Mercury in Pisces / Juno Direct

Harbour City Ocean Terminal, Hong Kong

(photo credit: OTnig17, June 2009)

.

With asteroid Lilith having just gone retrograde and the Sun still in Pisces, to have Mercury entering Pisces could seem a bit ... redundant. After all, Lilith refers to not wanting to know (or see, or hear, or ...) and Mercury in Pisces, while very sensitive and often representative of artistic (or just arty) instincts can also speak to lack of clarity driven by a softened mental underbelly.

Of course Mercury in Pisces can also be about understanding our own feelings and why we feel as we do about things. Pisces is a sign all about emotions, be they the thing which prompts us to feel and thus teaches us through what we learn about through ‘feeling it’ ... or that which prompts us to run away from something or someone - or even our feelings, despite the fact that we know the choice is to face those feelings or pay the price for not having done so.

People talk about the ‘deliciousness’ of emotional threats under Scorpio, Scorpio being a sign about interactive emotional tussles and struggles, be they in the bedroom, the boardroom, with the bank or on the battlefield. With Scorpio, that drive to get what you want from something or some situation spurs us on and gets us to tolerate risk ... sometimes to our own detriment, yes. But we tolerate it anyway.

But with Pisces, no one talks about any deliciousness, as Pisces (and 12th house matters in your personal chart) are where we have no one to look to but our Self - and in the emotional realm, that means being left to deal with our own emotions, which whether those emotions are elation or grief isn’t our favorite human way to live. It is educational and informative? Do we learn a lot about ourselves? Absolutely. But do we enjoy learning it?

That probably depends on how you feel about having been put in a position to learn those lessons - which is merely another way of saying the lesson itself is about feeling.

As a symbol, Mercury is about sorting, finding, assembling, organizing, deciding, interpreting, understanding, communicating the designing. We think of these ‘Mercury processes’ as defining, as clarifying, as all those things which assist us in the comprehending of life and the operating of our life in this daily lifestyle world. So to have this mercurial energy put into a Pisces realm means putting Mercury’s mental orientation (mental faculties being the means through which Mercury functions are initiated) into an emotional mode which isn’t as crispy clear as it would be if it wasn’t as emotional. Or which excels through the expressing of emotionality, whether in a conversation or in the forming of, or creating of something expressive of emotions and emotionality.

Mercury in Pisces can mean a focus on things which are emotional, which promote or provoke our feelings - or on the whole subject of emotions, plus and minus, as a whole. And because that emotionality (or the subject of emotions) tends to cause other things to stop until those emotions are either enjoyed, worked through or tended to, Mercury is said to be less ‘efficient’ in Pisces than at other times. It’s not that Mercury in Pisces can’t be artistic and wonderful - it’s just that those moments tend to sidetrack us from what we otherwise might want to be doing, which as a whole speaks to our tendency as human beings to prioritize accomplishment over feelings, and perhaps our human need to do just that, lest we not accomplish or take care of what needs to get done.

Part of Pisces’ formidable reputation in fact has to do with just this: the fact that we know ... how as humans we understand on some instinctual level that though we are, from birth to death, emotional beings under every circumstance.

Without those emotions (or properly functional emotions) life is nothing but the stuff of nightmares.

And yet, those feelings can so easily overwhelm us.

We know this is the nature of mortality, this helplessness which at moments leads us into and then leaves us at the mercy of our most unbridled nature. So we fall ‘helplessly’ into love and we spiral haplessly into despair.

And when that happens - when anything Piscean overwhelms us, we have to have faith that we’ll come through it all intact. We think our way through these times by having faith - which in essence is our mental Mercury model operating in an egoless modality.

Pisces demands a lack of ego. That which we tackle under Pisces benefits us only when we employ it in a manner which initially benefits many, or which is ‘in tune with’ accepted and established human experience. Any planet in Pisces (or your natal 12th house) is going to function this way and ‘pick up on’ this sort of notion - which means that whenever Mercury transits Pisces, the whole of our world shifts, or is made to shift (though things which arise at that time) into a mode where we either recognize the importance of broad-based, feeling thinking and proceed on that basis, or when we face situations which in ‘raising the stakes’ get us to stop thinking in such temporal and ego-driven (“how I prefer to think of it”) sorts of terms.

