Juno Retrograde at 17 Leo

'Wave' by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

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The mythological Juno was Jupiter, Lord of Olympus’ wife - which to Greek thinking would be Hera as Zeus’ wife. But we’re going Roman for this posting, and in the land of the Pantheon... as opposed to the Parthenon (which is Greekly placed in Athens)... Juno had a reputation for being a matriarch worthy of great admiration even if she was more than a bit of a shrew when it came to hubby Jupiter.

Or at least that’s the Jupiter version of the story. Not that the myths concerning Jupiter include any lofty speeches of complaint (that might not have been the Olympian thing to do) but Jupiter had his way of expressing himself on the subject - mostly while he was having his way with some sinuous young nymph.

For the record - and to Juno as an astrological point - despite all the shrew-ing and Jupiter’s willingness to be a philanderer of literal Olympian proportions, Jupiter stays with his wife - and Juno puts up with Jupiter’s follies. And why one would be able to do that, or perhaps how would be the better term here... that all has to do with story points we don’t hear much about, but which are certainly implied - namely how in spite of all the emotional zig-zag(ing) we could guess at in the Juno-Jupiter relationship, they maintain.

And that’s the word which is at the heart and soul of Juno as an astrological symbol, no matter how you conjugate it, no matter how it gets applied. On the surface Juno symbolizes what we do and what we go through in ‘maintaining’ our Self as we face or go through a process... or just in the maintaining of our Self, our life, things that are important to us and all the rest. As implied by the myth, Juno is a symbol which often refers to putting the brakes on something or objecting to something which we see as having gotten overblown or which has otherwise exceeded the limits - whether those limits are verbal, physical, financial, emotional, legal or of any other nature.

Jupiter expands... Juno seeks to put a functional limit on things - and to keep things functioning in spite of (Jupiter) excesses, real, imagined or otherwise.

Currently in Leo, Juno represents the drive we have to keep on taking care of what’s important in our personal world despite whatever else is going on in our variable life and times as well as the instinct to ‘manage’ those resources which may be needed tomorrow as well as today...and that it’s going retrograde suggests a time when things take a ‘turn’ towards ‘managing’ more personal issues, inner thoughts about how to get things done and where - considering how Jupiter itself has just gone retrograde - where or how we just might have bitten off more than we can chew - which would be in true Jupiter style.

Then again, seeing how as Jupiter went retrograde Saturn timed our moving into our year 2014-2015 ‘lesson load’ (much of which we are still probably less than clear on) perhaps Juno’s turn to retrograde is underscoring some need to ‘manage’ our Self (or what we’re aiming to do, be or become) in light of whatever it is we don’t yet know or haven’t done.

Plus then there’s the 17 Leo influence to add in. Known as one of Leo’s more will-filled degrees and an influence which is direct (read: blunt) and which tolerates neither denial nor defeat until the goal itself comes to appear invalid - if it ever does.

Could it be that Juno going retrograde in this degree is our ‘managing’ to realize how some part of our 17 Leo activity is being or has been devoted to something which is actually invalid? Or maybe we’re ‘turning inward’ to see if we have the kind of strength being referred to here? Do we have whatever kind of strength it is which is needed to persevere... even if that means persevering with some form of letting go?

'Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida' by James Barry

(1804, line engraving and mezzotint on paper)

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None of this has to be bad - or even difficult. Whether it is or not is about our individual relationship to management and the idea of managing things without... and that Self within. With Juno going retrograde there’s a ‘within’ of some type in our future, which with this stationing occurring in Leo suggests that the plus and minuses here (at least some of how we feel about them) is greatly a matter of a.) whether we feel personally under some sort of ‘threat’ - real or imagined, vital or petty - at the moment, and b.) whether the situation is interesting.

Interesting to us, that is. Given that interest, Leo becomes a boon of magnificent strength and passionate endurance, with it mattering not a fig whether the subject is vital or petty to anyone else. After all, wherever we see Leo in a natal chart, we know that’s an area of life the owner of that chart would like to have cooperation and support in. They will even (probably magnanimously) accept adulation, adoration and large numbers of sacrifices (on your part) to assure the success of.

Just don’t mistake any of that for need. Leo conviction is the stuff of defiance and the platinum standard for motivation... all of which have nothing to do with anyone other than the given person and how they deal - or dare we say manage their Self... which may well explain why, as Juno turns to retrograde some of us will mitigate external matters because there’s a little (or whole lot of) soul searching going on.

And by ‘soul searching’ we don’t just mean some matter of conscience - except that given whatever challenge, large or small, that we have at the moment, we are likely to be doing some ‘soul searching’ about why that’s happened, why things “have to work that way” or what we can... what we want to...and what we are not yet in a position to do, alter... or even manage to contemplate.

After all, we have other things to do - which means some will manage their time and some will manage to skirt, bypass or otherwise avoid something now... which could be good and could be bad, depending. There is good news in that the Sabian image for 17 Leo (‘A chemist conducts an experiment for his students’) does bring an air of intrigue and possible discovery to our managing of things - which granted, for some will simply amount to ‘managing’ to reach some goal, whether that means you’re dealing with complicated schedules or managing things well enough to make not enough last because that’s all you have or can get.

Does that mean we’ll run into some ‘shortage’ of some kind? Maybe. If we do, Juno’s turning to Leo retrograde points to our ability to manage things, perhaps by taking a new tact (conducting that ‘experiment’) which may teach others (the ‘students’) while also teaching our Self (speaking of Jupiter retrograde) what we are actually capable of doing, learning or being in this life - or to this world.

Plus there is also the wee little astro-matter about how that symbol of requirements we call Saturn is just about to move into 29 maximal (aka critical) degrees of everyone’s favorite quiver-worthy water sign, Scorpio in advance of moving into Sagittarius on December 23rd (UT/+0).

