Dateblog: August 2014

 August 2014

For various real life reasons (yes, something else has happened) this isn't going to be my longest post. Nor are these my finest diagrams, I would say. But I did want to offer some general August information...so here it is:

The above is a chart by sign which plainly shows that Leo (in yellow) is the dominant sign of the month. This speaks to a huge amount of energy and a 'brilliance' of mind (or mindset) which can accomplish great things providing others and the 'greater concern' beyond that which we are focused on as what we want/want to accomplish...providing all that is taken into proper account.

Towards the end of the month as the Sun and Mercury move into Virgo (on the 23rd and 15th, respectively) cooler thoughts (heads, solutions, reasoning) will begin to prevail, but with Jupiter in Leo there is likely to be a lot of 'stepping out' and much stepping over boundaries and limitations simply because some urge is so potent as to blind us to greater and factual issues, much as we might be 'blinded' if the Sun was in our eyes.

The are likely to be some very sun-struck (star-struck, arrogantly stubborn) folks around this month. As the Full Moon occurs in late Aquarius leading into the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower insights will happen and they may well mark the 'sparking' of new ideas, insights and choices which are made as a consequence of same. 

Ceres having entered Scorpio (see previous post) and Juno entering Cancer speak to a shift of energetics; where the 'idea' [Juno/Gemini] of the thing had been a premier  basis of consideration, now a more 'domestic' [Juno/Cancer] and less theory-idea-concept-driven orientation comes on line, like as not because sufficient negatives have been encountered (that being Vesta in Libra) that we are each driven to consider some sort of basic, very (Cancerian) personal...even primal sense of [Vesta] cost.

With the Virgo New Moon a more practical and pragmatic phase of operation/operational necessity is implied, with the close association of this New Moon to Sedna's station-retrograde in late Taurus posing 'how to...' questions precisely where our mentality has failed to mature - a fact which conjures up all sorts of ingrained possibilities.

Will all of this happen succinctly and politely? Looking at the month in terms of element, that answer would seem to be solidly and resoundingly 'no.'

(And yes I'm sorry I have to say that, but truth is truth.)

 
In the above diagram, red is fire, blue is water, that greenish brown is earth and...oh yes, there IS a little air in this amalgamation, courtesy of the Full Moon.

But remember, the Full Moon is a moment. So we can expect a moment of clarity around the Full Moon (plus Perseids), but the rest of the month - while possibly very productive, creative, delightful and developmental - is likely to manifest in a manner which is very fervent, either in pursuit of a [fire] goal or aim...or through some wholly [water] feeling effort or emotionally-driven choice.

There is a possibility for much knee-jerk activity here - the response by rote, the retreat into your own 'world' because dealing with others rains on your parade. This is also a recipe for real world (as opposed to theoretical) considerations.

In other words, just saying the words isn't likely to cut it this month. It's one of those 'the proof is in the pudding' periods with a lot of hungry and expectant folks poised at the universal table.

Which begs the question: what are we about to serve up to others and be served by life in kind?
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Vesta in Scorpio - Mercury in Leo: the Price, the Cost

Planet Mercury

(photo credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory,

Carnegie Institution of Washington, 2013)

As of July 31st at 22:47 in the evening (UT/+0), Mercury enters Leo, unleashing the power, the egocentricity, the creativity and ability to inhibit, undermine and succeed in equal measure.

And that’s just the Mercury part. With Jupiter already stirring the Leo energetic quadrant as only a massive celestial object can, we would (and should) expect that this year’s Mercurial transit of Leo would be more of the best and excessively awful.

Yes, all at once...whether or not we like it.

Going along at it’s more or less ‘standard’ sort of zodiacal pace, Mercury will only be spending just shy of three weeks in the second of our zodiac fire signs. Yet during those days between July 31 and August 15 we have the ability to accomplish much.

Or perhaps we’ll just recognize the cost of what we’ve accomplished or done. Or where it has become all we (Leo) envisioned and where we need to now be less about what’s in our head and more about how we’re affecting our environment.

Even the environment.

Normally we would think Mercury in Leo would be a great time for something daring... fun... challenging... even self indulgent. But with the Sun already in Leo (the Sun’s sign of rulership) with Jupiter also in Leo, while we may well do great things now and in the days ahead, we may also be functioning to some extent inside some vision which is nothing more than a personally desired mirage.

Part of the reason for that is simply the nature of Leo, a sign which can ‘see’ all the good which could (or to us, should) result from our efforts (and if that fails, would you settle for some gloriously Leo intentions?)... which Mercury’s joining the Sun and Jupiter ‘lifts’ from the idea of the moment (or the idea in the moment) to a more encompassing level of thought. The ideas, the vistas, the possibilities are bigger.

And so are the risks.

As with all things Leo, so long as we are willing to give things a good go and best effort with a willingness to learn coupled to a lack of need to be perfect, in the long run we can’t lose. In the short run we can hit plenty of dead ends, potholes and yes, we may meet with refusals, rejections and corrections.

But we still can win. In the world of Leo personal power politics, our not being self conscious, driven by ego or so dazzled by our brilliance that we miss something important (and probably terribly human) which lands us in a mess (most of all with our sense of humiliation)... that’s the test. Given the Leo affinity for performance, we may be able to fool others pretty close to one hundred percent of the time... but we never fool our Self.

Moreover, in the case of a negative Leo situation, especially with Mercury now (be)stirring the Leo pot, we may just be fooling ourselves... or end up thinking we’re the fool.

There is reason to question things in the short run (which is to say, for the next few days) - or rather, to question ourselves particularly when it comes to questions of motivation and methodology.

Why is that? That is because July 30th, the date of Mercury’s Leo ingress, is also the date that asteroid Vesta is moving into Scorpio.

Under any condition, Vesta represents the ‘cost’ (or price) of making a commitment or keeping a commitment. Or, in those other cases... the cost of having not keep our promises - to us, in real or karmic terms. There is a definite quality of safekeeping when it comes to Vesta, and that may well interfere with the active quality of working with others... which is to say with our own ability to trust - that which so needs to be in order for there to be any consistency to positive outcomes in all and any matter Scorpionic. Furthermore, considering how Scorpio works by testing our inner stability with regards to others or situations in order to see if we are capable of creating lasting positives through dynamic improvements to that which benefits all - a quality which is likely to be going to be more important and more contentious as we move into and through the next few hundred years of the Aquarian Age.

Those who aim to fulfill their own desires may well win in the short-term Vesta run, but to be purely ‘desirous’ under any Vesta-indicated situation is to run a risk of ‘breaking’ something we value in our eagerness to satisfy some focus of the moment.

And that word - ‘risk’ - does ring a bell as a linkage between Mercury and Vesta. If nothing else (or if given no proper outlet) Mercury in Leo energetics may very well surface in our own ability to trip ourselves up simply because we need to understand our own challenges.

We’re educating ourselves, as it were. And that would be fine except Vesta entering Scorpio under those types of challenges could be very problematic indeed.

Even nasty. Vile. Or - yes - unforgivable.

With Vesta, we will risk hurting our Self...or we may learn that (or how) we have cost our Self something. The matters at hand may be either complex or simple things, but whether exotic or minor, given the Scorpio coloration here we are more likely to encounter our promptings through others or because of things which are external to our Self.

