The 14 Libra Lunar Eclipse

A crop circle as photographed by Sphoenixee in April 2007 here stands in to image

Sabian symbol number 195 (for 14 Libra) which describes this influence as 'Circular Paths,'

a reference to life's cycles and - perhaps more important to the emotionality of a lunar

eclipse - the issue described by astrologer/philosopher Dane Rudhyar with regards to

how life's cycles can either be boring or peaceful depending on where we are in our own

life and whether our lives are being lived openly and honestly not just with others, but

with and within our Self.

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Lunar eclipses promote and elicit our feelings. They mark times when things happen to lift our hearts and dash our hopes, depending on where they are presented in a chart.

Your chart, that would be.

And yet eclipses have their own nature - which with this eclipse begins with the idea that the ‘Moon side’ of this dynamic is occurring in Libra a sign all about how we feel about others and how they feel about us, and what that may mean about us or the fact that we even know them.

That this is a lunar eclipse also says that it’s a specialized Full Moon (just as a solar eclipse is a specialized form of a New Moon) - an idea which tells us that something is being “fully highlighted” with a special sort of ‘eclipse nuance’ which may highlight someone else, may highlight some act or attitude we have taken (or are thinking of taking with regards to others), or which may put some sort of emotion-promoting spotlight on something which is either being offered or asked of us - as individuals or a group.

With this being a Full Moon and the Moon itself in Libra, the Sun is in Aries - at 14 Aries, to be precise. And 14 Aries, as a degree, is known for something of a ‘hands off’ perspective which may simply be the signature of an observer, the habit of a loner, the sign that someone either isn’t involved or doesn’t feel they can be involved ... or some other form of separation or being ‘walled off’ or split off from some whole which may be what is being emotionally responded to by the eclipse, or which may be part of how the eclipse itself manifests - by separating, by putting up some sort of barrier which separates, defines or provides boundaries, by making it plain that being too close to something (or someone) is ... well, not always a positive.

Or maybe just not a place to be working from when we want to do things un-emotionally.

Lunar Eclipse at 14 Libra (glyph chart)

April 4, 2015 - 12 07 (UT +0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Lunar Eclipse at 14 Libra (text chart)

April 4, 2015 - 12 07 (UT +0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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But to count the signs and signals here, just to have a lunar eclipse speaks to a relationship, whether that’s between our Self and a job, a person, our finances, that squirrel which won’t let your garden alone or some life challenge ... it is our relationships to that which is the essence of the lunar eclipse because eclipses are a function of the nodes.

And then we add the ‘Libra’ note, making our heightened lunar eclipse relationship to ‘it’ a Libra thing, that being what makes this eclipse more or less about our relationship to relationships... and whatever (or whether) our situation is vis-à-vis relationships and our ability to relate, our style of relating and how that is working for (or against) us in this moment ... to which we add the specific 14 Libra ‘flavoring,’ which in this case has to do with whether we are or aren’t separated in/from others in how we relate to people in general, or maybe just in one relationship or in how the world views relationships and the need or issue of relating to one another - and whether we have the capacity to know anyone at all ... ever ... and what that may say about us.

A diagram showing the positions of Sun, Moon and Earth

during solar and lunar eclipses, respectively

(diagram credit: Tomruen)

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All this comes to us through a lunar eclipse - which as shown above is the ‘opposite’ of a solar eclipse in that with the solar eclipse the Moon comes between the Earth and Sun, where with a lunar eclipse it’s the Earth which stands between Sun and Moon, casting an ‘Earthly’ shadow on all things lunar.

And that’s the point. Where with a solar eclipse something in or about (the Moon) everyday life is eliminated or ‘blacks out’ something which we have held as part of our (Sun) life or conception of life. Solar eclipses force us to look at life a different way because we aren’t seeing ... or can’t see as much of it as we did, or we’re seeing something totally differently than we did only a short time ago.

That process - the solar eclipse process - speaks to a long-term evolution of our life which evolves from the moment of the eclipse: something changes, and we reorient our lives to account for those changes.

But with a lunar eclipse, it is Earth - us - which is ‘casting a shadow’ on something (Moon) personal and feeling oriented. Being that this lunar eclipse is occurring in Libra, that ‘personal’ thing may involve any of the “Moon things” (women, memory, money, home, childhood, culture) ... and then again, it may involve any of the Libra qualities of being about relationships or manifesting through a relationship, and by ‘relationship’ we mean any kind of relationship - that you have with a lover, a parent, a co-worker, your dog, your homework, your car, your ambitions, your relationships to time, life and even Divinity. Where an actual other person is involved, we tend to think the lunar eclipse is about ‘them,’ but it seldom is - it’s our eclipse and therefore the issue is our feelings ... how we feel about them, or what they’re going through, what they’ve said or done to us, with regards to us - or something like that. And then there’s the fact that some of us (a good number of us) will be coming into this lunar eclipse with some kind of strange-feeling matter already knocking about in the back rooms of our psyche due to the solar eclipse which just blew through a few Piscean circuits as of March 20th.

- link to post -

Solar Eclipse Scheat:

Flight against Insight

So a lot of us are all stirred up right now. We probably won’t be admitting it openly, or wearing our uncertainties on our sleeves (as it’s said), but our world and each one of us living in it (which is to say on it) is coming to this week already very much in feeling mode.

And then comes the eclipse, a lunar eclipse which has the shadow of the Earth - our shadow - being cast on the Moon, that thing which metaphysically symbolizes and manifests as all those things which matter so much: family, home, traditions, feelings, memories, values ... and yes, that thing we associate so much with that list, money.

A map of the shadow being cast by the April 4, 2015

lunar eclipse (diagram credit: NASA-JPL) 

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The Moon represents money - in particular, business money: the money which cycles through business and which is used to build businesses - money as a resource and the measure of the flow (or lack thereof) of success ... that success being defined by each one of us individually through our feelings.

You know, the astrological Moon.

But here - with the image of the lunar eclipse, we are given to know that the Moon ... our feelings ... are under a bit of current stress which astrologers would refer to as a t-square.

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The difficulty here - and thus what those of us who run into problems or challenges now may well encounter - is the idea that there is something (represented here by Pluto/Vega) which is challenging us, standing in our way or existing as an issue we have to get over (past, around, etc.).

If we don’t get past it, given how t-squares work, then we’re going to end up back where we started - in that feeling puddle of ours, or that puddle of feelings we really were wanting to put to good use (or possibly put behind).

And why would we be going through anything - what’s the ‘object’ here? As imaged by the t-square’s end point (Uranus, Sun, Alpheratz and Psyche at 14 Aries) we want to ‘be alone’ ... or possibly be left alone to do what we need/want/intend to do ... or considering 14 Libra as Aries in its emotionally determined/determinative mode, there’s something which we want to be free to be or get done, whether for our own sake, its own sake, or for the sake of someone else.

So what is the problem? The ‘hurdle’ here being presented as Pluto-Vega, the Pluto part of the equation points to some change or transformative quality which has already had some sort of effect, which is part of that which is holding us back or as a reference to something which needs to happen. Pluto is doing the transiting, which on one level makes Pluto’s energetic (and that of transformation) the quality which is being applied to that which already exists (that being the Vega quotient) - and let us not forget how obsessive and controlling Pluto energies often tend to be.

Will we be obsessed with something we believe - or something about others? Or some goal we think entirely necessary?

Is what we are so obsessed with even real?

