Mercury in Gemini

Mercury riding Pegasus by Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720)

(Carrara marble, Louvre Museum, Paris - photo credit: Jastrow, 2007)

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For everyone whose wickets have been stickier than usual over the past couple of weeks (that would be most of us), a little good news: Mercury is about to leave Taurus and enter Gemini.

The date? May 1st (at least in the UT/+0 zone), with Mercury doing this deed as of 2:01 in the morning, which makes this ingress later in the day as you move east... and earlier as you think ‘west’ (with the whole of the Americas beginning to take up the many facets of the many things which tend to arise under Mercury in Gemini during the evening of April 30th).

And lest we forget, all of that means Mercury will be at 29 Taurus (after having crossed over Algol, a star of ill temperament earlier in the week) prior to reaching Gemini - meaning we may have a headache even before Mercury, symbol of thought, communication and mentality, even reaches its most "personal" (basic) home sign of Gemini.

The aspirin may come soon enough though - once we reach the ingress, I mean, as this is one of those shifts we tend to 'feel' as a subtle shift in our perspective on ...or our feelings about whatever is on (or going through) our Mercurial mind. Mercury in Gemini is a little less intense than Mercury in Taurus - and more speculative. Even when things get bad, a Mercury in Gemini moment will tend to trend more towards a lot of yelling, screaming and slews of (sometimes highly creative) insults, where Mercury in Taurus says less and breaks more - that 'more' being either physical or more or less about what we might just term as "confidence" (all meanings implied).

Mercury in Gemini also has a reputation for being a busy time, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything gets done.  Sometimes Gemini’s ‘busyness’ is all intake or input - which fits with the function of Gemini as this is the sign which is all about thinking, learning how to think, learning that thinking can help us make good choices - and all that comes from learning how to learn, learning how to think (i.e., critical thinking) and how what we know is just as important as what we don’t know, as one is the voice of experience and the other provides us with the opportunity to expand our knowledge, and therefore our effective use of our life, our brain, our time and whatever resources we have (or can get) which can be focused on some challenge.

Plus there is always the fact that Mercury is about to go retrograde. The date of Mercury’s station is May 19th, but Mercury will be rolling into its shadow (the point at which it’s then in the ‘retrograde zone’) as of May 3rd. Generally speaking, from that date (the 3rd) until Mercury’s station tends to get ‘focused’ on one or more particular subjects - and that’s likely to be particularly true this year, what with this retrograde occurring entirely in Gemini, the most basic of Mercury’s signs of rulership.

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By ‘basic,’ we mean everything about our thinking - or even we even are thinking. Or if we’re capable of thinking something through - does our brain work? Do we have enough information? Do we understand the parameter of the situation?

Mercury is not the astrological Sun here, so this is more about our considering how life works, or how its working at the moment - this isn’t about life itself. With the Sun (and Mars) still in Taurus, Mercury’s shift into Taurus suggests attention being paid to details and values and a sorting through of reasons and rationales, new, old and outdated. With  Mercury going retrograde at 13 Gemini, we can be good at something but not successful at it due to a lack of balance. Or we may become aware of someone else who is good at something ... or something which we think deserves to succeed, but which isn’t getting the attention it deserves.

What is that about?

According to the lore for this degree, the difference between success and lack of success is metaphysical balance - which in the case of genius (or heavy-duty talent) is often the case. In fact, it could be argued that in this day and age of specialties, we’re producing a lot of ‘genius-level’ people and understandings which can’t stand on their own or succeed in a ‘wholesome’ way  simply because such skewing of interest isn’t metaphysically ‘wholesome’ simply because it isn’t ‘whole.’ (You know, balanced and therefore integrated as a balanced whole.)

This makes particular sense to me as I’ve been wrestling with this idea for a while now. And if I’ve been wrestling with it, I expect you or someone you know have been too. We can’t keep on ‘heading’ in a direction we don’t want to go, as metaphysics teaches us that the thing you invest your energy in is the thing you get ‘back.’ So if you prepare for a war (or you spend all your time thinking or talking about how difficult or dangerous things are, whether personally or globally) the laws of metaphysics virtually guarantee that life will oblige and provide some sort of danger to suit the subject you’ve been investing all that energy - be it mental, emotional, physical or otherwise - in.

It's something to think about - and you get my drift, I expect. We all deal with these (im)balances, and this trend towards balance is only going to increase, but become a premium going forward (that's the 'in the coming years' version of going forward) not because we aren’t each and every one of us capable of being many things (a very Gemini concept) but because social forces are looking for personal labels.

No, we don’t like labels. But (part one) the metaphysics of a label is both the reaction we have to it (plus) the reaction we come to when we understand why it has been assigned to us, whether by someone in particular or some blank societal force. Increasingly we are all labeled either by the people we know or by the statistics we represent - just as we increasingly tend to label others, most often without even knowing who they really are.

Or aren't.

And the metaphysics of that is how the less we know about others, the less we want them to know about us.

Yes, we're all living with that, too... (welcome to the Age of Aquarius!).

This is a time when all the things in life which we don’t want to think about, which we don’t even think we should have to think about or concern ourselves with - when all those things are making themselves evident. They may not be so ‘in your face’ that we are forced to deal with them ... but they're moving up on life’s lists.

And for many of us, this Mercury in Gemini and the Mercury retrograde passage which comes with it is going to be a time when we have an opportunity to get perspective on some of these issues. When with a little thought, we may come to some recognitions, realizations and decisions (or at least a few pre-decisions) about what we are going to be, support (or not support) ... and maybe more importantly, what we are going to get ourselves to do.

For a lot of us, balance can be achieved through a little cutting back. For others, it’s their relationship to what is ‘lacking’ (in their personal balance) needs more familiarity, more ‘friendliness’ on our part about things we’re not comfortable with, on some level.

The Sun won’t be entering Gemini until just after  Mercury’s station, so during the run-up to that station (a period often noted for pressures, lots of things needing to be sorted out and a desire to get XYZ ‘done’ so its off your plate) we’re still going to be dealing with our own insecurities even where we want to be at the top of our game.

This is the Gemini combination and the story of the two stars - Castor and Pollux - we know as the Gemini twins. Our brain works to think through (Pollux) something even as we try to (Castor) mange the situation or ‘bully’ through it based on personal presence (representing Aries strength + Taurus instinct, those being the only two signs of the zodiac which precede Gemini).

Mercury moving into Gemini is bound to ‘lighten the mood’ and increase the pace of communication, travel and general activities, along with the number of people involved (or getting involved) in such activities.

It also increases our need to care about how we go about doing all those things ... and the need to cope with whatever happens as we do them and in response to what we do. That’s the Gemini polarity: the ideas we get under Gemini get tested and reacted to under Sagittarius, hence all the ‘course corrections’ and ‘did you forgot that part...?’ moments which come through Sagittarian channels.

