Greetings, and welcome back to Journeys! This month I’m sharing with you a re-written and edited selection of some of the sections on conduction which I had to remove from The 26 Keys for space reasons and a discussion on involving astrological aspects in conduction which was completely removed for clarity reasons. See “Between the Lights” for more on this topic.

WHAT IS CONDUCTION?

Conduction is the name I have given to a magical method of interacting with astrological forces. This method allows you to engage with the expression of your astrology as it happens and, with experience, to guide and shape its manifestation. Instead of a passive approach to astrology in which we study a chart or have someone else study a chart, conduction allows us to take an interactive approach which can be as active or as passive as we wish. It is also a simple method which can be used by anyone regardless of their degree of magical initiation.

Conduction is also uniquely and naturally tailored to the individual because its anchor or condenser is the birth chart. It leads the individual on an exploration of their astrology as well as an exploration of astrology in general and it does so in a way which is perfectly attuned to the individual’s rhythms and their awareness. The method of conduction which I outline is an entirely new approach for this century which transforms astrology into an interactive tool kit, but the essence and the philosophical approaches which underlie the method are extremely ancient and are rooted in practical magical traditions present throughout the history of the ancient world (predating the use of birth charts except for prominent leaders and historical figures). However this is nigh impossible to prove because the majority of places in recorded history where this kind of magical astrology was practiced were inside the various Mystery Schools, which kept their secrets tightly guarded. If you would like to learn this method you can find it in my free pdf, The 26 Keys Practice Manual, which contains all of the core techniques and the instructions for creating the astrological tools you will need to practice it.

The basic idea of conduction is that the two Lights – the Sun and the Moon – can be used to conduct the expression of astrological influences. This conduction is both in terms of the rhythm (like a musical conductor) and the power (like an electrical conductor). Each of the Lights conducts our astrology in a different way. The Sun conducts it in an Electrical way and with a rhythm of 12 months, while the Moon conducts it in a Magnetic way and with a rhythm of one month. The capital E and M are there to distinguish these terms from the electromagnetic force of physics – these are instead the Fluids, which are cosmic principles recognized in the east as Yin and Yang. There is a direct relation between electricity and the Electric Fluid and magnetism and the Magnetic Fluid, but they are very different things. One is the source, the other is a physical manifestation, and only one of them. The Sun and Moon are also physical manifestations of these Fluids.

The solar energy, the Electric Fluid, also feeds the vital spark of life, the spirit, while the lunar energy, the Magnetic Fluid, nourishes the existence of the soul and leads us to participation in the life we have, a factor which waxes and wanes like the Light of the Moon whereas the solar energy, while entering and exiting the sky, is always ‘on’. This means that the Electric Fluid and the Magnetic Fluid have an interaction wherein the Magnetic Fluid adapts itself to the radiation of the Electric Fluid, giving it fluidity and changing its shape. We see this explained to us on the cosmic chalkboard of the sky as the Moon alters its shape according to the illumination being received from the Sun, and the equality of the two – the fact that both are of equal importance to us – is expressed as the eclipse phenomena, probably the biggest miracle of nature that science still admits exists. It’s just chance, you see, but the chance of that happening is literally so astronomically remote that nobody can figure out how ridiculous it is that it actually happens.

From the basic idea that the two Lights are the fundamental objects in the sky which focus all the power of astrology (and probably form its core historically) we can add the idea that astrology is basically about the study of rhythms and cycles – seasons. Leaving aside the fact that we use the planets and other objects in the sky to map these cycles and the question of why that mapping should equate to our existence on Earth, it cannot be denied that nature is basically an interlocking matrix of countless cycles. Each breath you take, each beat of your heart, each rise of the Sun, each filling and cloaking of the Moon, each ripening seed, opening flower or sleeping of a tree is not only tied to a natural cycle (uniquely) but the uniqueness itself is the product of a complex interaction of cycles. Your body is filled with organic rhythms, emotional rhythms and mental rhythms, as is your life (a fact we all cannot deny as soon as we reach puberty) and it is what makes you who and what you are.

