Saturn Retrograde - Phaethon Direct

Seen above: Saturn's north polar hexagon, dwarf moon Mimas

(246 miles/396 km across) and part of Saturn's A ring

(photo credit: NASA, JPL, Caltech, Mar 2013)

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With less than a week before nature displays her spectacular nature through gracing our planet with a total solar eclipse at 29 Pisces, the soul-searching nature of the eclipse is well upon us. We may not even notice it ... but something is ‘moving’ us from somewhere we have been to somewhere we need to be - particularly on a very personal and esoteric level.

How deeply or intrinsically your life - or more perhaps your feelings about life (and your life amidst all) is impacted ... ultimately ... by this eclipse has everything to do with your personal natal chart, of course. But we do know those who will ultimately find these weeks past and ahead together forming some greater life ‘turning point’ will like as not have a planet, node, dwarf planet, axis or cusp point in aspect to the eclipse’s position (29 Pisces), which would be true if they fall within the following range(s):

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SOLAR ECLIPSE @ 29 PISCES

-degrees affected using standard (Ptolemaic) aspects- 

-Conjunction (5 degrees of orb): 24-29 Pisces, 0-4 Aries

-Squares (5 degrees degrees of orb): 24-29 Sagittarius, 0-4 Capricorn ... (and) ... 24-29 Gemini, 0-4 Cancer

-Opposition (5 degrees of orb): 24-29 Virgo, 0-4 Libra

-Trines (5 degrees of orb): 24-29 Cancer, 0-4 Leo ... (and) ...  24-29 Scorpio, 0-4 Sagittarius

-Sextiles (3 degrees of orb): 26-29 Capricorn, 0-2 Aquarius ... and ... 26-29 Taurus, 0-2 Gemini

-Semi-sextiles (1/1.5 degrees of orb): 28 Aries-0 Taurus, 28 Aquarius-0 Pisces

-Inconjuncts (1/1.5 degrees of orb): 28 Leo-0 Virgo, 28 Libra- 0 Scorpio

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In fact, in looking at that list, the degree that Saturn is going station-retrograde in (4 Sagittarius) is being eclipsed-by-trine.

Totally eclipsed-by-trine - which takes us right to that lore which speaks about what eclipses are on the metaphysical level, as that effect is - and is going to be felt by us for some time yet to come. When a solar eclipse ‘hits’ a point in your natal chart, lore tells us there will be an ‘evolution’ of sorts pertaining to that symbol, the house it resides in and the metaphysical meaning of the planet ruling the cusp of that house - and that said evolution will continue for a full three years (36 months), with some sort of ‘twist’ or ‘shift’ occurring about six months before the process ends.

Saturn Retrograde (glyph chart)

March 14, 2015 - 15:03 (3:03 pm) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Saturn Retrograde (text chart)

March 14, 2015 - 15:03 (3:03 pm) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Things - even people - tend to ‘disappear’ during, or through processes associated with eclipses. And while some of those ‘disappearances’ may occur as part of the ‘evolution’ just talked about, if there is going to be a sense of loss associated with a solar eclipse if happens more often than not at the eclipse comes into force.

That would be now ... or more to the point, partly now and also partly having to do with things which have deteriorated or shown themselves to be ‘breaking down’ (beginning to crumble or end) over the past two months (i.e., during the pre-eclipse ‘break down’ period).

Mind you, there is virtually no connection between the actual point of the eclipse and whatever has been acting on or in your life to change things. What is happening now (or at the time of any solar eclipse) has very little to do with where we will go or what we ought to be doing. Instead, what the eclipse will tend to act on is what we shouldn’t be doing ... or maybe how we shouldn’t be going about doing things.

In other words, the eclipse - which is strongest in your life when it aspects YOUR chart - is not ‘about’ what someone does to you, or whether you lose your job, buy a house, have a child, fall ill or get happily married for the rest of your ever-after life.

Solar eclipses are not about that - they’re about how that which is “going away,” be it that job, your former lifestyle, life as a single person - or even your health - it’s about something which your previous “status quo” was keeping you from doing.

Or being.

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The point in your chart which is being struck - or in this case, the global transiting Saturn which is being ‘hit’ by eclipse at 4 Sagittarius - represents something which has outlived its purpose. We are used to it and most of us will tend to assume that it is integrally connected to ‘how life is supposed to be’ because we have learned to live with whatever it is.

