a Lunar Eclipse at 15 Aries...and other things

Artist E Weiss' drawing of a Lunar Eclipse (Published 1888)

For those keeping score, in my negotiations with the ongoing injury I seem to be winning - give or take. I mention this in part because the process I’m going through with my injury (and a few other matters) is a rather good example of the current eclipse dynamic - and it’s highly applicable seeing how I have an Aries Ascendant and Scorpio Moon, just as we’re about to have an Aries lunar eclipse - to be followed by a solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio on October 23rd (UT/+0).

My (Sun) life has been ‘adjusted’ by my (Aries) physicality just as my ability to (Ascendant) do things is being ‘adjusted’ by ‘things of old’ which have come back out to haunt me. The first time I injured my back was in my twenties. It was horrible. There was no one to help, I was living in a second floor apartment without the ability to walk up or down stairs and the pain was unremitting.

But yes, I bullied through. I did what so many people tell you to do - I acted okay, hoping flesh would follow mentality. And it did - except for one thing: all those feelings or helplessness, vulnerability and rejection, all that pain was never recognized... owned... accepted. 

  
As a sign, Scorpio is all about bringing out that we need to own, accept, recognize - and maybe more importantly stop denying about ourselves (even while we’re pointing the finger at others, yes...) so that we can get in a better, more secure-feeling (and productive) position in our own lives through not needing to project or blame or point those pointed (and pointy) fingers at others.

Throughout our lives and our world, all sorts of things are living out this need right now - confronting it with us in ‘other’ form so that we can have at least a fighting chance not to ‘fight them’ but to strike a truce with... and within our Self so that we can then allow ourselves to connect with and deal with our inner well of angst.

As Vesta moves into Sagittarius on October 6th (UT/+0) this process shifts gears, moving from the testing realm of Scorpio tests of emotional stability and whether we are willing/able to deal calmly and fairly with others or our greater world despite internal (or) more subjective (or personal) trials. In this realm, Vesta symbolizes our estimation of what it will require to achieve one’s aims - and our willingness or unwillingness to accept those standards, needs, time tables or parameters.

Indicating ‘the cost,’ Vesta can point to what it will take to do something... or what it will take to hold to what we are already committed to as something else overtakes our fancy or attention. Either way, our life and times are going to put us through our paces between now and December 3rd (when Vesta will have moved on into Capricorn) wherever there are ‘gaps’ or bad match-ups between the proverbial ‘information in...information out’ wherever it occurs in life.

Moreover, Vesta is making this shift as asteroid Hebe is on station at 29 Taurus - a position which is all about the ability to help/be helped (and/or) either irreplaceable, unmatched or ongoing sources of support which for whatever reason are being questioned or ‘threatened’ (at least conceptually).

Hebe by Antonio Canova (c 1800-1805)

With this ‘turn’ (Hebe’s station) occurring at 29 Taurus we are also being told that the specific ‘supports’ (or sources) being referred to here (or questioned or threatened) are not new to us, but rather something which we have ‘inherited’ - which may be literal (as in an inheritance) but might be more in line with my story, meaning it might concern something your current life (or state of life) may be something which has been ‘inherited’ (or is a consequence of) some experience, tradition, culture or other ‘past tense’ moment.

Whatever is happening, you, me and everyone else - we are all facing and dealing with the cost or price of keeping/not keeping our promises and holding ourselves to our commitments. In this, Hebe’s turn to retrograde on October 7th may indicate a need to support our inner world or to deal with matters of ‘nourishment’ inclusive of whatever deficits we may have (or need to make into account). And that may lead us to (Vesta) bear some ‘cost’ in (Hebe) making sure to feed eternal needs.
 
And that’s one of the big points - the differences between Vesta and Hebe as presented in this sequence. Hebe in Taurus is about surviving values and the value of that which assures survival where  Vesta in Sagittarius raises the specter of ethics - and the difference between ethics and morality.

These are very different notions - and yet in tandem they combine to refer to something we all understand: the cost of doing the right thing.

