In our Facies: Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair in 1906

(photo originally published by the New York World Telegram

and Sun Newspaper Photo - courtesy of the Library of Congress collection)

If you don’t know who Upton Sinclair is, I’m not sure if I’m sorry…or if I think you’re lucky. I met up with his name in middle school, and have been flinching ever since.

The man Upton Sinclair was born on February 20, 1878 – which makes his birthday the same day as that when Pluto will go station/direct here in 2013.

Here’s his chart:

Upton Sinclair

born September 20 1878 - 9:00 a.m. (+5-06-27) - Baltimore MD

With the South Node in Leo, this would be an opinionated man. In fact, with that South Node conjunct the Midheaven in Leo, and with Leo’s rulership by the Sun pointing us to a Sun conjunct Mars in the 11th house, having his say in a big way was Upton’s forte.

Which indeed it was. Author, political activist and general rabble rouser of his time, Upton Sinclair had a way of getting under people’s skin. He was roundly hated by many (including a couple of Presidents of the United States) for his inability to stay quiet whenever he found something going on he thought was terribly wrong.

And seeing how back in Upton’s day, Facies was at 6 Capricorn – that puts Facies, a snarky little nebula if there ever was one – conjunct his 3rd house cusp.

Upton Sinclair - natal chart detail

 

And since the 3rd house is always the house of mentality and communication, and since Facies is known to torment us as much as we torment others because we feel so tormented, we can bet that Upton Sinclair felt tormented by what he saw going on in his world – and hence why he tormented others.

A friend of mine refers to this as ‘sharing’…which only goes to show that sharing is not always about sharing the good stuff. When we feel tormented or upset or hurt or maltreated, we share our displeasure. We share our anger. We share our negativity.

In the metaphysical sense, we’re stirring the pot. At the very least we’re trying to let someone else know that their right to swing their arms ends about the time they punch us in the nose (or some other place which is equally if not more painful).

Sinclair was a man who wanted to get things done. Sun conjunct Mars in the 3rd ten degrees of Virgo said he saw things being (Virgo) done wrong and the placement in the 11th house says this was on a societal level.

The opposition to Saturn at 29 Pisces just helped things along. Yes, he felt it ‘critical’ to do something about it. Any time we see anything at 29 degrees of any sign there’s an emphasis, a focus, a ‘need’ to attend to whatever that symbolism speaks to. In Upton’s case, there were three modifiers – besides the opposition, I mean. His Saturn (an indication of career and business) was conjunct Agamemnon, indicating a stubborn tenacity…conjunct fixed star Scheat, a quotient which is always all about what we or others don’t want to look at or accept as the truth…and our not-so-good, good friend Sedna, the emblem of ‘take your blinders off, and stop thinking in those rose petal terms. If you keep on like you’re doing, in the end the person you’re going to hurt worse is going to be yourself or someone you love.’

-link to-

The Sedna Conflict

There are lots of other things we could say about Upton Sinclair as a man who wanted to get the word out. Certainly his Moon at 7 Cancer in the 9th house was all about how society functions and letting his feelings be known. Conjunct Vesta, he was all about the cost of what we do…and what we don’t do.

Chiron at 7 Taurus sitting atop the Descendant and conjunct Neptune and Ceres would basically describe Upton Sinclair as someone who didn’t have any ‘plan’ about how he was going to take others on, he just knew when he had to say something…and when we flip this around, he was pretty much saying ‘you may not have thought about having a plan about dealing with what’s wrong about what’s going on, but you probably should get one.’

Like I say, he was a real sharing kind of guy.

So why did knowing who Upton Sinclair queeze me out back when I was in middle school? That’s because my class was required to read one of his many (many) books – a rather notorious book called “The Jungle.”

"The Jungle" - 1st edition cover

 

I thought it a pretty horrifying book. Why? Well, “The Jungle” is all about big business of its day and is focused on the meat slaughtering business. And maybe it’s because I read this book as an early-mid teen, or maybe it’s because I went through a deal of violence as a child…but were author Jack London (“Call of the Wild,” “Valley of the Moon,” “White Fang,” etc.) thought “The Jungle” was about the corruption of people in power sort of on that ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’ sort of level and the evils of what he referred to as ‘wage slavery,’ I thought of “The Jungle” as a litany of mankind’s inhumanity not just to man, but to the creatures of this earth.

To me, “The Jungle” was all about just how callous and uncaring we can be as people. It was about how easy it is to wrap ourselves in the righteous garb of institutional processes and ‘that’s just the way we do it’ without regard to the fact that real lives – and life – is at stake.

“The Jungle” was released on February 26, 1906. Here’s the chart:

Publication chart for "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair

Release date: February 26, 1906 

28 degrees of Gemini rising puts Betelgeuse (then at 27 Gemini) right behind the Ascendant. The book is thus all about that Betelgeuse thing of doing what comes easily.

And plainly, writing about societal ills came pretty easily to Sinclair. I’ve recently begun studying asteroid Lucifer, and after a first round of examination, the point seems not to be about “Satan” per se, but how ‘bedeviled’ we can be, or how ‘devilish’ we can be with regards to others…and in a greater sense how ‘the devil is in the details.’

With Upton Sinclair, the devil was plainly in the details and with his Lucifer conjunct Betelgeuse in his ‘let’s discuss this’ Gemini 8th house of power and how we negotiate, clearly Upton Sinclair saw his ability to write a way to force people’s hands.

Which he did. When “The Jungle” came out, many – including President Roosevelt – called Sinclair a crackpot. But after reading it, Roosevelt moderated his stance, saying that the book had a lot of valid points.

Apparently so. After publication of “The Jungle” a lot of ‘sanitizing efforts’ went towards the meat packing business from top to bottom. Corruption in the business also got taken on – and spread to other businesses.

Looking at the book publication chart, it’s Midheaven (it’s “public point,” if you will) is at 4 Pisces – which at the time was the position of Hidalgo (protocols or the manner in which something is done) and Eurydike – the emblem of understanding the cost. With the Sun plus dispassionate Pallas united at 7 Pisces it’s not surprising that “The Jungle” would be something which dispassionately…some might say even coolly…discussed something so vital, so venial, so…whether you’re talking about how people or animals were treated…so very emotionally disturbing.

Today Fomalhaut, the royal fixed star which warns us that success comes only when our ‘dreams’ (aims) are not corrupted – whether by means dark or rose colored – Fomalhaut is sitting at 4 Pisces. 

And Neptune is conjuncting it.

- link to -

The Royal Stars of Persia (Part Four): Fomalhaut

A lot of us are dealing with dreams which are coming to nothing and our desire to ignore or not feel feelings which are difficult to manage.
But we need to.

