Eclipse Prequels, Eclipse Sequels

Sunrise, looking towards a downpour from Loutra Harbor (Kythnos, Greece)

(photo credit: Takaway, September 2007)

So there’s this solar eclipse about to happen when the Sun and Moon meet up at 11 Scorpio. (Yes, we’re back to that again.) Said event happens on November 3rd – a fact we’ve already established.

But what we haven’t talked about is one of the reasons why your month leading into the eclipse might have been truly terrible…where the month your friend has been having has only been mildly awful.

Call it the eclipse of a different perspective, maybe.

(Very maybe.)

But whatever: take the following two charts…both of which have Scorpio Moons natally, meaning they will have a lunar return within 24 hours of the eclipse.

Here’s the first chart:

Person One/Moon at 7 Scorpio (Nov 2 @ 11:05pm PST)

Here’s the second chart:

Person Two/Moon at 14 Scorpio (Nov 3@ 9:55 PST)

These charts are both drawn as Aries wheels (with 0 Aries at the Ascendant and zero degrees of each sign on each following cusp)...so the 'shape' of the wheels or what is being emphasized isn't the focus here. No, all I'm talking about is the degree of the Moon - which in this second chart is 13 Scorpio.

If we start by saying both natal Moons are in position to be eclipsed by conjunction on November 3rd, then we come to one very important difference shown in the two above charts.

The chart at 7 Scorpio is a return which happens before the eclipse. The other (the chart at 13 Scorpio) is a return which happens after the eclipse.

(And by the way, in case you’re curious, the second lunar chart belongs to esteemed astrologer Robert Hand.)

So saying…remember that old rule about planetary stations?

As you come into the orb of time described by the station, things which happen before the object changes direction concern things yet to happen while things which happen afterward are a playing out or result of things which have already taken place.

By taking this ‘before/after’ theorem which we know from stations and applying it to the two lunar returns above, we understand that the lunar month cycle embracing the eclipse’s effects will be strongest prior to the eclipse for the second chart (the one at 14 Scorpio) because the new lunation is after the eclipse. In other words, when the eclipse happens, the Moon in the 7 Scorpio chart (which happens to me mine, if you care) has not yet reached 11 (the degree of the eclipse) and thus the ‘crux of the matter’ is still to come.

I’m taking a deep breath as I’m writing this (a bit in advance of the actual day of posting) because what this says is that the strongest shift I am likely to experience in conjunction with this eclipse hasn’t (shudder) even happened yet. Really? And here I thought my life had just imploded. Last time I checked, I was still shaking.

So…what now, more? Really? Well, okay….

(Sometimes being an astrologer is no help at all.)

AND….(getting back to biz)….back to the central theory and we arrive at the idea that if your personal natal Moon falls between 0 and 10 Scorpio (the degree after the eclipse)…then you too have also not hit the point where ‘letting go’ turned to ‘rebuilding in a mode which is more true to who you are as a person, never mind society and life conveniences.’

Conversely, those with a natal Moon beyond the degree of the eclipse (11 Scorpio) have theoretically already found (or even fallen into) come gap in your plan, some crack in your wall of plans…something.

There is even a school of astrological thought which would extend this theorem out through the rest of the zodiac. So what I’ve said about degrees beyond the eclipse…at some level that applies all the way through Scorpio into Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius Pisces, Aries and Taurus up to 10 Taurus (11 Taurus being the opposition point to 11 Scorpio). Since we’re using the eclipse’s position as dividing point, that means everything from 12 Taurus on through the balance of Taurus and Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra and 0 through 10 Scorpio – if your Moon falls anywhere in this grouping, you have yet to ‘reach’ your eclipse point.

This may sound counter-intuitive until I remind you that the Moon, being a satellite to Earth, is Earth’s natural and metaphysical ‘timer.’

Then again, maybe I should have left well enough alone?

In any case, this is an interesting idea to thing through as this rather trying eclipse comes running towards us along the river of time.

