Menkar: Soul, Searching

A section of the Taurus Molecular Cloud shows a filament of

cosmic dust more than ten light years long

(photo credit: ESO-APEX-MPIR,OSO-A Hacar, February 2012)

The fact that I’ve never read anything which really satisfied my curiosity about fixed star Menkar is the genesis of this post. Positioned (as of 2013) at 15 Taurus, Menkar is referred to as a star ‘linked to the forces of the collective consciousness’ (source: Solar Fire’s star files) with others adding in comments about how the likelihood is that, where Menkar is involved, we will take an 'easier path.'

But that could mean a lot of things.

It could mean that for those who have a planet, node, cusp or axis point in aspect to Menkar, that object's symbolism represents the means by which we “access” the collective consciousness.

Or maybe that's where we are accessed by the collective consciousness in the area of life represented by that planet, node, cusp or axis point?

And yes, there is a difference. Astrologically, the point where we access something implies choice, purpose, aim/goal and volition. Where the we would be accessed by something is about being effected by situations or energetics which come upon us whether we want it or not, and which prompt certain reactions.

This second form seems likely in the sense that Menkar is known for choices which opt for the 'easier' or more 'pleasant' outcome. But when we get that far, the fact that Menkar is known as a ‘difficult’ star gives me cause to ponder. Is this about difficulties we meet up with in life because we take the path of pleasantry? Or is this about difficulties we simply have as part of life as a result of taking the easier or more popular path? 

Some who are into science fiction may have heard of this star under it’s alternative name, ‘Menkab.’ In doing a bit of research on the subject I came across the fact that Menkab has been mentioned in various incarnations of Star Trek and (apparently not to be outdone), in an episode or two of South Park.

So much for stellar dignity, eh?

None of this proving very satisfying, I wandered further afield (which is a pretty long way when you're talking about stars). Or maybe I should say I swam a far piece as in current star-lore, Menkar is part of the constellation Cetus – the whale.

A sky map of constellation Cetus

(image credit: IAU, Sky and Telescope Magazine - Roger

Sinnott/Rick Fienberg, June 2011)

But lest you think this is the great whale we love and respect in today's world, it would seem that the astrological Cetus is not about the amazing creatures we may be lucky enough to see if we go whale-watching (or if we just spend a bit of quality time watching Discovery Channel). No, the idea of constellation Cetus as the whale goes back to Mesopotamian times, when whales were thought of more as ‘sea monsters.’ And that explains why Cetus is sometimes though more of in the mold of the Loch Ness Monster rather than Flipper the friendly sea porpoise. (Now I’m dating myself.) And it’s not just the Mesopotamians who saw this concept with regards to constellation Cetus. On a whole other side of the world the Tukano and Kobeua people of Brazil saw this constellation as a jaguar, the jaguar having been a powerful image all over South and Central America (where it figured large in the myths of the Aztecs and Maya).

But the interesting thing is that even though these Brazilian peoples chose a “terrestrial” image (the jaguar), the constellation was (is) thought of in connection with violent storms – in particular, hurricanes.

And hurricanes are certainly ‘creatures of the ocean.’

Maybe the better way to think of Cetus is in terms of the ‘whale’ in the book Moby Dick. Yes, there might have been a real whale, but it was the whale in Ahab’s head – the ‘whale of his obsessions’ – which is the real Cetus.

 An illustration from an 1892 edition of Moby Dick

(publisher: C.H. Simonds Co.)

That’s a useful clue in our search for understanding Menkar, as this star really does seem to have some mythic quality to it specifically as that concerns our thinking. There’s the reality of the thing…and then there’s what we think of the thing. Either may have validity. But then again, our thoughts may be what are ‘swallowing’ us up, so to speak.

Myth speaks of Cetus as the sea monster which was going to devour Andromeda, the fair maiden left chained to the rock by her parents. The story here is instructive, as it seems to point to some of our Cetus challenges.

Andromeda’s mother is Cassiopeia. And Cassiopeia is an arrogantly proud woman who boasts that her child – Andromeda – is ‘more beautiful than the Nereids,’ the Nereids being Poseidon (Neptune’s) children.

The last time we saw a ‘queen here on Earth’ brag about her children thinking they were better than the gods, that figure of overblown braggadocio (read: pride) was Niobe. Her brag was that her kids were both more plentiful and more talented than those of Leto.

