a Lunar Eclipse at 15 Aries...and other things

Artist E Weiss' drawing of a Lunar Eclipse (Published 1888)

For those keeping score, in my negotiations with the ongoing injury I seem to be winning - give or take. I mention this in part because the process I’m going through with my injury (and a few other matters) is a rather good example of the current eclipse dynamic - and it’s highly applicable seeing how I have an Aries Ascendant and Scorpio Moon, just as we’re about to have an Aries lunar eclipse - to be followed by a solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio on October 23rd (UT/+0).

My (Sun) life has been ‘adjusted’ by my (Aries) physicality just as my ability to (Ascendant) do things is being ‘adjusted’ by ‘things of old’ which have come back out to haunt me. The first time I injured my back was in my twenties. It was horrible. There was no one to help, I was living in a second floor apartment without the ability to walk up or down stairs and the pain was unremitting.

But yes, I bullied through. I did what so many people tell you to do - I acted okay, hoping flesh would follow mentality. And it did - except for one thing: all those feelings or helplessness, vulnerability and rejection, all that pain was never recognized... owned... accepted. 

  
As a sign, Scorpio is all about bringing out that we need to own, accept, recognize - and maybe more importantly stop denying about ourselves (even while we’re pointing the finger at others, yes...) so that we can get in a better, more secure-feeling (and productive) position in our own lives through not needing to project or blame or point those pointed (and pointy) fingers at others.

Throughout our lives and our world, all sorts of things are living out this need right now - confronting it with us in ‘other’ form so that we can have at least a fighting chance not to ‘fight them’ but to strike a truce with... and within our Self so that we can then allow ourselves to connect with and deal with our inner well of angst.

As Vesta moves into Sagittarius on October 6th (UT/+0) this process shifts gears, moving from the testing realm of Scorpio tests of emotional stability and whether we are willing/able to deal calmly and fairly with others or our greater world despite internal (or) more subjective (or personal) trials. In this realm, Vesta symbolizes our estimation of what it will require to achieve one’s aims - and our willingness or unwillingness to accept those standards, needs, time tables or parameters.

Indicating ‘the cost,’ Vesta can point to what it will take to do something... or what it will take to hold to what we are already committed to as something else overtakes our fancy or attention. Either way, our life and times are going to put us through our paces between now and December 3rd (when Vesta will have moved on into Capricorn) wherever there are ‘gaps’ or bad match-ups between the proverbial ‘information in...information out’ wherever it occurs in life.

Moreover, Vesta is making this shift as asteroid Hebe is on station at 29 Taurus - a position which is all about the ability to help/be helped (and/or) either irreplaceable, unmatched or ongoing sources of support which for whatever reason are being questioned or ‘threatened’ (at least conceptually).

Hebe by Antonio Canova (c 1800-1805)

With this ‘turn’ (Hebe’s station) occurring at 29 Taurus we are also being told that the specific ‘supports’ (or sources) being referred to here (or questioned or threatened) are not new to us, but rather something which we have ‘inherited’ - which may be literal (as in an inheritance) but might be more in line with my story, meaning it might concern something your current life (or state of life) may be something which has been ‘inherited’ (or is a consequence of) some experience, tradition, culture or other ‘past tense’ moment.

Whatever is happening, you, me and everyone else - we are all facing and dealing with the cost or price of keeping/not keeping our promises and holding ourselves to our commitments. In this, Hebe’s turn to retrograde on October 7th may indicate a need to support our inner world or to deal with matters of ‘nourishment’ inclusive of whatever deficits we may have (or need to make into account). And that may lead us to (Vesta) bear some ‘cost’ in (Hebe) making sure to feed eternal needs.
 
And that’s one of the big points - the differences between Vesta and Hebe as presented in this sequence. Hebe in Taurus is about surviving values and the value of that which assures survival where  Vesta in Sagittarius raises the specter of ethics - and the difference between ethics and morality.

These are very different notions - and yet in tandem they combine to refer to something we all understand: the cost of doing the right thing.

Vesta also calls us to simply deal with facts and truths, most of all about our choices and course(s) of action. Whether we would not accept ourselves were we witnessing who we are from without or whether we are wrestling with who we initially learned or chose to be and who we are learning we need to be now... it’s all Vesta in Sagittarius and its all happening just barely in advance of the 15 Aries Lunar Eclipse which will occur on October 8th at at 10:52 in the morning, UT/+0 time.

Shown or shunted inward, there’s a lot of opinions and feelings afoot. With Mercury having just gone into retrograde in early Scorpio, we are ‘tied into’ a transient awareness of our own makeup just enough that some of us will recognize the ‘then-versus-now’ of it all and opt to live in present tense regardless of desire.

Others will simply ignore that which doesn’t fit their agenda and eventually pay the price. That price - defined by the Scorpio solar eclipse may be meted out in short order... or it may come upon whomever a couple of years from now when everyone has moved on and no one is watching for repercussions.

Scorpio is all about us as individuals. But it’s about us in the sense that if we don’t deal with us, others will. It’s about if we aren’t honest about us, others won’t be honest with us. Mercury’s stationing in Scorpio and moving almost immediately back into Libra (Mercury will re-enter Libra at 5:28 p.m. UT/+0 time on October 10th) is an emblematic ‘tug’ which will pull us back into relationship with others and things so that we can gain perspective on what is driving us to be or do as we are.

Things will happen in the moment. And given this Wednesday’s lunar eclipse in Aries, things will feel personal. Even if they aren’t, we will - each and every one of us - instinctively figure a way to reflect things onto our Self or reflect within our personal Self with regards to ‘them and that.’

The October 8, 2014 Lunar Eclipse (at 15 Aries) map as posted on NASA.gov

This being a total (not partial) lunar eclipse, emotions may run deep and the issues we each will be confronting will either touch us deeply or force us to recognize things at a very vital and ‘deeply felt’ level.

And whether we know it or not, the emotions of this moment are hardly the point. When we pit Moon against Sun (or lunar eclipse against solar eclipse), the Moon can only be a reflection of life - of the metaphysical Sun. It reflects life, just as we are each reflecting our individual life as encased in the notion of where or how we think that individuality does (or doesn’t) fit in with that of others or society.

You know, the Aquarian Age notion. In the food chain of astrological events and energetic time maps, eclipses are big. Ages are bigger. The chaos of transition which is showing up now is part of that greater process which does require that we deal with the Now, credibly, competently and (evidently most of all at the moment) responsibly, reliably and respectfully even if we see that Now as a passage into tomorrow.

That’s the Aquarius part of this design: the individual must be complete and care about self-development lest the contribution of the individual to something greater than their Self be lacking and thus compromising of whatever pre-determined vision has come to be designed which provides structure, power and reward both to the individual and the collective.

