Dateblog: May 2013

Oh, what a difference a day makes…as May begins, Mercury joins the Taurus parade. So for the first week-plus of May, we have all four personal planets in Taurus, making this a period which is all about personal security. A lot of people will focus on money or military matters, but what this is really about is how we feel about ourselves.

After all, if people all felt good about themselves there would be no war and there wouldn’t be any of this ‘rat race’ competition and the need to play ‘show and tell’ to make ourselves feel better than somebody else.

And this basic sense of ‘security’ and what that’s about, and whether what we’re involved in is ‘worth it’ – all that is getting shaken up at the moment by a Solar Eclipse at 19 Taurus which will take place on May 10^th.

How seriously this affects you depends on whether 19 Taurus directly aspects your chart. We all live in the same world, of course…so wherever this eclipse lands in your chart you’ll feel the effect of change in terms described by that horoscope house (and the sign on its cusp in your personal chart). Whoever we are, this eclipse is going to test us. With Saturn sitting in the opposition sign (and retrograde) and Pluto (retrograde) in a trine from Capricorn, we’re all having to deal with questions of how to operate in this world. Maybe you’re trying to do something new. If so, you’ll be wondering how to make it work. You may feel intimidated by what it takes to get to your goals, which would be your sort of ‘test of security.’ Or maybe you’re someone who thought everything was going fine until it started not going all that well. For you, figuring out why things have taken a turn for the worst and maybe having to deal with the ‘price’ of bad decisions…or maybe just decisions which have “gone beyond their expiration date” (as they say in food packaging)…the money, the emotional investment, the social status, the just feeling your life was on the right track – those may any one of them (or all of them) be your ‘test of security.’

Every time we have a solar eclipse we hear of some public figure who has been shown up by eclipse forces. In Taurus, the likely issues are food, money, lavish expenditures and the like. And since Venus will slide into Gemini on the 9^th, just scantily ahead of the eclipse, this is likely to be ‘news’ about someone’s choices.

The ‘up’ side here is definitely how, with Venus in Gemini (as of May 9^th) the pace of life will pick up, as will our tolerance to talk about things and hear others out. We’ll start pushing to change things, make new choices and get things done, though with Mars in Taurus life may seem…well…a little trying.

(Who am I kidding? For some of us things are going to be a LOT trying!)

Still…once Mercury enters Gemini on the 15^th information and ideas will begin flowing and discussions will proceed. Options, outlets, plans and opinions will still be under scrutiny (by ourselves and the world) and that will be a constant to live with throughout May. But about the time that Plutino Orcus (representing consequences) goes direct in Virgo on the 17^th, we’ll be in a better position to understand what things will ‘cost’ us…maybe in time, maybe in money, maybe in sheer effort or the having to deal with the process emotionally. It would be typical of an Orcus station in Virgo to realize just how complicated a process can be. Or how something you thought of as relatively little can have a big effect.

The big kids (read: the real adults) among us will pull up their socks (and whatever else) and undertake to do what needs doing without squandering opportunities with an eye to quality and standards. Understanding and working through problems will be accepted as part of the process of reaching one’s goals in due time. The non-big kids (read: the immature among us) will be making excuses and blaming others about now, making this a time to learn a bit more about the difference between ‘excuses’ and ‘explanations.’ It’s okay to make a mistake and to understand the problem so long as you own the problem and do your level best to cope with it. What’s not okay is to make your problem everybody else’s problem!

Those who are attending to their p’s and q’s (or that may be peas and cues) will head into the Sun’s Gemini ingress (on the 20^th) and May’s next big event – another Lunar Eclipse (at 4 Sagittarius on May 25th) - with an open mind, cautious optimism, piqued curiosity and decent results. But then, there will be those intent on blatantly ignoring life’s bottom line and the reality of how life (on the big stage) works. Those people will find what they want to do either won’t work at all, or that it will result in the loss of something they hadn’t planned on having to give up. 4 Sagittarius is a degree known for moral virtue, and this is pretty much the ‘test’ of the moment, a test in which life will show us all which side of that ‘moral line’ we’re really on despite whatever it is that we insist.

And for some, this will lead to irritation and even anger, no question. As of May 30^th, Saturn will retrograde back into 5 degrees of Scorpio. And that will put Saturn in trine to Neptune at 5 Pisces just as Neptune is moving forward to take its station in early June. This is a recipe for the ‘isolation of opinions’ which for some will be self righteous and for others will be despairing. But sure as shootin’ (which may be an unfortunate reference), being that Mercury will move into Cancer on May 31^st as Mars moves into Gemini, fur – verbal or otherwise – is going to fly.

