THE ASTROLOGY of POSITIONS, PERSPECTIVES, & METAPHYSICS
by Boots Hart, CAP

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Orcus Direct: Consequence, or Consequential?


La Puerta (the Doorway) by Mauricio Garcia Vega

The mythic Orcus isn’t on what I’d think of as the modern mythic top 10 list. But Orcus does represent an interesting mythically described trait, that of facing a reality which can no longer be changed.

The god Orcus supposedly met us when we crossed over from life into death, serving as an ‘escort’ for us between that point and the moment of judgment.

There have been moments when I’ve thought of  Orcus as a Roman god doorman. You know…you arrive at the appointed ‘address of death’ and Orcus greets whisks open the door to the post-life court building: Good day…not for you, perhaps?

But just when my mythic mind gets that far (yes, I have a whole pantheon of ideas in my head) I revert to thinking of Orcus astronomically. After all, Orcus is a Plutino. And that’s sort of the fuzz on the clarity of ‘what’s done is done.’ If Orcus’ orbit wasn’t controlled by Neptune, we would think of this object as generating an energetic which is entirely cut-and-dried. In other words, simple results. Cause…effect. For any action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

But since Orcus’ orbit is astronomically controlled by Neptune, there would seem to be a point of consideration. In other words, there may be cause, but what should the effect really be? Plainly with Orcus there is a level at what’s done is done. What’s been said has been said. Water has done gone over that dam. The milk has been spilt. Feelings have been hurt, trust has been betrayed.

Thus the question seems to become ‘what now?’ coupled to either ‘did I do the right thing?’ or ‘how should I respond?’ (substitute ‘react,’ ‘proceed’ or whatever other verb applies, as necessary).

Someone may yell at you and hurt your feelings. That’s a fact. But should you yell back? Should you yell louder? Should you try to understand where they’re coming from? Should you try to reason with them? Should you ignore them? Should you walk away and give them room to yell themselves hoarse without having to get a headache? Should you call the authorities? Should you buy earplugs, a muzzle? Or maybe a squirt gun you could load with hot pepper juice to squirt in their mouth the next time they dare open it?

(Yes, I’m creative. Thanks for noticing.)

Orcus will go direct at 3 Virgo on May 17th. Given the idea of giving all stations a two-day ‘allowance’ before and after the actual station, that means its station begins on May 15th and ends on May 19th.

May 15th is the date that Mercury enters Gemini. And May 20th (the day after Orcus’ station ends) is the day when the Sun will leave Taurus and move into Gemini. Gemini plus Gemini equals…much information. Lots to do. Many choices.

But with the Sun entering Gemini as transiting Uranus (in Aries) squares transiting Pluto (in Capricorn), that adds a little ‘blast powder’ to the mix. We will hope it’s only mental. But Pluto-Uranus is not a relaxed pairing under any conditions. And since squares indicate stress creating problems unless all attributes are in balance, it’s likely that Sun-Mercury here represents information which with the dual-Gemini qualifier means there’s a whole  heaping helping of input. Or things to deal with.

Let us also remember that this is all taking place only days after a Solar Eclipse in Taurus. In an emotional degree of Taurus, telling us that whatever happens it may affect your feelings and your Taurean sense of safety, stability, satisfaction, security and comfort…or this may well represent a time when your world is affected (or at least influenced or impacted) by someone else’s sense of Taurean satisfaction, stability, comfort and all the rest.

And you could be the happy one. Or they could be the happy one. And the other person just may think that the other person is feeling happy at “their expense.”

If you have something going on in your life which you know (absolutely and for positive sure) is the sort of thing which is solar eclipsian to the max, Orcus’ turn to direct motion is like as not an extension of whatever that shift, process, evolution, loss, revolution, restructuring or plain old everyday challenge truly is. 

OR….considering this is Orcus and Orcus does refer to something which is ‘done and cannot be changed,’ this may be a time when you’re committed to “Thing A” but which is now complicated by “Thing B” coming along. Seeing as Taurus represents resources and one of the easiest (and most general) forms of “resources” to cite is money, you may have committed the bulk of your cash or cash flow to “Thing A” (which cannot now be changed, in true Orcus style) only to be challenged by “Thing B” suddenly demanding some kind of financial investment.