With Saturn currently transiting Sagittarius (in opposition to Mercury’s position in Gemini) some of what we meet up with in the next few weeks is going to be hard. Or it may seem harsh. We may even be tempted to not believe it or to reject it out of hand simply because it doesn’t ‘work’ with how we want things to work.

For those willing to commit to owning why they do things (the Mercury choice we make to do or not do something for reasons which make sense to us), things are likely to change - or at least you’re likely to come to a different set of parameters or realizations just after Mercury goes direct again on June 11th.

And yes, that is a common comment with Mercury retrogrades, at least in part because of Mercury’s association with communications, whether spoken, in text, in digital form or otherwise. Under Mercury retrograde (or even as Mercury goes into its station to go retrograde) its common for messages to go astray, for letters to not get sent, for personal schedules to get off track and for cars and computers to act up.

Often it takes the whole of the retrograde (plus a couple of days) to get such things straightened out. And given how retrogrades tend to internalize energy, during that time we end up (Mercury) thinking about such matters.

Yes, it can be annoying. People are often annoyed or frustrated under Mercury retrograde. Either they can’t think of something, are being held up because someone else can’t think of something (or can’t seem to get around to doing it) or we’re trying to decide what to do.

Given all this, you may think it’s odd, but there are some people who thrive and do hugely well under Mercury retrograde. Some are people who simply have Mercury retrograde in their natal chart - a natal Mercury retrograde does seem to indicate a degree of ‘immunity’ to the feelings of being ‘pent up’ which so many experience under Mercury retrograde. But others where we get involved in making a choice which by its own nature isn’t the ‘end’ of the process, such as when or where something gets bought for the express purpose of reworking and eventual resale.

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With Mercury coming out of retrograde at 4 Gemini just before Neptune goes station-retrograde at 9 Pisces (on June 12) gives us a square between the two stations - and an indication that some of us are in for a few surprises. Things will be revealed and things will melt away during these days, affecting choices, plans (especially long term plans) and opinions or estimations of ... (as opposed to our feelings about) ... others or their choices, opinions and plans.

And with Mercury conjunct Industria, there’s effort involved - whether this pertains to your actual work (career, job) or not. So maybe you don’t want to think about ‘this.’ Or perhaps you don’t want to think that all the effort you’ve already put into something now has to be reworked or tweaked in some manner.

With Saturn in opposition from 0 Sagittarius, there is some ‘danger’ of getting caught up in a debate or the energy of competition (against our Self or others). Or even that we may dig our mental heels in during these days, refusing to listen to sense because we don’t want to be seen as anyone who ‘doesn’t know’ ... or because we believe we have somehow been endowed with the right to act pig-headed.

And yes, you may have that right. But if that amounts to the right to defeat yourself in the long run, is that a right you want to exercise?

Why we do what we do (and don’t do what we don’t do) is of course probably the biggest part of why our lives - and our world - ends up being what they are. And the idea of Mercury in Gemini, whether in direct motion or retrograde, is about learning how to learn. Mercury’s annual passage through Gemini (which for 2015 doesn’t end until July 8th) is all about just that - which is why we tend to run into so many new ideas and new perspectives on things we already know (or think we know!) during this passage. That old wives’ tale which starts out with ‘I’m a Gemini, I’m supposed to be into all sorts of things’ is just that - a tired old story which doesn’t get anyone where they want to go. Yes, Gemini is about learning what the options are. But after that, Gemini is about making an informed choice which, by how it works or doesn’t work over time teaches us ever more about how to choose, think ... and for those who happen to also have a Moon in Gemini - how we can choose to deal with, or with regard to our emotions considering they are emotional and thus are not ever precisely entirely manageable.

Once we get through this Mercury cycle, we will all probably have a greater sense of what we’re doing. By the time that happens (i.e., by the time Mercury moves into Cancer come early July) we will have sorted through the recent eclipse-timed upheavals we are all still wading through the many repercussions of.

By then we will have hopefully realized where we’ve been fooling or compromising our Selves of late, and how in light of who we really are and aren’t - and who we know we need to (Gemini) choose to be and become, how so much of that depends on whether we really know what we're 'up against' - not so much in life but in our own mind.

And some of that we will understand because of all we experience under Mercury in Gemini, which if nothing else is a suggestion about the thinker - one who thinks about both their thoughtless and thoughtful thoughts.
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You Were Searching ... Quick Takes

In this Hubble photo of Cygnus, one of its stars is revealed to be in a late-phase

evolutionary stage where the star sheds its atmosphere into space

(photo credit: ESA, NASA, July 2010)

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Before anything else happens to sidetrack or otherwise interrupt us, here are a few ‘quick takes’ on more of your search terms ...

CIRCE AND BYBLIS THE SAME

 

Circe Invidiosa by John William Waterhouse (1892)

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The astrological Circe and Byblis - not to mention the mythic characters - are absolutely not the same. Circe refers to something which in entrancing or affecting us ‘reduces’ us to ‘less than human’ in the thinking department (i.e., less in ‘command’ of our sensibilities) where Byblis refers to a choice we make knowing it is is unpopular or possibly considered ‘unthinkable,’ whether by us, someone else, or even society.

Astrological effects associated with these points (as with all points) can take many forms, but to give an example, while Circe could stand for our state of inebriation or drunkenness if we drink too much, the more Byblis version might involve someone trying to get someone else drunk for the direct purpose of taking advantage of them in some way.

So no ... Circe and Byblis are not the same (and I’m pretty sure both of the mythic personages involved would be happy to hear it!)

SPICA RISING IN NATAL CHART

 

The Moon, Mars, Venus and Spica all photographed from Nashville, Tennessee

(photo credit: Goddard Space Flight Center)

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‘Brilliance’ is often the astro-shorthand used for Spica, though the star otherwise known as Alpha Virgo stands for a lot more than just the ability to hit some nail on the head (mentally or otherwise). Traditionally seen as the sheaf of wheat carried in the hand of the goddess of earthly fertility, Spica is most often used astrologically as a reference to our ability to achieve a ‘great harvest’ of any kind. 

Apart from that, this star can also indicate where we understand some specific need or how to get something done - or where we find it easy to be supportive (or to get support) with regards to efforts which may simply be productive, but which may also be educational and some sort of investment in the growth of some process or method which in itself is ‘brilliant’ enough to open doors going forward.

With that much said however, Spica - which is currently positioned at 24 Libra - is conjunct Arcturus (which is also currently at 24 Libra), making it a bit hard to tell the effects of these two stars apart. Arcturus is part of an entirely different constellation (Bootes), and in being known for daring and the willingness to try something new/unproven could be seen as contributing a lot of positives if positioned with Spica at anyone’s Ascendant.

But let’s be real - this could just indicate someone who thinks they’re ‘all that and a bag of chips’ (as the saying goes) when they really aren’t. Beyond that, with both of these points being in Libra, the position and condition of Venus in the chart is going to say a lot about whether this sort of Spica (plus Arcturus) will tend to manifest as a plus or a source of frustration and disappointment.

