The 25 Aries Lunar Eclipse

A Lunar Eclipse (photo credit: Abdallahh, February 2008)

Surely you’ve felt it - the rising tide of vibration… the subtle increase of intensity… the ratcheting up of life’s processes and the need to focus on who and what you’re supposed to be, do, aim for and want?

Why all that would be is rather simple: it’s lunar eclipse time.

October 18th will be the date – at least if you’re in the UT/+0 zone or anywhere west of there. Considering that the eclipse occurs at 11:39 p.m. in that zone (which seems a good sort of time for anything lunar…) it will already be the 19th in points east – true.

But the effect will be what it is, and that’s why we’re discussing it.

First of all, any lunar eclipse is a variation on what otherwise we would call a Full Moon. And what is a Full Moon? Astrologically, that’s when the Sun and Moon are exactly opposed to each other’s zodiacal positions – an even which happens once (at least once) every month.

We do get months now and then which include two Full Moons, and when that happens, the second such event is colloquially known as a “blue moon,” as in the expression: once in a blue moon.

Personally, as an astrologer, I’ll raise that ‘blue moon’ concept to eclipse status by pointing out that we have two (not 12) eclipse ‘seasons’ every year – and every once in a while one of those ‘seasons’ includes a pair of lunar eclipses.

So what would we call that 2nd Full Moon – a blue eclipse moon? A blue moon eclipse?

Whatever that may be, in this case this eclipse is occurring with the Moon at 25 Aries, we know the emotional core of this eclipse is all about tests of emotional realism. The ‘standard’ sort of lore on this degree speaks to a tendency for there to be such pride and arrogance that it’s really hard to stop and make ourselves really think through who we’re being and who we need to be.

So we may cling to some position or insist something is right just because…well, because it’s easier to ‘default’ to that position than anything else.

HOWEVER…(yes, there’s a ‘however’ in this mix!)…because the Moon is pictured as being conjunct Eris (aka Eris Discord) it’s likely that if we just knee jerk our emotional way through this time without really considering the parameters and (since the lunar eclipse is a Full Moon format) the ‘other side of the coin’ which in this case would be Libran – if we don’t think things through, we’re likely to experience Eris as Discord instead of Eris’ ‘higher power,’ which is the ability to get us to think outside our (Aires/Self) box and in doing so, grow, enhance and otherwise empower our life through recognizing that though things aren’t quite as simple as we thought them to be…well, better is better and the life is actually a whole lot richer and more enriching when we don’t deal with things in abstract, but in the reality of human life.

That said, the other side of this Full Moon format is Libra. And the whole of this Lunar Eclipse is being shown to us in a 3rd decanate, ‘it isn’t all about us’ sort of degree format. So between the 3rd decan thing and the interactive Libra quotient, this moment (or period) plainly isn’t just about us.

It’s about who we are and what we bring to life…or our life…or the lives of those around us – and how (aka how well) all that works.

The solar side of this metaphysical equation is poised at 25 Libra – a degree which tends to be inconsistent and manifest as being compromised until we learn how to live with that level of compromise which is truly part of life. Libra being an air sign, the ‘idea of the thing’ is paramount – and the ‘purist’ aspect of whatever ideas are now at hand are likely to be the highlighted issue.

25 Libra is also a degree about the quality of relationships. Here we are challenged to at least know the difference between surface relationships or those which are more shallow (or even one-sided) and those which are deeply important to our being, our understanding, our vital experience of life. Oddly enough, the ‘test’ of this seems to be all about how we react to flattery and what ‘sounds good’…or even what ‘looks good’ – which is probably particularly important in today’s media-driven, “lookist” culture. While physical beauty has always been prized, it has hardly ever played so much of a ‘ticket to success’ role as it has been playing of late – hence the old expression ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.’

Getting back to the Moon side of things, there is also to consider the idea that Aries is ruled by Mars.

In the image of this lunar eclipse, Mars is situated at 2 Virgo, a degree which is about analysis of a type which is the very antithesis (opposing factor) to the kind of headstrong energetic we are told the Moon at 25 Aries may well put in play.

So…are you meeting up with that energy now in the form of someone else or some situation? Or are you embodying it? Have you embodied it and are you thinking it over? Are you thinking of some decision which depends on some quality in this mélange – or something which perhaps you’re realizing is valuable simply because it doesn’t to ‘any of the above’?

Considering how astrology works, you could be running into all of the above. Or you could be involved with someone or some situation which is manifesting or demonstrating all of the above.

And then there’s Regulus.

Royal star Regulus promises success ONLY and IF we don’t embody one very important principle: revenge. That being true, whether this moment turns on something which shows…or very much avoids the concept of revenge (vengeance, spite, etc.) show be highly revelatory.

Certainly if we’re going to think through the ruler of Aries (which we just did) we should also think through the ruler of Libra, which is Venus.

Ruling the Sun’s side of this equation, Venus is at 12 Sagittarius, which being a 2nd decanate degree (a degree between 10 and 19 of any sign) emphasizes the emotional value of learning (learning something, learning about something, learning why something does or doesn’t work) … but which at the same time tests our ability to understand that we may be barking up a wrong tree or be needing to face that we’ve invested time, energy and though in some goal or some process which isn’t going to get us where we want to go.

Considering that 12 Sagittarius is a sensitive…yea verily passionate degree, there can be much frustration or much altruism involved in dynamics of the moment – particularly I/thou situations or relationships. Interestingly (seeing as this is Sagittarius we’re talking about) lore also says there’s a pronounced ‘health’ quotient to 12 Sagittarius which tends to focus on bodily health but which can also be an outgrowth of psychic or emotional or psychological factors.

Doesn’t sound exactly like a calm and unbiased moment so far…does it? I think not!

Even so let’s continue…

Now that we’ve looked at the points and the rulers of said points (and gotten a bit of a headache doing so), then come the aspects – the first and most obvious one being Neptune (at 2 Pisces and retrograde) being in perfected opposition with Mars.

(I’m not sure whether I should utter a heartfelt ‘oooh-ahhh’ or a ‘yikes!’ here.)

Neptune retrograde – under any and all circumstances, is the disillusion or dissolving of that which has either kept us from reality or the truth…or our ability to deal with same. Positioned in Pisces, we know the game which is afoot (Watson) is whether we are willing or even able to tolerate dealing with how we feel about our feelings – whether that’s present tense, past tense or cumulative.

