Planetary Stations or Retrograde and Direct Motion
This article is not finished so please check back around June 10, 2009 to see finished article
The Still Point by T.S. Elliot
At the still point of the turning world.
Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards;
at the still point,
there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement.
And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered.
Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline.
Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance,
and there is only the dance,
I can only say,
there we have been:
but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long,
for that is to place it in time.
The inner freedom from the practical desire,
The release from action and suffering,
release from the inner
And the outer compulsion, yet surrounded
By a grace of sense,
a white light still and moving.
http://www.westernbuddhistreview.com/vol3/Dancing.htm
All the planets go Retrograde or appear to move backward over the same constellations in the sky in a regular cyclical pattern. Each planet has its own unique pattern that is triggered by its relationship to the Sun.
The direct station of any planet represents a symbolic Still Point or an experience outside of this Space/Time reality that can deeply affect what we are experiencing here. The direct station signals a time of forward movement and committing to new actions that will further the intent of the current planetary cycle.
The retrograde process of a planet is similar to the image of pulling the arrow back on the bow, moving away from the intended target for the purpose of gathering power. Then when the arrow is released it moves quickly and easily towards the target or goal.
The station direct of a planet then represents the pause just before the arrow is released. Another image that works to describe this effect is the Still Point.
The shift in direction of a planet’s motion from the Earth’s perspective creates a pause or Still Point indicating the center balanced point of power where there is no movement but everything is possible and everything exists at this infinity point before it begins to differentiate or move into form.
This Still Point is similar to the experience of a pendulum as it changes direction, where it appears to stand still or stop. This is further explained by Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle stating that;
“The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa” http://www.aip.org/history/heisenberg/p08.htm
…”If we know the exact momentum of a particle, then its position is completely unknowable, and vice versa. We know when the pendulum is in the changing point, when it is at rest, its velocity is zero. But the momentum, at low speed at least, is equal to velocity multiplied by mass. We know the velocity is zero, so when we multiply any quantity with zero, we get zero. According to Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty, the position of the pendulum at rest becomes diffuse and completely indefinite. In other words, the pendulum can be just about any place in the Universe for just a tiny fraction of time with infinite speed. The rapid disappearance of the pendulum into the Universe is so fast, that we cannot detect it in our level of existence and reality. The reason we have used the swing of a pendulum as a showcase is because the pendulum represents any system that oscillates or moves back and forth, whether such an oscillator pulsates concentrically, goes around in orbits, or turns about itself. From the standpoint of one observer, there are always two points at which either of these systems appears to be at rest. To be completely at rest means that the movement has reached the point where it changes or reverses direction. That point of rest implies somehow a disappearance of matter in infinite or almost infinite velocities. http://home22.inet.tele.dk/hightower/octave2.htm
So with this background we get a sense of what our senses experience when a planet shifts direction from the Earth’s perspective, because ultimately the planet is not reversing in its orbit but the Earth is passing the orbit of the planet so it appears to shift direction. it is especially useful to consciously attune to this timing pausing at this Still Point to reflect upon the aim of the intended target for the arrow of consciousness to fly towards.