At least in theory. After all, we are talking Aquarius. The same gap between individual and whole or group or collective which Aquarius is meant to resolve through structured interactions of a productive type (however ‘productivity’ is being defined in any given venue) exists in the resolving of the theory against the reality - all of which is in high focus at the moment because apart from the lunar/solar eclipse pair as a whole this week’s lunar eclipse speaks to a message of its own. On the ‘eclipse side’ of things we know this is a feeling time and one which stresses the fact of physicality and physical facts on the whole.

Beyond that is the idea that the Moon in this figure stands conjunct Uranus and Alpheratz, a star which ‘belongs’ to not one, but two constellations: Pegasus (escape from past negatives, ‘taking flight’ or ‘bringing to bear’) and Andromeda (through faith, victimization can inspire reprieve) - a combination which speaks to challenges and in particular, how we cope with challenges. With Uranus in this mix there can be a marked tendency for escapism, a breakthrough on some internal level or a ‘breaking out of’ old molds.

Or at least those would be the aim, though whatever our options are at the moment, they probably aren’t ideal.

Why not?

Well, because of a t-square. To be more specific, this t-square:

Yes, this lunar eclipse comes to us in the form of a t-square with Moon-Uranus-Alpheratz in the reward position for the configuration. Being that t-squares always move in zodiacal order, this one begins Sun-Venus widely conjunct in Libra (the desire to relate and be related to, complete with commensurate/appropriate rewards), a combination which is very or not at all motivated. Either way, Pluto-Sabine at 11 Capricorn speaks to something we are being held captive by either completely physically or only psychologically, (depending on who we are as individuals) and which says something about our responsibility to use our influences carefully lest we end up allied/bound to or by that which we cannot ultimately support (or be supported by, ultimately) when we get right down to it.

Part one: none of this is going to be exactly what we'd like or want.

Part two: though it may not be apparent in the moment, either we're facing the same challenge everyone else is facing (or) we're having to face something which everyone goes through (in their own way) as that's part of evolution... maturation... the universal human being process...

...All of which gets us back to the (Vesta) ‘cost’ of things - a quality which could work with 15 Aries’ reputation for eliciting situations which give us something of a snapshot of what our relationship to rules, regulations and guidelines is... and how well we (Sagittarius) understand why this or that works or doesn’t work. And that t-square thing? That would require us to come to understand that our relationship to all those rules, regulations and/or guidelines is about us (yes)... and equally about everyone else.

We all love and hate the same thing - a fact which is as individual as collective.

That all of this is occurring under Mercury retrograde indicates that whatever else we are dealing with, we are also having to think things through - variations on the above theme probably being among them. As the lunar eclipse occurs many of us will just be beginning to contend with worldly snafus and stoppages - not to mention any number of things we need to get done purely within our personal sphere.

And that will produce frustration. For some, even anger or resentment. How or when might this resolve or at least get voiced (hopefully without incident)? Well, the sign of Aries is ruled by Mars. And the sign of Scorpio? That’s ruled first by Mars and then by Pluto (as Scorpio’s ‘outcome’ ruler).

At the moment of this week’s lunar eclipse, Mars will be at 16 Sagittarius - virtually in opposition to fixed star Rigel in Gemini. Given that Rigel is an emblem of teaching and being willing to learn (or learn better, depending), with Gemini’s ruler (Mercury) retrograde and still in Scorpio we wouldn’t expect any onslaughts of movement apart from that which may already be in progress.

But once Mercury reaches Libra on Friday, October 11th? Then perhaps. Yet since Mercury will arrive at its October 25th at 16 Libra and thus a.) in trine to Rigel and b.) in opposition to the 15 Aries lunar eclipse it would seem that whether its ill advised or the soul of thoughtful discretion, much (and many decisions) will wait until on or after October 25th.

And until then, we get to learn more and more about who we are...and aren’t, despite our reluctance to accept it.
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Mercury Retrograde at 2 Scorpio

A barn raising in Lansing (now North York City Centre) Toronto, Canada

(photo credit Alexander W Galbraith/c. 1900-19, photo courtesy of City of Toronto Archives)

I was stiff when I got up this morning - unusually so, even for an injured person. Figuring there's nothing to do but cope, I went about my business... turning on the television, setting water on for tea...

It didn't take all that long to realize that even for Los Angeles, traffic was particularly rancid this morning.

Putting it together, it makes sense: Mercury has moved on station as of October 2nd to go retrograde on October 4th at 5:03 in the evening, UT/+0 time - and in having done so within some rather evident proximity to the Aries Lunar Eclipse which will occur on October 8th we're getting very personal, physical, situational effects.

Expect such things to keep happening. The Mercury part of this (read: the motion, the thought, the exchange of information or conversation) will ease out of the energetic equation as of the 6th or so (as Mercury's station allowance runs out)... but at that point we're very much into the heart of the incoming eclipse, which in being lunar is very much about emotionality (the experience/effects of) as well as anything which evokes a feeling response.

Which is a rather all-encompassing sort of statement, I know. But then, this is emotionality - the 'where humans live.' As I have asserted elsewhere and experienced in first person reality, human life is an emotional thing. We're emotional creatures. How we feel determines whether we will even get to those lofty, respectable, well-structured thoughts we all like to think we can rely on.

(And isn't it sad how we're so often wrong about that?)

In going retrograde at 2 Scorpio, Mercury is asking us to be use that part of our nature - and also our thinking nature. It's asking that we be responsible in taking charge of our own most human nature. There seems to be some necessity for disappointment with this degree, as if only through failure can we resolve ourselves to our Self as a human person and proceed on that basis.

You know, as the mortal, not the icon, real or imagined.

As for the emotionality which tends to arise at this time, it tends to be very positive or negative and not all that much betwixt or between. Imaged by the Sabian symbol 'a house-raising part in a small village enlists the neighbor's cooperation' 2 Scorpio references both acceptance and it's opposition - rejection and marginalization - plus all the various types of protections (the house) which goes or doesn't go with same.

Then again, there's a Mercury/Neptune factor here as Mercury is going into retrograde in trine to Neptune - a sign that there may be...or have been...some compromise of clarity or truth in the works - all of which seems strikingly in keeping with Royal/fixed star Aldebaran having just moved from 9 to 10 Gemini (Gemini being a Mercury-ruled sign) as of yesterday, October 1st. (See previous post.)

Mercury seeks to clarify - either through mentality (the Gemini way) or through how something is done (or what gets done) - that being more of the Virgo/Mercury solution. But when Neptune and Mercury are in aspect, Neptune's famous 'is it real...is it not real?' qualities of illusion - willful or otherwise - create complications. Confusion. Even out and out lies.

Or, of course, the exposure of same.

So some who have been deceived will discover now. Some who have been deceivers will be laid bare now. All such moments could happen in a snap... or they may 'come to be' over time, which is to say through whatever occurs during Mercury's three weeks in apparent 'reverse.'

