Orionids 2014

 Constellation Gemini (at left) and Orion (on the right). Image generated

using Stellarium astronomical software in night mode.

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No sooner do the Draconids end but another meteor shower begins. Of course, being as its Mercury retrograde (even in the lives of well-intentioned astrologers - by which I mean me), hardly had I slept off the previous post (link: Part 2 of 3 on this month’s solar eclipse) when my calendar glared at me, causing me to recognize that in writing said previous post I had left out one almost literally star-spangled fact - that second meteor shower thing.

The Orionid meteor shower began yesterday, October 16th. And as I take to typing this reminder it also strikes me how, considering that the radiant (apparent origin point) for the Orionids lies between constellation Orion and nearby Gemini, there would/will be a lot of Gemini ‘sparking of the mind’ in the works and all goings on...not to mention at least a bit of Orion-like hunting and searching.

For what? For whatever our mind is bent on. And in that process, the idea of sudden realizations, recognitions, surprises, inspirations, notifications...and yes, reminders - they would all seem very much in keeping with the moment.

Given the notion we were just talking about (in that previous post) about how the current eclipse (in Scorpio) is only half of what is going on and how there is a distinct measure of Gemini in the eclipse works, to have this meteor shower seems...well, rather poignant (if not pointed). And the intrigue just gets deeper when we add in the idea that it's also Mercury (ruler of Gemini) retrograde.

So not only are we under a normal-and-standard Mercury retrograde auspice for thinking things through and catching up with what's needed, wanted and best for moving forward once Mercury goes direct again (an event which will occur on October 25th, UT/+0) - but we are also moving forward with (and) falling back on something which, like as not, has existed or has been in the works for several years at least.

And now we add in the Orionids...all those little 'sparks' of thought or insight or inspiration. Does the fact that Mercury has now retrograded out of Scorpio and back into Libra mean what gets ‘sparked’ will be about others? Maybe, but not necessarily. What is likely however, is that given Mercury’s current retrograde, most of what occurs to us now and during the days ahead will be more about informing ourselves than anything which is going to be broadcast for general consumption.

Well, at least for now. Once Mercury goes direct, given that the Orionids will still be in progress (though they will have tapered off by then) it doesn't seem unlikely that the 'standard' teaching with regards to Mercury station direct - that things which have been stalled will begin to move, how that which seems lost just may get found and how things which have gotten held up or ignored (by others, surely!) or which have otherwise gone off-track will either begin getting in gear and back on track.

Or you’ll come to understand why they’re not.

You may even find out why you’re fortunate that things didn’t go as planned.

Yes, unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should - in spite of the fact we don’t always like where the creases fall.

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More detailed/astro-technical information on the Orionids is included in the 2010 commentary on this meteor shower, the blog post for which you can link to here.  
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A Gemini New Moon

Sunset, with a gibbous moon over  Unthank Park in Portland, Oregon

(photo credit: Steve Benoit, July 2008)

Can you believe it? Yes, it’s already time for another New Moon. How time flies when you're busy being eclipsed, right?

Anyway...about this New Moon, the date will be June 8th. And that will be smack-dab amidst the ‘after-effects’ of Neptune’s station/retrograde - which is to say Neptune has just gone retrograde, but we're still inside the station.

Just that much is quite a lot to think about, considering what we know connections between Neptune and Mercury mean…confusion, possible deception…or on the positive side, the suspending of life’s problems in moments of delight or bliss of some kind.

I know you’re saying ‘what, Neptune and Mercury? How’d Mercury get into this?’

The answer to that is simple: any time we talk Gemini, at some level we are talking about ‘Mercury things,’ the foremost of which would be our thoughts. Our perspective. What we’re thinking. Our decisions.

And considering this is a New Moon we’re talking about, it is the moment to make some sort of choice – even if that’s just choosing to think something through.

 The chart of the Gemini New Moon

(Aries wheel - Location Not Specific)

Neptune’s turning to retrograde represents the softening or melting away, even the dissolution of positions, thoughts, pre-conceptions. That means some of us are coming out from behind our mental walls. It also means that some of us may well be losing our grip on certainty.

