Tantric Test

NOVEMBER 19TH

With yesterdays New Moon opening the aperture of the sky blotter to darkness, and if clouds scatter, glimpses at the more wintery stellar arcs, many may be amidst inceptions and spells of accumulation par usual; although, Scorpio lunations tend toward over-indulgences and impermanence; last week’s perpetual impermanence falls to this weeks lunar impermanence; that which quickly changes, flows in and than out with the tide. Multiple actions, and non-actions or strategic yields might be considered here, as discussed last week. The entire Libra to Scorpio seasonal drama runs as allegory for the positive incarnations of tantric balance between participation in maya while simultaneously being detached from it; being able to have a cigarette without becoming addicted. I can do this today and not mind if it is taken away tomorrow; or at least, that would be the game best played. But games are always not best played, and that is what makes sporting interesting. All aspects of an athletes life come into the equation, the blabbering heads that accompany professional competition can attest for this: diet, training, attitude, romance, children, money and so on, essential every factor contributes to how poised you are to deal with what is thrown at you, and how you fair against your component. Such is weaved into this lunation’s tidal flow with the New Moon’s ruler in Libra square to Pluto. Whatever fight we had scheduled for this week and the next will be without our trainer in our corner, without access to pour gym, without our loved ones close at hand, without money in our pocket. We essentially arrive at the bout off a greyhound bus exhausted and walk right into the ring. We call our manager but his number is disconnected, we go to the ATM but our identity has been stolen, we eat a hand-out burger which upsets our plant based training diet. This might mean the odds are against us, or so it seems. When we arrive ringside the crowd is already screaming, and the MC is hyping us up, as they are our opponent, no different from usual, and it occurs to us: they might be as hard up as us. Generally, the hierarchy we normally rely on is absent for whatever reason and we must proceed with our obligations regardless of the gaping hole in the structure. This will take on many different shapes depending on the architecture of your chart and fall of your placements, but the shadow spread over predictable structure and irritation in and around obligations with others is the primary focus. This is the scenario the New Moon’s ruler finds himself in at the time of the conjunction. Far from fantastic, but we can’t simply skip ahead to the next New Moon. For those of you that are unable to not do anything at all for the next two weeks, there might be another way; non-resistance and detachment. Be flexible in the darkness, roll with the shadow punches, they are mostly unknowns, such as “I have no idea how long this will go on for.” Generally, not knowing is a condition that persists until you know. Take what is offered carefully and sparingly, keep your wits about you, don’t expect anything that manifests to be long lasting, consider all of life’s conditions temporarily temporary, move one step at a time, be ready, but not offensively defensive, or vis versa. This is generally a posturing that requires the dropping of automatic habits and vulgar programs that create additional noise which depletes your ability to pay attention and perceive with clarity. Scorpio is largely about uncomfortable transformation, an ordeal is not an ordeal if there is no pain and no possibility of failure. Here we must pass through the flaming waters to what is beyond; you are unlikely to carry things that slow you down through with you, especially if you want to win. The athlete of our initial allegory realizes just before the ring of the bell that having the rug pulled out from under him brought very careful attention to his footing, careful stepping a key component to victorious performance.

NOVEMBER 20TH

The following day the Moon, just beginning to wax, keys Mercury in the morning (6am EST) and then Saturn later in the evening (7pm EST). We begin to communicate our feelings surrounding the situation and then, hearing ourselves out-loud quickly realize where some of the obstacles we face might be coming from, many we have been creating ourselves. They have to do with the motivation and completion of quests, the attaining of what we set out to accomplish, the exertion of that final amount of energy to bring what needs to be done into manifestation. The magically operative might find themselves considering the success of their spells, and how their sorcerous craft could be augmented, how they might be more resourceful, or how, for instance, the pronunciation of all the barbarous names does matter in the effectiveness of the invocation. Just then, Mercury ingresses into Sagittarius’ third decan, and looks at the situation either as an emergency or a serious pain in the ass. With Mars in libra we might all need to volitionally turn up the gas and simulate an urgent situation to get the most out of Mercury in this period. Easier said than done, although, if you’ve been doing all that kundalini yoga and breath of fire etc., this is what its for. You might need to spice up your rites to get them to fly as high as your used to. The presence of the Sun, Venus and Jupiter in Scorpio suggests they’re willing to go very deep, but if anything is to happen while you’re down in there you may need to speak with a fiery tongue to liven the coals. This may seem counter advice to my initial “detached non-resistance”, and it is. What happens inside and outside of the circle may certainly contrast, but this you’re probably used to. It might be that spiritual encounters are deep and meaningful, but the erection of mundane affairs is a lot of hot air, or a balloon of hot sake. Meaning: maybe not the Moon to cast your major career builder spell, but quite nice for rendezvous with infernal personae, just save the deal making for later; unless your bargaining for a good debauch, then knock yourself out. This is the hot pincer and lance of deep inner alchemy, assisted by graveyard lurkers &c., this is not the long haul of the many, who get their bread and butter from more diurnal conduits.

