Saturn, Neptune and Giacobini-Zinner

 A photo of Comet Hyakutake taken on Mach 27, 1966 in Arizona.

Just above and to the right of the comet's head is Polaris, Earth's current 'pole star' (photo credit: NASA)

Every year about this time finds Earth plunging through a comet trail left by Giacobini-Zinner, an object which ‘comes from’ the Aquarian realm of our sky.

I say ‘comes from’ because of course, that’s just the way it looks to us here on Earth. The stars which make up constellations are millions upon millions of miles away. Or billions and billions, as astronomer Carl Sagan use to say in his own charming way. (Yes, I was a fan of the Cosmos series…are you surprised?) But comet Giacobini-Zinner is of far more local. Compared with the stars, it’s positively cozy with us, having a ‘far (aphelion) point’ of 6.014 AU (astronomical units) from the Sun, which means all the far it gets ‘out there’ is to a point between the orbits of Saturn and Jupiter.

Though that may not be ‘far out’ in metaphysical terms – and maybe not even in colloquial terms – this is of interest to us, particularly in this moment where Saturn has moved into Scorpio with planet Mercury playing herald just a couple of days ago. (Which is what Greek god Mercury used to do, by the by.)

In metaphysical terms, to have Saturn ‘escorted’ into Scorpio is something like using REALLY BIG TYPE in bold (and underlined) to get the point across.

At the moment, Giacobini-Zinner is on its way back out towards Jupiter and Saturn, having reached its near point to the Sun (the perihelion point) back in late February-ish, 2012.

To comment here...if late February has any application in your life (like say, if your birthday or your anniversary, or some anniversary of founding a business or something) falls in that realm, then wherever Aquarius is in your natal chart (or the chart of that marriage or company)…that’s probably showing great Saturn-Jupiter fluctuations this year.

 A JPL-generated orbital map showing the orbit of comet Giacobini-Zinner and where it will be (just outside the orbit of Mars) as of October 7, 2012 as Earth moves through the path of the comet's trail - an event we call the Draconid meteor shower.

Would that depend on where Saturn and Jupiter are in your natal chart? Probably. But even without getting that close-up-and-personal, even if we just think about where those two planets are and have been (Jupiter in Gemini, Saturn first in Libra and now in Scorpio), how you have deal on – and with those precepts is probably a pretty fair indication of your relationships with (Aquarian) groups and the general (Aquarian) principle of finding your place in society not as ‘status’ but as a participant…which points to that very important Aquarian concept of income.

With Jupiter in Gemini, one would have to ask if you know your own mind, inclusive of its strong and weak points. Jupiter’s well-known verbosity and tendency to overstate things or to go ‘over the edge’ in a verbal manner play in here as well.

Then we add in two heaping cups of All Things Saturn. In Libra, relationships are the means and our ability to understand others, take them seriously, be honest and upstanding with/to them – all that stuff takes precedence. As does knowing your limits and being able (willing) to take a hint.

As Saturn has reached Scorpio, the combination of Scorpio and Aquarius (speaking strictly in terms of Saturn against this meteoric moment) becomes focal – and that spells finances and your overall value in this world as viewed by others.

Since all meteor showers are ‘sprinkles of information’ this current two-day shower (October 7th and 8th) will tend to give us glimmers on what we mean to others and insights on that old saying ‘by our company we are known’…which with Saturn in Scorpio alludes to personal values.

So…getting any hints about the quality of your friends, companions, family and whatever else?

That would seem to be the message here. Having an orbital cycle of 6.621 years, Giacobini-Zinner seems to be something of a ‘sub-set marker’ of the greater 19.86 year long synodic Saturn/Jupiter cycle. Why? Because 6.621 years times three is 19.863 years, and that’s pretty much in sync with the cycle on which Saturn/Jupiter meet up with each other (their ‘synodic’ cycle) periodically by transit.

The last such Saturn/Jupiter cycle – the one we’re now in – began back on May 28, 2000. At the time, Saturn and Jupiter were positioned at 22 Taurus and (unbeknownst to us at the time) being conjuncted by Sedna. Which brings up one of the really fascinating things about metaphysics, specifically the phrase ‘unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should,’ an idea closely linked to all things happen for a reason.

One of the artists at Caltech has given us this artistic conceptualization of what

dwarf planet Sedna would look like, were we out there in space and close

enough by to observe it.

(artist credit: R. Hurt (Caltech/2004), use courtesy of NASA-JPL-Caltech)

Dwarf planet Sedna was discovered on November 14, 2003 by my personal fave planet hunting trio, David Rabinowitz, Craig Trujillo and Mike Brown. (If you’re a follower of this blog you know I think Mike Brown is mucho cool.)

Obviously still being defined and refined as an astrological point, Sedna’s position in the way-far-away (76 AU to 937 AU) districts of our solar system seems to be about all those things which ‘happen to us’ in life which in evoking a very basic ego-superego-id sort of response ask us to see beyond our self and act for the greater good. Sedna asks that we let go. Sedna asks that we understand that in providing for others, we shall be provided for as part of the All.

