The Sagittarius Lunar Eclipse: Next Steps

An artist's rendering of a lunar eclipse as seen from the Moon

(credit: Lucien Rudaux, 1874-1947)

Arriving at long last at the final eclipse for the first half of 2013, we are taken into the realm of early Sagittarius. The degree 4 Sagittarius is obviously one of the first ten degrees of this most worldly of fire signs. So at once we know that which happens during these few days – and particularly on the date of the Lunar Eclipse (May 25) are emotional high water marks or ‘illumination’ points, as are all Full Moons.

And that this particular eclipse occurs in Sagittarius, that is about our ‘vision’ for ourselves and how well things are – or maybe aren’t going. Sagittarius and the 9th house which is native to Sagittarius is where our ideas reach the ‘application’ stage. It’s where the rubber meets the proverbial road and we our efforts either gain traction or our wheels begin to spin.

So the next time you hear someone in the media (a Sagittarian business) talk about ‘political spin’…now you know how apt that term is, right? Everything about the media is Sagittarian and 9th house in nature as the 9th house is all about ‘getting out there’ or in the case of information, ‘getting the word out there,’ which is what connects Sagittarius to travel, publishing, formalized religion, the media and education all in one. And since fire signs are at their heart about the ‘right thing’ (i.e., the honest and correct thing), thus we come to law and legal proceedings as a sorting out of what’s true or not true, otherwise known as ‘letting everybody know whose guilty of lying’ or breaking some law.

I love understanding why concepts which sound so different fall under the same sign, don’t you?

In particular, 4 Sagittarius is a degree known to carry peace as its core and basic aim. But be forewarned! When there’s ample provocation, the normally sunny and cheerful 4 Sagittarius energy flips, becoming fraught with righteously ‘right-driven’ energetics.

One of the things to reckon with here is the fact that in a season of evolutionary earth-and-water (Taurus-Scorpio) change and growth, this is the “odd element out.” That’s not to say fire is an ‘odd’ element (they’re all odd sometimes!) but rather that Taurus and Scorpio are a polarity.

So the Scorpio lunar eclipse against the Taurus solar eclipses have been part and parcel of the same sort of process, namely that of getting us more in touch with our inner self at a more realistic and tangible level.

Then we add in Sagittarius. In terms of zodiacal order, Sagittarius represents the next step in the process. So things which have been afoot or getting started now proceed. Some of us will try and ignore the possible glitches and find that the glitches don’t ignore us. (I hate it when a glitch bites me, don’t you?) Then again, some of us will proceed with caution and recognize the glitch as it appears, reflecting on what has been learned of late – thus avoiding the pitfall.

Or at least grappling with it, preparing to cross the pit without getting clobbered by the pendulum.

Harry Clarke's illustration for Poe's 'The Pit and the Pendulum' (1919)

(Yes, I’m in an Edgar Allen Poe mood.)

It’s decently easy to see this lunar eclipse as inspiring us to get our get-along into gear so as to get things done. And some of us will do just that. Those who have experienced the intensity of April-May’s Taurus/Scorpio energetics as oppressive or constricting may well now feel liberated and go bounding off along their path.

And sometimes that’s just the idea.

Then again, sometimes that’s just foolhardy.

Considering this is Sagittarius we’re talking about, it would seem to all depends on whether you’re properly prepared and willing to ‘see’ your way through the problems, the challenges, the places where your ‘truth’ meets up with a world which has a few truths of its own. How do you fit in? Are you willing to fit in? Can you swim in a ‘big pond’ with the big fish? Or maybe you’re a big fish encountering small fish hoping they’re not going to flounder.

(I’m guessing flounders really hate that expression.)

 
The semi-sextile between Scorpio (the April lunar eclipse) and Sagittarius is generally some challenge to our ego. Call it feeling offended with the fact that some idea of yours doesn’t work…or that someone has called you on some inconsistency which amounts to having traipsed out into a crowded street without remembering to get dressed.

(And you’re not a nudist.)

It may be simply that you realize you’ve been on the wrong track. Or that your ‘right track’ is more wrong than you thought.

