Mercury in Sagittarius... Arachne and Pandora Direct

(background) A spider web strung with dewdrops

(photo credit: William Waterway, September 2006)

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At a guess, one of the biggest hurdles in learning how to use astrology is learning to conjugate metaphysical meanings. Take Arachne, for instance. The astrological Arachne is very aptly named: it applies to every precept we could attach to the idea of a biological arachnid - a spider. So to be ‘caught in a web’ is very Arachne. But so is trying to ensnare or otherwise entangle something/someone else. From entanglements to ingenuity, Arachne is by turns the all of it - including that very particular, spider-like ability to wait.

Wait for what, you ask? Well, for fortune, of course... which with Arachne may appear in the form of something you ‘prey’ on (use to accomplish your aims), or something which is what you’ve been praying for - that opportunity which wanders by like a living, meandering feast.

Arachne often manifests with a touch of persistence, though whether that refers to our trying over a period of time (duration - which if Arachne is prominent may manifest as being ‘entangled’ in something you can’t/won’t walk away from)...or the more repetitive kind of trying which is all about try-try-trying again, replete with that trace of falling short which very much does speak to experience.
What kind of experience...? Well, that’s a whole other matter - and that would be primarily read from where Arachne falls in our natal chart.

So...if that’s not making you climb the wall just yet (or hide in a corner) we’ll just proceed to the facts de esta matter, which are that asteroid Arachne is going direct on November 27th at 10:24 in the morning (UT/+0 time) at 14 Aries, a degree which describes some sort of ‘trial by fire’ which often enough are presented in the form of an event, moment or situation which has not occurred because of anything which has to do with us personally - call it ‘fate’ or the matter of not just what cards have been dealt, but where those cards have come to fall as a matter of forces far beyond our control.

So... will we be hunkering down and waiting for the storm to pass? Or will we see some opportunity and begin stalking that?

In the United States, November 27th being Thanksgiving, the recent clout of early winter brings up another Arachne sort of terms: stuck - as in ‘I can’t get there, I’m stuck.’ That could be literal, that could be figurative - and it could be a matter of showing up at the right house at the right time to claim your seat at the table... or it could be the fact that because you’re at that table (or otherwise occupied doing something it would be improper to up-and-flee) you can’t do what you might rather do... whether that means watching a game, tackling Black Friday sales (whether online or in person)... or just getting away from noise, hassles and whatever else for a while.

Sholem Aleichem crater on Planet Mercury

(photo credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory,

Carnegie Institute of Washington, January 2008)

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Then there’s the idea that Mercury moves from Scorpio into Sagittarius the day after Arachne goes direct. (In other words, while Arachne is on station and direct, if still moving slowly.) This is a bit of a mix, as Arachne is more about being tied down (or up, depending) where Mercury in Sagittarius is more of a speak-your-mind, act-and-then-discuss-change-modify sort of influence. The polarity here being Sagittarius/Gemini (and Mercury rules Gemini) with Arachne contributing Aries-versus-Libra says a lot about our wanting to get out there - or at least to advance our point.

Or to have our say. Or make things right as we see, or learn to see what is right, correct, effective or applicable to some specific instance.

Hardly known as the least opinionated combination which ever was, Mercury in Sagittarius represents the eagerness to get things done and the ability to overburden ourselves or to trip ourselves up by doing too much. Given that by mode Sagittarius is a mutable (as opposed to cardinal or fixed) sign, we should expect changes, too: mutable signs describe the process of learning as we go and correcting our course or manner of doing things as we meet up with new information along our merry way.

Even our not-so-merry way, but that’s another matter.

Under Mercury in Sagittarius the list of things which need doing gets longer and the parameters of what needs to feed into that list gets more complicated - it just does. Time flies by whether we’re having fun or not and we should expect several dribbles of the unexpected - though with regards to that, we should expect more oddities and surprises to pop up towards the end of Mercury’s run through Sagittarius than at its start simply because Uranus will be going direct on December 21st. Mercury will be moving on into Capricorn before we all get to said Uranian station (Mercury will exit Sagittarius for Capricorn on December 17th), but even without any other metaphysical influence, Uranian influences tend to decorate much which surrounds its official station.