Meanwhile, Pluto is going direct as this post hits the blog, and it’s doing so at 8 Capricorn, conjunct the Uranus end of the book’s Uranus-Neptune and conjunct Sinclair’s 3rd house cusp, setting off his Facies/Moon opposition.

We are all of us facing various forms of wanting to ignore and wanting to simply ‘go along to get along’ and feeling like victims while ‘sharing’ our hurts. Escapism is bigger than ever and so is the wholesale abuse of power. “Wage slavery” as Jack London termed it, is back in vogue and again crushing the life out of countless lives, thus undermining the riches of all for the purpose of a few who think their domination can last.

Life simply doesn’t work that way. When that which ‘nourishes’ us – be it food or income or the ‘milk of human kindness’ is tainted, so our world becomes tainted too.

That was Upton Sinclair’s ultimate message in much of what he wrote.

Metaphysically, the timing of his birthday would seem to suggest we need to ‘clean up our act.’ We need to care less about the end product and more about the process. The idea of Pluto going station-direct atop Facies is shown ably by this combination of charts. But in our lives…in our individual lives, it has more to do with where early Capricorn is in your natal chart by house – and whether anything is pictured there. It has to do with where your Pluto is located natally, and the distance from there to early Capricorn.

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For those born under Pluto in Cancer (roughly 1914 – 1938), this is an opposition. It’s time to let go of the old and face what is yet left to do. Take it easy…fighting won’t help and by now you have the wisdom to know better.

For Baby Boomers born under Pluto in Leo (roughly 1939 – 1958), this is an inconjunct. It’s time to do what you need to do in order to become the person you know you should be…not the person its necessarily easy to be. Try to share judiciously, but don’t shut up. Where wrong is wrong, you need to make it right, whether that’s in your own life or in the greater world around you.

For Yuppies born under Pluto in Virgo (roughly 1958 – 1972) this station activates trine energy. Quality, not quantity is the byword. The focus should not be on what you can’t have, but what you can be. Look within.

For Gen X’ers born under Pluto in Libra (roughly 1972 – 1983), this energetic is a square. To see life as ‘us and them’ is to undermine your own interests. Being the bigger better version of yourself – the person you would be in awe of if you met you – requires big-time effort but is worth it.

For the Gen Y / Pluto in Scorpio generation (roughly 1983 – 1995) this energetic is a sextile. You have the opportunity now to see the flaws in your thinking. Change those and you will free yourself of much grief down the line. You’re likely to feel ‘no, this way is the right way’ and where that’s integrative, fine. But where it’s about power and personal gain…not so much.

For the Millennials – the Pluto in Sagittarius tribe (roughly 1995 through early 2008) you’re in for some trying times as this station represents the sort of semi-sextile energetic which gets you to see a really useful (and bigger) perspective by delivering a series of hard knocks. Don’t be offended, consider what you have to gain by expanding your vision and you’ll be fine. Well…more or less fine, and yes, it will take a while. But you can get there!

The little tykes among us – the Pluto in Capricorn group – are fighting battles with themselves at the moment, battles which have to do with learning how to be secure in themselves as individuals. This is all about a balance of being secured without being hovered over: parents beware!

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One of the strangest-seeming facts about astrology is the fact that our charts live on after we die. Just as JRR Tolkien's chart reflected the release of Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' films (I didn't check 'The Hobbit') and just as things have happened since the passing of first my father and then my mother which reflects on their charts, so this Pluto turn atop Facies echoes Upton Sinclair's chart - and the 'natal chart' for the release of his book "The Jungle."

The cycle is coming around again. But then, they always do.
 
Whoever you are, and however you think of your life or the lives of those who have gone before us, hopefully you recognize the patterns in your own life. Hopefully you are able to see your life as a part of the greater world and the cycles of the greater world as operative in your own life.

Not to mention those cycles which are individual and important to our lives as individuals. Humans, like the society they live in are as driven as manifestations of a point in the vastness of time and space which is every bit as evolutionary the cycle of the dinosaurs, creatures which started as little amphibian things and evolved to become astonishing behemoths.

We just don't have a gazillion-million years to get our cycles straight in. But then, it's likely that dinosaurs weren't great thinkers. And no...(yes, I'm laughing)...some of us humans aren't such great thinkers either.

But we have the option to think, and that's what really counts.

It's our choice. 

Wherever you are on your journey, here’s to living a life as filled with conviction as that of Upton Sinclair.

And here’s to remembering some of the lessons he worked so hard and spent his life trying to make us aware of, lest we go through life blinded by the sheer desire to not see.
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Pluto Direct

A Hubble Telescope photograph of WR124 (in nebula M1 67) spewing clumps of hot gas outwards from its star core at some 100,000 mph

(photo credit: Hubble Space Telescope, NASA-JPL, March 1997)

Pluto is going direct on September 20th at 3:27 in the afternoon, UT/+0 time. As noted several posts ago, it will be going direct at the exact degree of Facies – a fixed star (nebula, actually) which has a pretty problematic reputation with astrologers.

- link to -

Pluto/Facies: Moving On

Considering how Pluto’s keywords are ‘create, deny, destroy’ we can probably all expect a little of this energy to be circulating through our lives from the simple ‘I don’t want to talk about that’ to the full scale war complete with the horrors of death and destruction.

But there’s a reason why Pluto is associated with the image of the Phoenix. Whether the destruction is brought about by fire, flame or societal…even personal vulnerability or failings, that which is affected by Pluto opens the door to something new which in time will ‘rise from the ashes.’

That Pluto is making its ‘turn’ in conjunction not just with Facies but with Industria tells us the most likely place for challenges to arise…or where we’re likely to have our ‘ship come in’ (get results) is in any area of work or personal effort. This station is thus (more or less) either about what’s we’re working to build, or some structure which is in our life which is preventing us from building what we need to build or building anew.

Not that we’re likely to be all jingles about the thing, no matter what it is. People who are already in the process of ‘transforming’ their lives are going to find it’s a heavy time for details and effort. As all of us do when confronted by such a moment, it’s going to feel like the more we do, the more there is to do!

That would very naturally bring out the Facies ‘many parts, much to do’ and feeling very put-upon (i.e., like a victim). And there’s of course that fact that when we’re feeling all bogged down and overwhelmed how anyone breezing by seems callous, heartless and worthy of a big sign on their back which reads ‘villain.’

A lot of what goes on now is going to be about perspective. With Pluto in opposition to Black Moon Lilith (Lilith/Child conjunct conjunct Sirius) there are going to be a lot of people leaving the physical nest (however old they are!) and a lot of people leaving the emotional nest.

