Planet Neptune (photo credit NASA, JPL)
.As this month's post hits the digital airwaves, Mars is just about to (finally!) go direct, putting all the messy, frustrating, less-than-enthralling and possibly terribly dramatic Mars retrograde moments in our collective rear view mirror.
However... once Mars goes direct on June 29th (at 23:39 or 11:39 p.m., UT/+0 time) -- and with Mars continuing to lurk, linger and loiter in the very degree (23 Scorpio) which Mars has gone direct in, it will take much (if not all) of July for our energy, activity and sense of motivation to get back to what we think of as more or less what we think of as normal.
Still, at least Mars is direct again.And now that we’ve endured Mars Retrograde 2016, the happy news is how this is one retrograde we won’t be seeing again for a while as Mars only goes retrograde every two years.
So set your calendars: Mars’ next retrograde begins June 28, 2018, and the next time around Mars will start its retrograde in Aquarius and back into Capricorn.
Oh joy, oh rapture, right?
In any case, when considering the signposts of astrological events, sometimes we do best by just accepting what the thing says. For instance, as the United States changes presidents next January (2017), Saturn is going to be at 23 Sagittarius, which just happens to be the 11th house cusp of the outgoing White House Executive Occupant, President Barack Obama.
Barack Obama (detail)
August 4, 1961 -- 19:24 (7:24 pm) -- Honolulu, HI
.When any planet leaves the 10th house of anyone’s chart, it signals the qualities or activities associated with that planet are ‘leaving’ or ‘exiting’ our most ‘public’ and visible 'phase' of activity or development -- though there’s nothing about any planet moving into the 11th which says we’re disappearing, unless we decide to become a hermit, recluse or adopt some sort of exclusivity pact with our Self for some reason. But with Saturn being the planet, and the first keyword for Saturn always being “career,” nothing could be plainer than the idea that President Obama is leaving office as Saturn exits his 10th house.
Like I said … sometimes we should just take an astrological signpost for what it is.
Then again (and this is for the peanuts rattling around in our mental peanut galleries) ... seeing as the 11th house of any chart is where any of us acts in a ‘political manner’ simply because the 11th refers to all we do to interact with, appeal to, market to, glean from and co-exist or work with ideas, processes, networks, groups, affiliations, a given marketplace, company, society or other collective, any part of which may require us to handle something or someone in a ‘political’ manner, whether we’re a Head of State or not.
Moving on from there, a couple of notes left with regards to the Mars retrograde which has just ended. One is the
idea that in having gone retrograde at 8 Sagittarius, Mars will not ‘clear’ the
shadow of its most recent retrograde until it gets back to 8 Sagittarius, a
feat Mars will get to in its own red planet manner as of August 22nd (as illustrated in the friendly little diagram below), telling us that matters we have been working on or working to find a path 'through' so as to settle out problems and gain some forward traction will continue being worked on until the latter part of August.
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Still, with Mars now in direct motion, whether our aims and projects are tied up nicely with neat bows or not, at least our energy and many a person's attitude will now shift, as when a planet (any planet) goes direct out of a retrograde, issues having to do with its astrological attributes become more accessible to the world and more in keeping with what we meet up with and have an opportunity to work with. So when we talk about Mars, some part of our ‘clearing of the shadow’ will be about learning how to get to our goal, while another part will like as not be about letting go of what we had been thinking of as adequate.
As Mars is going direct in Scorpio -- a sign it co-rules with Pluto -- we know much which gets 'straightened out' has to do with our inner stability, security and sense of self-worth. The past few months have gotten us to reflecting on such matters, and with some prior choices and previous priorities having fallen by the wayside, we're now ready to move on in a 'new mode' (or mood) ... but first everything which got bogged down has to get un-bogged, as it were.
For each and any of us, there's a ‘liberating’ effect when Mars goes direct, and whether subtly or otherwise, that will begin evidencing itself in our lives within a few days of Mars going direct, which if nothing else will make things more pleasant and generally comfortable as everyone crawls out from under whatever emotional fortress (or shell) they've been hiding under.
So while Mars turning direct isn't exactly the cue to burst out in some giant Bollywood dance number, it is good news -- and how fast it's effects will 'take hold' in your life you can see (in a general sense) by knowing when your next lunar return is going to be. I brought this up last month and think it bears a re-mention here if only because how we feel about things regardless of stations or anything else is personally ‘clocked’ (timed) for us by lunar return cycles in our personal chart. So whether the issue is something we might astrologically associated with June's evolving grand square or Mars retrograde or anything else, such feelings and issues with tend to ‘carry over’ until our last lunar cycle (the one which began in June) ends somewhere along the way as we mosey our way through July... which is why last month I suggested that if we are going to know one astrological cycle (apart from our solar return) it should probably be that of our Moon.
Associated with memory, feelings, money, history, family, real estate, women and our general capacity for 'response,' the Moon represents our ability to use our gifts and 'make good' on our promise. It speaks of negotiation -- most of all our ability to negotiate our own feelings (whether in conjunction with others or not) dictating how well we do with anyone or anything -- and therefore, how we feel about our Self.
So when is your next lunar return?
With all this said, the bottom line on Mars is that desirous, willful, motivational, action-urging Mars is going to be in the 3rd decanate (the last ten degrees) of Scorpio for the whole of July. So we are all wanting to be effective... and because of that, some of us will charge in exactly where those angels fear to tread, some will continuing lingering in some mire of sticky uncertainty and still others will keep purposefully biding their time, thinking to dive in when they see the right opportunity or feel the moment is 'right.'
Meanwhile, there are a few others worthy astrological things worth note, the first on that list being how, with a Solar Eclipse due to occur on September 1st (at 9 Virgo), that means July 1st is when we hang out a sign which says:
Solar Eclipses are about ‘eclipsing’ what has been – rather literally. They may affect how we think about something or someone – even our Self. Long associated among astrologers with the rise and fall of kings, civilizations and fortunes, there are many things about a solar eclipse which hint at how its nature is going to affect us. For instance … with Virgo being the sign of this September's solar eclipse, the keywords ‘health, work, service’ apply to everything about its eventual effects, and we know that with Virgo being an earth sign that what will be changing has to do with something which is tangible (or) how we affect something (or someone) tangibly. We know this eclipse applies to the health not just of our bodies, but of what we do, say and why we feel as we do, asking as part of that process whether our methods, motivations and thinking are correct and indicative of a 'healthy' or moral way to live.
Being part of the Virgo-Pisces polarity, Virgo also always raises the notion of critique and a specter of projection, especially if or where we are prone to defensive-aggressive 'projections' of our own vulnerabilities -- a tendency Virgo elements in our chart tend to display when or where we take life to be 'all about us,' with little or no regard for the feelings, efforts, needs or situational dynamics of others.
And yes, that generally creates guilt, which especially when ignored or denied can be a rancid and prickly thing.
When Virgo solar eclipses show up, no matter the degree and no matter the aspects, situations and issues will get us focused on how we have 'run afoul' of those Virgo's precepts, with everything which is going to come down our metaphysical chimney representing that which is prompting us (or forcing us) to deal with standards we have either never learned, ignored, denied or which we have simply tried to evade. More specifically, with September's solar eclipse occurring at 9 Virgo, our attention is being called to areas of life and qualities having to do with either a true ‘lack of value’ or various ways of failing to properly value or prioritize something or someone (singular or plural).
Known for a capacity to deal with ‘in the moment’ matters and interactions aptly, an eclipse at 9 Virgo exposes and 'explodes' notions which in being 'revealed' (to us and sometimes others) is setting us up to see where we need to get past something for our own good. Some great part of something is, or is becoming 'invalid' or 'not workable,' though why that happens is individual and variable.
So, to put it simply: if we are going to be 'done' with something and ready for it to leave our life (whether under pleasant or unpleasant auspices) as we arrive at early September, something has to start shifting the status quo.
And that is what the two months leading into an eclipse are about. Sometimes eclipse effects are subtle -- a strange feeling that something 'just isn't right.' Then again, sometimes eclipse effects show up as a slew of things start breaking down. Sometimes eclipse effects highlight problems so they stick out like a nose on a cantaloupe. Then again, sometimes they're hard to identify, requiring us to change or take on Thing A before we even recognize Thing B is really our problem.
And yes, often we don't want to give up the very thing which we know is about to be eclipsed. There is nothing about a solar eclipse which we should think of as 'friendly' or 'humanistic' -- they just aren't. Eclipses are metaphysical processes meant to eliminate that which we no longer need but which we often hold onto because it's familiar, it's part o our 'history' ... or because it works 'well enough' that we are willing to compromise.
Life doesn't compromise. Life eclipses.
All of the above applies to wherever any given eclipse appears in our chart (the house the eclipse appears in), as well as through whatever objects in your chart may be being aspected by said eclipse. And for those who think ‘this eclipse isn’t going to affect me as it doesn’t aspect anything in my chart,’ while that may be nominally true because your roof may not fall in, we all experience every eclipse, even if we experience it through everything going on around us and through how each eclipse sequentially grows our world.
That’s just the way it works.
Also on the July scoreboard is Pluto (in retrograde) conjuncting fixed star Vega, a conjunction which in having come into orb back in 2013 finally became a full-bore (and for some, fully boring) transit as of March, 2015.
Generally known as a star when lends ‘charisma’ to whatever it comes in contact with, Vega attracts attention, notice and/or notoriety, depending on how it's placed in our individual chart. And it's that very quality -- the ability to draw attention, why we do (or don't) draw attention, and the nature of the attention that we draw -- which will be transformed by Pluto conjuncting Vega.
We see it in the world around us: Pluto's 'ruthless' qualities seeming (Vega) attractive even as things formally thought of as 'attractive' or 'wonderful' tend to fall flat. Things which were never said (or acceptable) are being said and going to get said, and ‘rules’ or standards which seemed so very important a few minutes ago suddenly don’t seem to be mattering all that very much.
It's all very Pluto conjunct Vega in that it's the transforming of charisma.
It's also very incoming Aquarian Age, as much of what is happening now (in an overall, year-by-year sense) is a 'tearing down' of an old Piscean Age order which for the last approximately 2,160 years (give or take where you're counting from) has divided all things in our world into "plus" and "minus," with one side having strength (power, choice) and the other being weak (vulnerable with no choice), where in the Aquarian Age (the next 2,160 years) each thing, entity and part of existence will be equally viable and important to a greater process which in the biggest picture (life, existence) empowers one and all to and for the benefit of systemic and universal success.
Leaving off with astrological age theory and getting back to Vega ... (well, sort of) considering Pluto’s byline (create, deny, destroy) and the fact that we each have our own way of expressing our personal Vega, it's a cinch to say some of us are creating and destroying while others are denying (or in some blanket denial) about things, with all of this having some connnection to some internal concern about our appeal, our potential, our ... 'charismatic Vega qualities.' For some of us, those qualities are changing. For others, the times in which we are living are changing and that is requiring us to change in our person(na) or change in what we're doing.
Pluto -- currently in retrograde -- is going back and forth over Capricorn's midpoint (15 Capricorn). And this -- among other things, says something about the 'transformative' nature of power and leadership ... and how the very nature of power and leadership is now itself changing. Pluto represents that which transforms our life and transforms life itself, and here in part we are seeing it operate as part of the changing of the Ages (hence, why I brought the subject up). On one side we have those wonderful qualities of individualism which have brought so many discoveries into being and which continue to make life worth living. Against that, however, we have a longing to retain those structures and ways of life which have up until now have provided us with a sense of internal security... a sense that everything was (Vega) good.
What these seemingly endless rounds of push-pull and what-is-what pertain to is both the changing of the Ages and to some degree, what life is going to be from here on out. Slowly but surely, the need to be responsible is going to increase, and in coping with that, we... and our descendants ... will become the people of the Aquarian Age, wrestling with our responsibilities and not so much with faith, as that was our core Age of Pisces struggle. Now, as Pluto is conjuncting Vega, that tendency is being revealed and revealing its flaws -- right now (with Pluto in retrograde) more internally and as a contemplation than in direct and obvious mode.Under Pluto conjuncting Vega, some of our notions of what is 'worthy' or 'wonderful' are bound to change.
Positioned currently at 15 Capricorn, Vega in part operates to make 'protecting our vulnerabilities' something which has charismatic appeal ...something which makes someone who takes on such a 'protector' role (or stance) somewhat more charismatic. Is it real -- or are they ‘putting on an act'? In line with Capricorn as a sign which first and last is about achievement and who we are seen to be in the eyes of the world, 15 Capricorn also brings about some fairly harsh penalties when/where we are found wanting whether because of some lack of strength (or) because our ‘act’ wasn’t good enough.
Much about Pluto (and hence, Pluto/Vega) depends on how, or with what attitude we have come into the situation with, as Pluto tends to ‘reverse polarities’ and turn things around - not always because the situation or ‘thing’ changes, but because over the Plutonic long-run (your average Pluto transit lasts a year) … we change because other things happen to 'transform' our outlook on life.
And given Pluto’s tendency to stir up obsessions and dark suspicions (read: our fears being projected) this could say a lot -- and bring out a lot of fascinating (charisma of the dark time) but awful things this year: the horror which becomes a celebration would typify this vibe.
Retrograding back into 15 Capricorn on July 1st, Pluto will remain in 15 Capricorn until September 9th -- just after the Solar Eclipse of September 1st -- which means as we move forward through July and August, we are dealing with two very powerful and transpersonal astrological forces: Pluto conjunct Vega and the onset of eclipse effects. Both refer to unavoidable and needed changes which are going to happen going to happen whether we like it or not.
And in neither case are any of us in control. So if you're looking for "manifestations," think nature. Think 'tides of humanity' and groundswells of action or opinion.
This is what we have emerged from our months of Mars retrograde to face: two months of Plutonic shifts and levers plus the breaking down and eliminating of something we don't want to change.
In other words, we've been freed up to move forward only to find the path becoming more unstable.
So to make this easier (i.e.,in the interests of being helpful), here is a list of aspects -- and the degrees which will be aspected by the September 1st eclipse.
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As for what can come out of a solar eclipse, ultimately that could be wonderful. But to get to all that wonderfulness, something is going to have to change or be let go of, and the type of changes solar eclipses are associated with are fit to jitter even the most optimistic of consciences.
Yet the purgatory of it all is that we need whatever we encounter.
Also … for those who remember June's evolving grand square dance, that configuration will have begun to break up as June was ending (around the 28th or 29th, depending on your time zone) and by July 2nd will be no more. (And I trust no one will be striking any tragic poses over its final and welcome end.) One part remains however - the Saturn squaring the lunar nodes part. And we can count on that to represent various challenge to our relationships and feelings of effectiveness in relationships personal and otherwise to remain with us into early November 2016.
As if to keep things interesting however, as June closed out and the grand square was breaking up, a magic rectangle formed up to take its place…
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...referring to opportunities we have to advance our cause, need, effort, but only for a week or so as this formation will be in force only until July 9th (give or take whatever time zone you’re in).
The way this magic rectangle is formed, it's anchored on three corners by our our old friends Neptune conjunct South Node (in Pisces), Jupiter conjunct North Node (in Virgo) and Pluto (conjunct Vega) in Capricorn, which leaves the 'Cancer corner' open. And between July 1st and the 9th, Sun, Venus and Mercury will all move through the ‘zone of orb’ (11-17 Cancer) which completes the figure, adding/focusing it on what we understand (Sun), what we do/how we do it (Venus) and how we communicate (Mercury), either 'bringing out' or giving us far more ability with each of these qualities -- at least for a cosmic moment!
Call it a talent, call it luck or good fortune, magic rectangle manage to put us a 'right places at the right time’ more often than we know -- and whether we’ve earned them or not!
Yet this is no rectangular fairy tale. (Far from it.) In natal astrology, magic rectangles are famous for describing things which go wonderfully for a time but which then fall apart. And when they come apart, things tend to go very south.
(Think Antarctica.)
Despite all of this, a transiting magic rectangle (as opposed to a natal one) is not guaranteed to be a peachy walk in the park. The reason? That would be two-part. One: because magic rectangles represent things we have NOT worked for (or built, or learned about or earned) that means 'once the magic is gone' it's well and truly gone and we seldom know how to fix things. And part Two: Because there is always a chance that something in your personal natal chart which aspects a transiting magic rectangle symbolically 'rupturing' its 'magic,' hard aspects from Pluto, Neptune, Uranus or something like Ixion to the above figure would negate it.
(Sorry, but there are limits to what one can to on the web.)
Anyway … there's a lot to think about, and we haven't even gotten to the day-by-day notes yet.
