Scrawls From Detox II: The Recapping Again

  Edith Head as photographed by the Los Angeles Times at the opening

of LA's Museum of Science and Industry's retrospective of her work

(pub 02241976) courtesy unit proj.library.ucla.edu)

Edith Head was many things, to be sure, but the quality her presence lastingly imparted to me was the stiffened resolve of someone who not only knew her mind, but who was also determined to know her mind.

It was an extraordinary moment, that meeting of a moment with her. Studio brass (part one) was trying to woo my father (the producer) into a contract to work for Universal Studios, that megalithic grey celluloid factory known lastingly in my house as ‘the Un-Studio.’

In committing said woo, the studio was showing my father around the lot. And for some reason unbeknownst to me (at the time or at any time since), my father had decided to tote me along.
Call it fortune.

In those days, Universal Studios was a lot of open parking lots, a few big (steel and glass office) buildings and a whole spaghetti bowl worth of bungalows which, like so many sauce-draped, tree shaded meatballs, littered the lot.

 Ingrid Bergman (dressed by Edith Head) and Cary Grant in

the Horseracing track scene from the "Notorious" Trailer

It was into one of these bungalows I had innocently and dutifully followed. With a cluster of boring studio people making nice on my father (which always struck me as a game of Russian Roulette for those trying to get anything from him) a far more interesting happening seemed to be occurring as a door to the left of me opened, and out strode Edith Head barely ahead of a second flock of studio suits (brass part two).

Stridently headed across the rotunda at the bungalow’s center, headed from its eastern to western wing, the famous head swiveled and the eyes fixed on me…small and observing me as I stood by my father’s right hand, being invisible as possible.

But no…here came Edith Head.

As bright eyes and clarifying eyeglasses came close, a well-dressed fingernail rose into pointer position, indicating undying emphasis. ‘It doesn’t matter how popular it is, if it doesn’t look good on you, don’t wear it.’

I’ve followed that advice. After all, it came from Edith Head.

Edith Head was born October 28, 1897 and she died on October 24, 1981. Her birthday would have been today.

 Bette Davis (dressed by Edith Head) in All About Eve

Edith Head proved that it didn’t matter where you came from or what your life circumstances were, you could have a sense of existing in this world. Her striking determination is a gift to us all…and personally, something I find myself admiring very much.

It doesn’t really matter what our difficulties are. They all hurt. Would that we were kinder to one another about it. Would that we had the courage to feel and see each other for who we each are…so that we could dress each other with the fabric of our  communications and the strength of our willingness to be who we are, each and every one of us.

The degree 5 Scorpio – the degree of Edith Head’s Sun – is a degree which says that you’ll try and yes, maybe you’ll accomplish a lot. But there will always be more. The job is never going to be done.

So…are we willing to do our part when that moment comes?

Of course like anyone, Edith Head had personal problems. She’s one of those really famous people who proves that sometimes there’s an all-too mortal tale to go with the brilliance of the talent.

But boy…was she talented!

Did you happen to see “The Incredibles”?

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The 5 Scorpio Lunar Eclipse

Te aa no areois (The Seed of the Areoi) by Paul Gauguin (1892)

The Moon is in it’s sign of Fall when in Scorpio. And a Lunar Eclipse is known by the sign of its Moon, with the Sun being positioned in the opposite sign – in this case, Taurus.

But it’s why the Moon is in Fall in Scorpio which is probably the big clue to how this eclipse is going to operate.

The Moon is about reflection. It’s about our feelings and instincts. The Moon rules Cancer – a cardinal sign which is all about the surf zone and the crab which is free to go on shore or seek refuge in the water and among the rocks depending on what feels safest…or maybe just because it’s in the mood for this and that.

It’s from an image like this that we understand that the Moon is willful, and eminently self-concerned in the very real and corporeal sense where the Sun is about that consciousness or our ability to get ourselves through some situation. That’s also an expression of will, but with the Sun will is expressed through action where with the Moon, will is expressed in how I feel about it.

And yes, everything which may flow from that!

Scorpio is a sign about interactions…and what can be gained through or by interacting. With everything Scorpionic there’s some kind of risk – mostly emotional risk. And when things go bad in the Scorpio realm, the first question we ask ourselves is ‘why did I do that?’ or ‘why did I ever get involved?’ Much as we might be honked off at whoever we deal with in Scorpio (and being the sign of war, there’s obviously plenty of honk-off’ed-ness which goes with this sign!) the real issue with Scorpio, the ‘test’ if you will, is to our values. Wars are most often all about ‘don’t threaten me and my values’…or ‘I so disapprove of your values that I’m going to wipe you out’ – a mindset which is very close to another Scorpio trait, the venomous quality of revenge and vengeance.

To put it simply (and yes, this is a very extreme sort of example we’re using here), the Moon is in Fall in Scorpio because our feelings end up focused on the other. The Moon represents our need to love and respect ourselves – or our Self, depending. And since when in Scorpio we succeed only when we taken into account the aims and values of others on a par with the needs, aims and values we hold for or about ourselves, that’s a ‘sign necessity’ which asks us to use the Moon in a manner the Moon is less than enthrallingly fit to work in.