Leto happening to be the mother of Apollo and Artemis (the god of truth and enlightenment and goddess of the hunt and human reflection, respectively)…that didn’t go so well for Niobe. A highly insulted Leto sent her kids to shoot all of Niobe’s kids down, allegedly proving the difference between mortality and that which is eternal and how important it is to keep the two things straight.

Unfortunately, Cassiopeia wasn’t keeping up on such warning labels. So she makes her boast about Andromeda as being more beautiful than the children of the ocean (the Nereids) and Papa Neptune gets so frothed up that he calls in his brother Jupiter and together they send Cetus to teach this arrogantly vain mortal a lesson by destroying her kingdom.

One suspects there must have been a lively ‘what the #$^!@ did you do, woman?’ conversation between Cassiopeia and hubby (King Cepheus). And yes, I’m using the term ‘lively’ rather liberally. But as folks did in those days, their answer was to go ask an oracle for a solution.

And – interestingly – the oracle they chose was an oracle of Apollo, which probably got a chuckle up on immortal Mount Olympus. What? Another silly, vain human being? Oh, when are they ever going to learn!

Vain and arrogant or not, Cassiopeia is upset to hear that the way to assuage Neptune is through sacrificing Andromeda, but she’s not so upset that she and hubby don’t go and chain Andromeda to a rock. (Whether they hung out a sign for Cetus saying ‘come and get it!’ isn’t mentioned.)

Andromeda by Paul Gustave Dore

This is one of those impossibly poignant Greek question: do I save my family and sacrifice my world (i.e., the kingdom which Cetus will eat if Andromeda is not sacrificed) or do I sacrifice that beautiful thing which is MY world (my pride and joy) in order to safeguard and better the world?

Greek myth is full of all the truly difficult questions of life. Who among us hasn’t faced this question of whether we should prioritize the greater good or our own personal good?

Seen from this vantage point, Cetus is the ‘monster’ we are afraid of, the ‘what if’ we do, and the ‘what if’ we don’t.

Either way, there’s going to be pain. Will we take that on ourselves for some error, or some allowance we’ve given ourselves which is ‘monstrous’? Or will we force others to pay for our unwillingness to own the consequences of choices, acts and priorities which have been shown to be anywhere between faulty and truly grievous?

In case you’re worried about Andromeda, she gets rescued by none other than Perseus, who is on the way back from slaying Medusa – which in astro-psycho-mythic terms means he’s ‘already faced the horrible fact.’

- Link to post -

Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

Andromeda the sweet and giving child who never fought the parents who would sacrifice her to their own ‘monster’ ends up wedded to Perseus, the essence of our willingness to face the facts – however scary they may be – about ourselves.

And if we can do that, there may indeed be a happy ending.

But first, back to Menkar’s part in this whole parade.

Referred to as ‘Alpha Ceti’ (‘first star of Cetus’) in astronomical terms, Menkar is not the most notable of all Cetus’ stars – that honor goes to Mira, a famous variable star which doesn’t appear much in astrology. (Evidently stars need lobbies too.) Mira pulsates. Mira glows bright, and then fades away…it blows hot and cold, one might say.

Menkar on the other hand, is a point of relative stability. But as it’s positioned in the tail of Cetus as a constellation, stabile is a relative term – there’s bound to be some thrashing.

Maybe stabilizing is a better term. And that is a really helpful idea in understanding this star which sits so close to the 15 Taurus cross-quarter point.

 
The zodiacal cross-quarter points fall at 15 degrees of the fixed signs, an indication that they’re a ‘turning point’ when that which the fixed sign is so ardently ‘fixed’ on learning (degrees zero through fourteen) shifts into active mode.

Or at least it should. Particularly where and when we see degrees of fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius) which are 15 or higher representing attributes which have not learned to manifest the useful (read: positive) sign attributes, this leads to problems and results which are less satisfying than one might have envisioned.

So saying, back to the basic lore on this point. In everyday life, ‘forces of the unconscious’ can be our desire to fit in. Then again, they may be our interaction with ‘the’ mass consciousness (universal understandings or truths) or some subset thereof which we are tapping or tapped into through culture and upbringing, religion, nationality, peer group, generation or the times we live in.

Our ‘difficulties’ with that ‘sense’ we have of what’s out there, or what we ‘should’ be, or whether we ‘fit in’ or ‘greater realms’ or ‘inner evils’ (or hopes, etc.) …those are our ‘Cetus,’ our whale which isn’t about others – it’s about us. Menkar is in other words, the aperture…a sort of porthole through which we see the ‘greater realm’ or greater possibilities and through which we ‘feel seen.’

