A Solar 0 Sagittarius New Moon Ingress

The image above is a collage of multiple images, all of which are photos of Messier 8,

otherwise known as the Lagoon Nebula, which is located in the constellation of Sagittarius

(photo credit: Hubble Space Telescope, ESA, NASA, May 2011)
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So the Sun is changing signs (into Sagittarius) as a fairly typical (whatever that means) New Moon happens... and this is something we can all be pleased. Why, you ask? Well, because solar eclipses are a very specialized form of a New Moon, but they're still a New Moon - which means this is the next New Moon - the one after the eclipse.

And that marks the end of what has been a emotionally trying month filled with Scorpio lessons both on the necessity for conviction and the need to balance that against integrity... which, given Neptune's station chez Fomalhaut in the wake of said solar eclipse, suggested lacks of clarity and the need to look in one's own mirror.

But now some of that will change, if only in simple keeping with the Sun moving from the hot-and-cold fixations of Scorpio into the ‘let’s get something done’ (or going) of Sagittarius.

Mind you, Sagittarius has its quirks as well. It’s well known as a time of doing - and for some, overdoing. Or going overboard (hopefully not literally!). On the positive side Sagittarius expands. It pushes the boundaries (at least in theory) which is very much in keeping with Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius and - in mythic form - the ruler of Mount Olympus, peak of all knowing and knowledge.

Iris and Jupiter by Michel Corneille the Younger (1701) set against multiple images of

Messier 8 - the Lagoon Nebula - as photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope

(photo credit: ESA, NASA, May 2011)
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Naturally located near the top of the horoscope wheel Sagittarius displays qualities of being ‘high’ enough up (or far enough along) in some process that perspectives are created. And tested - which is much in keeping with Sagittarius as the sign before Capricorn, Capricorn being the sign of achieving and achievements.

So under Sagittarius, we push, we press, we make waves...and whatever planet appears in Sagittarius (in transit or in your natal chart) describes how you will tend to press or push - and you’ll do it in terms or through the auspices of whatever house that Sagittarian planet resides in...or in the case of the transiting Sun, is transiting through.

As for Sagittarian tests, then tend to take us back to basic notions and choices past, present and postulated - all of which are the things of Sagittarius’ polarity sign, Gemini. Representing the thought, the idea we had to do ‘X’ (or XYZ, if you’re feeling plural, consecutive or excessively alphabetical) Gemini is all about what we learn and how what we learn sets us on a path. Under Gemini, we aim. We plan. And then (theoretically under Cancer, the next step in the zodiacal process), we begin to build towards our goal - that goal being Cancer’s opposition sign, Capricorn, land of success, achievement and worldly status.

So why is it that under Sagittarius...just as we’re pressing for the finish, the goal, the prize, that success...why is it that we end up stumbling over all the things which could hold us from our goal?

One could postulate that life wants us to be perfect when we get there.

Or one could figure that it’s as we near our goal that we become ‘visible’ to others and exposed to the world in a way we hadn’t been at all, drawing to us all the objections, critiques, suggestions and clamor which could (just possibly) keep us from our goal.

That’s the Sagittarius thing - and as I say this, if you have any planets in Sagittarius, I bet you’re saying to yourself ‘Oh...so that’s why....’, followed by a ‘so what do I do about it?’

For one, get conscious. Two, don’t fight - planets in Sagittarius (and objects in your natal 9th house) are things we are going to encounter as we try to achieve things. They may be just some detail you forget until the last minute, they may be something you couldn’t learn about your project until you put yourself or your effort ‘out there’ - that being the heart and soul of Sagittarius.

It’s not a secretive sign. Scorpio is secretive... or at least it can be, though once you get past keeping surprise parties and holiday presents under wraps, most other Scorpio secrets tend to reflect some sort of fear, which in typical Scorpio style tend to be projected on others.

Mostly in secret, of course - and sometimes at a level that it’s virtually ‘secret’ from the person doing the projecting.

The shift from Scorpio to Sagittarius began a few days ago as Venus entered Sagittarius. But this is very different. The Venusian effect - whatever it may be - is something we sense with any of our senses... we feel ourselves sensing it. So when Venus - an emblem of ‘creating results’ at every level (good, bad and otherwise) entered Sagittarius our sense of where we are in our own eyes in terms of where we want to go came to the surface.

But now life itself will seem to change gears. This change doesn’t have to be dramatic - although it can be, as Sagittarius has a reputation for the dramatic, the prolific, the supposition and taking of many a stand.

Sometimes we’re the audience among many under Sagittarius... and sometimes we’re having our say. 

Whatever happens, the good news is that we learn from it.

The worst of bad news?

That we may get ourselves in trouble. Not damagingly so, but some (Gemini) idea we started out now may need a little tweaking... a bit of retuning.

Or maybe we’ll just have to change our approach or tone.

Both images above are charts for the November New Moon, an event which in being only

some three hours after the Sun's Sagittarius ingress makes posting two charts in Aries

format (Aries charts being non-located and therefore lacking place-specific information) rather redundant.

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As a mutable sign, Sagittarius supports changes and shifts of attitude, position, clarity and understanding -all of which it does through interacting with others or information (hence the Sagittarian association with the law, education, the media and any form of travel). So from the time the Sun enters Sagittarius on November 22nd at 9:39 in the morning (UT/+0 time) until it reaches 0 Capricorn (the Capricorn Solstice) on December 21st at 23:04 (11:04 p.m.) UT/+0 time, life and our lives will all by turns be challenged, tempted and daunted by things - some of which we haven’t the glimmer of a concept of as yet.

Then there’s the fact that the Sun is arriving in Sagittarius with in square to Neptune in Pisces with Neptune still positioned at 4 Pisces (conjunct royal/fixed star Fomalhaut) - the degree Neptune only just went direct at (on November 16th, UT/+0).

