Message for Weekend of July 9-10, 2022 and Two More Weeks
Sometimes You Need . . .
It has been a long siege for me, with no internet for more than a week. The phone wiring in my apartment building is old, and I had to wait for a technician to come out and discover a trick to fix the problem. I was not pleased with the internet provider for making me wait more than a week, but there was nothing to do about it. I took the enforced vacation as a chance to do more astrological research, with good results, so perhaps the Cosmos was trying to teach one of its Pipers some advanced techniques.
One result of the research is that I rediscovered the monthly charts I had tried before but dropped. Now they seem to be perhaps even better than the two-month Hermetic Epoch charts, though I still believe firmly in those Epochs. The current Bright or fast-moving Epoch, however, has been anything but that for me, and I think for the world, what with the “stuckness” in the Ukraine war, inflation, possible food shortages, and so on. Not everyone suffered the internet problems I did, but everyone seems to be stuck in delaying patterns of one sort or another. I find a reason for that in the monthly chart for Cancer, covering June 21 through July 21. Actually the aspects in that chart, set up for the midpoint of the month in accord with research results, are not bad, but the symbols—which I insist are primary, despite their almost total neglect by other astrologers—are magnificently descriptive of what is going on. Here are some of them, taken from the Charubel set, which seems most relevant for current affairs. See how they fit with your own experience since June 21, the past couple of weeks:
“I see the earth covered with a deep snow; not a vestige of vegetable or animal life is to be seen.” “This is a most cheerless degree. One might be poor, and lack that native energy so requisite to ensure success or longevity.” It sounds a little like what Noah and his family experienced on that Ark, “nothing to do here but wait.” So it was for me, with no internet which meant also no music, no videos, no podcasts or regular news. I was forced back into myself, so I read and studied, pondered and prayed. Also, usual friends were unavailable. Not everyone would experience it just like that. How was it for you?
“A large figure 2 comes before my vision.” “This denotes that one will live alone, isolated mentally; not in sympathy with the present state of things.” Yes, for me, very true. The “2” suggests that one lacks an “other” or a double to whom to relate, so one is isolated, yet pondering what, who, or where that other, one’s “2”, could be.
“An indescribable scene; chaos, confusion, dissolving views.” The world seemed that way to me, to the point that I was largely shunning it. No one seems to agree on politics or on the economy or on the Ukraine war, and the “dissolving views” of confusion go on and on. My personal friends likewise seemed lost in something like “marked defect of intellect, or insanity; a weak intellect or idiocy.” Not complimentary but I believe we have all been subject to this in one fashion or another.
As always there is help. “At an old-fashioned wooden pump, a man in rustic garb is at the handle, pumping for a crowd reaching forward with vessels to be filled.” I admit that for me this was a few bartenders! I did not go out drinking every day but only at crucial moments and then only for one drink or two. I noticed that the bartenders seems to be relishing their role, enjoying pleasing the customers including me, all of us seeking some respite from the “dissolving views” and “deep snowstorms” of our lives. Charubel says this could show “one who, ostentatiously, will dispense much good by charitable deeds.” That applies also to some people, very far from bars, I read about in an amazing, potentially life-changing book, soon to be described.
“I see that side of the Moon which is never seen by the inhabitants of this planet.” “I dare not look at this, inspection being dangerous. A strange character, one whom no one will ever understand, is possessed of powers unknown to the present race, pursuing studies with which the age is not conversant. He will be a magician, but not of any known type. He may be called insane, while the brain and intellect are healthy, but his powers are Moon-set!, that is, out of the ordinary groove. There is ever a gulf between such a character and ordinary humanity.” I know one person who fits this description and he caused considerable upset and worry for me during the past two weeks. Other than that, the description could also fit me, the Moon-set! astrologer. What or who does the symbol suggest to you?
Perhaps the most positive symbol for the month is this: “A square containing twelve small squares, resembling the breast-plate of the Jewish high priest.” “One of a reverential and devotional disposition, very secretive, a student of the occult and one capable of mighty deeds as a magician.” Of course the twelve squares suggest to me the zodiac, the twelve signs and twelve houses with which astrologers work.
Yet a quite different meaning emerged while I was in my internet-deprived Silence. I found an old book I had never read and consumed it with an interest I have not brought to any book in recent memory. It’s The Odyssey of Enlightenment by Berthold Madhukar Thompson. I recommend it to anyone interested in the Hindu path of self-inquiry or atma vichara identified most famously with Ramana Maharshi, and also to anyone on any spiritual path. Not that it represents the form of teaching I engage in—I am an esoteric Christian, Christian Scientist, student of the Sabian writings of Marc Edmund Jones, and devotee of Sri Aurobindo. Thompson’s book expounds what he came to identify as an Advaita Vedanta path, affiliated with the renowned teacher Shankara of the 8th century or so. That does not appear to be my path, in fact Sri Aurobindo, my guru, said that it was not his path, which is that of Integral Yoga and not categorizable as any other path. Yet Thompson’s book was a real help to me. He has an amazing mind and heart, approaching each of twelve teachers of the Self-awakening or Enlightenment approach, most of them Indian “babas” or holy men, with utter respect and yet savvy judgment. Reading his excellent and very informative interviews with them, and expositions of their histories and viewpoints, has been a great help to me.
Did you notice the connection? There are exactly twelve teachers of Enlightenment covered in Thompson’s book, corresponding with the “twelve small squares within the breastplate of the Jewish high priest.” I believe Berthold Madhukar Thompson was led to write this book as an aid to seekers, no matter what their path.
I could say much more but I wanted to give you something you might use to understand the current month, lasting about another two weeks, through July 21.
Data for Saturday and Sunday:
Saturday June 9: Moon in Scorpio
|Karmically serious, sobering, challenging third| of this week is with us (at its peak today)
/moon goes void-of-course at 9:35p PT | 12:35a(Su) ET | 4:35a(Su) UT
Sunday June 10: Moon in Scorpio—>Sagittarius
/moon is void-of-course
until it enters Sagittarius at 1:35a PT | 4:35a ET | 8:35a UT
|Karmically serious, sobering, challenging third| of this week continues until 4:43p PT | 7:43p ET | 11:43p UT
Here’s a song for the “number 2” symbol indicating “mental isolation, seeking for an Other”: Sometimes You Need by Rufus Wainwright
