THE ASTROLOGY of POSITIONS, PERSPECTIVES, & METAPHYSICS
by Boots Hart, CAP
Showing posts with label Astrology of Accomplishment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Astrology of Accomplishment. Show all posts

Friday, August 23, 2013

Sedna's Station as Grand Sextile Herald



'Hand of adult and child' - an image Sedna challenges us
to think of as being both our Self
(photo credit: Israel free image project, c 1970-1980)

With the Sun entering Virgo on August 22nd and Mercury following in on August 23rd (both in the UT/+0 zone) we’re all officially in a zone all about ‘improvements.’ Life will be filled with questions. All the 'should's and 'would's of life will ask us what we want to do...and how to best get at what really needs doing.

This is likely to be a time when we'll all be considering our priorities and the ramifications of acting against the possible cost of standing still. We'll at least need to contend with our urges to be lackadaisical and make excuses...often to others, but really to our Self.

It's a period filled with plus and minuses and sorting out the difference between responsibility and obligation, between morality and guilt, between accomplishment and avoidance.

In the midst of all, we're likely to see how sometimes it’s not the ‘thing’ which counts, its being satisfied with what you’ve done, how well you’ve done it and why you chosen to follow your path.

What does what you're currently doing with your life really mean?

All of this sets the stage as dwarf planet Sedna turns to retrograde at 6:03 in the morning (UT/+0) of August 25th, a moment which finds Mercury and Orcus conjunct the Sun, making Sedna’s turn a focus on the consequence of what we are...or aren't. What we're willing to do, and how for many of us we are where we are in this world right now not because we planned it that way but rather because we've followed suggestions and images supplied by others.

Or even by society.

Sedna was discovered in November of 2003 at California’s Mount Palomar Observatory by the team of Craig Trujillo, David Rabinowitz and Caltech’s Mike Brown - who if you read this blog you know I think of as a rock star astronomer, not to mention a trés cool guy kind enough to answer this astrologer’s astrophysics questions when she stubs her mental toe. And considering it's only been a decade of knowing Sedna, much research remains to be done on both the astrological ond astronomical side.

But from what we understand so far, Sedna functions in the chart rather like the psychological concept of ‘superego’ does.

(And no, your superego is not where you dress up in a mask and cape and go save the world. Nice thought, but unfortunately that’s not the gig.)
 
So what IS a superego? Putting it in simple terms our superego is a set of standards or images instilled in our mind which either guides us - or which we rebel against. For some, superego concepts provide them with security. For others, superego energies feel like an eternal, subtle, constant critique. Most often our superegos somehow 'imbed' something about what our parents said. You know...how they said life would be. Or should be. The marked tendency for so many of us to grow up 'just like our parents' and indeed grow to be more and more like them as time goes along - that's the power of the superego.

But it isn't our parents. Nor are we supposed to be what the media or popular culture "says we should be." Often our superego images are merely just how we interpret external messages - and there is nothing cut and dried about this. Some of us will resist and end up destroying ourselves, some of us will comply with perceived 'instructions' and bury our dearest wishes, some of us will be made insecure by getting as far as knowing we aren't 'like' those images being thrown at us but without any idea of who we really are. Or if it's okay to be that unique and perhaps highly counter-cultural person. 

Just because you can't fulfill someone else's expectations doesn't mean you're a failure. That's part of the Sedna lesson. Thus whatever our early experiences are, there comes a time when we ask ourselves whether we should question those images, those expectations, the feeling that we should 'comply' or 'fit in' when that's really not who we are.

Whatever your situation is - whether you need to rethink or you need to change things, or even if you need to not insist of your children that they 'toe the line' because you did when you were young, the issue is individuation.

Sedna asks that we take a step back. Sedna is about gaining perspective - on who we are, on what we think life is, on what we truly believe our personal potentials may yet come to be if we allow ourselves to grow, perhaps purged of old assumptions which may or may not have been true or still be true.

That process, and whether we undertake the challenge of comprehending and accepting or reworking our imprinting is what we know of currently as the astrological Sedna Process.

As usual, there’s an interesting myth which goes with Sedna. If you’d like to read how that sorts out astrologically, here is a LINK to a piece on same here at the blog.

Most of us want to think that Sedna ‘individuation’ is just about learning to live on our own (the physical separation from our parents). But that's just where the work - and the possibility for real personal power - begins. Separating from feelings and ‘images’ left over from early hopes and dreams is what frees our psyche to be our psyche and function from the perspective of who we really are.

Maybe you have a little Sedna work to do...and maybe you have a lot. Whatever your Sedna Process is, it will swell up like cold water seeking to engulf you from below...from within...unbidden...as Sedna goes in and out of retrograde.

The good news is that Sedna works on us slowly; we generally experience its energy in ‘steps’ and ‘stages.’ At every ‘parting’ we feel freer and yet are confronted by the need to be invested ever more tangibly in who we are.

What we want to be.

Where we want to be being who we are.

Once we begin ‘owning’ our Sedna, we know things are changing because we know they need to change. And often it's as simple as that. Individuality as part of the Sedna Process is experienced as ‘sinking’ ever more deeply into our ‘sea’ of existence and personal potential. In the Sedna myth, Sedna is finally wrested from a life she was determined to cling to by an ocean storm - a 'storm of emotionality,' we would say metaphysically. And once her grip on all she knows is broken down, she is tossed into a surging ocean (of her own feelings) and there she sinks into the ocean's depths.

The depths of her emotional psyche, this would be. And there, alone in the dark and drowned to all save her soul she finds that power and purpose which allows Sedna to become a goddess - the Being we can be because we are each and every one of us born with unique human gifts.

In Sedna, we accept the singular qualities of our individuality - which seems sensible when we consider Sedna as an object. And no, this doesn’t mean that to accept your Sedna is to be a ‘loner,' but rather that Sedna is about understanding who you are and what  experience has taught you is true or not true about life...and about yourself.

Whatever that entails. 

Then again, with it’s 11,400 year-long orbit (plus or minus – not even NASA is sure on this one yet) by taking so long to transit through a sign Sedna also marks huge swaths of humanity (and thus eras of human development) at a time.

Oh how curious, right? At the same time that Sedna asks us to individuate by sign it also ‘binds’ millions of human beings to one another.
 
