Mercury in Capricorn

'Young Hermes at Rest'

(bronze, Naples National Archaeological Museum, photo credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen, 2011)

Since the last post ended with contemplations of rainstorms and possible floor flooding, an update: the water didn't come in under the front wall, it came in under the door and somehow staged wetting down two of my windowsills (yes, on the indoors side), but it wasn't horrible. Furthermore I gather my wakefulness had plenty of company - a good number of Los Angelenos stayed up or were woken up by the downpour (replete with whistling winds) when it hit at about 1:30 in the morning.

The reason water came in under the door, I understand. That's because it rained so hard (LA got something close to two inches of rain in a couple of hours) that the roof gutter  overflowed. And wouldn't you know, it overflowed in just the right place to set up a cascade of splatter which hit my front door, dripping down - and from there under the door.

The windowsills I haven't quite fathomed yet, but I'm working on it. And though it is always something (as they say) this is the first invasion by water for me this year, which even as a Pisces person I think is a bit much.
 
Getting to the subject of this post (thanks for listening)... Mercury is reaching Capricorn ahead of the Sun this year, which isn’t an unpleasant thought. After all, while Mercury in Sagittarius can have things moving ahead at leaps and bounds Mercury in Sagittarius can also be a time that so much in motion that nothing gets done. Or a time when things already in progress seem like they’ll never, ever end.

Where Sagittarius runs hot, speedy and far, Capricorn coolly pays attention, considers repercussions and is never, ever in a hurry - which isn’t to say Capricorn symbols should be taken to be reticent. They aren’t - so when this comes to the mental, motion, communication realm which is All Things Mercury, we shouldn’t be surprised that Mercury in Capricorn is known for speaking its peace even if that disrupts the peace.

Capricorn stands for that which will last. It’s all about that which will endure, the effort to endure and the enduring of our own learning curve as that pertains to who we are intrinsically (identity), who we are in this world (career, social/legal standing) and how well we deal with who we are in that world, inclusive of whether we hold our Self to standards (reputation) - and what it takes to do that (responsibility).

Known for a ‘cool and collected’ quality, Mercury in Capricorn imbues most of us with a rational sort of awareness of why comprehension of themes and details is important to our aims. And thus we ‘go’ for what we want - we ask, we do, we try, we throw our hat in the ring, and for those who aren’t wearing a hat, we toss in whatever seems handy and apropos.

Who cares if someone objects? So long as our intention is well and truly understood, while someone else may object, it’s our self-esteeming that we’re mostly embodied and motivated by.

Given Mercury as a sign of communication, that Capricorn seldom hesitates and is a pragmatic and an ‘it is what it is’ sort of earth sign makes this an obvious boon for business and important of any kind - and while the Sun remains in Sagittarius (read: until the December 21st Solstice) while there may be disagreements on some points, so long as everyone remembers to nix the idea and not the person, given a bit of back and forth, agreements can be reached.

Once the Sun does enter Capricorn however, we can expect any of a number of tacks and tactics to liven up our day, our thoughts and considerations - and since some will be lobbed at us (as opposed to being something wholly ours to decide) we are likely to feel... and indeed to be challenged. 

Challenges - particularly those which test our endurance are part and parcel of Capricorn and going to be part of Mercury in Capricorn, testing not merely our endurance but the validity and viability (read: practicality, never mind any hype) of our reason(s) for holding our goal or opinion or belief or whatever else so very dearly.

And it’s likely that during this time a few things will change. Some changes will be initiated because of things we come to (Mercury) think and some will result from things which occur and which we react or respond to, whether or not that means we adapt to changing internal or external conditions or merely cope with them. Because of this - and in spite of this things can, and will get done: Mercury in Capricorn is another quite decent pairing for those with accomplishments needing to be accomplished. And since we know two other things (Uranus going direct on December 21st and Saturn moving from Scorpio into Sagittarius on the 23rd) are on the astrological calendar during Mercury’s trio of weeks in Capricorn, we have the markers which for some will manifest as accomplishment.

Or input. Or a shock - or perhaps a surprise. Capricorn does have a sincere strain of ‘earning’ to its makeup which suggests that those who have earned something are likely to get results there where those who haven’t earned won’t receive (or to the degree that we may not earned we may not receive).

This ‘earning’ or ‘having earned’ theory would even seem supported by the grand trine Mercury’s moving into Capricorn acts to trigger and make ‘real’ in that singular manner planets entering earth signs seem to have.

With Mercury exactly conjunct Eurydike there’s a question of ‘the cost’ in the mix, with that motivated and inexorably tied to some Regulus-Black Moon fact or earthly/earthy factor which is both about (Regulus) how little there is to be gained by doing things (Virgo) improperly... and about how there is nothing which can be (Regulus) properly done which doesn’t have a high (and probably unpredictable) quality of moral, ethical or emotional backlash (which by any other name would be known as ‘cost.).

At the same time that all that’s true, there’s also a nexus of conviction about the innate quality of goodness and the need to (Mirach/Hestia) protect same which has a tenacious, emotional hold on things... or on us... and that’s also a cost.

How to reconcile it all while attending to what time requires and the times demand while dealing with the business of how to make gains on whatever our goals and aims are...that requires some sort of compromise - from us, I mean.

We can like it or not like any of this. We can also be the person initiating whatever this grand trine refers to or a person on the receiving end.

Or we can just be experiencing something which embodies this experience for us, wholesale. Good or bad isn’t necessarily part of the equation... in fact Mercury in Capricorn has just that touch of a proverbial sort of ‘eat your vegetables, they’re good for you!’ maxim that issues are more likely to be about ‘like/no like’ or ‘want/not want’ than anything else.

Whatever will get us to think about what works in the long run or fullest of full terms - that’s where we can operatively go. But whether we’ll go there...? Or get there...?

