Pluto square Mars:December 28–January 1

New Year's fireworks in Copenhagen's Tivoli Garden

(photo credit: Stig Nygaard, January 2009)

Described by some as one of the colder degrees in the zodiac, 11 Capricorn has something of a questionable vibe all about using 'the other' with an emphasis on the sheer ability to use them. Or not.

It is a choice.

The whole aura of 11 Capricorn is about a ‘disregard’ for the consequences, which means that in some charts we could see this degree highlighted and it would represent someone into self harm. Taken from there into a more public realm 11 Capricorn makes us think about the way some people are users and some people seem into being used.

And yet…as with all astrological images, much of this is in how you take it, and how you use the choice implied – remembering this isn’t necessarily about you are someone else, it could be how you treat yourself. Or your abilities. Or preferences. Or  intelligence, feelings…whatever.

Starting on December 28, Mars will move past fixed star Diadem – the “crowning glory.” As that happens, we will be moving past some period of ‘crowning’ opportunity or activity or interactivity (to which most of us will say 'ah yes, Christmas...') in which, because this is Mars-the-Initiator we’re talking about(‘Mars the Initiator’ sounds like a superhero, doesn’t it?)…there may be something ‘initiated’ during this time which carries on, which develops, which lingers as a thought, conversation, project, effort, etc.

So that may carry on. The rest? Not so much.

Mars - which has just begun a super-long transit of Libra (I call 8 months instead of around 2 super-long!) – reaches 11 Libra on December 28th. And once it reaches 11 Libra, that’s Mars in square to 11 Capricorn, a sign that we are either going to be testing or tested in some area which involves responsibility, dedication and a large amount of conscious and measured effort on our part WHILE it also takes into account the wants, needs, likes and opinions of others.

And guess what’s at 11 Capricorn about the time Mars gets to 11 Libra? Pluto. So with Mars in Libra and Pluto in 11 Capricorn, we either have a recipe for freaky explosions and disruptions or transformations which just possibly may allow us to do what we’ve been wanting to do all along.

Or…yes…realize that we don’t really WANT that thing we thought we wanted all that much. Mars is bringing a lot of unusual ‘underbelly’ notions in from 10 Libra, a combination which focuses on seeing things we don’t normally see. They can be in others…or maybe this is the moment when we really see who we are. Or see ‘for ourselves’ what something is – or isn’t.

Mars/Pluto contacts are often associated with ‘flare ups’ too – whether physical, emotional or some old argument which gets re-hashed yet again. Infections, burns, old injuries and hurts (physical or emotional) may now get triggered.

Or healed. With Klotho (beginnings) at 11 Capricorn and Kallisto at 12 Capricorn, we may now begin to see how to ‘get from here to there’ in our life – whatever that means to you at the moment.

But given that Kallisto is part of this grouping, we’re going to have to ‘last’ it through to get where we really want to go. There are no easy solutions here.

(Wherever ‘here’ is in your life at the moment.)

This combination is also known for heated conflicts – though in the end, what is often found is that the one who strikes out did so out of a desire not to have to face their own truths – not really because the other side had been so awful. There’s a whole aura of wanting to manipulate a situation or dynamic here which must tends to be done with bias but which only really works if it’s done out of a sense of fair play. And since this Mars/Pluto square is happening with Sun conjunct Mercury (in Capricorn) things are going to be clear enough.

Maybe even “too clear.”

Or clearly something we don’t want to have to work or wait for!

To all of the above, one answer: 'you may have to.' And given that this is the wonderful world of Capricorn we're talking about, all the pluses and minuses are going to occur (in particular) if, when, and where we aren’t comfortable with our standing in the world.

This period may ask us to get past or ‘over’ a few things. And to accept forms of valid or mature perspective we don’t feel familiar with yet. (Or which we would rather not have to listen to.)

And yet...this Sun/Mercury link can also represent the heart and soul of seeing what's what. It's a classic indication for travel (which makes sense on December 29th of any year) and, given how there's a lighthearted, sort of fun-loving quality to this vibe, this may well be a wonderful time for friends as well as a valuable time in which to make connections or socialize with others not in a direct "work mode"...but more in that sense of getting to know people so that you can work together.

Or...yes...to see whether you might want to or not.

Planet Mars - specifically, the Acidalla Mare Erythraeum face of Mars as

photographed by NASA's Global Surveyor.