In opposition to Mars/Regulus, the simple ‘read’ is that there’s no one to blame in particular and that we simply have to grapple with the facts. At the same time, it’s likely that this combination will spell some tendency to exhaust ourselves emotionally – or physically because we’re exhausted emotionally and cannot support the ‘weight of our functional necessities,’ to be all philosophical-sounding about it.

2 Pisces as a degree is a wavering sort of influence which waxes and wanes unpredictably and which is at its best when we are willing to do what needs doing as determined by us…which means everybody else should keep their mitts to themselves (physical, financial, psychological, emotional and otherwise) and that we should both require that AND require of ourselves that we take whatever separations and solitude we come up with as the moment in which to think for ourselves, decide for ourselves and to accept that whatever our choices are, they’re ours.

This very much echoes Neptune in Pisces in general, as Neptune in Pisces is all about raising the specter of ‘perfection’ in order that we can learn that it’s the thing we humans aspire towards while we’re living a true and human life. Learning that we are not alone in our fears, in our disappointments, in the recognizing that we’re mortal is essential – as is the sometimes hard-won lesson that good is good no matter what it looks like or whether it “fits the mold” you have somehow adopted as the ‘way things should be.’

Neptune is never in favor of that sort of emotional expectation. Its symbolism – by sign – is always about the area of life (in the case of Pisces, our experience of our feelings) where we will construct that ‘perfect life’ image and then realize that’s a dream and that reality – the reality of something which makes you happy or satisfied or comfortable with your life and Self…that whatever that ‘looks’ like (physically, socially, economically, etc.) is less important than the business of being who you are.

Being human…and a human being who understands being human, in other words.

One more piece to this puzzle...

Neptune trine the North Node at 7 Scorpio (a degree which is mystical, strong and unwavering) speaks to our need to understand the underlying process of our essence and who we really are instead of what others project as what we ‘should be.’ You may be a lot or a little of that ‘should’ thing, and where you subscribe to ‘should’s, understanding why you have done that and whether that is truly valid – whether it matches who you truly are – is truly important.

After all, 7 Scorpio is part of the complex which is involved in the solar eclipse soon to come. So it’s flux and shaking up of our lives and assumptions and assumed ‘bedrock’ constructs is in full progress.

Sometimes the lunar eclipse occurs before the solar eclipse. Sometimes it’s the other way around. When the lunar eclipse comes first, we would guess that we’re needing to be ‘shook up’ so that we will let go of whatever life is telling us is outmoded or no longer applicable or just plain not in keeping with who we are.

Lunar eclipses tend to show up right on schedule and fade out pretty quickly. If your natal chart has some important placement either between 20 Aries and 0 Taurus or 20 Libra and 0 Scorpio, you’re likely to feel this eclipse very much as an ‘experience’ which – though it may be ‘garbed’ in the form of someone else is really about you.

For those with placements between 20 Capricorn and 0 Aquarius or 20 Cancer and 0 Leo life is throwing something new into your mix or tossing you a curve ball. Think it through and work through the challenge and all will – in time – be more workable.

The time frame given for lunar eclipses is generally about three months – as opposed to three years for a solar eclipse. Though lunar eclipses often represent moments which feel like tidal waves, and while they may represent a ‘change of course’ in the doing-this-not-that sort of thing…they very seldom change your life, life standing or life force – that’s a solar eclipse thing. Yes, given this is an Aries lunar eclipse (which by definition faces off against a Libra Sun) others may well be involved in what goes on now. But – to choose an extreme sort of example here…lets say you decide to marry or not marry someone at this point. The issue is still whether that marriage or that person fits your life…and if they do (or don’t) why that is.

This lunar eclipse is about us, and about our experiencing how we feel about who we are and who we’re being in that world we call ‘my life.’

Whatever happens, it’s a reflection – but whether that’s of who we are or what we do or don’t want to be? That’s individual.

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P.S. If you understood the above theory-building process, you've

just learned how astrologers formulate interpretations.

In other words, yes, you too could be an astrologer.

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Pandora Direct:

Pandora by Harry Bates (1891)

(photo taken by Lee M during August, 2010 while the statue was on

temporary display at London's Tate Museum)

Asteroid Pandora is about to go direct. The famous story about the girl Pandora being about someone whose curiosity drives her to do the one thing which will bring ills and evils into the world is often interpreted as a warning. Don’t do what you know you’re not supposed to do.

But is this really what Pandora is about? If we look at the degree Pandora is going direct in (13 Sagittarius) lore tells us that this degree serves as a lens through which we see – or experience – situations and moments which are testing. That being true of any Sagittarian degree to some extent seeing that the whole of Sagittarius is about seeing how well our plans, choices, efforts and decisions really work (which causes us to learn more about how life works…or could work beyond the limit of our conceptions), this particular degree evidently has a pointed references to that which we value.

Or yes, our values. There seems to be a bit of the Scorpio-Taurus polarity to 13 Sagittarius as it’s a zodiacal point which shows up…or reveals…wherever we have placed too much emphasis. Or too much belief - especially where that focus has to do with something we think is going to ‘protect’ us from life’s un-pleasantries.

Of course like all degrees (objects, cusps, etc.) this degree can embody the concept…or our efforts to prevail in our thinking, stay the course, have our way and get others to sign onto our agenda (so to speak) in spite of the fact we may not be seeing the greater picture. Or that something isn’t working. Or prevailing trends.

Even new fangled trends. 

And once we get this far, 13 Sagittarius actually seems to have a lot in common with Pandora - almost disturbingly so, wouldn’t you say?

This turn to direct is happening under Sun in Leo. So we’re all likely to be plowing along in some pre-determined mode when the ‘box’ gets opened and all the whatever jumps out. Since there are various versions of this story which say the container which gets opened wasn’t a ‘box’ and was a jar, this may be a ‘jarring’ moment in time.

Since Pandora goes direct on August 2nd, that means the ‘station allowance’ for this turnabout (which may or may not feel like fair play) begins on July 31st and runs through August 4th – at least. The more this astrologer watches stations, the more inclined I am to think the window on station effects is three days, not two.

