Solar Eclipse Scheat: Flight against Insight

The Solar Eclipse of January 4, 2011 as photographed by Hinode

(photo credit: NASA)

.

Solar eclipses are highly individual beasts. And the eclipse of March 20th - the totality of which will occur at 9:46 in the morning (UT/+0 time) - is no different.

This isn’t to say solar eclipses don’t have some ‘guidelines’ we can go by. Time-wise, they last a full three years (36 months), and often (particularly if the eclipse hits your chart with any acuity) there will be a ‘turn of events’ at around the 30-month (2.5 year) mark.

Eclipses also follow a metaphysical ‘reflection’ of the event we see in our sky. As the Moon (the astrological emblem of everyday events and feelings) ... crosses in front of the Sun (general life around us and our mental consciousness) ... and ‘blacks’ the Sun out, something in life “goes away.”

It too gets ‘blacked out” or lost.

What the thing is which is has to do with where the eclipse falls in your natal and solar chart, and any planet/dwarf planet, node or cusp point ‘hit’ by eclipse transit (take this to mean all the attributes you would associate with that planet/dwarf planet, node or cusp point in your own life) will also lose all semblance to what they were not but a short time ago.

This eclipse has been coming ‘towards’ us for several months now. If it’s aspecting your chart, you’re long past beginning to feel something ... you’re either in the thick of it, or you’re sufficiently overwhelmed by it that you’re not necessarily thinking of other things, but...

... you’re thinking of other things.

Total Solar Eclipse of March 20, 2015 at 29 Pisces (glyph chart)

9:36 am (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

.

Total Solar Eclipse of March 20, 2015 at 29 Pisces (text chart)

9:36 am (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific) 
.

So what we are dealing with now is 29 Pisces (the eclipse occurring at 29 Pisces), and that ‘other thing’ you’re thinking about is either connected to what happened to ‘waylay’ you two-and-a-half years ago, or it is whatever you were doing which got waylaid two-and-a-half years ago.

In eclipse terms, that would be the eclipse which occurred towards the end of 2012, which would be another total eclipse, that one having been an eclipse at 21 Scorpio which occurred on the same date that Uranus went direct at 4 Aries.

(It was also my personal Saturn return, but that’s besides the point - except for the fact my writing in all genres is nothing if not of an unusual nature and therefore Uranian.)

The 4 Aries part of that equation does mean something to us now: 4 Aries is perfectly trine 4 Sagittarius - and 4 Sagittarius is the degree Saturn went retrograde at last weekend (on March 14th).

The meaning of that much: in a moment, the lesson became real. If an eclipse hadn’t been involved at both ends of this equation this would merely be a moment of discovery. Instead, there is a deep and deeply personal lesson for those whose charts answer (by orb) to 29 Pisces, 21 Scorpio, 4 Sagittarius and/or 4 Aries.

Also: the more of these points which affect your chart, either the deeper or the more problematic the situation is going to be or become.

To those who were affected by the 21 Scorpio eclipse (back in 2012) but whose charts are NOT affected by 29 Pisces (see the chart below), your life will proceed based on what has developed over the past two-plus years which will now ‘blossom’ into new things and a more determinative direction over the next six (6) months.

To those with charts which were affected by the 21 Scorpio eclipse and the current 29 Pisces eclipse, you are now at a turning point which will start you off in a new direction which from here will evolve and develop for a full two-and-a-half years before you will encounter another ‘twist’ in the plan. It may be similar to what you are encountering now, or it could be entirely different, and whatever is ‘lost’ now - this being a lesson of all eclipses - was something which you may have loved and cherished, but which in reality was something which was standing in the way of your learning how to do something you will need to do now and in the future for reasons you cannot yet know.

The degree 29 Pisces is one known for strong intuition and by some accounts, psychic ability. Either quality can be a benefit, according to this influence, yet there is a danger of falling into (or falling for) some notion which either isn’t true or simply isn’t what it appears to be - either on the visual surface (as it ‘appears’ to be in person) or as ‘veiled,’ imprecise or ‘rumored’ information.

If this eclipse aspects your chart, some form of this 29 Pisces dynamic will be present (at the present) in your life, whether it’s your ‘notion’ which is in play, someone else ‘owning’ the 29 Pisces quality, someone or some situation which specifically embodies the 29 Pisces concept or some influx or sudden happenstance which creates a 29 Pisces-type confluence where that which has “been” is now against that which can be, will be or could be, creating an intermittent conflict between various factions in your life.

For many, all of the above (the 29 Pisces theme) will cause the ‘abandoning’ of one situation for another - and that ‘other’ situation is the ‘twist’ provided by the eclipse of 2.5 years ago (at 21 Scorpio) as it now closes in on maturation.

