Starry Eyed
by Spyrit

Winter calls for patience, teaches patience, offers patience. Patience and acceptance transform strength into grace.

It’s the last winter of the millennium and here we go, running through the new moons of Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces, and meeting their full moon dancing partners, Cancer, Leo and Virgo. Air and water hold the trump this northern winter cycle. Seeds have been planted and the bodies burned or buried. Now’s the time to make the changes real right down to the cell level.

Winter calls for patience, teaches patience, offers patience. Patience and acceptance transform strength into grace.

Capricorn, the 10th house the sun visits in the solar year, is the classic paternal image, characterized by a male goat. Most astro art depicts the goat high in the peaks, or as a centaur archer pulling the bow. My favorite image of Capricorn, though rare, also shows the mermaid (another dual species being). Its message is that Capricorn is the cardinal earthsign, covering everything from the shores to the peaks. The zodiac is a story told with six dances, the union of the steps more important than individual partners. The cardinal earth/water pairing is Capricorn/Cancer.

Around Mt. Hood, where I live, the sun goes 0° Capricorn at 5:57 pm PST. I'm getting 19 degrees Cancer rising. Again the goat and the mermaid, summit to shore—I bet their music is funky! Us west coasties get to greet winter with a sun under the horizon.

I can’t endure the email if I belabor this but, the sun is setting!!! Get real with death, baby, not just burial. Face the moment of death. Every exhale is a symbolic death, it’s impos-sible for birth and creation to dance alone. Much myth symbol-izes the winter solstice as the ‘wombing’ of the sun, an incubating goddess. How does your home, your “cocoon,” feel this winter? Institute those changes now for, once the darkness comes, it’s hard to see what should be moved out to the back yard.

That word “cocoon” has a nice ring about it—warm and dry, with the idea of metamorphosis. Of course, the reality of acknow-ledging, much less changing, the structure of every cell in our being is a bit daunting. It makes me wonder in spring, when I see the product of the cocoon flirting from flower to flower, if the creature knew it would become a butterfly through transform-ation via death-like stasis in that cocoon? At first glance, death is intimidating. But if the process is truly conscious, the dying is less dramatic. Like passing from one room to another, right?

What helps us with the daily reality of transformation? The moon, of course. I really love the moon’s ability to keep us on track. She doesn’t let us get too stodgy. In the solstice chart she sits between Uranus and Aquarius Neptune. It’s all in a ten degree split, from 0° through 10° Aquarius, a very tight grouping. Our eclipse cycle right now is the Aq/Leo axis. A grand greeting for Neptune, that symbol with masculine name and feminine face.

Neptune in Aquarius (duration approximately 14 years) has had some auspicious passings: JC Crucifixion (historical), the collapse of Rome, High European renaissance, Newtonism, and the actual discovery of the planet in 1846. Now paired with Uranus, they are in relationship with Pluto (Sagg). This trio is definitely singing a chord. The outer planets are bigger than all of us, yet still pertinent to each individually. Together, they are a power not to be ignored. They bring things that change each of us—weather, environment, temperament—things bigger and deeper than mere culture or society. It’s just too easy to look at the pond for ripples and never wonder where the rock came from. Neptune gets a rap for nebulous aloofness, though it is creative to the fantasy extreme. He might not know what he’s doing himself, but riding the waves of change is what pulls Neptune into action. Still we’re talking the wave but not what causes it. Dealing with death makes dying graceful.

Saturn sits in on this fixed sign square heading direct in winter (clean it up Saturn in Aries folks), finally moving for good into Taurus (look out Saturn/Taurus) on Feb 28. So the outer planet changes are firmly fixed and grounded.

It’s easy to feel positive about it, it’s not like we all don’t know. ‘Couldn’t not know if we tried.’ That’s how strong the chord is sung. Each of us is a different note. Sing out your part! Praise be.

Stephen Spyrit is a writer and teaches yoga at the Yoga College of India in Portland. He can be reached by email.