New Year’s 2013, A Birthing Year

Light in the Darkness                                                                                                                                       Catherine Al-Meten

On New Year’s Day, 2013, the Sun will be in 10/43 Capricorn. As I write this column, the Sun  is at 9/20 Capricorn, and will make an exact conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn tomorrow, December 31. The Moon will be in 20/46  Leo at 6:43 A.M. (Universal Time); 11:43 P.M.  on December 31, just before midnight(PST). Mercury will be at 0/38 Capricorn, having just changed signs in the closing days of 2012. Venus will be in 19/46 Sagittarius and Mars will be at 4/41 Aquarius. Jupiter begins the new year at 7/46 retrograde in Gemini. Jupiter will station direct on January 30, sending previously unfulfilled efforts and activities, desires and wishes forward. Saturn is at 9/33 Scorpio on January 1and Uranus is at 4/46 Aries. Neptune still in the early stages of her 14-year journey is at 1/4 Pisces as the new year begins.  Pluto is at 9/19 Capricorn, in conjunction with the Sun and in close aspect to Saturn. The North Node 25/10 retrograde of Scorpio, causing us to look back on the past, review options, and linger a while longer at the gateway of change. Remember, the North Node is the point in your life where you are moving into a new realm and embarking on a new journey. When the North Node is retrograde, there may be some stalls or delays. Use the time to honor the time and change, to heal and regenerate, and to prepare for the journey ahead. Chiron, the Wounded Healer is at 6/1 Pisces.

This year the archetype of Mercury and the element of water provide the underlying theme for the year.  This is a year of great communication, conversations, dialogue, and actions based on true understanding.   Mercury will spend more time transiting through water signs this year than it usually does. This indicates increased communication, knowledge, and actions that are  more about what is not seen than what is. The positive use of this archetype is to go  inward to seek deeper more reflective pools of the spirits, psyches, subconscious and unconscious realms. Mercury, the archetype of the winged messenger, will find the messenger wearing water wings. Looking beneath the surface, understanding that the surface is about appearances, and listening and responding to the intuitive information infusing us, is essential to keep up with the pace of change, opportunities, and pathways opening up.

Beginning last June, 2012, and continuing until March 2015, the Uranus-Pluto geocentric square began. That cycle of aspects consist in 7 exact squares occurring during retrograde cycles over several years. When a cycle of aspects between major planets occurs, in this case on the retrograde aspects, the events triggered have their roots  in the past. In this case, what started in the 1960s is now expressing itself through extreme cultural and social events and conditions. These aspects occur to   the planetary nodes indicating new beginnings and endings. 

Planets are always orbiting in some aspect or other to other planets, and over time, the cycles create certain types of energy.  In the case of the Uranus-Pluto cycle, the sudden and shocking transformation  takes place on both  personal and societal levels.  The aspects act  catalysts for change, movement, discovery, creation, and sudden beginnings and endings, again from events and choices set into motion in the past. The changes have revealed the dysfunction, lack of ethics, and callous disregard for the rights and needs of the masses.  This in turn has created fertile ground for revolutionary changes and upsets. The ineffectual conditions of institutions and systems meant to serve humankind, are falling apart as the institutional values and priorities have honored narrow self interests over the good of the many.  Any relationship, institution, organization, or system not built and maintained on sound principles, will not last.

Shifts have been occurring in every element of society in nearly every society on earth. Those who seek to hold onto their power at the expense of those they govern, will be affected by the transformation that takes place from the ground up.  People have become empowered and educated through rapid spread of technology and greater access to information. Communication is no longer limited between disparate groups of people. More and more organizations are being formed from the efforts of grass roots, empowered people who share their knowledge, skills, time, and resources to meet needs that have gone unmet for too long.  As some institutions, systems, and processes fall apart, others are being created and birthed to take their places. How this develops, depends upon how people come together and use their energy.

