Dateblog: November 2013

November starts with Saturn, the Sun and Mercury all in Scorpio, with Mercury retrograde….and the big clue to all is that Mercury will not be going direct until November 10^th, meaning it will be retrograde when the November 3^rd Solar Eclipse happens.

If nothing else, this is a sign that this particular solar eclipse is greatly (read: vastly) about how we operate on the inside. Things which happen to us, situations we have managed to put ourselves into – wherever they are producing stress, strain or untoward emotionality (of either the plus OR minus type)…that’s where we should be asking ourselves whether we are being truly realistic about who we are and what shape our personal self worth is in.

This is one of those times when anything we are in denial about…or things which we don’t want to deal with (but really need to deal with) are likely to either cause problems – or cause us to put our Self into some really ‘deep water’ situation which is going to compromise our ability to move forward in our life as we might have wanted to.

There is likely to be a huge amount of free-floating ‘fear energy’ wandering around. Some you should care about, some you should be smart enough to recognize and avoid. The only risks which are advisable as November starts out are those which are based on facts – preferably intellectual facts and thus which are simply about doing that which is known.


It’s the unknowns…that which we are thinking of as ‘possible’…the thing which we crave but which is all about taking a risk our psyche (or other body part) can’t “afford to pay for” which is what’s likely to get us.

That Ceres – a major asteroid – enters Libra about an hour after the eclipse strongly suggests that once our ‘old ways’ and the emotionally non-functional is cleared out of our way we are free to make new plans and new alliances. For those who have used the whole of the eclipse lead-in to get to the root of some issue which is not yet cleared out, this is also a good time to lay groundwork and investigate how to move forward with doing that clearing out or ‘detoxifying’ of that which is so problematic.

As of November 5^th, Venus will move into Capricorn – and this is worth noting because Venus is going to go retrograde in Capricorn come mid-late December (think: Christmas). Considering Capricorn is the third sign (3^rd harmonic) from Scorpio, this lends credence to the idea of making plans on how to move ahead – if slowly. Don’t plan on anything happening lickety-split and look more to intrinsic quality than alluring ‘qualities.’

Think of it this way: the book cover counts. But if the book isn’t any good, not even the glossiest cover is going to get you to the best seller’s list!

Venus’ shift into Capricorn happens just as the ‘window’ for Jupiter’s station-retrograde begins. That happens on November 7^th – a sure sign that we all have enough on our plate for the moment. That Pallas (dispassionate wisdom) moves into Virgo on the 9^th – the other end of the Jupiter station gives us a set of earth-sign “bookends” to this Cancerian Jupiter station, which means some people will be battening down the hatches, some will be clearing out the mental (or life) garage and some of us will simply know where we’re going. Whatever is afoot, it has to be workable if it’s going to work.

And let’s be real here…considering that we just had a solar eclipse in Scorpio, with the ‘choice of personal investment ruler of Scorpio (Mars) in Virgo and the ‘outcome’ ruler of Scorpio (Pluto) in Capricorn, we have a perfect mirror of ‘factoring factors’ surrounding this Jupiter station. Stability is only as good (or as lasting) as we are foundationally. That’s the crux of Jupiter in Cancer – it’s about foundations. Wherever Cancer is in your chart and wherever the Moon (as ruler of Cancer) is in your chart, the good or bad, the easy or difficult of this time is all about how well you deal with those factors.

Mercury goes direct at 2 Scorpio on the 10^th, pushing us to deal with our issues and with whatever may be bollixed up at this point…and there are likely to be a few days of confusion or not knowing as we move through the period of November 11^th through the 15^th which surrounds Neptune station-direct moment on the 13^th.

Considering Neptune’s station ends in the onset of the Leonid meteor shower (a brief if interesting period of possible ‘sparking’ of ideas and realizations) with Vesta entering Libra on the 15^th and a Full Moon in Taurus occurring on the 17^th, this is a really good time to be dealing with matters which pertain to security.

For some of us, that will be securing something or getting it done. For others, this will be a time of working through our insecurities in order to learn the truth of how things work and that we can actually deal with something we were thinking was just ‘too hard’ for us. There will be a few folks who think they’ve ‘gotten past’ (ignored, evaded, successfully denied) the warnings portrayed by the solar eclipse who will come crashing down to earth at this Full Moon, but for most of us this will be an ‘interim capitalization point’ on something which is already in process…and considering this Full Moon is in Taurus, we hope that results are satisfactory.

Those which are will be very satisfying indeed. Those which aren’t will lead to a bit of frustration and then (hopefully) the resolution to try, try again as Chiron goes direct on the 19^th (which means its station-direct influences begin on the date of the Full Moon).

But let’s be pragmatic about this: where Chiron is concerned we have to ‘master’ our emotionality and get that hooked into trying – and whatever it is we’re trying to achieve, it’s not going to be anything we feel we’re all that good at.

Still, we only win through by trying. And that’s part of the Chiron message: we can’t always know how to do something before we attempt it. Some things can only be learned…and mastered…and appreciated…through the doing of them.


Chiron’s station (which is in Pisces, guaranteeing emotionality of some sort, even if it’s denied emotionality) ends on the 21^st – a day before the Sun enters Sagittarius.

And interestingly enough….that’s pretty much the last astrological announcement for the month. So everything which has happened during November leads into this 21^st-through-the-30^th period of finding out how well things work…or don’t work…and learning better in the process.
.
.
.

Mars in Virgo: Our Harmony Within

A spectrogram showing a note and the perfect fifth

(the harmonic fifth) above it

(image credit: Omegatron, using Adobe Audition)

.
All on its own, Mars in Virgo is the energy of doing for a given purpose and getting things done. It’s about the need which drives us to do something (whatever form that takes) and the effectiveness and efficiency which gets things done.

It's even about learning how to get something done.

