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Revisitations and Miracles:

The Autumn Astrological Forecast

September-December 1998

By Terry Lamb

NOTE: Due to a change in publication schedule with one of my publishers, this forecast contains four months. Subsequent forecasts will appear quarterly beginning January, April, July, and September.

Mars opposes Uranus

9:34' Leo/Aquarius

Sep 4, 1998

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse

13:40' Virgo/Pisces

Sep 6, 1998

Mars squares Chiron

15:52' Leo/Scorpio

Sep 14, 1998

Sun opposes Jupiter

23:03' Virgo/Pisces

Sep 15, 1998

North Node enters Leo

29:60' Leo

Sep 16, 1998

Virgo New Moon

27:32' Virgo

Sep 20, 1998

Sun enters Libra (Autumnal Equinox/Mabon)

0:00' Libra

Sep 22, 1998

Full Moon

12:23' Aries/Libra

Oct 5, 1998

Neptune returns to direct motion

29:23' Capricorn

Oct 11, 1998

Mars squares Pluto

6:20' Virgo/Sagittarius

Oct 17, 1998

Uranus returns to direct motion

8:49' Aquarius

Oct 18, 1998

Libra New Moon

26:49' Libra

Oct 20, 1998

Sun squares Neptune

29:25' Libra/Capricorn

Oct 22, 1998

Sun enters Scorpio

0:00' Scorpio

Oct 23, 1998

Sun opposes Saturn

0:10' Scorpio/Taurus

Oct 23, 1998

Saturn returns to Aries

29:60' Aries

Oct 25, 1998

Saturn squares Neptune

29:30' Aries/Capricorn

Oct 31, 1998

Samhain (Hallowe'en)

Oct.31, 1998

Sun squares Uranus

8:53' Scorpio/Aquarius

Nov 1, 1998

Full Moon

11:35' Scorpio/Taurus

Nov 3, 1998

Mars opposes Jupiter

18:14' Virgo/Pisces

Nov 6, 1998

True Samhain (Scorpio Solar Cross-Quarter)

15:00' Scorpio

Nov 7, 1998

Jupiter returns to direct motion

18:10' Pisces

Nov 13, 1998

Sun conjoins Chiron

23:30' Scorpio

Nov 15, 1998

Scorpio New Moon

26:38' Scorpio

Nov 18, 1998

Mercury turns retrograde

17:32' Sagittarius

Nov 21, 1998

Sun enters Sagittarius

0:00' Sagittarius

Nov 22, 1998

Neptune enters Aquarius

0:00' Aquarius

Nov 27, 1998

Sun conjoins Pluto

7:55' Sagittarius

Nov 30, 1998

Full Moon

11:15' Sagittarius/Gemini

Dec 3, 1998

Mercury returns to direct motion

1:19' Sagittarius

Dec 10, 1998

Sun square Jupiter

19:30' Sagittarius/Pisces

Dec 11, 1998

New Moon

26:48' Sagittarius

Dec 18, 1998

Sun enters Capricorn/Winter Solstice/Yule

0:00' Capricorn

Dec 21, 1998

Saturn returns to direct motion

26:46' Aries

Dec 29, 1998

All dates are based on Pacific Time.

During the summer months, we may have felt as though we could leave the past behind. Things may not have felt complete, but it may have seemed as though all hope for pulling the efforts of the past two years successfully was gone. We may have been looking ahead to the next way of resolving the issue, since this one didn't quite work. But hold on! This fall, we are getting another chance to get it right based on what we have learned so far. It also repeats the theme of what we were dealing with during 1983. So, even though we have touched into the issues we will face more directly in 1999 relating to our use of the sustaining force (see the Summer 1998 forecast for more details), we will find ourselves drawn back in to what seems like an unsatisfactorily ended chapter of our life. When we face the new process in earnest, starting at the very end February next year, we will approach it in a different way, having seen through the completion of the process that we have been dealing with since April 1996.

