Transiting Times: Sun/Saturn in Libra

 Saturn casting - and living in - its own shadow

(source: NASA)

Anywhere the transiting Sun would meet up with Saturn would astrologically be taken to be a 'moment to consider.' How you react to that...? That may be with hilarity. Or with inspiration. Or with anger, sorrow, even retribution.

Saturn's symbolism is all about the structure and shape of our world. It's thus the boundaries within which we work and our working to provide ourselves with a structure to hang our hat on. Saturn represents all the rules we have to live by - from stopping at red lights to 'thou shall not commit murder' to doing your homework lest you earn a week of detention.

That last bit - the earning part - that's also very Saturn. Associated with career and social standing, Saturn very much represents the 'what you earn in life, you get from life' (and the world around you) sort of idea.

In Libra, Saturn emphasizes this cause/effect 'what you put out there comes back to you' sort of idea - and in that, reminds us that Saturn under any conditions is a symbol of discipline (of self and/or others) and thus, responsibility.

To this we bring the Sun - the 'light of all lights,' the 'focal image' of life itself. Whether you think of it as 'will' or 'whether you will,' the unceasing existence of the Sun represents life as an ongoing process as well as the inexorable inevitability that there will be those days when we have things we need to do.

This would seem to be one of those days. Sometimes what we need to do is not do - but that's still doing, since the issue is not our want but the greater concern which is life itself.

Given this, perspective would seem to be something to keep in mind today, no matter what goes on.

As for the 'them' of the moment, that is probably all about 7 Libra, a degree which proposes to teach us the difference between what is comfortable and what is true...otherwise put as the difference between being inside and outside our comfort zone.

The facts may be at issue here - what you have to deal with, the choices which need making and so on. But why you make one choice over another, why one thing is comfortable for you and another isn't - that's the real question. 

So today's lesson is probably all about maintaining a perspective not just on daily happenings, but on ourselves. From this, in understanding this, given Sun conjunct Saturn we may well be able to let go of old fears, old limitations and limitations as we realize we have more to give, that there's more to see and do and that when we are more and more comfortable with ourselves, so others are naturally drawn to us.

Transiting Reflections: Life Isn't Just an Accident

 A Sherman m4a2e8 tank 
(photo by Balcer)

Today, a little story.... 

Maybe a confession. Or lesson in wolf diary clothing.

I went to see my doctor yesterday. Friend, Medico and sometimes Chief Nudge, he was into checking up on my progress after a recent car accident.

In my honest if only semi-dutiful report (let's be real, this is me we're talking about here...) I included how in the aftermath of crunching metal I've found commitments - such as this blog - ever harder to keep up with.

Turns out that I somehow had never told him I was blogging. So after we sorted out how this was an astrological and not strictly personal blog and how the blog therefore had nothing to do with my accident, there was a moment of reflection...on both sides.

Then (not very much to my surprise) he came up with a suggestion, one voiced in his usual bright if just slightly nudgy way. But maybe it should! Maybe you should write a blog about the accident. You're the astrologer...it must have astrological meaning, right?

If I was a witch, my doctor would surely be my Familiar.
And if he was a witch, I'd probably be his.

Totally apart from that, he was right. Annoyingly right. How do I know? Well, mostly because...

....Back in 1981 I was working my way through a long, drawn out recovery after a fall at work which had gifted me with a broken pelvis. Yes, some of that 'giftedness' is sarcastic, but there was also that I had survived to prove the MD's wrong. They had said I would never walk again and thanks to a lovable chiropractor who assured me that I 'would again live to annoy people from my full, if diminutive height,' I had not only lived to walk again, but prove to myself I could survive a rather grizzly time.

During said painful morass was when I'd learned astrology. That was another gift - one given me by a friend intending on installing something in my head I could wrestle with as a productive alternative to pain.

And it's not like I was all for it - at least at first. Like many, when he first said 'astrology' I replied with the more or less 'are you kidding?' snort, to which he responded with 'if you think it's bunk, I'll teach it to you and you can prove to me that astrology doesn't work.'

Obviously I learned better. Astrology does work. You have to treat it like a science, and you can't just learn the parts which appeal to you, but that makes total sense. I mean...who wants their surgeon to learn all about scalpels and nothing about hygiene, or all about diseases but nothing about physiology?

So I learned astrology, long hand. This being the days before computers, I lay on an ice pack on my bed, penciling out the math on a yellow pad held overhead. And with basics barely stuffed in my mental pockets, I then started hand calculating transits, that oh-so useful personal data guide of planets casting angles to positions in one's natal chart.

