Today is the only Friday the 13th this year. No use avoiding that fact. One thing that brings up is the subject of numbers. Numbers, in turn, figure into astrology — especially as regards to the 360 degrees that contribute to define all circles, including the zodiac circle. It was not always that way, however.

The 360 degrees of the zodiac circle are essentially measures of longitude. Longitude, in turn, corresponds closely with the earthly and third-dimensional experience commonly called time.

Before people had accurate ways of measuring time, degrees could not be as accurately determined as they are now. Hence, degrees were not always as big a deal for astrology. Maybe it was better that way, maybe it wasn’t.

Since there currently appears to be no practical way to go back in time, we have to deal with things as they are now. As things are now, there is no avoiding the fact that modern astrology is very much a matter of degrees. That’s especially true if and when certain numbers keep coming up repeatedly.

Even ancient astrologers without accurate clocks recognized that repetitions usually indicate either cycles or other types of patterns. Cycles and patterns, in turn, provide a way to project order onto events. Perceiving order provides at least the potential for orientation in, and even some understanding of, your life. The question is whether that which is perceived is meaningful or meaningless.

That very question came up not so long ago when Planet Waves reader Suzette van Hauen Drucker wrote in to share her observation regarding 23+ degrees and the recent spate of sign-ruling planets concurrently in retrograde.

Specifically, it seems noteworthy (at least) to correlate three such cases. The first case is Jupiter, which this week concluded a retrograde that initiated at 23+ degrees Virgo on Jan. 7, 2016. Next, note that the retrograde of Mars (which is still in progress) will conclude at 23+ degrees Scorpio on June 29. Finally, the current Mercury retrograde started at 23+ degrees Taurus back on April 28.

When you employ Eric’s astrological rule of thumb that once is a fluke, twice is a coincidence and three times is a pattern, Suzette’s observations imply the potential of meaningful interpretation all by themselves.

But wait, there’s more.

Today, on a day which (at least) brings up the subject of numbers, the Sun is at 23+ degrees Taurus, and the Moon is 90 degrees away at 23+ degrees Leo. This marks the lunar first quarter. Any first quarter Moon is meaningful if only because it orients you in time. That’s because half-lit Luna, visible high in the sky at sunset, marks the temporal halfway point between the most recent New Moon and the next Full Moon. In the case of today’s lunar first quarter, the orientation in question could be applied towards an even longer period of time because of what’s coming up on June 9.

On June 9, Uranus will conjoin (share the same degree of the same sign with) Eris for the first time in nearly 90 years, at — you guessed it — 23+ Aries. As Eric has repeatedly pointed out (most eloquently in yesterday’s weekly edition published for Planet Waves subscribers), Uranus conjunct Eris, when taken in context with the Mercury and Mars retrogrades, is nothing less than a big deal. Implicitly, it provides some meaningful orientation (and possibly some orienting meaning) for your life.

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Regardless of what you consider meaningful, however, it’s implicitly clear that we are way beyond fluke or coincidence regarding the 24th degree (another way of saying 23+ degrees).

At least five different signs have been lighting up in that degree in the same year, correlating to some of the most auspicious astrology in many years. The fact of that illumination culminating with the Sun and Moon today (of all days this year) strongly implies that today will not be unlucky in the least.

On the contrary, the theme of widespread connection throughout the zodiac cannot be considered anything other than good fortune. For along with that theme comes an indication of the most profound kind of universal order: oneness.

When you look at the astrology and correlate it with current events, as well as with developments in other fields of human endeavor, there’s no use avoiding the fact that you are not alone. Whether through your inner or outer perceptions, you cannot deny repeated indications of connection between your life and the lives of any and every other. The only real differences are matters of degree, and even there the separations are closing.

Of course there are those who make it their business to drive us apart and divide us from one another. After all, there is profit to be made from promulgating conflict and selling the illusion of being somehow superior. If there is anything to not only the astrology, but also the sciences and arts of our time, however, those who divide in order to conquer are in the process of squandering their influence and becoming anachronistic epitomes of meaninglessness.

Therefore, it is with no small degree of auspicious irony that today’s astrology implies a very real opportunity for you to do something, however small, to bring all of us together. After all, the best luck is made to happen. Do something to make today a lucky day in somebody’s life, and you just might find how close all of us already are.

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