Solar Eclipse Scheat: Flight against Insight

The Solar Eclipse of January 4, 2011 as photographed by Hinode

(photo credit: NASA)

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Solar eclipses are highly individual beasts. And the eclipse of March 20th - the totality of which will occur at 9:46 in the morning (UT/+0 time) - is no different.

This isn’t to say solar eclipses don’t have some ‘guidelines’ we can go by. Time-wise, they last a full three years (36 months), and often (particularly if the eclipse hits your chart with any acuity) there will be a ‘turn of events’ at around the 30-month (2.5 year) mark.

Eclipses also follow a metaphysical ‘reflection’ of the event we see in our sky. As the Moon (the astrological emblem of everyday events and feelings) ... crosses in front of the Sun (general life around us and our mental consciousness) ... and ‘blacks’ the Sun out, something in life “goes away.”

It too gets ‘blacked out” or lost.

What the thing is which is has to do with where the eclipse falls in your natal and solar chart, and any planet/dwarf planet, node or cusp point ‘hit’ by eclipse transit (take this to mean all the attributes you would associate with that planet/dwarf planet, node or cusp point in your own life) will also lose all semblance to what they were not but a short time ago.

This eclipse has been coming ‘towards’ us for several months now. If it’s aspecting your chart, you’re long past beginning to feel something ... you’re either in the thick of it, or you’re sufficiently overwhelmed by it that you’re not necessarily thinking of other things, but...

... you’re thinking of other things.

Total Solar Eclipse of March 20, 2015 at 29 Pisces (glyph chart)

9:36 am (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Total Solar Eclipse of March 20, 2015 at 29 Pisces (text chart)

9:36 am (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific) 
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So what we are dealing with now is 29 Pisces (the eclipse occurring at 29 Pisces), and that ‘other thing’ you’re thinking about is either connected to what happened to ‘waylay’ you two-and-a-half years ago, or it is whatever you were doing which got waylaid two-and-a-half years ago.

In eclipse terms, that would be the eclipse which occurred towards the end of 2012, which would be another total eclipse, that one having been an eclipse at 21 Scorpio which occurred on the same date that Uranus went direct at 4 Aries.

(It was also my personal Saturn return, but that’s besides the point - except for the fact my writing in all genres is nothing if not of an unusual nature and therefore Uranian.)

The 4 Aries part of that equation does mean something to us now: 4 Aries is perfectly trine 4 Sagittarius - and 4 Sagittarius is the degree Saturn went retrograde at last weekend (on March 14th).

The meaning of that much: in a moment, the lesson became real. If an eclipse hadn’t been involved at both ends of this equation this would merely be a moment of discovery. Instead, there is a deep and deeply personal lesson for those whose charts answer (by orb) to 29 Pisces, 21 Scorpio, 4 Sagittarius and/or 4 Aries.

Also: the more of these points which affect your chart, either the deeper or the more problematic the situation is going to be or become.

To those who were affected by the 21 Scorpio eclipse (back in 2012) but whose charts are NOT affected by 29 Pisces (see the chart below), your life will proceed based on what has developed over the past two-plus years which will now ‘blossom’ into new things and a more determinative direction over the next six (6) months.

To those with charts which were affected by the 21 Scorpio eclipse and the current 29 Pisces eclipse, you are now at a turning point which will start you off in a new direction which from here will evolve and develop for a full two-and-a-half years before you will encounter another ‘twist’ in the plan. It may be similar to what you are encountering now, or it could be entirely different, and whatever is ‘lost’ now - this being a lesson of all eclipses - was something which you may have loved and cherished, but which in reality was something which was standing in the way of your learning how to do something you will need to do now and in the future for reasons you cannot yet know.

The degree 29 Pisces is one known for strong intuition and by some accounts, psychic ability. Either quality can be a benefit, according to this influence, yet there is a danger of falling into (or falling for) some notion which either isn’t true or simply isn’t what it appears to be - either on the visual surface (as it ‘appears’ to be in person) or as ‘veiled,’ imprecise or ‘rumored’ information.

If this eclipse aspects your chart, some form of this 29 Pisces dynamic will be present (at the present) in your life, whether it’s your ‘notion’ which is in play, someone else ‘owning’ the 29 Pisces quality, someone or some situation which specifically embodies the 29 Pisces concept or some influx or sudden happenstance which creates a 29 Pisces-type confluence where that which has “been” is now against that which can be, will be or could be, creating an intermittent conflict between various factions in your life.

For many, all of the above (the 29 Pisces theme) will cause the ‘abandoning’ of one situation for another - and that ‘other’ situation is the ‘twist’ provided by the eclipse of 2.5 years ago (at 21 Scorpio) as it now closes in on maturation.

And for good or bad, the essence of 21 Scorpio has a few things in common with 29 Pisces - not the least of which being that its concerns where we live in our human emotions. Something ‘back then’ (late 2012) ended - if not in fact, in our heart or mind. And in the space (psychic space) which arose as we let go of (or closed out) something which had gone before, a conflict naturally arose. That conflict - which was the seeming ‘cause’ of much which was “on the surface” back then just as the 29 Pisces issues (and all which have prompted them) are now - that conflict pitted  your own desire to have a stable home or a good home and all the warmth and love of family against your own instinct to be freed of responsibilities in order to live out your promise and/or some particular concepts or potentials.

In the case of 21 Scorpio, back in 2012 (and to some extent now) there was some ‘status quo’ which was “exploded,” either through the ‘blacking out’ of the eclipse process or as the end of something brought about some release or breakthrough which may well have (at the time) felt highly liberating.

And now, because of something in the 29 Pisces vein, many of us - in particular those whose charts would be aspected by 21 Scorpio and 29 Pisces - will find that there’s something nebulous or seemingly impossible to sort through (at least at the moment) which we have in some way, or by some method, managed to put ourselves into position to avoid (avoidance being a prime coping mechanism employed in many a Pisces situation) ... which we will now do in connection with something which harkens back to 21 Scorpio matters.

All of which doesn’t even begin to address the subject of Scheat.

