Dateblog: November 2012

 November 2012

As you can see from all the hot red Scorpio and warmly fervent russet-orange denotation of Sagittarius above, this is 2012 in full interactive format. During the first part of the month Mercury and Mars in Sagittarius gives us an indicator of verbal and activity-oriented fervency.

 Maybe urgency. 

Mercury in Sagittarius being famous for discussions, debates, enlightening ideas and oratory, we can count on much being said. Maybe too much being said. Both soulful allegiance and heated opposition go along with this pairing, which with Sun and Saturn in Scorpio points to things of emotional (and quite possibly financial) importance. 

In short, this is a time which feels important – maybe even fateful. Is it really that? Maybe. But then again, maybe we just need to feel we’re being heard and considered. 

The United States presidential election falls on November 6th – the date that Mercury goes retrograde. With Nessus (lingering ill will) having gone direct on the 4th, Damocles (unsuspected difficulties) going direct on the 8th we have both their two-day station allowances overlapping on the 6th, along with the 6th being the date that Charybdis (the need to keep trying) goes retrograde in Cancer, the sign of the people and a national populace.

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 Marine One prepares to land on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C.

(photo credit US Department of Defense, PHC C.M. Fitzpatrick, July 1987)

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Plainly the US people will have their say. Whatever the outcome is, that will not fix worldwide economic problems. In fact, as Neptune goes direct on November 11th barely in advance of a Solar Eclipse at 21 Scorpio on the 13th, nations and individuals around our world are likely to realize just how difficult things really are, and – hopefully – how their clinging to personal perspectives and drives has damaged many a goal. 

Yes, their goal. And as Chiron goes direct on November 15th, just what ‘living by our own rules’ instead of universal humanistic rules means is going to become a wee bit clearer. 

We are moving into the Age of Aquarius, folks. This is an Age where commerce is king, but where the marketplace must be open. Playing fields long bounded by idea of ‘us and them’ or ‘have and have not,’ the ‘insiders and outsiders’ are all giving way. Rich and poor shouldn’t matter: survival should. Cultural heritages and religious affiliations can no longer be our definition of worthy and unworthy as they have been throughout the Age of Pisces. I raise the issue now as it is metaphysically clear, merely by the congruence of the changing of the astrological ages coinciding with the ending-and-renewing of the ancient Mayan ‘creationist’ count (which is not the same as their calendar, by the by)...things are changing. 

And that means they need to change. WE need to change. 

It’s just not a gentle process. Not one change of Age, not one round of the Mayan creationist count (which they called ‘one world’) not any of this shifts from one cycle to the next without a deal of fracas. There’s always upheaval. There’s always trials and warfare.

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 From the famous Mayan murals of Bonampak in Belize, this scene from

Room 1 depicts the torture of the captives. How things don't change when

it comes to human beings, right?

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Why? Because human beings don’t like change. People yell and scream that they want things to change, but tell them that the time to change is ‘now’ and they’ll shovel out the excuses. 

Change feels like a threat to our security. So sometimes life has to actually threaten our security to get us to change.

 Once Mars enters Capricorn on the 17th, the determined among us will get to work while the rest of us are treading water. With the Sun’s shift into Sagittarius (on the 21st) falling just a day before Venus moves into Scorpio as Pallas (dispassionate, realistic wisdom) goes direct in Pisces we are challenged to get ‘real’ with ourselves. Importance now falls on the proverbial ‘proof in the pudding.’ Yes, we may bluster and fluster about long-held positions and convictions, but on the inside a lot of us are going to be admitting to our all-important Self that we were wrong: what we were doing or how we were doing it or the company in which we have been doing it...that’s wrong. 

But what to do about such problems? The Neptune bet is that most of us will put a game face on and go about like all is cheerful and status quo. But considering how people react to knowing they’re doing the wrong thing, the only question is whether we are going to make an active move to change (which with Mars in Capricorn is not only possible, but may well earn brownie-respect-points from others) ...or whether we are going to just wait until we ‘out’ ourselves through some compulsive moment. 

For card carrying members of Club Compulsive, Mercury’s going direct (in Scorpio) on the 26th combined with a Lunar Eclipse on the 28th (at 6 Gemini) may mark your blowout. Then again, if you’re a member of Club Compulsive who has reached Gold Card Denial ranking, you may just dig yourself in deeper with this Mercury turnabout and Lunar Eclipse. 

The Lunar Eclipse is in Gemini. That makes it about choices in the moment...or choices already made. Considering that Mercury in Scorpio can either be transformative or incredibly dug in, stick-in-the-mud stubborn, what may come of all seems pretty obvious.