We just know it’s time to be something more real in our own minds. There comes a point when the acquiescing to others becomes less comforting and comfortable and more of a burden on that Self we know we are and which we really want to become.

This would be one of those times.

For those who don’t have anything in particular in the pot or on some back burner, this is likely to be a particularly trying passage as they see change going on all around them. Just to pick one popular harmonic to these placements, the third harmonic (representing the thought and mental attitude) to Pluto-Facies’ position would be Piscean – which is why those who achieve things in the worldly and Capricorn sense (not to mention those with important Capricorn placements) think in universal terms. Where Aquarius is ‘mass movement’ and social interaction, Pisces is the universality of emotion – and let’s face it, we all live in our emotions as human beings. Even those of us who try to avoid our emotions do so because they don’t feel comfortable to us!

The third harmonic to Cancer, on the other hand, is Virgo…telling us why those who are opposing change will now couch everything in terms of whether something is ‘pragmatic’ or ‘workable’ or even ‘healthy’ for us to do.

It’s an interesting oppositional dynamic – the common chord and the level at which humans ‘live’ (their emotional sense of Self) being the key to knowing how to achieve anything versus the localized ‘we need to deal with this right here, right now.’

And that’s pretty much the issue – universality versus localized visions on how life should be structured and what we need to do to make our lives more viable, workable, safe and satisfying at the same time.

Barring the idea that your home is being flooded at the moment (in which case, why are you reading astrological posts on the internet?) or there’s some real-time calamity going on, this gets down to one very simple idea: the safety and functionality of our personal world is predicated on the greater world in which we live.

Now, I know as I say that how there are people who think that if they earn enough money or gain enough power they won’t have to deal with anything.

That might work except for things like famine, earthquakes, world economies, plagues and all that stuff.

Oh yes, that.

Yes, that. We are all subject to the world around us, which is why the statement ‘I don’t care about anyone/anything but my own (insert term)’ tends to not just sound like folly but BE folly.

...Which rather gets back to some of what I was noting here at Ye Olde Bloggery last week when talking about Pluto-Facies (see link above). 

It’s at times like this that such folly reveals itself as follow. For all the resisters and desist-ers, for the anti-change nay-sayers and control freaks of this life, if your chart answers to 8 Capricorn, you’re in for a bit of a steam-roller-ing. Life is trying to unwrinkle your contracted soul – which to you may feel like getting hit with a hot iron.

Which yes, would be two sides of the same experience. But what’s your choice? We cannot retreat from life…not that I don’t know a few people who give that their very best shot. (No, it doesn’t work.)

Thinking back to those harmonics, the universal considerations which go with the implied Capricorn-Pisces connective are certainly heightened by the fact that we are talking not “just” Pluto, but Pluto-Facies. Issues of discomfort, feelings of haplessness and being helpless to do things the way you might want to do them are probably to be expected, at the very least.

Applying this to the idea that we give celestial objects a two-days-before, two-days-after ‘station allowance’ window, with the Moon entering Pisces on September 17th that Moon – representing feelings and values and our susceptibility to them and everything which provokes emotionality – ‘triggers’ the third Pluto-in-Capricorn harmonic on September 18th at about four-twenty-something in the morning (UT/+0) time.

Of course there are twelve ‘natural’ harmonics to any placement (there being twelve zodiac signs). So why care so much about the third?

Part one: because that represents our mentality. The station is the station is the station…and the sign its in is the sign of ‘awareness’ – the first harmonic derivative. But that all-important moment of thinking through things and realizing we need to deal with them and cope with them? That’s the third harmonic.

Besides, Chiron is sitting at 10 Pisces. So this Pluto station atop Facies is going to be ‘setting off’ our Chiron-in-Pisces “no, I don’t want to have to deal with that” feelings…which the Moon is going to trigger early on the 18th (or late on the 17th if you’re in the western Americas). Chiron in Pisces is a whole sea of processes which challenge us to explore our own emotional makeup and to deal with whatever incongruities exist between our vision of reality and our vision of the ideal. Or life in real time versus the life in our head. Or the fact versus the thing we’d like to think is the fact…or how we’d like to feel as opposed to what our real feelings are about anything.

Or yes, anyone.

Moreover, as the Moon set’s off this ‘Piscean thought-wave,’ as it reaches 8 Pisces (the perfected sextile to Pluto at 8 Capricorn) this creates another Grand Sextile…

In case you're wondering, I don't color the signs in red and blue because

I'm an American, but rather to show the alternation between Yin and Yang

signs as we move around the zodiac.

 

…which but an hour later, as the Moon moves forward into 9 Pisces is re-struck by Venus moving into 8 Scorpio.

Scorpio is the 11th harmonic to Capricorn, which brings up the concept of negotiating our way through life and negotiating of/in relationships of all kinds in our life. The Sabian Symbol for 8 Scorpio is an apt one: A DENTIST AT WORK, which astrologer Dane Rudhyar very astutely summarizes as ‘overcoming the negative results of social prejudices and ego-cravings.’ Venus so often manifests as the ‘what we want’ in life and our Venusian challenges are to realize that what we get out of anything depends on what we are going into it and what we do as part of it…which in the wonderful (and as I almost typed that, ‘wound-erful’) world of Scorpio tells us that the basis of relationship with someone – be they our platonic friend, our business partner or employer or our most luscious and beloved squeeze – that relationship doesn’t happen ‘by magic.’ It has to be negotiated. Too often in life we get ourselves in trouble by ‘assuming’ we know what somebody is thinking. Or what they prefer.

Scorpio is all about showing that up as an error on our part.

So often we think we can just ‘go for the standard role’ in a situation or relationship, completely forgetting how unique we are and how unique everybody else is, too.

Scorpio will show up those miscalculations as well.

There’s a longstanding myth which people evidently want desperately to believe that relationships “shouldn’t need work.”

The ‘I don’t have to work at it’ (or me, or my relationship) doesn’t work either.

Sooner or later our not negotiating our relationships backfires. What passion may sustain starting out falls through thin Scorpio ice (which the passion has heatedly melted through, one suspects). Or we find out that beneath the shiny exoskeleton of that Scorpio situation lies something rotten.

You know…which then the dentist has to work on – hence the symbol.

All of this is part of the process of moving forward towards the 11 Scorpio Solar Eclipse which will occur on November 3rd. The watery grand trine from Venus in Scorpio to (Moon) Chiron in Pisces to Black Moon Lilith in Cancer (which is opposing Pluto) is a contradictory energy, one pole of which wants to dig in and forget changing anything and the other pole of which realizes changes are desperately needed even if we don’t know (consciously) how to make them.