And if our issue is control or controlling others, is that sensible to ask - or even possible? Is the control we think so necessary about protecting others, or do they refer to some feeling we feel threatened by to the degree that we can’t even deal with our Self, resorting instead to trying to control others so we don’t have to be responsible for our own feelings and fears?

Plus when we get to Vega, then we’re talking about a fixed star which has long stood for all which holds appeal, that which holds sway through loyalty, allegiance or respect and all which exudes charisma, which persuades or is persuasive.

Together, these symbols stand for things which need to change, things long respected which we may have lost respect for, things loved with that love now lost ... and on a somewhat different trajectory, that which we either hold out to others (or) adopt as our own because they seem so attractive and charismatic ... or because they seem to hold or embody a promise of appealing changes yet to come. And when we add in what lore says about the degree this conjunction is occurring in (15 Capricorn), then we get a picture of something or someone (or perhaps some group, organization or other entity) which has ... or which has had (which may be the issue now)... a distinct leaning towards softness or passivity - and how that may be what is now changing.

Or which has already changed.

Or which needs to change.

The quality of Vega means some will resist change because they found what came before so pleasant. 

But was it really pleasant? Or was it pleasant on one side because the cost (responsibility, effort, ignorance, fear(s), etcetera) of such pleasant things were unkindly ... even unfairly shifted onto others?

However this works, some fleck or nuance of this eclipse will color every life. But that doesn’t mean we’re all going to be feeling this eclipse to the same degree (no pun intended!). With the lunar eclipse occurring at 14 Libra, some of us will be affected and some won’t be affected - just as some of us have been more-rather-than-less affected by what the 29 Pisces solar eclipse may have revealed about some rather unacceptable lack(s) of clarity we have on our Self.

How did we get there? We’ve been so careful, and yet somehow we have ended up not wanting to know how unrealistic and ultimately unkind to our Self or our own cause we have ended up being.

(Oh yes - and if you’re over say ... age twenty, that may be ‘... we have ended up being again.’)

This eclipse (like any eclipse) occurs in all charts. But it isn’t going to necessarily be focal in every chart, just as the recent solar eclipse hit some like a gentle raindrop and others like a tsunami. Some of us will have been born with charts which are sensitive to the solar eclipse, some to the lunar eclipse, and some to both - which bespeaks the greatest sensitivity of all.

But I probably don’t need to tell you that. If your chart answers closely to both eclipses, life is already on the move, whether your body and psyche are keeping up with it (yet) or not...  

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... and with the eclipse occurring this Saturday, we would also be quite reasonable to think the whole of this week is likely to be one when we feel our own sensitivity more acutely than other times.

Again, ‘they’ (or ‘that’) may promote, provoke, support or be asking or prompting us to let our feelings out, most of all so that we can learn what those feelings are and learn from our feelings as they stand.

Why do we feel the way we do? Where do our feelings come from? Why do we hold the (Moon/lunar) values that we hold and do they reflect us as (Moon/Sun) individuals, or are we saying what we’re saying or feeling what we’re feeling because we think our (lunar nodes) society or family or culture requires of us ... or even urges us <wink> to think or act or be a given way.

Neither one is bad, mind you - it’s just evidently important that we know what is what and where things come from, for reasons which are individual to you and your life.

But understanding and knowing do figure large at this time, as do ethics and the ability or availability or willingness to learn, teach and share ideas - all of which reflects the fact that Jupiter (symbol of enlargement, expansion) is already on station at 12 Leo, having taken up temporary residence in said degree on March 24th, bringing much about the stations of this past couple of weeks into big, bold, bas relief sort of focus - which would fit a Jupiterian 'bigger, grander ... even to the point of being aggrandized' sort of theme.

-link to post-

Nemesis, Ixion, Sisyphus, Pholus

 - link to post -

Niobe Direct

The combination produced much which was obviously overblown and some things which deserved being enlarged upon or ‘made bigger’ so that they could be looked at in detail. And that quality of ‘making things larger,’ whether that’s a benefit or negative, that basic ‘Jupiter essence’ will continue to and through Jupiter’s station-direct moment on April 8th.

And that means things may well become VERY emotional over the weekend of April 4th, since that would have lunar eclipse effects overlaying and combining with the standard Jupiter manifestation, that being one of ‘enlarging’ which - given the lunar eclipse - could get out of hand. This can be a wonderful and joyous combination. Then again, it could represent the toppling of not just some personal house of cards, but things which we have been working towards for many a moon.

Plus there’s also Mars and Venus in Taurus against Mercury in Aries to think about. Mercury in Aries is thought and communication sitting in the oppositional sign to the nexus of all the emotional hoo-ha of the moment.

Is that helpful? Does this mean that as the lunar eclipse moves through the Jupiter quotient is going to help us see (read: learn) something we didn’t see - or maybe didn’t want to know or see, but will benefit from in the long run? Is this the moment when some opportunity we have dreamed of (or even better, which has been beyond our wildest dreams) suddenly reveals itself as possible? Or is this a moment when life breaks out in rashes, rash arguments and other forms of arguably irritating things?

That Venus and Mars are themselves not in aspect to the eclipse makes this less intimately personal. And with Mercury at 8 Aries, Mercury isn’t quite in opposition to the eclipse itself (the heart of the matter). Yet because the lunar nodes (which are part of eclipse mechanics) are at 10 Aries and 10 Libra, Mercury at 10 Aries does conjunct the South Node which in turn is conjunct the Sun.

Mercury-South Node is wanting to keep one’s opinion or position ... and/or the fact that not changing or not ‘caring’ about input (or whatever else) is easier to opt for than other options.

It does not, however, guarantee success. The ‘should’ side of the lunar nodes is the North (not South) Node, and the North Node is positioned at 10 Libra, a degree which speaks of a kind of individuality, ‘aloneness’ or distinction/differentiation (from other things or people) which more often than not follows a difficult path for reasons which are not always apparent. From this comes a subjective perspective based on those difficulties, and that perspective, if not corrected, may well become a motivation for, or means of limitation either on the part of the native (the individual) or someone else.

That all of this is happening just in advance of Jupiter’s station also suggests that this ‘nesting’ of events is a form of double-play. In other words, while the lunar eclipse is setting up the circumstances we will take into Jupiter’s station, Jupiter’s moving towards/into that station represents all of those life forces which are bringing so many things to light, some of which we are responding, acting on or reacting to with the ‘high water’ energy timed by the eclipse.

And let’s also remember how things which happen going into a station (we’re talking about Jupiter here) are things which are yet to happen - which with Jupiter could be a lot of things, especially if your natal chart ‘answers’ to the degree 12 Leo.

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Just to run through the basics, an eclipse (or planetary station, if you’re also thinking about Jupiter) which conjuncts your chart generally manifests as feeling totally involved with the matters described by the eclipse on a personal basis. This is you having to decide something about your life.

If the eclipse (or station) is in opposition to something in your chart, the qualities or area(s) of life described by that natal object as it appears in your chart in a given house ...something about such matters will into focus in such a way as to create a sense of challenge - or perhaps reward.

Squares and lunar eclipses seldom mix well, as what results may be exciting, if also frustrating (to some degree) at the very same time. Maintaining the balance and proper sense of determination which squares requires of us isn’t going to be the easiest thing to do at the time of any lunar eclipse, and one which is ‘backed’ (or influenced) by Jupiter will make it that much easier (or more likely) to go overboard or to think too positively or too negatively.

The inconjunct and semi-sextile are likely to follow this pattern to a certain degree, though inconjuncts are aspects which ask us to adjust something - be it our outlook, methodology, timing, perspective ... and semi-sextiles are aspects which test our ability to get past our own ego about something even if we don’t want to.

