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| The Susquehanna River August 13th, 2011 6:23 AM |
The Lion's Gate
In August there is an alignment between the sun (in Leo) and the star Sirius which is the brightest star in the sky. The alignment occurs from July 28 to Aug. 12ish—but August 8th is considered the energetic peak.
Called the Lion’s Gate, the 8th of August is thought to be a good day for any kind of manifestation work. This is a relatively new idea, but for me the numbers work.
Given my weakness for ancient culture and the goddess Inanna, eights always resonate. I like August 8th (8/8) and I like 8/8/2026 = 8+8+2+2+6=26 = 8 even better.
So last night, I did some manifestation work and made a sigil. Today I will probably make another. But there is more to Sirius than a single date and I thought it might be nice to share bits and pieces of an older post I wrote on this topic.
About Sirius
In the northern hemisphere Sirius is obscured by the rising sun through the long hot days of summer. In mid August it reappears in the morning skies. In the ambient light of a modern world, jaded by the glare of artificial light, we can all too easily overlook the stars, even our brightest.
In ancient Egypt however things were very different. Back then, the day when Sirius rose just before the sun signaled the time when the Nile began to flood and the start of the Egyptian agricultural calendar.
Like many of the stars, Sirius was personified by a goddess. Her name was Sopdet and and she was an important goddess of the Old Kingdom, serving as a guide to dead pharaohs journeying through the underworld.
Which reminds me of other goddesses, especially Inanna and her descent.
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Sirius is a bright white star with a hint of blue. When the air is unsteady, or when the star itself is low to the horizon as it is now, it appears to radiate an entire spectrum of color. In mid-northern latitudes Sirius may be seen on August 12th, just before sunrise.
And there was a time, when I was always there to greet it. I’ve shared a post about the first time, I met Sirius below.
The Susquehanna River August 13th, 2011 6:23 AM
I got to the river just before the sun crested, compass in hand to observe the southeast sky but saw no sign of the Dog Star. According to various internet sources Sirius was due to return to Northern skies today. Ancient people were very precise in their observations of the heavens. The internet, it seems, is not. But that was all right. Seeing the sun rise over the mountains was worth getting up for.
There is a resonant energy to the world just before dawn and there was a time when I used to get up at five o'clock in the morning just to feel the hum. On the way home from the river today, I remembered that time. I remembered how I used to sit in the kitchen and drink black coffee and write straight through until sunrise.
I lived in the city then but I could see the better part of eastern sky above the vacant lot outside my back door. I got early up to write and see the sun come up almost every morning. In many ways, that apartment was my first real home and I made the most of it.
On the way back from the river this morning, I thought that I could do that here, too, if I wanted. Sirius is with us for a while now. And if I get the timing right, I should be able to catch it on some other morning.
The Present Day
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| Home Altar 1 |
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| Home Altar 2 |
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| Photo by Josh Rangel on Unsplash |
This post is about Carl Jung, the Age of Aquarius and what leaving the Age of Pisces behind might mean.
What are the astrological ages?
Approximately every 2160 years, on the first day of spring, the sun rises in a new sign. This is the beginning of a new astrological age.
The astrological ages or World Ages move backward through the zodiac.
The Age of Taurus is estimated at 4300-2150 BCE. It included the Bronze Age, the invention of writing, the Near Eastern bull cults, and civilizations like Sumer, Ancient Egypt, and the Indus Valley.
Aries (circa 2150 BCE-1 CE) was the beginning of the Iron Age. It saw the rise and fall of several ancient cultures including the Akkadian Empire, Vedic India, and Ancient Greece.
The Age of Pisces began on or around 1 CE. It encompasses the rise of the Roman Empire and the West, Christianity, the Inquisition, colonialism, and two World Wars.
While none of these ranges are exact, the Age of Aquarius is expected to begin on or around 2160. It is predicted to be a time of increased communication, innovation, and humanitarianism.
I studied astrology and became fascinated by the astrological world ages. To me, this aspect of astrology was more interesting than any individual horoscope.
