_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Wheels of Change
My job is to press forward, to grow interiorly, to pray, to break away from attachments and to defy fears; to grow in faith, which has its own solitude, to see an entirely new perspective and new dimensions in my life. To open up new horizons at any cost
~ Thomas Merton
Being A Person
Be a person here. Stand by the river, invoke
the owls. Invoke winter, then spring.
Let any season that wants to come here make its own
call. After that sound goes away, wait.
A slow bubble rises through the earth
and begins to include sky, stars, all space,
even the outracing, expanding thought.
Come back and hear the little sound again.
Suddenly this dream you are having matches
everyone’s dream, and the result is the world.
If a different call came there wouldn’t be any
world, or you, or the river, or the owls calling.
How you stand here is important. How you
listen for the next things to happen. How you breathe.
~ William Stafford
Greetings from the beginning of Spring, according to both pagan and Chinese calendars! Here in California, buds are indeed appearing, even some plum blossoms, despite the wayward weather. Change is indeed afoot, both in the natural world, and within us all, with the Sun in the archetypal sign of Change. These have been some intense weeks, under the effect of last month’s Full Moon configuration of Pluto conjunct the Sun at 0° Aquarius. Since then, we’ve had Mercury (communication) and Mars (taking action) sidling up to fierce Pluto, throwing even more intensity at us— not always pretty. But we’re up to the task, or we wouldn’t be here.
By Feb. 16, we’ll have Venus joining the Aquarius parade, which will include all three inner (personal) planets and the Sun all linked up with Pluto in the sign of detached seeing, liberation from constraints, and utopian ideals. While Pluto’s ultimate goal is healing and regeneration, its process churns up decaying, repressed material, both inner and outer. So during its 20-year journey through Aquarius, we can expect to see Aquarius’ shadow side rising to the fore. This could take the forms of invasive AI, the spread of autocracy, cold-hearted sociopathy, and more. But Aquarius has important gifts as well, some of which I will invoke here. While the powers of Aquarian darkness may look grim, we can meet them!
We can start by looking at Thomas Merton’s truly Aquarian approach to life, outlined so well in the quote above: defying fears, breaking from attachments, leaning towards faith, and opening up new dimensions. Uranus as co-ruler of Aquarius does give it the stamp of restlessly exploring new horizons, as Merton expresses.
While an Air sign, Aquarius’s symbol is the water bearer, pouring the wisdom of the ages down from the heavens. As such, its association with water joins it with the subtle water vibe of previous sign Capricorn (whose totem is the goat with a fish’s tail), and next sign Pisces, symbolized by the fishes. This means that airy Aquarius, known for its detached conceptualizing and visioning, also drinks of the deep spiritual wisdom of the ages. Certainly Merton embodied these pursuits, as a Trappist monk dedicated to an inner life of prayer and intention, as well as the work of witnessing the world through discerning eyes and writing about it.
Not all individuals’ charts so clearly illustrate a specific archetype, but Merton’s is textbook for Aquarius. He has Sun-Mars-Mercury-Jupiter and Uranus all in Aquarius, and in the house naturally ruled by Aquarius, the 11th. And his North Node (his direction in life) is there as well. Sadly, he died unexpectedly, by electrocution— an extremely Uranian way to go! (Uranus ruling over electricity, shock, inventions, and the ‘aha’ moments of life.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tension of the Opposites: Self vs. Community
If we want to deepen into an understanding of this archetype, perhaps we should pull out one of our Merton’s books, if we have one! I have his Thoughts In Solitude, which is an apt title, given that Aquarius, while in some respects aspiring to Unity—the brother/sisterhood of humanity—also carries the torch for personal individuation, as separate and apart from the group, due to its Uranus influence. To achieve a distinct, separate identity, solitude is necessary. One cannot individuate, or easily innovate, from within a group. Here is a central paradox about Aquarius – it is determined to live for and embrace the collective, and yet it urges us to develop our unique note to contribute to this collective. My older sister had an 11th house stellium (three planets together) in Aquarius, including her Sun—a bit like Merton’s. I recall how she gave me the book, Solitude, by Anthony Storr, about 35 years ago, which I resonated with, given my Aquarius South Node, which reveals my instinctual comfort and familiarity with the energy, having ‘majored’ in it previously. It seems to me that this tension between wanting to contribute to society, be part of something – whether a movement, a team, a cause, or a community—and wanting to be alone, in order to connect with oneself and the vast non-human world that exists outside the self, whether that of nature and the stars, or other planes of existence and ways of knowing, will be baked into the years ahead, with Pluto more fully ushering in the Aquarian theme since its second ingress in January. The Pluto ‘game’ of transformation, if you will, will be an Aquarian one. Intentional time taken in solitude may be needed in order to deprogram ourselves from centuries of Capricornian conditioning. But coming out of isolation, a disease of our time, and joining our essential selves in community, will be an equally vibrant theme. The collective needs individuated selves! Deprogramming from our acculturated beliefs and ways in part requires coming down off the ego-obsession of distorted Leo energy (Leo being the polarity sign working in tandem with Aquarius). Exaggerated self-focus and self-aggrandizement is another sickness of our time, necessitating the antidote of the Aquarian vision of all beings as equal and special. We need to achieve the Goldilocks effect here – just enough ego to be a unique self making an authentic contribution, with each self offering its gifts in service to a shared vision that welcomes and honors the greater community of Life. |
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Of Rights and Rites
In honor of this greater community, German-born British composer Max Richter and his ensemble created a hauntingly beautiful piece, Voices (2020), featuring readings from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 1948, with Eleanor Roosevelt serving as chair of the drafting committee. Here’s a short clip from one of the Chorales, to get us in the Aquarian mindset. Great irony that this was the very year of the Nakba, the war on Palestine and resulting expulsion from their homelands, and the founding of the state of Israel.
