Mercury in Taurus / Neptune at 7 Pisces

Pasaulio Sutverimas II (Creation of the World II)

by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1906-1907)

As Mercury enters Taurus this Wednesday (April 23rd at 10:25 p.m. UT/+0 time) some things tone down...just a bit. Feelings of being on edge begin rounding out as life takes on a more genteel and considered, giving tone.

Yet at the same time that things are becoming less ‘cutting,’ they’re also becoming a bit...well, let’s just call it what it is: muddled - which goes to the other astrological matter timing out to Wednesday, namely planet Neptune’s shift into 7 Pisces.

And what’s so special about that?

That’s special because Neptune will remain at 7 Pisces from now through it’s station in early June (yes, I said June) until in retrograde Neptune ‘backs’ out of 7 Pisces into 6 Pisces - which won’t happen until we’re closing in on the end of July.

That’s a lot of time to be spent with Neptune at 7 Pisces, which suggests a metaphysical ‘emphasis’ on this point.

So what would Neptune at 7 Pisces be about? The degree itself is known for changing and changeable conditions and various not-so-very ‘crystal clear’ influences.

And that’s even without adding in any sort of ‘Neptune effect.’ So since Neptune is known for both idealism and illusion, equally promoting elation and desperation depending on our need to experience our feeling nature...it would seem that there is an overarching period (the Neptune/7 Pisces factor) which starts now and runs through almost all of July, and as part of that, Mercury is now entering Taurus.

And of course ...just to be fair here...the opposite could also be just as true: as Mercury entering Taurus can be a ‘color commentary’ on the activation of the ‘Neptune/7 Pisces’ theme, so too could we say that Neptune’s entering Pisces is a commentary on the two-week dash through Taurus Mercury is about to make.

The astrology of Neptune starts with its being the last true and full-fledged planet in our solar system as we head ‘out into the unknown’...or maybe just away from our personal consciousness and point of view - all that which is so brilliantly signified by our Sun.

Thus Neptune stands on the edge between all which is known...or even able to be known...and the un(not)known and/or not knowable - a metaphorical image which places planet Neptune in the position of inspiring us to explore (that which is unknown) and that which may well represent ‘the lifting of a veil’ or a ‘melting away of preconception’ or some dissolving of a wall or barrier - whether it’s in our heart or mind or out there in the street - whatever is keeping you from whatever you could experience and grow through experiencing...that’s where Neptune works.

And that’s why Neptune tends to be experienced as painful. We humans like our preconceptions as much (or more) than we like that favorite food from some childhood memory. We scream and scream for change and then cling to the old and known, often limiting ourselves through our reluctance to see beyond our pre-dreamed definition of what nirvana is.

In fact, it would be completely Neptunian (and Neptune-Taurus/Mercury) for me to suggest here that given our mortal and human perspective we have no ability to envision - never mind define - what nirvana may be. Or not be.

That difference...that gap between what we know and what we cannot know is very Neptunian in its ability to get us to wonder - and equally Neptunian in its ability to confound us with our own incongruities. As a psychological indicator the astrological (and astrology of) Neptune leads us through whatever  gives us (or makes us) pause entirely because of this factor, entirely because in our drive to become who we teaches us to excel through personal focus in a world which can’t have every person focused so exclusively on their Self lest we destroy each other in our self absorption.

All of which leads us to the idea of Pisces - the sign Neptune is transiting and co-ruler of. During Neptune’s long (and no doubt resonant) stay at 7 Pisces we will be learning most of all how ‘wise’ our directions, choices and belief systems are. What we will come into all such situations with will be some conviction that ‘we know.’

But do we? Do we really know - or have we been operating on a knowledge of theory?

Where idea meets human experience is expressed variously by the metaphysics of the zodiac. In this case the ‘idea’ of what works for everyone is Aquarian and the emotional triumph or toll is typically Piscean. Ever since Neptune entered Pisces (this time around) back in 2011 events of many kinds have forced us to consider how we are connected to what goes on in our world.

Some of that has been wonderful. Some of our experiences have been exceedingly unpleasant. And why is that? Astrology suggests that some a part of our ongoing (and new) difficulties have to do with us...probably more than a little bit. That tendency we all have to ‘cherry pick’ what we like in a situation, our willingness to ignore or deny things which don’t fit what we want to believe about things...?

Any choice which is not exclusive, or which by nature is restricted by some feeling on our part which negates or excludes the truth of what others feel (whether that’s about us or the subject at hand or anything else)...that is the sort of thing Neptune’s 2011-2025 transit of Pisces is bound to cover. During this time we will all learn a lot about our own orientation towards feelings. We will veer away from them, we’ll do that very Neptunian thing and project them...we’ll even pretend they neither matter nor need to be taken into account.

All such choices will be made on the basis of something we ‘know’ or think we know as fact...and yet after a traverse of the Pisces landscape, many such ‘gut feelings’ which turn out to fears.

Neptune transits tend to teach us to feel our fears not so that we can back away, but so we can begin to understand why we care. And what caring is about. Why it matters not just to ‘them’ but to us - as in for our purely human sake. (Humans don’t do well without feelings).

Through understanding what we care about and WHY we care about it, we come to a better place with, and within our personal Self.

That’s Neptune in Pisces, a process which sounds deceptively simple and even cuddly until we find out its anything but simply because in the world of human beings the known is always easier to opt for than the unknown.

As for Mercury, an everyday transit of Taurus by Mercury would be about about keeping things going the way we want them to go in general, and that’s one major theme we can expect to live through (and hear about) until Mercury moves on into Gemini as of May 7th. There will be a natural mental (Mercury) focus on matters and details having to do with the day-to-day business of living and we can expect at least a surface display of mainstream attention to all things central, societal and functional (read: food, money, transportation, scheduling, power systems, etc.)