That’s the lunar/lunar eclipse side of it. And then we have the solar (Taurus)/lunar (Sagittarian) side of this evolutionary process. For some, this will be the 210 degree yes, I get it shift into positive gear. For some this will be the oh gosh, now I realize I still have work to do (also known as ‘I’m not as free as I thought I was going to be’) moment.

But never fear…lunar eclipses are truly emotional signposts. Their effects have an ‘acute’ cycle which lasts about three months. Then what we learn (or – ahem! – don’t learn) fades back into the woodwork. When all goes well, the evocative moments which occur around the time of any lunar eclipse ‘meld into’ the greater shift denoted by the solar eclipse – in this case the issue of Taurean self recognition, self valuation, re-evaluation, recognizing how much more you can grow – all that stuff.

Not that anything in the Taurus-Scorpio neighborhood of our lives is done or anything. Hopefully you’ve heard me when I’ve said that this Taurus-Scorpio who I am and who I am with regards to others cycle (which includes the ever popular ‘how to get ahead in life without falling flat on my face or otherwise getting embarrassed lastingly and beyond belief’)…how that cycle as denoted by our yearly ‘eclipse seasons’ (two each year) began in November of 2012 and are going to be with us through October of 2014.

That means there’s a total of five ‘eclipse seasons’ which feature either Scorpio or Taurus solar eclipses, of which we’ve now gone through two.

Get the picture?

With this eclipse, as with seemingly every eclipse, we get a couple of planetary pictures. The first is a t-square which features the Sun and Moon – the stars, the ‘us’ in this celestial drama.

Sun – Hel – Aldebaran is pretty plainly a challenge to integrity. Phaethon-Chaldea is ‘quick to choose the old way’ whether that’s the old way out, the old way of doing things, the old way as in ‘traditions’ or just some stick-in-the-mud thing…in the mental sign of Gemini this could even be the old way of viewing mentality or wanting to go with what you know instead of learning something new, and so on.

But then again, this is a lunar eclipse. So with Sun - Hel - Aldebaran being in Gemini and in opposition to the Moon's position in Sagittarius, might this also be 'finding the flaw' in someone's thinking? Or the plan? Or the means and methods currently being employed?

In this scenario, Moon in Sagittarius would represent the finding out (or learning) the truth about some thing...or how life (the Sun) has been made harder (Hel) by some (Gemini) idea or thought which can no longer be held as having (Aldebaran) integrity. 

This seems particularly apt considering how this 'Sun and friends' grouping is positioned as the goal of the t-square. So we want to probably make it hard to be challenged, perhaps? Or maybe that which we have been insisting on doing has actually been making our life harder? Perhaps in our efforts not to have our integrity challenged, we've put ourselves in a position to be our own worst enemy to our own integrity?

And yet…and yet…this is Moon-Hebe in Sagittarius we're talking about. So the Moon-motivation is emotionally driven. It may be convictions. Or some monetary goal. We may be driven by habits or that fervent need to be right which is sometimes the 'down' side of Sagittarius. Hebe being the the idea of being of service (and optimally, being rewarded by being of service), maybe the question is whether our aims are misdirected in trying to get the world to work for us rather than being of service in the world and thus earning our rewards. 

If you want to get all gnat’s derriere about this diagram (which I tried to get in constructing it, and man – there’s a whole bunch of gnats who are ticked off at me!) ….you’ll notice two separate t-squares drawn in the image. That’s because squares and oppositions have a maximum range of 5 degrees. So while Hebe (at 2 Sagittarius) squares Fomalhaut, Neptune and Deneb (which by now I’ve typed so many times I’m beginning to think it’s either a law firm or a singing group)…and Hebe also opposes anything between 2 and 7 in Gemini (which here would be Phaethon, Chaldaea, Sun and asteroid Hel), Hebe is not in opposition to Aldebaran.

AHA! Integrity is not opposed by Service. A good thought indeed. And one which would seem to imply that there is some merit to be being of use and doing something useful while going forward in this world.

The Moon, on the other hand does oppose Aldebaran. So there’s something emotional which is being confronted by questions of integrity.

In short, what I tried to do is color code this drawing so you’d see the two slightly different t-squares. (You can let me know if I get a passing grade on this effort – just leave a comment.)

