Sun in Scorpio: The Edict Human

  A solar prominance as photographed by NASA (September 2006)

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I make no bones about it: the following post is written in an entirely
subjective voice. My feelings are passionate, obvious and one-sided,
which is the gist of where we all start with Scorpio, a sign which stirs us
internally and which challenges us to then merge and marry that to the
world around us through the people and opportunities we encounter.

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Whether we are able to be honest with ourselves is where we start.
Then Scorpio evolves, becoming a journey through finding out
how honest we are willing to be with others - and how honestly
we will deal with them and grow ourselves to our full emotional potential.
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Wherever Scorpio is in your chart (by house cusp) symbolizes the
manner in which  you will experience Scorpio. That house describes both
the positive and negative tools you will tend to utilize in the various forms
of interaction Scorpio asks that we master and the area of life in which
you will either grow...or where you will experience your greatest
defeats - defeats which amount to self-incarceration through
succumbing to those weaknesses you refuse to face.

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A few weeks ago now, I had come to a breaking point with my own ability to deny an emotional truth. That truth had to do with my own feelings, the emotional intensity of a relationship which was a faceted ball of glittering silence, the deeply buried emotionality of the other person…and why it all wasn’t working.

Like Scorpionic magma, words forced their way up through a throat which was helpless to be constrained as his isolation translated into my torture, as so often is the undermining mechanism which manifests through Scorpio fusions. The layers of emotions melted and refrozen which had become our shroud of lies would have been our Scorpio wealth had we not converted them into a toxic source of excuses.

We had borrowed from our souls, creating an unpayable emotional debt which in the beautiful if cruel realm of Scorpio meant that instead of working on mutual compromises we were instead pitting our ideals (social, societal or otherwise) against the reality of life including the messy realities so very much a part of what life is.

And thus, instead of facing our own fears in each other's presence, allowing the understanding of ideas and ideals to bring to flower something beautiful and intimately reconciled by our very human imperfections...

…instead we ended up compromising ourselves.

Instead of conceiving our Scorpio rebirth to mutuality, we each choose our conceptualized death of Self.

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I have a Scorpio Moon, so I know from what I speak. Anyone with any significant placement in Scorpio (and you know who you are) understands how the Scorpio process will always tempt us to deny the reality of the necessity to be human.

Our temptation to run away. That will always tempt us just as surely as the ease with which - in our Scorpio fears - we can be flagrantly diverted into falling prey to someone else’s manipulated truth – a truth they generally preach while we stand there starkly afraid of...and for our naked, human, life.

And where courage can't sustain us, our fears will drive us mad.

Scorpio tempts us to be the person who preaches but does not practice, much as Scorpio tempts us to practice what is preached even though that will deny us the full experience of being human.

Sometimes I think such ‘rules’ are made up just because someone was so sorely afflicted by their own fears that they couldn’t cope. So they come up with a ‘rule’ and hope that by stamping ‘that’ out, they won’t have to think about it any more.

That isn’t to say Scorpio doesn’t support rules. Well, not rules per se, but boundaries. Rules are theoretical – and thus the providence of air signs.  “Boundaries” is an earth term, and that’s still not Scorpio, though because Scorpio is water in its ‘fixed’ mode, we do think of it astrologically as ice – and who hasn’t experienced iciness as someone’s emotional expression of their absolute solid boundary?

One of the Crystal Ice Caves in California's Lava Beds National Monument

(photo credit: National Park Service)

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(If you haven’t, please take one halo from petty cash and thank your lucky stars.)

But when it comes to dealing with the ‘you can’t, because’ power of rules, with Scorpio this becomes a duality sort of thing – which is fitting, as Scorpio is one of three zodiac signs with dual rulers.

Note to anyone human reading this: two of those three signs are water signs. That’s probably a good clue as to how hard our emotional lives are…and on a metaphysical level, how hard they’re supposed to be.

And here so many of us think feeling should just be easy. Uh, no. Apparently not.

But back to the Scorpio duality…the operational imperatives of Scorpio in the world of ‘you can’t, because’ has the choice part of the equation (to do or not to do) which astrology sees as set off by Martian motion…and the response-reaction-implication OF the choice, that thing which comes of choosing to – or choosing not to (or which you choose) which none of us can known going in.

That would be the Pluto part.

The thing about Scorpio situations which we see pictured there is that they are and aren’t all about us. We do get choices. We can choose to opt in or opt out…and we can choose what we opt into or opt out of.

Many is the time I have said that Scorpio is all about the testing of our self worth, our security, our satisfaction with our lives and our self respect. And here’s where that comes in. Those who choose productively, grow in security and life power. Those who don’t – those who ‘play it safe’ are using some of that Scorpio energy to build a wall.

The problem with those walls is that by definition, they are limiting. And if you know anything about the power of ice…or in Scorpio’s alternative natural guise – a swamp – you know you are dealing with the power of glaciers and massive icebergs or the power of quicksand to pull you in and bury you in immobility.

In Scorpio – the boundaries you mind or don’t mind are emotional. They may be voiced as ideas (to you or by you), but we interpret them as emotional “edicts” and we respond to them – and thus decide whether to follow or not follow (aka comply or not comply) with them based on where we stand with our own emotionality.

That basis of judgment is the Taurean polarity for Scorpio – the ‘individual “learned” basis’ upon which we formulate our opinion of self, from which we derive self worth or insecurities galore. And when that gets ‘activated’ in a Scorpio situation, the ‘interactive’ quality of Scorpio forces us back on that personal basis of judgment – our inner Taurean security…and thus all Scorpio decisions and feelings about our decisions rely on our self worth and inner security…which once tapped and activated, reacts.

ENTER THE SCORPIO QUANDARY…our purpose for following or not following the ‘rule’ is also emotional – it’s all about the solidity of our convictions, with convictions being the stuff of which Scorpio determination and decision making is made.

