Solar Eclipse Scheat: Flight against Insight

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

(photo credit: NASA)

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

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

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

It too gets ‘blacked out” or lost.

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

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

... you’re thinking of other things.

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

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

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

9:36 am (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific) 
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So what we are dealing with now is 29 Pisces (the eclipse occurring at 29 Pisces), and that ‘other thing’ you’re thinking about is either connected to what happened to ‘waylay’ you two-and-a-half years ago, or it is whatever you were doing which got waylaid two-and-a-half years ago.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 constellations Andromeda (top) and Pegasus (bottom) imaged

using Stellarium software

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

What connects them?

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

- link to post -

Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Birth of Pegasus and Chrysaor

by Edward Burne Jones (1876-1885)

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

- link to post -

April’s 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse

(Part 3: Stars and Patterns)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Andromeda by Gustave Dore

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With Pisces.

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

NGC 7319 in constellation Pegasus

(photo credit NASA, ESA, July 2009)

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

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

Probably too long a time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

At the center of the Swan Nebula (M17) in Sagittarius, new stars are wrapped in dark hydrogen

(photo credit: NASA, Holland Ford, ACS Team, ESA - April 2002)

If Ixion is the Neptune-controlled…(or perhaps we prefer the term ‘guided’?)…which tests our ability to know the difference between that we can do and that we should do (and the many reasons both positive and negative for such)…then Ixion’s conjuncting of Ras Alhague, a fixed star of some repute is likely to be a period of some upheaval.

Internal upheaval at least…and if we avoid such recognitions of/within our Self, through externally-driven ‘life lessons.’

Sometimes thought of as a ‘non-spiritual’ Greek and philosophical personification of the biblical Cain, Ixion is the universal tendency to have a point or place in life where we tend to repeatedly undermine ourselves (or our efforts) through ‘wrong’ thinking specifically of the ‘dis-connective’ type. In other words, where Ixion is concerned we may insist on having our way…or simply not do ‘that other thing’ (good or bad) we might have had in mind.

With Ixion, we act in haste and repent at leisure…or we choose, in spite of Self and less ‘personally appealing’ options, whatever they may be.

And then there’s Ras Alhague, a fixed star of varying repute. Known sometimes as a great force for healing and in other situations as a ruthless engine of harm, Ras Alhague’s current position at 22 Sagittarius will bring out polarities of either good or ill or show up great efforts along with shocking abdications of responsibility (for what would be indicated by the star’s house and aspects in an individual chart).

As of February 22nd (2014) Ixion will move into Sagittarius, telling us that on some metaphysical level these two sometimes righteous, sometimes raunchy energies will now ‘fuse.’ Considering how slowly fixed stars move – and how Ixion has an orbital period of 249.95 years (about a year longer than the orbital period of Ixion’s fellow Plutino Pluto) – it’s obvious the ‘melding’ of these influences has been coming on for some time. The standard orb of conjunction being 5 degrees, that takes us back to 17 Sagittarius – a degree Ixion entered back in October of 2011.

Seeing that Ras Alhague and Ixion both tend to make things a lot easier or a lot better, part of the question would be how does each object work? Ras Alhague is a fixed star…something which is more like a backdrop than a detail or akin to an ambient feeling in society which you’re aware of needing to be aware of. How to fix things? Are things past fixing? How frustrating is it to have to deal with so much which seems so wrong when so much which is so good could be accomplished?
Against this we have Ixion, a Plutino of ill-repute which may simply serve (ultimately) to show us the folly of such labels as ‘ill-repute.’ Where Ixion is concerned, the folly is ours…and where Ixion is concerned, we will do almost anything not to admit that fact to ourselves – until we get burned.

Totally burned.

So at a fixed star level, what we have to work with (or the times we’re dealing with) include both the opportunity for great healing…and great harm.

(Why am I not liking this post all of a sudden?)

Meanwhile, we have to decide what we’re going to do…and we are likely to do something simply because we want to. Or because it appeals to us. Or will give us what we want in this very short-sighted moment.

For some of us, ‘doing’ is better. For some of us, ‘not doing’ is going to be better.

How to tell them apart? Astrologers would look to your Ixion and Ras Alhague in the natal chart…and again in the solar chart. We would look to see if either point was under any long-term influence by something like Sedna or Eris. We would think about whether your Ixion is located where it’s going to be hit by either of the 2014 solar eclipses, one of which will be at 8 Taurus and the other of which will be at 0 Scorpio.

And then we’d ask you if you have any decided history which applies…which is your clue in thinking this conjunction through without someone like me sitting there gazing at your chart. Ixion involves patterns. Ixion speaks to something we have done at least several, if not many times and never really to our lasting betterment.

This encounter of Ras Alhague and Ixion is likely to end up being a time a time when many of us ‘see’ or begin to understand our ‘patterns.’ Some of us will simply make course corrections. In embodying Ras Alhague’s healing force we may even become someone others look to as an example of what can be accomplished if we just put our Ixion towards  some greater purpose instead of our own desire for gratification.

