Mary O'Gara

Archive for the ‘Ancient Wisdom’ Category

The twelve signs of the zodiac, representing the single letters of the Hebrew alphabet, are the basis in the Western tradition for the great conflicts of both Biblical and warrior epic stories.  

Once upon a time, you had to live well for 40 years (and be male) to study these mysteries.   Some said women didn’t need to bother their pretty little heads, some said women were born knowing what men had to study.   Buried in some of the ancient wisdom about Jupiter is the fact that it’s the mother who passed this wisdom along to the children.

So it’s no wonder that today these basic conlficts are not just the basis for explosive stories of war and violence and other worlds in movies, but also the foundation for women’s fiction and other genres.

The twelve zodiac signs break neatly into two groups for plotting:  Aries to Virgo, personal development; Libra to Pisces, interpersonal or societal growth.

As conflict pairs, they look like this:

• Aries (loner) vs. Libra (harmonizser, law and culture) or explorer vs. civilizer
• Taurus (sensual, money, personal possessions, art objects) vs. Scorpio (hidden passions and also the phoenix, the risen hero)  or the theme of beauty vs. the beast
• Gemini (learner, curiosity, superficial kowledge) vs. Sagittarius (imparting wisdom and seeking specialized knowledge) or the myth of Cinderella and rapidly acquired but useful magical powers
• Cancer (home, family, foundations) vs. Capricorn (big business, materialism), or the peasant vs. the bigt developers, David and Goliath
• Leo (strength, creativity) vs. Aquarius (modern technology, humanitarian issues, common good) or the passionate individual vs. the wave of technology and the Borg
• Virgo (editing, preparing, presenting the fruits of the natural world, assimilated knowledge) vs. Pisces (duality, mystical, looking to both past and future) or the particular vs. the spiritual mission, the mundale vs. the spiritual good.  In The Robe, the soldier who gambles for and wins Christ’s robe after His crucifixion is himself changed by the robe–a classic movie on the Virgo-Pisces axis.

The Rulership Book by Rex Bills is a dictionary of correspondences between the planets, signs and houses of astrology and the mundale world.   The book’s not new, so it won’t include smart phones, but will include electronics, for example. 

You can, of course, develop your own list.   Keep a notebook and jot down correspondences when you see them or read about them.   You’ll find them on every tarot or astrology site, in every basic tarot or astrology book.   Choice-Centered Tarot and Choice-Centered Astrology, both by Gail Fairfield, are outstanding references to get you started.

Whether you study the ancient seven planets, the seven invisible energy centers known as chakras, or the seven groups of Bach flower remedies, there’s a clear message:  

Whether you study the ancient seven planets, the seven invisible energy centers known as chakras, or the seven groups of Bach flower remedies, there’s a clear message:

Seven is the ancient number of human completion along ancient spiritual paths.   Each of those seven steps along the path is rich with character strengths and flaws.

Complex stories arise when characters come into conflict because they are:

• Facing the same external issue while facing separate internal issues.  If the issue is a missing child, for example, one could be coming from fear (root chakra) and another investigator could be committed to solving the case only because of personal power issues (navel chakra).   Even as allies, they won’t feel connected until each grows through the issues of the chakra or emotion.
• Or they may be facing the same core problem, but with important differences.  Bach’s fear group, for example, includes fear of loss of control and four other kinds of fear.   In a thriller, people experiencing different fears would have similar lessons and still find it hard to relate to each other until each learned his or her particular lesson.

Seven is a good base number, just as Bach’s full 38 is a full, complete list of character types.   Astrology, numerology and tarot contribute their own lists, as does the Hebrew alphabet.  

What every author needs is a reminder list that stirs memories and rouses the ghost of Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple within your soul–a system that makes you say, with Miss Marple, oh that reminds me of so-and-so from my village (my life or the gossip I’ve heard) and the way that went is…

The Moon’s in Taurus all day today, and I think of Taurus as my personal money moon.

Maybe I should call it the piggy bank Moon.

Before the day is out, I’ll start a new piggy bank for something special I want to buy.   The juicier the better, I think, but Taurus is both sensuale and practical, so you can use Taurus energy for almost anything.

Taurus does rule both banking and personal property, so you could save to invest in a new scanner or to buy extravantly gorgeous lingerie or  to make a down payment on something big like a car or college tuition.

Taurus rules money and banking, but not personal debts; debts come under Scorpio.  So whatever you plan to do with money under a Taurus moon will work better if it’s for a cash purchase.

