A whole lot of shakin' goin' on!!!

This weekend, when the Moon in Cancer crosses over Jupiter (sunday), we can expect our emotional responses to be a bit over the top. With  Jupiter in Cancer, sign of the mother our childhood  patterns are triggered, bringing up old memories, insecurities etc, expanding and exaggerating our need for emotional nurturing.

Eckert Tolle (The Power of Now) speaks of the 'pain body', an energy field of residual pain and angst that lies in the unconscious.  As the Moon/Jupiter combo taps into this vulnerable place deep in all of us,  it is easy to feel swept under by a wave of feelings that seem to come out of nowhere.

Jupiter is just one of four powerful planets all at right angles to each other ,  creating a 'Grand Cross or Square'.  Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Aries are currently the key antagonists, with other planets moving into and out of the other corners of the square. Any one corner carries a lot of tension, and all four together form a kind of crucible for the compacted energy forces that are now starting to implode. This has been there in the background for a quite a while, moving in and out of focus as planets step into exact degree.

On April 20 -24, when the Uranus Pluto square becomes exact again,  the energies will  peak for the fourth time in the last two years. Every time they do this, whatever issues have been simmering begin to come to a boil. We also have two eclipses coming up, which will mark significant endings/new beginnings in the signs in which they occur (more on that next week). April is clearly the turning point of this whole year.

It started with last week’s New Moon in Aries setting off a small crack in the grand cross container. This will begin to ripple out and get bigger and wider, until it becomes a fracture. That fracture will break open what has been stuck and immovable for too long, making way for new energies to enter. This is a time of radical change.  Soon, what needs to move will finally move, and there will be no looking back. It has already begun.

Some of us will become lightning rods for this tension, depending on how close these planets are to key areas of our charts.

As emotions get amplified, and the pressure increases, our relationships, and particularly our family relations, could very easily become  areas of contention.

The big challenge now is to become very aware of our emotional reactions and see how they reflect underlying family patterns. This requires becoming present and nonreactive and developing mindfulness. That is not easy when someone is pushing your buttons.

Mercury (thinking, communicating) in Pisces just passed over Chiron, the wounded healer, adding to our touchiness and making some of us hyper-reactive and more vulnerable than usual. Under the current topsy-turvy sky, it is easy to get lost in victim consciousness.

“Being a victim has nothing to do with being a good person. You are already a good person. It need not be earned or achieved. It is your birthright. Nothing can change that. What can change is YOUR perception of self. You can choose to honour yourself based on the truth, or you can choose to believe those who you see as your victimizers. Speaking your mind and setting boundaries with those who do not respect you is a very healthy and necessary way of loving yourself.”           (Planet waves)

Setting boundaries while remaining fluid is a zen art form.  Everything  is about becoming conscious (vs. unconscious),  as we stand up for ourselves and claim our right to be here (and to love). Finding where love really can be sourced is a spiritual journey as well as a very human one.

As Mars moves backward through Libra ( relationships), and activates one corner of the Grand Cross,  it becomes another key player in the current dynamic. Mars is about action and aggression, and under these pressurized conditions, our reactivity to each other heightens.  Many of us struggle with anger issues: how to express it, what to do when it comes toward us from others etc (especially when it comes springing out at us out of seemingly nowhere).  This is an important time to develop some strategies to deal with it.

In martial arts there is a practice called ‘push-hands’. You stand hand-to-hand (or hand to elbow)with someone… and then push forward, and the other person has to maintain contact, while adapting to the energy by balancing and integrating the push (without stepping back or otherwise losing ground). Then they push back and you have to do the same.

That a bit like what we are in right now. It takes focus and balance and gentleness, combined with strength, to maintain our space while allowing others energy to be there as well.

To do so with clarity and love is part of the lesson.

Don’t expect much advise from me in this area. My own Mars in Pisces is soft and overly adaptive; so I tend to be generally more passive aggressive. When my anger finally rears up, it shocks me as much as the other person. I am well in the thick of it right now along with the rest of you.

Teenagers exemplify so much of what is going on right now. While demanding freedom and pushing away from their parents, at the same time they still want food on the table and their laundry done!! Like a teenager, we cling to what is comfortable, or familiar,  while at the same time pushing for change,  eager to enter new territory.

Uranus (the Awakener) in Aries (I am) is the teenager right now...  amping up a need to assert our individuality and bringing the urge to break free from authority, family restrictions, emotional manipulations (real of perceived) power plays etc. Rules will (and should) be questioned. Presumed status is suspect. Nothing is sacred.

“Our era has been defined by falling monuments. The statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down in Iraq gave us "that extraordinary image of him just held in mid-fall". The collapse of the Twin Towers provided "the kind of crucial phenomenon of all our lives, because it was the absolute collapse of the ultimate phallocentric object, and them coming down as though they were curtseying.”                                         Planet Waves

The old way is toppling, and the new way has yet to appear. We are all a bit touchy as we wait to see how things will unfold.

Advice: Tread gently.  Set boundaries but don’t push too hard.   Give everyone a lot space.  Give yourself a lot of space.  Take care of yourself. Nurture yourself. Spend time in stillness. Be kind to others as well as yourself.  (hmm sounds like the Desiderata...)   Take time to be sure of communication.  Listen... to yourself and to those you are interacting with.

And remember the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be critical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.  Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings.  Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him (or her) to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. 
Be careful. Strive to be happy.
                                         © Max Ehrmann 1927