Then again, some of us will jump wholeheartedly into something thinking it’s all about us and what we can ‘get’ from the situation…or out of, considering the situation. Those who follow this path and prioritize servicing vanities ahead of necessities personal, ethical, moral, spiritual or integral are very likely to hit some sort of very hard wall as Saturn rolls into and through this area of the zodiac early in 2017.

And 2017 is another big year for global economics.

Situated in the Ophiuchus, the quandaries posed by Ras Alhague are very much in keeping with the constellation’s image – that of a hero wrestling with a snake, an obvious image of the wrestling we do with and within our Self...and which Ixion often has us falling prey to.

Kepler's Drawing of Ophiuchus made in the wake of a supernova in 1604

in the constellation's 'foot'

Are we going to repeat our pattern? Or will we finally see something as a pattern and deal with it more effectively?

Whatever our habits…‘vices’…or weak points are, these months and couple of years ahead represent a time when we can finally own up to our ineptitudes (our repeated ineptitudes, in some cases) and in owning our humility, move on.

Or we can reinforce our sense of entitlement – most of all to do that so-very-Sagittarian thing of seeing flaws in the other person’s thinking…even if it’s none of your business. Sagittarius can be a bastion of mental entitlement, the sign which represents and the energetic under which sweeping pronouncements get made which allow for no variety, no differences of opinion or priority.

And with this energetic coming from Sagittarius’ third decanate (the last ten degrees), there is no way to shut others out.

They will have their say.

If that’s a problem, buy earplugs. You have, after all, no more of a right to tell them who they are and what flavor of ice cream their tongue likes best than they have to tell you what sort of music twinkles your toes.

And that – to some great degree – is the heart of this period. During the months of Ixion and Ras Alhague conjunction we’re all going to feel pushed and pulled by our feelings and aims and how they do (and often don’t) work with the priorities and goals of others.

Even people we like.

Even people we love. Or thought we loved.

This is not about ‘giving in’ or ‘giving up’ anything to anyone other than our Self – but that…? That we may well have to do. Or learn to do. All of our choices remain ours.

This is also not any ‘constant’ – that we know because Ixion’s yearly direct-retrograde-direct cycle includes periods from now through to the end of 2015 when our challenges and frustrations will seem stronger or weaker as Ixion moves in and out of 22 Sagittarius.

And what would Ixion represent in those other degrees? Ixion in 21 Sagittarius generates situations through which we test our boundaries of self-assurance in new ways and through new things – which with Ixion is likely to result in some sort of ‘acting out’ or overstepping of bounds (even if that’s just the bounds of good taste on occasion) in an effort to cause us to become more aware of/willing to take on questions of internal balance.

Then there’s Ixion in 23 Sagittarius, which is likely to bring out many a frustration and the kinds of feelings of defeat which can be heedless and uncaring, either to others or with regards to whatever isn’t suiting our Ixion fancy.

Yet put simply, all of this is about where we are out of balance. Such areas are arenas where we don’t maintain stability because our tendency is to go for a solution instead of a restructuring. As with all other astrological signatures, Ixion isn’t about “causing us trouble” – it’s an opportunity to learn about ourselves, often through those standards held by others. But on its own? Wherever you see Ixion in a chart, you know that’s where the person who ‘owns’ that chart could get themselves into trouble – first and foremost with their Self.

All of this is why this encounter with Ras Alhague holds such promise. In Ophiuchus not being on the ecliptic and therefore not being a constellation of the ‘zodiac’ there is no astrological slighting. Yet about every two, three (…ten or twenty) years or so the spirit of fighting for constellation equality seizes people and a huge debate gets started about Ophiuchus as the thirteenth zodiac sign.

The argument is ridiculous – the zodiac is defined as constellations on or across the ecliptic (Earth’s path around the Sun) and Ophiuchus isn’t there.

But that this ‘fight’ keeps getting waged with regards to a constellation which images a hero wrestler wrestling a snake? Without getting coiled into metaphysical snake lore, the quest to overcome and the need to ‘wrestle’ with something can be internal or external.

Either way, during the periods when Ixion and Ras Alhague are (by zodiacal degree) in absolute conjunction we would seem to have a chance to get past a few of our own sticking points.

Whether we have to set them off so as to become aware of them…? And just how that might happen? Those notes are individual.

And maybe we can’t know. Then again, there are the words Ixion is compelled to cry out once he has had but lost his way: 'I should be grateful to my benefactors.'

If nothing else, that would seem to be a clue...though what it means to you is likely to be very different than what that statement means to me.

As well it should.
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Mercury Goes Direct

 A statue of Mercury in Bratislava

(photo credit: Peter Zeliznak, April 2009)

As of Saturday, July 20th at 6:23 in the evening UT/+0 time, Mercury will go direct at 13 Cancer. That means the window for station effects opens as this post goes up on July 18th…and ‘closes’ again on July 22nd.

During this time, we can expect the metaphorical Mercurial breeze to be making itself particularly known, particularly if our natal chart…or the chart of the company with which we work…or the town or nation in which we live…has any particular placement which ‘answers’ to the degree of this station.

