Ancient Knowledge Initiation

Although I will be including earlier posts from my now DreamWidth account (formerly @ LiveJournal) I wanted to mark when I began this blog with a post. This morning was the Sturgeon Moon eclipse in Pisces which has been discussed at length on many astrological blogs. I woke early, not really intending to, but my sleep schedule has been disrupted this month so it seemed something reasonable to do. I went out to view this beautiful event, catching the beginning of its waxing phase around 4:45am. The morning light of the Sun, just under the eastern horizon, shone off a thin sliver of the Moon, while the shadow of the earth obscured its face with a dusky grey reminding me of the murky depths of a polished obsidian mirror.

Since I've been studying the Maya Tzolk'in I am regularly astonished at how celestial phenomena can correspond with appropriate symbols in the sequence. For example, today is "Ca Lahun Etz' nab" or "Twelve Flint" (which could have specific meanings as a knife or a mirror). I have previously interpreted this as a day for self-reflection or self-understanding. As this eclipse falls in the beginning degrees of Pisces, interpretations of some astrologers I read online have focused on this same quality of self-reflection. I'm not sure what to make of this myself as I come to these realizations out of a pure associative imagination, so I don't always know what is real or even what I believe. Do I believe what I see in the mirror or what I already know is true?

Rather than going to bed again after viewing the eclipse, I stayed up reading a book by John Townley on astrological life cycles which presented a method for constructing biorhythm-type charts for the longer planetary cycles, based on house dynamics. I have read that biorhythms follow cycles for the Sun, Moon and Mercury, corresponding with the physical, emotional and intellectual cycles respectively.

Very interestingly, a chart based on my second house cycle (resources) showed me various transits to Jupiter's cycle that seem to correspond with relationships I have begun in the recent past. In my natal chart, Jupiter, the planet of expansion and luck, appears in my seventh house of relationships suggesting my ability to form fortunate connections with the people who engage me intimately. As an example of the transits I was discovering with this "resources biorhythm", when Jupiter's cycle crosses Uranus's cycle (this could have been a near transit, I'll have to look closer at the exact information) I met astrologer Mark Borax, who taught me sound but definitively Uranian aspects of astrology.

Learning Astrology

I've been taking an astrology class for the past two months with an emphasis on spiritual knowledge. It hasn't been entirely easy as the instructor is moving slowly through the text book and adding a lot of personal experience, which another classmate has suggested is a reason for some other students dropping out. What I believe I'm getting out of the class is sound information coming from a solid understanding of astrology while presenting realms of understanding that are esoteric.

This spiritual method looks at the Natal chart not simply as a dividing of the heavens, but also as a diagram of a soul's journey. The top and bottom of the chart represent the crown and the root of one's soul, i.e. the crown corresponds to one's higher power and the root corresponds to one's grounding to the earth. The left and right sides of the chart correspond to in breath and out breath, respectively, i.e. where the sun rises represents that reflexive aspect of living and where the sun sets represents our intentional aspect of living.

Everything in between follows a pattern of existence that may be new to some: between the crown and the root is the spiral dance that represents conception. We were in a state of bliss at the crown and our parent's love and connection directs us to that point when we materialize at birth on this plane. To the left represents our inner reflexive world and everything to the right represents our exterior intentional world.

Each direction, crown, root, "in breath" and "out breath" is preceded and follow by the equal and opposite force of each specific direction. These "lifestreams" correspond somewhat to traditional astrology's houses but have unique interpretations and associations with the zodiac and planets.

So, for example, the "in breath" falls on the first house in traditional astrology. This is preceded by the twelfth house, generally accepted as the esoteric and subconscious mind, and as the twelfth "lifestream" is the most reflexive and breathy part of "in breath." The second house, accepted in traditional astrology as representing personal values, as the second "lifestream" becomes the "out breath" part of "in breath" or the intentional expression of "in breath".

This resonates with my education in Buddhism, reincarnation and meditation. With meditation one seeks to relax the mind and body as a unit by focusing on that reflexive/intentional quality of breathing. It also ties indirectly with what I already know of astrology and I can now look at my natal chart with a pure understanding of what the zodiac means where it appears at my crown, root, "in breath" and "out breath." Virgo is my crown and I see in my ideals a striving for what Virgo best represents, also the worst of what it represents. Pisces is my root and I see in myself those Piscean qualities as well.

With only a few troubling aspects in the sky this past week (namely Venus squaring Neptune and Mars) and it looks like things won't balance out for at least two weeks, yet every indication is that this energy is familiar and I will ride it out in style. This year holds a lot of good energy and I see myself advancing with personal projects and connecting with good energies and people.