Or learning that something needs to be done.

Mars in Virgo promotes gets in touch with how we feel about things and gaining a better perspective on what doesn't work - and why it doesn't work.

And why it may not be moral. Or ethical.

Yet while it is tempting to think that Mars in Virgo is about 'the rules' and the 'way it ought to work,' that's not true either. Virgo is an earth sign. And therefore, Mars in Virgo is about the evidencing of how our existence - be that our corporeal bodies or our life here on Earth - how healthy that is, or isn't.

So it's not about 'the rules' or 'the protocol' except in the sense that said rules or protocol have to do with real people living real lives. 

It's about the process of learning to be human...a real human being living in a world which often does everything it can to get us to deny our humanity...our humanness...and our instinct to be humane.

All of this will be enticed out of us through challenges and events which take place while Mars is in Virgo (from October 15 - December 7), no matter what else happens.

And much will indeed happen.

For one, let’s just remember that the ruler of Virgo is Mercury. And Mercury is not only currently in Scorpio (symbolizing the stirring up of all those intense situations and personal challenges we’ve all been dealing with)… but Mercury will BE in Scorpio until December 5th.

Which yes, does seem to hook these two influences together. Funny how that works, eh?

This Virgo-Scorpio connection is something I talked about in a previous post – the one about the Sun moving into Virgo back in August. Remember that one? Not to worry…here’s the link:

- link to -

Sun in Virgo…Mercury in Virgo

As with any two signs, there is a two-sided symbiotic relationship. The first (the one written most about in the Sun/Mercury Virgo post) is how Virgo is the 3rd derivative sign from Virgo…which because the 3rd derivative sign from anything is always about mentality, choice, communication, priorities and the ability to follow through productively on things rather than overcommit or scatter ourselves or just build some castle in the sky (of our mind) which then falls apart in reality.

In short, the ability to learn is the heart and soul of the 3rd harmonic (that 3rd derivative sign thing). And because Scorpio is the 3rd harmonic to Virgo, that’s why Virgo placements (and Virgo people) react to many things in life in a Scorpio sort of way: they glom onto things which trip their desire triggers and often shy away from that which asks them to face their own fears and any underlying issues with self worth.

Meanwhile (back at the mental Mercury ranch) there’s also the derivation from Scorpio TO Virgo to consider here, since Virgo’s ruler (and hence a great influence on Mars’ passage through Virgo) is in Scorpio...and is going to be in Scorpio right up to the last few days of Mars’ traverse through Virgo.

From Scorpio to Virgo is an 11th derivation. Thus all things Virgo represent Scorpio, this deeply emotional sign which challenges us so intensely to experience our own security and self worth through our relationships and choices of where to (or not to) invest ourselves in life, in its ‘fitting in role.’

And that’s all about functionality and morality and health and whether what we do or don’t do actually serves to support our greater goals…which is why no matter how much we want something to work or be true (that being the Scorpio thing)…that when it doesn’t, it throws everything into chaos.

Virgo is, after all, one half of the Virgo/Pisces polarity. And whether or not your version of ‘chaos’ is at the physical/operational (Virgo) end of the spectrum or the emotional-rejection-failure end of the spectrum (the Pisces side), chaos is chaos – and when the originating point is Scorpio, the result is demoralizing, sometimes shame producing, and often the source of continued dysfunctionality…the Virgo-from-Scorpio legacy.

Scorpio defeats hurt. And while it’s easy to say they hurt at our self worth or self respect level, what’s harder to cope with is putting the pieces back together – the ‘making it work’ again thing.

The Virgo derivation…the harmonic within which defines the harmony within.

And let’s not forget the solar eclipse. (Yes, that again.) The reason not to forget it (even if we’re tired of thinking about it) is simple: Mars entering Scorpio is going to either fire up our ability TO mend things in life and in our life…or it’s going to represent an upsurge of forces of disruption getting into action.

Mind you…it’s to think through (in intensely Mercury-in-Scorpio fashion, no doubt!) whether or what is really at stake, no matter what really happens. The way metaphysics work, things will happen to us and we will be involved in situations (of whatever kind) which evoke our issues. Considering Scorpio’s presence in this mix, boundaries may be an issue. Considering Virgo’s presence in this mix, questions of whether something is ‘healthy’ may arise. That may be about you. Then again, the issue may be someone else and their Scorpio (power, control, boundary, investment) issues.

Or it could be both of you.

Or it could be what you’re both involved in – or how you’re involved, or the process you’re involved in (or with), regardless of how innocent and well-meaning you both may be.

So…how to know what is what and whether you’re on the right track?

For one, considering that as Mars enters Virgo it encounters Regulus, ask yourself whether there are emotions involved, and if so, what kind of emotionality is in play. Having emotions is fair, of course – everybody should have feelings! (If you don’t, that’s defined as a Virgo functionality problem right there.) And it’s perfectly okay if someone is presenting you with a choice, so long as they’re not threatening you with anything but the repercussions of your choice with regards to the outcome.

Example: the boss who says 'never mind what the laws are or aren't, this is MY law and if you don't obey it, you're out of a job.'

Particularly in today's difficult job market, the tendency may be to toe the line, kowtow or assume some bent over position which puts your hands in touch with your ankles.

But if you know that what your boss is demanding is unethical...or some law they claim exists doesn't actually exist...then you are stuck very squarely in exactly the sort of convolution this Mars in Virgo passage is designed to elicit.

Mars in Virgo is about 'cleaning up our act.' And in that, what may be 'easy' is not always right. The right thing to do is to prioritize being the human being you are. And if there's something unhealthy about that, such factors will require Mars in Virgo efforts too.

All of this requires a bucket load of being honest with ourselves. And that sort of honesty is a definite Virgo/Scorpio issue in which Mars in Virgo will play the part of a heroically villainour energy which will drill through the basics of ‘what works’ to the 'are you out of your mind to be doing this?' level.