Mercury will enter Pisces on March 13th at 3:53 in the morning (UT/+0) - one day before Saturn, astrology’s symbol of time, responsibility, facts, achievement, commitment and consequences goes into retrograde at 4 Sagittarius. This being Mercury entering Pisces in metaphysical square to Saturn’s position, some sort of ‘conflict’ is being cited (in general, if not in specific) - which may turn out very productively ,as this is a combination known for ‘holding the line’ and discipline. With the Mercury side of this in feeling Pisces, there may be an ‘emotional penalty’ for something, making this a time which could be filled with regret, but which holds equal promise (providing there’s sufficient Saturn reality in the mix) and which may also become one where apologies get made as someone comes to realize something is wrong, missing - or maybe just not working out the way they thought it would.

With both of these emblems being in mutable signs (signs which learn as they go) this is a good time for discussions, especially discussions which are by their nature ‘touchy’ and which will benefit from a ‘laying out the facts’ providing there is no condemnation or finger-pointing as part of the process. High rhetoric and dramatic statements can be made providing they’re merely an expression of how we feel (or how we don’t like feeling) but accusations and ‘blame-laying’ should be avoided in any situation where we really want to make headway or accomplish anything, as poking (Pisces) feelings under this sort of influence will result in defensive stonewalling (some of it quite fierce) more often than we’d like it to - which would be a Mercury in Pisces tender-versus-tenderized ego issue, don’t you know...!

The height (or greatest intensity) of this Mercury-Saturn square happens as Mercury conjuncts Saturn on Sunday, March 15th. And as Mercury won’t be out of Saturn’s range (the five degree orb of aspect)  to Saturn until Thursday, March 19th, considering Saturn’s March 14th station (which formally extends through the 16th and for some will be felt beyond that) these middle weeks of March are likely to be ‘a moment’ to be sure - with many of us carrying ideas into or forward from this time as the means or motivation through which we will operate pretty much for the balance of the month.

(Or at least until Mercury moves on into Aries as of March 31st, that is.)

And it’s also probably worth noting - for the record, if nothing else - that as Mercury and Saturn come into full and exact square, that will mean Mercury is at 4 Pisces ... the position of fixed and royal star Fomalhaut.

Fixed star Fomalhaut amidst its cloud of interstellar dust

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

.

Astrology’s ‘fixed stars’ (named ‘fixed’ by ancients to differentiate them from the ‘wandering stars’ we now call planets) function greatly as ‘backdrops’ against which other things happen (or seem important or unimportant, depending) or are perceived in life. There is an obvious exception to this ‘rule,’ and that’s about the fixed stars which may be conjunct your natal planets - those tend to be, become or manifest as part-and-parcel of how that planetary symbol functions.

But in this instance? If Mercury just wandered into Pisces (which it does on a yearly basis) and conjuncted Fomalhaut, we would be talking about the ‘purity’ or integrity of our thinking, our ideas and whatever we’re telling others - and ourselves (don’t forget that part!). But here we have Mercury transiting Pisces on a “mundane” or global basis ... (and yes, whoever decided on ‘mundane’ as an astrological term pertaining to daily life was either seriously into understatement or not thinking about Pisces at the time). On the universal level, Mercury conjunct Fomalhaut is all about how our thoughts, our plans and our positions measure up with those of society, history, and general humanity. So wherever we’re out of sync with any of those ‘measures’ we will experience negatives or negativity - and wherever we’re in sync, we’ll feel hopeful and like we’re headed in the right direction.

Or at least a better direction.

And if we aren’t in sync, well ... we may not like having to change our mind or change how we’re acting or who we’re associating with or what our aims or attitudes are, but perhaps we see we should. That’s where Fomalhaut comes in. Fomalhaut is that hidden ‘quirk’ in our brain, in our soul, in our times which guarantees that which isn’t whole, that which is corrupted or corruptive, that which isn’t true or good ... Fomalhaut comes into our life as that which we do unconsciously, or in how we aren’t received by others or by our world which causes us to see or experience that downfall, that comeuppance, that failure or feeling of loss which is really about having not done the right thing, trading honest opportunity for some fantasy which wasn’t ever going to pan out, maybe not because it couldn’t be ... but in the end because despite all that we have done, even we knew that it wouldn’t be.

Or even perhaps shouldn’t be.

