posted August 07, 2010 01:39 AM         

August 3, 2010

To my Friends:

On August 6 and 7 this week we will have a configuration in deep space that astrologers call a Grand Cardinal Cross. Planets have been building up in cardinal signs lately to a very high degree. Cardinal signs are Aries, Libra, Cancer, and Capricorn. Within those signs all the elements are represented - air, fire, earth, and water. While we have seen cardinal crosses before, we have never seen one with such a large number of planets involved and in such tight mathematical degree. If you checked your August forecast on Astrology Zone, you already know this is coming up, for I discussed this at some length.

When I went on my pages on Twitter and Facebook this week, I noticed that many readers were apprehensive of the coming cardinal cross. In this letter to you, I want to assure you that the cardinal cross will be helpful. Hard aspects like the one the world is about to experience this week are meant to push us forward in a big way and help us see where we stand.

Truths will be illuminated, secrets will be exposed, and any injustices will be corrected. Under this type of configuration, we cannot deny, ignore, or hide from certain realities, but that's good, for only then can we be energized to make things better. The cardinal cross - like eclipses - often pushes us to either end of the spectrum. That means you may find events to be either very difficult or very thrilling. Either way you will know where you stand and you will be able to plan with a greater sense of certainty

This month's cardinal cross will include Pluto, Uranus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Venus, and the transiting moon in Cancer. That's eight heavenly bodies! The only ones not involved will be the Sun, Neptune, and Mercury. That is a large degree of participation!
Technically, in order to have a true cardinal cross, you need to have four squares and two oppositions. You would see a perfect square box with an X in the middle. That's a grand cross. When the group of planets involved are all cardinal signs (Aries, Libra, Cancer, and Capricorn) you have a grand cardinal cross.
This month's grand cardinal cross is extraordinary because it will have not four squares but ten, and not two oppositions but seven. Wow, as you see, this is a very intense cardinal cross. Looking ahead 500 years, I could not find another cardinal cross involving so many planets.

Another remarkable feature of this cardinal cross is that each planet will be within five degrees of each another, and many will be in even tighter configuration, within a degree or so! Cardinal signs are VERY energetic and when they are found in very early degrees of zero to 1.5 degrees, like many of these planets will be, they epitomize the very life force. This is very powerful!
Furthermore - another point that astounded me - is that Mars will be at a very sensitive degree on August 6 and 7, unlocking the message of the June 26 lunar eclipse, or bringing more news to a situation that arose at that time.

Squares are known to present obstacles, but they also help you move forward and even turn a corner. They are a necessary part of life, for they uproot us from our complacency and shake us into awareness. You may experience a big breakthrough or the final ending of a long and debilitating circumstance.
If, for example, you have been hoping against hope that you would 1) get a generous raise even though your company is failing, or 2) see your sweetheart end his or her wild ways and suddenly show a desire to commit, or 3) get your landlord to agree to lower your rent, you will likely see the truth of the situation now and see the other's true colors. You may finally realize you may need to make other arrangements. On the other hand, if you were accused of something unfairly, the truth will come out, and you will be vindicated. View the cardinal cross as a harbinger of clarity and the purveyor of justice.

If you are a cardinal sign - Aries, Libra, Cancer, and Capricorn - you will feel this cross the most, but only if you were born at the end of March, June, September, or December. These reader birthdays will correspond to the early degrees of this group of planets.

Even if you are not born at the end of the months listed, you might still feel this cross quite strongly if you have a rising sign or a planet in of one of the cardinal signs listed, and if you have those planets or rising sign in early degrees of the sign (between 0 and 5 degrees). Still, for example, a Pisces or a Virgo - two mutable signs - could be feeling general financial tensions, for example, even if they have no planets in the qualifying degrees.
Remember, however, that when planets set up "birth pangs" like these, you get results, and sometimes the results feel like a great relief. Other times, things don't quite go your way, but even so, you can find a way to fix things if you like. A lot will depend on actions and decisions you made earlier. Now that those events are maturing, they are reaching a certain critical or fruition stage. While I cannot see all in your chart, I can see your Sun and rising sign, so check my August forecast on Astrology Zone to know more about how things might play out for you.