Again, this is a two-part system. Part One is known as “how well do you know yourself?” and Part Two is “how realistic are you about what you need in order to thrive and grow as a healthy human being?”

This is where – especially in our modern, interconnected society – most of us seem to get our mental knickers in a twist (which is a really evocative mental image, if nothing else). There is so much pressure to adhere and accede to societal images and “judgments” about what matters to us that we often neglect our real Self in the process of, or effort to comply with some ‘you should want this’ or ‘you should operate in this manner’ which may not be consistent with not just our needs, but the very situation.

That brings up the Scorpio requirement to know ourselves, and to know when we can support the idea but not participate in it for ourselves. Or when we need to stop and examine the situation as so often situations look one way, but in reality are another thing altogether. If we simply look at the 'edict' ('edict' being a truly Scorpio word) we realize that as situations, relationships, interactions evolve…they may or may not be within the original scope of the most important edict of all in this lift: the one which says we need to be who we are, for that is the person we bring - and need to bring - to any situation, effort or relationship.

What Scorpio brings to bear here is the energetic which seeks to lure us with the allure to want to follow not because it's 'right,' but because it’s easier to negate, sell out and sublimate ourselves...even if that means we’re back at that Scorpio denial thing.

But being a martyr is good, you say? Well...usually not in ScorpioLand. The idea of being ‘the martyr for the cause’ is either a Sagittarian (to stand as a lightning rod for the idea) or Piscean (to embody and lead mass emotionality) thing.

Which really means that true martyrdom is done in the cause of ‘many,’ not Self. And Scorpio is not truly pluralistic. That’s the providence of the last four signs of the zodiac (Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces), not the second four signs (Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio).

In constellation Sagittarius, the star nursery of M17 reveals new stars

(photo credit: ESO)

The quadruplicities (groups of four zodiac signs) are all about just that – groupings. The first four (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer) are singular/individual, the second four (Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio) are me-and-thee or small 'group units' and that sort of thing. But ‘mass movements’ are the purview of the last quadruplicity: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.
 
So if you’re thinking of martyring yourself under some Scorpio banner…while I’m tempted to make a Dante-esque joke of ‘it should be labeled Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here’ type (yes, I’m a fan of Dante’s very not funny ‘Divine Comedy’ – didn’t you know?) the truth is that the the only witness to your martyrdom in the Scorpio sense is generally the same person who will pay the price of it: you.

In other words, this is an influence which often causes us to sacrificing our self respect and the value we could have placed in our individuality by martyring ourselves to some cause which is either entirely temporal or doesn’t give squat about you.

Ideas usually don’t give a squat, after all. Ideas and ideals aren’t human and aren’t feeling. They’re a theoretical standard which human beings have shown to have tens of millions of exceptions, as in "the exception which makes the rule."

And now that I’ve had my chance to do the Dance of the Diatribe all over the Scorpio premise, this applies…why? 

And…to what?

Answer: to the Sun entering Scorpio on October 23rd at 6:11 in the morning, UT/+0 time.

By now, everyone who is the least bit into astrology has heard about the impending Scorpio solar eclipse. You probably felt the onset of its ‘breaking down of your situational walls’ back in early September – there’s a two-month lead-in to solar eclipses and frankly, this one has been particularly trying.

Yes, even painful.

As Venus passed through Scorpio (September 11 – October 7) our hearts were tried and tied and rent by things and situations which apparently we had washed and which now we couldn’t to a darn thing with.

Or about.

This was doubled up on – or even trebled as Mercury entered Scorpio on September 29th, a moment which is now emblazoned on my brain since in the next 48 hours I not only had of the worst headaches of my life, but got reports from at least a dozen other people about headaches and stomach aches in their lives.

In part, Scorpio refers to our ability to handle toxicity and to purge ourselves of that which is toxic. Scorpio asks that we ‘reclaim’ our lost Self (the respect and worth part) – which often…in very much a Scorpio manner… dictates that we will lose before we reclaim. So there was a lot of loss, a lot of reactions to loss, a lot of pain and anguish about what was (and maybe still is) missing in our lives…and all of it took place in this cauldron of Scorpio mentality which, according to Mercury’s schedule, is going to be with us until December.

Yes, December. And my headache, heartache and general life toxicity is so not glad to hear this.

Once Venus moved on into Sagittarius, some of us have moved into a ‘reconsidering’ mode, asking ourselves how we can make our life work better. What will it take? Have we misjudged? Did some idea get in the way of greater truths?

The Sun is the emblem of life and enlightenment; as it enters Scorpio on October 23rd our mental waters will become stiller…and yet deeper. With Mercury having gone retrograde (in Scorpio) on the 21st, this opens the door for a whole new level of intense reflection on what life is, and is for.

It will be a very personal and powerful time. During the near-month of Sun in Scorpio we are all likely to ‘break through’ to some new area of realization, some new recognition of what life is, and isn’t. We will let go of old assumptions and like children emerging from some mythic chrysalis, begin exploring our potentials, our power and our willingness to be who we are on a whole new level and in a whole new way.

I still hold some hope that this evolutionary passage will open a path for my friend and I to reconnect. Our differences are entirely about their desire to adhere to an externalized ethic which in truth we had – in simply knowing each other – eclipsed as people.

Eclipsing happens.

But sometimes the process is hard. And sometimes it takes longer for one person to work through their eclipse work than another.

Learning that what we do doesn’t define us is a primary recognition we all learn at some point. I learned that a long time ago when as a newbee astrologer I did all the busy little calculations to figure out when my Saturn Return was going to be. (Back then we didn’t have computers and astrology programs – it was all paper-and-pencil math.)