Either way, the “t” to this t-square is Fomalhaut Deneb and Neptune. Fomalhaut says we succeed only where our aims, our means, our methods and our ability to face ourselves as part of the process is neither corrupt, corrupted or corruptive.

Oh…and by the by, this has nothing to do with whether you like something. In the land of Pisces (read: Piscean ocean) it is the greater Creation Manifest which sets the terms, standards and lines which must be face and not summarily crossed.

Deneb, which gets less press than it probably deserves, is a shamanistic energetic. But since shamanistic energies have to do more with nature and time and evolution and existence than mankind and our Earthly lives, this may be why we talk less about this star than we might otherwise.

People – understandably – get very routed towards Things Earthy and Materialistic. It never ceases to amaze me that people will ask why they don’t feel like they’re living a ‘spiritual’ life when all their attention is on Earthy or Earthly means of understanding.

Be that as it may, people often reject the esoteric then wonder why they don’t understand it.

Anyway…since Deneb and Fomalhaut appear from our Earthly perspective to be so closely aligned (which holds true even if you go back a couple of thousand years) it’s likely we simply interpret Deneb’s rather ‘other worldly’ intuition and potency as part and parcel of Fomalhaut.

But with Neptune in the mix? Personally, I’ve been wondering if this isn’t why we’ve been seeing more and more investigation into the paranormal (at least we’re seeing more of it here in the US) as Neptune has moved through the end of Aquarius and into Pisces, ‘awakening’ the ‘mass consciousness’ which is so very Neptunian to energies which are beyond the norm – and yes, very much Denebian.

Will this ‘expanding of our knowledge’ which is so Sagittarian mean that we will see something more in the way of thinking of the world and our universe in a more – dare I say – whole or holistic sort of way?

Maybe. On the other hand, it may bring challenges to same…which is fine. One of these days human beings are going to wake up and realize that E=mc2’d means we are all contiguous. And then they’re going to realize what that means, and that those who are able to release their egos are not (almost by definition) the people who are limited.

That’s my Sagittarian eclipse statement for the day!

But in the t-square? That Neptune-Fomalhaut-Deneb is what we have to get past. And those who can’t get past it are going to be taught a lesson by it (probably through the auspices of someone or something which can embody that energy)…and that will set them back on their Moon/Hebe derriere.

At least their emotional one.

And from there the question becomes, how do I make this work?

Ah, life…ain’t it grand?

Moving on to t-square number two…

 
Where t-square number one focused on the ‘us,’ the Sun and Moon of this eclipse, this next t-square focuses on the Nodes. The nodes, as we remember, are groups and collectives and relationships…and our relationships with groups, others and collectives.

Read this starting point as: North Node-Psyche in Scorpio as the ‘you need to’ (North Node) deal with the mind or mindset (Psyche) of the Scorpio (joint) dynamic.

Then we get to Vaticana, Sualocin, Juno and Icarus, all in Aquarius, the land of results, acceptance, income and finding one’s place in the world, the community, amongst your peers – all that stuff.

Juno-Icarus is a straight-forward need to manage impatience and not to jump the gun. So no gun-jumping. Evidently haste will lead to waste now – that, or a hole in your shoe.

Another fixed star with an ineffective PR firm, Sualocin is totally of this world, though it describes that which charms us and maybe 'enchants' us, but which we can't quite put our finger on.

So maybe we’re being tempted to try to get past some challenge by saying we don't understand? Or maybe we'll try to charm our way out of something? Maybe we’re realizing that real self-discipline (Juno) is that which requires that we think not of ourselves as the object, but that which drives the success of the project or aim.

Ah yes…maybe so. (I’m moving into my Charlie Chan imitation now.)

Vaticana, which I have been doing some research on, is not the Vatican. By that I mean, while the Vatican is related to the same idea which gives us the astrological symbol Vaticana, Vaticana does not say “Catholic Vatican.”

Think of it as something akin to a 'which came first, the chicken or the egg?' sort of thing. 

The original concept behind Vaticana comes from the Etruscan name for the hill upon which the Vatican stands. And while I could bore you with a bunch of history about who did what when and how that hill came to be where the Catholic Church built its global "HQ," I won’t. What's important here is that the Vatican has come to be the name for that place where the Catholic church has centralized itself - and the not-unsubstantial amount of power ceded to it by various Italian heads of state along the Roman way (which is not to be confused with the Appian Way, which is a whole other Roman way.)