HIS EROS IN ARIES

HER PSYCHE IN SAGITTARIUS

L'Amour by Julien de Parme (1762)

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I’m guessing this term came up somehow in relationship to something I wrote here at the blog...or at least that the Searcher in question here found the following astroPPM post while trying to find their answers:

-link to post-

Eros and Psyche: Falling in Love

With Our Mind

But with all due respect to the question (and questioner), the critical interplay between Eros and Psyche and that being referred to astrologically in the post and probably in the original myth is about the relationship of Eros to Psyche in our OWN mind, not between our mind and someone else’s.

Is there some effect if Eros aspects Psyche between two people? Probably yes. Positive aspects might well point to areas of commonalty and ‘attraction’ (human, not necessarily romantic or sexual) with negative aspects indicating ways or areas of relating to one another where one person doesn’t feel understood or cared about.

Everyone who is interested in astrology eventually (or habitually) looks up things like this between charts. It’s part of our human desire to be loved, accepted and appreciated. But when looking at these two points, before we look at them between charts, we should look at them in our own as ultimately our ability to love anyone depends on a level of trust in our Self which allows us to risk loss, rejection or relationship failure.

UNASPECTED VENUS IN CAPRICORN

 

Planet Venus as photographed by the Hubble Telescope on January 24, 1995

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

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Any time a planet is unaspected (that is, unaspected when using the list of standard Ptolemaic aspects: conjunction, sextile, square, trine and opposition) using standard orbs, it’s effects are said to be ‘purely’ expressive of the combination of house, sign and planet - which since we’re not working with a chart, can only be sign and planet here.

By itself, Venus in Capricorn tends to be a stabilizing quotient or a desire to achieve a level of calm - or that which the native finds calming. Texts often refer to this combination as ‘aimed’ at material wealth, but someone who simply focuses on quality, the qualities of something or ‘having the best’ would also fit Venus-plus-Capricorn with the term ‘best’ being  purely individual, and thus subject to individual preference, quirks and all the other human oddities.

Given that Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, depending on what house this combination appears in (and the disposition of the planet ruling the sign on the cusp of that house), Venus in Capricorn may manifest as professionalism, austerity, cool or distant attitudes, or dignity which ranges from the simple to the  diplomatic.

This is not one of Venus’ most effusive or carefree positions, but Venus in Capricorn (if well placed in the chart, of course) is known for manifesting as loyalty, security and a general appreciation for history, traditions, culture and the rights of others.

On occasion, this combination could also indicate great paths of fortune. Such a native is in (or comes to be) in a position where life is or becomes ‘pre-determined’ on some level. Unaspected, Venus in Capricorn can also indicate a tendency to make choices and do things only for material or personal gain.

22 DEGREES SCORPIO

 

An Arizona bark scorpion photographed under black light by Bryce Alexander (2008)

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This is not considered one of Scorpio’s finer degree moments. Known for insufficient control of various kinds, 22 Scorpio is one of those degrees which is evidently given to us so that we can see what lack of control does, and how over-impulsiveness and the tendency to just ‘go off’ about things is hardly ever useful.

(And yes, hopefully deal with whatever is causing us to act that way.)

Relationships to the Moon (and its associated sign of Cancer) are said to be important whenever this degree is active, or activated in a chart. Those who run afoul of their own nature under this influence are also fairly well known for lacking the emotional will (except under duress) to deal with the problems they’ve caused.

The Sabian Symbol for this degree (22 Scorpio being read as Sabian phase 233) ‘A rabbit metamorphoses into a nature spirit’ gives us some idea about what the issue is here through its reference to an ‘animal’ (our more instinctive and less thought-driven self) which transforms into something of a ‘higher’ nature - one imagines through the nature and process which is so very Scorpio. And since purging us of mortal toxins (most of which originate at an emotional and/or instinctive level) is part of Scorpio’s business, difficulties associated with 22 Scorpio probably point to personal/internal (read: vulnerability or fear) issues we either haven’t yet recognized or aren’t (as yet) prepared to take in hand and deal with.
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You Were Searching ... Generations Later

Galaxy of Galaxies from M-Set

(image credit: Jonathan J. Dickau, image created using ChaosPro 3-3 software by Martin Pfingstl)

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We’ve already had a Lunar Eclipse, Pluto’s station, Jupiter’s station, a New Moon (to go with the Lunar Eclipse Full Moon) and the Sun, Mercury and Venus all changing signs.

In short, if what you’re keeping up with is current astro-doings, that’s all the ‘major’ doings until Mercury changes signs on May 1st (UT/+0 time). (Which I’ll get myself to thinking about in time to write a post.) But in the meantime, it’s time to get out the ever-accumulating list of search terms sourced from a list which appears in the astroPPM digital ‘back room’ courtesy of Google.

There, under ‘Stats’ (subsection ‘Traffic Sources’) is a list entitled “Search Keywords,” in the fields of which are words you (and all your merry human friends)(the un-merry ones too) use when looking for the information which leads you to astroPPM.

For the record, I have no idea what other blog owners do with like information. But here at this blog, when Existence provides time (as it has this month) in the astro-schedule, I like providing a few words on such subjects.

You know, just in case you haven’t found an answer yet. And besides that, it’s always good to know someone is listening.

So here begins this edition of ‘You Were Searching’ - which I’ll start with a brief mention of Searcher Field Theory.

What’s that?

Allow me to explain: the following search turned up in the keyword list just yesterday:

APRIL 2015 + AQUARIUS + EVEN THOUGH...

That’s a line which sounds a bit like the beginning to a mystery novel to me (a timely mystery novel, yes...). But more importantly (to you, should you want to get your queries on the astroPPM search term board), it’s also very clear evidence of how much information gets delivered by Google.

Yes, even though.

So here’s the topic du jour...

‘MILLENNIAL GENERATION PLUTO IN SCORPIO’

This line has turned up a couple of times on the search list. And every time I see it (or anything like it), I think of two things. The first is how iffy society’s general estimations of start-and-stop dates seems if you’re used to using some sort of generation marker (astrology uses Pluto) ... and the second is about how much of the world’s current turmoil is to be expected simply because of our being at - and having to live through - the change of astrological ages.

To explain the Ages in short, have you ever watched a spinning top or gyroscope? As you’ve watched them, did you notice how that top or gyroscope ‘wobbles’ slightly as it spins, causing the point at its top to describe its own little circle?

What you probably didn’t realize at the time is how is that little circle is rotating in the direction opposite to that of the top or gyroscope’s spin. But it is - and the same thing happens with planet Earth as it spins on its axis...

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... a situation which means that though we currently call Polaris our ‘Pole Star’ because its district of the sky is the place an imaginary ‘stick’ stuck through Earth pole-to-pole currently points at.