Plus in this case there IS an additional metaphysical influence, that being the fact that Uranus is going direct on the same day as the Capricorn Solstice.

Things are changing. Things are going to change structurally. But that’s a different post. For the moment we should be concerning ourselves more with the fact that Mercury (in Sagittarius) will be conjuncting royal and fixed star Antares on December 3rd (UT/+0), warning us against being too ‘obsessed’...which because this is Mercury (the emblem of thought, communication, activity and mentality) in a fire sign is easy enough to slip into and often so lacking in perspective that we don’t (or won’t) notice ourselves either blocking out things we need to hear (think about, take care of or participate in)... or we will get so over-immersed in our own perspective that we can neither see its flaws nor take advantage of that which would help us achieve our ultimate aims because we cannot allow for something to work other than the way we want to think it works.

Antares promises success ONLY where we do not obsess (or get involved with something which is ‘obsessive’ or over-focused by nature).

There’s also an interesting association between Mercury conjuncting Antares and a few days later opposing Rigel - the fixed star all about sharing what we know and being inspired to learn. Since this is a sequence which would happen any time any object moves through Sagittarius, there isn’t always anything to emphasize connection, but since this year will have Mercury opposing Rigel on December 7th/8th (UT/+0) just as Jupiter goes direct at 22 Leo and Saturn opens its 2015 datebook by rolling over the degree (28 Scorpio) which will be its 2015 shadow point...?

The Orion Molecular Cloud with astrology's fixed star Rigel at the upper right as

photographed by Rogelio Bernal Andreo in October, 2010

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Yes, that would be a bit of emphasis. Quite a bit of emphasis, as a matter of fact. It suggests that this period (December 4 through 8) will be something of a ‘turning point’ for what we’re doing now - and turn out to be a time when things happen (or fail to happen) which end up having a deal of influence with regards to things we will be (Saturn) working on and (Jupiter) growing into and learning to utilize the potential of over the next twelve to thirteen months as come the December 2015/January 2016 Saturn rolls through the zodiac district we’re seeing highlighted now.

Some of us will spend this current early December time in a ‘wait and see’ mode. Others will use this time to keep working to grow and build things of long-term importance. With Jupiter (the ruler of Sagittarius) going direct as of December 8th there will be - as there is almost every year - a distinct ‘turning inside’ as a lot of people begin thinking about the holidays and their end-of-year plans. But every year as some do that, others use the time to plan ahead - which given how society ‘expects’ us to be more focused on family now can afford many of us the mental room to think.

And thinking... imagining... dreaming up new ideas is just as important a Mercury in Sagittarius function as pressing ahead and learning about those details which are keeping you from your goals is.

Sometimes they even go together - and when they do, real magic of the most ‘I didn’t imagine this could happen’ type occurs. Sagittarius teaches us (among other things) that ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ is a truism even if it comes with pitfalls, critiques and a few out-and-out flops along the way.

It’s all part of the learning process - as is learning how to get things through that invisible barrier which is our Sagittarian mindset seeking to bring things into (Capricorn) reality. So often we see alternative points of view as threats when they might be opportunities; Sagittarius challenges us to learn how to see for our Self (and our enrichment) beyond that we hold as ‘sacred’ in our personal thinking - as distinct from religious scripture.

Some people find Sagittarian exploration exciting and natural, as is the ‘sharing’ of interests which comes from such excitement, that being the source of Sagittarius as the sign of ‘getting the word out’ and thus media, publications, publishing and travel (mental or physical). Sharing is the plus of Sagittarius where locking thoughts down, be it through codification of a code or ‘chiseling in stone’ some body of history, law or thought invites contrast, debate and further question simply because the ‘known’ quality of “chiseling something in stone” invites a Sagittarian exploration.

Either we just can’t win... or maybe (just possibly) our definition of winning needs revising.

All of that is now going to be funneling not only through the Sun (life, will, consciousness) but as of November 28th, through Mercury.