Because we are talking about Taurus, the question here is security. And because Cetus is a constellation which lies in proximity to the ecliptic, it's something which is 'close to us' at all times. Because of Earth's position in the whole of the greater universe, that which we see as 'the whale' is actually a construct composed of things near and far...stars which are relatively close to us and those which are many, many light years away. Thus the questions posed by Cetus - and therefore by Menkar come to us through Taurus in a manner which is both very immediate and very philosophical. So there is a very real part of the question "Am I secure?" Then again, there's a very broad-scope consideration about what security is, and whether we are every entirely secure other than being secure with ourselves seeing as we live in a world we don't control with a whole lot of people we surely don't control.

So whether the question is security or potential or acceptance or survival, there are 'real' versions and 'philosophical' versions for all those questions. And when we get done with all that, we still won't know for absolute sure whether 'right now' will carry over for the next five minutes or if in the whole of things, we're just kidding ourselves anyway.

Why is our potential? And why can we see everybody else's potential so well even when they can't see it? Is that what others truly see in us?

This touches on something written by Marianne Williamson back in 1992 in her book ‘Return to Love.’ Often thought of as being quoted by Nelson Mandela, it embodies another way to see the Menkar dilemma:

“It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

—Marianne Williamson

I have long realized that I attract people whose charts contain pointed commentaries on Menkar. They are most often friends than clients, and our relationships are rife with the interlocking of our personal struggles to fulfill our potential, often in spite of our marked ability to trip ourselves up by prioritizing desires over ability.

It is that choice of priority again, that very Greek question of the micro-versus-macrocosm of life.

And that explains at least some of why Menkar is difficult. It’s hard to think through this sort of conflict of self. And it’s one which shows up time and time and time again.

In the charts of people I come to know, most often there’s a planet sitting close enough to conjunct Menkar. In studying those (inclusive of the planets and asteroids in conjunction) I’ve come to understand that Menkar represents what we face in dealing with our world and what we embody in the lives of others. This was never made as plain to me as when I realized that someone I know with a literal life-or-death job has Medusa conjunct Sun conjunct Menkar.

And from there I looked to the chart of my sister, born to die at age 17 of a devastating and fatal disease. Nessus conjunct her Sun conjunct Menkar speaks eloquently of the understandable bitterness she felt at knowing she was going to die young and the scars she left on the lives around her while like so much connected to Nessus, live on decades after her death.

In a chart where Venus, Mercury, Phaethon and the South Node conjunct Menkar I see the experience of a life which, true to Phaethon’s ‘headstrong teen’ influence got on track early and which didn’t get challenged in the internal sense until much later on, at an age when that native was long past teenage adaptability. A lot of the growing up and facing of life’s realities some of us learn early this person is struggling with now in their 50s.

They’ve fallen down and they can’t get up because they are too afraid to see they’ve fallen down - yet another version of the 'Menkar Effect.'

A composite photo of NGC 1068 (M77) which is one of the nebula formations to

be found in constellation Cetus. That M77 contains a rapidly growing black

hole adds to the astro-mythology of its constellation.

(photo credit: NASA, CXC, MIT, Canizares, Evans et al,  STSd, NSF, 

NRAO, VLA, March 2010)

Menkar began the 1900s by moving into 13 Taurus in 1905. 13 Taurus is a degree which promotes and provokes the idea of right and wrong, some of which may be real and may be driven by some already-established internalized sense of priority or propriety. That would seem to be doubling up on some of Menkar’s least likable attributes, which may explain why between 1905 and 1976 (when Menkar moved on into 14 Taurus) we  saw more war (as a world) than we’ve seen since. With a lot of people still alive who were born during those years there would seem to be something of a ‘hyperbolic’ tendency still among us.

And of course there is that Menkar challenge which asks that we see the good and bad not just in others, but in ourselves. Humans are not always so very good at that.

Since 1976, Menkar has been positioned at 14 Taurus, a degree with a very mystical bent which in ‘real life’ terms could be simply mystical – but which may also give us a clue about the role of spirituality and religion seen during in the nearly 50 years since. Dividing ‘the times’ from the people who live with/through/by the natal charts, the times will be what they will be (which we would astrological see more through ongoing transits and eclipses)…but the people born with Menkar at 14 Taurus – is it any wonder that they are swayed by that which may be all around them but which they cannot see, such as social media?

