Occasionally in this forum I will begin to articulate new insights and ideas — this piece is one of them. I offer that at the top, dear reader, in acknowledgment of the fact that these thoughts are works in progress and in invitation to discuss the themes in the comments.

Photo by graywacke/A Landing a Day

Although I’ve dabbled in more “magical” practices, such as Golden Dawn and various Pagan traditions, I realized a while back that I’m not really a practitioner of magic, be it ceremonial or witchy.

There are subtleties to be worked out there, as I definitely use ritual frequently — often in the intention-setting sense — but I have strayed away from more active will-enforcing-supporting pursuits. One reason of several is that I just don’t think I’m any good at that kind of magic — and it’s not anything I aspire to. Another is that it’s just felt too loaded. A break in my understanding of this inner conflict came about a year ago as I was contemplating it in a session with my therapist.

As I pondered my aversions to ritual magic, my therapist pointed out the difference between the magical path and the mystical path. We were nearing the end of the session and his resulting over-generalization was that the magical path is about asserting one’s will whereas the mystical path was about radical acceptance of all that is or radical retreat from all that is. Although I knew the dynamics were more complex, the statement gave me a good starting point. I recognized myself as being more on the mystical path than the magical, with some overlap — a designation that became startlingly more clear to me this past weekend.

I was sitting in a conversation that was all over the occult-y, magical and worldview map, when the concept of using magic came up in a specific context that I was was very uncomfortable with. A paraphrase of the basic example given was that if, say, an individual is suffering at the hands of an abuser, lives with some kind of physical disability, and is unable to realistically get away, it might be time for the ‘magician’ to just cut the shit and work some magic in order to get the abuser out of the picture, forcefully and without regard for the abuser’s well being.

I asked the speaker why they would use magical workings in that way as opposed to, say, performing some kind of magical work that would serve to separate the two people in ways that serve the highest good of all involved, leaving it to the dictates of the universe to determine the details. Why was force the kind of magic that was called for? Not to mention, as a friend later pointed out after the fact, why not just call social services or intervene in a more practical, non-magical way?

I don’t recall the exact response, but there was some murmur in the room of how all of that “goodness and light” stuff isn’t always the answer, and that sometimes there are darker things at work that must be combated — like attracts like, I suppose. There was a deeper thread there, too, which encompasses a worldview in which perhaps magic works and exists in darker ways, therefore requiring liberation through magical intervention. It reminded me of stories of South American Shamans who store projectiles — the ‘amoral’ spirits of dead insects or shrubs — in their energy fields to be flung at enemies at will.

In that moment, I realized with crystal clarity that enacting my will — in that kind of magical manner at least — is not at all anything that I am interested in. I located myself more radically on the mystical path than ever before, even if in response to my further crystallizing aversion to magical practice.

Find out what the Mars retrograde will mean for you in Eric’s 2016 Spring Reading, which we’ll publish in mid-April. You may pre-order all 12 signs here.

The subject matter moved on to discussing the use of magic and ritual when it comes to affecting world events, potentially in ways that are not based in love and “the highest good.” And again, I realized how far I’ve swung to the “love and light” side of the fence.

I understand that the shadow of the New Age movement lies very much in using crystals and bubbles of light as a form of bypassing and avoidance. That is not at all what I mean when I speak of my own basic precept of choosing love first. I’m not afraid of the dark — well, at least not in general — nor has my life been absent of it. My encounters with the dark continually make me more convinced of the importance of coming from a place of love; and the experience of just how integral heart-centered focus is in times of dark comprises the fundamental essence of who I am.

I do not shy away from the Martian/Aries thrust of will, but using it in that kind of magician/sorcerer sense just makes me question whether it is an ethical manipulation, even if it is not overt, and even when wielded with the best of intentions. It also seems to be dancing awfully closely with the potential for overblown ego identification and megalomania, the latter of which are reasons I got out of the Golden Dawn/Western Hermetic tradition after a few months of being initiated — too much mental activity, not enough embodied reality.

Furthermore, my thoughts turned to the Karpman drama triangle, as I realized that playing savior or hero in these ways essentially enmeshes one in the triangle, reinforcing the loop that will ultimately make hero into victim into perpetrator and on and on.

