Pope Francis I: The Papal Election Chart

The Coat of Arms for Vatican City is considered a de factor symbol of the Papacy

There’s something truly beautifully metaphysical level about a Pope being elected with Jupiter conjunct Aldebaran. Jupiter is after all, the ruler of Sagittarius (the sign of religion) and Jupiter is also the initial co-ruler of Pisces, the sign of spirituality.

Fixed star Aldebaran is the first of the zodiac’s Royal Stars – first in zodiacal order, that is. Positioned at 9 Gemini, Aldebaran is a celestial promise of success which is achieved and maintained through integrity of intent, word and deed. It’s presence in Gemini makes Aldebaran the most mentally-oriented of the Royal Stars, and though Jupiter isn’t known for being wonderful in Gemini, it would seem likely that integrity was something the Cardinals had in mind when electing Pope Francis, especially since (as it has been commented on a lot of late) the Vatican needs a Pope capable of dealing with the Curia and the ‘business machinery’ of the Vatican.

The famous white smoke went up from Vatican chimney at 7:06 on the evening of March 14th. And here is the chart for that moment:

The Election of Pope Francis I

March 13, 2013 - 7:06 p.m. (CET/-1) - Vatican City, Italy

The strong set of squares from Ceres and the Black Moon in the 9th house to the Sun and Venus in the 6th is exactly what we are talking about with regards to the Vatican’s ‘machinery.’ But let’s not be bashful here: the Scorpio Saturn conjunct Deucalion (Deucalion being ‘finding our moral way’) in trine to the vulnerability or injury point (Chiron) at 10 Pisces in the 6th house (with Pisces conjunct Kalypso) is a statement in big and bold about the money being hemorrhaged by the Church by various ‘bad acts’ on the part of the clergy (as in sex abuse) as well as the Curia.

With Kalypso being a point all about asking us whether love is about what you get or the happiness of the one (or the thing) being loved, Chiron conjunct Kalypso in the 6th house of this chart with Chiron-Kalypso in square to Aldebaran (integrity) –Scheherazade (the tale told) – Jupiter in the 9th is a poignant astrological statement about the need to bring the Church back to loving those it serves and the love of why it serves them.

Calypso (astrology's Kalypso) as sculpted by Celestin Anatole Calmeis

(photo credit Vassil, artwork c. 1853, Musée Picardie Beaux-arts)

That said, this is a square. So the task isn’t easy. Fortunately (for the Catholics of the world and the future of the Church) Saturn-Deucalion trining Chiron-Kalypso from the 2nd house says there will like as not have to be some 'threat’ installed in order to bring everybody who has gotten out of line back into line.

If you look around the ring of the chart, you’ll notice that all the house cusps are in early degrees. That tells us that this election is about doing something. And the four cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn) appearing on the prime horizontal and vertical axis points tells us that things will get done. Cardinal signs ‘act’ and learn through their accomplishments. Where modification is required, they then act again.

That of the four cardinal signs Libra comes up at the Ascendant (the Ascendant being the ‘action’ point of a chart) tells us the Cardinals have voted to act in the spirit of connection with others and with an eye to how the Church affects others.

Libra being ruled by Venus, Venus in Pisces and in the 6th house tells us that those who work in the Church are supposed to ‘exalt’ in service. That this Venus is conjunct the Sun (at 23 Pisces) says this election is about finding a man and a ‘life’ for the Church which is dedicated to that sort of service.

And yet…Venus is not comfortably placed in the 6th house. So we can expect some problems to surface inside the Vatican (whether we hear of them or not) in the years ahead. With the mid-point between Venus and Chiron being the fixed star Achernar, we can assume many problems will be found – even more than this Pope probably expects to find going into the job.

 Pope Francis I (then Cardinal Bergoglio) on official business in Argentina

(photo courtesy of the Agentine Presidency website, dated March 17, 2010)

It would seem that we can trust one thing: this new Pope is going to need all the faith in this world (and maybe the next) to deal with what he finds. 19 Pisces (Venus’ position) is known for the kind of frustrations and ‘imbedded’ problems which lead to stomach aches or with difficulties with being able to emotionally ‘swallow’ something. Add to that Achernar’s reputation for being ‘one thing after another’ and there would seem to be a tough road ahead for this Pope and the Church, starting with the necessity to deal with the ‘health’ (6th house) of the institution.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), the Sun at 23 Pisces is all about the spiritual and psychic realm. But with this degree come tests and temptations, which leads us back not to just the pock marks of world-wide sex abuse on the part of clergy, but probably also to the ‘ca-ching!’ of serious (not to mention numerous) financial scandals which we may or may not hear about.

Just ‘south’ of Chiron’s position in the 6th house we have Neptune and Mercury at 3 and 6 Pisces respectively. Mercury is in retrograde but barely in motion, heading for a station/direct point which will occur four days after this election at 5 Pisces.

Any time we see Neptune and Mercury in conjunction we know there is some sort of lie or fantasy going on. The principle ‘vibe’ for 5 Pisces (Mercury’s position) involves ‘friendship’ and that loving regard for other people and things of this Earth that Christians call ‘agape love.’ Neptune’s position, on the other hand speaks to good fortunes which may lead to weakness. Both of these degrees are so strongly associated with (read: close to) Royal Star Fomalhaut’s present position at 4 Pisces that whatever else they may be, both Neptune and Mercury here become ‘adjuncts’ to Fomalhaut’s promise of success only if one’s choices and acts are neither corruptive, corrupted or straight-on corrupt.

Link to blog:

Fomalhaut, Royal Star of Persia 

Since Mercury and Neptune are in the 5th house and not the 6th, we know the ‘fantasy’ (or lie) they indicate have to do with what the Church election would like to be true. And it’s not unreasonable to think that the Church very much wants to think that a change of Pope, a little staunchness in the homily and the bad stuff will go away.

That’s probably not true. Pisces is always about facing the truth and knowing that we can endure that and work towards better times.

Of course, there is an up side here…which would be that this is a papal election chart, and with asteroid Kleopatra exactly astride the 6th house cusp, this Pope is being elected with a ‘wise eye’ to the fact that things do need to be faced, things need to change and that – in the collective opinion of the Catholic Cardinals – Pope Francis is the man with sufficient breadth of wisdom, openness of mind, cleverness of wit and warmth of being (all those being Kleopatra qualities) to (6th house) do the job and see the job done.