That’s a whole other question. After Saturn changes signs (on the 23rd) there will be a ‘freeing up’ of some things, but getting any real feeling for same is going to take a bit of time, which given when this change of sign happens rather points to the end of the year and/or holiday season, whichever way you see it.

But prior to that there is Uranus’ station. Occurring on December 21st and at 12 Aries, this station occurs with Uranus' turn to direct in semi-square to Pluto (suggesting situational transformations as issues, facts and energies come to greater clarity) and Mercury in sextile to Neptune - which becomes the general rub.

What kind of rub? It's that Mercury/Neptune thing - an indication that something isn't entirely factual. This doesn’t have to be any big problem as 'non-factual' in metaphysical terms can simply mean "fiction."

As usual, such indicators end up being all in how we take them - or are overtaken by them. Beyond all that however, because this is (by date) associated with Uranus' station, any or all of what happens could also have everything to do with communications, changes in plans and/or high tech subjects seeing as Uranus is always a symbol of things systemic, electric, electrifying, digital and electronic. With Mercury in Capricorn there is some sort of reference or connection to the outside world (or what we are, want to be or need to be in that outside world) even if we spend the whole of this passage  experiencing whatever that means to us solely inside our own life - or even just inside our own head.

Two more items of particular note here. The first is how Mercury will conjunct Pluto (the finding, rediscovering or utilizing something which was lost, transformed or denied... or which will now be lost, transformed or denied) on December 24th. The degree being activated here being 12 Capricorn, there is a good deal of wit, cleverness and deftness of skill that if used wisely can lead to (or can now produce) something totally unanticipated - or at least unpredicted - of a powerful and potentially quite positive nature IF we are willing to admit to ourselves and ‘fill in the gap’ (or gaps) when it comes to that ‘thing’ which is missing in whatever equation we are working with which we would like to equal success and successful results.

The other thing to know about is that as we close in on New Years, Mercury will oppose fixed star Castor (first of the Gemini twins) on December 29th and then oppose Pollux (the second Gemini twin) on New Years Eve, AS Mars in Aquarius opposes Jupiter, now retrograde in Leo.

That brings up the subject of choice - and since Mercury rules Gemini - that which we choose or have chosen.

Plus there is that little fact that people do tend to do some very particular things on New Years Eve.

Whatever you face (or whatever is facing you), let’s just say this is not the time to do something hasty (or in haste) which might create some need to deal with a ‘cost’ regarding same which confronts you from some impersonally (or not personally) controlled perspective.

Other than that, what with this week ahead when the Sun in Sagittarius’ most worldly and newsworthy degrees will be signifying life stirring up that which will shift as we move through Uranus’ station on December 21st, we shouldn’t expect the days ahead to feel normal - or to have normal feelings about life in general.

The feelings we’re talking about are those which can feel personally destabilizing. Feelings of insecurity we didn’t even know we had may appear as if out of rather dim air.

Taken by NASA's Messenger spacecraft, this photo of Mercury is known as 'The Sunlit Side of Mercury'

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

And on that level, that Mercury is moving into Capricorn on Wednesday, a day or two in advance of Uranus’ ‘official’ station and also probably as things (or we) start seeming or feeling disjointed about this or that... maybe that’s just life being kind to us by giving us an inner sense that we can prevail, that despite all the loose ends, seeming impossibilities and disgruntled times we can keep on being who we need to be.

Which is a gift indeed.
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October’s 0 Scorpio Solar Eclipse (Pt. 3: Aspects, Stars and Dates)

 The partial Solar Eclipse of January 4, 2011 at 13 Capricorn as photographed from Strakonice in the Czech Republic

(photo credit: Hynek)

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The image for 0 Scorpio’s Sabian symbol (‘A crowded sightseeing bus on a city street’) says many things. Astrologer Marc Edmund Jones typified this degree as being about the urge to be social or interact in order to experience and learn through society’s collective achievements - to which astrologer Dane Rudhyar, while agreeing added a decisive comment on how the influences which manifest as part of 0 Scorpio’s energetic refer not only to the moment at hand but much wider, broader and far-reaching considerations which in his words are ‘very concrete and perhaps startling.’

All that being true, when presented by a solar eclipse the effect is both as broad and far reaching as possible...while also being entirely close, personal and inordinately primal. And that’s what we’ve been seeing, hearing about and experiencing in life in many ways over these past two months or so both locally and universally on our national and international stages. That people have reacted with such a depth of emotionality has been typically Scorpio as Scorpio presents us with whatever will get us to feel (or failing that, force us to feel or react emotionally) in part of course in direct reaction to given situations.

But metaphysically? Metaphysically this has been all about our Self: who we are, what our values are, whether our values work or not and (this being the special Scorpio touch) how we feel about our values and thus our sense of security being shaken.

Please Note: the statement is sense of security, not actual security. No single astrological transit - be it a solar eclipse or anything else - is enough to signify disaster or death. Some people (and some charts, be they of people, places or things) will be under a lot of stress from multiple major astrological placements and triggers and they will experience trouble.

The Solar Eclipse at 0 Scorpio (glyph chart)

 October 24, 2014 - 21:58 (9:58 p.m.) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Yet no solar eclipse - not even this one at 0 Scorpio - signifies disaster or death. A single transit can and often does time a given event and it is common to hear of death/s occurring just around the time of a solar eclipse (generally within a couple of weeks of it). But those charts will have shown multiple indicators generally for some time at least.

Also - to differentiate: Scorpio deals in the emotions of death just as it deals in the emotions of sex and conception. But death’s physicality is far more often astrological associated with Cancer and/or the fourth house in a given chart in a literal ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust’ sense, and such indications may or may not appear in a given natal, solar, lunar or other return chart.

Unless you’re meting out death, that is. Delivering death and the dangers of delivering death (see: war, surgery, societal violence) or choice to participate in same ARE eighth house and Scorpionic - with a tip of the weighting hat to the eighth house side of this concept rather than the sign.

