Mars in Aquarius

A mosaic of two photos: Mars as photographed by Viking 1 in February of 1980

and a time-lapse photograph of the Geminid meteor shower as seen from Bald Mountain,

Georgia (both photos/credit: NASA)

As of hardly a tick-tock prior to midnight on Thursday, December 4th (in the UT/+0 zone), Mars moves into Aquarius. And it’s not alone. As Mars does its thing at 23:58 (11:58 p.m.), Earth will also experience yet another meteor shower - the Geminids.

And maybe you remember the Geminids from last year when the object which creates them (Phaethon) was getting some quality scientific scrutiny because Phaethon isn’t your classic comet, but actually an asteroid?

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The NASA /Marshall Space Center December 2013

‘Fact Sheet’ on 2300 Phaethon

For our strictly astrological purposes of the moment, Phaethon is a couple of different things. For one, at it’s farthest from the Sun (at its aphelion) Phaethon is out there just beyond Mars (‘just’ being a relative term when you’re talking about space) in the heart of the asteroid belt... and at its inner-most orbital point (its perihelion) Phaethon is inside the orbit of Mercury - which in orbital terms is about as close to the Sun as objects go without simply going ‘poof.’

(Okay, so I’m not sure about the sound effects - but the idea is there.)

The asteroid belt (with its thousands of asteroid ‘residents’) being between Mars and Jupiter this describes a point where things leave our person or personal orb and become subject to the whim and will of others. It’s also representative of everything we go through between the point where we ‘start out’ with one aim or idea (that being the Mars part) ...and when we finally come to understand how to reach our stated goal - and whether that is (or isn’t) the goal we wanted starting out (Jupiter). So the asteroids themselves are thought of astrologically as things we ‘meet up with’ or encounter in life - be that physically, emotionally, mentally or any other way - as we strive to grow our life, make things work, and generally make good on our plans.

And in the case of Phaethon, what we’re meeting up with is whatever part of our nature causes us to be ‘headstrong’ about things in such a way that we take on too much and become ruled by the power we grab or assume we know how to handle - a situation which ends with all ‘going up in flames’ as we meet up with the untarnished, unvarnished truth both of what life really is (i.e., bigger than us) and the fallacies - whatever they may be - in our thinking, which here causes all to crumble, tumble and take a great fall. 

Phaethon by Gustave Moreau (1878)

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From that headstrong, ‘hard lesson’ (asteroid Phaethon) factor comes the ‘shower’ of sparks which are the meteor shower - the Geminids. Named for the fact that this meteor shower seems to have a radiant point (“apparent source”) in Gemini, this shower adds many ideas and conversations on much worthy and unworthy of contemplation to everything already under way - which with the Sun, Mercury and Venus all already in Sagittarius is already busy.

For some, this December 4-17 shower will be one all about making choices (choices are prime Gemini turf no matter how Gemini gets evoked) while for others this shower will be a mass of disparate details - and like as not some moments on insight, and a few others of confusion. Being a meteor shower, some will be ‘sparked’ and some will be inspired.

Know thy Gemini is probably one good test here as to how things are going to run, though meteor showers seldom mark huge life events all by themselves. Alone, they represent those periods of time when we’re thinking about something or enjoying something for a while... and then that fades and we move on, richer to some degree just for having experienced ourselves thinking or feeling something.

And then there’s Phaethon, which is currently retrograding back through the sign of Taurus. As Mars enters Aquarius on December 4th (in conjunction with Sabine) we may be captured, captivated, fixated or intrigued by something on the Mars end while Phaethon is stepping backwards through Taurus, conjuncting the Moon as Mars is executing its ingress (an “I WANT” moment if there ever was one!)... and continuing on to conjunct fixed stars Algol and Capulus as Jupiter goes stationary-retrograde on December 8th - which would also be the date of Saturn entering its 2015 shadow.

Fixed stars Algol and Capulus being all about the strength we operate with... or that we resist our Self or others with, with Phaethon turned inward by retrograde there is a lot being dealt with - or something of personal (Mars) priority on the table.

At least our internal mental table, if nowhere else.

As for what we do with (about, to, etc.) that... that would be the Mars part of things, as Mars has and always will symbolize assertion. Doing. Striking out.

Or not doing, saying or making your point. Either way it’s Mars, the only question being why either is being done.

In entering Aquarius in tandem with Sabine, issues which deal with being held or held back (or what we do because we are held back) are of some priority - though whether that ‘touches’ or involves us personally is another thing. As for how we feel about being involved or not involved, Mars in Aquarius does well with involvement and group efforts providing things keep moving... which given the Aquarian tendency to have ‘the flow’ stopped for  individual reasons are never unlikely.

Also... one concept to take as a given is how the quickest way to get nothing done under Mars in Aquarius is to demand that it get done, whether you’re demanding something of yourself or someone else (and that latter goes double if you’re not participating ‘in the doing’ of whatever.

As a sign there’s a sometimes subtle and sometimes heavy-handed ‘regulating’ quality to Aquarius, much as you might think of in terms of the regulating of a power system: to keep it running, the grid needs not to be overloaded and not to be cut off.

Inclusion is thus important under Mars in Aquarius - as will it be to things which go on under Mars in Aquarius. And at the very same time, overloads and overburdening are likely to also be or become problematic.

Such things reflect the very nature of airy Aquarius, a sign which wants everything (inclusively) to work well, yet which in trying to maintain exactly that often goes to some extreme. Known for energy, caution, determination and frustration all in the very same energetic pot, according to our mood, moves and motivations Mars in Aquarius may manifest very physical ways... or in dialogues with our Self or others which is both basic and esoteric at the very same time.