For some of us, the worst of the ‘shake up’ is over and we are about to feel life pushing us forward into a ‘rebuilding’ space. Whether you do well or terribly with that is a whole other matter, but for some of us, the hardest of the hard parts is over.

And for some of us, it hasn’t even shown its coronal filament yet. Call it the 'prequel versus sequel' eclipse effect.

Whichever group you fall in, whichever group your cherished loved ones fall in, this may also help explain why whatever happens over the next few weeks happens.

And why what you might be expecting just might not happen at all.
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A Sagittarius New Moon

"Earthrise" - a photo of Planet Earth taken by astronaut Bill Anders on December 24, 1968 revealing a sight apparently only visible from someone orbiting the Moon, not standing on its the surface.

(photo credit: NASA)

 
One of the things Sagittarius evokes in my astrological thoughts is the idea that anything Sagittarian is about being ‘on the road’ to somewhere or something.

So when it comes to a New Moon in Sagittarius (which occurs at 8:43 a.m. UT/+0 on Thursday, December 13th)...and since being ‘on the road’ is about learning new things, accepting the new and letting go of the old (at least as being ‘the only thing’…Sagittarius embodies qualities of wandering, wondering and maybe having a few regrets. For all we may gain, we may also leave something behind. We may triumph…then again, we may also make a few mistakes.

Known sometimes as dogmatic, Sagittarius becomes demanding or resistant through an inability to consider new ideas. It’s also about our ability to miss out on success when we refuse to hear good sense or learn better.

Any New Moon is the beginning of a next life ‘vignette.’ I often think of a solar return and our ‘birthday year’ as a chapter in the book of our life. In that sense, the lunation is a scene, a scenario, one of the subsets with which and upon which we will build our future and, in learning more about who we are, gain perspective on our past.

It’s that perspective which gives us insight and the power to improve our future. So here’s at least to that!

This year’s Sagittarius New Moon falls at 21 Sagittarius, a degree which by “decanate definition” has us interacting with our world. But it’s also a degree which is about some sort of active struggle we’re having with ourselves…about something. Or maybe some things. The Sabian Symbol A CHINESE LAUNDRY implies (among other things) that we’re sorting things out and trying to ‘clean things up’ or sort them out. The reference to ‘Chinese’ would seem to imply something ‘foreign’ to, or about, or which is part of what we’re trying to sort through this month. At the same time, we’re trying to be practical. And because this symbol refers to a business which would be part of a community or city, this refers to us as someone in our world – and whatever ‘thing’ we’re working at as one ‘working function’ in a greater tapestry of life.

And that idea…the ‘one among many’ issue, that echoes the ongoing Pluto/Facies conjunction.

LINK TO PLUTO/FACIES BLOG

That this moment – and this lunar month – may be an emotional one is shown by this New Moon at 21 Sagittarius being conjunct fixed star Ras Alhague, square Pallas in Pisces, and in perfect trine to Eris (retrograde) in Aries.

There’s a humble and industrious quality to the idea of the Chinese Laundry...coupled to the fact that the phrase 'Chinese Laundry' as coined in the US in the early part of the 1900's really had to do with oppressive circumstances experienced by Chinese Americans unable to get an economic foothold in a country which they were having trouble integrating themselves into.

Ras Alhague upholds both sides of this idea in many ways. As a binary star (with an orbiting cycle of approximately 8.6 years) Ras Alhague describes situations which 'circle around themselves.' Thus the dualistic nature of the Chinese American at the time when the term 'Chinese Laundry' was coined refers both to a group of people wanting to be part of a greater culture and a group of people who were at that time still very involved in holding to their own 'old' ways. Thus the difficulties ("punishment") which is felt whenever and wherever we see Ras Alhague becomes one which comes both from without and from within, with no clear answer.

And that 'seeking the answer to the problem' idea - that is entirely Sagittarian.