The Chirotic answer is to allow ourselves to feel our feelings and whatever reluctance or fear or haplessness goes along with them while walking forward through our veil. Chiron always asks that we do something we don’t know how to do and through doing it, transcend who we have been in realizing we can be so much more. As it’s doing that, Venus is sextiling Pluto’s station from Scorpio, guaranteeing that we can change our place in the world and what we conceive of as our place in the world if we will only release our death grip on our current status quo.

This is one of those ‘give a little, get a lot,’ moments.

However, as I say that, I also fully believe that giving a little now means a huge personal evolution – a life transformation – yet to come.

What we need to do may not be popular. No, not even with us. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be done. Plus there is that old metaphysical lesson about energy and energetics. Energy is never lost. It changes form, it can be shifted from one place to another (to some degree) rather as you can do with water in a water balloon. But in the end, the energy we fail to use or that we refuse to utilize becomes energy which life simply brings to us in the form of something which we then have to respond to and which we have no input on.

And that’s a whole other – and more universal – conceptualization of the Facies ‘victim-perpetrator’ concept. We now have a chance to shape our world and life moving forward. If we fail to take that on or follow through and make best efforts (complete with a measure of letting go and clearing/cleaning out) could it be that we’re perpetrating some sort of ‘victimization’ of our greater potential or ability to grow with life…or in our life?

Perhaps.

As always with any such station, those who have major placements (planets, dwarf planets, nodes or chart angles) within 5 degrees of the conjunction, opposition point or squares will experience the greatest focal…or in the case of squares, challenge from these next few days at least. So that would mean anyone with any important placement between 3 and 13 degrees of Capricorn (the conjunction), Cancer (the opposition), Libra and/or Aries (the squares) are going to be most affected now.

Let’s also not forget that such stations also work in the charts of nations, companies and relationships as well.

One other thing worth noting here…on the date of Pluto’s actual station (September 20th) the Moon will be in Aries.

The Grand Sextile is still there, yes. But with Venus now at 10 Scorpio and the Moon exactly conjunct Uranus, not only are we likely to feel whatever energy is around being ‘brought home’ to us, but despite our tendency to react in very personal terms (which is natural and very Aries), those two green lines forming a “V” shape… which in astrological terms actually form the “Y” of a Yod are telling us that our answers lie not in embodying the Uranus/Moon 11 Aries tendency to over-react, exaggerate (in reality or in our mind) or get all about ‘that other person’ but instead to embrace the ‘other perspective’ which is shown through 11 Libra, a degree which asks that we think things through and work through the issue or situation at a manageable rate.

In other words, can the explosions and go for a step-by-step, more managed and interactive, even negotiated (there’s that word again!) solution to the situation. The Sabian Symbol for 11 Libra is one I’ve always liked: MINERS ARE SUFACING FROM A DEEP COAL MINE which is all about ‘digging deep’ into ourselves in how we go about being who we are in the world…which amounts to the ‘cause’ which garners the ‘effect’ from others and from life.

The implication here is that this moment and this station really are about who we are – but in the externalized sense: what we are in the world determines who we get to be in our own life. And thus this Yod is an opportunity… a trying one maybe, but an opportunity nonetheless.

Can we learn from our experiences of others and from life itself what we have the potential to become? Some changes probably need making, yes. But that would be the theme of this moment…and this season as a whole.

With all that said, I know I have left one question unanswered until now: how do we know a good Pluto thing from a "bad" Pluto thing? Be it a relationship or a hobby or a choice of job/career or anything else, the underlying issue is how compelled you feel to do that.

Pluto compulsions tend to be seriously emotion-driven. We crave this, we want to be with that person, we feel 'less than' or lessened by being involved in or not being involved in something.

In a nutshell, that statement pretty much explains Pluto's role as the lure and allure of the Scorpio outcome - and thus the reason why when we go to make our Mars choice whether to initiate or not to initiate, the underlying issue is how conscious we are of who we are and why we're doing/not doing whatever it at stake...or how much of that urgent sort of "competitive" feeling is driving us to make some given decision....the 'to do, or not to do' which in turn gets us into a 'to do' or not.

That "competition" is not with others: it's with our sense of Self. We're trying to win our own self-esteem and thus grow our own feelings of satisfaction...you know, all those things which are endemically related to Taurus, Scorpio's polarity sign. Taurus is the personal end of the Taurus/Scorpio polarity and Scorpio is the interactive end - the where we go to try and get what we think will fulfill us.

Whatever the good or bad is in this formula, that is shown by the placement of our natal Pluto and the placement of our Mars...and the placement of Scorpio - and whatever objects/planets we have positioned in Scorpio. Learning how those things work, learning why they tend to manifest in our lives as they do - those are our Plutonic lessons.


There's a lot more to be said about Scorpio (and thus Pluto and its lessons) during these next weeks ahead, seeing as we are not even half-way through the lead-in to the Solar Eclipse which will occur at 11 Scorpio come November. Those places where we tend to be annoyed with others are like as not where the eclipse energy is playing out.

Likewise are those places where we have 'created' something we think is going to 'transform' our lives and 'fix' our sense of self-esteem or security. Anything you have gotten involved in (or are getting involved in) which is all about 'fixing' something in your life through some sort of emotional experience (as opposed to an intellectual experience) is likely to be driven by Pluto.

That's one of the truly odd things about Scorpio. This sign of passion and desire is best handled and wrangled through all things where we are able to be dispassionate. Thus anyone with a really problematic Scorpio or Pluto natal issue (and you surely know who you are!) only solves that issue by...

a.) getting involved in something which allows them to understand the underlying vulnerability...

b.) finding something intellectual and growth oriented to be 'invested in' which will "drain off" some of the Pluto energy to the point where Pluto energetics are not going to be able to run your life...

c.) recognizing compulsive choices when they are made and recognizing that "that choice" is a bad one because it's not about how 'delicious' the 'thing' is but more about life wanting us to trigger our underlying issues so we can maybe (this time) get real about our denied (avoided) emotional/self-worth issues.

Slow growth - enduring growth - is Saturnine. Compulsive growth which tends to end up be "cancerous" on the emotional level (or at any level which 'hits' us in our emotionality) is Plutonic.

And then there's....

d.) finding a way that you can approach those obsessive energetics under the guidance of someone who you trust enough to govern your operation in said realm.

This last choice ("d.") is particularly important for anyone with a Moon in Scorpio or Taurus...OR with a Pluto in Scorpio (Gen Y - this is you!)