And for those with some axis point, planet, node or dwarf planet in semi-sextile aspect to the lunar eclipse, no - you probably don’t want to!

That would be the given. Figuring out whether you need to get past that and change ... or whether you need to simply get past your annoyance and remain classy and cool ... that’s another thing.

Eclipses (or stations) which trine positions in your natal chart generally refer to things which are already in progress, or which you may want to think about changing (or building on) but which aren’t yet at a place where you can make some move. Sometimes this can be problematic, particularly where the effect of the trine means you can’t cut and run on some unproductive situation. But the other side holds true as well, so if you’re in a good place doing what you know you should be doing in life, a trine from a lunar eclipse - uproar or no uproar - will generally end with little if anything changed.

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With all of that said and mused over, there’s one other ‘message’ which comes with this eclipse, that being simply the astronomical notice that as the Moon reaches Full (at the lunar eclipse) the first phase of the March 20th solar eclipse is now closed out. That doesn’t mean that ‘the worst is over’ or anything quite as definite as that as the 29 Pisces solar eclipse - being in Pisces - operates basically on an internal, super-personal (not to mention individual) level in opening us to ourselves so we can let go of that which is truly no longer appropriate (or perhaps necessary) in favor of becoming who we are supposed to be at this point in our life so as to stay on track with who we were ultimately born to be.

Solar eclipses evolve over a full three years, often starting off with very intense periods riddled with various events, few of which ultimately have any direct bearing on where we will end up going, or who we are destined to become. Lunar eclipses on the other hand, tend to be very immediate, prompt and timely, with events of the moment - though emotionally important - being more ‘situational’ than intrinsically personal, if you will.

And maybe even more importantly, the evolution of lunar eclipses is swift. This one - the events or situations which are associated with it, in other words - may ‘spill over’ into other things of lengthier duration because of this 14 Libra eclipse’s proximity to Jupiter’s station, but most lunar eclipses mark events and moments which after a space of just three months become part of the fabric of our memory.

Still, they can be exciting. And this one - in particular - would seem to hold the potential for great inner personal discovery.

Will we like what we find?
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Dateblog: April 2015

 There are a lot of things I could say about April 2015 even if we’re just limiting that to the astrological in nature. For instance, I could point out how all that fresh green in the ‘April 2015 by Sign’ graphic - an increasing green which increasingly asks ‘how Taurean is my outlook?’ as the month goes along.

And for the uninitiated (or merely forgetful), ‘more Taurean’ means stubbornly peaceful on the positive side ... and perfectly placid about anything and everything up to (and possibly including) that which grows out of nurtured resentments and steadfast (even stubborn) allegiances to judging everything on a physical basis to the negative side. (Aren’t you happy you asked?)

I could also point out how the whole of April’s second half - as always - is going to be sprinkled (literally, on the metaphysical level) with asteroids, those ‘sparks of insight or inspiration’ and on occasion those ‘shots in the dark’ we not only take and see others taking but associate with the two meteor showers (the Lyrids and the Eta Aquarids) which happen every year about this time.

But no, that wouldn’t be where I would think we should start with considering April, as a personal astrological ‘ranking’ (i.e., how my big dog brain sees it) would start with the Lunar Eclipse at 14 Libra which will occur on April 4th with barely a hiccup in time passing before Jupiter goes direct four days later, on April 8th. And while I was saying that, I would point out that Lunar Eclipses represent ‘feeling’ or emotional times, and how while they’re neither as magically life transformative if spectacularly hard to see (in our own lives, at least for a while) as solar eclipse effects, lunar eclipse are at least polite enough about our time and effort to exude their effects downright promptly - which means that anyone with a major (planet, dwarf planet, node or axis) point between 4 and 24 Libra, Aries, Capricorn or Cancer (the cardinal signs, in other words) ... those people should not be expected if something arises or originates in the area(s) of life associated with those lunar eclipse “sensitive points.”

And then there’s Jupiter, for which the same suggestion goes, with the difference being that Jupiter is going direct at 12 Leo, which means the degree spread is from 2 to 22 degrees of Leo, Aquarius, Taurus or Scorpio should take special note.

More on both subjects in individual posts, of course - but that’s where I was thinking we should start. While not precisely a symbol of emotions or feelings, things which are associated with Jupiter  ... the effects, the opportunities, the encounters, the challenges, the news, the discoveries and enlightenments ... those Jovian (Jupiter) things tend to be associated with emotionality.

So how interesting that these two things are laid out (eclipse first) so that as we enter April things get more interesting and expressive, whatever else that may mean!

Plus Pluto will be going retrograde this month. And that Pluto does that (on the 17th) as Planet Earth (our lives) moves into the ‘meteor zone’ suggests a time when many things are being considered, parts or pieces or segments of which has us the (Taurus) necessity or value involved in doing or even thinking that we need anything other than the being content in any ... or every ... or various given moments.

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Maybe with so little in the way of air sign influence in this month’s mix (not to discount the Libra lunar eclipse or Venus’ impending transit of Gemini - shown above in light blue) ... maybe that will cause people to stop talking about the ‘idea of the thing’ or spending time and energy dissecting notions in favor of dealing with (earth sign) facts, evidence and history.

Then again, with as much fire sign energy (above, in golden yellow) being present in the mix, maybe what we need to deal with is how many people are simply unable to deal with realities - and why that is, or has come to be true. Fire plus earth influences tend to trend either towards the highly dynamic and often creative, or forms of what we might call ‘scorched earth’ policies as we simply discard or disregard all manner of facts, realities and necessities as, blind to all else, we follow some notion which may or may not have any real world basis or application.

How all these things are going to work out in - and through each one of our lives is still a mystery, of course. And in the wake of the 29 Pisces eclipse, some part of that is likely to be lived out through the (lunar eclipse) relationship venue or through how we (do or don’t, can or can’t) relate to someone. With the solar eclipse having occurred on March 20th, as April begins a good number of us are going to be coming to the ‘end’ of some alliance, relationship or  need to attend to a particular issue. Or their tolerance is wearing thin. Or they’re disenchanted (disappointed) with someone or something for having not lived up to some internal standard which isn’t about them at all, but rather about something we long to delude ourselves about as if we don’t ... well, then we’d have to feel all some sort of negative we really (REALLY) don’t want to feel.

That ‘thing’ ... if there is one ... we will project and ascribe to being about ‘them’ or ‘that.’

But it isn’t. It isn’t about ‘them’ - it’s about us ... which would be why this month being so Taurean holds so much promise, and a chance for much insecurity - not with ‘them,’ but as (or because) we finally figure out how the security we seeking so ardently is never solidified or damaged by things or people on the outside.

It’s all about who we are - and how we got that way, which is plenty to think about (and live the experiencing of) throughout April.

Bon voyage to us all!
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Solar Eclipse Scheat: Flight against Insight

The Solar Eclipse of January 4, 2011 as photographed by Hinode

(photo credit: NASA)

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Solar eclipses are highly individual beasts. And the eclipse of March 20th - the totality of which will occur at 9:46 in the morning (UT/+0 time) - is no different.

This isn’t to say solar eclipses don’t have some ‘guidelines’ we can go by. Time-wise, they last a full three years (36 months), and often (particularly if the eclipse hits your chart with any acuity) there will be a ‘turn of events’ at around the 30-month (2.5 year) mark.

