Dionysus Direct, Deucalion Retrograde

Amzinybe (Eternity) by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1907)

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Are you wondering if there’s anything afoot for Valentines Day, astrologically speaking?

That answer would be ‘yes’ as asteroid Dionysus and TNO Deucalion are going on station as of the date of this blog with both actually taking their station turns on February 14th.

In going direct at 17 Gemini, Dionysus is taking a ‘direct stand’ in trine to the degree at which Mercury’s recently concluded retrograde started back on January 21st. Does this mean these two issues have to be connected? Not necessarily, but it is likely that these days which follow in the wake of Mercury going direct holds a few notions about things each one of us feels we need to do (which isn’t about ‘needing to get it done’ but rather some underlying ‘requirement’ to do it). That’s a Dionysus quality - which yes, may seem a bit odd if you’re thinking of Dionysus solely as the Greek version of that rowdy wine-swigging Roman god, Bacchus, everyone’s favorite good-god-to-go at a good-time party.

But that’s the point - the astrological point, at least: asteroid Bacchus is about the celebration as the good time and the party. And Dionysus? Well, Dionysus, the celebration is more of a ceremonial or even sacred type of event - which is probably a good thing as in going direct at 17 Gemini, Dionysus is doing so in conjunction with fixed star Rigel (teaching/learning through/about the mind) and TNO Chaos (endless potential), the combined influence of which is virtually unlimited, but not precisely romantic.

Yes, it does speak to choices. And this being Valentine’s Day, we know a whole lot of people are going to be making all sorts of choices. (Ahem!) In fact, with the Moon moving through Sagittarius (the opposition sign to Gemini) during the day of the 14th, and Dionysus turning to direct motion late in the evening (UT/+0 time), there are likely to be all sorts of things going through our heads all day.

(Oh goodie ... a think-a-thon!)

As for Deucalion, let’s just remember what Deucalion is before embarking on any astrological dance steps here. Like Chaos, Deucalion is a TNO, which first and foremost means that both objects orbit way out there in the cold vastness of the Kuiper Belt (beyond Neptune and thus metaphysically beyond all which we can ‘imagine’ and everything which is - or which could be only about the 'us,' whether we think of that 'us' as our Self as an individual, or some 'group' or segment of humanity ... even Existence).

-link to post-

Deucalion: Freeing Our Will

And after that? Well, after that comes the real Cubewano quality, that being how Deucalion, like Chaos, is not affected by Neptune’s more than powerful magnetic resonance. Said magnetic and Neptunian quality does affect Pluto. And it also affects Ixion, both of these points being astrological tiger-traps we all manage to tumble ourselves into along the line. (And sometimes, repeatedly all along that line!)

But Chaos? And Deucalion? Both of these points represent notions which at some level are free from outside influence ... as they come along and deliver the unexpected. That Dionysus stands with Rigel and Chaos is a chance to learn more about what matters - and an invisible question posed as to whether it matters to us. Add to that how Deucalion going retrograde at 15 Scorpio is in part a universal announcement that we haven’t yet gotten to the point where we can move ahead because the person who needs to move on isn’t who we are yet being in this moment?

Fifteen degrees of each of the four fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) is what’s known as the ‘cross-quarter’ point. It’s a reference to having gotten through half of that zodiacal quadrant’s ‘business’ - or in this case, having gotten to the half way mark without having yet quite enough to move any farther.

In Scorpio, the question is how we handle the feelings and values of others in our own terms - or in terms of our Self and that Self’s perhaps Self-ish emotionality. After all, Scorpio is where we put questions of (Taurus) security to the test - and that security is not ‘about’ “them,” but rather a question of whether we are able to deal whatever it is ‘they’ (or life) is presenting us with.

Do we feel rejected? Neglected? Are we of the nicely independent opinion that others need to have their brains, priorities and morals inspected?

To whatever extent we are merely reacting to what others do, say or are now, that’s the degree to which we’re not taking advantage of some opportunity to achieve mastery.

No, not over them - over our Self, which would be both the business of Scorpio (getting us to own our own vulnerability at least enough to get past them so we can think, plan and make decisions based on choice and not instinct) ... and Deucalion, as Deucalion is a point which presents a challenge (sometimes a crisis) which is either emotional in nature or which promotes or provokes general emotionalism in order to get us to be independent of whatever is capable of causing us to (Neptune) feel overwhelmed (or stirred up) and to thus rise above the storm, discarding that which was weighing us down in the process.

