Saturn Retrograde - Phaethon Direct

Seen above: Saturn's north polar hexagon, dwarf moon Mimas

(246 miles/396 km across) and part of Saturn's A ring

(photo credit: NASA, JPL, Caltech, Mar 2013)

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With less than a week before nature displays her spectacular nature through gracing our planet with a total solar eclipse at 29 Pisces, the soul-searching nature of the eclipse is well upon us. We may not even notice it ... but something is ‘moving’ us from somewhere we have been to somewhere we need to be - particularly on a very personal and esoteric level.

How deeply or intrinsically your life - or more perhaps your feelings about life (and your life amidst all) is impacted ... ultimately ... by this eclipse has everything to do with your personal natal chart, of course. But we do know those who will ultimately find these weeks past and ahead together forming some greater life ‘turning point’ will like as not have a planet, node, dwarf planet, axis or cusp point in aspect to the eclipse’s position (29 Pisces), which would be true if they fall within the following range(s):

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SOLAR ECLIPSE @ 29 PISCES

-degrees affected using standard (Ptolemaic) aspects- 

-Conjunction (5 degrees of orb): 24-29 Pisces, 0-4 Aries

-Squares (5 degrees degrees of orb): 24-29 Sagittarius, 0-4 Capricorn ... (and) ... 24-29 Gemini, 0-4 Cancer

-Opposition (5 degrees of orb): 24-29 Virgo, 0-4 Libra

-Trines (5 degrees of orb): 24-29 Cancer, 0-4 Leo ... (and) ...  24-29 Scorpio, 0-4 Sagittarius

-Sextiles (3 degrees of orb): 26-29 Capricorn, 0-2 Aquarius ... and ... 26-29 Taurus, 0-2 Gemini

-Semi-sextiles (1/1.5 degrees of orb): 28 Aries-0 Taurus, 28 Aquarius-0 Pisces

-Inconjuncts (1/1.5 degrees of orb): 28 Leo-0 Virgo, 28 Libra- 0 Scorpio

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In fact, in looking at that list, the degree that Saturn is going station-retrograde in (4 Sagittarius) is being eclipsed-by-trine.

Totally eclipsed-by-trine - which takes us right to that lore which speaks about what eclipses are on the metaphysical level, as that effect is - and is going to be felt by us for some time yet to come. When a solar eclipse ‘hits’ a point in your natal chart, lore tells us there will be an ‘evolution’ of sorts pertaining to that symbol, the house it resides in and the metaphysical meaning of the planet ruling the cusp of that house - and that said evolution will continue for a full three years (36 months), with some sort of ‘twist’ or ‘shift’ occurring about six months before the process ends.

Saturn Retrograde (glyph chart)

March 14, 2015 - 15:03 (3:03 pm) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Saturn Retrograde (text chart)

March 14, 2015 - 15:03 (3:03 pm) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Things - even people - tend to ‘disappear’ during, or through processes associated with eclipses. And while some of those ‘disappearances’ may occur as part of the ‘evolution’ just talked about, if there is going to be a sense of loss associated with a solar eclipse if happens more often than not at the eclipse comes into force.

That would be now ... or more to the point, partly now and also partly having to do with things which have deteriorated or shown themselves to be ‘breaking down’ (beginning to crumble or end) over the past two months (i.e., during the pre-eclipse ‘break down’ period).

Mind you, there is virtually no connection between the actual point of the eclipse and whatever has been acting on or in your life to change things. What is happening now (or at the time of any solar eclipse) has very little to do with where we will go or what we ought to be doing. Instead, what the eclipse will tend to act on is what we shouldn’t be doing ... or maybe how we shouldn’t be going about doing things.

In other words, the eclipse - which is strongest in your life when it aspects YOUR chart - is not ‘about’ what someone does to you, or whether you lose your job, buy a house, have a child, fall ill or get happily married for the rest of your ever-after life.

Solar eclipses are not about that - they’re about how that which is “going away,” be it that job, your former lifestyle, life as a single person - or even your health - it’s about something which your previous “status quo” was keeping you from doing.

Or being.

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The point in your chart which is being struck - or in this case, the global transiting Saturn which is being ‘hit’ by eclipse at 4 Sagittarius - represents something which has outlived its purpose. We are used to it and most of us will tend to assume that it is integrally connected to ‘how life is supposed to be’ because we have learned to live with whatever it is.

Life, however, has other plans - bigger plans. And our wanting to keep things as they have been doesn’t fit - hence the eclipse.

