Aquarius Solar Eclipse New Moon
Chinese New Year of the Ox
January 25-26, 2009
It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community - a community practicing understanding and loving kindness, a community practicing mindful living.
Not only is this Aquarian New Moon a Solar Eclipse, it is also the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Ox. This happens to be my astrological animal, and it is Barack Obama's as well. As an Earth Ox (as well as a Taurus!), I can appreciate the endurance and patience he'll have to call on to face our country's challenges. Never doubt he is strong enough to do it. He's a Metal Ox, after all.
Metal Ox people work harder and more scrupulously than most people, including other Oxen. They always show a boldness and drive and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. Like all Oxen, they are completely trustworthy and dependable, but they are not ones to display their emotions freely or openly. These Oxen have the strength of steel, with a will to match. Just remember, an Ox is always willing to defend what he knows to be true and won’t give up until he has proven what he knows to be true.
Since The Year of the Ox usually signals a time of prosperity, but prosperity achieved through fortitude and hard work, we'll be able to call on Ox medicine for help this year as we work to transform our own lives as well as our society. Ox medicine makes people truthful and sincere, dependable, calm, and modest, patient, tireless in work, and capable of enduring large amounts of hardship without complaining. Having this type of energy available now to us is a cosmic gift, because as President Obama keeps reiterating, 'This work of CHANGE will not be achieved overnight. It will take hard work and personal responsibility.' We are truly living in a defining moment in human history, a moment many of us have seen coming for a while. If we can change our own outlook and begin to take responsibility for our lives and our world, this year will set the strong foundation for the real tests that are coming in 2010 to 2012 and beyond.
Look at it this way. We are now all on an adventure, an adventure to change and save our planet. Get into the story and discover what part you play in it. That's the best way I've found to develop those Earth Ox characteristics that we'll all need in these coming years. (I know you've all fantasized about being a member of the Fellowship of the Ring!)
Since 2009 (as well as 1949 and 1961) is an odd-numbered year, it gives this year's Ox a Yin influence. Yin is feminine and receptive, taking in energy and reflecting on it before acting on it. The emphasis is on BEING rather than DOING. Since this year's Ox is the female Cow, which relates to a strong earthy nurturing element, I especially call on women everywhere to step forward and bring your wisdom, talents and patience to our communities.
Hathor, the Cow-headed goddess of Egypt, was an ancient Mother Goddess, associated with the Milky Way Galaxy. And with wisdom. This Year of the Earth Ox gives us the opportunity to remember that the feminine's real power lies in its ability to nurture, to reflect, to create meaning, to feel, to intuit and to imagine.
It's time for women to learn to listen for and trust in their innate wisdom and bring what they know into the world. Hathor is one of the many images of feminine wisdom that appear in the ancient myths to bring about the changing of the ages. Hathor was the power that brought forth the Milky Way Galaxy, and on earth, the yearly inundation of the Nile. She was a herald of imminent birth, as when the amniotic sac breaks and releases the waters of life, indicating that the child is due to be born very soon. Mothers who have experienced this 'inundation' will remember the fear of the unknow as well as the excitement of creation – the HOPE that was central to the act of giving birth.
That's what the world is feeling now, as I watch Barack Obama take the oath of office of the President of the United States. This moment in history is reflected in the sky. Isn't that symmetry beautiful? This moment has been waiting for us throughout eternity. What will we do with this moment . . . our moment?
That's what Sunday's Solar Eclipse will set a seal on.
A Solar Eclipse is a powerful new Moon, when the Earth, Moon and Sun are aligned with the Lunar Nodes, and our collective destiny is hardwired into the earth's energetic system for the year. I found out that the original eclipse in this series began in 1125 with a Mercury/Jupiter conjunction to the New Moon, just like Sunday's solar eclipse.
Like
Obama's Inauguration chart, this solar eclipse new Moon chart has the
asteroid Juno coupled with her husband Jupiter, the Moon and Sun,
North Node, Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius. All these planets will
continue to channel the Eclipse energy through the Zodiac for the
next year, creating change with futuristic Aquarian energy.
Aquarius, the 11th
sign of the Zodiac, teaches us to develop group consciousness. Aquarius evokes originality, inventiveness, intelligence, independence, idealism and revolutionary visions.
The energy of Aquarius takes our individual ego energy and seeks to unite it with the other energies of the planet. For too long, we have concentrated on rugged individualism, have seen ourselves as separate from the rest of the ecosystem, as well as from the rest of humanity. It is time to learn to merge our individual energies with the planetary grid. What is our role as human beings here on Earth? Is our responsibility only to our society or is it to the whole Earth and the World Soul?
Along with these planets in Aquarius focusing on our idealism, Mars, Mercury retrograde and Pluto are in Capricorn, helping us think about what practical realities need to be faced. Our banking system, our whole economic system needs an overhaul. We need new laws to accomplish our new tasks. The Aquarian energy will open us to new ideas. Saturn, which rules Capricorn, is the anchor of the chart, challenging us to be practical realists as well as visionaries (Uranus in Pisces).
Saturn in Virgo is still opposite Uranus and Venus in Pisces, once again coming into exact opposition on February 5th. Venus energizes love and beauty and compassion, but is also the ruler of money or energy exchange. Our money supply isn't our only form of exchange. Why not develop new ways to exchange our services so that we can not only survive but prosper?
The original opposition that took place on Election Day produced a win for Obama, with the new (Uranus) winning out over the old (Saturn). What does that mean for each of us? The message is 'Think outside the box.' As a matter of fact, get out of your head and into your heart. We have to ask ourselves, “What do I desire most?” Because the answer to that question will bring us to our purpose and destiny.
The Sabian symbol for 7 Aquarius is: A child born out of an eggshell.
This is an ancient, mystical image of original creation, the Cosmic Egg out of which a new universe is born. This symbolizes a new evolution, the birth of a new type of human being, free from the perceptions of the past. Dane Rudhyar sees it as the emergence of the global man. How synchronistic that the present eclipse, whose influence lasts the whole year, should occur at this moment in history.
First there was the Great Cosmic Egg. Inside the egg was chaos. Floating in the chaos was P'an Ku, the undeveloped divine embryo.
Huai-nan Tzu
Our job is to nurture this child within as well as a new social consciousness.
Mercury goes direct on January 31 – February 1.
Candlemass/Imbolc – February 2. When the Light that was born at Winter Solstice begins to take form. It poses the question, “What is your creative vision for this year?”
Venus enters Aries – February 2.
Mars enters Aquarius – February 4.
2nd Uranus/Saturn opposition – February 5
You are welcome to book an appointment for a reading of your transits, progressions, and eclipse placements for the New Year. Readings are $125.00 and are recorded and sent to you over the Internet as an mp3. It never hurts to ask for directions – especially if you're lost!
May the Divine Spirit bless America's new President and our people as we begin to create our future together and with the people of the whole world.
Cathy Pagano
www.imaginecoachingservices.com