Venus in Capricorn: Beauty in Pragmatism or Rebellion Against Realities?

 Painting "Venus and Mercury" by Bartholomaus Spranger (1585)

Given that Venus enters Capricorn on February 4 at 5:58am (UT/+0) and thus not much over a day after the New Moon, this influence becomes part of the amalgamated Aquarian lunar cycle image.

Beyond that, it also has an absolute nature of its own.

So what is Venus in Capricorn? Venus is all about what we do (or present) in order to achieve desired reactions. It’s the essence, the thing we are - or put out into this world – in order to make something happen, or come into being. A lot of people think of Venus simply as ‘beauty’ – thinking the Aphrodite gorgeousness is simply the sweetness, the honey which attracts all the admiration, adulation and adoration.

But let’s be real about how much work it takes to be that ‘beautiful creature’ which gets ogled at and swooned over. Women – are you with me? Isn’t it some fable that she rolls over in bed with makeup perfectly in place, hair just so, eyes glistening, and never a groggy blink to those eyelashes?

It’s pure movie mythos. Real beauty takes work. If you’re an artist, you labor to create it. If you’re a flesh and blood female over the age of 14 (and often, even under 14!) you choose the right clothes, you make sure your hair looks just so …and let’s not forget what it takes to find that right shampoo!

(Men know nothing about the search for the perfect mascara. Or maybe wish they didn’t!)

Anyway…Venus is that magical effort/non-effort – the old ‘oh, I just threw this together, no biggie…!’ sort of allure. It’s the ability to bring something into being and then be gracious and devoid of angst about it.

As for Capricorn, it’s a sign of leadership. Of social status. Of pragmatic choice – and sometimes doing the hard thing today to build that better tomorrow. It’s a sign about achievement, personal and public. Capricorn represents our place in the world, what we want our place to be, and the kind of world we want to be being in.

Ruled by Saturn (time, dedication, reponsibility, commitment) wherever in a chart we see Capricorn, we know that’s something we reach for and have to  earn.

So while there is an odd sort of compadre-ness between Capricorn and Venus (they both aim at valued aims), Venus is all about ‘effortless mastery’ where Capricorn is doughy, weathered and deserving.

Simple synthesis of these two gives us working to get where you want to go…or maybe getting rewarded for what you’ve already earned. 

Yet there’s a stingier side to this combination which at many levels may be more likely than not – and what we may see especially from those who aren’t used to ‘doing without.’ While it may make sense for them to relinquish something immediate for a better tomorrow, it’s unlikely they will want to do so with any amount of grace.

And thus comes the struggle. Being that Capricorn is the natural ruler of the ‘top’ (10th) house of the horoscope, Capricorn has a whole striving quality to it. Capricorn seeks to ‘be on top’ – which is why we see it as leadership, government, social standing, career and achievement.

Thinking about Saturn applies here too. First of all, it’s ruler of Capricorn, so we properly should give it a nod. But how to you think planet Saturn got all those rings? Those rings are particles – mostly ice, some rock – and they are both “ground down'” and “held in place” by Saturn’s enormous planetary mass.

Saturn's rings - photo credit: NASA/JPL

Here and there in astrology we discuss Sagittarius (and Jupiter) as being all about ‘justice.’ But don’t be fooled: the law – the rules of life, are Capricorn. Sagittarius is a fire sign. Fire signs are all about the theoretical. Capricorn is an earth sign. Earth signs are about the tangible. The fact of the thing. So while you can debate whether something is fair or not (which is why Sagittarius rules trials) once the verdict is in, once the debate on what should be a law is over, the Capricorn actuality of the law (as a rule, a limit, a regulation, a structural facet of society and life) comes into being.

And when a law gets broken, the discussion of who is guilty of the infraction is again Sagittarius. But the punishment? That’s a fact. That’s Capricorn.

All of which suggests that Venus in Capricorn is not just working for what you want…but also what you have coming to you. That can be legal, that can be karma, that can be the reward for what you have earned. So there’s a whole range of pluses and minuses which go along with Venus’ just-shy-of-a-month transit of Capricorn.

Venus enters Capricorn February 4th (February 3rd if you’re in the Americas of Pacific Basin arena). Venus exits Capricorn on March 2nd. Or 1st, again depending on where you are.