Into all this will steal the Neptune/7 Pisces shift. It may well be subtle and for some it will manifest in confusion. So long as our goals are neither ego-driven nor ego-rewarding (individually or collectively) things may go a bit awry but with proper attention from those with ability in the name of the common cause (the term “common” here meaning either ‘common to everyone/all’ or ‘commonly encountered in everyday life’), much can be accomplished.

However...with this being said, Neptune effects (and transits) can be famously painful, particularly if or where we’re used to being ‘in control.’

Neptune processes favor the dissolution of what is most of all so that we can learn more, learn better and move on and Neptune functions as a great ‘societal’ or ‘humanistic’ leveler.

We’ll be thinking about such things throughout this time. Particularly as we move into and through the April 29th solar eclipse events and situations will continue providing whatever it will take to get us to feel.

The good news is that Mercury in Taurus tends towards concrete terms. The bad news is that Mercury in Taurus tends to want ‘proof’ before it does anything.

Venus (on left) and Mercury photographed in the sky above Paris

(photo credit: Josselin Desmars)

And yes, Taurus is a fixed sign - so like all fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius being the zodiacal quartet) it’s ‘pace’ has to do with ‘processing’ something. So in our own world as well as that of others, there is going to be a bit of waiting.

Unpopular waiting, that is. Though capable of the  decent, kind and noble Mercury Taurus does tend to wend something of a bullish way between poles of selfishness and generosity.

And there is one other little thing - beyond how notorious Mercury in Taurus is for moments of sheer, unmitigated stubbornness...those entirely enchanting (read: not enchanting at all) moments of ‘I can, so I will...’ that some strongly affected by this transit will pull through machinations of power, rank or leverage.

That ‘one thing’ is how Mercury/Neptune contacts tend to manifest in anything but the truth because we don’t want to be a universalist...or where we don’t want to feel any “inconvenient” feelings (‘inconvenient to us,’ that is).

When that happens, we tend to dig in. Some of us will be ‘clouded’ by feelings and not have the ‘foggiest’ what to do. Some of us will not want to see or listen - we’ll wrap ourselves in a veil of inner longings (our ‘dream image’) either to confound our own clarity of mind or because seeing, sensing or hearing something would require us to change.

And we’re scared of that. For whatever reasons we’re scared, we’re scared of that...which suggests that as our global mindset shifts from the courageous if often a bit self-centered Mercury in Aires transit (that which is just finishing) ...as for plus and minus we each leave our visionary world of inner mental conviction we arrive at not just the Mercury in Taurus need to ‘get real’ on some very basic level but Mercury in Taurus all ‘aglow’ with promise, we reconsider.

The ‘default” for Mercury in Taurus involves structuring and building what we have so that we can build our way into the future - our future. Taurus is full of promise, with the only question really being whether that promise will get used...and if used, used for what.

Our general times are telling us that some changes are under way. Whether we look at eclipse cycles or the rise of the Aquarian Age some things are slowly but surely passing away and we’re not always comfortable with that.

But that feeling isn’t being ‘caused’ by them. We feel what we feel because we learned to feel that way - and to ignore that is to prevent ourselves from going forward...which is generally unproductive, to say the least.

Also - since I’ve just mentioned the eclipse, messenger Mercury will be moving through 8 Taurus within just a few days (call it April 11th or 12th, depending on your location) and that will tend to either ‘trigger’ eclipse effects for everyone to some extent. It’s therefore not unlikely to expect some people to suddenly see some ‘error’ in their thinking, plans or ways of going about things in general while others will press forward ever so resolutely.

Some things will begin to change at this point. Other things will be proven to be substantially lacking in validity or even feasibility. Even without Neptune’s famously infamous ‘now you think you know it...now you aren’t so sure’ quality this is likely to be a delicate time calling for some form of sensitivity.

Taurus is a sign about basic human need and necessity. It’s a sign all about what it takes to be someone in this world and the kind of bedrock ability to be a person, a mortal human being unto our Self. All the ‘native’ strengths we use in life, all which feeds our needs so that we can exist, carry on and excel - all that is natively Taurus. As Mercury transits Taurus the entire subject of ‘mentality’ is likely to come to center stage as various (Neptunian) truths and fictions come to light in our individual as well as societal lives. With everyone still pushing through a seeming endless set of challenges (reflecting the Venus-Mercury-Mars/Saturn retrogrades which began last December) there will be frustration and a few rash speeches made all around.

Some will avoid truths, some will choose to lie and some will come realize actualities far different from the assumptions they had been proceeding on. In some areas we will find out that things really are as we were thinking they were (or as we were told they were). In others, confusion may reign making some problems simply impassable...at least for now.

Mercury/Neptune as a signal of duplicitous activities suggests that some will ‘falsify for gain’ or be led astray now. Then again, they may know exactly what they’re doing - or their standards of consideration or for making decisions may be completely different than yours.

What do such things mean?

Nothing about this transit has to be malicious or ‘bad’ though it’s likely that during the next couple of weeks (and yes, on through May into June and July) implications will arise which cast doubts on some ‘known’ (singular or plural)...while other perhaps less “likely” solutions become viable.

Again...it is not ‘the thing’ which counts: it’s your orientation to your own capacity for balancing feelings against fact, hope against loss, reality against faith which mostly matters and matters most. Without question, some of us will now learn that some ‘theory’ we have been working with or proceeding on the basis of was incorrect...or being incorrectly applied.

