Hybris enters Aquarius

 Death and the Userer 

(also known as 'Death of the Miser' and 'The Allegory of Avarice')

by Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516)

Though there isn’t all that much written about Hybris, we do know some things. The name ‘Hybris’ apparently comes from ‘hubris’ – a word which itself seems to come from the early modern French hybrid…which as a word goes back to the Latin hybrida, meaning breeding a wild boar with a domestic sow.

Since the word ‘domestic’ is in this definition, the implication is that the act is purposeful. And thus we come to the idea that hubris (and therefore Hybris) pertains to something or some act or attitude or decision which is about ‘I know better.’ It’s about a human being deciding they know what’s okay (or better) for some other form of life.

And that we know the ramifications of doing something like cross-breeding…or perhaps (to put this in a more public venue) to be using nuclear reactors for fuel generation.

This is not an argument for or against the cost of fuel or fossil fuels or anything like that. It’s just a fact – whether we’re cross-breeding species or deciding we know enough about nuclear fission to harness atomic power for electricity production, that’s saying we know. 

And Hybris is the point which tests such ideas. As it was put to me by astrologer Alex Miller, Hybris represents a point all about what we think we can get away with - which in time, comes back to bite us.

Okay, so Alex didn’t say ‘bite,’ but that’s pretty much the point.. Hybris implies a sense of pride in self…and tests whether that’s actually arrogance. Where self worth and knowledge become pride and inflated self esteem, that’s where we get into the arrogance department. That’s where we get to thinking we can get away with “breaking rules” or extending our reach beyond a point of sensible/responsible control.

That’s Hybris.

And as of 3:52am (UT/+0) on April 10th, Hybris is entering Aquarius, the sign of the incoming astrological age and the sign most associated with power generation, systems and circuits, societies and their systems (the nature of, the functionality of, the economies/economics and job/income capacities of, etc.) and the whole airy concept of fitting into one’s world – or not. Of making an effort to find where you fit in – or not. Of making a contribution to the greater society and being received/appreciated/rewarded for same – or not.

To date, there are three astrological signs with twin rulers. They’re all worldly and public and they all test our ability and willingness to find a way to live with others and our greater world in some degree of harmony.

Looking around us – even just on the big world stage – we can pretty much guess there are some problems in the works, right? And don’t think that you’re not part of it! That would be very very Hybris of you!

My point in citing the three twin-ruler signs is that the first is Scorpio, where the ‘outcome’ ruler is Pluto. And Pluto just went retrograde yesterday (you may want to peruse that post). The second is Aquarius, which Hybris is moving into…and the third twin-ruled sign is Pisces, which Neptune (outcome ruler of Pisces) just entered on April 4th.

Every sign has its challenges – no question! But with the twin-ruler signs, we have a seriously divided set of issues. The first is, did you cope with the precepts laid down by the first ruler in order to generate a good outcome? In many cases, (okay – most cases!) people “want” the qualities described by the outcome ruler at its best.

The problem is, if you jump for the carrot without having done your homework, you don’t come out with carrot cake, you come out falling flat on your face!

  The Ninth Wave (1850)

by Ivan Aivazovsky

Hybris’ entrance into Aquarius pretty much guarantees we will all be tempted to think oh, I don’t need to deal with that! It’s so not my problem! 

Beware! That you ignore will become your problem!

This is not a time to be an escapist – but we can expect some wholloping attempts to escape.

This is not a time to be a know-it-all, whether you’re for something or getting up there to say ‘I know better, they be the fool!’ sort of thing. Put not your foot in the ring lest your footing turn into quicksand!

Does this mean we should all creep around being meek? No! Quite the contrary. This is a great time for those who are actually capable so long as you don’t go overboard. (It’s also possible that not reading – or at least not believing your own press will be helpful too!)

This is a period all about moderation and honesty. That people (entities, governments, corporations, etc.) have been dishonest with us is in part, because we were willing to go along with the game. We couldn’t be bothered to get out there and stand up for balance, for propriety…even often enough for simple common sense.

