Chryses visits Agamemnon to Ransom his daughter Chryseis (4th century)
photo credit: Habib M'henni (Oct 2010)
As asteroid Agamemnon crosses the line into Cancer at 35 minutes past midnight on May 16th, several things take hold…in our world, and as affects our outlook.
For one, this is Agamemnon moving into the sign of what will be July’s solar eclipse. We saw this trend begin back in April…first with Medea entering Cancer on April 23rd then with Psyche entering Cancer on April 25th (LINK to 4/25 Blog Post). Given that solar eclipses tend to give us a 6-8 week period prior to occurrence when issues concerning that sign get challenged, become challenging or seem to shift entirely, April would seem a little early when you’re talking about a solar eclipse which will happen July 1st.
But considering that Psyche represents our mind and the innate awareness of self?
And considering not just that Medea is the sort of fixation which can cause us to do totally irrational things but actually undermine our cause – and that Medea’s entrance into Cancer occurred at a moment when Mercury was not just on station going direct, but doing so in opposition to Saturn…?
If life was a story plot we’d call this a ‘foreshadowing device,’ as this time was surely an echo of things to come. For you, the ‘echo’ may be emotional. For some it might have been situational. And for many, this entire April through July period is going to be one giant headache.
As we came into May, Medusa (fear of knowing) entered Cancer. And now here comes Agamemnon. So now we have Psyche (awareness of our mind) plus Medea (loving to distraction/destruction), Medusa (fear of knowing/fearful knowledge) and Agamemnon (stubborn insistence) all in Cancer. That sounds a lot like mental digging-in activity, particularly when we consider that in moving into Cancer, Agamemnon (and all the rest of the points mentioned in this regard) have moved from the ‘personally pro-active’ side of the zodiac into the ‘responsive-receptive’ hemisphere zone.
So adding all those things together, we are either aware of things which make us stubbornly self-limiting (even destructive) or we are becoming aware that there are things which we’ve been clinging to stubbornly which in the end are (or have become) limiting or undermining of our actual aims.
Such matters and realizations may be person. They could be global or societal. Or they could be a grandly dislikeable combination of both.
Also to remember here is that this is so not just about you! Cancer is the first of the water signs. As such, it got a whole ‘instinctive’ quality to it which feels very ‘me-ish.’ But when we’re talking mundane (global) astro-doings, it pays to remember that everyone is going through a version of this. It isn’t just you!
In fact, that others are going through all this stuff? That may be contributing to your questions, challenges and general sluggishness in achieving productive aims.
A lot of things say much is about to change however. The first would be that this moment – the ‘today’ of it all (May 16, 2011) is one day shy of a Full Moon. So while things are cranking up to ‘full,’ there’s this screwing down into ‘personal’ mode… which may or may not be productive. Considering how the May’s Full Moon will be (as it always is) in Scorpio, the real question is not what you want (even if you’d like that to be the question!) …the real question is how your positions work for everyone else, near and far.
Just to make this a little more exciting, asteroid Eros is also crossing into Aries today. Given that it’s doing so at 2:43 in the afternoon (UT/+0), that means it’s at a full-press maximally evocative 29 degrees of Pisces when Agamemnon hits Cancer.
That tell us that the first part of the day is distinctly emotional and centered-on-self quality. Whether or not it’s actually self-centered…? That depends on you (and where 29 Pisces, Eros and/or Agamemnon are in your natal chart). But rather universally, this would be a moment when emotions are getting provoked or evoked. It isn’t likely to be a cool-as-a-cucumber moment.
But let’s also remember – these are not planets, these are asteroids we are talking about. And considering that asteroids such as Eros and Agamemnon reside in the asteroid belt which orbits between Mars and Jupiter, what this all represents is a learning about self and life. Where planets are modes and ‘personal realities,’ asteroids represent all those things we meet up with on a periodic basis in various forms as part of our daily, normal life.
