Message for Week of Saturday 1 through Friday 7 April 2017

Message for Week of Saturday 1 through Friday 7 April 2017

^Falling to Pieces (and Putting them Together)^

We are in a period with both Venus squaring Saturn, until May 9, and the Dark Hermetic Epoch, until May 21 (with Mercury retrograde from April 9 through May 2). This does not have to be horrible but could seem that way for many unless they meet or rise above the challenges. So it is important to try to understand what is going on.

I emphasize Venus in hard aspect with Saturn because in my own life these aspects (mutual aspects affecting the whole human race, not aspects to my personal chart) have shown the hardest emotional phases in my life. Once it was the break-up of a relationship which made me feel like Patsy Cline: "I Fall to Pieces." Other times it was not so dramatic; just a loss of confidence and a feeling of being unloved and unappreciated. But when I realized that this was happening in connection with the Venus-Saturn square, conjunction, or opposition, I started becoming aware of what was going on with others at the same time, and I saw that it was not just my problem! 

In fact, part of my problem was that other people were in a foul mood and were projecting their feeling of rejection or frustration onto me. You go walking down the street. You are in a fairly good mood, but someone frowns at you so fiercely that you feel there must be something wrong with you. "What did I do to deserve that?" Then, as if in revenge, you glare fiercely at the next person you see, even though he or she is smiling. "Making fun of me, eh? I'll show you!" And so it goes, the bad moods and feelings of rejection snowballing until somebody gets so angry that there is an "incident," hopefully not a tragic one.

This is all very much observable during these times. Couples struggle harder to endure each other. Bosses and subordinates struggle to keep up civil relations with each other though seething under the surface. The suffering the boss goes through at home with his or her mate makes him so grouchy that he takes it out, unconsciously, on his workers. And vice versa.

Because this happens four times a year, most years,  for about 20 days each time (allowing a 10-degree orb which I have seen as essential in this case), we get inured to it, to some degree; yet every time it happens it's the same thing: "What did I do to deserve this? Am I unattractive, do I have a repulsive personality, am I a a failure in every way?" 

It can come out also in connection with money, because whether people actually lose money at these times they tend to feel they have less, and so resent expenses and cut back, perhaps, on spending. "Oh, why should I go out to the same old restaurant, where the waiter might treat me like . . . ., the people sitting next to me will be talking about things that drive me crazy, and there is loud music I deplore?" So you spend less on pleasures, perhaps. "Movie? Twenty dollars for popcorn? Forget it!" 

If not active displeasure, it can be boredom. "Blah! Same old stuff. What is worth doing?" A good feature of this could be: Hunkering down to work. "Well, nothing much interests me, so why not stay home and proceed with that project (craft, sewing, car repair, music, writing)?" It could be said it is a good aspect for serious endeavors. Since sought-after pleasures taste like ashes, work becomes a pleasure.

At the emotional level, I tend to think of it as the Patsy Cline aspect. Whenever I hear her plaintive songs, I think, "Venus-Saturn problem." But I never tested it out until today, when I looked up her information: Born September 8, 1932. Indeed, Venus is opposite Saturn in her birth-chart by less than 2 degrees, a very tight orb! (Saturn at 28 Capricorn, Venus at 29 Cancer). Cancer itself can be a weepy or emotional sign, so that enhances the pain; yet she was able to make her suffering sweet and comforting, so that many love to listen to her songs as medicine for their own lost-love-pangs. She found out, at a young age, how to work with her horoscope! Kudos to her. When you've got a lemon, make a lemonade. When disappointed in love, sing sad love-songs. It made her an enormous star.

Other factors in her chart gave her charisma, such as Venus conjoined to Mars, with Pluto between them, all three square to Uranus. This can be a peculiar charm. On the last day of her life she performed at three different concerts throughout the day and wore a different knock-out costume at each of them. Then she went off with her manager in his plane, to her (and his) death. The weather was bad and friends encouraged her to go with her in their car, but she said prophetically, "When it's my time to go, it's my time." This could be the fatalism of both Saturn and the moon in Capricorn (probably, though if she was born very early Luna may have been in Sagittarius) together with the Saturn-opposite-Venus aspect we are considering. . 

Her chart also has Mars exactly square Uranus, by less than one degree, and this has been known always to astrologers as an accident-prone aspect. Uranus is the planet of air travel. Earlier she had been in a car crash that almost killed her, and had a jagged cut across her forehead--Uranus is in Aries the sign of the head and face in her birth-chart, and square to Mars, the violent aspect. But it is also the aspect of energy and creative activity. Wikipedia says, 'She cultivated a brash and gruff exterior as "one of the boys", befriending male artists as well.' That sounds like Uranus square both Mars and Venus.

A question for those who ponder issues of free will is, "Could she, with better judgment and more caution, have avoided death at the age of 30?" I do not have an answer to that, but would like to think the answer is "Yes." Or perhaps she fulfilled her mission for that lifetime. It is said, I am happy to report, that death for those in the plane was instantaneous.

