The Gemini Solar Eclipse

Albert Einstein's photo of a 1919 Solar Eclipse

In the moments that June 1st’s solar eclipse forms up at 9:04pm (UT/+0) at 11 Gemini, the world does not change.

The world is already changing.

So what does the moment of the eclipse mark?

Simple…it marks the moment when all which we have been ‘realizing’ becomes a cause for ‘doing.’ And for those more reluctant or recalcitrant on the subject, a time when situations begin forcing our hand, making us do something about such things.

With this eclipse occurring at 11 Gemini, we know the issues are mental. Informational. This is about the ability to learn and learn better and/or the willingness to learn or learn better. Gemini asks us to choose who we will be through what we take on learning about and doing. In its middle (2nd) decanate, it’s all about the fervent longing to know…and the fervency of speech. From poetry to anger, communications express feelings, beliefs and urgings…many, if not most of which we should probably apply to ourselves first.

And yet...this isn't a total eclipse - it's a partial eclipse. That suggests that the effects are a bit more subtle, even if the eclipse hits your chart 'dead on,' as it were. What's the difference in broader terms? Well...maybe it's more like having someone bump into you fairly abruptly as opposed to having the rug yanked out from under you. Or all the lights coming on just as you've gotten really into the movie as opposed to being woken out of a sound sleep by all the lights AND a very loud siren going off in your ear.

In other words, it's not that the status quo isn't changing. It's the degree of....clarity with which the change is announced. Or maybe demanded of you. 

 2011 Solar Eclipse of June 1st - 9:17pm (UT/+0)

Aries Wheel/Location Not Specific

Occurring at 11 Gemini has this eclipse distanced from the lunar nodes (which are positioned at 23 degrees of Gemini and Sagittarius south-to-north respectively) which images what we are thinking as being somewhat ‘distanced’ from society itself, marking this eclipse as somewhat more personal or private than some.

Even thought January’s 13 Capricorn eclipse had the nodes at 2 Capricorn (North) and Cancer (South) the presence of Pluto at 5 Capricorn formed something of a bridge – and in that, gave us a very big clue that the key to that eclipse would be the ‘emotional experience of transformative situations’ (Pluto) involving societal (nodal) Capricorn structures (government, leaders/leadership) particularly where charismatic statements had not been carried out with commensurately satisfying deeds – this last part being all about the eclipse having been conjunct fixed star Vega.

There is no ‘bridging’ planet between the Sun and Moon’s position at 11 Gemini and the South Node at 23 Gemini. What we do have however, are some rather clear statements regarding what life is (or at least feels like) to us at this time.

The South Node (the easy way out) is conjunct Bellatrix, a fixed star known for contentious communication. The North Node (what we should do) is conjunct fixed star Ras Alhague, a difficult star which urges us to take what we have seen and learned and to respond with acts which though challenging, can be or become healing in nature.

It’s easy to see these forces at work in our worldly world. Even our private and personal world. What may or may not be as easy is seeing how these ideas apply to us as individuals.

But yes, that would be the optimal thing to do!

11 Gemini as a degree suggests that we are helped and hindered in doing this very personal work of ‘breaking through mental walls.’ Most of us will see the opportunities we have missed rather clearly – (unfortunately, we’re all pretty good at that!). Fewer of us will realize that those ‘flaws’ we see in ourselves are not finite. Why? Because it’s easier to give up on ourselves than fight whatever shape our defeatist nature may take.

And we all have one, trust me. Some people have a defeatist nature which is turned outward. We think of them as ‘go getters’ who refuse to be ‘beaten down.’ But talk to such people in a most human moment and most of the time you’ll find they’re more scared of not getting the job done than the work it takes to do the job itself. Right or wrong, they’re going to try, because the status quo – the having to live with themselves – is so difficult otherwise.

In the end, that’s who we are and what we’re all about: living with ourselves. Even those of us who are in sublimely secure relationships have to close our eyes at night. And when we do, in those moments or minutes before we fall asleep we are alone…with and within ourselves.

That’s the person we live and die with. And as.

Given that the figure of this eclipse highlights two very important fixed stars - Aldebaran and Antares – we know the balance, the discussion, the ‘debate’ going on within our lives is all about integrity (Aldebaran) and obsessions (Antares). With the Aldebaran end of this natural opposition the part being ‘blacked out’ by the eclipse, we are either now not able to rely on integrity (ours or that of others)…or we need to put exactly that out into the world.

Remember, the image of a solar eclipse has the disc of the Moon (instinct) ‘blacking out’ our source of light (the Sun). Whether this takes the form of your feeling very lacking in ‘enlightenment’ or ideas (Edisona being conjunct this eclipse), there is a certain reality now which directs us to the knowing that when it comes to our life, we’re in the driver’s seat.

If you are someone with a birthday within 5 days of this eclipse, your life is in a radical period of transformation. Your operational parameters are in flux and you should not expect to know what your future really holds for some time to come. Lunar eclipses have a life span…a ‘spinning out’ period which only lasts 3 months. But solar eclipse? They’re another thing again. Solar eclipses evolve over a period of 36 month with the real ‘knowing’ what they’re ‘about’ often not surfacing until rather near this transit’s end.

And this doesn’t mean you just sit around playing tiddlywinks until that moment comes!

