If you read an earlier blog (What is it with Astrology anyway?) you got a bit of an idea about the complications of astrology.  Astrology is the "theory", some say it comes to us from ancient times, of how heavenly bodies, their orbits and their gravity have an effect on us.  Astronomy on the other hand is the "science" of  how those heavenly bodies actually move through space.
Science is often looked at as a solid body of knowledge.  It is far from that.  Science is often mistaken in what it supposes, since it operates from the paradigm of the society and not all things have been found out or accounted for yet; therefore the paradigm often doesn't know what to look for and so doesn't see what is there properly, or at all.  We used to think that all the planets and the Sun revolved around the earth.  Copernicus dared to contradict that theory, although he may not have been the only one to know it wasn't true just the bravest (or the most foolhardy).  It was Galileo and his telescope which proved that Copernicus was right.  They both agreed that the earth and the other planets of our solar system orbit the sun.  It has also become increasingly clear that the sun moves through the galaxy while the planets are orbiting it. Nassim Harramein's video on Youtube is a good reference for what is actually happening - the sun is moving like a sine wave and spiraling through space, which means all the planets are spiraling with it.  That puts a bit of a different spin on things, if you will excuse the pun.
All that to say that, if the inner planets, which are closer, exert more of a personal force on us, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, than the outer planets more of a generational force, since they are more slow moving. Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto or Chiron exert either an unconscious pull on an individual or an overt pull that moves a generation or a time to action.  The French Revolution on the other hand occurred when Uranus was in Leo, Neptune in Libra, and Pluto in Aquarius.  Uranus is the planet of transformation and in Leo it rules authority; It seems self-explanatory.  Neptune is the dreamy planet of illusions which was in Libra, ruling justice or balance.  There were many illusory ideas about justice at that time.  Pluto the planet of regeneration was in Aquarius, which is a more egalitarian, humanitarian sign.  Ultimately the French Revolution lead to a more egalitarian form of government, however, Pluto being a slow-moving planet it took time.  So what will happen for us?  Pluto went into Capricorn (material acquisition) in 2008 and the U.S. Financial Crisis hit.  It is a time when we can reorganize our financial economy.  Have we?  Pluto stays twelve years in the sign which will put it at 2020 when it leaves to go into Aquarius.  (Did I mention that the French Revolution happened when Pluto was in Aquarius?)  Neptune is in Pisces, which allows for intuition and insight, presumably to give us a new vision of how to reform things.  And Uranus is in Aries, Aries being new beginnings.  Let's hope we get it figured out soon!

The artwork at the left impressed me.  It made me think of myself and my narrow escape from the blue screen, television.  One of the good things my parents did for me was to limit the amount of television I was allowed to watch,  It was thirty minutes and at most an hour, unless it was Hockey Night in Canada - a sacred tradition in my house - or a family movie.  I remember as a child talking back to the commercials and asking questions.  Why should I buy that?  I don't need that!  Why is there a girl in the car?  Are you selling the girl with the car?  And the like.  I think in retrospect it was like a television immunity that I was developing.  My grandmother did a wonderful thing for me when I was quite young.  I remember going to a game show taping in Toronto with my grandma.  It gave me the opportunity to see how "unreal" television is.  I never looked at a programme the same way again.  Television lost its hold on me that day, even though the definitive break came only recently.  I only found a few programmes to my liking and generally they were cancelled after a season or two.  I supposed I had unusual tastes.  Later I suspected that television (like video games) was highly addictive because if I started watching a certain show, I would continue to watch that night for a while even if my show was not on.  A few years ago my television watching was pared down to occasional movies and some specials, although I would listen to the television, while I was doing other things.  It was enough distance that I began to wonder why I was doing it.  So I stopped.  Last summer I watched three movies on my television.  It was at that point that I decided to make a clean break. 
Don't get me wrong, I have gone without a television for three years at a time before and when I lived on my farm there were only three channels available but actually cutting myself off cold turkey? Television had become a fixture, like the sink, or the bathtub. 
In October, I did it!  I have been entirely television free for three months.  No drug commercials following hard on the heels of "Just say 'No!' to drugs" commercials, no M.A.D.D. commercials interspersed with Whiskey, Rum, or Vodka commercials, no beer commercials where not only do you get the beer and not put on weight BUT you also get the most amazingly good-looking female companion on the face of the earth even though you don't look that impressive - what a relief!  The paradoxes presented were almost as mind-boggling as some of the ridiculous fake "reality" shows - does anybody really care about some of these things?  Who watches this?  Or are we all in the same somnambulant state I remember being in, when I watched out of habit, out of boredom, or to break the silence.  I remember that state and how much time I wasted there.  It's not something of which I am too proud but at least I don't live there anymore and the beauty is that when I broke the cycle, shortly afterward I got up the nerve to tell my two best friends.  One has now given up television too, while the other never really watched that much to begin with.  It just takes one person!  Turn off your television!  You're not missing anything there but if that is all you do after work, you are missing out on your life!  Break the habit!  Refuse to be programmed! Escape from the entrancing blue screen that has held so many captive for so long!                   (Many thanks to the artist of the wonderful picture btw)