Somewhere about half way through this three year  limp-and-gimp period I spotted what looked like an 'ugly' transit coming down the pike. It's name was Saturn inconjunct Sun, which reads roughly like this: an "adjustment" (inconjunct) to be encountered in life (Sun) by some limiting or 'hard' frontal force (Saturn).

Can inconjuncts be positives? Yes. But particularly in the case of any so-called 'hard transit' (of which inconjuncts are one type) one needs to use the energy positively in order for it to manifest for the better.

And not only did I not know that rule at the time, I was not exactly in the position to do much. But being the clever little duck I was, I had a plan. My plan was to do nothing. I'd stay home all day. I'd stay home all week if necessary! Surely I was bigger than some planetary symbol, no? I wasn't going to play this Saturn game.

The day came, the hour passed. Sitting in my apartment, I looked out at flowering trees and heaved a victorious sigh of relief.  And since I'd beaten this Saturn thing to the punch, I gathered myself to the painful act of going down the stairs to get the mail.

Painful indeed! I got to the mailboxes - situated right next to the carport, got my mail and by habit, glanced at my parking space.

My car was gone.

After standing there for a minute staring (as if I would will my car back into being) panic hit and I went to wrangle up a neighbor. Sure enough, one of the neighbors had noticed my car there, then gone during a very specific window of time.

Yes, the time when the transit had become exact against my chart.

I absolutely got the message. Life is unavoidable - meaning you can't just opt out.
Later I would see a bumper sticker issued by California State University Northridge's Geology Department expressing this very idea in a geologic manner which I've adopted as a personal truism:

SILT HAPPENS

I vowed never to 'avoid' a transit again. Energy IS. We either use it for some purpose or it flows through our life without guidance or input from what we call 'Free Will.'

As for my car, it was found about twelve hours later, stripped to its axles. This being then and not now, my insurance company flinched only slightly, then at my request rebuilt the entire vehicle.

Now we come back to 2010. It's 110 degrees in the oven called Los Angeles and in the aftermath of the accident and the chat with my much beloved GP, I come home, take a shower, have a bit of a rest then look up the date of the recent accident. I'd looked it up at the time, and knew something was there, but just what had fallen out of my mental file folder.

Being its usual prompt and flawless self, my software spewed transits as requested onto my screen.

I looked to the date. Oh yes...now isn't that interesting...the one major transit to my chart the day of this month's accident was Saturn inconjunct Sun.

So maybe this is all about a lesson in learning about cycles. If so I've learned. Moreover, I offer what I've learned to you so you can consider such things in your own life.

As for the big picture, the bad news is that Saturn will return to this evidently personally problematic position yet again. Every 29 years or so, this transit will automatically come around.

The good news is that Saturn only returns to the same position once every 29 years or so.

And if I'm lucky, I'll still be here to see another round.

Hopefully I'll be driving a tank by then.

 

Money Matters: Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

European Union Currency

Not too long ago, I was in an auto accident. It wasn't tragic or even all that serious in the sense that such things can be serious: my vehicle got crunched at both ends and I'm working through some whiplash.

And that isn't my astrological point, either. The astrology thought came to me as I was talking things through with my insurance company. The subject was rental cars and how I was going to be asked to give the rental agency a credit card against damages. Yes, even though I'm insured driving whatever I drive and in spite of the fact this current accident was 100% not my fault (I was sitting at a stop light when along came a car who failed to stop).

My reply to my insurance company: I don't have a credit card.

Her reply to me: We hear that a lot now. More and more, in fact.

That's what got me to thinking.

Thinking astrologically is sometimes a bit like painting a picture. My father having gone to art school, he taught me that most artists use big brushes to lay down 'washes' of color, the broad strokes and background against which all else takes place.

In my many years now of studying astrology, I have come to realize that all symbols far and near have something of this 'background' function. And when we think of money...how/when the world went all hog-wild with credit and credit cards, leading to the deep water struggle we are all swimming through now, that tends to suggest Pluto. The great upswing in credit usage came in the 1980 - when Pluto was transiting Scorpio, sign of 'other people's money,' investment and debt.

Japanese Yen coinage

'Credit' isn't known as a particularly Scorpio word probably because the word credit is about a 'plus', and in Scorpio the 'plus' is what's is 'borrowed' and thus owed. Scorpio is entirely interactive - there are always two parties in the mix. So 'to one's credit' as we think of it emotionally or as a resource of talent or ability, that wouldn't be Scorpionic, that would be Taurus/2nd house - the source(s) which we draw on in order to build a bigger, better whatever.