So when I saw that my Jungian Dream School instructors had made a video on the Age of Aquarius, I was excited. After watching the video I felt called to learn more about Jung and the Astrological Ages.
Jung and the Astrological Ages
In watching the video, I learned that Jung believed that the astrological ages influenced the collective. He saw the passing age of Pisces as a time of dissolution. He believed that the old energies would diminish and that new energies would be activated in the coming Age of Aquarius.
Jung wrote about the Age of Pisces and the influence of Christianity in Aion, which I am currently reading. To him, the psychological self was a totality that "must by definition include the light and dark aspects."
Christianity, in the Age of Pisces, didn't allow for that.
In Aion, Jung talks about the issue with seeing Christ as unadulterated light. For Christians, God couldn't be a paradox. He had to be summun bonum (ultimate good). This caused the early Church Fathers to call evil an absence of good (a concept called privatio boni) because there is nothing of God in it.
Deviation from perceived good could not be tolerated in the heyday of the Christian age. Laws rigidly divided acceptable conduct from what couldn’t be tolerated. In some instances that worked. In others it was cruel and unnecessary.
The Dream School video
In the video, my Dream School instructors shared Jung’s believe that bringing the entire self into consciousness is superior to killing the bad and vanquishing it into hell.
I think that's because vanquishing darkness doesn't actually work.
This was one of the problems I had with Christian morality. Extolling virtue and denying vice works for some people but not all. And I don't think it's the best way to deal with things from a psychological perspective, either.
Dictating a moral code based on dualistic ideas about right and wrong isn’t necessarily effective. In the video, one of my instructors, Jungian Analyst Joseph Lee suggested that the Aquarian Age might bring about a new ethic based on how the self responds to our actions.
This would call for a morality based on dreams and inner work that connects us with self, instead of blind allegiance to religious law.
Joseph went on to point out that this is an individual approach to ethics. It allows for variation and may require a different kind of tolerance. It asks to accept that not everyone will be on the same page.
The Age of Aquarius is expected to be innovative, communicative, and diverse. I think we are already seeing that. But as my instructors pointed out World Ages don't go quietly--making the current upheaval largely reactive.
What this means to me
Jung witnessed two World Wars in the course of his lifetime. He had personal visions of Europe covered in blood and, ultimately, as a site of great desolation. He felt that the only real chance for humanity was for individuals to do the inner work that releases shadow and connects with the self.
Whether this will actually happen in the Age of Aquarius is yet to be determined, but it gives me hope.
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I'm going to be learning more about this topic, so if you're interested please check back or sign up for The Mystic Review newsletter @ MysticReview.substack.com!
You can watch the Dream School Age of Aquarius video in this post: MysticReview.com/2026/04/dreams-tarot-and-age-of-aquarius
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This post is about my renewed commitment to the blog and the dreams and synchronicities that influenced me.
Dream Guidance
For reference: I spent the last couple of weeks working on a romance novel based on a short story I wrote some time ago. There were issues with the story and, for a time, it consumed most of my attention. I put my metaphysical writing and interests on hold during this period.
Last week, I had a dream that seemed to speak to this. The dream began in a lovely old-fashioned red and gold lobby. I was attending an event, even though I felt drawn to different event at another location. There was a scheduling issue, so I’d chosen the event/program featured in the dream. When I reached the auditorium I learned that the event I had chosen was about weddings or wedding planning.
There were other characters, conversations, and indications that the wedding event was fluff and not a good fit for me but I didn't leave. Throughout the dream, a feeling persisted—I would have rather been somewhere else.
Two nights ago, I dreamt I was sitting down with an assistant who had been inattentive in the past. I ask her to begin with my day book, looking for conflicts. I feel that she should pay special attention to the energy. In the dream, the energy I mention has a magical feel to it. It is significant and alluring.
The wedding in dream one put me in mind of the romance novel. The scheduling issue in dream one suggests that time is an issue. It occurs to me that I can only choose one.