Known for irrational and often priceless hilarity, Mars in Aquarius represents a ‘cutting’ sort of energy which may be witty, critical, incisive and entirely and unnecessarily tangential by turns.

And when we’re not acting and reacting to such things, we’re also likely to be tired and/or anxious, restless or in need of a nap.

About the best thing we can predict is that we will - almost perversely, it would seem - not be all that predictable during the whole of this Mars-in-Aquarius time. As for how long that will last, given Mars’ 687 day-long (1.88 year) orbital cycle we would expect Mars to transit through zodiac signs at an ‘average’ speed of about one sign per 1.8 (call it two) months. But since after entering Aquarius on December 4th (UT/+0) Mars will move through the whole of this most worldly of airy and involving (at least theoretically) zodiac signs by January 12th, that’s just barely over a month - which is Mars perceptually moving at a rather rapid rate.

Just to be clear here - we’re not talking about the actual planet changing speed, but rather our perception of Mars’ movement changing speed - a factor which simply has to do with where Earth and Mars are in their individual orbits around the Sun. So given that Mars symbolizes any form of ‘action’ - from having a thought to doing a deed (etc.)  we would expect that over this next five or so weeks that we would be a.) learning a lot through this ‘increased’ rate of perception - and b,) needing to contend with a lot of things, most of which have something to do with our life in the world, as part of our world or in response to the world ...in a somehow and for some reason rather ‘compacted’ way.
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Mars in Aquarius (Glyph Chart)

December 4 2014 - 23 58 UT - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Mars in Aquarius (Glyph Chart)

December 4 2014 - 23 58 UT - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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One more item to note here, that being the idea that Mars is entering Aquarius only in aspect to Saturn - and that being an out-of-sign sextile, which is likely (for many) to manifest as an option which seems like 'too much trouble' whether it actually is or isn't. Mars/Saturn connections tend to be sober... and often sobering or of the 'wet blanket' variety - this is not a dancing-on-the-ceiling sort of combination even though in business or warfare it might be seen as a positive or plus. 

To some extent, that Mars is entering Aquarius in tandem with Sabine suggests our being committed to... in the midst of... or occupied (maybe even preoccupied) with something. That notion being reflected in the ingress chart by the strong grand trine (actually two grand trine ‘complexes’ in the same set of signs) which doesn’t involve Mars, we could also see this as our ability to ‘move’ (Mars) our Self away from things either physically or mentally - which would also fit with Aquarius, a sign which tries to ‘free’ itself of entanglements and to ‘break through’ restrictions ostensibly in order to make things better.

But yes, sometimes Aquarius energetics simply denote havoc - most often havoc which is wide-spread, either in our own life or in many (wide-spread) lives. Sometime this is a totally natural thing - such as a big weather event which snarls a traffic system - and sometimes it’s something more in keeping with Aquarius’ rulership of all things digital, electronic, societal and/or income-related (rich or poor, individual or otherwise).

Where and when Aquarian influences manifest in problematic or destructive situations, lore suggests there is something we need to learn about why we have allowed ourselves to become locked in - after all, its our world we’re destroying... why would we do that? It’s not the world we hate, it’s something about being confined by some circumstance - that thing which is getting ‘caught up’ in or by something which is not allowing our ‘system’ (or life) to function as we have defined functional.

And sometimes that’s the problem. But it's not their problem - where things aren't going as we might want them to it's our irritation or displeasure and where that comes from which is exactly at issue, not 'them' or the 'nature' of whatever is holding us up or otherwise separating us from that we feel entitled to be seen as deserving.


Aquarius has a reputation for sometimes putting on airs. Sometimes such appearances are quirky, sometimes they aspire towards the iconic and entirely unique. What separates success from failure under Aquarius is that which is born under its polarity sign, Leo - which is to say the difference between those who have earned results and those who haven't (or that which hasn't). What's important about this under Mars in Aquarius is how the Mars tendency to 'push' may push too far... or reveal the sort of brittle quality in someone's performance or presentation which allows others to see through their (social) mask.
 
Under Mars in Aquarius, how we define things comes to be of focus - and where it’s not of focus, it’s symbolism becomes that of, or that which drives surface issues. If and when we remember that Mars is an ego (personal) energy and that Aquarius is unremittingly universal and impersonal not in the 'emotional collective' Piscean sense but in the 'this works, this doesn't work' which Aquarius challenges us not to make into 'this works for me - this doesn't work for me,' lest we end up with less than we began with (and a bruised ego besides).

So we can work for the All and try to understand the whole and what our effective place in that All would be - or split away from that whole or work at breaking that whole into many or various parts. And we are bound to do some of that if only because we're now operating more under Aquarian Age rules than not - though there is still the issue of world society, which simply because countries, companies and other such structural systems do tend to be run by people who are somewhat more senior in experience is going to face (or create) turmoil because such people are (many if not most of them) imprinted most strongly by the end of the Piscean Era.

But we are now living in a first-person Aquarius time - and we will be living in that first-person Aquarius time for the next 2,000 years or so. During the whole of that time, the individualism which over the last fifty to a hundred years has begun to emerge as the engine which began to - and which continues to dissolve those tiers of power and economic caste which have been looked upon as 'fate' and which have been at the heart of many an Age of Pisces lesson will continue to evolve.

And Mars entering Aquarius is just a nibble on that block. Being that in the Aquarian Age universalism can mean everything, the Mars tendency towards personal ego becomes a challenge here. Will our individualism support us - or will it be so individual or un-modernized that we come to defeat ourselves, or end up being defeated by (Aquarian Age) forces which are...and which will continue trend towards that which is egalitarian, modern, analytical and scientific while negating traditions and the traditional merits which have no other 'claim to fame' apart from their age, tradition, longevity or standing reputation?

