“I had not a dispute but a disquisition with Dilke, on various subjects; several things dovetailed in my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously – I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact & reason – Coleridge, for instance, would let go by a fine isolated verisimilitude caught from the Penetralium of mystery, from being incapable of remaining content with half knowledge. This pursued through Volumes would perhaps take us no further than this, that with a great poet the sense of Beauty overcomes every other consideration, or rather obliterates every other consideration.”

— John Keats‘ letter to his brother dated Sunday, 21 December 1817.

You’ve no doubt heard about tomorrow’s Full Moon SuperMoon. What’s that about exactly?

Occasionally the Moon misses the Earth a little too much and decides to move a bit closer to us during her new or full phase. That’s what will happen tomorrow. Astronomers call this a lunar perigee. But a guy named Richard Nolle coined the term SuperMoon to describe the proximity. You can read his explanation here — a nice clarification because it dispels a lot of misinformation about the SuperMoon too.

Because of the curve of the Earth (and the crazy curve of your mind during a Full Moon), the SuperMoon appears gigantic once she’s slid above the magnifying effect of the horizon. She’s so humongous that you start to worry that your roof will be damaged as Luna glides across the night sky. That’s a metaphor, actually, to let you know that this Full Moon might take the top of your head off. Read more

The end of another year. The completion of another decade. Who could be sad to see either disappear from whence they came, back into The Void? 2011 is our preparatory inculcation, setting the stage for 2012’s Grand Cross — a cosmic symbol of High Noon for the human spirit slogging away in mediocrity and burnt-out systems. Consider 2011’s positions and shifts.

Here are the particulars of the curriculum: Saturn remains exalted in Libra, the tough love dispenser — firming the virtues of fairness, calmness and equanimity. Moderation becomes holy. The Buddhists know all about this with their ‘middle path’ teaching. Try it, you’ll like it. But be prepared to work hard; abiding on the fulcrum isn’t going to be easy. See below. Read more

“Where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.”

–Joseph Campbell

  
 The sense of levity and joy that so many of us respond to, perhaps unwittingly, during the Christmas season, has a cosmic correlation with the return of the light, which the Winter Solstice celebrates in the Northern Hemisphere. Dane Rudhyar describes the Winter Solstice as a turning point, where the personalizing Day-Force overtakes the in-gathering effects of the Night-Force. He associates the increase of the Day-Force with the embodiment of the spiritual impetus: spirit that is actualized, grounded and set to work. Thus the traditional association of the Day-Force with the Christos, born as Jesus, at the Solstice. A birth that re-occurs, with the return of the light each year.

Rudhyar explains that each Solstice sets in motion a process that transforms “the scattered and disintegrated remains of the previous cycle into a new organic whole.” And after living through another year of Pluto’s dismantling process in Capricorn, Rudhyar’s words sound doubly refreshing to me. I’m ready to connect with the stirrings of a new organic whole. Aren’t you?

To study and appreciate this year’s Solstice, I asked one of my favorite astrologers, Heather Roan Robbins (right) to participate in a dialogue about this very unusual and rare Solstice event. I’ve read Heather’s weekly Starcodes reports for years now, and have appreciated her commentaries; Heather communicates to her readers from a place of wise understanding and offers down-to-earth, creative ways for us to align with the daily celestial motions. Heather and I connected via email to compare notes and impressions about this year’s dynamic Solstice chart.

Please, pour yourself some tea and join us:

Frederick:What caught my attention about this year’s Solstice — which is the chart that marks the commencement of the upcoming new year — is the Full Moon eclipse that occurs in tandem with the Sun’s entry into Capricorn, which initiates the Solstice. So we have the solar awakening on one hand, and a fruition of the lunar light on the other. A cosmic opening and closing if you will. Read more

To really experience autumn, in our bones, we wait until the Sun moves into Scorpio. This is when the promise of the Fall Equinox blooms: The dimming begins. The dappled daylight of September gives the impression that summer hasn’t quite given up the ghost. October, with the solar ingress into Scorpio, begins to reveal the twilight quietude. Light is fading. Dusk feels braced and melancholic; and we sense the passing of light as the cycle of life opens towards closure. Moving towards winter, for which Emily Dickinson wrote:

There’s a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.

The nimbus of light, from fall to winter, feels heavier. Opening towards closure. A little grief always accompanies a parting. So we prepare to put down what needs to be finished and then, perhaps, begin to settle, to hibernate on a dream. Read more