Somehow, some way – it’s here! September has arrived and we have entered one of the most important months astrologically for the year of 2015. This is the threshold we have been preparing for all year long. September is a cosmic stew of energetic confluences, and many are feeling the changeable energies quite tangibly in their lives already. The easiest way to summarize September is to say that it is the beginning of forward movement towards the realization of the visions and goals we’ve been discovering, discerning, working on, playing with, and struggling with since 2008 when Pluto first crossed into Capricorn and issued its profound reverberation through the systems and structures the world’s societies are built upon. This month, we enter a phase of malleability. It’s a shifty, fuzzy, wavy ocean of complexity. We are confronted with the undeniable impulse to take action on our spiritual dreams, and the completely overwhelming task that lies before us in order to do so. It’s a long road between there and here and the path is not straight. In fact, it is confusing as heck. But, at least, we’ve arrived at the path. Starting in August, we had several important shifts and departures in the heavens – Saturn moved direct and is finishing its journey in Scorpio, Jupiter moved from Leo to Virgo, and Venus went retrograde in Leo. I’ve written quite a lot recently about how the energy of the past few years has been a process of whittling who we are and what we truly want down to its core. Saturn in Scorpio has caused us to brush through the cobwebs in our mind in order to discover just how much of our behavior is dictated by fear and other hidden psychological factors. It has also been about committing ourselves to the thing we most want and being willing to endure loss and discomfort in the name of growth and evolution. As Saturn moves out of Scorpio at last, we might be receiving its final lesson on the self-responsibility of empowerment very intensely. Saturn in Scorpio seems to be reminding us that no matter what happens in life, it’s still up to the individual to strengthen and embolden themselves towards the light.
Meanwhile, the vibrations of the recent Leo transits have been directing us to reevaluate and re-receive our heart’s desire. We’re really SEEING it, and those situations that still exist for us that we DON’T want are feeling rather intolerable. Ongoing relationship dramas, people that you just don’t jive with anymore, the job that pays well but makes you unhappy -- each and every one of these things is getting the proverbial ax. With Jupiter now in Virgo, the ways in which our mental state affects our physical being is felt with greater acuity. A need to move in a direction that is both fulfilling and healthy on all levels of our being is something we may be finding more valuable at this time. As we begin September, the invisible influences in our lives seem more present and active. Virgo’s call for purity, discipline, and devotion might be motivating us to work towards organizing our lives in a manner that is more holistically minded. If health has been neglected we might be feeling it’s time to get around to that exercise routine and invest some in healing ongoing ailments. The feeling behind it is that by not taking care of ourselves first, we are impeding the flow of creativity and happiness that we have been working so hard to find. Jupiter in Virgo also implies that the realm of service and work is about to get really busy in some fashion, and the need to be in optimum health is tantamount to accomplishing what needs to be accomplished. As Venus moves direct on September 6, tying up its retrograde story for the remainder of September, I expect many of the heart’s impediments will be clarified and released. The things within ourselves and our environment that block our enjoyment and ability to receive love and money – as well as what it is we really want to create, what makes us happy and brings us joy – are recognized. There is a sense of finality around situations that cause frustration – a feeling that there’s just better ways to spend one’s time.
With the Virgo energy I feel comes a great desire for simplicity, because the paradox of this time is that it is incredibly complex in all ways imaginable. The primary reason for this is that September begins the mutable T-Square between Saturn in Sagittarius, Jupiter in Virgo, and Neptune in Pisces that is a predominant feature of the remaining months of this year. We feel that there is a LOT to do, no time to do it, and that the task itself is monumental. Simplifying our lives as much as possible is necessary but is in itself a task and discipline in circumstances that have no consistency. As Mercury moves Retrograde in Libra mid-month I sense the issue of balance will come prominently into the fore. Tip the scales the other way for a while and see what happens. Libra, of course, is also about relationships – and there is an echo here to Venus Retrograde – how are we relating with life? Do we enmesh ourselves with other people’s thoughts and feelings without realizing it? Are we closed or open to collaboration that could be helpful to us? Who do we want to collaborate with? How can we have more equality and fairness in our relationships with partners and clients? In business?
