Dateblog: May 2015

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So here we are at May 2015 ... Venus and Mercury are in Gemini prompting many a notion worth considering and while the Sun-Mars combination in Taurus we’re starting the month out with can be a wee bit stubborn (a wee bit?), the combination of all (Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars) also typifies the sort of inner core stability we’d expect in those who know where they’re starting from - and given that, what they’re willing to risk.

Or at least think about risking. (Sun and Mars in Taurus can be provoked, no doubt. But this is not a ‘hasty’ combination - just ask Ferdinand the Bull!).

There’s a lot of ‘this and that’ going on in life and the world - that we would expect as a reflection of the ongoing Eta Aquarid meteor shower - not that such ‘sparks of inspiration’ may not lead to something good.

With the Full Moon in Scorpio, it’s virtually guaranteed a few things in life will be coming to a head. They may be joyous, they may be testy - and without question they will in some way be prompting each of us to ask each of us (depending on where we are with our Self) about whether what we thought things were was really right.

That’s one of the things Full Moons are for ... astrologically, they’re all about our checking in our our Self and how we’re feeling about things - the everyday things of everyday life and all the people which go with that. A Full Moon in Scorpio, whether testing or terrific is about that which sticks with us or that which we feel stuck with. It raises the sticky aspects of interactions so we can wonder why things ‘have to be this way’ - or whether they really need to be as complicated as we all make them.

Depending on what we meet up with, we let go or dance our fandango. Then we simply move on, as Full Moons are phases - like days and moments and pre-memory selfies taken by our mind, some of which will last, and some of which we’ll by and by toss in the mental trash.

By the time the New Moon turns up in Taurus on the 18th (UT/+0), Mercury’s being on station to go  retrograde (on the 19th) with Lilith entering Scorpio two days later on the 21st spells reconsideration - or the necessity to do so. Something needs consideration (not that we want to think about it...). With Mercury in Gemini retrograde and Mars having joined the Gemini parade, there’s a lot of ‘noise’ - inside and out. Factors are shifting ... do we ‘tackle the job’ and count on adapting to input on the fly? Or do we continue thinking, talking and gathering data and ideas while wondering apace?

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Not that May is likely to ‘feel’ all that much like April. The spirit, the atmosphere, the general and elemental ‘feeling’ we get about things ... well, with all the emphasis on earth last month, that’s had us being (or becoming) much more aware of (earthy, tangible) realities in terms of what could (fire) happen on many important-to-everyday-life earth/earthy fronts. And now? By the time the Sun exits earthy Taurus for airy Gemini on May 21st (UT/+0) a lot of that earthy ‘drive’ (courtesy of Mars) will have turned into considering of and looking into options - which would be particularly apt, what with Mercury going retrograde on the 19th (UT/+0).

And since just after that upsurge of whatever which occurs around the time of the (Scorpio) Full Moon on May 4th (oh, do have fun...) Venus rolls into Cancer (date: late on May 7th, UT/+0) ... well, the net of all such, plus the Mars which entered Gemini on May 12th being in position to oppose Saturn (in retrograde) as Mercury goes retrograde ...

Expect some stoppages. Whether they are yours, or why they are yours (or aren’t yours or aren’t about you) is individual. But with Saturn opposing Mercury as Venus trines Neptune during Mercury’s (Gemini) station, the concepts of transit, traffic and ‘commerce’ would seem up for grabs ... in any and every form, whether that’s personal, professional, conversational, negotiable, insightful, enlightening, or of any and every other sort.

That much ‘Gemini as many’ we would expect. After all, it is that ‘many’ Gemini quality which forces us to think things through and then choose, which is exactly what Gemini’s about.

And it’s also what the whole process of Mercury retrograde - which means we’re getting a double dose of doubling back on our thinking ... which if you accept the idea that unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should ...means we are not just meant to be facing and dealing with whatever we have on our plate(s) at the moment (some people having bigger life tables with more plates on them than others...), but that there is indeed something to be learned from present circumstances. No matter how the circumstance itself goes, metaphysics teaches that we have the option and some opportunity in the Now to be more of who we will ultimately like ourselves better for being - and how that’s the key to the happiness and security we’ve been all balled up about.

