December 21, 2012: Armageddon or Global Enlightenment? (Part 2)

PART 2 of 3

A SERIES ON WHAT WILL HAPPEN THE DAY THE MAYAN CALENDAR ENDS

First, thanks for reading.

Secondly, if you haven’t read Part One yet, you may want to do that now. If you don’t, you will be missing key pieces to the puzzle. Click this Link.

Thirdly, I have these charts stripped to the bone because I want you to be able to find the configurations I’m going to write about. The fewer aspect lines running through the chart, the easier it will be. For those of you familiar with charts, I normally include the Moon’s Nodes, Chiron, the Part of Fortune, and the Vertex in my charts. I rarely use more than that because I find that it only muddles the issues. 

MUTUAL RECEPTIONS

Before we go on, I need to introduce you to more of the players in this scenario. Just as with Mars, Saturn, and Pluto, Mercury and Jupiter are in mutual reception with each other. A mutual reception means the planets involved are in each others' sign, and supportive of each other to the point where it’s almost impossible to distinguish one from the other. They are interchangeable. Let’s feel around inside their boxes, and then we’ll talk about the roles they play in the 2012 Winter Solstice.

MERCURY IN SAGITTARIUS

 First, let’s reach into Mercury’s box. This zippy little planet is the ruler of Gemini (and Virgo, too, but only Gemini is involved this time). The zodiac house it naturally resides in is the 3rd house. All three, Mercury, Gemini, and the 3rd house, mean pretty much the same things, except one shows what, one shows how, and the latter shows where.

Mercury was the winged messenger of the gods, and he was quite the little trickster. Sometimes he got the messages wrong accidentally on purpose. He loves cards and games, especially brain games like crosswords and Sudoku, and guessing games like charades. He’s perpetually young, clever, shallow and fickle, a lot like Peter Pan.

That’s not such a bad thing though, because sometimes we need to lighten up. We can only take so much Saturn gloom and doom before it becomes oppressive, and only so much Plutonian intensity before it becomes downright scary. Often, we need to pull back the curtains, throw open the windows, and let the sun shine in. Mercury can be a real breath of fresh air.

The sign that Mercury occupies, and his relationship to the moon, indicates how we absorb, filter, and process information. It shows whether we ponder matters or jump to conclusions, whether we are strong silent types or motor mouths, whether we are rational or irrational, serious-minded or social butterflies, and whether or not there is a filter between our brains and our tongues. It shows learning disabilities, mental disorders, and our dexterity.

 Mercury has domain over information, communication, and all things related to them. If you can read it or write it, it’s his. He rules all reading material: blogs, books, newspapers, magazines, contracts, leases, agreements, medical coding, shorthand, computer programming, the note you pass in class, and the graffiti you spray where you shouldn’t. He also rules all writing instruments: pens, pencils, crayons, chalk, anything with a keypad, and even your two hands.

He gets all the speaking roles such as acting, speeches, and teaching, and all recording and communication devices such as telephones, telegraph, tell your neighbor, cards, letters, mail, email, faxes, tape recorders, voicemail, and Dictaphones.

 He gets the keys to your car, and the car itself.  He rules deliveries. He shares social networking and bicycles with Uranus, and air travel with Jupiter, but wagons, skates, skis, lifts, elevators, trolleys, subways, and so forth are all his … they’re all part of another of his domains: transportation. If it takes you from one place to another, it’s usually Mercury’s. He covers short distances like those you travel to run errands around your neighborhood and the distance you walk to school. Along with teaching, he’s lord over elementary or basic education, which reaches up to college level (after that, Jupiter takes over). While in the neighborhood, he rules neighbors and the immediate environment. He’s even your brothers, sisters, and young people in general.

On the 2012 Winter Solstice, Mercury is in the sign of Sagittarius: That is opposite the sign where he belongs. He is also in the 9th house, opposite the house where he belongs. Both the sign and house belong to Jupiter. The first puts the planet in his "fall," and the latter puts him in his "detriment." Will it weaken him? It's hard to tell because he's also in mutual reception with Jupiter, which means they are interchangeable.

