Quakening 2011: Earthquake/Tsunami/Meltdown

I have lived to tell the story of my death. This line came to me at the end of a walk in the early spring winds. Not that I am anything like Aron Ralston, who lived to tell the story of his death when he literally had to cut off his arm to save his life. Yet this line is true for me, and perhaps, for many of you as well. As I described in a recent post, we’ve come through some enormous astrological challenges and upgrades over the past three years, much like a death or life changing transformation that has left us utterly different with entirely new goals. For me, my “death” involved grieving the death of a beloved canine companion Cola of 15 years, then working diligently to help a parent with his challenges and ultimately release the family home he built for us 53 years ago. Joyful exhaustion. I wrote, tongue in cheek, to my friends: I feel like Jesus: IT IS FINISHED. If you are still alive, standing upright, intrepid as ever, then you need to give yourself a whole lot of credit for the growth and courage it took to get you here, more prepared, stronger, for what’s to come.

Gratefully, I have returned to my practice of roadside dancing, or glee stops, as I have called them over the years. It’s as if the energy of the times is simply too much to contain, and my body must move, like a playful colt, or a dolphin in the ecstasy of LEAP. I have no idea where this optimism and joy is coming from, in the face of the enormous challenges that are still to come. Granted, I have Pluto on my Ascendent (personality). Pluto, planet of compost and release, wise guide to eliminating what no longer serves us, what weighs us down. Translation: Plutonian times are when I rally, encouraging people to come to trust in change, Pluto’s gift, even welcome it. I feel a sense of enormous potential and rebirth, which always marks the completion of a Plutonian phase of life. Pluto’s myth is similar to the myth of the magnificent and fiery Phoenix, that after the catastrophic fires of death, emerges in a more spectacular and alive form. This is the myth of our time.

As one challenge completes itself, and we are gifted with a couple of days of R&R, it seems quickly, the universe begins the new chapter of our continuing evolutionary awakening. Today, it occurred in the form of the historic earthquake in Japan, the ensuing tsunamis, and now the potential for a nuclear meltdown. One could see this drama in the heavens, certainly in retrospect. I had felt ‘earthquakey’ for days, a felt sense in my body I have come to recognize over the years. I’ve learned to discern the difference between personal tensions, and an awareness of the greater Field. The first site I check each morning is the quake site for my Greater Yellowstone homeland http://www.quake.utah.edu/EQCENTER/recent.htm, then on to the global scene:http://earthquake.usgs.gov/.Then of course, time to check out the space weather: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/alerts/index.html… now, properly educated about the most important news, I begin my day.

**So here’s the astrology of this Earth changing event…as seen from a heavenly perspective**

~~AS ABOVE~~SO BELOW~~

Quite often in looking at charts for specific events in astrology, you note the quickly moving planets, like Moon and Mercury in particular. Events/crisis build and build to the breaking point and then the power of the Lunar force or Mercury, the messenger, acts as a trigger, delivers the goods, and shifts everything, for good. For Good. I believe the Universe and the planetary messengers have our better interests at heart.

Indeed, the Moon in Taurus was the indicative trigger that things were about to shift. Luna was aligned in the constellation of the Pleiades, the seven sisters, a delightful grouping of stars if you have ever noticed them in the shimmering night sky. This constellation is important to our Mayan ancestors, and strongly indicated as being crucial in the coming shifts linked to 2012, which we have already moved through, in my opinion. So to me, this event is linked to somehow preparing us, shifting us, in dramatic ways, to that predicted opening when we realize we are part of something much larger than we have ever imagined. Indeed, we are part of our larger galaxy in miraculous and wondrous ways, surely not here all by ourselves, surely we aren’t that egotistical, full of such hubris to think we alone are masters of the Universe? Surely we humans aren’t alone in the Universe? Who in their right mind would have concocted such a story?

Everything is story. What story are we telling ourselves?

This Moon was square, symbolic of breaking tension, to a Neptune/Chiron/Ceres conjunction. Let me break that down. Neptune rules the oceans and our deepest dreams, and is always central in any astrological chart in any event involving water or oil. Ceres is the Goddess of Earth, with overtones of grief, asks us what is most nurturing/sustainable/supporting to us. Chiron, the wounded healer always ~ALWAYS~ teaches us, reaches us, through suffering, and the ensuing Grace of healing, of banding together in support of each other in times of crisis.

What that says to me is this a moment that, in its disaster, and sadly, the ensuing suffering of many souls, will somehow bring us into further alignment with where the Earth is taking us. Yes: I believe the Earth is in charge here, and She is always~ALWAYS~ hoping to align us with our better Angels.

When I saw the Moon was about to align with Aldebaran, the red eye of the Taurus the Bull and in a tense square to Mars, planet of passion/war/action, I remembered something I learned years ago from a wonderful astrologer Mark Lerner (his magazine Welcome to Planet Earth enlightened many of us in the astrological community for years, bless him and his good work). I believed he coined the phrase “the nuclear axis” in regards to noting that any time a major event of significance involving nuclear meltdowns/shutdowns/disasters (disaster means “to go against the stars”) the stars of Aldebaran and Antares were involved. It makes sense, knowing the stories these royal stars hold. They are also prominent in the astrological charts of politicians. Aldebaran is a star intended to help ground our larger philosophical/spiritual visions into the daily details of our lives here on Earth. That is, in essence, what politicians do. Good ones, at least. Not all hold that higher aspiration of true service, and tend to be more about their ego aggrandizement, but our great political leaders have always embodied that evolutionary truth….they know are here to midwife change.

Antares, the red heart of Scorpio, the other star on this axis, is about understanding our power as humans to create life, or to destroy it, in the negative sense.. There is a healthy aspect to death…all things must die….but there is an unhealthy aspect to trying to control life, or death. And that is what Antares awakens us to.

~~we are at a crossroads~~

Do we create energy sources that are lifegiving/free/sustaining, like fusion, versus the forces of fission, which are clearly dangerous to all life on Earth, that risk the annihilation of life as we have known it, as we may be about to witness AGAIN, apparently because our human memory of such events as Hiroshima, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island did not sink in…do we need this one last drama to fuel our awakening?

“Moonrise” by Victoria Blumberg