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COSMIC CYCLES

Nov 23, 2005

Mercury Retrograde in Sagittarius-Scorpio
(November 13th – December 3rd)
Saturn Retrograde in Leo
Jupiter in Scorpio

Robert Ohotto

Hello everyone at Myss.com! We have a lot to cover in this article with all that’s going on in the sky! Mercury is retrograde again, and then some. Like this time last year, this isn’t your typical Mercury Retrograde because this Retrograde demarcates Mercury’s shift out of the Fire Signs of Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius – into another element: the water signs of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. This means that in a general way, we are shifting from a collective review of what motivates our inspiration, aspiration, and intuition over the next year – to the realm of what makes us feel……happy, secure, jealous, sad, depressed, connected, disconnection, loved, betrayed, controlling, victimized, caring, nurturing, and fulfilled. Yes folks, it’s all about feelings this next year when Mercury goes backward in each water sign, more on that to come. For now, I want to take just a moment and mention some exciting news!

My last workshop sponsored by CMED was such a success, that CMED has asked me to do it again! This upcoming workshop is once again for total beginners to Astrology. The dates for the workshop are March 9th-12th, which is a very nice time to be down in Austin, TX -- where we are once again doing the workshop at The Crossings. For more information and to register, please follow this link to Myss.com: http://www.myss.com/cmed7.asp.

And...I signed my first book contract two months ago with Hay House Publishing! My book is due out sometime in early 2007. You can find out more about my new book via my website, www.robertohotto.com (which is soon to be redone). Lastly, I am very excited because Caroline and I will be lecturing together next year on a tour hosted by The Conference Works. You can check out the dates and locations via Myss.com. On Myss.com there is also a new free video lecture stream presentation, which I gave at CMED last summer.

You can view it at: http://www.myss.com/interactivecourses/FreeVideo/Ohotto-Jun.asp. Myss.com is very generous to offer free to the public these lectures given at CMED by myself and other wonderful teachers. Do take advantage of them!

Cosmic Review-
Saturn in Leo
Alrighty then, back to the cosmic issues at hand. Before we get to the current Mercury Retrograde, let’s do a bit of cosmic review of what’s happened since you last heard from me. Most notably, Saturn shifted from Cancer where it was for 2 ½ years into the sign Leo in late July. Saturn has a reputation for instigating a ‘reality check’ in our lives when he comes around, without a sense of humor might I add. As Saturn moves through the sky through a zodiacal sign, He issues a task to be accomplished by those born with the energy of the zodiacal sign he’s transiting through. How are all of you Sun in Leo’s feeling out there? Have you been feeling an inner/outer pressure to get serious about your purpose? Good, because now is the time to work on yourself, and get down to the business of turning your inner lead into outer brilliant gold. Saturn will expect you to shine by the end of his stay in Leo – no exceptions! Many of the Leo’s I have been working with now have to face unflinchingly whatever has been blocking their self-expression and self-development as it relates to their Life’s Purpose. I have also found that Saturn is forcing Leo’s to narrow their life’s ambition by cutting away that which no longer serves and supports their unfolding purpose. Put simply, you must now become more of which you were born to be in realizing what you are clearly not, or don’t want to be any longer. Remember that the Sun Sign is a symbol of your personal heroic journey, your process of becoming – not necessarily what you innately are. The Sun Sign is the primary agency and archetypal pattern you are creating your identity through this lifetime. However, the current Saturn in Leo task doesn’t just apply to those with a Sun in Leo, but to anyone with planets in Leo, or strong Leo energy in their birth chart.

Perhaps most importantly, Saturn in Leo has a task for those born from 1939-1957. You all were born while Pluto was in Leo, making you the ‘Pluto in Leo Generation.’ Thus, Pluto is in Leo in all of your birth charts. Pluto moves the slowest of all the known planets in our currently established solar system, taking about 250 years to circle the Sun. Therefore it can spend a number of years in one astrological sign, imprinting a generation with its particular influence around matters of power and death. The generational impulse Pluto releases concerns the transformation found in facing the darkness within life and oneself encountered at the threshold of survival. And I mean survival on all levels: emotional, physical, psychological, and spiritual.

