Lilith Retrograde

Saturn, Regulus and the International Space Station

(photo credit: fdecomite, April 2007)

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Every year Saturn goes retrograde for some four months or so. This year, that retrograde station occurs on March 14th - which is twelve days after its March 2nd station/retrograde date of 2014 and eleven days short of the date (March 25th) on which Saturn will go retrograde in 2016.

As with any of the planets (dwarf or otherwise) we also tend to ‘feel’ the station’s approach as issues associated with that planet either pile up, become the subject of our days or simply bother us witless.

With Saturn, the subjects tend to be serious ... thoughtful ... even sobering. They tend to take time, too - Saturn issues aren’t generally those we flip through on a whim. Being the symbol of ‘earned rewards,’ Saturn’s transits and turnabouts often prompt us to think about what we are doing - and if we want to continue doing it ... occasionally turning into Saturn as the emblem of getting rid of things (thoughts, habits, people, jobs, interests, etc.) which no longer work, or serve useful purposes.

So if I say this post is being posted on March 9th and Saturn is going station-retrograde on March 14th, you might guess this week might not be the world’s most frivolous.

Mind you, that doesn’t mean anything has to go wrong. There’s a long (LONG) tradition of astrological dislike for Saturn, but that’s just a reflection of the very Saturn-like fact that we humans aren’t always in love with doing the work (and eating those vegetables) which need attending to before we get the award, the dessert ... before we get to the fun and the part we like.

Which is actually the important part here: it’s not the work per se, it’s the effort - and having a point to that effort. Saturn is not about stoic doodling and busywork; it’s about having a substantial goal which is going to allow you to do (or be) something which you aren’t or can’t be now - or without doing whatever it takes to get there.

So it is with the Sun cruising through Pisces lending all of life a somewhat nebulous, a touch suspicious, if still hopeful aura that we all head off through a week which will end with Saturn going retrograde on March 14th at 15:03 (2:03 p.m.) UT/+0 time.

Moreover, there are a couple of signposts along the way ...

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... which means with Saturn as our 'overarching' subject-of-the-week we would start with asteroid Lilith going retrograde on March the 11th, a metaphysical idea which suggests we will all be going into (or through) various 'shifts’ with regards to things we have denied about our Self, about who we ‘are,’ who we have been ‘being’ prior to now ... and what we do, don’t do, or have done over the past several months, after which (with Lilith in retrograde) we will be/become either inclined to not see how who we are being over the next several months is going to affect us down the line, or how what we are dealing with now is a result of something we did or chose to back, embody or stand for at some point prior to today's present.
 
All of which is - in the end - a reflection of what it is about our Self or our life (or values) which we don’t want to accept. That’s the key thing to understand about Lilith: it isn’t something untrue. It isn’t about ‘them’ no matter how many times we project, no matter how much we would like to think the fear, the annoyance, the ‘bad stuff’ is about them.

It isn’t. There are a few really basic metaphysical rules we never (ever) escape, the most basic of which in day-to-day life is like attracts like. When we attract people, we attract them because at some level - no matter how much we want to deny it - they are who we are. In our efforts to differentiate our Self we all encounter things we say we aren’t going to be and that we would never (ever) do.

And then we get fascinated by stories of same - either good or ill, positive or negative. Or we find ourselves being attracted to ‘forbidden fruit’ or something you don’t want to be or do. Call it what you like psychologically, metaphysically this is our being attracted to something we haven’t yet settled, solved or accepted about our Self ... and which, between the eclipse and this station ... is now rising up all around us.

The thing we didn’t want to see, acknowledge or talk about is coming back to either haunt or bless us, depending on how well attuned we are to dealing with realities.

You know, about our (Lilith) Self. If we were talking about the calculated point called ‘Black Moon Lilith’ we would be talking about societal attitude and broader considerations. But this isn’t the Black Moon (and no, I have no idea why anyone thought we needed two Liliths) this station pertains to us - to first person things. Yes, they may be connected to  to societal or ‘group-think’ matters, but this station is about us.

It’s about our acceptance of who we really are and who we were born as before we started with all our personal editing. And since experience also teaches how the days around a station so often include various ‘stirring moments’ (or moments in which we bestir ourselves) in areas of life or in reflection of any given object’s metaphysical meaning, we also give stations an ‘allowance’ of a couple of days before and after the actual ‘turn’ as things get into gear or come to (or go through) some particularly telling moment.

Given that, with Lilith going retrograde on March 11th, this month’s round of ‘Lilith Effects’ will stretch from approximately March 9th though the 13th - which means they will be in the process of arising as ... or just in the wake of this post hitting the yon digital web-waves (depending on which time zone you live in, of course).

The degree that Lilith is going retrograde in (20 Scorpio) lending to all of this an instability, lack of interest and the sort of ‘restlessness’ which can stem from an awareness of something without knowing enough to make anything comfortable or clear - which would be typical for Scorpio, a sign we like to think we manipulate others with/through but which in the end is always and only about whether we are able to face our fears of defeat ... and not whether we could survive some sort of vital instinct - we can - but whether we have the sort of courage to put our fears aside and figure out whatever ‘life puzzle’ has been put in front of us which if solved will give us what we want even as it mysteriously (and oh so metaphysically) leads us to a next challenge (or our next challenge...) once we prove to our Self that we can think our way through to answers and solutions despite our own fears.

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It’s not ‘them.’ In Scorpio situations, it’s never ‘them’ - it’s only whether we are projecting our fears about who we are on them ... or whether we’re refusing to even think about any of it at all.

Sometimes Lilith’s stations are when we don’t want to think about things - our “stuff,” if you will. But sometimes a Lilith station is a time when we find out how not only is it okay to know who we are, but it’s a (Lilith) mystery as to why we hadn’t ‘thought of this’ before.

With 20 Scorpio, of course (just because 20 is one of the last ten degrees of a sign) we also get a little  editorial note about all of this either having to do with something we share with others (or which isn’t simply about us) or which we are thinking about in terms of what is going on around us.