A section of the Via Appia  - that most famous of all Roman
roads. This section, replete with ancient stones, runs through
a section of Rome itself.

(photo credit: Kleusky, September 2005)

Vaticana, main belt asteroid number 416 is a very main belt asteroid – by which I mean it’s an asteroid which pretty much stays near the center of the asteroid belt. That 'centrality' relates very nicely to the idea of the hill the Catholic church built upon, centralizing its power.

We all have Vaticana in our charts. So where we see Vaticana, by sign, by house, by association with other asteroids, planets, nodes et al that points to where or how we will build our power.

Or perhaps resist building power. That can happen too. 

Currently in Aquarius and in this figure atop the cross quarter line at 15 Aquarius, Vaticana suggests very strongly that part of this lunar eclipse is about moving from a ‘thinking about’ or ‘planning phase’ into an active phase which by its nature is public, worldly and maybe even global.

The question would be whether Vaticana supports aiming for personal gain in Aquarius…or whether this asteroid is one which says power built only for the benefit of the self will come to grief.

If you look at Vatican history, that would seem to be the tale.

Anyway…the goal of this t-square is also interesting, as it’s expressed by South Node/Menkar, a making it easier to intersect with the collective in such a manner which makes MY life and MY relationships to those I interact with easier.

Apparently this is all about whether you require others play along with you based on YOUR rules…or whether you’re willing to be part of the greater standard and submit your ego to the ‘greater good’ out of which will come your benefit.

Still with me?

Last figure…a grand trine in water signs.

 
Chiron is that thing we don’t know and which we desperately want to know…but which we can’t stand the idea of having to go through learning. In Pisces, Chiron represents all the touchy, disquieting emotional moments we’ve all had which have been set off through dealings with others and the general state of life itself.

Evidently that’s not letting up. (Huzzah - not!)

The North Node/Psyche in Scorpio we discussed just a minute ago. The only thing I’d add here is that of all the asteroids out there, Psyche is one of the big ones. Really! Asteroid Psyche is about 200 km across, which means its mass is about 1% of the entire asteroid belt (that’s an estimate, mind you).

But if the asteroid belt, in lying between the personal planets and most specifically Mars (motivation, impetus, action) and Jupiter (knowledge, gain, expansion) represents all that we ‘go through’ on the way to gaining that Jovian knowledge (from which we move on to Saturnine accomplishment, then knowing our Psyche is one of the big things we meet up with along the way.

So maybe this is a moment when you either get to know your own mind…or in not knowing your own mind (or whether your mind is being mindful) you continue to meet up with problems or pleasures.

This is a grand trine in emotional water, after all!

The most personal side of this emotional equation is Cancer – our experience of emotion on a very basic, humanistic level. Scorpio is about us and someone else. Pisces is about the world and life and all the ‘ugh!’ or delights which go with that. But Cancer? Cancer is our native, inborn feeling base. Once we knew we were alive as little kidlets, we started having feelings. That’s Cancer.

Vesta-Pappos is the shape (or nature) of the cost. Of what? Of being who you are and that involved in doing what you want, or maybe even need to do. Especially when combined with Charybdis - the requirement that we keep trying (and trying) lest we get eaten up by some monster – this raises the specter of this Sagittarius lunar eclipse as a time when we’re all dealing with something. Or some things. For you, that may be bills. For someone else, that may be some sort of feeling of failure. Or anticipation about what lies ahead.

Maybe all at the same time. That’s the thing about Sagittarius…there are many possibilities and our challenge is to find the one which works.

Then we add in Ceres – the idea of having, making or following a plan. In Cancer, Ceres asks that we keep our emotional ‘feet on the ground’ as we go about doing what needs doing. And in point of fact, in this grand trine, Ceres is a help in that it serves to keep us grounded – which may or may not be comforting for those of us who want to soar among the clouds.

Evidently it’s not yet time to soar.

The last symbol in this grouping is a much-loved on, fixed star, dog star Sirius. To have Sirius in any grand trine implies a touch of brilliance in the mix. But is that the brilliance which leads us on – or the brilliance of not going too far too fast?