Yet as things are being ‘taken away’ through the process of an eclipse, something else is being revealed. Maybe we see it because we’ve been started out of complacency by being tossed out of our comfort zone, but whether or not that’s the reason, the metaphysics of the eclipse say that when something in ‘everyday life’ (the Moon) moves in front of (takes priority over) our (Sun) conception of life as we know it - when all then “falls dark,” we will see revealed that which we aren’t using in everyday life - the Sun’s corona.

The Solar Eclipse of July 11, 2010 as photographed in French Polynesia

(photo credit: Denys, 2010)

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And that’s the point of the eclipse. Coronas represent things which under normal conditions we don't notice, see or consider ... which just like the corona, could be very special. Even close to magical. That special quality is what we are 'left' with when something in our life gets 'eclipsed' and taken away. And since what’s being eclipsed here is Saturn (the keywords for which include time, responsibility, limits, slow growth, earned rewards, accomplishment, loss, determination, fear, structure, consequence and that kind of leadership which in positive mode leads by example and which in negative mode leads by edict, rejection, punishment and “might makes right” choices or acts of retribution) ... while something very Saturn-like is being 'taken away,' what we are left with is even more valuable.

And why is it more valuable?

Because it's unique to us. 

Saturn is currently moving through Sagittarius - the sign of education, legal debate, exploration (not necessarily discovery), travel, expanding horizons, religion (as opposed to spirituality, which is Piscean) and any/all means by which information is disseminated, be it false or true, be it kind or unkind, be it warranted, useful ... or simply something someone is putting out there because they’ve stubbed their ego’s toe.

In Sagittarius, Saturn represents that which are seeking to help us find a path to some accomplishment or goal and all the lessons, critiques, modifications and re-thinks we will experience by feeling called upon to examine all which we come across in the process of seeking that path (or more progress along that path). Judgment - and the spirit in which judgments are made are primary challenges here with a lot of ‘cutting off’ of opportunities and rejecting information which in time proves correct being the danger ... and ultimately that which will dampen, limit or end up causing someone not to succeed and achieve their (Saturn) goals and aims.

Moreover, that judgment and judgments may be a problem now is being underscored. By what? By the fact that Saturday the 14th (the date Saturn goes retrograde) is also the first day of ‘rock comet’ Phaethon - currently in retrograde - going on station to go direct come Monday, March 16th.

So that means Saturn’s station occurs ... and that as Saturn goes into retrograde ... or as part of that process, Phaethon is going direct.

Phaethon by Hendrick Gottzius (Netherlands 1558-1617)

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So what does Phaethon represent?

That answer is probably best told as a thumbnail of the myth. Phaethon is a teenager - a teenager as convinced of his own ability and near-immortality as any teenager is when, through a bargain with Apollo, he ends up with the right to ask the god for something mortals normally can’t have or ever get.

And what does Phaethon ask for? Proving for all time how important having a spiffy ride is to teens, Phaethon asks to drive the Chariot of the Sun.

And Apollo, being the god of (among other things) honesty, can’t go back on his word.

What this speaks to is the power of immaturity - or its Doppelganger, a lack of willingness to act mature) and the ‘I WANT IT!!!’ cravings which arise in such a vacuum of self-discipline from time to time, testing even our inner Apollo - that inner sense of ‘the truth of the situation’ which knows when we shouldn’t do something, but which in a Phaethon situation can’t override the (Phaethon/too-youthful) inability to conceive of lessons and consequences life has not yet taught.

In Phaethon’s case, the results were utterly disastrous. When the chariot’s four horses realized an inexperienced hand was holding their reins, they began running wild - which would astrologically now be in the process of happening, which may have already happened, or which is being seen to now be on the verge of breaking out. Taking the bit in their teeth, the horses galloped off-course, soaring so high and close to the Sun itself that Phaethon’s hair and clothing caught on fire, causing him to fall to the far-below sea - and his death.

Pride goeth before the fall, indeed - that is one of things we confront through ‘Phaethon Periods,’ one of which begins as Saturn goes retrograde. Will we experience such urges, first person? Or will we see someone else acting as their own Phaethon, getting carried away with some vision they have of (or for) their Self? (And if so, what kind of bearing does their hard-headed insistence on some fantasy they have about that Self have on us?)

And ‘fantasy’ is a correct term here as Phaethon is going retrograde in Pisces - a sign which is always about experiencing our own feelings about things (or people). Even more than that, Phaethon is going direct in an emotionally confrontational degree - 17 Pisces - which in guaranteeing some sort of emotional upwelling aims to get us to look at our feelings in real time, basing what to do once we get that far not on what we’d like to do, but rather on  on broadly accepted (the most broadly, whenever possible) ‘rules’ (or) ‘standards.’

And that gets us back to Saturn (symbol of rules and standards on a social, societal and personal achievement level) rather nicely.

Or not so nicely, depending.

