The Oppositions and Squares of Summer

By now, you've heard tell of the stressful planetary alignments that have been building up this summer. Now that we're getting into the thick of it, and how it can manifest to the mundane world, our attention has been called to action and balance in order to lessen the stress.

This weekend (Saturday) the astral dynamics amongst the squares began with Jupiter and Pluto exacting a square. Because of the retrograde cycle, these two will exact another square on August 2nd of this year and a final one on February 25th of next year. Not only were we challenged to let go of impractical plans this weekend, but large-scale things were clashing into unseen, transformative things everywhere. From news leaks about Afghanistan, to dams breaking, to those things in your personal life that began to irritate at the start of the summer and now have come to the point of requiring action to alleviate the pressure...it's certainly getting more difficult for all of us to find the time just to breathe calmly. More difficult than that is to clear our minds in the midst of demands for attention from every direction of our lives. But clarity is what we need to discover the right action for each situation we encounter now.

The Full Blessing Moon on Sunday night gave us plenty of opportunity to balance the oppositions between 7 planets, as well as our 2 luminaries. The opposition of the Full Moon pulled between ideas of defiance and decision. In the 3rd degree of Aquarius and Leo, the Moon's Sabian Symbol was 'a deserter from the navy' while the Sun's was 'a woman having her hair bobbed'. The blessing of balance proved that it would only be attained with drastic measures and definite decisions.

Other oppositions were just adding to the push-and-pull of everything. Mercury (working up to its opposition with Neptune yesterday and with Chiron today) may have muddled dishonest communication as a product of fear with communicating our woundedness as an excuse for such behavior. On the lighter side of this is a balance between our mental and communicative capacities with our capacity for spiritual healing. At any rate, the immediacy of needs in our lives required actions with unavoidable (and, in some cases, heartbreaking) ramifications. And today, with Mercury and Chiron at odds...confidence can only come from continuity. Our honesty and endurance sustains the unity and grace we need in our lives this summer.

The main players right now in this cosmic drama are the 5 in a T-square: Pluto makes the 90 degree angle between Uranus-Jupiter's opposition with Saturn-Mars. The tug-of-war between the New Age Uranus and the Old Age Saturn has been in effect since Election Day 2008, prompting polarization more than cooperation...at least on the global scale. With lucky Jupiter now on the side of the innovative Uranus and plucky Mars on the side of authoritative Saturn, we are only building up more opposition. The message from Pluto in the 4th degree of Capricorn is that wisdom incorporates the old and the new. The Sabian Symbol for this degree is 'A party entering a large canoe' and has much to do with motivating groups to accomplish great achievements. Order and planning is the focus of the T-square during these next two weeks. And when the Moon comes along in Cancer (the sign she rules) on August 6th, the pressure is off of Pluto and all of his necessary transformation...and can be balanced again with emotional comfort from family and close friends.

My husband and I are in a play right now that actually deals with these universal themes on a more personal level. The play centers around a family whose patriarch is dying. His four children are determined to be so different from each other that they are often at odds with each other. When they gather together, hijinx ensue. The only thing that brings them back to center is the love and support of familial bonds aiding the continuation of life after drastic changes.

I hope we are all able to anchor our personal experiences this summer with the nurturance of our emotional selves. This is the very balance that most of us have been needing in the midst of our changing lives.

Love and Gratitude,
Felina Lune Kavi