So what does this mean for all of you between 48 and 66 years of age? Well, Saturn will be assigning a task to all of you, which demands a real coming of age so to speak. For many that means no more wondering around in childhood issues in ways that keep you hostage to your wounded child archetypes! Time to grow up all you Pluto in Leo’s and take responsibility for your lives in a way previously not embraced, or perhaps considered. The task is now upon you to become to yourselves the inner parents that you ideally didn’t have growing up, thereby embracing your inner child by through self-parenting. These are very resonate issues from the Mercury retrograde in Leo last August, which was the foreshadowing of this cycle. No more looking for surrogate parents via your marriages, friends, jobs, the government, etc…..and no more living your unlived childhood and creativity through your children. The task ahead involves finding your power through a thorough assessment of your shadow Pluto in Leo survival angst, which has manifested perhaps most overtly and collectively in the CEO/corporate greed of your generation, the decisions of political leaders, the baby boomer egocentricity, and the millions of dollars spent on therapy for bad childhoods. Now, thank God you did begin the psychotherapeutic movement! Before your generation it was unheard of the address parents for bad parenting and get help to heal. But one need only look at the current state of world affairs to see what a prolonged egocentric focus on the insatiable wounded, temper tantrum child can produce. Yikes, I think I just channeled Saturn! Am I am being harsh or what?? Well neither Pluto nor Saturn is rays of sunshine; we are talking about the Lords of Time and Death here! I hope you can still feel the love within the message….

Overall, my dear Pluto in Leo’s, my sense is that Saturn is assigning you the task of a major shift on the behalf of us all. Saturn truly is the “reap what you sow” cosmic principle, so if you’ve already done much work parenting yourself – then the time now is to take your focus outward into the world with that inner security you have. Many of my Pluto in Leo clients now feel the need to do something creative with their lives that initiates a shift in our collective use of power. If you are experiencing an urge from within that says, “Enough of this childish self absorbed focus. Time for change!” -- know that you are not alone, though it may feel that way. Leoian self-development is crucial, but must eventually connect to the greater social fabric of Life, less it transform into the shadow of narcissism. Perhaps that’s a lesson our governments could embrace considering what’s happened recently in the world….ahem! As we are now learning after Hurricane Katrina in the USA, each of us is responsible for the collective. And we must be careful not to succumb to the illusion that narcissistic governments will take care of us, like good parents, when the Universe and Gaia team up for change. Oops, I am channeling Saturn again!

Saturn has been stationing in Leo at 11 degrees, and went retrograde Tuesday, November 22nd for five months. I would expect there will be some very interesting political and social developments gestating over the next 9 months, which will result in a birth sometime this next summer of 2006. Saturn direct brought the insemination of this process this fall. The Saturn retrograde will likely bring about collective and personal rumination on the issues that have recently been brought to the fore by world events regarding government (Saturn), as well as war and power (Pluto). For the Pluto in Leo generation (which is currently in economic and political power world wide) shadow issues of power must be faced via taking responsibility for the consequences born of ‘generational’ choices based on fear – though such choices may have been executed by elected officials representative of that generation – as a generation, all must bear the responsibility. Pluto is Lord of the Underworld after all and demands atonement through the shadow………now speaking of shadow, let’s look at all this Scorpio energy in the air!

Mercury Retrograde in Sagittarius-Scorpio
(November 14th- December 3rd)
Jupiter in Scorpio

For those of you who have never heard of Mercury retrograde cycles, you can read the in depth article I wrote on the cycle itself at Myss.com via the links listed with this newsletter.