On the theme of other-than-human community, I have been learning this month about African elephant tribes and their behaviors through the graceful work of Eleanor O’Hanlon, who travels to and shares about some of the world’s oldest and wisest animal beings. The mores of these ancient elephants provide a powerful window into the integrated Aquarian-Leo polarity, given that they are very social animals—even democratic (!), allowing anyone—even the young—to at times influence the elder leaders’ decisions, while also conveying an enormous amount of Leonine love to their family members. This love is lavished upon the infants, through the touch and play offered by many elders, as well as on the deceased, for whom continued reverence is shown both in memory and in actions (elephants spending sometimes weeks standing beside the boney remains of the dead).
In Aquarian fashion, elephants’ seeing stretches beyond the now, into deep time, picking up on the vibrations of their ancestors. We do well to use them as a model in reclaiming the wisdom of our own ancestors, honoring their suffering, as well as the value of the lived experiences of our own personal past. In our post-modern ‘screen era’, excessive mental Aquarius energy—isolated, detached, and often overly captured by futuristic visions (such as the virtual world of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, and Jeff Bezos’ outer space exploits)—risks forgetting that love and passion are the anchor of earthly life. Bringing in the heart center, and playful camaraderie, as elephants and other animals know to do, is key. This is the part of Leo that needs to be blended with Aquarian detachment and perspective-taking.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Other Ways of Knowing: Tuning In vs Tampering
Elephants also appear to be remarkably connected to the geomagnetic lines within the earth, which it is suggested helps them know how to source water that is sometimes hundreds of miles away. This echoes Aquarius’ association with geomagnetic, as well as electrical waves as sources of intelligence, and brings to mind the astonishing power as well of winged ones like butterflies and sand hill cranes to navigate sometimes thousands of miles back to where their parents had come from. This ‘tuning in’ to felt sense knowing that these other-than-human beings excel at is a capacity that, in this Aquarian era, we need to re-cultivate within ourselves, in order to embody the conscious presence that indigenous peoples still hold.
Along these (electrical) lines, on a more cautionary note about the Aquarian Age, astrologer Mark Jones describes that 5G and 6G wireless cellular network technology (Aquarius being the significator of technology) can potentially degrade the accuracy of weather forecasts by as much as 30%, as it disrupts necessary water vapor signals. These signals are sensitive to ‘noise’ near the ground, and when disrupted, diminish the capacities of satellites to measure them. Inaccurate weather reports do not bode well for food harvests, so this is a big issue. Sadly, birds too, as well as bees and other insects, are affected by the electromagnetic radiation that human innovations thrust into the air. It is suggested that this radiation is contributing to the serious bee population die-off.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Human Flaw, or Trauma Signature
Connecting to our non-human kin can help us connect back to our own essence, which is the work of individuation that Uranus calls us to. But this is delicate work. In his book, Healing the Soul, Mark Jones discusses how the unique “genius” within signified by Uranus can become entangled within a trauma signature. This can be reflected by the aspects in our natal chart from other planets to our Uranus, as well as the planets in our 11th house, or in Aquarius. Being the higher octave of Mercury, Uranus corresponds to long-term memory, and the higher mind function that contains many memories and strata of awareness, not just traumatic ones. But sometimes the trauma memories hold gems within them, as author/philosopher John O’Donohue suggests in discussing “The Human Flaw” in his book, Beauty.
