Medusa-Industria: Functional Reconciliation

A Mandelbrot factile of 500 interactions rendered using UltraFractal

(image credit: Danwills, Jan 2007)

By now you understand that Medusa is about our ability to face our fears – particularly when it comes to who we really are…or maybe have been…or in the sense of what we’re afraid it’s going to take to get where we want to go.

Or to be the person we want to be.

Even the person we’ve told others we are…even though we know we aren’t.

Medusa events are always about our being tested by our own desire – or ability – to forget our commitments, especially to ourselves.

Asteroid Medusa is going retrograde at 1:57 in the afternoon (UT/+0) on August 20th, which means its station will begin on the 18th and continue on through the 22nd, enveloping the August Full Moon (which will be in Aquarius) the Sun moving into Virgo and a transiting cardinal square between Jupiter and Uranus.

So Medusa’s station begins while the Sun is just finishing up its transit of Leo – a time when we can expect to be full of a sense of what we need to do, what we want to do, where we think we’re going…all of which then meets up with Medusa’s turn to retrograde – a sign that maybe we don’t know all we think we know, even about ourselves.

Imagine you’re an actor. You’re running late, you’re rushing, you arrive at the theater with spare minutes to go before your starring role entrance. Filled with thoughts of what you need to do and how you need to focus on your lines and getting into character, you race through putting on your makeup with people pounding on the door trying to get you to hurry up.

So hurry you do. And barely do you walk out on stage but you realize (because there’s a draft) that you took off your clothes, then forgot to put your costume on.

These are the kind of “obvious” errors we can run into during this time. Of course some of us will reach this turn and something “Medusa-scary” will resolve itself, but since Medusa is taking its turn at 15 Aries and Uranus is still hanging around 12 Aries (which is absolutely close enough for lobbing astrological planetary boomerangs), this astrologer would honestly say that if all goes nicely in this moment with nary a quiver to your Jello…well, it might be the day to go play the lottery.

There’s just that much energy in the mix, yes.

15 Aries is an interesting sort of degree which says we need to learn from experience, and that playing the conservative or “proven” card is often best. But since experience is needed to turn this degree from problem into productivity, despite all we tend to ‘create’ the dynamic we need to learn from no matter how hard we try.

Not making this any easier is the fact that fixed star Alpheratz is sitting one degree behind at 14 Aries – a degree known for isolation which is based in a need for self development.

And then we add in Alpheratz, a fixed star which is part victim, part beauty and part cut-and-run dynamic – all in the name of a self-protective isolation which can ultimately be productive if harnessed in a ‘great cause’ but which all too often simply leads to a life of self-imposed separations from that which needs to be served…things which can only be served through a ‘marriage’ of courage and effort (in the person) which leads to the willingness to enter into companionable duty and duty through close alliance.

Frankly, with Medusa taking station virtually atop Alpheratz, many things, many situations and many relationships from the personal to the international may become seriously difficult during this time. Yet most of these difficulties can be moderated if we remember that the onus is not on ‘them’ (whoever “they” may be) to face our unwillingness to face our fears or the fear of self-exposure or the fear of sharing one’s work, one’s life, one’s feelings…. whatever you’re scared of sharing about now.

As the Sun shifts into Virgo late on August 22nd (the last “official” day of Medusa’s station) we’ll feel a subtle shift from the ‘idea of the thing’ (the intensity of Leo at its most critical point) into a more sober, clarified mindset.

Of course, this will be when some will decide to cut their loses and vamoose, with or without taking their toys home to play with.

Is there a better course? Probably yes. Considering that Virgo is about service, recognizing that our fears are probably more universal than we suspect and working from that base of compassion in the search for a better way to work with matters at hand is probably a better course.

Medusa, 3D (image credit: Nikita Verprikov, January 2007)

In a sense, Medusa taking this change of course (in conjunction with Alpheratz at 14 Aries) as the Sun moves from Leo into Virgo indeed may be exactly that: a challenge to not simply retreat but to live up to the best of our abilities. Where we utilize the Alpheratz tendency towards isolation as a maintaining of perspective on ourselves and others, we are likely to gain insight on not just how we tend to (re)create those dynamics which cause us to shy away but what it is in ourselves which is so ‘shy’ (or prone to shy) in the first place.

Furthermore, Medusa isn’t alone in this moment of turnabouts-as-playing-fair-with-ourselves. Asteroid Industria is also going on station, and it’s going direct. The date of Industria’s station is August 19 – the day before Medusa’s turn. So Industria’s effects start first (on the 17th) and end first (on the 21st – which is the date of the Full Moon/Jupiter-Uranus square, which will be talked about in the next post here at astroPPM).

Industria – literally “industriousness” – is all about what we’re working on. And yes, it can represent literal work (or works) as in something you do for a living. But Industria can also be all about what you have been working on in your life. Or with regards to dealing with a bad habit. Or your effort to learn some pesky piece of software.

Anything we’re “working on” qualifies for Industria symbolism. And seeing as Industria is now going direct, there’s a definite aura that a ‘matter you have run into’ (asteroids being emblems of things we learn about and from along the way through life) is now moving towards some sort of active resolution…or maybe dissolution.