But no, it may not be fun - which I agree, is dislikable in the utmost (to put it politely).

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Yet whatever we’re up to, and whatever we’re doing, its hardly set in stone - or if something is, it leads to something so directly (and that may so directly lead to something else) that it appears that we know what we’re doing even though the whole of May is likely to be an endless series of moment by moment decisions - which may sound trying or complicated, but then again, may just point to that rather lovely quality we humans call awareness.

Some will skate, evade and never settle during May. Some will skim surfaces and never get beyond wetting their toes wet in glassy shallows.

Then again, maybe they can’t swim - would you have them drown in something they’re unprepared for?

And maybe all that skating is the performance of a virtuoso, the flawless tacking from point to point while virtuously sailing a metaphysical wind.

Being how all the teal (jade?) color in the chart represents mutable energy, we should expect things to change this month. Change can mean many things to every person, so all we know is that things will change this month, whether we’re the initiator, the participant, the onlooker or just someone hearing some tiny factoid which causes us to change our opinion on something.

That’s a prime astrological verb for May 2015: change. The constant isn’t constant - and if ‘it’ is constant, we aren’t. This can represent some sort of rebelliousness, but it may just represent differences neither good or bad. With Jupiter in Leo moving through Leo’s ‘teen’ degrees, there’s a lot of idealism going around - which might be just fine except along with the idealism is likely to occur an equal measure of hard-headedness.

And that hard-headedness? Though it absolutely feels necessary, it may be necessary ... and then again, we may just be feeling emotionally squishy deep in our innards. (You know, in those inner places we don’t even like admitting to?)

Surely we’re all going to be trying a lot of things and differing tactics this month. Once we get to Mercury retrograde (on the 19th), the better part of our ‘learning curve’ is internal in spite of however much is going on, with the astrological ‘why’ of that - the things which trigger that learning - probably being associated with (starting as) Black Moon Lilith enters Scorpio on May 21st, the day when the Sun enters Gemini.

That date - the 21st - is actually the end of a four (or five, depending on your time zone) day coagulation of events (which will probably be the next post here at the blog) and certainly the most astrologically notable recipe of the month. Between here and there is the Full Moon of the 4th (at 13 Scorpio), Venus moving into Cancer on the 7th and Mars entering Gemini on the 12th - which will be a big breath of energetic air for us all.

And yet ... just about the time that Gemini Mars gets to reflecting in life, revving us up and getting us thinking (if not going) in a hundred different directions, that’s when we reach that Mercury retrograde.

(Plus a few other things ... so stay tuned!)
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Blogpost (May 12-19): The Scorpio New Moon (+ Mars and Other Stations)

 

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

(photo credit: Tomruen2)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- link to -

Mercury, Mars, Saturn on Station

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- link to -

Huya, Rainmaker: Direct at 20 Scorpio

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

 Asteroid Eros as photographed by NASA

 

Eros station-retrograde at 19 Capricorn

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

- link to -

Eros and Psyche: Falling in

Love With Our Minds

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Byblis direct at 28 Virgo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also, one other item worth noting...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You do remember Venus in Aries, right?
 

- link to -

Venus in Aries

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Traces of liquid passage as recorded in planet Mars' surface

(NASA, GSFC, December 2006)

Damocles, Mars-Diadem

and Orcus on Station

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(published before 1930, author unknown)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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May 6th: A Super Scorpio Full Moon

 A Full Moon as photographed by an unknown

photographer in Japan

Maybe you’ve heard we going to have a ‘Super Moon’ this month?

Occurring at 16 Scorpio, this Full Moon will occur on  May 6 at 3:36 a.m. UT/+0. And the 'Super Moon' part has to do with the fact that this Full Moon takes place in a moment when the Moon is pretty much as close to Earth as Luna Moon gets. So if you’re into Moon watching (and who isn’t, at least once in a while?) this is the time to go outside and stare at the sky.

In saying that however, there is another note about this Full Moon, namely that it's happening amidst Earth's annual Aquarid meteor.