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

This Mars square Pluto can be a powerful sign of ‘pulling one’s Self together’ - when you ready yourself for some big new effort (which getting through New Years just may be for you!). It may signal events which really let you know that it's time something needs to happen.
However…as Sun/Mercury will have moved into 9 Capricorn as Mars 'perfects' the square on December 30th...? That means we have to care about ever more energy being triggered as the Moon joins the Capricorn lineup at around 6 p.m. UT/+0 time.

This is about when the positive separates from iffy. Why? Well, 9 Capricorn is a very plus-or-minus degree in that it tends to reward the search for wisdom and utterly defeat (and sometimes punish) the search for purely material or selfish gain…which if you think of the Sun and Mercury igniting this celestial fuse on New Years Eve conjures up all sorts of scenarios.

And then there is the fact that this entire contemplation is the last ‘astrological act’ of 2013…and that it ends in a 10 Capricorn New Moon on New Year’s Day.

Technically, this means that however much we may be looking ahead and looking to change something or looking to do something – with all of that, we are also conscious (at least emotionally conscious) of letting this or that ‘thing’ go. That time, that place, that person, that ideal, that period of your life, that limitation, that hope….

…oh yes – and that year, since we’re letting go of 2013 in favor of 2014. But obviously this isn’t just about turning 2013 into 2014. So we all can expect a healthy measure of internal talking (to ourselves or with ourselves about what we think of things) with a lot of reflecting going on.

And hey…if we decide to make a few changes – isn’t that one of the traditional fun things to do as one calendar gets traded out for another?

But first, New Year’s Eve – have a great one!
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Venus: Station-Retrograde at 28 Capricorn

A Hinode Space Telescope view of Venus' 2012 Transit of the Sun on June 6, 2012

(photo credit: NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, 2012)

So no sooner does Uranus go direct on the same day as a Full Moon – then Venus goes on station to turn retrograde on December 21st.

What’s a planet to do?

And that December 21st date? That will be just as the Sun reaches its Solstice. Thinking of all this as some sort of complicated piece of machinery, we thus arrive at Venus’ going on station as a ‘slow down’ to all we might want to create or see coming of our efforts (or patience) as a result of what we’ve done…(or not done, depending.)…just as our will either ebbs to its lowest point (in the northern hemisphere) or reaches its maximal, yearly ‘high’ point (in the southern hemisphere), depending.

Now…with that said, that north/south hemisphere thing can be literal – as in, one person lives in Oslo, Norway and the other person lives in Brisbane, Australia. OR it can indicate your intellectual or logic-driven will (north) versus your emotional or ‘impassioned’ (south) perspective. And yes, both of these functionalities can be in operation at the same time in like or different situations/venues/areas in or of your life.)

December’s astrological trail seeming to describe a period of wanting to break out, innovate, share, network, rebel, escape, integrate or change (the Uranus-Full Moon) which is then followed by a period of reconciliation with Self (often as set off or triggered or mirrored in or see in the actions of others) which isn’t – traditionally – what we might want to feel.

In other words, to have Venus hitting its ‘turnabout’ in the traditionally ‘cool’ (or ‘cooling’ – on occasion even ‘chilling’) sign of Capricorn may be “fair play” in the cosmic sense that we in time need to learn or see or experience what we need to see or learn or experience….at the same time that things may not feel all that warm, cuddly and rewarding. And to have this turnabout happen at the Solstice is either to ‘see the light’ or to realize you didn’t see the light at some ‘maximal’ level, depending.

On Planet Venus: Maat Mons rises 8 km above lava flows spread across the Venusian plains

(photo credit: NASA, JPL)

 

All this is yours – indeed, all of ours – as of December 21, 2013 at 9:54 in the evening, UT/+0 time.

And of course the two days before and the two days after are likely to be telling in more than a few lives too.

Which is why, seeing as there IS a crossover with Uranus’ December 17th station…why one would say that if your chart answers to both 8 Aries AND 28 Capricorn. Allow for standard orbs as follows…

Conjunctions, Squares, Oppositions, Trines (+/- 5 degrees)

Sextiles (+/- 3 degrees)

…and for the getting-to-be-pretty-much-standard orbs for inconjuncts (aka quincunxes) and semi-sextiles…

Inconjuncts and Semi-Sextiles (+/- 1.5 to 2 degrees)

…then apply them to these charts of standard sign aspects.

