Dateblog: January 2015

January 2015 by Sign

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In terms of personal planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars), January 2015 begins with three of the five (and we really shouldn't count the Moon in this discussion as the Moon changes signs about every couple of days) in Capricorn - a sign known for looking ahead and working to carry out plans ... and alternately, for loses (often of stature or reputation) and the reality of life's consequences and world/worldly responses - either for what we've done prior to now or what we're in the throws of doing (or trying to do) now.

By January 4th, that 'solidity' of thrust ... that's going to begin to change. It may not be obvious or evident in any giant way, but as Venus and Mercury move into Aquarius (with Mars already in Aquarius) the emphasis (and thus our mental space) is going to stop being so absorbed by or focused on hard facts and more prone to considering (read: zeroing in on) and responding to things as being relative to other issues, matters and details - much of which is going to be  basically pertaining to those eternal things which form the basis for our life: home, family, mortality ... the land, sea and sky, and all which comes from, or abides in any such location.

Just keep thinking 'basics.'

That shift (the shift in thinking and focus) is going to alter the flow of things. Mars in Aquarius - in pragmatic terms - often represents the motivation to get something done on a broadly unified scale even as it tends to impact, fragment and break apart that which may still be cohesive, but which no longer serves a positive function in that state ... which makes what's going to happen now in many ways dependent on what  what we have come into this period doing, feeling, and being motivated by. With Pluto having just entered the shadow of its 2015 cycle there are things which are going to change or be transformed - some of which at least are going to reflect Pluto's ongoing approach to fixed star Vega, charisma's star. That Pluto isn't going to conjunct Vega (exactly) during 2015 is actually a sign that more and more is going to change and that many of the things we have been 'enchanted' or moved by in times or years past are on the move. They're going to change - and no one can stop that change, insistent though they may be.

For the Mercury watchers (that would be most of us) there's another interesting note to attach to this Mercury-entering-Aquarius moment ... namely that as Mercury enters Aquarius (Venus having already done so), that's also the same date that Mercury will be entering its retrograde shadow as the Mercury retrograde which begins on January 21st (UT/+0) at 17 Aquarius will in time back down to 1 Aquarius - and from 0 to 1 degrees (the movement of one degree) is something Mercury does rather swiftly.

The net of this takes us back to that 'subtle shift' of attitude, 'vibe' or perspective mentioned in terms of Venus and Mercury exiting Capricorn in the sense that though there is a tendency for much of the world to hit the ground running on January 2nd (even if the Orthodox Church hasn't yet celebrated Christmas, meaning their holiday season isn't over yet!) ... that this year that 'hitting the ground running' is going to be colored or affected by the fact that pretty much the whole of January 2015 is going to be a 'hurry up so we can slow down' (or stop) exercise which will manifest in any of a billion ways, hastening and hustling us through the first couple of weeks so that come the 21st, we know what we're attending to.

Or at least waiting for. (At least that's the thought.)

 January 2015 by Element

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And it's not like we're likely to be entirely unjustified. Looking at the month by element, both planets most associated with the rise and fall of lives, regimes, religions and plans in general (Jupiter and Saturn) are now both in fire signs. Added to that, Uranus is also in a fire sign, and since all three planets are in separate signs, what we have implied here is a grand trine (ongoing and virtually immutable) flow of energies which we will be living with until Jupiter exits Leo this coming August, describing a period of time where we can change things and change our approach to life (our 'relationship' to our world) ... or we can have our world thrust change upon us.

(Take your pick.)

That Uranus is going to perfect its conjunction to the lunar South Node this month promises fractious relationships, startling news/events and a number of personal breakthroughs - some of which may be fairly breathtaking (though what that means is individual - some people gasp long before others do!) ... and that it will do as Uranus - which is now in direct motion - is going to be beginning to "close in" on slower-moving Pluto in anticipation of perfecting the Uranus-Pluto square which has been with us now for quite a while symbolizing eruptions of uncontrollable, transpersonal events which are quite literally changing our world.

That square won't perfect until mid-March. But let's just say that the closer we get to Uranus perfecting its conjunction to the lunar South Node (which occurs on January 19th), the more flexing and innovative thinking is going to be called for not just in external life and in terms of what we do (or choose to do/not do) but in who we are - and because this event is currently traversing degrees 12, 13 and 14 of respective signs (with the conjunction of Uranus/Node occurring at 13 Aries-Libra)(the South Node being in Aries and the North Node being in Libra) this entire month is likely to be particularly focal for anyone who with natal placements at one of these degrees in any sign... if particularly (she says, thinking of people in the news) those among us with primary chart indicators (Sun, Moon, Ascendant/Descendant, Midheaven/Nadir) at 13 Aries, Libra, Cancer or Capricorn, followed by those with placements at 13 Pisces, Taurus, Virgo and/or Scorpio.

