A Revisionist Aries Moon

 
There’s a New Moon which will occur on March 30th at 6:46 p.m. (UT/+0 time) at 9 Aries. As it occurs, instincts stir in keeping with this beginning of a last cycle of daily lunar doings before our life and planet shifts through an inexorable eclipsing of value.

Becoming who we are…the reason we would raise voice, or feel ourselves being motivated by a conviction finding voice within us, the making strides not out of the need to assert what we believe in but as a demonstration of our ability to believe in it –such will be the commonly held virtues of a New Moon moment in Aries which in its own vibrant way urges us to prove our point.

And yet…that point is often not as we think it is…which is a noteworthy concept found through many a doing now and moving forward. It’s as if this 9 Aries cycle is prompting us to ‘answer a call’ precisely so we will learn not to respond to emphasis or ‘volume’ alone, but rather the reality of need.

Aries is always personal and lunar cycles are the heart and celestial clockwork timing of daily life and doings. Given our current Mars in retrograde opposition effect (from Libra) many if not most of us will feel pre-occupations alternate with a thoughtful sort of longing which estimates the distance between ‘us’ and ‘them’ (or where we are and where we were or want to be) as not being what we want it would be.

And that means whether we wish we were closer to that whatever ‘it’ is would either just go away or stop standing there and fix things.

Either way, we’re not picky. We just want not to have to think about ‘that’ any more – and by ‘that’ we don’t mean the thing or person, we mean the feeling inside your soul which is motivating you to feel that something is so peculiarly important.

Something needs proving. We want to prove it – at least to ourselves.

That’s the crux of very issue: we’re all about us now. Whatever passes between us amounts to prompting, setting us up…or off…wherever we’re dissatisfied with ourselves. Yes, we may think it’s the other person (or ‘side’) which is at fault.

Those feelings though…the ones in our gut? They’re ours.

This is an Aries lunation: it’s a cycle having to do with understanding our very existing, our very flesh and blood human life.

And we feel alone. Even if surrounded by others or being ogled by millions, in our soul we will come to this time feeling an isolation which in some very unique and personal way affords us the opportunity to watch.

And watch we will, as if condemned to stand on principle – ours. We see the damage. We are passionate about how things should be and how they must be done.

We’re just missing the human part. That would start with breaking through either our reluctance or incapacity… and in some cases, the reluctance to deal with simple lack of capacity. With ‘blame’ easily exteriorized and assigned, fewer of us than might be useful will get past however they ‘see it’ to that place which in respecting truly universal parameters earns respect.

That would seem the path to eradicating ills of old and disunity within and without, but…we are so very human. It’s just so, so easy to blame someone else for the respect for Self we lack, finding in that projection sufficient justification to prevent any consideration of why someone else’s defeat will never salve our most painful, long-standing wounds.

And that would be our aim. Aries is always a personal sign, and with this lunation we are brought closer than ever to those things we’ve always feared were true not in terms of what we need to become, but what we need to correct in order to be the person we claim we are on the inside.

You know, to ourselves.

The above image – the t-square – is centered on the New Moon itself (Sun conjunct Moon) with Uranus and Juno, symbol of ‘managing the household,’ whether that would be our home, our life, our mentality, our accounts, a company or whatever else we’re currently involved with.

It’s about us and about our conscious, everyday life as a means by which that life experiences change – that which is astrologically so very Uranian. How this happens is individual…the measure of change you experience through realization may come to someone else through getting a new job. Or through letting go of some hope, some plan, some relationship or ideal. Maybe you’ll move physically.

Or maybe you’ll move off a position or decision held since half-past before you started forever.

It could happen. And if it does, providing we are giving something up which has held us back, then all begins falling in line.

Not instantly, but eventually. Give it a year…or three.

That’s how eclipses work.

Those who will not change – either in this moment or as a matter of stance or principle are the most likely to experience problems as this is not a lunation which deals well with rigidity. Even the most staunch of positions – or the person embodying such a stance – is likely now to meet up with unexpected considerations.

As with all things Uranian, flexibility is advised. Wherever a ‘vision’ or aim can be revised, updated or innovated, look there for facts and the sort of inspiration which cleaves a natural path through challenges while creating minimal disruptions.

Uranian moments either explode upon us, in our hands or through our mindsets, blowing out that which whether new or old, flimsy or time-honored, has outlived its functionality.

And no, we don’t get to control such things. We may or may not like the march of time. We may protest the passing of years and supplanting of ideas all we like and yet discover we haven’t changed a thing.

Except our outlook, that is.

And that…or something about how the world works is confusing. Or, as the weeks wind on and Mercury moves from Pisces into Aries, even daunting. Differences between perspectives will stand out now, and many of us will feel compelled, especially as the Lunar Eclipse of April 15th draws closer – to try to insist.

On what?

On something which means a great deal – even everything - to us.

Magic rectangles imply grace under any and every circumstance, even if the sort of ‘magical’ effect we associate with this image astrologically is only occasionally solely about ability, talent or resources. Here pictured as something of a societal setting or a ‘global’ sort of personal challenge, we move forward now through our determination and almost in spite of (Venus/Damocles trine Mars in Libra retrograde) difficulties. Such difficulties may well be (Eris/Pelion) huge and ‘expertise’ may be required to compensate where (Aries) individual incapacity is involved. ‘Damage’ and ‘damages’ requiring an enormous amount of effort may be experienced locally, universally and in the present…or they may now surface and be presented as legacies from some past, perceived or otherwise.