If we treat them as such, eclipses are superb vehicles of personal evolution. By stripping away that which we have hidden behind or temporized with, thinking it’s ‘good enough’ or making excuses as to why we can’t change….by eradicating or imploding such 'walls’ we are hiding behind, solar eclipses allow us to in time become the person we know we should be – not that the process of making that change is always all that convenient.

Uh, probably not. Solar eclipses are not known for their genteel nature, so don’t expect a sedan chair to carry you from hither to yon and don’t expect that shedding your old mental life skin is going to come without some period of feeling exposed, tender and insecure.

The idea here would be to use or better yet, recapture the sense of integrity (Aldebaran) in healing your own life (Ras Alhague), preferably so that in going forward along your learning (Gemini) – doing, implementing, growing your life (Sagittarius) road…the idea is to be able to live with a greater integrity not just as to who you are in the minutia, but who you are in this world.

It has to work at both ends. There’s a lot of people who are polarized right now, just as Aldebaran and Antares sit in opposition. Either our external worldly life is working fine but our personal life really sucks…or we’ve figured out who we are but not how to make it work in our personal world or the worldly world.

 June 1st's global eclipse path

We do need to be who we are, no question. But this isn’t just about us. Asteroid Kallisto standing conjunct Aldebaran to the degree tells us there is a difficult passage which is to be endured between the moment when we vow to ourselves to be the person we need to be and that moment when our star rises in our mental heaven. We will get blamed, we will be misunderstood. We must simply continue on being the best us we know how to be: that’s part of what integrity (Aldebaran) is defined as at this time.

Ahead of this eclipse stands Dionysus at 12 Gemini, TNO Chaos at 13 Gemini, Sabine at 14 Gemini and fixed star Rigel at 16 Gemini. This pretty much describes the road ahead.

First, we have to undertake the task of being who we are as if it was a sacred event – and something to be celebrated in our own minds, this fact that we have finally decided to be who we need to be in order to satisfy not merely our mind or not merely our body or society or family, but all that we hold as true (Dionysus).

We accept that there are things about life – and our lives – which we do not know yet. We are willing to be inspired and become more tomorrow than we think we are today (TNO Chaos).

We understand that the world and others in this world will not always understand us, like what we are doing or approve of the fact that we have undertaken the challenge of being a slave only to our sense of inner integrity. They don’t have to agree with us, nor do we have to agree with them. All we have to do is get along and let each one find their way to be their own person in their own life (Sabine).

We know that in the end we are all charged to stand as teachers in this world, if only teachers who have to teach from the tales of personal experience (Rigel).

In last January’s eclipse, Pluto was the intervening factor between the eclipse and the societal nodes – the world we live in. Pluto is a dwarf planet of our own solar system. When I say that there is no ‘object’ which ties the eclipse to the nodes, I’m speaking of no major solar systemic object.

But yes, there is Rigel. A fixed star represents the 'backdrop' in our life...and in our mind.

Rigel…known as Beta Orion for its place in that constellation…is considered a blessing. It’s an emblem of protection and mentorship. It recalls the firm but kind guiding hand which restrains us in order to keep us from harming ourselves and which encourages us so that we do not falter in our resolve.

These energies are all around us in our world now. But more importantly, they’re within us. We have the need to grow towards our own ability to ‘be’ Rigel in our own life, our private or maybe our worldly world… and that’s going to take some effort.

For weeks now we have been feeling and thinking and seeing what needs our better comprehension. What we need to consider and reconsider.

Now we stand in a doorway opened upon a whole new world.

It’s time to step out and be on our way.

Dateblog: The Week Ahead (May 29-June 4)

 Creation of the world XII by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1906/07)

With last week having uncovered what we don’t like, this week starts the process of what are we going to do about it? 

Mind you, the ‘what we don’t like’ part could be about ourselves – or the world around us. Or someone we know. Or how something we’ve been working on has turned out – or been received with less than sterling applause.

Last week’s Hybris and Nessus going retrograde in Aquarius was reflected in comparisons with others and dismissiveness of or from others.

But give us all a few days and most people get down off their high horse, whether that steed is named Resentment, Don’t Push or Missed the Mark.

To reflect once emotions settle down a bit…that’s just human nature. But have we forgotten? Probably not. Moments which have not gone as planned (or expected) will still be stuck to the side walls of our mind…and as we mentally pass by, they catch our attention. Some stick their tongues out at us, others are merely pinned to the constructs of our consciousness all crumpled and sad.

May 29th is a day of asteroids changing signs. Athena and Eos are first…signaling a ‘dawning’ (Eos) of new perspective which allowed us to reconsider and begin to move on from our ‘ouches’ to possible solutions for same.

After all, our aims are still our aims. So…how to get from here to there?

As Athena moves into Gemini, we know we need to understand. And we know we need to choose better if we are to get the results that we really want. That this change happens only a couple of days in advance of a Gemini Solar Eclipse is part of the whole ‘description’ being given to us on the astrological level about the changes which are necessary in our personal life – and life all around us. Athena in Gemini points to the need to make decisions based on knowing (acquiring the information from which to make a decent choice), a lack of emotionality (in a more logical and less passionate mode) and that the knowing person (the “Athena” mind) knows that choices must be made (dithering forever or stonewalling is not a solution)…that choices have consequences (Sagittarius as polarity sign to Gemini) and that once you make a choice, following through on that choice making adjustments as you go is part of the whole Gemini/Sagittarius mutable lesson. Just because you encounter a bump in the road does not mean the choice of that road is faulty. We weather the bump, we then move on.

