Astrology’s Professional Ethics

A planispheric astrolabe from the Paris workshop of Jean Fusoris (c. 1400) which

is now housed in the Putnam Gallery at the Harvard Science Center

(photo credit: Sage Ross, Nov 2009)

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Granting that it’s Venus retrograde and everyone is feeling a bit ragged, I’ve received an unusually large (digital) pile of emails over the past couple of weeks, all of which prompt me to post information about professional ethics when it comes to astrology.

I recognize that these ethics will vary according to national laws and the rules of various organizations, but for astrologers who receive accreditation through United States organizations, basically the same principles of confidentiality which apply in the field of medicine apply. That means your information is private, apart from whatever data YOU make public. So if you post your birth date and place online (or if your birth data becomes public through your being in the public eye or through a published biography or something of that ilk), any professional astrologer is allowed to talk about it online, in public or to a client who might be coming to them wanting to work with you.

On the other hand, if that information isn’t posted anywhere in the public sector, the astrologer shouldn’t say a word even if they (personally) have your chart in their files mental, paper or computerized. 

Moreover, unless you (yourself) give that astrologer either face-to-face, ear-to-ear (telephonic) or written permission to share your data or information, the professional astrologer shouldn’t be sharing it. They can make observations on anything you make public, but anything known beyond that cannot be told to your mother, brother, lover, child or BFF without very specific permission.

My personal training in this began being shaped by a couple of decades spent at the production money end of the film industry. As key accountant on a film (a role which caused me to be known for a while as the Bank of Boots) one of my roles was to be paymaster. And if you and your Significant Other were working on the same movie it didn’t matter if you had been married 500 years - unless you had personally told me that it was okay to hand your paycheck to your spouse, I couldn’t do it. The Internal Revenue Service (the Big Dog in U.S. payroll operations)...the IRS said no. And their logic is simple: no one outside of a relationship really knows the full text of what’s going on inside. Nor should they be asking, as it’s not for them to judge. So the rule is that the person who earns the money gets the money.

And that's just how astrology works: s/he whose data it is ‘owns’ that data and they have all rights to privacy with regards to same until and unless that right is voluntarily surrendered.

Astrologers should neither be hackers nor pillagers. As I have freely admitted, by now I’m someone who is attracted by the mere sight of a date (this is when you know your hobby has become a mind-style)...but I’m not ‘after’ anyone’s data. About the most fervent hunt for astrological information I’ve done in the last year or so was a several-week hunt for when Google’s purchase of Blogger became official.

Yes, I’m going to give Google something to Google itself about. (I’ve also now officially read more online articles about the tech biz than I had ever planned to.) It's slated for February, but since I'm still having a bit of a hard time with typing it may have to wait until I get a book through editing.

Speaking of Google (and therefore business), things are not quite as black-and-white in the business realm - which is to say in business astrology. Basically the  separation there is between public versus privately held companies for the simple reason that in the United States, incorporation records (the ‘birth’ data for a corporation) are a matter of public record searchable online through any state’s Office of the Secretary of State. (You just have to find which state.)

There are a few other curlicues in the personal and relationship arena, the most important of which can be summarized as follows:
 
1. Parents are allowed to request consultations with regards to minor children. That right ends when the child reaches the legal age of adulthood.

2. Any kind of relationship question or consultation (I mostly use Davison time/space relationship charts) will require data (time of birth, place of birth, date of birth) for both parties. However, in any situation where the other party is not part of the conversation (or privy to the consultation), while the relationship chart (Davison or otherwise) CAN be discussed, the astrologer cannot ethically talk to you about how ‘the other person’ feels about the relationship…or what they’re going to do or not do about anything.

We can tell you what upcoming transit passages (say a Venus retrograde or eclipse) are slated to stir in your life, however that plays out and whatever that will mean, given your natal chart. That’s really what you should want to know, as any change (positive or negative) worth noting will be shown in or on your chart.

3. There are astrologers who have learned the very ancient rules for prophesying death. By American standards it is considered unethical to deliver this information to anyone. I recognize this rather tramples the 'it's your data' concept but in this one area the 'do no harm' quotient laid down in medicine trumps all other considerations as astrologers - no matter what area of astrology they are practicing in - are considered personal confidential consultants akin in many ways to psychologists.

So you know, I refused to take the course which would have included death calculations as I knew full well they would stick in my computer brain and get run through the numbers module whether I wanted it to happen or not.

I don't want to know. I tend to think only those who haven't stared death in the face would want to know such a thing...and that would not include me. The course in question here (this was some years ago) was being taught by a top astrologer - and yes, we got into it.

He was adamant and so was I. In spite of this we parted on good terms.

I remain of the opinion that the ban is a good idea.    

Lastly, please don’t ask an astrologer what’s ‘wrong’ with someone else you’ve had a bad time with. The metaphysics here is all about how people come into our lives to evoke our life lessons, no matter who they are and what that interaction means to them. So don’t worry about what they should or shouldn’t learn or do - focus on what you’re learning about yourself through having chosen to interact/not interact with them.

