Acolt Communication

EnlightenQ - Coming November 5th 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 22:27:00 +0000

God Cries

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:22:00 +0000

This morning I penned a little essay about fated things and blame. You know the adage about good things happening to bad people. I suppose that it is a part of the human experience to feel victimized at one point or another and at times there can be no doubt about it. People suffer enormously from unexpected weather, earth quakes, and war. AND astrologers miss these cataclysmic events more often than not.

This fact doesn't disprove astrology anymore than the unexplained and mysterious disprove science. It only means that we are still learning.

Neptune-Imagining New Beginnings

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 21:53:00 +0000

Neptune-Imagining New Beginnings

Clients call their astrologer pre-sold on the idea that the discussion will be meaningful. But the conversation really gets off track if the astrologer has to dig in their heels and tries to impress them with jargon filled tripe. Like hitting a curve ball in baseball the point of the discussion moves and making contact with the client becomes difficult. Jargon means little to people who do not share the same professional credentials. It can be helpful within a profession where two people conversing need a specialized language to make subtle distinctions between principles, but as a device to communicate between a consultant and client jargon creates distance and confusion not meaning. Oddly, when clients put astrologers in a position to ‘prove’ astrology they reflexively veer towards jargon and the opposite occurs.

We can observe similar occurrences in the doctor’s office. The patient arrives in obvious pain. The doctor looks on inquisitively and concerned. The symptoms suggest arthritis, which affect some 40 million people, but before prescribing medicine to relieve the pain the doctor orders a battery of tests. Weeks go by, the pain is not alleviated and the follow-up consult is inconclusive. Everything checks out. The doctor cannot blame arthritis as the cause of the patient’s complaints. The disease escapes detection from the most sensitive medical methodologies available today. So, what is a patient to do? The doctor remains quite comfortable in the authoritative position backed up by the results of the tests. But if the patient consulted their astrologer, and the natal chart had Saturn in hard aspect to Neptune, the astrologer would ask: “do you ever feel stiffness or pain in your joints?” And this simple question at a time when the pain is especially acute means that this client doesn’t need his astrologer to prove astrology anymore. The consultation can progresses swiftly from there unencumbered to search for alternative solutions.

In the case of our example above, arthritis sufferers can look to various publications for answers as they begin their search. John Hopkins Medicine is an excellent resource and so are the Alternative Therapies outlined on the website arthritis.org which suggest diet and nutritional support. The point this astrologer is making is that astrology can detect body weakness in advance where other professionals cannot even with the best technology available. For clients who are ready, willing, and able to discuss their health openly and in a trusting manner, or any other personal development issue, this early warning capability can be a huge advantage to finding help. In this case, it is also helpful to let the client know that they are not going crazy. The ‘markers’ are there. Whether or not their doctors can agree is a moot point.

A heuristic approach to healing needs to be pursued in these instances as passionately as we would pursue the love of our life. Why? Because so much good can be accomplished while the disease lays dormant just beyond detection but active enough to obstruct and disrupt the flow of pain-free living. No other profession can provide this kind of beacon to its audience. Only astrology can be this helpful. And for one client in particular I actively dream of him imagining a new and healthy beginning.

When You're a Stranger

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:53:00 +0000

Strange and varied are the ways of life, and stranger still are the ways of Infinite Intelligence, through which men are sometimes forced to undergo all sorts of punishment before discovering their own brains, and their own capacity to create useful ideas through imagination.

Napolean Hill

Someone recently forwarded a copy of Napolean Hill’s Think and Grow Rich to me. It is an intriguing book that has a near cult following and many members of sales organizations carry it under arm like bible thumpers of old. To be sure there is profound knowledge that is distilled into practical and material utility within its pages. In the early chapters a suggestion is made that what we think about ‘magnetizes’ our brain somehow and attracts the things which match up with those thoughts. This is a simple and yet deeply relevant idea to consider. It suggests that whatever personal lack there is in your life from money to love to opportunity is a direct result of the electrical sparks jumping from one synapse of your brain to another. And further, it is suggested that we choose the focus of our thoughts and in the process decide whether those sparks fire up the brain for being productive or not.

The above quote from Napolean Hill describes what Noel Tyl calls ego wipe out. So many times, so reliably, the transit, or arc of Neptune to an angle or sensitive point in the horoscope corroborates with tremendous sadness, loss, and bewilderment. The issue could be relationship, health, or job related. But as challenging as these arcs and transits are in reality, as punishing as the experience can be, there is always hope of a silver lining within any storm cloud

Denial may be a rationalization the conscious mind adopts to handle perceived threats. If there is a sense of fatedness with the transit of Neptune it may only be a cover up for this self-deception. This way we can avoid taking personal responsibility for sabotaging ourselves and for thinking thoughts that are themselves self destructive. We didn’t know! It came out of nowhere! As we enter into this ‘trance’ period (which can last for over a year or two) a high dose of idealism usually accompanies us, perhaps blinding us to the warning signs that things are not so perfect in our little corner of the world. Some psychologists have referred to this lack of perception metaphorically as somnambulism. It is comparable to walking in a dream like state, unconscious of the cause and effect relationship between our mind, behaviors, and outcomes.

Lifting the veil requires the dissolution of the ego. That is why it is seen as an “ego wipe out period.” Defenses rise in advance of Neptune approaching a sensitive point in your chart, which out of fear distort personal vision. It is the ego’s attempt to protect itself against being hurt. Perhaps it is an unconscious strategy to avoid pain. But in the case of Neptune these defenses are misplaced and the self is fooled into believing that things are other than they seem. That is when punishing circumstances steal their way into life’s circumstances. But not all is lost because as the wipe out period fades the self begins to see the truth in matters. The old ways of being were unproductive or counterproductive to what was needed by the core being. With a new found perspective you can re-imagine a future for yourself based on clarity of focus, a realization of potential and personal honesty that was not possible before Neptune’s intrusion. We can put our brains into a creative gear that exploits imagination in healthy and meaningful ways for ourselves and others.

Neptune is coming to a theater near you. And all but the most spiritually advanced and artistically gifted will out of necessity experience the effects as described above. The drama will be moving, at times a real tear jerker and at other times inspiring love. So, the question is this: how do you prepare for the developing image of Neptune in your horoscope, whose tides can emotionally overwhelm the soul and drown ambition? Do you dig in the sand and defy the wave that is building against you or do you turn and body surf, go with the flow by letting the waters of life float you safely to shore on salty foam? By discovering self-honesty powered by imagination we surrender to the ‘Infinite Intelligence’ of Neptune and embrace the strangeness as something to become better acquainted with; to know and understand. Neptune is a “church key” that opens the bottled up angst of bewilderment and sobers the mind with the healing elixir of forgiveness.

Self Deception

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:54:00 +0000

Self Deception is so elusive because we are not aware of the fact that we actively deceive ourselves. And yet this is the single greatest ruse in the self-development world. Like my intention to come back to my blog and type a little note to the world regularly. My intention didn't match up with reality because I was in denial about what was possible, worthwhile, and practical. At the time of my making an intention to come back and type regularly my ambition and enthusiasm sure seemed aligned but the facts state the case better that I was not in alignment.

So, resolving the plague of self-deception, and all Neptunian distractions, requires that we increase our self-awareness. Different thinkers and philosophers have varying ways of approaching it. In the two example below I think they are saying the same things.

Gurjief urged his followers to 'remember yourself,' while Martin Buber proclaimed that people as a rule objectify each other in his now famous book called I and Thou. His admonishment was to remember the 'other' person as a way of coming back to your true and authentic self. The semantical gymnastics belies the message of love in each case. I think much of Gurjief's misinterpretation has to do with the fact that he was speaking of a 'inner being' or 'psychic being' that represent the same destination Buber suggested.

Either way, we all have access to different levels of consciousness. When Neptune is in the picture it is so difficult to 'know' if the level is spiritual or delusional. Sometimes we are the last to know. One thing is for sure. The will has very little say in this transit. Oddly, the greatest strength is SURRENDER.

Hidden Deception

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:59:00 +0000

Since beginning this blog I fell into a spellbinding tryst with different aspects of myself that threw me entirely off the path I was traveling. Thankfully, there are many guideposts we can all spy along the way to yank ourselves back on track and regain a foot hold.

In my particular case, Neptune was squaring my ascendant for much longer than I care to recall. And recently the work of C. Terry Warner has come into my life. He wrote Bonds That Make Us Free. And in terms of Neptune the work centers on self-deception and self-betrayal.

