Dateblog: February 2015

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In looking ahead at February, the month begin on a theoretical note with Sun and Mercury in Aquarius. We’re thinking about things and thinking or working things through.

That’s always the theme under Mercury retrograde, and with this one occurring in Aquarius, we’re trying to figure things out. We’re wondering which choice we should go with, and why-or-how that could turn out differently than what we’re opting for now.

But against all this thinking we have the feeling quadrant of life. Every two days or so the Moon changes sign, and as it does, the tone of some conversations change, the appeal of certain actions waxes and wanes, which with Mars and Venus in Pisces means we’re all going to be one part sensitive, one part tired (whether physically or just ‘tired of this’ being individual) and very much in that sort of mood where we really (sincerely) wish things were a different way, but since they aren’t, we’ll deal with what we have to deal with.

We accept necessity. We act with a certain personal clarity that XYZ (and ABC) needs to get done and we may even not be unhappy with what we’re doing - it’s just not scratching some itch we have ... which we may know all, or nothing particular about.

And meanwhile, life goes on. With the arrival of a Leo Full Moon on February 3rd, questions of recognition and acknowledgment of worth rise to the surface like a lovely froth ... or maybe just pond scum, depending on the suitability and consistency of whatever effort/s have gone into whatever is occurring at this time. Moon phases always indicate steps in a process and both the ending of one thing and the beginning of another. And though your everyday Full Moon isn’t considered astrologically auspicious unless you have more than several other indicators going on in your personal chart, they often represent a time when things ‘come to light,’ whether in the cause of much de-light or not.

Will this feed into something you’re dealing with (or which you should be dealing with) as Sedna goes on station, then direct at 23 Taurus on January 6th (UT/+0)? Maybe so - but unless 14 Leo (the degree of the Full Moon) and 23 Taurus both aspect your personal chart with some acuity, probably not.

Still, it’s an interesting to note that after the Full Moon comes Sedna’s station ... and no sooner will Sedna’s station end but Mercury’s station (to go direct) period begins.

Mercury going direct (at 1 Aquarius) on February 11th definitely marks one of the bigger ‘shifts’ of energy for the month. That it happens as Sedna is freshly in direct motion suggests learning something about or coming to realize something through the world around us which gets us to give up - or at least consider getting past - some long held notion which isn’t as workable as we thought it was. Either it’s all about ‘us’ and pays ‘them’ improper consideration (or credit), or something is ‘off’ in terms of scale, scalability or feasibility.

And either way, we know we need to change - whether we end up changing or not, and our reasons really don’t matter.

The real question is about growth - and the (Sedna) willingness to grow and mature, or at least to grow past some cherished (Mercury) notion which as much as we might want to think this is the way the world is ... or should be ... it simply isn’t.

Nor is it going to be. No one is happy right now and we are are being forced to adapt to new realities. Those realities favor none - and in that, do not favor anyone who preserves favor for some, or those who dictate what ‘favor’ means.

It’s that last part which really gets us. But it’s a big Aquarian Age issue and thus part of the process which Sun in Aquarius (which ends on the 18th, UT/+0 time) and Mercury in Aquarius (which started back in January and which extends into March) not only pertains to, but is founded on ... a concept we’ll probably all get in gear with (whether reluctantly or otherwise) around the time the New Moon at 29 Aquarius doesn’t light up our skies shortly before midnight on February 18th (UT/+0) and but three scant minutes before the Sun leaves Aquarius for the Pisces, the sign which shows us how we are part of everything ... and everyone else.

Yet apparently we aren’t supposed to just bathe in these feelings of universal amniotic emotionalism, as for feisty and otherwise, Venus and Mars both move into Aries on February 20th - a sign that the rest of February is going to involve dealing with our own will.

And whether we will deal with our will - willingly or otherwise. Too much, too little, too relied upon, too often stuffed under the bed ... whichever bailiwick we come from, now we see how well it does - or doesn’t work, all of which would seem to be grist for the solar eclipse which we’re on countdown for as soon as the Sun enters Pisces - that being a 24-hour period during which Mars and Venus roll into or through 29 Pisces, the degree of the incoming eclipse.

Given all of the above, its unlikely that this is going to be our most tangibly-oriented February ...

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...only Sedna and Pluto are in earth signs all month. But that does point to that period just before Mercury goes direct (on the 11th) as an important time. Maybe not in the moment - maybe something you learn or hear about or do will come to matter to you in days or times to come.

Apart from that, with all the gold being astrological fire, we can expect a lot of experimentation, postulation, chords being struck and striking images. The month starts out in more of an air-water mode than it ends up in, suggesting more February fervency to begin with and a bit more ‘telling of the tale’ and exploration as the month wears on. With the eclipse roughly representing that which exposes issues of mortal responsibility and the vital difference between want and factual reality (the whole of it, not just the parts we like) we’re all likely to go through things which will get our attention about such matters.

Then again, what else were you planning on doing with your February (apart from celebrating Valentines Day and the birthday of a certain astrologer I happen to know)?
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Venus in Pisces, Vesta in Aquarius

(background) Polyphony

by Paul Klee (1932, tempera on linen)

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Our world will heave a collective and universal sigh once Venus moves into Pisces - an event which will happen on January 27th at 15:01 ... or 3:01 p.m. for those not into global timekeeping.

Mind you, some will be sighing with relief and some with regret as Venus enters Pisces - there are those who truly enjoy the multi-faceted (if sometimes fractious) pace of information and opportunities which tend to create consequences (serious and sincerely, even riotously otherwise) under Venus in Aquarius.

All that now fades away as Venus enters a sign of astrological exaltation, bringing out the ‘softer’ side in many a conversation, relationship and thought.

 Venus in Pisces (text chart)

January 27, 2015 - 15:01 (3:01 p.m.) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Venus in Pisces (glyph chart)

January 27, 2015 - 15:01 (3:01 p.m.) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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But at the moment, though we want (and need) to continue dealing with whatever is on the table, in progress or our responsibility, one of the meanings of the t-square Venus fills in/creates by arriving in Aquarius, most of us could do without anything new being tossed into life’s ring when mentally, physically, financially or otherwise its already a bit of a 3-D circus.

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Make that t-squares with Saturn at the apex of the ‘t’ in both cases.