The first group will face or be facing issues directly. The second group will be facing them obliquely, which is to say that because 'Thing A' happens, 'Consideration B' becomes important.

As to the nature of this particular ripple in the works, this transit - Uranus/South Node - is about a 'shake up' (or shift) in how we relate to our own nature as well as that of others. And though the likes of those news makers (the two I'm thinking of being politicians) and myself (my Midheaven is at 13 Capricorn) are likely to be particularly impacted on a core and/or internal level, there are going to be plenty of things floating around for everyone to be bouncing off of (or around about) - all while possibly getting bruised by, or through the process of participating in doing all that relating, relational or relationship tra-la.

Also: none of this is optional. If you're thinking you'll just put everything on hold or hide in some mental (or other type of) hole, you certainly have the choice to do that but the world (that thing you're supposed to be relating to and working on your relationship with?) ... the world will have moved on without you, which brings this all back to the most important thing I ever heard one of my astrology teachers (Robert Hand, as it happens) say: use the energy wisely, lest it use you unwisely. 

Plus that's not all ... (she said, well aware that she may be sounding a bit like a late-night infomercial, which is ridiculous seeing as I'm about as bad at sales and marketing as any human being has ever been) ... January is also playing host to an approaching square to Neptune (in Pisces) by a Saturn which is newly in Sagittarius. That will set in virtually as soon as the new year dawns (read: on January 2nd), and it's likely to be felt as an on-and-off 'haunting' awareness which we're all going to also be contending with not just this month ... and not even just into March, as in the case of the current 'ramping up' of various Uranus/Pluto square pressures and situational anxieties. 

No ... with Neptune-Saturn, we're not getting off that easily: this transit will be with us in various forms through November of 2015, promising all sorts of issues having to do with habits and things we are habituated by - and the many forms of 'addiction' which riddle our lives and world, be that an addiction to a substance or a belief or a perspective on sex, love, work, money, power, violence, happiness, exercise, food, politics - or anything else. Saturn-Neptune contacts being always about reality versus hope and facts versus denial in favor of something "prettier" (or at least more appealing), this is the sort of lengthy square aspect which we would expect to manifest both in our lives and through things in life which effects lives on a global and somewhat 'indistinct' (or) 'impersonal' way or scale.

The Saturn side of this brings the effort to structure, restructure, limit or withstand to the table where the Neptune energetic will inspire ... and then again, also dissolve, whether 'dissolution' or 'dissolving' means eliminating that which stands between you and something (or two separate things) where the elimination of some factor, thought, issue is taken on either because of a depth of feeling which is not only not about the Self (Neptune = lack of personal or individual ego) or because that which we have been sure of comes to no longer function or serve a positive purpose.

Mind you, any of this can be positive: squares ask us to balance different functionalities, much as an engineer balances the substance and structure of a wall against the structure and function of a ceiling. Then again, any of this can be detrimental. And all of it (or any of it) can be hugely informative, most of all as to what the realities and facts really are ... as opposed to what we might want them to be, or what we were hoping they were or would become.

All of which is far more about us than others or our world ... which is probably worth a thought or two.

And fortunately (read: whether we like it or not) Mercury retrograde is going to donate just that dynamic to our universally human personal cause.

So we are going to be learning something going forward. But what are we about to learn - and learn about?
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Mercury Goes Direct

 A statue of Mercury in Bratislava

(photo credit: Peter Zeliznak, April 2009)

As of Saturday, July 20th at 6:23 in the evening UT/+0 time, Mercury will go direct at 13 Cancer. That means the window for station effects opens as this post goes up on July 18th…and ‘closes’ again on July 22nd.

During this time, we can expect the metaphorical Mercurial breeze to be making itself particularly known, particularly if our natal chart…or the chart of the company with which we work…or the town or nation in which we live…has any particular placement which ‘answers’ to the degree of this station.

By ‘answers’ I mean the following:

With regards to any planet, cusp, node or important object between

15 and 25 degrees of any of the cardinal signs:

Cancer, Libra, Capricorn or Aries...

