Pallas in Sagittarius

A sunrise view from the Gamrig to the Lilienstein in one of Switzerland's national parks

(photo credit: Merops, Occtober 2012)

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Not everyone seems to feel (or pay attention to) Pallas changing signs. But even if you’re not a died-in-the-toga Pallas lover, as asteroid Pallas is entering Sagittarius but a couple of days behind Saturn ... and since Pallas travels through the zodiac at a faster clip than Saturn (a fact easy enough to understand as it only takes Pallas around four years to go once around the Sun and Saturn takes some twenty-nine years to do the same thing) ...well, let’s just say it’s worth mentioning.

(And if you didn't read the post on Saturn in Sagittarius, that may be a good place to start - it's the post just prior to this one.)

Yet the truth there is that this isn’t just a Saturn thing. The day before Pallas moves into Sagittarius on December 27th, Pluto will slide across the digital line into it’s 2015 area of affect - it’s ‘shadow’ if you will, though Pluto won’t be in actual retrograde motion until next April 17th, should you care - which if you’re a United States citizen means caring may be in order as Pluto going retrograde on the 17th means it’s station begins on April 15th (America’s annual Tax Day for individuals) if only because odd and  unanticipated things are associated with the period around the time of Pluto’s station. So if Pluto’s degree of station (15 Capricorn) applies to your personal chart, this could indicate an interruption which makes it hard to get taxes filed.

It’s also - because Pluto is associated with problems where ‘values’ are manipulated or denied - a moment and set of days where that we do out of avoidance (particularly out of some sort of avoidance of responsibility or standards which support responsible actions and choices) can come back to haunt us.

But that’s then, and at the moment all we need to deal with is Pluto’s symbolic ‘opening’ of it’s next year’s business, which means we will either now be turning to things which will carry on into next year, whether or not that happens because we relinquish some sense of Plutonic control or conviction we’ve been holding onto or not.

And yes, that may happen - that’s one very sensible way to think of Pallas’ shift into Sagittarius happening in concurrence with Pluto beginning its next year of ‘work’ as Pallas catches up with Saturn - which is really the crux of the astrological affect which will color and crest the period of December 26, 27, 28 and 29 in particular, give or take the fact that Pluto will be going on to do its Plutonic thing from the 26th forward.

As for Pallas, Pallas is an emblem of intellectual wisdom either gained or applied through, and with perspective. Pallas is not passionate - which puts it right in there on Saturn’s side of the astrological ledger and pretty much in opposition to Pluto’s notoriously fervent effects ... which is an entirely different way to see this transit cluster, namely as the realization or determination that some situation or effort which is filled with passion and everyone’s desire to have it work out the way they want it to can’t be dealt with except through cool perceptions.

By sitting in conjunction with Saturn at 0 Sagittarius from the 27th through the 29th, Pallas invites us to think things through on the ‘Saturn level’ - which is to say, cost versus benefit and through the eyes of a realistic mind which knows (despite all the wanting) that the goal - as with most desirable goals - will take time.

Some people may be very unhappy with this fact. The degree 0 Sagittarius is known for substantial understandings and knowledge - but also for impatience and often enough, intolerance, particularly where someone disagrees (or is simply not enthralled) by our perspective, philosophy, aim, product or plan. Yet at the same time, this is a degree which is able to learn and which is known for practical and often quite pragmatic native abilities with finicky or exacting ideas, which with Pallas and Saturn present may surface as a review which seeks to find imperfections or errors based on assumptions of how things should work - which isn’t always the way they work in real time.

Pallas will be in Sagittarius from now until April 8, 2015. During that time, apart from the Saturn conjunction, Pallas won’t be meeting up with other planets, that being something of a statement about how perspectives on many issues will now be freed to develop independent from all else - which may include some facts, and which may at times lack any sensibility of compassion.

Pallas is not a ‘feeling’ emblem. It’s sufficiently devoid of emotionality that some will think of Pallas as a point which is ‘cold’ or as feelings and all we think of as ‘normal’ human emotionality is not in the Pallas definition. If anything, this tendency is exacerbated by Sagittarius as Sagittarius is a fire sign which is all about ‘the vision’ and how things ‘could be.’ In everyday settings, this is likely to create a few problems as one person follows one line of logic and someone else follows another, and with the proximity of Pallas’ sign change to change-prompting Uranus’ having gone direct on the 21st we shouldn’t be surprised if those changes take the form of some other ‘side’ or the voice which hasn’t been heard from, the thing which hasn’t been said, the player thought long counted out ... all those ‘other sides’ and other perspectives now count at least in terms of our ability to know and understand their perspectives.