Saturn at the apex of the t-square represents all which is on one side a governor on something ... and which on the other speaks to a need and/or ability to persevere, learning as you go. The Saturn-Black Moon Lilith part of this formula having timed a slow but sure increasing need to ‘physician, heal thyself’ (as is uttered in the world of old sayings) since the latter part of last June  - a need which is (and/or has been) diligently responded to with denial as we determined a course of action which by now has proven very successful in some of its ‘doing’ phases and somewhat more questionably in its results.

For most of us, the issue is simply what we didn’t do (or what didn’t get done) because of that highly focused focus ... though there are those who simply refused to work on anything. Either way, this isn’t just Saturn-at-the-‘t’-of-the-t-square ...

(As if that would amount to being ‘just’ anything with Saturn, emblem of our need to try growth or be-and-become summarily ever-more-limited involved?)

... no, this is Saturn-Charybdis, which is all the Saturn with a definite ‘getting swallowed, then spit out whole’ sucked into the mix. Whatever Charybdis is, it isn’t a menial influence. Referred to as a ‘monster’ (which metaphysically translates either to an ogre or some force or influence which is ‘monstrously large’) Charybdis is the daughter of Poseidon (read: the feeling world) and Gaia, our tangible reality and all that we rely on to initially survive ... and to ultimately thrive.

The term ‘daughter’ here isn’t sexual - it’s more akin to the term ‘yin’ meaning responsive, recipient, container or respondent - which when combined with Saturn strongly suggests an attempt to limit something, whether that something is coming from without or something we’ve been doing up until now which (as we now recognize) we need to stop doing.

And because Saturn is now in Sagittarius, chances are we’re aware that we’re learning something from a substantially new perspective. (That would be the Sagittarian way.) And given that, we are also likely to want to tell others - or convince them of our having learned something new.

But back to that Poseidon thing for a moment ... the other name for Poseidon being Neptune, it’s interesting and (one would expect) informative that as Venus enters Pisces, Neptune is just out of reach - meaning, given the standard 5-degree orb of conjunction, though Venus (at 0 Pisces) is conjunct fixed and royal star Fomalhaut at 4 Pisces, and though Fomalhaut itself is conjunct Neptune, Venus isn’t.

So we really have two conjunctions (in the Pisces quadrant - Pisces being the “goal” or “answer” to this particular t-square. The Neptune conjunct Fomalhaut combines the need for purity (Fomalhaut) with that of (Neptune) inspiration-versus-illusion/self-delusion while Venus-Fomalhaut stands on a question mark between the result of something done for the right reason (or in the correct way) and that done for the wrong reason (or the wrong way) ... in spite of whether good or bad (Venus) comes from each or any of it.

Plus there are also a couple of interesting notices posted by Lilith being conjunct Orcus (equaling a denial of consequences) and Venus, in being at 0 Pisces at the ingress, setting off a ripple of conscience-meets-consequence arising from Venus at 0 Pisces being in opposition to Regulus at 0 Virgo, the net of which would seem to be signaling that some things (or at least the emotions and feelings we have vested in them) will end or be let go of so as we confront what (Regulus) course of action is based in fact, on pragmatic functionality and supported by well-rounded planning ... not on emotionalism.

Apart from this, there’s also a kite in the ingress chart...

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... and though Venus isn’t involved in this configuration, because the top of the kite is something in Libra tells us that whatever this kite represents in your world and life, the shift of Venusian influence or emphasis is going to be reflected - and reflected (interestingly enough) in how some current goal manifests (or could manifest), what we would have to do (or be) to achieve our aims ... or what we really want - at this particular Venus-in-Pisces point in time - out of what we’re doing.

We’re leaving a (January 3rd through 27th) Venus in Aquarius period behind. When we do that, the idea stops being enough. Aquarius is an air sign - the concept, the notion, the idea of alliance and ‘special-ness’ sounds and seems very appealing, so much so that under Venus in Aquarius we tend to think of the ‘idea of the thing’ in its entirety.

But then comes Pisces - the sign which shows us that beyond the idea is the instinctual understanding that everyone is special, and that in the end no alliance is any better than the heart and soul and spirit of those involved.

Pisces, like Aquarius, is a universal and universalist’s sign which manifests either as emotions we hold very much in common with every existent thing ... and as anything which will push us to stop thinking only in terms of Self not so we can be ‘drowned’ by being one among an uncountable many, but so we can feel connected - first and last with what we are ... the reality of who we are and how we feel about what we believe and don’t believe in.

Through that we arrive at what we can best offer and who we have the capacity to be in the world, and to others.

There’s just one catch. Pisces is a sign someone once described to me as ‘the distance by which we fail our own expectations.’ We all dream big - and big dreams are wonderful venues for possibilities. They’re the stuff of conviction and faith and trust which gets us past the hard parts and dark days and all that would have us give up on our Self. But when that dream becomes a substitute for reality, no matter how wonderful the intent or instinct, we’re bound to be or become disappointed.

And it wasn’t life which did it - it was our willingness to delude our Self by turning that which was supposed to be inspiration into expectation.

Hope is okay under Pisces. Expectation gets us into trouble - an aspect of which may be found on the subtle shift of perception with which we view our goals ... and our relationship to those goals as Venus exits Aquarius and enters Pisces.   

As to that kite I mentioned, like all kites it’s about a focused interest, intent or effort which in (grand trine) part rests on something which can be relied upon to be what it is (at least for the moment) and which makes a concerted effort (represented by the two sextiles at the top of the figure) to achieve our given aim.

The ‘focus’ is the opposition - in this case North Node (plus) Medusa at 12 Libra in opposition to the South Node at 12 Aries conjunct Uranus at 13 Aries. This is a bit of a quirk (which isn’t surprising, what with Uranus in the mix) as usually it’s the North Node which is the “should do this” point and the South Node (the easy or at least easier way to do things) which we’re not supposed to rely upon. But with a kite, it’s the bottom point (the kite’s “tail”) which is the point to operate from ... or which people are going to be operating from.

The ‘support’ points here come from Pallas (the coolly dispassionate, logical and well-informed perspective) and Juno - the ability to manage our (Leo) abilities and/or self-concern (read: ego) in order to support our interactive aim(s).

And when you combine that with Venus ... well, apparently it’s easy to think, discuss or debate about things and its going to take a lot to get us to the real goal of the moment - the feeling part (or the part which pertains to our real feelings or the reality of our feelings).

Can we be human - or is that too much of a human thing to do at the moment?