Or the fact that Uranus going retrograde on July 29th - which is news in its own right indicating some sort of 'turnabout,' 'reversal' or 'turn of events' being on the celestial schedule for just before the end of July.
So it's going to be an unusual month, to say the least. Shocking in some respects, pushing us to see things -- and ourselves -- differently, July is one of those months which promises events in the moment while also feeding into a longer, more evolutionary thread.
July 1
The month starts off with asteroid Chaldaea – the essence of all things traditional and often honored simply because they are old or traditional -- entering Taurus.
On one hand, this can be a reference to something old ‘coming to light’ or being ‘rediscovered’ as being of value. It may indicate a 're-evaluation,' of something to see if what is known is correct. Or Chaldaea entering Taurus may speak to a rising desire for things to be 'like they used to be’ - perhaps not literally, but in terms of how we used to feel about things.
With an orbital period of 3.66 years, the last time Chaldaea was in the Taurus vicinity of the zodiac was back in early 2013, just as Pluto was finishing its conjunction of another fixed star (Facies) and in ending that, entering the orb of conjunction to Vega, telling us that in some measure (large or small) Pluto's transiting of both stars was very much about getting us to 'change old ways.'
Does this mean we’ll change? Not necessarily. Under Taurus we often cling to things instinctively, not even wanting to let go even if we realize they aren’t true, won’t work, never were true and are a figment of our imagination. Why? Because whatever the issue is, it touches on some insecurity in us. So often spoken of as a sign of personal wealth and security, in large part Taurus is all about our fear of being without -- a fear which exists at a level which has to do with instincts as basic as those which get us to eat.
In Taurus, we 'hunger,' whether we actually need physical nourishment or not, which makes the premier Taurus question that which asks what we are really insecure about, or where our insecurities really come from.
Does some combination of influences suggest we will win through now on such questions? Probably yes -- at least for some of us, which would be the good part of going through the pressures, stress and angst which accompany getting eclipsed.
Still, many won't do a thing now -- and that's just how people are. After all, when we speak of that which is ‘traditional,’ how many among us are happily determined to remain in that mold, whether it limits us or not?
July 2
That the day after Chaldaea enters Taurus Byblis does the same tells us Chaldaea and Byblis are currently conjunct and therefore acting something like a joint transiting energetic which speaks of not changing while continuing some (Byblis) preference for that which is 'inexcusable' with the term ‘inexcusable’ being a reference to whatever will damage our Self, our environment, our physical world, or humanity as a whole.
By itself, Byblis refers to that which is simply not acceptable because the consequences of that thing, attitude or act are known and disapproved of. That means while in Taurus, Byblis will refer to everything and anything we know of which violates standards of decency, humanity, cleanliness, sensibility, health and so on – with all sorts of justifications being thrown out for why such choices continue.
Like all asteroids, Byblis refers to something we confront ‘once in a while’ unless this point is strongly aspected by a planet, dwarf planet, node or cusp in our natal chart – in which case, Byblis issues become part of everyday life, where they often surface as the desire to work to fix things, whether that means getting past something ugly in our own lives or working in some sort of job which works to right wrongs, heal wounds or eliminate bad things to begin with.
July 4
New Moon at 12 Cancer (text chart)
Still, with Mars now in direct motion, whether our aims and projects are tied up nicely with neat bows or not, at least our energy and many a person's attitude will now shift, as when a planet (any planet) goes direct out of a retrograde, issues having to do with its astrological attributes become more accessible to the world and more in keeping with what we meet up with and have an opportunity to work with. So when we talk about Mars, some part of our ‘clearing of the shadow’ will be about learning how to get to our goal, while another part will like as not be about letting go of what we had been thinking of as adequate.
As Mars is going direct in Scorpio -- a sign it co-rules with Pluto -- we know much which gets 'straightened out' has to do with our inner stability, security and sense of self-worth. The past few months have gotten us to reflecting on such matters, and with some prior choices and previous priorities having fallen by the wayside, we're now ready to move on in a 'new mode' (or mood) ... but first everything which got bogged down has to get un-bogged, as it were.
For each and any of us, there's a ‘liberating’ effect when Mars goes direct, and whether subtly or otherwise, that will begin evidencing itself in our lives within a few days of Mars going direct, which if nothing else will make things more pleasant and generally comfortable as everyone crawls out from under whatever emotional fortress (or shell) they've been hiding under.
So while Mars turning direct isn't exactly the cue to burst out in some giant Bollywood dance number, it is good news -- and how fast it's effects will 'take hold' in your life you can see (in a general sense) by knowing when your next lunar return is going to be. I brought this up last month and think it bears a re-mention here if only because how we feel about things regardless of stations or anything else is personally ‘clocked’ (timed) for us by lunar return cycles in our personal chart. So whether the issue is something we might astrologically associated with June's evolving grand square or Mars retrograde or anything else, such feelings and issues with tend to ‘carry over’ until our last lunar cycle (the one which began in June) ends somewhere along the way as we mosey our way through July... which is why last month I suggested that if we are going to know one astrological cycle (apart from our solar return) it should probably be that of our Moon.
Associated with memory, feelings, money, history, family, real estate, women and our general capacity for 'response,' the Moon represents our ability to use our gifts and 'make good' on our promise. It speaks of negotiation -- most of all our ability to negotiate our own feelings (whether in conjunction with others or not) dictating how well we do with anyone or anything -- and therefore, how we feel about our Self.
So when is your next lunar return?
With all this said, the bottom line on Mars is that desirous, willful, motivational, action-urging Mars is going to be in the 3rd decanate (the last ten degrees) of Scorpio for the whole of July. So we are all wanting to be effective... and because of that, some of us will charge in exactly where those angels fear to tread, some will continuing lingering in some mire of sticky uncertainty and still others will keep purposefully biding their time, thinking to dive in when they see the right opportunity or feel the moment is 'right.'
Meanwhile, there are a few others worthy astrological things worth note, the first on that list being how, with a Solar Eclipse due to occur on September 1st (at 9 Virgo), that means July 1st is when we hang out a sign which says:
ECLIPSE EFFECTS NOW IN PROGRESS.
Solar Eclipses are about ‘eclipsing’ what has been – rather literally. They may affect how we think about something or someone – even our Self. Long associated among astrologers with the rise and fall of kings, civilizations and fortunes, there are many things about a solar eclipse which hint at how its nature is going to affect us. For instance … with Virgo being the sign of this September's solar eclipse, the keywords ‘health, work, service’ apply to everything about its eventual effects, and we know that with Virgo being an earth sign that what will be changing has to do with something which is tangible (or) how we affect something (or someone) tangibly. We know this eclipse applies to the health not just of our bodies, but of what we do, say and why we feel as we do, asking as part of that process whether our methods, motivations and thinking are correct and indicative of a 'healthy' or moral way to live.
Being part of the Virgo-Pisces polarity, Virgo also always raises the notion of critique and a specter of projection, especially if or where we are prone to defensive-aggressive 'projections' of our own vulnerabilities -- a tendency Virgo elements in our chart tend to display when or where we take life to be 'all about us,' with little or no regard for the feelings, efforts, needs or situational dynamics of others.
And yes, that generally creates guilt, which especially when ignored or denied can be a rancid and prickly thing.
When Virgo solar eclipses show up, no matter the degree and no matter the aspects, situations and issues will get us focused on how we have 'run afoul' of those Virgo's precepts, with everything which is going to come down our metaphysical chimney representing that which is prompting us (or forcing us) to deal with standards we have either never learned, ignored, denied or which we have simply tried to evade. More specifically, with September's solar eclipse occurring at 9 Virgo, our attention is being called to areas of life and qualities having to do with either a true ‘lack of value’ or various ways of failing to properly value or prioritize something or someone (singular or plural).
Known for a capacity to deal with ‘in the moment’ matters and interactions aptly, an eclipse at 9 Virgo exposes and 'explodes' notions which in being 'revealed' (to us and sometimes others) is setting us up to see where we need to get past something for our own good. Some great part of something is, or is becoming 'invalid' or 'not workable,' though why that happens is individual and variable.
So, to put it simply: if we are going to be 'done' with something and ready for it to leave our life (whether under pleasant or unpleasant auspices) as we arrive at early September, something has to start shifting the status quo.
And that is what the two months leading into an eclipse are about. Sometimes eclipse effects are subtle -- a strange feeling that something 'just isn't right.' Then again, sometimes eclipse effects show up as a slew of things start breaking down. Sometimes eclipse effects highlight problems so they stick out like a nose on a cantaloupe. Then again, sometimes they're hard to identify, requiring us to change or take on Thing A before we even recognize Thing B is really our problem.
And yes, often we don't want to give up the very thing which we know is about to be eclipsed. There is nothing about a solar eclipse which we should think of as 'friendly' or 'humanistic' -- they just aren't. Eclipses are metaphysical processes meant to eliminate that which we no longer need but which we often hold onto because it's familiar, it's part o our 'history' ... or because it works 'well enough' that we are willing to compromise.
Life doesn't compromise. Life eclipses.
In an annular eclipse (such as we are going to experience this September), because of
relative positions the disc of the Moon does not quite cover the entire disk of the Sun (as it
would in a total eclipse), as seen here in this 'Ring of Fire' photo taken of the May 2012
solar eclipse at 0 Gemini taken by Massaru Kamikura.
.All of the above applies to wherever any given eclipse appears in our chart (the house the eclipse appears in), as well as through whatever objects in your chart may be being aspected by said eclipse. And for those who think ‘this eclipse isn’t going to affect me as it doesn’t aspect anything in my chart,’ while that may be nominally true because your roof may not fall in, we all experience every eclipse, even if we experience it through everything going on around us and through how each eclipse sequentially grows our world.
That’s just the way it works.
Also on the July scoreboard is Pluto (in retrograde) conjuncting fixed star Vega, a conjunction which in having come into orb back in 2013 finally became a full-bore (and for some, fully boring) transit as of March, 2015.
Generally known as a star when lends ‘charisma’ to whatever it comes in contact with, Vega attracts attention, notice and/or notoriety, depending on how it's placed in our individual chart. And it's that very quality -- the ability to draw attention, why we do (or don't) draw attention, and the nature of the attention that we draw -- which will be transformed by Pluto conjuncting Vega.
We see it in the world around us: Pluto's 'ruthless' qualities seeming (Vega) attractive even as things formally thought of as 'attractive' or 'wonderful' tend to fall flat. Things which were never said (or acceptable) are being said and going to get said, and ‘rules’ or standards which seemed so very important a few minutes ago suddenly don’t seem to be mattering all that very much.
It's all very Pluto conjunct Vega in that it's the transforming of charisma.
It's also very incoming Aquarian Age, as much of what is happening now (in an overall, year-by-year sense) is a 'tearing down' of an old Piscean Age order which for the last approximately 2,160 years (give or take where you're counting from) has divided all things in our world into "plus" and "minus," with one side having strength (power, choice) and the other being weak (vulnerable with no choice), where in the Aquarian Age (the next 2,160 years) each thing, entity and part of existence will be equally viable and important to a greater process which in the biggest picture (life, existence) empowers one and all to and for the benefit of systemic and universal success.
Leaving off with astrological age theory and getting back to Vega ... (well, sort of) considering Pluto’s byline (create, deny, destroy) and the fact that we each have our own way of expressing our personal Vega, it's a cinch to say some of us are creating and destroying while others are denying (or in some blanket denial) about things, with all of this having some connnection to some internal concern about our appeal, our potential, our ... 'charismatic Vega qualities.' For some of us, those qualities are changing. For others, the times in which we are living are changing and that is requiring us to change in our person(na) or change in what we're doing.
Pluto -- currently in retrograde -- is going back and forth over Capricorn's midpoint (15 Capricorn). And this -- among other things, says something about the 'transformative' nature of power and leadership ... and how the very nature of power and leadership is now itself changing. Pluto represents that which transforms our life and transforms life itself, and here in part we are seeing it operate as part of the changing of the Ages (hence, why I brought the subject up). On one side we have those wonderful qualities of individualism which have brought so many discoveries into being and which continue to make life worth living. Against that, however, we have a longing to retain those structures and ways of life which have up until now have provided us with a sense of internal security... a sense that everything was (Vega) good.
What these seemingly endless rounds of push-pull and what-is-what pertain to is both the changing of the Ages and to some degree, what life is going to be from here on out. Slowly but surely, the need to be responsible is going to increase, and in coping with that, we... and our descendants ... will become the people of the Aquarian Age, wrestling with our responsibilities and not so much with faith, as that was our core Age of Pisces struggle. Now, as Pluto is conjuncting Vega, that tendency is being revealed and revealing its flaws -- right now (with Pluto in retrograde) more internally and as a contemplation than in direct and obvious mode.Under Pluto conjuncting Vega, some of our notions of what is 'worthy' or 'wonderful' are bound to change.
Positioned currently at 15 Capricorn, Vega in part operates to make 'protecting our vulnerabilities' something which has charismatic appeal ...something which makes someone who takes on such a 'protector' role (or stance) somewhat more charismatic. Is it real -- or are they ‘putting on an act'? In line with Capricorn as a sign which first and last is about achievement and who we are seen to be in the eyes of the world, 15 Capricorn also brings about some fairly harsh penalties when/where we are found wanting whether because of some lack of strength (or) because our ‘act’ wasn’t good enough.
Much about Pluto (and hence, Pluto/Vega) depends on how, or with what attitude we have come into the situation with, as Pluto tends to ‘reverse polarities’ and turn things around - not always because the situation or ‘thing’ changes, but because over the Plutonic long-run (your average Pluto transit lasts a year) … we change because other things happen to 'transform' our outlook on life.
And given Pluto’s tendency to stir up obsessions and dark suspicions (read: our fears being projected) this could say a lot -- and bring out a lot of fascinating (charisma of the dark time) but awful things this year: the horror which becomes a celebration would typify this vibe.
Retrograding back into 15 Capricorn on July 1st, Pluto will remain in 15 Capricorn until September 9th -- just after the Solar Eclipse of September 1st -- which means as we move forward through July and August, we are dealing with two very powerful and transpersonal astrological forces: Pluto conjunct Vega and the onset of eclipse effects. Both refer to unavoidable and needed changes which are going to happen going to happen whether we like it or not.
And in neither case are any of us in control. So if you're looking for "manifestations," think nature. Think 'tides of humanity' and groundswells of action or opinion.
This is what we have emerged from our months of Mars retrograde to face: two months of Plutonic shifts and levers plus the breaking down and eliminating of something we don't want to change.
In other words, we've been freed up to move forward only to find the path becoming more unstable.
So to make this easier (i.e.,in the interests of being helpful), here is a list of aspects -- and the degrees which will be aspected by the September 1st eclipse.
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As for what can come out of a solar eclipse, ultimately that could be wonderful. But to get to all that wonderfulness, something is going to have to change or be let go of, and the type of changes solar eclipses are associated with are fit to jitter even the most optimistic of consciences.
Yet the purgatory of it all is that we need whatever we encounter.
Also … for those who remember June's evolving grand square dance, that configuration will have begun to break up as June was ending (around the 28th or 29th, depending on your time zone) and by July 2nd will be no more. (And I trust no one will be striking any tragic poses over its final and welcome end.) One part remains however - the Saturn squaring the lunar nodes part. And we can count on that to represent various challenge to our relationships and feelings of effectiveness in relationships personal and otherwise to remain with us into early November 2016.
As if to keep things interesting however, as June closed out and the grand square was breaking up, a magic rectangle formed up to take its place…
...referring to opportunities we have to advance our cause, need, effort, but only for a week or so as this formation will be in force only until July 9th (give or take whatever time zone you’re in).
The way this magic rectangle is formed, it's anchored on three corners by our our old friends Neptune conjunct South Node (in Pisces), Jupiter conjunct North Node (in Virgo) and Pluto (conjunct Vega) in Capricorn, which leaves the 'Cancer corner' open. And between July 1st and the 9th, Sun, Venus and Mercury will all move through the ‘zone of orb’ (11-17 Cancer) which completes the figure, adding/focusing it on what we understand (Sun), what we do/how we do it (Venus) and how we communicate (Mercury), either 'bringing out' or giving us far more ability with each of these qualities -- at least for a cosmic moment!
Call it a talent, call it luck or good fortune, magic rectangle manage to put us a 'right places at the right time’ more often than we know -- and whether we’ve earned them or not!
Yet this is no rectangular fairy tale. (Far from it.) In natal astrology, magic rectangles are famous for describing things which go wonderfully for a time but which then fall apart. And when they come apart, things tend to go very south.
(Think Antarctica.)
