Do you listen to weather forecasts? Do you use that information to make choices about how you will do things? I certainly do, and it is much the way that I view astrological forecasts. For example, let's say that tomorrow you have a very important job interview and it is going to take place in a nearby city. The weather forecast calls for snow, winds, and icy roads. You could call and try to reschedule the interview. You could see if a friend with four-wheel-drive could drive you there. You could stay in bed and pull the covers over your head. There are wide array of possibilities of what you can do in response to awakening the next day and finding that the roads are covered in ice. The sacred science of Astrology can give us predictions about the parameters of the environment and the times that we will be moving through. What it cannot predict is which options or which choices we will make in response to the circumstances that manifest before us.

 

Often, astrological forecasts are focused on the events of individual lives and events occurring over a short span of time, but these forecasts can also inform decades of choices. On November 7, 1982 there was a conjunction between Saturn and Pluto in Libra. For those that don’t speak Astrology, this means that they were in the same position in the Sign of Libra. I made note of it at the time as a part of my studies of Astrology, in particular with an interest in how the slower moving outer planets affect society. Shortly thereafter, I became aware that this was the astrological signature for a sequence of events that would change my life and our society. This Saturn/Pluto conjunction marked the point of no-return for the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The virus had existed before then but this was the astrological signature for its cycle as an epidemic.

 

From 1983 to 1992 there was not a single day of my life that I was not actively engaged in working to resolve or to mitigate the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  I was one of the founders, movers and shakers, and activists that set up HIV/AIDS services in the State of Delaware in those early difficult days. I began in earnest in February of 1983, when James C. Welch and I arranged meetings with the Director of Public Health in Delaware and with the Blood Bank of Delaware to warn them of the impending epidemic. We set out our reasons and rationales for why a blood borne sexual transmitted disease would affect multiple populations and suggested a hurried mobilization. They did not listen to us until much later. I did not share the magickal reason I felt certain that HIV/AIDS (back then known as HTLV-III) would be a massive global problem. That certainty came from my understanding of what the astrology of the times indicated. It takes roughly 37 years for a Saturn/Pluto cycle to resolve. The next conjunction of Saturn and Pluto is January 12, 2020 in Capricorn. So what I knew then was that every time there was an aspect between the two planets thereafter we would have an opportunity for progress or setback. If we were collective wise, things would improve sooner, and if we were collectively foolish that we would have to wait until the cycle completed in 2020. And over the years as Saturn and Pluto have moved through the various alignments that are called aspects, at each one there have been significant changes in the course of HIV/AIDS in the world. The current set of Saturn/Pluto sextiles are the marker for some good news we have heard of late.

 

I am fortunate to have dodged the HIV bullet, in part because I saw the writing on the starry wall early on and in part for whatever karmic merit I had accrued. The time came when I had to step aside from that work and devote myself more fully to other tasks. I would do it all again. Why do I share this now?  It is my belief that as magickal people we should be aware that the special tools and insights that we have should be used for not only our spiritual work but for how we express our will to mend the world. It is good to make use of divination as a guide for the mundane affairs of life  and as a tool for self-discovery, but great opportunities are missed when those are the only uses for these sacred sciences. I have an affinity for Astrology, but I am not suggesting that you need to become an astrologer or to consult one. What I am suggesting is that when you are faced with large decisions about how you will use your life and how you will approach the work of your life, it is good to use divinatory systems of which there are many. I do not believe that the stars control our fate any more than a spread of cards, or a scatter of runes, or cowries. I do believe that we best express our starry will, our true calling more easily when we keep a weather eye on the astral clouds. 

 

I should also give you a heads up that we are now in the midst of a sequence of seven Uranus/Pluto squares (2012-2015). Without taking up several pages explaining exactly what that means, these squares indicate a profound and transformative turbulence is upon us. Among other things, Uranus awakens rebellion and individualism whereas Pluto calls forth change on a grand scale that does not negotiate with individual needs. What we do individually and collectively during this sequence of seven crossroads in time, will transform the structures of our lives and cultures for decades to come. By the way the last of this series of squares will occur in the middle of March 2015 which is when we will be having our next Between The Worlds conference. If we miss the mark during this time period, the pattern sets and hardens, and we will have to wait until February of 2073 to revisit the same issues. I hope we all rise to the challenge. There is the potential for amazing strides forward, but only if we express our true and starry will.

 

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