Forecast for Tuesday 1 March 2016

Tuesday 1 March 2016

^Preparing for The Kingdom^

Moon in Sagittarius

|Karmically difficult or sobering third of this week| all day and tomorrow, until Thursday morning   ** |

I am starting to feel more deeply what the |difficult third| means. It crept up on me today. It was not horrible and yet there was a sea of despair for a while which I had to cross, or at least get in the ship of faith in order to be safe and find peace of mind. That may continue today for you and all. We know that things are not terrible, and yet we have these sneaking suspicions that things are not turning out the way we wanted. We need to meet that with stronger faith. I find that the Scriptures and other inspired writings are what help me, as well as prayer and mantra. If you find a saying, a quotation from Scripture, or a name of God which uplifts you, you have permission from some of the wisest souls who ever lived to keep repeating that over and over, in your mind or aloud, with respect, worshipfulness, and love, in order to secure the help you need. 

Perhaps I am mentioning this because the forming T square of planets in common signs--Jupiter in Virgo, the sun and Neptune in Pisces, and Saturn (today with the moon) in Sagittarius, with the focus on the Sagittarius planets--are strongly in signs of religion, mysticism or spirituality (Pisces and Sagittarius). Jupiter in Virgo may mean we want to methodize that approach to our salvation. So you may decide to go to Mass more often, if a Catholic, or Synagogue, or to both Sunday and Wednesday services if you are a Protestant, or if you follow your own path you may determine on a solid daily schedule of devotions. It is not just thinking of the Lord at rare moments that helps, but thinking of Him every hour and more than once an hour. Sri Aurobindo gives full approval to thinking of the Supreme as The Mother as well as the Father, for those inclined in that direction. 

What all this has to do with Super Tuesday in the Presidential primaries, I shall not venture to say. The fact that people are looking to unconventional, out of the box, non-mainstream candidates suggests that their quest is religious or mystical--they want the Kingdom of God on earth, not the diabolical princedom of politicians. When they look to Donald Trump for that, it is rather ridiculous, yet their motives may be good. When they look to Bernie Sanders that seems better, yet he also is a fallible human being. However, it is good that the old boring rigid rituals of American politics are being shaken. The Kingdom of God, whatever it may be, is likely to be surprising. If Hillary eventually wins, perhaps it will be a Queendom. 

{Tuesday} ^Preparing for The Kingdom^

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Monday 29 February 2016

Monday 29 February 2016

^Philosophically Grounded Quest^

Moon in Scorpio-->Sagittarius  ***            /moon goes void-of-course at 11:56a PT | 2:56p ET | 7:56p UT   ** /                   until it enters Sagittarius at 3:57p PT | 6:57p ET | 11:57p UT   ***

I know some of you do not like the bright colors. That is why, on Facebook, most of you read these reports in the tiny-type-faced Facebook style. I like the colors and the big letters, maybe I am childish, so here is red again because the moon is in Sagittarius, which to me is a bright-colors sign. If you know many Sagittarian women you know they like to wear colorful clothing. They are bold where Virgo women are timid--Sag prefers bright reds, greens, yellows and blues to the brown, black or grey of Virgo. 

A lot is going on. Today is the 29th of February, which comes only every four years, Leap Year, which happens to be also the American presidential election year. I do not have strong superstitions about it, but let's assume it might be a momentous day. That will keep us on our toes. The March 1 primaries are tomorrow, which might determine who our next President will be.

Or not, since this is a very dicey year for politics.

I have noted how both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio are sign-sign Geminis, and how at present a multitude of planets are in their 10th House sector, which rules career, honor, standing, and prestige. Therefore they are fighting one another. What is extraordinarily interesting is that the day-charts I use, based on dozens of years of serious research (I am not Donald, you can trust me on that), also put many planets in the 10th sector for Gemini both today and tomorrow. I take it to mean that Trump will be the big winner, or else that Rubio and he will share the glory, which could be true even if Rubio just gets more votes than people expected, furnishing him some momentum to carry on. (I do not support Rubio, even though I consider Trump a disaster, for I see them both as disasters.) What could be happening is that the planets, a.k.a. the cosmos, a.k.a. the Divine Shakti, instrument of the Divine Ishwara or Supreme Ruler, are giving Trump (not likely Rubio though he could be a second-place player) a place in the stars at present because they will effectively destroy the Republican Party, or some of the worst aspects of it. That is to be hoped for. Or, if you are a Republican, even then you can see, like your party's elders, that Trump is a disaster for them. But disasters like that have a way of playing an important role in the chess-game of Karma. It is obvious that the Republicans are frustrating any forward momentum for this nation. Trump may be their proper Karmic comeuppance. I hope so. But how that works out can be very mysterious. We shall see. 