And what happened in 2003, with Sedna being discovered at 17 Taurus? It was at that point that the ‘me-ism’ in all things income and finance went ballistically rampant.

Currently, Sedna is positioned at 23 Taurus and we’re all dealing with the excesses and individuals and societal forces alike being unwilling to recognize that for anyone to succeed, for our planet to thrive personally and ecologically, we cannot be focused on ‘the me’ and ‘the my’ and the ‘I want’ and ‘it should be my way just because that’s the way I like-see-need it to be for the sake of my ego-family-preference-plans…’

You get the idea.

22 Taurus has redeeming factors. It requires hard work but alone, hard work isn’t enough. There has to be in what you do an innate ability to inspire confidence in others. You can’t ‘con’ them into believing in you – pretense and pretending won’t work. A lot of people will succeed on one level and not on the other during this 19-year Saturn/Jupiter cycle, which is made more poignant in this moment by the meteor cycle and by Saturn entering Scorpio and by the fact that Saturn is the first ruler of Aquarius (the radiant point for Giacobini-Zinner) AND because come this Thursday, October 11th, Saturn will perfect a transiting trine to Neptune – which is sitting at 0 Pisces and in retrograde.

We've talked some about this already in previous blogs. But with Ceres in trine from Cancer, the question is whether our plans are panning out...whether we will be better if they do pan out - or whether we need to get ourselves a better plan based on who we are versus who we know we should be not because someone else says so, or because that's popular. No, not even because it feels good.

What is it that we should be if we are the very best version of our most honest potentials? Who is that person?

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci is not just a wonderful

piece of art, but....try imaging this figure as being superimposed

against the wheel of the horoscope. The vertical man is the MC-IC

line - that which we stand upon and the highest goals we can hold

in mind. Our hands outstretched are the Ascendant-Descendant line,

those we reach out to and those we help along. Or, if you prefer, our

grasp on the past as we reach into the future.

The shapes which populate our world and minds are alike for a reason.

It's just up to us to recognize that similarity and, in doing so, to grasp

that we are truly part of this world and thus a contributor to it as much as

a person born to be part of it and who can reaps more than their fair

share at an overage of cost to the whole.

Just to finish up on the Saturn/Jupiter cycle: the next synodic meeting of Saturn and Jupiter occurs on December 21, 2020. It will be in Aquarius, which means the emphasis on ‘me-mine-my’ tangibles will shift into a more theoretical if purely economic-corporate-societal basis at that time. Income, elitism, group-ism, all-things-computerized…the years between 2020 and 2039 are going to test us. Aquarius is supposed to be about universality. Human beings having such an ego drive, we tend to want to make it be about ‘us and them.’

But let’s be aware too…times are changing. We are moving into the Aquarian Age. Over time, the ‘us/them’ thing is going to become a sign of weakness. It’s just going to take time.

So maybe this blog is your ‘sprinkling of sparkling ideas’ about what life yet has to hold. With this week’s transiting trine of Saturn (direct) to Neptune (retrograde) the issue isn’t about ‘life’ but rather how we deal with it and our ability to tolerate our own feelings about where we are in that life which now counts.

We’re about to experience a Solar Eclipse at 21 Scorpio. By being positioned at a degree between 20 and 29, we know without questioning that this is a reference to a change in how others regard us and our values. Or what we do and how they do or don’t feel valued by that. Or whether we have lived up to standards of emotional responsibility (integrity) or not.

Some of us are having our ‘cover’ blown. And it’s not that life has to ‘do’ anything to us – we’re really doing it to ourselves. Wherever we are weakest and the most under-developed, life or others in that life, or forces which are simply part of our lives, they’re revealing those vulnerabilities to us now.

Will you avoid them?

Will you admit to them?

Will you be willing to share your experiences with others?

Are you able to tolerate how you feel about mistakes you’ve made and either change your ways or make amends or simply realize what it says about you…to you…that you did whatever you did.

Never mind others - can you live with you if you are totally and nakedly honest with yourself about who you are and the differences between what you claim to be and what your actions prove you’re willing to say and do?

One last thought here. Asteroid Lilith will go direct at 23 Aquarius (square 22 Taurus) on Wednesday, October 10th. Lilith being all things we would like to ignore, deny, project or put off on others (even blame them for) the collective concept of the meteor shower, the Saturn/Neptune trine and Lilith suggest an unsettled emotional week. That the comet under discussion here - Giacobini-Zinner, which produces the current meteor shower - has just moved past Mars into the asteroid belt, that should also tell us that we will soon be encountering facets of our life, Self and personality we need to understand better and take more into account.

Yes, so in advance of the November Solar Eclipse we would expect things to be unsettled, right?

But will we do anything about it? Are we willing to let down our guard and take on the responsibility for who we are and may have done – or not done when we should have?

I'll do my part if you'll do yours.

Is that a deal?  
.
.
.