Remembering September 11th

art by Elaine Felos Ostrander. You will have a hard time ignoring the fact that today is the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks if you live in the United States.  There’s not a media outlet (including this one) that is letting today go by without a mention.

I think we can all agree that no matter how we spin the attack and the events that followed in our mind, this event is the single thing that has changed the course of world history in our lifetime.  As I wrote in my earlier article on September 11th:

On the day of the attacks, transiting Pluto was within seventeen minutes of an exact conjunction to the US ascendant in the Sibley chart)  at 12 degrees Sagittarius. Astrologers had worried for months about the opposition of Saturn to Pluto that was in effect at that time, and Pluto, which had been traveling retrograde, turned direct on August 25th within 11 minutes of the US ascendant. When planets change direction in a close aspect to one of our planets, the effect is extremely intense. [This sole fact is enough to have convinced many astrologers, including this one, of the veracity of the Sibley chart.]

Saturn and Pluto are both Lords of Death with Saturn having played that role in the early days of astrology before Pluto was discovered. Modern astrologers don’t find Saturn as evil as the more traditional astrologers do, but the stress between the restriction of Saturn and the transformative power of Pluto can be difficult at best. With these two facing off and Pluto sitting right on the ascendant, the face of American life and politics (ascendant) were irrevocably changed (Pluto) that day.

This Pluto cycle actually began on November 25, 2000 when Pluto first crossed the US ascendant – the week of September 11 was the second phase of this cycle. During that week in November 2000, the Florida recount began that would be the first phase of the lawsuits that resulted in George Bush being appointed President.

It seems likely to me that the events surrounding the 2000 election in the first phase of Pluto crossing the US ascendant undermined the structures that formed the very fabric of the country to the point where it was vulnerable to attack when Pluto came around the second time and sat right on the US ascendant for a month or more.

Full Moon in Pisces, September 12th

Although the Moon does not culminate in its fullness until the early morning of September 12th, its influence can certainly be felt a day or two beforehand.  As in any Full Moon the Sun (conscious mind) in Virgo opposes the Moon (instincts and emotions) in Pisces. Any opposition between two polarities requires balance and integration, and this Full Moon questions our balance between mind and heart – reality and imagination. The lunation is exactly square to the Nodes of the Moon, suggesting that an adjustment is necessary in order to achieve the required balance. The Full Moon is the culmination of the lunar cycle and well-known for its effect of heightening emotions as the lunar instincts are illuminated by the reflection of the Sun.

An aspect between the Nodes of the Moon to the chart of a Full or New Moon is a significant event. When at least one of the Nodes are in a conjunction to the Sun or Moon we call it an eclipse. When the Sun or Moon are locked in a Grand Cross with the lunar nodes the influence is similar to that of an eclipse even though there is no visual effect such as we see with an eclipse.  We may feel that we are pulled in many directions at once and find it difficult to find our center, but that is exactly what the Pisces Moon is seeking – a center within that connects us deeply to the soul.

The Nodes of the Moon are signposts from the past to the future, and in order to stay on the path we sometimes need instructions.  Unfortunately, we don’t always pay attention to the signs as they’re given to us, and instead we call these signs “problems” or “difficulties.”  This Grand Cross is in mutable signs – the signs that flex with the wind and adapt easily to change – so it will be easier to move through anything that comes up for us to negotiate through.

My new friend the Black Moon Lilith is in a double inconjunct to the Full Moon but harmonizes with the Nodes.  I’m still collecting information about the Black Moon but she seems to have something to do with the primal darkness within us that seeks emergence, so I suspect that this will be a theme for some of us over the next few days. With Mars in a harmonious sextile to Venus at the same time our relationships will lend support for greater integration of our personality and emotions.

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