The Traveler s Well www.travelerwell.com Scott & Sappho Wolfram January 2014 Page 1 The Traveler's Well With Scott Wolfram "Move In Harmony With The Sun, Moon and Stars!" scott@travelerswell.com -or- stwolfram@yahoo.com 805.409.4605 www.travelerswell.com January 26, 2014 Dear Friends, as we approach the end of the calendar month, we encounter a threshold in time, at least, according to how we mark time in the modern world. This is a good time to spend some spare moments taking stock of the month that is completing. If you set intentions for the New Year, you can review those intentions. Celebrate your successes! Or, you can simply look at how the month was spent and make any necessary adjustments for the month ahead (and, again, celebrate successes). Embrace yourself fully during the process, this is not a contest or a judgment. Rather this is merely taking time to reflect and reset for the month ahead. Otherwise, we might find ourselves at the turning of Spring asking where the first part of the year has gone! We write a this month about Mercury Retrograde and the process of Release. May you move in harmony with the Sun, Moon and stars! Blessings and peace, Scott and Sappho Wolfram Mercury Retrograde - February 6 to 28, 2014 Once again it is time for Mercury to turn retrograde. Because Mercury turns retrograde more often than any other planet, three times a year, Mercury is known as the planet of retrogradation. Begins: February 6, 2014 Lasts: 22 days Ends: February 28, 2014 Mercury turns around and retraces his steps a lot! A mythic tale about Mercury gives us a fun and humorous glimpse at what the astrological Mercury retrograde is all about. Each day, Apollo's cattle walk out into a great field to graze on the grass and enjoy the light and warmth brought by their owner, Apollo, the god of the Sun. On the very day he is born, Mercury decides that it would be fun to play a trick on his brother, the noble god Apollo. So, Mercury decides to steal his brother's cattle. This story reveals how Mercury becomes known as a trickster god and the god of thieves.
The Traveler s Well www.travelerwell.com Scott & Sappho Wolfram January 2014 Page 2 In this story, Mercury has no grand purpose, but rather he is simply interested in using his mind to see what he can achieve. So, Mercury uses his lightning quick mind and devises a plan. He will simply teach the cattle to walk backwards until they are out of sight. When Apollo sees the trail of his cattle disappear and that the herd is nowhere to be seen, he is baffled. Apollo knows that they have not learned to fly, but where are they? When Mercury uses his creative capacity to teach the cattle how to walk backwards, he simply devised a solution to a problem that employed the ability to retrace a path. And if Mercury was able to teach a herd of cattle to walk backwards, he knows he can do the same for us. Hence, a connection to retrogradation. Learning to walk backward, or to retrace one's steps, is exactly what happens when Mercury (or any other planet) turns retrograde. Retracing our steps, where we have been before so that we can re-examine things. So, what is the purpose of learning to walk backwards, to "move" retrograde? If we consider Mercury in this myth, he was learning a new skill and solving a problem, which is something that Mercury loves to do - to have a busy mind. While Mercury might have simply been fooling around, perhaps we can learn from Mercury's backward movement to pick up some clues on how to solve our own problems. Mercury Retrograde February 2014 - Neptune & The Axis of Meaning This leads us to consider a unique aspect of this Mercury Retrograde period. Mercury will turn retrograde at 3 degrees of Pisces, one degree away from transiting Neptune at 4 degrees of Pisces. In this case, Neptune is the ruler of the sign of Pisces, which provides extra strength. In 'astro-speak', Mercury begins this retrograde period 'conjunct' Neptune. Here is the chart:
The Traveler s Well www.travelerwell.com Scott & Sappho Wolfram January 2014 Page 3 The Axis of Meaning - Mercury (son) and Neptune (uncle) share a common theme, along with Jupiter (father). Mercury, Jupiter and Neptune are the planetary rulers of the mutable signs: Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo, Jupiter rules Sagittarius and Neptune rules Pisces. These four mutable signs create what is known as the Axis of Meaning along with the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th houses. In past newsletters, we have explored that Jupiter is the philosophical, visionary and strategic path to meaning, while Mercury takes the practical and tactical path. So let's take a moment to consider Neptune and the Axis of Meaning. Neptune is concerned with meaning that is ultimate or the highest, paramount or ideal form of meaning. Neptune wants us to become spiritual and to find spirit in every aspect of life. So, to break it down from the perspective of