Planet Neptune in its natural coloration with moons Proteus at the top, Larissa

at the lower right and Despina on the left.

(photo credit: Hubble Space Telescope, NASA-JPL)

But that’s just life too. Sometimes an idea is just an idea - we can’t put it into play wholesale, but we can be informed by it so that the choices we do make (in part because of our ideas are more acceptable (viable, useful) to everyone else...and thus how we come to be respected, cherished and rewarded by others.

This is one of the great Taurus-Scorpio polarity points: both signs gain more by offering than demanding. The power and control denoted by both Taurus and Scorpio are to be applied to ourselves so that we can bring the best out in that Self and thus earn position, power and that sort of control we think of as leadership.

If and where we can have faith in exploring new ways of approaching foundational issues now, astrology suggests much can come of our efforts and interactions providing we bear in mind that the (Neptune) universal perspective is as yet unclear. That’s not the easiest order to fulfill as Mercury’s two week transit of Taurus is bound to manifest in assessments and question of a practical and pragmatic kind.

Still Neptune teaches that we must allow ourselves not to know...which means we can only try - and when necessary, try again. We evidently don’t know know everything which can happen as yet...and just owning that much may cause ripples in whatever life pond we happen to swim in. Recognizing that seems to be part of our process as Neptune sets us up to experience its call to the experience of altruism, loss, faith, inspiration and despair imaged by the Sabian degree definition ‘A GIRL BLOWING A BUGLE.’

The girl is a young person - this is not a ‘full grown’ moment in time. It is young and therefore innocent as yet of what can happen but still driven by the power of the discovering mind. The image being of a female is not a reference to gender but rather to rather the metaphysics of ‘yin’ and thus the accumulated standing or experience which we are now ‘trumpeting’ (calling) to others with...or which is calling us.

And it just may be both...which brings us to our question: what, to whom and how will we answer that call? Are we willing to understand where that call is coming from and why it's important just now?
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In our Facies: Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair in 1906

(photo originally published by the New York World Telegram

and Sun Newspaper Photo - courtesy of the Library of Congress collection)

If you don’t know who Upton Sinclair is, I’m not sure if I’m sorry…or if I think you’re lucky. I met up with his name in middle school, and have been flinching ever since.

The man Upton Sinclair was born on February 20, 1878 – which makes his birthday the same day as that when Pluto will go station/direct here in 2013.

Here’s his chart:

Upton Sinclair

born September 20 1878 - 9:00 a.m. (+5-06-27) - Baltimore MD

With the South Node in Leo, this would be an opinionated man. In fact, with that South Node conjunct the Midheaven in Leo, and with Leo’s rulership by the Sun pointing us to a Sun conjunct Mars in the 11th house, having his say in a big way was Upton’s forte.

Which indeed it was. Author, political activist and general rabble rouser of his time, Upton Sinclair had a way of getting under people’s skin. He was roundly hated by many (including a couple of Presidents of the United States) for his inability to stay quiet whenever he found something going on he thought was terribly wrong.

And seeing how back in Upton’s day, Facies was at 6 Capricorn – that puts Facies, a snarky little nebula if there ever was one – conjunct his 3rd house cusp.

Upton Sinclair - natal chart detail

 

And since the 3rd house is always the house of mentality and communication, and since Facies is known to torment us as much as we torment others because we feel so tormented, we can bet that Upton Sinclair felt tormented by what he saw going on in his world – and hence why he tormented others.

A friend of mine refers to this as ‘sharing’…which only goes to show that sharing is not always about sharing the good stuff. When we feel tormented or upset or hurt or maltreated, we share our displeasure. We share our anger. We share our negativity.

In the metaphysical sense, we’re stirring the pot. At the very least we’re trying to let someone else know that their right to swing their arms ends about the time they punch us in the nose (or some other place which is equally if not more painful).

Sinclair was a man who wanted to get things done. Sun conjunct Mars in the 3rd ten degrees of Virgo said he saw things being (Virgo) done wrong and the placement in the 11th house says this was on a societal level.

The opposition to Saturn at 29 Pisces just helped things along. Yes, he felt it ‘critical’ to do something about it. Any time we see anything at 29 degrees of any sign there’s an emphasis, a focus, a ‘need’ to attend to whatever that symbolism speaks to. In Upton’s case, there were three modifiers – besides the opposition, I mean. His Saturn (an indication of career and business) was conjunct Agamemnon, indicating a stubborn tenacity…conjunct fixed star Scheat, a quotient which is always all about what we or others don’t want to look at or accept as the truth…and our not-so-good, good friend Sedna, the emblem of ‘take your blinders off, and stop thinking in those rose petal terms. If you keep on like you’re doing, in the end the person you’re going to hurt worse is going to be yourself or someone you love.’

-link to-

The Sedna Conflict

There are lots of other things we could say about Upton Sinclair as a man who wanted to get the word out. Certainly his Moon at 7 Cancer in the 9th house was all about how society functions and letting his feelings be known. Conjunct Vesta, he was all about the cost of what we do…and what we don’t do.

Chiron at 7 Taurus sitting atop the Descendant and conjunct Neptune and Ceres would basically describe Upton Sinclair as someone who didn’t have any ‘plan’ about how he was going to take others on, he just knew when he had to say something…and when we flip this around, he was pretty much saying ‘you may not have thought about having a plan about dealing with what’s wrong about what’s going on, but you probably should get one.’

Like I say, he was a real sharing kind of guy.

So why did knowing who Upton Sinclair queeze me out back when I was in middle school? That’s because my class was required to read one of his many (many) books – a rather notorious book called “The Jungle.”