Saturn and its moon Tethys (which is 600 miles or 1062 km across) as photographed

by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.

(photo credit: NASA, ESA, ISA, JPL, Caltech)

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And since before anything changes signs it passes through the final degree of the previous sign (at least by astro-logistics), that will endow the whole of the time from December 14-15 (depending on where you are) until December 23rd with a 'critical' experience of Scorpio's necessities and limits, a theme which test our security with-and-within our Self at primary, and some would say primal levels.Whatever will get you to said place of personal testing, you may expect that. And whether the venues seem simple or impossibly complex, whether they concern something which is intrinsically You or some need which pertains to others, whatever your tests are, they are likely to feel important - and they may well be important. Between Saturn and Juno and the fact that the Geminid meteor shower will be reaching maximal rate/effect just as Juno goes on station, we each are going to be facing whatever will cause us (as individuals) to face our own tests.

How am I going to manage this? How will I manage to get through this? 

The reality of what that level is may not be excruciatingly apparent - at least not yet. What you’re into at the moment may well have importance of its own, to be sure... but this is just one of those periods of time when life is likely to leave a recognizable ring around our psyche, even though we may not notice it... at least for a while.

Suffice it to say, in the interim, we’ll manage.

Speaking of which, if you’ve been hanging around astroPPM for any kind of time you may remember the flood I woke up to at some delightful hour like 4 a.m. earlier this year.

That was caused by a broken pipe in the apartment next door which, after filling that (at the time, empty) unit to the depth of around four inches then sent water seeping under both side walls.

I bring this all up because as I write, Los Angeles is to be hit by a very (for LA) wet rainstorm just about as this post gets auto-posted by Google's digital gremlins. And since last week's storm (which folks here thought was far more wet than any rainstorm has a right to be) treated me to a watery invasion at just about midnight, I'm going to hope for arid flooring and a bit of luck.

And no matter what, I'll manage.

But that's rather the point. Dry or otherwise, its likely that so will we all.
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Mars in Aquarius

A mosaic of two photos: Mars as photographed by Viking 1 in February of 1980

and a time-lapse photograph of the Geminid meteor shower as seen from Bald Mountain,

Georgia (both photos/credit: NASA)

As of hardly a tick-tock prior to midnight on Thursday, December 4th (in the UT/+0 zone), Mars moves into Aquarius. And it’s not alone. As Mars does its thing at 23:58 (11:58 p.m.), Earth will also experience yet another meteor shower - the Geminids.

And maybe you remember the Geminids from last year when the object which creates them (Phaethon) was getting some quality scientific scrutiny because Phaethon isn’t your classic comet, but actually an asteroid?

- link -

The NASA /Marshall Space Center December 2013

‘Fact Sheet’ on 2300 Phaethon

For our strictly astrological purposes of the moment, Phaethon is a couple of different things. For one, at it’s farthest from the Sun (at its aphelion) Phaethon is out there just beyond Mars (‘just’ being a relative term when you’re talking about space) in the heart of the asteroid belt... and at its inner-most orbital point (its perihelion) Phaethon is inside the orbit of Mercury - which in orbital terms is about as close to the Sun as objects go without simply going ‘poof.’

(Okay, so I’m not sure about the sound effects - but the idea is there.)

The asteroid belt (with its thousands of asteroid ‘residents’) being between Mars and Jupiter this describes a point where things leave our person or personal orb and become subject to the whim and will of others. It’s also representative of everything we go through between the point where we ‘start out’ with one aim or idea (that being the Mars part) ...and when we finally come to understand how to reach our stated goal - and whether that is (or isn’t) the goal we wanted starting out (Jupiter). So the asteroids themselves are thought of astrologically as things we ‘meet up with’ or encounter in life - be that physically, emotionally, mentally or any other way - as we strive to grow our life, make things work, and generally make good on our plans.

And in the case of Phaethon, what we’re meeting up with is whatever part of our nature causes us to be ‘headstrong’ about things in such a way that we take on too much and become ruled by the power we grab or assume we know how to handle - a situation which ends with all ‘going up in flames’ as we meet up with the untarnished, unvarnished truth both of what life really is (i.e., bigger than us) and the fallacies - whatever they may be - in our thinking, which here causes all to crumble, tumble and take a great fall. 

Phaethon by Gustave Moreau (1878)

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From that headstrong, ‘hard lesson’ (asteroid Phaethon) factor comes the ‘shower’ of sparks which are the meteor shower - the Geminids. Named for the fact that this meteor shower seems to have a radiant point (“apparent source”) in Gemini, this shower adds many ideas and conversations on much worthy and unworthy of contemplation to everything already under way - which with the Sun, Mercury and Venus all already in Sagittarius is already busy.

For some, this December 4-17 shower will be one all about making choices (choices are prime Gemini turf no matter how Gemini gets evoked) while for others this shower will be a mass of disparate details - and like as not some moments on insight, and a few others of confusion. Being a meteor shower, some will be ‘sparked’ and some will be inspired.

Know thy Gemini is probably one good test here as to how things are going to run, though meteor showers seldom mark huge life events all by themselves. Alone, they represent those periods of time when we’re thinking about something or enjoying something for a while... and then that fades and we move on, richer to some degree just for having experienced ourselves thinking or feeling something.

And then there’s Phaethon, which is currently retrograding back through the sign of Taurus. As Mars enters Aquarius on December 4th (in conjunction with Sabine) we may be captured, captivated, fixated or intrigued by something on the Mars end while Phaethon is stepping backwards through Taurus, conjuncting the Moon as Mars is executing its ingress (an “I WANT” moment if there ever was one!)... and continuing on to conjunct fixed stars Algol and Capulus as Jupiter goes stationary-retrograde on December 8th - which would also be the date of Saturn entering its 2015 shadow.