Are there astrologers out there who will ignore these standards? Yes. One of the reasons I have now and again suggested that you know who your astrologer is – whether they have professional credentials, what organizations they are or aren’t associated with, their general body of work – is exactly because of this. Though credentials don’t guarantee any astrologer is up to date with regards to cutting-edge data in the area of your interest, just as with a doctor, lawyer, engineer or other technical professional, credentials do indicate an accepted level of proficiency.

And beyond all that lies ethics. There is the ability to do the work…and the willingness to do it ethically.

Not all astrological organizations require ethics courses or that an ethics oath be signed potential candidates. When in doubt, check with the organization - they're all online. My credentials are issued by ISAR, the International Society for Astrological Research.

Yes, I took the class and signed the oath.

More importantly, I live by it. 

As I say all this, I know it’s hard to meet up with someone on the internet and feel you know who they are. I encourage you to be wary, as at present time there are no restrictions that I know of saying astrologers must have credentials or even any specific level of education to call themselves an astrological practitioner. When in doubt, if you’re interested in astrology or an astrological consultation from a qualified practitioner, try requesting names from one of the national or international organizations for a reference. (I've posted a list of them in the sidebar here at the blog). Many such organizations are now listing names of their credentialed astrologers online.
 
People still tend to think of astrology as a toy – which it’s not. A horoscope is literally a map of the energetics you were born with…and as. A well-trained, experienced astrologer can look at your chart and tell you that your aunt called last May on the second Tuesday of the month. 

(Seriously, I saw someone do that once.)

That once you hand an astrologer your birth data they can pretty much know anything about you that they want to (yes, right down to those things…) that may delight you. It could also feel very disturbing.
 
Astrology is a sacred science – a topic to be treated scientifically with a sacred regard for the trust being granted you by those you work with or assist. Holding and protecting that trust means everything to me, so I ask that you understand: I don’t ask questions if I don’t need to and I will protect any third party I don’t know as zealously as I protect you.

I’m hoping this post will help clarify these issues not just for those who have written to me over the past couple of weeks but for everyone else, too. I’m not unsympathetic to your frustrations, puzzles and desire to know, I just understand how the ethic which you may find annoying or inconvenient in the moment ultimately protects you.

Sorry...but thanks, too.

The next thing to discuss is Venus retrograde…so stand by. There is light ahead.
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Dateblog: March 2013

The better part of March has a whole lotta Pisces going on! As the month starts, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Neptune are ALL in Pisces. Mercury is even in retrograde. Oh – and there’s going to be a Pisces New Moon on the 11^th!

Life is fishy indeed. So are you in the swim of things? Or have you been totally swamped by some tsunami?

Since the astrological element of water is emotional, everything and anything which evokes or provokes emotionality is what’s basically at stake. Your physical home is an earthy, tangible thing. But the security you get from having a home and that sense of being settled, or getting cozy with your family – that’s water. Money is often thought of as a ‘water thing’ in astrology terms, most particularly in the sense of ‘wealth’ as it refers to security. Income? Income is Aquarian and airy as it’s a barter, a trade made in ‘theory’ or on a theoretical basis: I do this, you pay me that. I…SPEND this much time or INVEST this much of my knowledge in you or in your project and you give me XYZ.

Just to finish the thought here, people who have a water sign on natively airy houses always think of wealth in theoretical terms. This is why some people understood Mitt Romney (as a man with Pisces on his natively Aquarian 11^th house) when he spoke about economics and his ideas on earning while some people felt like his mental feet weren’t on reality’s ground.

 Mitt Romney at a February campaign stop

(photo credit: Gage Skidmore, February 13, 2012)

Anyway…we’re distinctly in an emotional time here. So those whose natal charts have such overlays will be gravitating towards whatever makes them feel secure: water signs on natively air sign houses (house numbers 3, 7 and 11) will be wanting to put things in a theoretical manner. Those with water signs on natively earthy houses (house numbers 2, 6 or 10) will be in that ‘if I just had ABC, I’d feel better.’  Those with water signs on intrinsically fiery houses (house numbers 1, 5 and 9) will be imagining better times and inclined towards philosophical discussions.

Bottom line, it’s still all about wanting to feel comfortable. But beyond that, this first week or so of March also offers a distinct opportunity to think through why whatever makes us feel uncomfortable makes us feel that way. If you can get to the root of that and solve that issue, you’ll not only feel comfortable in the short run, you’ll have ‘cured’ yourself of a little portion of human insecurity!

Not bad, eh?

One of the earliest items of specific note for March is the New Moon at 21 Pisces - yet another Moon in a series which is at 21 degrees of succeeding signs. Some of us will see this as a time to begin 'letting go' of something. Others of us will remain shy about anything which could expose us to situations which provoke those feelings we so don't want to feel. 

As of March 12^th, Mars moves into Aries: levels of assertiveness rise. We’re all going to feel more motivated (perhaps restless) during the next five-plus weeks of this Aries/Mars transit.

 Mars by Johann Baptist Straub (1772)

(photo credit Rufus46, September 2008)

But then Mercury goes on station (as of March 15^th) to go direct on the 17^th (UT/+0 time). Mercury’s going direct at 5 Pisces suggests actions based on faith and made as ‘offerings’ turn out best. Making this all the more interesting is the fact that March 16^th plays host to a Yod composed of Pluto-in-Capricorn, Saturn-(retrograde)-in-Scorpio and Jupiter-in-Gemini. The knee-jerk response here will be to talk more, scatter our bets or to spread ourselves thin where the successful move now is to do something very considered and responsible. And if you’ve put a lot of work and thought into it before you arrive at this point, so much the better!

