A 14 Taurus Full Moon

'Die Heuernte' by Ford Madox Brown (1855)

 
The November Full Moon is about to grace Earth’s skies. The time of this event will be at 10:24 in the evening of November 6th (UT/+0 time), which means that for many of us this Full Moon will actually be occurring on the 7th.

But wherever we are, it’s at the same degree: 14 Taurus, a degree which in the most basic of terms is defined as being evocative, feeling and yet ever so simply practical and pragmatic by nature - sometimes positively, and sometimes not so joyously. Sometimes displaying loner tendencies and sometimes manifesting as gregarious, 14 Taurus seems to be much about our own sensibilities about where and how we’re going to be most comfortably secure - either in general or with respect to some situation or effort of the moment. Hardly known to be as stubborn as some degrees of Taurus, 14 Taurus generally displays the willingness to discuss things against a marked ability to own our own opinions as just that - our opinion (no more, no less), which is a very useful thing sometimes.

Further clues as to the point of this unusually flexible Taurean degree come from the Sabian symbol for 14 Taurus: ‘Head covered with a rakish silk hat, muffled against the cold, a man braves a storm.’  The obvious here being the man’s willingness to ‘brave’ this ‘storm,’ we should ask ourselves what kind of a storm this might be. Is it physical weather? Is he braving the wrack and ruin incurred after a run of bad luck? Is this about some ‘tide of time’ or some family, social, or societal period of upheaval?

Or is this just some inner conflict?

All are possible. In fact, all could be possible - singularly or collectively.

The 14 Taurus Full Moon (glyph chart)

November 6, 2014 - 22:22 (10:22) pm UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

The 14 Taurus Full Moon (text chart)

November 6, 2014 - 22:22 (10:22) pm UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

The ‘cold’ indicated here could also be physical. Then again, this may well be a reference to having to brave going against people who don’t think as you do - a fact made more likely than it might otherwise be by the fact that we are just in the wake of a solar eclipse in a moment when the Gemini eclipse of two-and-a-half years ago is having yet another moment of influence.

- link to post -

October’s 0 Scorpio Solar Eclipse

(Pt. 2: that ‘Other’ eclipse)

In his writing about this image, astrologer Marc Edmund Jones commented on how the man’s very willingness is the key here in that he is plainly willing to take on something which is unknown, implying a maturing of outlook (getting past reluctance in becoming willing to go out and brave that storm) which Jones thinks of as something which needs to happen before a higher or more productive consciousness/outlook can develop.

That’s an image which fits very well with this Full Moon, seeing as it opposes Taurus and Scorpio, which in greater terms is always about the ‘greater group’ or society or world - or maybe just you and your significant other.

The point is, Taurus is personal - and as its polarity,  Scorpio is where we work out where whatever our personal boundaries and values are against the personal boundaries and values of others (or things in this world). Thus the integrity of those boundaries - and the validity of the opinions or motivations which creates those boundaries - is tested.

Or to put it more simply...every polarity in the zodiac has its issues. But Taurus-Scorpio dynamics are  FAMOUS for pitting us not against others, but against a need to take our Self in hand.

And we don’t like that...(not at all)...from which arises all the digging in of Taurus heels and all that Scorpio snarling which can simmer into aggressiveness and even violence.

Fortunately, this is just a Full Moon. So it’s a moment, a day, a latter-part-of-the-week which highlights some facet, some factor in life which however emotional, however startling, however challenging is merely - as they say in parenting - a phase. It’s to enjoy if good, it’s to learn about and from probably no matter what - and after that, it’s time to move on.

Yet considering this Full Moon in particular... and considering how this Full Moon is the first step off the block in the wake of the October 23rd solar eclipse...and how, once we add in a couple of astrological ‘pictures’ included with the Full Moon chart...well, maybe we shouldn’t expect things to be less than intricately complicated.

Good or bad...they’re just likely to be complicated.

Why do I say that?

I say that because of the many and multiple relationships in the following diagram:

Complicated enough for you? And let’s remember - anything we see in a chart is BOTH what is going on around us and what is going on inside our ‘inner world,’ be that your home, family or mind.

That’s the way it works - and why though there are some things we will never control, why we actually have more control than we often think. As they say, life is not what happens to you, life is how you respond to what happens to you.

Yes, I know...it’s that effort thing. Life requires personally employed verbs.

So with regards to the above (that most convolutedly complicated diagram), let’s isolate a couple of facets - starting with one which focuses on Sun and Moon in a way most likely to be an active consideration during this time:

Yes, it’s a t-square - that adorably challenging notion which causes so much mental toe stubbing. T-squares speak to us (each of us as individuals AND the collective Us) asking whether we ‘get it’ that our concerns have greater applications. Whatever we come to a t-square with we are likely to be thinking of very individually...you might say almost possessively.

And that’s all before we get to the fact that in this particular t-square, the ‘t’ (the “hurdle” we have to get past in how we are approaching any given issue, contemplation, situation, effort or relationship)... that ‘t’ is being presented here in the sunny if sometimes sun-blind sign of Leo.

Leo is all about making something of our Self. It’s a natural sign of self-development - and thus pleasure in the achievement, be said accomplishment be athletic, social, financial, or anything else. Leo (and the associated 5th house of the chart) are where we look to see our spirit of fun - what we like and what we like to have fun doing - whether it’s fun for anyone else or not.

Leo is the birthing place of the individuality we need in its polarity sign, Aquarius, as to be part of the Aquarius whole (the group, the company, the society, etc.) requires that we are-or-have something individual which ‘fits’ into said functional process, business, social group, way of living, marketplace, system...OR the breaking apart of or breaking away from same (whatever group).