Not knowing what we know collectively and not wanting to believe what we know in our hearts instinctively as true (Pallas/Kassandra opposition Venus/Damocles) now vie against a reality which is only as dangerous or disappointing as our expectations and presumptions.

Which can be highly problematic, granted – which is the other side of this entire month’s dynamic. There are those who have lost or who are lost. There are those who feel threatened by the idea of something broken or broken down which they don’t know how to put back together.

Nobody said life was ever easy, even for those we suspect live a life of ease. No matter who we are, no matter where this lunation finds us, the difference between some long held idea(l) and an incontrovertible and bluntly realistic limit is forcing us to reconnoiter and rethink not for some future action, but for a future we will necessarily face.

In that arena, today’s theoretical advances go most readily to those revisionists willing to take on whatever abstractions have caused them to be so reluctant to be human – but to those willing to do so in public.

We are our own best …or worst tool now, depending on how we utilize not our opportunities, but our greater, most ethically human abilities.
.
.
.

An Aries New Moon

It’s hard to say that the Aries New Moon will ‘appear’ in our skies because New Moons are that moment when the light of reflection – that of the Moon reflecting the Sun – is for a moment, extinguished.

But soon, it will appear yet again. And as that happens, the metaphysical image is one of life on the move. In this case, Aries promises a new image, a new sense of being, a fresh, maybe innocent or naïve approach to something with our preconceptions already gone and our minds, hearts and spirits ready to embrace and avail ourselves of new ideas and opportunities.

This Aries New Moon will occur on April 10th at 9:26 in the morning, UT/+0 time. By being a degree in a sign’s third decanate (degrees 20 through 29) the degree 20 Aries is by definition one which involves an idea or action or situation which we don’t personally embody. Third decan degrees always involve a degree of ‘worldliness,’ even if that ‘world’ is simply those we live with. Whatever it is, we don’t control it in its entirety. And given Aries as a sign all about the Me-I-I Am of life, we may want to control it.

But we don’t. So be prepared for opinions. They may be on who you you are or what you’re doing. They may be suggestions, or answers to some question you’ve been searching for. There is some tendency with Aries to ‘assume’ or jump to conclusions and to be on guard, or to assume someone is trying to pick a fight when they’re not thinking about anything of the kind.

And realizing this…being able to separate the ‘me’ from the ‘thee’ of things – that may be one of the things which comes into focus at this time. A new thought, newly occurred and newly formulated.

With the Moon being our image of emotions, values and emotionality, this can be a time for grand, courageous actions. Then again, seeing that Aries can be so very ‘conscious of the Self’ this New Moon may begin a month of days when you or others make a timid first step towards something you’d like to be true. Or which you’d like to be able to do.

The Moon moves in phases. Aries is birth – or however you want to conceive of ‘a beginning.’ So whatever else this New Moon is about, it’s about a new phase of something. Maybe of you or in your life. Or maybe a new phase in relationships or how you handle them or behave in them or regard or prioritize them. The natural polarity between Aires and Libra asks us to respond to others and to think through how we effect others.

And in that, it asks us what is really important to us about relationships, and whether they are about what we can get…or what we have to give.

Optimally, those qualities are in harmonious balance. And even then, the idea of the Aries New Moon is such that you may feel it’s time to change things. Or tweak things. Or alter your priorities. Or to take on some new goal for yourself in what you do or who you are to, or with others.

Astrologically, one of the more interesting facts about this lunation is that it’s not part of a greater planetary picture, as has been so common in recent lunar months. As I say that, I’m reminded also that this is the first New Moon since last October to not appear at 21 degrees of a given sign. This is a subtle if important sign of energies beginning to shift: in the months ahead we will see the monthly New Moons sort of ‘counting down’ through the ‘teen degrees of successive signs.

So this lunation stands at the ‘brink’ of our worldly life. It stands on that line where we waver back and forth between ‘it’s me…it’s them,’ and that too is very Aries / Libra. Lore on this degree speaks to it having a quality all about being aware of our ego, underscoring the many “I / Thou”…‘me / them’ …. ‘cause / effect’…and ‘do / haven’t done’ dualities which exist in our life.

But when I say that this New Moon is not part of a planetary picture, that isn’t to say it isn’t in aspect to anything. Dwarf planet Haumea is at 19 Libra in opposition to the New Moon lending it’s nature to the idea that there will be a ‘shifting of the shape of things’ going forward. There are dual warning here. One is not to use what you do only to your own benefit, as that will lead us into situational self-defeats. The other is against ‘changing the shape of the discussion’ in order to avoid the truth of it, or your position in the matter, be that past or present.

 Dwarf planet Haumea, with moons H'iaka and Naumaka as photographed

by the Keck Telescope by Caltech

(photo used by permission - c. 2003, Caltech)

Just ‘north’ of Haumea (yes, I think of degrees in directional terms!) Rhadamanthus at 22 Libra urges us to be fair with others and fair with ourselves in understanding our very human vulnerabilities, fears and blunders. Fixed Stars Spica and Arcturus (the brilliance of leadership or brilliance evidenced in or discovered through leadership) positioned with Kallisto suggests that there are some ‘beastly’ things which need to be dealt with, but that only by accepting that ‘phase’ can we emerge as a star and yet twinkle again.