These are the ‘hard’ aspects, the word “hard” meaning more challenging to work with. The Cancer conjunction will feel personal (especially since it’s in an emotional sign all about feelings!), the Capricorn opposition will bring up questions of acceptance, acceptability and everything which triggers ambitions or insecurities (which sometimes appear so, so similar!) and the two squares (Libra and Aries) represent factors which need factoring in. Maybe you’re just “getting to that step in a process”…and maybe you just didn’t take something into account. Squares of any type are life’s way of getting us to think in not so linear a fashion. It’s as if life is saying ‘it’s not so simple’ or pointing out the value of slowing down and appreciating the fullness of things as they occur.

With regards to any planet, cusp, node or important object between

18 and 22 degrees of Sagittarius, Aquarius, Gemini or Leo...

Sagittarius and Leo are fire signs, and fire signs are all about the sliding scale which at one end is ‘the vision’ and which at the other is ‘the expectation.’ The difference between these being all about our ‘emotional mindset’ (if you will), Mercury doing its turnabout in Cancer may well raise exactly this…reminding us that expectations, like the vision which we confuse with reality, leads to disappointments. Visions are meant to inspire, not replace reality. Situations and realizations which now prick our mental balloon and force us to be more realistic aren’t fun – but they do offer a way forward with new lessons learned, lessons which well may yet lead to future achievements.

On the Aquarius and Gemini side we’re dealing with the idea or the theory, against which Mercury’s station in Cancer is akin to life’s rubber hitting our mental road. Temporary burnout, the burning of bridges, burning brain cells (or midnight brain oil)…all can be part of the process here as we reconcile ourselves to having to deal with reality. In that process, Mercury in Cancer represents our frustration, our wanting things to work differently.

Except they don’t work differently. Sometimes the ‘idea’ isn’t the reality. And that’s what we have to adjust to. Skinned egos and bruised momentum incurred during this time hurts like heck, but despite whatever our ouches are telling us, all is not lost.

With regards to any planet, cusp, node or important object between

17 and 23 degrees of Taurus or Virgo…or between 15 and

25 degrees of Scorpio or Pisces:

These are the ‘easy’ aspects to this Mercury station. But don’t kid yourself – they aren’t all benign. Scorpio and Pisces are the trines here, and far from being the ‘pleasant’ aspects Victorian astrology would have had us all think, all trines mean is ongoing. And let’s remember, there’s already an ‘ongoing’ water trine between big boy planets Neptune, Saturn and Jupiter in progress.

However…there is some light, even if what we’re doing is looking up, up, up through what seems like acres of water to where dancing sunlight promises freedom, options and air.

This goes to the idea that Mercury’s station are always about a ‘turn of thought’ or our ability to alter our trajectory, path, methodology or rationale, which here happens to be focused through the feeling-memory-sensibility and (oh yes) money-as-means-to-survive sign of Cancer. For you, that money thing may be about what you have to survive with. Or it may link here to what you do to earn that money. Or what you do with your money in order to have, protect or create a foundation for all else.

As opposed to the trines, Taurus and Virgo are sextiles – the happiest of all aspects in astrology, if aspects which get little to no press.

Sextiles represent opportunities. Sextiles aren’t the open door, but the having the address where there’s a door you could go to an open. That astrologers and devotees of astrology don’t think much about opportunities really says things both good and bad about human beings…how on one hand we tend to take things for granted, and how on the other we are so afraid of change.

I had an amazingly telling conversation with a young professional just recently. This thoroughly likeable person had not only finally finished his degree and passed his certification exams, but had almost instantaneously got invited into a firm where he could begin to build what will eventually be a substantial life in the big world of business, commerce and human transacting. (Yes, I have his chart. He has huge potential.)

So what does he say to me? I really need to begin dealing with things. But who really wants to grow up?

Like I say, humans don’t like change. He didn’t ask me (and I was taken off guard by his comment, frankly) but even if he knows he can accomplish just about anything he wants to providing he’s willing to work for it and take on ownership of his trajectory in life…will he do it?

Some of us just don’t want to take on carving our futures. For that matter, even our present.

The sextiles given here connect earth with Mercurial water. So the idea of what am I going to MAKE of this….moment? Situation? Opportunity?…has the ‘making’ part of the equation representing whatever symbol we have in earthy Taurus or Virgo set against the waves of Mercurial vacillation brought up by this Cancer station.

And again…all of this, even for those of us who have not a shred of anything aspected by this station…all of this is taking place in a world awash with situations emotional and emotional provocation. No matter who we are, no matter where we live, things we don’t (Neptune) understand, things we want to feel (Jupiter) better or good about, things which we need to work for us and work in (Saturn) general all seem in flux.