Next, a quick run down on aspect meanings, seeing as we haven’t done that in a while…

Conjunctions always feel personal, whether or not they’re personally directed at us.

Oppositions are about being challenged, opposed or faced with issues, problems, situations or relationship dynamics.

Squares challenge us to see there is more to what we are dealing with than we thought. Can we take everything into account and make it all work as one? Can we keep everything in balance or will we be brought down by that we fail to acknowledge, deal with or manage?

Sextiles representing opportunities we may or may not take sextiles prompt us to exercise the right and personal choice and the responsibility to own which choices we make in life.

Trines: Far from being any candy-floss ‘perfection’ trines have been marketed as, trines are ‘ongoing energy’ which on one hand lowers the need to try, but which can also represent limited or inhibited circumstances.

Inconjuncts (Quincunxes) always represent an adjustment whether between the optimal and workable, the idea(l)/vision and the reality or  the personal-individual and accepted-pluralistic perspective.

Semi-sextiles manifest as ego-bruises and irritations which feel more serious than they generally are in any long run except where denials or emotional triggers are being set off.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Now that we’re all aspected, on to Venus going retrograde specifically at 28 Capricorn. Referred to in terms of its association with ‘clairvoyance’ by both Dane Rudhyar and Marc Edmund Jones the Sabian symbol for 28 Capricorn, “A WOMAN READING TEA LEAVES,” is Venusian in its own right in that the ‘basis’ for ‘finding one’s way to the truth’ is a substance (tea) long revered and related to nutrition, health and eating – all of which suggest an association with Taurus (an earth sign, as is Capricorn) and thus the fact that at this moment it may be our ‘earthly’ or ‘earthy’ fortunes which take a turn.

December 21, 2013 – 9:54 p.m. (UT/+0) – Aries Wheel (location not specific)

 

Any degree in the third decan (last ten degrees) of any sign isn’t strictly individual, even though the effort of the woman in the symbol is personal and singular – she is attempting to read the leaves. And as we are given no one else in this image, we may presume she is seeking information for herself, though the idea of ‘a female’ in terms of gender here should not be taken literally. If you yourself have, or if you know a woman whose Sun or Moon is directly at 28 Capricorn the reference might be to her, yes. But otherwise, ‘female’ in metaphysical symbolism most often refers to our receptivity or our ability to ‘contain’ or “be a good container” for something or someone or some situation. So to have this idea embodied by Venus turning to retrograde may be a sign of recognizing we weren’t receptive enough to someone, something or the totality of a situation.

Or maybe it pertains to your ‘earthly’ fortunes.

Or the fact that in light of other things your attention is ‘turning’ or ‘being turned’ to more Venusian matters OR to the questioning of your personal Venusian values. This is not typically a ‘lighthearted” sort of metaphysical energetic level, as it clearly concerns responsibility – specifically that we take on when (and where) we aspire to achieve. Success or burden here can be one and the same as this degree promotes a clarity of logical thinking which owns up to the long-term necessity to be to ‘chart’ a responsible (not merely safe) course. All of this ‘questioning of quality’ (and qualities) is itself more than a little Venus-Taurus - and with 28 Capricorn being a degree assigned to an astrological Term (Ptolemaic) ruled by Mars, with Mars in Libra the aims of the moment would be Self-driven but dependent on others.

It’s just one of those moments. Business or personal, family or friendship, some relationships will be fine now. But some will be more meaningful to us at the moment. They’re on our minds.

And the reason they’re there is not about ‘that person’ but how we feel about that person – and all our feelings about those feelings. Isn’t that just what you want around the holidays?

Apparently life isn’t going to be cut-and-dried and simple right now.

But then, apparently we need this. If life provides that which we need, this next six weeks of Venus retrograde is going to have us learning a good deal about who we really are. And aren’t.

Who we are kidding. And who we’re not kidding. The overarching Capricorn quality of not meeting the world but being met by and concerned with the world and its worldly way of operating is going to catch more than a few of us judging ourselves short (that would be the retrograde thing as opposed to ‘judging others’ being direct motion) or paying some penalty large or small.