By ‘answers’ I mean the following:

With regards to any planet, cusp, node or important object between

15 and 25 degrees of any of the cardinal signs:

Cancer, Libra, Capricorn or Aries...

These are the ‘hard’ aspects, the word “hard” meaning more challenging to work with. The Cancer conjunction will feel personal (especially since it’s in an emotional sign all about feelings!), the Capricorn opposition will bring up questions of acceptance, acceptability and everything which triggers ambitions or insecurities (which sometimes appear so, so similar!) and the two squares (Libra and Aries) represent factors which need factoring in. Maybe you’re just “getting to that step in a process”…and maybe you just didn’t take something into account. Squares of any type are life’s way of getting us to think in not so linear a fashion. It’s as if life is saying ‘it’s not so simple’ or pointing out the value of slowing down and appreciating the fullness of things as they occur.

With regards to any planet, cusp, node or important object between

18 and 22 degrees of Sagittarius, Aquarius, Gemini or Leo...

Sagittarius and Leo are fire signs, and fire signs are all about the sliding scale which at one end is ‘the vision’ and which at the other is ‘the expectation.’ The difference between these being all about our ‘emotional mindset’ (if you will), Mercury doing its turnabout in Cancer may well raise exactly this…reminding us that expectations, like the vision which we confuse with reality, leads to disappointments. Visions are meant to inspire, not replace reality. Situations and realizations which now prick our mental balloon and force us to be more realistic aren’t fun – but they do offer a way forward with new lessons learned, lessons which well may yet lead to future achievements.

On the Aquarius and Gemini side we’re dealing with the idea or the theory, against which Mercury’s station in Cancer is akin to life’s rubber hitting our mental road. Temporary burnout, the burning of bridges, burning brain cells (or midnight brain oil)…all can be part of the process here as we reconcile ourselves to having to deal with reality. In that process, Mercury in Cancer represents our frustration, our wanting things to work differently.

Except they don’t work differently. Sometimes the ‘idea’ isn’t the reality. And that’s what we have to adjust to. Skinned egos and bruised momentum incurred during this time hurts like heck, but despite whatever our ouches are telling us, all is not lost.

With regards to any planet, cusp, node or important object between

17 and 23 degrees of Taurus or Virgo…or between 15 and

25 degrees of Scorpio or Pisces:

These are the ‘easy’ aspects to this Mercury station. But don’t kid yourself – they aren’t all benign. Scorpio and Pisces are the trines here, and far from being the ‘pleasant’ aspects Victorian astrology would have had us all think, all trines mean is ongoing. And let’s remember, there’s already an ‘ongoing’ water trine between big boy planets Neptune, Saturn and Jupiter in progress.

However…there is some light, even if what we’re doing is looking up, up, up through what seems like acres of water to where dancing sunlight promises freedom, options and air.

This goes to the idea that Mercury’s station are always about a ‘turn of thought’ or our ability to alter our trajectory, path, methodology or rationale, which here happens to be focused through the feeling-memory-sensibility and (oh yes) money-as-means-to-survive sign of Cancer. For you, that money thing may be about what you have to survive with. Or it may link here to what you do to earn that money. Or what you do with your money in order to have, protect or create a foundation for all else.

As opposed to the trines, Taurus and Virgo are sextiles – the happiest of all aspects in astrology, if aspects which get little to no press.

Sextiles represent opportunities. Sextiles aren’t the open door, but the having the address where there’s a door you could go to an open. That astrologers and devotees of astrology don’t think much about opportunities really says things both good and bad about human beings…how on one hand we tend to take things for granted, and how on the other we are so afraid of change.

I had an amazingly telling conversation with a young professional just recently. This thoroughly likeable person had not only finally finished his degree and passed his certification exams, but had almost instantaneously got invited into a firm where he could begin to build what will eventually be a substantial life in the big world of business, commerce and human transacting. (Yes, I have his chart. He has huge potential.)

So what does he say to me? I really need to begin dealing with things. But who really wants to grow up?

Like I say, humans don’t like change. He didn’t ask me (and I was taken off guard by his comment, frankly) but even if he knows he can accomplish just about anything he wants to providing he’s willing to work for it and take on ownership of his trajectory in life…will he do it?

Some of us just don’t want to take on carving our futures. For that matter, even our present.

The sextiles given here connect earth with Mercurial water. So the idea of what am I going to MAKE of this….moment? Situation? Opportunity?…has the ‘making’ part of the equation representing whatever symbol we have in earthy Taurus or Virgo set against the waves of Mercurial vacillation brought up by this Cancer station.

And again…all of this, even for those of us who have not a shred of anything aspected by this station…all of this is taking place in a world awash with situations emotional and emotional provocation. No matter who we are, no matter where we live, things we don’t (Neptune) understand, things we want to feel (Jupiter) better or good about, things which we need to work for us and work in (Saturn) general all seem in flux.

Are they? Or is this time, this moment, month and year simply part of the evolving continuum?

