Venus in Cancer/Saturn Direct/Mars out of Shadow/Uranus Retrograde/Eris Retrograde

As photographed by the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Baby Boom Galaxy shows off its ability to 'birth' an average of 4,000 new stars ever year - a number which is one hundred times the number of stars produced by our Milky Way Galaxy.

(photo credit: Spitzer Space Telescope, NASA-JPL-Caltech, Oct 2008)

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First of all, let’s have a hearty ‘hallelujah’ for the fact that as of July 20th, Mars will exit the shadow of the retrograde which, though it began formally on March 1st (2014), really reaches back to Christmas Day 2013 - the date on which Mars entered it’s retrograde shadow to begin with.

(And yes...I’m sure a couple of people - especially now, as we’re leaving the Mars/retrograde shadow - will be saying ‘ohhhhhh....’ as the light finally dawns.)

No problem. That’s just how the machinery of time, energy and coalescence works. Using astrology is a constant process of saying ‘oh, I get it now...’ until there comes one fine (or more likely, stormy) day when you’re having a perfectly rotten time and you read something about an astrological event or transit and you’re just so fed up that you say (to yourself, most likely) ‘Okay...! Since I have no better idea of what to do, I’ll just rely on this for a minute.’

And that - for many of us - is when we find that time and space really work the way they work...and that astrology is really nothing more or less than the ability to read a truly exotic clock. The fact that the clock exists is still subject to all the beliefs and non-beliefs we humans love to love and loathe - a battle in which astrology basically operates much on the same basis as gravity.

In other words, you’re welcome to ignore either, but you do so at some rather predicable risk.

So as of July 20th, Mars exits the shadow of its recent Libra retrograde by reaching 27 Libra, indicating some sort of ‘letting to’ or ‘letting something lie for the moment’ as we all move on to the balance of a week spent coping with various worldly tasks, necessities and interactions.

At the end of that time (read: July 26th) Mars will finally exit Libra and move on into Scorpio, changing the energetic dynamic from what we might refer to as a ‘theoretical dynamic’ (being motivated, driven, triggered or spurred on by ideas, ideals and theories) into Scorpio’s deeply emotional waters.

But let’s not get lost in that - astrologically there are plenty of notices to get through before that, the first of which is the fact that the hot and rocky world known as Planet Venus will be exiting Gemini and entering Cancer on Friday July 18th at 2:07 in the afternoon (UT/+0 time)...a point in time which in being barely a couple of days after Jupiter enters Leo (the subject of the previous post) combines something of a ‘ramping up’ and ‘smoothing down’ effect which may indicate odd moments of confusion or even a sprinkling of those inevitable human moments when we’re confronted with two things, both of which we may want to do but which are incompatible with each other (for whatever reason).

As a general influence however, Venus in Cancer tends to enhance our awareness of whatever is native or natively comforting to us, though we may do well to remember that with Pluto in Capricorn, Venus’ entrance to Cancer does open the door to obsessive moments and preoccupations, especially as Venus comes into orb of opposition Pluto (July 23rd) ...through the opposition (July 27th) to the exit of orb on July 31st.

Any opposition of Venus to Pluto is fertile soil for attractions of that very particular type which have us craving emotional rewards from someone else. The conjunctions and squares between these two planets are known for this as well, but since oppositions are naturally about ‘the other,’ it’s not improper to think of the whole of Venus’s July 18 - August 12 transit of Cancer as a time when natural polarities between people...be they positive or negative...will tend to be heightened. Furthermore, with Pluto having just entered 11 Capricorn, a degree Pluto will be positioned at (give or take a few days surrounding it’s late September station) until November 25th. Described by the Sabian symbol ‘A FIRE WORSHIPPER MEDITATES ON THE ULTIMATE REALITIES OF EXISTENCE’ this period will be rife with what astrologer Marc Edmund Jones describes as ‘the subjective quest for ultimates beyond the interplay of life and death processes.’

Some will become obsessed by such questions - or the fact they think they know the answer to such questions - during this Pluto period. Others will, in truly Pluto/transformational form, realize that while they may know ONE answer to what may be THEIR question (or the question they think the most important and deserving of the highest priority)...how there really are a lot of questions, a lot of answers which might possibly work and how none of us have a monopoly on what’s ‘right.’

It may be right for us. Does that make it right for everyone - or are we just overly dug in with thinking that way?  

The positives of Venus in Cancer is that it promotes an appreciation for the close company and companionship of those we know best, complete with the understandable tendency to want to spend time enjoying comfortable surroundings (whether with others or just as a measure of relaxing solitude).

The negatives of Venus in Cancer are the tendency to do just that at the expense of responsibilities, some inclination to indulge your desire for personal comfort (or the comfort of those closest to you) in some way which seems irresponsible, imprudent or simply impractical to others. Mind you...it may or may not be impractical, imprudent or irresponsible. But in this instance (which is to say, with Pluto in Capricorn) it may seem that way to others.