Welcome to the Patsy Cline April! Not in terms of accidents, although Uranus is again in Aries very close to where it was when she was born, but in terms of Venus-Saturn gloom, sadness, poignance, and sweetly sorrowful comforting, of which she was a master.

The chart for this week includes also helpful trines between Saturn and Uranus plus Mercury, good for mental work. Mars trine Pluto, with both of them sextile Neptune in the soft center, is good for males realizing a spiritual side of their maleness, as warriors accepting their suffering, for example, and rising beyond it to something ineffable. The sun opposite Jupiter suggests religious or political differences which need to be worked out patiently.

{Week of Saturday 1 through Friday 7 April}  ^Falling to Pieces (and Putting them Together)^

Cosmic Piper

Data for:

Saturday 1 April 2017

Moon in Gemini

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week begins today (lasting until Monday mid-morning)   ** |

Sunday 2 April 2017

Moon in Gemini--Cancer

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

/moon goes void-of-course at 7:44a PT | 10:44a ET | 2:44p UT   * / |

until it enters Cancer at 11:28a PT | 2:28p ET | 6:28p UT   ** |

Message for Friday 31 March 2017

Friday 31 March 2017

}Labyrinthine Perceptions Shared or Reserved{

Moon in Taurus-->Gemini

/moon void-of-course   ** /

until it enters Gemini at 9:41a PT | 12:41a(Sa) UT | 4:41a(Sa) UT   ***

Violence and cruelty have been on people's minds because of what has been happening in the world, especially internationally. Yet noted individuals who uplift our consciousness are doing their part to bring sunlight into that same sad world. The complications in things can be depressing until one gets the hang of them. Following your own labyrinthine course might look like eccentricity to someone else.

Powers of concentration and mental skills are with you (Mercury trine Saturn, moon in Gemini sextile Venus and Sol in Aries) though you may find it hard to use them in any simple or explicit manner. The symbol is "a man in a dark room with books, papers and mathematical instruments distributed about him promiscuously" (Charubel). You would like to be free to speculate, to fly, to be insouciant ("a flock of wild geese" (Sabian) but also quiet, peaceful, and righteous ("a priest standing in the cloister") (Borelli). 

The weirdness of your perceptions may not appear weird to you but to others. You should be content with the friends you have, even if they are remote from you. A sense of humor is possible, for elements of the human comedy grant release through their absurdity. Younger or less mature individuals, or children, may appreciate you taking them by the hand.

Jupiter's aspects suggest problems in relation to religion, guides or gurus, and so you need to be selective, yet also alive to the heritage which grows more true and effective the truer you are to it. Someone you appreciate has wisdom which he or she seems unable to communicate ("an old man attempting vainly to reveal the Mysteries") (Sabian). Yet independence, being content with one's own wisdom and prowess, is an option provided it is well-grounded. Then you display yourself proudly. 

{Friday} {Labyrinthine Perceptions Shared or Reserved}

Cosmic Piper

Message for Thursday 30 March 2017

Thursday 30 March 2017

\Self-Love?/

Moon in Taurus   ** 

/moon goes void-of-course at 4:13p PT | 7:13p ET | 11:13p UT   * /

Money matters are involved in deep study and calculation.

People have so much to deal with that they may seem impatient.

What is old is not by that fact any less valuable than what is less old. Patience! People are likely, rather than to magnify what they see around them, to minimize it and make fun of those whom they think less than themselves. It is good to seek, in your mind, for someone who has an optimistic and upbuilding viewpoint and adhere to his or her wisdom.

You may find yourself wanting to display yourself, as if a victor in battle, while being too proud to have any friends. Yet if you are not pretentious, and are able to make the required sacrifices, you will fit yourself for an ideal position of rulership. Sincerity and seclusion bring their own rewards, as if to a monk for example.. 

The secrets of Nature are revealed to those who let themselves perceive them in a crystal clear natural environment. Then in a human environment there is room for humor and laughter. Wanting to please others is fine, so long as one does not go too far into weakness and indiscretion.

Reaching for deeper understanding could go along with appreciating it in someone else. People may be superficial at times, almost glorying in silliness, but at other times sophisticated and witty. Self-reliance and confidence manifest as a display of one's prowess in one way or another. Why does one need friends when one is so fantastic oneself? That has its limits; however, associates also seem in love with themselves. Again: It is good to seek, in your mind, for someone who has an optimistic and upbuilding viewpoint and adhere to his or her wisdom.

{Thursday}  /Self-Love?\

Cosmic Piper

Message for Wednesday 29 March 2017

Wednesday 29 March 2017

\Rising Above Disappointment/

Moon in Aries-->Taurus

/moon goes void-of-course at 5:08a PT | 8:08a ET | 12:08p UT   * /

until it enters Taurus at 8:49a PT | 11:49a ET | 3:49p UT   **

Conserving what you have is crucial. You could be a seer--that is, see much more than you usually do, through intuition, psychic perception, and just reflecting the truth from everywhere. You could bask in the sunlight of a person you admire.