The plus or minus here has to do with the optimal, which given the Sun’s shift from Leo into Virgo during this time would tend to say it’s about moving from a focus on the idea into a realm where we take the reality – and maybe the fact that we’re talking about real lives and real life parameters – into account.
 

Hésiode et la Muse by Gustave Moreau (1857)...

...because sometimes we have to serve as our own muse

Medusa’s turn to retrograde surely asks us why we are afraid. Conjunct Alpheratz, this is a conversation we probably need to have with ourselves. But that Industria is going direct at 4 Capricorn? That does lend a very positive social note to the whole of this dynamic. 4 Capricorn has a reputation for being warmly social and often concerned with welcoming people into our home – or into our life (our essential ‘home’) in some very real and hospitable manner. And all can go very well providing we are willing to work (Industria) as we move forward with whatever we initiate now.

So maybe we are scared. But that doesn’t mean advances can’t be made and things can’t be – and become – ever more whole and wholesome in the days and weeks and even years to come.
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Chart USA: Saturn as National Teacher

  The United States' Capitol Dome in Washington, DC

(photo credit: Mary Ann Reitano, 2008)

After listening to the Congressional bollox this week, it occurred to me that it was time to catch up with the celestial doings when it comes to Chart USA.

Chart USA (the Appomattox Surrender chart)

April 9 1865  - 3:53 p.m. (LMT +5:15) - Appomattox VA

The chart is dated April 9, 1865 and is specifically timed for Appomattox, Virginia. The ins and outs of why this is can be found in a whole series of posts on the US Chart which can be linked to in the 'corporate and political posts' list in the sidebar.

For those who don’t need those details, let’s hit the high points on what’s going on. (Or the low points, if you prefer.)

October 2012 saw Saturn move into Scorpio. This was the month of all the political debates and, if you remember, a general heightening of everyone’s concerns about who was going to win the election. Prior to October, things were merely partisan. As of October, people really got focused, which fits with Saturn having moved from the theoretical ‘let’s talk about it’ airiness of Libra into the ‘hey, this is really important’ water sign emotionality of Scorpio.

The North Node of Chart USA is at 0 Scorpio 01. That’s a degree which is about bedrock qualities and choices which have the potential for much good or much destruction.

The Congressional moment which got my attention this afternoon – that of Congress picking up its toys and going home for Christmas with the nation’s fiscal issues still unsolved – comes as Uranus as gone direct and Saturn (reality) has just crossed over the nation’s Industria in the 2nd house of values and money.

Anyone who listens to politics – or who has listened to the news for the past week knows that the United States is heart-deep in discussions about gun control, mental health…and in general, the values of Americans as people. As a symbol, Saturn is about structural growth which as often manifests as useful rules and limits as it does with walls and refusals to consider anything but that which suits your needs. In the 2nd house of the national chart it speaks to the national coffers as well as the vital question of what do the people expect of their government. The 2nd house of this chart being ‘colored’ by Libra, the give-and-take of negotiation is a value to be held by the US government and which the people will always grade its government on.

Oh yes – the natal Saturn in this chart is at 27 Libra. That means the nation experienced a Saturn return rather recently – back on September 13th, to be exact. Saturn’s orbit being 29.46 years long, this means that the (2nd house) values and (Saturn) rules which came into play early in 1983 are over.

1983 was during the Reagan era. What the Saturn return tells us is that the US has learned the lessons which began back then. The nation is ready to - and needs to move on.

Saturn will come back to the degree of this Industria next September. What we have therefore seen is the opening round of a year when we are going to see a lot of hard choices and changes being put into the works.

And being resisted.

And getting torn down, torn apart and getting rejected.

A lot which was, will now end. A lot which needs to be built will be taken on. Saturn periods are not known for being kind or carefree. Often the bad news gets delivered in such a manner that the thing you have been avoiding or postponing taking on becomes the imperative which hits you in the face.

A lot of people don't like Saturn because they think life is about the reward and not the work which earns the reward. Saturn times teach us otherwise. 

Since you know I’m all about eclipses, November’s solar eclipse at 21 Scorpio opposed the national Venus (at 24 Taurus) in the 9th house of foreigners, education, law/legalities, religion, medicine and media. Since Venus is conjunct Algol (emotional reactivity) and Deucalion (finding the moral path) it’s not surprising to see things evolving as they are, touching on all these subjects from the perspective of the eclipse conjuncting Sisyphus and Child – the choice to do something back because you are childish or to children.

Pluto is moving through the 4th house of the people (and real estate). With the 4th also being the traditional house of families, habits, cultural values (traditions) and ‘setting the course’ this is a time when we would expect the US citizenry to be going through a lot of self-questioning changes with regards to who they are as a people…and what they really value. Pluto has been conjuncting Facies for everyone, of course…but in this chart Facies is at 6 Capricorn (fixed stars do move!) and thus Pluto ‘turned’ on Facies during that evidently fateful September period then came forward across Europa (getting carried away) and Niobe (pride goeth before the fall) at 7 Capricorn…and by February will be hitting Kallisto.

So as a people and as a people who are supposed to be in an ongoing partnership with their government, the US as a nation – politicians and citizens alike – are now moving between having realized where we have failed utterly and what really caring as a nation means.