Eclipses also follow a metaphysical ‘reflection’ of the event we see in our sky. As the Moon (the astrological emblem of everyday events and feelings) ... crosses in front of the Sun (general life around us and our mental consciousness) ... and ‘blacks’ the Sun out, something in life “goes away.”

It too gets ‘blacked out” or lost.

What the thing is which is has to do with where the eclipse falls in your natal and solar chart, and any planet/dwarf planet, node or cusp point ‘hit’ by eclipse transit (take this to mean all the attributes you would associate with that planet/dwarf planet, node or cusp point in your own life) will also lose all semblance to what they were not but a short time ago.

This eclipse has been coming ‘towards’ us for several months now. If it’s aspecting your chart, you’re long past beginning to feel something ... you’re either in the thick of it, or you’re sufficiently overwhelmed by it that you’re not necessarily thinking of other things, but...

... you’re thinking of other things.

Total Solar Eclipse of March 20, 2015 at 29 Pisces (glyph chart)

9:36 am (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Total Solar Eclipse of March 20, 2015 at 29 Pisces (text chart)

9:36 am (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific) 
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So what we are dealing with now is 29 Pisces (the eclipse occurring at 29 Pisces), and that ‘other thing’ you’re thinking about is either connected to what happened to ‘waylay’ you two-and-a-half years ago, or it is whatever you were doing which got waylaid two-and-a-half years ago.

In eclipse terms, that would be the eclipse which occurred towards the end of 2012, which would be another total eclipse, that one having been an eclipse at 21 Scorpio which occurred on the same date that Uranus went direct at 4 Aries.

(It was also my personal Saturn return, but that’s besides the point - except for the fact my writing in all genres is nothing if not of an unusual nature and therefore Uranian.)

The 4 Aries part of that equation does mean something to us now: 4 Aries is perfectly trine 4 Sagittarius - and 4 Sagittarius is the degree Saturn went retrograde at last weekend (on March 14th).

The meaning of that much: in a moment, the lesson became real. If an eclipse hadn’t been involved at both ends of this equation this would merely be a moment of discovery. Instead, there is a deep and deeply personal lesson for those whose charts answer (by orb) to 29 Pisces, 21 Scorpio, 4 Sagittarius and/or 4 Aries.

Also: the more of these points which affect your chart, either the deeper or the more problematic the situation is going to be or become.

To those who were affected by the 21 Scorpio eclipse (back in 2012) but whose charts are NOT affected by 29 Pisces (see the chart below), your life will proceed based on what has developed over the past two-plus years which will now ‘blossom’ into new things and a more determinative direction over the next six (6) months.

To those with charts which were affected by the 21 Scorpio eclipse and the current 29 Pisces eclipse, you are now at a turning point which will start you off in a new direction which from here will evolve and develop for a full two-and-a-half years before you will encounter another ‘twist’ in the plan. It may be similar to what you are encountering now, or it could be entirely different, and whatever is ‘lost’ now - this being a lesson of all eclipses - was something which you may have loved and cherished, but which in reality was something which was standing in the way of your learning how to do something you will need to do now and in the future for reasons you cannot yet know.

The degree 29 Pisces is one known for strong intuition and by some accounts, psychic ability. Either quality can be a benefit, according to this influence, yet there is a danger of falling into (or falling for) some notion which either isn’t true or simply isn’t what it appears to be - either on the visual surface (as it ‘appears’ to be in person) or as ‘veiled,’ imprecise or ‘rumored’ information.

If this eclipse aspects your chart, some form of this 29 Pisces dynamic will be present (at the present) in your life, whether it’s your ‘notion’ which is in play, someone else ‘owning’ the 29 Pisces quality, someone or some situation which specifically embodies the 29 Pisces concept or some influx or sudden happenstance which creates a 29 Pisces-type confluence where that which has “been” is now against that which can be, will be or could be, creating an intermittent conflict between various factions in your life.

For many, all of the above (the 29 Pisces theme) will cause the ‘abandoning’ of one situation for another - and that ‘other’ situation is the ‘twist’ provided by the eclipse of 2.5 years ago (at 21 Scorpio) as it now closes in on maturation.

And for good or bad, the essence of 21 Scorpio has a few things in common with 29 Pisces - not the least of which being that its concerns where we live in our human emotions. Something ‘back then’ (late 2012) ended - if not in fact, in our heart or mind. And in the space (psychic space) which arose as we let go of (or closed out) something which had gone before, a conflict naturally arose. That conflict - which was the seeming ‘cause’ of much which was “on the surface” back then just as the 29 Pisces issues (and all which have prompted them) are now - that conflict pitted  your own desire to have a stable home or a good home and all the warmth and love of family against your own instinct to be freed of responsibilities in order to live out your promise and/or some particular concepts or potentials.

In the case of 21 Scorpio, back in 2012 (and to some extent now) there was some ‘status quo’ which was “exploded,” either through the ‘blacking out’ of the eclipse process or as the end of something brought about some release or breakthrough which may well have (at the time) felt highly liberating.

And now, because of something in the 29 Pisces vein, many of us - in particular those whose charts would be aspected by 21 Scorpio and 29 Pisces - will find that there’s something nebulous or seemingly impossible to sort through (at least at the moment) which we have in some way, or by some method, managed to put ourselves into position to avoid (avoidance being a prime coping mechanism employed in many a Pisces situation) ... which we will now do in connection with something which harkens back to 21 Scorpio matters.

All of which doesn’t even begin to address the subject of Scheat.

Currently positioned at 29 Pisces, the astrological energetic which is Scheat is part of - if also separate from - the meaning for 29 Pisces. Like other fixed stars, Scheat functions somewhat akin to a ‘background’ note: oftentimes fixed stars represent things like currently “accepted” (or acceptable) societal standards, methods or notions. As we talk a lot about royal stars here at astroPPM, it’s worth noting that Scheat is not a royal star so there is no specific ‘warning’ about some quality or thing we must avoid in our Scheat “encounter.”

Why this is Scheat’s ‘theme’ however, is a bit more complicated. Often “short-handed” astrologically as a form of denial (generally a blanket denial which is as often wrong as right in its rationale and/or facts) Scheat is one of the stars in the so-called ‘great square’ of constellation Pegasus ... which would be complicated enough except that as a constellation Pegasus is connected to (intermingled with) constellation Andromeda.

 constellations Andromeda (top) and Pegasus (bottom) imaged

using Stellarium software

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And yes, the myths behind these two points are connected as well.

What connects them?

The answer there is a ‘who,’ not a ‘what,’ - and her gorgon name is Medusa, an astrological emblem of all those things which frighten us at an earnestly visceral level about our Self, and how we may well have done that Self - in capacity or reality - sincere harm.

- link to post -

Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

Pegasus is not Medusa’s child, per se. But when the young hero Perseus cuts Medusa’s head off, from the blood which flows forth (whether from the head or body isn’t noted) springs two creatures, one of which is Pegasus.

Is Pegasus the part of Medusa which would have wanted to ‘fly away’ from the fate she brought upon herself - and which (it might be argued) she was fated to bring upon herself by being born mortal? Maybe so, for in Pegasus is an animalistic potency (strength of instinct, speaking of 29 Pisces) which Medusa was born with, and which Medusa herself fell afoul of while in the course of serving the goddess of logic and dispassionate wisdom, Pallas Athena.

Medusa’s crime against Athena was the breaking of her vow to adhere to the teachings of wisdom and logic. And that she committed this crime by getting ‘carried away’ with Neptune makes it curiously fitting that Pegasus - literally the embodiment of ‘getting carried away by animalistic energies’ came into being as one of Medusa’s most captivating legacies when Perseus cut Medusa’s head off, reminding us of that common mortal instinct to ‘cut off’ that which is scaring or plaguing us.

