A Gemini Sun, a Taurus New Moon and Mercury Station-Retrograde

A balloon festival in Chateaux d'Oex, Switzerland

(photo credit: Jynus January 2006)

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Fixed star Algol has a bit of an evil reputation ... one which is associated with how, why and what gets us to respond, whether to others, or something we really don’t like in or about our Self, what we're experiencing, and sometimes in terms of what we need to do, be, accept or recognize our part in (or responsibility for) - maybe as part of some greater relationship with others, but maybe just as part of dealing with our own reactions to our various life challenges.

To put it politely, Algol promotes growling - and this reputation hasn’t been enhanced/made any nicer by its long-term residence at 26 Taurus as 26 Taurus is a degree known for wanting things to be ‘nice’ (which in Taurus reads ‘the way I want them to be’) ... and just as often with little or no regard or though for anyone else or their preferences.

 New Moon at 26 Taurus with Mercury direct and on Station (glyph chart)

May 18, 2015 - 4:14 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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 New Moon at 26 Taurus with Mercury direct and on Station (text chart)

May 18, 2015 - 4:14 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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That would be part of the problem, of course ... with the other part being how wherever Algol is positioned (in the sky or in our chart) that would be an 'area of life' where things (or we are) “designed” to get poked, prodded, prompted, provoked and otherwise rousted from, by or through that devotion to our own perspective from time to time.

After all, how would Algol's presence at 26 Taurus play out if everything was going the way we thought it should?

Another thing about Algol worth mentioning: though Algol is indeed positioned at the aforementioned 26 Taurus, Algol is NOT part of the constellation Taurus.

Instead, it’s part of constellation Perseus. And any time we talk about Perseus, slayer of Medusa, we know there’s some sort of theme in play about being tested against our fears and all we fear most, whether that’s in/about our Self, or otherwise...

-link to post-

Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

...all of which applies not just to the idea of a New Moon at 26 Taurus (and conjunct Algol) at 4:14 a.m. on Monday, May 18th (UT/+-0), but also to the idea that anything about Perseus refers to times which are going to confront us with some sort of question about our ability ... and (equally) our willingness to get past something we consider ‘fearful’ - whether what matters to us matters to the next person or not.

And that's not all (not by a country mile, as they say ...). That same day ... Monday, May 18th ... is also the date when the North Node arrives at 8 Libra.

-link to post-

To the Degree: 8 Libra

Astrologically, New Moons start cycles - either cycles of activity or cycles of experience, effort, realization or anything which will prompt emotional growth or growth as some sort of ‘maturing’ process which itself may last a month but the values of which (or the values we come to have because of our experiences) last far, far longer.

So just on the surface here, with this New Moon occurring in a responsive, responding, internally testing (and often testy) degree just as the North Node (the ‘do this’ side of the lunar node pair) arrives at 8 Libra ... that would tend to say there is a lot of this next lunar month which is going to be all about how much we’ve really learned in life and how realistic we’re willing to be about things - as opposed to what we want or like thinking, having to say or admit, do or grapple with believing. 

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Most of us just don’t want to do what we need to do, and with the North Node at 8 Libra, some of us don’t even know how we can do what we need to do - which rather gets back to what side of the Algol line we’re standing. Are we on the side which has been threatened by something in life? Or are we on the side which has been doing the threatening, whether purposeful or otherwise?

Much which exists as a consequence of what we have done (or chosen not to do) will now show up through where our lack of being responsible - ultimately for our Self - has been laid aside or rejected in favor of comfort or short term pleasures. These things - which now reflect through circumstances around us (relationships, situations, confrontations, influences) - they all speak of the Libra connection between who we are and how that affects others.

No human is an island, to nudge the old saying. With the North Node at 8 Libra from May 18th through June 2nd, it’s more than likely that at least a few of the things or issues which we have ignored or put off too long - those things will rise again, maybe in life, or maybe in the inner recesses of our eternally tender conscience.

Evidently we need to feel a little ouch, a little disquietude, a little discomfort. Evidently that’s what life thinks we need to get us past our personal inertia. With Mars having moved into Gemini last week (on Tuesday the 12th), much is in motion and much wants to get done.

Was that our wanting to be “too busy” to deal with the things which are going to pop up now and in the days ahead? Was that life moving to throw so much into our days and onto our mental tables that we would have to stop and make sure we were doing what we needed to do - which would be so very Mars in Gemini both from a ‘doing’ perspective and from the Gemini ‘thinking it through and refining my plans’ way?

