Pallas, Edisona, Hidalgo: The Manner of Fact

 
As outlined above, the next week or so is filled with what some might call ‘shifting influences.’ And since this is the week leading into a (Full Moon) Lunar Eclipse – which is to say because it’s a time we would expect to be a time when like it or not, when depending on our nature life becomes either more feeling and vital…or simply more emotional.

And let us not be coy here: “emotional” in astrological terms refers not just to the process of being emotional or exhibiting emotions, but to whatever evokes or provokes emotions – in our Self and in others.

One of the reasons to have posted the outpouring on Saturn is, in fact, all about the grid above. Saturn always represents the precepts of time, responsibility, maturation, loss, dedication, achievement, structure, and the slow, enduring effort which over a period of time leads to stable, enduring constructs – and that applies whether we’re talking about personal achievement, societal structures (including but not limited to corporations and nations). Saturn timings are also associated with patterns of income and economics, from the business of business to those social, societal and ‘mass movement’ ideas or theorems which in time become the common norm or the isolated (or elite).

Figuring out how to use Saturn in your own life is a process – one you may choose to use or not use. In a world which seems very much about building walls of late with everyone complaining about everyone else’s defensiveness and bristling however, choosing the periods of time in which to act or not act may be useful to you.

Hence the post on Saturn – specifically at the start of a week which seems filled with possibilities and opportunities for seeing things more for what they are, which would be our ticket for planning ahead.

You know…for figuring out how to make those Saturn gains without engendering equally gigantic losses or stirring up that most ugly of universal forces, negative karma?

Representative of all which promotes our understanding of dispassionate, unbiased wisdom of such clarity to cleave through all our assorted mental distractions, avoidances and nonsense, Pallas is going direct at a degree (24 Leo) which while representative of the generative power of Leo to create or ‘envision’ is focused on some simple and natural quality which itself is capable of becoming a sustaining force.

Coming into its April 7- 11 station-direct moment, Pallas has represented our clarification of Self and everything going on in our ‘inner’ world, be that personal at the individual level or having to do with our everyday world and collection of personal connections.

Once Pallas goes into direct motion, the process of clarification will shift to more external terms: we will be more aware of things around us and going on in the world and life of others AND all such things and people (and what we learn through interacting and/or witnessing their choices, actions and so on…) all that will continue ‘building’ our understanding of where we stand not so much in our (retrograde) personal world, but the (Pallas direct) world in which we live.

You know…the world which defines what we would have any opportunity to do in our personal life (or not)?

Next step: we add Edisona to our day-by-day picture.

Asteroid Edisona represents the simple quality of ‘spotlighting.’ Sometimes referred to as ‘the bright idea,’ sometimes that which we focus on in an ‘Edisona moment’ is “brilliant” and sometimes it’s simply that thing which is standing out (or outstanding) to us, whether it is to anyone else or not.

Edisona is going retrograde at 17 Sagittarius, giving us reason…or perhaps sufficient motivation to get (Pallas) clear about something having to do with whatever comes from Edisona’s station being in a degree typified by the Sabian symbol 'CHILDREN PLAYING ON THE BEACH, THEIR HEADS PROTECTED BY SUNBONNET.' The Sagittarian influence denotes something to be learned, and while what that is will be entirely individual, across the board this degree (17 Sagittarius) appears to speak to the protection of that which is immature (as children are) or which is not yet ready to stand or operate on its own, as might be true (just as an example here) with a business plan or other ‘pre-designed’ process which has not yet ‘come to maturity’ or which needs critical support.

With Hidalgo going retrograde on April 11th, something having to do with ‘protocol’ and/or ‘manners’ (read: ‘the manner of,’ ‘mannerisms’ and/or quality of presentation) comes into play as Pallas goes direct on the 9th, suggesting some sort of fact or set of facts being (Edisona) ‘spotlighted’ at a level which references a (9 Capricorn) quality typified by the Sabian 'AN ALBATROSS FEEDING FROM THE HAND OF A SAILOR' with the associated commentaries by noted astrologers speaking to ‘the overcoming of fear and its rewards’ (Marc Edmund Jones) and the culture of TRUST Dane Rudhyar points out as being the true and radiant power resident in any human being sufficiently willing to own their own harmlessness, that being the power which can (as he puts it) ‘…call the wildest creatures to him’ – an eloquent sort of way of saying what we put out comes back to us.

What we are experiencing is plainly a reflection of what we have put out there and it is not our denial of others which is the lie here, it’s our unwillingness to see ourselves as part of the universal (Aquarian Age) process.

And since Aquarius ruled first by Saturn and only then by Uranus, that would be why posting a mammoth scrawl on the subject of Saturn degrees seemed so apt.

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Saturn by Degrees

Saturn is responsibility and requirement as solar systemic clockwork. No one gets dessert without first eating their veggies.

