[original post 2005-03-09] Today at Carkeek Park, a north Seattle park at the edge of Puget Sound, there is a new log on the beach. It must be fairly recent – no barnacles, and still has bark in places. The wood is brown & deep red; it looks like madrone.
One point of the root end is dug deep into the sand, creating a pivot. The crown is in the sea. When waves come in the log rocks. I tried to rock the log back and forward, but can’t move it at all. Then I sat on it. The sea still rocked it – my weight made no difference. The small waves don’t look big enough to be moving the log, but they are. Just sitting on the log not paying attention to the sea gets me bumped up & down, like sitting a trotting horse out of sync. Keeping an eye on the waves I rise and fall easily with the log.
In Jyotish (Vedic Astrology), the planets are called “grahas”, which means “seizers”. Despite our desire to totally determine our own destinies, we actually operate in a grey area where we can decide what to do within the space determined by certain external forces – including transiting planetary influences.
Currently we have a configuration western astrologers call a “grand cross”. Saturn and Mars oppose one another, and at right angles to them Jupiter (with Ketu) opposes Mercury (with Rahu). Rahu and Ketu, the nodes of the Moon, are at right angles to Saturn, as they are in my natal chart. Maybe it has something to do with fate…. The sign of Pisces is aspected by all the malefics: Mars, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu. Whatever Pisces does in your chart may be under stress, or you’re being forced to focus on it. For ages I’ve been considering starting to write again but haven’t got around to it… writing is hard work! Maybe today is the time to focus on this issue. So I’ve installed blog software on my website and here we go!