Liz Greene wrote a 580 page tome devoted to the elusive gas ball and I wasn't able to get past page 15 (trying a little honesty here), but Warner, not an astrologer and who doesn't mention one word of astrological jargon, covers the territory so well that I am feeling, well, the potential for 'Redemption,' which Greene mentions in her subtitle. Check him out at the Arbinger Institute website:

http://www.arbinger.com/en/home.html

Lot's planned for the coming year and short quick bursts of learning may appear here from time to time (lots of writing to do elsewhere so daily submissions will have to wait).

In the meanwhile, Happy New Year...

Be The Wolf

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:09:00 +0000

In my last post I used the chart of General George Washington to demarcate the effect of the Moon moving forward into Pisces and that somehow diffusing his natal energy to fight. While that may be hypothetically accurate the Moon by itself may not be the determining planet of the horoscope. The first President of the United States would still have had Mars in Scorpio and Mercury exalted albeit retrograde in Aquarius. He was born on Friday with the Moon in Capricorn. By the following Tuesday the Moon advanced to Pisces and perhaps suggests the General might not have had the need to make things happen in his life. Instead a preoccupation with the ethereal and intangible realms would drive behavior. By Thursday the Moon would have moved into Aries... would he have been a fighter still? Perhaps. But maybe not with the fortitude and perseverance to keep up the fight... And either he'd have been replaced or the revolution might have turned out differently... and Obama would be King (just kidding).

When I surf for individuals born with this anemic Sun-Moon blend of Water under Fire there are some very interesting examples that emerge. Tom Wolfe is one and a fascinating and interesting character. In terms of the astrology his anemia is barely present in terms of publicity and productivity. Certainly because the Moon at the Aries Point is fortified by a conjunction with Uranus ruler of the 2nd house energizing the self image profile. The fuel too is more potent with an additive of idealism where the Sun conjuncts Venus and is reinforced by the conjunction of Mercury with Mars in the third and part of a peregrine island. We could go on and on...

Nonetheless, if we need to shore up the lack of energy generated by watery fires that reflect heat poorly it may be helpful to discover alternative sources of energy. To do this submerge into the unconscious and reemerge with new vigor while also surrounding yourself with sensitive, supportive, and encouraging partners. The self worth profile will be paramount and whether it is exaggerated and broadcast to all in terms of a fighting self pleasing intellect or suppressed and constrained by the vicissitudes of life a healthy adjustment will be required in either case to precede fulfillment. A Wolfe by any other name would still be the wolf so learn to appreciate what it is others appreciate about you... especially when the water in your chart boils over and then in the next instant freezes... go on simmer once in a while and let the flavors mingle.

Be the Water

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:41:00 +0000

As we experience the effects of heavy transits to our charts we are reminded of the hopes and fears hidden within. The outer planets contacting the angles, the ruler of the angles or the Sun and Moon especially alert the astrologer to potential dynamic activity within the patterns of behavior established by individuals.

How can we survive the heaviest of these orbits tracing sensitive points in our charts and mirroring sensitive points in our personal development? How can we optimize and organize experience?

Hiroki Nizato writes an extremely insightful column/blog and provides wonderful advice. Flag his blog Holistic Astrologer Blog so that you can receive updates and feeds in order to benefit from his consistent and regular observations. You have much to gain and learn.

The latest column got me to thinking that signs holding the Moon in Fire while fed by a Water sign Sun need to operate from an individual perspective almost counter cultural. Accomplishment and progress in the modern world is attached to ego energy and on first blush Fire Sign Moons have the advantage. But as Hiroki teaches the Water fuel is inadequate to keep the Fire going and the lack of sustain and energy douses our motivation... as an example if General George Washington had been born merely a few days later than Febuary 22, 1732, he might have made a wonderful conductor or perhaps an artist, but a General? Doubtful... the sympathies and sensitivity of a Pisces Moon would surely have dulled his edge to fight. One of the hallmarks of making progress (especially for Washingotn's Capricorn Moon) is to have a sensitivity supported by an organizing ego with 'drive' and 'strength' to persevere.

But what do you do when the energy is drained and depleted? Willfulness and determination are void and the gas tank is empty. These are times when as, Hiroki suggests in his column, we need to go deeper into the imagined emotional knots of self inflicted suffering and gently untie them. The ego is calling for more gas to race it's concept of self out into the public domain for applause and it doesn't seem to be aware that it's not a race car at all. More appropriately a shift in perspective is called for to reign in the needs of the Moon in Fire and not depend on them (the needs) to be the all pervasive reigning needs and drivers toward fulfillment. Easier said than done (since this Moon operates instinctively and with magnetic psychic pull) but it can be a good start to develop some awareness around the issue and help the individual cope. Understanding 'why' a particular objective or goal is important can be helpful when the need/energy blend is viewed from the perspective of the Sun. And with the Moon in Aries especially constant reminders of the goal are a necessity. To a much greater extent than other Sun-Moon blends and in the case of Pisces-Aries in particular a sacrifice must be made. This Pisces-Aries archetype suggests that a sure fire way is to sacrifice the ego... but be cautious because the ego is the work horse of success regardless of sign and egolessness is not equivalent to suggesting an escape from reality but quite the opposite. The Spirit and Soul, or higher power descends to supplant those ego drives and potentially accomplishes miracles and tasks that an ordinary perspectives see as impossible. And so the individual becomes important after all but only because the "I" has expanded enormously beyond subjective and personal experience to include Divine driven strength involved in and for others; Love.

Staying on Track

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:35:00 +0000

It's difficult to find a path that brings fulfillment and a sense of purpose. Any casual survey of your friends and family suggests that most of us do not find or discover that 'thing' we are best suited for in life. And even if we do get a foot hold on the rail fulfillment, much less the whole caboose, it can be even more difficult to stay on track.

I Googled "Stay on Track" and two links jumped out at me. The first was a center for middle school children prone to drug abuse. Of course there are a host of causes that motivate individuals to experiment with drugs and as many ways heralded to cure drug addiction. The new "Don't be a Patsy" commercials suggests not that there is a right way to dissuade young people from turning to drugs as much as it demonstrates the 'wrong way'to go about it. No trust. Invading privacy and not respecting children are sure fire ways to sabotage good intentions. And these good intentions by themselves cannot substitute for healthy relations but somehow the importance of establishing and nurturing healthy relationships is left unmentioned. Instead we come away with a notion that there is some secret method or formula that protects unwary teenagers. The second link goes to a conservative provocateur who discusses entrepreneurs and personal finance topics. He particularly focuses on debt in his latest posts.

Hmmmm! Neptune... there's a sense of loss or lack of control brought about by undefined boundaries and aimlessness. Without focus and concentration, or 'rules' to guide us, vulnerability increases as individuals become more susceptible to 'ego wipe out' over time. Noel Tyl writes that a common manifestation of our experience of reality, when Neptune transits an angle, the Sun or Moon, or perhaps the ruler of an angle, suggests the possibility of some serious ego deflation. And we must remember that when ego wipe out is experienced it doesn't develop over night. Often it takes years! As in drug abuse or bankruptcy filings due to living beyond our means and accumulating excessive debt the crisis point arrives only after years of recklessness or not following commonly accepted disciplines. Neptune can weaken our capacity to stay on track by diminishing our ability to focus clearly thus reducing the productive output that accompanies ego strength and ego drive. And Neptune blinds us to that fact that our behaviors, actions and intentions betray us in our minds eye with ineffable imaginings of hope and fantasy that camouflage a hidden despair. That is until the crisis point. When it all becomes clear. And we finally understand.

Thank You Dear Father

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:28:00 +0000

From the opening lines you penned in your seminal work, Seven Storey Mountain, to the last poetic utterance paying homage to your brother, my attention held fast. I was less struck by your conversion to Catholicism and other things Neptunian than I was with your sincere and earnest delivery to keep it real; to keep it honest. You wrote with an amazingly broad perspective and with insight into human nature made all the more compelling by putting your inner struggles on exhibit. It is after all ‘our’ struggle. And you wrote about it in a humanistic language that at the time was unfamiliar to the general public. But obviously the appetite for ordinary seekers to identify with the mystical has grown since those early days of the new age. And your story taps into that element of want and hope for union with God. To me the most inspiring thread that weaves its way in and out of the work points to dissatisfaction in how both religion and politics fail to solve our modern problems and how only a rich and vibrant inner life of calm and quiet prevails over anxiety. To rise above suffering, sacrifice and loss the world is in need of a visionary who points to something New. Is it for the mystical experience to become common place in this Aquarian Age; a practical and reverent vein of Spirituality that is Universal?