And that means Polaris’ won’t be our pole star forever, as the following diagram of where Earth’s pole ‘points’ to (at given years) demonstrates.

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As for the length of time it takes for Earth to go through the whole of its ‘pole star’ cycle, that number (in years) is 25,920. And if you divide 25,920 by twelve (the number of signs in the zodiac) gives us 2,160 - the length of one astrological age.

And when we add in how the top-of-the-top (or gyroscope, or planet) cycles in a direction opposite to that the planet rotates, that tells us that  astrological ages rotate backwards.

So if we used to be in the Age of Pisces (more on that in a moment) and we’re now in (or moving into) the Age of Aquarius (the sign which precedes Pisces) that means we are moving not into our strength, but that our ‘forward motion through time’ (the Earth’s forward motion and its direction of rotation as part of that motion) we encounter or stir up 12th-harmonic things ... 12th derivative things ...

...in other words, every time the astrological ages change, they move us not into our strengths, but into those areas of life or towards those considerations which whether on a planetary, personal, societal, spiritual or ecological level are the difficulties, the vulnerabilities - all those things which we really would rather not have to deal with, which we have to deal with anyway.
Why?

Because it’s our planet and thus the basis (foundational) thing which support life on Earth.

Just as a full disclaimer here, there are a couple of notable astrologers who think we’re still in the Piscean Age and that we’re going to be in the Age of Pisces for another hundred-plus years yet. Their logic (as I understand it) is based on the length of constellations (constellation star positions) instead of Earth’s motion relative to its position in space plus the fact that astrology is a geocentric (Earth-centered) study.

Well, something close to 90% of it is. There is heliocentric (Sun-centered) astrology. I don’t practice it, nor do I know anyone who does ... but theoretically its possible to have Sun-centered astrology, Saturn-centric astrology or anything else-centric astrology. (And as soon as someone perfects that software... which has been kicking around in rough form for years now... the research will begin.)

Each to their own there. Meanwhile, back in the world of geocentric astrology, the bottom line on Ages is that everyone does indeed agree they cycle backwards - and whether we’re at the-crack-of-dawning-of or already fully encompassed by the Aquarian Age, its plain that things are changing radically from where they were as little as a hundred years ago.

Besides, given the nature of Aquarius (a sign which not only seeks integration but also sometimes supports the value of making objections for the sake of finding out what happens if objections get made) ... given that, we would hardly think the Aquarian Age would start without a quibble.

What, not even ONE?

Really?

That aside, astrological ages also don’t flip on and off like light bulbs. They’re more like the colors in a rainbow where hue by hue, degree by degree, the color shifts. There is a time when you look ahead and another moment in which you know you’ve arrived.

And until then, the fact that the Ages are changing ...? That can be tough - on an individual basis, a generational basis (changes of Ages are bound to affect parent/child relations in odd and head-or-heart-aching sorts of ways where the parent is born in the outgoing Age and the child is then born imprinted by different metaphysical patterns.

Such differences can leave both sides feeling  invalidated and unsuccessful - and it’s not that they’re flawed as human beings, but because these people happened to get their turn at parenting or being someone’s child in a moment when our time and energetic tides are taking a Age-driven turn.

It can be daunting, no doubt - even if you’re someone who believes we are never given challenges we are not also given the power to tackle, master and learn from, even if you’re someone who believes the great metaphysical treatise about how ‘unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should.’

As for generations, astrological generations are a Pluto function; in every generation we see its drive - the ‘mass passion’ of a group of people born over a period of years.

 Pluto through the signs

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Most of us know Pluto generations by their nicknames: Pluto in Leo is the Baby Boomer generation, Pluto in Virgo equals Yuppies, Pluto in Libra is Gen X, Pluto in Scorpio has (somewhat mysteriously, which suits) come to be known as Gen Y and the Pluto in Sagittarius group - the group which was being born at the time of the millennium, they get the astrological title of Millennials.

We are currently living under Pluto in Capricorn, and that tribe doesn’t have a name yet. But then, that isn’t surprising ... there are some things in astrology we only understand once they’re over or past. Pluto and Saturn transits are both pretty well known for this effect - which makes a good deal of sense as we sometimes can’t know what something has been transformed into (Pluto equaling transformation) until the metaphysical hocus-pocus is over just as many of us are understandably hesitant to say what something is (or whether it is real) unless - per Saturn’s rule as definer of time and ‘structural’ reality - it truly is real, that being when its ‘reality’ solidifies in our mind as real.

But as for why Pluto functions as a generational marker, that answer would seem to be all about what some call an ‘over-focus,’ some call a ‘passion’ and others call an obsession, all of which are the hallmark of how Plutonic energies function in real time - i.e., how we tend to ‘act out’ our Pluto energies. This differs from Pluto’s traditional themes of direction - Pluto energetics tend to ‘aim’ at any of the keywords which describe how Pluto ‘transforms things’ - that being either through a process of creating, denying or destroying, the latter of which can be a simple elimination (a “wiping out”) or an eliminating of one thing as part of a process which allows something else to come into being with ‘denials’ being either a method of control OR a means by which one thing is ‘denied’ (or denied access) so that something else can have its turn.

In any case, wherever we see Pluto by sign (and house) in our natal chart that combination tells us the thing or things we are going to be passionate about and where or how in our lives we are going to operate while pursuing our personal passion(s).

And so dedicated are we, so passionate are we about that thing we love, crave, and pursue with such a Pluto passion that other people look at us sideways or wonder what we’re up to (or if we’re crazy to be wanting to be doing it so much)... well, eventually things happen.

And when those things happen, we are transformed.

Some of us decide the ‘thing’ wasn’t our aim (the pursuit was) while others find their Plutonic passion has so unbalanced their life (as a whole) that they now need to ‘re-transform’ things and bring them back into balance person for one’s own good.

In other words, Pluto really is the ‘outcome’ ruler of Scorpio, as Scorpio - among its roles as the zodiac’s fixed interactive sign - functions as a warning system to tell us where or how we are getting (or have gotten) out of internal balance by confronting us with perils we have metaphysically “asked for” by mistaking or projecting our vulnerabilities onto others - this being part of Scorpio function as the oppositional sign to security-loving Taurus, the other side of which we just jolly-trotted though in the recent post on Sun in Taurus.

-link to post-

Sun in Taurus

And yes - that would be one of the thoughts behind my picking this particular search term at this particular time. This Earth Day 2015 (the date of this post) with three personal planets (Sun, Mercury and Mars) in Taurus and (oh yes...) Pluto in Capricorn - another earth sign, so we are rooted in our reality at the moment and feeling our mortal earthly earthiness.

The whole of Earth is feeling its Taurus/Scorpio balance (and lacks thereof) at the moment.

