Mercury in Capricorn

'Young Hermes at Rest'

(bronze, Naples National Archaeological Museum, photo credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen, 2011)

Since the last post ended with contemplations of rainstorms and possible floor flooding, an update: the water didn't come in under the front wall, it came in under the door and somehow staged wetting down two of my windowsills (yes, on the indoors side), but it wasn't horrible. Furthermore I gather my wakefulness had plenty of company - a good number of Los Angelenos stayed up or were woken up by the downpour (replete with whistling winds) when it hit at about 1:30 in the morning.

The reason water came in under the door, I understand. That's because it rained so hard (LA got something close to two inches of rain in a couple of hours) that the roof gutter  overflowed. And wouldn't you know, it overflowed in just the right place to set up a cascade of splatter which hit my front door, dripping down - and from there under the door.

The windowsills I haven't quite fathomed yet, but I'm working on it. And though it is always something (as they say) this is the first invasion by water for me this year, which even as a Pisces person I think is a bit much.
 
Getting to the subject of this post (thanks for listening)... Mercury is reaching Capricorn ahead of the Sun this year, which isn’t an unpleasant thought. After all, while Mercury in Sagittarius can have things moving ahead at leaps and bounds Mercury in Sagittarius can also be a time that so much in motion that nothing gets done. Or a time when things already in progress seem like they’ll never, ever end.

Where Sagittarius runs hot, speedy and far, Capricorn coolly pays attention, considers repercussions and is never, ever in a hurry - which isn’t to say Capricorn symbols should be taken to be reticent. They aren’t - so when this comes to the mental, motion, communication realm which is All Things Mercury, we shouldn’t be surprised that Mercury in Capricorn is known for speaking its peace even if that disrupts the peace.

Capricorn stands for that which will last. It’s all about that which will endure, the effort to endure and the enduring of our own learning curve as that pertains to who we are intrinsically (identity), who we are in this world (career, social/legal standing) and how well we deal with who we are in that world, inclusive of whether we hold our Self to standards (reputation) - and what it takes to do that (responsibility).

Known for a ‘cool and collected’ quality, Mercury in Capricorn imbues most of us with a rational sort of awareness of why comprehension of themes and details is important to our aims. And thus we ‘go’ for what we want - we ask, we do, we try, we throw our hat in the ring, and for those who aren’t wearing a hat, we toss in whatever seems handy and apropos.

Who cares if someone objects? So long as our intention is well and truly understood, while someone else may object, it’s our self-esteeming that we’re mostly embodied and motivated by.

Given Mercury as a sign of communication, that Capricorn seldom hesitates and is a pragmatic and an ‘it is what it is’ sort of earth sign makes this an obvious boon for business and important of any kind - and while the Sun remains in Sagittarius (read: until the December 21st Solstice) while there may be disagreements on some points, so long as everyone remembers to nix the idea and not the person, given a bit of back and forth, agreements can be reached.

Once the Sun does enter Capricorn however, we can expect any of a number of tacks and tactics to liven up our day, our thoughts and considerations - and since some will be lobbed at us (as opposed to being something wholly ours to decide) we are likely to feel... and indeed to be challenged. 

Challenges - particularly those which test our endurance are part and parcel of Capricorn and going to be part of Mercury in Capricorn, testing not merely our endurance but the validity and viability (read: practicality, never mind any hype) of our reason(s) for holding our goal or opinion or belief or whatever else so very dearly.

And it’s likely that during this time a few things will change. Some changes will be initiated because of things we come to (Mercury) think and some will result from things which occur and which we react or respond to, whether or not that means we adapt to changing internal or external conditions or merely cope with them. Because of this - and in spite of this things can, and will get done: Mercury in Capricorn is another quite decent pairing for those with accomplishments needing to be accomplished. And since we know two other things (Uranus going direct on December 21st and Saturn moving from Scorpio into Sagittarius on the 23rd) are on the astrological calendar during Mercury’s trio of weeks in Capricorn, we have the markers which for some will manifest as accomplishment.

Or input. Or a shock - or perhaps a surprise. Capricorn does have a sincere strain of ‘earning’ to its makeup which suggests that those who have earned something are likely to get results there where those who haven’t earned won’t receive (or to the degree that we may not earned we may not receive).

