THE LIGHTED HOUSE
January 2010 Volume 3 Issue 1
THE LIGHTED HOUSE
NEWSLETTER
Planets in 2010
Happy New Year!
Since we are beginning a new year and a new decade, I thought it would be fitting to look at where all the planets will be during this year, and see what conclusions we can reach about what opportunities will be available to us this year. We will only look at the outer planets beginning with Jupiter, as they will stay a while in a sign so that we have more time to understand and better use the energies. Jupiter began 2010 at 26 degrees of Aquarius and ends the year at 26 degrees of Pisces. Jupiter is the only one of the outer planets to change signs in 2010, which it does on January 16th. So, Jupiter will have a totally new feel from last year. Jupiter shows us where opportunity lies for the world, and this year, it will lie in Pisces. Pisces represents compassion and healing and unconditional love and forgiveness. Uranus has been in Pisces for many years and is ready to leave after this year. Jupiter is joining Uranus in Pisces for one year to support Uranus in its efforts. Uranus has been trying to break up old paradigms of hatred, selfishness and greed. Jupiter is aiding Uranus this year by making it easier to release those old paradigms, for Jupiter is all about ease of expansion. Saturn began the year at 4 degrees of Libra, and ends the year at 16 degrees of Libra. Libra is balance, balance between the past and future, which is the present, or balance between the soul and personality of Earth, which is a balance between materialism (the personality) and love and compassion (the soul). Money per se is not evil, but if it is the motivation for living, then it is. If the purpose for money or materialism is to help each other, then that's perfectly fine. It is a good use of material energy. Saturn in Libra is going to force us to look at our motives as humans and determine whether we pursue material values for ourselves or for the good of all. Chiron, though not a planet, is always interesting because it is the “bridge” between Saturn and Uranus, meaning that it is through the pain and healing of Chiron that we are able to leave the grip of concrete materialism represented by Saturn and enter the more subjective worlds, beginning with Uranus. Chiron began the year at 23 degrees of Aquarius and ends the year at 27 degrees of Aquarius. Uranus began 2010 at 23 degrees of Pisces and ends the year at 26 degrees of Pisces, conjunct Jupiter. Uranus in Pisces has had the effect of shaking up the world in such a way that its fears and neuroses are revealed so that they can be overcome. So what are the fears and neuroses that we have been dealing with and will continue to deal with until Uranus finally leaves Pisces in 2011? Well, the first thing that springs to mind is our fear of each other. The Iraq war perhaps? Religious wars? Uranus innovates, so as it finishes up its transit of Pisces, it is shattering humanity's old ideas so that it can bring in a shower of innovation when it moves into Aries next year. If you think that science and technology have grown since the introduction of the computer and internet at the end of the last century, you haven't seen anything yet. When Uranus enters Aries, technology will explode. So 2010 is our last chance to get it together. The negative side of Uranus is that if we don't learn the compassion and healing understanding of Pisces, Uranus could wreak havoc on the world, meaning more of the unexpected bombings, kidnappings, killings, and natural disasters etc. around the world. Neptune began the year at 24 degrees of Aquarius and ends the year at 26 degrees of Aquarius, so its entire focus this year, and for several more years to come, is humanitarianism and brotherhood. We, the people of planet Earth, have been working on this for aeons - it is extremely difficult to do, otherwise we would have completed it long ago. But everytime Neptune appears in Aquarius (the last time was in 1848), we have another chance to glimpse the higher vision of how we should be treating each other. Pluto began the year at 3 degrees of Capricorn and ends the year at 5 degrees of Capricorn. Pluto's slow transit through Capricorn (it doesn't leave Capricorn for good until 2025) is slowly transforming our established institutions that have outlived their usefulness. The banking industry and our whole monetary system, for instance. How we use energy, how we charge for energy, who should profit, or is energy something that should be free to everyone. The same with food, health care,are they a basic human right or something that has to be paid more. And then there's the whole thoughtform about war: why we fight wars, how we fight them, and alternative ways of relating to each other. And there are our religious institutions, each one believing that they are the only correct religion. All of these old religious ideas will have to be eliminated, so that something better can take its place, such as one religion or at least, an understanding that all religions have value. By the time we reach 2025, the world will have been restructured, and restructured in a way that is more equitable. The greed which lies behind the major world structures today will have been exposed so that it can be eliminated and replaced with a more humanitarian base, which begins when Pluto enters Aquarius in 2025. The most important celestial happening in 2012 will be the conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus. This conjunction is exact on June 8th and September 18th of this year, at which times the energy will be its strongest, but we will feel the conjunction from May through the end of the year and into the next year. The meaning of this conjunction is that we as humans, are being given a tremendous opportunity from Jupiter to shatter in grand Uranian fashion, the barriers that separate us from each other. Let us hope that our world leaders are wise enough to take advantage of these opportunities. Children born this year and next will have this conjunction in their charts and they will be full of idealism, imagination, inspiration and awe. I can't wait to meet them. Additionally, Neptune and Chiron have been traveling together for quite a while (the conjunction began last year), and end the year still conjoined, so we have some idea of what to expect from this conjunction. This conjunction could be interpreted as the