To give a better idea of how large Vesta is (and thus its 'standing' among other astrological asteroid 'challenges), a composite image of Vesta in comparison with a handful of other asteroids (photo credit NASA-JPL)

The feeling of challenge to that Self is personal, yes. But the need to cope with it is external, and woe be to those who prioritize the Self (“what I want”) over consideration of the entire situation replete with needs and feelings which not only may be as valid as ours but which actually deserve priority (or priority consideration) whether we like it or not.

That’s the Scorpio test: to not be sucked in by our own position to the extent that we cannot consider the values, feelings, needs of others. Where we do so, we run the risk of hurting our own opportunities or interests - issues which the next several months of Vesta in Scorpio will either tend to prompt or expose (whether privately otherwise). Risk being a Leo thing, thinking through all this as Mercury goes into Leo. Some of us will now be 'getting the bill' for whatever we promised and did which violated our karma through what we did. Others will be faced with the cost of making a promise - or promising to pay a certain price.

Scorpio often tempts us to maneuver and manipulate. In most cases, such efforts are all about avoidance - not of the 'other' but of a Self which doesn't have sufficient conviction in their own security, and which instinctively seeks to avoid fear. This feeling of 'threat' or insufficiency is the premier Scorpio dynamic however Scorpio manifests for good, ill, life, power, sex, control and surrender in inevitable death.

When we fear, we feel the power of all we can't change, and when we feel that, we try to control it. Or hedge our bets. Or limit our exposure. All such instincts are Scorpio - and classically Scorpio in that the (water sign) feeling isn't really about 'that' or 'them' but about our Self.

To the extent that we are truly secure, Scorpio resonates as a calm, placid power. To the extent that we don't feel secure with what we think we most value (in the moment, at least) Scorpio manifests as forms of fear - up to and including that violence which is ultimately a defense against having to endure our incredibly powerful human feelings, hence Scorpio's tendency towards control. If I control myself, I won't care. If I control them, they won't be able to do to me anything I would fear...

With Vesta entering Scorpio, thinking through and being willing to accept this broke our 'promise' on...or fs about promised and broke t with or to others beyond the Scorpio tenet.

However...there are indicators that no matter what we do not everything is going to be smooth sailing. With its 3.6 year-long orbit, asteroid Vesta will exit Scorpio and move on into Sagittarius as of October 6 (2014), which for one thing means the whole of Mercury’s transit of Leo will be under Vesta in Scorpio’s earliest degrees - an indicator of ‘costs’ having to do with what we do or “who we are being” in this moment.

Inequalities of regard in other words... our personal self/will/want versus the aims/wants/needs of others... will cost us something. Whether that cost is physical as opposed to financial or otherwise is not specified purely by Vesta’s transiting Scorpio as a sign; what is assured is that whatever happens, we will react to it - for good or bad, be it positive or negative - in an emotional-based manner.

And when we do that without regard for the other side of things, that’s when we go all Vesta-awry, especially when or where our values (or that we hold as valuable) are being challenged as a ‘sign of the times’ to change... to update... to modernize... to act in sync with others or as part of a greater systemic... all of which comes from the overarching fact that Vesta’s transit of Scorpio - that transit which ends on October 6th - will happen as one of a group of astrological signals connected to the October 23rd solar eclipse (which includes Uranus, hence the heightened need for change and - in particular - innovation, modernization and a 'breaking' with old habits or personal identitifications).

You know...the eclipse at 0 Scorpio - the very degree being set off this week by Vesta. It’s that quality - that ‘foreshadowing’ (as they say in literary circles...) which as Vesta enters Scorpio and Mercury enters Leo suggesting challenges which speak rather specifically to our  entirely human habit of seeing everything from our own point of view.

At this time, some part of that which stands to be ‘eclipsed’ in the months ahead will begin to become obvious. Some of us will see what could happen and in keeping with Scorpio’s highest harmonic make deft and perhaps painful corrections in order to preserve the good, the viable, the healthy while excising that which is damaged, corrupted or corrosive. Others will choose a less active Scorpio road by focusing mainly on defense (generally our own) and safety, in essence taking a tact that to not be involved simplifies things for others which under the Scorpio banner is more accurately read as ‘I don’t want to go through that.’

Planet Mars as photographed by the Hubble space telescope

(photo credit: NASA, JPL - recolored for posting purposes)

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Those who act from instinct ... which is to say from their Scorpio desires and Leo perspective without regard for others - over the first week or so of Mercury in Leo they are likely to act with or through a ‘blindness’ to self and others, creating deficits, particularly where there is a failure to balance and integrate our own creative and emotional perspectives with those of others.

With Vesta entering Scorpio in conjunction Eurydike with Mars just ahead, there is a strong (Mars at 3 Scorpio) suggestion that reliance on traditions and “ceremonial” gestures is useful as a means of (Mercury) communication - an option which may not be easy to comply with as Mars passages through Scorpio tend to promote a lot of willfulness of the specific type which tends to create conflicts either where balance and integration fail to have valid and equal (or equally valid) emphasis - which may well be where situations fracture, go awry or plainly don’t/won't work. 3 Scorpio being all about an ongoing interaction between the individual and the community honors the ‘bright light’ of inspiration and a means of tying us as individuals to the eternal need of a greater and greatest whole. When this works well (in other words, when/where/as all is brought into integrated balance), the quieting of ego is accomplished through an assurance of safety against having it make sense why a certain choice is more productive.

Whatever symbolizes that which is important to us now we hold high. Most of us will never think past that symbol to why some idea, some notion, some belief, some thing means so much to us, that being our Vesta realm, that realm in which we do or don’t hold to whatever it is we are or have committed to... or don’t. What this depends on is our own inner regard for the value of our own word, standing, choices and determinations... not of others, but of our Self.

Some will now feel they know where they need to go and what they need to do, whether that involves happiness or trial. Some of us will now react to what we have done (or not done), that being the trigger for emotionally transformational experiences.

Whatever comes to light (or come to be ‘illuminated’ for us now) is a sign that we are at a crossroads of sorts. We come to this crossroads aiming for something we believe in. What we will now decide before moving on is less about what others think about us than how we come to think of ourselves, though those others may be the catalyst we need to understand how out of step we are not with the moment, but with the whole of our eventual aims.

And therein lies the rub.
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Neptune at 6 Pisces

One of the Voyager 2 photographs of Neptune showing Neptune's great dark spot (middle, left)

and its 'dark spot II' near the bottom.

(photo credit: NASA, Voyager 2 Team, August 1989)

Planet Neptune moved into 7 Pisces back in late April and has been there ever since, a fact covered in an earlier post.

- link to -

Mercury in Taurus/Neptune at 7 Pisces

If you remember (or if you don’t feel like looking back at that other post), the Sabian symbol for 7 Pisces is “A GIRL BLOWING A BUGLE” which astrologer Marc Edmund Jones referred to as ‘a call to participation in the service of the race, as an evolutionary crisis approaches’ and fellow astrologer/philosopher Dane Rudhyar keynotes with the term “SUMMONS” not in the sense of reporting to a place, but the being called by some inner spirit which challenges us to ‘rebirth’ ourselves as an individual in the service of humanity, replete with the difficulty of figuring out how to be truly individuated while giving of yourself to the greater All without getting into conflict with ourselves.

This self/collective discussion is very Aquarian on the face of it, yes. But the Pisces phase of this concept differs from the greater Aquarian ‘how do I do it,’ trend by being centered in emotionality, making ‘how do I do it’ more akin to ‘how do I get through it?’ or ‘how do I cope in the face of...’ whatever is at stake.