Squares of every kind (or between any pair of objects or signs) are a form of internal challenge which asks that we take different ‘ingredients’ (external) or attributes (internal) in working with what we’re given, making of that something worthy despite all. In bringing together fire (Sagittarius) and water (Pisces) the metaphysical weather speaks of a chance for fog... and alternately, the emotional bath which - if and to the degree we are able to surrender ourselves to it - cleanses one’s spirit.

How that happens...? That’s about where 0 Sagittarius falls in each of our charts - and thus, given that Sagittarius is all about learning, changing, growing and course corrections we make or which are made for us to respond to.

What we do with that is up to us. But surely as we go about being we will reveal - most of all to ourselves - what our relationship is to what we are and (perhaps even more importantly at the moment) what we aren’t.

Moreover, since Black Moon Lilith is at 29 Leo in this picture, this is actually the New Moon being at the apex of a t-square, that most toe-stubbing of astrological figures which has us missing our mark time and time (and time) again until we recognize and begin to operate on the basis of a perspective which embraces the bigger - even biggest of big pictures, that being one which is absolutely and certainly not just about us...and here we would mean the individual or finite 'us.'

Black Moon Lilith always ups the ante. If you're thinking family going into this process, think town. If you're thinking town, think city. Or nation. Black Moon Lilith always feels personal. But it generally isn't...so think more generally - even generically.

Set against a background of multiple Messier 8 images (credit: ESA, NASA),

'Mercury, Herse and Aglauros' by Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre (1763)

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Where life shows us that we need to ‘re-think’ (or to put it in Aquarian Age terms, ‘reinvent’) ourselves or some portion of what/how we’re doing or being as we are, that will be what we will in the long run lose or benefit by - which is true for whenever the Sun transits through Sagittarius. But this year we have a very specially little quality going on... call it an astrological hat trick.

Technically, said hat trick goes like this... in astrological terms, Jupiter is about to go retrograde on the very same day that Saturn moves into (and through) 28 Scorpio 17, that being the degree and minute at which Saturn will station at come August 2015.

And that ties what happens now to what will happen down the line. We may not know how...though it would be natural for us to think we do know - humans do wax ever hopeful about such things! But to the Saturn point, being that Saturn is still in Scorpio, that suggests there are emotional lessons still in play.

Very much in play - and to be more specific, in long-term play.

(Mark your calendars.)

As for Jupiter's station, Jupiter begins its retrograde on December 8th (UT/+0) and the degree Jupiter will be stationing at is 22 Leo 37.

Leo is ruled by the Sun... and the Sun, at that moment will be passing through Jupiter’s first sign of rulership (Sagittarius), creating a self-feeding energetic known in astrology as ‘mutual reception.'

Mutual receptions can be wonderful. And this one is poised to do great things - providing that greatness manifests positively. Being that this is the Sun, Jupiter, Sagittarius and Leo we’re talking about, there are chances for brilliance and chances for arrogance or blindness which are virtually breathtaking in scale.

Either way, the mutual reception is a sign of heightened effect, most of all because we will become involved (or drawn in) by whatever this mutual reception symbolizes.

As for the 'breathtaking' part, the taking of that breath is compounded astrologically by the idea that Neptune (still conjunct Fomalhaut) is transiting Pisces - the sign Neptune rules and the sign Jupiter defines the testing ground for.

Think of it this way: if Sagittarius is about learning, Jupiter is the process of learning - or knowledge in the sense that we act and make choices based on what we know.

In Sagittarius, Jupiter is the energetic of the mind - thought... understanding... imagination... communications of lasting, wide-spread or expansive kinds.

And in Pisces? In Jupiter represents understanding emotions (and emotionality)...starting with our own. How well, and how conscious we are of our emotions is the Jovian relationship to Pisces, a relationship which is then ‘rewarded’ (given an outcome) under the astrological auspices of Neptune.

And that Neptunian auspice - as we have been discussing (if you missed the Neptune direct post, look there) - is currently conjunct royal and fixed star Fomalhaut, the symbol of success which is granted only and where our efforts, aims and methods are neither corrupted or corrosive.

Plus of course, they can’t be all about us - that’s the Neptune part, the ‘get your ego out of the way: think globally.’ Pisces is in some ways that ultimate emotional recognition all humans have which amounts to one thing: survival. And while Pisces will certainly allow us to waver on the brink of that void which is all about how we feel about our own mortality, Pisces is also all about the feeling of... and how we feel about the fact that we are but on of billions of humans which are but one life form on a planet which has and which will inevitably host billions upon billions of other life forms...

...and all this exists on a planet which is but one planet among countless objects in a solar system which itself is powered by but one star in a galaxy which is but one galaxy among the uncounted galactic objects in the known universe.

Yes, Pisces is about humility...often in the moments we least suspect and, if anyone were to ask us, in the forms we most don't want (which is how Neptune deactivates our ego).

And that points to various vulnerabilities - the 'ills' of Neptune, be they manifestations of emotional vulnerability or any other kind of ill, be it of the spirit, mind, epidemic or allergy aisle type... as well as all those ills which stretch, defile, ignore or which otherwise - purposefully or not - distort facts and truths or the Sagittarian need to express, be heard or otherwise search for whatever answers we need (starting with those about ourselves).

So it’s Jupiter which ties the Sagittarian esoteric and mental qualities to the Piscean feeling and out-of-body/being sense, and Jupiter will be moving into the degree of its upcoming station (22 Leo) on the date this post publishes, November 19th (that date and the ‘today’ part being give-or-take a time zone or two, depending on where you are).

And what is 22 Leo about? This is neither a personal degree nor a degree which has free rein to operate without some serious consideration of what is being gotten into - and with whom. Wanting to 'help' too much is also of concern now... and by 'now' we should think in terms of a period defined as being between the date this post publishes (November 19th) until December 27th, with this 'helping' concept being not just the common type of assistance (whatever form that takes) but also the need to push something along faster than it seems to be going at the moment.

