Deucalion Direct: The Giving Within

The Deluge (name disputed) by John Martin (1834)

When I sat down to write about Deucalion a couple of days ago (that would be the post for Monday, July 22nd) it just turned out to be too much of a jumble to discuss the point and the point of its station. As with many ‘new’ (to us) points discovered in the last ten to fifteen years, our astrological understanding of Deucalion is still evolving.

Metaphysically, the idea is probably that we should evolve with that understanding. Though it would seem unlikely that nature would ‘expect’ us to know the unknown – one of the sidebars to the greater concept that unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should (a cousin to everything happens at the right time) is that as new ideas come along we should at least consider them.

And being humans, we obviously don’t always do that. We get busy, we’re tired, it isn’t our cup of tea, we’re not in the mood…you’ve heard all the same excuses that I have.

There is (of course!) the argument to be made that if we’re too tired to read or think something through, it isn’t the ‘right’ time. To that – as a person I say ‘sure…let’s make popcorn and watch a movie.’ But when I have the astrological hat on, I realize that to bypass, delay, ignore, (fill in with your favorite excuse)…that’s just inviting life to teach us why we really DO want to know that thing or things we are sloughing off like so much water off the proverbial duck’s back.

(I wonder…do ducks get royalties every time we use that expression? Who would we pay them to, the Universal Union of Duckery?)

Whatever that amounts to, Deucalion is going direct as this post hits the feed – on July 24, 2013. It is doing so at 11 Scorpio, the degree which was the degree of Saturn’s mid-February (2013) station-turn-to-retrograde.

- link to -

Saturn Retrograde at 11 Scorpio (Part 1)

-link to - 

Saturn Retrograde at 11 Scorpio (Part 2)

 (Yes, it was important enough to get two posts)

And maybe even more importantly, 11 Scorpio is going to be the degree of our next Solar Eclipse.

Said eclipse will be on November 3rd (when the Sun reaches 11 Scorpio – duh!). And that means the six-to-eight week period prior to the eclipse during which we will experience that ‘quivering’ in our hearts and under our psychic feet as life begins ‘shaking out’ those things we don’t need any more…and those things which need to be changed (whether we like it or not)…all that starts in early September.

I can’t remember the last time I saw a year as clearly marked by something like Saturn’s turn at 11 Scorpio in February casting a straight if dotted line to this November’s eclipse, and I’ve been noodling around with astrology for a rather very extremely long time now.

(Thirty-plus years, give or take. So much for a hobby I took up to keep myself busy while I was healing from having broken my pelvis…which by the by, is nothing I suggest you EVER do. It hurts like a supernova explosion inside your body – trust me!)

By decanate definition a degree which is emotional (not to mention being a degree which is part of a deeply emotional sign), 11 Scorpio points us to those things which are ‘native’ to us, and which in particular tie back to our childhood. The central question posed by this degree seems to be whether whoever we have come to be because of or in spite of that background has created a closed circuit, a set of walls or a tendency to retreat to some ‘cave’ – principally for reasons which are emotional. Like all degrees of Scorpio, this one tests not so much whether we’re right but whether we’re willing or able to tolerate being not as right as we thought we were. Maybe there is a better way. Maybe we should be willing to risk that feeling of safety and security which comes with defining our own status quo.

As demonstrated by the trail of stations at 11 Scorpio, to some evocative extent, this ‘degree dynamic’ (as we might call it) underlies a lot of what goes on in our lives – and in life in general – during 2013. And now, with the grand water trine shifting from Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune to Jupiter-North Node-Chiron, evolutionary forces are shifting from ‘who am I in this world and what am I making of myself and my life?’ into a secondary phase of that exploration, growth and education (all symbolized by Jupiter) which is more about ‘how am I going to do this North Node thing I don’t really WANT to do, and which in typical Chiron fashion I feel totally ill-equipped to even know HOW to do or be?’ 

The Fates Gathering in the Stars by Elihu Vedder (1887)

In all of this, Deucalion’s turn to direct motion at 11 Scorpio not only tells us that this time is a 'touchstone' or a 'step' along our metaphysical path to the November Solar Eclipse, but that Deucalion's turn at 11 Scorpio is one ‘key’ to this moment...and perhaps the key to the  entirety of our (Scorpionic) evolutionary, transformative processes for the year.

