WHEEL OF THE YEAR

WHEEL OF THE YEAR
Tim Rubald
Maui Druid, et cetera

Winter Solstice, Turning of the Year
(and My Birthday on Winter's Eve)

For many, many years I've written an annual birthday poem. This year's version is in prose.

I was looking for a way to respond to the landslide of birthday wishes I got for the 20th. This is my attempt.

"The year is a wheel with eight spokes. Each circuit is comparable to the cycle of a human life. The Winter Solstice is the time before we were born, the great dark uterine void from which all is formed. The vast black ring around all possibility, its perimeter bulging with promise. Light is conceived in the cold dark at the time of the Winter Solstice. The smallest spark, the most tentative hint of a glow, is imagined in the dense ambience of its absence. The sun is a mere gleam in the eye of eternity. Light, no matter how tiny, equals life."

-- Donna Henes, Celestially Auspicious Occasions: Seasons, Cycles & Celebrations. New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 1966, p. 5. via:  https://alabe.com/AUG2.htm

December 21-22
Winter Solstice
Birth of the Year

In 2014
December 21: GMT 23:03:02, EST 6:03:02 PM, CST 5:03:02 PM, MST 4:03:02 PM, PST 3:03:02 PM, HST 1:03:02 PM.

Sol reaches his shortest period in the day sky while the night is the longest of the year. From the point of the Solstice onward there is an increase of light.

"...in very ancient times the most important yearly turning points were considered to be the summer and winter solstices. Later, in the 4th century A.D., the Emperor Julian opted for the Winter Solstice in particular, "when King Helios returns to us again, and leaving the region furthest south and rounding Capricorn as though it were a goal-post, advances from the south to the north to give us our share of blessings of the year."

--- Quoted by Charles Harvey in Michael Baigent, Nicholas Campion and Charles Harvey, Mundane Astrology, 2nd ed. London, Aquarian Press, 1992, p. 243.


In the 20th century, Charles Carter in England and Alfred Witte in Germany both echoed the Emperor Julian's sentiments and made a persuasive case for the Capricorn ingress [as the beginning or start of the year]. Quite reasonably, Witte saw the Capricorn ingress as the beginning of the solar cycle. In the Northern Hemisphere it's the time when the old Sun dies and a new one is born, and, as Chinese astrologers saw it, increasing yin switches over to increasing yang. Like the New Moon, which most astrologers acknowledge to be the beginning of the lunar cycle, the Winter Solstice marks the end of the waning half of the cycle and the beginning of a new waxing half.

Also, at least in Northern latitudes, Capricorn is probably the most emotionally laden of the four Cardinal ingresses -- the one that brings up primal fears of darkness, cold, hunger and the cessation of all life. Will the light return? Will the round of life continue? For peoples who routinely experienced cold, famine and nights lit only by firelight, seeing the waning of the Sun's strength finally reverse itself must have truly seemed like a rebirth and must have been an occasion for heart-felt rejoicing.

Today, around the time of the Winter Solstice we still compensate for the withdrawal of the Sun's light and heat by cozily nesting indoors, stoking the fire, festooning trees with lights, and warming ourselves with food, strong spirits and the company of others. To counter nature's threat of scarcity, we invoke a great-bellied saint clad in the color of fire, whose pack brims with human-made abundance. Our thoughts turn from fresh-picked food toward what is preserved and stored, from the vanished lushness of the natural world toward the human-created social order with its own ingenious methods for sustaining life and hope.

--- https://alabe.com/AUG2.htm

March 20-21 *
Spring Equinox
The Wheel Turns toward the Triumph of the Light
Daylight has increased and now occupies half of the day, equally matched to the length of night. Light is strengthening and establishing its place in the yearly cycle.

June 20-21
Summer Solstice
Triumph of the Light, of Sol. The daylight reaches the peak of its reach through time.  We celebrate the exuberance of the day.  At the same time we realize this is the beginning of the increase of darkness. From this point daytime will wane in comparison with night. The night gains but is remains secondary to the longer day.