The date of this New Moon is June 8th. The time of this New Moon is 3:57 in the afternoon in the UT/+0 zone. And the degree we’re concerned with here is 18 Gemini, a degree with a reputation for difficulties when it comes to reconciling our love of life and our desire to life as something good with the situation. Or the facts. Or that which we may need to see in order to establish some clarity and definitive orientation moving forward.

As I say this, I’m reminded to mention something which floats through my (alleged) brain now and again when I’m doing the ‘magic finger’ typing of these blogs. That ‘something’ is the fact that having a degree as a natal influence often manifests somewhat differently than when we see something – like a New Moon – occurring at that degree. The transit, the New Moon ‘moment’ may feel or manifest more ‘purely’ than the whole of a life lived in being born with your Sun at 18 Gemini. The life lived with such a nativity gives time to explore and work through and resolve the issues. And yes, there will be those who don’t get there. But many do. This is similar to the fact that many people born with a given planet in retrograde (the popular one to cite being Mercury since we’re exploring a Mercurial idea). Someone who has Mercury retrograde in their natal chart has a time – a literal lifetime – to adjust to the influence and find ways to make it work for you as a positive. In fact, having Mercury in retrograde in your natal chart seems to make transiting Mercury going into retrograde less of a headache. You’re more accustomed to the ‘internal’ or more behind-the-scenes sort of work Mercury retrograde symbolizes, so you go into that mode with less muss, less fuss and less mental frothing.

So while this New Moon at 18 Gemini may pit us all against what we don’t want to know or do or deal with or be pitted against (conjugate on at your own pace), those born with a Sun or any other planet at 18 Gemini will merely be getting a notice that it’s time to shift into a different gear.

Hopefully they’ll be smiling at the rest of us and offering us a hand. But don’t count on it – this degree is known for ‘going another way’ which means such a native would be busy doing their own thing now, perhaps while paying less than total attention to the splashes and sounds of indecisive floundering coming from the rest of us in the cosmic gene pool.

Even apart from any native tendency which goes along with this degree, this also seems to be a moment which is all about doing what we need to be doing. And maybe that will seem unkind to others, but there is a nicely perfected trine between Juno (in Aquarius) and this New Moon which says we need to be managing ourselves and our own affairs right now.

Not that it’s all comfy-ness. With Vesta at 17 Cancer (conjunct Apollo at 16 Cancer) there is an emotional, maybe even instinctual quality to this New Moon which separates us from others even as they are separated from us. For most of us this won’t be anything huge, but since there is an ego-daunting semi-sextile between Vesta/Apollo and this Gemini New Moon, there is something uncomfortable about this moment.

Apollo and Daphne by Bernini

(in the Galleria Borghese, photo by Int3gr4te, January 2007)

Or maybe it’s about what we realize we need to get to doing which is so ‘aw shucks!’ disquieting. In the emotionally experiential (emotionally educationally) sign of Cancer, Vesta’s symbolism as ‘the cost of keeping our commitments’ may be about what we need to do to be our own person and fulfill our own potential, it may be about some ‘cost’ associated with keeping our commitment or promises to someone else (or in our profession)…or, considering that this is a semi-sextile, and semi-sextiles are known for producing or manifesting as ‘ego bruises,’ this may be a difficulty with someone else’s willingness or lack of willingness to keep some commitment to us.

If that’s the case, it would be natural to feel offended and put out – and maybe a bit confused about how to cover all the bases or catch up with what hasn’t been done as promised.

Sound like daily life yet?

That the mental flow is likely to be a bit choppy is further outlined by the following opposition: Arachne  at 18 Sagittarius with Ixion at 19 Sagittarius, Pholus-Pandora at 20 Sagittarius and Ras Alhague, the ultra-pronounced hero-villain of the fixed star set at 22 Sagittarius.

- link to –

Ixion: Our Conflict of Self

Oh golly gosh…where to start?