Problems have to do with seething anger which you detect under the surface. You are disappointed in people, and feel they are disappointed in you. This has a lot to do with Venus squaring Saturn, which will continue this time (brace yourself) until the second week of May. Its length is highly unusual, because Venus goes retrograde while the aspect is nearly exact. It is well to rise beyond feeling slighted or under-appreciated by adhering to deeper interpretations and understandings of whatever you enjoy as your philosophy or religion. 

You give a lot to people around you in indirect ways of which you may not be aware. Or, if you are aware, you may feel exploited. You are cognizant of surrounding hazards affecting others as well, some of whom may fall. Rather than rejoice in their failure, it is well to be sympathetic toward all, or as the Master said, "bless your enemies." You may press on past others to victory through abilities and accomplishments regardless of clouds of discouragement. 

Your spiritual heritage, whatever you believe in, is essential to give you peace of mind and freedom from worry. You might feel that a particular article of clothing makes you sophisticated, lively and interesting. Go for it! There is beauty in people, which you can appreciate despite the Venus-square-Saturn "blahs." You can bring deeper understanding to them just through your attitude. Cheer and kindness lurk, hidden, waiting for an invitation to come into the open.

{Wednesday}  /Rising Above Disappointment\

Cosmic Piper

Message for Tuesday 28 March 2017

Tuesday 28 March 2017

^Internal Confidence Emerging^

Dark Hermetic Epoch of about two months began yesterday, Monday March 27 and continues until May 21

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

until 7:45a PT | 10:45a ET | 2:45p UT   ***

I neglected to mention the beginning of the DHE (time above) in yesterday's report. Actually it is interesting that I felt rather "down" on Monday afternoon, though I accomplished a lot in the morning. The DHE is not a bad time, although as we get further into it outer complications may begin, as usual. We have to "keep our heads" during this time of possible disorientation.

Tuesday: Patience and steadiness are essential. It seems there are a number of varied options to choose from, and it is important to choose the very best. If one has chosen badly and has to retrace one's steps, so as to get back to the right path, one can use that experience in order to guide others along the best paths for them. A noted individual who is much appreciated can be one of your guides.

Hurry and rashness could upset things. A quiet and peaceful time of meditation could be the remedy. You may gaze at something--clouds in the sky, an object in the room--and get acutely helpful intimations of what you need to know. Then you can organize things conveniently.

Being reclusive, enjoying solitude, could usher you into hidden knowledge. But then, also in politics and the broad spread of social interaction in your nation you may find what helps you exploit your immediate situation for the best. Self-confidence makes you either proud or wisely cool and collected.

A rabbi, priest, or guru is one of the symbols. This may be an actual person or a heritage of wisdom you have made your own. A more feminine person of peace and harmony is also indicated, accessible and kind, being a blessing without ostentation. All are emerging, as if children, slowly into self-discovery. 

{Tuesday} ^Internal Confidence Emerging^

Cosmic Piper

Breaking Out; Getting a Grip

Breaking Out; Getting a Grip

[The forecast for Monday has already been posted.]

The gurus who try to manipulate people psychologically or spiritually in order to improve their consciousness and their living are trying to help them to

Break Out

and 

Get a Grip.

They need to Break Out because only by changing some of their habits can they Get a Grip on themselves. Habits are mechanical.

On the other hand, this advice is fraught with dangers, because if you Break Out by giving up your job, just not showing up for work, you are probably not very smart. (Unless in some extraordinary situation. I actually did that once, and am not sure to this day whether it was a mistake or not, but common decency assures me that I should have informed the boss of my decision, face to face.) Breaking Out means more Breaking Out of habitual emotions, feelings, and rationalizing thoughts than Breaking Out of daily routines. In fact, keeping daily routines going is usually the opposite of being mechanical, because the truly "mechanical" part of you wants to just sit around, eat too much, and be lazy and self-indulgent in whatever pleases you. Or, if you are of a more active temperament, the "mechanical" part of you wants to go out and punch idiotic people in the face and impose your active will on everyone (tending to put you behind bars most likely). Or, if you are of a mental-intellecual temperament, your "mechanical" part wants to just read, read, and maybe write, or teach or talk or read and read and learn and learn. To what end? To its own end. This tends to feel like being a hampster on a wheel after a while, though the wheel be a mental one. 

The type who would just sit around and eat too much is the tamasic (lazy and dull) type, according to Hindu teaching as explaing brilliantly and lucidly in the Bhagavad Gita. The type who would go out and punch people in the face or demand that it get its own way is the rajasic (active) type. The type who would just keep studying and learning and thinking is the sattwic (intellectual) type. These are called the three gunas: Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas. 

Actually each of us exemplifies all three, most likely, at various times, and they can be mixed together in multiple ways. A rajo-tamasic type might be a lout who is lazy and drinks a lot of beer but picks fights with men and beats his wife.  A sattwo-tamasic type might read the newspaper every day, and other stuff which interests him, but never put it to use. A sattwo-rajasic type studies hard in order to be master of the world or rise to eminence in a profession. A tamaso-sattwic type might have a brilliant intellect, and even spiritual awareness, but never stir himself to teach others or use his brilliance in any way but to languish in it. And so on.