And where Pluto is concerned, sometimes it’s that loud, loud chorus which wins out. HOWEVER...since this is Pluto, there is always that odd piece of lore about how those who win through ‘sheer force’ (physical, financial, emotional, verbal, etc.) to consider, since where Pluto is concerned anything which is done purely to satisfy our own emotional cravings is said to incur negative karma. Pluto is all about passions as obsessions - our obsessions - which is to say those emotions (of ours) which have been driven to the ‘passion’ stage by something.

What is it? Why are we reacting to it?

As first of the zodiac’s three water signs, Cancer is emblematic of Earth’s oceanic surf zones, replete with tide pools of nurturance and rhythmic tidal shifts which in watery Cancer are most often identified with moods and moodiness. With all water signs having some relationship to finance and things ‘of worth’ to us, Cancer represents that most basic of human needs - shelter - and all which that represents, be that the land, what is built on the land, plus all which grows and lives on this Earth of ours, whether it does so naturally or not.

In entering Cancer with the Sun and Mercury already in the sign, it is to be expected that the days between July 18th and the 22nd (when the Sun moves on into Leo) will be evocative. Many a sentiment is likely to arising among those arguing from purely feeling points of view. With Eris going retrograde one day after Venus enters Cancer and Saturn going direct two days after that same ingress, transactions are on the table and stability is being sought in the face of [Eris] challenges to our ability to do that which though entirely possible, isn’t quite what we want to do.

- link to -

Eris Discordant: Mastering Our Own Weakest Moments

Eris energies can be very disruptive - but don’t have to be. Having only been discovered back in 2003, dwarf planet Eris is a relatively new astrological object, meaning there will undoubtedly be many a nuance spotted as time goes along. What has been observed thus far is how Eris tends to represent that which arises unexpectedly as a.) something we hadn’t thought of/experienced before...or, b.) the struggle against some weakness, injustice or vulnerability. Either way, it would seem that Eris effects are more positive, less disruptive (psychologically or emotionally) and far easier to manage when/where the aim is not purely personal...and when we are actively working to change a systemic or societal situation - all of which probably seems axiomatic at the moment, as the July 2014 Eris station is happening with Eris at 23 Aries in conjunction with Pandora (hope amidst the storm), Industria (effort) and the lunar South Node (the easy thing for us...or for everyone to do).

Evidently things aren’t calm...and aren’t meant to be calm at the moment. The center of this particular piece of turbulence being at 23 Aries, clarity of judgment isn’t likely to be anyone’s strong point for a few days even while there’s an inordinate need for understanding.

This tug-of-war...a push-pull which is likely to build towards intensity as Eris goes retrograde on the 19th, won’t even reach its maximum until July 23rd, by which time Saturn will have gone direct and Uranus will have gone retrograde, indicating changes [Uranus] we are either going to make or find being thrust upon us (or arising from within, unbidden).

Lest we miss the [Saturn] point, such changes are important, structural and a matter of responsibility both in when and how they get made. Some such changes undoubtedly need to be made now and some will get made now, whichever side of the Eris ‘me/them’ question we are coming from.

And just to make the point, no, you don’t have to like all the changes - you don’t have to like doing them, nor do you have to like what needs to be done. In fact, there’s a pretty sound astrological Eris argument which could be made for tackling those very issues we don’t like now simply because Eris is in the astro-mix..not to mention the fact that with Saturn going station-direct at 16 Scorpio and Uranus going retrograde at 16 Aries, what we have here is a genuine opportunity to break ourselves of the habit of thinking in purely first person terms.

Okay...so most people won’t do that. But they could.

This very perfect inconjunct between Uranus and Saturn speaks to the Aries “I” and the Scorpio “We” with the tension being one of ‘adjustment’ which would seem to be about bedrock realities as opposed to emotional realities. One we like to think would make life worth living. The other simply allows us the opportunity to keep living, period.

Which do you think is more important? Whichever way you vote here, the first test is our Uranus-in-Aries ability (and yes, willingness) to change in accordance with 16 Aries’ theme of ‘natural’ connection to that which is around us, emphasizing all things natural and ‘about nature,’ be that our human nature, the environment as nature, or any other way which is pertinent. Known as particularly problematic when contained, blocked Uranian energies such as those likely to be timed by this station tend to manifest as frustrations, anger and alienation. Since the reference is ‘nature,’ Uranus at this degree may well signal issues having to do with natural sources of power such as lightening - or the effects of same, be they physical or metaphorical. It could even indicate the effects of something natural (or naturally incurred effects) on some socially significant ‘system’ of operation.

As for Saturn, Saturn’s turn to direct motion signals a shift from internal to external efforts and experiences involving all that we need to do as well as all we might want to accomplish. With this station occurring at 16 Scorpio, there is much to be learned from both the ‘pro’ and the ‘con’ of various situations and probably no entirely clear path forward. Being that 16 Scorpio is known as often for hospitality, generosity and humanitarian connections as for secrets, unannounced or confidential meetings, messages and investigations, back room negotiations, underground groups and mysterious societies, alliances or sources of power, Saturn’s turn to direct would seem to indicate the substantiating of something, learning something is real (or not real) becoming a member of a group or leaving some group for reasons personal or professional - and that achieving our goals depends on our ability to rely on that which we have abiding faith in, deep within our soul.