September 22-23 *
Autumn Equinox
The Wheel Turns Toward Darkness. The energies of the Dark Gods and Goddesses begins to increase and gain attention. The balance described by the Taoist symbol of Yin and Yang reflects the Equinoxes but an imbalance begins at the point of Equinox as night begins to overtake daylight's duration. The processes of inward turning gain significance. Persephone returns to her throne with Hades in the Underworld.

December 21-22
Winter Solstice
While the realm of the night has reached its maximum, so the day begins ascending in duration. And so it goes.

* Days of Equinoxes and Solstices, Why do the equinoxes not always occur on the same days each year?

The Earth takes approximately 365.25 days to go around the Sun. This is the reason we have a leap year every 4 years, to add another day to our calendar so that there is not a gradual drift of date through the seasons. For the same reason the precise time of the equinoxes are not the same each year, and generally will occur about 6 hours later each year, with a jump of a day (backwards) on leap years.
http://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/astronomy-and-time/time-facts/equinoxes-and-solstices

From year to year, there is always some variability in the equinoxes and solstices because of the way Earth's changing tilt matches up with its orbit around the sun. The equinoxes and solstices do not always occur on the same days each year. This is due to the Earth taking approximately 365.25 days to revolve around the Sun. Since the days of the tropical year is not a whole number, the time of the equinoxes are generally about 6 hours (0.25 day) later each year. However, to prevent a drift of dates over a long period of time, we add a day to our calendar, thus we have a leap year every 4 years. Take the time of equinoxes for example. The time of both equinoxes varies within 2 days. The days occur about 6 hours later each year for 3 years before taking a jump backwards on the leap years.

--- http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/gem-projects/hm/0203-1-52-equi_sol.pdf
 

 As I grow older, and if not wiser, at least more knowledgeable, I understand more about the Wheel of the Year and the astrological implications of my birthday, and of all other birthdays the year long. The Sun is the core of being, the source of life on Earth and of the energetic (if not biological life) on the rest of the system that orbits Sol. The place of the Sun in the Tropical Zodiac is what determines your "Sign."

With this very, very basic astrology that verges perilously close to what I've called Signology, I grow ever more deeply into a ritual appreciation of life and living. I grow closer to the sacredness of life, my respect for the mystery deepens, my connection to the chimera of the ancient gods increases. These are not the gods and goddesses of traditional and ancient devotion, but symbols arisen from the rhythms of the heartbeat of the solar system, of what some traditions know as "the Word."

"There is that continual heartbeat of creation, the Sun. The Sun's communication with us has developed and will continue to develop over time. Our lives on earth are quite brief though and one earthly life will simply experience the Word as regularly as a heartbeat.

While the heartbeat may slowly alter over eons of time, Earth's relationship with the Center cycles rhythmically through the Centuries. That essential relationship of Earth to Sun establishes a core pattern that is the basis of Tropical Astrology. That is not to say that other orientations, other methods of astrology are inferior. In fact, I find Constellational Astrology (Sidereal and Jyotish for example) more intellectual, you might say more scientific (I wouldn't but some would).

The gift of increasing information by observation and experience seems to work in both directions for me. One direction is toward detail and technique and the other is toward a very Earth-oriented, you might say Pagan appreciation (I would say that, but only in the most basic ways beyond the approaches of specific groups or tribes like Wicca, Heathen, Thelema, or what have you).

My understanding of the Wheel of the Year or Season Cycle reaches to the roots of most beliefs and religions and even to modern physics. I find solid support for my understanding in several branches of physics, especially: quantum mechanics, special relativity, stellar, galactic and extragalactic astrophysics, cosmological, evolutionary, bio, cellular, particle, experimental, theoretical, atomic, molecular, mechanical, condensed matter, optical, mathematical, and gravitational wave astronomy (I may have left some out).

So what does this mean for me and for you? It provides a deeper understanding of astrology, which serves all of the work that I do for you. On the one hand, it is the simplest part of astrology as it provides the framework upon with Tropical Astrology hangs the circular measuring rule of the Zodiac. That begins and ends at the Spring Equinox, zero degrees of Aries.

