The Mystic Rectangle of March 30, 2012

Seize the opportunity!  We have a busy, fruitful day ahead.  This is the message always delivered by a Mystic Rectangle, which comes into full formation the morning of Friday, March 30.  On this day, in fact, we will be dealing with the Grand Trine, The Mystic Rectangle and the Five-Pointed Star, as well as a Yod. This is the kind of day where true adventurers rub their hands together in excitement and anticipation in stepping through doorways into unknown and unexplored worlds.  Yes! is the word of the day.

As I have written, the Grand Trine has been with us for a while now and has laid the groundwork for the Mystic Rectangle. Beginning around dawn, its shape comes into focus and unfolds more fully  between the hours of 6AM and 12PM (MST).  We will awaken on that day feeling a mix of tensions and harmonies, both within and without.  Those are, indeed, the gifts bestowed by the nature of this particular sacred geometry.  The Mystic Rectangle allows us the potential for enormous transformation through the discovery of our innate talents.  It often feels like a very intense and uncomfortable tightening of circumstances (the oppositions within the rectangle) followed by a release into new ground that has a remarkable flow and abundance to it (the sextiles and trines that are also essential in this shape).  The metaphor here is that a knot can feel very binding until we realize that those very same  knots are necessary to hold together woven material of any sort, whether a physical fishing net or our own spiritual meaning of the life we wish to live.

If we are aware of a Mystic Triangle’s presence unfolding above, we can use the moment to dig down deeply within ourselves and bring to light both our deepest fears and blockages and our greatest hopes and abilities for fulfillment.  This is a time to feel into the ebbs and flows of life taking place in a very short, intensive period of time within us.  If we do so, we can unleash our greatest positive abilities out into the world.  Several hours after this configuration dissipates, a five-pointed star will appear above.  The number five is the symbol for humanity and affords us the promise of grounding our own presence down into our rightful place between heaven and earth as the star glides overhead.  All the while, the Grand Trine of which I have written in my previous two posts is still active within this complex and shifting landscape.  The plate may feel a bit full here, because it is, and it is important to remember to deliberately slow one’s self down on this day in order to take in and make use of the complex buffet of opportunities at this table.

The Dynamics of the Mystic Rectangle

A Mystic Rectangle always involves at least four planets in opposition though, unlike a full square, they are not at 90° degree angles to each other and, thus, do not have the heightened quality of tension that the squares do.  Rectangles are always accompanied by two trines and at least two sextiles, which softens the impact of the oppositions and always offer harmonious ways of untangling the knots within which we might find ourselves.

The graphic I have provided here has been stripped of several planets and aspects in order to reveal to the reader the basic shape of the Mystic Rectangle.  One can see easily the star, the yod and the grand trine within it, as well as the rectangle.  It all depends on how you perceive visual stimulation and which you find first.  Stay with the image and the rest will appear.

The oppositions we are dealing with in the Mystic Rectangle lie in the elementals of earth and water.  Calypso/Chiron conjunct in Pisces are in opposition to Mars in Virgo.  Pluto in Capricorn is in opposition to the Moon in Cancer.

Capricorn and Cancer are cardinal signs, which means they are the first signs in their elementals and pack a punch in setting the tone.  Pisces and Virgo are both mutable signs and both ruled by Mercury.  We are being asked to find the balance and harmonies between our internal, emotional/spiritual compass (Chiron/Calypso in Pisces and Moon in Cancer) and our external expression of them through the structures (Pluto in Capricorn) and practical application (Mars in Virgo) on the physical plane.  Because we have a conjunction of two powerful emotional entities (Chiron/Calypso) in Pisces and Moon in Cancer, we may, indeed, find ourselves feeling bound by blockages in our emotional states.  If we stay with them in the present moment, they will wash out into clean, new forms of being as we manifest a new external reality for ourselves (Pluto/Capricorn, Mars/Virgo).  That’s where the trines come into play as they form softening angles to the oppositions to guide us out of that feeling of being “stuck” between a rock and a hard place.

The key here is that, when the tension of confronting ourselves too directly builds, we need to remind ourselves to look for a different angle to find our way out.  Find the softer, gentler way with yourself.  Living in an external environment of continual conflict peculiar to the western brain set, which is particularly active during these times, this can sometimes be difficult to do.  In its highest form, astrology gives us the tools of symbolic, right brain language which can guide us into the performance of rituals that call out to and manifest our divine selves within a mundane environment.  A Mystic Rectangle provides us with the opportunity for both high art and high ritual and we have the power to summon the potential of heaven, channeling it down into the ground upon which we walk.