This Mars/Mercury combination can be constructive. It can be a signature of choosing a better course for your future through talking things over with those you trust best (even if that’s yourself). But for many, this Mars-Mercury-Saturn-Neptune quantity will be either very bleak or very incendiary or mark a time of irritation or frustration.

It all depends on how secure you are to begin with…and whether you are willing to accept that your insecurities are all about your life journey’s and personal development.
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Orcus on Station

 A simulation of Orcus' orbit as example of Plutino-class objects, all of which orbit in a 2:3 (2-to-3) resonance with planet Neptune

We don’t talk much about Orcus. Then again, there isn’t much written about Orcus the (Roman) god, and having only been discovered in 2004, the celestial object hasn’t been around long enough for astrologers to have built up their huzzahs and grudges about it.

(Yes, astrologers do such things. Some love Saturn, some loathe Saturn. Some are all juicy and into Pluto, some would just rather avoid the whole Plutonic subject.)

What we do know about Orcus is that it’s a Plutino, which means its orbit is controlled by Neptune – as is that of Pluto. (Hence the astronomical category name, yes.) Both Pluto and Orcus have orbits which are hugely off the plane of the ecliptic, too…the ‘ecliptic’ being the path of Earth around our local star – the Sun.
Most planets orbit the Sun more or less in the same plane as Earth does. But not Pluto. And not Orcus.

  It's a little hard to see in this orbital diagram, but the 'level' orbital ring of Neptune is being used here to show pretty much what the plane of the ecliptic is. As you can see, Orcus' orbit tilts in one direction (low on the left and high on the right) while Pluto's is just the opposite - hence the concept that Orcus is an 'anti-Pluto' Plutino.

(diagram generated by and courtesy of JPL's Small Body Database)

 
So we know that Orcus, like Pluto, carries with it some of the mystery and ‘now-you-think-it, now-you-don’t’ quality so typical of Neptune. Wherever we see Neptune’s influence, there’s always an emotional quotient. And that’s sensible to think should be true, as Neptune is the ‘outcome’ ruler of Pisces, a sign which is all about all those feelings we long to feel (which sounds oxymoronic, if you think about it)…and which at the same time has us scared to death of the power of our feelings.

All Pisces lessons ‘enter’ on a Jupiter note (since Jupiter is Pisces’ first ruler). This makes the emotional experiences…or avoidances…so common to all things Pisces and the associated 12th house a test of how well we know our emotional self (Jupiter equaling knowledge)…and what we are willing to learn about ourselves and life through emotional experience, particularly really tough, trying or even frightening emotional experiences.

We all know how this works with Pluto: Pluto is all about that which draws us, magnetizes us…Pluto is the lure in allure, the obsessing in obsessions.

But in anything Plutonic, we don’t know the truth of the thing. We’re swayed by our emotions. Our emotions gain control…which is why Pluto (and Scorpio, the sign Pluto is co-ruler of) is all about wanting control. We think we want control of ‘it’…but the truth is, we want control of ourselves. If we think ‘it’ is the issue, that’s only because we don’t have control of ourselves and we want to not run ourselves off some cliff.

Orcus will have some of that ‘emotionally reflexive’ quality too, simply because like Pluto, Orcus is a Plutino.

Another interesting Orcus factoid: it’s orbit is sufficiently offset to that of Pluto that some astronomers refer to Orcus as the ‘anti-Pluto.’

Pluto as photographed by NASA in June of 2010

Which is also very interesting – and apt – on the astrological level. Why? Because what we do know about the Roman god Orcus is that Orcus is a god of the dead. To be more precise about it, Orcus meets the soul as it passes over from life into death, and the idea was that Orcus would walk with you to where you were going to be ‘judged,’ apparently discussing all the pluses and minuses of your life with you along the way.

But let’s remember…nothing Orcus would discuss with you can now be changed – this being what makes the astronomical ‘anti-Pluto’ comment so interesting. Pluto as an astrological symbol really is about all we still have a chance to do. We may not like it, but we still have options and choices with regard to whatever that Pluto subject actually is.

Where Orcus comes into play, all is now done. So Pluto is any possible (which granted, comes with emotional risks) where Orcus is about the consequences we have to deal with, replete with feelings of nostalgia, regret or remorse.