Among other things, the net here is that the Pluto in Scorpio generation is likely to do many ‘extreme’ things - all of which are about this generation’s need to feel and find a balance within the Self. Some members of this generation will find it easiest to figure this out through others and challenges or opportunities presented by or in their society, and this isn’t shocking - its just part of the natural ‘vibe’ of a planet being in a sign which is public, interactive and connective by nature.

Scorpio learns by testing what makes it feel secure and what makes it feel not so secure, and not all of it is real: this is an emotional sign which feels its own vulnerability, often as an inner feeling of ‘lack of completeness’ which arises from the Taurus desire to feel secured trying to ‘complete’ its task through interaction with others.

At the time of the millennium, Pluto was in Sagittarius - the sign after Scorpio, otherwise known as the ‘2nd derivative’ ... and as of the end of 2008, Pluto moved into Capricorn - the 3rd derivative sign to Scorpio. Any third derivative sign speaks to the tone or notion of our thought pattern, which with the Pluto in Scorpio tribe is described as being Capricorn in nature, telling us that this astrological generation has all sorts of Capricorn-like mental blessings and banes. So on one hand we have generation fully armed with much mental determination, ambition and a powerful ability to see through veneers, whether that exposes the good, bad or merely foolish. And on the other hand this generation is also endowed with a singular potential for producing depression, fear and exclusion - in the Self or in others.

Currently on track to be sorting through life choices often through trying things out and learning how to define the Self through what doesn’t fit, the Pluto in Scorpio generation is currently experiencing a very long (Pluto in Capricorn) period of watching the world changing even as they try to decide what part of that world is worth wanting to feel challenged by (that being the process by which this generation defines personal-individual goals). This period, which lasts until 2023/2024 when Pluto sidles its way into Aquarius, is probably going to remembered as amazingly productive once Gen Y folks get a couple of decades down the line even if things don’t look entirely frivolous at the moment.

But then, should they? From the Pluto perspective nothing is simple, if only because we are feeling people. Pluto in Scorpio people know this - and unlike the several generations before them, this is a generation which lives and thrives on emotionality and all things which promote and provoke emotionality. To Gen Y, the world is about a connection which is not so much about what we connect on but why we connect. Initially they will center their feelings on those who are their nearest and dearest, but as this generation matures over the next couple of decades (of Pluto in Aquarius and Pisces) they will discover much about life as they define its worth being that which makes the world worth living for all. (And may the good Lord help those who try to tell this generation what they believe in!)

Once Pluto left the six 'private' signs behind as it entered Libra back in 1971-1972, a lot of focus moved out of the private life and into the public, worldly and interactive sector ... after which everything went 'social.'

In other words, when obsessive Pluto left the 'private' signs, society - led ultimately by those born under those born with Pluto in Libra (Gen X) and beyond - society also left the realm of the personal and personally private for all the reasons, results, notions and consequences good and bad.

There's a very large shift which exists between these two groups - those born under Pluto in a 'private' sign and those born with Pluto in a 'public' sign. The difference between them has ... and will ... create much friction and 'push.' And that, considering how members of generations born under Pluto in 'private' signs are still generally in charge of our world can easily be seen as a subtle if persistent astro-signature behind much now and yet to come which is and will be sincerely troublesome.

On top of which comes our global disorientation and all the shifts of perspective which go with the changing of the Ages.

It's all quite enough to cause members of Pluto-in-a-fixed-sign Gen Y members to choose carefully when it comes to allowing your Self to indulge too much in personal passions ... in spite of the urgent magnetism of this idea or that.

And yet this generation is destined to experience - over time and in many forms - how overindulgence in the intensity of obsession and one's will to control generates exactly the sort of thing which defeats either the aim ... or maybe just the reason you were aiming for it.

Which in the end ... well, isn’t that the very nature of Pluto and Scorpio? If so, the Pluto in Scorpio generation is destined to push themselves - and many around them to many a frighteningly powerful brink, that being the way this generation finds itself as something akin to, and yet separate from others. 
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Sun in Taurus

A Monarch Butterfly

(photo credit: Tony Hisgett, September 2011)

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There’s something nice about the idea that those in power (whoever they were) decided to schedule Earth Day for an early Taurean degree. The event falls on April 22nd and the sign which goes with it is all about both the qualities of being ‘secure’ or ‘secured’ on this planet ... and whatever gives us that sort of personal security.

So Taurus isn’t ‘about’ money. Or luxury goods. Or even food. It’s about the sense of security those things give us. Our world has taught us that if we have money we have a better ability to guarantee our survival, but the money itself is not Taurean. What money gives us is the security to think in broader terms, which is why one enterprising U.S. ex-governor (whose name I don’t recall, please forgive me...) spoke of his time trying to live on welfare’s stipend for a couple of weeks as an exercise which taught him that the essential and inescapable trial of hunger and poverty is not about whether someone is lazy or a go-getter, but how knowing we have so little stops us from thinking in terms of what we can do, instead forcing us to consider what we can’t do if we hope to see another day.

That sort of insecurity is the instinct which underlies Taurus. In Taurus we learn to take care of our Self so we can develop, so we can learn to master our body, our mind, our feelings and through all those lessons, our life.

And anything that threatens that? Or which could possibly change that when we haven’t (Gemini) thought about it and ultimately (Leo) chosen it?

That which threatens to change our life without our agreeing to it stands in opposition to our ability to feel intrinsically (individually) secure about ‘owning’ (being in control of) our own life.

In other words, it stands in opposition to the basic Taurus premise. And that sign ... that influence is Scorpio.

In Taurus, we own our Self. All things Taurus are about that Self, the owning of that Self, the having confidence in that Self and recognizing that Self as our primary and most important resource ... which is why we work to determine what our abilities are and aren’t (Taurus people are famous for standing their ground and defending the value of said position in all cases and either direction!) ... from which comes our sense of valuing of those abilities (and therefore our Self for having developed them).

Against all of this is that very peculiar Taurean instinct - an instinct which, in zodiacal terms, is purely instinct since Taurus precedes Gemini, the sign of our development of conscious and useful mentality.

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From that - from that ‘pre-mentality’ Taurean state we face others, instinctively self-defensive (at least Aries precedes Taurus!)... and that’s why Taurus-Scorpio is the polarity wherein we face our fears.

Fear is instinctive. In Scorpio - an interactive sign - others test our security ... our Taurean Self ... all along the emotional border where that Self chooses to interact - and thus risk something (even if it’s just a moment of your time) with, or in the presence of others. And how well we deal with that ability to risk our feelings ... well, while the experience of the risk (being interactive) may be Scorpio, the security of the Self, any part of which might just possibly be at risk in that Scorpio situation, that part of the saga is entirely Taurus.

It’s that part of us which values us and works to keep us safe. Or which doesn’t keep us safe. Or which simply won’t risk.

Or which dares not feel what it means to fear because the loss of false security is such a fearful thing.