This ‘earning’ or ‘having earned’ theory would even seem supported by the grand trine Mercury’s moving into Capricorn acts to trigger and make ‘real’ in that singular manner planets entering earth signs seem to have.

With Mercury exactly conjunct Eurydike there’s a question of ‘the cost’ in the mix, with that motivated and inexorably tied to some Regulus-Black Moon fact or earthly/earthy factor which is both about (Regulus) how little there is to be gained by doing things (Virgo) improperly... and about how there is nothing which can be (Regulus) properly done which doesn’t have a high (and probably unpredictable) quality of moral, ethical or emotional backlash (which by any other name would be known as ‘cost.).

At the same time that all that’s true, there’s also a nexus of conviction about the innate quality of goodness and the need to (Mirach/Hestia) protect same which has a tenacious, emotional hold on things... or on us... and that’s also a cost.

How to reconcile it all while attending to what time requires and the times demand while dealing with the business of how to make gains on whatever our goals and aims are...that requires some sort of compromise - from us, I mean.

We can like it or not like any of this. We can also be the person initiating whatever this grand trine refers to or a person on the receiving end.

Or we can just be experiencing something which embodies this experience for us, wholesale. Good or bad isn’t necessarily part of the equation... in fact Mercury in Capricorn has just that touch of a proverbial sort of ‘eat your vegetables, they’re good for you!’ maxim that issues are more likely to be about ‘like/no like’ or ‘want/not want’ than anything else.

Whatever will get us to think about what works in the long run or fullest of full terms - that’s where we can operatively go. But whether we’ll go there...? Or get there...?

That’s a whole other question. After Saturn changes signs (on the 23rd) there will be a ‘freeing up’ of some things, but getting any real feeling for same is going to take a bit of time, which given when this change of sign happens rather points to the end of the year and/or holiday season, whichever way you see it.

But prior to that there is Uranus’ station. Occurring on December 21st and at 12 Aries, this station occurs with Uranus' turn to direct in semi-square to Pluto (suggesting situational transformations as issues, facts and energies come to greater clarity) and Mercury in sextile to Neptune - which becomes the general rub.

What kind of rub? It's that Mercury/Neptune thing - an indication that something isn't entirely factual. This doesn’t have to be any big problem as 'non-factual' in metaphysical terms can simply mean "fiction."

As usual, such indicators end up being all in how we take them - or are overtaken by them. Beyond all that however, because this is (by date) associated with Uranus' station, any or all of what happens could also have everything to do with communications, changes in plans and/or high tech subjects seeing as Uranus is always a symbol of things systemic, electric, electrifying, digital and electronic. With Mercury in Capricorn there is some sort of reference or connection to the outside world (or what we are, want to be or need to be in that outside world) even if we spend the whole of this passage  experiencing whatever that means to us solely inside our own life - or even just inside our own head.

Two more items of particular note here. The first is how Mercury will conjunct Pluto (the finding, rediscovering or utilizing something which was lost, transformed or denied... or which will now be lost, transformed or denied) on December 24th. The degree being activated here being 12 Capricorn, there is a good deal of wit, cleverness and deftness of skill that if used wisely can lead to (or can now produce) something totally unanticipated - or at least unpredicted - of a powerful and potentially quite positive nature IF we are willing to admit to ourselves and ‘fill in the gap’ (or gaps) when it comes to that ‘thing’ which is missing in whatever equation we are working with which we would like to equal success and successful results.

The other thing to know about is that as we close in on New Years, Mercury will oppose fixed star Castor (first of the Gemini twins) on December 29th and then oppose Pollux (the second Gemini twin) on New Years Eve, AS Mars in Aquarius opposes Jupiter, now retrograde in Leo.

That brings up the subject of choice - and since Mercury rules Gemini - that which we choose or have chosen.

Plus there is that little fact that people do tend to do some very particular things on New Years Eve.

Whatever you face (or whatever is facing you), let’s just say this is not the time to do something hasty (or in haste) which might create some need to deal with a ‘cost’ regarding same which confronts you from some impersonally (or not personally) controlled perspective.