Either way, for Lilith to go into retrograde during such a feeling (Pisces Sun) time where in spite of everything we are determined to (Mars in Aries) get on with, nothing quite seems to be (Venus in Aries) going the way we want it to ... That speaks to some form of unwillingness to see something for what it truly is (the proverbial “reality check”). Or maybe it will be some sort of situation which causes us to recognize our true capacities. Or how someone or something has ... as would be so very Scorpio ... influenced our emotional mindset, allowing or even forcing some attributes to come to the forefront when there may be other things and different qualities which might come to the fore - and which might work well for us - if (or as) we become able to evidence as we learn to separate some sort of ‘real us’ quality from what we (or who) have been doing, either out of habit, because we didn’t think we had any other choices, or simply because we were trying to just ‘fit in’ in some way.

And since asteroid Lilith won’t be going direct again until June 27th, we have several months ahead of figuring such things out, not to mention how asteroid Lilith being in retrograde lends to everything and anything which happens between now and then notes and nuance of opportunities which come to us when we put aside exactly what we might like, how we might want things to look, feel or sound - and instead look to the possibility that it is our own lack of willingness to accept ourselves and life’s facts which is getting in the way ... not anything about ‘them,’ ‘that’ or how things may be getting done.

For the moment, Saturn’s moving towards its March 11th station suggests the whole of this next week is going to center around realities, though with Saturn transiting Sagittarius its likely that rather than accept such notions some people will just throw themselves into unproductive distractions like ‘what IS reality...?’ or debates which center around history or historical notions rather than the ‘distance’ (i.e., how far we have or haven’t come) in our own Saturn search for the truth, for viability, for that path which will allow us to excel and succeed at being who we are and can be ... in spite of anyone or anything which would limit choices or concepts of life’s possibilities along re-determined paths and notions they have chosen to own allegiance to.

And that lends another notion to this moment. Is Lilith going retrograde in advance of Saturn’s turn a sign that some barriers or things which are ‘denying’ some right or necessity is going to end?

That could be too, but we’ll just have to see - if we're brave enough to allow ourselves to, that is.
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Saturn by Degrees

Technically a perfect example of a man-made eclipse, the Cassini spacecraft took position beyond Saturn so and photographed the ringed planet 'lit from behind' by the Sun.

(photo credit: NASA-JPL, Caltech)

Part of the symbolism derived from Saturn’s position as the planet farthest from Earth visible with our personal, unassisted eyes is the idea that Saturn both marks our ‘boundaries’ in life – those limits beyond which we cannot (or will never) reach along with the challenge to reach the fullest extent of our potential.

Bringing all that to Scorpio, Saturn in Scorpio thus becomes the sign that we’re in the middle of a (two-and-a-half-year-long) period when our ability to grow the fulfillment of that potential and the goals we have for our Self in life – when all that is intersecting and being confronted with the need to contend with whatever feelings, goals and needs everyone else has.

Known for a period when praise can be bullying and when what appears to some as bullying can act as structural support, Saturn in Scorpio can stand for a ‘cutting’ force which when used with skill “cuts through problems.” And yes, such solutions may seem sensible – even popular. But because Saturn in Scorpio also times out glitches in plans of sufficient size guaranteed to get our attention what we think we know we may well know, yes.

Then again, we could be completely wrong. During the whole of Saturn’s two-and-a-half year passage through Scorpio various forms of this knife-edge between polarized convictions will occur simply so that we’ll stop acting on instinctual desires to ‘win’ and ‘deter risk’ in order to build something which will not just provide a path into the future, but enough feeling of sufficiency and security to continue what in reality is an unsecured loan on eternity called life.

Still, let’s be real here…we humans don’t much like our plans going awry or getting stopped. Very few of us greet moments with glee. (And yes, if we did, that would be a whole other issue.)

However we want to think of it, Saturn in Scorpio often manifests in a sense of frustration over loss.

But is the loss real? It may feel final, but is it?

And is that an actual loss – or is there something better?

Until we get to the point where we cling to something as immutable bedrock because it’s our bedrock (our emotional ‘my way or the highway’ stance) Saturn in Scorpio tends to manifest as supportive. But once we do get to the point of clinging, whether it’s to some person, some idea, some method, means or condition (which in Scorpio is merely a back-handed attempt to control)…then Saturn in Scorpio represents the upset, the destabilization, the undermining of security real or imagined.

Remember: Scorpio is an emotional sign. The external stakes may be real enough. Then again, things positive and negative now may be what they are because of some internal emotional process – one which some might call an emotional blockage. Even denial.

Wherever we see such internal/external imbalances, stability ends.That’s something we’ve seen over these past few months in ‘spades’ (as they say). As a sign Scorpio tests and stands with great durability in many a situation which looks imbalanced, but which on the inside, isn’t.

That’s one of the premier Scorpio secrets. If a structure tangible, financial, situational, relational or of any other type is properly ‘calibrated’ or engineered…or to put it more in ‘people-ish’ terms wherever a matters gets fully discussed, negotiated and/or agreed upon without coercion, denial, manipulation or threat ensuring that both/all sides are able to own and operate from a conscious position of power, Saturn support and growth can be lastingly initiated.

Note please: Scorpio dynamics require that we respect both (or all) sides of any question – and this applies whether your debate is with someone else or with yourself. It also applies equally whether the question is something you’re on the positive or negative side by preference.

That Scorpio is also strongest during times of calm and clarified focus has been evidenced over the past few months as Saturn has been continuing its opposition to dwarf planet Sedna in Taurus, the signature of our desires. At some level we’ve all been being put through the personal wringer about who we are, what we believe is valuable, who doesn’t agree with us and how to have personal viability on a workable scale.

Solutions to problems have felt intractable. And yet, they must be solved. That solution – and the fact that we know there’s a problem (though the thing we’re staring at is probably not it) is a good and decent start of things. But it’s certainly not the end, the solution, the light at the end of our tunnel.

And that…that’s going to still take some time to come about. At the moment, all our evaluations are being put to the test and we’re bound to find a few things need tweaking (on the inside) through October, 2014 – at which point something integral will shift (reflecting the solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio on October 23, 2014).

But for now, we need to know what to do…which points to yet another possible function of the current Mars retrograde in Libra, a sign where our Mars energy may be down (have you been feeling tired or worn out lately?) and certainly we’re having a bit of a ‘think’ about who others are – and aren’t.