Ah yes...Mama Nature puts on quite a show.

The Aquarid meteor shower is a product of (arguably) Earth's most famous comet - comet Halley. So apart from the 'sprinklings of ideas and insight' which go along with any comet, there would be a marked interest in - and capacity to be - famous (even infamous) which goes along with this moment. And yes, any birthday or wedding which happens during this time may have a touch or brush with same. Having known a few people with birthdays during these 'Halley days' I have observed a marked interest among such people in fame, the famous, broad societal movements (which fame is a sub-set of, fame being a mass focus on one given person or thing)...and even just the concept of being 'part of the group' (or their culture).

And yet...the question which evolves from this is whether such energies are about what we should be fascinated by...or what others should (or could) find us fascinating for. As a person, or as a couple - or even as a company founded during these days - is it right simply to be dazzled and awed by what you see in the world (or in the sky) or is there an essence here all about being dazzling and doing things which are worthy of respect or awe and which inspire delight in others?

Halley aside, looking a bit more closely at the particulars of this Full Moon, as with all Full Moons there's a polarizing energy which can represent a tug-of-war or a 'bursting out of confines,' depending on how we use it. Given how this Full Moon is at 16 degrees of any sign (in this case Scorpio/Sun and Taurus/Moon) there's an air of emotionality. With that 16 degree position being in fixed signs, maybe we should color that feeling as anticipatory or filled with wondering...or even wonderment. The Moon’s position at 16 Scorpio gives us this Sabian Symbol: a woman, fecundated by her own spirit, is “great with child” is an image all about our internal development. And that something indeed is growing within us.

Remembering that the Full Moon is the ‘highlight’ (the Moon’s ‘highest’ light) of the lunar month, this puts the spotlight on events ‘of the moment’ and on any project or effort which involves your having been building or working towards ‘growing’ something soon to be ‘born.’

16 Scorpio is an emotional degree of an emotional sign. And since any Full Moon tends to be an emotional time, this promises a real ‘high tide’ of feelings pleasant, unpleasant - and even unsuspected. Lore on this degree speaks of a kindness and generosity of spirit which is oddly offset by secret dealings and problems involving keeping one’s word. Some writers speak of 16 Scorpio in another disturbing sense: instead of the ‘child’ waiting to be born (which may be some project or moment you’ve been building towards) they refer to a ‘growth’ - a cancer or tumor which may or may not prove ultimately detrimental.

 

 The Full Moon of May 6, 2012

To know what’s what here, we would first retreat to the nature of Scorpio. When Scorpio is about what I want and my security or my pleasure or my family or my satisfaction - it inevitably leads to disruption, hard feels and more often than not, ultimate failure.

Why would that be? That would be because Scorpio is the polarity sign to Taurus, sign of self worth and inner (personal) security. In Scorpio, we ‘risk’ our self worth by joining or negotiating situations with others. The greatest Scorpio successes inevitably involve finding solutions which satisfy everybody - but everybody has to give and everybody has to get. There is no abdication of control or responsibility under Scorpio, just as there is no having total control or responsibility under Scorpio. It all has to be negotiated and everybody has to have an equal stake in making things happen…and an equal risk if they don’t go well.

So whatever you’re doing, whatever is on the table at this time, let’s hope it isn’t out of emotional balance. To whatever degree your world is out of balance, that will shadow your Scorpio Full Moon and hey, nobody does shadowing like Scorpio!

On the Sun’s side of this Full Moon figure (the Taurus side) we have the Sun at 16 Taurus, bringing up a very old question. In Sabian terms it’s ‘a symbolic battle between swords and torches,’ which otherwise is the eternal battle between old and new, between intellect and emotion, between give and take, between tradition and autonomy.

So this Full Moon…this ‘SuperMoon’…being so close to Earth…is that anything like something getting stuck in our face?

Or shown up IN REALLY BIG LETTERS SO WE CAN’T IGNORE IT?

(No, I'm not shouting...my fingers are!)
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Known as a degree which is distinctly stubborn (what, in Taurus? No! Say it ain’t so!), 16 Taurus is stubborn about what? About that whole ‘rose colored glasses thing,’ which in Taurean terms is probably being nice, living well, sitting pretty - physically and financially.