My answer…which I give you to with all wryness implied, all empathic channels invoked and all awareness set to ‘acceptance’ says ‘probably all of the above.’

Amzinybe (Eternity) by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1907)

So where is this station happening? The degree is 13 Cancer, a degree known in lore as one which is perceptive in the utmost, blatant to the point of disquieting and quick to grasp and perceive inner meanings. These notes from lore are particularly interesting (and probably telling) in that they refer specifically to mental function coming from Cancer, an emotional sign. So does this mean that our thoughts will be emotional? Or that the information which is evidently dealt with in such a facile manner at this time provokes emotion or evokes memories or stirs up all those Cancerian cultural or familial or childhood ‘settings’ we all grow up having installed in our psyches and hearts?

Probably. And of course there is that ‘standard’ station concept about before-the-station versus after-the-station to take into account. Anything which occurs around the time of any station appears to be more important to us…which given Mercury might be better more about making a deeper impression on us. Things which happen going into a station often have yet to play out ‘in full.’ Things which happen after the moment of station exactitude often pertain to things which have already happened – the playing out of that, or what happens (or occurs to us) as a result of something prior.

Then we add in the idea that Cancer is not only the first of the water signs…AND the fact that in terms of zodiacal order and the ‘natural’ zodiac wheel, Cancer is the first of the reactive signs. Whether you think of this as emotional responses or how reactions based or built on experience (or cultural orientation or personal history) Cancer is always about the me, the I, the most basic sense of being.

And where we find Cancer in our personal natal chart, that tells us many things about where and how and through what sorts of experiences we are affected by…and how we go about learning how or why or when we’d react on this level. Or come to understand ourselves and where we ‘come from’ in our lives in a better and more clarified sense. I have a friend who has Cancer on the 12th house. He learns about his own feelings through his spirituality – through feeling himself as one person among many, and but a tiny part of the universal whole.

I feel for him. His love/hate relationship with being simultaneously totally individual and but a spec in the cosmos confounds him. And well it should…there’s nothing tougher than our 12th house lessons. The same joy of release so many feel in accepting that there is a Greater Power or a universal function beyond our being can scare the willies out of us when we realize that we are but a grain on one of a million beaches which front…and confront…the eternal flow of time and space becoming. This 12th house position also says that though he will be ‘imprinted’ (if you will) by the sign on his 4th house natal like we all are, he will learn about who that Self is in terms of emotional basics (the Cancerian archetype) last of all.

For him, that emotional self-knowledge comes last. It’s in some senses the ‘why’ he goes through many a process.

Whatever sign is on the native house of Cancer (your 4th natal house) is how you get colored. It will describe the attributes which color your most native, feeling world. Where the sign of Cancer falls is where you learn about that.

And those are two very different things. (Alas, right?)

Being that astrological signals are both objective and subjective, there’s the simple and straight-on sort of experiencing of personal revelation which now may come to light. Or maybe you’re someone who will now meet up with events which prompt some sort of Cancerian insight.

As for astrological specifics, Mercury’s going direct a degree off Sirius’ position is a plus, as Sirius is known as a star all about ‘brilliance.’ And since Mercury will have backed over Sirius just prior to going direct, that rather backdates the glimmerings of brilliance date all the way to July 13th – or if you’re into orbs, some sort of ‘dawning of brilliance’ (or ‘seeing the light,’ perhaps) which was experienced during a ‘reflective’ Mercury retrograde phase anywhere since July 6.

Moral: never underestimate a Mercury retrograde. It isn’t all about losing your keys, car breakdowns, waiting for someone to get back to you and such. It can also be a potent time when by experiencing that slowdown…or by simply stopping to think, to reflect, we recognize that thing which was probably waiting to be discovered all along.

Once Mercury goes direct, it will move forward and again conjunct Sirius on its way to moving on into other realms, other decanates, other signs and districts of the zodiac.

But here, at this station it’s in a grand trine (yes, another one) with the North Node in Scorpio and Chiron / Achernar in Pisces. And with the North Node conjunct Medea and more-than-substantially sized asteroid Psyche, that we may meet up with some aspect of our mentality (Psyche) and in particular those parts of it we damage ourselves (Medea) by being over-invested in (or not letting go of) is more than an echo of the idea that sometimes we just can’t help but get in our own way.

And (Chiron – Achernar) how we are going to do that over and over again until we simply decide to do something different…or differently. With Chiron in this mix, the ‘not knowing how to’ quotient stands our loud and clear, if not helpfully. About the only thing to say here is that as humans (and not mythic figures such as centaur Chiron) we have the ability to direct ourselves along a new path, even though it may not be comfortable and may not feel even vaguely native to our being.

As someone who feels these influences as deeply and thoroughly as anyone else might, I sympathize for our lot as humans. Chiron being involved in this grand trine suggests that as long as we refuse to walk through that long, dark, scary mental tunnel towards the thing we “don’t know how to do” we’ll never learn how to do it.

That’s terrible. It’s scary. But what’s our choice?

