Forecast for Friday 12 August 2016

Friday 12 August 2016

^Friendly Fencing^

Moon in Sagittarius

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues (until Saturday afternoon)   ** |

Confession: I majored in philosophy and still have a proclivity toward it, despite its weaknesses and failures. So when I look at today's chart, I think of philosophy, because of many planets in the ninth house, traditionally that of philosophy or "higher thinking," as well as the 12th house of difficult research. But not everyone cares a fig for philosophy, so what do these positions mean today for everyone else?

Pondering, wondering, thinking about politics or religion, considering far-away nations and peoples. That is one possibility. Wondering about the presuppositions in your own life, perhaps--what do I really know? On what do I rely in my mind and thinking? What can I trust? (That is really a basic question of philosophy, though seldom framed in those words.)

An overriding configuration is the T square focused on Saturn in Sagittarius, retrograde. It has been going on for weeks (I'm not going to look up the beginning and ending because it's late at night and further the beginning and ending are determined by orb and one can choose larger or smaller orbs or time-spans for any aspect according to one's purposes). We can blame this aspect for our problems. (Capricorn the sign of Saturn is sometimes the "scapegoat.") What brings this out in clarity for me is Charubel's symbol for Sagittarius 10 in which Saturn lies (or 9 Sagittarius, the same thing): Cross-swords. His exegesis of the symbol: "A person always at variance and involved in quarrels and broils." Well, we know who that reminds us of, if we have been reading newspapers or magazines or on the Internet or anywhere but in a Himalayan cave during the American presidential campaign. 

But more than that, it is what I am doing as I consider various philosophers: They are all disagreeing as if "in quarrels and broils" and yet that is what makes studying philosophy worth while--as Hegel understood through his dialectic, which insists that rather than merely being sword-fights going nowhere but to death they are fructifying intercourse of idea with idea leading to further more accurate, profound and helpful idea. 

On a more literal level, a friend whose ascendant is also very close to 9 Sagittarius 10 has, in the past two weeks, purchased several swords and is practicing with them (as fetish, display, gamesmanship). And then, to top it off, I was told by Facebook this week that a "friend" whom I don't know (one accumulates them) is having a birthday and his name is Fred Swords. Not kidding.

So if you find that the news and commentaries on it is making you feel you are watching a sword-fight, you are not far wrong. Where do we take this? I have already suggested the Hegelian solution. 

Friday: You are alert, as a seagull watching a ship to get what he can from it or perhaps rest on it. 

Now there is another sword symbol, that for the moon's South Node, called by the Hindus Ketu or the Dragon's Tail, but sometimes considered more important or better than the Dragon's Head or North Node (you figure): A sword in a museum. That is the Sabian symbol. Well, maybe that is where swords belong. (Is there an Olympic event involving swords? Fencing?) Dr. Jones says the museum sword symbolizes "the surviving influence of great figures out of the past." Yes, we need them.

There is charm and mystical affinity. You fascinate those in your company.

An old owl up in a tree is a symbol for Mars's position. Actually today at the Rhein Haus in Seattle I saw the replica of an owl perched above the outdoor patio. I thought, How conventional, and indeed Dr. Jones's keyword for the symbol is Normality. That sounds refreshing. The owl knows how to get his supper, but also how to rest. 

On a high mountain plateau one of the ancient magi performs his matutinal devotions (Charubel). Matutinal means in the morning. Don't forget your Scripture reading, or something else which reaches up to the Heavens for you and aligns you with something greater than your limited lower self. 

You can have money, but near it is a dark woman masked. Seductive fortune! Ask Donald Trump about it. 

A scientist or philosopher who caters to popular tastes, subconsciously, in order to gain acclaim, is not to be trusted. Beware of them. (They are often professors. Sometimes they swim in think tanks.) And remember your best friends: Confide in them or try to see that they are not your enemies! (Crossed swords could just be friendly fencing.)

{Friday} ^Friendly Fencing^

Cosmic Piper