But this is also a degree which is known for being endowed with a certain amount of luck which, if not appreciated with some degree of integrity, runs out rather suddenly.

And for those of you who are interested in the end of the Mayan creation calendar (the Maya had a lot of calendars, so I’m specifying)…this 16 Taurus/Scorpio thing is going to be opposed by the 21 Scorpio solar eclipse of this coming November, which as someone with a distinct interest in the Maya I would suggest is the ‘beginning’ of the end of the creation cycle. And if that November 21 Scorpio solar eclipse is the onset of the evolutionary process which will move mankind into our next phase of growth, then this Scorpio Full Moon may well represent a marker which operates rather like the ground tremor which signals the coming eruption of a volcano.

In this figure, we have the Sun conjunct Tantalus (the temptation to do as you please) and the Moon conjunct ‘rainmaker’ Huya. That’s something like a celestial commentary on the order of just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD.

Another indicator that this Full Moon is a foreshadowing of things to come: in this figure, Tantalus is conjunct the Sun and Huya is positioned with the Moon. Come November, the Sun and Moon will be conjunct (as is always the case in a solar eclipse) and by then, Tantalus will have arrived in Scorpio. So we will have Tantalus-Sun/Moon-Huya.

Coincidence? Or is this an opportunity to plan our life going forward, correcting course and making improvements where needed while cutting loose those things which can only come back to haunt us?  

And with all this happening as Venus is beginning to slow down to take station and go retrograde…and that in advance of this May 20^th‘s solar eclipse at 0 Gemini?

Someone posed a question this morning about what this SuperMoon means. I almost laughed. At a certain level, who can tell one influence from another right now? We all have so much on our minds that we’re thinking over what to think about next. Or why we think about things as we do - and whether we think that’s a good idea.

With this Full Moon positioned a degree past the 15 Taurus cross-quadrant point, we know we need to apply ourselves. It’s time to do some growing and where necessary, growing up. (Yes, this applies even for adults!) We may be hesitant. We may have trepidation about this or that. We may have misgivings. Still, we also know we can’t just SIT here.

Our status quo isn’t of sufficiently good status to quo with, y’know?

The Sun/Tantalus in this figure virtually guarantees there will be lingering regrets masquerading as annoyance (even downplayed anger) lurking in the background - or in those shadows we mentioned a while ago. (See? I told you nobody does ‘shadowy’ like Scorpio!). And with Venus (ruler of Taurus) found at 22 Gemini (and conjunct Bellatrix) in this moment there’s a definite sense of difficulty mixed in. You may feel denied, picked on - even persecuted. Making your point, even defining your position in a workable manner - it’s tough.

To understand this part of the puzzler, we look to Mercury as ruler of Gemini and find Mercury in Aries - at 24 Aries, to be precise. Positioned nearby are Hel (how we challenge ourselves) at 23 Hel along with Atropos (endings).

Okay. So plainly we want something to stop or end. Or maybe we’re challenging ourselves as to how to stop making things just so hard for ourselves!

With Eris at 22 Aries (right next door to Mercury) in opposition to Saturn, Arcturus and Spica (all at 24 Libra), have you been misjudged? Or have you misjudged others? Is that part of the rose colored glasses thing?

And why is it that the celestial statement says that something ‘Eris-radical’ is needed to improve a problematic situation?

Eris in Aries is a piquant challenge as Aries is plainly ‘I Am’ and ‘my life.’ We also know that Eris functions best for us when focused on others. Considering the Roman name for Eris is ‘Discordia’ we know Eris doesn’t mean smooth sailing. So maybe we have to put aside our ‘kind-and-nice’ thing for a moment? Or maybe we have to ‘disrupt’ something in the same way that protestors and social reformers do by challenging a status quo which flat-out isn’t working. There are lots of ways Eris energy can function. Sometimes a situation - even a building - needs to be ‘torn down.’ Maybe someone needs surgery. There are many ways that Eris energies can manifest as ‘disruptions of’ a status quo and still be in a very good cause.