Tangible, monetary or heart felt, if it’s ‘real’ to us, if we can feel it – it’s up for re-examination. Much as the recent eclipse broke through many an emotional defense and denial by putting us all through wave after wave of challenging, trying, tolerance-testing experiences, now Venus’ turn to retrograde asks us if…considering all we’ve learned since the last time Venus went retrograde (in Gemini during May-June of 2012)…if we really are investing ourselves in being the person WE will respect ourselves for being, regardless of whether others respect us or not.

Well…okay, maybe that’s not entirely square. The ‘we’ part stands. But there is a part of how others act and react which counts now…and which may be bothering us now. Such concerns will come where we’ve (in essence) “bet” on someone who now proves – at least to our thinking – to be ‘structurally’ unsound. Or a least not of the caliber we expected.

Or were promised, guaranteed, led to believe as a condition of support, and/or where some sort of ‘fraud’ in essence has occurred.

Some of us (notably those more-rather-than-less affected by the popping of energy throughout the early/mid December Mars-Uranus passage) are virtually primed for a secondary release on the 25th  by virtue of December 25th being Mars perfecting its opposition to Uranus. How that happens is highly individual (isn’t everything Uranian?), but the net is likely to carry some sense of wistfulness about ‘the way things used to be.’

You know…at least in our heads it was like that. Strong Uranus-Mars connections can manifest as any sort of ‘separating’ from who you are in the moment – which on the genteel edge is nostalgia (thinking about who you were ‘then’) and which on the more esoteric and long-term level suggests the triggering of gains in perspective where you are suddenly able to see yourself as someone else does…or perhaps where you find yourself ‘standing’ in another’s shoes, experiencing their perspective on life.

At the time of Venus’ station, very few aspects are in force. On its own this hints at a subterranean wishing (which may be pretty constant at the moment) that we had the way or the means to just do what we want to do.

 

December 21, 2013 – 9:54 p.m. (UT/+0) – Aries Wheel (location not specific)

The Sun is at 0 Capricorn in this chart, with Mercury at 26 Sagittarius some four degrees away. The thirty degree semi-sextile – an indication of irritation or ego annoyance – theoretically falls right between Sun and Mercury at 28 Sagittarius. Metaphysically this is an image of ‘the Venus energy’ “standing” between what you have been able to accomplish or get to thus far (Mercury) and what your aim or aims really are.

In other words, this is a picture of annoyance – be it mild or frothy. Frustration maybe. Venus doing a turnaround in the Sun’s ‘sign of aim’ (if you will) suggests that there’s some need to wait because something isn’t yet in place…at least not as solidly as you (Mercury) think it needs to be in order for you to get to what you REALLY want to do.

And to make this all a little more annoying (to us as individuals, I mean), this Venus-Mercury also suggests that we’ll be going back and forth a bit on the like-not like, second guessing, wanting to be extra-special sure…all that.

It’s one of those driving other people crazy because you know you’re driving yourself crazy sorts of moments. We’ve all been there…it’s just that this one is sort of universally universalized by the station – which (oddly) is likely to be the hard part to remember. How could all those people be having ‘their moment’ while we’re having one of ours?

Answer: maybe because we’re supposed to learn something from the fact that we even have such moments? That sort of mortal, in-built vulnerability to one’s humanity isn’t something most of us tend to think of all the time. We so often get caught up in the temporal doings and how things (or people) look on the surface.

Then life comes along to remind us that we are all just human creatures experiencing the process of being human.

Yes…that is part of what Venus stations are for.

And about.

Just to make this a bit more poignant and poetic (you did know all of this was highly poetic and insanely poignant, right?), while on station Venus is also in trine to dearly beloved dwarf planet Sedna.

(Yes, I doth wax sarcastic.)

December 21, 2013 – 9:54 p.m. (UT/+0) – Aries Wheel (location not specific)

 

Here’s the bad news…Sedna is all about the need to mature. And thus ironically (or maybe logically) wherever we find it in the chart, that’s where we find someone’s immaturity. Right now (and for quite a few years to come) Sedna is in late Taurus, which is one of those really nifty notices about the materialism in society – which could make this whole station (on an entirely universal level) very much a statement about income gaps and the plight of those in truly terrible need, the suffering of children and all such.

It also could speak to generosity wasted and where greed or selfishness has overcome human and humane standards.

