by Robert Wilkinson
Neptune and Pluto are still in septile, anchoring what I have termed The Grand Irrationality. Knowing what this configuration is about can help to explain why weirdness is in the air, why people can be obsessive-compulsive and make strange choices, and why irrational behaviors that make little sense pervade our world. This is a time of non-stop pressure to make life-altering choices and changes as we stand at forks in the road of Destiny.
This subject is so important, it warrants its own two part series. This article will give an overview of what's been happening for all of us. Part 2 will deal with specific times that are more fired up than others in November and December 2010.
In answer to a continuing question from clients and fans of the site, The Grand Irrationality will continue for about another decade. This long wave global activating influence began in the mid-1990s and will manifest for years to come. Due to the variable speeds of Neptune and Pluto, by mid-2016 the influence will wane for part of the year, when they'll be in orb of a sextile thank Heaven!)
In November and December 2010, the Grand Irrationality will be highly activated by the inner planets! While November is somewhat slow with only the Sun occupying the Scorpio zone of the Grand Irrationality between November 2-7, in December there are multiple transits. Of primary importance is Mercury in the Capricorn zone from December 2-17, going stationary retrograde at 6 Capricorn, setting that as a hot spot for months to come!
Other significant triggers include Mars in the Capricorn zone between December 10-17, Venus returning to the Scorpio zone December 17-23, again triggering its stationary retrograde point activated in early October, that makes it a dominant feature for all of October through mid-November, and the Sun transiting through the Capricorn zone December 23-28.
That means at times 3 or even up to 5 points of the Great Septile will be active due to Lunar transits and the changes in the Ascendant over the course of a day. This sets "destiny in motion" in these areas in everyone's charts. You can bet whatever this touches in your chart will light up like a pinball machine and throw you into major choices and changes!
To remind those of you who know and introduce it to those who haven't heard of this, The Grand Irrationality is a configuration driven by septile series aspects. It creates 7 zones where strange, irrational, obsessive-compulsive energies manifest.
If you want to know more about these very important, "destiny producing" non-rational angular fields, at the end of this post there's a link to an article elaborating on these aspects. It may help explain how these aspects work their influence within the larger energetic field in which we live, breathe, and have our being.
Due to Neptune and Pluto being in a very long term septile and the other planets making regular visits to the various zones in early Capricorn, late Aquarius, mid Aries, early Gemini, late Cancer and early Leo, late Virgo, and mid Scorpio, its influence is fairly constant. This is a major factor as to why such extreme hard-edged strangeness is boiling to the top in personalities and situations. Collectively we are at a major fork in the road of human evolution resulting from the almost constant pressure put on everyone each time this aspect series is triggered.
The influence of this configuration was virtually non-stop between Autumn 2007 to January 2010, and will be in heavy activation in December 2010 and March-April 2011. The 2007-2009 period boosted and clarified what began with the Autumn 2006 Eclipses, there were important septile series configurations made by transits that set off important changes and choices that did not make much sense, but we had to make them anyway. These transits continue for many years to come, showing us how to greet the forward edge of our future "destiny" by the ways we greet the weirdness of the NOW.
As previously noted, The Grand Irrationality activates any time a planet or the Moon crosses any of the seven zones of influence. During November and December 2010, the hot zones of The Grand Irrationality are approximately 3-7 Capricorn, 25-29 Aquarius, 16-20 Aries, 7-11 Gemini, 29 Cancer to 3 Leo, 21-25 Virgo, and 12-16 Scorpio depending on what degrees Neptune and Pluto occupy plus the orb of influence.
We began a particularly intense period lasting for many months with Saturn's entry into the Virgo zone of the Grand Irrationality in late September 2008. That time period set global changes in power structures into motion, and everyone confronted the urgent need for practical solutions to massive problems.
At that time (early Autumn 2008) the hot zone was in mid-Virgo. Wherever we have mid-Virgo in our charts, in late 2008 through mid-2009 we were challenged to confront unused, neglected or "caged up" powers and skills, and many experienced "explosions" releasing pressures and pent-up inner energies. By following the pressure drop, our "will to wholeness" could break up old complexes.
Curiosity or restlessness resulted in new methods of inner guidance and cooperative action. These came to a head between March and mid-July 2009, and led us to cooperative techniques revealing a "quest" or "adventure in consciousness." The lessons of that time have now shown as new ideas, information, and/or perspectives that began in August 2010.
July-August 2009 finished this period of breaking up the old, after which we were offered opportunities to move toward a "higher Destiny" resulting from the choices we made between January and September 2009 concerning the "venerable standards" we decided to live. August 2009 finalized lessons of learning how to follow inner guidance, and we were offered ways to link our energies with others in organized, cooperative ways.
In September and October 2009, Saturn moved into the last degrees of Virgo. This was a time to finish our education in some emotional/social area, and prepared us to enter "a world of transcendent activity." That began a larger role for many, and was the end game of training for our entry into a new Archetype of Being from late October 2009 through January 2010. After a refining and reflection "test period" between January and May 2010, we've now learned how to use our will to embrace and live a form of some new Archetype or role in our world that took permanent hold in August 2010.