As for that ‘whether it’s fun for anyone else or not, that’s exactly the part of Leo which Leo depends on (individuality requires being willing to be yourself) as Leo’s engine... and yet too much Leo when in or applied to group doings can often go very wrong. Especially now as we’re starting into the Age of Aquarius there is a tendency - which may yet grow - to isolate or behave overly individual (separatist) manner, along with a tendency for some to believe in the anarchistic approach to changing how the system works.

(Again, this is a phase - it’s just that it’s a phase in a process...the astrological age of Aquarius...which is 2,160 years long and which is likely to be filled with a number of wild swings of various pendulums. To us things may seem like they’ll never end, but they will...they may just never end for us.)

So here we are with this Leo balance to master and the t-square issue of getting past thinking something is only about us - which is something akin to a double helping of the same thing framed slightly differently...and THEN we add in Juno, the emblem of management.

Not control, management. Juno is more about running an ongoing process and dealing with variables than designing how things are going to be done. It’s more about running the household than building the house or going out and slaying any dragons, if you take me.

As for 11 Leo, this is Leo in one of its more creative modes - not Leo at it’s most worldly and deft, suggesting that as this Full Moon comes into formation there will be some ‘managing’ of something which is otherwise not going to (as they say) get the job done.

With the origination point of this Full Moon being that comfort-prone 14 Taurus Moon, Juno’s presence in this Full Moon t-square may be exactly what causes us to take something which we know how to do and can do and cause us to do it. The ‘object’ of this t-square would be the Sun at 14 Scorpio, another degree which is uncharacteristic for its sign as 14 Scorpio isn’t known for much of Scorpio’s well-known (and well-documented - in blood, yet) steeliness.

Oh yes, there still is some of that Scorpio brooding energy quality in this degree...but there is also a recognition of the real and valuable resource which not just inherent in the ability to understand others (though that’s valid, too) but in the ability to use what we understand about others to create a tide of interaction through which resistance can be overcome in favor of actual give and take. Though this energy can seem brutal (it certainly carries strength) it’s honest; those who choose not to deal with it because it’s not ‘nice’ are only being asked to see their lack of realism as to what life is - a combination of light and shadow, good and bad, pain and joy, success and nullification.

And that may well mean that one important fact inherent in this lunar Full Moon tick of the cosmic clock is simply that it’s purpose is to move us or to time our moving from that which is comfortable into that which is less comfortable but more workable.

However: with all three points in this t-square (and both ends of this Full Moon figure) in fixed signs, there are going to be qualities of hesitation plus those ever-popular and always evocative ‘I don’t WANT to’ outcry humans all fall back on from time to time.

At which point, that may be what we have to manage. Maybe so...maybe not.

Plus we’re not done with Juno yet. Just to make things interesting (as if they weren’t already interesting enough), Juno is not only focal in this chart by being squatly positioned at the ‘t’ of the t-square, but it’s also involved in a grand trine of the thoroughly fiery kind.

Fire signifies a vision. The imagination. How things could be. In this case we have two well-known asteroids (Juno and Vesta) in trine with what is arguably our solar system’s most peculiar planet: Uranus. In keeping those peculiarities, the astrological Uranus speaks to ‘breaking with the status quo’ whether that’s breaking a habit, achieving a scientific breakthrough, the idea of a tunneling crew finishing breaking through a mountain.

Uranus indicates a reordering of things. So in trine to management-prone Juno and ‘the cost’ involved in keeping one’s Vesta promises (whether that’s a monetary cost or what it ‘costs’ you to hold yourself to some standard) this is an ongoing (grand trine) effort to change OR disrupt (depending on who you are) something...which either pertains to some ‘vision,’ or which provides the means by which something is changed/altered so that it can become the vision.

That seems like a lot to heap on one Full Moon, but there you are. With Uranus in Aries as there is a ‘weighting’ towards things First Person, whether that pertains to physicality or some need to wrestle decisions, indecision, conflicts, disruptions or conflicting/conflicted aims.

And the dream is still there. Whether or not we are pro or con something, we are still (Juno) managing to (Vesta) hold to some pre-determined notion (image, vision) whether real or imagined - all of which is being brought back to that very same managing (or) managerial Juno which is sitting at the ‘t’ of the Sun-Juno-Moon t-square.

The combination suggests two things. The first version would have the entire Uranus-Vesta-Juno grand trine as some sort of ongoing commitment to change (or change something). The second version would have us trying to manage at least two very different things, whether or not they have any direct connection or influence on each other.

All of which takes us back to that ridiculously complex initial diagram.

To have all these planets (green), fixed stars (blue) and asteroids (white) this closely aligned isn’t all that unusual. What is interesting is to see so many sextiles (green dotted lines on the left side of the diagram) basically linking Sun to Moon in one direction while the other half of the cycle is pretty much linked by semi-sextiles (dotted lines in purple).

Semi-sextiles are tough moments, clashing ideas and ego bruises (purple). Full sextiles (green) are opportunities. The path of opportunities leads through the global and worldly sector, telling us that this Full Moon - and to some extent everything which is on life’s table right now - is far more about how we relate to the world and in the world than about who we are or our more individualistic characteristics.

But it’s natural to be who we are - and the (blue arrow) trine from the 14 Taurus Moon to the North Node (and all its friends) in Libra speaks to an ongoing tendency we all have (and that we need to tap into at the moment) to relate to others in a manner which is consistent with our aims and our past (or cultural conditioning) whether or not we recognize that what we are putting ‘out there’ is what is coming back to us in some fashion, thus allowing us to hone what we do and thus achieve the desired result.