My Saturn is in Scorpio, you see…and within twenty minutes of the calculated time, I got hired to write my first “official” motion picture screenplay.

Saturn shown in a false color image as photographed by Voyager 1

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

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Saturn: emblem of time and earning and career…I had finally hit the big time.

Or so I thought.

As I stood there on the driveway of the producer’s house marveling at what felt to me in that moment like some anointment from on high…it suddenly dawned on me: getting the job was just the start of the work.

So no, the angels didn’t sing. Apparently they were booked for some other gig somewhere else.

Now as my second Saturn return has just completed (and yes, I congratulated myself on getting this far) the real writing which is not about ‘the job of writing’ but about bringing the story I’ve wanted to tell for the whole of my life to life in text.

It's now been shipped off to the press.

Publishing the book (a four-part epic fantasy) is the Saturn work of it. Having invested my time, the intensity of my spirit and my effort to believe I know how to tell this story...that I care enough about it as spend so long crafting a real life very un-fairy tale fantasy embodying all I believe and care about as a human living among other human beings…that’s the Scorpio part.

That being said, it strikes me as ironic (irony is a favorite Scorpio emotion) that in the midst of coming to loggerheads with this person, as I felt the world cracking away around me, I heard them make a reference to the book – as if its publication would compensate me for losing their companionship, their presence, the knowing they were part of my life.

About then, I knew they needed the space, the solitude, even the iciness of Scorpio isolation in which to consciously feel themselves realizing and coalescing their feeling human nature, and why our life as human beings is more important…and worth more…than any theoretical rule.

That’s the real Scorpio edict: we matter. Simply as very human human beings, we matter. And when we matter to each other, that matters more than just about anything else.

To my friend…who may at some point in time read this post…blessed be. Though we may not agree on each and every thing - or its priority - I will love you forever, inclusive of whoever you are in whatever moment. When I left, you looked scared, which reflects in me as an overwhelming fear to think that is the image of you which will forever remain, haunting me until I die my twenty-trillionth death.

I can succumb to being crushed abjectly as happens under Scorpio. I can beg and still be denied resuscitation and Scorpionic redemption through the courage you would need to have to forgive me my frailties. As a person nurtured on the sadistic milk of abandonment, I know how to grieve. As one who has been bound and tied beyond conception, I know you can condemn me to waiting and grieving, eternally seduced by wondering if like Scorpio's mythic Phoenix, our conversation can be resurrected from the ashes and our hearts yet be healed by the touching essence of each other’s emotion-laden, deeply felt, very Scorpionic human existence.

The choice ultimately must be yours, for in my mind I know I will always stand in your presence.

Lost in being found, I merge, I exist.

And without you I will forever yearn, long and wish.

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Whether you relate to the depths of feeling expressed above...

...whether you think they're real or not...

understanding how they represent Scorpio's depth of passion

and the many things in life which force us to get in touch with

our emotions and emotional status is a valid Scorpio statement.
Or it could just be me doing a Scorpio number on you.
Do you know the difference - and which would be which?
Are you sure?

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None of our lives are perfect. And while granted, some of us experience

traumas or horrible mistakes which would seem to scar us forever, the

basic teaching of metaphysics remains true. If 'unbeknownst to us, the

universe is unfolding as it should' has any meaning, it means that the

experience of good and bright of life has equal merit with that which is

dark, painful and frightening.
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I remain of the conviction that human connectivity is our best strength,

and that it cannot accomplish its goal at a shallow level. We have not

been created to have things easy - 'from those to whom much is given,

much is expected' means we have the responsibility to accept who we

are, as difficult as that may be.
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Power and potency of existence are found where they are found.

They may or may not take the shape that you think they 'ought' to

take, and sometimes our path to enlightenment requires of us that

we walk a road which tests our popularity with everyone but our Self.
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That too is valid. We need to be what we need to be, regardless

of what others say, like or find convenient

As the Zen masters say...walk on.

That is the Scorpio ethic and our edict most human.

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Venus in Gemini

Greek Woman at the Bath

by Joseph-Marie Vien

For weeks now we’ve been trying to ‘swallow’ and ‘assimilate’ things. That’s another part of Taurus. Astrologically, physical assimilation is associated with the Moon (as a symbol of body process) and thus the plus and minus of being nourished…in the physical, emotional, intellectual or spiritual sense.

Venus is going to leave Taurus enter Gemini on May 9th at 3:04 in the afternoon, UT/+0 time, with the Moon having moved into Taurus at 10:10 in the morning on the previous day (again, UT/+0 time) in preparation to the ‘setting off’ of the Taurus Solar Eclipse at thirty minutes after midnight on May 10th.

That’s a lot of times and dates, I know. But astrology is all about ‘the moment.’ Astrology is the ‘diagnostics’ of the energy manifested by the wheels of existence endlessly turning and shifting life’s dynamics, all of which we ‘measure’ (which you may call interpret or delineate or diagnose) based on when those influences reach us here on Earth.

And that happens at a particular point in time – hence the dates and time notations.

What this means in a more general sense is that as Venus is just ending its transit of Taurus, reaching that ‘critical’ point where the Taurus pushes us to determined whether we can process something and if not, why not.

Because Taurus is about security and all that which makes us feel secure (or at least that which we want to feel makes us feel secure), when there’s a problem we tend to project on someone or something else. The hard part is understanding that we have any part in the problem.

I’ve been thinking about this because of the number of people who have been saying to me that they’ve been having digestion problems at the same time as they’re having problems with their relationships. Or what they’re doing with their life (their “relationship” with the life they’re living). We get told this or that food is “bad” for us. We know that the relationship is creating a lot of stress in our life.

And what do we do? We ask someone to fix us. We look at the person we’re in relationship with and say ‘if they would only…’ instead of yes, maybe really hearing their position…but beyond that, understanding that we picked them. Consciously or unconsciously, we attract people and link up with people who either emulate our strengths and weaknesses or who will own the very thing we can’t deal with.

