Pluto-Facies: Moving On

  A broad-scale photograph of constellation Sagittarius, including the band we know

as the Milky Way which crosses Sagittarius end to end. The Galactic Center - currently

in Sagittarius and representative of the need to give of ourselves in some way to others

and our world in order to succeed in our own right  - in this photo is located just above

above center and to the right of the thickest part of the galactic presentation. 

(photo credit: 2MASS, G Kopan, R Hurt, Caltech)

Astronomers know astrology’s ‘fixed star’ Facies as "M22" – a nebula way out there in the vastness which is constellation Sagittarius.

Any time we talk about a nebula, we’re talking about many stars...and thus, in the astrological sense, ‘many things which appear as one’ - or something which is complicated because it has many factors. Or maybe many pieces of a puzzle which need to come together. It could even signify many factors or perspectives on any given idea.

Every nebula, like every fixed star has its particular meaning. In the case of M22 (Facies), in true Sagittarian form, whatever is at stake the issue is about growing your life. Or finding out why you keep stumbling in your attempts to grow your life.

Considering that Sagittarius is the polarity sign to Gemini, it's also useful to remember that Gemini is a wholly personal sign about our personal choices, how we think (or don't think!) or our individual ability to stay organized, keep to a schedule or have productive priorities. Against this, Sagittarius is the 'testing ground' - the phase of life where we put those ideas to work. Or where people react to what we have done - which would be why Sagittarius is both a sign of the media (as a means by which "the word gets around") and a sign which has a rather unpleasant reputation for fostering judgmental (or dogmatic) attitudes.

It's in Sagittarian mode that we try our ideas out...and when we find out what needs tweaking. Or refining. Or learning better (which would be why Sagittarius is the sign of education and all things theoretical, from law to science fiction to religion and all that).

That said, Facies doesn’t have all that good a reputation. Allegedly representing the eye of the Sagittarian archer (the hunter)…this nebula has a reputation for bringing out victim-perpetrator vibes, which in real life may be our own tendency to hide or flaunt what we think of as our best or worst traits.

After all, that's how we learn better, right?

That's one of the core ideas which often gets lost in astrology...namely that astrological energetics - particularly as applied to (or in) our individual lives are about OUR growth and OUR need to - for example in this case - understand where we may be weak or asking for trouble. Or where we may be acting without regards to others and their needs.

Or maybe just where our plans or methods of going about what we're doing don't quite work in realistic terms.

Given the 'victim-perpetrator' concept which goes with Facies along with the fact that Sagittarius is a sign which belongs to the zodiac's interactive quadrant, Facies situations or issues tend not to be simply about our Self. They're about something we do in public. Or with others. Or which we want to appeal to others. Or as part of something which has to work well within an ongoing structure if we're to get ahead.

Certainly since the time when Pluto came into orb of Facies back in early 2010, we’ve seen a lot of many a person’s best and worst traits.

But the hardest part of this move into…and now the process of Pluto conjuncting Facies…has been having to see our own tendency to be victimized or play the victim…our own tendency to be a ‘perpetrator’ because we were so focused on our own goals that we didn’t fully take into account what we might be doing to others. Or to that delicate balance between moving towards change and damaging our personal or world environment might be.

And this gets to the very important thing to remember about Pluto. For whatever reason, this particular dwarf planet which wanders around way out there beyond Neptune (whose orbit is controlled by Neptune)...when its energetics reach us, even the best of us tend to go haywire.

A good part of that is because we seem to think that Plutonic energies in our life are "about them." And that's incorrect. Pluto energies in each of our lives are about our need to grow and transform and regenerate and let go of whatever is toxic or malfunctioning because whatever that is...because it's preventing us from growing. It's preventing us from using our passions and talents and abilities for something useful or good.

When Pluto goes awry, we experience obsessions. We experience addictions. We experience a sense of 'I can't help it' which draws us to do things we often know aren't all that productive, but which we just can't seem to let go of.

We think it's 'them.' But it's not. The energy in our lives is finding a way to evoke or provoke that feeling of helplessness or that tendency to abandon self control or ownership of our own feelings so that we will either get hold of what the real (and underlying) issue is, or that we will go through such a powerful (and often negative) experience that we will learn not to do 'that.'

In other words, you might say that Pluto gone wrong is nature's form of aversion therapy. That's why, when Pluto hits us by transit (which, by the by, can either be to our natal or solar return chart, just to make things more interesting...) we will tend to find things which we think will "fix" some long-standing issue. Plutonic energy often engenders the classic 'this time will be different' energy which ends up being just the same...just as wrong...and as we encounter it time and time again, maybe even worse.

The issue is not 'them.' We'll think it's them, or something we did. But the real issue is that we're in "denial" of something we don't want to have to deal with...that being why Pluto's keywords are create, deny, destroy. When we have a Pluto problem, we 'create' something we think is going to make everything about our life better, and in doing so we 'deny' the real problem...and we end up experiencing the 'destruction' of our illusion.

At some point - hopefully - we get to the real issue. That issue is read through our natal Pluto, and specifically (beyond its sign, placement and aspects) wherever Scorpio is in our chart, whatever objects are in Scorpio in our natal chart...and at some quintessential and important level, the issue of how we/why go about choosing to get involved 'here' (or not get involved 'here') - that being the Mars 'instigation' level of Scorpio.

You know, the "I want that" part.

Where Pluto is concerned, we also have to care about Mars - which is why one of the best ways to deal with a problematic Pluto is to keep ourselves invested (a good Scorpio keyword: invested) in something which is for a known benefit...in other words, by investing in our Self in some way which we know (not hope) will turn out well.

With all that now noodled over...in this case, in this moment, since there's also said to be a ruthless quality to Facies, you can see why this might just go very bad. And with the Sun currently in Virgo, there is a naturally 'obsessive' quality to our thinking at the moment.

In other words, gawd forbid anyone try to interrupt us with facts...we're so invested in wanting what we want to be true to turn out true that some of us (read: those with problematic placements in either Virgo, Scorpio, Taurus or Pisces - with an emphasis on the first two) are going to be acting up or acting out in pretty unproductive...even de-structive ways.

(Note: those who qualify under these signs are most likely to find someone who also qualifies under these signs to have issues with. Why? Because life is very efficient: your triggers match their triggers and why would energy miss a trigger which needs triggering?)

How things (Virgo) work is likely to be of issue at the moment. Mental and emotional health - inclusive of long-standing emotional wounds are likely to get stirred up by this energetic. Our spirit, our psyche is trying to get us to work on where we are over or under functioning...and thus its wherever we tend to function - or through something which relates to 'functionality' where this energy is likely to surface.