Does it die? According to the myth, that ‘thing’ may die - but it may also become other forms of expression, such as Pegasus and the Chrysaor are as the literal blood of Medusa. In our lives, such attributes sometimes seem to be embodied as other people - but that’s exactly where we deceive our Self: we attract others not because of who they are, but because of something we are trying to solve or access or understand about our Self ...  hence the ‘harkening back’ to earlier eclipses and the intricately intertwined ways in which we fight to grow and be who we really are even as we deny things about (or even to) that Self which ultimately will not ... and cannot be denied because we are our Self.

We want to project even though its our feelings which we’re projecting. We want to exteriorize, even though anything which is in our life is something which we consciously know is there because we are connected to it. All of this may well be part of the nebulous ‘slippery-ness’ of the current eclipse - and hence of our desire to ‘take flight’ into, or away from something, even if what we’re running from now is the very thing we were running exactly towards not even three years ago.

And it’s all about us. Whatever happens now, whatever form or sort of inexorable change is functioning in your life, recognizing and accepting that something is indeed over (done, gone, lost, etc.) is the first if perhaps most gut-wrenching step any of us can take on whatever internalized emotional path we are being called to walk along.

And we will take that step. We will because that’s what solar eclipses do: they alter life’s ‘playing field’ such that we have no choice but to swim or sink into an oblivion which is only composed of our own unwillingness to learn anew or differently.

The Birth of Pegasus and Chrysaor

by Edward Burne Jones (1876-1885)

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As for the Andromeda side of this ‘connection,’ Andromeda was the daughter of queen Cassiopeia - the queen whose story (and energetic) was provoked when last April’s solar eclipse (at 8 Taurus) conjuncted fixed star Schedir.

- link to post -

April’s 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse

(Part 3: Stars and Patterns)

Does this mean that if your chart was also aspected by last April’s eclipse this current eclipse would be stronger or maybe more complicated? That can be the case, though from season to season eclipses may not be ‘connected’ (in your life experiences) even if sequential eclipses do aspect your chart.

Sometimes all it means is that good or bad, you’re going through a lot of changes as your life evolves from one set of standard quos to another. Eclipses don’t take away things we don’t need, but they often eliminate something we really and sincerely like, love and depend on. Sometimes they seem to eliminate things only to have life bright that which we thought was lost back around - often at the 2.5 year ‘twist’ moment of the given eclipse.

When that happens, we may be assured of one thing: we have learned something more (or new) about not living a compromised life. We are meant to do certain things in our lifetimes. We have certain purposes. The thousands of years of solar eclipse lore (as separate from lunar eclipse records) strongly suggests that solar eclipses are about keeping us from that which works ‘well enough’ but which in the end will prevent us from doing those things or knowing those people we were created to know, do or be part of.

So there was Cassiopeia, the mother of the gracious and beautiful Andromeda. As Queen of Ethiopia, Cassiopeia was of a mind to say and do pretty much what she wanted to do, so it never occurred to her (it never does) that her boastful claim that her mortal daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the sea nymph Nereids would annoy Neptune, but it did.

Yes, it’s that mortal-versus-god thing again. Any time a mortal (or even a demi-mortal) starts bragging about beauty and comparing themselves to the gods in Greek myth, you know there’s trouble coming ... and this story doesn’t disappoint.

No, disappointing is a Neptune thing, and when the sea god heard about Cassiopeia claim, said god sent along Cetus, a sea monster to attack Ethiopia.

Understandably, King Cepheus (Cassiopeia’s husband and Andromeda’s father) was seriously concerned. But was he so concerned that when an oracle told Cepheus and Cassiopeia that they should sacrifice their daughter to Neptune’s monster he stopped to object?

No. Just the monstrous threat of Cetus, an oceanic monster which in representing the worst water can deliver metaphysically translates into the worst that emotions and/or emotionality can delve out - that was quite enough to frighten Cepheus and Cassiopeia, who promptly had Andromeda taken down to the shore and chained to a rock so as to await the monster’s arrival.

Andromeda by Gustave Dore

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And Cetus - that terrible emotion which rises from our depths - did indeed soon approach the Ethiopian shore. But as that happened, Perseus, who was flying towards his own homeland (with the head of Medusa carefully hidden in a sack), spotted the maiden and swooped in to do the heroic deed.

Thus was Cetus slain and Andromeda rescued from an emotionally benighted fate her own parents had left her to be swallowed up by.

Lest we forget (or miss this point),there is a real piece of psychology wrapped up in Cassiopeia - the woman referred to as ‘chained’ in her own right, seeking to chain and sacrifice her only daughter to pay for her own bad act. In real life, parents are of course never supposed to do such a thing - and yet they do, all too often to all to ill a lifetime effect. But myth is not real life, and since when we read myth metaphysically we treat the various parts of the story as facets or aspects of personality, situation or mentality which we ourselves will encounter, all these questions of family and emotionality, loyalty, blood and morality refer to us and whether we have learned not to embody and/or ‘pass down’ (or ‘pass along’) restrictions which have been handed to us, or restrictions as a legacy - as restrictive measures which have been foisted upon us.

Wherever Scheat falls in our chart, that is where we become tempted to put aside being who we are in some ‘cause’ described by that house. We will feel societal pressure - perhaps on both, or every side. That alone is enough to push many (if not most) of us off course with our Self - which is really the cause in which Scheat and 29 Pisces are united. Somewhere in our psyches we each have somewhere where we have been resistant or reluctant to cross some ‘line’ - not with others, but with our Self. And now, with Scheat being eclipsed, anything and everything which has been denied is going to come out. Even if you won’t discuss it, others will - even seemingly out of thin air.

Many of us are already gills deep in such situations. Yet some ... a relative few, but some ... will run into Scheat challenges as the solar eclipse moves through - say, in the two or three weeks which follow the eclipse, which is generally the period during which we change in response to recent events, pressures and other sorts of input.

That Scheat so often astrologically represents an accepted social, public or personal position on/about some ‘thing’ which may be wrong (but which is unlikely to change even though a lack of change equates to standing in one’s own way) ... that all that is being set off at all by this eclipse implies that there is ... or recently has been a ‘testing’ of some standard - perhaps with new information or some sort of challenge. For the past several months things have been unsettled in some area which may touch on ‘general feelings’ (intuitive or otherwise) going around ... or which may seem to be crumbling the very solidity upon which your concepts are built.

That’s the eclipse as a ‘package,’ so to speak. Within that, Scheat is the element which tempts you to ‘run from’ the (Pisces) feelings which would be associated with facing something in/about your life - or the loss of something in/about your life. And since there is hardly anything astrological any more global, basic and potentially disorienting than a solar eclipse, every single one of us (particularly those whose charts are aspected by orb) ... every one of us is going through these internal ordeals regarding external/externalized issues which are (or have) raised uncertainty and indecision in whatever area would promote/provoke an awareness of the difference between fantasy and reality, and how to relinquish our hold on that - to blindly believe something simply because it is or isn’t presented as ‘good’ or ‘the norm’ or however else ... is a  sacrifice of Self and a compromise of potential.

Solar eclipses evolve over the full three years associated with their passage. That means the coronal inspiration - that special thing about each one of us which we will do well to utilize in this eclipse’s passage - will be with us until February, 2018. The ‘twist’ in this eclipse’s Scheat tale however, that falls around six months prior to said date in August 2017, when on the 21st of the month there will be a total solar eclipse at 28 Leo - a position which is in orb of conjunction with Regulus, the royal star which says that success cannot be achieved if we have indulged our Self with regards to revenge or vengeance.