To summarize briefly what a Mercury retrograde cycle is: When looking in the sky at the planet Mercury we usually perceive it as moving in a forward motion through the heavens, this is called “Mercury direct”….then every 4 months or so, it appears to go backwards in the sky due to our earthly orbit operating in tandem with Mercury’s orbit around the Sun. This apparent backward motion – and I say “apparent” because it’s not really going backwards – lasts for about 22 days. When Mercury is direct we are engaging with life in a very forward way and not overanalyzing actions. Making decisions seems to be in greater harmony with the forward movement we want to take on our path in Life. Yet we are also more driven by the personality and ego during such times, and tend to not allow for too much reflection and introspection generally speaking. All the while we are forging forward; the Universe is giving us guidance via intuitive data that we tend to miss because of our busy minds trying to run the show. In an effort to keep the Tao of the Universe in balance, we are given a three week opportunity to reflect and re-evaluate our choices and direction, allowing for a more informed wisdom to emerge while we slow up a bit and redirect our Life – this is the Mercury retrograde period. When we resist - via our ego - this introspective time, then Mercury as a messenger, shows up in the “Trickster” form that everyone is all too familiar with. This is the phenomena that you always hear about; electronics breaking down, accidents, miscommunication, thwarted plans, etc. These are all agencies through which the Universe operates so that you’ll slow down and pay attention to the message the Gods have for you!

And here we are again, the Gods are delivering a message both collectively and personally to us that we have needed to hear as a reminder of just what our ‘Cosmic Contract” is, and Mercury, the herald of the Gods, is ready to deliver, but are we ready to listen?? The “set up” phase of this Mercury retrograde began on October 27th. This is because on October 27thth, Mercury entered into the degrees of Scorpio that it will eventually retrograde over again while it backtracks for 3 weeks back out of Sagittarius into Scorpio.

A year ago, I wrote about Mercury Retrograding in Sagittarius, which it is now partially doing again in an effort to bring about a slight review of our individual and collective Sagittarian issues (Lord knows we need it!) – yet Mercury is also partially retrograding in Scorpio, prepping us to move into a year of Mercurial retrogression in the water signs.

As I mentioned last year, Sagittarius is a fire sign that quests for God via the development of a life philosophy in which the Laws of the Universe can be understood. This affords Sagittarius a meaningful place in the Universe. Sagittarius resonates with the Seeker archetype, as it seeks to find the Universal Truth and meaning of life. As do all archetypes, it has a light and shadow element to its nature: the light being the development of a meaningful perception of Life via symbolic sight and the relentless quest for Truth - the shadow being that once it has found its Truth, it can often feel the need to not only tell everyone else about it, but also force it onto others as “The Ultimate Definitive Way to God.” In doing so, Sagittarius forgets that there are as many paths to God as people alive and the freedom to quest for Truth (that the light side of Sagittarius loves so much) transforms into the shadow of fundamentalism. We are all once again receiving the cosmic call to reevaluate our belief systems, future plans, visions, aspirations, and ways of communicating our Truth; as one component to this retrograde. So many of you may need to reevaluate your relationship to God, the Universe, or whatever you consider to be your Source. And this process most likely has been brought on by finding yourself in an intuitive jam and emotional state of Divine discontent. Many of my clients are currently reevaluating their most intimate emotional ties and relationships in such a way that is forcing them to reconsider the future of those relationships. In addition, most of us must begin discerning who our friends really are by defining what we need to feel secure and connected in relationships. Other clients are looking back on past emotional ties and relationships and reevaluating them with longing, remembrance, and perhaps regret. Now we are entering the realm of Mercury retrograde in the water signs, and most specifically Scorpio.

“Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but no one wants to die.”

Ain’t that the truth?? Oh, the dilemmas of this retrograde! Scorpio represents the ‘death’ we experience on an emotional/visceral level when we merge with something greater than ourselves through the feeling function of our consciousness – and subsequently all the fear such a loss of control can engender, as well as all the bliss. Poor Scorpio, so maligned in astrological literature, and soooo misunderstood. Whenever we merge our psyche with something greater or ‘other’ than ourselves (whether a lover, friend, organization, job, or God), we are going to experience a death of self via this fusion. More mundanely we all experience this phenomenon through the act of sex, which is Scorpio’s domain. This Scorpionic union was known to alchemists as the coniunctio, and embraces the Freudian psychological drives of Eros (attraction toward life) and Thanatos (drive toward death).

Emotionally, as human beings, we are often driven toward connecting with each other to find our greatest freedom via the loss of ourselves, if only for a moment. But in our pursuit of intense psychic bonding with each other, we forget that something in us must die for the union and transcendence to occur; that something being our fundamental sense of illusory separateness – also known as the ego. This means we must also let go of all the illusions of security and control this ego clings to.

