The Hermit Year (Leadership & Learning)

You calculate your year by adding your month of birth+day of birth+the current year. For example, a person born March 14 would calculate this year to be an 9 year. (3+14=17, 17+2008=2025, 2+0+2+4=9).

The 9 year is the Hermit Year. The Hermit Year is symbolized by Virgo and is a time when Virgo people (born August 23-September 23) will become important to you. This can be a partner/mate, business associate, relative, friend or teacher. You will want to bring things into full bloom with Virgo people in your life so you can both reap the harvest of your relationship. New opportunities from older people in your life and/or Virgo people will present themselves in some form.

In the Hermit Year, you will feel an urge to bring resolution and complete unresolved situations from the past. This may be done through Virgoans methods such as meditation, prayer, retreats, and quiet contemplations. You will sort in your mind how to organize things and arrange the little details.

This is the year when you will find yourself called to mature leadership -- particularly in the form of teaching or making presentations. It may be quiet and subtle, but it will be there. You will be asked to inspire and motivate people. Have you wanted to be a teacher? Now you will likely find the opportunities to fulfill that dream!

Be aware that you may also find that if you are a naturally extroverted person who thrives from being with friends and being very sociable, this may be a frustrating year: it commonly happens that in this year people find that no matter how hard they try, they cannot get their social life going full steam. People break dates more than usual and/or are too busy with their own lives to get together with you. This results in you finding yourself "forced" to spend time alone, thinking and focusing on your home, your partner, your mental development, and in particular, your spiritual life.

If you need assistance in working through your Hermit Year or any other year, purchase an email reading and I will do a Tarot consultation for you or you can email me about life coaching.

Gaining and Losing Me, Uh-huh!

Saturn has not been in my 1st house as it travels through Virgo; however, today I was very shocked and happy to learn that without dieting, I have lost a tremendous amount of inches.

In June 2006 I bought a pair of low-waist jeans I could not get higher than my KNEES. Oh, it was sad.

Today I was organizing my armoire and took them out,deciding to see where they were on me now, exactly 2 years later.

They slid up my legs, over my thighs and hips, zipped, clung to my butt and hung loosely around my lower waist. I had to put on a belt.

Talk about mind-blowing!

I promptly went out for a long walk on the most populated street I could find.

Heehee.

I realize now I have been eating a lot less food, and eating healthier. I realize I cut out a lot of high fructose corn syrup, pork, gluten/wheat, sugar and white foods (like white rice, potatoes and flour). I also drink nearly 2 liters of water per day and eat a good amount of fresh fruit. I eat beef (I lurves red meat!!) 2-3 times per week.

Are you a Virgo who has lost weight during this Saturn transit?

It is also more than losing weight; I have lost some parts of me that were reluctant to put my body out there, reluctant to see myself as a woman who is as attractive as I really am. In working so hard these past 10 months I changed my eating habits, eating less food, and focusing on getting things done in my life, while dealing with critics and crazies, and reorganizing. The reward? Slimmer knees, thighs, and a thinner more shapely but as well as a smaller waist.

Hard won weight loss. Hmmm.

Thirty years ago, when Saturn last transited Virgo, I remember being slapped on the butt by more than one relative and being told that I was "getting fat". On response I felt so hurt, felt so ugly, came to believe I was unattractive to boys, and let myself be defeated by the criticism as a young girl, that I began overeating and eating badly (not only foods not good for me, but huge amounts, sometimes until my stomach hurt). I never saw that I was a beautiful and curvaeous young girl, and I turned inward trying to make myself perfect while beating myself up with food for not being "perfect" (pencil thin).

Now, I am shedding that protective layer, having come to quite a comfort with my curvaceous body, my full breasts, my butt, my thighs, my womanly goddess shape. Whomp!! There it is....

Uh-huh!!

Saturn Moves On....

By this Friday, June 27, Saturn will finally be off the Virgo Sun of those born in the first 3 degrees of Virgo (August 23-26), not to return for three decades. It has been a LONG hard journey and I have not heard of any Virgos with a 0 Virgo-3 Virgo Sun who had an easy time of it. Many went into hermit mode, into seclusion after the going got too rough and/or nearly impassable. Some gave up. Others have battle scars.

How are you feeling now that you have survived?

What did you learn these last 10 months?

How is your health?

What and who have you released?

What and who have you committed to -- to your surprise or relief?

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse: February 20/21, 2008

This year has been a very active one astronomically, with significant movements: Saturn in Virgo retrograde, Mars in Gemini retrograde and then stationing direct, Chiron and Venus in Aquarius, a New Moon solar eclipse in he constellation of Leo and now, a Full Moon total lunar eclipse in the constellation of Virgo is occurring on February 20/21, 2008.

February 21, 2008 1º53’Virgo 4:27 am CEST

At exactly 4:27 am CET the Sun will be moving opposite the Moon through the constellation of Pisces 1º53’. The Earth will align exactly between the Moon in Virgo and Sun in Pisces, blocking the light of the Sun to the Moon. For astrological purposes, because it is so close to the next degree, it is considered to be at 2º Virgo. Those with planets between 28º Leo through 5º Virgo will be most affected, as will the life areas covered by those houses in a person’s natal chart.

To calculate the times when it will occur for you, here are some time zones: 10:27 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the east coast of the Americas, 7:27 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) on the west coast, and 03:27 Universal Time (UT) and 4:27 am Central European Time (Copenhagen, Brussels).

When Full Moons occur we are more emotional and during a lunar eclipse it is magnified. We become more creative and artistic; our spirituality and intuition are also heightened and we are more emotionally connected to people and situations. We can feel quite stressed because of this change in emotional environment. However if we do not resist what is causing us to “feel deeper” we will open new doors of possibilities and opportunities. The stress can feel like a crisis – and in Chinese philosophy, a crisis is a combination of chaos and opportunity. What began at the New Moon now comes to fruition at the Full Moon.