The current Pluto-Uranus square first entered into a 3 degree orb in June, 2012, and by August, the orb was 1 degree. Remember, any planetary or astrological body strengthens and activates the energy of any other body within a 0-7 degree orb. What has been occurring since that the first square in 2011, should give you an idea of how this cycle will proceed. Notice where this aspect falls in your chart/life. The birth of the Occupy movements, the anti-war protests, the Arab Spring, the Idle No More (awakening and empowering movements of indigenous peoples worldwide), of women, and ongoing grassroots movements worldwide, indicate that the cat is out of the bag. There is no going back. The first square of last June, 2012  already had an influence long before the actual square. Movement, transformation, and awakening begins before movement on the outside happens. 

According to astrologer, Nick Fiorenza, once a square aspect between two major planets, in this case Pluto and Uranus, has been activated, it enters its first quarter action cycle. From now until November 24, 2013, we will notice that external events (things falling apart or being born/happening) create the circumstances that become the call to action. Pluto and Uranus’ cycle is 138 years long, so we are not just witnessing or experiencing events that affect our own lives or that of our present world, we are in the process of ongoing creation, the movement of history. We are players on the larger stage and we have a part in a longer generational story that is unfolding in, through, and beyond our lives. 

Jupiter in 7 degrees retrograde of Gemini sparking our imaginations, whetting our appetites for learning and knowledge, and awakening a longing to expand our minds. We now tend to be more tolerant of others and seek to redefine our own values and clarify for ourselves, what it is we believe, and how it changes or affects the way we live. The Gemini archetype insists on bringing life into wholeness. With Jupiter in Gemini, we seek greater congruence between what we say we believe to be true and how we live accordingly. Any place in our lives where we have been sacrificing for something unworthy of us, is now released so that we can live in wholeness. Our curiosity, imagination, and ability to differentiate between staid and outworn beliefs and honest, congruent intuitive knowledge, provides us with necessary tools for change. We have a respect for the use of our intellect, and tolerance of others. Through our ingenuity, wit, and acceptance, we attract greater abundance and increase our resources. Inspiration is crucial to putting ideas into motion. Communication, contact, intelligence, and a willingness to work with those of like-minded focus, are in place during this transit.

We need to reign in excessiveness during this cycle as well. Zeal and overdoing can be manifestations of Jupiter’s extremes. The gift in the garbage of Jupiter in Gemini, is learning to pace yourself, learning to manage and follow through with ideas, learning to practical and learning to prioritize whatever you are doing. The gift of Jupiter in Gemini is perspective, and the ability to envision a greater good, a grand plan, and act on inspiration.  Balance and Harmony are key in uniting Gemini’s polarities into each action, each pathway, each relationship, and within.  

There is an  archetypal birthing of many different ideas, creations, children, systems that bring diverse elements together. The birth is always reflected within you as well as within the world around you.  If we do not understand how we are growing as a soul, individual, we have no chance of coming to wholeness. Jupiter’s abundance is primarily about discovering our own gifts, and then using them to create, help, and heal. We also have to respect and honor those gifts, and we need to nourish and preserve our sense of self in order to live out our soul purpose. With Jupiter in Gemini, our desire may be to be altruistic to the point of neglecting our own health. This won’t work. Tending to the tools of our own healing provide a base for growth, goodness, and development. Jupiter’s abundance is manifesting in and through those who are open, receptive, and willing to step into their own creative energy and power, and those who join with others in using the abundance to create a more beautiful, balanced life for others.  Jupiter rules cash and cash flow, and so if the laws of prosperity are used, the release of energy through appreciation of the abundance and flow of resources and inspiration will allow more and more to prosper and help support the increased vitality of not only themselves, but all who directly and indirectly benefit from an increased outpouring of goodness. 