Known as the ‘Astrologer’ (implication: one who seeks information leading to greater knowledge) in Chinese lore, the name given to it by Arab astrologers (Ras Alhague) evidently translates as the ‘head of the serpent,’ which is apt because the alternate name for Ras Alhague is Alpha Ophiuchus -  Ophiuchus being a constellation which from time to time is proposed as a ‘lost zodiac sign’...but which it isn’t.

To qualify as a zodiac sign, Ophiuchus would have to lie on or across the planet of the ecliptic (Earth’s path around the Sun). And it doesn’t. But this too echoes the 'wanting to be part of something while being apart' quality as noted above.

And the constellation doesn't suggest that situations are easy, either. The image of Ophiuchus is of a hunter (some say a warrior) wrestling with a serpent, which fits with the ‘wrestling with things’ theme posed by the New Moon being at 21 Sagittarius.

The image of constellation Ophiuchus as pictured in the Azophi (al Sufi) manuscript Suwar al-Kawakib (dating from around 1730) which itself is a copy of a lost manuscript prepared for Ulug Beg of Smarkand in 1417 

(courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, DC)

 
Then we add the most prevalent themes which go with Ras Alhague, that of its representing situations which heal or hurt – even harm. If you saw the second in the recent series of Batman movies (‘The Dark Knight’) you may remember a character named Ras Alhague who asserted that the city of Gotham had to experience chaos and darkness in order to be purified. That idea is right in sync with the star and its lore, whether or not that was the intention of the character’s creators.

So there’s a definite ‘theme’ of difficulty and how we go about dealing with difficulties, whether they be past or present.

Because this is a New Moon, it may also be very helpful to think of the whole of the lunation (something I’ve been thinking about doing but hadn’t gotten to until now). The New Moon is at 21 Sagittarius, the First Quarter is at 28 Pisces, the Full Moon will be at 7 Cancer and the Last Quarter at 14 Libra.

Yes, the lunar cycle has 8 phases. But let’s start with the four ‘axial’ points. The first half of this lunation (the New and First Quarter phases) are in mutable signs, indicating a period where we learn as we go and will probably deal with a lot of adjusting of our plans, schedules and aims. Then the second half of the lunar cycle are in cardinal signs. So as we get to and pass through the Full Moon phase (which falls on December 28th), we will be moving from a reacting-to-things-as-we-go sort of mood-and-methodology into a more ‘get it done’ sort of mode.

Which makes sense, seeing as by December 28th the holidays are pretty much over.

(Yes, I know…there’s still New Years. But who doesn’t have their New Years plans in place by December 28th?)

Going back to the more astrological side of it all though, any lunation which begins in Sagittarius and comes to ‘full’ in Cancer is describing a couple of things.

One: since Sag-to-Cancer is an 8th house harmonic, this says that whatever we’re trying to ‘do’ starting out (i.e., at the New Moon) is all about a “Scorpio/8th house” sort of effort. In other words, we’re a.) dealing in the interactive realm here, b.) things are emotional and/or emotionally based and c.) we’d really just like to be doing what we’d like to do (or do it in a fashion and on a schedule which suits our fancy) but there are others to consider in our equation.

As always when we talk Scorpio/8th house, that’s the real test. We go into this lunation thinking about ourselves and our aims. But if that’s all we think about during this lunation, we’re going to have a hard time. All things Scorpio and 8th house require that we think not just in terms of our own values and judgment, but that of those around us with the trick being not to try to control them…AND not to be controlled by them.

(Oh yeah…that.)

So we can’t pander and we can’t give in, but we also can’t be unfeeling, uncaring, demanding or pissy.

The weird thing is…in a situation like this, especially since we’re talking a cycle which is by its lunar nature all about money, feelings, family and the bonds which tie (and sometimes unravel us!) it’s our very desire which can get us off track.

Yes, well…desire IS a Scorpio/8th house word.

The answer is to think it through and to do what’s right for you to do, regardless of pressures from others – or from some guilt or shame or whatever on the inside.