Ultimately all the positives (and yes, the negatives too) will come out in the Aquarian Age wash. And what with Aquarius being the sign of universal perspectives and Sagittarius’ derivative third sign(any third derivative being about ‘expression’) that suggests that as it transits Sagittarius, Pallas’ impartial ‘vibe’ will provide some measure of logical stabilization, be that of images, proposals, relationships and conversations and whether that which is being perceived OR felt is about someone else - or with regard to some situation we’re in or trying to understand within our Self.

One other thing is afoot as of the latter part of this week, and that’s Ixion (nobody’s favorite Plutino) perfecting its conjunction with Ras Alhague ... if any conjunction of Ixion and Ras Alhague could be said to be “perfect.” Both of these symbols have a dark side, with Ras Alhague playing the part of the choice between healing and harming and Ixion being a habit we each have stuffed somewhere in our personality which drives us to think we can ‘get away’ with something - which eventually proves to be our undoing, or at least the reason our aims tend to fail.

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Ixion: Our Conflict of Self

Yet this is also an opportunity - one which will occur either in several parts (perhaps representing steps in a process) or which pertains to separate issues we learn about in turn, representing the ‘healing’ of some injury of confidence or inner gap of understanding. We’ve met up with this combination before, mind you - it’s first instance (in recent history) began back on February 22nd when at least several trials many if not most of us are still dealing with came bubbling to the surface.

Have we learned anything new about that situation or possibly from whatever we were doing at that time? Maybe, maybe not. If we have, Ixion ‘returning’ to the scene of the stellar crinkle (one hopes there's no crime involved ...) is likely to come as a poke from life to see if we’ve really, truly learned whatever it was we needed to learn.

Or ... are we now primed to trip ourselves up - again?

This Ixion-Ras Alhague combination which can be fractious and irritating even when (if) the outcome is going to be positive in time has been with us a long time, having started back in 2010 and set to be with us (with period high-and-low points) until late October, 2016.

Pallas Athena by Franz von Stuck (cropped)

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As for what we need to learn or how we go about learning it and why we have some tendency to do time and again which don't pan out well for us, that would be a great thing to get some Pallas perspective on, though with Ixion-Ras Alhague in this mix it’s just as likely that with some people (and as this pertains to certain issues) the old ‘try, try again,’ mantra will simply get used because ... well, because.

And whatever tripped us up before will trip us up again.

So... will we learn - or learn better - about things during these next several months? Maybe. Starting from where we are, as we do we increase the chance that we’ll know how to handle things when Pallas reaches Capricorn.

And if we don’t, we merely put off until tomorrow that we could be learning today, postponing the success, the validation and the rewards we think we want ... which may be why we now need perspective, and what we need perspective on in our short run.
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April’s 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse (Pt. 2: Sun in Taurus / Eta Aquarids)

Taurus (1907) by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis

It’s about now in the lengthy March 1-May 20 Mars retrograde that things begin feeling really questionable. Mars retrogrades are always long and by nature tend to drag or slow us down. We are now about two-thirds through the retrograde and things are ‘coming out’ which are not one’s finest moments. About now there’s a ‘gap’ - or inability to achieve what we want…and the maintaining of  connections or activities we’re grown used to is likely to raise a couple of question. Are we willing to keep pushing ourselves? Will we continue to believe in what we’re doing should we find we’re alone in our belief?

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Mars and Saturn Retrograde

Eclipse Effects in Libra

And that’s not all. Even while slogging through mental Mars quicksand, there are all the intricate convolutions so very typical of the ongoing Ixion/Ras-Alhague conjunction which began back on February 22nd.

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Ixion/Ras Alhague

Amidst all that, the Sun enters Taurus – an act which on a metaphysical level sets many a thing in motion.

The date: April 20th.

The time: 3:57 in the morning, UT/+0.

Elementally, this moves us from the fiery world of Aries visions and personal conviction-insight-consciousness into the more ‘giving’ and ‘earthy’ Sun in Taurus zone – a time which is about whatever sort of stability, security, nourishment we need in life. Information, food, respect, abilities, money – whatever the basic need is in life, what that need tests is Taurean, as it tests our internal and intrinsic ability to deal with being confronted by the realities (not the ‘vision’) of what will support life…ours and that life in which we live (the world around us, in other words).