Despite my crystal clarity as to the reasons I am magic-averse, I’m still aware that I’m not a mystic in the radical acceptance or retreat sense. What comes to mind here is my use of shamanic techniques.

When I first started studying Shamanism, I associated it largely with the Scorpio archetype. I still see that in many ways, but I’ve also had a teacher who associates Shamanism with the Virgo-Pisces axis (and perhaps the entire mutable cross). I had a difficult time latching onto that at first. Shamanic themes seemed so inherently Scorpionic to me — going into the underworld, the dark, into dismemberment and regeneration. Scorpio represented what I’d come to know as the healing crisis of the Shaman and their ability to face transformation and death.

As I moved along in my studies, however, I ended up in a workshop where we learned Shamanic extraction techniques. This was, of course, a generic teaching, gleaned from several different cultures, and is not representative of all Shamanism. But one of the basic tenets of that teaching was the importance of merging with a powerful healing ally and dedicating the work to the compassionate healing of the individual involved. Everything was based in that intention of compassion and healing.

That form of Shamanic work seems very Pisces/Compassion-Virgo/Healing to me. As I integrated that new understanding, I began to wonder if perhaps the Scorpio archetype is associated more with the sorcerer than the Shaman. I began to think in terms of Scorpio’s relationship with Mars — representing the desires of the will and the ego — as being a distinctly different form of Shamanism, perhaps one more overtly focused on the individual’s will and specific power dynamics than what I was being taught.

Of course, the Pisces shadow is nothing to mess around with either — it is, after all, associated with the Typhon — a half-human, half-snake monster created by the Titans as a last-ditch effort to prevent the takeover of the Olympians. Pisces is one of those signs whose vast shadow can get overlooked in favor of its capacity for transcendence and ecstasy. Pisces contains the unqualified act of a predator stalking its prey, not because it is evil, but because that is what happens in nature.

This mental meandering does remind me of a basic precept I’ve seen in discussions on Facebook and in personal communiques lately, one which resonates very highly for me — ‘first, do no harm.’ Who am I to say what lessons are being learned in any given dynamic? How am I to know what my limited perspective is missing?

Is it ethical or even loving of me to intervene in another person’s life in a forceful way, even if it’s from behind the scenes? Setting the intention for my magical practice, whatever it looks like, as well as my healing practice to have the ongoing intention of doing no harm seems like solid practice to me.

Where the concept of will is concerned, I spend a lot of time talking about the importance of figuring out and sticking up for one’s own needs and going after what we want — getting out in front of our creations — but what is the best or most effective way to do that?

Once again, I’m left with a bunch of questions that likely do not have cut-and-dried answers. But this week, I feel more aware of the nature of my own path, and I’m happy to add a strongly annunciated “First, do no harm” to my already standard “Just look for love in it.”

Today’s reality was but one of many possibilities a year ago. The closer we got to today, the more the possibilities narrowed down, until one reality emerged. Whether you know or want to admit it, you participated in the process. On the whole, it’s more empowering to participate with awareness.

Properly employed, astrology contributes to your consciousness awareness, and thus to your empowerment. In fact, one big picture implication of the astrology going on now is that there has seldom been any time like the present to stand in your power to influence the process of emergence.

Broadly speaking, next year’s reality will probably emerge in two ways. The first way will result from relatively small groups of like-minded people working in passionate cooperation to produce a reality which is greater than the sum of its parts.

Another way the reality of the near future will be determined is by individuals of conscience emerging from the background of the group to set an example for others to follow (or not). You could be one of those conscientious individuals if you have the courage to think for yourself, if and/or when all about you become somehow thought-less. It may also be your cue to emerge from the herd if and/or when the values you hold most dear get trampled by some form of stampede.

Among other things, Mercury represents thought and Venus correlates with values. Even now, Mercury is emerging from a relatively long period on the other side of the Sun to become visible in the West. Now that its long tenure in the pre-dawn sky is coming to a close, Venus is soon to follow in Mercury’s footsteps. Both Venus and Mercury are also moving relatively fast for the time being.