Considering that Sedna hangs out in a given degree (or set of two degrees) for years at a time, that means this Venus-Sedna trine is a process – one described by Venus trining Sedna by direct motion as Venus came towards its station (on December 3rd), again in retrograde as Venus ‘backs up’ and trines Sedna from 23 Capricorn (January 7-8, 2014)…and again after Venus goes direct on January 31st. That pass – which happens on February 23rd or 24th, 2014 (depending on what time zone you’re in) will finish moving us through dealing with certain facets of what we do and why we do them, causing us (in essence) to ask whether the ‘prize’ is worth the cost or price to our lives or dignity or self regard. That ‘prize’ is an image in our mind – some righteously wonderful “billboard” of some facet of life we think should ‘be’ or ‘work’ XYZ way – and we have that way all mapped out and perfectly if soulfully airbrushed in hues of personal satisfaction we are loath to give up.

And yet…and yet and yet and yet…somewhere between here and February, each and every one of us is likely to have a bit of a quease as we realize that maybe…just maybe ‘the image’ isn’t the real deal. Maybe there is greatness and great satisfaction to be found in owning our power and doing what we can do – replete with putting ourselves out there and getting bumped and bruised on occasion – so that the final ‘image’ of who we are is one which isn’t given to or us or provided for us, but rather something which is organically about who we are.

December 21, 2013 – 9:54 p.m. (UT/+0) – Aries Wheel (location not specific)

 

One final comment here: Mars will be going on station March 1st, with Saturn adding an either sobering, stabilizing or structural note by going retrograde a day later on March 2nd. That Mars station will be square Venus’ current station from Libra even as Saturn opposes Sedna from Scorpio gives us a kind of 'framework' within which we will be challenged to invest rather seriously in working through what kinds of standards we hold, what we stand for, and what that asks of us.

Astrologers often think of Venus and Saturn as having a harmonic likeness as both energetics are about what one gets for what one is or puts out there. The Venusian 'action' tends to be personal, creative and evocative where Saturn's tenor tends to be more intellectual, logical and productive. If this was Saturn's station we were talking about we would think of how 'Saturn things' (our achievements, our physical stature, our societal standing) affects us personally (in our Venus quarter). Instead, this is Venus' station - so this is a time when the issue of how Venus and our Venusian nature...the love of ease, beauty, creature comforts, appreciation...affect our ability to achieve or create (Venus) any structure (Saturn) which sustains our long term hopes.

This may feel like a sobering time. Venus retrograde is one of those times when we have to support ourselves, when we need to not expect others to give us the answers we want or to feel good about it even if those golden 'right words' come falling out of their mouth. Venus retrograde tends to feel cool...which for some becomes a feeling of disappointment - even depression. Certainly that Venus is going retrograde in a sign ruled by Saturn tells us that what we really want we need to work for - and that means with all that we are, not just the parts we tend to like.
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Uranus Station-Direct: Enlightening in a Bottle

 Original (1902) image: Lightning striking the Eiffel Tower

(photo courtesy of NOAA/re-colored for post)

During the week prior to any Uranus station there’s a tendency for life to feel unsettled. Or for us to feel unsettled about something in our life. This planet – where it appears in our chart natally and the house it’s transiting at any given time – represents areas of our life where we need to make breakthroughs.

That’s why Uranus is there. As humans (being only human and all that) we like to think of Uranus as freedom. And it can be that – or more precisely, the energy and energetics which ‘create’ a greater liberty to operate in or a freedom to operate. Where and when Uranus energies challenge us, we feel the urge to break out of some sort of restraint – and that’s sometimes a good thing and sometimes not so good. Where and when Uranus energies scare us, we want to run, retreat or hide. We’ll react irrationally – as far as others can see – and we often will not understand our Self (or why we’re reacting as we’re reacting) because that would require us to face something about ourselves or our life/life history we would find ‘shocking’ and perhaps disruptive in and on its own.

With this in mind we go to the calendar…and the calendar says that Uranus is going direct at 8 Aries on December 17th at 5:40 p.m. in the afternoon (UT/+0 time). That means that every since shortly after Mars entered Libra back on the 7th – or maybe even before that – we’ve been thinking about our approach to people, the ‘who’ of who we’re interacting with and on a more general level, whether or not we’re getting where we want to go and the results that we want.