No, we don’t like all the answers. Plans and ideals are getting tumbled and jostled as we all cope with some sort of growing (Saturn opposition Sedna) realization that the way things ‘have been’ really doesn’t work any more.

But if we can’t do it ‘that way,’ how are we going to do whatever it is we do or be whoever it is we are being?

Wait…should we change?

These are the kinds of very basic…if complicated questions facing us now. And while they’re facing us…they’re also facing everyone we know, which is going to make for a bit of ‘being out of sync’ and/or some ‘dissipation’ of energy which could be all good or disappointing, to say the least.

Ahead of us (Huya/Saturn) is a task which needs doing in an interactive and public setting which involves harnessing that which we have learned through our hardest of hard lessons in the greater interest of all from which we make some sort of gain or gain ‘traction’ of some form.

But we’re not ready for that yet. In fact, for whatever reason peculiar to us we’re each ‘backing away’ from that ‘thing’…specifically some moment of decision or commitment which will trigger our taking on ‘the task.’ And that process – the working through of the ‘how,’ ‘in what order’ and the ‘sorting out of risks, responsibilities and rewards’ – is going to take us through May 20th, at least.

Not that things aren’t going to change between now and then, whatever we may think to the contrary.

And we may be doing that contrary thing, to be sure. In fact, to the degree that we are committed to being “stuck” or holding onto some position which doesn’t take the interests and needs of all parties into account… that’s pretty much a measure of how diligently we will be tested by life, events, situations and others as we move through the April 29th solar eclipse.

A Taurus solar eclipse, that is – the Taurus ‘energetic’ of which would be plenty for us to deal with even without the feeling of being made to ‘tread water’ or some sort of tedious-feeling sluggishness, a sluggishness which reflects our being ‘pushed through’ our own reluctance to see something truly valuable that we’re missing.

Imagine that…we’re missing out on something really valuable, all because we’re doing some sort of immature (Sedna) clinging to some pre-determined definition of ‘good’ which doesn’t allow for many of the beyond imagining possibilities life may hold if we will just let go of our Scorpio desire to control everything in sight.

Everything which is out of sight, too.

Working from the premise that it’s better to have more information than less throughout life in general, it occurred to me that you might find it useful to have a list of Saturn’s degree position not just through the April 29th date of the eclipse but, from now until the station where Saturn turns direct this coming July. For one, once its here at the blog you can always come back to think things over. But just as important is the idea that each of the ‘major indicators’ we are given in the ciphering of time into opportunity is understanding the ever-shifting, ever-evolving pattern.

Thinking through that tells us even more. For instance, last year (2013) Saturn went retrograde on February 18th and direct again on July 9th. This year (2014) Saturn went retrograde on March 2nd and will go direct again on July 20th, shifting the cycle forward in terms of our calendar year by about a half month. And next year, another shift will occur.

The implications here are useful when planning a year, especially when we mix in the ‘partner’ energy of Jupiterian experimentation and learning without which Saturnine efforts in time become defeated by sheer antiquity.

You know, the ‘that’s old hat,’ thing. Preserving the precious ideas while continuing to keep pace with our times would seem to be the Saturn-Jupiter balance and those who manage or master such cosmic dances do well.

Saturn's rings (photo credit: NASA, JPL)

And when we don’t?

The breaking, the limitations, the loss and the ‘weakness of standing’ which is as much a part of Saturn as the ability to endure come what may… whether we are being called to some challenge in the world or within our Self-world or being limited by factors we must master through being mastered by – knowing that we are now in a period where Saturn’s retrograde starts under Sun in Pisces and extends through Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini into Cancer describes a solar five-sign trine.

Trines equal ‘ongoing energy’ which can be good or bad depending on whether we’re content with what we’re doing (or being) or not. In that Saturn us the descriptor here we are told that there may be growth or ‘stoppage,’ ‘gain’ or ‘loss’ depending on what we have (Scorpio) invested thus far… and that the (Pisces) ‘origin’ of the day by day (Sun) life we’ve been leading – both within our consciousness and as a participant in our life-or-world – is at some level both the evidence and some lesson we could be empowered by if we understood how our degree of ability (or willingness) to cope not with others but with how they are reacting to however we are displaying our values (or) what those values are…how that ISN’T about ‘them’ (or ‘that’ which is in progress, or which has happened) but about our ability to (Scorpio) reconcile ourselves to some sort of (Saturn) reality.

How that becomes whatever it is which either promotes peace (general and/or personal) or forces us to keep fearing the worst, whether we are rewarded with opportunities and positive developments or rejections, rebuffs and threats…that may well be about ‘them’ and whether they’ve done their Saturn stuff, yes.

But it’s also – totally and separately – about prompting us to do our best so that in time we can move towards our goals regardless of whether someone else wants to stand there quacking or not.

(Yes, I said quacking.)

That trine also says that we are living through a period of years when the ‘largest emotional common denominator’ (Pisces) is being brought home to our most personal of emotional experiences – Cancer, sign of home, hearth, family, culture, national heritage…all that.

This is a pattern which moves fairly quickly (at least in astrological terms). Back in 2001 (using that just as an example) Saturn’s retrograde was starting at the very end of September (with Sun in Libra) and ending in early February with Sun in Aquarius.

Those are both public and worldly signs. They are about how we experience life rather than more or less about what life is. The second six signs of the zodiac (Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces) are always about life in general, which is why people born under these Sun signs learn from interaction more readily and more necessarily than those born under the Sun in the first six signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo), meaning half of us naturally learn just through the process of being (and on our own) while the other half of our world’s population is naturally attuned to learning through processes which involve others and things going on in the environment.

INTO WHICH comes the cosmic clockwork we think of as Saturn, a ice cold gas giant upon which we can have no standing – literally. There is no ‘standing’ on Saturn: in the moment you reached its surface you would be under it.

That’s a perfect scientific image of the Saturn as the astrological cogwheel we call time. We cannot ‘stand’ on time.

Time is evidently not there to support us. Nor are we – evidently – supposed to stand in a defined ‘spot’ when it comes to time. Some of Saturn’s greatest losses come about from ‘living in the past’ instead of learning from it and applying just that  in a present day (Saturn) reality environment.