Vesta also calls us to simply deal with facts and truths, most of all about our choices and course(s) of action. Whether we would not accept ourselves were we witnessing who we are from without or whether we are wrestling with who we initially learned or chose to be and who we are learning we need to be now... it’s all Vesta in Sagittarius and its all happening just barely in advance of the 15 Aries Lunar Eclipse which will occur on October 8th at at 10:52 in the morning, UT/+0 time.

Shown or shunted inward, there’s a lot of opinions and feelings afoot. With Mercury having just gone into retrograde in early Scorpio, we are ‘tied into’ a transient awareness of our own makeup just enough that some of us will recognize the ‘then-versus-now’ of it all and opt to live in present tense regardless of desire.

Others will simply ignore that which doesn’t fit their agenda and eventually pay the price. That price - defined by the Scorpio solar eclipse may be meted out in short order... or it may come upon whomever a couple of years from now when everyone has moved on and no one is watching for repercussions.

Scorpio is all about us as individuals. But it’s about us in the sense that if we don’t deal with us, others will. It’s about if we aren’t honest about us, others won’t be honest with us. Mercury’s stationing in Scorpio and moving almost immediately back into Libra (Mercury will re-enter Libra at 5:28 p.m. UT/+0 time on October 10th) is an emblematic ‘tug’ which will pull us back into relationship with others and things so that we can gain perspective on what is driving us to be or do as we are.

Things will happen in the moment. And given this Wednesday’s lunar eclipse in Aries, things will feel personal. Even if they aren’t, we will - each and every one of us - instinctively figure a way to reflect things onto our Self or reflect within our personal Self with regards to ‘them and that.’

The October 8, 2014 Lunar Eclipse (at 15 Aries) map as posted on NASA.gov

This being a total (not partial) lunar eclipse, emotions may run deep and the issues we each will be confronting will either touch us deeply or force us to recognize things at a very vital and ‘deeply felt’ level.

And whether we know it or not, the emotions of this moment are hardly the point. When we pit Moon against Sun (or lunar eclipse against solar eclipse), the Moon can only be a reflection of life - of the metaphysical Sun. It reflects life, just as we are each reflecting our individual life as encased in the notion of where or how we think that individuality does (or doesn’t) fit in with that of others or society.

You know, the Aquarian Age notion. In the food chain of astrological events and energetic time maps, eclipses are big. Ages are bigger. The chaos of transition which is showing up now is part of that greater process which does require that we deal with the Now, credibly, competently and (evidently most of all at the moment) responsibly, reliably and respectfully even if we see that Now as a passage into tomorrow.

That’s the Aquarius part of this design: the individual must be complete and care about self-development lest the contribution of the individual to something greater than their Self be lacking and thus compromising of whatever pre-determined vision has come to be designed which provides structure, power and reward both to the individual and the collective.

At least in theory. After all, we are talking Aquarius. The same gap between individual and whole or group or collective which Aquarius is meant to resolve through structured interactions of a productive type (however ‘productivity’ is being defined in any given venue) exists in the resolving of the theory against the reality - all of which is in high focus at the moment because apart from the lunar/solar eclipse pair as a whole this week’s lunar eclipse speaks to a message of its own. On the ‘eclipse side’ of things we know this is a feeling time and one which stresses the fact of physicality and physical facts on the whole.

Beyond that is the idea that the Moon in this figure stands conjunct Uranus and Alpheratz, a star which ‘belongs’ to not one, but two constellations: Pegasus (escape from past negatives, ‘taking flight’ or ‘bringing to bear’) and Andromeda (through faith, victimization can inspire reprieve) - a combination which speaks to challenges and in particular, how we cope with challenges. With Uranus in this mix there can be a marked tendency for escapism, a breakthrough on some internal level or a ‘breaking out of’ old molds.

Or at least those would be the aim, though whatever our options are at the moment, they probably aren’t ideal.

Why not?