That may well have bearing on what some people do now. Or what they deny (or deny to have any part in) which come late 2017 returns as an issue to trip them up or haunt them.

Of course with an eclipse at 29 Pisces, the Sun is a scant degree away from 0 Aries, which in the case means that the Sun will be moving through its Aries ingress (which is otherwise known as the Aries Equinox) at 22:46 in the evening (10:46 p.m., UT/+0), only some twelve hours after the eclipse reaches totality. Some might say the Sun's exit out of Pisces so soon after an eclipse underscores the eclipse message about letting go or leaving something, someone or some situation behind, either consciously or unconsciously. But whether you feel that's apt in your case, what we know from the astrology is that if the Sun (signifying our consciousness) moves out of Pisces, that puts everything about the eclipse into the '12th harmonic' position vis-a-vis where we are as of 10:46 on that evening. (And obviously, on into Aries from there.)

There is a difficulty sketched in here - namely that the 12th harmonic is where we tend to do all those self-compromising, emotionally-driven things which are associated with ... with what?

With Pisces.

What this says is that most of us will fall (broadly) into two very ill-defined groups - the group which is going to take its issues on (emotional though they may be) in a more 'behind the scenes' mode ... and those who will, virtually as fast as they recognize their part in some problem (or the fact they are part or party to a problem) begin to deny it - either the problem, that the problem is a problem, or that they have, or have had anything to do with the subject. Once the Sun enters Aries, a natural grand-fire-trine-by-sign will be 'ignited' in day-to-day matters by virtue of the Sun's 'generality' quotient. And that will bring out a lot of Jupiter (in Leo) - Saturn (in Sagittarius) - Uranus (in Aries) postulating, projecting, promising and pontificating which with Mercury entering Aries as of March 31st and the 14 Libra Lunar Eclipse on April 4th promises a couple of high-powered, highly motivated and interestingly imaginative weeks, much of the subject(s) of which will - despite what people might want you to think - be reflective of unsettled feelings just below many a surface about where one's life or efforts are really headed.

NGC 7319 in constellation Pegasus

(photo credit NASA, ESA, July 2009)

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So ... as I started out by saying, eclipses are mysteriously squirrelly beasts. They’re beautiful and they’re awe-inspiring in their ability to remind us of something which otherwise we don’t tend to think about much: namely how we don’t control much in, or about this universe and Existence. At 29 Pisces - the last degree in the whole of the zodiac - it may be easy to get lost in the idea that everything is over simply because one thing has run its useful or even some theoretically eternal course. Moreover, the way eclipse cycles work, this isn’t 29 Pisces as the ‘end’ of the zodiac round at all, if simply because eclipses - being a function of the lunar nodes (you can’t have an eclipse without those lunar nodes!) - because the nodes cycle backwards.

And if we think of the entire cavalcade of astro-events leading into this eclipse ... Saturn's station, Lilith's station prior to that, Mercury entering Pisces as Juno went direct ... it all very much speaks to that process which has been coming upon us for the past few months which is about being led to, forced to, exposed to that which we fear most about ourselves, not so we can be destroyed by it, but so that we can finally recognize something about our Self which WE have been denying (or simply not seeing about our Self) for a long time.

Probably too long a time.

That means we may be fooling our Self about what we really want - which is one of the tougher parts of this solar eclipse. As fast as we recognize what we need (or really want), whether we have it in our hands or not are we likely to be giving up one denial for another because we haven't yet accepted (the challenge of Pisces being emotional acceptance) those parts of our Self which we don't really like.

Not like doing ... LIKE. The person we back away from (lunar nodes cycle backwards). The thing in our Self we habitually deny (asteroid Lilith) doing or being. The thing hard times may have us thinking we should retreat from trying to do in or about or with others in our world because (Scheat) we don't understand or (Scheat) they don't want to listen.

Or maybe they want to listen. Or they want to talk to us or hear from us or understand us ... and we have been denying our need to be heard, felt and witnessed in our soul. Beyond the days and trials and relationships and commitments, beyond our hopes and without the motivation of plans we are simply ... who are we?

And are we really who we think we are - or want to be?

That's the level at which the person you are is most likely to be affected by this eclipse.

So that's one part of it, with the other part of the process - the 'critical' part of the 29 "critical" degrees of Pisces which speaks to the societal, plural ‘we,’ the mankind 'we' as well as the individual 'we' - WE are already past another zodiacal transition. WE are feeling (and witnessing) the feelings which have resulted from actions which themselves are reactions (in particular) to things which have come to be or taken place over the past 4-5 years.

And now WE ... and we (as individuals) will just have to decide who we are - and who we’re willing to be, considering we can neither be everything nor (in most cases) even everything we expect of ourselves, noble though our intentions and efforts may be. That's just part of being mortal, and Pisces - as a sign - is nothing if not about not just weathering the experience of being mortal, but experiencing both the turbulent and sunny times - each for what it is in the whole of what is supposed to be a widely varied and variable life.
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Jupiter in Leo

Jupiter and moon Io photographed in thermal-infrared from the Paranal Observatory

(photo credit ESO, November 2000)

That Mercury is going to be exiting the shadow of its recent retrograde on the same date (July 16) that Jupiter enters Leo would seem to be nothing less than a billboard: new things are on the horizon.

Or are they? Are they really there - or are we being fooled by something we want so badly we’re willing, able and ready to test (read: risk) not just success but some measure of our inner confidence in Self? Are we willing to deal with 'feeling questions' pertaining to how well (or not well) we use - or have used - what we’ve learned up to this point?

Something is going to change here (or at least evolve from here) in reflection of Pluto reaching 11 Capricorn, a degree it will remain in until September 17th when Pluto dips back into 10 Capricorn for just over a week as it goes direct (on September 23rd) before returning to 11 Capricorn for the period of September 28th through November 25th.

Something is going to change. Representing the ability (particularly in verbal form) to reveal falsehoods and what one writer refers to as 'superstitious and misguided beliefs' on the part of one or many, the degree 11 Capricorn is associated with the sort of mathematical ability and "precision thinking" (technical or theoretical) which organizes quickly and which tends to be so driven (read: impatient) to achieve that little in the way of delay or alternative thinking tends to be tolerated.

And where it isn't tolerated, that may well lead to a  distortion in some relationship, creating some sort of distance between parties simply because sheer ability on one side now appears not as brilliance, but rather as arrogance, bullying or manipulation of some 'other.'

As Jupiter moves into Leo on that appointed morning at 10:31 a.m. (UT/+0), not everyone will feel the shift. But we are likely (more than likely) to see some more or less immediate manifestations of this combination of Leo imagination and creativity with Jupiter’s power of expansion.

In Leo, the question is what we will create, why we are motivated to do everything (and sometimes anything)... and whether we are able to balance Leo’s inner vision of ‘the possible’ with external real world factors. The positive side of Leo is known for brilliance of nature and a cheerful sort of drive which is curious about the new and willing to tackle tough tasks for the good of all, from which comes respect for one’s Leo efforts - whatever they may be and however they may be expressed even if that’s just keeping after yourself (creatively, of course) in the name of being a person others enjoy being around.

As for the negative side of Leo, though I’m sure any number of Leo people will respond with ‘there is no negative side of Leo’... after the chuckle comes the truth: while Leo is a sign which evidences much deftly quick humor, such humor is more likely than not a deflection.

