Comments on this week's Journal

Just thought I'd share an email I received today, and start the conversation in case anyone else wants to comment on this week's Journal...

Regarding your dates for the solar flips, there was a significant shift in my life at each one of the cycles, except for the first -- I wasn't born ( though as a history teacher, I realize that '44 was near the end of WWII). 

What caught my attention about this week's post was the word "vertigo." Since about January 10, I have been experiencing a dizzy feeling, but only when I lay down, and turn my head to the left. I don't seem to be affected when I am standing and moving around. The laying down seems to activate something. There are no physical symptoms; I've had no head colds or any illnesses. I've attributed it to winter lack of physical activity, age and maybe crocked glasses frames. I so often forget that I (we) live in an environment where many things happen and I am not aware, or at least have never seen them. (Your lovely pictures of the Auroras remind me.) Thanks for the reminder that there is more than meets the eye.

A quick note about the vertigo thing -- I had a strong experience of it about three weeks ago, too, especially when I was lying down. The best description I could give of it was like I was lying on my back on an old LP as it spun on the turntable... And no other symptoms, so very similar! Mine lasted about three days, and has seemed to subside now.

Well, Mercury IS retrograde, after all

You will notice that I neglected to update the dates in the header of today's issue of the NorthPoint Journal... So, even though the subject line of the email is OK, the header still has last week's dates.

Oh, well. If that's the biggest error I encounter while Mercury is retrograde, I'll consider myself fortunate! Thanks for smiling through it with me.

Pam

Question about "Blood Moons"

I received an email today with this question:

Do you know anything about these two 'blood moons' this year, at the spring and autumn equinoxes? Supposedly the last time this occurred was 2,000 yrs ago when the Romans destroyed the Jewish temple.

I decided to post my reply here, since there may be others who are also wondering about these lunations:

Thanks for your question!

In astronomical terminology, there are lots of different "kinds" of Full Moons -- the Hunter's Moon, the Harvest Moon, etc. It looks like "Blood Moon" is another name for a Hunter's Moon.

It also looks like the two Lunar Eclipses in 2014 and the two Lunar Eclipses in 2015 are all "Blood Moons" -- but the dates of those eclipses are not on the equinoxes in either year.

There's a great article on the EarthSky website called "What Is a Blood Moon?" that gives a lot of good information about the upcoming Blood Moons, and how they coincide with Biblical prophecy -- which I'm sure is why there's some trepidation around their occurrence.

Astrologically speaking, the eclipse this April is most powerful because it occurs the same week that the Cardinal Grand Cross is exact. From my perspective, the fact that it could be called a Hunter's Moon or a Blood Moon is not as important as the planetary configurations at that time.

I hope this EarthSky article provides some of the clarification you are looking for.

Testing a theory

In researching online about the time of "solar maximum" that we're currently experiencing, I found a list of the dates of the most recent solar cycles, which begin and end during times of "solar minimum." The dates of solar maximum seem to occur about 4 years into each solar cycle. Our current solar maximum is a bit later than expected -- it was originally predicted for 2012-2013.

Based on that list of solar cycles, I now have an interesting theory to test out.

I noticed that the dates listed were significant in my life, especially in the realm of relationships/partnerships. Since the Sun in my natal chart is in the House of Partnerships, I started wondering if perhaps each time the Sun finishes one cycle and begins another, we earthlings experience an energetic shift in our personal lives based on the house location of the Sun in our natal charts.

So, if you'd like to play along and know the house location of the Sun in your natal chart, here is that list of dates marking the end of one solar cycle and the beginning of a new one:

February 1944
April 1954
October 1964
June 1976
September 1986
May 1996
January 2008

Are these dates (within a few months on either side) consistently significant for you, especially in the area of life represented by the house where your natal Sun resides? (If you need a reminder of what each of the astrological houses represents, click here to visit the "Houses" page on my website.)

This is just a theory, but I find it interesting to think about. Any comments?

The Sun's magnetic field shift

One reader's comment on the "Learn something new every day" post (see below) asked if the magnetic field on the Sun had shifted yet. I went to the NASA site, and the most recent article on the subject was written on December 6 and is titled "The Sun's Magnetic Field Is About to Shift."

One of the quotes at the beginning of the article states, "It looks like we're no more than three to four months away from a complete field reversal."

So, it appears the Sun has not yet completed the shift -- although it's halfway done. The north pole has already shifted, and the old south pole is a bit behind.

This article is actually a very good one, and explains a bit more about the "current sheet" that we passed through last week. Here's another quote about that phenomenon:

"During field reversals, the current sheet becomes very wavy. As Earth orbits the sun, we dip in and out of the current sheet. Transitions from one side to another can stir up stormy space weather around our planet."

Here's an artist's concept of the current sheet, that's included in the article:

It starts to make sense how, as the Earth passes through folds of the sheet, we can experience emotional, mental and physical fluctuations. I still haven't found an article that tells how often we will be passing through the folds -- if anyone else finds one, please let me know!

Learn something new every day...

I had not heard of this before, so it has my attention!

The lead article on Spaceweather.com this morning (January 20) says that:

"High-latitude auroras are possible on January 21 when Earth crosses through a fold in the heliospheric current sheet. This is called a "solar sector boundary crossing."

Evidently this happens from time to time (although I could not find an article telling me how often it occurs). I did find a long NASA article that describes the current sheet as "a sprawling surface where the polarity of the Sun's magnetic field changes from plus (north) to minus (south)." The article goes on to say that:

"As Earth orbits the Sun, it dips in and out of the undulating current sheet. On one side the Sun's magnetic field points north (toward the Sun), on the other side it points south (away from the Sun). South-pointing solar magnetic fields tend to cancel Earth's own magnetic field. Solar wind energy can then penetrate the local space around our planet and fuel geomagnetic storms."

My main interest in this is, of course, about the energetics. Will we feel something on that level tomorrow when the Earth "crosses through a fold" in the current sheet? Will meditation feel any different?

I'm looking forward to finding out!

2014 is THE year

(If you participated in my teleclass, some of the content of this post will look familiar -- but I hope the repetition is helpful!)

One of my goals this year is to emphasize the positive as much as possible, especially as a counterbalance to some of the doom-and-gloom prophecies that are accompanying our Cardinal Grand Cross. My sense is that this configuration has great potential for benefit, for each of us individually and for all of us collectively.

It is true that a grand cross represents a turning point -- but that turning point is meant to take us in positive directions. So what might those directions be? Here are some ideas, based on the positions of the four planets involved in our grand cross.

2014 is THE year to:

• Focus on the aspirations that you feel passionate about, that are in alignment with your knowing of purpose (Pluto in Capricorn)
• Have the courage to follow your unique inspirations and allow the changes that this brings (Uranus in Aries)
• Have patience and take the time to find inner balance before you take action (Mars retrograde in Libra)
• Allow optimism, faith and hope to nurture and support you (Jupiter in Cancer)

Focus, courage, patience and faith -- these are the qualities we want to strengthen in us, that will pave the road to best outcomes throughout 2014.

Blessings to all!

Pam