The conjunction to Kallisto spans 2013 to 2014 and will see the US (and its citizens) struggling with what caring really means. The priorities of the nation at home and abroad will be looked at. The priorities about what resources should be put to and whether the US is a nation of individuals or a nation and national ‘family’ of sorts will be debated and thought through. Kallisto’s story is one which requires that you face the ‘bear’ you have been or acted like to others and survive through accepting that you have acted less like a person and more like an animal.

(Don’t look at me…I don’t write these myths, I just report on them!)

It’s worth noting that the Neptune of this chart sits at 8 Aries, too. Uranus will conjunct this point during 2013 and in doing so, create an opposition to 8 Libra, a degree known for loss.

Given the length of this transit, the fact that Neptune is involved and that we’re going to be experiencing a series of solar eclipses in Taurus and Scorpio which are going to hit several other Chart USA planets, it’s likely that some very bad things are going to be seen, learned and found out before things get straightened out….which should happen somewhere around 2017.

I did also look at the chart of the GOP, seeing as it was the Republican-led House of Representatives which led the exit from Washington today.

The Republican Party

March 20, 1854 - noon (LMT +5:55) - Ripon, WI

The thing which seems striking about this chart (which deserves a full discussion of its own) is that Neptune is currently in the process of ‘dissolving’ the GOP’s Venus…and from there will move on to working over the party’s Eris. With this Venus involved in a grand square which includes the nodes of this Chart GOP, we can expect there to be a lot of strain on the party's relationships individual and public.

It’s been about 150 years or so since the Civil War and Lincoln as the Republican President of the country. That’s about half a Deucalion cycle – Deucalion being the symbol of ‘finding the moral path.’ Today the US has a black President whose powerful ability with oratory makes him sometimes seem like a modern Lincoln.

The nation is struggling with what it has been and what it wants to be. Ten years from now the GOP will be a substantially different party and the US will be set on a new course.

 The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC

The day I went to see this statue I was in so much pain I probably should have been in a hospital. 
But I wasn't. All I remember is wanting to walk up those steps and see Lincoln for myself.
By the time I got there, I was in such terrible pain that some kindly tourist came to help me
up the steps. I was so moved...I just stood there and cried.     

(photo credit: Erich Robert Joli Weber, June 2012)

But in the interim, there is bound to be some pain. When it began, the Civil War was a war of economics which involved the very vital question of what being ‘human’ means, and what rights – and responsibilities – go along with being human.

Those same questions seem to be coming around again. Back then, the nation and its people went through hating each other because it seemed some people cared more about human dignity than economics. Then, as now, it was the rich who protested and the poor who went on working.

I doubt the Republicans are going to cede (even if Texas has toyed with the idea).

I’m also not surprised to know the nation is going through its Saturn return...and that such a time in the history of the United States would be filled with tests and needs and pain and challenges galore.

We are also told that if we accept the hard work Saturn brings, if we will put ourselves through the course of living up to our own very best standards, we will come out the better for it, too.
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Venus in Sagittarius

 Fractal image by Electricsheep

(image credit: Chris Ursitti)

Venus enters Sagittarius on Sunday, December 16th at 4:29 in the morning, UT/+0 time.

Will we notice? Probably yes, though initial effects are likely to be fairly subtle. Where Venus in Scorpio (which we’re leaving behind) is intense and focused on ‘what works,’ ‘the value’ of this or that and what kind of options may be found, Venus in Sagittarius is a bit more lighthearted – more into the fun and frolic than Venus in Scorpio, one might say.

Sagittarius being a sign which functions at a quicker pace than Scorpio, responses, results, costs and consequences will be more obvious and more readily generated in the next three-plus weeks ahead.

On the other hand, Sagittarius is a mutable sign. Where Scorpio evokes various sorts of ‘do it once, do it forever’ feelings, Sagittarius is more about enjoying things in the moment and if necessary, changing things (ideas, methods, aims) as you go or on the run. Venus in Sagittarius tends to be more about the ‘good intention’ than the ‘thoughtful choice’ which, considering that this Venus/Sagittarius transit will carry us through the balance of the holidays, fits with the idea of just having a good time as opposed to finding that perfect gift, menu, guest list, travel plan…etc.

 Shoppers on Dundas Street in Toronto, Canada going about their December business (Ian Muttoo, December 2009)

Of course as always, there’s a down side. Where Venus in Scorpio will have promoted more caution, Venus in Sagittarius can manifest as a carefree, slap-dash quality which can cause people to think you don’t care. 

(Or care enough, yes.)

As Venus enters Sagittarius it parts company from the “obliging-versus-obligatory” North Node, which will enhance momentary feelings of having gotten past some ‘heavy matter.’ And with Industria sitting just ahead of Venus (at 1 Sagittarius) as Venus makes its ingress, this sounds a bit like I’ve done all the things I HAD to do…now I can get on to what I WANT to do!’ with the ‘had to do’ part having been dictated at least in part by (North Node in Scorpio) other people and the needs/demands of others…or obligation to others.

