Wednesday, 19 June 2024

Astrology: Summer Solstice, June 20, 2024- Part 2 - Chart

Trial and Error

Idealistic, transformative Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto minor grand trine

A day before the full moon, we still have a Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto minor grand trine, with Jupiter trine Pluto (power to positively transform your own life, your environment, and other people’s lives), Jupiter sextile Neptune (compassionate, spiritual, kind, and concerned outlook, belief system, or perspective) and Neptune sextile Pluto ( pioneering spirit, unafraid to challenge the status quo).
 
This  prefigures a very positive Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto minor grand trine, which is coming into place next year. But beginning in August, the rest of the year will be more difficult, culminating in an intense mutable Grand Cross at the Winter Solstice. Pluto is still on a volatile Capricorn/Aquarius cusp for 2024, but we've almost reached a major new, positive sky formation, a distinctive change from the last ten years, which was marked by Uranus square Pluto.

Two tight aspects bring conflicting energies

Mercury sextile Mars  Mental alertness, enthusiasm, and energetic communications figure now. You are productive and take “busy-ness” in stride. You are alert and aware, and can easily turn ideas into workable projects. 

Sun (Mercury, Venus) square Neptune  It can be difficult knowing where or how to direct your willpower under this influence. It’s also a challenge knowing where you stand with others. 

Strong sociable, communicative Sun, Mercury, Venus conjuction in Cancer

Venus conjunct Mercury Lighthearted conversations, sociability, humor, and cooperation are hallmarks of this transit. Mentally, you may not be as disciplined as usual.

Sun conjunct Venus Smooth negotiations with others, graciousness, diplomacy, and charm are with you, although there could also be a tendency to gloss over the less-than-pleasant stuff.

Sun conjunct Mercury You are especially sharp, communicative, and open at this time, as your wants are aligned with your thoughts.  You tend to say what you think now. As well, others could find you self-absorbed for the time being

Some difficult aspects can bring conflict

Moon square Saturn. Some feelings of being blocked are possible now urging you to slow down. There may be problems with older people or authority figures. Domestic affairs may be a little messy. 


Moon opposite Jupiter You’re given to excesses just now, and it can be hard to think of the consequences of overdoing things when you’re in such an elevated mood.

Mars square Pluto You are especially sensitive to anything that reminds you that you are not in control now. A tendency to bully and confront may dominate. Efforts to make changes could be thwarted, or power struggles emerge. It would be wise to observe whatever powerful feelings that confrontations or conflicts arouse under this influence, as this transit has a way of pulling out suppressed matter, or emotional “slush”. Passions run high. 

Summary

We have a major idealistic, transformative  (Jupiter in Gemini), Neptune, Pluto minor grand trine which is beginning to open new perspectives. There is a strong sociable, communicative Sun, Mercury, Venus conjuction in Cancer. Mercury sextile Mars and Sun (Mercury, Venus) square Neptune, would signal a tendency for efficient, focused actions, albeit with misguided directions (which is sort of the story of the modern world in many ways). Moon square Saturn, Moon opposite Jupiter, and a fading Mars square Pluto can a bring certain amount of friction and conflict (notably with Mars square Saturn and Mercury retrograde during most of August).

After the initial five-year phase of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle, marked by the first Jupiter square Saturn on August 1, we've now entered on the more optimistic, productive period of the initial ten-year Jovian phase, to be followed by a more Saturnine phase. After ten years of blogging about deconstructing cycles, it is now a time for embarking on new major life projects, putting into place new plans, and new structures of a long-term nature.
 
Prognostic
 
It is a good time for socializing and building new relationships. A motivation for idealistic, transformative social projects is favoured. This can bring an enthusiasm for dynamic, efficient, productive action, that can be misguided. A certain amount of friction and conflict can emerge along the way

Summer Aspects
Aug 05 –  Mercury Retrograde: in Virgo
Aug 16 –  Mars (Gemini) square Saturn (Pisces) *
Aug 19 – Jupiter square Saturn 1 of 3
Aug 24 –  Uranus sextile Neptune, in orb not exact until 2025
Aug 28 –  Mercury direct
Sept 02 –  Pluto in Capricorn
Sept 17 – Lunar Eclipse in Pisces
Oct 02 – Solar Eclipse at in Libra
 
References

Tuesday, 11 June 2024

Astrology: Summer Solstice, June 20, 2024- Part 1 - Review

For the Spring chart, we gave the forecast:

The chart is strongly geared to resolving past issues or conflicts, healing traumas or discovering or recovering something or someone from the past. There is a significant amount of combative Mars energy of a volatile potential. There is also a potential to enjoy an optimistic, cheerful, cooperative, progressive period where projects of social change can enter the picture.

