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SQUEEZE PLAY
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327 Route 105
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“…So high you can’t get over it. So low you can’t get under it. So wide you can’t get around it…” Kingston Trio members penned these lyrics back in the 1960s as a vision of heaven, but in the minds of many, the description more aptly fits that other place. Seemingly insurmountable barriers are cropping up everywhere these days, causing many people to feel like they are living in Hell on earth. In fact, we are in a kind of planetary pressure cooker and the celestial drama is being mirrored in our individual lives as well as on the world stage. If you are feeling the heat, you are not alone.
Running the Bases
Everyone I know seems to be undergoing major life changes. These are not all conscious, considered changes, but the kind of “life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans” changes that John Lennon wrote about. The process unfolds in predictable stages—first there is a breakdown, then confusion, indecision and in some cases downright paralysis, followed by acceptance, surrender and a long period of inactivity—the void. Eventually a new direction emerges.
Rarely is progress smooth. Rather, we humans react like deer in headlights—shocked, stunned, gripped by fear and uncertainty, we stop dead in our tracks, retreat into denial or resist change. We may wage a futile campaign to preserve the status quo or to reverse the effects of unwelcome events. The length of this campaign is determined by each individual’s tolerance for pain--emotional, spiritual and/or physical. Ironically, the stress caused by such reaction or inaction can exceed the pain one is attempting to avoid by not making tough choices.
Trapped in this netherworld, like the runner caught between bases in a squeeze play, turning back is not possible and the way forward is blocked by limited options and fear of the unknown. The best strategy is to allow oneself to be tagged out of the game. Sidelined by life circumstances one has the opportunity to reflect. The level of truth about self that emerges from such introspection is the key to unblocking the path and moving ahead. While it may seem that we are the victims of circumstances beyond our control, in fact, we are the architects of our lives. Our external reality is a mirror of our internal beliefs about who we are, why we are here, what we deserve in life and how we think the world works. Only after we discard outmoded beliefs and old baggage do our lives have the space to transform.
Generational Pressures
Transformation is not a recent invention. However, in these transitional times, the energetic patterns which infuse it have greatly escalated and intensified. Skywatchers will recognize the cosmic architecture underlying this trend—both long and short term. Pluto, God of the Underworld is the main agent of transformation, the cycle of death and rebirth. Pluto’s ingress into philosophical, truth and freedom loving Sagittarius in 1996 rocked humanity’s boat; we are navigating in troubled waters. Pluto is considered a generational planet, because it takes many years to move though each sign of the zodiac. Two generations, those with Pluto in Leo or Virgo, (individuals born roughly between 1939 and 1972) are currently experiencing difficult, potentially transformational, aspects to their natal Pluto placements.
The Lion Winter
When Saturn, the planet of life lessons, entered the sign of Leo the lion in July of 2005, it initiated a two year period of successive conjunction with the natal Pluto placements of the Pluto in Leo generation (1939-1957), of which the now aging “Baby Boomers” are a subgroup. (For more information on the effects of this transit see “When Destiny Calls”.) Leo is one corner of the fixed cross, squaring Taurus and Scorpio and opposing Aquarius. Beginning in late 2005, and throughout all of 2006, transiting planets are either residing in, or moving into and out of, the fixed signs (e.g. Saturn in Leo; Neptune in Aquarius; Mars in Taurus; Jupiter in Scorpio) creating a grand cross by sign and/or degree. The effect is one of feeling “boxed in”. As these planets change position, the box destabilizes. In particular, Saturn’s transit through Leo is being keenly felt--energizing the entire fixed cross, casting a wide net, and affecting everyone with natal planets (especially Pluto) in fixed signs. Pluto in Sagittarius is also trine Pluto in Leo—fire feeds fire. The Saturn/Pluto partnership is formidable, as their apparently oppressive influence breaks down old structures that no longer serve us.
Pluto’s Long Arm
The mutable signs are similarly affected, as Pluto in Sagittarius and Uranus in Pisces activate key trigger points of the mutable cross. While everyone with natal planets in mutable signs is feeling the influence, those individuals with a natal Pluto placement in Virgo (born from 1958 through 1971) are the second generation that is now “under the gun”. They are in a Pluto square (1996--2008) and challenged to let go of old dysfunctional beliefs and ways of being. The Pluto in Libra generation that is now “20 something” is experiencing a Pluto sextile; air feeds fire. While not as gut wrenching as the Saturn conjunction or Pluto square, the sextile creates intensity and a need for action. Pluto is a far reaching catalyst for change.
Sign of the Times
Sagittarius is a definitive sign for “the times that try men’s souls”. This quotation from Founding Father Thomas Paine's incendiary pamphlet, “The Crisis” rallied sentiments for a colonial revolt in 1776. We are once more in revolutionary times. Pluto entered the archer’s sign in1996, on the cusp of our transition into the New Age. As we move from the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius, the whole of our species is undergoing a massive paradigm shift.