And maybe that’s the point. Individuation does not mean separation. Individuation is more about the ability to see each thing (or yourself) on its own as part of a greater whole - and in that it urges us to utilize our own talents and the knowledge we('ve) gained through getting a perspective on our own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to living our lives.

When it comes to making something of those lives.

When it comes to deciding who and how and what kind of people we should be investing our life time (the time we have here on Earth) with.

Currently in Taurus, Sedna’s most recent change of sign took place back in 1966 when it left Aries (and entered Taurus).

Before that, Sedna moved from Pisces into Aries back in 1865.

Do a little quick math in this regard and you'll come up with the obvious: for a dwarf planet which takes more than 11,000 years to go once around the Sun, Sedna is pretty much galloping along.

And that means Sedna must be near or at one of the ‘extremes’ (the perihelion or aphelion) of its highly egg shaped orbit around our local Sun.

Which it is - as we can see in this handy NASA diagram.


Image credit: NASA (2012)

Just to make this a bit clearer...with thanks to NASA... here’s another version of Sedna’s orbit generated last year by JPL’s orbital simulator (a wonder of Java technology if there ever was one).

Image credit: JPL (2012)

Sedna is currently about as close to us as it will ever be. And though that's still not all that close, on the metaphysical level that still means a lot, especially as we witness the incredibly rapid evolution society has been going through in the last hundred-plus years.

In fact, it's a sobering thought when we stop and realize that the last time Sedna was this close to Terra Earth the (earth) year was somewhere around 9,000 BCE.

In other words, society as we know society hasn't ever gone through anything like this Sedna period before.

We're it. We're the trailblazers. We're the novices.

We're learning what it means to be an individual born to have opportunities. Those of us born under Sedna in Aries are challenged to get perspective on who we are and who we were born to be while those born under Sedna in Taurus are creating 'opportunities' through which they can discover their own values - and their value as human beings.

This isn't to say our opportunities are always that obvious. We tend to think of 'opportunity' as a positive when the truth is that humans tend to learn more through tough sledding, hard times, defeats and painful inundations - physical, emotional or otherwise.

Evidently it takes a lot to get through to us. Where our images, 'programming' and tradition embody the pretty, the simple, the comforts of ease (all obvious traits in the original Sedna myth) they are the child Sedna's dream and that which leads to a downfall precisely because we - like the mythical Inuit girl - don't want to let go of some 'status quo' we've gotten our psyches 'married to.' We want to 'fit in' - even if it's with that image in our head, despite the many and manifest difficulties.

The whole idea of being individual scares most of us to death. We want to fit in.

And of course there is that other type - the determined individualist who would rather live with the echo of their dreams rather than any realistic, highly mortal Reality.

It's all about perspective - and often our lack of perspective on ourselves or what may truly be possible which causes all the problems.

That’s the hard part to face, starting with the idea that because Sedna asks us to let go of the images we have adopted or which were instilled in us, there's a lot of emotional challenge which comes with Sedna's transits, shifts and general energetics. Probably the one we all face across the board is the facing that our parents (those primal superego molders!) are just real and regular people with their own foibles and fears. They're not only mortal, the person they are may be very different from the person we've (probably unconsciously) internalized.

But until we become conscious and gain perspective on that...we're likely to continue patterning ourselves on initial Sedna images - both good and bad.

For instance, I have a friend (and you can imagine what it's like to be the astrologer's friend, right?) 'patterned' by parents who were each experienced as inconsistent in their own right - and inconsistent with each other. So now this person is 'magically attracted' to partners who, though they look different, evoke the same response.

It's sort of like we are out to prove they can't be loved so they can give up on being loved as a matter of being accepted - which was sadly, their original lesson about what love is.

We all struggle with this lesson until we realize just how blank a slate a child is. Children will imprint on their parents and since our most basic survival as children depends on the love of our parents, whatever they show us we 'image' as love.

When we look at a natal horoscopes, we see these 'love patterns.' And we see the oddly weird way we grow up to 'seek out' or 'pick' people who may or may not actually be like our patterning parents but who will end up evoking those same dynamics and feelings until we gain that very special perspective on life which is so utterly and completely Sedna.

No, it isn't easy. The first time we walk down that 'internally aware' Sedna road love doesn't feel like we're habituated to think it will.

It takes time to learn love and respect for our Self - from ourselves and from others - can be a whole different and often better thing.

But that all is as it is because this is the way life is constructed becomes more obvious when we look at the JPL image of Sedna's orbit, why Sedna represents that true 'above all' superego-type ‘perspective on perspective’ begins becoming obvious, considering how far away from our solar system's "central district" Sedna really is.

It's dark and cold out there, just as dark and just as cold as the depths of the cold northern sea Sedna sinks into...just as dark and encompassing as the depths of our own essence which we sink into when we begin grappling with our Sedna essence.

That chill of newness when the 'comfort' of the known is stripped away is disconcerting

But I guess you could say that we have to go 'out into the cold' to find our answers. So wherever Sedna is in our chart - by sign, by house, by aspect - that is the area of life where we will experience the provocation which drives us to gain perspective on ourselves and our abilities, capacities and personal truths. My friend has Sedna in the 5th house - the house of children, of dating, of doing what one wants to do. So it's not shocking that their "Sedna stuff" pops up in the dating scene, that they're half-past iffy about having kids, that they spend a lot of time in solitary pursuits all about finding out who they are, why they are who they are, why things work as they do and what this all means in terms of their capacity (which is part of why we're friends, I'm sure) and why - given the 5th house/11th house polarity...and how all house placements denote not just the object in that house but the need to 'complete the circuit' by enfolding the  opposition...how this perfectly intelligent, perfectly nice person has such quandaries about self and wanting to fit into their 'group.'

Except of course, that they don't fit in. And there is that pesky fact that when it gets right down to it, they don't want to fit in because their whole drive is about being not alone, but individual.

(Yes, they think it's alone.)

As someone born with Sedna conjunct their Ascendant, I feel for them. I can also tell you that Sedna asks us to step away from the norm and to own our departure from the crowd. This doesn't mean you have to go about preening in your separateness, it just means you go about doing what you do and that you recognize how our greater talents - our Sedna abilities - are part of that 'outer realm,' that 'shell' which both metaphysically holds us in and at the same time, urges us to leave our comfortable cocoons. 

