"BIG" Aspects and Cycles, List 1

Back to the main Big Aspect page!

The Grand Finale

This awesome configuration of planets totally dominates our lives winter '96/'97, especially during February '97 when most of the important aspects in this group go off. In fact, most of the aspects currently on this page are part of the Grand Finale, which should give you an idea of how potent this pattern is. The main group of planets contains Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto, all heavy hitting outer planets that exert a tremendous control over our lives, mostly at an unconscious level. At various times, all the remaining planets also contribute to this spectacle. This is the final act of the 2 year Uranus sextile Pluto saga, culminating a long, tempestuous period of growth and overhaul in our lives. Maybe we'll find out what this is all about during this last curtain call.

Enjoy the fireworks!

Update (in progress) :

Judging from my conversations with many people, this is both some of the most exciting and the most god-awful difficult energy to get through. It doesn't help that the Grand Finale coincides with one of the most powerful and long-lived planetary storms I've ever witnessed (see the Energy Patterns for Jan 97 and Feb 97 for more detail). A lot of people are really freaking out at this time. Hang on -- it appears the storm breaks up by mid March.

See my article for more detail on the Finale.

Update (as the dust settles) :

As expected, the Finale pattern broke up around March 7th, just before the solar eclipse. While the eclipse itself was quite a jolt for some people, most of the people I've talked with have experienced a marked physical and emotional let-down as the energies crashed. We got used to the high energy and the quick pace of change. Now that the planets have eased up on us, life feels rather ordinary, even boring. It seems we glimpsed important possibilities for ourselves, but now we have to learn how to live that way all the time. That can be difficult in ordinary times. Take it slow and easy...

Uranus is the planet of revolutionary change, the lit dynamic stick underneath the status quo. Pluto is the lord of death and rebirth, the kind of growth that penetrates everything, moving you to a greater destiny. Since the sextile is a connection of opportunity, hopefully this crucial mutation is beneficial in the long run. However, this much overhaul is always disruptive at some level. I've witnessed people becoming very stressed out and overwhelmed during this time of transition, hardly able to handle all the changes and still manage a life. Coming on the heels of Uranus conjunct Neptune, this degree of growth at deep layers of the psyche is creating major shifts in our realities. The utmost flexibility is required as we blast through this 2 year roller-coaster ride.

Note: This aspect is part of a larger cycle (about 125 years long) that began in 1966 with the conjunction of Uranus and Pluto. This present period (95 to 97) is really a continuation of that immense overhaul we call "the Sixties". I think the phrase "spiritual revolution" aptly describes this influence.

The next turning point in this longer cycle is the difficult square aspect, which takes place in 2012 and 2013. Curious "coincidence" ??

When Saturn entered Aries on 96-4-7, the rules of engagement for the spiritual revolution definitely changed. Saturn provides structure and form, making mere possibilities turn into concrete reality. Pluto rules evolutionary change, a tuning into incredibly deep levels of our human nature. During this trine, it's time to make the vague, hard to pin down, energy of the Uranus-Pluto sextile a down-to-earth part of our everyday lives. Saturn is also reminding us that the physical body is an important part of our spiritual development, since the body receives and transmutes the awesome energies that are coming from subtle levels. Unless the body, especially the nervous system, can handle this energy, it will burn out like a 20 watt lightbulb plugged into 50,000 volts. Take care of your health, get enough rest, find ways to deal with the stress we are all experiencing. This is a time to build new habits and skills that will serve us better in the future.

Following the Saturn-Pluto trine, this 10 month contact is a time of testing and accomodation. We've been attempting to ground all sorts of spiritual truths into our lives the past year, with more or less success. As we try to stretch our lives to new heights, we're bound to experience some growing pains. This is a time when the fit between the inner self and the outer world is most troublesome. Pulled by both outer necessity and inner compulsion, it's easy to feel caught between a rock and a hard place as we attempt to balance these conflicting aims. Look to see where your world most resists your growth -- these reflect areas of your life that most need to be overhauled now. Take care to look after your health and conserve your energies -- burnout is a definite possibility if you overextend yourself. If you can synthesize the inner and outer forces now, you will be in a much better position to "cash in" during their opposition in 2001-2.