Despite all of this, a transiting magic rectangle (as opposed to a natal one) is not guaranteed to be a peachy walk in the park. The reason? That would be two-part. One: because magic rectangles represent things we have NOT worked for (or built, or learned about or earned) that means 'once the magic is gone' it's well and truly gone and we seldom know how to fix things. And part Two: Because there is always a chance that something in your personal natal chart which aspects a transiting magic rectangle symbolically 'rupturing' its 'magic,' hard aspects from Pluto, Neptune, Uranus or something like Ixion to the above figure would negate it.
(Sorry, but there are limits to what one can to on the web.)
Anyway … there's a lot to think about, and we haven't even gotten to the day-by-day notes yet.
Or the fact that Uranus going retrograde on July 29th - which is news in its own right indicating some sort of 'turnabout,' 'reversal' or 'turn of events' being on the celestial schedule for just before the end of July.
So it's going to be an unusual month, to say the least. Shocking in some respects, pushing us to see things -- and ourselves -- differently, July is one of those months which promises events in the moment while also feeding into a longer, more evolutionary thread.
July 1
The month starts off with asteroid Chaldaea – the essence of all things traditional and often honored simply because they are old or traditional -- entering Taurus.
On one hand, this can be a reference to something old ‘coming to light’ or being ‘rediscovered’ as being of value. It may indicate a 're-evaluation,' of something to see if what is known is correct. Or Chaldaea entering Taurus may speak to a rising desire for things to be 'like they used to be’ - perhaps not literally, but in terms of how we used to feel about things.
With an orbital period of 3.66 years, the last time Chaldaea was in the Taurus vicinity of the zodiac was back in early 2013, just as Pluto was finishing its conjunction of another fixed star (Facies) and in ending that, entering the orb of conjunction to Vega, telling us that in some measure (large or small) Pluto's transiting of both stars was very much about getting us to 'change old ways.'
Does this mean we’ll change? Not necessarily. Under Taurus we often cling to things instinctively, not even wanting to let go even if we realize they aren’t true, won’t work, never were true and are a figment of our imagination. Why? Because whatever the issue is, it touches on some insecurity in us. So often spoken of as a sign of personal wealth and security, in large part Taurus is all about our fear of being without -- a fear which exists at a level which has to do with instincts as basic as those which get us to eat.
In Taurus, we 'hunger,' whether we actually need physical nourishment or not, which makes the premier Taurus question that which asks what we are really insecure about, or where our insecurities really come from.
Does some combination of influences suggest we will win through now on such questions? Probably yes -- at least for some of us, which would be the good part of going through the pressures, stress and angst which accompany getting eclipsed.
Still, many won't do a thing now -- and that's just how people are. After all, when we speak of that which is ‘traditional,’ how many among us are happily determined to remain in that mold, whether it limits us or not?
July 2
That the day after Chaldaea enters Taurus Byblis does the same tells us Chaldaea and Byblis are currently conjunct and therefore acting something like a joint transiting energetic which speaks of not changing while continuing some (Byblis) preference for that which is 'inexcusable' with the term ‘inexcusable’ being a reference to whatever will damage our Self, our environment, our physical world, or humanity as a whole.
By itself, Byblis refers to that which is simply not acceptable because the consequences of that thing, attitude or act are known and disapproved of. That means while in Taurus, Byblis will refer to everything and anything we know of which violates standards of decency, humanity, cleanliness, sensibility, health and so on – with all sorts of justifications being thrown out for why such choices continue.
Like all asteroids, Byblis refers to something we confront ‘once in a while’ unless this point is strongly aspected by a planet, dwarf planet, node or cusp in our natal chart – in which case, Byblis issues become part of everyday life, where they often surface as the desire to work to fix things, whether that means getting past something ugly in our own lives or working in some sort of job which works to right wrongs, heal wounds or eliminate bad things to begin with.
July 4
New Moon at 12 Cancer (glyph chart)
July 4, 2016 - 11:02 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
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July 4, 2016 - 11:02 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
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Besides being a national holiday in the United States (happy
fireworks) July 4th is the date of several astrological events. The first is a New Moon at 12 Cancer
(at 11:02 in the morning, UT/+0), the second is asteroid Niobe being on station at 15
Capricorn (cuddled up to Pluto/Vega) and the third concerns asteroids Phaethon and Maximov moving from
Gemini into Cancer, together emphasizing a ‘push’ towards dealing with feelings, reactions, choices and monetary issues which may either be ‘lopsided’
because everything was not taken into account (literally) or because a choice or act was based on or the result of immaturity or a tendency to go off
‘half-cocked’ before everything is known.
All New Moons mark the beginning of a new celestial ‘month,’ with this one being no different. An emotional degree of a naturally emotional sign, that this July’s New Moon is at 12 Cancer speaks to a 'growing awareness' about how despite best efforts, determination and all the faith in the world, sometimes things don't turn out as anticipated - and how this tendency is more likely (and more unsettling) when the failure comes from following a path we have been taught “should” work, placing us at odds with things and people we have trusted.
Cancer being the zodiac sign ruled by the Moon, all things Cancer (including this month’s lunar cycle) have ‘phases,’ which where Cancer is concerned either takes the form of emotionally fluidity to the point of balletic deftness, or the sort of moody behavior which sets new highs in personal lows.
The first of the zodiac’s water signs, Cancer is also often likened to the surf zone, with the Cancer question always being whether we are going to be tossed around by
waves of emotion' (or our tendency to be or react emotionally) … or whether we are going to 'take a deep breath' and then navigate our way through whatever ‘emotional waves’ life throws at us while pursuing a personally determined path.
By the time the New Moon forms up, the magic rectangle will now have Mercury in the picture at 9 Cancer in conjunction with fixed star Alhena (purpose), which is a good indicator of focus, whatever we may be focused on. With Venus in opposition to Pluto (and conjunct fixed star Castor) 'strength' is an issue, even though the 'adapting' of a position or attitude of strength or determination is neither the 'whole answer' nor the equal of (or substitute for) the kind of strength which results from firm foundations.
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Also – in keeping with what we were saying about personal lunar returns ‘extending’ or ‘carrying over’ Mars retrograde effects, having this magic rectangle as part of the July New Moon image means the rectangle's ‘magical’ effects will linger on after the July 9th date when (in purely technical terms) this rectangle is no more, though with each passing day there will be less and less 'magic' to pin one's hopes on.
(Read: wishers beware!)
July 5
Astrologers don’t talk all that much about Haumea (at least not yet). But if we consider that Haumea is a dwarf planet and a Plutino just like Pluto is, maybe we should be talking more about it. After all, just like Pluto, Haumea is an object whose orbit is governed by Neptune’s magnetic resonance. And that means while Haumea's astrological effects may inspire, they may also delude, putting us on shaky ground with our Self when, if, and where we find out we have more or less been responsible for disappointing our Self through not wanting to deal with the facts of personal limits.
Who and what is Haumea about? The Hawaiian goddess Haumea (for whom the dwarf planet is named) is a goddess of birth possessed of shape-shifting abilities, which at first blush speaks to how children change our lives (and outlook on life) plus how we all tend to ‘present a different face’ (shape-shift) depending on who we are dealing with or what we are doing.
In the case of Haumea, she uses her ‘different faces’ to trick others into giving her what she wants. And Haumea has a lot of wants -- so many that about the time she turns to coercing her own children, because that act (and choice to commit it) threatens to destroy that which Haumea herself has created, the other gods step in, stopping the goddess in her immortally destructive tracks, thus warning us not to undermine our efforts or the lives of others through the desire not be skip out on all our responsibilities -- even those we owe our very Self.
In going direct at 21 Libra, Haumea’s current station is defined as something we do not directly create or control – at least not at the moment. So we may have created whatever is in play now, but this isn’t the moment of said act of creation – and in all likelihood, right now things aren’t just about us. Considering Libra’s eternal interest in and focus on ‘the other’ with the standard Libra habit of measuring one’s self by-or-against that ‘other’ (through which we figure out what we are and are not), this would not be an unlikely moment for some sort of ‘about face’ to occur in/within some relationship – or even in one’s willingness or ability to relate.
Plus, given how 21 Libra (as a particular degree) is either very ‘all in’ or ‘all against’ whatever (or whoever) is of import in the moment, Haumea’s station may be a moment when our relationship to something (or someone) changes or does an ‘about face,’ whether that change occurs because of or even during some encounter, meeting, presentation, communication, challenge, proposal or sortie (of certain types).
That Haumea is going direct on July 5th means its two-days-before, two-day-after ‘station allowance’ – or the period of time surrounding the moment of the actual station which we ‘allow’ will be flavored and permeated by the station’s effect – will have begun on July 3rd and which will continue on through July 7th, coloring this month’s New Moon event and to some extent, the whole of the lunar month.
What qualities might Haumea’s station add? Number one on that list would be feelings – which given the particulars may well point to a ‘higher grade’ of emotional reaction, or one which in some way pertains to tendencies or abilities to guide (or manipulate) situations, particularly those which occur on the ‘home front’ or ‘within one’s native realm of influence or operation.
Remembering that Haumea is a Plutino, and recalling how we all tend to get drawn off-base when fellow Plutino Pluto gets to tugging on our ‘desire quotient,’ it’s more than a little likely that what we want to think we can-or-should do, have, emulate, manage (etcetera) … simply because we know how to ‘get there’ makes ‘getting there’ a good idea.
Like all Plutinos, following Haumea based on our feelings and not on the facts of the situation gets us into trouble – most lastingly with our Self. And with a Cancer New Moon tied into Haumea’s station, this is a moment which expresses the possibility of damage already done coming to light or being currently done to things or relationships or people we depend on or care about -- all of which comes about through being over-focused on ability or the 'can' part of things rather than results, consequences and the 'should I?' side of things.
With Haumea going retrograde in Libra -- in square to July's Cancer New Moon – important options and consequences are likely to get overlooked, producing unforeseen consequences which may come back to haunt (or possibly bite) us.
Not to be forgotten, asteroid Photographica is also entering Taurus on July 5th. So to all else we can add a desire to look, sound or act secure ... or to look at that which either is or which represents that which is secure and stable (whatever that means to us personally) whether or not everything is a pretext, veneer or false front. Plus, with Industria entering Virgo (also on this date), while giving an appearance of ‘industriousness’ counts, all efforts should not be taken as equal until their methods, effects and standards are clearly checked and/or understood ...which unless Haumea's station coincides with some sort of ‘revealing’ or 'revelation’ in your life sounds unlikely.
And maybe, come to think of it, unwanted.
July 7
Speaking of which, on the last day of Haumea's station, asteroid Kleopatra goes direct at 11 Scorpio, a degree which has a reputation for being so intent on not getting fooled or taken advantage of that when in play may have us ending up missing the obvious (much to our inner humiliation and outward annoyance). So with Kleopatra being the object taking station in said degree, even without Haumea also being on station there would seem to be some chance of being ‘too clever for our own good.’ Plus with Kleopatra and Haumea both going direct here, this may well be a moment of reckoning -- particularly self-reckoning.
Beyond that, Kleopatra in Scorpio speaks to a general quality of insight along with a need to be smart in (and) about relationships in the general sense as well as when choosing who to spend time with (and/or) who and what we ally ourselves with, who we choose to reject, lie to or manipulate, lest we hold the asp -- as opposed to our aspiration -- overly close, killing our chances to succeed.
July 8
Yet apparently the universe and the times we live in are going to have us continue sorting things out as Rhadamanthus goes direct at 25 Libra on the day after Kleopatra does likewise.The degree of Rhadamanthus' station (25 Libra) is said to be a reference to 'high levels of perception' which may be unexpected or not particularly conventional or 'mainstream,' as they say -- and how that is applied, whether in a frittering away of time and energy on useless efforts or the kind of 'breaking the mold' or ‘walking on the wild side’ spirit we think of as being typical of explorers or inventors.
Beyond this, 25 Libra displays a fairly typical Libra’s polarity through an inquisitiveness and altruism which at times can wax selfish and prone to demands, ‘hard line’ stances and ‘cutoffs’ – all of which, with Rhadamanthus (“fair judgment”) as the lens suggests some need to ‘decide’ between possible courses of action the process of which causes us to reflect on how fair we are/are being.
All New Moons mark the beginning of a new celestial ‘month,’ with this one being no different. An emotional degree of a naturally emotional sign, that this July’s New Moon is at 12 Cancer speaks to a 'growing awareness' about how despite best efforts, determination and all the faith in the world, sometimes things don't turn out as anticipated - and how this tendency is more likely (and more unsettling) when the failure comes from following a path we have been taught “should” work, placing us at odds with things and people we have trusted.
Cancer being the zodiac sign ruled by the Moon, all things Cancer (including this month’s lunar cycle) have ‘phases,’ which where Cancer is concerned either takes the form of emotionally fluidity to the point of balletic deftness, or the sort of moody behavior which sets new highs in personal lows.
The first of the zodiac’s water signs, Cancer is also often likened to the surf zone, with the Cancer question always being whether we are going to be tossed around by
waves of emotion' (or our tendency to be or react emotionally) … or whether we are going to 'take a deep breath' and then navigate our way through whatever ‘emotional waves’ life throws at us while pursuing a personally determined path.
By the time the New Moon forms up, the magic rectangle will now have Mercury in the picture at 9 Cancer in conjunction with fixed star Alhena (purpose), which is a good indicator of focus, whatever we may be focused on. With Venus in opposition to Pluto (and conjunct fixed star Castor) 'strength' is an issue, even though the 'adapting' of a position or attitude of strength or determination is neither the 'whole answer' nor the equal of (or substitute for) the kind of strength which results from firm foundations.
Also – in keeping with what we were saying about personal lunar returns ‘extending’ or ‘carrying over’ Mars retrograde effects, having this magic rectangle as part of the July New Moon image means the rectangle's ‘magical’ effects will linger on after the July 9th date when (in purely technical terms) this rectangle is no more, though with each passing day there will be less and less 'magic' to pin one's hopes on.
(Read: wishers beware!)
July 5
Astrologers don’t talk all that much about Haumea (at least not yet). But if we consider that Haumea is a dwarf planet and a Plutino just like Pluto is, maybe we should be talking more about it. After all, just like Pluto, Haumea is an object whose orbit is governed by Neptune’s magnetic resonance. And that means while Haumea's astrological effects may inspire, they may also delude, putting us on shaky ground with our Self when, if, and where we find out we have more or less been responsible for disappointing our Self through not wanting to deal with the facts of personal limits.
Who and what is Haumea about? The Hawaiian goddess Haumea (for whom the dwarf planet is named) is a goddess of birth possessed of shape-shifting abilities, which at first blush speaks to how children change our lives (and outlook on life) plus how we all tend to ‘present a different face’ (shape-shift) depending on who we are dealing with or what we are doing.
In the case of Haumea, she uses her ‘different faces’ to trick others into giving her what she wants. And Haumea has a lot of wants -- so many that about the time she turns to coercing her own children, because that act (and choice to commit it) threatens to destroy that which Haumea herself has created, the other gods step in, stopping the goddess in her immortally destructive tracks, thus warning us not to undermine our efforts or the lives of others through the desire not be skip out on all our responsibilities -- even those we owe our very Self.
In going direct at 21 Libra, Haumea’s current station is defined as something we do not directly create or control – at least not at the moment. So we may have created whatever is in play now, but this isn’t the moment of said act of creation – and in all likelihood, right now things aren’t just about us. Considering Libra’s eternal interest in and focus on ‘the other’ with the standard Libra habit of measuring one’s self by-or-against that ‘other’ (through which we figure out what we are and are not), this would not be an unlikely moment for some sort of ‘about face’ to occur in/within some relationship – or even in one’s willingness or ability to relate.
Plus, given how 21 Libra (as a particular degree) is either very ‘all in’ or ‘all against’ whatever (or whoever) is of import in the moment, Haumea’s station may be a moment when our relationship to something (or someone) changes or does an ‘about face,’ whether that change occurs because of or even during some encounter, meeting, presentation, communication, challenge, proposal or sortie (of certain types).
That Haumea is going direct on July 5th means its two-days-before, two-day-after ‘station allowance’ – or the period of time surrounding the moment of the actual station which we ‘allow’ will be flavored and permeated by the station’s effect – will have begun on July 3rd and which will continue on through July 7th, coloring this month’s New Moon event and to some extent, the whole of the lunar month.
What qualities might Haumea’s station add? Number one on that list would be feelings – which given the particulars may well point to a ‘higher grade’ of emotional reaction, or one which in some way pertains to tendencies or abilities to guide (or manipulate) situations, particularly those which occur on the ‘home front’ or ‘within one’s native realm of influence or operation.
Remembering that Haumea is a Plutino, and recalling how we all tend to get drawn off-base when fellow Plutino Pluto gets to tugging on our ‘desire quotient,’ it’s more than a little likely that what we want to think we can-or-should do, have, emulate, manage (etcetera) … simply because we know how to ‘get there’ makes ‘getting there’ a good idea.
Like all Plutinos, following Haumea based on our feelings and not on the facts of the situation gets us into trouble – most lastingly with our Self. And with a Cancer New Moon tied into Haumea’s station, this is a moment which expresses the possibility of damage already done coming to light or being currently done to things or relationships or people we depend on or care about -- all of which comes about through being over-focused on ability or the 'can' part of things rather than results, consequences and the 'should I?' side of things.
With Haumea going retrograde in Libra -- in square to July's Cancer New Moon – important options and consequences are likely to get overlooked, producing unforeseen consequences which may come back to haunt (or possibly bite) us.
Not to be forgotten, asteroid Photographica is also entering Taurus on July 5th. So to all else we can add a desire to look, sound or act secure ... or to look at that which either is or which represents that which is secure and stable (whatever that means to us personally) whether or not everything is a pretext, veneer or false front. Plus, with Industria entering Virgo (also on this date), while giving an appearance of ‘industriousness’ counts, all efforts should not be taken as equal until their methods, effects and standards are clearly checked and/or understood ...which unless Haumea's station coincides with some sort of ‘revealing’ or 'revelation’ in your life sounds unlikely.
And maybe, come to think of it, unwanted.
July 7
Speaking of which, on the last day of Haumea's station, asteroid Kleopatra goes direct at 11 Scorpio, a degree which has a reputation for being so intent on not getting fooled or taken advantage of that when in play may have us ending up missing the obvious (much to our inner humiliation and outward annoyance). So with Kleopatra being the object taking station in said degree, even without Haumea also being on station there would seem to be some chance of being ‘too clever for our own good.’ Plus with Kleopatra and Haumea both going direct here, this may well be a moment of reckoning -- particularly self-reckoning.
Beyond that, Kleopatra in Scorpio speaks to a general quality of insight along with a need to be smart in (and) about relationships in the general sense as well as when choosing who to spend time with (and/or) who and what we ally ourselves with, who we choose to reject, lie to or manipulate, lest we hold the asp -- as opposed to our aspiration -- overly close, killing our chances to succeed.
July 8
Yet apparently the universe and the times we live in are going to have us continue sorting things out as Rhadamanthus goes direct at 25 Libra on the day after Kleopatra does likewise.The degree of Rhadamanthus' station (25 Libra) is said to be a reference to 'high levels of perception' which may be unexpected or not particularly conventional or 'mainstream,' as they say -- and how that is applied, whether in a frittering away of time and energy on useless efforts or the kind of 'breaking the mold' or ‘walking on the wild side’ spirit we think of as being typical of explorers or inventors.
Beyond this, 25 Libra displays a fairly typical Libra’s polarity through an inquisitiveness and altruism which at times can wax selfish and prone to demands, ‘hard line’ stances and ‘cutoffs’ – all of which, with Rhadamanthus (“fair judgment”) as the lens suggests some need to ‘decide’ between possible courses of action the process of which causes us to reflect on how fair we are/are being.
Enlèvement d'Europe (the Abduction of Europa)
by Nöel-Nicolas Coypel (detail) (1726-1727, Philadelphia Museum of Art)
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Does this mean we are trying to be fair about some
clever-if-inept choice or act? Or are we possibly hoping others will be fair with us? Seeing
as Rhadamanthus’ station overlaps that of Kleopatra, either scenario might represent the blending of these influences, though there's nothing which says they can't also manifest very much individually.
As for Rhadamanthus, as son of chief honcho god Zeus (aka Jupiter) and Europa, he (and his asteroid) refer to our ability to balance all factors in making a decision, plus whether ... occasionally in spite of all ... whether we are able to hold ourselves to definitive standards of fairness, justice and honesty.
July 9
So a day passes, and Earth turns bringing us to a moment when asteroid Tisiphone enters Taurus.
Being one of the Furies, Tisiphone can indicate any and every kind of ‘fury,’ be that emotional fury, a ‘furious’ (intense) effort, or the ‘fury’ of a storm which rips through an orchard, shaking fruit from tree and limb. Known in myth as the personification of 'warring energies,' Tisiphone is a metaphysical reference to the willingness to 'murder,' whether an actual corpse is involved or not. Said to make families and family dynamics her prime and primal target, in being imaged as “female” the metaphysical Tisiphone refers not to gender but to response to something, however that arises -- and with Tisiphone now entering Taurus (where it will be until May 22, 2017) its transit of this first and most instinctive of earthy signs suggests issues having to do with rejection (and the cost thereof), of not listening to or caring about others (and whatever hassle that creates), and not holding Self to the standards we demand from others.
All these things will surface, create challenges, problems, the occasional tsunami of enmity and a chance for real advances in the control of our lives not through controlling the outward appearance but rather through understanding the nature of our fears.
With Tisiphone going retrograde while still in Taurus' early (first decanate) degrees, it will not even reach Taurus’ second and most fervent decanate until March 25, 2017, meaning the bulk of this transit is going to be spent with Tisiphone in an area of the zodiac known for its 'plus polarity' of personal pleasure, luxury and “don’t mind if I do…” self indulgence, against which there's an equally luxurious negative pole of all things which exhibit our insecurities and all we do to defend ourselves from same, however that functions in each of our lives.
July 10
Question: will Tisiphone’s entering Taurus affect asteroid Lumiere going retrograde at 16 Pisces?
As for Rhadamanthus, as son of chief honcho god Zeus (aka Jupiter) and Europa, he (and his asteroid) refer to our ability to balance all factors in making a decision, plus whether ... occasionally in spite of all ... whether we are able to hold ourselves to definitive standards of fairness, justice and honesty.
July 9
So a day passes, and Earth turns bringing us to a moment when asteroid Tisiphone enters Taurus.
Being one of the Furies, Tisiphone can indicate any and every kind of ‘fury,’ be that emotional fury, a ‘furious’ (intense) effort, or the ‘fury’ of a storm which rips through an orchard, shaking fruit from tree and limb. Known in myth as the personification of 'warring energies,' Tisiphone is a metaphysical reference to the willingness to 'murder,' whether an actual corpse is involved or not. Said to make families and family dynamics her prime and primal target, in being imaged as “female” the metaphysical Tisiphone refers not to gender but to response to something, however that arises -- and with Tisiphone now entering Taurus (where it will be until May 22, 2017) its transit of this first and most instinctive of earthy signs suggests issues having to do with rejection (and the cost thereof), of not listening to or caring about others (and whatever hassle that creates), and not holding Self to the standards we demand from others.
All these things will surface, create challenges, problems, the occasional tsunami of enmity and a chance for real advances in the control of our lives not through controlling the outward appearance but rather through understanding the nature of our fears.
With Tisiphone going retrograde while still in Taurus' early (first decanate) degrees, it will not even reach Taurus’ second and most fervent decanate until March 25, 2017, meaning the bulk of this transit is going to be spent with Tisiphone in an area of the zodiac known for its 'plus polarity' of personal pleasure, luxury and “don’t mind if I do…” self indulgence, against which there's an equally luxurious negative pole of all things which exhibit our insecurities and all we do to defend ourselves from same, however that functions in each of our lives.
July 10
Question: will Tisiphone’s entering Taurus affect asteroid Lumiere going retrograde at 16 Pisces?
Orbital diagram of (775) Lumiere at July 1, 2016 (courtesy of JPL Small Body Database)
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Answer: it could. And that it could may say something about how our instincts may be playing up – or even ‘playing us’ about now. After all, Lumiere is an image of ‘light,’ whether that draws us to be 'lighthearted' or pertaining to that which ‘lights our way’ -- which when in asteroid form speaks to something we ‘meet up with’ now and again (at least every 5.23 years or so, as that's the length of Lumiere's orbit around Ye Olde Sun).
An ‘inhabitant’ of the main asteroid belt (the whole of which does laps around the Sun in the gap between Mars and Jupiter) Lumiere’s orbit takes it 'inward' towards the Sun far enough that it comes just inside Mars, which adds to our metaphysical understanding of Lumiere as an object which as an energetic manifests as something which gets us ‘past’ our Mars angers, defenses (or defensiveness) or fears, whatever they may be.
In going retrograde at 16 Pisces and currently on its way in towards us here on Earth after sitting around on its aphelion (the point farthest from the Sun) from September 30th until October 24th of last year (2015), Lumiere's general motion represents small things stirring here and there and life generally 'bestirring' us to learn something new, something more, something perhaps enlightening about our Self.
In addition, Lumiere stationing at 16 Pisces also speaks to what trust is and how we go about forming or formulating ‘trusting relationships.’ This particular degree is known for eliciting feelings of challenge and other difficulties which point to our need to, and the process of overcoming any internal reluctance which because it sees little assistance as things stand, assumes (incorrectly) that there is no better resources beyond or outside that which is so entirely accepted and which we may still want to see as acceptable, even there is evidence of debilitation or even a lack of trustworthiness.
Plus, even as Lumiere is taking station, its fellow asteroid Icarus is entering Virgo. What does this add to life's already spicy stew? Well, considering Icarus as an asteroid which raises the possibility that we are failing (or have failed) to ‘look before we leap’ -- or more precisely, what happens when. where and if we act without knowing how to do something, what we're getting into, or without taking all the risks into account.
What happens? Well, let's just say where Icarus is concerned, it's seldom good.
In currently entering Virgo, Icarus’ energy – and the associated need to know what we are doing, the risks involved and the possible consequences of doing it before we choose to take something on -- all that is moving into our ‘health, work, service’ zone.
That means we will be running into more ‘Icarus situations’ in work settings -- though we won't be under these conditions for very long as, hasty to the max, Icarus will be moving on into Libra on July 22nd. During these days we will meet up with Icarus impulses while participating in, and even when we're just thinking about what we want to do. Haste can make waste of a particularly uncomfortable emotional kind while Icarus transits Virgo -- plus we should all be careful not to spout off about things we don't know about, lest those things lead to one more more failures which lead to consequential uncertainties down the line.
July 12
The general ‘mood’ of things begins changing as Venus leaves Cancer and enters Leo at 5:35 in the morning (UT/+0 time) on July 12th -- if for no other reason than that which says Venus in any fire sign (of which, Leo is but one) tends to express as our being in something more of an adventurous mood than when Venus is in any of the water signs (like Cancer) which tends to have us more in the mood for comfort.
So now that Venus is in Leo, what now? With the Venus 'theme' being 'what we get for what we do,' does this mean that barring anything else we might start getting (more) willing to stir things up just so things become 'adventurous'?
Actually, yes. But it's far more likely that Venus entering Leo is going to be the beginning of a time during which we feel the power of our inner convictions -- not that we're necessarily jazzed at all the work it may take to get where we want to go! (Venus in Leo can be a 'let me take a nap' period when we're feeling neither engaged nor inspired.)
Of course Leo does get us to dreaming, which could mean that something which crosses our path now (or in the next couple of weeks of Venus in Leo) will cause us to become inspired about something ... or in some new way. And as Venus' entering Leo is just beginning flick of a substantial uptick we're about to experience in the Leo Department (courtesy of Mercury and the Sun, both of which will join Venus in Leo soon enough) -- so if you feel for some reason that you're 'at the start of something new,' you may just be right.
However ... here on July 12th where so far it's just Venus in Leo (with Sun and Mercury in Cancer and Mars in Scorpio) that means all the other 'personal planets' (the ones which track general day-to-day trends) minus the Moon are in water signs, meaning there are a lot of emotional issues sloshing about as Venus makes its entrance into Leo.
And despite the fact that a lot of astrological water plus only a little astrological fire generally equals some sputtering and a bit of steaming, Venus in Leo -- in its own right -- generally equals being in a good mood, or being in the mood to get into a good mood (or to a place where we'd feel better about things).
And any of that is motivational -- which is part of the Venus in Leo idea: to get motivated into doing something we will be happily better off for doing. After the over-long feeling Mars retrograde, who isn't up for some good feelings about Self? Who among us wouldn't want something we do to be constructive, creative, aspirational and (oh yes,) popular with others?
With Venus entering Leo in conjunction with Mercury (in Cancer) and asteroid Psyche (at 29 Cancer), what we want life to be (or become) is being described at this point as being a product not merely of our thoughts and mentality, but how we regard and feel about our thinking and our mentality. Plus with Mercury trine Chiron in Pisces and Mars at 24 Scorpio, what we really have here is Venus (which is not in trine to Chiron or Mars) 'marrying' Mercury's grand trine (the mental baggage we bring along, mayhaps?) in what looks like the beginning of some truly creative effort to reach down and pull one's self ... or one another ... or some situation 'up from it's bootstraps,' 'out of a hole,' or up from where it may have fallen flat.
Or simply been left to lay.
With Mercury-Chiron, we may not know what to think. And when we add in Mars, it's easy to imagine we may have some misgivings or insecurities on our own ability or 'how good an idea' something is starting out.
The issue most likely starts with us. Until Mercury enters Leo on July 14th, issues of 'trust' are likely -- and we are as likely to mistrust ourselves as anyone else. Given the grand water trine, whatever emotions, values, positions and emotionality we are dealing with at this moment is also not new, but ongoing or a 'recurrence' of something we are 'accustomed to,' probably from long ago.
But our outlook is going to change. How do we know that? We know that because no sooner does Venus enter Leo than it comes across the fact there's a Plutino in the zodiacal road.
Which Plutino, and what does it represent?
The Plutino in question is 2003 AZ84 (nice name, eh?) and it's sitting at 1 Leo, in position to greet every planet, asteroid and passing comet entering Leo all month long. New in the world of astrology, Plutino AZ84 acts like a 'magnifier,' - which in Leo can magnify abilities, dreams, the willingness to risk, our willingness to commit to something 'big,' and any number of things which speak to the magnification of ability, capacity or regard for something (or someone) and/or the kind of development (of Self) or developments (in one's life) which gives affirm our worth and ability.
So with Venus leading the Leo parade, it's connecting with AZ84 is likely to stir up love of drama and fun, stances, high jinx and high hopes, with some of us doing this usefully, some merely indulging in play and others being drawn into something which in time will teach them who they are -- and who they aren't. Known for enjoyment of fine things and happy times, Venus’ transit of Leo is a time when discoveries may lead to advantages which take time (and generally, effort) to figure out or learn how to use to best effect, and this would be a classic transit time for parties, vacations, celebrations, competitions and anything which allows us to ‘strut our stuff.’
Wherever Leo falls in our chart, that’s where we will tend to focus our courage, strength and determination or at least act like we are the cat's meow when it comes to competence -- you might say we ‘lionize’ such potentials. This image and the internal instinct which drives it is so strong that Leo people (Sun sign Leos) are often devoted (and challenged by) this very thing -- their ability and internal feelings of 'need' (whether real or imagined) to present a 'sunny, strong Self' and the projecting of strength to others, even though Leo is the heart and soul of the willing adventurer, the learner, the person who doesn't know it all and is happy to admit their mistakes and learn better.
(Okay, so Leo is known for not loving that 'admitting one's mistakes' part -- but that's just a bit of insecurity showing!)
And that's the thing to remember here (not that anyone likes their Leo quotient being challenged, mind you). Any planet transiting Leo is a quality or area of life (or activities) which we have a 'vision' for. It's where we will display determination and a need to be optimistic (about our Self and current actions or activities) which can both be very strong as a way of avoiding any internal sense of Leo vulnerability, whether there is any real vulnerability or not. That's just the nature of Leo, a sign which in being astrologically ruled by the Sun is neither comfortable with the darkness nor all too keen on the idea that anything in, or about life needs to cast any shadows.
So when something is in Leo, the darkness we fear most, that we think is 'out there' is either the darkness in our own nature (the things we don't want to tell our Self about that Self) ... and the fear of the unknown. Approach either in a 'Leo area' of someone's life and you'll get a dose of defensive-aggressiveness, whether pleasant or otherwise.
And you can expect that defensive-aggressiveness to either block us, lead us astray so that we betray ourselves (giving them an advantage against us) or to try to strike us down, criticize or discredit us.
That's just the Leo way. And if you stop and think about Leo as the sign of self-development, it should work something like that. When we are working to develop our Self or some ‘creation,’ we have to be committed to that act of creating 100%. We have to have a ‘shadow-less’ belief in our Self.