Scorpio’s longing and desire, it’s tests of our ability to maneuver and the temptation to manipulate is not directly about us. It’s about expending energy to try to get what we want, which by implication says we either don’t have it or we’re feeling threatened about it.

So the Moon in Scorpio always has this shifting, testy sort of edge. And when we talk about a Lunar Eclipse, that quality is likely to be elevated. Yes, this could also indicate a moment when we win through on something we want…I’m pretty sure President Bush (GW Bush) is going to be happy about the opening of his presidential library on the date of this lunar eclipse…but even when we get our way or get what we want from a Lunar Eclipse it’s likely to come at some cost. Or with some challenge to our feelings of settled security.

Could President Bush (the younger) be wondering what people will find in his library and what sorts of fluffles and fracas might evolve from that? He might – and when I heard that this was the Grand Opening for his library, I figured a cavalcade of reporters and researchers would be descending on the place, all determined to dig through the archives.

But I digress – sort of. The Moon of this eclipse is at 5 Scorpio and Saturn (still in retrograde) is at 8 Scorpio, which would describe the Bush Library as a source on all things Scorpio (economics, war, back room deals, etc.) which went on during those presidential administrations. And while most of us have never been President, this ‘aura of the past’ would be very much in keeping with this eclipse. This could be entirely personal and emotional…or it could be about something you are doing based on something you have ‘gotten into’ or ‘how I learned to do it’…or it could be a moment when something you did comes up for review – most of all, personal review.

 Lunar Eclipse of April 25, 2013

(Aries Wheel, location not specific)

With TNO Deucalion at 12 Scorpio, the Saturn of this figure carries a definite whiff of challenge with regards to morality. Yet since the Sun which opposes this Moon is conjunct Mars (and Mars is not a happy camper in Taurus) we have all the stubbornness of Mars/Sun set up against Moon/Saturn (plus Saturn/Deucalion) to contend with, a combination which denotes a very intense ‘discussion’ – be that framed as a choice, a realization, a feeling about some situation or some force being brought to you by someone who represents that Saturn/Moon (plus Saturn/Deucalion) against your wanting to stick with your current (Sun/Mars in Taurus) position.

Or maybe you’re the person bringing your Saturn/Moon ‘reflective determination’ to someone else’s entrenched position.

But there’s an interesting difference here. The Moon in Scorpio is the Moon in its sign of Fall. Mars in Taurus, on the other hand, is in the sign of its Detriment.

What’s the difference? It does sort of amount to the same thing, but fall being the opposite of rulership while detriment is the opposite of exaltation tells us more or less how this works. Rulership is where the sign and the quality of the planet are in synch. So the Moon is (first and foremost) our emotional self and that experiencing of emotions which causes us to reflect on life itself. That matches well with Cancer as the first of the zodiac’s water signs and the native sign of learning how emotions work as children do in the heart of a family or as we all do in general as part of a culture or inherited national tradition.

The Moon is exalted in Taurus, which means the optimal Taurean condition of self respect, self worth and physical security in life and in this world is a good setting in which to learn all our ‘Moon stuff.’

And here (interestingly enough) we have the Moon positioned in a sign Mars is co-ruler of (Scorpio) with Mars being positioned in Taurus, a sign the Moon is exalted in.

That describes discomfort. For most of us that will just be some measure of emotional discomfort or inconvenience. And like all Lunar Eclipses, this one really needs to be focal in your chart or you may not feel much of anything (though you may hear of someone else having a heck of a Lunar Eclipse time and really feel for them!).

So to use the vernacular, at it’s extreme this can be a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ sort of situation. Then again, it may just be a session of whipping up some favorite dish in the kitchen (with company on their way to your door) only to find half way through your demonstrating your culinary prowess to yourself that some important ingredient you were sure you had plenty of…well, you have practically none of.
What to do? Do you have time to go to the store? Do you have anything to substitute? Are you going to bite the head off your darling spouse who swore they checked but obviously didn’t – and if so, are you capable of smiling through the whole of the evening while your guests are there? 

The lore about 5 Scorpio speaks to a ‘dead end’ and blocked efforts which may indicate one of those ‘do we have to go into that again?’ sort of refusal to discuss something. Conversely, the lore about 5 Taurus is about contentment with what one has and with that being good enough to work with. So this is a moment which is about a clash of ambitions and drive against contentment and satisfaction. To the extent that you are happy with things as they are, you may not want to change. But do you need to? To the extent that you are not happy with things, what can you do to change them?

Any time we see an opposition of any sort (presented by an eclipse or not) we know the optimal solution is to embrace both ideas at once – which in this case is hard, as there’s quite a tug from both sides of the question, most of which can be summed up in the ideas of ‘deserving’ and ‘earning,’ both of which should be taken emotionally. That means that ‘earning’ can be about going to work to earn money, but it’s your feelings about working which apply here.