You can expect that an old phase of your life or some part of it is coming to and end. It is likely that something new began within five days of the solar eclipse on February 7 (so that would be somewhere between February 2 and February 12). However, because eclipses are so strong, there can be significant events as late as two weeks after the eclipse. Where the solar eclipse fell in your chart will receive more attention until the total solar eclipse in Leo on August 1, 2008. That solar eclipse on February 7 is the primary area in which you will need to focus; this lunar eclipse on February 21 will be the secondary area of chaos/opportunity and will give you insight as to what hidden or repressed areas you must release into the open in order to grow in the direction required by the solar eclipse. This lunar eclipse will highlight events where it falls in your chart until the partial lunar eclipse in Aquarius on August 16, 2008.

For example, if the solar eclipse on February 7, 2008 fell in your 1st house, you are being called to balance individuality and independence and the self with partnership, marriage, and/or business relationships – to become balanced in your dealings with and consideration/inclusion of the “other”. Now, this lunar eclipse will highlight what you are really valuing and what you expect from a partner on a very intimate level, either sexually, financially, of psychologically – or any combination of the three areas.

For many single people with a Leo Ascendant, it was a time of coming into close contact with a genuine marriage or life partner and the lunar eclipse in Virgo occurs in the 2nd house and will highlight anything that must be recognized, acknowledged, changed, transformed, and/or healed in order for the marriage/partnership to take place. There could be a change from icy singlehood with financial struggles and sexual wounds or celibacy to a deeply caring, warm and very healing sexual relationship with a partner who balances out your finances and who becomes your marriage partner. It could even be that YOU are healing for that partner in those same ways!

Saturn in Virgo retrograde is in close orb to this eclipse, giving it an energy that means there will be an air of caution, common sense, slowness of movement and decision. Taking responsibility and doing things in a responsible manner will be a strong part of whatever happens during this eclipse.

Mercury retrograde in Aquarius is ending just before this eclipse, so there will be a chance to communicate in a more articulate fashion and matters which seemed confusing or stagnant in the three weeks previous will now begin to be clarified. People with a Sun in Aquarius, in particular, may find they can finally say what has been on their minds/what they want concerning relationships, work and finances. Now is the time when Sun Aquarius people may find they want to initiate healing by opening up to a partner or potential partner by getting in touch with and voicing the feelings they have been detaching from in the past months.

A special note: for some people, the solar eclipse heralded the removal of a male from your life; similarly, this lunar eclipse may herald the removal of a female from your life, or conversely, if you are female, if may herald your removal from a male's life (remember, you may want to remove yourself from some male's life if you now realize it is your best path). You may want to lay low, keep things emotionally light, or take the week off and have some space in order to avoid unecessary arguments.

I do know some people who take a few days of vacation alone or intentionally avoid email, the tephone and generally avoid people when eclipses come that touch significant points in their charts.

Keep your eyes open for the lessons – and write me about any changes which occurred for your on or about February 7, and coming up, on or about February 21.

Saturn in Virgo: World's Cheapest Car

Saturn in Virgo is taking us down the road of time and in an economical form of transportation. Now we have an announcement of the world's most inexpensive automobile in a story from the New York Times:

By ANAND GIRIDHARADAS

MUMBAI, India — What does it take to build the world’s cheapest car?
For Tata Motors of India, which will introduce its ultra-cheap car on Thursday, the better question was, what could it take out?

The company has kept its new vehicle under wraps, but interviews with suppliers and others involved in its construction reveal some of its cost-cutting engineering secrets — including a hollowed out steering-wheel shaft, a trunk with space for a briefcase and a rear-mounted engine not much more powerful than a high-end riding mower.

The upside is a car expected to retail for as little as the equivalent of $2,500, or about the price of the optional DVD player on the Lexus LX 470 sport utility vehicle.

The downside is a car that would most likely fail emission and safety standards on any Western road, and, perhaps, in India in a few years, when the country imposes tougher environmental standards.

Read the whole story here:

The $2,500 Car

Saturn in Virgo: Danish Male Priests Believe Women are Tainted

Research done by a major Danish newspaper reveals that a significant number of female priests in the state church (Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church) are harassed by their male colleagues. But worse than that, the research reveals that there are Danish male priests who actually believe women will TAINT them with their touch and make them unholy! Keep in mind the time we are in: Saturn (restrictions, oppression) in Virgo (women, women's issues).

According Denmark's "Politiken" newspaper, more than half of female priests have experienced gender discrimination. Almost 60 per cent of the country's female priests have been told by their male counterparts they were not fit to wear the clerical collar because of their gender. The women priests had met with this form of criticism several times throughout their career. The study found that only a small group of up to 15 per cent of male priests discriminated against female clergy. However, they were a vocal minority. Some male candidates for the Danish priesthood refused to be touched by female priests during ordination, believing them to be tainted.

These are young Danish men (20s and 30s) with this belief, which hails back to Tertullian, a mysogynist early bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He decreed that men should not have sexual contact with women because women contain a tainting fluid with them and when a man's penis came into contact with it through sex, they would be made unholy.

As long as discrimination exists in the Church it will exist in secular society.

Wonder what the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church will do to combat this baseless, false theology in the seminaries and churches in Denmark?

Interesting note...although people are automatically registered as members of the state church in Denmark. memebrship has declined so severely that hunderds of church were closed in the last couple of years and more will probably close due to lack of attendance. The Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church ahs become irrelvant for many people, expecially the under 50 crowd, in Denmark.