Reverses of circumstance, reversals of decisions... we are likely to see/experience many changes of course (charted and otherwise) in these weeks ahead. In going retrograde at 2 Scorpio Mercury's position theoretically supports and enhances our realization... even our understanding/need to understand all the many and varied forms of trial and human ugliness which have been surfacing of late. That Mercury both starts and ends this retrograde period in trine to Neptune combines rather well with the image of the Scorpio eclipse both as a notice as to how we have been 'kidding ourselves' (aka lying to ourselves) or simply where we've been being irresponsible.

To our Self/selves, that is. The single and ultimate plural are both implied here, so there is the You and then there is the Everyone, with virtually nothing between. Given next week's lunar eclipse there is-was-will be many an issue which concerns guidelines and success is attained generally/most often through a basic agreement to (as they say) 'play by the rules.' Problems will occur through trust placed in the wrong people, with such alliances generally based in convenience rather than anything else.

But still, it all counts.

Also - considering how 15 Aries (the degree of the lunar eclipse) has a known tendency to produce the thing we fear through the very energetic of fearing it, this is a time to control our indulgence of our own emotionality. With Mercury going retrograde, some matters will/should be reflected on most thoroughly with an eye to understanding the full spectrum of emotions which may lie behind the urge to do or say something. That Mercury's station is in Scorpio will drive a desire to 'control the conversation' (and thus the emotions and emotionality in place) but to do such a thing - to attempt to manipulate or control are likely to somehow come to naught, most often for reasons which are not all that apparent at this time.

You'll just have to wait, in other words.

Speaking of the post just before this one - that being about Aldebaran's move to 10 Gemini - Aldebaran is, of course, the fixed star which promises success ONLY if we uphold (or establish) standards of integrity. So that Aldebaran is making this move as Mercury goes on station puts a little Mercury in the Aldebaran quotient (lending a quality of vulnerability - ours - to our own insecurities as part of our process) and lends a little Aldebaran to the Mercury station.

In other words, don't be surprised if integrity fouled begins to produce karma.

By the time Mercury reaches its station/direct point on October 25th (UT/+0), the Sun will have eclipsed and we will be not just be ready to move on, we will already be in the process of moving on. (Solar eclipses are odd like that - so often we recognize what they're 'about' only after they occur.) And because Mercury's 16 Scorpio station/direct effects will begin on October 23-24 (depending on where you are) we're seeing Mercury involved with both eclipses - one at either end of its retrograde. Hopefully 16 Scorpio will manifest with on the positive side - which 16 Scorpio is noted for, though its traits of reliability, honor and courage can/will obviously be seen as positive to some and (simultaneously) as trouble to others.

As always, that choice will be ours. The Scorpio (Mercury) component here is always about choice, with our choice always being whether we are willing to treat and experience others as equals. (In other words, it's what you do/don't do which counts...and why you do or don't do it.) Since Scorpio is not about 'them' and what 'they' are doing but rather about whether we're able to be honest with our Self about our Self, what we have earned now survives, doing so through validation, interaction, connection and mutual support.

And what about what we have not earned? That begins to cool and grow less appealing, whether in our Mercurial regard or that of others.

One last thought... in going retrograde in conjunction with asteroid Lumiere while also trine Neptune it is likely that at least part of what we are not seeing (or being willing to believe or accept) is something we also regard as 'a light' [Lumiere] in our life.

What that means and why it means whatever it means to us is at least part of why this Mercury retrograde has come along. And while it is true that Mercury/Neptune can represent 'the lie,' they can also represent that hope, that thing we hold onto in order to get ourselves through something.

Which is which, you ask?

That's individual. However... as we also know that when Mercury goes direct on October 25th (UT/+0) it will be doing so in conjunction with asteroid Lilith (what I deny or ignore in or about my own life) and Typhon, an emblem of something very basic and very primal. We also know that this October 25th station will occur in relating/relationship-oriented Libra and at one of Libra's more feeling and inspiring degrees (16 Libra).

What this 'spells' (if you will) is an opportunity to learn something about ourselves over these next few weeks which in recognizing will break through our reluctance to understand ourselves in conjunction with others. That, plus Aldebaran's shift plus the idea how by October 25th the Sun, Venus and Pallas (wisdom born of a logical, dispassionate perspective) will either release us to be our kinder (16 Libra) Self or put us in position to be open to that which happens then.

Or it may glue us utterly in place, forcing us to see how our personal short-sightedness (read: self-concern, self-focus) has now hindered our various goals.

After all, apart from all the missed phone calls, distracted conversations, mental headaches, sloppy/botched efforts, losses and mistakes, delays of schedule and endless interruptions so common with any (and every) Mercury retrograde regardless of sign, in a sense Mercury retrograde is all about getting our inner house in order so that we are ready to be graced with all which happens in retrograde's wake. Mercury retrogrades are famous (infamous, actually) for putting us through something which only comes clear just after Mercury goes direct.

And then there's the retrograde shadow. Mercury entered the shadow of its retrograde over the weekend of September 13-14 (depending on what time zone you were in) a won't exit that shadow until November 10th. So while the actual retrograde period may feel the most 'retrograde-like' (putting us on the spot with our Self), there is a greater if rather more 'shadowy' (meaning 'less apparent') implication of some process which spans this entire arc - and which, at least in the short (next three month/lunar eclipse) run is likely to feel terribly, terribly important.

The only thing is that in reality, it's not. And that's where we may be kidding ourselves - a concept we may profit long term by remembering not to forget.
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Dateblog: October 2014

October 2014 by Zodiac Sign

Seeing as I've spent more time in medical hands than I care to think about over the past few days this has to be short. But I did want to give you the charts for October 2014.

As you'll note above, there are (count 'em) two meteor showers this October - the Draconids (which come to us courtesy of comet and the Oriondis - which because of the comet which produces said Orionids (Comet Halley) brings up not only Halley's somewhat 'showy' or 'want to see...want to be seen' (and other such 'value' as in, what do I value and why do I value it? commentaries) and the interesting factoid that both of these comets were discovered while transiting Aquarius.

The Aquarius part may well be part of October's natural interactive and Libran social-socializing (maybe marketing...maybe audience) orientation as Aquarius is nothing if not about pluralities, be they notions, people, sources of income or otherwise. In the world of thinking and concepts, Aquarius is the broadest and (often) the most intricate.

Not necessarily easy, mind you. Nor necessarily practical for any of a number of though-provoking (and possibly irritating) reasons.

In any case, there's a lot of Libra to go around this month, October being a natural time for making plans and sometimes making moves. (Not always, but sometimes.) Who we relate to and why, how we relate to them and how they respond to us tells is everyday subject matter almost all month long, though it will ebb off as Venus and the Sun move on into Scorpio... which you may (or may not) have noticed is the subject of a solar eclipse this month.

You know, this eclipse...