The theme continues to revolve around our relationships with others, our ways of perceiving ourselves, and how one affects the other. We may continue to find ourselves asking, Why me? The challenge remains to shed the ego in favor of identifying with the higher self. Although the crisis point may be past, the problem seems unresolved. On the outside, it may seem as though we have failed to prove ourselves, to accomplish the external goals we have set for ourselves. On the inside, we may feel like giving up, like we're alone in the world with no one or no thing to help us.

When we are feeling this way, we are experiencing abandonment, re-experiencing all those painful times in this and other lives when we have felt forsaken by all forms of support. We feel needy; we may feel resentful, angry, grief-stricken, cold, lonely, and lost. Everyone has experienced this at some time in their lives; everyone has this wound. Some people find it more acutely painful than others do. No matter how we experience it, it is easier to bear and possible to work through once we can identify the feeling and accept its presence.

We can also go into the core of this feeling and release what lies there. It is based on the initial misunderstanding that we experience when we are born, that when we separate from our mother, we are a separate being. Although we do not understand that immediately, everything in our world teaches us that. Our mother can come and go, our needs may or may not be met. We have to learn how to get what we want as small, defenseless little beings. We learn about love and charm and crying to get our needs met. We learn that support comes to us from sources outside ourselves.

As we mature, we learn to meet more and more of our needs ourselves. We learn to take care of some things directly by ourselves. Others we learn to get through the social support system we all rely on to varying degrees. However, very few of us are taught that our true sustenance comes from the Higher Power, in whatever way we conceive of it. Even if we are raised in a religious tradition, we are not usually schooled on how to draw upon that sustenance. The alternative is to rely too heavily upon other people or to feel separated, alienated, alone, or abandoned under various circumstances and at critical times of our lives.

Although we will learn more about magnetizing sustenance to ourselves over the coming three years, we will look at our experiences of emotional dependency and how they have led to feelings of abandonment in the past from October through February 1999. The focus will be our relationships and how we mesh with others. Our struggle is likely to revolve around maintaining our sense of (true) self while others pull on us to return to an old way of being. Feelings of self-doubt and questioning surround this process; we may feel our self-esteem threatened, and feelings of abandonment may arise as a residue of the past as we adhere to what we feel is inwardly correct.

For some of us, the theme of empowerment through truth will remain or become prominent. This focus has been with us as a general theme since 1995, but it leaps into our consciousness when the planet which carries its message, here Pluto, touches something in our natal chart. It teaches us that, even if it is difficult to stay on the path of truth, with all its tests, it is far better to do so than to compromise ourselves when under pressure. The path of truth will bring us a result that is in harmony with the Creative Force of the universe; if in the short term we suffer, it is because of the conditions that we bring with us from the past when challenges from our deep unconscious arise.

This energy actually feeds into a magickal process for us this year, and we will see its culmination by the end of March next year. Although it may not have seemed like it, especially when we started to move into the energy pattern in late February, we will each of us experience a miracle this year. We are building it now; miracles don't happen on their own. Everyone has their own version of miracle, the very thing we most earnestly and worthily desire within our soul. It may be, but usually is not, winning the lottery. (Those who choose that miracle may find that it is not all it's cracked up to be!) For some, it may be the right job, for others a new love or a new home. It is usually something long sought and worked toward. To potentiate it, we must surrender all of our desire for it to the Higher Power. Magical thinking in the sense of unrealistic dreams or a belief that fate runs our life, won't bring it to us, but magickal working will. Our miracle, whatever it is, will renew our faith and fuel us for the next twelve-year cycle that lies ahead. To bring your miracle into manifestation, stick with whatever major effort you are involved in now until next spring. If you need to make any minor changes, do so, but have faith in the purity of your initial impulse, the one you started in 1996.