Neptune representing all those forces and events which either dissolve our preconceptions (revealing truths) or which hide the truth from us (or have us hiding from some truth) in spite of all.

As of July 28th at 10:10 in the evening UT/+0 time, Neptune (currently in retrograde) will exit 7 Pisces and enter 6 Pisces, indicating a shift of emotional tone plus ongoing cycles of Neptunian realization (clarification) and/or denial-avoidance. Imaged by the Sabian symbol “ILLUMINATED BY A SHAFT OF LIGHT, A LARGE CROSS LIES ON ROCKS SURROUNDED BY SEA MIST” and referenced by Marc Edmund Jones as ‘the spiritual blessing which strengthens individuals who, happen what may, stand uncompromisingly for their own truth’ - with the ‘their own’ reference standing for the individual as an individual as opposed to the collective....which in turn suggests that being willing to stand in our own Neptunian light (faith in self) as we go about being the person we know we should be in spite of our fears and misgivings amidst the society or as part of a world which we are unavoidably part of, as individual or individualistic as we might be.

As references, Neptune passed through 6 Pisces during the period of March 21st through April 22nd. Neptune will also return to 7 Pisces between next February 19th and March 16th (2015) after going direct during mid-November.

We will hope this shift of energetics will be reflected in a better level of humanity being shown to our fellow man. Not many of us are involved in the ugliness, but many of us are suffering greatly in the light of treatment from others which feels (or has felt) so very less than acceptable.

And who knows...maybe the 'air of emotionality' expressed symbolically as 'sea mist' will indeed become the surround, the bed upon which we will lay our burdens, our "cross to bear," our most somber thoughts so that in the non-judgmental light of inner clarity we will begin to see why the most instinctive of all human habits is to deflect our fears and our uncertainty by accusing others of some projected essence concerning our own most disliked flaws.

After all, that is the primal Piscean quest, one in which Neptune's passages mark times during things 'stir' our need to face, equate and reconcile the reality of inspiration (and our inspirations) as a function of our own longings (as opposed to anything having to do with that which inspires us...against that well-defined if strangely ill-defined inner bedrock upon which is scrawled the truth of how our fear of our own human limitations drives us to decline to humane - sometimes even to our Self. 
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Sun in Leo / Mars in Scorpio / a 3 Leo New Moon

The Sun, photographed in all it's prominence glory by NASA (September 2006)

With our having just weathered two stations (those of Eris and Saturn) the Sun enters its ‘home’ sign of Leo on July 22nd (the date of this post) at 9:42 in the evening, UT/+0 time - about twenty hours after Uranus goes into retrograde motion.

This may be a surprising day...an enlightening day...an inspiring day...or even a surprising, shocking, destructive or rewarding day.

Moreover, along with the Sun entering Leo is the fact that the Perseid meteor shower will begin one day later on July 23rd. In lasting until August 20th, the Perseids cover pretty much the Sun’s entire transit of Leo - which is metaphorical right to the sword hilt seeing as meteor showers are said to be ‘sparks’ of creative thought which cut through some darkness with which our world is covered.

And considering how dark things have been, maybe that’s a good thing.

As a phenomenon, the Perseids are a meteor shower which comes to us courtesy of Swift-Tuttle. And Swift-Tuttle is on one hand a comet which by orbital range metaphysically could be thought of as tying Pluto and Venus together...and which (on top of that) has a known magnetic resonance (read: metaphysical synched quality) with Jupiter - all of which leads to a stew of desirously  transformative [Pluto], attraction laden (or by attraction attracted) [Venus] qualities which are all about needing to [Jupiter] know more about [Leo] life.

The comet itself reached its perihelion (its closest point to the Sun - or in this case, Venus) back in December of 1992 and isn’t due to reach it’s aphelion (its furthest point from the Sun, which is a bit of a leap beyond Pluto) until 2126 - a thought which when we think of it astrologically suggests a current crop of ‘insightful sparks’ which expand us or which push our vision beyond some former limit.

A Perseid meteor streak and the Milky Way

(David DeHetre, August 2012)

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The same day that the Perseids begin (July 23rd) is also the beginning of TNO Deucalion going on station at 12 Scorpio to go direct on July 25th. What would we think this influence might be?

Deucalion is - more or less - a Greek version of the Noah story...which you can read about here:

- link to -

Deucalion: Freeing Our Will 

Deucalion represents the need or ability or the inspiration to act and/or think independently when challenged by emotional situations or feelings - your own or those of others. Given that it is going direct at 12 Scorpio, we know right away that the emotionality is ours and that we are being tested (emotionally) as to whether we can handle our own emotions in dealing with others in terms of the facts - not what we want them to think, know or believe. As a second decan degree (one of the second ten degrees of this sign) the medium and goal of the situation or interactions involved will be intense, with most of our more testing issues coming from questions of whether we can ‘detoxify’ something on “our side” before we bring that to interactions with others.

Where we rise above our own emotionality (call it our tendency to be manipulated by our own emotions or mindset) then Deucalion on station and going direct becomes the opportunity - or a ‘change of winds’ which allows us to find a better way forward. Where we don’t ‘find our way to finding a way out of our own emotional corner’ Deucalion points to losses of a type which seems ‘separate from all else.’ Such losses are likely to carry some sort of moral or ethical taint which, given that this station is occurring at 12 Scorpio suggests choices or actions made without a complete understanding of parameters or possible consequences, all of which will like as not prompt emotional defensiveness until a more thought-driven form of compassion rises to the fore.

Wherever we find 12 Scorpio being emphasized (as it is here) there is also a chance that we may become so close to something or so involved that our very preoccupation may attract manipulation by others who attempt to twist or distort some truth. Given that Deucalion is turning to direct in this degree, it’s more likely that this will be a moment when such illusions will be discovered, recognized and dealt with consciously rather than this as a moment of falling under under someone’s influence, but such things can happen - if perhaps only to teach us how important it is to not be blindly swayed by others...or even by our Self.

All of that ‘takes a turn’ on Friday the 25th - and because the 26th hosts both a New Moon at 3 Leo (at 10:43 in the evening UT/+0) and Mars entering Scorpio at 2:26 in the morning (UT/+0), there are likely to be plenty of options in play.

However...! Let us not forget that if Mars is entering Scorpio at just after midnight (UT/+0) on Saturday, that means Mars has been sitting at 29 degrees of Libra coming into Deucalion’s station. Normally we would simply note that 29 degrees of any sign is considered ‘critical’ to any outcome in keeping with that sign - which in this case being Libra refers to relationships or how (even if) we relate to others or are willing to be in relationship to them... and if so, why, under what conditions and so on. But in this case, Mars has been in Libra - infusing our world with drives which were either innately weak (or taken as that) or which stirred up some sort of ‘weak’ response, whether ‘weak’ in this instance means a lack of resistance, less response that we had hoped for or greater resistance to our efforts which (in essence) put us in a ‘weak’ position...at least for the moment. Some people will indeed be caught in a ‘weak moment’ coming into Deucalion’s station and that station will be used to figure out what to do.

And then Mars will enter Scorpio...the second of Mars’ ‘home’ signs of rulership and that realm of experience where ‘the why’ behind what we do and all those ‘why’s’ which go with why we want to achieve - where all we want to get get done or claim as ours takes on something of a passionate or fascinating quality. The shift of energy is likely to be obvious: people will become more focused and energized. Conversations will spark new thoughts and opportunities.