Then there’s a little plot-thickening additive guaranteed to make this all a little more interesting (and for some, considering Mercury’s position in Pisces, somewhat more dramatic) called Juno direct. And while this isn’t necessarily the guarantee that we’ll all be in for an astrological soap opera, that Juno is going direct at 3 Leo puts its station in trine to that of Saturn and inconjunct to Mercury does inject some inconvenience into the mix.

Some of that we will experience as that ‘touchiness’ mentioned above: Juno operates as a ‘managing’ force and once Mercury gets into early Pisces degrees just the shifting into ‘emotional mode’ is going to catch a few off us off-guard. Or for you something may happen which causes you to throw up your hands and say ‘why me?’ ... or ‘why now?’ ... or ‘could something just not go right today?’

(Yes, we all have those seriously annoying moments, days and times in life - and some of them are probably associated with Mercury/Saturn squares, since combinations of our great ideas with life’s realities doesn’t always end up in glee.)

To be more exact here, during the period when Mercury is between 1 and 5 Pisces it will be in an inconjunct to Juno, pointing to making things work and (of course, as part of that) encountering that which doesn’t work ... even that which because of what we say or do in the moment gets worse or better as we encounter the ‘adjusting’ energy of the inconjunct. That period of time begins late on March 13th and ends during the latter part of March 15th (in the UT/+0 zone), embracing the whole of the 14th when Saturn goes retrograde - another sign of ‘pulling in’ or ‘putting the brakes on’ something, whether that’s about truly pulling back or ending (i.e., stopping, limiting) your willingness or ability to not do something.

Despite that, this isn’t necessarily an end to anything. In going direct at 3 Leo Juno warns us not to go too far, but warns with equal ... maybe even greater fervor that it is our ability to connect to others and the being accepted by them for who we are and what we have to give and gift life - and our Self - with the ability to do which ultimately spells success ... that in our individual life, and that of the society or world around us. All sides of all conversations will be tested now - as much for their willingness to listen and hear as anything else. Saturn being in the equations of both objects which are “making their move” on this date speaks to the fact that nothing is ‘over and done’ unless we prevent it from evolving - in real time or in our minds as necessary. There will no doubt be some attempts to narrow discussions and block out anything “inconvenient” (read: emotionally inconvenient) during these weeks, and some such efforts may be successful - at least in the short run.

Yet where we find Saturn ... whenever we find Saturn in an astrological ‘equation’ we also know that growth is not in the moment, but over time - and how when we see Saturn as part something which does get narrowed beyond full usefulness there is some sort of (ego driven) fear which will ultimately be set aside or grown through.

It just takes time ... which with Mercury transiting Pisces may not be our favorite piece of news, but which we will like as not deal with and manage - if for no other reason than with a solar eclipse closing in and Juno’s turn to direct at 3 Leo we are closing in a better glimpse of a truer image of Self.

And that image is probably not entirely consistent with where we are in life right now ... which as Mercury moves through Pisces we will probably find worth thinking about because for whatever reason we find ourselves at a place where we know we will feel better simply for the doing so.
.
.
.

Lilith Retrograde

Saturn, Regulus and the International Space Station

(photo credit: fdecomite, April 2007)

.

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 ...

.
... 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.

.
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.
.
.
.

Sun in Leo / Mars in Scorpio / a 3 Leo New Moon

The Sun, photographed in all it's prominence glory by NASA (September 2006)

With our having just weathered two stations (those of Eris and Saturn) the Sun enters its ‘home’ sign of Leo on July 22nd (the date of this post) at 9:42 in the evening, UT/+0 time - about twenty hours after Uranus goes into retrograde motion.

This may be a surprising day...an enlightening day...an inspiring day...or even a surprising, shocking, destructive or rewarding day.

Moreover, along with the Sun entering Leo is the fact that the Perseid meteor shower will begin one day later on July 23rd. In lasting until August 20th, the Perseids cover pretty much the Sun’s entire transit of Leo - which is metaphorical right to the sword hilt seeing as meteor showers are said to be ‘sparks’ of creative thought which cut through some darkness with which our world is covered.

And considering how dark things have been, maybe that’s a good thing.

As a phenomenon, the Perseids are a meteor shower which comes to us courtesy of Swift-Tuttle. And Swift-Tuttle is on one hand a comet which by orbital range metaphysically could be thought of as tying Pluto and Venus together...and which (on top of that) has a known magnetic resonance (read: metaphysical synched quality) with Jupiter - all of which leads to a stew of desirously  transformative [Pluto], attraction laden (or by attraction attracted) [Venus] qualities which are all about needing to [Jupiter] know more about [Leo] life.

