The Astrology of Purpose
Bonus Articles on:
The fiery energy of Mars
Jupiter and the nature of luck
The good side of Saturn
Jupiter and the nature of luck
Mars, the fiery natural ruler of the sign Aries, is one of those planets that produces decidedly mixed reactions in people. With Mars spending the entire rest of the year and into 2006 moving forward and backward and then forward again in the sign of Taurus, almost all of us will have a chance to feel its mixed effects.
Whenever an inner planet spends an unusually long time in a sign, complete with retrogrades, it gives everyone an opportunity to gauge how that particular planet affects them. A lot of times inner planets with their relatively quick transits are like so much background noise in life. It can be difficult to determine if a particular event was triggered by a planetary configuration or just a normal case of PMS. If you get through the rest of the year without noticing a dang thing different that's a pretty good clue that you are not very Mars responsive. If that's the case, you'll want to devote more energy to working with the transits of planets that have more effect on you.
If you are Mars responsive, there are usually a couple of different ways it could go. For some people, Mars is a blessing. It's the planet of daring, of enterprise, initiative, and courage. For these people, Mars gives a welcome shot of energy to the sector it tours. It allows them to take risks with timing and resolve. It gives them the willingness and ability to get difficult things accomplished. It helps them get off their butts and do something in the areas that are important to them. It allows them to take charge. And it nullifies lingering insecurities by replacing them with determination. That's a pretty good set of advantages.
I've seen people accomplish what look like miracles through sheer Mars-driven persistence and willingness to fight for their truth. My hat is always off to these people; they get important things done. Mars at its best has a sort of moral stamina that allows it to correct the injustices of the world. If you pay attention during Mars' long tour of Taurus and find yourself to be one of these people, tracking the position of Mars can become a good way to decide what areas to focus your greatest energies on.
For others, Mars carries exactly the kind of energy that makes them wary. It can literally cause accidents, and its energy is almost painful to some. Really susceptible people can even fall ill under a difficult Mars transit. Mars in Taurus is a particularly stubborn placement and if you find yourself under a lot of strain during its tour, it may be an indication that you're not particularly compatible with its energy. Interpersonal conflicts can pop up, anger, crankiness, and a feeling of overstimulation in the particular house it's traveling.
If you're the kind of person who has a feeling you don't much like Mars, there a couple of different ways to handle it. One is to note the area it's affecting and exercise particular caution in those kinds of activities. Restrain your temper and just be extra careful. The other way to handle it is to use its fiery energy to build your strength in that particular area. Being willing to be active in the matters it's highlighting can do a whole lot to prevent this planet from becoming a frustrating pain in the neck.
All of us actually need Mars energy, even though some of us prefer to avoid it. For the majority of people, perhaps, it shows both its positive and difficult sides, depending on how things are going for us in a particular part of our life. For me personally, I've already decided that Mars is going to give me some willpower this year. I could always use a little of that. And I figure that deciding what I want it to do couldn't hurt. Might help. And I hope this fiery planet helps you this year too.
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JUPITER
AND THE NATURE OF LUCK
Jupiter is an almost insanely brave planet. It also loves justice, defends the downtrodden, will make friends with anyone, and operates on faith. It's kind of a surprising mix, perhaps, for the planet associated with good fortune. Like the sign and house it rules (Sagittarius and the 9th house) Jupiter has a lot more going on than its designation as a 'greater benefic' might suggest.
Still, it's the luck associated with Jupiter that most people are most interested in, so let's take a look at how it works. We'll turn for explanation to R. Buckminster Fuller, American architect, engineer, genius, innovator, world traveler, friendly guy, and all-around Jupiter person. He expressed a life philosophy to the effect that the universe will come to your aid always and only just in the nick of time. Jupiter couldn't have said it better himself!
Accessing Jupiter luck actually takes a great deal of courage. It's a special kind of courage though. Saturn provides the kind of courage that comes from a willingness to endure difficulty to achieve a goal. Mars provides the kind of courage that's willing to brave pain or danger for something important. Jupiter, on the other hand, provides the kind of bravery that comes from a complete unwillingness to believe that potential danger even exists! It's the eternal optimist.