But be forewarned: this is one of those situations where the more sensible you are, the more lacking in sense others may turn out to be.

And when you see that, your feeling about them will change…which sometimes is the hardest thing of all, but oh-so Scorpio. Scorpio isn’t about sex or power or money as some think it is. Scorpio and all 8th harmonics are about how we discover more about our innermost self.

The other thing which seems so notable about this New Moon being in Sagittarius – particularly where it’s positioned (with Ras Alhague and trine Eris) – with the Full Moon being in Cancer is that this would seem to be a lunation which ‘brings things home’ to us. That can be in the external and obvious sense, but then again, it may symbolize a time…a lunar cycle…which ends up revealing more about why you are as you are. Why you live and have built the (Cancer) life that you live…how it came out of  (Sagittarius) things you learned or learned to believe.

Such concepts may now work for you…or not.

Either way, with Eris in the mix, this is New Moon starts us along a path which is meant to get us to feel something we haven’t felt before. Or which we didn’t think we were capable of feeling. Or which we didn’t realize was so important. Or not important.

Eris generally works best when we’re fighting for others. The person who defends the helpless, the person who stands up for the rights of those who aren’t being heard, those are Eris people who earn respect, support and lasting positive regard. Those who don’t care about what happens to others or how what they do effects others are also ‘Eris figures’ but in time the compromise of their own mortality comes back to haunt them.

The Judgment of Paris by Anton Raphael Mengs (c.1757)

The famous story of Paris' judgment being tested is very much what Eris is all about. When Eris is in the astrological picture, things will happen which test us emotionally, seeing what we're really all about and what we're willing to stand for. Want more information on Eris? Here's a LINK to an article on dwarf planet Eris here on the blog.  

That the New Moon is a latter (3rd decanate/21 Sagittarius) degree and the Full Moon is at 7 Cancer and thus a 1st decanate degree which is about who we are ‘in the flesh’ and what we do is another way of saying that life is ‘bringing home to us’ not just what we are going about (Sagittarius) doing, but what that means we are or are going to end up (Cancer) being.

With Mercury having just gone into Sagittarius as this New Moon arrives and Venus about to do likewise (as of December 16th) we know this is a busy time which will tempt us to just do “whatever” in order to get something done.

About the time the Full Moon hits, some of us will simply exhale in gratitude. Others of us will wonder where to go, considering what they’ve already done. We have three more months to come (after this one) of New Moons at 21 of successive signs, so we know that life is still about how we handle ourselves in our more and most ‘public realm.’ As of next month however, the emphasis shifts from interactive to worldly and “big picture” concerns. That fits with December being all about friends, family and holidays and to some extent that’s yet another way of looking at the New Moon being at 21 Sagittarius and the Full Moon being at 7 Cancer as the major markers in this cycle. Sagittarius is about how things are going along the road through our life. That reflects now – in some ways – in terms of what you bring home and for many, what home they have to come home to.

There’s a physical home, there is that home we find with family and people we love and treasure. Those are important, yes. But ultimately, it’s being at home with your Self and inside your own skin which really counts.

December 13th is not just the date of the New Moon – it’s also the day when Uranus and asteroid Kassandra go direct and when asteroid Circe goes into retrograde. And this is also at the peak of the Geminid meteor shower, as got blogged about yesterday.

 A photo from a 1955 episode of "I Love Lucy" with (left to right) Lucy's real-life husband Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Vivian Vance as Ethel Murtz and William Frawley as Ethel's husband Fred in the middle of some ridiculous situation so typical of the show and all the other sit-com's of the1950s.