Other than that, what with this week ahead when the Sun in Sagittarius’ most worldly and newsworthy degrees will be signifying life stirring up that which will shift as we move through Uranus’ station on December 21st, we shouldn’t expect the days ahead to feel normal - or to have normal feelings about life in general.

The feelings we’re talking about are those which can feel personally destabilizing. Feelings of insecurity we didn’t even know we had may appear as if out of rather dim air.

Taken by NASA's Messenger spacecraft, this photo of Mercury is known as 'The Sunlit Side of Mercury'

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

And on that level, that Mercury is moving into Capricorn on Wednesday, a day or two in advance of Uranus’ ‘official’ station and also probably as things (or we) start seeming or feeling disjointed about this or that... maybe that’s just life being kind to us by giving us an inner sense that we can prevail, that despite all the loose ends, seeming impossibilities and disgruntled times we can keep on being who we need to be.

Which is a gift indeed.
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Lachesis, Kalypso, Eurydike: The Measure, the Motivation, the Cost

Orpheus and Eurydike

by Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein (1806) 

The tale of Orpheus and Eurydike is as old as love itself. Boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy gets in trouble, girl volunteers to give her all for him…

(No, not that! We’re talking about her life - these were more innocent if dastardly times!)

….and he doesn’t quite manage to save her.

(Yeah, well…)

Anywho, so if you’re in Eurydike mode, you’d better be sure that the guy you’re sacrificing everything for is darn well worth it…and that you’re really and truly-o prepared to pay the ultimate price for that undying love of yours which is going to cause you to die.

Taking this out of the strictly romantic mode and sending it through the metaphysical looking-glass, Eurydike the asteroid stands for a sacrifice we make or a cost we pay…and how we had best be aware of said cost and the reality of our sacrifice when we sign on the proverbial dotted line.

And why is this important? This would be important because March 13th would be a date when Eurydike is playing celestial footsie with Scheat, the fixed star which stands for rejection of one’s ideas.

That would be REJECTION, full stop, full scale, full in your face. Rejection. 

And no, it doesn’t even matter if you’re right. Galileo had Jupiter (knowledge) conjunct Scheat and look what happened to him! He DARED say that the Earth orbits around the Sun (not the Sun around the Earth) and for this utter heresy ended up living his life out scorned by his society and under well-guarded house arrest.

So Eurydike/Scheat? That sounds like a really truly bad time of the ‘you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t’ sort of kind.

And if that’s not enough to get your muser musing, let’s remember that this takes place in the latest of late degrees of Pisces. That means whatever happens now is not anything you control and that beyond the actuality of the moment or event, there are your feelings about it all to be contended with!

Not to ring any ill-sounding doorbells on unwanted reminders or anything, but this would also be the date when at 1:02 in the afternoon (UT/+0) Kalypso goes retrograde at 21 Scorpio – as if we needed any other indications that emotional situations might be half-past funky?

Scorpio being representative of emotions which arise out of interactive situations or choices already made, this too happens at a 3rd decanate degree…meaning the thing you wanted to control which is out of your control is causing you to feel really ugly about not being in control – which in this case means someone else will seem to be getting their way without your getting sufficient warm fuzzies to make you feel even vaguely good about it.

It all sounds like enough to make anyone feel less than tip top, right?

And yet…this doesn’t have to be all bad. Okay…since Lachesis (duration) is also at the moment toodling through Aquarius and conjunct Kassandra (disbelief) it may feel like nothing will ever, ever be good ever, ever again!

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 'Les Parques' (the Greek Fates): Klotho (beginnings),

Lachesis (duration) and Atropos (endings)

painting by Alfred Agache (c. 1885)

 

On the other hand, you could just come to this moment with your newly minted Aries Uranian energy in your back pocket (or wherever you keep such things) and be totally willing to do what it takes (Eurydike) and take however long it takes (Lachesis) to do that thing nobody thought you would ever really actually do (Kalypso) and no matter what they said (Kassandra) prove them ALL wrong and win out at that thing you really totally know in your heart is not just possible, but entirely the right thing for you, yourself and you to get done in your life (Uranus in Aries)!

