11 Sep The Dust and Blood of This Fierce Chaos ~ September 12th-18th, 2016

“A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds.”

– Percy Shelley

from his essay, In Defence of Poetry

Percy Shelley

This is the week of the last eclipse of the year and there is a lot of kinetic energy on either side of this lunar event. Mars in Sagittarius will be making several aspects which will stir up lots of visionary experiences, adding a new level of zeal to any and all religious/political beliefs.

Expect conflicts to arise from oppositional viewpoints, which may lead to great hostility if you succumb to rage. If at all possible, consider responding to whatever opposition you face by engaging in open-minded debate rather than simply reacting.

Playing the role of haughty indignance is quite satisfying for those who have a pathological need to feel special, but this week is about using the fire of anger as fuel for your journey towards greater compassion and healing.

The Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Pisces on Friday, in hard aspect with Mars, will summon many torrential passions. (from Late Latin passionem (nominative passio) “suffering, enduring,”)

Yet, that gaze between the Virgo Sun and Pisces Moon will offer you a window of time to practice objectivity, enabling you to release resentment. The axis between Virgo/Pisces summons subtler forms of sentience in tidal waves that inspire you to relax, exhale and release the emotional burdens you carry.

It may be overwhelming and frightening at times to realize how burdened you have been, but all is well that ends well.

Though, Jupiter is not making any significant aspects this week, its recent ingress into the graceful Libra indicates that any significant conflicts that arise will find graceful solutions through fairness and compromise. Best of all, your frustrations may be channeled through creative endeavors, neutralizing the destructive power of rage and imbuing you with the power to disseminate wisdom.

 “A poem is the very image of life expressed in its eternal truth.”

An excellent historical example of the kind of ideological conflict that may present itself is the wildly creative call-and-response between Thomas Peacock, who wrote the satirical Four Ages of Poetry, and Percy Shelley, who wrote his Defence of Poetry as an earnest answer.

In the early 1800’s, through humor, wit and philosophical brilliance, this literary debate effectively addressed many of the issues and anxieties born from the conflict between the rapidly increasing progress of the Industrial era and the countercultural Romantic movement, which sought refuge in nature and transcendent experience.

Shelley said of his era,

“poets have been challenged to resign the civic crown to reasoners and mechanists. . . It is admitted that the exercise of the imagination is most delightful, but it is alleged that that of reason is more useful.”

As descendants of the humongous inflation of scientific rhetoric and industrial progress, these Enlightenment/Romantic era anxieties are still quite resonant in present times.

Thomas Peacock, a prolific satirist, was well known to be good friends with Percy Shelley. Thus, his scathing essay, The Four Ages of Poetry, is an immensely clever impersonation of the dogmatic ideals of the Enlightenment era, which exemplified the arrogance of scientific accomplishment.

In a manner quite relatable to a hard aspect from Mars in Sagittarius, in The Four Ages of Poetry, Peacock claims that the only relevant use for the intellect is in pursuit of the sciences.

Regarding poets, Peacock says, “A poet in our times is a semi-barbarian in a civilized community. . . His ideas, thoughts, feelings, associations, are all with barbarous manners, obsolete customs, and exploded superstitions.”

Peacock the goes on to also insult the readers of poetry, claiming that their “minds are not awakened to the desire of valuable knowledge. . . indifferent to anything beyond being charmed, moved, excited, affected, and exalted.” Like an emblem of victory for Mars in Sagittarius, Percy Shelley’s Defence of Poetry is an heroic example of transforming rage into something philosophically and artistically edifying.

In this essay, he argues for poetry’s necessity, contending that the human capacity for language reveals that “Poetry is connate with the origin of man” and that rhythm, harmony, and unity are instinctual and intrinsic to imagination.

“Poetry is indeed something divine. It is at once the centre and circumference of knowledge . . .It is at the same time the root and blossom of all other systems of thought…”

This week, as the tensions builds up to the crescendo of the Pisces Lunar Eclipse, see the world as a poet does, making “immortal all that is best and most beautiful in the world.”

“A poet considers the vices of his contemporaries as the temporary dress in which his creations must be arrayed, and which cover without concealing the eternal proportions of their beauty.”