Embodying the qualities of a spider, Arachne is all about the webs we weave (when first we practice to deceive, perhaps?) and our entanglements. Arachne also tends to speak to ‘spinning,’ which has a whole meaning of its own in Sagittarius as the sign of media and ‘putting information out there.’

Next to Arachne is Ixion, the emblem of not learning the lesson until you get so ‘burned’ by your errors and your continuing inability to own what’s wrong with your methodology that you hit that point of no escape.
I know…we’d all like to think this New Moon is going to signal quick work and swift results. And it may. But we need to be aware of the parameters of what we do as we do it – and evidently for some folks, that’s going to be a bit much to ask.

Or maybe this is the moment when they find out that they should have paid attention, and that now Ixion-Arachne against the New Moon means they’re knee deep in the tar pits with the whole world acting like toothy, primitive carnivores snarling and licking their chops?

That’s a bit dramatic, yes. But with all this Sagittarian energy in opposition to the New Moon, our judgment is of concern. So either we’re thinking things through carefully, or judgment is coming at us. Let’s remember: Sagittarius is both an interactive AND big picture or ‘global’ sign, so this isn’t just about us. There’s something that we’re having to face now, whether it’s something we’ve been thinking is true, something we thought we could do, or some sort of societal force which is bigger and more complicated than we had thought.

 The zodiac quadruplicities

 

The Ras Alhague part of this opposition gives us a ‘it could be very good…but then again, it could go very bad’ sort of quality. And since Ras Alhague, like Pholus/Pandora, is in a third decanate degree (meaning a degree in the last 10 degrees of a sign), we know this has something to do with others. Or the world in which we live. By “degree definition,” we don’t have control. And with Pholus conjunct Pandora (which sounds like a splinter situated in a spot you can neither reach nor see) the little things count. One slip-up can be highly, even wildly Pandora-ish and problematic.

- link to -

Pholus: A Little Nasty

So…going back to that somewhat ‘separatist’ vibe spoken of with regards to the New Moon’s position at 18 Gemini…do you really want to do things your way? Or is doing it your way the best thing to do and going ‘with the group’ the definition of the problem?

F. S. Church's truly unusual conceptualization of the 'Pandora Problem' - namely, our efforts to try to close the box after we've let all the trouble out. (engraving, 19th century)

Sometimes it’s a good thing lunar cycles are only a month long. With the lunation itself conjunct TNO Chaos, fixed star Rigel and Kassandra, we will do well to listen and probably – in that ‘limitless possibilities’ sort of way which is so TNO Chaos – consider things beyond our comfort zone. That doesn’t mean we have to believe them. Kassandra’s presence in this mix says we may not.

Then again, it also says we may not be believed.

What’s a person to do?

My answer to this would be to remember that all lunations are a process, and that in being positioned in Gemini, this one is about choosing to learn – which doesn’t mean scattering efforts and doesn’t mean endless dithering. My favorite image of Gemini remains that of the jig saw puzzle…the object would be to find the pieces which fit and to build on that.

The finding part is probably Rigel, a star which in being positioned at the foot of Orion represents ‘sitting at the foot of the teacher’ in our search (Orion is ‘the hunter’ constellation) for a path to personal fulfillment.

A map of constellation Orion made by Blueshade. You'll see Rigel down at the lower right corner - which is (at least theoretically,) Orion's foot...the one he's "leading" with.

Happy hunting!
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The Gemini Solar Eclipse

Albert Einstein's photo of a 1919 Solar Eclipse

In the moments that June 1st’s solar eclipse forms up at 9:04pm (UT/+0) at 11 Gemini, the world does not change.

The world is already changing.

So what does the moment of the eclipse mark?

Simple…it marks the moment when all which we have been ‘realizing’ becomes a cause for ‘doing.’ And for those more reluctant or recalcitrant on the subject, a time when situations begin forcing our hand, making us do something about such things.

With this eclipse occurring at 11 Gemini, we know the issues are mental. Informational. This is about the ability to learn and learn better and/or the willingness to learn or learn better. Gemini asks us to choose who we will be through what we take on learning about and doing. In its middle (2nd) decanate, it’s all about the fervent longing to know…and the fervency of speech. From poetry to anger, communications express feelings, beliefs and urgings…many, if not most of which we should probably apply to ourselves first.