So does that mean that each and everyone of us - individually and collectively - have much to be gained by referencing, recognizing and understanding our ‘native’ early imprinting?

Probably so.

And yes, the results or responses to same should also be on the table.

Since Deucalion represents the energetic which helps us find our way through whatever it is (and however we manage) to opt out of the greater reality because of longings, fears, over-idealization, self-deception, hurt, cravings, self-absorption… all those Neptune-fostered ‘you think it’s perfect but it’s not’ things, this would be when we need to ask or require of ourselves that we rise above the emotional tide. Whether it’s our (internal) tide, or that which is washing over us courtesy of life or others in our life, this is a moment when we need to allow all the ‘evils’ of our preconceptions to be washed away so that we can re-create and re-populate our lives.

That this sounds more than a little bit like an echo of the Persied Meteor Shower (see yesterday’s blog) only suggests that life is truly “conspiring”…or maybe a better word is gathering momentum to move us out of the old and into something new.

Is it easy? No.

Is this process likely to be instantaneous? No.

But it is what it is, and those of us who resist this shift are likely to feel unseated, even abandoned (at some level) when November’s Solar Eclipse comes along.

As you read this, you may be thinking ‘gee, why wouldn’t my “native” way be the better way to go? Couldn’t Deucalion be indicating that?’

At some level, yes. (And you’re obviously thinking as I did upon thinking this through if you came to that quandary.) Two things only argue against the whole ‘holding the status quo’ and ‘doing things as I’ve been doing them’ thing. One is the Solar Eclipse. Sure, solar eclipses have been known to create something good out of something mediocre…in fact, that’s something of the nature of this most gigundo of transits. Solar eclipses are all about getting us not to compromise, but getting us to be the Authentic Self we were born to be.

Sometimes that means stripping away our coping mechanisms, a process Solar Eclipses are notorious for. They aren’t gentle, they aren’t subtle. When a Solar Eclipse hits your life you KNOW it.

This painting, known as "The Flood" by Paul Merwart (1855-1902) gives us the image of

Deucalion holding his wife Pyrrha above the flood, protecting her as her own. We can see

this image literally, of course. But it may be even more important to see this idea on the philosophical 

level where Deucalion and Pyrrah are our dominant and more subtle or recessive life or

thought processes. In that light, Deucalion is the clarity of thought which carries our less

robust and perhaps more emotional nature - that which holds us above the flood which is all

we have been 'flooded' with which may or may not be applicable to our lives in this moment...

or as we move on. 

So that you have degrees for reference, anyone with any point, node or axis between 6 Scorpio and 16 Scorpio is having a very personal year all about remaking who you are in this world and what your life is built around. (And you already know that. Sorry about the headaches.)

Those with points, nodes or axis cusps between 6 and 16 Aquarius OR Leo are feeling a bit broadsided because things they haven’t considered are knocking them for a loop. (Again, my sympathies.)

Those with points, axis cusps or nodes positioned between 6 and 16 Taurus are either having a hard time standing up for themselves or being opposed by a life which just won’t get out of your face. (Such confrontations with Existence are absolutely exhausting, and you can’t win. My advice is make the change and get past it.)

Two other groups are having the hardest times: those with ‘stuff’ (by now you know the drill) between 9 and 13 Libra OR 9 and 13 Virgo…and those with ‘stuff’ (yeah, I know) between 9 and 13 Aries or 9 and 13 Gemini. Whatever is represented by such Libra and/or Virgo points (always remember – the WHAT is being ‘hit’ by a transit shows us which attribute, habit or area of life needs our attention)…those parts of your life are being challenged in such a way that feels very unfeeling. Even brutal. That bruising is going to continue until you realize the information isn’t personal. WHY you think it IS personal is the core of the issue: solve that and you’ll be on your fluffy way.

As for those 9-through-13 Aries or Gemini points, those areas of your life either need re-tooling, refreshing, refocusing or some out-and-out change. Letting go of what’s easy and taking on your inner core is the crux of things.