The ideal is to be "traigunatita," that is, beyond the three gunas--to be directed inwardly by one's Soul or Self, not by the gunas. This is a remarkable correspondence to the Gurdjieff-Ouspensky teaching that the goal of the System is to give one a single self, a single will, to bring one into a piece beyond the mechanicalness of one's daily divagations. Or, one might say that the G-O System was in fact derived from the Hindu formulation--ultimately or historically. 

Being "beyond the three gunas"--traigunatita--is Breaking Out. Being the Self who directs things from his immortal unruffled poise is Getting a Grip. 

It ought not to be surprising that these goals are virtually the same, though expressed and taught in differing words, in various traditions. The man who, in accord with the Bhagavad Gita (the Song of the Lord Krishna), becomes aware of every movement of his being and consciousness as an action of one of the three gunas is on the way to getting a grip, to mastering these divagations of his consciousness-action rather than letting them rule him mechanically. He is following, in essence, the same method as the G-O System man or woman who is doing self-observation or self-study, dividing everything he does into Thinking, Emotional, and Moving functions. 

These are two excellent formulations of some of the things human beings have found out about themselves through sustained "work" (as G&O put it). We can all learn an enormous amount from them. The Hindu formulation reaches its perfection and epitome in Sri Aurobino, for example in his Essays on the Gita and his Synthesis of Yoga (as well as all of his other amazing works). 

Gary Lachman, in his biography of Ouspensky, says that Ouspenky's trips to India, before finally he met Gurdjieff back in Russia, resulted in nothing of any value. He found nothing in India! I am very sorry, but I have to say that the man must have been deaf and blind. It is said that he even "met interesting people, like Sri Aurobindo, who was then establishing himself in Pondicherry" (Lachman, p. 74). He met Sri Aurobindo and did not see anything in him? How sad. The man was really obtuse! Reading this has vastly diminished my opinion of Ouspensky. However, I can see that his mission, apparently, for that one lifetime, was with Gurdjieff, for some reason, and this actually did not even allow him to see Sri Aurobindo's greatness. Utterly amazing.

But I myself have found that I cannot introduce anyone to Sri Aurobindo. That includes you, I assume. I am really sorry that you are missing out on that treasure. I can only rest content that I am not responsible for your loss. 

--HHH

Sunday, March 26, 2017  10:58 PM

Message for Monday 27 March 2017

Monday 27 March 2017

^Trusting the True and Reliable^

Moon in Pisces-->Aries

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues (ending tomorrow afternoon)   ** |

/moon goes void-of-course at 3:20a PT | 6:20a ET | 10:20a UT   * / |

until it enters Aries at 7:12a PT | 10:12a ET | 2:12p UT   ** |

New Moon of Aries is exact at 7:58p PT | 10:58p ET | 2:58a(Tu) UT

Patience and steadiness will win. Who is essential in your world, a true guide? Listen to him (her). Things may be cheerless and uneventful, unless you get a grip on yourself.

Good luck and glory could come to you in some unusual quiet way. Then there is excitation of your propensities. But the religious or spiritual side of your nature also demands its due.

Trials come from a lack of connection with what is true and reliable. Yet it is possible to be with someone you love and enjoy her or his presence. Conflicting opinions are an obstacle; so one should change anger to wise deliberation or discussion.

Someone who represents your spiritual ideal is available and helpful directly or indirectly. This helps you to be industrious, keeping pace with the demands of the material world (which is really spiritual in essence according to true teaching). Some natural wisdom is uncultivated; it abounds in nature's Springing abundance.

{Monday} ^Trusting the True and Reliable^

Cosmic Piper

Messages for Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 March 2017

Saturday 25 March 2017

~Internal Nisus or Direction~

Moon in Aquarius-->Pisces   **

/moon goes void-of-course at [10:57p PT Friday] | 1:57a ET | 5:57a UT   * /

until it enters Pisces at 3:08a PT | 6:08a ET | 10:08a UT   **

The world has been traversing dangerous waters, and therefore many have been thinking deeply about the meaning of life (which thoughts of death tend to precipitate). And so we also look to those we respect and honor, who have embodied the meaning of life for us. Much is on the move; we keep looking for something we don't seem to find, and so perhaps should be satisfied with the search itself.

There is suffering for those who feel lost, and so they need to look deeper inside themselves for the comforts of G*d. We all need genuine self-direction, which can begin internally without much on the outside to support it. Traditional spiritual or religious guidance, or something of an x factor derived from that,  could be part of the program.

To be laborious and useful is one way of living a good life. Unsung, such individuals hold the world together. Meanwhile, each individually has wings of aspiration lifting him or her beyond dullness. If reaching a higher level of superiority in a hierarchy, there is danger of being resented or misunderstood. 

We visualize what we want, or a level of prosperity beyond us, and then climb toward it valiantly. Perilous adventures do not daunt one of perseverance and force of character. Something in dedicated individuals who inspire us fosters our persistence. 

{Saturday}  ~Internal Nisus or Direction~

Sunday 26 March 2017

~Holding to Values Allows Enjoyment of Luck~

Moon in Pisces

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues (through Monday)   ** |

When darkness seems to encompass us (the final days of an Old Moon), we think more deeply about immortal values. Whom do you consider essential in your world? It could be a public character if not a friend. Under that influence, you go in your own groove, chasing what seems exciting for the moment. 