One other note on 17 Pisces (as long as we’re here)... 17 Pisces is a degree one astrologer specifically refers to as one which bars or bans dependence during the early/early adult years, lest that lead to being overwhelmed or (conversely), ‘going under’ - whether that means going under emotionally, financially, spiritually, physically (or any other way).

And that would fit the ‘loss’ or ‘limiting’ concept which goes with Saturn, wherever Saturn may be.

In this case in particular however, Saturn is at 4 Sagittarius. And 4 Sagittarius - even without Phaethon or 17 Pisces - is known for those qualities we would associate with those who are noble enough to ‘rise above the fray’ and who are human (or humanitarian) enough to fight to protect their very Self - at which point, the gloves (and more) comes off.

Together, these two symbols seem to speak to a prickly sort of very determined feistiness which is unfortunately prone to ‘falling’ (or losing out to) their own weaknesses - particularly those of the emotion-driven kind.

Except the Saturn side of this is getting eclipsed. Not (officially) until March 20th, to be sure. Still ...

Plus there are a few aspects we should think about. Saturn - which is conjunct asteroid Child (repeating that theme of ‘immature’ or ‘immaturity’)

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(Okay, more than a few.)

Juno - which goes direct just a day before Saturn goes retrograde - trining from Leo speaks to maintaining a point of view, and when we add in the particular of this being 3 Leo, we think in terms of great potential if not all that much accomplishment (at least yet) - which again speaks to something/someone which is ‘not ready’ in some sense. Or perhaps (since trines speak to ‘ongoing circumstances) something which is still not ready.

And with Saturn being eclipsed by trine, does this speak to an end to something which never quite came to be?

While trining Saturn, Juno will also be inconjunct to Mercury - suggesting a change of heart (read: mind) which is either ‘inspired’ or accepted despite other preferences.

With that Mercury in its own Pisces-Sagittarius square to Saturn, for those who aren’t in love with loud fights and emotional squabbling, good news - Mercury/Saturn squares can be testy, but aren’t often all that loud. If anything, they tend towards silent - which in this case, considering both of these images as resident in your life summons up making compromises with yourself in the name of getting things done.

Or maintaining something you don’t want to deal with in some ‘status quo’ which you can attend to later ... (read: which buys you some emotional time).

And yet ... Mercury is itself (widely) conjunct Neptune. And Neptune is in square to Saturn, a combination which speaks to the kind of internal need to make decisions about things we wish we knew as fact (but which no one can know as fact) which makes most of us terribly squeamish, particularly just before we make that decision or choice. (Which could be a perfectly fine choice, as far as that goes.)

Neptune square Saturn is no fun in individual charts and isn’t much more fun by transit. So that this edition of same (the transit, I mean) began when Saturn entered Sagittarius in late December, 2014...

-link to post-

Saturn in Sagittarius

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... and which will end - for a while - come April 17th (UT/+0) only to rear its nebulous icky-squickiness again as of mid-October, 2015 (lasting through the end of January, 2016), all in the wake of Saturn being eclipsed in the here and now.

Something is changing - something essential about each one of us. Those whose natal charts have the usual array of points (planets, dwarf planets, nodes, cusp points) in aspect to Saturn as it goes into retrograde will feel this station more acutely, but we’ll all feel it to one or another extent.

And what would those degrees be?

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SATURN RETROGRADE @ 4 SAGITTARIUS

-degrees affected using standard (Ptolemaic) aspects- 

- Conjunction (5 degrees of orb): 29 Scorpio-9 Sagittarius

- Squares (5 degrees degrees of orb): 29 Aquarius-9 Pisces ... (and) ... 29 Leo-9 Virgo

- Opposition (5 degrees of orb): 29 Taurus-9 Gemini

- Trines (5 degrees of orb): 29 Pisces-9 Aries ... (and) ... 29 Cancer-9 Leo

- Sextiles (3 degrees of orb): 1 Aquarius-7 Aquarius ... (and) ... 1 Libra-7 Libra

- Semi-sextiles (1/1.5 degrees of orb): 3 to 5 degrees of Capricorn or Scorpio

- Inconjuncts (1/1.5 degrees of orb): 3 to 5 degrees of Taurus or Cancer 
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Everyone will experience this station to some extent. But those whose charts are affected by Saturn’s station being in orb of aspect to a natal position will feel it more directly, if in terms of the natal position being aspected. (Suggestion: see where such a point falls in your current solar return, too.)

And if you’re someone whose natal chart is aspected by Saturn’s station and the 29 Pisces solar eclipse, you’re already in the midst of a nebulous if emotional experience which may shift a bit as Saturn goes into retrograde, but which is going to continue for some time yet.