Preceding your studies at Columbia University by a decade the eminent mythologist, Joseph Campbell, stated just before his death that you related to us experiences that were mystical revelations. He said that “you had it;” the real thing. In the same interview with a writer from LA he mentions Carl Jung as well who said religion was a defense against the experience of god. But where is this mystical union with god indicated in your horoscope father? In another autobiographical confession, The Bishop of Hippo, Saint Augustine, ridiculed astrologers. He stated that the stars influencing the birth of a child born into privilege versus a child born at the same time but into slavery ought to affect each person similarly. The fact that the outer development of these two individuals was very different disproved astrology according to the bishop. One Thousand Five Hundred and Fifty years later you opened your spiritual autobiography with a not so subtle reverence for Aquarius and emotional prodding to develop the inner life rather than pursue materialistic ambitions. As a modern astrologer the nonpareil focus of the new way is to recognize where the twain shall meet for clients. Where the environment shapes and fashions the soul for one individual another faces circumstances empowered by personal gumption and choice while a third appears ‘surrendered’ to a higher power of providence and fate. How times have changed and again the Great Conductor and Composer, Uranus, orchestrates a Symphony so that anyone who learns to listen can hear the harmony.

Astrology recognizes drives and innate urges that are all pervasive. Consider the placement of the Moon in your chart. A natural proclivity, aptitude and talent for the dramatic and didactic are suggested. Certainly your Piscean ascendant with ruler Neptune in the 5th at the midpoint of Mercury and Pluto may exhibit potential for inspiration accomplished through the power of words and ideas and adds the refrain of edification which echoes throughout your chart. But it doesn’t say mystic! It doesn’t say priest! Saint! If we follow the chain of custody from the M.C. to the final dispositor of your horoscope, Uranus, we arrive at the symbol of our times, yet another reference to Aquarius and change. And here again we notice that in your chart the 5^th house is referenced with Uranus in mutual reception with the Moon, ruler of the 5^th, of teaching, of love given. Affecting pedagogy with awareness and drama you were first and foremost a great teacher, and prolific as a writer (they often go together) since Uranus also rules the 3^rd.

Individuation began to germinate in ancient Greece and took root in colonial America some 230 years ago. It sparked self-governing movements that continue across the globe to this day. Uranus was discovered on March 13, 1781 near the advent of democracy and synchronously rules your 12^th house dispositing 4 planets and itself the final dispositor. Mars in Aquarius opposed Neptune adds a touch of charisma that sells an egalitarian message to ‘the people,’ but perhaps here we can call it the democratization of spirituality. Mars is transmuted into a form of energy concerned with matters other than merely those dealing with sex and is empowered here to make a tremendous adjustment at some point in your life. As you already know, it was only after much struggle and sacrifice however that the purer energies began to resonate with you. And you acknowledge these naturally occurring cycles in your book. The suggestion reflected astrologically in your life is abhorrence for religion if it impedes independent and direct communion with God. These are echoes of your maternal relationship and your mother’s desire imprinted on her son to engender free thinking humanistic ideas. The Aries point on all four angles, Pluto opposing the mid-heaven and squaring the ascendant and every other planet except the Sun and Mercury, in touch with these Aries Points, puts your charisma to the test and broadcasts your message worldwide from behind the wall and confines of cloistered living. You were only 53 when electricity singed your body and freed your spirit before you could finish the job started many years before. Some speculate that you were entertaining the efficacy of synthesizing Catholicism with Eastern Paths of religion and that perhaps you saw this as the only way for humanity to survive the modern era. Today, that question of coexistence haunts the world still and like Joseph Campbell, you did much to educate and teach us about the universality of our personal journeys and how the ancient and more modern myths written by the great masters, poets, and seers are the stories of our own lives.

One common attribute of history’s greatest spiritual figures is the practice of asceticism in years of solitude. Some monks, mystics and yogis have spent up to 20 years leading solitary lives before opening the lines of communication with the world again. Similarly, your experience with the Trapppist monastery in Kentucky provided fertile soil for your spiritual philosophy. But for the rest of us, how does an ordinary seeker hold down a job, support a family, and evolve spiritually without spending years in seclusion at a Novitiate? Queuing off your chart and using Neptune as the focal point to answer that question I see that Neptune is at the midpoint between Venus and the Ascendant as well Jupiter and Uranus in my chart. So, vision, enlightenment, and spirituality are accomplished through a social and personal expression that is optimistic and unique. Here my Scorpion Ascendant makes difficult ‘surrendering’ to a higher power because of a tendency toward needing to control others; being right and stubborn about what I know. Here the tendency is for the ego to stagnate where energies plumb the depths and soar the heights; sabotage and mania. On the other hand, Pisces on your Ascendant and holding Aries intercept in the first house softens the face projected to the world but not without a flame burning beneath the surface alit to understand yourself and others with keen awareness. You reach the Sun by intellectualizing with others together, while I reach the Sun through understanding and sacrifice. Both paths require surrender and struggle. In either case the combinations can be tough as they are for most seekers. But the greater the struggle the shinier the pearl; the more complete a surrender to things Divine the more powerful the message. Thank you Father Louis for your fine work and for sharing it with the world; but mostly thank you for taking me to a new and higher level of astrological understanding and proficiency. God willing, after my studies, I too will share much with the world.

US Prime Choice

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 17:28:00 +0000

In a recent article for the New Yorker, George Packer elucidates the differences between the front running democratic candidates in advance of Super Tuesday. The choice between them couldn’t be starker. Hillary is portrayed as controlling, ambitious, and secretive. She’s even painted as a somewhat paranoid politician. Her opponent is a smooth and charismatic charming intellect who pulls people together from all walks of life. Hillary speaks to a polarized democratic electorate while Obama speaks to a potentially unified populace. He sounds refreshingly optimistic. By comparison she sounds stoic. His Reaganite sound bites colored with almost too much Martin Luther King echoes the inspirational minister at his best. Her poise and temperament comes across a bit too robotic. The stage is set for what promises to be an exciting race.

Hillary carries intimidation and difficulty from her early childhood forward. The powerful stellium in the 9th squares Venus and Mercury in Scorpio on the Ascendant where Mercury rules the mid-heaven and 8th house while Venus rules the 7th and the 11th houses. Her father was very problematic and she spent her energy managing the family image (Neptune rules the 4th) to appear sanguine and normal. Idealism pervades her combativeness from behind the scenes. It drives her. She presents a corroborative persona that augurs well and convincingly for a Scorpion Ascendant. Her need for love and relating to others manifests in avoidance behaviors that try to evade being hurt. Strike first and maintain control if necessary. As Packer quotes those who know Hillary best:

“You’re getting to that five percent of Hillary that I don’t’ like which is to see in every corner a conspiracy or an opponent that must be crushed. Look at her comment ‘now the fun part starts’.” Greg Craig.

Carl Bernstein author of a Women in Charge cites a tendency toward ‘subterfuge and eliding’… that she’s fearful of humiliation and learned to cancel any weakness and ultimately protect herself from exposure.

There’s the scandalous accusation that she snubbed co-author Barbara Feinman who Simon and Schuster hired to ghost write Hillary’s It Takes a Village, but for which Hillary never acknowledged her.

“You can demonstrate determination and willingness to make difficult choices to show backbone and courage to confront adversity calmly and skillfully. A president no matter how rhetorically inspired still has to show strength and effectiveness in the day-to-day handling of the job, because people are counting on that.” Hillary Clinton

She wouldn’t risk the loss of control that it might take to energize the room with humor or anger or argument, or the sort of spontaneous human touch that everyone who spends private time with her notices and likes.

Check the 2nd house. Hillary values her capacity to philosophize and fight for the ‘higher good’ and perhaps at any cost. According to Packer, referencing the Whitewater scandal, she is quoted by someone close to her at the time to have said “batten down the hatches, fight to the death.” The potential for an inflated self worth and that she ‘knows’ best suggests underhanded means to rest authority from others. Recently, in the news the latest brouhaha accused Bill and Hilary of using “Clinton Racist Code Words.” Neptune is transiting Hilary’s 3rd house and is in the vicinity of squaring her all important Ascendant and inner planets. Her strategy of how she needs to think and relate to others in order to maintain control is being tested. With Neptune in the mix the public is seeing a side seldom revealed. First, in New Hampshire she ever so briefly demonstrated a capacity for being a sensitive and caring individual with deep and profound emotional motivation. Secondly, there is that other side of Senator Clinton where she ‘leads with her chin’ in an effort to control the agenda and what other’s are thinking by applying a superiority complex; her knowledge of policy and reframing historical events in such a way and in such a context so as to try and gain a competitive advantage over her opponent whoever it might be.