There are ups and downs with everything, to be sure. And given that Menkar will be at 14 Taurus until June of 2048 (which will happen just as Neptune conjuncts Menkar and Eris moves into Taurus) we have a ways to go with this “mystical” quality which could lend so much insight – leading to great realizations about life…and maybe even the afterlife or other dimensions. But at the same time it speaks to a time and half a dozen astrological  generations (using Pluto as our generational market) which are all predisposed to manifesting and feeling this “mystical” influence both for the strength and weakness, the faith and vulnerability that any “mystical” reference can denote.

All this is timely because here in the year 2013 we’re about to experience a Solar Eclipse at 19 Taurus. Using standard 5-degree orbs, that means this Solar Eclipse will conjunct Menkar.

Plus there is a Solar Eclipse which will happen this November at 11 Scorpio? That’s within orb to oppose Menkar.

Anyone with a birthday between April 26 and May 15 (or) October 29 and November 17 should pay attention to this for sure. Those with birthdays between May 4 and May 15 along with those with birthdays between November 6 and 17 should pay particular attention to this May’s Taurus eclipse. Those with birthdays between April 26 and May 6th and October 29 and November 8 should focus on the November eclipse yet to come.

And for you whose birthdays lie in that overlap? This going to be a big year in your life. Many things you had thought were lasting – particularly as part of your internal value system – will now be supplanted. Being that humans are not the most malleable in such areas, the process won’t feel gentle, even without any loss of lifestyle or limb.

But let’s be real here: Solar Eclipses are not gentle. Nor are they a 'one-and-done' sort of affair. Solar eclipse effects evolve...and of all the astrological processes, they are perhaps the most dramatic, which may account for the histories of Solar Eclipses marking the rise and fall of kings and nations back into ancient times.

Yet since our focus here is Menkar, what we can expect from a Solar Eclipse on Menkar is the ‘shadow’ of our inner Cassiopeia coming out. Where we have not learned to be Perseus and figure out how to deal with those “frightening Medusa truths” – whether about ourselves or others, now those facts come out.

At the time of this post (April 26th) asteroid Child is conjunct the South Node with Lilith (the asteroid, not the Black Moon) conjunct Menkar, representing some facet of our Self which we don't want to acknowledge (Lilith) being focal in those dealings with the collective either as we stand against them, wanting to be an individual...or as we yearn to be part of them.

The Child/South Node part of this is most easily understood as 'wanting things to be easy' (or simple) which in combination with Lilith/Menkar sounds like a subterranean confrontation with that inner 'knowing' of who we are and what we're capable of becoming against what life has made easy to comply with or conform to.

As the days of May tick by (on our way to the Solar Eclipse on May 10th, or May 9th for those in the Americas)...first Mercury, then Mars conjunct Menkar.

This is a recipe for 'vital affairs' with far-reaching implications, the strength of which have everything to do with where these objects (Mercury, Mars and Menkar) lie in your natal chart.

And that's important to remember: the degree to which these things surface now, and to a great degree the effect Menkar has on your life is all about your natal chart. Whether (or how closely) Menkar and this eclipse are associated with any planet (dwarf or regular), node or axis in your chart multiplies effects in this moment.

Also yes, asteroids, TNOs and all such 'extra points' (as they're known) count in conjunction to Menkar natally and obviously (as discussed here) by transit. But unless you have a planet, node or axis positioned with Menkar or in such a position that it will be heavily impacted by the eclipse, you are less likely to see your shadow rise up and swallow some part of your life whole during the next weeks or month.

You know, like Jonah and the Whale.

Jonas en de Walvis (Jonah and the Whale)

by Pieter Lastman (1583-1633)

One more comment about that, since Jonah has crept into the conversation. The idea of being afraid of our own power is something many people from many walks of life have talked about. It’s known as the ‘Jonah Complex,’ which suggests that we are more apt to get swallowed by our fear of Self than anything else.

But what is fear and what is reality?

That seems very much part of our Menkar challenge. And maybe it's why we do so much soul searching throughout our lives.

Evidently we're meant to.

But then...maybe we should also reflect one last time on Cetus. Yes, the constellation began as a monster of the deep. And it's only in the past hundred plus years that whales have stopped being thought of as ship-wrecking monsters and giant sources of baleen and oil.

