Author and astrologer Caroline CaseyPhotograph by Irene Young
Mythic Journeys
We here at Real Astrology are seeing stars over Making the Gods Work For You (Harmony; $23), esteemed writer, astrologer, and trickster-scholar Caroline Casey's paean to changing the world you live in by changing your view of that world.
Grabbing the reader affectionately by the arm as a racing comrade on the human team, Casey uses her own humorously-related world travels, as well as traditional myth, story, and the reminiscences of friends to remind us what we've forgotten to know.
Casey even offers those of us who need reminding some chewy rules to live by. We suggest that you tear down those Post-It notes with faded affirmations, leave only the lipsticked 'I Love You's' on the mirror, and try some of this up-post prankster sagacity instead:
Visionary Activist Principles
PRINCIPLE 0 (ZER0). Believe nothing, entertain possibilities. Therefore everything hereafter is offered playfully.
PRINCIPLE 1. Imagination lays the tracks for the Reality Train to follow.
PRINCIPLE 2. Better to create prophecy than to live prediction. What makes us passive is toxic. What makes us active is tonic. This is the difference between predictions, which make us passive, and prophecy, which is active co-creation with the divine.
PRINCIPLE 3. The invisible world would like to help, but spiritual etiquette requires that we ask. Help is always available (operators are standing by).
PRINCIPLE 4. The only way the gods know we're asking for help is ritual.
PRINCIPLE 5. If something's a problem, make it bigger.
PRINCIPLE 6. We only possess the power of an insight when we give it expression.
PRINCIPLE 7. Creativity comes from the wedding of paradox. We aspire to be disciplined wild people who are radical traditionalists.
But even the most disciplined wild radical traditionalist is apt to be thrown by the sky's awkward tilt as Mercury goes retrograde July 30 through Aug. 23. What does this mean to you? Casey's advice, as excerpted below: Tend only to the body electric.
Retrograde Motion
From the Earth's perspective, a planet can look as if it is standing still (or stationing), when it is about to change direction, forward or backward. When a planet appears to go backward (the Earth is actually passing its orbit) we call it retrograde motion.
Retrograde planets recommend any activity that begins with the prefix re: reflect, research, renovate, repair, rewrite, reconnect, rejoice, remedy, rehearse--re-anything. A retrograde planet refers to that part of our personal and collective psyche that has gone on a vision quest to reinvent itself.
The only reason people say, "Uh-oh!" when a planet is retrograde is that we live in a culture that overvalues forward push and undervalues inner dream. We experience frustrations when we willfully push ahead and resist the cosmic directive to reflect. When planets are retrograde, they instruct us to consider in order to avoid disaster.
"Uh-oh, Mercury's in Retrograde"
Because Mercury is winging it around the sun so speedily, this planet appears, from the Earth's perspective, to be moving backward in the sky three or four times a year, for about three weeks each period. When Mercury, the god who presides over all things that facilitate communication, travels backward or retrograde, we are meant to be reflective. Mercury says, "Go back, you missed something crucial on the first sweep."
This time period is characterized by the necessity for reflection--which, if not heeded, can lead to disaster. The astrological injunction against signing contracts when Mercury is retrograde refers to the likelihood that one or both parties might subsequently change their minds because more research was needed. I would never advise someone not to do something they wanted to do something they wanted to do simply because Mercury or Mars was retrograde, because the inner attitude is far more important than the outer action. There are no rules. I explain the orthodox interpretation, then tell them to reflect and do what feels right.
I have occasionally defied the well-known injunctions against buying electrical equipment when Mercury is retrograde just to test if it really is a bad idea. It seems to be. Complex machinery acquired during Mercury retrograde seems to require repair and other "re" activities, such as re-turn to the store, re-negotiate the price, re-nege on your credit card, re-wire the house.
Copyright ©1998 by Caroline Casey. All rights reserved.
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