With Jupiter being the ruler of Sagittarius, and since it pays to check the sign ruler as any planet makes an ingress, we look to Jupiter, which is still in Gemini, in retrograde and (of all things) conjunct Aldebaran to the degree. And since Aldebaran is in opposition to Antares (at 9 Sagittarius, let’s toss a thought or two on that into the pot, too.

 Jupiter in the Night Sky over Old Saybrook, Connecticut

(Tushar N Dadarwala, January 2012)

We don’t always consider Antares when we consider Aldebaran no. But since Mercury is at 7 Sagittarius as Venus makes its ingress (and going to conjunct Antares and oppose Jupiter on the 17th – one day after Venus enters Sagittarius) this is probably worth a moment of contemplation.

Mercury in Sagittarius is a thought, deed which stems from a vision of how things can be. Or maybe should be – this being why Mercury in Sagittarius is sometimes said to be righteous, dogmatic or ‘my way or the highway’ insistent. (And of course there are gradations of any of same.) The premier question with Sagittarius is will it work which when we add Mercury becomes the idea or the statement which works – and if it doesn’t, why it doesn’t…the idea not taken into account, doing something without knowing all the facts, etc.

Jupiter in Gemini is thought, communication and activities increased. Or maybe hyped. Or maybe done too quickly (in hyper-drive). Jupiter in Gemini is famous for doing too much or too fast. The thought gets over-thunk, the boundary gets overstepped, the necessary thing gets overlooked because there’s so much going on.

With Jupiter currently in retrograde, we’re all considering how these ideas work (or have worked) in our lives. Have we gone wrong, or do we merely see things a different way? Gemini is always about choices and Jupiter in Gemini gives us too many choices or we may choose to do too much.

Yes, Jupiter in Gemini can be the moment, the idea, the ability to be incisive and insightful. It can also represent the statement, action or period of time when we are – or discover that we have been -truly derisive and painfully dismissive.

At Venus’ Sagittarian ingress, Jupiter is conjunct Aldebaran, a fixed star which famously represents success which is achieved ONLY when we have maintained our standards of integrity. When, where and if we haven’t, Aldebaran will expose those… um… oversights and errors in judgment. (We’ll just call them that.)

Mercury conjuncting Antares is a whole other ball of mental wax. (Sounds anatomical, doesn’t it?) Antares is another royal star, a star which promises success only IF we don’t cling to or focus on one thing obsessively.

Antares and Aldebaran are in pretty permanent opposition. That should tell us that they’re “balancing forces” in our life, right? Too much obsessing on what we want to think or want others to think true undermines our integrity.

The astrologer’s honest call here is that Mercury conjuncting Antares does tend to manifest as obsessive thinking. What you do with that is up to you. Since this ties into the 2012 end-of-year / holiday season Venus in Sagittarius transit, this can easily all relate to money, income, expenditures and ‘gift’ issues. It can also represent a barrage of media output during this time, which may or may not have anything to do with holiday issues. (Think politics, education, travel, religious teachings, etc.)

The good news here is with Jupiter in retrograde, this is less likely to be a moment of public exposure and more likely to be a matter of personal realization. So don’t be shocked if you (or someone else) suddenly changes their mind about what they like. Or don’t like. Don’t be surprised if something you never wanted to do suddenly sounds attractive.

One other interesting factoid here is simply numerical and I may be able to get a scan made here…(turns on the scanner)…to show you what I’m talking about.    

 From 'The American Ephemeris for the 21st Century (2001-2050) at Noon'

programmed by Neil Michelson with revisions by Rique Pottenger

(c. 1996 by ACS Publications) 

Above is a scan from the ephemeris I use on a daily basis when I’m writing here at the blog. Sorry that the images is a tiny bit crooked and that I didn’t quite get the right hand Pluto column all in there perfectly…(do me a favor – don’t tell Pluto!)…but for those who don’t read ‘astrology glyph’ I’ve given you an arrow to the symbol for Venus at the top. You’ll also  probably recognize the numbers on the left with the abbreviations for the days of the week as the sequence which matches our December.

Okay….now go down to where I’ve highlighted the page in Venus pink. (Yes, that’s what I’m calling it!)

When I talk about planets being in decanates, this is what I’m looking at. As of December 24 (UT/+0), Venus will arrive at 10 Sagittarius and thus move into the second decanate (second ten degrees) of Sagittarius. This is the emotional decan of Sagittarius where ideas and hopes and aims are felt, expressed, even insisted on most fervently.

What I’m really getting at here becomes most evident when you look at all the other planets and where they are during the balance of the month. From the 24th through the end of the month, while Venus is traversing Sagittarius’ most emotionally intense area, all the other planets (standard planets, that is) are either in first decan positions (Sun, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) or third decan positions (Mercury).

Mars is doing it’s own thing: on the 24th it’s just wrapping up its transit of Capricorn, and on the 26th it moves on into Aquarius (which yes, means Mars will be at 29 “critical” degrees of Capricorn on Christmas day, ho-ho-ho).

The point is that Venus is all alone in the 2nd decanate. By astrological rule, that means nothing will be aspecting Venus. And when a planet is unaspected, it does it’s thing like nobody’s business and does it to unheralded degrees.

If I were a retailer, I would be loving this. After Christmas sales are likely to be really, really good. A lot of people may take some time off during this period and it wouldn’t surprise me to hear that travel has a definite up-tick during this time.