Good luck might be showered upon you in some facets of your life. There is the thrill of trying, reaching, groping for something awakening desire in you. Yet at the same time a deeper side of your nature feels dedicated to the Highest. 

It is essential to keep your link with what you most believe intact. That is a protection from getting lost. Then you will be cautious even when you feel free to roam with someone you adore in unspoiled enjoyment. 

Whatever drudgery there may be can be handled with dispatch and industry, not neglecting the values of your heritage. Then you will have the latitude and breathing room to explore your world with natural wisdom and richness of heart. Rugged beauty surrounds you.

{Sunday}  ~Holding to Values Allows Enjoyment of Luck~

Cosmic Piper

Structure and Spontaneity; Mantra and Music

Structure and Spontaneity; Mantra and Music One reason I keep coming back to the Gurdjieff-Ouspensky Fourth Way System, I think, is that it is a program for self-management which really does help people. It helped me at a crucial time in my life and I am finding that, although I am not using it in the official way that Ouspensky taught it, even now, reading Gary Lachman's book about him has awakened in me a desire to "surpass myself," to be more conscious and in control of myself.  

Of course there are other paths which teach that. None, perhaps, with the ferocity and tenacity of G and O, but that ferocity can be a problem if it sets the student against himself, that is, if by asking too much of him it makes him rebellious. 

The idea of "self-study" was a very helpful one to me. I have been doing it also these past few days, without really planning to do so. I was just sitting on the floor for about ten minutes, my mind wandering, and realized that I felt lost and not in control of anything at all. I roused myself to get up and start writing this. This was Force 1 (my will) controlling Force 2 (my mechnical "sitting there and doing nothing, duh!"). Now at least, in writing this, I am struggling to "get it right," to say something which might be interesting or useful to someone else; I am trying to conquer the merely "mechanical" drift of my whole consciousness toward one diversion or another. 

I thought of watching the next episode of a Netflix series I like. No! I do not think doing that is always a mistake or always "mechanical." I chose this particular series because it is highly illumining to me. Something in the creator, the writers, and the directors speaks to me and helps me. It actually helps me see myself more clearly, and so be less of a "machine." The problems, attitudes, and behaviors of the characters open doors of insight for me. That is wonderful.But not tonight. This is not the time for it, and I felt that very strongly. 

This is an interesting fact: We usually "really know" what we "should" be doing, that is, what some deeper part of ourself "wants" or "needs" to do at a given time. I think that really successful people have this ability to a superior degree. They feel, "Enough of that" and stop at once, whether they are taking a bath, looking at a sunset, doing a physical exercise, talking to someone on the phone, or browsing on the internet. If they ignore that little warning, "Enough!" they are not one of the really successful people. Their timing is off. They stop the particular activity which has run its course maybe ten minutes or a half hour too late, and are wasting their lives in the irrelevant. Some other opportunity which would have come up is missed entirely. But most likely they could not formulate rules for that. The rules might interfere. 

At other times, rules are very important. Saying "I am going to exercise for twenty minutes every day" (or every day except a Sabbath, which I recommend), they firm themselves up by following that agenda strictly. 

But one also knows when it is time to stop, or interrupt, an agenda or schedule! Maybe something crucial or wonderful comes up and you don't have time for that twenty-minute exercise (which usually takes longer than that because of preparation and de-acceleration afterward, such as putting clothes back on, etc.). So, while sticking to the agenda is good, knowing when to make an exception is also good.

"The System" is good for awakening us to these questions and issues and helping us see how to navigate in a wiser and less "mechanical" manner. 

So I am writing a self-help guide here. Sorry. Not really; I am trying to get at some of the basic principles behind the way we govern or fail to govern ourselves. I would be the last to say we ought never to have free and spontaneous times. But when you examine it, how free and spontaneous are even those times? Dancing? Well, you dance to whatever music someone is playing. Is that spontaneous or is it machine-like? Sex? Well I won't say anything about that because I recognize the wisdom of G and O, who said, "Sex cannot be studied." I think they meant that it is probably the last thing people can or could bring under control and understand. Or maybe they were just trying to be sure they would not offend their paying clients or students by trying to control what is one of the most intimate and personal aspects of anyone's life. 

Is playing a game with someone spontaneous? Maybe. Pool, for example; there have to be rules, yet within those rules you have quite a lot of freedom. There is always more than one right play. The same with chess; yet I doubt that anyone would call chess "spontaneous." Even when puppies play, they seem to know that some things are forbidden and stop at certain boundaries. 

There is the further "contradiction" or paradox that sometimes a very controlled exercise can go along with, and facilitate, utterly free spontaneity. If you repeat a mantra or prayer steadily, continuously, for a long time, and if that mantra or prayer is working for you and you do it with an attitude which works (you have to find that for yourself), you may have extraordinarily wonderful visionary or spiritual experiences while repeating the prayer or mantra, and those have all the character of rich, wonderful, extraordinary spontaneity coming deep from the soul or inner consciousness.