Barely has this passed when we reach the Aries ingress – the change of seasons. But since as the Sun moves into Aries, transiting Mars conjuncts transiting Uranus (within orb of the Sun), life gets very unexpected. Maybe even explosive or chaotic. Thinking on your feet is essential, and we all can expect an emotional few days which start in a very ‘universal mode’ but which become far more personal and self-focused as Venus moves into Aries on March 22^nd.

 Known as 'The Venus de Milo,' this Parian marble statue was found

on the Greek island of Melos in 1820 and presented as a gift from the

Marquis de Riviere to King Louis XVIII of Frank in 1821. Thought to have

been carved somewhere in the vicinity of 130-100 BCE, this Venus

(which originally would have been an 'Aphrodite' as that was the Greek

name for the goddess) is now housed at the Louvre in Paris

(photo credit: Jastrow)

But as focused on ourselves as we may be, March’s last astrological ‘act’ is a Libra Full Moon on March 27^th. This is a moment when we will do ourselves a goodly favor by remembering others…and that how we act determines how others re-act.

Mercury’s still in Pisces. So we’re still thinking with our hearts, souls and feelings. That could be a detriment, but let’s hope it serves to make us all more aware of each other and aware that we all need and fear pretty much the same things.

The summary here is that this is a month which begins with emotionality and all the indecision or conflicted ideas or confusion which goes with that. But through events and moment large and small, we evolve and get on with things - hopefully for all the right reasons!

 

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Sun in Pisces

As previously noted, the Sun is moving into Pisces on the same day that Saturn goes retrograde. The date in question is February 18th and the Sun enters Pisces at 12:03 in the afternoon (UT/+0), scant hours before Saturn goes retrograde at 5:04 p.m.

Any time we see this sort of confluence, we know this is not just a moment in time, but a ‘moment in time.’ In other words, we shouldn’t expect this to be just another set of days which goes by with this and that happening which we take note of but don’t think much about.

On the other hand, Piscean effects can be mysterious. Even difficult to understand – or if you prefer scientific parlance, diagnose. Pisces is all that which causes us to feel to a degree that just how we feel and why we feel and how we react to having those feelings…all that comes to the fore.

In this particular case, we have the Sun at 0 Pisces and Saturn at 11 Scorpio. Right away we know we have a (Sun) life (Saturn) lesson in progress.

But that lesson has two different versions. Or perhaps we will be tempted to take one of two paths, or to try and avoid something. What do I mean?

From Pisces TO Scorpio is nine signs. By the implied ‘9th harmonic’ (which sounds very grand but is pretty simple), the Sun’s metaphysical ‘connection’ to Saturn is one about furthering our education.

On the other side, from Saturn in Scorpio TO the Sun in Pisces is five signs – a 5th harmonic, if you please.

In astrology, nine is not a sign of ‘culmination’ as those of you who know numerology might think of it. That’s probably because astrology doesn’t work in base ten, as our everyday system of counting does. No, at it’s most simplistic, astrology works in base twelve – twelve signs. And yes, it also works in base thirty (thirty degrees to every sign) and base three-hundred-sixty (degrees in a circle).

And if you want to get really fancy about it, there’s also that ‘sixty seconds in a degree’ thing – which sounds really fussy but which is where our concept of time (sixty seconds to the minute and sixty minutes to the house) and astrology intersect.

And that concept – working in base sixty – comes from Babylon, the place all western astrology originally comes from. The ancient Babylonians worked in base sixty…which is good cause to wonder what they used after their fingers and toes.

In any case, nine – in modern astrology – is the ‘astro-vibe’ of learning. So daily life (the Sun) is going to be all about learning what this month?

Answer: Saturn in Scorpio stuff.

Meanwhile, five (and the 5th harmonic) is about ‘creativity and development.’ Many like to think of the 5th harmonic as being ‘the child’ as in ‘having children.’ But if you think about it, children are – in human terms – a primary ‘human creation’: we create more humans.

But then you have to raise them. You know…as a parent your job is to creatively develop a child’s sense of being a human being in this world?

Yet the 5th harmonic isn’t about children. It’s about the creating something from what we have. So whether that’s your physicality or that’s your talents, abilities or resources, the effort which goes into creating and developing those abilities are the 5th harmonic concept.

In fact, one of the reasons why parenting is such a tough job is because as a parent you’re not only in charge of creating and developing the life of the child, your primary job is to develop your Self so that you ARE a good parent who shows that child how to make (develop) something of your life, your abilities, your humanity, your talents – all that stuff.

And the reason all that is so important now is because what is ‘creatively developed’ through the 5th sign vibe is the Taurean or 2nd house sense of self worth, personal resources and self respect (or self worth), all of which is tested through…

Through what sign? SCORPIO.

A stained glass image of Scorpio as depicted in the

Cathedral of Lausanne in Switzerland

 
And that’s where Saturn – the symbol of reality, limits, loss, testing and slow, substantial growth through effort – is.

So this 9th house (trine) harmonic from the Sun TO Saturn is all about learning where and how our values work, and where and how our values, our self development, our efforts just aren’t up to par. Maybe with ourselves…maybe with others.