The idea of conduction then is that we can use the Lights to interact with these rhythms and cycles and eventually not only just learn from them but influence and manipulate them. The question of whether it is wise for us to do so is one that has to be carefully considered and on a case-by-case basis, but ultimately it is our own astrology that teaches us what is wise and unwise, and (according to astrology) nature would be doing this to us anyway. The difference in conduction is that we are awake and ready to engage with the cycles as they emerge, rather than just sitting passively and watching them come towards and away from our present, if we even see them at all. Conduction, however, is not a wish granting engine. It is a mechanism for self transformation and for opening dialog between that self and the perpetually transforming universe. It is certainly possible to transform external circumstances, especially when those external circumstances relate to us personally and individually (such as using conduction to improve our health or increase our chances of landing a job), and in fact such things naturally result as a consequence or side-effect of any self transformation, but the real treasure of this technique will always be in its capacity to reveal ourselves to us. In theory, and I say in theory because it has not been tested in practice yet, collective use of conduction could result in a collective transformation of the human experience through a collective transformation of its processing of astrology. I’ve devoted a large and ongoing series of articles to collective astrology for this reason, which you can find in the archives of this journal.

For example, next year (2018) Saturn will be in Capricorn. In the early 1990s, all the children being born all over the world had both Uranus and Neptune in Capricorn. This means that next year all of them will have Saturn influencing Uranus and Neptune in Capricorn in their astrology. If enough of them work together with Saturn to transform their experience of that part of their astrology, the collective experience of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Capricorn will shift, and with enough people working together towards the same ends it is certainly possible that they will be able to determine the outcome of that influence next year. This is because any one single astrological influence has a staggering array of possible manifestations. Beginners in astrology really need to dwell upon this and let it sink in because there is an assumption in the human collective awareness connected to the idea of astrology which equates it with an inescapable fate, a conditioning which is delusional.

TERMINOLOGY

A conduction is applied to an activation of a key. The key is just an object in the birth chart when viewed through a prism of time – for example, if you have a Sun in Virgo 16°, then the key for your Sun is made up of all the times in your life in which a slow moving object in the solar system (Jupiter outwards) are at or near Virgo 16°. These slow movers are called the activators. So, every time Jupiter reaches Virgo 16° in your lifetime there will be an entry for Jupiter with a time and date next to it in your Sun key. Each of these entries (one every 11 to 12 years, the time it takes Jupiter to orbit the zodiac) is called an activation of the Sun key by Jupiter. The Sun key will be made up of activations by Jupiter, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto – the activators – because these objects move very slowly and therefore describe the major cycles of a lifetime. It will therefore show a tapestry of activations by these planets from the moment you are born until the end of your lifetime (I set that for 100 years). The key is therefore a chronology, a history of major influences occurring to your Sun.

Since these activators each take radically different amounts of time to orbit the zodiac (Jupiter takes 11 to 12 years, Saturn 28 to 29 years and so on up to Pluto which takes over 240 years) their varying motion translates into varying amounts of time in which they influence each key. Pluto, being the slowest object, lingers for the longest amount of time over each key (a few years) while Jupiter being the fastest typically spends only a few months influencing each key. The time that an activation will last is called its “window of opportunity”. This window is the period of time in which you can begin conduction of the activation, in other words how long it will last for.

Windows of Opportunity (see pages 73 and 97 of The 26 Keys for more on this subject)

Jupiter: 1-2 months either side of the exact conjunction to the key

Saturn: 3-4 months either side of the exact conjunction to the key

Chiron: 4-6 months either side of the exact conjunction to the key

Uranus: 6-12 months either side of the exact conjunction to the key

Neptune: 1-2 years either side of the exact conjunction to the key

Pluto: 2-3 years either side of the exact conjunction to the key

These are not concrete time limits, they fluctuate, so treat these windows as a practical guide and investigate how it works in reality. One reliable observation is that the window is stronger before the activation rather than after, but strongest of all during the time the activator is exactly conjoined with the key.

The total length of time that you will perform the conduction is tied to the life of the activation (once Jupiter has moved far enough, the activation is over) but beyond that limitation it is basically up to you, however it is recommended that you work in whole cycles, these being one month for lunar or Magnetic conduction and one year for solar or Electric conduction. This is because whole cycles create volts, accumulations of energy which are greater than the sum of their parts.