 A Qantas A380 arrives in Los Angeles after flying from Melbourne, Australia

(Skinnylawyer, December 2011)

As we’ve already touched on elsewhere, Mercury moves on into Capricorn on New Years Eve, which is pretty much in tandem with Venus moving from the 2nd into the 3rd decan of Sagittarius. And since the third ten degrees of any sign have to do with worldly input/reactions to what we’ve done, this tends to say that the last week of Venus’ transit of Sagittarius will be the oh-so human and philosophic recognition that for all the saying how everybody would like it if people held onto that ‘good holiday feeling’ throughout the rest of the year, that it just never works that way.

One last ‘up’ note here…if you’re someone starting on some sort of new venture (or even a new form or format of an old venture) this Venus in late Sagittarius-Mercury in Capricorn-Mars in early Aquarius is a good time to get to work and get things under way. Results won’t be immediate, but anything we’re aiming at benefits from attention, effort and input during the first week-plus of January.

Have a fine Venus in Sagittarius!
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The Mercury Direct Reminder

 Pandora by John William Waterhouse (1896)

Now that everybody in the US has gotten Black Friday out of their system (or hair, depending) it's time to consider this: Mercury will go direct today on Monday, November 26th at 10:49 p.m., UT/+0 time.

That means that the "standard" allowance going into this station begins as this post goes up on Saturday, November 24th.

(And yes, there may have been twinges of Mercurial station effects even while you were out there shopping on Friday!)

Station allowance extensions aside, from the 26th, we move forward. Considering where Mercury is going direct (at 18 Scorpio). And that as it moves forward the first things which will be encountered (astrologically, that is) are Klotho (beginnings) and Pandora, a symbol about all which life throws at us while asking us to hold onto hope.

One suspects the week ahead will be interesting, to say the least.

Pandora carries with it that famous note of ‘swirling ills of the world’ which can be seriously testing. And that the objects currently just beyond Pandora (and within orb of Mercury's station station position) are Huya and Industria suggests that we will do best and accomplish the most through work or effort (Industria), succeeding in particular where we offer lessons we’ve personally learned the hard way.

And yes...for some, this will be the moment when you learn some lesson the hard way. That probably depends on how you (Mercury) think, and whether you think first and last in terms of (Scorpio) yourself or whether you are aware of others and willing to take everybody's needs, aims and priorities into account without trying to dominate, control, deny or manipulate them...or the situation.

Mercury stationing at 18 Scorpio is a sign of great emotionality which above all asks us what it is that we hold dear and why it’s so important to us.

Sometimes such a moment teaches us that what we’ve been holding onto really isn’t as important as where that idea of holding onto it comes from. In other words, is the ‘thing’ as important as the person or life moment which caused us to value it? Mom’s baking dish may be hugely sentimental to us, but the sentiment is about Mom and what Mom baked in that dish, not the heat-proof glass of the dish itself, right?

Do we value things correctly? That would seem to be the question now as (yes) half the world goes out shopping - which does make Pandora "opening the box" something of an interesting image for this event, don't you think?

Also...just incidentally - what do we think of Mercury going direct on Cyber Monday? Will it be an online squeaker? Or will stores rake in the big cheese? Only your mouse knows this part for sure, though since this station will take us right into the lunar eclipse on November 28th, choice is everything!

Okay...so it's not everything. As someone who has watched this stuff for some time, computers (particularly commercial computers) do the oddest things during Mercury stations. So print out those receipts and double check your statements. Try not to get over-rushed or over-hassled and be careful with your credit/debit cards and money.

Better to be safe than to find yourself standing in your kitchen in the dead of night going "EEEEK!," right?
 

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Saturn and Mercury enter Scorpio

 In this rather wonderful photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope we see double auroras - one at Saturn's north pole and one at its south pole. Do they represent the actual boundaries there are in life,  our ability to reflect and learn through that which happens during our lifetime...or do these auroras represent 'mirages' we tend to set ourselves up for and heed even if we are capable of going higher and farther? Does achievement equal happiness?

(photo credit: NASA-JPL-Caltech, Jan 2009)

Saturn and Mercury are currently in a transiting conjunction. You probably felt things getting more tense – maybe more intense – and more serious, more real, even more dire as of a couple of days ago…say around Monday or Tuesday (October 1st or 2nd)?

Wednesday and Thursday (October 3rd and 4th) pushes this to yet another level.

Critical issues will seem…feel…sound critical. Even non-critical issues will seem more prickly. This is the last gasp moment of Saturn in Libra (at 29 Libra) which, as Mercury reaches 29 Libra as of early evening (UT/+0 time) on October 4th brings all to a head.

Mind you, Mercury and Saturn’s exactitude of conjunction won’t be reached until mid-morning (call it 9:30-10:00 a.m. UT/+0 time) on the 5th. But Saturn conjunct Mercury – under anyone’s measure – is hardly the definition of a frivolous time.

Expect arguments and disagreements. Hard times and tough choices. Confrontations of any time – personal, national, in commerce, in traffic – it doesn’t matter, this is a moment where how ‘cause’ meets ‘effect’ becomes clear. And in becoming clear, it may become clearly not workable, not lovable, not admirable, not profitable, not popular, not honest, not fun, not acceptable…or maybe just not good for our forward path.

