Astro4Business Intersections

Business success through Astrology

Entries (RSS)

Archive for category Philosophy

Birthing a revolution – Pluto in Capricorn

Feb 23

Posted by Ellen in Philosophy, Pluto in Capricorn | 7 Comments

Hello, everyone.

This is the second part of a series examining the current position of Pluto in Capricorn and comparing it to the time of the American Revolution, the last time Pluto was in Capricorn.

We’re not to the point of revolution yet.  If we compare the actual position of Pluto now to that historical period it is related to the years 1762 to 1765.  During those years Pluto was transiting back and forth from about 0 degrees Capricorn to 5 degrees Capricorn, just like it is now.  When the actual Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, Pluto was at 27 degrees of Capricorn, which it will reach again in 2022.

 

Political cartoon by Benjamin Franklin

Political cartoon by Benjamin Franklin

Birthing a revolution

 

 

 

The years between 1762 and 1765 were called by John Adams, an American statesman, when “American independence was then and there born.”  Great Britain had just concluded what American historians refer to as The French and Indian War.  While Great Britain did not expect the American colonists to pay for all of the costs of the war, it did begin to require them to pay for ongoing colonial defense.  It also began to enforce certain mercantile laws that were in place already but had not been enforced strictly until this time.

These laws with their additional taxes were met with great resistance in Americans who believed that monarchs could tax people only with their consent.  The resistance to this tax created a loose coalition among the various colonies in the region, colonies with fundamental differences and mistrust of each other, but a common goal to resist what they deemed as unfair practices by the British government. 

Civic and religious duty

During the years leading up to the Revolution there was a fervor developing for “Republicanism.”  In those days, Republicanism meant that men were required to put civic duty ahead of personal desires – that people should develop “a positive passion for the public good”, in the words of John Adams.  And as Thomas Payne expounded in “Common Sense”, a very popular pamphlet that circulated just before the Revolution, it was also a part of every man’s religious duty to fight tyranny.  He based this on the Bible’s exposition that men are equal to each other at creation; therefore there is no distinction between kings and subjects.

Revolution today

What are the correspondences to the Pluto in Capricorn of today?

I’ll name three that I see and I hope you’ll add to the list:

  1. We are at the very beginning of this Pluto in Capricorn cycle.  The American Revolution occurred at the end of the prior one.  Already we are witnessing the stirrings of a global overthrow of governmental and business structures.  The Tea Party movement is an example of a similar sentiment to the colonists prior to the Revolution.
  2. Coalitions of people are forming who are historically distrustful of each other, yet united in their fervor to fundamentally restructure some aspect of society.  This can be seen in some of the unlikely alliances in the Republican Party today.
  3. The religious duty to overthrow tyranny forms the basis of some of the most important global movements in our time.

Will this be BIG?

Are you wondering whether there will be an enormous societal change with this passage of Pluto in Capricorn like there was in the last?  Yes, I think so.  Capricorn as a cardinal sign wants to initiate something big and concrete, and Pluto is always birthing the evolution we need to progress as a whole. 

What will it be?  I’m not sure yet.  John Adams didn’t recognize the birth point of the revolution until many years later.  And this is a feature of Pluto, whether it is operating in a birth chart, a business chart, or the times as a whole.  Pluto’s transformations are so massive it takes many years before we can look at what happened and say, yes, I understand it.  Right now we’re deeply immersed in the throes of its activity – like the American colonists about twelve years before declaring independence.

If you see other correspondences between those times and now, let us know in the Comments section.

For more posts on Pluto in Capricorn, see the category at the right.

Don’t forget. If you have an astrology-related business question (or a business-related astrology question) send it to me at ellen@astro4business.com. I’ll answer it in these posts, anonymously of course, and we can all learn from each other’s experiences. I look forward to it! Have a question now? Email it and let’s get started! 

Tags: , , ,

The Tiger – good for business!

Feb 17

Posted by Ellen in Philosophy | No Comments

Hello everyone.

I’m sure you know that the Chinese New Year began on February 14, and this year is the Year of the Tiger.  I’m not an expert, nor even an amateur, at Chinese astrology, but I ran into some interesting information that applies to our business lives related to the Year of the Tiger.  Rather than trying to convey the essence of the information to you, I thought I would pass it along directly. 

Lynn Hayes is an astrologer that I read regularly.  She writes about many subjects – you may enjoy her work too.  In this entry, she quotes another astrologer, Marvin Artley.  I am less familiar with his work but will definitely return to his website again.

From Lynn’s post, “Happy Chinese New Year!”