Whatever shape it takes, the thing which gets out of joint or which is the thing we're refusing to discuss - that is pretty much specifically the thing which will point us towards the greater issue.

You know, our Pluto issue.

Now, if we only will just go there and deal with it!

(Easier said than done, yes.)

During the time that these two objects (Pluto and Facies) have been playing astrological footsie there's been a greater-than-average tendency to think in terms of the optimal (or the 'idea of the thing') while forgetting that real life doesn’t work exactly that way.

Way to go, Sagittarius...right?

On the other hand, this combination has another side entitled 'going by the book may not work either' which is also Sagittarian, since Sagittarius is all about learning and learning better.

That means as an individual.

Sometimes what we've learned from others isn't us. Or maybe we've internalized some tradition or early 'way of doing it' which life has simply outpaced or grown beyond. Society changes. Morays change. People change. Economics change. What's acceptable and even possible changes.

So sometimes we get to a place where we get confused because 'what we thought' (the "old way") doesn't fit. Or maybe we've grown up to be a person who just doesn't think the way our parents did...or in the 'mold' of our native culture.

Are we allowed to change? Life seems to say that weighing up what works for the many against what works for us is important. And in the light of Pluto/Facies, that can mean  ‘nebula/nebulous’ factors. If we try to 'adhere' to what we thought we were supposed to do (or the way we thought we were supposed to do it) we may just end up being a square peg trying to fit ourselves into our own round hole.

(So to speak.)

The point is, sometimes it doesn't fit, not even when we push, shove, insist or sulk.

And sometimes that's exactly what we're supposed to learn at a time such as when Pluto conjuncts Facies. Through experiencing defeats and confrontations and feeling aggrieved and being forced to take stock of who we are (the energy being ours and inside us) we end up learning something very vital about who we really are as opposed to who we thought we were.

There's a lot of just that going around, as it happens.

Pluto began it’s full-on conjunction of Facies last year around the end of January. And from January 2012 through early July it just sat at 8 Capricorn, with a nice little station thrown in for good measure during April 2012. Theoretically, that turn from direct to retrograde motion at 8 Capricorn would have started bringing home a realization that it isn’t ‘all them’ and that life isn’t what we think it ought to be simply because we have this vision for what life is supposed to be.

This is probably a good way to think of the metaphysics of the Sagittarian hunter with it’s eye in early Capricorn: it’s the reality of what we do which counts…it’s the hunt for the thing which will be the lasting answer which counts. Remembering that the hunter which is constellation Sagittarius is a centaur, it is up to us to balance our ‘animalistic power’ with our human capacity for reason.

So are we going to – as one might say – look ourselves in the eye now?

Maybe yes. Pluto’s passing over Facies has been one heck of a long process of forcing us to look inside. We've met up with situations and people who have pushed our Pluto buttons. Typically when such a thing happens we become 'the victim' of our emotions even as we get aggressive with anyone who tries to tell us that we're about to jump off a cliff without a parachute.

Ah, Facies at work. How unpleasant!

And how very, very human.

Pluto’s passage over Facies has manifested in bringing out many of those irrational out-of-balance things which we may like very much…but which don’t really work. Given that there’s a ‘blindness’ (real or figurative) associated with Facies, Pluto’s conjunction to this ‘fixed star’ has represented a time when we haven’t seen, haven’t wanted to see and when we have been forced to not see some things because others really needed our focus…and when some of those very things we haven’t seen have proved to be our deepest vulnerability.

Messier 22, located in  in Sagittarius

(photo credit: Jose Carlos Castro, July 2007)

Pluto will enter 8 Capricorn – a degree known for various forms of ‘separation’ and ‘isolation’ – on September 14th. Pluto will go direct about a week later, and then roll back through and out of 8 Capricorn as of September 27th.

Count on this as being a time of revelations. Considering the nature of the degree 8 Capricorn, you may realize you have been thinking too “esoterically” and now get more realistic. Or you may realize that your aims are too narrow, too overly defined and that you need to broaden them so that your efforts will lead to lasting results. There is a ‘doing without’ and a not caring about opulence which goes with 8 Capricorn which is in the nature of the degree and which may not reflect at all in your life. But those who are into opulence may now realize they don’t need ‘all that’ as much…while those who have been purists and minimalists may now decide they like a few niceties.

Pluto’s passages represent the transforming of our values at a very deep level. Plutonic evolution is all about what we allow ourselves to appreciate and what we appreciate about ourselves. It’s the balance which is really important here…and how we go about manifesting and achieving that balance in a world we don’t occupy all by ourselves, but which we also exist in as an integral, uniquely individual and viable human being.

That some ‘facets’ of our personal nebula may not be functioning well? That some may be dominating our personal landscape to the detriment of personal balance – or balance as a person among other people in this world? That’s Pluto-Facies. The ‘out-of-whack’ now comes out…maybe to others, maybe to ourselves…and the danger is that our efforts to correct same may be just as (Pluto) obsessive as anything else.

For Pluto’s final pass across Facies (for this round of the zodiac) to be happening under the auspices of a lead-in to a Solar Eclipse in the sign Pluto rules (Scorpio) says there is a lot about us on an integral and individual level which is going to change.

Actually, which is pretty much in the process of changing, even as you read this.

Given that in about a week Pluto will make its station as Venus continues transiting Scorpio (read: fixations run high) as the Sun reaches Libra (really testing our balance) in preparation for Mercury moving into Scorpio - a sign it will then go retrograde in during October...

...yes, we have the opportunity to balance ourselves out. The more out-of-balance we are, the more life and energetics and feelings and situations are likely to unsettle us and cause us to think 'they' are to blame.

But they aren't. Most likely they aren't. Oh sure - they may have their Pluto issues, but if we're all reactive now and if our life feels like it's hit the spin cycle (or the wringer) it's highly likely that we're out of whack. With ourselves, I mean.

On the world stage, we should expect that much will be in flux. There will be a lot of questions about 'what's worth it' being floated for this next little while. We may be asking ourselves lots of questions about ‘what’s worth it’ and who matters - and ‘why.’

Evidently it’s time for that to happen.

It’s always struck me as an interesting metaphysical factoid that Scorpio has more images and more totem animals than any other zodiac sign around. The animals are the scorpion, the gray lizard and the eagle, representing the emotional evolution we make as human beings from the level of living on instinct, striking out at anything we even suspect might hurt us (the scorpion) through the cautious, self-protective lifestyle (the gray lizard) to the most noble of Scorpio formats, that of the eagle which sees all, which takes only what it needs and which serves as an inspiration to cultures around the world.