It’s a recipe for more of everything - in particular anything which has to do with a Mercurial subject: communications, details, errands, traffic. Phone calls and phones, letters, mail and the systems which transport or deliver them - all of which are Mercury objects (planes, trains, boats, trucks, feet and cars, rockets, internet facilities and systems, etc.) as are (generally) the operational factors which have to do with anything which services those Mercury objects, be they the delivery dispatching system which sends the trucks out, the shoes and socks which keep our toes happy or the air traffic controllers and radar which keeps watch over planes.

With Mercury in Sagittarius, things - including systems - can get overtaxed, which hopefully doesn’t mean any volcano is going to choose this moment to send up any smoke screens. It would fit with the Sagittarian Mercury concept, but especially as Mars moves into Aquarius come December 4th (UT/+0) it would be more like frost than frosting on the end-of-the-year economy, some part of which could pay a penalty for some sort of Mercurial ‘too much.’

All of which says that we can enjoy ourselves to the hilt so long as the point is only mental - and preferably enlightening or enjoyable (Sagittarius is all about a good time in-the-live, if not necessarily in-the-flesh).

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So with the general (Sun in Sagittarius) trend of life pace on an uptick we come to Thursday and Friday of this next week - November 27 and 28 - still [Arachne] dealing with ongoing matters or things which aren’t quite wrapped up (or dissipated) as yet. Then Mercury moves into Sagittarius and life’s ‘moving pieces’ multiply, become more active and perhaps noisy - with everything happening at once (or coming together for worse or betterment) or with so many different things happening, you could be thrown into Arachne-like confusion.

Or maybe disparate sources or unalike aims and concepts will come together and ‘gel’ as some new idea or complicated, Arachne-like solution to some equally entangling and Arachne-like sort of problem.

In any case, because asteroid Pandora is going direct at a prompt 2 a.m. (UT/+0) on November 30th, all of that is likely to lead to two very disparate situations.

Pandora by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

(1881, rendered to black and white for posting)

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We think of Pandora as ‘Pandora’s Box’ - the box part of which was probably a jar and the tendency to be sufficiently curious as to ignore rules and open said jar being a Pandora quality which hardly gets talked about at all. But the point here is in part about perspective as in the famous story Pandora is assailed by a cloud of mortal ‘ills’ which escape from ‘containment,’ whatever shape it is. The ills are whatever would trouble or threaten us in our life, whatever those factors would currently be. Yet because Pandora holds onto that jar (or box, if you prefer), she still has hope - because of all our human traits, hope is the one which didn’t flee when the jar (or box) was opened.

So... when we ‘witness’ this story - and thus when asteroid Pandora’s effects come into play, we will either ‘see’ or - seeing as Pandora is currently taking its station at 18 Aries - how we experience things individually, from a hopeful or a beleaguered perspective.

In that regard, 18 Aries delivers little hope that things will be clearly defined or simple in that this is a degree which known for both a love of nature (which may be physical nature as in Mother Nature or their personal nature, as in character traits)... and competition, a combination which on one hand can lead us to want to ‘win out’ against nature and which on the other can lead us to want to master and/or utilize that nature which again may be physical and may be personal. Noted for strength in the area of imagining and inventing, 18 Aries may here contribute to great works of art and great tales which are merely lies... any of which we may be hearing, telling to others or telling ourselves.

Pandora will be taking its ‘turn’ to direct on Sunday, November 30th at an hour early enough to make its station-direct moment November 29th for everyone in the Americas and eastern Pacific region. It also says that the first couple of days of December are likely to be anywhere between hectic and complicated.

So... what to do?

With Mars set to enter Aquarius on Thursday, December 4th, that puts Mars in Capricorn’s most worldly and far-reaching degrees as Pandora goes direct and December comes upon us. Between that fact and Pandora’s station in a degree which suggests study and observation as a natural and productive course, this would seem to be a moment when we have the opportunity to ask critical questions, but most often of our Self.

Or selves.

And what comes of that? That’s to think about next as we know what evolves out of these stations and Mercury’s shift will proceed under Mars in Aquarius.