You can set aside at little as a penny.   And add to your fund every month when the Moon’s in Taurus, even if you can only add another penny or two at that time.   It’s the stability and constancy of Taurus you’re looking for.   Of course, you can and probably will add to the funds between Taurus Moons, but you’ll want to refresh the magic with a new investment whenever the Moon’s in Taurus.

In Mountain Time, the Moon goes void just after midnight Thursday morning, so take action today.

I can’t get to the bank today, so I’ll put a little change in a pretty box on my dresser and dedicate that money to my new car.  The one I haven’t picked out yet, but know I want.

And when I decide on a car, I’ll just slip its picture under the box for luck.

But there’s no luck to saving under a Taurus Moon.  Astrologers have been doing it for centuries, just as farmers have been planting under Taurus moonbeams.  Things grow in Taurus, and what better than money?

Astrology is a symbolic language, coming from the same part of the brain as metaphors.  Because astrology and tarot have rich histories, the metaphors let us play with ideas that bridge the gap between physically available resources and potential development.  Astrology doesn’t provide the goal, but it can clarify both timing and the best approach to a goal.

Tarot is metaphors with images Tarot images, like the visual patterns of an astrology chart, supplement the metaphorical meanings and trigger ideas and options.

While astrologers and psychic readers are expected to provide information and content during a consultation, coaches are often more effective when they simply ask questions.   A creativity coach, for example, has expertise in the creative process but not necessarily in the field in which a client works.   So the astrologer provides metaphors and the coach provides questions .

Coaching has a greater focus on the client’s personal responsibility for whatever the client wants to accomplish.

Coaching is more open-ended.   Astrology and psychic work usually relate to a defined time period and often to a specific question.   Would my work be handled more effectively by a New York agent, a California agent or someone in another state is a great relocation question for an astrologer–but it’s not a coaching question.

What do you need to know before you choose a locaiton? would be a good coaching approach.

So I’m back from my “sabbatical year” of minimal work with astrology while I focused on coaching.   Coaching by the stars is my own metaphor for working with clients with either set of tools.   Of course, astrology clients still have to provide time, place and date of birth.   Coaching clients only have to bring a curious mind or a goal or a vision.

What do astrology and coaching have in common?   At one time, I’d have defined them as wildly different myself.   But consider this:

1.  Both coaching and astrology focus on moving from the present into the future.   Astrology is a tool for looking at the present and future symbolically and making responsible and responsive choices.   Coaching looks at our dreams and visions and develops strategies for resolving internal and external conflicts and building moment.   So they share a future-oriented perspective (as opposed to therapy, for example, which focuses on the past and its impact on the present moment.)

2.  In the hands of an experienced astrologer, astrology opens a conversation that expands rather than restricts a person’s options.   Coaching and astrology both look at present resources, risk factors, and commitment as factors in planning a successful future.

3.  Coaching raises questions–and while you’d think of astrology as answering questions more often than it asks them, astrology actually excels in asking questions, too.   The symbols of astrology are open-ended enough to expose multiple possibilities for each event.   And I often think good coaching begins with asking enough questions to help people find a goal and develop at least three potential ways to reach that goal.

So it’s not surprising that I sometimes reach for a coaching client’s astrology chart when we work on timing questions or shift gears with an astrology client and raise the kinds of questions that coaches ask.   What once seemed like an either/or choice now seems to me to be the best of both.

Saturn’s dipping back into Virgo, so the time is right to restructure your plans and goals, revise your manuscripts, and revision your future.   If it needs adjusting, Saturn retrograde in Virgo is the time for easy adjustments.

Saturn is not only structure, but also accountability, so checking each and every plan and plot you have is a good thing right now.   Look for acocuntability–and make changes or eliminate goals and projects for which you’re no longer willing to be accountable.   Revise plots with structure in mine; sure you can keep those crazy characters, but you have to decide when the reader will know what they’re doing.

As for revisioning your future–just weed out those goals you wouldn’t be willing to have manifest right this second.   And take at least one step toward the ones you keep even if that’s a minor step like a phone call, a blog, or a note in your day planner.

Saturn’s retrograde until the end of May.  It hangs around its station degree and minute from May 27 to June 2nd, so get your work done before then.

You won’t be done, of course.   After Saturn goes direct, you can still polish that structure and shine up the dream, reworking them happily until Saturn goes into Libra again on July 23rd.

You goals for Saturn in Libra:  Be ready to recognized great critique partners and other team players to help you reach your goals.   Sadly, you may also need more distance from some of your present colleagues.