Scorpio is also the sign of fixed water – which in the real world we know as ice. Ice can be solid enough to walk on…or thin enough to fall through. So too are our emotional assumptions, and this is…probably more than in the totem animal sense…where Pluto tends to operate. The allure of Scorpio, that glittery ice with its silken watery (emotionally provocative) gleam which lures us in then drops us into icy waters is both the Scorpio vulnerability and the tendency to be the (Facies-type) victim, whether to someone else or to our own tendency to be attracted by that which looks good…or as they say in the vernacular, that thing which is so very ‘shiny.’

Thick ice, the emotional structure which can bear us, the negotiation which can support our position in the world and our relationships with others takes time to build. And when ice gets thick enough to walk on, it often isn’t all that super shiny.

But it’s safe.

Pluto’s conjunction with Facies has been a long process of teaching us that while shiny is nice, safe and durable and lasting is better. And that is very much a Capricorn type lesson.

So let’s hope we’ve learned it.

A sky map of constellation Sagittarius. M22 is just at the center of the

constellation, where the centaur's 'head' would be.

(image credit: Grum, September 2004)

Given that Facies is positioned at 8 Capricorn, Pluto won’t be out of the five degrees of ‘departing orb’ until the end of November, 2015. And by then, Pluto will be in the middle of conjuncting fixed star Vega – a symbol of charisma and charismatic connectivity. That these two symbols/concepts (Facies and Vega) are currently positioned so that Pluto will move from one to another with several years of ‘overlap’ involved says a lot. And since fixed stars (including nebulae) do move, if you believe that the whole of What Is functions as a whole and thus is what it is not so that life can be destroyed but so that life and existence can continue to evolve…and that such evolution will at times ‘wipe out’ things that we like but which are not productive to the whole or in the longest of long runs…then we have to think this Pluto (plus) Facies/Vega combination is part of the many signs of our times.

To have charisma is the essence of a gift. What we use it for…and why we are attracted to it…that may well be the measure of our blindness. And as this all comes to us through the Capricorn lens, that we learn or don’t learn is on one side the ability to succeed…and the measure and durability of what we succeed at - and sometimes the benefits or costs of that great human gift we call charisma.

Good luck to us in that, I say. For some of us, the ice is about to crack and a cold, cold plunge will surely follow in time as others – those who have allowed their inner solidity to form while working towards their achievements - will move forward and find that their bridges built so very patiently now not only bear weight, but bear them on to greater achievements.

I hope the engineering of your life is entirely sound. With Pluto, the idea that using the energy lest it uses you reaches a maximal level. If you have a problematic Pluto, you probably know it. Hardly anyone who has one has gone more than a couple of decades without some sort of fall from personal grace.

The issue can be what happens to you...but is often more or less about how you feel about yourself. Pluto often makes us feel really lousy (or ashamed, or hurt) so that we'll turn away from 'that' and devote ourselves to something which (oddly enough...!) is challenging enough to keep us fully invested and which, over time, leads to being a different person.

Which was Pluto's object to begin with. Facies has just been the energetic of complications which have forced us to grow...and forced us to realize that we're more complicated and uniquely special than we thought. 
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Mercury in Libra

The Hubble Space Telescope's view of the jet being emitted from Black Hole M87

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

After Mercury in Virgo comes Mercury in Libra, which by any metaphysical name is the opportunity and need to make connections and to recognize how what we do and how we do it generates how others react.

And who we attract to react with.

And what we’re all about in this moment.

The famous Shakespearian quote about ‘all the world is a stage’ is very Mercury in Libra. Life is our stage and to some extent, life may feel ‘staged.’ Given how much energy is still being expressed through water signs, it would not be mysterious in the least to feel a bit disconnected as Mercury enters Libra (on September 9th at 7:08 in the morning UT/+0 time) or for the just-shy-of-three weeks that Mercury will be passing through this sign. After all, Libra is an interactive sign which is all about the idea of the thing and water is always the symbol of how we feel about things.

So given that Mercury is the emblem of our thoughts and choices and how well we do things…or how healthy our choice of what to do is…the ‘how we feel’ about all such issues – which are now being experienced through interactions of all kinds with others and life in general – is likely to have and reflect whatever quandaries we have as individuals with the difference between the ‘idea of the thing’ and real feelings being experienced in real time.

You know, as we go about doing whatever it is we do in life.

This may be no simple matter…at least not in the sense of what we’re doing versus what’s going on in our (Mercurial) minds, that is. With this shift into Libra happening just after we’ve entered the ‘breaking down’ period in advance of the November Solar Eclipse, anything which is outmoded in our life is beginning to shift.

Mind you, we may not think those things are outmoded. We may be just ‘fine’ with them. But whatever they are, they are not serving us well in the sense that they are not allowing us or enabling our ability to be the truth of who we are way deep down inside. We may think what we’re doing or how we’re doing it is just nifty. In fact, that’s pretty much a given. But whatever you feel shifting now – particularly as that pertains to who you associate and how you go about associating with people and your world in general?

That’s the ‘underlying’ nuance likely to continue throughout these weeks of Mercury in Libra. On the surface, we can expect the pace of life to pick up. There will be more which needs doing, more focus required on and in what we do, and the smart money is thinking through not just what our position or concept on any given subject is, but recognizing how that does – or doesn’t “fit” with those around us. 

Or how the world works.

The fact that we do have this very dichotomous inner-versus-outer energetic going on means you may feel like you’re wearing a ‘social mask.’ Or conversely, you may want to be all about living on one level while trying to ignore something else.

That wouldn’t be the best move, by the by. If you’re (Mercury) thinking you can operate as you want to and not just do what you (Libra) do to get results in the short run, that’s skating on pretty thin ice.
And since Scorpio – the sign of the solar eclipse – is “fixed water” and therefore metaphysical ice, that would be a pretty iffy bet. Yes, we are sure to see some unenlightened bulldozer brains thinking they can avoid evolutionary force, but that would be sort of like skating on thin ice.

Do you really like cold water all that much?

Libra being the sign behind Scorpio puts this Mercury in Libra passage in the 12th house position to the eclipse – so it would be natural to be either thinking through where you might do better if you changed things up (self criticism) or, if you’re one of those people who doesn’t like being self reflective, to be getting a lot of notes, critiques and out-and-out complaints from others.

