 25 through February 3.) It is, as I have said often over the years, the "Nobody loves me" aspect. But it is more than that. It brings out loyalty, even loyalty to someone who has apparently abandoned you. That is one of the hardest forms of love. Will she or he return, if you keep on loving? There is no guarantee! Yet it is better to love. Popular love songs are full of the thousand and one reactions to the situation, and hearing them can be helpful for moral support. The occultist Franz Hartmann in his book on Magic said that the most potent love potion of all is to love someone and pray for his or her well-being and happiness with no concern for whether the love is returned to oneself or not. If that sounds like doubletalk, maybe, but I believe it works. In eternity, let us say . . . 

Which brings me to the new friend I found today. On the day he died. It has happened before.

His name is Demis Roussos. I wonder how many of you have heard of him? I had not, until I saw his name in Internet news today, as a "renowned" Greek singer who had just passed on at the age of 68.

So I went to his songs on Spotify and listened while I performed my morning routine including Hatha Yoga. I am very impressed.

Nine of his songs are now on my February playlist. Born June 15, 1946, his horoscope is fascinating. 

Mars in Leo, trine the moon on one side and sextile the sun on the other, gave him his show-business potential. Leo is "the" sign of show business, in a sense, although those without it in their charts can of course become successful in that area. Planets in Leo, including Mars, grant a natural propensity to express oneself spontaneously with a minimum of fuss and worry. 

His songs are wonderfully sentimental, in the best sense. His sun in Gemini adds to the natural, common touch--he was very popular, although less so in the U. S. unfortunately. What I note, when it comes to sentiment, is three planets in the sign Cancer. This, at its best, is a "sweet," loving sign, devoted to those it has embraced in a touching manner. I love his semi-sad songs of Eternal Love such as "Forever and Ever" which might be his best-known. Another, "Goodbye My Love Goodbye" must have brought tears to the eyes of fans who happened to listen to it today after hearing the news.

Forever and Ever by Demis Roussos

As for tears, his song Rain and Tears, after suggesting one cannot always pretend, embarrassed, that tears are rain, concludes "Rain or sun, you've got to play the game." Amen, Brother Demis. 

Rain and Tears by Demis Roussos

His Mercury, Venus and Saturn are in Cancer, the last two conjoined. Here we have the sadness of "lost love which is nevertheless eternal" which we have spoken of above concerning the current Saturn-Venus square. Cancer can be a sign of mother love, especially, and it manifests that way in males as well as females, so male Cancer individuals need to be taught at an early age that there is nothing wrong with that, that it is the way they are "supposed" to be. 

This comes out amazingly in his song "Mamy Blue." It is one of my favorites. It is poignant, touching--celebrating, I feel, the sad love of mothers who have to accept the pain as well as the joy in their children's lives. As he sings it, it becomes sometimes "Mommy Blue." He has written and performed the definitive song about mother-love, I believe, or one of the best. His horoscope showed that he could do it, and he did.

Mamy Blue by Demis Roussos

He manifested it. Who makes horoscopes? Who makes human beings? We all know, though we give Him or Her different names. Without Him there would be no horoscopes, no human beings manifesting or womanifesting them, such as the beloved and immortal Demis Roussos, no songs, and no

Cosmic Piper

{Monday-Tuesday} /Mommy Blue and Blue Children (Endless Love?)\

Nine Days in January-February 2015

Nine Days in January-February 2015

24 Saturday     **** beginning when Luna enters Aries at 5:32a PT |                                  8:32p ET | 1:32p UT  Since Mercury remains retrograde, the "goodness" of the day may be subtle, not obvious, taking unexpected turns--but still "good."

25 Sunday       **** Might be better socially than Saturday.

26 Monday  Moon goes void-of-course at 6:24a PT | 9:24a ET | 2:24p UT  **

                  until it enters Taurus at 8:38a PT | 11:38a ET | 4:38p UT  ***

                  Three stars, yet there are peculiar difficulties to overcome--with                         zest let's hope.

27 Tuesday  *** until

                  moon goes void-of-course at 6:20p PT | 9:20p ET | 2:20a(W) UT  *

28 Wednesday |Karmically intense or sobering third| of this week is upon us   

                      moon remains void-of-course  *

                      until it enters Gemini at 2:37p PT | 5:37p ET | 10:37p UT  **

29 Thursday   |Challenging or sobering third| of this week continues

                     Optimism and patience can overcome it  **

30 Friday     |Challenging third| fades away early morning         

                   /moon goes void-of-course at 1:25a PT | 4:25a ET | 9:25a UT  **

              until it enters Cancer at 11:10p PT | 2:10a(Sa) ET | 7:10a(Sa) UT ***

31 Saturday    ***

1 February Sunday  *** until

                       /moon goes void-of-course at 5:38a PT | 9:38a ET | 2:38p UT *

I hope this might help with planning. Discussion of major aspects should continue in reports issued during the week. 