With that, back to Saturn’s station diagram, in which we haven’t yet touched on how the Pisces Neptune which is widely conjunct Mercury and square Saturn is also in opposition to Black Moon Lilith, an opposition which though past exact (the opposition perfected back on January 19th) is still in orb, lending a curious quality of something ill-defined and plainly not concrete but which ultimately will not be denied pitted against something which is highly defined and very definite - but wholly unwarranted and in the greatest sense, simply wrong.

Plus there is other thing to note about Phaethon’s station-direct moment on the 16th.

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That’s right - as Phaethon goes direct, the Pluto-Uranus square is coming to exact again. That will add even more ‘oomph’ (energy behind effort) to the determination (or determinations) being made during this period. Yet since this version of the Pluto-Uranus square comes to us (courtesy of the lunar nodes) as a t-square, that puts the emphasis on the Capricorn collective: Pluto, Vega, Byblis and Bali - the taking of (Bali) pleasure in that which (Byblis) we know is not just underhanded, but to be utterly disrespected or despised through (Pluto) ‘transformative means’ intended to (or bent on) ‘de-structuring’ some form of (Vega) appeal.

The problem here is pictured as a desire to get to what one loves for its own sake (South Node/Eros). And as part of that (or maybe as apart from that) there’s also a push on to gain sufficient leverage through compromise (or dismantling) of charismatic sources/effects or functional structures (probably long-standing structures) with an eye to being able to do what one wants, as one wants, when one wants, without having to answer to anyone else - about anything.

To this, Saturn either brings support - or, through going into retrograde in a position to receive the solar eclipse by trine speaks to the idea that things are being more or less ‘carefully brought’ into a position where, like dominoes, all will fall into place and through that, be eliminated from consideration.

Saturn is always a symbol of growth. As the planet farthest from Earth which is still visible with our naked eyes, it represents the extent of our grasp - that we can ‘see’ and thus ‘get a hold of’ in a first-person sense. Every year when Saturn reaches its station-retrograde point we are being told that we will be working through and consolidating or building on that which we have already done or already set in motion for a while.

And then Saturn will go direct again, and outward growth begins anew. This time around its virtually assured that part of our ‘retrograde work’ will include dealing with a lot of things we don’t want to think or feel about ourselves ... which could be a ‘group’ statement - and which is assuredly going to turn out to be individually true, up and down the scale.

People who don’t like their astrological Saturn often speak of it as something being done ‘to’ them - but it’s not. Saturn is about being the person we should be but often aren’t because we don’t want to take the time something needs ... because we don’t want to be bothered to do things the right way or because we just don’t like being told what to do. Saturn represents the social fundamentals which underlie society itself and those who lead our societies and nations. Saturn represents all we work for throughout our lives and those ‘marks’ we make on our world. Saturn represents ‘earning’ in every personal sense while teaching us (indeed, by warning us) that our being ends at our skin and that while that makes us a singular human being, it also means we’re all alone in our existing in this world.

And such is life.
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Notice to readers: an incorrect sign noted in eclipse inconjunct degrees

has been corrected. Apologies if this caused any confusion.

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Lilith Retrograde

Saturn, Regulus and the International Space Station

(photo credit: fdecomite, April 2007)

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Every year Saturn goes retrograde for some four months or so. This year, that retrograde station occurs on March 14th - which is twelve days after its March 2nd station/retrograde date of 2014 and eleven days short of the date (March 25th) on which Saturn will go retrograde in 2016.

As with any of the planets (dwarf or otherwise) we also tend to ‘feel’ the station’s approach as issues associated with that planet either pile up, become the subject of our days or simply bother us witless.

With Saturn, the subjects tend to be serious ... thoughtful ... even sobering. They tend to take time, too - Saturn issues aren’t generally those we flip through on a whim. Being the symbol of ‘earned rewards,’ Saturn’s transits and turnabouts often prompt us to think about what we are doing - and if we want to continue doing it ... occasionally turning into Saturn as the emblem of getting rid of things (thoughts, habits, people, jobs, interests, etc.) which no longer work, or serve useful purposes.

So if I say this post is being posted on March 9th and Saturn is going station-retrograde on March 14th, you might guess this week might not be the world’s most frivolous.

Mind you, that doesn’t mean anything has to go wrong. There’s a long (LONG) tradition of astrological dislike for Saturn, but that’s just a reflection of the very Saturn-like fact that we humans aren’t always in love with doing the work (and eating those vegetables) which need attending to before we get the award, the dessert ... before we get to the fun and the part we like.

Which is actually the important part here: it’s not the work per se, it’s the effort - and having a point to that effort. Saturn is not about stoic doodling and busywork; it’s about having a substantial goal which is going to allow you to do (or be) something which you aren’t or can’t be now - or without doing whatever it takes to get there.