A long time ago, some well-known astrologer made the statement that until you incur sufficient debt that you could not pay it off with the totality of your life's work you're not actually in debt. I don't recall exactly who it was, though several names dance though my mind as I type this. In any case, the statement was made during the 80's and is endemically emblematic of those times, since we and our world were in the 1980's and 1990's plunging on as though growth would never end.

But of course, it did. Courtesy of Pluto in Sagittarius,  with the plus of a great boom in knowledge technological and otherwise we got the Sagittarian Plutonic trampling of limits and boundaries. Common 'rainy day' sense was tested with 'but what is actually possible?' In some cases this 'let's push a little more' was a very good thing. Without that, we wouldn't know or have many things of everyday modern life.

But when we go with Plutonic obsessions to great extremes, then we take a fall. And given Pluto as the 'outcome' ruler of Scorpio, the lesson there really is that we've taken a fall because we made a bad choice.

And don't we all get that by now - that a couple or three fiscal bad choices got made? On the Pluto level, today's angst, today's frustrations, today's ill feelings, they are the outcomes of choices. Being 'mental feelings' they are also the metaphysical 'voicing' of what we did...when? 

When Pluto was in Scorpio. That would have been 'one,' and Pluto in Sagittarius would have been 'two,' which makes Pluto in Capricorn 'three.'

Chinese Yuan currency

And that being so, we have a pretty good indicator about at least one facet of Pluto's passage through Capricorn. What it's about, I mean.

Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, our symbol of structural growth. Or structural limitation. Either way, Saturn can represent determination or fear. Even determination to overcome fear, defense against fear or some sort of  fearful circumstances - real or imagined.

Yes, that's right - even though earthy Capricorn manifests as the tangible and concrete, that doesn't mean the need or feeling which motivates Capricorn is tangible and concrete. And that's a separation which seems important in a world where everything about life seems to prey on feelings of competition, greed, fear, lust and whatever else to get us to do (or not do) most everything.

But we also should suspect that will only go so far. Why would we think that? Well, Pluto is currently moving through Capricorn's first, physical/action-oriented decanate. And the air is filled with 'what are we going to do about...(insert issue).'

As of 2013, Pluto will move into Capricorn's second and most emotional decanate. At that point, one supposes, the emphasis will shift from 'what are we going to do' to 'how are we going to feel when (insert issue) happens?' Or maybe 'how can we allow ourselves to feel (description) considering (insert issue)?'

Interestingly, as Pluto finally reaches Capricorn's third and worldly 'results' decanate (degrees 20 through 29) in 2018. And this is also Saturn moves into its first 'home sign' of Capricorn in December 2017, catching up with Pluto by conjunction in January 2020.

United States 'greenback' currency

This is also just after when the chart of the US Federal Reserve tends to suggest current monetary mire will have actually come to a point of resolution. Considering how interlocked the international monetary system is, we can easily thus deduce that as US finances begin to improve, so will the financial fortunes of most of the rest of the world. (link to article on the astrology of the US Federal Reserve)

In the end though, what this may well point to is a whole other issue. One which also centers in Pluto as the experience of emotional transformation. With Pluto as secondary 'outcome' ruler of Scorpio, it would seem that just as 'credit/giving ourselves credit' against debt/feeling indebted to others as an outgrowth of the Taurus/Scorpio 'my/other people's' resources (of which money is just one sort) is really the biggest issue we can grapple with.

After all, part of what has driven us - nations and people all - into the cycle of borrowing/debt/refinancing and all the rest which got us into this mess is how we have generally come to think of the word "worth" as being a monetary worth. You know, as in 'what am I worth?'

In truly obsessive, Plutonic, 'others' Scorpio style, with Pluto's passage through Scorpio the world seemed to lose its sense of self and focus hugely, even totally, on what others thought of us.

And that's always bad, since no one is going to think of us any better than we think of ourselves. Scorpio - the other, is the 'effect' in 'cause/effect ' with the cause being Taurus: self worth, satisfaction, respect for our own being and our abilities as people and to be people.

The good news is, we're still alive, and therefore able to reclaim our mortal worth - in every sense. And don't we deserve to give ourselves a little credit?

Mercury Exits its Shadow

Having gone retrograde back on August 20th at 19 Virgo and turned back to direct motion on September 12th, Mercury has now finally reached 19 Virgo again and thus is now emerging from the 'shadow' of its retrograde.

What does that mean to us? Several things.

For one, this signals an end to projects, conditions or issues which have been 'hanging around' since back in August. Even (actually) the tail end of July, seeing as Mercury entered the shadow of its recent retrograde back on July 31st. For some, things are finally slipping into place. Finally! It's done.