At the same time that Mercury goes retrograde Saturn moves into Sagittarius for the next 2-3 years. Saturn in Sag suggests that now it’s time to begin one’s own pattern of thinking and behavior and creating one’s own dogma and truth, rather than continuing to allow other people’s ideas take control. Saturn in Sagittarius is a truth telling energy and it is the apex of the T-square pattern. In an interplay that shows immense confusion, delusion and deception, Saturn will reveal false idols for what they are and prompt us to test and evaluate all truths for ourselves before accepting them. With the energy of Jupiter and Neptune alone, we are dealing with the struggle between the mundane and the mystic – knowing of course that there is a path to the mystic through the distractionless fulfillment of life’s practicalities – yet finding ourselves in a climate that supports anything but. Underneath this energy is a pulse of frustration that seems to emanate an almost fractal web of complexities that multiply times ten with each beat. Saturn in Sagittarius wants us to find the meaning of it all, to see the big picture and put some shape around it. The thing is, we live in a world that cannot give us peace -- it becomes more and more busy by the day. So how do we arrive at balance? How do we transcend distraction? How do we discern the master from the charlatan? How do we live in this world and practice our truth in real time, at all times? How do we structure our lives to allow for meaningful engagement with reality? How do we build a world in connection to our highest good, in greater health and heartfelt connection? How do we take lofty ideals and put them into a practical form, functional for the modern paradigm?
These are among the many questions I see being predominant in the coming years.
The T-Square itself could have it’s own article. Having been through this vibe by transit these past few years I can say Neptune Square Saturn is not an easy energy – it is highly confusing and anxiety inducing. Add the expanding force of Jupiter to the mix and you have a vortex of turbulent and muddy waters. Neptune erodes Saturn’s normally sober sense of reality and order. Being in Sagittarius our core beliefs are being attacked – all sense of truth is shifting dramatically. A lighthouse that once stood strong is washed away to sea, slowly declining and decrepit. The question of whom to believe becomes difficult – even one’s own intuition can seem untrustworthy if it is colored by subconscious attitudes. The truth is very fuzzy and must be searched for. However, it can be found. As with all of Neptune work there is a great potential for clarity. The ultimate purpose of this energy is the alignment of the soul to the soul’s dream… and the soul’s dream does not care at all about your beliefs, thinking patterns and social dogmas. In the end we are cleansed, but the process requires a lot of faith and patience. We cannot rely on the material or the ideological – as the answer lies somewhere beyond both.
To me, the beauty of this configuration is the tone of deep questing. The mutable signs’ purpose is to transform and this energy signifies a tremendous amount of fast-paced change emerging from inner turmoil surrounding the question of what truth really IS. If it wasn’t the lighthouse, then what is it? Is it the light itself? Or is it even beyond that? The mutable energy also presents a great deal of malleability that we have not had in recent years where the energy has been functioning more like a gridlock – with a lot of stop and go, stalemates and impasses. We had to go through the phase of irreconcilability to cross into the phase of action. We had to go through the phase of action and confrontation in order to cross into this new phase, which is the phase of transmutation. Things have freed up – we can now meld reality to better suit us – the challenge will be maintaining the proper direction. These are energies that can spiral out of control and create delusions, or they can bring the wisdom of positive habits, positive thinking, and pure spiritual flow. To stay ahead of it, we have to employ some discipline to our thinking and our lives. Discovering where we carry rigid, negative thinking, and subsconscious fears and learning to change these things is a major aspect of this process. We will learn that we can opt for pathways that allow us greater clarity and peace by remaining grounded, centered and aware or we can opt for pathways that feed the fear and confusion and fall for the illusions of the world. Everything we believe that is not universal law is subject to and likely to change. All that is unsteady already will grow more unsteady. It’s unsteady because it’s not honest. Let it fall apart. Keep the positive intention and the positive direction. The mind is powerful at this time as boundaries between the subtle and mundane reality are thinner than usual. Our dreams can be real. So can our fears. We’re responsible for whichever we create.