Eclipse Map for the Solar Eclipse of October 23, 2014 at 0 Scorpio

(map generated by Solar Fire)

 

And yes, providing I can type we'll be talking more about it. But getting back to Sun and Venus, what they're a reference to is how we relate to others... and how well or not well we relate to them is based in something (and what that is). Even people who are stone tone deaf to the needs and rights of others to hold opinions come from somewhere. And the interesting thing is... which we are all learning right now ... those opinions are far (far) more often rooted in vulnerability than strength.

Scorpio fights... or produces the impulse to fight ... as a sign that the instinct of threat has come to light.

That threat is not about 'them' or 'that' or even 'this' (whatever 'this' may be). It's about how we FEEL about them or that or even this... and that's about US.

Not them, us.

It's uncomfortable and we can all expect to feel a deal of discomfort going forward at least until October 23rd, that being the date of the eclipse. Moreover, prior to that we'll be having an Aries lunar eclipse ... a time when our passions, our feelings and our ability to feel or not feel are all brought to the fore.

As always, where these eclipses fall (in what house of your chart) and how these eclipses aspect the various objects and factors in you your chart (and how closely those aspects apply) will determine how strong or weak eclipse effects will generally tend to be. With the lunar eclipse at 15 Aries, what we want may well be outstripped by our opportunity (or ability) to do such things, and that's not all that comfortable.

(Not at all comfortable.)

There's an aspect of change indicated by these two eclipses which no one wants to take on. So especially after Mercury goes retrograde we're bound to hear a lot of excuses and evasiveness. Those 'I don't want to talk (or think) about it' actions/choices are not all that productive, especially as nothing is going to in the end be entirely avoided. The productive thought here is to deal with others and your issues about/with others and to invest in examinations which will reveal not only what the strengths and weaknesses of the situation are, but what the reality of the strengths and weaknesses of others really are.

No one has told anyone everything. (Count on it.) Mercury retrograde - especially one in Scorpio - provides a natural time for interesting, invaluable and possibly important conversations, meetings, research and other interactive/interactions which provide grist for the mental mill or information needed before moving on.

That 'moving on' then begins to occur after Mercury goes direct on October 25th, but given how Mercury will have retrograded back into Libra before going direct, there will be complications and the need for more investigation, conversations and even a few (reluctant) course corrections once Mercury re-enters Scorpio late on November 8th (UT/+0).

You know, next month.

As for elements, the personal planets are moving through air (Libra) and water (Scorpio) for most of the month... and then there's just more Scorpio.

October 2014 by Element

That's a recipe for raw emotionalism and issues which raise raw emotionalism, but because of the eclipse (solar eclipses are cosmic trump cards) this is ALL about our realizing and recognizing and beginning to grasp our vulnerabilities - our internal hurts and vulnerabilities and fears and shames...all that.

And it's about the recognizing them and the owning up to them and the being able to admit them to others which leads to betterment. Our betterment.

The combination of other elements - fire and earth - being more global or worldly elements of our October, it's useful also to keep a clear separation of public versus private and personal/individual versus relationship/others in mind, in hand and (perhaps most of all) as a curb to our actions and statements, all of which carry the sort of weight/weightiness this month which may seem deliciously dramatic, but which could also cook our goose (so to speak, no offense to the geese) down the line.

All those meteors insure an interesting month to be sure. For those who are in a good place, this is a great month for being creative, providing you are willing to go through the whole of any process and not cut corners, the whole of which includes doing your up-front homework. That the Aquarius quotient resident in/with both these meteor showers is in a natural square (then trine, then back to square) with the overall purpose of the October Mercury retrograde challenges us to see how to use our more native human nature - not that of rhetoric, but of nurture.

Still, don't be surprised if you meet up with a lot of stubbornness... even within your Self. Underlying Scorpio's deep well of emotionality are its eternal questions of (Taurean) safety and self-doubt, those being the metaphysical source of all of our attempts to 'win at all cost' and otherwise weight or can't the playing field for others. The Scorpio demand of 'I want what I want' is, in other words, at its heart an extreme statement of fear - we're afraid we can't have what we want, so we'll fight for it.

Which begs the real question: what are we so afraid of being (and being known/seen as) without it?
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Medusa-Industria: Functional Reconciliation

A Mandelbrot factile of 500 interactions rendered using UltraFractal

(image credit: Danwills, Jan 2007)

By now you understand that Medusa is about our ability to face our fears – particularly when it comes to who we really are…or maybe have been…or in the sense of what we’re afraid it’s going to take to get where we want to go.

Or to be the person we want to be.

Even the person we’ve told others we are…even though we know we aren’t.

Medusa events are always about our being tested by our own desire – or ability – to forget our commitments, especially to ourselves.

Asteroid Medusa is going retrograde at 1:57 in the afternoon (UT/+0) on August 20th, which means its station will begin on the 18th and continue on through the 22nd, enveloping the August Full Moon (which will be in Aquarius) the Sun moving into Virgo and a transiting cardinal square between Jupiter and Uranus.

So Medusa’s station begins while the Sun is just finishing up its transit of Leo – a time when we can expect to be full of a sense of what we need to do, what we want to do, where we think we’re going…all of which then meets up with Medusa’s turn to retrograde – a sign that maybe we don’t know all we think we know, even about ourselves.

Imagine you’re an actor. You’re running late, you’re rushing, you arrive at the theater with spare minutes to go before your starring role entrance. Filled with thoughts of what you need to do and how you need to focus on your lines and getting into character, you race through putting on your makeup with people pounding on the door trying to get you to hurry up.

So hurry you do. And barely do you walk out on stage but you realize (because there’s a draft) that you took off your clothes, then forgot to put your costume on.

These are the kind of “obvious” errors we can run into during this time. Of course some of us will reach this turn and something “Medusa-scary” will resolve itself, but since Medusa is taking its turn at 15 Aries and Uranus is still hanging around 12 Aries (which is absolutely close enough for lobbing astrological planetary boomerangs), this astrologer would honestly say that if all goes nicely in this moment with nary a quiver to your Jello…well, it might be the day to go play the lottery.

There’s just that much energy in the mix, yes.

15 Aries is an interesting sort of degree which says we need to learn from experience, and that playing the conservative or “proven” card is often best. But since experience is needed to turn this degree from problem into productivity, despite all we tend to ‘create’ the dynamic we need to learn from no matter how hard we try.

Not making this any easier is the fact that fixed star Alpheratz is sitting one degree behind at 14 Aries – a degree known for isolation which is based in a need for self development.

And then we add in Alpheratz, a fixed star which is part victim, part beauty and part cut-and-run dynamic – all in the name of a self-protective isolation which can ultimately be productive if harnessed in a ‘great cause’ but which all too often simply leads to a life of self-imposed separations from that which needs to be served…things which can only be served through a ‘marriage’ of courage and effort (in the person) which leads to the willingness to enter into companionable duty and duty through close alliance.

