Seasons Change

3.18.10


This weekend marks the beginning of a new season… and another round-trip through the zodiac cycle.

Yes, Saturday (Mar 20) is the equinox, ushering us into spring here in the North (and autumn down below the equator) and the Sun into Aries, sign of fresh starts.

But this is no ordinary changing-of-seasons, when the weather shifts, warmer to cooler or wetter to drier, for a few months, then eventually finds itself somewhere similar to where it started. The equinox's Aries Point (the first degree of the first sign, a powerful position on the zodiac wheel) also sits right at the heart of the big generation-defining astro-aspects now forming to a pivotal 'perfect storm'—(1) Saturn in Libra squaring Pluto in Capricorn, (2) Saturn opposing Uranus, soon to be in Aries and (3) Jupiter, also soon in Aries, with (4) Uranus and Pluto barely at the dawn of their many-years-long square.

The turning that's in the air is not the mere seasonal shift we annually welcome, but a powerful turn in the zeitgeist itself. And we therefore shouldn't expect to end up back in familiar territory… not with the ground moving beneath our feet even as I write this.

I've already gone into a bit of detail about what we've been experiencing these current couple weeks, with first Venus and then Mercury and the Sun in Aries: a burst of initiatory fire, a full-body thrust forward, a readiness to grab the ball and run with it toward the nearest desirable goalpost. 'Let's get this thing going!'

Yet, along with this fiery advance come the blockages from Saturn and Pluto: the glaring call for concessions and negotiations that must integrate alternate viewpoints, even if we don't want to include their input (and slow the whole damn process down as a result); the disheartening rejections and impersonal statements from spokespeople who disregard our individual circumstances in order to follow policy (and protect their institutional interests); the million-and-one reasons, presented by news-poll results and trend-following experts and well-meaning parrots who squawk conventional wisdoms, why we ought not bother trying to do our own thing our own way (because it's all an uphill battle anyhow?).

Our upsurge of get-up-and-go is presently being met not with open palms of easy receptivity, but by the proverbial arms crossed across the chest… many of us dubious about real possibility, suspicious of systems in disrepair, unsure of how much to concede to others' agendas or whether to ignore 'em altogether and fight for ourselves, whatever it takes.

As Jupiter and Uranus approach a conjunction at the Aries Point, exact within three months from now, our patience with the wait-and-watch, the ask-for-permission, the respect-for-the-chain-of-authority, and the good old talk-and-talk-and-talk-and-talk-and-talk-and-talk-and-talk is wearing increasingly thin. Haven't we already launched enough attempts to 'do it by the book'? Haven't we tried the ol' standbys, to little avail? Haven't we had the official conversations, only to find they carried us around and around in large looping circles?

The doing is soon to overtake the other methods, at least for the next slice of history. And the ongoing resistance against our efforts may only serve to intensify our forward drive, much like a catapult can toss its ammunition farther and fiercer the more tightly its tension is ratcheted up.

Think about the profundity of what's really in store for us, just around the next bend, in celebrating this new season of much more than a mere calendar year. Begin to feel this deeper excitement of something radically new blowing in on the morning breeze. Embody a rebellious refusal to return, resigned, to that same tired spot one more friggin' time.

This fight may indeed require more strength, courage and (if push comes to shove) outright aggression than we've recently shown. (It is a fight, after all.) But our opportune chance to make decisive, transformational change—in our personal lives and the broader culture—is also far greater than it has been in many many years.