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A lunar eclipse in progress

(photo credit: Juan Iacruz, February 2012)

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No matter which course you choose, experience or get emotionally shepherded into, the whole of the last week or so of November IS ‘emotional territory.’ Those whose charts are closely aspected by this Lunar Eclipse (read: with positions between 1 and 11 Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Aquarius...OR chart contacts between 4 and 8 degrees of Taurus, Cancer, Scorpio or Capricorn) will be most effected.

But this is a time of intensity pretty much all around. 

Still, it’s worth remembering: Solar Eclipses mark events which change your life. Lunar Eclipses are emotional, yes. But very seldom do they indicate a major life change unless your chart is ALSO being transited by the solar side of the eclipse pair.

In which case, buckle your seatbelt and grab a fire extinguisher – it’s going to be a bumpy and hot, hot, hot (maybe even flammable) ride!

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Dateblog: The Week Ahead (May 22-28)

 Le Reve by Paul Gauguin (1897)

With the Sun in Gemini and a solar eclipse about to rattle the celestial windows I decided to post one detailed blog which describes the whole week.

That way you’ll get the idea of what’s coming down the pike, and I can put more effort into writing little pieces which point out how daily dynamics are surfacing in the news.

May 22nd: Over the past couple of days we’ve talked a lot about fixed star Hamal and 7 Taurus. We got into that discussion as first Mars/Mercury, then Venus/Mars were positioned in that degree.

Now Mars/Venus has moved on to 8 Taurus. Obviously the ‘it’s all in how you use it’ qualities of Hamal are still with us. But the seriously ‘under our own gun’ energies of yesterday now evolve into the sort of sensitivity which so doesn’t like being teased that it can become defensive/aggressiveness – that being the hallmark of 8 Taurus.

 Le Printemps by Pierre Auguste Cot (1873)

With the Sun in early Gemini, there’s a quality of not knowing what to think…or how to think yourself through from here to ‘there’ – wherever ‘there’ is!

This being the date when Drakonia goes direct (at 10 minutes after midnight UT/+0, which obviously is still Saturday for those who live in western time zones), we are now realizing that we’ve been played. And chances are, we were either willing dupes or we fooled ourselves.

Why? Because we wanted to be fooled. Or maybe because we didn’t ‘want to know’ otherwise. We’re all still wrestling with the playing out of moves and results and choices which now cannot be undone – TNO Orcus having gone direct back on May 15 shifted the energy from our being readily able to assign (or inflict) consequences on others to having life serve notice out on us.

So who played who? And how are you going to play your hand from here on out? Drakonia going direct is an indication that external factors are more in control now – where you have been planning your moves over these past few months (since February 9th), now omnipotent-feeling machinery is more in charge. And that omnipotent-feeling force is going to remain in charge until July 12/13, 2012 (depending on where you are).

Obviously Drakonia doesn’t go retrograde all that often. The whole of its recent retrograde has been in Libra, meaning relationships and our ability or willingness to deal with our relationship (and responsibilities) to others has been the focus of how we’ve ‘played’ them…and maybe where we’ve been playing ourselves. By the time Drakonia goes retrograde next year it will have moved from Libra all the way to Pisces. And that suggests that what we have done over these past few months, including how we deal with matters now…that will determine the nature of and degree of emotional repercussions we confront starting July 2012.

Venus/Mars at 8 Taurus is a decidedly good-or-bad moment. And with Charybdis (continuing effort) critically posed at 29 Pisces, either we’re blissfully happy because getting what we like or we’re very much not unhappy because we’re not getting what we want. The smart money is on thinking before you speak…and on being aware of the fact that when what you want marginalizes what somebody else likes or wants, that’s a sure-fire way to plant seeds of resentment.

May 23: Charybdis moving into Aries at 4:07 (UT/+0) optimally asks that we deal with what we need to do and that we not let up on our efforts. Those who do are likely to be ‘eaten up’ by forces which seem to be just ‘waiting’ for us to slip up.

Thinking of this rather like staying ahead of the game seems particularly apt what with Drakonia having just gone direct, but considering that before Charybdis makes its shift Arachne moves into Cancer (at 2:26am UT/+0) there are complicated (or complicating factors) which like as not need to be taken into account. If you don’t handle all the details, Arachne is likely to turn into a tangled problem. And particularly with Sun in Gemini, it would not be unlikely to get ‘entangled’ in something you’ve said or chosen to do prior to now (Orcus = consequences!) …or have some entanglement prove problematic.

May 24, 25, 26, 27: For those who would like to think that things will just jolly-trot along and that everybody is going to be civil, these days are sure to welcome you to the big world of are you KIDDING? 

And yes, you may be kidding – yourself most of all!

Or maybe we should say that you’ve ‘kidded,’ as things exit the (mental) closet over this series of days.