And yes, I say this knowing full well that any one of these placements will be part and parcel of a chart of a person who will tend to be highly resistant to that very suggestion even if (deep inside) they know they have issues.

You know, Pluto issues. We all have some Pluto "stuff" to deal with...it's just whether we can manage to dig our way out of it without creating a cave-in.

Going to get my shovel now…
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Pluto-Facies: Moving On

  A broad-scale photograph of constellation Sagittarius, including the band we know

as the Milky Way which crosses Sagittarius end to end. The Galactic Center - currently

in Sagittarius and representative of the need to give of ourselves in some way to others

and our world in order to succeed in our own right  - in this photo is located just above

above center and to the right of the thickest part of the galactic presentation. 

(photo credit: 2MASS, G Kopan, R Hurt, Caltech)

Astronomers know astrology’s ‘fixed star’ Facies as "M22" – a nebula way out there in the vastness which is constellation Sagittarius.

Any time we talk about a nebula, we’re talking about many stars...and thus, in the astrological sense, ‘many things which appear as one’ - or something which is complicated because it has many factors. Or maybe many pieces of a puzzle which need to come together. It could even signify many factors or perspectives on any given idea.

Every nebula, like every fixed star has its particular meaning. In the case of M22 (Facies), in true Sagittarian form, whatever is at stake the issue is about growing your life. Or finding out why you keep stumbling in your attempts to grow your life.

Considering that Sagittarius is the polarity sign to Gemini, it's also useful to remember that Gemini is a wholly personal sign about our personal choices, how we think (or don't think!) or our individual ability to stay organized, keep to a schedule or have productive priorities. Against this, Sagittarius is the 'testing ground' - the phase of life where we put those ideas to work. Or where people react to what we have done - which would be why Sagittarius is both a sign of the media (as a means by which "the word gets around") and a sign which has a rather unpleasant reputation for fostering judgmental (or dogmatic) attitudes.

It's in Sagittarian mode that we try our ideas out...and when we find out what needs tweaking. Or refining. Or learning better (which would be why Sagittarius is the sign of education and all things theoretical, from law to science fiction to religion and all that).

That said, Facies doesn’t have all that good a reputation. Allegedly representing the eye of the Sagittarian archer (the hunter)…this nebula has a reputation for bringing out victim-perpetrator vibes, which in real life may be our own tendency to hide or flaunt what we think of as our best or worst traits.

After all, that's how we learn better, right?

That's one of the core ideas which often gets lost in astrology...namely that astrological energetics - particularly as applied to (or in) our individual lives are about OUR growth and OUR need to - for example in this case - understand where we may be weak or asking for trouble. Or where we may be acting without regards to others and their needs.

Or maybe just where our plans or methods of going about what we're doing don't quite work in realistic terms.

Given the 'victim-perpetrator' concept which goes with Facies along with the fact that Sagittarius is a sign which belongs to the zodiac's interactive quadrant, Facies situations or issues tend not to be simply about our Self. They're about something we do in public. Or with others. Or which we want to appeal to others. Or as part of something which has to work well within an ongoing structure if we're to get ahead.

Certainly since the time when Pluto came into orb of Facies back in early 2010, we’ve seen a lot of many a person’s best and worst traits.

But the hardest part of this move into…and now the process of Pluto conjuncting Facies…has been having to see our own tendency to be victimized or play the victim…our own tendency to be a ‘perpetrator’ because we were so focused on our own goals that we didn’t fully take into account what we might be doing to others. Or to that delicate balance between moving towards change and damaging our personal or world environment might be.

And this gets to the very important thing to remember about Pluto. For whatever reason, this particular dwarf planet which wanders around way out there beyond Neptune (whose orbit is controlled by Neptune)...when its energetics reach us, even the best of us tend to go haywire.

A good part of that is because we seem to think that Plutonic energies in our life are "about them." And that's incorrect. Pluto energies in each of our lives are about our need to grow and transform and regenerate and let go of whatever is toxic or malfunctioning because whatever that is...because it's preventing us from growing. It's preventing us from using our passions and talents and abilities for something useful or good.

When Pluto goes awry, we experience obsessions. We experience addictions. We experience a sense of 'I can't help it' which draws us to do things we often know aren't all that productive, but which we just can't seem to let go of.

We think it's 'them.' But it's not. The energy in our lives is finding a way to evoke or provoke that feeling of helplessness or that tendency to abandon self control or ownership of our own feelings so that we will either get hold of what the real (and underlying) issue is, or that we will go through such a powerful (and often negative) experience that we will learn not to do 'that.'

In other words, you might say that Pluto gone wrong is nature's form of aversion therapy. That's why, when Pluto hits us by transit (which, by the by, can either be to our natal or solar return chart, just to make things more interesting...) we will tend to find things which we think will "fix" some long-standing issue. Plutonic energy often engenders the classic 'this time will be different' energy which ends up being just the same...just as wrong...and as we encounter it time and time again, maybe even worse.

The issue is not 'them.' We'll think it's them, or something we did. But the real issue is that we're in "denial" of something we don't want to have to deal with...that being why Pluto's keywords are create, deny, destroy. When we have a Pluto problem, we 'create' something we think is going to make everything about our life better, and in doing so we 'deny' the real problem...and we end up experiencing the 'destruction' of our illusion.

At some point - hopefully - we get to the real issue. That issue is read through our natal Pluto, and specifically (beyond its sign, placement and aspects) wherever Scorpio is in our chart, whatever objects are in Scorpio in our natal chart...and at some quintessential and important level, the issue of how we/why go about choosing to get involved 'here' (or not get involved 'here') - that being the Mars 'instigation' level of Scorpio.

You know, the "I want that" part.

Where Pluto is concerned, we also have to care about Mars - which is why one of the best ways to deal with a problematic Pluto is to keep ourselves invested (a good Scorpio keyword: invested) in something which is for a known benefit...in other words, by investing in our Self in some way which we know (not hope) will turn out well.

With all that now noodled over...in this case, in this moment, since there's also said to be a ruthless quality to Facies, you can see why this might just go very bad. And with the Sun currently in Virgo, there is a naturally 'obsessive' quality to our thinking at the moment.

In other words, gawd forbid anyone try to interrupt us with facts...we're so invested in wanting what we want to be true to turn out true that some of us (read: those with problematic placements in either Virgo, Scorpio, Taurus or Pisces - with an emphasis on the first two) are going to be acting up or acting out in pretty unproductive...even de-structive ways.