That these two major planets - Saturn and Uranus - are going on station within two days of each other is an obvious metaphysical reference to things which matter. Saturn is the last planet visible to the naked human eye from here on Earth, and Uranus is the next planet out and first of the ‘transpersonal’ objects. So Uranus represents how all that which is not ‘within our grasp’ can change us. Or how we can change ourselves and our world by being or becoming able to ‘go beyond the self.’

(Think of it as riding a cosmic bicycle with no hands.)

More to our experiential point perhaps (and as an extenuation of a post written a few days ago) Saturn and Uranus are co-rulers of Aquarius...which in the abstract sense would be a reference to the ongoing ‘solidifying’ of an incoming Age (that of Aquarius), and which on a here-and-now basis would be an overall reference to things economic, societal, systemic and how we all think of our place in the world, inclusive of how we feel about how the world tends to treat us.

Between Saturn’s turn to direct on the 20th and Uranus July 22nd turn to retrograde which speaks to a period (beginning now) of approximately five months during which we will be challenged to change as individuals. We are in a period when some things which have outlived their purpose in the form they were originally conceived will get updated, modernized or, in some cases simply replaced as part of the normal evolution of life and time. Unfortunately there are some people (and some issues) which people are more than reluctant to revolve about.

Therein lies the rub...the challenge...the inevitability which must be faced. The Aquarian Age requires that we understand that which came before now so that we can build on that which remains viable, creating of the old something ever more viable for being applicable to today, tomorrow and the conceivable beyond.

Between the 20th (when Saturn goes direct and Mars exits its retrograde shadow) and the 22nd (when Uranus goes retrograde and the Sun enters Leo, which is part and parcel of the next post)...between those two pillars one other thing occurs: Apollo (illumination) goes retrograde at 17 Virgo, a degree known for operating on a mental level with a marked tendency to bend all things, all ends, all outlays and all aims towards that which the Self likes...or thinks they like...regardless of the fact that the very control being exerted (or which the native or situation seeks to exert) is exactly that which will end up being a detriment. In essence, the choice here seems to be between being supportive and being insistent - cons are likely, but are we only conning our Self?

Apollo going retrograde at this degree at the midpoint in time between Saturn and Uranus’ stations suggests some degree of insight which applies to the inconjunct aspect between the two planets which so definitely points to some adjustment needing to be made.

Will we want to make it? Probably not.

Will we make the [Saturn] effort to [Uranus] change anyway?

That’s up to each one of us.
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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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A Pisces New Moon: Sensitivity, Focused

Ruby Falls, inside Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN

(photo credit: Jtesla16, March 2009)

A New Moon will occur on March 1st at 8:01 a.m. (UT/+0). It will be at 10 Pisces, a degree which gives us the symbol of MEN TRAVELING A NARROW PATH, SEEKING ILLUMINATION. Astrologer Marc Edmund Jones refers to this symbol as ‘the capacity inherent in every individual to seek at whatever cost entrance to a transcendent realm of reality’ …to which the ever-philosophic Dane Rudhyar adds the Zen injunction to ‘walk on.’ 

Since this reference is to a New Moon, all of this refers to something which comes from the less hard-and-fast fact-bound side of life. Call it instinct, call it that grappling we all do inside our Self in light of what we know or know needs to be done.

How we feel about that – that’s the Pisces quality,  Pisces being first and foremost where we feel ourselves feeling. Wherever Pisces falls in your natal chart, by house that is where you will encounter not necessarily the reality of weakness…but an occasional (or more than occasional) feeling of weakness?

Yes, that is guaranteed…and though we all dislike the emotional whirlpools life tosses us into, we learn more (and sometimes better) for such experiences.

It’s part of why water (emotionality) is considered by many the strongest of the four (western) metaphysical elements…not to mention that people are feeling beings. Even those who seem hard or seem cold are feeling people.

They probably just can’t afford to feel vulnerable. In other words, the cold or hard or callous soul we confront in life isn’t showing strength, they’re showing us all the strength they can muster so that we shouldn’t know how afraid they are of feeling vulnerable.

And yet…if you think about the order of the zodiac and how it all leads to Pisces, that very sort of vulnerability would seem to be the ‘object’ at the end of the road. Where Scorpio tests our emotions through situations and what we might call ‘our relationship to relationships’ personal or platonic, intimate or impersonal, Pisces tests our emotions against our notion of emotionality in ways which bring ultimately bring about knowing not just what we feel about anything – but why we feel that way.

And what we feel about feeling that way.

And what we feel about others feeling the same way we do…or differently – and why we feel that.

Pisces teaches that knowing how we feel creates a willingness to feel ourselves being one sweet soul in a boundless sea of human experience who is equal  to the whole through the willingness to feel even as we realize the reality of our individuality and all the mortality and vulnerability which goes with living life.

Reaching that inner illumination…that’s our goal – one which asks whether we are willing to walk within ‘narrow’ confines, whether that means requiring certain ‘standards’ of ourselves or focusing on our sensitivities, whether we even know how to be compassionate in our own cause. Ours now is a growing understanding; the probing nuances of Mercury in Aquarius remain with us, carrying us through to where on March 4th we finally…at very long last, arrive at the point where cycles begun in late December (as Venus went retrograde on December 21st) complete and reveal their purpose.

