Interesting Times…

What can astrology tell us about pandemic C-19?

‘May you live in interesting times’ goes the ancient Chinese saying, inferring to moments of uncertainty that happen during wars, drought and famine, pandemics, pestilence and plagues. Granted, though not of our choosing, such times can be extremely difficult, and yet they wake us up as well, with a teaching how to live in the moment and to react with loving kindness and compassion.

From the astrological perspective it doesn’t get more ‘interesting’ than when a heavy-duty quadruple planetary Capricorn conjunction, in the sign of restriction and containment, mirrors over a quarter of the world on ‘lock down’, dealing with a need to be practical and #FlattenTheWave of a global novel virus pandemic; but at the same time as this mass confinement Saturn moves from Capricorn into Aquarius, to remind us not lose freedom or sanity, sociability or close ties.

Before we go any further, I want to say that this pandemic is not your fault, although I am not promising this is the last pandemic we will ever see, there is much we can personally do to alleviate this situation. But I’d like to point out there isn’t another planetary conjunction as demanding or as stressful as this for quite some time: another 20 years! As 2020 is very much about Earth/Air elements in the year of the Iron Mouse, the land upon which we stand and air we breathe, as well as the space in between in which we send information via various antenna and gigahertzes is apparently way out of alignment. The ‘Great Mutation’ at Winter Solstice 2020 will bring this need to be aligned with Air and Earth to our attention even more (I will write more about this mega-significant 200-year cycle in detail soon, but suffice to say its important for governing bodies as it includes expansive Jupiter and contracting Saturn). Admittedly, there are challenging aspects throughout the year; but hopefully by the time SIX planets are retrograde, along with asteroids Chiron, Ceres and Pallas, from the 9th-13th September, we will be able to go back to look at what we have learned, and put whatever is necessary into place for collective transformation and healing.

Looking even further ahead – as astrology works in cycles: in twenty years’ time, to 2040 at Halloween, when we again focus upon Air element (more on elements to come); another 40 years later, in 2060 it’s Air element again and this time a little more demanding, as it is also especially challenging for the water element; this one also has a lingering shadow of ‘2000’; then again in 60 years (2080) it’s more like where we are now, i.e. again in a Metal Rat/Iron Mouse year.

Once we get past this current episode in our collective experience, we would do well to have many healing tools on hand (lifestyle, food and medicine) and be equipped to live in harmony with the planet for a few decades. So please note these times of immense profundity are as rare as they are challenging. They are also times when we practice self-discipline and personal responsibility for our collective well-being.

FYI: the line-up of Capricorn planets include the South Node, pulling in difficult past karma (but going into care mode); Pallas Athena provides the strategy to plan ahead; expansive Jupiter is exactly conjunct controlling Pluto (secretive with the truth) AND martial Mars is perhaps the most testing for many reasons – not least because around the world we have given control to people who are not Buddhas or Bodhisattvas; make no mistake this trio of potential plutocratic oligarchs can be as ruthless and dominating as we can be with our own mind right now, i.e. while things are falling apart, the role of Mars is no longer just the aggressor but also protector, as he reached the degree of his exaltation, with Pluto’s task to totally transform. It’s imperative to stay on focus now and be super practical and organise now for a sustainable future for the Earth and her inhabitants. Also Saturn and Pluto’s influence has already impacted with the January Full Moon.

Coming together every 38-ish years, the last Saturn Pluto 83-85, in Scorpio, saw the AIDS epidemic. Before that in the 67-69 (the Sat/Pl opposition) it was Hong Kong Flu, in 1918 it was Spanish Flu; so these two together have something to say about working with the viral, lethal and unseen, Pluto is the Lord of Death, rebirth, taxes, intimate relationships, and Saturn the Lord of Karma, big business and the limitations of life; with both planets in Capricorn it is the aged, infirm and business, government, royals and leaders which need to transform. Perhaps that means the way we care for our old people, as well as working for Plutocrats will also change?