It's easy to say Mars in Virgo is about goal orientation. It's harder to tolerate the Mars in Virgo effect linked (through Mercury in Scorpio) to the eclipse and all which goes with the solar eclipse.

And oh, by the way...if you're thinking that you just have to hold on or hold out until November 3rd and then everything will be rosy? Uh, no. That's not how it works. 

Part One: when we avoid, evade or deny the work the energetics of a solar eclipse are aimed at (which generally having to do with peeling back our defenses and getting us to be ourselves at a far more nakedly genuine level) we end up locking ourselves into a pattern which in time becomes the 'bad choice' which cripples our life. You may call it pragmatism...at least for now. But down the life you'll recognize your lack of courage and your unwillingness to be uncomfortable for a couple of months or so has pretty much compromised your life.

Part Two: solar eclipse energetics are FAMOUS for representing our eventual downfall - a downfall which will play out at the next eclipse in a much "bigger" way. In this sense, eclipses are cumulative...and eventually they indicate the process which will take you out.

Yes, that kind of 'take you out.'

Metonic cycles...which is to say, the eclipse cycle...is 19 years long. But before you go shrugging your shoulders about how 19 years is a really long time, allow me add two items.

One: eclipse cycles don't start when we're born. They start at some point at or before we're age 19...GENERALLY. (There are exceptions.)

Example: I had a really bad bicycle accident when I was a child. It happened at age seven. And since then, every 19 years, as that eclipse cycle comes around, something very physical and difficult happens in my life.

So look back. Somewhere back there, there's probably a moment or a passage about which you can say 'oh, there was this really AWFUL thing which happened at age such-and-such.' Solar eclipse effects change our lives at some level. And yes, effects will vary, depending on what they hit...Sun, Ascendant, Nodes...it varies.

But we know the feel of a 'hit' - particularly to our Sun.

And that's another part of the point. Many of us have more than one eclipse cycle which is active in our chart.

And yes, there are a few of us who are never really directly hit by eclipses. That can be good, that can be bad. It was astrologer Chris MacRae who pointed out (in a most cheery, philosophical tone during a lecture one day) that lives which are never challenged seldom go anywhere...or at least very far.

Her reference was to t-squares, as I remember. But the concept applies. Good times are nice, but tough times and embracing the difficulty of the challenge are what lead to ultimate personal success.

That's the metaphysical teaching. Feel free not to like it...but that's still the teaching. And as far as anyone in the astrological quadrant can suss out from charts, it holds true.

The 'mutual reception' quality of Mars in Virgo plus Mercury in Scorpio will now pit us against the forces of control, emotionalism, manipulation and threat - particularly as those things are experienced within. But what Mars in Virgo is attempting to root out is why we react to those negative forces...be they inside our psyches, causing us to make bad choices or choices which cripple some facet of our being (particularly our feeling being and that which asks us to own our emotionality)....and all this is now likely to come to the fore through those who are at a guess, the least connected to the truth of how their emotionality needs to connect to and take into account the emotionality of others.

There are many, many ways we will see this surface. But they are all likely to have a single theme, that being where people point to 'the way it should be done' or 'the way we have always done it' as an excuse not to change. 

Also likely, those who say 'your feelings have nothing to do with anything'...which would be a direct violation of (or attempt to evade) the requirements being put forth by the Scorpio solar eclipse.

Manipulation will be rife. As we all know, this is a cause effect universe. So someone's attempt to manipulate you will create resistance on your part.

But is it really manipulation - or is someone calling you on your resistance and denial and how ineffective that really is.

Scorpio manipulation is a bad thing because it ends up compromising our feelings, and our ability to feel our Self being challenged by our feelings.

But beyond that (call it back at the Regulus Quotient), IF your reaction is to try to get back at them…that’s as bad as the boss whose evil is 'damn the torpedoes - success at all cost, who cares if it compromises real people (including us)?'

Money ranks, by the by, second only to sex/sexuality in the realm of Scorpio manipulative threats. The list appears to go sex, money and then pain.

Imagine that?

So be forewarned: the real question is whether someone tries to pin their effect on your causality.

Got that?

With Neptune still at 2 Pisces (retrograde), there is much afoot about which we all feel unsure. We don’t know how things are going to play out. We don’t know whether we’re on the right path. We don’t know if who we’re dealing with is who we think they are – or who we want to be around/invested with.

There are no quick fixes here. Nor are there supposed to be, as Mars’ shift into Virgo is just part of the greater eclipse process in progress. By October 23rd, Mars will have passed through the opposition to Neptune and be ‘bridging’ into an opposition to Chiron, making October 23rd through November 9th a time when we all will be faced with doing that we not only don’t feel we know how to do, but with things we can’t know how to do without doing.

Please note: this phase of Mars’ transit includes November 3rd, the date of the solar eclipse. Thus this evolving Mars/Chiron dynamic is part of the eclipse’s shift from ‘breaking us and our defenses against our own issues down’ phase into the letting go and beginning to move towards accepting that we need to be ourselves at an authentic level…and if we don’t, then we are by definition, limiting our lives.

Mars in Virgo is about getting things done and making our lives work.

The Virgo question this time around the Mars wheel thus becomes whether we want all of our life to work, or whether we’re content…or even wanting to shut some part of our Self out.

Considering that Scorpio is also the sign of purposeful denial, to take that path would be indeed very Scorpio… in which case, Mars in Virgo will show us if that ‘half-life’ works… or why for us, that really isn’t so healthy.

For some of us, Mars in Virgo is going to be our focusing on one very special thing. And provided that helps us get into better harmony with ourselves (as opposed to greater disparity through neglect of some part of our life or personal development) we can now indeed get caught up with…and even exceed our aims.