Some of us will beat a (retrograde) retreat now and think things through (which would be more  Deucalion than Dionysus). Then again, some of us will go right through this cupid-like and chocolate-covered time and learn from all we see, hear and experience. That Deucalion is going retrograde in a degree (17 Gemini) which emphasizes planning not done (or) executed solely on an individual basis does indeed favor not going solo at the moment.

It just doesn’t guarantee happiness or success. We may be delighted with where we are at the moment - and then again, we may be wondering who the ‘right person’ is (and how to get close enough to them) with regards to whatever we’re trying to accomplish, whether that’s romantic or entirely otherwise.

Deucalion won’t be going direct again until July 27th, and during the whole of that time it will only move two degrees. By the time it goes direct we will (hopefully) have learned a deal more about our Self ... about what works for us, what we can agree to be 'about' or stand for (or against), and that which may work in the moment but which we know in the long run isn't going to generate the rewards or ‘harvest’ which emotionally we might be thinking of ... but which we know at the bedrock of our heartfelt recognition isn't either likely - or not actually the truly and functionally universal answer.

Deucalion always asks us to rise above our emotions, whatever they may be and be about. To have an 'emotional regard' for the whole of an issue or situation is very Deucalion. To parse that down to bias or something which is emotionally convenient violates the Deucalion premise, virtually insuring that we'll get 'swamped,'

By what?

By whatever will incite or produce and understanding of why emotional convenience is actually seriously inconvenient.  

So ...! Between now and then, either we’ll 'get it' and it won’t be good, or we won’t get it and we will realize just how we have squandered other opportunities  - and in some cases the lives of others we care about - by being so focused on one thing ... or even just one facet of one thing ...as to be willingly blinded to so much else, as to be emotionally unwilling to speak or stand for what we know is universally true about one of us... and therefore all of us as human beings.

That we will not name in the world and which we will not look at in our Self is the thing which will most upset and in moments upend us - and lest we forget, we deny such things and turn away from them not because they are not worthy of our attention, but because we know we are guilty of having not given something which merits attention its due.

That is also Deucalion. 

As for Dionysus, it will be in direct motion for nearly the balance of the year, going retrograde next December 8th at ... (do you want to guess?) ... 22 Leo, the degree at which Jupiter went retrograde last December as Saturn (then at 28 Scorpio) crossed the degree line denoting the start of our 2014-2015 efforts to grow, prune, structure, restructure and slowly develop that which will provide us with a framework which allows the rest of life to blossom.

Are these factors connected? They don’t have to be, but they may be ... in which case, by the time Saturn finishes its yearly round (which happens in early  August) and we wrap all that up, maybe we’ll be in the mood and just the right position to celebrate something which from here is yet an ocean of emotional experiences - and understanding - away.

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The Gemini Solar Eclipse

Albert Einstein's photo of a 1919 Solar Eclipse

In the moments that June 1st’s solar eclipse forms up at 9:04pm (UT/+0) at 11 Gemini, the world does not change.

The world is already changing.

So what does the moment of the eclipse mark?

Simple…it marks the moment when all which we have been ‘realizing’ becomes a cause for ‘doing.’ And for those more reluctant or recalcitrant on the subject, a time when situations begin forcing our hand, making us do something about such things.

With this eclipse occurring at 11 Gemini, we know the issues are mental. Informational. This is about the ability to learn and learn better and/or the willingness to learn or learn better. Gemini asks us to choose who we will be through what we take on learning about and doing. In its middle (2nd) decanate, it’s all about the fervent longing to know…and the fervency of speech. From poetry to anger, communications express feelings, beliefs and urgings…many, if not most of which we should probably apply to ourselves first.

And yet...this isn't a total eclipse - it's a partial eclipse. That suggests that the effects are a bit more subtle, even if the eclipse hits your chart 'dead on,' as it were. What's the difference in broader terms? Well...maybe it's more like having someone bump into you fairly abruptly as opposed to having the rug yanked out from under you. Or all the lights coming on just as you've gotten really into the movie as opposed to being woken out of a sound sleep by all the lights AND a very loud siren going off in your ear.