Closest to this New Moon are asteroids Pelion (the mountain) and Niobe (pride), a comment on how ego (specifically “big egos” or “mountainous pride”) can get in our way, or be in our way this month as we try to move through our tasks and challenges. That ego may be ours. Or it may be presented to us by someone else who – in true Haumea style – tries to ‘shape shift’ as fast as we try to pin them, or the subject at hand, down in order to try and sort things through and move forward.

Eris and Mars sitting at 22 Eris is a huge descriptor for this lunation as Mars rules Aries. The degree 22 Aries being one where ‘good fortunes’ fall apart in the face of the reality of work which needs to be done, Eris’ presence in this mix suggests that something unexpected is or has ‘unsettled’ our norm, either forcing us or allowing us to see how much life can offer which is beyond our experience.

This could be the whole point of your (Pelion / Niobe) New Moon experience. Simply getting past our know-it-all habit of thinking we know what’s what and that we know how the world works is an ego bender. And if this helps you understand that you are part of something greater and that you can do great things and earn such love and respect that you have no need for ego, that’s a huge, huge step for an entirely human psyche.

That Eris / Mars is in direct opposition to Rhadamanthus, asks that we rise above our own pettiness to act in a ‘kingly’ manner in resolute fairness. That was what Rhadamanthus was famous for. As son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Europa, Rhadamanthus is the image of the balance we strike between getting ‘carried away’ (Europa) or ‘overcome’ in any sense and thinking we know everything or have the right to everything (Jupiter).

 Jupiter and Europa by Gustave Moreau (1826-1898)

In this, Rhadamanthus asks that we be fair to ourselves – an idea which is here presented through Libra (through who we are to others in this world) with the choice being to ‘fall back’ on our Haumea tendency to try to make everything suit our personal fancy and Spica – Kallisto – Arcturus, the knowing that to be or become that which we would really like to be (or to know ourselves to be) we need to face what it takes to get there…and that such a process isn’t all fun, sunshine and cupcakes.

With Venus at 23 Aries we would expect some degree of wanting things to be as we want and a commensurate amount of irritation when things don’t go our way. And that Venus’ position is perfectly sextiled to Black Moon Lilith at 23 Gemini (with Vesta at 24 Gemini) is a suggestion all about our awareness. We know what it will really take to achieve our highest goals. Are we willing to go that distance?

New Moons are always a moment for inner reflection. Our ‘light’ does not shine forth. We are given this moment in which to determine our course. That this New Moon takes place on the 'opening day' of Pluto's Capricorn station (more on that tomorrow) and that Pluto will go retrograde in a perfect sextile to Saturn's February station-retrograde at 11 Scorpio tells us that this is a time to do and be more. There is a definite sense of 'calling' the world over. Some people are 'calling' for things to happen. Some of us are heeding our personal callings. We shouldn't expect instant changes. What is being generated now is an energy which will take time and effort (Saturn) to (Pluto) create in the fullness of change.

In all of this, the Aries New Moon is our awareness. 

So...what are you now aware of? Or coming to be aware of?

What do you know you want to do?

Do you have the courage to fulfill your promise and potential and bring joy into your own life and that of others by not compromising what you were created to be in the eternal and mortal sense?

Do you know what that asks of you?
.
.
.

Jupiter square Pluto: Overcoming Odds, Underwhelming Aspects

 

 Nature et Architecture15 by Clo Baril

The frequency with which planets meet up in zodiacal manner is referred to as their ‘Synodic Cycle.’ Jupiter and Pluto meet up once every thirteen years (plus a few days) – their last synodic conjunction was in late Sagittarius on December 11, 2007 and the one before that was in late Scorpio back on December 2, 1994.

Why care about such a thing? Well, synodic cycles are a bit like the layers on an onion. Or tree rings. Maybe a better way of thinking about it is the building up of courses of bricks in the building of a wall. They’re ‘steps in a process’ – and when we think about Jupiter and Pluto, the process being represented is building effectively and understanding how we get in our own way…otherwise known as ‘how do we let ourselves down’ – which may ring as the opposite of the ‘building’ concept a bit more clearly.

Considering it takes Jupiter 11.86 years to go once around the Sun and it takes Pluto 248.09 years to do the same thing, it’s obvious that once these two meet up in the same degree, Jupiter zooms on ahead while Pluto wends its sauntering Plutonic way along its (Neptune governed) Plutino track.

Okay…so now what’s up?

What’s up is that Jupiter squares Pluto on February 25, 2011 at 7:56pm (UT/+0) with Pluto at 7 Capricorn and Jupiter at 7 Aries.

 Jupiter's aurora's in UV

photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

 

To understand this concept, let's start with the 'square' part. The astrological square generally refers to a 'challenge.' Sometimes a puzzle, sometimes a choice of which of two things you want/should do or think...but whatever the situation, choice or concept, there's generally some feeling of being 'challenged.' What to think? Which one to do? How to make this work?

