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by Terry Lamb

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New to astrology? Read on and ignore the technical bits. There's plenty here for you too! Why don’t I write horoscopes for each sign?

LIFE STARTED HAPPENING about the time Mars and Jupiter made their final (of 3) contact at the end of April. Then I went down the rabbit hole and into a crazy world of Mad Hatters and Cheshire Cats, of crazy queens yelling, “Off with her head!” It was also lovely — vividly colorful and full of warm people, from new friends to compadres as comfortable and familiar to be with as an old coat. There was Winnipeg, then the first of the fabulous Donna Eden training seminars in Phoenix, then UAC (the United Astrology Congress) in Denver. Now I’m back above ground in a strange new world, one where my youngest son is graduating and my oldest is fledging out of the nest in earnest.

            I mention these events not because they are special, but because I believe they are typical of the level of activity that everyone has been experiencing. It’s as if a whole year were packed into a month, and at the end of the process we jumped off a cliff and said, “Now what?!”

An Uncomfortable Clarity
            At the end of May, we had an unusual confluence of planetary events, in that Mercury and Neptune both turned retrograde (backward) on the same day. While their cycles are very different one from the other, they were in contact (trine) with each other, foregrounding a single theme that will be felt in the coming months as their cycles unfold, even though they will part company.

            These planets are bringing to us an uncomfortable clarity, then some time to adjust to our new insights. Think about what you knew — what came to light — on or around the 26th in your life. For comparison, think about Scott McClelland’s new book (a sometimes withering appraisal of George W. Bush’s presidency), What Happened, released on that day. If you can recall something from that day, you have good idea of what will play out in your life in the coming few months. For me, I could see that it’s time to get myself and my family ready for my youngest son to go to college out of town. We began planning our summer trip to Berkeley, then we started to clarify what needs to happen between now and mid-August, when he will leave.

            So, there’s an information-gathering and planning process that I expect to last until Mercury returns to forward motion on June 19; then there’s the adjustment period, which will likely last until Neptune returns to forward motion on November 2nd.

            This timing is almost spookily aligned with the election season. The Democratic Party has selected this period to try to clear up how to handle its delegate dilemma in Michigan and Florida, in the process selecting a nominee for the presidency. I don’t expect this to be completely set to rest until about June 19, because the Mercury retrograde suggests that timing.

How Retrogrades Work
            When planets retrograde, they back off from the connections with other planets that we unconsciously expect them to make. This gives us room to breathe (very apt, with the retrograde in the Air signs of Gemini and Aquarius). We get to go back and complete things we’ve left undone — whether we want to or not. Often, we leave something unfinished because we have unresolved emotions related to it, so when it comes back up for us to make an ending, we are not thrilled at the prospect. Whether it’s putting away all the files left lying around your office or taking the car in for an overdue repair, we don’t want to wait until we’re desperately searching for something buried in the pile, or for the car to break down before we attend to it. Yet, a retrograde planet is likely to bring just these things to us, the fallout of incomplete action.

            Of course, each of these items or issues will relate to the theme of the planet involved. With Neptune, it is an area of our life where we’re experiencing a dissolving process, a slow shift to a new reality. What we can see if the deterioration of the world we are used to inhabiting; what is hidden the world that is being created, especially if we cling to the known, the past. Fear of the unknown can accompany Neptune contacts, because the unknown is precisely what we’re moving into.

            With Mercury, it is both simpler and more complex: Mercury’s law is the Law of Focus. It teaches that what we focus on is what we create. So, during Mercury retrograde, we experience what we expect to experience; if we expect Mercury retrograde to be a horrible thing (as some astrologers do), then guess what? It will be! It helps to recall that Mercury is only the messenger, bringing the messages (energies) of the other gods (planets) to us. Mercury is primarily carrying Neptune to us this time, and in a harmonious contact. This does not mean there won’t be inconvenience and uncomfortable revelations. It does mean that we’ll be much clearer about what “the problem” is, which makes it that much more possible to solve it.

            So let’s just settle in and enjoy this respite. We may be busy retracing our steps, completing and regrouping. However, now we have the time to do it, to create a foundation of order in our lives. With Mercury in Gemini, communication is likely to be a theme as well.

            This planetary breather lasts only until about the 13th, so make the best of it while it lasts.

With Gemini, You’re Never Alone.
            What’s giving an extra punch to the process in June is that there are several planets making contact in Gemini, similar to what we experienced astrologically in February (See Chart A above). We will experience a bit of what Gemini the Twins (or multiple personality!) is made of when Sun, Venus, and Mercury come together on June 7–8, but in a very nice way. Ordinarily this type of contact makes for one very nice day, but when one of the planets is retrograde, it means that there will be one more contact, so the story is not over. There may be a miscommunication that occurs over these two days, and it will be important (or certainly better) to correct it when you can, making apologies if necessary. Still, something good should come out of the interaction.

            The Sun-Venus connection on the 8th is moderately significant. Ever since Venus returned to forward motion on September 8 last year, she’s been chasing after the Sun. She finally catches up now, and her energy shifts to become gentler. This is the halfway point in her 18-month cycle, and now she slowly begins to move toward her “falling back” point, when she runs so far away from the Sun that she is called home and descends rapidly into the solar fire on her next retrograde, now nine months away.

Uranus Awakens (Us).
            The Uranus cycle, which has been back-burnered in favor of some of the other cycles, heats us as the month waxes. We get our first real glimpse of what lies ahead on the 13th, when the Sun squares the planet of awakening. This is just a shot across the bow; the “real thing” comes on the 26th, when Uranus finally begins its backward procession. We have had previous signals: Other events that tie in with the ones on these dates would have occurred around March 8 and May 11.