Do you ever wonder where time goes?
Often it's fast but sometimes it slows.
Just when you're bored and wish it would go,
Time takes it's own sweet, don't you know.
Yet when you're out with all your friends
Wishing time would never end, it's over
You wonder how? Why couldn't time stay just now?
                                          Perhaps one day we'll learn to suspend it....
                                          Oops!  I'm out of time for the poem,
                                         Better end it!

I wrote my thesis on aspects of time.  It is a subject which has fascinated many people other than myself.  I find myself in good company with Michio Kaku, Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, to name a few. (Not that I consider myself to be a philosopher or physicist of renown.)  Time is not a constant, although we think it is.  It has an inverse relationship to speed.  Race car drivers traveling at very high speeds always relate that time slows down.  That means that the faster you are going, the slower the experience of time is.  The opposite must hold true then...the slower you go, the faster time goes... to a point.  If we sit and do nothing time goes enormously slowly for us.  If you don't agree, try sitting in a traffic jam, when you are going to be late for an appointment.  Time goes much faster than you want it to. 
In the bigger picture, we know that the earth is slowing down in its rotational speed.  The question is, did previous generations enjoy a greater sense of slowness of time than we currently do?  It seems everyone is rushing to get things done and there never seems to be enough time.  Does this make sense?  Is it linked to the rotational speed of the planet?  Curiouser and curiouser as Alice said in Wonderland.

It is a four letter word.  We are brought up to believe in its inevitability and though we believe it is essential to our survival, we also believe that it will not, in part, be fun.  Work!  If only I didn't have to work, I would....
If you can finish that sentence, you may feel unhappy in your work.  As if work was some silent oppressive force in people's lives. 
Being a linguist, I always like to take a look at word history and find out exactly what is the sense of a word.  The results are sometimes enlightening.  In the case of work, the online etymology dictionary says that one of the Old English root words is weorc or worc, which means "something done, deed, action, proceeding, business, military fortification".  There is an interesting note that it also meant "fornication".  The Germanic root word is werg, which also gives us the word "urge." "Urge" seems tied to work, coming through the Latin urgo, urgere ( the Romans held no difference between "u" and "v") and through the Germanic root word "werg" (The Roman pronunciation of "v" and the German pronunciation of "W" are the same)  Related words are the Gothic word waurkjan, and the Old English word wyrcan  also meaning"work;" but also the Gothic word wrikan meaning "persecute," and the Old English word wrecan meaning "drive, hunt, pursue;"  All things considered, the context of the word work is murky to say the least.  Work seems to have developed with a negative connotation.  We think of a good work ethic as being important, yet this is a reasonably new concept only coming into the language in 1959. 
Yet for me personally, work has always been a wonderful thing.  Not without its trials, it has added immeasurably to my life.  The few times in my adult life that I have been briefly without employment have been devastating experiences for me.  Not that I can't keep myself amused but although I am an introvert, I do enjoy working with people.  Above and beyond that I enjoy being useful.  Being allowed to contribute to the greater good through meaningful work is a privilege, that I am grateful for.  I have grown through my work, advancing into greater responsibility and being able to do that, more work and responsibility was offered to me.  Eventually I want to work for myself, in the service of communicating truths to others.  It is work but without the negative context which can come with it.  If work is meaningful, if it makes use of our talents, and we can actualize ourselves and contribute to humanity in our own particular way, work has no negative for us.  If not, then it is somehow akin to selling ourselves, debasing ourselves, a.k.a. fornication. If you have work like that, get out!  Life is too short to waste and you came here for better.  If you can't do it now, get on it!  Figure out what you need to do with your life, and begin it!  The rest must surely follow. 
W onderfully aligning with my path
O ne with my passion
R ealizing my own potential
K eeping learning and helping others
Yeah!  I love my work! (Did I mention that it is Friday!  Ironic?) Namaste! ;)