Life, however, has other plans - bigger plans. And our wanting to keep things as they have been doesn’t fit - hence the eclipse.

Yet as things are being ‘taken away’ through the process of an eclipse, something else is being revealed. Maybe we see it because we’ve been started out of complacency by being tossed out of our comfort zone, but whether or not that’s the reason, the metaphysics of the eclipse say that when something in ‘everyday life’ (the Moon) moves in front of (takes priority over) our (Sun) conception of life as we know it - when all then “falls dark,” we will see revealed that which we aren’t using in everyday life - the Sun’s corona.

The Solar Eclipse of July 11, 2010 as photographed in French Polynesia

(photo credit: Denys, 2010)

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And that’s the point of the eclipse. Coronas represent things which under normal conditions we don't notice, see or consider ... which just like the corona, could be very special. Even close to magical. That special quality is what we are 'left' with when something in our life gets 'eclipsed' and taken away. And since what’s being eclipsed here is Saturn (the keywords for which include time, responsibility, limits, slow growth, earned rewards, accomplishment, loss, determination, fear, structure, consequence and that kind of leadership which in positive mode leads by example and which in negative mode leads by edict, rejection, punishment and “might makes right” choices or acts of retribution) ... while something very Saturn-like is being 'taken away,' what we are left with is even more valuable.

And why is it more valuable?

Because it's unique to us. 

Saturn is currently moving through Sagittarius - the sign of education, legal debate, exploration (not necessarily discovery), travel, expanding horizons, religion (as opposed to spirituality, which is Piscean) and any/all means by which information is disseminated, be it false or true, be it kind or unkind, be it warranted, useful ... or simply something someone is putting out there because they’ve stubbed their ego’s toe.

In Sagittarius, Saturn represents that which are seeking to help us find a path to some accomplishment or goal and all the lessons, critiques, modifications and re-thinks we will experience by feeling called upon to examine all which we come across in the process of seeking that path (or more progress along that path). Judgment - and the spirit in which judgments are made are primary challenges here with a lot of ‘cutting off’ of opportunities and rejecting information which in time proves correct being the danger ... and ultimately that which will dampen, limit or end up causing someone not to succeed and achieve their (Saturn) goals and aims.

Moreover, that judgment and judgments may be a problem now is being underscored. By what? By the fact that Saturday the 14th (the date Saturn goes retrograde) is also the first day of ‘rock comet’ Phaethon - currently in retrograde - going on station to go direct come Monday, March 16th.

So that means Saturn’s station occurs ... and that as Saturn goes into retrograde ... or as part of that process, Phaethon is going direct.

Phaethon by Hendrick Gottzius (Netherlands 1558-1617)

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So what does Phaethon represent?

That answer is probably best told as a thumbnail of the myth. Phaethon is a teenager - a teenager as convinced of his own ability and near-immortality as any teenager is when, through a bargain with Apollo, he ends up with the right to ask the god for something mortals normally can’t have or ever get.

And what does Phaethon ask for? Proving for all time how important having a spiffy ride is to teens, Phaethon asks to drive the Chariot of the Sun.

And Apollo, being the god of (among other things) honesty, can’t go back on his word.

What this speaks to is the power of immaturity - or its Doppelganger, a lack of willingness to act mature) and the ‘I WANT IT!!!’ cravings which arise in such a vacuum of self-discipline from time to time, testing even our inner Apollo - that inner sense of ‘the truth of the situation’ which knows when we shouldn’t do something, but which in a Phaethon situation can’t override the (Phaethon/too-youthful) inability to conceive of lessons and consequences life has not yet taught.

In Phaethon’s case, the results were utterly disastrous. When the chariot’s four horses realized an inexperienced hand was holding their reins, they began running wild - which would astrologically now be in the process of happening, which may have already happened, or which is being seen to now be on the verge of breaking out. Taking the bit in their teeth, the horses galloped off-course, soaring so high and close to the Sun itself that Phaethon’s hair and clothing caught on fire, causing him to fall to the far-below sea - and his death.

Pride goeth before the fall, indeed - that is one of things we confront through ‘Phaethon Periods,’ one of which begins as Saturn goes retrograde. Will we experience such urges, first person? Or will we see someone else acting as their own Phaethon, getting carried away with some vision they have of (or for) their Self? (And if so, what kind of bearing does their hard-headed insistence on some fantasy they have about that Self have on us?)