Fortunately, Venus in Pisces is a passage which can allow us to let go of certain fears. And because of that, we often make connections (to others, to ideas, to opportunities, etc.) under Venus in Pisces which we wouldn’t quite get to during Venus’ more analytical passages.

Whatever happens now, because this Venus-Pisces ingress comes with a side order of Typhon going retrograde at 22 Libra, things around us (that coming from the degree, which is social and not personal) seem pointed at the basic, the primal, the necessary-to-maintain, lest all else fall in a heap. In Libra, there are two sides to the question - both of which (despite the sign’s reference to others) are about who we are in relationship to others ... which 22 Libra adds to by adding a necessity to define and/or be definite.

In other words, no tap dancing, no wiffle-waffling, no joining the Gilbert & Sullivan chorus (where you take the side of whoever last spoke) ... and because 22 Libra seems to turn dalliances and indulgences of the ego into invitations to passing karmic sharks, especially considering how this is the second thing of the moment which oozes a ‘no-no on the e-go’ aura, it might be best to turn the wattage of our personal Klieg lights down.

For how long?

No one knows that for sure. But we do have a hint - that coming from the (Lachesis) duration of what would seem to be the (Vesta) cost we pay to uphold that we hold as our (Aquarius) system of thinking or that which supports our life and lifestyle - all of which begins as Vesta moves into Aquarius at 19:41 (7:41 p.m.) on the 28th - the day after Venus enters Pisces).

'Les Parques' (the Greek Fates)

by Alfred Agache (c.1885)

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As one of the Greek Fates (of which there are three), Lachesis refers to how things simply are. It’s ‘fate’ ... this is the way it is. If this was Klotho (beginnings), we would know something was going to start. If this was Atropos (the cut-off) we would know something was about to end or come to its conclusion.

But no... this is Lachesis - a reference to how long something lasts: Its duration.

In going retrograde at 3 Libra, Lachesis not only adds another vote for the ‘how I relate to others or things’ department work we’re about to undertake over the next couple of months as we experience whatever it is we need to feel to get us ‘down to basics’ (Typhon) ... for however (Lachesis) long a time - and that would be ‘down to basics’ with our Self.

According to writings on this degree, 3 Libra is degree which underscores (and perhaps promotes) difficult insights in spiritual people ... and a treacherous tendency to refuse to see in those who are of a more earthy and/or ‘prove it to me’ nature.

Lachesis direct is going through a process or working towards some aim. Give or take how Lachesis is placed in your natal chart (which can always change things towards a plus or minus), transiting Lachesis in retrograde is akin to how long it takes to... (finish sentence with your desire-de-jour) ... and what it takes to get me through that period, or what happens along the way.

As such, obviously not all such desires are going to get taken care of during Lachesis’ several months of retrograde. But during that time we are surely going to deal with what it means to have something for a certain amount of time, whether that’s a positive or negative.

In other words, in terms of the Vesta cost (to retrograde us) of doing what we need to do - a notion which is somewhat different than lasting through the cost - which is also valid here.

The last note to add to this muddle of mid-week motion is asteroid Terpsichore - the ‘dancer’ of all types - going direct at 21 Gemini, a position which is exactly conjunct fixed star Bellatrix (the thing difficult to put across - or - the difficulty/effort it takes to put the idea across) ... and one degree off fixed star Capella (‘singing the song’) - both of which are often associated with communication, oratory, writing (any form), even plain old everyday texting, conversing, philosophizing, daydreaming or even out-and-out arguing - or a lack of same.

Terpsichore is an asteroid which in referencing ‘dance’ speaks either to a deft and gifted (often well-practiced) ability which may be genius or something which just be a flash in the pan - or even a fabulous farce which we now get to display ... as opposed to embodying it, as we would have over the past couple of months of Terpsichore retrograde. With all that’s going on - and let’s not forget that eclipse effects began just last week ... is it small wonder that we’re under Mercury retrograde, asking us to think/check/ask twice (or even thirty-three times) before doing?

What could this possibly be about?

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Every situation and life is individual, of course. But the degree 21 Gemini being considered as 'being about' a 'coming back into balance' goes with Bellatrix rather seamlessly seeing as Bellatrix has an assertive (Mars-like) reputation which tends to come out in or through  Gemini or Mercury modalities - through how we think or what we want to think about ... and though such expressions may be well formed or formulated, they aren’t necessarily known for grace.

Emotional grace, that is. Bellatrix-Capella is Gemini at its airy and driest mode. Wit, you get. Deftness goes well. But caring about the Other - or even beyond the thought? Not always.

This doesn’t mean that wonderful things can’t come out of what we do in this moment. But with Mercury in retrograde and Venus entering a sign of exaltation, reconsidering who we are to be doing anything ... and why it matters (beyond the need of the moment, that is) ...that would all seem to be up for thinking about this week.

Which only leaves one question: are we willing to do the thinking?
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You Were Searching (3rd edition)...

Comet ISON as photographed on Oct 08, 2013

(Adam Block, Mount Lemmon Sky Center-U AZ, October 2013)

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Since publishing my first post on the search terms turning up in the astroPPM (Blogger) ‘back room’ where such things get listed, a whole lot of quirky things are turning up - which is why I did a quick second edition, and now am returning for a third.

For the last few weeks (granting that I was offline with computer problems for one of them) there seems to be a lot of searches regarding centaur Pholus. And yes, it has occurred to me that such folks may be ending up at astroPPM simply because not much is written about Pholus. But be that as it may, here's the Pholus search string for today:

Dating from around the year 500 BCE, a vessel depicts the labor

of Herakles (Hercules) in which the hero deals with centaur Pholus

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LILITH CONJUNCT PHOLUS SYNASTRY
Lilith represents a part of our Self which we deny. Not that we want to deny and not that we wish we could deny.

We deny it. That’s the Lilith quality: the inability or refusal to acknowledge, ‘own’ or utilize - even for our own benefit - those qualities associated with Lilith, the degree it’s positioned in, and all the other usual suspect factors (position by house, aspects from other astro-objects, etcetera).
That said, there are actually two objects named Lilith in astrology - a fact which irritates some astrologers all to tar. And I’ve written on that point ...

- link to post -

The Two Liliths

So if there’s a ‘personal’ Lilith (i.e., something I deny about myself) and an impersonal or societal Lilith (that which I deny in the world -or- how/what the world denies me), which one is this searcher referring to?