That’s life asking us to figure out what’s wrong. Not with them, but with our ability to tolerate something.
This is the not-so-secret secret behind why, in a room of 99 great people and one turkey, those with a problem with turkeys inevitably pick the turkey person.

This is why those who grew up abuse will find abusers – and vice versa. We cannot teach that we do not know, we will not be attracted to that which doesn’t ‘fit’ our emotional template.

Working through these questions and owning the results, no matter how unpleasant they are, is our road to making the choice which will unlock a better future.

LH-95 stellar nursery in the Large Magellanic Cloud

(photo credit: Hubble, NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team, December 2006)

Choices are the prime providence of Gemini. Famous in pop astrology for being ‘multiples’ and ‘a little bit of everything,’ Gemini asks that we see the plethora of choices, that we learn what we need to learn about various things and then that we make a choice and carry through on that at least to the point that we have learned what we can profitably learn from that choice.

If it’s a wrong choice, then we choose again.

Or we choose a different approach.

Or we choose to see the situation differently.

As they say, the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome.

Solar Eclipses are not ‘instantaneous processes.’ They’re long-term transits which often ‘invalidate’ (or “break down”) some preconceived notion or some structure we’ve been using as personal bedrock. Coming into the eclipse is when things feel incredibly pressured and intense.

So this Venus shift into Gemini would be that sort of moment. For many, this will be a make or break point, mostly with themselves. Yes, others may be involved. But the key to this is understanding that our chart is about US. Though we can ‘read’ all sorts of people in your chart, what the astrologer sees is your experience of that person – not the person themselves.

Their life is their life. Your life is your life. And this is just the kind of moment when we are able to see the separation of ‘me’ from ‘them’ or ‘me’ from ‘us’ or ‘mine’ from ‘theirs’ at whatever level.

That may hit you as a revelation. That may hit you as a rejection – either by them or of them or of something you’ve been involved with. This time is ripe for recognitions, for ‘tangibly Taurus’ realizations (ideas = Gemini) which cause you to understand that some (Gemini) choice has to be made so that you will (Venus) get from life the results you truly want.

Because this shift happens just before the eclipse, while there are likely to be moments which are simply ‘making a choice’ in some everyday way like what to fix for dinner or whether to read a book or watch a movie, there are other changes which are not going to be instantaneous. So don’t expect them to be. We live in a time of subtle if vital shifts. In the Age of Aquarius, Taurus goes to the 4th house of the wheel of the Age.

 This is a "generic" Aquarian Age wheel with the image border color-coded

to direct you to Taurus on the 4th house of the wheel, the 'foundational'

house of human emotionality. 

 
When we remember that our Cancerian experience of childhood (a native 4th house quality) emotionally shapes the whole of our life, then maybe the idea of Taurus on the 4th house of the incoming Age will make it plain how important emotional security is.

And that will explain to us why the world is currently so rife with incidences which test where we are with emotional security in general and in specific. There is nothing which can “make us secure” if we are not secure in and about and with ourselves. Money, guns, armies, religion, possessions – none of that ‘fixes’ whatever feelings of insecurity or inferiority we may be carrying around inside.

Life is testing us. Our tests are variable.

But yes, we do have a choice to learn better – if we choose to.
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Mercury-Mars: A Little Vim in that Vigor?

A postcard of a 1906 Cornell University cheerleader

This is just one of my pom-pom posts. You know, one of those posts where I get out there on the cosmic runway and start signaling while trying not to look too much like a mad cheerleader long past teen prime.

In this case, one of my pom-poms is a stand-in for Mercury and the other is standing in for Mars - and I’m doing a fancy-dancy dance move, crossing said pom-poms back and forth with much rustling and raz-ma-taz hoping you’ll catch on that at least as seen from the perspective of Earth, Mars and Mercury are going into conjunction.

(Yes, we’d better hope it’s just from the Earthly perspective, otherwise that would be a lot of planetary rubble to clean up.)

And yes, there is heliocentric astrology. But I’ll guess that roughly 95% of all astrology is geocentric, which is to say Earth (“geo”) centered (“centric”).

But back to the subject. Both Mercury and Mars are in Taurus, a fixed sign all about all things tangible and that which tangibly effects our life. And yes, our feelings of security in this life, this world and in our physical bodies and being-ness.

If Mercury and Mars were meeting up in an airy, theoretical, wordy sign (say, Gemini), we might say this would be a time when discussions would be intense, things would truly require some thinking through (sort in that ‘or else’ mental mode) and that nobody should be shocked if arguments break out like some ill-mannered rash.

If Mercury and Mars were meeting up in a watery, emotional sign (say, Cancer) we might think this was the moment of buying a new home. Or a marker for (ugh!) moving day(s). Or even a road trip with the family, complete with spilled drinks in the car, losing our way because who could be bothered to read a map (or turn in the GPS) and when one too many editions of ‘are we there yet?’ are heard from the back seat. (Or even the front seat.)

 I'm thinking that back when this photo was taken things were easier...there

were no back seat drivers because there were no back seats!

What I’m getting at is that there’s a definite plus and minus side to Mercury/Mars conjunctions. And how it’s easy to think that we’ll meet up with a little of the good and a little of the bad between May 3rd – when this duo comes into zodiacal orb of each other – and May 11th, when they disconnect from each other after having “perfected” the conjunction on May 6-7, depending on what time zone you’re in at the moment (west of Greenwich means ‘on the early side’ here and east of Greenwich means ‘on the late side’ of this date span).

Security, finances, feeling comfortable with ourselves – all that is in the hopper. And those most dedicated to the idea of ignoring even a thought of a twinge of a spec of need with regards to same...? Those are the folks most likely to attract situations which will do the poking of your vulnerabilities for you!