Can Hillary hold on? Her Scorpio Ascendant and Peregrine Jupiter suggest abundant tenacity in the face of Neptune square her Ascendant. Her biography mentions that she has more than survived this Neptune contact in the past. In 1968 she was elected President of her Class at Wellesley as Neptune arced to her . This culmination came after a build up of transiting Neptune conjunct her ascendant from January 1966 to August 1967. Will this Neptune transit similarly appoint her to the highest office in the land? Only time will tell. But it cannot be argued otherwise that Hillary has a charisma all her own that draws people to her and as her natal Moon arcs to the nodal axis in the 7th house, we cannot help but wonder if this stoic policy wonk is smart enough to partner with arch rival Obama. Experience as a Senator of New York for five years suggests she is smart enough and in fact has partnered with her ‘enemies’ in order to get the job done. Obama is unquestioningly the most emotionally inspired orator to emerge from the political landscape since Reagan. He bonds with the listener’s heart in a way Hillary is unable to connect with them. If she doesn’t get him on board then Neptune may have its way and wipe out any gains made as her legacy of self undoing and sabotage begins a new chapter. If the democrats are to gain the White House the best ticket in town may be the Manager and Minister versus Phoenix Rising, John McCain. It may not play out this way at all but it will be a fascinating study to see how Hillary “manages” her inner polarity and divisiveness as she begins to integrate necessary change and a social sensitivity projected to the public. Polarity thinking has been effective as a protective tactic in Hillary’s personal life as well as a resourceful tool for politicians in general. But we observe gradualism in change and as appealing as Obama’s message of Unity sounds to any of us individually we must remain cautious and temper our expectation that the American public or, the World for that matter, is in fact ready for a United States.

Portrait of a Transformation

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:10:00 +0000

Whenever Pluto is nearby we are prone to anticipate anguish or worse, hell. Many astrologers pull a black rabbit out of their medieval hat and project doom and gloom or even death in the face of abundant evidence to the contrary, or opposed a consistency of common sense. As long as there are supporting elements a much different outcome can be expected than those we read about from the traditional texts. But what exactly are we looking for? What do we anticipate? Do we find the ‘end of times’ so alluring that we miss the other extreme potential altogether?

Pluto arcing to the MC can be a dramatic change of status in the work place where perhaps a business man sells considerable holdings instead of claiming bankruptcy. A ‘change in perspective’ where ‘going out of business’ is tantamount to retiring or divesting.

Pluto arcing to the Asc empowering a young man into a new perspective on life where he removes the mask of one persona to reveal a truer image underneath. Perhaps he leaves an unsatisfactory business world to return to school to study spirituality and prepare for the ministry.

Pluto conjunct Neptune by transit may suggest contact with the supernatural and a new idea for someone whose ‘level’ can capitalize on such an experience in spite of the heavy hit of Neptune on the IC. Creativity. Otherworldliness empowered into productivity.

Pluto conjunct the Aries Point on the 7^th cusp in order to make a grand and eloquent public statement that a legacy matters. That partnership empowers all of us and that we have a responsibility to and for the public trust.

A new Astrological Perspective deserves public stature and respect in this world and we each have a responsibility to project its nobility and sanctity with grace and poise mitigating condemnation from an ignorant public.

Pluto arcing to the IC… even a good thing comes to an end. But not without delivering powerfully a transformation that shift one’s perspective. For example, how one looks at a parent. And if a father’s death penetrates his son’s or daughter’s soul deeply enough with the realization that he valued their god given talents then they are greatly fortified to carry on their/his work by his inspiration go on to accomplish great things together.

It is a long and gradual process this thing called transformation and it moves in step with the 9^th planet. We need to train our minds to ‘see’ the “continuity of common sense” in a client’s reality and how it is reflected in the build up of symbol on either side of a Pluto transit or arc. Only then can we have the courage and conviction to suggest an outcome.

In his autobiography, Meetings With Remarkable Men, G.I. Gurgieffe, shares many insights and stories with the reader about his journey through the far east where he met sages, avatars, and mystics adept in occult knowledge. He brought back these teachings to his mother country and eventually founded a school for seekers to ‘remember yourself.’

It is a hundred times easier, as it is said in the Gospels, “for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle” than for anyone to give to another the understanding formed in him about anything whatsoever.”

Meetings With Remarkable Men P240

‘Remember yourself!’ It’s the stuff of myth. How different this book would read if Gurjieff met Noel Tyl. The one remarkable man he missed. Gurjieff’s system of knowledge is decidedly rigid and capable of immobilizing the mental instrument in pursuit of being conscious. Noel’s teaching is demanding, authoritative, thorough and ultimately freeing. Highest honor graduates seem to possess a certain flexibility of mind that is nimble and quick and not burdened by a concordance of imposition, but rather guided by art. He “gives the understanding formed in him” and it transfers with tremendous sustain and power. After a 16 hour day I lay awake all night lit up and buzzed by this deeply penetrating experience.

Isis, the most important god in the Egyptian mythological lexicon, spent her entire life searching for pieces of her husband Osiris. His body was chopped, separated and thrown around the papyrus swamps of ancient Egypt by his dark and demented brother Set. She was seeking to reunite and ‘remember’ Osiris and in the ‘process’ expressed her love unconditionally. We accept a similar charge when we sign up for the Master’s Course by Noel Tyl. Re-embracing the solar system as THE Sacred Art of Knowledge is a way of ‘remembering ourselves’ and a way for clients to be guided similarly in a single session. All the ‘fragments’ and ‘disjointed’ points on the circle of our experience are brought together into a unifying whole; synthesis. And from the start we learn how to reassemble ourselves. The graduate seminar is a weekend of total astrological immersion with like minded colleagues and simultaneously intense unlike any course on earth. Our aim? To learn how to have an astrological discussion. What once took an entire age and eventually merely a life time to complete, now be accomplished within minutes. It’s miraculous. But oh so real. It really must be experienced and most importantly it needs to be repeated. By YOU!

It will take time. But only after you call and register so that you can become the best astrologer you can be. (480) 816-0000, 7:30-16:00 MST, USA.

Words of caution as you consider stepping a toe into the swamp among the ancient papyrus reed. The first is to approach the journey with a commensurate measure of humility. Without it your pride may prevent the advance through the quagmire of denial, blame, guilt, and self doubt. Next, learn to see the spirit traveling beside you on this journey and allow them to assist you along the way. Accept that whatever is offered you is done in the spirit of gratitude. In return share what you have learned with others.

Prisoner’s Base

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:12:00 +0000

Or Finding Your Anchor

One of Merton’s favorite books from his childhood was an atlas in which he used to play a game he called Prisoner’s Base. He pretended to be a sailor exploring the far reaches of earth and soon after his imaginary travels across these pages he embarked on a real life version of the game. Crossing wide oceans with his family he traveled the world relocating from Europe to the United States and then after his mother’s early death he accompanied his father overseas. They went to Australia, back to Europe and then finally Merton returned to America. He traveled alone without his father returning to Douglaston on more than one occasion even though he was quite young. His constant globe trotting lasted his entire life and traveling throughout Asia near the end of his life he met the Dali Lama. So, there is a certain irony of message in the title of the first chapter of his autobiography Seven Storey Mountain. In spite of the opportunity for a privileged education and the worldly perspective it afforded him, Merton felt confinement, loss and confusion. “It was almost impossible to make much sense out of the continual rearrangement of our lives and our plans from month to month in my childhood.”

The horoscope drawn for six minutes before 9:00 AM on January 31, 1915 shows an extroverted and proud young Moon disposited and opposed by the Sun in Aquarius. The essential energy and individual need symbolized by the Sun-Moon blend informs the astrologer that an intelligent and expressive individual with an emotional and dramatic flair must not be ignored; needs to be respected. But there’s more. Out of neglect and humiliation a real danger exists of becoming unanchored. In Merton’s chart we observe the Moon Quindecile Mercury AND Jupiter. Mercury rules the 3^rd and 4^th houses and Jupiter the 9^th and 10^th. By rulership and significator we are alerted to upheaval in the early home life. The rulers of the parental axis are involved and simultaneously suggest that somehow the 3^rd-9^th axis will tie into development in a very important way. Merton was at first home schooled but then attended private boarding school and eventually earned advanced degrees in English and Philosophy. It can be argued that writing and publishing became his main vocation and that after being a “professional student” the Trappist Monks enabled him to 'promote' his gift to communicate in spite of his solitutde. The generative obsession with ‘freedom’ emerged from deep within his core. Merton recalls the image of an anchor engraved on a stained glass window from inside a church while still a small boy ”…strange interpretation of a religious symbol ordinarily taken to signify stability in Hope: the theological virtue of Hope, dependence on God. To me it suggested just the opposite. Travel… Adventure… The wide sea and unlimited possibilities of human heroism, with myself as the hero.” The uncoupling of people and events in Merton’s early home environment set the stage for great anguish and entanglements. His mindset over ruled perhaps by a nervous system on overdrive and his inner life preoccupied, no, delighted by its own mental power. He writes about his experiences with sincerity and in no uncertain terms shares that he carried quite a large “chip on his shoulder.” (Pluto in the 4^th) Constant separation and upheaval (the Quindecile) fuels restlessness with a profound drive to ‘make sense out of the continual rearrangement’ of his early home life and to find meaning and understanding in suffering.