Happy Birthday! Everyone! And a Merry Christmas to All. And Happy Hanukkah, Longest Night, Anastasia of Sirmium feast day, Las Posadas, Feast of Winter Veil, Festivus, Pancha Ganapati, Modraniht, Saturnalia, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (this fits my view perfectly, "Day of the birth of the Unconquered Sun" - Zoroastrianism), Yule (of course), Soyal (21 December - Zuni and Hopi), HumanLight, Newtonmas, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, Dongzhi, and my apologies if I've missed your favorite Solstice Celebration.

I must include this one from Wikipedia.  Yalda: 21 December - The turning point, Winter Solstice. As the longest night of the year and the beginning of the lengthening of days, Shabe Yalda or Shabe Chelle is an Iranian festival celebrating the victory of light and goodness over darkness and evil. Shabe yalda means 'birthday eve.' According to Persian mythology, Mithra was born at dawn on the 22nd of December to a virgin mother. He symbolizes light, truth, goodness, strength, and friendship. Herodotus reports that this was the most important holiday of the year for contemporary Persians. In modern times Persians celebrate Yalda by staying up late or all night, a practice known as Shab Chera meaning 'night gazing'. Fruits and nuts are eaten, especially pomegranates and watermelons, whose red color invokes the crimson hues of dawn and symbolize Mithra.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multinational_festivals_and_holidays#December
 

I hope this gives a bit more understanding than you had of the Season Cycle. Now you can begin to fit in your own birthday to where you landed on the wheel. That message is extremely basic, yet goes to the very foundation of whom and why you are.

Happy trails,

Tim

Copyright © Tim Rubald 2014

Tim Rubald, C.A. NCGR-PAA, C.A.P. ISAR
startalker.tim@gmail.com

http://astrology-startalk.blogspot.com/

facebook.com/Tim.Rubalds.Astrology

tweeting @startalker

GEMINI GEMS

The Sun entered the Sign, Gemini, on May 20, 2014 at 3:59 am GMT. That's 10:59 pm Eastern and 7:59 pm Pacific. Precision there may not be such a big deal; Sun into Gemini, May 20, is just fine.
I'm not much of a Signologist, in other words I steer away from seeing 12 types of people, preferring the unique individuality expressed in the horoscope. That said there will be people who fit Gemini to a T (and not only those with the Sun Sign Gemini).

Characteristic of the Sign are its element, Air, and its modality, Mutable (changeable). Air is the element associated with communication. While there are many means of communicating, the most basic is speech in which sound waves travel on and through the air. The idea of mutability is, in the case of Gemini, a sort of dry fluidity (oh, oxymoron), a kind of randomness that allows for adaptability. Think of dust motes, downy feathers floating, cottonwoods spilling seed, the parachuting of dandelion fluff, and you have a notion of the Geminian linkage with the Air element.
 
Air is "collective," because it is that which brings every separate individual and body into the subtle communion of the breath.  Air links the lungs and blood of every breathing entity.  It is that which rises out of the Water toward the all-encompassing Space.  It is the emanation of all bodies, the perfume of all lives.  In and through it, all lives reach unity in the all-embracing seed that is the God-of-the-Mystery:  SPACE.                                                        
                                                       -- Dane Rudhyar, The Astrology of Personality 

A long time ago, in grammar school, we kids sometimes played with liquid mercury (bad, dangerous, poisonous, don't do it). It's a fascinating liquid. If you tap your finger on a blob of it, it "shatters" in a liquid way, and does something like that if you pour a bit onto the floor. We would take copper pennies and rub mercury on them and it would adhere to the surface of the penny. The trick was to then pass off the silver penny as a dime. I did make pennies into "dimes" but not to defraud.

Mercury (Hermes) was the son of Jupiter and Maia. He presided over commerce, wrestling, and other gymnastic exercises, even over thieving, and everything in short, which required skill and dexterity. He was the messenger of Jupiter, and wore a winged cap and winged shoes. He bore in his hand a rod entwined with two serpents, called the caduceus.