So it is with the Sun cruising through Pisces lending all of life a somewhat nebulous, a touch suspicious, if still hopeful aura that we all head off through a week which will end with Saturn going retrograde on March 14th at 15:03 (2:03 p.m.) UT/+0 time.

Moreover, there are a couple of signposts along the way ...

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... which means with Saturn as our 'overarching' subject-of-the-week we would start with asteroid Lilith going retrograde on March the 11th, a metaphysical idea which suggests we will all be going into (or through) various 'shifts’ with regards to things we have denied about our Self, about who we ‘are,’ who we have been ‘being’ prior to now ... and what we do, don’t do, or have done over the past several months, after which (with Lilith in retrograde) we will be/become either inclined to not see how who we are being over the next several months is going to affect us down the line, or how what we are dealing with now is a result of something we did or chose to back, embody or stand for at some point prior to today's present.
 
All of which is - in the end - a reflection of what it is about our Self or our life (or values) which we don’t want to accept. That’s the key thing to understand about Lilith: it isn’t something untrue. It isn’t about ‘them’ no matter how many times we project, no matter how much we would like to think the fear, the annoyance, the ‘bad stuff’ is about them.

It isn’t. There are a few really basic metaphysical rules we never (ever) escape, the most basic of which in day-to-day life is like attracts like. When we attract people, we attract them because at some level - no matter how much we want to deny it - they are who we are. In our efforts to differentiate our Self we all encounter things we say we aren’t going to be and that we would never (ever) do.

And then we get fascinated by stories of same - either good or ill, positive or negative. Or we find ourselves being attracted to ‘forbidden fruit’ or something you don’t want to be or do. Call it what you like psychologically, metaphysically this is our being attracted to something we haven’t yet settled, solved or accepted about our Self ... and which, between the eclipse and this station ... is now rising up all around us.

The thing we didn’t want to see, acknowledge or talk about is coming back to either haunt or bless us, depending on how well attuned we are to dealing with realities.

You know, about our (Lilith) Self. If we were talking about the calculated point called ‘Black Moon Lilith’ we would be talking about societal attitude and broader considerations. But this isn’t the Black Moon (and no, I have no idea why anyone thought we needed two Liliths) this station pertains to us - to first person things. Yes, they may be connected to  to societal or ‘group-think’ matters, but this station is about us.

It’s about our acceptance of who we really are and who we were born as before we started with all our personal editing. And since experience also teaches how the days around a station so often include various ‘stirring moments’ (or moments in which we bestir ourselves) in areas of life or in reflection of any given object’s metaphysical meaning, we also give stations an ‘allowance’ of a couple of days before and after the actual ‘turn’ as things get into gear or come to (or go through) some particularly telling moment.

Given that, with Lilith going retrograde on March 11th, this month’s round of ‘Lilith Effects’ will stretch from approximately March 9th though the 13th - which means they will be in the process of arising as ... or just in the wake of this post hitting the yon digital web-waves (depending on which time zone you live in, of course).

The degree that Lilith is going retrograde in (20 Scorpio) lending to all of this an instability, lack of interest and the sort of ‘restlessness’ which can stem from an awareness of something without knowing enough to make anything comfortable or clear - which would be typical for Scorpio, a sign we like to think we manipulate others with/through but which in the end is always and only about whether we are able to face our fears of defeat ... and not whether we could survive some sort of vital instinct - we can - but whether we have the sort of courage to put our fears aside and figure out whatever ‘life puzzle’ has been put in front of us which if solved will give us what we want even as it mysteriously (and oh so metaphysically) leads us to a next challenge (or our next challenge...) once we prove to our Self that we can think our way through to answers and solutions despite our own fears.

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It’s not ‘them.’ In Scorpio situations, it’s never ‘them’ - it’s only whether we are projecting our fears about who we are on them ... or whether we’re refusing to even think about any of it at all.

Sometimes Lilith’s stations are when we don’t want to think about things - our “stuff,” if you will. But sometimes a Lilith station is a time when we find out how not only is it okay to know who we are, but it’s a (Lilith) mystery as to why we hadn’t ‘thought of this’ before.

With 20 Scorpio, of course (just because 20 is one of the last ten degrees of a sign) we also get a little  editorial note about all of this either having to do with something we share with others (or which isn’t simply about us) or which we are thinking about in terms of what is going on around us.