The comet itself reached its perihelion (its closest point to the Sun - or in this case, Venus) back in December of 1992 and isn’t due to reach it’s aphelion (its furthest point from the Sun, which is a bit of a leap beyond Pluto) until 2126 - a thought which when we think of it astrologically suggests a current crop of ‘insightful sparks’ which expand us or which push our vision beyond some former limit.

A Perseid meteor streak and the Milky Way

(David DeHetre, August 2012)

.

The same day that the Perseids begin (July 23rd) is also the beginning of TNO Deucalion going on station at 12 Scorpio to go direct on July 25th. What would we think this influence might be?

Deucalion is - more or less - a Greek version of the Noah story...which you can read about here:

- link to -

Deucalion: Freeing Our Will 

Deucalion represents the need or ability or the inspiration to act and/or think independently when challenged by emotional situations or feelings - your own or those of others. Given that it is going direct at 12 Scorpio, we know right away that the emotionality is ours and that we are being tested (emotionally) as to whether we can handle our own emotions in dealing with others in terms of the facts - not what we want them to think, know or believe. As a second decan degree (one of the second ten degrees of this sign) the medium and goal of the situation or interactions involved will be intense, with most of our more testing issues coming from questions of whether we can ‘detoxify’ something on “our side” before we bring that to interactions with others.

Where we rise above our own emotionality (call it our tendency to be manipulated by our own emotions or mindset) then Deucalion on station and going direct becomes the opportunity - or a ‘change of winds’ which allows us to find a better way forward. Where we don’t ‘find our way to finding a way out of our own emotional corner’ Deucalion points to losses of a type which seems ‘separate from all else.’ Such losses are likely to carry some sort of moral or ethical taint which, given that this station is occurring at 12 Scorpio suggests choices or actions made without a complete understanding of parameters or possible consequences, all of which will like as not prompt emotional defensiveness until a more thought-driven form of compassion rises to the fore.

Wherever we find 12 Scorpio being emphasized (as it is here) there is also a chance that we may become so close to something or so involved that our very preoccupation may attract manipulation by others who attempt to twist or distort some truth. Given that Deucalion is turning to direct in this degree, it’s more likely that this will be a moment when such illusions will be discovered, recognized and dealt with consciously rather than this as a moment of falling under under someone’s influence, but such things can happen - if perhaps only to teach us how important it is to not be blindly swayed by others...or even by our Self.

All of that ‘takes a turn’ on Friday the 25th - and because the 26th hosts both a New Moon at 3 Leo (at 10:43 in the evening UT/+0) and Mars entering Scorpio at 2:26 in the morning (UT/+0), there are likely to be plenty of options in play.

However...! Let us not forget that if Mars is entering Scorpio at just after midnight (UT/+0) on Saturday, that means Mars has been sitting at 29 degrees of Libra coming into Deucalion’s station. Normally we would simply note that 29 degrees of any sign is considered ‘critical’ to any outcome in keeping with that sign - which in this case being Libra refers to relationships or how (even if) we relate to others or are willing to be in relationship to them... and if so, why, under what conditions and so on. But in this case, Mars has been in Libra - infusing our world with drives which were either innately weak (or taken as that) or which stirred up some sort of ‘weak’ response, whether ‘weak’ in this instance means a lack of resistance, less response that we had hoped for or greater resistance to our efforts which (in essence) put us in a ‘weak’ position...at least for the moment. Some people will indeed be caught in a ‘weak moment’ coming into Deucalion’s station and that station will be used to figure out what to do.

And then Mars will enter Scorpio...the second of Mars’ ‘home’ signs of rulership and that realm of experience where ‘the why’ behind what we do and all those ‘why’s’ which go with why we want to achieve - where all we want to get get done or claim as ours takes on something of a passionate or fascinating quality. The shift of energy is likely to be obvious: people will become more focused and energized. Conversations will spark new thoughts and opportunities.

All of this is about making a choice: what will I choose to invest myself in? Scorpio choices tend to be as much about avoiding our vulnerabilities (you know, those 'weak' points?) as emphasizing our strengths. We think we're manipulating others when what we're trying to do is to line things up so that we can achieve our aims without exposing ourselves to risk.

In particular, emotional risk - which is to say to anything which could make us feel badly about our Self.