All of this is about making a choice: what will I choose to invest myself in? Scorpio choices tend to be as much about avoiding our vulnerabilities (you know, those 'weak' points?) as emphasizing our strengths. We think we're manipulating others when what we're trying to do is to line things up so that we can achieve our aims without exposing ourselves to risk.

In particular, emotional risk - which is to say to anything which could make us feel badly about our Self.

Ah yes...the joy of Scorpio: the promise of riches with only a mild side order of poisonous paranoia. I can't think about this going wrong because I can't imagine knowing I choose this and it went wrong.

The famous Scorpio dynamic is the emotional projection: we imagine something or someone is 'all that' because we're hoping it scratches our itch (however you care to define 'itch' is up to you). 

But then we find out that thing, that person isn't perfect. (And mind you, Scorpio perfection is highly individualized so there's a million ways something can go wrong.) The natural (read: human) thing to do is to get mad - to blame it or them or whatnot. But the reality is that we know - way deep down inside - that we chose this thing, this person because we thought they were going to keep us safe...most of all from our vulnerabilities.

Unfortunately that's just not how it works.

Under Mars in Scorpio, we will seek out situations which will test our inner glitches like nobody's business. On one hand this may sound like trouble - and yes, it can be! Yet on the other this can be all about an intense period of growth which allows us to detach that 'blame game' from others and take it on with ourselves, owning our glitches, our vulnerabilities, our yucky bits...and in that, coming to see that everyone else goes through exactly the same thing.

It is from that knowledge that we then choose again: will we take advantage of them - or will we treat them as equals? Situations and dynamics from now (which is to say, July 26th) until mid-September are going to come at us from every possible evocative angle on this subject - and let's not forget...everyone else is under Mars in Scorpio as well.

Things can be wonderful or terrible under Mars in Scorpio. The instinct to go, do and make more vies during this time with the urge to control and eliminate. 

And that's just all quite very much different than Mars in Libra, a mode of going about being ourselves which began back in early December 2013. Where Mars in Libra creates a theoretical distance and tends to bring out inabilities which pit the Mars/Self aspect of life (or self) against the need to be 'part of the greater group' in possibly most unpleasant tones, Mars in Scorpio mixes it up. Under Mars in Libra, the stand-off attitude is a position. Under Mars in Scorpio, it's a stance - the fighter gathering themselves to make the lunge.

Mars normally spends about two months in a sign - as it will in Scorpio. But we've just lived through seven months of Mars in Libra (complete with retrograde, no less).

We're used to it.

So Mars in Scorpio is going to be a bit of a wake-up call.

Moreover, since Mars is entering Scorpio in square to Jupiter, the Moon and the Sun, big things are afoot. Big moves, big problems, big gaffs, successes, achievements and undertakings - some of which will be highly (Jupiter/Moon) extravagant either for the very good or terrible. With this trio in a square, it’s easy to opt for either the work or the pleasure...and not as easy to put both those things together.

But that is the challenge - and since this ingress happens just hours in advance of the New Moon, what comes up now may be the end of what we have been doing (allowing us to embrace the ‘new’)...or something may be coming together which becomes the heart and heat source for the next lunar cycle.

All year long we’ve been counting down New Moon degrees...January gave us two New Moons, both at 10 degrees, February didn’t have a New Moon (January took care of that), March’s New Moon was at 9 Aries, April gave us that thrilling New Moon we call a solar eclipse at 8 Taurus, May’s New Moon was at 7 Gemini, Junes was at 5 Cancer and now July’s New Moon will occur at 3 Leo - all of which on a metaphysical level represents ‘steps’ in a process which will by this October 23rd have us arriving at zero highly base line degrees of that most well-known (and sometimes least respected) fixed zodiacal water sign, Scorpio.

You know...Scorpio, sign of karma. Sign of wars fought - first and last with our Self. Scorpio, sign of desire... Scorpio, sign of domination... Scorpio, sign of taxes and anything which can simultaneously tax, excite and leave us helpless to the experience of our own sense of mortality - a moment which may be terrible or wonderful (or both), depending.

Doesn’t that just make your toes curl and a certain sense of warm trepidation tingle through your neural circuits?

But not to worry...first comes the New Moon at 3 Leo, a seeming declaration that the next month will test us (internally, at least) as to whether we are courageous or merely willful...even while our actions are being adjudged as either egotistical or creative. Imaged as ‘A FORMALLY DRESSED ELDERLY MAN STANDS NEAR TROPHIES HE BROUGHT BACK FROM A HUNTING EXPEDITION’ by the Sabian symbols, our ‘trophies’ may be of any type, just as the ‘man’ may represent an actual male or merely the more assertive or pro-active (courageous vs. willful) part of anyone’s character. In an 150-degree aspect to royal star Fomalhaut’s position at 4 Pisces, the position 3 Leo is automatically ‘subject’ to the ‘adjustment’ power of the inconjunct aspect between these two zodiacal points... (at least currently, which is to say until Fomalhaut moves to 5 Pisces in the year 2080)... which given Fomalhaut’s reputation for rewarding only that which is or hasn’t been corrupted (or is corruptive) may well explain how (or why, if you prefer) 3 Leo is written about as an internal/external experience of one’s own relationship to society and social accomplishment (you know, success - tangible or otherwise).

For some of us, this year has been like some very long exercise in wading through much which was far harder than we thought it would be. Where some have felt truly fortunate, others have spent each successive lunar month feeling like they’re just dodging some bullet.

Then there are those who have ‘worked’ each lunar cycle reflecting the world around them without ever having done what lunar cycles are really all about: reflecting on our Self. On life. On how we’re living our life and living in this life. 

As for that societal experience of social accomplishment (real or fanciful...past, present or future),the essence here is astrologically fiery - which is to say, about the essence behind the idea, the choice, the act...that thing we mostly think of as motivation. This degree is known for ‘showing off,’ whether that means ‘showcasing’ something, demonstrating (showing) what we are capable of or (or even willing to do) or displays of human drama. It is also known for strange combinations of brilliant insight, utter oblivion (or obliviousness to others) and inventiveness which may be inordinately helpful...or which may display a marked lack of understanding, including (in some cases) the simple inability to understand, whether that’s due to something simple like a difference in language or something truly incomprehensible.

Being an early degree in a sign which refers to not just physical children but the innocence of perspective which fosters imagination and the creative instinct, 3 Leo (and thus this New Moon period plus - to some degree - the whole of this next lunar month) seems to be about bringing us closer (or back to) some less ‘defined’ way of thinking - the ‘unhardened’ phase of personal experience wherein we are (or were) willing to befriend others without judging them because we feel less judged ourselves.

And since this is Leo...? Well...we are talking about a sign which while brilliant in essence can also be a bit blinded by that brilliance - which makes that ‘less judged ourselves’ quite possibly a statement on how we judge our Self, regardless of what anyone else says. There will surely be those this month who are unwilling - or even incapable of seeing that Self for what it is.

As the Sun enters Leo it will 'set off' a lot of Leo/Jupiter energy which as yet hasn't been accessed. Between that, the Leo New Moon and Mars' entering the sign of Scorpio we are bound to be aiming at something we want.

It consistent with who we need to be...or who we want to be? Therein lies our current quandary, one we won't all be successful with, but through which we will surely learn.
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Venus in Cancer/Saturn Direct/Mars out of Shadow/Uranus Retrograde/Eris Retrograde

As photographed by the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Baby Boom Galaxy shows off its ability to 'birth' an average of 4,000 new stars ever year - a number which is one hundred times the number of stars produced by our Milky Way Galaxy.