As if Valentine’s Day, the Aquarian New Moon, a Venus/Jupiter conjunction and the conjunction of Chiron and Neptune weren’t enough, we also have the Chinese New Year! 

 

Source:Wikimedia Commons

Source:Wikimedia Commons

This is the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese astrological pantheon; it is the year of Metal Tiger, which is great for wealth, but it is also the year of the White Tiger because of the association of the color white to the element of metal.  The White or Metal Tiger has the potential for power, but also for destruction and social disorder and change.

 

It’s an interesting synchronicity that Uranus (revolution and change) will enter the sign of Aries (war and agression) this year, bringing about a similar tendency towards chaotic social disorder and change that Chinese astrologers are predicting with the Year of the Tiger.   

Astrologer Marvin Artley writes:  

It is said that when the Emperor rules with absolute virtue, the White Tiger will appear. The White Tiger is one of the four sacred animals in Chinese astrology. It rules over the western direction and is symbolic of strength, daring, commercial prowess, the competitive spirit and willingness to fight for beliefs. Of course, the White Tiger referred to here is not the sacred, or heraldic, animal but the same principles apply to the Tiger as one of the twelve zodiacal signs.

 
The year of 2010, starting from Valentines’ Day, will be marked by revolutionary tendencies, advances and accidents in transport, attempts at imposing draconian legislation, advances in media and a resurgence of the working classes. Metal (White) Tiger years typically see antitrust legislation and insurrections in the political arena. The sudden reversals and consequent engendered insecurity that we saw in the Rat and Ox years just passed (2008, 2009) have set the stage for overhauls of political and economic systems that are oppressive or do not work, with a consequent reactionary front from those who would rather keep those systems in place. The so-called War on Terror will take a decisive turn in 2010, with expected military action against recalcitrant regimes. Iran and North Korea come to mind. The Korean War started in the White Tiger year of 1950.  

On the social front the explorer’s instinct and entrepreneurial spirit will be to the fore. New products come out in White Tiger years that tend to become ‘old standards’ later, such as peanut butter, Pepsi Cola, the sewing machine, corrugated boxes, hamburgers and beloved comic strips (’Peanuts’ and Beetle Bailey’), so put on your thinking caps and see what you can come up with.  

The Tiger in Chinese astrology represents majesty, dignity and sternness, daring, power and passion and anyone who has those qualities in their nature will fare well in 2010. For those who are more sedate then those same Tiger qualities may just be awakened this year. It is said that the Tiger has no special magical properties. Tigers work best ‘in the trenches’ and in motivating others to get things done. It will be a great year to start an enterprise, work at self-improvement, prevail upon the boss for that raise you so richly deserve, do something daring and completely out-of-character, push your own and others’ boundaries, get over that fear of public speaking or just generally make a bold statement about your life. In all, find whatever stirs your passion this year and the Tiger in you is sure to come out!  

Some Chinese astrologers warn that the year is good for business, but there is danger in becoming too greedy (the same can be said of the conjunction of Jupiter to Uranus in Pisces coming up in March through May of 2010).   

Thanks Lynn and Marvin!

Don’t forget. If you have an astrology-related business question (or a business-related astrology question) send it to me at ellen@astro4business.com. I’ll answer it in these posts, anonymously of course, and we can all learn from each other’s experiences. I look forward to it! Have a question now? Email it and let’s get started!

Tags: ,

Your questions – cycles within cycles

Feb 5

Posted by Ellen in Introduction to Astrology for Business, Philosophy, Your Questions | No Comments

Anonymous Flammarion woodcut (1888). (Source:Wikimedia Commons)

Anonymous Flammarion woodcut (1888). (Source:Wikimedia Commons)

Hello everyone.

The following question comes from a reader with a good understanding of astrology.  Please don’t get discouraged by the technical terms – her question posts an issue that applies to all of us and allows me the chance to spell out some fundamental astrological principles.

She writes:

How does a personal astrology chart interact with the bigger astrological influences?  I’ve wondered this often, and my current situation brings it up again.  In my chart I have transiting Jupiter conjunct natal Saturn in my 10th house.  My understanding of that, is this is a great time to make things real in the material world – particularly as it relates to my career.  And since I own my own business, for my company.  Jupiter is within 1 degree of my natal Saturn tomorrow.  But, Mars is in retrograde and there will be a void Moon tomorrow afternoon.

I can’t tell you how often this is the case.  One part of the astrology says “go”; another part says “no”.  Life is like that, isn’t it?  It’s a complex undertaking, not often reducible to black or white.