Meanwhile, for Monday, there is an emphasis on thought and philosophy or study or research into the depths of the human soul or spirit. Or, at a lower level, it could be research into any more material, scientific or technological area. 

There is an emphasis on old friends, or people you very basically trust. They are your bulwarks in this life, at present (apart from, of course, the Supreme Bulwark, the "rock that is higher than I" according to Psalm 61). Those who care about philosophy or mysticism might have a field day considering new and old concepts (the new are really old and the old are very definitely new, because nobody yet has grasped them). 

The restructuring of Pluto square Uranus continues. It appears that we are getting better at it. That means that whatever you are trying to re-create or re-organize in your life is coming clear to you, one section at a time. This is not without sweat and struggle, but when the fruits are sweet the struggle is satisfying. We can carry on despite any momentarily disturbing odds.

{Monday} ^Philosophically Grounded Quest^

P. S. Donald Trump has Leo rising. Benito Mussolini was Leo by sun-sign. Fascinating, because Trump retweeted a saying of Mussolini's:

“It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep,” tweeted Trump, using a line that is attributed to Mussolini.

When asked about the tweet Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump responded that he knew the quote was by the dictator when he retweeted it.

“Mussolini was Mussolini,” Trump said. “It’s a very good quote, it’s a very interesting quote. I know who said it, but what difference does it make whether it’s Mussolini or somebody else?”

When he asked by host Chuck Todd if he wanted to “be associated with a fascist,” Trump demurred.

“No, I want to be associated with interesting quotes,” he said.

Yes, the Lion Trump had to try to cash in on the glory (?) of the Lion fascist dictator Mussolini. In favor of the sign Leo, let me say that at its best it is a superb sign, in fact the sign of the King, worthy of adulation. The problem is that in "lower" Leo individuals this becomes perverted into a belief that they have divine authority when in fact something much lower than the Divine is ruling their conduct. Sri Aurobindo was and is Leo, the King. He knew exactly what he was doing and saying. Some other Leo individuals, of course, get it wrong. Horoscopes alone do not reveal the soul evolution of any individual. They show how it can manifest in a particular lifetime either for the better or the worse. 

Cosmic Piper

Forecasts for Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 February 2016

Saturday 27 February 2016

~Beyond the Veil~

Moon in Scorpio

< moon in the Via Combusta   ** <

Hopes are emphasized in a stronger way than Friday. There is less confusion or loss of morale, but still some with the moon remaining in the Via Combusta. Losses may be on your mind. You can recover them if you are patient and long-struggling (Pluto square Uranus, Saturn square Jupiter). 

A smooth inner consciousness of harmony is possible, which is heartening and uplifting (moon trine the sun-Neptune conjunction, Venus sextile Saturn and bi-quintile Jupiter). This could translate into friendships or secret friendships in your inner consciousness. The latter are also real. 

At a practical level there could be important efforts to straighten out business or financial matters, some of which seem to have a veil before them until it is slowly and painstakingly lifted.

The sun exactly conjoined to Neptune can be self-delusion, disappointments, or an inclination to alcohol or escape. If you turn that around it can be profundity and mysticism. Venus well-aspected in Aquarius can be universal love, or the love for the spiritual guide or Avatar which translates smoothly into love for all. 

{Saturday}  ~Beyond the Veil~

Cosmic Piper

Sunday 28 February 2016

~This World Within the Other World~

Moon in Scorpio 

Moon in the Via Combusta   ** <

until leaving it at 9:51a PT | 12:51p ET | 5:51p UT   ***

The moon in Scorpio inclines toward deep concentration. This could go toward investigating practical matters, as if a detective or researcher, or toward something more metaphysical. Luna's sextile with Jupiter gives inspiration to complete whatever is important to you, with or without anyone's cooperation. The world of business and finance is approachable in your awareness through investigation. We're in a Bright Hermetic Epoch and do not have to shy away from getting a handle on our hopes to make them more manifest through careful thinking and planning. There is susceptibility to impressions, and empathy with many. Balancing such uplifting or affectionate mystical feelings with business needs is possible.

{Sunday} ~This World Within the Other World~

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Friday 26 February 2016

Friday 26 February 2016

}Planet of Illusions{

Moon in Libra

> moon in the Via Combusta    ** <

/ moon goes void-of-course at 3:19a PT | 6:19a ET | 11:19a UT   * < /

Foreign friends or friends at a distance could ring bells in your mind. Business and financial matters may seem uncertain or slip-sliding. Intelligent connections with interesting people are possible, with a sense of partnership and familiarity. These are sensible people (denoted by Jupiter in Virgo) who are trying to catch up with things (Jupiter retrograde) while results seem unsure (moon in the Via Combusta and also void-of-course). "Just throw in the towel" could be a strong mood. It is well to keep up with minimal requirements of your daily schedule but otherwise let yourself have a meditative or somewhat playful break. Recreation is re-creation. There is a sense of unreality about a lot of things. It's a Zen Buddhist sort of phase. 