In the image below (Figure 1) you can see a complete natal chart presented on the inner wheel and in the outer wheel you can see positions representing the current location (called transits) of both the Sun and Uranus in Aries.

You can see that the position of Uranus and the Sun on the outer wheel is lined up with the position of Mercury and Uranus in the inner wheel – all of the objects concerned are at 24° or 25° of Aries. What we are looking at here then is an activation of the Mercury (and Uranus) keys by Uranus, with the Sun ready to begin conducting it. This activation is the long term effect which the conduction will seek to work with (according to the window of opportunity provided by Uranus it can last several months). The process of conduction of this activation commences whenever the Sun or Moon also reaches 24° or 25° of Aries. In Figure 1 you can see the position of the Sun in Aries at 24°, so in this case the method of conduction will be Electric conduction using the Sun to conduct the influence around the birth chart for (ideally) about a year. Although the influence of the activation by Uranus will have probably ended by that time the fact that you have initiated it in this window of opportunity will allow you to work with it for some time afterward, but you will concentrate whatever effort you are putting into it during the window of opportunity. In the case of activations which are slower (Neptune and Pluto), the window of opportunity will actually be longer than a year, making Electric conduction even more effective.

Now look at the image below (Figure 2) for the same activation but using the Moon as the conductor. The principle is exactly the same – the Moon is lined up at 24° to 25° Aries, with Uranus, and both of those are affecting the inner wheel (the birthchart) via Mercury and Uranus in Aries. It’s the same activation but with a different conductor on the scene.

The shorthand for describing this is “Uranus activating the Mercury and Uranus keys, conducted by the Moon” or “Magnetic conduction of Uranus activating the Mercury and Uranus keys”. This form of conduction will not take a year but a month, because this is the time that it takes the Moon to orbit the entire zodiac and come back to 24° to 25° of Aries. In this time Uranus will not have moved very much at all, and so throughout the entire period the window of opportunity will be wide open and in fact it will continue to be open for some months afterwards and therefore the Magnetic conduction can be chained together into a sequence which will create a Magnetic volt with the nature of Aries, Uranus and Mercury. This could be used to increase study in some area, quicken the mind which has slowed or aged, or any number a variety of effects that can come about through a combination of Uranus and Mercury in Aries. Through the work that you do with it over this period of time you can seed an intention into this volt so that it has a specific function and purpose. This will happen naturally as you work through the conduction.

These two methods – Electric and Magnetic conduction – are not exclusive but complementary and interchangeable, each teaches you about the same chart and the same activation but in a different way, so that with practice you can keep going with both forms of conduction at the same time, even with conducting different activations in each case, but this is a skill that is acquired through practice and familiarity and it’s best to learn how to juggle one ball first.

TURNING THE KEY

The process of conducting an activation through a whole cycle around the chart using the Lights as conductors is called turning the key. In the examples above, we would be turning the Mercury and/or Uranus keys, for either 1 month+ or 1 year. In the turning of the key you will unlock the power of the activation, in particular at specific times, times when the conductor reaches a new object in the birth chart. So in the first example above, when the Sun reaches 17° of Taurus (as shown in the image below, Figure 3) there will be a powerful solar contribution to the turning of the key and the activation, a point at which you can do something solar with it or perceive it with your spirit, as a state of being, because the conduction is addressed to your natal Sun:

Similarly, if you are using the Moon as the conductor then when the Moon reaches 17° of Taurus (as shown in Figure 4, below) there will be a powerful lunar contribution to the turning of the key and the activation, a point at which you can do something lunar with it or perceive it with your astral awareness, as a state of sensitivity:

