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Sunday, January 16, 2011

Astro-Factors (WE0122): Haumea, Mercury, Atlantis, Rhadamanthus, Niobe, Athena and Atropos



Europa and the Bull by Walentin Alexandrowitsch Serow (1910). Carried off by Zeus/Jupiter (knowledge) fair mortal Europa became the mother of Rhadamanthus, emblem of consequence and the realization that what is done is done.


Back when I worked in movies, as a key accountant I did a lot of payroll. (Make that a LOT of payroll!) The week ending date was always Saturday.

It’s an orientation which obviously has stayed with me, years and years after I left off going out on location to participate in Production Wars. (And anyone who knows movie production will laugh, but nod. Movie production is it’s own little feisty kind of war!)

So that’s the “WE” thing – it stands for Week Ending.

That now explained, we get to the list of some pieces of celestial clockwork for WE0122 which aren’t going to get individual blogs. Some will be noted in blogs on different subjects on the days given, but I wanted to give these items their own little spotlight of definition.

Going into this, all times given are Universal Time (UT/+0) so adjust as needed to fit your local zone…!



January 16 (7:12pm): Haumea goes retrograde at 18 Libra At 7:12 pm on January


January 17: Mercury exits its December retrograde shadow


January 19 (12:08pm): Atlantis goes retrograde at 2 Libra


January 20 (3:41am): Radamanthus goes retrograde at 20 Libra


January 21 (1:01pm): Niobe moves out of Libra and into Scorpio

January 21 (5:41pm): Athena leaves Pisces and enters Aries


January 22 (11:11pm): Atropos finishes transiting Scorpio and enters Sagittarius



So this all starts with Haumea. The mythic Haumea is a Hawaiian goddess of creation, fertility and childbirth (or ‘giving birth to’ things, if you will). Mother of fiery, strict, and even somewhat vengeful goddess Pele, one of Haumea’s ‘tricks’ is that she shape-shifts, turning herself into something younger in order to ‘get with’ (take that any way you want…!) her own ‘creations.’

Apparently this habit of ‘manipulating’ that which you have created to suit your own ends is not popular: Haumea is eventually killed by a fellow god who won’t put up with her shenanigans.

The astronomical Haumea is a dwarf planet which orbits way, way out there in the Kuiper Belt…beyond Neptune, and beyond that ‘Neptune control zone’ in which orbits Pluto, Ixion, Huya and the non-Neptune-affected Chaos….which is a little lesson to us all, namely that fantasies, imagination, ideals and dreams are one thing. They’re Neptunian. Chaos – the unending void filled everlastingly with potential – is not a dream.

The mythological Haumea’s ‘shape-shifting’ habits are expressed celestially by how egg-shaped the 283.28 year-long orbit of this dwarf planet really is. At it’s farthest, it’s way out there at about 51.54 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun: beyond Neptune’s influence. But at it’s nearest, Haumea is at 34.721 AU…which is not all that far beyond Neptune’s 30.441 AU orbit.

What that means is that in the process of orbiting, Haumea sort of 'draws a circle around’ (encompasses) the orbits of a specific number of other celestial objects…such as Chaos (potential). Such as Ixion (entitlement). Such as emotionally transformative Pluto, moral center searching Deucalion, fair minded TNO Rhadamanthus, discordant Eris, vengeful Nessus and primal Typhon – just to pluck from a rather extensive list!

Astrologically, we can expect that these different Kuiper Belt objects give us pictures of Haumea’s ‘shape shifting’…which is more or less a picture of how we change, how our lives ‘get shaped’ by things with which we are confronted as we make our way through life.

And this is exactly the metaphysics of Kuiper Belt bodies. We don’t control them; the attributes ‘appear’ in our life at moments then ‘disappear’ back out into the realm of ‘yeah, we know they’re there, but …’ It’s the ‘out of sight, out of mind sort of thing.’ Except that out of mind doesn’t mean out of solar system or life!

From all of this we can deduce that Haumea (a point discovered in 2004 which needs far more study!) …we can deduce that Haumea is about creating something new in moments when so prompted by life. 

Those who have important chart positions between 13 and 23 Libra, Aries, Capricorn or Cancer (or 16 and 20 in either Pisces or Taurus) are going to feel Haumea’s shift to retrograde most acutely. That Saturn is at 17 Libra is a not-so-subtle hint that limitations and/or issues of responsibility are upon you! Haumea making this turn to retrograde (internal reflection) conjunct Drakonia is a comment on play, being played and ‘playing around.’ Time to put that aside, perhaps?


