October’s 0 Scorpio Solar Eclipse (Pt. 2: that ‘Other’ eclipse)

The partial solar eclipse of March 29, 2006 (at 8 Aries) as photographed by Szczery

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Every time we get into ‘eclipse season’ we run through the stats on eclipse duration and such - the answer there being 3 years for solar eclipses and 3 months for lunar eclipses, give or take your having a birthday within five days of an eclipse event (in which case there will be thematic echoes of the eclipse throughout your ‘birthday year’).

And despite all the up-front drama which tends to cluster around eclipses (which I’m guessing we’ve all noticed this year)... with all the chaos and upheaval which sweeps through at the time of any eclipse, there are thousands of years of lore which say that in the long run (that being the operative and imperative term: long run) events of today will ultimately prove beneficial in the evolutionary sense - most of all to those who experience upheaval/s at this time.

Those changes - be they a change of heart or a new opportunity - will begin to occur or formulate somewhere around the two-and-a-half year mark after the original eclipse (our ‘Now’). And despite whatever we may think, we do NOT know what those changes will be except for the fact that whatever happens in the future can only happen because of what we’re going through now.

Just don’t connect the two. It’s natural to think that the two things might be connected - and indeed they may end up being ‘in theme’ as it were. Such ‘eventualities’ often show us precisely what we can gain because we have gone through some sort of giving up of something, whether that’s physical, financial, mental/theoretical or otherwise... and in that are probably part of our overall maturation as human beings, a process which teaches us both to try and to accept, stressing those lessons we need individually.

Not that we like them, of course. But in terms of what we need to learn in the whole of our lives...? Yes, they’re probably needed.

And therefore we get...’eclipsed.’

That said, eclipses - like most things celestial and astrological - have a certain rhythm. In the case of eclipses, we get two ‘eclipse seasons’ a year, which means they happen around every six (6) months.

And that means any given eclipse is really two processes, not just one mega-complicated test of gut, endurance and ability-vs.-inability to focus.  The first process is the one we talk about most often: the eclipse as a focal point in time which is evolutionary in that it represents something which both dismantles and regenerates our life or life around us - the former happening (astrologically) when the eclipse aspects our chart.

But the second process is just as important. It represents that which you’re coming to be aware of now which in some way you couldn’t have gotten to or arrived at if you were still who you were (or where you were) two-and-a-half years ago.

That’s right...that eclipses happen approximately six months apart means that the ‘twist’ on an eclipse already past occurs in tandem with current eclipse effects.

No wonder things get weird, right?

This varies a bit, as when you get down to the nitty versus gritty of it all as eclipses cycle backwards through the year - which makes technical/astrological sense when we remember that eclipses occur when a full or new moon occurs within fifteen degrees of the lunar nodes and they cycle backwards through the zodiac. Add to that the subtle but pervasive iffy quality of a calendar with months of various lengths and what you come out with (after a deal of sitting with eclipse tables) is how most such two-and-a-half-year marks will fall just after a current eclipse season - though I’m not willing to chisel that in concrete and this isn’t the moment to hand-check a hundred years of eclipse cycles.

Still, what this amounts to is an interesting concept: namely that the pre-(solar)-eclipse ‘breaking down’ period is about the current eclipse - meaning in this moment the eclipsing of 0 Scorpio and our ability or willingness to recognize that what life is ‘bringing home’ to us is meant to provoke deeply personal feelings and emotions of vulnerability not so that we can fight about it (or against it) but so that we can ask ourselves how we came to be who we are, and whether that’s valid or (quite possibly) the product of a different time, a time and perspective which is no longer valid.

Scorpio is never “about” them. It’s always about us. The reason we should understand this is simple: it’s our chart and our life.

As for that secondary eclipse, if that eclipse comes into the last half-cycle of its process (at the two-and-a-half-year point) in the wake of eclipse season, then the “opportunity” we associate with with an eclipse which is ‘aging out’ of its transit cycle is also something which buoys us through the natural period of vulnerability letting go of whatever it is being currently ‘eclipsed,’ be it a notion, a relationship, some course of action or conviction - whatever we have been under pressure from, about or because of over these past two months.