(photo credit: Spitzer Space Telescope, NASA-JPL-Caltech, Oct 2008)

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First of all, let’s have a hearty ‘hallelujah’ for the fact that as of July 20th, Mars will exit the shadow of the retrograde which, though it began formally on March 1st (2014), really reaches back to Christmas Day 2013 - the date on which Mars entered it’s retrograde shadow to begin with.

(And yes...I’m sure a couple of people - especially now, as we’re leaving the Mars/retrograde shadow - will be saying ‘ohhhhhh....’ as the light finally dawns.)

No problem. That’s just how the machinery of time, energy and coalescence works. Using astrology is a constant process of saying ‘oh, I get it now...’ until there comes one fine (or more likely, stormy) day when you’re having a perfectly rotten time and you read something about an astrological event or transit and you’re just so fed up that you say (to yourself, most likely) ‘Okay...! Since I have no better idea of what to do, I’ll just rely on this for a minute.’

And that - for many of us - is when we find that time and space really work the way they work...and that astrology is really nothing more or less than the ability to read a truly exotic clock. The fact that the clock exists is still subject to all the beliefs and non-beliefs we humans love to love and loathe - a battle in which astrology basically operates much on the same basis as gravity.

In other words, you’re welcome to ignore either, but you do so at some rather predicable risk.

So as of July 20th, Mars exits the shadow of its recent Libra retrograde by reaching 27 Libra, indicating some sort of ‘letting to’ or ‘letting something lie for the moment’ as we all move on to the balance of a week spent coping with various worldly tasks, necessities and interactions.

At the end of that time (read: July 26th) Mars will finally exit Libra and move on into Scorpio, changing the energetic dynamic from what we might refer to as a ‘theoretical dynamic’ (being motivated, driven, triggered or spurred on by ideas, ideals and theories) into Scorpio’s deeply emotional waters.

But let’s not get lost in that - astrologically there are plenty of notices to get through before that, the first of which is the fact that the hot and rocky world known as Planet Venus will be exiting Gemini and entering Cancer on Friday July 18th at 2:07 in the afternoon (UT/+0 time)...a point in time which in being barely a couple of days after Jupiter enters Leo (the subject of the previous post) combines something of a ‘ramping up’ and ‘smoothing down’ effect which may indicate odd moments of confusion or even a sprinkling of those inevitable human moments when we’re confronted with two things, both of which we may want to do but which are incompatible with each other (for whatever reason).

As a general influence however, Venus in Cancer tends to enhance our awareness of whatever is native or natively comforting to us, though we may do well to remember that with Pluto in Capricorn, Venus’ entrance to Cancer does open the door to obsessive moments and preoccupations, especially as Venus comes into orb of opposition Pluto (July 23rd) ...through the opposition (July 27th) to the exit of orb on July 31st.

Any opposition of Venus to Pluto is fertile soil for attractions of that very particular type which have us craving emotional rewards from someone else. The conjunctions and squares between these two planets are known for this as well, but since oppositions are naturally about ‘the other,’ it’s not improper to think of the whole of Venus’s July 18 - August 12 transit of Cancer as a time when natural polarities between people...be they positive or negative...will tend to be heightened. Furthermore, with Pluto having just entered 11 Capricorn, a degree Pluto will be positioned at (give or take a few days surrounding it’s late September station) until November 25th. Described by the Sabian symbol ‘A FIRE WORSHIPPER MEDITATES ON THE ULTIMATE REALITIES OF EXISTENCE’ this period will be rife with what astrologer Marc Edmund Jones describes as ‘the subjective quest for ultimates beyond the interplay of life and death processes.’

Some will become obsessed by such questions - or the fact they think they know the answer to such questions - during this Pluto period. Others will, in truly Pluto/transformational form, realize that while they may know ONE answer to what may be THEIR question (or the question they think the most important and deserving of the highest priority)...how there really are a lot of questions, a lot of answers which might possibly work and how none of us have a monopoly on what’s ‘right.’

It may be right for us. Does that make it right for everyone - or are we just overly dug in with thinking that way?  

The positives of Venus in Cancer is that it promotes an appreciation for the close company and companionship of those we know best, complete with the understandable tendency to want to spend time enjoying comfortable surroundings (whether with others or just as a measure of relaxing solitude).

The negatives of Venus in Cancer are the tendency to do just that at the expense of responsibilities, some inclination to indulge your desire for personal comfort (or the comfort of those closest to you) in some way which seems irresponsible, imprudent or simply impractical to others. Mind you...it may or may not be impractical, imprudent or irresponsible. But in this instance (which is to say, with Pluto in Capricorn) it may seem that way to others.

And where Pluto is concerned, sometimes it’s that loud, loud chorus which wins out. HOWEVER...since this is Pluto, there is always that odd piece of lore about how those who win through ‘sheer force’ (physical, financial, emotional, verbal, etc.) to consider, since where Pluto is concerned anything which is done purely to satisfy our own emotional cravings is said to incur negative karma. Pluto is all about passions as obsessions - our obsessions - which is to say those emotions (of ours) which have been driven to the ‘passion’ stage by something.

What is it? Why are we reacting to it?

As first of the zodiac’s three water signs, Cancer is emblematic of Earth’s oceanic surf zones, replete with tide pools of nurturance and rhythmic tidal shifts which in watery Cancer are most often identified with moods and moodiness. With all water signs having some relationship to finance and things ‘of worth’ to us, Cancer represents that most basic of human needs - shelter - and all which that represents, be that the land, what is built on the land, plus all which grows and lives on this Earth of ours, whether it does so naturally or not.

In entering Cancer with the Sun and Mercury already in the sign, it is to be expected that the days between July 18th and the 22nd (when the Sun moves on into Leo) will be evocative. Many a sentiment is likely to arising among those arguing from purely feeling points of view. With Eris going retrograde one day after Venus enters Cancer and Saturn going direct two days after that same ingress, transactions are on the table and stability is being sought in the face of [Eris] challenges to our ability to do that which though entirely possible, isn’t quite what we want to do.

- link to -

Eris Discordant: Mastering Our Own Weakest Moments

Eris energies can be very disruptive - but don’t have to be. Having only been discovered back in 2003, dwarf planet Eris is a relatively new astrological object, meaning there will undoubtedly be many a nuance spotted as time goes along. What has been observed thus far is how Eris tends to represent that which arises unexpectedly as a.) something we hadn’t thought of/experienced before...or, b.) the struggle against some weakness, injustice or vulnerability. Either way, it would seem that Eris effects are more positive, less disruptive (psychologically or emotionally) and far easier to manage when/where the aim is not purely personal...and when we are actively working to change a systemic or societal situation - all of which probably seems axiomatic at the moment, as the July 2014 Eris station is happening with Eris at 23 Aries in conjunction with Pandora (hope amidst the storm), Industria (effort) and the lunar South Node (the easy thing for us...or for everyone to do).

Evidently things aren’t calm...and aren’t meant to be calm at the moment. The center of this particular piece of turbulence being at 23 Aries, clarity of judgment isn’t likely to be anyone’s strong point for a few days even while there’s an inordinate need for understanding.

This tug-of-war...a push-pull which is likely to build towards intensity as Eris goes retrograde on the 19th, won’t even reach its maximum until July 23rd, by which time Saturn will have gone direct and Uranus will have gone retrograde, indicating changes [Uranus] we are either going to make or find being thrust upon us (or arising from within, unbidden).