O’Donohue states that beauty (referring, I feel, to our essence or genius) comes into a person through the ‘frontier’ of limitation, confusion, anxiety, and helplessness (our flaw), and that if we can embrace this with graciousness (no small feat), we enter a doorway into another rhythm of life, one that takes us down new pathways not previously travelled. This speaks to me of the new and unknown territories that Aquarian ‘reframing’ presents, when we are able to touch a fixed point of vulnerability within us, hold its fracturing of our “hope for order”, and thereby open a chink or window into a new light that can shine both into and from us. This is what trauma healing entails.
The flaw, like Uranus, and the Aquarius archetype, breaks patterns of familiarity. It is the part in us that doesn’t fit, doesn’t belong, doesn’t meld with convention. “The world is a strange place to be,” O’Donohue says,“ and we are strange creatures. But strangeness needn’t be frightening—it’s what we see when we glimpse a wild animal, and they then quickly move away.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
No surprise, then, that Aquarius is linked to wild nature, and as such, the wildness within us, as this speaks to the part of us that has not been tamed, domesticated, colonized, or robbed of its vitality—vitality being the nature of genius and innovation. Spending time in nature, or with wild beings, or tuning into the natural rhythms of the seasons, then, helps us reconnect to our instinctual self, where our inherent essence can truly shine. And it matters, in the changing and challenging times at hand, how many of us are able to connect to our essence. As William Stafford says at the top,
How you stand here is important. How you listen for the next things to happen. How you breathe.
Stafford’s poem points to the Aquarian vision of universal consciousness, of finding interconnected consciousness in all things. A blog post from author/theologian/activist Matthew Fox on “The Divine Eyes” of artist Alex Grey and visionary saint Hildegard von Bingen speaks to this. The post includes a painting of Grey’s called “The Green Hand,” with eyes peering out both from within and around many hands. The caption indicates its homage to Hildegard’s concept of “Viriditas,” or “the greening” of the Earth and all human work that honors it. It also speaks to the awareness that consciousness permeates all life. Fox writes,
Hildegard talks about ‘the living eye,’ while calling the Holy Spirit ‘a fire that penetrates everything,’ and God the Creator ‘a brightness that shines’, and Christ, the ‘flashing forth that radiates’ divine fire.
In my own earlier Aquarian explorations into the unknown, through the medium of painting in a method called The Painting Experience, I found myself painting multiple eyes in parts of my own paintings, indicating the observing presence both within and without that I instinctively felt. One could say that this valuable “process work” helped open a door to my own unique essence or Uranian knowing.
Navigational Tools for Aquarian Times
Speaking of eyes, one of the gifts of Aquarius is its expansive vision, which takes in the whole, from a birds-eye, or cosmic view. Learning how to look wide, far, and deep helps us overcome our modern-day myopia and adopt a more inclusive perspective on life. This affords us some detachment from the small (albeit large-looming) dramas of our own lives.
A suggestion for learning to see with new eyes in the course of our ordinary lives is to take regular ‘awe walks,’ as described by UC Berkeley psychology professor Dacher Keltner, who recently wrote, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. He points to the capacity for awe to help us ‘get off ourselves’, as they used to say in the days of Werner Erhard’s EST trainings in the 70s. Good medicine for these over-amped Leonine times of the selfie.
Describing his research results, Keltner says,
We found evidence that the self can extend into the environment. In the awe-walk condition, people’s selfies increasingly included less of the self. Over time, the subjects drifted off to the side, showing more of the outside environment—a street corner in San Francisco, the trees, the rocks around the Pacific Ocean. Over the course of our study, awe-walkers reported feeling less daily distress and more prosocial emotions such as compassion and amusement.
Anything that invites people back into relation with the all-that-is serves as a valuable tool for Aquarian times. Circling back to the theme of change, I came upon a recent blog post from Richard Rohr, Franciscan priest and writer, called “To Live is to Change.” In it he quotes psychologist Robert Wicks, who suggests that being resilient means making the decision to remain open to ongoing (my emphasis) growth and change. This is quite contrary to the nature of the first Fixed sign Taurus (Scorpio being the 2nd, Aquarius the last). Taurus finds comfort and security in predictable routines.
But with Uranus having been passing through Taurus since March of 2019, and staying there until April 2026, our habitual comfort zones have certainly been being rocked. One of those Taurean comfort zones is nature herself, and yes, sadly, it’s gotten severely rocked during these years…or more precisely, it’s doing the rocking, fed up with our human ignorant ways of disrespect.