"The Jungle" - 1st edition cover

 

I thought it a pretty horrifying book. Why? Well, “The Jungle” is all about big business of its day and is focused on the meat slaughtering business. And maybe it’s because I read this book as an early-mid teen, or maybe it’s because I went through a deal of violence as a child…but were author Jack London (“Call of the Wild,” “Valley of the Moon,” “White Fang,” etc.) thought “The Jungle” was about the corruption of people in power sort of on that ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’ sort of level and the evils of what he referred to as ‘wage slavery,’ I thought of “The Jungle” as a litany of mankind’s inhumanity not just to man, but to the creatures of this earth.

To me, “The Jungle” was all about just how callous and uncaring we can be as people. It was about how easy it is to wrap ourselves in the righteous garb of institutional processes and ‘that’s just the way we do it’ without regard to the fact that real lives – and life – is at stake.

“The Jungle” was released on February 26, 1906. Here’s the chart:

Publication chart for "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair

Release date: February 26, 1906 

28 degrees of Gemini rising puts Betelgeuse (then at 27 Gemini) right behind the Ascendant. The book is thus all about that Betelgeuse thing of doing what comes easily.

And plainly, writing about societal ills came pretty easily to Sinclair. I’ve recently begun studying asteroid Lucifer, and after a first round of examination, the point seems not to be about “Satan” per se, but how ‘bedeviled’ we can be, or how ‘devilish’ we can be with regards to others…and in a greater sense how ‘the devil is in the details.’

With Upton Sinclair, the devil was plainly in the details and with his Lucifer conjunct Betelgeuse in his ‘let’s discuss this’ Gemini 8th house of power and how we negotiate, clearly Upton Sinclair saw his ability to write a way to force people’s hands.

Which he did. When “The Jungle” came out, many – including President Roosevelt – called Sinclair a crackpot. But after reading it, Roosevelt moderated his stance, saying that the book had a lot of valid points.

Apparently so. After publication of “The Jungle” a lot of ‘sanitizing efforts’ went towards the meat packing business from top to bottom. Corruption in the business also got taken on – and spread to other businesses.

Looking at the book publication chart, it’s Midheaven (it’s “public point,” if you will) is at 4 Pisces – which at the time was the position of Hidalgo (protocols or the manner in which something is done) and Eurydike – the emblem of understanding the cost. With the Sun plus dispassionate Pallas united at 7 Pisces it’s not surprising that “The Jungle” would be something which dispassionately…some might say even coolly…discussed something so vital, so venial, so…whether you’re talking about how people or animals were treated…so very emotionally disturbing.

Today Fomalhaut, the royal fixed star which warns us that success comes only when our ‘dreams’ (aims) are not corrupted – whether by means dark or rose colored – Fomalhaut is sitting at 4 Pisces. 

And Neptune is conjuncting it.

- link to -

The Royal Stars of Persia (Part Four): Fomalhaut

A lot of us are dealing with dreams which are coming to nothing and our desire to ignore or not feel feelings which are difficult to manage.
But we need to.

Meanwhile, Pluto is going direct as this post hits the blog, and it’s doing so at 8 Capricorn, conjunct the Uranus end of the book’s Uranus-Neptune and conjunct Sinclair’s 3rd house cusp, setting off his Facies/Moon opposition.

We are all of us facing various forms of wanting to ignore and wanting to simply ‘go along to get along’ and feeling like victims while ‘sharing’ our hurts. Escapism is bigger than ever and so is the wholesale abuse of power. “Wage slavery” as Jack London termed it, is back in vogue and again crushing the life out of countless lives, thus undermining the riches of all for the purpose of a few who think their domination can last.

Life simply doesn’t work that way. When that which ‘nourishes’ us – be it food or income or the ‘milk of human kindness’ is tainted, so our world becomes tainted too.

That was Upton Sinclair’s ultimate message in much of what he wrote.

Metaphysically, the timing of his birthday would seem to suggest we need to ‘clean up our act.’ We need to care less about the end product and more about the process. The idea of Pluto going station-direct atop Facies is shown ably by this combination of charts. But in our lives…in our individual lives, it has more to do with where early Capricorn is in your natal chart by house – and whether anything is pictured there. It has to do with where your Pluto is located natally, and the distance from there to early Capricorn.

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For those born under Pluto in Cancer (roughly 1914 – 1938), this is an opposition. It’s time to let go of the old and face what is yet left to do. Take it easy…fighting won’t help and by now you have the wisdom to know better.

For Baby Boomers born under Pluto in Leo (roughly 1939 – 1958), this is an inconjunct. It’s time to do what you need to do in order to become the person you know you should be…not the person its necessarily easy to be. Try to share judiciously, but don’t shut up. Where wrong is wrong, you need to make it right, whether that’s in your own life or in the greater world around you.

For Yuppies born under Pluto in Virgo (roughly 1958 – 1972) this station activates trine energy. Quality, not quantity is the byword. The focus should not be on what you can’t have, but what you can be. Look within.

For Gen X’ers born under Pluto in Libra (roughly 1972 – 1983), this energetic is a square. To see life as ‘us and them’ is to undermine your own interests. Being the bigger better version of yourself – the person you would be in awe of if you met you – requires big-time effort but is worth it.

For the Gen Y / Pluto in Scorpio generation (roughly 1983 – 1995) this energetic is a sextile. You have the opportunity now to see the flaws in your thinking. Change those and you will free yourself of much grief down the line. You’re likely to feel ‘no, this way is the right way’ and where that’s integrative, fine. But where it’s about power and personal gain…not so much.