And yet...this isn't a total eclipse - it's a partial eclipse. That suggests that the effects are a bit more subtle, even if the eclipse hits your chart 'dead on,' as it were. What's the difference in broader terms? Well...maybe it's more like having someone bump into you fairly abruptly as opposed to having the rug yanked out from under you. Or all the lights coming on just as you've gotten really into the movie as opposed to being woken out of a sound sleep by all the lights AND a very loud siren going off in your ear.

In other words, it's not that the status quo isn't changing. It's the degree of....clarity with which the change is announced. Or maybe demanded of you. 

 2011 Solar Eclipse of June 1st - 9:17pm (UT/+0)

Aries Wheel/Location Not Specific

Occurring at 11 Gemini has this eclipse distanced from the lunar nodes (which are positioned at 23 degrees of Gemini and Sagittarius south-to-north respectively) which images what we are thinking as being somewhat ‘distanced’ from society itself, marking this eclipse as somewhat more personal or private than some.

Even thought January’s 13 Capricorn eclipse had the nodes at 2 Capricorn (North) and Cancer (South) the presence of Pluto at 5 Capricorn formed something of a bridge – and in that, gave us a very big clue that the key to that eclipse would be the ‘emotional experience of transformative situations’ (Pluto) involving societal (nodal) Capricorn structures (government, leaders/leadership) particularly where charismatic statements had not been carried out with commensurately satisfying deeds – this last part being all about the eclipse having been conjunct fixed star Vega.

There is no ‘bridging’ planet between the Sun and Moon’s position at 11 Gemini and the South Node at 23 Gemini. What we do have however, are some rather clear statements regarding what life is (or at least feels like) to us at this time.

The South Node (the easy way out) is conjunct Bellatrix, a fixed star known for contentious communication. The North Node (what we should do) is conjunct fixed star Ras Alhague, a difficult star which urges us to take what we have seen and learned and to respond with acts which though challenging, can be or become healing in nature.

It’s easy to see these forces at work in our worldly world. Even our private and personal world. What may or may not be as easy is seeing how these ideas apply to us as individuals.

But yes, that would be the optimal thing to do!

11 Gemini as a degree suggests that we are helped and hindered in doing this very personal work of ‘breaking through mental walls.’ Most of us will see the opportunities we have missed rather clearly – (unfortunately, we’re all pretty good at that!). Fewer of us will realize that those ‘flaws’ we see in ourselves are not finite. Why? Because it’s easier to give up on ourselves than fight whatever shape our defeatist nature may take.

And we all have one, trust me. Some people have a defeatist nature which is turned outward. We think of them as ‘go getters’ who refuse to be ‘beaten down.’ But talk to such people in a most human moment and most of the time you’ll find they’re more scared of not getting the job done than the work it takes to do the job itself. Right or wrong, they’re going to try, because the status quo – the having to live with themselves – is so difficult otherwise.

In the end, that’s who we are and what we’re all about: living with ourselves. Even those of us who are in sublimely secure relationships have to close our eyes at night. And when we do, in those moments or minutes before we fall asleep we are alone…with and within ourselves.

That’s the person we live and die with. And as.

Given that the figure of this eclipse highlights two very important fixed stars - Aldebaran and Antares – we know the balance, the discussion, the ‘debate’ going on within our lives is all about integrity (Aldebaran) and obsessions (Antares). With the Aldebaran end of this natural opposition the part being ‘blacked out’ by the eclipse, we are either now not able to rely on integrity (ours or that of others)…or we need to put exactly that out into the world.

Remember, the image of a solar eclipse has the disc of the Moon (instinct) ‘blacking out’ our source of light (the Sun). Whether this takes the form of your feeling very lacking in ‘enlightenment’ or ideas (Edisona being conjunct this eclipse), there is a certain reality now which directs us to the knowing that when it comes to our life, we’re in the driver’s seat.