Security-oriented Cancer isn’t far behind in the realm of wanting things to be stable and ‘womb-like.’ Each impulse is needed in the crazy quilt of Life, whether for security and stability (Cancer and Taurus), the capacity to flow with continual change (Aquarius), the presencing of creative self-expression (Leo), or the letting go of self in order to merge with the One (Aquarius, and Pisces). While all archetypes are of course needed, all being part of Life, Aquarius’ beckoning towards taking new perspectives and adopting new stories is going to be vital to our capacity to move through the months and years ahead, methinks.
In the Rohr article, 19th century Saint John Henry Newman, is quoted, “Here below, to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” Good to take note, for these changing times. Yet, everything in moderation! We are cautioned by the wisdom of indigenous elders not to seek change or “progress” for change’s sake, a trend that has led our civilization down its self-destructive path, causing us to lose respect for the time-tested rhythms and cycles of Life.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Earth-Sourced Technologies
The Kogi Indians, inhabitants of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in Columbia, have preserved their indigenous ways in isolation from the Western world since before the time of the Spanish Conquistadors (15th-16th centuries). Theirs, like those of indigenous cultures across the world, is a centuries-old culture whose knowledge begs to be implemented if we are to preserve the future of mankind. This strikes me as deeply Aquarian, looking both backwards and forwards in time.
In a fascinating video of three Kogi representatives appearing at a 2023 gathering of progressive business interests in Paris, the Kogi spoke of the necessity of connecting to and observing nature before technological developments are undertaken, of being “bio-inspired.” They reference the mastery of the spider’s web, and how the spider has never needed to change or revise its technology, which they contend is distributed by “The Mother”. They have modeled the roofs of their huts after the web. “We need only change our technologies when the spider does.”
Building of any sort in their culture must first consider the “Law of Origin,” which comes from the Earth. They describe a web of energy, like a skeleton, which supports all of life, and without which nothing could exist. Making their clothes, they always take the Four Directions into account. In direct connection to Pluto in Aquarius themes, they use regenerative technologies, sometimes in the realm of spirit and mind. They train their future elders by keeping them in a dark cave until they are 9 years old—there they work with their thoughts in such as way to connect with the Earth through archetypal energies and to give back to her. They also travel far out into the realm of the stars.
Acknowledging that ‘water is life’ here on Earth, with conception happening in the womb’s waters, they also work to cleanse their thoughts and their emotional bodies, putting them in order before the birth of each next generation. As to the Earth element, they listen to the “sacred objects” of metals and minerals for advice on how to live well. They state that these materials have wisdom that must not be removed from the Earth. And that it is important to know the origins of older things such as minerals, in order to know why they’re there, so as not to destroy them.
Speaking of long-term memory, for those who might like a throw-back, late 70s acoustic piece, here is Sally Oldfield singing, appropriately for Aquarius, the song Water Bearer, which I first had shared with me by a German motor cycler who was part of a group that picked me and my two girlfriends up when hitchhiking in Ireland in 1982. The five of us spent a few days together, and later again met up for travels in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. The song stuck!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Political Fervor
I haven’t yet touched on the political dimensions of Aquarius, but they are significant. As I see it, the Aquarian impulse towards change manifests at the two edges of our potentially crumbling party system, and almost meet each other—even do meet each other in some respects—as the point of yin dissolves into yang and visa versa. Saturn is a co-ruler of this sign, which suggests an impulse to preserve the conventions of the past, and a rigid adoption of traditions and dogma. The Far Right Maga Republicans are a type of reactionary Aquarian, as such harkening after old world, so-called ‘family values’ that embrace and seek to resurrect a longed-for “order” from a former time, where the norm was (seemingly) heterosexual relations, male dominance in the family, Christian fundamentalism, and the comfort of including only white people as members of the club (and even the country!).
This group is at the vanguard, as the ‘new’ Republicans, so in their own way a type of radical, cutting edge, reform ‘wing’. Meanwhile, much further left than the Democrats, we have those, mostly of younger generations, such as my own politics major daughter, who have become disillusioned by the very concept of democracy, as it has become integrally associated with the dirty words capitalism and neo-liberalism. When Bernie lost the Democratic nomination in 2019, these folks gave up on politics as we know it. For them, hierarchy and privilege must go – a harkening after the ideals of the Bolshevik Revolution. Community organizing is the method.