Are they? Or is this time, this moment, month and year simply part of the evolving continuum?

My answer…which I give you to with all wryness implied, all empathic channels invoked and all awareness set to ‘acceptance’ says ‘probably all of the above.’

Amzinybe (Eternity) by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1907)

So where is this station happening? The degree is 13 Cancer, a degree known in lore as one which is perceptive in the utmost, blatant to the point of disquieting and quick to grasp and perceive inner meanings. These notes from lore are particularly interesting (and probably telling) in that they refer specifically to mental function coming from Cancer, an emotional sign. So does this mean that our thoughts will be emotional? Or that the information which is evidently dealt with in such a facile manner at this time provokes emotion or evokes memories or stirs up all those Cancerian cultural or familial or childhood ‘settings’ we all grow up having installed in our psyches and hearts?

Probably. And of course there is that ‘standard’ station concept about before-the-station versus after-the-station to take into account. Anything which occurs around the time of any station appears to be more important to us…which given Mercury might be better more about making a deeper impression on us. Things which happen going into a station often have yet to play out ‘in full.’ Things which happen after the moment of station exactitude often pertain to things which have already happened – the playing out of that, or what happens (or occurs to us) as a result of something prior.

Then we add in the idea that Cancer is not only the first of the water signs…AND the fact that in terms of zodiacal order and the ‘natural’ zodiac wheel, Cancer is the first of the reactive signs. Whether you think of this as emotional responses or how reactions based or built on experience (or cultural orientation or personal history) Cancer is always about the me, the I, the most basic sense of being.

And where we find Cancer in our personal natal chart, that tells us many things about where and how and through what sorts of experiences we are affected by…and how we go about learning how or why or when we’d react on this level. Or come to understand ourselves and where we ‘come from’ in our lives in a better and more clarified sense. I have a friend who has Cancer on the 12th house. He learns about his own feelings through his spirituality – through feeling himself as one person among many, and but a tiny part of the universal whole.

I feel for him. His love/hate relationship with being simultaneously totally individual and but a spec in the cosmos confounds him. And well it should…there’s nothing tougher than our 12th house lessons. The same joy of release so many feel in accepting that there is a Greater Power or a universal function beyond our being can scare the willies out of us when we realize that we are but a grain on one of a million beaches which front…and confront…the eternal flow of time and space becoming. This 12th house position also says that though he will be ‘imprinted’ (if you will) by the sign on his 4th house natal like we all are, he will learn about who that Self is in terms of emotional basics (the Cancerian archetype) last of all.

For him, that emotional self-knowledge comes last. It’s in some senses the ‘why’ he goes through many a process.

Whatever sign is on the native house of Cancer (your 4th natal house) is how you get colored. It will describe the attributes which color your most native, feeling world. Where the sign of Cancer falls is where you learn about that.

And those are two very different things. (Alas, right?)

Being that astrological signals are both objective and subjective, there’s the simple and straight-on sort of experiencing of personal revelation which now may come to light. Or maybe you’re someone who will now meet up with events which prompt some sort of Cancerian insight.

As for astrological specifics, Mercury’s going direct a degree off Sirius’ position is a plus, as Sirius is known as a star all about ‘brilliance.’ And since Mercury will have backed over Sirius just prior to going direct, that rather backdates the glimmerings of brilliance date all the way to July 13th – or if you’re into orbs, some sort of ‘dawning of brilliance’ (or ‘seeing the light,’ perhaps) which was experienced during a ‘reflective’ Mercury retrograde phase anywhere since July 6.

Moral: never underestimate a Mercury retrograde. It isn’t all about losing your keys, car breakdowns, waiting for someone to get back to you and such. It can also be a potent time when by experiencing that slowdown…or by simply stopping to think, to reflect, we recognize that thing which was probably waiting to be discovered all along.

Once Mercury goes direct, it will move forward and again conjunct Sirius on its way to moving on into other realms, other decanates, other signs and districts of the zodiac.

But here, at this station it’s in a grand trine (yes, another one) with the North Node in Scorpio and Chiron / Achernar in Pisces. And with the North Node conjunct Medea and more-than-substantially sized asteroid Psyche, that we may meet up with some aspect of our mentality (Psyche) and in particular those parts of it we damage ourselves (Medea) by being over-invested in (or not letting go of) is more than an echo of the idea that sometimes we just can’t help but get in our own way.