That becomes our opportunity - and a worthy explanation of why this 'turn' in any given tale of any eclipse ends up being, or focusing on something generally at a tangent to events which we began with. After all, now we're dealing with a Scorpio eclipse. But back then?

That eclipse...the one which occurred two-and-a-half years ago was at 0 Gemini. It occurred during May 2012 and the blog post (for those who care to traipse back in time) would be this one:

- link to post -

0 Gemini Solar Eclipse of May 20, 2012

Perhaps you’re looking at that ‘0 Gemini’ notion now and thinking... ‘Does it matter that the 2012 eclipse and this 2014 eclipse are both at zero degrees of respective signs?’

Answer: exactness always matters in astrology, mostly because degrees function like frequencies. So when any aspect (or transit) is exact, that’s like a radio station getting perfectly tuned in. It’s louder. It’s stronger! If you’re off the mark, there’s static - which in this case would be confusion, distraction, things being up in the air or unknown. And once you get the station tuned in, all becomes clear.

No, you may not like the song being played - but at least it’s clear while being clearly awful.

The current eclipse being (about to be) in Scorpio, Gemini is the eighth derivative sign from this eclipse, just as seen the other way around, Scorpio is the sixth derivative sign from Gemini.

Eighth sign derivations area always about transformations. They’re also intrinsically Scorpionic by nature, which by implication ‘doubles up’ on the potential to create/experience change now, whether that manifests through some effort to do something or your effectiveness/ability to get where you want to go in life, all of which we learn about through an intense course of effort and reflection.

Eighth sign also derivations speak of emotional ‘check points’ - meaning this eclipse season we’re in (the Aries lunar eclipse plus the Scorpio solar eclipse) may signal a challenge to something you have been working on or towards since May 2012. Or perhaps you now find yourself going (or needing to go) in more than one direction - a fact which tests you emotionally (which is to say through a test of self-confidence and self-determination emblematic of this October’s Scorpio solar eclipse) or mentally (referring to the 2012 Gemini eclipse).

The above is the eclipse map not for the 2014 solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio, but the solar

eclipse at 0 Gemini which occurred back in May, 2012. Unlike the eclipses for this year

(2014) this eclipse back in 2012 was a total eclipse and therefore has a central line of

totality (in red) which is different from the total expanse of the eclipse (marked off with

two vertical blue lines) where the eclipse would be visible in part, but not in its totality.

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That two eclipse signals would be in an exact one-hundred-fifty inconjunct signals various ‘adjustments’ and adjusting to realities which began being (Gemini) ‘thought/talked of’  back then and which is now being revealed to be something other, indicating the need to ‘adjust’ one’s thinking and/or manner of addressing issues (or others). Testing times and finding out about slips, cracks and soft spots in our own sense of ‘feeling secure’ - whether that has anything at all to do with the reality of personal security - would be common during a time like this. And some will, make no mistake, thrive on this energy even if that act of thriving gets them nowhere or undermines their own interest.

Yes, such are the gifts of eighth sign harmonics. And Scorpio, if truth be told.

Others will take it upon themselves to take their Self in knowing...or at least ‘willing to know’ hand. And let’s not be too unhappy here as there is much progress to be made now, even if some of it will take a while. Scorpio is a sign which never rushes. Or at least it does better when it stops to consider without solidifying on the spot. Like it’s polarity partner Taurus, Scorpio is fairly well known for digging in an resisting simply because something isn’t their idea - at least initially. That quality - that(Scorpio) ability-and-willingness to react in one direction then ‘adjust’ to another once all the reactions and feelings get sorted out - is part and parcel of this dynamic too. Scorpio energies always incite emotionality while challenging us to get past that emotion to an act or choice at least driven by thought and not emotion. 

Are we capable of getting past the pluses and minuses of our ego strengths?

Will we are able (and willing) to create alliances and grow opportunities which are not necessarily based on similarities with others but on the capacity to unite in terms of just the goal? Or because something which could be created would be a decided “total which is more than the sum of its parts”?

Some will, some won’t. Eighth sign dynamics always achieve their greatest gains through acting, not relying not on control, but its certainly not easy. After all, even when eighth harmonic energetics don’t indicate mortal threat they tend to stir up insecurities and floating questions which make us feel vulnerable even when we aren’t. Why? Because that’s another side of eighth sign harmonics. Wherever we see active inconjuncts we know there’s an ability... maybe even a propensity to make  emotional mountains out of molehills - sometimes all by ourselves with regards to our Self.