(Note: those who qualify under these signs are most likely to find someone who also qualifies under these signs to have issues with. Why? Because life is very efficient: your triggers match their triggers and why would energy miss a trigger which needs triggering?)

How things (Virgo) work is likely to be of issue at the moment. Mental and emotional health - inclusive of long-standing emotional wounds are likely to get stirred up by this energetic. Our spirit, our psyche is trying to get us to work on where we are over or under functioning...and thus its wherever we tend to function - or through something which relates to 'functionality' where this energy is likely to surface.

Whatever shape it takes, the thing which gets out of joint or which is the thing we're refusing to discuss - that is pretty much specifically the thing which will point us towards the greater issue.

You know, our Pluto issue.

Now, if we only will just go there and deal with it!

(Easier said than done, yes.)

During the time that these two objects (Pluto and Facies) have been playing astrological footsie there's been a greater-than-average tendency to think in terms of the optimal (or the 'idea of the thing') while forgetting that real life doesn’t work exactly that way.

Way to go, Sagittarius...right?

On the other hand, this combination has another side entitled 'going by the book may not work either' which is also Sagittarian, since Sagittarius is all about learning and learning better.

That means as an individual.

Sometimes what we've learned from others isn't us. Or maybe we've internalized some tradition or early 'way of doing it' which life has simply outpaced or grown beyond. Society changes. Morays change. People change. Economics change. What's acceptable and even possible changes.

So sometimes we get to a place where we get confused because 'what we thought' (the "old way") doesn't fit. Or maybe we've grown up to be a person who just doesn't think the way our parents did...or in the 'mold' of our native culture.

Are we allowed to change? Life seems to say that weighing up what works for the many against what works for us is important. And in the light of Pluto/Facies, that can mean  ‘nebula/nebulous’ factors. If we try to 'adhere' to what we thought we were supposed to do (or the way we thought we were supposed to do it) we may just end up being a square peg trying to fit ourselves into our own round hole.

(So to speak.)

The point is, sometimes it doesn't fit, not even when we push, shove, insist or sulk.

And sometimes that's exactly what we're supposed to learn at a time such as when Pluto conjuncts Facies. Through experiencing defeats and confrontations and feeling aggrieved and being forced to take stock of who we are (the energy being ours and inside us) we end up learning something very vital about who we really are as opposed to who we thought we were.

There's a lot of just that going around, as it happens.

Pluto began it’s full-on conjunction of Facies last year around the end of January. And from January 2012 through early July it just sat at 8 Capricorn, with a nice little station thrown in for good measure during April 2012. Theoretically, that turn from direct to retrograde motion at 8 Capricorn would have started bringing home a realization that it isn’t ‘all them’ and that life isn’t what we think it ought to be simply because we have this vision for what life is supposed to be.

This is probably a good way to think of the metaphysics of the Sagittarian hunter with it’s eye in early Capricorn: it’s the reality of what we do which counts…it’s the hunt for the thing which will be the lasting answer which counts. Remembering that the hunter which is constellation Sagittarius is a centaur, it is up to us to balance our ‘animalistic power’ with our human capacity for reason.

So are we going to – as one might say – look ourselves in the eye now?

Maybe yes. Pluto’s passing over Facies has been one heck of a long process of forcing us to look inside. We've met up with situations and people who have pushed our Pluto buttons. Typically when such a thing happens we become 'the victim' of our emotions even as we get aggressive with anyone who tries to tell us that we're about to jump off a cliff without a parachute.

Ah, Facies at work. How unpleasant!

And how very, very human.

Pluto’s passage over Facies has manifested in bringing out many of those irrational out-of-balance things which we may like very much…but which don’t really work. Given that there’s a ‘blindness’ (real or figurative) associated with Facies, Pluto’s conjunction to this ‘fixed star’ has represented a time when we haven’t seen, haven’t wanted to see and when we have been forced to not see some things because others really needed our focus…and when some of those very things we haven’t seen have proved to be our deepest vulnerability.

Messier 22, located in  in Sagittarius

(photo credit: Jose Carlos Castro, July 2007)

Pluto will enter 8 Capricorn – a degree known for various forms of ‘separation’ and ‘isolation’ – on September 14th. Pluto will go direct about a week later, and then roll back through and out of 8 Capricorn as of September 27th.

Count on this as being a time of revelations. Considering the nature of the degree 8 Capricorn, you may realize you have been thinking too “esoterically” and now get more realistic. Or you may realize that your aims are too narrow, too overly defined and that you need to broaden them so that your efforts will lead to lasting results. There is a ‘doing without’ and a not caring about opulence which goes with 8 Capricorn which is in the nature of the degree and which may not reflect at all in your life. But those who are into opulence may now realize they don’t need ‘all that’ as much…while those who have been purists and minimalists may now decide they like a few niceties.

Pluto’s passages represent the transforming of our values at a very deep level. Plutonic evolution is all about what we allow ourselves to appreciate and what we appreciate about ourselves. It’s the balance which is really important here…and how we go about manifesting and achieving that balance in a world we don’t occupy all by ourselves, but which we also exist in as an integral, uniquely individual and viable human being.

That some ‘facets’ of our personal nebula may not be functioning well? That some may be dominating our personal landscape to the detriment of personal balance – or balance as a person among other people in this world? That’s Pluto-Facies. The ‘out-of-whack’ now comes out…maybe to others, maybe to ourselves…and the danger is that our efforts to correct same may be just as (Pluto) obsessive as anything else.

For Pluto’s final pass across Facies (for this round of the zodiac) to be happening under the auspices of a lead-in to a Solar Eclipse in the sign Pluto rules (Scorpio) says there is a lot about us on an integral and individual level which is going to change.

Actually, which is pretty much in the process of changing, even as you read this.

Given that in about a week Pluto will make its station as Venus continues transiting Scorpio (read: fixations run high) as the Sun reaches Libra (really testing our balance) in preparation for Mercury moving into Scorpio - a sign it will then go retrograde in during October...

...yes, we have the opportunity to balance ourselves out. The more out-of-balance we are, the more life and energetics and feelings and situations are likely to unsettle us and cause us to think 'they' are to blame.

But they aren't. Most likely they aren't. Oh sure - they may have their Pluto issues, but if we're all reactive now and if our life feels like it's hit the spin cycle (or the wringer) it's highly likely that we're out of whack. With ourselves, I mean.

On the world stage, we should expect that much will be in flux. There will be a lot of questions about 'what's worth it' being floated for this next little while. We may be asking ourselves lots of questions about ‘what’s worth it’ and who matters - and ‘why.’

Evidently it’s time for that to happen.