And (Chiron – Achernar) how we are going to do that over and over again until we simply decide to do something different…or differently. With Chiron in this mix, the ‘not knowing how to’ quotient stands our loud and clear, if not helpfully. About the only thing to say here is that as humans (and not mythic figures such as centaur Chiron) we have the ability to direct ourselves along a new path, even though it may not be comfortable and may not feel even vaguely native to our being.

As someone who feels these influences as deeply and thoroughly as anyone else might, I sympathize for our lot as humans. Chiron being involved in this grand trine suggests that as long as we refuse to walk through that long, dark, scary mental tunnel towards the thing we “don’t know how to do” we’ll never learn how to do it.

That’s terrible. It’s scary. But what’s our choice?

Having said earlier on how sextiles are opportunities, the sextile to the Taurus South Node and Menkar is the obvious ‘out’ – the “opportunity” we may feel (or think) we have to simply do the easy thing. Or continue on doing what we know or have already learned how to do. Any Taurean reference conjures up the question of security and thus our so-called ‘comfort zone.’ And with Menkar involved, who’s to say we can’t be effective if we just keep on doing what we’re doing?

- link to -

MENKAR: SOUL, SEARCHING

The answer to much of that would seem to be posed by TNO Deucalion sitting with Psyche, the North Node and Medea. Deucalion being a Trans-Neptunian Object which speaks to our finding the moral way to be who we are (i.e., fulfill our human potential) that’s probably the biggest clue to this whole Mercury station.

That the moral thing is to do what we need to do (that North Node thing) – whether we want to, like to, or even feel we (Chiron) know how to, is now our challenge most moral.

Some of us will take it on. Some of us won’t. Some of us are likely to feel judged for what we do, while some of us are will feel judged because we choose to do nothing. Some of us will own our feelings and responsibilities while some of us continue to project, ignore, deflect and abdicate.

The reasons…the feelings we do any of that however, all that is in – and comes from our minds.

And that’s the Mercury in Cancer point.
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Uranus Station-Retrogrades in Aries

Andrew Jackson's Right Eye from a United States $20 bill

(photo credit: RawheaD Rex, December 2008)

If Swedish astronomers ruled the earth, apparently planet Uranus would be known as Neptune.

Seriously.

When William Herschel discovered the-planet-which-would-be-Uranus back in March of 1781, he did what any loyal Brit would do: he notified the Astronomer Royal, one Nevil Maskelyne.

At the time, Herschel wasn’t even sure this object he had ‘discovered’ was a planet – he evidently referred to it as a ‘comet’ until an astronomer from an entirely different quadrant of the globe (Russia) did the math and – at least on paper – proved that this blueish-green object wandering around out there beyond Saturn did indeed orbit the Sun.

And yes, it fit the definition of the day to qualify for planet-hood.

It took a few years, but Herschel was eventually convinced that he had indeed done a wonderful thing – he had carved a niche in history for himself as the discoverer of a whole new…and as has came to be known…highly unusual world.

In honor of this accomplishment, Nevil Maskelyne asked Herschel if he would ‘do the astronomical world a favor’ and name his find – to which Herschel obliged by naming it after Britain’s current king, King George III.

The name didn’t stick. Evidently it struck folks outside of Britain as a bit too idiosyncratic. Or maybe aristocratic.

So other astronomers threw their planetary naming hats in the ring. One John Lalande suggested this find be named after its finder. But calling the planet ‘Herschel’ also didn’t stick. Apparently everybody outside of Britain kept saying ‘Who???’ 

It was at this point that Swede Erik Prosperin stepped up, suggesting that the new planet be called Neptune. It could even be combined with some variation on King George to celebrate some Royal Navy victories which came about in the course of fighting those feisty, pesky New World would-be Americans during the Revolutionary War.

After all, Neptune is the god of the sea, right?

Yes, but the war was ultimately lost. So out went ideas like Neptune George III and up stepped German astronomer Johann Bode who, after pausing to check and make sure that Anders Lexell (the Russian) had indeed done the orbital math correctly (lest it not bode well for Bode to stand up for an out of position planet), came out with a rather sterling and inventively logical suggestion, one which draws on the long-established hierarchy of Greek myth.

Bode’s premise was that as the mythic Saturn (Kronos) was the father of Jupiter (aka Zeus), so this new planet should embody that which Saturn came from. Thus he put forth the idea of using Ouranos, the Greek sky god, taking us back to more primordial times.

In the Greek beginning there was the sky… Ouranos… and Gaia, the earth. From them have come Saturn (the fact of hard reality) and Jupiter (the idea of all which may yet be or become).