On his 18^th birthday, Merton traveled to Rome. By this time he was independent and receiving financial support from his grandfather, after his father’s death the year before. Tasting new found ‘freedom’ he was on his own as Solar Arc Sun translated Jupiter and Saturn retrograde, itself squared by transiting Jupiter. He felt great. Ambitious! Lucky! However, Saturn approaches his Ascendant within 4 years of the Rome trip and crosses the stellium in Aquarius on its way there through the 12th house, putting a damper on his enthused adventure perhaps. If anything, the Rome experience was fleeting, but it was here he became inexplicably mesmerized by a mosaic of Jesus Christ. He’d been taking in the art and aesthetic of the renaissance appreciating the skill and expression of the great minds who led the world out of the darkness of the middle ages. Juxtaposing this revelatory moment with his somewhat bohemian lifestyle he made the following observation in his autobiography:

“So after a month of my precious liberty, I received my first indication that my desires could never be absolute; they must necessarily be conditioned and modified by contacts and conflicts with the desires and interest of others… I believed in the beautiful myth about having a good time so long as it does not hurt anybody else. You can not live for your own pleasure and your own convenience without inevitably hurting and injuring the feelings and the interests of practically everybody you meet. But, as a matter of fact, in the natural order no matter what ideals may be theoretically possible, most people more or less live for themselves and for their own interests and pleasures or for their own family or group, and therefore they are constantly interfering with one another’s aims, and hurting one another and injuring one another, whether they mean it or not.” (Seven Storey Mountain page 115)

In a way he summarizes his chart in a type of synthesis similar the gestalt experience he had when his eyes fell on the pieces of tile which pulled together the profound image of Christ in his mind. The pieces and fragments reassembled just so explained a lot to him and showed him a path to wholeness. He would return to this work, of making a mosaic of his own life, only after many more years of trial, error, and humiliation. The long and crooked path would become littered with relationships initiated quickly and broke off just as fast (Mercury rules the 7^th). More than likely he projected a tremendous need to be loved (Saturn retrograde rules the 11^th and holds Mar-Sun-Uranus) onto his partners; an enlarged hope to relate in philosophical and intellectual ways (Saturn retrograde-Pluto opposed Venus ruler of the 7^th) which pure physical contact could never satisfy. We discover an example in the book where he dramatically spurns his lover for a new bride: Jesus. His aspirations for freedom and to escape the ‘prisoner’s base’ were conditioned and imprinted on his psyche from his earliest memories. The ideals and values he formed over time grew loftier, expanded wider, and encompassed the universal. He is said to have been extremely critical of society at large in private writings. All of these energies work against intimacy. And it appears logical that these energies deflected toward divine worship where the unfailing response of God in Silence could never disappoint. Near the end of his life anecdotal stories have suggested that Thomas Merton was considering relocating to Asia to live as a hermit, and perhaps to begin a new chapter in search of a pardon. Merton was driven to find release from the ‘prison’ which captivated his soul. And a legion of readers embark on this journey with him each day, who feeling unanchored, look to the heavens for meaning, explanation and guidance.

Father Louis

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 21:19:00 +0000

“On the last day of January, under the sign of the Water Bearer, in a year of a great war, and down in the shadow of some French mountains on the borders of Spain, I came into the world.” This is the opening sentence in one of the most influential works published in Catholic literature by Thomas Merton. In his autobiography, Seven Storey Mountain, Merton beautifully bows his head to the ancient and sacred art of astrology. At various points in the work he pays homage to the occult and at one point consults The Vulgate, an old Latin version of the bible. He asks the ‘oracle’ to help him choose a direction concerning the all important decision he makes to join the Trappist Monastery in Kentucky where he is to become a monk. The book falls open to The Gospel of Luke where he reads a phrase that convinces him to start on the path that leads him to become one of the most revered mystics of the Church in the 20^th century: "Behold, thou shalt be silent."

When we pull up the chart for Thomas Merton, January 31, 1915 (Prades France), we see at first glance the suggestion of a person carried along by circumstance or perhaps pushed around and victimized somehow by experience in the world. Hemispheric emphasis to the South and too a lack of squares in the Natal Chart give this initial impression. Then, taking a queue from the Sun-Moon blend we easily imagine a very intelligent and socially dramatic individual with an all pervasive reigning need to be center stage. We expect this person may find their own private image so gratifying and brilliant that it may be difficult to make the necessary adjustments in relationship. And here the dream of self-importance, softened perhaps by the Piscean Ascendant, ruled by Neptune retrograde, obscures Merton’s grandiose self-image somehow. An identity crisis of monumental proportion is suggested. A life sacrificed. Deep suffering and embattlement for understanding all of life’s misery compartmentalized in religious and philosophical terms.

The Astromtheme website uses 9:00 AM but others (AFA, Lescaut, Penfield) prefer a time of 9:05 PM. However, moving the birth time to 8:54 AM, provides the Piscean ascendant at 29 Pisces 15. Persuasively, we arrive at the very complimenting Sabian picture described by Blain Bovee in An Astrological Wheel of Life, “The Great Stone Face” (30 Pisces). 8:54 A.M. also allows for a very important contact between the Midheaven arcing to natal Pluto 10 to 11 months after his birth when his family moved to the United States. World War I was escalating and his parents decided to move for safety sake in August 1915. They went to live with Merton’s grandparents in Douglaston NY. The stress of difficult beginnings is evident in the symbolism of the chart especially reflected by the Moon which receives three Quindecile aspects. Throughout Merton’s life development these energies (Sun-Moon blend and hemisphere emphasis) play themselves out as he struggles to find his calling. Interestingly, the anguish he experiences and writes about in the process of discovering his soul’s purpose is broadcast around the world even though he’d taken a vow of silence.

The early home life could not have been easy with the loss of his mother and the increasing absence of his father. His mother died when he was only 6. At the time Mars was exactly square Saturn and opposed the Ascendant in his chart as Neptune had recently completed an 11 month transit over his natal Moon. The death of his mother was preceded by her disappearance from the family as they tried to hide the illness. So it stands to reason that Merton felt the loss of his mother sometime before under the Neptune transit and that the event itself was symbolized more by Mars in relationship with a sudden dramatic behavioral change in his father which profoundly affected Merton. Saturn is retrograde in the chart and young Tom probably never needed his father more but to his dismay and confusion found that his father was not available. The frequent separations he experienced from his father probably never felt more remote than this, when he walked in on his father grieving and sobbing on the window sill of his parent’s bedroom. Owen Merton wouldn’t come out of that room until many days later. These are the forces that seeded and would later mold the identity of one of the most influential religious figures of the twentieth century.

While Merton was afforded a privileged education, including a year at Oxford cut short by his bohemian lifestyle at the time, he put off as long as possible entering the competitive work world. He went on to graduate studies at Columbia in New York City and eventually teaching at the University level at St Bonaventure before exiting to a monastic life. His serious study of philosophy and literature found leverage even from behind the silent walls of the Abbey of Gethsemani. The power of public projection (Pluto at the Aries Point) would not be denied. Merton communicates a message of peace, calm, unity, and love in his writing. Readers took immediately to his humanistic and folksy story telling and it has delighted generations of followers and believers since. The beauty of how Merton’s life unfolds in corroboration with his horoscope, from its first impression to other more detailed measures, echoes indelible proof that the cosmos left its mark on the soul of “Father Louis.” The imprint of the heavens at his birth “in the shadow of some French mountains on the borders of Spain,” also argues supportively of Merton’s observation that “souls are like athletes that need opponents worthy of them, if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers and rewarded according to their capacity.”