Having said earlier on how sextiles are opportunities, the sextile to the Taurus South Node and Menkar is the obvious ‘out’ – the “opportunity” we may feel (or think) we have to simply do the easy thing. Or continue on doing what we know or have already learned how to do. Any Taurean reference conjures up the question of security and thus our so-called ‘comfort zone.’ And with Menkar involved, who’s to say we can’t be effective if we just keep on doing what we’re doing?

- link to -

MENKAR: SOUL, SEARCHING

The answer to much of that would seem to be posed by TNO Deucalion sitting with Psyche, the North Node and Medea. Deucalion being a Trans-Neptunian Object which speaks to our finding the moral way to be who we are (i.e., fulfill our human potential) that’s probably the biggest clue to this whole Mercury station.

That the moral thing is to do what we need to do (that North Node thing) – whether we want to, like to, or even feel we (Chiron) know how to, is now our challenge most moral.

Some of us will take it on. Some of us won’t. Some of us are likely to feel judged for what we do, while some of us are will feel judged because we choose to do nothing. Some of us will own our feelings and responsibilities while some of us continue to project, ignore, deflect and abdicate.

The reasons…the feelings we do any of that however, all that is in – and comes from our minds.

And that’s the Mercury in Cancer point.
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Shades of Nodal Menkar

An aerial view of the San Andreas Fault as crosses the Carrizo Plain in Central California

(photo credit: USGS, July 2006)

It was a couple of days before Jupiter moved into Cancer back on June 26th that things started popping. Since I knew Mercury was about to go on station in the latter part of Cancer I wasn’t surprised to start feeling like I was being buckshot with  emotional shrapnel.

It was a day or so before our current triad of major planets (Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune) slid into water trine formation that feeling blood began to flow. Like many, I wear a social mask. Unlike many, mine is a defense against extremes of emotional vulnerability which though in the end have been the strength which has gotten me through a havoc-strewn life, still I’m not very fond of being open about my soft underbelly.

Hardly anyone is. I’ve long made a joke of a pet slogan – when in doubt, cry – but for all that I’ve always told myself that other people didn’t want to see my fears or lingering pain, the truth of the matter is that and more.

It’s scary being human.

During the period July 9th through July 20th, the Moon’s South Node is going to be at 14 Taurus – the current position of fixed star Menkar. I wrote about Menkar not long, so I won’t go into a lot of details. But when it comes right down to it, Menkar is one of those cosmic devices which is all about the efforts we make to avoid those dark corners of our Self.

The degree 14 Taurus has a reputation for many things…some of which connect us to others and some of which are about whatever tendency we may have to ‘go it alone’ or retreat and hide from the world.

From our life is more like it.

There are moments of solitude we all experience. There’s nothing wrong with that. The question comes when we withdraw, when our need to pull away is driven by avoidance.

Any and all such tendencies – to connect or withdraw, or maybe to connect as a form of withdrawing (from ourselves)…all that comes into focus as the South Node rolls over Menkar’s position at 14 Taurus. Considering how the Nodes (North or South) refer to relationships or our relationship to the world (or relationships as connected to our worldly pursuits), we’re all in for some measure of this effect no matter where we go.

And the reason to bring it up is…what? WHY do we need to know about this in the middle of a grand water trine made by our most worldly planets (Saturn and Jupiter) with everything made more hugely nebulous by Neptune’s magnetic presence?

That would be because in theory, this is also a moment when others should also be most receptive. That all of our emotions (and emotional barriers) are being stretched a bit like so much human cosmic taffy should make it easier to connect.

If we will, that is.

Of course we may also hear a lot of things we’d rather not know. South Node – Menkar – 14 Taurus as a combination is likely to bring out some truly strange stuff.

Or is that the North Node at 14 Scorpio?

Oh, these continuums…they so have us by the tail and nose.

Usually when we look at pairs of opposing degrees we can see something like a dimensional reflection. That may be true here, though considering 14 Scorpio is known for skill where 14 Taurus is very un-earthy (even unearthly) in its own mystical, far-seeing way…perhaps so. Not particularly known as one of those ‘fiery’ Scorpio degrees, the fact that the North Node (the “should do’) side of the nodal axis is in a Scorpio degree which more than others takes up the causes of others says we should get with others and we should form alliances.

Yet 14 Scorpio also has a bit of a reputation for indiscretion. So we should be careful what we say for this next little while. While communication can solve many problems, there should be established limits.

This rules out sky writing and watch those internet posts, one would guess (she said while writing an internet post).

(Never mind. I’m the astrologer – I’m just doing my job!)

Other other part of the North Node at 14 Scorpio which seems important as the South Node conjuncts fixed star Menkar: people are more complicated than we know.

The bottom line here thus suggests that we shouldn’t jump to any grand, assumptive presumptions. When in doubt…especially for the next couple of weeks…ask questions. Or ask yourself what that means or why someone would have said that.

We are all in a position to learn a lot about other human beings. In doing so we may learn a lot about others…and why we’re okay, just the way we are.

We’re in the midst of a seriously feeling time. We’ve just begun to evolve. This astrologer can’t say she thinks it’s all going to be peachy-pleasant, but our greatest gains are not achieved through ease or simplistic fun.