War - any war against others or some situation is Scorpionic, whether we're at war with(within) our Self and prone to inflicting the byproduct of that nastiness on others, whether we're in a direct contest with others, whether we're at war with some control or restriction or whether that war is against some civil entity or faction of civilization against some other faction of civilization.

And yet peace also requires a fight. That's the nature of fixed signs - to struggle to create and to struggle to contain, which here pits 'my (Taurus) reality' against what (Scorpio) makes that reality feel safe or not.

That's the fight - our fight to get us past our own instinctive Taurus fears to where we can (Gemini) understand the world and our options and choose based on our own cooler (Gemini) ability to think and be rational. In other words, if we haven't resolved our 'fear of our own fears' on an individual basis, we aren't likely to have sufficient peace all the way around.

And yet, it's so much easier to (Scorpio) vent than (Taurus) take our Self on.

Sunset on Australia's Middle Park Beach

(photographer unknown)

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You know, by moving from the second stage in the zodiacal process - the Taurean stage - into Gemini, where with our fears in check we learn to gather information, sort through our priorities and choose, plan and set about our daily (or lifelong) business.

In the case of the current ingress, the Sun is entering Taurus at 9:43 in the morning of April 20th (UT/+0 time) in trine to Pallas (still in station mode) and square an Aquarian Ceres, speaking to not just to our relationship with society or ‘social/societal forces,’ but to something which focuses on (or simply focuses) our perspective on all such matters - that being the Pallas part of things. Pallas detaches us from things so we can 'see' what they are more clearly, whether that takes accepting something else or isolating (or becoming isolated) from some group, idea, lifestyle, system or information/comprehension, and given Pallas' April 19th turn to retrograde, we are all in the process of either internalizing something or seeing something about (or possibly in) our Self.

And that process ... or just the facts we come up with ... those things are helping us gain (Pallas) perspective on our instincts. Or maybe our various forms of ‘immaturity’ (physical or emotional) in play ... or where we are quite possibly the ‘immature’ player, whether that means we (or something) is as yet not ready for something, whether someone is simply being childish or whether the reference here is to something or someone who is just ‘young,’ whether in age or their own perspective - as one might be for reasons of lack of education, lack of mental health, or any other reason which might mark someone as not capable of (or willing to) interact on a level of equivalency or as an equal.

With Venus (the ruler of Taurus) transiting Gemini as the Sun enters Taurus, this year’s ‘Taurus Experience’ is likely to start out as a slight ‘rounding’ or ‘gentling’ of thoughts (and the feelings promoted by those thoughts) initiated through general conversation and our everyday perceptions. Most of us are a little tired of - and ready to ‘give up’ or ‘get away from’ something we’ve already met up with which we’d like to respond to (or manage) with some level of panache (and if not panache, at least competency!) ... and there’s something weighing on us which we either don’t yet know how to get done, or which we don’t want to do incorrectly and which we want to get organized before embarking upon.

Maybe even before we mention it.

Moreover, not everyone which is going on is likely to be pleasant or friendly-feeling all the way along the line. As of yesterday’s New Moon (that being the New Moon at 28 Aries - see previous post) Mercury - which is also in Taurus - came into orb of conjunction to Mars. Mars being already about half way through Taurus is representing all those things which we want ... which as Mars reaches the Taurean cross-quarters point (15 Taurus) is life pushing us to move from a ‘learning’ mode into an ‘application’ mode.

Mercury-Mars in a Taurus conjunction can represent determination. Then again, it can also represent frustration - even hostility towards self, others or (as we would suspect), some level of fear driven by a sense of lack or incapacity, perhaps. So while we may be wanting to be the person who determines something, this conjunction (which perfects at 15 Taurus on April 22nd, and which ends on April 25th) is also an opportunity to ‘try’ something or when you ‘determine’ what you want to do. Perhaps you’ll embody this by becoming determined to master some task, whether you’re trying to understand, work with or accept and interact some notion, value or fact.

Or maybe you’ll just be not wanting to admit to anything, right or wrong. Or you're just not in any mood to be challenged.

Any Mercury-Mars conjunction is going to provoke feelings of some sort. It's as if all we can (Mercury) think about is what we absolutely want ... or really truly don't like (a lot).

And that stirs many a feeling - and often some sort of instinctive (read: not necessarily well thought out) assertive (Mars-type) reaction.

 A rural road in northern Switzerland

(Benjamin Gimmel, April 2004)

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We are in other words, simply prone during this period to getting ourselves bogged down (or allowing ourselves to be stuck) in simply not wanting to change because we don’t want to.

And yes, this could be exactly the sort of immaturity being challenged - or which we are finding so very (very) challenging in others. This ‘planted in one spot’ quality is something all the earth signs adopt as a methodology at least some of the time, with the Taurus attempt to ‘own’ that which it opposes without having to actually ‘touch it’ generally taking manifesting as various attempts to control or manipulate without actually getting involved.

In other words, Taurus is the sign under which we often attempt to interaction with others without having anything apply to us ... which sounds like a way to protect one’s (Taurean) resources, but which inevitably leads to starving your Self of input and everything which could in the long run provide the tools and keys to inner security.  

People talk about Taurean negativity as ‘stubbornness’ often without any conception of how limiting the choice to be stubborn for the sake of being stubborn is ... and how the refusal to consider anything else is not about strength, but about a fear of our own vulnerabilities. And sure, we’d all rather have someone else carry our emotional baggage, but when we do that, we poison our own chances for the kind of long-lasting strength of security which can only be achieved through self-knowledge and self-confrontation.

Moreover, life truly wants to give us what we ask for. So when we fear others doing something to us - that’s what metaphysics says will happen ... which is something worth thinking about. This doesn’t mean we should think only happy, candy-coated thoughts as that doesn’t apply - not to mention how such sugar-coating is hardly honest, and avoidance of honesty is a sure sign of those underlying lacks of self worth which are so negative Taurus.

 Buffalo grazing on the Wyoming grasslands

(photo credit:Ron Nichols, United States Department of Agriculture) 

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In short, if you don’t want a war - with others or with yourself, deal with the fear within. The fear we don’t deal with we project - which does nothing other than offer opportunities to those who will fill in that gap and give us something to fear in reality.

It’s harder ... but ultimately probably a lot more productive to face our fears on our own. Once we do that, then we can live in the security of our own core providing validity and security to everyone else ... which in any mode and by any means is one of the better definitions of human success.
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Pluto’s New Moon Vega Station

Fixed star Vega, photographed here by the Spitzer Space Telescope,

is twenty-five light years away from us in constellation Lyra

(photo credit: JPL, NASA)

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As this post hits the digital airwaves, dwarf planet Pluto is going on station. The actual station-retrograde moment occurs at 3:52 in the morning on Friday, April 17th (in the UT/+0 time zone), but given the nature of stations as indicators of things ‘taking a turn’ in life, it just isn’t unusual for things to happen just in advance - or just after - a station’s occurrence.