Normally this entrance would be one colored by fixed star Mirach at 0 Taurus, supporting a reigniting of the desire to interact in a more-or-less supportive manner because under Sun in Taurus the concept of give-and-take is brought into a basic, almost simplistically easy form. Yet with our 2014 Sun-Taurus ingress also comes a South Node at 28 Aries – just to begin with, and that’s something of a notice about internal-versus-external influences or opinions or ‘directives’ which are raising questions for you, me – and everyone else, too.

Our questions don’t sound the same, but they are: they’re about security – starting with how secure we feel about life, moving from there to how stable or secure we feel with our Self and who we’re being…and moving on from there to others reflecting what we’re feeling, which just may be why so much about life is likely to get us focused on our values.

And specifically, where we are out of kilter with our values. Or where we say we value one thing and do something which demonstrates some dichotomy in our personal character as well as the inaccuracy of stated or ‘vouched for’ standards.

The additional modifiers here are Tantalus at 3 Taurus (conjunct the Sun from ‘ahead’) and Juno at 26 Aries, conjuncting the Sun from ‘behind.’ Sometimes this ‘ahead-behind’ dynamic manifests as things we’ve done or experienced against things which are yet to be done – or even situations which are yet to arise, people we will yet meet, opportunities we will yet choose to avail ourselves or not.

Seeing as I posted on Tantalus just recently, if you would like to read up on Tantalus details here is that link.

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Tantalus, Station-Retrograde

Otherwise, with a brief nod to Tantalus as an indicator of our ability (or choice to/not to) weigh decisions correctly for both short-and-long term purposes, this solar ingress looks like exactly what we might expect at a point in time when Earth is rotating towards begin eclipsed from an area of the zodiac where the sense of survival is vital even if the necessity of physical survival isn’t.

And the way metaphysics works, to teach us that…to get us through our ego walls and to the point that we separate those two standards…we are going to come to the solar eclipse having perceived various forms of both. We may see that clearly. Then again, we may not want to see anything.

It’s a question of honesty – not with others (which is yes, what they may think), but with our Self.

This incoming eclipse is about values. Not ‘theirs,’ ours. It isn’t about ‘them’ – it’s about whether our values are what they should be…need to be…can be…and all the falsehoods we may be living, all the  structures we’ve built in the name of defense which really amount to fear. More specifically, ego fears – those threats (real or imagined) that we may not live up to who others think we are – or to the measure of the person we have long told ourselves we’re being.

And once we get that far? Then we have an option to change or not change, depending on the status of that self respect which underlies our self worth – and thus our personal and individual values….and the response that raises in us to whatever others are doing, prioritizing, opting for or investing the strength of their values, their resources, their abilities in.

Also – it’s unlikely that anything which is coming to a head has been ‘of the moment’ or swift coming on. Most of what is at stake now or up for consideration (or lack thereof…) has its origins in the past, separate from the fact that this April’s solar eclipse is a ‘recalling’ of situations and cycles either set off, avoided, initiated, instigated or ‘bought into’ back in April 1995.

Yes, in case you didn’t know eclipse degrees repeat – as do all lunar phases. Known as the Metonic cycle (so named for a fellow named Meton who lived long, long ago) the 19-year eclipse cycle continues to raise questions and issues in our life over and over again, asking us if we’ve ‘settled’ for something which seems comfortable enough…or good enough…or whether we’re living a life which is true to who we are (really) at our core.

Obviously anyone younger than 19 years old has not met up with this particular eclipse degree as yet, and there’s nothing to say that your experience…no matter how old or young you are…is going to be positive or negative when it comes to solar eclipse effects.

The key is your chart. So if you’ve run into any sort of quagmire over the past several months which challenges either how you feel about yourself or those values which you extend into the world or use in managing or operating in your world… this eclipse may well have your name on it. If so, you are not only currently in a state of unresolved flux (a feeling common during the last few weeks before any solar eclipse) but you are feeling challenged in a way which right or wrong, real or imagined has everything to do with how you’re going to feel about yourself.

You know…how you feel when at night you close your eyes and wait for sleep to come.

We are all mortal. That’s one note very much on point here. No matter who we are, no matter where or how we live, there are things we all need like sleep, like food, like the oxygen we breath. We all have feelings, longings, vulnerabilities and dreams. Some will happen, some will not. Some we hold onto as balm and motivation while we struggle towards some goal even if deep inside we know the dream will never be real.

At least we tried.

Yes, at some level, that’s the question now: will we try…or will we simply be trying – or even tried?

That last version could lead to a whole ‘other’ kind of ‘conviction’ – as opposed to being convinced - to be sure…but no matter who we are, no matter what the issue or outcome of some issue currently is, why we care (or don’t care) about Self or others remains the central question.