In other words, if you’re not an astrologer don’t assume Scorpio means something just because your emotional psyche might want to think of it that way... that may in fact be the easiest and fastest metaphysical path to setting yourself up to experience that you dread most.

The Solar Eclipse at 0 Scorpio (text chart)

 October 24, 2014 - 21:58 (9:58 p.m.) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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It is a cause/effect universe, after all. If you ask to fear, you’ll get something to fear about - and so often that anger which erupts from fear (and fearing that your position, perspective or thing you like most might get defeated or otherwise eliminated) becomes the ill itself.

As for expanding the idea of this degree to its utmost point, that could take many forms, all of which will somehow display an extreme of emotionality which has to be compensated for in some way. In our individual lives this will function one way...in the life of families, companies, products, societies, movements and nations it will function another way. But all will be in parallel.

Just to explain, I’ll volunteer one idea being meandered through by yours truly in a few more metaphysical moments. Planet Earth must maintain balances  metaphysical as well as physical and though human beings have been a rowdy and often violent species resident on this Earth for many a thousand years, it is in the past sixty to a hundred years that we have seen a new rise of decline in many species. Putting aside all the physical/scientific reasons for same (physicality being on the astrological level an outgrowth or manifestation of metaphysics or what we might call ‘metaphysicality’) it is also during this period of time that humankind’s ability to inflict death (i.e., the scale of same) has multiplied  exponentially. It is in fact arguable that most if not all causes of death are things developed by humans which makes humankind - in the life of Planet Earth - its absolute top predator.

So if you’re a planet and the laws of existence mandate maintenance of predator/prey balances, what happens? Is there a massive decline in prey? Or, because humans are now owning and utilizing so much of what we might call Earth’s ‘predatory energetics’ does that mean natural predators such as lions, leopards, tigers, sharks and so on are bound to decline...or that human energetics will in turn promote planetary developments which will by their essential nature cause us to be less inclined to predation?

If so, the answer to decline in our planet’s wildlife may be wholly or in part a province of our emotional psyches - and therefore a choice (one of many) we may not have currently made, but which is there for us to avail ourselves of. You know...if we come to realize that when it comes to planets, we really are inescapably together on this currently Earth-bound sightseeing trip through space as part of our galaxy.

And that idea of there being choices to make, old choices which need to be ‘eclipsed’ and new ideas which need to be developed so as to serve the difficulties, challenges and possible losses which come with any solar eclipse - that seems natural too in a moment when there is a Gemini influence afoot courtesy of the 0 Gemini eclipse of 2012.

Why would that be? If you missed it, here’s the link to that post:

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October’s 0 Scorpio Solar Eclipse

(Pt. 2: that ‘Other’ eclipse)

For the sake of reference and calendar marking, this eclipse (the solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio) will be taking its’ turn around April 2017 - which will be in the wake of a solar eclipse at 8 Pisces, a degree we will all learn a lot about (for among other things, reference) as Neptune (ruler of Pisces) work through a range of motion between 4 and 8 Pisces during its 2015 (into early 2016) cycle, with 4 Pisces being the position of royal and fixed star Fomalhaut.

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The Royal Stars of Persia (Pt. 4): Fomalhaut

As for fixed stars to be concerned with at the moment, though there is a very wide connection between 0 Scorpio and Arcturus (a leadership or ‘leading’ influence) and Spica (true brilliance versus ‘the brilliant image’) these stars are at 24 Libra and therefore not within 5 degrees of the eclipse. So though matters of leadership and ‘where things are leading’ (or how someone has led, led others on, been led on, etc.) may get referenced, they are not actually involved. With an emblem of skill (Achilles) at 29 Libra, some skills will be eclipsed now, some will be ‘taken off the table’ and others will be revealed, at least in part - this being a partial (not total) eclipse of the Sun.

With Libra being a sign about how we relate to others or how they relate to us because of how we are ‘presenting’ our Self, our thoughts, positions, efforts, projects and products, the [Achilles] skill with which we handle ourselves is a key to the responses we get from others and some - at least - of what we have done or how we have done it will now fall by the wayside at least for three years (the full term of the eclipse). At the same time, being that this eclipse will have the Sun, Moon and Venus in conjunction at 0 Scorpio, there are some highly pronounced qualities which pertain to secrecy, power, greed and all the many ways we try to get or avoid attention (and responses) from others which are now being eclipsed.

Put simply, to have Venus eclipsed will eliminate some evils while spawning others with all such notions or factors having to do with our emotional tendencies to prioritize our Self or what we ‘want’ (or want to be true, want to happen, etc.) which in the small venue is petty and annoying, which in the moderate venue is selfish, emotionally tone deaf or egotistical and which in the grandest view is likely to spawn things, attitudes and behaviors which are patently-reflexively-instinctively narcissistic and which become wholly, grandly destructive - even... and most particularly of the generative aims.

Let’s remember: Scorpio is the sign of karma. With all things Scorpio, what we put out will come back to us, and not always from the same ‘place’ or ‘direction’ we were thinking about or ‘aiming’ at. With Libra, things tend to be direct and timely - the person who sues you is a Libran figure who must abide by the laws of the ‘equal’ playing field (the legal suit). But with Scorpio, emotions come into play - which both defines any Scorpio situation as something which can upset us and something in which people invest emotionally - and not always for the best of productive reasons. Malice is Scorpionic, as is manipulation. But so is rehabilitation, detoxification and the concept of resurrection - especially that sort of emotional resurrection which allows us to purge our beings of that which is dangerous or toxic to us or others, thereby clearing the way to the sort of greater personal power which leads to opportunities and eventual achievement.

The good news is that the worst of Scorpio’s spawn is likely to be relatively short-lived (2.5 - 3 years) before it ‘takes a turn,’ though there is no guarantee that such a turn will be for the better.