Either way, for Lilith to go into retrograde during such a feeling (Pisces Sun) time where in spite of everything we are determined to (Mars in Aries) get on with, nothing quite seems to be (Venus in Aries) going the way we want it to ... That speaks to some form of unwillingness to see something for what it truly is (the proverbial “reality check”). Or maybe it will be some sort of situation which causes us to recognize our true capacities. Or how someone or something has ... as would be so very Scorpio ... influenced our emotional mindset, allowing or even forcing some attributes to come to the forefront when there may be other things and different qualities which might come to the fore - and which might work well for us - if (or as) we become able to evidence as we learn to separate some sort of ‘real us’ quality from what we (or who) have been doing, either out of habit, because we didn’t think we had any other choices, or simply because we were trying to just ‘fit in’ in some way.

And since asteroid Lilith won’t be going direct again until June 27th, we have several months ahead of figuring such things out, not to mention how asteroid Lilith being in retrograde lends to everything and anything which happens between now and then notes and nuance of opportunities which come to us when we put aside exactly what we might like, how we might want things to look, feel or sound - and instead look to the possibility that it is our own lack of willingness to accept ourselves and life’s facts which is getting in the way ... not anything about ‘them,’ ‘that’ or how things may be getting done.

For the moment, Saturn’s moving towards its March 11th station suggests the whole of this next week is going to center around realities, though with Saturn transiting Sagittarius its likely that rather than accept such notions some people will just throw themselves into unproductive distractions like ‘what IS reality...?’ or debates which center around history or historical notions rather than the ‘distance’ (i.e., how far we have or haven’t come) in our own Saturn search for the truth, for viability, for that path which will allow us to excel and succeed at being who we are and can be ... in spite of anyone or anything which would limit choices or concepts of life’s possibilities along re-determined paths and notions they have chosen to own allegiance to.

And that lends another notion to this moment. Is Lilith going retrograde in advance of Saturn’s turn a sign that some barriers or things which are ‘denying’ some right or necessity is going to end?

That could be too, but we’ll just have to see - if we're brave enough to allow ourselves to, that is.
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Juno Retrograde at 17 Leo

'Wave' by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida' by James Barry

(1804, line engraving and mezzotint on paper)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And no matter what, I'll manage.

But that's rather the point. Dry or otherwise, its likely that so will we all.
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Chiron Direct at 13 Pisces

Princess Olga Paley of Russia (1904)

by Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret

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That the Sun will have entered Sagittarius two days prior to Chiron going direct at 22:44 (10:44 p.m.) UT/+0 time on November 23rd promises growth. Not necessarily the kind of growth which is easily achieved, but growth... which yes, does include gaining weight - a comment which is timely  considering how this Sun-Sagittarius-Chiron mélange is happening but a couple of days before Americans sit down to Thanksgiving, the laden table of which is very Sagittarian, a sign in which ‘more’ often carries the thematic day.

That our Sun-in-Sagittarius life now presses for ‘more’ fits much of which is - and will be going on in these next days ahead. The issue may be what we do, how we think, what our aims are or the need to take on things we see as wrong or problematic - all such things will be on (or come to) that laden table this solar month typifying all we feel we need to do and all which life is confronting us with.

There’s a lot to take in, to do, to think about - and with Chiron now standing for what we do (or conclusions we adopt, back, act on or reject) which come back to bite us - or which we are concerned will come back to bite us (wanting to correct things being another Sagittarian tactic) we are likely to meet up with indecision. With not know quite what to do.

And that would be natural, as where Chiron is concerned we never know, we never learn the right-versus-wrong of virtually anything except through the doing of it, and that goes for not just what we actively choose to learn, but also for what we don’t know we’re going to be (ahem) caused to learn.

And yes, even sometimes through perils and problems we bring upon ourselves when we don’t learn.

In going direct at 13 Pisces, Chiron is stirring up a lot of variable energetics which are likely to look like indecision, indecisiveness and various kinds of realizations which test us at the heart-string level as something we want very much to be true is proven wrong.

Will we hurt ourselves our our aims or some goal if we change directions? Is is the right thing to do to stand on our own?

Considering this as a basic combination, there is a natural Sagittarian drive to do and know more which is meeting up with Pisces hopes and that human and Pisces tendency to want to see things for the best instead of in reality - and with Chiron on the Pisces side of this dynamic, interpreting situations and figuring out what to do may require investigation to sort truth from fluff and assorted forms of self-serving spin (which may or may not be deliberate) out from the chaff.

The good news here is that if such looking for facts and all that investigating is done with attention to detail and the willingness to face facts (including those which may be uncomfortable, unpleasant or feel invalidating (not that they are...) then a lot of good things can result.

It just won’t be instantaneous, which points to another little concept: though Chiron stations often lead to something good, they generally don’t mark our favorite moment in life. Most often we’ll greet such a series of days with a series of ‘do this - or do that?’ questions as we wonder, ponder and otherwise contemplate which path will get us to our desired result... and which path is least apt to cause complications. (Especially emotional complications, which given Chiron’s presence in Pisces could be more costly than one suspects.) One common challenge now will be dealing with one choice or aspect ‘pulling’ especially hard in one direction even as something deep inside ‘knows’ that’s not what we should do.