Under the Age of Aquarius - and thus while Mars's transit of Aquarius promotes and provokes everything from the need to think to utter outrage and alienation to joining heart and soul with a cause which means everything to us - it is our individualism and our ego's structure (or lack of same) which is going to allow us to build or cause us to experience blockades of whatever kind. And when that happens, it is our Mars essential connection to self which we will reflect on.

Mars in any sign - in part - tells us where we will get the impetus to think about who we are and what we're doing. In Aquarius, that will come from others, from society and from the influx or lack of 'rewards' now coming our way, be they economic or of any other type. And when such things happen, then we - as a Mars-in-Aquarius individual dealing with others (and our world) will get to decide whether we want to... or if we even can deal with the ‘whole,’ or if by trying to break them down we will end up going to the other Aquarian extreme where everything becomes so broken down and lacking in cohesion that there is simply too much to begin to deal with.

And yes, we could try for moderation... although Aquarius isn't known for doing anything half-way, piecemeal or otherwise without conclusiveness - at least of gesture, if not of many-an-opinion. 

The bottom line is - and will be that no one answer works unilaterally during this period. Nor will any one perspective, providing it is not that of a unilateral universal. We can try to improve and clarify, and providing we neither do everything alone nor everything together, if we will focus on a more collective notion as being that into which we fit our current concept, to the degree that we remember ourselves as 'a part of,' and not 'apart from' others and the whole of our world during these Mars in Aquarius weeks ahead...?

... Then great strides and great progress may now be achieved.

As for whether we will do that...?

That’s a different question.
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Jupiter enters Cancer at a Mercury Station

 In honor of the vast increase in Cancerian energy we're all going to be experiencing, a

fun picture of a little crab on a rock taken by Pavel in January 2009

As the Lunar Nodes continue hovering at the Scorpio and Taurus’ cross-quarter points and Ceres rolling forward into Leo, we are all going to face new questions and new reasons to be more creative and personally expansive. With the Moon having just passed through Capricorn Fullness we are in a moment where by putting ourselves and our thoughts or efforts ‘out there’ helps us see what is – and what maybe can be…

…and then, as Mercury goes on station, Jupiter moves into Cancer. The date of this dual event is Wednesday, June 26th – except for those in the Americas and eastern Pacific region, where Jupiter slides into Cancer late on the 25th.

The specifics (so we can get the persnickety data stuff out of the way) are as follows: Jupiter enters Cancer at 1:41 in the morning (UT/+0 time) on the 26th, and Mercury goes retrograde in Cancer at 23 Cancer on the 26th at 1:09 in the afternoon (again, UT/+0 time).

Not to put too fine a point on it, with Venus and the Sun already in Cancer, that’s a LOT of Cancer energy floating around. So think family, home, real estate, childhood (the result of yours and that of anyone else as a formative ‘shaping’ energetic), culture, habits, traditions, national populations and immigration, agriculture, building, buildings…and any kind of plan you have for moving forward or growing your world, your life, your ‘base’ or ‘basis’ of operation(s).

So what’s with Jupiter in Cancer?

Jupiter in Cancer is expansive – that’s the Jupiter thing – and it tends to be expansive in the areas cited above. It also exacerbates (increases) feelings about all those issues, and because Cancer is ruled by the Moon, anything concerning money connected thereto.

Cancer is the first of the zodiacal water signs, all of which are connected to wealth. The 4th house of a chart generally indicates our home or ‘home base’ but wherever we see Cancer, we get a sense of our relationship to real estate, the cost of housing and our experience of our family’s general attitude towards wealth.

Jupiter's big red spot as photographed by NASA-JPL. It's amazing to think this

'spot' is actually a Jovian 'weather system' where the cloud tops are moving at hundreds of miles an hour...!

(photo credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech)

Of course, a lot about how this manifests in your life depends on where in your chart your individual Moon is - and of course, what sign that Moon is in. What this becomes is a combination of those two factors - the house with Cancer on its cusp will indicate where you tend to build your 'foundation of emotional reactions.' You know, the what you react to and why you react to it as you do. Meanwhile, the position of the Moon is where those foundations act out - and providing your Moon is not in Cancer, that Moon position will tend to describe how you will react.

A couple of examples, both of which are helpfully donated to this cause by friends of mine who may or may not care that I'm thinking of their charts. (Yes, this is the blessing and penalty of knowing an astrologer. Occasionally you learn something, but there's also a strange feeling associated with having your metaphysical structure being being discussed with countless others...even anonymously!)

In our first example, Cancer is on the 12th house. Cancer on the 12th house is an indicator of deep, deep emotions, some of which can be downright scary. They can be scary to you...and they may just be scary to others who find out what you really feel about things and about them. Traditions may be hugely (read: overly) important to you...or then again, you may not be even remotely tolerant of anyone talking to you about traditions for reasons you just don't want to get into.

Not even with yourself.

If the Moon ruling this Cancer 12th house is (say,) in Aquarius and the 6th house, you will tend to act out all your feelings - the strong and the being-scared-of-them through qualities denoted by the keywords 'health, work, service.' That means you may have real issues with responsibility. Or maybe you'll take care of everyone but be really bad at taking care of yourself. Or maybe you only care about yourself and nobody else. Feeling your own feelings may be so powerful a thing (12th house placements are always powerful) that you can't bear to feel much...but then, given Aquarius' talent for seeing the bigger picture, maybe this is exactly what allows you to do great deeds and deal with difficulties which would scare the willies out of others.

Or let's say Cancer is on your 8th house. That makes your experiences with all forms of interactive negotiations (be they business, financial or of the Intimate Kind) a place where in risking your 8th house inner sense of "stability" (read: self respect, feeling of self worth) that your 12th house Scorpio Moon causes you to withdraw from others...and (oh by the way) choose people who will provide you with reasons to withdraw (except for the occasional fling, to be sure.)    