Life is not smooth. The road of life is bumpy!

Eos makes this shift at 1:43pm, followed by Athena moving into Gemini at 1:44pm (both UT/+0).

About four hours pass, then at 5:59pm (UT/+0) Klotho – a signature of beginnings and bringing thing into being – enters Cancer.

With two solar eclipses about to happen successively in Gemini and Cancer, this ‘what am I going to do with or about my life?’ question is going around like a case of extremely contagious itchiness. At this point many are still caught up in the what-to-do, how-to-do-it more Gemini part of the question, but the Cancer realization that this is…

1. A time of opportunity. You can make something of yourself now.

and,

2. A time when what we do with our lives is going to determine how we live and basic options we will or won’t have in years to come.

….all that Cancer ‘this is important!’ stuff is really beginning to bubble up from within – Klotho (beginnings) hitting this point is an indication of how such issues are ‘rising to the surface.’

How will we cope? Well, in one of several ways. Some are likely to live through a period of what Thoreau so elegantly referred to as ‘quiet desperation.’ Others will go back and forth, torn by restless, logic-versus-emotion tug of war. Then there are others who really know what they need to do in order to get where they want to be. Those people will now begin moving into a new phase of laying (Cancer) groundwork, getting (Gemini) information and in general, organizing (or reorganizing) their (Gemini/Cancer) plan.

And if you catch from that last bit that the best thing we can do is fuse need and logical process into a plan to get us where we want to go, you get a cookie!

(And yes, a glass of milk with which to wash it down.)

As for Klotho against Eos/Athena, the signs and differences in time suggest that we get the ‘idea’ (Eos/Athena) then set about figuring out how to ‘spin it’ into reality – Klotho being the first of the Greek Fates and she who spins the thread out of ‘a raw yarn’ (the rough idea).

To illuminate this briefly and personally: you’re seeing changes here at astroPPM. They’re a result of my having learned a lot by push the ‘blog-bounds’ for myself and (quite honestly) the astrological community throughout the last year.

In doing that, I’ve learned much about astrology and timing (using astrology to time things) a bundle about blogging and a bushel and then some about the generalities of operating on the web.

That’s all very Gemini.

Against this is what I’ve also realized about what I need to do going forward in order to take care of myself. You heard one fluffle about this back in December as the Sun moved past the 29 Sagittarius (Sag being opposite Gemini) into Capricorn, the sign in opposition to Cancer.

Cancer is about all we consider basic: family, homeland, upbringing and culture. The roof over our head and how we make our way in the world - that's all very Cancerian.

For me, that Capricorn 'opposition' point was when I really began considering how to work this blog so as to give you the information you want while working to put a fiction work which has and is my goal into print.

We had a Capricorn eclipse in January...which we've seen has been about every form of 'how life/my life is structured' around. Now we face off against that: the picture moves from the worldly (governments, rulers, public demonstrations) into the realm of the local and personal.

 Solar Eclipse of June 1, 2011, 9:04pm (UT/+0) at 11 Gemini

Aries Wheel - Location Not Specific

As I experimented, I came up with the monthly Dateblog idea. That's been sufficiently popular that now I’m broadening its use so you can continue getting your astro-trend information while I get more space in which to write different kinds of posts…plus have time/energy left with which to edit my book.

We work in cycles. I keep saying that and this is a pretty good example of how such things evolve. With Uranus now in Aries poised against our June 1st Gemini solar eclipse…that spells “opportunity.” But it’s the sort of opportunity which only comes to life when we each ‘seize the moment’ and learn to operate the parameters of whatever it is we’re going after.

Uranus’ impending square-by-sign to the July 1st Cancer solar eclipse? That challenges us to break out of old molds. They may be comfy, but even from where we sit, we can see they can’t last (or work)  forever.

With that much said…

May 30th has asteroid Amor moving into Gemini at 9:55am (UT/_0). Amor is ‘warmth’ as opposed to Eros, which is passion. Think friendship instead of lovers and companions or compatriots as opposed to partners.

With the Moon moving into Taurus at 1:03pm (UT/+) in anticipation of its Gemini eclipse moment on Wednesday there is a quality of ‘worth’ (or worthiness) getting tossed around here. People who have self-worth problems are likely to feel quite agitated in ways which very much point to unresolved issues which they’d like to think are about others (or “their fault”) but which in reality have to do with a lack of respect for Self. When something about us doesn’t ring ‘right’ with us, we struggle. When we are unable to face the facts and deal with them, we hurt.

Feelings of helplessness or frustration with being unable to ‘get it right’ are likely to pop up now. Try to find the real source. No, it won’t be easy.

Try anyway. This being the opening of Pallas’ station and considering how Pallas is named for Pallas Athena and that pretty much automatically underscores everything said about Athena moving into Gemini. So especially when/where/if things are difficult, don’t just buy into the emotion – try to learn where it’s coming from. It may involve opening a whole new (or old) can of worms. If so, open it. Getting to real reasons may cause a lot of walls to come a’tumbling down, but this would be the time for walls to be coming (what with a Gemini solar eclipse about to happen) so dig, dig, dig! Ask questions! Be willing to hear the truth, ugly or beauteous.