And for good or bad, the essence of 21 Scorpio has a few things in common with 29 Pisces - not the least of which being that its concerns where we live in our human emotions. Something ‘back then’ (late 2012) ended - if not in fact, in our heart or mind. And in the space (psychic space) which arose as we let go of (or closed out) something which had gone before, a conflict naturally arose. That conflict - which was the seeming ‘cause’ of much which was “on the surface” back then just as the 29 Pisces issues (and all which have prompted them) are now - that conflict pitted  your own desire to have a stable home or a good home and all the warmth and love of family against your own instinct to be freed of responsibilities in order to live out your promise and/or some particular concepts or potentials.

In the case of 21 Scorpio, back in 2012 (and to some extent now) there was some ‘status quo’ which was “exploded,” either through the ‘blacking out’ of the eclipse process or as the end of something brought about some release or breakthrough which may well have (at the time) felt highly liberating.

And now, because of something in the 29 Pisces vein, many of us - in particular those whose charts would be aspected by 21 Scorpio and 29 Pisces - will find that there’s something nebulous or seemingly impossible to sort through (at least at the moment) which we have in some way, or by some method, managed to put ourselves into position to avoid (avoidance being a prime coping mechanism employed in many a Pisces situation) ... which we will now do in connection with something which harkens back to 21 Scorpio matters.

All of which doesn’t even begin to address the subject of Scheat.

Currently positioned at 29 Pisces, the astrological energetic which is Scheat is part of - if also separate from - the meaning for 29 Pisces. Like other fixed stars, Scheat functions somewhat akin to a ‘background’ note: oftentimes fixed stars represent things like currently “accepted” (or acceptable) societal standards, methods or notions. As we talk a lot about royal stars here at astroPPM, it’s worth noting that Scheat is not a royal star so there is no specific ‘warning’ about some quality or thing we must avoid in our Scheat “encounter.”

Why this is Scheat’s ‘theme’ however, is a bit more complicated. Often “short-handed” astrologically as a form of denial (generally a blanket denial which is as often wrong as right in its rationale and/or facts) Scheat is one of the stars in the so-called ‘great square’ of constellation Pegasus ... which would be complicated enough except that as a constellation Pegasus is connected to (intermingled with) constellation Andromeda.

 constellations Andromeda (top) and Pegasus (bottom) imaged

using Stellarium software

.

And yes, the myths behind these two points are connected as well.

What connects them?

The answer there is a ‘who,’ not a ‘what,’ - and her gorgon name is Medusa, an astrological emblem of all those things which frighten us at an earnestly visceral level about our Self, and how we may well have done that Self - in capacity or reality - sincere harm.

- link to post -

Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

Pegasus is not Medusa’s child, per se. But when the young hero Perseus cuts Medusa’s head off, from the blood which flows forth (whether from the head or body isn’t noted) springs two creatures, one of which is Pegasus.

Is Pegasus the part of Medusa which would have wanted to ‘fly away’ from the fate she brought upon herself - and which (it might be argued) she was fated to bring upon herself by being born mortal? Maybe so, for in Pegasus is an animalistic potency (strength of instinct, speaking of 29 Pisces) which Medusa was born with, and which Medusa herself fell afoul of while in the course of serving the goddess of logic and dispassionate wisdom, Pallas Athena.

Medusa’s crime against Athena was the breaking of her vow to adhere to the teachings of wisdom and logic. And that she committed this crime by getting ‘carried away’ with Neptune makes it curiously fitting that Pegasus - literally the embodiment of ‘getting carried away by animalistic energies’ came into being as one of Medusa’s most captivating legacies when Perseus cut Medusa’s head off, reminding us of that common mortal instinct to ‘cut off’ that which is scaring or plaguing us.

Does it die? According to the myth, that ‘thing’ may die - but it may also become other forms of expression, such as Pegasus and the Chrysaor are as the literal blood of Medusa. In our lives, such attributes sometimes seem to be embodied as other people - but that’s exactly where we deceive our Self: we attract others not because of who they are, but because of something we are trying to solve or access or understand about our Self ...  hence the ‘harkening back’ to earlier eclipses and the intricately intertwined ways in which we fight to grow and be who we really are even as we deny things about (or even to) that Self which ultimately will not ... and cannot be denied because we are our Self.

We want to project even though its our feelings which we’re projecting. We want to exteriorize, even though anything which is in our life is something which we consciously know is there because we are connected to it. All of this may well be part of the nebulous ‘slippery-ness’ of the current eclipse - and hence of our desire to ‘take flight’ into, or away from something, even if what we’re running from now is the very thing we were running exactly towards not even three years ago.

And it’s all about us. Whatever happens now, whatever form or sort of inexorable change is functioning in your life, recognizing and accepting that something is indeed over (done, gone, lost, etc.) is the first if perhaps most gut-wrenching step any of us can take on whatever internalized emotional path we are being called to walk along.

And we will take that step. We will because that’s what solar eclipses do: they alter life’s ‘playing field’ such that we have no choice but to swim or sink into an oblivion which is only composed of our own unwillingness to learn anew or differently.

The Birth of Pegasus and Chrysaor

by Edward Burne Jones (1876-1885)

.

As for the Andromeda side of this ‘connection,’ Andromeda was the daughter of queen Cassiopeia - the queen whose story (and energetic) was provoked when last April’s solar eclipse (at 8 Taurus) conjuncted fixed star Schedir.