In October, one of our foci will shift to sustenance and how successfully we draw it to ourselves in a group environment. This focus will stay with us through April of 2000. There are many quandaries and conflicts that can arise everything from problems of personal freedom to the balance of power and purpose of social and political groups and factions. We may be asking ourselves questions like, What do I have to offer others? How am I special? What can this group do for me? Where do I belong? Considerations may arise such as the rights of the disenfranchised, equality and justice for all, privacy rights, rights and views of political groups. We may struggle with feelings of alienation versus belonging, and we may find ourselves challenged to decide whether or to what extent we will allow others to determine our self-worth. Ultimately, this dilemma has to do with love and its application in the world. Just because a group exists, does that mean that it has the best interests of its members at heart?

We want to both define our specialness and to give ourselves to a group from the place where specialness dwells the heart. At the same time, we want to define our rights and role as an individual and equal member of the group. When this quandary is acted out as an opposition, we may experience it as specialness versus equality. One seems to exist at the expense of the other. However, this is not the case. It is an appearance because we have missed something essential at a deeper level. We may find ourselves focusing on the balance of detachment versus enthusiasm, rebelliousness versus approval seeking, in our reactions and responses to our experiences.

To heal this apparent quandary, we must remember that everyone is special. When we know this, we feel confident about expressing our own uniqueness, because we know everyone has something to contribute that no one else can give. In this way, we open the door to others' unique self-expression because we know they have something valuable to contribute. When others are allowed to contribute, they are inclined to accept all expressions with a sense of fairness. This sets the stage for the equality of all members of the group, whether it is in your partnership or another, less intimate affiliation.

Although this issue is present with us now, we will not really give it full focus until next February, when challenges will arise which speak more directly of this dilemma. In the meantime, however, we have enough on our plates, and even if we did try to leap ahead and deal with what we think will come in February, we would not have learned all we need to know, and therefore we will not have the proper perspective to manage what hasn't yet happened.

September: A Little Rough on the Downhill

September starts off a little awkwardly, harking back to the end of July, when the related cycle peaked, having to do with unexpected events and challenges. We may feel stressed out, as if we have to jump through a few extra hoops. Other dates in this yearly cycle are January 28th, May 3rd, May 17th, July 3rd, August 3rd, and October 18th. We may feel overwhelmed mentally and emotionally through the full moon on the 6th. Still, we can cope, because we already experienced the worst of it during the summer.

The full moon is a lunar eclipse, following on the heels of the solar eclipse on August 21st. Although this lunar eclipse is only penumbral it is not a strong one the solar eclipse before it has compressed a lot of energy that will find some release in this subdued full moon. What's more, there is a powerful aspect in the heavens on the 4th which will certainly add to the disruptive effects in worldly affairs; there are often unexpected violence or terrorist acts under this planetary combination, Mars and Uranus. The eclipses in a sense suppress the normal flow of energies. The solar eclipse blocks the sun from our view at what would otherwise be a normal new moon. It gives the unconscious part of our nature full rein for a few moments, symbolically speaking. The lunar eclipse is a full moon whose light is blocked by the shadow of the earth. It holds in abeyance the normal full illumination of consciousness that we receive from the moon when it is at its fullest. The more exact the eclipse, the more powerful its effects, although other factors, such as planetary aspects, also change how we feel and express it. So, although this lunar eclipse is weak, the solar eclipse whose energy it also contains was very strong, and the Mars-Uranus aspects two days before can make it explosive. The end result will be a build-up of pressure that is likely to be released before the full moon, with a rather anti-climactic experience from the lunar eclipse itself. However, because its force is too great to be dealt with all at that time, we will have another six months to resolve whatever comes up now.

The week following the lunar eclipse, however, finds us feeling a lot clearer-headed, able to communicate and communicate well. On or around the 10th, our urge to connect deeply with others will be mirrored in them as well. Although the truth that is revealed may be painful, it is a good pain that is a part of the healing process. Although we may experience a little whiplash from all of this on the 13th and 14th, it is best to have things out in the open. This new openness will have its ripple effect in other areas through the end of the month, as all of the planets that are tied together move into and out of critical aspect with each other.