But I digress. There are two fixed stars which are very much part of this eclipse. The first is Mirach, a star which is said to have the nature of Neptune and Venus (speaking of Neptune and - ahem! - Venus).

Mirach is part of constellation Andromeda and also part of constellation Pegasus - an odd combination of ‘taking flight’ (Pegasus) and the experience of helplessness in the defense of self (Andromeda).

'Andromeda' by Edward Poynter (1869, oil on canvas)

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The Andromeda part of this influence is purely human, mortal and understandable - its our reaction or tendency to react when we feel powerless because choices have been made for us by others (human beings) who are diminishing our (Taurus) value through their (Gemini) choice. Whoever we are and whatever we are involved in and have been doing over these past months, there are places in our life where we are Andromeda (and where we feel helpless)and places where we have made the choice to put others in a position of helplessness.

At this point, neither one is benefiting us - and that this happens so soon after royal star Aldebaran moved into 10 Gemini seems telling.

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Aldebaran at 10 Gemini

But there’s also the Pegasus part of this dynamic, and when we get to the metaphysics of Pegasus, with all due respect for those who want to think Pegasus is all about beauty, strength and the freedom to fly, it’s all that yes - but also the ability to flee the scene of the crime (avoidance of problems and/or culpability, in other words) by utilizing special or specialized or unique attributes or talents in a manner which hinders us through fear even as it offers us a new way to maneuver, see things or deal with difficulties or threats.

And why is that?

That’s because Pegasus is the offspring of Medusa - the symbol of all we fear knowing, most of all about our Self.

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Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

The ideas expressed by Pegasus can absolutely be used for good and productivity. But given the idea that Pegasus is allegedly born of blood shed when Medusa is slain by the young and heroic Perseus, there is something within - our native Medusa - which must be confronted and worked through before, in true Scorpio style, our attempts at ‘flight’ (whatever form that takes) become fully imbued with inner strength of character.

'Perseus vanquishing Medusa' by Eugene Thirion (1839-1910)

- that's Pegasus in the background.

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The other star in opposition to the eclipse is Mira or ‘Stellar Mira’, a star once marveled at because of the nature of its variable light. Thanks to modern astronomy we now know Mira is a binary star with a cycle of roughly 11 months (332 days) and there are no specific mentions of Mira in Chinese or Babylonian lore (though over the years Chinese astronomers have described constellations thought to contain Mira)...and thus we would think it natural that anything Mira would come into aspect with (be that Mirach, a solar eclipse or something in your personal natal chart) would have an ongoing on-off (plus-minus, positive-negative, strong-weak) cycle inherent in its nature.

As for what shape that nature tends to take, well-respected astrologer Reinhold Ebertin described Mira as having the nature of Saturn and Jupiter, telling us that Mira star should be associated with two very different things: beginnings and endings along with long-term existence or duration.

Why? Because when or where Jupiter and Saturn appear together (or are associated by linkage) we are being given the symbolism of growth (Jupiter) and durable structures (Saturn) which are in themselves achievements and which afford us the opportunity to achieve that much more. Furthermore, Jupiter and Saturn have a synodic cycle (synodic meaning the frequency with which they conjunct while in orbit around the Sun) of 19.86 years while eclipses are clocked on the Metonic cycle, a cycle which is nineteen years (235 lunar months) long. Both of these cycles refer to what philosophers, historians and story tellers refer to as ‘the rise and fall’ of fortunes - be they of a person, a nation, a reign or anything else.

Mira's (aka Mira A's) bow shock and tail as photographed in ultraviolet

(photo credit: NASA)

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The last time we had this year’s 8 Taurus/0 Scorpio eclipse sequence was back in 1995. And for those of an age and sufficient willingness, there is a value in looking back and thinking about what you were going through then - not in terms of finite subjects of concern which were important then, but in terms of how you coped with those times. How did what you felt then spur you on to more growth or personal development in the wake of those eclipses?

That process is being repeated now. Not in the same form and not (generally) through the same people, places or things, but the pattern of personal growth is being repeated now. Again, this only applies to those of “a certain age” (sorry young folk, but this is one place where being older has a few perks!) but those who learned about their own capacity back then will have the ability to weather these times with more aplomb, calm and general effective efficiency. And those who didn’t? Or those who aren’t old enough yet to have passed through multiple eclipse cycles?

They will have a more robustly trying (emotional) time now - and hopefully they’ll be taking notes, as this is not the last Scorpio eclipse younger folks are likely to see as the Scorpio/Taurus sequence returns in (yes,) another nineteen years.

This is however, the last of the Scorpio eclipses for now. Next time around there will be no 0 Scorpio eclipse (though the year 2032 will bring us an encore of last year’s 19 Taurus/11 Scorpio solar eclipse sequence).

Moreover, given how the lunar nodes cycle backwards through the zodiac we would expect that after the Taurus/Scorpio sequence would come an Aries/Libra sequence.

But if we expected that, we would be wrong. For whatever reason deemed proper by that which manifests as our universe and all which exists in it, after this eclipse our world will be skipping Aries-Libra and moving straight into a Pisces/Virgo mode.

In other words, this very feeling time is preparing us to confront very important questions about what we are willing to endure feeling (as individuals and as collectives of various sorts) in order to make things health, workable and supportive of our aims not only for the foreseeable future, but in the longer range of long runs - which is a very good reason to heed the warning of 0 Scorpio, that being about how it requires both the decision and the effort to turn ourselves (and one supposes, that which is in front of us now) to good.

May we all decide to be and become our finest and most human mortal Self.
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Mercury in Virgo

Employees of Foundry Department working in 1937 to pour molten metal into molds

(photo credit: US Navy Yard, Mare Island, CA, Sept 1937 National Archives and Records Admin ID296870)

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There’s a pretty noteworthy list which goes with  Mercury’s entering Virgo on August 15th at 4:43 in the afternoon (UT/+0 time).