And even when we get dessert, that only means we get to get to work working up a new sort of (Saturn) appetite.

It’s all eternal..ongoing...self-feeding. And maybe that’s the most important thing to remember…as soon as we learn one thing we’re merely acquiring the knowledge which will move us on to our next opportunity to learn.

Sphinx going direct on the same day (April 12th) that Kassandra goes direct – with both objects in late Leo degrees – combines ‘pause’ with ‘hard to believe’ (or ‘disbelief’) in the sort of mix which manifests as astonishment…or even delighted horror or taking grim pleasure in seeing something done (and well, if painfully done). With both points going direct in an area of the zodiac known for friends as well as family connections, anything from fun at the amusement park to relieved delight at greeting supposedly long-lost loved ones is possible.

As is a hearty inhalation (and reason to stop to think a minute) as we perhaps recognize just how blind we’ve been about…something.

Thus we move forward with some portion of our essence, spirit or mentality overwhelmed, enchanted, dazzled and…as would be expected where Circe the enchantress connects with a celestial event like the April 15th Libra Lunar Eclipse…spellbound. Reduced to our lower denominators by an entirely human willingness to succumb to inner weakness as a means of celebrating mortal strength we give in, allowing ourselves to be rewarded with that we have missed out on through a lack of clarity based on inner vulnerabilities.

You know…those vulnerabilities we all so want to deny?

Yes, them. They're ours...they're us. Somehow we need to understand and accept ourselves for all those things too, for without the whole of what we are, we will never be whole in our own lives, never mind that of anyone else.

And since what we put out comes back...because how we regard others generates how they regard us in reactive turn, that's an important issue - one we would seem to have an opportunity to get additional clarity on now, which seems a rather nice thing indeed.
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Geminid Meteor Shower 2012

A Leonid meteor streaks across the sky above Montauk at the eastern end of New York's Long Island

(photo credit: Tushar N Dadarwala, January 2012)

As if this week wasn’t already busy enough, we’re having a meteor shower!

I’m not sure anyone makes umbrellas for this sort of thing, but if they did, surely they’d be clear so that we could see meteors streaking across the sky, right?

The Geminids will be at their 2012 height on December 13 and 14th, and like all other meteor showers is metaphysically thought of as a time when ‘sparks’ (ideas, little “illuminations”) enlighten us…or maybe just amaze or entertain us.

(Which is which depends on who you are!)

One of the interesting things about the Geminid shower is that unlike most other meteor showers, it isn’t ‘caused’ by a comet. No, the Geminids owe their existence to an asteroid named Phaethon.

In case you don’t remember Phaethon, I tend to think of it as a second-cousin-once-removed from Icarus. Both represent haste of some kind, with Icarus more inclined towards not wanting to listen to the ‘how to’s which, as a result, leads to some sort of “downfall” where Phaethon is simply bull-headed.

But this isn’t just any sort of bull-headedness, this is teenaged bull-headedness. As the myth tells it, 
Phaethon gets into a wrangle with Apollo, said wrangle ending with Apollo having promise to grant Phaethon a wish. Personally, I sort of wonder how the Greek god of enlightenment (of all things!) could be so stupid as to promise some teen whatever he wants (parents, are you with me?) but that’s one of the truly wonderful things about Greek myth and why it so embodies human archetypes.

Greek gods are fallible. They make mistakes, they break their promises, they rather embody the idea that to be human is divine.

(go ahead, laugh…!)

In the story, Phaethon asks to drive Apollo’s sun chariot. Knowing how dangerous it would be to let Phaethon do this, Apollo explains and explains and explains and just like any teenager, Phaethon is has an ‘I don’t care what he says, I CAN do this!’ conviction stuck in his head. He insists, and Apollo, being god of honesty and truth, has to keep his promise.

The results are disastrous. And yes, deadly.

The Fall of Phaethon by Peter Paul Rubens

Given all this, it’s interesting that the Geminids show up every year during holiday time. Are they little warnings to be careful and not to overindulge? Or are they signs of some sort of 'deadly' sort of thing which is about to happen to us - maybe because we're too stubborn to heed good common sense?

A lot of which-is-which in your world will be astrologically read by where your natal Phaethon is – and where it is currently by transit. (In case you’re going to use one of the free services to look up where your Phaethon is, its astronomical number is 3200.)

As the Geminids streak our night skies this year, Phaethon is at 25 Aries – conjunct Eris. Also conjunct Kassandra, which we talked about in yesterday’s blog on Uranus.

And when you get to tomorrow’s post on the New Moon? Remember that Phaethon is part of the Eris ‘flavor’ to this month’s New Moon. As far as that goes, considering celestial ‘ranks’ Phaethon is merely an asteroids where Eris is a dwarf planet. So in that sense Eris takes precedence, indicating a ‘headstrong’ quality in how we create trouble or stand up against it.