Ah yes...the joy of Scorpio: the promise of riches with only a mild side order of poisonous paranoia. I can't think about this going wrong because I can't imagine knowing I choose this and it went wrong.

The famous Scorpio dynamic is the emotional projection: we imagine something or someone is 'all that' because we're hoping it scratches our itch (however you care to define 'itch' is up to you). 

But then we find out that thing, that person isn't perfect. (And mind you, Scorpio perfection is highly individualized so there's a million ways something can go wrong.) The natural (read: human) thing to do is to get mad - to blame it or them or whatnot. But the reality is that we know - way deep down inside - that we chose this thing, this person because we thought they were going to keep us safe...most of all from our vulnerabilities.

Unfortunately that's just not how it works.

Under Mars in Scorpio, we will seek out situations which will test our inner glitches like nobody's business. On one hand this may sound like trouble - and yes, it can be! Yet on the other this can be all about an intense period of growth which allows us to detach that 'blame game' from others and take it on with ourselves, owning our glitches, our vulnerabilities, our yucky bits...and in that, coming to see that everyone else goes through exactly the same thing.

It is from that knowledge that we then choose again: will we take advantage of them - or will we treat them as equals? Situations and dynamics from now (which is to say, July 26th) until mid-September are going to come at us from every possible evocative angle on this subject - and let's not forget...everyone else is under Mars in Scorpio as well.

Things can be wonderful or terrible under Mars in Scorpio. The instinct to go, do and make more vies during this time with the urge to control and eliminate. 

And that's just all quite very much different than Mars in Libra, a mode of going about being ourselves which began back in early December 2013. Where Mars in Libra creates a theoretical distance and tends to bring out inabilities which pit the Mars/Self aspect of life (or self) against the need to be 'part of the greater group' in possibly most unpleasant tones, Mars in Scorpio mixes it up. Under Mars in Libra, the stand-off attitude is a position. Under Mars in Scorpio, it's a stance - the fighter gathering themselves to make the lunge.

Mars normally spends about two months in a sign - as it will in Scorpio. But we've just lived through seven months of Mars in Libra (complete with retrograde, no less).

We're used to it.

So Mars in Scorpio is going to be a bit of a wake-up call.

Moreover, since Mars is entering Scorpio in square to Jupiter, the Moon and the Sun, big things are afoot. Big moves, big problems, big gaffs, successes, achievements and undertakings - some of which will be highly (Jupiter/Moon) extravagant either for the very good or terrible. With this trio in a square, it’s easy to opt for either the work or the pleasure...and not as easy to put both those things together.

But that is the challenge - and since this ingress happens just hours in advance of the New Moon, what comes up now may be the end of what we have been doing (allowing us to embrace the ‘new’)...or something may be coming together which becomes the heart and heat source for the next lunar cycle.

All year long we’ve been counting down New Moon degrees...January gave us two New Moons, both at 10 degrees, February didn’t have a New Moon (January took care of that), March’s New Moon was at 9 Aries, April gave us that thrilling New Moon we call a solar eclipse at 8 Taurus, May’s New Moon was at 7 Gemini, Junes was at 5 Cancer and now July’s New Moon will occur at 3 Leo - all of which on a metaphysical level represents ‘steps’ in a process which will by this October 23rd have us arriving at zero highly base line degrees of that most well-known (and sometimes least respected) fixed zodiacal water sign, Scorpio.

You know...Scorpio, sign of karma. Sign of wars fought - first and last with our Self. Scorpio, sign of desire... Scorpio, sign of domination... Scorpio, sign of taxes and anything which can simultaneously tax, excite and leave us helpless to the experience of our own sense of mortality - a moment which may be terrible or wonderful (or both), depending.

Doesn’t that just make your toes curl and a certain sense of warm trepidation tingle through your neural circuits?

But not to worry...first comes the New Moon at 3 Leo, a seeming declaration that the next month will test us (internally, at least) as to whether we are courageous or merely willful...even while our actions are being adjudged as either egotistical or creative. Imaged as ‘A FORMALLY DRESSED ELDERLY MAN STANDS NEAR TROPHIES HE BROUGHT BACK FROM A HUNTING EXPEDITION’ by the Sabian symbols, our ‘trophies’ may be of any type, just as the ‘man’ may represent an actual male or merely the more assertive or pro-active (courageous vs. willful) part of anyone’s character. In an 150-degree aspect to royal star Fomalhaut’s position at 4 Pisces, the position 3 Leo is automatically ‘subject’ to the ‘adjustment’ power of the inconjunct aspect between these two zodiacal points... (at least currently, which is to say until Fomalhaut moves to 5 Pisces in the year 2080)... which given Fomalhaut’s reputation for rewarding only that which is or hasn’t been corrupted (or is corruptive) may well explain how (or why, if you prefer) 3 Leo is written about as an internal/external experience of one’s own relationship to society and social accomplishment (you know, success - tangible or otherwise).