If you are someone with a birthday within 5 days of this eclipse, your life is in a radical period of transformation. Your operational parameters are in flux and you should not expect to know what your future really holds for some time to come. Lunar eclipses have a life span…a ‘spinning out’ period which only lasts 3 months. But solar eclipse? They’re another thing again. Solar eclipses evolve over a period of 36 month with the real ‘knowing’ what they’re ‘about’ often not surfacing until rather near this transit’s end.

And this doesn’t mean you just sit around playing tiddlywinks until that moment comes!

If we treat them as such, eclipses are superb vehicles of personal evolution. By stripping away that which we have hidden behind or temporized with, thinking it’s ‘good enough’ or making excuses as to why we can’t change….by eradicating or imploding such 'walls’ we are hiding behind, solar eclipses allow us to in time become the person we know we should be – not that the process of making that change is always all that convenient.

Uh, probably not. Solar eclipses are not known for their genteel nature, so don’t expect a sedan chair to carry you from hither to yon and don’t expect that shedding your old mental life skin is going to come without some period of feeling exposed, tender and insecure.

The idea here would be to use or better yet, recapture the sense of integrity (Aldebaran) in healing your own life (Ras Alhague), preferably so that in going forward along your learning (Gemini) – doing, implementing, growing your life (Sagittarius) road…the idea is to be able to live with a greater integrity not just as to who you are in the minutia, but who you are in this world.

It has to work at both ends. There’s a lot of people who are polarized right now, just as Aldebaran and Antares sit in opposition. Either our external worldly life is working fine but our personal life really sucks…or we’ve figured out who we are but not how to make it work in our personal world or the worldly world.

 June 1st's global eclipse path

We do need to be who we are, no question. But this isn’t just about us. Asteroid Kallisto standing conjunct Aldebaran to the degree tells us there is a difficult passage which is to be endured between the moment when we vow to ourselves to be the person we need to be and that moment when our star rises in our mental heaven. We will get blamed, we will be misunderstood. We must simply continue on being the best us we know how to be: that’s part of what integrity (Aldebaran) is defined as at this time.

Ahead of this eclipse stands Dionysus at 12 Gemini, TNO Chaos at 13 Gemini, Sabine at 14 Gemini and fixed star Rigel at 16 Gemini. This pretty much describes the road ahead.

First, we have to undertake the task of being who we are as if it was a sacred event – and something to be celebrated in our own minds, this fact that we have finally decided to be who we need to be in order to satisfy not merely our mind or not merely our body or society or family, but all that we hold as true (Dionysus).

We accept that there are things about life – and our lives – which we do not know yet. We are willing to be inspired and become more tomorrow than we think we are today (TNO Chaos).

We understand that the world and others in this world will not always understand us, like what we are doing or approve of the fact that we have undertaken the challenge of being a slave only to our sense of inner integrity. They don’t have to agree with us, nor do we have to agree with them. All we have to do is get along and let each one find their way to be their own person in their own life (Sabine).

We know that in the end we are all charged to stand as teachers in this world, if only teachers who have to teach from the tales of personal experience (Rigel).

In last January’s eclipse, Pluto was the intervening factor between the eclipse and the societal nodes – the world we live in. Pluto is a dwarf planet of our own solar system. When I say that there is no ‘object’ which ties the eclipse to the nodes, I’m speaking of no major solar systemic object.

But yes, there is Rigel. A fixed star represents the 'backdrop' in our life...and in our mind.

Rigel…known as Beta Orion for its place in that constellation…is considered a blessing. It’s an emblem of protection and mentorship. It recalls the firm but kind guiding hand which restrains us in order to keep us from harming ourselves and which encourages us so that we do not falter in our resolve.

These energies are all around us in our world now. But more importantly, they’re within us. We have the need to grow towards our own ability to ‘be’ Rigel in our own life, our private or maybe our worldly world… and that’s going to take some effort.

For weeks now we have been feeling and thinking and seeing what needs our better comprehension. What we need to consider and reconsider.

Now we stand in a doorway opened upon a whole new world.