If we had any doubts that there is a ‘business’ side to this election, that should be dispelled by Capricorn being at the bottom (the IC or Nadir point) of this chart with Cancer at the top. Capricorn is the sign of structure and business. It’s the sign of governance and the ‘punishment’ (penalty) side of the law.

The IC itself is presented at 5 Capricorn, a degree which is highly self-occupied and often not willing to deal with the weaknesses of others. With Industria at 6 Capricorn, Facies at 8 Capricorn and Pluto at 11 Capricorn, this is an indication that the Church is likely to go through a period of intense self-involvement. Is that before it gets to the ‘business of the people’ (pastoral attention) or after?

Link to posts:

Pluto conjuncts Facies (2011-2012)

 Pluto conjuncts Facies (2012-2013)

We have one thread of hints there: with Capricorn at the bottom of the chart and the Saturn (in Scorpio) so very involved – as discussed – in the operational imperatives of this chart, that would tend to say that this is an image of the Church dealing with it’s internal business first, with the ‘needs of the people’ (portrayed in this chart as the Cancer Midheaven) being the ultimate aim.

However! Since this is a nocturnal chart (ruled by lunar considerations like feelings, money and – one would hope – spirituality), that means Saturn in the 2nd may be unpleasant as all get-out and ugly as sin (so to speak…) but the choice of what to attend to first is dictated by the rulers of Scorpio.

And those are Mars (the choice) and Pluto (the outcome of the choice).

In this chart, Mars is in its own ruling sign of Aires, which raises Mars by a tick on the volume scale. This is also, as noted, a nocturnal chart, which raises the Mars volume a little more. Mars is also in the bottom half of the chart – even louder. And lastly, Mars is positioned in the degrees immediately preceding one of the chart’s four angles – which also amps up the noise.

Then we add in the modifiers: Photographica and (trumpets please) the infamous fixed star Scheat, which sort of operates as the Gilbert and Sullivan chorus which says we the people like what we like and want what we want. Considering that Aries on the Descendant in this sort of chart would be all about how the Church is seen – with this quality also being amplified by Photographica’s “the image of the thing” presence, it would seem pretty obvious that this election is as much about the image of the Church as anything else.

Is this cynical? Have the Cardinals nominated a man who will ‘put a good face’ on things? Or is this the ‘real deal’ Pope so many Catholics have been waiting for, a Pope who will hear the people and deal with them fairly, and care that the Church’s image is based on some sort of ethical reality?

The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Library

(photo credit: Maus-Trauden, September 2006)

That’s where Pluto comes in as the ‘outcome ruler’ of Scorpio. We already know from having talked about Pluto’s transit of Facies that we have seen maybe the worst of this transit’s intensity…but that we’re also not done yet. Pluto will be going station/direct at 8 Capricorn (in exact conjunction with Facies) during September, 2013. Will we hear of changes happening at the Vatican at that time?

We’ll have to wait and see. But this combination of Mars in the 6th house pressing on the Descendant against Pluto in the 4th house is a square by sign (Capricorn against Aries) and a sextile by house – a combination which reads making an effort to get a difficult thing done.

Meanwhile, we do have one other good ‘clock’ for this activity in the chart: Saturn. In being located at 11 Scorpio in this election chart, Saturn is in an exact sextile to Pluto at 11 Capricorn. Saturn went retrograde at 11 Pisces during February, as Pope Benedict announced he was going to step down, an act which validates our use of Saturn (which is still at 11 degrees) as our timer in this instance. So in a sense, the whole of this Saturn retrograde-and-back-to-direct motion which has Saturn coming back to (and clearing) 11 Scorpio is all about this ‘change of Popes’ or the passing on of the staff of St. Peter, if you will.

And when will that happen? Well, Saturn goes direct in July. And it will go direct at 4 Scorpio – in perfect trine to Fomalhaut at 4 Pisces and in a semi-sextile (‘ego bruising aspect’) to the Ascendant of this election chart.

I’m not sure we’ll hear what’s going on at the Vatican or with Pope Francis at that point, but the Vatican may feel obliged to ‘speak out on the ills’ of that moment.

But to answer the principle question posed here, when does Saturn come back to 11 Scorpio and clear that degree? Answer: October 2013, in the weeks following Pluto’s stationing atop Facies.

Coincidence? Probably not.

Is it worth marking our calendars? If the problems which have plagued the Catholic Church are important to you, probably yes.

Much has already been said about the new Pope’s basic conservative views on doctrine. Jupiter-Aldebaran-Scheherazade in the ‘teachings’ 9th house would seem to support that. The ‘integrity of the body of religious teachings’ is likely to be upheld. But so is the need to apply such teachings with integrity on the part of the teachers, and that’s where Pope Francis as a ‘man of the people’ probably comes into play. This 9th house of ‘dissemination’ (what the election would have the new Pope teach) has in it not just Jupiter, Aldebaran et al, but also Vesta conjunct Rigel, which is the price of teaching or the cost of what it takes to adhere to the teachings of Christ, pretty much across the board (meaning both for the clergy and for Catholics around the world).

There’s another interesting note in this 9th house which is astro-labeled “Black Moon Lilith conjunct Bellatrix conjunct Ceres.” On one hand this would seem to speak to ‘things denied’ by the Church up until now as all these objects being in Gemini points us to the Mercury in conjunction with Neptune. Bellatrix always indicating a difficulty, it will be hard for people to believe things have changed and very hard for the Church to get past damage already done.

Ceres-Black Moon also speaks to a sense of history, with Bellatrix being ‘difficulties’ of the time, most likely. We are likely to hear a lot about Pope Francis’ past and how he did and didn’t deal with various issues.

But this trio of factors also speaks to one other thing: that ‘female half’ of the whole, which in the 9th house would seem to represent the position of women in the Catholic Church hierarchy. Will that change?

 Lady Lilith by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Black Moon Lilith is a ‘rejection’ of that ‘shadow part of the self’ we cannot or choose not to cope with. It comes from an interesting astrological idea, that of the position along the Moon’s shifting orbital cycle where the Moon is physically closest to Earth. What this represents is a ‘reflection’ of ourselves which has come so close to us that we ‘back away’ (or reject) coping with it.

And yet, without that thing, ultimately we are not whole.