In other words, it's not that the status quo isn't changing. It's the degree of....clarity with which the change is announced. Or maybe demanded of you. 

 2011 Solar Eclipse of June 1st - 9:17pm (UT/+0)

Aries Wheel/Location Not Specific

Occurring at 11 Gemini has this eclipse distanced from the lunar nodes (which are positioned at 23 degrees of Gemini and Sagittarius south-to-north respectively) which images what we are thinking as being somewhat ‘distanced’ from society itself, marking this eclipse as somewhat more personal or private than some.

Even thought January’s 13 Capricorn eclipse had the nodes at 2 Capricorn (North) and Cancer (South) the presence of Pluto at 5 Capricorn formed something of a bridge – and in that, gave us a very big clue that the key to that eclipse would be the ‘emotional experience of transformative situations’ (Pluto) involving societal (nodal) Capricorn structures (government, leaders/leadership) particularly where charismatic statements had not been carried out with commensurately satisfying deeds – this last part being all about the eclipse having been conjunct fixed star Vega.

There is no ‘bridging’ planet between the Sun and Moon’s position at 11 Gemini and the South Node at 23 Gemini. What we do have however, are some rather clear statements regarding what life is (or at least feels like) to us at this time.

The South Node (the easy way out) is conjunct Bellatrix, a fixed star known for contentious communication. The North Node (what we should do) is conjunct fixed star Ras Alhague, a difficult star which urges us to take what we have seen and learned and to respond with acts which though challenging, can be or become healing in nature.

It’s easy to see these forces at work in our worldly world. Even our private and personal world. What may or may not be as easy is seeing how these ideas apply to us as individuals.

But yes, that would be the optimal thing to do!

11 Gemini as a degree suggests that we are helped and hindered in doing this very personal work of ‘breaking through mental walls.’ Most of us will see the opportunities we have missed rather clearly – (unfortunately, we’re all pretty good at that!). Fewer of us will realize that those ‘flaws’ we see in ourselves are not finite. Why? Because it’s easier to give up on ourselves than fight whatever shape our defeatist nature may take.

And we all have one, trust me. Some people have a defeatist nature which is turned outward. We think of them as ‘go getters’ who refuse to be ‘beaten down.’ But talk to such people in a most human moment and most of the time you’ll find they’re more scared of not getting the job done than the work it takes to do the job itself. Right or wrong, they’re going to try, because the status quo – the having to live with themselves – is so difficult otherwise.

In the end, that’s who we are and what we’re all about: living with ourselves. Even those of us who are in sublimely secure relationships have to close our eyes at night. And when we do, in those moments or minutes before we fall asleep we are alone…with and within ourselves.

That’s the person we live and die with. And as.

Given that the figure of this eclipse highlights two very important fixed stars - Aldebaran and Antares – we know the balance, the discussion, the ‘debate’ going on within our lives is all about integrity (Aldebaran) and obsessions (Antares). With the Aldebaran end of this natural opposition the part being ‘blacked out’ by the eclipse, we are either now not able to rely on integrity (ours or that of others)…or we need to put exactly that out into the world.

Remember, the image of a solar eclipse has the disc of the Moon (instinct) ‘blacking out’ our source of light (the Sun). Whether this takes the form of your feeling very lacking in ‘enlightenment’ or ideas (Edisona being conjunct this eclipse), there is a certain reality now which directs us to the knowing that when it comes to our life, we’re in the driver’s seat.

If you are someone with a birthday within 5 days of this eclipse, your life is in a radical period of transformation. Your operational parameters are in flux and you should not expect to know what your future really holds for some time to come. Lunar eclipses have a life span…a ‘spinning out’ period which only lasts 3 months. But solar eclipse? They’re another thing again. Solar eclipses evolve over a period of 36 month with the real ‘knowing’ what they’re ‘about’ often not surfacing until rather near this transit’s end.

And this doesn’t mean you just sit around playing tiddlywinks until that moment comes!

If we treat them as such, eclipses are superb vehicles of personal evolution. By stripping away that which we have hidden behind or temporized with, thinking it’s ‘good enough’ or making excuses as to why we can’t change….by eradicating or imploding such 'walls’ we are hiding behind, solar eclipses allow us to in time become the person we know we should be – not that the process of making that change is always all that convenient.