(Ain’t life grand?)

Let us also remember that this very time period (May 6-11) very effectively embraces the last couple of days leading into and through the Taurus Solar Eclipse. So while you may think you’re feeling uber-noble to be bearing up under ultra-pressure (and maybe you are indeed being that noble) this is just the sort of astrological indicator to suggest that the itch we can’t stop to scratch (read: the thing we feel least equipped to do anything about at the moment) is exactly where life is going to add a dash of hot sauce.

And then, yes, life will rub it in.

Mercury-Mars is a very ‘in your face’ sort of combination, even when it’s covert – which I know sounds oxymoronic, but it’s true. That problem you can’t do anything about is the one which is most likely to be bugging you. And that thing you want to do? For some reason...you're not quite there yet.

But the air is full of energy. Your mind is filled with what you want to be true for you (and yours) in your world.

To some extent, it's all part of the Taurus Solar Eclipse process. (You know...that Taurus Solar Eclipse which is going to happen on May 10th?) By getting us to think what is important to us and what isn’t (and possibly why each is or isn’t important) part of this time we’re flowing through is about learning not to sweat the small stuff. Or maybe in your life it’s about calling it quits with regards to the thing which you just know doesn’t work for you so that you can really dedicate your time and effort to something which feeds your inner soul and grows the real you.

So this is a very "there" sort of time. For you it may be intense. Or maybe simply full of things which need doing. The need to do somehow equates to feeling tired and nobody can sleep quite fast enough...or thoroughly enough to get fully refreshed. Life's sticky wickets are stickier than they seem to have any right to be and other people (“life” in the general sense) just don’t feel as comfy as you know they are...but yet don't feel like.

All that is Solar Eclipse stuff. Mercury and Mars stirring up the Taurus vibe is sort of like a twirl and a dance before the star of the show walks out on stage. It’s all part of a vital reflection on sense-of-self process which we haven’t had a refresher course on for almost twenty years now.

Mercury and Mars catching up with each other? That happens now and again - it isn't any giant event, but it does serve to 'raise issues' - sort of like a mosquito bite will raise an itchy bump which you then want to scratch the dickens out of because it's irritating you. The Mars/Mercury idea is the 'interrupting' of the 'ongoing flow' so that we will 'start' (Mars) to think (Mercury) about things in terms of greater influences of the moment (i.e., the eclipse). This is sort of like life prodding us to catch up with ours selves. Our real Self – the one who gets distracted by the chatter and the patter and the show-and-tell of things social, societal and environmental…but which in the end is the one who lives on a mortal clock.

And with a human hand on our mortal tiller.

If this next week or so is turbulent, stay calm. A steady hand will do you better than jumping overboard. Some goals will be parting ways now – that’s natural at this kind of eclipse juncture.

And that’s another part of this Mars-Mercury thing: the realizing that what was, isn’t any more – and that while I go put my flags away, you may find you really do need to chart your personal course.

Which may…or may not be the one you came into this time following.
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Mercury in Taurus

 Image adapted from an image of constellation Taurus as found

in the 'Uranographia' of Johannes Hevelius (1690)

When I think of Mercury in Taurus, the first thing my mind goes to is the image of ‘good solid thinking.’

And yet…it can be so much and so very otherwise. Taurus is a sign all about our security (physical or psychological) and our abilities (our “native resources”). Taurus is also the sign of the self worth and/or self respect which motivates us to take those abilities and develop them. To make something of ourselves. To do something in this world.

When Taurus goes right, we do well, we flourish, we earn respect and support from others – in general we earn a sense of personal satisfaction.

And in the world of Taurus, satisfaction is the metaphysical peanut butter which goes oh so well the jelly of Taurean security.

So where can Taurus go askew? Taurus, which if you remember is one end of the Taurus-Scorpio polarity, goes wonky when the ‘personal earth’ (Taurus) gets undermined by ‘interactive water’ (Scorpio) in any of the numerous ways that Scorpio situations test how secure we are or aren’t inside our own skin.

War, sex, investment, birth, death, surgery, control, imprisonment, taxes, interpersonal conflicts, manipulation, domination, vulnerability…any and all of these (in just about any form they turn up) are by dynamic, Scorpionic. And though, being the self-protective critters we are, we tend to think that anything that goes wrong is “their fault” (oh, how many times have we all heard that!)…the truth of this on the astro-metaphysical level is that whatever the situation is, it’s raised a question inside our Taurean corral.

And when that happens, our inner bull comes out snorting!

Of course a bull doesn’t know to check its own hide and see where it’s got pricked. As far as I know, bulls don’t say to themselves ‘why does my hinder flanks suddenly hurt?’ They just look for whoever hurt them, and when in doubt, they gore a wall or fence or two. (Or three or four.)

But as people, the best thing we can do IS to look at what hurts and what about us has been hurt and why that hurts. It’s our sense of security and our sense of satisfaction and with the exception of those who are truly out to get us, most people tend to prick our pride or scratch our ego less intentionally than we suspect.
Why we’re so sensitive there? That would be our issue.

Now I’m not tell you to go thank someone whose carelessly thrown verbal dart hits you right in your trigger point, but let’s be real. We all have a few trigger points and though it’s a whole lot easier to blame than self reflect, we’ll probably do better in the long run to figure out the where and why’s of those triggers.

Sometimes we can fix them. Sometimes we can’t. Some people have been so beat up, whether in war or maybe growing up, or through some tragedy or crisis experienced as an adult that they’re just plain injured.

As our symbol of mentality and the thought process (and everything we mentally choose to do or not do) Mercury brings to Taurus exactly what we need to reconsider how well we’re doing in our own life – and as a person among other people in this world.