Then comes Friday. And on Friday, October 5th, both Saturn and Mercury move into Scorpio.

For Mercury, this isn't all that infrequent a thing. After all, Mercury is never more than two signs away from the Sun and the Sun makes it once around the zodiac in a year.

Which yes, is why a year is a year. (Duh!)

But Saturn is different. For Saturn, reaching Scorpio is one of twelve steps in an orbital cycle which takes 29.46 years to complete. Saturn being the symbol of all we do (and all it takes) to build and maintain a life…a family…a society…our world…Saturn in Scorpio is a time of being tested through interactions with others with everything we hold dear – individually or productively – feeling like it’s on the line.

Is it on the line? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Learning which is which is part of the work we do during the two years of Saturn transiting through Scorpio. Sometimes just hearing someone else say they think differently feels like a threat – Saturn in Scorpio will teach us something about that. Sometimes realizing you need to change your headlong charge towards some end or your cherished, polished plan feels like invalidation, whether it really is or not. 
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During the next couple of years Scorpio our willingness to be tested against the measures and drives of our own ego become an across-the-board theme in life and life's events, opportunities and trials. Those who come into this time having ‘clung’ to some old way of being or some old attitude will find this period far more difficult than those who began evolving on a personal level four or five years ago.

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The question is willingness versus willfulness. Those who would be willful will find others less than willing. That sounds simple and it can be simple, but only if you’re willing to let down whatever walls your ego has built up – whether recently or since childhood. 

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This also shouldn't be unexpected. All we have to do is look around to see that our lives and our world are going through an unsettled and unsettling time. Things become unsettled so that we can learn to 'right' them...and thus Saturn in Scorpio provides us with a nitty-gritty period all about finding ways that everybody can get focused on their opportunities, however they may choose to define that term. Since in Scorpio, Saturn teaches us how earning our own respect depends on earning the respect of others, this may be disorienting to some and signal the upsetting of many an apple cart. But in truth, the garnering of satisfaction and growth of personal security and respect-for-Self which is the aim of the fixed sign cycle requires an occasional fracturing of walls, barriers and ceilings so that we can restructure.

If and where our life structures have been badly built, or built on shaky or false foundations, this transit will unsettle or unseat you - or cause you to unseat yourself. 

At its best, the 1996-2008 transit of Pluto in Sagittarius combined with the early 2000's passage of Neptune through Aquarius inspired us to universal connectivity and functionality. Where it instead created emulation and status consciousness, with Pluto now being in Capricorn - a sign ruled by Saturn, Saturn's passage through the signs signal the questions being raised in our life asking us whether we're on the right course. While Saturn was in Libra, the focus was relationships. Now that Saturn is entering Scorpio, the arena is anything and everywhere were we are invested...be that a measure of the money, emotionality, time or faith we have involved in any given venue. These questions are multi-faceted, asking us whether we're doing enough, whether others are doing their part, whether we're involved with the right people or doing the right thing with our time, our faith, our energy our life.

And beyond all this...everything we are involved in now tests us - prompting us to think. Poking us until we feel, until we have some sort of reaction - to them and the situation yes. But also to why we got involved to begin with. The combination of Pluto and Saturn in their current signs spells a lot of changing. A lot of rethinking. A lot of restructuring. A lot of letting go. Many people will realize they should have changed their career a long time ago - or never have gotten into it to begin with. Marriages will form up and marriages will be broken up. People will restructure their lives and let go of current lives in order to (Pluto) recreate themselves in a manner which is more in keeping with who they really (Saturn) are and who they (Saturn/Capricorn) intend to be.

Note: not want to be - intend to be. There is a reality implied in this Saturn passage of Scorpio which has Pluto in Capricorn written all over it. The clouds are parting. We recognize time's passage and we get real - first and last with ourselves.

And those who don't?

They will be horribly disappointed and miserable. Lacking the courage to have (Saturn) structure or to (Pluto) change their (Capricorn) life structures, they will (Scorpio's negative) blame others and dislike others and maybe even strike out at others.

That will fix nothing. To borrow from the Bard, the answer lies not in our stars, but in our Selves.
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 Saturn's rings, as photographed by spacecraft Cassini

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

In short, that old saying 'nothing succeeds like success' which for so many has come to be external, isn't external at all. Our lives don't make us into what we are, what we are becomes the engine and motivation for what our life becomes and rich or poor, nothing feels as satisfying as self respect. Yes we will see many try to turn power, money, sex and such into compensations for their own feelings of vulnerability, weakness or lack of control and yes, the weakest among us will try to belittle others.

Brutality, marginalization, objectification, materialism and the need to judge others as a means of self-justification are strong weapons, but those who wield them are not the strongest among us. To be beaten down and remain unfazed because you know truth is better than the lie and caring about more valuable than winning is the signature of human nobility.