In this case we have have two planets with each in cardinal signs – ‘cardinal’ meaning do it first, learn from results. But sort of like two cars proceeding along two different roads which meet at a (square) intersection, this doesn’t always mean our abilities are up to par with our desires. Or maybe it’s that we’re at some sort of ‘crossroads’ with some process. Or some relationship. Or some effort (like say, getting a job) where our effort meets up with someone’s opinion of us.

Streets which intersect at right angles posing the question of who goes first (and the need to acknowledge each other, lest we go ‘kaboom!’ in an accident which benefits neither) is one way of thinking of a square.

Another – which is just as valid – is to think of the 90 degree (right angle) square in terms of its validity in engineering.

If you’re inside – look up. It’s likely that the ceiling above you meets the wall at a 90 degree, square right angle. It’s a ‘structural’ angle…and if the world’s cities are any kind of decent testimony, it would seem that the square angle is basic to our ability to build anything!

So this is the question: will you get in your own way or let someone else discourage you? Or will you deal with your challenges not as being about the ‘other’ person/part of the question and work to build towards your aims?

With Pluto in Capricorn, part of the issue is all about long-standing ‘norms.’ The question is what can be done away with without creating such a lack of structure that nothing works. We don’t want to make a difficult situation even more complicated, right?

Against this, we have Jupiter in Aries – a signal that this is the time to develop ourselves, to move ahead with plans, when by expanding our use of our talents is highly apt.

But here’s the catch: Aries, though always the sign of ‘I Am’ does not really work that well when we try to turn “I Am” into ‘all about me.’ Aries is the sign of the warrior who saves the kingdom, not who aims to have a big parade held in their honor. In opposition to Libra, the question is what you have to give and the quality of what you have to give….that being the “cause” in the phrase “cause/effect.”

This is a karmic universe which obeys the scientific laws which are so well defined in certain quarters. ‘Cause/Effect’ is otherwise known by various names…from what you put out comes back to you to the popular karma’s a bitch! version.

It all amounts to the same thing: polarities count. For who we are through what we do (or ‘offer’ of ourselves), so we become known….and that determines how others treat us or respond to us.

Pluto stands in opposition to fixed star Sirius and Polyhymnia, reminding us to think before we choose and to reflect on efforts passed (Polyhymnia) for at many a juncture, it’s not only the smallest of small things which counts (Sirius) but the need to put our own aims aside in the service of others which ultimately really does get us what we want in the end (Sirius/Pluto).

That this is an opposition means we can face this/these ideas….or maybe just be annoyed as all get-out at anyone/anything reminding us of things we really, really didn’t want to be reminded of!

In other words, we can observe these limitations and lessons learned (or maybe not yet learned) or try to blow them off and in doing so, run the risk of running into….

….into what? Answer: ourselves!

(you know, our own headstrong stubborn nature?)

Dwarf planet Pluto

photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Yes, there’s plenty of energy around now suggesting that those who don’t do well with guidance or limits may just totally run into a self-constructed (or ignored) wall.

Like, ouch!

On the Jupiter side, though this is all about moving ahead and continuing to build, it’s not all peaches and peanuts. Jupiter standing at 7 Aries is about to meet up with  Pelion (the big mountain) and Lust (fixation) at 8 Aries. So ask yourself…how well focused are you on the task ahead?

This combination favors those willing to take on a task. It really doesn’t favor those looking for a gambol in the park or the easy time, the being catered to and all that stuff.

In fact, by the time Jupiter reaches 8 Aries on March 2nd, the Pelion/Lust of February 25th will have  turned into Pelion/Orpheus – Lust having moved on to 9 Aries.

And what is Orpheus? Orpheus is great talent marred by insecurity – which is actually a pretty common human problem!

No matter who you are, like as not March is going to evoke a few twinges. And maybe that’s all it is – a twinge or two that you roust yourself out of saying ‘oh, just let it go!’

But whenever and wherever we see Orpheus, we are also asked to consider the whole of the Orpheus story – namely that with Orpheus is the unspoken image of Eurydike. And since Eurydike always (always!) tells us that we must be prepared to foot the bill and pay the cost before we volunteer for something lest we be forever lost in doing so, it may just really pay to not overstep our bounds as the Jupiter/Pluto square rolls in, lest we buy into something in haste and live to repent having done so at most disappointed leisure.

Bottom line, this is really a check point on proportion. Going into this moment, you may feel overwhelmed with what's going on...or maybe overwhelmed by some conviction. There's an intensity, a 'push' which would astrologically be expected when Jupiter squares Pluto and with this aspect being pictured in pro-active (cardinal) signs, there well be a great sense of urgency or need to act for a day - even a day and a half before this actual aspect...as energies begin to build.

Can you do what you need/want to do without chickening out OR overstepping your own limits?

Once the moment of aspect happens, there's likely to be a sorting out, a realizing what has come of what has happened - or even through what you've felt. This can be just as productive a period as the time 'going in' to the aspect as this is when we learn, when we realize, when we come more to grips with what is, what has been, what yet can be (Pluto in Capricorn) against what we can and cannot to (Jupiter in Aries)...which really leaves us to understand our limits - and our capacities.