I don’t know. But since both forms of Lilith refer to either something we are denying or others (individually or collectively, personally or generically) are denying about us, when we apply that to the Pholus tendency to ‘pull back’ or choose to not involve one’s self in something, to combine these points describes a pulling back or absenting of one’s Self or one’s influence in a situation which (now we add in Lilith) is either being denied to us ... or which we are in some way in denial of, whether that means denying the whole of the situation, the need to deal with it or think about it - and maybe how that applies to us as an individual (that we should be involved as opposed to someone else).

But that’s not the question. The search term is about Lilith and Pholus being conjunct in synastry - which I am taking to mean true synastry (a chart-to-chart comparing of the positions of objects) as opposed to Lilith and Pholus being conjunct in a time/space relationship (Davison) chart. So what the searcher is saying is that Person A ‘owns’ the Lilith and Person B has the chart with Pholus in it conjunct A’s Lilith.

Again, where these objects are placed, how they’re aspected and all that is going to color this discussion some. But this is one of those combinations which could be very good - as in one person choosing to look past (“ignore”) another’s vulnerability or “flaw” ... or this could be a point of frustration because the Lilith person is in denial of who the Pholus person is and how the Pholus person is going to draw away on some level (described by their natal Pholus) when things get too uncomfortable, whether or not it turns out well for them or the situation.

One other version of this... in some cases the Pholus person may look at the Lilith person, perceive their denial as strength and be inspired OR cowed by comparison. Either way, the Pholus person may try to learn from what they see by cutting themselves off from their own misgivings (or better judgment) in order to comply or participate in some situation, whether doing so is a good or terrible idea.

PHOTOS OF THE TROJAN WARRIOR PARIS
Photos? The Trojan War itself being dated to around the 12th century before Christ, cameras were a bit scarce back then (read: non-existent).

However, there are a number of paintings of Paris, and on the astrological side, that this search turned up just around the time Eris went on station seems particularly apt, as the very mortal chosen by Eris (Discordia) to decide a rather ‘fateful’ question (which is more important, beauty, wisdom or nurturance?) was none other than young Prince Paris - he who would go on to steal a married woman (Helen) away from her husband, beginning a decade-plus of Trojan warring and (oh, incidentally) the trials of untold students who throughout the centuries yet to come would be sentenced to studying Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey” in epic poetic detail.

And on that subject ...it being the Goddess Discord (Eris) who in arriving unbidden at a wedding (i.e., ‘a joining’)  precipitates Paris’ problems seems apt, because when Paris chooses to award the apple of Discord to Aphrodite (aka Venus), he is choosing the same path he will choose in the case of the fair Helen: he is choosing beauty over wisdom or nurturance - and because of that becomes the subject of a very Eris-like message, event and warning about how if we  rely on the appearance of the thing as opposed to what it really is (because we wouldn't like what we’d have to ‘see’ if we were seeing things as others are seeing us-or-it) we can expect Discord.

Beyond that, the last time I saw Paris as a film character, he was being played by Orlando Bloom in the film "Troy" - and I'll wager Orlando had a better time with his Trojan War than the original Paris did - by far.

The theatrical release poster for the motion picture Troy (c. Warner Brothers, 2004)

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ARE 1st DECANS STUBBORN?
Given that the first decan (or decanate) is the set of ten degrees (in this case, zero through nine) which are about how we act or what we do, that answer would be ‘yes’ providing that we are talking about a placement or configuration which could indicate stubbornness in its own right.

AQUARIUS ZODIAC SPY PROFESSION
I'm taking this search to mean the following: would an Aquarian (Sun) be more likely to be or become a spy than any other sign? 

Well, there is an ‘exacting’ quality about Aquarius which calls for the clarifying of things, but not only could that ability to focus and discern be applied to many things but there are also many aspects of other signs (Scorpio and Gemini leap to mind here - again, confining this conversation to Suns alone) which have the capacity to be equally focused for different reasons.

In a sense though, you could ask this question in a totally different manner ... at a different ‘level,’ call it. How about this: will we all be more prone to spying during the Age of Aquarius?

That answer would be ‘yes’ if only because with the Aquarian Age we do get a ‘technological marketplace’ (Sagittarius on the 11th of the Age) which by its very nature is purely global and therefore portrays the kind of universal knowing which though most powerful when unconfined, by its nature is likely to be spotted here and there with those who fall prey to the allures of falsehood and/or power - which is to say either without the Aquarian mandate of responsibility to/about others and that which is not ‘ours’ (in any form) as a primary and eternal underpinning.
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A crescent Uranus as photographed by Voyager 2 in January of 1986

from a distance of 1 million kilometers (600,000 miles) away

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

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GEMINI URANUS PLUTO 2013 MARRIAGE
 Other than being thankful for something so easy to look up, there are a couple of things to say about this particular 2013 (Sun in) Gemini period, the whole of which runs from late on May 20th through early on June 21st (both UT/+0 time).

But first off, this is early on in the utterly lovely transiting Uranus-Pluto square we’re all still enjoying. (Most, not - but that’s both obvious and a whole another thing.) Uranus-Pluto being the potentials of change, frustration, eruption, innovation, discovery, break-through, unification, universalism, disruption and anarchy being pitted against transformation-through-inner-reorientation as to who we are ... or ... what the ‘thing’ is (that being the Pluto part).

And all of this happens in such a way as to get us (whether we’re inspired, coaxed, forced or tempted) to give up or give in and relinquish the need to govern and control. (You did note I said ‘need,’ right? This is an emotional thing, not actually what happens - at least not necessarily.)

As we all have been experiencing this energy it’s been a mixture of many things good and awful. But when we talk about a marriage, what we’re talking about is this aspect being “embedded” in the “natal chart” of that marriage.

That said, was this marriage before or after June 9, 2013? June 9th was when Mercury moved into the shadow of a Gemini retrograde which started at the end of that June, and as with any horoscope which includes Mercury about to go into retrograde there may be a tendency towards pressuring, rushing or feeling pressured.  

(To all astrology students: this is one of several reasons any nativity should be checked out using a printed or graphic ephemeris - so you can see if some planet is going into or out of retrograde in the week or so before or after the birth date.)