Members of both far left and far right each in their own way advocate the toppling of democracy, and throwing out, defying, or re-interpreting the Constitutional rulebook that has been the backbone of America. Indeed, this era of Pluto in Aquarius will be interesting times.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Innovative Commerce: The Time Bank
Here’s a simple, equality-based, and local innovation for skirting, or upending the market-driven, mad money-making way of life that has been eating away at our civilization: the Time Bank. The time bank trades labor and services of all types, hour for hour, regardless of the ‘market value’ of that service. Time bank members sign up to offer one’s skills, and read the ads of those who need assistance with things, like transportation, gardening, sewing, home and property maintenance, or—this caught my eye—making sauerkraut!
My own town has proudly sponsored one for I think eight years now, and I’ve finally found the time to join, having been for many years too busy. Ironic, that I haven’t had the time to join the time bank. This too, quite Aquarian, given that Saturn rules time. On the one hand, Uranus says ‘anything goes,’ this sounds cool! On the other, Saturn says one must be practical and responsible, and not got carried away with signing up for things one don’t have time for. But just in time for Aquarius energy, I’ve finally gotten past that!
Right after I’d signed up for my ‘on-boarding’ session to get cozy with the technology of the Sebastopol Area Time Bank a couple weeks ago, our time bank was featured in the online magazine, Reasons To Be Cheerful, launched by Talking Heads singer David Byrne. I’ve subscribed to this for a couple of years, so was tickled to see my hometown make global news.
Shortly after that, the ride I had planned to get home from the airport bus on a trip I was taking fell through, and I had cause to place my first my time bank ad, requesting a ride home. Worked like a charm! To me, the time bank is a great example of an Aquarian model for the future: one shares with or receives from one’s community skills and expertise, and makes friends along the way. Win win.
Astrology of Now
The February 9 New Moon at 20° Aquarius includes, as I’d said at the beginning, quite a lineup for Aquarius energy, with more soon to come by February 16. It also features a square from Uranus to that Sun-Moon conjunction in Aquarius. I feel like Uranus has been unusually active in the New Moon charts for quite some time now, but this one is even further amped, given that the New Moon is in the sign Uranus co-rules. So being prepared to be surprised, jostled, or moved to adapt to or invite change is in order here.
This is also a time when we can be woken up, as Uranus is the Awakener. In this case, we could experience the awakening of feelings (with the Moon involved), perhaps over having our security threatened—although with the Moon in Aquarius, there’s going to be significant detachment. So we may get to experience what it’s like to have something potentially upsetting happen, without being all that bothered about it. For watery types, such as myself, this is always refreshing! ‘Oh, so this is what it’s like to be one of those ‘water off a duck’s back’ people!’ Learning to swim in rough waters is a good thing.
There’s also considerable potential during this 29-day lunation for more anger or rage being expressed (still?), given that Mars is closely approaching an exact conjunction with Pluto, which it reaches just in time for Valentine’s Day. The good thing is that Mars-Pluto doesn’t always have to manifest as rage – it could be great passion and desire! Alternatively, this could manifest as feeling newly inspired to take action for deep and lasting change in our lives. What might that look like for you?
Leaving you with a final Aquarian vibe, here’s a favorite soundtrack from Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint, which I saw him perform back in the 80s at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall—a throwback again!, but at least to what was then cutting edge music. As I listened recently, I heard it oscillating up to a higher, ‘newer’ key (just after 2 minutes), one that is uplifting, and then come repeatedly back down, to ‘life as we know it.’ Maybe this is a bit what Aquarian “upleveling” will be like!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Further Meanderings
Max Richter, Voices clip – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMcl_zK7Ewg&ab_channel=MaxRichter-Topic
Work of Eleanor O’Hanlon – Eyes of the Wild – https://eyesofthewild.org/
Effects of electromagnetic technology on winged migrations – https://www.newsweek.com/migratory-birds-bee-navigation-5g-technology-electromagnetic-radiation-934830
Artist Alex Grey and Saint Hildegard of Bingen on the Divine Eye(s) –
Psychologist Dacher Keltner on Awe Practices – https://www.awakin.org/v2/read/view.php?op=audio&tid=2598
Franciscan Richard Rohr – To Live is to Change – https://cac.org/daily-meditations/to-live-is-to-change/
Columbian Kogi Indians – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kogi_people
Kogi Representatives on Paris Stage 2023 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbA9YAkvNmc&t=1s&ab_channel=PAUA
Steve Reich: Electrical Counterpoint (Fast) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UStCXLNVtGY&ab_channel=SteveReich-Topic
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
All photos copyright Diana Badger 2024 (unless otherwise indicated)