Currently positioned at 29 Pisces, the astrological energetic which is Scheat is part of - if also separate from - the meaning for 29 Pisces. Like other fixed stars, Scheat functions somewhat akin to a ‘background’ note: oftentimes fixed stars represent things like currently “accepted” (or acceptable) societal standards, methods or notions. As we talk a lot about royal stars here at astroPPM, it’s worth noting that Scheat is not a royal star so there is no specific ‘warning’ about some quality or thing we must avoid in our Scheat “encounter.”

Why this is Scheat’s ‘theme’ however, is a bit more complicated. Often “short-handed” astrologically as a form of denial (generally a blanket denial which is as often wrong as right in its rationale and/or facts) Scheat is one of the stars in the so-called ‘great square’ of constellation Pegasus ... which would be complicated enough except that as a constellation Pegasus is connected to (intermingled with) constellation Andromeda.

 constellations Andromeda (top) and Pegasus (bottom) imaged

using Stellarium software

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And yes, the myths behind these two points are connected as well.

What connects them?

The answer there is a ‘who,’ not a ‘what,’ - and her gorgon name is Medusa, an astrological emblem of all those things which frighten us at an earnestly visceral level about our Self, and how we may well have done that Self - in capacity or reality - sincere harm.

- link to post -

Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

Pegasus is not Medusa’s child, per se. But when the young hero Perseus cuts Medusa’s head off, from the blood which flows forth (whether from the head or body isn’t noted) springs two creatures, one of which is Pegasus.

Is Pegasus the part of Medusa which would have wanted to ‘fly away’ from the fate she brought upon herself - and which (it might be argued) she was fated to bring upon herself by being born mortal? Maybe so, for in Pegasus is an animalistic potency (strength of instinct, speaking of 29 Pisces) which Medusa was born with, and which Medusa herself fell afoul of while in the course of serving the goddess of logic and dispassionate wisdom, Pallas Athena.

Medusa’s crime against Athena was the breaking of her vow to adhere to the teachings of wisdom and logic. And that she committed this crime by getting ‘carried away’ with Neptune makes it curiously fitting that Pegasus - literally the embodiment of ‘getting carried away by animalistic energies’ came into being as one of Medusa’s most captivating legacies when Perseus cut Medusa’s head off, reminding us of that common mortal instinct to ‘cut off’ that which is scaring or plaguing us.

Does it die? According to the myth, that ‘thing’ may die - but it may also become other forms of expression, such as Pegasus and the Chrysaor are as the literal blood of Medusa. In our lives, such attributes sometimes seem to be embodied as other people - but that’s exactly where we deceive our Self: we attract others not because of who they are, but because of something we are trying to solve or access or understand about our Self ...  hence the ‘harkening back’ to earlier eclipses and the intricately intertwined ways in which we fight to grow and be who we really are even as we deny things about (or even to) that Self which ultimately will not ... and cannot be denied because we are our Self.

We want to project even though its our feelings which we’re projecting. We want to exteriorize, even though anything which is in our life is something which we consciously know is there because we are connected to it. All of this may well be part of the nebulous ‘slippery-ness’ of the current eclipse - and hence of our desire to ‘take flight’ into, or away from something, even if what we’re running from now is the very thing we were running exactly towards not even three years ago.

And it’s all about us. Whatever happens now, whatever form or sort of inexorable change is functioning in your life, recognizing and accepting that something is indeed over (done, gone, lost, etc.) is the first if perhaps most gut-wrenching step any of us can take on whatever internalized emotional path we are being called to walk along.

And we will take that step. We will because that’s what solar eclipses do: they alter life’s ‘playing field’ such that we have no choice but to swim or sink into an oblivion which is only composed of our own unwillingness to learn anew or differently.

The Birth of Pegasus and Chrysaor

by Edward Burne Jones (1876-1885)

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As for the Andromeda side of this ‘connection,’ Andromeda was the daughter of queen Cassiopeia - the queen whose story (and energetic) was provoked when last April’s solar eclipse (at 8 Taurus) conjuncted fixed star Schedir.

- link to post -

April’s 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse

(Part 3: Stars and Patterns)

Does this mean that if your chart was also aspected by last April’s eclipse this current eclipse would be stronger or maybe more complicated? That can be the case, though from season to season eclipses may not be ‘connected’ (in your life experiences) even if sequential eclipses do aspect your chart.

Sometimes all it means is that good or bad, you’re going through a lot of changes as your life evolves from one set of standard quos to another. Eclipses don’t take away things we don’t need, but they often eliminate something we really and sincerely like, love and depend on. Sometimes they seem to eliminate things only to have life bright that which we thought was lost back around - often at the 2.5 year ‘twist’ moment of the given eclipse.

When that happens, we may be assured of one thing: we have learned something more (or new) about not living a compromised life. We are meant to do certain things in our lifetimes. We have certain purposes. The thousands of years of solar eclipse lore (as separate from lunar eclipse records) strongly suggests that solar eclipses are about keeping us from that which works ‘well enough’ but which in the end will prevent us from doing those things or knowing those people we were created to know, do or be part of.

So there was Cassiopeia, the mother of the gracious and beautiful Andromeda. As Queen of Ethiopia, Cassiopeia was of a mind to say and do pretty much what she wanted to do, so it never occurred to her (it never does) that her boastful claim that her mortal daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the sea nymph Nereids would annoy Neptune, but it did.

Yes, it’s that mortal-versus-god thing again. Any time a mortal (or even a demi-mortal) starts bragging about beauty and comparing themselves to the gods in Greek myth, you know there’s trouble coming ... and this story doesn’t disappoint.

No, disappointing is a Neptune thing, and when the sea god heard about Cassiopeia claim, said god sent along Cetus, a sea monster to attack Ethiopia.

Understandably, King Cepheus (Cassiopeia’s husband and Andromeda’s father) was seriously concerned. But was he so concerned that when an oracle told Cepheus and Cassiopeia that they should sacrifice their daughter to Neptune’s monster he stopped to object?