During this time we should all be mindful of a couple of things. One is that the Saturn which rules the Capricorn Venus is in is in Libra – a sign Venus rules. This back-and-forth rulership circuit is something astrology calls a ‘mutual reception’…in practice, it’s either the rock/hard place ‘better of the devils I dislike’ sort of choice….or a sort of internalized conviction on what works, what can work, what people should recognize as good and quality.

And sometimes – yes – both things apply.

Saturn being perfectly conjunct in Drakonia at the moment of this transit suggests there’s some ‘play’ in the mix. It could be something which needs to 'play out’ or a bit of allowance which needs to be ‘played out.’ It could be playing others, or others playing you. It could even be the fact that you or others (or everyone involved) could be so involved in some sort of ‘game’ being played that who the heck can bother being realistic!

That Saturn is opposition Eris as part of a several year-long cycle suggests we are all in a bit of a pickle internal and external as well. A couple of years ago Saturn did a little dance with Uranus, symbol of change. Now it’s doing one with Eris, a ‘use it well or lose it all’ sort of vibe which here would seem to be asking us to stop ‘playing around’ in every sense of the word.

The problem is that with Saturn – the personal end of this aspect (Saturn being a planet ever you and me of the world can touch and Eris being one of those ‘no one controls it’ life qualities) – with Saturn in Libra, we’re all likely to be ‘playing’ ourselves by thinking ‘it’s them, not me!’ who needs to change.

The reality? We all probably need to change.

If you aren’t familiar with Eris, this would be a good time to read up on Goddess Discord. (LINK to article) And as you’re reading up on her remember – in metaphysics, nothing is predetermined to be good or bad. Discord in the metaphysical sense is the shaking up of a status quo. But that can lead to good things. If slavery is the status quo, shaking that loose so that people can live free – isn’t that a good thing?

The Judgement of Paris

 

And yes, there are those who live to shake things up. They can do good. If Eris is at your Ascendant or Descendant, we would hope you go around shaking things up for the good. Of course, Eris in either position could also be someone who goes around getting shaken up – or who accuses everyone else of their own discordant attitudes or activities.

That’s the two-way door which astrology always is. One of my favorite metaphysical sayings comes from a really great astrologer (and nice guy) named Robert Hand, who famously (in my world, anyway…) once said use the energy wisely, lest it use YOU unwisely! 

We all face Venus in Capricorn for the next few weeks – almost a month. We all will also embody Venus in Capricorn for the next few weeks – almost a month. And we will all also see what we have wrought, as Venus in Capricorn shows us what we have (or haven’t) earned. Good and bad, yes.

During this time, the North Node will be finishing its transit of Capricorn. We all hate North Node stuff – you know it as the ‘should do’ of life. Blech, right? Yes, well….we all like South Node, we all hate North Node. And yet we have to do it anyway. If/when we don’t, we pay a big price.

The South Node has been in Cancer for the past couple of years. This has not only been about family and home life and culture and personal history, but also about acting a bit like children in the spouting off as we had wanted to because we wanted to!

There’s a whole method of using planets as life timetables in astrology known as ‘Profection.’ Using this as regards human maturation, Cancer corresponds to age 7 1/2 to 10.

Know any quiet, well mannered, responsible citizens of this age? Of course you don’t – kids don’t know that life has real consequences yet!

Capricorn, on the other hand, is older. Corresponding to 21 1/2 to about age 24, Capricorn is all about that point in early adulthood where we get the clue that what we are and what we know/don’t know has some real and actual cause/effect in our world.

The personal world and the worldly world, that is!

Venus conjuncts the North Node on February 5th, calling out the whole 'should/don't want to!' dynamic. Or maybe the 'I can't do that - don't tell me to do what I can't do!' dynamic. Adding to this...we will have the North Node moves through zero Capricorn from February 19th through March 3rd.

This all becomes prime territory for all the Venus/Capricorn +/– Saturn/Drakonia (Eris) energy to surface in our lives...and in life all around us.

Bottom line, there’s likely to be a whole bunch of reasons you would rather not ‘have to’ deal with something. Or some things.

But maybe you should. We all pay the piper sooner or later…and do we all want to go down a pipe or pipe up and not only stand up for what we know is right, but be the person we know we should be in standing for something we believe in?