In other words, we don’t ‘change’ them - we change our Self so that they automatically respond to us.

And this is an interesting moment. Looking back to the fuller diagram of this Full Moon we see the Moon in conjunction with Europa and fixed star Menkar, a quantity which speaks to our ability to [Europa] ‘get carried away’ by our efforts to avoid our inner [Menkar] Self, most likely through ongoing or old ‘messages’ which are clouding our ability to know the difference between what we do for-with-to others and how that ends up affecting us.

-link to post-

Menkar: Soul, Searching

 
And on the Sun’s side? With the energetics described by Deucalion (fairness), Atropos (endings), and asteroid Maximov (maximums or maximal effects) all ‘fused’ with the Sun while conjunct   Kassandra (a truth we choose to deny) and Lumiere/Venus (the light of approval or acceptance) what we can do and what we will ask ourselves to follow through on may be two very distant and different thoughts.

Yet in the end this is just a moment in time - a Full Moon which asks and points out what’s important to us.

Will we heed that call?
.
.
.

Sedna and Ceres Direct

Adapted from 'Castle Fairy Tale'

by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurtionis (1909)

Sometimes when astrological events pile up it seems like too much to write about. But that’s the point: sometimes there are many things going on in life. Or which we need to consider. Sometimes it means we’re just busy, busy, busy. And with Jupiter just having come off station in early Gemini, choosing what to do and having (and carrying through on)  priorities may be your challenge.

But when many signals go off at once, that can also indicate things coming together. Or a complex situation which has many facets which is challengingly difficult to think through.

So Jupiter just stationed and went direct in Gemini: that means life is going to prompt us to think, and that our choices need to be made thoughtfully. Since Jupiter is in a sign of its detriment, we have to be careful about overstepping our bounds. Or clinging to ideas which don’t work. Or even offending others in ways we’ll pay for later.

We also know that Saturn is sitting at 11 Scorpio, the degree it will go retrograde at come mid-February and the degree of the yet-to-come November 2013 solar eclipse. This is handwriting on the celestial wall telling us that this is an important time. We can build for the future, or we can limit ourselves by not being willing to ‘risk’ our own opinion of Self (or reputation with others) even where we know at some level that we’re on a wrong track.

Then there’s the fact that Venus has just entered Aquarius and Mars has just slid into Pisces, which by any estimation is a need to consider the ‘greater aspect’ of any situation.

And now we come to dwarf planet Sedna and Ceres, an asteroid which with about 3% of the entire mass of the whole asteroid belt to call its own is being considered for dwarf planet status.

Dwarf planets seem to be getting something of a Rodney ‘I get no respect’ Dangerfield treatment in a goodly portion of the astrological world. But that makes no sense, considering the inordinate symbolic power attributed to dwarf planet Pluto.

Whatever Ceres is, whether it’s a dwarf planet or “just” 3% of the total mass of the asteroid belt, it seems to be a pretty potent object – and one which is a good deal closer to us than either Jupiter or Saturn.

So what is Ceres? Often thought of as simply as a harvest goddess and another form of Virgo, the stories of Ceres and the historical Roman-era regard for Ceres translates to a metaphysical meaning which at its most basic can be summed up as “planning” and all it takes to create and carry through on a plan.

(Does anybody else think this echoes the whole Jupiter-in-Gemini theme?)

And as a matter of fact, Ceres is going direct in Gemini, a fact I’m sure you’ll be oh-so delighted to know.  

Does this tell us we should be very careful about how we think and the considerations we bring to any plan? Probably. It could also be telling us that this is a time when our (Jupiter/Ceres) attention is going to focus on how thinking (or not thinking) affects us. Even how our willingness or unwillingness to think through how the thought process works affects our lives.

The Ceres of Mérida, a marble statue from the 1st century CE

(photo credit: Oscar Marin Repoller, December 2010)

Is this a reference to mental health? Social allegiance? Education? Considering Gemini’s association with transportation and everyday life, is this a call for community planning? More attention to planes, trains and automobiles (throw in bikes, horses and tanks if you like)…and all the many ways we move or transport information, such as mail, phone, fax, email, the internet, newspapers, media…and so on, including all the machinery, power and infrastructure which keeps all that stuff in motion?

(See? I told you this could be complicated!)

Then there’s Sedna. (Go ahead, groan.) Dwarf planet Sedna wanders through space so far, far away from us that it takes some eleven thousand (plus) years to go once around the Sun. It’s pretty darn lonely out there, and just that should alert us to Sedna as representing – at all levels – the idea of ‘being alone.’

On one hand that can represent the ‘aloneness’ of being a mature adult. (Oh, don’t we HATE that?)

On the other hand, that ‘being alone’ can represent alienation, either our being alienated from our Self in some way, or a person who is alienated from their family or society…and everything which goes with same.

Sedna is going direct at 22 Taurus, a degree which being part of the 3rd decanate of a sign (i.e., in a degree between 20 and 29) means the ‘turn of Sedna events’ will now center on a.) things we don’t control, seeing as the 3rd decanate always represents external activities or input…and b.) things which will prompt each one of us to let go of whatever immature impulses we may be harboring.