ability to analyze and understand why we suffer. Neptune is the planet of spiritual vision and insight, so those of us who are paying attention will be able to “see” the purpose of all of the hunger and wars and pain that we as humanity must endure. With correct understanding comes a vision of what we need to do to improve the world. If we understand that we suffer because we are, as a whole, too tied to material values, then we can extracate ourselves from that mind set and like the wounded healer, we can help others to extracate themselves as well. We will have four eclipses this year, two of them total eclipses. The dates are January 15 (solar annular), June 26 (lunar partial), July 11th (solar total) and December 21 (lunar total). The January 15th eclipse takes place at 25 Capricorn. I will say a few words about this one, but the other three I will discuss in the next newsletter. As you know, eclipses always speed things up. Solar eclipses always occur at new moons, so have the effect of intensifying the energy of a new moon. In other words, new ventures are always launched at new moons, and this will be intensified because it is an eclipse new moon. Therefore, if you have any planets near 25 Capricorn, expect to see the energy of that planet intensified. The house in which the eclipse falls will tell you where you can expect to see some kind of new initiative or action. For the world as a whole, having an eclipse in Capricorn will help speed up the transformation that Pluto is slowly bringing about in our established institutions. Expect something dramatic within a few days of the eclipse, either before or after, that will exacerbate current world problems, probably relating to the banking industry or the religious war.
uch has been written about the fact that Pluto has finally entered Capricorn. The momentous event took place on January 26, 2008. But what does this mean for the
Pluto in Capricorn is going to transform all of our traditional institutions. Capricorn represents societal structures and values, i.e., government and how it functions, established religions, the institution of marriage, etc., and over the next sixteen years, we are going to see all of them go through major transformations.
Secondly, Pluto represents power and how we use it. In relation to the
We have already seen the first effects of this Pluto effect in the current election campaign. The appearance of a woman and a black man are indicative of the kind of drastic fundamental change that Pluto is ushering in. All of the deeply entrenched issues that divide us as a country are coming to the fore so that we can deal with them once and for all. Racism and sexism are going to be thrown in our face; we cannot escape the discussion, and hopefully, by discussing these issues, we will cleanse ourselves of all of the poisonous, prejudicial and discriminative practices that haunt our country.
It is interesting to note that on election day, November 4, 2008, Saturn will be opposing Uranus. Saturn and Uranus have been opposing each other off and on for the last several years, but it is of import to have it happen on election day. The message is quite clear. The citizens of the
The Republican candidate, John McCain, is clearly the Saturn option. He represents the past, and has shown this by attaching himself to George Bush and his programs. Whether the Democratic candidate in the fall is Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama, either represent a new direction. So, the country is being given a wonderful opportunity. If they make the correct decision, they will move forward. If they make the wrong decision, they will not, and will therefore reap the consequences of that wrong decision. The world is watching.
LET’S GO STAR GAZING
Buy a telescope and go outside and look at the stars. If you can’t afford a telescope, binoculars will do. When we are feeling sad or lonely or depressed, or any of the other names we give to the fact that we are out of the joy zone, it is because we are so engrossed in our personal problems that we fail to see the bigger picture.
So, when all else fails, look up. By studying the heavens, we begin to understand how small our problems are because we can see that we are a part of something so much bigger. We start with our little planet Earth and then we see the relationship it has to the other planets in our little solar system. Then we see that our little solar system is part of a bigger galaxy, filled with solar systems and stars and other planetary beings. And then if we go out even further, we see that our galaxy is just one of billions of galaxies and so on and on it goes.
If you study the heavens, you see the cycle of life played out in front of you. You can see the beginnings of stars in the millions of nebulas. And you can see their end in supernovas. You can imagine the birth of galaxies and you can marvel at their magnificence.
In between the stars and the planets and the galaxies and the nebulas, you see the vault of the heavens, the backdrop to all of the manifested cosmic beings. When we understand that the vault of the heavens is the garment of the creator of all, then how comforting it is to know that we are always protected and are part of the overall plan of this great being.
When you look at life from as far out as we can see in the universe, then we realize that our little individual life is really inconsequential, and that any problems we have are really nothing at all in the overall scheme. Once we realize that we are a part of something so immense and so unfathomable as to defy description, the only thing we can feel is awe and joy.
As astrologers, we know that the stars and planets transmit energy and that as we become more and more cosmic in our orientation, we will be able to respond to the energies of the stars and planets that are further and further out. Learn to recognize the planets. Learn to name the various constellations and the names of their brightest stars. Study the mythology related to the constellations to get some idea of the type of energy they represent.
First we are citizens of our city, then our state, then our country, then the world, and finally the universe. How much more joyful would it be to identify yourself a citizen of the universe than a citizen of a small city.
How beautiful it is that all of this is laid out before our eyes, and all we have to do is look up.