Our World of Cycles

When we are born, we enter a world in the midst of cycles.  The moon may be waxing or waning, the sun may be heading into the northern or southern hemisphere, some planets may be retrograding, others are in the signs they rule so are very strong, others may be weakened by aspect, etc, etc, etc.  And we step in to all this motion, stamped indelibly by these first impressions, or if you prefer, aligned perfectly with the needs of our soul’s journey. 

These cycles don’t stop.  Within a few moments after your birth, planetary positions have shifted and the degree on the horizon which indicates your rising sign has changed.  The cycles zoom ahead – all of the way to the present moment.

The moon completes a full cycle every month, the Sun every year.  Each planet has its cycle, with the outer planets taking so long they don’t complete a full cycle in our lifetime.  Some cycles repeat themselves over and over in our lives and some don’t have time to repeat at all.

Now it gets complicated

The position a planet occupied at the moment of your birth is always sensitized in your life.  The planet moves on from that point, but that point in the zodiac continues to hold meaning for you.  When another planet in its orbit passes that sensitized point or forms a mathematical angle to it, there is an opportunity to work with the issues described by the two planets, the original one and the one passing through.  Sometimes this is a purely inner experience, an awakening of some kind.  Sometimes the inner experience is reflected in the outer world and we learn more about ourselves in relation to others during the transit.

Now all of this can get very complicated, very quickly.  Just think of all your experiences and relationships even in the current point in time, all the roles you play, your interests, your feelings, your yearnings, what has gone before and your hopes for the future.  Every single facet of life is reflected in the cycles of astrology, so you can imagine how complex each moment is, astrologically speaking.

One thing is certain:  the experiences you came for, you will get.  My spiritual teacher once said that we came to this earth with something to learn and something to offer. You will have the opportunity to both learn and offer within the cycles shown in your astrological chart.

In this way, the unfolding of our personal astrology chart is part of and contained within the bigger astrological influences.  So if you are having an influence that lasts a few weeks, like the reader’s Jupiter transit of her natal Saturn, but Mars is retrograde at the time, the retrograde Mars is part of the unfolding of the Jupiter/Saturn transit.  That Jupiter/Saturn transit was always going to unfold that way, with Mars retrograde.  If you’re looking at transits ahead of time, they must always be considered in concert with the other cycles happening at the time.

Keep it simple

Like I said, all of this can get very complex.  So I appreciate the advice of my current astrology teachers, Darrelyn Gunzberg and Bernadette Brady.  They use the K.I.S.S. principle, which they say means, Keep It Simple, Student.  They advise us to pick two or three of the most important cycles unfolding in relation to our birth charts and interpret all of the lesser cycles in terms of these major ones.  In other words, if you are experiencing a major Pluto transit now, the theme of transformation through destruction and irrevocable change will be playing itself out in some part of your life.  The monthly lunar cycles, or Mars retrograde, or even a Jupiter transit to your natal chart must be interpreted within the meaning of regeneration shown by the Pluto transit. Everything will contribute to and become part of this overarching development. 

So, specifically in answer to the reader’s question, if Jupiter is bringing opportunities for expansion of responsibility and structure (Saturn) to her business (10th house), then retrograde Mars indicates that these opportunities will be found by looking back at ground previously covered, rather than initiating something brand new. In this way, the Mars retrograde becomes a helpful clue to discover the source of the Jupiterian opportunity.

Each moment is auspicious

There is more to be said regarding how to choose which cycles are the overarching themes, and the timing of the unfolding of experiences as they are revealed in the chart, but I think this is enough to digest for now.  I’ll just leave you with one other thought, something I have learned from my spiritual studies:  each moment is auspicious.  Each birth is auspicious because your Soul, the great Soul, has decided to enact a certain play in these cycles of space and time.  Your chart is a translation of the infinite light of the truth into everyday life in this world.

Enjoy!

Don’t forget. If you have an astrology-related business question (or a business-related astrology question) send it to me at ellen@astro4business.com. I’ll answer it in these posts, anonymously of course, and we can all learn from each other’s experiences. I look forward to it! Have a question now? Email it and let’s get started!

Tags: , ,

Science or Astrology?

Jan 27

Posted by Ellen in Astro4Business Basics, Philosophy, The Planets | No Comments

Hello, everyone.

I was speaking with a client the other day who had called about a business/astrology question.  After a fruitful conversation she said, “I almost didn’t call you.  I didn’t want the astrology to influence my thinking.”

It sounds odd, doesn’t it, to call an astrologer about a situation but not want the astrology to influence your decision?  Still, I understood what she meant.  It was a classic free will versus destiny dilemma, or free will versus nature.

I am the master of my destiny

This particular client has a very prominent Uranus in her chart, which represents a rational, even scientific way of looking at things.  She wants to believe she is the master of her destiny. 