That’s just a couple of days from now. The Moon will be in Aries by then, setting off aspects of life which harder to predict and which require a 'lighter touch' in managing. But such is the moment. We need to know our mind at the same time that we need to be willing to listen. Life is asking us to go beyond old expectations and anticipations, which in a world of other people overly preoccupied with their goals can be a problem...and then again can afford us exactly the space we need in which to operate.

In its association with Uranus, this New Moon signals change and changing times as well as many a shift of position, alteration of 'circumstance,' endings and beginnings of relationships and perspectives on life - and through any (or all of that), long-term opportunities to grow our life and advance our cause with, and through others.

A deal of thrust will emerge between the mid-afternoon of March 2nd (UT/+0) and late on March 4th (UT/+0), with the focus being on whether we are on the 'doing' or 'receiving' end of things and our motivations for whatever it is we are involved in. Here, immediate and eventual results depend on whether we are leading others along a path (i.e., using them) or walking our own path among equals in this life.

Where we are doing what we should, we proceed. Where we are doing things at the expense/disregard of others...or where we are involved in something other than what we purely think of as our purpose, something happens. It could be as simple as a distraction, a postponement or an interruption.

Then again, life may need to throw us off course in order to get us to get ourselves back on track. It all depends.

The 2014 Pisces New Moon at 10 Pisces (glyph chart)

March 1, 2014 - 8:01 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel/location not specific 

That Venus clears the point of its December-January brings us to the point of reckoning with all we did back then and how we did it. We all made errors even as things in the world seemed to make making those errors inevitable.

The point wasn’t what we did or didn’t do. It was getting us to this moment, this time, this place where in the light of much else we can consider what it all means…and from here look back at (Mars’ station as a ‘turning around to look’) and see who we were then and just how we have changed since then.

And what that means about our capacity to grow, for good, bad and unknown. That Mars will go retrograde at 27 Libra in tandem with the New Moon’s setting up our next four weeks of activity says that whatever starts or ‘takes a turn’ now, whatever is ‘new’ – how at a personal level that speaks to the emotional thread we will be following throughout the next several weeks.

- link -

Mars, Saturn, Vesta Station/Retrograde

 + Eclipse Effects Begin 

We’re likely to find going forward that assertion isn’t the path to success, comprehension is – specifically that which allows us to comprehend how things…and others (Mars in Libra) work. Or how they aren’t (or haven’t) worked. Between Mars’ station and this Pisces New Moon we may now ‘turn away’ from one phase of (Mars) effort to a next.

In this text chart of the 2014 Pisces New Moon (cast as an Aries chart to take location and time

zone out of the equation because of limits imposed by writing on the internet) Sun-Uranus

is a semi-sextile, the aspect most known as feeling like an offense or ego bruise - even an

ego attack or an attack on the validity of one's being. By itself, a Pisces Sun/Aries Uranus

speaks to personal feelings/things being taken personally...or a wrestling with feelings

of weakness or intolerance of feelings/unwillingness-or-inability to feel compassion. Presented

in conjunction with Dionysus, there is a definite strain on emotionalism which is

likely to erupt either physically or in self-sacrifice (and maybe both) with the astrological

origin being the Uranus square Jupiter (in Cancer) suggesting some sort of ingrained idea

which is more about habit (or longevity - perhaps of tradition) than necessity. Ultimately

the question presented her concerns the nature of what is "sacred": is the priority who we

are or the world and times in which we are born?

Or even ‘turn into’ something which means more to us personally.

In short, whether we are turning towards or away from something, someone or some idea reflective of Mercury’s February 28th station in Aquarius…the fact we are doing it means what it means something vital to us.

THAT’s the point. We cannot expect everyone will feel the same way as we do, and we cannot expect that everyone will understand exactly why we feel as we do.

What we can get to…and get across right now is the importance of human emotionality. For some that will be insight into something like market appeal in business while others may experience an upsurge…even a crisis of (Pisces/Aquarius) conscience.

There’s a good deal of energy available at this time; how we tap into it is the central question. Given that Libra and Pisces are both worldly signs, the combination of New Moon and Mars station is likely to trigger events in the world and which affect our lives with the basic question being whether we have come into this time to be active or reactive.

Neither is right, neither is wrong. Each simply has its own plus and minuses. Those who are more active (more ‘Mars-like,’ we might say) will do best where they are able to temper personal emotions in an effort to be more inclusive where those who feel more ‘on the line’ emotionally will need to summon internal fortitude.

We’re all human. We all have work to do on ourselves and that which life is moving us towards and into is where we will do that work. As much of it will be initiated, engendered, required, requested or earned by others as by ourselves; it’s up to us to see the value on both sides and to neither sell ourselves short nor insist on having our own way.

That’s the bottom line on the Sabian Symbol we started out with: this ‘illumination’ we’re seeking is coming from Pisces. It’s feeling. It’s emotional.

It’s needed. In fact, with solar eclipse effects having begun (as of February 28th) anyone who believes the great maxim that unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should and that all things happen when they should’ there is every reason to believe this New Moon is indeed the start of something new.