After rocking out all night with Mercury's invention, Apollo was dead tired.

Mercury is said to have invented the lyre. He found, one day, a tortoise, of which he took the shell, made holes in the opposite edges of it, and drew cords of linen through them, and the instrument was complete. The cords were nine, in honor of the nine Muses. Mercury gave the lyre to Apollo, and received from him in exchange the caduceus.                                                                                                                 --- Bullfinch's Mythology

What's with Mercury? Mercury is the planetary analogue or "ruler" of the Sign, Gemini. If you consider the behavior of the element Mercury, you can see how even the element is "mercurial". Mercury is the speediest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun in about three months. It makes a backward track against the measure of the Zodiac as it zips around the Earth side of the Sun, around every hundred days, so it can seem both speedy and a bit erratic. Mercury is the Roman version of the Greek name for the god of speed and communication, Hermes, messenger of the gods.

These are just a few things that come to mind about this Sign. It represents a scattered expression. When it is available in excess we see "all over the place" actions and thought (thought is also a Gemini/Mercury principle). Everyone is subject to it in some exaggerated way every time Mercury is retrograde. Then, Mercury is on its path around the Sun that brings it, and its intense "Air energy", into high focus and nearest Earth on its orbit.

The key to success with Gemini is discernment and focus. There's nothing wrong with gathering data every which-a-way, but then that data needs a quick sorting and choosing of where to concentrate attention.

Gemini, the twins.

"From the standpoint of the universal laws Gemini is the most important of the twelve signs for our earth.  Everyone on earth comes under the influence of Gemini.  It represents the dual forces; the opposition of the human and the divine in all of us."
                                                                                                           -- Isabel Hickey
 
From my tips for the Valentine article, The Sun is the Heart.

The Gemini heart is curious.  It wants to explore, not so much with some specific goal in mind but just to find out.  It's a mental kind of heart that fancies variety and experiment.  It is sensitive to nuance and subtlety.  Appeal to its love of variety with unpredictable gestures:  cards, books, comics, letters, MP3 player loaded with podcasts, books, clippings, magazines, books, e-mail, books, graphic novels, and URLs for the Gemini heart to explore, and books. Then again, make sure your Gemini likes to read. Even if not, information and entertainment of some sort that involves the mind can delight the restless curiosity of the Gemini heart.

While Gemini is definitely a "people" Sign, as are the other Air Signs, Libra and Aquarius, astrology is for everything under the Sun, not just people and personalities. The branches of astrology, Mundane, Political, Horary, Financial, Astro-meteorology, and so on, most all use the entire Zodiac, and Gemini.

Here's an example of Gemini in Political Astrology, from astrologer, publisher, and author, Mark Lerner of Welcome to Planet Earth.

"The nuclear axis in the zodiac [is] between 7-12 degrees (approximately) of Gemini-Sag. That's because at the first nuclear chain reaction -- starting the nuke age on Dec. 2, 1942 -- many planets and the Sun and Saturn polarized, were in this area of the zodiac. And the Neptune-Pluto unions of 1891-92, starting a 492-year cycle of history occurred at 8 Gemini. And Antares (9 57 46 sag) and Aldebaran (9 59 25), massive red giant stars in polarity in the heavens, are in our zodiac at 10 Sagittarius and 10 Gemini. Plus the USA natal Uranus (radiation; fallout; radioactivity) is located at 9 Gemini."

Here's a classic bit of Gemini in Astro-meteorology from C.C. Zain (Elbert Benjamine) that was originally copyrighted in the year of my birth, 1949.

"Gemini is a cold and drafty sign. Its influences in the Temperature Chart may be considered as favoring cold weather. However, it may also be considered to favor rapid changes and variable temperatures. ... But in addition to the cold, when it has influence, look for fluctuations in temperature.