            Uranus is in Pisces now, a seven-year sojourn that began in 2003. During its stay in the sign of Universal Consciousness, we have become much more aware of the role of energy in our well-being. That is, there is a level on which we can detect and change our health picture and experiences through the ways that energy moves in and around the body. Many tools and techniques for working with this have emerged since 2003, and the process continues. Perhaps if we can detect what way (not always) unseen energies can be used to reach our goals and gain better health, we will be using Uranus to our greatest benefit.

It’s Ba-a-a-ck!
            Pluto returns for its final glory days in Sagittarius on the 13th as well. This suggests the possibility of a temporary return to the hope and hedonism of the past 14+ years. We should not lose sight of what’s really going on out there. When Pluto entered Capricorn, we began to see how the world is coming apart at the seams. We can’t forget this and delay making the changes that we must continually be working toward in order to create the soft landing we need to minimize suffering amongst all living inhabitants of our planet.

            Still, we need a break to restore hope. Pluto’s final six months in Sagittarius will help.

Venus & Mars Help Us.
            It is uncanny how frequently a significant event or initiative is based on reaching an agreement with someone else in our life. Whether it is a contract being signed, a wedding, or an important meeting, significant events often depend on the confluence of people in unity. Venus and Mars are assisting us in making agreements for a while. Through the 6th, they are moving into harmony; from June 7–17, there are times when they can be rejoined if the Moon is brought into the picture. An astrologer can help you pick the time windows on these days that work best for your endeavors.

The Healer Is Active.
            Chiron began to be very active in May when it began its retrograde period on May 25. We’ll get a report on this is going for us on the 15th. In order to heal, we need to be in touch with where we are wounded (although we don’t need to feel pain). Chiron is the planet that joins the dots of our healing experience and facilitates the integration of new wholeness into our state of being. Because Mars is a piercing energy, we may experience acute events related to the part of our nature we are healing right now. This could be such phenomena as muscle spasms, inflammations, viruses or fungal outbreaks, etc. Accidents are also possible. Of course, this pattern would have to contact your chart to be personally meaningful. If you have chart placements around 20 degrees of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, or Aquarius, the door of healing will be open for you.

            Healing may have to do with other levels of being too, such as emotional, mental, or spiritual. If your life needs to be healed in some way, this too may occur. What happens now will lead to other events on August 10 and October 25.

Part of a Bigger Pattern
            I have been talking about this since the beginning of the year — the fact that we are going through a massive healing experience both as individuals and as a species with some level of self-consciousness and self-direction. Accordingly, we’ll see a cluster of events occur that carry a similar theme, related to the fact that Chiron and Neptune are dancing together this year. See this pattern in Chart B. One such set of events, sadly, occurred in May with the cyclone in Burma/Myanmar and the earthquake in China. While we can’t blame the planets, and even with the planets we can’t tie these events solely to Chiron and Neptune, we can say that a wound that needs healing has been revealed in terms of responsibility to people in need. No nation is exempt from the potential inability to care for its citizens, as we saw when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the US in 2005.

            Such sobering events can be used to bring us all together and to teach us that there are greater things at stake that our personal power or fear of outsiders, and that we need to hang together, for heaven’s sake, now more than ever.

            Watch for some kind of culminating events on the 13th–21st.

The Icing on the Cake
            As if that weren’t enough, on the 20th, Pluto reaches the culmination of its yearly cycle when it opposes the Sun. This “non-planet” packs a wallop, bringing transformation to keep us from dying of decay. Whatever transformation you are working on (and we’re all working on transformation somewhere in our lives), it began last December 20. Events related to this thread in our lives occurred around March 21 and April 2.

            This may feel as though the universe is “piling on” just now, since other significant events are occurring with Chiron and Neptune. However, since they are in only marginally connected parts of the sky (and that connection is harmonious), they are unlikely to converge into one overwhelming experience. If we have been cultivating these energies well in our lives, we may see signs that life is entering a phase of improvement.

The Light Begins to Diminish.
            On the 21st, the Sun reaches its maximum northerly point and begins its path back south, bringing more light to the southern hemisphere, while shortening the days in the north. This is a wonderful time to celebrate the abundance we have in our own lives and to be thankful for the bounty we are beginning to receive as part of the yearly cycle which begins at the solstice in December. 

Applying These Patterns in the Real World
            In looking at the fascinating scenario of events in the Democratic Party’s primaries, even though the pundits have been expecting Hillary Clinton to accede any day now, I do not expect her to do so until after Mercury returns to forward motion on June 19, and perhaps not even then. With all the planetary friction in the latter half of the month, it is unlikely that she will gracefully give her support to Obama. As I write, the Democratic Party’s rules committee is meeting to decide what to do about Michigan’s and Florida’s delegates, but this will not conclude matters, unless as a group the members are able to rise above “business as usual”.

            We each have the opportunity to rise above business as usual, and this permits us in turn to be creative in our lives without being tied to the timing set by the planets. The planets’ timing will always support our activities when we are conscious and free of karma (misunderstanding) in the particular area.

Significant Planetary Events

Mercury, Jupiter, Chiron, Neptune, and Pluto are retrograde. Mercury is in rulership. Jupiter is in fall.

All dates are based on Pacific Time.

Blue = harmonious/Red or orange = challenging/intense

Events in bold are more significant.

© Terry Lamb