You Were Searching ... Quick Takes

In this Hubble photo of Cygnus, one of its stars is revealed to be in a late-phase

evolutionary stage where the star sheds its atmosphere into space

(photo credit: ESA, NASA, July 2010)

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Before anything else happens to sidetrack or otherwise interrupt us, here are a few ‘quick takes’ on more of your search terms ...

CIRCE AND BYBLIS THE SAME

 

Circe Invidiosa by John William Waterhouse (1892)

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The astrological Circe and Byblis - not to mention the mythic characters - are absolutely not the same. Circe refers to something which in entrancing or affecting us ‘reduces’ us to ‘less than human’ in the thinking department (i.e., less in ‘command’ of our sensibilities) where Byblis refers to a choice we make knowing it is is unpopular or possibly considered ‘unthinkable,’ whether by us, someone else, or even society.

Astrological effects associated with these points (as with all points) can take many forms, but to give an example, while Circe could stand for our state of inebriation or drunkenness if we drink too much, the more Byblis version might involve someone trying to get someone else drunk for the direct purpose of taking advantage of them in some way.

So no ... Circe and Byblis are not the same (and I’m pretty sure both of the mythic personages involved would be happy to hear it!)

SPICA RISING IN NATAL CHART

 

The Moon, Mars, Venus and Spica all photographed from Nashville, Tennessee

(photo credit: Goddard Space Flight Center)

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‘Brilliance’ is often the astro-shorthand used for Spica, though the star otherwise known as Alpha Virgo stands for a lot more than just the ability to hit some nail on the head (mentally or otherwise). Traditionally seen as the sheaf of wheat carried in the hand of the goddess of earthly fertility, Spica is most often used astrologically as a reference to our ability to achieve a ‘great harvest’ of any kind. 

Apart from that, this star can also indicate where we understand some specific need or how to get something done - or where we find it easy to be supportive (or to get support) with regards to efforts which may simply be productive, but which may also be educational and some sort of investment in the growth of some process or method which in itself is ‘brilliant’ enough to open doors going forward.

With that much said however, Spica - which is currently positioned at 24 Libra - is conjunct Arcturus (which is also currently at 24 Libra), making it a bit hard to tell the effects of these two stars apart. Arcturus is part of an entirely different constellation (Bootes), and in being known for daring and the willingness to try something new/unproven could be seen as contributing a lot of positives if positioned with Spica at anyone’s Ascendant.

But let’s be real - this could just indicate someone who thinks they’re ‘all that and a bag of chips’ (as the saying goes) when they really aren’t. Beyond that, with both of these points being in Libra, the position and condition of Venus in the chart is going to say a lot about whether this sort of Spica (plus Arcturus) will tend to manifest as a plus or a source of frustration and disappointment.

HIS EROS IN ARIES

HER PSYCHE IN SAGITTARIUS

L'Amour by Julien de Parme (1762)

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I’m guessing this term came up somehow in relationship to something I wrote here at the blog...or at least that the Searcher in question here found the following astroPPM post while trying to find their answers:

-link to post-

Eros and Psyche: Falling in Love

With Our Mind

But with all due respect to the question (and questioner), the critical interplay between Eros and Psyche and that being referred to astrologically in the post and probably in the original myth is about the relationship of Eros to Psyche in our OWN mind, not between our mind and someone else’s.

Is there some effect if Eros aspects Psyche between two people? Probably yes. Positive aspects might well point to areas of commonalty and ‘attraction’ (human, not necessarily romantic or sexual) with negative aspects indicating ways or areas of relating to one another where one person doesn’t feel understood or cared about.

Everyone who is interested in astrology eventually (or habitually) looks up things like this between charts. It’s part of our human desire to be loved, accepted and appreciated. But when looking at these two points, before we look at them between charts, we should look at them in our own as ultimately our ability to love anyone depends on a level of trust in our Self which allows us to risk loss, rejection or relationship failure.

UNASPECTED VENUS IN CAPRICORN

 

Planet Venus as photographed by the Hubble Telescope on January 24, 1995

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

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Any time a planet is unaspected (that is, unaspected when using the list of standard Ptolemaic aspects: conjunction, sextile, square, trine and opposition) using standard orbs, it’s effects are said to be ‘purely’ expressive of the combination of house, sign and planet - which since we’re not working with a chart, can only be sign and planet here.

By itself, Venus in Capricorn tends to be a stabilizing quotient or a desire to achieve a level of calm - or that which the native finds calming. Texts often refer to this combination as ‘aimed’ at material wealth, but someone who simply focuses on quality, the qualities of something or ‘having the best’ would also fit Venus-plus-Capricorn with the term ‘best’ being  purely individual, and thus subject to individual preference, quirks and all the other human oddities.

Given that Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, depending on what house this combination appears in (and the disposition of the planet ruling the sign on the cusp of that house), Venus in Capricorn may manifest as professionalism, austerity, cool or distant attitudes, or dignity which ranges from the simple to the  diplomatic.

This is not one of Venus’ most effusive or carefree positions, but Venus in Capricorn (if well placed in the chart, of course) is known for manifesting as loyalty, security and a general appreciation for history, traditions, culture and the rights of others.

On occasion, this combination could also indicate great paths of fortune. Such a native is in (or comes to be) in a position where life is or becomes ‘pre-determined’ on some level. Unaspected, Venus in Capricorn can also indicate a tendency to make choices and do things only for material or personal gain.

22 DEGREES SCORPIO

 

An Arizona bark scorpion photographed under black light by Bryce Alexander (2008)

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This is not considered one of Scorpio’s finer degree moments. Known for insufficient control of various kinds, 22 Scorpio is one of those degrees which is evidently given to us so that we can see what lack of control does, and how over-impulsiveness and the tendency to just ‘go off’ about things is hardly ever useful.

(And yes, hopefully deal with whatever is causing us to act that way.)

Relationships to the Moon (and its associated sign of Cancer) are said to be important whenever this degree is active, or activated in a chart. Those who run afoul of their own nature under this influence are also fairly well known for lacking the emotional will (except under duress) to deal with the problems they’ve caused.

The Sabian Symbol for this degree (22 Scorpio being read as Sabian phase 233) ‘A rabbit metamorphoses into a nature spirit’ gives us some idea about what the issue is here through its reference to an ‘animal’ (our more instinctive and less thought-driven self) which transforms into something of a ‘higher’ nature - one imagines through the nature and process which is so very Scorpio. And since purging us of mortal toxins (most of which originate at an emotional and/or instinctive level) is part of Scorpio’s business, difficulties associated with 22 Scorpio probably point to personal/internal (read: vulnerability or fear) issues we either haven’t yet recognized or aren’t (as yet) prepared to take in hand and deal with.
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Blogpost (May 12-19): The Scorpio New Moon (+ Mars and Other Stations)

 

A photograph of the April 15, 2014 Lunar Eclipse taken in Minneapolis, Minnesota

(photo credit: Tomruen2)

As May 12th comes upon us, life [Sun] shifts us out from behind a variable set of lenses colored by contradictions which want resolving plus a smattering of just those sorts of cravings which make us feel everything or anything we have or are isn’t as good as what someone else has (or is).

Fortunately, it’s only been a day of that - a 20 Taurus sort of day which had us wanting to do whatever our way when for good or ill what we want, especially in the long run was more likely to come from an honest estimation of personal needs.

From solidity of self comes the ability to tolerate differences in others. Without that security, Taurus becomes the land of endless wanting - of whatever your “medium of choice” is, be it money, power or any of the other illustrious polarizing (Scorpio) forces which are apparently part of life not so much so that we can test or control others but so that we can learn about what works for us and...separately...for others so that we can forge a path forward which works to equally support the need/drives/aims of all.
 
With every year comes a 20 Taurus sort of day. And once we complete that task, life rolls on...time pushes forward...and we get to the next thing, the process of enacting yesterday’s realizations.