Then there are those who get to a point that they decide it's not worth chasing after something. Or someone. They're not just ready to move on - that would have happened back around the time of the station - they're moving on!

With Mercury as ruler not just of Virgoan 'needs of responsibility' but of Gemini and the 3rd house of 'everyday doings' and with these retrograde cycles coming around (generally) four times a year, there are 'seasonal' matters also on the list. And with Virgo the last sign in the zodiacal 'second season' (the 2nd quarter of the zodiac being Cancer-Leo-Virgo), with Mercury emerging from this retrograde shadow at 19 Virgo we get the message that a 'private and responsive/reactionary' phase of (Mercury) thinking is just about over. Mercury hasn't yet gotten to Libra and Matters Public and Worldly, but it's definitely on its way there.

Thus, so are we - at least in our Mercurial thoughts.

Into all this comes the fact that Virgo being an earth sign, this is about real things. Or at least what's 'real' or a 'reality to us. 19 Virgo being the last of Virgo's emotional degrees, this may be the reality of our emotions. Or something real and emotional we've been dealing with. Virgo being a sign of health, work, service, something emotional in that arena has now been dealt with. Or maybe - in true Virgo style - it's been worked over and made more functional.

Lore on this degree suggests a capacity for 'sharp tongues' and 'philosophical developments,' which considering this is Mercury we're talking about may be what you hear, what you say, or what you say to yourself. And with Mercury hitting this mark in tandem with asteroid Sphinx, there's a definite 'stone face' quality here - so don't count on knowing what everybody else is thinking. Or that what they're saying in the heat of what may be a heated moment is the gen-u-ine mental article, as there is a little emotional stress in the air: Sphinx meets emotionalism is not a graceful combination!

Whatever Mercury's exit from shadow means in the moment, it is just a moment. We experience it and move on. A few things are over, a few are not forgotten, but now it's on to the new!

The Mercurius of Chateau Neercanne in 

Maastrich, Netherlands - by Alexander Taratynov (2000)

Full Moon of September 23rd

Full Moon (2009) by Plismo
 

Note: occurring only a little over two hours after the Libra ingress, a Full Moon deserves its own blog post - it's a whole other astrological thing!

  

There's hardly anything which sounds any more of an astrological note about "beginnings" than 0 Aries, as 0 Aries is the first degree of the zodiac. And were this a New Moon instead of a Full Moon, we'd say 'drop everything, start again.'

But this isn't a New Moon - it's a Full Moon. So the symbolism isn't about 'starting.' It's about seeing things in full emotional or reflective light. 

Given that 0 Aries is the first degree of the first sign, it carries a whole aura of the newborn baby: the ego need plus the totally innocent perspective. So how do we reflect on that?

Well, maybe we need to reflect on how inviting that quality really is. Maybe we need to be a bit more like the newborn?

Then again, maybe we're acting too much like the newborn!

And again, this is a Full Moon we're talking about. Often things come to be 'highlighted' at the time of the Full Moon. So maybe in this moment things start anew, allowing us to see life as if we were starting all over again?

Maybe.

Given that we are talking about this Full Moon thing, there's also that the figure is the Moon on one side of the zodiac with the Sun on the other. So as the Moon is at 0 Aries, the Sun is sitting over yandrow at 0 Libra, recalling to the experienced the fact that super giant honking massive black hole M87 sits just inside the cusp of Libra...

 Hubble's view of jet ejection coming from Black Hole M87

...which is actually apt.

And how's that? Well, the first six signs of the zodiac (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo and Virgo) are all about our Self. They're about learning who we are. And how to operate in basic human terms. The second six signs of the zodiac (Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces) are about how we take that Self out into the world. About how we affect that world. How we interact with that world.

This is a very basic difference - think of someone you know whose birthday is in the "other" half of the zodiac. Doesn't one of you come from a worldly precept while the other is all about personal life? It's a simple but useful thing to remember. And when you're dealing with someone from that 'other half,' do yourself a favor and don't try to change them! They are who they are. Yes it's sometimes annoying, but that's who they are just as you are who you are!

Anyway...back to the Sun and Libra. Given that black hole represent an 'alternate reality,' to have one positioned at the entrance to Libra is very fitting; think of it as the cosmos helping us make the shift from the personal to the worldly. Starting with Libra, we need to remember not to think just in terms of ourselves but also about the effect we have on others. And how the style or  manner in which we present ourselves (or what we do) to others pretty much determines how they respond. And thus how loved we are, appreciated we are - and what opportunities tend to come our way.