And the likelihood of something Plutonic happening to you...? That increases (or decreases) with how exactly Pluto aspects your natal chart.

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The closer the aspect, the stronger the effect.  And since we’re talking Pluto, the closer to the actual time and date of station, the more transformative the effect. With Pluto going from direct motion into retrograde, we’re going from just shy of seven months of adapting to externally into about five months of changing on the inside - or finding out how we’ve already changed, and what that means to us in some long(er) run.

With Pluto taking this ‘turn’ in perfect conjunction with fixed star Vega, part of what we’re going through involves a sorting through standards and ‘structures,’ be they physical, mental, moral, fiscal, occupational or otherwise - and what we’re finding there is that things are either changing ... or never were what we wanted to think they were to begin with.

And no, we can’t forget about it.

Nor are we particularly enthralled about it, even in the case of those (you know who you are...!) who are utterly determined to resist, that being one of the easiest things to read from the grand trine (in earth signs) which Pluto is in as it goes into retrograde.

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This‘resisting’ force is symbolized by Mars, though at 12 Taurus there is every chance that some of us will be beginning to tackle or work through things which have been resisted, but which for whatever reason are now beginning to be recognized as an area of life or attribute or situation in need of investment and attention, not something simply to be taken on its hard-shell face.

The other member of this triad being Black Moon Lilith at 15 Virgo, an odd combination which speaks either to a determined effort to deny any responsibility for dealing with particular facts/truths even if they will benefit your aim, goal or ‘cause’... or which speaks to some sort of determined effort which, in seeking to control how others act, think or prioritize, gets confronted by some sort of transformative energy which ends up changing the goal or the point of the effort itself.

Moreover, this particular Pluto station is also part of an ‘almost complete’ grand sextile.

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In not being complete, this figure won’t be important to many of us. However, IF you’re someone with a planet, dwarf planet, node, cusp or axis point positioned between 4 and 7 degrees of Libra in your natal chart, that point will complete this grand sextile (filling in the question mark above), telling us that what you’re doing and things which are now in progress are going to change your life - not just transform your direction or change your mind but change your life in fairly short order.

This doesn't have to be a big change - but it can be. It may be something only you recognize or even suspect. It may only matter to you. Or it may have not ever  crossed your mind until now. With this being a grand sextile in fire and air taking place as Pluto takes station in an earth signs, there is a bit of an abstract quality about something both fateful and very real ... which in time you will grow to recognize as a learning experience you were never in control of.

And even if you’re not on the grand sextile list, there are two other figures included with fire and air sign sprinkle, one of which is a Kite... 

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... and the other of which is a Magic Rectangle...

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...which unlike the possible grand sextile DO both apply to everyone - at least as ‘modifiers’ to whatever Pluto station matters we’re each experiencing.

Not that they work the same way, though. Kites speak of opportunities which we want to harness, or which need to be harnessed, lest something get off course or fail to live up to its nature. Kites ‘aim’ at a goal which is pictured by the object at the top of the kite - which in this case, is Ceres at 3 Aquarius, speaking to difficulties or people who are experiencing painful difficulties and our efforts to guard against such things, to fix whatever may be causing the difficulties, or even the determination to ‘guard’ or ‘protect’ some painful status quo from criticism or interference.

But with kites, we don’t ‘aim’ right for the goal - we ‘steer’ towards it, doing that steering from the position of the kite’s “tail” (here, Juno at 7 Leo),  which if you think of that point as where a kite’s string would attach makes total sense.

As for Juno at 7 Leo, that speaks to a (Juno) managing or management of some situation, aim or tendency through the intelligent construction (constructing) of that which is the most creative and ‘aimed at’ (this being the Aquarius part) not one’s personal aims, but those bigger or more overarching considerations which if improved will bring about the result or reward we are hoping for (and thus our personal rewards).

Pluto Station-Retrograde (glyph chart)

April 17, 2015 - 3:52 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Pluto station-retrograde (text chart)

April 17, 2015 - 3 52 (UT +0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Magic rectangles differ from kites in that kites are something we actively do (or are in the middle of doing) and magic rectangles refer most often to things which are, or which have been set up, created or which have come to be without all that much effort on our part, and which because they are just so ‘magical’ (and more or less magically effortless) in our lives we don’t tend to value as someone else - someone who doesn’t have our talent, our heritage or inheritance, how someone who doesn’t have our problems OR our privileges might see things.

And that being what it may, all goes well (or terribly) for us in this seemingly unending way until something ‘breaks the spell’ and the magic suddenly ends.

Once “broken” (which with a natal magic rectangle is timed through difficult transits to the points which make up the figure) magic rectangles are difficult to heal, solve or otherwise resurrect. It’s as if the ability remains, but because it wasn’t “worked for” in the “normal” sense, there seems to always be some sort of inability to put things back together.

In this case (a strictly transiting magic rectangle), the points are Ceres, Saturn, Juno and Venus, with Venus in opposition to Saturn and Ceres (as we just discussed in reference to the kite) in opposition from Leo to Aquarius. Saturn is still at 4 Sagittarius - the degree it was at when it went retrograde back on March 14th ...

-link to post-

Saturn Retrograde - Phaethon Direct

... and Venus is at 6 Gemini, a degree known for separating fact from fiction and facts from feelings, resulting in insights which though correct can prove very unpopular and a preference (or need to remain confined to) surface examinations, perhaps because this degree insists on equal emphases on ability and (emotional) motivation if success is to be achieved.

Venus/Saturn in opposition is considered one of the few oppositions which are fortunate (and even sometimes stabilizing) in business world and when it comes to dealing with money. This combination is also very good for making plans which require consideration of details and/or ‘costs,’ be they financial or to anything else - such as a schedule or some other plan which now needs to be changed.
Pluto’s station isn’t affecting any of these dynamics directly. But that they are occurring at the same time as Pluto’s station does suggest how, with regards to something in your life which you identify personally as having its reflection in either with the grand sextile, the kite or the magic rectangle (or maybe all three!) ... how that situation or effort is going through a transformative time.

Or how ‘other’ (Pluto) things around you in life and the world which are in the process of changing are causing (even forcing) you to alter your plans - maybe even fatefully so.

And that things may (read: will) change? Or that they’re changing? Or that many of us will be or become the person who enacts that change - or that we’ll begin changing in our own life?

With Pluto turning to retrograde on the 17th just a day after Earth has begun its annual Lyrid Meteor Shower (and a day before a New Moon at 28 Aries on the 18th) we are getting a double dose of finger pointing in the Vega direction. After all, not only is Pluto going retrograde in perfect conjunction with Vega, but this station is occurring one day after the Lyrid Meteor shower (which runs from April 16th through the 25th) begins.

Constellation Lyra is, after all, where Vega lives.

