Deborah Houlding's Horary Certificate Course 2006

2012: The End of Time?

For years people have been asking me, “As an astrologer, what do you think is going to happen in 2012?” My answer would invariably be that I thought the end of the Mayan calendar would coincide with a radical shift in consciousness, a change in the way we view time itself.  ”The shift is already happening,” I’d say, ”can’t you feel it?” 

Now, mere months from 2012, I find myself wondering if we are coming to the end of time in a rather more concrete way than I anticipated. The news from climate change scientists grows more alarming with each day that passes. Don’t take my word for it. Read the report of the UN’s International Program on the State of the Oceans, released in June 2011.  Read Seasick: The Global Ocean in Crisis, the international bestseller by Toronto’s own Alanna Mitchell.

“It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.”
               ~ Irish proverb

It’s a big wake up call, bigger than any of us imagined possible. So let’s all build a shelter together to weather the coming storms, just as the Occupy movements are building tent cities to regain for the common good territory held for too long by the paradigms of domination and greed which have brought us here to the verge of a mass extinction event.

There is only one Earth. If we want to preserve what’s left of Her astonishing creation, the time for action is now.

How Astrology Works – Planets in Particular

Planets affect us through resonance and correspondence. The constellation of qualities particular to each planet can be found in a host of related earthly phenomena. For instance, Saturn is associated with ancient ruins because everything old, traditional or historical resonates with Saturn’s nature. 

Many things are mixtures of planetary influence but usually one attribute will stick out and it is the planet most strongly associated with that attribute (eg, old = Saturn; gold = Sun) which is said to “rule” that object, process, creature or event. 

Astrology subscribes to the “everything is interconnected” worldview which dominated Western thought until the end of the 17^th Century, when so-called “Natural Philosophy” stripped creation of its sentience and nature of its living web of interdependence. It took modern physics to rediscover the web of interconnection. We are all – humans, animals, plants and angels – interconnected. What affects one, affects all. 

It is a profound democracy.

Moments Out of Time: On Eclipses

Long ago, when the skies darkened under a solar eclipse, our ancestors shot arrows at the sky and banged drums to scare away the dragon who was eating the Sun. Today we’ve traded the hungry dragon theory of eclipses for the understanding that eclipses are perfectly natural phenomenon involving synchronized path crossings of the Sun, Moon and Earth. We have wrested this much from the corridors of superstition. The evolution of our understanding of eclipses is a victory of light over darkness and we should celebrate it. 

At the same time, the atmosphere generated by eclipses is just as uncanny as it ever was. Just ask anyone who has been called from sleep in the middle of the night to stare up at a lunar eclipse, or who has witnessed the eerie progression of a solar eclipse turning day into night. The sense of being under a magically altered sky during an eclipse is just as real today as it ever was. Although we now know the how and why of an eclipse, there is much that remains a mystery about these cyclical interruptions of light.

Oprah’s Surprise Ending

Oprah Winfrey came out of the closet this week.

In the final hour of her iconic talk show she revealed that she is not the generic new age seeker she has presented herself to be. Underneath the public persona she has nurtured so religiously (as it were) over her two and a half decades on the air, Oprah is, it turns out, an unmitigated, “To God be the Glory” Christian.  Wowsers! 

Early on in her sermon – there’s no other word for it - Oprah said, “My team and Jesus are the secret of my success.”  Whoa! What’d she just say?

Americans love that Old Time Religion, and so Oprah’s unveiling will only seem natural to most of her viewers, or should I say followers? I don’t know where I heard it but someone mused that Oprah would eventually become a religious figure. On May 25, 2011, the Divine Ms. O threw her hat in the ring and came out as a straight up Jesus loving preacher woman. I’d say amen and hallelujah if it didn’t make me feel just a little bit queasy.

O Canada: Post Election Blues

Look around you. The Apocalypse is in full bloom. The Revelations are coming through like hardballs. We are trying to adapt to the heightened surrealism of the evening news. Things on the Matrix are not looking good. There are extremes and emergencies everywhere.  Sometimes I am frozen in the headlights. I tell myself to remember that my enemy is a human being wrapped in a Machiavellian Thought Cloud. I try to pray for his release as he destroys the social fabric of my country.