Uh, yes. Whichever.

And maybe both.

That’s the thing about lunar eclipses…they evoke an understanding. When all is said and done we get a lot of celestial commentaries on the nuances of the situation, but the ‘solution’ to the question is that which we just ‘know’ is there.

It may not be what we like. Or maybe not what we want to hear from our guiding angels.

(But if they're our better angels, can it really be for our worse?). 

Those of us with Suns or Moons in early Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius or Pisces are going to get the strongest ‘hits’ from this eclipse. The Pisces are trying to move on from something, the Virgos are getting into something, the Geminis are dealing with realizations and the Sagittarians are coming to a whole new understanding.

However this eclipse affects you and those you love, Iet’s hope it’s an enlightening and inspiring time. At it’s best, this is just the kind of eclipse which opens a doorway to a greater understanding of things which were beyond us mere weeks ago…

…and which now provide us with beacons of light, by which we walk into a more honest and wholly productive future.
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Pope Watch 2013

The Sistine Chapel (where the Cardinals will be voting on a new Pope) sits
in the foreground with the dome of St. Peter's Basilica behind

(photo credit: Yair Haklai, October 2009)

Whether or not you're interested in who the Pope is, the election of a Pope has a lot to tell us about how astrology works. Not that it's something most  astrologers get to work on in real time all that often. Indeed, Pope Benedict's retirement was a giant surprise - such a thing hadn't happened in some 700 years.

And the bigger question may be whether that's a sign of the times and changes in the Catholic Church we will see playing out in years to come. Astrologically, that question would depend on coming up with some chart for the founding of the 'Vatican Church' as we know it in today's world. That data would go back in most likelihood to the days of Emperor Constantine and the 3rd century...but I haven't found the date yet. (It may take writing a Bishop or Cardinal, and they're busy at the moment.)

Certainly there are many who think that the Catholic Church needs to change. But will it? When will that happen?

Stand by...I'll let you know what I find when I find it.

But that said, there is something to be said for the influence of any given Pope on the direction the Catholic Church takes and the speed with which it moves. So once the trumpet sounded for a Papal Conclave, astrologers hither and yon did begin delving into the 'who's going to be the next pope?' question.

I got an email from an astrologer friend of mine who decided to use a small collection of asteroids to frame their guess. The list (at least that which was mentioned in the email) includes Pappos (for pope), Vaticana (as a reference to the Vatican) and national asteroids (there are a lot of them, choose your country!) standing for the nationality of the Cardinals and thus the pope to be chosen.

I'll cut to the chase here: this astrologer is betting is that Scherer will be the man - or pope, depending on how you want to put it.

Italy's Basilica di San Pietro (St. Peter's Basilica) at night

(photo credit: Eugene Pivovarov, September 2009)

Proving that there are many ways through the forest of celestial objects out there, my thought was to start with the basic conversation we hear is being held in 'circles Catholic.' That conversation seems to be falling into two separate chalices - those who are most concerned with the Catholic church as a body of traditions which have arisen out of a doctrine considered eternal and unchanging, and those who want the Church to "live in the modern world" and deal with not just the world's problems, but the real world problems in the Church.

That breaks down to be pretty much traditionalists (read: conservatives) versus progressives (or realists) which in the world of current Catholicism seems to have become two camps known as the Romans (those members of the clergy who are work at the Vatican) and the Reformists - who tend to come more from, and work in the realm outside the Vatican.

What this comes down to astrologically is one of the great and eternal conversations: that of Sagittarius versus Pisces....religion as a body of teachings and ritual versus spiritualism and the spirit of belief or faith. 

Both signs are ruled by Jupiter, though Pisces is a dual-ruler sign where Jupiter is the 'choice' signature and Neptunian precepts teach us (through ecstatic joy or the disillusion of disappointment) where we have been right or wrong.

That Piscean lesson is based on expectation versus reality...which in the religious realm has a great deal to do with our ability to separate our belief (however it may be framed) in Existence, Creation or Divinity (whatever you call it) versus the reality of human life and human beings as innately mortal, imperfect beings.