Saturn in Scorpio asks us to own our boundaries. It's about about learning that control is about us. It’s about our learning how we control our own reactions and why self control, especially with regards to others is not just a good idea, but ultimately the only workable idea which exists. We are going to be asked to investing in things which work for everybody from which we will be accorded our lot, our share, our responsibilities and rewards. Those who refuse to feel ‘how the other guy’ lives will, under Saturn in Scorpio, pay a very high price – literally or figuratively. It is to be understood here that such people are afraid mostly of being made to feel anything painful, anything fearful, especially in regards to themselves.

Saturn in Scorpio teaches that pure happiness is an opiate, and that those who refuse to understand pain and deprivation, who have no experience of same will come to understand loss and lack in ways they couldn’t suspect. Money and position cannot guard you from grief, confusion and self-doubt. All the hedonistic pleasures of the flesh cannot dismiss the knowing that you have not lived up to your potential. You can have all the faith in the world and yet feel lost in everyday life.
What we seek to earn now is a reconciliation with our humanity.

A NASA file photograph of Mercury

(photo courtesy of NASA) 

It’s just that getting there isn’t likely to be all that simple.
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Mercury enters Scorpio at 10:36 a.m. on October 5th (UT/+0) time. Saturn reaches Scorpio later on that same date (in the UT/+0) zone, crossing into Scorpio at 8:34 p.m. During the hours between, cataclysms may occur in the form of realizations corporeal, mental and emotional as Mercury’s hitting 0 Scorpio activates Industria and Pandora. This is a symbol of one of two things: either that we have done (Industria) turns into something more than we could have imagined (Pandora) or we recognize that there are a huge number of things (Pandora) which need attending to if we hope to proceed with whatever we’re doing.

Maybe even just to tread water.

This all sounds very dire because for the past two-plus years we have been dealing in the Saturn-in-Libra theoretical realm. Skating and debating, making shows and bantering, we have skimmed and skirted and made it all work.

Now we hit reality - an emotional reality. Scorpio represents the polarity of emotional hot-and-colds. Even more than that, Scorpio is the emotional stability which we tread at our own risk while risking being plunged into our personal abyss.

Whatever that abyss is for you, that’s what you now face.

And you have plenty of time to face it as Saturn doesn’t fully commit to leaving Scorpio until September 2015.
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In the meantime, a word to the wise…in all things, no matter what seems to be at stake, remember: Scorpio is a test of your having earned your own respect of Self. Whatever happens now challenges your ability to better your standards and abilities in fulfilling your finer potentials. Scorpio discomfiture is painful only to the extent that we are disappointed with external response to our display of inner values which have been judged as wanting.

In many senses, having Mercury and Saturn entering Scorpio in tandem represents a training of our (Mercury) thoughts, concerns and focus on problems in our world and the world which cause us to feel our own power - or lack thereof. And no matter where along the vastness of that scale we consider ourselves, there is always more that we can do. More that we can be. More that we can not ask of others, but require of ourselves. The negatives we feel now, the many things we may think are 'wrong' in life define the very opportunities we have to do and be more, inspiring others not with our charm but with our determination to do the right thing - not just that which serves our personal purpose.

Mercury will move on into Sagittarius before this month is out. For these next few weeks, things will be intense, upsetting, unpredictable, maybe even amazing, stunning and incredibly moving.

This painting - 'The Saturnic Library' (Saturnische Bibliothek) by Paul Mersmann de Jungere (1960) - is very much a 'half full/half empty' sort of image. Some will see this as dark and depressing where others will see this as an image of much coming into being. Which you see depends on how your inner emotionality works and whether it interprets tests of emotional tolerance as an opportunity to learn or not - part of the Scorpio lesson, a lesson Saturn teaches through challenging means and those types of challenges to our means which touch on our sense of personal security.

Whatever they are, the totality of the moment metaphysically aims to stir in every one of us a realization of how we feel about whatever is at hand, at stake, of the moment. From that, from the conscious realization of our own feelings on the subject and those of others we can gauge what we need to do.

Saturn in Scorpio teaches us values often by proving to us what isn't valuable or worth our time. In the process of doing that, life will no doubt exacerbate excesses and allow us to lead ourselves along paths of self-will which come to blind ends.

The lesson is that we cannot succeed on our own - or for our own purposes. Saturn in Scorpio suffers the tyrannical in order to drive the cowering into acts of courageous self-empowerment - through which tyranny ends.

Power is a metaphysical flow and is now in metaphysical flow. Don't catch it - use it to greatest effect and you will indeed be repaid many times over, though your rewards may take some time to earn.

Know that this is a time of doubt. But it doesn't need to be one clouded over by shame, regret or loss of self respect. Like the Phoenix, we all have the ability to be reborn, most particularly in our own regard, though we may have to come to ashes first.

Mercury in Scorpio tempts us to maneuver, fudge, evade and deny. Such gains are temporary. Those who choose instead to be honest and bravely open may stun and startle others, but in the end inspire them too.

Add Saturn in Scorpio and we may end up stunning and startling ourselves as well. The transiting conjunction of Saturn and Mercury will end as of Tuesday, October 9th. But the effects of these days will live long and color our outlooks.

Ends we are pushed to now will teach us lasting lessons in capacity, endurance and how to achieve that which had we asked, we wouldn't have predicted we would want until we work through these months ahead.
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Hebe enters Gemini

 Hebe

by Charles Picqué (1826)

Either sandwiched or nestled between two other asteroids we follow here on the blog, asteroid Hebe enters Gemini on April 11th at 9:07pm (UT/+0).