O Canada, I stand on guard for thee.

Be My Valentine: Venus in the Dead of Winter

One learns quickly as an astrologer that it’s a good idea when you’ve just invoked the mojo of a ”difficult” planet (A Little Mars Run) to apply an antidote as quickly as possible.  So it is with great pleasure that I now dive, in honour of Valentine’s Day, into an exploration of VENUS the Goddess of Love. Love is the antidote to War as Venus is the antidote to Mars. 

VENUS is as fond of making nice as Mars is of sabre rattling.  She rules the twin graces, love and peace, art and pleasure. Our inner Venus is that part of us which is always checking to make sure we’re happy. And very little makes us happier than to love and be loved. That’s why Venus is the undisputed Queen of Valentines. 

VALENTINE’S DAY is all that’s left in mainstream culture of the pagan festival of Imbolc which (near enough) marks the midway point in time between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. The festival, also known as Brigid in honour of the Celtic Goddess of Poetry and Healing, and Candlemas, the Christian version, is essentially a ritualized anticipation of light celebrated in February when the Sun is in Aquarius. 

Venus is not at home in Aquarius’s icy climate. She languishes in the cold, dark nights, longing for love and light. The Happiness Meter is woefully low on the scale. What to do? Ask Venus and she’ll tell you to have a merry gathering with music, poetry and candlelight to lift the spirits, warm the hearts and inspire the minds of all assembled. 

Studies which conclude that having supportive social connections is vital for human health and well-being have recently gained prominence in the news. It may seem like these studies are stating the obvious, but the cult of the individual has deep roots in western culture. With its candlelight dinners, chocolates and flowers, jewellery and perfume, Valentine’s Day is for the most part about honouring the Venus in one woman, your woman, proving that you still admire her womanly charms. It is a pas de deux, having lost all vestiges of the communal gathering to recite poetry and light up the room with candles which sustained our ancestors in the dead of winter.  

So let’s reframe Valentine’s Day and make it more inclusive. Let’s start having joyful gatherings to celebrate Venus in February as a community. In the dead of winter our minds run to slightly mad ruminations and we could all use a little enchantment. Let’s make Valentine’s Day about having the heart to make it through the cruellest month. Let’s feed that heart with celebrations. Let’s chase away the winter blues with poetry and music. Let’s give our spirits a booster shot. We are halfway home to Spring.

Now have a look at what my colleagues at Astrology Toronto have to say about Valentine’s Day.

A Little Mars Run

A useful way to gain understanding into the effects of planets on human life is to view them as sub-personalities.  

The planet MARS brings to mind sub-personalities modelled on a whole slew of hotheaded cartoon characters. Yosemite Sam, the Tasmanian Devil, and Daffy Duck when Bugs Bunny is driving him crazy with his Trickster ways, all of these are comical representations of Mars in Action. 

Mars triggers the fight or flight response and we all have this sputtering hothead rumbling around in our bellies. We need him. He’s the one who’ll go to battle for us and Goddess knows it’s a jungle out there. 

People deal with anger in a host of different ways depending on the sign Mars inhabits in our birth charts.  You’ll notice that many of the descriptions that follow are not particularly flattering. Don’t take offense (a Mars reaction). Mars is a force to be tamed and directed or it will definitely get you into trouble. 

Mars in Aries: Being in his element, Mars does well in this sign.  Zorro swoops down from the rooftops, saves the day and is outta here before you can say. “Out of the night when the Full Moon is bright …”  More Roadrunner than Tasmanian Devil. 

Mars in Taurus:  Not so happy here. Broods and internalizes like a caged Bull.  Resentment builds incident by incident.  Eventually explodes big time. Otherwise plods along, frustration on simmer. 

Mars in Gemini:  Leaps to the barricades with sharp tongue and rapier wit. Fierce debater, runs rings around his opponents. Quick wit and repartee are weapons of choice. 