The assistant in dream two hasn't done a good job but I'm giving her another chance. Scheduling conflicts and a kind of magical energy are key.
My Reaction
Dream one seemed to indicate a core conflict around my personal focus. There is the suggestion that I am focusing wrongly and that time is limited. The color red featured in the lobby reminds me of the alchemical process and the potential for transformation.
As a result of this dream, I decided to give myself time away from the romance writing. Almost immediately, a feeling of enthusiasm for metaphysical writing poured in.
I decided to be more involved here with the blog and felt good about doing that. Still I wondered if I was being reactive. That was when I had the second dream which seemed like a variation on a theme.
In Waking Life
I felt that this idea was being reinforced in my waking life, too.
The last few weeks have been hard everyone in our family has been sick. Because I have family members with serious health problems, illness always reminds me that nothing about the future is guaranteed. When my dog Luna, became ill with hemorrhagic vomiting and had to be treated at the animal emergency something shifted for me. I started to think about what matters and what does not. Thoughts about life purpose and the limitations of time occurred to me.
And other events in my waking life seemed to expand on this.
A video by tarot reader Julie Poole talked about purging to make way for the new energies. A This Jungian Life video talked about Carl Jung and the Age of Aquarius. Points made about duality and Christianity and the Age of Pisces reinforced some of my old ideas.
I realized that I was still clinging to some of my old programming.
Old programming had a lot to do with my decision to put The Mystic Review on hold in 2017 at the height of its popularity. A family member had come close to death. I was scared. Returning to the Church felt safe. As time passed however, it began to feel restrictive. The Catholic approach to elevating virtue and repressing vice didn't work for me. Shadow spilled into my fiction writing. Eventually I began to question.
I took classes at Rhine Institute. I connected with Jung. I returned to the blog.
All of that happened in 2024. But I didn't fully commit the blog and everything that goes along with it then. Now, I have.
I hope it will be of interest to others!
My Full Moon Tarot Reading
This is my full moon tarot reading on home / family (row 1, bottom), my media (row 2) and return to the blog, and my nonfiction writing (row 3) and related new ideas.
Note the position of Temperance (which I associate with Aquarius). This card reflects points made in the This Jungian Life video about the tension of the opposites. I will dive a bit deeper into the Age of Aquarius material (and this reading) in my next post.
The Videos
I found both these videos resonant. The Age of Aquarius video is produced by the Jungian analysts who teach the Dream School course I'm studying. The tarot video is by a reader I like.
The Aquarius video was especially helpful for me because it aligns with my own thinking about organized religion and where I'm at now.
This wasn't always easy - at least not in a controlling / egoic way - but even at its hardest it still felt right.
Winter was a time of study and introspection and Spring was a time of clearing and planting (in a very literal sense).
In summer, I built things in both worlds simultaneously - and began to share my secret identity as a witch with my non-witchy friends.
Throughout Autumn I did my best to tie up loose ends, think about the year just passed, and set intentions for the year ahead.
That year isn't here yet, and in many ways, I am still in the process of defining it but a few decisions have been made. One is to begin the formal study of astrology through the American Federation of Astrologers and I'm excited to share that I have just received the wonderful Beginner's Learning Kit pictured below.
I hope you'll join me in this new journey of discovery in the year to come.
Said song :)
For more on Yule, please check back next week!
Learn more about the practice of astrology, astrology as a profession and the astrology of midlife and again with professional astrologer, author and teacher Erin Sullivan!
Please note that is is my very first Mystical Pathways interview and there were some issues with my audio that had to be edited out. Luckily Erin comes in loud and clear!
To learn more about Erin, please visit her website at ErinSullivan.com. To order the Astrology of Midlife and Aging, please click here.
Today, I am recording my very first video interview with astrologer Erin Sullivan. This is the kick-off for my new series and I could not have hoped for a better first guest!
Sullivan is a working astrologer, a wonderful writer and the creator of her own video course on astrology. I have just finished her wonderful book, The Astrology of Midlife and Aging, and wanted to take moment to share a bit about what I have learned.