(photo in public domain)

On the old ‘I Love Lucy’ shows hubby Ricky Ricardo used to say to his life (Lucille Ball) ‘you got some ‘splaining to do!’ in his richly Cuban accent…and it would seem that we are in something of a like position. But that’s good. If we can enjoy the holidays and along the way through them experience and learn about ourselves, what better present can we have...or become to ourselves, others and this world?
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Check Point Eclipse: The Taurus Full Moon

 Kites flying (photo credit Jon Sullivan)

When we ‘back up’ and look at astrology as theory, the Sun is a yearly cycle which planets with cycles longer than a year ‘gather’ into blocks of various lengths represent steps in any given process.

We talked some about this in the recent blog on Saturn moving out of Libra and into Scorpio as a step in a greater process. That process is the twelve-part cycle we know as the zodiac.

So everybody here on Earth has just started a 2.5 year cycle of Saturn in Scorpio, during which time, Jupiter will move through two signs (Gemini and Cancer) and start into Leo. During that time, the Sun will go through all twelve signs twice….and be half way through another round.

One of the most touching things I’ve ever read about the ancient Maya is that they thought of the trees as our ‘cousins.’ This evidently comes down to us as part of a mystical belief they had which said that everything ‘comes from the stars’ and no matter what form something is in, its ‘essence’ – that we’d call energy – is never lost, no matter what happens. You can burn a log, a person may die. The essence of what they are both in temporal and spiritual terms – that, the Maya said – was never lost. It would change forms but never be lost.

That idea became part of my life many years ago. And probably because of it, I have come to think of human life as akin to tree rings. Science tells us that we can look at the rings of a tree which lived for thousands of years and see a record of what that tree went through.

Those rings are formed through the pattern of Earth’s cycles. Or to put it astrologically, the Sun going once through all twelve signs. Each round of the Sun through the signs thus describes a single chapter in the book of our lives.

We just don’t have rings. Well, except for those we wear on our fingers!

The point here is that within that yearly cycle of Sun-and-twelve-signs is are the cycles of the Moon. Every 29.53 days, the Moon goes through all twelve signs. Do the math and you’ll find that when you divide the number of days in a solar year (365.2422 days) by the Moon’s ‘standard’ lunar month (29.53 days) and you’ll find there are 12.36 lunar months every year.

Every time the Sun finishes its transit through a sign, figure that the Moon has moved through all twelve. That’s what it comes down to. Lunar astrology being all about our daily, most mortal life, the high points of the soli-lunar cycle thus represent the initiation and ‘high points’ (New and Full Moon) as part of the Sun’s monthly movement through each sign.

This month, the Sun is traversing Scorpio. So it’s time for our ‘Scorpio step’ in a greater social process we refer to as 2012…and you’ll be taking that interactive, emotion-provoking step through wherever Scorpio lies in your natal chart.

(Plus, yes – the placement and conditions of Mars and Pluto as Scorpio’s rulers, where Scorpio is in your solar return chart and any major Mars or Pluto transits which happen to be going on for you.)

What’s interesting (and worth thinking about) is how our secular calendar causes Sun and Moon cycles to overlap. The New Moon is always in the sign of the Sun (as the Moon conjuncts the Sun) and the Full Moon is always in the sign opposing that of the Sun, seeing as that’s where the Moon ‘openly faces’ the Moon and thus receives and reflects the greatest among of solar (metaphysical) ‘illumination.’

Thus we see the Full Moon as a time which is informative…and which reveals things.

But our calendar? Instead of ‘connecting’ the New and Full Moon as designed by the Sun moving through any given sign, our months connect the Full Moon of one sign which the New Moon of the next…which at some level seems like a philosophical process which by design is meant to move us forward.

In any case, this month’s Full Moon is positioned at 6 Taurus – which means the Sun is at 6 Scorpio…with the Moon at 6 Taurus, a degree known for its mental nature. But don’t confuse ‘mental’ with ‘thoughtful.’ Six Taurus is known as a degree where mentality is insightful, but since this occurs early in a sign which has a very distinct undeveloped-versus-developed side, whether anybody’s aim (or choices of the moment) come from their ‘primal need’ Taurus side or the more ‘matured’ ‘I know my succeeding depends on others’ Taurus knowing is entirely individual. The Sabian Symbol here is as follows: ‘THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA AT THE ANCESTRAL WELL’ which Marc Edmund Jones gives the following keynote to: the meeting of the traditional past and of the creative spirit, pointing to the future.