There are many things we can't do. But many things we can do as well! And though you may not be able to choose the moment or the times you live in, or how things come to be that you have to cope with - there is a choice whether to play your hand to the positive or to the negative. That choice belongs to you.

So if you can, use Jupiter square Pluto to get a grasp on something important to you - and do something with or about it. This can actually be a moment of victory long planned for and labored towards.

And if you do have problems? Don’t give up! Learn from the moment, regroup and move on. The basic notion of what you started back in 2007 has a good ways to go still…so keep on being and learning about who you are and how to Be you most happily and effectively!

Asteroids, Mars and Pluto - oh, my! (plus a little Mercury note just because…)

 Great Observatories present a 'Rainbow of a Galaxy'

photo credit: NASA-JPL-Caltech-ESA

---

---

Here's the roll-out for this week:

Monday (December 13): Tantalus enters Pisces

Tuesday (December 14): Transiting Mars

conjuncts Pluto - Pelion goes direct

Wednesday (December 15): Kallisto goes direct

Friday (December 17): Phaethon enters Aquarius

- Sphinx enters Scorpio

Saturday (December 18th): Mercury retrogrades

back into Sagittarius

That’s two asteroids going direct, three changing signs, Mercury backing into Sagittarius and transiting Mars conjuncting Pluto.

Mind you, ALL of this is happening under Mercury retrograde. So no matter what happens in life or the world, the real point is reflective. It’s about what all of this evokes in your personal ‘think tank’ (as author Will James put it in a wonderful children’s book called Smokey the Cow Horse).

Retrogrades are about challenging ourselves. Learning more about what we’re capable of – by which we don’t mean whether you have the capability or capacity to climb Mount Everest. This is also about whether you are capable of lying to others, or yourself. Are you maybe selfish, even though you constantly ‘do’ for others? Martyrdom can be very manipulative – just as generosity can be controlling.

Why do you resist certain things or ideas? Why do some things totally fascinate you? Why we are who we are and not something or someone else why we do this and don’t do that, these are all retrograde questions.

At the moment, specifically Mercury questions. The nuances and details count. The ‘how to’s and what I know/don’t know counts. What I put first, second, tenth and last now counts. What I think I want versus what I do or don’t do now counts.

Let’s also remember that against this background we have Pluto playing footsie with North Node in early Capricorn. Change, and the need to change, are front and center in our world, and in our personal lives.

There are a lot of Black Holes being conjuncted and opposed by the North Node, Pluto, Mars and Mercury – all in Sagittarius. There are other ways to see life – will we see them? More importantly, will we tackle them or learn from them or ignore them?

Also to remember – we had a whole handful of factors (asteroids) move into yang (pro-active) signs just last week. So the engine is there. The need is there. With Mercury retrograde, this equals either some degree of impatience or frustration (for those who continue expecting life to fulfill their desire for gratification) or motivation (for those who recognize what they need to do in order to set things up for success-yet-to-come).

---

Thus we come to Monday (December 13th) and Tantalus moving from Aquarius into Pisces at 1:37pm (UT/+0). The myth of Tantalus is a pretty gruesome one. What it amounts to however, is the idea that ‘might’ (of whatever form) does not equal right. Tantalus also delivers a big lesson about spite.

Bottom line, wherever Tantalus is by transit, that describes a general area of life where we get tempted to exercise power as a matter of ‘because I can’ or because ‘I want to get back at you’ for reasons which are all about my selfishness, or lack of personal self worth.

A fast-moving Apollo group asteroid which at its farthest orbits just beyond Mars and which at its closest zips just inside Venus (obviously crossing Earth’s path along the way) Tantalus entered Sagittarius on November 4, Capricorn on November 19 and Aquarius on December 1st.

That ‘Apollo group’ notation does tell us one more thing about Tantalus – that it is, in the end, about revealing the unpleasant truth…about us, others, and life on the whole. With Mercury now in retrograde, this implies we are moving several weeks where our own worst enemy may well be our emotions or emotional expectations, which may just eat us up if, where and when we don’t stop to get a grasp on the difference between our feelings and the intentions of others.

This is not to say other people are angelic – all is says is that we need to know who is doing what, and why they’re doing it. Disappointments, whether about others or ourselves, are likely to be about disparate sets of emotional standards.

And what does that mean? Really?

That would be a Mercury retrograde question. Think about it.

 A hypergiant star's massive outburst

photo credit: NASA/JPL

 

---

With Tuesday, December 14 as the date of transiting Mars conjuncting Pluto, the cosmic clock strikes a chime of huge and vital potential. The basic symbolism here is ‘creation’ and ‘release’ with the number of ways that can happen being a list as long as the seconds in a day. Discoveries, revelations, good news, bad news, shocking events, exciting surprises, mind-boggling life-changing ideas – it’s all here in the mix.

What every happens, its big – that’s indicated by the power potential of Mars/Pluto being underscored by Pelion (big challenges) going direct. Direct motion always being an indicator of something which comes at us from outside.

Mars conjuncts Pluto at 4:14am (UT/+0). Pelion goes direct at 7:56 pm (UT/+0). That puts the Mars/Pluto quality of ‘explosive energy’ (at 4 Capricorn) in a very close-to-exact square with Pelion AND coming to life some hours in advance of when Pelion going direct at 5 Aries, a degree known for ‘presenting problems which cannot be avoided’ even without Pelion being present.