The planet Uranus was first sighted during the 17th century, the same time that the scientific method was being developed into its modern form by Descartes and Galileo.  Science, as it has come to be practiced today, is based on hypotheses, repeatable experiments, and resultant theories.  What passes these tests is deemed real; what does not pass, is not real. 

Scientific Method

This scientific method has resulted in immeasurable changes to the way we live, and to the earth we inhabit.  It has ushered in marvelous advances in human society as well, as the old superstitions which could not be proven have died, like the superiority of man versus woman or one race over another.

In the darkness of night, wanderers

Astrology is the ancient study of the cycles of nature.  Many people who don’t believe in astrology have not imagined what life must have been like before the introduction of electricity.  We are well aware of the cycles of the Sun which cause the seasons, and some of us are aware of the cycles of the Moon because they influence the tides.  But before electricity, the night was darker and if you ventured outside, you noticed these bright objects that wandered across the sky.  At times they would disappear entirely from your night sky; at other times they would seem to join other objects or be swallowed by the Sun completely.

In an age of less entertainment, these objects and their travels occupied a much bigger place in our psyches.  With the discovery in the last 300 years of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, and the advances that have led to the industrial age and now to our information age many of us are less and less aware of the cycles of nature, including the cycles of the planets.

The study of astrology is to take a stand and say, the cycles of nature are still influencing our lives.  And further to say, if I understand these cycles I can live my life in tune with them.  When it’s time to sow, I will know it.  When it’s time to reap, I will know it.  But desire is possibly the most powerful force in the universe and yes, it is free to use as we want.  We don’t have to plant in spring anymore; with greenhouses, heaters, grow lights, fertilizer, and automated watering systems we can plant a crop whenever we want.

To plant with ease, plant within season

What astrology says is, to plant with ease, plant within season.  The planets don’t compel.  As they move through space they mark times of increase and times of decrease.  They plainly show the natural cycles of activity and rest.  And these cycles stamp us at the moment of our birth, some cycles waxing, some cycles waning.  But whether we follow these rhythms is entirely up to us.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each belief system.  If you follow the cycles, you have to admit that we have retained our instinctual selves and our activities are a product of natural cycles, just like everything else on earth.  If you ignore these cycles, this ignorance sets you free to attempt to master your destiny, based on your personal will and desires, and to ignore your connection to and impact on all other things. 

And there seems to be room for all of us, at least so far.  A more Neptune-ruled person will tend to feel connected to the cycles of life.  A more Uranus-ruled person will tend to feel more independent and in control of life.  And some people are an interesting mix of the two, which makes them call an astrologer, but not want to be influenced by what they hear.

Which one are you?  Weigh in by leaving a comment above.

Don’t forget. If you have an astrology-related business question (or a business-related astrology question) send it to me at ellen@astro4business.com. I’ll answer it in these posts, anonymously of course, and we can all learn from each other’s experiences. I look forward to it! Got a question now? Email it and let’s get started!

Tags: , ,

Retracing Your Steps – Retrograde Motion

Jan 6

Posted by Ellen in Philosophy | 3 Comments

Hello everyone.

In the last post, I related an anecdote about watching a flight of geese, and how I noticed that retrograde motion is a natural part of life.  There are periods when we’re just meant to slow down, retrace, and take another look.  In this series I want to look at whether we can discern, through the lens of astrology, the purpose of these “do over” times.

Retracing Steps

(Source:Wikipedia)

(Source:Wikipedia)

When a planet goes retrograde it retraces its steps.  Think of it like a backpacker who covered a certain portion of a trail, then turned around and retraced her steps to a point, and then turned around and headed out again on the same trail.  As she backtracks, she is walking the same trail but looking at it from a different direction.  And when she turns around and heads forward again, she will be covering the same ground she hiked the first time.  Then at some point she begins to forge new trail again.

This is how a retrograde planet behaves.  Taking the example of the current Mercury retrograde period, Mercury travelled from 5 degrees of Capricorn to 21 degrees of Capricorn between December 9 and December 26.  It then went retrograde and backtracked to 5 degrees of Capricorn, covering the same ground but in retrograde motion.  On January 15 it will resume direct motion, again covering the same ground until February 4.  After February 4 it steps into new territory.  Over a period of two months Mercury traverses from 5 degrees of Capricorn to 21 degrees of Capricorn three times:  the first pass in forward motion, the second in retrograde motion, and the third pass in forward motion again.