And that’s not just a different post, but something which speaks to our ability - and maybe more importantly our willingness - to interact in such a manner as to fit in with others, for that is the way to get our desired results in... and from life itself.
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Chiron Direct at 13 Pisces

Princess Olga Paley of Russia (1904)

by Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret

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That the Sun will have entered Sagittarius two days prior to Chiron going direct at 22:44 (10:44 p.m.) UT/+0 time on November 23rd promises growth. Not necessarily the kind of growth which is easily achieved, but growth... which yes, does include gaining weight - a comment which is timely  considering how this Sun-Sagittarius-Chiron mélange is happening but a couple of days before Americans sit down to Thanksgiving, the laden table of which is very Sagittarian, a sign in which ‘more’ often carries the thematic day.

That our Sun-in-Sagittarius life now presses for ‘more’ fits much of which is - and will be going on in these next days ahead. The issue may be what we do, how we think, what our aims are or the need to take on things we see as wrong or problematic - all such things will be on (or come to) that laden table this solar month typifying all we feel we need to do and all which life is confronting us with.

There’s a lot to take in, to do, to think about - and with Chiron now standing for what we do (or conclusions we adopt, back, act on or reject) which come back to bite us - or which we are concerned will come back to bite us (wanting to correct things being another Sagittarian tactic) we are likely to meet up with indecision. With not know quite what to do.

And that would be natural, as where Chiron is concerned we never know, we never learn the right-versus-wrong of virtually anything except through the doing of it, and that goes for not just what we actively choose to learn, but also for what we don’t know we’re going to be (ahem) caused to learn.

And yes, even sometimes through perils and problems we bring upon ourselves when we don’t learn.

In going direct at 13 Pisces, Chiron is stirring up a lot of variable energetics which are likely to look like indecision, indecisiveness and various kinds of realizations which test us at the heart-string level as something we want very much to be true is proven wrong.

Will we hurt ourselves our our aims or some goal if we change directions? Is is the right thing to do to stand on our own?

Considering this as a basic combination, there is a natural Sagittarian drive to do and know more which is meeting up with Pisces hopes and that human and Pisces tendency to want to see things for the best instead of in reality - and with Chiron on the Pisces side of this dynamic, interpreting situations and figuring out what to do may require investigation to sort truth from fluff and assorted forms of self-serving spin (which may or may not be deliberate) out from the chaff.

The good news here is that if such looking for facts and all that investigating is done with attention to detail and the willingness to face facts (including those which may be uncomfortable, unpleasant or feel invalidating (not that they are...) then a lot of good things can result.

It just won’t be instantaneous, which points to another little concept: though Chiron stations often lead to something good, they generally don’t mark our favorite moment in life. Most often we’ll greet such a series of days with a series of ‘do this - or do that?’ questions as we wonder, ponder and otherwise contemplate which path will get us to our desired result... and which path is least apt to cause complications. (Especially emotional complications, which given Chiron’s presence in Pisces could be more costly than one suspects.) One common challenge now will be dealing with one choice or aspect ‘pulling’ especially hard in one direction even as something deep inside ‘knows’ that’s not what we should do.

And that’s in spite of the fact that we’re not positive about any of it - not as positive as we’d like to be, at least. For some, just the idea of having to make any choice (or needing to face what past choices mean you need to do now) maybe that’s your amplifying force.

Whatever happens, expect some intermittent if persistent rattling to come from somewhere under the back of your psyche as Chiron is all about the difference between our native inclinations and how we can (and could) learn better. The reasons for such lessons are as individual as snowflakes - which makes sense considering how charts don’t repeat but every 25,920 years even without using asteroids, fixed stars and other such ‘extra’ natal points.

But they’re there. Lift the edge of a challenge over this next little while and you’ll find your own Chirotic dichotomy staring right back at you: the thing you know and which comes easily against the potential you have to turn your challenges into ability.

So what’s the rub? Well, the rub is simply this: where Chiron is concerned, the object is to master ourselves while our instinct is to master others - or at least spend all our time critiquing, criticizing and pointing fingers at others as we wax symphonic in explaining (to others or ourselves, whatever works) that we know how to do it - they don’t. And how could they be so foolish? How could they be in a position of power or responsibility when they obviously don’t know how to do what they’re doing?