- link to post -

April’s 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse

(Part 3: Stars and Patterns)

Does this mean that if your chart was also aspected by last April’s eclipse this current eclipse would be stronger or maybe more complicated? That can be the case, though from season to season eclipses may not be ‘connected’ (in your life experiences) even if sequential eclipses do aspect your chart.

Sometimes all it means is that good or bad, you’re going through a lot of changes as your life evolves from one set of standard quos to another. Eclipses don’t take away things we don’t need, but they often eliminate something we really and sincerely like, love and depend on. Sometimes they seem to eliminate things only to have life bright that which we thought was lost back around - often at the 2.5 year ‘twist’ moment of the given eclipse.

When that happens, we may be assured of one thing: we have learned something more (or new) about not living a compromised life. We are meant to do certain things in our lifetimes. We have certain purposes. The thousands of years of solar eclipse lore (as separate from lunar eclipse records) strongly suggests that solar eclipses are about keeping us from that which works ‘well enough’ but which in the end will prevent us from doing those things or knowing those people we were created to know, do or be part of.

So there was Cassiopeia, the mother of the gracious and beautiful Andromeda. As Queen of Ethiopia, Cassiopeia was of a mind to say and do pretty much what she wanted to do, so it never occurred to her (it never does) that her boastful claim that her mortal daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the sea nymph Nereids would annoy Neptune, but it did.

Yes, it’s that mortal-versus-god thing again. Any time a mortal (or even a demi-mortal) starts bragging about beauty and comparing themselves to the gods in Greek myth, you know there’s trouble coming ... and this story doesn’t disappoint.

No, disappointing is a Neptune thing, and when the sea god heard about Cassiopeia claim, said god sent along Cetus, a sea monster to attack Ethiopia.

Understandably, King Cepheus (Cassiopeia’s husband and Andromeda’s father) was seriously concerned. But was he so concerned that when an oracle told Cepheus and Cassiopeia that they should sacrifice their daughter to Neptune’s monster he stopped to object?

No. Just the monstrous threat of Cetus, an oceanic monster which in representing the worst water can deliver metaphysically translates into the worst that emotions and/or emotionality can delve out - that was quite enough to frighten Cepheus and Cassiopeia, who promptly had Andromeda taken down to the shore and chained to a rock so as to await the monster’s arrival.

Andromeda by Gustave Dore

.

And Cetus - that terrible emotion which rises from our depths - did indeed soon approach the Ethiopian shore. But as that happened, Perseus, who was flying towards his own homeland (with the head of Medusa carefully hidden in a sack), spotted the maiden and swooped in to do the heroic deed.

Thus was Cetus slain and Andromeda rescued from an emotionally benighted fate her own parents had left her to be swallowed up by.

Lest we forget (or miss this point),there is a real piece of psychology wrapped up in Cassiopeia - the woman referred to as ‘chained’ in her own right, seeking to chain and sacrifice her only daughter to pay for her own bad act. In real life, parents are of course never supposed to do such a thing - and yet they do, all too often to all to ill a lifetime effect. But myth is not real life, and since when we read myth metaphysically we treat the various parts of the story as facets or aspects of personality, situation or mentality which we ourselves will encounter, all these questions of family and emotionality, loyalty, blood and morality refer to us and whether we have learned not to embody and/or ‘pass down’ (or ‘pass along’) restrictions which have been handed to us, or restrictions as a legacy - as restrictive measures which have been foisted upon us.

Wherever Scheat falls in our chart, that is where we become tempted to put aside being who we are in some ‘cause’ described by that house. We will feel societal pressure - perhaps on both, or every side. That alone is enough to push many (if not most) of us off course with our Self - which is really the cause in which Scheat and 29 Pisces are united. Somewhere in our psyches we each have somewhere where we have been resistant or reluctant to cross some ‘line’ - not with others, but with our Self. And now, with Scheat being eclipsed, anything and everything which has been denied is going to come out. Even if you won’t discuss it, others will - even seemingly out of thin air.

Many of us are already gills deep in such situations. Yet some ... a relative few, but some ... will run into Scheat challenges as the solar eclipse moves through - say, in the two or three weeks which follow the eclipse, which is generally the period during which we change in response to recent events, pressures and other sorts of input.

That Scheat so often astrologically represents an accepted social, public or personal position on/about some ‘thing’ which may be wrong (but which is unlikely to change even though a lack of change equates to standing in one’s own way) ... that all that is being set off at all by this eclipse implies that there is ... or recently has been a ‘testing’ of some standard - perhaps with new information or some sort of challenge. For the past several months things have been unsettled in some area which may touch on ‘general feelings’ (intuitive or otherwise) going around ... or which may seem to be crumbling the very solidity upon which your concepts are built.

