THE ASTROLOGY PORTAL: A Book About Women



The Harmonic Concordance
"The chart heard 'round the World"

Annotated T.O.C.
Brief summaries of
each of our articles.

Astrology Portal
•"The Chart Heard
'round the World"
•"A Choice for Life"
•"The Fixed Star Parans"
•"The Sabian Symbols"
•"A Birthing Chart"
•"The Point of Willful Attunement"
•"Another Moment of Ascension?"
•"Empowering the Self"
•"The Other Side of the Coin"
•"The Grand Sextile"
•"The Gaia Mind Meditation
of Jan. 23,1997"

•"Chiron at the Concordance"
An Interview with Joyce Mason

•"The Mercury-Uranus Connection"
•"From Six to Seven"
   The Concordance in the
     Seventh Harmonic
•"The Luna-Tick Fringe"
•"Heliocentric Signatures of
   the Harmonic Concordance"
•"The Cathar Eclipse"
•"The November Star of David"
•"Squares and Oppositions"
•"A Book about Women, Part I"
•"An Auspicious Moment Arises"

A Book About Women
Part I
By Eric Francis
www.PlanetWaves.net

With Mercury and Mars coming back online after their rather tumultuous, tedious and not-so-funny summer retrogrades, with Mars having blown past our reality and come close enough to get a good look at (it still is, if you can abscond a telescope), and with the Equinox and the Libra new moon in our pockets, the way is now cleared for the Harmonic Concordance.

As previously mentioned, the Concordance is a total eclipse of the Moon on the evening of Nov. 8 in U.S. time zones and early the morning of Sunday, Nov. 9 in the UK and Europe. In Australia and New Zealand, it occurs in the early afternoon of Nov. 9.
(Click here for Eric's background piece, "The November Star of David")

Sixty lifetimes ago, I arranged with Zeus to have this event fall on a weekend so it would be convenient for people who wanted to mark its occurrence with rituals and gatherings. What do we do with this event? First, I suggest we plan it as a holiday. The whole weekend. Small or large; a holiday for one or two, or for several or many. Bring the kids or arrange for child care (or some of both), in case your revelries or mystical investigations might not be kid-appropriate. In any event I suggest creating an event to establish an anchor point in space and time in advance, tell people about it, invite them to show up, and let the energy begin to coalesce. Choose people with whom you are in close affinity, and with sufficient few present to have a real conversation, if such emerges.

Ritual in any form is best done with a mixture of clear intentions, minimal expectations, respect and curiosity. There must always be a "let's see what happens" element, since in reality you never know what's going to happen. A sense of humor and a few drums avoids recreating church. I recommend open fire if at all possible, wholesome food and modest libations, if you go for the intoxicating variety. Let whatever you do be something new. We have after all never experienced this event before. Ritual acknowledges that the moment you are in is a new moment and thus is a moment of being in the moment: allegedly extremely spiritual.

This event is an eclipse, and eclipses come with navigational alerts, one and all. That is, they are times of accelerated shifts in energy; they are points-of-no-return, and often progress ever more rapidly as they approach.

I first heard about the Harmonic Concordance from retired Planet Waves writer, chandler and Spanish explorer, Christopher Grosso, who called me up one day while house-sitting for an astrologer named Johnny Mirehiel. That was years ago. There was an astrological chart on the wall, framed. Chris gave me the data and asked me what it meant. I cast the chart and vaguely remember the conversation. Mirehiel was, in a sense, the discoverer of the chart and for sure the astrologer who gave it its name, which is reminiscent of the Harmonic Convergence of August 1987.

Harmonic means integrated in nature, also suggesting a whole-number relationship between two tones. A concordance is an agreement or accord. It's also a kind of book that lists every contextual occurrence of a word of a book or author (i.e., the Bible or Shakespeare) -- an extremely detailed and complete index that takes years to compile. It seems to be an excellent word to describe this chart, which is on one level all about agreement. Let's keep in mind that concordance and in context are closely related ideas. We have a reminder from Mirehiel's descriptive word for this chart to keep a focus on context -- where different things fit into their environment.

In this article, the first of several more on the Concordance, I'm going to cover two themes, the two grand trines, and a strange conjunction between a planet, an asteroid and a new object beyond Pluto.

Theme One: The Grand Trines

The Harmonic Concordance is an eclipse of the Moon in the sign Taurus. That means there's a full moon with the Sun in Scorpio and the Moon in the opposite sign, Taurus. Every full moon consists of the Moon opposing the Sun. This particular full moon is an exact alignment near the lunar nodes, which generally happens twice a year. This particular eclipse is different than most others because there are major planets trine both the Sun and the Moon on either side, creating two grand trines. This, in turn, creates a six-pointed star or Star of David.