There could be dangers through impatience, so "take it light" is good advice when feeling upset about people or events. If you believe in prayer, throw yourself into it with confidence and faith rather than keep looking for evidence that it is going to work. Then it will work. But of course only G*d works, unpopular though He or She may be. If He is not well-liked, how could you be? 

The sense of the deadness of Deity is the besetting sin of this age, derived from a total ignorance of the Supreme Consciousness. I know no remedy except the Scriptures, spiritual writings, and especially those of Sri Aurobindo, who covered all the bases to explain Deity and Divine Consciousness from every possible angle intelligently and thoroughly. Still, no one reads him. I met an Indian gentleman Thursday who knew of Sri Aurobindo, but like all the Indian people I have ever met, conversation revealed that he had not the foggiest idea of what Sri Aurobindo taught, which was not at all what other Indian teachers teach. It is as if they are wearing blindfolds and when someone informs them of that they knot their blindfolds more tightly. This is a very strange planet.

{Friday} {Planet of Illusions}

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Thursday 25 February 2016

Thursday 25 February 2016

Moon in Libra   ***

Moon enters the Via Combusta at 8:58p PT | 11:58p ET | 4:58a(F) UT   < **

Cosmic Piper

P. S. The Fortnightly Reports, two of them for the current fortnight, posted a week or so ago, remain to be read, re-read and considered. 

Forecast for Wednesday 24 February 2016

Wednesday 24 February 2016

}Inner Listening{

Moon in Virgo-->Libra   ** |

/moon goes void-of-course at 6:24a PT | 9:24a ET | 2:24p UT   * / |

until it enters Libra at 2:43p PT | 5:43p ET | 10:43p UT   ** |

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week ends at 4:04p PT | 7:04p ET | 0:04a(Th) UT

  ***

It is interesting that the two now considered the most likely winners of the Republican nomination are Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, both Gemini. Of course there are countless differences between them and their individual horoscopes. The last Gemini President was George H. W. Bush (the elder Bush). And, most interesting to me, in the field systems I have worked out laboriously for decades, ever since I undertook writing the astrological guides for the twelve sun-signs of the zodiac for Sterling's Magazines in New York (a job I continued for more than twelve years), Gemini currently has six placements in the 10th field of Career or Honor or Success. This is in a system known to no one on earth but Cosmic Piper, and is an interesting verification of it, or at least evidence for it. That does not mean he will be able to pick who will be nominated or become President by this system alone. As all astrologers know, predictions like that are highly dicey because there are so many variables to consider. 

However, none of the other Republican candidates' sun-signs have as many favorable placements, including Bush (Aquarius), Cruz (Capricorn), Christie (Virgo), Carson (Virgo), and Kasich (Taurus). The last-named is to my mind the most reasonable and virtuous of the Republicans. Taurus might have a chance, and Kasich may do well in the Eastern states where he has been campaigning. Whereas the two Geminis mostly give out hot air, Kasich has solid workable ideas, though perhaps not advanced or progressive enough for the current political climate. Like Al Gore, who also had the Moon (not sun) in Capricorn, he doesn't seem to give off enough charisma to keep people excited about him, but I consider him a decent man, which is saying a lot at the current political moment. (Since they both have good intentions and are honest, in some ideal imaginary outcome he and Bernie Sanders working together might find solutions for our nation. Without bipartisan sincerity that is likely to be impossible.)

By late afternoon or evening most of us will feel a weight has been lifted from our shoulders. Before that it's mostly "Carry on as usual."  Friendship or partnership might be flourishing inasmuch as the moon in Libra plus the Part of Fortune in the 7th (relationships) plus Venus and Mars in a quintile relation. Added to that, Luna in smooth aspect to both is harbinger of something good developing in that area, whether overt or covert, tangible or in feelings and attitudes. 

One watching butterflies wants to capture one, 

Another warns of karma from such cruelty.

He has a mandate from on high to protect all creatures, end

All fighting. How could he now articulate that?

A military ship, wrecked on the ocean, floats as if

Waiting for salvage. On shore marches a military

Band, blazing notes of intrepidity. Off in the

Jungle lie separated body parts. What thought, what action?

The wind rises, the ship rolls in the trough of a rough

Sea. The butterfly-chasing man with net finds his

Prey blown in all directions. The mandated man

Is poised to utter salvific karmic law. Who hears?