I suggest getting out of your physical head and heart and actually acting out the shifting of perspective. Because of my own background as an actor, painter, taoist movement artist and psychotherapist, a large portion of my consultations are centered in art therapy, dance and psychodramatic modalities.  In order to “do” our charts masterfully, I believe we really have to get down and do them.

So, get out your pastels or watercolors or colored pens and pencils and draw the different aspects of this celestial formation on four separate pieces of paper. We are going to wield the mighty sword of the crayon to accomplish our goal, harnessing the power of play. Physical embodiment of our internal dialogues is often, in and of itself, a freeing/healing process.

Chiron/Calypso in Pisces holds the deep and accumulated wounds we still carry within.  Moon in Cancer holds that which we secretly nurture and pray for, like pregnant mothers anxiously and excitedly awaiting the arrival of their offspring.  Pluto in Capricorn holds the hidden demons (secrets and lies) that still reside in our external structures of relating and social functioning embedded in the very buildings we walk into and out of on a daily basis.  Mars in Virgo represents our drive to bring our highest discipline and perfection to our physical endeavors. Hard and honest work yields the fruit from the trees.

Draw all of these aspects of yourself, because they are, indeed, yourself.  This exercise is all about the creative expression of our often divided and disconnected self, our polarized ideas around desires and accomplishments, our emotional and rational states of being.  This is, in fact, what the Mystic Rectangle is for:  to perceive them and then balance and harmonize them.  Make sure you use a broad and healthy palette in visualizing the internal dilemmas.  And remember, no one else is going to see this but you. It is only for you and no critiques are going to be forthcoming.  I most often suggest creating this kind of art using the non-dominant hand as doing so disrupts the ingrained and often stagnating concepts of ourselves we have carved into our brain cells like old wagon wheel ruts. We want to disrupt those patterns in order that they can reconfigure themselves.  First, we have to recognize and own them.

Once you have created your right-brained version of the celestial dilemma at hand, stand in the center of your circle.  Hold your arms out, shoulder height, at 45° angles from your body.  Place your Chiron/Calypso/Pisces drawing at a distance from your left hand.  Then place the Pluto/Capricorn drawing at the same distance from your right hand.  Now turn around, do the same thing with Mars/Virgo on your left and Moon/Cancer to your right.  You are now standing inside of your personal Mystic Rectangle.

Let yourself simply turn to each depiction of these aspects of yourself, in whatever order you are intuitively drawn to them. Your task is to simply regard them with the same reverence and curiosity you would a painting by a famous artist in a museum.  Simply see them and admire them as impressions without judgment.  Admire them as an individual expression of our greater, collective unconscious.  Notice which ones you are easily drawn to and which ones repel or embarrass or evoke discomfort in you.  Yes, the real work is in the ones that stimulate such responses which, unfortunately in our society, we have come to erroneously label “negative.”  No such thing.  They just are.  They are evocative teachers in our search for our personal vulnerabilities.

Once you have taken them in, we can now begin the process of adding in the lovely sextiles and trines that we have so far ignored as we examine our oppositions in this configuration.  Sextiles and trines lend a dynamics of ease in a chart, though trines are often so fluid we almost forget they are there.  Sextiles give an extra “oomph” to a very friendly relationship of aiding and abetting our best aspects in a chart and they are just waiting for us to tap into their playful assistance.  They are our buddies and this aspect between planets allows us to unlock their potential, so we’ll go there.

So far you have stood, stationary, in the middle of the knot of your gentle oppositions.  Do remember, this is a loose knot, rather than a tight, square knot.  Now, turn toward your Mars/Virgo drawing and walk right over to it.  Now turn from that point and face your benevolent friend, Moon/Cancer.  Look into her face, take in her unconditional, maternal love and imagine her embracing your efforts to bring your deepest, most vulnerable self into physical reality where you stand.  Mars in Virgo wants to manifest those desires and can do so in spades with the dynamic masculine Mars seeking to harvest the fruit of his seeds within the earth of Virgo.  Let  the impulses of the feminine Moon/Cancer inspire the actions of Mars in the fertile soil always found in the Fall gathering, which is the home of Virgo.  Now reverse your place.  Go stand upon the Moon/Cancer moment and gaze upon the Mars/Virgo moment.  How can Mars give you the strength to fully embrace and hold your own private vulnerabilities?  What seed from Mars may be planted in the womb of your quiet desires? What spark of conception wants to open within you?