Uh, probably not. Solar eclipses are not known for their genteel nature, so don’t expect a sedan chair to carry you from hither to yon and don’t expect that shedding your old mental life skin is going to come without some period of feeling exposed, tender and insecure.

The idea here would be to use or better yet, recapture the sense of integrity (Aldebaran) in healing your own life (Ras Alhague), preferably so that in going forward along your learning (Gemini) – doing, implementing, growing your life (Sagittarius) road…the idea is to be able to live with a greater integrity not just as to who you are in the minutia, but who you are in this world.

It has to work at both ends. There’s a lot of people who are polarized right now, just as Aldebaran and Antares sit in opposition. Either our external worldly life is working fine but our personal life really sucks…or we’ve figured out who we are but not how to make it work in our personal world or the worldly world.

 June 1st's global eclipse path

We do need to be who we are, no question. But this isn’t just about us. Asteroid Kallisto standing conjunct Aldebaran to the degree tells us there is a difficult passage which is to be endured between the moment when we vow to ourselves to be the person we need to be and that moment when our star rises in our mental heaven. We will get blamed, we will be misunderstood. We must simply continue on being the best us we know how to be: that’s part of what integrity (Aldebaran) is defined as at this time.

Ahead of this eclipse stands Dionysus at 12 Gemini, TNO Chaos at 13 Gemini, Sabine at 14 Gemini and fixed star Rigel at 16 Gemini. This pretty much describes the road ahead.

First, we have to undertake the task of being who we are as if it was a sacred event – and something to be celebrated in our own minds, this fact that we have finally decided to be who we need to be in order to satisfy not merely our mind or not merely our body or society or family, but all that we hold as true (Dionysus).

We accept that there are things about life – and our lives – which we do not know yet. We are willing to be inspired and become more tomorrow than we think we are today (TNO Chaos).

We understand that the world and others in this world will not always understand us, like what we are doing or approve of the fact that we have undertaken the challenge of being a slave only to our sense of inner integrity. They don’t have to agree with us, nor do we have to agree with them. All we have to do is get along and let each one find their way to be their own person in their own life (Sabine).

We know that in the end we are all charged to stand as teachers in this world, if only teachers who have to teach from the tales of personal experience (Rigel).

In last January’s eclipse, Pluto was the intervening factor between the eclipse and the societal nodes – the world we live in. Pluto is a dwarf planet of our own solar system. When I say that there is no ‘object’ which ties the eclipse to the nodes, I’m speaking of no major solar systemic object.

But yes, there is Rigel. A fixed star represents the 'backdrop' in our life...and in our mind.

Rigel…known as Beta Orion for its place in that constellation…is considered a blessing. It’s an emblem of protection and mentorship. It recalls the firm but kind guiding hand which restrains us in order to keep us from harming ourselves and which encourages us so that we do not falter in our resolve.

These energies are all around us in our world now. But more importantly, they’re within us. We have the need to grow towards our own ability to ‘be’ Rigel in our own life, our private or maybe our worldly world… and that’s going to take some effort.

For weeks now we have been feeling and thinking and seeing what needs our better comprehension. What we need to consider and reconsider.

Now we stand in a doorway opened upon a whole new world.

It’s time to step out and be on our way.

Hidalgo on station

  Backlot ‘Western Street’ at Universal Studios
photo credit: Ipsingh

I don’t know about you, but there’s something very ‘old western movie’ about Hidalgo going on station in the last days of Uranus being at 29 intense and critical degrees of Pisces. It's got a bit of showdown at the OK Corral, if you get me.

But instead of attempting to swagger through a bunch of text (trust me, I do a lousy John Wayne!) I’ll just get to the facts, which are….

Asteroid Hidalgo enters its two-day station prior to turning retrograde at 4:23pm (UT/+0) on March 10th – meaning Hidalgo will actually go retrograde on March 12th at 4:23pm (UT/+0). And yes, Hidalgo’s station effects – like all station effects – continue on for another two days after the actual turn of direction, which means they end on March 14th.

Hidalgo goes on station as Bali’s station is already in progress (as of the 9th), as we chit-chatted about in the last blog. In going on station in Scorpio (and conjunct rainmaker Huya), this sets a ‘stage’ for Hidalgo’s station which would seem to be very noble or very ‘I’m out for myself.’

