Can you feel the renewal?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 

The cycle of life is turning. It’s that glorious time when a warm breeze hits you just when you’ve grown accustomed to the chill, and suddenly, there it is.  Green everywhere.  Grass.  Budding leaves.  Daffodils.  The living earth is returning.

Not so coincidentally, it’s also the season of shamrocks, leprechauns, and green beer.  Today Chicago will turn the river a bright kelly green to mark the occasion.   

You might think the reawakening of the earth and St. Patrick’s Day aren’t related, but they are, astrologically, and in a very deep way.  All things considered and St. Patrick aside, his celebration is very much an astrological holiday.  So whether you are one of those people who loves St. Patrick’s Day, or whether you think it’s a day off for drunken hooligans, there is no mistaking its archetypal roots.  It’s green all around.  Everything is new.  Everything is beginning.  We’re awakening from our long sleep.  Take a deep breath in and enjoy.  Allow yourself to become reverent. 

The equinoxes describe the beginning and the end of the season of growth.  We sow in spring and reap in fall.  The Sun is literally at zero Aries in March and zero Libra in September.

The emergence of Spring from the remains of Winter is very much about the shift from the last sacrifice of Pisces to the screaming newborn, Aries.  Aries will not be denied.  As I write this the old adage March comes in like a lamb and goes out as a lion emerged in my mind that I learned way back in grade school.  The change from the lamb to the lion describes this beautifully.  Try to keep that grass from growing or those buds from forming.  It just won’t happen.

It is a time of reawakening and this year astrologically the are multiple exclamation marks, metaphorically speaking, to accompany it. 

Early next week we have both a New Moon and the Vernal Equinox happening on the same day.  Two days later Pluto moves into Aquarius and two days after that Mars finally leaves Gemini after hanging out in that sign since August 30. 

I will write more about each of these individually next week, so you will hear from me a bit more than usual.  But today I could feel the change, the renewal.  The songbirds are chanting a veritable symphony heralding spring's arrival. 

All holiday's archetypal roots hail back to important ritual days that mark the passage of time, light, and life.  They represent the way time is reflected in the heavens and how our lives are defined by the spin of the planets through the dark universe.  As astrologers, we take it a step further and understand that planetary movement can provide a kind of guidance that is crucial.  Beyond the light, planetary movement allows us to see how our own evolution is connected with the evolution of the world around us.  The seasons, and our ritual holidays, provide a framework that allows perspective.  The light will come, the light will go, and the light will return again.

Between now and Tuesday ( though I admit I have a blog planned for Monday in anticipation) take some brief moments to be reverential of the change that you are in your becoming, your unfolding, your spring. Listen to the music of what is emerging so that you can consciously carry it into both the Vernal Equinox and New Moon on Tuesday. 

We have a tendency to see ourselves as a constant (and part of us is connected to the eternal)but the greater truth is that we are also part of these greater cycles.  We are the acorn growing into the oak tree, which still continuously spreads its branches. Our lives are like time-lapse videos of blooming flowers the is so much more transformation and renewal going on in every moment than our conscious mind is capable of perceiving.  The magical mystery of our lives themselves is astonishing if we simply stop to take it all in. 

As the wise John O’Donohue said, “We are we forget that we are emerging theaters of undiscovered territory all the time.”

 

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 

 

The cycle of life is turning. It’s that glorious time when a warm breeze hits you just when you’ve grown accustomed to the chill, and suddenly, there it is.  Green everywhere.  Grass.  Budding leaves.  Daffodils.  The living earth is returning.

 

Not so coincidentally, it’s also the season of shamrocks, leprechauns, and green beer.  Today Chicago will turn the river a bright kelly green to mark the occasion.   

 

You might think the reawakening of the earth and St. Patrick’s Day aren’t related, but they are, astrologically, and in a very deep way.  All things considered and St. Patrick aside, his celebration is very much an astrological holiday.  So whether you are one of those people who loves St. Patrick’s Day, or whether you think it’s a day off for drunken hooligans, there is no mistaking its archetypal roots.  It’s green all around.  Everything is new.  Everything is beginning.  We’re awakening from our long sleep.  Take a deep breath in and enjoy.  Allow yourself to become reverent. 

 

The equinoxes describe the beginning and the end of the season of growth.  We sow in spring and reap in fall.  The Sun is literally at zero Aries in March and zero Libra in September.

 

The emergence of Spring from the remains of Winter is very much about the shift from the last sacrifice of Pisces to the screaming newborn, Aries.  Aries will not be denied.  As I write this the old adage March comes in like a lamb and goes out as a lion emerged in my mind that I learned way back in grade school.  The change from the lamb to the lion describes this beautifully.  Try to keep that grass from growing or those buds from forming.  It just won’t happen.

 

It is a time of reawakening and this year astrologically the are multiple exclamation marks, metaphorically speaking, to accompany it. 

 

Early next week we have both a New Moon and the Vernal Equinox happening on the same day.  Two days later Pluto moves into Aquarius and two days after that Mars finally leaves Gemini after hanging out in that sign since August 30. 

 

I will write more about each of these individually next week, so you will hear from me a bit more than usual.  But today I could feel the change, the renewal.  The songbirds are chanting a veritable symphony heralding spring's arrival. 

 

All holiday's archetypal roots hail back to important ritual days that mark the passage of time, light, and life.  They represent the way time is reflected in the heavens and how our lives are defined by the spin of the planets through the dark universe.  As astrologers, we take it a step further and understand that planetary movement can provide a kind of guidance that is crucial.  Beyond the light, planetary movement allows us to see how our own evolution is connected with the evolution of the world around us.  The seasons, and our ritual holidays, provide a framework that allows perspective.  The light will come, the light will go, and the light will return again.

 

Between now and Tuesday ( though I admit I have a blog planned for Monday in anticipation) take some brief moments to be reverential of the change that you are in your becoming, your unfolding, your spring. Listen to the music of what is emerging so that you can consciously carry it into both the Vernal Equinox and New Moon on Tuesday. 

 

We have a tendency to see ourselves as a constant (and part of us is connected to the eternal)but the greater truth is that we are also part of these greater cycles.  We are the acorn growing into the oak tree, which still continuously spreads its branches. Our lives are like time-lapse videos of blooming flowers the is so much more transformation and renewal going on in every moment than our conscious mind is capable of perceiving.  The magical mystery of our lives themselves is astonishing if we simply stop to take it all in. 

 

As the wise John O’Donohue said, “We are we forget that we are emerging theaters of undiscovered territory all the time.”