In addition to this, Neptune went retrograde on June 7, 2013 in square to Mars and in trine to Mercury - which on one side will tend to support the notion of romance in a relationship while not guaranteeing the kind of love we think of as romantic ... and which may well be an indicator of a continuing lack of clarity (or indeed, lying) which is either part of the marriage itself (the why or how the marriage came about) or which becomes an issue in the marriage at some level, whether that’s a deal of of confusion about how the marriage functions, a statement on some stability-versus-undermining quality in the marriage which has to do with how the marriage is regarded - or even an indication that the married partners will set about lying to everyone else about something.

The use of astrology in picking wedding dates being a complicated thing, however, there’s a lot to look at beyond the date itself. Looked at separately, synastry between the wedding horoscope (proposed or already effective) and the horoscopes of each marriage partner will say something about how the people feel about being married. And differences between those answers and what we find when we simply look at a Davison (time/space) relationship horoscope between the parties says a lot about how some people are fine (or not fine) until they say their ‘I do’s.

It’s complicated. But then, marriages are complicated - that’s just a fact ... and something of a tribute to us as human beings. WE aren’t simple ... we have enough trouble with our individual lives - so why would a marriage of two complicated individuals be easy?

As to the Aries Uranus-Capricorn Pluto square in this (or any) marriage horoscope, the positive or negative there is going to depend a good deal not just on how this square is presented (in what houses, etc.) but also on how the rulers of the signs - which points to Mars (as ruler of Aries) and Saturn (as ruler of Capricorn) ... which means that even if the Uranus-Pluto square itself is decently placed (let’s remember that Pluto can remember power struggles, among other things), if the Mars or Saturn of the marriage chart is badly positioned there is going to some sort of underlying matters of ‘push/pull,’ structure, control/resistance and determination to be faced.

This can turn out just fine, of course - but given that Mars and Saturn will be in square from May 31st through June 15th during this May 20-June 21 “2013 Gemini (Sun)” period, responsibility, willingness and the direct physical ability to work for/towards things becomes a challenge.

Uranus (at 11 Aries) being in sextile to the Sun (by sign) for the whole of this period may well speak to a marriage which changes all the time - and in which ideas, the ability to ‘keep pace’ and flexibility are all important, no matter which date during this period is the actual day of the wedding. That 11 Aries being known as a degree is prone to unpredictability may well indicate a compounding Uranian effects, making things extra-special lively in this marriage (check those Mars and Saturn placements!).

Then again, Uranus in any degree is most often a ‘changing’ of the degree’s normal status, which means this marriage may be all about a very Saturn-Capricorn ‘structuring’ of the lives of both of the natives who are party to the marriage - a classic and very human ‘giving up of one’s wild days’ in the interest of (Saturn) growing up and (Saturn) getting ‘real’ sort of thing.

Whoever you are, good luck!

Mercury, Venus and the Moon align over the Parnal Observatory VLT

(photo credit: ESO, March 2008)

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BEING BORN COUPLE DAYS AFTER MERCU...
I’m going to take a wild stab at this one (sorry, your search string was too long!) ... and I’m going to take it in terms of part of what I said (above) about using an ephemeris (graphic or printed). To be born a couple of days after a Mercury station would mean your whole life is going to have a very important Mercurial (and mercurial) quality - and when looking at major planets (i.e., anything from Jupiter on out) you may want to give as much as a week or so in terms of influence.

But these influences don’t function the way you think they might. To be born a couple of days after a Mercury station/retrograde (for instance) doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to think. It could (given the rest of the chart) indicate some learning disability ... but then again it could also indicate not finding that thing (your “passion”) which excites you until a later age than your peers. It could merely say that by habit you’ll be someone who thinks things through. Or that you’ll be a ‘life-long learner’ because your native perspective is that you can just never know enough, never learn enough and that there’s always something new and interesting around a next corner.

I can even use myself as an example here: I was born a few days after a Mercury station/retrograde and within a week of Saturn’s station/retrograde.

All of my life I have written: I’m a writer - which fits: Mercury is about communication and Saturn is the first place we look to find information on career. Moreover, I write about time - a purely Saturn thing. When I write astrology, I write about its cycles. When I write books, I tend to either written non-fiction about what my time on earth has been about (biographies and autobiographies being a Mercury expression of the Saturn reality of a Saturn lifetime) ... or I write fiction, in which case I simply embody time... Saturn... Chronos ... whatever you want to call him (read my ‘Reality and Mind’ quadrilogy if you want to know more about this particularly Timely quirk of mine).

And to the retrograde part ... a lot of that is the time it takes to write and how writing (generally) includes (lots of) editing. Saturn stations seen in a natal chart around the time of birth can also indicate late marriage or a late ‘coming to be who you are,’ which may be cognitive, and may simply be a reference to successes which happen later in life.

One other thing to wonder about since we’re talking specifically about stations (direct or retrograde) around the time of a birth, and that’s the reference to health or basic abilities which may lie hidden, go unrecognized if not supported, which may start out as very active only to go dormant - or which simply go unnoticed, sometimes for amazing amounts of time. (Next time you wonder how someone missed or didn’t know that, think ‘retrograde station around the time of birth.’ It happens more often than you think ... or maybe that you don’t think, depending!)

My point here is really that stations - like eclipses (either lunar or solar) which occur immediately before or after a birth are astrologically important. There’s also a long tradition of astrologers checking for whatever the New or Full Moon before birth is going to be, the lore there being that those who come into this world after a New Moon spend a lifetime learning as if all was new where those born after a Full Moon (and before the next New Moon, obviously) start out with a certain ‘knowledge’ which they then spend a lifetime developing uses for and as a base for further learning.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

With all of that said, that last search string is 34 characters long (including the spaces between words) ... and it got cut off. I think I said Blogger reports the first 30 or 32 characters (that was a guesstimate) - and the above is better proof: Blogger (aka Google) gives a bit more that that ... but not much!

Every once in a while (as at the moment) there’s a break in the flow of astrological changes to report on. So you keep searching, and as such times come along I’ll see what I can do to fill in the blanks.

Meanwhile, here’s hoping some of this helps scratch that curiosity itch!
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Mercury, Uranus, the Aquarian Sun/New Moon ...plus Eclipse Effects Begin

(background): Fireworks of Star Formation inside

NGC 4214 as photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

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(This is the post which due to computer problems doesn't have the diagrams and charts as you're used to. If you'd like to help so I can continue writing to you, there's a donation button in the blog sidebar labeled 'Food Money' and a longer explanation posted at the top of the sidebar. Thanks.)