Yet with all this said, it’s still all about how you deal with the moment. Eurydike is not only conjunct Scheat but also Black Moon Lilith. So if you're on the rejected end of the stick ask yourself - what about society (or 'my group') are you failing to take into account (otherwise known as 'in denial of')?

Okay...so Nemesis is in opposition here, so if you're trying to call someone out on what they're trying to ignore, it's natural they would reject your notion. And yes, this would be a time when if someone comes and admits to you that yes, yes, yes...you were actually right... you're going to find it harder than hard to resist a big fat I TOLD YOU SO!

(insert: sound of voice echoing through the hallway of the ages...)

And not only is Lachesis hanging out with Kassandra at the moment (it's actually not a bad pairing but I don't expect anyone to believe me on that!) but this little ol' meeting of Greek Fate (Lachesis) and Greek prophetess (Kassandra, aka Cassandra) is happening in the presence of Pallas - the front end of Pallas Athena, aka un-impassioned, totally collected Wisdom.

With Neptune at 29 Aquarius, how many of us do you think are going to be totally out of the passion market and totally collected at the moment?

(I don't think so...!)

So sometimes what we should do is really, really hard to do. Then again, sometimes knowing what we should do (rather Pallas, that 'knowing' thing)...sometimes just bearing something in mind and doing what we can to hold to the straight and narrow is all it takes.

Okay, so maybe perfection this is not. But effort counts! Even the legal system considers one's intent!

And then there's Kalypso. Oh, what a story is that! She loves and loves and then has to give up Odysseus because he loves his wife and kids at home.

 Calypso (aka Kalypso) - a detail from an 18th century painting

At the moment of this moment Kalypso is sitting in complete and utter opposition to Sedna. And Sedna is conjunct Industria (industriousness) and Sabine (held captive as a slave).

Hmmm...sounds like work (or responsibilities) may be holding some of us captive. For others, they'll play the Sedna card as being spoiled, wanting what they want because they want it...and never mind what the standards of others are!

Yes, well...some of us are good at balancing our needs with those of others. Some of us...? Not so much!

This all seems to come down to a series of questions. Will you be distracted and defeated? Will you get to doing what you need to because should? Will you humor yourself because nothing matters except your own desires?

Will you hold yourself to doing those things which contribute to who you have always known and felt you should be?

Are you prepared to make sacrifices - or do you think you can get away with something, anything, everything?

(Note: this blog will not self-destruct

in 30 seconds. Not even 60 seconds.

Maybe not even 60 years...!)

News Flash: Chilean Mine Rescue

 Chile's national flag

As the people around the world watched on live TV, a rescue capsule painted in the red, white and blue of Chile emerged from the tube dug 2/3rds of a mile down into the earth.

One of 33 trapped miners had returned to Earth's surface.

The chart for that moment is illuminating...

The first miner's emergence 

(Copiapo, Chile/AST +4)

Positioned at 16 Gemini, fixed star Rigel is just behind the Ascendant - the degrees just behind each angle being known as some of the most powerful and potent in any chart.

Known as a position of 'knoweldge' (or knowing) and being 'under the foot of the teacher,' Rigel says a lot about this moment. Of course seeing the capsule and the living person in it allows us all to 'know' that the rescue was no longer an attempt - it was a reality.

Gemini is about choices. About finding the information and putting it together in order to 'construct' something in your life or in greater life itself. The specific degree of the rising being 17 Gemini, there is a lot of planning and enthusiasm, and...interestingly...a 'weakness of hands.' Things at this position cannot thus be done manually.

As they weren't. Drilling experts had been brought in by the Chilean government to help in the rescue and in this moment their cumulative information (knowledge) proved fruitful. And that the polarity (Descendant) degree (17 Sagittarius) is about one's the great and simple gratitude to God (or fortune or however one believes) also seems apt.

Going back to Rigel's image of 'being under the teacher's foot' for a moment, those who watched the live telecast will probably remember seeing one of the operators of the winch and cable rig literally using his booted foot to knock the guide pulley a bit back into position just moments before the capsule emerged. It seemed an odd gesture at the time - but apt when you look at the chart of the moment.

Any base of the chart represents the foundation and what we stand on. It's the 'innermost point' of the chart and thus in this picture, the mine, deep in the Earth, still holding the other miners far from light.