Lest we miss the [Saturn] point, such changes are important, structural and a matter of responsibility both in when and how they get made. Some such changes undoubtedly need to be made now and some will get made now, whichever side of the Eris ‘me/them’ question we are coming from.

And just to make the point, no, you don’t have to like all the changes - you don’t have to like doing them, nor do you have to like what needs to be done. In fact, there’s a pretty sound astrological Eris argument which could be made for tackling those very issues we don’t like now simply because Eris is in the astro-mix..not to mention the fact that with Saturn going station-direct at 16 Scorpio and Uranus going retrograde at 16 Aries, what we have here is a genuine opportunity to break ourselves of the habit of thinking in purely first person terms.

Okay...so most people won’t do that. But they could.

This very perfect inconjunct between Uranus and Saturn speaks to the Aries “I” and the Scorpio “We” with the tension being one of ‘adjustment’ which would seem to be about bedrock realities as opposed to emotional realities. One we like to think would make life worth living. The other simply allows us the opportunity to keep living, period.

Which do you think is more important? Whichever way you vote here, the first test is our Uranus-in-Aries ability (and yes, willingness) to change in accordance with 16 Aries’ theme of ‘natural’ connection to that which is around us, emphasizing all things natural and ‘about nature,’ be that our human nature, the environment as nature, or any other way which is pertinent. Known as particularly problematic when contained, blocked Uranian energies such as those likely to be timed by this station tend to manifest as frustrations, anger and alienation. Since the reference is ‘nature,’ Uranus at this degree may well signal issues having to do with natural sources of power such as lightening - or the effects of same, be they physical or metaphorical. It could even indicate the effects of something natural (or naturally incurred effects) on some socially significant ‘system’ of operation.

As for Saturn, Saturn’s turn to direct motion signals a shift from internal to external efforts and experiences involving all that we need to do as well as all we might want to accomplish. With this station occurring at 16 Scorpio, there is much to be learned from both the ‘pro’ and the ‘con’ of various situations and probably no entirely clear path forward. Being that 16 Scorpio is known as often for hospitality, generosity and humanitarian connections as for secrets, unannounced or confidential meetings, messages and investigations, back room negotiations, underground groups and mysterious societies, alliances or sources of power, Saturn’s turn to direct would seem to indicate the substantiating of something, learning something is real (or not real) becoming a member of a group or leaving some group for reasons personal or professional - and that achieving our goals depends on our ability to rely on that which we have abiding faith in, deep within our soul.

That these two major planets - Saturn and Uranus - are going on station within two days of each other is an obvious metaphysical reference to things which matter. Saturn is the last planet visible to the naked human eye from here on Earth, and Uranus is the next planet out and first of the ‘transpersonal’ objects. So Uranus represents how all that which is not ‘within our grasp’ can change us. Or how we can change ourselves and our world by being or becoming able to ‘go beyond the self.’

(Think of it as riding a cosmic bicycle with no hands.)

More to our experiential point perhaps (and as an extenuation of a post written a few days ago) Saturn and Uranus are co-rulers of Aquarius...which in the abstract sense would be a reference to the ongoing ‘solidifying’ of an incoming Age (that of Aquarius), and which on a here-and-now basis would be an overall reference to things economic, societal, systemic and how we all think of our place in the world, inclusive of how we feel about how the world tends to treat us.

Between Saturn’s turn to direct on the 20th and Uranus July 22nd turn to retrograde which speaks to a period (beginning now) of approximately five months during which we will be challenged to change as individuals. We are in a period when some things which have outlived their purpose in the form they were originally conceived will get updated, modernized or, in some cases simply replaced as part of the normal evolution of life and time. Unfortunately there are some people (and some issues) which people are more than reluctant to revolve about.

Therein lies the rub...the challenge...the inevitability which must be faced. The Aquarian Age requires that we understand that which came before now so that we can build on that which remains viable, creating of the old something ever more viable for being applicable to today, tomorrow and the conceivable beyond.

Between the 20th (when Saturn goes direct and Mars exits its retrograde shadow) and the 22nd (when Uranus goes retrograde and the Sun enters Leo, which is part and parcel of the next post)...between those two pillars one other thing occurs: Apollo (illumination) goes retrograde at 17 Virgo, a degree known for operating on a mental level with a marked tendency to bend all things, all ends, all outlays and all aims towards that which the Self likes...or thinks they like...regardless of the fact that the very control being exerted (or which the native or situation seeks to exert) is exactly that which will end up being a detriment. In essence, the choice here seems to be between being supportive and being insistent - cons are likely, but are we only conning our Self?

Apollo going retrograde at this degree at the midpoint in time between Saturn and Uranus’ stations suggests some degree of insight which applies to the inconjunct aspect between the two planets which so definitely points to some adjustment needing to be made.

Will we want to make it? Probably not.

Will we make the [Saturn] effort to [Uranus] change anyway?

That’s up to each one of us.
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Jupiter in Leo

Jupiter and moon Io photographed in thermal-infrared from the Paranal Observatory

(photo credit ESO, November 2000)

That Mercury is going to be exiting the shadow of its recent retrograde on the same date (July 16) that Jupiter enters Leo would seem to be nothing less than a billboard: new things are on the horizon.

Or are they? Are they really there - or are we being fooled by something we want so badly we’re willing, able and ready to test (read: risk) not just success but some measure of our inner confidence in Self? Are we willing to deal with 'feeling questions' pertaining to how well (or not well) we use - or have used - what we’ve learned up to this point?

Something is going to change here (or at least evolve from here) in reflection of Pluto reaching 11 Capricorn, a degree it will remain in until September 17th when Pluto dips back into 10 Capricorn for just over a week as it goes direct (on September 23rd) before returning to 11 Capricorn for the period of September 28th through November 25th.

Something is going to change. Representing the ability (particularly in verbal form) to reveal falsehoods and what one writer refers to as 'superstitious and misguided beliefs' on the part of one or many, the degree 11 Capricorn is associated with the sort of mathematical ability and "precision thinking" (technical or theoretical) which organizes quickly and which tends to be so driven (read: impatient) to achieve that little in the way of delay or alternative thinking tends to be tolerated.

And where it isn't tolerated, that may well lead to a  distortion in some relationship, creating some sort of distance between parties simply because sheer ability on one side now appears not as brilliance, but rather as arrogance, bullying or manipulation of some 'other.'

As Jupiter moves into Leo on that appointed morning at 10:31 a.m. (UT/+0), not everyone will feel the shift. But we are likely (more than likely) to see some more or less immediate manifestations of this combination of Leo imagination and creativity with Jupiter’s power of expansion.

In Leo, the question is what we will create, why we are motivated to do everything (and sometimes anything)... and whether we are able to balance Leo’s inner vision of ‘the possible’ with external real world factors. The positive side of Leo is known for brilliance of nature and a cheerful sort of drive which is curious about the new and willing to tackle tough tasks for the good of all, from which comes respect for one’s Leo efforts - whatever they may be and however they may be expressed even if that’s just keeping after yourself (creatively, of course) in the name of being a person others enjoy being around.

As for the negative side of Leo, though I’m sure any number of Leo people will respond with ‘there is no negative side of Leo’... after the chuckle comes the truth: while Leo is a sign which evidences much deftly quick humor, such humor is more likely than not a deflection.

All signs deflect - evading, to some degree, is simply part of human nature... which makes it what, and the degree to which we deflect the source of our those Factors Avoided which come back to haunt us.

