January 9, 2019

January 9, 2019:

Keep opening the doors of perception a little wider as the lunar orb ends its monthly exploration of airy Aquarius by making a supportive, 60-degree connection with intuition-enhancer Uranus in Aries (8:54 a.m.). Search the online universe for new sources of higher knowledge. This celestial alignment begins a 2 hour void twilight zone that ends at 11:45 a.m. when the moon enters watery Pisces.

Uranus continues to make major headlines as it forms a potentially abrasive, 135-degree link to Jupiter (1:34 p.m.). There’s an anything-goes, outside-the-box dynamism to this important sky cycle. Too much of any good thing is not advised. Interest in the martial arts and holistic healing techniques is highlighted during a parallel between Mars and Chiron (7:28 p.m.). Dance away the moody blues as the moon in the last sign of the zodiac can give you happy feet.


[Note to readers: All times are calculated as Pacific Standard Time. Be sure to adjust all times according to your own local time so the alignments noted above will be exact for your location.]

Wednesday 9th January 2019 (UT Now is 17:38:50)

Current Moon Phase: New Moon (28 aq 58'46")

Planet, Centaur, TNO, Asteroid Aspects

00:37:52 UT - Mercury (5 cp 51'24") square Makemake (5 li 51'24" Rx)
01:33:49 UT - Pallas (23 li 45' 3") trine Chaos (23 ge 45' 3" Rx)
03:05:36 UT - Mercury (6 cp 0'48") trine Albion (6 ta 0'48" Rx)
03:06:53 UT - Mercury (6 cp 0'53") trine Aphidas (6 vi 0'53" Rx)
04:57:06 UT - Albion (6 ta 0'47" Rx) trine Aphidas (6 vi 0'47" Rx)
07:55:09 UT - Mercury (6 cp 19'14") square Logos (6 li 19'14" Rx)
10:08:48 UT - Venus (2 sa 1' 2") trine Varuna (2 le 1' 2" Rx)
10:21:49 UT - Mars (5 ar 36'57") square Psyche (5 cp 36'57")
12:39:55 UT - Sun (18 cp 57' 6") conjunct Arawn (18 cp 57' 6")
16:24:39 UT - Mean Node (27 cn 6'29" Rx) quincunx Galactic Center (27 sa 6'29")
18:51:53 UT - Mars (5 ar 51'19") opposite Makemake (5 li 51'19" Rx)
19:43:31 UT - Moon enters Pisces (direct)
19:52:41 UT - Ceres (24 sc 21'13") trine Cyllarus (24 cn 21'13" Rx)
20:16:25 UT - Mercury (7 cp 6'30") sextile Nessus (7 pi 6'30")
23:52:07 UT - Mars (5 ar 59'46") quincunx Aphidas (5 vi 59'46" Rx)

Aspects of the Moon

00:48:13 UT - Moon (20 aq 42'35") square Deucalion (20 sc 42'35")
02:15:59 UT - Moon (21 aq 25'41") sextile Varda (21 sa 25'41")
02:23:17 UT - Moon (21 aq 29'16") square Juno (21 ta 29'16")
04:47:48 UT - Moon (22 aq 40'13") opposite Sila-Nunam (22 le 40'13" Rx)
05:27:01 UT - Moon (22 aq 59'28") sextile Eris (22 ar 59'28" Rx)
06:16:37 UT - Moon (23 aq 23'49") square Ceto (23 sc 23'49")
06:59:21 UT - Moon (23 aq 44'48") trine Chaos (23 ge 44'48" Rx)
07:07:08 UT - Moon (23 aq 48'37") trine Pallas (23 li 48'37")
07:50:45 UT - Moon (24 aq 10' 2") square Ceres (24 sc 10' 2")
08:15:25 UT - Moon (24 aq 22' 8") quincunx Cyllarus (24 cn 22' 8" Rx)
12:22:43 UT - Moon (26 aq 23'33") square Sedna (26 ta 23'33" Rx)
13:07:06 UT - Moon (26 aq 45'20") trine Haumea (26 li 45'20")
13:50:10 UT - Moon (27 aq 6'29") sextile Galactic Center (27 sa 6'29")
13:50:52 UT - Moon (27 aq 6'50") quincunx Mean Node (27 cn 6'49" Rx)
14:54:13 UT - Moon (27 aq 37'56") sextile Ixion (27 sa 37'56")
16:52:55 UT - Moon (28 aq 36'13") sextile Uranus (28 ar 36'13")
17:02:33 UT - Moon (28 aq 40'57") square Bienor (28 ta 40'57" Rx)
18:23:07 UT - Moon (29 aq 20'31") square Echeclus (29 ta 20'31" Rx)
19:43:31 UT - Moon enters Pisces (direct)
22:06:39 UT - Moon (1 pi 10'19") sextile Pholus (1 cp 10'19")
22:07:48 UT - Moon (1 pi 10'53") trine Rhadamanthus (1 sc 10'53")
23:48:32 UT - Moon (2 pi 0'22") quincunx Varuna (2 le 0'22" Rx)