The oldest known image of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, taken

from the Market Church of Hamelin, Germany (c. 1300-1633)

painting by Augustin von Moersperg (1592)

Juno/Uranus being perfectly opposed in this picture with everybody’s most rejecting, least liked fixed star Scheat on the Uranus side says it’s easy to reject. It’s easy to be self indulgent and to not give a darn about anyone but ourselves.

But should we?

Augh! So much to think about!

And speaking of thinking....maybe you noticed that as a basis for this ingress I used a paining of Venus and Mercury? You remember Mercury - the Greek god of missives, thinking, cleverness, trickery, and all-around general note-taking and keeping details straight?

Well, there is a reason for my citing same in the image. And here's the astrological clue:

Venus enters Capricorn

Okay...so if you're not into reading charts, maybe that's a bit oblique. But the point is that this is a chart of the ingress, showing Mercury (in green) at zero Aquarius.

That's an exact semi-sextile to Venus...the very essence of good news/bad news. The good news is that we can learn what we need to do in order to make our world and the world work better. The bad news is that it's likely to come through a little ego bruising.

The thing to understand here is that this ego-bruising isn't about 'them' - it's about our having expected for things to go all our way. Remember? Saturn/Drakonia? Saturn/Eris? Saturn in Libra is incredibly strong. If you use it (or to the degree that you are able to use it) to communicate or relate without bias - by just presenting bare facts without any 'this is good, this is bad, this works, this doesn't work'...then Saturn in Libra is your very best friend and tool for getting things done.

It can also be a bludgeon. We can expect many to use this next year or so to bang others over the head.

And yes, sadly, in it.

So...what do we want to do? Are we willing to entertain there might be a better way? That we might be wrong? That maybe cause/effect includes us - that we can't be exempt from the ultimate rule of reality?

Looking ahead, as astrologer I would re-coin Rob Hand’s phrase roughly: Change your outlook or have changes force a change of outlook upon you. 

It’s a great moment to be heroic, when stopping all the theoretical talk and dealing with the reality of life makes sense.

Even better than that – for the next month or so, doing just that can have some excellent short term results.

So! Do you want to choose your own payoff – or keep playing the odds?

Apparently it’s up to us. And considering this is an Aquarian lunar cycle, the ramifications of what we do and what we don't do are greater than usual. We are not casting pebbles into a pond, we are the pond and the pebbles are stones we have thrown out...or maybe cast out...which are now returning to us by another means.

Saturn goes Retrograde: The Rock, the Hurt and the Harm of Convenience

 Artists's rendition of a Huygens probe floating in a methane-ethane

lake on Titan, with parent planet Saturn looming above the horizon

image credit: NASA's Cassini-Huygens collection

Let’s just start with a freeze-dried version of the basic concept here: Saturn goes retrograde at 17 Libra on January 26 at 6:11am (UT/+0).

And Saturn will continue to be in retrograde until it goes direct on June 13 at 3:52am (UT/+0).

What a nice long time to have a nice long Saturn nice time of it!

Or maybe...not so much?

What exactly does this whole 'Saturn going retrograde' mean? And why would this Saturn retrograde adventure be any different than any other Saturn retrograde adventure? After all, don't all the major planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and...well, give or take being a dwarf planet, Pluto) - don't they all go retrograde once a year?

The answer to that is yes. But seeing that the universe (ergo, our solar system) is not a static thing, every moment in (Saturn) time and thus certainly every station and every year's retrograde is different.

Entirely different.

But let's start at the beginning, taking that very first announcement as the simple statement it is: Saturn goes retrograde at 17 Libra on January 26 at 6:11am (UT/+0).

For those of you who know and love grammar, the subject of that sentence is Saturn. As a matter of fact, the subject of the sentence is Saturn even if you don't like grammar!

The point is, all things apply to Saturnine principles in this moment.

The verb here is the 'going retrograde' part. That’s an  indicator: what happens now (and for a wee bit shy of  five months yet to come) is the examining of Self in Saturn detail, the challenging of Self in Saturnine style, and the growing and developing of our capacity as that pertains to creating a world (personal and general) that is lasting, workable and practical. Or at least pragmatic. And possible. And acceptable. And structurally sound.