Well, because of a t-square. To be more specific, this t-square:

Yes, this lunar eclipse comes to us in the form of a t-square with Moon-Uranus-Alpheratz in the reward position for the configuration. Being that t-squares always move in zodiacal order, this one begins Sun-Venus widely conjunct in Libra (the desire to relate and be related to, complete with commensurate/appropriate rewards), a combination which is very or not at all motivated. Either way, Pluto-Sabine at 11 Capricorn speaks to something we are being held captive by either completely physically or only psychologically, (depending on who we are as individuals) and which says something about our responsibility to use our influences carefully lest we end up allied/bound to or by that which we cannot ultimately support (or be supported by, ultimately) when we get right down to it.

Part one: none of this is going to be exactly what we'd like or want.

Part two: though it may not be apparent in the moment, either we're facing the same challenge everyone else is facing (or) we're having to face something which everyone goes through (in their own way) as that's part of evolution... maturation... the universal human being process...

...All of which gets us back to the (Vesta) ‘cost’ of things - a quality which could work with 15 Aries’ reputation for eliciting situations which give us something of a snapshot of what our relationship to rules, regulations and guidelines is... and how well we (Sagittarius) understand why this or that works or doesn’t work. And that t-square thing? That would require us to come to understand that our relationship to all those rules, regulations and/or guidelines is about us (yes)... and equally about everyone else.

We all love and hate the same thing - a fact which is as individual as collective.

That all of this is occurring under Mercury retrograde indicates that whatever else we are dealing with, we are also having to think things through - variations on the above theme probably being among them. As the lunar eclipse occurs many of us will just be beginning to contend with worldly snafus and stoppages - not to mention any number of things we need to get done purely within our personal sphere.

And that will produce frustration. For some, even anger or resentment. How or when might this resolve or at least get voiced (hopefully without incident)? Well, the sign of Aries is ruled by Mars. And the sign of Scorpio? That’s ruled first by Mars and then by Pluto (as Scorpio’s ‘outcome’ ruler).

At the moment of this week’s lunar eclipse, Mars will be at 16 Sagittarius - virtually in opposition to fixed star Rigel in Gemini. Given that Rigel is an emblem of teaching and being willing to learn (or learn better, depending), with Gemini’s ruler (Mercury) retrograde and still in Scorpio we wouldn’t expect any onslaughts of movement apart from that which may already be in progress.

But once Mercury reaches Libra on Friday, October 11th? Then perhaps. Yet since Mercury will arrive at its October 25th at 16 Libra and thus a.) in trine to Rigel and b.) in opposition to the 15 Aries lunar eclipse it would seem that whether its ill advised or the soul of thoughtful discretion, much (and many decisions) will wait until on or after October 25th.

And until then, we get to learn more and more about who we are...and aren’t, despite our reluctance to accept it.
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A 16 Pisces Full Moon

Moonrise on Hobart Bay, Alaska

(photo credit: Commander John Bortniak/NOAA, October 1990)

Somewhere back in my early astrological days some fellow defined Pisces to me as ‘the trash can of the zodiac.’

I’m not sure he knew he was talking to a Pisces at the time or not. I just gave him the benefit of the doubt. 

(Which yes, is very Piscean of me.)

That being plural decades ago, I’ve learned several things about what he said, the first of which being what struck me as a better definition for this most oceanic of water signs: Pisces represents the distance by which we will fail our own expectations.

Esoteric? Yes... and yes, that probably means I’m esoteric too.

But I digress. That definition is a singularly opaque way of saying something very Pisces and very true: Pisces is the sign which is all about all our experiences of feeling our own feelings. And thus Pisces becomes also the realm of all we do to control what we feel, however we do it - and to whatever end(s) we do it.

As for that first definition (the dust bin thing)...it was only once I faced my own Piscean-ness that I finally understood the fact that what had been said to me about Pisces and the trash hadn’t been... and shouldn’t be discarded.

(Yes, I said that.)

But it’s not all bad. It’s not even half bad once we get to the reality of what all the ‘trash’ talk really means... namely that wherever we find Pisces (in your chart, as an energetic focused by some object moving through Pisces, etc.), that’s where we will - at some point in time - experience ‘feeling trashed.’

That’s an expression which has a whole bin of feelings, to be true - and all of them apply. Wherever or however we experience feeling crumpled or sincerely, vulnerably concerned - that’s a Pisces moment which will stir or bestir your world, your life, your spirit, moving you to be or do something, to think about something or perhaps to imagine something or surrender yourself to some inspirational ‘greater feeling’...