 One more note about this mutual reception: there’s a lot of emphasis on Mercury and Gemini, which is related to the number 2. Twins. Two hands. Two lungs. Two jobs. Two marriages. And as on 9/11, when he was prominent, two towers. Two of something…

JUPITER IN GEMINI 

 Jupiter, Sagittarius, and the 9th house are also tied together. Jupiter is Sagittarius’ ruler, and the 9th house is his natural domain. Jupiter is the Greater Benefic, the planet of faith, hope, and optimism. Where Mercury focuses on small details, Jupiter sees the bigger picture. It is the planet that impels us to reach out and expand our world and our minds. It represents philosophy, religion, law, justice, medicine, psychology, higher education, universities, professors, scientific institutions, publishing, and most other means of trying to understand and make sense of our world. While Mercury rules our closest neighbor, Jupiter rules our farthest ones: distant places, foreign people, and their languages and cultures. It’s foreign trade, imports and exports, immigration and emigration. It’s air travel and commerce. 

Jupiter is sometimes described as the Santa Claus of the zodiac. He is the planet of luck and good fortune, abundance, excess, inflation, bigger, better, and more. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Not so much. Sometimes it is just too much of a good thing. If it’s on the ascendant, we may be a happy-go-lucky kind of person, but struggle with our weight.

 Conjunct Mercury, we may talk too much or exaggerate. With Venus, there can be too much sugar, and what does that cause? Diabetes. If we’re talking about a tumor or cancer cells, we don’t want them to increase. Too much optimism can lead to financial losses if we aren’t careful. Inflation of prices and deflation of the value of money is never good. Jupiter rivals Saturn when it comes to big disappointments. We expect too much. 

Jupiter in Gemini is Big Communication: information, broadcasting, telecommunications, the world wide web, and social networking.

It can also indicate ambassadors, embassies, intermediaries, and middlemen.

Gemini a restless sign, so Jupiter here can have too many irons in the fire and spread itself too thin. If we over-tax a communication satellite, for instance, many people might think the world really is ending. It seems that way to me when my internet is down. Another possible scenario could be hackers taking over our communications systems—don’t forget what a clever little trickster Mercury (ruler of Gemini) can be. Or here’s a fun thought: communication from an intelligent species in a galaxy far, far away. With Mercury and Jupiter in mutual reception, it’s within the realm of possibility.

Mostly, I think that news from a distance will transform a situation. We may be negotiating some kind of an agreement, or trying to reach an understanding with other countries. Sharing information is key. We should be at least partially successful because Mercury receives a trine from the moon on that day, and Mercury and Jupiter are in mutual reception. Now the question becomes whether or not the détente will be beneficial. Jupiter is the only retrograde planet in this chart.

RETROGRADE PLANETS

A retrograde planet is one that appears to be moving backwards in the sky. It doesn’t really, of course; it only looks that way from our vantage point on earth. If a planet actually did move backwards, then maybe life as we know it might truly end. Don’t worry about this, not only have planets been "moving" in retrograde motion since time began, but some are retrograde fully half the year, and we’ve been okay with it so far.

The effect of a retrograde planet is that we tend to backtrack on whatever has come before. We rethink it. Maybe what came before worked at the time, but no longer, or maybe we made mistakes that need to be corrected, or omitted something that needs to be expounded upon. Just for fun, because we enjoy speculating on what could happen on this day, let’s say aliens visit us. With Jupiter retrograde, it would be a return visit, not the first one.

JUPITER Rx

 I’ve seen retrograde Jupiter described as a time to restore and reconnect with Jupiterian matters which have gone unfinished or left by the wayside. For instance, maybe we lost our faith, or dropped out of college, and the suggestion is that while Jupiter is retrograde that it is a good time to pick up those things, dust them off, and get back to them. I somewhat disagree. First, any time is a good time to do those things. How can it possibly hurt? Secondly, revival and renewal are Pluto’s domain.

 One thing we do with retrograde planets in our natal charts is to internalize their expression. In the case of Jupiter, which is the planet of joy, instead of expressing an outward joie de vivre and going for the gusto, we might inwardly count our blessings and go about our lives with the internal faith that there is something much bigger than us calling the shots. We use Jupiter’s expansiveness for personal growth and inner awareness, taking a quieter, deeper approach. We are more likely to be found practicing meditation and yoga than knocking on doors and proselytizing. We search inside ourselves for guidance, rather than looking outwardly for it.

