Ixion and Pholus Station/Retrograde

A diagram showing relative orbits and distances from the Sun for planets Saturn,

Uranus and Neptune along with Plutino Ixion and centaurs Pholus and Chiron 

Still sitting in conjunction to fixed star Ras Alhague, Ixion goes retrograde at 22 Sagittarius on March 22nd at 8:17 a.m.

Then Pholus goes retrograde at 24 Sagittarius a day later, at 3:44 in the afternoon…and as always, both times are given in UT/+0 terms.

Whatever our internal challenges are, since any station-retrogrades represents either a ‘taking in’ or ‘being stopped at’ some given point, that’s where we would expect life to be…or take us…starting as of March 20th.

That March 20th date in advance of Ixion’s turn? That allows for two days of ‘station lead-in time’…and since Pholus is going retrograde a day after Ixion, that means things can be expected to start off ‘more on the Ixion side of things’ and end more in our personal Pholus mode – whether that means we’re experiencing an ‘isolated’ or ‘isolationist’ moment or are being pushed (or pushed back) into some ‘dark place’ which uniquely our own.

Or who knows…maybe the Pholus ‘isolating it’ harmonic will surface in your life as your putting some issue aside – isolating yourself from it so you can get on with something higher on your priority list.

But however we all experience this time, there would seem to be something of a ‘trying’ notion to what goes on right now. This combination would seem to signal a somewhat trying time. Yet whether the question is someone getting in your way or our acting in some manner which someone else finds ‘trying’…whether there’s some ‘rule’ we have a problem complying with or even some ‘standard’ which causes us to withdraw (or want to withdraw)…the central issue is us.

Not them, us. Yes, you, me, that other person…each of us will face some inner urges to ‘never mind them’ and do what we want at some level which tests our Pholus notions. Will we ignore real life? The needs of others? How things work in reality? Are we prepared to face the world (or others)? Can we face what we have or haven’t done in life? Can we reconcile how we’ve used our will with our deepest convictions along with our darkest, most vulnerable-feeling secrets? 

The “they” or “that” which now irritates us feels judgmental or rude or even insulting to our sense of who we are in that curious sort of Ixion manner which triggers our determination of will, taunting us about whether we ‘can’t’ do (or be) what we want to do or who we feel entitled to be… which is probably the Ixion point as transiting Ixion raises challenges which ask whether we can control that exact impulse...or not.

Can we acknowledge to ourselves that yes, we feel we deserve something in spite of the fact we may not have yet earned it? Have we come to some point where we’re realizing that whether or not we want to do what we want to do (and have things work the way we’d like them to work)…how upon reflection, that’s not working? 

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Ixion: Our Conflict of Self

Ixion actions tend to be somewhat (and sometimes a great deal) shortsighted in spirit. Being a Plutino (i.e., an object whose orbit is controlled by planet Neptune’s magnetic resonance) the Ixion drive is often about some belief, some image (of Self or ‘how things should be’) which isn’t real. It may be worthwhile, yes. It may be your heart and soul’s desire – absolutely.

But is it real? Could it exist in reality and if it did, would it work the way you envision?

With Ixion – as with Neptune itself or any other Neptune-controlled object – we are far more likely to succeed in our aims if we accept our dream as a motivation and not the reality we seek. Where Neptune or any Plutino is concerned, the ‘dream’ is best used to help us get through our work…as if dulling us to the pain so that we can marshal on.

With Neptune itself, we most often achieve our dream through embodying it or sharing it with others, serving as an inspiration in their lives so that the dream can then live on.
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A computer generated image of Neptune's cloud tops

(photo credit: NASA, JPL, Don Davis, September 2009) 

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That, in human terms, is immortality. Anything beyond that is ego…ego being the fulcrum which balances our Ixion issues. Strength of ego is not abhorred…in fact, where Ixion is concerned it’s probably required, if only because Ixion moments ask us to manage a Self often armored with, by and for the purposes of ego defending ego. (Which is one of the things ego is for, after all.)

That’s where the problem comes in on the Ixion side of things. Neptune is a planet. Ixion isn’t a planet. Neptune’s surface area is nearly 15 times that of Earth. Not even classed as a ‘regularly formed’ (i.e., close to spherical) object, Ixion is less than a thousand kilometers across.

Earth has problems bigger than Ixion – at least on a physical basis. And as far as that goes, Pholus is even smaller. Yet size is not wholly determinative – very small objects or moves or choices can bring down long-laid plans, even bigger careers, a high flying reputation or lives and entire nations. And yes, this is a moment when some act or action already committed to could have some grave sort of consequence. Yet it’s far more likely that these days ahead will bring matters to light – maybe just as a glimmer or a thought.