But whatever. From the story we are given to know that when all the problems and challenges flowed out of the jar, the one thing which still kept in ‘bottled up’ was hope. Realizing what she had done, Pandora gawks long enough to let all the difficulties out, then in a moment of brilliance remembers to put the lid back on the jar, which she then clutches to her chest.

Thus, hope is retained.

Or has hope been imprisoned?

When we think of this in Sagittarian terms, can we ‘hope’ to operate with hope if hope is ‘still in the jar?’

It seems likely that situations with twinge about testing this concept – at least for the dates of station involved. And that this happens during the ongoing grand trine in water suggests the effects…or at least our feelings about the effects…are not going to be snap, crackle, pop.

There’s also the fact that Pandora’s station begins as Huya goes direct in Scorpio. So…does that mean that just about the time we’re either trying to (or making good on) putting hard-won lessons (and efforts) to work that we’re going to get a whole new chance to stub our mental toes?

Apparently so. But never fear…there would seem to be an astrological aspirin for this situation – namely Object Hierarchy. And before you finish that sentence which beings with ‘what the….?’ I’ll explain.

Pandora is an asteroid. A main belt asteroid. That defines Pandora as something we meet up with and work through on the way between ‘Start’ (Mars) and ‘Finish’ (Jupiter). Just as in life, there’s a big gap between the ‘us-in-our-personal-world’ and achieving anything in the Big World Out There. This is metaphysically (not to mention metaphorically) reflected by the giant gap between the inner solar system (in order: Sun-Mercury-Venus-Earth/Moon-Mars) and our astrological symbols of coming to understand (aka “getting the hang of it”) which is Jupiter and achievement-pure-and-simple – which is Saturn.

 All those asteroids represent things we meet up with between the point when we start…and where we achieve. And yes, there are gazillions of them – which is pretty interesting when you consider how each asteroid has it’s individual orbital track and orbital time, meaning they mix things up in an endless number of ways for us to come across as we ‘make our way through life.’

So that’s the asteroid thing – against which we have Huya, a Plutino.

Plutinos are not so very huge themselves – Pluto (the one we know best) is a bit less than 20% the size of Mama Earth. But Plutinos do all have something very special working for them: Neptune. And Neptune is mucho large – almost four times the size of our Most Dearest Earth.

At some level, Plutinos all seem to be about getting us to understand the difference between our yearnings and our ‘visions of how things could be’ and reality – our reality and the reality of who we are – which is truly the only thing we have to work with, build on and live with.

Accepting that idea is a most fine starting point. And now, as Huya’s station overlaps into Pandora’s, we’re going to all be having little (or even big) moments which test our ability to hope. Or which test our focus (perspective, perhaps?) on something we had high hopes for, but which doesn’t work.

At least not for the moment. Or in the way we’re approaching it.

With regards to Pandora, we shouldn’t get all flustered. In Greek myth, Pandora is the first woman and thus at some level embodies our innocence. Created at the order of Zeus (who we know astrologically as Jupiter, symbol of comprehension and that learning which leads to greater wisdom) Pandora is made soon after titan (instinct) Prometheus has stolen fire from the gods. Hephaestus (aka Vulcan, the Olympian smithy) is ordered to take some of the clay Prometheus used to make mankind and create the woman Pandora.

Apparently this all happens before Deucalion comes along and there’s the giant flood which wipes out all the ‘evil’ in the world, leading to a second ‘incarnating’ of mankind.

So this is very ‘early stuff’ and as such suggests that any station of asteroid Pandora has to do with ‘first steps’ and things which are new to us.

Or maybe it’s the lesson we learn in this moment which is new.

I guess that's yet to be learned.
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Shades of Nodal Menkar

An aerial view of the San Andreas Fault as crosses the Carrizo Plain in Central California

(photo credit: USGS, July 2006)

It was a couple of days before Jupiter moved into Cancer back on June 26th that things started popping. Since I knew Mercury was about to go on station in the latter part of Cancer I wasn’t surprised to start feeling like I was being buckshot with  emotional shrapnel.

It was a day or so before our current triad of major planets (Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune) slid into water trine formation that feeling blood began to flow. Like many, I wear a social mask. Unlike many, mine is a defense against extremes of emotional vulnerability which though in the end have been the strength which has gotten me through a havoc-strewn life, still I’m not very fond of being open about my soft underbelly.

Hardly anyone is. I’ve long made a joke of a pet slogan – when in doubt, cry – but for all that I’ve always told myself that other people didn’t want to see my fears or lingering pain, the truth of the matter is that and more.

It’s scary being human.

During the period July 9th through July 20th, the Moon’s South Node is going to be at 14 Taurus – the current position of fixed star Menkar. I wrote about Menkar not long, so I won’t go into a lot of details. But when it comes right down to it, Menkar is one of those cosmic devices which is all about the efforts we make to avoid those dark corners of our Self.

The degree 14 Taurus has a reputation for many things…some of which connect us to others and some of which are about whatever tendency we may have to ‘go it alone’ or retreat and hide from the world.

From our life is more like it.

There are moments of solitude we all experience. There’s nothing wrong with that. The question comes when we withdraw, when our need to pull away is driven by avoidance.

Any and all such tendencies – to connect or withdraw, or maybe to connect as a form of withdrawing (from ourselves)…all that comes into focus as the South Node rolls over Menkar’s position at 14 Taurus. Considering how the Nodes (North or South) refer to relationships or our relationship to the world (or relationships as connected to our worldly pursuits), we’re all in for some measure of this effect no matter where we go.

And the reason to bring it up is…what? WHY do we need to know about this in the middle of a grand water trine made by our most worldly planets (Saturn and Jupiter) with everything made more hugely nebulous by Neptune’s magnetic presence?

That would be because in theory, this is also a moment when others should also be most receptive. That all of our emotions (and emotional barriers) are being stretched a bit like so much human cosmic taffy should make it easier to connect.

If we will, that is.

Of course we may also hear a lot of things we’d rather not know. South Node – Menkar – 14 Taurus as a combination is likely to bring out some truly strange stuff.

Or is that the North Node at 14 Scorpio?

Oh, these continuums…they so have us by the tail and nose.

Usually when we look at pairs of opposing degrees we can see something like a dimensional reflection. That may be true here, though considering 14 Scorpio is known for skill where 14 Taurus is very un-earthy (even unearthly) in its own mystical, far-seeing way…perhaps so. Not particularly known as one of those ‘fiery’ Scorpio degrees, the fact that the North Node (the “should do’) side of the nodal axis is in a Scorpio degree which more than others takes up the causes of others says we should get with others and we should form alliances.