Because Saturn is going retrograde all this starts on the inside. So we can challenge ourselves to grow, develop, get over ourselves and get to doing what we should do...or we can figure on life presenting us with situations, events, puzzles and relationships which cause us to be challenged at some very internal, personal Saturnine level.

That would be the good ol' basics here. Anything we add to that is a modifying clause - the lettuce and tomato on the burger...the chocolate sauce on the ice cream.

But looking at the list...? Well, it is quite the list! So let's go for the ice cream concept and say we're just having a heaping helping of sprinkles. LOTS of sprinkles!

(And not to worry - in the planetary world, extra aspects don't add calories. Asteroids don't go to you....well, never mind - you get the point!)

So here's the list - and thus the real un-freeze-dried version of the original sentence:

Saturn will go retrograde at 17 Libra on January 26 at 6:11am (UT/+0) in conjunction with Drakonia (at 17 Libra) and Haumea (at 18 Libra) while in opposition to Eris, Tantalus and Dionysus (at 21 and 20 Aries, respectively)...all as Eurydike enters Pisces, Hera enters Aries, Lust enters Aries…and with Medea going direct a few hours later at 12 Gemini.

Does this sound like a waltz in the park to you? At the very least it’s a complicated dance number. Much choreography and intricate movement involved...lots of attention needing to be paid to not swinging one’s arms and hitting someone else in the nose!

You know, the simple matter of exotica.

Okay…now since I don’t want to repeat all of the last blog, let’s just pay lip service to Saturn being a symbol of working for achievement, earning and/or the concept of walls as things which can limit, things which can support (say, a roof) or things which can for plus or minus protect us from stuff…out there (wherever ‘out there’ may be).

Libra, which is so often so annoyingly (to me) talked about as a sign of romance and marriage partners when it’s really about personal OR professional relationships and our ability to relate without any emotional intimacy implied…

Yes, you heard me – Libra is not about romance. At least not romance as I conceive of it, meaning emotionality. Libra is an air sign. It may thus be the idea of romance, but it’s not true intimacy. So if you’re someone who has this whole ‘romantic notion’ about love and SOs (Significant Others) in your head, Libra may be your idea of romance.

Then again, that may be why so many marriages fail – which also works, since Libra is the sign of ‘open enemies’ and lawyers.

Anyway, Libra isn’t about romance per se, but it is about relationships and our ability to relate. With Saturn in Libra, our concepts of same, our ability to relate and how we go about relating to others and our world is going through a Saturnine, slow-motion examination. (And for some, an exhumation, but let’s not go there!)

Saturn symbolizes ‘that which we earn we shall in time, achieve’ to the nth degree. It also symbolizes how that which we try and get away with (or avoid) ends up biting us in some fleshy part of our anatomy.

That Saturn is going direct at 17 Libra adds a note of ‘theoretical emotionality,’ whether that’s conviction about something, enthusiasm for something or objection to some idea. This is ‘a meeting of the minds’ or a clash of ideas, ideals or priorities. At it’s best it’s an agreement to disagree or a willingness to negotiate.

But don’t be too sure about that ‘willingness’ thing. Not even mentioned in the list above is the fact that at the moment of this change of direction the Moon has entered Scorpio, a sign which asks us to find solutions which take everyone’s needs into account but which tends to (unfortunately!) be our desires to have our own way.

And if you look at this – a chart of the station…

Saturn's January 2011 station 

(Aries wheel/location not specific)

….you may well notice the Grand Trine (in green) with two light blue sextiles reaching up towards the top of the chart. It’s a ‘planetary picture’ called a kite. And with kites, it’s the tail which guides the kite.

That ‘tail’ is the south node at the bottom of the chart. And since South Nodes are about ‘the easy way out’ and what with this one being in Moon-ruled Cancer, we end up back at that Scorpio Moon. 

But it could be okay, you say. 

Uh, yes, I reply. It could, but it probably won’t. Did you happen to notice that this Scorpio Moon is conjunct Niobe?

