Cycles

To be 100% honest, I don't have a 100% understanding of Dane Rudhyar's lunation cycle such that I can transport the principles to other transit cycles. What a delightful breath of enlightening air to read about the Dynamic Cycle Approach in Robert Hand's Planets in Transits!

I had the book for over two years. Some wording in the foregoing section were highlighted but when I read it again today, I was actually terribly excited. The gems of understanding awaited me! Okay, I feel more confident about my understanding of the lunation cycle or the main checkpoints of it anyway after reading Hand.

Here's some of my thoughts:

Conjunction

A new cycle!
Or in some cases, the reaping of the harvest if new seeds are planted during the opposition. Read about this below.

Separating Sextile

It's an opportunity to check on how you are doing so far.

• Going all right? Great. Proceed to Go.
• There's room for adjustment? 
• Make the changes and proceed to Go.
• Disregard what needs to be changed and proceed to Go. 

Separating Square

This is a time of "stress testing" which can feel stressful. The objective of this period of time is subject the seeds that you have planted to stress so as to identify any weak points or potential breaking points. What's the results of the stress test, like what they supposedly do to some furnitures in Ikea?

• There are some or slight adjustments, but nothing major, to be made. But you passed the test. Yipee! Proceed on.
• You "failed" the stress test. There's fundamental issues involved. The current course of events shouldn't be continued.
• You take the results of the stress testing very seriously. You decide to cut your losses, write off whatever your efforts have resulted in and begin identifying a new course to follow. The opposition will be a time for you to start afresh. 
• Consciously or unconsciously, you continue with the "failed" course of action and plow away. You patch up the weak bits. You continue building upon that fundamentally weak foundation and keep it working for some time. 

Separating Trine

A time of ease. Things seem to "flow" uninterruptedly.

• You passed the stress testing during the square. The tendency is to be complacent and take it for granted that you will be successful during the opposition. Remember the law of changes - there's no guarantees in life (hmmm, really?), including success. Why not use this time to identify what you can do to cement your path to success?
• You "failed" the stress test.
• A time of preparation for the new beginning(s) during the opposition. Use this time to think about what has happened and learn as much as you can from it so that you are able to make a new start when the opposition arrives. 
• A potentially dangerous time. Like driving a car with a faulty critical part that's a ticking time bomb. The ride feels normal and smooth. You convince yourself that all's grand. All's going well and smoothly. But it's an accident waiting to happen if you don't pause, stop the car and think of your next move during the opposition.

Opposition

A time of harvest or new beginning.

• You passed the stress testing during the square and made any adjustment during the trine. This is a time to reap the reward of your efforts. To busk in the glory of accomplishment. 
• You failed the stress test previously
• If you had been honest with yourself during the applying square and prepared for a new direction during the applying trine, this is the time to start afresh with your new course.
• The outcome of your past efforts that were built on weak foundation which were patched up comes into light. You face the truth and reality of the situation. 

Applying Trine

In effect, this is a sextile from the opposition that had just passed. A sextile offers you an opportunity. But not everyone capitalise on that opportunity.

• You had success during the opposition. Now is the time to examine and assess how you can adapt and adjust the fruits of your labour into another form in due time, during the applying square. 
• You started a new course during the opposition. This functions like the separating sextile as described above.
• You had a disappointing outcome or situation during the opposition. See thought #1 below.

Applying Square

• You had success during the opposition.
  • It's time to act to transform the fruits of your labour into a different level. Hand notes extremely insightfully "Nothing is ever so good that it can go on forever, although most people try to do just that. Even the most successful creation reaches a peak merely to give rise to another phase of activity." Make wine from the grapes you have harvested. Or cheese from the milk.
  • You hold on to the past harvest, expecting it continue indefinitely. Your expectations might not be reality however. 
• You started a new course during the opposition. This period of time would function like a separating square. 
• You had a disappointing outcome or situation during the opposition. See thought #1 below. In essence, to transform something into something, you need something to work with. 

Applying Sextile

Works like the separating trine. Make final preparations for the conjunction to come.

Conjunction

I have always thought that this is a new complete beginning. But it doesn't make sense does it. It can be seen as a new stage in one's journey. If we apply the cycle to a company, it doesn't always necessarily mean that the company start all over again. Rather, it's hopefully a case of building upon what has been achieved and bringing it to a more evolved level. Likewise, when the cycle is applied to a person's life, the person has the experience of the past cycle(s) to capitalise on. If the person "learns" from it. If that's not the case, it seems like those years of living is "wasted" in some sense.

Questions

What if a new course/path is undertaken before the applying square? I suppose the new course/path will be subject to test at the applying square. It's almost like a person making use of the applying sextile to evaluate his progress and deciding to switch path. It is this new path that is tested during the applying square.

Thoughts

1. The cycle is like a ferris wheel where you can hop on a passenger car at the bottom or at the top (imagine this!) of the wheel. If you missed the bottom (conjunction) and the top (opposition) points of entry, you have to wait for the wheel to reach the bottom (the following conjunction) again. In effect, you have missed the boat of the current cycle, so to speak.

2. The above thought doesn't quite apply to a progressed lunation cycle. If you have missed the boat at the new Moon, I doubt you feel like you have a second cycle to start again at the Full Moon.