WOODRUFF ON ASTROLOGY - WINTER 2022
QUARTERLY HOROSCOPE
BY FREDERICK WOODRUFF
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FALLING IN LOVE WITH TIME AT THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR
The start of a new year provokes most of us to look directly into the face of Time—usually towards the last few days of December—and wonder: “WTF happened?”
This is understandable because, for most of the year, like most of our lives, we avoid developing a welcoming relationship with Time. Instead, we feel that Time is stalking us, cornering us, going too fast, or going too slow. It’s anything but ‘just right’ and accommodating.
The Buddhist teacher Tarthang Tulku writes about our relationship to Time like this:
“Existence itself depends on time and necessarily partakes of the derivative past-present-future structure and also of transitoriness.”
This is another way that Time acts as a constant revelation. Without time, we wouldn’t see things as they exist in space. We would have no way to register experiences because everything in life, both internal and external, would be an amorphic blob.
Tarthang continues:
“Things are here, in the present, only to pass out of reach. ‘Things’ are desired but are ‘not yet.’ We have become so conditioned by this trend that all our hopes and aspirations amount to filling up little slots in a sort of personalized past-present-future grid. We are literally timing ourselves away.”
In astrology, two planets correspond to our day-to-day experience of time. Saturn works as a symbol for Time’s boundary and demarcation-making properties. bounds and demarcates. While in a contrasting balance, the planet Jupiter relates to the feeling of Timelessness. When you’ve slipped beyond Time—it’s a vibe similar to when you’re passionately involved with a project and Time feels non-existent.
If I had to zero in on one particular theme for the upcoming new year, it would be a set of opportunities for each of us to experience new dimensions of Time. And this relates to Jupiter moving into the sign Aries on December 21 of this year. And Saturn moving into Pisces in early March of 2023.
Of the two transits, Saturn’s entry into Pisces is the more intriguing. The angular distinctions Saturn outlines in life begin to soften and feel more transparent during this phase. So as the year continues to unfold, the opportunity increases to peer through Time and into the heart of the Timeless.”
It’s difficult to explain the Timeless as it is a concept that has its origins in the non-conceptual. And just typing that last sentence is very much the vibe of the upcoming transit of Saturn in Pisces. We have a sense of things being both solid and composed of nothing more than space. Saturn in Pisces is the quintessential quantum physics transit through the Zodiac.
Saturn will stay in Pisces all the way into the spring of 2025 and favors anyone who works with the arts—especially film, music, and television. And it also brings an uptick of energy to those who work within the healing professions, especially those approaches that involve psychology or philosophy (like the existential school of psychotherapy).
The signs Cancer and Scorpio will register this transit as one of one flow—a ‘being in the right place at the right time’ sort of condition. Pisces individuals might experience the transit as one of increased pressure to step up to the plate and declare what it is they wish to achieve during the next two and a half years. Whenever Saturn is in one’s Sun sign, there’s no avoiding what feels fated with a consistent drive to bring it to fruition.
The transit of Jupiter—the joie de vivre planet—in Aries is shorter and will last until mid-May of 2023. Regardless of one’s Sun sign, the Aries transit by the solar system’s largest planet releases a burst of audacity into our lives.
The sluggish stalemate—that dominated the culture ever since Covid bloomed in 2020—will recede as people begin to connect with the urge to dispose of the outworn (be it literal or figurative) and engage with what is life-affirming. This transition will unfold in a bold and sometimes reckless way. (But that’s OK, we need a good wake-up call).To get a better feel for Jupiter’s transit through Aries consider this advice from physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson: “Everything in my life was luck. The key to having an interesting life is to always say ‘yes’ to anything crazy.”
Jupiter in Aries challenges our conventional ways of avoiding Time, which involves procrastination and distraction. The sense of Timelessness that we might feel with the Saturn transit in Pisces is turned into activity and motion with Jupiter in Aries. So there is a five-month window during the first half of the new year to gain meaningful mileage, not just in pragmatic ways but also in discovering new insights into the spiritual and philosophical realm..
When we begin to cherish Time—not in a sentimental, Hallmark card sort of way (that relies on nostalgia, Time will rise to meet us in a spacious, accommodating manner and introduce us to the knowledge we need to accomplish whatever we set our mind to accomplish.
“THINGS ARE HERE, IN THE PRESENT, ONLY TO PASS OUT OF REACH." - TARTHANG TULKU
It is in Time’s best interest to see yet another new creation on the Time/Space proscenium.
But this only happens when you have skin in the game. Meaning you are actively participating with Time in a loving, respectful way. That means following the outlines that Saturn provides to create schedules and systems to work within. And to move through those structures with courage en route to what you long to experience—as Jupiter inspires in each of us.
Here is an exercise called Condensing Time that I’ve used over time to help move me back into a conscious appreciation of Time. Maybe it will work for you as well. This also comes from Tarthang Tulku:
“Imagine that an average human lifespan is only one year in length. Cultivate a sense of the richness of a whole lifetime—the growth, the accomplishment, and the understanding—being condensed into twelve short months. Reflect on how precious this brief life is and how urgent it is to make good use of the time you have left. Now condense that knowing even further, imagining that the week to come will be a lifetime. Bring this sense of condensed time into the actual rhythms and events of the week. Maintaining this focus can help you develop the awareness you need to wake up to Time right now.”
Here are some small pointers and hints for each sign to consider in the New Year:
ARIES: “The telling question of a person’s life is whether or not they are connected to the infinite.” —Carl Jung
TAURUS: “The value of the universe contrives to throw itself into every point.” —Emerson
GEMINI: “The intellect in every person is God.” —Menander
CANCER: “Intuition is the voice of the non-physical world.” —Gary Zukov
LEO: “Be a lamp unto yourself.” —Gautama Buddha
VIRGO: “It is through art, and through art alone, that we can realize our perfection.” —Oscar Wilde
LIBRA: “Art is a jealous mistress.” —Emerson
SCORPIO: “Mystery is the only addiction I wholeheartedly recommend.” —Scott Peck
SAGITTARIUS: “A way is only the way when one finds it and follows it oneself. There is no general prescription for ‘how one should do it.’” —Carl Jung
CAPRICORN: “Respect tradition and then make up your own” —Antero Alli
AQUARIUS: “There are two ways to live your life—as though nothing is a miracle, or everything is.” —Albert Einstein
PISCES: “We can accept the unpleasant more readily than the inconsequential.” —Goethe
Frederick Woodruff’s career as a professional astrologer spans four decades. Artists, writers, and creatively motivated folks consult with him regularly to better comprehend the cycles that define their unique narratives.
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