In short, the Sedna Principle pushes us to understand avenues of personal realization which may seem offensive or difficult because they force us to recognize and own individuality and uniqueness. And how being an individual sets us apart at some level from others. Some will never be willing to challenge themselves or go their own way. Some people will separate emotionally if not intellectually while others will be willing to leave the intellectual nest but refuse to leave behind what they conceive of as their ‘comfort zone.’

It’s this state of ‘neither fish nor fowl’ (which with Sedna is more akin to ‘neither able to fish nor likely to want to identify what is so foul’) which confounds us...and which stands to inhabit, color and permeate matters now as Sedna goes retrograde in late Taurus.

At 24 Taurus, to be specific.

As part of the third and most worldly Taurus decanate, 24 Taurus is part of a series of metaphysical passages where our self worth experiences the blessings and trials inherent on a greater scale. This may be in our life in particular. Then again, it could be in the life of a collective – a national population. Or of the nation itself. Lore speaks of 24 Taurus as a degree concerned with spiritual mastery which either witnesses or experiences whatever difficulties such mastery of the ethereal is bound to encounter on this so reality-addicted plane.

Sedna’s turn to retrograde in this degree would seem to be about an awakening of spiritual consciousness…or conscience, however you receive it. Therefore we could expect this station (which begins on the 23rd and extends through the 27th) to arouse feelings akin either at the ‘is this all there is?’ end of things or through some disquieting awareness that in comparison with the whole of "possibility" you, we, our daily lives and world are all very, very small.

Yet on the other hand, we're all important too. If there's one thing science, religion, spirituality and philosophy all agree on, it's that all things happen for a reason. Good, bad, indifferent, terrible, wonderful, questionable - we are all born with abilities which mean something to the totality of What Is.

So in perspective (you know, that Sedna thing) though we may indeed be one tiny part of the Whole, we still are a vital part of that Whole. Nature (call it Incarnation) doesn't waste energy or effort. All that exists has a function.

Thus, so do we. And it's arguable - since we're all energy and everything else is energy too - that we function as the 'microcosm' to the Whole's 'macrocosmic' nature.

How would that be? The simple answer is that we're all energy. You, me, the doorknob - we're all just energy. The next answer is that offered by Systems Theory, namely that the same sequences repeat over and over and over again in life, in biology and botany, in everything from architecture to astrology to relationships. One is the whole, two is the duality, confrontation and opposition, three is the initial 'voicing' of combination and so on.

Systems Theory is actually why the same astrological premise - the horoscope - applies equally to people, puppies, products and nations.

And this matters now why?

Good question - and one I will answer thusly: people who know me in real time occasionally see me wearing this amulet.

 
This seal is one of a series of symbolic images known in esoteric circles as the “Seals of Solomon” - a reference which takes us back to the years 970-931 BCE. But as pertains to our discussion here, the idea of the interlocked triangles goes back much farther. Thinking in terms of what we just discussed, these interlocking triangles are a symbol of micro/macrocosmic reflection - one the Hermeticists of Egypt probably defined best in one simple and elegant statement: ‘as above, so below.’

It's an idea which applies very well with Sedna, our symbol of the inner Self which ends up defining our outer experiences.

Astrology knows the Hermetic star as a six-pointed figure known as a Grand Sextile: six points each separated by sixty-degree sextiles (with the standard sextile allowance of 3 degrees a given).
 
In astrological terms the sextile is ‘opportunity’ – a thing we can choose to utilize or not.

 
Of course when six ‘options’ occur together as a Grand Sextile, what we’re really seeing is a matched set of Grand Trines – each in aspect to other. And since Grand Trines are indicators of ‘ongoing energy’ which we have little-to-no opportunity to shift, change, start or stop, thus is opportunity transformed into a metaphysical… celestial… spiritual mandate.


Because Sedna is going into retrograde with the Sun in early Virgo, and since we know that first decan placements (a planet in degrees 0 to 9) are where signs manifest physically or through our actions, this is an active time all about life (Sun) and our thoughts (Mercury) and what we can do…should do…and what our priorities (read: responsibilities) really are.

So that’s the ‘everyday’ doings into which comes Sedna (a need for perspective) going on station and retrograde in a third decan degree.

Third decanate degrees (any degree between 20 and 29 of a sign) are all about what we put out into the world, how we interface with the world, how we are affected by the world, or how the world reacts to us.

So evidently we need perspective on how to approach things. And as we are doing that, the world (and people in it) will be testing our Sedna potential and probably giving us good reason to ask ourselves where we stand vis-à-vis our sense of mature individuality.

If your chart ‘answers’ to 24 Taurus (in particular), this time is about your ability to operate with perspective or in some manner which helps you to gain perspective.

Of course, you could be one of those folks who just rejects the whole thing, too. There are lots of them out there!

So...do you have a planet, position, axis point or node between 19 and 29 degrees of Taurus, Leo, Aquarius, Scorpio, Capricorn or Virgo?

If so, your ability to operate or understand matters represented by that planet, point, node or axis with enough perspective (on yourself, the origins of your choices and the ramifications thereof) is on the celestial table.

For those with planets, points, axis points or nodes between 22 and 26 Aries, Gemini, Sagittarius or Libra...

...problems or quandaries which arise now are all about a need for perspective. They key to all things probably starts with asking why people (yourself included) are doing whatever they’re doing.
 
No, you may not like the answer. But you may realize something vitally important.

Or maybe you have a positions, planets, axis points or node between 21 and 27 Pisces or Cancer?

If so, this is an opportunity to gain perspective or to utilize perspective in the gaining of some end which is prosperous and positive for you and everyone else. 

One other group merits a mention here - those whose birthdays (e.g., solar return) fall between the dates August 23rd and August 27th.

I don’t say this often enough – and yes, it applies whenever any planet, dwarf planet, asteroid or TNO takes station. I'm reminded of this because I have friends with birthdays on August 24th and August 27th (and happy birthday and many fine solar returns to you both).

The Solar Return point is this: if your birthday falls under the auspices of any ‘station window,’ your whole “birthday year” (solar return year, otherwise known as from birthday to birthday) is going to be colored, not necessarily by the specifics of any event, but by the underlying theme - in this case, the Sedna theme – aka a Sedna-conjunct-Capulus-at-24-Taurus theme.