Otherwise; don’t let the tasks at hand balloon into monsters of stress, but be ready to pump up the urgency in the moment to rouse Mercury into focus.

NOVEBER 21

Then the Sun pops out of the end of the Duat tunnels, energized by its release from the grips of intense intimacy under the waters of metamorphosis and the straining off of spiritual contaminants; vision spirals in straight trajectories, piercing images of what it pursues, a rousing of energy roiling in its wake, lifting it up on high so it may see what is available in the arsenal and armory, what chariots may be available for its drive. All of the parts scattered around the garage are quickly polished and assembled so the cherry red corvette can speed onto the track and accelerate toward championship. NASCAR aside, it might be that your vision must be augmented with that of an eagles for you to swiftly hit your target, so both material adjustments and spirit contacts begin to quickly be considered. But Sagittarius says the “time is now ‘, the time to embrace tomorrow is today, so get crackin’. This will both alleviate as well as complicate the transitory nature of what this New Moon promises. We might end up with the impetus and inception of new motivational philosophies even if they become mangled and mutated in the short term. Jupiter doesn’t mind this, as he is currently in Scorpio, and bent on twisted philosophies, the transgressive and the arcane, the obsessive and excited visions of apophenia, this is R.A.W. material, hysterical ecstasy, but rationalized and energized by the co-presence of the Sun, Mercury and Saturn; reality will just look this way now, or at least for now. this generations stab at quantum mechanics, trans-humanism, morphic resonance, programable reality, and so on. It might not look like utility fogs and soft robotics, and perhaps gains an edge from a poison blade’s bleeding edge, as the internet initially did. We may see a few waves of worldwide witchcraft waft across the global stage before the constructive conservatism of Saturn in Capricorn, which will ultimately do us all some good; this is not conservatism in the political terminology, but perhaps more architecture of radical conservation that is only possible through the re-emergence of archaic sentient intelligences, particularly Wisdom itself, and the enmass conjuring partaken to accomplish it. We need not be reminded much more: invoke often, the world’s on fire. It might not even matter what or whom each individual chooses to invoke at this point; that’s more a personal preference; all calls waken the old ones irregardless.

I digress, but only in a sense: I ramble away from November-December of 2017, but speak concretely of Jupiter in Scorpio with Saturn’s ingress Capricorn as a rhythm of history. The last time that occurred was 1959. Much has changed since then, but, as documented, considerable invocation occurred in the years prior to 59’ and much manifestation erupted in the years following. As I mentioned last week: The 60s could not contract back into the 50s. If you want to frame all this along the lines of the aftermath of Jack Parson’s activity in the desert, feel free.

In general, the Sun in Sagittarius will be searching for both goals and vehicles to them, without these the world looks lackluster; the embrace of philosophical visions and the igniting of spirit that comes along with it is the ripe concoction. Concurrently Venus sextiles pluto: the depth of the great work in locked intimacy, the intense and terrifying alchemy of total intimate sexual tantra. Run a highlighter back up the whole passage and make a sigil over it. The Moon conjuncts Pluto at 2pm (EST) on the 22nd. You know what to do.