As always, the question would seem to be whether we’re doing or being done to – and with Mars in Virgo, some of that is now a choice we can think through and make.

Even re-make.
.
.
.

Vesta in Virgo/Saturn at the North Node

Almodo Ora (Computergrafika) by Benedek Jeno

Asteroid Vesta is about to enter Virgo. It will do so tomorrow (as posts go) on September 10th and 5:06 in the morning UT/+0 time…which would be just about when Saturn enters 8 Scorpio, the degree the lunar North Node is currently transiting.

8 Scorpio is a degree which has a reputation for creating problems when passion overwhelms intelligence. It’s one of those vibrations under which we can outsmart ourselves or think we can ‘get away’ with something which we find we can’t get away with. Life has a way of finding our vulnerabilities and blind spots under 8 Scorpio influences, maybe so that we’ll remember we’re human after all.

Saturn, of course, is the symbol of time, responsibility, repercussions and results. With anything Saturn we get what we earn and that suggests that this is a prime (or primal) moment to be minding our p’s and q’s. After all, the lunar nodes are always about relationships and what all goes into relating…or comes out of it. So it may well not be the moment to be taking on risks – especially those which could ‘cost’ you time. Or which would require you to do/deal with something you rather not be saddled with.

One would guess this is a good moment to know our limits…and to heed those limits no matter what.

Saturn of course is actually pretty good in that regard: depending on whether you work well with the ‘I need to do this in order to achieve my principal goals or not, Saturn could here act as the ‘monitoring’ energy which keeps you on track…or the devil-may-care energetic which gets you into a mess which then you have to take care of.

That all depends on you. And, of course, your natal Saturn and the condition of Scorpio in your chart. (And anything which is in Scorpio, of course.)

The ‘temptation’ factor here is (not shockingly) Plutonic. Scorpio is always about a weighing of factors – the ‘in’ door of choosing to do, or not to do (Mars), and the Pluto ‘out’ door which either transforms our life in a good way or becomes a terrible headache (or worse) as a result of our not having chosen well.

Or – as seems pertinent here – our failing to choose based on the facts, opting rather to get carried away by some passion.

You know passion, right? Passions can get the best of any of us. And the cost for passion can be…well, a downright passionately painful one.

On the other hand, there is that allure, that promise of delight which goes with all things Scorpio. The glitter of romance, the Siren call of carnal pleasure, the longing for personal power – all that.

Just do yourself a favor here: think before you do – and once you think, think again. Scorpio is always about testing our values, and 8 Scorpio is one of those degrees which is ‘smarter than we are,’ and not always in a fun way.

This Saturn/North Node exactitude of conjunction will be in effect from September 10th through September 20th. As distinct from that, Saturn has been within a five degree orb of the Lunar Nodes since August 15th - and it will remain in orb to the Nodes until October 27th. So if the issue of relationships and how you relate to others (or how they relate to you) has already come to the fore, that makes sense - and it will continue to make sense. As distinct from that however, this conjunction at 8 Scorpio is ONLY in effect from September 10th through September 20th.

Think of it as the difference between a general issue regarding relationships (and how you relate to that or your success with relationships or your need to deal with how and who you relate to - and why that would be)...and a very specific, detailed scenario having to do with a moment when some facet of relating...which may have to do with a particular relationship or may pertain to how you go about having relationships as a whole...comes into focus.

Got it?

Vesta compared to other asteroids

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

Speaking of possible costs, there’s also Vesta to contend with. Vesta asks that we protect ourselves, lest the cost of not protecting our right to be our Self go beyond what we’re prepared (or able) to pay. Vesta is an interesting symbol in that it’s all about keeping our promises…which suggests the first promise we have to make (and then keep) is a promise to our Self to be who we are and to live our life in such a manner that we don’t…um…screw things up too badly.

(Yes, this is a g-rated blog. When I set it up, I promised Blogger on that score, so I’m sticking to my promise - which is very Vesta of me.)

Considering that Royal Star Regulus is sitting at 0 Virgo, we are all called upon to take responsibility for what we do/don’t do in particular at this moment – and by implication for the full run of Vesta’s move through Virgo, a passage which will last until November 16th, after the eclipse and just after Neptune goes direct.

If you’re not familiar with Regulus, here’s a link to the ‘master post’ on the subject here at astroPPM:

- link to -

The Royal Stars of Persia (Part Two): Regulus

Though there’s all sorts of nifty nuance connected with this star, the basic premise of all Royal Stars is that they promise success IF (and only if) you don’t fall prey to a particular human habit. With Regulus, that ‘habit’ is revenge – or vengeance, if you prefer. So as Vesta enters Virgo, particularly in this first little while (which this astrologer would think would run at least through Pluto’s September 18-22nd station window)…we are being told that we really truly absolutely kind of have to own our personal choices.

And that means we need to have made some – or be making some.

Given that Pallas is at 2 Virgo and in opposition to Neptune (read: Neptune/Fomalhaut) in Pisces, we can expect some wiffling and some soft focus thinking about now…which is not exactly what this sort of transit really calls for.

So let’s put it this way…if you absolutely, positively HAVE to fudge or break some sort of tryst with your normal boundaries for Self, let it be in some area which has minimal risk and minimal long-term cost.

And beware of anybody doing the ‘I’m so innocent act.’ Chances are they aren’t. They may be innocent but..."so innocent"? Maybe not.

I know I sound a bit like a broken record on this subject, but there’s also the fact that this Vesta-Virgo ingress, which at some level is about working to be the person you will respect yourself for being in the long run (i.e., the person you really are on the inside, regardless of expectations and desires – your own or those of others)…is happening under the auspices of the ‘breaking down’ period heading towards November’s Solar Eclipse at 11 Scorpio. Being that this ingress will raise something of a 3/11 harmonic (it being three signs from Virgo to Scorpio and an eleven sign count from Scorpio to Virgo)…the viability of how we relate to others and what we think relating is about in the fullness of our presence in this world…that’s a natural thing to be talking about.