Implicitly, then, the near future is even now beginning to emerge in the minds of those who can first think independently and then follow up by remaining true to themselves. You can be one of those people, but not by being a mindless follower. You will need to practice some critical thinking, but not for the purpose of criticizing others. Rather, with the objective of carefully examining your own thoughts and values to sort what is truly yours from the hand-me downs which keep the real you from emerging in the world.

Two (or more) heads, however, are nearly always better than one. The one single factor that allowed human beings to emerge from our tentative origins is an unmatched proficiency for cooperation in depth. History’s most fruitful and significant collaborations have emerged when people of like mind and values collaborate with both passion and a commonly defined conscious objective.

Find out what the Mars retrograde will mean for you in Eric’s 2016 Spring Reading, which we’ll publish in mid-April. You may pre-order all 12 signs here for less than $40.

Among other things, Mars represents passion and Saturn corresponds with definition. Interestingly, Earth is now the process of moving between both Mars and Saturn, and the Sun, which (among other things) correlates with consciousness.

Currently, the motion of the Earth with Mars and Saturn on the outside and the Sun inside/center is resulting in retrogrades for both Saturn (starting last week) and Mars (starting in about three weeks). Additionally, those retrogrades will culminate in oppositions (exact alignments) from the Sun to both Mars and Saturn (with Earth in between) between late May and early June. In other words, there is time to align yourself.

Implicitly, there is time for you to apply some critical thinking to your thinking, although Mercury’s impending re-appearance on a new horizon indicates that should be your first priority. There is also even more time to figure out what matters most to you so that you will know if and/or when to draw the line with any group with whom you do share a like mind.

Additionally, there is plenty of time to pool your mind with other like thinkers, and follow up by collaborating with the passion necessary to get anything actually done. Finally there will at least five months (the length of Saturn’s retrograde), and probably more for you and your collaborators to begin manifesting next year’s reality in your own collective image.

Time therefore is not an issue. Nothing needs to be done tomorrow. The issue is whether you will avail yourself of the awareness the sky is offering, and empower yourself to consciously participate in creating a future reality from all of the possibilities which still exist now. Based on the fact that the Moon (which, among other things, is the stuff of dreams) is in fiery Sagittarius with both Mars and Saturn today, there is no time like the present to get started.

Offered In Service

I love this presidential campaign season — especially on the Republican side — in the way that one loves watching dogs fucking. I’m horrified as in “Ewww,” and “Oh-My-God!” and yet simultaneously, utterly fascinated. You can’t bring yourself to look away or even say “Stop It!” while it’s happening. Because the fucking serves a purpose. And, well, the dogs are having fun.

In Ted Cruz’s case, he’s allegedly having fun. Lots and lots of fun. A purported total of five mistresses have been involved and three have been identified in a scandal that took over the news cycle last Friday.

This scandal involves the staff of Cruz’s rivals which include two of Trump’s campaign staff: spokesperson Katrina Pierson; online communications staffer Amanda Carpenter, and Carly Fiorina’s employee Sarah Isgur Flores.

Granted, this news comes from The National Enquirer, a tabloid you pick up at the grocery store checkout line. So we always look with bemused skepticism at their covers because, let’s face it, a picture of another politician caught in an adultery scandal with a side article on a UFO alien abduction does not lend credence that you’re looking at serious journalism.

However, The National Enquirer does tend to get its adultery scandals right: Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, John Edwards — all notable politicians with a “woman problem” who were big scoops on the Enquirer’s colorful pages, and they made the mainstream media within weeks. The Cruz story has been hot on the news feed since Friday, surpassing the threshold of a 24-hour news cycle; so, therefore, it looks as if the story’s got legs.

For those of you in our international readership, let me break this down. This all started the week after the solar eclipse, a week before the March 22nd Utah primary when an anti-Trump political action committee — in hot pursuit to take down Trump’s march to nomination inevitability — posted a nude picture of Melania Trump on Twitter.

Trump retaliated by posting side-by-side comparison shots of Heidi Cruz at her worst, and Melania looking every bit a Vogue model. Cruz fired back, saying Trump had insulted “the love of his life.” A Twitter war ensued.

