2015: Impressions and Transmissions

The problem with predictions, especially astrological ones, is that they rarely, if ever, come to pass. So why do astrologers bother making them and why do readers keep reading them? I’d suggest you skip the obvious answer and consider what the writer Chuck Palahniuk tells us about the power of distraction — which in many ways predictions turn out to be:

“People don’t want their lives fixed. Nobody wants their problems solved. Their dramas. Their distractions. Their stories resolved. Their messes cleaned up. Because what would they have left? Just the big scary unknown.”

Of course much of the lure (and lore) of predictive astrology is about filling in the “scary unknown” with imaginary possibilities; scenarios that may or may not have any connection to how reality flows. As a diversion and pastime I suppose this sort of nonsense is entertaining, but if you’re sincere about employing astrology to assist in the development of consciousness — no.

With Saturn’s recent entry into Sagittarius this theme — diversion and how it robs us of our allotted amount of time in life — becomes a self-assessment worth engaging. To not examine our life with this intent we fall prey to a harsh form of self-loathing; the shadow side of Saturn’s transits through the fire signs. Here Saturn decrees: “Create!” To not is to live a half-life.

We are like plants, all of us — and light is food.

The all and everything of astrology is about light. The generation of light, the mechanics of light — the movement and dispersement of light and how light enlivens the inert qualities of a body (yours, or say, a planet’s), when it interacts with the atmosphere of said body. That catalytic force translates into expressions, facets or faces of being that make each form or entity unique.

This is why astrology is always fresh — or should be. Meaning, in order for astrology to be relevant to each of us in the here and now it must be released from the too-tight limitations of predictive language, which always reflects back on a lexicon that is ultimately limited in that it has little to do with where everything, everyone is now.

The Saturn of 200 years ago is not the same Saturn of 2015, anymore than the you of 1985 is related to the you of 2015. This is the shortcoming of the notion that astrology is a language. Better to say that astrology is informed by a living logos than a set of conceptual descriptions etched in stone. Free astrology from the notion of archetypes (by which it is currently crippled) and you enter the ‘scary unknown.’ And that’s a good place to start living from should you desire a sense of life that is always fresh; free from someone else’s opinion or cosmology. Again, this is a Saturn in Sagittarius theme. Not everyone will rise to this sort of clarion call of freedom.

Saturn, as the furthest planet from the Sun that allows light to be reflected back to earth and recorded with the naked eye, pinpoints where the pile of grist awaits each of us. Meaning, within the theater of reality, wherever Saturn is transiting the prima materia (the starting material required for any alchemical process) arises, making itself known through the various themes and reality bands corresponding to the signs (or planets) being transited.

The sign Saturn transits marks how the solar impulse towards consciousness and awareness is activated and then, with consistent effort, is sustained — imparting solar brilliance to all aspects of life. Light confirms our livingness and we see this livingness reflected back via the various creations that Saturn — as a building and containing principle — helps give ground to.

You could say we need Saturn to make contact with the mind-blasting, vision-bursting radiance of the Sun. You can’t stare at the Sun directly but you can, through Saturn, give the light form and like a seed touched by the effects of the atmosphere, we have the opportunity to integrate, to make literal, whatever qualities transiting Saturn activates by sign.

So, presently we are talking the difference between Scorpio (where Saturn has transited for several years and recently moved out of) and Sagittarius, where Saturn entered on December 23rd of last year. The Sagittarius arena becomes the area where we work, integrate, build and mature. You could say some level of mastery has been achieved within the realm of Scorpio themes — an intense emotional maturation that prepares us for an eye-popping view of the universe, a view unlike any that has come before. With Sagittarius the future is now.

Grant Lewi described the transition like this:

“More than any other sign, Sagittarius, with complete unselfconsciousness, usually leads the life of the spirit-in-action. Where Scorpio knows mystically, emotionally, and profoundly the unity that binds all of life, the essential seriousness of life, and the existence of happiness as a byproduct, Sagittarius seems to represent the externalization of this same view in daily living, so that all of existence becomes at once unified, significant, simple, and happy.”

Where Scorpio is the introvert of what Lewi calls Universal Philosophy, Sagittarius is its extrovert, living in the world of affairs with an inspiring and magnificent unconcern, secure in a quality of faith that understands viscerally that a greater cohesive force not only holds life together, but propels and galvanizes.

This is a powerful kind of faith (not belief mind you, but faith) to align with — it is beyond reason, beyond scientific proof and can only be experienced first hand. No one can instill this or give this kind of understanding or trust to you, it must be awakened through both effort and grace and finding some degree of trust within the scary unknown.

Themes and Leitmotifs to Consider

Saturn’s entry into Sagittarius marks a refreshing minimization of hype and hyperbole within the culture, the kind of bullshit we’ve been subjected to since Web 2.0 launched back in 2004.

Web 2.0, by depicting the internet as a giant free-for-all publishing medium, promised everyone that or he or she had things to say, to share, to write, to record, to broadcast. And then — well — nothing much happened except writers, artists, musicians, journalists and craftspeople, found themselves scrounging to make a living within the new ‘free internet economy’, an economy that is overseen by a few corporations and pilfered through by ‘social media experts’ that sold their ‘how to’ expertise to those foolish enough to pay them money.