Go for the knowing. What you learn now may change everything.

May 31st: All of the May 30th issues get a little more convoluted as Tantalus entering Cancer at 4:29am (UT/+0) which remember, is still May 30th if you live in the Americas or Pacific Basin. Tantalus in Cancer? An invitation to undermine ourselves through attempting to ‘manipulate’ the situation so we don’t have to a.) face facts…or, b.) change.

And though I’d like to say ‘good luck with that!’ and just move on, given that May 30/31st have the Sun fused with Aldebaran (integrity) and in opposition to Antares (obsession)…all this barely in advance of the Gemini eclipse really does set the stage for some new highs in lows and truly bad judgment.

The old slogan ‘check it once, check it twice’ doesn’t even come close to it here. With TNO Typhon moving on station, situations in everyone’s life will be provoking us at very personal and primary (even primal) levels which are individual to each one of us. 

And yet…if we acknowledge that the Gemini-Sagittarius polarity process is all about learning more and learning (among other things) to master the art of perspective on self this makes sense as part of a greater period about getting a grasp on what needs changing and the reality of life and our lives.

Those who are honestly willing to evolve, learn better, accept responsibility and all that good stuff? This may not be their favorite moment in all of life, but those are the people who will come out of these next few months knowing they’ve learned more and better.

They (meaning you!) may even have done something you’re really proud of yourself for doing because you’ve learned something new.

June 1st is Eclipse Day!

A solar eclipse occurs today at 9:17pm (UT/+0) at 11 Gemini, a degree which is by definition ‘mentally emotional’ (read: intensely whatever it is) and traditionally sort of childish, childlike…or maybe ‘surface oriented’ or just plain shallow.

The simplistic form of this polarity is that some will just try to do ‘just enough’ and some will tear off the veneer and in doing away with that, really get at the heart of the matter.

Known as a 'solar map' to astrologers, the above is how

modern astrological software pictures an eclipse track.

software: Solar Fire Gold (v.7)/Esoteric Technologies (alabe.com)

Interesting (at least to some!), the actual date of a solar eclipse often seems rather peaceful and inconsequential. Lunar eclipses? Boy, they go off with a bang! But solar eclipses? Usually not so much…but don’t be fooled! A season may not change in a day, but spring will become summer, fall will become winter, and the whole of the process is very much unavoidable and unstoppable.

 A close up (detail) of the same solar map reveals the eclipse path beginning

in the Far East - the beginning and end points of the eclipse (and often, points

all along those longitudes) being points of stress and activity particularly when

the eclipse is a total eclipse, which this one is not.

So it is with eclipses. In fact, seasons and eclipses are very much about the same sort of celestial mechanics. Sun, Moon, Earth…together they make seasons and years and tidal cycles and eclipses: all the basic stuff.

With Neptune going on station now there will be many really enjoying the ‘magical’ quality so part of any eclipse. And the combination of Neptune going on station and Pallas (factual wisdom) is a promise of insight to those who are wiling to see not just what they want to see, but the realities of things.

Yet, with Pallas going retrograde at 15 degrees of Aquarius (one of four cross-quarter degrees) it is implied that there are many in worldly power (or just ‘in power’) who are reluctant to let go of the reins (aka for some, their stranglehold and control). Cross quarter degrees always separate the more ‘mine’ from ‘the greater concern’ as pertains to each zodiac quarter and when it comes to the 4th quarter (which is public, pro-active and worldly) the question is whether the few or the many are in control…or even the point of the effort.

The zodiac as an Aries Wheel showing the cross-quarter points plus

approximations of Neptune's station/retrograde and the Solar Eclipse position. 

Today, we get to hear a lot of interesting, inspiring ideas – and probably a whole lot of nonsense. Telling them apart? That’s the important thing!

June 2nd: With Typhon (basic needs and urges) going direct in Virgo today at 11:18am (UT/+0) AND Mercury entering its ‘home’ sign of mental Gemini at 8:04 in the evening (UT/+0), there’s hope and reason to believe we can get some sort of productive activity under way.

Well, except for the right to scatter things about that so many take to be the 'purpose’ of Gemini! They’re so, so wrong of course – if that was true, none of us would ever get anything worthwhile done! Where we see scattered attention, disorganization, lack of priorities and an inability to cope with realities, astrologers look automatically to Mercury, Gemini-Sagittarius (as a polarity) and the 3rd house of a natal chart, that being Gemini’s native house.

The combination of Typhon/Mercury spells a focus on the important stuff…or on how to disrupt that which is truly important to someone else. When these things function together in ‘first person personal’ we see the surfacing of personal problems, eruptions of long-buried feelings, needs or resentments - and with some, the exacerbation of mental illness.

All of this – from top to bottom – depends on our ability (and willingness) to cope with whatever our challenges and/or vulnerabilities (weaknesses, flaws, lacks of information, etc.) really are.