Answering such questions is how we allow ourselves, through actual doing, to perceive the balancing and nurturing elements of the yin/yang transformational aspects at work in our own bodies/psyches, as well as in the heavenly movement of the stars.  The ability to stand within that circle in wonder and awe at the constantly changing world within and without us is what cultivates chi and opens us to the mystical knowledge of tantra and ecstatic bliss.  The things themselves do not do this.  Our relationship to them, ever-changing and co-creating, does.

The other sextile functioning here is between Calypso/Chiron/Pisces and Pluto/Capricorn.  Pick the drawing of these two that is most difficult to look at.  Stand upon it and gaze at the other.  How can our deep spiritual beliefs and emotional foundations affect and guide the external structures we wish to erect around us?  And, conversely, how can the structures we choose to manifest honor and hold our wounds and vulnerabilities?  How do our current structures continue to damage and hurt our most private selves?  How can we construct edifices (our homes, offices, institutions) that protect and nurture, rather than defend and harm?  This aspect really allows us to explore our own integrity, morals and spiritual values and to build that which honors and furthers those qualities in our lives.  We should think of this sextile as creating the temples that give sanctuary to our intimate, divine selves.

When we jump into these sextiles, the knots of the rectangle will, seemingly without any effort at all, unravel.  The cords that bind will come undone of their own accord.  Once we do this, the background harmonies of the trines  (here between Pluto/Capricorn and Mars/Virgo and  Calypso/Chiron/Pisces and Moon/Cancer, respectively) will seemingly magically weave a new reality before us.  And therein lies the magic of the Mystic Rectangle.

Onward to the Five-Pointed Star

Please refer to the chart in the previous section first as the reader may see the five-pointed star already contained within and gestating inside of the Mystic Rectangle.  During the morning hours, it is still distorted, but by 12:20PM it comes into clear, sharp focus, as can be seen in the chart to the left.

The Mystic Rectangle is still in full swing, though now the aspect of Jupiter in Taurus has come into the mix to form the top point of the star.  Jupiter is, as we all know, the great benefic, ready to shower manna from heaven upon us.  In Taurus, this means that the seeds we are sowing at the moment have the potential to bear a harvest akin to those found at Findhorn.  Choose those seeds well, discern those which can be sustained in the particular environment, whether natural or social, in which you find yourself or in which you wish to find yourself come Harvest time.  This is a good time to wish upon this benevolent star, which has been so phenomenally shining in the western sky at sunset, along with Venus, it’s mundane partner of beauty, during the entire month of March.  With the time change and the lengthening of days, this pair of lovers will disappear from our view shortly, though we should use our imaginations drawing down their presence for a long time to come.

The five-point star is, indeed a pentagram.  Unfortunately, our culture has swung so sordidly to distorted, concretized and fundamentalist christian pedantry of late that this symbol has fallen into the category of the demonic and evil.  There are always entities and institutions that use such symbolism for nefarious pursuits and, unfortunately, that phenomenon is also on the rise, most likely in reaction to the polarized christian fundamentalist view.  This is what happens when yin/yang become horrendously discordant and out of balance: extremes abide.  And, really, these extremes are all about revealing the serious disconnections within ourselves and our cultural reality before those structures come tumbling down.  The age of opposition, conflict and destruction in the name of being “right” is coming to an end.  These are just the manifestations of a dying civilization in its death throes.  We can either join the fray, or stand back and observe the bigger picture.  It’s just a choice, though one will leave us far more intact than the other.

The origins of this symbol, however, are sacred.  As noted above, the number 5 represents the human being.  We find this in many indigenous cultures who had advanced knowledge of the relationships between humanity, nature and heaven, a knowledge largely gone from human consciousness.  In Native American tradition, one starts with the foundation of the four directions and all of the spiritual and physical manifestations of those directions.  At the center, between heaven and earth, stands the human being.  This is also the philosophical foundation of Taoist thought, within which the individual stands as the grounding point between heaven and earth.  In the Tarot, the number 5 card is known as the Hierophant, the physical manifestation of the magician/priestess/priest.  They are those who reside in solitude, at one with their spiritual focus and purpose upon the earth.  We may see shifts in our own personal relationship to our spiritual self, or, as Jupiter is at the head, we may see far-reaching changes in religious institutions around this time.