But let's not forget...with Neptune at 28 Aquarius and Uranus at 29 Pisces, this is by definition a moment which while intensely what it is...is also somewhat lacking in perspective. Maybe even realism.

And yet, some things we would shy away from in the coldest light of clarity do and will get done when fervency or ideals...even desperation carry us through!

Where does the name ‘Hidalgo’ come from, you ask? At peril of waxing western movie again, there are many references for Hidalgo to be found “out there” with most being simply a reference to a Spanish term for nobility or gentry, which considering the societal roots of same points us in a sort of ‘dutiful heroic’ sort of direction.

And that works with Hidalgo in the chart, where it seems to function with a focus on a sort of ‘save the day’ point of view. But don’t get too locked in about what that means, as Hidalgo is one of those celestial symbols which flexes very much depending on where its located in any given chart (and what it’s associated with or ruled by). Hidalgo can indeed represent being the hero. Or doing the noble thing. Then again, it can symbolize the need for a hero or being put in a position that you really need for someone else to do a noble thing.

Hidalgo can even represent being inspired by or affected by seeing someone wearing either the very white or very black hat in the classical villain/hero sort of set-up.

This polarizing effect – plus the personal/impersonal quality astrology presents is what makes some think making predictions with astrology isn’t possible. I happen not to believe that – but I also think you have to be into a lot of detail work to make accurate predictions.

Anyway…take all those Hidalgo concepts and put them in a pot, turn the mental bubble down to low and let that simmer while we discuss where this station is occurring – namely 11 Sagittarius.

So what does that tell us (we ask most diligently…)?

For one, this tells us our good/bad instincts, estimations and reactions (opinions?) are based in ‘fire concepts’ at the moment – and more or less over the next four or so days. Astrological fire meaning imagination-versus-idealism there is – as always with fire – the challenge to recognize the real from the hope, and to remember that fire is all about getting spurred on to greater things. Fire is supposed to ‘heat us up’ and get us all ‘fired up’ and ‘firing on all cylinders,’ to use some handy  expressions.

The down side with fire is when we expect it to be true. So while it seems sensible with Hidalgo at 11 Sagittarius to want to help and “be the hero” the reality is that you could help and New York could just not schedule that ticker tape parade.

 The solar system’s main asteroid belt is situated between Mars and Jupiter. Objects which orbit outside the Jupiter margin but which come into the asteroid belt but not beyond Mars are generally classed as ‘Centaurs’
diagram source: NASA/JPL

Or maybe you want to do something great, but it doesn’t work. Can you be content with being the heroic person who tries to help? So often we underestimate the worth of trying, even when our shot goes wide of the mark. Fire elements – among other things – test our ability to deal with ‘try, try again’ as a concept, recognizing that the skills which are there to be honed are ours. The issue is not, as we sometimes think, where the target is put. Or that pesky cross wind. Sometimes it’s all about whether we’ve built up enough strength to be able to handle the heavy bow with enough skill to drive that arrow through those cross winds and hit that target even if it is an extra twenty yards away.

Speaking of such, the lore for 11 Sagittarius is all about one’s ability to actually do things. There’s a dollop of outspokenness which goes along with applying one’s self to the task(s) at hand…and yes, it’s probably better if that’s not all simple braggadocio, which this degree supports by sprinkling diplomacy atop the outspokenness.

Astronomically, Hidalgo is a much interesting critter. Classed as a Centaur, Hidalgo’s orbit takes it out as far as just past Jupiter and pretty much all the way inward through the asteroid belt to just shy of Mars.

That’s a pretty curious cycle, metaphysically. The whole of the space between Mars (the ‘I want/intend to do’ planet) and Jupiter (the ‘I know how to get where I want to go’) planet is populated by asteroids. There are thousands of them, and they represent all the things we encounter, learn from and end up having to consider on our way from initiation or instigation (Mars) to knowing how to get where we really want to go.

Being one of these objects we would think Hidalgo represents ‘just another thing we have to consider and deal with’ on our way through life except that its’ orbit takes it beyond Jupiter.

So Hidalgo is about going beyond what one knows – which may be part of its nobility and heroic quality. You know…fools and heroes rush in where angels allegedly fear to tread and all that?

This rather reminds me of two things…one, the lesson of Aries courage. Aries courage is not necessarily about knowing you can ‘do this’ so much as its about knowing “this” (whatever “this” is) just needs to be done. We go past what we “know” (Jupiter) we can do and do it anyway.