And that may or may not be part of the problem. Given how the gravity of the Sun - despite its massive size - is less ‘apparent’ to us here on Earth than that of our tide-producing Moon, it’s not surprising that the solar eclipse which metaphysically seems so ‘aimed’ at getting us to change our life begins through our more ‘fluid’ or emotional nature.

A lot of the walls have been torn down. We have a chance to be, become and change in response to our world, our times and (evidently rather importantly), our ability and willingness to use our (Gemini) ability to think, choose, organize and prioritize.

What we do with all that moving forward...? Well, that’s pretty much up to us. While Gemini is always about our world (life as we experience it in our mind), Scorpio is about the world - that which we share and which through creating, we ultimately bring upon our Self.
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Polyhymnia Direct

When I first saw this image it occurred to me what sculptors mean when they talk about
'liberating a form from a stone' ...the above being a photograph of August Rodan's 1901 work,
'La Pensee' (The Thinker), currently housed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
(photographer unknown)

In addition to waving a flag of reminder that Mercury will be leaving Scorpio (by retrograde) and re-entering Libra on the 11th at 5:28 in the afternoon (UT/+0 time), there’s also a little matter of asteroid Polyhymnia going direct.

When is it going direct? On October 11th (UT/+0) at 6:05 in the evening...which means its station 'allowance' began on the 9th and extends through October 13th.

As one of the Greek Muses, you might be thinking that Polyhymnia would be all sweetness, giggles and light. But if you were thinking that, you’d be wrong. Though attributed with all the standard 'muse-type' qualities of being poetic and creative, Polyhymnia is also always described as rather serious...even pensive. And these are qualities we see reflected in Polyhymnia in the natal chart and by transit, where it's combination of 'creativity' and 'serious nature' points to matters which we are taking seriously (or which we need to take seriously) which require something more of us than some boiler plate or stock-pat-well-rehearsed knee jerk answer.

This is not a moment for glossing over anything. Nor is it a time for being flip as Polyhymnia being on station is going to cause others to take you (or what you're putting out there) rather seriously even if you're only having a bit of fun.

Moreover, in going direct at 13 Pisces, Polyhymnia is going to be doing its ‘turnabout’ in a perfect conjunction with Chiron, symbolizing a theme concerning something we need to be or which we will be/become [Polyhymnia] creative with or about - be that by our own choice, or because something or someone has inspired us.

However... (you knew there was a catch, right?)... whatever it is we need to contend with is something we don’t know how to do - or at least that’s our feeling on the subject.

That’s the Chiron part of the thing. Chiron always tests our ability (and willingness) to ‘govern’ our Self instead of letting passions rule our attitude, choices and actions - and Chiron subjects are particularly ironic as they’re rather classically of the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ variety. Not out of lack of caring or some sort of arrogance, mind you, but because Chiron points to something we understand in someone else’s hands, but haven’t clue one about when left on our own with exactly the same challenge.

Chiron acts a bit like a mental blind spot. And yet we aren’t really blind in that department, we just don’t know how to do ‘it.’ And the strange thing about this is that the thing we lack - the knowing how to do - is exactly the point of any Chirotic exercise as the ‘solution’ to Chiron problems is found in the doing.

You know... doing that thing you don’t know how to do.

Now there is some chance that Polyhymnia going direct in absolute conjunction with Chiron will signal some serious reflection and from there, some tackling or taking on of worthwhile efforts. Given 13 Pisces is the ‘lens’ through which events/actions will tend/need to function, we are not alone in our efforts, either - which is not saying there’s any ‘partner’ or anything like that, though there may be. But more than that, there’s an aura of interactivity here which which it could refer to our dealing with some choice or consequence rooted in the past is probably far more importantly connected to something in present-day events and times.

Sholem Aleichem crater on Planet Mercury

(photo credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics lab,

Carnegie Institute of Washington, January 2008)

Already in retrograde, Mercury will have re-entered Libra about a day in advance of Polyhymnia's station, which makes the first part of the station period more Scorpionic, emotional and reflective of joined or joint values, which the naming of this year's Nobel Peace Prize winners certainly reflects as the award symbolizes what people jointly value in what others have done (which is essential Scorpio energy in action). And yes, the reasons why the award was given to the people it was given to also fits the Scorpio description, with the point being that once Mercury does retrograde back into Libra (on October 10th at 5:28 in the evening, UT/+0 time) whatever happens, whatever is reflected on in world/worldly affairs around us or in our life will be more Libran.