At least for now. After all, solar eclipses – particularly those which we find difficult, disruptive or destructive – are only in part about the issue of the moment, though that will have to be dealt with one way or another to be sure. And that we don’t (or haven’t) dealt with? That will deal with us through mechanisms set in motion at this time.

All of which brings up another point about Taurus. Though Taurus is the testing ground for inner security, it’s tests most often have some external or externalized factor which must be negotiated in connection with others or your world. Why?

Because it is only through tests and negotiations that we prove our inner security.

No, not to them – to our Self, which is why the truly secure person is immune to what others say…not in the uncaring sense, but in a manner which acknowledges differences without judgment in an accepting and caring manner.

With Taurus, manners count. They don’t have to be perfect, they don’t even have to be polite. They simply need to acknowledge realities – whether we like those realities (or want to admit them) or not. The importance of this may not seem immediately apparent until you consider Taurus as the sign before Gemini – the signature of mentality and communication. That makes Taurus the “12th derivative sign” to Gemini, making it not all that unlikely that a smattering of glitches which test our notions of security and/or what we think is (or isn’t) secure(d) in our opinion…or in reality.

A couple of other items on the menu, at least one of which I suspect will bring great cheer:

ITEM ONE: The Eta Aquarid meteor shower begins on April 19th and lasts through May 28th. As the Lyrids will continue dappling our night skies until April 25th, this means Earth is currently enjoying a double helping of what we might call “meteoric influences.”

Meteor showers are said to bring us ‘sprinkles of inspiration’ and the Eta Aquarids tend to be big scale, large scope and greatly ‘universal’ (if you think of the term ‘Aquarids’ as being akin to ‘Aquarius,’ you’ll be rather close). And perhaps – given the solar eclipse in Taurus – this indicates a time when new ideas are ‘sparked’ which help us see what isn’t working in our lives and what to do about it…or where our actual talents may prove useful.

Perseid meteor shower by John Walker (July 2011)

Then there are the Lyrids, a shower which has its in constellation Lyra – where Pluto is currently applying several-years worth of transit pressure to fixed star Vega, a process which will ultimately result in ‘transformations of charismatic forces,’ whether that means some source comes on line, disappears entirely or is transformed in essence or effect. We’re in “year two” of this 2013-2017 evolution of our time and lives and as astrological symbols go, Pluto isn’t known for manifesting as the ‘situation genteel.’

The bottom line here is this is yet another indication of our changing times…and changing minds. Whatever it is we’re supposed to be learning, as we move through the next week (through the end of the Lyrids on April 25th) things are still in revelation mode. We’re seeing what to do…we may even know how we want to do it…

And yet it’s not time. Something isn’t established or doesn’t yet exist.

So…what has to change before it does?

Well…probably several things. (After all, the eclipse doesn’t take place until the 29th.) But among all of those, astrologically the one thing I think you’re going to care about most is as follows: do you remember that t-square we keep discussing?

You know, that Pluto-Uranus-Jupiter t-square? The one which started rattling our personal ‘change is in the wind’ chains back in late July 2013?

Yes…that one. Well, it’s over.

(insert: sounds of cheering)

Not so fast...it's only the t-square which is over. But in that regard, all you have to deal with there is another few days - and the slackening of the t-square effect after that (call it the better part of next week).

So here’s the schedule of the t-square break-up (which to paraphrase the famous song may or may not be hard to do):

1. Jupiter squares Uranus on July 20th at 7:26 in the morning (UT/+0)

2. Jupiter perfects its opposition to Pluto (conjunct Vega) on Sunday, April 10th at 11:06 in the evening, UT/+0.

HOWEVER…with this comes the fact that Uranus (see above) will square Pluto (conjunct Vega) on Monday the 21st (at 6:39 in the evening UT/+0 time).

And that means yes, the t-square is ending. But that only removes the Jupiter goal.

So we’re ending the need to get past some need to break out of limitations or change priorities or recognize our greater potential through greater perspectives.

On the other hand, we’re also ending some opportunities – namely the one which says we could break out of limitations or change priorities through recognition of greater potentials and personal perspectives.

Whichever ‘end’ of this you’re on, your challenges are likely to become more simple and direct as we move through this time, but the shift to get there will require harnessing both ability and willingness to connect to others not through aims, but through whatever Taurus issues are now becoming apparent. Seeing as the 'remnants' of this t-square will become a Uranus/Pluto square lasting through 2015 into early 2016, we are being told that our lives are going to change - in some cases, radically and that those among us who are willing to grow, innovate and remain flexible will do best.