This IC/Nadir point is in Virgo, an earth sign to be sure! Pictured at 28 Virgo, this point is a degree which promises little more than hard work, unless 'enlarged upon' by some other force.

A mine? That is certainly one form of 'enlarging.' And that this chart is about breaking through from the surface to a chamber which might otherwise have been a tomb for 33 hard-working men? That's enlarging in many a positive sense. 

With Virgo ruled by the Mercury (in green) in the 4th and foundational house of the chart conjunct Sisyphus (knowledge used either to help or kill people) and Rhadamanthus (dispassionate fairness) we know that the miners understood why they were there. They had taken a job, there had been a disaster.

Pictured with this Mercury we see the Sun - life and human will. With both these symbols opposition Eris Discord conjunct inventive Edisonia in the elevated 10th house we are also given a really useful lesson about Eris as a symbol of celestial 'discord' which simply changes things. 'Discord' isn't bad! Fighting tyranny is discord, but is it wrong? Digging a hole in the Earth technically disrupts the Earth's structure, but in this moment, it was certainly far from a terrible thing to do.

But again, back to 28 Virgo, the IC/Nadir point of this chart. Standing at the Nadir was Typhon (primal forces) and Bali - the longed for thing. For those men pictured by Mercury, for their families and for many millions watching, was this rescue not the longed for moment?

The last 'note of note' to be cherished in this chart is the position of the Moon. Any time you we are looking for the 'picture of the moment' we look particularly to the axis points (as we have) and the Moon, which basically moves a full degree in about two hours.

Here the Moon was at 29 Sagittarius, a critical (intense) degree which speaks first and foremost to physical fitness. With the Moon stands Eurydike, an astrological symbol of personal rescue.

The first man chosen to be rescued was selected based on several criteria - one of the first on the list being that he was particularly physically fit.

So does the chart of a moment tell its tale.

The Dalai Lama: Happiness as a Way of Life

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

There are a million places where you can to read about the 14th Dalai Lama. That became obvious when went to Google and typed in his name.

One thing I hadn't (somehow) noticed before is the Dalai Lama's full birth name. It's Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso. (Just try getting that on an ID bracelet.)

Like all Dalai Lamas, this one is considered a reincarnation of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. And yes, he lives in exile - his whole government-in-exile is seated in Dharamshala, Himachal Prodesh, India.

Like I said...all that, you can read elsewhere. What you come here for is the astrology, so let us proceed to just that.

Born on July 6, 1935 in Taktser, Quinghai (Tibet) at 4:45 (GMT) gives us the following chart...

...and the beauty of the personality written in this picture of the unfolding universe is told like this:

Just behind the personalizing Ascendant of the Dalai Lama is the symbol 'House'...which here speaks to being comfortable in your own skin. Positioned in early Libra, this tells us the Dalai Lama is a man who people feel comfortable with because he's comfortable with himself - and with whoever you may be.

He's willing to experience who you are (Eurydike), be made happier for his encounter with you (Polyhymnia) and to share the struggle we all have as humans to use our gifts for others when in truth, human instinct instills in us undeniable need and at times, a wonderful, frightening want (Sisyphus) which can lead us to our glory or to self-delusion (Diadem/Drakonia).

Interestingly, just at the far edge of conjunction behind House we also have Ixion - the very embodiment of entitlement born of lack of gratitude. And that would seem to be a really odd description of the Dalai Lama except for a couple of things.

For one, when we accept living in our skin, we have to recognize that with comfort comes a discomfort which by working past, creates in us a sense of peace in feeling we actually are ourselves. That we can master who we are and be who we want ourselves to be. Part of this interpretation comes from Ixion being in the 12th house of limitations. Ixion is in Virgo and the Dalai Lama's actual Ascendant is in Libra, giving us a picture of his 'putting Ixion behind him' in a sense.

And yet we live in all parts of our chart. His 12th house is Virgo and Virgo is an earth sign all about doing service. In Ixion conjunct Lust (fixation), we see the Dalai Lama's rejection of life as a materialistic competition. We see his life in exile. We hear him trying to teach us  not to focus on what we don't have - the ingratitude - but to treasure what is given to us with each breath, each day, each bee buzzing by a flower, each chance to be with each other. 