So the question is a 'duality of dualities': the teachings and growth of understanding - the Jupiter/Sagittarian side of religion...and the acceptance of mortal life, personal wisdom and limits of human capacity, that being the Jupiter-Neptune/Pisces challenge.  

Knowing all this, we come to the chart of the Conclave. 

First day of the Vatican Conclave

Vatican City, Italy -  4:30 p.m. (CET/-1) - March 12, 2013

The time used for erecting this horoscope was that given by the Vatican as part of the 'standard procedure' used in papal elections. On the first day of a Conclave, the Cardinals will enter the Sistine Chapel at 4:30 in the afternoon. If no agreement on a new pope is reached, all subsequent days of that Conclave will have two 'voting sessions,' one of which begins at 9:30 in the morning, and the second of which begins at 4 in the afternoon. 

At writing, it is already known that the first vote of the Cardinals produced no election of a new pope. But since this chart does at some level hold for the whole of the election process, we can use this chart to think through some of what would seem integral to the process.

This is a diurnal chart, meaning it's 'Sun-ruled,' or an intellectually informed 'structural' effort - an interesting commentary for a spiritual institution, perhaps. And since as according to Vatican traditions all papal elections are initiated during the daytime (i.e., when the Sun is in the sky, that being the determining factor between a diurnal and nocturnal or Moon-ruled chart) that means that with the exception of second-ballot, second session votes, most popes are elected as a matter of thought, not 'instinct.' 

However, with the Sun in Pisces, we do have an 'automatic' note of what is the wisest course forward being put into this mix.

Evidently, popes are generally not elected on the first day of any Conclave - at least not in modern times. And this does leave open the question of how many popes may have been elected after sundown on any day of whatever particular Conclave...and what the trend away from 'first vote election' of popes says about the Church in general. That would require a chart for the Church itself, which as I say, I'll continue to look into. In the meantime (and more to our focus), this chart shows us Jupiter-Vesta-Black Moon Lilith-Ceres in Gemini and intercepted in the 10th house of this chart is a clear and lovely description of the workings of this Conclave being done behind 'closed doors' and how the eyes of the (10th house) world are not being able to watch. 

But behind those closed doors, not just the Sun in Pisces, but Venus, Chiron, Mercury and Neptune in Pisces, with Neptune conjunct Mercury and Mercury in retrograde.

Mercury will go direct on Sunday, March 17th. Seeing that the 'average' number of days in a Conclave is 5 days, with this one starting on the 12th we shouldn't be surprised if a new Pope is named as Mercury goes direct. If so, this would mean the next Pope will embody or deal with some combination of the following during this tenure as Pope:

1. Deep spirituality
2. Spirituality used merely as a guise
3. Faith in our own willingness to experience our human vulnerabilities

With Mars having entered Aries by the time this conclave begins and sitting conjunct the Moon (which is in turn conjunct Uranus) in the 8th house, this chart is a perfect picture of the exact sort of dichotomy reflected in the 'Romans versus Reformers' discussion. There is bound to be a strong resistance on the part of some Cardinals to changing anything about the Church. Just as fervently, other Cardinals will be adamant that the Church exists in a real world and therefore must care about 'real world business' - a quotient the last pope (Benedict, a scholarly sort) wasn't overly skilled with, people say.

Beyond this, that Mars-Moon-Uranus in degrees zero through 7 of Aries in the 8th house are a perfect picture of the financial and sexual scandals which continue to plague the Church. With Niobe (pride) in conjunction with Uranus, we know that the pride OF the Church as well as the pride of people in their Church has, and continues to be shaken.

2 Virgo on the Ascendant of this chart speaks to the 'work of the Church.' With the ruler of Virgo (Mercury) in retrograde, this is being thought through and quite possibly under revision. Then again, with Neptune at 3 Pisces and thus sitting right atop the 2 Pisces Descendant, there is a 'face of deception' which is being presented to the people of the world. Is this just about the 'closed door' nature of the Conclave? Or is this the Church facing the corruption that so clearly represents the 'lie' being told by the Church (and members thereof) to themselves about being of service to God and humanity?

