What does Valentine’s Day really mean? No clue here, just Neptune entering its ruling sign Pisces on the 3rd where it will remain for the next thirteen years. This alone should allow our Utopian ideals to run wild, and Jupiter concurs as our giant benefactor picks-up steam from its own retrograde cycle through Taurus. Dream on dreamers (and Cupid), not so quick. Mars is currently moving retrograde until April, and Saturn turns likewise on the 7th until June, bringing with them a frustrating start/stop energetic that we may as well get used to for a while. Saturn is seemingly stuck in the last degree of Libra for all of February, reminding us of the Sabian* wisdom, “What is at stake here is a holistic approach to knowledge, based on Universals.”

In other words, the Good Professor Saturn is urging us to seek further knowledge, primarily because knowledge is power, and nothing is as powerful as Universal knowledge, it always leads us to knowingness. This “start/stop” thing however would be a good time to know that there’s a huge difference between being a bleeping know-it-all, and keeping the open mind of a seeker. No one likes the wise-guy approach but anyone is showing true wisdom when they know that there is always more to learn, so the wise among us keep on looking. “The Search” keeps us awake and vital, while giving up on ourselves guarantees we’ll be a part of the growing and dreaded zombie apocalypse, just look it up on the web.

Further, the quest for Universal knowledge lets us know that we are all entitled to our own faith and opinions but we’re NOT entitled to our own facts. This is essential to know when dealing with Neptune’s possible downside while in Pisces, faith and opinions without the benefit of the facts can lead to a delusional downward spiral, just like it always has. Facts help build our new foundations while delusional opinions keep us stuck in the mistakes of the past, kind of like being the anti-2012. This goes for romantic delusions too, sometimes Cupid rhymes with stupid.

Now, Jupiter picking-up steam, and Saturn turning retrograde, means that their off-and-on again oppositions to each other for the better part of 2011 - are over - as March rolls in. Their final stand-off means that we can depose (exalted/direct Jupiter) our inner tyrants (debilitated/retrograde Saturn), once and for all. Those are the ones that refuse to evolve and/or gave us the wrong delusional “facts” in the first place. For example, the thought that “war is inevitable” is an inner tyrant to dispose of, as is “Our ‘leaders’ care for our interests” or “I’ll always be alone and miserable.” For anyone observing the lunations, the New Moon of January 23 featured the Sabian image of “A deserter from the Navy,” pretty much the ideal way to maneuver this Mars retrograde, by laying down our weapons and taking a chill pill. The Leo Full Moon of February 7 (19° Leo) sees the Moon celebrating “A houseboat party,” probably where the deserting sailor went to. Not a bad idea.

At exact fullness, the Sun and Mercury are 180° away from the Moon at 19° Aquarius, where there’s a “forest fire” being put out by “sheer muscular energy,” so a houseboat out on the water would be an ideal place to be. Such a dispassionate vantage point while the fires surround us is always useful when we consider all of the other stuff swirling around us, particularly at this Full Moon (Sun/Mercury both inconjunct a retrograde Mars, Venus and Uranus inconjunct a retrograde Saturn). Inside those parentheses gives us a lot of inconclusive things to think about, so whatever is happening elsewhere can be chalked-up to the Great Mysteries, the unknown stuff that should keep us searching for further knowledge and further clarity. IOW, many things could go any/many different which-ways around the 7th.

Again though, this Full Moon coincides with Saturn turning retrograde on the same day, so an ideal search for knowledge can include knowing about the Universal power of being dispassionate, when we absolutely need to be. Of course, we need to show compassion for others who are suffering but too much compassion can lead to the under-acknowledged “sin” of compassion fatigue, by stretching ourselves too thin to a potential and messy breaking point. Learning how to be dispassionate about the pains of others allows us to return to our core but more importantly, becoming dispassionate about our own pain and suffering leads to self-mastery, the ultimate goal of 2012.

In other words, if we could all become masters of our true selves, everything else would take care of itself, and then - Boom! - there’s your new star-seed portal, fifth dimension opening up or whatever other positive New Whirled Order we want to see happen in 2012. Now, becoming dispassionate about the suffering of others doesn’t negate the imperative of “loving others as you would love yourself,” in fact it completes the Golden Rule. For instance, yes we must love others as we love ourselves but there’s absolutely no Universal mandate to like everything others do, in fact it’s downright impossible at times, to love what Hitler did for instance. It’s like our taste in music, we love something enough to buy and support it, leaving the rest of it behind. We’re known by what our passions are, we can’t truly love anyone or anything until we learn the power of dispassion.