It’s always struck me as an interesting metaphysical factoid that Scorpio has more images and more totem animals than any other zodiac sign around. The animals are the scorpion, the gray lizard and the eagle, representing the emotional evolution we make as human beings from the level of living on instinct, striking out at anything we even suspect might hurt us (the scorpion) through the cautious, self-protective lifestyle (the gray lizard) to the most noble of Scorpio formats, that of the eagle which sees all, which takes only what it needs and which serves as an inspiration to cultures around the world.

Scorpio is also the sign of fixed water – which in the real world we know as ice. Ice can be solid enough to walk on…or thin enough to fall through. So too are our emotional assumptions, and this is…probably more than in the totem animal sense…where Pluto tends to operate. The allure of Scorpio, that glittery ice with its silken watery (emotionally provocative) gleam which lures us in then drops us into icy waters is both the Scorpio vulnerability and the tendency to be the (Facies-type) victim, whether to someone else or to our own tendency to be attracted by that which looks good…or as they say in the vernacular, that thing which is so very ‘shiny.’

Thick ice, the emotional structure which can bear us, the negotiation which can support our position in the world and our relationships with others takes time to build. And when ice gets thick enough to walk on, it often isn’t all that super shiny.

But it’s safe.

Pluto’s conjunction with Facies has been a long process of teaching us that while shiny is nice, safe and durable and lasting is better. And that is very much a Capricorn type lesson.

So let’s hope we’ve learned it.

A sky map of constellation Sagittarius. M22 is just at the center of the

constellation, where the centaur's 'head' would be.

(image credit: Grum, September 2004)

Given that Facies is positioned at 8 Capricorn, Pluto won’t be out of the five degrees of ‘departing orb’ until the end of November, 2015. And by then, Pluto will be in the middle of conjuncting fixed star Vega – a symbol of charisma and charismatic connectivity. That these two symbols/concepts (Facies and Vega) are currently positioned so that Pluto will move from one to another with several years of ‘overlap’ involved says a lot. And since fixed stars (including nebulae) do move, if you believe that the whole of What Is functions as a whole and thus is what it is not so that life can be destroyed but so that life and existence can continue to evolve…and that such evolution will at times ‘wipe out’ things that we like but which are not productive to the whole or in the longest of long runs…then we have to think this Pluto (plus) Facies/Vega combination is part of the many signs of our times.

To have charisma is the essence of a gift. What we use it for…and why we are attracted to it…that may well be the measure of our blindness. And as this all comes to us through the Capricorn lens, that we learn or don’t learn is on one side the ability to succeed…and the measure and durability of what we succeed at - and sometimes the benefits or costs of that great human gift we call charisma.

Good luck to us in that, I say. For some of us, the ice is about to crack and a cold, cold plunge will surely follow in time as others – those who have allowed their inner solidity to form while working towards their achievements - will move forward and find that their bridges built so very patiently now not only bear weight, but bear them on to greater achievements.

I hope the engineering of your life is entirely sound. With Pluto, the idea that using the energy lest it uses you reaches a maximal level. If you have a problematic Pluto, you probably know it. Hardly anyone who has one has gone more than a couple of decades without some sort of fall from personal grace.

The issue can be what happens to you...but is often more or less about how you feel about yourself. Pluto often makes us feel really lousy (or ashamed, or hurt) so that we'll turn away from 'that' and devote ourselves to something which (oddly enough...!) is challenging enough to keep us fully invested and which, over time, leads to being a different person.

Which was Pluto's object to begin with. Facies has just been the energetic of complications which have forced us to grow...and forced us to realize that we're more complicated and uniquely special than we thought. 
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Sun in Virgo…Mercury in Virgo

 Inca-style agricultural terracing in Peru

(photo credit: Alexon Scheppa/released into public domain)

Come 11:03 in the evening (UT/+0) time on August 22nd, the Sun will enter Virgo, beginning a couple of weeks where earth sign influences rise to the fore. The greater backdrop to this will still be the ongoing evolution of water sign emotionality. So all we do, everything we deal with during the solar month of Sun in Virgo will have emotional overtones and considerations.

Once Mercury joins the Sun in Virgo as of August 23rd at 10:38 in the evening (UT/+0) time, Virgo’s focus on all things ‘health, work’ service’ will bring up all sorts of questions about what we’re doing, how well we’re doing it, whether things are headed in the right direction…and, in tossing in ongoing water sign (trine) effects, the health of our emotionality, mentality, choices, relationships, economy and attitudes will all be on the table.

But for one day…that first day of Sun in Virgo…it’s all about the Sun. And since Royal Star Regulus is sitting at 0 Virgo (which I’ve come to think of as the celestial frequency at which self ‘decontamination’ or ‘purification’ is mandated and cannot be shifted off onto someone else), that one day will start us into a new phase by set a Virgo tone which will apply for the full solar traverse of Virgo (August 22nd through September 22nd) and other such ‘dealings with life’ – ours and that around us.

We’ve already been visited by this year’s Venus in Virgo transit – to recall, that began on July 22nd and ended a few days ago on the August 18th…and for one, I didn’t have a whole lot of fun with it.

(Was it productive? Yes. Was it fun? Not really!)

My point is that the nature of Venus in Virgo which is more about ‘finding where things can be improved so as to produce the effects we want’ are now coming into solar focus – meaning our life becomes a vehicle through which we will experience what works and what needs some improvement.

Once Mercury moves into Libra on September 8th/9th (depending on which time zone you're in) that ‘experiencing’ becomes more mental (take that as you will – all forms apply!) and more detailed. So as a ‘subset’ of the total Sun-in-Virgo period, the August 8 through September 9 Mercury-in-Virgo sector marks a time when we have an opportunity to assess what’s going on with ourselves, with others and with the total functionality of our experience…and when our mindset – or our experiences – will be ripe for helping us figure out how to improve things, whether that’s what we’re doing (or how well we’re doing it) and even if what we’re doing is going to get us where we want to go.

And if not, why not.

And if not, whether that means that maybe we don’t’ really want to go…or get there. Let’s face it, we all have ‘oh I wish I would…’ things in our lives. But if we spend all our time doing something else, it seems sensible to ask ourselves whether we actually want to accomplish (or be) that other thing?

Just as an example…one of the areas many (many!) of us have issues is in the relationship arena. We don’t think of Virgo as being “about relationships” but since there is no real ‘isolation’ in the circle of life, that’s just an example of how Virgo can get you so absorbed in the details that you don’t see the forest for the trees…or the life or lifetime which is slipping by while you’re not doing what you know deep inside you want to do, creating the life you really want to have.