All signs deflect - evading, to some degree, is simply part of human nature... which makes it what, and the degree to which we deflect the source of our those Factors Avoided which come back to haunt us.

In Leo (a fire sign) there is a marked tendency to get ‘married’ to that feeling, that image, that thing we imagine could be ‘so right’... and then to be shocked and disappointed when real life doesn’t match the ethereal beauty of our seamlessly perfect inner concept.

Is that fair? No...but we do it anyway. And when it comes to Part 2 of Leo (Leo Part 1 being the creative drive to create anything from world records to films, leisure time, children, art work, profits in the stock market or anything else you might think to create)... it’s how we respond to those realities which count.

Reality (as generally represented by Aquarius as the Leo polarity) is never the problem per se...even if when it comes to Leo there is a tendency to ranting and tantrums while adapting to the inevitable. Some of us never get that frustrated (I’m not sure who they are, but such people surely exist)...and it’s to be expected that there will be a bit of tail lashing and roaring during Jupiter’s 2014-2015 transit of Leo.

The 'up' side to this is that as opposed to this past year’s Jupiter in Cancer there will be less emotionalism, less reliance on (or success with) subjective provocation based on emotionality. Where we are able to motivate our Self or others through ideas, we may well be able to build momentum by focusing on our “projects” (be they our families, jobs or some personal goal we want to reach). But that is only likely to reap success if and where what we do (our ‘cause’)  meshes well enough with existing or ongoing social, group, systemic or marketplace (Aquarian) functionalities.

Part of that - and part of what we are going to be exploring this year in each of our daily lives has to do with a couple of zodiacal basics. The first is how any accessing of Leo represents an astrological shift from the first four signs of the zodiac (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer) to the second group of four: Leo, Virgo, Libra and Scorpio.

As the first four signs of the zodiac are about learning about our Self and how to go about simply being a person in an (Aries) body with human needs and attributes of the (Taurus) physical, (Gemini) mental and (Cancer) emotional kind, the second four are all about how interacting with others and our more-or-less ‘everyday’ world teaches us about who we are in conjunction with that world - sparking ideas on what to do IN that world.

Hence the Leo creativity thing. Mind you, this is still a sign which is below the natural zodiac horizon - so it’s still personal. It’s still part of our more-or-less private world, which reflects as Leo being the sign of the imagination’s image... the ‘film’ in our head - and yes, the ones we see on the screen (or on whatever device you’re using these days).

Again, it’s this ‘private’ quality which is so very comfy-cozy which gets us trouble, lulling us with that divinely delicious perfection of inner vision into thinking life... reality... is the premier Leo challenge. Reality is never a ‘problem’- reality is just reality, and yes there can be terrible things happening IN reality, but that’s the way things are.

Reality has several homes in the zodiac: the first one is the earth, land, ashes-to-ashes-dust-to-dust quality of mortal life... the Cancerian venue. The other is Capricorn - the daunting requirement to make the effort to make something out of our Self so that we continue the business of survival.

Leo is in a peaceful and harmonious aspect with neither sign... and in that can represent how we fight in reality or with our personal reality...and what we can come up with to improve our life, and just maybe all of life as well.Deep in the human spirit is a desire to make contributions to this life. Some do it through having children. Some do it through their work. However we see this ‘making my mark in this world’ that’s the Leo thing.

With Jupiter transiting Leo, we can all expect to be thinking about who we are and what we’re doing with our life... against which will be ranged all sorts of interesting challenges. Some will come from our just wanting to enjoy ourselves and do nothing. Some will come from those who though perfectly willing to invest in their own vision, clearly have no concept that anyone (or anything) else has a vision of their own.

Jupiter in Leo creates our mythic self... and then explores it. Leo is the sign of dating, competition and speculation... so we have to be prepared for some setback this year, with most of our errors coming from overstepping our bounds or (to put it differently) by exceeding our understanding of real world parameters which really exist and which we really do need to know about and heed. Leo is the sign of the parent’s love for the child or our love for anything we nurture on an ongoing basis... and yet does that love in and of itself guarantee that your child is going to grow up to be a wonderful person?

No, it doesn’t. And that very lack of insight we have on ourselves (typically) as parents which causes so many wonderful people to be blatantly blind to the problems with their offspring...that’s the example of the Great Leo Blind Spot - which for the next year or so is likely to be more evident than ever, if maybe not to others.

Or maybe not to us.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot as photographed by the Voyager 1 Spacecraft

(photo credit: NASA-JPL, February 1979)

Between these two points lies the needle of success (as we judge that personally) under Jupiter in Leo, the combination which purports to say ‘what you see is what you get’ when in reality (yes, that reality) Jupiter in Leo is a combination which can manifest as the very essence of the performance. Celebrity as motivation and as that thing which is not the ‘real life’ of the given celebrity - both these qualities are entirely Leo and we’re likely to see see them play out this year in the charts of many currently known and as-yet unknown. Children, childlike as well as childish behaviors (on the part of adults and others) can be a venue of discovery and disturbance of the status quo in any of a number of ways...so long as we learn from it, life is likely to provide it somewhere along the way through this leonine Jovian year. Aquarius against Leo manifests (as all sign polarities do) in any of a number of ways, but especially through the end of 2014 (that being the last of the fixed sign eclipses for a bit) issues which test our ability to balance moderation against excess and perceive where we need to be proper or cautious without being so cautious or ‘separated’ in whatever way that we end up undermining ourselves or our own greater (Aquarian) interests.

In other words, in some way we’re all going to discover we have a bit of a case of personal myopia (shortsightedness)... with just a bit of social astigmatism (fuzziness of focus) to make it extra-special challenging.

And yet...in the sense of ‘can I correct my vision?’ the lesson would be decidedly yes: wherever we see Jupiter by transit there is an ability to grow providing we are actually willing to go through whatever growing pains are involved. In Leo this Jupiterian expansiveness can mean an expansion of enthusiasm, success and all those wonderful feelings of freedom-in-accomplishment we all so love to revel in. Then again, Jupiter in Leo can also manifest as  ever-increasing convictions that what is ‘mine’ must be defended at all costs simply because my ‘rightness’ or even just my right to be wrong is getting challenged.

All and all, we can count on several (more) miles of that road to foolish human stubbornness to be paved (and heedlessly paved over) this year, mostly by those who for whatever reason are focused on the image or ideal to the exclusion of real life, realities and other living, breathing entities on this planet.

Jupiter in Leo is a recipe for great opportunity.

It’s also a sure-fire promise that insistence on theory (or out-of-hand rejection of something) can be instantly and lastingly detrimental. Under Jupiter in Leo we are all likely to find something we enjoy or are at least entertained by. Then again, we might have to face a couple of situations which ask us whether we’re willing (or even psychologically equipped) to face setbacks or defeat.

Might we really not be be the hero we are in our own mind? (It could just be true.)

Then again, maybe we don’t want to be a hero, merely heroic from time to time. Jupiter in Leo is a time we can learn the difference between such things and in that, to become far more comfortable in our own human skin, finding ways to be more creative, productive and available - not just to others but to ourselves. Through letting go of definitions Jupiter in Leo can become a time to launch a new venture, take on some personal adventure or to make more of life among old friends and new acquaintances. It’s a time to stretch our limbs and flex our muscles, be they physical, mental or emotional. The deeply provocative element of Jupiter in Cancer will fade as perspectives shift, offering fresher outlooks, some of which will allow and encourage us to soar.