Because this is a Full Moon, it is at this point that we will see signs of where our needs (the going to the well) are being met among others of ‘our kind.’ That refers to some ‘group’ we identify with. It could be our family. Or those of our heritage. The people we work with or a field we are accustomed to working in – or anything else where we are ‘one of the group.’ But whatever that group is (or whatever those groups are) because this is a Full Moon image, there is a distinct Scorpio quality being thrown into the mix. Life (the Sun) is saying that we must work with, or at least now be conscious of a greater group (whatever that may be) beyond our ‘pre-defined’ notion.

 A March Full Moon over Munster, Germany

(Kai Schreiber, March 2011)

How well we are integrated with them…those who we think of as ‘not me/mine’ defines to some degree our success now. And certainly the ease with which we move forward with our plans. That the Sabian Symbol for 6 Scorpio is DEEP-SEA DIVERS is a classic sort of ‘watery’ metaphysical commentary. Against the Moon (instinct, feelings) at 6 Taurus, this describes this Full Moon moment as a very plus-or-minus informing us where we are in the process of coming to understand that, as famously put, no man is an island.

That goes for women, too – obviously!

Any Taurus/Scorpio connection is always about how well we are able to interface with others and life and social systems and the various ‘gatekeepers’ in life so that they will support us in our aims.

And that would be that, except for three things.

One, Taurus and Scorpio are fixed and yin signs a combination which creates a polarity which tends to hold onto things - or things as they are, the ‘status quo’ (Taurus) because the process of (Scorpio) confrontation and emotion-provoking negotiation and compromise feels so personal. What to some might be a simple matter of give or take and ‘normal’ amounts of reluctance to give in…or to go through realizing you’re not right in abstract, or how to build towards some goal or aim…

Let’s face it: nobody likes being wrong. But when you get into Taurus/Scorpio territory (whether by natal chart placement or just in terms of the time of the year)…then the ‘right-versus-wrong’ becomes validation versus invalidation.

And that strikes us a whole lot deeper. That’s painful. Even scary.

And let’s remember…Saturn has just moved into Scorpio. So life is all about finding our chinks right now. The karma, the metaphysics – everything is primed to provoke some really deep fears.

Yet there is a positive point. And maybe…just maybe those among us who encounter the hardest times and the deepest feelings of invalidation are those who also have the chance to gain the most.

There’s a saying in metaphysics: that which you fear you will manifest. Why? Because life wants us to understand that the ‘worst’ can happen and we can still survive it.

So that’s the first thing. The second is simply that we’re now but a couple of weeks away from a solar eclipse which is also in Scorpio, which “compounds” this Full Moon in Taurus by ‘setting the stage’ for that to come. The subject may not be the same, but the emotional stirring is consistent.

For probably a month now…maybe a bit more, most of us have had this ‘lurking sense’ of something which isn’t working. It’s ‘coming apart’ at some level. Being that this incoming eclipse is going to occur at a (3rd decanate) degree between 20 and 29 of a sign, the likely ‘provocation’ is external.

But it’s to understand that ‘they’re’ not the problem. In fact, the mere fact that the more you struggle with ‘them’ the more implacable ‘they’ seem makes the whole struggle worse.

The answer here is pretty simple: their ‘implacability’ is due to the fact that the growing sense of ‘solar instability’ (life becoming destabilized) is not about them. It’s your feeling – it’s your issue. And since Full Moons tend to ‘highlight’ emotions, emotional events or emotional issues, the Full Moon which will occur on Monday, October 29 at 7:51 in the evening (UT/+0) is likely to unsettle things even more.

And for many, there’s more yet to come.