There are a lot of children’s books written with this theme – the hero goes out and does the thing which nobody wants to tell them can’t be done. A lot of great things have happened in life because no one told us we couldn’t do it. We just went out and did it and everybody gawked.

Of course, there are bumblebees. Apparently in engineering terms, they’re not properly designed to fly. Wings too small…body too large – or something like that.

Except nobody told the bumblebees. They go on flying not knowing they can’t!

 A bumblebee – one of nature’s wonders
Photo credit: Sffubs (2008) 

Yet metaphysically, we wouldn’t say Hidalgo is about ‘achievement’ per se. For us to say that, it’s orbit would have to go all the way out to Saturn. And it doesn’t. It just goes beyond Jupiter.

So where Hidalgo is concerned, we go beyond where we know. Or we realize to succeed, we have to go beyond the known. Or we become inspired by someone who shows us doing such a thing is actually possible.

Or yes, we may need help with getting past what we know – our own sense of limits.

Worth a mention here is that back a few weeks, TNO Chaos – symbolic of new and endless potentials – went direct at 11 Gemini. (LINK to blog post), a degree which is about emotional choices, emotional provocations, emotional subjects, and situations which provoke our emotions and our need to think and choose. That period coincided with many events – protests and (yes,) chaos in the Middle East, protests and (more) chaos in the US…much turmoil and emotionality of opinion was being voiced (Gemini) everywhere we looked.

Now come the question what are you going to do about it? And as this question comes to fore, we are really treated to – beyond the momentary situation – a truly excellent opportunity to see how signs in opposition are really a fruition of each other’s dynamic. The idea (Gemini) means very little if you don’t do something about it (Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter) replete with fixing the glitches and struggling to make it all work on the road to (Capricorn, ruled by Saturn) accomplishing your various aims.

As we said, Bali has already moved into its days of station effect – doing so in conjunction with Huya, the rainmaker which asks that we use the lessons we’ve learned to help others, through which we help ourselves.

Bali actually goes retrograde on March 11th, which is right when Uranus reaches critical max at 29 Pisces. Hidalgo will go retrograde on the 12th, just some hours after Uranus enters Aries.

There's a lot going on right now. Even if you're a full-fledged, mega-multitasking astrologer, it's complicated. The good news is that as blogs covering the details of these go up, they're there for reference! You can go back and read, check, peruse or even grumble at them any time that you like!

Sometimes it just helps to piece the story together as things happen in life - your personal life or that you hear going on around you.

This can be an exciting or threatening time, depending on how you react. Change is in the works – that’s one thing we can count on. Are you ready to get in there and change who you are in this world and the world you exist in?

Yes, I know...there are those among us who totally hate the idea of change. And there are those who think change is fine so long as it doesn’t affect them…!

The funny thing is, the more you push change away, the more life becomes a roller coaster which you didn't mean to embark on!

The biggest object in the astrological pot at the moment is Uranus. So the Uranian rule ‘when in doubt, be flexible’ tells us to roll with the punches and to do what needs doing.

And if that takes us beyond what we know? Well then, maybe that’s a sign that we simply don’t know everything it’s useful for us to know yet. In which case, willingness really counts.

You know…that willingness to learn and to change (Uranus) and be happy (Bali) with who we are and that there not only isn’t just good in this life, but we each embody – and thus have the ability to utilize and benefit by (Huya) the endless sort of resourcefulness which being human really gives us (Chaos.)

That would seem to be pretty noble and pretty heroic right there, don’t you agree?

Our Days of Fluctuation: Pandora, Huya and Chaos on station

Pisces by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurtionis (1907)

Last week, Chiron entered Pisces, marking a substantial shift in not so much what happens, but how we feel about what happens. In the astrological ‘pantheon,’ Chiron is always difficult simply because we can’t define what it is. All we know is that it’s difficult for you. And for him. And for that other person – and that each and every difficulty is defined by what is hard for each person to bring themselves to deal with.

Or each country.

Or each company.

Or each governing body, regime, ruler or administration.

We all have something of a ‘case of Chiron’ at the moment. That’s natural.

In the week or two ahead, you’re going to hear a lot about planets entering Pisces. Any time a ‘bunch’ of celestial bodies traverse a single sign, that’s an indicator that said sign’s precepts are more and more the focus of life’s process.