Given how the Black Moon ordinarily works in astrology, as represented here, calculated Lilith (Black Moon Lilith) would apply to question of Church attitudes towards homosexuality, birth control and whether women will be given greater latitudes of roles in the Catholic Church. And it would appear from this election(al) chart that the answer to that would be ‘no.’ But to all those who look at this and feel rejected or alienated, two comments. Vesta-Rigel here is closely enough to being the midpoint between Jupiter/Aldebaran and Black Moon Lilith/Ceres/Bellatrix to say that this Pope's tenure in office is in many ways a learning experience for the church. So there is a chance that some sort of change or shift may at least begin being talked about when Saturn reaches Sagittarius in a couple of years. 

Astrologically, religion as a codified body of teachings is a 9th house entity. (Spirituality - the emotional 'faith and belief' component is 12th house.) Considering that sexuality, birth (and thus birth control) and 'associations of the genders' are 8th house concepts, that makes such things astrologically associated with the house just behind that of religion - the 12th derivative harmonic. This means that all things 8th house (which includes money as power, by the by) are put in a karmic position which in being a '12th harmonic' has some of the Piscean quality of 'fear of what I might fear' sort of quality.

And that feeling which we know as something we all have problems with when it comes to Pisces challenges is very typical and something of a kindred concept to the whole idea of Black Moon Lilith.

So metaphysically, the Church's positions aren't about rejecting women or homosexuality or birth control per se - it's a rejection of fear of how all those 'scary powerful' things could affect a body of teaching...a religion which as an institution is ‘founded in spirituality.'

(For you astro-techy types, this would be the Piscean 12th as the derivative 4th ‘foundational’ harmonic to the Sagittarian 9th.)

As we move into the Aquarian Age, Pisces moves from the 1st house to the 2nd on the wheel of the Age.

Pisces ("Pi") is on the second house of this wheel - look for the house color coded to the picture's frame

And that means that in time, with Scorpio at the top of the native chart of this incoming age, things are going to have to change. All things secret and powerful will be flaunted, and only in being dealt with as a reality will our lives...and our world become more normalized and secure.

That's across the board. But in the meantime, we have Pisces - the sign of spirituality, on the 2nd house of the Age.

 Scorpio ("Sc") is at the top of the wheel (look for the blue which matches the frame of this picture) occupying the 10th and most worldly position in the chart of the Aquarian Age, which would be why for the next 2,000 years are so, sex is going to be out in the open and a subject for discussion - for better and worse.

And what do people do when they feel threatened? They look for ways to be secure - that's the standard 2nd house (Taurean) solution. And I'd say that this tendency is so pronounced that sometimes you'd think all those bulls were clamming up (which is an interesting mental picture) except for the fact that when things feel threatened in the world of the 2nd house/8th house axis, we tend to react with...what? Threats and aggressive stances. And since Virgo is always in opposition to Pisces, religions have (by and large) always responded to that which threatened spiritual power with moral criticisms and strictly defined "lessons" on how we should be...which is very Virgo!

But things will change. Just don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen. Considering how Pluto will enter Pisces in 2044, we should look to a time starting then for any real changes yet to happen.

Still, in the meantime, this election chart suggests we can expect discussions on this matter. They may arise in various ways from any of a variety of quadrants, and the timing on such a discussion coming up for grabs is likely to be late 2016 and on into 2017. The trip-wires here will be Saturn rolling over the election chart’s Black Moon, Bellatrix, Ceres and the Galactic Center (located at 27 Sagittarius) as Uranus arrives at the position of the election chart’s Eris (discord) as Neptune conjuncts this election chart’s Chiron.

So set your mental alarm clocks.

We may have a precursor ‘eruption’ on this subject (in some capacity) as Uranus hits the Aries degrees 16 through 18 (Moon, Pelion/asteroid Lilith) which happens in 2014 and extends through 2016. That may be framed around the concept of families, whether that involves priests having families or otherwise. Violence against women would also fit this bill as would (sorry to say) personal use of Vatican funds.

And yes, this would seem to be a good moment to mention that there are indeed two astrological Liliths (as if we needed more than one?) One is the calculated form of Lilith - the Black Moon. The other is the asteroid Lilith. For more information on them, here's a link to a blog post which will explain which is which and more about why either Lilith is what it is in the astrological sense. (You'll recognize the image in the header there, too - it's what happens when there's limited artwork on a given subject!)

Link to post: The Two Liliths 

Speaking of Uranus, it’s position at 7 Aries in this chart conjunct Niobe (pride) is plainly meant to ‘explode’ the pride of the people in their Church (which seems to be happening) and explode the image of the Church as an institution too prideful to care.

Photographica-Mars-Descendant coloring this Uranian position means though the joy may be real, the jury should still be out on whether real change is to come. But given all the low degrees involved, fortunately people will have their (initial) answers sooner rather than later. 

There’s one other interesting Jupiter-Aldebaran note worth making here…namely that Pope Benedict (now the Pope Emeritus) will evidently be returning to life somewhere inside the vastness of the Vatican soon enough. So there will be not one, but two Popes in the Vatican – how very Gemini, right?

Since Pope Benedict stepped down before Jupiter hit Aldebaran (though granted, Jupiter was well within orb of said fixed star) the onus for Papal integrity is squarely in Pope Francis’ court. But it is an interesting situation to contemplate, and no one could blame anyone for wondering what will happen going forward or if these two men will occasionally meet up for tea and pastries.

Maybe the Vatican’s kitchen could come up with a new pastry for such an occasion? I know…they could call them popeovers!

* * * * * * * * * * *

This post was begin with the full intention of getting to the chart of the man himself. It obviously didn’t get that far. But it may be worth waiting. At present, there is no time of birth available for the new Pope, though astrologers being as diligent as they are about such things, it’s likely someone will find that information and get it sent around in the next week or so.

Either way, I will post something about the man himself. If it takes too long for some enterprising soul to come up with a birth time we’ll go with a chart which looks at only the day, with no Moon or house placements involved. And having already taken a look (yes, I peeked!) I promise there is much to be discussed...and that we will be discussing it soon enough!
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Mercury Direct and an Evolutionary Yod

The photograph upon which this blog header is based was taken of 
Mercury by spacecraft Messenger on a second flyby.