In Leo (a fire sign) there is a marked tendency to get ‘married’ to that feeling, that image, that thing we imagine could be ‘so right’... and then to be shocked and disappointed when real life doesn’t match the ethereal beauty of our seamlessly perfect inner concept.

Is that fair? No...but we do it anyway. And when it comes to Part 2 of Leo (Leo Part 1 being the creative drive to create anything from world records to films, leisure time, children, art work, profits in the stock market or anything else you might think to create)... it’s how we respond to those realities which count.

Reality (as generally represented by Aquarius as the Leo polarity) is never the problem per se...even if when it comes to Leo there is a tendency to ranting and tantrums while adapting to the inevitable. Some of us never get that frustrated (I’m not sure who they are, but such people surely exist)...and it’s to be expected that there will be a bit of tail lashing and roaring during Jupiter’s 2014-2015 transit of Leo.

The 'up' side to this is that as opposed to this past year’s Jupiter in Cancer there will be less emotionalism, less reliance on (or success with) subjective provocation based on emotionality. Where we are able to motivate our Self or others through ideas, we may well be able to build momentum by focusing on our “projects” (be they our families, jobs or some personal goal we want to reach). But that is only likely to reap success if and where what we do (our ‘cause’)  meshes well enough with existing or ongoing social, group, systemic or marketplace (Aquarian) functionalities.

Part of that - and part of what we are going to be exploring this year in each of our daily lives has to do with a couple of zodiacal basics. The first is how any accessing of Leo represents an astrological shift from the first four signs of the zodiac (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer) to the second group of four: Leo, Virgo, Libra and Scorpio.

As the first four signs of the zodiac are about learning about our Self and how to go about simply being a person in an (Aries) body with human needs and attributes of the (Taurus) physical, (Gemini) mental and (Cancer) emotional kind, the second four are all about how interacting with others and our more-or-less ‘everyday’ world teaches us about who we are in conjunction with that world - sparking ideas on what to do IN that world.

Hence the Leo creativity thing. Mind you, this is still a sign which is below the natural zodiac horizon - so it’s still personal. It’s still part of our more-or-less private world, which reflects as Leo being the sign of the imagination’s image... the ‘film’ in our head - and yes, the ones we see on the screen (or on whatever device you’re using these days).

Again, it’s this ‘private’ quality which is so very comfy-cozy which gets us trouble, lulling us with that divinely delicious perfection of inner vision into thinking life... reality... is the premier Leo challenge. Reality is never a ‘problem’- reality is just reality, and yes there can be terrible things happening IN reality, but that’s the way things are.

Reality has several homes in the zodiac: the first one is the earth, land, ashes-to-ashes-dust-to-dust quality of mortal life... the Cancerian venue. The other is Capricorn - the daunting requirement to make the effort to make something out of our Self so that we continue the business of survival.

Leo is in a peaceful and harmonious aspect with neither sign... and in that can represent how we fight in reality or with our personal reality...and what we can come up with to improve our life, and just maybe all of life as well.Deep in the human spirit is a desire to make contributions to this life. Some do it through having children. Some do it through their work. However we see this ‘making my mark in this world’ that’s the Leo thing.

With Jupiter transiting Leo, we can all expect to be thinking about who we are and what we’re doing with our life... against which will be ranged all sorts of interesting challenges. Some will come from our just wanting to enjoy ourselves and do nothing. Some will come from those who though perfectly willing to invest in their own vision, clearly have no concept that anyone (or anything) else has a vision of their own.

Jupiter in Leo creates our mythic self... and then explores it. Leo is the sign of dating, competition and speculation... so we have to be prepared for some setback this year, with most of our errors coming from overstepping our bounds or (to put it differently) by exceeding our understanding of real world parameters which really exist and which we really do need to know about and heed. Leo is the sign of the parent’s love for the child or our love for anything we nurture on an ongoing basis... and yet does that love in and of itself guarantee that your child is going to grow up to be a wonderful person?

No, it doesn’t. And that very lack of insight we have on ourselves (typically) as parents which causes so many wonderful people to be blatantly blind to the problems with their offspring...that’s the example of the Great Leo Blind Spot - which for the next year or so is likely to be more evident than ever, if maybe not to others.

Or maybe not to us.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot as photographed by the Voyager 1 Spacecraft

(photo credit: NASA-JPL, February 1979)

Between these two points lies the needle of success (as we judge that personally) under Jupiter in Leo, the combination which purports to say ‘what you see is what you get’ when in reality (yes, that reality) Jupiter in Leo is a combination which can manifest as the very essence of the performance. Celebrity as motivation and as that thing which is not the ‘real life’ of the given celebrity - both these qualities are entirely Leo and we’re likely to see see them play out this year in the charts of many currently known and as-yet unknown. Children, childlike as well as childish behaviors (on the part of adults and others) can be a venue of discovery and disturbance of the status quo in any of a number of ways...so long as we learn from it, life is likely to provide it somewhere along the way through this leonine Jovian year. Aquarius against Leo manifests (as all sign polarities do) in any of a number of ways, but especially through the end of 2014 (that being the last of the fixed sign eclipses for a bit) issues which test our ability to balance moderation against excess and perceive where we need to be proper or cautious without being so cautious or ‘separated’ in whatever way that we end up undermining ourselves or our own greater (Aquarian) interests.

In other words, in some way we’re all going to discover we have a bit of a case of personal myopia (shortsightedness)... with just a bit of social astigmatism (fuzziness of focus) to make it extra-special challenging.

And yet...in the sense of ‘can I correct my vision?’ the lesson would be decidedly yes: wherever we see Jupiter by transit there is an ability to grow providing we are actually willing to go through whatever growing pains are involved. In Leo this Jupiterian expansiveness can mean an expansion of enthusiasm, success and all those wonderful feelings of freedom-in-accomplishment we all so love to revel in. Then again, Jupiter in Leo can also manifest as  ever-increasing convictions that what is ‘mine’ must be defended at all costs simply because my ‘rightness’ or even just my right to be wrong is getting challenged.

All and all, we can count on several (more) miles of that road to foolish human stubbornness to be paved (and heedlessly paved over) this year, mostly by those who for whatever reason are focused on the image or ideal to the exclusion of real life, realities and other living, breathing entities on this planet.

Jupiter in Leo is a recipe for great opportunity.

It’s also a sure-fire promise that insistence on theory (or out-of-hand rejection of something) can be instantly and lastingly detrimental. Under Jupiter in Leo we are all likely to find something we enjoy or are at least entertained by. Then again, we might have to face a couple of situations which ask us whether we’re willing (or even psychologically equipped) to face setbacks or defeat.

Might we really not be be the hero we are in our own mind? (It could just be true.)

Then again, maybe we don’t want to be a hero, merely heroic from time to time. Jupiter in Leo is a time we can learn the difference between such things and in that, to become far more comfortable in our own human skin, finding ways to be more creative, productive and available - not just to others but to ourselves. Through letting go of definitions Jupiter in Leo can become a time to launch a new venture, take on some personal adventure or to make more of life among old friends and new acquaintances. It’s a time to stretch our limbs and flex our muscles, be they physical, mental or emotional. The deeply provocative element of Jupiter in Cancer will fade as perspectives shift, offering fresher outlooks, some of which will allow and encourage us to soar.

Others will merely leave us (or others) sore - for which we may not feel sorry at all. So long as the competition is ethical, Jupiter in Leo supports the ‘all out’ willingness to give the cause what it is you’ve got.