Because Sagittarius rules the belief systems which are the underpinnings of each Great Age, Pluto is exquisitely positioned to catalyze transformation in this arena. Collectively we have spent the last 2000 years living by a set of rules for the world based on Piscean beliefs--e.g. mankind is inherently sinful and must be redeemed through self-sacrifice; we are separate from each other and from God, etc. etc. Aquarius plays by new rules. However, the old ways die hard. Most of humanity is still clinging to the sinking ship, floating in a sea of uncertainty. Pluto’s twelve year sojourn through Sagittarius ends in 2008, only two years ahead. We are coming down to the wire, the most intense part of the transformational cycle.
Surveying the Field
While the world is being rocked by chaotic events that are on everyone’s radar screen, lots of folks are coping privately, with varying degrees of success, with critical personal life changes. Issues range across the board—failed marriages, relationships ending, jobs ending, deaths in the family, changes of residence, financial crises, life threatening illnesses, chronic depression, etc. Their wide ranging spectrum of experiences depends, in large measure, on the degrees of their natal planets (especially Pluto) and the aspects that transiting outer planets are making to them. Some are in the breakdown stage, some have made attitudinal shifts and entered the void; others are already experiencing a new birth. Nearly everyone is struggling to trust the process. A recent survey of my clients produced the following comments:
In Their Own Words
“The past 5 years have been the most painful and stressful in my life, physically, emotionally mentally and spiritually. It seems I was meant to be alone and separated from all things that were familiar, as if I was supposed to leave behind my past life and anyone who had been part of it.”… “I am fighting the ego to let go of old behaviors which no longer serve me. I participate in an experiential women's recovery group where we are working on these issues (all 5 of us are experiencing this 'need to change'); I am journaling; raising my awareness and seeking new ways of being. I am learning I must let go of the outcome...” “New job, new friends, new house, new lifestyle… divorce imminent”… “I'm back in therapy working on old fears & past wrongs that I thought were long gone”… “I feel change is on the horizon, and urging me to engage with new people and places. I have a feeling that I just need to release all that I have known and it will come forward....that is the difficult part.”… “I was in denial, thinking my marriage would survive. I am now seeking spiritual support and trying to move forward.”…"My old issues still haunt me, and I can't see a way out any time soon.”… “It felt like a very dark time with lots of resistance, like I had literally stepped into some part of Hell. Tons of old patterns came up and Spirit helped me move through them with grace. ”… ” I’m dealing with recurrent breast cancer. Doing well -- but MUST CHANGE much! ...and I AM!”… ” “There seems to be little choice in the matter—one can only move forward—no retrograding at all. “I have planted well-chosen seeds and harvest time is right around the corner. “I am discovering that when I move with the universe instead of against it life is much easier.”
The Phoenix Rises
These examples demonstrate the pattern—death of the old, internal shift, enter the void, emergence of a new paradigm. The Chinese have a character for “crisis” which contains the symbols for both “danger” and “opportunity”, the seeds of transformation. The mythical Phoenix, which rises from its own ashes, is a classic symbol of transformation. Transforming requires courage, patience, faith and a good support system.
It is not so much the issues themselves, but what they reveal to us about ourselves, that requires healing and change. More often than not we have blind spots around our dysfunctional beliefs and behavior. Like minded groups are important resources. Helping professionals, therapists, life coaches and astrologers are invaluable. The planets and houses in a birth chart provide critical information on specific life challenges, purpose and goals. Significant planetary events trigger sensitive points. Jupiter’s ingress into Scorpio (October 2005) created a mutual reception with Pluto in Sagittarius. The month of March, 2006 alone, played host to four planetary stations (Mercury, retrograde and direct, Jupiter and Pluto retrograde) and two eclipses (lunar, 3/14; solar 3/29). All such occurrences support the larger transformational process.
The Time Has Come
The pressure is on now, because the world is changing; committed, self-actualized leaders are needed to assist the process. We are not so much engulfed by the flames of Hell, but by the purifying fire of initiation. We are being confronted with out deepest fears in order to transform them. Our souls are (not so gently) readying us to fulfill our purpose in life and repositioning us where we can make the biggest difference. We are being asked to let go—to move beyond fear, beyond our limitations and our egos, and prepare ourselves to serve the collective good.
In a sense, each of us is pregnant with possibility. Our dormant potential is waiting to be born. Birth is a painful process. The transition through the birth canal is a tight squeeze. There is pressure on all sides. Once begun, one cannot return to the security of the womb or remain lodged in the space between it and the waiting world. The freedom to grow and develop lies out ahead but it cannot be perceived in the still darkness. Yet, there is some urgency, some force compelling us to move out. At this time in our lives, giving birth to our greater Self is our most vital and noble responsibility.
PUSH!
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