And ‘fantasy’ is a correct term here as Phaethon is going retrograde in Pisces - a sign which is always about experiencing our own feelings about things (or people). Even more than that, Phaethon is going direct in an emotionally confrontational degree - 17 Pisces - which in guaranteeing some sort of emotional upwelling aims to get us to look at our feelings in real time, basing what to do once we get that far not on what we’d like to do, but rather on  on broadly accepted (the most broadly, whenever possible) ‘rules’ (or) ‘standards.’

And that gets us back to Saturn (symbol of rules and standards on a social, societal and personal achievement level) rather nicely.

Or not so nicely, depending.

One other note on 17 Pisces (as long as we’re here)... 17 Pisces is a degree one astrologer specifically refers to as one which bars or bans dependence during the early/early adult years, lest that lead to being overwhelmed or (conversely), ‘going under’ - whether that means going under emotionally, financially, spiritually, physically (or any other way).

And that would fit the ‘loss’ or ‘limiting’ concept which goes with Saturn, wherever Saturn may be.

In this case in particular however, Saturn is at 4 Sagittarius. And 4 Sagittarius - even without Phaethon or 17 Pisces - is known for those qualities we would associate with those who are noble enough to ‘rise above the fray’ and who are human (or humanitarian) enough to fight to protect their very Self - at which point, the gloves (and more) comes off.

Together, these two symbols seem to speak to a prickly sort of very determined feistiness which is unfortunately prone to ‘falling’ (or losing out to) their own weaknesses - particularly those of the emotion-driven kind.

Except the Saturn side of this is getting eclipsed. Not (officially) until March 20th, to be sure. Still ...

Plus there are a few aspects we should think about. Saturn - which is conjunct asteroid Child (repeating that theme of ‘immature’ or ‘immaturity’)

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(Okay, more than a few.)

Juno - which goes direct just a day before Saturn goes retrograde - trining from Leo speaks to maintaining a point of view, and when we add in the particular of this being 3 Leo, we think in terms of great potential if not all that much accomplishment (at least yet) - which again speaks to something/someone which is ‘not ready’ in some sense. Or perhaps (since trines speak to ‘ongoing circumstances) something which is still not ready.

And with Saturn being eclipsed by trine, does this speak to an end to something which never quite came to be?

While trining Saturn, Juno will also be inconjunct to Mercury - suggesting a change of heart (read: mind) which is either ‘inspired’ or accepted despite other preferences.

With that Mercury in its own Pisces-Sagittarius square to Saturn, for those who aren’t in love with loud fights and emotional squabbling, good news - Mercury/Saturn squares can be testy, but aren’t often all that loud. If anything, they tend towards silent - which in this case, considering both of these images as resident in your life summons up making compromises with yourself in the name of getting things done.

Or maintaining something you don’t want to deal with in some ‘status quo’ which you can attend to later ... (read: which buys you some emotional time).

And yet ... Mercury is itself (widely) conjunct Neptune. And Neptune is in square to Saturn, a combination which speaks to the kind of internal need to make decisions about things we wish we knew as fact (but which no one can know as fact) which makes most of us terribly squeamish, particularly just before we make that decision or choice. (Which could be a perfectly fine choice, as far as that goes.)

Neptune square Saturn is no fun in individual charts and isn’t much more fun by transit. So that this edition of same (the transit, I mean) began when Saturn entered Sagittarius in late December, 2014...

-link to post-

Saturn in Sagittarius

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... and which will end - for a while - come April 17th (UT/+0) only to rear its nebulous icky-squickiness again as of mid-October, 2015 (lasting through the end of January, 2016), all in the wake of Saturn being eclipsed in the here and now.

Something is changing - something essential about each one of us. Those whose natal charts have the usual array of points (planets, dwarf planets, nodes, cusp points) in aspect to Saturn as it goes into retrograde will feel this station more acutely, but we’ll all feel it to one or another extent.

And what would those degrees be?