Saturn will not honor a present day life lived in ‘back then’ terms. Where we attempt to do that, Saturn inevitably emerges as some sort of loss, big or small. This dichotomy between that which is ‘of the past’ and our reality of the present is being brought out now as part and parcel of other things allowing us to develop the sort of emotional insight which will release us from internal enslavement to some ideal or fantasy we’ve perhaps thought we had to live or embody in reality.

Saturn – regretfully – is now tearing down many of our gossamer dreams in processes rife with disappointment. We will tend to think ‘what’s wrong’ is in or with reality when much of the onus is on us.

Somewhere in our past we took something which should have been a motivation and we’ve turned it into a goal. It’s time to let go of that as reality and live in the reality we have, releasing our Self from the impossibility of some mythic unattainable so that we can flourish in the (Saturn) time we have among those willing to see and receive us.  

Since 2001, year by year Saturn’s retrograde pattern has continued shifting. There’s a natural variation in how long each retrograde lasts which astronomically is about planetary orbits not being round – not to mention the fact that astrology is geo(Earth)centric – meaning any ‘egg-shape’ in Saturn’s orbit around the Sun are compounded by earthly eccentricities.

You know…like our life is littered with all those places where we get out of ‘sync’ with our responsibilities, whether to others, Self, world or even those parts most human which require structure?

To the degrees Saturn is going to be passing through over the next several months, in reading through the symbols (below) you’ll no doubt notice their impersonal or ‘transpersonal’ nature. That’s a third decan/decanate quality we always see in any degree (of any sign) between 20 and 29 and its an indicator that our work… our difficulties… our challenges and our greatest rewards come from taking on where our own (Taurus) orientation towards life and what we think is viable or valuable meets up with the orientation of others.

Into which comes the solar eclipse, the ‘unbidden’ and ‘awesome’ splendor of illumination which comes upon us, forcing us to see some greater inner light than we otherwise behold in our everyday life.

So for good or bad, for all the pluses and minuses we feel, suspect, cling to and are being pressured by, in the end these passages and thus this time all about our learning about who we are and where our individual strengths and weaknesses lie and whether that’s truly apropos for the person we have become – or are becoming in this moment.

Whatever our direction is, it’s as much about how others see us as how we are wanting to be seen – that’s the simplest side of Scorpio. Our (Scorpio) instinct will be to define, divide and apportion things, whether that’s our time, our interest, our efforts, our love, our willingness to risk, our money, our vulnerabilities or strengths…we will be tempted to structure everything for our own goal. 

And we may achieve that goal. Or we may not achieve that goal. But since Scorpio is an interactive sign, wherever we don’t at least consider the opinions, priorities and needs of others, we will be sowing the seeds of karma.

Our karma, that is. Saturn is the astrological symbol of earning. What is earned through time is delivered in time. As Saturn passes through Scorpio’s third decanate (a process which will continue until Saturn moves into Sagittarius on December 23, 2014) we all have an opportunity to work on whatever our misgivings are so as to be more whole and wholly who we are…a quality Saturn ultimately times our learning about, defining in that the being of a leader not necessarily in the world at large, but definitely in our own individual life.

Saturn's double auroras as photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope

(photo credit NASA JPL, Jan 2009)

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Saturn at 22 Scorpio: March 22 – April 12

Sabian Symbol No. 233:

A RABBIT METAMORPHOSES INTO A NATURE SPIRIT

In keynoting this degree as ‘the raising of animal drives to a higher level,’ astrologer Marc Edmund Jones seems to be referring to the ever-present Scorpio reference to some sort of speed of action, reaction, advance or defeat - all of which, in being  focused on either mandates or prevents some sort of choice. The degree 22 Scorpio is known for it’s ability to ‘scatter,’ but whether that’s us or that which is ranged out there for us to deal with is individual and situational (read: individual to any given chart, be it a natal chart, product chart, national, corporate or relationship chart).

Where negative energies now ‘dissipate,’ that Saturn is in an emotional sign signals a moving through some situation which involves, invokes or causes us to witness (or connect with) whatever will get us to consider the scope and challenges of life in terms of anything from disappointments or losses to the need to regroup, recalculate, learn better and try, try again. In keeping with Scorpio and Saturn, the point here being is about the equal validity of experiences which may differ widely in perspective, though it is to be expected that some people will simply “shut the Saturn door” and attempt to wall some sort of reality out.

In other words, though the term selected for 22 Scorpio by astrologer Dane Rudhyar (‘TRANSUBSTANTIATION’) is apt, knowing whether we are serving as the inspiration for change or are being changed by someone or something which transforms us is entirely a demonstration of how far we’ve come along our path in the worldly sense as well as in the personal call to fulfill not some theoretical ‘destiny’ but the fullest utilization of our talents when it comes to being a human being.

Currently in retrograde, Saturn will return to 22 Scorpio after going direct in August, completing whatever ‘evolution’ is indicated here as we move through and past the period of October 15th-23rd.

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Saturn at 21 Scorpio: April 12 – April 27

Sabian Symbol No. 232:

HUNTERS SHOOTING WILD DUCKS

For those who recognize this symbol without quite placing the degree, 21 Scorpio is the degree of the November 2012 solar eclipse…which astrologically makes the qualities and themes associated with this degree (as they reflect in our individual life) are things we are working on, and which we will yet work through for another year and a half or so.

In case you’re new to astroPPM, here are the links to the two-part post on the 2012 Scorpio eclipse:

- link to -

Solar Eclipse (Part 1): Fate Beckons

- link to -

Solar Eclipse (Part 2): Scorpio’s Eclipsing Provocations

Marc Edmund Jones typifies this degree as ‘the socially accepted release of an individual’s… or a group’s aggressive instincts’ which is very much in keeping with Scorpio as an interactive sign which ultimately teaches that while we may win or lose through interacting, to not interact is to guarantee loss through decline. Wherever we experience our ‘Scorpio’ quotient(s) we either fear risk, abandon ourselves to risk or tend to gauge carefully before making a choice – and sometimes it’s all that gauging and estimating (read: inertia) which defeats or enables us.