As the conductor leads you around the chart it teaches you about your own rhythms as things come to you at the appointed time according to their position in your chart. For example, once your conductor reaches the position of Mercury in your chart there will be a mental interaction with what you are doing and perhaps a message or information received connected to your intentions and what is happening because of your turning of the key. The different houses or temples of your chart will also become highlighted or illuminated by the conductor at specific periods during the month or the year, depending upon which conductor you are using. When the conductor reaches the same part of the zodiac it was in when you began, the cycle is closed and the turning of the key complete, but you can continue on afterward if the activation still has an open window of opportunity (which will very often be the case with the planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, especially with Magnetic conduction). In Electric conduction the window of opportunity often closes before the cycle closes – it very rarely does this for Neptune or Pluto activations, sometimes for Uranus and often for Chiron, nearly always for Saturn and always for Jupiter. For these reasons Magnetic conduction is better for Jupiter and Saturn activations while Electric conduction is often more effective during Neptune and Pluto activations. In the middle there is Chiron and Uranus activation, but that is often better with Magnetic conduction too, unless they are retrograding (hovering back and forth around one place of the zodiac for a while) and so spending a long time activating the key. Even in cases where the window of opportunity closes before the cycle of Electric conduction closes you can continue on for the remainder of the cycle because you have set something in motion, but once the window of opportunity closes you will be developing it under your own steam without the assistance of the astrology that was once there.

You could not only begin the conduction from an activation of one of the objects in your birth chart such as Mercury, but also from the 1st temple or 1st house, following the journey of the Sun and/or Moon around the chart until it reaches the ascendant again so that you visit all 12 houses/temples in turn and therefore visit every single object in the chart as well. I call this type of conduction a temple cycle and the others (which begin from any other object in the chart except one of the house cusps) a planet cycle (although the word planet can also refer to the Sun or the Moon in your chart or some other object which is not classified as a planet by astronomers but which is used in astrology).

In the beginning, what happens is that you gain education in your astrology as you encounter each of the objects for the first time at the appropriate time and your awareness that this is what is happening reveals to you what that part of your astrology is all about. After a little practice and experience however you can begin to reform and reshape the way that the individual parts of your astrology express themselves. For example, if you note that when the Sun moves onto the Moon in the conduction cycle that you get edgy and nervous for some reason, the next time you come round to that time of the month you can do something to counter it. You will learn very quickly in this method where and when the most sensitive parts of your astrology are located, and if you keep journals recording your experiences in conduction and also analysing how you have handled previous activations in the same key, you can quickly build up a very, very detailed and uniquely specific picture of your historical interaction with astrology that will be invaluable to you in the future.

Furthermore, conduction slots into almost any other kind of activity or practice as an enhancement – you can use it to plan out your fitness activities, your diet, the social life, your initiation, your dancing – the technique slots smoothly into literally any activity, but each time it does so in a way that uniquely tailors itself to you and is harmonized perfectly with your own cycles and rhythms. And as your direct experience of your own astrology grows, your knowledge of astrology and of yourself blossoms into understanding born not of reading and thinking but of being and encountering. Astrology has for an untold age been a largely intellectual pursuit, but conduction opens a door to a less cerebral appreciation of its truth.

LUNAR PHASES

As we all know, the Moon changes its shape and has different phases over the course of the month. Magnetic conduction can use this as a structure instead of the birth chart. The easiest way to do this is just to observe the Moon (preferably but not necessarily starting with the New Moon) as it changes its shape in the sky over the course of the month noting how it changes the expression of a particular activation that is happening to one of your keys. For example if you have Saturn activating the Venus key, then you will just observe the way that the waxing and waning of the Moon during the window of opportunity changes what you experience about Saturn activating the Venus key. You will need to know beforehand a little bit about astrology in order to take this course because you will need to know what Venus represents and what Saturn represents just a little bit in order to know what you are supposed to be observing in the period concerned, but it is still a very valid and workable method of Magnetic conduction. In fact you can combine this lunar phase approach with the birth chart approach outlined above because the two are very complimentary and the phases just add more detail and granularity to the Magnetic conduction around the chart. The phases of the Moon, especially the Full Moon and the two Half Moons, represent turning points in the cycle. These turning points can be plotted onto the birth chart and placed in houses/temples and signs to delineate what that time of the conduction signifies or can produce.

For example, the chart below (Figure 5) is the same chart and moment as that presented as Figure 4 above, but I have added the position of the Sun to the outer wheel so that you can also see where the Sun is when the Moon reaches 17° of Taurus.

