Stargram
Week of July 26
I have a strong presentiment
To shield the spiritual gift within
So that as it matures, God’s wealth
Will then bear fruit within my soul
For selfhood’s harvesting.
[From Calendar of the Soul, July 21 – 27]
Dear Friends,
The Sun (9° Cancer) will oppose Pluto on Monday the 27th. This is an annual aspect—and, due to the slow orbit of Pluto, the zodiacal degree of this conjunction changes little from one year to the next. (In 2027, this opposition will occur on July 29th, at 11° Cancer and Capricorn.) One theme of this aspect is the ‘love-fear’ dynamic. As the two planets face each other, all of us must decide which force will prevail in our hearts.
Fear, of course, can prompt us to remove ourselves from danger, but the same might be accomplished without it! For example, the Flight into Egypt (which took place under this aspect) was set in motion by an Angel’s visit to Joseph: “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child and destroy him.” (Matthew 2:13) According to Anne Catherine’s account, Mary “made but few preparations for the journey, and all she did was done quietly and quickly.” [Visions, vol. 1, p. 220]
Tomberg wrote that fear not only conceals the spiritual world from us, but also ‘hides’ the future. I might dare to add that fear has the power to hold our future captive. Its antidote is love. From Karen Rivers:
The antidote lives in coming to an understanding that meaning and purpose underlie all human experience. A willingness to embrace the future, to accept what comes with equanimity and interest in the meaning of the experience, dissolves fear of life and transforms it into a love of life. [Love and the Evolution of Consciousness, p. 108]
The Delta Aquariid meteor shower will peak on Tuesday! (These are the shooting stars that prepare us for the Perseids, which in turn will reach their peak performance on August 13th under near-perfect viewing conditions.) The radiant of the Delta Aquariids is so close to the ecliptic that they won’t be visible to those in far northern latitudes—but the real complication this year will be moonlight. (The Moon will be Full on the following day, hence visible throughout the night.) The optimists and insomniacs among us might be interested to know that the radiant will be at the ecliptic zenith—thirty degrees east of the Moon—at about two in the morning.
All of this week’s remaining cosmic goings-on will take place on Wednesday. Firstly, Venus (25° Leo) will form a square aspect to Mars (25° Taurus). This planetary dynamic calls forth self-mastery: the ability to renounce temptation with equanimity. The spiritual archetype for self-mastery lies in the three temptations in the wilderness, during which Venus and Mars were in the same relationship. From Tomberg:
Reward is therefore the action that one sets in motion above by the renunciation of desire for things below. It is the “yes” from above corresponding to the “no” from below.
. . . He had refused—he, being famished—to commend stones to become bread; now, it was “the word which comes from the mouth of God,” become bread, which the Angel of poverty served him. He had refused to cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple; now, it was breath from the height of the throne of God that the Angel of chastity brought him. He had refused to accept the role of the superman—to be king of the world at the price of worshipping the ideal of the world of the serpent; now, it was the royal crown of the world of God that the Angel of obedience presented to him. [MOT, pp. 148–49]
A few hours later, the Sun (11° Cancer) will make its annual conjunction with Jupiter. When nobly expressed, this conjunction engenders integrity, generosity, and righteousness. (It occurred at the conception of the Blessed Virgin.)
July’s Full Moon (11° Capricorn) is not far behind! Some of you may have noticed that our recent phases of the Moon are precisely tracking those that occurred during the ministry of Christ. (Moon phases ‘reset’ every nineteen years, plus a few hours.) Today’s Full Moon is zodiacally the same as the one that shone over the Holy Land on 3/July/30. And, between now and late April 2029, the successive Moon phases that will take place will mirror those that occurred between 3/Jul/30 and the Crucifixion. It’s a blessed time.
Let us then look at the events of 3/Jul/30, when (like today) the Full Moon shone from 11° Capricorn. From Anne Catherine:
In the court of the large mansion belonging to Simeon, there was a round, shallow basin from which the water overflowed into a surrounding trench. Here, too, the water was not good; it had a bad taste. Casting salt lumps like stones into the water, Jesus blessed it.
. . . [In that basin] the baptism of about thirty people took place. [Among those baptized were the master of the house, pagans, and slaves.] . . . Jesus poured from a flask into the baptismal basin some of the Jordan water, which the disciples always carried with them. Then he blessed it. The trench around the basin was filled high enough for the neophytes to stand in water up to their knees.
Before administering baptism, Jesus prepared the aspirants by a long instruction. . . . A disciple laid one hand upon the shoulder of the neophyte, the other upon his head. The baptizer, in the name of the Most High, poured water over his head several times from a flat shell. [Visions, vol. 1, p. 465]
Many blessings on your week!
~ Julie H.
Image: Orazio Gentileschi, Rest during the Flight into Egypt, 1628