Then last week, the Enquirer published what we now know has been old news on the campaign news circuit: Mr. Cruz apparently liked doing his staffers. Both Pierson and Carpenter were formerly on Cruz’s staff before joining Trump’s campaign. Cruz immediately suspected Trump, whose friend is editor of the National Enquirer.

Not to be outdone in this scandal clusterfuck, Pierson, acting as Trump’s spokesperson, went on a “defensive offense”, accusing Heidi Cruz of being a Bush operative. So now everyone of note running for the Republican Presidential nomination is in on this war of accusations: Jeb, Donald, and Ted.

Find out what the Mars retrograde will mean for you in Eric’s forthcoming 2016 Spring Reading, which we’ll publish in mid-April. You may pre-order all 12 signs here for under $40.

But it gets even better. Today, Cruz’s five alleged mistresses accused Marco Rubio — one of the Republican candidates who recently suspended his campaign after losing his home state of Florida to Trump — of planting the story.

So, now, we have everyone-and-their-mama accusing each other in a five-way shootout in the tabloids: the four principal nominees and the group of five mistresses. The icing on the cake is that Ted Cruz is a hard line Dominionist who believes in the sanctity of marriage (between a man and a woman, of course), that contraception of any kind is an “abortifacient,” and even victims of rape and incest don’t have the right to terminate a pregnancy resulting from it.

Regardless of who planted the story, the lack of a response from Reince Priebus, the Chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), speaks volumes, and does so rather loudly. As of today, there is no response to the Cruz mistress scandal story, which is still hot after four days.

What does this mean? I speculate it means that a fifth player, Ohio Governor John Kasich, is being set up to run against Trump by the RNC. Kasich is more moderate than Cruz. And everyone in Washington — even his own party leaders — hates Cruz.

Kasich is an acceptable alternative now that Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush — the former RNC crown princes — have dropped out. Kasich could run as the establishment candidate against Trump, who the Republican fear will crater their party, causing massive political damage in congressional races.

Are you following this so far? If not, let me know in the comments and I will clarify.

Beyond all this scandal du jour from your trusty gossip columnist Fe-911, and beside relishing the doggie joyride I’ve had following this story, the moral underpinnings of the right wing are coming unglued right before our eyes, and their chief proponents exposed as hypocrites. And it really is a beautiful and massive clusterfuck of dogs. You just can’t look away from the splendor of it all. But the moral of this story really is: don’t start shit the week between eclipses. There’s hell to pay, especially for dogs of the homo sapiens variety. Isn’t that right, Ted?

By Sarah Taylor

The one who weaves and tells the story of life; the one who walks that story and makes it sacred. We have here a power couple in the Queen and King of Stones (or the Queen and King of Pentacles or Disks, depending on which deck you’re familiar with). They are working together within you – as you work within the world – to create something that is both stable and enduring.

Queen of Stones, King of Stones, Three of Swords from the Haindl Tarot deck, created by Hermann Haindl. Click on the image for a larger version.

The reason for their appearance? The reasons may be many and far-ranging, but in the confines of this reading, there is one specific reason: to equip you with the inner resources to return to and to renegotiate your encounter with the Three of Swords.

Last week, the Three of Swords came up in the near past position. In my words then, “Something has been — well, if not lost, then it had the quality of confusion, an over-involvement by unwanted parties, or a compromise that has left its sting.”

However this was experienced — whether tangible or intangible, whether by degrees or in extremis — “Loss” defined something in your near past. What was clear from last week’s reading, however, was that it brought you to a point of change, where old patterns around emotions and relating could be released, and where you were being guided into the possibility of integrating aspects of yourself that had heretofore been projected on to others.

In other words, you are in the process of reclaiming parts of your heart for yourself rather than relying on them to be care-taken by those around you, no matter how trustworthy or well-meaning (or not) they were.

When I look at the first two cards in this week’s reading, I see a maturity in you that is as wise and ancient as the natural world around you. It has deep roots that hold you to yourself — and those roots also connect you to a collective sense of knowing and embodiment, as well as the knowing you have garnered from understanding your place in your family and your ancestors.