That list would start with the fact that Mercury in Virgo is all about the process and the processing of whatever we need to get done. Virgo is the sign which connects the determination with the goal, in serving as that engine, linkage and challenge also tests our morality.

Mind you, that morality...? That can come in any form, shape or size and it can pertain to any time frame - that we have done, that we still need to do, that we should have done but didn’t... whatever, whenever, however, now is the time to think about what to do about some things, how certain things require more attention than others - and how if we’re not going to devote the proper amount of attention to the task we need to deal with whatever it means to be responsible for our own lack of availability (interest, time, ability, etc.).

Typically a busy sort of time, Mercury in Virgo is often trying to those who have problems with boundaries or realistic priorities (which is to say putting the need before the want!) - a fact which is unlikely to be any different this year apart from the fact that with so much personal energy still vibrating along our Leo and Scorpio pathways the world is likely to look very black-and-white over the next couple of weeks as we perceive those that are weak, those who display strength and those who are sufficiently aware of the relative values of ‘good’ as not to judge, presume, project or covet.

Another little factoid about this year’s just-over-two-week stint with Mercury in Virgo: it’s going to take us from relatively neutral celestial waters (yes, you heard me - this was neutrality you just experienced) into the next two-month ‘break down’ period preceding this coming October’s solar eclipse.

And I know you’re looking forward to that, right?

(insert: sounds of jeering crowds)

Yes, of course you are.

With Jupiter’s ongoing Leo-based inconjunct to Neptune in Pisces coming to a head as Mercury enters Virgo, there’s a lot of clear need and a lot of confusion in terms of how to make many factors fit together in a way which is both sensible and capable of supporting what needs to be done.

And let’s remember - the Sun is in Leo, so ‘need’ is likely to be a relative term (ahem) with a lot of people veering towards seeing their wants as needs and their preferences as oh so important but your stuff? You know, all those things that you think are so important?

That may not rank.

Still...Mercury moving into Virgo is the beginning of a shift which will by the end of the month have us working on moving past our current sticking points, whatever they may now concern. Moreover, by the beginning of September (as Mercury is about to move on into Libra) we may even have realized what we have led ourselves to learn over this past few months.

No, it’s not guaranteed. But it is possible that some of us will - as Mercury moves into and through Virgo, even in advance of the Sun and (ultimately) Venus joining the Virgo parade - it’s entirely possible that we’ll become more inclined towards the sort of pragmatism which typifies those most famous Virgo keyword: health, work, service. Whether this means we’re considering how we need to think, act or operate as to support our own greater aims or dealing with the need to look at or take care of the ‘health’ or ‘healthy status’ of some project, person, place or physical process.

Which yes, would include becoming aware of the fact that something needs healing, or coping with same.

Associated with responsibility, Virgo often manifests as that which is (not so) affectionately known as “the daily grind” or that which we need to learn/learn about (or learn how to manage effectively) in order to take ‘the next step.’ And as Mercury - representing the mental organizing we would need to do in order to make that step happen - moves into Virgo, most of us will simple move into our ‘how to get (something) done’ mode with relatively little fuss. On some subtle (if realistic) level this signals a start to the letting go of thinking about everything in terms of the ‘idea of it’ in favor of practical factors and more grounded, analytical and coolly goal-driven thinking which sorts things through in terms of what deserves priority in the grander scheme of things.

We know of course that with fixed (and royal) star Regulus currently positioned at 0 Virgo, its ‘rule’ that success can be ours providing we don’t act (or haven’t acted) in the spirit of revenge says motivations for our choices (particularly those which dictate what, when and how we do things) come into operational play. Some matters - for whatever reason - now need correction, and why we do or don’t react to such needs is less about the external than the internal except in areas where we have violated the needs, rights or security of others. But let’s be clear here: Virgo is less about ‘the other’ or the external situation than it is about our greater relationship to others, the values we bring to doing whatever it is we do in life and our ability to separate what we’d like the truth to be versus what exists, what could exist or what would come to function successfully in real time, whether in our personal life or otherwise.

With Apollo at 1 Virgo, some of us are going to be finding out that they have bought into some measure of flattery or have been fooled, willingly or otherwise. Added to this is a nuance described by Moon conjunct Mirach at 0 Taurus, a mélange of qualities which generally point to kindly and supportive attitudes and feelings which may be unrealistic... and then again, may be signaling an incapacity or lack of resources which may simply be about a lack of capacity to do things, change things or get things done. There is plainly a [Ceres/ asteroid Pax] need to find a well-balanced means of interacting and moving forward, and to make our efforts work there is going to have to be some sort of [Juno] management and discipline of [Cancer] native instincts. Juno-Mercury speaks to ‘regulated actions’ and the need to regulate (manage, organize, lay out) things in one’s mind with the combining of these (Cancer-Virgo-Scorpio) influences pointing out the need for detailed and accurate coordination with regards to what needs doing - even if that’s only about getting things organized in our head before we walk out the front door or raise our hand in class.

One other thing to note here: given the ‘chain’ of three sextiles involved in this ingress (Ceres to Mercury, Mercury to Juno, Juno to Mirach/Moon) this image is also four-sixths of a grand sextile - that six sided astrological figure representing the linking of fate and free will (otherwise known in more spiritual terms as ‘heaven’ and ‘earth’). So for anyone - or any entity, in the case of corporations, partnerships, nations and otherwise - in the case of any chart which has planets (dwarf or otherwise), axis points or nodal positions between...

a.) 28 Aquarius and 2 Pisces

...AND...

b.) 28 Sagittarius and 2 Capricorn

...that will turn this relatively minor astrological event into something far more telling and/or far-reaching: a grand sextile. Commonly known to manifest as situations or realizations which change us in mysterious and far-reaching ways, grand sextiles are seldom dramatic in the moment but rather a sign that something ‘big’ is going to change in an inexorable and evolutionary manner. 