This is just one way to look at what may be going on. Whatever happens, considering the ‘order’ of celestial events in this moment (solar eclipse, Mercury’s Gemini ingress, Orcus going direct and the Sun’s Gemini ingress in tandem with Uranus square Pluto)…there is some level at which this period has an overhanging aura about how we make (Gemini) choices and learning to accept that no choice is perfect. And that every choice is its own risk, no matter how well we plan. That could pertain to choices you’re making at this point to move you on from some choice you made in the past which hasn’t played out. Or which maybe worked for a while, but is no longer functional. Then again, you may be entirely on track with your life in general and be shifting gears with the solar eclipse and moving right along only to get walloped by something you didn’t expect.

To repeat: since Gemini is an air sign, the likelihood is that this centers in airy matters: thoughts, ideas, communications, something committed through verbal speech or the written word or even figures. (Yes, accounting is a Gemini thing since it is really about accounting for things chosen.) Yes, we have earthy, tangible signals coming from the eclipse in Taurus. And yes, Pluto in Capricorn is the signature of real live life structures which are evolving even as we speak.

But all that brings us back towards day-to-day functionality. And when you get to that sort of thing, then you’re talking daily operations (Gemini, ruled by Mercury) and getting things done so your life gets on track and your cause is advanced through your efforts (Virgo, ruled by Mercury).

If you missed the blog-chat about Mercury entering Gemini, you’ll find it right where this post ends. That’s the thinking-doing part of the equation. But the how you do it and the fact that how you do something affects your reward (present tense and eventual)? That’s another version of Orcus in Virgo.

Which brings us – specifically – to 3 Virgo.

3 Virgo is a degree which generally indicates the need to know your stuff and to have ‘invested’ in learning how to do what you do over a decently long period of time. So one form of problems which arise here have to do with trying to ‘get by’ without expertise or without having earned your chops in some way. And Orcus making a turn here is likely to create a focus on where you may have a lack of understanding or expertise or…let’s face it…where you may have been slacking off or trying to scoot by without making all the proper, long-form efforts.

But there is also a bit of the ‘angel on your shoulder’ quality which comes with this degree. It seems to reflect the ‘universality’ idea in the Sabian symbol for 3 Virgo, a symbol which reads: Black and white children pay together happily. While mistakes are mistakes, there is an aura of being allowed to work through differences which goes with this degree.

So even if Orcus greets you at the door with a you know you’re in trouble, right? The reality of the situation may be that the next sentence is you’ll make it through. It’s going to take a lot of work and you may not like the process, but you will get where you need to go…eventually.

And yes, that may be very eventually. But those who do the work, those who don’t ignore the need to think things through and not project so much as accept that this is a season, a year, a time of much hard growth which is challenging even on a good day…?

So…when confronted, will we win?

That would seem to – in part – depend on whether we are willing to confront and own up to our demons.

That’s the other side of Orcus – the fact that we often try to walk away from and ‘be done’ with something which is going to end up haunting us because it’s in us, not in a given situation. That it's often hard to remember...or at least hard to want to deal with...? That would be the hallmark of the Neptune Effect, which is back to the idea of Orcus as a Plutino.

And not to put too fine a point on it, this is all made a little more poignant (read: trying or emotionally touchy, be it our emotions being touched or not) by the fact that Orcus is going direct in opposition to Neptune.

Plus Neptune (as we all probably recall) is conjunct fixed star Deneb, and royal star Fomalhaut.


That comes from the Neptune Effect. Let’s remember that with any Plutino, we tend to ‘envision’ what we want – or what we want to think is true. And what’s that funny Neptune rule? The thing you think true, isn’t. The thing you think least likely to be true? That’s what will ultimately prove true.

The “ugly” side of Orcus is that it speaks to something ‘about’ us (or our thinking, which seems apt with all the Gemini going around) which we don’t want to accept. Or which we don’t want to face.

And there is a level at which we would have to think that Orcus going direct – the symbolic motion of that which we’ve been harboring…and maybe trying to ignore in our selves…being given cosmic ‘liberty’ to now operate in our world, in the world, and thus come back to confront us.

We can win through. All is not ‘lost’…thought it might feel beyond us.

That ‘judgment’ we get led to by Orcus? Astrologically that’s us – our judgment. Is it flawed or faulty? Are we willing to ‘judge’ ourselves as wanting and work on our weaknesses?

Such are evidently the questions of the moment.
.
.
.

No comments:

Post a Comment