/Nine Days in January-February 2015\

Cosmic Piper

Thursday-Friday, 22-23 January 2015

Thursday-Friday 22-23 January 2015

~Spare the Alarms~

The world seems to be going crazy. Political turmoil in Yemen. King Abdullah has died. One of the teams playing in the coming Superbowl is accused of deflating footballs used in their latest game and people are calling it Deflategate! This afternoon I watched the Jim Rickards video on "The Death of Money" threatening a new huge financial crash and long-lasting depression. While watching it a friend called and told me of "terminator" machines everywhere which could bring about an apocalypse (he used that word). 

I do not necessarily take the Rickards threat of a huge economic crash seriously but may investigate it further. 

But all this--especially the word "terminator"--fits in perfectly with the Mercury Retrograde period now upon us, and its reputation as the time when the Psychopompos, Hermes or Mercury, takes souls into the Underworld.

No, I am not an alarmist! Sad to say, people can get worked up over imaginary crises when Mercury is retrograde. I hope the Jim Rickards warning is one of them. 

At a more personal level: And trivial I might add: This morning I could not find a food item I had bought, in the refrigerator, and so went out to buy it. I could not understand where it had gone unless the "sometime thief" Mercury had taken it. Then when I returned with the item freshly purchased, I saw that it was already there in the refrigerator although I had wrapped it in different packaging and so had not recognized it before.

Then, a lady in a payroll office in Peoria, Illinois sent me an email for a Hugh Higgins who is not me, about problems with accounting for one of his employees.I kindly informed her that she wanted a different H. H. and she thanked me, only to send me, a little later, the same email again.  

Then I found that the workers in my kitchen had put gummy stuff on the floor for new tiling, but not yet the tiling, and had cordoned off the kitchen, but left the window wide open so that it was getting cold and would get very cold in the evening. So I had to call the building superintendent, who called the foreman, who finally came to my kitchen and closed the window himself--I could have done it of course but did not want to step on the gummed-up floor. 

What other adventures await me as I try to get to an evening meeting I cannot imagine, but I shall press on.

A lot of time-wasting today is typical of the Mercury Retrograde period.

How is that going for you?

Saturn sextile the sun by one degree shows that basically people are keeping their heads through all this. There can be errors of judgment, but fairly quick recovery. 

Secret or covert investment schemes may appeal to many while Mars in Pisces is sextile Pluto in Capricorn. Whether they are sound is a question--Saturn squared to Mars, Neptune and Venus does not bode well for that, especially when Mercury is retrograde. Holding tight with one's money, or leaving it where it is, might be smart, unless indeed you are involved with something very risky you need to get out of. 

The moon is void-of-course all day (see the Nine Days report previously published) so it is good to stay on schedule with routines before seizing on welcome relief. V-C plus MR suggest confusion, but if you turn that in happy directions it could be relief from drudgery through "out-of-pattern" activities. I hope they will be enjoyable.

{Friday} ~Spare the Alarms~

Cosmic Piper

Wednesday and Thursday, 21-22 January 2015: Psychopompos

Wednesday and Thursday, 21-22 January 2015

~Psychopompos~

The lunar phenomena and star rating for each day have been given already in the previous Nine Days post.

I am feeling and pondering the Mercury Retrograde phenomenon, which began this morning (Wednesday) at 7:55a PT | 10:55a ET | 3:55p UT. It is intensely spiritual, for me, and for all who tune in to it deeply. 

And I have given up on trying to convince those who "do not believe" in astrology or in Mercury retrograde as having any bearing on anything. Let them remain in the dark. It is a Dark Hermetic Epoch anyway, always, when Mercury is retrograde, and people are allowed to conceal from themselves whatever they choose to conceal.

It is said that Hermes (Mercury) was Psychopompos, the Guide of the Souls to the Underworld after death. He can take on this role during the Dark Hermetic Epoch. A friend in a prayer group told us Monday of his mother's troubles, and that he felt she might be near death. He asked us to pray. I did, Tuesday night especially, and then at 2 in the morning when I awakened, and then at 7-8 in the morning of Wednesday when Mercury turned retrograde, and again during the day. I felt something positive and strong happening, and my friend's mother's presence (though I had never met her). Then, a couple hours ago, on the group's Facebook page the friend reported that his mother had passed on this afternoon--a few hours after Mercury turned retrograde. Mercury or Hermes was indeed for her the Psychopompos.

