Message for Wednesday 29 November 2017

Wednesday 29 November 2017

^Invoking Cheer^

Moon in Aries   * * *

We remain in a Dark (or Slow) Hermetic Epoch until January 10, and the hard-core center of it, the Mercury Retrograde period of  three weeks, shall begin on Sunday (December 3 through 22). Most find this a confusing period, yet with gems of insight and surprise hidden within it. We go "out of pattern" and so maybe holiday planning should be more mellow and relaxed than usual. The "gift deadline" should be rather a "lifeline," not a competition. It's about love, not rating the loved one.

I do not find the DHE, so far, to be as difficult as usual, and that could be because Mercury has good aspects, a trine with Uranus on one side and sextile with Mars on the other, and that shall continue for ten days or so. The concurrent conjunction with Saturn adds up to some shrewd, careful or well-crafted planning and thinking. We see into what is really important for us at this point and just get on with it (the governing opposition is in cardinal signs). The retrogradation of Mercury always makes things more "interesting," for good or for mischief. It often means re-examining the past, researching things, reviewing experience in order to get one's priorities and perspectives in order. Witness what will have to be going on in Washington this month, with a plate full  including the new tax reform proposal and a threatened budget default on the 8th just after Mercury goes backward, unless Congress agrees on kicking the can down the road. 

Wednesday: "Information in the symbol of an autumn leaf" is perhaps a wake-up call--it's later than you think. But we can exercise tact toward ourselves and others rather than make all feel rushed, for the season has its special pleasures along with the harvest. We are watchful and astute as the season changes, but this does not have to connote insecurity. 

We have daily work to get on with. When toil is interesting, as it should be, it is less burdensome. We sing while we work, or take passive breaks when appropriate, and enjoy the melodies others waft toward us, or our own: "A Welsh harp" bringing equanimity and harmony.

It's amazing that "Indians making camp" was in the forecast for Monday (check it), written on Sunday, and then on Monday Donald Trump made the "Pocahontas" remark which insulted many while he was honoring elderly Native Americans for their contributions to the nation in military intelligence. These symbols are not arbitrary. And now, for Wednesday, "An Indian squaw pleading to the chief for the lives of her children." The two Sabian symbols which mention Indians came up back to back on the days people were pondering this incident. This latter has universal meanings, signifying effective sacrifice for those one cares about, as family, friends, or nation, and yes (why not?) prayer in their favor. When there is an emergency we rouse ourselves for one another, whether our children, others' children, or the human family.

There is deep enjoyment in putting things in order. We arrange things, or their symbols, in our minds, or on paper, and see how they fit together while our faculties are heightened.

Melancholy, misanthropy, and bitterness may be passing moods. We have to be vigilant to detect these when they infect us and toss them out as soon as possible by remembering something good about people, ourselves, and the Lord. Then, rather than "An old woman on a stool with a hooded cloak wrapped round her," isolated, we could be like "Two men playing cards together" who accept the hazard of the play as an occasion for hope and joviality. They have good hearts, good spirits, and cheer.

{Wednesday} ^Invoking Cheer^

Cosmic Piper

November-December 2017, Daily Ratings (Maximum * * * * *)

28 Tuesday     *        but before 8:31a PT | 11:31a ET   *-
29 Wednesday * *  *
30 Thursday    * * *    except during 8:38a-12:39p PT | 11:38a-3:39p ET   * *
1 Friday          *          but after 5:54p PT | 8:54p ET | 1:54a(Sa) UT   *-
2 Saturday      * * * *
3 Sunday        * *      (reduced from original rating)  

4 Monday        *          (*- during a one-hour v-of-c to be listed later)

5 Tuesday       * *

6 Wednesday  * * * * 

The quantity of "stars" varies for long periods sometimes because of long-term difficult aspects such as Mars opposite Uranus which, in my research, has proved a demon (unless we learn how to live with and manifest it). Sometimes long-term aspects will depress the ratings for weeks at a time, or raise them. The indications are intended to be most accurate from dawn of the given day until midnight. Then, from midnight until the next dawn, that quarter-day may partake of the nature of one or both days on either side. It is a transition period, usually reserved for sleep. Note: I am not giving any five-star ratings until the Dark Hermetic Epoch ends on January 10. The other ratings remain the same, but the uncertainty in the DHE makes * * * * * unrealistic.