You can see that it is at 7° Taurus and so very close to the Moon – 10° behind the Moon in the zodiac – and so the Moon has just passed the Sun, in other words it is just after the New Moon (which happens when the Sun and Moon occupy the same degree of the zodiac). What this tells us is that the New Moon energy is focused on that area of the chart (Taurus, and in this case also the 8th temple), and so the point at which the conduction reaches the Sun is configured with New Moon qualities (beginning, mystery, emptiness, darkness, seeding), Taurus qualities (physicality, sensuality, material things and qualities like patience, practicality and endurance) and 8th temple qualities (deep survival and reproductive instincts, psychological complexes, transformation and renewal or recycling). Relating that back to the starting point and the activation being conducted (Uranus activating the Mercury key) gives you more information about this period of time which you can use to adapt what you do at that time to shepherd the manifestation of events. You might, for example, see the potential in this time for probing the mysteries of the psychological complexes surrounding your birth chart Mercury, complexes which are being potentially stirred up by the activator Uranus during this window of opportunity. Many other possibilities may merge or suggest themselves to you.

When we move ahead in time following the Moon until it becomes Full we arrive at the chart below, Figure 6:

You can see how much more speedy the Moon is than the Sun because whereas the Sun has only made it to 20° of Taurus the Moon has made it all the way around to 20° of Scorpio and is now in the 2nd temple. This is the time of the Full Moon because the Sun and the Moon are directly opposite one another in the zodiac. So now we can see that the qualities of the Full Moon during this Magnetic conduction cycle are focused on Scorpio and the 2nd temple of the chart, and again we can relate this back to the start of the cycle and the activation we are working with, Uranus activation of the Mercury key. In some way, the conduction cycle will reach high tide in Scorpio in the 2nd temple. Whatever we are doing with it or whatever exploration is occurring with it will reach an astral maximum in that period and in that area of the chart. So we can think of the phases of the Moon and the different stages of the conduction around the birth chart as conditions or stages of the work that we are doing with the activation. They add detail and information to the monthly cycle, the conduction.

ELECTRO-MAGNETIC CONDUCTION

The practice of using the phases of the Moon in this way brings us to look at the method of combining Electric and Magnetic conduction as an Electro-Magnetic cycle. This is simply following both the Sun and the Moon at the same time and working with both conductors together. Sometimes, the Sun and Moon will coincidentally reach objects and sensitive places at the same time – for example, you might have the conduction by the Moon reach the position of Venus in your birth chart on the same day that the Sun reaches the position of Mars. You can see an example of this in the chart above Figure 6, where during the Full Moon the Sun at 20° of Taurus is only a few degrees away from the birth chart Sun at 17° of Taurus. You then have even more information to work with concerning that day – it’s not only about the Full Moon in Scorpio in the 2nd temple, it is also about your birthday (the Sun reaches the same place in the zodiac it was in when we were born for each birthday that we have). Since the Sun travels about 1° every day, we know that this event is about two or three days after your birthday (Taurus 17° plus 3 equals Taurus 20°) and that this period carries a very strong solar energy as a result, a solar energy which is being expressed as Taurus and the 8th temple. All of this additional detail will be related back to the activation you are exploring, in this example the Uranus activation of the Mercury key.

Once you understand this and it does not confuse you, the insight and detail you gain can lead to an extremely well prepared and advantaged plan for what you do during that month. Personally nuanced and powerful rituals can be designed this way, but you can also use this information to add detail to any activity that you are doing. The essence of the understanding that you gain from this form of conduction is that the Electric method of conducting the chart is akin to the natural cycle of the seasons throughout the year – broad, powerful phases of nature which have a highly regular rhythm and appear at the same time in very similar ways every year, only changing through the backdrop of activations which change every year – and the Magnetic method of conducting the chart is far more fluid and akin to the natural cycle of planting and growing, the cycle of agriculture and farming methods which are affected by more transient circumstances like the weather and events happening in the environment. Solar conduction is regular and predictable, while lunar conduction is by comparison highly rhythmic but slightly irregular and unpredictable, yet far more adaptable and flexible. Solar or Electric conduction often tends to manifest as daily events and happenings or states of being (having more or less energy for a day or two, for example), while lunar or Magnetic conduction often tends to manifest as moods and sensitivities (feeling grumpy or needing to eat ice cream, for example) which have a shelf life of only a few hours or a day at most. The essential difference is very much like the difference between the way the seasons change behaviour and the way the weather changes behaviour.