our landscape, here is how each contribute to the Axis of Meaning: Mercury is like looking at the busy streets filled with people engaging in the activities that get things done. Jupiter is the vision of the horizon, the future that inspires and directs on our path to our new opportunities. Neptune is like the sky in the middle of the night, with no lights of the city to drown out the light of the billions of stars that fill the sky. The infinite, the universal... Neptune plays an important role in this retrograde period. His world is concerned with things that are ultimate - well beyond the small tasks that are Mercurial in nature. So, Neptune fills us with inspiration to be concerned for the deeper, more meaningful and spiritual aspects of life. He inspires us to be spiritual, to recognize that there is more than simply "things to do", there are also reasons to be. When you read, "Be here and be now", you are reading words inspired by Neptune. Mercury is often happy to be anywhere other than here right now... So, as Mercury stops his forward movement, you could say that he has the opportunity to have a conversation (a very Mercurial thing to do) with Neptune regarding meaning. Since Mercury is curious, we can assume that Mercury would enjoy taking a few days to exchange ideas with his uncle (Neptune is the brother of Jupiter, Mercury's father). I can imagine their conversation, with Neptune making a few quiet suggestions to his nephew: I can see Mercury looking at Neptune and thinking, "Perhaps you might consider slowing down for a while. Sometimes our most inspired ideas come when we are not solving problems or learning new skills, but simply taking the time to be." "Maybe I could give this slowing-down thing a try. I don't often stop to look at a night sky and consider my role in the greater scheme of life. I know that I can always put on my winged sandals and get busy again whenever I want". Well, maybe not until after Mercury turns direct on February 28... Neptune is setting the theme for this Mercury Retrograde period and he wants to deliver a Neptunian message of inspiration through Mercury's Retrograde motion. This is a time to slow down and consider alternative ways of solving problems, of getting things done, of structuring what you think and what you do. Maybe you will also discover or rediscover that there is a place in your life for being quiet, for going within. New discoveries are always the potential gift of Mercury Retrograde. So, be curious like Mercury would himself be. Take the inspirations and intuitions that come to you and see if they have something meaningful to offer.
The Traveler s Well www.travelerwell.com Scott & Sappho Wolfram January 2014 Page 4 Are there things you can re-arrange in your life so that you are less busy? Are there ways to re-organize your daily tasks so that you can have more time for stillness? Are there ways to re-focus your thoughts so that they are less scattered? When you soak up spiritual thoughts how do you feel? When you are focused on a single topic and your thoughts are not scattered, how do you feel? When you are less busy, do you feel guilty or do you relish the time to devote to a single topic? When you focus on ideas that have no meaning to you, how does that make you feel? When you aren't busy, do you feel guilty? Consider reading some poetry and perhaps experiment with being more poetic in your speech. What if you don't like what you discover in being quiet and a bit less always on the go? You can always decide to return to life before your experiment with Mercury Retrograde. But, if you don't give it a try, you will never know if Mercury has a delivery of a Neptunian inspiration for you. As Mercury straps on his wings to deliver his messages, may you be curious about the meaning of slowing down, of being calm, the gift of letting inspiration rise and finding inspiration and contentment! Also, there is no better time than right now to back-up your computer (just in case)!!!! Release & Transform Why do we latch on to negative aspects of our birth chart that do not serve our higher purpose in life? Why do we cling to something negative we have heard about our chart and let that be a primary vision of who we are? Why do we fear aspects of our chart that ask us to be bold? Why do we continue to perpetrate karma rather than eliminate it or burn it away? We can all benefit from introspecting on these questions. Maybe you have already released this negativity from your life, which is fantastic. When we allow something we view as negative or challenging about ourselves to form the vision of who we are we become distracted from our true purpose. Too often, we judge ourselves against our birth chart. We ask why we chose this birth chart and, if there are aspects we don't like, we can feel like a victim of our chart. Feeling victimized by anything is not helpful as this is not an empowering image to hold of our true self.