Amongst these days, the 15th may stand out because it is a peak in our yearly cycle of expansion and discovery. Related dates are February 23 26, June 17th, July 17th, and November 13th. From the 15th through the 24th, we will be focused on the issues and events of this cycle. By this time, we should know what our miracle is, even if it hasn't actually come into our hot little hands yet!

On the 22nd, the Sun enters Libra. This is the date of the autumnal equinox and Mabon in the Northern Hemisphere. This brings the end of the harvest and the time for gratitude and setting aside. In traditional cultures, food was preserved during the fall in preparation for the winter. Nowadays, it is more important to make sure that we seek closure on the efforts of our year in whatever niche we fill in the culture. Most significantly, we need to attune to the change in seasons and accommodate them in whatever way is meaningful in our lives. That may mean putting snow tires on the car, making sure we have enough money in the bank for any drop in income which may occur, as it does for some in the winter months. It may mean cleansing the body and strengthening the immune system in preparation for the winter virus season. It is also a time to look back at what we have accomplished and appreciate our own efforts as well as those of others. It is a time to be mindful of the true source of our sustenance, the God/dess and the planet that nurtures us. All of this involves balancing and integrating (Libra's prime directive) as we move into a season where inward motion takes precedence. If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, of course, this is a time of opening up and external motion. You've made it through the dark times, and you're ready to spring forth!

The end of the month may find us working hard, but with little news to report. Don't try to do more than you can prioritize carefully, and ask yourself where you're jumping the gun if your to-do list is too long.

October: Power Unleashed

If September was a month of forbearance, October is a month of release, but the first few days may not betray this thrust. In fact, relationship troubles may seem without solution at this time; now is not the time to communicate, but to allow our partner the chance to work things out for themselves. A hurry-up offense will only offend, and the urge for that will evaporate on the 7th. If we indulged our impatience, we may have that what have I done feeling on or around the 9th. The peak for all this will come on the 5th, when the full moon puts an added emphasis on harmony and balance, especially in relationship.

In any case, we will experience release of a situation to which we had to surrender, a spiritual lesson that we may or may not have been aware of. To discover what that might be, look for events occurring on or around January 19th, April 22nd, May 3rd, and July 23rd. We will have three more months to complete this process before another issue begins to arise of this general nature. Its subtlety or severity is dependent upon how much it contacts in our birth chart. However, even the more severe circumstances can be mitigated by our own thoughts and actions. However, at this point in the cycle, we are focused more on learning from what we have experienced. Chances are, we are telling ourselves to pay closer attention to our own intuitions and inner feelings.

The middle of the month will find us doing our best to accommodate the new clarity and forward motion we have, with a couple of surprises around the 17th on the side. Whatever happens then will portend the events that are to occur on the 18th; release comes then for that yearly cycle of surprises we've been dealing with on January 28th, May 3rd, May 17th, and August 3rd. You will have three months to resolve the issues that have been with you since the end of January. Because it is so close to the new moon, some of the release, if not all of it, will be suppressed until the full moon on November 3rd.

The new moon on the 20th gives us the opportunity to go into the calm place deep in ourselves and plant the seeds of intention for the next month. It will be replenishing to do so instead of just forging ahead in this time of reduced outward activity.

The 23rd sees the sun enter Scorpio, when our energy is drawn even deeper within. This is a time for deep, sometimes painful, self-observation. Through Scorpio we have a choice: rejuvenate or die. If we go within, face what is there, and heal it, we are renewed, revived, re-invigorated. The metaphor for this is in all the myths and fairy tales of every culture: the slaying of dragons, embarking on the quest. This is the Holy Grail that each of us must seek, or we die by inches, our energy sapped by the blockages and wounds we carry within. This is an especially fruitful time for such examination, because we also reach the peak of the yearly cycle of self-application and -responsibility at this time. The dates associated with this cycle are April 13th, July 26th, August 15th, December 29th, and January 19th (1999). This is the cycle where we face that issue of alienation and abandonment. We may become acutely aware of these types of feelings at this time.

