Black Moon Lilith at 22 Leo

(image) Maser M 31 at the core of the Andromeda Galaxy as photographed in X-ray by the Chandra Space Observatory

(photo credit: NASA, January 2000)

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Here’s my thesis for the day: orbits aren’t round. In science, that’s just a fact - orbits tend to be egg-shaped complete with one end of the orbit being pointier than the other. (Which may, with all due respect for chickens and eggs just beg the question ‘which came first, the orbiting object or the orbit it is orbiting along?’ or some such akin to that.)

So we have these egg-ish orbital tracks. And most of them are pretty constant. But some - such as the orbit of our Luna Moon around Planet Earth - do their own little orbital dance, one which in the mind’s eye (provided you’re not feeling blind-sided) might well remind you of that child’s toy known as a Spirograph.

The tracings of a Spirograph

The Moon’s orbit being the Moon’s to moon over, what seems notable to mention at this particular point in time is the fact that the ‘short’ or ‘near’ end of that "rotating" or transiting Spirograph figure is what is known in astrology is known as Black Moon Lilith, a calculated point which like the Ascendant and other axis points (the MC, IC and Descendant) is often difficult to manage simply because this isn't a planet. Or an asteroid. Or a comet, star or dwarf planet. They all have mass. But a calculated point has no mass - and when you watch things astrological for long enough it becomes rather apparent that the metaphysics of 'mass' is related to any form of a very common expression: I'm trying to get hold of it.

Metaphysically, that's about mass. Any attribute denoted or described by an object with mass appears to be something we can develop 'habits' with (or about) - and thus we can change those habits. No one's saying such changes are easy, just that they're possible...with the real idea here being that Black Moon Lilith, in being an astrological symbol of zero mass is very hard to 'get hold of' or otherwise remain constantly and consistently aware of...which in one sense leads to a very consistent kind of perspective on the Black Moon as in the world of energetics it functions something like a ‘shadow effect’ in all of our lives, shifting through the zodiac raising this and daunting us with that, always originating from some area of thought or feeling, ethic, perception, value or awareness which we have ‘pushed away’ or abandoned outright.

As for the reference to Lilith, that would be something which ‘embodies’ something we have - individually or as a culture (or race, perhaps) turned our back on, rejected, or denied in manner which may or may not be obvious to us...or others.

Just to make this all a little more interesting, there are also two forms of Lilith: the calculated point (Black Moon Lilith) and a main belt asteroid (Lilith). And yes, there's a post on that too, if you'd like to read the long form:

- link to -

The Two Liliths 

The effects of Black Moon Lilith are not always entirely noticeable in our busy moment-by-moment days, but we do feel them. They're there even if they're that itch you can't quite scratch, that certainty you can’t quite define and that uncertainty which, try as you may, you can’t quite resolve...at least not to the degree of relaxed satisfaction.

As for why Black Moon Lilith seems worth taking time to think through in this moment, that would be because Black Moon Lilith moves into 22 Leo on September 17th (UT/+0)...and 22 Leo just happens to be the degree Jupiter (the desire to get ahead, achieve, expand one’s understanding/ability) will go station/direct in come this December.

Technically... (read: in the short run)... the Black Moon will only be in 22 Leo until early on September 26th (UT/+0). But it still seems worth our while to be on the ‘lookout’ for social and/or societal clues as to where you’re going to be (most of all with your Self) or be facing come mid-late December 2014 - and in this regard, the Black Moon is a metaphysical signpost we are all being given (even if what we do with it is our business).

To understand how this will function in your life, obviously the first place you need to look is at your personal chart, complete with sign, degree, aspects and all the usual contemplation. Then, where does 22 Leo fall in your natal chart?

As for 22 Leo as a degree, it’s a sensitive one - which you may read as ‘emotionally sensitive’ or ‘psychically sensitive’ or any other kind of sensitive as seems applicable, given the rest of your nature (and chart). There is a need to be of use and help in the world, plus a need to learn how to value and be valued properly - which is to say, not too much and not too little. This degree carries with it a quality of anxiety which is often made worse by attempts to ‘cope’ with the problem rather than deal with the reaction to it (the anxiety) which in the long run is really the problem - and as I say that (typing to you as I look up the Sabian Symbol)... well evidently that anxiety could be deserved - at least at some level.

Sabian 23 Leo (Zodiacal 22 Leo):

In a circus, the bareback rider displays her dangerous skill.

Keynote:

 The audacity and perseverance required to control and play with the powerful energies of the vital realm in human existence.