As the days have moved forward, leading us towards Uranus’ station, we have realized that something needs to change. Maybe what needs changing too. With Uranus in retrograde and about to turn to direct motion, the shimmy of ‘I need to do something about this’ (or they’re going to do something about me) energy like as not is a response or reaction to something rather than life jabbing us with Uranian incidents, so whether we react well or badly to things during this period is really more about our ability to handle Uranian energies than anything else.

And no, we’re not likely to like that, either. The positive and negative here runs from excitement to terror, from fascination to alienation or rejection, from isolation, anarchy and elitism to universality and mass movements (or motion).

It’s all about insight. Some we like, some we don’t like and with Uranus, we’re talking about life forcing us to own all the perspectives – not just the ones that we like. This is a planet which doesn’t ‘spin’ on its axis going around the Sun, it rolls.

(Talk about your unusual influences, right?)

Literally. Seen against the rest of the planets in our solar system, Uranus rolls along its axis. And in doing so, it’s movements subtly evoke those things which are not so subtle in real life. Uranus operates on a wavelength of concept and perspective where preference has nothing to do with anything – and since we humans are all ABOUT our preferences, thus comes the strain, the stress, the breakage, the shattering of status quos we associate with such a moment.

We’re talking about a planet beyond Saturn – beyond our solid ‘grasp’ and ‘range of sight’ even on a good day. All we can do with Uranian issues is understand them. Hopefully we understand the whole of the parameter or situation. Where we do, Uranus represents the insight of ‘discovering’ what is up with us. Where we don’t, Uranus delivers the ‘shattering blow’ which whether large or small in reality, shakes us…BECAUSE we thought we understood.

And no, we didn’t.

And then there’s the fact that 8 Aries is one of those degrees which fosters the desire not to wait. Or not to have to wait. Uranus ‘turning’ on this degree is going to be hard on those who hesitate. Or those always hell bent on hanging on to the status quo. There’s a balance we want to strike…but can we strike it? Can we get things rebalanced? Or should we even try? Should we just cut our loses – and can we?

The influence here is ‘executive’ – which in your case may mean a “superior” idea or some sort of mentor, even a higher up at work. Or maybe you’re in charge of something and this period challenges your confidence. Or your control. Even your sense of being in control of your own life. Uranus stations have a thoroughly bizarre reputation for causing our perspective on things to fluctuate. Often we’ll flex back and forth between the ‘our part’ of it and how the whole of the process functions – the ‘all’ level of things.

What we ‘see’ now can grant us vision. Or it can manifest as indecisiveness, a ‘case of nerves,’ unpredictable anxieties or fears. We may need to be flexible. We may need to be adaptable - or to adapt ourselves to changing circumstances so that we have an opportunity to achieve something greater (or what we truly want).

Conversely, where things are wrong about 'Things Uranus,' though we want to think it’s about ‘them’ or life or that 'they're to blame, that’s truly not the case. Whatever is inciting us and whatever is being incited is the area of our life where WE don’t have perspective… where we aren’t seeing our Self as others see us.

Uranian energies do seek to free us – generally of our own shortsightedness, outmoded ways, inhibitions or fears. But how these energies manifest…? That’s not always so gentle – particularly when Uranus is passing through Aries (as it is now) as Aries energetics are always about our Self.

Metaphysically, that Self is either your consciousness or your physicality… and Aries is a fire sign, a vibration adeptly processed by us as the ‘idea’ of the thing – the vision, the motivation, the goal, aim or that thing we just want, want, want, want, want. Sometimes we want the glory. Or the simple knowing that we’ve done what WE wanted to do. Those are Aries’ “martian” (Mars-like) qualities. Aries can be all about our ego drives.

Then again, our Self can manifest as that thing we were born to be and do and bear witness to by being in this world.

Uranus’ eight year transit of Aries is meant to shake all of that up. During this time our view of the world will change and our view of our Self will change through what the world (and life) throws at us.

How we react…that’s our relationship to life not being what we thought it was going to be. And sometimes that process of reacting, responding, voicing, dealing with…it’s not subtle. Or genteel. Associated with the kind of energy which busts out and break through armored resistance be it physical, mental, irrational or emotional, Uranus is associated with undifferentiated, ‘explosive’ power.

That differs it from Mars – the planet which is about directed action. Mars represents the construct of the bomb and the decision to construct it and to set a bomb off. Against that, Uranus is the unfettered energy OF the bomb. It’s not ‘the thing’…it’s the energy of the thing as it does its thing.