But then again…Eris is ‘way out there’ beyond Neptune. Phaethon is a main-belt, Earth-crossing asteroid. In other words, Phaethon’s outer orbital point (its aphelion) is in the giant “belt” of asteroids which orbit between Mars and Jupiter. Then it cycles in, passing Mars, passing Earth, passing Venus and Mercury both before looping back and heading away from the Sun.

In other words, that ‘headstrong’ thing? That’s something which is ‘closer’ to us than the perspective Eris asks of us.

As an astronomical event, the Geminids are one of the best meteor showers to view, as it tends to be very ‘intense’ in terms of frequency (meteors per hour). I’m sure in reading this a few of us will laugh, thinking about how similar this too is to teen attitudes.

That the peak of the Geminids occurs at the time of a New Moon is very convenient for sky watchers. With no moonlight hazing things up, meteors will be easier to spot and more of them will be visible.

But astrologically? The New Moon is its own symbol. And that this New Moon is being underscored (colored? modified?) by Uranus goes direct is a sign of big doings. Major events. Changes. Even big possibilities.

Yet how that turns out depends on you. On how you take things and what you do with your life. This New Moon is an interesting one, so check out the blog and see what you think.

Just as a suggestion though…? Don’t ignore any Greek gods driving chariots. And since this is a New Moon and the Geminid will be more evident as we look up at the sky, that seems something of a celestial request that we see the signs and heed them.
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Uranus stationary/direct

 Uranus, its rings, and several of its moons

(photo credit: NASA, JPL, ESA)

Uranus symbolizes change. Anything which alters the status quo or your status quo is Uranian. Discoveries are Uranian. The effort to try and figure something out (anything from experimenting to puzzling to science) is Uranian.

The information which represents the changing of the status quo or which leads you to make a change, that’s Uranian too. As are the means by which changes are created. Information is Uranian (and Aquarian). Bombs are Uranian. And so is a paycheck, especially when it changes your life lifestyle.

The internet is Uranian because computers and anything computerized is a.) powered by electricity and b.) a source of new information, both of which are Uranian.

Revolutions and rebels are Uranian. Anarchy is Uranian. Getting arrested is free…but so is achieving freedom. Both are Uranian – as are elitism and universality.

It’s all about where you start with a status quo, and the energy which is symbolically Uranus can function mentally, physically or as the itchiness which drives you to action. Uranus is about change, the act of changing, the choice to change, the discovery which allows you to change or the circumstance which forces a change upon you.

Lightning, such as that we see striking the CN Tower in Toronto, is 'very Uranus' in astrological terms: not only is it electrical, but it's sudden and can change things in a moment - not to mention startle the tar out of you!

(photo credit: Raul Heinrich, July 2008)

Uranus will be at a station/direct moment on Thursday, December 13th at 12:04 p.m., UT/+0 time. And that it goes direct at 4 Aries is both interesting and a warning. 4 Aries is by definition a ‘me-and-what-I-do’ kind of degree. It’s reputation is one of huge energy and a sort of naïve idea of how to use that energy, which right away makes the whole of the Uranus station period sound sort of like a time either when self-indulgence leads to choices which are then later regretted…or when instinct or luck or whatever you want to call it leads us to a moment which changes everything for the good. Maybe even the very good!

Celestial stations are normally given a two-days-before, two-days- after “station allowance.” With Uranus, just because this is Uranus, we might have to push that another day or so. But let’s safely say that this station starts on the 11th and extends to the 15th, with a little room for fudgery. (That’s fudging said with a flip of the mental tongue!)

But there’s more here to meet the mind than just that! 4 Aries is the same degree that Uranus went retrograde at back in July 2011. That means we should draw a line from here back to then. What was going on in your life?

And if you want to get really cyclic-exotic about it, Pluto hit a station/direct point at 4 Capricorn (the square to 4 Aries) in September 2011 and Saturn hit a station/retrograde point at 4 Libra back in January 2010. Saturn being the ‘extent of what we can do’ (or control) this means that something was at that extreme or moving beyond our control back in early 2010 which tested us rather crunchingly in 2011 which is now coming up as a ‘changing circumstance’ or change of circumstance.

 Saturn (and a couple of its moons) are here photographed in false color by Voyager 2

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

By going on station in Square to Capricorn’s Pluto/Facies, in trine to Mercury (in Sagittarius) in a semi-sextile to Chiron and Fomalhaut in Pisces, in opposition to Hera, Edisonia, Sappho and Diadem in Libra and in conjunction with Child and Echo in Aries…this Uranian moment would seem to be at least in part about our relationship to the sorts of questions about ‘perfection’ which ask whether we are too hard on ourselves (and why we have some to be that way) or whether we have not held ourselves (or what we choose to put up with) to decent standards. The Hera-Edisonia-Diadem Libra cluster here seems something like a mirror all about what we want to be, what others have taught us to be, what we want to be seen as, and whether we have any real idea of what we’re doing – most off all to ourselves. When combined with Uranus on station in Aries (with Child and Echo in attendance) we would seem to be in prime position to do something C/childish because we have been (Echo) told that’s ‘the way things are’ (or should be) which ‘breaks’ with something else.