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From time to time we all turn to our favorite form of media news and year that the Sun has thrown some particularly massive wave of energy out into its solar system. (You know, where we of Earth live?)

Well, over the first part of next week (that which starts with Monday, January 19th), we of that Earth are going to encounter a rather substantial ‘wave’ (or gathering) of astrological effects, which like the solar ejection can be highly illuminating ... or blindingly bright and therefore highly problematic.

But we humans weather lots of things - we’ll weather this too. Furthermore, considering how both a New Moon and the onset of (solar) Eclipse Effects are part of this incoming coagulation, there are certainly productive things there for the doing ... we just have to choose to do them. (Isn’t that always the case?)

So here’s a day-by-day list of what’s about to grace our world - and just to be clear, dates and times are given in the UT/+0 zone:

January 20th
- Uranus conjunct the lunar South Node
- Sun in Aquarius
- New Moon at 1 Aquarius
- Eclipse Effects begin

January 21st
- Mercury retrograde at 17 Aquarius
- Germania retrograde at 1 Libra
- Uranus conjunct the lunar South Node

And now for a few details ...

JANUARY 20, 2015

In honor of the Greek Uranus (Ouranos) being the sky god,

a photo of sunset over the Vercors Mountains as seen from Grenoble, France.

(photo credit - copyright,Guillaume Piolle   CC-BY-3.0)

URANUS SOUTH NODE

Uranus-South Node effects have been with us for weeks (yea verily, even months) now. And though I seem to be sure I typed ‘19th’ somewhere in some post (I’ve looked and can’t find it) the actual is that the conjunction occurs at a few yawns after midnight on the 20th, UT/+0 time (if you find the other, post a comment and let me know, would you?).

But whatever there, over these past weeks you may have noticed yourself being a bit more on edge. Or annoyed, hassled or startled by things which ordinarily wouldn’t get your attention. That would be Uranus-South Node, the territory of upsets, surprises, psychic rattling, personal provocation and unplanned excitement.

Any nodal indication always being something about how we ‘relate’ to things or people, the South Node is what comes easily and thus Uranus conjunct the South Node can be seen as any form of Uranian energetic which either makes it easy to relate to something or others - or which changes our relationship to what something is, or who someone is. In occurring in an emotional degree of Aries we know that why we do something or why we react to something is about emotions - those which are touched in us which cause us to react ... or those being expressed by someone else which causes us to react.

Always remember: astrology is all about energy doors which swing both ways. They’re always about the positive or the negative, just as they’re always about how we may embody an energetic and act (or not act) on it - or how somebody or something in our world may embody that energetic and act as to embody the energetic and evoke its effects in us.

The degree of this conjunction being 12 Aries, there is going to be a personal aspect, as all things Aries are personal at some level, even when it’s simply what the Aries “I AM” is doing to help (or as some part in a greater process) so that someone else can go about their business. Notable with this degree is also a somewhat a protective sense of identity with things - and being that the energetic is Uranus the reason or rationalities about why we identify with or care about something isn’t precisely of our doing - it’s more about “how things are,” whether that refers to the times in which we’re living, the traditions with which we are raised or some simple if perhaps esoteric thought - something like ‘the sun rises in the east’ - which is both factual and sufficiently inexplicable as to remind us that we are not in charge of this ... or any universe.

With Uranus at 12 Aries, there is a new ‘vision’ or ‘breaking through’ which is accomplished through others and sometimes with (or among) others as we will come to understand more about what our protective Aries “I Am” feelings mean - and what they don’t mean. Known for occasionally ‘explosive’ effects, Uranian energy needs a conduit, and outlet and something to power or empower - think of Uranian energy as something akin to electricity and you’ll come close to the Uranian mix. As outcome ruler of Aquarius, Uranus releases energy in either a useful or destructive manner depending on two things: how much we know (or understand about something) and how connected we are. It’s energetics also point to questions of isolation and various forms of ‘walling off’ which limit both human potential and the potential to be equally human.

How this manifests - and how it has come to be as part of an ever-growing rattling of our sense of ‘how things work’ which in personal terms probably began somewhere around the beginning of last August (2014) ... that is individual (check where Uranus and the Nodes are, both natally and in transit). But that the times (and thus things in our world) would seem to have been metaphysically ‘conspiring’ to bring us all to where we are in this moment...

Well, maybe what needs exploding is something about us. Could it be that what’s being exploded is some myth that we are either fated to be who we are and where we are at this time ... or that we are - that we ever are - acting out of any individuality which isn’t a personal myth?

You will surely ask your questions ... this is merely one of mine. (I have a truckload, trust me.) And as we all ask, both as something we will factor into that wanting to know and as that which we do know (or think we know) which motivates us to act, be or do things in any particular manner - that’s the Sun in Aquarius part (with a healthy side order of Aquarian New Moon).

The Moon over San Diego, California

(photo credit: Rufustelestrat, 2005)

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SUN IN AQUARIUS
The ideal of Aquarius is the concept that as an (Uranian) individual we each fit into, have a place and a function as part of and are valuable and intrinsic to humanity simply because - despite our differences and perception of flaws (our own flaws or those of others) - we are human and that qualifies us right there as part of ‘humanity.’

On the other hand, Aquarius also speaks to the various responsibilities we have to work at being a person capable of doing (fulfilling) our individual part in that Aquarian thing we call a ‘society.’

Both Aquarius and the sign which precedes it (Capricorn) are zodiacal 4th quadrant signs.

They’re also both the third in their respective zodiacal elemental trios (there being three signs in each of the four zodiacal elements). So this is not concept ‘as I think of it for my own purposes’ - which is what we find with Gemini. Nor is it any idea as to who to be and how to interact with others as an interactive means by which to gain or lose others or some participation in this world as well as a primary method by which we come to understand who we are (and aren’t) and what we might have to understand about life or about others in order to succeed - all of which would be Libra’s venue (which P.S., applies across the board to members of Gen X - the Pluto in Libra generation).  

But no - this is not the thought or idea on how to interact, this is the Aquarian theory of how to live and what it means to have a ‘successful’ life - which in the Aquarius realm of individuality of concept (in which all should be individual so that it can all play a unique role in this world and place in time whether or not some find being different, that which is different or dealing with differences challenging.