Wherever we see Cancer and wherever we see the Moon, these areas of our chart are going to be enlarged on throughout this next year of Jupiter in Cancer. Therefore, no matter what your Cancer ‘thing’ is, you can experience the negatives or expand on the positives. And this generally will happen by 'closing out' some old way of thinking.

In moving into Cancer, Jupiter is moving out of Gemini. And given that the flow of the signs around the wheel of the horoscope (above) is counter-clockwise, this means that this shift from Gemini to Cancer has Jupiter 'changing sides.' 

Of the horoscope wheel, yes. And in terms of personal and worldly dynamics. The left side of the zodiac (Capricorn through Gemini) is proactive. The right side is responsive, but not just in the sense of 'responding to input,' though it tends to be a bit of that too. No, in this  sense the idea of 'response' has to do with 'responding to the known' or acting or choosing in terms of that which we have already experienced.

The signature sign of this 'building of experiences' is Cancer. For you that may be building on experiences or building things which allow you to experience this or that...whichever way you go with it, we and our world are now exiting some six years of doing-in-order-to-make-happen (from which we learn). For the next six years, we will tend to build on what we have done.

Or yes, on what we have set ourselves up for. There are lots and lots of ways these things come to light!

Those of us who are hesitant will meet up with situations which evoke (or provoke) our Cancerian feelings and Moon issues. Those of us wiling to step out and learn or let go of what plainly isn't us or doesn't work for us will feel a renewal of our vital sense of life.

With Jupiter we know the stakes are big. And that the possible rewards are big. And how what we see as possible often exceeds our ability to stomach the 'whole' of the process. So during this next year of Jupiter passing through Cancer, we should expect a lot of big talk. But will action back up those claims?

That remains to be seen.

Real estate and ‘lifestyles’ will probably come back into focus on many a level and for many a reason, good and gnarly.

All of that aside, the next day or so (between now and the 25th/26th, depending on location) is going to be uber intense. Jupiter pushing through the last gasps and breaths of Gemini makes us think the stakes are raised.

Are they? Maybe. But since it’s common for the days leading into Mercury’s station to feel pressured, when we add in Jupiter’s climactic energetic in thought-and-choice oriented Gemini, a few folks are likely to go plumb out of their minds now.

And let’s remember…those societal-and-relationship lunar nodes being at the Scorpio/Taurus cross-quarter points also point to some pressure-filled moments.
Or is that a ‘pressure release’ moment?

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The Lunar Nodes at Cross-Quarters

With Pluto in the oppositional sign of Pluto, life is changing. The world is changing. The times are changing. Evolution and revolution are grinding, churning, turning outlived concepts on their heads.

And some people, yes. There are those who are getting their ‘come-uppance’ now and those who are getting traction on getting ahead. It sort of depends on where you are coming into this time. After all, the Pluto keywords are create, deny, destroy…and that generally applies to whatever the ‘status quo’ of your life is.

Considering the way Pluto tends to symbolize where starry-eyed, ‘me starring in my own mental movie’ visions tend to meet up with reality, with Pluto in retrograde into September and Jupiter’s impending romp through Cancer moving into position to oppose Pluto from mid-July until early September, we are all being set up for one of those Great Seasons of Change.

Into which comes Mercury. And yes, I know – I got all wound up with the Jupiter in Cancer thing. But it is interesting that in one single run Jupiter is going to hit zero and go all the way to 20 Cancer before turning bringing all back into retrograde (consolidation of gains or losses) mode come early November.

Oh yes…and that would be happening just a few days beyond the November 3rd solar eclipse. So, remember how I said a while ago that Saturn going retrograde at 11 Scorpio in February drew a “dotted line” in the metaphysical sand the other end of which was November’s 11 Scorpio Solar Eclipse?

In that process, Jupiter’s entering Cancer is something like starting a snowball rolling. For good or bumpy, whether you’re in for a heck of a ride or getting snow-rollered over, this would be celestial gravity beginning to gather its karmic momentum.

Surely you understand my being so intrigued?

Another thing about Jupiter in Cancer: this is a combination known for 'endings,' which in an odd sense goes with Cancer as a sign of culture, family, experience of childhood and hearth, home and nationality as our 'roots' in the sense that they are what we build on.

And thus life leads us into a new phase which reflects Cancer at the bottom of the 'natural' zodiac wheel as a time when we finish up one phase of life and begin to build anew. For some, this will herald a period which includes hitting a new 'bottom' which yes, may be painful - but which may also represent an emotional reality we need to know in order to build a life or life structure which will be stable and stand the tests of time (time being the Saturn province greatly signified by Capricorn, the opposition sign to Cancer).

 Jupiter being eclipsed by three of its moons

(photo credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech)

That this ingress is marked by Mercury's station suggests that the whole of this Jupiter-in-Cancer passage is aimed at, or which will evolve as a growing 'mental' awareness. Or a consciousness of what mentality is and means. And maybe how some 'old' way of thinking or 'seeing' life needs to be surrendered as your present 'actual' in favor of recognizing and utilizing a more 'present' form of mental emotionality so that your life can become more in sync with everything (and everyone) with whom you interact, allowing you to build that 'better world.'  

As for the specifics of Mercury's station, 23 Cancer – the degree Mercury is going on station at – is known as a point where either our strengths or weaknesses (speaking of celestial gravity) come to the fore. There is an equal danger of overstepping your own bounds, abilities or the limits of propriety as there is an opportunity to make good on your talents.