Capulus is a the fixed star said to represent the sword with which Perseus cut off Medusa’s head. Typically associated with ‘penetrating’ energies (which indeed may be phallic), Capulus in Taurus is its own potent quotient which pits what we want to do purely for our own pleasure (or those we definitely favor) versus our willingness to open ourselves to greater possibilities.

Currently, Capulus is at 24 Taurus. That puts it in an exact conjunction with Sedna’s station.

I wish my friends well. One of them already knows to ask questions whenever they want and I trust the other one will learn. In the meantime, if you have a Sedna puzzle, please ask. After all, if you read this labor of love known as my astro-blog, you must know I care. And yes, that’s my Sedna-at-the-Ascendant. It manifests in many different ways, most of which make me uncomfortable as all get-out. So if you ever meet me in real life you'll find that I’m often awkward, in reality terribly shy and yet prone to frivolously playful drama which entertains others - that being my effort to help them feel better about themselves.

Like I say, that's my Sedna. I may feel awkward and shy but through helping them feel not so awkward and shy I facilitate our becoming closer.

It's a process. With Sedna, we take it all step by step by step. We figure out where and how our 'naked selves' are not so bad. In fact, we're pretty beautiful. And even when we hide...well, there are those who think of blogging as a 'clinging to anonymity.' Fifty years ago nobody knew what an author looked like and nobody worried. A hundred years ago people made firm and fast pen pal friendships with people they had never met.

Some of those pen pals even decided to get married. 

The world’s suspicions don’t make me a jot less or more sincere about what I do. So if I'm shy and if I can write to you here and give you a gift which just may be better delivered without any personal presence tainting the works, that's Sedna in the positive. And that this blog is all about offering you perspectives on Existence is exactly Sedna at the Ascendant: what I do (Ascendant = do) is "Sedna-like."

Hopefully some of it serves you well as you pursue your personal, Earthly Journey.

The last notion to contemplate here is how after the window on Sedna’s station opens on the 23rd (with Sedna going retrograde on the 25th), as the 27th rolls through and Sedna’s station effects fade, they fade into the appearing of a double grand trine – a Hermetic star – forming above us in the heavens. 

 
And that makes the Sun and Mercury entering Virgo leading into Sedna’s station a sign that what has been has been…and that we are – all of us – passing through a ‘bridging point’ where Above and Below stand in reflection.

This linking of linkages will be in effect only for a few minutes in the wee hours of early August 29th (UT/+0 time). But such links do tend to evolve over time - and since I have rolled through what is to come I can add here that this theme of 'grand sextiling' (if you will) is going to continue on into September...even for some October, depending on what kind of placements are in your personal natal chart.

(Yes, it works that way too. Also yes, if we have points which 'line up' closely with any given position of a grand sextile, that will be one of the funnels through which energy will focus in our lives and which we will be asked to evolve from.

All such double Grand Trines (or Grand Sextiles) will by definition link points in different elements. This one has four objects aligning in the 'tangible' element of earth: Pluto (transformation), the South Node (what we find easy to do) and Mercury (thought, communication, day-to-day activity)...against three other objects Saturn (time, structure, responsibility, commitment), Jupiter (growth, expansion, acquisition of knowledge-comprehension) and Chiron (that we need to do which we cannot understand except by doing) in emotionally evocative water signs.

Earth plus water sometimes equals unparalleled fertility and fruitful growth. On the other hand, sometimes earth plus water only equals mud – and hence the muddying of the waters, the washing away of earth, the dissolution of stability.

Four out of six points (Chiron, South Node, Jupiter and Mercury) are in second decanate positions. The second decan (degrees 10-19 of any sign) is where the sign manifests emotionally. So is South Node in Taurus about contentment, selfishness, self respect, lack of self worth, inertia or a willingness to do what you can? Is Jupiter in Cancer a new start? Is it opening the doors to others or the working on ways to remain hidden in your castle (mental or otherwise)? And is Mercury in Virgo the keeping on with what you’re doing or being too busy to be bothered? Is it doing what you’re required to but not really want you can do?

And Chiron in Pisces....? Well…that’s just every variety of ‘how to do what I know I need to do but which I don’t really want to do because…because…because’ with all the ‘because’s (read: justifications) being some variety about not wanting to experience your own emotions or emotionality.

Two of the four points in the emotional second decanate are in water signs. This is about how emotions effect you: how you express your feelings as a reaction to your own feeling process. Plus, seeing as one of these objects (Chiron) is in the unbounded 'emotional deep water' sign of Pisces, we know the Chirotic part of this equation is expressing feelings about how you feel about having to feel in any case - and not knowing what to do about it or how to deal with it. 

Then there’s Saturn and Pluto (Pluto/Facies, really) in first decan degrees relating to what we do and our physical existence.

(If you want to read up on Pluto’s ongoing game of dice with Facies, here’s a LINK to that post. There are several, so use the Facies or Facies/Pluto link in the sidebar if you want to read more.)

Saturn in Scorpio is the need to meet others on a genuine basis of equality. Nobody likes it, everybody needs to do it if they want to get create any lasting or valuable alliances. The opposition to South Node in Taurus represents the fear that we may be doing something wrong. Or doing what we’re doing with the wrong person. The question here is really about quality and trustworthiness though many will try to get by on flash (qualities which look good but don’t measure up) and uttering hollow promises.

As for Pluto (Facies) in Capricorn, nobody is getting away with not facing life’s complexities. Those who think they can ‘get away’ with not making quality efforts may succeed in the short run but they’re sure to lose in the long run. (Saturn will reach Facies in 2018.)

Sometimes Grand Sextiles (celestial six-pointed stars) will denote something coming into being. More often they refer to a fateful change which moves us from one ‘era’ of our life to another. I’ve had two years marked by Grand Sextiles in my solar chart and neither of them were gentle. In linking water and earth barely in the wake of Sedna’s station this Grand Sextile suggests an irrevocable shift of values which empowers an incremental gain in our grasp on life which causes us to feel our values more deeply.

Or maybe more acutely.

However...with that said, this is not a 'rock solid' Grand Sextile in the sense that sextiles are only given a 3 degree orb. Mercury - which serves as the linchpin in this planetary picture - is within 3 degrees of orb to Saturn at 9 Virgo and within 3 degrees of the sixty-degree sextile orb to Jupiter only once it moves into 10 Virgo.