And that’s in spite of the fact that we’re not positive about any of it - not as positive as we’d like to be, at least. For some, just the idea of having to make any choice (or needing to face what past choices mean you need to do now) maybe that’s your amplifying force.

Whatever happens, expect some intermittent if persistent rattling to come from somewhere under the back of your psyche as Chiron is all about the difference between our native inclinations and how we can (and could) learn better. The reasons for such lessons are as individual as snowflakes - which makes sense considering how charts don’t repeat but every 25,920 years even without using asteroids, fixed stars and other such ‘extra’ natal points.

But they’re there. Lift the edge of a challenge over this next little while and you’ll find your own Chirotic dichotomy staring right back at you: the thing you know and which comes easily against the potential you have to turn your challenges into ability.

So what’s the rub? Well, the rub is simply this: where Chiron is concerned, the object is to master ourselves while our instinct is to master others - or at least spend all our time critiquing, criticizing and pointing fingers at others as we wax symphonic in explaining (to others or ourselves, whatever works) that we know how to do it - they don’t. And how could they be so foolish? How could they be in a position of power or responsibility when they obviously don’t know how to do what they’re doing?

Meanwhile, the irony of Chiron is simple: we may be talking about them. But while that’s getting sorted out, we are surely talking about ourselves.

With Chiron in Pisces we’re reacting to our own feelings - feelings which are currently being universally stirred by things happening on a universal level without anyone (starting with us) actually knowing what can be done to make everything universally acceptable, to us or anyone else. After all, there are two grand trines in progress...

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... both of which are in fire, implying there are at least a couple (if not multiple) ongoing situations, one or both of which involve disruptions which at some philosophically intricate level asks whether we know what ‘disruptions’ are, and what their cost - especially long term - really is.

What can we afford to do? More importantly, what can we afford to be? That these two trines come together as Chiron goes direct tends to say that it’s things already in motion which are complicating our life, and Uranus (at 12 Aries) is certainly in a semi-sextile to Chiron’s station, so we should expect the unexpected and not be surprised if something doesn’t quite go as planned.

That’s not to say that what happens isn’t a positive - it’s just that it’s likely to catch you off-guard, whatever the net result may come to be.

Uranus in this picture suggests we flex. But while we flex, we need to also maintain our individuality - and that may be just the Chiron question: how to do that?

Plus let’s remember - both of these grand trines (which amounts to ‘a lot’ of what our minds are caught up thinking about) are in fire, with the Sun’s and Venus’ presence in Sagittarius challenging our allegiance to the greater purpose... against our need to be who we are.

And if not validated by others, at least acknowledged by our own sense of being functional in our own life. 

Throughout the days of this station (which gets an allowance - say from November 21st through the 25th) we also shouldn’t be surprised if things which otherwise could be expected to be reasonable are suddenly inexplicably unreasonable. Or being greeted with a lot of talk, little doing, tons of critique and many a ‘if I was in that situation...’ commentaries, all of which are (unfortunately!) a terribly common Chiron symptom.

In short, wherever Chiron falls in your chart by house, that’s where you’re going to encounter some form of stumbling block in your own life... one which usually feels like ‘I don’t know how to do this’ which indeed you may not know how to do, but which you also aren’t likely to find anyone to do for you.

Why not? Because Chiron is a symbol of things we need to learn whether we want to or not. And it’s not like we’re disinterested, as generally the house in which Chiron falls describes areas of life where we would like things to work and be or become a ‘success story’ in our life - or life in general.

We’re even generally knowledgeable - at least to some extent on our Chirotic subject - as natal Chiron (by sign, house and aspect) often describes what we are perfectly willing (just ask us) to comment, critique and otherwise comment on how other people are dealing with the given question.

Given all this, what Chiron operationally manifests as is a irritating made up of a bit of angst, a bit of envy, and a generous desire to just ignore the whole thing - all of which causes us to feel like something has gotten under our skin when in reality the fact that we haven’t dealt with something in OUR own life.

That’s what’s under our skin. We just don’t want to think about it - because if we do, we’ll get all bent out of shape. Or just plain uncomfortable.