It's an argument between ego and humility -- which reflected in how the very act of committing to our 'Leo belief in Self' we create a gulf or 'conflict' between that belief (the relying on Self as knowing) and Leo all about a sign of self-development, a concept which plainly says we don't know it all yet -- an idea and set of struggles whatever we encounter in Leo (such as Venus) ultimately comes to be expressed through the Leo-Aquarius polarity.
Answer: it could. And that it could may say something about how our instincts may be playing up – or even ‘playing us’ about now. After all, Lumiere is an image of ‘light,’ whether that draws us to be 'lighthearted' or pertaining to that which ‘lights our way’ -- which when in asteroid form speaks to something we ‘meet up with’ now and again (at least every 5.23 years or so, as that's the length of Lumiere's orbit around Ye Olde Sun).
An ‘inhabitant’ of the main asteroid belt (the whole of which does laps around the Sun in the gap between Mars and Jupiter) Lumiere’s orbit takes it 'inward' towards the Sun far enough that it comes just inside Mars, which adds to our metaphysical understanding of Lumiere as an object which as an energetic manifests as something which gets us ‘past’ our Mars angers, defenses (or defensiveness) or fears, whatever they may be.
Welcome to my world! This is a clip from a study sheet yours truly has made listing
planets, comets, asteroids and everything else in terms of distance from the Sun,
discovery dates, orbital periods and much else (you are only seeing about half the
page width). Lumiere (in white) is at about the middle of the page, just above the
blue stripe denoting the inner' limit of Mars' orbit.
.In going retrograde at 16 Pisces and currently on its way in towards us here on Earth after sitting around on its aphelion (the point farthest from the Sun) from September 30th until October 24th of last year (2015), Lumiere's general motion represents small things stirring here and there and life generally 'bestirring' us to learn something new, something more, something perhaps enlightening about our Self.
In addition, Lumiere stationing at 16 Pisces also speaks to what trust is and how we go about forming or formulating ‘trusting relationships.’ This particular degree is known for eliciting feelings of challenge and other difficulties which point to our need to, and the process of overcoming any internal reluctance which because it sees little assistance as things stand, assumes (incorrectly) that there is no better resources beyond or outside that which is so entirely accepted and which we may still want to see as acceptable, even there is evidence of debilitation or even a lack of trustworthiness.
Plus, even as Lumiere is taking station, its fellow asteroid Icarus is entering Virgo. What does this add to life's already spicy stew? Well, considering Icarus as an asteroid which raises the possibility that we are failing (or have failed) to ‘look before we leap’ -- or more precisely, what happens when. where and if we act without knowing how to do something, what we're getting into, or without taking all the risks into account.
What happens? Well, let's just say where Icarus is concerned, it's seldom good.
In currently entering Virgo, Icarus’ energy – and the associated need to know what we are doing, the risks involved and the possible consequences of doing it before we choose to take something on -- all that is moving into our ‘health, work, service’ zone.
That means we will be running into more ‘Icarus situations’ in work settings -- though we won't be under these conditions for very long as, hasty to the max, Icarus will be moving on into Libra on July 22nd. During these days we will meet up with Icarus impulses while participating in, and even when we're just thinking about what we want to do. Haste can make waste of a particularly uncomfortable emotional kind while Icarus transits Virgo -- plus we should all be careful not to spout off about things we don't know about, lest those things lead to one more more failures which lead to consequential uncertainties down the line.
July 12
The general ‘mood’ of things begins changing as Venus leaves Cancer and enters Leo at 5:35 in the morning (UT/+0 time) on July 12th -- if for no other reason than that which says Venus in any fire sign (of which, Leo is but one) tends to express as our being in something more of an adventurous mood than when Venus is in any of the water signs (like Cancer) which tends to have us more in the mood for comfort.
So now that Venus is in Leo, what now? With the Venus 'theme' being 'what we get for what we do,' does this mean that barring anything else we might start getting (more) willing to stir things up just so things become 'adventurous'?
Actually, yes. But it's far more likely that Venus entering Leo is going to be the beginning of a time during which we feel the power of our inner convictions -- not that we're necessarily jazzed at all the work it may take to get where we want to go! (Venus in Leo can be a 'let me take a nap' period when we're feeling neither engaged nor inspired.)
Of course Leo does get us to dreaming, which could mean that something which crosses our path now (or in the next couple of weeks of Venus in Leo) will cause us to become inspired about something ... or in some new way. And as Venus' entering Leo is just beginning flick of a substantial uptick we're about to experience in the Leo Department (courtesy of Mercury and the Sun, both of which will join Venus in Leo soon enough) -- so if you feel for some reason that you're 'at the start of something new,' you may just be right.
However ... here on July 12th where so far it's just Venus in Leo (with Sun and Mercury in Cancer and Mars in Scorpio) that means all the other 'personal planets' (the ones which track general day-to-day trends) minus the Moon are in water signs, meaning there are a lot of emotional issues sloshing about as Venus makes its entrance into Leo.
And despite the fact that a lot of astrological water plus only a little astrological fire generally equals some sputtering and a bit of steaming, Venus in Leo -- in its own right -- generally equals being in a good mood, or being in the mood to get into a good mood (or to a place where we'd feel better about things).
And any of that is motivational -- which is part of the Venus in Leo idea: to get motivated into doing something we will be happily better off for doing. After the over-long feeling Mars retrograde, who isn't up for some good feelings about Self? Who among us wouldn't want something we do to be constructive, creative, aspirational and (oh yes,) popular with others?
Venus in Leo (glyph chart)
July 12, 2016 - 5:35 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
.
Venus in Leo (text chart)
July 12, 2016 - 5:35 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
.With Venus entering Leo in conjunction with Mercury (in Cancer) and asteroid Psyche (at 29 Cancer), what we want life to be (or become) is being described at this point as being a product not merely of our thoughts and mentality, but how we regard and feel about our thinking and our mentality. Plus with Mercury trine Chiron in Pisces and Mars at 24 Scorpio, what we really have here is Venus (which is not in trine to Chiron or Mars) 'marrying' Mercury's grand trine (the mental baggage we bring along, mayhaps?) in what looks like the beginning of some truly creative effort to reach down and pull one's self ... or one another ... or some situation 'up from it's bootstraps,' 'out of a hole,' or up from where it may have fallen flat.
Or simply been left to lay.
With Mercury-Chiron, we may not know what to think. And when we add in Mars, it's easy to imagine we may have some misgivings or insecurities on our own ability or 'how good an idea' something is starting out.
The issue most likely starts with us. Until Mercury enters Leo on July 14th, issues of 'trust' are likely -- and we are as likely to mistrust ourselves as anyone else. Given the grand water trine, whatever emotions, values, positions and emotionality we are dealing with at this moment is also not new, but ongoing or a 'recurrence' of something we are 'accustomed to,' probably from long ago.
But our outlook is going to change. How do we know that? We know that because no sooner does Venus enter Leo than it comes across the fact there's a Plutino in the zodiacal road.
Which Plutino, and what does it represent?
The Plutino in question is 2003 AZ84 (nice name, eh?) and it's sitting at 1 Leo, in position to greet every planet, asteroid and passing comet entering Leo all month long. New in the world of astrology, Plutino AZ84 acts like a 'magnifier,' - which in Leo can magnify abilities, dreams, the willingness to risk, our willingness to commit to something 'big,' and any number of things which speak to the magnification of ability, capacity or regard for something (or someone) and/or the kind of development (of Self) or developments (in one's life) which gives affirm our worth and ability.
So with Venus leading the Leo parade, it's connecting with AZ84 is likely to stir up love of drama and fun, stances, high jinx and high hopes, with some of us doing this usefully, some merely indulging in play and others being drawn into something which in time will teach them who they are -- and who they aren't. Known for enjoyment of fine things and happy times, Venus’ transit of Leo is a time when discoveries may lead to advantages which take time (and generally, effort) to figure out or learn how to use to best effect, and this would be a classic transit time for parties, vacations, celebrations, competitions and anything which allows us to ‘strut our stuff.’
Wherever Leo falls in our chart, that’s where we will tend to focus our courage, strength and determination or at least act like we are the cat's meow when it comes to competence -- you might say we ‘lionize’ such potentials. This image and the internal instinct which drives it is so strong that Leo people (Sun sign Leos) are often devoted (and challenged by) this very thing -- their ability and internal feelings of 'need' (whether real or imagined) to present a 'sunny, strong Self' and the projecting of strength to others, even though Leo is the heart and soul of the willing adventurer, the learner, the person who doesn't know it all and is happy to admit their mistakes and learn better.
(Okay, so Leo is known for not loving that 'admitting one's mistakes' part -- but that's just a bit of insecurity showing!)
And that's the thing to remember here (not that anyone likes their Leo quotient being challenged, mind you). Any planet transiting Leo is a quality or area of life (or activities) which we have a 'vision' for. It's where we will display determination and a need to be optimistic (about our Self and current actions or activities) which can both be very strong as a way of avoiding any internal sense of Leo vulnerability, whether there is any real vulnerability or not. That's just the nature of Leo, a sign which in being astrologically ruled by the Sun is neither comfortable with the darkness nor all too keen on the idea that anything in, or about life needs to cast any shadows.
So when something is in Leo, the darkness we fear most, that we think is 'out there' is either the darkness in our own nature (the things we don't want to tell our Self about that Self) ... and the fear of the unknown. Approach either in a 'Leo area' of someone's life and you'll get a dose of defensive-aggressiveness, whether pleasant or otherwise.
And you can expect that defensive-aggressiveness to either block us, lead us astray so that we betray ourselves (giving them an advantage against us) or to try to strike us down, criticize or discredit us.
That's just the Leo way. And if you stop and think about Leo as the sign of self-development, it should work something like that. When we are working to develop our Self or some ‘creation,’ we have to be committed to that act of creating 100%. We have to have a ‘shadow-less’ belief in our Self.
It's an argument between ego and humility -- which reflected in how the very act of committing to our 'Leo belief in Self' we create a gulf or 'conflict' between that belief (the relying on Self as knowing) and Leo all about a sign of self-development, a concept which plainly says we don't know it all yet -- an idea and set of struggles whatever we encounter in Leo (such as Venus) ultimately comes to be expressed through the Leo-Aquarius polarity.
Venus curando a Eneas (Venus healing Aeneas) by Merry-Joseph Blondel
(oil on canvas, Prado Museum, Spain)
(oil on canvas, Prado Museum, Spain)
.
Aquarius is an impersonal and non-personal sign all about the Big Picture and how systems, societies, groups and collectives operate. It is the venue into which we all fit once we develop ourselves and our abilities, with the work of doing all that developing being our Leo mission, challenge and adventure. Aquarius is the heart and soul of that notion which says ‘some people are going to like us (and what we do), while some people just won’t’ with the Aquarian side of the question asking us to understand how, far from being bad, differences offer us an opportunity to learn, grow, change and discover those new ideas which enrich and enliven our life, our world and our potential as a human race.
You might say the Leo-Aquarius polarity is the polarity of involvement. Leo is the 'personal' side of this equation where we take things to heart (and very personally, in the immediate sense) where Aquarius is where we tend to take a step back and to see things from an non-involved, theoretical, circumspect and long(er)-term point of view. Both signs are fixed, so we're dealing with signs which have no issue with determining their opinion on a subject (even if that opinion changes somewhere down the line) ... but their attitudes are different. Being a personally-oriented sign, our Leo quotient will critique or criticize something where our non-involved Aquarius attitude would rejects it with nary a glace or comment.
But that's the way these signs work. Leo is all about the Self and development of that Self's abilities, which in our current situation (with Venus entering Leo) will have us looking for (or working on) whatever appeals to us, whether or not it appeals to anyone else .... even as we would really want it to be appealing to others as that would in some measure 'validate' our liking it. Rooted as it is in the idea of ‘what it means to me’ (i.e., our "personal territory") our Leo-Aquarius polarity teaches us that as part of our being the (Leo) individual who fits into their (Aquarian) society, we have to respond to others while maintaining our boundaries and not over responding (not taking things too personally), lest that incite an 'Aquarius-type' polarity response and cause others to 'shut us out' -- which (let's face it) is what we do when we respond too aggressively to something which wasn't a 'threat' to begin with, even if it did poke us in our Leo pride-in-Self quotient (read: ego).
Venus is but the first of the personal planets to move into and through Leo this month - which gives us a chance to think through our 'Leo thing' in advance of the eclipse cycle moving from Virgo/Pisces (where it is now) into Leo/Aquarius as of August 2017. Might we want to work a few of our kinks now (voluntarily), so we have less 'getting over ourselves’ to do once those Leo eclipses start to polka across our skies?
July 13
Speaking of Leo and Psyche, Psyche enters Leo on July 13th, as fellow asteroid Amor is entering Gemini.
Namesake for a group of objects known as the ‘Amor group’ (or class) of asteroids, Amor refers not to anything erotic, but to friendship and the benefits of platonic relations (and thinking, for that matter). A resident of the main asteroid belt, when farthest from the Sun and like Lumiere, Amor’s innermost reach (its perihelion point) is just inside Mars.
Does this refer to ideas or people we have just met? Does it concern ideas we might ordinarily pass by which now are 'penetrating’ those (Mars) walls and defenses’ we all put up against unpleasantness? Could this refer to someone making a point about who our friends really are or aren’t?
Or might this refer to a ‘gathering together’ of resources and support (human or otherwise) which causes us to respond differently to something or someone?
While Psyche itself speaks to how well we cope with aspects of our own mentality, its movements through the signs refer to how (and how well) we deal with that task at any given moment, depending on what we face -- in life, and in our own responses to life. One of the largest of all the asteroids, estimates have Psyche containing just shy of 1% of the entire mass of the asteroid belt, which in present tense gets even more curious when when we consider how when Psyche is at its farthest from the Sun, it’s pretty much at the same place (i.e., same distance from that Sun) as Ceres is when Ceres is at its closest to the Sun, and Ceres contains some 3% of the total asteroid belt mass.
Referring to the planning and effort which gets anything we are or do from 'inception to success' or from ‘seed to harvest,’ Ceres concerns how we respond and manage external challenges much in the way Psyche speaks to our dealings with our internal mental world.
So, with Psyche moving into Leo, does this signal developments in our willingness (or) ability to deal with our most personal and inner conflicts? It could. Then again, we may be about to witness even more people acting out (or) a rash of attempts to defend the indefensible.
At this juncture, I would normally insert a nicely centered link to a post here on the blog entitled 'Eros and Psyche: Falling in Love with Our Mind' so you could read more about Psyche, but as Blogger (aka Google) seems to be having all sorts of posting and linking issues this month, here's a straight-out text link, should you want to read...
LINK TO POST: http://astroppm.blogspot.com/2014/02/eros-and-psyche-falling-in-love-with.html)
Beyond all that, that Psyche will enter Leo and immediately linking up with Plutino AZ84 (which is sitting at 1 Leo). Obviously having been within orb of AZ84 for a bit now, this combination speaks to an increase in some internal focus along with the chance that the 'wrong' thing is being focused on -- either purposefully (as in, we're ignoring something on purpose) or because we are so out-of-balance with or within our Self that we have no way focusing on what is really important.
Psyche will be in Leo until October 3rd, when it moves on into Virgo, conjuncting Royal Star Regulus (at 0 Virgo) as it does so. And considering the royal star ‘rule’ which says we only succeed where, when and if we avoid a certain human no-no (which with Regulus is vengeance or revenge), that suggests how we go about our Psyche/Leo business now, and what we do or don't get hold of in our Self (our mind) now is likely to be, or become telling in the wake of September’s eclipse as Psyche meets up with Regulus.
Again, what we can do is not always what we should do – even (or perhaps particularly) to our Self.
July 14
Continuing to speak in Leo terms, as of 48 minutes after midnight (UT/+0) on July 14th, Mercury also enters Leo, vesting and investing us in issues having to do with our Self and our personal world for the next couple of weeks.
Does this underscore the idea that Psyche is also in Leo? Certainly. Might it support us in our efforts to get something about how we think about something (or someone) during that time? Absolutely.
Then again, Mercury in Leo may also underscore any of our Psyche-type issues which we are determined not to deal with -- which means Mercury's transit through Leo may be a particularly trying time for those having to listen to someone who blatantly has no comprehension that they are either causing or exacerbating their own problems. Trust of others and the ability to trust the right people for the right reason(s) is also going to produce some highs and lows as we move ahead too, whether we try to ‘put a good face on’ things or not.