I’ve already updated the Moon page for April, but we have a few days left in March.   So for those of you who didn’t already copy the March void of course Moon data into your personal computer calendars, here’s a quick reminder:

On Sunday, March 28, the Moon will oppose Uranus and go void at 12:55 AM MT Since Uranus rules both creative brainstorming and windfall profits, it’s probably not your best day for buying lottery tickets, and your brightest ideas today, tempting as they may seem, should probably be rechecked on a brighter day.

The Moon enters Libra at 5:21 AM MT on Monday, the 29th, and goes void at 6:13 AM MT on Wednesday the 31st.  Its final aspect is an opposition to Venus, so not the best timing for working our relationships with women or money, and it isn’t the best time to renegotiate any relationship.   The Moon and Venus are basically harmonious energies, even though the Moon tends to be more emotional and spacier than Venus, so it’s a better time than the previous period that ended with Moon opposing Uranus from Virgo.

And finally, the Moon will enter Scorpio at 6:41 AM on Wednesday the 31st, after a void period that only lasted a few minutes.   And the rest is on the Moon page.

We’ve got a new Moon–and a few more days before it reaches the first quarter and enters a new phase.  So here are three things to do right now:

1.  Starr over.  Take a fresh look at a project that’s gotten boring, or take a new step in a new direction if you’re blocked or out of steam.  Just try something new.  If that doesn’t work, try something else.  Keep testing new approaches until you find one that works.

2.  Stake your claim.  Quit wishing and decide what you want.   Make it a goal with rewaards that are just big enough to make your palms sweat a bit.  A little anxiety is fuel for the road, just as stage fright gets an actor moving.  Play in a bigger game now, and go for a goal that’s new to you in some way.   Plan your reward, your celebration, and decide–in writing–how deeply you’re committed.  (Hint:  The bigger the commitment, the more likely you are to follow through.)

3.  Start a new habit.   Don’t worry about letting old habits go until the Moon is dark again.  Just start a new one.  Walk every day.  Drink water before your morning coffee.  Do morning pages.  Have a salad at every meal (which could mean pappers and onions in your breakfast scrambled eggs.)   Pick a new habit and make it yours while the New Moon supports you.

Mars made its direct station Wednesday, and it’s also out of bounds until the 13th.  That’s a huge rush of Mars energy.   Undirected, that’s a big rush of negative energy; just watch the news.   So you want to harness it with your personal moment-by-moment intentions.

Yes, moment-by-moment.  Forget multitasking.  Choose one action, focus, and direct all your interest and intention and physical abilities in one direction.  Prented to be as mindful as a zen master.   Scattered Mars energy is like walking through a minefield or picking up after two-year-old triplets with huge boxes of toys.

It’s time to break through barriers, clear our excuses, and get rid of clutter.   Mars is direct and energetic in Aquarius until it goes void at 6:57 AM MT on Saturday, March 13th.   Take Saturday morning off (adjusting for your own time zone, of course) and walk, exercise or play with the kids and a dog.   By 11:44 AM MT, Mars will move into Pisces and you’ll have at least one more day of high physical and mental energy.

Mars isn’t at its best in either Aquarius or Pisces, so you need to consider your actions carefully.   Preplanned strategies work well in Aquarius so long as you include surprises and windfalls and changes of direction in your plans.  When Mars moves into Pisces, intuition is your only safe guide.

I’ve been uncharacteristically glued to the television, watching every minute of the long Daytona 500 NASCAR race and as many minutes as I could find of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

I do love a good race.  One of my earliest memories is watching a dirt track race at a county fair and listening to my daddy talking about his days driving on dirt tracks with his uncle.

And excellence is always a draw, so I do love the Winter Olympics.  It has the added benefit of a great view on TV and being warm indoors while they’re flying down those cold slopes.

But Mars has also been worth watching this year.   The Daytona came to a complete stop not once, but twice, for track repair.   Have I mentioned that Mars retrograde impedes forward motion?

And the Olympics have been plagued with practice injuries and one very sad death.  Would the luge track have been modified and made safer sooner if Mars hadn’t been retrograde?   We’ll never know…but we do know that injuries and things that go wrong are part of the retrograde motion.

Wouldn’t it be nice if major sporting events were timed by astrologers?   Or is it part of the achievement that star performers just get out there and shine through whatever conditions, astrological or physical, they find?   Is that part of what we admire?

I mean no disrespect when I raise these questions.   Dealing with adversity is part of the frontier tradition in America, part of the athletic tradition around the world.

But I still wonder–is it any less sensible to schedule events for astrological safety than to buy the best helmets and safety gear?