It’s something of a theme this week, that process thing. No matter who we are we’re in the middle of something, and the Sun’s moving into Taurus’ ‘third third’ (degrees 20-29) is where our more (and most) personal view(s) encounter the minds, the lives, the push back, applause, critique and support of both a few...and at other times many others.

There will be a literal highlighting of sorts which will occur around/at the time of this month’s Scorpio Full Moon. The date will be May 14th and the UT/+0 time 7:17 p.m. as this Moon takes its mark at 23 Scorpio.

And if that degree sounds familiar, it should. 23 Scorpio is the degree Saturn went stationary-retrograde at back on March 3rd.

Which yes, would be one day after Mars went retrograde at 27 Libra....which was one day after Mercury went direct at 18 Aquarius.

- link to -

Mercury, Mars, Saturn on Station

And we’re all still dealing with that. Whatever was afoot then was what we like as not stubbed our mental toes on, with the whole of the Mars retrograde and solar eclipse process slowly moving us towards a ‘bottom line’ we are just about to reach with our Self, and which all around us we hear people wanting to reach (often just so they can be ‘done’ with something).

Over this time...through whatever has happened to us over the past few months...our trajectory has changed. Why we do what we do (the way we do it) has become clearer to us - and the flaws with that, personal or social - have also become clear.

We all have been changed. A little or a lot...that’s individual. But as this Full Moon comes to be...during the time leading into or out of it (some people tend to do one, some the other - that’s natural) we’re likely to feel ourselves recognizing just how we’ve changed.

And what that means with regards to our personal  potential, alone or as part of some greater group or concern.

Maybe even as part of many groups or concerns, some of which don’t overlap so well. Energies stirred at 23 Scorpio wash through life either with a ‘scattering’ or ‘wasting’ effect or a revealing of that which has been scattered or wasted which here is ‘highlighted’ symbolically by a Full Moon - a ‘high tide’ of feelings summoned from deep within whether we really want to feel them or not.

But it’s just a phase. The Moon moves in phases...this is just another phase, and after this one will come countless others. When we make a Scorpio-Moon connection, we tend to feel the impact...of how we feel in the moment we register our feelings most of all.

It’s a lovely thing indeed...although it can get us stuck. The Moon in Scorpio fights for control; its habit and instinct are to use external sources to  stabilize anything we feel [Moon] is keeping us from ‘getting on’ with whatever it is we want to do next...and to find/use/employ whatever we [Moon] feel will support our positions.

At it’s best, Moon in Scorpio supports difficult emotional constructs and the constructing of whatever will support, detoxify, rebuild and/or regulate any force. Sometimes that means investing. Sometimes that means pruning. Sometimes that means detoxifying. Sometimes that means not doing anything and sometimes it means ripping the old construct down to whatever level lays it bare.

Scorpio is the sign of the Phoenix. We are transformed by our ability to trust our Self, whether or not others agree - whether or not we like (or trust) them. That all ‘Scorpio tests’ are internal and yet enacted through others or external circumstances will lead most of us to experience at least a moment or two (or three) of insecurity...maybe confusion or even that helpless, hapless feeling we all dislike. The Sun-Phaethon-Dionysus (in Taurus) side of things describes demands and determinations being balanced against a future and a potential we should want...and which we actually have the ability to go after if our overall priorities are in line.

If not, others will let us know. They may not even be subtle about it.

One other thing about this day or so in time...with the Moon (at 23 Scorpio) conjunct Mnemosyne (creativity) and Huya, there is something we can give - something which we have learned at hard cost long before now [Huya] through the sorts of events and experiences which try the human soul.

However we connect to that...whatever we have learned from that...it is the offering of that which becomes our “Huya Rainmaker.”

- link to -

Huya, Rainmaker: Direct at 20 Scorpio

Remember: this is your Huya we’re talking about, which in Scorpio has to do with what you have to offer others out of your own life which will ‘make it rain’ for everyone...and thus bring fulfillment to us. 

 Asteroid Eros as photographed by NASA

 

Eros station-retrograde at 19 Capricorn

As astrological Eros the ‘object’ as been covered about as well as I'm ever going to cover it in a different post, let’s start there...
 

- link to -

Eros and Psyche: Falling in

Love With Our Minds

...after which what you need to know is that asteroid Eros is going retrograde at 19 Capricorn on May 11th.

Yes, that is the same day as the Full Moon. But let’s remember, stations (be they station-retrograde or station-direct) all get 'allowances.' I'm currently using a two-day allowance, but if you may find three days works better for you, feel free.

Representing ‘passions’ of all kinds, Eros energies tend to arise as described by the sign element in your natal chart. In other words, if your natal Eros is in an air sign (Gemini, Libra or Aquarius) you are stirred by ideas and your ‘passions’ function greatly on an idea-driven level and it doesn’t matter what the subject matter is, it’s the idea of the thing which ‘gets’ you (or gets to you).

With natal Eros in water (Cancer, Scorpio or Pisces), the drive and driver is emotional. With natal Eros in fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) the ‘vision’ is the thing.

And when we find Eros in an earth sign - as it is now, transiting Capricorn, it’s the reality which we’re passionate about, and life’s realities which stir our passions, however they’re individually shaped. With Capricorn pointing us to the worldly and public sections of life as well as all things/concerns ‘structural’ (and the price or penalty we pay for a lack of Eros focus) certain types of ‘standings’ (or our regard for same) take a ‘turn’ now... or don’t, depending on our individual relationship to the kind of passionate assertiveness of the interactive type this Scorpio Full Moon favors working with.

Our ability to negotiate, team up with, support or serve as a coalescing (Scorpio) force is in the (Full Moon) spotlight.

Known as least mildly pro-active (and more than a little bit determined, 19 Capricorn is a degree which presses for its goals with an unusual degree of creativity. And though advances can be made, the fullness of what one wants to accomplish probably can’t be done overnight.

Yes, patience is required. That may be the test here, as Scorpio Moons (Full or otherwise) tend to ‘freeze’ or ‘hold off’ where Eros energies tend to erupt as ‘pushing’ for what we want or need.
 
Balance and an understanding of who or what we are dealing with in its own terms (not pre-defined by us) is necessary for what is done now to endure as a supportive measure which does what we want it to correctly.

If nothing else, the Sabian symbol for 28 Virgo ('A SEEKER AFTER OCCULT KNOWLEDGE

IS READING AN ANCIENT SCROLL WHICH ILLUMINATES HIS MIND,') reminds us how in

great part the decision (and effort) to continue seeking and the remaining open to new ideas

(not the allegiance to what we already know) which provides opportunities for growth. 

Srimad Guru Adi Shankaracharya by Raja Ravi Varma (1904, Oleograph)

Byblis direct at 28 Virgo

There’s an unpleasant quality to Byblis, one which can probably be typified either as the defense of the indefensible or the attempt to defend one’s Self against that ‘awful’ thing we don’t want to think about or contend with.

But that’s the point - the metaphysics of asteroid Byblis is about us. It’s about what we will or won’t consider or face having to deal with, whether that ‘dealing’ is self-contained or whether such things ask us to take on matters beyond our Self or even our understanding.

The point is that with Byblis, there always seems to be something involved which is ‘wrong’ - or at least something which seems or feels wrong. And with Byblis’ station taking place in Virgo, the ‘lens’ through which this ‘wrong’ is being seen (or through which it is manifesting) will be the means, method or reasoning/rationales for doing/not doing things...or the means, methods or rationales being employed in the doing of things.

That Byblis is making its turn to direct at 28 Virgo (one of Virgo’s last ten degrees) also tells us that whatever the Byblis note is, it will be ‘group’ and not personal. So it’s something we can react to... or which in embodying a reaction to something we’ve already done brings out the Byblis effect (theirs about us or us about something ‘out there’).

This isn’t the sky falling. Like most main belt  asteroid energetics, Byblis represents something we ‘run into’ and thus are affected by, which may color what we do, how we think or some choice we make because of or maybe in spite of everything and anything disquietingly ‘Byblis-like.’

