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

The 10 Bi-Septile @ 257.14 Degrees of Separation, or 17.14 Sagittarius

Leveraging the Commonplace Now

This is a naturally open, positive, expanding state of the finite mind that serves as an invaluable attitude or asset when sitting or meditating. The point is that it never goes anywhere. The present moment gut check is the awareness of their tendency to futurize or chase a target in the mind that is more, better or different than "now." Being too far away or feeling "higher" can pose physical, mental and emotional risks. In some cases, there is little oxygen at these levels as they may find themselves nowhere to be found. Large amounts of experiential "now's" can accumulate or be lost on this path, through the continual physical and mental motion of futurizing. This aspect portal is learning to ground itself through each and every commonplace present moment, or to travel through it as they paradoxically and continually arrive in it. They are pretty good at intuiting somewhere else and getting there. In awareness and awakening however, no matter where they go, the teaching is that they have never truly gone anywhere.

When Something Happens…

…or when they realize some finite mind goal, then they'll be happy, or happier. Awakening realization experience does not generate happiness. It is already there, as the present moment has no temporal boundaries or future to it. There is no division in nature because it only exists in the present moment. This is why being in nature always hits the target – there are no separate events happening in it. There is no waiting for something else to happen in it because it never will. There is no "next" in nature, or in this aspect portal. This is a greater awareness, or an awakening realization experienced through it. Which usually means that nature is one of the best conditions from which this awareness will strike. And the thing is, absolutely nothing as any separate event will need to happen "out there" or in any future to bring that experience full circle or back home. Something deeper and far more profound happened on its own, something they could never have "optimized" themselves, probably at the exact moment when they weren't looking for anything better or happier.

The Time In Benefit Out Paradox

Another core intuition or teaching is that spending "x" amount of time of present-moment awareness on the cushion does not automatically or immediately result in n equal benefit when off of it. Awakening does not play on the field of transactional dynamics or aim to achieve cause-and-effect outcomes. When the intent is lofty "truth," these individuals neither strive for nor desire anything other than what is currently happening. The truth of any moment neither wishes for nor pushes anything away about it. This is an honesty of the highest quality. It is one of the great insights of this aspect portal that is always available, but it often takes what can seem like a great distance to "reach" it. There is no future in hoping for any result. It is true that progress can be made and measured, but time spent is not the determining factor, awareness is. Paradoxically, when there is "no time awareness" the benefits of awareness are already being experienced. Awareness reaps benefits, but not with the hope of extracting any future benefit in any possible future.

The No Cause of Spaciousness

Their awareness is naturally spacious, as close to them as the tip of their nose. The finite mind seeks rest and relief from its constant momentum, and spaciousness provides that soothing balm when individuals believe, see, and know it to be just as close. The vast space beyond the mind does not solve problems, but it does offer a space to simply relax or be. From this space, individuals are more likely to experience or know what may come out of or emerge it without striving or reaching for anything specific to come out of it. The really good stuff often happens spontaneously, in ways the mind could not have anticipated. It is then, and apparently without cause, that "many things" are realized or resolved. In spaciousness there is no need or cause for a mental mechanism to push of off or forward to make things happen, so to speak. In spaciousness, it's like running to escape something, or attempting to reach a destination "not here or now" only to realize the vastness of the space in which any mind drama is unfolding to reveal a moment of awakening. Spaciousness is realizing the entire space in which any drama is happening, and then awakening through it. Spaciousness realizes the heat or fate of any emotion or mental state that "discharges" or neutralizes it because the subject is spaciousness. It is not an object or thing. Perhaps this awareness will be the precursor or "luck" that removes obstacles, or breaks old karmic circuits, because the causes for them have less, or no, substance to them as spaciousness.

The Consciousness of Knowing Before Doing

Knowing before doing is a natural gift or capacity, and that by doing it only confirms what they already know. They know how to do things, or they know about things without any apparent training or experience. It is similar to the survival instinct, but on the larger experiential scale of doing. They can look at a keyboard and know how to play it, or they look at a horse and know how to whisper to it. Abilities should be given free reign to develop further, provided they enjoy doing whatever they already know how to do. This is the best possible, or luckiest, world they know they have, or that many probably have more than they believe. The house and sign of the celestial bodies that define this aspect portal are the clues or breadcrumbs to follow along such a fortunate path that to be a part of their life or calling. The larger picture or context of their life in which their natural abilities are apparent can either be a trap, or the means, by which they learn to listen to their knowing before doing and then doing it. When their intuitive capacity confirms what they already know, positive feedback is instantaneous and may even arrive "before" anyone else could see it in further support or validation of their gifts.

The "Speed" of Awareness

Massless awareness has no speed limit because it does not travel in or through spacetime. Awareness is the quantum transit system of the universe. Unlike the fictional western hero Paladin, these individuals "Have Awareness, Don't Need to Travel." This aspect portal is the awareness predictive feedback loop that updates or "jumps" to its latest knowing beyond the snail's pace light speed information barrier. Awareness knows of potential futures before others would know, even though that future happens, paradoxically, in the same "now" for most everyone else. In their experience, sometimes the "now" arrives sooner for them than it does for others, because awareness transfers without traveling. For these individuals, present-moment awareness is not so much a relatively continuous "chain" of successive present moments in the apparent forward motion of time, as defined in Chapter 1, as it is the arrival of any potential future as the reality of "now." Their present moments are constituted by and participate in a transcendent now/future that involves non-local physiological gut-level knowing. This aspect portal stretches time, or that other "future" time lines are being stitched into what becomes their experiential "now." It is how they know things "before" they happen. It is a capacity that can literally save their life or the lives of others when this awareness is listening or is accessed. Natural environments are conditions that promote this kind of experiential awareness. More commonly, and in less dire or dramatic circumstances, it is how their luck may manifest to them, whether they conceptualize or understand it before it apparently arrives for anyone else or not. This kind of information access is not limited to their personal lives. Any number of potential futures can also be collectively registered, translated, and disseminated in terms of larger picture or collective events toward a greater or intended good.