And where we do bend, break or otherwise color outside the boundaries (a little of which at least is inevitable), eventualities will get us back, eventually putting us back on our right course.

It’s all part of Jupiter in Leo empowerment with regards to knowing who we are - and aren’t.  Sometimes we just have to cram one foot in our copiously open mouth while hopping madly in the direction of some giant cliff to learn for ourselves that - never mind what anyone says about limits - we do actually have limits which we had better learn to respect and mind.

Jupiter in Leo can open doors. It will also undoubtedly teach us all at least a few tough lessons about what the term ‘immature’ really means...in every sense. The ‘ping-pong’ of Leo-Aquarius says how we (Leo) ‘take’ things isn’t so much about how or what the (Aquarius) other person says as much as it tests and delivers a readout on our relationship to whatever it is we haven’t yet mastered...which psycho-emotionally ‘reads’ internally (to us) as vulnerability.

Yes, we get to learn about how some glitches work over the next few months...which which comes the opportunity for skillful development and the acquisition of insights which in their own right (over time...probably in a couple of years) may prove out to amount to additional skills.

As for things which will happen along the Jovian path through Leo, here are a few notes on the subject (no doubt to be added to as things go along):

Black Moon Lilith (external factors we deny or are denied by) conjuncts fixed star Dubhe on July 17th. Dubhe being an emblem of mothering either in the personal sense or through whatever we may personally think of as a “mother” force (such as ‘Mother Nature’), as opposed to things which are thought of as ‘father’ (like ‘Father Time’) the metaphysical ‘mother’ is more about whatever contains us as well as that which can support or protect us... but which in some other situation might just overwhelm us.

Said to have a rather ‘Mars-like’ nature, Dubhe lends a deal of motivation and strength of will to whatever passes over it’s position...which at the moment is 15 Leo, one of the zodiacal cross-quarter points.

As a transition, each of the zodiac’s four cross-quarter points moves us from a time of learning or watching into a ‘bigger’ (read: slightly more matured) world of operating where by leaning on what we do know we attempt to forge ahead.

And no, we generally don’t like it. Each of the cross-quarter points falling at the center-point of all four fixed signs indicates that.

Still...what’s our choice? We can learn, grow and try - or we can remain where we are, which if we consider Leo as the fifth of twelve signs is rather like arresting our own development at about age eleven and a half, instead of pursuing the rest of the path to adulthood.

On the other hand, that ‘about age eleven a half’ thing? That is the length of a Jupiter cycle, you know. Jupiter cycles once around the Sun in 11.86 years, making the general realm of this mid-Leo cross-quarter age a highly critical one in the whole of human development.

Some of us make it. Some people don’t.

So as the Black Moon encounters Dubhe, for several days before and after (one suspects) much will be seen, heard, felt and realized along the denial/need-to-not-deny-for-reasons-of-immaturity front. In some cases such situations will start and continue on, in some there will be a start and resolution. (Or resolution to not resolve anything, a solution which seems to be gaining in popularity at the moment.)

Whichever way whatever falls, Jupiter itself will then arrive at Leo’s 15 degree cross-quarter point on September 27th, by which time the Black Moon will have moved on to 23 Leo, putting it in opposition to Damocles [reference: “the sword of Damocles”] ...with Damocles being positioned in Aquarius.

The Sword of Damocles by Wenceslas Hollar (1607-1677)

Whatever we have done (or not done) this would seem to be a resurrection of the matter. It may be in simple review, it may be a re-eruption of challenge. Black Moon Lilith, being a ‘function’ of Earth’s Moon is always somewhat visceral, always somewhat poignant...and here would seem to be bringing us around to realizing that things just aren’t as simple as we were thinking they were going to be.

What we thought cut and dried may have gone and gotten itself all soggy, in other words.

As of November 19th Jupiter then enters 22 Leo. And since 22 Leo is the degree Jupiter will go retrograde at on December 8th (and thereafter remain in - in retrograde - until December 29th), we’re in for a lot of Jupiter/22 Leo interjections.

As a degree 22 Leo speaks to sensitivities which though insubstantial may well prove beneficial except where we become so devoted to being obliging (read: overly obliging) that we become more involved with our own feelings (and anxieties) which revolve around our own desire to be appreciated, wanted, loved, liked, cheered on and in general...(yes)...the myth we are in our own mind.

(Do we hear a pattern here?)

Moreover, all of this dovetails rather interestingly with the idea that Uranus’ 2014/early 2015 degree emphasis is on 13 Aries, a degree which tend to surface in tough and trying situations which lore suggests are far more about the perfecting and purification of our own souls than anything we encounter in real time.

...All of which we would think has been metaphysically also commented on by the recent astrological stationing of TNO Typhon at 13 Aries’ polarity degree (13 Libra) we meandered through the contemplations of in the course of the following post:

- link to -

Typhon/Eurydike - Chiron/Psyche: Minding Stations

It all seems to go together...especially in light of the fact that this October will see us experiencing a solar eclipse (at 0 Scorpio) which is sure to - among other things - bring home to us the benefits and penalties of not acknowledging equal values to all sides of any conversation, negotiation, affiliation or operation simply because we’re unwilling to allow for any other point of view apart from our own.

Some will say that this eclipse is the evidencing of karma, and I’m not against that concept except for noting that the physical karma we experience under anything Scorpionic is always about the emotions which surround, underlie, motivate or are bestirred as a result of something we are choosing to try to control (as opposed to understanding why we feel so threatened by it).

Only in retrograde for just under four months, Jupiter will then go direct (at 12 Leo) on April 8th, a date which falls between 2015’s 29 Pisces solar eclipse on March 20th and the accompanying lunar eclipse (at 14 Libra, a degree which tends to manifest through action as opposed to 13 Libra’s more mental-emotional-spiritual orientation) which will occur on April 4th... all of which is likely to serve as a ‘parting of the ways’ as successes fall away from various failures and efforts to reorganize in the face of needing to try, try again.

Some of what is happening then will be as part of...or as a result of things which are happening now, or which have come to light over the past several months (read: since mid/late February). As shown by the Sun, Uranus and Psyche being conjunct (to the degree) in the chart of this moment the clarity of this time may be delightful.

Then again, it may simply be excessive. Remember, Jupiter is about expansion, and that can as easily be over-expansion or doing more than is advisable or even good for you (or the given project you’re working on). There is growth...and as any cancer specialist will tell you, there is the kind of uncontrolled and unchecked growth which causes harm.

Jupiter has never been known for any qualities of moderation. The Roman god was known for great wisdom but some terrible (and terribly self-defeating) habits which time and again had Jupiter (aka Zeus, if you’re inclined to the Greek) learning his lessons about just what he could do, but not get away with.

So it is with us...which is why Jupiter’s year of transiting Leo holds such promise for us all, whether that’s about what we achieve or the joy of feeling empowered by coming to understand why we haven’t excelled up until now and what that means about who we are... and who we aren’t.

Maybe you've already felt yourself moving towards some new mode - that thing which will entice your Leo spirit to 'play' over (at least) the next year. Or maybe (as just happened to me quite unexpectedly)...maybe someone will validate something you've been certain of, or have been working on or towards for some very long time.

Jupiter in Leo is about fruitfulness and fruition...and even that point at which the finish line is in sight, bolstering our appreciation of that Self which in spite of all and because of much has made it to this brand new point - the point at which we feel ready to be more of who we really are.
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