In and Out of Time
Each morning we awaken to the light
and the invitation to a new day in the world of time;
each night we surrender to the dark to be taken to play in the world of dreams where time is no more.
At birth we were awakened and emerged to become visible in the world.
At death we will surrender again to the dark to become invisible.
Awakening and surrender: they frame each day and each life;
between them the journey where anything can happen, the beauty and the frailty.
~ John O’Donohue in Beauty: The Insivisible Embrace
As we move deeper into the springtime feast of the month of May, with an abundance of both earthy Taurus, and quite a bit of water sign energy, I find myself more and more needing to slow down and drop down in, to dwell both with the warming breezes and shafts of sunlight gracing newborn rose petals, and the rhythms, emotions, and sentiments arising within. As I write, the Moon (which influences our feelings and our comfort zone) is conjunct Saturn in Pisces, which is fitting, as Saturn in Pisces, which I discussed previously in my Hunger Moon post, has continued to rise to my awareness, particularly recently. Saturn positioned in the last of the water signs—the sign of transcendence, of healing, of creativity rising from the unseen depths—strikes an important bass note that we do well to listen to for the next couple of years, throughout all the other celestial signatures vying for our attention. While Pisces bears the potential for deep understanding and compassion, to get there we need to do Saturn’s work, which means letting go of old ghosts or losses, and refraining from identifying too personally with the troubles of others. Faith in healing, combined with loving detachment are key, as if we allow ourselves to fall into emotional reactivity or negativity, we can find ourselves ‘flooded’ by Piscean waters of despair or disillusionment. For me personally, Saturn is transiting through a water sign House, so the call inward is all the more potent, which is perhaps why it keeps capturing my attention. Also, as Jungian astrologer Liz Greene, points out, Saturn is where we practice our discipleship. For others, the house or sector of life where you have Pisces energy will ask for ‘getting serious’ about the Piscean way of being, with Saturn passing through it. Saturn asks us to give form and structure to, and, importantly, take responsibility for, what it touches. It’s a bit of an oxymoron, to take responsibility in a Piscean manner, as Pisces inherently seeks to move us beyond structures and ‘shoulds’, to other planes of consciousness, other levels of awareness, and other ways of knowing and feeling. Its influence can be discombobulating if we are agenda-driven. But basically, Saturn in Pisces asks that we create a form, a time, or in some way regularly prioritize dwelling in the mystery, the creative, the transcendent, the intuition…in whatever way most naturally speaks to us. Being practical, it also asks that we discipline ourselves not to get carried off into illusory waters that do not serve our skillful growth. At this moment in time both Mars and Venus are also in a water sign—that of nourishing Cancer—with Venus in a harmonious trine with this Moon-Saturn duo, and Mars as well trining Neptune in Pisces, furthering the water element quality of flow, beauty, and introspection. As if nodding in agreement with my words, the warm sun is massaging my back where I sit in my garden, and the winds sway in emphasis, evoking a scintillating dance between the silvery cottonwood leaves above, and the wind chimes’ gentle melodies. |
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For the Love of Earthly Beauties
Hopefully, some of this heavenly sweetness of the nourishing water realms, coupled with May’s rich parade of Taurean earth beauty will be touching you too, this Mother’s Day weekend, as we honor the Mother in our lives, both the one who birthed us, and the Earth Mother of us all. By Friday’s New Moon we will have a huge lineup in Taurus: Sun-Moon conjunct (as at all New Moons), and Uranus, Mercury, Jupiter (just entered on the 16th), and the North Node. Really, if there were a celestial time asking that we slow down (Taurus’ motto), drop in, and savor, in a “big” (Jupiterian) way, this is surely one, as the cosmic energy nudges—if not shoves—us to do so. Jupiter moving into Taurus, where it will reside for a year, ensures that we will continue to be invited to partake of, if not indulge in Taurean themes, such as the comforts of the senses, the delights of nature and the garden, establishing security, creating beauty, and taking pleasure in life. All well and good, yet with Jupiter involved, we need to be careful about getting pulled into excess. For much more on how to navigate with the Taurean theme, you can purchase my class recording and notes here. |
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Peace Vibes Station Interrupter
As with most moments and seasons, there is rarely just one primary impulse at play, and even in May, it is not all roses. Yes, the compatible Water-Earth impulses (both being Yin elements) I’ve been describing partake of the deep feminine, and are positioned towards receiving, allowing, sensing, and flowing. Our culture needs this…WE need this! So, may we drink deep of what is available here. However, as we approach Friday’s New Moon (8:54am at 28° Taurus) we will begin to experience a Grand Cross in Fixed signs (think power struggle!), with disruptor Pluto opposing fiery Mars, and both squaring Jupiter and Mercury conjunct the Moon’s North Node, all in Taurus. The configuration will be with us through the end of the month, but influencing the entire 4-week moon cycle.