Also...whether you know it or not, the specific and terribly human values which underlie those dimly defined yet all-prevalent mortal forces being felt...? Within that...within whatever vulnerability you feel as you recognize your humanity or that of others, there lie your keys to greater benefits.
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Ixion and Pholus Station/Retrograde

A diagram showing relative orbits and distances from the Sun for planets Saturn,

Uranus and Neptune along with Plutino Ixion and centaurs Pholus and Chiron 

Still sitting in conjunction to fixed star Ras Alhague, Ixion goes retrograde at 22 Sagittarius on March 22nd at 8:17 a.m.

Then Pholus goes retrograde at 24 Sagittarius a day later, at 3:44 in the afternoon…and as always, both times are given in UT/+0 terms.

Whatever our internal challenges are, since any station-retrogrades represents either a ‘taking in’ or ‘being stopped at’ some given point, that’s where we would expect life to be…or take us…starting as of March 20th.

That March 20th date in advance of Ixion’s turn? That allows for two days of ‘station lead-in time’…and since Pholus is going retrograde a day after Ixion, that means things can be expected to start off ‘more on the Ixion side of things’ and end more in our personal Pholus mode – whether that means we’re experiencing an ‘isolated’ or ‘isolationist’ moment or are being pushed (or pushed back) into some ‘dark place’ which uniquely our own.

Or who knows…maybe the Pholus ‘isolating it’ harmonic will surface in your life as your putting some issue aside – isolating yourself from it so you can get on with something higher on your priority list.

But however we all experience this time, there would seem to be something of a ‘trying’ notion to what goes on right now. This combination would seem to signal a somewhat trying time. Yet whether the question is someone getting in your way or our acting in some manner which someone else finds ‘trying’…whether there’s some ‘rule’ we have a problem complying with or even some ‘standard’ which causes us to withdraw (or want to withdraw)…the central issue is us.

Not them, us. Yes, you, me, that other person…each of us will face some inner urges to ‘never mind them’ and do what we want at some level which tests our Pholus notions. Will we ignore real life? The needs of others? How things work in reality? Are we prepared to face the world (or others)? Can we face what we have or haven’t done in life? Can we reconcile how we’ve used our will with our deepest convictions along with our darkest, most vulnerable-feeling secrets? 

The “they” or “that” which now irritates us feels judgmental or rude or even insulting to our sense of who we are in that curious sort of Ixion manner which triggers our determination of will, taunting us about whether we ‘can’t’ do (or be) what we want to do or who we feel entitled to be… which is probably the Ixion point as transiting Ixion raises challenges which ask whether we can control that exact impulse...or not.

Can we acknowledge to ourselves that yes, we feel we deserve something in spite of the fact we may not have yet earned it? Have we come to some point where we’re realizing that whether or not we want to do what we want to do (and have things work the way we’d like them to work)…how upon reflection, that’s not working? 

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Ixion: Our Conflict of Self

Ixion actions tend to be somewhat (and sometimes a great deal) shortsighted in spirit. Being a Plutino (i.e., an object whose orbit is controlled by planet Neptune’s magnetic resonance) the Ixion drive is often about some belief, some image (of Self or ‘how things should be’) which isn’t real. It may be worthwhile, yes. It may be your heart and soul’s desire – absolutely.

But is it real? Could it exist in reality and if it did, would it work the way you envision?

With Ixion – as with Neptune itself or any other Neptune-controlled object – we are far more likely to succeed in our aims if we accept our dream as a motivation and not the reality we seek. Where Neptune or any Plutino is concerned, the ‘dream’ is best used to help us get through our work…as if dulling us to the pain so that we can marshal on.

With Neptune itself, we most often achieve our dream through embodying it or sharing it with others, serving as an inspiration in their lives so that the dream can then live on.
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A computer generated image of Neptune's cloud tops

(photo credit: NASA, JPL, Don Davis, September 2009) 

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That, in human terms, is immortality. Anything beyond that is ego…ego being the fulcrum which balances our Ixion issues. Strength of ego is not abhorred…in fact, where Ixion is concerned it’s probably required, if only because Ixion moments ask us to manage a Self often armored with, by and for the purposes of ego defending ego. (Which is one of the things ego is for, after all.)

That’s where the problem comes in on the Ixion side of things. Neptune is a planet. Ixion isn’t a planet. Neptune’s surface area is nearly 15 times that of Earth. Not even classed as a ‘regularly formed’ (i.e., close to spherical) object, Ixion is less than a thousand kilometers across.