In this case, the sign is Pisces. So the ‘subject’ is the experiencing of our own feelings and/or our ability to tolerate our feelings (or reactions to the feelings of others) realistically….without abandoning all to hope, without acting out in a frenzy of venting, without simply saying ‘I don’t want to deal with that.’

Pisces is a sign of spirituality, yes. But it’s not about blind faith: it’s about acceptance. While optimism and a good attitude are good, it’s what you do with that which counts. And if you’re going to do, you had better be doing with one eye on the realities of life.

That duality is Pisces…the idealistic, optimist fish and the rational reality fish.

(Among other things – but more on that in other Pisces-oriented posts.)

Meanwhile, here we are in the latter part of Sun in conceptual Aquarius with the world posing all sorts of questions and quandaries in the attempt to get us to see what is right or wrong with the systems set up to run our life and world.

You can look at TV and it’s there. You can look in your mailbox – it’s there. You can talk to your friends and family and say ‘what’s up?’ and you’ll get an earful on what isn’t working in this world.

Somewhere along the line it may occur to you that it’s one thing to bitch and moan and another to do something about the problems. No, they’re not easy to fix, but if you don’t fix them, should you go on complaining about them?

This week, a couple of issues come into focus – mostly because we’re going to be getting some idea that we haven’t really been properly focused on those things.

Uh-oh! Oops!

The first will be represented by Atlantis retrograding back into Virgo as of February 16th at 22 minutes past midnight (UT/+0). Virgo is the sign of ‘the method.’ It’s about health, work and service and as such, involves everything from the job which you have to do (or need to get) in order to keep the lights on to health care and everyone in this world who proverbially “keeps the lights on” (i.e., runs, designs or builds infrastructure) or who works in some ‘serving’ or ‘service’ capacity in order to keep our lives going. Medical workers, members of the military, civil servants, and every support member of any corporate process is included in this group.

In some way…probably most of us (if not all of us!) fit in this group. But yes, some more than others – certainly!

The story of Atlantis is an interesting one which starts with this person feeling like an outcast with regards to the group they really, really want to feel part of. Along comes the magical chance: give all this up and surrender utterly to that you think will prove your destruction and you will find happiness. 

In the story, the person gives in (yes, tearfully) and they not only survive walking into the ocean’s depths, they find in those depths the very society and company they had been longing for….and thus they come to live happily ever after.

Anyone notice the similarity between this story and Chiron? Both ask that we do the thing we don’t know how to do…or think we can’t do. And through doing what we apparently need to do instead of what we want to do or feel comfortable doing, we discover the thing which actually makes us happy.

Atlantis is moving back into earthy, earthly, real life, real deal Virgo. Chiron has just moved into watery, emotional, self-confrontational Pisces.

In Virgo, we face how to deal with the thing, the other, the process or the world. In Pisces, we face dealing with ourselves and how we feel about life.

And for now, that’s all I’m going to say about that!

But we’re not done…come 10:33am on February 17th, asteroid Pandora goes direct at 3 Cancer, a degree which talks about the ‘misfit in one’s own home.’

That’s what we need…more problems with alienation, right? Yet considering what’s going on in the world, there’s a distinct tone of aptness to this ‘turn of eventualities.’

Remembering how celestial bodies in direct motion suggest prompting which comes through external means and that Pandora is about ‘every ill in the world’ we can expect to feel like life and people and things are trying to inflict stuff on us. But is the reality simply that we haven’t dealt with our own ill feelings? That which isn’t in us to be provoked doesn’t arise, right? So what is all this Pandora stuff about?

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Pandora by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1881)
 

Where we are dealing with ills, this would be where they would surface, particularly as that concerns not feeling ‘at home’ in some part of our life, our world, or in our own skin. Conversely, it’s a good time to deal with same since the last thing in Pandora’s box is hope.

It also pays to remember that where Pandora is concerned, it’s not just the ills she unleashes which are the point of the story – the story is really about our curiosity. So…how curious are you? Do you stifle your curiosity about the ills in your world …personal or global? If so, is that an ill right there?

Oh, that Dame Denial! She does get into us, doesn’t she?