That’s the eclipse as a ‘package,’ so to speak. Within that, Scheat is the element which tempts you to ‘run from’ the (Pisces) feelings which would be associated with facing something in/about your life - or the loss of something in/about your life. And since there is hardly anything astrological any more global, basic and potentially disorienting than a solar eclipse, every single one of us (particularly those whose charts are aspected by orb) ... every one of us is going through these internal ordeals regarding external/externalized issues which are (or have) raised uncertainty and indecision in whatever area would promote/provoke an awareness of the difference between fantasy and reality, and how to relinquish our hold on that - to blindly believe something simply because it is or isn’t presented as ‘good’ or ‘the norm’ or however else ... is a  sacrifice of Self and a compromise of potential.

Solar eclipses evolve over the full three years associated with their passage. That means the coronal inspiration - that special thing about each one of us which we will do well to utilize in this eclipse’s passage - will be with us until February, 2018. The ‘twist’ in this eclipse’s Scheat tale however, that falls around six months prior to said date in August 2017, when on the 21st of the month there will be a total solar eclipse at 28 Leo - a position which is in orb of conjunction with Regulus, the royal star which says that success cannot be achieved if we have indulged our Self with regards to revenge or vengeance.

That may well have bearing on what some people do now. Or what they deny (or deny to have any part in) which come late 2017 returns as an issue to trip them up or haunt them.

Of course with an eclipse at 29 Pisces, the Sun is a scant degree away from 0 Aries, which in the case means that the Sun will be moving through its Aries ingress (which is otherwise known as the Aries Equinox) at 22:46 in the evening (10:46 p.m., UT/+0), only some twelve hours after the eclipse reaches totality. Some might say the Sun's exit out of Pisces so soon after an eclipse underscores the eclipse message about letting go or leaving something, someone or some situation behind, either consciously or unconsciously. But whether you feel that's apt in your case, what we know from the astrology is that if the Sun (signifying our consciousness) moves out of Pisces, that puts everything about the eclipse into the '12th harmonic' position vis-a-vis where we are as of 10:46 on that evening. (And obviously, on into Aries from there.)

There is a difficulty sketched in here - namely that the 12th harmonic is where we tend to do all those self-compromising, emotionally-driven things which are associated with ... with what?

With Pisces.

What this says is that most of us will fall (broadly) into two very ill-defined groups - the group which is going to take its issues on (emotional though they may be) in a more 'behind the scenes' mode ... and those who will, virtually as fast as they recognize their part in some problem (or the fact they are part or party to a problem) begin to deny it - either the problem, that the problem is a problem, or that they have, or have had anything to do with the subject. Once the Sun enters Aries, a natural grand-fire-trine-by-sign will be 'ignited' in day-to-day matters by virtue of the Sun's 'generality' quotient. And that will bring out a lot of Jupiter (in Leo) - Saturn (in Sagittarius) - Uranus (in Aries) postulating, projecting, promising and pontificating which with Mercury entering Aries as of March 31st and the 14 Libra Lunar Eclipse on April 4th promises a couple of high-powered, highly motivated and interestingly imaginative weeks, much of the subject(s) of which will - despite what people might want you to think - be reflective of unsettled feelings just below many a surface about where one's life or efforts are really headed.

NGC 7319 in constellation Pegasus

(photo credit NASA, ESA, July 2009)

.

So ... as I started out by saying, eclipses are mysteriously squirrelly beasts. They’re beautiful and they’re awe-inspiring in their ability to remind us of something which otherwise we don’t tend to think about much: namely how we don’t control much in, or about this universe and Existence. At 29 Pisces - the last degree in the whole of the zodiac - it may be easy to get lost in the idea that everything is over simply because one thing has run its useful or even some theoretically eternal course. Moreover, the way eclipse cycles work, this isn’t 29 Pisces as the ‘end’ of the zodiac round at all, if simply because eclipses - being a function of the lunar nodes (you can’t have an eclipse without those lunar nodes!) - because the nodes cycle backwards.

And if we think of the entire cavalcade of astro-events leading into this eclipse ... Saturn's station, Lilith's station prior to that, Mercury entering Pisces as Juno went direct ... it all very much speaks to that process which has been coming upon us for the past few months which is about being led to, forced to, exposed to that which we fear most about ourselves, not so we can be destroyed by it, but so that we can finally recognize something about our Self which WE have been denying (or simply not seeing about our Self) for a long time.

Probably too long a time.

That means we may be fooling our Self about what we really want - which is one of the tougher parts of this solar eclipse. As fast as we recognize what we need (or really want), whether we have it in our hands or not are we likely to be giving up one denial for another because we haven't yet accepted (the challenge of Pisces being emotional acceptance) those parts of our Self which we don't really like.

Not like doing ... LIKE. The person we back away from (lunar nodes cycle backwards). The thing in our Self we habitually deny (asteroid Lilith) doing or being. The thing hard times may have us thinking we should retreat from trying to do in or about or with others in our world because (Scheat) we don't understand or (Scheat) they don't want to listen.

Or maybe they want to listen. Or they want to talk to us or hear from us or understand us ... and we have been denying our need to be heard, felt and witnessed in our soul. Beyond the days and trials and relationships and commitments, beyond our hopes and without the motivation of plans we are simply ... who are we?