Pluto is still on a volatile Capricorn/Aquarius cusp for 2024, but the Jupiter, Pluto, Neptune minor grand trine is in place, so we've almost reached a new, positive sky formation, a distinctive change from the last 10 years

Perhaps to underscore this big shift, the eclipse season , March 25-April 8, was quite powerful.

 
March 25- UN Security Council calls for cease fire in Gaza.
 
March 27
A boat collision caused a deadly bridge collapse in Baltimore
 
April 1 Dramatic internet cancel-culture influenced suicide of prominent alternative cartoonist Ed Piskor rocked the comic book community

April 3 Taiwan Earthquake. The quake was the strongest to hit Taiwan since a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in 1999 that killed 2,400 people.
 
April 4  Earthquake in New York The U.S. Geological Survey said over 42 million people might have felt the midmorning quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8, centered near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, or about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of New York City and 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Philadelphia.

Apr 8Solar Eclipse in Aries

Total Solar New Moon Eclipse in Aries Mon April 8 2024 'Great American' Leslie Hale Apr 05, 2024 
2017 was the year US became ‘divided’ politically and  it was a period of drastic change & beginning of 7 years of political upheaval in US that continues today

April 10- An astrologer, influenced by QAnon eclipse conspiracy theories and apocalyptic predictions, involved in tragic murder-suicide episode
 
April 18- Man involved in mass stabbing of women at Australian shopping centre
 
 
April 20- Conspiracy theorist sets himself on fire as an act of protest
 
May 10- Powerful Solar Storm, a
rare G5 geomagnetic storm not seen since Halloween 2003 is supercharging the northern lights around the world.

May 23 Jupiter sextile Neptune

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/24/us/5-things-to-know-for-may-24-state-visit-gaza-aid-covid-19-college-sports-mortgage-rates/index.html

May 20 The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court sought arrest warrants Monday for leaders of Israel and Hamas, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over actions taken during their seven-month war
 
May 24 The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday issued new provisional measures that order Israel to immediately end military operations in Rafah in southern Gaza and to open the governate’s border crossing for urgent aid deliveries.

May 25 – Jupiter in Gemini until June 9, 2025

June 02 – Jupiter trine Pluto

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/03/us/5-things-to-know-for-june-3-mexico-election-hunter-biden-trial-trump-convicted-middle-east-trash-balloons/index.html

June 10 – Neptune sextile Pluto in orb not exact until 2026

June 11 –  Mars square Pluto (Aquarius) *

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/12/us/5-things-to-know-for-june-12-hunter-biden-gaza-protests-economy-bus-hijacking-medical-debt/index.html

Sunday, 9 June 2024

The Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu - A Theosophical Bibliography - Lao Zi Daodejing

Theosophists have made at least 6 translations of the Tao Te Ching.
Without trying, they have contributed to making the Doa De Jing, one of the most translated texts in the world.

 

 

 

 
Walter Gorn-Old 1894
 
C. Spurgeon Medhurst 1905
 
D.T. Suzuki & Paul Carus 1913
 
Dwight Goddard 1919 (Not really a Theosophist, but his translation of the Lankavatara Sutra, with the assistance of D.T. Suzuki, is quite Theosophy-friendly in my opinion, although purists might object to his renderings, but I think that they were appropriately accessible for a general western public.
 
Isabella Mears,  1922
 
Charles H. Mackintosh 1926
 
Henry Wei, 1982
 
Some recommended versions by other translators:

A Translation of Lao-tzu’s Tao Te Ching and Wang Pi’s Commentary
Paul J. Lin 1977
 
Lao-tzu's Taoteching
Bill Porter (Red Pine), trans. 2009
Some bold readings based on the Mawangdui and Guodian versions. Includes good selections from the commentary tradition.
 