It’s time to step out and be on our way.

Orionid Meteor Shower

The constellation Orion over Arches National Park in Utah
(photo credit: Daniel Schwen/2004)

Having begun just as Venus went retrograde, October 12th marks the height of the annual 2010 Orionid meteor shower.

Named for the constellation Orion, the Orionids don't actually come from the constellation itself, rather from an area just outside of the 'body' of Orion - between Orion and Gemini.

And astrologically, knowing just that is the key to understanding this annual event.

Gemini we know. Gemini is the process of thought and all which comes from thinking - or the lack thereof. We either choose or choose not to. We are organized or not. We are neat or not. We talk or we are silent. We are mobile, stationary, hasty or simply stuck. We understand or we're confused, we're seekers or we know and comprehend. We communicate our thoughts through the mail, email, text, writings, speech or otherwise. We communicate ourselves or our ideas via phones, books, computers, mail carriers, cars, bicycles, planes, trains and last but never least, our mouth, hands or feet.

Gemini is the everyday. Gemini is 'temporal time' - the schedule, the people we meet along the way (shopkeepers, neighbors, etc.) and those who are 'part of our world' but not part of our core mom-pop-and-kids family.

Orion, on the other hand, is one of the most famous constellations in our sky which most people know simply as The Hunter.

 Constellation Orion

But astrologically, it takes only a little looking at the diagram of Orion to realize how many 'statements' are made in its form. No less than three well known fixed stars (Betelgeuse, Bellatrix and Rigel) are part of the full 'Orion picture.' 

So what does this tell us?

First in line, Betelgeuse is a red giant star nearing the end of its astronomical life. Known as a star of 'ease or easy process,' Betelgeuse is a wonderful example of how fixed star influences work, starting with the idea that though they are referred to as 'fixed,' this is 'fixed' in the astrological sense (slow to move) not 'fixed' as in concrete - forevermore set in place. Currently moving at roughly one minute of longitude per year, Betelgeuse is currently at 28 Gemini, having moved out of 27 Gemini towards the end of 1945.

Twenty-seven Gemini is a degree typified as either a 'sleeping giant' or a 'genie in a bottle' - you don't know quite what is going to happen until you rouse the giant or free the genie. That Betelgeuse moved out of 27 Gemini into 28 Gemini as WWII came to its end (a world-wide example of genies and sleeping giants if there ever was one!) is apt.

Since 1945, Betelgeuse has been colored by 28 Gemini's legendary preoccupation with values...whether you color that as money and wealth or morality and integrity. A degree known for just enough intuition to be confused and enough suspicion to promote caution, 28 Gemini often functions as a degree at which whatever is positioned there prompts situations through which we learn. That would be in keeping with 28 Gemini being a 3rd decan degree, to be sure - any degree between 20 and 29 of any sign is known as where results are only known through worldly/outside input or reaction.

Of course the down side there is that if Betelgeuse is about 'ease' and we see how it did when at 27 Gemini, then it's no wonder that so many difficulties have arisen in the last sixty (plus) years. We keep trying to take the easy way out and life teaches us to be more cautious and to opt for truly global rather than self serving values inclusive of the idea that though it's easy to assume and assert the meaning of 'morality' and 'integrity' that in the greatest of big picture perspectives, those ideas are always far, far more global than we tend to think.

 Young Stars Emerging from Orion's Head

(source: ASA/JPL/Caltech/Spitzer Team - 2007)

Betelgeuse is the star at Orion's right shoulder, representing that which is, and from which we respond. Opposite that is Bellatrix, a star known to represent a difficult process - apt, seeing as left is 'what is yet left to do' and thus the unknown. Thought by physicists to be too small to ever go supernova, the brilliant light emitted by Bellatrix is created by extremely high temperatures at its core: a metaphysical emblem of 'high power' and 'great friction,' both of which fit well with the challenges and struggles associated with Bellatrix.

