Astrology's Present Moment by Barry D. Cowger - HTML preview

The 5 Semi-Septile @ 128.57 Degrees of Separation, or 8.57 Leo

The Heart's Organic Fusion Light Show

Any harmony or aspect portal such as the 1 Semi-Septile in a birth chart represents spiritual potentials and experiences that may be distinct from an individual's biographical or becoming history. They may symbolize one perspective of the famous fork in the road between becoming or personal growth, in sharp contrast awakening realization experience. Chapter 5 also highlights important distinctions. Many people love chocolate cake; some say it makes their heart sing. However, we know that this is a temporary state or feeling. On the other hand, the heart's organic light show is not dependent on cake or similar things. The heart digs deeper. For individuals who are sincere about opening their heart to what they are meant to do, there's no reason why they can't experience all the things they love, as well as what the heart is fated to realize through the one beating within their chest. Welcome to the 5 Semi-Septile. Nice to see you again. These individuals are instinctively inclined to lead or know by the heart, even if it's not always their own. This awakening comes from the heart or from the Central Furnace, a light source that gives more than it takes, much like a fusion reaction. This is the sun of love that never sets, because the fuel provided by chocolate is never quite enough.

The Heart of A Heart

Like the Sun that never sets, the heart is always beating, even when a heart is not aware of the awareness that ignites its fusion reactions. In a sense, there is also a dark side to a sun that is more personally defined in its own purposes. Greater awareness for these individuals involves recognizing when and how they may hold back their shine or "love" for reasons of a heart, whether it be for better or for worse. Unfortunately, I can't imagine that this has nothing to do with emotional or spiritual "heart disease" as a major contributor to the greatest killer over the last hundred years. Biologically, a heart begins beating before neurological activity sends signals to it because it is still intimately, or inter-dimensionally, connected to the heart. We could say it beats for no reason, regardless of lost causes. The heart represents the present moment as a heart-centered experience that occurs before the thinking mind gets involved. It is how a still heart knows the nature of the heart that beats without needing a purpose or reason. These are true "random acts" as the heart know them. In other words, the heart beats, and sometimes there's nothing any heart can do about it. While every individual heart will inevitably find its way to be broken or wounded, because that's what they're made to do in its nature, the heart will eventually find a way to heal the one that was broken or thought to be lost forever. While physical heart failure is inevitable in one way or another, heart repair also occurs in any meantime. Luckily, hearts are tough little muscles that can sometimes find their way back to recover what they may have lost, as well as forward, to acknowledge that "losing heart" can't be lost forever. These ideas are worth contemplating or meditating upon.

The Knowing Heart In Action

The heart's natural rhythm and beating frequency are remarkably close to the golden ratio. A heart knows how start beating as it resonates with the nature of the heart, rather than with the brain. Hearts beat even before the brain has a single neuron because it has its own. More remarkably, a heart with oxygen may continue beating even after a brain has flatlined. It's well known that the human heart's beating diastole/systole ratio is 1.611 and the R-R interval/diastole is 1.618, both uncannily close to the golden ratio of 1.61… The heart calms the mind, not the mind calms itself. Here is another perspective on mindfulness for these individuals. When most evaluating or judging eyes are watching, a heart is given little chance to reveal its capacity to dilate time, or to present the present moment a little sooner for them than it does for others. This present moment awareness can know things that others' minds can't know at any present moment. There are states of mind and there are non-states of the heart's knowing that dip their toes into the immediate future as some of their "nows." These individuals are meant to notice how the world can turn or change in an instant as the heart experiences or knows it. This aspect portal is highly creative in ways the mind cannot perceive. So the next time any moment seems appropriate or timely, pay attention what happens when the heart begins to see it. From this awareness, things, people, situations, or even nothing in particular, have the power to literally recreate the world through the heart's supreme acts of creativity. It loves to "do" these things to recreate or love the world in whatever way it happens to find it, for the moment. This experience can be known as the heart's awakening realization in action.