Then again, Scorpio is also the 2nd house harmonic to Libra. It’s the sign after Libra, in other words, which on the zodiacal harmonic level says we may now be doing our growing through learning from others. Or through having others challenge us or evoke our deeper emotional issues.

Scary? Maybe yes. But useful? Also yes! And that we are meant to consider things differently…? That works here too, as any planet which moves into Libra immediately encounters the position of supermassive Black Hole M87. Black holes – by any account – are areas of space (the general time/space continuum) where what we think of as ‘reality’ goes through some serious alterations. One of my favorite descriptions of entering a black hole (which is referred to as ‘crossing the event horizon’ – an esoteric term if there ever was one!) …is how that which the Black Hole is on the inside is SO very different than what’s on the outside that to cross that event horizon would be experienced as being turned into ‘cosmic spaghetti.’

(For the record, I think this description came from Paul Halpern’s book ‘Cosmic Wormholes,’ but I’m not positive.)

Mercury's Libra ingress chart

September 9, 2013 - 7:08 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (location not specific)

 

The astrological point (and to some degree the astrophysical point) is that Black Holes basically do two things: they suspend our sense of ‘time in the space of our existence’ and they alter our sense of what is…and therefore what is true and on the more mundane level, what works and what doesn’t work in the glorious thing we know as our life.

So as Mercury – representing our thoughts, our communications, our choices and all which goes with them and which provokes them – crosses into Libra, this will reflect in…

a.) Our moving from a more personal and private mode of thinking into several months to come of focusing our our world in a less personal and more global and interactive way.

b.) Our encountering some new and different ways of seeing or experiencing things…or the need to see them in/through a different perspective…or people and/or situations which force upon us something which in turn gets us to see something in or about life in a new or different way.

And all of this will at some level refer both to a major shift in how we interact with others and our ability or willingness to balance the ‘them’ and their needs against our Self and our preferences…whatever we’ve been doing which does or doesn’t serve that need to interact fully and at least intimately within our Self (if not with others)…and the repercussions of who we are being, who we are willing to be, what we are willing to risk in terms of our own experience of being who we are – the ‘yes it’s right/no it’s not functional’ of all this as the metaphysical operand which dictates/contributes to why we’re moving ahead in life or how we’re being stymied by others.

Are we being respected for who we are is now coming ‘above the horizon’ in our own mind…and we’re beginning to grapple with why we may not be garnering the respect we truly deserve.

Generally that is going to be because we’re not willing to risk, but it could also be because our basis for risk or the values that we hold are simply too ‘me’ oriented that others (read: life) isn’t/aren’t willing to humor our self-concerned notions.

(Is that putting it nicely enough?)

Another interesting factoid here: Mercury is entering Libra in conjunction with asteroid Circe. Circe is always a reference to our being reduced to our most instinctual level until we are willing to resist the allure to give up the more challenging aspects of our human nature or life – personal or professional.

That sort of echoes the whole M87 thing. And the incoming Solar Eclipse thing.

Gosh, it’s a quorum!

Seriously…this is not quite a quorum per se, but any time we begin seeing ‘themes’ being built by various astrological factors, we know that ‘issue’ is not only likely to be on the table, but be in bas relief.

Or to put it another way, it’s one thing to ignore the 600 pound gorilla in the room, it’s another thing to ignore the multi-ton T-Rex breathing down your neck.

That this Mercury ingress occurs with a grand square being presented in fixed signs says we’re not exactly jumping to make any changes.

With this particular grand square being formed by South Node in Taurus, North Node-Saturn-Moon in Scorpio, Juno in Aquarius and Mars in Leo is a pretty good image of plain old human stubbornness. We like what we like and most of us are going to be going for the old ‘it’s working well enough’ line.

And that would be fine except for that pesky incoming Solar Eclipse. Considering that Solar Eclipses are all about taking away the ‘well enough’ compromises in our life in order to confound us by pushing us through our emotional barriers (read: emotional event horizons) so that through our experience of being emotional metaphysical  spaghetti we will at least contemplate changing the shape of our noodle…(I happen to favor those lovely little corkscrew pastas, personally) …?

Let’s just say we can resist all we like and we’re still not likely to win. Why? Because the universe is bigger than we are. That’s just how it is.

That this grand square is in fixed signs suggests that some of us would be willing to change IF we felt that what we are thinking of moving on to wouldn’t come as too big of a shock – maybe to us, and maybe to others.

May I refer you back to that ‘thin ice’ Scorpio thing? You may skate and get by for a little while, but there’s slow acclimation and then there’s the shocking, chilling plunge method. Life doesn’t really care which way you get where you need to go – life just wants us to get there. So we do have a little bit of latitude, it’s just that not getting in the water is probably not this part of the equation.

At least not if your chart is in any way seriously aspected by this incoming 11 Scorpio eclipse. So get your charts out: do you have a chart point OR axis point OR node (north or south) between 6 and 16 of Taurus, Scorpio, Leo or Aquarius? Do you have some point or node or vertical or horizontal axis which falls between 9 and 13 of Sagittarius, Libra, Gemini or Aries?

These are the signs and degrees which are going to get more or less spaghetti-ized during the coming eclipse. So look at your chart. If your chart is aspected, you’re probably already feeling a twitch, twinge or other itch. There’s been a shift in life’s vibe, a change in the atmosphere – something.

And if you have more than one point which falls into this list? The more points…the greater the spectrum of the effect. The closer to 11 degrees in any of the signs cited, the stronger the effects – which is to say the greater the totality of your change(s) is/are going to be.

The changes we end up going through in these next few months (and on into next year and the year after that) don’t have to be terrible. They can be pretty wonderful. Even downright happy-making! And what’s the difference between these poles?

Our willingness to change. Our willingness to own up to what is no longer viable or workable or sensible or productive and from that, the willingness to – and the making it a priority to make whatever changes are needed, no matter how unlikely or far fetched or “impossible” they seem.

There’s also this other ‘little thing’ which is set up for us to contemplate as Mercury moves into Libra. It’s called a grand sextile.

If you read the recent piece on dwarf planet Sedna’s station (which posted back on August 23rd) you already understand that this symbol is not “about” Judaism or any other religion – at least not on the metaphysical level. The grand sextile – which is six points joined in a chart so that they form two grand trines which are at sextiles to each other – is a symbol of those opportunities which come from accepting inevitabilities (those processes some think of as “fate”) and conversely, those “fates” which befall us because we refuse to move on in our life or continue growing.

