I finally found the spark somewhere to get busy and get these books ready to be available again. My neighbor, Lory, has been working on publishing her new Children’s book “Mama Crow’s Gift” and, while talking to her, I really got inspired to get busy and get these books back out in the world where they belong.  I’ve been working on updating them for the new millennium and I’m very pleased with the result.

It has really been a satisfying experience to get to work on something so engrossing.  Ironically, I think the Retrograde Mars helped me to settle down, lowering my restless energy enough to focus on this project.  It might have also helped that Neptune moved into Pisces (opposing my Sun). The Neptune/Chiron conjunction just after the Pisces New Moon was the culmination of the effort to gently restructure Mom’s first book to bring it up to date for a New Century.

Foreword to the Revised Edition

My mother, Esther Leinbach, wrote this book over 40 years ago, when I was 13 years old. Before this book was even published, she taught me how to set up a horoscope in order to calculate degree positions so that I could use the book on my own. I have been using this book ever since.

This is the first of 5 books that she wrote and it includes the foundations of her personal philosophical approach to both Psychology and Astrology as well as her approach to faith and religion. Her ability to express those concepts evolved over many years and we discussed them at length in our work together. In revising these descriptions, I have relied heavily on those countless conversations.

I have also spent a great deal of time reviewing her writing and research materials. When she began studying Astrology she created a card file containing various typewritten notes and source material. About 1/3 of this collection contains the degree information that she used to write this book. Early on, when there was something I didn’t understand, I had the luxury of simply asking her about it. Now, I have her card file which I have used extensively in working on the revisions to this book.

When I read these degrees aloud to a friend or client, I have often dropped a sentence, added a sentence, changed emphasis, changed a word or the gender pronouns and generally sought to clarify the thought or concept that mom was seeking to communicate. I have taken the same approach in revising this work.

In a some cases, the original descriptions have been left virtually intact. In others, after going back to the sources, what seemed to be missing elements within a more current context have been brought forward. In yet other descriptions, the overall structure has been revised, rebuilding the emphasis in order to be more concise in describing the challenges and abilities that are indicated. Some of the so-called “no-hope degrees” have been amended in order to note particular instances we have seen that point to more positive expressions.

Also, almost all gender specific references in the descriptions have been removed. An unusual device has been employed that is intended to remind the reader that these descriptions are not gender specific. It is a universally accepted convention that any general reference to an individual is given as the male pronoun. This convention has been abandoned. For example, an original description would have been written: “A Taurus may be stubborn but he is also patient in pursuing his course”. I have replaced this with: “A Taurus may be stubborn but s/he is also patient in pursuing his/her course”. This may seem cumbersome to read silently or appear a bit cluttered on the printed page. Nevertheless, this device has been useful in reading the descriptions aloud to clients and has been employed in this revision.

Degree influences have often been seen as ethereal and mysterious, relying on symbolism to suggest potential expressions. This book was originally written to bring the symbolism into a descriptive, practically applicable format that can more easily be used in chart interpretation. This approach is psychological rather than symbolic. But the advantage of symbols is that they can be interpreted in the current context directly. When particular references are made to current insights or methods, there is some danger that the descriptions can become outdated. In the original descriptions in this book, it was occasionally pointed out that new expressions are possible as humanity evolves. The revisions that have been made are primarily intended to update the descriptions with a current perspective and incorporate a context or evolutionary perspective that was simply not in place 40 years ago.

Nonetheless, I have finally accepted the fact that I have no clue where I am.  The landscape that the Pluto transit has left is unrecognizable to me. The landscape I am referring to is largely internal and has to do with the things that I recognize as me.  My Capricorn moon is just inside the 5th house, so it is involved with how I express myself.  So I am beginning to rebuild that part of my life from the ground up.

It does seem prudent and appropriate now to take a look ahead.  The timing is good, since we’ve just started an interesting New Year.  2012 will undoubtedly be memorable on many levels. I’m convinced that the the Pluto/Uranus square, building to exact this summer, will bring to many a sense of personal disorientation similar to what I am experiencing now. And I believe that the #Occupy movement, and what evolves out of that, will play a major part in this year’s developments. In fact, the #Occupy movement is conveying just the sort of message that I expect from the Pluto/Uranus dialog.

More imminent is the Mars Station, going retrograde in Virgo. I’m not particularly comfortable with predictions, per se, so I’ll just briefly recall the last time that Mars was retrograde in Virgo during early 1997. Following that retrograde Mars, I grew particularly impatient with my surroundings and situation.  Eventually, I pulled up stakes and moved back to my home town after 13 years in ‘The Big City.’

What I know about retrograde Mars is that acts of aggression do not turn out well. What usually happens is that while Mars in retrograde, frustration builds, and once Mars turns direct, action & activity, aggression, wars, erupt almost spontaneously.  In Virgo, Mars can provoke hostility when truth is held hostage and details are obscured or manipulated, sometimes even resulting in illness when logical arguments are rejected or perverted. On the other hand, it can spur a desire to clean up, bring order and even purge unnecessary baggage in order to reduce the weight of entropy.  Mars also provides the  energy to accomplish such goals.

When Mars is retrograde, it may feel as though the rug is pulled out from under us for a time.  Energy is dissipated or scattered. Similar to a retrograde Mercury, it is good time for reflection and it is a good time to ‘keep your powder dry.’ Once Mars goes direct, there is an eruption of activity, sometime born out of frustration. Mars is retrograde January 24th through April 14th.

My last post laid out my summer journey and I’m only now beginning to feel comfortable with the new tools offered and the new landmarks identified.  Essentially, it took me all of the summer to face up to the questions posed by the Pluto transit.  Based on my experiences with Pluto, the question always comes down to a simple “what do you want?”  I know that most of the focus on Pluto transits is about what it seems to take away – how it strips away all that’s familiar, and that’s true too. My father died just about a year ago. I had been his primary care-giver for more than four years. He lived with me and was the major focus of my life.

Hello, Pluto.

All that was familiar was striped away. But that just left me with the question, “Now what?” Over the course of the last eleven months, the question ringing in my ears has been, “what do you want to do now?” And that is the question I recognize as Pluto’s question. I’ve had a veritable parade of tempting mirages to observe passing before me: “Is this what you want?” “How about this?” “You’ve always liked this.”

Pluto IS about death, decay and destruction but always leaves the essential kernel, sometimes unrecognizable,  to begin the process of creating something new – hence, the question, “What do you want?” The problem, though, is that there really isn’t anything easily recognizable to help answer the question.

“What would you like?”

“I’d like a burger, please.”

“I’m sorry, that item is no longer on the menu.”

The question, “what do you want?”  is increasingly coming into focus everywhere as the Uranus/Pluto square builds towards it’s first exact aspect next summer. It is fascinating that the question is currently being asked repeatedly of those involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement. The decay and corruption is obvious to just about everyone with a pulse. But the current protests and those of the so-called Arab Spring are simply the first step to a complicated process. The first step is just to say, “hey, there’s a problem here.”

Then, “Yeah, okay, so. . . What do you want to do about it?”

What’s next?  The old will fall away.  The change will come.  That’s inevitable. But then what?  When Uranus pushes back against the weight of oppression and Pluto strips away the rot and decay, we can easily feel profound disorientation and confusion as we confront an unrecognizable world.  And then comes the question: “What do you want?” It can just as easily sound like a threat rather than an offer. It’s an opportunity only if we can deal with our fear and calm our confusion.

“There must be some kind of way out of here, said the Joker to the Thief.”