To be clear here, even without the additional points there is a quality of something which is already in motion with much now having to do with what we are going to choose to do with regards to such ongoing matters. But with October playing host to that previously mentioned solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio and with 0 Scorpio being a degree which fits in with this Mercury/Virgo ingress, while this transit will function in its own right in the here and now, there's also a hint about things in present tense having something to do with social, societal and economic factors (reflecting the October eclipse) which are about to become far more thoroughly known.

On a personal level, Mercury in Virgo is the sound of efforts, personal lessons/learning better and getting things done.

On a more global level, Mercury in Virgo asks whether what we’re going (or the manner in which we are going about doing it) is ethical on a truly global basis.

Not our definition of global, but truly global. With the polarity sign to Virgo being Pisces, whatever we face now is best dealt with thoughtfully. But since being really thoughtful now is going to force us to face our feelings, it is entirely reasonable (and therefore Virgoan) to bear in mind that there are any number of people (and entities) whose unfeeling natures or unwillingness to feel are going to manifest in anything from callousness to malice, malice being often nothing more or less than an  indignant retaliation for having been made to feel something beyond our ability/willingness) to cope with.

What we do about that is a test of responsible thinking. Fortunately Mercury is entering Virgo - a fact which says we may not like what we need to think about over the next few weeks, but we still need to do some thinking nonetheless.


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October’s 0 Scorpio Solar Eclipse (Pt. 1: the Map and Basics)

 A map of the path for this year's Solar Eclipse at

0 Scorpio which will occur on October 23, 2014 at 9:58 p.m. (UT/+0)

A sense of advancing plight overtook me while listening to news of desperate and desperately deceived parents risking the lives of their own children, paying fees to smugglers willing to subject others to dangerous desert crossings on their way to a United States border the crossing of which would bring only limited respite while inflaming long-postponed (and of late, deadlocked) US domestic issues.

All through the week the story kept spreading. First came the stories and photos out of Texas and Arizona showing children being housed in makeshift Red Cross-equipped quarters by a government which had neither invited them, nor which had seen any reason to set up boarding units for plural thousands of children. It was a mess - one helpfully not helped out by the US Congress, which for reasons of its own seems hell-bent on not working through the problems and business of the nation which funds their paychecks.

(Need I say how evident it seems that the U.S. Congress doesn't study metaphysics? On the other hand, I do - which would be what I've been thinking about of late...what does it mean in a greater and more metaphysical scope that any legislative body of any nation would simply take to sitting on its collective, quill-grasping thumbs?)

More to the present day reality speaking of which (politics, that is), political rhetoric ran hot and noisy with the next act in this drama - a crowd turning back buses loaded with undocumented moms and kids in California...which rather filled out the scope of the eclipse map as it applies to the United States, with the additional given that the nations from which these people are arriving are also getting eclipsed.

Plus there is the fact that this is the final North-Node-in-Scorpio eclipse we're going to have for a while, which signals a sort of cumulative effect of all the North Node/Scorpio, South Node/Taurus issues which have been building in our lives and in our lives as a product of our ability to live with/in our world, home, lifestyle, belief set, relationships, commitments (etcetera) over the past couple of years.

And this 'last of the series' is at zero, no less. As a metaphysical numerical signature, zero represents the most basic of all basics. It represents the need to start from zero and the possibility that all will be reduced to zero given our ability or inability to deal with the implications of the sign being triggered.

Which in this case is Scorpio, that 'fixed' water sign which invites us to fix ourselves, lest others 'fix our wagon' for us. (Badly, that would be.)

Considering this along with the Sabian symbol for 0 Scorpio (which I will type out here for you in a moment) I felt moved to post the October solar eclipse map. Not only is forewarned forearmed, but seeing as the intensity of what's going on at this point is the sort of thing we would expect to see during the two months immediately prior to an eclipse but not as yet...well, that suggests a level of concerted consternation (and upheavals) yet to arise from this eclipse map.

An event map generated by the USGS for the June 23, 2014 earthquake which shook Alaska's Aleutian Islands to a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale.

Speaking of which (the reference here being 'upheavals') there was an 8.0 (prelimitary reading) earthquake in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands on June 23, 2014. This is also in the solar map zone...and we are about three years out from the 13 Capricorn solar eclipse of early 2011 which preceded Japan's Fukushima quake. That Japan itself is not included in the eclipse map isn't itself surprising - nor is the fact that this recent quake occurred to the east of the former, as that's the direction eclipses 'rotate' as well.

It's all part of a singular mechanism - the same one we're all part of. 

Without knowing exactly why this next ‘eclipse season’ seems to be giving us such a clarity of foresight (or in the case of the quake, foreshock) of what’s to come, it is worth noting that the “standard” two-month ‘breaking down’ of situations (or resistance to things) we would anticipate with an eclipse occurring on October 23rd would begin on August 23rd (give or take).

Is there something about our times which extends eclipse effects? Are we merely dealing with a chaotic combination of influences?

Yes - but that doesn’t seem to cover the astrological bill, even when we take into account that this next eclipse will be positioned at 0 Scorpio - a degree which with whatever else it may be, would also be a signature for ‘karma coming due.’

As usual, we will as humans no doubt assume that karma means someone else’s karma and act accordingly - which when we talk Scorpio generally means acting badly towards the whole while purely focused on the first-person personal.

All of which makes the prospects of a U.S. election season occurring under this influence truly flinch-worthy.

And yet...and yet the point of any eclipse coming to a ‘zero’ degree is to take things entirely down to basics - which with Scorpio is going to refer not to ‘the ills within’ we saw with the Taurus eclipse exploding the myths...our myths of mythic Self...within the frameworks of fixed stars Hamal and Schedir...no, this next eclipse is going to be all about the ills we create in our own lives and all the destroying of the potentials and possibilities we set ourselves up for through not holding that which is ‘without’ (others, our cities, societies, world, planet, etc.) in as high a regard as we hold for those instinct-driven desires for personal validation and security.