Dilly-Dallying

But this is the important point:  even though Mercury has been retracing the same steps, dilly-dallying as the nuns used to say, the other planets have been moving forward for two months.  Just as the season may have changed for our backpacker as she went back and forth on the trail, by the third time Mercury covers the same ground, the environment can be quite different due to the changed position of the rest of the planets. 

Can you think back to December 9 and identify a Mercury-related issue you were grappling with then?  Mercury-related issues are connected to thinking and perception, processing and disseminating information, and communication, commerce, education and transportation. Industries ruled by Mercury are sales, writing, public relations, advertising, publishing, document delivery, and transportation.  See if you can identify a matter you were working on from December 9 to the day after Christmas, and which seems to be delayed now.

In the next post we’ll see if we can identify the purpose for the delay and how to move forward with confidence when the time comes.

Tags: , ,

Elegant Stillness – Retrograde Motion

Jan 4

Posted by Ellen in Philosophy | 2 Comments

Hello everyone.

Today I was exploring a nature preserve just behind my new home in Rhode Island.  I was walking along the trail admiring the dry winter grasses when my lab startled flock after flock of Canadian Geese which were floating in an inlet just off Narragansett Bay.  I watched the birds as they skittered into the air and noticed something I had never seen before.  While some birds flew forward, others were virtually still in the air, flapping their wings to maintain their position as the flock formed around them.  Eventually they formed their standard V positions and moved off across the water.

Canadian Geese in flight. (Source:Wikipedia)

Canadian Geese in flight. (Source:Wikipedia)

As I watched these birds I thought, retrograde motion.  In fact, like the planets from our viewpoint, the birds maintaining a constant position looked like they were moving backward against the birds moving forward.  But more than the visual similarity, I recognized a similarity in meaning.

Mars and Mercury retrograde

With Mars and Mercury retrograde, we may feel like we’re standing still or losing ground.  It may look to an outside observer that, like the planets, we are hampered internally or externally from moving forward.  As much as we would like to make progress toward our goals, especially with the new year, we may find ourselves waiting for others or revisiting our plans for the year.  (Or like me, maybe your office was stuck in a moving van in New Jersey for a week.) 

But those geese showed me that sometimes we have to stay in one place so that other factors have time to form around us.  Maybe those stationary geese arrived at their proper place in the formation too soon and had to wait for the others.   Maybe it wasn’t their turn to take the lead, so they had to allow the leaders to fly forward.  Or maybe they were some kind of sentinels, establishing for the rest of the group the general area to fall into line.  Whatever it was, the retro-gradation obviously had its purpose.

Elegant stillness

There was such elegance in their stillness; waiting, yes, but with no impatience.  It did look like hard work; much harder work than motion.  But the instant came when they could move again and I had to respect the deep wisdom that guided both the waiting and the flight.

I can’t help but noticing how natural this process of stopping, waiting, retracing is.  Every kind of motion has its purpose; it’s up to us to recognize it and take advantage of it.  Are you in retrograde motion?  What positive purpose could there be?  Please share your examples in the comments section above.

Tags: ,

Mars in Cancer – the Pandavas in exile

Aug 24

Posted by Ellen in Introduction to Astrology for Business, Philosophy, The Planets, What to do now | 1 Comment

The central figure is Yudhishthira ; the two to his left are Bhima and Arjuna . Nakula and Sahadeva are to his right. Their wife, at far right, is Draupadi. Deogarh, Dasavatar temple. (Source:Wikipedia)

The central figure is Yudhishthira ; the two to his left are Bhima and Arjuna . Nakula and Sahadeva are to his right. Their wife, at far right, is Draupadi. Deogarh, Dasavatar temple. (Source:Wikipedia)

When I was writing the forecast for this week and thinking about Mars moving into the sign of Cancer, I kept remembering the Pandava brothers from the Indian epic, The Mahabharata.  The Mahabharata is an awesome, complex story in which the righteous heir to the throne, Yudishthira, loses his kingdom in a game of dice to his evil cousin.  He and his four brothers are exiled from their lands for thirteen years with the additional condition that during the thirteenth year they must be kept completely hidden. If anyone located them, they would have to spend another 12 years in exile.

Yudishthira and his brothers were known far and wide for their stupendous skills as warriors and for their weapons which were forged by the gods.  One display of these famous weapons and their whereabouts would immediately be recognized.  So they stowed their weapons in a tall tree in a cemetery and went into disguise for the year.  Each brother adopted a different cover and dwelled in the court of a righteous foreign king. 

This story of the exile of the warriors and hiding of the weapons reminded me so much of Mars in Cancer.  For the next two months we will make very little progress toward new or competitive goals, so what should we do?  How can we avoid being frustrated by our lack of momentum?  I turned to the Pandavas to see what we can learn from them to apply to our business lives between now and mid-October – our “warrior in hiding” time!