Together, this Ceres-in-Gemini and Sedna-at-22-Taurus makes me think of the actions of people in need. And people who feel marginalized or ignored, whether in reality or through some internal (mental) mechanism. On a global or national level, this could mean this will be a time when matters of elitism and the effects of poverty or being ignored will come up for discussion. PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is another issue which is current in the social consciousness (Venus in Aquarius) and by nature defined by Sedna/Taurus alienation/’threat’ to security, whether in the individual or through some individual to society. In fact, with Jupiter and Ceres in Gemini against Sedna’s turn to direct in Taurus, this would be a time which may challenge all of us to (Gemini) think through what our (Taurus) values really are – and why we (Gemini) think they really matter.

Then again, maybe this is about food, since Taurus has a definite connection to food, particularly the commercial food chain, including restaurants, distributors and such. And when we get into anything which is a 'chain' or about consumers (literal or figurative!) we are in part discussing the Gemini theory of timeliness, how to get from here-to-there and all the steps which guarantee success, which in the case of food would of course be food safety and ingredients and packaging and all that.
 
Maybe we’re right, maybe we’re wrong. But with Ceres and Sedna going direct on Monday, February 4th at just around 8:30 in the morning (UT/+0), we’ll do well to be aware that their stations begin on Saturday, February 2nd. And with all the overlapping energetics, maybe even Friday 1st.

On the other side of the Monday station/direct moment, these effects will certainly extend through the 6th, and maybe even February 7th – that being because Mercury represents some piling on (otherwise known as complications) as it moves into Pisces on Tuesday, February 5th.

Does Venus moves into Aquarius (squaring Sedna but trining Ceres by sign) indicate a reluctance to change? Or maybe a recognition that Aquarian equality or universality of some sort is the thing to plan for and aim at? Will some claim inconvenience or that ‘it can’t be done’ as an indication that they’re unwilling to alter some status quo for some reason?

A Roman Fresco of Venus and Mars from the

Casa di Marte e Venere in Pompeii, Italy

In sextiling Sedna by sign while squaring Jupiter and Ceres from Pisces indicate a Mars sort of ‘giving up’ or convictions being overwhelmed or even given up on creating some sort of alienated hopelessness?

Is this all about some (station) event which will stir the social conscience or beleaguer some societal structure? It could be. But it could just as easily represent a time when we realize a gap between what we are doing (or have been doing) and what we optimally could be doing – and maybe need to start doing.

That Sedna is conjunct the lunar South Node as it goes direct lends a lot of ‘weight’ to what everyone conceives of as their ‘status quo,’ whether that’s financial or moral or ethical or situational. Ordinarily, one would simply say that this is a sign that sitting on one’s tuffet (with or without curds and whey). Especially with Sedna/South Node (the South Node being the ‘easy thing to do’) being conjunct Algol (a reactive response based on personal desire) we would think those who are comfortably entrenched are just going to stay entrenched, wherever their entrenchment may be.

However! Atropos – the Greek fate of ‘endings’ (literally the ‘cutting of the thread’) is conjunct Algol. So this may be an ‘end’ to some sort of stonewalling or resistance.

In astrology, one of the ways you figure out what means what is you construct what is known as a ‘chain of disposition.’ That means, if I want to know more about a planet (or dwarf planet or star) in Taurus, I look to see where the ruler of Taurus (Venus) is.

We know that Venus will be moving into Aquarius as of early in the wee hours on Saturday, February 2nd. But it isn’t until February 4th that Venus is joined in Aquarius by Medusa, the asteroid which represents all those things we’re scared really might be true…because if they are, we really need to stop behaving like a gorgon!

The combination here tends to make an intriguing sort of statement about how some folks may now change their minds or positions because they’re afraid of what not changing will do to them.

And that brings up alienation of a whole different sort. Putting this most euphemistically, how do rats feel when one of their number deserts the sinking ship? Do they make fun of the departed rat until suddenly they’re up to their whiskers in sea water?

For that matter, how does a rat feel when with a seriously sinking feeling it recognizes the truth and deserts the duly-doomed ship? It’s leaving its rat pack behind. Does it feel all alone? Is it worried or guilty about leaving its rat pack behind to go down with all the fishes?

Okay…so that’s a cheesy comparison. But while you’re muttering dark utterances about my tendency to make bad jokes (and yes, I plead guilty as charged) there is a reality to the proposition here.

Is this a moment when a light will flash and everything will change? Probably not – that doesn’t seem to be how Sedna works. Remembering that Sedna takes over 11,000 years to go once around the Sun should tell us this is symbol of a quality which moves/develops slowly, over time. Considering that the last time Sedna was where it is today (by degree) the calendar read something like 9,000 BCE (give or take) and humankind was still wandering around in little bands, not having yet even figured out how to plant and harvest food…that says a lot.

We’ve come a long way. But there’s still a long way to go. And that’s really some good news. That there is more to do, more to learn and more to learn says we can make a better plan, become more productive, own up to our mistakes and in time, get where we all need to go - and want to be.
.
.
.

Lachesis Direct

 Les Parques (the Greek Fates) by Alfred Agache, c. 1885

Without having spend a lot of time reading Greek myth (which I did as a kid, having some sort of fascination for the stuff), I’m not sure how anyone would know to draw a dotted line between asteroids Klotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. They’re the ‘Fates’ of Greek myth who represented the processes of life.

Klotho spins fleece into yarn and thus is associated with creating, beginnings, initiations and birth.

Lachesis measures out the length of the thread (the length of a life) and thus asteroid Lachesis is astrologically associated with duration, length and what gets ‘done’ during the time something goes on, be it a life or a process.

Atropos cuts the thread, which metaphysically causes us to think of asteroid Atropos as endings or finalities or the ‘death’ of some idea, a relationship, a job, even (yes,) physical death.