Fixed stars Algol and Capulus being all about the strength we operate with... or that we resist our Self or others with, with Phaethon turned inward by retrograde there is a lot being dealt with - or something of personal (Mars) priority on the table.

At least our internal mental table, if nowhere else.

As for what we do with (about, to, etc.) that... that would be the Mars part of things, as Mars has and always will symbolize assertion. Doing. Striking out.

Or not doing, saying or making your point. Either way it’s Mars, the only question being why either is being done.

In entering Aquarius in tandem with Sabine, issues which deal with being held or held back (or what we do because we are held back) are of some priority - though whether that ‘touches’ or involves us personally is another thing. As for how we feel about being involved or not involved, Mars in Aquarius does well with involvement and group efforts providing things keep moving... which given the Aquarian tendency to have ‘the flow’ stopped for  individual reasons are never unlikely.

Also... one concept to take as a given is how the quickest way to get nothing done under Mars in Aquarius is to demand that it get done, whether you’re demanding something of yourself or someone else (and that latter goes double if you’re not participating ‘in the doing’ of whatever.

As a sign there’s a sometimes subtle and sometimes heavy-handed ‘regulating’ quality to Aquarius, much as you might think of in terms of the regulating of a power system: to keep it running, the grid needs not to be overloaded and not to be cut off.

Inclusion is thus important under Mars in Aquarius - as will it be to things which go on under Mars in Aquarius. And at the very same time, overloads and overburdening are likely to also be or become problematic.

Such things reflect the very nature of airy Aquarius, a sign which wants everything (inclusively) to work well, yet which in trying to maintain exactly that often goes to some extreme. Known for energy, caution, determination and frustration all in the very same energetic pot, according to our mood, moves and motivations Mars in Aquarius may manifest very physical ways... or in dialogues with our Self or others which is both basic and esoteric at the very same time.

Known for irrational and often priceless hilarity, Mars in Aquarius represents a ‘cutting’ sort of energy which may be witty, critical, incisive and entirely and unnecessarily tangential by turns.

And when we’re not acting and reacting to such things, we’re also likely to be tired and/or anxious, restless or in need of a nap.

About the best thing we can predict is that we will - almost perversely, it would seem - not be all that predictable during the whole of this Mars-in-Aquarius time. As for how long that will last, given Mars’ 687 day-long (1.88 year) orbital cycle we would expect Mars to transit through zodiac signs at an ‘average’ speed of about one sign per 1.8 (call it two) months. But since after entering Aquarius on December 4th (UT/+0) Mars will move through the whole of this most worldly of airy and involving (at least theoretically) zodiac signs by January 12th, that’s just barely over a month - which is Mars perceptually moving at a rather rapid rate.

Just to be clear here - we’re not talking about the actual planet changing speed, but rather our perception of Mars’ movement changing speed - a factor which simply has to do with where Earth and Mars are in their individual orbits around the Sun. So given that Mars symbolizes any form of ‘action’ - from having a thought to doing a deed (etc.)  we would expect that over this next five or so weeks that we would be a.) learning a lot through this ‘increased’ rate of perception - and b,) needing to contend with a lot of things, most of which have something to do with our life in the world, as part of our world or in response to the world ...in a somehow and for some reason rather ‘compacted’ way.
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Mars in Aquarius (Glyph Chart)

December 4 2014 - 23 58 UT - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Mars in Aquarius (Glyph Chart)

December 4 2014 - 23 58 UT - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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One more item to note here, that being the idea that Mars is entering Aquarius only in aspect to Saturn - and that being an out-of-sign sextile, which is likely (for many) to manifest as an option which seems like 'too much trouble' whether it actually is or isn't. Mars/Saturn connections tend to be sober... and often sobering or of the 'wet blanket' variety - this is not a dancing-on-the-ceiling sort of combination even though in business or warfare it might be seen as a positive or plus. 

To some extent, that Mars is entering Aquarius in tandem with Sabine suggests our being committed to... in the midst of... or occupied (maybe even preoccupied) with something. That notion being reflected in the ingress chart by the strong grand trine (actually two grand trine ‘complexes’ in the same set of signs) which doesn’t involve Mars, we could also see this as our ability to ‘move’ (Mars) our Self away from things either physically or mentally - which would also fit with Aquarius, a sign which tries to ‘free’ itself of entanglements and to ‘break through’ restrictions ostensibly in order to make things better.

But yes, sometimes Aquarius energetics simply denote havoc - most often havoc which is wide-spread, either in our own life or in many (wide-spread) lives. Sometime this is a totally natural thing - such as a big weather event which snarls a traffic system - and sometimes it’s something more in keeping with Aquarius’ rulership of all things digital, electronic, societal and/or income-related (rich or poor, individual or otherwise).

Where and when Aquarian influences manifest in problematic or destructive situations, lore suggests there is something we need to learn about why we have allowed ourselves to become locked in - after all, its our world we’re destroying... why would we do that? It’s not the world we hate, it’s something about being confined by some circumstance - that thing which is getting ‘caught up’ in or by something which is not allowing our ‘system’ (or life) to function as we have defined functional.

And sometimes that’s the problem. But it's not their problem - where things aren't going as we might want them to it's our irritation or displeasure and where that comes from which is exactly at issue, not 'them' or the 'nature' of whatever is holding us up or otherwise separating us from that we feel entitled to be seen as deserving.


Aquarius has a reputation for sometimes putting on airs. Sometimes such appearances are quirky, sometimes they aspire towards the iconic and entirely unique. What separates success from failure under Aquarius is that which is born under its polarity sign, Leo - which is to say the difference between those who have earned results and those who haven't (or that which hasn't). What's important about this under Mars in Aquarius is how the Mars tendency to 'push' may push too far... or reveal the sort of brittle quality in someone's performance or presentation which allows others to see through their (social) mask.
 