It’s just when we see them in clumps – and there are great clumps of asteroids – that does tend to emphasize a greater ‘learning curve theme’ that everybody is going through. At the moment there is a huge grouping of asteroids in Taurus, Gemini and Cancer, with less populated clusters strewn through Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn…
….which pretty distinctly pictures two sides of the picture, the problem, the coin, the issue, the debate – and all the other merry forms such pro/con, you/me, us/them, private/public (etc.) things can take.
And let’s not forget – TNO Orcus just went direct in Virgo. That ‘TNO’ designation telling us that Orcus – unlike Agamemnon, Psyche, Medusa, Medea, Eros and countless others…Orcus is not merely a TNO, Orcus is a Dwarf Planet. So as an astrological descriptor, it “outranks” an asteroid. Thus our experience of Orcus effects represent our meeting up with asteroid effects – not the other way around.
TNO's (standing for Trans Neptunian Objects) are things beyond our ‘knowing’ …except when they happen, that is. Japan’s catastrophic experience of a Godzilla earthquake meeting up with a Mothra tsunami causing the mother of all nuclear plant malfunctions is something of this ilk. Those events – signaled by Neptune and Uranus both being at 29 degrees of respective signs for but a couple of days (during which the earthquake and tsunami happened) is causal. That’s a planetary signal.
But the consequences which must be dealt with down the line? That would be Orcus – and that Orcus is a TNO says such consequences are unbidden and unexpected: they just happen.
In a sense yes, we are all of this Planet Earth and therefore what happens in Japan and affects the ocean there (which is connected to all the rest of the oceans)…that’s global. The consciousness is global. But Orcus is a Dwarf Planet (smaller scale shift of dynamic) which in turning direct in Virgo yesterday puts us on notice that things will happen (direct motion: things happen, we react to or interface with them)….and that they are consequences or consequential.
Into all this comes Damocles the swaggering courtier. Damocles had no idea why his king was always so worried. From where he stood (i.e., on the sidelines) the king’s job looked simple.
But jobs which entail a great deal of responsibility (especially where others are concerned) and which have serious potential to create lasting ‘ripple effects’ (i.e., consequences)…they just aren’t so simple. And that’s the point of the Damocles story. His king gets sufficiently irritated with his scoffing courtier to offer Damocles the job of king-for-a-day… and it’s only when Damocles sits down in the throne that he notices a sword poised – point down – directly over his head, representing all the possibilities of dangers which come with the job of king.
The Sword of Damocles by Wenceslas Hollar (1607-1677)
As Damocles goes retrograde today at 4:40pm (UT+0) at 22 Aquarius, we are all reminded that some things aren’t as simple as they look. Damocles is a comet, too – not a planet, dwarf planet or asteroid. Comets have long been thought of as messengers which ‘bring news from afar’ – and that’s certainly one way to look at them. Another way is to think in terms of what their orbits really are.
In the case of Damocles, the other orbital point is at 22.1au – just beyond ‘breakthrough’ planet Uranus. It’s inner orbital point (the perihelion point) is at 1.58au…which places it in a region to do a do-si-do with Mars, given that Mars aphelion it at 1.6658au and its perihelion is at 1.381au.
Mars symbolizing the ‘initiator’ of action and activity in life, this seems rather apt – the whole Damocles story is about learning whether we should or shouldn’t do something (that kingly job). And learning what it takes to make such decisions – how doing the right thing (as opposed to the convenient thing) is not snap and strut and simple yes/no, black/white, good/bad.
When any type of object goes retrograde, the concept is that we reflect on its message. And just in case you’re not the type who’s reflective by nature, not to worry…life will come along and deliver the kind of moment which will get you reflecting if you need to.
All this just prior to a Full Moon in Scorpio? Yes, it's one of those sure fire tests as to whether our values and self worth are intact and aimed in the right direction.
It's an interesting moment, to be sure!
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