At the same time, seeing as Byblis went retrograde back in early February in tandem with Mercury there is some chance that an assertion made back then may fall through now. If so, it will fall through on the basis of improper choices (which of several options was taken)...  or how a choice, commitment, resistance or position has failed to take all of the details and/or universal needs (or universal commonalties) properly into account.

In other words, where we may have thought over-much of our Self (in the ‘self important sense) or even just more of our opinion in some situation which really needed to be more balanced in the ‘my’ versus ‘their’ department...such issues may arise - or even re-arise now.

Again, this doesn’t have to be any sort of costly  interruption or reprocessing of anything. For many of us these Byblis moments are just those ‘do you have to bring THAT up again?’ sort of influences.

And since we’re here...the answer to the above is ‘yes, they do have to bring that up again,’ if only because their Byblis says they have to bring ‘that’ up again for their own Byblis reasons.

How would we know who would react and who wouldn’t react to such an influence? Granting that energetics tend to have a low-level effect no matter who we are, the person who reacts now will have 28 Virgo as a sensitive point in their natal chart or a natal Byblis which is somehow emphasized, however that happens.

Also, one other item worth noting...

Astrologer Marc Edmund Jones (the original astrologer to work with Sabian symbols)

typified the image for 0 Libra - 'IN A COLLECTION OF PERFECT SPECIMENS OF MANY

BIOLOGICAL FORMS, A BUTTERFLY DISPLAYES THE BEAUTY OF ITS WINGS, ITS BODY

IMPALED BY A FINE DART' - as 'the immortal archetypal reality that a perfect and dedicated

life reveals,' validating in yet another form those many age-old sayings which warn how 

with every great honor comes some sort of responsibility and feeling of being 'pinned' to

that 'perfect beauty' we represent, stand for, have achieved or have created.

A Chinese cloisonne and enamel box (photo credit: Vassil, June 2007)
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Haumea direct at 0 Libra

Haumea is a dwarf planet, not an asteroid, meaning it’s greater size and mass translates rather literally into the metaphorical world of metaphysics, telling us it’s effect will have ‘weight’...or perhaps ‘gravity’ in our psyche, if not our life.

And maybe our life too - but first the psyche, as that is the principle realm (hierarchy of thought) around which western (tropical) astrology is organized. There are other forms of astrology which tend in that direction, but in western astrology, fate is what you are handed: what you do with it is free will and that’s what we see in your chart...which is why what happens (astrologically) isn’t about ‘them’ it’s about you and your responses, reactions and learning curve.

And why does that apply here? That applies because Haumea is a goddess of tricky manifestations, whether we’re talking about Haumea as an entity capable of ‘giving birth’ through various portions of her being (which metaphysically would suggest our ability to ‘give birth’ to ideas or efforts when various facets of our lives are triggered)...or Haumea the ultimately self-destructive shape-shifter as a representation of how we choose, do or say this or that to placate or ‘get by’ or ‘get along’ in any of the many manners which ultimately come home to us in some form of self-undoing.

In going direct at 0 Libra, Haumea drives us to understand truths even while (or because) we’re being driven crazy - or just driving ourselves crazy over something we need to deal with before moving on. There’s a ‘spin’ on complications here which suggests easy things being made more complicated (perhaps more complicated than they need to be) even as complicated issues are being simplified - and yes, maybe over-simplified. Whichever effect is encountered, the subject... interestingly... does seem to be something important, particularly in its ultimate potential with problems of the moment being linked to an undermining of momentum through improperly applied efforts.

Either the right method is not known, the right skills are not present or skills are needed but not present, all of which is complicated by questioning which in the end will tend towards lack of capacity - a quality which isn’t going to be felt as any more cuddly or cozy by any of us seeing as Venus is still in Aries (a fact which links because the Venusian drive for reward rules the Libra principle of relating).

You do remember Venus in Aries, right?
 

- link to -

Venus in Aries

Haumea and Byblis both go direct on May 18th, which means their stations (conservatively) begin on the 16th (Friday) and extend through March 20th, the actual end of Mars retrograde.

And that station (Mars’ station) begins on the 18th, the date Haumea and Byblis go direct.

Wait...let me try to make this a little easier by offering what schools the world over have no doubt taught us all to regard as a ‘visual aid.’

I’m sure to some, this all sounds rather dire - and it could be for those brining their minds in some proverbial pickle while waiting on someone or on something to happen. But the element involved here - air -  tells us that however Haumea and Mars manifest amidst all other things is of theoretical concern.

In other words, they’re arising in our mind, and whether it’s an evolving idea or some new notion about how life works or who you are in this life...with the Sun in Taurus’ latter degrees, we’re all being subjected to some level of interfaced wants and ‘security needs.’ Or maybe for you that’s the interfacing of wants and whatever allows you to feel secure (starting in your mind, evidently).

Or maybe it's just all in our mind. Sorting through that question is part of what happens now...and evidently it needs to happen as part of Mars reaching the end of its long Libra retrograde. How much of what we do in life is governed by what we think others like or dislike? How much is our life modeled or molded by ideas which may 'hold their shape' for us but which in the end are undercutting or compromising our greater ends? 

By the by...just to define here, ‘security’ in this sense is the Taurean (and/or 2nd house) version of security, which is to say that we find in our Self, making this reference ‘that which makes us feel secure as a person in life and/or in any given moment of our life.’
 
For the record here, the obvious is also true - namely that the reason why Scorpio as the polarity to Taurus is so often associated with death, birth, war and various kinds of tests of control are because where and when Scorpio functions that way it does so as a projection onto others of that we feel disquieted by ourselves.
 
Some factor which arises from this quadrant of our thinking plays a role at least in how we will tend to consider things now... and with Mars continuing to ‘sit’ at 9 Libra (conjunct fixed star Diadem), whether we’re in position to be comfortable with some sort of separateness of perspective or struggling through dealing with feelings, tales and issues having to do with separations or a ‘separating of ideas,’ isolation and/or its elitist cousin isolationism will be pushing us each and all to see the beauty, full potential and possible nasty (to our thinking) ideas to be faced amidst all.

Traces of liquid passage as recorded in planet Mars' surface

(NASA, GSFC, December 2006)

Damocles, Mars-Diadem

and Orcus on Station

 

Speaking of Mars (you knew we were going to get around to this, right?), the strangely unsecured feeling so many people are feeling, reacting to, and whether productive or not - that continues...as does the [Mercury in Gemini] pace of things in general. We often think of Mercury in Gemini as a somewhat ‘hectic’ time - and that factor may well be missing this time around, what with the overhanging Diadem/Mars retrograde effect. The net is likely to be a deal of coming to terms with Self first and then others, yet with Mars and Venus both in ‘fervent’ degrees we will need to conquer our own trepidations going in and be willing to work through a process of consideration and reconsidering (most of all with our Self) if by week’s end we are to arrive at suitable (or at least employable) combinations of [Venus in Aries] aspiration, [Mercury in Gemini] facts, choices or options and what may only be a dawning of the greater [Mars/Diadem] understanding of why (in the biggest-of-big-picture metaphysical sense) you have gone through so much of what you have gone through over these past days, weeks and months.

This period has its own function, absolutely. But it is also part of an intense and challenging period filled with personal tests which dates back to December, 2013 - just before Christmas.

Speaking of intensity...since Mars is going direct in square to Pluto (conjunct Vega) in Capricorn, apart from and yet as part of all else we go through now we are experiencing a long-term [Pluto] transformation of allure and that which fascinates us, draws and or commands us.

The longest range personal and societal shifts began a couple of years ago and won't become evident in the general sense for several years hence. However the short term effects of Mars-square-Pluto (which this would be with Pluto in Capricorn and Mars in Libra) could be explosive IF both symbols were not in retrograde.

In other words, froth if you must, but the transformational energetic is personal and wholeheartedly internal, causing us to 'work over' issues in our own way and at our own individual pace starting somewhere around May 14th.