Like the Saturn-Pluto trine, this aspect helps to anchor the spiritual revolution in our everyday lives. Uranus, the Crazy Wizard of the solar system, loves nothing better than to disrupt the structures and status quo that Saturn creates. A common experience with this sextile is a feeling that the structures and frameworks in our lives have become too restrictive and confining -- like a butterfly that's outgrown its cocoon and needs to emerge. It's a good time to create new habits and stop beating your head against the wall the same way all the time. Remember, though, that living the high-octane lifestyle that Uranus dictates is not really good for you. This kind of full-tilt living is a recipe for exhaustion and burn out. Saturn is a planet of perserverance, of slow-and-steady. Pace yourself, take care of your health, be content to grow by baby steps, if necessary. Our nervous systems are still learning how to handle all this energy coming in. Relationships between partners and friends must also change, making room for more enlightened approaches. The "Age of Aquarius" must be built slowly, through every contact we make with each person we meet day by day.

Somehow, a combination of keywords for these planets strikes a deeply resonant chord for me: the Wounded Dreamer or the Wounded Mystic. I'm not sure what this square means yet, but it seems this is a process to open up new "psychic" abilities for the sensitive. I've begun to think of Chiron as a "circuit activator", an initiating influence that flips the on switch for new behavior patterns in the psyche as we grow to handle new energies. In this case, the new circuit is Neptune itself at the very high level of Dreamtime Worker. The Dreamtime is the energy patterns underlying physical reality, and the power to work with these energies is the power of creation. But we need to overcome the handicaps (physical, energetic, psychological; at this level, they merge together) holding us back, to heal the guilt and doubt that this is wrong or beyond our grasp. Interesting that this aspect should show up as the Uranus-Pluto sextile comes to a climax.

This marks Jupiter's entrance into the pattern I've been calling the Grand Finale -- the cast of characters is complete and the show is underway! Jupiter causes us to reach out to the world around us, both to contribute and to be nurtured. Under Neptune's beams, boundaries between people mean little and a mingling of like minded souls seems almost effortless. This may feel like a very "spiritual" time, as both planets have religious or mystical overtones. Open up to contacts with others that draw you to a higher awareness.

Jupiter-Saturn contacts often have broad social implications, as they rule the privileges and responsibilities of living in the world. Saturn, which has been part of the Uranus-Pluto package for 10 months now, is about the hard work and duties we needed to do, including the spiritual disciplines necessary to simply keep functioning during this very chaotic period. Jupiter is the planet of abundance and rewards, however, so this sextile is letting us know all the difficult work has been worthwhile. The buoyant and optimistic energies of Jupiter are shifting our attention from working on ourselves internally to enjoying the fruits of people working and playing together in a more enlightened fashion.

Are you still experiencing blockages in your life, a sense that nothing good ever happens for you personally? It's easy for people to undermine and sabotage their own happiness without even realizing it. Pluto is here to remove these blocks, since suffering and limitation are not an essential part of who we are on this Earth-trip. Joy and abundance are easier to attain than we realize -- you simply have to be willing to ask for them and accept them when they show up. As a friend of mine puts it, "How good can you take it?" Don't tune out ecstacy, just because you're not used to it.

Jupiter's final contact in the Grand Finale, a conjunction with Uranus on the 15th, has been receiving a lot of press lately. It's the start of a 14 year cycle that promises to overhaul the "mental environment" we all live in. Jupiter and Uranus are joined by Mercury and the asteroid Ceres at this time, a four-fold contact, in the mental sign of Aquarius. On the social level, this is a time of breakthroughs, especially in the areas of science and technology. On a more personal level, this energy is helping us bust through our own prejudices, biases, and blindspots. It's possible to interact with the world in a lighter vein, without all the mental baggage of "shouldas and couldas" that keep us in our place, strangling the life out of our lives. Check to see whether your ways of perceiving and interpreting the world need to be replaced by something that works better. You'd be surprised how fun life can be if you just get out of your own way.

Why even bother with such an old aspect? Well, for one reason, "The Conjunction" was one of the main defining aspects of the 20th century. It was the start of a new planetary cycle that lasts 171 years -- the last cycle started in 1821. For another reason, this conjunction was active until Feb 98, when Uranus and Neptune finally slipped out of orb for this kind of aspect.

A common experience since this conjunction was a sense that "normal reality" was suspended and that reality seemed to be shifting rapidly, sometimes several times a day. This is the mark of a period of intense psychic growth, as we were opened up to extreme situations that eroded our sense of what is possible. Many people went through big changes in their everyday life, as well, such as losing a job or getting into major relationships. In effect, this aspect forced people from the mundane world into new roles that will help bring about spiritual shifts for everyone. Nothing is the same since.

Back to the main Big Aspect page!