The third thing is that this Full Moon comes to us with the image of a kite:

 
The grand trine (in blue) is all in water signs – an indication of ongoing or deep seated emotions or topics which set off our emotionalism.

Ceres asks us to plan, or represents ‘our plans.’ Mirzam represents a moment which is evocative or touching…or sometimes touchy. That Mirzam sits so close to Alhena by nature speaks to how others feel about our Purpose and how we feel about whether we are fulfilling that which is either our human-prescribed purpose or our Divinely ordained Purpose - which for most of us are two very different things.

And therein lies a quandary.

In Pisces, sign of feeling ourselves confronted by our feelings, Niobe conjunct Fomalhaut/Bali and Chiron (with Chiron in retrograde) we're concerned about hurting ourselves further, about vulnerabilities - even shame we may not be willing to feel or confront...we're aware, however remotely of being caught between our  need to go forward and things we need to go back and truly deal with.

The third corner of this grand trine starts (and ends) with the Sun – our life, the will and energy with which we live our life, and with which we face in life. The highest number here (9 Scorpio) is occupied by Industria and Pandora: the complications involved in some situation against the very will (and reasons) we have to try and get that ‘something’ done.

Are we proving something to others? Or to our Self? Are we waging some valid fight, or are we just trying not to feel some truth we can’t bear to think we truly need to confront?

Remember: the temptation is to think the issue, the problem, the ‘wrongness’ is in them. The right way through this moment involves putting their right or wrongness aside for the moment in favor of understanding where your quaking is coming from.

With Arachne in this grand trine mix, the indication is that we’re all caught up in what we’re doing even if we would like to (or know we should) be doing something else. There’s something (Tantalus) so tempting that we’re likely to go way over the line with it.

Or maybe we already have.

The top of this kite formation is Hamal conjunct Moon in the sign of Taurus. Here we have described a matter of choice mostly because of the sextile (the green dotted lines) to Fomalhaut on one side and Mirzam-Alhena on the other.

By itself, Hamal/Moon in Taurus would be ‘I have a right to my feelings.’ And that well may be true regardless. But the double sextile to fixed stars here clearly speak to the choice and the question as to whether what we’re doing is what we should be doing. And are we doing it the right way? Or have we succumbed to temptations and compromising or even harming others in the process of trying to achieve some greater aim.

Here’s a spiritual thought to go with all this: that which humans demand often requires…and seems to condone actions and choices which we know are less than what we want them to be while that which is truly Ordained through our creation frees us to be who we are without compromise.

So…while we are freely human, are we the evolved human or not?

That would seem to be the question of the season – and we are being reminded of it now, as the days and weeks unwind before us. We head not to some cataclysm of life, but one of self-respect – without which hope dies and life becomes really not much worth living.

One last note: this Full Moon occurs just a couple of hours after Mercury enters Sagittarius.

Mercury in Sagittarius as its own idea is another post for another day. (Say, tomorrow?) Meanwhile, suffice it to say the combination of this Mercury shift from Scorpio into Sagittarius at the moment of a Full Moon marks this as a time when feelings may well surface as opinions. Or for unexpected emotional outbursts. It also adds to feelings of fervency and conviction, pro or con, right or wrong. Those who seek to fool others may find out that they're only fooling themselves.

Under the best of conditions, Mercury in Sagittarius can indicate rash statements and haste in decisions. Yet when we see Mercury entering Sagittarius in tandem with a figure such as the kite, those 'steering' said kite by its tail will do well.

The 'tail' of this kite is all about thinking without falling prey to temptations where you find them. Since this kite tail is part of a grand trine, the whole of that trine is in play here.

 The Omega or Swan Nebula, 5500 LY from Earth and part of Sagittarius

(NASA, ESA, J. Hester-ASU, April 2003)

So much depends on what we are aiming to do now. Are we living to please other humans? Or are we following the path we were made to follow? Neither are necessarily easy. In fact, both may be equally hard. 

It all comes down to why we're doing things.

But then, it generally does.  
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