Or even doing something about, should you need to clean up your act! Let’s face it – Virgo is always about how clean our act is, and when we’re discussing astrology, though the temptation is to project it and think of astrology in terms of what ‘they’ are going to do or be to us, the reality is that the cause/effect principle rules. So if YOUR Virgo whatever needs work, this is a time to consider what that means and the (Vesta) cost of whatever your promises are in regards to those concepts.

Third harmonic: the thought. Virgo's 3rd harmonic being Scorpio speaks to the need to purify or to have control of what's going on, lest it not function well. This combination tends to eliminate rather than add on.

Eleventh harmonic: questions of acceptance and acceptability which generates a sense of satisfaction. With Virgo being Scorpio's 11th harmonic, the thing which works is easiest when it's not scary...but if it's not genuinely who you are, and about who you are at your core, it will ultimately undermine you, feel "toxic" or be a burden to your life.

The challenge here is really about an inner-outer perspective. In other words, there’s the ‘what’ or ‘who’ we each want to be, and the what we think others will like, appreciate or (to some of us) even ‘let’ us be or become.

Reconciling who we really are – on the inside – with what others think of us as, or want to think of us as is a big, big step in our lives. We all have someplace in our world or life where we don’t really ‘feel’ the “popular” thing. Or where we really don’t want to go with what everybody else does. Many of us have faced that moment of dealing with the truth of what our parents have hoped for us and who we really are. My father, for instance, was dead set against my being a writer and someone who thought metaphysics is for bubble heads.

So here I am, a full-fledged professional astrologer about to release a four-volume epic fantasy.

My father and I had a testy sort of relationship, no question. But before he passed, he certainly knew who I had become. Production finance person… astrologer… writer… he saw it happen and wasn’t enthralled that I hadn’t relegated myself to cooking, cleaning and saying ‘yes, dear’ to my hubby (ask the guys I know best how often I say ‘yes, dear’ in a dutiful tone and you’ll hear laughter)… but when he saw that I was good at what I did and was doing the thing which fit my psyche, he realized that there’s a difference between raising a child for whom you have hopes and seeing the adult you raised from a child become their own person.

My dad had many (many) flaws. He was a Hollywood tyrant par excellent (there are still people in LA who don’t want to talk to me because of who my father is) and before that he helped build a paperback book empire. Here’s a little post I wrote about him:

- link to -

Saul David: My Father the Producer

That he was able to get past his own “rules” for me and finally (!!!) agree that so long as I worked to be the best I could be at my chosen thing is one of my dad’s greatest personal accomplishments. (Yes, he was that stubborn!) And at some level, that embodies this Vesta/Virgo ingress, particularly seeing as it is conjunct the ‘dispassionate perspective’ symbol we call Pallas and in opposition to Neptune/Fomalhaut in Pisces, a combination which at its best is all about letting go of the dream as a dream and getting used to a reality which may be just FINE…it’s just not the dream you’ve been holding onto, maybe for a long, long time.

One other little tidbit… As Vesta is entering Virgo, the Moon is moving through Scorpio. The Moon enters Scorpio on September 9th at 1:45 in the morning and exits Scorpio on the 11th at 6:37 in the morning (both times UT/+0). In fact, as Vesta moves into Virgo, the Moon is just crossing over 15 Scorpio – one of the zodiacal cross-quarter points.

This reiterates…or if you prefer…reinforces the idea of choices begetting consequences at every level and whether what you’re dealing with now is going to help you get where you want to go in life…or whether (Saturn/North Node) it could just screw you up royally.

(No offense to Royal Stars intended with that “royally,” of course.)

Sometimes something must be given up so that something else can be earned. Life isn’t always the way we want it to be or as we were ‘taught’ it would be, or as we have imagined it to be. Life is just life. And this is one of those moments when life is not a ‘game’…it’s a reality which we see, we feel, we sense and which we have the opportunity to learn so much from that it’s absolutely breathtaking.

So take a deep breath, and then remember who you are. Peel back the trappings and assumptions and think of what can be gained by accepting that the fantasy illusion is inspiring, but a satisfying reality, the life we really want is not about what things look like…they’re about the honesty and honest quality with which we go about existing. 
.
.
.

Sun in Virgo…Mercury in Virgo

 Inca-style agricultural terracing in Peru

(photo credit: Alexon Scheppa/released into public domain)

Come 11:03 in the evening (UT/+0) time on August 22nd, the Sun will enter Virgo, beginning a couple of weeks where earth sign influences rise to the fore. The greater backdrop to this will still be the ongoing evolution of water sign emotionality. So all we do, everything we deal with during the solar month of Sun in Virgo will have emotional overtones and considerations.

Once Mercury joins the Sun in Virgo as of August 23rd at 10:38 in the evening (UT/+0) time, Virgo’s focus on all things ‘health, work’ service’ will bring up all sorts of questions about what we’re doing, how well we’re doing it, whether things are headed in the right direction…and, in tossing in ongoing water sign (trine) effects, the health of our emotionality, mentality, choices, relationships, economy and attitudes will all be on the table.

But for one day…that first day of Sun in Virgo…it’s all about the Sun. And since Royal Star Regulus is sitting at 0 Virgo (which I’ve come to think of as the celestial frequency at which self ‘decontamination’ or ‘purification’ is mandated and cannot be shifted off onto someone else), that one day will start us into a new phase by set a Virgo tone which will apply for the full solar traverse of Virgo (August 22nd through September 22nd) and other such ‘dealings with life’ – ours and that around us.

We’ve already been visited by this year’s Venus in Virgo transit – to recall, that began on July 22nd and ended a few days ago on the August 18th…and for one, I didn’t have a whole lot of fun with it.