And are we really who we think we are - or want to be?

That's the level at which the person you are is most likely to be affected by this eclipse.

So that's one part of it, with the other part of the process - the 'critical' part of the 29 "critical" degrees of Pisces which speaks to the societal, plural ‘we,’ the mankind 'we' as well as the individual 'we' - WE are already past another zodiacal transition. WE are feeling (and witnessing) the feelings which have resulted from actions which themselves are reactions (in particular) to things which have come to be or taken place over the past 4-5 years.

And now WE ... and we (as individuals) will just have to decide who we are - and who we’re willing to be, considering we can neither be everything nor (in most cases) even everything we expect of ourselves, noble though our intentions and efforts may be. That's just part of being mortal, and Pisces - as a sign - is nothing if not about not just weathering the experience of being mortal, but experiencing both the turbulent and sunny times - each for what it is in the whole of what is supposed to be a widely varied and variable life.
.
.
.

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.
.
.
.

April’s 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse (Pt. 3: Stars and Patterns)

An Annular Eclipse

(photo credit: Sancho Panza, October 2005)

Each of Earth’s yearly solar eclipses is a process...in this case one which in rolling over us on April 29th at 6:15 in the morning (UT/+0) moves us out of a ‘breaking down’ phase where whatever is outmoded gets revealed so as to challenge our values and whatever we value or why we value or prioritize it, for good, bad and indifferent.

From this shift, exposure and need to re-evaluate our perceptions will come a new phase of development, experience and resultant utilization of abilities.

And though we may need such changes, let’s be real - we may not like going through them. There is something about the solar eclipse process which, with all due respect for dentistry is rather like having teeth extracted without painkillers.

There is a level at which we should take that sort of difficulty as a hint, perhaps. Why? Because throughout the millennia, the observation of solar eclipse effects on humans and in this world includes some of our very worst attributes.

You know...that very popular human sport called “being stubborn.”

Mind you, having opinions is lovely and standing for what you believe in and who you are the most necessary of things in this world. (Those who can’t do even that much have a very hard time.) And stubbornness has it’s place - no question. But when we are stubbornly refusing to know ourselves...that’s where eclipses come in.

Eclipses are very mysterious timekeepers. But they do seem to clock out areas of our life which will get exposed to us no matter what else happens and who else does, or doesn’t see.

Also: in the case of eclipses - a “blinding” object in the sky - IF someone else ‘sees’ you in the middle of dealing with your eclipse puzzle, whether or not they react you may be assured that witnessing is part of their own process. In other words (to quote a seriously Leo female I used to work with), ‘it’s so NOT about YOU.’

Well, mostly not. There is this factor of ‘like attracts like’ (metaphysical water/emotions seeking its/their own level) between people at eclipses and for good or bad, whether we like it or not the polarizing effects have much to teach us, if we’re only willing to learn.

So...do we value learning more or sticking with a ‘decided upon’ perspective or set of priorities?

Right now...right in this moment as we move into and through the solar eclipse, something will end or get ‘blacked out’ as the metaphysical ‘eclipsing’ of our former ‘norm’ - “the way we thought things were” gets wiped away.

This doesn’t have to be violent. It doesn’t even have to be unpleasant, though eclipses in Taurus tend to be particularly trying as they reveal things which, while they may or may not make us vulnerable in reality, sure feel that way.

It’s a prescription for insecurity - all of which we are being ‘told’ (astrologically) is going to challenge us with our own ability to act on faith...or to be faithful to some promise and/or precept.

-link to-

Mercury in Taurus / Neptune at 7 Pisces

Solar eclipses happen about every six months, reminding us of our mortality in the sense that events which happen during ‘eclipse seasons’ operate at a mental latitude omnipotent, humbling and incomprehensible in the moment. The sextile from Neptune (at 7 Pisces) to the eclipse (at 8 Taurus) signals a manifesting, an outpouring or ‘bursting forth’ of all things which confuse and disorient us precisely so that we can see or witness something different...or at least differently than we have seen it.

From that will come a nebulous strew of new perceptions, some of which - at least - will challenge us to be more honest with our Self.

And if we can’t (or won’t) go there...then we feel our own pain most acutely. It’s easy to make excuses now. It’s easy to do that which makes us feel better in this moment. Yet even the most determined (or hard headed, depending) among us are likely to have doubts at the moment. Whatever we’re involved in (or not involved in), there’s no clear path through the fray.

We will cope, of course. With the degree of this eclipse being 8 Taurus this time is simply personal in nature - and equally so for each and every one of us, whether you’re baking cookies at home or being focused on by schools and scads of media on some high profile international stage. In some way reflective of our ability to think ahead, adapt along the way and plan for the proverbial ‘rainy day’ (whether that’s past or present) we are at something of a ‘checkpoint’ in time - an idea quaintly referred to by the eclipse’s Sabian description ‘A fully decorated Christmas Tree.’