{Wednesday} {Inner Listening}

Cosmic Piper

P. S. There seems a difference between the forecast and the poem, the latter based on the symbolic degrees for the day. Which will be more accurate? Let me know.

Forecast for Tuesday 23 February 2016

Tuesday 23 February 2016

\Self-Integrity/

Moon in Virgo   

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues   ** |

There are plenty of helpful aspects and so the |difficult third| need not be devastating. During such times it it generally better to expect less, in terms of pleasure, and focus more on what is essential even if one doesn't feel like doing it. Then one could feel ready for a probably more liberating period beginning late afternoon Wednesday.

He cleaves into the world's doubting confusion like a flash of

Lightning. His friend is a dusty mirror, reflecting whatever is

Around him. They swim together. The drifting one wins because

The swift one, anxious, ends up suffering cramps.

The laws engraved on stone are turning to dust. The prophet

Announces new ones, permissive yet ethically intense.

The populace laugh, and hide their heads behind the

Monument whose text they ignore. Thunder and lightning.

A dark pall is suspended over a gloomy passage. No one dares

To lift and enter. A group of Indians appear and make their

Camp nearby. Teenagers dance to the pall, peer inside

And enter. No one knows they have found a paradise. 

{Tuesday} /Self-Integrity\

Cosmic Piper

Monday 22 February 2016

\Gears Meshing Progressively/

Moon in Virgo

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week all day, continuing until Wednesday evening  ** |

Full Moon of Pisces-Virgo occurs at 10:21a PT | 1:21p ET | 6:21p UT

While Venus is quintile Mars and also Uranus, and Mars bi-quintile Uranus, we have an opportunity of some sort which is basically social. Being with people you like or are attracted to could pan out very nicely. Uranus is the gay planet, but favors heterosexual connections also when they are free and thrilling in some surprising way. 

The problem in this is the septile between Saturn and Venus. You will need to either overlook this or rise above it--it has all the potential bitterness of Venus square Saturn. Perhaps you will feel freer, more open and happier (the quintile pattern) with someone with whom you have also had difficult differences (the septile). 

Mars's septile with Pluto and bi-septile with Neptune suggest business deals which are more than interesting. They have a flavor of inevitability. 

Jupiter bi-quintile Mercury is good for business, study, learning, and connections at a distance. It favors important communications involving matters you have been trying to set right for a long time (Jupiter retrograde).

Many will make straightforward progress in whatever they are trying to accomplish, with high, clear and optimistic consciousness (Full Moon).

{Monday} /Gears Meshing Progressively\

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Saturday-Sunday 20-21 February 2016

Saturday 20 February 2016

^Awareness Increasing^

Moon in Leo  ***

The Full Moon approaches, with expanded consciousness, and since we are in a Bright Hermetic Epoch you might find that consciousness solving some of your problems or worries if you follow up the clues it hints to you.

Issues of health and of work and of college costs are related to the sign Virgo, wherein Jupiter resides, and he is now retrograde. It is interesting to note that Donald Trump has surprised many with his varying and seemingly contradictory stands on the notion of universal health insurance. He said he opposes the individual mandate on younger people for health insurance, yet has not offered a clear plan otherwise. Meanwhile Bernie Sanders is doing well by insisting on free tuition in public universities. Sanders is sun-sign Virgo. Jupiter in his sign is sextile Mars in Scorpio, sign of public financing ("other people's money" in old astrological lingo). 

Other nations seem to have no trouble just setting up health care for everyone through taxation. Only in the U. S. do we have these contradictory, complex, confusing mish-mashes of state laws, federal laws, insurance companies, and other complexities bewildering everyone and making it so hard for anyone to know how he or she is covered and what the costs and benefits are. In my view the insurance companies are greedy leeches and ought to be eliminated completely through single-payer federal health insurance. Anything else is a tangle of absurdities, or vultures (insurance companies and hospitals and drug companies) fighting over the corpses of Americans. Something is seriously wrong with all this and if Bernie Sanders is the only one with a clear sensible answer maybe we should support him. 

As for Trump, he says one thing one day and one thing another. Hillary says, Keep on with Obamacare but modify it. More tangles, more absurdities controlling other absurdities to the point that we will have to keep rewriting the laws forever. In every other civilized country, if you are ill you go to a government clinic or physician and that is that. 

That is my little Jupiter-in-Virgo sextile Mars-in-Scorpio spiel.