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Plus all of this is happening with Mercury already on station. With Mercury due to go retrograde on Tuesday the 19th (at 1:50 in the morning), it’s station fully embraces the New Moon and the Moon’s North Node moving into a position where it will set off either a slew of learning through the experience of loss, or through the application of understanding what loss is - and what that means not only to us, but to others, maybe even those we have chosen to ignore.

So this would seem to be a turning point of some sort, although not one which will produce its ‘outcomes’ promptly. Mercury won’t be going direct again until June 11th.

Mercury Station-Retrograde (glyph chart)

May 19, 2015 - 1:49 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
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 Mercury Station-Retrograde (text chart)

May 19, 2015 - 1:49 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Mercury Station-Direct (glyph chart)

June 11, 2015 - 22 33 (10 33 pm, UT +0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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 Mercury Station-Direct (text chart)

June 11, 2015 - 22 33 (10 33 pm, UT +0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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And with that Mercury station-direct moment overlapping Neptune’s station-retrograde (Neptune goes retrograde on June 12th), some things will still be confused at that point while other things will be in the middle of being ‘dissolved’ or revealed as incorrect (false, untrue, non-viable, unworkable, etc.) at that time... and going forward through June.

But so you know, there are just as many positives to Mercury + Neptune as negatives - it’s all in how you use it. The basic idea being that Mercury represents thought, speech or comprehension and Neptune’s actions melt things away while making them diffuse and fuzzy (or foggy and mysterious ... even magical or mystical) along the way, this combination supports the suspension of disbelief (believing) just as often as it leads to a lifting of a veil which reveals a reality which isn’t what we thought it was.

So while Mercury (plus) Neptune can equal deceit and self-delusion (lying to ourselves), it can also represent anything which is all about ‘letting go’ of some hard or fast shell. Or some illusion about something or someone which really needs to go. This Mercury/Neptune period for some will no doubt be and become a time of joy, of pleasure of all those things we look back on as that memory we so treasure. It can represent a time when we indulge in some ‘suspending of reality’ which is entirely harmless, such as when we read a book or watch a movie, ‘forgetting’ the “real world” outside as we indulge in the story or excitement in the tale.  

As for the planetary ‘layout’ of Mercury’s station, it’s both interesting for what it is, and interesting in what it isn’t - as diagrammed here:

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The above pictures the astrological ‘planetary picture’ known as a kite. This being a day after the New Moon, the Moon (which moves more-or-less a half-degree per hour) has already left Taurus for Gemini. In fact, as Mercury goes direct the Moon is in conjunction with royal star Aldebaran, lending either the specter of hope or need to priorities, actions, statements and choices made in conjunction with this station - and by implication, with all which would be connected to how we deal with and what we do with this entire period ... and all which comes from its influence(s), whether in terms of what happens in the world, what we do because of what happens around us, or who we are to be in this world, part of this world, and a member of the great family of mankind which - whether we like it or not - is charged with the care of our planet and everything about our world, including ourselves, each other and everything other part of Creation.

After all, didn’t we all get taught that what we don’t make we should be responsible for - and certainly not going around breaking?

As for that idea - breaking, breakage or however else it wants to be conjugated, while we tend to think of that as bad, it doesn’t have to be. A ‘breakthrough’ breaks the barrier presented with equal destruction as that which merely damages, it’s just one we like and one we don’t like.

But that very idea - the what we like versus what we don’t like - that is, in part, the very lynchpin being operated on now. So what is good and what is bad - and will we know right now?

Maybe. Then again, maybe not. About the only ‘clue’ we have is that end-of-Mercury’s-retrograde fact that there is a Neptunian moment of ‘letting go’ of (or losing) something which is going to happen or take shape as we move towards and into the middle of June.

As usual, it depends on where we are starting - a position we would find and outline by using your natal, solar and current lunar charts. But barring that (and the particulars of nuance which come with your personal and individual data), one thing we can say: the emotional underpinnings of this month are still going to have a Taurean flavor, whatever else they become. And because of that, considering the New Moon and its Algol-ian ‘ill flavor,’ we are all and every each one of us more than usually prone to being (or at least acting) in ways others will react to (because remember, they’re busy reacting to things in their own Algol-North Node/8 Libra-tinged ways  in ... well, maybe not the most positive of manners. And if we’re not conscious of who we are and why anyone and everyone is doing what they’re doing (including our first person Self), we’re going to respond to their responses with something which will just make everything worse - all because we all tend to have so much trouble with understanding how anyone could like what we don’t like, be it a way of life or a flavor of ice cream.