Also important: is the world (or life) static? Are things supposed to stay “as they have always been”? The obvious answer to that is ‘no.’ If it wasn’t, we’d all be still using oil lamps, parents wouldn’t be parents because…well, never mind having children, they wouldn’t have ever gotten married.

Obviously life evolves. The trick is understanding that it’s not just the parts of life that you want changed which end up evolving!

All this said, now we come to the kite. I mean…what’s a good eclipse without a planetary picture, right?
Okay…so here’s the kite which comes into play during this day – or even the couple of days surrounding April 25, 2013 at 7:58 in the evening UT/+0 time when said eclipse occurs:

 
Kites are always made up of two triangles – the upper one (Sun, Ceres and Neptune/Fomalhaut) which is ‘supported’…or which can be thought of as standing atop the ‘shoulders’ of the lower triangle, which here is composed of Moon/Saturn, Ceres and Neptune/Fomalhaut.

The bottom triangle is a grand trine. More to the point, it’s a grand trine in water, which says emotions and emotionality either can’t be avoided or is going to be entirely avoided. Which you encounter depends on which you come into this moment with as your status quo, as grand trines are all about ongoing energies which are difficult…almost impossible to disrupt, divert or otherwise change.

At least for the moment. Considering this grand trine involves the Moon, considering how the Moon moves one degree about every two hours, that means that at a point about ten hours after this eclipse the Moon will be exiting the five degree orb allowed for  conjunctions and trines.

Which means at that point (ten hours or so after the eclipse) this watery grand trine will be Saturn, Neptune/Fomalhaut, Ceres.

What’s the difference? That difference is emotional investment: Moon in Scorpio. So the eclipse may well represent a moment when emotions get invested…or withdrawn, depending.

What’s the rest of it mean? Saturn is durability…which in emotional terms would be enduring. Saturn is also structural, which in emotional terms is a commitment. To what? That depends. For some emotionality will be withdrawn because there is no ‘enduring commitment.’ With others there will be a commitment made or renewed. Or maybe ‘detoxified,’ since Scorpio is very big on rehabilitation of any kind of human messiness.
Neptune/Fomalhaut is pretty much a statement about ‘what’s right and true’ which gets balanced off against ‘what’s possible within the bounds of ethical and moral correctness?’

And Ceres? Ceres is having a plan. Do you know how to turn that handful of seeds into a bountiful harvest?

A lunar eclipse in progress

Again, since the Moon and Saturn are presented here in Scorpio, while this can be a moment to found something and move forward, there is also a possibility that what arises now is based on past (Moon-Saturn) commitments or emotional investments.

Even financial investments.

Or sexual commitments.

The top triangle is composed of one trine and two sextiles, the sextiles representing ‘support’ of the ultimate aim, which is here presented as Sun-Mars in early Taurus. Ordinarily we would simply say this is ‘my security in my values’ but because this is a lunar eclipse we have to toss in that emotional concept, which gives us ‘how I feel ABOUT my emotional security’ or ‘how I feel about how I have invested myself in some ‘defined version’ of emotional security.’ With Neptune/Fomalhaut and Ceres being the connectors between the upper ‘negotiating’ position (which may be a negotiation with yourself or others) and the lower grand trine in water signs, this would seem to make this lunar eclipse about the difference between what we want something to be and what it is. Or what we thought it was going to be and what it is.

Since 5 Scorpio and 5 Taurus occur in every chart even if they’re not highlighted by planets or whatnot, we will all see or feel or hear of this eclipse as it happens. And unlike Solar Eclipses, Lunar Eclipses are prompt. There’s no messing around – you’ll know that the issue is when the gong sounds.

But also unlike Solar Eclipses, Lunar Eclipses are ‘moments in time’ which we get past and move on from. Seldom is a Lunar Eclipse the actual game changer or life altering event – though the difference can be subtle. One good example here would be the proposal of marriage as opposed to the actual wedding. I’m sure many would argue that the proposal ‘changes everything’…but while it may change your feelings about the future of your feelings (which is about as lunar as it gets!) it is not the actual moment which changes your (solar) life in real time, real life, worldly and forever terms. That’s the wedding.

Lunar Eclipses start strong – sometimes it’s an emotional tsunami. But by the time three months passes, their import has been woven into the fabric of our lives.

Solar Eclipses are a whole different thing. And speaking of which, you do know we have one coming up, right? It’s on May 10th and it will be at 19 Taurus.

Anyone whose chart is aspected by both eclipses is in for a rollercoaster shift in their consciousness. And since this is the rare eclipse season which brings with it two Lunar Eclipses and one Solar Eclipse, check your chart for 4 Sagittarius as well.

One other note here: does your birthday fall within four or five days (either way) of this Lunar Eclipse? If it does, the whole of your year is going to be emotionally evocative. Provocative. Intense.

And yes, educational.

And for those of you whose birthdays are within four or five days of May 10th? You’re probably already feeling the effects of major shifts altering your life perspective, and we aren’t even at the Solar Eclipse yet!
Whether you’re a late April baby, a May baby, or just some wandering citizen of this world with a chart to call your own, this is an interesting moment in time – one to learn from, and hopefully to profit from.

Good luck!
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