Mistaking that for cleverness is a mistake, by the way. Scorpio dynamics ask that we be a participant, not the presumptive genesis of all things great and powerful, its premise being the greatest use of power is to rely on earning respect, thus negating the necessity to use whatever force power may give us. Signature of the metaphysical ‘walk softly and carry a big stick,’ Scorpio’s ‘stick’ is best used to defend necessity rather than ego…which is why the old expression ‘revenge is a dish best served cold’ is also so very Scorpio in its request that we think things through while resisting the simple servicing of the desire to make ourselves feel good, which is where ‘revenge’ and ‘vengeance’ fit into that long, long list of things which only work when the basis of interaction is mutual.

Note please…it doesn’t have to be lovable or even friendly. Scorpio shows up differences even as it shows up inequality so that we will be judged and judge ourselves by how we treat with such things. So it’s not so much what we do but how and why we do it which defines success or failure here. And with Saturn (emblem of earning) setting this degree off this year (now and between October 5-15 when it returns to 21 Scorpio after going direct in July) we are beginning to understand many things which others may have known long before now.

How we react to that…the energy of whether we feel ‘shot at’ or ‘shot down’ or ‘hunted’ for whatever our reasons are…what we do with the understanding of what that means to us is important on its own and also as part of a present and far more complicated picture.

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Saturn at 20 Scorpio: April 27 – May 10

Sabian Symbol No. 231:

OBEYING HIS CONSCIENCE,
A SOLDIER RESISTS ORDERS

Dane Rudhyar’s  keyword for this degree – ‘INNER FREEDOM’ stresses the intrinsic Scorpio quality of self-relationship. In other words, the freedom is not that of the commander or whatever might (or might not) come out of some military action. This is the soldier’s freedom…and here the soldier is responding – as we do in Scorpio moments – to the idea of feelings he (or she) is feeling inside.

That the term ‘conscience’ is invoked here suggests that a broader concern or reference is being given priority as the soldier is not resisting out of spite or rebelliousness, but because there is some sort of higher cause or consideration at stake.

Marc Edmund Jones’ keynote for this degree - “A readiness to face the results of a refusal to follow the authoritarian patterns of an aggressive society” – may or may not be literal (referring to physical authorities or soldiers in a street) but are certainly references to those ‘patterns’ we have been raised with. The ‘echo effect’ alluded to early with regards to Saturn’s retrograde beginning under Sun in Pisces and ending under Sun in Cancer here alludes to our (Pisces) reactions – particularly those of an emotional, ethical or spiritual nature – to how we may or may not be ‘living out’ a message from the past or some idea which could limit our future.

Do we want to be doing what we’re doing? Are our priorities those we would respect in someone else as those which will earn respect and support in the short and long run?

After going direct, Saturn will return to 20 Scorpio as of September 25th and it will be at this degree through October 5th. Where life is requesting that we consider issues beyond our dedicated ‘norm,’ we do ourselves a favor by understanding what is being said. The person, the thing, the subject matter may be the point here. Then again, it may be totally insignificant when compared with what we will learn now about how we deal with our opportunities to grow. 

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Saturn at 19 Scorpio: May 10 – May 24

Sabian Symbol No. 230:

A WOMAN DRAWS AWAY TWO DARK CURTAINS CLOSING
THE ENTRANCE TO A SACRED PATHWAY

The reference here is an interesting one since it pictures a woman who in ‘drawing away’ curtains closes a path to something or somewhere else. In other words…we are being ‘arrested’ or stopped – at least long enough so that – as astrologer Marc Edmund Jones’ keynotes it – we can experience a ‘revelation to the human consciousness of what lies beyond dualistic knowledge.’ That the curtains are referred to as ‘dark’ may indicate an end to some sort of ‘guiding light’ we have been following, whether in our own mind or in real time and everyday life.

The symbol here being Saturn, this is also a process of time we are encountering. Does it call upon us to take something seriously? To act responsibly in that singularly Scorpio manner which rewards and disappoints (sometimes in the same breath) our ability to balance or harness our internal, wholly ‘us’ mentality (our natural ‘isolationist’ position) in the name of using that natural isolation for greater – not purely personal – benefit.

Dane Rudhyar keywords this degree as a “PLUNGE AHEAD INTO THE UNKNOWN.” Because this is Saturn we are talking about, the dates indicated here plus the days between September 13th and 25th may be when we can’t ‘plunge ahead’ for some intrinsically Saturn reason. Whatever end of the polarity we encounter here (the need to stop what we’re doing/being or the need to press forward to deal with some specific issue which has emotionally ‘stopped’ us)…in the end these days contribute to our own estimation of who we are and where we stand with our own feelings about life, thus coloring who we are going forward and how we will come to be regarded by others – an important factor as Saturn passes through a degree noted for its ‘taste’ for violence which arises from a distant tap-root of sadness, sorrow or pain.

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Saturn at 18 Scorpio: May 24 - June 8

Sabian Symbol No. 229:

A PARROT REPEATS THE CONVERSATION
HE HAS OVERHEARD

The keynoting of this degree as ‘the capacity to transmit transcendental knowledge’ (Marc Edmund Jones) and “CHANNELSHIP” (Dane Rudhyar) in light of the ‘mouthpiece’ here being a parrot would seem to refer to repeating what we have heard (or been taught or instructed to do) without substantial thought – which is neither good or bad on its own.

Against this however, are the notes of lore stating that this is also a degree which like 19 Scorpio is also known for conflicts, particularly those which have one side choosing to embody some form of ‘justice’ which may or may not be applicable.

Taken in combination, the (Saturn) reality of things from May 24th to June 8th and again during August 31st through September 13th becomes focal as we work to sort through what ‘parroting’ is simply talk and which has some actual long-term (Saturn) value.

Whether we are right or wrong, in other words, may well not be as important as knowing/learning the difference between that which is easy to sign onto (and ‘parrot,’ whether to others or in emulation of someone we respect/admire) and that which has long-term merit worth committing our Self to over time.

Whatever else is happening now, we are plainly involved in the process of establishing parameters for communication and thought – which makes the parrot indicated here greatly a reminder about how as humans, we have other options.

Saturn’s question being always about responsibility for Self and the use of our time, maybe we need to change something, finish something or consider some set of standards.

What the facts are involved? Do we need to change how we deal with others based on what they advocate or choose for themselves? Or maybe we merely need to change who we associate with on what basis because of whatever qualities are now becoming evident as a truth which has, or which will like as not prove true over time? 