Then again, since Child and Echo are but asteroids and Uranus is a big icy planet, maybe we’re making a break with what we’ve been told we should be (or look like, or whatever) because we instinctively (4 Aries) know that we need to be our own person.

Learning to disagree and how to have disagreements is one of life’s biggest lessons. Other people get to be who they are and have their opinions and positions, but that may not be who you are. Or what you believe in or want to be. That difference does not intrinsically define one person as ‘right’ and the other as ‘wrong.’ 

Can we live with that? In this moment, whatever is at stake or on the table is a (Pluto/Facies) complicated matter. And by (Uranian) definition, this would be a time when we would figure on seeing some (Uranus) explosive behavior.

But we can also expect some changes, too – most of all from ourselves, or in what we choose to do or be or put up with because we don’t see the status quo as one which is working for us. Or workable in the long run. Or anything we really want to (or can) build on.

Uranus in Aries asks that we make changes to things big and little in our lives so that we are not kept from being the people we should be…so that we’re not so bound by decisions, fears and unworkable obligations that we don’t get to doing the things in life we really know we want to do (hang everybody else’s opinions!).

As Uranus starts into its station period, Mercury is making its shift from Scorpio into Sagittarius. Since we covered that in the last post, thinking (the Mercury thing!) in those terms will point you to what’s first up for you in the Uranus district.

Unless, of course, you’re one of those avoidance people. If you’ve been avoiding some cucaracha which has been crawling around in your life, expect it to crawl out again now and do maybe a bit more than wiggle its antenna at you!

There are a few more things worth note about this Uranus station. One is that Uranus will ‘change directions’ (indicating a change in our perspective on things because of what occurs) on December 13th and December 13th is ALSO the date of a New Moon. So there’s a positive in the direction of ‘starting new things’ although as fast as you start something (fast being perhaps a problematic factor here…) you will run across things you hadn’t yet thought about.

Sometimes the only way to learn is by trying. Then again, going off half-cocked isn’t a great idea.

There’s also the fact that December 13th is the date when Kassandra (a symbol of disbelief OR not being believed) also goes direct in Aries…though Kassandra is doing its thing at 23 Aries and not 4 Aries. So this is the whole me/them thing brought into the area of disbelief. Do you not believe someone else could do something? Are you capable and willing to do something others aren’t going to believe you did or that you’re capable of (good or bad) or willing to do? Can you not believe people are going to react to your choices as they are about to?

This whole ‘surprise reaction’ is very much in keeping with Uranus’ reputation for change of circumstance. And in that sort of ‘harmony’ coming from the ‘Change Quadrant’ we can guess with some security that there will be some ‘I don’t believe it’ (or they don’t believe it) quality popping up during these days…or as a result of what you do (or at least decide to do) during this time.

The other interesting note to this ‘Uranus twist’ is that asteroid Circe, the emblem of being ‘enchanted and reduced to less than human’ (i.e., capable of thinking and acting for ourselves) is going retrograde as Uranus goes direct…as Kassandra goes direct…as we get a New Moon in Sagittarius and thus embark on a new ‘phase’ of some project in our life.

In going direct, Kassandra speaks to things coming ‘at us’ or that we will deal with in ‘external’ life. Meanwhile, Circe is going retrograde, a signal that we are either considering where and how we have ‘bought into’ something (on the inside) or where we are internalizing something which is going to keep us from having to think.

Circe sounds bad, and often does symbolize illusions and delusions – the having ‘bought into’ something. But it’s also a symbol of things which come to preoccupy us because we have been hurt by someone or shut out of some conversation by someone.

So this station can be liberating…or can be explosive. It could signal a renaissance in your thinking, activities or priorities. Or it could mark a time when you give up on yourself or some idea, effort or project.

The one thing to remember is that Uranus does not symbolize gentle, genteel energies. Discoveries are fun, but they can wipe out whole bodies of built-up habits and choice in but a moment. Changes in circumstance, and that which brings a change into being are often ‘unfeeling’ by nature. Those who are most prone to liking the soft, the romantic, the fluffy moments in life are least likely to like this week’s energy.

And that would be escapist, as far as Uranus is concerned. Astrologer Robert Hand’s metaphysical slogan ‘use the energy wisely, lest it use you unwisely’ seems very apt here.

It’s evidently time to make a change…or to be changed by the times or situations we live in or with.
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