With all that said, one other note worth mentioning: Klotho (initiations, beginnings, ‘bringing to be’ energetics) will be going direct on July 28th.

That means that as you read this post, Klotho is just moving into it's July 26-30th station, a fact which makes Deucalion turn to direct something of 'a first domino to fall.'

In turning to direct motion, Klotho represents new things coming to be in the life/world around us and how this is a time when we can bring new and valuable things to life through our own decisions and efforts, which evidently are an adjunct to the representative 'purification' of whatever our 11 Scorpio predisposition, habit or reactive-responsive ‘structural defense’ may have come to be.

In terms of Klotho's station, Deucalion going direct first tells us how to the degree that we have done the work to rise to a level of clarity will we be able to successfully bring what we want to be into being.

Flipping this around, we would also say that Klotho's station happening after Deucalion's makes this rising 'above the emotional flood' something which can lead to new situations, opportunities and a new grace of comfort with others - and life itself.

That Klotho is taking station at 3 Sagittarius emphasizes the good we do in this world and – curiously – again references our ‘native programming’ by speaking to “skeletons in the family closet”…which for some may be systemic, but for many if not most of us tends to be the imprinting we got from our growing-up years.

A note on that: having met up with a whole series of people and situations involving family dynamics (and the results of same) during 2013, it’s well worth understanding that who a parent is in their own right is NOT necessarily who the child internalizes. The child may internalize a perfectly sane parent as ‘a crazy person’ because that child was born (as we see in their chart) as someone who sees things in a new or different or non-traditional light.

Then again, the reverse may be true. We may think our parents are just a little odd when in truth they’re really off the rails. Those differences can be seen in the chart; the well-schooled astrologer will be able to tell you the difference between who you think your parents are and who your parents are for real.

You may not like it. You may not even believe it. But if someone else was sitting in the room during the conversation (or reading the report on such given to you by the astrologer), providing they know your parents they would recognize that difference.

It’s to think about.

In this somewhat less 'traditionally Greek myth' version of the fates known as 'Le Destin' 

or 'The Destiny' by Henry Siddons Mowbray, we see four 'Fates' (not three, as there are in

Greek myth) sitting at a table planning what will yet come or be attempted, all under the omnipotent

watch of nature. Mankind plans, the universe corrects those plans, teaching us the pros

 and cons of life - and our thinking - in the process.

No matter where you are on your journey, the tides of time now seem ripe to force us to give within or to become more willing to be giving from within.

At the moment, insights may well help us ‘rise above the emotional flood’ in our souls.

But whether that helps us sail into brighter and calmer waters? That remains to be seen, as that's the process of the which starting in September leads us into November's Solar Eclipse at 11 Scorpio. The question is always going to be Scorpionic and thus challenging to us at a very deep and intrinsic level.

And it's to remember that though we may be scared of being left to 'drown' in our own emotions, that very statement is about becoming more of who we are. Human beings are emotional creatures. Any effort to escape our feelings only means we're abandoning our Self. Only once we realize that can we begin to understand that it doesn't matter what we have, what we achieve, how fit or pretty we are...none of that matters if we're afraid of the magnitude of our own feelings.

Water is thought to be the most powerful of the astrological (metaphysical) elements. It can quench fire, slowly but surely dissolve the hardest stone and turn what might be only a wind into a hurricane.

Yet water - emotion - is the very stuff of life. Water is the essence of nurturance which turns dessication into fertility. And just as water is a primal force in natural  transformations, metaphysical water - the power and potency of emotions - is creative or destructive. It is the essence of human liberation and the driving force behind all which is devastating to our lives and all life on Earth.

In emotion lies the power of healing, but that power is never generative in and of itself as water contained goes stagnant - which is why from time to time, nature topples our inner walls so we will not...so that we cannot go on alone.     
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Relating, Astro-Style: The Vibes of Life

My comments about ‘seeing’ parents and grandparents in our charts (in the ‘Family Pickle’ post) evidently popped a few blogged eyes (I be blogger, you be mine blogged). So I thought to offer a few points for contemplation.