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Saturn at 17 Scorpio: June 8 – June 29

Sabian Symbol No. 228:

A PATH THROUGH WOODS BRILLIANT
WITH MULTICOLORED SPLENDOR.

Where the term ‘Transubstantiation’ refers sometimes to a change in our immediate environment or ‘private life’ and even more often to a “miraculous” change in our experience of or insight into our life/Self, the Dane Rudhyar keyword given for 17 Scorpio (TRANSFIGURATION) is more akin to that which comes ‘through’ us or what we do, appear as, or innately are - as when we occupy a particular niche or function (personal or impersonal) in someone’s life.

Metaphysically, any wood ‘brilliant with multicolored splendor’ is a reference to an autumnal transformation and some sort of ‘fruitfulness’ which with a great flourish and beauty gives up its current growth effort in the cause of the recuperation and consolidation of gains made throughout a last growing season or harvest. In an emotional sign like Scorpio the reference to ‘multi-colored’ can refer to feelings, efforts, reactions, approaches, ideas…whatever action or theme has been synthesized into one ‘brilliant display,’ with each of our lives offering us the chance both to see such a thing or to be such a thing.

Thus the ‘path’ may be that we take in approaching something we think of/experience as so wonderful…or it may be the path we take in our own lives in order to achieve whatever for us would be this magical walk through such a wood.

Referred to by Marc Edmund Jones as a degree which manifests as ‘the exalted feeling of a work well done and a truly consummated life,’ the Saturn transit of this degree now (from June 8th - June 30th) and again in direct motion from August 10-31 ‘surrounds’ us with a ‘splendor’ we must work with, work within the confines of and deal with responsibly, whatever that may mean to you and yours.

Because this is a second decanate (emotionally charged) degree of a sign (Scorpio) which is deeply emotional by nature, the (Saturn) ‘work’ implied here may not be unpleasant at all – indeed, it may have some glorious moments. But yes, it could be truly dreadful and it’s still (Saturn) work and should be treated as such. The ‘path’ may be in our head or under our feet; wherever it is, its realities remain important and will take some time yet to play out, though effort must be invested (investment being a Scorpio byword) in order to ‘fund’ future growth and a stronger basis for repairs, restorations, rebuilding processes and all those areas of life where that which is outmoded/no longer functional can be properly attended to in a ‘step by step’ manner.

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Saturn at 16 Scorpio: June 29 – August 10th

Sabian Symbol No. 227:

A WOMAN, FECUNDATED BY HER OWN
SPIRIT, IS “GREAT WITH CHILD”

With Saturn taking its station to go direct at 16 Scorpio on July 20, there are two ways to think of this degree. One is to say that it’s about our own ability to renew and create a whole new life for ourselves through the power of our self-determination and the other refers to a more esoteric ability to be inspired by a fertile ‘creating self’ we experience ‘in spirit’ as humans.

Seeing that metaphysics is not gender-specific in application (any valid metaphysical concept should be able to be  universally applied) the gender reference to “her” isn’t physical. Instead it’s a reference one of three things:

1.) The principle of receptivity.

2.) Something which has been retained and which as part of a ‘bank’ built through experience influences things going forward.

3.) The question of whether something should be responded to.

Typified by Marc Edmund Jones as ‘a total reliance upon the dictates of the God-within,’ and by Dane Rudhyar as “THE TRANSPERSONAL WAY,” Saturn’s long residence in and station at 16 Scorpio is an underscored metaphysical notice that what we do will involve others and that it should involve others – the entire concept of which will tend to test more than a few of our naturally ‘what’s in it for me?’ sort of tendencies.

No, we’re not supposed to put our interests first. Scorpio says we can have what we want provided everyone else gets an equal measure of what they want…and no, WE don’t get to define what someone else wants.

We have to ask them…which brings up that whole ‘Scorpio as an interactive sign’ thing. What this amounts to is a situation where necessity or desire may well drive us…but what it’s driving us to is to interact with others “outside our normal circle”  (achieving the Scorpio aim) in the effort to get our way.

And if we meet up with something which affects that goal, that aim, that drive? That may be fine too. Sixteen Scorpio has a reputation for being one of Scorpio’s more ‘warm’ (as opposed to heated or icy) degrees and its humanitarian influence may surface in any area of life where one is called upon to act honorably in the face of some process gone awry.

This is a degree which may call for bravery. But what we’re talking about is not the sort of bravery which ‘saves the day,’ but rather the kind of courage which gives us the strength to face things no matter how ‘out of our comfort zone’ they are.

And why will we do it? We will do what we can in light of what comes to light now because we know that in doing such things we are embodying the  responsibility to carry our fair share of life’s burdens.

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New Years, New Moon

New Years fireworks at the London Eye

(photo credit: John Turner, January 1, 2008)

To turn the calendar page to 2014 and find a New Moon in Capricorn seems almost obvious. After all, Capricorn is all about what we do and achieve and aim for in the world and January – for most of us – means a variety of things.
 
You know, like facing beginning another round of record tallying for last year as we begin this one.

You know – that stuff. The stuff which is about being in and part of this world. The stuff we have to do (like our job in life, whatever that may be). Capricorn exudes responsibility. Events under Capricorn tend to elicit our sense of responsibility (to self or others) and all that prompts us to learn right from wrong what either underperforming or excess can be and/or add or detract from life…

…it’s all so very Capricorn-ish.

But when it comes to lunations, the theory is this: Moon and Earth are in this centrifugal-centripetal orbit dance driven by magnetism and other nifty universal forces… and as planet (Earth) and satellite (Moon) go through their dances, so do we.

(Okay, so I’m still in dance-lingo mode. Give me a few days, will you?)

The point here (no, I’m not going all ballet on you) is that by identifying the nature of the cycle we can bear that in mind. Once we ‘get a (Moon) feel’ for how this month’s cycle works, we can make the most of it.

10 Capricorn New Moon - January 1, 2014

(Aries Wheel - Location not Specific)

DISCLAIMER: We are under Venus retrograde – also in Capricorn. Hard work is required – first of all on our attitude towards our abilities or aims (or dislike of, or issues with same).

Don’t plan any capering through the rose petal parties, in other words.