And which other asteroids am I referring to? Well, right behind Hebe wanders Sabine, symbol of enforced servitude. (Yes, slavery.) Ahead of Hebe stands Industria, symbol of hard work or ‘industriousness.’

This order will remain intact until April 26th when Hebe will overtake and move ahead of Industria in moving towards a conjunction with Aldebaran (a fixed star symbol of integrity) late on April 30th as it becomes May 1st (as calculated using a UT/+0 time zone).

Fixed stars are something like ‘outposts’ in the zodiac. They represent durable points of manifestation, which suggests that Hebe the Servant is at this point moving out of and away from the concept or experience of servitude (Sabine) towards whatever symbolizes true integrity in each of our lives separately, and collectively.

If you’re someone with a Gemini Sun, Moon, Saturn or Ascendant, Hebe’s entering Gemini and spending the rest of April moving towards a conjunction with Aldebaran at 9 Gemini suggests us you’re being brought more towards a recognition of what your life should be about (Sun), or what your values should be or prioritize (Moon), or which of your various thrusts or projects needs to take precedent now (Saturn).

Or maybe just how you need to be more attentive  and deliberate in what you choose to do or say – or what you choose not to do or say (Ascendant)!

Those with said positions in Sagittarius will be finding out now how well their efforts work, and have an opportunity to refine how they’re doing what they do and get better responses. Will you want to do it? Maybe yes, maybe no – but that’s part of the whole Hebe thing: how well do you cope with the fact you don’t run the world?

(Honest, you don’t!)

Folks with that same list of positions in Pisces or Virgo will now have a chance to capitalize on whatever they’re up to or into, though it’s going to require a shift of focus and an ‘amalgamating’ of a new facet,  means/outlet/venue or POV into their current methodology. This isn’t about giving anything up, just taking on a more ‘dynamic’ quality.

Those with positions in Taurus and Cancer (the one-sign-away semi-sextile positions) or the Scorpio-Capricorn realms actually face the toughest aspects with this Hebe shift since something about how they’re going about trying to service their (ultimate) cause needs altering. It’s not that the change is so hard, it’s that you’re likely to feel offended – you know, that old ‘so my best wasn’t good enough?’ moment.

I know….it smarts! But try to let the ego stuff pass then try, try again.

And no – I’m not leaving out the Aries and Leo folk, though Hebe in Gemini for you is an opportunity and challenge all in one!

Why so? Well, that’s because Hebe is about service and Aries and Leo are very self-determinative signs. But hey – maybe you want more respect, appreciation and a way to earn bigger, better opportunities? If so, think in terms of what would ‘work’ for others. This is a fine time for that in your world.

A simple diagram of Hebe's orbit. The Sun is the dot in the middle,

Earth's orbit is shown in blue. Outside Earth's orbit is that of Mars

- in red - with the outer ring (it's actually a pale pink though I know

that's hard to see) is the orbital path of planet Jupiter. Between

Jupiter and Mars being where we find the asteroid belt, Hebe

orbits on the 'near' side of said grouping.

diagram courtesy of Reyk

As for how long Hebe is going to be in Gemini, that answer is “a couple of months” – Hebe will be moving on into Cancer come June 7.

Maybe you’re asking just how important Hebe really is. Isn’t Hebe just another of the jillion or so asteroids wandering around the asteroid belt?

Well, yes. And as far as that goes, Hebe doesn’t do anything all that dramatic. When at it’s aphelion (the farthest distance from the Sun) its only 2.914 AU out there…which in light of the asteroid belt’s extreme being 4.9 AU (Jupiter’s closest point) puts Hebe pretty much in the middle of the pack at its farthest from the Sun. 

As for its perihelion (closest point to the Sun), Hebe’s celestial noodling brings it to around 1.937 AU…which is pretty darn close (in outer space terms) to Mars’ outer reach, which is at 1.6658 AU.

So that means as symbolic factors go, Hebe is one of those which is closer (maybe more “in our face”?) than other things. The metaphysics of our solar system being all about ‘starting at the center and working out…’ that also means that Hebe is one of those concepts we meet up with Hebe sooner rather than later. Service, or the usefulness of what we do, is a primary, not ‘oh, by the way’ consideration in life.

Or at least it probably should be.

There are a couple of ways to think of Hebe. It’s either use usefulness of what we do or doing something which is of service – i.e., useful to others. Given that in

Olympian terms Hebe is the official bearer of ambrosia to the honcho gods, this latter idea is emphasized in the sense that ambrosia feeds and preserves immortal life. And if we think of the whole of the asteroid belt as those things we learn on our way to accomplishing things, maybe Hebe is a bit about ‘giving back’ or passing on what we’ve learned to others…even if that’s simple sharing!

Obviously where Hebe falls in your natal chart has something to do with how you view Hebe qualities and questions, but given how the mass of this one single asteroid is (at last count) estimated to be one-half of one percent of the total mass of the entire asteroid belt, Hebe isn’t quite your most minor of minor points.

So here’s opportunity knocking. Will you answer the door? And if you do, what will you do once that door gets opened?