That is wonderful when it happens. It can happen also with music. A piece you have heard many times (whether a symphony, sonata, hymn or popular song) opens doors in your feelings and awareness and you experience something extraordinary. The music, performed by someone else or yourself, is the same, and is very controlled without the slightest deviation from the score (maybe a recording you have heard many times), yet this time it takes you into a world of vision, feeling, and perhaps aspiration and realization you never experienced  before in the same way. Someone might say that performing music with no deviation from the score is "anal" in the Freudian or psychological sense, that is, overly structured or obsessive-compulsive. However, enjoying someone else or oneself doing that can release amazingly free and spontaneous or vividly-living experiences in consciousness. 

--HHHThursday, March 23, 2017  10:16 PM

Message for Friday 24 March 2017

Friday 24 March 2017

}Stumble-Recovery, Quest, Blessing{

Moon in Aquarius   ***

/moon goes void-of-course at 10:57p PT | 1:57a(Sa) ET | 5:57a(Sa) UT   ** /

There can be silence, gloom, darkness and sadness. In order to escape from that it is good to hold on to a public character you believe in who brightens your outlook. Those who have wealth or fame, or just good reputation, inspire you to keep on with your own agenda. Meanwhile the gloom may be recurrent. During it you could meditate or pray.

You seek rest, but find yourself far from the goal, needing to keep on the move.  You have a zeal to bring ideals closer to reality. A religious person from your past is still alive in your life even if gone from the world, and has power to aid you. 

Your judgement seems off, or you question it, when you make tiny efforts and watch them dribble off to almost nothing. It is good to see things for what they are: to illumine your view of things with the best light you have, even if you see only part of what is important. Using that, you'll find the rest revealing itself in time. Through force of character you make your way against uncertainties, enduring privation and struggle for the sake of ultimate success.

The traditions which hold the world together are often despised by the worldly, the secular, the anti-religious or anti-spiritual. But to get at their deeper truth is not to "liberalize" them if that means diluting them; it is to see them on their basis of Principle rather than mere opinion. Those who would differentiate themselves from others by assuming a superiority to them have not yet understood their real mission. Real wisdom-traditions water the roots of creativity in their adherents, so that they in turn radiate a blessing fostering beauty and fulfillment in all around them. 

{Friday} {Stumble-Recovery, Quest, Blessing}

Cosmic Piper

Thursday 23 March 2017

}Good Fortune with Rich Variety{

Moon in Aquarius   ***

Good luck is evident. It could be marvelous. You are aware of your own considerable powers. Wealth and fame are yours in some way fitting your place in life. 

You might be constantly on the move, seeking goals or friends. You may see some as fanatical or obsessive, yet there is love and enjoyment. Balancing pleasure and duty is not hard. You move toward someone or someone moves toward you while strolling together through the world's lanes of wonder. 

The conditions required of you are not terribly hard, so it is good to carry them out rather than give them "a lick and a promise." Your mind-set is clarified by a materialistic or realistic view of things, sensing what is what and what is not in no uncertain terms. The woods in Spring are full of unexpected budding or thriving treasures. 

At times you will work with others, or they for you as if you were the superior one, although there could be resentment or trouble because of the disparity in position, one or the other seeing the other as officious. Yet a variety of people is good for you. You focus also on other living things, plants or animals, caring for them to help them flourish. People want to display themselves toward one another--their bodies, talents and personalities.

{Thursday}  {Good Fortune with Rich Variety}

Cosmic Piper

The Eighth Dynamic and the Third Force

The Eighth Dynamic and the Third Force

[The forecast for Wednesday has already been posted.]

It may seem peculiar that I am spending so much time musing on the Gurdjieff-Ouspensky "System" in that Ouspensky himself rejected it at the end of his life. 

But those touched by that "System" and its method seem to be touched by it permanently. To spend a few months trying to "wake up" and "stop being mechanical" and "observe yourself" and "remember yourself" and on and on has strong effects. I believe I was fortunate to be trying to do that, when I studied the System mostly through Ouspensky's book The Fourth Way, not with a personal teacher or despot such as Gurdjieff but on my own. There have been many individuals and groups who have set up "Fourth Way" Schools or groups, but the ones I briefly investigated seemed tainted by the egoism of their leaders. There can be sadism-masochism when one or a few are trying to "train" the others to "stop being machines" and so on. It can be ugly. It's not for me. 

But it occurs to me that something in the air, in the atmosphere of the earth, in the 1930s and 1940s was favorable to Gurdjieff's "System" and that those who were attracted to him and to Ouspensky needed it for some reason. Perhaps it was William James's "moral equivalent of war" for the mostly well-off individuals who became Gurdjieff's clients (or slaves if you will). (He required a thousand rubles as a down payment.) They felt that their lives were too easy, perhaps, and that they were in fact "sleeping" spiritually. But rather than the discipline and training of the churches, at that time considered boring and unfashionable by their like, they gravitated to a strong accomplished masterful man who dominated them, and they liked it. It strikes me that that is what was going on in much more perverse and horrid because involuntary ways in Russia (bolshevism), in Germany, and almost everywhere during the Second World War and the years leading up to it. It was a "holocaust" not only for the Nazis' victims but for many others in usually a smaller way.  In a treatise I wrote on the decades of the twentieth century I called it the "formidable forties." 

