The Retrograde Factor:
December-January Astrology with Mark Borax
The below text is an excerpt from master astrologer and author Mark Borax‘s monthly newsletter and Cosmic Weather Report, including an excerpt from his latest book by the same name.
From December 29, 2010 through Jan 19, 2011 we’ll experience a rare period where nothing is retrograde in the sky. Everything will be direct. None of the fifteen astrological bodies, including Alpha-Omega (Chiron) and the four main asteroids will be in reverse process; all will be heading forward. The last time we had a few weeks like this was January 1997, which means that during each moment of the last fourteen years something or other was inverted, turned-around, inside-out or backwards. If you’ve been fighting a certain battle with some level of existence in this period, the retrograde factor has been playing a role in your life.
The technical meaning of retrograde is that the Earth’s orbit around the Sun overtakes the orbit of some other planet. From the Earth’s point of view the other planet or planets appear to move backwards. They’re not really backing up in space, but the effect is similar to riding an express train which overtakes a local, and the local, while speeding ahead at its own rate, appears to be going backwards.
The result of so many planets being backward for so long is that some part of existence slides away from us; you can’t get your hands on some elusive function of your life. Like trying to climb a muddy hill with no purchase, you know where you’re going but you can’t seem to get there, and many of your efforts only backslide. Retrogrades aren’t all bad, though. They serve the purpose of pressuring us to clean up something on the inside before freeing us to go outward. They set up temporary roadblocks that may in the long run prove to be initiations. By stalling us from getting where we try to go, we’re forced to dig deeper into uncovering something within us that can better prepare us for the eventuality of actually getting there. But when fourteen years of retrogrades occur, things remain slippery for a long exhausting period, and it’s easy for frustration to set in.
During the three weeks beginning December 29, when everything becomes direct, a release will occur. On that day the final planet to turn direct is Mercury, which moves forward in 20 degrees Sagittarius. The Chandra symbol for that degree is “The changing of water into wine.”
When Mercury goes direct a powerful spirit blast will surge in from a high part of the sky. With nothing retrograde to get in its way, the miracle side of this high degree will be available to many of us. To frame this unusual three-week period in the fuller context of the broader cosmic weather of our time, I’ve included an excerpt from my new book, Cosmic Weather Report.
Outrageous Acts of Radical Love
In 2012 we enter the Age of Aquarius, Age of the Water-Bearer, which will take three years for the earliest initial phase to get launched, and two thousand more to fulfill. We leave the Age of Pisces, which was two thousand years in the making, and had to run down to the dregs before the old vessel could empty out and be filled with new water.
At the end of an age it’s more important than ever to grasp its meaning. It’s crucial to extract the essence of the last two thousand years from its excesses, so we can carry that essence into the new while releasing the baggage of the old. Like creating an essential oil, civilization is being distilled, to evaporate the sludge and produce the essence.
The essence of Pisces is presence.
We’re undergoing a historical transformation where everything that’s happened since the time of Christ is releasing through the act of us becoming fully present with it. This kind of presence is agonizing and ecstatic, and needs to be if we’re ever going to get through it.
The purpose of the last two thousand years was to anchor us strongly enough into the physical to give the current awakening of our species a place to happen. The meaning of all we’ve been through since Christ is to plant us solidly in the physical, where the next stage of the species is due to occur. This requires dealing with everything formerly or presently blocking our full presence. Since crisis and drama have a way of summoning our attention, the current planetary crisis can be utilized to make us all more present-in fact, make the whole human race more present than we’ve ever been.
The greatest pressure of all gives way when you open your entire being in an ecstatic act of radical surrender. It’s not that bad things stop happening. It’s just that a fierce force of love blazes out of your soul ten times stronger than anything massing against it. And that love blast creates an opening through which others can follow.
When you ignite at the bottom of the world, you blast open a tunnel of love through the concretized karmas of our time. You plunge to the heart of existence and find it to be unbearable and exquisite and much different than you ever thought it would be during the years you were busy resisting it. You become so present that the act of your presence expels illusion all around you and draws more spirit into the mix.
Christ, foreseeing this descent at its beginning, gave us an example to carry us through the end. He showed us that when you take the most excruciating condemnation and instead of condemning back, open your entire being in an outrageous act of radical love, you inject phenomenal light into the darkness. Christ embodied a radical love presence not because he was the only one capable of it, but to give us a path to follow. He embodied a presence we’re all being asked to embody now that the age that began with him is ending.
For two thousand years we’ve been descending into increasingly dark and heavy hell realms in order to crack all resistance to love, and release a pure inner light that throws off any darkness.
Who are you really? What are you here to do?
How much longer are you going to wait?
Forward!
Mark Borax
The Retrograde Factor December January Astrology With Mark Borax
Thu Dec 30, 2010 3:43 pm