I get called down fairly regularly for being an astrological pessimist when what I’m doing is simply reading the celestial signs. What’s wrong with being realistic (she said in her most cranky voice)? Given that Niobe is the pride which precedes getting shot down, though this (yes) could be calling others on their bad or irrational or selfish behavior, let’s be real! The likelihood is that this is pride challenging us all to be more inclusive, more charitable, more caring about the emotional needs and points of views being expressed by others…but the reality is that this it’s highly, highly unlikely that those – particularly those in who have the Scorpio power (or power over money, sex or convention) in hand – it’s really unlikely they’re going to do whatever the “hard” or “unpopular” thing is. That would be the Moon ruling the South Node part.

And yet….and yet and yet and yet….The North Node, the ‘highest’ form of this figure is in Capricorn. And we are talking about a Saturn (ruler of Capricorn) station. So maybe some people will actually do the hard (North Node) thing, come what may.

Maybe. I’m not betting any mental pizza on it…but maybe.

So back to that list. With Saturn going retrograde conjunct Drakonia, the question is who is the player and who is being played? With Haumea at 18 Libra add in ‘shape shifting’ in order to get one’s way.

Is that you or someone else? And if it is you, did you play yourself or someone else? Maybe even both?

The opposition to Eris (discord), Tantalus (temptation) and Dionysus (sacred celebration) gives us a whole aura of that which is sacrosanct…which casts all sorts of questions into the fog.

 Dionysus - a 2nd century statue (Louvre, Paris)

Taken together, this is is a big giant mish-mosh of ‘what’s right? what’s wrong’ which is complicated by personal desires and (like as not) personal alliances….which….well, are they real? Are they an ‘alliance of convenience’ and dare you pay the price for that?

A lot of these questions will ultimately only be answered once Saturn comes out of retrograde this June. But the road we choose now – that definitely defines how smooth or rocky the path between here and there is going to be. And since this is Saturn – what the price for said choice is or isn’t going to ultimately be.

Personally, as I think this celestial equation through, I keep coming back to that Nodal issue with the easy way out being the Scorpio Moon. Considering Scorpio is debt, that says it’s easier to take on debt than pay it off.

Following a different cosmic chain – that which has Saturn’s position in Libra ruled by Venus and Venus in Sagittarius leading then to Jupiter in Aries and ultimately Mars/Sun/Sappho/Hel in early Aquarius, there’s a whole Aquarian and rather ‘group’ or ‘societal’ flavor to this station which would seem to be either the difficulty of majority rule or the difficulty being experienced by the greater group (or the economy OR the masses)…or that there’s simply universal (Sappho) Hel to pay which is coming from one of those arenas.

 Sappho embracing her lyre by Jules Elie Delaunay

What you may not know about this post is that it’s being written way far in advance of the actual date. Good astrology should be able to be read right off the charts, with no current news bulletins involved. So when I say my non-Sherlockian-trained instincts of deduction take me back to the South Node/Scorpio Moon/Niobe thing, especially seeing as the outcome ruler of Scorpio (Pluto) is sitting in Capricorn just out of orb to the North Node tells me that there has already been some emotional upheaval. North Node at 0 Capricorn (a whole other message we’ll get to in a moment) and Pluto at 6 Capricorn says that six months ago the ‘society’ took a turn.

Six months ago was late August. August 2010 saw fires in Russia, Bolivia and Canada, devastating floods in Pakistan, an oil spill in China, political scandals in Denmark, Italy and the Philippines, BP getting the Deepwater Horizon well sealed, and swelling debt and economic destabilization prompting labor unrest in China, President Obama’s signing of a bill to help US States and Europe dealing with debt and (in paritcular) the further  destabilization of an already overstressed Greece.

Choose your subject – it wasn’t a pretty global month and everywhere you go this would seem to be a playing out of what happened then, whether it’s dealing with death (Scorpio) of citizens (Cancer), national (Cancer) or systemic (Aquarian) debt (Scorpio) – or the Deepwater Horizon rig blowout, which has been blogged about ad nauseum and which fits this picture pretty darn well, right down to the kite, which in having the Nodes lined up vertically is a great picture of oil drilling.

A metaphysical picture, of course.

With Eurydike entering Pisces…well, I’m not sure what to say. The mythic Eurydike martyrs herself for her lover who then can’t save her because he’s either too curious or too insecure to proverbially resist opening the oven door to see if the soufflé is actually puffing up. Of course the minute you open the door, the soufflé collapses.