(photo credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Lab,Carnegie Intitute of Washington, January 2013)

Mercury will be going direct at 5 Pisces on March 17th at 8:04 in the evening, UT/+0 time.

As we have spoken of many a time, fixed (and Royal) star Fomalhaut is positioned at 4 Pisces, a degree which asks us to live in this world but see the greater importance of what we do. When we do that, and when we are able to see that what we do matters, yes – we may get ‘shaken’ (or stirred, she says in her very best James Bond voice) by sensing the vastness of time and our own ability to ruin things (for ourselves and others) even when we don’t mean to.

And with Neptune at 3 Pisces, there’s a lot going on. 3 Pisces happens to be one of my favorite Sabian Symbols. Why, I’m not sure, but I think I just love the clarity and geography spoken of in the image: HEAVY CAR TRAFFIC ON A NARROW ISTHMUS LINKING TWO SEASHORE RESORTS. However you think of this Sabian Symbol, it seems to imply a.) a lot of other people, b.) some sort of congestion or a circumstance which is ‘tied up’…and those seaside resorts? They may represent choices or destinations or sources of pleasure. Or you might go with the more metaphysical concept of ‘where land meets water’ and the intersection of solid ‘mental ground’ and the tide-tossed waters of emotionality.

This image can also be thought of as something which ties two things together. For you that could be something as simple as a road. Or some philosophical concept such as your place in the great chains of human generations as the parent which ties your parents to your children - be that a cultural measure or as someone recognizing how the world changes, and has changed.

You may even think of this in terms of people (or positions) such as that of the newly elected Pope, who on a theoretical basis ties the Beyond to the Now - and how such people stand for more as an examples to us all, whatever you believe or don't believe in Catholic doctrine.

We are each and every one of us a link. We are each where the All of Existence becomes the One person - the 'us' - who has a chance to do good or fall into ills, or to serve witness in this world.   

However you think of it, Neptune’s presence in this degree denotes a time when our ‘reality boundaries’ about all such matters ‘dissolve.’ So where you may have had great clarity, you may now not feel so sure. Or maybe you haven’t felt sure at all but have been all angst-ridden about something. Now you may learn to do what you need to do without caring what it ‘looks like.’

This all connects rather well to Mercury’s position in 5 Pisces, as 5 Pisces is a degree which is at some level about ‘presenting an image.’ Yet with Neptune close by, why that image is presented may be the question.

Neptune is often associated with gurus, charity, spirituality and healing because it is a symbol of ego-denial. That ‘dissolving’ spoken of above is exactly that. Whatever your thoughts are, or your positions are or what you think you ‘know’ (all those things being symbolized by Mercury)…wherever you have fears connected to those things, or hopes which are just about wanting things to be ‘nice’ (or okay or devoid of strife) simply because you can’t bear to feel those “terrible feelings,” that’s where your biggest ‘tests’ are likely to occur.  Though I’m not trying to say something truly difficult or painful might not happen (it could, let’s face it), there’s a difference between dealing with the inevitabilities of reality and the fear connected to having to feel whatever feelings we attach to the idea of the thing.

That’s Neptune in Pisces. And when we throw in the mentality and communications side of Mercury, we get those who would escape reality and those who will realize that as was put by a far greater human being than myself (Franklin Delano Roosevelt), “there is nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Fear is…our greatest fear. I know that sounds funny, but if you think about it, it’s true. What is going to happen will happen. How we feel about it is what makes some things so horrifying. For all the blood and gore in today’s movies, one of the best stories (and truisms) in all of Hollywood’s history comes from the master of tension himself, Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock knew that if you don’t show the act itself you can scare the audience in ways showing something on film will never reach. Why? Because each of us are afraid of different things. The functionality of our imagination (Neptune/Mercury) is far more powerful than reality.

So! Yes, this would be a great time to release a horror film which doesn’t show the gore, but ‘shadows’ it…letting us ‘know’ something terrible has gone one while letting us each fill in the blanks in our own gruesome way.

On another level, this ‘implying but not showing the whole truth (Neptune/Mercury) can be deceit. Or propaganda. Or lying.

Into all this comes Deneb, a fixed star greatly overshadowed (astrologically, at least) by Fomalhaut. Situated at 5 Pisces and thus exactly conjunct Mercury’s station, Deneb is part of the constellation Cygnus – the Swan.
 

  A Cygnus constellation map, including Deneb in the position of the swan's tail

(credit: copyright 2003 Torsten Bronger, used by CCR permission)

In the Greek stories, Cygnus is connected to Pisces through the idea of Zeus (Jupiter) having taken the form of a swan in seducing Leda, wife of a Spartan king named Tyndareus and the mother of none other than Helen of Troy…which apparently proves that even Greek gods are subject to Karma.

The swan is of course, a water bird. And through this Jupiterian-swan connector, we see that the Jupiter ‘wisdom of the choice’ (which is highly Piscean) can have huge, universal consequences.

But Cygnus – as a constellation – goes back beyond Things Greek. This means that when we move back to a time before the Hellenistic separation of intellect and emotionality into a time when there was no ‘science’ per se, just spiritual philosophies…the attempts by mankind to understand their world. All of this time has come down to us conceptualized as ‘early religion.’ But back then it seemed to have operated more as a unifying and universal shamanistic theory - an understanding of how Existence works as opposed to ‘rules, rituals and regulations’ to live by which is more akin to today’s rather codified religions.

Anyway…back then the image of the swan was somewhat akin to what we think of today as ‘the phoenix,’ if less in the death-and-rebirth ‘rising from the ashes’ mode (which would be Scorpio) and more in the ‘understanding you are part of Something Greater and that in being part of that Greater Thing have both the power to work good and the power to destroy.’

 Another amazing Hubble Space Telescope photograph, this one being of one of the stars in constellation Cygnus. Here the star is in one of its late phases of 'star life,' a stage where the star sheds its atmosphere into nearby space

(photo credit: ESA-Hubble-NASA, July 2010)

And to know that? To understand that in being part of the Whole and so very much a valid part of that Whole that you can really affect the whole – that we ALL can?

That’s pretty daunting. Even scary.

…There is nothing to fear but fear itself…

In the constellation of Cygnus, Deneb is the tail. With a bird, tails serve as stabilizers and rudders – they keep the even keel and help determine where the bird (our power) is headed. In Pisces, that’s the Jupiterian ‘in door’ decision to do something or not do it, to recognize the truth of it or to deny it, to relinquish the control and feel the feeling or to deny reality through the power of our ego.