ASPECTS DURING CONDUCTION

Yet further layers of detail can be added to a conduction cycle by involving the sextile, trine, square and opposition aspects of astrology. Conduction by the Lights is focused on conjunction aspects (0° of distance) with objects in the chart because the Lights resonate most strongly with the conjunction aspect – the eclipses demonstrate this very clearly. Other aspects can also be involved, however, both those in the natal chart and those which are not.

In Electric conduction, the Sun acts to energize and centralize attention and gravity in a particular area of the chart. For an object in the birth chart it will bear an influence over that object for about a day, with a day either side also carrying a strong aura (a sort of mini window of opportunity for conductors). Since, as was explained above, the Sun is regular and predictable in its annular cycles, it will reach the same degree of the zodiac on roundabout the same day every single year, with some greater variation in leap years. However this variation is not considerable in relation to the practice of conduction because the variance is only about a single day or two at most and therefore the aura will always be around at the same time. Your birthday for example occurs when the Sun returns to the degree in the zodiac it was in when you were born, and this always happens at the same day or around the same day every year with a variance of only a day or sometimes two either side. Because of this we can make an Electric conductor, a list of all the dates in the year when the Sun is at a particular place highlighted by the objects in our birth chart and this list will be applicable to every single year of our lives. I call this a “solar map”. For the astrologically minded among my readers it is basically a list of all the conjunction aspects that the transiting Sun make to all of the house cusps and all of the objects in the birth chart – it’s a list of all of their ‘birthdays’. The solar map, however, can be expanded to include not only the conjunction aspects that the transiting Sun makes to all of the house cusps and objects in the birth chart, but also all of the major aspects – the sextile, the square, the trine and the opposition – and all of these events will happen on the same day every year. For example, the date which is exactly 6 months away from your birthday is the day at which the Sun opposition Sun aspect occurs every year.

The Magnetic conductor, being irregular and unpredictable, does not yield a “lunar map”. The speed of the Moon through the zodiac averages out at about 11° every day but it can vary somewhat from this average. Additionally, Luna takes around 28 days to orbit the zodiac once, but each of our months is either 30 or 31 days, except for February, which has 28 but sometimes has 29. This lack of synchronization between the Moon’s orbit and the awkward length of our calendar months along with the varying speed of the Moon means that each Magnetic conductor has to be created individually, so each month that you want to work with the Moon as the conductor you have to figure out from your ephemeris or your software or your favourite astrologer where the Moon is on a particular day and when it will be attending to certain parts of the zodiac. However, as a rule of thumb the Moon basically orbits the zodiac once every month and will therefore touch every part of it every four weeks. It will also form all the major aspects to every object in the chart during that period as well as form all the major aspects to every objects current position in the solar system.

So in one month the Moon will make every possible conjunction, sextile, trine, square and opposition aspect to every object in your chart, and every possible conjunction, sextile, trine, square and opposition aspect to every objects current position in the sky. The Sun will do exactly the same over the course of a year, but with the Sun it will always do so on or near to the same day every year.

What this provides you with are a pair of complementary methods of adding aspects to your conduction, both Electric and Magnetic. The first includes all of the dates when the Sun and/or Moon make a conjunction, sextile, trine, square and opposition aspect to every objects position in your chart (i.e to each key), while the second includes all of the dates when the Sun and/or Moon make a conjunction, sextile, trine, square and opposition aspect to every objects current position in the sky.