But a note on this last statement: Atropos in the chart is NOT to be seen as an astrological marker for someone’s death. There are methods by which astrologers know to predict the death of a person. They are never (NEVER, mind you!) marked by one single factor.

Also: if you find an astrologer who says they are willing to predict a person’s death, you should be thinking twice. It is considered one of the great and true no-no’s in astrology (as in medicine) to “predict” death, which is why doctors speak in probabilities and likelihoods when it comes to this subject.

So saying, back to Lachesis. Asteroid Lachesis is going to go direct at 17 Aries on Saturday, December 8th, which is one day after Pluto’s conjunction of nebula Facies (in Capricorn) hits the ‘exact point.’

Link to November 22nd's post on Pluto/Facies

Obviously this means that Pluto/Facies is reaching its maximal point of ‘exactitude’ during Lachesis’ station window – that ‘two days before, two days after’ allowance we give to celestial objects going in or out of retrograde motion. But let’s also remember, it isn’t the asteroid which is changing directions – it’s our perspective on that asteroid (or planet, or whatever) as seen from here on Earth.

So here we have Pluto/Facies providing us with the image of something very complicated which we might what to change in spite of how it seems to be controlling us (or maybe even bringing the worst out in us) in ways which are (Capricorn) visible to others and which pertain to the structure of our life. And as Lachesis goes on station, the internal (retrograde) debate about all this becomes more…what, obvious? Externally prompted?

Maybe both.

That Lachesis is making this turn in Aries says this is happening to us, or it’s a matter which is very personal or intrinsic to our life. Prepare to take things personally!

Or here’s another way to think about it…maybe Lachesis (as “duration’) is your realizing that whatever is going on will only last ‘so long.’ Or that you can only put up with it for so long?

 Bernard Gitton's Time-Flow 'water clock' 

(photo credit: Luna04, July 2006)

Duration, duration, duration! How long will it last? How do deal with it in the meantime? Or what must you do while something lasts?

To all of this gets added the 17 Aries part. And 17 Aries, besides being an emotional (and possibly emotionally evocative) degree, speaks more specifically to the idea of pushing something more towards its extreme. So whatever that attribute is… a tendency to splurge, a habit of lying, the tendency to think of everything in an optimistic light…at this point that Pluto/Facies conjunction is probably pushing many of us to “exaggerated” displays of our native tendencies.

Or…if we’re lucky…a moment when we get in touch, when we gain perspective ON our tendency to be greedy or overly optimistic or whatever else.

There is a note in the writings on 17 Aries which talk about ‘awareness.’ This awareness is curiously what apparently drives people to be more exaggerated about what they do. They’re aware of the issue and they think they can change the direction of things by pushing.

That, when we think of it in tandem with Lachesis’ station is why we may now be seeing we can’t go on doing things as we have been doing them. Pluto-Facies complexities or no, this turn of Lachesis to direct motion may have us realizing that we can’t keep doing what we have been doing – at least not the way we’ve been doing it.

That Lachesis is going direct with Pelion (a mountain to climb) at 14 Aries and Eris (ouch!) at 21 Aries says we may well feel very uncomfortable with the situation we’re in. And that we should…or maybe that we need to feel sufficiently uncomfortable in order to get into gear with whatever needs doing.

At least for a time. Or because we only have so much time.

The tightest (closest) planetary aspect to Lachesis’ station is the Sun at 16 Sagittarius, drawing our attention to ‘how we’re going about doing things.’ With the Sun conjunct Tantalus at 14 Sag, Hidalgo at 17 Sag and Ixion/Pholus at 19 Sag, we need to be careful about how (Hidalgo) we do things and the degree of ‘wanting to do what we want to do simply because we want to do it’ (Tantalus) which is in the daily mix as plainly Ixion/Pholus is telling us that we can bring our own efforts to naught with just a little off-handed carelessness.

This sounds like we need to be careful about grandstanding or anything which smacks even remotely of hubris.

One other aspect which seems particularly worthy of note here: in going direct at 17 Aries, Lachesis is taking station in square to Mars at 15 Capricorn. This puts Mars (mercifully!) out of range of Pluto-Facies, but Mars is exactly conjunct Vega (charisma), and mighty closely allied in this moment with Nemesis (at 14 Capricorn) and Eros at (17 Capricorn)…which would seem to be an amalgamation about ‘public charm’ and a passion for that which we know may not be popular, but is actually true.

An alternative here would be that public charm (appearances, call it…) in spite of knowing something isn’t right, or isn’t going to stand the test of Capricorn time.

 Back in Roman times, the toga (shown here on a statue restored with the head of Nerva),

was what Roman male citizens wore to be seen as men of Rome. Considering people and how

competitive Roman society was, togas were probably 'the thing' to be seen in, and not just a few

probably tried to get away with wearing them even if they weren't proper "citizens of Rome."

Oh, how times don't seem to change all that much, right? 

(photo credit: Sailko)

The good news here is that this is just a period of time – a duration. The tough news is that in being connected to Pluto-Facies, there’s a smidge, a note, a whiff of this which is going to be with us at least through September, 2013.

And that’s the spin of the yarn for today!

.

.

.

Venus in Cancer/Mercury Direct

 Venus Anadiomene by Antonio Maria Esquivel (1806-1857)

For those who need to read and run, here are the stats and facts:

1.) Venus will enter Cancer on Tuesday, August 7 (2012) at 1:44 in the afternoon, UT/+0 time.