For the Millennials – the Pluto in Sagittarius tribe (roughly 1995 through early 2008) you’re in for some trying times as this station represents the sort of semi-sextile energetic which gets you to see a really useful (and bigger) perspective by delivering a series of hard knocks. Don’t be offended, consider what you have to gain by expanding your vision and you’ll be fine. Well…more or less fine, and yes, it will take a while. But you can get there!

The little tykes among us – the Pluto in Capricorn group – are fighting battles with themselves at the moment, battles which have to do with learning how to be secure in themselves as individuals. This is all about a balance of being secured without being hovered over: parents beware!

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One of the strangest-seeming facts about astrology is the fact that our charts live on after we die. Just as JRR Tolkien's chart reflected the release of Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' films (I didn't check 'The Hobbit') and just as things have happened since the passing of first my father and then my mother which reflects on their charts, so this Pluto turn atop Facies echoes Upton Sinclair's chart - and the 'natal chart' for the release of his book "The Jungle."

The cycle is coming around again. But then, they always do.
 
Whoever you are, and however you think of your life or the lives of those who have gone before us, hopefully you recognize the patterns in your own life. Hopefully you are able to see your life as a part of the greater world and the cycles of the greater world as operative in your own life.

Not to mention those cycles which are individual and important to our lives as individuals. Humans, like the society they live in are as driven as manifestations of a point in the vastness of time and space which is every bit as evolutionary the cycle of the dinosaurs, creatures which started as little amphibian things and evolved to become astonishing behemoths.

We just don't have a gazillion-million years to get our cycles straight in. But then, it's likely that dinosaurs weren't great thinkers. And no...(yes, I'm laughing)...some of us humans aren't such great thinkers either.

But we have the option to think, and that's what really counts.

It's our choice. 

Wherever you are on your journey, here’s to living a life as filled with conviction as that of Upton Sinclair.

And here’s to remembering some of the lessons he worked so hard and spent his life trying to make us aware of, lest we go through life blinded by the sheer desire to not see.
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Jupiter Inconjunct Saturn, Neptune conjunct Fomalhaut

 The above is created from four separate images of fixed star Fomalhaut (rear)

Neptune (blue), Saturn and Jupiter (foreground), all of which were produced

by NASA, JPL, ESA, and various space telescopes.

The update on the ‘Habamus Tempus?’ (Do we have a birth time?) question with regards to Pope Francis: Yes! We now do have the Pope's birth time.

As predicted (the easy part) once the Pope was elected the search is on. And a couple of days ago one of my astrologer friends wrote to say he’d seen a time posted on line.

Then he wrote back to say he’d found a second time posted online. (No, they didn’t match.)

Then he wrote back to say that a birth certificate was soon to be posted, which being American and thoroughly tired of the ‘birther’ debate made me cringe.

This whole hoo-ha of different times and such, and various people going after them is very Gemini. And the plethora of ideas on the subject, rather Jupiter in Gemini – as is the fact that the whole subject is something people are talking about.

Of course the official (Saturn) solid answer would be the thing to want and (Saturn) wait for patiently. Anything else would seem to be hard to (Scorpio)trust.

So as I write, I just got another email from my astro-pal saying that the birth certificate data has been posted and so yes, I can now say…HABAMUS TEMPUS!

(Excuse the bad Latin, please…)

Pope Francis I (then Cardinal Jorge M Bergoglio)

(photo credit: Aibdescalzo, September 2008)

So with that now in hand I gaze at the blog schedule (read: my computer calendar) and realize there’s all sorts of time-sensitive things begging to be posted. And there is always the issue of sitting down with the Pope’s chart and doing the diagnostics, after which I need to write it all up, create the diagrams – all that stuff. And of course the astrologer has to eat and sleep and deal with the irregularities of regular life.

Bottom line: I promise we’ll have the Pope Francis post posted before American tax returns are due.

How’s that for pithy?

Moving on, a little commentary about my cousin, the ever-busy Ms. T. She called this week, confessing she’s had a serious case of planets in Pisces and that she’s just now ‘resurfacing.’ More to the point for this post, she told me that she’s doing this and that and getting things ready for taxes (speaking of taxes) and tending to family matters and conversations at an ever-increasing rate – (shades of Jupiter in Gemini) but that nothing seems to actually be getting (Saturn in Scorpio) done.

She soldiers on. And as someone who gets tired just listening to all she does, I salute her.

This same sort of dogged doing, but not completing seems to be pervasive. I could take this comparison into politics by bringing up the current news focus on Syria. Everybody knows that bad things are going on in Syria, and that they’re probably getting worse. But no one knows for sure what the facts are.

All of these quests and questions are very Jupiter inconjunct Saturn. Saturn in Scorpio is always about ‘how it will work’ in some venue or sense which is beyond being just about us. So it’s not a decision, per se. Scorpio is a public, worldly and interactive sign. So there’s something which we are ‘interacting with’ in trying to get our Jupiter in Gemini heads straight about it. Or we’re trying to ‘expand’ our understanding to include it or (as they say) wrap our minds around it.

In the process, there will be paths towards the goal and there will be byways and diversions. That’s one of the qualities of an inconjunct. Jupiter and Saturn are always about ‘building’ something. And in this case, we all seem to be trying to build some sort of information base on which to proceed. But we’re at a place or a state in the process where we have to figure out how to get to whatever it is which we can work with.

That’s an inconjunct. Specifically, a 6th house (or 6th harmonic) inconjuncts. Being an 150 degree aspect, an inconjunct is ‘one sign off’ a direct opposition, which could be ‘off’ to either side. Remembering that we always count counterclockwise around any horoscope (or zodiac) wheel, that means we either count six signs or eight signs to arrive at either inconjunct.