Under Mars in Aquarius, how we define things comes to be of focus - and where it’s not of focus, it’s symbolism becomes that of, or that which drives surface issues. If and when we remember that Mars is an ego (personal) energy and that Aquarius is unremittingly universal and impersonal not in the 'emotional collective' Piscean sense but in the 'this works, this doesn't work' which Aquarius challenges us not to make into 'this works for me - this doesn't work for me,' lest we end up with less than we began with (and a bruised ego besides).

So we can work for the All and try to understand the whole and what our effective place in that All would be - or split away from that whole or work at breaking that whole into many or various parts. And we are bound to do some of that if only because we're now operating more under Aquarian Age rules than not - though there is still the issue of world society, which simply because countries, companies and other such structural systems do tend to be run by people who are somewhat more senior in experience is going to face (or create) turmoil because such people are (many if not most of them) imprinted most strongly by the end of the Piscean Era.

But we are now living in a first-person Aquarius time - and we will be living in that first-person Aquarius time for the next 2,000 years or so. During the whole of that time, the individualism which over the last fifty to a hundred years has begun to emerge as the engine which began to - and which continues to dissolve those tiers of power and economic caste which have been looked upon as 'fate' and which have been at the heart of many an Age of Pisces lesson will continue to evolve.

And Mars entering Aquarius is just a nibble on that block. Being that in the Aquarian Age universalism can mean everything, the Mars tendency towards personal ego becomes a challenge here. Will our individualism support us - or will it be so individual or un-modernized that we come to defeat ourselves, or end up being defeated by (Aquarian Age) forces which are...and which will continue trend towards that which is egalitarian, modern, analytical and scientific while negating traditions and the traditional merits which have no other 'claim to fame' apart from their age, tradition, longevity or standing reputation?

Under the Age of Aquarius - and thus while Mars's transit of Aquarius promotes and provokes everything from the need to think to utter outrage and alienation to joining heart and soul with a cause which means everything to us - it is our individualism and our ego's structure (or lack of same) which is going to allow us to build or cause us to experience blockades of whatever kind. And when that happens, it is our Mars essential connection to self which we will reflect on.

Mars in any sign - in part - tells us where we will get the impetus to think about who we are and what we're doing. In Aquarius, that will come from others, from society and from the influx or lack of 'rewards' now coming our way, be they economic or of any other type. And when such things happen, then we - as a Mars-in-Aquarius individual dealing with others (and our world) will get to decide whether we want to... or if we even can deal with the ‘whole,’ or if by trying to break them down we will end up going to the other Aquarian extreme where everything becomes so broken down and lacking in cohesion that there is simply too much to begin to deal with.

And yes, we could try for moderation... although Aquarius isn't known for doing anything half-way, piecemeal or otherwise without conclusiveness - at least of gesture, if not of many-an-opinion. 

The bottom line is - and will be that no one answer works unilaterally during this period. Nor will any one perspective, providing it is not that of a unilateral universal. We can try to improve and clarify, and providing we neither do everything alone nor everything together, if we will focus on a more collective notion as being that into which we fit our current concept, to the degree that we remember ourselves as 'a part of,' and not 'apart from' others and the whole of our world during these Mars in Aquarius weeks ahead...?

... Then great strides and great progress may now be achieved.

As for whether we will do that...?

That’s a different question.
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Mars in Libra

 image: 'Stars' by Maxfield Parish - Mars photo by the Hubble Space

Telescope (photo credit: NASA, JPL, Caltetch)

A friend and I stood chatting a couple of weeks ago. It was one of those comfortable chats you know you want to go on for hours, but that day neither of us had time.

So we decided to make a plan about getting together.

(Him) ‘I have exams coming up – I can’t do it until after December 7th.’

(Me) ‘December 7th…?’ My brain was already busy checking references.

And just as obviously, his wasn’t.

(Him) ‘Sure - December 7th . We’ll finish the conversation then. Celebrate a little.’

CLICK: my brain delivered the answer. And being one of those Pisces girls who can’t resist a good line) I gave him a smile. ‘You mean we could get bombed, right? I can’t actually think of a better day to get bombed on than December 7th....’

Hearing myself say those words, the writer in my soul sighed in pleasure. And yet, bright and brainy as he is, he still didn’t connect: for my painful pun I got one of those ‘what the fern are you talking about now?’ looks.

(Me) ‘December 7th is Pearl Harbor Day…what better day to get together and get bombed?’

So today is December 7th and it is indeed Pearl Harbor Day and I am duly grateful for the peace my life and my nation is graced with. I give thanks to those who have served.

It’s also the beginning of the Geminid Meteor Shower which brings up that whole conversation we had on November 28th about Rock Comet Phaethon.

Link to: PHAETHON, ROCK COMET

Phaethon energy has a reputation for being (overly) headstrong - possibly to the point of destroying an aim or ability to achieve that aim, at least for the moment. And since Phaethon’s radiant (the ‘place in the sky’ the comet appears to ‘come from’) is in constellation Gemini, the inference is that Phaethon's 1.43 year-long cycle is saying something to us about our mentality or something experienced on a mental level.

In being like ISON (you remember ISON – the comet which failed to die?) in that Phaethon’s orbit takes it all the way inside Mercury (in other words, 'right into the face of the Sun') speaks to how close or personal we might take such matters now...or how people or forces from 'out of the blue' may bring to us some perspective on what we're doing in our lives. As a ‘rock comet’ (a comet with no tail and thus no dapples of meteoric insight), Phaethon’s origin in the asteroid belt and its lack of ‘spark’ says good or bad, mundane or magnificent, what we're going through is just part of life - and thus something we have to live with or get through.