This is not a transit to quail at unless you have done something dishonest, wrong or wholly manipulative (i.e., without regard for consequences or who gets harmed). If that is the case, as always Pluto/Mars contacts are likely to time out matters which 'expose' your secrets and 'occulted' (hidden) matters...and something like Mars squaring Pluto through a station is certainly that kind of event.

For everyone else the latter part of this coming week is likely to feel 'constrained' or 'compacted'...or perhaps weighty but complicated in that messy if not in-obvious manner which persuades us we can get where we need to go if we will but tackle the job and get on with things.  

In this light, some of us will solve short-term problems first as greater perceptions filter down upon us...some of us will have one of those light-bulb ‘epiphany’ moments then use that to develop new strategies which apply to the here and now of today, tomorrow and next week.

Then there’s the rest of us - a vast swath of humanity which is seeing so much so fast that it will take a bit to sort out, shake out and otherwise prove out.

Which is okay too...and entirely astrologically sensible. Even before Mars enters its two-day ‘station allowance’ on May 17th, asteroids Damocles and Sabine go on station on May 16th, serving as metaphysical clockwork chimes striking new notes of recognition...

In light of Damocles going on station at 24 Aquarius ('A BUTTERFLY WITH THE RIGHT
WING MORE PERFECTLY FORMED' ) we are reminded to stay in balance with ourselves

...and just how much doing that much requires of us.

A plate of Charaxes Aristogiton from Adalbert Seitz (ed.) 'Macrolepidoplera of the World'

(published before 1930, author unknown)

...yes, we see what needs doing...it’s just that it’s [Damocles] a whole lot harder to carry through on, especially given the growing understanding that reactions may arise during the process. As the weekend of the 17th-18th comes upon us time [Damocles in Capricorn] is ever more an essential ingredient going forward...but there are distinct real-time, present tense needs too. 

And one or two of those are likely to feel a bit like volunteering to sit on a tack the ‘point’ of which is driving home our own mortality, our vulnerability to being human as both the reason we care about others (and need to be cared about) and why we need to individuate.

It’s back to that Libra thing - the knowing who we are in the presence of others and knowing how we act to, with and about them is the cause of the effect they hand back. It’s all about negotiation, most of which happens first and last with and within our Self.
 
You know, the [Orcus] consequences which come from being who we are and aren't...or who we have come to think we don't want to be or need to become in spite of all. Through others, through all we have been through and been thwarted in, so we come to realize what is possible, reasonable and - in the end - maybe not so desirable in spite of all.

 Asteroid Sabine going station/retrograde at 16 Capricorn, a degree imaged by the image
'A REPRESSED WOMAN FINDS A PSYCHOLOGICAL RELEASE IN NUDISM' representing

whatever unexpressed or denied experiences we meet up with (in our own life or that of
others) which causes us to see, become free with or 'put on display for all to see' either
that which represents our inner (Capricorn) structures or external (Capricorn) goals,
drives or aims. 

Inu (Nu debout) by Jean Metzinger (oil on carton, 52 x 35 cm., 1911) 

 
Maybe it's not our path or role in life. Maybe the thing at hand (or in mind) isn't ours to do even comment on. Why this should be - and why we will, in reconsidering our current focus arrive at considering the 'where we are now' in light of all we have done...that both holds us back [Sabine] and in getting us to [Sabine] take hold of that which is immediately available to us gets us to consider what our life should be as well as the [Damocles] difficulties we're bound to encounter whether we adjust or stay our course.

In other words...in light of all that, what is really worth doing [Mars] and/or investing our [Mars] energies in? At some level we know our choice cannot be just about what we want, nor can it be entirely about what one (or many) parties are lobbying for.

It's about any and all of us - and what we mean...at least on a theoretical level...amidst all that.

Considering we're all going through this together (which is a thought worthy of contemplation right there...) patience and thoughtfulness will count now more than usual - and though we dare not leave ourselves out of the mix (yes, a little 'be nice to me' time is in order) we also dare not neglect others, with and without regard for who they are.

Libra is about equality - a theoretical equality which on a metaphysical level must allow for differences simply because together we all balance each other out.

(And isn't that a metaphysical noodle worth thinking about?) 

The better we understand why all this is, the more likely we are to ask ourselves that we actually hear others instead of just listening (in general, read as 'tolerating') them. And once we do that, we're likely to not just hear what they're truly saying (as opposed to what we might have been thinking we wanted to hear)...from which we will begin to really understand why others choose as they choose.

Such perspectives...or our unwillingness to contemplate same...are what we carry into and through the Mars/Diadem station, wherever that may yet lead.

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Eros and Psyche: Falling in Love with Our Mind

 

Eros and Psyche

by William Adolphe Bouguereau

As an astrological image, the Sun is the essential spark of consciousness. It's the awareness of our being and the very process of being. But the Greeks didn't see our Sun so very simplistically. The bright disc in the sky they called Helios.

Yet apparently just 'being' wasn't all that important to the Greeks, as apart from a few polite mentions Helios is  rather absent from the vastness which is Greek myth.

But the Sun's light...the heat of the sun, the energy of the Sun upon which life on Earth depends?That, the Greeks not only cared about, but felt was a vitally important principle of life they embodied as the glorious god Phoebus Apollo.

Whether defined as “illumination,” “enlightenment” or 'a salubrious spark of inspiration,' Apollo stands for truth and clarity, for music and dance and the ability to cure - that which we call 'medicine,' though the Greeks thought  more in terms of being willing to do what we can to help others and cure our world of ills...being the medicine in a  philosophical sense, rather than how we think of doctoring today.

Mercury moving in front of the face of the Sun
(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

Except for one thing, that is. That which has come down to us as the prime directive for doctors - do no harm - seems to have been very much part of the Apollonian belief. And that shouldn't be too surprising either, apart from the fact that such beliefs were universal and omnipresent.

In other words, it isn't just the doctor who should do no harm - it's all of us, in all facets of our life. There is no being 'off the clock' in the Apollo concept: we are simply given to know that the truth of what we are in our most clarified form...that which would be healthy and able to give, that which would allow us to be the breath of music in this life, the light which would dance in our hearts and spirit...all that is our truth.

Thus we have the choice to face that truth and embrace that truth or not. We have the choice whether to own that truth we find and to embody it in a clarified manner...that which would make our essence, our presence 'music' in the lives of others.

All of this comes from who we are in our mind...which is to say, in our psyche.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

From the Sun to Mercury to Venus to Earth to Mars... the whole of that distance is only about 1.39 astronomical units (AU), one astronomical unit being the distance from Sun to Earth.

But from Mars to Jupiter? That’s 3.7 AU, only a little less than four times the distance from the Sun to planet Earth. 

So when in astrology it is said that Mars is the emblem of initiation and Jupiter is where we understand enough about things to begin laying claim to that mastery which in time will take us to the full extent of our 'naked eye' human reach (Saturn)...that's some distance to travel.

And what lies in that gap between Mars and Jupiter?

The asteroid belt.
 

 ranges listed above represent the planet's closest approach to the Sun (its perihelion)
and the distance it be at when farthest from the Sun (its aphelion).
(image credit: astroPPM/B.Hart)

Thought to be remnants of planets which never formed and a few solar-systemic objects which broke apart either through collisions or sheer geomagnetic torture (space is not a genteel place), on the metaphysical level, asteroids represent the many concepts, questions, challenges and all that “going around in circles” we humans tend to go through on our way to gaining that knowledge, that Jovian ability which becomes our path to Saturnine achievements, big and small. 

And when we look at the list of main asteroid belt objects as ranked by size alone, number one on that list in the asteroid class is Psyche.

Psyche's mass is estimated to be equal to around one-percent (1%) of the entire asteroid belt put together, making Psyche...and however Psyche is placed in our chart, the number one thing we need to deal with on our way to whatever real, human or metaphorical wisdom would carry us on to success, however we define success. 

As a word, 'psyche' comes to us from the Greek for 'soul' and 'spirit.' But even in ancient times it seems to have been as much a reference to our mind...and that seems another way of saying that our mind (our psyche) is the lens through which we see - or even what of our soul and spirit we 'see': the surfacing of it, one might say.

