ASTROLOGICAL WEATHER -- AUGUST 2000

Since astronomers are predicting that the summer of 2000 will bring us a maximum in the 11 year solar sunspot cycle (see the sunspotcycle.com web site), we can expect the usually fiery time of the Sun King, Leo, to be extra powerful this year. We have already been having large solar flares and the resulting geomagnetic storms in preparation for this royal season. (See also spaceweather.com). 

     The Pagan feast of Lammas, (see http://www.pagan.drak.net/lilianna/sabbats.html) traditionally celebrated on August first, marks the crossquarter midpoint between solstice and equinox and the fullness of the season. More accurately, the central point would coincide with the
15th degree of Leo, which will fall on roughly the 6th of August this year. The fullness of any season holds in it the seed of its decline.

     August begins with all the planets in 4 groups with a major emphasis on the waxing/increase phase. All the planets opening out from the wonderful Taurus alignment of May are in this positive and impulsive first phase (like a new Moon) of development in their cycle. It also happens to be the case that the outer planets are also in this opening phase. The first group in this mounting pulse starts with the waxing new Moon in Leo, opening from the powerful solar eclipse at the end of July, and conjunct Venus, surely initiating a month of major heart emphasis. The Sun with Mars and Venus also in Leo and Mercury fresh from turning direct, marks the month and larger solar season with the energy of youthful optimism. Leading with the heart, promises to open some new doors with its electromagnetic keys.

     Depending on retrogrades, it takes about 1 ½ years for Venus to run away from and catch up to Mars again.

     Venus is moving out from conjunction with her lover Mars that occurred in June, with a new whim to explore the love and romance cycle. The heart throbs with excitement.

     Mars is charging out from his meeting with Jupiter in May, initiating a new cycle of willful exploration, with Leo's flair for confidence and authority.

     The second group is composed of the solar system giants, Jupiter and Saturn. Their cycles, taking 20 years to complete, mark the decades with their conjunctions and oppositions. As Jupiter continues to open from their conjunction in May, we can expect a new pulsation of the energy that
drives the social shifts which paint each decade with its own identity.

     Saturn is in a slightly more advanced stage of its 46 year cycle with Uranus, opening past the square in May to a more mature but still waxing phase in their cycle. This pair seems to resonate with larger social cycles of innovation and enculturation.

     Uranus and Neptune make up the 3rd group in the August pattern. They take about 171 years between conjunctions. As rulers of Aquarius and Pisces, they speak to the changing great ages. Their conjunction in Aquarius helped mark the end of the 20th century with a forward outlook as Neptune's entrance into its home sign in 2012 (year of the ending of the Maya calendar system) may help with the completion of Pisces and hence allow us to move with more of our totality into the next century and Great Age. (See my article on the amazing time of planetary rulers below). Uranus and Neptune's cycles have been convincingly associated with breakthrough periods in the larger cultural cycle. (See excerpt from PROMETHEUS THE AWAKENER by Richard Tarnas at www.gaiamind.org/Conjunct.html for a marvelous introduction to this cycle). The final grouping involves the powerful couple, Pluto and Chiron whose conjunction so close to new year 2000 nominates them for signature of the new century and millennium. Although they are not next to each other in orbit (Chiron's orbit is the bridge between Saturn and Uranus), Chiron is in the same opening, "new Moon" stage of development relative to its cycle with Pluto. 

     Neptune and Pluto have fortunately been holding a long opening sextile for many years of their roughly 500 year cycle. Due to the highly elliptical orbit of Pluto which brought it within the orbit of Neptune at its perihelion around 1990, it is just now about equally distant from the Sun as Neptune as it starts to resume its reputation as the farthest-out planet. During this approximately 20 year period within the orbit of Neptune, Pluto has lost ground in the 60 degree aspect. (I have been pondering the astrological significance of this amazing phenomenon. Certainly there must be something meaningful, probably deep and profound as the ruler of Scorpio's close approach coincides with the last 20 years of the old age and returns to being the most distant planet with the new! In one sense, it has acted something like a retrograde, with Pluto just now going "direct"). Lucky for us, Pluto's perihelion has extended the duration of the opening sextile. Pluto and Neptune at sextile have been providing us with the potent Finger-of-God triangle pointing across the zodiac, presently at the beginning of the sign Cancer)

ARTICLES BY JEANNINE
This new section features articles written by Jeannine Parvati Baker that are now available for the first time on the Freestone web site. These articles, plus more are listed for sale under our Catalog List of ARTICLES.

HYGIEIA COLLEGE
International Mystery School in Womancraft and Lay Midwifery, with over 1000 students currently enrolled. Founded in 1980, Hygieia College is an Institution of the Mind Behind Nature devoted to healing our Earth by healing Birth. Home Study Course, Workshops and Gatherings for women in the context of the Possible Family. Babies and Children welcomed to all meetings.

FREESTONE PUBLISHING
Originally a writer's collective based in Freestone, California, Freestone Publishing is presently the self-publishing aspect of Freestone Innerprizes and a resource for authors who want to learn about self-publishing their own works.

EARTH BIRTH RESEARCH
Organizing a planetary biography through the metaform of human birth.

Catalog
Books and other products that we have found especially helpful in the larger perspective of Optimal Health. The published and unpublished writings of JP & RB as articles available for purchase.

HERMETIC ASTROLOGY
Full astrological services, (Hermetic) in the manner of a midwife ~ readings to draw out your natural self-knowing and beyond. Consultations within the bigger picture through myth, story and metaphor with specialities on relationship charts, fertility maps, business charts and newborn, natal and transit readings.

OPTIMAL FAMILY HEALTH NEWSLETTER
A regularly updated source of healing-edge news, articles-in-progress and other references helpful in the quest for Family Health.

WORKSHOP AND TOUR INFORMATION
Tour Schedule of Workshops updated for 2002 with Jeannine Parvati and Frederick Baker and Family. Information on events scheduled and in the planning stage where Jeannine and some combination of this Baker Family will be involved.

PHONE CONSULTATIONS
Confidential, intimate dialogue with JPB and/or Rico on a vast array of subjects such as Gender Issues, Sexuality, Fertility, Freebirth and Lotus Birth, Lactation, Natural Home Health Care, Oral Hygiene, Homeschool, Co-Custody, Self-Publishing, Lay Midwifery, Gyn / Ecology, and whatever lays central in your soul.

SIX DIRECTION FOUNDATION
News from the 6 Directors of this non-profit, educational and charitable foundation dedicated to providing information on Optimal Personal, Family and Planetary Health and supporting projects that further this goal.

EARTH BIRTH SUPPORT NETWORK
Sponsored by the 6 Directions foundation, this is a network forming around the invitation to support the folks in your local neighborhood who are choosing to conceive and birth gracefully and lovingly so as to actively participate in the larger Birth of a new Peaceful Planetary Paradigm.

ALCHEMICAL BAKERY HOME EDUCATION
Homebirth to Homeschool as one continuum. Over 20 years experience in unschooling with Life as Curriculum. Lauded by Dr Gary Knowles (University of Michigan), an authority on home education, as the paradigm for a sustainable education in the next century. Includes excerpts from our book in progress, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE MILLENNIUM.

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