(Yes, I know...I'll stop now.)

In that things don’t ‘feel right’ however, that’s probably part of what we could think of as ‘temporal motivation’ – the universe’s way of bringing about that which will get us into a “January mode” for ‘taking care of business.’

As for 10 Capricorn, the foundation of this lunation, that is a degree which is defined (by being one of Capricorn’s second ten degrees) as a quality which functions through (by eliciting responses) us – either by eliciting our response or which we embody in our choices and actions…OR which manifests as some sense or feeling which gets us to dealing with our aims and place in the world – whatever that may mean in the moment.

And that last bit…? The ‘in the moment’ part? That’s maybe the hardest part of dealing with the Moon – and often life (she says in a thoroughly philosophically if ever-so-slightly cynical manner)…things which feel like forever, for most of us aren’t – and things which we don’t care about in the moment can come back to haunt us.

Being founded in 10 Capricorn, the lunation which begins at 11:15 a.m. (UT/+0 time) on January 1st is going to usher in a month of sensitivity to a bigger picture and some need to reevaluate some personal priority (big or small). The pluses tend towards an increased understanding of acute awareness while minuses come from “being depressed” (or maybe repressed or even oppressed) in some way.

There’s a reckoning of sorts to be had this month, and with Pluto at 11 Capricorn (did I hear you say ‘oh goodie’…?) there are transformational forces at work which we each will come across in our own way, place and zone. The issue is ‘challenges’ and our problem is scope. Secrets we keep and what we know is probably merely a ‘mask’…or the ‘masking’ of matters becomes something we encounter, learn from and in reflecting on, are transformed by – though as usual, since we’re talking Pluto this is likely to be a facet of a greater cyclic shaping of your life.

That cycle began about a year and a half ago (call it the mid-latter part of 2012). What happens now plays into that in an ‘another thought for that bin’ sort of way while being something which is its own ‘thing’ and of separate interest right now.

With Mercury at 12 Capricorn, thoughts and thoughtfulness count now. To be clever is one thing – to be boorish or overly proud, another. It’s not what we can do now which counts…it’s why we do it, and why those others are who they are to us.

That seems the bottom line. However…

(Yes, I hear you holding your breath.)

…of course there’s a catch.

(Oh, don’t fuss at me! When was the last time you heard of a cycle of any type without a catch?)

This particular ‘catch’ is known as a Grand Square.

This particular grand square is in cardinal (action oriented) signs. So there’s a lot of tension about things we want to do, need to do, would like to do or want to see done (or see others do – or feel them wanting us to do). That’s another part of this giant cosmic lump of energy in Capricorn. (I’m thinking outer space oatmeal lumps here.) Life, the big world, our reputation – all that seems big giant stuff this month. (So says the girl about to release an autobiography which requires content warning labels.) With Venus retrograde things could be better than we think (hear me, oh doubters!). Or, for the particularly blithe and optimistic, the floor may be about to drop out from under us, particularly as that pertains to some notion about how to ‘effect’ or ‘be effective’ in some way which now seems – or comes to seem desirable, needed, necessary…or just ours to do because we can.

Sometimes the best form of responsibility is just living up to the responsibilities of being the best human being we know how to be, y‘know?

This kind of grand square in a lunation suggests this month will be active and maybe hectic. With Saturn (at 20 Scorpio) deposing/ruling the herd of (Moon-Sun-Pluto-Mercury-Venus) Capricorn positions we are told that the emotional-spiritual side of things (the “why” we do them) is important enough to need considering, but it should be considered along with everything else.

Hey, it’s Venus retrograde – like anything needs deciding about yet? Not likely. None of us yet have all the information, no matter what we think we’re doing.

This is a restless time. With this much cardinal energy abounding there are likely to be arguments – or at least uncomfortable confrontations or conversations. But this isn’t about any lack of constructive potential. Far from it! (So no copping out, okay?) About everything we could think of is emitting a subtle but thorough message which says if we allow the light to slowly come to us, it will come.

And if we don’t? If we deny that which is there to be learned from, it teaches us a lesson.

Our choice.

Right now the face of our internal ‘Moon’ is dark. But in a day or two, we will see how we feel.

And then that too shall pass.
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Huya, Rainmaker: Direct at 20 Scorpio

La Guajira desert (Macuira National Park) in Columbia

(photo credit: Luis Alejandro Bernal Romero, April 2006)

Lore on the degree 20 Scorpio speaks of a restless sense of self which, though it can be directed to eventual accomplishment is often directed towards short term goals which will garner some sort of personal pleasure.

Or pleasuring.

This shouldn’t be any surprise, as Scorpio is all about all everything and anything which raises our sense of wanting…against which life tends to throw various challenges. These challenges are designed to teach us as to whether our aims and motivations hold realistic water.

More to the point, emotionally realistic water. The Scorpionic thing we aim at tests our sense of proportion and whether we can handle what we ask for. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it is a wholly Scorpio saying – as is the implied threat which goes with it.  

That this sign which is all about passion should be best dealt with coolly and calmly has got to be one of metaphysic’s most superb ironies. But maybe not. What we fail at in Scorpio, be it the job, the partnership, the investment or intimate relationship is an emotional grounding mechanism which sort of warns us not to go any further before we’re really ready to play for all the marbles.

If you’ve ever had an investment go sour or a love affair bite you in the deepest nether region of your feelings, you know that Scorpio sting. It’s part embarrassment, part regret, part frustration and part anger – most of all at ourselves for being so foolish as to not ‘have seen the signs.’

Like I said…Scorpio issues are best approached coolly. Only when we’re cool can we size up the give and take, the emotional negotiation which in making whatever equally worthwhile to all parties involved secures the deal.

Considering that Huya is either the learning of a lesson which through pain can teach us the value of one of our greatest gifts (and in action represent the opportunity to give that gift or put that ‘gift lesson’ into action), this station is a celestial invitation to make more – and better – of our lives.

Or of our lives in the whole of life. But to do that, we have to give to others. Or at least put the ‘lesson learned’ to work as part of what we do to help others. Sometimes Huya represents the motivation which causes us to help. Sometimes it’s the willingness to put what we want on hold in order to help.