When Saturn was in the Virgo zone of the Grand Irrationality, it biseptiled Pluto and triseptiled Neptune several times between September 2008 and July 2009. During those months we confronted several sets of "destiny producing" choices connected to Saturn, which is always a bit heavy! These produced effects that will continue for a long time to come.
The first series happened Sept-Oct 2008, the second period involving the retrograde process was Jan-Feb 2009, and the final period was late July and early August 2009. This more or less forced all of us to get clear about what "destiny" we wanted to embrace, since we had to make numerous important choices at the many forks in the road triggered by the inner planets involving several areas of The Grand Irrationality.
As noted in other articles, this influence was boosted in April-May and July-August 2009 by Jupiter conjunct Neptune in the Aquarius zone of the Grand Irrationality during these periods. We experienced the final Jupiter trigger of this configuration in December 2009 and early January 2010 when it moved through the Aquarius zone for the last time. The next "action beat" in the Jupiter sequences will be triggered in late April 2011 when it septiles Neptune and biseptiles Pluto from late Aries.
Obviously when the inner planets moved through the various zones during this year-long activation between Autumn 2008-2009 the entire pattern was intensified. Looking back over the past 18 months, Venus and Mars transited the Aries zone in mid-May 2009, triggering the point activated at the Venus retrograde station in early March 2009.
This set many things into motion for a year that brought an end to whatever we've been dealing with the past two years that we no longer need to contend with. These endings will in turn create opportunities and higher understandings beginning March 2011.
In March and early April 2010 Venus, Mercury, and the Sun all returned to the critical Aries zone of the larger pattern, bringing possibilities for new vitality, perspectives, and appreciation for the larger process. These "destiny producing events" will in-form what is expanded by Jupiter beginning February 2011.
Any time the Moon transits any of the hot zones the pattern is triggered. As previously noted, in September and October much was set into motion directly related to what was structured in our lives during the Saturn in Virgo era as that related to the period when Mars was in the early Leo zone of the Grand Irrationality from late February through late March 2010. This past Spring marked a new beginning in the Leo areas of our charts that has directly impacted our larger destiny.
As it was the nozzle (due to forming 2 triseptiles to the Neptune-Pluto anchor) it marked an important shift in energies where we resumed the initiatives left hanging when Mars went retrograde in December 2009. When Mars moved through 21-25 Virgo in late July, it marked the next Martian "step" in what began to move forward in March-April.
The next stage in this process occurred when Mars moved through the Scorpio zone in late September and early October. During the coming two months, Mars, along with Mercury, will continue to bring us to "forks in the road of destiny" between December 5-16.
One very important thing to note: when Mars went through Virgo this past Summer, it was the first time this happened since Saturn crystallized some long term Grand Irrationality lessons. As Mars activates whatever it touches, July 11-22 was a time when we could act on what we learned, or we could see those Saturn in Virgo issues and lessons come to the fore in some way wherever we have mid-Virgo in your chart.
We experienced those lessons and issues through the light of Venus in the Virgo zone of the Grand Irrationality in late July, and then got the insights, ideas, and signals from Mercury in mid-August when it went stationary retrograde in the Virgo zone.
September-October 2010 was the first one where the Sun moved through that Virgo zone and vitalized the long term Saturn lessons that Mars activated. We then "saw the light" of those long term Saturn lessons and responsibilities, and could make critical choices about how we wanted to live whatever Mars activated. We then could find a new coordination as Mercury passed through the Virgo zone for this year at the end of September.
Remember that each time the Moon transits the Virgo zone, it will serve to "echo" the lessons, challenges, and responsibilities crystallized by Saturn's transit through the Grand Irrationality Virgo zone. Taking that a step further, when the Moon transits the Aries zone it'll echo the 2009 Venus retrograde effect, and obviously when it moves through early Leo it'll set the Mars stationary direct point into motion, no small influence! I'll discuss more Lunar "time triggers" in part 2.
In the next part of this Spiritual Astrology series we'll finish this detailed account of how the Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars are activating the Grand Irrationality during the next few weeks. Without doubt much will be triggered.
Now that Autumn is here we'll have the ability to see clearly how the lessons and challenges of previous years have shaped our lives. This in turn can help us see how we are now living a radically different reality than we were, and can understand what we're going through and what is happening in our lives from the perspective of those choices we made between 2006 and July 2010.
Destiny was set in motion in March 2010, especially in your Aries, Leo, and Scorpio areas of life. We could see the wisdom of our choices in July 2010, and began a new phase of work, service, and/or discipleship. What showed up in late July directly impacted what we began to learn in October, when Venus went retrograde in the Scorpio zone of the Grand Irrationality.
It's very important that both Venus and Mars have stationary retrograde or direct points in 2009 and 2010 burning "hot spots" that have been and will be triggered by transits! It makes the mid-Aries and early Leo zones active each time there's a transit through any of the zones, thus triggering 4 points, 2 directly and 2 indirectly.
You can bet the early October Venus conjunct Mars in the Scorpio zone has set a LOT of major decisions into motion, tremendously affecting that house area in our charts. Obviously it will also impact the Aries, Taurus, and Libra sectors as well. More on that in part 2.
As promised, here's the link to my article explaining the septile series aspects.
© Copyright 2010 Robert Wilkinson