Operating from a place of love, hope, compassion, and support is ultimately more productive, efficient, effective and kind than not. Again the grass roots movements and organizations are rising to meet the growing needs of communities and  society as a whole. Focus on compassion-based actions and efforts to level the playing field, and meet the real needs of the communities in which we live. We can create a more cohesive and rich supply of resources, support, and solutions to some of the dire needs of the planet. 

Pluto’s direct motion in Capricorn (Sept. 18, 2012 Pluto went direct) bringing a series of events and experiences that were set into the motion in the past. Pluto rules 8th house issues including sex, regeneration, our place and reputation in the greater community, other peoples’ monies, and goods and connections with the dead. Pluto reminds us that energy never dies, and our connections in spirit continue to stir within us. We are never separated from those we love; we keep the energy alive in how we respond and react in within our own limitations. Pluto  activated a square to Uranus in Aries and consequently, reveals or brings on obstacles, struggles, difficulties to a head.  Situations that may have heretofore been hidden, put on hold, or repressed, will break through in a manner that caused both personal and collective movements, feelings, and desires to burst forth into the consciousness. Actions began to replace resignation, resentment and reflection. Depending upon where in your life/chart the Pluto-Uranus aspects hit, you may have seen major changes and movement in your life as well as on the world stage. What is disrupted, disgorged, and excavated from our subconscious with the Pluto-Uranus series of aspects, will be reflected in our activities, relationships, and life paths.  For more information on how Pluto moving direct works, read my September 17, 2012 article 

As we start the New Year, we find two major changes from this time last year. Scorpio in Saturn,  completed its arduous transit of Libra leaving many of us exhausted and transformed from that major transit.  Jupiter entered  Gemini, creating a different kind of energy and a more electric and ethereal understanding to abundance and plenty. The start of the year is affected by the powerful energy of the December 28 Full Moon in Cancer and the conjunction of the Sun in Capricorn with Pluto in Capricorn. This is the year when the light will shine on the transformative efforts you have been working on internally.  

The Grand Trine of Water signs, Saturn in Scorpio, Neptune/Chiron in Pisces, and Cancer Full Moon last week, set into motion a more illusive and mystical pathway for us to delve more deeply into our inner search for meaning, truth, and understanding (as  a guide to the life path we are on.)  Mercury’s longer-than-usual transits through water signs this year, will find us plumbing the depths of unconscious and subconscious feelings that continue to affect our outward choices, behavior, and interactions in relationships. Wherever Pluto in Capricorn is activating transformative change within your life, finds you testing out new paths, options, behavior, and perceptions as you seek to discover greater connection and fulfillment for whatever impels you to create, achieve, discover, develop, or become involved in for the long haul. This is a birthing time, so the pains of labor may be difficult and challenging, but change does not come without some effort and cost.  Within you lies that strength, clarity, and faith that allows you to rely on the unseen to guide you through toward the expansion and expression of your light being.

Saturn in Scorpio sextile Pluto indicates, on the physical level, a need to pay attention to the health of the planet, particularly the vast waterways and resources. On a personal level, the health of your physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual being depends upon your willingness to work and live in harmony with the Earth and find balance in all areas of your life. Seek balance in the motion of your life just as water fills in the spaces between whatever it comes into contact with. The water element that Saturn in Scorpio is teaching us about, operates below the surface of appearances and concrete form. As water seeks its own level in any situation, your intuitive knowledge and your reliance on following your own intuitive pathways (those that are grounded in health, love, faith, and respect for principles of healing). The water elements, Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, each have different qualities and characteristics. These archetypal traits influence the ways that a water sign will influences any transit or aspect it makes. Cancer is a Cardinal sign and it initiates and leads. Scorpio is a Fixed sign and its seeks depth with lazer-like focus and intensity. Pisces is a Mutable sign and its intuitive, mystical nature relies on unseen and intangible guidance, often activates change that seems to come out of the blue. In fact, the reliance on the inner guidance and receptivity to Divine guidance and clarity, creates the change within. Water signs are guided by nuance, subtleties, and deep sensibilities.