Message for Monday 16 October 2023 ~Revisiting the Current Epoch~

Message for Monday 16 October 2023

~Revisiting the Current Epoch~

Let's do something different; rather than the aspects and symbols for the day, let's revisit the chart for this entire Hermetic Epoch extending from September 30 through November 24.

First, it has Mars opposite Jupiter. CEO Carter, one of the finest astrologers who ever lived, said in his book on the aspects that this was in his experience the "worst" or hardest of all, with Mars square Jupiter almost as bad. Notice: It is going on in this Epoch of the new Israel-Hamas war; it was going on in the Epoch including 9/11/2001; and the square was going on in the previous Israel-Islam war known as the "six day war" in early October, 1973. It is, to put it concisely, strife and disagreement carried to extremes.

Second, the current Epoch chart has Venus opposite Saturn, the "grievance" aspect. "Why does nobody love me, or why is the world so unfair?" is the sentiment. At worst it is the sort of blame game we see going on now, with clashing demonstrators on both sides of the conflict confronting each other all around the world.

However, let's not fall into the trap of blaming the planets for all this. At best, the human race could meet all such aspects with calm good judgment rather than with hypertension, anger and violence.

Next, I have found the degree-symbols for the planets in the Epoch chart to be amazingly relevant. Since there are nine planetary positions in the chart (Sol and Mercury are always at the same degree in said charts) and we use three different sets of symbols from three different expert clairvoyants, that makes 27 symbols to choose from, and so I must "cherry pick" the ones which seem most cogent.

Charubel gives the symbol for Pluto as "An indescribable scene; chaos, confusion, dissolving views." Certainly that must be how it seems on the ground in Gaza and elsewhere. It also describes some of the confusion I have had getting used to a new phone which I was compelled to get after losing an old one. And no doubt much in  your own life. It could denote "some marked defect of intellect; or one may become insane after passing childhood. It generally gives weak intellect or idiocy." Well, if you read Twitter you are seeing thousands of users accusing one another of idiocy! Also, there is a lot of perplexity as to how the usually spot-on Israeli intelligence apparatus and Mossad could possibly have not seen the Hamas attack of October 7 coming. 

So are we condemned to feeling our way through utter chaos? Well, the Borelli-Sepharial set of symbols comes to our aid, offering for the same degree: "A sextant and compass." This is what we need! "Learning and rectitude will make one a reliable and useful guide to others. He is a cardinal man in a sense and cannot fail to become famous." "Oh, I have hundreds or thousands of followers on social media!" "His inclinations will be expressed in the study of navigation, astronomy, exploration or mathematics. He might become a director of a successful trading company. He will never lose his way . . . It is a degree of Definition." And so we can see how these two opposing symbols complement and supplement each other. We struggle to use our "sextant and compass" to escape chaos and confusion. We may assume that this will get easier with practice, so that by Thanksgiving we shall have "figured things out" in important ways.

Let's take another of the "bad" or challenging symbols; for Jupiter in the Charubel set: "An anchor unattached to any vessel's chain, but lying with its hook fast to a rock, the cable broken." The hostages! I see in the WSJ that there are 150 of them as I write. To what or who are they anchored? Of course in addition a million and more of Palestinians in Gaza are "unattached to any vessel," forced from their homes and told to go -- where? No one knows. "He or she will be the subject of terrible trials, over which he will appear to possess little or no control; hence his end is very mysterious." No one can see the end of this Mideast Muslim-Jewish mess and it is agonizing for millions. 

Again, there is help from another symbol from another symbol-set (for the same degree), this time the Sabian symbol: "A man handling baggage." I see photos of Gaza residents packing all their belongings onto trucks or convoys. This is "the adjustment by which the human individual is able to make his niche for himself in each available sphere of activity. Here is an extreme of dependence on the strength and resources of self." Even in small local "trips" we have to be aware of what to take. Yesterday I gave a tote bag to a friend. 

Of course there are other more hopeful signs. "A gigantic dragon tree" indicates "almost boundless resources of vitality." "The human soul is receptive to growth and understanding." "A large aviary" is not only the Mideast and its suffering masses but all the world trying to be a Community, the keyword, even though not all are "birds of a feather." 

"An airplane hovering overhead" is enabling its passengers to "achieve an over-all view of the world, seeing things in terms of their consequences and relationships." This is happening big-time as a response to the war footing, in diplomatic corps, military cadres and intelligence communities as well as in NGOs trying to aid those suffering. 

We can hope for all this to get better as we orient ourselves, so that hopefully by Thanksgiving we may bivouac in "a rustic cottage overarched by a spreading cedar tree," "attuned to works of benevolence and homely simplicity, solicitous of peace and comfort, ever ready to shelter, befriend and succor the wayside traveler as well as those within our doors." The keyword is Benevolence.

{Monday} ~Revisiting the Current Epoch~

Moon in Scorpio

|Karmic sobering, challenging third| of this week begins at 10:09a PT | 1:09p ET | 5:09p UT (until Wednesday evening)