Yet 14 Scorpio also has a bit of a reputation for indiscretion. So we should be careful what we say for this next little while. While communication can solve many problems, there should be established limits.

This rules out sky writing and watch those internet posts, one would guess (she said while writing an internet post).

(Never mind. I’m the astrologer – I’m just doing my job!)

Other other part of the North Node at 14 Scorpio which seems important as the South Node conjuncts fixed star Menkar: people are more complicated than we know.

The bottom line here thus suggests that we shouldn’t jump to any grand, assumptive presumptions. When in doubt…especially for the next couple of weeks…ask questions. Or ask yourself what that means or why someone would have said that.

We are all in a position to learn a lot about other human beings. In doing so we may learn a lot about others…and why we’re okay, just the way we are.

We’re in the midst of a seriously feeling time. We’ve just begun to evolve. This astrologer can’t say she thinks it’s all going to be peachy-pleasant, but our greatest gains are not achieved through ease or simplistic fun.

Growth takes energy and effort.

That’s why we call them ‘growing pains.’

So in spite of the ouches, it’s time for all of us to try to remember to stand tall, particularly (and maybe most of all) when we're feeling most vulnerable and truly small.

Real strength isn't about what you can do to someone, it's about the ability to endure the trials which go along with being human - most important of which have to do with the courage to be and know yourself honestly.
 

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For more information on our current dynamics:

- The Lunar Nodes at Cross-Quarters
- Menkar: Soul, Searching
- A Water Grand Trine in Planetary Major
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Jupiter enters Cancer at a Mercury Station

 In honor of the vast increase in Cancerian energy we're all going to be experiencing, a

fun picture of a little crab on a rock taken by Pavel in January 2009

As the Lunar Nodes continue hovering at the Scorpio and Taurus’ cross-quarter points and Ceres rolling forward into Leo, we are all going to face new questions and new reasons to be more creative and personally expansive. With the Moon having just passed through Capricorn Fullness we are in a moment where by putting ourselves and our thoughts or efforts ‘out there’ helps us see what is – and what maybe can be…

…and then, as Mercury goes on station, Jupiter moves into Cancer. The date of this dual event is Wednesday, June 26th – except for those in the Americas and eastern Pacific region, where Jupiter slides into Cancer late on the 25th.

The specifics (so we can get the persnickety data stuff out of the way) are as follows: Jupiter enters Cancer at 1:41 in the morning (UT/+0 time) on the 26th, and Mercury goes retrograde in Cancer at 23 Cancer on the 26th at 1:09 in the afternoon (again, UT/+0 time).

Not to put too fine a point on it, with Venus and the Sun already in Cancer, that’s a LOT of Cancer energy floating around. So think family, home, real estate, childhood (the result of yours and that of anyone else as a formative ‘shaping’ energetic), culture, habits, traditions, national populations and immigration, agriculture, building, buildings…and any kind of plan you have for moving forward or growing your world, your life, your ‘base’ or ‘basis’ of operation(s).

So what’s with Jupiter in Cancer?

Jupiter in Cancer is expansive – that’s the Jupiter thing – and it tends to be expansive in the areas cited above. It also exacerbates (increases) feelings about all those issues, and because Cancer is ruled by the Moon, anything concerning money connected thereto.

Cancer is the first of the zodiacal water signs, all of which are connected to wealth. The 4th house of a chart generally indicates our home or ‘home base’ but wherever we see Cancer, we get a sense of our relationship to real estate, the cost of housing and our experience of our family’s general attitude towards wealth.

Jupiter's big red spot as photographed by NASA-JPL. It's amazing to think this

'spot' is actually a Jovian 'weather system' where the cloud tops are moving at hundreds of miles an hour...!

(photo credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech)

Of course, a lot about how this manifests in your life depends on where in your chart your individual Moon is - and of course, what sign that Moon is in. What this becomes is a combination of those two factors - the house with Cancer on its cusp will indicate where you tend to build your 'foundation of emotional reactions.' You know, the what you react to and why you react to it as you do. Meanwhile, the position of the Moon is where those foundations act out - and providing your Moon is not in Cancer, that Moon position will tend to describe how you will react.

A couple of examples, both of which are helpfully donated to this cause by friends of mine who may or may not care that I'm thinking of their charts. (Yes, this is the blessing and penalty of knowing an astrologer. Occasionally you learn something, but there's also a strange feeling associated with having your metaphysical structure being being discussed with countless others...even anonymously!)

In our first example, Cancer is on the 12th house. Cancer on the 12th house is an indicator of deep, deep emotions, some of which can be downright scary. They can be scary to you...and they may just be scary to others who find out what you really feel about things and about them. Traditions may be hugely (read: overly) important to you...or then again, you may not be even remotely tolerant of anyone talking to you about traditions for reasons you just don't want to get into.

Not even with yourself.

If the Moon ruling this Cancer 12th house is (say,) in Aquarius and the 6th house, you will tend to act out all your feelings - the strong and the being-scared-of-them through qualities denoted by the keywords 'health, work, service.' That means you may have real issues with responsibility. Or maybe you'll take care of everyone but be really bad at taking care of yourself. Or maybe you only care about yourself and nobody else. Feeling your own feelings may be so powerful a thing (12th house placements are always powerful) that you can't bear to feel much...but then, given Aquarius' talent for seeing the bigger picture, maybe this is exactly what allows you to do great deeds and deal with difficulties which would scare the willies out of others.

Or let's say Cancer is on your 8th house. That makes your experiences with all forms of interactive negotiations (be they business, financial or of the Intimate Kind) a place where in risking your 8th house inner sense of "stability" (read: self respect, feeling of self worth) that your 12th house Scorpio Moon causes you to withdraw from others...and (oh by the way) choose people who will provide you with reasons to withdraw (except for the occasional fling, to be sure.)    


Wherever we see Cancer and wherever we see the Moon, these areas of our chart are going to be enlarged on throughout this next year of Jupiter in Cancer. Therefore, no matter what your Cancer ‘thing’ is, you can experience the negatives or expand on the positives. And this generally will happen by 'closing out' some old way of thinking.

