Time | Peak Periods, Cosmic Rumblings
Audio > The Aha Class
Peak Periods, Cosmic Rumblings
Being in the World and
Power Points in Time
Weds 23rd October 2024
Part One - Being in the World - is about being born, dying and going through life, and the predicament of living on an intensely gravitational, dense world, yet one with a remarkable range of experiential possibilities available for human evolution. It's about the Tibetan bardos - waking life, dreaming, altered states, being born, dying and the after-death state - and the passage of the soul through different kinds of experience. These are very different kinds of experience, yet it is the same soul that experiences them. However, since accelerating our evolution involves a choice of the soul and a turning in the deepest seat of consciousness, only some of us choose it.
Part Two - Power Points in Time - goes into peak periods and times of amplified, pattern-setting possibility - and some of the astrology that's involved in identifying such times. This is about solstices, equinoxes and cross-quarters, cycles of the Moon and line-ups of planets. The ancients made use of both temporal and spatial power points to raise their magical-spiritual game, increasing the possibility of changing the way that life and nature operate through innerwork with the fundamental forces of life, spirit and nature.
1: Being in the World (60 mins):
2: Power Points in Time (69 mins):
Pictures below are useful to look at when listening the second part, Power Points in Time.
The Saros Cycle
Eclipse seasons take place twice every year. Each year their positions move roughly half a sign backwards through the zodiac. After nineteen years the cycle repeats, and eclipses take place in approximately the same positions as in the preceding cycle.
One Saros or eclipse cycle is:
- 19 eclipse years (38 eclipse seasons);
- 18.03 solar years
- 223 synodic months
- 242 draconic months
- 6,585 days
The main point is that the Metonic and Saros cycles are sophisticated, remarkable cycles that integrate the solar and lunar calendars. Using these, eclipses and their accuracy can be predicted.
The Metonic Cycle
The Metonic period of 6,939.6 days, almost exactly 19 years, is equivalent to:
- 19 solar years;
- 20 eclipse years (cycles of eclipse positions);
- 235 synodic months (cycles of lunar phases);
- 254 sidereal months (lunar orbits of the Earth);
- 255 draconic months (lunar conjunctions with its north node – this is eclipse-related).
If a fullmoon occurred on the solstice, it would take 19 years before it happened again. The cycle needs only one day’s adjustment every 219 years, once every eight or so generations. The Metonic Cycle represented one 18-year human generation in ancient times.
Further resources:
Living in Time, a free online archive version of Palden's 1987 book about time-cycles (check it out).
Power Points in Time, updated version of the above book, available in print from Penwith Press (£17.50).
Both give comprehensive astrological details about the subject.
Overview of the astronomy of solar and lunar cycles: Elementary Archaeoastronomy. It's from Power Points in Time.
Here's a recent blog of mine: Time - Gnashers and Magic Carpets.
If the astronomy of Lunar Standstills (Maxima and Minima) particularly interests you, try this.
If the longterm astrological patterns and cycles of history pique your interest, try The Historical Ephemeris.
There are plenty of astrological books, courses and online videos to help you learn astrology. However, I taught astrology in the 1980s-90s and (sorry) I am not au fait with what's available now. Nothing beats learning astrology by life-observation, though this can take time - but then, for something that can benefit you for the whole of your life, it can be worth it. Also, follow your intuitions: if you give it some focus, you'll be led to what you need to learn. It took me three years to learn the full range of concepts involved, and seven years to get it into my bones, ready to start practising and teaching. And... you never stop learning, and it's very much connected with life experiences and what you make of them. Also with other interests: astrology and psychotherapy, geomancy, horticulture, medicine, weather - it's a tool for working in many wider fields.
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