In astrology, Scorpio is associated with all the themes aforementioned and transformation. But seldom do we truly understand the dynamics at play regarding our ego’s death and rebirth processes when connecting our psyche to another through emotional bonds and Scorpio’s use of sexuality.

Sexuality in this regard, serves not as function of biological procreation, but of bio-psychic union. This is something very misunderstood in our current culture, as Scorpio consecrates the sexual act as an alchemical process in which two Souls unite, forging a psychic union with each other at deeply subconscious and emotional levels we barely currently comprehend -- rendering the term ‘casual sex’ an oxymoron!

Jupiter entered into Scorpio late this last October for a year, which also underscores a need to explore our beliefs, hopes, ethical and moral codes around power, emotional security, and sexuality. Jupiter will also be asking all of us this next year to grow and improve via a thorough understanding of our inner emotional workings, so we can open up emotionally to Life. We will also be exploring how to grow by merging our inner resources and gifts with others. Furthermore, collectively we may seem some states of emotional extremes manifesting in the socio-cultural fabric of society. Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system, tends to teach us by manifesting things in a larger than life way.

So, what does all this talk of sexuality, death, shadow, and emotions mean for the current Mercury retrograde?! (I know that’s what you’re thinking!)

It means a lot. Your environment and life situations will be bringing both Sagittarian and Scorpionic themes to the fore for introspective consideration. It’s time to rethink current emotional ties and power issues within relationships – which also include how we perceive the purpose of sexual intimacy, control, and trust within such contexts. We are called to reevaluate the quality of emotional connections with others, from both sides of the fence! So, look at how have you been manipulating others to feel more emotionally secure. Do you control or trust? And consider how you have been running from the truth your feelings are trying to tell you. If you have been experiencing burnout lately, perhaps it’s about your resistance to feelings that have been trying to communicate something to you about your Life. We are asked by the Universe, at this juncture, to dip our toes into the sea of emotion in preparation for Mercury retrograde in water this next year. Themes will then center on emotional (water) and mental (Mercury) harmony. Each subsequent retrograde in the water signs will birth more of this harmony through introspection and reflection on our moods, emotional patterning, and psychological traits. Emotional responsibilities to ourselves and each other will no doubt surface. We must ask our Deeper Self if we are truly fulfilled emotionally and what is the quality of our life? It’s a bit of shift from Mercury retrograde in fire – which involved reevaluating the creativity, aspirations, and meaning of our lives. You all are most likely feeling this already, no?

On Thursday, November 24th (which of course happens to be Thanksgiving in the USA!), Mercury will retrograde into a conjunction with the Sun in Sagittarius and demarcate the mid-cycle point of the retrograde, symbolically delivering the “message” he’s had for each of us this retrograde. Look alive and pay attention this week. The remainder of the cycle is about integrating that message into your life, and allowing additional insights to surface. Remember to be patient and wait out any impulsive needs to take action once the message is delivered, more information will continue to surface throughout the remainder of the retrograde cycle that will better inform your perspective. When Mercury goes direct again in 25 degrees Scorpio on December 3rd, then you can begin to make some new choices based on the newly revealed emotional data.

I want to emphasize that this article is intended to be a guide, not law. There are many ways this energy may manifest in your life, but the archetypal rhythm underlying such manifestations will most likely be the same. All in all, it should be a very interesting Holiday week for us all! Be good to yourself by accepting what you feel and being grateful for the true love that surrounds you.

Speaking of gratitude, I am so grateful to all of you at Myss.com that have been some of my biggest fans. Have a great Holiday and I promise my next article will be a follow up on the “Astrological Ages Part I”, which I wrote some time ago. Hope to meet some of you this next year at The Conference Works’ events I will be presenting at with the brilliant Caroline Myss. And I look forward to seeing some of you in my CMED sponsored workshops. Please feel free to send your comments to me at www.robertohotto.com. I love hearing from you.

Until next time!

Happy Holidays to All at Myss.com,

Robert Ohotto
www.robertohotto.com