Don't 'help' a process which is taking time because that's the time it takes for things to happen properly. That kind of help isn't helpful at the moment.  

To think of it all a slightly different way, Jupiter in Pisces form is rather akin to ‘water behind a dam’ where Jupiter in Leo is more like ‘planning a big debut.’

So...are you preparing to do something? Are you needing to get to something but something else has been getting in your way? Are you setting about something now which you are going to be working to build (like some authors we know, she says knowingly...)?

If so (she said, feeling a bit like a Madison Avenue ad text-as-voice-over person), this is your kind of energy providing you don’t go overboard (that being a classic Jupiter-type pitfall).

Particularly at this time of year, the best phrase to use might be ‘budget yourself,’ however that applies.

But back to whatever that is which is not yet ‘released’ or ‘made public’ (that Sagittarian thing) at some level...as the Sun (equaling the metaphysical ‘life force’) enters Sagittarius, that quality gets released. Things which have been entirely held back through the full extent of the Sun’s passage through Scorpio may take a bit of time to shake the kinks out - look for things to loosen up there once Mercury moves into Sagittarius on November 28th (UT/+0)... at which point not enough may swiftly become too much.

It’s always something, right? That’s why famous astrologers like the late Marion March say ‘there are no perfect charts,’ a sentiment which echoes old sayings like ‘there’s no time like the present’ and ‘the longest journey begins with a single step.’ But whatever inertia (ennui, etc.) which we have felt - or felt for others or our willingness (or need) to further our efforts - that will now begin... somewhat slowly at first... to melt away.

It has to. Fire melts things - and most of all in Sagittarius, it melts that resistance to ‘giving voice,’ whatever that may entail. In testing our own abilities to ‘say our peace’ and to ‘get the word out’ in our efforts to disseminate those thoughts and ideas we’re so convinced of.

That this particular ingress and the New Moon which follows about three hours later (12:33 in the afternoon UT/+0 is the moment of the New Moon) are both positioned conjunct asteroids Pax and Bali may speak to that which we are happy to do, simple intrinsic pleasures or a quality in life (or displayed by something or someone in life) which inspires us... or gets us to think or possibly voice our opinions.

Oh yes...those opinions. Particularly as/after Mercury moves into Sagittarius on the 28th, plan on plenty of them! Good, bad, questionable... to have Mercury and the Sun both in Sagittarius from the November 28th to December 17th (UT/+0) speaks to a multiplicity of many things.

The Arts of Industry as Applied to Peace (detail) by Frederic Leighton (1870-1872)

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And let’s also remember that the Sun’s ingress into Sagittarius, in occurring before the New Moon means the Moon is in late Scorpio...And you thought life was busy up until now? It’s enough to blow a mental circuit or two.

Asteroid Pax (from the Latin for ‘peace’) has some obvious meanings - to be at peace with something, to want peace with someone or in our world, and all those things apply. But beyond that, the astrological Pax also speaks to the nature of a process. So for instance, Pax well placed and aspected in a chart can speak to the smoothness or uninterrupted of a process - an assembly line, for instance. Or flow of goods, money, even people from one place to another. Pax can even apply to the grace of a dancer or things like ‘writer’s block’ (which I’ve never suffered from - surely you’ve noticed that by now, right?)... or your schedules running smoothly.

This is for many, a busy time of year. Work goes on (some work must go on regardless) and from now until...well, Orthodox Christmas in January, the calendar is a domino fall of festivals - and with Pax also arriving in Sagittarius as of the date this piece posts (November 19th) it is likely there will be hesitation (or lack of attention to something) which simply, maybe even naturally changes once the Sun enters Sagittarius on November 22nd.

As for Bali, Bali carries the traditional idea of ‘paradise’ which in more general terms refers to that which we are happy with or about - another good indicator that as the Sun enters Sagittarius with Bali also in zodiacal perspective, we can make everyone happy IF that’s what we intend to do.

And since Sagittarius is a public sign, it is the distance between that ‘everyone’ and the more self-directed ‘me’ thing which defines the amount and nature of the energy we are leaving out there to be adopted by others and (once added to their own energy) foisted upon us either directly or otherwise through life or worldly conditions.

Two last notions about this solar ingress/New Moon combination: it’s occurring as asteroid Fama goes retrograde at 28 Capricorn, a degree which is known for qualities of reliability which others value but which on the inside (to us) are more of a burden or annoyance. As for Fama itself, this is an asteroid I’ve seen virtually nothing written on - it came across my radar while I was searching for objects to represent famines... which it doesn’t do.

What it does appear to represent is the means by which something is accomplished. So the means one is working on, that quotient or some factor associated with it is now ‘coming back to us’ (the station-retrograde action).

That’s a ‘factor’ I’m sure we’ll enjoy.

(Maybe. Or maybe not.)

The other thing to note is that Chiron, that well-known you-can-only-learn-some-things-by-doing-them quotient is on station as the Sun (and Moon) enter Sagittarius.

Which is the next post.
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Venus in Sagittarius / Neptune Direct

The painted image is the 'Venus Anadynomene' or 'Venus of the Sea'

by Théodore Chasseriau (1838). The photo behind it is one of Planet

Neptune - the credit for which goes to NASA and JPL

There’s something definitely thematic about any connection of Neptune and Venus. It’s a combination which evokes something friendly...pleasant and nice - or at least nice looking. Such niceness could amount to relaxation... or really any form of the proverbial ‘nice day.’ Or it could manifest in the form of interactions which warm... but don’t overheat one’s heart.

Yes, it’s an interesting combination, what with Venus being the symbol of wanting a result (and which ‘does’ to produce results or responses) paired Neptune - the symbol of all which requires us to accept everything simply for what it is, warts and all.

