PHOENIX ASTROLOGY

Hope you have all invested in good woolly hats and decent heaters as the cold snap we have been waiting for all winter finally arrives.

On the astrological front Mars is retrograding in Virgo and Neptune enters Pisces later today, remaining there until 2025. These create a movement into two opposite directions. Mars in Virgo pushes ever deeper into the interior centre of our subjective being, the individual looking out into the world and seeking out the best way to interact and contribute to it. Neptune in Pisces turns us 180° around and takes us away from the earth and into something altogether transcendent. From a vantage point on the higher levels of consciousness we can see all of humanity, ourselves included, scurrying around trying to avoid things that give us pain and seek out that which gives us pleasure ignorant of the fact that this very movement is the cause of most of our suffering.

We all have our preferred mode of being that will favour one or other of these movements but to do so would obviously create an imbalance and lead to a certain degree of paralysis. This post will focus mostly on Mars in Virgo and I'll be covering Neptune in Pisces later on.

Virgo is an Earth sign and is depicted as a goddess of the land holding an ear of grain. It is a practical sign that is grounded in everyday reality.  In the body Virgo rules the intestines and digestive organs, and is prone to over-thinking and anxiety. The problem is that we have lost touch with the natural intelligence of our biological and instinctive centre. We have gone so far into abstract thinking and problem solving to function in the modern world that we have forgotten how to listen to the language of the body, its inherent rhythms and basic needs. The only symptom we are aware of is that state of deep unease, an anxiety without a specific focus, a sign that the earth element is out of balance.

Virgo is also a mutable sign which means it is adaptable and can change according to the needs of the environment. Much of our conditioning has been to inform us of our strengths and weaknesses and to encourage us to have firmly held views and principles. This is so that we can fit in to an increasingly specialised society. However, periods of crisis and change demand a great deal of flexibility and adaptability so that we are able to respond effectively to changing conditions. As Mars retrogrades through Virgo it is an opportunity to return to the body, to the earth and to our centre and rediscover our inherent flexible nature. Mars brings a confident, ‘can do’ attitude so that if my economic, social, family, or health circumstances change then there is a basic confidence that I can adapt to meet these new challenges.

It is this confidence that will calm the current pervasive anxiety but this confidence only comes when one is deeply in touch with the body’s natural intelligence and to do that we must first empty the current content of our fixed perceptions, views and opinions.  This is where Mars and Neptune are able to work together. Mars is the planet of elimination and helps to throw things out that are not needed while Neptune helps to dissolve and let go of any views that promote separation. It all comes down to perception. If we perceive these fixed ideas about who we are to be vital to our security and self-definition then they inevitably persist but if we can see that these fixed beliefs were just part of our conditioning and are false then the elimination process starts to kick in automatically. This strength and flexibility that comes from emptiness is one described very well in Daoism and in disciplines such as tai chi and qi gong.

The famous Daoist writer Lao Tsu wrote:

Thirty spokes join together in the hub.

 It is because of what is not there that the cart is useful.

Clay is formed into a vessel.

It is because of its emptiness that the vessel is useful.

Cut doors and windows to make a room.

It is because of its emptiness that the room is useful.

Therefore, what is present is used for profit.

But it is in absence that there is usefulness

London visit

I will be in London between 14 – 18 February and am available for consultations on 14 & 15 February.

There will be an astrology meditation evening on Wednesday 15 February at 7pm at Bermondsey Fayre, 212 Bermondsey Street. Cost - £8

All the best

Nick