Growth takes energy and effort.

That’s why we call them ‘growing pains.’

So in spite of the ouches, it’s time for all of us to try to remember to stand tall, particularly (and maybe most of all) when we're feeling most vulnerable and truly small.

Real strength isn't about what you can do to someone, it's about the ability to endure the trials which go along with being human - most important of which have to do with the courage to be and know yourself honestly.
 

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For more information on our current dynamics:

- The Lunar Nodes at Cross-Quarters
- Menkar: Soul, Searching
- A Water Grand Trine in Planetary Major
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Mercury in Gemini

A Mustard-Blue Sunset in Landers, California

(photo credit, Jessie Eastland aka Robert DeMeo, August 2012)

When Mercury enters Gemini on May 15th at 8:42 in the evening (UT/+0 time), it will signal that everything else in Gemini, all the qualities associated with any Gemini object (or attribute in your natal chart) is going to become ‘amplified.’ So the volume, even the sheer noise in life and in our heads is going to get turned up a notch.

At the same time, anything in the opposing sign of Sagittarius is going to confront us, or manifest as something confrontational which we may only have to think about…or which, as some do with oppositions, we’ll try to ‘push away’ or avoid.

Again, this applies in life, in the real-time world and in your personal world and mind, as a part of your ongoing mindset.

I could go on like this, pointing out that Pisces and Virgo are the squares to Mercury’s Gemini ingress and that Aquarius and Libra are the trines and that Scorpio and Capricorn are the inconjuncts.

And all that would be true. It’s also not unique. The idea which (in an archetypally Mercurial manner) I’m trying to get across is that an object which is in one sign sets off relationships to all other signs. Mercury is entering Gemini, yes. And it will be in Gemini until the end of May, when it will mush (or trip ever so gaily, depending) on into Cancer. And yes, Mercury in Gemini is a time for business and many new ideas and getting organized and thinking things through and making choices. All of that is true. But astrology isn’t about ‘existence in isolation’ any more than your heart rate or blood pressure exists as a thing isolated an apart from your body’s temperature or some infection you may have in your wee little finger.

So while we can start by thinking about how Mercury’s entering Gemini is likely to bring out Venus, Jupiter and Black Moon Lilith attributes because they’re all going to be in Gemini for the duration of Mercury’s transit, there’s also things like the days-ago solar eclipse which merit thinking through.

 Mercury as photographed by NASA's Mariner spacecraft

But first things first: Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Black Moon Lilith being altogether in Gemini suggests that these weeks of May are a time to get things done and for moving towards (or at least working on how to move towards) important Venus-Jupiter goals. And yet, you may have to do this in spite of what others think (that would be the Black Moon Lilith effect) because you believe in them…OR this may be a time to think through why you’re having such a problem with life (and others) in a general sense, dealing with what you may or may not have failed to take into account about them or their direction, interests, mentality …whatever… in light of how you are or aren’t being received.

The ‘informational’ or ‘mental gearing’ points which we would most associate with this process will occur as Mercury conjuncts each of these various points – and I should add here that the Sun will be joining this Gemini party late on May 20th, so the last ten days of May are surely about as Gemini as they can be.

And that can be good…or it can be challenging, as indicated by the fact that there will be a Sagittarius lunar eclipse on May 25th.

But let’s not jump ahead (that would be too Mercurial even for me, a known “long-form” text type!). Mercury doesn’t actually ‘catch up’ (conjunct) Venus until May 24th, though we will start feeling the combined Gemini Mercury-Venus vibe as early as May 18th. If you think of this Mercury-Venus in Gemini combo as the ability to see possibilities, you’re probably on the right track.

With Venus having crossed the rather vital Aldebaran-Antares axis line on May 16th and Mercury crossing that same point on May 19th, these three days ask that we emphasize the Aldebaran concept of integrity while avoiding the wholesale instinct to proselytize or demand that others see things our way which Antares (a star known for dogmatic qualities) tends to evoke.

In case you missed the blogs on these two famously stellar entities, here are the links:

Aldebaran: Royal Star of Persia

Antares: Royal Star of Persia

By the time Mercury and Venus perfect their transiting junction, they’re at 18 Gemini, an emotional degree which in airy Gemini tends to manifest as fervency, enthusiasm or excitement over some idea. That said, the enthusiasm or fascination evidenced at 18 Gemini is also thought to be problematic sometimes because it’s so focused on details and not willing enough to go along with the spirit of the moment, or the idea that life is not all about having life be what we want…but rather an experiencing of life so that we can come to an understanding of how to fit in, harmonize and contribute in a way which is meaningful to us, and others.

This is a time for learning – that we know because this Venus/Mercury conjunction is taking place within a degree of Rigel, the star all about being ‘at the foot of the teacher’ and thus embodying what we can learn, what we can teach, and yes – what we may need to learn about a subject, about ourselves, about others or about life itself before we can move on, or before we can achieve the success in whatever it is which seems so important to us at this time.