The Disguises

Yudishthira, the eldest and most righteous brother, put on the garments of a mendicant, a philosopher, and an expert in the game of dice.  He offered himself to the king as his companion.

Bheema, the strongest brother and the one most prone to anger and temper, offered his services as the chief cook in the kitchen of the king.  Cooking had always been his hobby and he used this proficiency to his advantage during this time.  He also was put in charge of the king’s gymnasium where he trained youngsters in the art of wrestling.

Arjuna, the greatest archer of his time, had once visited his father, Indra, the king of heaven, and had been cursed by a heavenly dancing girl for refusing her offer of love.  She cursed the virile Arjuna to spend a year as a eunuch.  During their year of hiding, Arjuna took advantage of this curse.  Versed in the dancing, singing, and music arts, he offered to train the women in the king’s harem to be singers and dancers.

Nakula, the most sensitive and beautiful brother, was an ancient times horse whisperer.  He demonstrated his power to the king and the king put him in charge of the stables.

Sahadeva was the wisest and most diplomatic of the Pandava brothers.  He was talented at gently coaxing cows to yield the best milk.  Since the king’s chief wealth was his cattle, he offered these services to the king.

The Take-aways

Of course these classic stories are open to many levels of interpretation, but here is my take.  Generally each brother, upon relinquishing the weapons he normally relied upon, turned to another skill in their possession and brought it forward.  They set alternate goals to achieve success during the time.

Yudishthira became philosopher and teacher, and interestingly, taught the king the very skill, dice, that he had played so badly he had lost his entire birthright.  Take-away:  Use this time to hone a skill to perfection that has caused you trouble in the past.

Bheema offered a hobby he loved and also mentored young people in his skill as a warrior.  Take-away:  Focus on fulfilling an alternate pastime and use this time to mentor others in your primary skills.

Arjuna used the time to discharge a difficult karmic debt to his advantage by accepting the curse to become a eunuch and teaching music and dancing.  Take-away:  use this time to address a difficulty in your business that you’ve been putting off.  Find an area where you must acknowledge a debt and make it right.

Nakula brought his hidden psychic qualities to the fore and became head of the horse stables.  Take-away:  Embrace the passivity of the period and dream.  Bring forward and develop inner skills and qualities you can put to use when the energy thrusts forward again.

Sahadeva worked with the king’s cows to get them to produce the best milk.  Take-away:  Focus on one aspect of your business you usually don’t have time for, perhaps a research and development project, and see if you can really perfect the process or product.

Let me know how you plan to make the most of these next two Mars in Cancer months.  What alternate ways will you employ to keep you and your team motivated?

Tags: , , , ,

Thinking globally

Aug 11

Posted by Ellen in Introduction to Astrology for Business, Philosophy | 3 Comments

Yesterday morning I got up early to let my Facebook friends know I was putting up my new Astro4Business Week forecast.  That’s when I realized I was 14 hours late for my readers in Australia. 

A famous photo of Earth from Apollo 17 (Blue Marble) originally had the south pole at the top; however, it was turned upside-down to fit the traditional perspective. (Source:Wikipedia)

A famous photo of Earth from Apollo 17 (Blue Marble) originally had the south pole at the top; however, it was turned upside-down to fit the traditional perspective. (Source:Wikipedia)

As my world enlarges to include friends and clients from both the northern and southern hemispheres, some basic pieces of my worldview and my astrological knowledge have to be questioned and redefined.  A few years back I was speaking to a business colleague who runs a consulting practice in Australia.  She asked me, what makes you sure that your country is in the North?  In other words, why do I speak of the U.S. as “above” the equator rather than Australia?  That really stopped me. 

Of course she is right. In a universe that spreads in all directions, exploding from a point of infinitely dense matter and creating space as it progresses, how can one direction be called above, or north, and another below, or south.    On a round sphere like earth in a directionless space, who names what is up and what is down?

A cartographer could answer this for us, but why is the so-called Northern Hemisphere at the top of all maps?  Couldn’t equally valid maps be drawn with the so-called Southern Hemisphere on top?    Maybe I’m belaboring a point here, but if we’ve been trained with such a fundamentally biased world-view, wouldn’t this affect all of our business dealings too?

As I write the weekly Astro4Business forecast I’ve been thinking about all of my readers from all over the world, including New Zealand, Australia, and Brazil.  I want to explain the meanings of the current positions of all of the planets so we can use this knowledge to guide our businesses.