June 3: As Neptune goes retrograde at 0 Pisces – a degree known in Sabian Symbols as emblematic of the ‘marketplace’ the play of Mercury against Neptune for one, incites grandiose statements and the more-than-occasional lie.

(Sorry, I just tell it like it is!)

Whether the lie gets told now or it gets uncovered now depends on your life, your chart, your mindset.

Whatever the situation, there is the side of ‘knowing’ and the side of ‘feeling’ and here they are tested not to see whether you can withstand one or the other, but so we all can measure within our Self how realistic our life is…how real our estimations are…and how well we actually deal with reality on a whole.

Those who try to (as put by show host Adam on Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters) … ‘reject your reality and substitute my own!’ will feel caught up in a vortex not of reality versus fantasy, but of insecurities which result from an internal awareness of the difference between ‘your reality,’ ‘my reality’ and REALITY.

Only the third one works.

June 4th:  House being the emblem “being at home,” has this asteroid moving into Gemini at 3:17pm (UT/+0) on the 4th, reinforcing the idea of thinking things over – and the need to think things over.

Especially with Jupiter moving into Taurus at 1:57pm (UT+0) and Polyhymnia entering Leo this is a fine day for art, romance, social festivities, personal creativity – and especially with Neptune still on station (if now in retrograde) we are in a ‘negotiable’ mood and willing to talk things over with someone.

Can bygones be bygones? Can something which seemed mired in eternal tar and hopelessly stuck get moving now? Quite possibly yes. And to those who have business matters who are running to check their calendars, June 4th is a Saturday. But no, all is certainly not lost! So groan if you’re one of those ‘I need my answer NOW!’ types, but otherwise think of what you could say to whoever your issue is ‘stuck’ with and formulate a well-humored communication. This is when the fine art of knowing the benefit of leaving the message or sending out that email which will get read two days hence…when all that comes into play.

The real issue is your generosity of spirit and your willingness to be realistic. Business efforts and aims should all stress the market and the broadest possible appeal, not the ‘me’ and ‘mine’ and ‘I need to know’ part. If you’re looking for something strictly ‘flash in the pan’ (the one-time hit) that may work now, but don’t plan on it working two weeks from now. Maybe not even two days from now.

And for those who are looking farther down the road? Let your imagination lead the way – don’t lock yourself in to some small and narrowly defined niche. When we look around we see the prevalence of multi-national corporations, conglomerates which own many different kinds of companies and people parlaying success in one areas into an entre into another.

The balance now is what is really possible against what could possibly be. 

So good luck…and have a great week!

Oh – before I go - expect blogs to go up on the eclipse (June 1st), Mercury’s Gemini ingress (June 2nd), the Neptune station (June 3rd) and Jupiter entering Taurus (June 4th).

And be good to you!

Hidalgo on station

  Backlot ‘Western Street’ at Universal Studios
photo credit: Ipsingh

I don’t know about you, but there’s something very ‘old western movie’ about Hidalgo going on station in the last days of Uranus being at 29 intense and critical degrees of Pisces. It's got a bit of showdown at the OK Corral, if you get me.

But instead of attempting to swagger through a bunch of text (trust me, I do a lousy John Wayne!) I’ll just get to the facts, which are….

Asteroid Hidalgo enters its two-day station prior to turning retrograde at 4:23pm (UT/+0) on March 10th – meaning Hidalgo will actually go retrograde on March 12th at 4:23pm (UT/+0). And yes, Hidalgo’s station effects – like all station effects – continue on for another two days after the actual turn of direction, which means they end on March 14th.

Hidalgo goes on station as Bali’s station is already in progress (as of the 9th), as we chit-chatted about in the last blog. In going on station in Scorpio (and conjunct rainmaker Huya), this sets a ‘stage’ for Hidalgo’s station which would seem to be very noble or very ‘I’m out for myself.’

But let's not forget...with Neptune at 28 Aquarius and Uranus at 29 Pisces, this is by definition a moment which while intensely what it is...is also somewhat lacking in perspective. Maybe even realism.

And yet, some things we would shy away from in the coldest light of clarity do and will get done when fervency or ideals...even desperation carry us through!

Where does the name ‘Hidalgo’ come from, you ask? At peril of waxing western movie again, there are many references for Hidalgo to be found “out there” with most being simply a reference to a Spanish term for nobility or gentry, which considering the societal roots of same points us in a sort of ‘dutiful heroic’ sort of direction.

And that works with Hidalgo in the chart, where it seems to function with a focus on a sort of ‘save the day’ point of view. But don’t get too locked in about what that means, as Hidalgo is one of those celestial symbols which flexes very much depending on where its located in any given chart (and what it’s associated with or ruled by). Hidalgo can indeed represent being the hero. Or doing the noble thing. Then again, it can symbolize the need for a hero or being put in a position that you really need for someone else to do a noble thing.

Hidalgo can even represent being inspired by or affected by seeing someone wearing either the very white or very black hat in the classical villain/hero sort of set-up.

This polarizing effect – plus the personal/impersonal quality astrology presents is what makes some think making predictions with astrology isn’t possible. I happen not to believe that – but I also think you have to be into a lot of detail work to make accurate predictions.

Anyway…take all those Hidalgo concepts and put them in a pot, turn the mental bubble down to low and let that simmer while we discuss where this station is occurring – namely 11 Sagittarius.