That discordancy, that gap between the longing or the ‘idea of the thing’ and the reality of whether it works or whether anyone will be willing to meet you even part way (never mind half way) is very Black Moon Lilith. Black Moon Lilith is that which others aren’t willing (or “ready”) to hear about or from us…and often enough what we don’t want to take into account about ‘them’ – which could be the big societal “them” or the relationship partner “them” or the boss or supervisor “them” or those running your country or (if you’re in power) your citizenry, which about now is probably not listening.

At least not with their tolerant and open ear.

Study for the painting 'Lady Lilith' done in 1866 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The underlying energetic of Lilith involves something far more potent: that part of ourselves often referred to as our 'shadow' which, in not accepting and working to understand we so often end up attracting - literally or qualitatively - from others. Typically referred to as a 'woman' because of this symbol's origination in ancient scriptures dating from a time when women were thought of as 'less than' (which is rather Lilith-like in itself, don't you think?) Lilith has everything to do with that part of our persona, generally the emotional persona, which we don't like dealing with and don't like anyone else evoking in us.

When they do, we blame them. But while their acts or actions which we find so provocative are certainly their, the reaction to that is ours. And it's that reaction which Lilith is all about: the darker side of our emotional nature which is reactive at some level or in whatever way which we find so difficult to deal with.

The metaphsyical lesson here is that life will continue to provoke us until we learn to deal not with life, but with our Self. To the degree that we don't, Lilith (in either form, as the Black Moon or as the asteroid Lilith) represents that part of us both that we reject and which we will be rejected for.

Not to put too fine a point on this, that there has also ended up being two forms of Lilith says a lot to how problematic this tendency is in human beings.

The asteroid form (which we are not talking about here) tends to be more about things we don't want to deal with in ourselves which only apply to what we don't want to admit to ourselves. The calculated form of Lilith - the Black Moon - has to do with the Moon's orbit around Earth and thus manifests with more of a 'relational' or me-and-my-world sort of quality.  
 
Black Moon Lilith sitting at 28 Gemini as all this is going on has the Black Moon in conjunction with another famously infamous fixed star, Betelgeuse. And since Betelgeuse either wants things to be easy or seeks to take the easy way out (or through the problem) while that may be our problem, we’re more than likely to think it’s everybody else’s problem.

Why? Because that’s the easy thing to do, of course!

(Yes, I know…how annoying!)

Besides all the above, I am coming to think that perhaps Betelgeuse, especially in the presence of a 'relational' or 'societal' symbol like Black Moon Lilith doesn't also represent those who have it easy...or those who think the easiest thing to do is "go with the flow" or join some 'prevailing idea.'

But then, Jupiter and Venus in Gemini as a chaser to a strong draught of Taurus solar eclipse does sort of encompass that idea. So as Mercury moves into Gemini, might we not hear more on both sides of this 'having it easy' coin?

Maybe the real answer is the difference between what comes easily to one person and not to another and how what is given to us by dint of fortune is an ease that may also blind us to some very real and very emotionally evocative part of life.  

With our having just passed through a vital solar eclipse which is so testing to our sense of ability and desire to persevere, it's likely that some of us will be tempted to just say ‘screw them’ (so to speak). Or even ‘I give up!’ now, which may come to a head as the emotional peak of the lunar eclipse rambles through. From when Mercury conjuncts Venus the gap between Mercury/Venus and Jupiter – the power of ‘blowing things up big’ (or expansion) only increases not just until the eclipse but beyond it, reaching a mental/psycho-social peak twice – once on May 26 (when Mercury conjuncts Jupiter) and again on May 29th, when Mercury conjuncts Black Moon Lilith.

As this happens, asteroid Atlantis joins the grouping as if to say if you’ll just let yourself understand and get used to how things work instead of how you WANT them to work, you can achieve everything you want to achieve…maybe even more.

But it’s not going to be easy for everybody to get there. Between the moment of the lunar eclipse (May 25th) and this Mercury-Black Moon conjunction the Moon will of course be moving on from its eclipse point (4 Sagittarius) through the balance of Sagittarius (testing our willingness to see new truths and act to improve things in the general-and-operational sense) …and then the Moon enters Capricorn.

Moon in Capricorn is always hasty. I don’t know if you’re into Lord of the Rings, but when I think Moon in Capricorn, I always hear a line from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers where Treebeard the Ent chides one of the Hobbits (Merry) for being so hasty.

Treebeard and the Hobbits by TTThom (2007)

The Moon will enter Capricorn on May 26th at 9:30 in the evening UT/+0 time. And during the next two days, while it transits Capricorn, we will have less of a tendency to ‘hold on’ and hesitate and more of that urge to get it done.

This process will become particularly strong as the Moon conjuncts Pluto, a process which initiates late on May 26th (UT/+0 time), which ‘perfects’ or comes to its peak early in the morning on May 27th (UT/+0 time) and which will fade back into a more ‘normal’ Moon-in-Capricorn busy pace by 6-7 pm on the 27th.