And so, on this Pearl Harbor Day, as our thoughts are being touched off, as we're going about our efforts (some of which, in true Phaethon style may be hasty or not as yet 'matured')…THIS is the day that Mars enters Libra at 8:42 in the evening, UT/+0 time.

The lower reaches of Mount Sharp, as photographed by the

Mars Curiosity Rover (photo credit: NASA-JPL Caltech, August 2012)

 

Of course once inside the proverbial 'door' of Libra, Mars comes into the orbish auspices of M87…the black hole of relationship alternatives (whatever that means to us at the moment)…and that's a quality, an energetic which may well affect much which happens between now and  mid-December, when Mars leaves M87's orb. Wherever we are coming from, we are either able to see or maybe graced to see or at last willing to see things from a different point of view.

And yes, that perspective might be the perspective being held by somebody else.

Then again, you may now see ("perceive") possibilities in or for your own life which you have never seen before.

Or as you have never seen such an idea before.

Whatever that becomes, Mars entering the orb of opposition to Uranus on December 12th (which happens at about the moment Mars that emerges from M87 territory)...that becomes a time of restlessness or energy, when the need to 'do something' (or change things) becomes rife. And though ordinarily we would think of Mars-Uranus in opposition as explosive (and it may be despite all) there is that relatively genteel Mars-in-Libra energetic to provide us some critical negotiating room with ourselves and others...so instead of being explosive, this may just be when we finally get 'to' something. When we make that change happen. When we 'break through' our own reluctance or hesitation. And that’s the genius of Mars in Libra: it’s ability to ‘trip the balance’ of some situation not through assertion but through asserting yourself in the cause of getting the results you truly want.

There are a few challenges however, with Mars in Libra. One comes from Libra being an air sign. Air signs deal in theory and Mars is an energetic which is all about ‘can we just get on with this?’ (You know…the making it happen part.)

Then there’s the fact that Libra is one-third of the zodiac’s 3rd or interactive quadrant and Mars’ primary rulership is of Aries – the quintessential Me-I-My Ego/Aim sign, one which comes from the ‘I’m Learning About Who I Am and How to Be Me’ zodiac quadrant.

So to capsulize Mars in Libra – (and I’m being very blunt here) - we could say it’s all about how to be (Mars) me while caring enough about them that I get what I want…which is sort of asserting ourselves by being nice enough to not go around being a butthead.

(Actually, there are those who in reading that would immediately insist that there’s time enough for Mars assertiveness to take on that butthead thing once Mars reaches Scorpio come JULY 2014.

(Wait, I hear you say. Did she just say JULY of 2014?)

I did, I did – I did say July 2014. As of December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day), Mars will be in Libra until late July, 2014.

That’s seven months. You know...over a half-a-year.

So it’s pretty much your choice: are you going to be ‘having to deal with’ relationship issues from here until late July 2014? Or are you motivated to pay attention to how you relate to people and to work with(in) yourself on whatever will get the responses or results you want from one and all (personal and professional, platonic, familial and intimate)?

It’s our choice. The things which cause us to choose along these lines (eventually getting us to think more about the subject as a whole, most likely) will occur in many a different venue. We’ll probably make such choices thousands of times between now and July, and slowly we will come to understand why what we do or don’t do…or how we do something (or don’t do it) makes all the difference – both to ‘them’ (whoever they may be) and to how ‘they’ and ‘things’ and the world as a whole responds to US.

Which yes, is what we tend to care about most. Even when you are barely breathing with concern over a loved one – or over some grievous threat to somebody else, there is some degree of not wanting to feel that tension. That (Mars) wanting to act but knowing your Mars actions are being curtailed. That wishing there was something you could (Mars) do but knowing the situation isn’t yours to (Mars/Pluto as Scorpio) control.

If you’re thinking that this super-sized cupful of Mars in Libra must include a retrograde, you’re right. Mars will go retrograde in Libra on March 1st (with Saturn following suit on March 2nd, should you need any convincing that something needs contending with, lest it become problematic). Mars in retrograde can be very annoying, granted. And with this one occurring in Libra, that ‘someone else’ or ‘them out there’ side of the Libra quotient may well be bothering you. If you can turn that ‘bother’ to self-examination without getting defensive, you may well come to understand, appreciate and benefit from what your learn now.

And if you can’t redirect that ‘they’re bugging me’ energy? Then either that energy turns inward (not pleasant!) or you are likely to attract people who will “own” that energy for you…which could be helpful, but might manifest as criticism.

Obviously this is a looooong, long transit. With regards to December (specifically), especially as the Sun will be moving towards the end of Sagittarius as Mars opposes Uranus on December 17th things may get out of hand – or (alternately), you may feel sufficient conviction… motivation… courage… whatever it takes to get past some sticking point. And as this happens just barely prior to Venus going on station to turn retrograde as of December 21st, it is to be guessed that Mars/Uranus is also a stepping-stone in some greater process, though Mars-Uranus connections are plenty vital to herald an event you’ll remember.

And maybe learn from.

That Mars reaches that singular degree of 8 Libra on December 24/25 suggests a couple of days when feelings may be touching, haunting, telling…or even overwhelming – and it’s all in how you use it. This is not an energetic which works particularly well when focused on the Self, particularly not under a Venus retrograde except where self-denial is a conscious choice made for the benefit of someone else.

The overall sense of Mars in Libra is connective. It’s about working with others and on ourselves in connection with how well we ‘work’ with - or get along with, or are able to get what we need from - others. Every time Mars goes retrograde (a bit less than every two years or so), we experience a period of testing where we are ‘pitted’ against ourselves in some regard. The last Mars retrograde began in January 2012 in Virgo, when we dealt with our own ability to keep ourselves on track.