In moving into Cancer, Jupiter is moving out of Gemini. And given that the flow of the signs around the wheel of the horoscope (above) is counter-clockwise, this means that this shift from Gemini to Cancer has Jupiter 'changing sides.' 

Of the horoscope wheel, yes. And in terms of personal and worldly dynamics. The left side of the zodiac (Capricorn through Gemini) is proactive. The right side is responsive, but not just in the sense of 'responding to input,' though it tends to be a bit of that too. No, in this  sense the idea of 'response' has to do with 'responding to the known' or acting or choosing in terms of that which we have already experienced.

The signature sign of this 'building of experiences' is Cancer. For you that may be building on experiences or building things which allow you to experience this or that...whichever way you go with it, we and our world are now exiting some six years of doing-in-order-to-make-happen (from which we learn). For the next six years, we will tend to build on what we have done.

Or yes, on what we have set ourselves up for. There are lots and lots of ways these things come to light!

Those of us who are hesitant will meet up with situations which evoke (or provoke) our Cancerian feelings and Moon issues. Those of us wiling to step out and learn or let go of what plainly isn't us or doesn't work for us will feel a renewal of our vital sense of life.

With Jupiter we know the stakes are big. And that the possible rewards are big. And how what we see as possible often exceeds our ability to stomach the 'whole' of the process. So during this next year of Jupiter passing through Cancer, we should expect a lot of big talk. But will action back up those claims?

That remains to be seen.

Real estate and ‘lifestyles’ will probably come back into focus on many a level and for many a reason, good and gnarly.

All of that aside, the next day or so (between now and the 25th/26th, depending on location) is going to be uber intense. Jupiter pushing through the last gasps and breaths of Gemini makes us think the stakes are raised.

Are they? Maybe. But since it’s common for the days leading into Mercury’s station to feel pressured, when we add in Jupiter’s climactic energetic in thought-and-choice oriented Gemini, a few folks are likely to go plumb out of their minds now.

And let’s remember…those societal-and-relationship lunar nodes being at the Scorpio/Taurus cross-quarter points also point to some pressure-filled moments.
Or is that a ‘pressure release’ moment?

- link to -

The Lunar Nodes at Cross-Quarters

With Pluto in the oppositional sign of Pluto, life is changing. The world is changing. The times are changing. Evolution and revolution are grinding, churning, turning outlived concepts on their heads.

And some people, yes. There are those who are getting their ‘come-uppance’ now and those who are getting traction on getting ahead. It sort of depends on where you are coming into this time. After all, the Pluto keywords are create, deny, destroy…and that generally applies to whatever the ‘status quo’ of your life is.

Considering the way Pluto tends to symbolize where starry-eyed, ‘me starring in my own mental movie’ visions tend to meet up with reality, with Pluto in retrograde into September and Jupiter’s impending romp through Cancer moving into position to oppose Pluto from mid-July until early September, we are all being set up for one of those Great Seasons of Change.

Into which comes Mercury. And yes, I know – I got all wound up with the Jupiter in Cancer thing. But it is interesting that in one single run Jupiter is going to hit zero and go all the way to 20 Cancer before turning bringing all back into retrograde (consolidation of gains or losses) mode come early November.

Oh yes…and that would be happening just a few days beyond the November 3rd solar eclipse. So, remember how I said a while ago that Saturn going retrograde at 11 Scorpio in February drew a “dotted line” in the metaphysical sand the other end of which was November’s 11 Scorpio Solar Eclipse?

In that process, Jupiter’s entering Cancer is something like starting a snowball rolling. For good or bumpy, whether you’re in for a heck of a ride or getting snow-rollered over, this would be celestial gravity beginning to gather its karmic momentum.

Surely you understand my being so intrigued?

Another thing about Jupiter in Cancer: this is a combination known for 'endings,' which in an odd sense goes with Cancer as a sign of culture, family, experience of childhood and hearth, home and nationality as our 'roots' in the sense that they are what we build on.

And thus life leads us into a new phase which reflects Cancer at the bottom of the 'natural' zodiac wheel as a time when we finish up one phase of life and begin to build anew. For some, this will herald a period which includes hitting a new 'bottom' which yes, may be painful - but which may also represent an emotional reality we need to know in order to build a life or life structure which will be stable and stand the tests of time (time being the Saturn province greatly signified by Capricorn, the opposition sign to Cancer).

 Jupiter being eclipsed by three of its moons

(photo credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech)

That this ingress is marked by Mercury's station suggests that the whole of this Jupiter-in-Cancer passage is aimed at, or which will evolve as a growing 'mental' awareness. Or a consciousness of what mentality is and means. And maybe how some 'old' way of thinking or 'seeing' life needs to be surrendered as your present 'actual' in favor of recognizing and utilizing a more 'present' form of mental emotionality so that your life can become more in sync with everything (and everyone) with whom you interact, allowing you to build that 'better world.'  

As for the specifics of Mercury's station, 23 Cancer – the degree Mercury is going on station at – is known as a point where either our strengths or weaknesses (speaking of celestial gravity) come to the fore. There is an equal danger of overstepping your own bounds, abilities or the limits of propriety as there is an opportunity to make good on your talents.

As Jupiter enters 0 Cancer, Black Moon Lilith is sitting there a 1 Cancer: another sign that we may ignore society (or social responsibilities) or get caught in being too caught up in our own cause. With Pluto being smack dab between Industria and the ‘it’s complicated’ nebula we know as Facies, the likely focus for all has to do with what you have – or haven’t done well enough. The likely meaning here is that those who have bailed on making an effort will now begin paying some price, while those who have tackled some complex project will begin seeing results – or at least what it will take to get the job well and done.

Of course, since this is Pluto in Capricorn we’re talking about, there will be a few who in having avoided doing their work properly (or doing any work at all) will now realize there’s an avalanche heading their way.

 An avalanche in progress (lower center) on Nuptse in the Himalayas

(photo credit: Iwe Gille, April 2005)

Create, deny, destroy…those Pluto bywords are Pluto bywords for a reason, y’know.

Meanwhile, Mercury is going retrograde exactly conjunct Pollux. And since Pollux is the ‘thoughtful’ Gemini emblem which signifies giving (or giving in) so that the ‘important things’ are preserved, this is just another indication that this is a time of fateful choices…past or present.