RETREAT

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 18:59:00 +0000

The way most of us experience and navigate life is not by withdrawing from it. Not by avoidance and distancing ourselves from others. We learn to relate effectively within our environment, with those we come in contact with, and with people who are close to us by modeling and contrasting behavior. We are measured against the accumulated expectations (standards) of society and unconsciously emulate significant individuals in our lives toward that effort. For example, the relationship with parental figures imprints on our being from conception certain traits that are shaped, conditioned, and reinforced by patterns in our environment. Responses to these life patterns and forces of conditioning can be seen in the horoscope. Astrology doesn’t determinedly decide if a person is friendly or demonic, affable or hostile. In all likelihood astute astrologers find points in the horoscope suggestive of either extreme, BUT they will also understand that the individual is a composite of ALL these points taken together SIMULTANEOUSLY in a synthesis where astrology meets the world.

As we discover meaning by degrees and in relationship, conversations keenly guided by astrology create the potential to open doors to new worlds. And while it is next to impossible to have a good discussion with someone who is living a confined life that is somehow antisocial or hidden away in the privacy of their own mind this same isolation, when immersed in meditative prayer and silence can strengthen the spirit and nourish the soul. History is replete with examples of reclusive mystics, philosophers and sages who have wielded enormous influence from the depths of solitude. They tell us the state of ecstasy is in fact the attainment of a Union with the Divine. Some of these great spiritual and philosophical minds have lived apart from society for decades at a time before emerging to share their experience. It is a rare and unusual calling yet virtually every race and culture has contributed a reclusive genius to the annals of history. Emily Dickinson and Rene Descartes come to mind as examples. Impractical but vital to our understanding of the Ideal these many mystics and saints provide the rest of us direction especially at times when stress levels peak.

But the average seeker often aggrandizes personal experience misplacing it into ill formed spiritual conceptions that are irrational and imagined justifications born of emotional sensations in the nervous system and nothing more. Revelations claiming “personal transformation” properly raise our circumspection and suspicion of narcissism. Many of these ‘experiences’ challenge our sense of perception and perspective. Are they misplaced feelings of anxiety; of the stuff our emotional bodies cook up in response to accumulated stress?

So, when we meditate, which is scientifically proven to be an affective alleviator of stress, we can also become addicted to it as a ‘drug of choice’ enabling ‘spiritual warriors’ without the concomitant training to rationalize their retreat and escape on the pretense of being spiritual. With the exception of certain saints and mystics individuals are better served to consider their meditation active rather than contemplative. That the objective be immersion, deep, concentrated, and focused on specific actions, skills and mastery in the world. In many ways what we seek is perfection and it is this desire that universally attracts us to professional musicians or athletes who have seemingly transcended the ‘normal’ to attain ‘greatness.’

As I begin a series of reflections into the nature of the cloistered ascetic and review the individual life paths of specific saints I wonder aloud as to the why of their response to ‘noise’ in their own worlds. Was it rebelliousness out of strength against upheaval and disruption in their lives that moved them? Or was it a retreat out of weakness and passivity; an inability to compete and fight? As we reflect we can expect in advance to recognize certain patterns guided by astrological delineation and hope to find clues as to how to proceed powerfully in our own lives and perhaps become a guide and a light for others.

Whack the Mole

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:43:00 +0000

In an article by Bob Brockie for a New Zealand publisher, The Dominion Post, the writer positions sarcasm against ignorance in an attempt to sway readers into considering astrology a specious and superstitious throw back to the dark ages.

O.K. he makes some clever and amusing observations. Sure millions lazily read their horoscope in the dailies worldwide. And further, an addictive and dependent quality has festered in the modern era due to these would be Sun Sign soothsayers. Then again a statistician posing as an astrologer offering a freebie for anyone willing to participate in a project to have their chart analyzed made a striking report. Over 86% of the respondents were amazed at the results of his analysis when they 'read into' the individual horoscope he'd written. Problem was that he used the exact same chart in all cases he analyzed. He might have made the same point if only 14% of respondents reacted positively to accurate charts. In either case the findings have more to say about the participants in the study than they do about astrology. Most professional astrologers make use of the whole horoscope in synthesis with how the symbols emerge in discussion and in a client's real life personal examples. The symbol is the thing symbolized.

Sticking to the singular perspective of the Sun the author uses the research of astrologer/psychologist Nona Press to make yet another argument in defense of the 'rational mind'. Press compared 311 New Yorkers who had committed suicide with 311 New Yorkers still living who were all born on the same day. Fascinatingly, the sophomoric assertion is that a lack of definitive correspondence between these 622 people argues against any efficacy or practical use of Astrology. Thank God that if I were to share the same birth date with a murderous fiend that our DNA, environments, lineage, much less our whole horoscopes were not an exact match. But for the grace of God go I.

The knock out punch delivered by Brockie swings wildly clear of Astrology's chin. He appeals to science and astronomy to support his claim that what was true in the year 200 B.C., more than 2160 years ago (the number of years in an Age), can hardly be affective today since the sky describing the map has changed.

In terms of Jyotish astrology and the calendar Brockie unwittingly makes a fine point. Here astronomers have made the adjustment to the horoscope (the map) to reflect the precession of the Zodiac. Yet the realignment merely corroborates the attempt of science to adjust to a 'point' that is otherworldly. The split between Matter and Spirit around 396 B.C. continues to this day and is reflected in astrology, religion, and science. Many astrologers indeed use inaccurate maps full of useless debris to analyze horoscopes. Most religions celebrate important sacred days of the year based on the adjustments of scientists to these same maps. But the ecliptic of the Sun around which the Earth revolves annually with precise regularity and is often confused with the Zodiac which is the celestial projection of the northern pole with a 23.5 degree radius due to the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon on the Earth causing the wobble with repsect to the constellations. Every 25,920 years (12 times 2,160) we return to the zero point after traversing all twelve signs.

Brockie's article makes the convincing argument that Sun Sign astrology in the local newspaper approaches new heights of triviality. But this in no way is an argument to diminish the Sacred Art of Astrology. If the accurate map of the 'Fixed' Zodiac is followed then the ages are measured precisely, rituals performed in resonance with time, and correct assessment of inner dynamics are observed and analyzed providing powerful opportunities for insight. Otherwise we are practicing magic under illusory conditions that threaten the individual with meaninglessness and a potential fatal slip into the void. Alternatively, under the guidance of an experienced and trained astrologer Truth may emerge; in conversation.

The many and varied opinions of science, politics and religion continue to poke their collective heads from holes in the ground, but the mole is eventually found with a THWACK! Someone spreads light on the issue not for the sake of religion. Not to promote a new belief system. But to experience a place and time where science and spirit join up once again, as was the case in the distant past some 26,000 years ago. The last time we journeyed through Aquarius.

Tim Neilson

King of Panis

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 03:45:00 +0000

In the year 480 B.C. King Leonidas, the reigning Spartan king, ruler of the Pan-Hellenic consortium, which was created to defend against an invading Persian army, sacrificed his life with ferocity of spirit and dignity of character. He was portrayed in the 2006 movie entitled 300 as a warrior hero and the charismatic leader of men who put his sword where his mouth was to lead by example. The most positive attributes of Scorpio and Aries, or any of the embattled fixed signs were on display where a small contingency of men held off an army against odds of a thousand to one. The worst expression of Scorpio was also expressed through the treachery and vindictiveness of Efialtes, the deformed hunch back trying to redeem his father’s image but whom Leonidas rejected. Efialtes, snake bit, led the enemy to secret goat paths hidden in mountains for the twin bribes of sex and wealth. The 12 meter wide (a metaphor for the Zodiac?) Thermopylae passage which the Spartans tactically used to turn back the Persians and to protect their flanks was penetrated. Their advantage was lost and their power quickly dissipated succumbing to the overwhelming force of hostility; sacrificing themselves for the greater good of Sparta as foreseen by the Oracle.

King Leonidas’ lover desperately organized political support for military aid to be sent to the King. In various maneuvers to position herself before the Senate and win allies to speak in her defense she too sacrificed her body. Theron a power hungry politician played by Dominic West (October 15th 1969) and expressing perhaps the worst of Libra in Scorpionic clothes says: [before raping Queen Gorgo] “This will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy this. I am not your King.” From IMDB

She proudly relents as if to preserve choice and will in a last stand and desperate act to save her husband. There’s been a negotiation. A deal is struck. Each character in the play taking measure of what the ‘other’ has to offer and calculating what is to be given or won in return for their efforts. But here in the 8th house of death and power the Scorpio’s tail folds back on itself, and with the stinger held in place by poison, penetrates the folds of trust and vulnerability. Out flanked, unguarded, and disarmed the strike of the lethal return becomes uncompromising. Simultaneously,and far away on the battlefield, the enemy’s arrows blot out the Sun suggesting to the informed astrologer that the hostile forces the learned called Panis have arrived. They come to make a bargain and hoard the light.