As an astrologer, Neptune's conjunction of Fomalhaut at this time, with all the havoc of Church sex abuse scandals an ever-ongoing matter, could not be more apt. Or more telling. That Mercury in conjunction to Neptune is where 'the great belief' becomes 'the great lie' - or vice versa - is here mitigated or regulated by Fomalhaut, the Royal Star which says success can only be achieved where your aims are not corrupt, corrupted or corruptive.

Having just gone retrograde at 11 Scorpio, Saturn is still at 11 Scorpio and here in the 3rd house, a sign that consensus must be reached and that there is a thoughtful and communicative 3rd house process which is going on which in true Scorpio manner is bent on 'drilling down' to core values. But there may be a lot of resistance along the way. The good news (at least the hopeful news) for everyone here is that Deucalion is sitting at 12 Scorpio, very much conjunct Saturn. This tells us that this papal election is about the Church finding 'the moral way' (Deucalion) and that doing just that will take work (Saturn) and sacrifice or 'limits with chops attached' to reach.

With this Saturn/Deucalion in trine to Chiron/Kalypso in Pisces, we are assured that the Catholic clergy knows the Church has a deep vulnerability which is written clearly as it's love for itself being stronger than its love for other human beings in this world. Being that Saturn is in dual-ruled Scorpio, this fuels resistance to change in the sense that there will be some members of the assembly who fear the loss of power and influence 'coming clean' would require. That we know from the first ruler of Scorpio being Mars, and we see Mars positioned in the 8th house (of power, finance and sexuality) and with the Moon...a Moon which points to women, families and finance.

Oh yes...and nuns. That's a whole other topic, but one you shouldn't be surprised if you hear about going forward. 

With the outcome ruler of Scorpio being Pluto, Pluto's position in this chart at 11 Capricorn with multi-faceted Facies conjunct Industria in the 5th house says that the Church face many interruptions of its 'current work' or 'how it likes to work' to change what really needs changing. Pluto in the 5th does speak to the question of clergy being allowed to have families, and the exact sextile between Pluto and Saturn speaks of a 'fear' about that very question. There is a very real and very human question about whether the Catholic Church could be the institution it is and has come to be if priest and nuns did marry. After all, don't married people put their families first? Isn't that what having children requires of people?

And yet...if you go to the 'resisting change' side of this (using Saturn to try and 'stop' Pluto) then Pluto acts out - and there will be more sex abuse.

Humans are sexual beings. If you bar sexuality, then what kind of people - especially in this day and age - are going to enter the priesthood?

The Torre Giovanni (Tower of Saint John) and the Leonine wall inside the Vatican gardens

(photo credit: Gugganij, July 2011)

Such are the questions which confront the Catholic Church. They're plainly stated in the opening chart of this Conclave.

But what about the additional sessions which will follow? Here are the charts for those Conclave 'chapters' for the next five days:

 Papal Conclave - March 13, 2013 - Morning session

   Papal Conclave - March 13, 2013 - Afternoon session

  Papal Conclave - March 14, 2013 - Morning session

 Papal Conclave - March 14, 2013 - Afternoon session

  Papal Conclave - March 15, 2013 - Morning session

  Papal Conclave - March 15, 2013 - Afternoon session

 Papal Conclave - March 16, 2013 - Morning session

Papal Conclave - March 16, 2013 - Afternoon session

Papal Conclave - March 17, 2013 - Morning session

 Papal Conclave - March 17, 2013 - Afternoon session

Maybe you read horoscopes. Maybe you don't. Whichever is the case, what's easy enough to see is that the morning charts are all 'weighted' (more planets) on the left side of the chart where the afternoon charts are more on the right side of the chart. Also, though as the days go along the afternoon charts 'rise' towards the top of the chart (a position known as the "Midheaven" which is the most worldly and/or aspirational) the morning charts don't push more down towards the lower part of the chart.

What this says is that as the week goes on, the 'worldly' aspect of the afternoon voting sessions becomes more obvious. You may think of that as 'who the Church is in the world' or 'what the Church's work is in the world' and both will be true. But what may be more interesting to think about is how the left-versus-right qualities evidence. The left side of the chart is proactive. The right side of the chart is responsive and - to this conversation, more 'traditional' or built on experience.

So if you're someone who wants a pope to change things, you might well want to be hoping for a pope who gets voted for in the morning.