Yet these two planets are not really being ‘synced’ here. Venus is entering Sagittarius at 19:05 (7:05 p.m.) UT/+0 time on November 16th, and yes, it will already be in orb to square Neptune as Neptune goes direct at 4 degrees of Pisces at 7:07 in the morning (UT/+0) of that very same day.

 Aries Wheel - Location Not Specific

  Aries Wheel - Location Not Specific

And yes, 4 Pisces is the exact current position of fixed and royal star Fomalhaut. So this is not your ordinary Neptune station... (as if any Neptune station by definition would be “ordinary”?)

For one, the effects will be both more cloudy and more inspirational... more brilliant and yet less definable and highly experiential - which means no two of us is going to be exactly on the same page as Neptune goes direct - a fact which is interesting to think about in today’s world as this Neptune station falls on a weekend when many a world leader is joining in conference at the G20 World Summit in Brisbane, Australia.

Chart cast for Brisbane, Australia - Placidus houses

 

Chart cast for Brisbane, Australia - Placidus houses

With Neptune’s moment of station/direct falling in the 10th house at this location, this is indeed a world event and the inevitable news coverage which attends any such gathering will have a Neptune-in-10 ability to reach extraordinarily far with an equally well-known Neptune ability to be misunderstood going right along with that.

And let us just note for the record: where Neptune is concerned, sometimes the misunderstanding is willing...and sometimes a mistake is just a mistake.

Will you know? Will anyone be sure? Probably not. They my think they are, but in time the shine of any event marked by a Neptune station will dim...just as Neptune will dissolve the need or even any desire to see things in other than the simplest of human and mortal terms.

So saying, back to Venus...specifically more to the technical side of things. Since Neptune is at 4 Pisces, Venus will have come into orb of that square when Venus entered 29 Sagittarius, a degree known for its physical qualities and/or an interest in physicality, all of which can be challenged or even defeated by actions which if not sufficiently mature/matured or understood in both long and short terms can lead to some sort of stress which undermines or defeats the original purpose.

For some, this becomes the time when those problems begin fading away - though why they’re fading away makes all the difference, especially if that ‘why’ has anything to do with ‘taking the easy way out’ - and that goes double if what we’re trying to avoid is less the ‘thing’ is in progress and truly about our inability to face feeling defeated in our own right.

Or at least in terms of what we were thinking was right.

Venus will not end this transiting square to Neptune until November 22nd, which (surprise!) is the date when the Sun shows up in Sagittarius wearing the guise of a New Moon - which means that about the time that life [the Sun] shifts from psycho-squishy, self-reflective intensity of Scorpio into the wide and variable Sagittarian realm of all we imagine against all we need to live with...as that clarity ‘hits,’ so too will melt a least a few of the veneers forged now as factual necessity requires more focus on some goal.

Sagittarius being a fire sign, there is a speculative to quality to much which gets done between November 16th and December 10th, when Venus moves on into Capricorn.

And yes, there will also be a tendency to speculate - in private or in public. With Sagittarius being a sign known for ‘getting the word out’ and other forms of dispersion or dissemination (anything media and any sort of ‘taking a stand’ works here) there is much which is worthwhile to do and pick out of the milling throngs.

There is also likely to be a deal of pontificating, grandstanding and out-and-out fabricating - which may refer to a production or may be that which is more commonly known in non-Venusian circles as lying.

Whatever happens now, it’s ‘reality’ of the moment (and maybe its forever) is likely to be at some very real level, intangible. So this is a good Venus time for promoting something which will turn into something, but has some distance yet to go.

And maybe grow.

As for Neptune, the station at 4 Pisces brings us two very different perspectives on lore which suggests a spiritual, mystical, almost magically unfettered perception which, even while being unbounded, is simultaneously anchored in some very static form or position from which all is viewed or processed.

And yes, that is apart from royal/fixed star Fomalhaut’s presence at 4 Pisces, a presence which to the above adds the warning that only that which is neither corrupt nor corruptive brings success.

In Pisces, this refers to many things - all of which are about our willingness to a.) face our own emotions and b.) the willingness to accept that we are who we are, with all our good parts and all our icky bits. Whether our issue is accepting our mortality, our existence as one among countless equally human beings or feelings which reflect some unwillingness to face the uncertainty of existence, Pisces tests it all - and Fomalhaut’s long-term residence at 4 Pisces is ensuring that life continues successfully (which is a different thing than if I typed ‘...is ensuring that life continues successfully...’) is our warning that success  - which in Piscean terms would amount to peace of both the emotional and worldly type no matter how that manifests - can only be achieved when what we are doing is neither divisive under Piscean definitions nor inhumane or an expression of our own inability to be equally human to ourselves and others.

As for what being divisive in Pisces would be, that would involve divisions of direction - either a conflict of Self or acceptance of exclusionary dynamics... which is to say the human art of trying to shape life according to what we like, not what would be most supportive (and least harmful) to all and everything involved, particularly as that applies on the universal level (whether we see that ‘universal’ terms as being human, global-and-planetary or simply personal.

All of this is now subject to Neptune’s famously unpredictable and utterly ill-defined effects. Neptune is the mist, the fog, the emotional and sometimes physical toxicity which subtly overwhelms us, sometimes ‘looking’ (and feeling) worse than it actually is, and sometimes looking perfectly fine in moments when all is far from fine (and far from  understood). Representing everything from the giddiness which distracts to the façade which hides or belies, Neptune is the heart and soul of all we love to watch with fascination and equally associated with that which is utterly unreal.

To inspire, to deny, to enthrall, to assuage, to dissolve - Neptune symbolizes it all. When we proceed because we have faith but no knowledge, that is Neptunian. When we abandon reason for convictions based on longing, that’s Neptune. Neptune symbolizes that which carries us away in a tidal wave of emotion and the water which carriers us away in a flood or tsunami... its forces - whatever they may be - those Neptunian energetics will never be denied.

So...will we be overwhelmed by what we haven’t known and now do? Will we be inspired to see something new - some new vision - which will of its own accord release us from some bond which unbeknownst to us has been our way of holding ourselves back?