For some of us, this year has been like some very long exercise in wading through much which was far harder than we thought it would be. Where some have felt truly fortunate, others have spent each successive lunar month feeling like they’re just dodging some bullet.

Then there are those who have ‘worked’ each lunar cycle reflecting the world around them without ever having done what lunar cycles are really all about: reflecting on our Self. On life. On how we’re living our life and living in this life. 

As for that societal experience of social accomplishment (real or fanciful...past, present or future),the essence here is astrologically fiery - which is to say, about the essence behind the idea, the choice, the act...that thing we mostly think of as motivation. This degree is known for ‘showing off,’ whether that means ‘showcasing’ something, demonstrating (showing) what we are capable of or (or even willing to do) or displays of human drama. It is also known for strange combinations of brilliant insight, utter oblivion (or obliviousness to others) and inventiveness which may be inordinately helpful...or which may display a marked lack of understanding, including (in some cases) the simple inability to understand, whether that’s due to something simple like a difference in language or something truly incomprehensible.

Being an early degree in a sign which refers to not just physical children but the innocence of perspective which fosters imagination and the creative instinct, 3 Leo (and thus this New Moon period plus - to some degree - the whole of this next lunar month) seems to be about bringing us closer (or back to) some less ‘defined’ way of thinking - the ‘unhardened’ phase of personal experience wherein we are (or were) willing to befriend others without judging them because we feel less judged ourselves.

And since this is Leo...? Well...we are talking about a sign which while brilliant in essence can also be a bit blinded by that brilliance - which makes that ‘less judged ourselves’ quite possibly a statement on how we judge our Self, regardless of what anyone else says. There will surely be those this month who are unwilling - or even incapable of seeing that Self for what it is.

As the Sun enters Leo it will 'set off' a lot of Leo/Jupiter energy which as yet hasn't been accessed. Between that, the Leo New Moon and Mars' entering the sign of Scorpio we are bound to be aiming at something we want.

It consistent with who we need to be...or who we want to be? Therein lies our current quandary, one we won't all be successful with, but through which we will surely learn.
.
.
.  

Venus in Leo

'Summer' by Alfons Mucha

(1896, oil on panel)

When I think of Venus in Leo, my mind goes to moments of warmth and caring…days filled with laughter’s carefree sparkle…that singular satisfaction which comes of making something fun or great out of nothing special.

Then I think of that other side…those strains of Venus in Leo which manifest as arrogance, selfishness, lack of accountability and an inability to tolerate any opinions apart from your own.

Then I think about why this would be, and I realize it’s because Venus functions like a hinge.

A hinge

(photo credit: Sindala, October 2007)

What we bring to the situation, the level of quality we put into what we make of our abilities, these are where those Venus potentials born of its rulership in Taurus and Libra find their way into manifestation.

And depending on what we put out there…that pretty much dictates what we’ll get back. Venus is the hinge where cause becomes the reward we call effect.

I guess that means that if Venus Aphrodite sat down at a table with Newton, they’d have a lot in common. When Newton wrote his third law of motion – that idea which comes down to us as ‘for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction’ he was giving a scientific explanation to the Venusian process we understand through our ability to create and maintain relationships – or not. We recognize our own quality (or lack thereof) through our ability to be respected for who we are.

Or not.

The Taurus Venus craves satisfaction. And like its native 2nd house it describes how we seek that through some form of validation. That we have to take our resources, whatever they may be, and put them to work and develop them into what they can be, that is the foundational work we do on our way to presenting ourselves and being received and valued and applauded by friends and strangers alike.

Or not.

And it’s that process of development which is so Leo. Leo envisions what can be made of things. Leo sees the possibilities. Leo drives to see how things work, and to come up with ways to express our inner desires, beliefs, discoveries, ideas which display our courage and willingness to be unique and individual.

Or...not!