And of course the tail is the last thing to leave ground. So we can remain rooted…or we can be grounded.  Which is it?

Deneb has a reputation for strong wills and strong tempers. With Mercury going direct here with Neptune so close by and with Chiron (vulnerability) positioned at 10 Pisces this would be a time when your own relationship to will and displays of will are likely to play out. Are you afraid of confrontations? Or maybe you’re someone who speaks their mind and lives to regret it?

Foot-and-Mouth is an animal disease. Foot-IN-Mouth is an all-too-common human habit!

Having Chiron in orb (within 5 degrees) to be conjunct Mercury and in the first of Pisces’ emotion-meets-emotionality degrees tells us this is a time when we will at least feel some sort of vulnerability. It may not be in present tense…meaning, this could be about guilt rising up to stick in your craw like a pill which won’t go down.

With Mercury going direct on the 17th, that means its ‘station window’ opens on the 15th, as the Moon moves into Taurus, rousing our feelings about self worth, the values of our values and our general security about our lives, whether that ‘security’ plays out on a physical, emotional, financial or whatever other level.
But then…just because the universe is a fun sort of place, then we get a little Yod thrown into our Mercury station party.

A Yod, you say?

Yes, a Yod.

Maybe you remember our discussing a Saturn Yod as part of the Saturn-going-retrograde discussion back in February?

Link to post:
Saturn Station-Retrograde (Part 2)

Well, let’s just say that the first thing to consider with this next Yod moment includes the fact that Saturn is STILL sitting at 11 Scorpio.

So yes, that brings in all that energy we could associate with the fire aboard the cruise ship in the Caribbean…

Link to post:
Carnival Triumph: Sparking
a Corporate Firestorm?

Pope Benedict XVI announcing he was going to step down…

Link to Post
Pope Benedict XVI Gives Notice

...anything which would in any way call our attention to a lack of ability or having reached our limits, or tests of tolerance along with our individual and collective sense of standards, all that is Saturn in Scorpio, which is now retrograde, or working from within.

Saturn's energy isn’t going to be quite as potent or focused now that Saturn has actually gone retrograde, but it’s still pretty darn thick. How you feel about it and what part of your life is being affected a lot or a little will depend on where Saturn is sitting in your chart and what it may aspect, of course.

But if Saturn is 'on' in your life, Saturn's having gone retrograde may actually feel even more intense. It may feel isolating or increase your sense of being burdened. Considering the sign here is Scorpio, there is an interactive quality to life which tests you - as all 'things Scorpio' will. And now, as Mercury goes direct, and especially as Mercury moves forward into orb to Saturn (which will start on March 21st and end on April 3rd)...this all becomes emotionally provoking.

It may not be overt, but the feeling's still there.

All if this effects us all at some level. Even if your chart isn't aspected directly by 11 Scorpio or by Mercury's going direct at 5 Pisces, you're living in a world which is being affected by the values - or lack thereof of others. You may feel some part of your life is being threatened in some way...or you may merely have to deal with others with grave concerns of some kind.

That's the funny thing about Pisces...at one level, Piscean issues are incredibly clear, and totally present. At another, they're impossible to define or pin down. And just that can be frustrating and upsetting, if not for us, to those around us. Many of the difficulties and isolation, the desperation and 'giving up' which is associated with this most universal and 'deep water' oceanic of water signs is the nebulous inability to convey ideas and feelings with clarity.

Or in some form others can deal with.

Acceptance lies at the heart of all Piscean situations. The accepting of love, the accepting of loss, the accepting of differences, the accepting of gifts. The acceptance that we have a responsibility to see and feel that which we know is true whether or not it 'feels good' or is popular. Accepting that no matter how close we will be to others than they're always someone else and that at some level we're all alone.

That's one of the hardest things we encounter with Pisces. And yet...we do have a chance to work our way through the 'traffic' of our thoughts or feelings or habits. 

Considering what's seems to be afoot now, we are all likely to be feeling a little separate...and perhaps in that be causing someone else to feel a bit more alone. And yet, it is when we are alone that we can so benefit from feeling ourselves think...exist...and feel.

Ah yes, another Piscean dichotomy.  

We should expect what we think, feel and hear to test our faith, our trust, our sense of reality, our capacity.

And just where ego gives way, that's where we'll find our greatest strength. But let's face it - the desire to know to define to predict is incredibly strong.

 
And then there's the Yod:

 

Obviously the fact that Saturn is involved in this Yod is why we should be drawing the mental (Mercury) line between now and Saturn’s mid-February station.

On the other hand, considering that Saturn and Mercury are both in water signs suggests emotionality. Or maybe emotional reactions which stem from realizing what we perhaps simply cannot do. Or cannot do anything about. Or maybe it’s about what we could do, but haven’t done.

With Jupiter being the ‘in’ door to Pisces and involved in this Yod, that brings all the Pisces questions up for grabs. So how well do you (Jupiter) know how your (Pisces) emotionality works? Do you (Jupiter in Gemini) really understand your mental capacity – or how emotions affect our ability to think things through, whether that’s you or someone else? How do your (Pisces/Scorpio) emotions and emotion-driven values affect what you choose to do or not do…or judge others or their opinions?

Do you even know what you think about something…or whether some subterranean (or submerged) emotional bias or emotional (Chiron) vulnerability or emotional (Pisces) fear is driving your (Gemini) choices?

And let’s remember…Jupiter in Gemini is FAMOUS for overstepping the bounds, going a little too far, talking out of turn, saying too much, leaping before we look – all that stuff. While we can use Jupiter in Gemini to force us past our own ‘I don’t want to go there boundaries,’ and in doing so perhaps discover important and useful things about ourselves or our world, this Yod, replete with its floating Plutonic sense of doom-versus-salvation can be a tough time.

In the above diagram, I’ve given you the dates of all three planet’s positions for the full duration that the Yod will hold, and the thing to understand is that the Yod isn’t a Yod UNTIL the third point (Jupiter) gets into 9 Gemini.

And yes, that was back on March 11th. But because Mercury rules Gemini, Mercury’s station is highly likely to ‘set off’ or evoke the issues involved.