But let’s not think all will be easy. Queen of all things unexpected and stunningly provocative, Eris at 22 Aries is in square to Mercury’s station. And with Eris conjunct Pelion (the ‘mountain’ we have yet to climb) things are not easy.

In fact, with fixed stars Arcturus and Spica (the brilliance of leadership) at 24 Libra, there’s something of an implied t-square here…

…one with Mercury’s station point at it’s ‘t’. Since this t-square isn’t formed by full-fledged planets (Eris is a dwarf planet) it may be a bit more subtle than some – unless 23 Cancer coincides with something in your natal chart, that is. But the general ‘object’ here is working past where you are (the Cancer point) to a place where you can be effective in your life. Where your brilliance and stand-out qualities really show.

That would be the Spica (brilliance) and Arcturus (leadership) point of this station. With Eris at it’s starting place it may be easy to be daunted by what it’s going to take to get where you want to go – that being the Pelion part.

Of course the good thing is that once Mercury stations and goes retrograde, we all get a couple of weeks to work behind the scenes and figure out which options will work best.

Considering all…the Nodes being at cross-quarters and Jupiter plus Mercury…? To me that sounds like at least a couple of weeks (and maybe more) of getting a better grasp on things as we recognize what is really (South Node in Taurus) worth going for.

Getting there will require doing a few things we aren’t sure we know how to do yet - that's the North Node in Scorpio part of our challenge. But with Jupiter moving into the sign Mercury's station has us focused on (at least internally) all bodes well providing we’re willing to open our eyes, our mind and our hearts to not just who we are...but who we can become through asking ourselves to take on building a bigger and better world which then can become our life's basis for operation.
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Sun in Cancer: A Rising Tide

Image based on a photo of Okinawa's Kondoi Beach taken by Yasunon Koide in 2003

Every year, the Sun’s shift into Cancer heralds the onset of a new season: winter in the southern hemisphere and summer in the northern hemisphere. As someone who lives in California, the Sun in Cancer rings to me of hot days to come and hotter days to follow after that. With them will come all those balmy evenings which lure people outside to sit and chat by candlelight.

Sometimes I say that come June I disappear underground, ne’er to reappear until late October. But the truth is, summer has its charms – even to an astrologer with a greater passion for rain than shine.

Besides, with the dawning of Cancer comes a shift of zodiacal hemisphere. Cancer is where the Sun moves from the proactive side of the chart which is all about exploration and independent learning into the zodiac’s six signs which in their unique and variable ways are about responding to input and building on – or from – that which is ‘already known.’

Which of course includes personal experience.

 
Cancer being the first of the water signs, this is is a time of basics and basic responses to life and life’s necessities. When you think of Cancer in that light, it’s easy to understand why it’s the sign of family, home, culture, nationality and land. Less evident but no less basic are other Cancer ‘necessities,’ including sleep. Cancer is the sign of the dream we dream at night just as Scorpio is the dream we hope life will allow us to have and Pisces the dream beyond hope…the faith and the fantasy.

This year’s solar Cancer ingress has the Sun joining a Venus transit of the sign which is not just already in progress, but moving towards its end. This combination of Venus (that which creates results) plus the many basic drives, moves and instincts the Sun in early Cancer is sure to prompt is our seeing and going for that which needs doing. Our Venus eye is on the world around us, seeing where and how we can best fulfill our needs even as the Sun represents the laying out of plans.

For a week or so we go about filling our schedule with the aiming at checking off boxes and some very important lists. Or are they really important?

The Sun enters Cancer on June 21st at 5:05 in the morning, UT/+0 time. Mercury is heading for a retrograde which will begin in under a week, and as we all know from experience, the days just before Mercury hits its retrograde station tend to be filled with a sense of focused urgency.

Did I mention Mercury is also in Cancer?

The Mercury in Cancer part raises the emotional pitch of our thoughts. And maybe even the stakes. But maybe not. Maybe things just feel urgent because as we move towards Mercury’s station our mind wants to be rid of the increased awareness of our own thoughts. Humans tend to think best when they’re not thinking about thinking, and yet this year…

…Let’s just say that a lot of folks will be highly aware of their thoughts. And that will make many of them self-conscious in that singularly on-the-edge-of-frustration and susceptible to levels of angst which inhabits the realm of being half-past self-aware.

All this is courtesy of a highly unusual combination: Mercury heading for its retrograde station in the same sign Jupiter is about to ingress.

In fact, as the Sun enters Cancer, Jupiter is moving into 29 mentally impassioned degrees of Gemini.

So it’s the combination of Mercury and Jupiter which amps up the experience of early Sun in Cancerian.

Is that good or is that bad? It could be both, it could be neither. Whatever life is for the first week or so of this passage however, it’s the sort of period which for reasons probably inexplicable makes some kind of imprint on us. Whether it’s the silence of destitution, a strained but muffled period of boredom or the experiencing of your own frenzied pace as a dance ridiculous or precious, Jupiter’s pressing through the last of the zodiac’s originating sign of mentality is sure to enlarge some impression during these days.

Jupiter in Gemini is mentality blown open, blown apart or overblown, you know. But with Mercury – Gemini’s ruler – rolling towards stationing in emotionally impressionistic Cancer, the effect is all about making an effect on ourselves.

What you do with that…? That’s your (Gemini) choice!

All the normal things we would like to say about the Sun in Cancer of course apply: Cancer is a time for experiencing our place in the human race. In our world. In our family. In our home. In our mind. It’s a time for plans short and large…a day outing with the kids, getting those errands done, taking another few steps along your greater path of becoming You.

And this year, Jupiter will join the Sun in the expanding of our world, the expanded understanding of what it means to be part of this world. Some of us will ignore the realization, and life will in some way foist it upon us.

None of this has to be enormous.

But it could be enormous indeed.

Our feelings will stir us. Life will urge us. Jupiter’s entering Cancer is ‘empowered’ by the Sun’s presence. And thus we move through our days ‘enlightened’ by events and situations and people and possibilities, correlations and new understandings which wash over us like an ocean wave.

One of those quintessential photographs of an incoming wave breaking

as it heads for the beach

(photo credit: 'The Tube' by Misty, Dec 2007)

 
Because Cancer is the lower hemisphere (and thus personal and private) experience of the polarity sign of Capricorn, from Cancer we see the Capricorn goal. We feel what our lives would be like if we put ourselves to the task of attaining that thing, that goal, that state of mind or life.