Then we get to the Moon. Through the afternoon of the 14th, the Moon will be in Aries. After that it will be in Taurus moving from Taurus into Gemini on March 17th, all of which is typical of the Moon, which give or take some time zone stuff changes signs every two days.

(For the purposes of this post we're guessing that the 'standard length' of five days total will not be exceeded during this election. If it is, I'll post again on what we know at that point.)

Moon in Aries asks the Church what it is. What is the Church about? What are its goals in this world? Moon in Aries also focus on the quality of physical life, which would tend to emphasize the real world issues of real world people.

The Moon in Taurus is about values and what creates that 'safe' feeling when we're secure in knowing all is stable - that we know we can survive another day. (Or in the life of the Church, maybe another hundred years - or at least through the reign of the next Pope.) Moon in Taurus is more protective than the Moon in Aries, which would seem to emphasize more conservative positions.

But how that is expressed in these charts varies. The afternoon charts mostly have the Moon in the 9th house no matter what signs it's in, though the chart for the 13th has it still in the 8th house and the horoscope for the 17th has it in the 10th. The Moon in 9 is several things. It speaks strongly to the teachings of the Church in a ritual form - the letter rather than the spirit of the thing. Yet in Aries this would be 'what we should do' where in Taurus it would be more like 'what we have been taught we should be'...and then there's the Moon in Gemini of March 17th, which would place and emphasis on 'doing our job better' on a level which looks to teaching and education.

Interestingly however, the morning charts for the 14th, 15th and 16th have the Moon in the 12th house with those for the 15th and 16th (the Moon in Taurus) having the Moon intercepted in that 12th house. These charts probably represent the most 'liturgical' and conservative sessions of all, the moments when the Conclave veers more towards internalized doctrine with less of a focus on worldly matters.

Most people who think the Church needs to change would call this 'more of the same' and not like it very much. If you're one of the people in this collective, your feelings would probably echo more with Conclave doings on the mornings of the 13th, 14th or 17th, should it go on that long.

Yet it's not that the Church isn't aware that changes of some kind need to be made. Throughout this Conclave, Pallas (dispassionate wisdom) will be conjunct Eris, the idea that things happen to shake us up in ways we never suspected (or believed) could possibly happen. Remembering that in these circles someone in the 60s is considered rather young, this reminds us that many (if not most) of those in the College of Cardinals were born in the 1930s and 40s, marking them as members of Pluto in Cancer (for whom the world has pretty much changed entirely) or Pluto in Leo, a group of people who adapt slowly, but ultimately well...though that may be harder when you're part of an institution as resistant to change as the Catholic Church.

Among others, a small child marvels at the beauty of sunlight

streaming in through the windows of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

(photo credit: James Bromberg August 2003)

In the overall sense, this progression of charts strikes me as an ongoing discussion - which the Conclave probably is. With various views being expressed going in (hence the black smoke for the initial vote) there is likely to be an initial bend towards conservatism (the 'Romans' side of the equation) which after several days becomes somewhat more 'Reformist.'

So we'll see. Once a new Pope is elected we will know when during this process two-thirds of the Cardinals were able to agree on one name and what that name is. We will look to his chart and see where it fits into the greater picture. Granted, we will only know what his tenure as Pope will produce in time, but by and large, the administration headed up by any given Pope tends to be a great deal like the Pope which heads it.

In the meantime, we do know one thing: this Conclave is being conducted during Mercury's moving into its station to go direct. Given that we allow a metaphysical two-day before, two-day after 'station allowance' for any such event, that means that any Pope elected between March 15th and March 19th will bear the 'mark' of Mercury's upcoming 5 Pisces station. If that degree is not obviously active in the next Pope's chart, we will know that this point is sensitive for some other reason, and figure out what that is.

But still, the basics apply. To be electing a Pope under a Mercury retrograde in Pisces as Mercury comes into conjunction with Neptune asks that any such choice be made based on our having faith in the reality we live with, and the life to be lived in the here and now. Scripture can be hugely inspirational, but rituals do not create reality: humans do.

And to be human is to be mortal, a fact which stresses our own need for compassion and acceptance that our life can only be as good or as safe or as moral as that life we help others achieve for themselves.  
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