So what does that tell us (we ask most diligently…)?

For one, this tells us our good/bad instincts, estimations and reactions (opinions?) are based in ‘fire concepts’ at the moment – and more or less over the next four or so days. Astrological fire meaning imagination-versus-idealism there is – as always with fire – the challenge to recognize the real from the hope, and to remember that fire is all about getting spurred on to greater things. Fire is supposed to ‘heat us up’ and get us all ‘fired up’ and ‘firing on all cylinders,’ to use some handy  expressions.

The down side with fire is when we expect it to be true. So while it seems sensible with Hidalgo at 11 Sagittarius to want to help and “be the hero” the reality is that you could help and New York could just not schedule that ticker tape parade.

 The solar system’s main asteroid belt is situated between Mars and Jupiter. Objects which orbit outside the Jupiter margin but which come into the asteroid belt but not beyond Mars are generally classed as ‘Centaurs’
diagram source: NASA/JPL

Or maybe you want to do something great, but it doesn’t work. Can you be content with being the heroic person who tries to help? So often we underestimate the worth of trying, even when our shot goes wide of the mark. Fire elements – among other things – test our ability to deal with ‘try, try again’ as a concept, recognizing that the skills which are there to be honed are ours. The issue is not, as we sometimes think, where the target is put. Or that pesky cross wind. Sometimes it’s all about whether we’ve built up enough strength to be able to handle the heavy bow with enough skill to drive that arrow through those cross winds and hit that target even if it is an extra twenty yards away.

Speaking of such, the lore for 11 Sagittarius is all about one’s ability to actually do things. There’s a dollop of outspokenness which goes along with applying one’s self to the task(s) at hand…and yes, it’s probably better if that’s not all simple braggadocio, which this degree supports by sprinkling diplomacy atop the outspokenness.

Astronomically, Hidalgo is a much interesting critter. Classed as a Centaur, Hidalgo’s orbit takes it out as far as just past Jupiter and pretty much all the way inward through the asteroid belt to just shy of Mars.

That’s a pretty curious cycle, metaphysically. The whole of the space between Mars (the ‘I want/intend to do’ planet) and Jupiter (the ‘I know how to get where I want to go’) planet is populated by asteroids. There are thousands of them, and they represent all the things we encounter, learn from and end up having to consider on our way from initiation or instigation (Mars) to knowing how to get where we really want to go.

Being one of these objects we would think Hidalgo represents ‘just another thing we have to consider and deal with’ on our way through life except that its’ orbit takes it beyond Jupiter.

So Hidalgo is about going beyond what one knows – which may be part of its nobility and heroic quality. You know…fools and heroes rush in where angels allegedly fear to tread and all that?

This rather reminds me of two things…one, the lesson of Aries courage. Aries courage is not necessarily about knowing you can ‘do this’ so much as its about knowing “this” (whatever “this” is) just needs to be done. We go past what we “know” (Jupiter) we can do and do it anyway.

There are a lot of children’s books written with this theme – the hero goes out and does the thing which nobody wants to tell them can’t be done. A lot of great things have happened in life because no one told us we couldn’t do it. We just went out and did it and everybody gawked.

Of course, there are bumblebees. Apparently in engineering terms, they’re not properly designed to fly. Wings too small…body too large – or something like that.

Except nobody told the bumblebees. They go on flying not knowing they can’t!

 A bumblebee – one of nature’s wonders
Photo credit: Sffubs (2008) 

Yet metaphysically, we wouldn’t say Hidalgo is about ‘achievement’ per se. For us to say that, it’s orbit would have to go all the way out to Saturn. And it doesn’t. It just goes beyond Jupiter.

So where Hidalgo is concerned, we go beyond where we know. Or we realize to succeed, we have to go beyond the known. Or we become inspired by someone who shows us doing such a thing is actually possible.

Or yes, we may need help with getting past what we know – our own sense of limits.

Worth a mention here is that back a few weeks, TNO Chaos – symbolic of new and endless potentials – went direct at 11 Gemini. (LINK to blog post), a degree which is about emotional choices, emotional provocations, emotional subjects, and situations which provoke our emotions and our need to think and choose. That period coincided with many events – protests and (yes,) chaos in the Middle East, protests and (more) chaos in the US…much turmoil and emotionality of opinion was being voiced (Gemini) everywhere we looked.

Now come the question what are you going to do about it? And as this question comes to fore, we are really treated to – beyond the momentary situation – a truly excellent opportunity to see how signs in opposition are really a fruition of each other’s dynamic. The idea (Gemini) means very little if you don’t do something about it (Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter) replete with fixing the glitches and struggling to make it all work on the road to (Capricorn, ruled by Saturn) accomplishing your various aims.

As we said, Bali has already moved into its days of station effect – doing so in conjunction with Huya, the rainmaker which asks that we use the lessons we’ve learned to help others, through which we help ourselves.

Bali actually goes retrograde on March 11th, which is right when Uranus reaches critical max at 29 Pisces. Hidalgo will go retrograde on the 12th, just some hours after Uranus enters Aries.

There's a lot going on right now. Even if you're a full-fledged, mega-multitasking astrologer, it's complicated. The good news is that as blogs covering the details of these go up, they're there for reference! You can go back and read, check, peruse or even grumble at them any time that you like!