Talk about your self-fulfilling prophesies! Yet that could be one of the flavors of the moment; Eurydike entering Pisces is a terribly plaintive cry of agony which would apparently be because one can’t deal with their own (bad) choices (...which strikes me as somewhere between ‘eeewwww!’ and ‘ouch!’).

Hera (internal emotional guidance) entering Aries is a pointed directive to care for our human selves and all that we hold as human about ourselves. With Lust (focus) also entering Aries, this could be some being so focused on themselves and what they want that everyone else in the area is left to fend for their own needs…or it could be a very natural (re)determination to take on what one really needs to do: I guess no one else is going to help me, so I ‘d better help myself! 

The kicker is this Medea going direct in Gemini a few hours later. Tricky, tricky….

Medea by Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (1868)

Medea’s story has her using her powers as a sorceress to help her lover Jason. She will do all and anything to save him...help him...to shower him with advantages, fair or not.

Anything!

This is a woman who would even murder her own children to be with Jason, to have him, to be able to love him.

And yet...there's this one little problem:Jason's not quite as much in love with Medea.

Thus it's rather predictable (especially since this is a Greek myth) that we come to an end of the story where Medea is...betrayed. (read: dumped)

But the real issue is not that she loved the wrong guy, but that the very power of her love for someone, in the end, destroyed her.

(I think I’m now voting for the ‘ouch’ outcome.)

Taken all together, this is a rather grand set of ruffles atop the basic Saturn-going-retrograde concept. For various reasons, we had all better get more realistic about now just what we do in life or how we handle life, but what we expect out of life.

This is about proportions, not ability. This is a picture of the grandiose on all sides being unrealistic. It applies up and down the line – from among the high and mighty to in the souls of the meagerly provided for and ignored.

Saturn is perhaps the greatest symbol of ‘leveling’ we have. And in Libra, we can get leveled, be on the level or get more level headed. All this starts with and within ourselves, no question. But it’s also about what we’re willing to work for, the reality of our standards and life and the world all around us.

Pass the pizza, please. I need to have a serious think. And yes, a slice of something before I face all that ice cream and all those scads and mounts of sprinkles.

Did I mention that Saturn is known for not just durability, but cold?

See you around the old cosmic sundae!

Mercury Goes Direct

                                                                                                                                                                    

Good news! Mercury goes direct tonight.

That's right - tonight, September 12th at 11:10 GMT.

So we've made it through another Mercury retrograde. And now all those things which have been out there  hanging, misunderstood or badly said, unanswered, unexplained and undone - they'll all begin getting straightened out. Much will get into gear instead of being blathered about. A few missing pieces will be found or begin falling into place. People will start hearing, never mind all that faux  'I'm listening!' stuff.

Not that Mercury retrograde doesn't have positive uses, mind you! Retrogrades - of any planet - though annoying, do serve a purpose. They're about getting us to reflect and catch up with ourselves. They're about solidifying gains and cutting our losses.

In this case, Mercury is going direct at 5 Virgo. Simply on the face of it, 5 Virgo falling between 0 and 9, makes it a first decan degree. And first decan degrees always refer to something physical or action-oriented. So this is about something you do or something being done, which needs doing, or which has been done...and maybe not done all that well. Maybe brilliantly, yes...but maybe not.

Occurring in the tangible earth sign Virgo, the whole 'real' and 'reality' quotient is underlined. So know the score. Deal with the facts. Opinions count less than theories, likes and dislikes or results now. This is about workability. Functionality. Does it work? Does it not work? Those are the questions du moment.

Lore on this degree is rather interesting. On one hand, 5 Virgo is spoken of as a karmic degree all about duty. So having Mercury, our metaphysical 'mover' of thought, mentality and everyday doings making its turn in/at this degree heralds a 'turn' in operative parameters...the what you're doing, how you're doing it or how you've prioritized things in your mind or life.

Note here please...this doesn't say how things are going to turn out. Nor does it indicate whether you're starting, changing, or working to perfect (or even undo or repair) something. That's all about Mercury in you personal and individual chart.

But we do know that Virgo is all about productivity and being productive. It's about tending to necessities and everything which not only builds for tomorrow, but maintains today so there is some tomorrow to build for.