Can this reference be religious? It could be, but since the origin of Christmas is northern-hemispheric it’s as (or more) likely that this reference is to cyclic renewal: the idea that late December is when in the northern hemisphere days start growing longer and (solar) renewal is thus promised.

There will be another growing season, another harvest, we have more time, we can try, try again.

Evidently we humans like knowing there’s brighter light ahead. Before Christmas and around the globe humans have always celebrated the moment when we feel life quicken and begin to grow.

We celebrate it in our calendar, we celebrate it when in the moment when we learn of a human’s conception - or see their birth. Such things transcend our differences as societally, culturally, globally accepted moments worth celebrating even in the life of our dearest enemy.

Okay...so maybe we won’t celebrate the birth of their child as they would, but we’d probably stop shooting at them long enough to let them kiss their newborn.

Those who don’t and won’t go that far may win in some short run, but in doing so either seed or reveal their monster/monstrous tendencies...which only begs the question when they’ll notice that the psychic blood being spilled is really theirs.

Solar eclipses are not gentle. Solar eclipses often manifest in group experiences but are always and eternally about us - who we are as individuals and our ability to recognize, realize and/or deal with who we are.

At the moment, this entire process is highly amplified and yet strangely ‘inaccessible’ - that being the manifestation of that pesky Mars still in (Libra) retrograde which remains with us until-and-through Mars’ May 20th station - a station which will open doors to ‘move forward’ starting at the ‘theoretical/mental’ end of things with actions and “progress” (as we see it) slowly picking up pace as we move through June. Prior to May 20th the (Mars/Libra retrograde) ‘gap’ between the ‘me’ and ‘them’ (or ‘it’) of life will tend to feel like isolation. Where we are and where we want to be are just not in synch. We can think of this as being given us a bit of ‘space’ and “mental room” and many of us will do (and have been doing) just that.

But there is that (Neptunian) insecurity. And if there’s anything humans don’t like, it’s feeling insecure.

And why would that be? Could it be that insecurity stems from feeling that our personal power (or power to be the person we are) is being threatened?

Or maybe we aren’t “all that” (with or without the bag of chips)?

The good news is that we’re all in this together. The bad news is that there is no clear-cut solution to whatever it is we’ve gathered onto our plate...nor are we all that happy about having to confront knowing about all those choices which got us to wherever we are at the moment.

But then, so did everybody else. And if E=mc2’d...or if you merely want to think about Existence as a single thing which at whatever level manifests as the whole of what it is in every given moment, then you...me...the doorknob and your computer, we are ALL energy.

As is all the space between us - which really means we’re contiguous...from which vantage point individuality takes on a whole other perspective: that of knowing our part in order to play our part in a Whole which provides all we need and all we could ever conceive of or want.

So given that, who are we fighting when our feelings prompt us to upset? It’s a whole different question, isn’t it?

And one which is not all that comfortable to deal with as generational shifts continue evolving. Deep within we want things to change - we just aren’t sure that anyone else knows how to do the right thing.

Then again, neither do we. Our lives social, societal, worldly and planetary are all changing, bringing about a wholesale crumbling of old allegiances (Pluto/Sabine) and whatever attitudes or perspectives have outlived/completed their usefulness in our lives, our world, our life and times.

Whatever (Pluto/Vega) appeal brought such qualities to the fore is beginning to fade, asking that we (Pluto) transform our Self - not that (Uranus) change is very easy. The innate difference between Plutonic and Uranian processes has pitted us against our own ability to tolerate inexorable inevitabilities we may or many not like amidst an aura of fractious reactivity, ‘shaking us’ at an entirely (TNO Typhon) primal level and as always, Uranus will manifest as situations which 'exert' change in a more abrupt force where we are unwilling or unable to be sufficiently flexible.

Given the ongoing Mars/Libra retrograde, we may see such displays in others...Or we may feel like someone is ‘doing’ something “to” us (or even with us in mind) when that very concept is far less (if at all) about them and (more or less) entirely about why we’re reacting to them in the manner that we're doing.

We feel like it wasn’t long ago (Diadem @ 9 Libra) when in comparison to this moment, things were simple. And part of us does know that the difficulties of this moment are valuable because whether we like it or not, some of humanity’s most valuable (Diadem) lessons come not from joy but through the discomfort of times when we fight the hardest with our Self.

And this is where solar eclipses get so interesting. In moving over our world they move through our lives erupting in whatever sort of event or situation will bring out our weaknesses - in this case, our weakest values.

Priorities - particularly those we have been comfortable with allowing or identifying with (not to mention being known for) either have or will form  lasting (Lachesis) images (Photographica) we will carry forward for some time to come.

Our challenge: not to get (Europa) carried away and not to (Uranus in Aries) over-react. Innovations and various forms of ‘catching up’ are needed and meeting those needs will require (Uranus change)...and probably some degree of sacrifice (Alpheratz) as we relinquish old ideas and ways of thinking, particularly about who we ‘are’ (or need to be) in our own eyes - or those of others.

That all of this comes to us in the form of a grand cross suggests a period of days...even weeks...which with whatever else they bring will also pose challenges, challenges which through their very lack of resolution cause us to question.