So there are some 'purists' out there who would tell you that there is no Grand Sextile at all. Being someone who has experienced them and timed their effects, I say 'not true' to that. But I will - for the sake of being conservative - say that Mercury makes its move from 9 to 10 Virgo at 1:57 in the morning, UT/+0 time.

You be the judge from there. 

Many will now choose to allow themselves to embody, utilize and voice that which they learn now. Astrologers, astrologically savvy or merely as people wandering through this world, through what they separate from and recognize as their new reality, such people will become indelibly more self-reflective. They won’t have to search as much as they know who they are and thus can devote themselves to whatever it is they do and can now do in Reality because they have met, accepted and adapted to their sense of personal individuality.

To accept our Sedna is to be able to look at life – our life and that around us with understanding born of perspective. If your ‘before’ involved some hurt, you may not be able to ‘solve’ the hurt, but you may come to understand that what you now know and what you now value is in part all about your having been hurt.

All things have purpose. All experiences enhance our potential to understand. In the Sedna realm – which is to say in the lasting process of personal maturation - there is no ‘escaping’ the darker aspects of life. But that’s okay. Life’s dips, shadows and sorrows give shape, depth and richness to our achievements. They motivate our wisdom.

They give us a reason to love.

As we grapple with our Sedna process, we gain exponential human power. It’s not the type of power which grants dominion over this or control over that – this is the power of being.

And when we feel powerful as a being, we don’t worry about control or dominion. We become content to earn respect and the love which grows from that.

Through acceptance of the Sedna Principle we end our denials and stop trying to ‘fit in.’ Once we accept the power of our uniqueness we have no reason for either as we know why we are...and who we can become. It's the struggle, the regrets, the not knowing what 'lies beyond' that we know...the separating from long-held dreams or images bequeathed to us by loved ones which is hard.

But that's part of Sedna too. Learning that we can disagree with someone we love, we can like different things and accept that we are different and that we can still love them and be loved by them is the essence of having perspective on life as a whole. To accept the individualization described by Sedna's energetics is difficult. But without them we become a crippling force - and despite the tendency to project and blame others, the person we tend to cripple is ourselves.

Is it a lot to ask of a station that it escort us into a moment of fateful evolution? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. Sedna's turn to retrograde speaks to a process of internal growth we will experience within ourselves and with or through our interactions with others, with challenges, with life. We separate from others not so as to be apart, but so that we can recognize our own potential to contribute and to be someone who is recognized for their abilities and attributes, their willingness to be who they are rather than 'the image' or that which is currently popular.

By the time next February arrives and Sedna goes direct again, we will have wrestled with this process a bit more. We will have met up with or witnessed or have been exposed to things which get us to seeing, feeling and sensing the difference between 'fitting in' or 'molding' our Self into anything which is other that who we are, whatever that means.

Some of us will let go and begin sinking into the depths of that enveloping darkness of total, inexorable being from which we are able to tap into our potential as something with which to contribute to a greater whole - a life, a world, a society, a family, a group of friends...whatever...in sync with our potential. Some of those people may understand for having gone through their own Sedna process, some will never understand.

We will stand witness, we will serve our purpose and service our sense of being through the contributing of our life to this world for all its worth without resistance.

In embracing our Sedna power we become part of the 'sea of capacity' and in that, we become capable of washing away that which needs to be washed clean. We become embodied and imbued with that power which can carry others away and dash hopes on sharp rocks of reality.

What we cannot do is live a surface life any more. And in that, for those who now manage to see their way past at least several of the images in our hall of mental mirrors, therein lies the Sedna dictate which separates one person from another, the matriculated beings from those who don't have the courage to trust that they have been created with potentials far more important and satisfying than possessions, physicality or anything which manifests as part of our everyday world.

As much as we want to be seen as individuals and 'own' our own lives, most of us are stunningly reluctant to be different.

And yet, that difference is the very definition of uniqueness. And human beings - apparently separate beings born one by one by one at precise times at precise places with signatures so unique they won't repeat for millions if not trillions of years...?

We are nothing if not unique. The only question is whether we're brave enough to be as wonderful as we are - and can be. 
.
.
.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

By the Light of a Ceres Full Moon


The Full Moon as photographed by Augusto De Luca in 1980

Maybe you remember the old song ‘…by the light of the silvery moon…’ and suspect that I was humming that as I came to write this blog?

If so, you would be right!

And though I’m not positively certain why such things pop into our minds at any given time, given that this month’s Full Moon (which will occur on June 23rd at a cheery 11:33 a.m. UT/+0 time) is in Capricorn, having something I heard as a child turn up for humming use seems rather apt.

After all, Capricorn always has a sense of the classic, the historical and all which has lasted through the triumphs and trials of time – which goes with its association with Saturn, the astrological time-and-taskmaster which leads to achievement. In this case, the ‘achievement’ has in part been the installing of a song in my head which evidently has lasted plural decades. But probably more to the point, the fact that the song (and the Doris Day movie which honored same) have proved memorable denote a form of ‘quality’ which is endemically Capricorn-Saturn, and thus entirely in keeping with this June Full Moon at 2 Capricorn.


During my 'growing up years' I was very involved with music, where one of the things I liked most was old-fashioned sheet music with all the wonderful illustrations. So since it came up today, I went hunting for 'By the Light of the Silvery Moon' and came up with this - which I thought you'd enjoy seeing.
(original publication date, 1909)

And yet…there is something of an odd juxtaposition here. While Capricorn itself is known as structural sign which encourages (even requires) that we build and engineer an external life which will support and protect our internal life (the image of the polarity sign, Cancer), 2 Capricorn is pretty early in the sign. That points us towards the idea that early degrees in any sign (those in the 0-9 first decanate region) are known for being where the sign manifests through actions and physicality. So considering this is Capricorn we’re talking about, this may be a time when all things Capricorn are in progress in that singularly cardinal manner Nike has forever embraced with the corporate slogan: ‘just do it.’

The head and torso of a statue of the Goddess Nike, she who stands for victory
of human spirit, which is part of the RMS Titanic Engineers' Memorial
in Southampton (photo credit: Marekes, May 2011)

Or maybe you’re gearing up to go out there and ‘just do it.’ Or you’re listening to others who are out there just wailing on whatever they’re involved in as they try to make things happen.

