Hades (Pluto) - by Agostino Carracci (1592)
It’s a deep and far-reaching concept that Pluto would go retrograde at 7 Capricorn…and not just in the sense of how much emphasis that puts on a degree known for jealousy, owned and projected. There’s a definite stress associated with 7 Capricorn. It tends to surfaces in and through relationships where one party covets a level of attachment to something or someone which is purely in, and of their mind.
Pluto taking station at 7 Capricorn spells a moment either of ‘outcome’ – the result of such an obsession – or the revelation that such an obsession existed, and maybe why.
Where it is exposed, there will be a cost. Where it is eliminated, there will be a reckoning with the Capricorn ‘structures of enduring structures’ – or one’s ability to have faith that any “such structure” can viably exist.
In exact opposition to this position – at 7 Cancer – is a fixed star named Mirzam. Known in ancient times as ‘the Announcer,’ Mirzam represents the ‘bringing of information’ which may be vital…and yet which may also be the very revelation we’ve just discussed: that the thing which has been obsessed about is either not what you think it is, not worth the effort, or not anything you would want, given what it’s shown up to be in the hard light of honest reality.
The opposition here would also seem to underscore the possibility of learning that we’ve been played. Even outplayed. How we may even have been not dealt with as real…but rather as a pawn in someone’s personal fantasy which in the end was all about them.
To make this all a little more curious is the fact that Pluto is going retrograde at 7 Capricorn, just shy of a fixed star named Facies at 8 Capricorn – a degree known for an aloofness which in human terms can either grant great perspective or describe a painful indifference to others which in extremes could be highly problematic.
Facies is not actually a fixed star, though it tends to be classed as such in astrological lists. Astronomically, it’s a nebula – a “messier,” number 22, to be exact.
Facies, also known as Messier 22
photo credit: Hewholooks (June 2009, photo cropped to center)
To those into numbers, 22 is an interesting one – an extenuation of bridge number 11 which marks the transition between the common perspective on our own individual life and the ability to see all of life from a higher perspective. By implication, 22 (as in: 2 x 11 = 22) is the duality of 11, implying the seeing of all life from ‘out there’ – which is quite in keeping with the ‘removed’ quality of Facies.
Known as a perpetrator of violence or the victim of same (and disturbingly, sometimes both), connections to Facies stir up energies ruthless and/or aggressive; symbols within 5 degrees of this position, especially if challenged by difficult aspects, often describe exposure to, or an ability to be a source of all such qualities – voiced through that position or point of the chart.
And let’s remember: all points exist in all charts. Facies is obviously not our most pleasant energy, but we do far better to own and acknowledge it than not. I’ve known people who embodied it and people whose charts showed them in total denial of this energy – to the point that you try to talk to them about violence in this world and they’ll get angry at you for doing so, shutting anyone down with all the ruthlessness of Facies.
Remember, this is not a star, this is a nebula: a whole group of stars – one described as being at a ‘bulge’ in the Milky Way’s galactic organization.
Cropped from a larger NASA diagram - M22 (Facies) and our
own Sun as part of the Milky Way
image credit: NASA
Messier 22 is also one of but a few nebula which have already been identified containing planets. There’s also the idea that 32 of its stars have also been identified as variable – meaning their light waxes and wanes on a cyclic basis. This would be in keeping with the fact that not even the worst of all human monsters is a monster in every moment of the day.
And yes, that’s what makes them sometimes so much more disturbing…that nice person next door who waves at you while trimming the roses, even those you think you know dearest and nearest…
…who among us really knows anyone else?
This seems to be somewhat behind Facies’ quality. There is an issue almost of betrayal with this energy –a ‘right’ to do what one wants to do because if you can’t know anything for real, what’s the point?
So Pluto is going retrograde right in the face of Facies. Certainly a 1 degree orb is enough to ‘elicit’ Facies energies.
Anything else we need to know?
(Like that’s not enough?)
Well, sure. For one, Pluto goes retrograde at 7 Capricorn, creating, exacerbating or obliterating all that jealousy stuff. 7 Capricorn is all about the need to learn detachment. 8 Capricorn (Facies) has too much.
It’s a teeter-totter.
Pluto will be in retrograde until mid-September (2011). When it goes direct, it will be at 4 Capricorn, meaning it will cross 5 Capricorn – the degree it went retrograde at back in April 2010 – come October-into-November 2011.
If you’re someone whose life made a great turn back in April 2010, this is something to pay attention to; that process has not yet reached its conclusion.
As for 8 Capricorn, Pluto will enter that degree in the latter part of January, 2012 and given retrograde patterns not be done transiting Facies/8 Capricorn until September, 2013.
This all may be a clue about what our future holds. There’s so much turmoil in our world…some is an out-and-out bloodbath, some is political, some is human-caused or simply natural.
There are world wars, and there is the idea that the world could be at war with itself. We may learn a lot about this – and the difference between these two ideas – during the period when Pluto is transiting 8 Capricorn.
But that isn’t now. Right now Pluto is going retrograde 8:49am (UT/+0) at a position which is going to be opposed by this July's Solar Eclipse at 9 Cancer.
That makes this moment look like an opportunity - or a warning, depending on how we use it.
Of course to use it will, we'll have to come face to face which who we really are - as people. And that’s often the hardest thing any of us ever do.
And thus, what we are most tempted to avoid.
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