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SATURN RETROGRADE @ 4 SAGITTARIUS

-degrees affected using standard (Ptolemaic) aspects- 

- Conjunction (5 degrees of orb): 29 Scorpio-9 Sagittarius

- Squares (5 degrees degrees of orb): 29 Aquarius-9 Pisces ... (and) ... 29 Leo-9 Virgo

- Opposition (5 degrees of orb): 29 Taurus-9 Gemini

- Trines (5 degrees of orb): 29 Pisces-9 Aries ... (and) ... 29 Cancer-9 Leo

- Sextiles (3 degrees of orb): 1 Aquarius-7 Aquarius ... (and) ... 1 Libra-7 Libra

- Semi-sextiles (1/1.5 degrees of orb): 3 to 5 degrees of Capricorn or Scorpio

- Inconjuncts (1/1.5 degrees of orb): 3 to 5 degrees of Taurus or Cancer 
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Everyone will experience this station to some extent. But those whose charts are affected by Saturn’s station being in orb of aspect to a natal position will feel it more directly, if in terms of the natal position being aspected. (Suggestion: see where such a point falls in your current solar return, too.)

And if you’re someone whose natal chart is aspected by Saturn’s station and the 29 Pisces solar eclipse, you’re already in the midst of a nebulous if emotional experience which may shift a bit as Saturn goes into retrograde, but which is going to continue for some time yet.

With that, back to Saturn’s station diagram, in which we haven’t yet touched on how the Pisces Neptune which is widely conjunct Mercury and square Saturn is also in opposition to Black Moon Lilith, an opposition which though past exact (the opposition perfected back on January 19th) is still in orb, lending a curious quality of something ill-defined and plainly not concrete but which ultimately will not be denied pitted against something which is highly defined and very definite - but wholly unwarranted and in the greatest sense, simply wrong.

Plus there is other thing to note about Phaethon’s station-direct moment on the 16th.

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That’s right - as Phaethon goes direct, the Pluto-Uranus square is coming to exact again. That will add even more ‘oomph’ (energy behind effort) to the determination (or determinations) being made during this period. Yet since this version of the Pluto-Uranus square comes to us (courtesy of the lunar nodes) as a t-square, that puts the emphasis on the Capricorn collective: Pluto, Vega, Byblis and Bali - the taking of (Bali) pleasure in that which (Byblis) we know is not just underhanded, but to be utterly disrespected or despised through (Pluto) ‘transformative means’ intended to (or bent on) ‘de-structuring’ some form of (Vega) appeal.

The problem here is pictured as a desire to get to what one loves for its own sake (South Node/Eros). And as part of that (or maybe as apart from that) there’s also a push on to gain sufficient leverage through compromise (or dismantling) of charismatic sources/effects or functional structures (probably long-standing structures) with an eye to being able to do what one wants, as one wants, when one wants, without having to answer to anyone else - about anything.

To this, Saturn either brings support - or, through going into retrograde in a position to receive the solar eclipse by trine speaks to the idea that things are being more or less ‘carefully brought’ into a position where, like dominoes, all will fall into place and through that, be eliminated from consideration.

Saturn is always a symbol of growth. As the planet farthest from Earth which is still visible with our naked eyes, it represents the extent of our grasp - that we can ‘see’ and thus ‘get a hold of’ in a first-person sense. Every year when Saturn reaches its station-retrograde point we are being told that we will be working through and consolidating or building on that which we have already done or already set in motion for a while.

And then Saturn will go direct again, and outward growth begins anew. This time around its virtually assured that part of our ‘retrograde work’ will include dealing with a lot of things we don’t want to think or feel about ourselves ... which could be a ‘group’ statement - and which is assuredly going to turn out to be individually true, up and down the scale.

People who don’t like their astrological Saturn often speak of it as something being done ‘to’ them - but it’s not. Saturn is about being the person we should be but often aren’t because we don’t want to take the time something needs ... because we don’t want to be bothered to do things the right way or because we just don’t like being told what to do. Saturn represents the social fundamentals which underlie society itself and those who lead our societies and nations. Saturn represents all we work for throughout our lives and those ‘marks’ we make on our world. Saturn represents ‘earning’ in every personal sense while teaching us (indeed, by warning us) that our being ends at our skin and that while that makes us a singular human being, it also means we’re all alone in our existing in this world.

And such is life.
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Notice to readers: an incorrect sign noted in eclipse inconjunct degrees

has been corrected. Apologies if this caused any confusion.