Whether you’re cake baking or sports attending or governmenting or building for your future, you’re doing what you’re doing and then we arrive at this interesting juncture otherwise known as the Full Moon at 2 Capricorn.

The image is this: the Moon – our emblem of feelings and intuition and money and habits and cultural inculcations (and thus the ‘directives’ by which we tend to live) is at 2 Capricorn, a degree known as being a bit tentative. The question is ‘what will work?’ or ‘will this work?’ or ‘am I on the right track?’ or ‘is this going to get me where I want to go?’ or any such reflection. Implied also is how our life is OUR life and how that may mimic or ‘fit’ with society or, then again, it may not.

And if or where it doesn’t, is that bad? Certainly there are some areas of life (regulations, laws, etc.) where we really do need to adhere to the ‘rules.’ And there are abilities which are basic tools in life – learning to read, write, do money-math, cook well enough to feed yourself, all that stuff. But beyond that is the where is fitting in good, and where is being your own person the way to create that ‘special’ niche which is true to you and which is the sign of human leadership?

Another side of 2 Capricorn is a sort of ‘timeliness,’ especially that which asks that we keep up with the times which may now reverberate as having to ‘update’ in some way, shape or form.

Because we don’t see a bouquet of modifiers associated with the Sun or Moon in this moment, we might think this Full Moon is straight-forward or ‘simplistic.’

But is life ever simple? How would it be so interesting if all was simplistic!

So be assured, there are at least a couple of astro-aspect notes worth taking into account!

And thus we get at it, starting with one of my handy-dandy diagrams...


Oh wait...! Before we get to that, we should note that the date of this Full Moon (the 23rd of June) is also the date that the Nodes move onto the cross-quarter degrees in Scorpio and Taurus.

Didn't catch that post? No problem - here's the link:


Bearing that in mind, the Moon (our feelings of the moment) is in a sign which (as mentioned), is ruled by Saturn. And Saturn is at 4 Scorpio and still retrograde, though 4 Scorpio IS the degree Saturn is going to go direct at come but a couple of weeks from now. So that adds something of an undercurrent. Even a double undercurrent, considering the Nodal signal that our relationship with others and the world is in the mix.

Some of us will now experience moments of self-doubt. And it's probably a good time to check those p’s and q’s to see that all is in line...or when you may find out you forgot to dot some ‘i’ or cross some ‘t’.

(How alphabetical of me, right?)

Since this is a Full Moon we’re talking about here, if the Moon is at 2 Capricorn, that means the Sun is at 2 Cancer. So LIFE (the Sun) is in a place where we know we need to build for the future, but we also have sincere feelings of wanting to cover our vulnerabilities (and any body part you associate with that!).

2 Cancer is a bit of an odd duck degree in that it represents that quality of recognizing everyone’s needs while still wanting to vote only for your own preferences. There’s something of an emotional ‘false front’ which tends to be presented here, suggesting that justifications are easier to be put out there than actual reasons, rationales or personal motivations. And maybe that’s good and proper, maybe that’s selfish or manipulative…it just depends on who is doing what - and why.

So in this natural opposition between the Sun and Moon, it would be natural to question: why are we doing what we’re doing? Why are others saying what they’re saying about what we’re doing? Are they speaking fact and truth – or are they just trying to ‘sell’ some sort of agenda?

To make this all a bit more exotic, we add in four more factors, the first of which is that the Black Moon (societal form of) Lilith is sitting right beside the Sun at 1 Cancer, registering a bit of a ‘threat’ that what you’re doing (or what you want or need to do) may cause some social or relationship waves. And that may be the real crux of what this Full Moon is – life asking you whether you’re willing to do what you need to do to move ahead in your own life or as a person even though that might rock some sort of status quo. For all we know, that might be the ‘status quo’ of what you had thought coming into this time which now simply changes. But yes, it could mean you’re rocking some boat at home or at your office or in your ‘group.’

So why are you doing what you’re doing? Is it willful or is it necessary? Is it leadership or selfishness? Are you willing to move ahead (“modernize”) where someone else isn’t, or are you in some mode where you’re rejecting some evidence of how the world works simply because it doesn’t fit your mold or suit your fancy?
The next thing to think about is the fact that with this Full Moon we get a healthy heaping helping of Jupiter at 29 (critical) degrees of Gemini.

Every time I type ‘critical’ degrees, a little voice in my head says ‘someone is going to go overboard with that word “critical”’ So lest that be the case, let’s remember that critical in the astrological sense only means ‘to the max’ in terms of that sign. If you think of the degrees of any sign as being from 0 to 29, then zero is where the sign begins its ‘work’ (or process) and 29 is where its process culminates or where life pushes really hard to get us to dealing with the matter(s) connected to that sign.

In this case, the sign is Gemini: thought, mentality, communication, mental health, priorities and all those life details and operations which keep the ‘whole’ of life on track and functioning on a day-to-day basis. Gemini is known as the sign of ‘choice’ because we make a choice to deal with things…or to not deal with things. (And for those who think they don’t have to make choices, think again: making no choice IS making a choice – it’s a choice to exert no influence into the process, which is sort of a ‘choice to be helpless’ and let others run your life.)

Jupiter at 29 Gemini is a time of making choices and when choices (or non-choices) become very important for whatever reason. So, in combination with the Full Moon, we may now have plenty of good reasons to pause as something we have ignored may turn up to haunt us. Or maybe something we’ve done thinking we could get away with it…or maybe that ‘this was the way’ to handle something turns out wrong.

Then again, this may be where everything begins paying off. This may be a ‘critical juncture’ where Jupiter as the emblem of ‘expansion’ and learning brings you to where you ‘see the light’ whether at the end of the tunnel or otherwise. It may be where some long period of (Saturn) effort begins paying off.

It all depends on what you’ve been doing with your life of late. And even for the past year or so (which I say because it takes Jupiter just about a year to pass through any given sign).

Factor Three: Mercury is about to go retrograde. And since it’s SOP (standard operating procedure) for life to feel all pressured and flurry-ful just as we close in on Mercury’s station/retrograde point, that heaped atop Jupiter being at 29 ‘critical’ degrees of Gemini (a sign that Mercury rules) says decisions and conversations and having thought through situations and choices is probably of mucho importance just now.

