Message for Weekend of April 27-28, 2024

Message for Weekend of April 27-28, 2024

Do you notice, or use, or benefit from, the |Karmically sobering, challenging third| of each week I post here every week? I wish more would take advantage of that information. From yesterday's message: "|Karmic sobering, challenging third| of this week is at its peak today and tonight, ending early Sunday." I am feeling it on Friday, for sure. It often correlates with hard weather; today I see: "US weather forecast: Tornadoes, severe weather threat for 60 million Americans." "Tornadoes, strong wind are likely to hit southern Minnesota to Texas as more than 60 million are under severe weather threat till Sunday." Is it a coincidence that this time period is exactly the same two days I had already pointed out to be the |difficult third| of this week? No, it is not a coincidence because I discovered the |difficult third| (not known to other astrologers) partly by observing weather patterns. Astrology is real, to those with enough patience to work with it. 

Another "bugaboo" I point out here, to help you, is of course the Mercury-retrograde period and its extension, the Dark (Slow) Hermetic Epoch, lasting until May 12. This was discussed at length yesterday. Guess what? This morning (Friday) I had to restart my computer for unknown reasons and then, for unknown reasons, it lost all the tabs I had saved. An hour of my time was wasted on all this. It is just the sort of thing astrologers have always pointed out as more common while Mercury is retrograde, but I insist that it is nearly equally as common during the Dark Epochs which typically last about two weeks before and after the M-retrograde period of about three weeks. 

Does it delight me to point this out? No, but I do it to help you navigate the "storms." Astrology is real to those patient enough to work with it.

Yet it seems true that some "ice" was breaking yesterday (Thursday) after Mercury turned direct in the morning. I already covered the several good signals for the Trump candidacy, including a Supreme Court decision. Now on Friday some Biden "ice" may be thawing since it is reported that he has said he will be glad to debate Trump. That is highly significant breaking news while Mercury stops in its tracks and slowly turns around, because before this it has been assumed that there would be no debates.

And there was breaking news in the Kennedy campaign. In an interview he disclosed that the members of his family who had said they supported Biden had also asked Biden to provide Secret Service protection for their relative. This he has not done, to his shame, as if making things harder for his political rival. The Democratic Party despises Kennedy because he makes clear that it is not at all democratic. 

Another way I try to say something meaningful looks more fanciful, through the sonnets I construct using the degree-symbols. Last week I posted one relating to the soli-lunar Fortnight of April 16-30, using Charubel's symbols, and this time let's use instead the Borelli-Sepharial set of symbols. The three sets (the Sabian symbols are the other one) seem to describe parallel universes; sometimes we appear to be in one and sometimes in another. 

Through a crown is set an upright sword. 

High resolves sustain assaults in victory.

But while the king enjoys his throne a figure

Veiled in black stands behind. Collapse and

\

Fall? The young are the ones to protect. A tiger

Stands guard over its litter, watchful and devoted.

A man juggles colored balls while an immodest

Woman stands behind him. Are both or just one

\

Foolish? A woman holds a pair of scales; on one side

A cup of red wine; on the other a number of golden

Coins. There's pleasure or wealth in earthiness. 

A man, his face benevolent, chops wood

\ 

Near a cottage. A sheep grazes while the 

Orchard is filled with fruit. He is content.

\

{Weekend, and Fortnight of April 16-30}

Cosmic Piper

Saturday 27: Moon in Sagittarius

|Karmic sobering, challenging third| of this week continues

Sunday 28: Moon in Sagittarius-->Capricorn

/moon goes void-of-course at 0:32a PT | 3:32a ET | 7:32a UT

until it enters Capricorn at 2:39a PT | 5:39a ET | 9:39a UT

|Karmic sobering, challenging third| of this week ends at 5:10a PT | 8:10a ET | 12:10p UT

Message for Friday 26 April 2024 ^Gradual Renewal^

Message for Friday 26 April 2024

^Gradual Renewal^

I refer you to yesterday's report (Thursday April 25) if you haven't read it or digested it. It discusses the whole Mercury cycle. 

As I write on Thursday, Mercury has been direct for 9 hours and a lot has happened. Let's focus on Donald Trump, not because I am a big supporter of his (I prefer Kennedy) but because a lot happened for Trump today.

