Stargram
Week of May 17
My self from its narrow bonds
Has risen up to find itself
As revelation of the world’s evolving
In time and space;
Everywhere, this world reveals to me
As godly archetype
The truth of my own image.
[From The Calendar of the Soul, May 12–18]
Dear Friends,
The exuberance of spring is upon us! Released from winter’s safekeeping, the ‘godly archetypes’ of the plant kingdom are made visible in the unfurling of every leaf. And the birds rejoice, singing to the miracle of life! Gloria in excelsis Deo!
[Those] who say that the birds ‘praise God’ when they sing are in no way mistaken. Because it is their tiny life itself which sings the ‘great life’, and makes heard (through its countless variations) the same news which is as old as the world and as new as the day: “Life lives and vibrates in me.” What homage to the source of life is expressed by these small streams of life: the birds that sing! [MOT, p. 270]
The week’s first planetary aspect will occur on Monday, when Mercury (6° Taurus) reaches the current zodiacal longitude of Uranus. The Mercury-Uranus conjunction has the capacity to deliver a jolt to all things tired and conventional, for Uranus is the planet that opens wide every window, bringing to the musty corners of our minds the salutary effects of fresh air and sunshine. Uranus is the reformer of the solar system—hence, this astrological aspect suggests a mode of thinking that defies convention. However, it simultaneously bears a warning against what might be called ‘reflexive rebellion’—by way of which we might find ourselves without baby and bathwater!
Speaking of defying convention, Mercury’s degree today recalls the night conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus (9/Apr/30). From Steiner:
We are told that Nicodemus came to Jesus “by night.” This means that he received what Jesus communicated to him outside the physical body [i.e., with spiritual senses]. “By night” means that when he makes use of his spiritual senses, he comes to Jesus Christ. [Hamburg, 23/May/1908]
A powerful member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus could not square the reception of Jesus among the Pharisees with that which he had seen with his own eyes. (Following the death of Jesus, it was Nicodemus who brought to Joseph of Arimathea the mixture of myrrh and aloes that, according to custom, were used to prepare his corpse for burial.)
Venus (8° Gemini) will form a square aspect to Neptune (8° Pisces) on Friday the 22nd. This aspect can engender compassion for the suffering of others. One source of our sympathy is our understanding that karma—howsoever difficult—is lawful. From Steiner:
The law of karma is the reverse of depressing; it fills us with splendid hope, and knowledge of it is the most precious gift of spiritual science. It brings happiness inasmuch as it opens a vista into the future. It charges us to be active for its sake. . . . [It] lends wings to our will to cooperate in the evolution of the earth. [Munich, 31/May/1907]
Yet Steiner identified a danger associated with this knowledge: the disinclination to help others, lest we intrude upon their karma:
When a person is suffering, people sometimes say: ‘He deserves his suffering and must bear his karma; if I help him, I am interfering with his karma’. This is nonsense. His poverty, his misery, is the result of his earlier life; but if I help him, new entries will be made in his ‘book of life’. My help takes him forward. . . . I help him because I know that nothing is without its karmic effect. This knowledge should spur us on to purposeful action. [Ibid.]
Within the Christ chronicle, we find Venus at 8° Gemini on 30/May/32, when Christ’s boundless compassion found Zacchaeus. An ‘ill-famed publican’ (in the words of Anne Catherine), Zacchaeus was a reviled tax-collector who had climbed a sycamore tree in order to better see Jesus and his retinue pass along the road in Jericho. Jesus called out to him: “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for this day I must abide in thy house.” From Anne Catherine:
When Jesus said that he must that day enter into Zacchaeus’s house, he meant into his heart. . . .
[In the synagogue,] Zacchaeus also presented himself to Jesus. Earlier, the new disciples had already resented that Jesus had reached out to [Zacchaeus] and even wanted to abide with him, for Zacchaeus in particular was a subject of scandal to them. . . . Zacchaeus drew near the hall in which the disciples were dining, but no one wanted to have anything to do with him; no one invited him to eat. Then Jesus stepped out into the hall, beckoned Zacchaeus in, and offered him food and drink. [Visions, vol. 2, pp. 471–72]
Still later on Friday, the Sun (6° Taurus) joins Uranus for their annual conjunction. This planetary aspect suggests a high degree of independence and an inclination to revolt against constraints. Its presence at the healing of the nobleman’s son is a testament to these qualities—for these are precisely what the nobleman lacked before the miracle: his subservience to the king had weakened his ‘I’.
Finally, on Saturday, the First Quarter Moon (7° Leo) will shine from the region of the Lion’s heart, just one degree from its zodiacal position at the healing of the man born blind.
May the works of God be made manifest in us all!
~ Julie H.