In a mundane or event chart like the Ingress chart for the 2012 Winter Solstice, a retrograde (retrospect) Jupiter may remind us of better days or times when we had a more satisfying perspective on things related to its house position. Jupiter in direct motion is inflation. In retrograde motion, it’s deflation. Remember that. It’s going to come up again. In this case, it will affect 3rd house matters: information, communication, negotiation and transportation. It’s also neighboring countries and our relations with them.

Jupiter is in the 3rd house of the Ingress chart, but it rules the 10th, otherwise known as the midheaven. The ascendant of a chart declares who we are; the midheaven shows where we stand. It represents our place in the community—or in this case, the world—and our reputation in it. It’s a place of honor or dishonor, fame, or infamy. With Sagittarius here, Jupiter’s issues are being examined closely. Of course, it is the time of year when much of the world celebrates their religion—or it used to be before it became so commercialized—so it’s natural that the sign of faith, hope, and optimism should be at the forefront. It is the Winter Solstice, the day of the year when the sun is dormant before being reborn in three days time.

The other issues seem to center around global communication, air travel, commerce, trade, and / or immigration. We don’t have to narrow it down to just one aspect of Jupiter and its sign; it can be variations of all of them.

One more note while visiting this mutual reception in the 3rd and 9th houses: the houses of both cusps are in critical anaretic degrees. The definition of anaretic is "life or form destroying." When a critical degree falls on a house cusp, the matter is generally grave. It indicates stress, extremes, and a climatic turning point. We need to come to some decisions, but we don’t see clearly the things that pertain to those houses. The 29th degree gives it a kind of Libra quality, or should I say weakness? It complicates the ability to make decisions.

 Both sides of an issue are seen and heard, but in weighing and balancing, we reach a stalemate. We waiver between them, struggling to choose one or the other. So we put off making any decision at all, while we continue to evaluate new information. It’s a classic case of procrastination. Then finally, in the 11th hour, we jump to one side or the other just to make a decision, any decision, which is not necessarily the right one. And it’s usually a poor one. The signs involved in this 3rd house / 9th house / Mercury / Jupiter dilemma? Scorpio and Taurus, the money signs, are on the cusps of those houses.

LIFTING THE VEIL FROM THE ALMIGHTY YOD

There will be plenty more to examine, but the yod is the crux of this chart. Everything else hinges on it. If you know anything about real astrology, you’ve heard of it: the Finger of God or the Hand of Fate…a configuration that seems to point to something mysterious and destined.

Here’s the chart for December 21, 2012 again, with this aspect highlighted.

One thing I’ve found is that even among serious and professional astrologers, this is a most misunderstood configuration. Try to read up on it, and you’ll find a lot of…nothing. Most sites simply repeat (often word-for-word) what has been written on another site, or they go to great lengths to detail the connections of the aspect (it consists of a sextile and two inconjuncts). What they don’t say is what this aspect actually does, although they are quick to point out that God is taking a personal hand in matters, or that destiny has singled us out. That may be true, but I can pretty much guarantee it’s not something we’re going to enjoy. As I explain what this configuration does, you may get the impression I don’t have a freaking clue, either. But at the end of this section, I’ll give you some examples that should bring it all together for you.

For those of you who don’t understand astrology, I think you’ll still agree that it looks like an arrow that points to a particular planet. In this case, it happens to be Jupiter in Gemini. And the two planets on the other end? Saturn in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn. Remember them from Part One?

Even people with no understanding at all of astrology usually have the inkling that certain signs "get along" and others "repel" each other. These results are based on the elements of the signs:

Fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius);

Earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn);

Air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius);

Water (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces).

Sometimes opposites attract, too, when one person has attributes the other lacks. Occasionally, some signs share a tolerance of each other because they are ruled by the same planet, such as Taurus and Libra (Venus), and Gemini and Virgo (Mercury), to give just two examples. Then there are some signs that are so incongruent with each other that it’s like mixing oil and water.