Into all this now comes Drakonia, the asteroid symbol of the player, being played and game playing. Drakonia being also at 5 Virgo at the moment fuses it's meaning with that of Mercury. So maybe we need to play along? Or maybe we need to toe some line and 'play the game' by the rules? Possible. Then again, maybe we're being fooled that something needs to be done. Maybe we're even fooling ourselves!

About what? Well, again...the specifics have greatly to do with where 5 Virgo falls in your chart. But considering that Virgo is all about the real, the tangibly useful, the responsibility, the ability or skill and what's 'healthy' in every sense, that's a pretty universal place to start.

Oh, and did I mention that Niobe is also at 5 Virgo? Ah yes...Niobe, the woman whose pride in her children (her "creations") made her the object of immortal wrath.

Pride being the primal factor leading to loss here, ask yourself: have you been too proud to see something? Has a lack of pride made you unable or unwilling to see some realistic truth? Have you been kidding yourself to such a degree that like Niobe, you will draw the pointed arrows of exposure (Apollo) or instinctual reaction (Diana) to you and get 'shot down'?

Diana and Apollo Piercing Niobe's Children with their Arrows

(Jacques Louis David, 1772)

 

A last note on the defining portion of this cosmic turnstile comes from fixed/royal star Fomalhaut at 4 Pisces - which let's face it, is pretty much totally in opposition to 5 Virgo.

Very much in keeping with Pisces as a sign all about experiencing our feelings and our feelings about our own emotions, on the face of it Fomalhaut in early Pisces is a sign of cherished dreams. And yes, we all want to feel good about life.

One might say Fomalhaut stands in support of arriving at the end of our rainbows and the finding of that pot of gold (with or without the Leprechaun).

Rainbow over Grenoble, France
photograph by Remi Guillot

But like all fixed stars, Fomalhaut carries with it a warning. It warns us about corruptions. If how we go about achieving or building them is corrupt, then where Fomalhaut is concerned the grasping at the golden ring shall itself be an act of self-corruption and thus bring about a big fall. If the dream itself is corrupt, we'll end up miserably disappointed (emotionally corrupted) if and when we get what we so thought we wanted.

Or maybe even worse. Like the other great Royal Stars of Persia (Regulus, Aldebaran and Antares), to run afoul of Fomalhaut is to create such detriment to our life that we realize we would have been far better off never going after the dream to begin with.

Taken together, this Mercury-Drakonia-Niobe (opposition Fomalhaut) asks us to consider, particularly where situations of the moment elicit pride or the urge to skirt some issue ("playing") just because we don't want to face or deal with the reality of things. Ask yourself...what's really at stake here? Am I kidding myself? Am I merely heeding some secret longing? Am I perhaps being 'played'?

Any time Mercury goes direct, the days right around the station/direct point (here September 12 at 11:10 GMT) are typified by everything from feeling like time is standing still to thinking you can't cope or choose because everything's so in flux. And if you have any planet, axis or nodal point at 5 degrees of any sign (or within a couple of degrees plus or minus of 5) this station is going to be particularly intense in your world...to say nothing of the fact that Pluto's about to go direct too!

But that's another blog (and don't worry - it'll get posted soon enough!). In the meantime, in the first few days after Mercury goes direct, expect things to be sticky slow. But within a week or so, they will pick up. Often you'll get news or information pertaining to things which happened either when Mercury was just entering the shadow of its retrograde or the retrograde itself (in this case, the end of July/beginning of August).

Whatever the case there, between now and September 28th when Mercury exits current shadow(ed degrees), we will all be sorting through and taking care of matters left over (or laid aside) since that late July/early August time. Then we move on to things new, fresh and totally not-yet-conceived of.

And that's something, right? So happy Mercury direct!

Astronaut John Glenn (a modern day Gemini figure to be sure!)

enters the Friendship 7 module as part of the Gemini

space program - source: NASA

A Chip off the ol' Intel Silicon Block...!

Chip maker giant Intel is celebrating a birthday today - it's 42 years old. Having had it's 11th house of marketplace (meaning, income) just eclipsed, we can expect some changes a-comin' around the ol' digital Intel corral.

intel's Corporate Chart

One interesting thing to note about this chart is that its Sun stands conjunct Drakonia and Kallisto. Drakonia is the signature of 'playing,' 'being played' or 'being a player'...and when coupled to Antares and asteroid Child at the Nadir, that suggests a couple of things.