Astrology is not, as Sullivan's work highlights, just about birth charts - it is about the planetary cycles that occur throughout our lives.
Planetary returns (such as the solar return that is our birthday) occur at regular intervals during the lifespan and each of these returns is an influential event. In the Astrology of Midlife and Aging, Sullivan gently but firmly walks us through the planetary cycles that occur in the second half of life helping us to meet our own selves head on.
Astrologically speaking, the time we call midlife begins between the ages of 37 and 41 when Uranus opposes its original place in our chart. This is the time, Sullivan tells us, that "something mysterious takes place within the psyche" causing us to recollect our life, examine the things we have not done, and move forward with greater awareness and purpose - something which I definitely feel I have done!
Drawing on her extensive knowledge of astrology and the work of that great pioneer of the psyche Carl Jung, Sullivan explores this important transition as well as those that come after. She reminds us that "midlife - all life, in fact - is a process...not an event" and then offers an astrologer's perspective on how we might align with the available planetary energies to make the most of this very significant process.
Sullivan goes on to provide specific information for the many crossover events of the latter half of our lives, including the Uranian opposition, second Saturn return and the return of the lunar nodes. This information is organized by birth year - making The Astrology of Midlife and Aging a wonderful personal reference for anyone interested in life after forty (or 37).
I particularly enjoyed Sullivan's wonderful writing, deep knowledge and sincere thirst for self-discovery. "Faith in the gods is good," she tells us, "but faith in one's own deepest self, which knows who one is about to become, is better."
I could not agree more!
*Please check back for Erin Sullivan's wonderful interview later this week!
Wishing everyone Alban Arthan blessings & light!
About Alban Arthan (Druidic Celebration Winter Solstice Celebration):
"In this darkest time of the year we celebrate the return of the Divine Child, the Mabon, the rebirth of the golden solstice Sun, who will bring warmth, light and life back to Earth again. The Wheel of the Year revolves beyond death and towards new light and new life."
"In the Druidic tradition the name of this festival is "Alban Arthan", Welsh for "Light of Winter". According to an older and more poetic interpretation, the name is "Alban Arthuan", meaning "Light of Arthur". In this poetical image, Arthur is symbolized by the Sun. The Sun dies and is reborn, just as the mythical Arthur is sleeping deep inside a mountain and will wake up again when the people need his help." ~ By Eilthireach @ Druidry.org
Have to say that my guide Arthur and I favor the more poetic interpretation. Also think that it is very cool that the card I drew in the video for tonight's manifestation (mine and yours) was the Wheel!
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| The Susquehanna River August 13th, 2011 6:23 AM |
There is a resonant energy to the world just before dawn and there was a time when I used to get up at five o'clock in the morning just to feel the hum. On the way home from the river today, I remembered that time. I remembered how I used to sit in the kitchen and drink black coffee and write straight through until sunrise. I lived in the city then but I could see the better part of eastern sky above the vacant lot outside my back door. I got early up to write and see the sun come up almost every morning. In many ways, that place was my first real home and I made the most of it.
Update: Here in the new house, I have an office. And it came equipped with a big east facing window <3
And as it turns out, astrology is not completely outside the realm of Jewish religious writings though it is, of course, frowned upon in many instances.
The book goes on to examine the signs of the zodiac, correlating them with the Hebrew calendar which is I guess no less a match (with the true positions of the constellations) then the Gregorian - at this stage of the game.
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| Photo by Nastya Dulhiier on Unsplash |
I have to say, at the outset, that the author's sources are not part of my particular area of interest. But I find the interpretations are very interesting. Especially my own and I thought the negative in particular had some truth to it. I also enjoyed the Hasbrouck's discussion of the world as it was prior to the second WW - especially in regard to scientific discovery.
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| Fig. 1 Signs of the Zodiac & the Constellations (modern) |
At the end of November I promised to write a blog entry about astrology. My intent was to work my way through the Marion March's 'The Only Way to Learn Astrology series book one and then discuss it. I have done some of book one, to date, but not a lot and while I would highly recommend this author she is not perhaps the best introduction to the field.