Before the Senate Theron betrays the Queen in a double deceit to discredit her and sway his countrymen to follow him and not listen to her. Queen Gorgo expertly retaliates against her offender and traitor of Sparta stabbing Theron in the Solar Plexus holding the sword into his body and says: “This will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy this. I am not your Queen.” REVENGE! The senators scream their lines: “Traitor! Traitor!” as Persian coin falls from Theron’s purse to the ground and soak in his own blood.

The layered power struggles and intrigue in the script were more fascinating than the special effects, and the illumination of 8th house matters appear clear. A deal is struck. An exchange is made. And as the rascal mystic from Russia has said it is the “motive force of the entire process of the life of man.” [Meetings with Remarkable Men G.I. Gurdjief] He was referring to money [power]in his response to answer the "Material Question." In an essay written on January 10th, 3 days before his birthday, recalling an April 8th speech given at a fund raiser in New York City 1924, G.I. Gurdjief quotes a teacher who is said to have instructed Moses:

“Satisfaction-of-self arising from the resourceful attainment of one’s set aim in the cognizance of a clear conscience.”

And so each birthday we arrive at the choice of how to approach another year. Each year a sacrifice, each decision really about life or death, and how dignified we can live in the face of overwhelming odds and the allure of compromise…

“According to custom established since childhood, I have always begun, [from the hour of my birth], to conform my life to a new program thought out before hand and invariably based on a definite principle, which is to remember myself as much as possible in everything, and voluntarily to direct my manifestations and also my reactions to the manifestations of others in such a way as to attain the aims chosen by me for the coming year.” Meetings with Remarkable Men P302

In the coming year I wish for you to “remember yourself” in every action and to live like a King toward a noble and conscious 'set aim'.

Money Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 22:07:00 +0000

I read that the Chinese were the first to use a ‘medium of exchange’ in 1200 B.C... More recently Sri Aurobindo said, “Money is the visible sign of a universal force, and this force in its manifestation on earth works on the vital and physical planes and is indispensable to the fullness of the outer life. In its origin and its true action it belongs to the Divine. But like other powers of the Divine it is delegated here and in the ignorance of the lower Nature can be usurped for the uses of the ego…”

Since the Dan Brown phenomenon much has been written about symbolism in the popular vernacular where our interest in connection with money, power and conspiracy has grown. A topic that periodically surfaces, as worthy of our attention, is the mystery of symbolism in the dollar. The fact that the dollar has been the dominating world currency since 1945 adds a certain panache and significance to our curiosity. As we stand on the threshold of a massive transformation in currency, wealth, and power we are being asked to ‘pay’ attention. One estimate suggests that loans and derivatives (an intermediary displacing the ‘medium of exchange’) totaling roughly $150 trillion, or an estimated $20,000 for every person on earth, are indexed or tied to LIBOR in some way.

What’s happening in the world of economics currently can best be understood by using certain astrological keys. The money houses we are taught early on in our studies belong to the 2^nd, 8^th, and 11^th houses. These are Taurus, Scorpio and Aquarius. But astrology like money is one of those powers of the Divine as well “delegated here and in the ignorance of the lower Nature can be usurped for the uses of the ego…”. What clues do we follow and where do we begin if we are to reconsider sacred the keys we have been given in a new light? Cow in Sanskrit means light. Synchronously we associate the Bull with Taurus the first of the money signs. As a prerequisite to understanding the growing economic crisis we must begin to SEE the Unity (Venus) of all things and the impending economic situation as a form of communication from the 'universal force.’ But this perspective has been suggested similarly by observers of Crop Circles who turn to ‘universal force’ explanations when logic and rationale fail. What’s left to explain the unexplainable?

By default most astrologers associate the ruler of Taurus, Venus, with money. Here the 2^nd house defines ones values, self-worth, or more traditionally our income and possessions. Not so obvious, we can also associate money with the ruler of Gemini and Virgo, or Mercury. In fact the medieval alchemical symbol for Mercury is thought to have influenced the symbol for the dollar sign. So, looking to the 3^rd and 6^th houses respectively, communication, sales and commerce are linked into our study in the case of Gemini, and in the case of Virgo propriety, our mundane daily activities and work. The planetary rulership over money then suggests we take Venus and Mercury together. On the physical level we see how the 2^nd and 3^rd houses conjoin and how this suggests that the natural rulers of Taurus and Gemini are ‘conjunct’ (figuratively speaking) and we observe this pattern again on the vital level with Virgo and Libra leading into the mental quadrant of the mundane horoscope.

With Mercury and Venus ‘conjunct’ as it were, the idealization of money and currency is assured. Most people believe that money can solve all their problems if only they had ‘enough’ or if only they could get ‘more.’ How society worships its currency provides the perfect set up for tremendous disappointment when the Ideal is not met. Sri Aurobindo further explains that: “The seekers or keepers of wealth are more often possessed rather than its possessors; few escape entirely a certain distorting influence stamped on it by its long seizure and perversion by the Asura.”

Taking the discussion to a higher level let's consider the exalted rulers by sign. Gemini and Virgo are without exalted rulers while the Moon is exalted in Taurus. The ideal fueled by desire for security. An all pervasive sense of insecurity imbedded within the entanglements of income and finance reflects at the extreme, poverty and wealth, the mirror image of itself. Some people fear losing accumulated wealth they’ve built or they obsessively ‘seize’ additional wealth to add to an already enormous pile of possessions. Others lament the lack of resources they might otherwise have ‘if only,’ and covet the status and social privilege wealth affords. At either end of the spectrum the sense of imprisonment by our emotional appetites and how we relate to each other in order to communicate self worth in exchange for a piece of something in return is summed up nicely by the three inner personal planets: the Moon, Mercury, and Venus, and their position in the natal horoscope.

The Yoga Accelerator part II

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 13:32:00 +0000

The self-help movement is aptly named as it hasn't served any population particularly well save itself. Perhaps we will soon turn the corner and individuals will begin to question the myriad of self appointed gurus. Better yet, armed with the 'key of objective knowledge' answers can be SEEN from our own 'lived experience' where we learn of individual destiny as it takes shape. The seeker gradually learns to SEE and recognize "A New Way." Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet (Thea) writes in her incredible memoir, The Tenth Day of Victory, that "In my work in astrology and the other efforts put into the attainment of a certain self-perfection, it became clear that the most binding and often limiting ties are those with one's family members. And rarely is our family environment the best or most desirable. Usually the conditions one encounters at birth are cause for constant struggle during life because of the inedible mark they leave on our psyche. Invariably people carry within a powerful store of resentment, bitterness, anger in what concerns their family conditions."

And further: "We take birth in a situation which allows us to compel those with whom we are destined to experience this situation to behave in such a manner that will permit a certain progress. Usually this progress is not accomplished, precisely because the real mechanics of 'karma' or 'destiny' are not known. There is a slender line between right understanding, which grants a certain acceptance of our condition that is positive and dynamic and assures us of success, and mere resignation to our fate, which is a negative and depleting condition. Added to this is the question of a true comprehension of the manner in which we oblige others to behave negatively toward us. Responsibility for not only our own condition but that of others increases and finds its place solely in us... But ignorance of the true position is what renders the process immensely more complicated and for which reason we rarely attain the goal of any given movement. Rather this ignorance assures that we further compound the problem; we add more knots to our inner being or strengthen those that already exist. And this occurs because we cannot see that we ourselves are responsible for the negative attitudes we encounter in life, that these come into being for our needs, for the demands of the soul to make the progress it seeks to make in our sojourn on this planet and in any particular body at any given time." 1

The compassion one feels as part and parcel of this very real process has to do with recognizing how intimately all of us are connected on this planet, though most do not see 'what it is that actually draws people together.' The Freemason story of the construction of King Solomon's Temple and the Cabletow are wondrous illustrations. Each piece of the temple was floated down river hewed to perfection for exact and precise fitting upon arrival. It's the story of our birth and how we are made to Divine specification. Our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual potentials enter into this manifestation just as they are supposed to arrive and furthermore the many and varied entanglements we find ourselves in are inspired toward the same Divine outcome. "At some point it becomes difficult to dwell on the negative of our early toilet training, lack of love or physical warmth and contact with our parents, and all the rest of it. We see that whatever was negative was of our own choice, for our own benefit. And this, I repeat, engenders the deepest compassion for those with whom we have joined our destinies in the effort to realize our inner truth and express it in the course of not only this one life but those to follow." 2

I have been an avid student of astrology for many years. And like most of my clients I've struggled with the the lack of comprehension as to how I fit in or why and how certain tension exists in particular areas of my life. The crucibles I've faced have mysteriously avoided explanation via traditional modes of seeking. Church, spirituality, new agey diversions, and/or therapy always leave a sense of something missing or incomplete. The "key of objective knowledge" which is Thea's gift to the world provides a map for a 'lived experience' and this together with my sincere studies as a professional astrologer accelerate understanding in a type of Yoga Accelerator which brings the fragmentation and disjointed pieces ALL TOGETHER.