{Saturday} ~Awareness Increasing~

Cosmic Piper

Sunday 21 February 2016

^Parks and Recreation^

Moon in Leo   ***

/moon goes void-of-course at 5:18p PT | 8:18p ET | 1:18a(M) UT   ** /

Tim Cook of Apple never had much interest to me. I do not own any of Apple's products. But now he is assuming heroic proportions in my mind, because of his standing up to the Federal government on the issue of individual privacy. I wrote yesterday about the Uranus square Pluto square. Now I see, after reading a lot about Apple's legal battle with the Feds, that this battle is an exact imprint of the Uranus-Pluto square. To put it sharply: Uranus is individual freedom. Pluto is social compulsion through economics, big business or government. Tim Cook is representing Uranus here, the government is representing Pluto the plutocrat who wants to control everything and everyone. I am on Cook's side. I applaud him for his stand and feel I ought to get an iPhone or other Mac product. The conflict between Apple and the govenrment on this issue has been building through a series of interactions over several years, the very years we have had this Uranus-Pluto square (since April 25, 2011 by five degrees). 

On another note entirely, I have been watching the Netflix "Parks and Recreation" comedy for the first time. I had heard of it for years but brushed it off. Now I see why it was so popular. And I think Donald Trump must have watched it! Because he sounds exactly like its heroine, Leslie Knope (the actress Amy Poehler). He says what he thinks, never stops to think if he is contradicting himself or offending anyone, just like Leslie. And she keeps pressing on no matter what anyone thinks, and failing, and winning. Amazing. I believe the secret life of Donald Trump is that he watched every episode of this and is consciously imitating Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler, who was also one of the writers). And it's working for him! Maybe. We shall see perhaps Saturday in South Carolina (I am writing this Friday evening). 

Today, Sunday, is the birthday of The Mother (Mira Alfassa Richard) of the Sri Aurobindo movement. I have been studying her words in the amazing many-volumed Agenda of conversations between her and a student who recorded it all. I am amazed by her spiritual awareness and experience, something incredible. She shows how the sign Pisces at its best can be ahead of all the other signs, although unknown to the world. Even her disciples and those who call themselves "sadhaks" of the Integral Yoga she and Sri Aurobindo founded do not even begin to understand what she said and experienced. 

{Sunday}  ^Parks and Recreation^

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Friday February 19 2016---and Pluto square Uranus square

Friday 19 February 2016

~Patience Within Restructuring~

Moon in Cancer--Leo   ***

/moon goes void-of-course at 6:37a PT | 9:37a ET | 2:37p UT   ** /
until it enters Leo at 6:18p PT | 9:18p ET | 2:18a UT   ***

It always seems easier to talk about the hard aspects and to notice them than the smooth or helpful ones. It seems that nothing will satisfy us--we always moan about the hard parts and hardly realize our blessings. There does indeed seem to be a lot of tension in the air. I attribute much of this, in terms of formal cause, to the Pluto square Uranus aspect, exact by less than two degrees. We might call it "the ISIS aspect" because it was prominent when they were most brutally cruel and violent and of course some of that continues and remains a major topic of political conversation. But beyond and beneath that, what is goading the terrorists on is also goading us on, though in a better direction if we have evolved to a higher level of ethics. It is goading Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and the other candidates; it is goading me to keep up with my researches even when I feel tired or weary of it all; it is goading you in some direction which you can't give up on no matter how many times you feel you fail. And that is good. The squares, despite their classification as hard aspects,  are good aspects because they keep us challenged and trying, and therefore learning.

The astrologer Reinhold Ebertin has some cogent words for this aspect. At its worst it can be: "Violence, excitement, subversive plans, confrontation with 'either-or' questions, difficult decisions, unforeseen and vitally important crisis, sudden separation, death." In other words, everything an attempted reign of terror tries to impose on the world. If we are not in a war zone, and most of you reading this are not, we go over these things in our minds, or keep fighting to win a game or sporting contest, or we feel addicted to movies and TV shows with a lot of violence in them. But there are better uses of the aspect 

Ebertin again, on Pluto-square Uranus: "Indefatigable work, achievement through immense effort, carrying-out of innovations or changes, building anew, setting up a new life." I would guess you can see how this applies to yourself. Look how it applies to the almost unprecedented thousands of displaced people and immigrants around the world. 

If you ask me how long it lasts, the question of orbs comes up, on which there is no absolute agreement because often the force of an aspect like this one comes barreling in, fades out, and then surges in again, depending on other factors and other aspects going on. By five degrees the Uranus-Pluto square covers the period from April 25, 2011 through April 10, 2017, about six years. (It is interesting that I moved to Seattle, a major change for me, in May of 2011. You might note something similar in your own life.) By a smaller two-degree orb it comes and goes, because both of the planets go retrograde at various times, and it has been exact several times. It will not be exact again but is now within two degrees until March 20. We may not be done with it then, but that is the last time it will be within two degrees until it recurs as an opposition rather than a square in 2046-47. So the good news is that we may have suffered the worst of it. We can still be trying to make use of its best values for another month. Maybe you can complete something you have been working on or restructuring. 