Earth has problems bigger than Ixion – at least on a physical basis. And as far as that goes, Pholus is even smaller. Yet size is not wholly determinative – very small objects or moves or choices can bring down long-laid plans, even bigger careers, a high flying reputation or lives and entire nations. And yes, this is a moment when some act or action already committed to could have some grave sort of consequence. Yet it’s far more likely that these days ahead will bring matters to light – maybe just as a glimmer or a thought.

And if that happens, this double-station turn to retrograde may be our seeing some brink ahead which prompts us to ‘go inside’ and find some way to keep ourselves from ‘going there.’

With the Sun in Aries, all feels very personal. Known famously for its focus and courage, this is just the sort of time which may well find us accepting some challenge. If taken on in the spirit of broadening our experience, understanding and effectiveness without undue focus on Self, much can be gained in due time if we remember the difference between who we are and what we can do.

Plus, let’s not forget - Mars is in Libra, the sign of the other. So though we may be feeling Mars “desire” in everything we do…in our every waking moment…we don’t ‘rule’ them. We don’t control them – nor will we ever control them. You’ve heard it once and will like as not hear it too many times to count in this life…’we only control our self.’

But since that Self is probably feeling a bit frustrated about now (Mars retrograde in any sign tends to spell an undercurrent of floating frustration), that sets us up for willfulness. Yet that isn’t likely to mesh all that well with current convictions as we’re all likely to come down (hard) on the side of what we want.

And thus the question becomes to be on what we can do which others will react to positively.

All of which would be just fine and thrilling except for the fact Aries is all about our focus on Self.

So some of us will assert ourselves in our own cause and go overboard as others are getting so annoyed with someone else that they give up and walk away – only to end up focused on what they know they should have been doing all along.

Then again, since all of astrology operates in that polarity…and because you may have a natal chart in which Pholus and Ixion represent periodic triggers which stop you from living life in the dark or getting too willful.

If (or where) things do go awry now, whether the gap in your road is mild, moderate or the Grand Canyon, disappointments and feelings of defeat or rather more than half-likely. Moreover, they’re bound to center on some subject which seems more important to you than anyone else – which is neither good nor bad as long as care is taken to how you proceed, sharing rather than telling or notifying.

This is not the best time to be too insistent, as the energy of insistence (like that of critique) tends to promote defensiveness at any time and right now people feel buried somewhere in their lives whether they really are or not. Assertion will tend to be seen as a need to validate Self (or your desires) which be harmless – and then again, can create enmity and rejection. Ixion’s going retrograde in conjunction with fixed star Ras Alhague intensifies everything we talked about last month…

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Ixion–Ras Alhague

...while mixing in some of our Pholus ‘in or out of the light’ issues…meaning ours: what we may regard as the bad or less ‘approved’ in our character against the lighter or more positive notes. There’s a ‘turbulence’ implied here which expressed through fire sign Sagittarius suggests things we are struggling to be clear on – some of which ‘looks’ like it’s about others or something going on in our world.

But it’s not. Astrologically, a double turn to retrograde can only be ‘taking in’ or ‘retreating’ at some level which is ‘into the Self’ (however we understand that in our individual life) – and since the ‘psychological wavelength’ of 24 Sagittarius tends to run darker than some, it’s to be expected that we may not like what we know now.

That doesn’t mean we don’t know it…and doesn’t mean it isn’t true. We’re just not happy about it.

But with Ixion in the mix here, why is that? Is it possibly just because we don’t want to be interrupted or otherwise ‘inconvenienced’ as that pertains to what we’d “rather” be doing – or even in how we’d “rather” think of our Self (or someone else) despite evident truths of necessity?

And yes, we may see all these things in projection – happening in the lives of those around us or in the world at large. It would be natural to want to ‘turn away’ from news good or bad now, simply because something about the moment…the subject, the timing, the comparison with what’s on our mind, the person delivering the news…something about it doesn’t fit.

Which is fine. A station like this one can indicate ‘taking a break’ in order to regroup, recalibrate, retool or rethink. In the middle of all, some of us are bound to look up, experiencing inner revelation.

Then again, some of us will simply look inside and come up with a more worthy (of us) level of determination.

What we do with any of this is up to us, of course. Yet considering how Mars is in retrograde…and that Mars is going to be in retrograde for another two months during which a solar eclipse at 8 Taurus promises provocation of our inner sensitivities…

…Let’s just say that it would seem we’re not seeing the world as it truly is and in all its glorious potential – at least not at the moment.

Evaluation is probably needed as there are questions here about what we need to protect – or what we’re actually protecting. Where our answers lead back to strength of ego Ixion’s Neptunian quality may lead to confusion…even mistakes which we regret by the handful.