With a little astronomical tinkering, we thus arrive at Uranus.

And about Herschel…not to worry. Though the astronomers (the factual group) went with some theoretical naming methodology, astrologers (the allegedly theoretical group) memorialized the guy who actually discovered the planet by coming up with a glyph to represent Uranus which is a Herschel “H” atop a circle/globe representing a planetary world.

 As the Uranus glyph has evolved, the 'H' for Herschel has

become more stylizes - at least in the world of astrological

fonts. But it's still there!

Funny how these things work, isn’t it? I actually got involved in this fracas when a couple of years ago planet hunter sublime Mike Brown was taking public votes for what to name a newly discovered moon orbiting dwarf planet Orcus.

It was absolutely an exercise in futility, but I wrote a long and impassioned email to Mike Brown asking that the astronomical community consider breaking with its long-held tradition of using symbols of difficulty as moon names for objects named for difficult premises.

No, I didn’t ask him to name the moon Candy Floss or anything so banal, but I threw our a handful of options.

And I was summarily bypassed – which to me only proves that metaphysical theory which says we learn what we need to learn when we need to learn it. Despite best efforts and Mike Brown’s subsequent public statement that he has no problem with astrologers or astrology as good astrologers (note the qualification, please!) know their stuff, do their research and don’t act on whim.

So Orcus’s moon got named Vanth (an unpleasant little Etruscan spirit assigned to shepherding souls off into the underworld) and the world got a public statement by one of its honcho astronomers that astrologers aren’t all full of hooey.

I took the compliment as intended and went my way, ne’er to darken Mike Brown’s email ‘in’ box until there came the day when I needed to ask about the rate at which the center of our Milky Way Galaxy (a black hole which is currently at 27 Sagittarius) moves for my 2012 book on travels through the land of the Maya, Travel Gossip. (Here’s a LINK to where you can pick up an eBook copy of same.) And yes, Mike-the-Gemini was very helpful.

Now that you know more about how planets get named than you had planned to ever know, back to Uranus.

But don’t think all that was not Uranian. Uranus is all about the unusual. The thing you never knew before. The surprise. The shock, the breakthrough, the discovery, the leap of faith, the flight of mental fancy. And when Uranus goes retrograde at 12 Aries on July 17th at 5:21 in the evening UT/+0 time, its likely that life will be showing us all just what we didn’t expect. Big or little, delightful or horrifying, Uranian stations always offer something unexpected.

That’s just the way Uranus rolls. And it does roll, you know. While other planets spin like tops, twirling along their orbits around the sun, Uranus rolls. All the other planets are relatively upright; Uranus is on its side. With an orbital period of just over 84 years Uranus spends just over forty years with one pole aimed at the Sun and the other forty-plus years with the other pole aimed at the Sun.

And yet…according to scientists (those astronomical types and their cousins the astrophysicists) Uranus’ equator – that part of the planet which is never aimed directly at the Sun – is still the warmest place.

Uranus and its rings (photo credit: NASA, JPL)

Of course, warm is relative. Uranus is a big thing – it’s about 63 times the size of Earth. And it’s quick. While Earth (which is tiny in comparison) manages one full revolution in 24 hours, it takes Uranus only 17 hours or so to spin itself around.

Somehow that makes me think of Uranus as the solar system’s Roto-Rooter device. Apparently life around this part of the galaxy periodically gets constipated and Uranus has to shake things loose.

Anyway…back to that temperature thing. According to NASA (who knows if anyone knows) the average temperature on Uranus is around 59 Kelvin – which to us Earth types is minus 350 Fahrenheit. So if you decide to visit Uranus, take warm socks.

Take ALL your warm socks. And some serious mittens.

The next factoid is astrological. Seeing as we give any planetary station a (minimum) 2-days before, 2-days after ‘station allowance,’ that means that while the Uranian ‘turning point’ is on July 17th, the ‘Uranus station’ starts on July 15th (maybe even the 14th) and extends through the 19th…maybe even the 20th.

And dwarf planet Eris is going retrograde on the 19th.

Plus Mercury is going retrograde on July 20th.

And let’s not forget that ongoing Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune grand trine in water. The ‘core’ period of that configuration ends on July 17th, just in time for Uranus’ station.

All this with Mars in Cancer. Mars will not have yet even entered the orb of opposition to Pluto in Capricorn, but as we talked about in the ‘we’re in for a crabby time!’ Mars in Cancer post, there’s a vibe which is going to be pretty pervasive for the entire six weeks or so that Mars is transiting the first of the water signs.