2.) Mercury will go direct on Wednesday, August 8 (2012) at 5:41 in the morning, UT/+0 time.
.

Since all planetary stations get a ‘station allowance’ window of two days before and two days after the planetary turnabout, this means that Mercury goes on station early on Monday (August 6th) UT/+0 time.

(That's it for the read-and-run stuff)

/

As for those with a few more minutes to browse, muse and otherwise contemplate...Mercury is doing it’s ‘turnabout may and may not be fair play’ at 1 Leo. And yes, this is apt as Mercury does represent (among other things) tricks of the mind and therefore the trickery we play on others as well as the tricky situations we get into.

 A painting of Mercury which dates back to

the 14th century (artist unknown)

Is all that heightened because Mercury is in Leo, a sign which though it has the power to be incredibly perceptive often is blind to the necessity to appeal to others in the terms they might react to positively?

Probably yes. And then we add in qualities noted as being associated with 1 Leo, among which are insecurity and all we (or others) may do to cover for feelings of inner anxiety, inadequacy – all that stuff.

With Mercury doing this turnabout with Lust at 29 Cancer adds a real focus…even an urgency to this  issue. The name ‘Lust’ is a little misleading; people tend to think this asteroid is all about carnal desire, forgetting that horoscope points are always a quality in us which we have to manage. Therefore 'Lust’ is about our tendency to lust – which is really about focusing on one thing to the exclusion of others.

At a Mercury station, this combination will for some most assuredly be some sort of revelation (startling or otherwise) that they have been focused on one thing when they should have been focused on another.

It's that trickster thing. Mercury is always a trickster, and the person we are always most likely to be tricking is ourselves…with the medium of the tricking being through mentality.

In other words, we fool ourselves. This differs from denial (if slightly) because denial is about something we can’t see because it would be too upsetting to us to deal with it. Denial has an emotional root where tricking ourselves is merely about ‘I don’t want to!’

And that quality – – is all too commonly Leo.

Another comment on this Mercury turnabout: it’s in trine to the North Node at 1 Sag and in sextile to the South Node at 1 Gemini…with that South Node being conjunct Atropos.

The North Node is always (always, always…) what we should do. And though this North Node at 1 Sagittarius says we should try to see our relationships with our world (and those in our world) on a factual basis (the proof being in the pudding and all that)…despite that, we are far more likely now to want to edit what we see, hear, and who we deal with rather than deal with trial and error or testing the reality of the situation.

Atropos/South Node is a signal that it’s easier to give something up than cope with what it takes to make it right. And with Mercury’s station in a sextile to this Atropos/South Node conjunction (which is exact, by the way) cutting our losses and getting out of something which has had us tied up is an option now.

The question is thus posed by the North Node: should you?

The handwriting on the wall here is that the Nodes – which cycle backwards through the zodiac – are about to change signs. That’s going to happen at the end of August. What will follow is a year-and-a-half (or so) of progress being made only where we risk the right things with the right people. The object will be the increase of satisfaction and self-worth, confidence, realistic recognitions of boundaries-versus-opportunities…all that stuff. So! Are you in position to move ahead developing your capacity to risk not what’s easy, but that which comes hard for you?

Considering that August has only a few cues for such things prior to the nodes changing signs, those who take this opportunity to look ahead and sort their efforts by positive potential are in a good space here.

And then we add in Venus entering Cancer.

No matter where Cancer appears in your natal chart, the idea of this first and most basic of water signs is all about building value – which yes, is related to the idea that Cancer is associated with real estate (‘built’ value in a very tangible form) and our heritage and native experience of family – that which forms our emotional foundation.

 Because the sign of Cancer is the first of the water elements,

it's often thought of as the 'surf zone' - that place where we get

our feet wet...and where in truth we may get tossed about a bit

until we learn to swim. Like the oceans, all things Cancer tend

to have a 'tidal' ebb and flow...so during these next few weeks of

Venus in Cancer, we should expect that there will be increases

and decreases in activity, feelings and motivation.

(photo credit: Kahuroa, December 2002)

Granting that no house, no family/experience of family and no heritage is “perfect” Cancer still always carries that ‘foundational’ building-for-the-future sort of vibe. And when we apply that to the cause-effect lynchpin which is Venus, that gets us to the who am I being and what am I doing to create what I am or am not receiving in – and from life?

Venus in Cancer can be a time to revamp your home, absolutely. Many a DIY project is begun under various Cancer influences. Many a home gets bought or sold under Cancer influences. Nesting is very Cancerian and providing you’re not doing that to avoid what you should be doing, this could be a great time to just be a homebody. Or when you may want to spend time with your family.

Then again, this could be the time to launch a new ‘business plan’ whether in a business, or with regards to a business you want to build. This is an excellent time to get real with yourself about where and how you need to develop your Self or your skill set in order to get ahead in the months to come. In that regard, Venus would represent the ‘laying of foundations’ with Mercury representing the creative effort being invested in Self so as to make you into that ‘winning package.’

So…let’s boil this down to two questions:

1. Are you dealing with problems and paying attention to opportunities?

2. Are you being realistic about what it takes to get where you want to go and have what you want to have in (and out of) life?

The Leo challenge here is not just to dream, but to do. With Leo being the sign of children, that’s a pretty darn good example of this dynamic: it’s easy to ‘make’ a child…it’s a whole lot harder to raise that child and to work at being a good parent.

Get the difference? We all love the dream, the vision, the Leo ‘gosh wouldn’t it be wonderful if…’ but that’s only half of the Leo process. Lions don’t stay strong and magnificent through sitting around on a rock basking in the sun. There is game to be stalked, there are territorial boundaries to be patrolled, there are other lions to be dealt with.