Sometimes it just helps to piece the story together as things happen in life - your personal life or that you hear going on around you.

This can be an exciting or threatening time, depending on how you react. Change is in the works – that’s one thing we can count on. Are you ready to get in there and change who you are in this world and the world you exist in?

Yes, I know...there are those among us who totally hate the idea of change. And there are those who think change is fine so long as it doesn’t affect them…!

The funny thing is, the more you push change away, the more life becomes a roller coaster which you didn't mean to embark on!

The biggest object in the astrological pot at the moment is Uranus. So the Uranian rule ‘when in doubt, be flexible’ tells us to roll with the punches and to do what needs doing.

And if that takes us beyond what we know? Well then, maybe that’s a sign that we simply don’t know everything it’s useful for us to know yet. In which case, willingness really counts.

You know…that willingness to learn and to change (Uranus) and be happy (Bali) with who we are and that there not only isn’t just good in this life, but we each embody – and thus have the ability to utilize and benefit by (Huya) the endless sort of resourcefulness which being human really gives us (Chaos.)

That would seem to be pretty noble and pretty heroic right there, don’t you agree?

Our Days of Fluctuation: Pandora, Huya and Chaos on station

Pisces by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurtionis (1907)

Last week, Chiron entered Pisces, marking a substantial shift in not so much what happens, but how we feel about what happens. In the astrological ‘pantheon,’ Chiron is always difficult simply because we can’t define what it is. All we know is that it’s difficult for you. And for him. And for that other person – and that each and every difficulty is defined by what is hard for each person to bring themselves to deal with.

Or each country.

Or each company.

Or each governing body, regime, ruler or administration.

We all have something of a ‘case of Chiron’ at the moment. That’s natural.

In the week or two ahead, you’re going to hear a lot about planets entering Pisces. Any time a ‘bunch’ of celestial bodies traverse a single sign, that’s an indicator that said sign’s precepts are more and more the focus of life’s process.

In this case, the sign is Pisces. So the ‘subject’ is the experiencing of our own feelings and/or our ability to tolerate our feelings (or reactions to the feelings of others) realistically….without abandoning all to hope, without acting out in a frenzy of venting, without simply saying ‘I don’t want to deal with that.’

Pisces is a sign of spirituality, yes. But it’s not about blind faith: it’s about acceptance. While optimism and a good attitude are good, it’s what you do with that which counts. And if you’re going to do, you had better be doing with one eye on the realities of life.

That duality is Pisces…the idealistic, optimist fish and the rational reality fish.

(Among other things – but more on that in other Pisces-oriented posts.)

Meanwhile, here we are in the latter part of Sun in conceptual Aquarius with the world posing all sorts of questions and quandaries in the attempt to get us to see what is right or wrong with the systems set up to run our life and world.

You can look at TV and it’s there. You can look in your mailbox – it’s there. You can talk to your friends and family and say ‘what’s up?’ and you’ll get an earful on what isn’t working in this world.

Somewhere along the line it may occur to you that it’s one thing to bitch and moan and another to do something about the problems. No, they’re not easy to fix, but if you don’t fix them, should you go on complaining about them?

This week, a couple of issues come into focus – mostly because we’re going to be getting some idea that we haven’t really been properly focused on those things.

Uh-oh! Oops!

The first will be represented by Atlantis retrograding back into Virgo as of February 16th at 22 minutes past midnight (UT/+0). Virgo is the sign of ‘the method.’ It’s about health, work and service and as such, involves everything from the job which you have to do (or need to get) in order to keep the lights on to health care and everyone in this world who proverbially “keeps the lights on” (i.e., runs, designs or builds infrastructure) or who works in some ‘serving’ or ‘service’ capacity in order to keep our lives going. Medical workers, members of the military, civil servants, and every support member of any corporate process is included in this group.

In some way…probably most of us (if not all of us!) fit in this group. But yes, some more than others – certainly!

The story of Atlantis is an interesting one which starts with this person feeling like an outcast with regards to the group they really, really want to feel part of. Along comes the magical chance: give all this up and surrender utterly to that you think will prove your destruction and you will find happiness. 

In the story, the person gives in (yes, tearfully) and they not only survive walking into the ocean’s depths, they find in those depths the very society and company they had been longing for….and thus they come to live happily ever after.

Anyone notice the similarity between this story and Chiron? Both ask that we do the thing we don’t know how to do…or think we can’t do. And through doing what we apparently need to do instead of what we want to do or feel comfortable doing, we discover the thing which actually makes us happy.

Atlantis is moving back into earthy, earthly, real life, real deal Virgo. Chiron has just moved into watery, emotional, self-confrontational Pisces.

In Virgo, we face how to deal with the thing, the other, the process or the world. In Pisces, we face dealing with ourselves and how we feel about life.

And for now, that’s all I’m going to say about that!

But we’re not done…come 10:33am on February 17th, asteroid Pandora goes direct at 3 Cancer, a degree which talks about the ‘misfit in one’s own home.’

That’s what we need…more problems with alienation, right? Yet considering what’s going on in the world, there’s a distinct tone of aptness to this ‘turn of eventualities.’