As Jupiter enters 0 Cancer, Black Moon Lilith is sitting there a 1 Cancer: another sign that we may ignore society (or social responsibilities) or get caught in being too caught up in our own cause. With Pluto being smack dab between Industria and the ‘it’s complicated’ nebula we know as Facies, the likely focus for all has to do with what you have – or haven’t done well enough. The likely meaning here is that those who have bailed on making an effort will now begin paying some price, while those who have tackled some complex project will begin seeing results – or at least what it will take to get the job well and done.

Of course, since this is Pluto in Capricorn we’re talking about, there will be a few who in having avoided doing their work properly (or doing any work at all) will now realize there’s an avalanche heading their way.

 An avalanche in progress (lower center) on Nuptse in the Himalayas

(photo credit: Iwe Gille, April 2005)

Create, deny, destroy…those Pluto bywords are Pluto bywords for a reason, y’know.

Meanwhile, Mercury is going retrograde exactly conjunct Pollux. And since Pollux is the ‘thoughtful’ Gemini emblem which signifies giving (or giving in) so that the ‘important things’ are preserved, this is just another indication that this is a time of fateful choices…past or present.

But let’s not think all will be easy. Queen of all things unexpected and stunningly provocative, Eris at 22 Aries is in square to Mercury’s station. And with Eris conjunct Pelion (the ‘mountain’ we have yet to climb) things are not easy.

In fact, with fixed stars Arcturus and Spica (the brilliance of leadership) at 24 Libra, there’s something of an implied t-square here…

…one with Mercury’s station point at it’s ‘t’. Since this t-square isn’t formed by full-fledged planets (Eris is a dwarf planet) it may be a bit more subtle than some – unless 23 Cancer coincides with something in your natal chart, that is. But the general ‘object’ here is working past where you are (the Cancer point) to a place where you can be effective in your life. Where your brilliance and stand-out qualities really show.

That would be the Spica (brilliance) and Arcturus (leadership) point of this station. With Eris at it’s starting place it may be easy to be daunted by what it’s going to take to get where you want to go – that being the Pelion part.

Of course the good thing is that once Mercury stations and goes retrograde, we all get a couple of weeks to work behind the scenes and figure out which options will work best.

Considering all…the Nodes being at cross-quarters and Jupiter plus Mercury…? To me that sounds like at least a couple of weeks (and maybe more) of getting a better grasp on things as we recognize what is really (South Node in Taurus) worth going for.

Getting there will require doing a few things we aren’t sure we know how to do yet - that's the North Node in Scorpio part of our challenge. But with Jupiter moving into the sign Mercury's station has us focused on (at least internally) all bodes well providing we’re willing to open our eyes, our mind and our hearts to not just who we are...but who we can become through asking ourselves to take on building a bigger and better world which then can become our life's basis for operation.
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The Lunar Nodes at Cross Quarters

This header image is based on a photo of Main Street in Old City Dubrovnik

by Alex Proimos of Sydney, Australia (July 2011)

Pretzels. That’s what first came to mind when I started thinking about the nodes moving backwards through fifteen degrees of Scorpio and Taurus. After all, the normal astro-celestial movement is forward and the idea of the zodiac’s cross-quarter points is of the infamously famous ‘move on’ sort.

(Or if you want to be more benign and Zen about it, ‘walk on’.)

Occurring at 15 degrees of each of the zodiac’s fixed signs (or on a more esoteric level, at the half-way mark in houses 2, 5, 8 and 11), the cross-quarter points are where gathering information and learning about something shifts into ‘doing it’ gear.

Or at least ‘trying it’ gear.

And yes…if you have some planet, node or axis positioned at 15 degrees of any of the fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius), this may explain why – in terms of whatever that symbol is – you’re always struggling with the ‘do I know enough?’ or ‘do I HAVE to?’ or 'are they going to like/approve of me (or what I do)?' issues.

Or maybe you’re just hesitant (read: reluctant) when it comes to getting started, with once you’re in gear being a whole other thing.

Taurus and Scorpio being signs which are natively 1st quadrant and 3rd quadrant in the zodiacal sense, the stakes here are pitting the ‘learning how’ and ‘learning about how my life works’ first quadrant process against the 3rd quadrant ‘what works?’ with others, or in terms of who (or what sort of company or organization) you should be dealing with.

Basically, the first-against-third quadrants are more ‘who am I and how do I operate’ where the second-against-forth quadrants are more about what we do and whether the world likes what we do: one-three is directly personal and two-four is a bit ‘offshore,’ if you will.

That doesn’t mean we won’t get offended if someone sneers at us, obviously, but there’s a difference between someone saying ‘you baked a lousy cake’ (or you hired a lousy employee) and ‘you’re a lousy so-and-so.’

Of course there are some cross-collateralizations here, I will freely admit. Maybe you’ve noticed this and maybe you haven’t, but people who are born under 2nd or 4th quadrant signs (Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces) seem to have a bit of a harder time separating themselves from what they do. And when you add in not just Sun but also Moon, then take where each falls in the natal chart it all gets a bit complicated and everybody has sensitive spots.

But then, we are humans. And humans, it seems, were born to get real and realer as time goes along by having their soft spots poked, prodded and otherwise stimulated.

(No, don’t go there. Google/Blogger has rules, don’t you know!)

Into all this comes the Nodes of the Moon. Defined as that place where the Moon’s path around Earth intersects Earth’s path around the Sun, the nodes are the ‘intersection’ of our very personal world (the Moon) with the greater life around us (the Sun). And thus they are about how and where we interact with the world and with other people.

So now we have the North Node (the “should do” end of the nodal axis) entering 15 Scorpio as the South Node (the “what I like to do”) side of the equation is entering 15 Taurus, an event which starts on June 23rd (this Sunday, UT/+0 time) and continues on into July 8th.