During these years of Ixion and Pholus in Sagittarius it will always be easy to sell ourselves on the idea of something, only to find a bit down the line that theory is not reality.

What we do from there…? That determines not merely our worldly success, but whether when all is said and done we feel we’ve lived up to our potential – a feat which satisfies best when that within is ultimately balanced with all which in reality, surrounds us.

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Ixion in Sagittarius:

December 1995 – December 2020

Pholus in Sagittarius:

January 2005 - January 2018

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Ixion-Ras Alhague

At the center of the Swan Nebula (M17) in Sagittarius, new stars are wrapped in dark hydrogen

(photo credit: NASA, Holland Ford, ACS Team, ESA - April 2002)

If Ixion is the Neptune-controlled…(or perhaps we prefer the term ‘guided’?)…which tests our ability to know the difference between that we can do and that we should do (and the many reasons both positive and negative for such)…then Ixion’s conjuncting of Ras Alhague, a fixed star of some repute is likely to be a period of some upheaval.

Internal upheaval at least…and if we avoid such recognitions of/within our Self, through externally-driven ‘life lessons.’

Sometimes thought of as a ‘non-spiritual’ Greek and philosophical personification of the biblical Cain, Ixion is the universal tendency to have a point or place in life where we tend to repeatedly undermine ourselves (or our efforts) through ‘wrong’ thinking specifically of the ‘dis-connective’ type. In other words, where Ixion is concerned we may insist on having our way…or simply not do ‘that other thing’ (good or bad) we might have had in mind.

With Ixion, we act in haste and repent at leisure…or we choose, in spite of Self and less ‘personally appealing’ options, whatever they may be.

And then there’s Ras Alhague, a fixed star of varying repute. Known sometimes as a great force for healing and in other situations as a ruthless engine of harm, Ras Alhague’s current position at 22 Sagittarius will bring out polarities of either good or ill or show up great efforts along with shocking abdications of responsibility (for what would be indicated by the star’s house and aspects in an individual chart).

As of February 22nd (2014) Ixion will move into Sagittarius, telling us that on some metaphysical level these two sometimes righteous, sometimes raunchy energies will now ‘fuse.’ Considering how slowly fixed stars move – and how Ixion has an orbital period of 249.95 years (about a year longer than the orbital period of Ixion’s fellow Plutino Pluto) – it’s obvious the ‘melding’ of these influences has been coming on for some time. The standard orb of conjunction being 5 degrees, that takes us back to 17 Sagittarius – a degree Ixion entered back in October of 2011.

Seeing that Ras Alhague and Ixion both tend to make things a lot easier or a lot better, part of the question would be how does each object work? Ras Alhague is a fixed star…something which is more like a backdrop than a detail or akin to an ambient feeling in society which you’re aware of needing to be aware of. How to fix things? Are things past fixing? How frustrating is it to have to deal with so much which seems so wrong when so much which is so good could be accomplished?
Against this we have Ixion, a Plutino of ill-repute which may simply serve (ultimately) to show us the folly of such labels as ‘ill-repute.’ Where Ixion is concerned, the folly is ours…and where Ixion is concerned, we will do almost anything not to admit that fact to ourselves – until we get burned.

Totally burned.

So at a fixed star level, what we have to work with (or the times we’re dealing with) include both the opportunity for great healing…and great harm.

(Why am I not liking this post all of a sudden?)

Meanwhile, we have to decide what we’re going to do…and we are likely to do something simply because we want to. Or because it appeals to us. Or will give us what we want in this very short-sighted moment.

For some of us, ‘doing’ is better. For some of us, ‘not doing’ is going to be better.

How to tell them apart? Astrologers would look to your Ixion and Ras Alhague in the natal chart…and again in the solar chart. We would look to see if either point was under any long-term influence by something like Sedna or Eris. We would think about whether your Ixion is located where it’s going to be hit by either of the 2014 solar eclipses, one of which will be at 8 Taurus and the other of which will be at 0 Scorpio.

And then we’d ask you if you have any decided history which applies…which is your clue in thinking this conjunction through without someone like me sitting there gazing at your chart. Ixion involves patterns. Ixion speaks to something we have done at least several, if not many times and never really to our lasting betterment.

This encounter of Ras Alhague and Ixion is likely to end up being a time a time when many of us ‘see’ or begin to understand our ‘patterns.’ Some of us will simply make course corrections. In embodying Ras Alhague’s healing force we may even become someone others look to as an example of what can be accomplished if we just put our Ixion towards  some greater purpose instead of our own desire for gratification.