People, companies, governments get away with things because other people and entities let them get away with it.

And during the couple of months that Hybris is in Aquarius, we’re going to be hearing a lot of things which put the Hybris button on the social, societal, income, profit, systemic sort of level.

Don’t just blame “them.” And don’t think it’s just “them.” We’re all likely to do a little bit of this Hybris swaggering, the Hybris trying to steal the cookies out of the cookie jar assuming no one will catch us (or be able to do anything about our having already eaten the cookie)…

But since this is Hybris, that would apparently not be true. Hybris puts the ‘comes around’ in what goes around, comes around ….so think things through.

As a celestial object, Hybris’ outer orbital reach is just shy of Jupiter. It thus falls short of understanding at a level which is ‘operationally sound’ by metaphysical definition. And since this asteroid’s inner orbital connection places it between Pallas (knowing) and Atropos (endings), this does rather describe Hybris as a celestial object which says we are starting from a place where our understanding (Pallas) actually ends (Atropos) – and because of that, we fall short of Jupiter’s greatness, though we may well be tempted to fake it, to be sure!

So how long will Hybris be in Aquarius? Well, actually for a pretty good and long time, giving us plenty of time to find the rats in the woodwork. (Or to stop being one!) With a full orbital cycle of 4.81 years, you might think that Hybris would spend just about five months in any given sign.

And that’s sort of true…but because Hybris is going to go retrograde in Aquarius, we will have Hybris in Aquarius from now until July 12, 2011 (when it retrogrades back into Capricorn) then again from November 15th until February 4th (2012) when it finally enters Pisces.

The key things to consider here (apart from the whole concept of Hybris in Aquarius) is that 5 Aquarius degree that Hybris with turn retrograde at and that it will back up to 20 Capricorn. 5 Aquarius, like every other degree of any sign which falls between 0 and 9 (in the ‘first decanate’) is about what we do. Aquarius being an air sign, this is a wide open set of concepts about what are we going to do about life and the life we live….how we go about it, the standards we hold for ourselves and others and how we all go about economic and modern-day survival. This is the idea of our life as an individual and how we as an individual relate to others around us near and far.

To think we’re better than them, or more entitled than they are? Not such a good idea, though more likely perhaps than at other times, given the nature of Hybris.

Of course, for those who have been living La Vida Entitled (or separate) this may be when you find out that you can’t any more.

5 Aquarius is specifically a degree about ability versus ego …and we know Neptune just moved into Pisces showing up all those ego vulnerabilities, right?

There is a notable ‘shock effect’ which 5 Aquarius endows, which given this is the degree of Hybris’ station/retrograde may give great pause.

That’s July.

Come mid-September, Hybris then goes direct at 20 Capricorn, a degree about things we don’t control but which we need to respond to. Here, Hybris suggests we may think it’s ‘not our job’ to respond or get into one of those ‘who are they to tell ME such-and-such’ sort of moods. There is a flexibility requested in the 20 Capricorn world which with Hybris involved suggests there’s “not enough reward” to make whatever will be at stake viable. Or yes, desirable.

That’s September’s turn to direct. Yet…. considering that Pluto will go direct a day after Hybris in September, as here it has gone retrograde a day before Hybris’ Aquarius ingress…that really does suggest these cycles – at least at this point in time – are dearly linked.

Considering that Pluto rules the outcome of Scorpio and that Scorpio is moving from the 9th house (education, foreigners, religion) of the departing Piscean Age onto the 10th house (achievement, rulership, social status, world structure, commerce) of the incoming Aquarian Age, one can pretty much bet the word “power” applies across the board, whether it’s atomic, electrical, commercial, military, governmental or any other kind of power.

The message of Hybris would be (part one): beware. And (part two): don’t just sit there, do something about it – not just for yourself or in terms which will benefit you first, last and always, either!