It’s a great time to examine the viability of your plans or when you may need to have a talk with yourself about really getting on developing a few more personal tools so you can be more effective, be that in your personal or professional life.

As Mercury enters Taurus on May 1st at 3:38 in the afternoon UT/+0 time, it’s joining a Taurean party already in progress. The Sun is already in Taurus, Mars is in Taurus and Venus is already half-way through Taurus, dancing along as Venus does.

In short, on a personal level it’s a hugely Taurean moment. Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars…? That’s every personal planet on the list apart from the Moon!

Oh yes…the Moon. Well, the Moon will have entered Aquarius just before Mercury arrives in Taurus (no doubt striking a natty pose). And because the Moon is the ‘astro-clock’ of daily doings that means Mercury is entering Taurus probably just about the time a few Aquarian/Taurus challenges hit the grill.

That suggests issues with ‘enough-ness’ of various kinds.

 As I set out to make an image of an "astrological clock" I realized that bcause

zodiacal motion through the wheel is counter-clockwise, it would look pretty

funny. So! It's a bit 'Alice in Wonderland,' but the above is pretty much "two

minutes to Taurus" - give or take a half-minute!  

Just to make it plain here, this Mercury-Taurus transit is going to be a quickie: Mercury enters Taurus on the 1st and moves on into Gemini on the 15th (which would already be the 16th if you’re in any longitude corresponding to, say, Greece or points east).

Astrologers have various opinions on what such swift transits indicate. Some say there will be more of ‘that’ packed into less time (“that” being the Mercury-in-Taurus quotient). Some think of it as a brief time in which to get something done – sort of like being in a rush. Others think that such brief transits manifest as ‘not much here – moving on!’ sorts of periods.

However you think of it, we know a couple of other things about this particular Mercury in Taurus passage. One is that Saturn is still retrograding through Taurus’ opposition sign of Scorpio, a combination which can be destructive, reparative or simply mind-bending in the sense that you look at something and say ‘REALLY?’ How could you not see that? Not know that? Put up with that? Do without that? WHY did you do that? WHAT are you going to do now?

Thinking back on the Taurus/Scorpio polarity, we would have to think that this short two weeks or so is at some level an opportunity to get on a better, more even or more productive keel with yourself (Saturn being in retrograde makes it about our internal life)…from which you can make better life choices and act with greater security, from which theoretically will come better results.

Another thing afoot here…(as they would say in Sherlock Holmes)…is with Neptune direct at 5 Pisces, Mercury is going to spend four days or so (let’s call it from May 2nd through May 5th) in sextile to Neptune. This is great for parties and vacations. If you happen to have a fantasy, musical or romantic comedy film you want to release during this time, people will probably be in the mood to go and see it.

(Movies grosses do reflect the dates - which is to say the charts - of their premiers. It’s a subject that as a member of the film industry has long interested me and which I’ve done a lot of research on!)

My father was a huge fan of Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes (above). Personally, I prefered Jeremy Brett in the part. And that 'debate' became a lasting joke between us, one we enjoyed bandying about right until the day he passed away. Of such things are memories - especially the ones we value - made of.

(photo courtesy of the NY Public Library Digital Collection, c. 1930)

Those days of May 2-6 aren’t likely to be great for ‘precision’ work. Or precise thought. And since Neptune connections with Mercury are often said to be a signal of misunderstandings and deception, watch what you say and who you say it to.

The flip side here is that this Mercury/Neptune connection is also one when egos are a little softer than usual. So that’s good for tender matters, matters of the heart and equally good for saying ‘I’m sorry’ where you may have offended someone.

Last but not least (not by a long shot!) is the fact that May 10th is a Solar Eclipse at 19 Taurus. So matters of values and what we consider valuable (whether we have it or have lost it or feel good about it or feel rancidly and wretchedly offended about it) …all such matters are already on our minds.

And up for cosmic grabs, shifts, losses and incarnations.

The weeks before a Solar Eclipse tend to be a hodge-podge of happenings. With this one being in Taurus everything from food to banking to national economies to personal finances, bankruptcies, fidelity and friendships are up for grabs. The very concept of security is now being challenged both in the world and in your world, forcing you to think about it and think things through in general.

And thus Mercury comes into Taurus, helping us do just that.
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Mars in Taurus

Olympus Mons is the tallest mountain on Mars known to date. Photographed

here on October 19, 1998 by the Mars Global Surveyor, the mountain you're

looking at is three times higher than Everest and bigger than

the mountains of the Hawaii chain.

(photo credit: NASA, JPL)

All the symbolism about Mars concerns assertion. Mars refers to the energy of motivation and that urge which gets us doing – which is why it’s the ruler of Mars and ‘initiating’ co-ruler of Scorpio, the sign of where we take that ‘I want to be’ Mars-in-Aries idea out into the world and meet up with all the support and rejection and negotiating with life’s gatekeepers, whoever they may be.

And since Taurus is all about satisfaction and being satisfied, obviously there’s a bit of what one might call a “mismatch of modalities.” Mars being about the ‘doing’ and Taurus being more about a state of being and the essence of understanding what matters to us, Mars in Taurus is about pushing to have what we want.

That’s a state we call “dissatisfaction.” And yes, Mars in Taurus does tend to manifest as yearnings and frustrations because something isn’t going our way and a general state of ‘not good enough’-ness.

(No, that’s not a word, but we’ll go with it anyway!)

So as Mars shows up to the Taurus party on April 20th at 11:49 in the morning (UT/+0) time, we know we’re in for a period of time when good isn’t likely to feel good enough. And life being what life is, even if you go into this period feeling just ducky about things, something will come along to un-duck your duckiness.
(No, that’s not a word either. But we’re still going with it!)