And then, quite amazingly, after World War II, in 1947, Gurdjieff, his health failing, repudiated Gurjieff's "System." He had had enough, as the world had had enough of warfare. Gurfjieff had some strange theories about the war--that it was caused by the planets and their configurations. He was a fatalist when it came to humanity as a whole and his pseudo-scientific or scientistic "System" included a lot of stuff about the multiple "laws" which governed humanity until it could "wake up" and become less "mechanical." He did not blame anybody in particular for the wars, but the planets and the mechanical nature of all things for those who have not yet awakened (all but a tiny tiny minority). That is a fatalism which is foreign to me, and my brand of astrology has nothing to do with it. It is the ethical failures of human beings which are responsible for cruelty and war. If the planetary configurations seem to contribute to the problem, that is only because human beings are not mature enough to live through such configurations without going out of kilter and killing one another. That can change, and not by people following G's "System" but by following the reality of the example of Christ Jesus, for example.

The relations of Ouspensky to Christianity are interesting. He comes off sometimes as almost an esoteric Christian in the way he writes. But that would be a topic for a book rather than these few paragraphs. However, one of his chief disciples, Maurice Nicoll, was an esoteric Christian and his books, I have been given to understand, combine Fourth Way teachings with esoteric Christiantity. I really want to get my hands on them and see what they are all about.

Gary Lachman reports that Ouspensky often repeated the Lord's Prayer over and over, as part of his efforts to "wake up." 

Rodney Collin, a disciple of Ouspensky's who was very close to him in the final months of his life, driving with him all over England (while Ouspensky was drinking heavily I believe), is well worth reading. I am working with his book The Theory of Conscious Harmony. He wrote it after Ouspensky had passed from this world but it is filled with Fourth Way and Ouspenskiian teaching. Collin has his own voice, however. He reports that at one point Ouspensky said to him that after doing all one can--to become conscious, to be a real self with real will, to achieve all the aims of the System--one sometimes just has to--Collin reports Ousppensky as just throwing his hands up to heaven, imploring Someone or Something for help. 

That would go along with another teaching Collin reports, that there are three "forces." One is the mechanical force of cause-and-effect in which we are all entangled, which makes us nothing but unconscious machines (who imagine they are conscious). That is "second force." First force is the labor or effort to be conscious, to be something other than a machine. This would be a force only those working with the System would ever be able to use. But there is a Third Force which, as Collin descirbes it, seems to me to correspond with Divine Grace. It is a gift. It is something that helps one spiritually, something one did not earn by one's heroic efforts alone. 

And there, if you will, G*d enters the System. (Although, for anyone who understands the word it has to be said that the System is and always was something within G*d, if it exists at all. And Ouspensky said, "There is no System.")

Another founder of a pseudo-scientific system for training human beings toward higher consciousness, L. Ron Hubbard, identified G*d with "the eighth dynamic" (something greater than the other seven) and said, "Scientology does not invade the eighth dynamic." That was wise of him.

--HHH

Tuesday, March 21, 2017  10:00 PM

Message for Wednesday 22 March 2017

Wednesday 22 March 2017

\Human Needs Mingling/

Moon in Capricorn-->Aquarius   ***

/moon goes void-of-course at 6:21a PT | 9:21a ET | 1:21p UT   ** /

until it enters Aquarius at 7:29p PT | 10:29p ET | 2:29a(Th) UT   ***

The thirteen-hour v-of-c is substantial, so we should take things easy and refuse to get overly roiled or worried. 

You don't want anyone to impose on you. You have strong positive and defensive abilities. Yet you could drift into idleness and self-indulgence. It is neither good to be rash and on the attack, nor to relax too much.

If you have a single aim, you will do well. You need to chase what you want within your own groove. Your nation and its "karma" or destiny is intertwined with your own in a way that stands out. Does your nation exploit you, or do you exploit your nation? Probably both, though all may fail due to want of caution or spending in wrong directions.

Flexibility in thinking is helpful, with ingenuity. You could be proficient in more than one direction, though at each moment you should pursue one or the other with full attention (first two sentences of preceding paragraph). Then you can shift to the other focus when that seems natural. A lover of peace and harmony has many friends; she or he enjoys luxury, and could be good for you no matter what the problems in the relationship. 

A cautious approach is good. That means being diplomatic at times, avoiding dangers through prudent speech. A wonderfully good person, perhaps a nurse or healer in some sense, knows how to care for people in their extremity. This gets its own reward. It is exhilarating to be mixing with humanity whether in work or pleasure. 

{Wednesday} /Human Needs Mingling\

Cosmic Piper

Message for Tuesday 21 March 2017

Tuesday 21 March 2017

\Gloom as Challenge to Strength/

Moon in Capricorn

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

but ends at 1:32p PT | 4:32p ET | 8:32p UT   ***

Sitting in a dark room and thinking about nothing? Books and papers in disarray? Maybe you need to find your magical powers, based on a strong will which allows nothing to impede you. One thing that helps is when younger people see you as benevolent. 