Not necessarily in the world…but in ours? Yes. It would seem we’re all our own ‘work in progress’ at the moment. We’re at a place where we don’t know what is going to come or become of us…we’re know what we’re doing but not feeling entirely secure about how it’s all going to work.

That’s what we’re working towards…and why this feels like a critical time. These days we’re going through may have the same number of minutes in them as any other day does, but they feel more vital and important because we’re encountering something which provokes us.

This is our life…our life’s time. Whatever it means that you care and whatever it is you care about, whether that’s in the fervency of the moment or not, that you feel what you feel now will make an impression on you.

That impression is likely to stay with you for the whole of this lunation – at least. If you take it to heart, in time…as the stations and effects surrounding this New Moon slowly give rise to new orders…that impression well lead you to an even greater insight. Or an opportunity which teaches you how or why having faith in that which is correct and not merely pleasant ultimately provides the richest rewards.

This is a moment of letting go – mostly of what we thought would be there forever. Acceptance of that is the only simple answer, one which lies beyond our sensitivities of ego, illusion and focus.

Are we willing to own our beliefs through who we are in this world, this life...this skin we inhabit?
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Ceres News

 

An artist's conception of spacecraft Dawn approaching Ceres

(courtesy of NASA/JPL)

By seemingly every electronic medium possible, word went out yesterday that the presence of water on asteroid Ceres has been confirmed.

That’s extra-special news.

But it’s not just the science which counts here, though that’s rather fascinating as well. However, on an astrological level, since metaphysical water represents emotion and Ceres-the-symbol tends to ‘act’ somewhere between earthy, pragmatic, practical and perhaps a bit airy-(Libra)- theoretical in the sense that Ceres is often seen connected to whatever plan we have (or need to put together) in order to reach that tangible and practical goal.

And we already know that Libra is not just a sign all about connecting and interacting, but one which we are getting a major ‘overhaul’ in courtesy of Mars’ eight-month transit of this airy sign. 

As for Ceres, located in the heart of the asteroid belt, Ceres is the first asteroid-type object considered for reclassification as a dwarf planet…which is where the water gets a bit muddy. The NASA version of this announcement (Link Here) says Ceres was reclassified as a dwarf planet back in 2006 (which I seem to remember being when Pluto got “demoted”). And yet…

Wasn't this 'it's a dwarf planet' thing not chiseled in stone? I so distinctly remember that being the case that when I read today’s announcement, I went over to JPL (the Jet Propulsion Laboratory does function as the data bank side of NASA, after all)…and looked Ceres up.

And here’s the header I found on the JPL page:

 A screen shot from JPL's website

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Look right down near the bottom of that page header and you'll see "1 Ceres" (one being Ceres' numerical designation) ...and right below that it says main belt asteroid. Not dwarf planet, not SDO, not TNO, not centaur...just asteroid.

(If you’d like to see this full page for yourself in all it’s numerical glory, go to the JPL Database Browser which is HERE and type 'Ceres' in the search box highlighted in pale yellow to the right).

NASA’s spacecraft Dawn is on the way towards Ceres and will arrive in February 2015. I seem to recall that as when the ‘final call’ was going to be made on whether or not Ceres really is a dwarf planet.

If Ceres is classified as a dwarf planet, that will make it the only (known) dwarf planet in the asteroid belt or anywhere inside the orbit of Neptune. It will also means that the astrological idea of Ceres as an emblem of planning, protection and ‘the need to bring things to harvest’ (or to reap what we earn) will become far more important. We may have greater needs and things may make a greater impact on us so that we will recognize those needs. What we’re doing, how we’re doing it or how we’re going about (or not going enough to) either earn…or to receive what we have earned stand to become more vital to  our general (continuing) status quo, or to our personal progress.

That’s if Ceres is deemed a dwarf planet. (I think this probably merits an email, which only proves an old slogan I learned when working movie production: 'you don't have to know everything - you just need to know who to call.' Seriously! That's how movies get made!)

Regardless of label, the intent of today’s announcement - the facts about Ceres having water and some sort of atmosphere – those remain. At some level water denotes not only emotionality but also life…life as we know it on our very watery planet.
  
To be precise here, it was the ESA (the European Space Agency) which sent out the word as it was the ESA’s Herschel Space Telescope which issued this news was made with Ceres at 27 Libra – a degree which gives us the Sabian Symbol ‘A man becoming aware of spiritual forces surrounding and assisting him’  - and the Sun conjunct Hebe at 3 Aquarius, a pairing which echoes the idea of eternal or ‘pure nourishment’ of a mental or theoretical (air sign) type which focused through the degree 3 Aquarius speaks to a number of issues.

The first is the idea of a long term struggle which seeks to establish some truth. Or something you truly want to accomplish or bring into being. Loss – particularly as that concerns those we care about – seem to be part of the 3 Aquarius lore and whether connected or not connected to the idea of ‘a loved one lost,’ are ideas or questions which are either painful or uncomfortable to you… and which you have to deal with anyway.

Today we have been told that it will take both mental and spiritual strength to reach our goals.