The eight sign aspect is ‘Scorpio-ish’ in that it asks what’s worth what, and if we want to continue being involved and what it will take to be involved (and are we willing to risk that).

The sixth sign aspect is ‘Virgo-ish’ in that it asks ‘how to’ get at the thing. Or it may ask what we think we might want to try to do about a thing. Or whether the thing works or is workable.

With global transits (as opposed to personal transits which have your personal chart as the “bedrock”) the faster-moving planet is always ‘applying’ it’s energy to the slower moving planet. So here, Jupiter in Gemini is doing the inconjunct, and thus it represents our trying to find out what the truth is, what the information is, how to grapple with the problem…and the problem is represented by Saturn in Scorpio, the taxes, the national crisis, the life or death or birth matter, or maybe for you it’s how to cope with debt. Or how to deal with an intimate relationship which is confounding your understanding for reasons you can’t quite place.

Or maybe it’s just trying to own up to your own failings or vulnerabilities.

What I’m trying to say is that this would be natural time for all such things to be happening. And as Jupiter perfects its inconjunct to Saturn on March 24th at 2:53 in the morning UT/+0 time, we can take heart in the idea that what we’re dealing with is at some level what we should be dealing with, replete with the challenging ourselves with all the puzzles and frustrations and reflections which go with any inconjunct.

That this happens as Neptune is inching into position to perfect its conjunction with Fomalhaut on Tuesday the 26th…does that make things any better or worse?

Not worse, but I’ll go for ‘confusing.’ Or ‘nebulous.’ Or ‘ill defined.’ Or disturbing, scary or evocative in a way you’re just not quite comfortable with.

Neptune in Pisces is about emotional challenges. To whatever degree we aren’t being realistic or dealing with the ‘realities of reality as it exists’ (and not as we’d like it to exist in our hearts, heads or other parts) Neptune in Pisces presents moments, situations and (yes) realities which tend to shatter us at whatever level.

A rather imposing statue of the god Neptune aptly seated at the top

of a fountain amidst its play of waters

(photo credit: Manfred Bruckels, 2005)

Yes, you can deny the truth. But you’ll still know there is ‘a truth’ out there and in your heart of heart you’ll know you’re trying to ‘substitute’ some truth you like or you think you “should” want for the real one.

(And good luck with that.)

And in the end, the Saturn message is this: deal with reality. And Neptune’s message is: do the right thing and do it right, lest you be disappointed that life’s realities respond wrongly.

To put it succinctly, this pairing (Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces) is karma on the hoof. And as if you didn’t already know, karma is the biggest bitch in the universe.

On this score, this is either a time to experience karma or to set ourselves up for karma to come, or when we will so imbed yourself in a situation that come what may, once Jupiter moves into Cancer come late June we won't be able to escape that tottering avalanche of difficulty we’ve stacked up for ourselves.

This IS a time to clean house. Particularly our life-house. Neptune perfecting its conjunction with Fomalhaut amidst all sorts of things which are unresolved but otherwise right-there-in-our-way (or maybe in our face) is nature’s way of trying to get us all to face those painful choices which aren’t what we “want” to deal with as a reality, but which we will be better off facing as a reality, no matter what comes of the question down the line.

And this isn’t just the surface quality we’re talking about. It’s the underlying (emotion-driven) one.

Me, I’ve had a big week all about letting go of people in my life. One person I dearly care for and care about, and still I had to call them on their inability to apologize.

And what is that? To make amends where you hurt someone, being unwilling to discuss what’s happened in simple, plain words owning the truth of a situation without excuses and debate – what is so hard about that?

Oh yes...I forgot. It's that ego thing.

Well fortunately there's a cure for ego. In the big cosmic world of astrology it's called Neptune conjunct Fomalhaut.

I’m natively very into communication – I’m a writer. (Surely you’ve noticed, right?) And as someone born with Sun conjunct Fomalhaut I have seen and experienced the harm a lack of standards can inflict. I’ve get critiqued for standing up for others but to me, thinking that letting the world crumble so long as inside your own home all is gilded makes no sense. Look at history and you’ll see that the periods which have had people locked into a ‘so long as I get mine, I don’t care’ mentality precede times of chaos.

I also tend to think this is one of those factors which (among other things) makes being a parent really hard. As a parent you can’t devote yourself entirely to your children. You have to care about the world. Why? Of course you’re setting an example. But beyond that, what kind of a world are you going to leave those cherished children of yours?

A lovely real-life example of the proverbial garden gate which in

the philosophical sense leads to whatever it is which gives us pleasure

or a sense of comfort or 'being at home with ourselves'...but  the serenity of

which depends on our being willing to care for and repair that which is

inside our 'garden' as well as outside that gate, for our garden always

depends on the greater world it exists in.

(photo credit: Eptalon, February 2006)

Simply put, when we retreat inside our garden gates (or home, or family, or “community”) and ignore everything ‘out there’ we allow all those who are operating ‘out there’ to do as they please.

And thus the world becomes tougher…which causes more people to build higher walls and retreat behind those.

And as they do, the world grows ever more problematic.

Neptune/Fomalhaut is a dissolving of those walls. So we can either acknowledge and begin to grapple with the problems in our world, our community, our lives, our head or our soul...or we can suffer the fear of what happens when we think we can't adjust.

You know, grow.

That with Neptune/Fomalhaut we are getting this inconjunct from Jupiter-Saturn brings the ‘outer world’ into the general construct. So this can be a time when we can begin thinking anew about how to grow our world and make it more effective. Through finding the chinks in our understanding or knowledge of methodologies we can improve our lives and the world those lives are being lived in.

