The Synodic cycles foster an awareness of the all-important relationship to the Sun as the central focus point of our system. An understanding of Synodic cycles can illustrate the immense power of the inner personal planets. The ability to distinguish the oriental/morning star appearance of a planet from its occidental/evening star appearance gives another layer of interpretive ability and greatly adds to the depth and richness of a reading.

Gary will outline the Mercury cycle and give interpretive info based on both speed and phase. This will add tremendous depth to your understanding and delineation of this crucial planet. As celebrity examples, I delineate the charts of Kurt Cobain, Bob Dylan, and Muhammad Ali. Because Mercury has a 116 day synodic cycle we can experience most of the various phases of this cycle by progression, and we will look at the mythology of Hermes to harness the power of the progressed Mercury cycle.

In this workshop for the Arizona Society of Astrologers by internationally renowned astrologer Gary P. Caton, we will look at Innana/Ishtar/Venus and Demeter/Ceres as pre-Olympian indicators of transformation and re-birth. Also, there will be a delineation of celebrity charts using the asteroids Vesta, Pallas and Juno as indicative of three steps in this process of transformation. This profoundly archetypal process is mirrored in the triple way of mysticism, the three classic phases of alchemy, the way of the shaman, and even in the phases of birth labor!

First, Gary will focus on Pallas in the charts of the Monterey and Woodstock festivals - both the events themselves and many of the artists involved. Then we'll look at how these processes are playing out in the sky currently and how we can use these archetypes to facilitate our clients' transformation.



Getting to Know Gary Caton