This is to be a testing month and a month of testing. And when it comes to the astro-crux of how tests work and taking them to heart, hardly anything gets to us like the combination of Pisces and Scorpio. Where Scorpio tests our values and ability or willingness to risk (or how smart or dumb we are to take on a given risk), Pisces is that boundless sense of emotionality which is not just feelings, but feeling our feelings, and feeling how we feel about our feelings.

This is pure water sign theory. As the first water sign in the zodiac, Cancer’s metaphysical image is the surf zone. Scorpio’s image is the swamp or the ice floe. But Pisces is the wide, open ocean, replete with ‘unfathomable’ oceanic depths.

On balance, we are going to see a lot of people trying to ‘control’ (Saturn in Scorpio) what happens now so that it comes out to their (5th sign harmonic liking). And that’s okay, particularly if you are learning something in the process or are achieving what you’re achieving through applying something you have learned.

However! This combination can also be one where people will try and avoid reality at all costs. This is a combination which is a fear-monger’s dream. (With two water signs involved, maybe their wet dream!) So we are going to see people fall into two very different camps – the ‘this can’t be done’ group and ‘this could work’ tribe.

Is there any sense to knowing which is which and which represents prudence and which represents a valid road forward? Probably yes, though not in the absolute. The big indicators to the ‘turn of (Saturn) events’ now are Deucalion on the Scorpio side and Kalypso, Fomalhaut and Neptune on the Sun side of things.

The pairing of Deucalion-Saturn, though it may take many forms, is fairly direct: is XYZ being done in a moral and ethical manner?

Or maybe this, as an alternate…is everyone involved in any given situation, dynamic or question being given equal personal, ethical and moral consideration?

Sun-Kalypso-Fomalhaut-Neptune is a bit more squishy. But then, any time we see Neptune, things are a bit more nebulous – that’s the point! Fortunately, we do have two pretty obvious indicators in this quartet: Fomalhaut says ‘success depends on a lack of corrosion’ which means that we only succeed where our aims are not corrupt or corruptive.

Variations on the Fomalhaut theme: coercion, corruption, deception, obfuscation, lying.

We also have Kalypso in this mix, and Kalypso is about as Piscean a symbol as there is. (And hence, probably exalted in Pisces, though nobody that I know of is very big into signs of asteroid rulership as yet.) Kalypso is one of those beauteous babes Ulysses (aka Odysseus) encounters on his way back from the collective events known as Homer’s Iliad. His ship gets stranded on this foreign shore and the lovely Kalypso shows up to help the hero and (oh yes) his crew, too.

Predictably (this being Greek myth and all) Kalypso falls in love with Ulysses. But the thing is, he’s a married man. He’s got a wife and kidlets back home and he’s pining to get back to them.

Does Kalypso help him? Yes, she does. Why? Because she realizes that loving someone (in this case Ulysses) is about caring for them and caring about their happiness, however THEY define that.

It’s a romantic notion, yes. But it’s also a very Piscean base-line emotional truth. What we want from others is our fantasy. Our longing. Our version of hopes, dreams and fondest yearnings. But if we love them, then we want them to have a life which will make them happy – which may mean they walk away from us and we never see them again.

Ouch? Yes. But very Piscean in the sense that all the yearnings and the despair of Pisces, all the idyllic dreams and believing and spirituality…that’s all fine and good as our emotional dream…but that’s not necessarily reality.

Some of us even get to have or achieve our dreams and then we find out the reality of them really sucks! And that’s another form of Pisces – the reality of understanding that some things are better left as fantasies.

Pisces…the two fish which swim in two different directions…is about the reality of life. That life is about the dream and yet also about the reality. Accepting how different they are and how they sometimes do and often don’t mix, that is our Pisces life challenge.

 Pisces...the two fish going in different

directions connected by a golden cord.

Pisces is also a sign which has two rulers. We’ve talked about the ‘outcome’ ruler – Neptune – in its confluence with the Sun. But the ‘in door’ with Pisces, that’s Jupiter. And as the Sun reaches Pisces, Jupiter is still sitting at 6 Gemini, the degree it went direct at back on January 30th.

It seems worth mentioning that 6 Gemini was also the degree Jupiter was in when the Lance Armstrong bubble burst on Oprah Winfrey’s very public television stage…and after that, throughout the media world. The disillusionment, the fact that people were so unhappy with Lance’s having deceived them (never mind himself) that people have sued Lance Armstrong for simply not being the shining hero they wanted to think of him as? That’s so very Piscean!

What, we want life to come with a guarantee that we’ll never get lied to? Life doesn’t come with any permission slips which say ‘you get to be eternally naïve’ And that’s what Pisces is about as a sign…teaching us how to love innocence, but be careful of our naiveté. Naiveté as the ‘blank slate’ which empowers us to learn is a powerful thing. But naiveté which has us wanting to be blind is destructive.

That combination, that coming to grips with what life is and isn’t is the essence of the moment. Your experience of it may be large or small. It may be costly or merely inconvenient. It may be disappointing. Then again, you may feel empowered to know you are as good as the next guy and better than many.