You know, that Taurus/Scorpio polarity thing.

-link to post-

Sun in Taurus

So let’s think ... are we going to like this process?

Probably not. Between the North Node (which represents that we don’t want to HAVE to do) being at 8 Libra (not the zodiac’s happiest transit point) in a moment when Algol’s snark-snap-bite is being evoked not just for a day but as a background ‘theme’ which lasts the entire lunar month (read: until the Gemini New Moon of June 16) ... it doesn’t exactly sound like a summer peaches-and-cream sort of delight.

Still, that doesn’t mean good can’t come out of these days - or the month which flows from them. It’s just that it’s not going to be easy (for us) to get there ... or rather, it’s not going to be easy for us to want to do the thing which will get us there.

And is that about the difficulty of the moment - or about simply who we are?

Answer: yes.

In other words, your guess is as good as mine here, as that information would come from your personal chart. So alas, only time will tell. And when time does ‘tell,’ (time speaks to many things) those who are listening will have the opportunity for a kind of personal insight which stands us very well in the long run for freeing us from unworkable preconceived notions. 

As for that planetary picture (ye olde kite) Mercury is in a grand trine with Ceres/Chaldea and the North Node, the idea of guarding old ways and general ‘guardianship’ (responsibility of some type) is presented as an ‘ongoing’ issue. But when you come right down to it ... as we start zeroing in or focusing in on things, what we are likely to find is the “full kite” effect - that being a kite which doesn’t include Mercury, but which is valid using the Moon and royal star Aldebaran, the star which guarantees success only where we have not compromised (never mind violated) some integral standard of integrity.

This suggests the possibility of somewhat divergent impulses. One one hand, the Mercury station grand trine speaks to ongoing ideas, standing agreements and existent ways of doing things. On the other hand, there is a need (read: requirement) that we maintain our integrity (particularly our emotional integrity) in our efforts - represented by the kite’s two sextiles, to deal either with our own propensity either for outbursts of aggression or the experience of violence resulting from any other viable, acceptable or applicable skill ... or the finding of something which can harness the ‘untapped’ energies currently manifesting in-or-as something undesirable. Both are ‘sides’ of 8 Aries, a degree which in this moment is conjunct Medea (obsessive, often self-destructive energy) and which even after Medea moves away is going to influence life matters for the next while (until June 2nd).

Lore speaks of this degree as being one which is ultimately bent on getting us to clarify who we are - which would be very consistent with Aries’ typically first person “I/me” energy. The problem lies with getting us there - which given how 8 Aries is being activated by the South Node suggests the way forward is at least in part about working to understand what that North Node at 8 Libra ‘loss’ factor is.

After all, with Diadem involved, there is something of incredible value to be learned - or simply gained. But it’s going to take time. Considering how the ruler of Libra (in which the North Node and Diadem sit) is Venus and how as of May 17th (the date Mercury’s station begins) Venus will be in opposition to Pluto-Vega-Kassandra in Capricorn there are unbelievable (Kassandra) potentials and much fervency and passion being felt on the part of some.

This Venus opposition to Pluto (inclusive of oppositional orb) lasts from the 17th through late on May 27th (in the UT/+0 zone). And while they’re feeling that, others are experiencing a few days of passionate disbelief - or perhaps the disbelief, even the rejection of a level of some passion, should they be an observer.

One other perhaps miscellaneous Mercury note: when Mercury goes direct on June 11th, it will be doing so at 4 Gemini, the degree in exact opposition (polarity) to 4 Sagittarius - which is the degree Saturn went retrograde at back on March 14th.

-link to post-

Saturn Retrograde - Phaethon Direct

Did some sort of (Phaethon) haste ... or determination concreted hastily ‘back then’ lead to where we are now, making the whole of the impending Mercury retrograde somehow about working out where we were and how far we have (or haven’t) gotten since March 14th?

Maybe that’s why we’re going to make a change about something? Or now change something about whatever we were working with or on back then?