Card of the day:

Another interpretation of The Lovers is that you need to make a big decision. There may be an easy option available, but you will have to ask yourself whether this is the right path for you in the long term. Often, it is the hardest path that will bring you the most benefit, especially on a deeper and more emotional level.
On a more personal level, The Lovers Tarot card can represent the establishment of a personal belief system and an increasing awareness of one’s values.
On a spiritual level, you may be at a moral crossroads where you are close to surrendering to temptation. If so, you must consider all the consequences before acting.

ACIM Workbook Lesson 9 Insights

“I see nothing as it is now.”

When I go to a movie and sit down and watch the story unfold, someone next to me may say to me, “The events you are seeing on the screen are not really happening now. The movie was made several years ago and you are just viewing it now.” While in the middle of watching the movie, it appears as if the story is not over. It appears as if the scene being enacted in that moment is really happening right now.
I am learning through the Course that my life experiences are like watching a movie that was over long ago. The Course speaks of the “tiny tick of time” in which the Son of God forgot to laugh at such foolish ideas. When I watch a movie, I often get very wrapped up in the story, and laugh or cry at the events that seem to be happening at that moment.
I am learning to look at my life experiences in the same way. The Course is telling me that what I am seeing is not there now. It is over. That tiny tick of time is over. We all are in Heaven now. The Son of God is one. The millions of bodies that seem to dance on the stage of separation are seen clearly now for the nothingness that it always was.
Reminding myself often, “I see nothing as it is now,” will help to jog my mind out of taking this movie of separation so seriously. I need this help, because it does appear that this moment in the dream is happening now, just like when I watch the movies. As I practice again and again, stepping back and taking what appears to be happening now to the Holy Spirit, I am shown what will help me in the moment. I came from Love, I am Love now and Love is all that could ever be real.
A world of separation, a world of differences and bodies, a world of time a space, is a movie that is over. It was always just a movie of separation that could never be real. I can relax now. I can let my mind be healed of all my delusions of separation, minute by minute, day by day. I can forget and make the world real again and again, but it means nothing. No one has lost their innocence. Separation from God, from Love, could never be. I am grateful that this is so.

As I was doing today’s exercise, I was struck by the fact that even to do the exercise, I had to rely on my past learning. In order to name the object that I do not see as it is now, I look to my past learning to give it a label. It shows me how the past permeates all my thinking through the day.
In the process of waking up, I do not need to try to totally erase my past learning. I do need to learn that all my thoughts from the past are not here, and are therefore not real. It is only my belief that the thoughts from the past are true that engenders fear, loss, guilt and all the other myriad emotions of the ego. As long as I still seem to be seeing through the body’s eyes, there will still be memories of the past, my past learning coming up to give meaning to what I think I am seeing.
What is important is that I give these meanings in the moment to the Holy Spirit and ask for His reinterpretation. It is this moment by moment practice that will free me from my investment of reality in what is not here. It is this process that provides the means to escape from the past I have held on to in my mind.
My job is to develop the moment by moment practice of recognizing thoughts from the past, turning them over to the Holy Spirit and receiving the blessing of His perception. From this comes peace and joy eternal. It will bring me to the gate of Heaven, where I will have wholly forgiven myself and all the world.