As challenging as an inconjunct can be (and yes, they can be a giant ouch) inconjuncts somehow always bring us hope that the very problems and difficulties being now revealed may be the answer to bigger issues. Whether the issue is strictly how we're seen by others or how we see others or how we see ourselves, with the Neptune/Fomalhaut showing up of the spots on our mental windows comes an aura of grace through the very insistence that we do face whatever our issues are.

So though things may be trying, or frustrating, or daunting, or disenchanting, there is a sense which most everybody seems to be feeling that this is a time to be feeling these things - simply because there is a time and place for everything and this is the moment for experiencing our trials against our inspirations and all the nebulous comparisons in-between.

There is a quality of veils falling away or being brushed aside now which allows us to better hear our higher calling. It isn't just clergy who get called - many, if not most of us are. It may be to your profession, it may be to something you know you need to deal with inside yourself. Amidst the imbalance of this moment is an awareness that we can move the fulcrum.

And that's all we need to know - that we can indeed create balance in our lives if we're willing to open our hearts to the possibilities that things in our life really do need changing. 

Oh, those times they are a'changing. Even the nature of what balance means is now shifting - at least to us. We are entering a new era, a new age of how to think. And it applies to everything we do with and in our lives. 

In the Age of Pisces, the typified ‘one person does one thing, the other person does the other’ and all forms of stereotypical ‘typing’ – whether by gender or age or economic strata or ‘life career’ preference (which includes homemaking) or religion, they were all ‘fit’ together to balance each other out. That is the image of the two fish swimming in opposite directions connected by an immutable, golden cord.

But the Age of Pisces is ending. For all general purposes it has ended except that there are plenty of us around (that’s me holding up my hand!) who were born under it’s last fishy gasps and splashes.

In the Age of Aquarius, that ‘balance’ is more internal. It still has two parts - the person (the working with the idea or within 'confines') and the water - the 'outpouring.'

And considering that whether emphasized or not every chart includes all 30 degrees of Aquarius, that has to be part of each one of us and part of each person's life.

And the life of society, with success (an Aquarian astro-concept) pictured rather well in this image from the old Mercator globe as being when the 'outpouring' of Aquarius 'feeds' the Piscean 'universal chord' - which applies here in particular because Saturn is the foundational ruler of Aquarius. When it comes to success, the work, the structure and how well ideas 'work' is what ultimately create the 'quality' of that success which when 'poured out' either appeal or detract from our appeal to others.

Capricorn (at the left), Aquarius (center top), and Pisces (at the end of the

'Aquarian 'river'), all from the Mercator globe

(image in public domain) 

Part of this we already see in the upswing of fathers being more involved in the home and women balancing children and career. For some, this ‘balancing’ of home and outside-the-home or the ‘calling’ and the stuff your soul defines as ‘optional’ will be a life-long balancing act. For others – like Ms T, my lovable cousin – this will be doing one thing…then learning to do the other later and down the road. She’s one of the many who chose to have children first and now she’s developing a ‘career life.’ And that’s totally valid – as valid as doing both at once.

So what’s the hard part? The hard part is making the adjustment.

Going back to my own ‘this week in the life’ I had to walk away from one person (who may or may not still want to talk) and deal with another person who is ‘walking away’ simply because they’re moving away – and they definitely are open to remaining friends.

Both feel like a loss, and if nothing else, those feelings of loss are my emotions having to adjust to the (Gemini) idea of being without one or both of these people as part of my life. The one person has violated my trust but I’m willing to discuss it. I am willing to adjust my (Scorpio) trust through (Gemini) conversation and (Jupiter) grow not just myself but the relationship, and my understanding of relationship (Saturn) through such a discussion.

Whether or not this person responds, I have established this bedrock with myself. If they don’t respond, Saturn is the ‘I’m not going any farther’ in this conversation. If they do respond, then we both get an opportunity to grow our Saturn-in-Scorpio skills with regards to how to find ways through thorny relationship patches.

And from my other friend (the one moving out of my city) I learn a lesson about life as an evolution and evolutionary force. That gives me perspective on why I do what I do and why there are still things I want to do in this life…

…such as sharing these thoughts with you.
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Ceres Station/Retrograde

 Asteroid...perhaps soon to be dwarf planet Ceres

(contrast adjusted - original photo credit NASA, ESA, J. Parker (Southwest Research Inst.), P. Thomas (Cornell Univ.) L McFadden (Univ of MD, College Park), January 23, 2004)

When Ceres stations and goes retrograde on October 1st at 3:47 in the afternoon (UT/+0 time) it’s a sign that a very subtle level, we need to let go of planning what to do in life (and how to get there) in favor of taking stock of what we need to do about ourselves, or who we need to be in this life to get where we need to go.

In stationing at 3 Cancer (a first decan degree between 0 and 9 of some sign), not only is the Ceres part of Ceres going station/retrograde signaling that this is about doing what we need to do about ourselves, but that the ‘doing’ part of that is entirely ours to do. Or at least initiate.

So far the cosmic vote is 2-to-0 in favor of our taking stock and doing something about where we are in some way lacking or maybe just not caught up with our life, lifestyle, plans, hopes, dreams…our whatever.
Being that the sign involved here in Cancer, we have a pretty good indication that either the issue has to do with ‘home,’ ‘family’ and who we are in our home or with our family (or whether we have a home or whether we need to do something about that home)…but also – at some level – that whatever needs to be at least acknowledged (if not worked on) is something which was instilled in us early on in life.

Because Ceres opposes Pluto (which is in Capricorn) at this station, life…the world…people in that world…there are external factors in play here. But they’re mostly the signposts which will have by now shown us that we need to reconsider. Take stock and inventory of who we are and how we go about being that person we are.