Adding just one of these layers to one method of conduction results in an enormous increase of detail for that conduction cycle, and this can be overwhelming at first. One way in which you can break this down so that it is more easily manageable is to understand that the conduction cycle is broken down into four distinct quarters. Each of these quarters is a turning point in the cycle and each quarter is positioned 90° or exactly 3 signs away from the last and the next. So for example the turning points for anything positioned at Aries 24° are located at Cancer 24° (three signs on), Libra 24° (another three signs on), and at Capricorn 24°, three signs on from Libra 24° and three behind Aries 24°. If you look at Figure 7 below you can see how I have divided the example chart into these 4 quarters, measured from the natal position of Mercury at Aries 24°:

The first of these quarters is the building up phase of the conduction cycle, and within this part of the cycle the conductor will make a sextile (two signs on) to the place where the conduction began from and thus also to the activator. In the example using Aries 24°, this sextile will occur when the conductor is at Gemini 24°. This sextile will provide a positive stimulus to the conduction which leads into the turning point because this sextile will then turn into a square to the point of origin and the activator. At this point it will be a challenge or a breakthrough or something which is of the nature of a square aspect. This is the first turning point. In the Aries 24° example, this square occurs when the conductor is at Cancer 24°. For Electric conduction it is always about 3 months after you start, with the sextile at about 2 months. For Magnetic conduction it is about a week after you start, with the sextile happening about 2-3 days before then.

The second of these quarters extends from that square by the conductor to the opposition it makes towards the origin or starting point of the conduction cycle. Within this part of the cycle the conductor will make a trine (four signs on) to the place where the conduction began from and thus also to the activator. This will happen in Electric conduction near to exactly 4 months after you begin. In Magnetic conduction this will happen about 2 to 3 days after the first turning point. In the example using Aries 24°, this trine will occur when the conductor is at Leo 24°. At this point in the cycle you gain the assistance of Elemental beings and so this is one of the most important points in the conduction cycle if you are seeking to work with the Elements and their beings. The nature of this point of the cycle is to make it easier and to cause the process to flow and to grow more smoothly overall. This influence carries the conduction forwards until it meets the opposition with the place where the conduction began from and thus also opposition to the activator (except for some cases of Electric conduction – mainly Jupiter and Saturn activations – because after 6 months those faster activators may have significantly moved on from where they were when you began). This is the second turning point and for Electric conduction it occurs almost exactly 6 months after you begin while for Magnetic conduction it is approximately 2 weeks after you begin. The nature of this turning point can be contrary. Sometimes, this turning point can lead to a great achievement or a materialisation of a goal, especially if you have been putting in a lot of effort. At other times, however, it presents an impassible obstacle, a drain on our resources or some other non-negotiable occurrence which we must face. The task at these times is to listen to what the universe is telling us and try to go around the obstacles rather than trying to blast them out of the way. The challenge which occurs at the first turning point (as well as the 3rd) can sometimes be met with pure will and determination and literally knocked aside, but the challenge which arises at this second turning point does not have this quality. This turning point also marks the time in which the cycle begins to fold back in on itself as the conductor begins to return to its starting position having orbited half of the zodiac. This can be significant in a number of ways – it can lead events to proceed from an external to an internal focus, or to begin returning to us, or to undergo some other significant change of direction.

The third quarter extends from the opposition by the conductor to the second square it makes towards the origin or starting point of the conduction cycle. This third quarter of the conduction brings another trine to the origin or starting point of the cycle and thus also to the activator. Again, the conduction receives Elemental assistance. To be a little clearer about this, in the example where we are talking about an activation happening at Aries 24°, the assistance flowing into the conduction will come from the Fire Element, because Aries is a Fire sign. This second trine will be released at Sagittarius 24°. In the case of the Sun this will occur 8 months into the conduction while in the case of the Moon it will take place sometime around 19-20 days into the cycle. Again we will experience a more flowing and easy interaction which will lead into a third and final turning point before the cycle closes when the conductor reaches the second square towards the origin or starting point of the conduction cycle (and thus often to the activator). This second square occurs exactly 3 signs before the origin or starting point of the cycle, so in the case of Aries 24° it will happen at Capricorn 24° because counting three signs on from Capricorn 24° we arrive at Aries 24°. For the Sun this will occur 9 months after the beginning of the conduction cycle and for the Moon it will occur around about three weeks after the beginning of the conduction cycle. The nature of this turning point is also somewhat contrary, because it very much depends on how we have been handling what has happened prior. Often, a further challenge will be presented just to make sure that we really understand what we need to have understood or we will be challenged one more time but at a deeper level and with greater understanding so that we do not make the choices we made before. We may also experience a reaction from others or from life in general towards what we have set in motion. Another common manifestation of this turning point is a sense of failure or exhaustion, but this is often just a natural winding down of the cycle as it approaches its end. The essence of this turning point is that it allows us to reflect upon the cycle and what we have done with it so far and to make any last adjustments before we bring it to a close.