And maybe for doing other things with - suit yourself.

Let’s start by think of the zodiac as a giant radio dial with 360 stations we call degrees. We tune into each of these degrees at their given frequency. 

You with me?

The astrologic/human term for that ‘vibe’ thing is a chart position. So we get born with a horoscope, a chart that tells us which vibes we’re attuned to, that we'll more or less 'naturally' tune in to - and how we’ll tend to operate (until we learn better, in some cases!).

And who we attract. Who we'll choose to hang with. Or yes, run from....sometimes with good reason, as I found out so recently. Sometimes we just know someone is no good for us. We’ll be all friendly and noble, we’ll do a whole noble ‘they get to be who they are, I get to be me’ thing…Then it happens. We find out that we were right to begin with, screw all those noble-sounding allowances.

As I noted in my ‘Family Pickle’ blog, sometimes we could have saved ourselves a lot of time and grief by looking at charts to begin with. 

On the other hand, life needs to be lived. So okay, we live. We learn. Sometimes we triumph and sometimes we end up doing time working on our weeping quotient.    

Obviously when we’re born, the first people we meet up with are parents and family. And there is a lot of lore (aka statistical evidence) out there to suggest that certain symbols are often in aspect from parent to child. The most talked about is Jupiter – which makes sense as Jupiter symbolizes teaching and learning. Often the parent/child chart comparison has a parent’s Jupiter in aspect to that of the child.

But sometimes it’s some other planet. Whatever it is (or they are, since often one or more planets are in aspect between a parent and child)....those are the things we learn from them. Those aspects also describe how they appear to be to us because that’s what we’ve learned OF them. Or ABOUT them. Which is one of the reasons (and techniques) I use as an astrologer to read in your chart who your parents and grandparents were. 

Generally what I will read out will sound a little foreign to you. But that's because you think of your parents as YOUR parents - not as independent people in their own right. It's tough getting the 'mom and pop' out of your head...but once people do, they not only recognize who I'm talking about, but sometimes things that they missed about the folks.   

Anyway, back to us...Whether we ‘mesh’ with our early ‘family’ (biological or otherwise) we get ‘habituated’ by them. And sure as shootin’ we’ll react to those degrees, down the line. 

Even more curious, we can get ‘broken in’ by people in our youth to degrees which aren’t even occupied in our chart – by a planet, cusp or node, I mean. (You know, the “usual” astro-stuff.) Truth is, there is so much out there in the cosmos that every degree of the zodiac is pretty much occupied at all times. Why some things count more than others seems to be sort of about broad brush strokes versus nuances – the things we can see which are ‘obvious’ up there in the sky are mirrored in the ‘obvious’ qualities, questions and challenges we encounter as people.

And yes – we do all wish we could change things. Not just from time to time, but fairly frequently, I’m sure.

Bottom line, we humans appear to be pretty much creatures of habit. When someone has been around us a long time, we adapt to the vibe even if we don’t love it. It’s that dent in the mattress after it’s been slept on a few years. I had a sister who died a long time ago; her Sun was at 15 Taurus, a degree I have nothing of note positioned in. But decades later I had to get myself a new doctor. And the moment I met my new GP, there was this feeling of…familiarity.

Sure enough, I later learned his Sun was at 15 Taurus. So I understood why he feels ‘familiar.’ Even more than that, as I’ve gotten to know him, our doctor/patient friendship has come to be comforting to me. Some small part of what I lost in my early teens when my sister passed away…a little bit of that chasm has gotten ‘filled in’ by his becoming one of the vibes in my life.    

In one of my ‘Family Pickle’ comments I noted how almost everyone in my personal ‘close circle’ have some point (all different) in the chart which is going to get thwacked by this summer’s eclipse at 19 Cancer – a degree which in my personal chart is occupied by Uranus. We do collect people who in one way or another 'fit' with our chart. The people I’m referring to - our ages differ. Our walks of life differ. Our functions in each other’s lives – those differ too. Given that this is my Uranus we're talking about, some are drawn to me because I'm an astrologer. Some like my quirky sense of humor. Some are part of an unconventional (Uranian) 'family' I've constructed for myself since my family of origin is...well, let's go with 'disrupted' - another Uranus word. And my Uranus is in my 4th house - the house of family, heritage and origin. 