Frankly, with Medusa taking station virtually atop Alpheratz, many things, many situations and many relationships from the personal to the international may become seriously difficult during this time. Yet most of these difficulties can be moderated if we remember that the onus is not on ‘them’ (whoever “they” may be) to face our unwillingness to face our fears or the fear of self-exposure or the fear of sharing one’s work, one’s life, one’s feelings…. whatever you’re scared of sharing about now.

As the Sun shifts into Virgo late on August 22nd (the last “official” day of Medusa’s station) we’ll feel a subtle shift from the ‘idea of the thing’ (the intensity of Leo at its most critical point) into a more sober, clarified mindset.

Of course, this will be when some will decide to cut their loses and vamoose, with or without taking their toys home to play with.

Is there a better course? Probably yes. Considering that Virgo is about service, recognizing that our fears are probably more universal than we suspect and working from that base of compassion in the search for a better way to work with matters at hand is probably a better course.

Medusa, 3D (image credit: Nikita Verprikov, January 2007)

In a sense, Medusa taking this change of course (in conjunction with Alpheratz at 14 Aries) as the Sun moves from Leo into Virgo indeed may be exactly that: a challenge to not simply retreat but to live up to the best of our abilities. Where we utilize the Alpheratz tendency towards isolation as a maintaining of perspective on ourselves and others, we are likely to gain insight on not just how we tend to (re)create those dynamics which cause us to shy away but what it is in ourselves which is so ‘shy’ (or prone to shy) in the first place.

Furthermore, Medusa isn’t alone in this moment of turnabouts-as-playing-fair-with-ourselves. Asteroid Industria is also going on station, and it’s going direct. The date of Industria’s station is August 19 – the day before Medusa’s turn. So Industria’s effects start first (on the 17th) and end first (on the 21st – which is the date of the Full Moon/Jupiter-Uranus square, which will be talked about in the next post here at astroPPM).

Industria – literally “industriousness” – is all about what we’re working on. And yes, it can represent literal work (or works) as in something you do for a living. But Industria can also be all about what you have been working on in your life. Or with regards to dealing with a bad habit. Or your effort to learn some pesky piece of software.

Anything we’re “working on” qualifies for Industria symbolism. And seeing as Industria is now going direct, there’s a definite aura that a ‘matter you have run into’ (asteroids being emblems of things we learn about and from along the way through life) is now moving towards some sort of active resolution…or maybe dissolution.

The plus or minus here has to do with the optimal, which given the Sun’s shift from Leo into Virgo during this time would tend to say it’s about moving from a focus on the idea into a realm where we take the reality – and maybe the fact that we’re talking about real lives and real life parameters – into account.
 

Hésiode et la Muse by Gustave Moreau (1857)...

...because sometimes we have to serve as our own muse

Medusa’s turn to retrograde surely asks us why we are afraid. Conjunct Alpheratz, this is a conversation we probably need to have with ourselves. But that Industria is going direct at 4 Capricorn? That does lend a very positive social note to the whole of this dynamic. 4 Capricorn has a reputation for being warmly social and often concerned with welcoming people into our home – or into our life (our essential ‘home’) in some very real and hospitable manner. And all can go very well providing we are willing to work (Industria) as we move forward with whatever we initiate now.

So maybe we are scared. But that doesn’t mean advances can’t be made and things can’t be – and become – ever more whole and wholesome in the days and weeks and even years to come.
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Zachary ‘Zak’ Bagans: So Spooky

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 A detail from the painting 'The Shade of Samuel Invoked by Saul' (1857)

 by Dmitrij Martynov (1826-1889)

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Everybody needs ‘down’ time. So as I turned from the ‘must do’s of life somewhere back early in the 2012 May-June Venus retrograde, I did what we do…I rolled through television channels, seeing if something would penetrate the thickness of a rather tired brain.

Then I ran across something...a show which had three grown men exploring some very dark somewhere using only the tiny LCD screens of their night-vision video cameras as a means of finding their way.

That's different.

The thought of going through some building that way struck me. On one hand, it’s sort of the ultimate in taking a step in the dark – an expressing of faith in your own ability to be safe. It's also an interesting…perhaps even illuminating (yes, I said that) use for applied technology.

As usual, the script writer in my mind clicked on...:

Ancient Explorer: In my day, we used a compass and raw wits.

Modern Explorer: We use LCD, GPS and electronic measurements.

Or something like that. Trust me, it wasn't a big-budget effort. Like I said - I was tired.

Anyway, it became clear almost immediately that these guys were being caught in the (filmic) act of trying to connect with ghosts either in ‘tape loop’ (energy imprint) form or real time. Their aim seemed to be documentation (as opposed to helping trapped spirits move on) and the intelligent responses, the electronic signatures, it all immediately struck me as rather lovely stuff.

The show’s name: "Ghost Adventures"

Personally, I find the idea that people think we simply die and vanish odd – so I’m not arguing with ghost hunters. If E=mc2’d and we’re all energy, the ‘animation’ of the mass of flesh which all too soon crumbles into elemental dust when we die…that energy must go somewhere.

Here’s the law: energy is never lost. It may change forms, but it’s never lost. This isn’t some fanciful concept, it’s one of those real-live science things.

Anyway…I’ve known one true parapsychologist in my life. And just as obviously, I have my own orientation to energy and 'things unseen.' As for those who say “where ARE they?” (referring to ghosts) I suggest M-theory...you'll find it on the shelf (digital or otherwise) at about half-past string theory.

M-theory is the only thing which accounts for everything we don't quite have a 'place' for...starting with ghosts, and perhaps ending with the ethereal realm of Angelic Beings.

Such theories also (by the by) account for the compounding of metaphysical effects we pondered a couple of days ago in the blog on Pluto's newest moon (LINK). 

But I digress.

So there I am watching these three guys doing their investigation...and I’m intrigued. Intrigued enough that over the next few weeks I manage to catch several other  episodes, one of which causes me to cry (don’t ask) and one of which amuses me - highly.

I think it's safe to say that it was somewhere between Zak Bagans turning to the camera when somewhere very high off the ground to confess a loathing of heights (which I share)...and then when he takes it into his head (no comment) to confront his fears by picking up a snake that the human side of this parapsychological exotica got to me.

Not that Zak was so successful with said snake. As shown, he quickly became so overcome with fear that he drops the snake and goes leaping and shrieking across the hillside, sounding for all the world like a pre-teen girl while reminding me of a springbok trying to avoid getting eaten by a lion.

Gotta love a man who will allow himself to be filmed doing that, y’know? Since he's one of the Producers on the show, he would (more than likely) have the power to get the scene cut. But he didn't. As a 2nd generation Hollywood studio brat, I know the 'face saving' side of image molding. I also know the manipulation of the image.

It's all fine.