Saturn’s move into Aquarius for the next three months – April to July 2nd – accents a dramatic sudden collective change to authority. Saturn goes back into Capricorn from July to December, so now is the time to make the most of flashes of insight and inspiration. The connection between Saturn and Pluto is deeply profound in its lessons of life, death and rebirth.

Way back in 2001, for instance, during the Saturn-Pluto opposition in Sagittarius and Gemini a few days after 9/11 happened so accurately symbolised at the Gemini Moon and the fall of Twin Towers (not the conjunction of a 37 year cycle , where we are now); at the time my then boyfriend, now husband, and I had the great good fortune to be at the small Conway Hall in London’s Red Lion Square, when an extraordinary and insightful high lama, the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa Rinpoche, was in town. Someone in the audience asked about what had just happened. Drukpa Rinpoche could tell we were all in shock, much like we all are now, aware that we are all going through a life-changing time. He replied in one word, ‘Impermanence’. Then dear Drukpa said ‘One day a big building, next day rubbish’. This teaching stuck with me, as an instruction in how to deal with impermanence as a truism. Now, 19 years later, Drukpa’s word once again resonates as he says what we humans are doing to the land, animals and fish is bound to create negative karma and eventually make us sick. I won’t share the photo of the bat about to be eaten which he did, but like all of us I’ve been thinking about this awful situation we have found ourselves in faced with fast moving deadly virus.

It is imperative that we do not fall for the fear. Perhaps the best way to illustrate this is with a joke: Saturn and Pluto, are fear and death respectively, having a cosy chat: Fear (Saturn) says to Death (Pluto) ‘You’ve killed 50,000 people’. Indignant Death turns around and replies ‘No, I killed only 10, 000. You, FEAR, killed 40,000!’

So to get through this period with ease without fear, do what you can to relax within and ease tension: watch films, read, draw, listen to music that makes you feel happy. If you’re on your own and a dharma practitioner, now is the time to meditate, go inwards and find inner-peace. If you’re with family and friends, accept everyone needs their own ‘space’, at the same time make time for activities, games and stories that bring you together and lift up spirit. Also send good thoughts to those on the front line, those in the medical profession especially. And try not to get sucked into the numbers being pumped out by the media. None are ‘real’. As we all know, its been a time of no tests, and in some places no medical equipment at all. Many of us have even experienced symptoms that are not being counted. So yet another symbol of the Jupiter-Pluto ‘Hidden Truth’

Most important is to be good to yourself and those you are with – everyone is dealing with confinement as best they can. Keep calm and raise your lovelight vibration and we will all emerge stronger, hopefully with greater insight into our own psychology and the ability to conquer fears.

What seems to be the real issue in all viral situations is how all elements are out of balance: Fire has been seriuosly out of control, Earth pillaged for industry all the time, so the Air is polluted, as is Water. My own teacher, the late Lama Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche would say the more polluted the planet, the more polluted we are, losing our ability for enlightenment through so much obscuration from clarity and realisation.

Looking at this virus from the astrological elemental point of view, it is a water carried disease through space in a metal year, ie. The Iron Mouse/Metal Rat.  Metal, or space, is the mother of water, i.e. the creative space. So there is a connection between the air we breathe and the water we use to purify, hydrate and rejuvenate. Air feeds us as prana, chi, qi, lung, the field, whatever you call that space inbetween 3d solids, its what nurtures our soul. And if industrialists could block it off and try to make money from it, they would. But this is now a time to reset the balance – and our boundaries.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about the bats – primarily because they’re considered to be a sign of great blessings in Asia, of a long-life, peaceful death, and good fortune etc. As they are considered to be a reason why the world is whirling about in panic and fear is actually not so fortunate in this year of the Metal Rat.  Metal rules the lungs, and the lungs are connected to grief – and space. And while it is very sad  we are letting the planet suffer in the name of hypercapitalism, why would the bats themselves be so ill? And why now?