(The P.S. here is “welcome to the Aquarian Age.”) 

When the Sun moves into Aquarius, our conceptualization of life (our perspective on things) moves out of the Capricorn reality of the moment and more into an Aquarian considering of what is going on.

Oh yes - Aquarius is also a fixed sign, which accounts for the ability for things not to happen or to go nowhere fast under Aquarius, and for this very fact to drive a few folks nuts to the point they bolt.

Yes, I said that. And well I might, as Aquarius is quirky - that goes along with being unique and different ... which doesn’t exactly go along with either the fixed sign ‘let’s discuss this, why change things which have worked until now?’ or the fact that we’ve just spent a month under Sun in Capricorn which has had its fair share of structural realities.

Aquarius bases all in the known and therefore of the past, that being the hall mark of Saturn as Aquarius’ foundational rulership and the underlying Aquarian rule that we must earn what we get through Aquarian means which, because all things techy and digital are Aquarian means we can also end up getting what we earn in that ever-so consequential sense which is so very Saturn.

Of course that’s not the only difference between the astrological Saturn and astrology’s Uranus - another big difference between them is their association with, and perspective on the values of time. The established, time-tested and respected is very Saturn; the new, the singular, the thing of the moment is Uranian. Put them together and you’ll get friction - or rebellion (Aquarius is famous for rebels, rebellions and elitism of many flavors and kinds) - all of which has nothing to do with Aquarian purpose and under Aquarius (a global and impersonal sign) which sets the universal standards, whether that’s how much power it takes to power a light bulb or what the decent and human way to treat another human being really is.

Aquarius knows about difference. But in the end, only the universal works, which is why during caste and class has no place in the Aquarian Age - a notion which extends to every other bias of every kind ... again, without Aquarian-barred exception.

The Aquarian purpose is to invent, discover and keeping up with our times. Some take this literally to the society/social side by going through life ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ while others become all about improving circumstances and a ‘world’ of opportunities from which all can benefit - both of which representing ways to earn respect and a place for our Self in this world ... the success of which effort having everything to do (astrologically) with the house Aquarius is on in a natal chart plus the placement and nature of Saturn and Uranus (as Aquarius’ two rulers) and the houses they are posited in. 

So with that as the generic as the Sun enters Aquarius at 9:44 a.m. on January 20th, there are also the aspects to that Sun entering Aquarius which we should take in as a concept and part of the setting we’re setting off into. For one, as we enter Aquarius there are some costs to be incurred, accounted for, or put into perspective. Our initial reaction to said costs (represented by the Moon and Virgo still in Capricorn, ‘trailing’ the Aquarian Sun) finds us ill-equipped and perhaps  too overburdened or “confined” by things we think of as inescapable realities (whether they are or not) .

So what are we going to do? Over the next solar month we’re likely to deal with the legacy of a few decisive decisions and attempts to move out of (or away from) some outmoded base. And how well or how not well we deal with that has much to do with how well or ill-equipped we are when it comes to getting a clarified view on ourselves ... and our Self, for good and for ill.

It’s an individual thing, one might say.

Whatever your individual situation, after the Sun shifts into Aquarius, theoretically there will be a couple of hours of shifting into conceptual gear, and then a 0 Aquarius New Moon formulates at 1:15 in the afternoon, providing another starting line - that which will basically track a personal ‘inside my life’ month between   or emotion-provoking we will follow .

NEW MOON at 0 AQUARIUS
Though a New Moon and the Sun ingressing a new sign are very different things, they do represent a very particular metaphysical pairing as the Sun represents consciousness and the very act of being alive where the Moon represents our many ways of responding or reacting to what life is or may become. So every month’s New Moon is, in a very real sense, the date on which everything we are going to feel ourselves experiencing during that month and its cycle (all the lunar phases) describes our doing just that. And in this case of this particular month, as the New Moon is at zero degrees we know that this lunar month (which ends late on February 18th, UT/+0 time with the Sun and Moon at 29 Aquarius) is going to manifest with a full spectrum of Aquarian opportunities, discussions, frustrations and aims, one which comes equipped with the opportunity to be included and inclusive as well as a chance of being exclusive or excluded as questions about groups, collections, collectives, systems, societies and electronics will emerge as the motivation for (as well as the subject of) dispassionate inspection and/or fervent evaluations.

As to the degree 0 Aquarius, it has a reputation for swift choices and actions, though they’re not always to the point. The idea, the ideal, the belief in humanity comes as part and parcel of this first degree of Aquarius - but that can get (or become) neutralized either by need or the type of insecurity which comes from needing to prove something to our Self, never mind anyone else. 0 Aquarius is a degree which generally indicates a need for an education, though this may not be a books-and-classroom type of education but rather the sort of mentoring or training which provides guidance and/or structure without being overly restrictive or judgmental.

So in whatever way, we will all be looking to learn something this month ... and we will learn something, whether we’re looking to or not. A few will cling to that they know simply because they know (and are comfortable with) it, but most of us are likely to learn something about non-conformist attitudes this month, including at least some thread or notion which pertains to how much of a gamble, necessity or gift any given willingness (or talent) to ‘buck the system’ really is.

All this is what it is in itself. Beyond that, it’s also the beginning of a longer process - that of introducing us to eclipse effects which will be with us into and through this coming March as Mercury and asteroid Germania go retrograde.

 From NASA's Solar Dynamic's Observatory (SDO) the Moon

is caught moving in front of the Sun

(photo credit: NASA, October 7, 2010)

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ECLIPSE EFFECTS BEGIN 
As eclipse effects begin to take hold, Uranus is still conjuncting the South Node, suggesting that part of the function of events of the moment pertains to some sort of ‘habit’ or ‘status quo’ we have been living with (or which we have lived with) which for whatever reason now turns out to be something (or someone) we can’t - or shouldn’t - ‘relate’ to, or be in relationship with.

Again - that being what it is in its own right, for Uranus to be conjuncting the South Node in this very moment also makes it part of eclipse effects starting up ... which suggests we need some sort of change or shake up to either learn from, or as a first ‘step’ of some sort towards the ultimate message we will experience through (and throughout) this eclipse.

The solar eclipse in question is a total eclipse at 29 Pisces which is going to occur on March 20th at 9:37 a.m. (UT/+0 time) - which means (oh, by the way) that we went from a Scorpio/Taurus eclipse sequence to a North-Node-in-Virgo/South-Node-in-Pisces eclipse sequence, omitting the Libra/Aries eclipse sequence entirely.