For some of us, that will be the energy which gets us past a sticking point. For some of us, this period will mark a time of revelation. For all of us, considering that the height of this Pluto/Moon takes place in opposition to Vesta (the ‘cost’ of keeping our commitments, whether to others or ourselves) and that the ‘exit’ from Pluto-Moon’s intensity occurs in opposition to Ceres/Charybdis, our questions are more likely to be ‘how to do that?’ rather than the total denial of what needs doing.

And that’s good, as that is part of the unfolding process of the solar eclipse – which though it is an event which takes place at a particular time is also, and more importantly on the astrological front, a long-term transit.

We are just beginning to grow into and through the energetics of this May’s solar eclipse. We’re about seven months into incorporating shifts denoted by last November’s solar eclipse into our lives. We’re about a year into the process of grasping the shift of mental emphasis spoken to by the 0 Gemini solar eclipse of May 2011.

Solar eclipses ‘evolve’ over a period of three years. Often we don’t really understand what they’re about until almost the whole of that period has passed us by. Sure, we think we know what they’re about…we get a ‘message’ and we make a shift. But it’s what that leads us to knowing or doing or understanding which is the real and shining jewel of any eclipse. So right now we’re really just finding out – or coming to find out – what the solar eclipse of July 2010 at 19 Cancer was all about.

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 The 2010 Solar Eclipse at 19 Cancer

This year’s eclipse builds from that place. And of course each eclipse in its turn is more or less important or vital in an active sense in our lives depending on how the position of the eclipse aspects our chart. For instance, that eclipse in my world hit my personal natal Uranus in the 4th house. The standard ‘breaking down’ period which preceded it was a time of restlessness and turmoil in my life which caused me to burst forth on my Uranian own, taking on the development of this blog, which first appeared in May of 2010, a little less than eight weeks prior to the solar eclipse.

And that’s what we always say: when you get inside that eight weeks prior to an eclipse, you begin to change. Now, with the current eclipse, I’m building on that which I’ve come to understand through three years of blogging (and for a time, not blogging). And as we’ve noted in the eclipse post, there is something to be said for this May’s eclipse (at 19 Taurus) sextiling the (19 Cancer) eclipse which is just concluding it’s work.

All that comes back to these weeks of Mercury in Gemini leading directly out of the Taurus solar eclipse as a time when though we aren’t comfortable with everything we need to think through, deal with, try to understand or figure out how to do, we still need to do it. Gemini and Taurus are signs right next to each other, so they’re of differing ‘modalities’ and element. Gemini’s mode of operation is to try and to see what happens – hence the idea so many people have of Gemini as the ‘try this, try that’ sign, which really only works if you stay on course with a single goal. Gemini is not about spreading ourselves too thin. It’s not about giving ourselves excuses for not getting anything done. Gemini is about figuring out how to get to where you want to go. And it’s opposition to Sagittarius warns us that if we focus on the results too early, or if we go out into the big world with our big ideas before they’re properly assembled, we’re likely to find some ‘back to the drawing board’ glitches. Or at least some ‘I need to tweak this’ moments.

Taurus, like its fixed sign compatriots (Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) wants to get things right. In fact, these are signs which would tend not to want to try unless they know they have it right…even though you have to risk being wrong to confirm ‘rightness,’ as it were.

 
Both of these signs are part of the zodiac’s first quadruplicity – the first four signs. Aires (fire), Taurus (earth), Gemini (air), Cancer (water) describe the basic life learning processes which go on through life no matter how old we get. Wherever you see these signs in your chart, whenever planets or other objects are in transit through these signs, we know that area of life is in for some development. It’s time to learn, the universe says.

The solar eclipse in Taurus is a ‘destabilizing’ energy in our security and satisfaction arena. Humans being humans, we don’t like changing the comfy status quo too much, so every 19 years or so (the eclipse cycle) Mother Nature shakes us awake with primal sorts of shifts which force us to grow and adapt. We get forced to let go of that which is no longer useful, no matter how much we love it.

No matter how much we love them.

The universe is neither kind nor unkind – it simply is. We project all sorts of priorities on existence which existence simply – and quite obviously – doesn’t uphold. Our loves, our prejudices, what is important to us as a human being, as a sentient creature, is evidently not what decides how the universe is run. Or how it unfolds. When we get “too” secure we seem to run a risk of thinking of ourselves as inviolable. That’s a form of ‘resistance to change’ which life will inevitably test, as the walls we put up – like all else – are merely formats of formulated energy. And for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. Our attempts to control merely prompt the universal mechanism to meet our power with equal or greater power.

After all, the universe will out. The whole is mightier than the part - which may be a secret in itself to why anything which separates us from each other, whether that's selfishness, discrimination, elitism...why the simple act of accepting is the ultimate and hardest zodiacal act to achieve and the hallmark of the emotional wisdom which is the challenge and glory of Pisces.

If you think this through – and Mercury in Gemini is a perfect time to do so – the success of Gandhi’s non-resistance and the logic of the peaceful and accepting ways spoken of in Buddhism become clearer.

And once you get there, you realize that all the force and violence is at some level our desire for some lesson.

Which says…what about us?
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