Just be careful. This whole conglomeration of meanings - from the Moon to Sun/Tantalus plus all the rest, that could very likely be you doing something which you like, which you find comfy for you but which you know isn’t ‘fair’ from the perspective of what the world might think of someone who was behaving the way you're behaving.

(Dare I say maybe a bit selfishly?)

After all, remember November? Remember that tremor before the volcanic blast thing?

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 Indonesia's Mount Rinjani erupting in 1995,

its power attracting lightning from above.

(photo credit: Oliver Spalt)

That’s rather the point here. The fact that this is a so-called ‘SuperMoon’ means - astrologically - that this Full Moon is occurring in conjunction with the calculated Black Moon - also known as Black Moon Lilith.

Which it is. Calculated Lilith is at 15 Taurus…right next to fixed star Menkar (at 14 Taurus). A star which tends to represent ‘being influenced by others’ Menkar gives the choice to be the person to affects others or is affect by others.

Then we add in the Black Moon, a point about our tendency to ignore how society will view us - or society (or some social group) ignoring us. This also can be bad or good. On one hand, the Black Moon could be someone getting a second chance despite past errors. It could be a social group in which everybody puts aside their quarrels for the moment. It could also be our doing something in spite of what others say or do - and this may be the nicest thing of all about this Full Moon formation. With the Black Moon involved, we know there is some social or societal aspect in this picture. 

And then we add the Moon being conjunct Huya.

Huya is all about giving based on what you’ve learned. (Or maybe in this case, learned better about.) Using Oprah Winfrey as an example here is always great, because her hard-fought-for self respect in spite of a bad set of early years was what she gave to others. She said ‘never mind, be yourself. You’re fine the way you are, black, white, yellow, purple, fat, thin…you’re fine!’ And that stance, that sharing of a conviction which was not about her but universal is Huya in operation.

When we act as Huya - when we act to make life better for everybody, in making their lives better, the rain of goodness falls on us, too. That's the Huya point.

And that choice? The choice of whether to use what we know and what we've learned for the universal betterment of all? That choice is ours.

All ours. 

There’s an old short story by Frank Stockton called ‘The Lady or the Tiger’ which ends with a man coming to two closed doors. He has no idea which is which but knows that behind one of those doors is a beautiful woman who will love him and give him everything he wants. Behind the other is a tiger. And that tiger will eat him.

This Full Moon is very much like that story. The big difference is that most of us know which door we’re opening now.

 

 A Bengal Tiger walks in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve

 (photo credit Mayankkatiyar, December 2008)

Considering all, that’s a good thing as it’s a time when looking ahead and recognizing that life is not just what we can do but what we should do in this world is of prime importance. We’re used to thinking in terms of ‘should’ as being about ourselves and our families. But is that true? When we think only of harvesting the fruit we need and not of providing fruit for all, we deny ourselves the opportunity to be given to in turn by others whose generosity of spirit is made possible by our own.

So have a ‘super’ Full Moon. Considering what Full Moons are - a reflection of the light of the Sun (life) - maybe having the Moon come so close to us is about the wisdom of stopping in this moment to reflect. With the Sun in Taurus, life's emphasis is on our worth as being rooted in, and reflective of our self-worth.

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May’s Scorpio Full Moon: Milking Issues at Hand

 The Full Moon of May 30, 1999 as it appeared over the

Upper Patuxent River in Maryland as photographed

by Mary Hollinger, NODC biologist (NOAA)

Going back to the concept that in some traditions the May Full Moon is known as the ‘Milk Moon,’ there’s good cause to look at this edition of the Full Moon and wonder about all sorts of things.

With the Sun at 26 Taurus opposition Moon at 26 Scorpio there’s an automatic and built-in quality here of ‘my life being dependent on yours.’ Now this can be good…or it can be bad. What it isn’t likely to be at this point is subtle.

For one, the Sun (the realistic point of view) is exactly conjunct fixed star Algol, and Algol has a rather nasty reputation. But is it really nasty?