And if that happens, this double-station turn to retrograde may be our seeing some brink ahead which prompts us to ‘go inside’ and find some way to keep ourselves from ‘going there.’

With the Sun in Aries, all feels very personal. Known famously for its focus and courage, this is just the sort of time which may well find us accepting some challenge. If taken on in the spirit of broadening our experience, understanding and effectiveness without undue focus on Self, much can be gained in due time if we remember the difference between who we are and what we can do.

Plus, let’s not forget - Mars is in Libra, the sign of the other. So though we may be feeling Mars “desire” in everything we do…in our every waking moment…we don’t ‘rule’ them. We don’t control them – nor will we ever control them. You’ve heard it once and will like as not hear it too many times to count in this life…’we only control our self.’

But since that Self is probably feeling a bit frustrated about now (Mars retrograde in any sign tends to spell an undercurrent of floating frustration), that sets us up for willfulness. Yet that isn’t likely to mesh all that well with current convictions as we’re all likely to come down (hard) on the side of what we want.

And thus the question becomes to be on what we can do which others will react to positively.

All of which would be just fine and thrilling except for the fact Aries is all about our focus on Self.

So some of us will assert ourselves in our own cause and go overboard as others are getting so annoyed with someone else that they give up and walk away – only to end up focused on what they know they should have been doing all along.

Then again, since all of astrology operates in that polarity…and because you may have a natal chart in which Pholus and Ixion represent periodic triggers which stop you from living life in the dark or getting too willful.

If (or where) things do go awry now, whether the gap in your road is mild, moderate or the Grand Canyon, disappointments and feelings of defeat or rather more than half-likely. Moreover, they’re bound to center on some subject which seems more important to you than anyone else – which is neither good nor bad as long as care is taken to how you proceed, sharing rather than telling or notifying.

This is not the best time to be too insistent, as the energy of insistence (like that of critique) tends to promote defensiveness at any time and right now people feel buried somewhere in their lives whether they really are or not. Assertion will tend to be seen as a need to validate Self (or your desires) which be harmless – and then again, can create enmity and rejection. Ixion’s going retrograde in conjunction with fixed star Ras Alhague intensifies everything we talked about last month…

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Ixion–Ras Alhague

...while mixing in some of our Pholus ‘in or out of the light’ issues…meaning ours: what we may regard as the bad or less ‘approved’ in our character against the lighter or more positive notes. There’s a ‘turbulence’ implied here which expressed through fire sign Sagittarius suggests things we are struggling to be clear on – some of which ‘looks’ like it’s about others or something going on in our world.

But it’s not. Astrologically, a double turn to retrograde can only be ‘taking in’ or ‘retreating’ at some level which is ‘into the Self’ (however we understand that in our individual life) – and since the ‘psychological wavelength’ of 24 Sagittarius tends to run darker than some, it’s to be expected that we may not like what we know now.

That doesn’t mean we don’t know it…and doesn’t mean it isn’t true. We’re just not happy about it.

But with Ixion in the mix here, why is that? Is it possibly just because we don’t want to be interrupted or otherwise ‘inconvenienced’ as that pertains to what we’d “rather” be doing – or even in how we’d “rather” think of our Self (or someone else) despite evident truths of necessity?

And yes, we may see all these things in projection – happening in the lives of those around us or in the world at large. It would be natural to want to ‘turn away’ from news good or bad now, simply because something about the moment…the subject, the timing, the comparison with what’s on our mind, the person delivering the news…something about it doesn’t fit.

Which is fine. A station like this one can indicate ‘taking a break’ in order to regroup, recalibrate, retool or rethink. In the middle of all, some of us are bound to look up, experiencing inner revelation.

Then again, some of us will simply look inside and come up with a more worthy (of us) level of determination.

What we do with any of this is up to us, of course. Yet considering how Mars is in retrograde…and that Mars is going to be in retrograde for another two months during which a solar eclipse at 8 Taurus promises provocation of our inner sensitivities…

…Let’s just say that it would seem we’re not seeing the world as it truly is and in all its glorious potential – at least not at the moment.

Evaluation is probably needed as there are questions here about what we need to protect – or what we’re actually protecting. Where our answers lead back to strength of ego Ixion’s Neptunian quality may lead to confusion…even mistakes which we regret by the handful.

During these years of Ixion and Pholus in Sagittarius it will always be easy to sell ourselves on the idea of something, only to find a bit down the line that theory is not reality.

What we do from there…? That determines not merely our worldly success, but whether when all is said and done we feel we’ve lived up to our potential – a feat which satisfies best when that within is ultimately balanced with all which in reality, surrounds us.

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Ixion in Sagittarius:

December 1995 – December 2020

Pholus in Sagittarius:

January 2005 - January 2018

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