However Huya functions however, it is best to think of the process as the point of whatever you do now – which is to say don’t think in terms of what others may think or not think of/about you. Huya is named for a South American rain god – and rain is what creates fertility out of the dry and desiccated, the painfully barren in this world.

Why you do whatever you do is the important part of this Huya lesson. The more you bring your hardest-won altruism to what you do in life, the better your chances to succeed very much in the sense of that old saying ‘cast your bread upon the waters.’ Don’t ‘define’ what you think you are going to get back; whatever you’re thinking of isn’t likely to happen anyway. That we know as part of Huya being on the list of Plutinos – objects (mostly dwarf planets, but others too) which orbit around our Sun representing energies in our world which are ‘colored’ or ‘shielded’ behind – or beyond - a Neptunian veil.

That we all have a Huya in our chart says we are all capable of making great contributions and that our ability to make those contributions depends on our ability (or ‘willingness’ if you will) to a.) accept that our deepest negatives and greatest pain have something valuable to teach and b.) work through whatever the pain and/or negatives are until we realize what it is which we have been given to know.

Once we know, then we can fold that understanding into what we do (or who we are) in life, ‘raining’ that insight into the lives of others, emboldening them with the ability to accept their human realities (which we so often refer to as ‘flaws’ or ‘problems’) which in turn allows them to….blossom.

Huya, Rainmaker: the ability to be that fertile rain which provides that which others need to allow them to break through their hard husks and grow into fruitfulness.

Focused in that ‘fitting in’ realm of Scorpio which tests our ability (most of all) to negotiate with our feelings, this particular Huya station comes to us as a t-square.

With Huya at the ‘t’ of this t-square, the ‘starting point’ is Byblis at 20 Leo, suggesting this whole scenario is about OR centers in something we’re doing which we ‘want to do’ or ‘like doing.’

It probably seems easy enough to do as we’re doing it. But at some level we know it’s not right. It’s not serving its’ fullest purpose. Or maybe it’s not garnering us the rewards or feeling of acceptance (support, respect, etc.) that it should. With Damocles at the ‘goal’ position of this t-square, there’s something about life which feels problematic. Or ‘dangerous.’ And we want to resolve that – at least in our minds, if not in real time.

But there’s something in the way. And that ‘something’ involves whatever our ‘Huya Quotient’ is. For some of us, this will be some Huya power we already own, for some it will represent some Huya potential we need to yet understand.

Whichever side of that question you’re on (and yes, it is perfectly possible to be on both sides of the issue in differing parts of your life) that this Huya station is at 20 Scorpio and therefore in opposition to last May’s 19 Taurus Solar Eclipse tells us that this period (July 27/28 through August 1/2 with emphasis on the moment of station on July 30th) is all about a continuing process which began back in May.

Or more likely, back in mid-late March, which would be when the eclipse shift began to take hold.

In the greater hierarchy of astrological conceptualization, the Solar Eclipse takes center stage. Yet because the Taurus eclipse and this Scorpio Huya moment are in different signs and in opposition, where the March-into-May period was all about us or what we were doing/not doing at a more personal (Taurean) level, now Huya in Scorpio is pointing to the necessity to focus on how we relate to others and the building ourselves into a ‘greater place’ in the world and our world as a thing greater than just about our Self.

That requires digging deep and running some ‘risk’ that we’re wrong. Or vulnerable. Or taking on the realization that our means or method isn’t working or maybe workable.

Here Huya is telling us that our greatest satisfaction comes from and through others. How well we are equipped to deal with that which connects us to others – the fact of it as well as the emotional and deeply human(e) part of it – points to the pluses and minuses not merely of our life in the moment, but in the ongoing ‘processing’ of our life and times as set off by that May Solar Eclipse in Taurus.

Solar Eclipse transits take a full 3 years to evolve. With regards to this year’s May eclipse, it’s barely begun to show what about our lives may have been ‘eclipsed.’

For reference’s sake…

- link to -

The Taurus Solar Eclipse

You know if your life has changed over the past few months. You may have finally undertaken something, you may have reached some portal or passage. About now you are realizing – maybe with some difficulty or regret – that in moving forward, something is ‘over,’ done or no longer truly viable.

That’s part of your process. We all have some process to go through now. Considering how we are still under the auspices of a time which both holds us in our emotions and pushes us to deal with our emotional makeup (the grand trine in water), as Jupiter and Mars now press through Cancer and set off an opposition to Pluto in Capricorn, things will change. We will either change them through changing our outlook, attitudes and relationship towards our own feelings about things…or life will provoke/evoke those feelings.

At some level, this is a time all about the need to confront new realities. Or maybe you’re just gaining perspective on your reality and how that needs to change. What was earlier this month (the feeling of being ‘caught up’ in our feelings) now shifts as Jupiter ‘breaks tryst’ with Neptune and Saturn and sets up a new grand trine – this one with North Node and Chiron – which combines with Pluto to form a kite.

The astrological ‘rule’ with a kite asks that we ‘take hold of its tail,’ which here is pictured by Mars, Jupiter, Sirius and Kassandra. We may not (Kassandra) believe that we need to change, but we realize this is a time of change.

Then again, with Huya’s turn to direct, we may now not only see some ‘brilliant’ potential or twinkle of understanding which before now was lost in a myriad of inner space …but at some level recognize that to not own our potential and live to the highest form of our ability is petty, selfish – even self destructive.

Our lives always offer us the chance to do what is easy against the taking on of (North Node) challenges which though difficult, lie between us and a life we know is far more worth living. With Chiron’s influence currently in play, we don’t really ‘know’ how to get our of where we are. Or what that ‘thing’ we could be really involved.

And we never will know except by doing. That’s Chiron’s curse and Chiron’s blessing. Having knowledge is lovely. Utilizing knowledge – particularly for the benefit of all is even better.

Huya involvement in a water grand trine while opposing May’s Solar Eclipse speaks the emotional need to respect ourselves and to be someone we consider worthy. With Chiron and the North Node tied into Huya’s July 30th station, the question now focuses on what we don’t know how to do, but need to do anyway. Our goal is the revitalizing of the basis upon which we feel ourselves living, and the totality of our lives, through which we are able to key in on empowering others (and the world) which in turn will grace us with a fertile existence broader than the sky and beyond 'mere mortal' definition.
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