Have we even known what we want or why we want it? Is it thing we want - or are we more afraid of feeling what we would think of our Self if we didn’t get there or achieve that?

The Sabian symbol for 4 Pisces being ‘A church bazaar’ we know there are multiple factors and facets to that which is going on now, much of which is going to come or be provided by various sources (human or otherwise) united by function and belief in various forms of ‘transacting’ (or trading) which when entered into on the basis of Fomalhaut’s requirements (honesty, integrity, etc.) have the potential to inspire equitable agreements and feelings that ‘all is right with the world.’

(And wouldn’t we all like that?)

However...! (Yes, this is the near-obligatory ‘however’) There are a few configurations which in being active during Neptune’s station become part of the general aura, the first of which describes a grand trine:

On the Aries ‘me’ side we have the South Node conjunct Pandora at the end of Aries’ second decan (the teen degrees) - with both of those conjunct Eris. Pandora gives us the option between disaster and hope which in conjunction with the South Node (the easy thing) will refer to qualities we encounter and which are exhibited in/through relationships - the nodes always refer to our ‘intersecting’ with something, be it our ambitions, human others or the world.

Currently in retrograde, Eris is operating internally - which is to say there is a lot inside each and every one of us which is ripe for getting triggered, whether for good, bad or indifferent. Known sometimes as ‘Discordia,’ dwarf planet Eris represents potent moments and periods when status quos get ‘disrupted’ - sometimes unpleasantly and sometimes entirely for the good.

That these three points are connecting in Aries speaks to a great deal of emotional energy and conviction being aroused. As part of a grand trine, these feelings are ‘circulating’ in a manner which seems to have a (fire sign) life of its own.

Does it? Well, maybe yes, may be no. With Niobe and Jupiter in the latter third of Leo there are those who have something to be proud of and those who are merely proud - maybe for perfectly valid reasons and maybe...well, otherwise. Those accomplishments which can stand on their own however, like as not will whereas energy being invested (or vested) in boasting - or that which is boastful by nature - is likely to get [Niobe] ‘shot down.’

Or maybe we’re the shooter. Or perhaps that which is continuing to (Eris) rouse us is something about which we are right on target.

Remember: all astrological influences are capable of acting/reacting at either end of any spectrum - the fun and fabulous or the rancid and wretched. Some have marked tendencies to flow one way or the other - and with any symbol presented in a fire sign the thing to ‘fight off’ or ‘douse’ is the tendency to live, operate or think of the (fiery) vision as real instead of the aim, goal or motivation.

It’s not that the vision is bad - or even incorrect. It’s that you have to get there, which means seeing the real path before our real and tender everyday toes which really hate getting stubbed.

Especially as it’s that stubbing which (when all else fails) tends to ‘inflict’ enough reality that the very act of working to return to the dream generally gets some job done.

Or at least begun.

In the end however it’s probably the Ixion-Pholus coming from the Sagittarius quadrant which represents some sort of sand in a sandwich (or fly in the ointment) of ongoing, trine-like dynamics. As both Pholus and Ixion are centaurs, the reference is one which speaks of the difference between ‘should’ and ‘preference’ with both points known for instincts which spell defeats and losses which either spell the end (death) of certain attributes or being eternally ‘stuck’ with the folly of our blindness to others - that being a prime quality which unifies these points.

Add to that Vesta-Eurydike (the cost/price of a promise or commitment) which is encountered in a public and interactive (Sagittarian) space and this grand trine has all the markings of having to do want to do or stay with something despite all.

And despite what may be a desire to opt out. Grand trines don’t allow for any opting out...or opting in, either.

Yet there is a curious quality to Neptunian periods... while all this may be true going into Neptune’s station - it all may have changed by the time the station ends. The metaphysical Neptune points us to whatever will inspire us and open us up to possibilities. It’s also about all which may cloud our thinking - or why our thinking is clouded. Neptune stations sometimes mark the passing up of opportunities and sometimes mark the unbidden gift or miraculous happening.

But most of all it’s about the difference between reality and our beliefs, and how when we allow ourselves to believe in believing to the point where we get out-of-balance with our reality, problems arise and we end up feeling disappointed - most of all with our Self for not having been realistic.

Yet...is it realistic to think as humans we will never do such things?

In the end the distance between the blessings and woes of Neptune are simply about us. Where and when we believe in any belief more than reality, reality will let us down.

It’s cause-effect: we’re not believing in reality - it therefore doesn’t believe much in us.

Speaking of which, the other configuration occurring at this station is a Yod, that very special configuration which points to a lot of adjustment, generally - at least initially - of the internal and personal sort.

Composed of two 150-degree inconjuncts which  focus on a single point at one end and which are 60 degrees apart at the other, Yods often manifest by causing us to recognize or feel that there are certain limitations or boundaries which need to be observed while continuing on with our aims. In this particular figure those boundaries are represented by Chiron in Pisces (not knowing how to feel, whether that pertains to indecision or some sort of lack of experience) and Pluto-Mars-fixed star Vega in Capricorn, a conglomeration of highly dynamic and possibly highly difficult (even dangerous) energy which while full capable of marking a striking turn to the positive is also capable of manifesting as (or through) figures and events of darkly fascinating quality which wreak much destruction and indiscriminate, long-term havoc.

Occurring in Capricorn, the source and aim are both  structural, and with all three points appearing in ‘teen degrees, many people (and entities) will be exhibiting much determination and drive.

But remember: this is a Neptune station. In terms of astrological ‘ranking’ Neptune’s station, especially as it is happening in conjunction with Fomalhaut ‘outweighs’ all else. So while there is much determination, where, if and to the extent that such determinations or beliefs in positions are based on, in or through arrogance or egotism, they will eventually either come to be transformed... or they’re basically a zilch-zero-nada sum effort.