Apart from the fact that a lot of Libra and Aries people are now applauding and cheering rather madly (you’re welcome) (just don’t get too comfortable; as of 2023 there’s a whole North-Node-in-Aries/South-Node-in-Libra sequence to deal with) ... after thinking long and hard about what this may be signaling, it would seem that neither our basic concept of what life is or what relationships are about is going to change.

So humans as humans will survive to be human. (I know - aren’t you glad?) But beyond that, we are going to now start dealing with the many and various ways we each and all avoid emotions and/or emotional situations (or confrontations) right down to what it means not to take (or have taken) responsibility for our emotionalism, the lack thereof or what we done or not done because of our feelings, or because we wouldn’t allow ourselves to feel.

Pisces requires that we are real. So wherever we aren’t being real (including all the reasons why we aren’t being real-or-realistic), that’s what any Pisces solar eclipse worth its corona is going to pull out of us.

In fact, 29 Pisces is particularly noted for its requirements. And well it might: among other things, 29 Pisces is the last degree of the last sign in the zodiac - so what goes undone now, truly goes undone.

But that may not be clear yet. And even if it is, there is some sort of months-long growth process we all will be confronting soon enough.

No, we don’t want to do it.

We will anyway.

JANUARY 21, 2015

A mosaic image of Mercury composed of 18 photographs taken by Mariner 10

(photo credit: NASA, March 1974)

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MERCURY and GERMANIA RETROGRADE 
Since no sooner do eclipse effects begin but Mercury goes retrograde (at 3:55 in the afternoon at 17 Aquarius), there are surely come of us who are asserting ourselves at least enough to take on our own challenges ... though it’s to be expected that a lot of people will simply be taking care of daily necessities without outwardly working on reinventing the(ir) world. (At least their place in it.)

A fuller discussion of Mercury surely is deserved here, but since that was the subject of the previous post (the one right before this one) I’ll just refer you there.

But I will add one note to what I’ve already written, namely that asteroid Germania will be going retrograde at 1 Libra in tandem with Mercury’s turn.To the degree involved here, when you look at astrological writings, they suggest the degree 1 Libra refers to something which needs to be understood, as that that thing is ... that's unlikely to change much, and when we don't understand it - not only do we undermine our own ability to get what we want in any given situation, but we are (essentially) doing so by projecting our opinions (and the associated assumption that others or life in general is going to agree with us) onto that which we evidently haven't fully considered to begin with.

Germania tends to indicate a place where something or some quality is applied or utilized with strength and determination. For it to be turning to retrograde in this degree suggests 'pulling back' on the application side of things ... or to realize that we are 'overdoing it' in some way, or why we are doing something - which may or may not include a recognition as to why 'they' (or some situation) aren't-or-isn't responding to our declaration (insistence) in the manner we had been thinking they would (read: in the manner we wanted them to).

And that would be because retrograde cycles are about what we need to learn about ourselves ...not others.

Still, since 1 Libra is also a degree affected rather hugely by super massive black hole M87 ... and since astrologically, black holes are all about alternatives (in this case an ‘alternative’ [Libra] relationship or way to [Libra] ‘relate’) or coming to recognize another perspective or way to approach something ... the net of all would seem to be a re-examining (the station-retrograde effect) of some position of strength, a strongly held or 'backed' position, some some strong relationship and/or need to relate (or not relate) to someone, something or ...since Mercury is going retrograde in Aquarius ... some group,concept, thrust or other Aquarian issue of power, fitting in, being ostracized from (or by), and all the many questions of separatism and/or unity which are currently in play or which will arise at this time across the societal spectrum, calling our attention to ways of [Mercury) thinking about or [Germania] dealing with social, societal (economic, political, humanistic, marketplace) doings.

All of these are likely to be related to whatever we need to deal with under Mercury retrograde ... or to what we will be doing under Mercury retrograde because something else is (for the present) not (yet) really going anywhere. As for whether this more immediate-feeling Mercury (Germania) cycle contributes to the two-months of 'breaking down' our resistance (perhaps to some personal status quo or thinking) which we would associate with eclipse effects - that will tend to be a little more individual, having to do first with whether the eclipse's 29 Pisces position affects your natal chart and secondarily with whether Mercury's station aspects your natal chart.

What degrees would those be?

For the eclipse, degrees between 24 and 29 of any sign are affected, as are degrees between 0 and 4 of any sign and the signs which stand to have the most obvious difficulties being:

The Conjunction:

24 through 29 degrees of Pisces

plus 0 through 4 degrees of Aries.

The Opposition:

24 through 29 degrees of Virgo

plus 0 through 4 degrees of Libra.

The Squares:

24 through 29 degrees of Sagittarius (or) Gemini

plus 0 through 4 degrees of Capricorn (or) Cancer.

And for Mercury, look for the following:

The Conjunction:

12 through 22 Aquarius

The Opposition:

12 through 22 Leo

The Squares:

12 through 22 Scorpio (or) Taurus

Conjunctions are when things happen ... or when we have no choice but to deal with something on some level. Oppositions differ from conjunctions in that they're more of a confrontation with something - the question being how we're going to deal with it (which sounds a bit like the echo of Germania stationing at 1 Libra, doesn't it?) ... and squares test our ability to balance different things against each other with the challenge being how to consider, support or utilize all things to best effect according to what they are - a set of qualities which are not necessarily going to be to our pleasure.

As the Uranus-South Node effects, those can be expected to linger on into and through Thursday, January 22nd, which means they let up just about when Mercury’s retrograde (which will remain with us until February 11th) is in full swing, pulling back - or causing us to pull back on on that which now needs working through.

And the eclipse? Eclipse effects will continue to evolve through March 20th - the date of the eclipse. Even after that we'll be feeling its effects.

Yet first comes Mercury retrograde. Evidently we have some things (and thinking) to do - and some of it concerns things we're not comfortable with or which don't fit our personal 'agenda.' But here’s the choice: we can do what we don’t want to do (and through that, learn what we don’t want to have to know) ... or we can fall victim to our fears, our ignorance or the arrogance of thinking that we 'know it all' and that our word goes, losing out on some opportunity we're being given now to learn - and from that to figure out what to do with (not about, with) all things which surely lie ahead.
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