Orcus is going retrograde at 9:30 p.m. on December 3rd (UT/+0 time) at 5 Virgo. Right away this tells us the subject matter concerns what we have done or how well we have taken care of ourselves (or loved ones) or how responsible we have been.

In going retrograde at 5 Virgo, Orcus is conjunct Royal Star Regulus at 0 Virgo, Agamemnon at 6 Virgo and fixed star Thuban along with Dionysus at 7 Virgo. The combination of Dionysus and Thuban definitely adds a note about ‘sacred obligations’ and things which perhaps have been ‘celebrated’ but come to naught. Or maybe they’re not worth the (Virgo) effort we’ve put into them, or defending them?

Regulus’ presence in this “equation” (if you will) speaks of success which only comes when we resist retribution or vengeance. But with Regulus combined with Orcus…is there some consequence for not having exacted revenge? In other words, is success now happening where we have resisted going after that pound of flesh but with that comes some overarching sense of regret?

What makes this all even trickier is the opposition to this Orcus station by Chiron, the image of those vulnerabilities in life we are really, really good at seeing in others but not so good at dealing with in our own lives.

It’s not a recipe for a whoopie-doodle moment, no. At some level, we’re facing the (Orcus) consequences of our (Chiron) vulnerabilities and what they can (Chiron/Orcus) do to us - or others.

 We don't have any photographs of Orcus as yet, but one of NASA's artists

has given this rendering of what Orcus just may look like

(image credit: NASA, May 2007)

But this can be educational. While Orcus is about ‘deeds done and choices made’ which cannot be changed, because this is our life we’re talking about, we can learn better going forward.

And maybe that’s the point. Whatever difficulties, whatever ‘endings’ we face now, maybe they have come into our lives at this time so we can learn from them and not do ‘that’ thing again in the future.

As always, we give a station like this one a two-day prior-and-after “station window.” So we can expect these Orcus ‘station effects’ to begin on December 1st and run through December 5th. The ones which happen before Orcus actually goes retrograde involve ideas which have yet to play out. Or maybe – in this case, being that it’s Orcus – where we’re going to get another chance. Or run into this same sort of dynamic again rather soon.

During the time that Orcus is retrograde, we can expect to be a little more…choosy, maybe? Or perhaps circumspect about what we do or don’t do? Following the idea that people born with Mercury in retrograde tend to feel transiting periods of Mercury retrograde less than those who have Mercury direct in their birth charts, maybe those born with Orcus in retrograde won’t feel this shift as much as those born with Orcus direct. (And if you’re going to go check this by looking up your natal Orcus somewhere online, you may want to know its astronomical number…it’s 90482.)

Orcus will be in retrograde until May 17, 2013 – at which time it will go direct at 3 Virgo. That it only moves two degrees during the whole of this time suggests that everyone with planets, axis points or nodes at very early degrees…(that’s me holding up my hand)…is in for a series of months during which lessons learned probably bear thinking about, particularly where choices have been made based on ‘getting back at’ others.

Whether we have exacted vengeance or where we’ve chosen to walk away and not do anything worse than yowl in pain (if that’s applicable)…all that is worth thinking through.

One last thought here: this would be a natural time to hear of consequences being suffered by someone else – particularly someone who ‘violated’ the ‘effort, standards, morality’ concepts which are so very Virgoan. While the burned hand teaches best, many of us learn deep-down lessons in our own lives by seeing what can happen to others.

Which is good…at least I’m guessing its good, though I wish nobody ill. It probably shouldn’t surprise me what people are capable of, but it still does.

May you and yours be well, and may all your Orcus consequences be inconsequential - except (of course!) where you can learn, benefit and thus do better as a human being!
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Atropos, Eros, Scheat, Damocles: Cut it Out!

Le Poète Voyageur

by Gustave Moreau (latter part of 19th century)

Atropos is one of three Greek Fates, specifically the one who ‘cut’ the ‘thread of life’ after it had been measured out by Lachesis and initially spun by Klotho.

Astrologically, Atropos does not mean a literal ending of a life, but it means something ends – and yes, that can be a life, though seeing human death in a chart is always indicated by far more than just a cycling asteroid.

But wherever we see Atropos – which currently would be in Capricorn – we know that something will end. In this case, that ‘something’ is Capricorn in nature. So, is your time up? Are you totally out of patience? Are you giving up on something (or someone)? Generally Capricorn speaks to thing we are dedicated to, which we have continued to plug away at, which we have given steady, continuing thought to.