This Grand Cross indicates potential conflicts involving willful rigidity or resistance, with Taurean attachment to cherished values playing a strong note. With Mercury being the primary archetype for communication, and Jupiter pertaining to ‘big ideas’, and sometimes prone to know-it-all proselytizing, we could very well see a lot of verbal steam heat in the airwaves. There may also be compelling impulses in our own lives to act out on strong emotions, with power brokers Mars and Pluto known for being irrepressible when triggered, especially by each other and when ‘expanded’ by Jupiter.
On the up side, astrologer Maurice Fernandez suggests about this Grand Cross that regenerative Pluto may serve to burst Jupiter’s “bubble” (of thinking it knows best) and provide resources for transformative breakthrough. So there could be a beneficial opportunity inside the possible angst. Bottom line, it could be useful to approach the rest of what may not exactly be such the “merry month of May” with a big dollop of ‘royal’ Taurean patience. Can’t resist re-invoking the Brits’ Keep calm and carry on, even though in the new post-Taurean Queen era it is no longer politically in vogue, or in some circles, even conscionable, to nod to the Crown.
Taurus being the musical sign, I can’t help but hear the rhyming “Caribbean Queen” song drifting by as I write. So I had to take a musical moment out to watch the video, and low and behold, at 1:40, we see the Taurean bull image featured on the altar behind Billy Ocean, with giant bullhorns in front, rising around him. Also some fixed sign Leo lions on the stage, nodding to the sign where passionate Mars is headed in just a few days. More and more I see how once we pay attention to the archetypal themes, they speak back. The world truly is interactively alive, in more ways than we imagine!
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Feminine Power Rising
Another possible invitation with this Grand Cross is to find a way to consciously tame and integrate the intense power of Mars opposing Pluto. With ‘male energy’ planets Saturn and Mars in graceful Yin water signs, the ask of this configuration may be for inclusion of the feminine way of being amidst the passionate push-pull over truth and righteousness, be it spiritual, material, or socio-political.
Perhaps this configuration also offers an opportunity for the powerful voice of the fierce feminine to resurge. This could be through our own inner work of letting go of past hurts and pains, setting boundaries that prevent this from happening further, and (re)claiming our instinctual, sensitive and interconnected sense of being. Or it could involve activism and ‘shouting out’ (Jupiter-Mercury) in the social sphere. With both the communicator planets placed in songster sign Taurus, we might look to music as a powerful delivery tool for such messages. The female musical duo, Rising Appalachia, whom I recently learned of through a friend and whose music I soon thereafter noticed playing in a small (woman-owned) used clothes shop, is a great example. True to their name, they are rising to the task! There is some strong stuff on their “Ley Lines” album, such as topically relevant song, Speak Out!
Also on the ‘speak out’ frontlines, social/environmental Sagittarian activist par excellence, Jane Fonda, appeared in in my Inbox twice last week, one piece written by her, another one about her, focusing on her continued and tireless efforts to defend Mother Earth. Phenomenally energetic at 85, despite having recently battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Fonda has energy-bestowing Jupiter close to her Capricorn Ascendant and directly opposing Pluto, indicating her intense, passionate, and energetic crusade for causes (not to mention fitness!), always reinventing herself, often through others, but at this stage of her life, as a solo flyer. Amazingly, the upcoming Pluto-Mars opposition sits exactly on her natal Jupiter-Pluto opposition straddling her Ascendant (Self)-Descendant (Other) axis. So her unique blend of Amazonian and femme fire is an excellent symbol for the rising feminine that we may see more of.
Not that this feminine power rising has to look femme! But that’s Jane’s ‘brand’, with sexy Scorpio informing her public profile Midheaven. Hot lips is not my personal style!, but go Jane, she’s a Jupiter-Pluto force, and sets a good example for how to express the upcoming Jupiter-Pluto square! (Although for her, the two planets are in opposition, which means living and experiencing the energies relationally. With the upcoming square, we will be feeling this more as an inner tension between our impulses to radically expand our horizons and lenses of perception, and the need to ensure peace, security, and material plane pleasures.)
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Preparing for Deep Change
Pluto will return to Capricorn on June 12 for a final 6 months of letting go of habituated or fraying (Capricorn) structures and forms, before returning to Aquarius on January 22, where it will stay for two decades of transforming into ‘the new,’ in whatever ways that comes to you (particularly in the house or sector of life where you have Aquarius in your chart). Pluto in Aquarius will be calling us to change how we relate to the big picture of Life, or perhaps to the frame of our own life, with Aquarius, as an Air sign, being very much about perception and framing, and opening to change. When off-centered, Aquarius energy can be reactionary and entrenched in its own beliefs, devolving into black/white thinking. So, while we do well to focus on positive change, we will certainly be seeing more power struggles on the big stage in coming times.
While Pluto is Rx (retrograde) for these next five months, it will be a good time to deepen inwardly into the Pluto principle, which is about uncovering what we may have instinctively repressed: patterns, traumas, compulsions, fears, and other behaviors or life structures that we may have adopted for good reason in earlier life, in order to survive threatening, challenging or hurtful circumstances. As with Saturn in Pisces, Pluto Rx asks us to venture courageously into introspective life review mode, with compassion, and forgiveness (certainly for self, if possible for others), and an attitude that questions our well-worn habits and reactions, and is willing to let go of ones that no longer serve.