But when I was learning astrology, the various signs were explained as reflective of the seasons of the year.  So Aries, beginning March 21, was described as creative, initiatory, energetic like its sister season, spring.  And Leo was described as hot, fiery, and unwavering like the summer months of July and August.  But in Australia, Aries is the beginning of autumn, and Leo is in the dead of winter.  It feels like my astrological knowledge is doing headstands.

Southern hemisphere from above the South Pole. (Source:Wikipedia)

Southern hemisphere from above the South Pole. (Source:Wikipedia)

A little internet research reveals why astrology has been cast in such a northern-centric way:

There is no doubt, historically speaking, that astrology is predicated on a northern-hemisphere-centric body of knowledge. The cultures from which astrology was born—Babylonian, Egyptian, Hindu, Greek, Chinese, Tibetan—all derive from north of the equator. Thus, it isn’t surprisingly that traditional astrological symbolism is colored strongly by the progression of the seasons as lived in the northern hemisphere. (Cite: http://astrobarry.com/2003/dec1503.php)

 

Although there is a movement in Australia to reverse the signs to more closely correspond to the Australian seasons, even most Southern Hemisphere astrologers accept the northern-centric meanings.   They take the pure energy of the signs and adjust the meanings to their own seasons.  So Aries in the Southern Hemisphere, which corresponds to the beginning of autumn, becomes the energy to transition from the summer months, the energy needed to collect the harvest, the red autumn trees.  And the steady heat of Leo becomes the hearth fire in the cold of winter.  Just like these astrologers, I too need to adjust my thinking about the signs to a more pure and essential understanding of the cycles.

How does this apply to business?  As our reach becomes more global, so do our relationships.  I have personally made many mistakes from my unconsciously American organizational viewpoint while working with Indian businesses.  A Russian friend who works in London banking laughingly recounts her first few months of faux pas as she adjusted to the formal British culture.  Truthfully, even moving from the northeast USA to the southeast can cause missteps every day until you absorb the southern culture. 

And yet we can’t just avoid the issue, the economy is going global.  We’ve got to break through, break free from the conditioning we picked up from TV, education, government, and our families.  Or stay home.  I guess we could just settle into a little town and interact only with those like us.  Only those that don’t make us question which way is up.  That would be a small world, indeed!

I’d love to hear from you!  Any anecdotes from your attempts at going global?

Tags: , ,

Neptune in Aquarius – How to Compete with Free?

Jul 23

Posted by Ellen in Long-term Planning, Neptune in Aquarius, Philosophy | 2 Comments

According to Chris Anderson in his book, Free:  The Future of a Radical Price, free is not going away but there are things people will still pay for.  He says people will still pay to

  • Save time
  • Lower risk
  • Purchase things they love
  • Achieve status
  • Keep using something you’ve got them hooked on

It’s time to innovate and the real innovation in this economy, Anderson says, is finding new and unique ways to charge for your goods and services.  He refers to two groups of consumers: 

  • price sensitive consumers who will like the free version (think Linux);
  • risk sensitive consumers who will like the paid version (think service level agreements from Microsoft). 

In other words, when you reach new customers, it doesn’t mean you can’t charge some of them.  But you’ve got to either match the price of free or ensure that the differences in quality overcome the differences in price.

And to my reader from yesterday’s post who hasn’t figured out how to compete with free, you’re in good company.  Neither has YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and many other companies with outstanding reach.  They still lack a business model that actually makes a profit. In fact, Google, the godfather of free, is beginning to be dragged down by the increasing investment in computers and data storage equipment needed to keep up with the 20 hours of video per minute being uploaded to YouTube, for free.

A couple of more gems from Anderson’s book:  he says that you can shift your company culture, or personal mindset, from “Don’t screw up” to “Fail fast”.  This is a freedom of Neptune in Aquarius.  Since effective efforts are not so much personal but collective these days, we are freed from the mental block of thinking it is up to us to find the correct answer to a problem.  The community is there like never before.  I love music sites like Jamglue where you can upload your songs and let the community work out the backgrounds and mixes.   Or Sound Cloud,where you can put up a demo and let people give feedback on your work. 

When the marginal cost of trying new things is zero, we are free to throw ideas against a wall and see what sticks.  Not that the marginal cost of our time is zero.  The time you spend experimenting may be time wasted if the idea goes nowhere.  And in the meantime, there’s that constant requirement of eating and shelter to take care of.  But I like this “fail fast” idea – I think it’s very Neptune in Aquarius.  Seems like a good idea?  Try it.  Another good idea?  Try it.  A totally different good idea?  Try that one too.  An off the wall idea?  Yes, that one too.  Neptune’s inspiration doesn’t always come in familiar forms.  But one way to be successful is to be a conduit for what she is trying to bring into the world today. 