In going retrograde at 6 Capricorn, Atropos echoes a bit of what we got into in the days around April 9 as Pluto went retrograde at 7 Capricorn.

(LINK to Pluto’s Station Blog)

Now – as then – this is all happening in the ‘face of Facies’…a really confusingly tough fixed star which gives us the victim and aggressor all at one.

So on one hand, this is likely to be a time when something which has been tough “goes away.” We may be responsible for the ending of it, or it may simply end of its own accord.

But again – don’t expect this to mean that all the stress is going to vanish. Pluto moved into Facies’ orb back in 2010 and will not even begin transiting this fixed star’s position until early 2012. That will take a year. But Pluto won’t actually be out of Facies’ orb until late 2015.

What happens between now and then…optimally is that we learn to deal with our emotions and through things we dislike, can’t stand, which affect or afflict us badly or which prompt us to behave like arrogant asshats…that we learn to choose better in the first place.

In all of this, Atropos’ going retrograde at 5:43am on May 14 (UT/+0) represents a moment when by seeing something end we can learn a bit more about choosing. When we can learn a bit better what works so that we don’t get ourselves – as individuals or in whatever collective (couples, groups, societies, industries, nations…etc.) – into like trouble in the future.

  A Solitary Fate (Atropos) from A Golden Thread

by John Melhuish Strudwick (1885)

And yet, for some of us, this is going to be the precise moment when we get ourselves into troublesome territory. For you, this is all about getting into the Pluto-Facies-Atropos ‘learning space’…which is an unpleasantly trying space indeed.

How do we know some people will be making such choices now? Because Damocles is about to go on station come May 16th. And whenever Damocles raises its heady specter of assumption, we know that foolish choices will follow.

(LINK to Damocles Blog)

Yes, for some this will be leaping from the frying pan into the fire. But at some point…? Those who continue to make their life (or everyone’s life) a mess like being in a mess.

The question is why. And if you know one of these people, this is a super-duper time to start asking them why and to not take any of that ‘I don’t know’ garbage for an answer. People who repeatedly cause trouble or have trouble are getting something out of it. It could be negative attention. It could be all about not having to get honest with themselves about how miserable they really are. Trouble is about trouble, and given the combination of Atropos and Damocles (and let’s not forget the fact that Orcus is on station to go direct!) these days are really consequence city. We’re either seeing what consequences really are, doing things which are going to land us in some pretty sticky consequences, or getting hold of why we do stuff and choose things which will end us up forcing us to face consequences we really don’t like! 

Or maybe don’t even know how to handle.

That all this happens as we are moving towards the first of two solar eclipses which will go off during the next couple of months? That tells us that this is a time when mentalities or defenses are breaking down. When walls people put up can actually be taken down by insight or by evidence – even by accusation.

But remember, when you take a wall down…then you have to deal with what lies behind the wall – the true motivational driving force. And that may be ugly all around and not simply limited to them. People should be responsible, yes. But when they aren’t there is more often than not some truthful rationale behind their ill choices, their aggressive attitudes, their rejections…and that is not just about them – that’s also about us. That people tend to think it’s okay to act badly is generally in some way a reflection of, or reaction to some perception that others have acted badly towards them.

And that all this leads to a late-on-the-14th, early-on-the-15th conjuncting of asteroid Eros (passion) and Scheat (nobody’s favorite fixed star) signaling a real moment of rejection...or maybe denial?

 

Denial? Of what? Well, considering this is a fixed star, the affect is global. Scheat is a 'societal' type indicator, so the denial is either of us...or by us with regards to some social/societal standard. This meaning comes from Scheat being the beta star of constellation Pegasus (or Pegasi, as it's known). And why should that be something negative? Well, not that most of us seem to know this (which does sort of ring with that denial thing...) but Pegasus is actually the offspring of Medusa.

That's right, Medusa - the gorgon which scares us plumb to stone.

(LINK to Blog on Medusa)

That 'scare' part? That's all about acknowledging the truth. How that works is part of the Medusa myth (hence the link) - but the shorthand here is that Pegasus, in being the child of Medusa and Neptune is all about getting 'carried away' to a point which is either really scary or where we scare ourselves not only with what has happened...but with the fact we could be so blind, to begin with.