First, the New York Times posted an op-ed piece by a lawyer who believes one of the cases being pressed against Trump, by Alvin Bragg, is meritless and doomed to failure. For the NYT to appear in even a small way to take Trump's side is very rare. 

Second, there were widespread videos of Trump in New York being lauded by union workers, some of them chanting "We love Trump." 

Third and most important, late in the day the Supreme Court voted (according to all reputable sources) to uphold the major portion of Trump's claim to immunity for some acts performed while he was in office, noted as "Presidential immunity." The case is still not decided but while it goes back to a lower court for adjudication it will be delayed until after the November election. All agree that this is a big gain for Trump's chances.

And so for once the very day Mercury turned direct (no longer retrograde) some major things happened which changed the course of destiny, at least for Trump and probably for the nation. 

Another interesting development for those who follow Naomi Wolf on Twitter was a very long and detailed argument-discussion among her and followers about the propriety or necessity of resisting the vaccine mandates enforced on many during the pandemic. Again, this is "old business" (Mercury slow while barely direct in a DHE) which seemed to reach a  climax, for it almost seemed that by the end of the day there was agreement. 1. Those who stood up to resist the mandates and refuse vaccination were very brave and, in afterview, this was the best and wisest course to protect us all from governmental tyranny over our bodies. (Naomi's very strong position.) 2. But many were coerced, or virtually forced, to accept vaccination in order not to lose their jobs or positions or livelihoods. Naomi did not want to accept that, but many of her followers made a good case for it.

So this, too, was a sort of resolution of a past dilemma on the very day Mercury turned direct. Astrology is real.

Then there are the demonstrations and protests and clashes with the police at many college campuses including Columbia, Texas, South Carolina, and others. I shall not comment on that. My tendency is to support Israel as far as possible, but I see why some have serious trouble with that. The conflict has been intense through the whole M-r period (April 1 until this morning) and seems perhaps to have reached a peak before decelerating (let us hope). The very hour I am writing this, Sean Feucht is organizing a Christian, pro-Israel demonstration at Columbia. Provocative? Maybe, but it is non-violent. 

In your own life, I hope you are feeling a little calmer than you have previously in April and sensing that a less confusing path is opening up ahead of you.

It could take time, with May 12 as the beginning of the next Bright or Straightforward Hermetic Epoch, through July 16.

{Friday} ^Gradual Renewal^

Cosmic Piper

Moon in Sagittarius

|Karmic sobering, challenging third| of this week is at its peak today and tonight, ending early Sunday

Message for Thursday 25 April 2024 ~Recharging~

Message for Thursday 25 April 2024

~Recharging~

Yes, Mercury turns direct today at 5:55a PT | 8:55a ET | 12:55p UT 

I am not as pleased with this as other astrologers are. The speed of Mercury is as important as its apparent direction, and its temporal place in the over-all Mercury cycle, which I call the Hermetic Epoch, as important as its speed. That Slow or Dark Epoch lasts until May 12 (it began March 19).

Then a Bright or Fast (normal) Epoch shall begin, through July 16; then another Dark Epoch until September 12, when a Bright Epoch shall begin until November 7. Each Epoch lasts an average of around 60 days, the Dark ones generally a little shorter.

Why do I make so much of these Epochs? Because I have found them, over decades, to be the primary division of human time. For example, what was one of the most memorable unexpected events which shocked the whole world? 9/11/2001. A Dark Epoch began that very morning, just a few hours before the attack. And for the next two months of course people never ceased asking "What happened? Why? Why weren't we prepared for it? How can we prevent it from happening again?" 

This time, I shouldn't have to mention the Ukraine war and the disputed funding for it, the Israel-Hamas conflict and the disputed funding for it, the Trump trial or trials and the endless ways of analyzing them, Biden's flaws and fitness issues, and on and on. Campus upheavals are grabbing the headlines today as I write.

People are saying, on Twitter, "Is this the end times? Is black or evil magic being unleashed on the world? How do I learn to pray before it's too late?" And so on. Many feel "silent desperation." 