It could be. Then again, we could just be doing something more normal and mundane with our Mercury retrograde - like cleaning out the garage or doing our filing (mental, digital or otherwise). Mercury retrograde represents a chance to ‘catch up,’ either with our Self or others, which is why we often hear from people we haven’t heard from in a while under Mercury retrograde, and why Mercury retrograde is also a time to stop and ‘fill in the gaps,’ whether that means doing research, making plans or working on something you need in order to move ahead once Mercury does go direct.

Apart from all that however, is a whole other way to see the kite. Kites often represent a new way to ‘see’ or approach things - and if you think of that  as grabbing the ‘kite string’ which would theoretically be tied to the tail of a real kite, that suggests that there are options and opportunities which require or depend on our willingness (or ability) to go through some sort of North Node, 8 Libra, Diadem sort of experience - maybe in our own mind (we are talking about air sign Libra here, so this could all be a mental escapade) ... or maybe with regards to a relationship, or our ability or inability to relate to some external thing, person, organization or situation.

As Mercury goes retrograde, two other celestial objects are also on station, too. One (Damocles) is going retrograde at 25 Aquarius, a degree which complicates the Damocles nature, that nature being all about the very human habit we all have to critique, criticize and think we could do a better job with something UNTIL we’re the one in the hot seat - at which point we suddenly recognize how what we were being so glib about critiquing is a whole lot harder and far more complicated than we had thought.

And maybe that means we should think a little more before speaking? Or that we should learn a little more about what we’re taking a position on (or talking about) before taking that position? This goes to both the stationing degrees of Mercury and Damocles in that 13 Gemini (Mercury’s position) is all about abilities which though substantial are frustrated by mechanisms/people which are defined (astrologically) as being quite possibly ‘less qualified’ on the specific subject but more ‘acceptable’ and ‘easily grasped’ or accessed. 13 Gemini asks that we bridge some gap, and that gap starts within our Self. To be truly and fully successful, we need to understand within our Self (the retrograde pointing to this being an inner comprehension being sought).

And yet, will we want to? Where we have already done this sort of thing, is that what is now coming to the surface for us to explore and learn from?

In adding in Damocles 25 Aquarius, we begin to see something more of the dynamics here as 25 Aquarius is a social/non-personal third-decanate degree in the airy sign of Aquarius, a sign which is social, systemic and which turns brittle, fracturing wherever and whenever we attempt to bend the universal Aquarian whole into some shape which suits our individual (Leo) ego-defined preferences.

This polarity - the Leo/Aquarian polarity - is about using our ego to develop our Self so that we find a place in society, with the finding part of that process being the Aquarian part. So when we speak of Damocles going retrograde in the latter part of Aquarius, we are speaking of a difficulty we are finding with or in society as we are trying to go about our business or find our personal place/space in this world ... or we are realizing that something about the world’s issues (and our conviction that we can ‘fix that’) is ... well, a bit more difficult and complicated than we thought it was.

And all the experiences which will get us into this space? That’s what we will be experiencing as both Damocles and Mercury go into retrograde on Tuesday, May 19th (UT/+0) ... just as the motion of dwarf planet Orcus turns to direct.

Roman god Orcus represents all that can no longer be changed, and in going retrograde at 5 Virgo, Orcus speaks to several things, all of which are going to operate under the auspices of royal star Regulus, the star which tells us that what we do (our choices, actions, priorities, methods) is only successful when our actions (thoughts, choices, positions, etc.) are in no way connected with any desire for revenge.

At 5 Virgo, Orcus’ current ‘finality’ concerns all which has been done and all the many people and other forms of life which have been operating out of a sense of doing what was required or asked of them.

Something is done ... or something has come to be done. Those who have done the ‘doing’ are either ‘done’ themselves, or they are done ‘doing’ or they are ‘done’ with whatever has been formerly regarded as a serviceable duty. And now all of that is coloring the need to bridge some gap in terms of whatever cannot be changed (or perhaps carried on with or continued in its current form/format) even as Damocles goes into retrograde at 25 Aquarius, a degree which in adding a very distinct and sometimes violently determined energetic speaks to some gnawing at the bit, a bit of biting the hand which feeds us and a whole variety of merry variations on feeling torn about something on the inside while needing to keep moving on the outside.

And yes, those two impulses could be about the very same thing. They don’t have to be about the same thing ... but they could be, in which case the frustration being felt by others would be understandably felt by us, speaking of Algol.