Now we’re seeing how…and if…and how well we are able to ‘take’ our (Mars) efforts out into the world. The who and the what and the why and the why not and the highly Libran question of what and who am I equating myself to? in life…?

These are all important questions.

We’re not going to answer them all at once…but by and by we’re going to know we have to answer them –lest we either lose our Self, our life, our sense of identity and ability to fulfill ourselves.

This is just the start of a process. And a conversation. Where Mars is concerned, being aware is a positive. Being overly certain is iffy. With Mars entering Libra, there is always what the ‘other guy’ has to say...and at the moment they're busy going through their own Mars in Libra issues - which are as important as ours, but not more valid, nor more human.

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Comet ISON(Update 2)/Phaethon: Rock Comet

 Phaethon by Gustave Moreau (1878)

Apparently the idea of Comet ISON has captured a lot of people's imagination, as it's all over the news, and now people want to watch a live feed on November 28th (Thanksgiving Day in the United States) to see if NASA (or anyone else in the space biz) can tell if ISON has indeed survived its brush with the Sun...

It's all a bit of outer space drama, absolutely. And fascinating to watch. An object out there which is billions of years old is about to have what may be its ultimate fateful encounter with a star. And we humans pretty much get to watch.

That's dramatic.

The whole thing is dramatic - and thus it represents (to us) something which is 'dramatic' or which has some evocative or (for you perhaps) emotional meaning. Or maybe it just promotes some feeling response. Good or bad, whether your instinct is to sit and listen or run away or ignore some learned habit to second-guess yourself,  Comet ISON is about all that which has just in this past little while (generally speaking) shown up in your world. Arriving unexpectedly and totally capable of rattling the windows, chains or foundations of anyone's world (whether it does is about your individual chart) ISON represents some idea, some knowing, some totally unexpected and probably unheralded perspective which has come to be - by whatever measures - injected into our lives.

Will ISON 'impact' the Sun? And to the extent that it does, does that limit the effect of whatever ISON's appearing out of the vastness of the unknown has manifested as in each of our lives?

Over the past few days the solar wind gave ISON a buffeting. But the comet got past. Unlike Encke - which got its tail 'cut off' by a like encounter with a solar CME back in 2007.

Whatever was 'out there' in our lives is still out there. For a day or two it seemed to waver...but it's still on course.

Evidently life wants us to continue feeling this issue in some ever-increasing sort of 'obvious to us' (if nobody else) sort of way.

Scientists are saying that ISON is an object about the size of a shopping center made of rock and ice. That's nothing the Sun couldn't simply absorb in a moment... which by implication says that whatever it is which is so 'foreign' to us, we could absorb it. Yet instead we're treating as some 'strange thing' which has shown up in our world. It's of our solar system - our life environment. And yet for some reason, we've never seen it. It's never registered in our (solar) consciousness - at least not to the degree that we've noticed it.

Until now, that is.

From the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's home page for November 27, SOHO images

of comets Encke and ISON heading towards Earth.

To see this film clip in full, link to JPL: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

  

Whatever is working its way through your life, your psyche, it's probably not simple. It's probably not even made up of one single issue or item or factor or possible priority or concern. We probably all knew that, but once NASA piped up and let us know that another comet (Encke) had reached its perihelion (near approach point to the Sun) on November 21st (last Saturday) that made it plain. After all, Encke is a comet, but it's a near (short-period) comet - one which cycles from just shy of Jupiter to the think of Mercury's orbit, marking a 3.3 year sub-cycle of personal growth and challenge.


And now...?

Proving that our universe (even our solar system) is nothing if not entirely capable of surprising us with what we don't know (which maybe is a hint for people to stop acting like such know-it-all's?), today NASA released a new piece of information on asteroid Phaethon.

In short, Phaethon is not "merely" an asteroid. It's a comet without a tail.

Link to: SCIENCE @ NASA (Nov. 27)

If you link to NASA's typically friendly 'chat' on this subject, what you'll learn - among other things - is that Phaethon is the source of the Geminids, one of Earth's yearly meteor showers...the next one up on the calendar, as life would have it. The Geminids begin on December 7th and run through the 17th with a peak hourly rate (of falling meteors) on December 13/14.

And just to make this interesting, the 17th is the date that Uranus goes direct AND of December's Full Moon.

Think what happens in your 'now' could affect your 'then'? Quite possibly so. If so, the 'active' process which will get you to that place...which you may well be thinking about now...would begin on December 3rd.

Why?

Because December 3rd is the date of December's NEW Moon - that which starts in motion whatever it is which either culminates, is discarded, adapted or integrated into a new phase at the FULL Moon.

With me?

So now we're thinking. We're realizing. We're contemplating. (And if you're American, you're probably also getting ready for that annual pumpkink-cranberry-turkey fest thing.)

A time-lapse photograph of the Geminid meteor shower over

Brasstown, Bald Mountain (Georgia) by NASA

The really quirky thing here is the Phaethon part...which is really what got me into writing this post. This Phaethon news isn't really "new news" - the European Space Agency issued the press release on Phaethon's rock-comet-hood back in September.

 Link to: European Planetary Science

Congress Release 2013

But that NASA would bring this up as part of its tightly-packed set of releases regarding all things ISON with the understanding that in our temporal life we are about to go from ISON to the New Moon to the Geminid meteor shower and on into Uranus' station/direct at the Full Moon - all of which then culminates in the Capricorn Solstice at the moment of Venus' turn to retrograde?

There is a whole world of business and economics out there which could probably profit (literally) from taking note of what lies ahead. The New Moon will be in Sagittarius, so we're trying to move ahead. Some will be in that trying to leave something else behind, but no matter - we're trying to move ahead and get on with life and living.