No. Just the monstrous threat of Cetus, an oceanic monster which in representing the worst water can deliver metaphysically translates into the worst that emotions and/or emotionality can delve out - that was quite enough to frighten Cepheus and Cassiopeia, who promptly had Andromeda taken down to the shore and chained to a rock so as to await the monster’s arrival.

Andromeda by Gustave Dore

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And Cetus - that terrible emotion which rises from our depths - did indeed soon approach the Ethiopian shore. But as that happened, Perseus, who was flying towards his own homeland (with the head of Medusa carefully hidden in a sack), spotted the maiden and swooped in to do the heroic deed.

Thus was Cetus slain and Andromeda rescued from an emotionally benighted fate her own parents had left her to be swallowed up by.

Lest we forget (or miss this point),there is a real piece of psychology wrapped up in Cassiopeia - the woman referred to as ‘chained’ in her own right, seeking to chain and sacrifice her only daughter to pay for her own bad act. In real life, parents are of course never supposed to do such a thing - and yet they do, all too often to all to ill a lifetime effect. But myth is not real life, and since when we read myth metaphysically we treat the various parts of the story as facets or aspects of personality, situation or mentality which we ourselves will encounter, all these questions of family and emotionality, loyalty, blood and morality refer to us and whether we have learned not to embody and/or ‘pass down’ (or ‘pass along’) restrictions which have been handed to us, or restrictions as a legacy - as restrictive measures which have been foisted upon us.

Wherever Scheat falls in our chart, that is where we become tempted to put aside being who we are in some ‘cause’ described by that house. We will feel societal pressure - perhaps on both, or every side. That alone is enough to push many (if not most) of us off course with our Self - which is really the cause in which Scheat and 29 Pisces are united. Somewhere in our psyches we each have somewhere where we have been resistant or reluctant to cross some ‘line’ - not with others, but with our Self. And now, with Scheat being eclipsed, anything and everything which has been denied is going to come out. Even if you won’t discuss it, others will - even seemingly out of thin air.

Many of us are already gills deep in such situations. Yet some ... a relative few, but some ... will run into Scheat challenges as the solar eclipse moves through - say, in the two or three weeks which follow the eclipse, which is generally the period during which we change in response to recent events, pressures and other sorts of input.

That Scheat so often astrologically represents an accepted social, public or personal position on/about some ‘thing’ which may be wrong (but which is unlikely to change even though a lack of change equates to standing in one’s own way) ... that all that is being set off at all by this eclipse implies that there is ... or recently has been a ‘testing’ of some standard - perhaps with new information or some sort of challenge. For the past several months things have been unsettled in some area which may touch on ‘general feelings’ (intuitive or otherwise) going around ... or which may seem to be crumbling the very solidity upon which your concepts are built.

That’s the eclipse as a ‘package,’ so to speak. Within that, Scheat is the element which tempts you to ‘run from’ the (Pisces) feelings which would be associated with facing something in/about your life - or the loss of something in/about your life. And since there is hardly anything astrological any more global, basic and potentially disorienting than a solar eclipse, every single one of us (particularly those whose charts are aspected by orb) ... every one of us is going through these internal ordeals regarding external/externalized issues which are (or have) raised uncertainty and indecision in whatever area would promote/provoke an awareness of the difference between fantasy and reality, and how to relinquish our hold on that - to blindly believe something simply because it is or isn’t presented as ‘good’ or ‘the norm’ or however else ... is a  sacrifice of Self and a compromise of potential.

Solar eclipses evolve over the full three years associated with their passage. That means the coronal inspiration - that special thing about each one of us which we will do well to utilize in this eclipse’s passage - will be with us until February, 2018. The ‘twist’ in this eclipse’s Scheat tale however, that falls around six months prior to said date in August 2017, when on the 21st of the month there will be a total solar eclipse at 28 Leo - a position which is in orb of conjunction with Regulus, the royal star which says that success cannot be achieved if we have indulged our Self with regards to revenge or vengeance.

That may well have bearing on what some people do now. Or what they deny (or deny to have any part in) which come late 2017 returns as an issue to trip them up or haunt them.

Of course with an eclipse at 29 Pisces, the Sun is a scant degree away from 0 Aries, which in the case means that the Sun will be moving through its Aries ingress (which is otherwise known as the Aries Equinox) at 22:46 in the evening (10:46 p.m., UT/+0), only some twelve hours after the eclipse reaches totality. Some might say the Sun's exit out of Pisces so soon after an eclipse underscores the eclipse message about letting go or leaving something, someone or some situation behind, either consciously or unconsciously. But whether you feel that's apt in your case, what we know from the astrology is that if the Sun (signifying our consciousness) moves out of Pisces, that puts everything about the eclipse into the '12th harmonic' position vis-a-vis where we are as of 10:46 on that evening. (And obviously, on into Aries from there.)

There is a difficulty sketched in here - namely that the 12th harmonic is where we tend to do all those self-compromising, emotionally-driven things which are associated with ... with what?

With Pisces.

What this says is that most of us will fall (broadly) into two very ill-defined groups - the group which is going to take its issues on (emotional though they may be) in a more 'behind the scenes' mode ... and those who will, virtually as fast as they recognize their part in some problem (or the fact they are part or party to a problem) begin to deny it - either the problem, that the problem is a problem, or that they have, or have had anything to do with the subject. Once the Sun enters Aries, a natural grand-fire-trine-by-sign will be 'ignited' in day-to-day matters by virtue of the Sun's 'generality' quotient. And that will bring out a lot of Jupiter (in Leo) - Saturn (in Sagittarius) - Uranus (in Aries) postulating, projecting, promising and pontificating which with Mercury entering Aries as of March 31st and the 14 Libra Lunar Eclipse on April 4th promises a couple of high-powered, highly motivated and interestingly imaginative weeks, much of the subject(s) of which will - despite what people might want you to think - be reflective of unsettled feelings just below many a surface about where one's life or efforts are really headed.