Astrologer Marc Edmund Jones wrote of this degree as one which in being both vital and creative is the driving engine behind spectacular human feats. In commenting on this degree Astrologer Dane Rudhyar typifies it as that which turns ego into imagination and inventiveness, providing us with the insight as to our own potential for dramatic native virtuosity.

And yet this showmanship cannot be ego-aware. The moment it turns into a means to receive those accolades or those longed for rewards and/or advantages, that’s when the shadow of the Black Moon becomes the gaping vulnerability which though perhaps not apparent to others, nonetheless swallows us unimpeded.

Nor is the Black Moon going to be lighting its 22 Leo September-to-December ‘shadow torch’ on its own.

As the Black Moon begins activating needs imbedded beyond conscious perception on September 17th, so too will Europa (getting carried away) and Hestia (structural protection/protection of life structures) move on station to turn retrograde as of September 19th. And since both of these influences originate in Taurus and any turn to retrograde means the symbolic energy is turned ‘inward,’ the whole of this September 17 through 21 station will like as not test our ability to balance control against lack of productive participation, maintaining (or supporting) our personal sense of [Taurus] ‘having things secured’ as part of the process. Mind you, with Hestia (a guardian figure of home, hearth, family and state) in this mix there may be something we need to ‘guard against’ or take proper care of here, whether that thing would be doing our homework, nursing a drippy cold or remaining aware of some job effort, social obligation or merely our erratic temper.

There’s also the idea that the degree Europa is going retrograde in (19 Taurus) is one which tends to get bogged down or which ‘chases around in circles,’ which may well lead to much action and many words while also acting as a ‘symptom’ of the underlying (subconscious, rejected, misunderstood) Black Moon matters. Plus with Hestia on station and conjunct Europa in a degree (14 Taurus) known for beating a full retreat as well as doing much (too much) out of an abundance of instinctive (perhaps spiritual) beliefs there are likely to be more than a few ‘turnabouts’ during this time.

In point of fact, the whole of this week seems to be one long series of patchwork overlays. Europa and Hestia going retrograde on the 17th is not only its own event but also serves to mark a beginning the Cubewano (and possible dwarf planet candidate) station-retrograde moment for TNO Chaos.

Unlike Neptune-influenced Plutinos like Pluto, Ixion and Huya which test our ability to keep our dreams either separate or strongly rooted in fact, Chaos is a [Cubewano] symbol of something which exists apart from all other influences.

And what is that ‘something’? That something is all about possibility. Endless possibilities. Originally a symbol of that sort of fertility which promises there are more ideas yet to be had, and that the Sun will yet come up again tomorrow, the energy of Chaos is generally the proverbial ‘light bulb moment’ which starts some inspirational process. And here? Well, in going direct at 19 Gemini, Chaos presents us with a variety of [Gemini] choices - none of which are likely to utterly delight us... at least not in the short run. The Sabian symbol for this degree (‘A modern cafeteria displays an abundance of food, products of various regions’) being plainly multi-regional, multi-cultural or even international, the image being presented is about nourishment (food) of various kinds, some of which is foreign to us - an idea which fits very well with the endless source which is TNO Chaos.

And then we add in asteroid Apollo, which in overlapping Chaos’ station goes direct at 1 Leo a day after Chaos goes retrograde (on the 22nd, to be exact). Representing truth (the light of truth) and general enlightenment of every informative and curative kind, asteroid Apollo’s station at 1 Leo shines a light on vulnerabilities not as a negative but as something which gives us a chance to relate to others - and maybe more importantly, relate to our Self.

Our oh-so mortal Self.

For reasons mentioned before (read: because of a newly installed back injury) I will mention all this then let you think it all through...pausing only for one moment more to point out how all of this is happening during the run-up to Pluto going station-direct on September 23rd in tandem with the Sun moving into Libra, a fact which gives everything about this Black Moon-Europa-Hestia-Chaos-Apollo sequence something of a hint of ‘cosmic prelude’ preceding the bringing of all into [Libra] balance for good, for bad, for all it can possibly be worth.

So yes, everything about such moments are valid in the moment that they become: individual global transits will evidence their effects in and across all our days in all their symbolic if sometimes subtle manifestation.

And while all that is happening, time and our Black Moon Lilith timings will also be weaving all of this and more together seamlessly, bringing us to a place where no matter who has denied what we are ready to face another round of Plutonic transformations and the chance (or risk) of being transformed as we pursue our relationship to life and our place among others on this planet we call our world.
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