- link to post -

Mars in Cancer

It’s so going to ‘stir up’ the Jupiter side of things. And the emotional side of things. And the money and family and the general life-or-death side of things.

All things.

Into all this comes change-provoking, dynamite-like Uranus?

Gee. If I could, I would take a quick bus to another solar system for a week or two. (Or three.) But if I did that I’d miss out on all the doings here.

And life here on Earth is nothing if not in constant need of keeping up with. With Uranus going retrograde at 12 Aries, life is bringing us to where we have to make peace with ourselves about who we are…and aren’t. Some of this will be in spite of what others want, or despite our own misgivings. There are times when we have to fail one thing in order to succeed in another, and with Uranus taking station in the zodiacal company of Medusa, Nemesis and Orpheus, embracing our fears and abilities in all their naked primacy seems inevitable.

Being true to our capabilities is often a very far cry from what’s convenient. Or comfortable. The dual t-square presented at this station (with Uranus at the ‘t’ of both configurations) is a pretty sure sign that we need to stand (and stand up) for the necessary, not the popular.

And that’s not likely to be all that popular with us. But evidently talk (Vega) isn’t going to get us to any sort of lasting state of (Sphinx/Bali) happiness. Nor is not (Industria) tackling the (Facies/Pluto) intricacies of dug in situations going to help. We want to be who we know we can be…and yet so much and so many voices and warnings and challenges are standing in our way.

Besides, to really be as potent and powerful as we can be, to own our potential and not just go with sufficiency is strange. As Marianne Williamson said so well, it’s not the idea of being weak which scares most of us – it’s recognizing how powerful we really are.

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Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

- Marianne Williamson

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Power scares a lot of people. The idea of wielding power and being powerful sounds great. But with great power comes the greater responsibility to control what we do with that power, a test which is about our internal sense of entitlement - and whether we're a good judge of that...or even capable of holding ourselves to those limits we know in our hearts we truly believe in. Some of the scariest people to ever walk this earth are those who aren't scared of power at all simply because they lack sufficient conscience to care whether they do hold themselves to those limits.

And because we are scared of what we might do if given that 'absolute power which corrupts absolutely' we are afraid of that power which resides in each of our souls. It isn't about 'them'...it's about our willingness to take on the responsibility to govern ourselves. To many of us, that’s scary. And yet...how many of us think of having children as a total blessing? Isn't the responsibility for a helpless young life unable to stand on its own the greatest responsibility of all?

Medusa in this Uranus mix virtually guarantees we will all be meeting up with some sort of truth about ourselves that we’ve (Nemesis) always known but not wanted to (Medusa) face.

However these days…and those which have gone before…and those which are soon to come play out for you, the real question is whether you will break through your own resistance or not.

Retrogrades symbolize times when the work is done on the ‘inside.’ They’re when – in this case – we will do our changing on the inside, whether that’s voluntary on our part or driven by (in response to) external circumstances. Those of us who can use the next five months to work through or free ourselves from those invalid assumptions and the difference between the hope we aim for and the dream we think will magically ‘become’ reality will ultimately gain ground towards that which we (Alhena) purposefully strive.

Well, as long as that aim reflects our genuine Self, that is. And if it doesn’t, you’ll know as the uproar around you will increase. The debates and general sense of fracas will become overwhelming.

And yet…that could also be your challenge. So many of us give up and run away (another Uranus symptom) when the going gets tough.

So what’s the difference? How are we to know we’re headed in the wrong direction as opposed to simply meeting up with ‘normal’ challenges or interference thrown at us by those who may be less willing to challenge themselves and live up to their potential?

That is a very big problem, you know…the metaphysical rule known as ‘like attracts like’ is a 100% sort of thing. And when we’re not living at our potential level – or even striving to be what we have the capacity or capability of becoming as opposed to what we are willing to settle for because it’ll suit someone else’s fancy (or image or dream) – at that point in our lives we tend to get hooked into other people who are living at that less-than-sterling level in their lives.

And as we’ve all heard, misery loves company…which in the world of ‘like attracts like’ becomes a tendency for people to puddle together based on their weaknesses as opposed to their strengths. And when one person says ‘Gosh this puddle is muddy! I need to find me some fresher waters to swim in!’ everyone who isn’t ready to strive or let go of their own fears will generally try their hardest to keep you from excelling and moving on.

