Virginia Bell Part I

Notes From Using the Planetary Cycles to Tell the Story of Your Life (Part I)

On Monday evening, I went to a lecture (yes a lecture...don't laugh @ me!) called "Using the Planetary Cycles to Tell the Story of Your Life" by astrologer Virginia Bell. I found the information to be really fascinating, useful, and even inspiring. So fascinating, useful and inspiring that I feel compelled to blog about what I learned. It kind of gave me a new lens from which to view life. I think before the lecture I had been accustomed to viewing my life in a way that really stressed me out all the time...like I felt like I wasn't DOING enough and things weren't HAPPENING like they should...I was feeling very unfulfilled on a regular basis and like I just got everything plain wrong. Now I'm like, "Please girl, you haven't even entered your first Saturn Return, you have so much life to live, and so many things to try. You will be OKAY." I realize that these years are a time for experimentation to see what fits and what doesn't, and it's okay if I don't have everything together yet.

Not that I'm suddenly happy-go-lucky or anything...I'm still trying to figure out hope to gain more fulfillment from my day-to-day routine...I still have been feeling a little moody about my workload, and some family issues, some personal struggles...but for some reason during the lecture it really hit me that this period of time is not the beginning of the end of my life...it's the beginning of the beginning...and I have not yet settled into my life's mission or done the maximum amount of healing of old wounds that I will do in my lifetime. Also, though our society attempts to have us think otherwise, old age is not something to be feared, dreaded, or seen as inferior to youth...it is truly another level of unfolding into one's person, an awakening of another aspect of oneself.

It's not about withering up and dying...it's about continuing to live and evolve, and remaining connected to the pulse of life, but with a different perspective...a perspective broadened by wisdom. Looking at it this way really made me respect in advance the person I will become as I mature. And I want to be very prepared for that stage in my life, by setting good foundations now and by becoming knowledgeable about what changes to expect. So yea...I was pretty glad to have attended the lecture.

Virginia is in her 60's, so she gave a lot of personal narrative when discussing the generational cycles that we all go through at predictable points in our lives. She also referenced some books that I want to check out this year: Anam Cara by John O'Donohue and The Red Book by Carl Jung. I love astrology (clearly) but am no expert, so I didn't exactly understand what the planets are doing in our birth charts during these predictable time periods; forgive me if I interpreted the technical definitions of "Saturn Return" or "Uranus Opposition" incorrectly. Even still, I feel like I got a good understanding of what is happening in our lives during these periods.

Each of these periods can be seen as passageways into a new level of existence...sort of like rites of passage periods, if you will. They are turning points, and they are each ruled by a particular planet. "The planet that rules the cycle we're in is our guide" (Virginia Bell, Feb 2010). Occasionally, cycles overlap so we are being majorly influenced by more than one planet passing through our birth charts a certain way. The major cycles Virginia discussed are as follows:

Lunar Progressed Cycle: around ages 26-27
Saturn Return: around ages 28-29

Midlife "Crisis"/Opportunity
Part I Pluto square its native position: around ages 35-36
Part II Uranus Opposition: around ages 40-42
Part III Neptune Square: around age 43
Part IV Saturn Opposition: around ages 43-45

Chiron Return: around ages 50-51
Second Saturn Return: around ages 58-59
Grand Sextile: around ages 59-61
Closing Uranus Square: around ages 62-64
Uranus Return: around ages 82-84

Ok, now that I've given an introduction, I really should be getting to bed. Part II will come tomorrow. Ciao!

-Sia