Dawn Fairchild--

The concept of inhabitants of the Earth looking to the stars for guidance, answers and hope is one of the oldest practices known on the planet. Astrology and horoscope readings are some of the very first documented forms of human beings attempting to understand themselves and the cosmos. It shows up in etchings on cave drawings, symbols in Egyptian tombs and early texts from ancient civilizations.

With such a rich history, taking your first steps into horoscope readings can be an intimidating thing. While there is an extensive amount of information available, understanding the basic concepts and theories is no harder than learning to ride a bike. With ample studying, you might be surprised to be constantly finding new layers of meaning hidden behind everyday activities that you might have otherwise written off as good or bad luck.

So Astrology Is…

Astrology is often mis-categorized as a science due to its similarly pronounced cohort, astronomy. Astrologists typically have more in common with practices like yoga and eastern therapies like acupuncture and Feng Shui. Astrology is more appropriately labeled as a metaphysical philosophy. Think of astrology as a lens that, when applied to our lives, allows us to see things in contrasting, and often more vibrant colors.

Wynn Free--

Well the shift is here and you've probably noticed that it's all speeded up. The energy is moving through you, or at least it's trying. When it hits an obstacle and you can't get it through, it pushes the obstacle right to the surface of your consciousness. Are you may be feeling more pain, anger, argumentative, dizzy, unfocused, lethargic, purposeless, etc. That's it. It's the shift and it's bringing up your "sh--t". Everything is up for processing and hopefully uses this period to release.

So what's the shift and why is it doing that? People have been talking about this December 21st, 2012, end date of the Mayan Calendar for quite some time. Well the world didn't end, obviously, but something's different. This is serious, so I'm going to try and give you a simple explaination in the short space of this article.

You're probably aware of astrology and how the planets are moving in and about certain constellations and that causes shifts in the physical world.  The reason that it works that way is because the entire universe is composed of one energy that radiates from the center of the universe through all the galaxies, through the Milky Way, the solar system, planet earth and finally right through the top of you, through your body and into the earth.

David LIntner -

Altruism is nothing more than a measure of how broadly one defines oneself.  As long as there are those who exist outside that definition, my journey is not finished. It is, sometimes, a perplexing trip. 

One the one hand, an individual’s life exists for that one alone.  The body is designed to propagate itself, to learn, and to survive as long as it can.  I have seen many people who do not have that sense of self, not because they have reached a high level of spiritual development, but because they do not believe they have personal value. 

Christianity is a root cause of that lack of self worth, because it teaches, as its central doctrine, that the individual is flawed, and unworthy. The reasoning goes something like this:  God causes himself to be born, so he can sacrifice himself, to himself, to make up for his original design flaw. And we are made to believe its our fault!

If you do not honor yourself, how can you honor another?  If you do not respect yourself, how can you respect another?

As social animals, however, we are enmeshed with others who exist for the same reason.  And the more of us there are, the more we have to compete for the stuff of survival.  It is the way of the natural order, from galaxies devouring one another in cosmic gravity dances, to the battle between the creosote bush and other desert plants for scarce water resources.

One yogi (I don’t remember who) said something like, “Everything is food.”

The other side of the coin, during this perplexing trip, is the possibility of recognizing that its purpose is to grow up and out, so that I do not perceive the trip as being about me alone, but about us.  “Us” is just a big word for “me.”

Erik Oakenshield -

The word “horoscope” comes from the Greek word horoskopos which means “watcher of the hour” or “observer of the hour.” The exact origin and history of horoscopes is, unfortunately, undocumented. We can trace the oldest known horoscope back to Babylon in April 29, 410 B.C., though it probably wasn’t much like any horoscope that we know of today. A lot of things have changed in the last couple thousand years

A Form of Astrology
Astrology is the broader school of study that horoscopes fall under, and is also primarily concerned with divination through the study of planetary and celestial relationships. Multiple cultures around the globe developed systems of astrology independently, including Mediterranean peoples like the Greeks, Eastern Asians such as the Chinese, and Mesoamericans including the Aztecs and the Mayans, just to name a few. The importance of the heavenly bodies to the human psyche is demonstrated by multiple cultures’ individual development of varying astrological systems, despite their wide geographical differences.

The Astrology of December 21, 2012

Anita Burns

According to a lot of people, December, 2012 will bring either great disaster, or great awakening. What's the astrology about all of this?

Astrology is about cycles. All of the 2012 configurations, began with the harmonic convergence in the 1980s and was stepped up in 2011 when a series of hard aspects between Uranus and Pluto began. There were Grand Crosses with planets in Cardinal signs (These are Aries, Cancer, Libra, Virgo).

Uranus - the planet of independence and unexpected change had a hand in the "Arab Spring." Then there was the "Occupy movement" spurred on by the interactions of Uranus with Pluto. Pluto has a hand in shifting old energy that needs changing. He is not subtle. He is an atom bomb.

What's different with this cycle of Pluto and Uranus?
In 2012, the galactic equator stands at 0 degrees Capricorn. This is where the Sun will be at the Winter solstice - Dec. 21.

At 11:12 GMT on December 21, the Sun will contact what is called the "Dark Rift" located near the center of the galaxy. This is referred to by the Mayans as the "Cosmic Womb," a place of great transformation, death, birth, and awakening from darkness.

With this alignment, plus Pluto in Capricorn, old structures that have been stable for a long time in society are crumbling and need to be renovated.

The players for this time of year are Uranus, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto, plus minor support figures of Mars, Mercury, and Venus.