And in Capricorn sits Pluto. One of the Neptunian minions, Pluto represents that which temps, that which daunts, that which we know we’re capable of for good and ill. If this was another year and Jupiter wasn’t entering Cancer we would know that the Sun’s opposition by would – taking 5 degree orbs to either side – give us about ten days of personal Sun-Pluto tectonics. With Pluto at 10 Capricorn, that would begin when the Sun hits 5 Cancer (on June 26, UT/+0 time) and end when the Sun clears 15 Cancer on July 7th (UT/+0 time).

Which is just what’s going to happen. But considering that June 26th is also the date that Jupiter enters Cancer and the date of Mercury’s station, the heart of this segment of Jupiter’s impending transit of Cancer (i.e., the earliest degrees) will be when the Sun ‘triggers’ the ‘by sign’ opposition of Pluto by Jupiter.

And what will that mean? For some it will be a time when you’re doing too much, or when there’s too much to do. This will be a classing time for ‘overdoing,’ too – however you apply the term!

For some, this Jupiter in Cancer / Pluto in Capricorn dynamic will involve some hefty outlays of money. Or maybe some hefty income!

But maybe most of all, this is an opportunity which at it’s core is about utilizing and feeling ourselves utilizing our very best attributes. Jupiter doesn’t oppose Pluto all that often. But when it does, it’s an opportunity to change. Hopefully that change will be for our betterment, though for some (let’s be honest) this won’t be a time of jumping for joy. Life has a knack of getting us to recognize who we are particularly in reference to our world…and sometimes that works.

And yet, sometimes it doesn’t. So even though the actual Jupiter-Pluto opposition (by degree) doesn’t begin until mid-July, the Sun’s ability to tell us when events will ‘trigger’ the essence of that transformative Jupiter-Pluto energetic suggests we are moving into a fateful time.

You may have already felt…or gotten involved with issues, actions or ideas which point to what will evolve from here. Mercury passed through this opposition-to-Pluto zone in early June, between the 3rd and the 11th. Venus has also passed through this zone – roughly between June 7th and June 15th.

Why not mention it then? That would be for two reasons. First and most universal is the idea that Mercury and Venus don’t tend to act as transit triggers. ‘Triggering’ takes energy, the kind of energy we associate with the Sun or Mars or the Moon. And second – which would include why the Moon’s presence in Cancer between June 9th and 12th (UT/+0) isn’t on the list – is because to act as a trigger, the major aspect being triggered needs to be actively (globally and independently) in aspect within a couple of weeks. Seeing that Jupiter and Pluto won’t come into orb of their opposition until July 16th, we’re even ‘pushing’ the limits of the Sun’s triggering abilities to say this starts at the beginning of its Cancer ingress.

But once Jupiter enters Cancer…? Seeing as that ingress happens at the moment (June 26th) when the Sun enters orb of opposition to Pluto, it seems worthy of our attention.

And attentiveness.

At some very basic level, this solar ingress into Cancer is the herald of a rising tide. Two of the five personal planets (Mercury and Venus) are already in Cancer, and Mars will dive into the zodiacal surf zone as of July 13th. Not known for grace in the Cancerian tide pool realm where water meets land, what we do now as the Sun enters Cancer is likely to set currents in motion such that Mars in Cancer becomes either smooth sailing or bucking against agitated life currents.

After all, by the time Mars reaches Cancer, the Sun will be in Cancer’s last ten degrees, providing energy and impetus to all which we don’t control but need to respond to and deal with.

The Sun entering Cancer marks the rising of an incoming tide. Even once the Sun reaches Leo come July 22nd that which is stirred up now will hardly cease. This is not necessarily life rising up to engulf us in froth and pounding waves. Those of us who are willing to utilize the enormous power of emotional water now have an opportunity to steer a course across rocky shoals, creating a path and passage which come the days of Leo will carry us far beyond our current life shores.

We are all swimmers and sailors in this unpredictable life and the ebbs and flows of emotionality which arise at this time are not about others – they’re about us. Our feelings are ours. They neither belong to nor are ‘caused’ by anyone else. The Cancer urge to snip or hide in our shells are sometimes manifestations of prudence.

A hermit crab emerging from its shell...tentatively, which we can all well understand

(photo credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service, Feb 2013)

But more often our effort to hide and be shielded is a defense against our own feelings. Or the possibility of having to feel and be vulnerable to the fullness of possible experience.

Yet in the end, that’s what we have to build with.

And on.
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Mars-Sedna: A Grip on Our Grasp

Ugolin et ses enfants by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (detail) 

(photo credit: Vassil, August 2010)

As of late on May 14th (UT/+0 time), Mars will enter the degree 18 Taurus. By itself, 18 Taurus is a degree known for experiences of conflict internal as well as external. So when we add in the assertive energetic which is Mars, we have good cause to wonder what might happen.

On that same day, dwarf planet Sedna will be positioned at 23 Taurus, a degree which some think of as spiritual and some think of more simply as ‘fated.’ There is a note of insecurity which comes with 23 Taurus, and that’s sure to be set off as Sedna does it’s long, slow traverse over 23 Taurus, a process which this year began on April 2nd.

I say ‘this year’ because with an orbit over 11,000 years in length, Sedna moves so very slowly that it takes plural years to finish transiting any degree.

Yet, Sedna is part of our solar system. So it is very much part of our life. And Sedna’s no teeny tiny object to be ignored astrologically. (As if anything is?) We all pay so much attention to Pluto – and yet Pluto isn’t a full scale planet. At less than 20% of Earth’s size, Pluto is a dwarf planet.

And so is Sedna.

The first time I sat down to do an analysis of Sedna in psycho-metaphysical terms, it came out that Sedna is something akin to our superego – that thing inside each one of us which, in having internalized standards, rules and lessons allows us…and sometimes forces us to do what we don’t really want to do in our more or less immature moments when the “I” (ego) of the situation seems all-important, even if sticking with that could be problematic.

The imagery of the Sedna story is really wonderful. If you’ve never read the myth behind the point you well may want to. Or you can read a shortish astro-version of it here:

- link to -

The Sedna Conflict

In everyday life, Sedna seems to be that need to understand that the images, the dreams, the motivations which propel us towards wanting to grow up and have our own way don’t always work exactly as we envision.