June 23rd happens to be the date of a Full Moon, so we know this Nodal shift begins in a celestial 'spotlight.' It's also just days shy of Mercury going retrograde, so things, and the thought processes of various folks are going to be set on 'high' - and with Jupiter at 29 Gemini about to move into Cancer, things are likely to be pretty intense, to say the least!

Ergo...depending on how well we each do with adjusting our outlook, this will probably be a time to enjoy...or for struggling through.

And why would that be? Well just to begin with, there is that ‘fixed sign’ thing. Being that the Taurus Challenge is all about how secure we are with ourselves, anything that tends to make us feel invalidated or ‘less than perfect’ in our own eyes rouses the bullish snort and much pawing of tender ground. And since the Scorpio Challenge is all about how well we are able to negotiate with others in a give-and-take sort of manner so that we can all join forces and depend on each other as we move ahead and towards our goals, with the South Node in the “don’t invalidate me, bro!” Taurus end and the North Node in the Scorpio “we should get along, which optimally means you should agree with me” end of things, the past year and something (or so) has felt like something of a cosmic set-up which brings the worst out in everyone.

Why this is so difficult for us is all about the fact the Nodes are a continuum. It’s a lot easier (not to mention more convenient) to think of them as separate things, but they’re not. So when we do what we want or like to do (embracing the South Node of it all), if – or to the degree that we ignore or don’t pay any attention to the necessity of the situation (the North Node getting along with others) we fall afoul of our own ‘but I want to see it MY way!’ sort of thing.

There are of course, places and times in life when it’s simply ducky to say ‘we agree to disagree.’ And hopefully we’ve done that rather than resorting to launching WWIII (or IV…or V…or XXVII) because someone doesn’t agree with us.

But that doesn’t always happen. I had a raucously bad week(plus) this past April when an astrologer I know just couldn’t accept that I wasn’t into their particular area of expertise and wasn’t buying into their rationale(s). No matter how many times I said ‘I’m sure there are many on your wavelength, I’m just not on the list - but I wish you entirely well with your studies…’ this person snarled, snorted, barked and snapped.

Evidently they hadn’t taken their daily does of Node Tonic. For some reason it was very important to this person that I should validate their thoughts and choices, and they aren’t the only one I know of going through this cycle. I’ve seen all sorts of people either wanting validation or getting all snarky because their choices didn’t get someone’s endorsement.

But wait…isn’t the idea to be secure in our own choices? If we are, when we are, where we are secure others thinking differently becomes interesting instead of threatening.

So if we go to war because someone is different, is that about them – or us? War is a Scorpio reaction which at it’s most basic metaphysical level says ‘my sense of safety requires that I exert force in order to restore control at a level I think of as safe.’

Question: does that define what is safe? Or does that define one’s sense of vulnerability?

That would seem to be the general lesson of the Nodes passing through Scorpio (North) and Taurus (South): learning to work with others without feeling you need to control others (or dictate terms of control to them) in order to feel secure or ‘good’ about yourself. And as with all things astrological, if we don’t do the work…or to the degree that we aren’t willing to challenge ourselves, life will bring on the situations and interactions which will promote or provoke those tests and testy situations.

It’s not about ‘them,’ it’s about us – but the human thing is (sure as shootin’, so to speak) that we’ll blame others first.

And this is where Nodal motion makes this whole idea really all the more interesting. Usually, objects moving through the zodiac go from zero to twenty-nine degrees of any given sign. With the Nodes, it’s from twenty-nine back down through the sign TO zero. So where we’re used to the ‘personal and private’ giving way to the ‘emotionally challenging and interactive’ to the worldly ‘public’ sort of process, what the Nodes represent is a different sort of life process which starts “out there” and which through the emotional process “brings things home to us.”

And that's what made me think of pretzels. It was the quirk of the twist, the way life is engineered to move us forward as part of the process of making things more elemental which got me.

(And yes, I like pretzels. Also yes, I think life is crispy and often salty!)

Since the Nodes are calculated points, they don’t have “mass” (like planets and asteroids do). So this idea, this ‘function’ is more esoteric, more nebulous in nature than other things. I always say that if the symbol has mass, we can “retrain” ourselves and eventually form a positive habit. That doesn’t seem to be true where calculated points like Ascendants, Descendants, Midheavens, ICs, the Part of Fortune (any of the Arabic Parts, really), Black Moon Lilith and the Nodes are concerned.

All such ‘calculations’ are just what the word implies: they are ideas and concepts which we calculate the effect of and which we are right or wrong about by turns…which leads (hopefully!) to learning through both our mistakes and triumphs.

In moving over 15 Scorpio and Taurus, the Nodes are moving out of the ‘operational’ part of the 3rd and 1st quadrants into their 'provocatively personal' realms. That will ‘bring home’ results of what we have or haven’t learned through what was promoted or provoked in the world around us.

And again…this is something of an esoteric experience, for all it may have a real-time manifestation such as the getting or losing of a job, the forming or loss of relationships, business successes or disasters, and so on. All around us we’re seeing folks dealing with what their opinion of ‘right’ is against what the world’s opinion of ‘right’ is and the repercussions of same.

During the days ahead…the actual processing of the two opposing cross-quarter degrees by the Nodes, we can expect a linking of very different ideas. The North Node in 15 Scorpio speaks to guilt and where some people should feel guilty but don’t. It’s sort of a psychosocial checkpoint all about the need to deal with reality, not just what we want life (or others) to be. Meanwhile, the South Node at 15 Taurus can point to a moment of realization and recognition, when we ‘listen’ to our Self and others and realize that there is an actual growth opportunity, a process we can take advantage of.

Those who make changes now will relax and open up. They’ll be able to say ‘I understand’ and begin to remember that others may have a different point of view and that that’s not a disaster.

Far from it – they may actually have something valuable to say.