Seeing that both planets are involved in this station we can assume matters of the moment are going to seem unpredictable and not always to our liking. We’re in a definite (Libra) I-them, my goal-their aim sort of dynamic. Libra-Aries indicates an Aries/personal-Libra/external component to the situation and the t-square indicates conflict.

But this isn’t conflict necessarily with others, though it might manifest that way. The root of our conflicts now are about who we want to be in this world, most of all in our own regard – the Capricorn ‘goal’ we have for our Self in this life as a person. Our Plutonic factors are our ‘hidden’ issues with that…with who we are in our own minds even when we think it’s about others. Or ‘the system.’ Or ‘life.’ Or ‘society.’

It’s never ‘them.’ Metaphysically it’s always about what we are supposed to be learning because they are there. Or because something has challenged or hurt us. Why we needed to learn anything – that’s the metaphysical perspective on life…and at least part of the Plutonic ‘transformation’ we would seem to need.

The curious thing here is the “goal” of the t-square as expressed by planetary positions. According to this conflux of energetics, we’re at a moment in time when what we need is to break (Uranus) free of – in our (Aries) Self – anything which we are (Medusa) afraid of knowing about.

With Medusa at 7 Aries, the myriad of meanings behind the word ‘love’ are part of the issue.

And yet, this is Aries. So this Medusa fear we are each facing has to do with love as we experience it in our Self or through our Self, replete with all the pluses and minuses there. Given the Sabian Symbol for 7 Aries (A LARGE WOMAN’S HAT WITH STREAMERS BLOWN BY AN EAST WIND), an emotional, perhaps spiritual ‘east’ energy is playing with us THROUGH whatever we leave/have left ‘free to be blown about’ in our life or out there in the world.

In his writings on this degree, astrologer Dane Rudhyar refers to the hat as a ‘defense from the elements’ which, if you think about the story of Medusa and who Medusa was in life before she got the snaky gorgon curse for her lack of attentiveness to the facts of what her commitment(s) meant… AND the Medusa ‘curse’ (isolation, retreat from the fullness of reality)… AND the how her curse was turned to good the moment the ‘snake head’ was cut off from her body – meaning the difference was at some level her (our) ability to act willfully or be unwilling to act which makes the vital Medusa difference.

(Sounds a little like a Madison Avenue ad that…’new, improved - that vital Medusa difference!’)

Sometimes, our (Medusa) fears are of the very power our essential being has. In ‘other hands’ - those of Perseus, in the case of Medusa – our ‘curse’ becomes a tool for helping others in the same way that Perseus saved Andromeda from an ‘oceanic monster’ (something horribly emotional or horrible and emotional). Or maybe they will witness or learn from our fears and ‘cut’ from that something which will help them take the ‘knowledge’ of something awful and turn it to good.

You know…the old ‘making lemons into lemonade’ thing.

Medusa-Uranus (in Aries) as the goal of a t-square is on a macro-and-micro level all about wanting to be free of fear. We think its from (Capricorn) life or life circumstances.

Is it?

Uranus in the ‘goal’ position here says whatever our status quo is, that gets blown apart. We may be startled, maybe even disturbed about something...in life, in our Self, in what we are working – consciously or unconsciously – towards making our (Capricorn) life SO terrible that we have the excuse to simply say ‘I’m done.’ in some very personal and individual regard.

If this station aspects your chart with any acuity (which – to make this easy – we’ll say concerns ANY planet, dwarf planet, Plutino, node or chart wheel horizontal or vertical axis point) between the degrees of 5 and 11 of any sign.

Put simply, the closer your chart position is to 8 degrees of any sign, the more pronounced Uranus effects are going to be in your life during the time of this station…which metaphysically is greatly the Uranus Effect, but also a bit about our relationship to Eris, Jupiter and Haumea.

Having spent at least 64 ounces of brain fuel over the past few months on Eris, I can give you a few new theorems on the subject. (Who knows…maybe this contributes to your Uranus docket?) Known as Eris Discord by some and as Discordia to the ancient Romans, Eris seems to have a very special sort of symbolism in our life in that for many of us, discord seem to arise not in but around the house that Eris is positioned in natally – and that often (not always, but often) these matters are linked.