Grand Trine the First
Grand trine the first is in the earthy signs. The Moon is in Taurus; Jupiter is in Virgo; Chiron is in Capricorn. Each of the earthy elements is occupied by a planet, and these planets are in close contact, making respectably close trines to one another. Trines are aspects that everyone pretty much agrees are represent flow of energy and ease of movement. They are a little like Jupiter; they tend to be lucky and bestow talent. They come with the warning: use it or lose it. They demand integrity, but are easy to ignore. They can express themselves a variety of ways. The chart for Sept. 11, 2001, to give a somewhat grim example, was dominated by a very exact trine; it was a lucky day for whoever pulled the attack off and anyone who benefited, and it was an unlucky day for most everyone else. We need to watch for that double effect with trines.

Grand Trine the Second
Grand trine the second is in water. The Sun is in Scorpio; Mars is in Pisces: Saturn is in Cancer. These planets are all within a few degrees of orb of one another, all occupying the watery signs. That's a grand water trine. There are some other unique properties of this trine. For example, Mars leaves the degree range where it had been retrograde for so long (the shadow phase) just before the eclipse. It's kind of like a newborn Mars in many respects, deeply cleansed by the waters of Pisces.

The earth and water elements are said to be the feminine elements. They represent Yin energy. Note that in astrology there is not merely male and female, yin and yang. In the beginning set of energies, there are six versions of feminine (closer to truth, yin) energy and six of masculine (closer to truth, yang) energy. It is always helpful to get them talking to one another, and almost always easier than getting yin and yang to mix. In other words, from the standpoint of reading a chart, it's easier to get a dialog going between Scorpio and Pisces than it is between Scorpio and Leo.

The Harmonic Concordance takes advantage of the ease. What we have with two grand trines in the feminine signs is a concordance or agreement in that dimension of reality. It's as if each of the feminine signs is in dialog with each of the others. Yet a sign is a field of reality or experience. It can't really say or do much -- it just modifies the effects of a planet, and creates a field of reality from which to draw.

Planets do the talking. The planets involved in the Star of David are Moon, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Chiron. Note that all but one are represented by male figures -- the exception being the Moon, which is eclipsed. She is eclipsed in one of her own signs, Taurus (the little crescent in the Taurus glyph represents the horns of a cow, or the crescent Moon). Both Taurus and the Moon represent awareness of necessities, and together, their fulfillment. They provide our nourishment. And in this event, the Moon disappears. Are we being reminded to appreciate something we normally take for granted?

One possibility we have here is for the image of a lot of men empathizing with the experience of women, and the nourishment that women provide in all our lives. Perhaps this is about the experience of one woman -- whoever represents the Moon, eclipsed in Taurus. Who is she? What is she going through? And what is the nature of the discussion?

Theme Two: Venus, Vesta and Ixion

On the minor planet theme, there is a triple conjunction that shows up in the Concordance chart as exceedingly interesting. It is not directly involved in either of the grand trines; it is placed early in the fire sign Sagittarius. (As you may see from looking at the chart, this conjunction is square both Mars in Pisces and Jupiter in Virgo, which provides some information I'll consider in a moment.) Let's look at the conjunction carefully. The three planets involved in the conjunction (which is a very close conjunction, within one degree) are Venus, Vesta and Ixion.

Venus
Venus is one of the ancient planets. She is the ruler of Taurus, where the Moon is being eclipsed. We're familiar with the themes of Venus: love, sexuality (in the amorous and sensual sense of the word), beauty, aesthetics, our valuables, our values and our wealth. Venus is a universal significator for women; that is, in any chart, she can represent a woman or feelings toward women. She represents something different than the Moon. The Moon is to Venus as Mother is to Lover. We do, however, often confuse the two roles.

Vesta
Vesta, the second planet in the conjunction, was the fourth minor planet ever discovered, which happened in 1807. She pertains to the "goddess of the hearth," of Vestal Virgins fame. And flame -- the "virgins" are attendants to Vesta who tend a fire around the clock. Vesta has traditionally been taken by astrologers to represent issues like using work as a substitute for relationships, the transfer of sexual energy into art and projects, and learning how not to take things so personally. All these themes hold, but they seem to cleverly disguise the attribute of the feminine which, making a personal sacrifice to do so, uses its sexual fire for in the service and healing of others. There are many themes of selflessness and service associated with Vesta and this is one of them.