Then again, we could be at a loss. Or thinking about what we may stand to lose ... or need to lose, which with Damocles in Aquarius and the North Node in Libra like as not refers to some (Libra) relationship we have - whether to others, our ability to relate to others, or something having to do with how we feel about our (Damocles) chances of making something work, either in our own mind or in some more interactive or public situation.

And again - all of this is happening under a lunation (lunar month) influence which will tend to make it difficult for us to even want to see things from any other perspective apart from our own, even if that’s where our answer is.

All of this is what it is and takes place within forty-eight hours (between May 18th and 19th). Then we get a day of dealing with Mercury just having gone retrograde at a moment when the Sun is at 29 this-could-be-sticky degrees of Taurus, that being what the Sun has to do before it then enters Gemini at 8:46 in the morning on May 21st (UT/+0).

Sun in Gemini (glyph chart)

May 21, 2015 - 9:44 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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 Sun in Gemini (text chart)

May 21, 2015 - 9 44 am (UT +0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Sun in Gemini is much like Sun in Taurus in the sense that it’s about the ‘me’ of life. It’s basic and like all three of the first quadrant zodiac signs (those signs being Aries, Taurus, Gemini), it’s about learning to be the person we are (part one), and in time, learning how to be that person to our benefit.

(Yes, we all have things to learn about being who we are - at least metaphysically!)

So as fire sign/first sign Aries is about learning how to ‘be’ and operate our body (eat, sleep, walk, smile, pee, etc.) so that we can in time have a good (Libra) effect on others (or at least the effect we want to have on them) ... and just as second zodiac sign Taurus is where we learn to recognize that now that we exist we have to take care of our Self (leading to all of those Taurus ‘desires’ which tend to manifest as ‘gathering to our Self’ everything we need while working out how to control enough life factors that we feel secure) ... Gemini, as the first of the zodiac air signs is all our experience of ideas - initially as input from others and then as the process of thinking for our Self. Gemini experiences - and all of the many ‘Gemini options’ are about learning how to think, how to think about those things, and about learning to choose from our options those which will work for us. Gemini is about learning to learn and learning what learning how assembling ideas creates knowledge and how putting plural ideas to work in the form of a ‘plan’ can teaches us ever more interesting things - such as how to succeed with others and in the world.

That part of the puzzle (as with all signs) is expressed by Gemini’s polarity sign - in this case,  Sagittarius, a sign which to the Gemini process represents not only another “source” of ideas and options (all of which will test whether we have learned to discipline our thinking and stay on course, on subject, on schedule and on top of things) but reactions to what we say, reactions to what we do and responses from all the way around the mulberry bush with regards to our plans, our goals, our efforts and whatever else we “put out there.”

So with the Sun in Gemini, we live in our heads more than usual. We’ll talk about things in ‘idea form’ more than usual. We’ll discuss what we think of things, we’ll debate the merit of things, we’ll want to see and think through options ... and we’re likely to be both more frustrated - and frustrating - when it comes time to make a decisions (“There are just too many options - I can’t decide!!!”). With the Sun entering Gemini in opposition to Saturn (at 1 Sagittarius), there are things which matter to us and no doubt at least a few things we need to attend to. And as  Mercury in retrograde as the Sun is starting into its annual game of Gemini hopscotch, we’re likely to be ‘stuck’ on something or about something in some way. This doesn’t have to be a problem, but it could be, especially where we (Gemini can sound disoriented when it isn’t, sound organized when it isn’t and otherwise change tack or tactics with the speed of the wind)

Around the end of the month (on the morning of May 30th in the UT/+0 zone) the Sun - in direct motion - meets up with Mercury, still in retrograde, at 8 Gemini, turning the Mercury/Moon kite formation we’ve already discussed into one with the Sun instead of the Moon and Mercury now folded (origami style, no doubt) into the kite. The ‘tail’ of any astrological kite image always being the thing we are supposed to ‘take hold of’ and use for ‘steering’ purposes, this again points us back towards all those things we should be doing or accepting as part of (North Node) life (even if we don’t want to) and either the application or learning about things through difficulties and (most often) loss, whether or not that really ‘costs’ us. The grand trine between North Node, Sun/Mercury and Ceres being an airy one, much of this operates on the mental level, which given Mercury retrograde and its well-earned reputation for making things difficult and requiring us to work through difficulties ... or to wait for them to clear up ... that could help as we hold firm to things we believe in.