And as we do, all those little 'dapples' of light, those 'sparks' of streaming insight streak across our mindful sky.

Thus we will arrive at change - a shift which leads either to disappointment and retreat or a consolidating of those dearly held values and assets which we as individuals... we as humans... hold dear.

But first, we have to confront the fact that life is not black and white. Into all that ISON's appearing has manifested as, into all that Encke's reaching its perihelion has caused us to realize about who we are, who others may or may not be and the difference between daily matters and relationships, feelings and efforts which last a lifetime....

...into all that has come knowing Phaethon is not simply an asteroid, and it's not what we know as a comet.

It's something else. It's something new. We need to rethink or retool.

An asteroid 'as' comet would be something we wrestle with until it 'brings us' understanding. On the other hand, a comet 'as' an intermittent life challenge simply tells us we are never done learning - and for some of us, yes - that is news!

Beyond that is the realizing that we are being 'notified' of 'new things under the Sun' and how we don't know  everything which exists or how everything comes to exist. Or to be what it is.

And that fits too. How so? Well, as an astrological symbol, Phaethon is hasty. Its myth is all about a very bull-headed teen demi-god of the 'don't tell me I can't do that' sort.

(Okay, so that's every teenager on the planet, granted. And most teens think they can go around acting like demi-gods, yes. But you get my point.)

And now that the 'asteroid' we have known as Phaethon is not what we thought it was, what created that haste? Where did it really come from?

Also interesting: the mythic Phaethon came to his (teen, demi-god) end because he thought (prematurely, hasty boy that he was) that he was capable of controlling the chariot of the Sun.

In other words, life. (Or our mentality - the Sun also rules consciousness.)

So while we're watching Comet ISON dive in towards the Sun we also are being told that what has driven our haste...or our conviction...it isn't what we thought it was?

What does that say about us? 

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Geminid Meteor Shower 2012

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

(photo credit: Tushar N Dadarwala, January 2012)

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

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

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

(Which is which depends on who you are!)

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

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

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

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

(go ahead, laugh…!)

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

The results are disastrous. And yes, deadly.

The Fall of Phaethon by Peter Paul Rubens

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Gemini meteor shower over Brasstown

Bald mountain in Georgia – photo credit: NASA/JPL

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Every December, Earth encounters another of the yearly meteor showers. This one occurs around the 12th to 14th of the month, and in scientific terms is about Earth’s orbit taking it through a stream of pieces, particles and bits of a ‘source’ object. Like all other things, such bits and pieces are being drawn in towards the Sun by the incredible pull exerted by our star’s gigantic mass. That everything in our solar system doesn’t fall into the Sun is about such objects having their own mass and gravity – and the push/pull of centripetal versus centrifugal force.

But this is not science class! (Well, not precisely. The magical quality of metaphysics is that it bridges science, philosophy and spiritualism, so there is a deal of science which comes with it!)

More to our point here, like all meteor showers, the metaphor of the Geminids is all about their ability to represent how shooting ‘sparks’ of light and enlightenment “rain down” on us during this time. Yes, they come to us as out of the sky.

And yes, often out of what seems the dark of night!

A few interesting facts about the Geminids. One is that the meteors themselves generally appear to have a yellowish sort of hue. Another is that this is the only one of Earth’s yearly meteor showers which is fostered not by a comet, but an asteroid.

What’s the astrological difference? Well, as we discussed a blog or two ago, asteroids represent facets or factors – things we encounter or have to give some thought to on our way through any given process. Or while learning how to do something. Even when we’re thinking about what might happen if we try something…including whether it would matter! Or whether anyone would care about our effort, or like what we worked so hard to do!

Against this are the comets. Comets are asteroid-type objects which have an orbit which starts ‘way, way out there…’ and which comes way in towards the Sun with said orbit not being precisely around the Sun. Science has taught us that comets get ‘thrown’ into these orbits by various planets – notably Jupiter (knowledge) and Neptune (comprehension). And if you think about it, those precepts are pretty powerful things to ‘circle around’ and check out from various angles, right?

Comets bring outer body precepts to us at various intervals. If you study their cycles, you get the repeating aspect of life, Earth, society, mankind all getting ‘infusions’ of unheralded ideas every once in a rather predictable while.

Asteroids, on the other hand, are precepts we know. They’re "local'” to us, if also things we periodically have to deal with. And in this case, the asteroid which causes this month’s meteor shower – and which therefore should be given a moment of thought and attention – is Phaethon.

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 The Fall of Phaethon by Johann Michael Franz

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The story of Phaethon is all-too human…and all-too common. There comes a moment when Apollo, lord of light, truth, music and medicine, makes a deal with Phaethon when ends up with Apollo having granted Phaethon a wish.

And what is Phaethon’s wish? Still young, headstrong and full of that ‘I can do that’/’nothing can get me – I know everything I need to know just fine!’ sort of arrogant joie de vivre, Phaethon asks that Apollo let him drive the Chariot of the Sun for a day. He wants all his friends to see him as lord of the sky and master of the Sun. He can just see it now...how everyone is going to envy him so!

After a little desperate (not to mention unsuccessful) attempt at bargaining, Apollo simply has to give in. After all, he’s lord of truth and honesty, so he’s made the promise and now is stuck with the promise.

Considering this is a Greek myth and there’d be little reason for the myth if something didn’t go wrong, the obvious obviously happens…Phaethon gets handed the reins of Apollo’s chariot and the fire-breathing horses of the day hitched to said chariot immediately sense the young man’s inexperience and ‘run away with him’ – a dramatic way of warning us not to take on that which we are not prepared to cope with.