Show Jupiter a losing battle and it will be convinced it can be won. Show Jupiter a bad person and it will be convinced he or she can be reformed. Show Jupiter a longshot idea and it will believe it's possible. Jupiter is firmly convinced that the universe is a benign place and it can't be persuaded otherwise. It wants you to believe the same thing.
Jupiter is the faith-testing planet. It will come to your aid alright, always and only just in the nick of time. If you believe, if you are willing to believe and proceed as though the universe is a benign place and everything will work out if you're operating on the side of the good guys--Jupiter will be right there with you. At the last moment, but it will be right there with you.
The problem is, most of the other planets don't share Jupiter's view of the universe and right at the times when we most want or need Jupiter luck--we blink. We need to risk our life savings and our income in order to fulfill an idealistic dream that reflects our heart's deepest desires? Jupiter's on your side. Saturn, however, is chewing his nails off with anxiety and screaming 'Are you crazy?! Your children will starve!'
Sometimes Saturn is sort of right. Not every hare-brained Jupiterian scheme is destined for greatness. But Jupiter is right too. Luck takes bravery. It takes faith. It takes optimism. It takes believing the universe is a benign place in spite of a great deal of evidence to the contrary. The difference between the tremendously successful and the also-rans is that the also-rans give up when common sense, difficulty, pain, and danger tell them it's not worth it to have faith anymore. Jupiter, however, is all about tremendous success. It just takes nerves of steel to get there. Read the biographies of most successful people and you'll discover that at some point common sense just wasn't enough. Faith was required to bridge the gaps.
And that's why most of us aren't destined for the tremendous heights of Jupiter luck. We have other planets. Planets that value hard work, aggressive action, passive acceptance, ego-protection, or freedom over sheer blind faith. This is a good thing. The other planets and their values get important things accomplished for the world. But Jupiter has his place too.
Anyone can increase their Jupiter luck by exercising faith and bravery as if these things were muscles that could be strengthened. Because they are. Try this exercise for awhile and see how much Jupiter luck you can access.
Pick something in the area that Jupiter is transiting for you that you need but have no earthly idea how exactly you could obtain. Money for college. A job. Equipment or supplies to fulfill a creative dream. Furniture for your kids. A car that doesn't break down all the time. Something that you just don't have the resources to obtain, it seems. Tell yourself that because you need it, you'll get it somehow. Pursue every avenue for obtaining it that you can. Meet with frustration and dead ends. Keep going. Refuse to believe it's impossible just because it's not sensible. Count on getting what you need. Meet with more frustration. Keep going anyway. And then watch how your need gets fulfilled at the last moment and in an unexpected way. Often astoundingly easily. Suddenly you find out there's a scholarship for Armenian left-handers seeking to study plate tectonics in China. You happy to be the only Armenian left-hander with such an interest in all of the US. A job you applied for a year ago re-opens and they want you desperately. A neighbor moves into the next door apartment looking to get rid of the equipment you need. And so on.
It's a nerve-wracking roller coaster ride, I'll admit, packing your clothes for college when you have no idea how you'll pay for it. But that's the way Jupiter does things. It's the principle of synchronicity at work. And once you get the hang of putting into practice religiously, Jupiter will even find a parking space for you in Manhattan. Every once in a while, you'll probably want a break from Jupiter optimism and to go back to the default human setting of suspiciousness and worry. But it's good to know that Jupiter is always lurking somewhere in the sky, ready and waiting to convince you the universe is benign after all--if you're willing to let it prove it to you.
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THE
GOOD SIDE OF SATURN
Saturn is one weird planet. It spends most of its time trying to convince you that it's really mean. And then at the end it hands you a big fat gift to make your dreams come true. It reminds me of a person I knew who opposed his daughter's plans for college with true Saturnian sternness. She responded like a Saturn person herself, and scraped and saved up her money to attend on her own, in spite of his wishes. On the day she was to start school, the Saturnian dad suddenly presented her with enough money to pay for an entire year of college.