Meanwhile, the irony of Chiron is simple: we may be talking about them. But while that’s getting sorted out, we are surely talking about ourselves.

With Chiron in Pisces we’re reacting to our own feelings - feelings which are currently being universally stirred by things happening on a universal level without anyone (starting with us) actually knowing what can be done to make everything universally acceptable, to us or anyone else. After all, there are two grand trines in progress...

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... both of which are in fire, implying there are at least a couple (if not multiple) ongoing situations, one or both of which involve disruptions which at some philosophically intricate level asks whether we know what ‘disruptions’ are, and what their cost - especially long term - really is.

What can we afford to do? More importantly, what can we afford to be? That these two trines come together as Chiron goes direct tends to say that it’s things already in motion which are complicating our life, and Uranus (at 12 Aries) is certainly in a semi-sextile to Chiron’s station, so we should expect the unexpected and not be surprised if something doesn’t quite go as planned.

That’s not to say that what happens isn’t a positive - it’s just that it’s likely to catch you off-guard, whatever the net result may come to be.

Uranus in this picture suggests we flex. But while we flex, we need to also maintain our individuality - and that may be just the Chiron question: how to do that?

Plus let’s remember - both of these grand trines (which amounts to ‘a lot’ of what our minds are caught up thinking about) are in fire, with the Sun’s and Venus’ presence in Sagittarius challenging our allegiance to the greater purpose... against our need to be who we are.

And if not validated by others, at least acknowledged by our own sense of being functional in our own life. 

Throughout the days of this station (which gets an allowance - say from November 21st through the 25th) we also shouldn’t be surprised if things which otherwise could be expected to be reasonable are suddenly inexplicably unreasonable. Or being greeted with a lot of talk, little doing, tons of critique and many a ‘if I was in that situation...’ commentaries, all of which are (unfortunately!) a terribly common Chiron symptom.

In short, wherever Chiron falls in your chart by house, that’s where you’re going to encounter some form of stumbling block in your own life... one which usually feels like ‘I don’t know how to do this’ which indeed you may not know how to do, but which you also aren’t likely to find anyone to do for you.

Why not? Because Chiron is a symbol of things we need to learn whether we want to or not. And it’s not like we’re disinterested, as generally the house in which Chiron falls describes areas of life where we would like things to work and be or become a ‘success story’ in our life - or life in general.

We’re even generally knowledgeable - at least to some extent on our Chirotic subject - as natal Chiron (by sign, house and aspect) often describes what we are perfectly willing (just ask us) to comment, critique and otherwise comment on how other people are dealing with the given question.

Given all this, what Chiron operationally manifests as is a irritating made up of a bit of angst, a bit of envy, and a generous desire to just ignore the whole thing - all of which causes us to feel like something has gotten under our skin when in reality the fact that we haven’t dealt with something in OUR own life.

That’s what’s under our skin. We just don’t want to think about it - because if we do, we’ll get all bent out of shape. Or just plain uncomfortable.

And about that 13 Pisces part... referred to as ‘The use of intelligence and mental subtlety as a protection against storms and trials’ by astrologer Marc Edmund Jones, the Sabian symbol for 13 Pisces (read as 14 Pisces) is ‘A lady wrapped in a large stole of fox fur,’ the ‘intelligence’ quotient of which is taken from the reputed cleverness of the fox (though intelligence and cleverness are not exactly the same thing) and yet, being that the reference is specifically animalistic, this would seem to refer to the kind of mentality we use in order to avoid facing our own emotional (Piscean) vulnerabilities - here referenced by ‘storms and trials’ which are anticipated to be of some breadth or duration considering how the stole being talked about isn’t just an ‘ordinary-sized’ stole, but a large stole which is specifically being cited as ‘protection.’