Getting a hint?

Let’s also consider what Pelion is. It’s not a ‘regular’ asteroid – it’s a centaur, which adds a whole other note about using our heads rather than going with instincts or raw desires (that being a centaur thing).

Like we need that the day after Tantalus enters Pisces?

As for Pelion’s orbit, it has an orbit which is in a celestial intertwining with that of Uranus. Since Uranus is a planet we can’t see with the naked eye, this makes Uranus and Pelion both objects representing things which just ‘happen.’ We don’t get to change it, we don’t get to avoid it, we probably don’t even know its coming.

Where have we heard that before?

Those who have planets, axis points or nodal positions between 0 and 10 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn are going to feel this ‘turn of events’ most acutely. Considering Mercury just having taken its turn into retrograde at 5 Capricorn, this is a whole ‘change of thought’ season for you anyway (in other words, you probably already have gotten the memo, whether or not you want to deal with it!).

But now, the (Pelion) size of your challenge is really taking shape. Life is really, truly in your face, probably forcing you to do some tall (Mercury retrograde) thinking about how – good or bad - you got to the point where you are now.

---

And no, we’re not done! Kallisto goes direct at 1:11am (UT/+0) on Wednesday, December 15. This station taking place at 24 Aries puts the Mars/Pluto (Pelion) energy in Kallisto’s shadow/direct, telling us that there are ‘Kallisto possibilities’ to be had if you bear with.

Bad pun, that…the ‘bear with’ thing, I mean. Why? Because Kallisto’s story is about vindication in spite of the craven acts of others. It’s a complicated story – but essentially Kallisto vows to serve Artemis – she who we would call ‘emotional insight’ by remaining  chaste.

But Zeus (Jupiter) takes one look at the comely Kallisto, and perhaps because she doesn’t want to be ‘known’ (in the bliblical sense) he decides to take what he wants. And after the rape, Zeus hide his bad behavior by transforming Kallisto into a bear – a beast to cover up his beastly act.

Several tragic scenes later Artemis (she of emotional insight) recognizes what’ has happened. And though she can’t undo that which Jupiter has done (we cannot ‘unring’ the bell of knowledge), the power of emotional insight (Artemis) mitigates the transformation by turning Kallisto into the constellation we know today as the Great Bear.

In other words – to put this in modern parlance, through terrible pain (or maybe in spite of all that suffering), Kallisto becomes a star.

As a main belt asteroid, Kallisto represents things we learn about as we go through daily life – and life as a whole. The degree of this station reveals to us the pluses and minus of how we use our ‘creative energy,’ with split being generally between being creative in life or pouring all that energy into sexuality. Life now shows us how well that is working for us.

When combined with all the other influences of this time – and (let’s not forget) the effects of the January Capricorn Solar Eclipse building and thus dissolving some of our ‘life structures,’ the real question would seem to be where our life is taking us, and whether we need to take energy out of one pot and put it into another, whether we are beasts, or whether we are poised to become a star not only in our own life, but in the lives of others.

---

 The 'almost invisible' aftermath of a giant star's death

photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Come Friday at 4:35pm (UT/+0) on December 17th, Phaethon enters Aquarius. If you didn’t read yesterday’s blog on the Geminids, you may want to start there. Otherwise, as Phaethon enters Aquarius that adds get more itchiness to the ‘let me get this done!’ yang fire (and fieriness of the moment) and yet…

…and yet, let’s not forget that Mercury is still in retrograde. Considering Phaethon’s headstrong, overreaching quality, that would seem to be part of the theme of the moment: are you overreaching? Have you overreached? Have you taken a big fall or scorched your chances or ‘burned bridges’ in some way, shape or form?

With this also being the date that Sphinx enters Scorpio (at 10:22pm - UT/+0). We all know the Great Sphinx of Giza – a symbol of patience and endurance. But Sphinxes have other meanings. Oedipus meets a Sphinx along the road who asks him a riddle. Ultimately, that Sphinx represents what he might have learned had he stopped to think everything through.

With Sphinx being a main belt asteroid which orbits nearer to Mars than Jupiter, this symbol is more about what we do and why we do it. In entering Scorpio, it asks that we have the patience to recognize how others feel and why they feel that way. AND to recognize how having breezed by questions posed along the road we may have ended up exactly where we didn’t want to go – a la  Oedipus (though we’re certainly not referencing the exact circumstances of his story.)

But there is to recognize that Scorpio is jointly ruled by Mars (first) and Pluto (as outcome of our Mars choices). This again underscores the Mars/Pluto conjunction, the Pelion challenge(s) – whatever that may mean in your life.

---

As Mercury retrogrades back into Sagittarius at 2:54pm (UT/+0) on Saturday, December 18, determination softens. Attitudes become less hardened. There’s room for discussion, though be prepared – some people are simply not going to negotiate!

And that too is part of what we have to learn now. Whether its our standing on or for some point we absolutely know (or maybe have even just learned) the facts are the facts. Reality is reality. Life can be some things we want it to become but it isn’t that way simply because we want it to be that way.

It’s a busy week. There’s a lot of energy focused within each of our lives and each of our minds. Especially as Mercury re-enters Sagittarius, ‘haste’ becomes a big thing we all want to avoid. That in itself may be a challenge – but being challenged…isn’t that what life is really all about?

---

BP: What Percent Crude PR?

 

There are two important versions of BP's chart. The first is its original incorporation chart:

  

 Anglo-Persian Oil Co. Ltd (BP) - Incorporation chart

Founded as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (Ltd.), the company we now know as BP's Descendant - what it would have put out as messages to the public (and shareholders, one assumes) is represented by 12 Aquarius.

Aquarius being the sign of the marketplace, corporations and income and 12 being a 2nd (emotional) decanate degree, we know that BP would always put out a message that was slightly fervent. With this position modified by Pelion - the great mountain one must climb? Make that fervent and long-suffering, even in anticipatory mode.

With Aquarius ruled first by Saturn (representing the foundations upon which the corporation's fortunes are built) then Uranus (its success), we then look to these two planets to see what else may be seen.

What we see first is a 14 Aries Saturn conjunct Mercury (at 15 Aries) and Sedna at 10 Aries. Sedna being all about the struggle to let go of security and reach one's actual potential being conjunct Saturn - which never mind being the signature for BP's Descendant is the premier symbol of business - this combination in and of itself is wonderfully descriptive. Founded in 1909, BP (then the Angle-Persian Oil Company) was one of the first oil producers and the first to go into Persia. It pioneered much of what we now think of as 'standard oil operations.' And it did all this in Persia - the place we now call Iran.

Obviously, to British would-be oil tycoons, Persia was a very foreign country, and the 9th house is the house of foreigners and foreign places. So that this fledgling British Company had to risk letting go of dear old England and travel abroad to found its fortune is right in keeping with the chart.

Once it was established that the Masjed Soleiman field held sufficient promise to justify same, an oil lease was negotiated with Shah Mozzafar al-Din Shah Qajar of Persia. This is Orcus at 10 Aries. Orcus describing things done which cannot be changed, the fledgling BP had to invest enough money to find the oil before they could negotiate the lease.

Industria at 12 Aries and Rhadamanthus (fairness) at 13 conjunct Mercury (thought, organization) at 15 tells a tale of the enormity of effort it would have taken to get temperate climate English workers out into the deserts of Persia and the training of locals to partake in what must have been a grueling effort to tap those first wells.

And that grueling part? That we would know not simply from knowing that its hot in Iran, but because Mercury in the 9th house would make anywhere where BP tends to work a harder-than-usual place to work. Hence Iran, the North Sea, Alaska, the middle of the Gulf of Mexico...

...it's a corporate thing with this Anglo-Persian company which grew up to be BP. This just isn't a 'take the easy way out' company. Which means - yes - that this is a company which even when it doesn't intend to can make things very, very difficult for itself.

And that Mercury reaches out just far enough to conjunct Pandora (and her famous box) at 20 Aries? That doesn't just reinforce BP's 'strenuous efforts' of all types but also speaks volumes to the repercussion oil was to have not merely on BP's fortunes, but on the world as a commodity. Ruled by an Aquarian Mars in the employee and work-standard 6th house conjunct Psyche (the mind) and an early Aquarian Moon however...that lays the groundwork for BP to have issues with cost cutting.

With Uranus, the secondary ruler of Aquarius also in this 6th house but in the last third of Capricorn, we see the Anglo-Persian Oil Company as a founding industrial giant. It did the (Uranus) job of literally breaking ground as it broke through all the Uranian/Aquarian geological, technical, distribution and marketing problems in turning oil into a commodity then a baseline necessity upon which the whole world has been running on for heading towards a hundred years now.

That same 9th house which represented the 'foreign interest' is also the house which rules dissemination of information. Ruled by Jupiter in Virgo in the 2nd house we get our second indication that everything which comes out of BP's corporate mouth isn't the whole truth and nothing but the corporate truth.

Why would that be? Well, because Jupiter in Virgo tends to over-scrutinize either the information or what it chooses to say. Ruled by that Mercury in the 9th which here being conjunct ultra-fair Rhadamanthus and Pandora's plethora of ills which one must endure in order to find hope...this is the picture of a company which will generally stick its oil boot in its corporate mouth before it loses the oil slick and comes clean.

Oh yes - Medusa and Ixion are also in the 2nd and also conjunct Jupiter, as is Thuban, a fixed star known for imparting struggle. Medusa is a fascinating entity - it's fear, yes. But also fear of the truth (link to article on Medusa)...and even fear of self. Ixion, meanwhile is about ingratitude, particularly of the 'I should be able to simply because I can or have the opportunity right here' type (article on Ixion). So this is greatly about corporate fear of what people think - no matter what the news is. Are they making enough money? Too much - do they look like gluttons? Will they undermine their own position by people knowing too much? Not enough?

Love the company or hate it, this is an entity almost to pity for its inability to take a stand and go with it.

I said almost.

Saying all that, now we come to the most recent major merger, that committed to as of December 31, 1998 with Amoco. The chart for BP/Amoco (later renamed simply  BP) looks like this:

 

BP/Amoco merger chart

Going back to the prime PR spots of any chart (the Descendant and 9th house) at the Descendant we have fixed star Spica -  the gift of knowledge and brilliance - sitting with Deucalion, signature of 'finding the moral path.' So far, so good.