Then again, it may make things harder if what we’re holding onto isn’t true or doesn’t work - whether it has before now or not.

About the time Mercury goes direct and Neptune turns to retrograde is when the Sun catches up with Mars at 21 Gemini, a degree which is known for a dissipating or scattering effect, which with perspective-oriented Pallas in opposition may indicate feeling scattered, having disconnected or ‘scattered’ things on your mind or plate to get done. The Mars side of things may speak to a (Mars) impulse or effort to ‘scatter’ or perhaps split something into parts or pieces ... is this because of some (Pallas) perspective we have come to have as Mercury goes direct and Neptune turns to retrograde? Is it because we get some sort of (Sagittarian) feedback or input from someone or some source which gives us some enlightening or possibly important form of Pallas ‘perspective’ on what we’re doing?

With Sun in Gemini what we learn about our Self always (at least over time) puts us in a better position to be productive - however we define that term. There's a nonce of a negative which goes with this ... namely how we’re not likely to be in the mood to be told things, so if you happen to be someone who's been told that you come off 'tougher' than you mean to ... or if you're just natively of an authoritarian bent (or too assertive) ... especially after Mars and the Sun come into orb of conjunction around May 29th (and escalating on from there)... you may want to make an effort over these next weeks (until the Sun moves into Cancer) to soften your tone, lest it set off ill feelings or cause someone to think you’re saying something you don’t mean to be saying at all.

And just to give you a preview, after Mars in Gemini comes Mars in Cancer, an entire month plus (read: six weeks) filled with touches of moodiness. (In other words, plan on dealing with the need to modulate energies and responses through the beginning of August).

The irony of the ‘flip side’ to all this is how we are (for the greatest part) open to conversations and dialogues. And if, or to the extent that we can keep some “Pallas perspective” on what we’re doing without needing to get poked (gently and/or otherwise) by others, we’re likely to find that a light touch and willingness to free ourselves up to hear things we may have been resisting talking about just a short time ago. And give or take the fact no Mercury retrograde ever runs in a straight line (and how by the end of Mercury retrograde the Sun and Mars running in Gemini sync (a fact which from there is going to go on for a while) energies are going to be running high.

Some will use this freewheeling, ultra-airy energy (think: 'free as the wind...') to work through complicated problems. Some will experience this energy as an easy-running period which for whatever reason feels as effortless as the flight of birds riding the passing breeze.

With Mercury traversing Gemini for the whole of the time the Sun is illuminating each of Gemini's degrees, each of them a chance to see a different facet of life through our mind's eye. The restlessness of Gemini energy can have us chasing paperwork or dreaming up fabulous plans at the same times that we're having to look for our car keys because we've gotten distracted (but you know ... who cares?) and when waiting for so-and-so to get back to us with that VERY important information even while attending to ninety-two other things can be terribly irritating - or just the excuse we've been looking for. It’s the sort of combination which can have us thinking we’ve heard what people are saying when we’re really only hearing what we want to hear not out of malice, but because we want so much to bounce ideas around with someone. Like the zodiac’s other three mutable signs (Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) Gemini speaks to situations and processes best served by being flexible enough to change a few things along the way even while continuing to aim for a previously determined goal. With Gemini being Mercury’s ‘home’ sign, having the Sun in Gemini through June 21st (when it moves on into Cancer) may be a time when there’s too much in our heads and seemingly too much noise to concentrate.

But it’s all meant to get us closer to knowing who we are. Gemini provides options so that we learn how to think and how to put together a life which ‘works’ for us. In doing so, first we ‘set’ our eyes on some far (Sagittarian) horizon ... which may or may not be what we think it is, which may or may not be desirable if and when we get there.

All of which teaches us what our mental priorities are ... and sometimes what they should be instead. When that happens, we react to what we’re learning about our Self, we deal with the million thoughts and questions about what this new information ‘means’ to everything else we know of and work it in among all our other affairs ... or not.

And that’s the Gemini influence, one which this year (at least for a time) will surely be affected in some way by all we associate with the North Node at 8 Libra. With regards to Sun in Gemini, the ‘loss’ implied by 8 Libra may refer to thoughts like ‘last time I tried that and it didn’t work - I’m going to try something else.’ Or maybe someone you are working with isn’t there, meaning you’re going to have to work by yourself and therefore do that Gemini ‘thinking thing’ by yourself since you’ve ‘lost’ the opportunity (at least for the moment?) to do things as you’re used to doing them.

