A Little Astrology for the Start of 2009

The year looks set for a fascinating start, if you take a look at the planets right now, close to midnight on New Year's Eve. Since most of the planets don't move all that fast, the relationships should be pretty much the same when the year turns in other locations as well. (Note: I only use the seven classical planets in astrological interpretation, so I'm ignoring the others.)

All the planets except for Saturn are packed inside two neighbouring zodiac signs, Capricorn and Aquarius. With the planets this close together, you can expect some interesting conjunctions, and those we sure have. Moon and Venus, the most feminine of the planets, are in pretty close conjunction in Aquarius. Jupiter and Mercury, both masculine, intellectual types, are in very close conjunction in Capricorn, while Mars and Sun, the planets most associated with strength, are about seven degrees apart, also in Capricorn.

There are some sextile and semi-sextile aspects between these groups, which are generally positive, supportive aspects. Interestingly, there is also a trine from Saturn, in Virgo, to the Jupiter-Mercury conjunction, which is also a supportive aspect.

So what does this all mean? There seem to be three powerful forces at play simultaneously. There's a strong, even aggressive, controlling force. There is also a more benign, intellectual force, albeit perhaps a little restrained and aloof (although this may not necessarily be a bad thing).

[Pause here to go watch the midnight fireworks. Which, frankly, were a little lame this year, and the weather was awful.]

Finally, there is a third force at play, which is quite different, a creative, feeling force. Which of these forces will be the most powerful remains to be seen.

Looking at what's going on right now, it wouldn't be a far stretch to see the more forceful influence in the ongoing aggressive actions taken by Israel. If the Jupiter-Mercury conjunction is related to that, it could be telling us that the international community is present, but restrained, merely watching. But it could, and perhaps more likely does, signify a totally different influence in world affairs, such as the financial crisis. In this case it might be telling us that those in power should be very careful and thoughtful in the steps they make. (Which, I guess, is rather obvious.) What the Moon-Venus conjunction could signify, I don't know. It is probably more at play on a personal level than in global affairs. It is not likely that the world would be blossoming into some intellectual, creative Aquarian age overnight.

Well, I think that's more than enough blogging for one day. So I wish everyone a happy 2009, and may it be a good one, despite all that's going on.

The Happy New Year 2009 Post

A few hours from now there is an arbitrary point in time when it stops being 2008 and 2009 begins. I guess that's worth a blog post.

In Finland New Year's Eve is synonymous with fireworks. It's the only time the public is allowed freely to buy and fire them. We've had (a few cheap) fireworks a few times back when us kids were still kids, but mostly we've been happy to watch. The display here in this cosy town of 6,000 is pretty quiet and sparse compared to the cities, but that's really how I like it. A few good ones are much better, I think, than a never ending bombardment. There'd probably be more near the tourist area of Tahko, but that's on the opposite side of town.

Coincidentally, as far back as I remember, with only three exceptions, I've spent every midnight as the year turns on pretty much the same spot, on the little road that runs in front of my grandparents' house here in Nilsiä. The exceptions are one New Year's Eve as a kid we spent in Helsinki (I don't remember the reason exactly, but I'd assume it's been because of my mother's work schedules), and two occasions when I've been bedridden with flu (one as a kid, one a few years back). It's almost like a ritual beginning for the year. I'm not sure what I'll do when the time comes when I can no longer spend New Year's Eve here. Perhaps time will stop and a new year won't begin? (The same applies to Christmas Eve, which I've always spent in the living room of this house.)

Other random content: I re-read Masamune Shirow's Orion again, like I've often done over the Christmas holiday (as a kind of counterbalance to reading Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind during the summer). It's one of my very favourite comics of all time. It must be one of the most imaginative works ever, an insane mixture of adventure, humour, science, Buddhism and Japanese myth. The dialogue with it's inventive terminology is difficult to understand at best, but that's one of the reasons I love it so much.

I don't do New Year's resolutions. I'm sure my life is far from perfect, but there's nothing I could improve by making some arbitrary promise which I'd soon forget about anyway. I don't do much looking back to the highlights of the past year, either. It's just another year, like all the others. I read one or two cool comics, played one remarkable video game, that's pretty much it.