The exact time Mercury turns direct, given above, could be a good time for prayer, meditation, and aspiration. Or within a few hours of that time. Most of us will probably feel, "Something is changing" even though we can't define it. I have been feeling it Wednesday as I write.  And typical Mercury-retrograde (Dark Epoch) stuff has been happening, such as needing to restart my computer not once but three times this morning. That was alarming but I give thanks that it is now functioning.

Can we expect there to be a big change Thursday, or before May 12? Usually there is no dramatic change, which is one reason people doubt the reality of Mercury-retrograde. But there can be a quiet internal strengthening, a gain of calm perspective. Then gradually that expands into the Bright Epoch more evident beginning May 12. It may or may not be too early for definite planning; that depends on your personal situation; but plans are likely to get clearer over the next three weeks. 

For clarity here is the timeline again:

Mercury (M) entered a Dark Hermetic Epoch (DHE) on March 19, 2024 . . .(M retrograde April 1-25) . . . DHE ends May 12 . . . Bright Hermetic Epoch begins May 12 through July 16 . . . DHE begins July 17 . . .(M retrograde August 5-29) . . . DHE ends September 11 . . . BHE begins September 12 through November 6.

{Thursday} ~Recharging~

Cosmic Piper 

Moon in Scorpio-->Sagittarius 

/moon goes void-of-course at 4:18p PT 7:18p ET | 11:18p UT

until it enters Sagittarius at 6:38p PT | 9:38p ET | 1:38a(F) UT

Message for Wednesday 25 April 2024 ~Toward Higher Manifestation~

Message for Wednesday 25 April 2024

~Toward Higher Manifestation~

The full moon divides its influences 

Within a finesse of tentativity. 

A man riding a restive horse maintains

A position of dignity and dominion.

/

Then he plows with two work horses to

Prepare the earth for a higher manifestation.

He makes an elliptical figure on the ground

And stands upright within, a lover of beauty.

/

He ascends a dais, holding a scroll of papers,

On his head a laurel wreath. Through great

Penetration and large understanding he acquires

Honor and favor. He oversees the building of a

/

Bridge across a gorge. Physical limitations

Give way to constructed channelship.

/

{Wednesday} ~Toward Higher Manifestation~

Cosmic Piper

Moon in Scorpio

< moon leaves the Via Combusta at 1:44p PT | 4:44p ET | 9:44p UT

Message for Tuesday 23 April 2024 ~Toward Heart-Wealth~

Message for Tuesday 23 April 2024

~Toward Heart-Wealth~

How are your Mercury-retrograde adventures going? Politics, which I have been following closely, seems impossible. Truth is not believed and lies are believed, for the most part. I have been doing things in out-of-pattern ways, not crazy but peculiar. G*d help us all.

The Full Moon gives expanded consciousness even though it be fuzzy, introverted, mysterious, mystical. 

/

A widow at an open grave has to return to enduring

Values while releasing outworn factors, that is, to

Reorient herself. She may feel the Supreme has

Let her down. She relied on a priesthood which seems

/

To require reformation. Who are the "white magicians" 

Who have a mission, armored against a savage 

World? They might protect her. She would like to 

Row with someone in a boat on a lake for sheer 

/

Adventure. She wants company, changeability. 

She could stand behind a man playing with colored

Balls, juggling foolishly in carefree pleasure. 

Or she could align herself with a man of benevolent

/

Countenance chopping wood near a cottage. Orchards 

Are full, sheep grazing. Heart-wealth fills the days.

/

{Tuesday} ~Toward Heart-Wealth~

Cosmic Piper

Moon in Libra-Scorpio

/moon is void-of-course

until it enters Scorpio at 8:21a PT | 11:21a ET | 3:21p UT

< moon is in the Via Combusta

Full Moon of Taurus-Scorpio is at 4:50p PT | 7:50p ET | 11:50p UT

Message for Monday 22 April 2024 }Purification toward Faith Manifesting{

Message for Monday 22 April 2024

}Purification toward Faith Manifesting{

A ram standing alone looks toward a distant

Flock of sheep. The sexes are not understanding

Each other. A man, tottering and uncertain, spills

Water on the ground. He is weak, disorderly,

\

Unstable. A lion is enraged against a burning brand

Beneath its paw, but its own violence brought on the

Suffering. Something needs to be done to purify

The human race, and its priesthood needs to be 

\

Not just spanked but purged. Then we could enter into

A large ballroom filled with amusement, music, singing

And dancing. Amateurish? Fun anyway. 