Currently at 21 Gemini, Bellatrix operates through situations where the world reactions to whatever we have (or have not) done. That this degree represents an elevated tendency to scatter one's efforts, waste time and energy and in general, dilute one's effectiveness through lack of focus on the actual goal (through getting distracted) isn't very helpful, particularly when we think of Orion as the Hunter. Hunters need to be focused and aware. Bellatrix in this position suggests that individually and as a world, we are in a period where our ability to discipline our thoughts and efforts is being tested.

But all is not lost. Not in the least! Orion is a fascinating structure in that the 'shoulders' of the hunter are indeed burdened by difficulties in moving ahead and desires to live in or respond from values held over from the past. Yet even if this is emblematic of the 'shouldering of so much tension' in today's world, there is a third star - Rigel - which is Orion's left foot.

A left foot represents our metaphorical step into the future. And Rigel is a star all about being 'under the foot of the teacher' - the necessity to learn. Positioned at 16 Gemini (a degree all about emotional thoughts) Rigel asks that we use our emotions as motivations and from that, learn what we actually can accomplish - and become.

 Orion as a guide by Mysid

As a 'hunter' in the sky, Orion is also a mythic guide; as above it helps point to other major stars...other resources in our life. Using Betelgeuse, we find our way to Procyon, a star of opportunities which come and go if not grabbed onto and used. Rather like Betelgeuse, don't you think? We have a chance to prevent things from going wrong...and if we just ignore it, then the genie gets out of the box.

Fortunately, Bellatrix points to nothing in particular, but there is a line drawn from Rigel to Castor and Pollux, the double edged sword of creative brilliance against personal angst. Positioned in the 3rd decanate of Cancer, this duo becomes evident as a test of personal character once we try to make our way in our worldly life, reminding us that our emotions are powerful enough to get us off track even when we (Rigel) know how to get things done.

Maybe the best news with Orion is the ideas this constellation's famous three belt stars guide us to...

  Orion's Belt (source: NASA)

    

...in one direction the belt points to Sirius, the most brilliant star in the whole of the sky apart from our Sun. Called either 'the Scorcher' or the 'Shining One' by the ancient Egyptians, Sirius - sometimes also called the 'Dog Star' reminds us that small things can have great consequences, and that often times our personal desires need to be sacrificed for a greater good.

(Yes, just like sometimes our beloved canine companions sacrifice for us!)

Positioned at 14 Cancer, Sirius is said to grant grace in either writing, math or money-making, but seldom all three. It's a sign of resourcefulness and grace - a resource which relates it's position on the same side of Orion as Betelgeuse, the symbol of that we find easy to cope with or do.

Maybe most importantly is the fact that Aldebaran stands in the opposite direction. One of the Royal Persian Stars, Aldebaran promises great success if, where and when we hold ourselves to levels of true integrity.

And maybe, just maybe that tells us what it is which makes moving ahead so hard. Just as the belt 'marries' the bottom and top of this constellation's figure together in a metaphorical union of emotion and the ability to move ahead, so integrity is just that quality which is held to when we marry our needs and our aims to the positions, goals and necessities of others.

With all this said, it's to remember that the Orionid meteor shower comes not from the heart of Orion, but from that deep spatial gap between Orion and Gemini: the gap between thinking and formulating our ideas, choices and priorities with knowing how to 'hunt' down the means and find guidance so as to achieve our greatest goals. 

Occurring just as and after Venus has gone retrograde in Scorpio, this year's Orionid meteor shower would seem to be bits of light...recognitions, ideas, realizations...

...probably pertaining to what we're mulling over inside, retrogrades always being about internals.

There are things we want (Venus).

And they aren't going to just drop into our laps. We're going to have to deal with others (Scorpio).

And maybe most of all, we're going to have to find the right combination of what we already know and what we're willing to 'go forth and learn' (Orion).

We know there's some risk to what we're undertaking (Scorpio). But without taking some sort of Scorpio risks, we never make Scorpio gains.

And maybe worst of all, we know time passes by. If we do nothing, a year from now the Orionids will come yet again, their little streaks of light in the sky reminding us that our life is flashing by without our even having tried to live it.

No, no one wants that.