Why does Saturn act like this? Does it want to make sure you're really determined? Does it want to test your resourcefulness? Does it just like jacking people around for no good reason? Or does it have a heart of gold underneath its stern exterior?
It's hard to say, but it's helpful to remember Saturn's habit of turning out to be the good guy in the end. Old sayings like "it's always darkest before the dawn," and "every cloud has a silver lining" come in handy when dealing with Saturn. Saturn can go out of its way to convince you that you will never ever ever find true love, and then reward you at the end of a harrowing journey through the back alleys of romantic frustration with your knight in shining armor, a beautiful engagement ring, and something that looks a lot like the happily ever after of fairy tales. Go figure.
Most of the time, getting Saturn to cough up the big rewards involves determination, persistence, trial and error, fortitude, patience, dedication to a goal, hard work, frustration, difficulty, and a certain lack of good feeling. You can think of it as a Zen master planet. There you are, all hot for enlightenment, and Saturn insists you start by washing out your rice bowl conscientiously. No shortcuts with this big guy. It strips everything back to practical essentials and builds from there.
These days, Saturn is traveling the terrain associated with the sign of Leo. In this sign, it has a tendency to take on knotty issues of identity. No matter what solar house Leo may represent in your chart, Saturn usually finds a way to associate it with your core identity. If it takes aim at your 2nd house of money related matters, it tends to ask you to define your identity with regards to money more carefully. It doesn't necessarily ask you to make a big change. It asks you to be an individual and make your own decisions based on your own core values. Saturn's not real big on getting you a lot of help in the sector it travels either. It asks you to figure it out for yourself.
Sometimes it asks you to curtail activity in the sector it travels; sometimes it asks you to ramp it up. If its crawling through your solar 4th house and you already over-identify with your home life, Saturn will try to get you to redefine your identity by restricting your options in your previous comfort zone. If it's in your 7th house of relating to others and relating to others is not your strong suit--Saturn may ask you to take serious action to gain some mastery in this area. Again, Saturn leaves it up to you to figure out whether you need to pay more attention to the sector it travels, or less.
Doesn't necessarily sound like a lot of fun. Sometimes it isn't. But, boy, when you finally get the hang of dealing with knotty sector (whatever it may be for you), do you ever feel satisfied. You just don't get that sense of satisfaction and pride with things that come easy. You don't get that feeling of accomplishment, or of confidence in yourself without the kind of help Saturn brings. The worst things eventually become the best when Saturn's at the helm.
There's another story to illustrate Saturn in Leo. It's the story of Scrooge. Miserly Scrooge is the quintessential representation of Saturn and its capacity for transformation. Scrooge starts out in Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" by being one mean old stingy guy. The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge why his heart is so hard. Loneliness, abandonment, lack of love and sympathy--all of these things in Scrooge's past made him believe that it was just too darn scary and painful to open himself up to other people. A look at Christmas Present shows Scrooge that in spite of all his efforts to protect himself, the present ain't all that great either. The Ghost of Christmas Future seals the deal by letting Scrooge know that the path he is on will never work. It only leads to damnation in the end.
In the story, Scrooge, scared and overwhelmed, sees the light. He remembers the most important thing about himself. He remembers that he always wanted love, to get it, to share it, to feel it, to express it, to dance around reveling in it with the joyous spirit that Christmas represents. And that's exactly what he does in the end. He showers his formerly abused employee, Bob Cratchit, with generosity and good spirit and receives it back in return.
This is Saturn in Leo. This is all of us. We all have bitter and negative experiences. We all seek to protect ourselves from more of the same by reducing our capacity to feel. We do this to survive. Saturn is all about survival and the things we do in the name of its necessities. That's half the story.
The other half of the story is that this form of self-protection never works in the long run. Our not-so-great past because our almost-as-bad present. Our not-too-wonderful present cuts off our future from everything we most truly want. Leo is associated with the heart, the capacity to love, and to give, to be generous and noble, and joyful and confident in ourselves. Saturn in Leo demands cranking open those closed parts of our hearts (everyone has them) so they can see the light again.
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