Closely related, Vesta also represents the emerging erotic consciousness and the reclaiming of the whore aspect of feminine sexuality. We are given a three-fold image of feminine development in our culture: maiden, mother and crone. It would seem that something is missing from these options. In sequence, the whore aspect stands in for the mother aspect; one actually has a choice between mother and whore. Whore is the other expression that mature feminine energy can take besides reproduction: the conscious embracing of sexuality for the purpose of sexuality. This is, quite simply, an issue that is banned from the public discussion in any meaningful way, much as prostitution is illegal and considered, at best, a necessary evil. We have sex symbols who are flashed around and who may tantalize us, but we don't, as a culture, have many forums for real consideration of mature female sexuality outside of specific subcultures.

Vesta represents the subculture which includes those who consider themselves sexworkers. Sexworkers are for the most part women who know they play a vital role as both healers and in compensating for a shortage in sexual supply that leaves many men emotionally hungry and out-of-balance (and thus takes a toll on women). Vesta, once freed from compulsively playing roles, takes us beyond the morality of sex and leaves us holding the reality of sex. Negatively, she represents what can happen when sexuality is not properly initiated, claimed or reclaimed. Often it is associated with guilt and shame, compulsory sexual service, and sexual abuse. She can be reclaimed, and is, by many people.

Ixion
The third planet in this setup is Ixion. This is an entirely new planet to astrology, discovered in 2001 and named in 2002.

A planet beyond Pluto, Ixion is named for a mythologized former king, a descendent of the god Ares (sometimes called Mars) and, notably, the first human to commit murder. Would-be rapist of the gods (in particular, Jupiter's wife Hera, whom he unsuccessfully tried to attack after Jupiter offered to help rehabilitate him from his act of killing another man), he is the squanderer of second chances. He is the forefather of all Centaurs save one -- Chiron, who descends from Kronos. Ixion suggests "what we are all capable of" and points to the common thread among all forms of violence, be it physical or emotional. Ixion is the pattern or psychological construction which says: "We cannot change our inherent nature no matter what the consequences or punishment." We can, perhaps, change, but Ixion represents the idea that we cannot. He relates to the collective memory of "original sin" (murder, not sex) and how this is recalled, perhaps subtly, in any experience of desire, transformation or passion.

In this chart we are offered two images of women. One is the eclipsed Taurus moon. The other is Venus (ruler of Taurus) conjunct Ixion and Vesta -- what you might describe as woman's role as perpetual victim of servitude and sex object, including the pre-programmed role of compulsory wife. It is worth stating out loud that it is not merely men who have cast women into this role; it is everyone. It is the mothers who teach daughters their duty, in word and by example. Sisters and friends enforce strict codes of moral conduct to maintain the price of marriage; sex is not free. And yes, many fathers, husbands, would-be husbands and bosses have an agenda that includes exploiting women. And yes, many fathers, husbands, bosses and male sexual partners have an agenda that includes exploiting and abusing women. Many fathers are as terrified of their daughter's blossoming sexuality as are their mothers.

In such a climate of fear, it is not surprising that many women choose roles in which they are abused, perhaps because they know nothing else, or perhaps because they are tricked and terrified into silence. Why else would so many women stand mute as so many men wage so much war?

The Venus-Vesta-Ixion conjunction occurs in Sagittarius, which is the sign of the priesthood. Are we being called to awaken to a certain condition of "spiritual teaching" that perpetuates these roles as well -- church or mosque doctrine that calls on women to ignore their deeper intuitive knowledge in favor of dogma? While the Men of War rape and pillage, and bomb children, so many women stand mute and helpless. One can only be a victim so long before becoming a perpetrator.

Eclipses represent breaks in continuity. An eclipse in (the fixed sign) Taurus can certainly represent a change in a stuck or stubborn values system, or the beginnings of such a shift, values which include women's self-perception, their role in the community, their role with one another, and their experience of men. There is a little message tagged into this chart (some degrees later in Sagittarius, near the galactic core) in the form of an exact conjunction between Sappho (the first Lesbian poet) and Pluto (an evolutionary or soul imperative). I read this as a message for women to consider their soul's calling to be closer to one another. It is an offering to honor, respect and experience one another's sexuality as a valid expression of life force, into which young women need to be properly initiated -- not banished or shamed away from.

Let's consider one last factor. The symbol for the degree where all Venus, Vesta and Ixion align is the 8th degree of Sagittarius, which says, "Within the Earth, new elements are being forged."

Please check back here over the next few weeks, as links to the subsequent articles to which Eric referred above will be added, in this space only, that will take you directly to the appropriate Planet Waves pages.

Concordance
A few messages through come loud and clear from the chart of the total lunar eclipse of Nov. 8, 2003 — the Harmonic Concordance.

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