NGC 7319 in constellation Pegasus

(photo credit NASA, ESA, July 2009)

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So ... as I started out by saying, eclipses are mysteriously squirrelly beasts. They’re beautiful and they’re awe-inspiring in their ability to remind us of something which otherwise we don’t tend to think about much: namely how we don’t control much in, or about this universe and Existence. At 29 Pisces - the last degree in the whole of the zodiac - it may be easy to get lost in the idea that everything is over simply because one thing has run its useful or even some theoretically eternal course. Moreover, the way eclipse cycles work, this isn’t 29 Pisces as the ‘end’ of the zodiac round at all, if simply because eclipses - being a function of the lunar nodes (you can’t have an eclipse without those lunar nodes!) - because the nodes cycle backwards.

And if we think of the entire cavalcade of astro-events leading into this eclipse ... Saturn's station, Lilith's station prior to that, Mercury entering Pisces as Juno went direct ... it all very much speaks to that process which has been coming upon us for the past few months which is about being led to, forced to, exposed to that which we fear most about ourselves, not so we can be destroyed by it, but so that we can finally recognize something about our Self which WE have been denying (or simply not seeing about our Self) for a long time.

Probably too long a time.

That means we may be fooling our Self about what we really want - which is one of the tougher parts of this solar eclipse. As fast as we recognize what we need (or really want), whether we have it in our hands or not are we likely to be giving up one denial for another because we haven't yet accepted (the challenge of Pisces being emotional acceptance) those parts of our Self which we don't really like.

Not like doing ... LIKE. The person we back away from (lunar nodes cycle backwards). The thing in our Self we habitually deny (asteroid Lilith) doing or being. The thing hard times may have us thinking we should retreat from trying to do in or about or with others in our world because (Scheat) we don't understand or (Scheat) they don't want to listen.

Or maybe they want to listen. Or they want to talk to us or hear from us or understand us ... and we have been denying our need to be heard, felt and witnessed in our soul. Beyond the days and trials and relationships and commitments, beyond our hopes and without the motivation of plans we are simply ... who are we?

And are we really who we think we are - or want to be?

That's the level at which the person you are is most likely to be affected by this eclipse.

So that's one part of it, with the other part of the process - the 'critical' part of the 29 "critical" degrees of Pisces which speaks to the societal, plural ‘we,’ the mankind 'we' as well as the individual 'we' - WE are already past another zodiacal transition. WE are feeling (and witnessing) the feelings which have resulted from actions which themselves are reactions (in particular) to things which have come to be or taken place over the past 4-5 years.

And now WE ... and we (as individuals) will just have to decide who we are - and who we’re willing to be, considering we can neither be everything nor (in most cases) even everything we expect of ourselves, noble though our intentions and efforts may be. That's just part of being mortal, and Pisces - as a sign - is nothing if not about not just weathering the experience of being mortal, but experiencing both the turbulent and sunny times - each for what it is in the whole of what is supposed to be a widely varied and variable life.
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a Lunar Eclipse at 15 Aries...and other things

Artist E Weiss' drawing of a Lunar Eclipse (Published 1888)

For those keeping score, in my negotiations with the ongoing injury I seem to be winning - give or take. I mention this in part because the process I’m going through with my injury (and a few other matters) is a rather good example of the current eclipse dynamic - and it’s highly applicable seeing how I have an Aries Ascendant and Scorpio Moon, just as we’re about to have an Aries lunar eclipse - to be followed by a solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio on October 23rd (UT/+0).

My (Sun) life has been ‘adjusted’ by my (Aries) physicality just as my ability to (Ascendant) do things is being ‘adjusted’ by ‘things of old’ which have come back out to haunt me. The first time I injured my back was in my twenties. It was horrible. There was no one to help, I was living in a second floor apartment without the ability to walk up or down stairs and the pain was unremitting.

But yes, I bullied through. I did what so many people tell you to do - I acted okay, hoping flesh would follow mentality. And it did - except for one thing: all those feelings or helplessness, vulnerability and rejection, all that pain was never recognized... owned... accepted. 

  
As a sign, Scorpio is all about bringing out that we need to own, accept, recognize - and maybe more importantly stop denying about ourselves (even while we’re pointing the finger at others, yes...) so that we can get in a better, more secure-feeling (and productive) position in our own lives through not needing to project or blame or point those pointed (and pointy) fingers at others.

Throughout our lives and our world, all sorts of things are living out this need right now - confronting it with us in ‘other’ form so that we can have at least a fighting chance not to ‘fight them’ but to strike a truce with... and within our Self so that we can then allow ourselves to connect with and deal with our inner well of angst.

As Vesta moves into Sagittarius on October 6th (UT/+0) this process shifts gears, moving from the testing realm of Scorpio tests of emotional stability and whether we are willing/able to deal calmly and fairly with others or our greater world despite internal (or) more subjective (or personal) trials. In this realm, Vesta symbolizes our estimation of what it will require to achieve one’s aims - and our willingness or unwillingness to accept those standards, needs, time tables or parameters.

Indicating ‘the cost,’ Vesta can point to what it will take to do something... or what it will take to hold to what we are already committed to as something else overtakes our fancy or attention. Either way, our life and times are going to put us through our paces between now and December 3rd (when Vesta will have moved on into Capricorn) wherever there are ‘gaps’ or bad match-ups between the proverbial ‘information in...information out’ wherever it occurs in life.

Moreover, Vesta is making this shift as asteroid Hebe is on station at 29 Taurus - a position which is all about the ability to help/be helped (and/or) either irreplaceable, unmatched or ongoing sources of support which for whatever reason are being questioned or ‘threatened’ (at least conceptually).

Hebe by Antonio Canova (c 1800-1805)

With this ‘turn’ (Hebe’s station) occurring at 29 Taurus we are also being told that the specific ‘supports’ (or sources) being referred to here (or questioned or threatened) are not new to us, but rather something which we have ‘inherited’ - which may be literal (as in an inheritance) but might be more in line with my story, meaning it might concern something your current life (or state of life) may be something which has been ‘inherited’ (or is a consequence of) some experience, tradition, culture or other ‘past tense’ moment.

Whatever is happening, you, me and everyone else - we are all facing and dealing with the cost or price of keeping/not keeping our promises and holding ourselves to our commitments. In this, Hebe’s turn to retrograde on October 7th may indicate a need to support our inner world or to deal with matters of ‘nourishment’ inclusive of whatever deficits we may have (or need to make into account). And that may lead us to (Vesta) bear some ‘cost’ in (Hebe) making sure to feed eternal needs.
 
And that’s one of the big points - the differences between Vesta and Hebe as presented in this sequence. Hebe in Taurus is about surviving values and the value of that which assures survival where  Vesta in Sagittarius raises the specter of ethics - and the difference between ethics and morality.

These are very different notions - and yet in tandem they combine to refer to something we all understand: the cost of doing the right thing.

Vesta also calls us to simply deal with facts and truths, most of all about our choices and course(s) of action. Whether we would not accept ourselves were we witnessing who we are from without or whether we are wrestling with who we initially learned or chose to be and who we are learning we need to be now... it’s all Vesta in Sagittarius and its all happening just barely in advance of the 15 Aries Lunar Eclipse which will occur on October 8th at at 10:52 in the morning, UT/+0 time.

Shown or shunted inward, there’s a lot of opinions and feelings afoot. With Mercury having just gone into retrograde in early Scorpio, we are ‘tied into’ a transient awareness of our own makeup just enough that some of us will recognize the ‘then-versus-now’ of it all and opt to live in present tense regardless of desire.

Others will simply ignore that which doesn’t fit their agenda and eventually pay the price. That price - defined by the Scorpio solar eclipse may be meted out in short order... or it may come upon whomever a couple of years from now when everyone has moved on and no one is watching for repercussions.

Scorpio is all about us as individuals. But it’s about us in the sense that if we don’t deal with us, others will. It’s about if we aren’t honest about us, others won’t be honest with us. Mercury’s stationing in Scorpio and moving almost immediately back into Libra (Mercury will re-enter Libra at 5:28 p.m. UT/+0 time on October 10th) is an emblematic ‘tug’ which will pull us back into relationship with others and things so that we can gain perspective on what is driving us to be or do as we are.

Things will happen in the moment. And given this Wednesday’s lunar eclipse in Aries, things will feel personal. Even if they aren’t, we will - each and every one of us - instinctively figure a way to reflect things onto our Self or reflect within our personal Self with regards to ‘them and that.’

The October 8, 2014 Lunar Eclipse (at 15 Aries) map as posted on NASA.gov

This being a total (not partial) lunar eclipse, emotions may run deep and the issues we each will be confronting will either touch us deeply or force us to recognize things at a very vital and ‘deeply felt’ level.

And whether we know it or not, the emotions of this moment are hardly the point. When we pit Moon against Sun (or lunar eclipse against solar eclipse), the Moon can only be a reflection of life - of the metaphysical Sun. It reflects life, just as we are each reflecting our individual life as encased in the notion of where or how we think that individuality does (or doesn’t) fit in with that of others or society.

You know, the Aquarian Age notion. In the food chain of astrological events and energetic time maps, eclipses are big. Ages are bigger. The chaos of transition which is showing up now is part of that greater process which does require that we deal with the Now, credibly, competently and (evidently most of all at the moment) responsibly, reliably and respectfully even if we see that Now as a passage into tomorrow.

That’s the Aquarius part of this design: the individual must be complete and care about self-development lest the contribution of the individual to something greater than their Self be lacking and thus compromising of whatever pre-determined vision has come to be designed which provides structure, power and reward both to the individual and the collective.

At least in theory. After all, we are talking Aquarius. The same gap between individual and whole or group or collective which Aquarius is meant to resolve through structured interactions of a productive type (however ‘productivity’ is being defined in any given venue) exists in the resolving of the theory against the reality - all of which is in high focus at the moment because apart from the lunar/solar eclipse pair as a whole this week’s lunar eclipse speaks to a message of its own. On the ‘eclipse side’ of things we know this is a feeling time and one which stresses the fact of physicality and physical facts on the whole.

Beyond that is the idea that the Moon in this figure stands conjunct Uranus and Alpheratz, a star which ‘belongs’ to not one, but two constellations: Pegasus (escape from past negatives, ‘taking flight’ or ‘bringing to bear’) and Andromeda (through faith, victimization can inspire reprieve) - a combination which speaks to challenges and in particular, how we cope with challenges. With Uranus in this mix there can be a marked tendency for escapism, a breakthrough on some internal level or a ‘breaking out of’ old molds.

Or at least those would be the aim, though whatever our options are at the moment, they probably aren’t ideal.

Why not?

Well, because of a t-square. To be more specific, this t-square:

Yes, this lunar eclipse comes to us in the form of a t-square with Moon-Uranus-Alpheratz in the reward position for the configuration. Being that t-squares always move in zodiacal order, this one begins Sun-Venus widely conjunct in Libra (the desire to relate and be related to, complete with commensurate/appropriate rewards), a combination which is very or not at all motivated. Either way, Pluto-Sabine at 11 Capricorn speaks to something we are being held captive by either completely physically or only psychologically, (depending on who we are as individuals) and which says something about our responsibility to use our influences carefully lest we end up allied/bound to or by that which we cannot ultimately support (or be supported by, ultimately) when we get right down to it.

Part one: none of this is going to be exactly what we'd like or want.

Part two: though it may not be apparent in the moment, either we're facing the same challenge everyone else is facing (or) we're having to face something which everyone goes through (in their own way) as that's part of evolution... maturation... the universal human being process...

...All of which gets us back to the (Vesta) ‘cost’ of things - a quality which could work with 15 Aries’ reputation for eliciting situations which give us something of a snapshot of what our relationship to rules, regulations and guidelines is... and how well we (Sagittarius) understand why this or that works or doesn’t work. And that t-square thing? That would require us to come to understand that our relationship to all those rules, regulations and/or guidelines is about us (yes)... and equally about everyone else.

We all love and hate the same thing - a fact which is as individual as collective.

That all of this is occurring under Mercury retrograde indicates that whatever else we are dealing with, we are also having to think things through - variations on the above theme probably being among them. As the lunar eclipse occurs many of us will just be beginning to contend with worldly snafus and stoppages - not to mention any number of things we need to get done purely within our personal sphere.

And that will produce frustration. For some, even anger or resentment. How or when might this resolve or at least get voiced (hopefully without incident)? Well, the sign of Aries is ruled by Mars. And the sign of Scorpio? That’s ruled first by Mars and then by Pluto (as Scorpio’s ‘outcome’ ruler).

At the moment of this week’s lunar eclipse, Mars will be at 16 Sagittarius - virtually in opposition to fixed star Rigel in Gemini. Given that Rigel is an emblem of teaching and being willing to learn (or learn better, depending), with Gemini’s ruler (Mercury) retrograde and still in Scorpio we wouldn’t expect any onslaughts of movement apart from that which may already be in progress.

But once Mercury reaches Libra on Friday, October 11th? Then perhaps. Yet since Mercury will arrive at its October 25th at 16 Libra and thus a.) in trine to Rigel and b.) in opposition to the 15 Aries lunar eclipse it would seem that whether its ill advised or the soul of thoughtful discretion, much (and many decisions) will wait until on or after October 25th.

And until then, we get to learn more and more about who we are...and aren’t, despite our reluctance to accept it.
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Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

We all know Medusa - that female gorgon of salacious tongue and twining snake hair...She who evokes such fright that human life turns to stone the moment one lays eyes on the utter perfection of her terrifying flesh.

Or at least we think we know Medusa. But neither the myth nor astrological Medusa are as simple as all that. In the general sense Medusa is about fear. But this point refers to no simple fear on our part.

No, Medusa is...more slithery than that, more frightening and less understood by that Self which in some way or form will learn to fear fearing fear.

In particular, fear of something you don't want to know...that you fear knowing about your Self or life itself. 

Which means Medusa isn't about 'that' or 'them.' Snakes and all, the Medusa in your chart says something about you.

Something intrinsic about you.

Classed as a 'common' main belt asteroid (number 149, should you need to know), we may take solace...(such as it is)...in knowing  asteroid Medusa is one of literally thousands of asteroids out there. Given how Medusa is about the sort of fear which disquiets us to the point that we will not or cannot do something (that being the 'turned to stone' quality) as humans we are going to have an intrinsic avoidance with regards to anything Medusa.

So that Medusa is merely one of thousands of life factors...that may help us feel comfortable with the 'odds' of reaching our goal(s) without facing something which will stop us in our tracks.

On the other hand, doing that very sort of 'odds weighing' as a means of getting ourselves to do what we need to do in life...isn't that also one of the ways we face the very Medusa we fear?

Ah yes, 'there is nothing to fear but fear itself,' as one American president put it.

Asteroids metaphysically represent all the many factors we face on our way from 'I'll give (this) a try...' to '...I understand now,' and in  Medusa’s case, the “cycle” period within which 'fear' or 'fearful' issues resolve whatever internal issue has been raised.

In other words, Medusa is not the solution to "the problem." The inception of Medusa cycles (which would be the conjunction in your natal chart) will refer to periods or situations which in evoking your response raises something about the difference between being driven by instinct and the honoring of that we know to be not merely true, but that which at some very deep and real level we are sworn to by our own choosing to believe...understand...stand for.
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Why all this is and would be...? That comes from the myth about Medusa, a myth which starts with three sisters.

Two of those sisters are immortal. Medusa isn't. Medusa is born mortal - just as we are - and is thus defined as "vulnerable" to things her sisters would never be affected by.

Human traits will differ. When they do, is that what makes us vulnerable to our fears? And in mythic terms, if we are reading the myth of Medusa, should we be wary if we are told that this mortal vulnerability is also described as extremely beautiful?

For Medusa is beautiful. In fact, all three of the sisters are beautiful.

But Medusa is extraordinary. Not only that, but she just loves to show off her long, gloriously beautiful hair.

As for her family, Medusa came from Titans - entities embodying the eternal, sometimes infernal and certainly uncontrollable ('titanic') forces which shape our life and world.

This being the philosophic if highly organized world of Greek mythology, it isn't surprising that such uncontrollable forces were embodied as unruly characters like the Titans. Never represented as particularly personable, wise or witty, they weren't held in high regard by the (somewhat more contained) higher ups of the Olympian pantheon.

But they were Medusa's parents. There is one version of the myth which speaks of Medusa as the child of Ixion's narcissistic lack of gratitude. Yet most name sea Titans as her parents with several names being volunteered as the parents of Medusa and her two somewhat less horrifying sisters, which because water is the metaphysical element of emotions might make it seem like sea Titans are the correct choice as the nominees for gorgon parenthood.

But if so, how is it that Medusa is born mortal and her sisters were born immortal?

That would seem to make the answer Ixion...which in turn (if true) would say Medusa began her own story as the child of Greek myth's original murderer.

And considering how the Greeks had no problem with that all-too-human habit of embodying guilt bequeathed to and embedded in our psyches less by the intent of others than by the triggering of our own internal fears...that explains a deal about the power of a myth which spells a bad end for Medusa from the moment of her beginning.

Not that the myth begins in Medusa's childhood. Far from it - the myth begins as Medusa has been sworn to serve as a priestess to the goddess of all knowledge ethical, logical and unemotional: Pallas Athena.
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Athena in Vulcan's Forge
Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574)

It was an honor to do such service in the day. So when the opportunity came to Medusa, she of course took the job of serving Athena on with pleasure.

Thus did Medusa, the vulnerable offspring of titanic emotionalism, enter into the Pallas Athena, she who in springing from Jupiter/Zeus' brow expresses the conviction that an ultimate sort of 'heady' power (wisdom) is to be found in the clarity of perspective and dispassionate comprehension.

And that's where Medusa was and what she was doing when into Athena's temple came Neptune (Poseidon). As ruler of not just oceans but all water physical and metaphysical, Neptune  embodies the 'fluid dynamic' of emotionalism - and considering how life on Earth is water based, it's not surprising that Medusa was drawn by Neptune's presence.

She could hardly help herself. After all, Neptune was Jupiter's brother - which in itself is an interesting foreshadowing of modern science considering the relative roles of planets Neptune and Jupiter in our solar system. Both planets control objects through sheer power of magnetism - which is not unlike what the Greeks postulated in their descriptions of both gods.

This is exactly how metaphysics works.

And yes, the implications can be frightening, particularly as we consider how in most versions of this myth Medusa abandons her vow in willingly succumbing to unfathomable Neptunian passions, thus defiling the sanctity of Wisdom.

That was an exceptionally bad thing to do, for while the knowing of Jupiter and truth of Athena is the basis of that we call 'Free Will,' so Neptune takes us through the full breadth of emotional arc to where all dissipates into that unconscious surrender mortals tend to call 'Fate.'
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Neptune
by Angelo Bronzino

As for the 'alternate' versions of this story, they aren't any more pleasant as they have Neptune raping Medusa. Either way, Medusa is overcome.

And because Medusa is so prone to being overcome by her emotions even when surrounded by the facts of all she has sworn to serve, Athena metes out the famous punishment by transforming Medusa from a beauty into a gorgon - something so shockingly awful as to arrest us where we stand.

In most versions of the tale Athena not only transforms Medusa but her sisters as well. Is that a curious reference to how the feelings of people who otherwise like, love or admire us are affected ("punished") by what we do? Or is the reference to punishing Medusa's sisters an allusion to how often a person shamed in one area of life tends to crumple in others?

The effects of our feelings aren't isolated, after all.

In any case, three young beauties become an ugly trio, though only Medusa achieves the landmark ability to turn mortals into stone.

It's an attribute guaranteed to make it hard to make friends and influence people in any enjoyable (never mind survivable) way and soon Medusa, frightened by her own power, did what many do: she went into isolation, turning punishment into the retreat of self-condemnation.

From that comes an important note on asteroid Medusa: where we find Medusa in the chart we find something which will cause us to hide - either literally, mentally or emotionally. That we hide from created our problems to begin with and it's always emotional.

Too bad we feel too scared of our truth to face it. But we do. There is a place in each heart, mind or soul where we lose the ability to serve in our best interest. The idea of that is scary - and the reality that we can consciously or unconsciously become the instrument of our own downfall simply because of how we are made, who we are, where we come from...that's even scarier.

And yet we know we dare not abandon ourselves to our fears, whatever they may be. 

So what do we do?

How is Medusa - our Medusa - to be defeated? 
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The call here being for a 'heroic effort' in our individual cause, the story now shifts to a Perseus, a hero in the making.

Unfortunately Perseus isn't happy. And the reasons for his unhappiness are very much understandable. Not only has Perseus just been given the task of doing away with Medusa, he's been ordered to do it for not the most altruistic of reasons.

And what would that reason be?

That reason starts with King Polydectes, a rather unsubtle fellow seriously intent on marrying Perseus’ mother, Danae.

Polydectes wants Danae in the very worst way and Danae wants nothing to do with Polydectes.

Besides being king (meaning he made all the rules) Polydectes must have also had some smarts as he didn't simply order Danae to become his wife - the common solution of the time for kingly types.

Instead, he concentrates on Danae’s god-like teen son - the product of a truly immortal affair Danae had with Jupiter. If Polydectes was going to have any chance of bullying mom to the altar, Perseus would need to be dealt with. 

So Polydectes cooks up a plan any lustful monarch would be proud of. Feigning a somewhat offended shrug, he lets everyone know that if Danae isn't interested in being his queen...well, that's her problem.

Polydectes will just be moving on.
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Danae, Mother of Perseus
by Gustav Klimt

And move on Polydectes does, soon announcing that he's chosen a different woman to be his privileged wife...at which point, with his new claim duly claimed, Polydectes stares young Perseus down. What, no wedding present?

Perseus tries pleading financial ineptitude, but that doesn't get him very far as Polydectes accuses Perseus of sitting around on his heroically lazy butt - an accusation which angers Perseus. He's been trying. He just hasn't found the right right job yet...and while he's doing his best, Perseus would take it kindly if the local king would just stop flacking him. After all, what kind of gift was Polydectes expecting from Perseus? What could a young Perseus give the king which would be any sort of suitable wedding present?

Thus the trap is sprung. Having lured young Perseus into volunteering himself, the entirely prepared Polydectes probably waits not a moment before replying.

He actually has something in mind...something Perseus could be a good lad and go fetch for his king.

That thing?

Medusa’s head.
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The Head of Medusa
(unknown Flemish artist, 16th c, oil on panel, Uffizi Gallery)

Hearing this, Danae realizes her headstrong son is in over his headstrong head. So she appeals to Zeus (Jupiter) in the key of plaintive, and Jupiter responds by sending his go-to god (Mercury) out as chief procurement organizer.

In truly Olympian fashion this soon results in Mercury and Athena (yes, that Athena) equipping Perseus not merely thoroughly, but in the manner befitting a bastard son of Jupiter (of which there were more than several).

First Mercury hands over a cap of invisibility (on loan from Pluto/Hades). Then the god helps strap his own famously winged sandals onto Perseus' demi-mortal feet before handing the teen an unbreakable, sickle-shaped sword.

But with all this, not surprisingly it's Athena's token which will count most when dealing with Medusa. That which is provided by Athena is Wisdom's own immortal shield. Brightly polished on both its outer and inner faces, Athena's shield literally images how we come to know truth (Athena) in reflection and how that reflection is meant to clarify our perspective on our Self (our truth) as we go up against our conflicts in this world, this life, this existence. 
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 The Arming of Perseus
 by Edward Burne-Jones (1885)
 

So Perseus seeks Medusa out...(apparently her cave is in Africa). And when he gets to that cave he kills the gorgon of emotionality not on sight or by looking at her, but instead by thinking through what to do and how to do it in reflection.

Perseus was out to decapitate and do away with his problem. And as anyone who has ever tried to do something based on processing directions given to them in a mirror's reflection, it takes a peculiarly intense concentration to overcome our instincts.

But it can be done - and that's the point and solution to the Medusa question: to not be driven by instinct. Where Medusa appears in a natal chart or by transit isn't our 'doom' - it's an instruction: this is where you must not operate instinctively. Understanding the issue may be frightening to you, but the cost of not facing such a fear is likely to be far, far greater in the long run.

In essence Medusa asks us to respect ourselves enough to brave our fears, whether they be simple or complex. The image of Perseus wielding the sword of Mercury while protected by Athena is nothing more or less than the metaphysical statement about how in the most dire or difficult of situations it is through the clarity of dispassionate reflection that our mortality is protected - most off all from that instinct which otherwise will prove our undoing. 

As Medusa’s head is severed, blood is spilled. And as that blood flows out into reality, from it comes Medusa's offspring, creatures sometimes considered hers alone and sometimes seen as the product of Medusa surrendering to Neptune.

Whatever that may be, whether taken separately or together, these two creatures do seem to represent Medusa's extremes of spirit: she who serves against she who without thought takes what she wants, regardless of word or promise.

Yes, Medusa does sound a bit like Ixion.

- link to - 

Ixion: Our Conflict of Self

Medusa's first child is the winged horse called Pegasus, a the embodiment of fear as flight, replete with the kind of brute-or-graceful animalistic strength which in the human terms may well suggest that aspects to and the placement of asteroid Medusa may be an important part of astrologically understanding our individual fight-or-flight imperatives whether they be active or unneeded in an otherwise happy life.

Known as “the giant Chrysaor,” Medusa's other 'blood child' grows to become a hero armed with a golden sword upon whom Medusa's curse falls through family - echoing many a human whose family experiences alternation of generational allegiances and trials. Recalling Medusa's reptilian side, one of the Chrysaor children is Echidna, a deadly she-dragon whose upper half is all beautiful female and whose lower half is that of a serpent.

The other child is known as the Geryon - or sometimes in plural form as the Geryones. This isn't a problem of counting, but rather one of distinction - a quality which recalls the 'fuzzy' or more indecisive aspects of Neptune.

In brief, this single-plural problem stems from this entity's description as “a three-bodied giant” - a quality which is somehow supposed to come out as less threatening than Echidna.

Assigned to guarding sacred cattle at the western end of the world, Geryon has come to be associated with constellation Orion the Hunter while Pegasus has its own constellation - one marked by including fixed star Scheat, a problematic star which often speaks to ideas, matters and personalities which are 'before their time' and thus subject to rejected by ourselves or others, either as a 'flight of (Pegasus) fancy' or something which is objected to instinctively.

And yes, thus often enough, incorrectly.

Using the power of reflection, after slaying Medusa Perseus covers her head with a leather sack and carries it away. Still wearing Mercury's winged sandals, he flies north with blood dribbling from the gorgon's neck.

And as those drops fall to the sands below, they give rise to all the poisonous snakes in Africa. Yet lest we think that which is poisonous is always bad, when several drops of Medusa's blood are given to someone with the highly polysyllabic name Erichthonius along with instructions how how to use it as poison, with that also comes instructions on how to use gorgon blood in reanimating the dead.

No, not literally. Perhaps in myth, yes. But for astrological purposes this is a reference to that image we most often associate with the Phoenix - the rising from the ashes, the bringing back to life that which our disproportionate passions may have theoretically destroyed.

To finish here, ultimately Polydectes receives the quintessential lesson in why we should be careful what we ask for, lest we get it when (as most versions of the story have it) Perseus returns home to learn Polydectes has raped his mother Danae.

The young hero heads for the palace where (not shockingly), Polydectes is surprised to see him.

But for good or ill, Polydectes is still Polydectes. Whipping out his most illustrious and kingly sneer, Polydectes informs Perseus that he'd 'known' Perseus couldn't kill Medusa.
 
But Perseus did kill Medusa. And to prove it, as all the king's sycophant courtiers sneer on Perseus pulls Medusa's head out of the sack, holding it up where all can see it...and be promptly turned to stone.

Some questions shouldn't be asked and some truths are impossible to live with.

But that's just life.

With the king and court duly dealt with, Perseus returns the immortal garb and weaponry to the proper Olympian immortals.

And what about Medusa's head? That Perseus gives to Athena, who then embeds it on the front of her shield - the same shield she gave Perseus to carry.

Is it a warning? Perhaps. Often we try so hard to learn and then are sorry we know. It's the essential lesson of knowledge - that with knowledge comes power, and with power comes the responsibility to use that power properly - which means sometimes in a manner which requires us to silence the voice of instinct in thinking things through.

So sometimes knowledge is indeed a frightening responsibility. But to not know and instead act solely on instinct?

That plainly can ruin a life which could otherwise have been just...beautiful.

Oh how scary...but truth nonetheless.
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Perseus (Andromeda's son) doing battle to save his mother - the mortal

spirit of innocence before that which has given Perseus life can be

overwhelmed by Neptune (emotionality) arising in 'mostrous' form from

'oceanic depths' - the psychic sea which is humankind.

So...do we really know who Medusa is? Or is Medusa that thing in our life which keeps us from being willing to know the 'frightening reality' of who we are, or what we are capable of doing to our Self or others?

Is that... the knowledge, the possible fear of 'doing' a greater share of why humans seem so drawn to preferring a dream that we can never build on in reality to a factual reality in which we could possibly build our dream but which we cannot access without facing our inner fears?

Probably.
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The head of Medusa as it ended up, mounted at the center of Pallas Athena's

shield, facing all who would approach - a lasting mythic comment on the

connection between fear, perspective and conscious wisdom...and

probably the need for just that.

Beyond whatever else, the frightening face in Wisdom's shield is a directive telling us that our greatest truths lie beyond facing our greatest fears. Only through knowing what our fears are can we choose to learn differently and dispell them.

Yet since there will always be more to learn and be, in the end the only knowledge which will ever really set us free of instinct's rampages is that truth which allows us to accept the beauty of that fear which allows us to know everything about our Self, that being the path to a life as a human being unafraid to face anything.
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