And Scheat - as the beta star of constellation Pegasus and located where the 'shoulder' meets 'leg'...Scheat is all about the 'junction' of whether society is willing to 'go forward' with a given idea. So it's our being unwilling to face truth...or a society which is unwilling to deal with what we want to think is truth...or a society unwilling to deal with truth in general.

Constellation Pegasus with Scheat
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Take your pick, it isn't cupcakes and bunny whiskers. The Neptune influence here says someone is deluded or doesn't want to know better (or in reality) and the Medusa part says knowing the truth is downright scary.

All and all, this simply says 'choose carefully.' This is a moment which asks us to think first, think hard and when we need to not just react out of spite or desire or because we just want to be ‘done with it’ (or because thinking someone or something should ‘be done away with’ will solve the problem).

Obviously this is a time when arguments and friction may flare. Those who weigh the consequences of their choices out and make decisions based in an awareness that they will have to deal with repercussions not even yet known – those people will be prepared for the rough-and-tumble times which will yet surely come.

Those who act in passion or react with recklessness may well weather what is to come as well…but they’re going to go through the months ahead whining and complaining that life is being done ‘to them,’ wondering why it all has to be ‘this way.’

Answer: because we want what we want – and are most often unwilling to differentiate between want and need. Secondary answer: because we structure our lives and choices solely for ourselves with little care to what it will cost others – or even ultimately ourselves.

All it takes to get on the high side of things is humility, the willingness to defer gratification and a lot of globally oriented personal responsibility. Will we all take to that like proverbial ducks to water? No! But those who do, will sleep better and by a few years from now, be in a far better place.

It's your choice!

Nemesis: Confronting An Unwelcome Point

 Nemesis: Copenhagen's bronze cast of Bertel Thorvaldsen's original statue

photo credit: Yair Haklai (August 2006)

Most people think of Nemesis as someone stalking them. You know, ‘our Nemesis’ – that person who is out to get us.

But that’s not what the metaphysics of Nemesis are, or are about. The idea of ‘the Nemesis’ is that which is unwelcome – yes. But it is not necessarily there to do us harm. The idea behind Nemesis is one of ‘divine retribution’ for acts of hubris (arrogance) – the Greek apparently translates rather in the spirit of ‘to give what is due.’

That idea, which we would otherwise think of as ‘consequence’ seems very much in theme with other things of the moment…and which will arrive in short order, seeing as within a week we will have Atropos going into retrograde and TNO Orcus, a primal indicator of consequences which may or may not come out of nowhere but which are one and all, irrevocable.

That Nemesis rather goes towards this Orcus theme is alluded to by Hesiod, who in the masterwork known as Theogony refers to Nemesis as being linked with Nyx.

And who is Nyx? One of Orcus’ cohorts - in myth, and as of rather recently, astronomically (Nyx being the name of a Moon of TNO Orcus).

So that Orcus is about to go direct (experiences of consequence/consequences which are thrust upon us by life) six days after Nemesis goes on station and a mere four days after Nemesis goes direct?

This would seem to be a heaping helping of consequence for things done …or maybe denied or purposefully ignored (as you’ll see in the post for Saturday, May 14th)…heading our way.

And let’s remember: there’s not one, but two solar eclipses on their way. This is a time when our Gemini thoughts or ideas or mental resistance or verbal smokescreens are under attack. Or ceasing to work. Or being proven wrong. July’s solar eclipse being in Cancer, this means that some of our very foundations and things we have ‘identified’ with for a very long time are melting away under our feet.

Or turning into quicksand.

And that ‘I told you so?’ factor? Right now it’s in our head. Or in our gut. Or wherever you stick such things (no, I don’t want to know where you stick them!). But pretty much faster than a speeding comet (as seen from Earth) those things are going to manifest in true to life regretful glory in real time reality.

Nemesis goes direct on Wednesday, May 11th. The warnings and ‘uh-oh’s’ which come prior to that time have yet to play out. The confrontations and realizations and ‘being put on notice’s which happen after May 11th are the playing out of deeds done and positions committed to prior to now.

May 11th itself would seem to be a day dribbled with a dollop of fatefulness…and when you see the post for that day you’ll understand more about the in’s and out’s of being on the in or out with others and how that relates to whether or not you’re on the up and up (or righty-roo) with yourself.

Am I being purposefully oblique? Of course - I’m playing Nemesis! In other words, you’re not even supposed to like the implications of what I say.

And yet...it's not about what I'm saying. No, the not liking is in your court. What are you going to do about it?

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