In our last “grand sextile chapter” (the one we talked about in that Sedna post) the points involved were as follows:

1. South Node in Taurus

2. Jupiter in Cancer

3. Mercury in Virgo

4. Saturn in Scorpio

5. Pluto/Facies in Capricorn

6. Chiron in Pisces

I’ve list them that way because it makes it easier to simply note that positions 1, 5 and 6 basically haven’t changed. But instead of just Jupiter sitting at position #2, we have Jupiter plus Black Moon Lilith, which suggests this period is all about where we are either avoiding (denying) the need to grow as a person…or that our growth is being denied or stymied or otherwise hindered by others because we are not seeing our part in that process.

(Welcome to the wonderful world of being forced to look in life’s mirror, everyone!)

At position #3, instead of Mercury doing a swift do-si-do-and-scoot number we also have Ceres, the image of ‘the plan’ which in combination with the essence of protection for ‘our environment’ asks us whether our plans are perhaps too focused on Self or whether they focus solely on others to the exclusion of that Self, whether we even have a plan or whether – given the Libra/Scorpio divide implied in this general Mercurial contemplation – whether our plan and protective aims with regard to Self and our plans and protective aims for others are incongruous.

It could be. We might be really good on one side and really destructive on the other side. It happens.

At position #4, instead of just Saturn we have Saturn, the North Node and the Moon. As someone who owns a Scorpio Moon I can just break out here in a minor key chorus of ‘Oh joy, oh rapture…’ (which sometimes makes me think ‘rapture’ should be replaced by ‘raptor’) (yes, I’m feeling very prehistoric today – thanks for noticing).

More to the point, since I happen to own not just a Scorpio Moon but a Scorpio Saturn/Moon (and one which is natally very close to these numbers) I can tell you that this combination tends – even without the North Node being involved) to focus very adeptly on who we are to others and our ability to structure our life with regards to others…and with others as part of our lives without loss of Self. (Or self esteem, which is also important.)

Saturn/Moon in Scorpio can manifest as fear. Then again, it can manifest as the ability to walk through fear despite all (even yes, that shaking in your bones thing.) In conjunction with the North Node, if nothing else were involved we would be thinking in terms of what we should do in this regard.

But with this Saturn-North Node-Moon thing involved not just in a grand trine but in a grand sextile? With a solar eclipse headed this way which is going to conjunct this very set of positions?

Mercury in Libra is all about thinking through the ‘idea’ of what it means to be part of this world, a member of the human race and what or how you can be who you are in a manner which works not just for you because it’s what you like or prefer, but which works for you because it works for the ‘all’ of your life and everybody in that life, seeing that we all need and depend on one another.

We are learning to choose who to be on a new level. We are learning that who we choose to be with, to be who we are with and how we go about doing all of that – it matters.

Maybe more than we thought it did.
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Venus in Libra

Invitation by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)

It’s hard not to think of Venus in Libra in beautiful terms. The image of enchanting allure is simply too delightful not to contemplate.

And in a sense, that is what Venus in Libra is all about – though not as literally as many would like to think. In being the polarity sign to the ‘consciousness of Self’ sign of Aries, Libra embodies how all we do, are and ‘give out with’ affects others.

In other words, Libra is about the impression or the impact made. And being an airy sign which expresses itself (like all air signs) through ‘the idea of the thing’ Libra is more about what others think of what we are or what we do…hence its connection not to ‘beauty in the flesh’ (you’re disappointed, I know!) but attractiveness. So the plus and minuses of Libra in your chart (and to some degree, the associated 7th house of any horoscope regardless of the sign on its cusp) is all about the reaction…the response we get in this world – be that a response to our physical presence, our expertise (or lack of same) or whether we’re the one who gets picked or applauded or rejected.

Or even completely ignored.

Remembering that Libra is an air sign we should always remember that what one person likes another person yawns at. So your version of beauty may be something I just shrug at - which is true, by the by. I’m notorious for not thinking “standard” images of beauty are anything exciting.

And that idea highlights the difference between Libra and Venus. Venus embodies the ‘cause-effect’ point, so wherever your Venus is natally, that will tell us what you value and what you get ‘turned on’ by (not necessarily in the sexual sense, but possibly that as well). That my personal Venus is in a water sign (Pisces) means I will tend to affect and be affected by emotionality and in particular, someone’s willingness to be vulnerable and show they have feelings. Or their willingness to deal with the emotional difficulties of others and not shy away from their own sticking points.

As Venus moves into Libra on August 16th at 2:38 in the afternoon (UT/+0 time) I know my focus will move into the ‘I/thou’ realm of interaction and effect. I know three-plus weeks of Venus’ transit through Libra will be filled with prime examples of how I’m doing with regards to how I want to affect others. It will also offer me a chance to experience others and to hone how others now experience me.

In being the polarity to ‘Self-oriented’ Aries – our ‘causal’ energies now come into focus. Venus in Libra is thought to be ‘graceful’ in part exactly because of this quality…which may simply mean it’s always nice when we aren’t so hugely distracted.

But this is also about our willingness to connect. While passing through the sign prior to Libra (Virgo) there’s a natural tendency to focus on the little things without focusing on the whole. Venus in Virgo, has a ‘focused on what I’m doing’ vibe which you might associate with getting ready for some big debut. Or an important meeting. Venus in Virgo is great for getting things done and it’s well thought of as a time to get much done.

But once Venus moves into Libra, the curtain goes up. We see ‘them’…and are seen by them.

Thus we connect and the dance – in theory - commences.

 Constellation Libra (center) with famous fixed star Spica (above and

Royal Star Antares (below) as part of constellation Scorpio

Being that the first half of Venus’ passage through Libra is happening during the second half of the Perseid meteor shower, this is still a time for a ‘sprinkle of sparks’ – which makes the first week or so of Venus in Libra a time to ‘strike’ up a conversation. Or maybe some sort of deal, agreement or when by stopping to listen, we realize how to be or become far more effective.

Call it a time of focusing on our focus…and whether we’re doing what we should to get the effects we want. Or even whether we’re aimed in the right direction. Venus in Libra is a clarified vibration, one which allows us to see whether we’re doing the right thing in the right place, thus making it as good a time to bow out of one thing (or relationship) gracefully as it is to start something new.

For the first week of this passage the Sun will still be in Leo. And since Leo is all about how we ‘shine’ (or stand out like a sore thumb, depending) this would be a time which highlights us – in particular, I mean. The combination of Sun in Leo and Venus in Libra points the spotlight towards us, which some will react to by basking in the limelight while others get self conscious and still others get recognized for their abilities.