This place may have been comfortable; it may have been wrought with pain. But the presence of the Queen and King indicate that there is a groundedness that your wounds and experiences have given you that has enabled you to start belonging in your own skin. And when you do that, you are simultaneously stating your belonging to the world and to everyone and everything else. Everything is connected; nothing is left out. Neither are you.

You may not be able to feel this immediately. Remember: these are archetypes. They are not you, but they act through you. You cannot inhabit them entirely, you can never know them fully. They are aspects of a manifold psyche that hold the potential to come forward to deal with the matter at hand — whatever matter that is that you are facing.

Don’t feel much like a Queen or King of Stones at all? Wait. Be patient. Listen. Hold to yourself. Get yourself on to the land. Dig your feet deep into the earth. Watch, with due care and attention, the same patience demonstrated by grandmother spider as she spins her web; watch, with forbearance, how the land unfolds at its own pace, even if over millennia.

You, who rushes everywhere: Where is your pace? Where is your calm? Where is your faith that you are in sync with what is? Where have you felt you didn’t belong, and what is it that is calling to you that tells you that you do, indeed, have a place in this?

And I’m not talking about those voices who tell you that you need to be something you feel you are not, that you need to prove yourself, or cross yourself or others, that you need to compromise the values that you hold secretly in your heart. No, I’m talking about those still, strong voices that talk through your body to you about what is important to your heart, to the hearts of those you know — and by extension to those whom you have never met but with whom you share this land, this ground, this dust.

This may sound dramatic. But, good grief, if this isn’t important, then what is? You are being summoned by the royal court — and its chieftains. They have something to tell you about the Three of Swords:

“You may find you come around again and revisit what you’ve just been through in a different form, but it will never be the same — because you aren’t the same.” [March 22, 2016]

So, if by chance an all-too-familiar sensation crosses your path — if you get a sense of loss revisited, or isolation or complications raising themselves up in front of you again, then it can be invaluable to keep this in mind:

First, you are equipped for this. You have the wisdom and the chops to deal with what happens in ways that may surprise even you. There is the potential for a knowing heft to your action that demonstrates that you mean business.

Second, it is not the same, no matter what your mind may tell you. These circumstances are not the same. Because you are different.

Sink your feet into that loamy earth. Observe the industriousness of the weaving of the story of life around you. You do not have to do this alone; and yet you are also a part of this unfolding. Get back to your roots and your rootedness, and you’ll get back to yourself.

Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Queen of Stones (the watery aspect of earth), King of Stones (the fiery aspect of earth), Three of Swords (Saturn in Libra)

If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.

By Rob Moore

First, a little personal history lesson: I never paid attention in history class. I graduated from high school at the top of my class but the God-honest truth is I left not knowing a damn lick of history. As with other classes that I perceived to be holding me hostage at the time, I just memorized the list of facts and pushed ‘All Clear’ once the test was over.

“Looking Deep” by Rob Moore

With particular thanks to The Smithsonian Channel and Netflix, I have become quite the latent history enthusiast. Of deep interest to me are those individuals who carved paths others never dared to conceive.

Explorers like Ernest Shackleton, who not only lived through years frozen to the bone trying to get to Antarctica but managed to talk a team of men into enthusiastically going into the unknown to freeze right alongside him. Their inexplicably enduring spirits that kept them trudging onward following dead-end after dead-end had me in tears throughout the whole presentation.

This past week my every synapse was engaged in the story of a visionary with a different brand of perseverance, Theodore Roosevelt. I am so inspired by his life path — his difficult infancy a pivotal part of it — that I simply cannot dismiss the well of inspiration to bring key aspects of his trailblazing life forward today. Yes, today, in this astrologically inclined article about sex.

During the course of watching documentaries, I have noticed something from films of crowded streets shot between the 1890s into the early 1900s that I feel is telling about the collective sexual consciousness of the time. These early movies were frequently played back at a faster rate than they were shot, making for a fast-forward look to the action. Cars and carriages and people weave in and out amongst each other at a rather comically fast pace.

