THE FIXED
GRAND CROSS
OF 2005-6
All year I've been teasing you with mentions of the "Fixed Cross". I think it's time I explained myself, don't you?
Because three of the slower-moving planets are travelling through the middle of the Fixed signs, 2006 (and late 2005) has seen a series of influential aspects there -- especially influential because a) transits of the slower planets last longer, b) the pattern keeps repeating over time as faster planets come through and contact the slower ones (and the slower ones come into close contact with each other), and c) the central degrees of the Fixed signs are power spots in themselves, being the positions of the Sun at the cross-quarters of the year:
- Spring: Sun at 15 Taurus in early May (Beltane)
- Summer: Sun at 15 Leo in early August (Lammas)
- Autumn: Sun at 15 Scorpio in early November (Samhain)
- Winter: Sun at 15 Aquarius in early February (Candlemas)
As the Sun reaches each cross-quarter, the season we're in reaches the height of its intensity. (For example, we're approaching the most intense part of Summer now, marked in the Pagan calendar by the first-harvest festival of Lammas.)
This intensity is highly characteristic of the Fixed signs. The three modes of energy in astrology, Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable, are roughly comparable to the three avatars of Krishna in the Hindu pantheon: Brahma, the world-creator, Vishnu, the world-maintainer, and Shiva, the world-destroyer. Cardinal energy has to do with goal-oriented activity (creating and building energy), Fixed with security, stability, and intense focus (maintaining energy), and Mutable with experience for its own sake, going with the flow (releasing energy).
The four signs in each mode are spaced at 90 degree angles around the Zodiac, forming a cross shape when you draw connecting lines through the center. Thus, when four planets are at or near 90 degrees apart, the configuration is known as a Grand Cross.
At this writing in Summer 2006, Neptune is at 18 degrees of Aquarius, Saturn at 14 Leo, and Jupiter at 10 Scorpio. These three relatively slow-moving planets form three out of four legs of the cross, known (for obvious reasons) as a T-square. (If you don't see it, try drawing it.) The T-square is a powerful configuration all by itself, but when the fourth leg is added (in this case by a planet passing through mid-Taurus), all four directions are represented, creating a dynamic whole suggesting infinite possibility (as in the World card in the Tarot deck, with the animals in the four corners).
Each of the Fixed signs expresses Fixity according to its elemental nature:
- Taurus - Earth - physical and financial security/risk, stability, grounding; the walled fortress
- Leo - Fire - identity security/risk, personality, "being seen", acknowledgement and appreciation; the stage
- Scorpio - Water - emotional security/risk, intense relationships, privacy and secrecy; the cave
- Aquarius - Air - intellectual and social security/risk, establishment of ideas, social institutions; the ivory tower
So when planets in all or most of these signs are activating each other with these high-energy squares and oppositions, we experience strong urges toward safety, security, and stability on all levels, conflicting with the need to trust and take risks. On the one hand, we're reluctant to make changes, focusing on appreciating and taking care of what we've got rather than reaching for more or letting things go. At the same time, we're gearing up to accept major transformations into our lives -- with a keen sense of what we're giving up to make new things happen.
You can see which areas of your own life are particularly affected by viewing the various transits against the background of your natal chart. Note the houses in which this is all taking place, any natal planets conjunct the transiting ones, etc. Different people are experiencing this series in different ways. For example, one client who has several placements in mid-Fixed signs is experiencing dramatic breakthroughs in her magical work by pushing through her usual experience of reality, while another is learning how to create a safe, grounded life for herself in recovery from an addictive lifestyle.
So what's the message here? Is it "don't let insecurity hold you back from taking necessary risks", or is it "this isn't the time to take risks, just try to hold on"? Well, as usual, there's no one simple truth. You're being pulled in three or four different directions. Somewhere there's a balancing point that you and only you can find. Go in armed with as much information and help as you can get... then act from your center.
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WHAT'S GOING AROUND
July/August 2006
Well, well... another 4 months, another Mercury Retrograde. This one lasted most of this July. Mercury turned backward in early Leo July 4th, then regressed into Cancer on the 10th. It will stay there until August 11, racking up a total of almost two months in the sign of the Crab this year. That's a long sojourn for this normally peripatetic li'l guy. Perhaps we all need some extra time for emotional communications right now. If you know anyone who was born with Mercury in Cancer, you'll know that they tend not to be first in line to expose the deepest recesses of their being to public scrutiny. Even in the safest and most intimate circumstances, it can take them quite a while to open up. That quiet, inward-looking energy pervades our world during this retrograde phase. This is a time to look deep into your own heart. By the time Mercury the Messenger is back in Leo on the 11th, any messages you need to convey should be clear in your mind.
Meanwhile, the Mars-Neptune opposition continues the year's Fixed Cross theme, heralding the much more influential Saturn-Neptune opposition to come (see below). Mars -- independence, assertiveness, primal desire -- must be balanced against Neptune -- compassion, poetry, mysticism. Your role model for Mars-Neptune is the Knight of Cups from the Tarot deck: sensitive but tough, visionary, introspective, yet aware of the world around him and willing to fight for his ideals -- the true spiritual warrior.
Jupiter turned direct on the 5th and will repeat its earlier aspects to Saturn, Uranus and Neptune once more before zipping on into Sagittarius in November. This is nothing unusual -- Jupiter is retrograde four months out of every year, like all the outer planets, so they all backtrack over their earlier doings quite often. Throughout late Summer and early Fall, our energy and focus begin to wind down vis-a-vis opportunities that presented themselves in late 2005 and early 2006. We have settled matters, or we have abandoned them. Either way, we're ready to take on whatever new challenges Jupiter in Sagittarius has in store for us.
Jupiter's third trine to Uranus is your last chance to make the most of this strong jolt of creative inspiration. See what this energy can do to lift you out of whatever bog the Fixed Cross may have stuck you in.
And speaking of the Fixed Cross... this month gives us the most important transit in the series, the Saturn-Neptune opposition. An opposition calls for us to maintain our balance between two opposing forces. In this case, the forces in question might be:
- containment vs. diffusion
- hard facts vs. imagination
- priority setting vs. intuitive exploration
- judgment vs. mercy
- boundaries vs. wholeness
- consensus reality vs. magical reality
For example, if Saturn is passing through your 4th house and Neptune through your 10th, perhaps your work or your public life requires you to exercise your intuition and imagination, while your family's needs demand all the hard-headed logic and organization you can muster. Or, in the 5th and 11th houses, your kids need discipline while your friends need compassion. It doesn't have to be an either-or proposition, but you don't want to drop one ball while focusing on the other, and the juggling act could easily tire you out if you don't pace yourself. While giving both sides their due, don't forget to feed the center.