Those who make the shift will become more ‘operative’ and less about ‘digging in and holding their ground’ going forward. Those who don’t make the shift will continue attacking, sniping, being defensive and otherwise stirring up contentious confrontations where nothing of the sort needs to exist. They’ll look childish – even desperate – to some folks, and eventually (as the Nodes reach the end of their current Scorpio/Taurus traverse), they’ll peter out and be left either empty-handed or without much more to say.

Or folks who want to listen to them say it.

But that’s yet to come - next year when the Nodes cross into Libra-and-Aries. Our 'now,' is a next few weeks of the Nodes lingering at cross-quarters. And that's a time which is likely to be enlightening, even inspiring on one hand…and maybe filled with regrets and ‘why does it have to be this way?’ (or ‘why do they have to act that way?’) in the dim, even darker momentsr.

Providing we remember that the difficulties or challenges which we feel are ours – not theirs - and how their difficulties and challenges are theirs, not ours, all goes well. Or reasonably well, give or take the fact that life isn't perfect. The perfection (the theoretical 'perfectly human' part) comes in when we realize that our Nodal education - in the end - is about learning where ou responsibility ends and ‘their’ responsibility for who they are (and what ‘they’ earn or get saddled with) begins.

Is it easy? No. But it is important, especially if we want our lives to be-and-become more and more intrinsically ours and less-and-less something we feel 'mucked' with by others. So in that light...after we chew through all the reluctance will dawn the understanding that we are here to support each other, not live symbiotic live or a life in contentious alienation or isolation. We are indeed stronger together, but that relies on the unique abilities of each person to be brought to the fore.

If I love you, then I love you for being you. I don’t expect you to be me. I don’t expect you to think like I think and I don’t expect you’ll agree with all my pleasures, my treasures or my preferences. Nor do I expect myself to adore all your pleasures, your treasures or your preferences.

But if I love you…or even like you…or like the idea of getting along with you…or even just living with you on the same planet, then I have to accept that those variations and our differences have merit – an intrinsic merit and one through which I learn a measure of acceptance, the value of discordant experience and ultimately, tolerance.
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Manhunting: Boston's 19 Year-Old Bombing Suspect

Runners completing the Boston Marathon in 2010

(photo credit: Daskos99, August 2010)

As I got up this morning and heard that the second suspected Boston Marathon bomber is 19 years old, I started thinking…what do we know just from that?

The first thing which jumped to mind is that 19 years is the Metonic cycle – the eclipse cycle. Of course we don’t know if this individual was born in the first or second half of the year (nor am I going to bore us all with reciting the technicalities of eclipses before-or-after the date of our birth) but the there were two solar eclipses in 1994. One was at 19 Taurus and the other was at 10 Scorpio. Either way you’re talking about a person born with emotionality on the prime (or primal) list of items which by nature or nurture are indicated as ‘trigger points.’

That Pluto was in Scorpio at the time combines with the eclipse data to tell us that this is a person striving for a sense of personal viability. Whatever sign Pluto is in, we tend to focus on that in needing to learn lessons about the ‘balance’ Pluto’s reputation for “obsession” points to our needing to learn. Scorpio, being one of the three ‘interactive’ signs (Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius) marks everybody born between 1972 and 2008 as needing to learn how to balance some level of Plutonic obsessions on what ‘they’ do or what ‘they’ have, or how ‘they’ do it, or who ‘they’ are (or any other ‘they’ qualifier) with the basics of Aries, Taurus and Gemini, the solidity and awareness of existing (Aries), the ability to wrestle with your own self-worth and satisfaction quotients (or lack thereof) which is so very Taurean and the ability to think things through the choose and build your own future (Gemini).

(Just to note here…those born in 1972 and 2008 aren’t automatically included here, since Pluto was moving back and forth while changing signs during those years. But a large number of people will, yes, be included.)

Nineteen years old is also just past the point where the Nodes (north and south) return to their point of natal origin. (The nodal cycle is 18.6 years in length.) Since the Nodes refer to our relationship to our world and the world’s relationship with us, prior to the first nodal return it’s natural for society to consider us ‘not yet ready’ for full-fledged “adult relationships” …which conversely, lends a bit of a jackrabbit quality to being nineteen. In astrological terms, it’s like we have this ‘new-found’ power to feel ourselves being in relationship with others and our world.’

Not all of us weather that period exquisitely, as we are seeing today.

Nineteen also precedes the first Chiron square (which happens around age 20-21), a point when many if not most of us get to facing our Self at some level, realizing we need to ‘get to work being us,’ if you will. Before we get that far, that self-reflective gear hasn’t kicked in – which can make for a lot of painful choices and bad behavior, no question.

Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts

(photo credit: chensiyuan, 2009)

If this suspect is 19 today, that means he was probably born with Saturn in early Pisces. As of April 1, 1994 Saturn was at 7 Pisces and by the end of December it was back at 7 Pisces (which is all about Saturn’s retrograde cycle). During that year Saturn did get as far as 12 Pisces, which would put it in the realm of being currently conjuncted by Chiron. At the other end of the scale (at 7 or so Pisces) Saturn would be coming under transiting Neptune’s dissolving, confounding and disillusionment effects.

And speaking of Neptune, the early 1990s was also a time when Uranus and Neptune were traveling through the 3rd and most ‘worldly/interative’ realm of Capricorn, the sign of things we do in the public realm and personal structures. We can expect some really great things out of some people born during this time, but with the net energy of this combination being ‘change’ the question is how do you go about it?

Obviously in this case, not well. Once we get this young man’s birth data (if we ever get it), it will be educational at least to see why the Uranian ‘explosive’ quality became his personal outlet.