The "As Is" Love For The Moment

When the heart's experiential tendrils are sensing or "out" in the millions of entirely unremarkable present moments that will happen in its lifetime, the heart is at rest, or in its element. In recognition of this condition, it defines the experience or a unified field. It is the heart's natural act of courage that leads the experience. To love the moment as it is happening is to simply be present in the environment where the heart finds itself. At first, it makes sense to try this exercise in the most common, inconsequential, non-threatening environments. Default to nature if it is available. There are thousands of moments in a day to choose from as a starting point. It's probably suitable right now. To be in such a space is to love it as it is without qualifications. No add-ons, meddling, or any subsequent doing is needed. In this awareness, the heart regenerates a heart. Minds don't find peace here, but hearts can through the nature of the heart. It neither wants nor pushes away any part of a commonplace experience. Using the sphere of the Sun as a metaphor, the heart expresses or keeps its shape because it's neither attracted to nor resists anything about the commonplace experience that could misshape or bend it out of shape. It is a continuous and most efficient "shining" experience that requires nothing to be done about it to have some other experience. Allow the moment and the circumstance to be whatever it is. That's it. To give a heart to this constant and continuing present-moment experience is the deepest recognition or the love of awareness of the nature of the heart. To gamble here is to go "all in" with whatever is happening. An awakened heart can occur to anyone, anywhere, at any time, and under any commonplace circumstance as long as there is courage, openness, or awareness present. For these individuals, the takeaway experience is acknowledging how much a heart gives up in each moment, without losing heart as they take another step towards heart health in their spiritual recovery.

Full-Spectrum Reflective Self-Awareness

Full-spectrum reflective self-awareness is a heart-centered experience in which all possible sensory capacities are engaged in one's local environment. In contrast to passing the sensory baton in awareness from one sense to another, as described in Chapter 3, this exercise directs all awareness to the constant heartfelt experience of all that is happening. The goal is to be fully heart-centered in that experience. For example, the physical body comes into contact with a chair, clothes, and the different textures of objects in one's surroundings. Sounds also change in volume or intensity. Sight is intensely processed because approximately one-third of the brain's mass is dedicated to it. Keep the eyes open, but see with the heart. Bring all senses to bear. The heart lives for and loves this experience. It's what it's made to know. From the heart's perspective, it doesn't matter whether the individual likes the input or not. Breathe awareness into the entire experience. Open the heart to the experience and a heart will follow. As a sensory ensemble, this is full-spectrum reflective self-awareness in the moment and as it happens. It is one path to develop extra sensory abilities because the heart knows things before the mind does. The heart knows what is essential to know for its own existential survival. Come to rest in this assurance, instead of fighting with a restless mind while attempting to experience the present moment through a meditation technique. While this may take some time to experience, its purpose has no reward other than to reveal the entirety of what any heartfelt moment can be, even when it's just plain shitty, or when there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it. Believe it or not, the heart loves and lives for this purpose, so that a heart can know the same thing and awaken through that very experience.

Charisma and Presence

Although very different by nature, charisma and presence can sometimes be hard to separate from one another in experience, leading to less than positive results. When charisma is dominant, it can create an environment that feels more like a sales pitch. If there is any hint of this, it may be best to hold onto the gold coin, or your own heart, for now. In contrast, presence seeks nothing. Charisma, on the other hand, is far more self-serving acting as a centripetal force that revolves around itself. Charisma is transactional and can feel a bit sticky, while presence grasps at nothing or is centrifugal. I have personally encountered two people who have presence, while I have met many more who exude charisma and are usually looking to get something for it. When genuine love or presence is transmitted in its purest form, it is an unmistakable and welcome experience. It serves as a reminder of the pure nature of the heart, not directed towards anyone in particular.

Not All Rainbows and Unicorns

Life has a way of finding its own path or orbit, of this we can be sure. Some individuals may discover or believe that they don't have a heart for it, whether for a day or a lifetime. Most of us have a purpose or focus most of the time, which is a good thing. However, for others, there may be larger gravitational forces at play. As a metaphor, the Sun travels through the universe at approximately half a million miles per hour, and will be influenced by larger gravitational wells that alter its trajectory. This can be disorienting and even life-threatening initially, but it may also lead to an awakening, a deeper love, or awareness of the situation they are apparently trapped in. Even when a heart seems to have lost its way, it cannot be completely be lost because all Suns irrespective of their transits are centered in the present moment. Any Sun can appear to set, but that's just an appearance. The key is to stay present in the moment, no matter how disorienting it may seem for the moment. As one teacher said, "Sometimes the meditation is to keep your heart open, even in hell." Then I would add, until the heart takes its next beat, and takes their heart along with it, leading to a deeper gravity well of acceptance or love. A change of heart may come tomorrow, in the next solar return, or on a completely different path. Regardless, it will always be rooted in indivisible or fundamental Consciousness. In the meantime, remember to breathe through the heart, as it may be all that remains.