Mars in Taurus, similar to Mars in the 2nd house of the horoscope (the 2nd being Taurus’ “native” house) motivates us to want more. What we will want more of generally depends on the sign on the cusp of your natal 2nd house (and the sign and placement of the planet ruling that cusp) --- or where Venus is, as Venus rules Taurus.

This ‘what rules what sign’ thing is actually how charts are tied together. Without creating these ‘daisy chains’ of rulerships, horoscopes are just a blood pressure over here and a temperature reading over there and a headache in a box on the table. (Not literally, but…)

In other words, jigsaw puzzles are great, and their individual pieces may be entertaining and yes, you can separate all the edge pieces out until the cows come home. (Or ask you to moooo-ve over.) But it’s the synthesis which counts. That magical thing that really good doctors, musicians, astrologers and others do which takes the ‘raw data’ or ability and turns it into something which illuminates life – that’s the synthesis that machines can’t do.

And under Mars in Taurus, it’s likely we’re going to feel a bit ‘machine-ish’ about something.

(No, that’s not a word either.)

Of course there are a couple of other ways Mars in Taurus tends to manifest. Since Mars is the ‘pedal to the metal’ symbol and Taurus is the ‘make me feel secure and satisfied’ there is a level at which Mars in Taurus becomes the drive to have what you want, when you want, as you like it.

Call it greed, call it selfishness, call it a case of the ‘gimme’s…that can indeed be Mars in Taurus. (Or yes, Mars in the natal 2nd.)

With Mars in Taurus, we will tend to see things from our own point of view. Taurus being a fixed (as in ‘anchored in concrete’) sort of sign, we will generally not be all hinky-dinky about changing our opinion, perspective, methodology or goal under this influence.

Furthermore, if you remember, our last little bloggery chat was about the Sun entering Taurus. So it’s pretty darn sure that the Sun and Mars are running in Taurean tandem.

Let’s see…that would be adding self-determination to desire…

You get the picture. 

And about that Venus thing…Venus is also in Taurus. So we’re about as full up on Taurus as we can get, give or take the Moon and Mercury. (And lest you think Mercury would miss out on a good Taurus party, you’re wrong! Mercury will enter Taurus on May 1st.)

Mars has an orbital cycle of 1.88 years. Do the math and stick in a slush fund for one-retrograde-per-orbital-cycle and you’ll come up with the fact that Mars tends to spend about six weeks in a sign – which is the case here, as Mars will be in Taurus until May 31st.

I bet you know what comes next. That’s right: the word ECLIPSE.

This is multo importante, this solar eclipse thing, since not only will Mars be in the sign of the solar eclipse when it happens, but it will be conjunct the eclipse itself.

Ah…you say.

Yes, ‘ouch,’ I reply.

Just to finish with the Venus thing before I move to the show-and-tell part of this chat…Venus will only be in Taurus until May 9th (UT/+0 time). And seeing that the Taurus Solar Eclipse is on May 10th, that means that the eclipse actually happens with Venus having bailed on the Taurus emphasis on tangible results in favor of the idea which will allow me to choose a produtive path.

And that's a distinct shift of gears, one which tells us that these weeks ahead which lead into the Taurus eclipse are sort of 'setting us up' for what we will learn and realize through whatever process the eclipse embodies.

You know - what part of our life is "being eclipsed."

Seeing as Mars will still be in Taurus through that time and indeed through the end of May, this means that we can expect a lot of 'input' and 'new perspectives' on what works, what doesn't work and what we need to do in order to become more effective.

Mars by Johann Baptist Straub (1772)

(photo credit: Rufus46, September 2008)

    

Sometimes I think the easiest way to see how these things work is to look at what's already in play - or how a transit has already worked out (or begun to work out). So...for that portion of our program, let’s think about events which have happened of late and how they apply to this whole lead-in (aka ‘breakdown’) period to the Solar Eclipse and all this Taurus energy.

Six to eight weeks prior to any Solar Eclipse, there starts to be a ‘shake up’ in areas pertaining to the Solar Eclipse. Call it a rustle of breeze in the trees prior to the hurricane showing up, call it a small rattle of your window as a foreshock rolls through prior to a giant earthquake…that’s what we expect to experience, and to hear about in daily doings.

As an astrologer, this is one of the big reasons why I pay particular attention to ‘themes’ which start popping up on the news during the month or two prior to an eclipse.

This year, what did we hear? Well, we heard about a lot of saber-rattling from North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Listening to it all with the dispassionate (Athena-like) perspective it takes to think in ‘research astrology terms,’ I though it was particularly interesting that the specifics here were war, dealing out death and nuclear power – all of which are distinctly Scorpio terms and thus in opposition to the incoming eclipse. 

This is the sound of an ego in search of validation. We often talk about Taurus as ‘worth versus self-worth’ and the fears we face and the risks we will or won’t take under Taurus’ polarity sign Scorpio because of our comfort with our own (Taurean) satisfaction – with self, that is.

I have no political solutions. But what this talks about is how damaging it is for anyone to feel so isolated and so impoverished, marginalized or undervalued by everyone else (or “the world”) that they need to make such grand gestures. History is full of periods when the rich ignore the poor and the powerful oppress or ignore those they think of as ‘less than’ until those supposedly ‘less than’ souls rise up and clobber the rich and allegedly powerful.

Pride goeth before the fall, as they say. (Yes, that's part of the Eclipse too, for reasons related to fixed star Menkar, which I'm warming up to discuss next week.) And we are sailing into waters in this moment where a lot of this is going to come out. We’ve seen one version of this – the rather astonishing and thoroughly heart-warming vision of a Pope (Francis) who apparently cares more about people than scripture. Who would’a thunk? Gosh…a man of the cloth who cares more about the lives of those he’s supposed to serve than life in a gilded papal apartment?

Pope Francis started his work and started showing us who he is in mid-March….about eight weeks prior to May’s solar eclipse.