When Saturn resides in Jupiter’s sign, reality and the investment of time and attention into what comprises reality (as a touchstone for truth) becomes a given. Sobriety rules. Folks won’t give credence to old methods of being diddled by the media, nor are they interested in ‘something for nothing’ schemes.

As Saturn ignites the fire trine (where Uranus and Jupiter currently reside) there’s an opportunity for anger and agitation (that festered through the Saturn Scorpio transit) to mobilize curative measures that are beyond political rhetoric and timetables (which, in Washington, go on forever; those in power having no interest in passing bills or accomplishing anything for the citizenry, for to do so would incur the loss of thousands of jobs — from the lobbyists to the ‘public servants’ themselves.)

Now, with Saturn into Sag, it’s time to go to court; meaning, the blowback begins for all of the seething and festering that the Scorpio transit precipitated. It’s a natural law that if I pump a lot of emotional fuel into discrediting or devaluing something, the very essence of what was discredited or devalued will reassert itself in order to strike a balance within the theater of reality. This is why it’s good to get facts rather than opinions when it comes to throwing yourself behind a particular reaction. The more ill-informed you are the longer you remain entangled with said unsavory ‘thing.’ This is the year for disentanglement, but not without some skin in the game.

Smart and Spiritual Stuff Rules

Saturn in Sagittarius puts a proper evaluation on intelligence, especially for those who wish to self-educate rather than go the route of educational institutions or traditional modes of learning, which on the flip, this Saturn transit will continue to reveal the shortcomings of. Meaning, the old notion that if you go to college and get a degree you are guaranteed a job. Sorry, but that’s not working anymore.

This Saturn transit brings out the autodidactic in each of us, so it’s a good idea to find some subject you want to learn more about — on your own — and then dive into the topic through research and study. Should you really jibe with a subject then you might consider going to school for more detailed training. But save your money otherwise.

If you’re an agnostic, the next couple of years might offer you an opportunity to switch up the economy of your psychic energy and invest it into a spiritual or philosophical practice that gives your life a sense of place, purpose and maybe even meaning.

I admire agnostics for stepping out of the mind-numbingly depressing religious debate that our culture has co-opted for political strategizing. But I also feel bad for agnostics because the enlightenment drive (just as much an instinctive function as the survival or sexual drive) is held in abeyance and with it missed opportunities for reciprocal exchange within the universe.

Meaning: When we consciously commit to contemplating the mystery of existence — through wonder and inquiry — we are rewarded by an emotional deepening towards all that is ineffable. Life establishes a kind of communion with us that is sustaining and touches every facet of existence. We’ll need this sort of infusion this year as more and more of the reality matrix we’re accustomed to disintegrates and uproots erstwhile concepts that shore up our collective sense of reality. (Fallout from the ongoing Pluto in Capricorn transit).

Speaking of The Outer Limits

The Uranus Pluto ninety degree square that has dominated the anima mundi (world soul) since the economic collapse of 2008, has its final volley in May of 2015. I’ve written at length about this coupling before.

This final square is akin to an ejaculation at the conclusion of a protracted and extremely energized sexual coupling. The first set of squares between Uranus and Pluto, during the past six years, were the foreplay phase — the pumping and thrusting that, after a prolonged nexus, built towards a climax.

What sort of ‘offspring’ can we expect from a Uranus and Pluto coupling?

First, you need to consider your willingness to see facts rather than entertain distractions. This means divorcing yourself from media glut. Huge portions of what’s experienced within the media-in-flow as ‘information’ is fabricated to keep distraction humming and buzzing like a fever dream. And we’re each complicit in this condition in that we’ve each invested a certain amount of our life force into not wanting to know.

We do this by convincing ourselves that we’re finding out more by devoting time to taking in more information. But without discriminating awareness or without generating anything from our inner life to add to the ongoing reality narrative, we’re passively gorging on propaganda and press releases. As George Orwell noted: “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.”

This is what the Saturn in Sagittarius transit will throw into high relief. If you aren’t consciously unplugging and then contributing to life by activating your imagination to create something that adds to the dance as an affirming or enlivening expression, you’ve tragically become a kind of death star — a low-grade node within the info matrix that’s there as a kind of warning to others as to what zombification looks like.

Astrologer Antero Alli says it like this:

“If you refuse to translate the information you are absorbing, you stop thinking for yourself and continue eating other people’s data until your mind shuts down from numbing information overdose, and eventually, imagination death.”

If truth interests you, 2015 will be an exhilarating year. You could say this will be the fallout or aftereffect of the Uranus Pluto square: “The whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

Opportunities abound if you’re willing to unplug and disrupt the steady inculcation of mediamorphia. Allow yourself to take the challenge and settle into the ‘scary unknown’.

Life is always filled with forces that seem to hinder, oppress or distract; the difference is that we’re now steeped in a culture that has transformed incessantly shitty or sensational information into a 24 hour opiate; the good news is that once you’ve dislodged from this arrangement you’ll feel a tremendous rush of force behind your back — the backlog of your creative impetus released, jacking you into the luminous light show of the now.

Have fun.

“The sanest place to try and occupy in this whole situation is that of artist/producer, and that it’s very important not to consume this [internet] stuff. The world is being divided into artists and marks…You will either have a plan or you will become a part of somebody else’s plan…”

For further insights regarding how to best position oneself within the Info Jungle, fall into the following with the late, great Terence McKenna: