Solar Eclipse Scheat: Flight against Insight

The Solar Eclipse of January 4, 2011 as photographed by Hinode

(photo credit: NASA)

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Solar eclipses are highly individual beasts. And the eclipse of March 20th - the totality of which will occur at 9:46 in the morning (UT/+0 time) - is no different.

This isn’t to say solar eclipses don’t have some ‘guidelines’ we can go by. Time-wise, they last a full three years (36 months), and often (particularly if the eclipse hits your chart with any acuity) there will be a ‘turn of events’ at around the 30-month (2.5 year) mark.

Eclipses also follow a metaphysical ‘reflection’ of the event we see in our sky. As the Moon (the astrological emblem of everyday events and feelings) ... crosses in front of the Sun (general life around us and our mental consciousness) ... and ‘blacks’ the Sun out, something in life “goes away.”

It too gets ‘blacked out” or lost.

What the thing is which is has to do with where the eclipse falls in your natal and solar chart, and any planet/dwarf planet, node or cusp point ‘hit’ by eclipse transit (take this to mean all the attributes you would associate with that planet/dwarf planet, node or cusp point in your own life) will also lose all semblance to what they were not but a short time ago.

This eclipse has been coming ‘towards’ us for several months now. If it’s aspecting your chart, you’re long past beginning to feel something ... you’re either in the thick of it, or you’re sufficiently overwhelmed by it that you’re not necessarily thinking of other things, but...

... you’re thinking of other things.

Total Solar Eclipse of March 20, 2015 at 29 Pisces (glyph chart)

9:36 am (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Total Solar Eclipse of March 20, 2015 at 29 Pisces (text chart)

9:36 am (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific) 
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So what we are dealing with now is 29 Pisces (the eclipse occurring at 29 Pisces), and that ‘other thing’ you’re thinking about is either connected to what happened to ‘waylay’ you two-and-a-half years ago, or it is whatever you were doing which got waylaid two-and-a-half years ago.

In eclipse terms, that would be the eclipse which occurred towards the end of 2012, which would be another total eclipse, that one having been an eclipse at 21 Scorpio which occurred on the same date that Uranus went direct at 4 Aries.

(It was also my personal Saturn return, but that’s besides the point - except for the fact my writing in all genres is nothing if not of an unusual nature and therefore Uranian.)

The 4 Aries part of that equation does mean something to us now: 4 Aries is perfectly trine 4 Sagittarius - and 4 Sagittarius is the degree Saturn went retrograde at last weekend (on March 14th).

The meaning of that much: in a moment, the lesson became real. If an eclipse hadn’t been involved at both ends of this equation this would merely be a moment of discovery. Instead, there is a deep and deeply personal lesson for those whose charts answer (by orb) to 29 Pisces, 21 Scorpio, 4 Sagittarius and/or 4 Aries.

Also: the more of these points which affect your chart, either the deeper or the more problematic the situation is going to be or become.

To those who were affected by the 21 Scorpio eclipse (back in 2012) but whose charts are NOT affected by 29 Pisces (see the chart below), your life will proceed based on what has developed over the past two-plus years which will now ‘blossom’ into new things and a more determinative direction over the next six (6) months.

To those with charts which were affected by the 21 Scorpio eclipse and the current 29 Pisces eclipse, you are now at a turning point which will start you off in a new direction which from here will evolve and develop for a full two-and-a-half years before you will encounter another ‘twist’ in the plan. It may be similar to what you are encountering now, or it could be entirely different, and whatever is ‘lost’ now - this being a lesson of all eclipses - was something which you may have loved and cherished, but which in reality was something which was standing in the way of your learning how to do something you will need to do now and in the future for reasons you cannot yet know.

The degree 29 Pisces is one known for strong intuition and by some accounts, psychic ability. Either quality can be a benefit, according to this influence, yet there is a danger of falling into (or falling for) some notion which either isn’t true or simply isn’t what it appears to be - either on the visual surface (as it ‘appears’ to be in person) or as ‘veiled,’ imprecise or ‘rumored’ information.

If this eclipse aspects your chart, some form of this 29 Pisces dynamic will be present (at the present) in your life, whether it’s your ‘notion’ which is in play, someone else ‘owning’ the 29 Pisces quality, someone or some situation which specifically embodies the 29 Pisces concept or some influx or sudden happenstance which creates a 29 Pisces-type confluence where that which has “been” is now against that which can be, will be or could be, creating an intermittent conflict between various factions in your life.

For many, all of the above (the 29 Pisces theme) will cause the ‘abandoning’ of one situation for another - and that ‘other’ situation is the ‘twist’ provided by the eclipse of 2.5 years ago (at 21 Scorpio) as it now closes in on maturation.

And for good or bad, the essence of 21 Scorpio has a few things in common with 29 Pisces - not the least of which being that its concerns where we live in our human emotions. Something ‘back then’ (late 2012) ended - if not in fact, in our heart or mind. And in the space (psychic space) which arose as we let go of (or closed out) something which had gone before, a conflict naturally arose. That conflict - which was the seeming ‘cause’ of much which was “on the surface” back then just as the 29 Pisces issues (and all which have prompted them) are now - that conflict pitted  your own desire to have a stable home or a good home and all the warmth and love of family against your own instinct to be freed of responsibilities in order to live out your promise and/or some particular concepts or potentials.

In the case of 21 Scorpio, back in 2012 (and to some extent now) there was some ‘status quo’ which was “exploded,” either through the ‘blacking out’ of the eclipse process or as the end of something brought about some release or breakthrough which may well have (at the time) felt highly liberating.

And now, because of something in the 29 Pisces vein, many of us - in particular those whose charts would be aspected by 21 Scorpio and 29 Pisces - will find that there’s something nebulous or seemingly impossible to sort through (at least at the moment) which we have in some way, or by some method, managed to put ourselves into position to avoid (avoidance being a prime coping mechanism employed in many a Pisces situation) ... which we will now do in connection with something which harkens back to 21 Scorpio matters.

All of which doesn’t even begin to address the subject of Scheat.

Currently positioned at 29 Pisces, the astrological energetic which is Scheat is part of - if also separate from - the meaning for 29 Pisces. Like other fixed stars, Scheat functions somewhat akin to a ‘background’ note: oftentimes fixed stars represent things like currently “accepted” (or acceptable) societal standards, methods or notions. As we talk a lot about royal stars here at astroPPM, it’s worth noting that Scheat is not a royal star so there is no specific ‘warning’ about some quality or thing we must avoid in our Scheat “encounter.”

Why this is Scheat’s ‘theme’ however, is a bit more complicated. Often “short-handed” astrologically as a form of denial (generally a blanket denial which is as often wrong as right in its rationale and/or facts) Scheat is one of the stars in the so-called ‘great square’ of constellation Pegasus ... which would be complicated enough except that as a constellation Pegasus is connected to (intermingled with) constellation Andromeda.

 constellations Andromeda (top) and Pegasus (bottom) imaged

using Stellarium software

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And yes, the myths behind these two points are connected as well.

What connects them?