In particular I did not find her explanation of the astrological signs and their relation to the constellations basic enough for my purposes. I opted out of 'The Only Wayseries for the very user friendly KISS Guide to Astrology coupled with the Dummies book (Astrology for Dummies) but will be coming back to March when I feel I have a better handle on the basics.
So what did I learn from these books?
The first observation I would make about astrology is that it is somewhat complicated even without the math! Understanding how it all comes together required (for me) a three dimensional model like Figure 1 above. This is because an astrological chart takes into consideration two discrete planes (the houses and the signs) complicated by the precession of equinoxes. In this article I will do my best to describe my understanding of the signs, and their relation to the heavens.
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| Fig. 2 The Earth's Wobble (More info at oceanworld.tamu.edu) |
Imagine yourself as a speck on the very tip of a wobbling top on your own kitchen table. As you wobble to the left, you see the cabinets, circling around to the right, you see the refrigerator. It is the same, over a much longer period of time, for our view of the fixed stars of the galaxy. This phenomena is applicable to the study of astrology only because the signs of the zodiac are named for certain fixed stars or groups of stars called constellations. It doesn't really matter where the stars are (relative to our location) because astrology confines itself to the influence of the Sun, Moon and planets of our surrounding solar system. It does create some confusion however because the signs are named for these constellations implying a connection that isn't really there.
The zodiac - comprising the twelve individual sun signs we are all familiar with - is an imaginary band which follows the elliptic or apparent path of the sun around the earth (this is the path shown in Fig. 1 which defines the seasons of the year). The band of the zodiac is divided into segments of 30 degrees (30 x 12 = the 360 degrees of circle) and each segment is given a name from Aries all the way around to Pisces (Fig. 1). The signs correspond to the seasons, solstices and equinoxes because of the oval shape of the elliptic in the same way that months of calendar correspond.
What makes this confusing in an astrological sense is the fact that these signs were originally named, some 4000 years ago by the Sumerians and Chaldeans, after the constellations (the cabinets or refrigerator of our wobbling top example) which appeared behind each signs 30 degree spot on the elliptic. 4000 years ago the sign of Aries stood before the constellation of Aries (at the equinox), for example, but this is no longer the case (Fig. 1).
If Leo is not really in Leo (or more correctly the segment of the Zodiac band called Leo does not line up with the distant constellation of Leo), skeptics argue, astrology doesn't work. Modern astrologers believe however that it is the motion of the planets in our solar systems that influences us, not the distant stars. They are concerned with the placement of the planets (including the luminaries of the Sun and Moon) in terms of the signs and houses.
The astrological houses are a second and separate category of placement and I think I'll try to write about that next post. My goal at this point is to develop a solid basic or overall understanding of the components of the birth chart. I am less troubled by the relationship of the astrological signs to the galaxy as a whole but still feel that there is something arbitrary in the inherent structure of the horoscope. It is important to remember that the constellations themselves have no real bearing on modern astrology. In this respect, precession does not necessarily negate the validity of astrology even if it does seemingly misplace the field.
Moving into 2011, I plan to look at Kabbalistic astrology beginning with
The new year is coming and I've been thinking a lot about time and cycles and beginnings and endings. Astrology seemed like a good topic numerically for the 12th month of the year, as well. I am going to do a couple of charts and hopefully learn a few things that might be of use to others.I'll be referencing The Only Astrology Book You Will Ever Need by Marion D. March. (I'm hoping that neither book is really the only way to learn and that they will complement each other.) I can tell already that Marion March's book is hard going. Though I don't doubt that a person would learn from it.
I read Isaiah today. The Chaldean sky scanners were not well thought of by the prophets. That's a fact but there is probably more to it. than just that fact. There are tons of things I don't know about the Chaldeans (commonly called Babylonians) and the Jews had plenty of reasons to dislike them.
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