Adam Elenbaas
Reality Sandwich
Like 2010, 2011 will feature several powerful eclipses, starting with a Solar Eclipse on January 3rd in the sign of Capricorn. The eclipse point will square Saturn in Libra (Saturn is considered “exalted” in Libra), which could present many folks with an interesting dilemma. On the one hand, intimate relationships with others, fairness, wisdom, and the balancing eye of Libra will ask us to do things the fair way as we walk the path. Yet, because of the solar eclipses emphasis on the sign of Capricorn (ruled by shrewd Saturn) we can also be sure that our hardnosed drive for redemption, salvation, and personal immortality may come at the cost of Libran diplomacy. The message on the Capricorn side of the square might be: you can’t play fair all the time, Libra. Principles are not always the same things as results. If fairness is based in idealism, then it’s just an idea. Saturn in Libra, on the other hand, may pull just as hard in the opposite direction saying, “Principles are here so that you don’t get a Christ Complex.”
In my astrological experiences of 2010, since my natal moon is in Capricorn and natal Saturn in Libra, I have learned that the argument between these energies is best diffused by listening to our daemons (our inner planetary radio stations). Sometimes I find myself entering into the social sphere (Libra) because I feel ready for that kind of engagement. Sometimes I feel that the project of transforming our society is the most important one (and I have given my time as a therapist, counselor, writer, friend, church member, collaborator, social activist, etc), yet other times I spend alone in pursuit of my own personal redemption and immortality. The project of my existence is sometimes only about me and my ambitious trek up the cosmic mountain, toting my cross as I climb (Capricorn). As soon as a serious argument begins within myself about which project is more important (the Libran social project or the Capricornia immortality project) I get stressed out or sick, especially if I try to force one over the other in my everyday life for an extended period of time.
During the coming solar eclipse of January 2011 it will be important to listen and act with the flow of this Libran/Capricornia dynamic. Don’t simply choose between Libra and Capricorn. Doesn’t issue an ultimatum for yourself or you too may get sick! Instead act upon what truth is rising within you. Squared aspects like these (Saturn square the moon) during an eclipse teach us how to listen carefully to the stars. If you think of it, meditate on the fact that you are both a human being involved in a human project, and that your help and wisdom and concern are of great value on earth. Your action is important. You do make difference. Then, also, reflect on the fact that you are an eternal soul whose journey is to learn things of cosmic significance while passing through this temporal, human world. Remember that to some extent there is nothing to fix but you.
The next eclipses will come in June and July. The Solar eclipse of June 2011 in Gemini will reflect the recent lunar eclipse of the 2010 Solstice, which was also in Gemini. The Lunar eclipse on June 15 2011 will be in the last degrees of Sagittarius. Then we will have yet another solar eclipse at the beginning of July in Cancer and close to the USA’s birthday. And finally we’ll close out 2011 with eclipses in November and December (a solar eclipse in Sagittarius and Lunar eclipse in Gemini).
I mention the USA’s birth chart because the eclipses of 2011 will provoke some very interesting elements of the United States’ birth chart. For example, the moon’s phase in Gemini will be touching the descendent of the USA’s chart (considered a place of potential unconsciousness or shadow material). One of the great ironies of the USA’s relationship with itself, spiritually speaking, is that we have always been our own worst enemy. It’s a very stereotypically “Gemini” thing about our country. We have an evil twin. It’s a shadow figure that’s chasing us around and around and we can’t figure out who it is. First it’s Iraq, and then it’s Al Qaeda. First it’s Republicans, then its democrats. Back and forth.The fate of Gemini is the realization that these two seemingly opposite twins are one and the same entity. I suspect the astrology of 2011 (especially considering the rising popularity of wiki leaks, for example) will show the USA more of its own dark twin; the way we literally and figuratively are sabotaging ourselves. The good news is that seeing your dark twin is the same thing as facing your fear. It’s something we have to do it if we’re going to clear out this whole “good guys” versus “the bad guys” mentality. The bad news is that seeing your own evil twin generally causes the good twin to want to eliminate the bad twin, and the cycle starts all over again. This year will be a crucial year for Americans to learn a new kind of revolution and protest. Hopefully we have learned our lessons from the 1960’s and will be cautious to throw around binary words like”counterculture.”
It seems to me that our spiritual culture is also reaching a boiling point. We have to stop using that one vision of the unity of time and space had within an ayahuasca ceremony, yoga class, trip to India, or whatever else, as merely another marginalizing or responsibility avoiding point of speech or rhetoric. We have to learn how to make decisions (Gemini) and use our heads. On the contrary, we also have to stop writing essays about what ‘theoretically ‘leads us to believe ‘x,y or z’ about the current ‘transformational moment’ we’re witnessing and start making actual, concrete, moral changes in our personal/spiritual lives (Sagittarius). We have to start living with a love in our hearts that can only come from systemic, religious/Sagittarian changes in our diet, daily mind/body practices, romantic relationships, sexual patterns, and so forth. Making Sagittarian changes takes courage and faith (these things are found in the abstract mind, not the dialectical mind of Gemini). The need for a Gemini/Sagittarian balance in our personal lives should be highlighted by this year’s eclipses for certain!
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