So here we have the Sun 0 Libra: life bringing us to the point where we need to see alternatives. Or where we are able to see alternatives. And since the figure is a Full Moon, the whole issue is 'highlighted' and probably evoking an emotional response.

But the Sun is not alone. Oh no...things are hardly ever that simple - haven't you noticed?

In this case, with the Sun and black hole we have  asteroid Atropos. Atropos is one of the three Greek Fates. One spins the thread of life, one measures it out, and Atropos cuts it off at the appointed spot.

But don't get all scared - this isn't about 'life' as in your life. Though obviously people will pass from this Earth at this Full Moon, astrologically there would have to be a whole group of other indicators on someone's individual personal chart to predict death. (And no, astrologers generally don't predict death. There are formulas for it, yes, but those of us who sign professional Ethics Oaths actually promise not to ever, ever use them with clients!)

To the point here: what Atropos tends to say is that 'something is over.' And it could be anything - writing that report for school, cleaning out your closets, looking for a job (because you found one) - anything.

As for that term "fate"? Fate is what happens. Free Will is how we respond to what happens.

So to have Sun/Atropos at 0 Libra could be just the end of a private/Self period and the beginning of a public/worldly time. It could be your needing to stop (Atropos) thinking only in terms of yourself in some way because you're thinking more in terms of a group - your family, your company, whatever.

The Greek Fates by Alfred Agache (c. 1885)

This 'ending' theme also applies to the Full Moon as the end of the waxing Moon and the beginning of the waning Moon phases. So maybe you're beginning to 'let go' of something you've felt strongly about. Or which you've poured your heart and soul into.

Full Moons are also traditionally the end of a phase in a project which from there goes on into some other format. And considering that this one is at 0 Aries (with the Sun at 0 Libra), it may well be that if you've been working alone you now have to work with others. Or if you've been working with others, now maybe you have to go on by yourself.

Now...we've talked about Jupiter and Uranus a whole lot of late (planetary blog hogs, those two!). So we'll simply say yes, they're involved at the Moon end of this figure, and if you want to read more about Jupiter and Uranus, check the blog archives or use the word cloud to find blogs which chat on those subjects.

But if you read the ingress blog you also know that this Full Moon is also in a double t-square formation. And it's to remember that the Moon-Jupiter-Uranus end of this double t-square is the object of our aims.

What do we have to get past? Ourselves. Our desire to do it our way, to not have to change anything and to have things be comfortable. We want to be done for when Ceres conjunct the Galactic Center at 26 Sagittarius tells us that it is those who contribute and participate who are going to walk away the winners.

With Pluto conjunct the 'I play it my way and lose all' Orpheus in early Capricorn, the key would seem to be playing on our talents but not looking back. Where Orpheus is concerned, you look back, you lose.

Full Moon of September 23, 2010

And this would be the Full Moon which starts the entire season? Maybe the whole three months is to reflect on. 

Moon at 0 Aries is about a beginning. It's about the essence of humanity and our essential humanity. Maybe it means we should all stop acting like babies and allow ourselves to be innocent infants, ready to love being our least pretentious, most accepting selves?

Maybe so.

A last note. It being so very often helpful to see how astrological events work in 'real time,' we're lucky to have one plainly scheduled for this Full Moon event. With Aries being the sign of the physical being, it's apropos that in the United States, September 23rd is the date when a series of provisions signed into law as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 go into effect.

Since this law is all about 'shining a light' on 'physicality problems' and fixing problems people have had with getting health care so that they can take care of their physical bodies (and thus preserve life) it's totally Aries. With this law having been signed on March 23, 2010 with Sun and Uranus just having moved into Aries, that some of this law's core provisions now take effect is the  metaphysical fulfillment of the bill having been signed into law.

Does this mean the USA's health care debate or it's problems with providing health care to its citizens are over? No. But they are now entering a new phase which is based on these provisions now being in effect.

That's so very Full Moon. Something comes to a peak. A 'high point' in a given tide is reached.

But life continues on. Life, like a tide, is a cycle. This is the crest of a wave - one wave in an ocean of time.

Hokusai - Ocean Waves

Flashes in the Sky - SpaceWeather News (Sept 22)

Did you know there was a trio of

explosive solar doings today?  

Did you hear a fireball streaked

across the New Mexico and

Texas sky yesterday?

It's a busy, busy world and 

thank goodness someone got pictures!

Here's the link. For those who prefer addresses, it's http://spaceweather.com/

What does this mean metaphysically? That the Sun erupted at 29 Virgo speaks to either a 'burst' of energy which may manifest as insight or activity. Virgo being a sign all about taking care of things which need doing, the spectrum was broad; so much solar energy suggests a 'breaking free' of restrictions.