The other gem from Anderson’s book I want to pass along is, “Every abundance creates a new scarcity.”  What has become scarce in this environment of zero cost for marginal bits?    

An excerpt from my blogging mentor, Yaro Starak gives the clue:

… Being open, honest and demonstrating your personality in everything you publish on your blog is the key to developing rapport… I want you to be very open, honest and real with your readers.

This reminded me that what can be scarce with Neptune in Aquarius is the very opposite of the Aquarian energy – the individual personality.  Even in this time of the ascendancy of the group you can find a platform on which to stand out, to demarcate yourself with your individuality.  The quotes above from Anderson and Starak apply to any product or service.  What is in abundance?  Digital bits.  What is scarce?  Face to face personal contact.  And personal responsibility.

My tax clients know they can take their taxes to H & R Block, or do them on TurboTax.  Even my astrology clients can buy computerized, very accurate reports about their strengths and weaknesses, or coming days.  Why don’t they?  Because personal interaction is vital to many kinds of problem solving.   And they know I will consider their unique situations compassionately and with commitment to their personal success.

What are you doing that the internet cannot do?  Let’s create a forum for how to compete with free.

Tags: , , ,

Neptune in Aquarius – Free, the Radical Price

Jul 22

Posted by Ellen in Long-term Planning, Neptune in Aquarius, Philosophy | 1 Comment

Back to Free, The Future of a Radical Price, the book by Chris Anderson.  I heard Chris speaking with Terry Gross on NPR (Listen) and it was so intriguing I listened twice and started reading the book, which, of course, is free.  His idea/observation is that free can be a profitable business model and the first new business model based on the internet.  And the model is this:  making lots of money charging nothing. 

Free is not new as a business marketing strategy.  It’s long been known that giving away one thing free can create demand for something people are willing to pay for.  But in this internet kind of free, 99% is given away and a tiny majority pays for everyone else.

One example Chris cites is the Wall Street Journal.  Their website is free and is full of useful information.  But the archives and more specific data are only available to those who pay for it.  Google is another example.  Google’s services are available almost completely for free and yet the company is making a huge profit.  How is this possible?

There are some standard economic principles that play into this equation:

  • In economics 101, you learn that the entire supply and demand cycle is based on having to make choices in the face of scarcity.  Not in the freeconomy.  Free is driven by abundance.  Abundance of what?
  • Bits, digital goods.  Moore’s law says that the digital world gets cheaper, 50% each year.  (Actually, Moore was talking about transistors, but his basic axiom has become applicable to the digital world.)
  • Marginal cost – unlike atoms, which are inflationary, based on the scarcity principle, bits get cheaper and cheaper until the marginal cost of producing products digitally becomes zero.  Take this blog for instance.  Does it cost me anything more to have 10,000 people read it than 1 person?
  • Barriers to entry – when marginal cost is zero, standard barriers to entry into a market are virtually zero.  Not that long ago, a writer would have either had to self-publish at considerable cost or spend many, many hours submitting manuscripts.  Now, publish on-line, for free.

So, with marginal cost of production down to zero, anything that becomes digital will become free, or available in a free version.

What does this mean for us as business people?  If your product can be digitalized and you don’t make it free, someone else will.  As Anderson says, either you’re giving it away for free or you’re competing with free.

One of my regular readers commented on the Neptune in Aquarius trends.  Some excerpts:

My work (commercial art, illustration) has been seriously affected by the internet, both positively and negatively. Over the past decade or so the computer has allowed me to reach clients all over the world, has introduced me to markets I couldn’t have even imagined, and has streamlined the research I do in preparing my graphics.

On the other hand, competition has gotten more and more fierce, availability and quality of “stock art” has gotten progressively better, and my asking prices are being driven down by this culture of “free.” In the arts, which is the area I know about, the internet has created a situation where “professionals” and “amateurs” can compete on almost-level ground. For example, there was recently a Superbowl ad done for free by an amateur. These usually cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and the sponsoring company in this case basically got the work for free. So we who have been considered professionals in the arts are suddenly threatened by throngs of amateurs, do-it-yourselfers who have access to technology that enables them to make a fine looking product that in the old days only a pro could produce.

So what’s an old pro to do? As you mentioned in your last post, we’ve got to find a way to distinguish ourselves beyond just craft. We have to have better ideas, or a better ability to address the real needs of our clients, or … I don’t quite know what. That’s the problem!

The downside of free.   Have you experienced the downside of Neptune in Aquarius?  Let us know in the comments section below.

More on Free, tomorrow.

Tags: , , ,