Four Moons Astrology- Donna Woodwell, Austin, Texas

Originally published in NCGR Enews.

In the mornings before my toddler wakes up, I make myself a cup of tea, sit at my computer, and scan the headlines of the day. This week has certainly been turbulent: Stock markets ride roller coasters. Economists predict prolonged recession. Candidates throw stones at one another.

Here we go: Pluto’s finally entering Capricorn. For years astrologers have painted a grim picture –- Totalitarianism. Economic depression. Environmental crisis. I despair at the thought of 16 years of weeks like this one.

So, I did what Virgos do when the universe seems hopelessly out of control – I found something on which to impose order. I decided to clean my garage.

With four planets and my midheaven in Virgo, one of my mottos is no surprise: a place for everything and everything in its place. I find peace of mind when my files are color-coded, storage bins are labeled, spice rack categorized. But the birth of my daughter three years ago sent my world into chaos. Suddenly it was time to set up a nursery, convert the guest room into a playroom, and baby-proof the rest of house. To make room, we boxed up our stuff and carried it the garage. A junk monster had moved into our automotive lair.

As I surveyed the boxes, it was easy to see how the piles were a result of our family’s most recent life transition. The rules changed, and our old ways of doing things didn’t work anymore. Parts of the system broke down. But as we struggled to keep up with the immediate (and necessary!) needs of a growing child and other demands, the piles continued to grow until the garage was bursting. In short, the state of our garage is a physical manifestation of a microcosmic paradigm shift – from full-time career to motherhood.

Thomas Kuhn coined the term paradigm shift to describe the process that occurs when an accepted worldview is called into question by new understandings of reality. A crisis ensues while the old and new ways struggle, until finally a new worldview is created in harmony with the new understanding. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors experienced a paradigm shift when agriculture ended their nomadic lifestyle. Century after century of technological innovations led to the Industrial Revolution and then the Information Revolution. Each of these cultural and social paradigm shifts gave birth to a new worldview, creating new beliefs, habits and lifestyles.

At the dawn of the 21^st century, humanity is experiencing yet another awakening. We are recognizing that the byproducts of our technological lifestyle in the hands of an exploding population are changing the planet’s biosphere in life-threatening ways. Our ecological crisis demonstrates that we are already on the brink of the next paradigm shift – a Sustainable “Green” Revolution

As Kermit said: “It’s not easy being green.” An ecological vision is radically holistic. It requires the acceptance that the actions of part of a system (humanity) are connected to — and can affect — the whole (Earth) or other parts of the system (other life on the planet). If everything is interconnected, then every choice matters, for good or for ill.

A paradigm shift is a hard thing to live through, because it causes us to question the very nature of how we perceive the reality around us. It requires that we let go old beliefs and habits and create of new ones. As anyone who’s gone on a diet, or tried to quit smoking knows, some habits are very, very hard to break. And a Green Revolution is going to require changing a lot of habits – what we eat, what we wear, what we drive, how we live.

Feels a little like looking at the piles in my garage. The task is so overwhelming – where do we start?

Fortunately for us, as astrologers we have already begun. Astrology itself is a holistic worldview, a science of interconnections that illuminates the synchronicities between heaven and earth, within and without, to make meaning out of the cosmos. We already know that what occurs in part of the system can affect the whole. With that awareness, we are well on our way.

So, for most of us, the next step is to create new habits that reflect our beliefs. It is time to roll up our sleeves in Pluto-in-Capricorn fashion and make concrete changes in our world. Astrologer Joan Negus wrote that when Pluto tangles with Saturn:

“[Y]ou may be called upon to transform some part of your life structure, or to analyze it and possibly change certain responsibilities. … This combination, more than any other, can make things crystal clear. Pluto offers the opportunity to get back to the basics which Saturn represents.” (Astro-Alchemy, p. 84)

And so, this series of articles on “Green Astrology” will be about more than honing astrological techniques or insightful astrological analysis of current events. It will be about one astrologer’s struggle to ground a holistic worldview into the concrete choices and circumstances of daily life. I’ll explore aspects of green living – from making digital recordings and buying carbon offsets for your plane tickets to UAC, to building local grassroots community networks, and beyond – that affect our lives as astrologers.

Paradigm shifts take years, even generations, to occur. However, they are still made step by step, one choice at a time. Small choices multiplied change the world. We can choose wisely.

And maybe one day, even my garage will get cleaned out.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 26th, 2008 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Green Astrology.