To be noted, of course, is that we have now moved on - and that may be the biggest message of all. Tempus does indeed fugit (time flies). We have an opportunity to do things and if they are worth doing or need doing, we should do them.

That said, now we move on - it's a new day and a new season. Libra is in this moment, literally the sign of the times.

Libra Ingress 2010

 

At the equinox (twice a year) the Earth receives

equal amounts of Sun exposure north and south

diagram credit: Przemyslaw 'Blueshade' Idzkiewicz'

Of the two very different astrological events taking place in barely over a breath of cosmic time, this is the second - the Libra ingress which takes place at 3:09 am (UT/+0) on September 23rd.

The other is a Full Moon which will come to fruition also on the 23rd (at 9:17am - UT/+0). It will get it's own blog post tomorrow.

Why two posts? Well...when we talk Sun versus Moon cycles, one is a month long (the Moon) and the other  (the Sun's) spans an entire year - which because of Earth's inclination (tilt) gives us our seasons.

They're just different things. Metaphysically, the Moon is about life in reflection. Or as a reaction. The Moon symbolizes our moods and daily emotional experiences which over time shape our memory and thus our (4th house/Cancer) basis for habits and 'ingrained' attitudes. Against this we have the Sun as the Big Picture and life's overview. The Sun isn't about what happens to us - it's all about what we can make happen!

Every year we get two days - the Aries and Libra equinoxes - when planet Earth is aligned as above. On those two days the planet receives equal exposure north and south. Zodiacally, this planetary "equilibrium" is well mirrored adeptly in the symbol of Libra as the scales...

 Libra's scales from 'Astrologie Strernzeichen Kalendar' (1512)

courtesy of Deutsch Fotohek

....but achieving such balance in everyday life? Not so easy. Everyday life... as noted...is lunar and reactive, meaning the life we generally react to is a feeling, not  intellectual affair.

Still...one can hope, right? I mean, for a little balance and beauty of the give-and-take, gracious cause-effect kind.

Ah yes, a lovely thought. But true?

Let's get real - which astrologically means, let's take a look at that ingress chart!

 Libra Ingress 2010

 v

Okay! Like the June Cancer ingress, this season's chart also features a kite, the bottom section of which is outlined above by a green triangle (that would be a grand trine)...with yellow sextiles reaching up from that triangle towards the top of the chart, completing the picture of the kite.

With that kite are also two t-squares. The first one (which is a sort of "double" t-square) is constructed by the Sun (in white at "3 o'clock") in opposition to Uranus, Jupiter and Moon (at the left in red, yellow and white)...with the 'hurdle' to get past being drawn in not one, but two ways at the top of the chart.

A t-square as helpfully shown by a road sign. 

The first hurdle is represented by Pluto: our emotional need to transform. What this represents is our need to get past our entrenched emotional attitudes. In Capricorn, this Pluto is telling us that we need to get over thinking things are going to work the way they used to work.

The second way hurdle pictured by this first t-square is to Ceres, symbol of nurturance and the harvest. Having gotten a lot of positive 'oh, I get it now!' emails after posting a blog on Ceres not long ago, I refer you there for nuances and details (link). But the nitty-gritty here is that we need to think and be thoughtful, but we can't rely on things being sweet, nice and comfy.

Evidently life is not going to be a picnic this season, capiche?

Now for a few significant differences between this ingress and that of last June. First off all, the need to allow ourselves not to know while doing anyway as pictured then by Neptune/Chiron is gone. So is the Moon/Pallas "knowing feelings" thing.

And yes, this really is one of those bad cosmic jokes: we were supposed to know our feelings (Moon/Pallas) in order to be transformed (Pluto) through the experience of those feelings?

Well, yes. And over the last season we have all have met up with various situations which have confronted us with needing to know who we are and why we are that person holding those values and emotional points of view (Moon/Pallas). And through those 'self-confrontations,' so we have grown.

At least in hard-core realizations about ourselves. Have we changed? Maybe. But at least we know more. So now at least we have the option to change - knowing why we are changing, and maybe why it would be a good idea to go through all that effort.

But we aren't home free just yet! Now with Moon-Jupiter-Uranus in late Pisces, now comes a season in which we are all aiming to get past difficulties to a point where we really understand how to be who we are effectively.

To get there we still have to get past that issue of wanting to hold onto the 'old way' or the 'old standard' or some old thought of how things work or how we're going to be able to operate. As we move through Libra, there will be a lot of talk, discussion, posing, posturing and proposals.