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Typhon/Eurydike - Chiron/Psyche: Minding Stations

A forest of synthetic pyramidal dendrites grown using Cajal's laws of neuronal branching

(photo credit: Hermann Cuntz, PLoS Computational Biology Vol 6, August 2010)

It was something about Mercury going retrograde and the near-instantaneous confrontation with a disruption of body, car and finances which (as I lay there trying to think of things to think about while not sleeping) got me to thinking about Typhon.

(Okay, it’s terribly astrological of me. But what do you think about when it’s the middle of the night and you can’t sleep?)

Anyway, physicality, money, transportation...these are the most basic of basics in modern survival. Even with all our technology some things just come back to our Self.

And that - plus any event or thing which gets us to think in terms of basics or to experience them (recognize them, etc.) is the essence Typhon. Typhon is the object which brings us back to the ‘instinctual level’...and which in doing so asks us whether we are just instinctual creatures, what instinct is (or isn’t) good or bad - considering our truest aims - to accede to or to resist...

...or whether we are going to ‘master’ not others, but our Self - a Typhon quality which is rather easily seen and quite possibly more of an issue at the moment as Typhon transits airy Libra, sign of relating and (along with Aries) the most ‘projection-prone’ of signs simply because Libra asks us to reconcile our sense of Self to that Self through what we learn or encounter in others or life as a whole.

And this issue of Typhon transiting Libra, that isn’t any short term transit. Typhon’s orbit (around the Sun) is some 235 years in length, giving us an average of 19.5 years in any given thirty-degree sign - of which we have only thus far experienced 13 of those degrees.

...Which brings us back to 13 Libra, a degree which tends to increase focus and emphasis on others with something of an ‘all good/all bad’ sort of ‘black-and-white’ quality which when active tends to react rather purely in terms of whether the good ‘expectation’ has been met without all that much cognizance that the expectations are not only not fact, but they are one of the premier ways humans challenge their Self to be realistic - and thus to achieve that wholeheartedly Libra thing, namely the satisfying of one’s aims through others, interactions, situations and joint/joined efforts.

So as Typhon goes direct on June 19th (UT/+0) we can all expect some sort of experience which is basic. And though the reasons why we do or don’t do something may seem like the object (and may well be important in their own right) the real ‘Typhon question’ is likely to be more about our experience of who we are when all else is stripped away - and how our regards for...or our lack of regard - for others and the world around us can so color all we achieve.

Or don’t achieve, depending.

 A diagram of the orbit of TNO Typhon

(credit: NASA-JPL)

 

Where Typhon is concerned, there’s no doubt but that we will react from instinct. The question is whether we will realize it as such and - if we do recognize that fact - whether we will parse or moderate instinct through the use of more ‘modern’ (as opposed to primal) or intellectual means as we sort through that good old axiomatic metaphysical rule about life: what happens isn’t about ‘them’ so much as it’s about us.

As the old adage says, it’s not what happens, it’s how we respond to it, react to it, and what we learn from it which counts.

Under Libra we learn about ourselves through external means - and until we reckon ‘cause’ with ‘effect’ we aren’t likely to win our own respect, love or satisfaction in the long run.

Furthermore, since life seems to have a trés bizarre sense of humor (especially of late, she says with an admitted degree of personal concern) this Typhon station isn’t ‘one-and-done’ simple. No, this is not just about Typhon (just?) as Typhon isn’t going direct all by its celestial self on June 19th. Instead, as Typhon goes direct at 13 Libra, Eurydike is also going direct at 27 Libra.

Oh, what an airy, airy world - or at least it’s likely to feel like one as life becomes all about ‘the idea’ or our ‘concept’ of what’s true or not true at all sorts of interesting and variable levels throughout this (June 17-21) joint station.

And when one adds Typhon to the Eurydike ‘know the cost’ (or simply ‘the cost of’) vibe, the results are obvious - the cost of basics...and knowing them, understanding them, accepting them - whether that means having them, needing them or having ignored them...whether in past tense, present tense or something which works out to being happy or rather personally tense about the future.  

In combination, this energy can be personal and pragmatic - but that would seem to require a degree of pragmatism. Why? That would be because 27 Libra has a reputation for things which are difficult to move through in part because they flex and change at every step along the way combined with their tendency to be unmoved by short-term influence - a quality which may manifest as anything from annoyance to frustration to sheer dismay in the charts of those with 13 Libra highlighted.