The whales haven't changed - we have. And maybe that's something very important to understand about Menkar. We may all need to - at some point - be 'swallowed whole' by our demons, our personal fears.

And maybe we survive best by accepting that our fears... our very human vulnerabilities, are part of the beauty which is life.   
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Persied Meteor Shower

A little streak of meteor light in the night sky 

The coming nights of August 12th and 13th are the height of the annual Perseid Meteor season. Visible mostly in the northern hemisphere, meteors streak across our sky every night for about a week and are most visible just before dawn.

Not much is made of meteor showers in the astrological world, but maybe we're just missing something. So what do we know about this event?

For one, we know that the meteors which shower down upon us from a comet named Swiff-Tuttle which has an orbital period of 133.45 years. If we just divide that number by 12 (signs of the zodiac), that gives us 11.12 'implied years'...which is a number close to what we would think of as the primary "Jupiter number" seeing that Jupiter takes 11.86 years to orbit once around the Sun.

Close though that may be, Swiff-Tuttle is a whole other thing than giant gas planet Jupiter. Consider this...it takes Jupiter 11.86 (earth) years to orbit around the Sun. Go past Jupiter and Uranus and you arrive at Neptune, which takes 164 years to do a single-orbital thing. Pluto - whether you call it planet or dwarf planet - it's out there beyond Neptune and it takes 248 years to go once around the Sun.

When farthest away from the Sun (a point known astronomically as the 'aphelion') Swiff-Tuttle is out beyond Pluto. It's even out beyond Pluto, Ixion, Chaos and Huya, if you want to get right down to it.

At the other end of the scale we have the perihelion - the point at which objects in solar orbit come closest to the Sun. Measured in what is known as 'astronomical units' (or AU's), Earth's perihelion is 0.983 au. And Swiff-Tuttle's is 0.9585 au.

This means that Swiff-Tuttle makes its innermost curve to head out back into icy solar systemic realms pretty much in our earthly neighborhood, which is why we see all the meteors. If you think of it as Swiff-Tuttle throwing off droplets like a wet cartoon dog making a quick turn, you're just about there - the reason comets have tails (and are thus thought of by us as comets) is exactly all about this 'shedding' thing. (But no, you shouldn't worry about having to tell a comet to get the heck off the couch.)

The point here is that Swiff-Tuttle makes its entire orbital journey in just 133.45 years, which might mean calling it 'swift-Tuttle' would be more apropos - this comet trucks!

Considering all this as a metaphor - which everything in the solar system is from a macro/microcosmic point of view - that means that whatever Swiff-Tuttle brings to us is quick acting, has a quick affect, or comes and goes quickly. That the comet's 'way out there' aphelion point is in the Kuiper Belt also tells us that at the very least Swiff-Tuttle's meteor shower brings is a 'shot' or two (or three or sixty) of things we don't control and which end up being influential at some level on things we are doing, the way we think, or how we or our lives change because of these new influences.

The area of the zodiac which this comet comes from being in the constellation Perseus adds to this a whole mythical bent.

Benvento Cellini's Perseus

Perseus was the first of the great fabled Greek heroes. A son of Zeus (aka Jupiter, speaking of Jupiter) he ends up being challenged by various monsters conjured up by Jupiter (knowledge) and dad's ocean ruling brother, Neptune (water=emotion; Neptune= ideals versus illusion).

So right away we know this is a tale of generations, calling us to consider parent/child relationships, what we have learned, not learned or rebelled against with regards to our parents or family...maybe even whether we are 'turning into' our parents as we go along. Or whether we can accept being parents, with all the responsibilities and ultimately, the losses there implied as children grow up and go off into the world.

Important too here is that the monsters are not the parents. These are monsters conjured up by the parents - which plainly indicates they are psychological issues or choices which may have roots in family, but which you are acting out/on in your own life.   

The two most famous Perseus hero stories being the  slaying of Medusa and his rescuing lovely Andromeda from a monster conjured up by Neptune.

The story of Medusa is one we all think we know. But unless you've really dug into it, you probably don't really understand the full importance of the Medusa which is in each and every one of us - the Medusa in our own lives we are so afraid of. Medusa can be about facing the truth. Or admitting to yourself that you live in a world of delusions, fantasies...or that you're just kidding yourself about what reality is. Or what real values are. Or what you are capable of, have done, are responsible for, or so on. Medusa can simply be our fear of the new - or that if we learn better, we'll have to admit (oh, horrors!) that we were actually wrong about something. 