Treasuries of the Tao: A Translation of the TAO-TE CHING with Chinese Commentaries revealing a relevance to Taoist Yoga and its Philosophies 
Richard Bertschinger 2016
 
Tao Te Ching: The Essential Translation of the Ancient Chinese Book of the Tao
John Minford 2018

The Annotated Critical Laozi:With Contemporary Explication and Traditional Commentary
Guying Chen  2020
 
The Annotated Laozi: A New Translation of the Daodejing
Paul Fischer 2023

Saturday, 1 June 2024

Through the Gates of Gold 4 Mabel Collins Chapter 5b The Secret of Strength

Chapter 5, Part 3  

Subjecting his godly power to his animal power 

No brute of the earth is so brutal as the man who subjects his godly power to his animal power. This is a matter of course, because the whole force of the double nature is then used in one direction. The animal pure and simple obeys his instincts only and desires no more than to gratify his love of pleasure; he pays but little regard to the existence of other beings except in so far as they offer him pleasure or pain; he knows nothing of the abstract love of cruelty or of any of those vicious tendencies of the human being which have in themselves their own gratification. Thus the man who becomes a beast has a million times the grasp of life over the natural beast, and that which in the pure animal is sufficiently innocent enjoyment, uninterrupted by an arbitrary moral standard, becomes in him vice, because it is gratified on principle. Moreover he turns all the divine powers of his being into this channel, and degrades his soul by making it the slave of his senses. The god, deformed and disguised, waits on the animal and feeds it.

The God as servant 

And the god in his capacity of servant adds a thousand-fold to all this, by making physical life so much more filled with keenness of pleasure, — rare, voluptuous, aesthetic pleasure, — and by intensity of pain so passionate that one knows not where it ends and where pleasure commences. So long as the god serves, so long the life of the animal will be enriched and increasingly valuable. But let the king resolve to change the face of his court and forcibly evict the animal from the chair of state, restoring the god to the place of divinity. 

Evicting the animal 

Ah, the profound peace that falls upon the palace! All is indeed changed. No longer is there the fever of personal longings or desires, no longer is there any rebellion or distress, no longer any hunger for pleasure or dread of pain. It is like a great calm descending on a stormy ocean; it is like the soft rain of summer falling on parched ground; it is like the deep pool found amidst the weary, thirsty labyrinths of the unfriendly forest.

More than animal, more than god 

But there is much more than this. Not only is man more than an animal because there is the god in him, but he is more than a god because there is the animal in him. 

The animal as servant 

Once force the animal into his rightful place, that of the inferior, and you find yourself in possession of a great force hitherto unsuspected and unknown. The god as servant adds a thousand-fold to the pleasures of the animal; the animal as servant adds a thousand-fold to the powers of the god. And it is upon the union, the right relation of these two forces in himself, that man stands as a strong king, and is enabled to raise his hand and lift the bar of the Golden Gate. When these forces are unfitly related, then the king is but a crowned voluptuary, without power, and whose dignity does but mock him; for the animals, undivine, at least know peace and are not torn by vice and despair.

Not easily done 

That is the whole secret. That is what makes man strong, powerful, able to grasp heaven and earth in his hands. Do not fancy it is easily done.

Great powers of service and of strength. 

The animal in man, elevated, is a thing unimaginable in its great powers of service and of strength.
You forget, you who let your animal self live on, merely checked and held within certain bounds, that it is a great force, an integral portion of the animal life of the world you live in
. With it you can sway men, and influence the very world itself, more or less perceptibly according to your strength. The god, given his right place, will so inspire and guide this extraordinary creature, so educate and develop it, so force it into action and recognition of its kind, that it will make you tremble when you recognize the power that has awakened within you. The animal in yourself will then be a king among the animals of the world.

Powers of nature 

This is the secret of the old-world magicians, who made Nature serve them and work miracles every day for their convenience. This is the secret of the coming race which Lord Lytton foreshadowed for us.

The power to rule 

But this power can only be attained by giving the god the sovereignty. Make your animal ruler over yourself, and he will never rule others. 

EPILOGUE
SECRETED and hidden in the heart of the world and in the heart of man is the light which can illumine all life, the future and the past. Shall we not search for it? Surely some must do so. And then perhaps those will add what is needed to this poor fragment of thought.

Part 1 

Part 4