Tomorrow – as this post goes out - we will find out more about our humanity through the experience of someone else’s life or necessary choice. They may be our friend or someone we hear about on the news or online – it doesn’t matter.

This is obviously an ongoing story we will learn a lot more about next February. But that we are hearing about Ceres now, at a moment when so many of us are wondering what to do and how to get through the process of doing it, and that Ceres is in a sign (Libra) which is Venus ruled….?

That should tell us that we are moving towards a point when Dawn will arrive and we’ll get a clearer and more definitive perspective on the emotionality of our values and whatever ‘system’ we have when it comes to evaluating the value of people, information, ideas or anything else as we pursue our aims, dreams and goals.

One last thought here…spacecraft Dawn will be arriving at Ceres just as Ceres (which by then will be in Capricorn) takes up a position alongside Pluto basically as Venus is doing now.

NASA's diagram of the Dawn mission to Ceres

That’s an astrological “dotted line” which says that some of what we’re planning, planning on or aiming to achieve starts now and comes to fruition (or to the end of a ‘next step’) next February. Or perhaps you’re going about your business now…planning, doing (once Venus goes direct, we would suppose?) with all of what you’re doing now being part of something which happens next February which is your ‘harvest’ for efforts made now.

As for water – and evidence of an atmosphere now being verified on Ceres, that suggests that with careful effort and a bit of sensitivity (maybe even vulnerability) a whole new world will soon unfold.

We just have to endure all the getting there.
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Venus: Station-Retrograde at 28 Capricorn

A Hinode Space Telescope view of Venus' 2012 Transit of the Sun on June 6, 2012

(photo credit: NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, 2012)

So no sooner does Uranus go direct on the same day as a Full Moon – then Venus goes on station to turn retrograde on December 21st.

What’s a planet to do?

And that December 21st date? That will be just as the Sun reaches its Solstice. Thinking of all this as some sort of complicated piece of machinery, we thus arrive at Venus’ going on station as a ‘slow down’ to all we might want to create or see coming of our efforts (or patience) as a result of what we’ve done…(or not done, depending.)…just as our will either ebbs to its lowest point (in the northern hemisphere) or reaches its maximal, yearly ‘high’ point (in the southern hemisphere), depending.

Now…with that said, that north/south hemisphere thing can be literal – as in, one person lives in Oslo, Norway and the other person lives in Brisbane, Australia. OR it can indicate your intellectual or logic-driven will (north) versus your emotional or ‘impassioned’ (south) perspective. And yes, both of these functionalities can be in operation at the same time in like or different situations/venues/areas in or of your life.)

December’s astrological trail seeming to describe a period of wanting to break out, innovate, share, network, rebel, escape, integrate or change (the Uranus-Full Moon) which is then followed by a period of reconciliation with Self (often as set off or triggered or mirrored in or see in the actions of others) which isn’t – traditionally – what we might want to feel.

In other words, to have Venus hitting its ‘turnabout’ in the traditionally ‘cool’ (or ‘cooling’ – on occasion even ‘chilling’) sign of Capricorn may be “fair play” in the cosmic sense that we in time need to learn or see or experience what we need to see or learn or experience….at the same time that things may not feel all that warm, cuddly and rewarding. And to have this turnabout happen at the Solstice is either to ‘see the light’ or to realize you didn’t see the light at some ‘maximal’ level, depending.

On Planet Venus: Maat Mons rises 8 km above lava flows spread across the Venusian plains

(photo credit: NASA, JPL)

 

All this is yours – indeed, all of ours – as of December 21, 2013 at 9:54 in the evening, UT/+0 time.

And of course the two days before and the two days after are likely to be telling in more than a few lives too.

Which is why, seeing as there IS a crossover with Uranus’ December 17th station…why one would say that if your chart answers to both 8 Aries AND 28 Capricorn. Allow for standard orbs as follows…

Conjunctions, Squares, Oppositions, Trines (+/- 5 degrees)

Sextiles (+/- 3 degrees)

…and for the getting-to-be-pretty-much-standard orbs for inconjuncts (aka quincunxes) and semi-sextiles…

Inconjuncts and Semi-Sextiles (+/- 1.5 to 2 degrees)

…then apply them to these charts of standard sign aspects.

Next, a quick run down on aspect meanings, seeing as we haven’t done that in a while…

Conjunctions always feel personal, whether or not they’re personally directed at us.

Oppositions are about being challenged, opposed or faced with issues, problems, situations or relationship dynamics.

Squares challenge us to see there is more to what we are dealing with than we thought. Can we take everything into account and make it all work as one? Can we keep everything in balance or will we be brought down by that we fail to acknowledge, deal with or manage?

Sextiles representing opportunities we may or may not take sextiles prompt us to exercise the right and personal choice and the responsibility to own which choices we make in life.

Trines: Far from being any candy-floss ‘perfection’ trines have been marketed as, trines are ‘ongoing energy’ which on one hand lowers the need to try, but which can also represent limited or inhibited circumstances.

Inconjuncts (Quincunxes) always represent an adjustment whether between the optimal and workable, the idea(l)/vision and the reality or  the personal-individual and accepted-pluralistic perspective.