But will he change the Vatican? And will Kim Jong Un realize that investing himself in being his nation's leader and that building a country which can earn respect in the world will earn him respect and 'worthy standing' without having to resort to threats?

That, we don't know. But both of these questions are very Taurus (and therefore both Mars in Taurus and Taurus Solar Eclipse) subjects. 

Maybe that helps in the Understanding Department.

Barely had April begun than we also got a slew of arrests and news notices about corruption of various forms. Not meaning to slight your homeland if you live somewhere other than the U.S., but it’s all I can do to keep up with news here.

And for good and not-so-good, it’s just like news everywhere.

Anyway…barely had April rung in its fools than there was a story splashed about arrests in New York with regards to political bribery. At the same time, we heard that the woman who had been overseeing the banking and investment sector at the federal level was leaving her job to…not shockingly…take a comfy and lucrative job in the banking and investment sector where she can now use all her contacts and understandings to help banks and investment firms evade the rules she was supposed to have stood for.

Oh yes – this would also be the woman who didn’t help put a bunch of Wall Street tycoons in jail for raping the world’s economy, but hey…small peanuts, right?

Then there was a story about an outgoing Governor of an eastern state allowing political PACs and campaign supporters to pay for his daughter’s lavish wedding. (Daughter dear evidently complied happily, but standing up for dad in the press.)

And there was that bucket of teachers and school administrators in…I think that’s Georgia (maybe the Carolinas) who were caught cheating and falsifying tests so they would look good and get bonuses.

All of this is very Taurus. It exhibits the Taurean drive to want to get where you want go get while showing us how blind one can become to standards of propriety, morality, ethics, decency – call it what you want – when Taurean (or Taurus/Scorpio) drives get really strong.

The atmosphere of Mars is seen here in this low orbit photograph

taken by the Viking Orbiter

(photo credit: NASA-JPL, 1976)

More importantly…that these people were ‘outed,’ (so to speak)(and yes, that is an accepted word) under the influence of the ‘lead-in’ or ‘breakdown’ period preceding the Taurus Solar Eclipse.

And now, with Mars entering Taurus, that energetic – the process of ‘bringing to the surface’ and reversing the ‘seen’ and ‘not seen’ which is so typical of Solar Eclipses, is going to be getting ramped up.

Knowing that Taurus is running in tandem with the Sun tells us that what we are aiming at…whether that’s peace with our Beloved, some financial goal, getting the kids to pick up their socks, getting five minutes to yourself…all those ‘aims’ are now going to become more intense – and more under scrutiny.

That’s just the nature of the time.

And no, we aren’t likely to want to budge. Or be moved by someone else’s rationale. Even very good rationales are likely to get shunted aside.

But then comes the judgment of Karma. Scorpio being the sign of Karma and Saturn being currently in retrograde in Scorpio gives is a clear indication that where others don’t ‘out’ us, we’re likely to ‘out’ ourselves. And that means that a lot of things which have been ‘brewing’ which have to do with what we’ve been doing because gee, golly-wiz, we just WANT to do them – those very issues are the ones most likely to blow up in our face.

The old psychological slogan fits here fine: when we choose the action, we choose the consequence. We live in consequential times, have you noticed?

At some level, a lot of us are undergoing some very tough lessons in reorienting our priorities. That’s the underlying concept here, and one which Mars in Taurus supports, horn, hoof and tail, providing we’re being constructive in a manner which is authentic not to some image of who we ‘think’ we are, but who we can be. So instead of going ‘for’ the ‘thing,’ Mars in Taurus really asks us to see what we lack and to go for whatever it is which will earn us that ‘thing.’ It’s about being the person who would earn the respect. Or be supported. Or be rich. Or be first in line for that promotion.

Mars in Taurus asks us to work (assertive action) ON ourselves – not in our own regard. Mars in Taurus is about building your life so that it attracts the results you want from life, from the world, from others.

I have a friend who lives over in the Middle East. We correspond here and there, and one of our central conversations – for some time now (when we’re not discussing ancient constellations…and no, he’s not an astrologer!) …we always come back to the idea of giving someone fish as opposed to teaching them how to be a fisherman.

Sometimes we need fish. If we’re starving, absolutely – being given what we need right in the moment to survive is an imperative. And for some, just understanding that difference between want and need is a huge, giant step. Anything which is about our ego is a want. Anything which is about basic survival is a need.

But once we’re past that crisis, then learning how to fish for ourselves should become our goal. This is the discussion of our times. It’s what you hear all the time in politics – the giving people what they need and where does need become want. Those on the ‘have’ side can afford to be philosophic. They can afford to dally and object.

Yes, we need to all learn now to fish. And part of Mars in Taurus is about motivating us to not want to have fish handed to us. It’s about wanting to have fish when you want it, yes – but knowing that fish goes bad when it just sits around.

My favorite line from the film ‘Hello, Dolly’ is this one: ‘Money is like manure…you need to sprinkle it around encouraging young things to grow.’  Enthusiastically exuded by Barbara Streisand with her long, lovely fingers all a-twiddle, she was the poor girl whose manipulations of the rich man wouldn’t have gotten her where she wanted to go if she wasn’t such a catch, such a dish, such a fabulous woman.

Walter Matthau and Barbara Streisand from the trailer for the 1969 film "Hello Dolly"

In the end, it’s who we are that counts. Mars in Taurus is all about the quality of our being-ness.
(Not a word, we’ll use it anyway!)

These next six weeks are going to be intense. But they’re also an incredible opportunity for those willing to take on the beast – their own inner, personal beast. We all have one of some kind, and they can all be directed for the betterment of who we are…and thus the flowering of who we are regarded as in this life, in this world, and in this universe.

And thus we arrive at satisfaction. 
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