Does anybody believe in the rainbow's pot of gold?

\

Yet in the prismatic sky presides a covenant,

A universal matrix of faith manifesting.

\

{Monday} {Purification toward Faith Manifesting}

Cosmic Piper

Moon in Libra

< moon in the Via Combusta

/moon goes void-of-course at 4:25p PT | 7:25p ET | 11:25p UT

until it enters Scorpio tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8:21a PT | 11:21a ET | 3:21p UT

These indications added to Mercury retrograde do not make a pretty picture. People may seem to be losing their minds, that is, their composure; but progressive as well as retrogressive potentials are elucidated in the sonnet.

Message for Weekend of April 20-21, 2024 and encompassing Fortnight of April 15-30

Message for Weekend of April 20-21, 2024 and encompassing Fortnight of April 15-30

Things are wild and weird.

While one of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.' s relatives was saying in an interview that no one should vote for her brother, but for Biden, a Kennedy supporter screamed bloody murder in the background. (I'm on his side.)

When the jury for Donald Trump's trial was selected, a Trump supporter outside set himself on fire.

The long-awaited sacrifice of a red heifer in Israel, ordained by Hebrew scriptures, may take place during Passover or Pentecost, April 22-30, while Jupiter conjoins Uranus in Taurus the sign of the bull and therefore of the cow and heifer. Whether such a sacrifice shall have an effect on Israel or on world history is unknown to me but is certainly interesting. 

Yes, things are wild and weird. People lose sane or normal orientation while Mercury is retrograde or slow. Therefore I compose a sonnet on the soli-lunar Fortnight of April 15-30, using Charubel's symbols for the positions of the planets at its temporal center, the Full Moon of April 23.

\Adequacy/

A large field of grain has many reapers

Though they labor without adequate results.

Could litigation secure what's needed? 

No, that's as repellant as two swords crossed.

\

A smelting furnace represents great soul force,

Modest intellect but savvy large-heartedness.

Two men row in a boat on a large lake,

Fond of company, speculation, adventure.

\

This prepares them for navigation and travel, 

Captaining a merchant ship, sailing in mid-

Ocean toward notable success. At last they come

To rest in a nice villa on the northeast corner of

\

A green field surrounded by shrubberies. 

In verdant adequacy they remain content.

\

/Adequacy\

Cosmic Piper

Saturday 20: Moon in Virgo

|Karmic sobering, challenging third| of this week continues

/moon goes void-of-course at 5:21p PT | 8:21p ET | 12:21a(Su) UT

until it enters Libra at 8:09p PT | 11:09p ET | 3:09a(Su) UT

Sunday 21: Moon in Libra 

|Karmic sobering, challenging third| of this week ends at 1:42a PT | 4:42a ET | 8:42a UT

Message for Friday 19 April 2024 \Peace Mandate/

Message for Friday 19 April 2024

\Peace Mandate/

Two swords cross each other in a display of

Litigious and repellent quarreling. An old man

In a worn gown clasps to his breast two bags 

Of gold nervously, fearing loss.

\

A black diamond-shaped figure accompanies 

Someone with magical powers, reserved and

Cruel, who ought instead to emulate a woman

Holding a sword pointing earthward, her face

\

Kissed by the sun, preserving herself and the world

From dangerous disputes. Could she be the one to

Bring down a new law from Sinai, a mandate for

Peace? Her feet are washed in the mountain's clear

\

Downward stream. Only purity is a sure source of

Strength. Her resourcefulness is unswerving.

\

{Friday} /Peace Mandate\

Cosmic Piper

Moon in Virgo

|Karmic sobering, challenging third| of this week is at its peak around 3p PT | 6p ET | 10p UT, lasting until very late Saturday night or early Sunday

Message for Thursday 18 April 2024 \A Portion of a Parable/

Message for Thursday 18 April 2024

\A Portion of a Parable/

Reminder: People tend to be very confused while Mercury is retrograde, April 1-25. Often VERY confused and that means they don't even know they are confused. That includes politicians of all stripes. It includes you and all with whom you attempt to communicate. We need to calm down.

Frankly I don't feel like writing a message just now.