NOVEMBER 23

On Thursday Morning Venus enters Scorpio’s third decan while Mars enters Libra’s third decan. There is a mirroring of modality and angularity within the triform logic of the decans, and Hekate who rules all things triform is known from the Greek Magical Papyri to be the ruler of the decans, which illuminates her critical status in the Chaldean Oracles— by extension of this model it is the threeway crossroads where one meets female spirits. A quick glance at the Egyptian terms or bounds reveals that the malefics, Saturn and Mars, rule over the late degrees of signs, and so we find themes of severance and boundary within the third decans of signs; the severance from one zodiacal motif and the boundary cross into the next. The third decan of Libra pushes pleasure seeking to its limits, greater and greater imbalance which can only be righted within Venus’ court, once degrees run into Scorpio all bets are off and considerations of balance are forgotten, only the advance toward desire remains. In the third decan of Scorpio these desires have known attainment of fixation, and are growing mutable, the scattering before the singling out, the trying everything to decide which is your favorite and what should be your goal as zodiacal roads lead to Sagittarius. The crosswire nature of the two planets becomes highly acute in this phase as they both ready themselves for mutation. This is where many of the lessons of this lunation come into play, as Luna herself strains herself and attempts to grow on the birdseed and crumbs cast across late Capricorn and early Aquarius over the course of the day. Do all the excesses and indulgences of life really feed you or do some poison you? Do some weigh you down and slow your progression rather than metabolize into energy? The world will be sending mixed messages, and many may douse them in gravy or wine, but consider if over indulgence is an avenue to the attainment of lifelong, visionary goals, and if so, absolutely proceed. If not, run lean; sushi and sake for thanksgiving.

On the flip side of all this: Consider how aesthetics can be given an agenda, how seduction can be a weapon, Femme Fatales and Spider Queens, equilibrium sought through disturbingly aggressive means, and desires for pleasure too strong to keep equilibrium even though it is also pursued, a pushing into scorpionic abandon and execution tendencies. This is certainly the realm of both the villain and the anti-hero alike, and many might find inspiration here, as the do-gooder is often too binary a role model for those with a bit of venom in their blood, something purely positivist perspectives need to realize.

NOVEMBER 24th:

With a square to Chiron Mercury receives the friction required to act in urgency of crisis. Depending on where this occurs in your chart, there may be the quick cauterization of a vein or the survivalist spinning of a tourniquet. As Chiron is in Pisces, this might be the emergency release of emotional surges brought on from fiery philosophical conversations. This is easy to envision around the family dinner table in times of intense ideological polarization. Lucky for us that the Messenger is there to crank the valves, but the hardness of the aspect suggests that unfortunately it might be a necessary effort to keep the peace, especially with Mercury only three degrees away from conjoining Saturn; a hard line between ideologies is likely to be there for crossing, and unfortunately, it cannot be redrawn. Hopefully though, the scouts first aid Mercury performs triggers the healing of longer wounds; a little bloodletting is good for us, especially with both benefics in Scorpio.

NOVEMBER 25th

Mercury trines Uranus the next day. This may remind us of last November as Mercury and Saturn conjoined on the 23rd of November in 2016, then Mercury trined Uranus on November 26th. Mercury then went retrograde and almost reached Saturn in Sagittarius again on January 7th of this year, just after Saturn’s first in the series of Saturn and Uranus’ recent trines; the most recent occurring just over a week ago on November 10th. This all weaves a certain narrative that may have dove beneath the surface some over the whole year but for many skimmed over the top of the water, getting struck a little (or a lot) when there were waves or the swells of storms, namely the massive eclipse in August. Undoubtedly, we will be revisiting the ports, doorways, locks, passages, stairwells and secret tunnels into and out of the structures that both protect us and hold us prisoner. There is a revolution planned, personally or otherwise, and knowing the location of the action, the ins and outs of where the revolt will take place, is part of planning the protest or A coup d’état. Expect paradigm shattering documents to fall into your hands, and if they don’t happen to, make sure to hit the stacks, ask the librarian for a text that will rewrite your DNA. There are plenty of Underworld Scribes happy to oblige. This takes much of the stress off of the olfactory, endorphin and gastronomic systems and places it in the nerve that connects the Muse to the optic. Here is the real feast; the one that feeds not just an empty gut, but throw bait to dragons and hounds that herald the opening of the gates.