The Sabian symbol for 0 Scorpio reads as follows: A CROWDED SIGHTSEEING BUS ON A CITY STREET, an image Marc Edmund Jones’ original interpretation spoke of as the fundamental human eagerness to expand one’s social horizon and to experience the results of collective achievements and new ways of life. This interpretation, which dates from 1930, probably should be thought of in more modern terms since in today’s world there’s as much ‘exploring of the world around us’ which takes place electronically as through any other means.

And that, my friends, is the hallmark of the Aquarian Age - an idea which seems more and more important to think about as we live through a stretch of years rife with the turbulence of one set of patterns evolving into another...as people and parents born under one age inevitably struggle with their children and a society which is going to naturally have some ‘phasing in/phasing out’ issues of its own - a quality we can expect will appear over the months ahead (because October's eclipse is in opposition to fixed star Mirach) in a more or less obvious forms as well as in ways far more subtle (and perhaps more painful) where life's (eclipse) processes cause us to meet up with where our 'easy going' feelings of friendship are based neither on strengths (theirs or ours) and/or our ability to 'own' how willing we all are out of human necessity to deceive ourselves.

You know...that famous 'risk now, pay later' thing?

Known for great accomplishments where sufficient personal strength to deal with frustration, 0 Scorpio seems to bring things ‘to a point’ where intensity of aim and/or focus either breaks through, breaks down or breaks under the weight of some fallacy (innocent or otherwise). Just as the immigration situation is doing in the United States, all matters 0 Scorpio threaten us with our worst (though we all would rather fear the worst about others) in such a manner that we think we can be 'defended' (most of all against being overwhelmed by our own feelings) when the real issue is about adjusting to reality/realities with the understanding that no one gets to have 100% of what they want in life.

That 100% of the want, that is the ideal - which at its best Scorpio teaches is less attractive than that which is achievable and though not ideal, validating in the fact that we have lived up to and achieved our level best as human beings. 

People often act immature in Scorpio situations. Scorpio asks that we experience our own sense of vulnerability through ‘agreeing’ to tolerate the flexing of our emotions through interactions with others...and through choosing to risk/not risk tomorrow’s gains, opportunities and growth based on how secure we are with ourselves - on the inside.

When things go wrong under Scorpio, we will always tend to blame others. And yet, just under the surface - our surface - is that thread of searing Scorpio angst which says ‘I chose to get involved.’

In the end, the biggest tests of Scorpio are all about not our defeats, but about learning how most defeats are defeats of ego, not worth - and how for some of us, only through having our ego defeated can we come to recognize that truly lasting Scorpio power which has everything to do with that cognizance of others which inspires sufficient respect that they become...and remain...conscious of us, as well as willing to respect us both equally, separately and together.
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Venus in Pisces

Vénus Astarté by Emile Jean Baptiste Philippe (1894)

Astrology has long spoken of the 'exultation' felt under that pearlescent mist of feeling which is so very Venus in Pisces. Whether or not we consider ourselves spiritual… attuned… or intuitive in that very special way which allows us to respond before we really ‘know’…all that is Venus in Pisces.

As is grief. And longing. To feel sorrow under Venus in Pisces is to sense the power of emotions as a maelstrom whether we succumb to it or not.

That is, as it happens, one of the greatest secrets of Pisces: to feel and to have sufficient presence of Self that we can feel our own reactions to our emotions…?

From that comes not the wisdom of knowledge but instead that of consideration - compassionate consideration. To win under the Piscean banner is to be willing to lose out on any untrue conviction, for Pisces embodies the precept of humility. To heal under Pisces means walking through the pain of our darkness and the depths of despair, for Pisces requires faith.

Faith in our Self…and how that Self is going about being who they are, maybe most of all.

Bringing all this to Venus, whatever latitude we give ourselves during the month following the Venus ingress of Pisces on April 6th at 8:32 in the evening (UT/+0 time)…that may play well or much to anyone’s displeasure depending on how fully any given person has accepted their place in what they’re doing. As part of this, everything which passes through our lives during this time will produce or show up some effect – and such effects come either from who we are being in the moment (a response or reaction), what we are currently doing (a reward or loss), or something which we’ve done in the past (a lesson learned or being learned now).

And in response to that…some of us will now be done, some of us will recognize the cost, the pain, the mistake – and some of us will receive broad based honors or some ‘outpouring’ which results from tapping into an innate ‘quality of nature’ which may be quite raw as it overtakes us, but which in the end is nothing more or less than our reality of this moment.

Some of us will understand the value of what they see. On the other hand, over the course of this month of Venus in Pisces we’re also likely to feel some shifting of our values and priorities – all of which reflects the process of our eclipsing who we have been coming into this time.

We know what we’re seeing. But do we only know what we’re seeing?

As a different way to look at the idea of the 'marketplace' mentioned in the Sabian symbol

for 0 Pisces, a 1939 photograph of activity on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange

(photo credit Library of Congress, April 1939)

With Venus in Pisces, the reality can be anything. Moreover whatever appears first during this Venus passage is most often not the final nature or ultimate realization. So one must work with what happens, some of which will affect us more – at least in our own eyes – than what we felt going on around us.

That’s just the nature of this time. The things we do, whether required or optional, are all part of a process which in bringing us into periodic stress with our sense of Self inspires a ‘breaking away’ from something we have focused on…or maybe held onto for so very long.

The astrological origin here being Jupiter, our impetus comes from ‘beyond’ us.

Yet that which is empowered and emboldened begins within, as an awareness which, given where we are in time will become ever more of the eclipsing of some notion, some…valuation – which is where both the Sabian symbol for 0 Pisces and the magic rectangle set up at the ingress) seem to come into play.