That one word - protection - denotes our vulnerability. And with Chiron taking its turn to direct at this degree, either things take a turn making it easier or more necessary for us to face that vulnerability as a fact. Or because this is Chiron, we may now be need to face what feeling vulnerable does to our thinking in causing us react perhaps in an ‘animalistic’ manner or as a matter of a more basic (instinctive) reaction which causes us to don some other ‘skin’ in, or as we contend with some  specific situation.

From here, Chiron will remain in direct motion until June 24th of 2015 at 21 Pisces in opposition to Black Moon Lilith at 23 Virgo - a tale of whether we’re willing to join in a task and whether we need to ‘go it alone’ which we’ll no doubt be thinking about next June. But for now....? Well, given the Sun’s presence in Sagittarius, we’re likely to have more than enough to do in the present moment.

Will we want to do it? Probably not - and the drive which underlies however we cope will be far more about what we feel uncomfortable with than that we like better. But does that mean we shouldn't do 'it'? That's the Chiron question. So  prepare yourself for excuses - some of which you will make to others, some of which you will make to your Self, and some of which you will make about whatever it is you’re doing while in the course of getting yourself to just go do it.

This station - the actual days of station - are likely to be vague trying. We’re likely to hear and see things which either force us to take a different route (or to change our priorities) or to just wonder how we’re supposed to get anything done, even while we watch people getting away with what we think is not trying. Or only vaguely trying.

Which yes, we’re likely to find quite trying - at least to our nerves or our stock of patience.

But if we stop...if we are able to stop focusing on them or what we don’t know long enough... if we’re brave enough, we’ll begin feeling whatever it is which is fueling some inner (and truly personal) annoyance.

It’s Chiron. Astrologers used to talk about Chiron as some philosophical ‘bridge’ to a more ‘evolved’ form of self - and maybe it is that. But if it is, Chirotic energies function as (and through) whatever it is which gets us to recognize how when Chiron is active either in transit or in our chart, how that’s when we tend to be riled up not by what we’re trying to do - but by how hard it is to get ourselves to do it.

And that would be for whatever reason.

Yes, it’s annoying, I know. And so does everyone else as Chiron is a truly universal experience - one of those ‘dirty little secrets’ about being human and mortal that none of us like...or at least like admitting to. There’s a subtle sort of undercurrent when Chiron is active which isn’t jealousy but which is definitely begrudged - and again, we tend to project that feeling. We’ll be annoyed with someone else instead of letting ourselves understand that none of us really like learning on the job.

Mastery, we like. Being forced to eat our cosmic vegetables before we get dessert...? That, we’re not as enthusiastic about.

But still...apparently there’s something we need to know. If unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should - whether you call that Fate or Creation or space/time or the workings of God, then no matter how we feel about anything in this moment, the Chirotic object is to learn from it... about it... and what it means that we have the feelings we have about it at this time. We may want to wrap ourselves in some guise, we may need to protect ourselves against some storm. This is ‘not knowing how to get myself through’ something (the Chiron Factor) immediately in the wake of Neptune’s station-direct in conjunction with Fomalhaut - a combination which is water plus water... feelings meeting emotional situation... irresistible change triggering an understanding of inevitable results.

Fomalhaut and its dust ring (photo credit: NASA-JPL)

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Of course, some of us won’t want to see or think about those results - and perhaps we shouldn’t blame them. After all, some things are hard to face and even harder to get through... especially when that Someone not wanting to feel what it’s going to take to get through something is you. 

Being that Chiron is currently heading away from the Sun (towards the outermost point in its orbit) the metaphysical implication is about expansion - about pushing us past whatever we consider the ‘boundary’ of what we know, what we know we can do and who we know ourselves to be. However this works we are going to be exposed to what our own feelings are about a lot of things - which is typical for anything seen in the sign of Pisces.

How we deal with all that will contribute or detract from everything else we are seeking to do, move ahead with or learn about now as the Sun continues moving through Sagittarius. It will also become its own Chirotic moment November 25th arrives and Chiron’s station starts giving way to Arachne’s station, Mercury exiting Scorpio for Sagittarius and Pandora going direct (all of which will be the subject of a next post).

In short, it’s going to be a complicated week which struggles a bit before finding its way...as we feel our own struggles before finding our way as well.
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