Monday/Tuesday: A Poet Considers The Vices

At the beginning of the week, Mercury retrograde in Virgo will be conjunct the Sun, a planetary baptism by fire! This combination will shine a revelatory light upon your subtler perceptions, offering you some interesting insights about the world.

However, this will not be as quiet and contemplative of a time as you desire, because Mars in Sagittarius will be squared to the Sun and Mercury retrograde. This will amplify your experience with ideological tensions! Prepare for some challenges to your ego and insults to your pride.

If you can perceive that your enemies are playing an essential role in your experience of evolution and growth, then you might be better able to remain peaceful even throughout whatever turbulent emotions arise. All the vices of your contemporaries, no matter how much they oppose your ideals, are a significant aspect of the narrative that is unfolding on personal and transpersonal scale.

“Poetry thus makes immortal all that is best and most beautiful in the world; it arrests the vanishing apparitions which haunt the interluminations of life, and veiling them or in language or in form sends them forth among mankind. . . Poetry redeems from decay the visitations of the divinity in man.”

Wednesday/Thursday: Portal Of Expression

By Wednesday night, the Moon will enter the sign of Pisces, and the emotional build up to the eclipse will become palpable. You may feel overtly sensitive to harsh environments and destructive people.

On Thursday, the Moon will conjunct Neptune, mystifying you with evanescent visitations of dreamy thoughts and feelings. The desire to float or drift away from the world will be particularly strong.

This might lead to excessive use of narcotics or alcohol, but it also affords you an opportunity to experience the caverns of the spirit which entice you to explore the mysterious and unknown aspects of your psyche that beckon you to find your poetic voice.

Because the eclipse is so near, it would beneficial to use this imaginatively vivid day to forgive and forget some of the key things which have long kept you bound up in bitterness and strangled by resentment. If you really have something to say, write a treatise or a satire or a great poem! If there is nothing left to be said, then cast it off of you and move on.

“Poetry turns all things to loveliness; it exalts the beauty of that which is most beautiful, and it adds beauty to that which is most deformed; it marries exultation and horror, grief and pleasure, eternity and change; it subdues to union under its light yoke all irreconcilable things.”

Friday/Saturday/Sunday:  Eternity & Change

On Friday, the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Pisces will be pure poetry in motion, a wave of creation swelling inside you, purging resentments and dissolving them back into the abyss where they will be resurrected as compassion.

This last eclipse of 2016 is on the shoreline of the end of the world: a paradoxical place where tranquility is found in chaos. By softly yielding to the tidal waves of this eclipse, a semblance of order will be restored. Expect to feel very weary but content and wisened by the end of all this.

“But mark how beautiful an order has sprung from the dust and blood of this fierce chaos! how the world, as from a resurrection, balancing itself on the golden wings of Knowledge and of Hope, has reassumed its yet unwearied flight into the heaven of time.”

On Saturday, Mars in Sagittarius will trine Uranus in Aries, a supportive aspect that will refresh your spirits after the eclipse by initiating some extra enthusiasm and inventiveness. You will likely find and ingenious way to  regain a sense of rhythm and harmony with life.

“Man is an instrument over which a series of external and internal impressions are driven, like the alternations of an ever-changing wind over an Æolian lyre; which move it, by their motion, to ever-changing melody.”

And on Sunday, Venus in Libra will oppose Uranus in Aries, reminding you that your most emotional and intimate experiences are constantly reshaping and revising your perspective. If you have a tendency to deify your friends and lovers, they may disappoint you with all too mortal flaws.

Likewise, if you have a tendency to regard your friends and lovers as being boring and banal, they may emerge with a stimulating expression of deeply felt affection. Uranus’ interaction with Venus in Libra should be an interesting end to a volatile and impactful week.

However imperfect your expressions of love are this week, believe in the liberating power of your intentions nevertheless. There will be great rewards for even your smallest efforts to harmonize your sensibilities with a poetic perspective on life.

One thing is for certain. As the Lunar Eclipse wanes and the Saturn/Neptune square dissipates, there will be much smoother and more graceful days ahead.