As you might guess, I'm blaming Mercury's retrograde motion (April 1-25). It can be honest laziness. It can be weighing inner values (peace of mind) over outer values (continuing with these reports faithfully for the sake of the readers). Or it could, at best, be rising into a higher beyond-the-mind region of spiritual awareness. 

"A Consciousness that knows not its own truth,

A vagrant hunter of misleading dawns,

Moves here in a half-light that seems the whole

Or runs upon a road that has no end;

In some huge void Inconscience it lives,

Like a thought persisting in a wide emptiness.

As if an unintelligible phrase 

Suggested a million renderings to the Mind,

It lends a purport to the random world.

A conjecture leaning upon doubtful proofs,

A message misunderstood, a thought confused

Missing its aim is all that it can speak

Or a fragment of the universal word.  . . .

Thus is the meaning of creation veiled;

For without context reads the cosmic page;

Its signs stare at us like an unknown script,

As if appeared screened by a foreign tongue

Or code of splendor signs without a key

A portion of a parable sublime."

-- Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, pp. 55-56

{Thursday} /A Portion of a Parable\

Cosmic Piper

|Karmic sobering, challenging third of this week begins at 4:04a PT | 7:04a ET | 11:04a UT (until very late Saturday night or early Sunday) (longer than usual because of the moon's slow speed)

Moon in Leo-->Virgo

/moon goes void-of-course at 5:03a PT | 8:03a ET | 12:03p UT

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

Message for Wednesday 17 April 2024

^Renaissance of Talent and Beauty^

I dither in my thinking as to whether a sonnet based on the day's degree-symbols, or a straight-up commentary on planetary aspects and positions, is more helpful to you, the reader. (Comments would be appreciated.) Sometimes it seems more natural to do the one, sometimes the other. 

I remind you, no matter how boring it seem, that Mercury remains retrograde until the 25th (and since it doesn't turn on a dime, the Dark Epoch extends even to May 12). Little things seem to go awry. From my life today: Some good exchanges of insight on the internet (for me that's X, my favorite source of connections) but also odd stuff, like being told when I wanted to make a small donation to a political cause that my card had no funds. I knew it wasn't true but checked my account, which took more pointless time, and found that it was full up, so I may have entered a wrong account number. I saved myself some money by saying "This was just not to be." Saved money, lost time. Then I was issued a letter from the Attorney General of Washington State saying that I had failed to cash a check issued to me in December because of a class action suit I knew nothing about. I called the office and was told kindly that a new check for 50 dollars would be issued to me. Well every bit helps. This shows how even good things have a "retrograde" feel to them, which is why astrologers have called this the "old business" time. 

I stayed away from a spiritual or semi-spiritual group for three weeks but returned to it yesterday. It was okay but brought up old issues and old practices from earlier decades of my life, such as reading Tarot cards. I don't do that any more, or very rarely. These daily reports and other astrological methods provide my oracle. But it was harmless and maybe helpful to be re-acquainted with some Tarot card methods. This is a Mer*re thing, new dimensions which seem old dimensions re*turning. 

I could go on about such incidents. You may go back in dreams to people who were major for you earlier in your life. Where are they now? Maybe you don't know, and maybe they are in the next world. There is re*membering and there can be re*birth or re*naissance. Meanwhile some ordinary stuff, such as laundry or shopping or cleaning, may seem sidetracked. 

Some of today's symbols are harsh, such as two men engaged in a fight, that is, pugnaciousness. Donald Trump comes to mind. A pair of shears indicates dexterity or dexterousness. We can act dexterously during Mer*re to re*pair or re*adjust things. Or we could work humbly like a man felling a tree to re*build something. 

"A little white lamb, a child and a Chinese servant" are repositories of Talents we can use as we please. Easy does it. Simple actions on our part have happy results and engage others in similar services.  

"A celestial choir singing" is our higher Self resonating with the higher Selves of others in veneration of the Supreme. Doing that consciously is a consortium of upliftment and well-being.

"A youth, book in hand, wanders through a glade overhung with the branches of surrounding trees. The sunlight is slanting through them and falling upon the figure of the student." This is a degree of Passive Beauty. 

{Wednesday} ^Renaissance of Talent and Beauty^

Cosmic Piper

Moon in Leo