Evon Davis

There are some exciting alignments coming up in July. The most interesting is the Jupiter-Pluto trine, which is exact at 8:06am MST on July 7, 2011. It occurs six days after the New Moon Eclipse on July 1^st, which means that we will have a waxing moon in Libra aspecting the Jupiter-Pluto trine on July 7^th. Astrologically, this is an important time to initiate new projects that will come to fruition in the coming year.

The reason this will be such a powerful time to initiate new projects is two-fold. One is the New Moon Eclipse. New Moons are always a good time for new beginnings, but an Eclipse makes it even more powerful. Secondly, Jupiter and Pluto will trine each other 3 times in the coming year. First will be on July 7^th. The second time will be on October 28^th, and the third time will be on March 12^th. The March 12^th trine is the most powerful of the three because it is a Superior Trine, meaning that both planets will be moving forward (as opposed to the first two times when one of the planets is retrograde).

There will be a grand cross, a time that requires us to take action. The asteroid Lilith in Aries is sextiling Mars in Gemini. And the asteroid Athena in Aquarius is making an exact trine to Mars in Gemini.

Along with the Jupiter-Pluto trine, Uranus stations on the same day in Aries, making it even more powerful. Its degree is close enough (1.24 degrees) to the Pluto-Jupiter trine to have an impact. When a planet stations, there is a magnification of the expression of that planet, and its energy is greatly intensified. It is very powerful and can be very potent if it ties into your chart.

All of these aspects are occurring in the sky on the morning of July 7^th and will affect everyone, but in different ways and to different degrees, depending on your natal chart.

Regardless of how it impacts you personally, it is still a fabulous time for initiating new projects. Whatever you begin during the first week of July (if anything), if you persevere, there is a good chance you will see it come to fruition in March 2012 very close to the Superior Jupiter-Pluto Trine on March 12, soon after the Full Moon.

What would you like to see come to fruition in the coming year with the help of the Jupiter-Pluto trine?

The best way to use this energy is to come up with a Wish List. Put up to 10 items on your wish list (no more than 10 as you don’t want to dilute the energy). On the morning of the New Moon Eclipse, July 1^st, 2011, write your list by hand in a very special journal. The act of writing the list by hand is a ritual. If you take it seriously, it becomes a sacred act and has more power. Anytime between the New Moon and the Full Moon two weeks later is a good time to take action to initiate projects that will help your wishes become manifest; however, the very best time is on or shortly before Jupiter and Pluto make an exact trine on July 7^th at 8:06am MST. If you miss the precise moment, take action as soon as possible while the transit is still active before the energy begins to fade.

If you’d like to know more about how these planets affect you personally and how to make the most of this powerful energy, please contact me for a personal reading by using the comment form below. For more information on tarot and astrology, check out my tarot-astrology archive or sign up for my new workshop, Using Tarot-Astrology to Manifest Your Goals, starting on Wednesday, June 8^th.

Click on this link to sign up: http://evondavis.com/blog2/events/

In Stage 6 of the mythic structure, Tests, Allies & Enemies, the hero begins to learn the rules and ways of the new world he has entered. He will be tested and has to move through the challenges in order to prove that he is ready for what is eventually coming.

Thus far, we have seen the character’s ordinary world; the character has been called to an adventure; and we have seen him refusing the call or being blocked in some way. With the help of the mentor, the character fully commits to the adventure. Now your character must face a series of tests, and discover who his allies and enemies are.

Let’s look at this stage in Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire and Avatar.

In Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, Harry has to face several tests in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The first test is to capture a dragon’s egg, but in order to do this he must first successfully perform a spell called “accio broom” in which he calls his broom to himself. Once he has his broom, he is able to fly around the dragon and capture the egg.

Next, he has to figure out the purpose of the egg because it will help him in the next test. After several tries, he discovers that if he opens the egg under water, he can hear the message. He knows he will have to rescue Ron from the lake, but first he has to get his hands on some gillyweed. All of these tests are forcing him to express his cleverness, ingenuity, strength, and courage. The final test in Stage 6 comes when he has to get through the maze in order to reach the Cup.

In Avatar, Stage 6, Jake Sully is now being trained by Netyri in order to learn their ways and how to survive in the “hostile” environment of Pandora. One of the first things he has to learn is how to ride a horse. Netyri teaches him how to bond with the animal. Then he has to learn how to hunt and give thanks to his “brothers” the animals when he takes a life for food. She teaches him about the circle of life, how to swing through the trees, and fall to the ground safely. His final test is to capture one of the flying creatures and bond with it. She also tells him the story of the Last Shadow.

As you develop Stage 6 for your own novel, think of all the things your character will need to know and be able to do in order to successfully survive the first and second battles (these will be in Stages 8 and 11):

1) Create a series of tests that the main character will have to overcome; hopefully each one will be more difficult than the last;

2) Through his or her relationships with other characters, we begin to discover which of these will be his allies and which ones his enemies (notice how in both Avatar and Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire the truth about who his allies and enemies are isn’t really disclosed until later in the story).

By the time the hero reaches the first battle, we have to believe that he is capable of surviving. Stage 6 is the way you prepare your character for that eventuality.

Recently people have been making comparisons between the European Revolutions of 1848, called the Sringtime of the People, to the current revolutionary activity occuring in the Middle East, called the Arab Spring.