Well, except for the picking up snakes off western US hillsides part. That, I don't think a hugely good idea. True, in this case the crew may have vetted this snake. They may have even spoken to its agent to make sure it wouldn’t bite. For all I know (and I'm a girl who can recite many a movie union contract rule) it’s just possible that in this day and age snakes get hazard pay for biting stars.

But still...

Wherever that left me, I shortly thereafter did what astrologers do: I Googled Ghost Adventures and very quickly came up with three birth dates and three birth places (one for each guy, not three for one guy. That truly would have been spooky!).

As an astrologer, I of course prefer to have time of birth included as part of my entrée, but taking data snack in hand I retreated to my comfy world of astrology software (which come to think of it also requires and LCD screeen) and typed the data in.

The first chart I took a close look at was that of Zak Bagans. Here's the simplified version of that chart:

 Zachary 'Zak' Bagans - April 5, 1977 - Washington, DC

(Chart erected in Aries Wheel format due to no birth time.
No Moon is shown for the same reason. though unless
the birth time is prior to 39 minutes after midnight, this
nativity will have a Scorpio Moon.)

Truthfully, my first 'Ghost Adventures' astro-fact involves the idea that the entire team is born under the sign of Aries. And that doesn't strike me as being out of line. Aries is the sign of existing and conscious recognition of same. So for a trio of Aries people to be documenting the existence of ghosts seems apt. These guys are spending their lives looking for signs of life beyond life. And the manner in which they look for it is through looking to connect (as they often point out) through intelligent communication - the very sign of existence as consciousness-in-action.

How very Aries.

The last chart called up in my program was that I began to ponder - Zak Bagans'. And before I continue, let's be straight here: I know very little about him. But I had heard the show's introduction a couple of times by the time I did all this chart-casting.

Episodes of Ghost Adventures begin with the Voice-of-Zak declaring in a tone forthright, declarative and maybe a wee bit confessional (...again, how very Aries...) the following:

“My name is Zak Bagans. I never believed in ghosts until I came face to face with one."

"So I set out on a quest to capture what I once saw onto video. With no big camera crews following us around, I am joined only by my fellow investigator Nick Groff and our equipment tech Aaron Goodwin. The three of us will travel to some of the most highly active paranormal locations, where we will spend an entire night being locked down from dusk until dawn"

"Raw...extreme...these are our Ghost Adventures.” 

...and when I saw Zak Bagans' chart, even without a proper time of birth that little phrase ‘I never believed in ghosts until I came face to face with one’ jumped right off the screen. 

Astrologically, the image was perfect: sitting at 15 Aries, Zak's natal Sun (life) is conjunct Eris (discord) at 13 Aries.

Remember my saying that I was going to look around for some charts which highlighted Eris? I couldn't have asked for a better example. And considering several inquiries about Eris (that’s what you get when you’re the warm body doing the research) it’s apparent that the metaphysical Eris as ‘discord’ (from the Roman name for the goddess: Discordia) doesn’t yet make sense to most folks. We tend to think in terms of 'destruction' and Eris isn't about destruction. Eris isn’t even about not taking the trash out or leaving your socks on the floor.

Eris isn't about anything you do. Eris isn't even about anything done to you. Eris is about how you experience something which occurs.

And if the byword for Eris is 'discord,' that tells us that Eris represents some thing or some feeling...or both...which evokes a sense of discord.

Like ghosts, maybe?

I guess if you're Zak Bagans, yes.

 The idea of ghosts has been part of virtually every culture

throughout human kind. Philosophically, this would be a

reflection of the idea that as soon as we 'own' the idea we exist,

we wonder what 'non-existence' is - and what becomes of

a life as rich and consciously vibrant as that of a human is,

whether filled with joy or horror. The above is part of a

three-panel painting from around 1850 called 'The Ghosts of

 Togo and His Wife' by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Yet I doubt it's all that direct and linear-simple. Very little about life is...very little about astrology - a lens through which we can better understand life (or the afterlife, depending) - is that simple.

Dwarf Planet Eris inhabits the far flung regions of our solar system beyond Neptune, the last “official” planet. This entire region is known rather generously as the Kuiper Belt (with fringe districts being known as the Oort Cloud) …with anything which cycles in this arena often simply referred to as a KBO (Kuiper Belt Object).

 Planet Neptune

photo credit: NASA-JPL

This KBO 'group-simplification' is useful in astrology simply because all KBOs, no matter their subset (of which there are several) …all seem to be about situations, circumstances and interactions which, in provoking us, get us past our inhibitions, our lack of knowledge, our denials – or simply some lack of experience. The tornado which sweeps through and destroys your quiet, peaceful neighborhood, the experience of that is often signaled by a KBO (either as a transiting object or a natal KBO in your chart being transited by major planet, node or eclipse).

The tornado is not the 'thing.' The 'thing' is what you experience because of or through being exposed to the tornado.

In Zak Bagan's chart, because we see Eris positioned rather tightly conjunct to the Sun, we know a couple of things. He is 'made' (as it were) to provoke. He can do it through what he 'does' (the standard Aries "I do" method) and with Sun/Eris he could be highly provocative, provoking or simply combative. This would be Zak embodying Sun/Eris, Zak being someone who "is" Eris and thus causes discord.

He could also experience Sun/Eris as something which 'disrupts' his physical (Aries) life. One hopes this doesn't happen, but it's another way this confluence could work.

Then again, there's the active/passive 'life as response to Eris' expression - which seems to be more of Zak's style. In this bailiwick we would have Zak 'being' the person which has resulted from his own experiences in life...hence the 'I never believed in ghosts until I came face to face with one.’ 

How would we know that Zak would be one of these things and not the other? The whole of how this works could only be delineated through knowing his birth time. But apart from that, the chart does give us one major commentary. Aries (the sign of his Sun/Aries) is ruled by Mars. And Zak's natal Mars is in Pisces. Specifically, in the second or emotional decanate of Pisces (degrees 10-19).

As a sign, Pisces is about experiencing our feelings. Where we see Pisces in any chart, we know that there is a certain level of caution which comes from an inner knowing of how powerful emotionality can be. That Pisces is known as a sign of addicts and prisons is all about that very sort of 'inability to cope' with the reality of life, of disappointment, of mortality.

Given that, unless Zak Bagans was something like a surgeon or some such, it's hard to think that an Aries Sun/Eris ruled by a Pisces Mars would be overly aggressive. Does he have his moments? Abso-pozzo-lutely! But an out-and-out aggressor? Probably not.

This is, however, a combination which does leave some space open for questions of 'toxicity,' be that emotional or physical. Anything from a swelled head and out-of-touch case of emotional narcissism to drug or alcohol dependence through to issues arising from chemical or biological exposure or being on either end of love addictions would fit this particular bill.

So Zak Bagans gets born with this chart. And through his life he experiences this and that form of Sun/Eris - of that, we may be sure even without a detailed life history.
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Sun/Eris in this chart is like a depth charge with an automatic reset mechanism.