Hence my noting it now, not before. But now the effects we would associate with the Yod are building - and being built into many daily moments of many kinds. So this would be the time to really consider it. This is a time to 'make a turn' in our thinking - that would be a primary image we would associate with Mercury going on station.

So what happens now we should probably consider long term. Or at least longer term.

The ‘rule’ with a Yod is that you solve the issue presented (whatever it may be) by going to the opposition of the point in the Yod.

That ‘point’ is Jupiter. And this is where this gets really interesting, as the Yod starts with Jupiter at 9 Gemini, the exact degree of Aldebaran, the fixed star which stands for integrity.

So it’s likely most people will simply get all stuck on the ‘integrity’ concept. But the point in opposition to 9 Gemini being 9 Sagittarius, that’s where we really should be looking.

Part One: 9 Sagittarius is occupied by another Royal Star (one of the four): Antares. Antares promises success IF and only if we avoid obsessions or becoming fixated. So obviously getting ‘fixated’ on integrity isn’t the way out of whatever happens now, even if Fomalhaut-Mercury-Neptune-Deneb-Chiron may manifest as our wanting to get up on our high haunches about the ‘right’ thing to do.

With Antares is Hebe, the sacred servant of the gods, which sort of gets back to that shamanistic bent we were talking about earlier. What this amounts to is a calling upon ourselves to feel the right thing and to know it’s right without insisting on it. Thus this Yod – and the Mercury station is greatly about being that which we are, that essence of universality.

For the more astro-technical among us I’ll point out why this would be: Antares/Hebe in Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, and Jupiter is in Gemini, which is ruled by Mercury. So in essence this station in particular is a flowing back and forth of an energetic which is about who we are, who we can be and how what and who we are and what we do affects the world that we – and ultimately those we love – live in.

Interpret that as you will.

This is where the Mercury station information – as such – ends. But for the sake of being thorough, it’s worth noting that as Jupiter moves into 10 Gemini on March 20th, Hebe will be moving with it.

Hebe by Laurent Marqueste (1848-1920)

This is a very subtle metaphysical idea of ‘service’ and our ability to (Gemini) choose what to ‘serve’ up to others in this world and in our lives, and that in doing so, we need to (Sagittarius) learn what works and what doesn’t work and correct our methods, course of actions and (yes,) choices accordingly.

By the time Jupiter reaches 11 Gemini, the opposition point is unoccupied – Hebe will be going retrograde at 10 Gemini on April 3rd (meaning its on station on the 1st), Which is rather a message in its own right.

That would tend to say this Yod, and what develops out of the lee of Mercury’s station (including what we learn as it goes direct) is all about recognizing who we are. That may happen through others. That may happen through assumptions melting away or rationales being debunked. To the degree that our egos get a workout (read: a dunk in that ghost pepper sauce) that may feel like it’s ‘about them’ or that ‘they did it’ or whatever. And whatever the acts or actions which spoon that salsa onto your tender ego may well be something you didn’t ask for and which you’re not in control of.

(Pisces, like its 4th zodiacal quadrant companions Aquarius and Capricorn, is like that.)

But the greater reason that life is handing you grapes divine or grapes sour now (or both) is about YOU. It’s about your learning more about you, including why you may not have recognized whatever until now.

All that in a nice, neat little Mercury station.

From which and through which we will evolve, yes.

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Pope Watch 2013

The Sistine Chapel (where the Cardinals will be voting on a new Pope) sits
in the foreground with the dome of St. Peter's Basilica behind

(photo credit: Yair Haklai, October 2009)

Whether or not you're interested in who the Pope is, the election of a Pope has a lot to tell us about how astrology works. Not that it's something most  astrologers get to work on in real time all that often. Indeed, Pope Benedict's retirement was a giant surprise - such a thing hadn't happened in some 700 years.

And the bigger question may be whether that's a sign of the times and changes in the Catholic Church we will see playing out in years to come. Astrologically, that question would depend on coming up with some chart for the founding of the 'Vatican Church' as we know it in today's world. That data would go back in most likelihood to the days of Emperor Constantine and the 3rd century...but I haven't found the date yet. (It may take writing a Bishop or Cardinal, and they're busy at the moment.)

Certainly there are many who think that the Catholic Church needs to change. But will it? When will that happen?

Stand by...I'll let you know what I find when I find it.

But that said, there is something to be said for the influence of any given Pope on the direction the Catholic Church takes and the speed with which it moves. So once the trumpet sounded for a Papal Conclave, astrologers hither and yon did begin delving into the 'who's going to be the next pope?' question.

I got an email from an astrologer friend of mine who decided to use a small collection of asteroids to frame their guess. The list (at least that which was mentioned in the email) includes Pappos (for pope), Vaticana (as a reference to the Vatican) and national asteroids (there are a lot of them, choose your country!) standing for the nationality of the Cardinals and thus the pope to be chosen.

I'll cut to the chase here: this astrologer is betting is that Scherer will be the man - or pope, depending on how you want to put it.

Italy's Basilica di San Pietro (St. Peter's Basilica) at night

(photo credit: Eugene Pivovarov, September 2009)

Proving that there are many ways through the forest of celestial objects out there, my thought was to start with the basic conversation we hear is being held in 'circles Catholic.' That conversation seems to be falling into two separate chalices - those who are most concerned with the Catholic church as a body of traditions which have arisen out of a doctrine considered eternal and unchanging, and those who want the Church to "live in the modern world" and deal with not just the world's problems, but the real world problems in the Church.

That breaks down to be pretty much traditionalists (read: conservatives) versus progressives (or realists) which in the world of current Catholicism seems to have become two camps known as the Romans (those members of the clergy who are work at the Vatican) and the Reformists - who tend to come more from, and work in the realm outside the Vatican.

What this comes down to astrologically is one of the great and eternal conversations: that of Sagittarius versus Pisces....religion as a body of teachings and ritual versus spiritualism and the spirit of belief or faith. 

Both signs are ruled by Jupiter, though Pisces is a dual-ruler sign where Jupiter is the 'choice' signature and Neptunian precepts teach us (through ecstatic joy or the disillusion of disappointment) where we have been right or wrong.

That Piscean lesson is based on expectation versus reality...which in the religious realm has a great deal to do with our ability to separate our belief (however it may be framed) in Existence, Creation or Divinity (whatever you call it) versus the reality of human life and human beings as innately mortal, imperfect beings.