 --- (New! Link to my full length Medusa article, now posted here at astroPPM) ---

And sometimes that is (yes,) a whole giant and difficult thing. But whatever it is, if it's the truth, its the truth - there's a reason why Medusa's head ends up being mounted on the front of the shield of Pallas Athena, she being the Goddess of Wisdom.

As for Andromeda, she is a beauteous lovely overcome by Neptune (emotion) who Perseus, son of divine knowledge (Jupiter) is sent to rescue. In this assignment we get a good clear shot at trying to grasp the difference between knowledge and wisdom - they are not the same thing! Apparently knowing and understanding all (Jupiter) is not the same as wisdom, which would be why Athena is incarnated separate from Zeus (though sprung from his brow) complete with helmet, spear and various other kinds of weaponry - including, one would suppose, a pretty pithy ability to pronounce that truth which really hurts!

What does this amount to for our purposes, though? Probably that knowing and knowledge is static: it is what it is. Wisdom is knowing how to use knowledge - what to do with it.

In Perseus' case, Zeus (Jupiter) sends Athena (wisdom) to help arm Perseus - another hint about wisdom as the weapon or tool with which we do, not merely contemplate. And since Perseus' tale is all about going to fix things, we thus are informed that anything emanating from this constellation, like the Perseid meteors are about 'showering' us with not just the wisdom, but the need to fix things.

So don't be surprised if there are things going on right now which need fixing. Or which you're being challenged about in the sense of how to fix them. That Medusa is involved here (by Perseus implication) also tells us that there's some element of 'facing the truth' involved.

Edward Burne-Jones - Perseus rescuing Andromeda

from sea monster Cetus (associated with Aquarius/society

and Pisces/feelings, empathy, universally connective

emotional standards)

Astrologically, there are also two important fixed stars associated with constellation Perseus. The first is Mirfak. Also known as Algenib, this is a very large star estimated to be about 42 times the size of our sun.

Fittingly, Mirfak is conceptualized as the honorable battle, the accepting of a challenge - even the desire to compete. If Mirfak (which is positioned currently at 2 Gemini) is strongly aspected in your chart, you will embody or react to these concepts in terms of whatever planet or point connects to Mirfak's placement.

The other star is a bit more touchy. It's name is Algol, and it has a rather rancid reputation as reflected by alternative names like the 'Ghoul' and 'Demon Star.' Associated with the eye of Medusa, Algol is often simply referred to as the 'passion of the feminine.' And because of this, particularly in times gone by it has come to be associated not just with the 'evil woman' but with anyone who when prodded, wronged or prompted was of a mind to speak up, speak out or stand up for themselves.

Constellation Perseus

Positioned at 26 Taurus, Algol is without question a star which has two sides of it: here we either embody the effective or disruptive 'power of the feminine' (reflective response). Once embodied, everyone reacts to this energy - that's the guaranteed part, coming from the fact that Algol sits in a 3rd decan (degree 20-29) position of its' zodiac sign.

Mirfak is 1st decanate: it falls between degrees 0 and 9. So it's about our person or what we do. Algol is 3rd decanate - once we do what we do, then what we put out there affects other factors, other people, other lives...and in time, us: our reputation or our reception or our opportunities or our relationships.

At its peak during the August 12-13 period, the Perseid meteor shower is occurring with Neptune in a challenging square to Algol, prompting issues of disillusionment to surface. They may be past, they may be just happening now, or it may be that at this time facts are exposing you to truths you had denied or never wanted to know in the first place.

Meanwhile, there's a huge influx of energy by trine (meaning it's unavoidable) connecting with the Mirfak dynamic. The lineup here is Mars (proactive energy), Saturn (earning, structural rules, leadership) and Venus (relationships, products and reputations), so expect there to be calls for things to be done, get done and owned up to. This last is particularly underscored by a  rather compounding, compacting, metamorphic pressure-filled touch being thrown atop all by Pluto, still retrograde, inching backwards in early Capricorn, a sign ruled by Saturn.

That Pluto is retrograde now means that this is unlikely to be a moment of action per se...but what's rising to the surface now is not the sweet cream - it's something far fouler. Real change however...that isn't likely to happen until mid-September at least, as that's when Pluto with station and go direct.

But the shower of information? That's now. We're hearing it. We're seeing it. We're becoming aware of it.

Maybe we should pay more attention to these meteor showers. What do you think?