Libra reflects what we think of others, what others think of us, what thoughts, choices, actions and representations work or don't work. Libra is an air sign. Scorpio, being a water sign is about how we feel as we interact with deal with others and issues in our world. And what's interesting about these two signs is how interwoven they really are. This may be your Polyhymnia thought for the day (or not), but one of the premier tricks of the trade (astrological trade, that would be) with Libra and Scorpio is to remember how their 'solutions' are most easily found through using the attribute of the other.

In other words, wherever interactions promote or provoke Scorpio emotionality, its exactly the kind of coolly rational thinking Libra is so known for which assists in making all those important choices. And in Libra - the rational air sign that it is - thinking emotionally and thinking about emotionality on both (or all sides) of any situation is essential and the more 'equal' you can be about it, the better.

Mind you, Libra's 'equal' does not mean 'identical.' With any of the signs from the 3rd quadrant (Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius) assuming that values or notions or aims or needs-desires-longings are identical nearly always brings about a defeat or other kind of setback or delay. So just as Libra stands for the appreciation or outrage we associate with whether someone else thinks about our feelings and aims (etc.) is natural - and generally classed by us as necessary - so too do we have to think about others in any and all Libra situations.

Apart from Mercury's retrograding back into Libra as a force for considering, reconsidering, investigating and negotiating, two other things will be happening as Polyhymnia makes its turn. The first concerns the Sun, which at 19 Libra is conjuncting the lunar North Node, spelling a day of weighing  options which in the end (either on this date or down the line) lead to the sorts of choices which necessarily come with a 'price tag' of effort and dedication of a particularly focused type. Plus, since the North Node always stresses a 'needed or necessary relationship,' these days are unlikely to be unaffected by others.

The other transit-of-the-moment concerns Venus (in Libra) and Uranus (in Aries) coming into opposition in respective signs. Often simply regarded as an indicator of fancy, fad, flings and frivolousness, we don't often think of anything permanent coming from a combination like this, though certainly the effects of Uranian 'break through' energies and the Venus drive to create/bring things into being which provide benefit (with the selfishness/selflessness of such aim/s being defined by sign-placement-aspect of natal Venus) may play out over some time to come.

Venus/Uranus tends towards sudden, impulsive actions. Sometimes that can open a door, though with Mercury in retrograde any door which opens will benefit from thorough understanding and a healthy side helping of patience with an eye to dealing with problems, challenges and efforts creatively.

Against that however, are we even capable of patient perseverance at this time? Is there some valid need to (Venus/Uranus) raise a flag, pitch a fit or otherwise abandon normalcy in the name of who we are or aren't to others and thus (Libra) who they are or aren't to us? Reflecting on just this much may well be worthwhile providing we are willing to be creative with our thinking and how we approach the Polyhymnia-Chiron challenge to stop 'knowing' what's wrong with someone else (and how they go about doing/not doing things) in favor of dealing with a highly similar (Chirotic) challenge in our own life.

The solar eclipse of March 29, 2006 (at 8 Aries) as photographed from near Manavgat, Turkey

(photo credit: Michael Zapf, 2006)

Are we willing to move beyond our own comfort zone? Considering the proximity of this Chiron/Polyhymnia station to the October 23rd Scorpio solar eclipse in a moment when Chiron/Polyhymnia is in sextile with Scorpio's 'outcome ruler' (Pluto, which is in this moment positioned at 11 Capricorn)... we are in a position from which we can see...or sense at least part of our future.

The problem is we don't like it very much. Some of us don't like that future because it will take so much effort to get there. Some of us won't like that future (even though we've had a hunch on just this topic for some time now) because it requires letting go of or 'updating' some facet, factor or operational standard from the past.

Either way, is that any reason to not create the inevitable with a trace of our input in the mix?
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a Lunar Eclipse at 15 Aries...and other things

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hebe by Antonio Canova (c 1800-1805)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why not?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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