"No other sign is as windy as Gemini . . . you may expect lively winds without surcease. And in weather charts that indicate storm, it shows that wind will be an accompaniment.

"Gemini is bone dry, even though cold. It does not favor rain, and even tends to blow fog and mist away. ..."

                                                                                                    -- Elbert Benjamine

In Medical Astrology there is this bit of mine:

Gemini is the Mercury-ruled Sign of communication, transportation, and of all kinds of effects affiliated with things controlled by the nervous system from digital dexterity to diseases arising from stress, worry, and overwork.  Gemini wants a piece of everything, not in the sense of acquiring but in the sense of inquiring.  The cat curiosity killed was a Gemini.
                                                                                                    -- TR, 5-15-04
Finally

With a good deal of mutability in my chart, I can be a Gemini (even though I have nothing in that Sign) and continue on with analects until Apollo's cows come home. Alas, I have other things to do today. By the way, astrology is not just something that I live with; it is something that I share. Send an email to STARTALKER@aol.com for information about consulting with me and to schedule a session for you.

Ah, Gemini, light and breezy, curious and talkative, full of ideas and a compulsion to share the thoughts and ideas that bubble up like a spring.
                                                                                                    -- TR 5-18 2003

By Aysem Aksoy of
Birth Chart Painting

If you are reading this from about May 20 to June 20, Happy Birthday.
Aloha!
alo, sharing; in the present
oha, joyous affection, joy
ha, life energy, life, breath

Copyright © Tim Rubald 2014

Tim Rubald, C.A. NCGR-PAA, C.A.P. ISAR
startalker.tim@gmail.com

http://astrology-startalk.blogspot.com/

facebook.com/Tim.Rubalds.Astrology

tweeting @startalker
 

Your Valentine ~ The Sun is the Heart

The Sun is the Heart

Tim Rubald

           

Here is a light look at how the Sun expresses vitality, warmth, and energy through each of the twelve Signs in terms of romance, love and desire.  The Sun is only one of several horoscope factors that contribute to how an individual will express these things.

The idea that Sun Signs (there are twelve, each approximately thirty days long in a year) may be useful for analysis and prediction comes out of an astrological understanding of the Sun.  In astrology and astronomy (the straight laced child of astrology) the Sun is the center of our solar system.  By means of a system of correspondences, astrology recognizes the Sun in the horoscope as representing a person’s center (in several senses of the word).  In terms of the body the Sun is representative of the heart, the life sustaining core of a person.

The division of the ecliptic into twelve Signs has the Sun expressing through each Sign as through a lens or filter.  The lens qualifies how the “heart energy” of the Sun expresses.  Other factors further color the expression of passion and romance.  The Sign’s influence on the Sun is only one of several important factors.

ARIES

The Aries heart is like the old Adidas “Just Do It” advertisement.  There is action and impatience.  Don’t make the Aries heart wait and don’t slow it down in order to fulfill some notion of what love is about.  Appreciate Aries for its fearless and courageous march.  Give it reason to march your way and it may just do it.

TAURUS

The Taurus heart is like the steady, heady pulse of springtime.  It is bursting with beauty, sensuality, and a lust for touch, taste and luxury.  Don’t rush the Taurus heart.  Its love of life epitomizes the word savor.  Sample with it what the Taurus heart relishes and you become part of what that heart desires.  Appreciate its appreciation of the sense world and become a part of its world.

GEMINI

The Gemini heart is curious.  It wants to explore, not so much with some specific goal in mind but just to find out.  It's a mental kind of heart that fancies variety and experiment.  It is sensitive to nuance and subtlety.  Appeal to its love of variety with unpredictable gestures:  cards, letters, clippings, magazines, books, e-mail, aps, and URLs for the Gemini heart to explore.

CANCER

The Cancer heart is a blend of sensitivity and power.  It has the nurturing and protective force of a mother bear.  Romance, sentimentality, and emotion touch this heart.  Mementos, things from the past to cherish and protect, invite the Cancer heart’s participation.  Praise (even flattery) feeds this heart.  Criticism damages it.  While the Gemini heart offers mental variety there’s never a dull emotional moment with the heart of Cancer.