The other major square, Saturn square Jupiter, accompanied by Saturn square Neptune, is a topic for another report. It has much to do with religion, ethics, and spirituality. Saturn in Sagittarius is bringing out the voice of the current Sagittarian Pope, for example. More about it later.

{Friday} ~Patience Within Restructuring~

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Thursday 18 February 2016

Thursday 18 February 2016

~Nearly Ready~

Moon in Cancer   ***

A lot of the period's difficulties were outlined in the two fortnightly forecasts posted a few days ago. Finding paragraphs within them which help you could be wise. I feel that although still some things may seem difficult, the Bright Hermetic Epoch until April 14 is loosening our burdens gradually. Do you now notice that some issues and problems you have been struggling with have gotten a little smoother, easier, or less confusing this week? Keeping at it will yield good results.

He has a crown and sceptre hidden in his closet

Ready for when he has conquered his foes.

Meanwhile he likes good living, and eats

Enough or more. Now he feels ready to win.

He is acquisitive, even if not mercenary, and speculates

Successfully. Credit cards fall from his wallet. 

He honors a guru whose every word brings him higher

Potentials of influence and integrity.

When it's hard, he resigns himself to Heaven's will,

Bowing his head and leaning on a staff of prayer.

The crown and sceptre stay in the closet. He fears

To take too much for granted. Strength and softness.

{Thursday} ~Nearly Ready~

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Wednesday 17 February 2016

Wednesday 17 February 2016

Moon in Gemini-->Cancer

An hourglass stands upon the book, and near it a compass.

The friend of the owner of the book wants to argue about

Everything in time and space. But the reader's wife has 

Left him. His grief concentrates all in a single woe.

Carving the substance of his meal with a knife, he considers his

Income, savings, business. Profits stand out as the substance

Of his concern; but he wants transition to something

More real, the poetry of soul in a fairy kingdom. 

That might be a butterfly emerging from the body he tries

Hard to keep fit. Studies and researches help his mind

To rise beyond the body's fetters, but dispute

Can't heal the heart's loss of love in loneliness.

{Wednesday} 

Cosmic Piper

Forecast for Fortnight of February 15(Monday) -- March 1(Tuesday) 2016

Forecast for the Fortnight of February 15(Monday)--March 1(Tuesday), 2016

~A Mandate for Fulfilling Orientation and Expression~

This time we use the Sabian symbols, with the same chart for the fortnight.

The first symbol is a striking one: A man bringing down the new law from Sinai. I can say without exaggeration that since the age of ten my life has been a continuous attempt to find that man. I have found two of them, at least: Marc Edmund Jones and Sri Aurobindo. What they have accomplished in their voluminous writings is utterly amazing and yet most people have never heard their names. (Well, at the time of Moses, who knew of him in the big bad world except a few thousand of his followers, a virtually unknown nomadic tribe?)

Others who might be mentioned in this category are Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Mary Baker Eddy (women bringing down the new law), and to them I would add the virtually unknown but incredibly inspirational teacher Emma Curtis Hopkins. You will doubtless have your own candidate or candidates. It is interesting that just as this fortnight began I felt an urge to keep reading a book of Edgar Cayce's teachings, and I find it, again, wonderful. He was indeed a man "bringing down the new law" which was also, basically, the old, but in a wonderful new dress which made it fascinating, including esoteric teachings on reincarnation and astrology. Cayce's total immersion in the Bible gave him a Judaeo-Christian mandate to teach such things despite their seeming foreignness. 

We may be pondering such individuals in this fortnight, and their teachings. 

At another level, it is striking that in terms of human law, President Obama has the task of appointing, or nominating, a new Supreme Court Justice. A new Moses would certainly be welcome (so long as this new one does not recommend stoning people to death as did the ancient one). (But let me add that I believe that very individual, still alive, would no longer recommend anything of the kind but would be opposed to capital punishment. I once had a conversation with him about that.)  

For something completely different, A girl surreptitiously bathing in the nude.  This was the same in the last fortnight. Dr. Jones mentions "the human body as a temple of the spirit" in his interpretation of this. Perhaps we are called upon to appreciate our bodies anew and care for them as they deserve. He also interprets the nudity, or taking off one's clothes, which in a sense are protective, as "a successful resort to self-sacrifice or psychological renunciation in order to achieve a new dimension of conscious reality." Who would have thought of nudity as self-sacrifice? Yet one can sense what that means, considering how hard for most of us it is to be nude in a group. This lady does it alone, which is no doubt wise. Enjoy your shower or bathtub, immersing you in purifying liquid and leading you to a new dimension.