Looking at the ephemeris for that year, that Jupiter was in Scorpio also seems important. Not only will that tend to ‘embed’ and ‘expand’ on Pluto’s presence in Scorpio but it poses a question as to whether this person’s Pisces Saturn is in aspect to his natal Jupiter Scorpio. The reason to wonder about that is because Jupiter/Saturn connections in any chart are notoriously societal and structural. We see it in the charts of those who found corporations and head organizations, we see it in people who really aim at society and things societal. Obviously most of the time that’s about getting the great job and ‘being somebody’ during your lifetime.

But not always.

There is, of course, some chance that this person was born in the first few months of 1995. If so, his Pluto would be in Sagittarius – and conjunct Jupiter in Sagittarius. That would change the landscape of this discussion, moving us from the emotional realm of Scorpio into the Plutonic realm of how things should work which directs us back to a need for thinking things through and being willing to harness your own mind.

Which, considering how bombs are made, could be true.

If this is a person with Pluto in Sagittarius, then the conversation will – or should – move back towards mental health, which seems to be an underlying conversation in the United States (and maybe the world) right now.

Which means it needs to be discussed.

Either way – with Pluto in Scorpio or Pluto in Sagittarius, Ixion is going to be conjunct Pluto. And that adds to the challenge to not see things as being about what you want (or the way you want to see them) until you learn a seriously hard lesson.

link to - Ixion: Our Conflict of Self

Also in that ‘either way’ bucket is the fact that Neptune and Uranus is in a transiting opposition to Castor and Pollux, underscoring the need to think things through and to recognize the realities of life and life’s realities.

Plutino Huya and dwarf planet Haumea were transiting early Libra during this time, adding a challenge to ‘not kid ourselves’ about who others were. Or how they are going to react to what you do and who you are in their world.

Obviously millions of people were born during this time. The vast majority of them will go on to live completely non-offending lives.

But to have been born then…and to be 19 now does lend a certain aura of challenge, especially once you take life experiences into account. As I sit typing, the news people are talking about whether this young man (or his now dead suspected partner-in-crime) probably didn’t get exposed to nation-of-origin violence as a child. Their interviews with uncles hint at fatalistic, violence-ridden pasts.

This isn’t always the full tale. Or the outcome. But the more that psychologists (and astrologers) look at families, the more it seems that the deficits or difficulties of the parents are willed at least to the children, and that when it comes to arriving in America from a war torn country anywhere, or the effects of war on any country even once the sounds of guns and bombs fades into blissful silence...it may take not one but two full generations - even more - for the shattering effects of violence to merely begin to wear away.

Which is sobering in the extreme.

************ UPDATE *************

Within an hour of this post hitting the internet, I got a note from Charles (which you will find in the comments section below), who gave us an FBI-supplied birth date for the suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is still being hunted. Data on his older brother - who was shot by police overnight - is not yet available.

First of all, thanks, Charles.

Secondly...with a July 22, 1993 birth date now in hand, we know that Dzhokhar's Pluto is at 22 Scorpio, indeed conjunct Ixion (at 25 Scorpio) with Pluto being opposed by the incoming eclipse.

We don't yet have a place of birth for this chart, but setting it in Kyrgyzstan (for the sake of time zones) gives us a 29 'critical degree' Cancer Sun, which would certainly have been set off by Sun/Mars hitting the square at 29 Aries.

Interestingly, this young man's Jupiter is at 8 Libra, a degree which is almost unique in the zodiac for having earned a specific name ("the widow's degree") which amounts to a process of 'learning through loss.' 

link to post - To the Degree: 8 Libra 

Demonstrating amply how it's always best not to jump at conclusions, suspect Dzhokhar has a late Aquarian Saturn (28 Aquarius) not Saturn in PIsces. This 28 Aquarian Saturn is thus in a stressful inconjunct with this young man's Sun which, at the very least we would guess has something to do with his feeling of 'fitting in' and feeling like he had 'a place' in the world (or society) he is living in.

The Neptune/Uranus conjunction alluded to earlier is exact on this birth date. And in looking up the degree of this conjunction (19 Capricorn) one of the references uses these phrases: 'an explosive element' and 'taking a solid stand' which ring chillingly with recent events. That the term 'stoicism' is also used would also seem to ask that we consider those comments made about how long it takes for the legacy of violence and war to be worn through in any group of human beings. in listening to the interviews given by the uncles, at least one of them seemed entirely factual, saying something very close to 'it's over - they'll kill him' with the kind of attitude you'd expect from one who has learned to be resigned.

In opposition to Uranus and Neptune are Mercury at 18 Cancer. As always, any connection between Mercury and Neptune is always ripe to become 'the lie' we are told, this opposition may be the lie which is believed, which we think the world is, which we respond to, or which we tell. That this Mercury is in conjunction with fixed star Castor (one of the Gemini twins) lends a very mortal sort of purely impassioned thought which is part of the challenge of Gemini.

Sadly, the father (who is being interviewed) is saying this bombing was not done by his sons. It's so understandable. And suspects are not yet convicted, so... if this is America, all suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

At the same time, we have in the past couple of years seen a series of parents unable to accept the need to do something about the needs of adult children in mental trouble. One famous case where the parents did step in is Britney Spears - which many will say is about the money involved. But who really cares, so long as people's problems get sorted out so that they don't harm themselves, other people or our ability to have faith in our society or life itself.

It's a delicate balance...having enough love to weather your children's foibles while having enough perspective to be able to understand when they're running amuck. I know this sounds terrible, but when the conversation gets to this point I always think about a series of interviews done with Jeffrey Dahmer's father, who understood what his son had done and yet loved him still.

People don't have to be perfect for us to love them. But loving them may - at times - require that we step in and do the difficult thing, and not leave that up to society after harm is finally done.

For now, I must run. But more on this later, to be sure.     .
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