Semi-sextiles manifest as ego-bruises and irritations which feel more serious than they generally are in any long run except where denials or emotional triggers are being set off.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Now that we’re all aspected, on to Venus going retrograde specifically at 28 Capricorn. Referred to in terms of its association with ‘clairvoyance’ by both Dane Rudhyar and Marc Edmund Jones the Sabian symbol for 28 Capricorn, “A WOMAN READING TEA LEAVES,” is Venusian in its own right in that the ‘basis’ for ‘finding one’s way to the truth’ is a substance (tea) long revered and related to nutrition, health and eating – all of which suggest an association with Taurus (an earth sign, as is Capricorn) and thus the fact that at this moment it may be our ‘earthly’ or ‘earthy’ fortunes which take a turn.

December 21, 2013 – 9:54 p.m. (UT/+0) – Aries Wheel (location not specific)

 

Any degree in the third decan (last ten degrees) of any sign isn’t strictly individual, even though the effort of the woman in the symbol is personal and singular – she is attempting to read the leaves. And as we are given no one else in this image, we may presume she is seeking information for herself, though the idea of ‘a female’ in terms of gender here should not be taken literally. If you yourself have, or if you know a woman whose Sun or Moon is directly at 28 Capricorn the reference might be to her, yes. But otherwise, ‘female’ in metaphysical symbolism most often refers to our receptivity or our ability to ‘contain’ or “be a good container” for something or someone or some situation. So to have this idea embodied by Venus turning to retrograde may be a sign of recognizing we weren’t receptive enough to someone, something or the totality of a situation.

Or maybe it pertains to your ‘earthly’ fortunes.

Or the fact that in light of other things your attention is ‘turning’ or ‘being turned’ to more Venusian matters OR to the questioning of your personal Venusian values. This is not typically a ‘lighthearted” sort of metaphysical energetic level, as it clearly concerns responsibility – specifically that we take on when (and where) we aspire to achieve. Success or burden here can be one and the same as this degree promotes a clarity of logical thinking which owns up to the long-term necessity to be to ‘chart’ a responsible (not merely safe) course. All of this ‘questioning of quality’ (and qualities) is itself more than a little Venus-Taurus - and with 28 Capricorn being a degree assigned to an astrological Term (Ptolemaic) ruled by Mars, with Mars in Libra the aims of the moment would be Self-driven but dependent on others.

It’s just one of those moments. Business or personal, family or friendship, some relationships will be fine now. But some will be more meaningful to us at the moment. They’re on our minds.

And the reason they’re there is not about ‘that person’ but how we feel about that person – and all our feelings about those feelings. Isn’t that just what you want around the holidays?

Apparently life isn’t going to be cut-and-dried and simple right now.

But then, apparently we need this. If life provides that which we need, this next six weeks of Venus retrograde is going to have us learning a good deal about who we really are. And aren’t.

Who we are kidding. And who we’re not kidding. The overarching Capricorn quality of not meeting the world but being met by and concerned with the world and its worldly way of operating is going to catch more than a few of us judging ourselves short (that would be the retrograde thing as opposed to ‘judging others’ being direct motion) or paying some penalty large or small.

Tangible, monetary or heart felt, if it’s ‘real’ to us, if we can feel it – it’s up for re-examination. Much as the recent eclipse broke through many an emotional defense and denial by putting us all through wave after wave of challenging, trying, tolerance-testing experiences, now Venus’ turn to retrograde asks us if…considering all we’ve learned since the last time Venus went retrograde (in Gemini during May-June of 2012)…if we really are investing ourselves in being the person WE will respect ourselves for being, regardless of whether others respect us or not.

Well…okay, maybe that’s not entirely square. The ‘we’ part stands. But there is a part of how others act and react which counts now…and which may be bothering us now. Such concerns will come where we’ve (in essence) “bet” on someone who now proves – at least to our thinking – to be ‘structurally’ unsound. Or a least not of the caliber we expected.

Or were promised, guaranteed, led to believe as a condition of support, and/or where some sort of ‘fraud’ in essence has occurred.

Some of us (notably those more-rather-than-less affected by the popping of energy throughout the early/mid December Mars-Uranus passage) are virtually primed for a secondary release on the 25th  by virtue of December 25th being Mars perfecting its opposition to Uranus. How that happens is highly individual (isn’t everything Uranian?), but the net is likely to carry some sense of wistfulness about ‘the way things used to be.’

You know…at least in our heads it was like that. Strong Uranus-Mars connections can manifest as any sort of ‘separating’ from who you are in the moment – which on the genteel edge is nostalgia (thinking about who you were ‘then’) and which on the more esoteric and long-term level suggests the triggering of gains in perspective where you are suddenly able to see yourself as someone else does…or perhaps where you find yourself ‘standing’ in another’s shoes, experiencing their perspective on life.

At the time of Venus’ station, very few aspects are in force. On its own this hints at a subterranean wishing (which may be pretty constant at the moment) that we had the way or the means to just do what we want to do.