So I have this friend who, throughout the more than several years that I’ve known him has been picking women who he knows are the ‘wrong girl.’ (His term, not mine.) But he just keeps picking them.

What’s that about? Don’t be too quick to dismiss this as a Virgo trait, because whatever the third sign to any given sign is speaks to the ‘nature’ of our thinking on the subject.

Counting Virgo as “one,” the third sign to Virgo is…what? SCORPIO. And yes, though Virgo isn’t “known” for compulsivity, there is a definite ‘thread’ of Scorpionic “obsessiveness” which is part and parcel of the Virgo vibe.

This is one of those factoids which as an astrologer didn’t make sense to me until I noticed this interesting habit every Virgo I know (and have known) absolutely has. And when I started asking around, I found out that every Virgo everyone else I know knows also does the same thing.

What did I find? Virgos (we’re speaking principally Sun sign Virgos here) all seem to live by the slogan “when in doubt, eliminate it.” And when we get to the ‘cut it out’ thing, we’re talking Scorpio.

And Scorpio IS the third sign to Virgo.

And the third harmonic to any sign is about the ‘nature’ of our mentality – the habits we bring to our mentality, regardless of what’s on our third house (of mentality and thought) or where our natal Mercury is…or where Mercury is by transit.

This gives us a big clue about why Virgo is the sign of making things more effective or efficient in order for us to (eventually) reach our goals. In Virgo lies an enormity of potential and mental power – this latter being the signature of Scorpio as Virgo’s 3rd harmonic.

So if Virgo is about ‘perfecting’ our act and getting ourselves in shape (be that physically, mentally, emotionally or – at some level especially spiritually/universally, considering the polarity sign is Pisces)…the ‘focus’ which at some level does seem to amount to an obsession with Virgo folks and thus with everyone else as the Sun ‘lights’ up this area of our lives, then the question becomes very much one of getting to the root of why we think or do or choose as we do so that we are able to deal with that…and thus eliminate whatever the ‘toxicity’ (non-functionality) is in our lives so that we can move forward more freely and get where we want to go.

Bearing this in mind, then we go back to that idea of what we continue to do the way we do it (or in the company of those we choose to do it with) where we aren’t improving. Where we aren’t moving forward in our life or getting any closer to those dreams we all have for ourselves.

It’s easy not to think about it, and let’s be real here – the Sun’s yearly transit of Virgo is a prime and primal time during which it’s absolutely easy to just ‘keep on keepin’ on’ while making excuses for why we aren’t getting to that thing which will fulfill our dreams or provide us with some measure of spiritual or emotional (Piscean) balance.

So as the Sun moves into Virgo, we can expect some realization of what’s not working…or what we want to capitalize on by ‘working it’ at an even higher level…to come upon us. For some of us it will merely be that earthy sense we feel stirring in our innards. (Virgo is very into those ‘innard functions.’) Then again, life may well present you with issues which challenge your functionality. Or sense or even you desire for accomplishment.

With Mercury entering Virgo a day after the Sun, we take a breath…and then we take the plunge. But let’s not think results are instantaneous. Being the astrologer on board here (yes, I need one of those signs to put in my car) I can look ahead and see the major road signs coming down the energy pipeline. We’re about to hit a Sedna station on August 25th and that speaks to Virgo’s first week being about reckoning with the need to evolve.

This station comes with a bit of a surprise – call it a twist on the cosmic theme. And that we’ll discuss in the next post here on the blog.

The September portion of the Virgo run (read: our experience of Life and Mentality through the Virgo lens) there will be a whole slew of challenges headed out way. We’re going to hear (on the celestial level) from influences generated by the relative positioning of Ixion and Pholus (which yes, for you who know this pair is enough to make your toes curl) shifts of signs coming from the Ceres (planning) and Pallas (wisdom born of dispassionate perspective), Mercury romping on into Libra just as Venus moves into Scorpio (suggesting there are emotional issues yet to come from people in our lives or with regards TO people in our lives)…

....and then we’ll also get a revisiting of the still-ongoing conjunction of Pluto to fixed star (nebula) Facies. 

Pluto-Facies is the experience of complicated issues which we know will compromise us unless we deal with them. But how to deal with them?

All that and (dare I say…?) we’re in for the onset of the next ‘breaking down’ period which precedes the November Solar Eclipse at 11 Scorpio.

Yes, that eclipse.

Let us also remember that what we’re talking about here is the Sun and Mercury moving into Virgo – the recognition, the realization, the having to think it through and think about it and get some clarity on things part of the process. With Mars initially positioned in Cancer as this pair of ingresses sweep through we can not like whatever we don’t like and life will still insist that we pay attention.

Or…alternately…we can take the Mars energetic in hand and get to work on that thing which is so hard for us. Cancer being the eleventh sign (aka 11th harmonic) from Virgo this points to all those things we really do want to achieve in life.

Since Mars is just ending its transit of Cancer, the likelihood is that life is going to focus us on what isn’t yet done and what isn’t working properly…and some of us will take that on and carry forth into a development of solutions (or at least a willingness to venture into risky waters) as Mars moves on into Leo.

Others will greet the challenges and be content to slide by. Or problems may arise and then seemingly settle back down (which strikes me as a bit of a dirty trick as the problem unsolved is the problem which until it’s solved remains unsolved).

But the Virgo point here is that Mars will enter Virgo come mid-October. So here’s your choice: you can tackle your issues (denials, obsessions, challenges, lacks, needs, tendency to over/under focus) now and be in better shape to deal with life more productively come Mars-in-Virgo, or you can play and skate and goof around and temporize and cope without fixing now and meet up with consequences come October and November (read: during the most intense portion of a Solar Eclipse period which – surprise! – is going to take place with Mercury in retrograde).

 A photo taken by NASA's Spirit rover of the Columbia Hills inside Gusev Crater on Mars

(photo credit: NASA-JPL April 2005)

We choose to make our life what it is. The compromises we make or refuse to allow ourselves to make, the efforts we invest or choose not to invest in this relationship, that habit, this way of doing things, that way of spending our time…they all amount to the truth of what we want.

That truth may be a happy one. That truth may be a painful one. Whatever it is, step one is knowing what it is and that it is what it is.

Then we get to apply that Scorpio 3rd harmonic to our Virgo essence…which for these next few weeks is ‘highlighted’ and made more accessible to us than at other times. The operative question is why…and that applies to the happy, unhappy, productive and destructive choices we make. There is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ here, merely the identifying the ‘what’ and deciding whether you think that – in the long run – is going to help you be satisfied with your life, how you’ve lived your life and the humanity you’ve allowed yourself to embody and experience in being human.
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