It isn’t all ‘peel me a grape…’ no matter how much we want it to be!

So if you can, enjoy yourself…but challenge yourself a little too. You’ll like yourself better for it – and isn’t that the ultimate goal?

Venus/Jupiter Direct, Polyhymnia Retrograde: Traction...Attraction...Understanding

The Morning - by Philipp Otto Runge (1808)

Today, planets Venus and Jupiter go direct. It's time for us to stop having to deal with learning (Jupiter) about our Venus needs (and neediness) on the inside and start with the doing and having of real time, real life experiences and experiential situations which will allow us to get somewhere, do, accomplish and enjoy ourselves.

Or at least, that's the plan, right?

Astrologers (and astrology) once referred to 'good' and 'bad' planets - the 'benefics' versus the 'malifics.' It was a bit of an old time silent movie, I gotta tell you...Venus was the good and beautiful maiden, Jupiter was the rich uncle, Saturn was the wicked bad guy (which probably made Saturn's rings the mustache said bad guy was always twirling) and Mars was sometimes the hero and sometimes the dastardly murderer.

There are still forms of astrology (notably Vedic, which comes from a more 'fated' point of view) which tend to see planets and planetary motions and statements as 'decrees.' But western astrology, which for reasons I loathe to explain is known as 'tropical astrology' (hand me the coconut, please?)...western astrology has gone all psychological.

Thus planets are associated with human attributes, and in the same way that we know the Moon pulls on the oceans causing tides, the whole of the solar system - indeed the cosmos - becomes a giant clockwork mechanism.

 Clockworks in the Deutsches-Uhren museum (detail)

photo credit: HNH (2008)

Planets don't "do" anything...but the influences they are simply by being what they are, those wavelengths of gravitational magnetism or whatnot...or merely the ripples of space distortion a planet sends out by moving through space (like a boat's wake)...those ripple through our solar system.

Astrology is just the watch on our arm. A wrist watch doesn't define time. It isn't 'time itself.' What it marks is a relative position in time which allows you and everyone else to be oriented and synced up. Knowing that the Moon does the same thing for the tides, over the past six thousand years or so attentive human beings have been amassing information on what planetary movements do.

That body of 'knowing' (Jupiter again) is made real (Venus) in astrology. And very helpfully, science is now catching up with us planet watchers. Slowly but surely, experiments and theorems not only prove out how the universe works, but that astrology is real and thus astrologers are not nitwits.

Okay, so some of us well may be nitwits - as people. But astrology, providing it's treated as a science and not a toy... that's  real. As real as that Moon and them ocean tides, astrology is the 'wrist watch' which tells us when cosmic clockwork strikes some hour as planetary, asteroidal, TNO, dwarf planet or any other kind of influence reaches us on earth.

I hope you find that moving, as Polyhymnia is going retrograde today. It's thus a very good day to allow yourself to be moved. And as Polyhymnia goes on being retrograde in the months to come, it pays to remember that to be moved, you have to allow yourself to feel.

Which yes, for some is scary. And for others, it's so carefree and evident that while it can be wonderful, it can also prove problematic. Even dangerous.

The moral: we feel the feeling. What we do about that... whether we embrace that, act on the spirit of being moved usefully or gracelessly, whether we deny difficult feelings and only go for the easy or candy floss - those are factors which contribute to how our life goes.

You know...in that old silent movie vein.

Poster for 1914's "The Perils of Pauline," 

quiet easily the most classic (or at least archetypal) of 

hero-villain-'damsel in distress' silent movie tales.

Getting back to that for a moment, Venus and Jupiter are not all good. That old term ('benefics') didn't take into account that security and satisfaction (Venus) doesn't make you a happy person. You can have it all (Jupiter) and still be miserable. Saturn requires effort and holding ourselves to an internally-defined standard, but Saturn is also the great symbol of what you earn you get. Saturn promises achievement if we will try, try again. Or just keep trying (dedication-wise).

As modern astrology acquires more points and the astrophysical science of our cosmos becomes more evident, more and more we are faced with the reality that its our willingness to be who we are and to deal first and foremost with ourselves which determines what we get out of life. And this is not about wealth versus poverty. It can't be - look around. There are a lot of very unhappy wealthy people and a lot of contented people who have very little.

Its about us. It's about our expectations. And this moment, this tri-party station, is in many senses all about expectations.

That said, we have a few other indicators. The first is where all these celestial objects are, and what is 'with them' and what is 'against them' (in opposition).

Venus being the most basic of attributes in this station recipe, we'll start with Venus - our cause/effect ability to make things happen and by that, feel secure (or otherwise) in life. Going retrograde at 9:17 in the evening (Universal Time/+0) Venus is positioned at 27 Libra with Atropos (endings). This is if nothing else a 'getting real' signal, so we can safely say this is a time when we either cut something out, or stop being unreal (the 'anti-Venus' concept, if you will) about who we are, who others are, the value of what we are/aren't doing and what we need to do in life in order to achieve our "Venus goals" of feeling satisfied and secure - at least with who we are and how we live.

Because Venus is going direct and Atropos is in direct motion at this moment, it's very likely that situations or (Libra) interactions deliver a message now about this 'reality' - or lack of same - in your life. You feel moved, to use the Polyhymnia term. And maybe that's the point! Maybe things you couldn't/wouldn't see or hear now become obvious. It's time to deal with (Venus) reality - and yes, realities - if we are to ever get where we want to go in being our own person, and in life as a whole.