We know bats use sound and probably magnetic lines to fly as most insects and birds, and are among Earth’s super sensitive beings to pollution as well as sonar distortion (with all the info whizzing through ‘space’, I can only imaging current5-6g broadcasts must be tinnitus on steroids). But what I am asking is why, especially as Saturn the planet of restriction goes into the sign of techno Aquarius? Is it because of the advent of all g’s, as to why Bats have now developed bubonic lungs? Horrendously, these poor sick bats then get eaten by those who have the karma, and a taste for horror. But I wonder about those who fly by sonar and waves, and it would make sense they have the hardest time with the kind of tech now being installed worldwide – a technology that envelopes the electromagnetic body. It is hard enough being human these days; imagine being a bat – or another insect being that relies upon the unseen (to our human eye) to move about. Or is it that, like people who live in heavily electro-polluted 5g areas, oxygen just isn’t being absorbed into the bat’s system because it is being blocked by the higher vibration in the air? Just like the poorly people with this virus, bats are unable to breath. With the move of Saturn into electronic techno-beeping Aquarius, maybe it IS time the comms industry to address the health of all of us on the planet? And help us all to breathe a little easier. Not all of us want faster information; some of us actually prefer to sit and watch birds, bees and bats fly.

Secondly, it may not be from bats where this virus emanated. I’ve heard and read so many wild stories, from lab grown conspiracy to coming from pangolin or snake. At this point it doesn’t really matter where c19 came from: according to all spiritual teaches we only get these pandemics when we are out of alignment with the elements. And that is the bottom line. We need to make amends to the spirits of the Fire, Earth, Air, Water and Space.

Make offerings to all elements with harmonious sound and light, love and prayers, good thoughts about how we interact with our elements. Now. There is no time to lose. Our planet is not doing well. And we are the cause of these infections.  And if we can mobilise like this for a virus, think what we can do in the future for the changes in the climate crisis, which affects all beings, not just humans.

Om Om Om

Thankfully, we also have Buddha Dharma and the ‘Four Noble Truths’ which tell us

  • All life is suffering.
  • There is a cause to suffering.
  • There is an end to suffering.
  • There is a path to the end of suffering, for which we need to look at the cause.

With those immortal truths, I wish you all good strong health with good strong immune systems.

From my side I am following Dalai Lama’s instructions to offer the Tara mantra ‘Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha’.

Thanks for reading.
And many thanks to Karma Phuntsok for his beautiful painting ‘Unexpected Buddha ~ Bat Girl in Boulder’
And to unknown Japanese painter for Bat against the Moon.

🌓🙏🦇💙🐍💚

One last note: Bats are a shamanic sign of TRANSFORMATION, death and rebirth, secrets and the ability to fly unseen: all very Plutonian! 

Laura Boomer Trent© Astro Dakini Dharma Stars

Comments

manika Conning
March 31, 2020 at 4:11 pm

Dear laura-la
I couldn’t sleep and went on line and found your beautiful words.
Om om om
Indeed
May you be well
May all beings be happy

Thanks for the reminder! About impermanence
Much love and Tara’s
Manika



April 5, 2020 at 4:43 pm

Thank you for this. As it so happens, I was visited by a little brown bat who must have been roosting on a log in my firewood pile. My cat Anandi spied him as he was just waking up and stretching, so I managed to get the log outside without harm to anyone. An interesting omen, I guess. <3



    Dharma Stars
    April 5, 2020 at 10:02 pm

    Bless Anandi. I would say its a good omen for transformation, Kim. Bats are such cuties too, even though they look ferocious. I nearly trod on one in the hideaway’s bedroom a while back, barefoot I felt this little furry thing tickle under my feet before it flew about. It took a few minutes to get into a container and take outside; then it did that thing which a lot of creatures do when released back into the wild which is they come back and look at you before heading into their natural habitat. I was thrilled with the encounter, also as an indicator of clean air. Also for you, too, Kim, wishing you well where the air is pure.🙏💖



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