Given the 9-5 harmonic swing (by sign) from Saturn’s station to the Sun, this could be the moment when you take a next step in the effort to build or develop your life. It may be when you stop feeling your own very human weaknesses in favor of valuing your vulnerabilities as the very sort of human strength which allows caring and compassion to exist.

They say only the very strong can afford to be vulnerable.

That may be why some consider Pisces not the strongest sign in the zodiac, but the most enduring, eternal and powerful in its potential.

And every chart includes Pisces.

It’s to think about.
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Saturn Station-Retrograde (Part 2)

Planet Saturn photographed having a major storm in its northern

hemisphere by NASA's spacecraft Cassini

(photo credit: NASA, JPL)

At the risk of sounding like an old-time TV or radio serial, our last episode here around the old blog corral was on the subject of Saturn taking its station and going retrograde at 11 Scorpio on February 18th at 5:04 in the afternoon (UT/+0).

If you missed the whole ‘where’s the Sun’ and Scorpio discussion, you’ll want to read Part 1. But for those who have already read Part 1 (or who frankly, Scarlett, don’t give a cinematic southerner’s hoot about such things), this blog is about the configurations which come as part of this ‘Saturn stationing’ affair.

The first configuration is a grand trine.

Though the occasional grand trine will (by the grace of astrological orbs) join signs of different elemental earth, fire, air or water nature, the classic trine involves only one element – in this case, water.

In some senses, this makes things more intense. Grand trines, being composed of three trines linked together with any single trine indicating ‘ongoing energy’ is something akin to a closed circuit. They used to be thought of as blessed and benefic, but as astrologers have emerged from something of a lollypop way of thinking about astrology as all good or all bad, ideas have moved more in the direction of trines – and thus grand trines – representing habits or mindsets or situations which are difficult to break out of and sometimes impossible to change. An example of such an ‘impossibility’ would be someone who is born with a chronic illness. They learn to cope with something they can’t change.

Talents are often associated with trines. So are lives marked by people being born into a time of mass poverty. Though their nation’s situation may change, and thus some of the potential connected to that trine may shift, if as an astrologer I was to see someone born into such a situation with their chart elements positioned so that a trine (or grand trine) ‘spells out’ that early-life situation, I would know that such a person would be ‘marked’ for life with the poverty they had experienced as a child.

Since I know as soon as I type those words that someone is going to want to know, trines or grand trines in water (emotion) or air (mentality) are more prone to being “markers” of the psychological sort. Earth trines are more apt to indicate physical or situational elements.

Fire trines, having to do with the ability to envision are often on the ‘up’ side markers of talents and on the ‘down’ side challenges with realism or the ability to be realistic.

All trines tend to change when the points involved are transited by any planet, comet, centaur, dwarf planet, SDO or TNO at-or-beyond the solar systemic “latitude” of Saturn. That’s a pretty big list which includes things like Chiron, Ixion, Eris, Sedna and countless others.

So trines are not ‘forever’ in one sense, even though they are in another.

In this case we have a classical trine in water, so we know the subject is emotional. If you’re someone with a water sign trine in your natal chart, the fact that Saturn is connecting to Mars may well be a sign of ‘stabilization’ or stability. Then again, it may manifest as resistance or limitations. With the much-beloved Dog Star Sirius in this mix, insight is the subject and the cure. So this is obviously a great time to get insight on our own ‘stuff’ whether we have a drop of water in our chart or not. The period around this station is also likely to be a time when we see others acting out emotionally…or coming to recognize what emotionality is – as opposed to facts. Or maybe what it can do (or not do) in our lives, whether we’re thinking of that as individuals or social/societal groups, or families or nations.

As individuals or as nations, we may be examining the ‘Saturn cost’ of emotions denied (Scorpio) or emotions coddled or used to control, manipulate or delude (that’s a Scorpio/Pisces list). Saturn in Scorpio does have a pronounced fiscal bent of the “collective” ‘joint finances’ kind, which is why we are hearing so much about nation debt and credit at the moment.

And since Saturn is going to be in Scorpio for a while…expect to hear more on that subject. Expect for there to be more trials, more trial-and-error attempts, more denials and more attempts (or discussions) about the need to control – many of which will be formulated as what ‘you’ need to do, since though Scorpio is supposed to be the ‘whole of the interacting unit,’ wherever we see Scorpio there’s an annoying tendency to say ‘I’m blameless, it’s all your fault.’

(Heavy sigh. That never works in the Scorpio arena, but goodness knows people try, try, try it yet again!)

The positive of Mars in Pisces connecting to Sirius is the promoting insights and inspirations along with a sensitivity which – providing we don’t run away from it – allows for growth of understanding both of ourselves and others.

Saturn in Scorpio/Sirius in Cancer is more directly useful (almost utilitarian) in orientation as it’s a connection which which promotes solutions. Though often hard-to-swallow emotionally, what is learned now, what comes out now is an opportunity, and those who can get past ego or past mistakes will benefit thereby.

With all three of these symbols positioned in second decanate (between 10 and 19) emotional degrees of their respective watery and emotional signs, this isn’t a signature of smooth sailing. For some, this grand trine will be a sign of ‘ongoing turmoil’ with Saturn’s turn to retrograde representing the realization that our solution must come from ‘within.’

Then we get to the Yods.