That would sort of be the all-around question now, as many things reach an emotional (Full Moon) high tide in the wake of Atropos and TNO Orcus both having done a station turn during this past week. We’ve all come to endings of some type. Either we can’t continue or are simply refusing to continue on in the same way. Some of us have come to a point where we’re simply ‘out’ of something, be it a job, a home, patience, hope, options, a relationship, energy… something!

All this is indicated by Atropos (the end or extent of the thing) having gone retrograde. That Atropos has gone retrograde in Saturn means we are faced with changing our structural relationship to our life or circumstance. Something is over. Something has changed. It’s no longer apt to continue on as we have.

After Atropos went retrograde, TNO Orcus went direct in the functionality-oriented sign of Virgo. Matters of health or healthy obligation – and the limits and personal responsibility which do and don’t go with Virgo’s health/healthy obligation are being thrust in our face as a matter of consequence. That would be the Orcus part. We are now having to deal with some consequence.

And with Damocles having gone retrograde in Aquarius just yesterday (May 16th) in Aquarius, there’s money, social standing, and a very real consequence additional consequence which goes with thinking we don’t have to deal with realistic boundaries and efforts.

Oops! Life isn’t as simple as we thought. We don’t get the skim the cream off the top of this Milk Moon and walk away sweet and innocent.

And that ‘why’ in why we don’t get to simply la-dee-dah off and about our life is indicated by Algol. Spoken of as a star which embodies the ‘feminine,’ Algol is NOT about gender – it’s about our ability to respond to live and contain ourselves…(here we add in the Taurus part) both productively and in a manner which benefits us not just today, but all the way down the line into our many tomorrows.

In metaphysics, ‘masculine’ is not male: it’s the assertive, pro-active quality so long associated with males under the now-waning Pisces Age. Thus the ‘feminine’ is our ability to receive, react, contain, gather resources for later use/understanding – from which we respond appropriately…without harming our reputation, our future, and the lives (reputations, futures) of anyone else around us.

Part of the difficulty of the time we live in is because the Pisces Age divided things emotionally, where the Aquarian Age (into which we are now moving) divides things through the idea of the thing. At the beginning of any Age things are very rough…people are being asked to change their dance step half way through life and humans are notoriously not-so-good at giving up what they already know, life and (rather importantly!) have learned how to profit from.

And yet it must be done. So to the extent that we are imbedded and committed to a given way of being or prioritizing, this is a testing – and quite possibly, testy – time. But again…does it have to be?

Located in the constellation of Perseus, Algol is a star the Greeks identified with the head of Medusa. And you know what that Medusa head is all about, right?

No, Medusa's head is not some fearful evil which freezes us in our tracks, turning us to stone. Or rather it is, but that’s not because the evil is so evil – it’s because we’re afraid of dealing with the truth…a truth stripped of all manipulations, emotions and other frilly considerations.

LINK to Feature Article on MEDUSA

As for Perseus, he was one of those very busy Greek heroes, though he didn’t get into the hero business much on purpose. After killing Medusa, he cuts off her head and uses it’s scariness to first rescue fair maiden Andromeda from a sea monster (Medusa/scary truth versus monster of oceanic emotion? No contest!)…then he goes home to save his mom from a really bad relationship with a local king – the guy who sent Perseus out to kill Medusa in the first place.

Andromeda, Perseus and Cetus by Titian

So the real issue which is at the heart of things now – at the moment of the Full Moon is whether what we want (the Moon in Scorpio)…and what we’ve done over the past few weeks since the May 3rd New Moon kicked this round of lunar activity off…did we overstep our bounds? Did we do something to sour or curdle our milk of human kindness or that others feel towards us?

In most cases, the events of a Full Moon come to crest then abate. Sure, there are grumbles…or happy dances off through flowering fields of joy which happen in the waning wake of the Full Moon’s ‘high lighting’ of emotional or emotion-driven issues.

But this month? Well…we’ve been talking about those solar eclipses about to happen, right? On top of that (or as part of what is actually a rather grand unfurling of cycles and events)…now we have Saturn moving back into 10 Libra as of this moment.

What’s that to you?