I know each of us is about to undergo some form of personal revolutionary evolution. The two, two-and-a-half-month standard ‘lead-in’ to the solar eclipse where things begin breaking down, that’s already begun. I know eclipses can be trés difficult - to put it mildly. So I hope to be where I need to be for them, and hope will do their best (a relative term, I know) to be there for me.

In the end, maybe that’s why we’re part of each other’s lives. Through me, they evolve. Maybe I rattle chains or spark new ideas wherever 19 Cancer lies in their chart. Meanwhile through them, I evolve: I learn more about myself, I am given the support I obviously and oh-so human(e)ly need.
 
That's just the way it works. And maybe understanding that better, or getting better settled with that understanding - maybe even passing the information on to you...maybe that’s part of my eclipse lesson.

Maybe? A girl can certainly hope!

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Family Pickles: the Astrology of Habituation

Did you wonder? After posting a story about incredible sadness and a relationship debacle which shattered arguably the most important relationship I’ve ever had (“Deep Night, No Dawn in Sight”), today I posted an astro-bio commentary on Jeffrey Dahmer.

More than a few people were probably grossed out. Part of this is just about what astrologers do – I have an astrologer friend I email back and forth with. He and I have spent the past couple of weeks discussing points erotic and galactic one-way doors in time and the human mind. And yes, I tried out some of our theories out using my data files, including one I call “criminals of infamy.” 

I’d gone in there meaning to pull up the chart of the Marquis de Sade, but my finger clicked on Dahmer. And what I saw was so illuminating and so sad…

...If you were offended, I apologize. But I also don’t think we can have beauty if we aren’t prepared to see the shadows which give light shape.

After all that, came down, my brother called. He had news: our mutual mother (we have different fathers) appears to have cancer. Metastasized cancer.

I scarcely knew what to say. My mother has been the shadow terror of my life. When I say in some past post that I’d written a memoir which amounts to Mommie Dearest meets The Jaycee Dugard Story, that all started with her. The myth of Medusa seems to have some bright spots. Me and my mother? Not a one.

But I’ve never wished her ill. All I ever wanted was for her to let me go. To stop threatening with her need to possess me.

Anyway, when I hung up after talking to my brother, I looked up mother’s horoscope, a chart I've had for years but literally never looked at. 

So today, I looked. And what do my eyes see there? That the Moon in mother's chart is at exactly the same degree as the Moon in the chart of the woman who set up the shattering of my relationship with that dearly loved Protector friend of mine. 

The astrological/mental dotted line here seems drawn by a thought I had after the December 2009/January 2010 eclipses spelled the crunching of my world as then known. It took a couple of months for my brain to chill out, but finally I found myself thinking I bet if I had met my mother as an adult – (meaning when I was an adult) – I would have thought mother was rather like that woman. 

Now I can say - oh, how right I was! The astrological lesson is about how we get habituated to certain degrees...particularly those which relate to family charts (for good or ill). The people we meet early and become so deeply impressed by are literally 'written' in our charts. I can take a chart and describe not only your interaction with your parents, but their interaction with their parents. 

And when one person 'leaves' those degrees, often - unconsciously - we 'pull in' someone else to fill that psychic void. Thus do our patterns repeat until we learn better - until we understand the Self in our chart. 

As for the real life part of this, I'm working on it. I wish no one ill, or illness – not even the mother who dismembered my life before it barely started. 

By now I’ve lived so long with this cloud over my world that the whole idea it might go away...that seems totally, entirely odd. Strange...and stranger. 

Maybe some director will yell ‘cut!’ and I’ll find out it’s all pretend. (Not!) 

Maybe this is all about the last reel of an extremely long film unwinding to its end. (More likely.)

In any case, that's one solar and one lunar eclipse down, four more solars in a row yet to go before my life again settles into place. This is going to take more than coffee and a chocolate bar, I can tell. 

Sometimes the world is so bewildering!. As an astrologer you 'get it,' though that doesn't stop it from getting you. 


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