Known in mystical circles as ‘the finger of God,’ a Yod is an astrological figure which looks a lot like the letter “Y” with one point at the ‘base’ of the Yod aspecting two other points which while being in a 60 degree aspect to each other are also each 150 degrees from the ‘base’ point.

One important technical item here: Yods should be within 1.5 degrees of aspect in order to be considered ‘in effect.’

The energy of a Yod tends to manifest as indecision or on occasion, confusion. We often feel ‘cornered,’ hence the reference to God as a substitute for ‘fate.’

Are Yods fated or fateful? From the metaphysical perspective, probably not any more than the rest of life is. If a grand trine in the natal chart could indicate a life-ruling talent or a devastating disease, that may be an ‘open ended’ fate, but it’s hard to argue that it’s any more or less fateful than the moment when you get caught for embezzling.

It’s all about perspective. 

So anyway…with this Saturn station we get not one, but two Yods. Here’s the first:

In this Yod, the connection is between Saturn realities, structures, needs to interact and/or cooperate and/or give and take and/or negotiate with self and/or others…and Pallas, the symbol of dispassionate wisdom. Positioned at 12 Aries, Pallas in an inconjunct to Saturn asks that we know our positions, ‘own’ our acts, actions and choices, and in doing so, stand up for ourselves while recognizing and dealing with arranging terms with others.

On the other side we have Saturn being connected to Vesta in Gemini, a plain enough reference to what it takes to make a commitment and carry through on our promises.

The thing which is to be noted here, and very much different than your classic trine or grand trine, is that each of the objects in a Yod is most often in a sign of a different element. Even a different modality (mode of action). So here we have Saturn in fixed water, Pallas in cardinal fire and Vesta in mutable air.

That combining of elements (the thought with the emotion, the drive and motivation getting tempered by needs for caution and pragmatism) is what symbolizes the internal confusion, conflict, indecision so typical of a Yod.

There is one great thing about Yods, however. And that is how they come with a nice clear “solution” point – that being the midpoint between the two ‘horns’ of the “Y” in direct opposition to the ‘base’ point.

And that, in this case, is 11 Taurus, a degree which is known for embodying that idea of ‘reaching beyond our grasp.’ The keyword here being ambition, since this degree is in opposition to Saturn we see the chance to succeed beyond expectations…or a dose of falling on our face. Since the element is earth, whatever is on the table (or in our mind or heart) is something real – or which at least has real costs or rewards connected to it.

The other Yod turns the first one on it’s head. Or at least on its side.

The 150-degree inconjunct between Vesta and Saturn (understanding the costs real and emotional which it will take to get where you want to go) remains static. But in this Yod, Saturn isn’t the focal point – Vesta is. So that grand trine we talked about which represents the bestirring of emotions (ours and those of others) will focus on two things…the Saturn in Scorpio responsibility and realistic agreements which work for everyone…and the Vesta in Gemini knowing/understanding what it takes (or will take) to keep our promises.

In this Yod, the ‘solution’ point is 11 Sagittarius, a degree which stresses the interactive side of Sagittarius and the courage it needs to put yourself and your ideas out there. Depending on your situation, this may be about solving existent problems or it might be about plunging ahead into the unknown.

It could even be both.

Pluto/Vesta from worldly, public, status conscious earthy Capricorn to Vesta speaks to some pressure which may be about ‘keeping up appearances.’ Then again, it may be our striving to get ourselves or our life into a place where we are comfortable with how we ‘appear’ in our own eyes. Being that this is an inconjunct from Vesta to Pluto (Vesta is the faster-moving object here, so it ‘applies’ the energy) the difference between ‘promise’ and ‘promises’ suggests some degree of ‘unveiling’ or even unraveling for those who have lived behind some mask or a life/lifestyle which amounts to a form of personal or public lie.

In both Yod images, you’ve probably noticed a box with a question mark in it. That question mark asks you if there’s something in your natal chart within 1.5 degrees of that point. If so, that Yod has special meaning to you which it isn’t going to have to someone else whose chart doesn’t connect with that point. Yes, we will all feel this station. But sometimes we just see the tornado. Maybe it’ll blow down the clothes line or uproot our tomatoes. But it may also rip our house off its foundations.

It’s sort of a matter of degree of exposure and experience.

As we think through all this, it is to bear in mind three things:

1.) Saturn moved into 11 Scorpio – the degree at which it goes station/retrograde – back at the end of January. And Saturn will be at 11 Scorpio until March 15th. That’s a long time for things to be ‘brewing’ in one mode. And considering this is Saturn – reality and realism in a sign, Scorpio, all about the real stakes of life which require that we think beyond our own security in order to secure that security (and self respect), there’s likely to be a lot going on now in our lives and in the world at large.

Don’t expect it all to be pleasant. Contentious, trying, unnerving…that’s likely to be the least of it.

2.) Saturn will return to 11 Scorpio during the period of October 10–18, 2013. How we deal or don’t deal with things now will echo back to us then.

Mark your calendars.

3.) 11 Scorpio is the degree of the solar eclipse which will occur on November 3, 2013. In astrological terms, this is about as obvious a notice as we can get. We can pay the ‘emotional’ cost now or later. But don’t think it isn’t going to get paid.