As always, that we refuse to deal with in life gets thrust upon us. If we need to learn something and we don’t want to go there, life will ‘send’ someone to provoke and evoke that dynamic in us – or in our lives. And let’s remember…


…since Gemini is the sign which leads us to the foundational (Nadir or IC) point in the horoscope and the zodiac, that which we are (Aries), that which we seek in order to feel good about ourselves and our lives (Taurus) and that which we do or don’t do, learn or don’t learn (Gemini) is now coming to…well, not a heady turn – that sounds more like the top of the horoscope wheel.

But maybe you’d go for it’s a ‘nitty gritty’ time?

Jupiter tends to overblow and overdo and underestimate the repercussions of things while in Gemini. That goes to the good and goes to the not-so-good.

But once Jupiter crosses over into Cancer, then we have Jupiter in a sign of grace. Or at least grace for many. Those who aren’t moving ahead and aren’t planning and building for the future often experience Cancer as being ‘overwhelmed’ by Cancerian issues. I know one person with Cancer – which is normally the sign of home and family – on their 12th house, a house which asks that we face our fears in this realm. This person is totally overwhelmed by family demands and swamped by the ‘expectations’ that have been heaped upon them about the lifestyle they ‘should’ live and the kind of house they ‘should’ own and all that.

If you’re in position to finish something up and move ahead into a newer more “authentically you” stage of life, this Jupiter at 29 Gemini Full Moon with Mercury about go to into retrograde will like as not be an exciting time of seeing yourself moving towards wonderful new opportunities and a broadening of your vistas. Against that, if or where you’re just knee-jerking yourself along through life (did I put that politely enough?) this will be a nerve-wracking time of personal challenges.

And let’s not forget: it could be both. In one area of life all could be just spiffy and splendiferous while in another everything could be sinking into the floor.

The last and final note here (and here we thought this was just a simple Full Moon, right?) is that Ceres – the symbol of planning how to get from seed to the riches of harvest – is about to enter Leo.

Leo is a sign of visions, of creativity, of taking risks – not all of which always pay off. The Leo Principle includes the idea of competition, and let’s face it – we don’t always win. But that which we love with a Leo fervor, we love with all our heart. It’s what we do or what we’ve created, and whether others love it or not, that which is Leo to us is something we love.

Of course, sometimes we love something just too much. (I know…shocking, isn’t it?) Or sometimes we just get a vision of how things should be or could be and life just doesn’t measure up. This is the big Leo challenge: to understand motivation as motivation and ‘what could be’ as that we’re shooting for, not what reality necessarily is.

So as Ceres enters Leo on June 23rd (as this Full Moon lights our skies) we do need to see what can be, and motivation which leads to planning is decidedly a good thing.

Just let’s not think the road is always smooth. That it isn’t, that sometimes ‘stuff’ happens (as they say…ahem!) and we have to think on the fly or bite our tongue and go with the ‘oops – I didn’t think about that!) also comes with this mix.

If this is a moment when your dreams come true, God bless you! And if this is a moment when you see your way through some sticky life thicket to solutions which may yet be and become, good luck!

 The Moon
(photo credit: Simon Wedege Petersen, April 2009 - color altered for post use)

Like any Full Moon, this one is something of a check point and very much a step in the process. As the Moon reflects the light of the Sun, so we look skyward and reflect on this moment…this life…our hopes for tomorrow...

...and then we move on into a new phase, just as the Moon does.
.
.
.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Venus in Cancer


From the mid-40s, a fashion model photographed while underwater in Marineland Florida's dolphin tank
(photo credit: photographer Toni Frissell, 1907-1968)

There are a variety of interesting factoids worth thinking about with regards to Venus entering Cancer – an event which will happen on June 3rd at 2:14 in the morning, UT/+0 time.

First of all, considering this is Venus we’re talking about, that brings up our questions of value, worth, confidence (emotional self worth) on one side while asking whether how others and the world are responding to us is what we’d like it to be.

Venus always asks these questions. And for the next three-plus weeks, all such questions will be put to us through ‘Things Cancerian’…or in such a manner as to arouse our Cancer-born instincts.

And yes – when we talk about Cancer, there is a definite quality of ‘instinct.’ As the first of the water signs, Cancer is related to the shaping of our most basic emotions and how those emotions are shaped – which is why Cancer is associated with habits, cultural traditions, the unconscious and our attitudes regarding family.

As we grow up, Cancer comes to be other, more worldly things too. Home, family, nationality – these are all Cancerian concepts.

Then we come to the idea of real estate – particularly as an emblem or means of (rather literally) “building” wealth. The zodiac’s three water signs (Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces) and the houses they’re associated with (the 4th, the 8th and the 12th) are the areas we look to when we consider wealth in the chart.

With polarities, the idea that air is always opposed by fire and water is always opposed by
earth on the zodiac wheel counts. Traditionally, even though in opposition on the zodiac
wheel, air and fire "get along" and water and earth "get along"...though the more esoteric
question always pitches some form of the reality (earth) against the feeling (water) or 'whether
 the idea works' (air) against the vision (fire). 

You may have thought that was Taurus and the 2nd house? Well, no. Not precisely, that is. Taurus is the ‘I-me-personal side’ of (polarity sign to) Scorpio, which is why Taurus represents what we have depending on how well we get along with and deal with others (and the financial mechanisms in society)…and how well we gauge the concept of ‘risk’ at an emotional level.

That people do think of Taurus so diligently as ‘my money’ is actually rather interesting, considering how few folks focus on Cancer in the ‘landed gentry’ or large scale real estate owner sense.

There are long and well-established traditions in many cultures which “judge” you by your home. That would be Capricorn (our ‘worldly standing’) as the polarity to Cancer – real estate, our home and all that.

So why don’t people think in those terms?

Well, we do – to some extent, that is. Scorpio and the 8th (and to some extent the 8th house of our natal chart more than Scorpio as a sign) is where we display that ‘competition’ or ‘going for’ what we want in a worldly sense. But the 10th and its associated sign of Capricorn, that’s not ‘making it’…that’s more about ‘having it made.’ Capricorn seems a bit more ‘boring’ to us because it’s about (Saturnine) earning and doesn’t have that intense, inter-personal Mars/Pluto tussle quality that Scorpio and the 8th so adds to our lives.