(Was it productive? Yes. Was it fun? Not really!)

My point is that the nature of Venus in Virgo which is more about ‘finding where things can be improved so as to produce the effects we want’ are now coming into solar focus – meaning our life becomes a vehicle through which we will experience what works and what needs some improvement.

Once Mercury moves into Libra on September 8th/9th (depending on which time zone you're in) that ‘experiencing’ becomes more mental (take that as you will – all forms apply!) and more detailed. So as a ‘subset’ of the total Sun-in-Virgo period, the August 8 through September 9 Mercury-in-Virgo sector marks a time when we have an opportunity to assess what’s going on with ourselves, with others and with the total functionality of our experience…and when our mindset – or our experiences – will be ripe for helping us figure out how to improve things, whether that’s what we’re doing (or how well we’re doing it) and even if what we’re doing is going to get us where we want to go.

And if not, why not.

And if not, whether that means that maybe we don’t’ really want to go…or get there. Let’s face it, we all have ‘oh I wish I would…’ things in our lives. But if we spend all our time doing something else, it seems sensible to ask ourselves whether we actually want to accomplish (or be) that other thing?

Just as an example…one of the areas many (many!) of us have issues is in the relationship arena. We don’t think of Virgo as being “about relationships” but since there is no real ‘isolation’ in the circle of life, that’s just an example of how Virgo can get you so absorbed in the details that you don’t see the forest for the trees…or the life or lifetime which is slipping by while you’re not doing what you know deep inside you want to do, creating the life you really want to have.

So I have this friend who, throughout the more than several years that I’ve known him has been picking women who he knows are the ‘wrong girl.’ (His term, not mine.) But he just keeps picking them.

What’s that about? Don’t be too quick to dismiss this as a Virgo trait, because whatever the third sign to any given sign is speaks to the ‘nature’ of our thinking on the subject.

Counting Virgo as “one,” the third sign to Virgo is…what? SCORPIO. And yes, though Virgo isn’t “known” for compulsivity, there is a definite ‘thread’ of Scorpionic “obsessiveness” which is part and parcel of the Virgo vibe.

This is one of those factoids which as an astrologer didn’t make sense to me until I noticed this interesting habit every Virgo I know (and have known) absolutely has. And when I started asking around, I found out that every Virgo everyone else I know knows also does the same thing.

What did I find? Virgos (we’re speaking principally Sun sign Virgos here) all seem to live by the slogan “when in doubt, eliminate it.” And when we get to the ‘cut it out’ thing, we’re talking Scorpio.

And Scorpio IS the third sign to Virgo.

And the third harmonic to any sign is about the ‘nature’ of our mentality – the habits we bring to our mentality, regardless of what’s on our third house (of mentality and thought) or where our natal Mercury is…or where Mercury is by transit.

This gives us a big clue about why Virgo is the sign of making things more effective or efficient in order for us to (eventually) reach our goals. In Virgo lies an enormity of potential and mental power – this latter being the signature of Scorpio as Virgo’s 3rd harmonic.

So if Virgo is about ‘perfecting’ our act and getting ourselves in shape (be that physically, mentally, emotionally or – at some level especially spiritually/universally, considering the polarity sign is Pisces)…the ‘focus’ which at some level does seem to amount to an obsession with Virgo folks and thus with everyone else as the Sun ‘lights’ up this area of our lives, then the question becomes very much one of getting to the root of why we think or do or choose as we do so that we are able to deal with that…and thus eliminate whatever the ‘toxicity’ (non-functionality) is in our lives so that we can move forward more freely and get where we want to go.

Bearing this in mind, then we go back to that idea of what we continue to do the way we do it (or in the company of those we choose to do it with) where we aren’t improving. Where we aren’t moving forward in our life or getting any closer to those dreams we all have for ourselves.

It’s easy not to think about it, and let’s be real here – the Sun’s yearly transit of Virgo is a prime and primal time during which it’s absolutely easy to just ‘keep on keepin’ on’ while making excuses for why we aren’t getting to that thing which will fulfill our dreams or provide us with some measure of spiritual or emotional (Piscean) balance.

So as the Sun moves into Virgo, we can expect some realization of what’s not working…or what we want to capitalize on by ‘working it’ at an even higher level…to come upon us. For some of us it will merely be that earthy sense we feel stirring in our innards. (Virgo is very into those ‘innard functions.’) Then again, life may well present you with issues which challenge your functionality. Or sense or even you desire for accomplishment.

With Mercury entering Virgo a day after the Sun, we take a breath…and then we take the plunge. But let’s not think results are instantaneous. Being the astrologer on board here (yes, I need one of those signs to put in my car) I can look ahead and see the major road signs coming down the energy pipeline. We’re about to hit a Sedna station on August 25th and that speaks to Virgo’s first week being about reckoning with the need to evolve.

This station comes with a bit of a surprise – call it a twist on the cosmic theme. And that we’ll discuss in the next post here on the blog.

The September portion of the Virgo run (read: our experience of Life and Mentality through the Virgo lens) there will be a whole slew of challenges headed out way. We’re going to hear (on the celestial level) from influences generated by the relative positioning of Ixion and Pholus (which yes, for you who know this pair is enough to make your toes curl) shifts of signs coming from the Ceres (planning) and Pallas (wisdom born of dispassionate perspective), Mercury romping on into Libra just as Venus moves into Scorpio (suggesting there are emotional issues yet to come from people in our lives or with regards TO people in our lives)…

....and then we’ll also get a revisiting of the still-ongoing conjunction of Pluto to fixed star (nebula) Facies. 

Pluto-Facies is the experience of complicated issues which we know will compromise us unless we deal with them. But how to deal with them?

All that and (dare I say…?) we’re in for the onset of the next ‘breaking down’ period which precedes the November Solar Eclipse at 11 Scorpio.