There's also the fact that Virgo is ruled by Mercury. The Dalai Lama's Mercury is in the 9th house of teaching and religion. At first glance this would seem to be a negative, as Mercury in the 9th is famous for haste, sloppy work and arrogant dogmatism.

But a second look at this Mercury reminds us what it means for any symbol to be positioned in the 3rd decanate. Third decan symbols (anything positioned in degrees 20-29 of any sign) have to do with how others react to what we do. With Mercury being about communication and here positioned with Bellatrix (difficulty in reaching goals), Echo (repeating that you are taught), Industria (industriousness), Betelgeuse (ease of effort) and poetic Sappho (love for everyone) we see the Dalai Lama working against the tide.

The depth of what he would so like to convey is difficult to get across (Bellatrix) in a world where people tend just to repeat what they've heard (Echo) amidst the hustle and bustle of life and all they need to get done (Industria). It takes work to really connect ideas in our minds (Industria). And it takes patience and perseverance (Industria) to reach a point where we understand that loving everyone isn't about definitions, roles and functions in each others' lives, but about the privilege of being in each others presence (Sappho) and enjoying the experience of life as a whole...a great rhythmic poem of which we are but part.

When and to the degree that we fall sort of understanding this idea, we all live in exile - from ourselves most of all. The Dalai Lama probably understands this well...just as he's probably long learned that even exile has its purpose.

This is not to say the man is angelic. With Tantalus (temptation) on one side of his IC and Klotho (beginnings) and Circe (the ability to enchant/reduce others to creatures which simply follow by instinct) it would seem the Dalai Lama is well aware of his appeal and charisma. This is a man who knows what he could do - especially with Tantalus opposition Sappho, sexuality is powerful implied.

But with the chart's public end of the vertical 'who I am in my own mind' axis (a Cancer Midheaven) being ruled by a Virgo Moon positioned not merely in a spiritual and often reclusive 12th but conjunct Neptune? Moon/Neptune is one of the clearest signatures of platonic love a chart can present. Strangely, it can also backfire - we will assume there are those who have misunderstood the Dalai Lama's universal affinity for his fellow humans. And there is here also a potential for great imagination, visionary potency and fantastic imagery....but not in public. At some level, the Dalai Lama feels he is one with mankind, and he will not risk himself for to him, that is to accept a risk to all.

This is not sainthood - rather it is an acceptance of human mortality, the strength of frailty in the human spirit, and how both are completely necessary if anyone is ever to by accepting their vulnerability become impervious to spiritual destruction.

The calculated form of a Virgo Lilith standing with this group underscores this idea of the mortal shadow. And in the opposition to a Pisces Saturn/Eros in the 6th house of responsibility, we know this man grapples with the understanding that even in all we think most ill about ourselves lies a measure of our potential.

Being that astrological planets (Neptune, Saturn and Moon) trump asteroids (Eros) as asteroids trump anything calculated (Lilith) in a chart, this Neptune/Moon opposition Saturn tells us this man will hold to his vows because vows are an expression of one's faith in the necessity of an ideal. That he will hold himself to first and last, even if on occasion his feet stumble as he walks his long road.

Great as he is in the eyes of the world, that the Dalai Lama is so apparently one of us is a huge reason why we accept him. That he admits his human vulnerabilities to us earns him great respect, which is why we venerate him even as we embrace him as our equal.

His humanity and humanness gives us hope in ourselves.

Another really interesting, thought provoking image is presented in his chart by Eris at the Descendant (article on Eris). It's a picture of discord (Eris), which on the Descendant would be what he presents to us, what he sees in the world, and part of the legacy he will leave as social reformer (discord in positive form), as a spiritual head of state in an ever-more secular world...and as teacher to those who would learn, and example to those who won't listen.

Even more information is found when we follow the astrological rule to see how a  chart house works (and often what it's really 'about') by looking to the ruler of the sign on its cusp. Seeing that in this case the Dalai Lama's Descendant is ruled by Aries, that means we look to Mars.