Looking at quickened crowds of pedestrians from this era, rather notable is a common gait among them marked by a swaying back and forth on stiff-looking legs and tightly held torsos. For my money, this spells all kinds of pent-up energy, not the least of which would be sexual energy at the base of the spine.

It’s no secret that this was an era of great sexual repression. I doubt anyone would find that to be any kind of news. I point to the tightly held movements, though, as an outward physical manifestation of that collective repression. And majorly so.

Then along came Theodore Roosevelt, who brought a very different energy to the scene. Rarely had a central figure exhibited such an exciting presence during that era and certainly not a political figure. Given his youthful exuberance and boundless drive, I thought for sure I would find he was an Aries when I looked up his natal chart.

But, alas, the Mars get-up-and-go bursting forth from T.R. was due to his Sun in Scorpio, Mars exclusively ruling both Aries and Scorpio prior to the discovery of Pluto. Even so, it was not until I learned he was described as ‘an unstoppable steam locomotive’ that the watery Scorpionic energy made perfect sense to me.

Eric has been taking a close look at this year’s Mars retrograde that is now in early shadow phase. As this journey is accentuated by working from the inside out, I find the life of Theodore Roosevelt to illustrate that idea in ways I never would’ve expected from a Westerner who emerged during his period. In a very real way for him, it was either find his way from the inside or perish.

Born on Oct. 27, 1858, Teddy Roosevelt spent his first years of life in the grips of severe asthma. His first memories were of the sensation of being strangled to death while gasping for breath and for his life. When he overhead his parents in the hallway discussing their expectation — given his frail and sickly body — that he would likely die soon, this stirred a spirit of determination within him.

After several very uncertain years, Teddy’s father — whom he completely adored — sat Teddy down and told him if he were ever to survive this life, he would have to build his own body from the inside out. This would involve dedication to exercise and regimented activity aimed at strengthening his organs as well as his outer body.

With that, Teddy Roosevelt was off and running. Literally. He taught himself complex gymnastics and eventually began rounding up guys for intense wrestling matches that tested the endurance of the best of them. Coming to embody the undeniable evidence that his intentions, actions and fortitude manifested real results, he set out into the world with that powerful outlook and paved the way for change after change after change.

I believe one of the major changes Roosevelt set into motion was making it okay to get down and get a little dirty. He was by birth a proper aristocrat who again and again got in touch with himself by connecting with literal earth. Hunting, ranching, building and basically rolling around in the dirt spoke to his soul.

After doing so, he’d climb back onto the podium and tell it just like he felt it. From the footage I’ve seen, he delivered straight from the gut; from the base of the spine; from the depths of his being. This impressive demonstration that it was within the realm of a dignified life to loosen up and let one’s authentic self hang out had to begin chipping away at the collective consciousness, if not take it completely by storm.

Whether or not Roosevelt had anything to do with it, about every twenty years from there a great leap was made toward embracing our humanness, including our sexual natures. Society really started cutting loose during the Roaring Twenties. Despite being born out of war propaganda, notable steps toward female equality began taking place via Rosie the Riveter in the Forties. And of course, the big crescendo: the sexual revolution of the Sixties. By that time, walking around stiff-legged and repressing energy was falling very much out of favor.

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Oh, believe me, people are still very capable of repressing their energy. I was uptight and militant well into my late 20s.

As we are currently in the long, slow shadow phase of a Mars retrograde that will ultimately take us back over Sagittarius and Scorpio ground, release from the inside out is something I have in my sights to explore in upcoming posts. My own dramatic tale of energetic release will feature in at least part of that.

As for this weekend and the days to follow, I believe it is an excellent time to celebrate how far we have come and where we stand now. A key component to witnessing an influx of whatever we most desire is to practice genuine gratitude for the amount that it exists in our lives this instant. ‘Key’ meaning that it doesn’t happen until that component is in place. I let this one slip right past me for years, until I saw how things begin to blossom when I merely acknowledge what is presently working for me.

Whether sexual or not, consider an experience you had that exhilarated you to your core. How great is that?

What came together that made that experience possible? How great is that?

How has that made you the person you are right this very second? How great is that?

In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, as if a shimmering light from beyond the dark ages: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

How great is that?