Okay, so that’s one person’s opinion, facts can get in the way some times but mere facts don’t always turn into Absolute Truths. Facts even change when new discoveries - new Universal knowledge - is presented, reminding us of the truism “A mind is like a parachute, it only works when it is open.” February can then turn into a month of monumental discoveries about anything we want to know about, if our minds are open for further learning.

The mysteries continue as Venus enters Mars’ ruling sign Aries the next day, and then She swings past Uranus on the 9th. Venus in Mars’ den while Mars is retrograde conjures the image of Sadie Hawkins, the “bad” girl who scandalized her small conservative town by chasing the guys. A lot of those “why so scandalous and brazen?” feminist questions can be answered simply by meditating on Venus’ glorious luminosity in the Western horizon just above the setting Sun. Venus’ serenity is charged with revolutionary electricity (Uranus) particularly on the 9th, so follow any random thought of genius and see where it leads, to greater mysteries perhaps but what more mysterious year have we ever lived in? By itself, Venus and Uranus’ fading inconjunct to Saturn tells us to utilize our imaginations to experiment (Uranus) outside of the usual institutionalized (Saturn) norms, and to do it with unconditional grace (Venus). It’s more than just about thinking outside of the box, it’s an astounding opportunity for us to unplug from the failed patriarchal matrix, the one full of dead “facts.”

Following that line of thought, Saturn then gives its professorial stamp of approval for more Universal knowledge as Mercury, major asteroid babe Pallas Athene and the Sun join Chiron and Neptune in a whole bunch of beneficial trines to Saturn, from the Full Moon of the 9th to the New Moon of the 21st and the next few days. At exact newness, the Sun and Moon will be bracketed by Neptune on one side, with Chiron and Pallas Athene on the other, so right off the bat this New Moon (3° Pisces) will allow for all sorts of healing (Chiron) spiritual (Neptune) truths (Pallas Athene) to present us with, if that doesn’t sound too grandiose or convoluted, your choice. The 21st is also Mardi Gras, someone’s idea of a Universal permission to go a little overboard anyway, so feel free to shoot for the Moon. If you miss, you’ll just hit the stars.

Hmmm, the truth about spiritual healing (Pallas, Neptune, Chiron), all within five degrees of each other in Neptune-ruled Pisces, brings us to the Sabian image of “Indestructibility.” On one level, this New Moon speaks to what quantum physics has already been telling us, that the purest of energy never dies (it‘s indestructible), it “just” shows up in another location transformed, and perhaps in a different time (as we currently know the concept). Such newly discovered facts contradict a whole lot of preconceptions we’ve had, like how we’ve been living in a finite Universe of only three dimensions for instance. However, it also gives us scientific credibility to what we humans have been intuiting since the beginning of time, the existence of our souls, the spark of life within us that we sense is immortal.

It’s not too much of a stretch then to imagine that the concepts of reincarnation and the laws of karma are indeed facts but further, that same spark of life - our souls - are in fact part of the Universal energy that gives all living things life. Bottom-line then, everything is indeed connected to everything else, case closed.

On another level, this indestructible New Moon can tell us that our survival is guaranteed, when we simply accept the Universal knowledge about our true spiritual (unseen) selves. We can call that Universal energy “God” if we want to but consider the respelled “G-awed,” as in the sense of awe and wonder we have as we contemplate all of these vast mysteries. G-awed would then be Universal for everyone, no matter which “facts” they hold as Truth, no matter which G-awed they may pray to. It’s just G-awed talking to G-awed, G-awed looking at G-awed in the mirror, that sort of thing.

The concepts of heaven and hell can then go away when we wonder what “original sin” the purest of energy could have ever committed. Rather, we can voluntarily create heaven or hell within us at any time we want to, heaven on Earth even, unlike the mess we‘re currently living in, the one created when we bought into all of those delusional “facts.” We’ve already tried the hell on Earth thing, so what’s been holding us back? Lazy “facts” is all, and deadly ones at that. So, when this New Moon is intentionally honored and ritualized, further clarity can be achieved at the Full Moon of March 8 as seen in that Sabian image of “…a group effort toward a spiritual goal,” further proof of what this otherwise crazed year really signifies.

Of course, exactly halfway between February’s New and Full Moons is Valentine’s Day, a time when we can easily be reminded of “the one that got away” months, years or even decades ago. Romantic rejection can then turn into a mere disappointment by looking at it dispassionately, as if it was happening in a past-life to someone else, so long ago and in a different country. So, if you’re fortunate enough to have a special someone, instead of just saying “I love you” on the 14th, try saying “the G-awed in me loves the G-awed in you,” and see what happens. For bonus points, even without a partner, silently think that same sentiment as you encounter complete strangers, do it over and over again until those new facts start to sink in, and it will “simply” change the world.

(* The Sabian symbols are from Dane Rudyard’s “An Astrological Mandala,” 1972.)

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