They may also be a feint. Just as Neptune can lure us to belief some illusion(ary belief), Neptune also often manifests in a ‘performance,’ though not of the ‘celebrate me’ type. Great artists often have Neptune prominent (or at least strikingly placed) in their natal charts - Neptune in this sense marks the difference between ‘celebrity’ and ‘artistry.’ The fame of Neptune is not that which appears in the tabloids - it’s the embodiment of the human experience in some iconic form or moment which stirs others.

Neptune cannot be profited on - at least not directly. When it does, when anything metaphysically Neptunian moves from being ‘the gift’ to being something meant to affect others the way you want them to be affected, that’s the quality of astrological ego which Neptune affects. And just to make the point here (considering everything going on in the world), as outcome ruler of Pisces, Neptune will mark outcomes in the fields of petroleum (and all which comes of oil, such as plastics), caregivers (be they medical, spiritual or familial), all things intoxicating and/or toxic (including their industries), entertainment, pharmaceuticals (at all levels, pro and con) and the very quality of having or needing to have faith.

The good news with a Yod is that it furnishes us with a ‘solution’ point. The not so lovely news is that those solution points occur in opposition to what we instinctively think we should do - that being why Yods have such an unsettled reputation.

Yes, we humans want answers. But when we get pointed to the answer we request, often we protest because that’s not the answer we want...which in reality means we didn’t want an ‘answer’ at all - we wanted our position and belief to be validated.

And sometimes there the answer is ‘no’ - and at the moment in particular is going to be ‘no’ because there’s too much ego being vested, or already invested.

Neptune will not honor ego - and at this time, with all the best intentions in the world a lot of people are going to be standing on the 13 Leo/Juno side of some matter when for best results they should be taking a more 13 Aquarius point of view.

Juno seeks to manage. And since 13 Leo is known to exhibit qualities of truly vast stubbornness, either people will seek to control (manage) their own stubbornness or they will ‘manage’ to create serious difficulties which they must then manage in terms of 13 Aquarius, that being a degree which insists that differences be noted, understood and respected.

From France's Chartres Cathedral, the symbol of Pisces showing its two fish

heading in different directions while eternally connected by a golden

cord rendered in stained glass. (photographer unknown.)

All of this is now being framed both in terms of the current Neptune station... and as part of the solidification of the incoming Aquarian Age as the Piscean Age ends - which is part of the challenges of today and for decades yet to come.

Put simply, people born under one Age know their lives to be one way. They “grew up that way” - which has over the 2,160 years of Piscean Age life come to be a lot of involuntary two-tier versions of life, thought, belief and everything else. It’s this ‘us versus them’ quality which Aquarius seeks to abolish, whether the subject is wealth, power or the essential necessity to acknowledge truths as truths despite alternate desires, instincts or preferences.

That which was accepted or acceptable under the Piscean Age is under scrutiny. Some of it at least is going to be melted away.

That’s a Neptune process, which is why during these years we are passing through every ‘Neptune event’ on the celestial list is going to be of elevated importance, with the current edition (the Fomalhaut station) being written in big and bold.

The last note here is a likeable one - the fact that the Leonids will be showering Earth with meteoric streaks and sparkles from November 15th through 20th.

A Leonid meteor streaks across the sky

(photo credit: Tushar N Dadarwala, January 2012)

As with every meteor shower, the Leonids represent ‘sparks’ and ‘being sparked,’ whether by  love, by ideas, by insights or sudden realizations which give rise to different perspectives. With the Sun, Saturn and Mercury still in Scorpio, such insights are likely to be sharp - and perhaps part of a process whereby some Neptune veil is ‘cut away’ either revealing something which is no longer needed either in light of something else which takes priority...or because we are now able to recognize and 'defuse' the emotional need which made something seem the only acceptable result.

And of course there will be a few who will decide to dedicate themselves to whatever ‘cutting abilities’ they think will puncture the dreams of others. One of the metaphysical reasons we’re seeing so much violence right now is exactly about this - but not as most people expect.

Under Aquarius, the issue with equality is not the weakness of the ‘underdog’ as it has been throughout the Age of Pisces, but rather with the other side of the 'equation' not wanting to be equal.

The upheavals we are experiencing and seeing all around us amount to simply this. Throughout the Age of Pisces, emotional waters were constantly seeking their own level.

Now those waters are evaporating into air - Aquarian air, to be exact. And if Aquarius is now on the first house of the Age, that means Pisces - and therefore Neptune - is delivering results which pertain to our values.

And our possible lack of values.

And all those things which we think so valuable when in reality they're merely personal illusions. 

We're in a period of re-education. We have things to learn and things to unlearn. As a sign, Aquarius says yes, we can have, learn and function as we want, so long as the need is there that we are fulfilling through our choices.

As for the reward, we can have what we want - we just have to be that person who would be given or awarded what we want by others.

And that may...or may not be who we are in our current reality.
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November 7-16: Kallisto, Mercury, Damocles, Nessus and the Leonid Meteor Shower

The Leonid meteor shower as photographed from space

(photo credit: NASA, JPL, February 2005)

Barely in the wake of November 6th’s Full Moon, asteroid Kallisto goes direct. That it does so in Aquarius suggests that the message (or ‘experience’) of Kallisto is something we will experience either very much with others - or in a sense of isolation as we oppose or are opposed by others. As a symbol of the need to endure and the reality that sometimes the thing we must endure is not of our making, Kallisto sometimes represents patience and sometimes represents durability, dedication or adherence to a thought, cause or needed activity or action.

And then sometimes Kallisto represents that force - be it something which happens (the ‘force’ of an event) or the fact that something we have tried to change, or even which we depend on, how despite all that external status quo (or resistance) is holding out or holding fast against all which is being thrown against it.