But as we get into October (and reach Libra's emotional degrees) things are going to get sticky. From there on, we will really begin to feel things get dicier. So expect more intensity. More pressure. A greater sense of need.

As the Sun moves into Scorpio (sign of "fixed water") those who have been kidding themselves or trying to get by on some hope, wish or level of personal denial will find themselves skating on thinner and thinner ice. And once we hit fiery Sagittarius, expect fireworks which may just light up your world - or explode it. 

It all depends on how you have treated this issue of getting past the difference between new and old and the nice (comfy, desirable) versus the workable, pragmatic and honest.

Obviously there are possible Grinch moments to be faced. And how to handle it...? Not so easy to figure out, evidently - that kid we discussed has the South Node at the tail (at the bottom of the chart). Normally we would cheer this, as the South Node is the 'easy thing.' 

But apparently not. Grand trines are all about what's easy to do and tough to get away from. And without belaboring a long list of planets and asteroids involved in this particular grand trine (including House, Hera, Mars, Venus, TNO Deucalion and Black Moon Lilith) let's just say that this grand trine says we'd rather check out or get rejected and continue doing things our own way rather than make changes.

Oh yes...and while we're doing this, everyone else is going to be doing the same thing and everything is going to get harder and less operative because the time really has come for changing!

Really!

 The drawing of an early kite design as submitted to

the US Patent office. In astrological terms, the long 'arms'

of the kite and its central cross bar comprise the three sides

of a grand trine, the short lengths from the trine to the kite's

top represent what we aim to achieve.

A couple of notes are pretty specific and worth mentioning. That 'finding the moral way' TNO Deucalion thing, because it's combined with Mars and Venus both being in Scorpio...that's a sure sign of 'desirous conflicts,' especially once Venus goes retrograde in October. We all have our wants and much is being wanted of us. (link to blog on Mars in Scorpio)

It's a recipe for feeling put-upon, people. And when we don't feel put-upon, we're likely to feel deprived, resentful, rejected or just drained. The medium may vary. Some of us will find ourselves confronted financially. For others, it'll be emotions. Or time. Or commitments. Or you'll find yourself in power/control struggles. Or situations which arouse deep-seated feelings of vulnerability or rejection.

Do I hear a big groan? Sorry. Even sorrier, I'm here to say there's more to this seasonal Libran tale. Going back to that astro-rule that when you see a kite you use the symbol at it's tail to 'steer' by, we see two little situational challenges. 

For one, this South Node is in Cancer. And that means it's ruled by the Moon. You know, that Moon sitting with Jupiter and Uranus which only begins to play in our favor once we get over the 'I want to do what I've been doing' thing? 

And one other issue with this South Node: it's conjunct Pandora. You remember the mythic, problematic Pandora, right? The girl who opens the box, freeing all the ills of the world?

'

Pandora by Arthur Rackham (1867-1939)

But there is some good news here - regarding Pandora, I mean. The good news is that the story of Pandora centers in the tale of the girl, not the ills she releases into the world. So we ask ourselves...why did Pandora open that box? Theoretically, if we can control those tendencies, we can not make her mistake, right?

Good thinking. So the answer to the question is that Pandora was curious. She also had been told not to open the box, which as we all know made opening it all but irresistible. She was also by nature impatient. Pandora wasn't happy about how long it was going to take her to grow up. She wanted a 'quick fix,' which if you think about it, is very much like the urge associated with the South Node - a symbol of wanting to do the 'easy thing.'

So the key would seem to be not giving in to our basic case of hard headed immature impatience. To not cut corners. To no opt for the short form, easy way out or indulgence in 'take a pill' mentality.

And lest you think you can just 'handle' this and be done with it? Uh...evidently not, as South Node/Pandora is the starting point for the last t-square in this Libra ingress, a t-square which has a 6 Libra Saturn as its hurdle.

Hopefully you get that all three of these planetary pictures are celestially crocheted together. And with this last figure asking us to take (Saturn) responsibility for ourselves (so as to benefit from life) it pays to remember that to get through this season we need to adopt a basic mantra: who I am, others react to. 

And that is pretty basic, no? 

But one more comment before we go. A seasonal ingress chart is all about it's Sun. And this Sun is at 0 Libra conjunct the giant Black Hole known as M87 and Atropos, Greek Fate of fated 'endings.'

 M87 as photographed by Caltech

So in essence, as we realize that who we are and how we act generates reactions from others and the doors of opportunity which open to and for us, we will need to face cutting things out and eliminating certain aspects of our behavior. Or maybe our attitude.