Considering that this particular Venus / Leo ingress occurs with Venus conjunct asteroid Charybdis, there’s a ‘continuing’ factor in play.  This could pertain to something already in progress. Then again, it could point to some status quo or ‘repetition’ of response - you know, that same old issue bopping us in the nose yet again?

But there are two other items adding to the intrigue of the moment. The first is the idea that as Venus reaches 0 Leo, a degree which asks for clear thinking but which tends to incite some tendency to posture or bluster even if that seldom works, Ceres is right there at 2 Leo.

Ceres, as you probably know, is a harvest goddess. But Ceres isn’t just about ‘reaping the wealth.’ Far from it! Ceres is all about the process which leads to being able to reap of fruit of one’s labors. Or (since this is Leo) the fruit of one’s creative efforts and willingness to step outside of your own mental comfort zone.

All signs have their weaknesses. And with Leo, there seems to be a bit of a tendency to forget that if you’re going to be grand and glorious, YOU don’t define that!

Huh, you say? What the fern do I mean?

Let’s think of Leo as a creative energetic.  The polarity is Leo-Aquarius, which brings up that Leo love of being in the spotlight for what they do so well and the fact that Leo seldom shies away from competition. Being the sign of the creative urge (whether that means creating a relationship, a family, a product, social stir or plain old ruckus!) Leo is still a 2nd quadrant, natively below-the-prime-horizontal zodiac sign.

That means the crux of Leo competition is about whether you are doing all you can do. Or whether you are doing something as well as you can. This is Leo’s principle competitive quality; as the second of the zodiac’s fixed signs Leo ‘fixes’ to develop our native Taurean attributes, talents and resources so that they are ready to be put out into the world.

Wherever you see Leo in the chart, that’s where you will meet up with your finest – and darkest – Leo hours. That is where you will be tested – and test yourself on the subject of whether you are ready for your public debut.

The most common problem Leo has is remembering that we do not ‘define’ the interest or approval of others. This gets back to the idea that whatever you’re into investing in, it’s always good to know your audience. You can’t force people to love what you’re doing…but you can – by taking careful stock of who others are and what they’re interested in – learn how to appeal to them. Or what factors in what you’re doing are likely to appeal to them. Or work for them. Or even shock them.

So Ceres at 2 Leo is a sign that this is a moment to reconnoiter and think things through. Two Leo is a degree which asks that we do the right and righteously developed thing in the right setting. Sometimes the outlandish will work, but sometimes it doesn’t. So while you may get attention by belting out some giant aria in the center of a busy intersection, that also might just get you arrested.

Like they say – it’s all timing and location, location, location, right? (And ‘who you know,’ yes…which suggests alienating people is not the way to build your brand!)

After entering Leo on June 27th at 5:04 in the afternoon UT/+0 time, Venus will go on to conjunct Ceres late on June 30th (which will already be July 1st for those in Middle East longitudes or points east of there). And since 3 Leo is a degree which endows the ability to see life without preconceived notions, those who come into this time set in concrete may, within a few days, have an epiphany of some sort.

Which sounds sort of nice, don’t you think? That it happens as Venus conjuncts Ceres suggests that just as June turns into July there’s an opportunity to have an ‘aha!’ moment and see a way to do things which is going to get us more of what we want is decidedly nice.

Of course Mercury is still in retrograde. So this may not be the moment to act. Investigate? Yes. Ask questions? Sure! Think things through from a new perspective? Absolutely!

The other thing going on during this period is Saturn loitering around at 4 Scorpio in anticipation of a station-direct moment soon to come. That suggests that at some level or in some way the ‘stakes’ for us are up there. There is, in fact, a major planet (Saturn-Jupiter-Neptune) grand trine in water which becomes a grand trine in water on the date that this post goes up by virtue of June 26th being the (UT/+0 time zone) date that Jupiter enters Cancer, thus ‘filling in’ the grand trine by coming within standard (5 degree) orb of Neptune at 5 Pisces.

I’m sure we’ve all felt it ‘coming on’…which for some has been a subtle feeling of impatience, for others a sense that something isn’t quite right, or that important factors aren’t being paid attention to.

That grand trine being a subject I’d want to think through in its own right (read: you’ll see that blog post in a couple of days), since from our Earthly position Saturn appears to be ‘sitting there’ immobile and unmoving, from the astrological (geocentric) perspective this moment…these next few days or the next week or so is a time to take stock. Venus with Ceres says we should think through our plans and our positions and our (Mercury retrograde in Cancer) priorities so we have in mind what we’re aiming at – and why.

