Articles
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Of
Time and Tide,
and the Flowering at the Flood
by
John Townley
"There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures."
—
Julius Caesar,
Act 4,
Scene 3, lines 218-224
Brutus speaking to Cassius, advocating immediate action.
As this oft-quoted passage relates, it's generally agreed that there's
a time in life to get into the action, and that's when the action's
afoot. Strike while the iron is hot. A rising tide floats all boats.
Climb on the bandwagon before it passes you by. Get on the train before
it pulls out of the station. There is an urgency to move when all else
is in motion and new things are beginning - literally, a tidal call
from Nature to get into the act while there is one.
Astrologers love this quote, because astrology is so much about
following the portents, with an eye on the heavens, catching the astral
weather at its best. It's the kind of advice we're all about, and we
wax particularly Shakespearian when we're talking about cycles and
returns, the astrological "tide markers." But we too freely mix up time
markers (cycles) with tides (the times and spaces around cycle peaks),
and returns (beginning spaces) as if they were interchangeable members
of the same family, when they are in fact each distinct situations with
separate descriptions and applications. To be trite but more to the
point: they may all be fruits, but they're apples and oranges, so don't
put them in the same crate. So in the interest of better packaging,
here are some more delineated (and hopefully decorative) crate labels
for shipping:
Cycles:
the Hands of Time
In astrology, like all else, everything is encompassed by time and
space. Time itself is measured in regular, repeated happenings, by
definition. One orbit of the earth = one year, one solar cycle. One
orbit of the Moon = one lunar month, or lunar cycle. These, translated
to the hands of a clock, are how we tell time. Then, by observation, we
begin to notice that it gets hot around the time the hour hand reaches
noon (but not always, sometimes later, sometimes not at all if it's
raining). Or, at around six PM it generally starts to get dark - but
earlier in winter, later in summer, not at all if we turn the lights
on. Thus is born our penchant for making predictions based on cycles.
Astrologers extend it to Mars cycles, Jupiter cycles, Saturn cycles,
and so on - all of which we associate with certain kinds of trends that
seem to occur in sync with the planets. It's not an exact science, but
it works well enough to know when to wake up, seek shade, plan for
dinner, and in a broader way plan our lives long-term.
From
Ebb to Flood: Tides and
Opportunity
Each cycle seems to bear periods of opportunity and periods of
quiescence, and these are the divisions of the tides. In the case of
the Moon, they're obvious, and they lend the metaphor Shakespeare used
so well. The flood tide brings opportunity, the ebb tide, shallows and
miseries. A seafaring nation like England knew exactly what he meant.
When the tide is at flood - which is just before, during, and directly
after high tide - there is plenty of water to go around and plenty of
commerce to be done in it. Ships come in with their cargoes,
expeditions leave for foreign lands, money changes hands, everything is
in action, turnover abounds. This effect goes right down to the level
of shellfish opening and feeding, fish crowding in to feast on
stirred-up water vegetation and micro-creatures, birds swooping down on
the schooling fish. At the ebb tide (just before, during, and after low
tide), boats lie grounded on the beach, occasional birds peck about at
the shore, and shellfish slumber beneath the sand. All is shallows, and
if it's action you're after, miseries. But hey, we all need rest
sometime.
Lunar tides come twice a day, high when the Moon is overhead (major)
and directly below (minor), low when it is rising and setting. That's
mainly in the Atlantic Ocean, however. In many other places there is
only one tide a day, depending on the breadth and shape of the sea. But
in either case, the timekeeping semi-diurnal cycle of the Moon is
surrounded by areas of opportunity or rest reflected by the direct
gravitational pull of our companion satellite. When the Sun joins in at
new or full Moons (the Sun has only one-third the pull of the Moon, so
it acts more as a reinforcer or a spoiler of tides), the game gets even
more intense. At first and third quarters, when the solunar pulls are
out of sync, neither high nor low are so heavily pronounced.
So tides may be looked at as a broad result of cycles, and not cycles
of themselves. And, the concept of tides may be extended to other
planets as well. As the Mars cycle peaks for an individual, around the
time Mars returns to its natal place, the internal tides of energy open
up possibilities for effort that might not have been available a few
months previous or following. And, perhaps, there is a reciprocal tide
at the Mars opposition, with energy ebbs at the squares. The same may
be said for Jupiter and Saturn, and you might even consider the
combination of the two (often associated together with business and
social change) as being the planetary version of the Sun and Moon,
creating not only regular individual tides, but combined spring and
neap tides as well.
However you apply the metaphor, tides are about segments of time and
space taken together that provide relative activity or quietude.
The
Flowering at the Flood: The
Return Chart
At the very peak of a cycle, however, comes an instant within time that
describes a special space, and a space only: the return chart. This
spatial slice of time describes the circumstances at which the height
of the cycle is reached and life plunges down into the next go-round.
It reaches out into space to depict the supporting and debilitating
factors that will paint the picture of the potential of the coming set
of tides. It can tell you if you'll be coming on strong (in the area of
the return planet's concern) or if you'll be hamstrung by interfering
factors. To use another ocean metaphor, it's like a diver coming up for
air at the surface. If it's calm, the sea is clear, and the current is
running with you, you get a clean, invigorating deep breath that
propels you ever farther into your next effort. If you surface in a
stormy sea under a clump of unexpected seaweed, you don't get much air,
lose your rhythm, and you're efforts are compromised until the next
time you come up for a breath.
Whether it's a solar return, lunar return, or a planetary return (most
astrologers pay rather little attention to planetary return charts, I'm
afraid), the approach is the same. You have a chart of the
circumstances surrounding the height of the flood tide that let you
know just what kind of fortunes are available. It is the flowering of
the preceding cycle and the germination of the next, all in one.
Together, cycles, tides, and returns make up three individual crates
that encase the ripening fruits of opportunity. Open individually,
combine carefully, then set your table accordingly.
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Cycles of
the Moon & Sun