Or maybe even some of our alliances, associations or ways of relating to certain people. 

If we do, as we do, other things will happen. New doors will open but as happens in life, probably not until others are firmly closed. Atropos-Sun-Black Hole means you may feel at times like you're looking into the abyss. Or that the world seems like some foreign place. Or that you can see a whole new set of possibilities which you might have never thought of before, but which might not just work for you...but which might actually be fun.

Any of these moments may be a very good thing. Sometimes seeing the abyss makes us grateful for what we have. Sometimes seeing the world anew or as if we were a 'stranger' allows us to wipe our slate clean and tackle something totally different with no expectations, no preconceptions and that sort of cheerful innocence which everyone finds so very attractive. 

Will you be able to let go to have your chance at the new? Or will you require things to be taken out of your hands, forcing you to scramble?

The choice is yours. But choice is a good thing, no? So have a great ingress, and well balanced equinox!

A Last Word from the Cancer Ingress 2010

  

 The 2010 Cancer Ingress chart (not place specific)

 

Depending on where you are, tomorrow the Sun moves into Libra either during the afternoon or evening.

But today we get a last commentary from the Cancer Ingress as the Sun (at 28 Virgo) conjuncts the ingress Saturn while opposing Jupiter and Uranus at 28 Pisces. 

For those who remember the Cancer ingress chart (which will remain be posted in the blog sidebar until tomorrow) the season started with Uranus and Jupiter in Aries. That was the call to know ourselves better and to do something new and different with our lives.

And with Saturn in opposition at that time from Virgo (it's now in Libra) we had to deal with limits and responsibilities. At times this opposition may have manifested as guidelines and safety nets, keeping us from harm. At other times they may well have felt like shackles we couldn't shake off. 

Limits and responsibilities, responsibilities and limits...they have bugged us and prodded us and given the native discomfort which is part of any Aries/Virgo combination we have known we had to change.

Change what? Change something about ourselves and how we have been approaching things. How we've been doing things. How we've seen ourselves and (in all likelihood) where and how we tend to go overboard now and again. (Okay...so let's hope it was only now and again!)

With the ingress Sun squaring this uncomfortable opposition, we've all had a season of challenging times. The ingress Sun (separately) opposition to Pluto and Ceres guaranteed emotional upheavals and as much being called on for support as being supported by others. And at times it just didn't any of it seem all that fair!

Considering the comments, emails and conversations I've gotten into (which I'll guess are pretty much typical of everyone's)...the summer has delivered on its promise to test our ability to be ourselves and scramble our personal eggs pretty well. We've all been caught once or twice coloring outside the responsibility lines and overstepping our personal boundaries.

So today, the transiting Sun conjuncts the Cancer ingress Saturn on its way to finishing up seasonal business. On the surface, that would tend to say it's a  day about practicalities.

But it's not that simple. There's a lot of unsettled stuff out there. Primal forces (Typhon) are in play. There are questions (Kalypso) circulating about what love really is. A lot of head-scratching is going into trying to figure out what needs to be gotten rid of (Atropos) in pretty short order now. There's even some (Lust-ful) fixations and over-focusing still drawing our attention towards things we know we shouldn't be focusing on.

Yes, about now we realize how we well may have contributed to shooting ourselves in the foot this year. (Like, ouch.)

But there is one rather nifty notice in the midst of all. Even better, this one will carry over into the Libra ingress. In the Cancer ingress we had Sun conjunct fixed star Betelgeuse and opposition Charybdis in Capricorn: hard times in our face at every step when we just wanted a little slack.

Now we have Charybdis still opposition Betelgeuse, but Charybdis is in Sagittarius, accounting for some of the feeling that while things may be tough, we can work through them. And while seldom will you hear any astrologer assert that a t-square is a good thing, they do promise huge potential. Found in charts of truly great and accomplished people, the t-square is a challenge, yes. But it's one which says that if you can get 'over the hurdle' in your path, you can triumph.

And the hurdle here? Today it's the Virgo Sun: accepting responsibility for ourselves and being willing to put in the time and effort to get things done.

As of tomorrow, the Sun moves into Libra. But the idea of the t-square remains. Whether the Sun is in Virgo or Libra the promise is that if we will work on who we are in life instead of what we want to get from life and not fall back on wanting to take some easy way out (Betelgeuse) that we will, we can eventually beat down those ugly demons (Charybdis) which have for the whole of this past season reared their ugly heads, trying to swamp our aims.

So...Will you accept yourself, your lot and move on?

Today is a moment, tomorrow is an ingress. Maybe learning to take one useful step forward as the purpose of each day is the best thing we can learn?