It is important that I have great compassion for myself and my brothers as I begin to recognize the unreality of the dream, and allow Holy Spirit to gently loosen the chains that shackle my mind. There will be blocks of resistance. This is part of the process. As I recognize resistance it is important to be patient and gentle and loving with myself and others as I practice my lessons and experience a world as a loosely veiled dream.
It is important that I be present with what is in my mind, even the moments of resistance, the moments of grace, the miracles that unfold in giving every moment to Spirit. I heal as I am present with each moment and know that I am loved beyond measure and safe at Home in Heaven now.

Commentary

If I see only the past, and my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts, then obviously I see nothing as it is now. I love the fact that the lesson goes on to say, "But while you may be able to accept it intellectually, it is unlikely that it will mean anything to you as yet" (1:2). The Course clearly recognizes a vast difference between intellectually accepting an idea and truly understanding it, so that it has become a part of us. I think of the stages of grief when a loved one dies. Immediately after the death, we may intellectually accept that our beloved is gone, but we have not truly grasped and assimilated that fact. It takes time for the reality of it to sink in.
Likewise, we can accept the idea that we see nothing as it is now, but it may be some time before the meaning of that fact truly begins to dawn on us. Fortunately, the lesson goes on to say that our understanding, at this stage, is not necessary. In fact, what is necessary is the recognition that we do not understand! You might say that one of the things we are to grasp from this lesson is that we don't understand it!
It makes a kind of sense if you think about it.

These exercises are concerned with practice, not with understanding. You do not need to practice what you already understand. (1:5-6)

Some people may feel that it doesn't make sense to work with an idea you don't fully understand or believe. I've heard people ask questions such as "How can I work with a lesson like 'I am the holy Son of God Himself' if I don't really believe that?" And the answer is, if you believed it already, you wouldn't need to work with the lesson! Helping you understand or believe is what the practice is for.
The attitude of recognizing our real ignorance is vital to learning. Without it, our false "understanding" gets in the way of learning. So when a lesson such as this one, "I see nothing as it is now," rubs you the wrong way or leaves you feeling that you don't really know what it is talking about—just be honest that you feel that way. Don't make the mistake of pretending you already understand when you don't. The lessons are designed with our ignorance in mind.
"It is difficult for the untrained mind to believe that what it seems to picture is not there" (2:1). Difficult? Nearly impossible is more like it. The idea is disturbing; most of us will actively resist it in some way or another. That's okay. That does not keep you from applying the idea anyhow, and that is all that is asked of us. (Remember the introduction to the Workbook and its last two paragraphs? If not, read them over in this regard.) Just do the exercises anyhow, even if your mind is resisting the entire idea; it will still have the desired effect.
Notice how the lesson talks about "each small step" (2:5) clearing away a little darkness until understanding finally comes. The tone of these lessons, and indeed the entire Course, should not lead us to believe that we will reach enlightenment quickly. It comes in small steps, little by little. The Course does say that full enlightenment could come to any of us in any instant, if we could but open to it; it is nearer to us than our own hands and feet. But it also says that it will take much longer to make us willing to open than it will take for that final transformation of mind to occur. It says:

By far the majority are given a slowly-evolving training program, in which as many previous mistakes as possible are corrected. Relationships in particular must be properly perceived, and all dark cornerstones of unforgiveness removed. (M-9.1:7-8)

Notice: a "slowly-evolving training program" is the norm. So don't be so restless or feel like you're working against some deadline; take things at the pace they come, and work with the exercises in this Workbook. Be content to slowly evolve. Don't worry if understanding does not leap full-blown into your mind tomorrow!
The exercises are again deceptively simple, things like "I do not see this computer screen as it is now." How does saying this help me? I can't say for sure. I do know that the more often I repeat an idea, the more reasonable it starts to seem. Maybe that's all there is to it. I know it has helped me, at times, to remind myself in some situation that seems fearful or out of control that "I do not see this situation as it is now in reality." I can reassure myself that what I am seeing, which seems to be causing my fear, is not the reality of things. I may not have any idea what the reality is, but it helps to know that what I am seeing ain't it! The idea is less reassuring when I apply it to something that I do like: "I do not see this romantic relationship as it is now." Hmmm, not sure I like that. But if it does nothing more than begin to shake my faith in what I see, the lesson is doing its job even if I don't fully understand it or like it.