Landscape with goddesses Diana and Kallisto by Cornelis van Poelenburgh (17th century)

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As for the degree Kallisto is going direct at, that would be 21 Pisces, a degree which simply because it’s a third decan degree between 20 and 29 of some sign cannot be purely personal: there is some quality of influence or interaction, whether responded to or not, with a bit of emphasis here on the ‘responded to’ sign as all odd-numbered degrees have a subtle tendency to assert or take independent action where even-numbered degrees are shaded slightly towards responding to current input from the environment.

In the case of this particular Piscean degree however, this tendency to act is somewhat muted...even convoluted by the instinct to plan - even to deceive, though as this degree functions through a framework of time, such deceptions are more likely to end up being us fooling ourselves, not others.

Whether this has to do with something in the moment or something from long ago which is affecting current thinking or choices...that’s all individual - as is our tendency to cling to truths as opposed to myths we prefer to believe - or are even afraid to not believe.

And that’s just where this week of days start. As we move from date to date and day to day things are unlikely to get a whole lot more clear or clearly clarified, and for a lot of people that is going to be confusing, frustrating and disappointing - even as others are feeling elated, excited and delighted...with none of it pertaining to reality or fact.

The reason for that would be Planet Neptune, which in going direct early on the 16th (early in the UT/+0 time zone, that is) is providing us with a marker which asks us to allow ourselves not to know...and which tests how well we are equipped to deal with not knowing.

In theory, what this describes is a situation where all the confusion or excitement, the discouragement or idealization is a point of view and perspective, sure enough - but where it also may well be all and only about our desire to feel what we want to feel and to not feel what we would simply hate to feel.

About our Self, that is - and that note is provided by the fact that Neptune is going direct at 4 Pisces, a degree which on its own is about our individual ability to face and deal with our own emotions (part one) and with the fact that we are one human being amidst a sea of life, human and otherwise, on this planet.

How do we feel about that?

Even more importantly - and more to the point of Pisces, how do we feel ABOUT how we feel about that?

Pisces is so often an endless hall of emotional mirrors. We feel, we feel ourselves feeling, we sense the feelings of others and feel for them even as we feel ourselves sensing how mortal, how human this business of feeling really is. Emotions can be enriching. Emotions can also be innately deadly.

Emotions are human - and in going direct at 4 Pisces, Neptune is dissolving our barriers and removing that which stands in the way of our coming to some greater understanding of how intrinsically emotional we are...And how emotions and our willingness to feel feelings, good and bad, ours or those of others...to some very great extent define both the grief of our mortality and the potential for glorious goodness which is part of our humanity.

And as that happens, our mistakes and achievements become more real simply because Neptune is going direct at 4 Pisces, that being the current position of fixed and royal star Fomalhaut.

You remember Fomalhaut, right? The star which promises success only if our aims (dreams, efforts, feelings, etc.) are neither corruptive, corrupted, coercive, corroded or corrosive?

(Yes, I majored in Thesaurus - you have no idea.)

This Neptune station, occurring exactly at the royal star’s position is likely to be a stirring occasion (all puns and realities intended)... hence the extended period of affect and a very strong likelihood that things which are revealed during this time (and just after Neptune’s station) will have long-term and lasting effects.

Kallisto goes direct on November 6th - and just over twenty-four hours later (at 23:10 or 11:10 p.m., UT/+0 on the 7th) Mercury re-enters Scorpio.

To recall for a moment: Mercury originally entered Scorpio (this year, that is) back on September 27th before going retrograde at 2 Scorpio on September 4th. And when Mercury went into that retrograde, it did so while trining Neptune, which makes this incoming Mercury moment part of an entire cycle which questions illusion, self-delusion and through eliciting our tendencies to opt for what we want (or consider correct), our ability to require of Self that we don’t choose based on emotion rather than fact.

When we ignore that... when or where we do choose or attempt to get others to choose based solely on some feeling... those actions will backfire and undermine or defeat us. Maybe not immediately, but in time... and probably lastingly.

This station is Neptune’s last exact conjunction with Fomalhaut for the next 160-plus years. Where the lesson is ours to learn, such ‘last passes’ tend to exacerbate issues more than otherwise, even without our having just experienced a solar eclipse which at 0 Scorpio would be very much in trine to Neptune’s station - a factor which enhances both the duration and likely effects of this station. So we should expect to see, hear and feel variable behaviors which overlie, betray or reveal vulnerabilities both in those on the ‘doing end’ and those on receiving ends of various things. We should expect an unwavering if indistinct (and virtually impossible to describe) sense that we’re not ‘in charge’ where we most sincerely (even desperately) want to be in charge - without any way to know if what we’re feeling is valid or not.

And where we're oh-so confident? Well, seeing as such convictions are bred, born and harbored in the heart of the human ego, Neptune is bound to deny them.

In other words, such notions will - now or in time - prove either incorrect, flat-out wrong, unworkable, damaging, unlovable or just plain not what you had imagined... idealized... clung to with all your heart in the depths of those nights filled with longing.

You know - during those Neptunian times.

Oh yes, it’s enough to drive a few people crazy... (even more than a few)...making these days ahead all about what we will get ourselves to do or be or face or tackle in spite of that weakness which says 'I just don't like it' (when you know that's an excuse) or when we insist something else is more important despite knowing that just isn't true.

It isn't the thing we're talking (or thinking) about which is the native weakness. It's our willingness to not take that high, hard road - that being OUR weakness.

However willing we are to face whatever our vulnerabilities are, particularly as that pertains to something 'old' or from our past and despite our attempts to protect or defend that 'old' or traditional thing which we stand for and stomp for on merits...but which in truth we would feel most vulnerable without.

And the mix up of influences isn’t complete yet. Kallisto goes direct approximately a day after the Taurus Full Moon, Mercury re-enters Scorpio about twenty-four hours after that - and a day after Mercury re-enters Scorpio, Damocles goes direct.