 

December 21, 2013 – 9:54 p.m. (UT/+0) – Aries Wheel (location not specific)

The Sun is at 0 Capricorn in this chart, with Mercury at 26 Sagittarius some four degrees away. The thirty degree semi-sextile – an indication of irritation or ego annoyance – theoretically falls right between Sun and Mercury at 28 Sagittarius. Metaphysically this is an image of ‘the Venus energy’ “standing” between what you have been able to accomplish or get to thus far (Mercury) and what your aim or aims really are.

In other words, this is a picture of annoyance – be it mild or frothy. Frustration maybe. Venus doing a turnaround in the Sun’s ‘sign of aim’ (if you will) suggests that there’s some need to wait because something isn’t yet in place…at least not as solidly as you (Mercury) think it needs to be in order for you to get to what you REALLY want to do.

And to make this all a little more annoying (to us as individuals, I mean), this Venus-Mercury also suggests that we’ll be going back and forth a bit on the like-not like, second guessing, wanting to be extra-special sure…all that.

It’s one of those driving other people crazy because you know you’re driving yourself crazy sorts of moments. We’ve all been there…it’s just that this one is sort of universally universalized by the station – which (oddly) is likely to be the hard part to remember. How could all those people be having ‘their moment’ while we’re having one of ours?

Answer: maybe because we’re supposed to learn something from the fact that we even have such moments? That sort of mortal, in-built vulnerability to one’s humanity isn’t something most of us tend to think of all the time. We so often get caught up in the temporal doings and how things (or people) look on the surface.

Then life comes along to remind us that we are all just human creatures experiencing the process of being human.

Yes…that is part of what Venus stations are for.

And about.

Just to make this a bit more poignant and poetic (you did know all of this was highly poetic and insanely poignant, right?), while on station Venus is also in trine to dearly beloved dwarf planet Sedna.

(Yes, I doth wax sarcastic.)

December 21, 2013 – 9:54 p.m. (UT/+0) – Aries Wheel (location not specific)

 

Here’s the bad news…Sedna is all about the need to mature. And thus ironically (or maybe logically) wherever we find it in the chart, that’s where we find someone’s immaturity. Right now (and for quite a few years to come) Sedna is in late Taurus, which is one of those really nifty notices about the materialism in society – which could make this whole station (on an entirely universal level) very much a statement about income gaps and the plight of those in truly terrible need, the suffering of children and all such.

It also could speak to generosity wasted and where greed or selfishness has overcome human and humane standards.

Considering that Sedna hangs out in a given degree (or set of two degrees) for years at a time, that means this Venus-Sedna trine is a process – one described by Venus trining Sedna by direct motion as Venus came towards its station (on December 3rd), again in retrograde as Venus ‘backs up’ and trines Sedna from 23 Capricorn (January 7-8, 2014)…and again after Venus goes direct on January 31st. That pass – which happens on February 23rd or 24th, 2014 (depending on what time zone you’re in) will finish moving us through dealing with certain facets of what we do and why we do them, causing us (in essence) to ask whether the ‘prize’ is worth the cost or price to our lives or dignity or self regard. That ‘prize’ is an image in our mind – some righteously wonderful “billboard” of some facet of life we think should ‘be’ or ‘work’ XYZ way – and we have that way all mapped out and perfectly if soulfully airbrushed in hues of personal satisfaction we are loath to give up.

And yet…and yet and yet and yet…somewhere between here and February, each and every one of us is likely to have a bit of a quease as we realize that maybe…just maybe ‘the image’ isn’t the real deal. Maybe there is greatness and great satisfaction to be found in owning our power and doing what we can do – replete with putting ourselves out there and getting bumped and bruised on occasion – so that the final ‘image’ of who we are is one which isn’t given to or us or provided for us, but rather something which is organically about who we are.

December 21, 2013 – 9:54 p.m. (UT/+0) – Aries Wheel (location not specific)

 

One final comment here: Mars will be going on station March 1st, with Saturn adding an either sobering, stabilizing or structural note by going retrograde a day later on March 2nd. That Mars station will be square Venus’ current station from Libra even as Saturn opposes Sedna from Scorpio gives us a kind of 'framework' within which we will be challenged to invest rather seriously in working through what kinds of standards we hold, what we stand for, and what that asks of us.

Astrologers often think of Venus and Saturn as having a harmonic likeness as both energetics are about what one gets for what one is or puts out there. The Venusian 'action' tends to be personal, creative and evocative where Saturn's tenor tends to be more intellectual, logical and productive. If this was Saturn's station we were talking about we would think of how 'Saturn things' (our achievements, our physical stature, our societal standing) affects us personally (in our Venus quarter). Instead, this is Venus' station - so this is a time when the issue of how Venus and our Venusian nature...the love of ease, beauty, creature comforts, appreciation...affect our ability to achieve or create (Venus) any structure (Saturn) which sustains our long term hopes.

This may feel like a sobering time. Venus retrograde is one of those times when we have to support ourselves, when we need to not expect others to give us the answers we want or to feel good about it even if those golden 'right words' come falling out of their mouth. Venus retrograde tends to feel cool...which for some becomes a feeling of disappointment - even depression. Certainly that Venus is going retrograde in a sign ruled by Saturn tells us that what we really want we need to work for - and that means with all that we are, not just the parts we tend to like.
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