Aquarian change is a primary signature for what lies ahead, so this is a good window of time to be thinking about what that might look like for us. (An astrological reading could well serve the purpose too, as it would inform of the particular nature of your Plutonic work! Pluto is, oddly, my ‘favorite’ planet to work with, as I’ve got more than my fair share of it in my chart.)
Kairos vs. Chronos Time
I recently listened to an interview with Jenny O’Dell, author of How To Do Nothing, based on her new book, Saving Time. The Emergence Magazine interview was aptly titled “Another Kind of Time.” In it, O’Dell explores two types of time: Chronos, which signifies the conventional ‘quantitative’ orientation we have to time in our lives (never enough!), and Kairos, a qualitative orientation to time, in which the steadily running tickertape is suddenly interrupted by an event or experience that pops us into transcendental or ‘time out of time’ time. Examples she provides are of being transported by a beautiful view, a baby’s face, or a moment of deep gratitude.
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The interview, and undoubtedly O’Dell’s new book, provide a provocative chance to reflect on time in a way that perfectly mirrors the Saturn in Pisces proposition, in which the traditional orientation for how to live in the material world is being paired with states of immaterial ‘non-being’, flow, and awareness.
Might it be possible to desist from applying “industrial time” to oneself, Odell asks? What if, instead of hoarding time, we learned to give it away, in defiance? What if, instead of forever trying to “save time,” we learned how to “garden it?” By this she means, using time well and rightly—learning when are the good times to do certain things, but not others. Herein, the lens of astrology syncs beautifully. Because by understanding the qualities of the archetypal signature of a time, we truly do learn such ‘time gardening’ skills. We learn when to strive for the goal, and when to make the goal become the cessation of striving (which is one way to approach Saturn in Pisces). What a sensible way of living between Earth and Sky, to consult the ‘archetypal almanac’ so as to better garden our way through Time.
I recall a friend years ago describing to me a version of this very thing—suggesting that when she was in Kairos time, she simply could not get things done the way she could in Chronos time. That it was futile to try, or even to expect herself to be on track with “the ToDo’s.” The best thing was to wait for Chronos time to roll around again, and give herself over to Kairos mode when that was afoot. Another friend has mentioned a similar thing, calling Kairos, “unproductive time.” Doesn’t sound like something to be excited about, but this is where the Aquarian reframe is needed. How cool would it be if there were no pejorative twinge to the term “unproductive.” (Saturn/Chronos loves to rule by guilt!) What better word could we invent to make ourselves feel guilt-free about dwelling in Kairos time, I wonder. Even though retrogradation is not involved with Saturn in Pisces at the moment, words that come to me are “re” words, like Repair, Reinvent, Relax, and Release.
It’s rough on our superegos (our inner Saturn!) to surrender to this, as our cultural conditioning for so long has asked us to press ever forward towards the relentless patriarchal proposition of goals to achieve and mountaintops to conquer. Those of us with not that much water in our charts are probably more than happy to keep pressing on after the next enticing vision or scheme, the juicy desire or challenge, or the magnetic spark. Those strong in water sign energy, however, may know Kairos time with more intimacy. It can sometimes look like brooding, sulking, or spacing out. But it’s also the most deeply creative waters we can swim in, if done skillfully.
This is where Saturn can help, as Saturn, keen on mastering the realm of materiality, is keen to develop excellence through hard work and focus. A dash of discipline and persistence never hurt any chaotic birthing waters, I say! In fact, my Pilates teacher was just affirming that Saturn in Pisces is an excellent time for Pilates, as it teaches us the importance of strengthening our “core” (Saturn rules the bones and frame), so that we can have true freedom in or movable joints and limbs! So perhaps we could think of this Saturn phase, as a time to strengthen our emotional and spiritual core.
Regardless of how watery your own chart may be, Saturn’s transit through Pisces is a perfect invitation for all of us (again, depending on what house or area of life Pisces influences in your chart) to spend some conscious time with Kairos, to see where it takes us, and importantly, to allow its wisdom to seep in. And perhaps, we can take notes—as there are potential insights of great value to be harvested from these excursions into dreamland, or Dreamtime, as the Aboriginals call it.
What these excursions reveal to us could very well be an important ingredient to add to the secret sauce of change that the strong Aquarian theme heralds in this time of regeneration.
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Further Meanderings
Billy Ocean song: Caribbean Queen – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxX2gA18grk
Rising Appalachia song: Speak Out! – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEQ9R3hHe7Q
Jane Fonda Article and Brief Video – https://people.com/movies/jane-fonda-why-happiest-shes-ever-…
Jenny O’Dell podcast interview on Another Kind of Time – https://emergencemagazine.org/interview/another-kind-of-time/?utm_source=Emergence+Magazine&utm_campaign=52d44bfc3e-JennyOdell—20230430&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_73186f6259-52d44bfc3e-39084425
On Standing up to Patriarchy and Speaking Out: V (formerly Eve Ensler) with Christiane Amanpour – https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2023/01/30/amanpour-v-reckoning.cnn
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All photos copyright Diana Badger 2023