Then again, some of us will jump wholeheartedly into something thinking it’s all about us and what we can ‘get’ from the situation…or out of, considering the situation. Those who follow this path and prioritize servicing vanities ahead of necessities personal, ethical, moral, spiritual or integral are very likely to hit some sort of very hard wall as Saturn rolls into and through this area of the zodiac early in 2017.

And 2017 is another big year for global economics.

Situated in the Ophiuchus, the quandaries posed by Ras Alhague are very much in keeping with the constellation’s image – that of a hero wrestling with a snake, an obvious image of the wrestling we do with and within our Self...and which Ixion often has us falling prey to.

Kepler's Drawing of Ophiuchus made in the wake of a supernova in 1604

in the constellation's 'foot'

Are we going to repeat our pattern? Or will we finally see something as a pattern and deal with it more effectively?

Whatever our habits…‘vices’…or weak points are, these months and couple of years ahead represent a time when we can finally own up to our ineptitudes (our repeated ineptitudes, in some cases) and in owning our humility, move on.

Or we can reinforce our sense of entitlement – most of all to do that so-very-Sagittarian thing of seeing flaws in the other person’s thinking…even if it’s none of your business. Sagittarius can be a bastion of mental entitlement, the sign which represents and the energetic under which sweeping pronouncements get made which allow for no variety, no differences of opinion or priority.

And with this energetic coming from Sagittarius’ third decanate (the last ten degrees), there is no way to shut others out.

They will have their say.

If that’s a problem, buy earplugs. You have, after all, no more of a right to tell them who they are and what flavor of ice cream their tongue likes best than they have to tell you what sort of music twinkles your toes.

And that – to some great degree – is the heart of this period. During the months of Ixion and Ras Alhague conjunction we’re all going to feel pushed and pulled by our feelings and aims and how they do (and often don’t) work with the priorities and goals of others.

Even people we like.

Even people we love. Or thought we loved.

This is not about ‘giving in’ or ‘giving up’ anything to anyone other than our Self – but that…? That we may well have to do. Or learn to do. All of our choices remain ours.

This is also not any ‘constant’ – that we know because Ixion’s yearly direct-retrograde-direct cycle includes periods from now through to the end of 2015 when our challenges and frustrations will seem stronger or weaker as Ixion moves in and out of 22 Sagittarius.

And what would Ixion represent in those other degrees? Ixion in 21 Sagittarius generates situations through which we test our boundaries of self-assurance in new ways and through new things – which with Ixion is likely to result in some sort of ‘acting out’ or overstepping of bounds (even if that’s just the bounds of good taste on occasion) in an effort to cause us to become more aware of/willing to take on questions of internal balance.

Then there’s Ixion in 23 Sagittarius, which is likely to bring out many a frustration and the kinds of feelings of defeat which can be heedless and uncaring, either to others or with regards to whatever isn’t suiting our Ixion fancy.

Yet put simply, all of this is about where we are out of balance. Such areas are arenas where we don’t maintain stability because our tendency is to go for a solution instead of a restructuring. As with all other astrological signatures, Ixion isn’t about “causing us trouble” – it’s an opportunity to learn about ourselves, often through those standards held by others. But on its own? Wherever you see Ixion in a chart, you know that’s where the person who ‘owns’ that chart could get themselves into trouble – first and foremost with their Self.

All of this is why this encounter with Ras Alhague holds such promise. In Ophiuchus not being on the ecliptic and therefore not being a constellation of the ‘zodiac’ there is no astrological slighting. Yet about every two, three (…ten or twenty) years or so the spirit of fighting for constellation equality seizes people and a huge debate gets started about Ophiuchus as the thirteenth zodiac sign.

The argument is ridiculous – the zodiac is defined as constellations on or across the ecliptic (Earth’s path around the Sun) and Ophiuchus isn’t there.

But that this ‘fight’ keeps getting waged with regards to a constellation which images a hero wrestler wrestling a snake? Without getting coiled into metaphysical snake lore, the quest to overcome and the need to ‘wrestle’ with something can be internal or external.

Either way, during the periods when Ixion and Ras Alhague are (by zodiacal degree) in absolute conjunction we would seem to have a chance to get past a few of our own sticking points.

Whether we have to set them off so as to become aware of them…? And just how that might happen? Those notes are individual.

And maybe we can’t know. Then again, there are the words Ixion is compelled to cry out once he has had but lost his way: 'I should be grateful to my benefactors.'

If nothing else, that would seem to be a clue...though what it means to you is likely to be very different than what that statement means to me.

As well it should.
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