But then we look at the Venus ruling this 22 Libra Descendant; said Venus is in Capricorn (sign of business structures) in the very worldly 10th house of leadership. Still not bad at all! Venus here is conjunct two pairs of symbols (with Venus at the midpoint, the pairs don't connect). On one side we have Atlantis/Bali, which in 3 decan degrees are without question the desire to have everything be good and as ruler of the Descendant, to look and sound good too.

The other pair would make is even more skeptical: Child and Hebe (the servant) at Capricorn's critical 29th degree tells us the worse the situation is for the business or world opinion (i.e., anyone outside the BP fold), the more they are likely to serve up something dumbed down to 'not scare the Child.'

But this is a classic astrological mistake: the Child we are referring to is BP asteroid Child, not yours or mine. They are projecting it on us and thus they are acting as though we are children better off without the real facts. But the real fact is that it's BP which is scared: wherever the symbol appears (by house) is the 'department of life' where that energy will manifest. So when it gets to the executive running-BP-as-a-world-entity level of the company, if/when BP runs into trouble it...acts like a child! (No mommy, I didn't break it - it broke itself!)

And since the Saturn ruling this 10th and the Venus (et al) in said 10th...

...Since that Saturn is a 3rd decanate Aries Saturn unhappily placed in the first house, we know BP dislikes outsiders and doesn't like anyone having input or the ability to comment or discuss what it is doing. Conjunct Circe, Sphinx and Sisyphus (sounds like a very bad law firm)...this is more about BP as a company which will do its best to wait out public furor (Sphinx) or transform  situations/information to serves its own purpose (Circe). And if necessary - which is to say if you disagree with BP while "on its turf" (which one would have to assume at least means working with or for BP) then BP will have to simply do away with you somehow (Sisyphus).

This kind of determination serves BP well as an oil explorer. It serves them very badly as a real life corporate entity in an increasingly interactive world.

For all the mergers along the way (BP has had a barrel full of them from inception until now)...this company hasn't and has changed. The Ascendant/Descendant of today's BP is only one degree off the original chart's prime vertical - the Midheaven/Nadir 'who are we as a corporation?' - with that original vertical axis now turned into the horizontal axis.

What would that say? That would say that who BP started out to be, they now use as the face of who today's BP wants you to think they are. They want the world to think they're that same pioneering company.

But they aren't. The vertical axis of this new chart is 8 Capricorn (Midheaven)/8 Cancer at the Nadir or IC - the foundational point of the chart. Looking to Cancer's ruling Moon we find it in the 2nd (emotional) decanate of Gemini (thoughts, communications, choices) in what would be the modern company's 2nd house of corporate coffers.

Through chains of rulership, the Mercury which rules the 2nd (value/values) and 3rd (organizational concept) house of this chart points to Jupiter - which rules both the 8th house of investment and 9th house of foreigners/foreign things. This says a lot, especially in this international world where BP has to work outside its native UK with less rather than more world power now being part of its national identity.

That the Jupiter which ends up ruling this 8th and 9th (the 9th house part including 'information disseminated and thus PR') being intercepted in the 12th house conjunct Pallas (wisdom) and Sabine (forced imprisonment) tells us two things.

One is that BP is in a sense hostage to its stockholders. BP knows that an enormous number of real live people - that their pension funds are invested in BP on the London Exchange, and that part of BP's financial power has come of its ability to be a premier source of dividends.

The second part of this is BP feeling that it can simply hold knowledge hostage. Niobe (pride) and Amphitrite (overwhelm) conjunct the 26 Aquarius 12th house cusp tells us that this company's overwhelming pride is a good thing when its about how they can indeed take care of others but a total detriment when they are focused on their own reputation and income.

With all this said, we each have to decide for ourselves exactly what percentage of BP's PR is simply crude which has bubbled up to the top. What is for sure however is that unlike oil, what BP says only ever partly dispersed by means natural or artificial.

That the modern chart was hit by the January 2010 solar eclipse on their Venus/Child/Hebe in advance of the Deepwater Horizon debacle speaks volumes to the financial hit BP is going to take coming out of this disaster. It may be worth looking ahead to incoming solars and eclipses to see where the company's going to go (vote with your blog comments - if you want more information, you'll get more information!).

There is no question but that BP is going to try to evade/avoid full payouts. That started as soon as the well blew out with BP trying to 'fudge' or cover up exactly how many barrels of oil have flowed out of the Deepwater well because of their agreement with the sovereign nation involved (the US). The US has every right to not merely make BP pay for every barrel 'extracted' from its mineral rights reserves, but fine BP for every barrel allowed to pollute the Gulf of Mexico.

And that ain't just chump change.

Lay on top of that physical/ecological damages and loss-of-livelihood lawsuits and BP will have more than just a pond of fiscal goo on its hands.

Oil is a dirty business, unquestionably. But protecting the current corporate structure at the expense of public opinion is probably the most karmic thing BP can ever do. For one, it will erode the public trust. And secondly, it will cause people to see that there really does need to be an alternative to oil.

That's literally driving consumers away - which in the end is not merely the most costly form of PR possible, but BP having crudely undercut the very legs of the platforms their corporation stands on. Literally.