'The Sword of Damocles' by Richard Westall (1812)

The story of Damocles is one of those ‘well all do it’ sort of things. It centers around a courtier (Damocles) who, while standing around the king’s court looking courtly comments about how the job of a king is downright easy. Why, if Damocles got a chance to run the kingdom...

Unfortunately for Damocles, the king is not only listening, he’s irked just enough by the courtier’s offhanded remark that he orders Damocles to take his place for a bit so Damocles can see if a king’s job is truly all wine and roses.

And it’s in that very minute when Damocles plants the appropriate body part in the seat of the king's throne when he realizes what he’s gotten himself into, for above hangs a sharp and dangerous sword.

It's right above his head.

And it’s hanging by a hair.

Wherever we find Damocles in the chart, that’s the area of life (and by degree, the specifics of the issues in that life) where we face having to learn that though something may look easy, it’s not only not simple, but also possibly fraught with personal dangers. And wherever we find Damocles by transit, that would be where things and situations promote a peculiar combination of 1.) heightened awareness and 2.) concerns of some seriousness or importance - both of which become far harder than they "need to be" as we become ever more aware of the need to manage very different priorities.

Speaking of managing, the Juno grand trine discussed in the previous post will be in force through late on the evening of November 8th. 

In going direct in Aquarius, Damocles references social, income, systemic and societal matters which are also more difficult than they look. Whether actually dangerous or not (danger implied by Damocles often merely has to do with the ‘puncturing’ of our an idea or inflated ego stance) these are moments meant to connect an idea or theory with the reality or realistic approach. That the degree involved here is 19 Aquarius emphases tenacity, intellectual exchanges (spoken or otherwise, successful and otherwise) and an ability to get to the crux or core of an issue even if doing so could be rather painful.

And unsuspected.

Remember: what we do now which is meant to coerce doesn’t work. That which we do or opt for now which is based only on what we want or our dreams will not work. There is a ‘ranking’ in astrological influences which in this moment still says that whatever else is happening the ‘big deals’ are really the big deal - and that’s not Damocles, that’s Neptune and the Solar Eclipse, twin factors which at this time are ‘feeding’ back and forth still challenging us to get past what we like to what we really need to fix FIRST within our Self, then in the world around us.

The last addition to this piling on of effects in the wake of the Full Moon would be centaur Nessus going direct at 27 Aquarius on November 10th, an event which happens as Mercury finally exits its retrograde shadow. (Think of this as adding ingredients in making a cake batter before you put it in the oven and you’re pretty close to the workable notion.) So to whatever we are dealing with which pits our (Kallisto) desire to preserve the old even though that is gone, forcing us to proceed on a new basis, even though Mercury has left the airy Libra arena and immersed itself in more intense (and sometimes choppy) Mercury in Scorpio waters, even though things aren’t quite as easy as we thought they were going to be, now we’re on new ground.

That’s what Mercury exiting its shadow means: we are moving into an area of experience, operation or discussion which is - and should be - based on a new perspective and all which has been learned to this point with an eye to moving forward.

A carved relief of Mercury (Hermes) in Stuttgart, Germany

(photo credit: Ecelan, 2009)

And just to recall: 2 Scorpio (the degree Mercury went retrograde at, which now becomes the ‘gateway’ to new experiences) is all about who we are and how we go about being who we are.

2 Scorpio is about character and the character we choose to be, who we want to be - and in some venues, how that plays against the expectations or desires on the part of others with regards to who they want us to be, with a particular emphasis on whether we are ready to accept the responsibility (or whether we have accepted the responsibility) for who we are and what we do or have done.

Deianeira and the dying centaur Nessus by Howard Pyle (1888)

How interesting then that Mercury exits its shadow just as Damocles going direct points us back to external matters (current or past) which look easier than they really are. Because Mercury is doing this as centaur Nessus goes direct there is a quality of ‘again’ (or repetition) here which speaks to ill will being carried forward beyond all limits of reason. Often thought of as something of an influence which ‘poisons the well,’ Nessus always points to unbridled passions which in whatever form are harmful both to the originator and others - though seldom (if ever) to the object of loathing and disregard...which in Nessus’ going direct at 27 Aquarius speaks to some a tie between past, present and future (a connection through time) which now is defended or insisted upon. With Nessus there is no shyness about exacting a ‘blood cost’ for that one thinks just - and yet just that act of insisting is often wrong, no matter how its presented or justified. This degree often manifests with a friendly, calm demeanor just as Nessus is well known for being an unkind, even blindly heartless influence which surfaces after a period of perfectly civil integration and association.

All of this happens as this period begins to evolve. And once Nessus goes direct and Mercury exits its shadow, then we have the rest of the Monday-through-Friday work week to deal with that before the onset of the Leonids on November 15th, just before Neptune goes direct. (Expect a separate post on Neptune and Venus next week.)

So what do we know about the Leonids? For one, they aren’t Earth’s longest meteor shower - this year’s edition will begin on the 15th and be over by November 20th.

On the other hand, the Leonids are ‘thick.’

What is a ‘thick’ meteor shower? Well, due to the fact that the comet responsible for the Leonids (Tempel-Tuttle) has an orbit which comes close enough to Earth that its ‘sprinkles’ (the meteorites we see streaking across the sky at night) don’t have much time to spread between where they are thrown off by the comet and where they cross Earth’s orbit.

(And just for the record here, we’re talking about ‘close’ in astronomical terms - which is still plenty far away.)    

All this amounts to a generally high rate of meteors per hour - a real plus for meteor watching. More to the metaphysics however, given that meteor showers are known as times when we get ‘sparked’ by ideas and input, that may spell a time when new thoughts, ideas and influences appear almost as fast as we can perceive them.

And yet...that the Leonids begin just a day in advance of Neptune going direct (and Venus entering Sagittarius) - does that say our ‘new ideas’ or ‘takes’ on given subjects are wonderful or terrible? Does this just add to the confusion or help straighten things out?

That, and why that is...that’s probably what we’re about to go through learning - again.
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