An aviator in the clouds continues a rather other-worldly set of symbols. Yet it has the semi-scientific keyword "observation." The signs Aquarius and Pisces, the last two of the zodiac, are perhaps the most other-worldly--Pisces the most, Aquarius somewhat, but with a more intellectual or technological orientation than Pisces. And we are now in those two sections of the zodiac by the placements of Venus, Mercury, the sun and Neptune. Dr. Jones mentions "the endless hypotheses man needs for solving the problems of a modern world." Technology at the time he wrote this was in its infancy compared to now. This can lead to freedom, for when we think we are seeing all of life "steadily and whole," we know what to do, and feel secure in the apprehension that it will lead to our good and the good of all. Dr. Jones: "Man is able to take a perspective superior to any involvement or pattern of limitation, and to examine any . . . complex of human affairs with a consistent thoroughness of over-view." The problem could be that we find it hard to share this vision with others in a practical way. 

An empty hammock was enticing us last fortnight also. Just lie down awhile and dream! The keyword is rumination. You have been in the plane observing the landscape; now you can lie down and gather wool around those memories. Dr. Jones calls the hammock "a balance between extremes," which is something we obviously need to do in choosing a new President for example. In your personal life you can figure out what it means for yourself. If the hammock were not tied to each of the extremes, it would fall. So we need both--but that is rather hard to see if we identify with one or the other. So we might have to go up in that plane again to surveil the whole landscape . . . 

Sea gulls watching a ship reminds me of a thirty-second video I once shared on Facebook : A seagull walking down the street in a coastal town turns in to a convenience store, disappears for a few seconds, and emerges carrying in its beak a sack of potato chips, continuing down the street! It was amazing. I remarked that at one time I used to throw old slices of bread to seagulls at the end of a pier in Florida, but that I had never thrown them a bag of chips. Anyway, this symbol's keyword, alertness, is perfect for the gulls--they know how to grab what they need the minute it is available. A friend told me that one of them dived down and seized a sandwich from his hand. For us, this fortnight, this means we need to be equally alert to where our benefits are and get to them quickly and effectively.

Finally, A girls' basketball team. Why do they play? Here is one answer from Dr. Jones: "The self cannot exist in a vacuum." If others are involved in what we are trying to do, our pleasure in the attempt--and the success (or failure)--is intensified. "Man's fulfillment is primarily a continued participation in common goals." Yet the teamwork also makes possible individual expression, which is the keyword. I'm hot and you're hot, teammate!

{Fortnight of February 15--March 1) ~A Mandate for Fulfilling Orientation and Expression~

Cosmic Piper

Tuesday 16 February 2016

Moon in Gemini

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues (until Wednesday evening)

**

The forecast would be choosing a relevant paragraph or two from the previous forecast for the whole fortnight. 

Cosmic Piper

Fortnight of February 15-March 3, 2016; and Monday's forecast

Fortnight of February 15(Monday)--March 3(Tuesday), 2016

~Passing the Tests?~

This period comprises the moon's gibbous, fat, or more luminous phase. It has been many many years of research and pain and struggle and worry and trial and error and re-trial and re-error and final success which has led me to this method. Nothing I do in astrology is carelessly considered.

We consider all the planetary positions (in four field systems as well as in the zodiac) and their interplanetary relations, but also the symbolic degrees of six slowly-changing points. This time we shall utilize those of Charubel, or John Thomas, a Welsh seer of the late 19th century. I have found them extraordinarily dependable, even if sometimes obscure.

First,  a symbol of a man enjoying himself totally as he carves a round of beef he will presently be eating. Says Charubel: "An epicure, or one particularly fond of good living, but harmless, and as a rule fortunate in the things of the world." Well, we cannot argue with that--although if we are not meat-eaters we will be carving a round of tofu.

"A man with a large pair of scales in the act of weighing." We had this last fortnight. It is a sober one, not liberating but important. Something you are trying to accomplish requires just that--careful measurement, weighing, getting things down to their exact measurements so you can work with them to your advantage.  Freedom requires, first, an exact study of what will permit and promote the freedom.

The third symbol is just too advanced, too amazingly "not of this world" to bear repeating here (Pisces 10 for those of you who have the book). It suggests the utmost possibilities of this time, with psychic powers, brilliant gifts, and an influence over the future. Who is ready for that? If you are, please use your powers in submission to the will of the Highest.

