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A photograph of the Trifed Nebula in close detail

(photo credit: Hubble, NASA, Jeff Hester/Arizona State University, January 2008)

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It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve taken on any of your search terms (how time flies when you’re approaching an eclipse...!) so let’s get back to seeing what nuances and noodles you’re looking for - and how I can help, considering our rather odd, Google-driven search term connection.

Today I'm starting with Pholus, as Pholus seems to be earning a lot of search time of late...

PHOLUS CONJUNCT CHIRON
Wherever we see Pholus, we know that we have a push-pull, pro-con sort of ‘argument’ (most of all with/within our Self) about getting or being involved and why that may be true.

Wherever we see Chiron, we know how in order to conquer the challenge, we have to undertake the challenge - often (most often) without knowing everything that we’d like to know going in. Chiron daunts us by confronting us with what we want, but don’t know how to do - which in some ways is like Pholus, and which therefore (depending on the sign, house placement and other aspects) which will, at least initially, manifest in a strong sense of hesitation or a knee-jerk tendency to say ‘no’ long before you say ‘yes,’ simply out of emotional habit.

With both points, asking yourself why you don’t want to try something (or be involved) is key. Beyond that, given how Chiron points to needed growth and Pholus speaks to separating one’s will or self from something (or someone), it is entirely possible (again, check house, ruler of house, aspects to Chiron/Pholus, etc.) that this conjunction could point to some area of life where you can only succeed if or as you learn how to separate yourself from the thing at hand - in which case this conjunction would represent the (Chiron) need to develop the sort of (Pholus) perspective which is used to produce better results through non-involvement - as would be the case with a surgeon, lawyer or other profession where the work should not be influenced by a personal or intimately emotional connection.

MERCURY IN PISCES CAREERS
While Mercury in and of itself is not considered the indicator of career in a natal chart, there is no question but that our habitual way of thinking, learning and communicating influences success (or the lack of same) when it comes to our careers.

So what about Mercury in Pisces - a combination not exactly known for crispness of logic even though there are any number of Mercury in Pisces people doing well in very exacting fields like technology and finance?

The thing to understand here is why Mercury in Pisces is considered “fuzzy” - that being because Mercury in Pisces, to use a common expression, it ‘feels you.’ In other words, where Mercury in an air sign considers ideas and where those ideas could lead in formulating a direction, where Mercury in an earth sign will lead us to consider what kind of time, effort and resources we need to get something done, Mercury in a water sign has a natural affinity for considering and taking feelings into account. So when thinking in Mercury terms about the choice of a job, Mercury in Pisces would support any endeavor which requires an the ability to understand emotions and communicate in a feeling manner or any career which aims to, or which has the ability to tap into or affect the emotions of others, particularly on a basic or instinctive level.

Examples: singer, broadcaster, nurse, psychologist, human resources or social worker, politician, member of the clergy, actor, writer, philosopher, spy (particularly foreign), veterinarian (in particular, large animals).

Dairy cows on pasture in Ireland (photographer unknown)

All the cows I've ever met were very nice to me - maybe

they knew I have a Mercury in Pisces?

TYPHON CONJUNCT SUN
This is one of those conjunctions which will vary very widely depending on sign and house placement. That said, as Typhon speaks to our ‘survival basics’ and all which affects us in some deep and undeniable way, to have Typhon conjunct the Sun is to live a life which is on some level sort of hit-or-miss simply because while that which affects you affects you vitally, that which doesn’t affect you simply gets a big shrug.

Daily doings can also be taken more seriously by such a native than they are by others, creating individual interpersonal and/or social difficulties - even at the same time that mass effectiveness remains unimpaired.

A person born with this conjunction may have a hard time taking things lightly. Then again, that which they consider important will never be forgotten. This tendency to be a bit ‘all or nothing’ about things is going to be a periodic part of a Sun/Typhon life experience, but doesn’t necessarily describe who such a person is, being instead an indication of how and what they will tend to act on, or react to.

ALDEBARAN IN THE 7TH HOUSE
Fixed star Aldebaran is one of the royal stars of Persia, all of which guarantee success ONLY when a particular human attribute (habit, tendency) is avoided.

In the case of Aldebaran, that quality would be our integrity - integrity of word, deed and being. So when Aldebaran is in the 7th house, because the 7th is the house where “I” meets “Thou” so that we can see how things go (giving us input on what’s working and not working for us), being true to who you are and who you have said you are had better ... just for starters ... match.

But that’s the issue - this isn’t necessarily about ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ In other words, this is more about honesty and owning up to who and what we are (and aren’t) than anything else.

Until, that is, others get involved. (And because this is the 7th house, other people are most often involved.) Once someone else is in the conversation (or situation), then our interacting with them becomes part of the Aldebaran equation - at which point their integrity needs to be equal to ours, whatever that may mean.

And if it isn’t? Then we will not succeed because the 7th house person we have chosen to associate or interact with is not our (Aldebaran) match.

ASTROLOGICAL INFLUENCE GENERATION Y
The whole subject of generations is messy. Society has its sense of generations and generation names (which I cannot tell you what they’re based on, as I haven’t a clue) and astrology has its generations, those being based on the transit of dwarf planet Pluto through the signs.

And yes, these terms differ. Widely. Society, for instance, seems to be thinking of the ‘Millennials’ as people who ‘came of age’ around the time of the millennium. Astrology, on the other hand, defines the Millennials as the Pluto in Sagittarius tribe - a group of people born between 1996 and 2008, during the time when Pluto was transiting Sagittarius.

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Known astrologically as Pluto in Scorpio, astrology’s Generation Y is as wide-ranging a generation as any other. It is also the first water sign generation since Pluto in Cancer, the generation which in keeping with its opposition sign (Capricorn, sign of structure) is the generation which (Pluto) restructured the world’s structures, laying the Cancerian foundations upon which our modern world was then built, generation by generation.

This idea of oppositions is important in astrological generational theory, as it’s the issues of the opposition sign with the sign Pluto is transiting which gives us an image of any given generation’s triumphs and challenges. With Gen Y, security will be an issue. And that makes sense, seeing as Scorpio is the sign of threat and war and rape and violence - all which scares us in the world is Scorpionic, just as everything about our Self or our very existence which can scare us is Piscean.

With Scorpio and Taurus also being the signs of investment and ‘my resources,’ this generation will also deal with the transformations of monetary values (and many core values as a whole). A lot of operational methodologies which apply to money and resources will change through the efforts of this generation and in reaction to what is thrust upon this generation as a group.

Issues of control and power which are so famously Scorpio will also be faced and/or faced down by this generation as well. They will extract prices and pay the price for the emotional games being play by their own and others, in the long run forcing the rest of society to recognize the true cost of playing ‘fear games’ with human beings.

The price will be high. Many in this generation will fall afoul of the desire to control and the desire for power, creating a good deal of havoc physical, financial and otherwise. Some will resort to violence. Others will retreat and reject society and/or the ‘structure’ they see as being the problem. Ultimately it is this second group which will challenge violent trends and take on the growing problems of toxicity physical, financial, spiritual and emotional, but getting to the point where Gen Y recognizes their ability to change things and their responsibility merely as part of the human race to do so will take time.

This generation is more easily alienated than it is enchanted. Yet to their credit, the Pluto in Scorpio Generation Y tribe is also going to be the first generation since Pluto in Cancer which not only can bear to hear the “bad stuff,” but which is openly willing to hear such things as this generation knows the world is not just ‘pretty’ and that the richest among us are those who can ‘afford’ to feel everything as life presents its full spectrum of the beautiful and the ill.

EOS CONJUNCT JUPITER/PLUTO MIDPOINTS
There being enough to talk about with just points theses days, I hardly ever discuss midpoints.

But they can be important. Knowing the midpoints which (for instance) are conjunct or cuddled up to your Sun, Moon, Nodes - and any of the axis points (etcetera) can explain more about the plus and/or minus that you experience when that facet of your personality is called into use or specifically to the fore.

In this case, Eos is an asteroid. Named for the goddess of the dawn, Eos was said to ‘rise from her home at the edge of the ocean’ ... which in mimicking the movement of the Sun makes Eos a particularly interesting astrological symbol in that it combines attributes of water (the ocean), air (rising into the sky) and (the Sun’s) fire.

But there is no earth - so nothing about Eos is tangible, which goes with the usual astro-sense of Eos, that being of a ‘dawning,’ ‘beginning’ or something which ‘starts’ because it occurs to you. With Eos there is always a before ... and then there’s a ‘now’ - and that Now is always enhanced by the mere fact that we are enlightened (we rise, we glow) because something has happened or changed, or just because we know it has happened, something has changed, or something is about to occur.

Dawn in the Naples gulf

(photo credit: Cannedcat (recolored for post)

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As for Jupiter/Pluto, this is the combining of the power to transform with the power to excel, enhance, enlarge and/or increase, all of which is somewhat more likely than usual to go ‘overboard’ (whether literally or figuratively) as given enough energy and range, Pluto trends towards obsession - and there’s nothing like Jupiter’s unlimited expansion principle to provide just that push.

So this combination may work in several ways. When any part of this conjunction is transited, there’s a lot of energy to change some part of a status quo ... or which does change the status quo.

What this effect is would be gets read by house, by aspects, by object transiting, by planet ruling the sign on the cusp of the house - all the usual stuff. In particular, since this combination by itself does not guarantee anything but a moment of excitement or motivation, there will have to be something larger or connecting to this association which ties it into some greater effort. Without that, Eos + Jupiter/Pluto could simply mean a moment of excitement, with nothing apart from a lovely memory coming of it’s existence and passing.

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(That's it for now ...hope this helps ...more soon!)
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Saturn Retrograde - Phaethon Direct

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

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

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

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

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

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SOLAR ECLIPSE @ 29 PISCES

-degrees affected using standard (Ptolemaic) aspects- 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturn Retrograde (glyph chart)

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

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Saturn Retrograde (text chart)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or being.

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

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

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

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

(photo credit: Denys, 2010)

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

And why is it more valuable?

Because it's unique to us. 

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

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

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

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

Phaethon by Hendrick Gottzius (Netherlands 1558-1617)

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So what does Phaethon represent?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or not so nicely, depending.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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(Okay, more than a few.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-link to post-

Saturn in Sagittarius

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

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

And what would those degrees be?

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SATURN RETROGRADE @ 4 SAGITTARIUS

-degrees affected using standard (Ptolemaic) aspects- 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

has been corrected. Apologies if this caused any confusion.

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Mercury in Pisces / Juno Direct

Harbour City Ocean Terminal, Hong Kong

(photo credit: OTnig17, June 2009)

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With asteroid Lilith having just gone retrograde and the Sun still in Pisces, to have Mercury entering Pisces could seem a bit ... redundant. After all, Lilith refers to not wanting to know (or see, or hear, or ...) and Mercury in Pisces, while very sensitive and often representative of artistic (or just arty) instincts can also speak to lack of clarity driven by a softened mental underbelly.

Of course Mercury in Pisces can also be about understanding our own feelings and why we feel as we do about things. Pisces is a sign all about emotions, be they the thing which prompts us to feel and thus teaches us through what we learn about through ‘feeling it’ ... or that which prompts us to run away from something or someone - or even our feelings, despite the fact that we know the choice is to face those feelings or pay the price for not having done so.

People talk about the ‘deliciousness’ of emotional threats under Scorpio, Scorpio being a sign about interactive emotional tussles and struggles, be they in the bedroom, the boardroom, with the bank or on the battlefield. With Scorpio, that drive to get what you want from something or some situation spurs us on and gets us to tolerate risk ... sometimes to our own detriment, yes. But we tolerate it anyway.

But with Pisces, no one talks about any deliciousness, as Pisces (and 12th house matters in your personal chart) are where we have no one to look to but our Self - and in the emotional realm, that means being left to deal with our own emotions, which whether those emotions are elation or grief isn’t our favorite human way to live. It is educational and informative? Do we learn a lot about ourselves? Absolutely. But do we enjoy learning it?

That probably depends on how you feel about having been put in a position to learn those lessons - which is merely another way of saying the lesson itself is about feeling.

As a symbol, Mercury is about sorting, finding, assembling, organizing, deciding, interpreting, understanding, communicating the designing. We think of these ‘Mercury processes’ as defining, as clarifying, as all those things which assist us in the comprehending of life and the operating of our life in this daily lifestyle world. So to have this mercurial energy put into a Pisces realm means putting Mercury’s mental orientation (mental faculties being the means through which Mercury functions are initiated) into an emotional mode which isn’t as crispy clear as it would be if it wasn’t as emotional. Or which excels through the expressing of emotionality, whether in a conversation or in the forming of, or creating of something expressive of emotions and emotionality.

Mercury in Pisces can mean a focus on things which are emotional, which promote or provoke our feelings - or on the whole subject of emotions, plus and minus, as a whole. And because that emotionality (or the subject of emotions) tends to cause other things to stop until those emotions are either enjoyed, worked through or tended to, Mercury is said to be less ‘efficient’ in Pisces than at other times. It’s not that Mercury in Pisces can’t be artistic and wonderful - it’s just that those moments tend to sidetrack us from what we otherwise might want to be doing, which as a whole speaks to our tendency as human beings to prioritize accomplishment over feelings, and perhaps our human need to do just that, lest we not accomplish or take care of what needs to get done.

Part of Pisces’ formidable reputation in fact has to do with just this: the fact that we know ... how as humans we understand on some instinctual level that though we are, from birth to death, emotional beings under every circumstance.

Without those emotions (or properly functional emotions) life is nothing but the stuff of nightmares.

And yet, those feelings can so easily overwhelm us.

We know this is the nature of mortality, this helplessness which at moments leads us into and then leaves us at the mercy of our most unbridled nature. So we fall ‘helplessly’ into love and we spiral haplessly into despair.

And when that happens - when anything Piscean overwhelms us, we have to have faith that we’ll come through it all intact. We think our way through these times by having faith - which in essence is our mental Mercury model operating in an egoless modality.

Pisces demands a lack of ego. That which we tackle under Pisces benefits us only when we employ it in a manner which initially benefits many, or which is ‘in tune with’ accepted and established human experience. Any planet in Pisces (or your natal 12th house) is going to function this way and ‘pick up on’ this sort of notion - which means that whenever Mercury transits Pisces, the whole of our world shifts, or is made to shift (though things which arise at that time) into a mode where we either recognize the importance of broad-based, feeling thinking and proceed on that basis, or when we face situations which in ‘raising the stakes’ get us to stop thinking in such temporal and ego-driven (“how I prefer to think of it”) sorts of terms.

Mercury will enter Pisces on March 13th at 3:53 in the morning (UT/+0) - one day before Saturn, astrology’s symbol of time, responsibility, facts, achievement, commitment and consequences goes into retrograde at 4 Sagittarius. This being Mercury entering Pisces in metaphysical square to Saturn’s position, some sort of ‘conflict’ is being cited (in general, if not in specific) - which may turn out very productively ,as this is a combination known for ‘holding the line’ and discipline. With the Mercury side of this in feeling Pisces, there may be an ‘emotional penalty’ for something, making this a time which could be filled with regret, but which holds equal promise (providing there’s sufficient Saturn reality in the mix) and which may also become one where apologies get made as someone comes to realize something is wrong, missing - or maybe just not working out the way they thought it would.

With both of these emblems being in mutable signs (signs which learn as they go) this is a good time for discussions, especially discussions which are by their nature ‘touchy’ and which will benefit from a ‘laying out the facts’ providing there is no condemnation or finger-pointing as part of the process. High rhetoric and dramatic statements can be made providing they’re merely an expression of how we feel (or how we don’t like feeling) but accusations and ‘blame-laying’ should be avoided in any situation where we really want to make headway or accomplish anything, as poking (Pisces) feelings under this sort of influence will result in defensive stonewalling (some of it quite fierce) more often than we’d like it to - which would be a Mercury in Pisces tender-versus-tenderized ego issue, don’t you know...!

The height (or greatest intensity) of this Mercury-Saturn square happens as Mercury conjuncts Saturn on Sunday, March 15th. And as Mercury won’t be out of Saturn’s range (the five degree orb of aspect)  to Saturn until Thursday, March 19th, considering Saturn’s March 14th station (which formally extends through the 16th and for some will be felt beyond that) these middle weeks of March are likely to be ‘a moment’ to be sure - with many of us carrying ideas into or forward from this time as the means or motivation through which we will operate pretty much for the balance of the month.

(Or at least until Mercury moves on into Aries as of March 31st, that is.)

And it’s also probably worth noting - for the record, if nothing else - that as Mercury and Saturn come into full and exact square, that will mean Mercury is at 4 Pisces ... the position of fixed and royal star Fomalhaut.

Fixed star Fomalhaut amidst its cloud of interstellar dust

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

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Astrology’s ‘fixed stars’ (named ‘fixed’ by ancients to differentiate them from the ‘wandering stars’ we now call planets) function greatly as ‘backdrops’ against which other things happen (or seem important or unimportant, depending) or are perceived in life. There is an obvious exception to this ‘rule,’ and that’s about the fixed stars which may be conjunct your natal planets - those tend to be, become or manifest as part-and-parcel of how that planetary symbol functions.

But in this instance? If Mercury just wandered into Pisces (which it does on a yearly basis) and conjuncted Fomalhaut, we would be talking about the ‘purity’ or integrity of our thinking, our ideas and whatever we’re telling others - and ourselves (don’t forget that part!). But here we have Mercury transiting Pisces on a “mundane” or global basis ... (and yes, whoever decided on ‘mundane’ as an astrological term pertaining to daily life was either seriously into understatement or not thinking about Pisces at the time). On the universal level, Mercury conjunct Fomalhaut is all about how our thoughts, our plans and our positions measure up with those of society, history, and general humanity. So wherever we’re out of sync with any of those ‘measures’ we will experience negatives or negativity - and wherever we’re in sync, we’ll feel hopeful and like we’re headed in the right direction.

Or at least a better direction.

And if we aren’t in sync, well ... we may not like having to change our mind or change how we’re acting or who we’re associating with or what our aims or attitudes are, but perhaps we see we should. That’s where Fomalhaut comes in. Fomalhaut is that hidden ‘quirk’ in our brain, in our soul, in our times which guarantees that which isn’t whole, that which is corrupted or corruptive, that which isn’t true or good ... Fomalhaut comes into our life as that which we do unconsciously, or in how we aren’t received by others or by our world which causes us to see or experience that downfall, that comeuppance, that failure or feeling of loss which is really about having not done the right thing, trading honest opportunity for some fantasy which wasn’t ever going to pan out, maybe not because it couldn’t be ... but in the end because despite all that we have done, even we knew that it wouldn’t be.

Or even perhaps shouldn’t be.

Then there’s a little plot-thickening additive guaranteed to make this all a little more interesting (and for some, considering Mercury’s position in Pisces, somewhat more dramatic) called Juno direct. And while this isn’t necessarily the guarantee that we’ll all be in for an astrological soap opera, that Juno is going direct at 3 Leo puts its station in trine to that of Saturn and inconjunct to Mercury does inject some inconvenience into the mix.

Some of that we will experience as that ‘touchiness’ mentioned above: Juno operates as a ‘managing’ force and once Mercury gets into early Pisces degrees just the shifting into ‘emotional mode’ is going to catch a few off us off-guard. Or for you something may happen which causes you to throw up your hands and say ‘why me?’ ... or ‘why now?’ ... or ‘could something just not go right today?’

(Yes, we all have those seriously annoying moments, days and times in life - and some of them are probably associated with Mercury/Saturn squares, since combinations of our great ideas with life’s realities doesn’t always end up in glee.)

To be more exact here, during the period when Mercury is between 1 and 5 Pisces it will be in an inconjunct to Juno, pointing to making things work and (of course, as part of that) encountering that which doesn’t work ... even that which because of what we say or do in the moment gets worse or better as we encounter the ‘adjusting’ energy of the inconjunct. That period of time begins late on March 13th and ends during the latter part of March 15th (in the UT/+0 zone), embracing the whole of the 14th when Saturn goes retrograde - another sign of ‘pulling in’ or ‘putting the brakes on’ something, whether that’s about truly pulling back or ending (i.e., stopping, limiting) your willingness or ability to not do something.

Despite that, this isn’t necessarily an end to anything. In going direct at 3 Leo Juno warns us not to go too far, but warns with equal ... maybe even greater fervor that it is our ability to connect to others and the being accepted by them for who we are and what we have to give and gift life - and our Self - with the ability to do which ultimately spells success ... that in our individual life, and that of the society or world around us. All sides of all conversations will be tested now - as much for their willingness to listen and hear as anything else. Saturn being in the equations of both objects which are “making their move” on this date speaks to the fact that nothing is ‘over and done’ unless we prevent it from evolving - in real time or in our minds as necessary. There will no doubt be some attempts to narrow discussions and block out anything “inconvenient” (read: emotionally inconvenient) during these weeks, and some such efforts may be successful - at least in the short run.

Yet where we find Saturn ... whenever we find Saturn in an astrological ‘equation’ we also know that growth is not in the moment, but over time - and how when we see Saturn as part something which does get narrowed beyond full usefulness there is some sort of (ego driven) fear which will ultimately be set aside or grown through.

It just takes time ... which with Mercury transiting Pisces may not be our favorite piece of news, but which we will like as not deal with and manage - if for no other reason than with a solar eclipse closing in and Juno’s turn to direct at 3 Leo we are closing in a better glimpse of a truer image of Self.

And that image is probably not entirely consistent with where we are in life right now ... which as Mercury moves through Pisces we will probably find worth thinking about because for whatever reason we find ourselves at a place where we know we will feel better simply for the doing so.
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Lilith Retrograde

Saturn, Regulus and the International Space Station

(photo credit: fdecomite, April 2007)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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