20 Aug Super-Abundant Being! ~ August 21st-27th, 2017

“…O Earth: invisible!

What, if not transformation, is your urgent command?

Earth, my dearest, I will. Oh believe me, you no longer

need your springtimes to win me over – one of them,

ah, even one, is already too much for my blood.

Unspeakably I have belonged to you, from the first.

You were always right, and your holiest inspiration

is our intimate companion, Death.

---

Look, I am living. On what?

Neither childhood nor future

grows any smaller…

Superabundant being

wells up in my heart.”

-excerpt from The Ninth Elegy by Rainer Maria Rilke

This is week opens with the Solar Eclipse in Leo, offering insight into the eternal flux, where the ‘end is the beginning is the end’. Astrology understands eclipses as climactic peaks in the undulating waveforms of the universe. To put it simply, eclipses are the catalyzing events that keep things in motion.

By the weekend, Saturn will be stationing direct and Venus will be moving into the fire sign Leo. These shifts in astrological weather will certainly add their nuance and their flavor to your moods and proclivities. But the star of the zodiacal show is always the Sun and this week the Sun is changing signs.

The transition of the Sun from its golden palace of rulership in Leo to the modest wheat fields of Virgo, will be most keenly felt. When the Sun brings its light into the realm of the Virgin, summer enters into the beginning of its dusk. The Sun’s light smiles upon the coming harvest, feeding the Earth abundantly with amber warmth.

Based upon the Northern Hemisphere’s seasons, during Virgo time the days are still long and the autumn fruits blush more deeply with each passing day. And yet the start of Virgo season is tinged with melancholy, for it portends the beginning of the end of summer. Thus, the season of the Virgin tempers the frivolity of Leo season with a thoughtful repose. There is much work to do in the season ahead, for Virgo knows that to receive the prosperity offered by the Earth, devotion and service are required.

The last month has been infused with solar consciousness, which summons an uproar of fun, boldness and self-expression. But when the Sun makes its home in Virgo, it is the Earth, (mother to us all) that commands the attention. The Virgin is her priestess, pure in her devotion to that which has endowed all of us with life itself. In Virgo season, there is no religion other than to open a dialogue with the planet that breathes with you, nourishes you, and demonstrates unerring wisdom. 

For inspiration on how you might engage with the Earth to honor the changing of the solar season, consider the lovely excerpt from the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. The quote was taken from his Ninth Elegy, from his collection titled, Duino Elegies.

An elegy is a song of lamentation. Thus, there is a melancholy tone in the elegies to be sure, but not a shred of nihilism or despair. Rilke’s elegies represent a reconciliation with life finding within the sadness a bubbling spring of joy.

O Earth: invisible!

What, if not transformation, is your urgent command?

The poet addresses the Earth itself, lamenting the transformation of life that augurs death. To love the Earth is to find a way to love the fact that blossoms wither, fruit rots into the ground and even the most devoted lovers are torn apart by death.  

Unspeakably I have belonged to you, from the first.

You were always right, and your holiest inspiration

is our intimate companion, Death.

The nature of Earth is the nature of humanity. Therefore, to adhere to nature is to find correctness. The sign of Virgo is well known for creating order, but this orderly patterning of Virgo’s consciousness comes from this submission to the Earth’s wisdom. The sensate intelligence of Virgo is as profuse as the flora and fauna upon the Earth itself. But the Virgin’s wisdom and intelligence requires an acceptance of death, which is both natural and right.

In the Ninth Elegy, Rilke speaks as a priest of the Earth, not of an ethereal realm or transcendent afterlife. Rather than trying to escape this mortal coil, he learns to love it as the Earth’s holiest inspiration.

You were always right, and your holiest inspiration

is our intimate companion, Death.

As the waves of the Solar Eclipse begin to die down and the Sun enters the Earthy domain of Virgo, take some time to grow more comfortable with the natural cycles of life, both the ripeness and joy and the withering sorrow that follows.

To accept sorrow is not to be cursed by it, forever bedraggled by its weight. Note that in Rilke’s poem, he acknowledges that when the entire story of birth and death is genuinely beloved, a wellspring of something radiant and eternal arises within. As he says so beautifully,

Superabundant being

wells up in my heart.”

Life is eternal but it changes its state and its form often. Accept this and you too will feel this same welling in your heart.

Monday/Tuesday: What, If Not Transformation?

Monday brings the Solar Eclipse in Leo. “Eclipses bring change”, you will read over and over again.

But since the only constant thing is change, it seems trite to forever comment upon the fact that things are changing. And yet, there are peak moments in the cycles of transformation that do seem particularly interesting. These peak moments in the cycles of change are what the language of astrology describes. And within the paradigm of astrology, eclipses are especially interesting because they are like storms of change.