But this isn’t a simple opposition. We’ve seen a few kite formations of late. And in this one, Ceres is the tail of the kite.

The grand trine part of this kite connects Ceres (in Cancer), Neptune, Chiron and Fomalhaut (in Pisces) and Saturn/Hebe in Scorpio.

Taking our cue from Pluto’s opposition of Ceres, the clue here is likely to be pinpointed as Saturn (responsibility, work, effort, dedication) conjunct Hebe (serving up that which is necessary to sustain life) in Scorpio, a sign which is interactive and emotional by nature. Where we (Saturn) succeed now, we can take it that we are successfully navigating the (Saturn) job of (Scorpio) finding ways and avenues by which we can not just meet other people’s standards in a way which is ‘all them’ or ‘all me,’ but in a manner which works for everybody.

The trick of course is that this is Scorpio we’re talking about. And in all situations and things Scorpio, we want what we want pretty much because to be disappointing is going to hurt.

And what is hurting, exactly?

Answer: our self respect and feelings of value. In other words, our self worth and sense of competency.
And we know that. At some level, the Neptune-Chiron-Fomalhaut angle in the grand trine tells us that part of the reason we’re trying so hard is BECAUSE we’re feeling vulnerable. Whether or not we’re showing it, it’s there.

(Who, US? SHOW our vulnerabilities? Heavens!)

For those willing to be brave about negotiating new ground, that could also now work…

  
…its just that this can’t be a tap dance. Evaders, deflectors, all that ‘let me skirt/ignore the REAL issue here and just get what I want and be off and about my way’ stuff? That isn’t going to work. Try that about now and Uranus/Venus is likely to represent some effort, some situation, some relationship, some hope you’ve had blowing up in your face.

Or turning around and biting you – whichever applies!

But let’s say that you’ve had a plan to…oh, let’s say clean out the garage. And let’s say said plan depending on someone else coming over to help? Or maybe just to get stuff they left at your house a year ago which you’ve been trying to get them to come and claim?

That’s the kind of thing this grand square combined with the Ceres kite would support, particularly if you have plans – or are going to now make plans on how to use that space which you’re now setting about working to clear out, clean up and put to rights.

Which is another thing we should say about Scorpio. Scorpio is a sign of decay and rehabilitation. Scorpio is about the process of crumbling into toxicity and the detoxing and getting things back on track. Yes, I know – you’ve heard of Pisces being the sign of the addict. And it is. Pisces is the sign all about a different part of this emotional polarity slate – the having given up (usually on yourself, life, or your ability to cope) versus having faith, having hope, being willing to persevere and try, try again to do better. Pisces is all the emotionalism which goes into the state of denial…where Scorpio is that testing emotional time which may make you want to go into denial!

 The water sign cycle starts with Cancer, sign of childhood, family, home, homeland and in time, the habits and sense of culture and heritage we pick up through exposure to such things when young. Scorpio is the testing ground where many of us fall through the 'thin ice' of our emotional psyches, making it not remarkable that Scorpio is (among other things) the sign of psychology. Pisces is that level of emotionality we hold 'in our heart.' Whether that's spirituality, love for someone, the fantasy we have in our head which is never 'as real' in reality...Pisces asks us to hope and is also the emotional isolation, the fantasy or 'escape mechanism' we utilize when things get emotionally tougher than we can bear. Though Pisces is the sign of addicts and prisons, not all forms of 'escape' are harmful - Pisces is also the sign of charity, the inner spirit and sense of spiritualism, service to others and art.   

I’ll put it another way…Scorpio is the bad day which makes you want to go home, put your feet up and have a drink. Pisces is the abject abandonment of standards which goes with being a public, chronic drunk.
These signs are in trine…(and both in trine with Cancer)…which is why we say that what happens in childhood affects your adult life. The ‘basis’ of the emotional experience is Cancerian – the childhood. What your chart pictures as your 4th house (Cancer’s natural house) and wherever Cancer is in your chart is what we know ‘conditions’ you or sets you up for the emotional life lessons of adulthood – the balancing between Scorpio and Pisces where we want to allow ourselves to feel the bad days, but we still want to maintain a sense of hope.

Into which comes Saturn as the emblem of working towards that goal, that hope – or needing to. And that Ceres is now going retrograde in square to Uranus says we need to make some changes or plan on how to deal with changes which have already made or happened in life. Ceres now going retrograde in square to Venus speaks to needing to think through our relationships and relationship dynamics, thinking about what we need to learn, what questions we need to answer for ourselves and in general, where we want to go from ‘here’ in life.

Ceres is going to be in retrograde until February 4th of next year. During this retrograde, it will back up all the way to 19 Gemini. So the “theoretical dotted line” (or dotted line of theory, if you prefer) is about how things ‘said and done’ have led us to make certain choices which though made (Gemini) intellectually or mentally, really have to do with our (Cancer) emotional foundations.

And how well organized, stable, healthy and supportive of our aims they really are.

That Ceres will go direct in conjunction to the Black Moon (Lilith) and the Sun (which at that point will be in Aquarius) says that at some level what we do, don’t do or choose now will have results ‘coming out in the wash’ (as the saying goes) in early February 2013.

Is this kind of transit the living, breathing end? By and large no, unless Ceres is…uh…seriously (or maybe that should be Ceriesly?) focal in your natal chart. Otherwise this is a series of four or five days (remember, all stations get a two day ‘station allowance’ before and after!) when life is calling your attention to what works…and what maybe isn’t really working so well.

Which of course fits with the fact that we are now just days away from a Scorpio Solar Eclipse. 
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