(Note: this would mean anyone with any planet/dwarf planet, axis or node between 8 and 18 Libra, Aries, Capricorn or Cancer - and/or - those with points or planets between 11 and 15 degrees of Pisces or Virgo.)

If those points are highlighted, the ‘Typhon effect’ will be strong, against which we would expect any astrologically underscored placement of Eurydike would indicate fluctuation(s) which may or may not be important, but which may well seem important - sending us back to that ‘need for internal I/thou’ balance so common with 13 Libra.

(With regards to Eurydike’s effect, look for points between 22 Libra and 1 Scorpio...22 Aries and 1 Taurus...22 Cancer and 1 Leo, or 22 Capricorn and 1 Aquarius.)

There is a ‘stability’ quotient associated with 27 Libra, there may appear to be a promise of the ability or embodiment of some sort of ‘inner harmony’ which is difficult to define if no less real for that. It’s an elusive, hard to pin down quality which when combined with Typhon and 13 Libra’s reputation for difficulties with others based on difficulties with reconciliation of desire against (life’s often rather mundane) realities.

It would seem to be a recipe which may well manifest through eruptions where at the most basic level there may well be the least to worry about - which of course will create rebuttals, reactions and responses from that which is being disrupted in theory or because of theory - much of which reflects the Typhon’s current 13 Libra placement.

Typhon entered 13 Libra (in retrograde) back on June 4th - and because the sign is Libra, and because like Taurus, Libra is ruled by Venus there is (and has been) an ongoing ‘reference’ which sort of ‘ties’ things which have been going on...not always literally, but certainly thematically...with (you know what I’m going to say, right?) the 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse which occurred back in April.

(Just call it the eclipse which refuses to go away.)

Furthermore, let’s also remember that all this not-so-merriment is occurring under Mercury retrograde, so while we need to be working through things which are already on the table (or in action, on our plate, in focus, already challenging us, etc.)...and while there may be perfectly good reasons to be investigating options which either pertain to matters at hand or something you’re thinking of doing as/once Mercury goes direct on July 1st....

In short, Mercury retrograde is yet another way of bringing things home to us as things we need to deal with in terms of how we think, how we operate, how we regard others and in all those many and varied ways we rise and fall, gain or fail, learn or reject others and/or the standards of the world (or you particular ‘audience,’ be they personal, professional, private or public).

And just to make this very plain (even in some cases unpleasantly so), Mercury’s retrograde motion will move it back out of Cancer and into Gemini exactly as the Typhon/Eurydike station comes entirely into play (as opposed to the mental roughing up it’s represented over the past several weeks).

That’s right...Mercury returns to Gemini at 10:05 a.m. on June 17th (UT/+0 time) - setting an alarm clock (of sorts) which re-emphases issues of ‘choice,’ whether that’s the choice we make or have made, whether we will choose to be involved in any given thing, or whether we have simply changed our mind.

Such things do happen, after all. And providing those changes reflect enlightenment and a broadening of the mental basis upon which choice is made, Gemini (and Mercury) generally honor that...give or take all those ongoing post-eclipse upheavals and evolutions of things we didn’t want to hear (see, say, do) and which we surely didn’t want to have to deal with when thrust upon us.

Take heart - Venus will soon (as in next week) be exiting Taurus. No guarantees are being offered on this opinion, but it would be likely that much of the toxic subterranean upwelling (internal and external) will begin subsiding about then.

(And you may be assured I will be among the grateful about that.)

As for the second station pairing of the week, that would involve centaur Chiron and asteroid Psyche. Of these two, Chiron is certainly far the more famous, astrologically speaking. Yet being that in terms of mass asteroid Psyche is fully 1% of the entire known and total mass of all the many thousands of asteroids out there...Psyche’s no slouch in the ‘importance in life’ department.

Theoretically (this being metaphysical theory we’re talking about) all asteroids which reside in the main asteroid belt refer to things we will meet up with on our way from initiation, inception or assertion (Mars) and to understanding all the many things which make things work in the Big Picture rather than in our head, among our friends or (more or less) locally - that being the metaphysical Jupiterian notion.