So don’t be surprised – anything could happen during these days of August 16th through 22nd. But then a series of things happen in quick succession: the Sun moves into Virgo (late on the 22nd in the UT/+0 zone), Mercury moves into Virgo on the 23rd (again, late in the evening UT/+0 time), Sedna goes retrograde (on the 25th) and then Mars enters Leo just as a transiting grand sextile moves towards formulation.

(And yes, you can look forward to all those posts to grace Ye Olde Bloggery in due time.)

What this amounts to is a lot of energy moving into the Virgo arena concentrated in the areas of what we’re doing and how we’re doing it – which when combined with Venus in Libra is a recipe for accomplishment or realization that things need at least a bit of (Virgoan) refinement or tweaking. And though at some points in time Mars in Leo could be too much strength or energy on the ‘how I like it’ aspects of life, the natural (whole sign) sextile from the Mars/Leo to our Venus/Libra suggests that we’re ready to make improvements and take feedback as a constructive (rather than offensive) thing.

Considering that Sedna is all about letting go of preconceptions (or “pre-programming) with the goal being greater independence of perspective on Self and personal abilities, this all sounds rather good. And for those willing to let go and trust a bit in life’s processes, the moving through of a grand sextile in earth and water can literally become a moment of being ‘moved.’

Or even making a move – however you take that.

But then…then comes El Fly in Zee Ointment. Or rather two flies which are flying tandem. Their names are Pholus and Ixion, and if you don’t know about Pholus and Ixion, I invite you to have a nicely unpleasant read on either one…

- link to -

Pholus: A Little Nasty

- link to -

Ixion: Our Conflict of Self

…or both – your call.

Before you say ‘so what?’ I’ll fill in that gap: both of these points are about self absorbed. And though Venus in Libra is something of a natural ‘linking’ energy, Venus’ well known strength in Libra isn’t always altruistic. That ‘pretty’ side of the Libra Venus sometimes surfaces as vanity. Or absorption on the shallow or ‘how does it look?’ (i.e., to others) part of something – as opposed to what it really means to you deep down in side (in spite of what others think, do or say).

Moreover, as of September 1st and 2nd, Pholus and Ixion are going on station in the same degree of Sagittarius.

From the wall of Pompeii's Casa dei Vettii, 'Ixion's punishment'

More on that then. But since Venus will at that moment be passing through Libra’s sextiling degree to said two-day, dual station (that would be 18 Libra versus 18 Sagittarius) this is a piping hot moment in the life of energy pouring through the celestial pipeline.

And there is the fact that as of September 3rd, we’re ‘officially’ into the eight-week ‘loosening’ of life bolts which precedes the November 3rd Solar Eclipse at 11 Scorpio.

Adding this to the fact that there will be a New Virgo Moon on the 5th, things are likely to be highly polarized at this point, which is to say sublimely fine or disgustingly awful. And seeing as this is about when Venus will be traversing Libra’s last ten degrees, for those who are in the mental dumpster at the moment, this isn’t any matter to just hole up in one’s cave about.

Yes, you can go hide in your cave – absolutely. But eventually we all will have to face our ‘out there’ Big World stuff.

So here’s the ultimate choice: would you rather try to deal with what needs dealing with, improve your odds or fix the leak in your psyche under Venus in Libra, a time which favors connections, or would you rather wait until Venus moves on into one of it’s sticky wicket signs (Scorpio) early on September 11th?

Venus in Libra offers us a chance to make good on our own ability. The trick is remembering that making good on what we want to do isn’t just about what we want, like or our personal perspective.

We don’t rule the world. The world…and time…does.
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Huya, Rainmaker: Direct at 20 Scorpio

La Guajira desert (Macuira National Park) in Columbia

(photo credit: Luis Alejandro Bernal Romero, April 2006)

Lore on the degree 20 Scorpio speaks of a restless sense of self which, though it can be directed to eventual accomplishment is often directed towards short term goals which will garner some sort of personal pleasure.

Or pleasuring.

This shouldn’t be any surprise, as Scorpio is all about all everything and anything which raises our sense of wanting…against which life tends to throw various challenges. These challenges are designed to teach us as to whether our aims and motivations hold realistic water.

More to the point, emotionally realistic water. The Scorpionic thing we aim at tests our sense of proportion and whether we can handle what we ask for. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it is a wholly Scorpio saying – as is the implied threat which goes with it.  

That this sign which is all about passion should be best dealt with coolly and calmly has got to be one of metaphysic’s most superb ironies. But maybe not. What we fail at in Scorpio, be it the job, the partnership, the investment or intimate relationship is an emotional grounding mechanism which sort of warns us not to go any further before we’re really ready to play for all the marbles.

If you’ve ever had an investment go sour or a love affair bite you in the deepest nether region of your feelings, you know that Scorpio sting. It’s part embarrassment, part regret, part frustration and part anger – most of all at ourselves for being so foolish as to not ‘have seen the signs.’

Like I said…Scorpio issues are best approached coolly. Only when we’re cool can we size up the give and take, the emotional negotiation which in making whatever equally worthwhile to all parties involved secures the deal.

Considering that Huya is either the learning of a lesson which through pain can teach us the value of one of our greatest gifts (and in action represent the opportunity to give that gift or put that ‘gift lesson’ into action), this station is a celestial invitation to make more – and better – of our lives.

Or of our lives in the whole of life. But to do that, we have to give to others. Or at least put the ‘lesson learned’ to work as part of what we do to help others. Sometimes Huya represents the motivation which causes us to help. Sometimes it’s the willingness to put what we want on hold in order to help.

However Huya functions however, it is best to think of the process as the point of whatever you do now – which is to say don’t think in terms of what others may think or not think of/about you. Huya is named for a South American rain god – and rain is what creates fertility out of the dry and desiccated, the painfully barren in this world.

Why you do whatever you do is the important part of this Huya lesson. The more you bring your hardest-won altruism to what you do in life, the better your chances to succeed very much in the sense of that old saying ‘cast your bread upon the waters.’ Don’t ‘define’ what you think you are going to get back; whatever you’re thinking of isn’t likely to happen anyway. That we know as part of Huya being on the list of Plutinos – objects (mostly dwarf planets, but others too) which orbit around our Sun representing energies in our world which are ‘colored’ or ‘shielded’ behind – or beyond - a Neptunian veil.

That we all have a Huya in our chart says we are all capable of making great contributions and that our ability to make those contributions depends on our ability (or ‘willingness’ if you will) to a.) accept that our deepest negatives and greatest pain have something valuable to teach and b.) work through whatever the pain and/or negatives are until we realize what it is which we have been given to know.