Two particularly important planets to watch will be Saturn and Uranus, still standing approximately 180 degrees apart. Even though they had their last opposition on July 21, they are still very close. Saturn rules all that is traditional and conservative, and Uranus represents all that is new and revolutionary. As you see, these two planets are very different.

These two began confronting each other on November 4, 2008. Since then, they have been engaging in combat, separating and retreating, engaging and now finally separating. They have not have had direct confrontation since 1965-1967, a time when society moved out of the roles and mood of the 1950's into a much more modern time. In the USA the changes focused on the changing role of women and African Americans in our society. Often when we are participating in big change we are too busy to notice how massive things are shifting, but in hindsight it becomes clear.

Certainly Saturn and Uranus have been keeping up the pressure to force us to decide what is valuable and to be preserved, and what is new and revolutionary and should be embraced to replace all that is outworn. As creatures of habit we tend to cling to what we know rather than try something new. The universe knows this and is currently giving us a big nudge. Saturn is about to do a similar dance with Pluto - and I will describe that situation in more detail in a subsequent newsletter to you.

While it is true, as I said earlier, that squares help us turn a corner by presenting an obstacle, you still have to keep alert, for you will be expected to show resourcefulness to steer your ship correctly out of any choppy waters that you may encounter and into smoother, warmer seas. Oppositions are just as they sound - two planets battling it out for dominance - although in all oppositions there is an equal and counteracting opportunity for cooperation and balance.

Which way things go is ultimately up to each of us, and will most often have to be viewed in the light of what has come before. No one is born "new" into a month, for we bring along all our dreams and goals, disappointments, and victories with us into each month as we go along. You are the sum total of all the decisions you have made so far in life, both little ones and big ones. This grand cardinal cross will pertain to what has come before, and of those decisions and actions, which ones demand correction in the light of changes in the world and in your life.
Everyone will likely notice some tension in the air this week in world events. In the news, we will likely see the global financial market gyrate a bit, a mirror of people's shifting emotions and reactions to what is reported in the news. You may see some wild weather patterns, too.

Here is an important point that I would like you to keep in mind. Any cross pattern isn't just operative for a day, but much, much longer into the future. Some astrologers view a cross as a mid-point, so therefore the outcome might not fully manifest for several months.

It may be helpful to look back on the last time we had a grand cross. That one was not cardinal but in fixed signs on August 17-18, 1999. Fixed signs include Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. Those signs felt the changes in a powerful way in 1999, especially those readers born at the very end of their signs, in the third week of February, May, August, and November.
So in the coming week, if anything is weak and ready to break, it will. It will be obvious that the center will not hold - something has to change. Actually, that's the good news, for extreme planetary energies like the one we are about to experience will soon display any defective parts in a relationship, project, certain investment deal, or other endeavor or part of life. Those outworn or faulty elements will either spin off quickly and be discarded, or demand fixing or advice very soon. If you were deprived of reward on any level, it may come to you now.

Cardinal energy is not patient, so when the news its, it will demand you attend to it quickly with a sense of urgency. We all will have no choice but to act under such strong gale force winds, but let's not forget that forceful, difficult aspects illuminate and clarify situations like none other. The universe will now take a strong hand in things to show us what we could not see for ourselves. Yet, as I have been saying, if you are with the wrong boss, the wrong sweetheart, the wrong investor, or in the wrong living situation (you name it - there are many possibilities), the cardinal cross may suddenly end that situation and help you get into a new one quickly.
With the planets going through such massive birth pangs, as a society, they will move us to a new and more enlightened social order. The cardinal signs born early in their signs will be at the center of all news and will see the most radical shifts - that is, if you were born at the end of March, June, September, and December, this configuration will speak to you.

We all have cardinal signs somewhere in our horoscopes, so that means everyone will feel some changes. I have written extensively in your August forecast about how you might experience the cardinal cross of August 6-7, 2010.
Best of luck, dear reader. Let me know on Facebook or Twitter how events play out for you, or by writing to me on Astrology Zone. Thank you!

posted August 07, 2010 09:55 AM         

No, thumb. I think?