Until the advent of photography it wasn’t possible to capture an image of a single moment. The temporary present is always flowing from one instant to the next, like the water over these falls. Skilled artists could assemble a facsimile, a representation of what a moment could have been. The very skilled could conjure a portrait that conveys the essence of a person looking through the painting at you, with the same expression even hundreds of years later. To view these images is to travel in time and to be transported to the foyer of a grand 15th Century room or a hill overlooking the Hudson River, with just a small village on the tip of the opposite shore. These are voyages to places we can never go - not tomorrow, not right now, not ever. Time has marched on and the moment depicted in the image no longer exists at all or anywhere. Only the idea of what once was persists. The past does not exist nor does the future - only the present moment exists and as soon as you think of it, it is gone too.
A personal photograph capturing a resonant experience can bring us joy and warmth and if we are lucky a brief sense of what it was like to be there in that time once again. We are experiencing a memory and possibly the weight of what followed over the years which derived from that captured moment long ago. If we try to insert ourselves into these past moments and recreate them, we find that it never quite fits. It is as though time has a shape and a structure and an angle which we cannot maneuver ourselves back into. This is because that is precisely how time works.
In this chart, we see a snapshot of a moment. It was certainly real - I was there, I remember! Maybe you do, too. In some ways that time is similar to today. In both we are at the very beginning of a new era and the important events at this time will form one of the set-piece backdrops of the 13 years that follow. It was an important time, and if you look back you’ll find that it fits just a little easier than you might expect when you try to place yourself into the memory. It’s easier to remember a past Christmas when it is Christmas time again because the air is cool in the same way and the lights are similar, and the frenetic pace and joyful atmosphere of strangers and family alike is the same. There may be the same dishes on the dinner table, eggnog, and ugly sweaters. There’s a tree in the house. These are all markers of time and when we return to a similar moment the little details that surround us restore the memories which were forgotten through all of the Summers and the Springs in between. We are not surprised when Christmas “season” comes around and the energy and feeling of it returns - we look forward to it - knowing it is soon because our calendar tells us so.
Now of course the eggnog and indoor tree are cultural traditions, formed by our deliberate actions. These things are repeated because we wish them to be and we make it so, but the crisp air, the seasonal weather, the long dark nights, those are formed by the Sun. Try it in June, see how it goes. “Christmas” means the Sun in Capricorn where it it is colder, more serious and more traditional than at other times. It is this backdrop of Capricorn that colors a significant part of the memory of Christmas for all us. The formula for the moment when Christmas comes each year always includes the Sun portion, the generator, filtered through the territory of Capricorn. The other active elements form the rest of the formula and create the variations from one Christmas to the next. That year where the entire extended family was together? When the presents piled up so high we couldn’t fit them near the tree? When Dad lost his job weeks before? The year Grandma was in the hospital? The first year in the new house? Those are the products of the other parts of the formula, and some years they are better than others just like with Christmas. They were also on the calendar - and still are.
Let’s give Christmas memories a break and return to February 15, 1997. This time, the chart has a few things hidden to keep it simpler to review:
To know what this time was like we need to examine the formula - the combination of the active and territorial elements which were forming this moment of time. First, we see that the Sun is in Aquarius. That is weak position for the Sun as it is least powerful when in Aquarius compared to all other territories. To interpret that further we have to know what it means for the Sun to be at low strength. We then have to factor in that four other planets are sharing Aquarius with the Sun - a somewhat rare event. Then we ask how each of those elements responds to Aquarius and how they like sharing a “place” with the other planets there. Next we look at the position of the other items, and look at those lines to see how they are connected to each other in the moment. All of these combined will illustrate the character of the time. It will tell you many things about the mood, the atmosphere, and the events. These placements are the equivalent of looking at your other calendar and seeing that it is February, in 1997, Saturday morning. Those four data points already help you guess what might have gone on because February, 1997, Saturday, and the morning are all associated with data you already have. You probably weren’t at work. You probably weren’t at the beach. You probably weren’t eating dinner. You definitely weren’t watching Youtube.
The astrological calendar lets us perform the same work but with a much more sophisticated series of data points. The key similarity is that Saturday, or February, have things in common each time they come around, and the morning is clearly different from the evening. Without knowing any details about how to interpret “Saturday” we can guess that Saturdays will always share something in common. In the same way, the presence of Mercury in Aquarius in the above chart will share something in common with other charts where Mercury is in Aquarius. How often does this happen? Mercury will be in Aquarius each year for about three weeks and it could happen as early as Christmas or as late as Easter. As such, Mercury in Aquarius forms a sort of Saturday all of its own, but in the form of a three-week “season” sometime that comes each Winter. Once this is on your calendar you can pay attention to it, and maybe you’ll figure out what “Saturday” is all about.
Pay no mind to Mercury for now - this chart has something much more interesting. Like we do today, this chart has Jupiter and Uranus together, “conjunct” in the same part of the chart. This was no Saturday and it wasn’t Christmas either. This is because when two planets meet in their cycles and conjunct it marks the beginning of a new era. Note that it takes Jupiter a full 12 years to rotate around this chart, and Uranus an entire 84. The next time these two will cross paths in conjunction will be over thirteen years later. The time between these meetings is better known as “your 20’s,” “your first marriage,” or “the down years between Seattle Mariners playoff appearances.” These are long cycles, eras. What the system tell us is that during the entire era there will be a common story in the times. There are many of these, all operating at different intervals, all at once. Time consists of layers of these stacked upon each other and the uniqueness of a given moment is determined by the unique properties of that combination. Think of it like mixing two dyes made of oils and shaking them up in a vial. One is blue and one is red and when you mix them up the vial turns purple. But over time the oils separate and the color comes apart and thirteen years later it’s no longer purple. During the time it was purple you could add a white oil and get the combination you were hoping for, probably some kind of fuchsia I don’t know ask a colorologist. After they separate again, adding white gives you light blue and pink instead. The formula has changed and what was possible before is possible no more. Such is the nature of time.
The above calendar serves to illustrate this. On top we have each year where this combination of Jupiter/Uranus is in effect. Below we see the location of Saturn, the slowest of the seven planets, during each year (approximately). The Saturn element is regularly in different terrain and has altered characteristics and properties as a result, while the era of Jupiter and Uranus in Aquarius persists. All thirteen of these years have something fundamental in common but every couple of years something else very important changes, and the years that follow will never be how they were prior. The formula - the mixing of the elements - is in constant motion, like the water pouring over the falls. This is why we cannot fit into the memory precisely and cannot recreate past moments today. Saturdays can be the same for a year, maybe two. Then they take on a new character. The best Christmas ever can be followed by Christmas again next year, but with another story shading the celebration, only to see the return of Christmas joy the following year.
The different periods of time consist of different inputs, in different volumes, and this produces a different substance. If we study the properties of the inputs and impact of their volume on their reactions when combined, we can estimate the nature and properties of the substance that was produced by their combination. If I didn’t remember February 15, 1997, this chart would allow me to measure the formula of that day and derive some conclusions about what may have occurred. Further, it can correct my flawed human memory. Finally, it can show me the many things I didn’t understand about what was happening at the time. To do that, I will need to add myself to the formula.