The Sabian for 0 Pisces being ‘IN A CROWDED MARKETPLACE FARMERS AND MIDDLEMEN DISPLAY A GREAT VARIETY OF PRODUCTS’ this  Venus in Pisces passage pits us against the wanting (even longing) to ‘see’ things (at least in our own mind) the way we want them to be, or the way we like seeing them – against the need to deal with the reality that there are many choices, many voices to be heard (and either considered or dismissed, one by one)…and in general, an opportunity to ‘partake’ of much which commonly needed, bought into or desired by all of us for our own particular reasons.

The reference here being ‘products’ instead of ‘food’ (or nourishment), the normal Piscean feeling state which operates basically in terms of what we have in common with others is here “annotated” (if you will) to reference a more… Aquarian sort of reference, which isn’t unlikely as first and last degrees (0 and 29) of signs tend to display that they have just finished ‘learning’ about (the previous sign) or that they’re preparing to deal with (the sign ahead). With Venus being the ‘nature’ of the energetic implied, what we have or are which is different or unique is what creates the “Venusian” response “going into” this time (as the transit begins). Moreover, since the symbol references farmers and middleman (but not the ultimate consumers), we are being told that the ‘Venus process’ we move into and through during April is but a first step in the process.

Which when we think about how solar eclipses work…namely how events during the two months preceding the eclipse ‘breaks down’ some set of walls.

And of course the closer any point in your chart is to the eclipse (which in this case will be at 8 Taurus) describes the intensity of your process.

So the idea of Venus signaling the beginning of some process – whether that’s just thinking something through or actively doing it – fits. Moreover, we aren’t due for a shift in the ‘thrust’ of current dynamics until April 29th (the date of the eclipse for everyone east of the America’s Pacific coast).

Meanwhile, the tone for these weeks ahead is being set by a magic rectangle – an astrological figure which refers to a ‘golden’ sort of ‘everything working for me’…right up until the moment it doesn’t work for you – and maybe anyone else, in which case the situation isn’t working for you because its considered a negative by others.

Magic rectangles are often a sign of grace. But they are also astrological figures which if ‘broken’ (or violated) represents forces which seem daunting when we try to contemplate fixing things.

If we can fix things, that is.

This image is not the ‘standard’ sort of astrological figure (i.e., one made of planetary or dwarf planet placements) in that it’s composed mostly of fixed stars and the lunar nodes. But that too tells us something. Fixed stars tend to indicate ‘prevalent conditions’ (or standing/traditional methods, notions, emotional expectations or alliances) and the presence of the lunar nodes in this figure assures us that relationships and the question of relating is involved.

Venus/Nessus being an ‘enduring’ method, legacy, orientation, belief (etcetera), in Pisces we would expect reactions to ‘that again’ or something which “simply will not die,” abate or go away, all of which adds to Venus’ passing through that most broad-spectrum of all emotional signs, Pisces.

Do you need to make an emotional effect? This may be the time to make it.

Of course…given the incoming eclipse, you may be in for something or someone provoking you.

And yes, both may happen during this April 5 - May 3 Venusian transit of Pisces. They may even both happen repeatedly. And in connection.

Or completely separately. It just depends. Astrologically we would look to where natal Venus is – the aspects, the house, the sign…and whether it’s retrograde or direct in the natal chart.

Then again, we could just think back on the recent Venus retrograde, an event which began on December 21, 2013 and which ended on January 31, 2014 (both dates UT/+0). To some extent, what we were experiencing then comes back to us now – mostly at a ‘playing out’ level. The North (lunar) Node at 28 Libra refers to a direction we should go in society or a ‘direction’ which should be taken with the degree (28 Libra) referencing the successive generations of mankind and our sense of connection to others, groups or collectives in particular - whether that’s a reference to strength, weakness, a need to be stronger, more gentle…or even the need to let something go.

To this Mirach/South Node adds the idea of being perfectly happy with what you’re doing…or the way things are, with the trine to/from Regulus creating a note of “nobility of intent.” Regulus in particular having a reputation for taking on the coloration of (and) being stronger when aspected in someone’s natal chart, that of course applies on an individual natal basis. But because such precepts also apply on a global basis, that Venus is in opposition to Regulus means that there’s a stronger Venus-Regulus emphasis on the plus-and/or-minus of nobility…and what exactly constitutes being or acting noble. Considering Venus’ rulership of Taurus as the sign of the incoming eclipse, being faced off by someone else – or maybe just questioning our own reasons and rationales has some meaning in the (magic rectangle) moment as Venus goes direct…and may well also ‘contribute’ to the overall purging of values and (e)valuations associated with the eclipse.

And that – in turn – will like as not trigger not our sense of worth, but our reasons for being who we are..some of which may be needing some review (in particular for those whose charts will directly aspect the 8 Taurus solar eclipse). 

On the other hand, considering how Venus also rules Libra we may now be asking whether what someone is saying is consistent with what they do as in the old ‘talking the talk’ as opposed to ‘walking the walk’ sort of thing – which in our minds may have us wondering whether anyone believes us. This may well be most apparent in those in whose life the magic rectangle is ‘broken’ – where everything it refers to is non-functional (or close to that). Most transiting magic rectangles tend to manifest more positively, but in the end energetics are simply what they are. So the ‘picture’ which offers advantages or strengthens the positive to some by harnessing abilities, timing and karmic grace harnesses…or it brings something pretty or comfortable to an end.

And of course because life is never just one single thing, in one part of life all may go well now…while in another things are inexplicably unworkable or uncomfortable.

Venus’ transit of Pisces is always a sensitive time. Those who can spent time in contemplation, study or simple appreciation of those precious personal moments… those who can take it easy… those who take the time to take that walk through nature, or enjoy simple pleasures in good company…they will find that in spite of life’s pressures there are moments to be enjoyed, moments which will get us through those other things.

Under Venus in Pisces, all that which is human provides us with the means to find commonalty and acceptance from others. That would be the exalted Venus promise.

But first we have to find our own most human humility.

That's the Pisces way.
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