In a general sense, Mercury in Leo inspires our sense of adventure – or at least our willingness to be adventurous, given whatever circumstance we’re in. Leo being the derivative third sign to Mercury’s ‘home’ in communicative and mental Gemini, our weeks of Mercury in Leo often have us doing some creative thinking or coming up with a plan, speaking our mind and having those ‘inspired moments’ which may just be fun, but which also at times leads to ‘bigger things.’
But with Mercury entering Leo in conjunction with AZ84 (not to mention Psyche and Venus), are we focused (or focusing) on a 'right' thing -- or just something we want to be true or which we want to be 'right' about? That would be a question now, and other than relying on facts (which isn't much fun) we probably aren't going to know.
And that's not -- in the bigger picture -- to be wondered at either. One of the features of the incoming eclipse is that it is occurring in opposition to Neptune, which itself is conjunct the South Node. What that tells us is that part of the pre-eclipse 'breaking down' period we are now heading into will get more cumbersome to negotiate the more we 'cling' to the idea of our not having to deal with some unappealing and probably 'emotionally messy' issue, even as things remove any illusion we may have had about 'taking the easy way out.'
And let's not forget how Pluto-Vega speaks to a change in the ‘appeal’ of things (positive to negative or vice-versa) even as the 9 Virgo solar eclipse coincides with whatever will test of our sense of 'fate’ and the idea of personal responsibility and destiny. Given that idea, that Mercury will enter Leo at the apex of a t-square represents a challenge to choose wisely when it comes to where we want to put our time and energy, and how hard it may be to see the 'bigger picture' or get a really good perspective because we're 'too close' to something.
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Then there’s Circe.
That Circe is following Amor into Gemini (and that it will be there until April 23, 2017) sounds like an invitation or that which supports our efforts to ‘sell’ something or to ‘perform’ (whatever that term may mean) in a manner which doesn’t just merely enchant, but which causes others to stop thinking in a reasoned or rational way.
Obviously this works well enough if we’re on vacation or watching a play or movie or some other form of performance which asks that we suspend rational thinking in the name of entertainment. But it’s not as wonderful if we’re ‘losing' or 'surrendering' our mind to someone else -- or if someone else knowingly uses the capacity to ‘enchant’ or otherwise delude us so as to use us for their own selfish purposes.
With Circe in Gemini, 'enchantments' take the form of ideas. Or they could come to us through a conversation, something we hear, read or come to understand. We each possess some Circe and we're each susceptible to Circe energy. Where Circe is concerned, we can 'be enchanting,' 'fall under' someone's 'spell’ or even persuade our Self of some falsehood.
Yet let us not forget how in the myth, after reducing sailors stranded on her island to an ‘animal state,’ Circe ends up alone, defeated by a human being (Ulysses – or Odysseus, if you prefer) who is supported by the immortal forces (and Olympian advice) of Pallas Athena (dispassionate wisdom) and Mercury.
Evidently taking the time to think and the quality of our thinking is important now -- and as we move ahead.
July 16
With asteroid Child going retrograde at 22 Pisces on July 16th, its ‘station allowance’ period runs from July 14-18. And with the degree of Child’s station (22 Pisces) being one which stirs up issues and feelings having to do with things we don’t want to believe about our Self or (generally) anyone else, this is one of those moments when a choice (present or past tense), path or person rises up to test whether we are capable of maintaining correct priorities,and how that relates to some question of innocence or immaturity, whether in our own life or the existence of someone or something else.
July 17
If Hebe is entering Libra on July 17th (which it is), that means it was at 29 Virgo on the 16th as Child’s went on station, suggsting (among other things) that some part of what we are choosing to do or not do during these days has to do with our own attitudes towards responsibilities and the level of our human (or) humane concerns.
That said, as Hebe enters Libra, its supportive and ‘attendant’ energies shift from being focused on effort and concern to a tendency to focus on the ‘the other’ and whatever their interests, priorities or concerns are. Normally a helpful influence and a signature of that which allows us to maintain our inner spirit of dedication, Hebe in Libra speaks to a period during which some tendency to ‘judge’ or to make choices based on loyalty (or) possibly some superficial quality may become evident.
All this may be simply what it is. Then again, considering how Eris (aka Eris Discordia) is about to go retrograde on the 19th, things which take place now may well be just the beginning of something which has yet to show its truest colors.
July 19
The 19th is the date of the July Full Moon, with this one occurring at 22:58 (10:58 p.m., UT/+0) at 27 Capricorn, a degree which taps into our less ‘polished’ and sometimes ‘less civilized’ side, if with a tendency to do so as part of a dedication to one’s own purpose.
All that will now be ‘highlighted’ in many a form and through many a current function.
However, unlike many Capricorn degrees, 27 Capricorn doesn't just focus on the facts and classically tangible Capricorn notions of what we can achieve, but also instincts which in some cases includes something we may intuit or ‘hear’ in others (or their words) even if those people may not be voicing concerns or aims directly -- or even in our presence.
Arriving in our skies fully equipped with a (temporary) grand square, this Full Moon is highly likely to present us with choices as well as opportunities to gain the insight we need in order to make the best choice. However, with the date of this Full Moon also being that on which dwarf planet Eris is going to go retrograde (at 23 Aries) -- and with Eris taking station in conjunction with Uranus...
Well, let's just say things could get feisty, frisky or simply surprising. Even shocking.
Aquarius is an impersonal and non-personal sign all about the Big Picture and how systems, societies, groups and collectives operate. It is the venue into which we all fit once we develop ourselves and our abilities, with the work of doing all that developing being our Leo mission, challenge and adventure. Aquarius is the heart and soul of that notion which says ‘some people are going to like us (and what we do), while some people just won’t’ with the Aquarian side of the question asking us to understand how, far from being bad, differences offer us an opportunity to learn, grow, change and discover those new ideas which enrich and enliven our life, our world and our potential as a human race.
You might say the Leo-Aquarius polarity is the polarity of involvement. Leo is the 'personal' side of this equation where we take things to heart (and very personally, in the immediate sense) where Aquarius is where we tend to take a step back and to see things from an non-involved, theoretical, circumspect and long(er)-term point of view. Both signs are fixed, so we're dealing with signs which have no issue with determining their opinion on a subject (even if that opinion changes somewhere down the line) ... but their attitudes are different. Being a personally-oriented sign, our Leo quotient will critique or criticize something where our non-involved Aquarius attitude would rejects it with nary a glace or comment.
But that's the way these signs work. Leo is all about the Self and development of that Self's abilities, which in our current situation (with Venus entering Leo) will have us looking for (or working on) whatever appeals to us, whether or not it appeals to anyone else .... even as we would really want it to be appealing to others as that would in some measure 'validate' our liking it. Rooted as it is in the idea of ‘what it means to me’ (i.e., our "personal territory") our Leo-Aquarius polarity teaches us that as part of our being the (Leo) individual who fits into their (Aquarian) society, we have to respond to others while maintaining our boundaries and not over responding (not taking things too personally), lest that incite an 'Aquarius-type' polarity response and cause others to 'shut us out' -- which (let's face it) is what we do when we respond too aggressively to something which wasn't a 'threat' to begin with, even if it did poke us in our Leo pride-in-Self quotient (read: ego).
Venus is but the first of the personal planets to move into and through Leo this month - which gives us a chance to think through our 'Leo thing' in advance of the eclipse cycle moving from Virgo/Pisces (where it is now) into Leo/Aquarius as of August 2017. Might we want to work a few of our kinks now (voluntarily), so we have less 'getting over ourselves’ to do once those Leo eclipses start to polka across our skies?
July 13
Speaking of Leo and Psyche, Psyche enters Leo on July 13th, as fellow asteroid Amor is entering Gemini.
Namesake for a group of objects known as the ‘Amor group’ (or class) of asteroids, Amor refers not to anything erotic, but to friendship and the benefits of platonic relations (and thinking, for that matter). A resident of the main asteroid belt, when farthest from the Sun and like Lumiere, Amor’s innermost reach (its perihelion point) is just inside Mars.
Does this refer to ideas or people we have just met? Does it concern ideas we might ordinarily pass by which now are 'penetrating’ those (Mars) walls and defenses’ we all put up against unpleasantness? Could this refer to someone making a point about who our friends really are or aren’t?
Or might this refer to a ‘gathering together’ of resources and support (human or otherwise) which causes us to respond differently to something or someone?
While Psyche itself speaks to how well we cope with aspects of our own mentality, its movements through the signs refer to how (and how well) we deal with that task at any given moment, depending on what we face -- in life, and in our own responses to life. One of the largest of all the asteroids, estimates have Psyche containing just shy of 1% of the entire mass of the asteroid belt, which in present tense gets even more curious when when we consider how when Psyche is at its farthest from the Sun, it’s pretty much at the same place (i.e., same distance from that Sun) as Ceres is when Ceres is at its closest to the Sun, and Ceres contains some 3% of the total asteroid belt mass.
Referring to the planning and effort which gets anything we are or do from 'inception to success' or from ‘seed to harvest,’ Ceres concerns how we respond and manage external challenges much in the way Psyche speaks to our dealings with our internal mental world.
So, with Psyche moving into Leo, does this signal developments in our willingness (or) ability to deal with our most personal and inner conflicts? It could. Then again, we may be about to witness even more people acting out (or) a rash of attempts to defend the indefensible.
At this juncture, I would normally insert a nicely centered link to a post here on the blog entitled 'Eros and Psyche: Falling in Love with Our Mind' so you could read more about Psyche, but as Blogger (aka Google) seems to be having all sorts of posting and linking issues this month, here's a straight-out text link, should you want to read...
LINK TO POST: http://astroppm.blogspot.com/2014/02/eros-and-psyche-falling-in-love-with.html)
Psyche and L'Amour (Eros)
by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)
.Beyond all that, that Psyche will enter Leo and immediately linking up with Plutino AZ84 (which is sitting at 1 Leo). Obviously having been within orb of AZ84 for a bit now, this combination speaks to an increase in some internal focus along with the chance that the 'wrong' thing is being focused on -- either purposefully (as in, we're ignoring something on purpose) or because we are so out-of-balance with or within our Self that we have no way focusing on what is really important.
Psyche will be in Leo until October 3rd, when it moves on into Virgo, conjuncting Royal Star Regulus (at 0 Virgo) as it does so. And considering the royal star ‘rule’ which says we only succeed where, when and if we avoid a certain human no-no (which with Regulus is vengeance or revenge), that suggests how we go about our Psyche/Leo business now, and what we do or don't get hold of in our Self (our mind) now is likely to be, or become telling in the wake of September’s eclipse as Psyche meets up with Regulus.
Again, what we can do is not always what we should do – even (or perhaps particularly) to our Self.
July 14
Continuing to speak in Leo terms, as of 48 minutes after midnight (UT/+0) on July 14th, Mercury also enters Leo, vesting and investing us in issues having to do with our Self and our personal world for the next couple of weeks.
Does this underscore the idea that Psyche is also in Leo? Certainly. Might it support us in our efforts to get something about how we think about something (or someone) during that time? Absolutely.
Then again, Mercury in Leo may also underscore any of our Psyche-type issues which we are determined not to deal with -- which means Mercury's transit through Leo may be a particularly trying time for those having to listen to someone who blatantly has no comprehension that they are either causing or exacerbating their own problems. Trust of others and the ability to trust the right people for the right reason(s) is also going to produce some highs and lows as we move ahead too, whether we try to ‘put a good face on’ things or not.
Mercury in Leo (glyph chart)
July 14, 2016 - 00:46 a.m. (UT/+0) -- Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
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Mercury in Leo (text chart)
July 14, 2016 - 00:46 a.m. (UT/+0) -- Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
.In a general sense, Mercury in Leo inspires our sense of adventure – or at least our willingness to be adventurous, given whatever circumstance we’re in. Leo being the derivative third sign to Mercury’s ‘home’ in communicative and mental Gemini, our weeks of Mercury in Leo often have us doing some creative thinking or coming up with a plan, speaking our mind and having those ‘inspired moments’ which may just be fun, but which also at times leads to ‘bigger things.’
But with Mercury entering Leo in conjunction with AZ84 (not to mention Psyche and Venus), are we focused (or focusing) on a 'right' thing -- or just something we want to be true or which we want to be 'right' about? That would be a question now, and other than relying on facts (which isn't much fun) we probably aren't going to know.
And that's not -- in the bigger picture -- to be wondered at either. One of the features of the incoming eclipse is that it is occurring in opposition to Neptune, which itself is conjunct the South Node. What that tells us is that part of the pre-eclipse 'breaking down' period we are now heading into will get more cumbersome to negotiate the more we 'cling' to the idea of our not having to deal with some unappealing and probably 'emotionally messy' issue, even as things remove any illusion we may have had about 'taking the easy way out.'
And let's not forget how Pluto-Vega speaks to a change in the ‘appeal’ of things (positive to negative or vice-versa) even as the 9 Virgo solar eclipse coincides with whatever will test of our sense of 'fate’ and the idea of personal responsibility and destiny. Given that idea, that Mercury will enter Leo at the apex of a t-square represents a challenge to choose wisely when it comes to where we want to put our time and energy, and how hard it may be to see the 'bigger picture' or get a really good perspective because we're 'too close' to something.
Then there’s Circe.
That Circe is following Amor into Gemini (and that it will be there until April 23, 2017) sounds like an invitation or that which supports our efforts to ‘sell’ something or to ‘perform’ (whatever that term may mean) in a manner which doesn’t just merely enchant, but which causes others to stop thinking in a reasoned or rational way.
Obviously this works well enough if we’re on vacation or watching a play or movie or some other form of performance which asks that we suspend rational thinking in the name of entertainment. But it’s not as wonderful if we’re ‘losing' or 'surrendering' our mind to someone else -- or if someone else knowingly uses the capacity to ‘enchant’ or otherwise delude us so as to use us for their own selfish purposes.
Odysseus and Circe by Bartholomäus Spranger (1546-1611)
.With Circe in Gemini, 'enchantments' take the form of ideas. Or they could come to us through a conversation, something we hear, read or come to understand. We each possess some Circe and we're each susceptible to Circe energy. Where Circe is concerned, we can 'be enchanting,' 'fall under' someone's 'spell’ or even persuade our Self of some falsehood.
Yet let us not forget how in the myth, after reducing sailors stranded on her island to an ‘animal state,’ Circe ends up alone, defeated by a human being (Ulysses – or Odysseus, if you prefer) who is supported by the immortal forces (and Olympian advice) of Pallas Athena (dispassionate wisdom) and Mercury.
Evidently taking the time to think and the quality of our thinking is important now -- and as we move ahead.
July 16
With asteroid Child going retrograde at 22 Pisces on July 16th, its ‘station allowance’ period runs from July 14-18. And with the degree of Child’s station (22 Pisces) being one which stirs up issues and feelings having to do with things we don’t want to believe about our Self or (generally) anyone else, this is one of those moments when a choice (present or past tense), path or person rises up to test whether we are capable of maintaining correct priorities,and how that relates to some question of innocence or immaturity, whether in our own life or the existence of someone or something else.
July 17
If Hebe is entering Libra on July 17th (which it is), that means it was at 29 Virgo on the 16th as Child’s went on station, suggsting (among other things) that some part of what we are choosing to do or not do during these days has to do with our own attitudes towards responsibilities and the level of our human (or) humane concerns.
That said, as Hebe enters Libra, its supportive and ‘attendant’ energies shift from being focused on effort and concern to a tendency to focus on the ‘the other’ and whatever their interests, priorities or concerns are. Normally a helpful influence and a signature of that which allows us to maintain our inner spirit of dedication, Hebe in Libra speaks to a period during which some tendency to ‘judge’ or to make choices based on loyalty (or) possibly some superficial quality may become evident.
All this may be simply what it is. Then again, considering how Eris (aka Eris Discordia) is about to go retrograde on the 19th, things which take place now may well be just the beginning of something which has yet to show its truest colors.
July 19
Full Moon at 27 Capricorn (glyph chart)
July 19, 2016 - 22:58 (10:58 pm) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
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Full Moon at 27 Capricorn (text chart)
July 19, 2016 - 22:58 (10:58 pm) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
.The 19th is the date of the July Full Moon, with this one occurring at 22:58 (10:58 p.m., UT/+0) at 27 Capricorn, a degree which taps into our less ‘polished’ and sometimes ‘less civilized’ side, if with a tendency to do so as part of a dedication to one’s own purpose.
All that will now be ‘highlighted’ in many a form and through many a current function.
However, unlike many Capricorn degrees, 27 Capricorn doesn't just focus on the facts and classically tangible Capricorn notions of what we can achieve, but also instincts which in some cases includes something we may intuit or ‘hear’ in others (or their words) even if those people may not be voicing concerns or aims directly -- or even in our presence.