Yes, that eclipse.

Let us also remember that what we’re talking about here is the Sun and Mercury moving into Virgo – the recognition, the realization, the having to think it through and think about it and get some clarity on things part of the process. With Mars initially positioned in Cancer as this pair of ingresses sweep through we can not like whatever we don’t like and life will still insist that we pay attention.

Or…alternately…we can take the Mars energetic in hand and get to work on that thing which is so hard for us. Cancer being the eleventh sign (aka 11th harmonic) from Virgo this points to all those things we really do want to achieve in life.

Since Mars is just ending its transit of Cancer, the likelihood is that life is going to focus us on what isn’t yet done and what isn’t working properly…and some of us will take that on and carry forth into a development of solutions (or at least a willingness to venture into risky waters) as Mars moves on into Leo.

Others will greet the challenges and be content to slide by. Or problems may arise and then seemingly settle back down (which strikes me as a bit of a dirty trick as the problem unsolved is the problem which until it’s solved remains unsolved).

But the Virgo point here is that Mars will enter Virgo come mid-October. So here’s your choice: you can tackle your issues (denials, obsessions, challenges, lacks, needs, tendency to over/under focus) now and be in better shape to deal with life more productively come Mars-in-Virgo, or you can play and skate and goof around and temporize and cope without fixing now and meet up with consequences come October and November (read: during the most intense portion of a Solar Eclipse period which – surprise! – is going to take place with Mercury in retrograde).

 A photo taken by NASA's Spirit rover of the Columbia Hills inside Gusev Crater on Mars

(photo credit: NASA-JPL April 2005)

We choose to make our life what it is. The compromises we make or refuse to allow ourselves to make, the efforts we invest or choose not to invest in this relationship, that habit, this way of doing things, that way of spending our time…they all amount to the truth of what we want.

That truth may be a happy one. That truth may be a painful one. Whatever it is, step one is knowing what it is and that it is what it is.

Then we get to apply that Scorpio 3rd harmonic to our Virgo essence…which for these next few weeks is ‘highlighted’ and made more accessible to us than at other times. The operative question is why…and that applies to the happy, unhappy, productive and destructive choices we make. There is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ here, merely the identifying the ‘what’ and deciding whether you think that – in the long run – is going to help you be satisfied with your life, how you’ve lived your life and the humanity you’ve allowed yourself to embody and experience in being human.
.
.
.

Sun in Aquarius

 John Singer Sargeant's Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth (1889)

There are really a couple of ways to look at this year’s month-long Sun in Aquarius transit. What we do as astrologers is looking at ingresses to see what they can tell us...an ingress gives us a marker of influences at a certain point in time, when the cosmic clock strikes whatever it strikes...

...If you know where the rock fell in the pool, if you have some sense of when that rock fell and how big the rock was, that gives you a sense of what sort of ripples you will face if your body and your life are part of that pool

Which it is. We are all part of what exists - that's the big message delivered by E=mc2'd and all the rest of astrophysics.

What happens out there matters. What happens here on earth matters.

It's all part of the self same thing.

So saying...

....As the Sun enters Aquarius, we have asteroids Sappho and Hel just ahead and the Moon at 7 Leo, meaning it’s just passed the ‘Full Moon’ mark.

(Which yes, we know because yesterday’s post was all about the Full Moon!)

We also know that Aquarius is an air sign. So this month is going to be a month where we tend to think in terms of the ideas, concepts, trends, statistics, and likelihoods instead of the facts, evidence, current status and needs of the moment. This Aquarius tendency to postulate instead of consider the reality means we’re going to hear more about income as part of an economy than your landing a job.

What does this mean personally? Though irritating to listen to for many of us, this actually lightens our load because we now get the green light to postulate: what might I do? What could I learn? What kind of benefit should I be able to bring to your company if you give me the chance?

Doors are open now to theoretical discussions. Expect to have them, expect to hear them. And remember - theory gets wacky. Not everything everyone is likely to come out with is going to make sense.


And yet it's always rather revealing - about them, about us, about a world in which such things get said.

Against this, we all will need to put across or demonstrate our willingness to work. Some of us have dedicated track records - and tracks record of dedication. Then there are those who ‘skate by’ or who shuck or jive their way through life. On both sides - the validated and fake, some end up mighty and some end up with a life which is merely flighty.

The dividing line is whether we are found or found out. And whether we are willing to take the time and put in the effort to find ourselves and find out what we are truly capable of doing and being...not merely to or for ourselves, but for others. Maybe even for our world, for people we will never meet.

There are validations for doing big and doing little. There is a necessity to be who we are as individuals and be part of our world - however big or small - around us.

All this is likely to now take another step forward in the realm of getting shaken and sorted out. It may not all come about instantaneously, but it will happen...maybe to a big degree, and maybe as just a chip of one stone on a very large mountain face...but it will begin happening now. You may not recognize anything all that instantly. The changes may not be all that immediate. But they will happen in due time.

How do we know that? Well, that we know because of a

little TNO named Rhadamanthus you might remember reading about a couple of blogs ago (in the Astro-Factors blog for WE0122).

That Rhadamanthus goes retrograde at 20 Libra at 3:41am (UT/+0) means it’s already going into retrograde (reflective) mode as the Sun reaches Aquarius at 10:20am (UT/+0) on January 20th. And given that Rhadamanthus is an emblem of ‘consequence’ (that which now done, cannot be undone) we know that all sorts of things which have been ‘done’ are now becoming clear to us.

But it's not all that simple or something we consciously grapple with until it hits. Any object classed as a TNO refers to events, incidents and realizations we don't normally deal with. So as concerns Rhadamanthus, the question thus becomes not just 'what have you DONE for me/us lately?'...but 'what have you done which shows you know how to do what you do'...

....AND...
 
'whether you should have done what you did. Or still do.