Obviously without time of birth and exactly knowledge of when Zak met the ghost, we can’t know what that ‘trip wire’ was. But that he’s gone on to investigate ghosts – which of themselves are startling and sort of ‘unsettling’ things? That's very Aries Eris/Sun. That he has been forced and through his work introduces others to things which cause them to reorient themselves to the  apparent stability of our dimensional time/space existence?

That's seriously Sun/Eris. That is Zak Bagans acting as the very embodiment of his Aries Sun/Eris. He's making a life (Sun) out of something which by its very nature is emotionally provocative (Eris).

 

An orbital diagram of the solar system including Eris

(diagram credit: JPL Small Body Data Base) 

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But how would we know that he would do it through creating a TV series?

Again, the real peach-pit in the works here is that we don't have his time of birth. But even at that, Zak Bagan's natal chart has one very pronounced figure which should really give us a clue.

That figure? Pluto in Libra with Pluto positioned as to be very much in opposition with Zak's Sun/Eris, forming something of a conduit - an energy tunnel, if you will.

(Hmmm....isn't that what he ends up doing a lot of the time? Wandering around in dark tunnels looking for energy readings seems to be one of Zak's hobbies.)

In short, the television show is a Zak Bagans harnessing his Pluto in Libra.

Pluto is (among other things) a generational marker. As Pluto movies through the signs, a greater society unprompted by astrologers seems to follow right along, clicking off generational nicknames: Pluto in Leo - the Baby Boomers; Pluto in Virgo - the Yuppies; Pluto in Libra - Gen X.

A Libra Pluto is the signature of Gen X. To paint this tribe in the broadest of all brush strokes, Gen X is a generation very into trends. Gen X creates them, Gen X loves believing in them, and Gen X subscribes to the idea of trends as a righteously good thing.

Gen X likes to share. And this is not so mysterious if we consider Libra as the sign of 'the other' or where the "me-I" of life meets up with reactions.

Pluto is an obsessive, driving energy. There is a drive in every generation which in Gen X focuses on that other and what that other thinks...or thinks about...or thinks of 'me.' Gen X is the generation of the celebrity monogram. Sure, tabloids existed long before Gen X arrived, but this is the generation which made the paparazzi rich. (Okay, richer.) With Libra being an airy and theoretical sign, Pluto’s notorious quality of magnetism drew this generation took the Pluto in Virgo (Yuppie) materialism one step further, bringing us the ‘everyman as star’ (reality TV) while escalating show and tell from 'what you have' (an earthy, Virgo concept) into who you are, what you look like, and who your friends are.

With Pluto in Libra, it's the idea of the thing which is attractive. This is the generation which wants to be able to say it even if the truth is they don't really like it!

Yet there’s a trick with all Pluto placements: the real lesson, the road to Plutonic fulfillment lies in the opposition. So the 'easy' thing is to obsess about the other and being in relationship to the other and blah, blah, blah. But the power of Pluto in Libra comes from the polarity sign.

Which is...?

Aries.

What this means is that the object of Pluto in Libra is to a.) know who you are, b.) know what you believe in and are capable of and c.) using that to connect to others.

Yes, this is why Gen X got so wildly into appearances, including plastic surgery. This is why Gen X members were the first to get wholly into branding.

(Not cowboys-and-cows branding, the other kind of branding - that where one's name becomes a public symbol or 'nameplate' icon...)

 Manao Tupapau (The Spirit of the Dead Keep Watch)

by Paul Gauguin (1892)

I’ll guess that with a 15 Aries Sun (13 Aries Eris) so decidedly in opposition to a natal 12 Libra Pluto, Zak Bagans is a man who understands being polarized and being in connection to others. It's a passion. It's intriguing - in both directions. And yet...how to utilize it?

That, so often becomes the Pluto question. Difficulties arise and we often tend to think 'it's not me, it's them' - Pluto does tend to cause us to project.

Ultimately the lesson is ours. Always ours. It's about needed grow and how after a time, anything can become a bit rote. Then we have to change, we have to mix it up and hopefully in that process, become renewed in our Pluto purpose...lest Plutonic energy come back to haunt us...in Zak Bagans' case, perhaps literally.

That means that in the choosing of what we want to be involved in, we heed our Pluto and choose carefully, lest we end up cutting ourselves short, boxing ourselves in and causing the energy of growth to creating a sense of life lost...a dead end.

As for Eris..it's likely that prior to getting spooked into  paranormal work (of which Ghost Adventures is may well only be one format) Zak was a touch restless and prone to feeling the sort of motivation which sometimes manifests as rebelliousness, sometimes as moments of irascibility.

Yet with an Aries Venus right behind the Aries Sun/Eris duo, though this combination lends itself to some degree of "bottom line expressiveness" (without all the corners getting nicely rounded and rubber-bumpered) the Sun/Venus part of it lends the sort of sweetness which generally spells redemption. Though it can also surface as that special sort of evasive charm which works in the moment but often leads to second-guessing, voluntary or prompted.

In point of fact, any planet in close conjunction to the Sun gives an 'unconscious' sort of quality. So until Zak Bagans found ways to appeal and connect to others through harnessing his own humanness and vulnerability, that Venus-Sun-Eris would have made for a few iffy incidents. And yes, throughout life he is likely to stub his feelings on those of others. But that's just Sun/Venus in Eris.

And let's face it...there are no perfect charts. Or perfect lives.

Plus there is the good part of it all...even when Zak Bagans does rub stumble over his best intentions (and don't we all at times?), he gets a lesson - a Sun-Eris lesson. And thus, through internal Sun-Eris prompting, he grows. Learns. Matures.

That's just the way it works. Our charts each have markers which shows how each of us learns. Zak Bagans just does his learning - greatly - through the being or receiving of Eris-type energetics.

So...bottom line? The bottom line here - at least to this astrologer's thinking is that the ghost did Zak Bagans a substantially huge (dare we say transcendental?) service.

I guess he should hope that ghost doesn't have a billing service. (What does a good haunting cost these days, anyway?)

Oh yes - and a note for those who've heard all reality TV shows are scripted and therefore bunk. I'm not touching that with a ten-foot digital pole, except to say that even IF the entire show was fluff, if it rattles people's mental bones and provokes thought about life beyond the norm and status quo, that's Sun/Eris.

Thinking this all through, I turned to one of the ever-present books clustered atop my desk – a well-thumbed copy of Dane Rudhyar’s An Astrological Mandala (Vintage Books, copyright 1973). You've heard me talk about Sabian Symbols and this is one of a dozen books on same. The Sabian Symbols for each of the zodiac's 360 degrees are exactly the same in every book. What makes this book particularly interesting for me however, is that Rudhyar has commented on same.