So on our way to wisdom, we meet up with this Very Large (piece of) Matter - or at least most of us do. Dealing with our soul and spirit through the cycling of our mind may in fact be the proverbial 600-pound gorilla asteroid of the chart, a fact which makes knowing where in our Psyche/psyche is natally...and where it is currently by cycle (our current 'learning curve') vitally informative as we pursue our life through 4.99 year-long loops which grant us the ability to learn and build while only guaranteeing that the more we learn, the more we know there is to know and master in our world, life, mind - and all which comes from whatever.

That Psyche orbits and is not (and cannot be) in all places at all times speaks to the limits we all have. It also suggests there are times when we all function in a somewhat 'mindless' manner.

Or is it that our evading or trying to 'get around' our Psyche? And could that ever be in our best interest?

'L'Amour et Psyche'
by Francois-Edouard Picot 

Considering that asteroid Psyche is large enough to perturb, disrupt or alter the orbital path of other asteroids, maybe not. And yes, such are the questions we would tend to delineate using a natal chart. But that the symbolic 'mind' can alter the path of much else we need to learn from...that may just suggest that Psyche - our Psyche - is something which can affect our path and our ability to reach our goal even if we don’t confront Psyche (that of our chart and in our life) entirely directly.

Why that would be, we would read through the ruler of the sign and house asteroid Psyche is placed in...and any major aspect from axis or natal planet. And the good or bad or the changing needs of our psyche would be read through transits to, and eclipses to our Psyche point.

Psyche being an M-type (metallic or metal-based) asteroid emphasizes Psyche's quality in the chart as a point of 'transmission' and thus 'conduct' in all its various forms - those we embody and those which affect what we do along our way.

To date, water has not been found in Psyche’s makeup - and that makes it a 'dispassionate' point in the chart by itself, though certainly that could be modified by other objects present. On the other hand, scientists have concluded that Psyche contains a small amount of pyroxene, a silica composition found in igneous and metamorphic rocks here on Earth. Thus our Psyche is innately 'endowed' with “igneous/fire” (creative) and the ability to endure through metamorphic (internal) transformation.

And it may even be that our Psyche needs to be transformed before we achieve some semblance of self-mastery. That's the basic underlying process defined by Scorpio-Taurus and the Scorpionic 'dying to self and rising from our ashes' is absolutely a metamorphic process.

Then again, since metamorphic processes by nature are typified astrologically as a fixed sign process, if we put 'igneous/creative' with 'fixed' as a generative cause of that which comes afterward, that would seem to be Leo - the primal sign of personal creativity. Asteroids haven't as yet been described in terms of rulerships and such, but though the 'easy' call with Psyche may be to assign it to the 'mentality' polarity of Gemini-Sagittarius, Psyche's graces or detriments may stand to benefit or hinder us most when focused through Leo-Aquarius in the sense that it is Aquarius - the last of the zodiac's mentality signs (and the functioning of the Leo-Aquarius and/or 5th house/11th house of a chart) which determines whether there will be sufficient 'instinctive' understanding or awareness of others. Even any aptitude for 'reading' society's mood, an important factor in 'making good' on any real talent we may have.

Plus let's not forget...we are now on Aquarian Age turf. Whether or not Psyche gets 'assigned' any sort of essential dignity in the Leo-Aquarius polarity, it seems likely that Psyche, 'the mind' will be more active when transiting any of the air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius), all of which function as ideas, concepts or theories of the thing.

And yes...one would also expect that Psyche natally placed in (or transiting) the 'thematically' air-sign houses (numbers 3, 7 or 11 ) should be considered rather concertedly. After all, as with all astrological placements we're likely to experience both the good and the problematic until we figure out what works.

Or maybe how mentality works - or doesn't work, whether that applies to our Self or anybody else.

Psyche natally placed in a specific conglomeration seems to manifest too: Bill Gates of Microsoft fame has Psyche, fixed star Rigel and the South Node all conjunct in his personal Gemini 12th. So what does he do? He sets his (Psyche) mind to (Gemini) thinking about what (12th house/South Node 'universal societal need' he could become the (Rigel) teacher-student of.

Need I say he figured it out in very Aquarian Age style? 

Universalism versus Individuality being the Aquarian challenge, all sudden 'breakouts' here at the start of the Aquarian Age will embody either great successes or failures of our ability to individualize and through that, 'tap into' the universal mind. Obviously Bill Gates did that rather well. He also did it very much in keeping with his Psyche.

The universal side of Psyche, that would be...with the specific area of that mind being outlined in our natal chart, as above. Considering that how our human mind works, and the cumulative growth of our mindful abilities, personal mindset and/or (if we're lucky) realization of our mind's power, Psyche may have 'eras' of application somewhat in sync with that many astrologers think of in terms of personal 'wealth' and general finances.

That being a tale of water signs and associated houses, the early days of our life are Cancerian - we're in the family, the family provides for us (or should). The second 'wealth' period in life is the interactive one, the one described by Scorpio (hence all the emotionality about money between intimate partners, perhaps?). This is where we have the most control - or at least we like to think so, though Scorpio has a funny way of testing us exactly in that area we fear most...

Eventually life moves us into the ultimate 'passive' area of finance, Pisces. Pisces is the realm of passive finances whether that means a pension, being taken care of by your 'community' (family or societal) or royalties, annuities or other forms of income which come to us without our having to actively 'work' any more.

 The twelve signs of the zodiac are the images of time, means and manifestation.

By 'means' the reference is being made to 'medium' or the means by which signs become manifest as influences in our life. Known commonly as the 'elements,' there are four of them: earth (all things tangible), air (that which is conceived of, spoken or transmitted), fire (the vision, the creative/process and growth through adaptation) and water - the experience of emotions, all which stirs emotionality and the trials or rewards which come from dealing/not dealing with emotional realities.

  As time, the flow from Aries to Pisces pictures 'birth to death' and thus the various ages and 'periods' (natural human growth passages) in our individual lives. The movements of planets being one 'readable' set of 'clockwork cycles' we here on Earth are able to watch and see functioning over thousands of years as astrology) has given riseto  the same body of philosophy which underlies religion, which science still diligently works to distilled into numerics (an entire section of which is the same set of numerics astrologers use)...and which our understanding of what it takes to be human, be that cultural or psychological has in this new Aquarian Age increasingly asked to have defined at least logically, giving rise to psychology and what may be the premier Aquarian Age question which will ever be posed to us by our Psyche: do we know what Existence really is? Without understanding existence, can we risk any lack of understanding of our reality, even that which we find difficult to understand or tolerate?

Do we, in separating from others, separate ourselves from our Self

...which is to say, our Psyche?

 

With an orbital period of 4.99 years, four orbits around the Sun in Psyche terms is very close to the 19.86-year Jupiter/Saturn synodic cycle - a process known for 'clocking' our cycles of effort, growth and achievement. It seems likely that part of the Saturn/Jupiter cycle takes at least part of its 'thunder' by being so closely aligned in time to the 18.6 year-long lunar node cycle (pertaining to our relationships personal and societal) and the even more fundamental 19-year eclipse (Metonic) cycle.

All of these cycles (Psyche's and those clocked by other objects Psyche's cumulative building process feeds into) function generically, meaning there is a process we all experience at the end of our teens which leads to a 'shifting' of internalized perspective vis-a-vis the world.

If nothing else, by then we generally either face it on our own or are sorted out against our peers by whether we need to face it on our own.

But all three cycles also all function in each natal chart on its own. Such cycles are generally initiated by a solar eclipse conjuncting a planet, node or axis point by conjunction and those cycles do not need to begin at any specific age. Nor are people limited to one repetitive cycle. There are some of us who go from one upheaval to another. Some of us encounter not so much as a road bump. Such things are clocked by every chart: some get challenged early and some get people, some attributes may get hit not at all, leading to that which merely ride life's many currents, which is never realized, or which has its own intrinsic genius quality.