This Pandora turn happens about twenty hours  before this month’s Full Moon. So emotions are on the rise anyway. And giving this station its two-day before-and-after ‘station leeway,’ that means Pandora’s station effects begin late on the 14th or early on February 15th, depending on where you live.

And no – that’s not all.

Come 6:40 in the afternoon on February 18th (UT/+0), TNO Chaos goes direct at 11 Gemini, an emotional degree, a mental degree, an expressive degree. Chaos itself is not the ‘messiness’ we associate with the modern word, but the sense of the Chaos – the primal well of undefined and unbounded possibility.

Hesiod and the Muse (Chaos)

by Gustave Moreau (1826-1890)

TNOs being defined as bodies which orbit way out there in the iciness realms beyond Neptune (hence the term Trans Neptunian Objects), like other TNOs Chaos refers to something we intrinsically ‘know’ exists, but which we get reminded of from time to time.

This would be one of those times.

Again, giving this station its two-day before-and-after station leeway period, the effects of Chaos going direct begin on February 16th and end on the 18th. That means they start just after Atlantis backs into Virgo and overlaps the highly emotional period of Pandora going direct and the Full Moon, too.

So far we have that Atlantis in Virgo/Chiron in Pisces teeter-totter going on…and Pandora going direct in Cancer, a sign which likes security.

Pandora denoting security? Uh…only if we’re really ready to accept and face ourselves.

But maybe that’s the point?

Those who can will like as not be able to see and use the TNO Chaos station/direct period as a time to really fuel their cause. Or bring together some idea. Or see where they are going and how to capitalize on what they now know, are learning, are figuring out.

And no, that’s not all either!

Come just after midnight on February 19th, the Sun will enter Pisces. (By the by…you can expect full blogs on the Full Moon and the Sun entering Pisces – we aren’t hardly covering those effects in this blog!)

This solar-Pisces ingress occurring in the wake of Chaos going direct but certainly still within the realm of its station allowance says one thing. In fact, it says a whole lot about what it’s possible for us to learn and/or realize about ourselves and others during this series of days.

But we’re not done yet! Come 1:29pm on February 19th (UT/+0), a certain TNO/Plutino named Huya will go retrograde.

Huya represents the energy of ‘the rainmaker.’ It’s about what we do for others which in the end, feeds us. I like using Oprah Winfrey as the near-perfect example of how Huya functions. (And no, Oprah, I’m not saying you’re an icy celestial body orbiting beyond Neptune!) It’s just that Oprah’s youth gave her the motivation to try and motivate others. And because she helps enrich their lives, they enrich hers.

 A rain shaft pierces a tropical sunset as seen from Man-of-War Bay

photo credit: Mary Hollinger for NOAA (1980)

That’s the rainmaker principle.

Going retrograde at 17 Scorpio, Huya is asking us what we can do for others. It begins asking us this on the 17th and continues prompting us all the way through the 21st – when though you don’t know it yet, Mercury enters Pisces.

Huya’s station enfolds the Full Moon. And Chaos’ going direct, suggesting that those who are involved in doing something ‘giving’ will see their lives (or efforts) prospering now.

Huya generally asks what we know about ourselves in a somewhat more factual way than say, Chiron does. But in the interactive sign of Scorpio (and in Scorpio’s most emotional decan) it does challenge us to ask ourselves whether our means, methods and most of all, goals are entirely valid.

Scorpio being emotional and interactive, it’s the sign of where we deal with others in all those many venues where we’re hoping to achieve our “desires” – whatever they may be. But where they don’t satisfy both sides (or everyone, in the case of a group), Scorpio inevitably leads to failure, rejection and alienation.

Often that’s bad. But just as often that’s merely a lesson about what we’re trying to do. Is it up to standards? Or maybe we need to examine our own motivations (speaking of Huya…!).

And all this happens as the Sun moves into Pisces and – (guess what?) – meets up with Chiron.

Thus we are back at the beginning of the story.

These are days of reconnoitering. Of reconsidering. Of fluctuation in our lives. Hopefully they’ll inspire fluctuations in how we see ourselves and our possibilities, and thus what we do with our lives.

If not…there’s always more Pisces to come. Where we join with others, Pisces embraces us. Where we live in a world of personal delusions or denials, Pisces captures us.

Which would you rather be: captivating or a captive? It’s all about who we are...and who that person is willing to want to become enough to decide that's who they need to dedicate themselves to being.