So...being the cat which gets killed periodically for curiosity, I opened the book and looked up the degree of Zak’s Sun...and yes, I realize that if he was born in the last tick-tocks before midnight of the next day his Sun would be at 16, not 15 Aries.

But when you read this...well, let's just say I would be hugely surprised if his Sun is at 16 Aries. Why? Allow me to type most of what Dane Rudhyar writes about 15 Aries out - I suspect you'll see what I mean.

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Image: NATURE SPIRITS ARE SEEN AT WORK IN THE LIGHT OF SUNSET

Keynote: Attunement to the potency of invisible forces of nature.

Text: In the light of personal fulfillment (symbol of sunset and wisdom) man may be able to establish a life-giving contact with natural forces. These are active any time growth processes take place, but man’s individualized mind is usually too focused on working for consciously set goals to be able to realize concretely the presence of invisible (or “occult”) forces in operation. These forces constitute a specific realm of any planetary life. They are inherent in all “biospheres,” on whatever planet. They are non-individualized and un-free energies forming in the substratum of all life processes – thus of the process of integration at the level of the planet-as-a-whole, i.e., the planet as an organism with its automatic systems of growth, maintenance and organic multiplication.

In this planetary organism those nature forces act as guiding and balancing-harmonizing factors...(sic)...(and) It is when this energy becomes less dominant – thus symbolically at sunset – or when the body energy is weakened by illness, fasting or sensory deprivation, that it becomes easier to perceive these “nature spirits” and to give them forms that symbolize the character of their activities. (sic) When this Sabian symbol reaches into the consciousness of a man seeking meaning, it should be seen as an invitation to open his mind to the possibility of approaching life in a holistic and non-rational, intuitive manner.

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When I read that, suddenly the image of three men walking through pitch black darkness using only tiny LCD screens as guidance made total sense - at least for Zak Bagans. ‘…when the body energy is weakened by sensory deprivation…it becomes easier to perceive these “nature spirits.”’

It also meant that Zak Bagans' nativity is a 15 Aries chart, not a 16 Aries chart. 

Moreover, this is the moment which prompted me to write this blog. It's the very sort of moment which makes astrology so interesting, useful and illuminating. In harnessing his own willingness to walk through darkness proverbial and literal, Zak Bagans has harnessed his Pluto. He's connected that which provoked his life (Eris) to the questions and questing of millions of other people, enhancing both giver and the those given to. That's how Gen X triumphs - and why so many members of this generation find their greatest strength (in the public/worldly sense) lies in something which has an entrepreneurial flair.

As for Zak Begans, he's found not just a way to connect to the living, but also a way to connect to the spirits of those who, though dead, still cry out. He gives them the voice of Eris provocation and a moment in which they, from their unfathomable nearness, can remind us of what - in the end - are KBO consequences which are just as real in our lives as in theirs. 

As 'tis said in the world of metaphysics: Use the energy wisely, lest it use you unwisely.

In reaching Beyond and reaching out, Zak has also put himself on a path to understanding how his own fulfillment works. How a status quo isn't necessarily his bliss. In the spirits of Nature, he finds his Self. He learns more about the nature of Self and existing. And in that process, he provides us all with insights.

And yes, he serves to provoke us. Whether you find yourself wondering why you haven't taken it upon yourself to do something as meaningful to you...whether you're drawn to ask how life and our lives work...or why what we do with our lives - and even how we do it counts?

If Zak Bagans makes you think. If his life makes him think, it's all good and valid. It's all Sun-Eris-Pluto.

Speaking of which, without reciting here the whole of the Sabian Symbol for his 12 Libra Pluto, let me just say that the (universal) Sabian for 12 Libra is 'MINERS ARE SURFACING FROM A DEEP COAL MINE'...with the keynote being 'The need to carry on at ever deeper levels the quest for knowledge which keeps burning the fires of the collective mind of a society.'

Need we say more? Mind you, this is about Zak himself, and this is about all those he encounters, including those he will never know, and those whose lives (or existences) will be changed because of what he does...or even what he doesn't do. This Sun/Eris opposition Pluto is a powerful configuration, one far better consciously used for good purpose than not.

Of course there are thousands of people born on the same day as Zak Bagans. Will they have his chart? No. they won't, because not one of them was born in the exact like moment and same location. That's why Zak is who he is...and why your chart speaks to who you are.

Charts repeat only once every 25,920 years even if all you're looking at are the most 'standard' of standard astrological symbols: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Add in modern dwarf planets like Eris, Sedna, Haumea, Ixion and a couple of dozen core asteroids, comets and fixed stars and charts will only repeat once every 250 million years.

Zak is who Zak is. His team partners are who they are. You are who you are. We all have an opportunity to learn who we are and to find ways to tap into our hidden potentials. Life often leads us from theme to theme to theme...and when we stop to think about it, they all 'do' the same thing. The success we have with each thing and each type of interaction, that's what's supposed to tell us how to hone our act, our aim, our plans.

I’d still like to have Zak’s birth time. In fact, I’d like birth times for his partners Aaron and Nick, too. Why? Because they’re a team. Why they're a team interests me. All partners and relationships of any sort have a functional connection in time/space, and understanding the nature of time/space in manifestation is what I do...rather like the Ghost Adventures team looks to connect with ghosts.

There are also some questions I'd love to ask about their equipment. For instance, mel meters are sensitive to certain frequencies. What frequencies are those? We live in a universe of energy and frequencies - all of which translates into numbers.

And since Zak Bagans refers to himself not just as a ghost hunter but a demon hunter...so does that mean mel meters register both? If so, would they also register the presence of Angels? And if not, why not - and what would?

Getting back to what they do versus what I do, there do seem to be differences. (Repetition of Disclaimer: I don't know much about Ghost Adventures as a project or the aims of its stars.). So what their ultimate aims are, they are. They seem to be focused on collecting and documenting that ghosts and spirits exist, which is markedly different from what I do: in my work as an astrologer (apart from all else I do) I use astrology to decipher patterns of time space - to make sense of human life, culture, politics and commerce.

That data, those patterns, that information, I pass along to you, to clients, to others. Beyond that it's all also part of my wanting to know more about time/space...particularly the 'time' part of time/space.

Time is a particular fascination of mine. And to me, metaphysics, especially where it interfaces with hard science...well, just call it reverse engineering. Through what the thing is, we discover how it works. Through how it works, we discover how it comes to exist.

On a metaphysical level, of course.

Having been an astrologer now for quite a while, I realize I may never get any of the data particulars. So my questions may forever remain unanswered. But meanwhile, I can thank the team all for their work - and for having inspired me to see this piece of Dane Rudhyar writing in a totally new way.

For me, it's truly meaningful - a lasting bit of insight which answers some questions while prompting others.

(That's my favorite sort of information. Here's hoping it's yours, too.)

As for Zak Bagans...wherever you are Zak, muchos thanks. Just watch the snake thing, okay?