"The process does not concern itself with sin. Indeed, the East has no obsession with sin as we encounter in the occident because of its religious beliefs. The workings of karma, in the true sense, are not moralistically determined. Evil is not an absolute. The twists in the human psyche are knots which come into being given the total conditions prevailing which demand a certain evolutionary experience of unraveling, of working out these knots in the being." 3

"Thea" goes on to explain that our concern needs to be focused on right action as is the custom in the East. Once conditions and circumstances are adjusted, "which are conditioned by and intricately dependent upon time and space," the individual is prepared to take full responsibility for their character and behavior. A good first step toward this realization is to have a consultation with an astrologer. Finding a competent professional who can simultaneously share the indispensable gift of the "key of objective knowledge" can point seekers toward "the universe of which his or her individual soul is the central Sun and commands the elements of life to serve its purpose - be these elements negative or positive." 4

"A sincere and perfect surrender is the ultimate goal; a trust which can later carry one through life unaffected by a sense of purposelessness and despairing solitude." 5

For a fine discussion regarding conditions suggested by the astrological patterns of the planets at your birth and brought forward in time throughout life development feel free to email me directly at: AcoltCommunication@gmail.com Please place The Yoga Accelerator in the subject line.

1 Norelli-Bachelet, Patrizia. The Tenth Day of Victory. Kodaikanal Tamil Nadu, India: Aeon Books 2003 p62

2 ibid p63

3 ibid

4 ibid

5 ibid p65

The Yoga Accelerator (Intro)

noreply@blogger.com (Timothy Neilson) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:01:00 +0000

Do you have a library chuck full to over flowing with self help books? Dispensing 'wisdom' and advice? How about next to them? Are there old cassettes and CD programs loaded with hours of self-development tips promising complete transformation in 7 easy steps? 7 days to a new body? Lose weight! Get a date! Win your next job interview or promotion! In one workshop I attended many years ago I heard that only an estimated 2% of anyone who buys a self-help book ever reads it. This glaring statistic speaks volumes about the conundrum that has become personal development and how it is a lot like billboard advertising. Many people do it but no one knows for sure if it works. Advertisers are unable to prove causation and instead rely on anecdotal evidence to encourage clients to buy ad space on scant evidence that their dollar will be well spent. Still the obsession for self help despite a lack of individual and personal progress doesn't explain the gluttonous appetite we have for it. Nor does it explain our compulsion for more and more of what has become in many respects a new religion. Individuals seek guidance and direction from outside themselves; we are fixated in the beyond and always looking skyward. To heaven. To the stars. In truth self-development as we know it today is a full blown sham (as in shameful). Even the well intentioned therapist becomes a 'guru' external to a process that is by grace an individual evolution in consciousness. This kind of dependency on the 'other' seems to engender a rescue mentality which enables individuals to avoid blame. Waiting out a storm in the company of a self-assured and confident adviser, lover, or friend with the high winds of change blowing in our face is so alluring. It's so seductive. Comforting. In this way each of us form habits of codependency to one degree or another. Its our way to avoid taking responsibility for our personal circumstances and to somehow cope, or perhaps it is merely the mechanism that enables dreamers to imagine themselves saved.

Who hasn't paid a tidy sum to a counselor in attempt to unravel emotional knots and trauma taken on in the early home life. Knots we never knew we had until the stress of life caused upheaval, unveiling what was long ago put away or covered up. At some point a truth emerges that can no longer be ignored. If you Google the name of the eminent existential psychologist R.D. Laing you will see on Wikipedia that he is holding the Ashley Book of Knots. The very same volume graced a coffee table in a house I occupied in the early 90s. It lay on the table in a room we called the "LIVING" room. And yet it was the room least in use, and so the book with barely a dog eared page to its binder collected plenty of dust on its jacket. Laing suggests in his pose that in order to effectively untie something we must 'Know' how we tied it up in knots in the first place. The lanyard, rope and sinew he made a lifetime of study are the lines that connect each of us to society. Through family ties, the Freemason concept of the cabletow, we are all connected to one another throughout the aeon's of history. Laing's genius was that he recognized something normal and expected when one end of the cabletow (the individual) is pulled taught opposing the direction of the other end (the parents). The ensuing knots are not to be blamed on our parents as some psycho therapists counsel today. Instead the objective is to arrive at the demystifying conclusion that our parents as well as ourselves are merely one more strand of rope in the cabletow and that they unfortunately are just as unaware in regards to the patterns of communication as we are ourselves. Overtime we may replace the unknowing parent with an unknowing boss, an unaware spouse and perhaps even an unknowing therapist.

When its time! When it really counts! We may listen for good reason to our inner voice. In the midst of a crisis or a sudden emergency we can experience a powerful flush of energy and anyone who has had such an experience knows that it is much more than adrenaline. Still, we cannot yet measure the beneficent force that intervenes. And further we completely miss the significance that this positive force has with the original negative energy. That they relate. That they are, in fact, taken together, one force. The same. In times like these we tend toward extremes. For the country-pop singer Carrie Underwood her refrain is "Jesus take the wheel" (Surrender?) while for others it becomes "I Am Jesus" (Pathological Narcissism?). In a moment of very deep reflection some 15 years ago, sitting in my "Living Room," I took up a blank piece of paper. Using Ashley's Book of Knots as support I began to draw my self-portrait free-hand. I have never been much of an artist but something was moving my hand and aiding the process in a way I've never experienced before. I drew joyfully and quickly. I was very pleased with the results along the way and was motivated by a particular volume off my book shelf based on therapeutic self discovery through artistic expression. When I finished I was amazed and frightened. I had given myself long brown hair with a beard and mustache. There was a single tear from the corner of my eye that captured and reflected the Sun. What was amazing to me is that my self-portrait was an exact likeness of the image of Christ. "Oh my God! I am Jesus."

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet, whose name is "Thea," teaches in The Tenth Day of Victory that "We refuse to accept that we are but instruments attuned to some universal thought transmitter." And so instead of learning to trust our instrument and listen intently and deeply for inspired guidance we allow all sorts of noise and distortion to intervene. The perfect storm opens us up to hindrances from the subtle realms of existence that threaten to take over. Righteous, self serving, sometimes pathological and controlling forces threaten to exploit our vulnerabilities. Simultaneously, we often vainly deny our powerlessness in a last ditched effort to rationalize our self-defensiveness, victimization, unfinished business, or our inclination to leave ourselves behind in service to 'others.' Instead of facing our demons head on we prepare an escape and threaten to become the fodder that feeds a false power. We risk wrapping our egos in the clothes of a maniacal being who is better at self-promotion and preaching than he is at Surrendering.

What if you happened upon a "helper" who didn't have ALL the Answers you begged from her? What then? What if you were brutally let down in the sand to walk the untroddened path on your own instead of being coddled in the arms of hope with little reward along the way or promise of a life hereafter? What if, in your starvation, you were given crumbs of wisdom in a 'Conversation with God;' not words from a book, but the lived experience? What if you sang a torturous refrain that the responsibility is all yours and that "IT" was merely your own doing? Would you keep going? Or would you rest with the false assurance that you are Jesus, or that you are the Return of Quetzalcoatl, or perhaps simply give up with false humility that 'spirit' doesn't find you very interesting anyway and resign yourself to the compost of history?

For a fine discussion regarding conditions suggested by the astrological patterns of the planets at your birth and brought forward in time throughout life development feel free to email me directly at: AcoltCommunication@gmail.com Please place The Yoga Accelerator in the subject line.

Sincerely,

Tim
AcoltCommunication@gmail.com

1 Norelli-Bachelet, Patrizia. The Tenth Day of Victory. Kodaikanal Tamil Nadu, India: Aeon Books 2003 p62

2 ibid p63

3 ibid

4 ibid

5 ibid p65