Yes, we are closer to death while Mercury is retrograde and during the whole Dark Hermetic Epoch. This is not bad. It can be very constructive. There is also a Remedy for Death--for Christians, Christ their Lord. And He is my Redeemer. It is fascinating how all the "re" words take on life during the Dark Hermetic Epoch and the re-trograde period. Christ Jesus is our Remedy and our Redeemer. So might Mercury or Hermes be to a pagan or an ancient Greek, or perhaps a modern who wishes to revisit the Greek gods and goddesses. Some do. 

This morning, while praying for my friend and his mother, there was an enormous ruckus on the roof above me. I live on the top floor of an apartment building--call it a penthouse if you wish! (Such luxury.) And workmen who seem not to know at all what they are doing have been pounding the roof and rocking the whole building for four months. I will not try to explain what they think they are doing but it seems as if my ceiling is ready to cave in at various times. 

Today rather than submit passively to this I confronted the foreman and asked him what the h... was going on. He said "I don't know, I'll go up and see." And later I was informed that the owners of the building and the construction foreman would have a meeting on Friday for residents to try to explain to us "what the h..." is going on. It has been four months of chaos for all of us.

I did not plan this confrontation but could not resist it . . . it "had to be." It bubbled up from inside me. Sometimes the Mercury Retrograde period is Remedial--there had to be a remedy for this ridiculous chaos the residents have been subjected to. 

On the day before I had informed the same foreman that on the weekend during a huge wind storm some of their equipment on the roof had been blowing around, bumping around, making horrendous noises like an earthquake through the night. Dark Hermetic Epoch indeed. He was not pleased, yet found the information useful and was not unappreciative. Some things have to be corrected during a Mercury Retrograde period. (And hidden in that word "correction" is another "re".)

The "scientists" who want statistical proof that things are different during the Mercury Retrograde period had rather look into their own lives and souls to find the evidence. That is the only place they will find it definitively. Astrology is a spiritual and phenomenological science first, a statistical one (if ever) second. 

Good things can happen during these periods. People review their lives and decide to remedy things. Another friend told me tonight that he had stopped drinking for a week. That is wonderful because he has been a heavy drinker for many years, in fact an alcoholic by some definitions. I believe this has to do with Saturn squaring Neptune together with the Dark Epoch, for Saturn is control and Neptune can be alcohol and drugs.

That aspect played a role in my other friend's mother's passing also because many of her problems stemmed from a lifetime of drug misuse, according to the friend. And that is sad, and I hope she is in a place where things are more peaceful for her. If so, I believe the prayers of the group helped her to find it. And so a prayer group might be an assistant to Hermes the Psychopompos.

A Christian prayer group of course would believe that its Saviour is the real Psychopompos.

Enough for now, I am trying to give you an intuitive understanding of some of the less obvious things that can be going on during a Dark Hermetic Epoch and especially the Mercury Retrograde cycle within it (this time, January 21 through February 10). It can be a very deep, transformative time for a spiritual seeker.

{Wednesday and Thursday}  ~Psychopompos~

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Nine Days

Nine Days

in January 2015

17 Saturday      **  until the /moon goes void-of-course at 11:26a PT | 2:26p ET |                          7:26p UT         

                       Then:  **? Maybe okay, probably no crises but maybe disorienting

18 Sunday        *** projects, study, efforts of all kinds 

                       **   social occasions, friendship and the like

19 Monday       **   /moon void-of-course from 2:52a PT | 5:52a ET |                                10:52a UT

                      Okay for routine things not requiring major decision

20 Tuesday      ***  beginning when the moon enters Aquarius at 

                             5:01a PT | 8:01a ET | 1:01p UT

21 Wednesday **  |Karmically difficult or sobering period| all day

                            Mercury turns Retrograde at 7:55a PT | 10:55a ET |                             3:55p UT

22 Thursday    *    |the difficult third of the week| continues

23 Friday         **   /moon goes void-of-course at 3:14a PT | 6:14a ET                              | 11:14a UT  It may be hard to rescue the day from triviality. Necessary things may go well with the sun sextile Saturn.

24 Saturday     **** beginning when Luna enters Aries at 5:32a PT |                                  8:32p ET | 1:32p UT  

25 Sunday       **** Might be better socially than Saturday.

The maximum is five stars. It is totally coincidental that we get four stars on the second weekend, but it could be a good one for special plans or occasions. 

There will probably be posts for some or most days of the week but I am not sure. 

