A November Month of Facing Difficulties with Relative Calm

This is a bit of a fractured month – as also the world headlines are affirming. It really does seem that there are few good options no matter which direction we turn; horrible what happened on October 7th in southern Israel, horrible what is happening right now in Gaza and the West Bank, and in what continues every day in Ukraine, and even regarding political realities here in the U.S. I believe too that there is inner wounding within each of us personally that linger, un-remarked and in many cases largely unknown, that can continue to trip us up even as we begin to recognize them. One telling astrological aspect that was revealed in the October 14th New Moon and solar eclipse that set the stage for the recent two weeks that followed, and also for the first two weeks of the November month, was that in the New Moon, we could see Eris and Chiron in a 7-degree conjunction, and find the Eris/Chiron midpoint at 21:08 Aries in exact opposition to the eclipse degree of Sun and Moon, to a fraction of a minute of a degree! This brings up the pain of inner wounding, ours, individually, and that of the world, and yet also holds out the optimistic vision that by dint of concerted action, we can all yet heal or at least somewhat move the needle in a positive direction during our lifetimes. And this is the message of hope that we all must feel and that truly moves us as we pursue this mystical study of astrology, to evolve and heal within ourselves and, by so doing, help to heal the world.

The remaining planetary configurations within this New Moon eclipse are also telling. The Sun and Moon were perfectly aligned with Uranus, in an inconjunct, or quincunx, aspect – while Mars and the new Nature planet Haumea in close conjunction were trine Saturn and square Pluto. Just like Eris, feminine warrior for soul intention, Haumea goes to depth with the psyche, representing profound connection to Nature, and to a species of natural law, of right action, right relationship, and truth-telling. It is easy to see that the Haumea-Pluto square, active since last February, is being acted out in spades in the political machinations within this country, where there is lately an enormous premium placed on telling the truth. In this current October configuration, with Mars thrown into this mix of archetypal energies, we can see the question of right action regarding the military (Mars) coming forward; when is it right to kill in response to killing? Or is it ever…

With Uranus, featured in the mid-September New Moon as well as this most recent one, and even more powerfully highlighted in the November 13th Scorpio New Moon, we also can see surprise events and unexpected revelations, as well as the Trickster’s love of confounding norms and standing every logical assertion on its head. Certainly it was a surprise attack that touched off this most recent global crisis. What we might want to do with these powerful outer planet energies as they show up in our own lives, in order to make the most of them, might be to try to get to the painful lesson of our own inner chaos by looking on the bright side for the nugget of wisdom contained therein. We will want to remember, as we do, how the Grateful Dead lyric goes: that “Once in a while we can get shown the light/ In the strangest of places if we look at it right.”

In the November 13th Scorpio Moon we also find that – in addition to Uranus, exactly opposite the Sun and Moon – Mars is powerfully configured as well, in a conjunction with the Sun and Moon, a mere 1 ½ degrees away. Beyond the obvious determination that military bombardments and escalation are not likely going away any time soon, we might also want to be prepared, as we enter the month’s second half, to deal with angry cross-currents within our own individual psyches, along with the surprises and the intuitional enlightenment implied by this strong position of Uranus. It is not a peaceful holiday season that is here being pictured. As we gather with our families we will want to be careful not to rile each other up and to try to take unexpected happenings in our stride.

And there is certainly room, as we journey onward into the ongoing struggle, for using our will within our hearts for peace to the fullest extent that we can muster, to inhabit our most authentic and therefore our most tolerant selves. It is, after all, the only thing that we can do. We will just have to pray that it will somehow be enough.