The zodiac also contains three modes that all express themselves differently:

Cardinal (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) Cardinals are quick from the starting gate and are initiators. They’re bossy.

Fixed (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) Fixed signs are stubborn and resist change, but have stick-to-itiveness. They make it to the finish line.

Mutable (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces). Mutable signs are highly adaptable and flexible but can have trouble seeing things through.

Almost always, there is a blend of modes and elements in the same chart, which is one reason why people are complex, and sun sign astrology is rubbish.

That’s what happens with a yod. It contains planets in a mixture of different elements and modes, which has a turbulent effect. When any of the planets in the yod are transited, or hit by a lunation or eclipse, all three react. The two sextile planets (in this case, Saturn authority and Plutocratic corporations) work together to the detriment of the apex planet (Jupiter). We sense that we need to jump in and save the situation immediately, but with the Libra quality of the yod which brings indecision, and retrograde Jupiter so entwined with Mercury, we rethink it, and either do nothing or are unable to correct the action we took.

If we examine the planets, signs, and houses involved, and believe we can pin down what will happen when the yod is activated, we will be wrong. It will do something different. The only thing certain about it is the confusion it causes. We think we’re getting one thing, but we’re really getting something else. We will also have a hard time understanding the situation. Why me? How did this happen? What do I do about it? When will it end? The solution is like a bar of soap that slips from our fingers. 

With a yod, we are backed into a corner and must choose between two evils, or make unthinkable choices. They may not always be as horrendous as the one made in (spoiler alert) Sophie’s Choice, but they can feel like it to the one who has to make it. We become victims of incidents that appear from nowhere and shouldn’t have had anything to do with us. We are put in the middle of terrible and impossible circumstances. We are stuck in stalemates and Mexican standoffs. This is where the "fate" of the aspect comes in.

We are completely perplexed about why this is happening to us. When our lives change on a dime due to events that are extreme, upsetting, and completely out of our control, naturally, we feel victimized. It is not our fault. We didn’t do anything to deserve it. It just happened.

It can take a very long time to work out, and if we try to put a time limit on solving the problem, we make it worse. The intensity of the situation seems to be highest when personal planets are involved (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter), but it can take much longer to work out when the outer planets are incorporated (Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto), because it can take them years to move out of orb. A yod in a natal chart is, of course, a life-long condition that will never change, and causes the person to feel there is a special task or mission in life that he must undertake.

 Eventually all the negatives of the situation end up being something positive. For instance, let’s say that a man with a yod in his natal chart affecting his 6th house of employment has had a lifetime of trouble keeping a job through no fault of his own. Businesses go belly up every day, business owners retire or die, spouses get transferred…there could be many reasons. Eventually, after a lifetime of experience at this job and that one, the man has accumulated enough knowledge in certain areas that he is now uniquely qualified to  (fill in the blank). Write a best seller on the merits of job jumping? Become a chef who incorporates the cuisine of all the places where he has lived? Become the CEO of a new national temp service? The talent he develops will be uniquely related to the planets and houses of the yod, but again, it will never be the expected thing.

The way to deal with a yod is to let whatever happens happen. Don’t pick the scab. Feel it, but don’t fight it. Don’t force it. Don’t attach meaning to it. Let the meaning come of its own accord, similar in function to the old ‘60’s maxim that if you love something, let it go. Don’t transfer your confusion to something else. Don’t get caught up in cults or with gurus because you think they will provide the answer. They won’t. Don’t try to escape. You can’t. Just be. Ride the wave and let it take you wherever it will. Don’t do anything extreme; just keep living life. Don’t be afraid of facing adversity. It is incubating something that will be very worthwhile later on. Let things happen as destiny directs, at its own pace. Forget the issues of the yod and do what feels right to you at any given time. Ask yourself, "What do I feel like doing today?" Then do it. You are collecting experience that will crystallize into something fulfilling and highly useful in the future.

I can imagine what you’re thinking right now. You’re probably thinking "Say what?!? None of that tells me anything!" I promised some examples, and here they are:

The Gulf Oil Spill

April 20, 2010

9:45 PM CDT

Gulf of Mexico 28N46 87W56

Abduction of Jaycee Dugard

Two Yods

June 10, 1991

8:10 AM PDT

South Lake Tahoe, CA 28N56 119W59

Now does it make more sense?

