Today I decided to attend the Catholic Eucharist as an exercise in contemplation. The Roman Catholic rite, especially after the Second Vatican Council, became excessively explanatory and catechetical, and the symbol has been diluted to the point where its esoteric dimension is almost never felt, leaving mostly the exoteric and parochial level. Interestingly, the Mass was dedicated to Saint Scholastica, sister of Saint Benedict, a figure I admire and have often mentioned here on my website. Even so, by the end, my dissatisfaction with the rite itself remained.
I decided to cast a horary on my state in relation to this. The Ascendant is Virgo, so I am Mercury. Mercury’s accidental condition is deteriorated. It is in the sign it most abhors, Pisces, where it has detriment and fall, and it is also in the 6th house, the house of servitude, wear, and discomfort. That Pisces is the sign most associated with the Age of Christ is curious, but this configuration reflects my state well: the mind reflecting and labouring over the Roman Catholic liturgy, while feeling displaced from the rite itself.
I assign the 9th house to the Catholic Church and to the Roman Rite, which is Taurus, and therefore Venus. Venus is exalted in Pisces, also in the 6th, strong precisely in the sign of the Age of Christ, but likewise placed in a house of subservience. There is a separating conjunction, which shows my actual attendance at the liturgy. I, as Mercury, exalt Venus, which is noteworthy. And yes, I went with a certain hope, feeling that this time it might be different from others. Venus does not receive me and has fall in Virgo, my Ascendant, which shows the misalignment between the two.
I also take the Moon as co-significator of my emotional state. It is in Sagittarius, the sign of faith, in the 3rd house, the house of small and simple spiritual rites. It is in her joyous house, associated with symbolic and domestic rituals, as it opposes to the 9th, the house of public rites and liturgies, which is telling too. She does not receive Mercury, as Sagittarius is also Mercury’s detriment. This shows a conflict between what I think and what I feel. The Moon separates from Venus and applies by square to Mercury. She separates from the liturgy and applies to me with the friction of a square, coming from the 3rd.
What does this tell me? What I already knew. I am the one who must continue to establish my own method, my own form, my own personal rite and liturgy, in the manner of cenobites or anchorites, with fixed prayers and regular readings of the Scriptures. The happy Sagittarian Moon in the 3rd, the house of domestic rite, of incense at home, and of a private sacred space, fits me far better right now. Such is the consequence of living in an era where most rites are degraded.
Kύριε ελέησον