As an astrologer, I became curious to see if there were any astrological similarities between 1848 and today.  It turns out that there are some very significant similarities.  The first most important one is that Uranus was in Aries.  Uranus is the planet of revolution and Aries is the sign of the people, so when Uranus is in Aries, we are always going to see the people rising up against oppressive institutions and taking the power into their own hands.

This was true in 1848 and we’re seeing it happen again now.  Uranus will stay in Aries for 8 years, so there is plenty of time to see more happen.  In 1848, Pluto was also in Aries.  Pluto represents power, so we saw power in the hands of the people.  Currently Pluto is in Capricorn, where it was during the American and French revolutions of 1776 and 1789.  Finally, Neptune was shifting from Aquarius (which rules humanitarianism, community, and technology) to Pisces (it’s natural home), which is true today.

The last time we saw Uranus in Aries was 1928 to 1935 when the stock market crashed, the world economy fell into a Great Depression, and people rallied for socialistic governments.  In some countries, that led to more democracy (i.e. FDR’s New Deal programs in the US).  In other places, it led to fascism.  This has to do with other astrological effects that allowed Shadow effects to take hold. 

Generally in the countries where changes came from the bottom up and were truly for the benefit of all people, the results were positive.  In countries where power was grasped at the top and forced on the massses in order to serve a small group (concentrating wealth and power), the results were disasterous.

I think the lessons to be learned from history are that the best outcomes are derived when the people work together in community at the grassroots level to extend economic and political rights and benefits to all.

In Stage 5 of the mythic structure, Crossing the First Threshold, the hero finally commits to the adventure. There will still be many conflicts to deal with, but the character has to move through the experience and find out for himself what the outcome will be. 

Thus far, we have seen the character’s ordinary world; we have seen the character being called to an adventure; and we have seen him refusing the call or being blocked in some way.  With the help of the mentor, something has now changed.  Either the character is ready to fully commit to the adventure or something happens to make it impossible for the character to turn back, or both.

Let’s look at this stage in some popular novels and films, like Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, The Alchemist, and Avatar.

In Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, Harry crosses the threshold when he enters Sirius’s house, which has become the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.  Shortly after that, he makes a statement that is a clear indication of his commitment.  At the end of chapter 5, he says, “I’ll join, I want to join, I want to fight –”

In The Alchemist, when Santiago crosses the threshold, this is expressed in three ways.  The first is when he sells his sheep; we see that internally he has made the decision to commit to the adventure.  Then he sails across the Mediterranean Sea.  This is a physical representation of Crossing the Threshold.  In other words, there is a literal crossing of a threshold, a large body of water.   When he arrives, he hires a guide who later turns out to be a thief and who steals all of Santiago’s money.  In the story, this is important because it’s a situation that makes it impossible for him to turn back.

In Avatar, Stages 5 & 6 are reversed.  Stage 6, “Test, Allies & Enemies” comes first, and then Stage 5, Crossing the Threshold where the character is Committing to the Adventure.  This is represented by his desire to go through the ceremony to become a brother of the Navi, then he makes love to Netyri, bonding them for life, and finally, he smashes the cameras on the Corporation’s bulldozer.  He has made it clear through these three acts that he has switched his loyalty from the Corporation to the Navi.  Up until this point, he still seemed ambiguous, but now he is fully committed and has done something that makes it impossible to turn back.

As you develop Stage 5 for your own novel, try to express this stage in 3 ways:

1) Show that the character has internally committed to the adventure;

2) Show the character crossing a literal threshold (this becomes symbolic for the internal commitment);

3) Create a situation for the character that makes it impossible for him or her to turn back.

The more multi-layered you can make this stage, the more interesting it will be for the reader.

Don Juan often said that the world is a weird place.  For him, that meant the world is awesome and mysterious.  To experience it that way is to be curious and creative.  One’s mind must be open to let the senses be flooded with whatever exists and try not to be closed off to anything.

My friend David recently said that the purpose of consciousness is to harvest experience.  He said that we are gods in kindergarten, which I think is an apt description of human beings.  Apparently Yogananda said that if one’s mind were open to the awesome mysteriousness of the universe, all experience would be equal.  Making love would be no better than being under the axe of a serial killer because both bring forth a feeling of awe that such a thing could even be happening!

I think of it as living in Lila.  Lila is divine playfulness, a complete openness to the pure creativity of the universe.  I’m not saying it’s easy.  I often feel myself closing off, but I am trying to teach myself to have a curious, open attitude toward my feelings of wanting to close off, just observing and asking myself the question, “Isn’t this interesting?  Look at the way I am getting irritated and closing down because….”

For me to stay open and live in Lila, I like to look for these kinds of reminders, talking to my friend David or reading Castaneda’s books.  Recently my life has become very open and I have been in the midst of a significant transistion.  Transition often brings transformation.  I hope to transform in such a way that I become more open, more in awe, more curious, live in Lila, and tap into the Creative Source of the Universe.

One of the mysterious and awesome things to happen recently was meeting Joanna Whitney, a painter who also teaches at Colorado Free University.  She and I are planning to do weekend workshops, combining painting and writing and general creative renewal.

As I often like to say, Imagination is humanity’s greatest form of magic.  We can all use a little creative renewal, a little more magic in our lives, a little more openness, awe, curiousity, and mystery.