LEO

The heart of the lion is loyal, generous, and idealistic.  It loves to offer its protection and loyalty in exchange for admiration.  It is the true peacock heart, extravagant, ostentatious, and lordly.  It is inspiring and lively essentially within its own world.  Make the Leo heart your world and it returns great faith in you. 

VIRGO

The shy, Virgo heart is dutiful, affectionate and faithful.  It appreciates (loves?) order and method.  The Virgo heart likes “the real thing,” what is practical, what is felt and touched, held and compared.  It is discriminating to the degree that its appreciation is honor in itself.  Rather than compromise the Virgo heart may become self-sufficient.  If you are in doubt as to what it requires, this passionate treasure of a heart gives directions.

LIBRA

 The Libra heart is a companion.  It lives for sympathy and understanding.  It is so idealistic that it is hard to satisfy this heart in love.  It is not a hard heart though; it is surprisingly mental, ever imagining the pleasantest of worlds.  Win this heart with beauty and avoid “reality therapy.”  Flattery is not wasted on the Libra heart.  It craves appreciation.  Avoid what are ugly and unpleasant and nurture this heart with any kind of beauty.

SCORPIO

Thanks to stereotyping clichés, the Scorpio heart supposedly responds only to sex.  Sex isn’t the whole picture though.  The Scorpio heart is a proud heart.  It can be as comfortable with what to many might be excess in physical love as it is with continence and self control.  The love of this heart can be deep and lasting.  It lives in a world of emotion, the depth of emotion from which all “active” emotions arise.  The Scorpio heart lives in extremes of emotion, not in any middle ground.  It is the real thing. Don’t play here unless you understand.

 

Ummm, New Mexico chile

SAGITTARIUS

The Sagittarius heart blossoms in nature, in the out of doors, in freedom.  Put it behind walls or in a cage and it will wither.  It is so friendly, and its actions are so human and attractive, that its flirtations might appear to be more than they are.  For this heart, flirtation is just an exercise of friendliness, of play.  This is the heart that aphorism seems written for, "If you love something, set it free.  If it comes back to you, it is yours."  The Sag heart feeds on the broadest possible range of experience, beyond any limits of thought or imagination.  Win this heart with playful kindness. 

CAPRICORN

The Capricorn heart is ambitious, has goals, and appreciates material advantage.  There is a sense of calculation with the Capricorn heart.  Once the “externals” are understood, the heart of the Sea Goat is as passionate and sexual as Scorpio; as sensual and physical as any Bull (Taurus) in a meadow at the bursting climax of Spring.  Care for this heart and it will take care of business, be dutiful, and take care of everything that needs managing.

AQUARIUS

The Aquarius heart is mental and humanitarian.  It is nothing if not fair.  It is not that it is uncomfortable with emotion; it is just that for Aquarius, emotion seems to happen in the mind where it becomes rational.  The Aquarius heart can seem scientific that way.  Its greatest gift is one of friendship.  Even though it can be oriented in a democratic way and have an intimate sense of the future, don’t expect wildness (craziness and unpredictability yes) as the Water Bearer’s heart may hold and apply rigid moral convictions.  It is the water of Spirit and focused ideal that is carried, not that of syrupy emotion.  Allow the Aquarius heart in by allowing it to be helpful; praise and compliment and it’s yours.

PISCES

For the sweetest of sloppy emotion take the Pisces heart.  It is more than simple charity, more than plain sympathy, more than hospitality, kindness and generosity.  Take this heart as far as you can imagine and it goes farther.  The Pisces heart is so intuitive, receptive, and mediumistic that you can break it before you do.  Walk gently with this heart please, however impractical, inefficient, swayed, and tempted by emotion it may be.  This heart swims in a sea of emotional excitement; dive in, only if you are a strong swimmer.

© 2000-2014 Tim Rubald

startalker@aol.com

Helping conscious people to understand their life cycles and to optimize their timing for success.