  

Psyche et l'Amor (Cupid and Psyche)

by François Pascal Simon Gérard (1770-1837)

oil on canvas, Louvre Museum, Paris

As for 'what about the myth?' here, that simple answer is that Psyche images our relationship with trust and whether...or even how correctly...we trust our Self and therefore others.

Psyche asks, should we...given what we have/haven’t yet learned or learned to deal with in our own mind or in our own life...should we consider ourselves perhaps equally cursed by ignorance as we are blessed by innocence?

She most Greek and mythological - Psyche - was a maiden of glorious beauty. So gloriously beautiful was she that from far and wide those that counted and the many who would never count and live uncounted lives would travel miles just to behold this vision of inspiration and rapture which was the living Psyche.

Psyche's reputation grew potent, powerful and far beyond her ability to contain its portent. Indeed, so great became Psyche's fame and so powerful was her allure that complete strangers even began to worship Psyche instead of Venus.

And that, in mythic astro-metaphorical terms, is saying the (Psyche) idea of the thing, the mere ability to 'embody' or 'enrobe' the concept is as important as the reason (Venusian) experiences and utilization of our tools in life, whatever they may be. It is akin to saying that to give ourselves over to satisfaction (Psyche) merely in our mind is equal to those many forms of (Venus) human nourishment which cannot be produced by our Self.

While it is true that we need to know our (Psyche) mind, our Psyche is but one of many things we meet up with along the way to learning to (Jupiter/Saturn) master our life and our place in our worldly environment.

An astro-metaphysical diagram of our solar system

(image credit: astroPPM/B.Hart)

Venus is a planet. Psyche is an asteroid. Venus is the cause-effect of life at every level, with the Venus-Taurus life imperative being security, satisfaction and self worth (or self respect, whichever is more of a problem in your world). Such primal instincts and instinctual habits (which is what Venus and most everything else inside the asteroid belt seem to embody facets of) are about the basics, the necessities of life as opposed to Psyche, which is about the working out how to get those necessities.

One creates the need...the other manages dealing with the need. It's very human - and important, as we shall see.

So there is Psyche, minding her own business, watching others as they choose to focus entirely on the brilliance of her being...a brilliance which, one might say, filled their mind...but did nothing else.

Those who flocked to Psyche remained to gawk, taken with that Psyche which could get them to do...well, they would have done anything at Psyche's bidding, one imagines.

All of which didn't sit very well with Venus, the Venusian precept being all about making more out of what you have. Neither enthused with owl-like Psyches or gawking Greeks, and being a goddess whose planet is swathed in clouds of (over)heated sulfuric acid, unhappy has never been known to be Venus' best mode. And so we should not be surprised that She Most Offended by such mindless behavior saw all this and frowned a lovely frown.

Then she summoned son Cupid - he you may know (or think you like better) as Eros.

And yes, this is the Eros from whom we get all terms 'erotic.' But the astrological Eros is expressive of passion, not anything specifically biological. You may be a passionate reader. Or passionate about some social cause. Or cooking - which brings us back to Venus, who began cooking up a plan to have Psyche fall in love with some cloddish disgrace who would discredit Psyche on every level...

...And thus lower her public profile, returning all the gratification and admiration to Venus, the human process which utilizes what it takes in as opposed to that which merely collects, gathers, takes in or otherwise accumulates 'resources' which are then perhaps never utilized.

Being a dutiful god/son type (an ever-willing attribute if there ever was one) Eros sets off to find Psyche so he can wound her with one of his famous arrows - some of which are gold with dove feathers to inspire mercy, vulnerability and love...and some of which, in sporting owl feathers, inspired that sort of wide-eyed perspective which though it doesn't affect us on a biological level can nevertheless be vitally transformative.

There is, in other words, intimate passion as well as many other kinds of passions for what we do, things we believe in - and friends, friendship being in Greek terms the highest form of relationship. That strikes us odd in modern times, and that it does is about today's world and the long-term lens of the Aquarian Age we are now moving into. It's chart shows Scorpio in the position of public achievement and acclaim and thus we can achieve or be defeated by our attitudes towards all things Scorpio.

The wheel of the Aquarian Age with Scorpio (in blue) at the top of the wheel - a position which tells us that people will tend to look to and measure themselves by 'Scorpio attributes' (real, imagined or projected) for the duration of the Age. By this we know that the 'easy' way to attract othersf or the next 2,160-odd years is through sex, power, manipulation, murder, debt, control - or any of a dozen other negative Scorpio traits...OR we can attract success (that being the 10th house object) through challenging ourselves. The 'secret' here would seem to be all about how we deal with vulnerabilities - specifically our own. And its to be expected that during this Age, those who are willing to at least own up to (if not tackle and survive) their own fears willbe those able to help through demonstrating the resilience of human nature.

As for Venus, her rather unfeeling plan shows us rather plainly that even immortal moms aren’t immune to jealousy (yikes!) and how (yes...) even immortal Olympian moms aren’t above using kids to do their personal dirty work - which in the case of Venus would be highly attractive work, but dirty work nonetheless.

(Take that as you will - all meanings apply.)

Yet when we talk about Venus and Eros, we aren't talking about a biological parenting process, we're talking about our internalized understanding (or lack of understanding) about our (Venusian) instincts - specifically those which seek to provide for our needs through external sources.

Venus uses Eros as our instincts utilize passion - as a tool. And though we refer to Psyche as 'our mind,' here it becomes plain that Psyche is the mind also in its role as connector or tool as implied by its position in the main asteroid belt.

Thus as our story begins, Eros sets off to do mom’s bidding armed not only with arrows, but also with two vases full of water (water equaling feelings in metaphysics) drawn from Venus’ twin fountains of joy and bitterness - apparently what would be needed to cause Psyche to fall in love with some clod.

And upon reaching Psyche’s bedside, Eros begins doing as he was told to by dribbling drops of bitterness on Psyche’s lips. Then he scratches her with one of his golden arrows.

Venus doesn't want to destroy Psyche. No, instinct (Venus) informs that there is a useful purpose for Psyche's brilliance..but instinct sees this Psyche as something which can earn nothing but bitterness - ever - seeing as Psyche never does anything to earn anything better.

Venus is all about our present qualities and our qualities of presence. Where Venus connects, our Psyche defines.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  

So Eros begins his work...but as he does so, his (passionate) presence awakens Psyche - and this startles Eros. Perhaps taken with the true beauty of Psyche in repose, Eros grip slips. And when the grip of passion slips, the same arrow used to wound Psyche cuts Eros.

Yes, love cuts both ways.

But let us remember that the astro-metaphysical Psyche is non-emotional, making this an unemotional witnessing (or an unemotional self-witnessing) of 'the arousing of our passions' not in another but in our Self. That passion (Eros) can be compromised by the very thing Venus in her negative mode wanted used to wound, punish and control (our) Psyche is an important comment on lust.

And on love.

And on human nature.

In the story, Eros reacts to the awakening of Psyche by sprinkling her 'with drops of joy,' an image which would be plainly erotic except this is about when happens when our mindful capacity (Psyche) is confronted by passion incarnate. Is this the soul being healed by desire? Our Psyche desire to be “rescued” by that level of passion so many of us associate solely with eroticism, perhaps to our own short-changing?

The 'Anadyonene Venus' by Titian
 

There's also an astrological concept here concerning Venus. The Venus principle states that what we give out (our quality of being), whatever that is and however that manifests is met and returned in kind - that being the principle known as like attracts like. Planet or goddess, being that Venus cannot change her innate nature, does this thus make a statement about passion as both strength and undoing? As represented by Psyche being asleep when passion finds her, is this about the workings of our sub-conscious and all we think of as 'dreams'?

And if so, are those dreams even necessarily embodied?

Can passion simply overtake our Psyche with joy?

And what about the asteroid Eros?