And then… The eclipses. Yes, there’s more than this. On top of Mercury retrograde, Venus retrograde, Saturn changing signs, Jupiter changing signs, Pluto stationing to go direct (Which I haven’t even talked about it only adds to the feeling of evolutionary intensity), the Fall Equinox, and some very strong configurations – we have eclipses. Eclipses are a twice annual phenomenon that bring about major culminations, endings, new beginnings, and generally speaking – points of destiny and fate in our lives. This month’s eclipses occur at 20 Virgo (Solar eclipse on September 13) and 4 Aries (Total Lunar Eclipse, visible in the US, on September 27). So anyone with planets in mutable signs around 20 degrees or cardinal signs around 4 degrees will feel the eclipses most strongly – but all people will be passing through the energies of the eclipses.
The Solar Eclipse on September 13 is highly sensitive. Under this energy we will be very aware of what we lack. It is a good new moon to set intentions with regards to health routines – health and healing is a major highlight of the eclipse. Radical changes around work and health may occur out of necessity. The spirit of service and how we personally express it is an important motivation to changes we make under this energy. We’re more inclined to break bad habits and let go of spiritual burdens, especially if they’re holding us back from our sense of efficiency and simplicity. We are taking our Saturn in Scorpio lessons and applying them in every way we can. To not do so will cause us more pain and suffering than is necessary, and we intuitively know this. We need to evolve and work from our strengths, rather than stay in a Sisyphus-like cycle of never-ending burdens. We have the power to make our life what we want it to be, truly, we do! This a great new moon to make a plan of tangible actions and set goals towards making the soul dream come true. We’ve done the inner work, now it’s time to apply all we’ve learned, and then learn some more as we go. Know that it’s going to be complicated, busy and changeful – but not impossible. The world has changed, and it is opening as we are opening to be re-oriented and re-aligned to our naturalness and divinity. Be open to the possibilties. Refinement of the focus, I feel, can be considered the theme of this eclipse.
The Lunar eclipse feels much more about the balancing energies of the Mercury retrograde, which lingers nearby to the eclipse degree. In the period between eclipses, Saturn will have moved into Sagittarius. The first eclipse feels much like the ending of a cycle being put into practical action, while the second eclipse emphasizes the opening of a cycle and all of the complex processes involved with the new energy. It is a very powerful, evolutionary eclipse. Great frustration exploding into radical change. It doesn’t matter what the frustration is at – just that the forces involved are inhibiting and intolerable. We’re stepping into new terrain in our lives and are being faced with the duality and paradox of all that we have developed thus far. What we really want is to break free and step directly into joyful self realization (isn’t the work over yet?), but we must do so with awareness. The best action taken now is righteous action. This is a South Node eclipse, meaning it is a releasing energy. We are releasing Aries impulsiveness and dog-eat-dog survivalist attitudes. The energy of this eclipse shows us that impulsiveness will not only not serve us, it will cause all kinds of unforeseen problems. We are becoming aware of where we are blocked and frustrated, but learning the lesson that not all obstacles are meant to be “blasted through” – It’s important to do the work and negotiations necessary to arrive at clarity before taking action – and all actions are well served to be backed up with some kind of plan and forethought. We have plenty of time – and even though it seems the world is swirling around us without control – we do not need to hurry ourselves and get swept up in the madness. As we enter this mutable energy it is absolutely necessary to seek clarity with patience and yielding. Aries energy is neither of these things and it may feel difficult to quell the fire. If we have done our work of purification, and are willing to let go of expectation, we can be decisive – but it is a decisiveness that must arise from the true mind. We will know what the right decision is if it feels peaceful and freeing. Our decisions must not be made with shadows of uncertainty – investigate all unsettled feelings and see more deeply into choices. The period upcoming may be a chaotic and confusing time, but it can be a phase where we really learn to tap into the inner voice and work from our spiritual center, as this may be the best way to survive and the only way to thrive under these influences. It is a beautiful spiritual lesson in a “feminine” form of evolution. Release doing, return to being. Work from being, and find the truth without searching.
The energy of September is huge. This is a pivotal time for the world’s direction. People who choose to be assistants and servants to the world in one way or another will experience immense growth through this process – this is a time when spiritual energies are very high and many people will start experiencing mind-bending shifts in their perspectives and need grounded influences. It is important that we all become aware of balance in our lives and transparent with our truth – especially with ourselves. Simplify, clarify, wait until things settle. Your mind is a powerful creator…. Use it wisely.
“All will come to those who keep to the one – for there lies rest, happiness and peace.”
- Tao Te Ching, Chapter 35