Mars in Cancer: Fierce like a Mother Bear with her cubs. Vigilant defender of the family. Gets crabby and prickly when her tender feelings are hurt. Emotional as hell. Withdraws and sulks or gives you a good pinch. 

Mars in Leo: The Drama Queen sweeps out of the room with a toss of her head and a flourish of her robes. Regal comebacks are tossed from the heights. Pride is the landmine most likely to trigger Leo’s theatrical displays. 

Mars in Virgo:  Persnickety thy name is Mars in Virgo. The Hermit sign withdraws and internalizes the affront. If she gets back to you with “constructive” criticism, you’ll know you’re forgiven, so take your medicine without complaint. 

Mars in Libra:   Being pissed off puts Mars in Libra in a quandry. How to stay cool, calm, collected when the air is on fire?  She can be a fierce warrior for justice and rarely backs down from her principles. Later on she frets over disagreements.

Mars in Scorpio: Mars has great strength in its night sign. Subtle machinations, cards played close to the chest, expert espionage, a nose for underhanded assaults. Cold as ice and hot as fire. Never forgets an insult or betrayal. ”Revenge is a dish best served cold.”

Mars in Sagittarius:  Opinion as weapon. Fights back with philosophical high-handedness or physical rough-housing, depending on which half of of the Centaur is ascendant. Zealot with wings of fire. 

Mars in Capricorn: Mars excels in Capricorn which steadies his impulsiveness and aims it toward mastery.  Strong leaders and exceptional athletes can both be found with Mars in Capricorn. 

Mars in Aquarius:  Ideological warrior, natural born rebel and champion of rationality. Uses his intellect to reason his opponent to the ground. Never gives up in an argument because he KNOWS he’s right. Unlikely to fly off the handle. Will turn off completely if things get too heated and irrational. 

Mars in Pisces: Mars in Pisces is much more likely to slip away from contentious situations than confront them head on. Slippery as a fish. Easily worked up by the plight of the underdog but much more likely to fight for what she believes in behind the scenes than leap to the barricades.

Five Full Moons

From October 2010 to February 2011, five consecutive Full Moons occurred or will occur on the final degree of the sign they are in. The last degree of a sign is known as the Anaretic Degree. It describes endings which will be followed by faltering steps into unfamiliar territory. With these five Full Moons, the Priestess of the Moon adds her voice to the chorus of outer planets which are currently announcing the arrival of radical change on Planet Earth.

On April 4th Neptune begins a 14 year transit of Pisces, the sign in which the beautiful blue planet is most at home. Neptune is the God of the Sea and so we can expect that for the next 14 years, the plight of the World’s Ocean will become a critically important issue. Together these two astrological events give rise to the question, “Is the Ocean dying? Are the creatures who live in Her vast waters, who make up 99% of Earth’s biomass, coming to the end of the line?” We know that pH levels in the ocean are changing, something which was previously thought to be impossible.  Rapidly acidifying oceans are spelling potential doom for a host of Neptune’s children, including as it turns out, the human race.

You can read all about the disturbing changes in the Ocean and their potential to effect all life on Earth, terrestrial as well as marine, in Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis by Alanna Mitchell.  By the time you finish reading Mitchell’s brilliant study you will know that, as astrological conditions suggest, we are truly not in Kansas anymore.

My City Has a Cartoon Mayor

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

It was during the Toronto mayoral election that I began to notice that the political world had turned into a cartoon. There was no other explanation for it. The election of Rob Ford could only happen in a cartoon world, just as the viral popularity of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party south of the border could only happen in a world stretched out of shape by grotesque misconceptions. 

Surely Don Cherry’s obnoxious (and botched) introduction of “Ron, er I mean Rob” Ford as Toronto’s new mayor could only happen in a cartoon universe. Decked out in pink to mock the “left-wing pinko media”, Cherry rubbed our faces in his rhinocerotic contempt for all things progressive.

Talk about your Visigoths. It’s not 1950 anymore, Rob and Don. Things change. Let’s wake up and smell the greenhouse gases, folks. The freak show is in town.