Situated in the main asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter), Eros is also a member of an asteroid sub-group known as the Amor group - a group which takes its name from asteroid Amor, a platonic astrological object which functions very much in the old Greek spirit of friendship and the love of friends as love of the highest kind.

Why did they think that way? Being not an ancient Greek, it's hard to say (yes, everybody wrote about it, but its not the same as being there). Yet by definition, some aspects of what it means to take sex, money and all the trappings of power off the table in a relationship are plain, since money, sex and power are what humans tend to use to manipulate and control each other...generally so that they don't have to confront their own feelings about Self (that Taurus/Venus self-worth thing.) So to take those off the table in a relationship means that we either have to...or are in some way being given the opportunity...and maybe even the obligation to go beyond those rather standard defensive-aggressive triggers set off by relationships which don't give us the sort of freedom friendships give us.

The hint here is that friendship - and all things platonic - are related to the Aquarian vibe. As part of the Aquarius-Leo polarity, Aquarius says that where and when we 'do the thing' for the love of it and the love of doing or creating it, we free ourselves...we find joy.

And when it comes to operating at that level, that would be inside the orbit of Mars, which symbolizes our 'defenses' whether those are levied against others or our Self. And that's just where the Amor group orbits - between Earth and Mars.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Eros was discovered on August 13, 1898 at 22 Aquarius, a degree known for an abundance of 'creating' energy, whether that's used mentally, sexually or otherwise, with air sign Aquarius (as noted) having a distinctly 'global' viewpoint we associate with humanism and universality as well as separatism and isolation. The third decanate position (22 being a degree between 20 and 29 of a sign) is also interesting as all things third decanate tell us 'others' (or other factors, if you're talking ideas) must be taken into account before one's (Eros) passion comes to fruition.

Apparently it is through the experiences of our Psyche that we learn this.

With Uranus being secondary ruler of Aquarius it’s also likely that our Eros passions, while magnificently inspirational and motivational (to say the least) can also cause us to act in haste. Or to 'leap into' something without proper preparation - that being the Saturn balance against Aquarian dynamism which so typifies Aquarius.

And it's this fact...equal to all others...which suggests it's not for us to discover our passions so much as to discover our Psyche through our passions.

Our Self, that is.

Asteroid Eros
(photo credit: NASA)

Against this we have the fact that passion (Eros) is actually the son of god-type Mars (Ares to the Greeks). So the idea that passion would be 'armed' (Ares/Mars is the god of war and battle)...but also that our passions should cause us conflicts - starting with those in our (Psyche) mind.

In that, the astrological Eros becomes that passion which can wound us as sorely as anyone else through the very embodiment of passionate temptation.

And that is surely a test of our Psyche as we see in the myth when the curse of being rejected by Venus (self-rejection) takes hold. From the moment Psyche is overtaken by passion, though all eyes still turn, no one is drawn.

In fact, no one comes near.

Beautiful or not, Psyche is thus isolated. And in the beauty of her isolation, Psyche gets lonely.

Very lonely.

Fortunately, Eros isn’t the only one with parents...having successfully married off her sisters, Psyche's parents finally focus on why their gorgeous daughter has suddenly become a total drag on the mythic marriage market.

Alas, sometimes the brilliant Psyche is thought to be so self-sufficient, and then proves anything but.

Considering this, off the parents go to Apollo’s oracle, which is where you went in those days if you were seeking enlightened words of Olympian truth, Jung and Freud being still many hundreds of years in the future. And enlightened words they indeed got, though as we all know, sometimes truth (Apollo) isn't exactly what you had hoped to hear.

So what did the oracle say, you ask? Just this: “Psyche will become the bride of a monster neither gods nor men can resist - take her to the mountaintop...there she will meet her fate.” 

Being standard Greek myth decent parents, Psyche’s folks are reluctant to comply. Yet the Psyche in question would rather have anything than the pain of...the 'mindful reality' of what we might call Psyche-o-logical isolation. Bitter are her words as she chides her mom and dad...if you had cared a little more back then instead of spending all your time hanging around bragging, enjoying the attention looks were getting because you thought they made YOU look good...if you had done something other than that, maybe this wouldn’t have happened!

Oh, poor Psyche! Cursed by Venus and torn asunder within by the joy of Eros, she feels...and feels victimized by all she hasn't caused - an image of our mind or the mind being frustrated in the attempt to...or simply unable to connect cause and effect.

Is this about avoidance on our part - our effort not to know (or yes, even 'know') our mind passionately?

Is this a form of abdication of Self - which would pretty much be how  Psyche got into Venusian trouble to begin with?

(You know...how we get ourselves into trouble?)

Speaking of trouble, this is a truly mythic story moment as the eruption of Psyche is responded to resolutely - which is to say mom and dad suddenly get past all parental (mortal) reluctance, resulting in the conducting of the daughter to the appointed mountaintop (dressed in the proper finery of marriage, of course)...recalling our conversation about asteroid Psyche as an M-class or metallic asteroid and how metals 'conduct.'

That which we are in our mind - the metal of our mind, you might say in mythic terms is thus that done to us, that we do to ourselves, or that we embody and thus do unto others.

Once at the cliff's edge, guidance (the parents) abandons Psyche, leaving her at an 'end' she must now commit herself (or her Self) as part of the Psyche process of owning her own cause.

So Psyche takes the proverbial first step.

And does Psyche fall?

No, Psyche doesn't fall. In accepting the need to go on and learn about what must be experienced (i.e., on the way to Jovian mastery), Psyche takes a brave step - and for her courage is embraced by the gentle wind Zephyr, who as emblem of 'motion' conducts Psyche to a palace.

A glorious palace.

'Zephyr and Flora'
by William Adolphe Bouguereau

In this palace...this mansion of our Psyche, unseen servants (ideas) tend to her every need. Anything one could want is provided...except the physical company of husband...partner...'other half of self,' Eros.

This is a comment which brings up an astrological question: to be specifically denied Eros' physical presence should point to something definitive with regards to asteroid Psyche's placement in earth signs Taurus, Virgo or Capricorn.

This is one place where astrological study needs to be done on Psyche: though it would seem logical for Psyche to function well or freely in air signs Gemini, Libra or Aquarius (as we think of with planets in signs of rulership), there's also the fact that Psyche in an air sign might represent a sort of "too much of a good thing" tendency - the mentality or tendency to operate in a realm of ungrounded or unsubstantiated theoreticals. Or maybe that would represent the dreamer who never does or the idea which never comes to fruition in real life.

After all, grounding and bringing things to be in reality is a physicality of sorts - our reality, our metaphysical Earth is our 'ground' - and that's where the Eros notion of physicality operates as a passionate love, a love sufficiently profound to cause us to do all which is needed to bring something into being.

Is that not love?

Thus...returning to the myth...Eros brings Psyche to this place where all which Passion can provide is laid before her to understand and partake of...to use, as we use our inner passions. And there Psyche resides, surrounded by an opulent existence and utter lack of care...in the midst of which passion comes to mean all. Passion still only comes to Psyche at night. And when Eros does come to Psyche, over and over he warns that his Psyche must not ever try to see him for who he really is.

...If you saw me, perhaps you would fear me, perhaps adore me - when all I ask is that you love me. I would rather you love me as an equal than adore me as a god...

Yet that Psyche is cannot exist utterly forbidden to witness her passions, for that is what Psyche is - the mind's mindful presence of witnessing, from which come our decisions, our actions, our choices.

It's a classic human quandrary. Barred from beholding (never mind becoming 'beholden' to) her passions, Psyche cannot achieve that trust all our Eros 'passions' require of us at whatever level they apply - our soul, our spirit, our physicality or our mind.

Reconciling the Self to the fate of Psyche has now become a daily and painful task for Psyche. How can she trust something she cannot fully grasp?

And why is that so hard? Who or what is (our) P/psyche really afraid of? 

There is no threat from without...only from within Psyche.

As this tale goes on, we learn that things go well for a while...but Psyche eventually does get to where she cannot take living alone, even with all she was raised and reared to think would fill her mind and life with a sense of personal security

So she does what mythic entities do: Psyche begs of Eros that she be allowed to visit with her family. Can they please come and stay with her a while?