And as far as real wealth goes (you know, giant, incontrovertible wealth) – that’s Piscean and the associated 12th house of the chart. Were the 8th and Scorpio have an active quality which is so associated with inheritances, investments and the spoils of war, the 12th (and Pisces) is associated with pensions, royalties, annuities, income from patents and any other sort of income which simply shows up without your having to do anything in particular.

So if you’re a Wall Street trader who could make it or break it in a day, that’s 8th house. If you’ve inherited an oil company and now are endowed with a sump of money which will never run dry, that’s 12th house.

But lest you say ‘oh, don’t I wish!’ let’s also think about what we know on the emotional side of this triad. Cancer is the sign of family. At it’s best, Cancer is the cozy hearth – and that hearth doesn’t need to be big or fancy in order for it to warm the very cockles of your heart. And that Scorpio is all about power, control, war, death, sex, inheritances, surgery and rehabilitation pretty much says it all. Scorpio is the active search for security – which implies there’s insecurity which must be dealt with.

Then there’s Pisces, the zodiacal land of artists, gurus, addicts, saints and convicts. Need I say more?

It’s an interesting sort of comparison. Evidently as the ‘water wealth’ capacity gets deeper, so do the emotional challenges.

With that duly plumbed, we retreat to the surf zone of Cancer.

Being the sign natively positioned at the very ‘bottom’ of the horoscope wheel, Cancer is about not our ‘standing’ in the world, but what we stand on. It’s about the foundations we are given, or which we scrape out or lay out and then build in our lives. (Yes, there’s that ‘building’ thing again!)

So while Cancer is the sign of home and we often see people redecorate or clean or even change their place of residence (and settle into new digs) under Cancer, any time we see a planet passing through Cancer its attributes are open for us to use in the realm of planning so that we can build a better future.

A wood engraving of an architect at his drawing board which was published May 25, 1893 in Teknisk Ukeblad, a leading Norwegian engineering journal

Mercury is already in Cancer as Venus shows up (dressed casually, no doubt) so we know that the thinking part of how to build our way forward is already under way. And since Venus is entering Cancer in the company of Atlantis and Scheherazade, which suggests there’s something (some Scheherazade ‘story’) which needs (Atlantis) letting go of.

But Atlantis is a bit more complicated than that. (All astrological points are, no matter how we tend to ‘short cut’ them when tossing together some conceptual astro-salad.) Atlantis carries with it a quality of being overwhelmed (‘drowned’) – or at least a fear that you will be, which is why you’re so reluctant to let go.

Of course ‘letting go’ may not be the right term in your world, even if the idea is equally applicable. Maybe you’re having a problem making some commitment and thus reluctant to ‘let go of not grabbing hold’ of something in some way? Or maybe you’re in that ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ position where there’s a problem which you’ve been successfully avoiding for some time now because you just know that the minute you poke that problem all will become a tornado of trouble before you’ll need to work your way through?

No matter what shape your shape is in (or not in) we also know that as Venus enters Cancer, Neptune is already sitting at 5 Pisces – the degree it will go retrograde at in just a few days. And with Mercury is at 5 Cancer, and thus in a perfected trine to Neptune.

And then we look to Scorpio, where Timekeeper Saturn, in retrograde, is at 5 Scorpio, completing a perfect grand trine.



Of course the obvious comment to start out with is the same one you hear me make any time we see Neptune connecting with Mercury. Such contacts are famously infamous for delusions, denials, deceptions and outright lies!

But then we throw a retrograde Saturn into the mix. Is this your coping with something you thought was one thing, and which someone might have led you astray about, but which has turned out to be something else?

That could certainly be the solution to the case of the moment. The Sherlock in you may have just caught up with the truth. And the hard part may be that you didn’t plan or you didn’t listen or didn’t do what legal eagle types refer to as ‘due diligence.’

Emotionally, this moment is a time for triumphs and a time for self-recrimination. It’s a moment as likely to manifest as emotional exhaustion or dismay as delight and sumptuous satisfaction.

It all would seem to be about how realistic you are – and have been – with yourself and about life as you come to June 2013.

On another track, this may be a wonderful time for those who are doing something in the Mercury-Neptune-Saturn. After all, this combination favors performers and artistry of any sort, not just that belonging to the arts. It could lend flair to a presentation. Or a bit of magic to a vacation. This combination favors those working towards generating royalties, pensions and other forms of passive income, and it’s a natural for events (pro or con) in the pharmaceutical, oil or entertainment industries.

But there have to be hard facts and a reality of quality attached to whatever goes on now. No kidding of self allowed! Cutting corners and all the rest of the ‘sub-standard’ stuff will backfire now, whether they’re initiated in the moment or coming home to roost.

Looking forward, by the time Venus arrives at the magical 5 Cancer point, Mercury will have moved on. That event will occur on the date of Neptune’s station (and yes, we’ll be discussing that in full).

But for the moment…let’s just say that this Venus-Cancer ingress is likely to set off a water sign grand trine (Mercury-Saturn-Neptune) already in progress. And since Venus is always about ‘results’ or our generating of results that we want…or deserve…or with Saturn in this grouping, have earned…as Venus enters Cancer (which is Venus moving out of Gemini) this is a time when things which have been considered in theory become a reality which brings on a sense of emotional impact.

Plus or minus, that is. And maybe both.

So to be sure, over the next few weeks our being aware of people’s feelings is going to play into our own happiness or lack thereof. Getting what we want from others will require that we own not only our own emotional situation, but theirs.

It’s probably not going to be easy. But did we think it would be in a year colored by two solar eclipses laid out in Taurus and Scorpio at emotional degrees? This year is all about testing our emotional stability, stamina and willingness to relate to others. In that, Mercury…then Venus…and in the days and weeks to come the Sun, Jupiter and then Mars all moving into Cancer is going to bring us back to emotional basics.

And not to put too fine a point on it, after this grand trine will come one with Jupiter taking Mercury’s place.

So that which is given to us now is ours to grow with and to utilize…or ours to be challenged by on an ever increasing basis.

And maybe both. Over the next couple of months life can be exciting and challenging…or more akin to challenging and off-putting. The temptation is to be ‘tempted’ to think it’s all about ‘them,’ but the reality is that we all have things to do.

Good news: Venus entering Cancer says this is time to get to doing them!
.
.
.