Forgiveness of the self and others is the key from the 24th through to the end of the month. Remember, we all make mistakes; everyone is doing their best at any given time. Relationships will once again be in the forefront of our consciousness.

The 31st is the traditional date for celebrating Samhain, Hallowe'en or the Witches' New Year. It was so celebrated, not because it rejoices in the darkness, but because this is the time of wisdom. Wisdom comes with experience, and the period between Samhain and Yule is the time to do our final integration of what we have learned and accomplished over the past 10« months. This is when we gain wisdom, when we bring our own light into our darkness. We learn to love the darkness because it is where we must go to bring more light into our nature.

Although Samhain is currently celebrated on the 31st, it is only because we have left behind the astrological calendar in our daily lives. In ancient times, this event was scheduled for the exact cross quarter, or midpoint between the fall and winter seasonal shifts. That midpoint currently falls on the 6th or 7th, depending on whether it is leap year or not. This year it falls on the 7th. The other cross-quarter dates do not always fall on that on which it is celebrated for the same reason.

November: The Truth Shall Set Us Free

November starts off with a bang, echoing events on the 17th and 18th of last month. The full moon on the 3rd is the climax, and we will notice that, if this contacts critical placements in your chart, we experienced related events on the 28th and will notice a recurrence of feelings and events on the 9th, 10th, and 17th. You can tell whether your chart is activated by how significant these and other related dates become in your life. Check those dates related to cycle of surprises mentioned above. No matter what, the current round of dates gives all of us the opportunity to clear issues from the deepest levels of the unconscious, and you can bet I'll be standing in line for my chance! The experiences of this time will give you a clue to what's coming next spring, once our lessons with the sustaining force begin to gain our primary focus.

The 13th makes the energy of truth and understanding more available to us and brings that miracle into focus. Is it here yet? Maybe not, but you probably know what it is by now, and it's on its way to you now, special delivery! You may learn about the value of application and how expectations undermine our efforts at success at this time too, if you have been indulging in magical thinking or expecting that something is supposed to happen. Fate plays a role in our life only in the form of our unknowing and the circumstances we find ourselves in. While these can be immense factors, we have to activate a friendlier fate through our own choosing, called free will, and application of our experience, called wisdom. At this time, truth will be a wind blowing through our lives, at times nipping playfully at our ankles and at others sandblasting the fantasies out of the corners of our optimism. While some painful realities may come to light, especially on the 13th, 23rd, 28th and 30th, they always serve our highest good in the long run. Remember to thank those who bring the light to you, and if wounding attends the process, give yourself some time to sort out what is your lesson and what is theirs.

On the 15th, we start a new cycle related to healing and woundedness. Related dates are (in 1999) February 22nd, March 16th, May 21st, and July 28th. As this new cycle begins, we have the opportunity to tune in to our woundedness; chances are that we will be able to find it easily, since our wound will be closer to the surface around this date. It will have to do with the way that we deal with the truth do we run from it, fight it, or allow it to transform us? This process will be huge from the fall of 1999 through 2000, but even this year we will feel its importance and be able to effect some changes in response to our new insights.

The new moon on the 18th begins the process of building energy toward a potent full moon, a process that will begin to be revealed to us on the 21st.

On the 21st, we enter a 3-week period of reconsideration and mental renewal. So often, in our (ego's) eagerness to engage in life, we get ahead of ourselves, overextend, and get out of balance. This period gives us a chance to get back into balance. Although it is generally not thought to be a time to begin new endeavors or sign contracts, it can be the right time if it is part of a flow established before this period begins. When we are pro-active, we can often transmute some of the unexpected element that often shows itself during such a time. We can do so by taking time to retreat (spiritually or otherwise), reverse our priority list (there IS a way to get those things off the bottom of the list!), or take the time to finish things up. If we have neglected anything in our lives, we may have to deal with it now, as hidden factors rise up to grab our attention. During this particular passage, there is a potentially explosive element that we may see manifested quite directly in events reported from around the world, particularly from the 30th through the 2nd of December. Generally communication will become much more important, and some of our relationships may go through an airing out because of the things that come to light.