In Phaethon’s case, the horses swoop close to the earth and set fire to people’s homes. Then they gallop away into the sky and get too close to the Sun itself. Known in Greece as Helios, the Sun-as-life force is too potent for any of us to cope with; another form of the lesson to not overstep our bounds.

But by now, Phaethon has lost all control. His hair is set afire. With skin (defenses) are scorched and burned, he abandons the reins (his hold on life) and plummets to his death in the ocean far, far below.

To have the shards of asteroid Phaethon ‘fall’ in towards the Sun is a metaphorical emblem of this story. That this happens during a time of year when so many are celebrating holidays and so many get depressed about the holidays and those they miss, the mistakes they’ve made…there is a tangible danger not just of overdoing the partying every year, but of abandoning all hope, as Dante put it.

And yes, there’s also a danger of abandoning our responsibilities to others – not merely the people we know, but people we don’t know or will never know. There’s a danger of forgetting the very world in our rush to celebrate and the incredibly focus on materialism, religious observances, whatever it is we focus on.

Phaethon overstepped his limits. Will we?

It’s probably also worth noting that Phaethon the asteroid is one of an asteroid family – the Palladians. The archetype asteroid here is Pallas, named for Pallas Athena, the not-at-all emotional goddess of intellectual wisdom born of rationalism.

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A detail of a famous statue of Athena showing her

head as being ‘armored’ by a helmet, shielding her against passion

        

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Whatever else we may want to draw from the story of Phaethon, that the asteroid is part of the Pallas family underscores the need to think things through not in emotional, but in logical terms.

Then there’s Phaethon’s orbit, which starts out in the asteroid belt (if pretty much on the near side of said asteroid belt). From there is comes in towards the Sun. It crosses Mars’ orbit. Then it crosses Earth’s orbit. Then it crosses Venus’ orbit. It even crosses the orbital path of Mercury – bringing it pretty darn close to the Sun.

Perhaps you remember the myth of Icarus, he who was given wax-and-feather wings with which to escape from captivity? Icarus also forgot the point – which was to escape, not to fly around having fun. So he too got too close to the Sun, whereupon the Sun melted the wax, sending Icarus plunging to his death.

The theme is obvious. But to the matter of Phaethon, in astronomical terms, asteroid Phaethon gets even closer to the Sun than Icarus does. So as much as we might want to think we would be cautious and logical now, will we? Probably not. And with the Geminid shower of 2010 occurring with under Mercury retrograde, we can expect a sense of internal strain. Things may not be difficult, but may well be interpreted as difficult – for any of a number of headstrong, willful, over-the-top reasons which bottom line pit our ability to be rational against our desire to escape who we are or where we are at the moment.

There's also the fact that at this moment, Phaethon is about to end its transit of Capricorn, the 'headstrong' problem signs of which we've seen in society...and in a lot of what we've had to do and tried to do of late.

Of course since we're talking about a meteor shower, there is also to consider the radiant (source) of the Geminids. The 'radiant' being that area of the sky that the meteor shower "appears" to come from, that – as the name suggests – is the constellation of the twins, that we call Gemini.

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Constellation Gemini

produced using Stellarium sofrware – B. Hart

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For years Gemini was known as the sign which was allegedly about doing everything without ever making a choice. But when you do everything and never choose, you never accomplish anything.

That’s the heart of the Gemini challenge. All signs have their own challenge and Gemini’s (and that associated with its native 3rd house of any horoscope) is about making a choice, gathering information and putting that together as a cohesive, organized plan which gets you where you want to go.

In one piece – need I add that?

As a constellation, Gemini has three well known stars: Castor, Pollux and Alhena. But even before we discuss those, let’s take note of the fact that there are nebulae (swirls of energy) positioned to either side of the feet of the Gemini ‘twins.’ So either way we ‘choose to go,’ we need to expect some sort of turbulence. Some challenge. Life is not every just all peaches and cream. Nor, apparently, is it designed to be all peaches and cream!

Taken as a pair, Castor and Pollux are both about learning. Castor is about the polarity of creativity: about how learning more and becoming creative can either moves you forward and helps you become ever more productive…or corrupting you, destroying everything you’ve built or come to know, love and/or believe in.

Positioned at 19 Cancer, Castor was hit smack on by the July 2010 eclipse, wiping out a lot of efforts, status quos and plans people had going into that period. The clock is running on this eclipse – don’t expect to really ‘know’ what will come of this event until early 2013.

Pollux is the painful side of learning. Sometimes compared with the ‘tormented artist,’ Pollux is about the struggle everyone goes through to gain a measure of ‘light’ and ‘understanding’ or capacity in our life. Which yes, does draw an interesting line between Phaethon and Gemini.

But it’s Alhena which may be most crucial in understanding Gemini. Sometimes referred to as ‘the Mark of Cain’ or our ‘Achilles Heel’ Alhena refers to that which many of us refer to when we wonder what our ‘purpose’ is. If Gemini is anything, its about what we learn and what we make of ourselves through effort, through allowing ourselves to be distracted or making sure we keep on track with ourselves and stay organized with regards to our personal priorities.

Positioned at 22 Cancer, Pollux was opposed by the January 2010 Solar Eclipse, implying a confrontation and possible exacerbation of difficulties which reflect our internal 'light-and-dark’ and in doing so, expose us to our vulnerabilities.

With Alhena at 8 Cancer, it will be widely opposed by the January 2011 Solar Eclipse, challenging our priorities. Alhena will then be solidly conjuncted by a Solar Eclipse at 9 Cancer which will occur on July 1, 2011, changing many priorities general and specific.

Just to make this passage through the Geminids a little more exciting…there is also the fact that at this moment, Tantalus is entering Pisces.

But that’s a different blog. Yes...be tantalized! Be very, very tantalized!