As Mercury then exits the shadow of its December retrograde come January 17th, expect news, important conversations or moments of situational stress, all courtesy of the Moon moving through oppositional Cancer.

That Mercury is in a sign ruled by that same Saturn involved in the whole Haumea shift suggests that the days between January 14 and 18 (mostly towards the 18th) are a whole process of taking on that which needs to be dealt with. Mercury being in Capricorn also means this is not a time to temporize – those who do will find themselves confronted by difficulties down the line.


Come the 19th, Atlantis goes retrograde at 2 Libra. Atlantis is a main belt asteroid which is about letting go of what we are so sure is what we want so that we can find what we actually need – and through that actually come to be happier, more secure and more content than we ever could have imagined. That Atlantis’ orbit crosses that of assertive Mars tells us just how hard this is for us to do. And this is a cycle – we go through this process about every 3.3 years.

Boy, it’s hard being human, isn’t it?

That Atlantis is going retrograde in connection with the largest black hole currently known to science (the enormous M87 at 1 Libra) AND that primal, instinctively desirous Typhon is sitting at 1 Libra… this is a whole challenge. Black holes are ‘alternate realities.’ So is this something you ‘could see working?’ or is this some dream? Or are you trying to hold onto some reality which isn’t really as good as you think it is? Are you just holding onto something because you know what it is?

Because Libra is ruled by Venus and Venus is currently at 12 Sagittarius conjunct Chaldea (and Antares at 10 Sag) there’s a distinct chance that someone – maybe you – are insisting that something HAS to be some certain way or the world is going to end literally or figuratively.

Is it? That’s a central question. Considering the 19th is also the date of a Full Moon (which we will talk about then) it’s definitely a moment when convictions and desires run high.

Does that make them right? No, not necessarily. And yes, that would be a good part of the ‘sorting out’ challenge here.


Continuing on with this Libra question of who we are in this world determines how the world treats us, TNO Rhadamanthus goes retrograde on January 20th.

Another Kuiper Belt denizen, Rhadamanthus is one of those Greek characters with one immortal parent (Zeus/Jupiter) and one earthy mortal parent – a handy way of referencing someone who stands at the line between the Reality of Now and something else.

In Rhadamanthus’ case, that ‘something else’ is judgment – which given the Venus in Sagittarius modifier/rulership of Libra brings in a definite vibe of ‘what is right’ which may or may not be the same thing as ‘what is moral.’

With Rhadamanthus at 20 Libra, we know the question is ‘does that work? Will others accept it and respond well to it?’ which has all sorts of venues and ramifications, to be sure!

But the magic point is that Rhadamanthus – in particular – is the figure which meets us at death and who conveys us to the moment of judgment. Given that myth is not necessarily ‘action specific,’ the idea of “death” here is for most is metaphorical; the reference is to something already done which cannot now be changed. It’s ‘over.’ The decision has been made, the contract signed, the money spent – something.

Rhadamanthus going retrograde is thus – like all retrogrades, a moment where we internalize the cost or results of something we have done. That this ‘turn’ of events happens at 20 Libra means we are not in control of what happens now – it comes to us from external sources…more on which will be posted come the 20th.


Niobe moving out of Libra into Scorpio as Athena moves into Aries on the 21st makes this all a little more complicated as we are confronted with the realities of
where our needs meet those of others. Much to our surprise, things exist we have never thought of and even more shocking, other people have concerns which test our ability to recognize the difference between necessity, desire and personal comfort.


Will we give up self-focus in favor of a focusing on what can benefit us in the long run by taking a bigger point of view than that we are used to into account?

That’s the question asked as Atropos moves out of Scorpio into Sagittarius. The question here is not what others will respond to, but what is actually functional.

The ‘theory of the thing’ which we have been so involved in over whatever period of time…that gives way to a recognition that there is more we can make of ourselves.

And that all we have to do is learn how to do it…or how to get ourselves to do it.

Sense a little Jupiter in the mix? You should, as this is a big transition day for Jupiter, which Atropos is serving as a marker for, saying now something gets ‘cut off.’

Hopefully, like a plant, this is just a little pruning, which leads to greater growth and much personal flowering…you know, down the road.

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