It can even be....'in choosing what to learn, what path to take - or what people to associate with, did you choose correctly?'

Where we haven’t done what in retrospect would seem to be the 'right' thing...or where we haven't dealt with live realistically, perhaps even where we thought only of ourselves and not of those we would/could affect or how our actions might affect them....that's where the Aquarian ‘know the rules, learn the facts – then choose. Then move on!’ comes into ultimate play.

Aquarius is hell on those who don’t deal with realities. While known as a sign of ‘hopes, dreams and wishes,’ what Aquarius really embodies are those ‘if I do xyz, then I can….’ frameworks which require that yes, we DO the ‘xyz’ part first. In other words, you can’t have the party to celebrate the new job until you get the new job. And you can’t get that new job without applying for a job that you have the qualifications/willingness to do.

Yes, this is one of those fixed signs which tests our ability want the result so much that we put ourselves through the hassle of doing. And learning how to do. And honing our skills. And proving our worthiness –first and foremost to ourselves!

And that’s where the ‘fakery’ can come in. Saturn is Aquarius’ first ruler, Uranus the second. So you have to make the Saturn grade before you get to fly to the Uranus stars.

And Rhadamanthus retrograde, that just puts us in a place where we get what that means. Who we have been has gotten us to where we are. Like it or not (which for many of us would be ‘not!’), that’s where we start from now.

Okay. So that’s sort of the ‘usual’ approach to this Sun entering Aquarius thing. But the other part of the astrologer’s-astrological equation would be what happens while the Sun is in Aquarius? 

Yes, I know…you wanted me to do that ‘what it means to my Sun sign thing’ – what astrologers, for better or worse, call “cookbook astrology.” And here’s the deal with why you think that sounds a little funky. It is.

Why? Because what you ask for when you say ‘what does that mean to my Sun sign?’ is ‘what does that mean to – not my life – but to my life force. The Sun is energy. Call it will, call it vitality…it’s not your “life” per se. Yes, it can represent career – but only as a field. Saturn represents the accomplishment. And yes, the Sun can represent intellect – but Mercury is the thinking part: what you do with your intellect.

So though do the cookbook thing once in a while I don’t do it all the time. It bothers me that you would think that's the whole picture - it isn't. So today...? Maybe to honor the quirkiness which is so Aquarian or the Aquarian ‘new conceptualization’ vibe, today we’re going to look at the what else happens thing.

(And yes, you can comment and/or gripe all you want – no problem!)

But really…

...To the point of much of what we have been talking about, not only is the Sun entering Aquarius in the wake of a (duly blogged about) Solar Eclipse about changing times and changing life structures, but the two symbols OF societal, social and personal ‘structural’ growth, enlightenment and learning (Saturn and Jupiter) are both doing a celestial number while the Sun is passing through Aquarius.

On the Jupiter side we have a big red planet – the biggest planet in the whole solar system – moving into Aries. That means a couple of things:

One: Jupiter is currently at 29 Pisces, the last degree of the zodiac. The question thus becomes “what have we learned/what have we yet to learn?” You will hear and see this everywhere you go right now.

Two: In being in the last degree of the zodiac, Jupiter is revealing some pretty big chinks in our armor, holes in our plans and everything else you might go “OH NO!!” about.

Three: Once Jupiter commits to its transit of Aries on the 22nd, a natural whole-sign sextile will be set up between Sun in Aquarius and Jupiter in Aries. There are two basic concepts thus set up – the first being the 3rd sign harmonic set up from the Sun to Jupiter which asks us to choose, learn and to speak up about what isn’t working. This does not favor complaining, though there’s plenty of that likely to be going around! Yet the real point is that of seeing an opportunity in wherever you find or spot a gap, weakness or lack.

Think of life as a marketplace. Those gaps and lacks are exactly where a ‘new product’ success can be achieved.

The other harmonic here is from Jupiter to the Sun – and that’s an eleventh house dynamic…the very essence of Aquarius and Things Aquarian. For those looking to be (more) “successful” in whatever way, this pair of indicators is your ticket to adventure.

However! With that adventure comes some endeavor, courtesy of Saturn – a Saturn which come the 26th will go retrograde. More specifics will be forthcoming on this to be sure, but given that Saturn is going retrograde in Libra, that sets up a Sun-to-Saturn whole-sign 9th harmonic which would be all about (1.) moving ahead with new plans, working through the glitches and challenges which will surely surface along the way, and (2.) expanding one’s knowledge base and point of view.

One of the big tests during this next little while is going to be theory against fact – optimism against proven results. And guess which one is going to look foolish and which one is going to win?

Uh-huh….credibility now goes to the doers and provers, not the pie-in-the-sky believers and postulators. A lot of people are going to get called out on a lot of stuff this month. A lot of plans will fall through, a lot of vows will be shown up to be merely empty promises.

It is our job to learn from mistakes and move on. Wasting one’s time being furious is just that – a waste of time. And who are we really mad at? Once Saturn is in retrograde, the suggestion is that we’re really mad at ourselves for not having been more careful, more realistic, more savvy, more discerning.

Still, those who sit and fume stand to waste a relatively short (five month) window of bonafide opportunity.

The other side of this Saturn/Sun relationship is from Saturn to the Sun, a fifth sign harmonic which with Saturn in retrograde indicates a need to polish our skills and bone up on whatever ‘tools’ we need to move ahead.

As the Sun moves along though Aquarius, the tone of day-to-day life will change as the Moon, Mercury and Venus change signs. But nothing compares to the two celestial signposts we call Jupiter and Saturn.

No matter what Sun, Moon, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Ascendant, Nadir…or anything else you have in your chart, these concepts will hold. So ask yourself – what do YOU want to do with this month ahead?

After all, in the end, yours is the only answer which in your life, really counts...

 ...and so drops the rock into the pond.

.