Nonetheless things seem cheerless and uneventful much of the time. A sense of humor could help, giving release. When people make no progress and plans collapse, there is something about the situation to laugh about, and that means one is ready for something new, even if not immediately evident.

There is gloom. We feel it sometimes in the final quarter of the moon (now in effect, and until the New Moon very late next Monday), but perhaps specially today. Yet there can be excitation temporarily, making you feel you are ready for something new (four planets in Aries the first sign of the zodiac). Then you may feel independent and proud, and show this by the clothing you don and mannerisms you adopt. 

Rashness, impetuosity, and strife need to be avoided, or sublimated to a higher level. If you see that people are wrong, you can smile at that and wait for something better rather than provoke them to anger or upset. There are factors to dissipate the gloom, probably later in the day, as if you lived within a decorated scene reminiscent of holidays, symbolizing satisfaction through simple unostentatious sharing. 

{Tuesday} /Gloom as Challenge to Strength\

Cosmic Piper

Final Questions and Answers?

Final Questions and Answers? 

[The report for Monday 20 March has already been posted.]

The period of Uranus's passage through the ugly degree of 22 Aries 23, which I discussed last time, ended late Saturday and on Sunday I felt its absence! And was happy about that. On Sunday in Seattle, people were out enjoying beautiful almost-Spring weather in Cal Anderson Park, the day before Spring officially began (I failed to mention the exact time in the report for Monday, it is 3:30a PT | 6:30a ET | 10:30a UT). 

It is more than fascinating that during Uranus's transit of that degree, "an evil comet's tail ruining everything" (to summarize it), I was reading Gary Lachman's "In Search of P. D. Ouspensky" for the second time. Some year I may read it a third time. I recommend it heartily. But it did feel like I was passing through an evil comet's tail. And that comet was Georges I. Gurdjieff. A very strange man, a thrilling and exciting and wonderful man according to Ouspensky himself, yet a man who, as Lachman thinks (and I tend to agree) ruined Ouspensky's life to a degree, taking him away from his true self and true mission into something which finally, in the final few months of his life, Ouspensky renounced. That is, "The Fourth Way," the teaching that we are machines until we wake up, are asleep, need someone and something (an esoteric School and its Masters) to awaken us (namely, G. I. Gurdjieff himself, who was an autocrat and could be very cruel). 

In 1947, a few months before he died, Ouspensky returned to England (from America) where he had a huge following he had built up through lectures years before. There he shocked his devoted students utterly and totally (the final shock in a System which lived on shocks, that is, shocking its students to wake them up). Lachman: 'Every mention of the teaching [by the questioners in his audience], every remark about sleep, mechanicalness, self-remembering, every question couched in the jargon of the system, was thrown back at the questioners with the absurd and unbelievable reply that Ouspensky had no teaching, that he had never taught them anything, and that, in any case, why should they believe anyone who told them they were mechanical? Who said they were asleep? It must have been an excruciating experience, and Ouspensky did not make it easy. He had nothing to teach them, he said. When one student asked, how he could find harmony, Ouspensky replied, "This is your question? It is my question now, and I have no answer." . . . When one asked what was the aim and purpose of esoteric schools, he replied, "Oh, that is a very big thing," and then added:  "Maybe not." . . . Another asked if it was possible to establish contact with a school. Ouspensky said, "No." To the question, What is reality?" he responded, "Nothing, probably." . . . It took Kenneth Walker to ask the question that everyone else was too afraid to ask: "Do you mean, Mr. Ouspensky, that you have abandoned the System?" To this his teacher replied: "There is no System." In his final trump, Ouspensky had out-shockced even his master [Gurdjieff].'

Lachman continues: 'Ouspensky did leave them a few guidelines. It was up to them to decide what they wanted from life. An aim--an ordinary, everyday aim--was essential. And they could rely only on themselves. If Ouspensky's students came away from these meetings in February through June [1947] with anything more than disillusionment and confusion, it was the sense that it was up to them to make a fresh start. When one student asked if it was possible to make efforts by onself, he answered: "Yes, certainly. Only by yourself. Only possible. No other way possible." [This was a huge contradiction of the basic premise of the System that one can make progress only in a group, a School.] And when one asked, "How is it possible to start work?" he replied, "One must know what one wants." It was, it seemed, as easy as that. But Ouspensky had learned that knowing what one wanted was perhaps the most difficult task of all.'

The rest of the story of Ouspensky's final days is fascinating and you might enjoy reading it. As for the question, not mentioned above, as to whether in fact one must rely only on oneself, or on a Higher Power, on G*d or His representatives in humanity, I have my own replies, to be delivered here perhaps soon. That is, my tentative replies, for are not all intellectually formulated replies to such questions tentative? Is it not the individual who, if there is G*d, must discover HIm or Her or It for himself or herself? Tendentious questions, but necessary ones; I defer them; you perhaps already have your own answers. 

--HHH
Monday, March 20, 2017  1:00 AM