Arriving in our skies fully equipped with a (temporary) grand square, this Full Moon is highly likely to present us with choices as well as opportunities to gain the insight we need in order to make the best choice. However, with the date of this Full Moon also being that on which dwarf planet Eris is going to go retrograde (at 23 Aries) -- and with Eris taking station in conjunction with Uranus...
Well, let's just say things could get feisty, frisky or simply surprising. Even shocking.
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Having the Sun and Moon -- here in late degrees of pro-active cardinal signs Cancer and Capricorn -- squaring Ceres and Juno (which are in early degrees of fixed signs Taurus and Juno) speaks to many questions and details.
Or maybe many questions about the details. And with fixed star Mirach conjunct Ceres on the Taurus side, tangible advances in the area(s) of resources and ‘provisions,’ may as yet be 'on hold,' or not yet determined. The idea of something ‘gumming up the works’ and affecting effective operation or some schedules and thus the ability have things ‘look’ as we thought they would (or might want them to) is also affected. And when we add in the idea of Juno being in an out-of-sign conjunction with Nemesis, it’s highly likely that we have known whatever happens now could happen, but we didn't want to say (or do) anything ...
... except now we have to, whether we want to or not.
(Feel free to send your complaints to Eris Discordia, c/o Mount Olympus).
Speaking of Discordia, Eris is also going retrograde on the 19th, at 20:33 (8:33 p.m., UT/ +0) and at 23 Aries to be specific. The position of this station, being in the last third of the sign speaks of things we react to, take into account, participate in, but don’t precisely ‘control’ -- with lore on the degree of station speaking of its ‘transpersonal’ qualities, a reference both to our not 'controlling' things (or feeling 'in control') as well as the possibility that we are serving a 'greater purpose' or that our lives are being changed now by events, ideas and forces we may not -- in the moment -- even notice.
Eris has a reputation for presenting situations which test our ability to do or choose the thing which will work well in the long run because in the moment, something else seems so appealing,' which during this time of Pluto/Vega seems both apt and something of a(nother) headache. So while one part of our Eris experience challenges us to care about the status quo, do we still (or have we ever liked) that status quo -- and should we like it?
In going on station in conjunction with Uranus, Eris is ‘bringing home’ to us facts about where and how things are changing -- and how they may have already changed, whether we like it or not. In light of current changes, some will 'cut and run,' some will abandon their responsibilities and others will step up or speak out, believing intrinsically in something which others may or may not agree with or even want to acknowledge, particularly when it doesn't affect them.
That doesn't make anything either right or wrong.
Having Eris go retrograde at the moment of a Full Moon is a lot of energy, some of which will be lunar and emotionally, and some of which is going to carry the full force and warning which comes from Uranus OR Eris, never mind both of them together. Put simply, there is a chance for disruptions or disruptive activity now -- but not every change to the status quo has to be a bad thing in any short or long run. Some aims being expressed now will have focus, but some will be 'all over the map,' as both Uranus and Eris are known for energies which are notoriously hard to contain. Both points urge us to deal with facts, and to (whenever possible) be as flexible as possible, particularly where purely personal preference is concerned as ego and the desire for personal 'success' (however defined) without others being equally satisfied prompts ever more conflict.
Where Eris is concerned, our gain, our pleasure cannot rule the moment. And yet, given this Full Moon, its highly unlikely anyone is going to tell us what we should want.
Associated with activities such as sports which harness both our skill and the kind of competitive nature or "the will to contest," 27 Capricorn has a noted capacity for hostility (even violence) which may indicate something ‘coming to a head’ now. With this energy being funneled through a moment naturally filled with (Full Moon) emotion as we head towards September's eclipse, some recognition that things are indeed 'breaking down' and about to change will also prompt many of us to stop and assess where we still want to go -- and certainly what we should attend to next, in any case.
July 20
Speaking of pleasures, having Euphrosyne (a symbol of good cheer and merriment) go retrograde at 27 Pisces on the day after July’s 27 Capricorn Full Moon suggests something pleasant or 'fun’ being put aside, with many of us doing so in the knowledge we are making a 'right' choice whether we stand to reap some personal reward from doing so or not. With these two points (the Full Moon and Euphrosyne’s station) in a perfect sextile, an opportunity or ‘option’ is also implied -- which may explain why we're willing to put something aside, too!
Then again, this station is likely to speak to something which requires some sort of ‘deferment’ or delay of gratification. In light of that, will we choose to do nothing at all? We might, though such a choice is likely to have repercussions, some of which we wouldn't expect. With Euphrosyne going on station at 27 Pisces, strange influences, surprises and the chance of becoming unsettled at 'knowing' something others merely wonder about may also occur.
July 22
Marking a substantial shift of tone, attitude and mental consciousness, the Sun exits Cancer and enters the fiery fixed sign of Leo at 9:31 in the morning of July 22, UT/+0 time, leaving the area of the zodiac wholly focused on who we are and what we want as it enters that which requires us to interact with others while taking their likes, dislikes, abilities, associations, commitments and priorities into account.
Also, lest we forget, July 22nd is also when speedster asteroid Icarus zips its 'haste-makes-waste' show into Libra, warning us not to assume we know what others want, value, like or expect. (Ask, don't assume!)
Under the transiting Sun in Leo, we tend to think about what 'good things' we can come up with and what good can come from doing (or not doing) those particular things, with at least some portion of our concern coming from those lacks or vulnerabilities we feel or see in our Self being a motivating factor.
When something goes right under Leo, we tend to remember the pattern. Leo represents children in general and in particular, the ages of 10 through 12 ½. But whatever our chronological age, we remember and build on those tactics and abilities we have developed which we find work to move our personal agenda and Purpose forward -- and that's very much at the heart of the Leo concept. All of this makes the Sun’s yearly transit of Leo a time when we, as individuals, flex our individuality, whether that means doing something all by ourselves, being part of a team or group, or whether that takes the form of being a single person talking to, confronting or interacting with some group, some organization, some marketplace or some society.
As for this year’s particular Leo ingress, with the temporary grand square we started the month with being now gone, the Sun enters Leo at the apex of a t-square -- which right away promises some testing of personal proportion over the next solar month.
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With Plutino AZ84 still sitting at 1 Leo (Plutinos are many things, but swift moving is not one of them) ... with AZ84 at 1 Leo, everything now may seem 'larger than life' or be being 'blown out of proportion.' We may be making mountains out of molehills -- or be focused on the wrong molehill, making everything that much more complicated.
Whatever is, or seems at stake now, Kallisto being conjunct the Sun (and AZ84) from behind at 26 Cancer also speaks to some defeat or feelings of defeat which occur about now -- and how if such a moments of difficulty finds us at this time, we aren't going to feel like we have any options, at least not at the moment. Speaking to all we go through when something we undertake goes terribly awry for reasons entirely beyond our understanding or control, the cycles and appearances of Kallisto in our chart (or by transit) reminds us that sometimes all we can do is accept what has happened and hold out (or hold on) until something about the situation (or in life) ‘rights’ itself and things begin going our way again.
With all of this appearing at the apex of a t-square, together it describes something we meet up with as we attempt to respond to situations we have heard about or witnessed (Mirach) which have made doing (Ceres) what we need to do in order to make our own life work a (Tisiphone) mess -- and probably something we're not happy about. That all this is appearing in early Taurus is a reference to the instincts which are driving our basic needs along with whatever instincts we may have about what we need to do in order to improve our situation, with the whole of the situation posing a real challenge ... and thus serving to point out to us ... where our 'wants' outstrip our capacities.
In other words, we probably can't have everything our way.
Mind you, without true planets at all three points of the t-square, this moment is more of a toe stub than a true stumbling block. Still, with the ‘goal’ being pictured here being Juno-Nemesis, there's a distinct note here speaking to a desire to 'control' something or someone (singular or plural on the 'someone'), or a desire to 'prove' someone or something wrong, particularly when or where we have been rejected, negated or taunted.
We may also be trying to understand what is going on so we can explain it to -- and warn -- others.
July 23
So the Sun enters Leo ... we take a breath (or two) – and hardly will we have gotten our best roar in tune but the annual Perseid meteor shower begins on July 23rd. Predicted to last until August 20th (and thus set to keep us company through nearly the whole of Sun in Leo), in being a product of comet Swift-Tuttle, the Perseids – like every meteor shower – is a metaphysical imaging of inspirations which get ‘sparked’ in us and the sort of ‘light in darkness’ which, in reminding or reassuring us that we aren’t alone, gets us to thinking about everything 'out there' (in the world) beyond our Self.
Having the Sun and Moon -- here in late degrees of pro-active cardinal signs Cancer and Capricorn -- squaring Ceres and Juno (which are in early degrees of fixed signs Taurus and Juno) speaks to many questions and details.
Or maybe many questions about the details. And with fixed star Mirach conjunct Ceres on the Taurus side, tangible advances in the area(s) of resources and ‘provisions,’ may as yet be 'on hold,' or not yet determined. The idea of something ‘gumming up the works’ and affecting effective operation or some schedules and thus the ability have things ‘look’ as we thought they would (or might want them to) is also affected. And when we add in the idea of Juno being in an out-of-sign conjunction with Nemesis, it’s highly likely that we have known whatever happens now could happen, but we didn't want to say (or do) anything ...
... except now we have to, whether we want to or not.
(Feel free to send your complaints to Eris Discordia, c/o Mount Olympus).
Speaking of Discordia, Eris is also going retrograde on the 19th, at 20:33 (8:33 p.m., UT/ +0) and at 23 Aries to be specific. The position of this station, being in the last third of the sign speaks of things we react to, take into account, participate in, but don’t precisely ‘control’ -- with lore on the degree of station speaking of its ‘transpersonal’ qualities, a reference both to our not 'controlling' things (or feeling 'in control') as well as the possibility that we are serving a 'greater purpose' or that our lives are being changed now by events, ideas and forces we may not -- in the moment -- even notice.
Eris has a reputation for presenting situations which test our ability to do or choose the thing which will work well in the long run because in the moment, something else seems so appealing,' which during this time of Pluto/Vega seems both apt and something of a(nother) headache. So while one part of our Eris experience challenges us to care about the status quo, do we still (or have we ever liked) that status quo -- and should we like it?
In going on station in conjunction with Uranus, Eris is ‘bringing home’ to us facts about where and how things are changing -- and how they may have already changed, whether we like it or not. In light of current changes, some will 'cut and run,' some will abandon their responsibilities and others will step up or speak out, believing intrinsically in something which others may or may not agree with or even want to acknowledge, particularly when it doesn't affect them.
That doesn't make anything either right or wrong.
Having Eris go retrograde at the moment of a Full Moon is a lot of energy, some of which will be lunar and emotionally, and some of which is going to carry the full force and warning which comes from Uranus OR Eris, never mind both of them together. Put simply, there is a chance for disruptions or disruptive activity now -- but not every change to the status quo has to be a bad thing in any short or long run. Some aims being expressed now will have focus, but some will be 'all over the map,' as both Uranus and Eris are known for energies which are notoriously hard to contain. Both points urge us to deal with facts, and to (whenever possible) be as flexible as possible, particularly where purely personal preference is concerned as ego and the desire for personal 'success' (however defined) without others being equally satisfied prompts ever more conflict.
Where Eris is concerned, our gain, our pleasure cannot rule the moment. And yet, given this Full Moon, its highly unlikely anyone is going to tell us what we should want.
Associated with activities such as sports which harness both our skill and the kind of competitive nature or "the will to contest," 27 Capricorn has a noted capacity for hostility (even violence) which may indicate something ‘coming to a head’ now. With this energy being funneled through a moment naturally filled with (Full Moon) emotion as we head towards September's eclipse, some recognition that things are indeed 'breaking down' and about to change will also prompt many of us to stop and assess where we still want to go -- and certainly what we should attend to next, in any case.
July 20
Speaking of pleasures, having Euphrosyne (a symbol of good cheer and merriment) go retrograde at 27 Pisces on the day after July’s 27 Capricorn Full Moon suggests something pleasant or 'fun’ being put aside, with many of us doing so in the knowledge we are making a 'right' choice whether we stand to reap some personal reward from doing so or not. With these two points (the Full Moon and Euphrosyne’s station) in a perfect sextile, an opportunity or ‘option’ is also implied -- which may explain why we're willing to put something aside, too!
Then again, this station is likely to speak to something which requires some sort of ‘deferment’ or delay of gratification. In light of that, will we choose to do nothing at all? We might, though such a choice is likely to have repercussions, some of which we wouldn't expect. With Euphrosyne going on station at 27 Pisces, strange influences, surprises and the chance of becoming unsettled at 'knowing' something others merely wonder about may also occur.
July 22
Marking a substantial shift of tone, attitude and mental consciousness, the Sun exits Cancer and enters the fiery fixed sign of Leo at 9:31 in the morning of July 22, UT/+0 time, leaving the area of the zodiac wholly focused on who we are and what we want as it enters that which requires us to interact with others while taking their likes, dislikes, abilities, associations, commitments and priorities into account.
Also, lest we forget, July 22nd is also when speedster asteroid Icarus zips its 'haste-makes-waste' show into Libra, warning us not to assume we know what others want, value, like or expect. (Ask, don't assume!)
Under the transiting Sun in Leo, we tend to think about what 'good things' we can come up with and what good can come from doing (or not doing) those particular things, with at least some portion of our concern coming from those lacks or vulnerabilities we feel or see in our Self being a motivating factor.
Sun in Leo (glyph chart)
July 22, 2016 - 9:31 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
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Sun in Leo (glyph chart)
July 22, 2016 - 9:31 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
.When something goes right under Leo, we tend to remember the pattern. Leo represents children in general and in particular, the ages of 10 through 12 ½. But whatever our chronological age, we remember and build on those tactics and abilities we have developed which we find work to move our personal agenda and Purpose forward -- and that's very much at the heart of the Leo concept. All of this makes the Sun’s yearly transit of Leo a time when we, as individuals, flex our individuality, whether that means doing something all by ourselves, being part of a team or group, or whether that takes the form of being a single person talking to, confronting or interacting with some group, some organization, some marketplace or some society.
As for this year’s particular Leo ingress, with the temporary grand square we started the month with being now gone, the Sun enters Leo at the apex of a t-square -- which right away promises some testing of personal proportion over the next solar month.
With Plutino AZ84 still sitting at 1 Leo (Plutinos are many things, but swift moving is not one of them) ... with AZ84 at 1 Leo, everything now may seem 'larger than life' or be being 'blown out of proportion.' We may be making mountains out of molehills -- or be focused on the wrong molehill, making everything that much more complicated.
Whatever is, or seems at stake now, Kallisto being conjunct the Sun (and AZ84) from behind at 26 Cancer also speaks to some defeat or feelings of defeat which occur about now -- and how if such a moments of difficulty finds us at this time, we aren't going to feel like we have any options, at least not at the moment. Speaking to all we go through when something we undertake goes terribly awry for reasons entirely beyond our understanding or control, the cycles and appearances of Kallisto in our chart (or by transit) reminds us that sometimes all we can do is accept what has happened and hold out (or hold on) until something about the situation (or in life) ‘rights’ itself and things begin going our way again.
With all of this appearing at the apex of a t-square, together it describes something we meet up with as we attempt to respond to situations we have heard about or witnessed (Mirach) which have made doing (Ceres) what we need to do in order to make our own life work a (Tisiphone) mess -- and probably something we're not happy about. That all this is appearing in early Taurus is a reference to the instincts which are driving our basic needs along with whatever instincts we may have about what we need to do in order to improve our situation, with the whole of the situation posing a real challenge ... and thus serving to point out to us ... where our 'wants' outstrip our capacities.
In other words, we probably can't have everything our way.
Mind you, without true planets at all three points of the t-square, this moment is more of a toe stub than a true stumbling block. Still, with the ‘goal’ being pictured here being Juno-Nemesis, there's a distinct note here speaking to a desire to 'control' something or someone (singular or plural on the 'someone'), or a desire to 'prove' someone or something wrong, particularly when or where we have been rejected, negated or taunted.
We may also be trying to understand what is going on so we can explain it to -- and warn -- others.
July 23
So the Sun enters Leo ... we take a breath (or two) – and hardly will we have gotten our best roar in tune but the annual Perseid meteor shower begins on July 23rd. Predicted to last until August 20th (and thus set to keep us company through nearly the whole of Sun in Leo), in being a product of comet Swift-Tuttle, the Perseids – like every meteor shower – is a metaphysical imaging of inspirations which get ‘sparked’ in us and the sort of ‘light in darkness’ which, in reminding or reassuring us that we aren’t alone, gets us to thinking about everything 'out there' (in the world) beyond our Self.