Well, 10 Libra is the degree Saturn will go direct at on June 13th. Yes, I said JUNE. That means from now until June 13th, Saturn is just going to be sitting at 10 Libra, sort of poised there…inching backwards ever-so-slowly in retrograde motion. And that, dear friends, is something most of us are going to experience as an increased focus on something very particular in our life.

What will that be, you may ask? I can’t tell you that – that would be all about where your natal Saturn lies, it’s general natal chart nature and where Libra sits in your chart. Does Libra even have a house cusp to call it its own? And since we’re talking about Libra, how’s your Venus quotient lately? How well are you doing in that ‘making things happen the way I want so that I’m comfy and happy and feeling safe, secure, loved and satisfied’ life department?

For those who react to this with a big ‘thumbs up,’ this next couple of months will provide big shifts and like as not, some big ‘moments’ of advancing your personal agenda.

But for those who are having problems – particularly in the (Libra) relationship arena, be that personal or in the broader sense such as at work or as concerns all the me-versus-the-world stuff?

And let's not forget...retrograde cycles are just that: cycles. As Saturn went retrograde last January in the wake of a Capricorn solar eclipse, along came all sorts of (very Capricorn) rebellion against overly (i.e. negative) Saturnine governments.

 Saturn's double aurorae as photographed by

the Hubble Space Telescope

photo credit: NASA/JPL (Jan 2009)

Also, let’s be real here: once Saturn goes direct in mid-June it’s not like it hops into some celestial Porsche and goes zooming off on its orbital path! No! Saturn is going to be in 10 Libra until July 8th. And that means that we are now very officially in the ‘dual eclipse’ zone. So figure everything that comes up now – and all the issues which get raised internally (inside you) between now and when Saturn goes direct…these are part of what is going to be refocused or remade over the next several months (big time!) and the next three years (in a more evolutionary sense) …all of which we know because there are not just one, but two solar eclipses on the way!

And yes, there is one Lunar Eclipse, which may be another headache for those whose charts are formulated as to be hit by emotional doings of the 24 degrees of Sagittarius kind. Principal positions to look for would be anything positioned between 19 and 29 Sagittarius, Pisces, Virgo or Gemini and/or between 22 and 26 Cancer and/or Taurus.

But more on that when the time comes. Lunar Eclipses tend to go off like alarm clocks, so let’s talk about that later.

Meanwhile, a few background notes on 10 Libra before we close for the day. By definition, Libra is a public sign – it’s not just about us or our ‘in my body, mind or soul’ sort of thing. Libra is also an air sign – so it’s the idea of the thing which gets us as much as anything, and being that 10 Libra is an emotional sign it’s the idea of the emotions you may experience because of others…what they do/don’t do. What they say/don’t say. What allowances they give you or deny you.

Traditional lore speaks of this degree being one of isolation which forces a person to ‘sort through things’ as they battle their own feelings of vulnerability, failure or inferiority. Good comes of this process through thinking things through not entirely personally, but in terms of others who have gone through similar situations: the process involved and how experiences of the moment can provide motivation to improve things not only for yourself, but everyone else too. By holding to this more universal course instead of simply focusing on the ‘me’ of it all, people are able to in time emerge with a new found respect bolstered by others for their humanity and integrity rather than their personal aims and personality.

The universal quality cited here is rather reminiscent of Damocles having gone retrograde just yesterday in social, societal Aquarius. And that word ‘integrity’? That’s one of the hallmark concepts which life will focus on as we hit and move past June’s 11 Gemini solar eclipse.

And let’s not forget that Atropos/Orcus thing. Atropos speaks to things which have ended. Or are over…at least in the form or format they were before.

And Orcus? Orcus is an ‘out of the blue’ sort of consequence you could not have predicted. Oh, it was out there…but you wouldn’t think it could be true until it comes true.

Sometimes that’s very, very good….and sometimes that’s very, very bad. All that depends on you – more specifically, how well you understand others around you and in your greater world. The values you have risked now prove to be not just yours, but theirs too.

How do they feel about you? 

That would be the message of the moment – even if all you get is total, complete and utter silence.