 We had the same symbol for Uranus last week, a frightening one: "A battle-field where two contending armies are engaged in deadly conflict." This could have many applications. The large heading in the New York Times for today asserts that there is a "Fierce Battle" emerging over the next appointee to the Supreme Court. I probably should not say this, but a few days ago that Court, with the support of the five usually denominated "conservative" justices, including Antonin Scalia, scuttled the hard-won agreement with the U. S. which many nations agreed to a few months ago in the Paris Climate Accords, which I touted here as astrologically propitious and important. Those five justices effectively hindered our approach to freedom from the horrendous, poisonous, deadly use of fossil fuels, from which addiction we need to escape. They said, "Sorry Obama, you and your appointees worked assiduously to save the planet, but our Constitution, framed a few hundred years ago by men who never could have known anything about the horrors fossil fuels are inflicting on the planet, did not allow for any laws to prohibit them." Such a truly retrograde idea of what our Constitution allows, while Jupiter, planet of the law, is retrograde and while we remained in the Dark Hermetic Epoch (until after Scalia died). Scalia and his four henchmen said "Death to the planet," and the planet then said, within three days, "Death to Scalia." I consider it a clear and immediate result of karmic law.

The "two contending armies engaged in deadly conflict" are the armies of light and darkness, and Scalia was on the wrong side.

I might, however, have agreed with him on other issues, such as abortion. It is very hard for human beings to be totally right or totally ethical when the universe has such greys in it rather than clear blacks and whites, in most cases. May Antonin Scalia be blessed as he finds his way into a higher life where all these complications may become crystal clear to him. We need justices on the Court who are able to see all that now, rather than after death, and I hope President Obama will appoint such a Justice and that he will be confirmed apart from party politics.

I have to say also that, when it comes to "two contending armies," I agree wholeheartedly with what Donald Trump said in the most recent Republican debate against Jeb Bush and his brother. He asserted that (1) the Iraq war was a serious mistake, and he was right; (2) that there were no nuclear weapons in Iraq, and that George W. Bush's administration's assertions to the contrary were "lies"; (3) that the war cost us trillions of dollars and thousands of lives (yes, and many thousands, really hundreds of thousands, of lives in Iraq); and (4) rather than G. W. Bush "keeping us safe" as his brother Jeb contended, it was during his watch that the most horrendous terrorist attack on the U. S. happened, the destruction of the Twin Towers.  On all this I happen to agree with Donald Trump, and I was surprised that he said it all so vociferously, even though there were loud "boos" from the Republican audience. He was willing to go out on a limb in this case, and my opinion of him rose because of that.

The next symbol for the fortnight is one of the worst:  "A person about entering a dark tunnel. He . . . will go wrong if there be no saving influences in operation. A most unfortunate and hopeless degree this." Well, we need to modify that with some common sense, yet take it as a serious warning. Probably it means that each of us is likely to underestimate what he is up against, and overestimate his ability to circumvent it. So we need to be more careful, more certain of our strategy, more humble in estimating what we can do and realistic in figuring out how to do it. There are always "saving influences in operation" and so we need to become aware of them, tune in to them, pray to them, and communicate with them. They are the forces of the Highest, who is always Good.

Last: "An ostrich." Charubel expands on the notion that this bird "hides his head in the sand" when enemies are near: "A person of lofty looks, and pompous in his demeanor. In appearance, a giant; in assumption, a hero; but when brought to close quarters, when his valour is put to the proof, one who despises the ideas of another and has none of his own. 'A sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.'"  Well that is pretty intense. It sounds to me like Donald Trump at his worst. It might be representative of any or all of the Republican aspirants to the Presidency. If you are a Republican, you may take it to represent the Democratic aspirants. I do not judge among them, at this point, although I have some opinions. It seems that we and they and all are being tested as to our true worth, according to this and most of the other symbols for this Fortnight.

Let's remember the first and third symbols, above, for they are the two optimistic ones. We are capable of enjoying ourselves, sometimes, within this complex arena of contradictory forces; and we are capable of arising to some super-transcendent level where we understand what it all means and know how to deal with it perfectly. May we seek and partially arrive at that position. 

{Fortnight of February 15-March 1}  ~Passing the Tests?~

Cosmic Piper

Monday 15 February 2016

Moon in Taurus-->Gemini

/moon goes void-of-course at 2:55a PT | 5:55a ET | 10:55a UT

until it enters Gemini at 6:36a PT| 9:36a ET | 2:36p UT

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week all day (until Wednesday evening)

At the time of the v-of-c, and a few hours before, Luna is trine Venus, always a time of fulfillment, or of peace and a sense of promise and fulfillment. After that and after Luna enters Gemini, an interesting day probably but one filled with some worries unless you are capable of rising above them. 

{Monday}

Cosmic Piper

P. S. Don't forget to read something inspirational from the Bible or some other book you trust, to help you cope with whatever you are facing. The universe and its Lord are good.