With Nessus (poisonous jealousy) moving on station as of May 24 and Hybris (arrogance) moving on station as of May 25 the pot doesn’t need stirring – it’s going to stir itself! Where jealousy has been stirred up it may surface and woe be to s/he who responds with Hybris-type lordly dismissiveness. Right now that so would not be a good idea!

(Is it ever?)

 Deianeira and the Dying Centaur (1888)

by Howard Pyle

Both Nessus and Hybris are going retrograde in Aquarius. For one, that suggests that people have some ‘idea’ in their head on how things ‘should’ be which is simply offensive to others.

Hence, much surfacing retribution.

This may not happen in your life (if so, good for you!) but you’re sure to hear of such now. Given modern society’s love of watching people fall from on high, it would certainly not be unlikely to have some scandal break out now. Or for someone who has looked like they were ‘Teflon coated’ (to use the expression) suddenly proves to be not so scratch-resistant after all.

The ‘jealousy’ part affects (or comes from) the world around you. But the arrogance is personal. Maybe you’ll be tempted to gloat over someone finally (Finally!) admitting they ‘done did you wrong.’ Maybe Thursday (May 26th’s) moment of Nessus going retrograde at 54 minutes past midnight (UT/+0) is the moment when you’ll learn that something you thought was terribly true was really a total lie based on someone else’s jealousy poisoning your well.

That Hybris goes retrograde on May 27 late in the evening (at 11:07pm UT/+0, which is already May 28th in eastern time zones)…that may be your realizing how arrogant you have been to think you should think a given way. Or live a given way. Or treat others – or even your resources – as you have. Asteroid Hel being opposition Juno at Hybris makes its turn implies either totally ‘losing it’ or a moment when you realize that you did lose it – you lost your balance, your sense of judgment, your priorities at some time in the past.

And now that you know…now you have to deal with where you go from here. Hel is not the literal sense of 'burning in...' but rather the sense of being put through something terribly uncomfortable. Something you sure as heck would rather not be required to deal with.

Against Juno...? Juno tends to be a sign of 'domestic leadership' whether that's who sets the schedule in the house or who stands as leader of a country.

But Juno can be demanding. And exacting. So Hel opposition Juno...? That has all sorts of implications, but no matter where its working out, the dynamic is about facing off against something or someone (singular or plural) and really wishing you didn't have to.

This Hel/Juno thing being all about Pisces (Hel)/Virgo (Juno) with the Hybris/Nessus venue being Aquarius, there is (on balance) strong indication that the issue is social or societal unless it's financial as in 'income.' However this manifests, at the bottom line this is all about your ability (or willingness) to fit into a group (and not make everything all about you)…it’s about income, appreciation, friendship and ego as a thing apart from self worth.

May 28: Disruptions continue as Black Moon Lilith moves past Uranus and the Moon opposes Saturn (still sitting there at self-critiquing 10 Libra). That this is all taking place in Aries the ‘I am/I do’ sign leaves us all a bit back on our heels wondering what to do next.

The good news is that with Sun in Gemini, this actually is a good time to figure out what to do and how to do it.

And as Venus parts from Mars and begins chasing after/catching up with Mercury we become more willing and able to participate in interactions which may well help fix things – if not instantaneously.

 Allegory of Love and Wisdom

by Isidoro Bianchi di Campione (late 1600's)

This is definitely a week of damage recognition and damage control. It’s also a week which reminds us of why we can’t forget others – and the world around us – as we focus on things of personal importance.

Arachne’s move this week into Cancer, as well has Charybdis’ move into Cancer last week adds new notes to what will happen in the wake of next week’s solar eclipse – as we move from 11 Gemini to 9 Cancer, that being the degree of the July 1st eclipse.

A lot of us will feel very stressed - now and moving forward. Many will be feeling uptight or not at all happy with where our choices have landed us.

But they are our choices.

So no...those feelings aren’t fun. But on the other hand they’re also really great indicators of where your life needs to grow, change and evolve. Where you need to be more forthright with yourself about who you are before you make a choice, not after. The habit of getting trapped by our bad choices is as deadly as not choosing anything at all. Nor is doing nothing and refusing to make a choice productive in the least.

Those who are spending so much time and energy now on the abstract and the concept and the ideal – that sounds good, but what happens at in the reality of human life…that’s what reveals who we really are as humans.

So that's the week in a (rather large) nutshell. The 1st-of-the-month Dateblogs having been one of the most consistently popular blogs (yes, we the blog-writers get to look at stats on what you all are reading or popping by to read...) I'll be interested to hear what you all think of this new idea. It gives you what you need and gives me a chance to do a couple of other things.

Oh - and a 'by the by' here. For the next two months there will be a solar eclipse ON the first of the month. So those blogs have to get moved.

But this does raise an interesting question: would you like to have a blog-of-the-week AND a monthly Dateblog?

Give a shout! Post a comment! Let me know!