THE 2012 WINTER SOLSTICE YOD

Keep in mind that the Ingress chart is for just after the presidential election in the United States, and before the swearing in. Also recall that the Supreme Court, on January 21, 2010, blocked the ban on corporate political spending, so the president may no longer be elected by the American people, but purchased by Big Business.

Incidentally, it’s also four days before Christmas, one of the biggest spending sprees of the year, and a time when most of the western world is preoccupied by the religious holidays of Christmas and Hanukkah, which may make it easier to slip things by them, or affect their spending in a big way.

Two of the three planets involved in the yod—Saturn in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn—are all about power plays and money grabs, as well as the dissolution of our economic system and democracy. (I haven’t written about other governments in the world also affected by the aspects because I know so little about them, their economies, or how they function).

To that, we factor in Jupiter in Gemini, which is all about foreign entanglements and communication. Jupiter is in the 3rd house of the Ingress chart, which confirms and strengthens the global exchange of information and spread of ideas. The Internet and social networking will undoubtedly play their parts. Or I should say "probably" because this is a yod—remember that what happens will not be what is expected. There will be confusion. Lots of it, especially with Neptune on the ascendant, which we’ll get to in Part Three. We’ll think we’re getting one thing, but we’ll really be getting something else. Remember voting on the Right to Work law? Raise your hand if you thought it was about not being forced to join a labor union.

We’ll be painted into a corner and faced with impossible choices that involve money, business, government, foreign matters, and information / communication. We are very likely to be caught in the middle of horrendous circumstances that have little to do with us as individuals, and that make us victims of matters that are out of our hands, caught in a standoff or stalemate. And don’t forget the critical degree of the 3rd and 9th house cusps, which makes it a grave matter on which we just can’t decide.

BOOMERANG VENUS

 Boomerangs work just like the law of karma: what you throw out is what comes back! The boomerang planet involved with a yod unifies forces and becomes the new goal or focal point and receives an extraordinary amount of stress.

Venus is the Lesser Benefic. The brightest planet in the sky, she rules love, beauty, comfort, luxury, harmony, all things feminine, and money. She’s the perfect hostess, and a lot like a grandmother. Sweet, charming, warm and fuzzy, she bestows love, happiness and good fortune on us. She wants us to be plump, comfortable, and have a good time. She wants to indulge us with the best of everything. Have some more ice cream. Here’s a little pocket money. I know your parents said you can’t do this...can’t have that...but they’re not here; go ahead. Help yourself. Have more. Do more. Take more. Relax. You don’t have to work today. Worry about tomorrow some other time. Life is short; have fun. In other words, she spoils us rotten.

In the Winter Solstice Ingress chart, Venus is opposed to Jupiter at the apex of the yod. Remember that Jupiter is the Greater Benefic, the Santa Claus of the zodiac: bigger, better, more, optimism, hope, faith, abundance, inflation and excess.

When Venus, planet of good times, opposes Jupiter, planet of excess, we might get one wild party! It is, after all, the "last day" of our existence on the earth, so why not go out in style? Let’s do it! Let’s shop til we drop. Let’s party 'til we puke. Let’s indulge ourselves in every little thing we ever wanted but couldn’t afford. We’ll live beyond our means, be selfish and self-indulgent. We’ll borrow from a future that will never come.

There most certainly will be people who think and behave this way on "Doomsday." Lots of them. The same ones who have been living this way for quite some time now and who have helped to drive us straight into the global economic meltdown shown in the chart. The significant amount of money they spend at this time might actually improve the economy. That is…if there’s a dime left to spend by then. It’s looking pretty doubtful. Remember back when I was explaining Jupiter that I said, "Remember this; it's going to come up again?" Here it is. Venus opposed to Jupiter: inflation and deflation. Prices go up; the value of currency goes down.

Moderation is the most important and challenging lesson for us from now to the time leading up to December 21, 2012. If we don’t curb our excesses, start denying ourselves a few trinkets, and start using some good judgment, we will certainly be looking at a chart that reads catastrophe. A financial one. This is a chart that could make the 1929 Wall Street Crash look like a minor fender bender.

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