Saturn goes direct on July 8th and Venus is in Leo until July 22nd. The grand trine will be in force for the whole of the time Venus is passing through Leo. Some of us will experience this as an interrupting of what we want to do in favor of what we need to do, and that will like as not be signaled by events between June 26 (the date of Jupiter entering Cancer and Venus entering Leo) and Saturn’s station.

Some of us are going to recognize that there’s a greater pattern at work – a shift from what we thought life was going to be in the late 1990s and early 2000s. All that began to change between 2008 (the shattering of economic stability and all those rosy expectations) and 2011 when Uranus hit Aries, Neptune entered Pisces and a tsunami hit Japan and – beyond that – the consciousness and conscience of our world.

People are still saying ‘why can’t things be the way they were?’ to which the answer is ‘they simply aren’t.’ Humans are funny that way…we yell and scream that we want change but then change comes along and our first instinct is to cling to the old and known, tatty and unworkable though it may be.

Come July 6th, there’s another process which looks like it’s worth a thought or two…Venus will be reaching 10 Leo and thus coming into orb of square aspect to the Lunar Nodes, which are still sitting at 15 degrees of Scorpio (North Node) and Taurus (South Node) representing the cross-quarter thing.

- link to post -

The Lunar Nodes at Cross Quarters

 
Considering that as Venus reaches 10 Leo (a degree known for relationship tests and karma-laden dynamics) on July 6th Venus will also be in a passionate if uncomfortable inconjunct-of-the-6th-harmonic-kind with Pluto, this seems like a moment when more than a few of us are going to feel that not-so-fickle finger of fate pointing in our direction. And with Pluto conjunct Industria (industriousness) at the moment, the question would seem to be whether we have been working at something, whether we have been working against our better interests, whether our efforts are (Pluto) destroying our Capricorn structures (purposefully or otherwise), or whether we are about to pay the price for having ignored life's Capricornian 'rules of the road.'

You know, standards and such.

A few of us will now leap into action, trying to avoid that fate which fickleness has set them up to experience.

Will they succeed? Oh well...y'know, this is one of those questions which no astrologer likes to answer. It’s not just that you’re going to throw tomatoes at me (I guess those would be digital tomatoes, if still rotten)…but nobody likes saying ‘probably not’ when the answer equals pain or loss or humiliation, defeat or shame-inducing rejection.

I used to be a lot more glib about such pronouncements. But whether it's age or experiencing a few really hard falls myself (there's nothing like going through a few major health crises when it comes to learning about humility!)...as have gone along I've become less and less gleeful, smug or satisfied when seeing anyone fall.

Even those who ripely, even richly deserve it.

So here’s the deal…IF you have been working towards getting past those knee-jerk, pacification positions which are easy to take because they feather your bed and otherwise take less than buckets and barrels of nose-to-grindstone effort, those efforts which are continuing to evolve (grand trine = ongoing energy systems) will probably work okay. Even fine.

But those efforts (or positions, or alliances, or habits or whatever else) which you have been resisting changing, even if you know they’re not productive in the ultimate and worldly sense? Those are likely to now become a headache or burden.

And no, you won’t be able to fix things instantaneously. That’s the other side of grand trines. They preserve the ‘thing in progress’ like some oil tanker you’re trying to get stopped. Yelling ‘whoa, Nellie!’ doesn’t help – it’s a long slow process.

Which (interestingly enough! brings us back to Sir Issac Newton.

Mister 'Laws of Motion' himself, Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) is here pictured

in a portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1689, oil on canvas)

Sir Issac’s first law of motion is the one we know as ‘an object in motion tends to stay in motion’…and between that and his third law (the one about actions begetting opposite and equal reactions) sort of encompasses the whole of this Leo Venus period of transit.

I’m thinking that if Venus Aphrodite and Newton sat down at a table (to enjoy some figs nicely poised on fig leaves, no doubt) they would have reached an agreement on the Venusian form of astro-attraction.

Basically, in the end what we put out there attracts a response based not just on what we intend others to see, but the qualities we bring to the table in putting it out there.

What you see yourself as giving is not always what you get back in other words, if only because we tend to see only what we want to see – and that may not be what others see at all.
.
.
.