A nice note comes from the 27 Libra quality, which here lends a note of 'intangible implacability'...which again suggests that we're getting real. Or that maybe someone is our life says something which cuts through all the mental foo-foo and really gets us where we live. Maybe something happens and we just have to accept it and move on from there.

It could be one...or all of these things and more.

Big red Jupiter, our Jovian (if not jovial) planetary aspect - the thrill of enlightenment, one might say...Jupiter goes direct at 4:53 pm (UT/+0). (Remember to adjust to to your local time zone!) Going direct at 23 Pisces, the most exact aspect to Jupiter in this moment is an opposition to Nemesis at 23 Virgo.

Nemesis being the 'standing up for the truth' (whether we like that truth or not) sets this opposition up to be a moment of discomfort. Not necessarily tragic, but probably not what we wanted to hear, see or think - most of all about ourselves. Nemesis being at 23 Virgo adds to this dilemma by describing a frustration between a resistance to realities or one's own nature. This may be about limitation(s), then again, it maybe part of that 'I've taken this position and by gum, I'm going to stick with it even though I know its' wrong, it's ridiculous, its even damaging.'

In other words, expect some ego to be in the mix today. And though you may well experience it in others, the most critical point of ego transition here is yours.

Remember: transits, like life events, on the metaphysical (as opposed to spiritual, which tends to be more "fate" oriented) level are not about doing things 'to you.' or even 'for you.' Much as we tend to experience or internalize them that way, if we believe the great central metaphysical statement that...

 

....then we have our tantrum or elation de jour, then we get on with recognizing that events are meant to evoke (Polyhymnia) in us whatever needs to be better understood and 'grown' (Jupiter) so that we can, in time, be secure, be satisfied and have the life we want (Venus).
Meanwhile, about the Polyhymnia evoking thing...yon muse of evocation (and one hopes happiness) herself is going retrograde at 0 Leo. Leo being the sign about what I do for my own enjoyment means we recognize now that some facet of our enjoyment or the really being happy with (or because of) said facet requires us to do some more inside work....that being indicated by the idea that Polyhymnia will go retrograde in 0 Leo but immediately retrograde back into Cancer...the land of family, habits which have grow out of childhood conditioning, basic needs (roof over head, food - that stuff) and how all such things tie together.

Mixing this Polyhymnia/0 Leo thing in with the Jupiter-Nemesis thing it would seem apparent that there is a temptation, yea verily a longing (do I hear a deep sigh?) to buy into that slogan, that excuse, that 'hey dude, it'll all be the same in a hundred years, why sweat it?' thing.

And no doubt some will do just that now - they will cast the idea of working towards lasting personal growth into the wind in favor of growing some personal pleasure (Leo)...probably one which is...fairly new to them (0 Leo).

We also know that at this time a lot of outside influences are in the mix. How do we know that? That we know by the fact that Jupiter and Venus are both in third decan degrees of respective signs.

Remember? First decan: zero to 9 - personal and proactive qualities. Second decan: 10 through 19 - emotional attributes. Third decan: degrees 20 through 29 of any given sign, this being where the sign manifests through external means. It may be feedback, it may be invitations, it may be goading, it may be people or external (3rd decan) situations which get us where we live - either physically, or on the inside.

So the Jupiter and Venus of it all are situational. Or responses from others (or corporate entities, etc.) But the effect is on us. And with Polyhymnia in what is technically known as an out-of-sign opposition to Circe (the sorceress who reduces people to an animalistic state)....and Orpheus (magical talents which can save us or cause us to sacrifice ourselves)....AND Scheat (public disapproval)?

Oy! There's a whole lot of input going on!

Our senses, never mind our internal Bank of Cravings is likely to be overflowing...or broken, busted and feeling desperately in need of contribution. It's a tug-of-war between ourselves and ourselves in projected form. What we see out there - whether it's a temptation or its our own press (reputation) that we're believing - it's a whole sort of reality/unreality test. It's "Damn Yankees" or "Bedazzled" or any of a hundred other stories, movies or sagas which rest on that Faustian idea that we have only to surrender our "soul" (our control of self) so as to have unlimited pleasures and knowledge.

 Rembrandt's dry-point etching/engraving of Faust (1652)

And it doesn't matter whether what your pleasures of the moment are to live in your own little peaceful world or if your pleasures are intellectual, spiritual or absolutely wanton. The point is that when we give up on working on ourselves, no matter what we gain after that, who really are we?

That's the Faustian problem...and thus why in every version of Faust's story the protagonist finally realizes that realism...with all its highs and lows, its ouches and pleasures...that ownership of self is the real human deal.

Being a successful person, no matter what we would like to think, is about accepting that life is not all sunshine. It's not all light. If it was, nothing would have shape. The richness of life is the shading of our experiences.

So while there's likely to be all sorts of worldly personal drama around at the moment, maybe it pays to bear in mind that just as shadows give depth and form and beauty to an image, so difficulties and the acceptance of pain, loss and reality not as a 'happy life' but as something which moves us to be better people or experience every day of our lives in all the grandeur, with all the sweetness and yes, with the bitterness of some finalities... maybe that's what really gives meaning and ultimately, a sense of accomplishment to our existing here, in this time on this planet.

Yes, maybe that's the reason for life, and to recognize that life is both amazing...and in reality, all too fleeting.

 An April dawn...our life springs eternal as long as

we are willing to grow and be renewed, and remade anew

in our own better interest by our own better knowing

of who we are...and our better regard for our nature

and that of the world in which we live.