None of this has to be negative. The problem is tricky however: Scorpio asks that the ‘me’ and the ‘them’ in all things be balanced. Your success or security or self worth or abilities are no more important than anyone else’s…or anything else. Scorpio teaches how things are interdependent and how in the end, we focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else at our own cost. Even peril.

Saturn’s station is just a station. Though the effects are broadly sketched and also narrowly focused in this particular period of time is part of a greater expanse. I like Saturn. To me, responsibility is security. Standards are reassuring.

When everybody does their best, we all benefit. And therefore, as someone with a natal Scorpio Saturn, I wish us all success when it comes to facing our Saturn challenges.
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Saturn Station-Retrograde (Part 1)

Planet Saturn caught having a major storm in its northern

hemisphere by spacecraft Cassini

(photo credit: NASA, JPL)

This blog is definitely ‘part one of two’...and actually part one of three, if we consider how Saturn’s station and actual turn to retrograde happens on the same day that the Sun enters Pisces.

That's a whole subject unto itself. However, it does conceptually affect Saturn's station, so that - and the general concept of station affects are a good place to start.

What with planetary stations emphasizing the nature of the ‘cosmic moment’ for several days before and several days after the actual ‘moment’ of “turnabout” (which is not always fair play, no…!) Saturn’s going retrograde on Monday, February 18th at 5:04 in the afternoon UT/+0 time means the days between February 16th and 20th…even February 15th and 21st…are going to be highly Saturnized, to coin a term.

Moreover, having just pointed out that the 18th will also be the day that the Sun moves into Pisces, this means that the days leading into Saturn’s turn are Aquarian and the days leading out of this Saturn station are Piscean.

Saturn itself is in Scorpio – at 11 Scorpio, to be exact. Saturn moved into 11 Scorpio back on January 25 (just before Jupiter went direct) and, in retrograde, will be remain at 11 Scorpio through March 15th. 11 Scorpio is a degree which is known for intense focus – up to and including the point where focus becomes so shortsighted it may as well be blindness.

As a sign, Scorpio presents us with choices – emotional choices, which differentiates it from Gemini, the sign of ‘deciding’ and ‘decisions’…in other words, mentally-driven choices.

Cutting to the chase here about Scorpio, everybody faces risks when it comes to the Scorpio choice. What should I or should I invest my time, energy, loyalty, efforts and best bets or abilities in? That’s the question, whether the Scorpio venue you’re dealing with is an intimate relationship, a partnership, an investment, your reputation…your whatever in. And because we tend to be so focused on whether ‘what’s going to happen’ will benefit us in the way we want to be benefited (or not), we tend to forget that in any ‘investing’ of time, money, trust, energy, emotion, relationship, risk, reputation… whatever… there are two sides to the equation: the ‘me’ (or us) and the ‘them.’ We tend to forget that they are approaching the table with the same sort of focus, and that the more experience they have in the matter, the greater chance there is that they know all the (Scorpio) secrets and nuances we may not know.

Sometimes that experience is exactly what we want. But (to use one example) will the experienced surgeon know more, or will their experience have them ‘just phoning it in’? Maybe the new surgeon is all freshly studied on new techniques. Or maybe they just care more because they aren’t yet jaded by life and experience?

Many of us try to level this playing field with assurances, contracts, forms of insurance, or other means or methods which amount to efforts to ‘control the risk.’ Sometimes that’s entirely sensible. Yet whether the subject is fiscal risk or emotional vulnerability, risk exists.

And that’s the Scorpio thing. Scorpio is the interactive sector of life’s playing field which foists risk upon us so that we will get some internal sense of not how and where we are necessarily  vulnerable but yes – where we feel vulnerable, absolutely!

Some of us will come into this station focused (to the degree, one might say!) on those matters which provoke our feelings of vulnerability. Some of us will come into this station asking ourselves why we feel vulnerable to begin with. Where did we learn to be afraid of ‘that’? Why are we afraid of ‘that’ – what does it mean to us and why does it mean what it means?

 Saturn's rings as photographed

by NASA's spacecraft Cassini

With the Sun still in late Aquarius for the several days leading into this station, we can count on external input and examples (or reactions) prompting our thoughts. Then as the Sun moves into Pisces on the 18th, the nature of the energy will shift. For you, that shift may be ever-so-subtle, but if you’re aware (dare I say focused?) you’ll feel your own internal mechanisms move from the (air sign) idea of the thing into more of a (water sign) feeling mode.

Putting together the 11 Scorpio, the Saturn ‘cause/effect’ reality quotient and Pisces’ signature how I feel about my feelings, the Sun’s shifting into Pisces will cause many of us to begin imagining what could happen and how we’d feel if that did happen. This is a classic moment for fears to prey on our mind and for others – well intended or otherwise – to play on our fears, be that skillfully or otherwise.

Other factor here would involve the Sun’s activation of All Things Piscean as it moves into Pisces. The list here is pretty extensive, with most of the activity breaking into two groups. In early Pisces we have Eros (passion), Kalypso (love as a function of the other person, not what we want from them), Neptune (tests of our willingness to be realistic), Fomalhaut (success promised only where our aims are not corrupt, corrupted or corruptive) and (ouch) Chiron – the symbol of where we tend to trip ourselves up by not accepting the responsibility for what we do and don’t do.