The Dalai Lama's Mars is in the 1st house of 'what I do and who I am.' It is positioned in an emotional degree of Libra, telling us he cares about others, is an emotional man unafraid of expressing his feelings and that when moved by others, he responds.

And what is his Mars set up to respond to and through? That's directly across the chart: Juno and Sedna in the 7th house, conjunct asteroid Child.

Seeing this, we see how this man is willing to embrace his own emotions in being with us. And how he teaches us to be the child we are. This is the signature of his caring for all of Earth's children, no matter what form their existence may take. In this man is both witness and teacher that we are all caretakers and all needy, helpless people in need of protection and love.

Emotionally, we are all those things. And we should be all those things - that's part of being a human being. Maybe even the better part of being a human being.

As you can tell from his birth date, today is the Dalai Lama's birthday. So here is his solar return chart....

Dalai Lama's Solar Return chart 2010 

This is a particularly interesting chart as it occurs a day after a Uranus station, telling us that there are some changes going on with the Dalai Lama himself - and since his birthday comes just after the station, he is evolving out of events rather recently passed.

With Tantalus (temptation) at the Ascendant opposition Algol (responsive power), Kassandra (lack of belief) and Capulus (cutting focus) we are likely to hear much from the Dalai Lama on the subject of the wrongful use of force this year.

Since the Ascendant-Descendant is an axis, it actually pays to look at both sides. Here the rulers are Mars and Venus, immediately giving us a creative...even procreative image.

The return's Mars sits in the 4th house in a proactive degree - yet in 4, Mars exhibits a lack of 'ability to act.' Conjunct the 5th house cusp, the subject is likely to be creative or having to do with children, and with Eris (discord) in an emotional degree just across that 5th house boundary, this would appear to be the Dalai Lama concerned about the plight of kids...not to mention needing a little time for the kid he is to rest and play and relax!

The actual ruler of the Taurus Descendant being a Leo Venus in the 9th house of education, travel and efforts again votes for children and the 'lighter side of life.' Venus and Mars are in aspect by trine (a 'flowing' connection) and yet Venus is opposed by an Aquarian Jupiter in the 3rd. Are people really too focused on the constructs of this world to be happy? Have we become so much the children of society and not humanity that we have lost some of our ability to free ourselves up to avail ourselves of our full potential and value?

It may be all of this and more. With Venus is sitting between imprisoning sorceress Circe and haunting Mnemosyne, this is an image redolent of not just what happens and what we learns during the early years, but how that continues to affect us. And how we continue to all be so easily persuaded throughout life, for the child within us never dies.

Fortunately for us, the youthful wellspring which is in the Dalai Lama is more than fertile: with Pisces Child, Edisonia and Huya (article on Huya) at the foundational position of this chart this is a year in which the Dalai Lama will perceive that beautiful sweetness which no matter how hard or hardened our lives come to be still resides in our hearts.

He knows, because he can feel it in his. And with this configuration at his Pisces Nadir we may be sure his Holiness understands that love is expressed in billions of ways... and each one of us is a unique expression of that love.

Yet, he will face his tests this year - we all do. And with the initiating ruler of Pisces (Jupiter) in the Dalai Lama's 3rd house of thought/communication, he will be thinking about what innocence is, what humanity means, why we have the problems we have as people...and he will tell us to reside in the gifted blessedness of our nativity...

...which comes to think of it, is what astrology teaches too. The fate we encounter, as challenging as i may be, is an opportunity. Sometimes in disguise, yes. And sometimes it is not the easy thing but that which tries our temper, mind and temperament which enriches us most of all.

We are our efforts, not our acquiescence...we are blessed by our patience, and cursed by that fear which causes us to demand. Only in accepting ourselves can we begin to harness our gifts and only by harnessing our gifts for the good of others and the healing of this world in its own terms (not ours) can we be blessed with ecstatic love which surpasses all personal definition.  

Will the world listen to the Dalai Lama this year? With secondary ruler of Pisces (Neptune) positioned in the first with Ceres Nurturer and Juno Protector, if you ask the Dalai Lama he will probably tell you that all ears can hear, but we don't know how many minds and hearts will listen.

But we can watch. And we can hope. And we can encourage each other by learning to love ourselves enough to free the light within our smile.