The final quarter extends from this second square by the conductor to the place where it began. This fourth quarter of the conduction brings a final sextile to the origin or starting point of the cycle and thus also to the activator. Here the cycle receives a final stimulus, often manifesting as new opportunities emerging or answers to questions which have been unanswered becoming clearer as the cycle nears its end. For Electric conduction this will happen 10 months after you begin (thus two months before you end) while for Magnetic conduction it will happen at around 23-24 days in, about 4-5 days before the cycle closes. In the case of our example using an activated key at Aries 24°, the final sextile will happen whenever the conductor is Aquarius 24°. After this sextile, the cycle will begin to wind down as the conductor returns to the place where it began and at this point you may be able to draw some conclusions about what you have experienced. If the activator is slow (Uranus, Neptune or Pluto) and you have been using Magnetic conduction, the closing of the cycle can lead to a spike in intensity. This is the nature of the Magnetic/astral volt you are creating.

You can add further detail to these quarters by considering the placement of objects in your birth chart within each of them. Every object in your birth chart will divide the chart into four equal quarters when measured this way and each of those quarters will have things in them that makes it unique to you – for example you might find that your natal Jupiter lies in the 1st quarter of the conduction, your natal Saturn in the 2nd, and everything else is in the 3rd quarter. In the example chart used here, Figure 7 shows Mars and the Sun located in the 1st quarter of the conduction cycle. Because the different objects in your birth chart are in different places, each object in your birth chart will have the other objects placed in different quarters of the conduction cycle. This adds a very personal factor to each quarter described above.

An even deeper and far more complicated way to involve aspects in your conduction is to take note of the aspects the conductor/s will make to the other current positions of objects in the solar system, for example the current position of Jupiter and Saturn rather than their position in your birth chart. You need an ephemeris or an astrologer to help you do this, and the level of detail that you add can be overwhelming especially if you include aspects to natal planets as described above. Probably the easiest way to do this is to look at the major aspect patterns that are currently occupying the sky and note the positions and days when a conductor will emphasize that pattern, for example currently there is a long ongoing square between the planets Uranus and Pluto, a high stress aspect the has bought a great deal of upheaval to the world since appearing at the start of this decade. When the conductor begins to interact with either Uranus or Pluto as they stand in the sky tonight, the powerful and often disruptive influence of this aspect can manifest itself in your conduction. Some of the positive uses of this aspect include making a major breakthrough which leads to a complete transformation of something, but not without stress and struggle. By anticipating these moments in the conduction you can prepare for them ahead of time – or just take the day off work, but remember that there is opportunity in such aspects. Uranus square Pluto is a pretty extreme example, and there are many aspect patterns that do not contribute stress, so don’t be put off. However, to avoid being overwhelmed with considerations at this stage it is wise to be selective about which influences you are going to focus on. Choosing one planet as a focal point, like Mercury, means you only have to look at interaction between the Lights and Mercury, and it helps you draw clarity from the conduction.

Conduction has as many adaptations as it has applications and uses. Many of these, such as the ones I have described above, reveal themselves to practitioners. As you realise how the mechanics of a chart work and what that looks like when you meet it in life, you can even begin to evolve your own unique approaches to specific areas of your astrology. You might find, for example, that your Neptune responds well to listening to music, or that your Mercury responds well to organising your schedule. Conversely, you may also find that some objects don’t respond very well to certain approaches or tactics. Your Moon may not respond all that well to efforts at forming new habits, or your Venus being emphasized may screw with your ability to add up numbers. Every person will have an individual response, but some of the things which we learn can be shared with others and be useful to them, as I have done here. What can you find out about conduction, and what can it teach you about yourself?