We see this all the time in relationships: one partner wants to grow and change and the other likes things just the way they are. Business, intimate or platonic, relationships need to have room for people to grow. They need to support our growth, not hinder it. Uranus in Aries is in the sign of Self – Aries. And this passage, whether internal or experienced as something happening ‘to’ you is often most destabilizing because you don’t want to change, because you’re afraid of shaking ‘the’ status quo or your personal sense of the status quo.

But let’s remember…you were born to be who you were born to be. That’s the Alhena part of one of the two t-squares presented at this station. Positioned at 9 Cancer, Alhena is all about learning to be grateful for the graces and talents we each have and our ability to make something of our life, no matter what that becomes. Modified by Mercury being at 13 Cancer with a little Sirius ‘brilliance’ added on top, this t-square asks us whether we are willing to have a reason for working as hard as we do to become ‘someone in this world’ beyond the obvious.

Our humanity, not our things, define us. And with Nemesis-Orpheus positioned with Uranus and Medusa at the ‘t’ of this station’s double ‘t’ square, it is to be guessed that a lot of people…a LOT of people…are going to be going through things which will lead them to realize that in the end it isn’t our image but our reality which fills us with happy motivation or stress, regrets and a feeling of instability and loss.

Orpheus in the Inferno by Mihail Ştefănescu (c 1870)

Loss itself is a two-sided thing. There is of course, the loss of a person. Or a 'thing' (or things). But our experience of that loss is the destabilization of our sense of status quo. Our security about who we are in this life and what we're doing in this world.

You know, the Aries part of our life.

Having the ability or the talent is one thing. Learning to use it is another thing. Realizing that our gifts are only gifts when they’re given to those whose lives we can enhance…and that it is for that action, that choice, that ability that we are rewarded in the most worldly and ‘life’ sense…that’s an ultimate sort of recognition, one which takes place inside us, and which at some point either changes the trajectory of what we’re aiming at in life – or doesn’t.

This is not a stable moment. It may be exciting, it may be a headache, it may be tragic, it may be motivational, delightful, confounding or anything else.

In the end it’s meant to open us to that we have not experienced yet. It’s meant to break through our hard shell so that we can feel that part of ourselves we haven’t yet allowed to come forth and become our ticket to new experiences.

Uranus doesn’t represent the subtle. At it’s most gentle end, this is the energy we know as ‘flexibility.’ But as anyone who has been made to tolerate a period of not knowing understands, that’s a trial of its own.

At it’s most volatile, Uranus represents sudden eruptions and breakages. A great earthquake which wasn’t in motion a second ago and which is destroying my status quo in the next is a Uranian event. The Uranus part for Earth is the shifting of Earth’s crust…that thing science refers to as plate tectonics. But in my life, that moment can be devastating. Or it can merely provide me with a wakeup call, a reminder that I’m not in charge of this world, life is.

Ultimately, all events which occur around any Uranus station pertain to this idea. We tend to get complacent. People are fond of thinking they’re in charge of this world and ‘masters of all they survey.’

Then life comes along and shows us that there is far, far more to life than we had suspected. An earthquake can hit. An economy can fracture. A marriage can end. We can get hit by a train. Our home might get burglarized. We might have a child. And that child may grow up to be a genius despite our thinking they were nobody.

Or they might turn out to be a mass murderer.

Everything ‘out there’ which orbits beyond Saturn is by definition ‘beyond human limits.’ We talk a deal about everything beyond Neptune (our solar system’s last full-sized planet) being that which we hadn’t experienced before, or suspected.

But between Neptune and Saturn…there orbits Uranus, which at some level represents exactly that – the ‘break’ between what we fully understand (Saturn and everything within the orbit of Saturn) and that which we can never fully predict or know until ‘the effect of it’ (the ripples caused by objects moving through space) comes past Neptune heading for that Saturn boundary where it enters our reality.

Along the way, such ‘unknowns’ pass through the realm of Uranus. And in doing that, they pass through a ring energized by a planet which operates in a manner entirely different from any other planet in our solar system.

Uranian effects are about a liberation of perspective. And for that to happen, sometimes the crust – be it of our earth or our thinking – has to be broken through.

This 2013 Uranus station-retrograde is part of a greater collection of processes. But it is vital on its own, representing a moment when what the Maya called wheels within wheels click into place to change us – maybe a lot, or maybe just a little. Changes don’t have to be massive in size. Great trees grow from small acorns. Huge discoveries have come from a minute, spur-of-the-moment thought.

With every moment we are given a Uranian opportunity for change.

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