Once we know, then we can fold that understanding into what we do (or who we are) in life, ‘raining’ that insight into the lives of others, emboldening them with the ability to accept their human realities (which we so often refer to as ‘flaws’ or ‘problems’) which in turn allows them to….blossom.

Huya, Rainmaker: the ability to be that fertile rain which provides that which others need to allow them to break through their hard husks and grow into fruitfulness.

Focused in that ‘fitting in’ realm of Scorpio which tests our ability (most of all) to negotiate with our feelings, this particular Huya station comes to us as a t-square.

With Huya at the ‘t’ of this t-square, the ‘starting point’ is Byblis at 20 Leo, suggesting this whole scenario is about OR centers in something we’re doing which we ‘want to do’ or ‘like doing.’

It probably seems easy enough to do as we’re doing it. But at some level we know it’s not right. It’s not serving its’ fullest purpose. Or maybe it’s not garnering us the rewards or feeling of acceptance (support, respect, etc.) that it should. With Damocles at the ‘goal’ position of this t-square, there’s something about life which feels problematic. Or ‘dangerous.’ And we want to resolve that – at least in our minds, if not in real time.

But there’s something in the way. And that ‘something’ involves whatever our ‘Huya Quotient’ is. For some of us, this will be some Huya power we already own, for some it will represent some Huya potential we need to yet understand.

Whichever side of that question you’re on (and yes, it is perfectly possible to be on both sides of the issue in differing parts of your life) that this Huya station is at 20 Scorpio and therefore in opposition to last May’s 19 Taurus Solar Eclipse tells us that this period (July 27/28 through August 1/2 with emphasis on the moment of station on July 30th) is all about a continuing process which began back in May.

Or more likely, back in mid-late March, which would be when the eclipse shift began to take hold.

In the greater hierarchy of astrological conceptualization, the Solar Eclipse takes center stage. Yet because the Taurus eclipse and this Scorpio Huya moment are in different signs and in opposition, where the March-into-May period was all about us or what we were doing/not doing at a more personal (Taurean) level, now Huya in Scorpio is pointing to the necessity to focus on how we relate to others and the building ourselves into a ‘greater place’ in the world and our world as a thing greater than just about our Self.

That requires digging deep and running some ‘risk’ that we’re wrong. Or vulnerable. Or taking on the realization that our means or method isn’t working or maybe workable.

Here Huya is telling us that our greatest satisfaction comes from and through others. How well we are equipped to deal with that which connects us to others – the fact of it as well as the emotional and deeply human(e) part of it – points to the pluses and minuses not merely of our life in the moment, but in the ongoing ‘processing’ of our life and times as set off by that May Solar Eclipse in Taurus.

Solar Eclipse transits take a full 3 years to evolve. With regards to this year’s May eclipse, it’s barely begun to show what about our lives may have been ‘eclipsed.’

For reference’s sake…

- link to -

The Taurus Solar Eclipse

You know if your life has changed over the past few months. You may have finally undertaken something, you may have reached some portal or passage. About now you are realizing – maybe with some difficulty or regret – that in moving forward, something is ‘over,’ done or no longer truly viable.

That’s part of your process. We all have some process to go through now. Considering how we are still under the auspices of a time which both holds us in our emotions and pushes us to deal with our emotional makeup (the grand trine in water), as Jupiter and Mars now press through Cancer and set off an opposition to Pluto in Capricorn, things will change. We will either change them through changing our outlook, attitudes and relationship towards our own feelings about things…or life will provoke/evoke those feelings.

At some level, this is a time all about the need to confront new realities. Or maybe you’re just gaining perspective on your reality and how that needs to change. What was earlier this month (the feeling of being ‘caught up’ in our feelings) now shifts as Jupiter ‘breaks tryst’ with Neptune and Saturn and sets up a new grand trine – this one with North Node and Chiron – which combines with Pluto to form a kite.

The astrological ‘rule’ with a kite asks that we ‘take hold of its tail,’ which here is pictured by Mars, Jupiter, Sirius and Kassandra. We may not (Kassandra) believe that we need to change, but we realize this is a time of change.

Then again, with Huya’s turn to direct, we may now not only see some ‘brilliant’ potential or twinkle of understanding which before now was lost in a myriad of inner space …but at some level recognize that to not own our potential and live to the highest form of our ability is petty, selfish – even self destructive.

Our lives always offer us the chance to do what is easy against the taking on of (North Node) challenges which though difficult, lie between us and a life we know is far more worth living. With Chiron’s influence currently in play, we don’t really ‘know’ how to get our of where we are. Or what that ‘thing’ we could be really involved.

And we never will know except by doing. That’s Chiron’s curse and Chiron’s blessing. Having knowledge is lovely. Utilizing knowledge – particularly for the benefit of all is even better.

Huya involvement in a water grand trine while opposing May’s Solar Eclipse speaks the emotional need to respect ourselves and to be someone we consider worthy. With Chiron and the North Node tied into Huya’s July 30th station, the question now focuses on what we don’t know how to do, but need to do anyway. Our goal is the revitalizing of the basis upon which we feel ourselves living, and the totality of our lives, through which we are able to key in on empowering others (and the world) which in turn will grace us with a fertile existence broader than the sky and beyond 'mere mortal' definition.
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MakeMake, Medusa, Orpheus: Making the Best of Things

Marie Louise Island in the outer Seychelles

(photo by ACP)

Once I was past the mandatory high school reading of Homer (the Iliad and Odyssey was something of a literary war for me) and Margaret Hamilton’s Mythology, Greek myths (and myths in general) didn’t mean much until I started reading psychology and family dynamics books in my somewhat late 20s.

About then it dawned on me that myths are not just fun stories, they’re about the nature of our world and human nature in particular.

So I started reading mythology again. Some people like international cuisine. I evidently get great nourishment from reading Myths From Around the World. Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Norse, Celtic, Indian, Japanese…I read it all. And seeing as this was about the time I got into working in the movie industry as a production accountant, I’m guessing it was a very good accompaniment to the main dish of money spending. After all, life on the road with anywhere between a hundred and three hundred (plus) crew members can be a fairly raw and woolly experience. But where better to see the in’s and out’s of human nature?

Far from being the glitzy thing so many think film work is, production is a bit like civil war – in a not-always-polite, if not strictly bloodthirsty civil sense.

Though yes, there are a few moments of awfulness. When you’re in the film industry or working locations you hear of them. Everybody grimaces and keeps working. (Yes, even if you were the target of the incident, you keep working.)