Within us, when a Piscean wave overcomes us, some of us fight, some of us surrender and accept. And whatever that situation, what’s most and finally at stake is having to live with - and through - the depth of our feelings.

A trash can. Our trash can. That place where we feel how we feel about our most vulnerable of mortal feelings.

Good or bad, despairing or marveling, that’s what life taps into this month as the Moon comes to its  Full phase at 16 Pisces on September 9th at 1:39 in the morning UT/+0 time.

The Full Moon at 16 Pisces (glyph chart)

The Full Moon at 16 Pisces (text chart)

Known for protectiveness and often a touch of caution some would think borders on suspicion, 16 Pisces challenges our priorities in ways basic, very human and entirely understandable. The crux of the matter begins with some situation which has two sides of it: the localized or personal and a more worldly, mortal or universal. Alliances and perspectives become important, especially where we have made a choice under duress/stress which shows some sort of weakness.

The weakness itself may be valid or something easily coped with - that’s not the point. The point is how we feel about having chosen to ally ourselves with someone or something without yet knowing its/their true capacities... and that not knowing is what has set us up for whatever we feel now.

Again, this can be good... or it can be a problem. That depends on how well we deal with how we feel about reality - and separate from that, the realities of our emotions/emotionality and our own relationship (or ability to relate) to that.

There are two planetary ‘pictures’ in the chart for this transiting event, the first of which is a grand trine (above) which has our emotionality - for good or not - tied into things and bound up with matters which are ongoing whether we want them to be or not. With Vesta sitting in the degree (16 Scorpio) that Saturn went direct in back on July 20th, some part of what we are dealing with comes out of a ‘turn of events’ (or fortune, or a decision) made then.

Chiron retrograde in an emotional degree (15 Pisces) of an emotional sign tells us that when we do not know what to do we rely on inner instinct [Moon-Polyhymnia]... and yet at this point, something [Saturn at 18 Scorpio] challenges our ability to interact successfully with others.

Mostly such challenges are simply about who goes first. (We’re waiting for someone who is waiting on us.) But in certain circumstances there is so much grievance collecting and imagining of injustices (read: having forgotten one’s personal boundaries) that things could get very sticky.

Fortunately Full Moons are merely ‘a phase.’ Like teenagers, they move on.

Eventually, that is.

As for the other planetary picture, that’s a grand cross (or grand square).

...And though this grand cross doesn’t include the Moon or Sun, it does connect to the grand trine we just talked about - through Sirius/Juno, a combination which speaks to ‘brilliant management’ best realized by dealing with one thing at a time.

In opposition to Sirius/Juno stands Pluto (in retrograde) plus Hera (the quality of support) and fixed stars Facies (negative complications) and charismatic Vega. This is a recipe for complications, most of which will require that we not get overly frustrated (or panicked) in order to get through successfully.

So are we being brilliant in the cause of dealing with a problem? Or are we carrying on being brilliant when... (as was said in the film version of ‘The Wizard of Oz’)... when someone drops a proverbial house on us?

Alpheratz-Uranus in Aries speaks to interruptions of effort, a retreat of some kind or a very sudden feeling that something is ‘gone’ without notice or ‘gone too soon’ in some cases. In opposition to this, Charybdis-Atropos speaks to trying again - or ceasing to continue trying (shades of Saturn-Vesta!) depending on which mode you have been in, and this stopping or starting may well be all about timing, timing, timing as Mercury-Diadem indicates a stream of critically clarified perception. However... the degree of this conjunction (9 Libra) isn’t always all that directly productive - there is a strain of wanting to push others into doing something simply because you can’t be bothered to consider here.

This is also the degree Mars went direct in back in May, raising a second direct note (the other being Saturn) to events which have already taken place.

The degree 16 Pisces has a Sabian Symbol which reads as follows: the capacity inherent in all great sociocultural images to unite the members of a community in a display of excellence.

Will we connect and unite or not? And if we do connect and become united, what belief will we allow ourselves to 'phase in' so that we can be and live united in something which fits us equally and all?
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