On the 22nd, the Sun enters Sagittarius and adds fuel to the fire of truth this month. The sun's interaction with the moon activates the potency of the other planetary interactions, leading to critical experiences, feelings and actions on the 26th (Thanksgiving), 27th, December 3rd (the full moon), 9th, 10th, and 17th. The sun in Sagittarius may be piercing, but it pierces cleanly and leaves the freshness of clarity in its wake. Flexibility is the key during this period; if you flow with what arises, you will gain immensely from what you learn.

On the 30th, we begin a new yearly cycle of deep transformation and rebirth. One of the facts of physical life is the inevitability of physical death, and we die in small ways every day. What we are not taught to recognize is the ways we are reborn, and this cycle for the next 10 years will focus on the rebirth process, but only if we allow the dying to take place. On this day, we begin a New Year of facing that issue in our lives. Typically, there are some world events to remind us of our mortality, and some of us will be touched by them more than others. Attend to the impact that events this day have on you, because they presage the events of the coming year.

December: The Drama Unfolds

I couldn't talk about the events of late November without dipping into December, because the planets don't observe that secular boundary. November's build-up is early December's release, and it all focuses on a full moon with thunder crashing and cymbals clashing. If you have time to notice it, the 3rd will be the peak day, with an emphasis on explosive and perhaps hasty words and actions. If we can tame our sense of overload, our knee-jerk reactions (always based on fear), and soften our responses with compassion, we will weather the storm. The ride is likely to be bumpy through the 11th, after which we may wonder at our (and others') relative insanity.

Pragmatism will begin to gain influence in our approaches, considerations, and decisions after that, as the faster moving planets enter Capricorn starting on the 11th. There may be one more jolt of truth coming our way on the 21st and we may be a little over-sensitive to what is said, or the words may not be put together in the best way, but we may wonder what all the fuss was about before in these more sober and stable times.

The new moon on the 18th brings another layer of calmness to our mood. We made it through, didn't we? Just narrow your focus to the present moment for a while to rejuvenate. While this is the ideal state to be in at all times (living in the present), doing so at the new moon is especially replenishing if that is the only time we can manage to bring ourselves back to that place.

The sun enters Capricorn on the 21st, and so we enter the winter season and have another event of the solar year to celebrate Yule. Most of our Christmas rituals, from the Christmas tree to the exchange of gifts, have their origin in pagan traditions. It is a symbol of our faith in the future and the divine powers that guide our lives that we give to others during our darkest, emptiest time. Just as it seems that darkness will consume us, the light begins to return. Even though we have three more months where the time of darkness outstrips the time of light, the light has more power because it is ascending. So rejoice! The twelve days of Yule (Yule and the eleven days after) symbolize the twelve months of the year. Therefore, it is especially important to make these days a ritual of empowering the coming year. This is the source of the song The Twelve Days of Christmas.

One final event stirs us in the dead of winter: the beginning of the reward period related to our efforts of discipline, self-application, and self-responsibility over the past nine months. This comes on the 29th, and it casts a particularly bright glow onto the New Year, one of hope for the future and the just reward for all of our efforts. May your efforts be justly rewarded and your faith is renewed! Be especially blessed in this time!

Terry Lamb is an astrological counselor and healing therapist and mother of two boys. She offers a full range of personal and business services as an astrologer and a variety of techniques as an energetic healer. This column arises out of the convergence of her training in both fields. She can be reached for bookings and appointments (locally or long-distance) at 619-589-1774 or tlamb@flash.net. Check out her website at www.flash.net/~tlamb.