Some of our questions will ask why we’ve (Capricorn) come to this place. Some of our questions will ask what we can do in the (Libra) face of feeling like nothing can be done. Some of our questions will cause us to want to know why it is that as individuals or whatever form of family, group or alliance we have such issues (Cancer) with living a fruitful, peacefully productive life. Are we really at such cross-purposes with an other, or with our (Aries) Selves?

All of which brings us to the most symbolic and astro-mythic figure in this side of this eclipse as represented by fixed stars Hamal and Schedir being at 7 Taurus, just a degree off the eclipse itself.

8 Taurus manifests generally as sensitivities and difficulties, one which feeds the other. Responsibilities become focal whether our issue is a rejection of responsibility or our being overwhelmed in the face of responsibilities we don’t know how to (or simply can’t) handle with the whole of this degree being somewhat more ‘airy’ (idea-driven) than many a more earthy, ‘reality oriented’ Taurean degree. With the eclipse at 8 Taurus it is the ‘idea’ of the value we have lacked - most of all in our Self - which in becoming exposed changes our ‘playing field.’

Against this, 7 Taurus is a highly corporeal degree - and one known for its focus on ‘physical existence.’ Not known as a particularly pleasant degree, 7 Taurus tests our ability to cope with painful realities which at some level are the result of choices made, perhaps over time (read: probably within the last eclipse cycle of 19 years) which did not fully grasp or ‘embody’ the reality of consequences - be they theoretical, physical or...considering the ‘trigger’ on this lesson is a solar eclipse...life changing in terms of how we regard life, whether or not our lives are touched in any moment-to-moment manner.

As for the stars, as primary/alpha star in the constellation Aries the Ram, Hamal (alternate name: El-Nath) stands for either the type of (Saturn/Mars) focus and motivation which could be typified as ‘determined effort’ ...or (at the other end of the polarity string) something akin to ‘limited options’ or ‘restricted range’ (implication: of activity, motion or effectiveness). Like most fixed star effects, Hamal’s ‘backdrop to life’ quality tends to take on some ‘coloration’ from whatever is associated with it or in its constellation (Aries) at the time the star is ‘triggered,’ as it is being by a solar eclipse one degree away.

As photographed by NASA and ESA, HST-G1 (also known as Mayall II)

near the core of the Andromeda Galaxy (Sept 2006)

Metaphysically speaking, the eclipse marks at time which seeks to educate and inform us through the ‘expose’ or ‘release’ all things having to do the energies of Hamal and the principle of all things Aries and currently Aries, giving us to think about the nature of our consciousness, about what we’re doing with our life, about who we’re being and about the innate innocence involved in being human, an innocence and vulnerability of mortality we so often like to (consciously) forget.

The eclipse is in Taurus, to be sure. But with the ‘currently transiting Aries’ list currently being headlined by Uranus and dwarf planet Eris, that points to changes which come about through whatever puts us in position to be tumbled into periods of self-confrontation.

And considering how few people really like that sort of thing, we can hardly expect things to be powder puff pink and cutely rosy. Considering the retrograde implications here (Mars rules Aries), something about ‘them’ hits ‘home’ to (Aries) on a personal level by whatever means will promote careful (even critical) reflection. The more (Libra) ‘married’ we are to ‘them’ or their (Libra) ideas, or the more we tend to impose, restrict or reject others when and where they are simply different, the more difficult things will seem.

In other words, we need to know and be who we are, as do others. But to the extent that this equation (either the being or doing or both) is out of balance, things now won’t ‘pay’ or ‘play out’ as anticipated and the more problematic the moving ‘through’ this eclipse period is likely to be.

Situations have now broken down to where we can either ourselves or feel our own inner walls. Why we have those walls is part of our metaphysical corona - the opportunity to see in Self and life that which ordinarily gets lost in day-to-day doings. Once we get through that...once we get honest (at least with our Self)...then we move on.

Constellations Cassiopeia (center), Andromeda (lower left), part of

Perseus (upper left) and the edge of Cepheus (middle/right)

 

But that probably will involve dealing with Schedir principles at some level, since of the two stars at 7 Taurus, Schedir is definitely the one related to emotional knot-tying.

The myth behind Schedir is that of Cassiopeia, the beautiful if arrogant and vain queen of Ethiopia. To those who know the tale of Niobe this story will sound familiar - though there are a few key differences. Where Niobe claimed her children were more beautiful than the collective intellectual attributes represented by Apollo (the truth of enlightenment) and sister Artemis (the truth of experience), Cassiopeia merely claimed her children were more beautiful than the sea nymph daughters of Neptune (Poseidon) known as the Nereids - which is another way of announcing that she (Cassiopeia) was so wonderful that things she could do (or produce) would be more valuable to human beings than the products of their (Neptune/Poseidon) feelings.