And about that 13 Pisces part... referred to as ‘The use of intelligence and mental subtlety as a protection against storms and trials’ by astrologer Marc Edmund Jones, the Sabian symbol for 13 Pisces (read as 14 Pisces) is ‘A lady wrapped in a large stole of fox fur,’ the ‘intelligence’ quotient of which is taken from the reputed cleverness of the fox (though intelligence and cleverness are not exactly the same thing) and yet, being that the reference is specifically animalistic, this would seem to refer to the kind of mentality we use in order to avoid facing our own emotional (Piscean) vulnerabilities - here referenced by ‘storms and trials’ which are anticipated to be of some breadth or duration considering how the stole being talked about isn’t just an ‘ordinary-sized’ stole, but a large stole which is specifically being cited as ‘protection.’

That one word - protection - denotes our vulnerability. And with Chiron taking its turn to direct at this degree, either things take a turn making it easier or more necessary for us to face that vulnerability as a fact. Or because this is Chiron, we may now be need to face what feeling vulnerable does to our thinking in causing us react perhaps in an ‘animalistic’ manner or as a matter of a more basic (instinctive) reaction which causes us to don some other ‘skin’ in, or as we contend with some  specific situation.

From here, Chiron will remain in direct motion until June 24th of 2015 at 21 Pisces in opposition to Black Moon Lilith at 23 Virgo - a tale of whether we’re willing to join in a task and whether we need to ‘go it alone’ which we’ll no doubt be thinking about next June. But for now....? Well, given the Sun’s presence in Sagittarius, we’re likely to have more than enough to do in the present moment.

Will we want to do it? Probably not - and the drive which underlies however we cope will be far more about what we feel uncomfortable with than that we like better. But does that mean we shouldn't do 'it'? That's the Chiron question. So  prepare yourself for excuses - some of which you will make to others, some of which you will make to your Self, and some of which you will make about whatever it is you’re doing while in the course of getting yourself to just go do it.

This station - the actual days of station - are likely to be vague trying. We’re likely to hear and see things which either force us to take a different route (or to change our priorities) or to just wonder how we’re supposed to get anything done, even while we watch people getting away with what we think is not trying. Or only vaguely trying.

Which yes, we’re likely to find quite trying - at least to our nerves or our stock of patience.

But if we stop...if we are able to stop focusing on them or what we don’t know long enough... if we’re brave enough, we’ll begin feeling whatever it is which is fueling some inner (and truly personal) annoyance.

It’s Chiron. Astrologers used to talk about Chiron as some philosophical ‘bridge’ to a more ‘evolved’ form of self - and maybe it is that. But if it is, Chirotic energies function as (and through) whatever it is which gets us to recognize how when Chiron is active either in transit or in our chart, how that’s when we tend to be riled up not by what we’re trying to do - but by how hard it is to get ourselves to do it.

And that would be for whatever reason.

Yes, it’s annoying, I know. And so does everyone else as Chiron is a truly universal experience - one of those ‘dirty little secrets’ about being human and mortal that none of us like...or at least like admitting to. There’s a subtle sort of undercurrent when Chiron is active which isn’t jealousy but which is definitely begrudged - and again, we tend to project that feeling. We’ll be annoyed with someone else instead of letting ourselves understand that none of us really like learning on the job.

Mastery, we like. Being forced to eat our cosmic vegetables before we get dessert...? That, we’re not as enthusiastic about.

But still...apparently there’s something we need to know. If unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should - whether you call that Fate or Creation or space/time or the workings of God, then no matter how we feel about anything in this moment, the Chirotic object is to learn from it... about it... and what it means that we have the feelings we have about it at this time. We may want to wrap ourselves in some guise, we may need to protect ourselves against some storm. This is ‘not knowing how to get myself through’ something (the Chiron Factor) immediately in the wake of Neptune’s station-direct in conjunction with Fomalhaut - a combination which is water plus water... feelings meeting emotional situation... irresistible change triggering an understanding of inevitable results.

Fomalhaut and its dust ring (photo credit: NASA-JPL)

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Of course, some of us won’t want to see or think about those results - and perhaps we shouldn’t blame them. After all, some things are hard to face and even harder to get through... especially when that Someone not wanting to feel what it’s going to take to get through something is you. 

Being that Chiron is currently heading away from the Sun (towards the outermost point in its orbit) the metaphysical implication is about expansion - about pushing us past whatever we consider the ‘boundary’ of what we know, what we know we can do and who we know ourselves to be. However this works we are going to be exposed to what our own feelings are about a lot of things - which is typical for anything seen in the sign of Pisces.

How we deal with all that will contribute or detract from everything else we are seeking to do, move ahead with or learn about now as the Sun continues moving through Sagittarius. It will also become its own Chirotic moment November 25th arrives and Chiron’s station starts giving way to Arachne’s station, Mercury exiting Scorpio for Sagittarius and Pandora going direct (all of which will be the subject of a next post).

In short, it’s going to be a complicated week which struggles a bit before finding its way...as we feel our own struggles before finding our way as well.
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