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And if that’s not enough, comet Thatcher (the comet which produces the Lyrids) has its radiant (apparent origination point) IN Lyra, a constellation which portrays the ‘musical instrument’ (and ‘harmonic tones,’ one could argue) used by god Apollo.

Which makes perfect sense when we think of Vega as the heart of this constellation and thus a symbol of all which softens our resistance and ‘attunes’ us to the qualities of Apollo’s enlightenment - that being so very close to what we call ‘charisma.’

So this issue of what pleases us, what we think ‘looks good’ or ‘sounds good,’ the qualities of charisma (that which enchants us) and/or our qualities of charisma (that with which we enchant others) ... all that is now up for grabs (one hopes not literally) with what others think of us as easily transformed as what we think of them (or ‘that,’ should our focus be a situation, goal or object rather than a person).

Does that mean everything will go wrong now?

Not necessarily. It all really depends on our relationship to Plutonic forces and desires - said desires so often being aimed at what we want others to do or be, when the real issue is how vulnerable we really feel. We’re all exceptionally good at fooling ourselves on this point - we tend to think Plutonic acts and choices are about our ‘strength’ instead of our fervent desire not to be seen as weak.

Or maybe worse yet, to have to live with our feelings of incapacity, weakness or vulnerability. That, we REALLY don’t like, especially at times when Pluto energies become active.

You know, like about now. So we can all expect to be going through some ‘stuff’ which we don’t like at all - and in response to what we think of as something someone else is “doing to us” (or to our efforts), we are likely to get all hot and Pluto-obsessive, which is not the way we “win” (or prevail) where Pluto is concerned.

Here’s the Pluto rule: no matter how demanding or upsetting the situation is, first, know your position. Then state it - ONCE - in its simplest and most honestly and complete terms.

Then BE QUIET. Go about your business. Let the fur fly. Let others stir up all the dust they want to stir up.

If you have understood the problem and truly proceeded on honest facts, and IF you have chosen your course of action (or priorities) based not on emotion but on an understanding of your fears as well as the needs of others (without giving in emotionally to either side) ... then, when the dust settles, you will win out.

I know - this sounds odd. Particularly odd as we associate Pluto with passion, obsession and overwhelming odds, feelings and outcomes. But that’s just the point: Pluto’s positives are outcomes which occur when we do things for the right reason, not because we desire a given outcome.

And when we don’t go that route?

That’s when Pluto becomes a symbol of an emotional world of pain ... a painfully emotional world and a world of emotionality driven by pain.

So what does all this mean in connection with a New Moon in Aries - specifically at 28 Aries?

Every New Moon is about something new, be it the phase of a continuing project, a new perspective on something or someone you know or a new plan, reason or action which leads to getting something done, whether externally or otherwise.

New Moon in Aries (glyph chart)

April 18, 2015 - 19:56 (7:56 pm) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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New Moon in Aries (text chart)

April 18, 2015 - 19:56 (7:56 pm) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Before we move on, a few notes from the ‘Oh, What a Difference a Day Makes’ file. Between the time Pluto goes on station and the New Moon, the Moon will have moved over twenty degrees, completely disrupting the grand sextile and kite formations seen at Pluto’s station.

The magic rectangle is still there. Pluto’s private grand trine is still there. But the opportunity (or perhaps the need) which might have allowed us to steer something - that’s over.

Being at 28 Aries, this New Moon will emphasize  personal issues in that we’re likely to take things personally - even overly so, as in the case of those who will see something happen in the world around them and give up or walk away. Aries is always a fairly temperamental sign this way, but its not always as prone to disappointment (and all which goes on inside of us when we’re feeling disappointed) as at the moment.

Some of this may be useful in how it may be a reflection of our realizing that something we’ve been doing is either ‘over’ or it’s not going to work (or can’t work) the way we thought it would - which for some equals defeat. But for others, maybe it just means we need to take a step back and think (or plan) through again. At least one astrologer has written about this degree as having something of a different response depending on our age as well, with younger people feeling more disappointments (or feeling their setbacks more acutely) than those who have lived long enough to think of life in less black-and-white terms.

But whoever we are, this New Moon’s degree - and thus the lunar month it is spearheading emphasizes support, help and the equal abilities of men and women to be receptive of others and generous in kind.

Evidently that matters at the moment. Not only that, it’s also part of everything we’re doing by way of sorting through the differences between what we thought was ‘worth it’ or valuable or inspirational or what we wanted ... and what things have turned out to be-and/or-become.

With Pluto going retrograde on the 17th, the two-day station allowance we give such events ends on Sunday the 19th. And since Sunday the 19th is the date that Pallas goes retrograde (at 0 Capricorn) and the second of April’s scheduled meteor showers (the Eta Aquarids) begins, in the wake of Pluto’s station ... and the New Moon ... it would appear we will be ‘sparked’ to some new (Pallas) or new level of perspective.

Pallas has been sitting at 0 Capricorn since it entered the sign just after Jupiter’s station on the 8th, promoting patience and the need for patience as much with our Self as others as we try - often ineffectively - to communicate forms of inner truth to others even as we protect our beliefs or abilities from unnecessary harm. Will Pallas’ going retrograde mean we will now gain some perspective on our Self as to why we get listened to and not listened to? Not necessarily, but maybe. What would seem to be likely apart from that would be our gaining some ‘transformative’ perspective through (or as) we simply live through these days - which in its own way will give us perspective on who we have been being ... who we can be ... and why one thing might work better for us than another. Given Pallas’ turn to retrograde as the Eta Aquarids start up (they start on April 19th and run until May 28th), we can expect some natural societal, society, social, systemic and networking energies - anything which to us defines the path to and experience of ‘success’ (however we define that) to be part of this mix. Given the Aries New Moon, there are aspects of this introduction of Big Picture Aquarian (Eta Aquarid) vibe which apply to health, lifestyle and overall functionality ... and then again, there are aspects of the current energetics which are very definitely more egocentric - and about whether our ego is getting in the way (our way).

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Plus, there is the fact that this part of the station - the ‘aftermath’ and evolutionary part which starts us into seeing what we need to leave behind and where we need to go in order to renew or reinvent our Self and efforts in times ahead ... all of that is taking place on the day when the Sun is at 29 “critical” degrees of Aries - a degree known as useful to those willing to make determined efforts (now and in the days, weeks and months to come) and which though not particularly elegant, is willing to grapple with the ugly as well as the beautiful, if only because the energy of 29 Aries seeks to build on that which is solid while eliminating the tendency to hesitate or otherwise waste time and energy on appearances which in the end are merely ‘advertising.’

In the end, we are what we do. That’s very 29 Aries - as is the inbuilt-desire and effort to work peacefully and to have everything work out for the best as the Sun moves on into Taurus, where who we are (and aren't) come back to haunt us not only through what we are (and have done through a month of Aries-centric self-motivated doings) - but through what we aren't, especially in our own soul.

Thus will we be ... and find ourselves transformed.
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