A Perseid meteor streaks through the night sky
(photo credit: Kim MyoungSun, August 13, 2013)
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Appearing to come from the area of constellation Perseus (a
Greek heroic type if there ever was one!) the Perseids have are also easily
associated with the idea of ‘Leo courage’ being sparked in us.
But perhaps far more on point for us here in July 2016 is the idea that when at its closest to the Sun (its perihelion), Swift-Tuttle – along with several other comet creators of meteor showers – is between the inner orbital point for Mars and the orbit of Venus, as seen a bit earlier in the clip from my solar system objects study sheet.
But perhaps far more on point for us here in July 2016 is the idea that when at its closest to the Sun (its perihelion), Swift-Tuttle – along with several other comet creators of meteor showers – is between the inner orbital point for Mars and the orbit of Venus, as seen a bit earlier in the clip from my solar system objects study sheet.
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And why would that be of particular interest right now? It’s interesting because at the other end of its egg-ish shaped orbit when comet Swift-Tuttle is as far from the Sun as it ever gets (and it’s evidently a very stable comet), when at that aphelion point, Swift-Tuttle is in the Haumea district -- as this next clip from that same study sheet shows:
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With such a metaphysical ‘hint’ that all these cycles are tied together, should we be thinking that the precepts of Lumiere and whatever we are needing to confront in our Haumea soul are connected?
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Perhaps yes. Especially in light of July as a month of eclipse effects plus Pluto rooting around in our psychic cellars like some metaphysical tunnel digging crew, it may well be that we are being brought into a time filled with challenges, pressures, desires and opportunities in order to see and confront – in our Self – who we are being (as opposed to who we may like to think we are being) so that, in gaining perspective on that and why that may not be ‘working’ for us, we get to thinking how to make changes (and what changes to make) in order to become more productive, successful and satisfied, however we define those things in our particular life.
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Perhaps yes. Especially in light of July as a month of eclipse effects plus Pluto rooting around in our psychic cellars like some metaphysical tunnel digging crew, it may well be that we are being brought into a time filled with challenges, pressures, desires and opportunities in order to see and confront – in our Self – who we are being (as opposed to who we may like to think we are being) so that, in gaining perspective on that and why that may not be ‘working’ for us, we get to thinking how to make changes (and what changes to make) in order to become more productive, successful and satisfied, however we define those things in our particular life.
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And as the Perseids are beginning with just shy of a week until Uranus turns to retrograde in the latter part of Aries, this may mark – or mark the sparking of a ‘revolutionary’ attitude, idea, plan or effort which aims to change our place in the world, or what we’re doing with our life.
July 24
Given all that, with the Sun in Leo and the Perseids just getting under way, what does Charybdis going retrograde at 25 Pisces contribute to our days. In that Charybdis is imaged as a monstrous whirlpool (or, to put it more anthropomorphically, a ‘monster whirlpool’), it speaks to our being already involved in, or some chance of getting ‘caught up’ in some sort of whirl or swirl of emotions or emotionality.
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Or we may be already operating from that perspective, with the Perseids ‘sparking’ us to speak or act in some constructive (or) particularly demonstrative manner. With Chiron and asteroid Moskva alongside at 24 Pisces (and Moskva about to go retrograde on July 26th) with Charybdis going retrograde at 25 Pisces, the 25 Pisces theme of weakness and vulnerability asks us what we can do to help others, what is keeping us from helping others (as a specific which will grow moving forward), and what we may be able to do, depending on our situation, to help our Self lest we – or anyone -- drown, whether metaphysically or otherwise.
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July 26
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Or we may be already operating from that perspective, with the Perseids ‘sparking’ us to speak or act in some constructive (or) particularly demonstrative manner. With Chiron and asteroid Moskva alongside at 24 Pisces (and Moskva about to go retrograde on July 26th) with Charybdis going retrograde at 25 Pisces, the 25 Pisces theme of weakness and vulnerability asks us what we can do to help others, what is keeping us from helping others (as a specific which will grow moving forward), and what we may be able to do, depending on our situation, to help our Self lest we – or anyone -- drown, whether metaphysically or otherwise.
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July 26
As soon as the Sun came into Leo, life began asking us what we were going to do with our options. The Perseids spark our interest and Charybdis speaks to things which begin pushing if not forcing an emotional hand which, with Moskva going retrograde at 24 Pisces suggests we have not decided to fully utilize, or even fully acknowledge as yet.
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A point of great intention and steel-clad patience, Moskva speaks to keeping things in check – though there is nothing particular about its station which refers to whose emotions, or what kind of emotions good, bad or inspirational this is referring to apart from the facts already known, namely that Moskva is going retrograde in the Piscean company of Chiron and Charybdis, which does suggest that whatever is being ‘held in place,’ part of the reason for doing so comes from the fact that we do not trust our Self to be able to carry through on whatever would be necessary for reasons personal and emotional.
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July 28
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A point of great intention and steel-clad patience, Moskva speaks to keeping things in check – though there is nothing particular about its station which refers to whose emotions, or what kind of emotions good, bad or inspirational this is referring to apart from the facts already known, namely that Moskva is going retrograde in the Piscean company of Chiron and Charybdis, which does suggest that whatever is being ‘held in place,’ part of the reason for doing so comes from the fact that we do not trust our Self to be able to carry through on whatever would be necessary for reasons personal and emotional.
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July 28
So just when we are being ‘stirred’ and ‘bestirred’ by various notions, ideas and inspiration, into all comes Deucalion, an object which in being a Cubewano and therefore a resident of the Kuiper Belt not affected by Neptune’s magnetic resonance, speaks to our ‘finding our way’ though some emotional storm or period of unpredictability or upheaval while keeping our head above water – particularly emotional water.
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In going direct, Deucalion is also making a reference to the life we deal with on an everyday basis – which could mean the days from July 26-30 could test our ability to maintain and cope and deal with everyday life in a balanced and (at least relatively) unemotional manner even though ‘behind the scenes’ we may be in some emotional pickle.
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In going direct, Deucalion is also making a reference to the life we deal with on an everyday basis – which could mean the days from July 26-30 could test our ability to maintain and cope and deal with everyday life in a balanced and (at least relatively) unemotional manner even though ‘behind the scenes’ we may be in some emotional pickle.
Deucalion and Pyrrha by Giovanni Maria Bottalla
(c.1635, oil on canvas, Museu Nacional de Belas Artes)
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As for going direct specifically at 15 Scorpio, that adds several notes to this station. The first concerns 15 Scorpio as one of the zodiac’s ‘cross-quarter’ points, all of which ‘move us’ from one phase of activity to another. Moreover, as this moment is Deucalion going direct at 15 Scorpio, that means Deucalion has retrograded back to 15 Scorpio after having crossed this particular cross-quarter point earlier this year – back in the middle of February, to be exact.
Thus there is some suggestion that something we were not yet ready to do or take on back then, we are now ready (or needing) to face, and how we will now do some form of that through the initiating auspices of 15 Scorpio, a degree which is typically Scorpio in its intensity of focus if less demonstrative or ‘passionate’ than other Scorpio degrees. Prone to doing what is necessary with skill if some degree of emotional detachment, 15 Scorpio exhibits a strength of ability along with a tendency to ‘give birth to’ or developments reflective of qualities in us which are either stunted, frustrated or unproductively bound up in restriction(s).
July 29
Uranus stations are seldom calm as the energy of Uranus is
all about some form or degree of change, which automatically says there are
going to be ripples in our status quo while asking how (and how well) we deal
with forces which disrupt and interrupt the neatly (and often too-tightly)
folded ‘hospital corners’ in our mind and life. Those of us who resist change
and who are ‘married’ to things as they are deal the worst with Uranus and tend
to meet up with its effects externally – which is to say, if they won’t change,
something in life is going to come along and change them (or) make it
impossible not to change whatever is being questioned.
As for this particular station, this is Uranus going into
retrograde, telling us that things which happen now are going to affect how we
feel about ourselves and/or our standing (or the stability of our standing)
with others and our capacity to be self-determinative.
With regards to this particular station, we already know Uranus is
going retrograde in conjunction to Eris, which on the Uranus side poses a
question as to whether we have been working for our own benefit or that of
others, with the former not generally tending to be supported (or even
supportable) here and the latter being far the better path. In a general sense,
Uranus direct indicates changes in the world around us or those which come into
our life through external means while Uranus’ retrograde periods speak to times
when we our attitudes, will and motivation (or even our ability) to effect
change gets altered by things we obviously have not yet considered or
confronted up until now.
Uranus Station-Retrograde (glyph chart)
July 29, 2016 - 21:07 (9:07 p.m.) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
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Uranus Station-Retrograde (text chart)
July 29, 2016 - 21:07 (9:07 p.m.) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
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In going retrograde at 21:07 (or 9:07 in the evening UT/+0
time) at 24 Aries, Uranus is specifically stirring up an energetic which speaks
to our ability to ‘create’ or ‘be creative’ and what happens when that energy
is used in a manner which is inappropriate to our life – specifically to our
own need to discover our capacities and ‘flex our abilities’ in that life.
Being known as a degree which creates or prompts alienation (either from others
or one’s Self), this Uranus station may manifest as anything from the kind of
frustration which causes us to be bored with almost everything (not to mention
everyone) to the kind of impulsiveness which either succeeds utterly, ‘breaking
us out’ of our doldrums, or which in totally disrupting things relieves tedium
and ennui by getting us into situations which are more difficult to cope with.
Sometimes Uranus is a bit like trying to harness lightning -- or contain in any bottle.
Known for qualities of distraction strong enough to derail normal attentions and activities (even those which may be critical to survival, to have Uranus – a symbol of impersonal and transpersonal energy in its own right – going retrograde at 24 Aries speaks to situations and the possibility of perspectives which ‘break’ our hold on something we had wanted to think true, but which wasn’t. So with Uranus not due to go direct again until a few days before the end of December, the balance of 2016 is all about us – and rather literally so, as Uranus is going retrograde (and obviously, at some point direct) in the ‘I Am’ self-identifying sign of Aries.
Interestingly positioned at the midpoint of Chiron and Moskva (a semi-sextile away in Pisces) and Sedna-Algol (a semi-sextile away on the other side in Taurus), issues with difficult people, tough disagreements, ideas which are unworkable, immoral or simply untrue are likely, and retribution (or other forms of ‘blow-back’ for hurts real or imagined) are likely.
Not that they’re going to fix much, as this station is far more likely to be associated with ‘inceptions’ or ‘the process’ rather than achievements and successful conclusions, which implies that which does end now simply leads to something else.
That aside, given the double semi-sextile noted above, anyone who has a planet, dwarf planet, Plutino, node, or axis point (Ascendant, IC, Descendant or Midheaven) in opposition to Uranus’ station at 24 Aries is going to be experiencing a transiting Yod. The orb will be close here as Yods are rather fussy sort of figures, but if you have a point (as above) at 22, 23, 24, 25 or 26 Libra, there is an implied promise being given here to the effect that if you will make a change, you will succeed … and if you don’t make any changes, that which you are doing will become increasingly less satisfying or productive.
That’s a big ‘if’ – after all, most people aren’t going to have a planet, node, dwarf planet, Plutino, node or axis point exactly in the area of degrees which will complete the Yod. However, for the rest of us (for everyone, actually), there is the idea that Uranus’ station is both in trine to Venus (at 21 Leo) and Mercury (at 28 Leo) even though Mercury and Venus are not in conjunction to each other.
The trine to Venus supports anything fun and carefree, but is less likely to indicate something lasting or sincerely stable. Going out and having a good time, embarking on or enjoying some new form of creative effort, taking some sort of social or societal risk – all these would be in line with Uranus trining Venus. But then, having an existing relationship suddenly change or become unstable is also very Uranus trining Venus, as is rejecting an offer or standing up and walking away from some formerly rewarding situation.
Whatever our status quo is as we come into this time, that’s what and where we are going to feel the Uranian rattle as life sees what is valid and what may be in need of updating or tossing out. And because Uranus is not only trining Venus but also (and separately) trining Mercury – with Mercury sitting in an out-of-sign opposition to Pallas, it may well be a sudden recognition or ‘a change of perspective’ which changes everything.
The 29th also being the date when Kallisto enters Leo, there is some reason to think that which we have thought of as ‘what I have always wanted to grow up and be’ is now being challenged, or changing altogether – whether temporarily or forevermore. This shift also suggests that some of us (perhaps many of us) are going to have to ‘live through’ a lot of criticism and pushing around over what we decide, declare or do now. Whenever we see Kallisto shift signs, we should understand that the basis of how we ‘hold on’ changes, with Kallisto entering Leo being (among other things) a reminder to bear in mind why we do what we do – and how important that is to getting anywhere with anything in life.
July 30
As the last ‘act’ of the month, Mercury enters Virgo at 18:19 (or 6:19 p.m., UT/+0 time) on July 30th.
Mercury in Virgo (glyph chart)
July 30, 2016 - 18:19 (6:19 p.m.) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
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Mercury in Virgo (text chart)
July 30, 2016 - 18:19 (6:19 p.m.) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
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Being that this shift happens only some twenty-one hours after Uranus goes retrograde, there’s plenty of things going on, which with Mercury in Virgo generally speaking to the practical, the pragmatic and that which allows things to work and function speaks to moving away from what we think ‘should’ happen (or be) in favor of what we can do to secure the right and good. With Virgo being a sign all about that which needs to be done (Virgo’s keyword: health, work, service) our yearly weeks of Mercury in Virgo test how willing we are to do what is needed (as opposed to what we like to do) and whether we are willing to do things not just for our own purposes and in a manner which suits us, but whether we think of others and their wants and needs when providing for ‘the general welfare.’
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Are there challenges with Mercury – ruler of Virgo -- in Virgo? Yes, of course. Mercury in Virgo tests our sense of proportion while teaching us the limits of our understanding. A wonderful combination when it comes to details and delving into anything which fascinates us, difficulties arise under Mercury in Virgo when things don’t go our way (putting us into an emotional tizzy) or when we get so invested or over-focused as to not be ‘available’ for new information, be it on the subject we’re focused on or anything else.
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With Mercury obviously having just finished its transit of Leo in reaching Virgo, that means Mercury will have been passing through 29 Leo – a degree known for helping or detracting from efforts depending on how well (or far) ‘development’ of Self or project has come – as Uranus was going into retrograde. With Mercury (in opposition to Pallas) being the object passing through this degree as Uranus went retrograde, it either is our thoughts, what we have said or not said, what we have done or failed to do and what we have learned, heard or failed to comprehend or listen to which has led us to some moment when everything changes.
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Are there challenges with Mercury – ruler of Virgo -- in Virgo? Yes, of course. Mercury in Virgo tests our sense of proportion while teaching us the limits of our understanding. A wonderful combination when it comes to details and delving into anything which fascinates us, difficulties arise under Mercury in Virgo when things don’t go our way (putting us into an emotional tizzy) or when we get so invested or over-focused as to not be ‘available’ for new information, be it on the subject we’re focused on or anything else.
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With Mercury obviously having just finished its transit of Leo in reaching Virgo, that means Mercury will have been passing through 29 Leo – a degree known for helping or detracting from efforts depending on how well (or far) ‘development’ of Self or project has come – as Uranus was going into retrograde. With Mercury (in opposition to Pallas) being the object passing through this degree as Uranus went retrograde, it either is our thoughts, what we have said or not said, what we have done or failed to do and what we have learned, heard or failed to comprehend or listen to which has led us to some moment when everything changes.
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Or it may be because things
are so unusual that we now think differently or about a new or different
(Pallas) perspective. And beyond that, with Mercury set to go into retrograde
at the end of August, that doesn’t just mean the incoming solar eclipse is
going to be experienced under Mercury retrograde (which it is,) but also that
Mercury is going to be in Virgo – the sign in which flaws get revealed so that
improvements to the process can follow – for nearly ten weeks.
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Does this mean we will work apace and improve our lot and
opportunities all around? Or does this mean that we will spend this time
finding flaws and voicing suggestions without doing anything constructive?
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In time, we will not only know the answers to such
questions, but also come to ... eclipse them.
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The real question thus is what it will take to admit – most
of all to ourselves – that we make mistakes, what those mistakes are, and
how we can approach them so that instead of feeling humiliated, undercut and
defensive, we can get do the thing which is responsible in the long run while
refusing to run from our own emotion-driven shadows and internal fears of
guilt, selfishness and incompetence.
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