Cosmic Piper

Forecast-Meditation for Friday 16 January 2015

Friday 16 January 2015

^Educational Convergence^

Moon in Sagittarius; Foci in 11, Friendship or Hope and 2, Allies or Possessions

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues

Moon on course   ***

I don't know if the * ratings help any of you. No one has said anything. So I dropped them for a few weeks. They have got to be rough estimates, of course, although I try to be as consistent as possible in accord with what I have observed. (Maximum is ***** although I have rarely given it.) Astrology to me is a phenomenological science based on personal observation. I don't believe in the |hard third of the week| because somebody told me about it but because I discovered it. Likewise with the Dark Hermetic Epoch. You may wonder, sometimes, with the /moon void-of-course, |difficult third|, and Via Combusta if there are any "good" days at all. Maybe in tomorrow's forecast I will try to list what I consider the "best" or most "quality" times for a week ahead, and see how that works. It might be helpful to have them ahead of time for scheduling events.

Friday looks easier than Thursday, and not just because of TGIF. Still, we remain in the |difficult third| so there is an undercurrent of seriousness and possibly dissatisfaction. I can say, rosily, that all that should get better in the evening, not just because it's Friday night but Luna moves toward a sextile with the Mercury-Venus conjunction (having squared Mars and Neptune, somewhat difficult, earlier in the day). 

For some there has seemed a focus on money, for others on difficult communication. Friendship always has its issues but should improve in the evening.

Cars and people narrowly miss bumping into one another.

A would-be lecturer on a soapbox gains attention while 

An innocent woman listening seems moved by his words

To something not as pure as her heart. 

Two men pass by, trying to outrun each other. As the

Crowd watches, smoke wafts up from a nearby house and

Sirens scream. The wind arises and yachts anchored

Across the bay struggle toward stability.

The man who stayed home, sick in bed, hears the wind

And the sirens. He wishes he were on the mountain plateau

He visited last summer, to pray and meditate. Oh, he could

Do that now, while the ancient Mother observes her children.

{Friday} ^Educational Convergence^

Cosmic Piper

Forecast-Meditation for Thursday 15 January 2015

Thursday 15 January 2015

~Saving Intensity~

Moon in Scorpio; Foci in 11, Friendship and 2, Allies or Possessions

/moon goes void-of-course at 3:53p PT | 6:53p ET | 11:53p UT

until it enters Sagittarius at 0:02a(F) PT | 3:02a(F) ET | 8:02a(F) UT

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues all day (until Saturday)

Before the v-of-c, Luna is sextiling the sun (the aspect exact at the void-of-course time above). So before that, most of the day, there are solid opportunities for serious work which will have good results in the long term. 

Under the aegis of both Mars and Neptune in a square with Saturn, a friend has resolved to give up drinking and smoking through regimented detoxification. I admire his determination and hope he will be able to hold to it. Maybe many others are going through similar resolutions while Neptune in Pisces, the planet and sign most associated by astrologers with alcohol and drugs, is undergoing these hard contacts with the two "malefic" planets. Actually they are not malefic but warning and correcting. 

The bright alignment in the stars remains the sextile of Venus and Mercury with Uranus, whereby we can appreciate the "crazy" uniqueness of someone else without flinching from its manifest difference from our own oddity or uniqueness. 

The mole cutting his path through the petrified forest

Seems obsessed. Dead roots are tough. Survival is tougher.

The reserved, determined man observing admires the

Animal's secret strength while contemning man's stupidity.

The lost one swimming in a foaming angry sea

Is desperate. Afar are sailing boats, complacent.

How could he reach them? At last through fog he sees

A beacon shining from a nearby rock. He heads for it.

A smith using bellows to intensify his flame regrets

That his assistant has been drinking once again.

Extemporizing in this work can be disastrous.

Imbibing friends will gather later at a happy campsite.

{Thursday} ~Saving Intensity~

Cosmic Piper

Forecast-Meditation for Wednesday 14 January 2015

Wednesday 14 January 2015

~Cosmopolitan Alliance~

Moon in Scorpio; Foci in 10, Honor or Standing and 3, Neighbors and Communication

Moon in the Via Combusta until 8:24p PT | 11:24p ET | 4:24p UT

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week begins at 8:48p PT | 11:48p ET | 4:48a UT (until Saturday)

Intoxicated chickens are as smart as these grown men imbibing

Superficial stimulants to accentuate something childlike they had

Lost. But cleverly they try, inventing semi-truths and rubber-band

Machines. At last a few succeed through cosmopolitan alliance.

The man in the robe and pointed hat has antique fashion sense,

Purveying his semi-truths as bubbles drifting in the air of 

Needy minds. Then he retreats to his tower of privacy, 

Recalling what he has seen in men, impressions in a mirror.

A fox sits on his haunches in a magic forest of petrified trees.

His hope, as always, is to survive-- be himself without interference.

He was tired, sleeping through noon, trusting he would recuperate,

Now ready for whatever comes. What he needs he will find strategically.

{Wednesday} ~Cosmopolitan Alliance~

Cosmic Piper