In going on station at 20 Aquarius, Psyche represents the bridging or separating (the ‘divides’) between the individual and the group or some sub-set of a whole and the whole itself. If you have any planet, dwarf planet, nodal or axis point positioned between 15 and 25 Aquarius, Leo, Scorpio or Taurus...(or) 18 to 22 degrees of Virgo or Cancer, there is likely to be a notable ‘Psyche effect’ in your life about now - not that everyone else won’t be affected, but Psyche does seem to have a quality which works most effectively (in terms of long-term growth and productivity) through hard aspects.

(Translation: tough moments.)

The Sabian symbol for 20 Aquarius (‘A DISAPPOINTED AND DISILLUSIONED WOMAN COURAGEOUSLY FACES A SEEMINGLY EMPTY LIFE’) being less about gender and more about our individual ability/need to respond or accept - which Psyche and Aquarius (in being an air sign) plainly states is about some mental process, concept, thought or judgment (decision) - all of which operates on some societal or social level. And when we add in astrologer Marc Edmund Jones’ comment on this image (‘the capacity to meet emotionally upsetting experiences in human relationships with strength of character and personal integrity’) there would seem to be a ringing echo of Typhon at 13 Libra, if from a more mental and less visceral perspective with some emphasis on the experiencing of our own vision or expectation against why it won’t (or hasn’t) worked - or proved true.

With Psyche going retrograde, thoughts turn inward. And seeing as Psyche is going retrograde in tandem with Chiron doing the same thing in Pisces, the Aquarius/Pisces (Psyche/Chiron) combination describes an uncomfortable ‘encounter’ of that which can be conceived of in the abstract and the experience of the human reality, replete with all that often inconvenient (and uncomfortable) emotional vulnerability being human requires.

In this combo, Chiron represents the ‘wounded healer’ - or that we can do, but which we don’t want to (and don’t know how to) get ourselves to move through, even if that’s the only way we can learn our Chirotic truths. Chiron always asks that we ‘own’ something about or in our Self, and that something is always something we feel terribly inept about.

Are we inept? Maybe yes, maybe no - that’s not the Chiron issue. Chiron always involves something we love to tell others how to do but which we’re less than adept with in our own life - and sometimes that can manifest as looking hypocritical. Or even manipulative. When we ‘act out’ in a Chiron manner people tend to wonder why we don’t understand that all we have to do is....(insert concept)...to which we tend to react to with frustration.

Speaking of which (frustration, that is) because Chiron going retrograde at 17 Pisces says we will never be able to depend on others until we find our own inner independence. Those with axis points, nodes or planets/dwarf planets positioned between 12 and 22 degrees of Pisces, Virgo, Sagittarius or Gemini (along with those with chart points between 15 and 19 degrees of Libra or Leo) will feel the Chiron side of this dual-station more acutely than others, but everyone is bound to get a ‘dose’ of need to act which is strangely confronted by not being quite sure that you know what to do just to that degree which knocks you off your game.

With Chiron, it’s that inner insecurity with ourselves which gets to us...and not making this any more simple is the fact that 20 Aquarius is generally thought of as a problematic degree which needs a constructive outlet, lest pent-up energies, frustrations and in particular, the sense that you’re not being heard manifest as physical illness. 20 Aquarius has a reputation for connections to spinal nervous system (one I can vouch for personally and currently), so if problems arise, have them checked out. Given the centaur nature of this point there is always a tendency to ‘do what’s easy’ and resort to physical assertion (even aggression) rather than requiring ourselves to temper our willfulness with a healthy dose of thinking things through so that we will assert thoughtfully when and where necessary.

These days we are moving through are the last days of Sun in Gemini for 2014. As noted before, there is a common ‘descent into mental pressure’ which occurs at this time as part of the shift from Gemini (the last sign in the natural zodiac’s first quadrant) into Cancer as the first experience of having to (or needing to learn now to) move from mentality into emotionality and from the more egocentric world of personal learning (the I-Me-My Idea orientation towards life) into a world where we need to respond to others as part of learning how to get along - and ultimately achieve in life.

Against all this, 0 Cancer is the degree of the mid-year Solstice: Earth coming into a moment of ‘balanced illumination.’

So all of this...the earliest part of the week with its coloration of Typhon/Eurydike going direct (indicating facing things in the world) against Psyche/Chiron turning retrograde (indicating the need to think through why things mean what they do to us) is all about coming into balance - most of all with our Self.
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