Remembering how celestial bodies in direct motion suggest prompting which comes through external means and that Pandora is about ‘every ill in the world’ we can expect to feel like life and people and things are trying to inflict stuff on us. But is the reality simply that we haven’t dealt with our own ill feelings? That which isn’t in us to be provoked doesn’t arise, right? So what is all this Pandora stuff about?

 /

.

Pandora by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1881)
 

Where we are dealing with ills, this would be where they would surface, particularly as that concerns not feeling ‘at home’ in some part of our life, our world, or in our own skin. Conversely, it’s a good time to deal with same since the last thing in Pandora’s box is hope.

It also pays to remember that where Pandora is concerned, it’s not just the ills she unleashes which are the point of the story – the story is really about our curiosity. So…how curious are you? Do you stifle your curiosity about the ills in your world …personal or global? If so, is that an ill right there?

Oh, that Dame Denial! She does get into us, doesn’t she?

This Pandora turn happens about twenty hours  before this month’s Full Moon. So emotions are on the rise anyway. And giving this station its two-day before-and-after ‘station leeway,’ that means Pandora’s station effects begin late on the 14th or early on February 15th, depending on where you live.

And no – that’s not all.

Come 6:40 in the afternoon on February 18th (UT/+0), TNO Chaos goes direct at 11 Gemini, an emotional degree, a mental degree, an expressive degree. Chaos itself is not the ‘messiness’ we associate with the modern word, but the sense of the Chaos – the primal well of undefined and unbounded possibility.

Hesiod and the Muse (Chaos)

by Gustave Moreau (1826-1890)

TNOs being defined as bodies which orbit way out there in the iciness realms beyond Neptune (hence the term Trans Neptunian Objects), like other TNOs Chaos refers to something we intrinsically ‘know’ exists, but which we get reminded of from time to time.

This would be one of those times.

Again, giving this station its two-day before-and-after station leeway period, the effects of Chaos going direct begin on February 16th and end on the 18th. That means they start just after Atlantis backs into Virgo and overlaps the highly emotional period of Pandora going direct and the Full Moon, too.

So far we have that Atlantis in Virgo/Chiron in Pisces teeter-totter going on…and Pandora going direct in Cancer, a sign which likes security.

Pandora denoting security? Uh…only if we’re really ready to accept and face ourselves.

But maybe that’s the point?

Those who can will like as not be able to see and use the TNO Chaos station/direct period as a time to really fuel their cause. Or bring together some idea. Or see where they are going and how to capitalize on what they now know, are learning, are figuring out.

And no, that’s not all either!

Come just after midnight on February 19th, the Sun will enter Pisces. (By the by…you can expect full blogs on the Full Moon and the Sun entering Pisces – we aren’t hardly covering those effects in this blog!)

This solar-Pisces ingress occurring in the wake of Chaos going direct but certainly still within the realm of its station allowance says one thing. In fact, it says a whole lot about what it’s possible for us to learn and/or realize about ourselves and others during this series of days.

But we’re not done yet! Come 1:29pm on February 19th (UT/+0), a certain TNO/Plutino named Huya will go retrograde.

Huya represents the energy of ‘the rainmaker.’ It’s about what we do for others which in the end, feeds us. I like using Oprah Winfrey as the near-perfect example of how Huya functions. (And no, Oprah, I’m not saying you’re an icy celestial body orbiting beyond Neptune!) It’s just that Oprah’s youth gave her the motivation to try and motivate others. And because she helps enrich their lives, they enrich hers.

 A rain shaft pierces a tropical sunset as seen from Man-of-War Bay

photo credit: Mary Hollinger for NOAA (1980)

That’s the rainmaker principle.

Going retrograde at 17 Scorpio, Huya is asking us what we can do for others. It begins asking us this on the 17th and continues prompting us all the way through the 21st – when though you don’t know it yet, Mercury enters Pisces.

Huya’s station enfolds the Full Moon. And Chaos’ going direct, suggesting that those who are involved in doing something ‘giving’ will see their lives (or efforts) prospering now.

Huya generally asks what we know about ourselves in a somewhat more factual way than say, Chiron does. But in the interactive sign of Scorpio (and in Scorpio’s most emotional decan) it does challenge us to ask ourselves whether our means, methods and most of all, goals are entirely valid.

Scorpio being emotional and interactive, it’s the sign of where we deal with others in all those many venues where we’re hoping to achieve our “desires” – whatever they may be. But where they don’t satisfy both sides (or everyone, in the case of a group), Scorpio inevitably leads to failure, rejection and alienation.

Often that’s bad. But just as often that’s merely a lesson about what we’re trying to do. Is it up to standards? Or maybe we need to examine our own motivations (speaking of Huya…!).

And all this happens as the Sun moves into Pisces and – (guess what?) – meets up with Chiron.

Thus we are back at the beginning of the story.

These are days of reconnoitering. Of reconsidering. Of fluctuation in our lives. Hopefully they’ll inspire fluctuations in how we see ourselves and our possibilities, and thus what we do with our lives.

If not…there’s always more Pisces to come. Where we join with others, Pisces embraces us. Where we live in a world of personal delusions or denials, Pisces captures us.

Which would you rather be: captivating or a captive? It’s all about who we are...and who that person is willing to want to become enough to decide that's who they need to dedicate themselves to being.