The Traveler s Well www.travelerwell.com Scott & Sappho Wolfram January 2014 Page 5 A key principal to astrology is that every aspect of our birth chart has a positive and negative expression. Each and every planet, house, sign and aspect has a positive expression. Yes, even a T-Square or a Yod has a positive expression. By knowing what that positive potential is, we have the ability to make choices to bring that positive potential into reality. One of our favorite quotes is by Sri Swami Rama, "You are the architect of your life and you decide your destiny". This is both an astrological truth as well as a spiritual truth. We are no longer living in times where we are subject to our fate, but rather, we are living in times where we can transform ourselves and embrace our highest potential. We are meant to recognize the most important themes in our birth chart - these are the pieces that fit together and reveal the journey of our soul in this lifetime. The God Apollo reminds us that, through our Sun, we are meant to "Know Thyself" and the path to that knowledge is the journey of our soul. The journey to "Know Thyself" and to truly shine and to share what is most precious in us with the world. If you find yourself clinging to a negative aspect of your birth chart, now is the time to begin the effort to transform that difficult or challenging aspect into its positive expression. We hopefully practice self-love. Clinging to a negative expression of ourselves is not self-love. If we hold onto this negative expression, it can become a Herculean struggle (like Hercules fighting the Hydra who always grows another head when one is chopped off). The answer lies in not struggling, but allowing yourself to release. We will soon complete the Venus Retrograde period and we have had time to re-examine and contemplate the role of Venus in our life - the role of relationships, our values and love. If any repeating themes of negativity arose during this time, as you push forward with Venus direct, now is the time to leave those aspects behind and release that energy. Do not struggle, but like brightly colored leaves in Autumn, simply release - release your connection to these aspects, those habits. Right now, many are struggling against the Grand Cross energy that I call the energy of the Wookie from the Star Wars films (again, think of the Hydra). We struggle with unfulfilled aspects of who we are and try to understand what this transit wants from us. The struggle is loud (in an energetic way), it is physically and emotionally depleting. Fighting for answers doesn't lead to clarity - it often results in a lot of static and frustration. Those of you feeling this transit right now will likely relate to these comments. So, try slowing down, stop fighting, let the struggle end and allow intuition to rise. Surrender to the beauty of that silent voice within. We are seeing a quote make the rounds 'your caterpillar has expired, your wings are ready'. There is a stunning sense of simplicity in this statement (and the fact that it brings levity doesn't hurt either). Thresholds take us into the unknown and so they are often a bit frightening and we are hesitant or afraid to take the first step. We need to leave the warmth and comfort of the cocoon. Sometimes we are afraid to step out into our new transformed reality because we are afraid that it will not be as wonderful and beautiful as our dreams or as comfortable as where we are (even if we are not happy or content with our life). Will our actual reality be as beautiful as our dreams for our reality. Maybe, maybe not- at least, not yet.
The Traveler s Well www.travelerwell.com Scott & Sappho Wolfram January 2014 Page 6 But, if we remain living in the negativity or the illusion or the patterns of old wounds, we are not able to fulfill our highest potential. And, in not doing so, we are not content - underlying static and frustration exist. Until we pierce the veils of illusion, we unable to see ourselves clearly. Only by seeing clearly can we build the intricate, beautiful, magical world of our dreams. Release The Sign of Aquarius Below are various representations of the astrological sign Aquarius that we have photographed on our travels.