Think about all the times you have meditated upon ocean waves. The water is in an eternal state of waving and rippling, and as such, the motion is subtle and soothing. The hissing spray and gentle tides reveal the mutable flux that is inherent in the universe.

But amidst the patterns of gentle waves, there are sudden moments of profuse intensification where riptides and windstorms agitate the waters. Though the water is always stirring, sudden storms seem significant because they catalyze change more quickly than the soothing rhythms that you love.

So you can think of this Solar Eclipse in Leo as being like a riptide, a strong, offshore current that will mix things up a bit and stimulate a new flow. There’s nothing unusual about the changes it brings and yet you may find yourself caught in a bit of a storm. As Leo the great lion would do, use your finely tuned senses to acknowledge the beauty and majesty in the storm!

Wednesday/Thursday: Earth, My Dearest

On Wednesday, the Sun will move into Virgo, changing its light once again. As harvest time approaches, superabundant being will become the raison d’etre of the season!

Virgo is most known for intelligence because she has the keenest inborn observational skills. Her mental method is to keep things simple, distilling complexity and disorder into refined forms. Virgo knows that everything that needs to be known can be known by drawing analogies to of the natural world. As above, so below. As within, so without.

Life itself is the Virgin’s sacred cause. Just as birth is a sign of life renewing itself, so too is death a sign of life renewing itself. Thus, death is a holy inspiration, just as Rilke said.

Virgo is also associated with the concept of purity, which has led to an inordinate amount of degraded assumptions about sexual coldness and/or germaphobia. While these symptoms do arise in people for various reasons, including Virgoan types, these are not the elements of human experience that Virgo seeks to embolden.

Let the middle of the week be a time for you to find communion with the sanctity of life in all its stages of growth and decay.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday: Superabundant Being

Friday brings two astrological events to stir the pot once again. In the morning, Saturn will station direct in Sagittarius, ending the retrograde cycle that began in early April.

In confluence with the devotional qualities of Virgo season, Saturn’s station direct will highlight the duties and responsibilities that you need to attend to. Moreover, Saturn’s newly direct motion will empower you to begin finding answers to the murky quandaries of the last few months. Your ability to apply structure and form to your internal world will be renewed, thus offering you the ability to finally follow through on your formerly loose plans.

Life is an eternal process of learning and sometimes your role in that process is to listen and wait. But now that Saturn is moving forward again, your role will become more oriented towards taking measured actions that express what you have learned over the last four months. So long as you engage with Saturn through diligent work and practice, this shift will lessen your anxieties and promote a much needed sense of stability in life.

During the night, Venus will rise out of the lovely wading pools of Cancer and glide into the golden palace of Leo. For anyone mourning the loss of the Sun’s radiance in Leo, this arrival of Venus in the sign will bring much comfort.

In Leo, Venus relishes in extra touches of flamboyance and glamour. Thus, you may find yourself in a festive mood, one that inspires you to express the finest qualities of your personality. The joy and creativity that has been incubating in Cancer will emerge now, adding a new sparkle and shine to your eyes.

With Venus in Leo, heartfelt lovers can rekindle the spark of romance into a flame. You may also begin to crave more good company with friends. While Venus traverses the sign of Leo, until September 19th, it would be wise to make more time to enjoy any passion you have for the arts. Create and express yourself whilst also enjoying the work of those who enliven your spirit.

On Saturday, the Sun will conjunct Mercury retrograde in Virgo. This will be a particularly reminiscent time as the Sun illumines the workings of Mercury retrograde while he remains embedded in a deeper layer of consciousness. Interesting insights and dreams are to be expected.

The week closes with a sextile between Jupiter in Libra and Saturn, newly direct, in Sagittarius. This is a day for using very good judgement regarding your future plans. You may be filled with Jupiter’s grand visions and vistas of evolution, but Saturn will bring the necessary work to attain this vision into clear focus. If you receive any exciting opportunities at this time, you will likely be grounded in the knowledge of what sacrifices of time and energy they will require.

Again, the Sun in the pragmatic sign of Virgo will appreciate this view and will summon a renewed devotion to due diligence and perfection of your work.

Look, I am living. On what?

Neither childhood nor future

grows any smaller…

With Mercury retrograde so near the Sun accompanied by the sextile between Jupiter and Saturn, you will enjoy a state of hyper-awareness. This will open you to the experience of the ceaseless becoming that describes the underlying truth of life. This ceaseless becoming is timeless, finding neither the past nor the future to be absent or diminished by the prismatic experience of the present moment.

 

*All paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti