Dateblog: December 2013

Last month’s diagram was very red. There was a lot of Scorpio energy in the works and that had us all involved in tests of our ability to negotiate emotional waters.

Or just negotiate, period – with ourselves, with others, with whatever life handed us. 

Looking at the personal planets (the first five columns from the left) December is pretty much about Sagittarius and Capricorn, though Mercury starts out in Scorpio (a sign that we’re still working through some emotional ‘value issues.’

There’s also Mars to think about: Mars starts the month in earthy Virgo – which against the Sagittarian Sun and Mercury in Scorpio is either high levels of motivation or fixation of focus…and maybe both.

And maybe positive…or maybe negative, depending.

The Sagittarian New Moon of December 3^rd looks to be a bit like a starting gun: positioned at 10 Sagittarius it carries with it the standard New Moon ‘initiation’ energetic and in being at 10 degrees of a fire sign indicates fervency. Or maybe enthusiasm or excitement.

However…being that Mercury moves into Sagittarius on the 5^th, the wise person will not leap off of any tall buildings without a parachute. Mercury is notorious for ‘overdoing’ when in Sagittarius and considering Venus’ lengthy transit of Capricorn the smart money is on not the thing which is necessarily practical in and of itself, but on taking a pragmatic course through these next few weeks in order to achieve the ends you want to achieve. Yes, there will be a bit of feeling out to do, and expectations now can be deadly. The smart money is on asking questions and doing some investigation before you make your bet on anything.

Orcus going retrograde on the 6^th (the day after Mercury enters Sagittarius) also tells us we will be dealing with some things of consequence – or the consequences of something which has already happened. That Mars will enter Libra a day after Orcus’ station (and still affected by it), with the Geminid Meteor Shower covering December 7-16 this is an excellent time for seeking advice. Or for mending broken bridges and relationships gone awry.

It’s also a good time for learning new things.

In comparison with November, December is downright quiet – but not to worry…we will have some fireworks during the December 15-19 period marking Uranus station-direct (at 8 Aries) on the 17^th on the same day as a Full Moon at 28 Gemini, conjunct Betelgeuse. If you have been working towards something, now fruition occurs. (No guarantee is issued here on whether you’ll like the results, however!) If you have been hoping to work something out or make some deal, this could be a breakthrough moment. It can also represent when you finally ‘get’ something and the light bulb goes on, illuminating your forward path and successes yet to come.

Uranus is all about ‘breaking through’ our barriers. They can be internal, they can be external. Especially with Uranus positioned in a first decanate degree (first decan = degrees 0 through 9 of any sign) something you do can make a difference…and heaven forbid you don’t do something you should, as that will bring the energy in upon you.

As we say in metaphysics….Use the energy wisely, lest it use you unwisely.

That Venus will go retrograde on the same day that the Sun hits its solstice point and enters Capricorn (that being December 21^st) makes the entire period of December 19^th through the 23^rd somewhat harried. Priorities and pragmatism now count for a lot – and they count even more once Mercury joins the Capricorn parade on December 24^th.

Venus retrograde is notoriously a pretty trying time. All the responses we want from others, all the approval we get…none of it quite hits the spot. That’s because this Venus retrograde – especially positioned as it is in Capricorn, is all about living up to our standards and learning how being to stand on our own and for our individuality garners respect. 

From that respect – in time – will come the results we deserve. But first we have to earn them. 

The last note for December is TNO Logos (logic or logistics; unadulterated facts) and dwarf planet MakeMake going retrograde on the same date – that being December 31^st (UT/+0), which may of course already be January 1^st in the eastern (Oriental, Australian, New Zealand, etc.) time zones.

MakeMake is about bringing things to be or into being, or things coming to be whether we work to create them or not. This is a relatively new point which will get better known as time goes along, but apparently MakeMake represents opportunities which if not taken can lead to isolation or isolated events (or opportunities) which arise without being necessarily connected to anything else in life. That Logos is going retrograde at 29 Virgo says that we need to be practical about what we do now (which has real applications on New Years Eve and New Years Day, to be sure!) while MakeMake making its turn to retrograde at 0 Libra speaks to encounters which – considering how close 0 Libra is to black hole M87 – may lead to seeing life from a totally new vantage point. 

Yes, even if that just means you turn the calendar page – for some of us, that means everything!
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Comet ISON: “Cancel the Funeral”

Provided by the SOHO solar space observatory, Comet ISON is clearly

visible near the top, emerging from its encounter with the Sun

(photo credit: SOHO, NASA, Spaceweather.com) 

While much of America dashed off in the middle of the night to partake in Black Friday shopping…while a friend of mine back east studiously ignored his Thanksgiving Day sink load of dishes (I got the email, which is how I know about this sulk)…and while the blog astrologer tried to sleep off chasing the NASA and Spaceweather feeds (that’ll show me…)…

While I slept, Dr. Tony Phillips and the rest of the gang at Spaceweather (and NASA) had a busy night of proving we had all subjected ourselves to a serious case of pre-demise. And the above  - “Cancel the Funeral” was exactly what as of this morning (November 29th) was the official word on ISON.

Link to: Spaceweather.com

In other words, Comet ISON is still there. If you go to Spaceweather and click on the film loop, you can now see the comet approach...apparently dive 'into' the Sun and then - miraculously - reappear.

(Says a lot about just how dense rock can be, doesn't it? And what does that say about us?)

Among other things, this says we should be getting some pretty brilliant sky watching in the next little while as ISON comes out from behind the Sun (behind vis-à-vis our position here on Earth). And by the by…if you think it’s unusual for scientists, astronomers and astrologers to be caught out looking dim when confronted with the universe, uh…thanks, but that wouldn’t exactly be the truth. We who are fascinated with watching and figuring out and correlating what we knew with what we’re learning – we do this stuff all the time.

In astrology (so you know) there are really a couple of schools of thought on this stuff. A large proportion of the astrological community is still wedded to ancient texts in a way which would make you think there’s nothing new under the Sun (any sun, anywhere in the universe) which is just a silly thing to assert. With all due respect to those who read this post and are religious, this same ‘all the truths were spoken back then’ stuff seems unlikely to the max. After all, if Deity existed then Deity still exists – what makes us think that a Deity who allegedly ‘cared’ so much about us a couple of thousand years ago that we were given chidings and lectures…why wouldn’t that Deity care enough about us not to communicate with us in modern times?

(I just don’t get that.)

As for astrology and astrologers, a lot of astrologers haven’t even gone beyond the classical to asteroids, dwarf planets and such – never mind following the NASA/Spaceweather feed around.

If nothing else, you know where I was over Thanksgiving, right?

Personally, I’m thinking of this whole Comet ISON affair as (in part) a now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t reflexive dealing with our lives. The science part will sort itself out over the next weeks, months and years of course.

As for ISON…considering the worldwide press on this comet, at this point we are dealing with an object which at least represents something ‘out there’ which has our attention. We thought it was over…but it isn’t over. And now, according to science, whatever this ‘thing’ is in our life…it is going to become a ‘brighter factor’ as we move forward. Whether this pertains to something you thought you had lost which now you realize isn’t lost…or something you thought was a negative which has revealed itself as a positive which will be a ‘light’ to you in weeks to come.

Something 'out there' which has been maybe physically, but maybe mentally or emotionally 'heading towards us' remains intact.

But then, so do we. And what that means in each of our lives has yet to be revealed. Some of it will be evolving in present tense, but just as ISON entered our

Being someone who tries to take their cues from a world and universe which is always trying to get me to pay attention to said cues…I’m prone to letting this matter go now. After all, the ‘survival’ image provided by the SOHO image (above) – of all things labels royal fixed star Antares.

You know…the star which tells us not to obsess?

Link to: Antares - Royal Star of Persia

Sometimes our ‘time cues’ seem odd because the flowing of energetic ‘waves’ caused by moving objects takes time to reach us. Fortunately with ISON we now have an opportunity to move forward feeling our own solar consciousness in action. This comet was only 'discovered' (brought to our conscious attention) back on September 12th - that being when this very ancient object got close enough that we of Earth took notice of it.

So whatever took almost three months to get here...it will like as not take time to resolve. Or complete. Or maybe it will take you that long to reach some decision.

Whatever it is, considering ISON's timing, we have an opportunity now to move forward and see - and feel ourselves seeing - some pretty brilliant things. So whatever comes of this solar system steeplechase, no doubt we yet shall see. In the meantime, it seems a good sign that we can cancel the cosmic funeral because there’s no comet demise which requires mourning.

Just thought you’d like to know.
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R.I.P. Comet ISON

Imaged by the SOHO space observatory, Comet ISON heads towards the Sun,

an encounter which was timed to 1:45 am (ET) on November 28 2013

Comet ISON has not survived its encounter with the Sun.

Links with amazingly clear motion images of ISON diving into the Sun are posted at Spaceweather.com on the page for November 28, 2013.
 

Metaphysically, this event suggests our having absorbed what we needed to 'see' (literally or otherwise). Or maybe we've dismissed, destroyed, or otherwise 'eaten up' that which was presented to us.

(And yes, for Americans that may have started with a Thanksgiving feast - as for Jews it may have been about the heart-warming qualities of Hanukkah - though either way there's probably more to it.)

Here's the chart (an Aries wheel, and thus not location specific) of the event as calculated for 1:45 (ET) on November 28, 2013...

The Sun is at 6 Sagittarius, a degree which centers in the identity of service. There is a great sense of existing for the benefit of the group which comes with 6 Sagittarius - a quality which is interestingly paired with a Sabian Symbol reading 'CUPID KNOCKS AT THE DOOR OF A HUMAN HEART.'

6 Sagittarius asks us to understand that what we do for ourselves...especially purely for ourselves eventually comes to nothing. 'Cupid' knocking at the door of our heart is a request that we allow ourselves to apply the substantial mental resources promised by 6 Sagittarius to the whole of our life - and to have a life which fits what we can do for others, not merely for our own pleasures.

What this means to you in your life of course, is highly individual. An astrologer would read this in terms of what house 6 Sagittarius falls in and what sort of relationship your chart says you have with your natal Jupiter (...if I may be allowed to say something so bold in public, of course!)

But you know where you are, right? So you know what's been on and in your mind. You know where in your life you've been trying to 'gain ground' or move forward and what the issues have been there.

ISON is just bringing home a 'quality' which like as not rings through a great deal of that. Like all astrological moments, ISON's diving into the Sun isn't the do-all, be-all answer to anything.

It's just a facet of a much greater story. You know - the story of Life. (And yes for you, Your Life in particular.)

Another (earlier) shot of Comet ISON made by SOHO showing the breath of the solar wind. (photo credit: SOHO, Spaceweather.com, November 28, 2013, 8:07a.m./ET)

But everything - from soup to nuts to planet to existing in a soup bowl of time ladled from some endless vat...?

That also is involved. And that this moment has happened not in sync with an event to cause any one of us to stop and reflect - but in sync with events which have caused entire cultures and nations to stop?

That's straight-forward metaphysics.

And for once, fairly straight-forward metaphysics at that.

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Having Been Eclipsed…

The partial solar eclpse of November 3, 2013 as seen in El Hierro, Spain

(photo credit: EPA/Gelmert Finol )

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From a recent email: 

…That’s the point. We each are being confronted with the potholes of not having been present for ourselves. That which is most difficult for us now is the polarity of that we want to do with others. 

The Gemini I wrote this to works in the health field. Their chart was squarely hit by the eclipse, and in manifestation thereof, the middle of rapid growth of their various practices was put in jeopardy by the Gemini's own health becoming a sudden crisis.

What we are putting out there is coming back to us. The equation here is a little oblique, but plain enough if you stop and think about it a moment. Moreover it reminded me of why Gemini is so aptly seen as a jig saw puzzle. Wherever Gemini is in our chart, wherever we experience the Gemini vibe, it's in that area of our life that we become challenged to understand the nuance and detail as well as the whole. Only by holding both concepts equally in mind can we come up with a choice which makes sense, which can be grown and which will ultimately bear fruit.

This eclipse, with its Scorpio dishing out of karma, it brought home much of this to all of us - as well it might. Gemini is the 8th sign (the "derivative 8th") to Scorpio. And thus in all things Scorpio we are presented with many facts, many facets, many choices, all of which direct us to make not the choice which works for us but the choice which works.

Whatever sign you start with, the derivative 8th always shows you the 'rule' which for you defines whether you get past the gatekeeper of opportunity or not. This wicket has become incredibly sticky of late (think Pluto) with most of the problems we're each encountering in our life having a 'right' and 'right' or 'wrong' and 'wrong' side which asks us - in the end - to decide between power and personal preference. 

Or even where power IS personal preference.

And yet...whatever situation you've been working with, it will only work if it works on all sides and for all levels. The trick of this season has been to operate with power while not becoming helpless, acknowledging our weaknesses while not succumbing to them.

It hasn't been easy, obviously.  As your girl astrologer, this Pisces fell into an abyss on one side of her life while taking care of things on the other side of her life. 

It's just not easy. I'm entirely satisfied with parts of my performance and seriously not proud of others. But that's how astrology tells us that life is going to be. It's never all good or all bad...it just is. And as solidly as any of us can focus on getting one thing done, it's a cinch not everything is getting done. So with my Moon/Saturn in Scorpio, and because the Moon (among other things) represents the 'chemical' level of body functionality, I was bang on to tackle a detox.

Use the energy wisely, lest it use you unwisely.

I'm a Pisces. And Pisces rules the experience of emotionality (at the psychological/spiritual level) and brings that to a physical level. So to detox a Pisces is also to detox their feelings - which at some level says those feelings need to be detoxed.

And yes, I had looked at the Scorpio eclipse before it got here. I knew something bizarre could happen, but scheduled my detox anyway.  Scorpio isn't always the signature of frolic and rose petals (or leather and black lace, for that matter), but it can be incredibly productive if you’re willing to feel a little ouch way deep down in your soul.

I will also fully own that as an astrologer I knew there was likely to be trouble between me and anyone whose chart was going to be hit as hard. This me-and-thee thing is something we seldom take into account as much as we should...that which ties or binds us is (astrologically) symbolized by a sameness of object positions in our chart.

And that means that if MY chart is being transited, so is yours. Which means when an eclipse shows up, both of us are going to get eclipsed. And if it's a tender place in our chart which is getting eclipsed and we're not particularly good with handling those energies, the results can be nasty.

Even just pitifully and painfully messy.

The eclipse passes...and we find much has changed.

Or we've changed.

Of course there are those of us who refuse to do any changing. Several years ago, a Taurus friend was confronted with that most terrible of solar eclipse challenges - the loss of a loved one.

He simply answered “NO” when life asked that he move on emotionally. He just didn’t want to deal with it. And let’s face it, no sign does the ‘standing one’s ground’ thing any better than Taurus.

We've known each other a while now, so I understood. He was hurt. He didn’t want to feel what he was feeling. He didn’t want to leave feeling connected to his beloved wife behind. He just didn’t want to feel himself dealing with his feelings.

Heck, he didn't even want to feel himself not dealing with his feelings!

And so, Taurus bull that he is, he snorted at life and dug his heels in, even going so far as to notify me that there would be a ban on all conversation on the subject.

You may be surprised to know I cooperated with him on this. But I did, yes. Part was simple affection for a friend. Part was that I felt for his pain.

But besides all that, I also own an ephemeris. And really good astrological software. So I knew what was coming.

Taurus Keywords:
security, insecurity,self-worth, self-doubt, stability,
status quo, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, self-respect,
self-avoidance, self-loathing, comfort, need-hunger-satiation,
peace, values, motivation, likes, preferences,
tastes and dislikes

Suffice it to say, ever since attempting to not change in keeping with the eclipse on his chart, this Taurus has been plagued by an onslaught of problems. The bulk of them have had to do with money – that most common of common Taurus/Scorpio things. How odd is it that we assign such power to something which intrinsically (at the level of paper money being paper and coins being little chunks of common metal) are not 'of value' at all.

In fact...if you understand that money is a 'barter medium' and a 'placeholder' for Taurus/Scorpio worth-power-personal satisfaction measures, you understand why money doesn't buy happiness. It is not the money which counts and not all which it can buy which evokes happiness. It is the person we are and why we do what we do and the validity of the feelings which come from that which evokes and satisfaction.

It is the (Scorpio) validity that what we are placing our (Taurus) values in and whether that is true to us (as opposed to someone/something we are selling ourselves out to) which determines the quality of our result and whether there will be any associated negative karma.

As for my friend, after a couple of years he started dating again. But though he had done all the outward mourning, he hadn't dealt with his true inner hurt.

Those relationships (particularly the Scorpio/intimate ones) didn't work so well.

But then, it's tough thinking that intimate relationships are going to go well if you're not emotionally available or not able to be vulnerable or emotionally intimate.

Fast forward to now: as we talk in the wake of this eclipse, not only is his financial life finally coming back together, he's finally letting go of his pain. It wasn't easy and true to him, he had to find the right way to exorcise his emotional demons on the subject - which is typical for eclipses. If they hit your chart with any sort of exactness, you're going to let go of something. You can do it now, you can do it later, but by gum, you're going to do it.

Scorpio is famous as the sign of control. And surrender, which is the part of Scorpio most of us don't think about a lot. And Taurus, in being Scorpio's polarity, is all about how stable and satisfied we are with ourselves...not really anyone else. Where Scorpios often try to control others in order to feel safe and secured, Taurus often try to control life itself.

He couldn't. And when this Taurus couldn't control life, he gave up on trying to live his life.

And life taught him that wasn't a good idea, applying pressure after pressure after pressure until he simply let go of trying to control and instinctively began working to find his place in this world again.

It's about three years later now. Remember how I told you that solar eclipses take three years to mature?

I tell you this story for many reasons, the most obvious being that if you understand the path this man took, you'll understand something more about how an eclipse will work in your life. But there's another reason too - one I think just as valid.

Like I say, I have been friends with this fellow for several years now. So I had heard his story and walked alongside him as he fought his battles with what he thought was Life, but which really was with his Self. I could see very clearly what he was doing and the futility of trying to fight time...existence...reality.

And right when I got done saying all that to myself, just as he began turning his corner, I began doing exactly what he had done.

Really! I was doing it my way (cue Frank Sinatra, please) but I was that very same thing...which is the reason to be talking to you about this right now. No matter what 'events' happen in your life in conjunction with any transit - and particularly a solar eclipse - the issue isn't "them" or "that." It's you. It's not about what they're doing to you, with you, without you, despite you - it's about YOU.

It's about who you are coming into the situation or moment. You've heard me say that sometimes we learn more through the negative than the positive, right?

Whoever we are, however tough or tender we are, life manages to just overwhelm us when such events happen. Apparently that's what it takes to each humans something - and that's what eclipses are about. When eclipses show up we get into situations which reveal us to our Self, often leaving us little option but to deal with some issue with (or about) that Self we may have.

And then they leave us to figure out who we need to be in order to deal with what we have learned.

Provided we learn it, of course.

Scorpio eclipses are probably the second scariest in the book (I'll put Pisces eclipses first, thank you.) The 'why' of that is because of everything I've been talking about.

We're all raw. We're all thinking of someone else or something else and thinking 'if they were just...' when the real issue is who we are and what we're basing our values on.

How real is it, in other words. Scorpio is the energy of connection, the indescribable essence of sensing that someone or something is there. Or not there. That reality is a powerful thing - and the difference between the real and the unreal, the respect and the lack of respect we hold for human relationships the key to our personal problems.

If we can't relate to ourselves properly and honestly,
 we have no basis for relating to anyone else.

That's one of the premises of Scorpio - and why the zodiac's one and only fixed water sign represents the realm where the real meeting up with the emotional and our meeting up with ourselves through our relationships with others is the "gateway" to the zodiac's four most worldly signs (Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces).

It's as if through meeting up with others, we meet ourselves. And if we're not good (enough) with our Self, we don't take us out of the box. We don't let us/get to go for that next step.

What happens really is a reflection of what goes on within our mind. (Or, as I have long thought of it, our Mind - but that's in my life as a writer...more on when the books get released, hopefully at the end of January.)

More to the point, it's why so many of us would rather try and be happy feeling nothing than feeling anything which has a chance of actually affecting us. The effort to deal with or put off such issues is our Scorpio/Taurus axis, and wherever we find it in our chart represents how we're willing to handle this matter.

Or not handle this matter, depending.

The thing to remember is probably how - as opposed to Scorpio (or the Scorpio/Taurus) energetic being is the energy of connection (sensing yourself through feedback as you connect with others) astrology defines the experience of emotional issues as Pisces/Virgo.

Which oddly enough reminds me to tell you something. You know how I've (rather relentlessly) pointed out how we're we're in a series of Scorpio/Taurus eclipses? That cycle concludes next year (2014), and being how eclipses cycle backwards through the zodiac (which they do because they're in part determined by the lunar nodes), you might be thinking the next couple of years would feature a series of Libra/Aries eclipses.

But nooooo. If you were thinking that, you would be wrong - which now that I think about it, doesn't sound like the worst thing on the planet. Why would I say that? Well...if I say 'my feelings/your feelings' and then say Taurus/Scorpio eclipse series and then point out that this series has been going on since 2011, growing more and more personal all the time, perhaps you get some sort of...image. Feeling. Impression.

Maybe the impulse to dive under a table.

Okay...so take out the 'my feelings/your feelings' part (don't you feel better just hearing that?) and insert 'my existence/your existence.' 

THAT would be a Libra/Aries eclipse series. Oh, just think of all the ways we mortals could find not to have fun with that!

(Pardon me while I gag.)

But no, we of Terra Earth are going to move from evolutionary lessons framed by Scorpio/Taurus to processes typified by Virgo/Pisces, bypassing the Libra/Aries phase.

How lunar of us. (Or maybe looney, I'm not sure.)

So take out the 'my feelings/your feelings' part (I still feel better hearing that - maybe it's just me...) and insert key words for Virgo and Pisces.

Ouch.

Or...(ouch)...maybe not.

You think the world is weird now? Just wait. I'm thinking ahead to an eclipse series (considering all else) in Virgo and Pisces and suddenly Scorpio and Taurus, with all its venomous moments, doesn't seem so awful.

Why not?

Here's something metaphysical to chew on: Scorpio and Taurus are interactive. Pisces and Virgo pit us against our Self.

That means we have nobody to blame.

Oh yeah...that. It's enough to make you like the world of relating and relationships - which maybe is a way to appreciate the hard times, those times when someone we respect or love fails our standards or trips and falls in some particularly decrepit mental sewer.

We're human, y'know? Feeling...and feeling connected to someone else has (at a guess) led to more social and emotional suicide than anything else on the planet. 

NOTE PLEASE: I'm NOT talking about physically killing yourself. I'm talking about the many and creative ways we have of killing ourselves and our feelings, our relationships and our fondest hopes all because we all want so desperately for everything to be okay.

How ironic, eh?

And more to my point, how Scorpionic for me that the thing I had forever wanted…to feel connected at that most intimate of levels we call human...how I came to this eclipse having denied my fear of exactly what I thought I wanted.

Sometimes just feeling yourself feeling is beyond our feeling tolerance.

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After a lot of thought, in the wake of the eclipse I put this notice up on my Facebook page.

It was a protest - an expression of my desire to transform a feeling of futility. I can't undo what I am because of some accident of fate. 

I also posted this message on a different social network. There I installed it with a caption: and it’s the stuff you don’t know which will get you. 

A number of people on that network who have been abused read that post. Nearly every one of them was focused on my caption because I was talking about the one thing people don't think about when it comes to abuse. Abuse lies not only in what we do, but what we don't get to learn to do. We can be just as abusive in silence as we can be when raging at the top of our lungs.

And it's not just about the events. Abuse also lies in what we don't learn to do. Or to tolerate. Or allow ourselves to consider (as if most solutions to terrible problems haven't been solved by considering those problems?). And yes, there is child abuse - the worst of which teaches us to continue the abuse by not allowing ourselves to wonder, speak up, ask questions or think outside some box even as adults.

On the other hand, if we truly believe that unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should...there are good things that we can turn ourselves to no matter what. Yes, we'd like to think we could stop such things. But sometimes 'good things' will come of not doing what we didn't learn how to do: we compensate, we turn to other things.

I'm not thinking systemically. I'm thinking individually. After all, we all have different lacks. Maybe they are just opportunities in disguise. It took me many years to know that the fear I learned in a youth full of marginalization, violence and dehumanization made me into someone who not only hears what people say, but someone who thinks about what people have said.

And yes, sometimes it's a plus. Sometimes, however...?

Not so much.

As the Sun moves into Sagittarius here in the latter days of November it’s a moment for all of us to be coping and moving on, yes. The Sagittarian drive to make ‘it’ work (whatever ‘it’ is in your life) and continue moving towards goals is highly evident. So the eclipse – in taking place in Scorpio – is now the derivative (or harmonic) 12th.

Just to reiterate the point: the eclipse isn’t over. That can’t be said enough! We are going to continue seeing and hearing of financial and personal strife. We are going to hear stories which sound like miracles and disasters which are totally unexpected.

Whatever you were confronted with coming into the eclipse, the underlying emotional metamorphosis has only begun. Things you think are gone may not be gone – or you may just be doing what you need to do so that you can come back to them from a different vantage point.

Or as a transformed person...you know, like my friend who is just starting to walk on, now that life has taught him to learn how to accept the terror of love lost.

And that his process shouldn't be instantaneous? That works too. Sagittarius is not a sign of instantaneous anything - this is the sign of debate and education, so all is a process now. And as we moving through this Sun in  Sagittarius time with the eclipse still glowing in 12th house harmonic rear view mirror, we should expect that ideas will arise. We should expect the unexpected and a few changes of plan-or-parameter to pop out of the woodwork. Anything which can get us to stop and pause, or think things through, or recognize the flaw and realize we need better plans or more workable solutions...all those Sagittarian things are going to occur to us or get posed by others. Or be manifested by life.

Or arise out of the thick of our unplumbed (Scorpio) instinct. So ask yourself...what have I learned about myself, about my inner feelings? Or is it that you haven't learned why you're at emotional loose ends and how to deal with how preciously frightening relationships are simply because they matter so much to us?

With Scorpio in 12th sign position (which by the way may provide some insight if your natal chart has Scorpio on the 12th house) interactions with others and what comes (or has come) of interactions with others are going to…

a.) make us sensitive
b.) poke us where we are already sensitive
c.) expose sensitivities or expose things which in turn make us sensitive

…all of which takes us back to wading through the soul, mindset and all-pervasive self-confronting experience which is so very Scorpio. But this is not Scorpio “in your face” or in real life or real time. No – this is the emotional experience of all you really need to think about as a result of whatever happened over the past couple of months.

We should also be realistic here: 'sensitive' can mean uncomfortable.

Even scared.

Also to be Sagittarius-type-honest here, this isn't about what happened (or didn’t happen)…this is your going through an ongoing, intensely trying time which in any of a thousand ways causes you to experience own emotions.

And what you think of those emotions.

Or that you have those emotions.

Or that you have made this emotional choice or that choice (in life or relationships, wherever) which ended up being so positive or negative on the emotional level.

The good news is that in the grand scheme of things, for most of us our having been eclipsed is still metaphysical present tense. That’s one of the lovely things about Sagittarius – the land of where theory meets possibility. Here this Sagittarius opportunity causing us to see how things can be…or maybe still can be…or maybe how they still are.

Of course, some of us will want to think things through a bit more. But some of us - in recognizing the truth of what life was trying to get us to look at will find in that a measure of liberty and freedom. The Sun is in Sagittarius, so this is still an interactive time, suggesting that some of us will heave a sigh of final comprehension and move on. Or we'll tackle that problem. Or we'll retrace our steps and not back down this time.

Whatever that truth is, it is to explore - and hopefully to appreciate, even enjoy the exploring of. It is at this point...as all that as life and the essence, the magic and the theoretical machinery of eclipse energies...as all that moves on it begins to evolve. And as it evolves it gives us enough connection with enough distance that we are able to begin seeing that it wasn't the 'thing' which happened which 'was' our eclipse.

It was who we were coming into the eclipse which got eclipsed - each in our own individual way by other people who were being eclipsed in their own way.

Whatever happened, lore teaches, happened so that we could experience some hidden aspects of our Self. So that we would continue to grow and not just 'make do' but strive to be more of who we truly are. 

And so it happens....once we grasp that it wasn't the 'thing' but our nature - some facet of our emotionality or how we deal with emotions because of our history or perspective...which was the point of the eclipse, then we are able to decide what to do next in light of a new understanding of what is true to who we are...and what isn't.

All can be, may still be or proceed to become the way we want it to be. Chances are, our accepting some facet of our difficulties as a reflection of something we fear (or fear to feel) is probably the trade-off there - but there is one all-important fact to consider when it comes to our fearful inner response to feeling fear:

Fear does not reside in reality.

Fear takes hold of us from inside our mind.

And when you consider that, to have life urging us to consider where we need fear not just isn't the worst thing to be giving thanks for on this day.

Or on any day.
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Comet ISON(Update 2)/Phaethon: Rock Comet

 Phaethon by Gustave Moreau (1878)

Apparently the idea of Comet ISON has captured a lot of people's imagination, as it's all over the news, and now people want to watch a live feed on November 28th (Thanksgiving Day in the United States) to see if NASA (or anyone else in the space biz) can tell if ISON has indeed survived its brush with the Sun...

It's all a bit of outer space drama, absolutely. And fascinating to watch. An object out there which is billions of years old is about to have what may be its ultimate fateful encounter with a star. And we humans pretty much get to watch.

That's dramatic.

The whole thing is dramatic - and thus it represents (to us) something which is 'dramatic' or which has some evocative or (for you perhaps) emotional meaning. Or maybe it just promotes some feeling response. Good or bad, whether your instinct is to sit and listen or run away or ignore some learned habit to second-guess yourself,  Comet ISON is about all that which has just in this past little while (generally speaking) shown up in your world. Arriving unexpectedly and totally capable of rattling the windows, chains or foundations of anyone's world (whether it does is about your individual chart) ISON represents some idea, some knowing, some totally unexpected and probably unheralded perspective which has come to be - by whatever measures - injected into our lives.

Will ISON 'impact' the Sun? And to the extent that it does, does that limit the effect of whatever ISON's appearing out of the vastness of the unknown has manifested as in each of our lives?

Over the past few days the solar wind gave ISON a buffeting. But the comet got past. Unlike Encke - which got its tail 'cut off' by a like encounter with a solar CME back in 2007.

Whatever was 'out there' in our lives is still out there. For a day or two it seemed to waver...but it's still on course.

Evidently life wants us to continue feeling this issue in some ever-increasing sort of 'obvious to us' (if nobody else) sort of way.

Scientists are saying that ISON is an object about the size of a shopping center made of rock and ice. That's nothing the Sun couldn't simply absorb in a moment... which by implication says that whatever it is which is so 'foreign' to us, we could absorb it. Yet instead we're treating as some 'strange thing' which has shown up in our world. It's of our solar system - our life environment. And yet for some reason, we've never seen it. It's never registered in our (solar) consciousness - at least not to the degree that we've noticed it.

Until now, that is.

From the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's home page for November 27, SOHO images

of comets Encke and ISON heading towards Earth.

To see this film clip in full, link to JPL: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

  

Whatever is working its way through your life, your psyche, it's probably not simple. It's probably not even made up of one single issue or item or factor or possible priority or concern. We probably all knew that, but once NASA piped up and let us know that another comet (Encke) had reached its perihelion (near approach point to the Sun) on November 21st (last Saturday) that made it plain. After all, Encke is a comet, but it's a near (short-period) comet - one which cycles from just shy of Jupiter to the think of Mercury's orbit, marking a 3.3 year sub-cycle of personal growth and challenge.


And now...?

Proving that our universe (even our solar system) is nothing if not entirely capable of surprising us with what we don't know (which maybe is a hint for people to stop acting like such know-it-all's?), today NASA released a new piece of information on asteroid Phaethon.

In short, Phaethon is not "merely" an asteroid. It's a comet without a tail.

Link to: SCIENCE @ NASA (Nov. 27)

If you link to NASA's typically friendly 'chat' on this subject, what you'll learn - among other things - is that Phaethon is the source of the Geminids, one of Earth's yearly meteor showers...the next one up on the calendar, as life would have it. The Geminids begin on December 7th and run through the 17th with a peak hourly rate (of falling meteors) on December 13/14.

And just to make this interesting, the 17th is the date that Uranus goes direct AND of December's Full Moon.

Think what happens in your 'now' could affect your 'then'? Quite possibly so. If so, the 'active' process which will get you to that place...which you may well be thinking about now...would begin on December 3rd.

Why?

Because December 3rd is the date of December's NEW Moon - that which starts in motion whatever it is which either culminates, is discarded, adapted or integrated into a new phase at the FULL Moon.

With me?

So now we're thinking. We're realizing. We're contemplating. (And if you're American, you're probably also getting ready for that annual pumpkink-cranberry-turkey fest thing.)

A time-lapse photograph of the Geminid meteor shower over

Brasstown, Bald Mountain (Georgia) by NASA

The really quirky thing here is the Phaethon part...which is really what got me into writing this post. This Phaethon news isn't really "new news" - the European Space Agency issued the press release on Phaethon's rock-comet-hood back in September.

 Link to: European Planetary Science

Congress Release 2013

But that NASA would bring this up as part of its tightly-packed set of releases regarding all things ISON with the understanding that in our temporal life we are about to go from ISON to the New Moon to the Geminid meteor shower and on into Uranus' station/direct at the Full Moon - all of which then culminates in the Capricorn Solstice at the moment of Venus' turn to retrograde?

There is a whole world of business and economics out there which could probably profit (literally) from taking note of what lies ahead. The New Moon will be in Sagittarius, so we're trying to move ahead. Some will be in that trying to leave something else behind, but no matter - we're trying to move ahead and get on with life and living.

And as we do, all those little 'dapples' of light, those 'sparks' of streaming insight streak across our mindful sky.

Thus we will arrive at change - a shift which leads either to disappointment and retreat or a consolidating of those dearly held values and assets which we as individuals... we as humans... hold dear.

But first, we have to confront the fact that life is not black and white. Into all that ISON's appearing has manifested as, into all that Encke's reaching its perihelion has caused us to realize about who we are, who others may or may not be and the difference between daily matters and relationships, feelings and efforts which last a lifetime....

...into all that has come knowing Phaethon is not simply an asteroid, and it's not what we know as a comet.

It's something else. It's something new. We need to rethink or retool.

An asteroid 'as' comet would be something we wrestle with until it 'brings us' understanding. On the other hand, a comet 'as' an intermittent life challenge simply tells us we are never done learning - and for some of us, yes - that is news!

Beyond that is the realizing that we are being 'notified' of 'new things under the Sun' and how we don't know  everything which exists or how everything comes to exist. Or to be what it is.

And that fits too. How so? Well, as an astrological symbol, Phaethon is hasty. Its myth is all about a very bull-headed teen demi-god of the 'don't tell me I can't do that' sort.

(Okay, so that's every teenager on the planet, granted. And most teens think they can go around acting like demi-gods, yes. But you get my point.)

And now that the 'asteroid' we have known as Phaethon is not what we thought it was, what created that haste? Where did it really come from?

Also interesting: the mythic Phaethon came to his (teen, demi-god) end because he thought (prematurely, hasty boy that he was) that he was capable of controlling the chariot of the Sun.

In other words, life. (Or our mentality - the Sun also rules consciousness.)

So while we're watching Comet ISON dive in towards the Sun we also are being told that what has driven our haste...or our conviction...it isn't what we thought it was?

What does that say about us? 

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Update: Two Comets, Not One (ISON and Encke)

A screen shot of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's November 25, 2013 home page posting on comets ISON and Encke

(image courtesy of JPL-Caltech-NASA)

Just when you think you’re up to date, NASA drops out of the black of space with new news. And this time, there’s even film.

No, not some film made by aliens (although that sounds like fun!). And no, not film of some well meaning science type delivering facts (or phaques, if you’re feeling ultra-liberal in the spelling department).

So what's on said film?

Answer: another comet.

That’s right…ISON has company, which is a rather nice thought. After all, comets spend so much of their time whizzing through the empty vastness of space…and here on Planet Earth, it’s the beginning of the holidays. So who among us would deny a wandering comet a little company?

For those of you who have just fallen off your chair (or couch) laughing, I’ll wait a moment. And for those who are thinking perhaps a butterfly net big enough for an astrologer is needed here, hold up.

I really do have a point. It’s quick, it’s simple – and for those who think they never get to see astrology and science in synchronous parallel, it’s really rather grand.

So if you’re interested, start with the link I’m about to give you. It links to JPL…and when you watch the seriously short (seconds long) film clip the link will lead you to, watch for two things: comets moving left to right and the ‘breath’ of the solar wind moving right to left.

Link to: JPL-CALTECH-NASA

I can’t tell you all that much about Encke. The name of the comet comes from Johann Franz Encke, the fellow who calculated its orbit back in 1819 – which argues for good math skills, but not much else.

(For the record, I’m a math geek, so that’s not really a criticism. Far from it, actually.)

What I can tell you about with regards to Comet Encke however, is that this is not one of the long-period comets like Halley, which every 75.3 years comes to visit us from on beyond Neptune in the Kuiper Belt. Halley, Swift-Tuttle (source of the Persied Meteor shower) and Thatcher (source of the Lyrid Meteor shower) all come to us from a realm which metaphysically is about that we don’t know – that which has never occurred to us.

Not so with Encke. Encke doesn’t take 75 years to come around like Halley, and it certainly doesn’t disappear for 415 years between visits like Thatcher.

No, Encke is a whole other kind of comet critter, one which originates inside of Jupiter.

That’s right…Encke is a comet which originates in the asteroid belt. And if we remember that the asteroid belt represents all those many things which we have to ‘meet up with’ and learn about or deal with on our way from motivation or initiation (Mars) to what we might call the Jupiter ‘mastery’ point (or at least the dawning of having a clue as to what you’re doing and how to get it done), then Encke – an object with a perihelion (inner orbital) point smack dab in the crux of Mercury’s orbit – Encke would seem to represent some sort of information or those challenges which seem to come to us on a ‘cyclic’ basis as we are trying to do something, achieve some goal or figure out how to get something done.

The link to Mercury makes this very much about what we do/how we do what we do…and/or how we think and/or communicate. (Or not, of course. Do – not do. Communicate – not communicate. There always is the possibility of the polarity.)

However…as we think of this, then we add in that Encke reached its perihelion just days ago – on November 21st. So we’ve just had the Encke cycle of ‘bringing to us’ reach it’s ‘reaching us’ point.

But what does that mean?

Two more things to add in here. One is (of course) the fact that ISON is also involved in this period of time we’re all living through. And we’re all trying to sort through what (Sun in Sagittarius) needs doing and what we (Sun in Sagittarius) need to keep on dealing with…despite however we feel about it, here in the wake of this powerful, emotional time we’ve just been through.

But if you saw that film JPL posted, then you also know that the solar wind – the breath of the Sun, as one might very poetically call it – is flowing towards both comets. Back in 2007 (two 3.3 year Encke cycles ago) this same thing happened and literally ‘broke off’ Encke’s tail.

Does this tell us just how powerful our intent and essential being really is? Do we benefit or rob ourselves of the opportunity to be something we’ve never dreamed of by insisting on our own perspective – the ‘brilliance’ of our thinking and the strength of our will?

The scientists are poised with all their equipment, but we don’t know what will happen yet. This all seems to paint something of a metaphysical picture with Encke representing our personal challenges and aims while the Sun represents our consciousness and ability to focus on or deal with life/our life.

And somehow all of this is bound in with something totally strange, totally foreign which comes closes to us on November 28th - Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

Does this mean we will see that which we thought we would never see? Does it mean that something will have finally come close enough or clear enough that we understand it?

We seem to be being posed with a lot of questions right now. But that’s apt enough – certainly one of Sagittarius’ greatest functions in our life is to keep us green and growing, whether that means confronting us with questions, trying our patience or insecurities or giving us opportunities we can’t resist but hardly know how to wrap our minds around.

That’s most likely the point.  Life never tries to thwart us or puzzle us to no end, merely to stimulate us into learning that which will ultimately allow us to grow, utilize our potential and thrive. That 'thriving' may not look or sound like we think it should...

But then, whose universe is it?
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