Life is reality, in other words. It’s not paradise. It’s not a dream. Life has glitches. Life comes with fingerprints on the glass, bad hair days and forgetting that really important thing at home.

Wanting to do better is one thing. Expecting life to be amazingly perfect is another.

Perfection is the dream. It’s the motivation. It’s not the reality. And in astrology, Sedna is the object which forces us to relegate dreams to the folder labeled ‘inspiration’ while dealing with life for real.

Does that sound Neptunian? Well, at some level everything which orbits out there beyond Neptune (earning all such objects the astronomical name ‘Trans-Neptunian Object’ or TNO)…they’re all a bit Neptunian. Why? Because Neptune is the last full-fledeged planet out there. And maybe also because Neptune has a highly curious quality known as magnetic resonance which literally controls a huge swath of space beyond Neptune’s orbit (which includes Pluto, by the by). And thus all the ripples of movement-generated energies produced by Sedna and everything else ‘out there’ comes to us by passing through this Neptunian ring of vibrational magnetism.

The distance between the dream and the reality so often is disappointment. But we experience that disappointment because we have chosen to try to retain that ‘image’ of what we want life to be instead of creating the life which would give us that image or that dream.

That’s a big giant part of the Sedna lesson. And let’s just wax a little bit metaphysical here and note that Sedna was discovered in 2003. Since 2003 all sorts of things have happened which tempt us to think life can be that ‘image’ or that utopia we have in our heads. All sorts of tools have been provided to us which tempt us to see their ‘world’ as our reality when in reality, only REALITY is a reality!

(A couple of months from now you’re going to find out just how much these ideas mean to me. But for the meantime…)

As of May 14th, the zodiacal distance from Mars’ position to Sedna’s position is 5 degrees: the outermost reach of a standard, old-time conjunction. So from May 14th until May 27th (when Mars exits the 5-degree conjunction heading away from Sedna), we are going to have Mars-like energies exciting and exacerbating the Sedna tendency to try to hold on.

As photographed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, PSR B1509-58 (a relatively small object of only about 12 miles in diameter) produces x-ray nebula which looks like a ghostly hand reaching out through space.

(photo credit: Chandra X-ray observatory, NASA-CXC-P. Stane et al, April 2009)

Or is that our trying to get a grip?

Or is that us needing to get a grasp on something?

It could be one, it could be all. And that’s the thing to remember for the next almost-two-weeks or so. This conjunction is going to be exact on May 21s – which first and foremost means that the tussle, the intensity of knowing that something needs doing or changing or getting hold of or letting go of….all that is going to intensify between now and then. Considering that this is in the prime zone for the surfacing of solar eclipse effects, that says a bushel-and-a-half. (At least!)

That Mars comes into this time at 18 Taurus gives us one set of notes on internal conflict which are shaped mostly around what we want…and Sedna gives us a separate set of notes about what we want things to be, or how we want them to work.

Mars is an inner and personal planet. (By ‘inner’ we mean it orbits inside the asteroid belt which cycles between Mars and Jupiter.) So Mars is always about what we want to do. It’s very much an ‘our’ energetic which most of the time is individual and personal, but which also can function as ‘my group,’ however you define that.

Sedna, on the other hand, is an operand we might want to control but which we definitely don’t – and never will control. Sedna is more about ‘how life works’ in the greater perspective and in particular, how the ‘times’ (or possibly the culture) ‘in which we live’ operate in particular - which we have to work with.

Many of us are wrestling with realizations about life and with how we're living our life which are symbolized by the Taurus Solar Eclipse. As part of that, this Mars-Sedna connection is about holding out for something, or working to earn our own security or worth, totally apart from what we've grown to believe in. 

All lives have problems. That’s because real life is lived in a regular reality where oatmeal has lumps, where toes get stubbed and where even the most glamorous of celebrities have been known to get the flu like the rest of us. Such realities are going to come upon us in coming days in forms which prompt a growing awareness, a dispassionate, almost cool factual starkness which for some of us is utterly new.

And for some, utterly unwelcome.

A couple of days from now - on Thursday, May 16th, asteroid Pallas conjuncts Sedna, setting off a round of realism. This is helpful if you can keep your perspective on situations...and not very helpful if you feel emotionally under the gun.

Furthermore, as this is going to happen as Orcus (another Neptune-controlled TNO) is on station, the likelihood is that what happens now is in some way a 'consequence' (or result) of something which has happened prior to now. AND that you may well be experiencing...or have the opportunity to change some sort of 'twisted fate.' 

This could be good. It could be tough. It merely could mean you need to get something done. Whatever happens, what you do and how you do it counts. It's of value to you at some level, though what that means is unique to you.

The actual Mars-Sedna conjunction happens on May 21st, as mentioned before. And that event is just a day after the Sun enters Gemini in tandem with Jupiter squaring Uranus.

So much energy. So few clues. So many possibilities! I hope you're doing something wonderful, useful, constructive and wholly 'you' with your time!

One other thing...as Mars conjuncts Sedna, dispassionate, intellectual-thinker Pallas conjuncts Algol. Does this mean you'll see through someone else's guise? Does this mean you'll see some pattern in your own life which in seeing allows you to make some sort of 'personal breakthrough'?

That's one way to look at it. Then again, this could be an ugly sort of moment when exactly what you didn't want to hear is what you do hear.

Whatever happens, don't leap off any verbal cliffs or do anything flagrantly regrettable. Algol has a funny sort of habit of manifesting as overblown reactions and emotional eruptions when it can be used to fuel needed acts of personal bravery.

Particularly because this Mars-Sedna process is happening along the dotted line of days leading from the Taurus Solar Eclipse to the Sagittarius Lunar Eclipse on May 25th, we can expect this to be an intense and probably trying time. Much which has felt lovely and stable is - or has already given way, leaving us in less defined waters. And why it is giving way is because we can do this. We can move ahead. We can let go of those expectations – whether they’re ours, or expectations someone or some group or culture has projected onto us.

We are human. Let us quail.
Let us feel our insecurities,
and in spite of that, prevail.
May we deal with our realities,
May we recognize our dualities,
And allow ourselves to rail
To think we will never fail
is assuming facts which have
never been in evidence
And which make neither rhyme
nor reasonable or sense
In a world
So very human.



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