For instance, Eris in the 10th might mean you have a sincerely hard time not just finding the ‘right’ career but that because you have that hard time you end up cutting corners in some way which ends up causing some very real, real world (10th house) consequences…problems with the law, for instance. Or maybe a loss of (10th house) public standing. Eris in the 5th might mean you have ‘discord’ around having children – and then end up feeling ‘out in the cold’ because all the people who do have children are sort of treating you as “a different form of life.”

Anyway, this t-square doesn’t involve Uranus. But being that it happens at the same time as the Uranus station, it would be sensible to think of this ‘other matter’ as something which is either going on at the moment, or something which has some influence or bearing on your issues of the moment.

The ‘baseline’ here is a great (Pelion) amount of personal (Aries) something. Pelion generally refers to a large amount of effort which is required, but whether that’s effort already committed to something or effort you’re boggled at needing to put out is individual. Coupled to Eris, this would be a quintessential ‘big deal’ (of real type OR tempest-in-teacup type) which in some way asks that you (Jupiter/Castor) grow in ability or (Jupiter-Hel-Child) grow up some or deal with the ugly things you really don’t want to deal with but NEED to deal with (Jupiter-Hel-Child-Castor) and deal with firmly, squarely and in a straight-forward manner…with all of this being liberally tied in a knot by a true and sincere wish that a.) either you didn’t have to deal with this/could just ignore this…or….b.) that society and/or social forces (including business standards) would get real about the tendency to marginalize, bypass or ignore the fact that real human beings are affected on an everyday basis by things which don’t take realistic things into account.

The ‘goal’ presented here is a curious one: Haumea, Ceres and TNO Typhon in Libra, a combination which would appear to be more about the wish value of our planning and what we learn when ideals go awry than anything else.

And yet…there is that Haumea quality of ‘shape-shifting’ which, by being included in this figure simply adds to and reiterates the entire aura of change or ‘willing evolution to evolve’ which seems to go with this Uranus station. Looked at in terms of Uranus’ stationing in a degree known for lack of patience at a moment when Mercury is in Sagittarius indicating rapid pace or overloads with Uranus own configuration including its opposition to Mars (which, by the by, one could see very literally as an ‘opposition to Mars/doing or having to do’).

And that would seem to mean we have a Uranus station recipe for a lot of ‘this shouldn’t be my problem, it should be your problem (and I really wish you’d stop trying to foist it on me)’ sort of stuff. Or maybe you’re on the ‘I know I should, but I don’t WANT to…and I especially don’t want to have to change anything or learn better about anything - even if it’s the best thing for me - if someone else is pressuring me about it.’

Ah yes…and it’s the holidays. AND Venus is about to go retrograde.

To address this Uranus-Venus thing: if you do move forward now, you will spend the time between your ‘move’ and Venus’ end-of-January turn to direct working things out and solidifying your gains. (Or yes, your losses.) If you blow off something you KNOW you need to change, break out of or some other tra-la like that…or if you avoid something you know you need to deal with, Venus in retrograde will provide you with all sorts of reasons to keep wanting to hide from the truth.

And let’s remember…Uranus energetics are and do have a very distinct relationship to the truth. The Uranus question vis-à-vis the truth (and facts) is only ever whether we are willing to join with that truth, or whether we are determined to part from the truth by substituting some preferred mantra which sounds good…but which isn’t really real.

Of course, we may have done just that at some time in the past, too. If so, Uranus’ station becomes a time when such forces ‘explode’ in our (Aries) face (i.e., consciousness).

Here’s a diagram for these next few days of the month…

As you can see, December 19th is where the Uranus and Venus stations overlap, indicating a day of turmoil or shift/shifting where outward or outbound (Uranian) motion is expended, reacted to or reflected on in a Venusian (‘how does this affect me…?’) manner.

Are we being hasty? Are we merely being practical? Are we escaping or abdicating - enhancing or detracting from our innate wholeness or effectiveness? Going into this station things would seem to be focused on ‘the idea of the thing’ with theories are abounding in the moment.

And yet, where we come out of this station we are under Sun and Venus in earth – specifically in Capricorn.That says realism. That says reality and a need for determinations which, whether pragmatic or not really have to fit who you are and be capable of generating personal growth to have any lasting effectiveness. 

All of which generates this question: if we go into this station in theory and come out of it in a pragmatic or realism mode, what's happened?

What changes?

That would seem to be our question.
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