So the question is a 'duality of dualities': the teachings and growth of understanding - the Jupiter/Sagittarian side of religion...and the acceptance of mortal life, personal wisdom and limits of human capacity, that being the Jupiter-Neptune/Pisces challenge.  

Knowing all this, we come to the chart of the Conclave. 

First day of the Vatican Conclave

Vatican City, Italy -  4:30 p.m. (CET/-1) - March 12, 2013

The time used for erecting this horoscope was that given by the Vatican as part of the 'standard procedure' used in papal elections. On the first day of a Conclave, the Cardinals will enter the Sistine Chapel at 4:30 in the afternoon. If no agreement on a new pope is reached, all subsequent days of that Conclave will have two 'voting sessions,' one of which begins at 9:30 in the morning, and the second of which begins at 4 in the afternoon. 

At writing, it is already known that the first vote of the Cardinals produced no election of a new pope. But since this chart does at some level hold for the whole of the election process, we can use this chart to think through some of what would seem integral to the process.

This is a diurnal chart, meaning it's 'Sun-ruled,' or an intellectually informed 'structural' effort - an interesting commentary for a spiritual institution, perhaps. And since as according to Vatican traditions all papal elections are initiated during the daytime (i.e., when the Sun is in the sky, that being the determining factor between a diurnal and nocturnal or Moon-ruled chart) that means that with the exception of second-ballot, second session votes, most popes are elected as a matter of thought, not 'instinct.' 

However, with the Sun in Pisces, we do have an 'automatic' note of what is the wisest course forward being put into this mix.

Evidently, popes are generally not elected on the first day of any Conclave - at least not in modern times. And this does leave open the question of how many popes may have been elected after sundown on any day of whatever particular Conclave...and what the trend away from 'first vote election' of popes says about the Church in general. That would require a chart for the Church itself, which as I say, I'll continue to look into. In the meantime (and more to our focus), this chart shows us Jupiter-Vesta-Black Moon Lilith-Ceres in Gemini and intercepted in the 10th house of this chart is a clear and lovely description of the workings of this Conclave being done behind 'closed doors' and how the eyes of the (10th house) world are not being able to watch. 

But behind those closed doors, not just the Sun in Pisces, but Venus, Chiron, Mercury and Neptune in Pisces, with Neptune conjunct Mercury and Mercury in retrograde.

Mercury will go direct on Sunday, March 17th. Seeing that the 'average' number of days in a Conclave is 5 days, with this one starting on the 12th we shouldn't be surprised if a new Pope is named as Mercury goes direct. If so, this would mean the next Pope will embody or deal with some combination of the following during this tenure as Pope:

1. Deep spirituality
2. Spirituality used merely as a guise
3. Faith in our own willingness to experience our human vulnerabilities

With Mars having entered Aries by the time this conclave begins and sitting conjunct the Moon (which is in turn conjunct Uranus) in the 8th house, this chart is a perfect picture of the exact sort of dichotomy reflected in the 'Romans versus Reformers' discussion. There is bound to be a strong resistance on the part of some Cardinals to changing anything about the Church. Just as fervently, other Cardinals will be adamant that the Church exists in a real world and therefore must care about 'real world business' - a quotient the last pope (Benedict, a scholarly sort) wasn't overly skilled with, people say.

Beyond this, that Mars-Moon-Uranus in degrees zero through 7 of Aries in the 8th house are a perfect picture of the financial and sexual scandals which continue to plague the Church. With Niobe (pride) in conjunction with Uranus, we know that the pride OF the Church as well as the pride of people in their Church has, and continues to be shaken.

2 Virgo on the Ascendant of this chart speaks to the 'work of the Church.' With the ruler of Virgo (Mercury) in retrograde, this is being thought through and quite possibly under revision. Then again, with Neptune at 3 Pisces and thus sitting right atop the 2 Pisces Descendant, there is a 'face of deception' which is being presented to the people of the world. Is this just about the 'closed door' nature of the Conclave? Or is this the Church facing the corruption that so clearly represents the 'lie' being told by the Church (and members thereof) to themselves about being of service to God and humanity?

As an astrologer, Neptune's conjunction of Fomalhaut at this time, with all the havoc of Church sex abuse scandals an ever-ongoing matter, could not be more apt. Or more telling. That Mercury in conjunction to Neptune is where 'the great belief' becomes 'the great lie' - or vice versa - is here mitigated or regulated by Fomalhaut, the Royal Star which says success can only be achieved where your aims are not corrupt, corrupted or corruptive.

Having just gone retrograde at 11 Scorpio, Saturn is still at 11 Scorpio and here in the 3rd house, a sign that consensus must be reached and that there is a thoughtful and communicative 3rd house process which is going on which in true Scorpio manner is bent on 'drilling down' to core values. But there may be a lot of resistance along the way. The good news (at least the hopeful news) for everyone here is that Deucalion is sitting at 12 Scorpio, very much conjunct Saturn. This tells us that this papal election is about the Church finding 'the moral way' (Deucalion) and that doing just that will take work (Saturn) and sacrifice or 'limits with chops attached' to reach.

With this Saturn/Deucalion in trine to Chiron/Kalypso in Pisces, we are assured that the Catholic clergy knows the Church has a deep vulnerability which is written clearly as it's love for itself being stronger than its love for other human beings in this world. Being that Saturn is in dual-ruled Scorpio, this fuels resistance to change in the sense that there will be some members of the assembly who fear the loss of power and influence 'coming clean' would require. That we know from the first ruler of Scorpio being Mars, and we see Mars positioned in the 8th house (of power, finance and sexuality) and with the Moon...a Moon which points to women, families and finance.

Oh yes...and nuns. That's a whole other topic, but one you shouldn't be surprised if you hear about going forward. 

With the outcome ruler of Scorpio being Pluto, Pluto's position in this chart at 11 Capricorn with multi-faceted Facies conjunct Industria in the 5th house says that the Church face many interruptions of its 'current work' or 'how it likes to work' to change what really needs changing. Pluto in the 5th does speak to the question of clergy being allowed to have families, and the exact sextile between Pluto and Saturn speaks of a 'fear' about that very question. There is a very real and very human question about whether the Catholic Church could be the institution it is and has come to be if priest and nuns did marry. After all, don't married people put their families first? Isn't that what having children requires of people?

And yet...if you go to the 'resisting change' side of this (using Saturn to try and 'stop' Pluto) then Pluto acts out - and there will be more sex abuse.

Humans are sexual beings. If you bar sexuality, then what kind of people - especially in this day and age - are going to enter the priesthood?

The Torre Giovanni (Tower of Saint John) and the Leonine wall inside the Vatican gardens

(photo credit: Gugganij, July 2011)

Such are the questions which confront the Catholic Church. They're plainly stated in the opening chart of this Conclave.

But what about the additional sessions which will follow? Here are the charts for those Conclave 'chapters' for the next five days:

 Papal Conclave - March 13, 2013 - Morning session

   Papal Conclave - March 13, 2013 - Afternoon session

  Papal Conclave - March 14, 2013 - Morning session

 Papal Conclave - March 14, 2013 - Afternoon session

  Papal Conclave - March 15, 2013 - Morning session

  Papal Conclave - March 15, 2013 - Afternoon session

 Papal Conclave - March 16, 2013 - Morning session

Papal Conclave - March 16, 2013 - Afternoon session

Papal Conclave - March 17, 2013 - Morning session

 Papal Conclave - March 17, 2013 - Afternoon session

Maybe you read horoscopes. Maybe you don't. Whichever is the case, what's easy enough to see is that the morning charts are all 'weighted' (more planets) on the left side of the chart where the afternoon charts are more on the right side of the chart. Also, though as the days go along the afternoon charts 'rise' towards the top of the chart (a position known as the "Midheaven" which is the most worldly and/or aspirational) the morning charts don't push more down towards the lower part of the chart.

What this says is that as the week goes on, the 'worldly' aspect of the afternoon voting sessions becomes more obvious. You may think of that as 'who the Church is in the world' or 'what the Church's work is in the world' and both will be true. But what may be more interesting to think about is how the left-versus-right qualities evidence. The left side of the chart is proactive. The right side of the chart is responsive and - to this conversation, more 'traditional' or built on experience.

So if you're someone who wants a pope to change things, you might well want to be hoping for a pope who gets voted for in the morning.

Then we get to the Moon. Through the afternoon of the 14th, the Moon will be in Aries. After that it will be in Taurus moving from Taurus into Gemini on March 17th, all of which is typical of the Moon, which give or take some time zone stuff changes signs every two days.

(For the purposes of this post we're guessing that the 'standard length' of five days total will not be exceeded during this election. If it is, I'll post again on what we know at that point.)

Moon in Aries asks the Church what it is. What is the Church about? What are its goals in this world? Moon in Aries also focus on the quality of physical life, which would tend to emphasize the real world issues of real world people.

The Moon in Taurus is about values and what creates that 'safe' feeling when we're secure in knowing all is stable - that we know we can survive another day. (Or in the life of the Church, maybe another hundred years - or at least through the reign of the next Pope.) Moon in Taurus is more protective than the Moon in Aries, which would seem to emphasize more conservative positions.

But how that is expressed in these charts varies. The afternoon charts mostly have the Moon in the 9th house no matter what signs it's in, though the chart for the 13th has it still in the 8th house and the horoscope for the 17th has it in the 10th. The Moon in 9 is several things. It speaks strongly to the teachings of the Church in a ritual form - the letter rather than the spirit of the thing. Yet in Aries this would be 'what we should do' where in Taurus it would be more like 'what we have been taught we should be'...and then there's the Moon in Gemini of March 17th, which would place and emphasis on 'doing our job better' on a level which looks to teaching and education.

Interestingly however, the morning charts for the 14th, 15th and 16th have the Moon in the 12th house with those for the 15th and 16th (the Moon in Taurus) having the Moon intercepted in that 12th house. These charts probably represent the most 'liturgical' and conservative sessions of all, the moments when the Conclave veers more towards internalized doctrine with less of a focus on worldly matters.

Most people who think the Church needs to change would call this 'more of the same' and not like it very much. If you're one of the people in this collective, your feelings would probably echo more with Conclave doings on the mornings of the 13th, 14th or 17th, should it go on that long.

Yet it's not that the Church isn't aware that changes of some kind need to be made. Throughout this Conclave, Pallas (dispassionate wisdom) will be conjunct Eris, the idea that things happen to shake us up in ways we never suspected (or believed) could possibly happen. Remembering that in these circles someone in the 60s is considered rather young, this reminds us that many (if not most) of those in the College of Cardinals were born in the 1930s and 40s, marking them as members of Pluto in Cancer (for whom the world has pretty much changed entirely) or Pluto in Leo, a group of people who adapt slowly, but ultimately well...though that may be harder when you're part of an institution as resistant to change as the Catholic Church.

Among others, a small child marvels at the beauty of sunlight

streaming in through the windows of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

(photo credit: James Bromberg August 2003)

In the overall sense, this progression of charts strikes me as an ongoing discussion - which the Conclave probably is. With various views being expressed going in (hence the black smoke for the initial vote) there is likely to be an initial bend towards conservatism (the 'Romans' side of the equation) which after several days becomes somewhat more 'Reformist.'

So we'll see. Once a new Pope is elected we will know when during this process two-thirds of the Cardinals were able to agree on one name and what that name is. We will look to his chart and see where it fits into the greater picture. Granted, we will only know what his tenure as Pope will produce in time, but by and large, the administration headed up by any given Pope tends to be a great deal like the Pope which heads it.

In the meantime, we do know one thing: this Conclave is being conducted during Mercury's moving into its station to go direct. Given that we allow a metaphysical two-day before, two-day after 'station allowance' for any such event, that means that any Pope elected between March 15th and March 19th will bear the 'mark' of Mercury's upcoming 5 Pisces station. If that degree is not obviously active in the next Pope's chart, we will know that this point is sensitive for some other reason, and figure out what that is.

But still, the basics apply. To be electing a Pope under a Mercury retrograde in Pisces as Mercury comes into conjunction with Neptune asks that any such choice be made based on our having faith in the reality we live with, and the life to be lived in the here and now. Scripture can be hugely inspirational, but rituals do not create reality: humans do.

And to be human is to be mortal, a fact which stresses our own need for compassion and acceptance that our life can only be as good or as safe or as moral as that life we help others achieve for themselves.  
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