The answer there is a ‘who,’ not a ‘what,’ - and her gorgon name is Medusa, an astrological emblem of all those things which frighten us at an earnestly visceral level about our Self, and how we may well have done that Self - in capacity or reality - sincere harm.

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Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

Pegasus is not Medusa’s child, per se. But when the young hero Perseus cuts Medusa’s head off, from the blood which flows forth (whether from the head or body isn’t noted) springs two creatures, one of which is Pegasus.

Is Pegasus the part of Medusa which would have wanted to ‘fly away’ from the fate she brought upon herself - and which (it might be argued) she was fated to bring upon herself by being born mortal? Maybe so, for in Pegasus is an animalistic potency (strength of instinct, speaking of 29 Pisces) which Medusa was born with, and which Medusa herself fell afoul of while in the course of serving the goddess of logic and dispassionate wisdom, Pallas Athena.

Medusa’s crime against Athena was the breaking of her vow to adhere to the teachings of wisdom and logic. And that she committed this crime by getting ‘carried away’ with Neptune makes it curiously fitting that Pegasus - literally the embodiment of ‘getting carried away by animalistic energies’ came into being as one of Medusa’s most captivating legacies when Perseus cut Medusa’s head off, reminding us of that common mortal instinct to ‘cut off’ that which is scaring or plaguing us.

Does it die? According to the myth, that ‘thing’ may die - but it may also become other forms of expression, such as Pegasus and the Chrysaor are as the literal blood of Medusa. In our lives, such attributes sometimes seem to be embodied as other people - but that’s exactly where we deceive our Self: we attract others not because of who they are, but because of something we are trying to solve or access or understand about our Self ...  hence the ‘harkening back’ to earlier eclipses and the intricately intertwined ways in which we fight to grow and be who we really are even as we deny things about (or even to) that Self which ultimately will not ... and cannot be denied because we are our Self.

We want to project even though its our feelings which we’re projecting. We want to exteriorize, even though anything which is in our life is something which we consciously know is there because we are connected to it. All of this may well be part of the nebulous ‘slippery-ness’ of the current eclipse - and hence of our desire to ‘take flight’ into, or away from something, even if what we’re running from now is the very thing we were running exactly towards not even three years ago.

And it’s all about us. Whatever happens now, whatever form or sort of inexorable change is functioning in your life, recognizing and accepting that something is indeed over (done, gone, lost, etc.) is the first if perhaps most gut-wrenching step any of us can take on whatever internalized emotional path we are being called to walk along.

And we will take that step. We will because that’s what solar eclipses do: they alter life’s ‘playing field’ such that we have no choice but to swim or sink into an oblivion which is only composed of our own unwillingness to learn anew or differently.

The Birth of Pegasus and Chrysaor

by Edward Burne Jones (1876-1885)

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As for the Andromeda side of this ‘connection,’ Andromeda was the daughter of queen Cassiopeia - the queen whose story (and energetic) was provoked when last April’s solar eclipse (at 8 Taurus) conjuncted fixed star Schedir.

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April’s 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse

(Part 3: Stars and Patterns)

Does this mean that if your chart was also aspected by last April’s eclipse this current eclipse would be stronger or maybe more complicated? That can be the case, though from season to season eclipses may not be ‘connected’ (in your life experiences) even if sequential eclipses do aspect your chart.

Sometimes all it means is that good or bad, you’re going through a lot of changes as your life evolves from one set of standard quos to another. Eclipses don’t take away things we don’t need, but they often eliminate something we really and sincerely like, love and depend on. Sometimes they seem to eliminate things only to have life bright that which we thought was lost back around - often at the 2.5 year ‘twist’ moment of the given eclipse.

When that happens, we may be assured of one thing: we have learned something more (or new) about not living a compromised life. We are meant to do certain things in our lifetimes. We have certain purposes. The thousands of years of solar eclipse lore (as separate from lunar eclipse records) strongly suggests that solar eclipses are about keeping us from that which works ‘well enough’ but which in the end will prevent us from doing those things or knowing those people we were created to know, do or be part of.

So there was Cassiopeia, the mother of the gracious and beautiful Andromeda. As Queen of Ethiopia, Cassiopeia was of a mind to say and do pretty much what she wanted to do, so it never occurred to her (it never does) that her boastful claim that her mortal daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the sea nymph Nereids would annoy Neptune, but it did.

Yes, it’s that mortal-versus-god thing again. Any time a mortal (or even a demi-mortal) starts bragging about beauty and comparing themselves to the gods in Greek myth, you know there’s trouble coming ... and this story doesn’t disappoint.

No, disappointing is a Neptune thing, and when the sea god heard about Cassiopeia claim, said god sent along Cetus, a sea monster to attack Ethiopia.

Understandably, King Cepheus (Cassiopeia’s husband and Andromeda’s father) was seriously concerned. But was he so concerned that when an oracle told Cepheus and Cassiopeia that they should sacrifice their daughter to Neptune’s monster he stopped to object?

No. Just the monstrous threat of Cetus, an oceanic monster which in representing the worst water can deliver metaphysically translates into the worst that emotions and/or emotionality can delve out - that was quite enough to frighten Cepheus and Cassiopeia, who promptly had Andromeda taken down to the shore and chained to a rock so as to await the monster’s arrival.

Andromeda by Gustave Dore

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And Cetus - that terrible emotion which rises from our depths - did indeed soon approach the Ethiopian shore. But as that happened, Perseus, who was flying towards his own homeland (with the head of Medusa carefully hidden in a sack), spotted the maiden and swooped in to do the heroic deed.

Thus was Cetus slain and Andromeda rescued from an emotionally benighted fate her own parents had left her to be swallowed up by.

Lest we forget (or miss this point),there is a real piece of psychology wrapped up in Cassiopeia - the woman referred to as ‘chained’ in her own right, seeking to chain and sacrifice her only daughter to pay for her own bad act. In real life, parents are of course never supposed to do such a thing - and yet they do, all too often to all to ill a lifetime effect. But myth is not real life, and since when we read myth metaphysically we treat the various parts of the story as facets or aspects of personality, situation or mentality which we ourselves will encounter, all these questions of family and emotionality, loyalty, blood and morality refer to us and whether we have learned not to embody and/or ‘pass down’ (or ‘pass along’) restrictions which have been handed to us, or restrictions as a legacy - as restrictive measures which have been foisted upon us.

Wherever Scheat falls in our chart, that is where we become tempted to put aside being who we are in some ‘cause’ described by that house. We will feel societal pressure - perhaps on both, or every side. That alone is enough to push many (if not most) of us off course with our Self - which is really the cause in which Scheat and 29 Pisces are united. Somewhere in our psyches we each have somewhere where we have been resistant or reluctant to cross some ‘line’ - not with others, but with our Self. And now, with Scheat being eclipsed, anything and everything which has been denied is going to come out. Even if you won’t discuss it, others will - even seemingly out of thin air.

Many of us are already gills deep in such situations. Yet some ... a relative few, but some ... will run into Scheat challenges as the solar eclipse moves through - say, in the two or three weeks which follow the eclipse, which is generally the period during which we change in response to recent events, pressures and other sorts of input.

That Scheat so often astrologically represents an accepted social, public or personal position on/about some ‘thing’ which may be wrong (but which is unlikely to change even though a lack of change equates to standing in one’s own way) ... that all that is being set off at all by this eclipse implies that there is ... or recently has been a ‘testing’ of some standard - perhaps with new information or some sort of challenge. For the past several months things have been unsettled in some area which may touch on ‘general feelings’ (intuitive or otherwise) going around ... or which may seem to be crumbling the very solidity upon which your concepts are built.

That’s the eclipse as a ‘package,’ so to speak. Within that, Scheat is the element which tempts you to ‘run from’ the (Pisces) feelings which would be associated with facing something in/about your life - or the loss of something in/about your life. And since there is hardly anything astrological any more global, basic and potentially disorienting than a solar eclipse, every single one of us (particularly those whose charts are aspected by orb) ... every one of us is going through these internal ordeals regarding external/externalized issues which are (or have) raised uncertainty and indecision in whatever area would promote/provoke an awareness of the difference between fantasy and reality, and how to relinquish our hold on that - to blindly believe something simply because it is or isn’t presented as ‘good’ or ‘the norm’ or however else ... is a  sacrifice of Self and a compromise of potential.

Solar eclipses evolve over the full three years associated with their passage. That means the coronal inspiration - that special thing about each one of us which we will do well to utilize in this eclipse’s passage - will be with us until February, 2018. The ‘twist’ in this eclipse’s Scheat tale however, that falls around six months prior to said date in August 2017, when on the 21st of the month there will be a total solar eclipse at 28 Leo - a position which is in orb of conjunction with Regulus, the royal star which says that success cannot be achieved if we have indulged our Self with regards to revenge or vengeance.

That may well have bearing on what some people do now. Or what they deny (or deny to have any part in) which come late 2017 returns as an issue to trip them up or haunt them.

Of course with an eclipse at 29 Pisces, the Sun is a scant degree away from 0 Aries, which in the case means that the Sun will be moving through its Aries ingress (which is otherwise known as the Aries Equinox) at 22:46 in the evening (10:46 p.m., UT/+0), only some twelve hours after the eclipse reaches totality. Some might say the Sun's exit out of Pisces so soon after an eclipse underscores the eclipse message about letting go or leaving something, someone or some situation behind, either consciously or unconsciously. But whether you feel that's apt in your case, what we know from the astrology is that if the Sun (signifying our consciousness) moves out of Pisces, that puts everything about the eclipse into the '12th harmonic' position vis-a-vis where we are as of 10:46 on that evening. (And obviously, on into Aries from there.)

There is a difficulty sketched in here - namely that the 12th harmonic is where we tend to do all those self-compromising, emotionally-driven things which are associated with ... with what?

With Pisces.

What this says is that most of us will fall (broadly) into two very ill-defined groups - the group which is going to take its issues on (emotional though they may be) in a more 'behind the scenes' mode ... and those who will, virtually as fast as they recognize their part in some problem (or the fact they are part or party to a problem) begin to deny it - either the problem, that the problem is a problem, or that they have, or have had anything to do with the subject. Once the Sun enters Aries, a natural grand-fire-trine-by-sign will be 'ignited' in day-to-day matters by virtue of the Sun's 'generality' quotient. And that will bring out a lot of Jupiter (in Leo) - Saturn (in Sagittarius) - Uranus (in Aries) postulating, projecting, promising and pontificating which with Mercury entering Aries as of March 31st and the 14 Libra Lunar Eclipse on April 4th promises a couple of high-powered, highly motivated and interestingly imaginative weeks, much of the subject(s) of which will - despite what people might want you to think - be reflective of unsettled feelings just below many a surface about where one's life or efforts are really headed.

NGC 7319 in constellation Pegasus

(photo credit NASA, ESA, July 2009)

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So ... as I started out by saying, eclipses are mysteriously squirrelly beasts. They’re beautiful and they’re awe-inspiring in their ability to remind us of something which otherwise we don’t tend to think about much: namely how we don’t control much in, or about this universe and Existence. At 29 Pisces - the last degree in the whole of the zodiac - it may be easy to get lost in the idea that everything is over simply because one thing has run its useful or even some theoretically eternal course. Moreover, the way eclipse cycles work, this isn’t 29 Pisces as the ‘end’ of the zodiac round at all, if simply because eclipses - being a function of the lunar nodes (you can’t have an eclipse without those lunar nodes!) - because the nodes cycle backwards.

And if we think of the entire cavalcade of astro-events leading into this eclipse ... Saturn's station, Lilith's station prior to that, Mercury entering Pisces as Juno went direct ... it all very much speaks to that process which has been coming upon us for the past few months which is about being led to, forced to, exposed to that which we fear most about ourselves, not so we can be destroyed by it, but so that we can finally recognize something about our Self which WE have been denying (or simply not seeing about our Self) for a long time.

Probably too long a time.

That means we may be fooling our Self about what we really want - which is one of the tougher parts of this solar eclipse. As fast as we recognize what we need (or really want), whether we have it in our hands or not are we likely to be giving up one denial for another because we haven't yet accepted (the challenge of Pisces being emotional acceptance) those parts of our Self which we don't really like.

Not like doing ... LIKE. The person we back away from (lunar nodes cycle backwards). The thing in our Self we habitually deny (asteroid Lilith) doing or being. The thing hard times may have us thinking we should retreat from trying to do in or about or with others in our world because (Scheat) we don't understand or (Scheat) they don't want to listen.

Or maybe they want to listen. Or they want to talk to us or hear from us or understand us ... and we have been denying our need to be heard, felt and witnessed in our soul. Beyond the days and trials and relationships and commitments, beyond our hopes and without the motivation of plans we are simply ... who are we?

And are we really who we think we are - or want to be?

That's the level at which the person you are is most likely to be affected by this eclipse.

So that's one part of it, with the other part of the process - the 'critical' part of the 29 "critical" degrees of Pisces which speaks to the societal, plural ‘we,’ the mankind 'we' as well as the individual 'we' - WE are already past another zodiacal transition. WE are feeling (and witnessing) the feelings which have resulted from actions which themselves are reactions (in particular) to things which have come to be or taken place over the past 4-5 years.

And now WE ... and we (as individuals) will just have to decide who we are - and who we’re willing to be, considering we can neither be everything nor (in most cases) even everything we expect of ourselves, noble though our intentions and efforts may be. That's just part of being mortal, and Pisces - as a sign - is nothing if not about not just weathering the experience of being mortal, but experiencing both the turbulent and sunny times - each for what it is in the whole of what is supposed to be a widely varied and variable life.
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April’s 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse (Pt. 3: Stars and Patterns)

An Annular Eclipse

(photo credit: Sancho Panza, October 2005)

Each of Earth’s yearly solar eclipses is a process...in this case one which in rolling over us on April 29th at 6:15 in the morning (UT/+0) moves us out of a ‘breaking down’ phase where whatever is outmoded gets revealed so as to challenge our values and whatever we value or why we value or prioritize it, for good, bad and indifferent.

From this shift, exposure and need to re-evaluate our perceptions will come a new phase of development, experience and resultant utilization of abilities.

And though we may need such changes, let’s be real - we may not like going through them. There is something about the solar eclipse process which, with all due respect for dentistry is rather like having teeth extracted without painkillers.

There is a level at which we should take that sort of difficulty as a hint, perhaps. Why? Because throughout the millennia, the observation of solar eclipse effects on humans and in this world includes some of our very worst attributes.

You know...that very popular human sport called “being stubborn.”

Mind you, having opinions is lovely and standing for what you believe in and who you are the most necessary of things in this world. (Those who can’t do even that much have a very hard time.) And stubbornness has it’s place - no question. But when we are stubbornly refusing to know ourselves...that’s where eclipses come in.

Eclipses are very mysterious timekeepers. But they do seem to clock out areas of our life which will get exposed to us no matter what else happens and who else does, or doesn’t see.

Also: in the case of eclipses - a “blinding” object in the sky - IF someone else ‘sees’ you in the middle of dealing with your eclipse puzzle, whether or not they react you may be assured that witnessing is part of their own process. In other words (to quote a seriously Leo female I used to work with), ‘it’s so NOT about YOU.’

Well, mostly not. There is this factor of ‘like attracts like’ (metaphysical water/emotions seeking its/their own level) between people at eclipses and for good or bad, whether we like it or not the polarizing effects have much to teach us, if we’re only willing to learn.

So...do we value learning more or sticking with a ‘decided upon’ perspective or set of priorities?

Right now...right in this moment as we move into and through the solar eclipse, something will end or get ‘blacked out’ as the metaphysical ‘eclipsing’ of our former ‘norm’ - “the way we thought things were” gets wiped away.

This doesn’t have to be violent. It doesn’t even have to be unpleasant, though eclipses in Taurus tend to be particularly trying as they reveal things which, while they may or may not make us vulnerable in reality, sure feel that way.

It’s a prescription for insecurity - all of which we are being ‘told’ (astrologically) is going to challenge us with our own ability to act on faith...or to be faithful to some promise and/or precept.

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Mercury in Taurus / Neptune at 7 Pisces

Solar eclipses happen about every six months, reminding us of our mortality in the sense that events which happen during ‘eclipse seasons’ operate at a mental latitude omnipotent, humbling and incomprehensible in the moment. The sextile from Neptune (at 7 Pisces) to the eclipse (at 8 Taurus) signals a manifesting, an outpouring or ‘bursting forth’ of all things which confuse and disorient us precisely so that we can see or witness something different...or at least differently than we have seen it.

From that will come a nebulous strew of new perceptions, some of which - at least - will challenge us to be more honest with our Self.

And if we can’t (or won’t) go there...then we feel our own pain most acutely. It’s easy to make excuses now. It’s easy to do that which makes us feel better in this moment. Yet even the most determined (or hard headed, depending) among us are likely to have doubts at the moment. Whatever we’re involved in (or not involved in), there’s no clear path through the fray.

We will cope, of course. With the degree of this eclipse being 8 Taurus this time is simply personal in nature - and equally so for each and every one of us, whether you’re baking cookies at home or being focused on by schools and scads of media on some high profile international stage. In some way reflective of our ability to think ahead, adapt along the way and plan for the proverbial ‘rainy day’ (whether that’s past or present) we are at something of a ‘checkpoint’ in time - an idea quaintly referred to by the eclipse’s Sabian description ‘A fully decorated Christmas Tree.’

Can this reference be religious? It could be, but since the origin of Christmas is northern-hemispheric it’s as (or more) likely that this reference is to cyclic renewal: the idea that late December is when in the northern hemisphere days start growing longer and (solar) renewal is thus promised.

There will be another growing season, another harvest, we have more time, we can try, try again.

Evidently we humans like knowing there’s brighter light ahead. Before Christmas and around the globe humans have always celebrated the moment when we feel life quicken and begin to grow.

We celebrate it in our calendar, we celebrate it when in the moment when we learn of a human’s conception - or see their birth. Such things transcend our differences as societally, culturally, globally accepted moments worth celebrating even in the life of our dearest enemy.

Okay...so maybe we won’t celebrate the birth of their child as they would, but we’d probably stop shooting at them long enough to let them kiss their newborn.

Those who don’t and won’t go that far may win in some short run, but in doing so either seed or reveal their monster/monstrous tendencies...which only begs the question when they’ll notice that the psychic blood being spilled is really theirs.

Solar eclipses are not gentle. Solar eclipses often manifest in group experiences but are always and eternally about us - who we are as individuals and our ability to recognize, realize and/or deal with who we are.

At the moment, this entire process is highly amplified and yet strangely ‘inaccessible’ - that being the manifestation of that pesky Mars still in (Libra) retrograde which remains with us until-and-through Mars’ May 20th station - a station which will open doors to ‘move forward’ starting at the ‘theoretical/mental’ end of things with actions and “progress” (as we see it) slowly picking up pace as we move through June. Prior to May 20th the (Mars/Libra retrograde) ‘gap’ between the ‘me’ and ‘them’ (or ‘it’) of life will tend to feel like isolation. Where we are and where we want to be are just not in synch. We can think of this as being given us a bit of ‘space’ and “mental room” and many of us will do (and have been doing) just that.

But there is that (Neptunian) insecurity. And if there’s anything humans don’t like, it’s feeling insecure.

And why would that be? Could it be that insecurity stems from feeling that our personal power (or power to be the person we are) is being threatened?

Or maybe we aren’t “all that” (with or without the bag of chips)?

The good news is that we’re all in this together. The bad news is that there is no clear-cut solution to whatever it is we’ve gathered onto our plate...nor are we all that happy about having to confront knowing about all those choices which got us to wherever we are at the moment.

But then, so did everybody else. And if E=mc2’d...or if you merely want to think about Existence as a single thing which at whatever level manifests as the whole of what it is in every given moment, then you...me...the doorknob and your computer, we are ALL energy.

As is all the space between us - which really means we’re contiguous...from which vantage point individuality takes on a whole other perspective: that of knowing our part in order to play our part in a Whole which provides all we need and all we could ever conceive of or want.

So given that, who are we fighting when our feelings prompt us to upset? It’s a whole different question, isn’t it?

And one which is not all that comfortable to deal with as generational shifts continue evolving. Deep within we want things to change - we just aren’t sure that anyone else knows how to do the right thing.

Then again, neither do we. Our lives social, societal, worldly and planetary are all changing, bringing about a wholesale crumbling of old allegiances (Pluto/Sabine) and whatever attitudes or perspectives have outlived/completed their usefulness in our lives, our world, our life and times.

Whatever (Pluto/Vega) appeal brought such qualities to the fore is beginning to fade, asking that we (Pluto) transform our Self - not that (Uranus) change is very easy. The innate difference between Plutonic and Uranian processes has pitted us against our own ability to tolerate inexorable inevitabilities we may or many not like amidst an aura of fractious reactivity, ‘shaking us’ at an entirely (TNO Typhon) primal level and as always, Uranus will manifest as situations which 'exert' change in a more abrupt force where we are unwilling or unable to be sufficiently flexible.

Given the ongoing Mars/Libra retrograde, we may see such displays in others...Or we may feel like someone is ‘doing’ something “to” us (or even with us in mind) when that very concept is far less (if at all) about them and (more or less) entirely about why we’re reacting to them in the manner that we're doing.

We feel like it wasn’t long ago (Diadem @ 9 Libra) when in comparison to this moment, things were simple. And part of us does know that the difficulties of this moment are valuable because whether we like it or not, some of humanity’s most valuable (Diadem) lessons come not from joy but through the discomfort of times when we fight the hardest with our Self.

And this is where solar eclipses get so interesting. In moving over our world they move through our lives erupting in whatever sort of event or situation will bring out our weaknesses - in this case, our weakest values.

Priorities - particularly those we have been comfortable with allowing or identifying with (not to mention being known for) either have or will form  lasting (Lachesis) images (Photographica) we will carry forward for some time to come.

Our challenge: not to get (Europa) carried away and not to (Uranus in Aries) over-react. Innovations and various forms of ‘catching up’ are needed and meeting those needs will require (Uranus change)...and probably some degree of sacrifice (Alpheratz) as we relinquish old ideas and ways of thinking, particularly about who we ‘are’ (or need to be) in our own eyes - or those of others.

That all of this comes to us in the form of a grand cross suggests a period of days...even weeks...which with whatever else they bring will also pose challenges, challenges which through their very lack of resolution cause us to question.

Some of our questions will ask why we’ve (Capricorn) come to this place. Some of our questions will ask what we can do in the (Libra) face of feeling like nothing can be done. Some of our questions will cause us to want to know why it is that as individuals or whatever form of family, group or alliance we have such issues (Cancer) with living a fruitful, peacefully productive life. Are we really at such cross-purposes with an other, or with our (Aries) Selves?

All of which brings us to the most symbolic and astro-mythic figure in this side of this eclipse as represented by fixed stars Hamal and Schedir being at 7 Taurus, just a degree off the eclipse itself.

8 Taurus manifests generally as sensitivities and difficulties, one which feeds the other. Responsibilities become focal whether our issue is a rejection of responsibility or our being overwhelmed in the face of responsibilities we don’t know how to (or simply can’t) handle with the whole of this degree being somewhat more ‘airy’ (idea-driven) than many a more earthy, ‘reality oriented’ Taurean degree. With the eclipse at 8 Taurus it is the ‘idea’ of the value we have lacked - most of all in our Self - which in becoming exposed changes our ‘playing field.’

Against this, 7 Taurus is a highly corporeal degree - and one known for its focus on ‘physical existence.’ Not known as a particularly pleasant degree, 7 Taurus tests our ability to cope with painful realities which at some level are the result of choices made, perhaps over time (read: probably within the last eclipse cycle of 19 years) which did not fully grasp or ‘embody’ the reality of consequences - be they theoretical, physical or...considering the ‘trigger’ on this lesson is a solar eclipse...life changing in terms of how we regard life, whether or not our lives are touched in any moment-to-moment manner.

As for the stars, as primary/alpha star in the constellation Aries the Ram, Hamal (alternate name: El-Nath) stands for either the type of (Saturn/Mars) focus and motivation which could be typified as ‘determined effort’ ...or (at the other end of the polarity string) something akin to ‘limited options’ or ‘restricted range’ (implication: of activity, motion or effectiveness). Like most fixed star effects, Hamal’s ‘backdrop to life’ quality tends to take on some ‘coloration’ from whatever is associated with it or in its constellation (Aries) at the time the star is ‘triggered,’ as it is being by a solar eclipse one degree away.

As photographed by NASA and ESA, HST-G1 (also known as Mayall II)

near the core of the Andromeda Galaxy (Sept 2006)

Metaphysically speaking, the eclipse marks at time which seeks to educate and inform us through the ‘expose’ or ‘release’ all things having to do the energies of Hamal and the principle of all things Aries and currently Aries, giving us to think about the nature of our consciousness, about what we’re doing with our life, about who we’re being and about the innate innocence involved in being human, an innocence and vulnerability of mortality we so often like to (consciously) forget.

The eclipse is in Taurus, to be sure. But with the ‘currently transiting Aries’ list currently being headlined by Uranus and dwarf planet Eris, that points to changes which come about through whatever puts us in position to be tumbled into periods of self-confrontation.

And considering how few people really like that sort of thing, we can hardly expect things to be powder puff pink and cutely rosy. Considering the retrograde implications here (Mars rules Aries), something about ‘them’ hits ‘home’ to (Aries) on a personal level by whatever means will promote careful (even critical) reflection. The more (Libra) ‘married’ we are to ‘them’ or their (Libra) ideas, or the more we tend to impose, restrict or reject others when and where they are simply different, the more difficult things will seem.

In other words, we need to know and be who we are, as do others. But to the extent that this equation (either the being or doing or both) is out of balance, things now won’t ‘pay’ or ‘play out’ as anticipated and the more problematic the moving ‘through’ this eclipse period is likely to be.

Situations have now broken down to where we can either ourselves or feel our own inner walls. Why we have those walls is part of our metaphysical corona - the opportunity to see in Self and life that which ordinarily gets lost in day-to-day doings. Once we get through that...once we get honest (at least with our Self)...then we move on.

Constellations Cassiopeia (center), Andromeda (lower left), part of

Perseus (upper left) and the edge of Cepheus (middle/right)

 

But that probably will involve dealing with Schedir principles at some level, since of the two stars at 7 Taurus, Schedir is definitely the one related to emotional knot-tying.

The myth behind Schedir is that of Cassiopeia, the beautiful if arrogant and vain queen of Ethiopia. To those who know the tale of Niobe this story will sound familiar - though there are a few key differences. Where Niobe claimed her children were more beautiful than the collective intellectual attributes represented by Apollo (the truth of enlightenment) and sister Artemis (the truth of experience), Cassiopeia merely claimed her children were more beautiful than the sea nymph daughters of Neptune (Poseidon) known as the Nereids - which is another way of announcing that she (Cassiopeia) was so wonderful that things she could do (or produce) would be more valuable to human beings than the products of their (Neptune/Poseidon) feelings.

I’m sure you hear some bad times brewing behind this highly mythic sort of assertion, and for those  pondering in that direction, you would surely be right - although this is not the ‘arrow to the heart’ solution reaped by Niobe for her arrogance. Arrows and such being the things of airy flight, that is not how Neptune (emotionalism) chose to punish Cassiopeia. Instead he sent Cetus (a monster of our unconsciousness or ‘the monstrous image’) to attack Ethiopia itself...which is a curious way of saying that the arrogance of our emotions and/or emotional assertions is fully capable of damaging that we stand for, say we love or are trying to lead, protect or otherwise be in charge of.

How Cassiopeia responded to this situation appears to be not so noteworthy. But when king and husband Cepheus learned of the impending attack he sought out advice from an oracle. And when that oracle said the only way to save his kingdom was to sacrifice his own daughter Andromeda, that’s what Cepheus chose to do. In chose country over family he also chose intellectual ideal over emotional commitment - an idea metaphysics has long spoken of in discussions about mythic male and female character images. They aren’t ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in other words, they’re the naturally assertive and responsive parts of our individual nature... which makes this conversation at least in part about the ‘seed of the child’ within us as Alpheratz - the fixed star in conjunction with Europa in the eclipse’s grand cross - is a star located 

To finish with the myth, Andromeda was duly chained to a rock at the ocean’s edge and abandoned.

Andromeda by Gustave Dore

And just as the monster Cetus appeared, so did hero Perseus while on his way home with the head of Medusa. Having already ‘done battle’ with his own fear of facing fear (Medusa) Perseus was exactly the right fellow to rescue Andromeda from  being living ‘payment’ for her kin’s self-defined, self-concerned values.

As is our more ‘heroic’ self Perseus represents whatever part of us which has seen the bad, which has survived the ugly, which knows to look at fears in reflection. It is not that Perseus - or that we always know how to attack the problem of those dangerous emotions which can appear from the psychic deep to threaten us, but that we need to face the real need to try our best which counts.

- link to -

Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

So...over the past two months (more or less), life has evidenced and provoked situations and experiences which reveal to us the embodiment of everything which has gone wrong in areas which are (8 Taurus) rather sensitive. The whole idea of trying to deal with something complicated and which seems - at least on the intellectual level - potentially massively destructive probably bothers each and every one of us as we think about it, and that makes facing up to what must be done in facing the physical attributes of whatever is at hand now all the more difficult.

Why that is...and what that value can teach us about other things in our life? That’s for us to sort through, and as the date of the eclipse passes and we give up trying to hold onto some bygone status quo we will indeed do that.

In the meantime... since our emotions seldom let us escape such ‘monstrous’ situations unscathed it’s not surprising that Neptune/Poseidon (our emotionality) imprisoned Cassiopeia - and in classically Greek illustrations her punishment was an evocative one which has come down to us with Cassiopeia as the ‘chained woman.’

A woodcut of Cassiopeia depicted seated in her 'chair of tormentr'

(from the Hyginus 'Poeticon Astronomicon,' courtesy of US Naval Observatory Library

Tied to her throne (her ‘seat of vanity’) constellation Cassiopeia remains ‘on top of the world’ as it circles Earth’s pole, but for fully half the year she is pretty much ‘standing on her head’ - which some think of as an invitation to ‘turn tables’ and reinvent one’s self and some think of as doomed destiny.

Apparently it’s up to us. (Again.)

Through the period of this eclipse - both as we come to it and in its wake as we start a long, three-year evolutionary process we cannot as yet know the end of, Schedir’s involvement may reflect some grotesque or grotesquely negative reality in your world or which has surfaced in your life. Or it may represent your being ‘tied’ by some commitment, promise, legality, situational parameter, custom... something which prevents you from ‘getting up from your throne’ to act. Looking at the myth it would seem the more ‘tied’ or ‘bound’ we are emotionally the more we will tend to attempt to handle matters on more of an ‘externalized’ basis - and that for those choices to succeed we must be ready and willing to face our fears (or our fear of our fear) about something in fairly short order even though the fullness of whatever happens will not become apparent for several years yet to come.

That the name ‘Schedir’ (which comes from Arabic) means ‘breast’ would seem to indicate that some sort of ‘failure to nurture’ (or nourish or even ‘parent’) is involved here, in which case the ‘chain’ would be the connective between that ‘nourishing factor’ and whatever considerations you may be going through with regards to values and valuations or  evaluations being - or which have been exposed since the latter part of February (2014).

As I’ve said (and will no doubt say again), eclipses are difficult to understand while in the ‘break down’ and ‘passing through’ phases. We look back at eclipses in our life and understand what was changing at that time but seldom understand in the precision of the moment what the eclipse is truly about.

All we know are the current circumstances...which is apparently all we should know as, unbeknownst to us the universe functions as it should. And as it does that, irrevocably if effortlessly we are each and every one of us moved individually and in contiguous continuity through our metamorphic processing: stripped of  whatever seeming solid convictions are separating us from being our most self-respected - and therefore validated in value) Self - we are therefore left with the opportunity to better utilize what we are in the support of who we can be: one human among a contiguous E=mc2 many we of this greatly blue planet tend to call 'All.'
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Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

We all know Medusa - that female gorgon of salacious tongue and twining snake hair...She who evokes such fright that human life turns to stone the moment one lays eyes on the utter perfection of her terrifying flesh.

Or at least we think we know Medusa. But neither the myth nor astrological Medusa are as simple as all that. In the general sense Medusa is about fear. But this point refers to no simple fear on our part.

No, Medusa is...more slithery than that, more frightening and less understood by that Self which in some way or form will learn to fear fearing fear.

In particular, fear of something you don't want to know...that you fear knowing about your Self or life itself. 

Which means Medusa isn't about 'that' or 'them.' Snakes and all, the Medusa in your chart says something about you.

Something intrinsic about you.

Classed as a 'common' main belt asteroid (number 149, should you need to know), we may take solace...(such as it is)...in knowing  asteroid Medusa is one of literally thousands of asteroids out there. Given how Medusa is about the sort of fear which disquiets us to the point that we will not or cannot do something (that being the 'turned to stone' quality) as humans we are going to have an intrinsic avoidance with regards to anything Medusa.

So that Medusa is merely one of thousands of life factors...that may help us feel comfortable with the 'odds' of reaching our goal(s) without facing something which will stop us in our tracks.

On the other hand, doing that very sort of 'odds weighing' as a means of getting ourselves to do what we need to do in life...isn't that also one of the ways we face the very Medusa we fear?

Ah yes, 'there is nothing to fear but fear itself,' as one American president put it.

Asteroids metaphysically represent all the many factors we face on our way from 'I'll give (this) a try...' to '...I understand now,' and in  Medusa’s case, the “cycle” period within which 'fear' or 'fearful' issues resolve whatever internal issue has been raised.

In other words, Medusa is not the solution to "the problem." The inception of Medusa cycles (which would be the conjunction in your natal chart) will refer to periods or situations which in evoking your response raises something about the difference between being driven by instinct and the honoring of that we know to be not merely true, but that which at some very deep and real level we are sworn to by our own choosing to believe...understand...stand for.
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Why all this is and would be...? That comes from the myth about Medusa, a myth which starts with three sisters.

Two of those sisters are immortal. Medusa isn't. Medusa is born mortal - just as we are - and is thus defined as "vulnerable" to things her sisters would never be affected by.

Human traits will differ. When they do, is that what makes us vulnerable to our fears? And in mythic terms, if we are reading the myth of Medusa, should we be wary if we are told that this mortal vulnerability is also described as extremely beautiful?

For Medusa is beautiful. In fact, all three of the sisters are beautiful.

But Medusa is extraordinary. Not only that, but she just loves to show off her long, gloriously beautiful hair.

As for her family, Medusa came from Titans - entities embodying the eternal, sometimes infernal and certainly uncontrollable ('titanic') forces which shape our life and world.

This being the philosophic if highly organized world of Greek mythology, it isn't surprising that such uncontrollable forces were embodied as unruly characters like the Titans. Never represented as particularly personable, wise or witty, they weren't held in high regard by the (somewhat more contained) higher ups of the Olympian pantheon.

But they were Medusa's parents. There is one version of the myth which speaks of Medusa as the child of Ixion's narcissistic lack of gratitude. Yet most name sea Titans as her parents with several names being volunteered as the parents of Medusa and her two somewhat less horrifying sisters, which because water is the metaphysical element of emotions might make it seem like sea Titans are the correct choice as the nominees for gorgon parenthood.

But if so, how is it that Medusa is born mortal and her sisters were born immortal?

That would seem to make the answer Ixion...which in turn (if true) would say Medusa began her own story as the child of Greek myth's original murderer.

And considering how the Greeks had no problem with that all-too-human habit of embodying guilt bequeathed to and embedded in our psyches less by the intent of others than by the triggering of our own internal fears...that explains a deal about the power of a myth which spells a bad end for Medusa from the moment of her beginning.

Not that the myth begins in Medusa's childhood. Far from it - the myth begins as Medusa has been sworn to serve as a priestess to the goddess of all knowledge ethical, logical and unemotional: Pallas Athena.
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Athena in Vulcan's Forge
Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574)

It was an honor to do such service in the day. So when the opportunity came to Medusa, she of course took the job of serving Athena on with pleasure.

Thus did Medusa, the vulnerable offspring of titanic emotionalism, enter into the Pallas Athena, she who in springing from Jupiter/Zeus' brow expresses the conviction that an ultimate sort of 'heady' power (wisdom) is to be found in the clarity of perspective and dispassionate comprehension.

And that's where Medusa was and what she was doing when into Athena's temple came Neptune (Poseidon). As ruler of not just oceans but all water physical and metaphysical, Neptune  embodies the 'fluid dynamic' of emotionalism - and considering how life on Earth is water based, it's not surprising that Medusa was drawn by Neptune's presence.

She could hardly help herself. After all, Neptune was Jupiter's brother - which in itself is an interesting foreshadowing of modern science considering the relative roles of planets Neptune and Jupiter in our solar system. Both planets control objects through sheer power of magnetism - which is not unlike what the Greeks postulated in their descriptions of both gods.

This is exactly how metaphysics works.

And yes, the implications can be frightening, particularly as we consider how in most versions of this myth Medusa abandons her vow in willingly succumbing to unfathomable Neptunian passions, thus defiling the sanctity of Wisdom.

That was an exceptionally bad thing to do, for while the knowing of Jupiter and truth of Athena is the basis of that we call 'Free Will,' so Neptune takes us through the full breadth of emotional arc to where all dissipates into that unconscious surrender mortals tend to call 'Fate.'
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Neptune
by Angelo Bronzino

As for the 'alternate' versions of this story, they aren't any more pleasant as they have Neptune raping Medusa. Either way, Medusa is overcome.

And because Medusa is so prone to being overcome by her emotions even when surrounded by the facts of all she has sworn to serve, Athena metes out the famous punishment by transforming Medusa from a beauty into a gorgon - something so shockingly awful as to arrest us where we stand.

In most versions of the tale Athena not only transforms Medusa but her sisters as well. Is that a curious reference to how the feelings of people who otherwise like, love or admire us are affected ("punished") by what we do? Or is the reference to punishing Medusa's sisters an allusion to how often a person shamed in one area of life tends to crumple in others?

The effects of our feelings aren't isolated, after all.

In any case, three young beauties become an ugly trio, though only Medusa achieves the landmark ability to turn mortals into stone.

It's an attribute guaranteed to make it hard to make friends and influence people in any enjoyable (never mind survivable) way and soon Medusa, frightened by her own power, did what many do: she went into isolation, turning punishment into the retreat of self-condemnation.

From that comes an important note on asteroid Medusa: where we find Medusa in the chart we find something which will cause us to hide - either literally, mentally or emotionally. That we hide from created our problems to begin with and it's always emotional.

Too bad we feel too scared of our truth to face it. But we do. There is a place in each heart, mind or soul where we lose the ability to serve in our best interest. The idea of that is scary - and the reality that we can consciously or unconsciously become the instrument of our own downfall simply because of how we are made, who we are, where we come from...that's even scarier.

And yet we know we dare not abandon ourselves to our fears, whatever they may be. 

So what do we do?

How is Medusa - our Medusa - to be defeated? 
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The call here being for a 'heroic effort' in our individual cause, the story now shifts to a Perseus, a hero in the making.

Unfortunately Perseus isn't happy. And the reasons for his unhappiness are very much understandable. Not only has Perseus just been given the task of doing away with Medusa, he's been ordered to do it for not the most altruistic of reasons.

And what would that reason be?

That reason starts with King Polydectes, a rather unsubtle fellow seriously intent on marrying Perseus’ mother, Danae.

Polydectes wants Danae in the very worst way and Danae wants nothing to do with Polydectes.

Besides being king (meaning he made all the rules) Polydectes must have also had some smarts as he didn't simply order Danae to become his wife - the common solution of the time for kingly types.

Instead, he concentrates on Danae’s god-like teen son - the product of a truly immortal affair Danae had with Jupiter. If Polydectes was going to have any chance of bullying mom to the altar, Perseus would need to be dealt with. 

So Polydectes cooks up a plan any lustful monarch would be proud of. Feigning a somewhat offended shrug, he lets everyone know that if Danae isn't interested in being his queen...well, that's her problem.

Polydectes will just be moving on.
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Danae, Mother of Perseus
by Gustav Klimt

And move on Polydectes does, soon announcing that he's chosen a different woman to be his privileged wife...at which point, with his new claim duly claimed, Polydectes stares young Perseus down. What, no wedding present?

Perseus tries pleading financial ineptitude, but that doesn't get him very far as Polydectes accuses Perseus of sitting around on his heroically lazy butt - an accusation which angers Perseus. He's been trying. He just hasn't found the right right job yet...and while he's doing his best, Perseus would take it kindly if the local king would just stop flacking him. After all, what kind of gift was Polydectes expecting from Perseus? What could a young Perseus give the king which would be any sort of suitable wedding present?

Thus the trap is sprung. Having lured young Perseus into volunteering himself, the entirely prepared Polydectes probably waits not a moment before replying.

He actually has something in mind...something Perseus could be a good lad and go fetch for his king.

That thing?

Medusa’s head.
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The Head of Medusa
(unknown Flemish artist, 16th c, oil on panel, Uffizi Gallery)

Hearing this, Danae realizes her headstrong son is in over his headstrong head. So she appeals to Zeus (Jupiter) in the key of plaintive, and Jupiter responds by sending his go-to god (Mercury) out as chief procurement organizer.

In truly Olympian fashion this soon results in Mercury and Athena (yes, that Athena) equipping Perseus not merely thoroughly, but in the manner befitting a bastard son of Jupiter (of which there were more than several).

First Mercury hands over a cap of invisibility (on loan from Pluto/Hades). Then the god helps strap his own famously winged sandals onto Perseus' demi-mortal feet before handing the teen an unbreakable, sickle-shaped sword.

But with all this, not surprisingly it's Athena's token which will count most when dealing with Medusa. That which is provided by Athena is Wisdom's own immortal shield. Brightly polished on both its outer and inner faces, Athena's shield literally images how we come to know truth (Athena) in reflection and how that reflection is meant to clarify our perspective on our Self (our truth) as we go up against our conflicts in this world, this life, this existence. 
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 The Arming of Perseus
 by Edward Burne-Jones (1885)
 

So Perseus seeks Medusa out...(apparently her cave is in Africa). And when he gets to that cave he kills the gorgon of emotionality not on sight or by looking at her, but instead by thinking through what to do and how to do it in reflection.

Perseus was out to decapitate and do away with his problem. And as anyone who has ever tried to do something based on processing directions given to them in a mirror's reflection, it takes a peculiarly intense concentration to overcome our instincts.

But it can be done - and that's the point and solution to the Medusa question: to not be driven by instinct. Where Medusa appears in a natal chart or by transit isn't our 'doom' - it's an instruction: this is where you must not operate instinctively. Understanding the issue may be frightening to you, but the cost of not facing such a fear is likely to be far, far greater in the long run.

In essence Medusa asks us to respect ourselves enough to brave our fears, whether they be simple or complex. The image of Perseus wielding the sword of Mercury while protected by Athena is nothing more or less than the metaphysical statement about how in the most dire or difficult of situations it is through the clarity of dispassionate reflection that our mortality is protected - most off all from that instinct which otherwise will prove our undoing. 

As Medusa’s head is severed, blood is spilled. And as that blood flows out into reality, from it comes Medusa's offspring, creatures sometimes considered hers alone and sometimes seen as the product of Medusa surrendering to Neptune.

Whatever that may be, whether taken separately or together, these two creatures do seem to represent Medusa's extremes of spirit: she who serves against she who without thought takes what she wants, regardless of word or promise.

Yes, Medusa does sound a bit like Ixion.

- link to - 

Ixion: Our Conflict of Self

Medusa's first child is the winged horse called Pegasus, a the embodiment of fear as flight, replete with the kind of brute-or-graceful animalistic strength which in the human terms may well suggest that aspects to and the placement of asteroid Medusa may be an important part of astrologically understanding our individual fight-or-flight imperatives whether they be active or unneeded in an otherwise happy life.

Known as “the giant Chrysaor,” Medusa's other 'blood child' grows to become a hero armed with a golden sword upon whom Medusa's curse falls through family - echoing many a human whose family experiences alternation of generational allegiances and trials. Recalling Medusa's reptilian side, one of the Chrysaor children is Echidna, a deadly she-dragon whose upper half is all beautiful female and whose lower half is that of a serpent.

The other child is known as the Geryon - or sometimes in plural form as the Geryones. This isn't a problem of counting, but rather one of distinction - a quality which recalls the 'fuzzy' or more indecisive aspects of Neptune.

In brief, this single-plural problem stems from this entity's description as “a three-bodied giant” - a quality which is somehow supposed to come out as less threatening than Echidna.

Assigned to guarding sacred cattle at the western end of the world, Geryon has come to be associated with constellation Orion the Hunter while Pegasus has its own constellation - one marked by including fixed star Scheat, a problematic star which often speaks to ideas, matters and personalities which are 'before their time' and thus subject to rejected by ourselves or others, either as a 'flight of (Pegasus) fancy' or something which is objected to instinctively.

And yes, thus often enough, incorrectly.

Using the power of reflection, after slaying Medusa Perseus covers her head with a leather sack and carries it away. Still wearing Mercury's winged sandals, he flies north with blood dribbling from the gorgon's neck.

And as those drops fall to the sands below, they give rise to all the poisonous snakes in Africa. Yet lest we think that which is poisonous is always bad, when several drops of Medusa's blood are given to someone with the highly polysyllabic name Erichthonius along with instructions how how to use it as poison, with that also comes instructions on how to use gorgon blood in reanimating the dead.

No, not literally. Perhaps in myth, yes. But for astrological purposes this is a reference to that image we most often associate with the Phoenix - the rising from the ashes, the bringing back to life that which our disproportionate passions may have theoretically destroyed.

To finish here, ultimately Polydectes receives the quintessential lesson in why we should be careful what we ask for, lest we get it when (as most versions of the story have it) Perseus returns home to learn Polydectes has raped his mother Danae.

The young hero heads for the palace where (not shockingly), Polydectes is surprised to see him.

But for good or ill, Polydectes is still Polydectes. Whipping out his most illustrious and kingly sneer, Polydectes informs Perseus that he'd 'known' Perseus couldn't kill Medusa.
 
But Perseus did kill Medusa. And to prove it, as all the king's sycophant courtiers sneer on Perseus pulls Medusa's head out of the sack, holding it up where all can see it...and be promptly turned to stone.

Some questions shouldn't be asked and some truths are impossible to live with.

But that's just life.

With the king and court duly dealt with, Perseus returns the immortal garb and weaponry to the proper Olympian immortals.

And what about Medusa's head? That Perseus gives to Athena, who then embeds it on the front of her shield - the same shield she gave Perseus to carry.

Is it a warning? Perhaps. Often we try so hard to learn and then are sorry we know. It's the essential lesson of knowledge - that with knowledge comes power, and with power comes the responsibility to use that power properly - which means sometimes in a manner which requires us to silence the voice of instinct in thinking things through.

So sometimes knowledge is indeed a frightening responsibility. But to not know and instead act solely on instinct?

That plainly can ruin a life which could otherwise have been just...beautiful.

Oh how scary...but truth nonetheless.
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Perseus (Andromeda's son) doing battle to save his mother - the mortal

spirit of innocence before that which has given Perseus life can be

overwhelmed by Neptune (emotionality) arising in 'mostrous' form from

'oceanic depths' - the psychic sea which is humankind.

So...do we really know who Medusa is? Or is Medusa that thing in our life which keeps us from being willing to know the 'frightening reality' of who we are, or what we are capable of doing to our Self or others?

Is that... the knowledge, the possible fear of 'doing' a greater share of why humans seem so drawn to preferring a dream that we can never build on in reality to a factual reality in which we could possibly build our dream but which we cannot access without facing our inner fears?

Probably.
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The head of Medusa as it ended up, mounted at the center of Pallas Athena's

shield, facing all who would approach - a lasting mythic comment on the

connection between fear, perspective and conscious wisdom...and

probably the need for just that.

Beyond whatever else, the frightening face in Wisdom's shield is a directive telling us that our greatest truths lie beyond facing our greatest fears. Only through knowing what our fears are can we choose to learn differently and dispell them.

Yet since there will always be more to learn and be, in the end the only knowledge which will ever really set us free of instinct's rampages is that truth which allows us to accept the beauty of that fear which allows us to know everything about our Self, that being the path to a life as a human being unafraid to face anything.
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