2009 & The Triple Conjunction's Rose-Colored Glasses

Looking back on 2009, I think the astrological event of the year was the total solar eclipse from July 22, occurring in the last degree of the sign Cancer. This eclipse was about a culmination (the last degree) in the security of our private lives (Cancer), and what can be more personal than that. Especially for people whose birthdays fall near that date, both the Cancers and the Leos, their lives may be drastically different. One Leo friend, whose birthday is July 24, is now in a completely new life, living in two new cities with a job in one city and a new relationship in the other. The previous relationship of many years ran its course.

But even for the rest of us, whose birthdays are not near July 22, the shift may be more subtle, yet as powerful. There may have been a birth, a death, a new relationship, the loss of a job or another event, but whatever it was, our lives are looking different. We may have celebrated holidays in different groupings. We may find ourselves less patient with old behaviors around addiction or mental health. We may be more in touch with a sense of human authentic idealistic values.

As 2009 was approaching, we astrologers were watching three slow moving "planets" - Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron - converging in the sign Aquarius. The name for this became The Triple Conjunction. From the number of blogs posted on this topic, it seemed many of us thought The Triple Conjunction was going to be the astrological event of the year. My impression is The Triple Conjunction acted more like a pair of rose-colored glasses or like novacaine or a pain reliever or facebook!. As anesthesia can allow us to endure life changing surgery, that's what my impression is of how The Triple Conjunction acted. And because The Triple Conjunction was in the sign Aquarius, the rose-colored glasses provided distance on painful issues, a way of not taking things so personally, and a way of more easily connecting with friends and facebook friends.

While the Triple Conjunction lasted all year, but the solar eclipse "only" 6 minutes and 39 seconds (it was the longest total solar eclipse during the 21st century), I think it was the solar eclipse, in its bossy cardinal sign, that ultimately gave orders from headquarters encouraging us to get out of our fearful shells and be compelled to live more of our personal selves in our lives.

The 2009 Triple Conjunction has now run its course. The broad-banded anesthesia which friended us in 2009 served as an important tool helping us move through old fears which at other times stood as blocks in the road. For that we can be grateful as we embark on a new decade in our personal lives.