The myth which has probably impressed me the most through the years is that one which I think intersects our Moments Most Dire and those when we grapple with how we feel about life. That myth is the one of the gorgon Medusa - a myth which is entirely different than the story most of us know.

- link to -

Medusa: Through Our

Mental Mirror, Darkly

Don’t kid yourself: we all have a little bit of Medusa in our chart. In fact, exactly where you’re prone to resisting that idea is like as not connected to where your Medusa lives – in its own little cave of your personal psyche.

The thing to remember here is that Medusa is not about how we appear to others. Medusa is not about being afraid of what others know. It’s about what we’re afraid to know about ourselves.

As of June 12th, the stakes get raised in this ‘knowing about ourselves’ department by Medusa moving into Aries. Which means (to state the obvious) that on June 11th, Medusa will be crossing through that last and final degree of the rondo we call the zodiac, 29 Pisces.

And that’s where Scheat is.

If you’ve been around the astroPPM blog for a while, you probably know I tend to refer to Scheat as the fixed star we all love to hate. But that’s part and parcel of the “Scheat gig” as Scheat represents how (or where) we tend to reject others – or in having rejected them, tend to get rejected by them.

So when Medusa conjuncts Scheat, that suggests a lot of uneasiness (or out and out fear) with regards to what we might have missed out on. Or what others may not like about us, or what we believe.

As a degree, 29 Pisces has two distinct sides. (How Piscean, don’t you think?) The first is about intuitive or what we tend to call ‘psychic’ abilities. Those abilities come from our ability to be less ‘defined’ by our ego drives erecting ‘walls’ which define or separate” us from everything (and everyone) else. The aim of this ego-instinct is to know who the “I Am” of our life is, which is obviously at some level a good and necessary thing. But too much of that doesn’t allow us to be ‘one’ with the rest of Existence. The intuitive, the sensitive, the artist, the guru, the medium, the shaman - those who are live some portion of life without fully fortified ‘ego walls’ see – and are exposed to - what comes in from Beyond. And be that beyond the spiritual realm, the intuitive realm…or the compassion and empathy which allows us to feel for one another, that’s a whole plus-and-minus balance unto itself. Some are inspired by what they learn. Some are overwhelmed by it.

The other side of 29 Pisces is also about our ability to feel and sense or not, but this one has to do with our interactions with others. This is the area Scheat seems to be more active in, though there’s something to be said for Scheat’s having moved into 29 Pisces back in 1973 and the upsurge of interest in everything from parapsychology (ghosts and spirits) to holistic healing – the totality of energy of which we are all part – which began increasing around that time.

For the record, Scheat will be at 29 Pisces until 2044, so we’re only about half way through this ‘evolution,’ if that’s what you want to call it.

But to my point, Medusa passing over Scheat (otherwise known as conjuncting Scheat) is likely to create situations which excite or exacerbate everyone’s various insecurities and fears during the early part of this June, 2013 week.

Tête de Méduse (Head of Medusa) by Puget

(photo credit Jospe, July 2011)

And Medusa’s not alone. As Medusa reaches 29 Pisces, so does Orpheus, the guy everybody seems to think of as the ‘other half’ of Eurydike. Orpheus is an amazingly talented person. But he seems to suffer from that ‘with great power goes great responsibility’ issue which gets us all in various moments in our lives. In the care of Orpheus, he ends up losing the love of the person most dear to him – Eurydike – because he doesn’t have enough faith (faith being a Pisces thing) in the thing he has been told to do thusly…to not question a process which whether he likes it or not, he’s not in charge of.

Orpheus is used to being able to use charm and talent to get what he wants. And because he’s never learned any other way of handling life, in the end he loses that person, that love, that feeling of being loved which is most dear to him.

Orpheus and Eurydice by Michel Martin Drolling (1820)

And now Orpheus is conjuncting Scheat in Medusa’s company…ALL of which is happening as MakeMake goes direct at 27 Virgo.

Currently classed as a TNO (Trans Neptunian Object), MakeMake is being considered for dwarf planet status – which tells us that it’s not just a pebble out there in space. Should we take MakeMake as seriously as we all take Pluto? Maybe, maybe not, though certainly if it qualifies as a dwarf planet, that response will flip over resoundingly into “should.”

But will we? Probably not. And why would that be? That would be because MakeMake isn’t one of the more-than-several objects the orbits of which are controlled by Neptune. Known as ‘Plutinos,’ the list of such Neptune-controlled objects includes Ixion, Orcus, Huya, Pluto and a handful of objects which to date are only known by numerical assignments.

And this should tell us that it’s really that mysterious Neptune quality of ‘knowing/not knowing’ or being ‘controlled/out of control’ which creates the incredible, often blinding energetic we associate with Plutinos.

Put simply, that energy gets our carnal motors running. And MakeMake isn’t a Plutino. Classed in the TNO (subset) Cubewano category, like fellow Cubewano Deucalion (surviving life’s disasters and finding our way), MakeMake as the soul of creating, the ability to rise from the depths and to build something which becomes it’s own ‘island’ of reality and personal salvation and reliability in your life should be enthralling.

But it’s not. MakeMake just doesn’t stir that astro-emotional Neptunian fascination and thus all the hot-shot press.

An orbital diagram of MakeMake at June 15, 2013 as generated by JPL

As for 27 Virgo (the degree MakeMake is going direct at), this is a degree which stresses the most functional side of our mentalities.

So then we add in MakeMake. And when we add in MakeMake, it would appear that these mid-June days of MakeMake going station/direct are a test of our own resolve. Or our questioning of ourselves as to our motives and whether we’ve thought everything through before moving ‘building’ on what we’ve already done or accomplished. Given that stations get (at least) a 2-day allowance before and after, that means that this station begins on June 10th (maybe even June 9th, particularly given time zone considerations) and ends on June 14/15.

And since the ‘going into’ this moment is colored by Orpheus and Medusa passing over 29 Pisces and Scheat…and the ‘coming out’ of this station has Medusa and Orpheus both reaching 0 Aries, this is definitely about our Self.

So who do you need to be in order to be successful in your own life - or a success in this life? What do you need to do or how do you need to do it in order to be both aware of owning/using your own talents and truths and doing not just what is easy but hard for you to do regardless of what others think?

That this is happening as Mercury has just moved into the shadow of its upcoming retrograde says that these questions are probably not general. There is something ‘on the table’ which needs to be ‘built up’ so that you have something to ‘stand on’ that you yourself have created. It could be large, or this could be small.

What’s important is that it’s yours – and that it represents your abilities, probably inclusive of the costs involved.
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