I’m sure you hear some bad times brewing behind this highly mythic sort of assertion, and for those  pondering in that direction, you would surely be right - although this is not the ‘arrow to the heart’ solution reaped by Niobe for her arrogance. Arrows and such being the things of airy flight, that is not how Neptune (emotionalism) chose to punish Cassiopeia. Instead he sent Cetus (a monster of our unconsciousness or ‘the monstrous image’) to attack Ethiopia itself...which is a curious way of saying that the arrogance of our emotions and/or emotional assertions is fully capable of damaging that we stand for, say we love or are trying to lead, protect or otherwise be in charge of.

How Cassiopeia responded to this situation appears to be not so noteworthy. But when king and husband Cepheus learned of the impending attack he sought out advice from an oracle. And when that oracle said the only way to save his kingdom was to sacrifice his own daughter Andromeda, that’s what Cepheus chose to do. In chose country over family he also chose intellectual ideal over emotional commitment - an idea metaphysics has long spoken of in discussions about mythic male and female character images. They aren’t ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in other words, they’re the naturally assertive and responsive parts of our individual nature... which makes this conversation at least in part about the ‘seed of the child’ within us as Alpheratz - the fixed star in conjunction with Europa in the eclipse’s grand cross - is a star located 

To finish with the myth, Andromeda was duly chained to a rock at the ocean’s edge and abandoned.

Andromeda by Gustave Dore

And just as the monster Cetus appeared, so did hero Perseus while on his way home with the head of Medusa. Having already ‘done battle’ with his own fear of facing fear (Medusa) Perseus was exactly the right fellow to rescue Andromeda from  being living ‘payment’ for her kin’s self-defined, self-concerned values.

As is our more ‘heroic’ self Perseus represents whatever part of us which has seen the bad, which has survived the ugly, which knows to look at fears in reflection. It is not that Perseus - or that we always know how to attack the problem of those dangerous emotions which can appear from the psychic deep to threaten us, but that we need to face the real need to try our best which counts.

- link to -

Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

So...over the past two months (more or less), life has evidenced and provoked situations and experiences which reveal to us the embodiment of everything which has gone wrong in areas which are (8 Taurus) rather sensitive. The whole idea of trying to deal with something complicated and which seems - at least on the intellectual level - potentially massively destructive probably bothers each and every one of us as we think about it, and that makes facing up to what must be done in facing the physical attributes of whatever is at hand now all the more difficult.

Why that is...and what that value can teach us about other things in our life? That’s for us to sort through, and as the date of the eclipse passes and we give up trying to hold onto some bygone status quo we will indeed do that.

In the meantime... since our emotions seldom let us escape such ‘monstrous’ situations unscathed it’s not surprising that Neptune/Poseidon (our emotionality) imprisoned Cassiopeia - and in classically Greek illustrations her punishment was an evocative one which has come down to us with Cassiopeia as the ‘chained woman.’

A woodcut of Cassiopeia depicted seated in her 'chair of tormentr'

(from the Hyginus 'Poeticon Astronomicon,' courtesy of US Naval Observatory Library

Tied to her throne (her ‘seat of vanity’) constellation Cassiopeia remains ‘on top of the world’ as it circles Earth’s pole, but for fully half the year she is pretty much ‘standing on her head’ - which some think of as an invitation to ‘turn tables’ and reinvent one’s self and some think of as doomed destiny.

Apparently it’s up to us. (Again.)

Through the period of this eclipse - both as we come to it and in its wake as we start a long, three-year evolutionary process we cannot as yet know the end of, Schedir’s involvement may reflect some grotesque or grotesquely negative reality in your world or which has surfaced in your life. Or it may represent your being ‘tied’ by some commitment, promise, legality, situational parameter, custom... something which prevents you from ‘getting up from your throne’ to act. Looking at the myth it would seem the more ‘tied’ or ‘bound’ we are emotionally the more we will tend to attempt to handle matters on more of an ‘externalized’ basis - and that for those choices to succeed we must be ready and willing to face our fears (or our fear of our fear) about something in fairly short order even though the fullness of whatever happens will not become apparent for several years yet to come.

That the name ‘Schedir’ (which comes from Arabic) means ‘breast’ would seem to indicate that some sort of ‘failure to nurture’ (or nourish or even ‘parent’) is involved here, in which case the ‘chain’ would be the connective between that ‘nourishing factor’ and whatever considerations you may be going through with regards to values and valuations or  evaluations being - or which have been exposed since the latter part of February (2014).

As I’ve said (and will no doubt say again), eclipses are difficult to understand while in the ‘break down’ and ‘passing through’ phases. We look back at eclipses in our life and understand what was changing at that time but seldom understand in the precision of the moment what the eclipse is truly about.

All we know are the current circumstances...which is apparently all we should know as, unbeknownst to us the universe functions as it should. And as it does that, irrevocably if effortlessly we are each and every one of us moved individually and in contiguous continuity through our metamorphic processing: stripped of  whatever seeming solid convictions are separating us from being our most self-respected - and therefore validated in value) Self - we are therefore left with the opportunity to better utilize what we are in the support of who we can be: one human among a contiguous E=mc2 many we of this greatly blue planet tend to call 'All.'
.
.
.