Oh, how we all love familiarity. As much as we all long to achieve Jovian mastery and Saturnine achievement, we angst, we quail along our unfathomed way.

Psyche weeps. Psyche begs. Psyche entreats...and with huge misgivings, Eros gives in. (Passions do tend to give in, don't they?) Yet well he should have concerns, for when Psyche’s sisters see how the beauty of Psyche is reflected in the beauty of the life Passion has given her they get every drachma as jealous as Venus ever was.

Which would be exactly what Venus intended - that through passion, Psyche should either learn the greater of Eros...or to fall prey to her passion for the mere idea of Passion and be punished for having lost her Passion.

The siblings now start recalling to their sister Psyche about the oracle. Didn't the oracle say Psyche would marry a monster?

...If you saw me, perhaps you would fear me, perhaps adore me - when all I ask is that you love me. I would rather you love me as an equal than adore me as a god...

It must be true. He must be a monster. Otherwise why wouldn't Psyche be allowed to see her mate...her 'other half'?

Endlessly tormented by such ideas and statements, the tormented Psyche finally slips out of bed one night. 

Grabbing a knife and oil lamp, she goes to the other side of the bed to see who the “monster” really is.

And there - much as Eros did at first sight of her...as we are when we behold our missing mirror image within - so startled is Psyche by the sight of Eros' perfections that she too slips.

A single drop of oil drips from the lamp...and onto Eros' naked skin.

Awakened by touch, Eros sees what has happened and realizes that Passion cannot live with...nor be a true partner where the Psyche is unable to trust passion to be simply what passion is - passion.

So Eros departs, flying away just as our passions leave us when we reach the point where we mind them not, when we are no longer willing to mindfully invest in loving passion's ability to love our mind for the brilliant, wondrous and beautiful thing that it is...

....creating from that whatever our passion can be, loving our mind in the process.

It all comes with limitations...are we willing to partner with that?

Abandoned now by Eros, Psyche wanders, lost without the image of that she thought she had come to know and love herself as in all the mirrored reflections provided by Eros' glorious Palace of Passion.

Such is the emptiness sense of a Psyche doomed to hear nothing but the echoes of thoughts.

Devastatingly distracted, she makes her way home. And once there, once with her family, Psyche reveals her terrible dilemma.

How to reconcile Psyche with Eros?

Alas, all is never so simple in the world of Greek myth: well-cast in a few of literature's original 'evil sister' roles, Psyche's sisters commiserate with their Psyche only long enough to placate her. Then in full jealous cry off they run to the mountaintop, hoping to be taken by Passion in the place of their sister Psyche.

But Eros is not their counter-part, Psyche is. And if nothing else, this is another tasteful twist on Venus' curse.

You know...the one all about what our Psyche did, or didn't do?

Where Venus is cause-effect, Psyche is limited by the confines of mentality.

And yet, that which provides the method but which by definition can never be satisfied, lest we stop trying.

So Venus was right. And in the end, despite all the pain and agony, no matter how the lover's tale plays out, Venus has done her job: she has ensured we as humans living out her archetype - and Psyche in both tale and theory - that we will all continue trying lest we lose our ultimate passion, that for life.

Psyche Abandonnee (Psyche Abandonned)

by Jacques-Louis David (oil on canvas, 1795)

So there Psyche sits musing on her Eros loss. Mindfully or unmindfully, we don't know. But there she sits. And as Psyche sits, her sisters try to literally follow in the footsteps of their Psyche...but gentle wind Zephyr is no longer supportive.

Our Psyche is ours. Our Eros, our passions are ours. Others will never go where our Psyche has gone, telling us that our options for achieving mastery - or whatever our personal goals may be...those options are apparently not interchangeable.

Psyche’s sisters take a great - and literal - fall.

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Having learned what she is through what she cannot be, Psyche turns to devoting herself to service through working not merely for Venus but in the honor of all gods as the emblem and acceptance of being part of the cause through which the whole of life is given meaning, capacity - and a chance for Jupiterian understanding, mastery and thus, Saturnine achievement.

Not as measured by someone else's Psyche or Passion, but by ours.

To be thorough, Psyche also goes to Venus' temple to apologize. And that earns her a Venusian response, which is exactly in keeping with the astrological concept that Venus in the chart and Venus by transit indicate opportunities to turn that which we are, our 'causal' energy, into the response, the reward, the nourishment, the loyalty, the answers to our questions and love we all so deeply need...our 'effect.'

The now-penitent Psyche which goes to Venus not only isn't pristine but knows...'in her Psyche' that what she brings to Venus isn't pristine. It isn't purely unmarred. When Psyche did this without connection, in typical Greek (not to mention human and astrological) fashion Venusian values created tests. Through such tests came the awareness of others and sufficient humility not just to stare at them but to be one of them: the Aquarian (and air sign) ideal of being entirely one's self in connection to others.

When we do that, we conduct our passion. And in conducting that passion we embody it; it becomes us and we are as much the expression of its potency as it is our kith, our kin and ultimate lover.

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Discovered on March 17, 1852 by Annibale de Gasparis, Psyche was at 27 Leo and in exact conjunction with fixed star Regulus at that time.

Like all Persian royal stars, Regulus promises great things if we avoid a particular attribute - which in this case is revenge.

link to: Regulus, Royal Star of Persia (Part Two)

This Regulus “anti-revenge” quality gets even thicker in the P/psyche tale when we consider 27 Leo as a third decanate degree of the sign all about our ability to embrace and/or embody the 'vision' we have of ourselves, for our Self. With Leo, either not seeing our Self or not seeing what others value is problematic.

Regulus, the brightest star in constellation Leo has been
known since ancient times where Persian astrologers
referred to it as the 'Watcher of the North'
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And then there are the specifics of 27 Leo, a degree with the Sabian Symbol 'MANY LITTLE BIRDS OF A LIMB OF A BIG TREE' which astrologer Marc Edmund Jones typifies as 'a wide, and perhaps confusing, openness to a multiplicity of inspiring potentials' - which sounds very much like Psyche in that mode where we are the watcher, the learner, the spectator, the 'kid in the candy store' trying to decide what to do...and not do.

It is at such moments when we confront our Eros, those Passions which dwell within. Whether they are connective and conductive or merely some vision or viewpoint we have which serves our own aims...whether they focus on our singular humanity or our universal humaneness, it is the confronting of Eros by Psyche - the Psyche knowing what Passion really is in our (Psyche's) eye which changes us.

Or maybe it just changes what it means to master our own lives and life decisions, which for many is the basis of owning our Jupiter 'knowing of self' as that which leads to Saturnine achievement and the structuring of a life which we...which our Psyche...can embrace ever so passionately.

Thus is Psyche the embracing of our inner Self. Psyche tests our self-worth through forcing us to learn who we think we are. Psyche calls upon us to utilize our resourcefulness whether we are seeing or being seen.

Psyche does not seem to apply to the question of whether we have passions - it is only if and how we use them...and what we allow (or cause) them to be directed at. There is the astrological tendency for all third decan degree (degrees between 20 and 29 of any sign) to 'put it all out there' - or to represent the experience of same. Third decan ideas start out walking on air and as often end up creatures of the wind as directors of fortune.

To chance our own reactions, whether to ourselves or to others experiencing us at the level of our passions...that is what we do so that we see our Psyche through the eyes of others.

Yes, it is enough to make a person want to avoid meeting up with that glittering beauty which is their own Psyche.

And yet, it is through Psyche that we connect and conducted to and in all we learn, immersing ourselves in that lusciousness which is the Psyche process of surrendering to what cannot be seen...that inner intoxication which is our most nakedly creative Eros, an essence which desires most passionately and most of all that we experience our fullest measure in being human.
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original publication March 1, 2010  by Daykeeper Journal
revised February 2014 (Boots Hart, CAP) - reprints by permission.

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