The pentagram also holds within it the Golden Ratio, as depicted in Michelangelo’s art.  Here, the star/human represents the perfect expression of that ratio, in both body and spirit.  The top of the star is the head and the Mystic Rectangle forms the four limbs.  It is, indeed, auspicious that Jupiter crowns the head at this time as it shall guide the arms and legs of the being that follows its advice and mentorship.  Such guidance will, at a macro-level, give rise to newer and wiser institutions and laws of relationship and social structures, one’s based on equality, respect and reverence.

This is a time of taking advantage of the synchrony of Five of our sacred geometric shapes.  The Circle of the chart itself, inside of which everything unfolds, is the first.  The Triangle and the Square (here, a rectangle) are the other two shapes that form the sacred triumvirate in chinese philosophy.  They are now accompanied  by the five-pointed star.  Five also represents the circle of life created by the five elements in chinese medicine.  So, we have The One (circle), the Two (the individual human in dynamic relationship to the circle),  the Three (Triangle), the Four (Mystic Rectangle) and the Five (Humanity) held in our celestial consciousness right now.

Take advantage of these alignments.  And spend time studying and researching the meaning of sacred geometry in different cultures.  It is a highly vast and complex field of knowledge, but the exercise is good for the body, mind and spirit.

The Final Yod

Our celestial “day” here will end on a final, pointed note at around 8PM, when a Yod opens up in the skies. It actually has been there all along, as can be seen in the first chart.  However, this evening, both the Mystic Rectangle and the Five-Pointed Star have moved out of formation and now the Yod stands out very distinctly and its energies will become more singularly potent.

A Yod is formed by two sextiling planets at the base and point directly at the quincunxed planet at the tip.  It is often referred to as The Finger of God, for this a very powerful arrow/bull’s eye indeed.  One that requires our attention.

Here we will have  Moon/Cancer sextiling Jupiter/Taurus, both pointing directly at Pluto/Capricorn.  The Yod is, indeed, a crisis of faith and perspective that we need to surmount in order to maintain stability.  Because it is such a powerful, narrow, pointed band of influence and because it is occuring between larger, outer planets, the dilemma here is huge.  It will, indeed, challenge our ability to gain perspective on our situation.  The secret is in finding the hidden secret that lies underneath the aspect.  And, indeed, this one packs an extra punch as the apex of the Yod is pointing at the planet of our deepest, darkest secrets – the one’s we never tell to anyone – Pluto.

If we have failed to be honest with ourselves about our own, deep, sociopathic fantasies, this is going to hurt.  Our desires for revenge, lust, hatred, lying, cheating and stealing all go in that pot.  And, we all have them, each and every one of us.  Those who deny them are those whom we should trust the least and are those who can least trust themselves.  They are people wearing happy masks dining on happy meals.  As any seasoned psychotherapist knows, those who deny these sentiments are most likely to act them out unconsciously and usually impulsively.  So never, ever believe anyone who says, “Oh, I would never do anything like that, ” or “I don’t have any evil aspects, no, really, I’ve dealt with all of them.”  Such people are dealing in ego and its concomitant attachments to external appearances.  Keep them at a distance, nice and friendly, but never trust them with anything you value, neither your heart nor your wallet.  So long as we are alive, we will always be uncovering the hidden and often darker aspects of ourselves.    These planets work with us our entire lives and, as every astrologer knows, if you do not yield to Pluto, she will always win in the end.

With Pluto in opposition to the Moon, the need for dredging up old, emotional secrets is heightened to the nth degree (as is the case with any opposition that shows up in a Yod ).  So, dig in.  The trining aspect with the other base of the triangle, Jupiter, can lead us down a path of easily coming to awareness with these secrets, but only if we choose to give way to them.  Don’t try, just allow.

A truly remarkable and exhausting day we have coming up.  Rest up and eat healthy food.  Well-prepared means well able to work with the treasures that are about to be thrown in our direction.  Enjoy the jewels.