With all of Pisces being in a whole-sign-trine to Scorpio, we can assume Saturn’s station will activate all these thoughts, feelings and internal questions. But since the object in this group which actually trines Saturn is Chiron, and since one of the key words for Saturn is ‘responsibility,’ this would be a principle and obvious moment for a good many of us to have that OMG moment where we realize how we got ourselves in some mess. Or compromise. Or bad deal. Or untenable position.

And some of us will despair. Other will embark on a frantic course of fervent (Scorpio) denial. The second ‘group’ in Pisces begins with Mars at 13 Pisces, a Mars which is also in trine to Saturn. And though the orb of conjunction between Mars at 13 and Chiron at 8 is stretched wide, it’s still there.

In fact, it’s something of a metaphysical picture of a gap – one we need to bridge at least within ourselves.

With Mars conjunct Mercury at 17 Pisces, there’s likely to be some ‘but what can I do?’ (or say) feelings of helplessness. And given Mercury’s sextile-trine position to the lunar nodes in this moment, wanting to ignore or walk away from problems (or at least deny culpability) is high.

But so to is the understanding that ignoring the proverbial 600 pound gorilla in the room which is your brain, heart and soul isn’t going to work.

That Saturn is going retrograde at the midpoint between Deucalion (finding the moral path) and Polyhymnia (‘musing’ over something) is truly a celestial suggestion that we stop and think things through. Deucalion’s position in Scorpio is something of a dictate in that it’s a clear indication that we can’t just decide things based on our own wants, pleasures, preferences or alliances.

Minerva among the Muses

by Hendrick van Balen the Elder (1573-1632)

The ‘others’ in this equation – the ‘them’ of it all is underscored by Deucalion, telling us that this is a time when we truly need to consider the premier Scorpio rule. That rule says everybody must feel equally heard and equally benefited by any situation. The corollary here is that we also cannot decide ‘for’ anybody what they want out of a situation. Take a business partnership, for example. One party to the partnership may just be looking for a way to earn money. Another party to that same partnership may be looking for a firm with the ‘right’ kind of status which will allow them to do something else in their life.

One of the premier difficulties in Scorpio involves the tendency to assume or try to control what someone else wants out of the relationship, be it personal or professional. Another version of this mismatch comes through not checking on what the other party really wants. The really ambitious (read: insightful) among us will also ask someone why they feel as they do (Scorpio is a water sign, remember that!) and from that exploration come to some understanding of the other person/party’s Taurus/Scorpio range of self worth or self respect.

Some think of this as prying. But in a Scorpio situation, it’s generally not, unless someone is looking to flat out use us – in which case, you’d want to know that, right? But generally, understanding the aim of the person as the generator behind why they are asking for (say) the assurance of status even if that means less money going in (or vice versa) gives us a far better idea of who they are.

And that insight is something we can apply to our Scorpio calculations, allowing us to mitigate our risk through facts which allow us to make a more ‘informed’ emotional choice.

With Saturn passing through Scorpio, there’s a lot of growth going on. Saturn is our symbol of ‘life structures’ and principle among those is personal maturation. Given the requirement to face ‘emotional facts’ which is so endemically Saturn-in-Scorpio, a lot of us are going to be tackling the ‘tough stuff’ during this passage. A lot of ‘false fronts’ are going to fall apart, a lot of alliances, partnerships and (yes) even marriages can be expected to end. And when they do, the fur can be expected to fly. That’s pretty standard with Scorpio, the premier sign of vengeance. But the reality of all such emotional reactions is that some part of them is less about ‘them’ and more about our being upset with ourselves. ‘They’ have provoked our feelings of vulnerability.

Why do we feel so vulnerable? Things Scorpio are always about that very question. Whether we’re getting into a situation, deciding to avoid a situation, or plunging into a situation, we will tend to think ‘it’ (or they) will “make everything wonderful.” To the degree that we understand the realities and are willing to grow in ourselves, wonderfulness can result – that wonderfulness being a sense of pride in our choices and resourcefulness and internal security.

But where we have made choices merely ‘on appearances’? That’s where Saturn in Scorpio can prove problematic. Saturn in Scorpio tends to threaten to unmask us if it doesn’t just produce situations which truly unmasks us, and nobody likes going around with their naked psyche hanging out!

The solution – to use the vernacular – is to ‘get real,’ starting with our Self.

This is a moment when much reality – and many efforts to avoid or ‘fix’ our feelings about what we the facts really are (or at least what we perceive them to be) – are going to take a turn.

Good luck to all of us with that, right?

A word to the wise would seem apt here...when in doubt, ask. And if you have any doubt that you understand where someone is coming from, ask again.

Also, track records count – don’t ignore history, even when you don’t like it. 

Saturn’s transit of Scorpio began in October 2011 and which will last solidly through to nearly the end of December 2014. After that, we will have some of the standard back and forth between Scorpio and Sagittarius during 2015, with Saturn finally committing to its transit of Sagittarius in September 2015.

So that's the overview. The next post up will be on some configurations which are part of this Saturn station, giving us more directions and descriptions of the challenges - and opportunities we stand to glean if we can just get past what we want to be true to the truth of how things really work.

Until then, I hope you run rings around your Saturn, not vice versa!
 

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