Others will merely leave us (or others) sore - for which we may not feel sorry at all. So long as the competition is ethical, Jupiter in Leo supports the ‘all out’ willingness to give the cause what it is you’ve got.

And where we do bend, break or otherwise color outside the boundaries (a little of which at least is inevitable), eventualities will get us back, eventually putting us back on our right course.

It’s all part of Jupiter in Leo empowerment with regards to knowing who we are - and aren’t.  Sometimes we just have to cram one foot in our copiously open mouth while hopping madly in the direction of some giant cliff to learn for ourselves that - never mind what anyone says about limits - we do actually have limits which we had better learn to respect and mind.

Jupiter in Leo can open doors. It will also undoubtedly teach us all at least a few tough lessons about what the term ‘immature’ really means...in every sense. The ‘ping-pong’ of Leo-Aquarius says how we (Leo) ‘take’ things isn’t so much about how or what the (Aquarius) other person says as much as it tests and delivers a readout on our relationship to whatever it is we haven’t yet mastered...which psycho-emotionally ‘reads’ internally (to us) as vulnerability.

Yes, we get to learn about how some glitches work over the next few months...which which comes the opportunity for skillful development and the acquisition of insights which in their own right (over time...probably in a couple of years) may prove out to amount to additional skills.

As for things which will happen along the Jovian path through Leo, here are a few notes on the subject (no doubt to be added to as things go along):

Black Moon Lilith (external factors we deny or are denied by) conjuncts fixed star Dubhe on July 17th. Dubhe being an emblem of mothering either in the personal sense or through whatever we may personally think of as a “mother” force (such as ‘Mother Nature’), as opposed to things which are thought of as ‘father’ (like ‘Father Time’) the metaphysical ‘mother’ is more about whatever contains us as well as that which can support or protect us... but which in some other situation might just overwhelm us.

Said to have a rather ‘Mars-like’ nature, Dubhe lends a deal of motivation and strength of will to whatever passes over it’s position...which at the moment is 15 Leo, one of the zodiacal cross-quarter points.

As a transition, each of the zodiac’s four cross-quarter points moves us from a time of learning or watching into a ‘bigger’ (read: slightly more matured) world of operating where by leaning on what we do know we attempt to forge ahead.

And no, we generally don’t like it. Each of the cross-quarter points falling at the center-point of all four fixed signs indicates that.

Still...what’s our choice? We can learn, grow and try - or we can remain where we are, which if we consider Leo as the fifth of twelve signs is rather like arresting our own development at about age eleven and a half, instead of pursuing the rest of the path to adulthood.

On the other hand, that ‘about age eleven a half’ thing? That is the length of a Jupiter cycle, you know. Jupiter cycles once around the Sun in 11.86 years, making the general realm of this mid-Leo cross-quarter age a highly critical one in the whole of human development.

Some of us make it. Some people don’t.

So as the Black Moon encounters Dubhe, for several days before and after (one suspects) much will be seen, heard, felt and realized along the denial/need-to-not-deny-for-reasons-of-immaturity front. In some cases such situations will start and continue on, in some there will be a start and resolution. (Or resolution to not resolve anything, a solution which seems to be gaining in popularity at the moment.)

Whichever way whatever falls, Jupiter itself will then arrive at Leo’s 15 degree cross-quarter point on September 27th, by which time the Black Moon will have moved on to 23 Leo, putting it in opposition to Damocles [reference: “the sword of Damocles”] ...with Damocles being positioned in Aquarius.

The Sword of Damocles by Wenceslas Hollar (1607-1677)

Whatever we have done (or not done) this would seem to be a resurrection of the matter. It may be in simple review, it may be a re-eruption of challenge. Black Moon Lilith, being a ‘function’ of Earth’s Moon is always somewhat visceral, always somewhat poignant...and here would seem to be bringing us around to realizing that things just aren’t as simple as we were thinking they were going to be.

What we thought cut and dried may have gone and gotten itself all soggy, in other words.

As of November 19th Jupiter then enters 22 Leo. And since 22 Leo is the degree Jupiter will go retrograde at on December 8th (and thereafter remain in - in retrograde - until December 29th), we’re in for a lot of Jupiter/22 Leo interjections.

As a degree 22 Leo speaks to sensitivities which though insubstantial may well prove beneficial except where we become so devoted to being obliging (read: overly obliging) that we become more involved with our own feelings (and anxieties) which revolve around our own desire to be appreciated, wanted, loved, liked, cheered on and in general...(yes)...the myth we are in our own mind.

(Do we hear a pattern here?)

Moreover, all of this dovetails rather interestingly with the idea that Uranus’ 2014/early 2015 degree emphasis is on 13 Aries, a degree which tend to surface in tough and trying situations which lore suggests are far more about the perfecting and purification of our own souls than anything we encounter in real time.

...All of which we would think has been metaphysically also commented on by the recent astrological stationing of TNO Typhon at 13 Aries’ polarity degree (13 Libra) we meandered through the contemplations of in the course of the following post:

- link to -

Typhon/Eurydike - Chiron/Psyche: Minding Stations

It all seems to go together...especially in light of the fact that this October will see us experiencing a solar eclipse (at 0 Scorpio) which is sure to - among other things - bring home to us the benefits and penalties of not acknowledging equal values to all sides of any conversation, negotiation, affiliation or operation simply because we’re unwilling to allow for any other point of view apart from our own.

Some will say that this eclipse is the evidencing of karma, and I’m not against that concept except for noting that the physical karma we experience under anything Scorpionic is always about the emotions which surround, underlie, motivate or are bestirred as a result of something we are choosing to try to control (as opposed to understanding why we feel so threatened by it).

Only in retrograde for just under four months, Jupiter will then go direct (at 12 Leo) on April 8th, a date which falls between 2015’s 29 Pisces solar eclipse on March 20th and the accompanying lunar eclipse (at 14 Libra, a degree which tends to manifest through action as opposed to 13 Libra’s more mental-emotional-spiritual orientation) which will occur on April 4th... all of which is likely to serve as a ‘parting of the ways’ as successes fall away from various failures and efforts to reorganize in the face of needing to try, try again.

Some of what is happening then will be as part of...or as a result of things which are happening now, or which have come to light over the past several months (read: since mid/late February). As shown by the Sun, Uranus and Psyche being conjunct (to the degree) in the chart of this moment the clarity of this time may be delightful.

Then again, it may simply be excessive. Remember, Jupiter is about expansion, and that can as easily be over-expansion or doing more than is advisable or even good for you (or the given project you’re working on). There is growth...and as any cancer specialist will tell you, there is the kind of uncontrolled and unchecked growth which causes harm.

Jupiter has never been known for any qualities of moderation. The Roman god was known for great wisdom but some terrible (and terribly self-defeating) habits which time and again had Jupiter (aka Zeus, if you’re inclined to the Greek) learning his lessons about just what he could do, but not get away with.

So it is with us...which is why Jupiter’s year of transiting Leo holds such promise for us all, whether that’s about what we achieve or the joy of feeling empowered by coming to understand why we haven’t excelled up until now and what that means about who we are... and who we aren’t.

Maybe you've already felt yourself moving towards some new mode - that thing which will entice your Leo spirit to 'play' over (at least) the next year. Or maybe (as just happened to me quite unexpectedly)...maybe someone will validate something you've been certain of, or have been working on or towards for some very long time.

Jupiter in Leo is about fruitfulness and fruition...and even that point at which the finish line is in sight, bolstering our appreciation of that Self which in spite of all and because of much has made it to this brand new point - the point at which we feel ready to be more of who we really are.
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