Child is just what you think it is. In a person's chart it can be your kids or you own childhood. But in a corporation's chart, it's far more likely to be 'about children' - either as your market or something you need to be concerned about with regards to exposure to or use of your product. 

Fixed star Antares is a symbol of all you can do/get done providing you don't get obsessed. So add child and the idea of 'player' or 'playing' in the big digital Intel world and a bunch of issues jump to mind. And let's remember - anything posed at the Nadir/IC of any chart is the thing the chart (or life of the entity/person) is 'built on.' 

Voila! This is a perfect image of Intel's importance to everything children grow up using, everything they can run afoul of while growing up, and everything Intel might do to enhance or assist their formative years.

But it's not just children, per se - it's the kid in each one of us. As much as companies like Intel want us to be fascinated with products they have a profitable part in building and bringing to market there is that problem of obsessions. Even addictions. Evidently Intel has to guard against that. Or use its chips to prevent that or provide ways for parents to guard their children against those many adult no-no's.

This last is especially apropos when we consider Kallisto in the mix. Kallisto is all about getting turned into a 'beast' before one is finally reprieved and set amongst the stars. Coming from the 11th house this implies Intel is vulnerable to being made into a 'villain' in the marketplace from time to time - even if someone uses their chips for some nefarious purpose.

Given that the Solar Eclipse of July 11th was at 19 Cancer, it not only hit both the Cancer 11th house cusp which describes Intel's reputation, income and market share (etc.)...this eclipse affects the Sun-Kallisto-Drakonia group simply because they're in this 11th house. Also in the 11th, the eclipse hit Mars (taking action), Orcus (judement for deeds done which cannot be changed) and Eurydike (sacrificing or paying the price) head on, too.

This implies Intel is taking some hit. And that it's going to continue taking a hit; there's also a Leo Venus in this 11th house and it too is connected to Drakonia. That sort of suggests stocks. Players in the market. Maybe a bad marketing ploy or defective products - something.

All and all, this is about Intel's position in the market, it's got a strong line towards the gaming side of things and let's not forget, chips aren't just about computers!

The whole of this 11th house complex being ruled by the a Taurus Moon in the 9th adds to this thought by telling us that the 'source' of whatever is going on is probably overseas. Does this point to some sort of electronic espionage? Maybe, but given this is an eclipse and thus a long-term shift, it's more likely to concern where the company is going and how they're going to profit from and by going there.

With Pluto wending its way back and forth through the 4th house of basics, 'home life' at a point where it's working over servant/servile Hebe ("what I bring to you") and Atlantis (the scary thought of having to abandon something you know) ...and with the 'what I don't really want to contend with' point (asteroid Lilith) going to be  conjuncted by Pluto early next year...that's another sign of change.

Third sign: the January 2011 Solar Eclipse is going to hit Intel's Vega/15 Capricorn 5th house cusp. And because Saturn rules Capricorn and Saturn is the premier symbol of business...well, by jove, I think we've found it.

Intel is about to make a big business move, probably involving something overseas from its US home base. Given the general emphasis on 'play' seen in the income producing 11th at the foundational IC core and the fun, film and theme park oriented 5th house to be eclipsed early next year, like as not Intel is moving ever more towards things having to do with 'entertainment.' The company is probably working behind the scenes right now on some form (or forms) of media we aren't even all that aware of. 

The world is Intel's digital oyster. Either that - or if all goes terribly wrong, Intel may get eaten like an oyster.

Why would I say that? Well, the solar chart suggests Intel is in for a very hard run for it's money. Yes, literally.

Intel - Solar Return 2010

And don't kid yourself - the company is aware of it, too.

The good news is that with Spica on the Ascendant, there is something very new and brilliant brewing. With Eris at the De-scendant, it's going to either disrupt or truly rock our world!

Will they give us even a little hint about what this is all about?

Probably yes - a hint in mid-January (2011) about things which will happen in May (when Jupiter conjuncts the Descendant of this chart).

So keep your digital ears on, and in the meantime, happy birthday to Intel! Let's hear a big digital cheer!

Do you think they're serving chocolate chip ice cream at corporate headquarters today?