And how does that apply to the myth behind Gemini? Well, to condense the myth from a gallon of text down to a verbal  teaspoon, the story behind Gemini centers largely on this constellation's two hallmark stars: Castor and Pollux.

Constellation Gemini

(image generated using Stellarium software)

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In the story, Castor and Pollux are twin brothers. And when one of the brothers (Castor) tries to win his point using brute strength, he gets utterly struck town - only to be saved by his brother Pollux, a quick thinking (not to mention well-spoken) type who so impresses head honcho Olympian god Zeus (aka astrology's Jupiter) that Zeus agrees to save Castor by turning both brothers into stars, where each would be able to shine in their own right.

The thing to remember about this myth is that we are both Castor AND Pollux: we often try to lead with our ‘strong’ points and strengths, only resorting to more intellectual (read: air sign oriented) solutions once the fact we are going to pay some price (in other words, absorb some loss) has become evident.

All of which makes thinking through this conglomeration of symbols - and all which flows from them - all the more serious, all the more worth thinking through (that would be very Gemini, after all) and exquisitely woven with possibilities.

So ... what are we willing to try?
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Sun in Leo / Mars in Scorpio / a 3 Leo New Moon

The Sun, photographed in all it's prominence glory by NASA (September 2006)

With our having just weathered two stations (those of Eris and Saturn) the Sun enters its ‘home’ sign of Leo on July 22nd (the date of this post) at 9:42 in the evening, UT/+0 time - about twenty hours after Uranus goes into retrograde motion.

This may be a surprising day...an enlightening day...an inspiring day...or even a surprising, shocking, destructive or rewarding day.

Moreover, along with the Sun entering Leo is the fact that the Perseid meteor shower will begin one day later on July 23rd. In lasting until August 20th, the Perseids cover pretty much the Sun’s entire transit of Leo - which is metaphorical right to the sword hilt seeing as meteor showers are said to be ‘sparks’ of creative thought which cut through some darkness with which our world is covered.

And considering how dark things have been, maybe that’s a good thing.

As a phenomenon, the Perseids are a meteor shower which comes to us courtesy of Swift-Tuttle. And Swift-Tuttle is on one hand a comet which by orbital range metaphysically could be thought of as tying Pluto and Venus together...and which (on top of that) has a known magnetic resonance (read: metaphysical synched quality) with Jupiter - all of which leads to a stew of desirously  transformative [Pluto], attraction laden (or by attraction attracted) [Venus] qualities which are all about needing to [Jupiter] know more about [Leo] life.

The comet itself reached its perihelion (its closest point to the Sun - or in this case, Venus) back in December of 1992 and isn’t due to reach it’s aphelion (its furthest point from the Sun, which is a bit of a leap beyond Pluto) until 2126 - a thought which when we think of it astrologically suggests a current crop of ‘insightful sparks’ which expand us or which push our vision beyond some former limit.

A Perseid meteor streak and the Milky Way

(David DeHetre, August 2012)

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The same day that the Perseids begin (July 23rd) is also the beginning of TNO Deucalion going on station at 12 Scorpio to go direct on July 25th. What would we think this influence might be?

Deucalion is - more or less - a Greek version of the Noah story...which you can read about here:

- link to -

Deucalion: Freeing Our Will 

Deucalion represents the need or ability or the inspiration to act and/or think independently when challenged by emotional situations or feelings - your own or those of others. Given that it is going direct at 12 Scorpio, we know right away that the emotionality is ours and that we are being tested (emotionally) as to whether we can handle our own emotions in dealing with others in terms of the facts - not what we want them to think, know or believe. As a second decan degree (one of the second ten degrees of this sign) the medium and goal of the situation or interactions involved will be intense, with most of our more testing issues coming from questions of whether we can ‘detoxify’ something on “our side” before we bring that to interactions with others.

Where we rise above our own emotionality (call it our tendency to be manipulated by our own emotions or mindset) then Deucalion on station and going direct becomes the opportunity - or a ‘change of winds’ which allows us to find a better way forward. Where we don’t ‘find our way to finding a way out of our own emotional corner’ Deucalion points to losses of a type which seems ‘separate from all else.’ Such losses are likely to carry some sort of moral or ethical taint which, given that this station is occurring at 12 Scorpio suggests choices or actions made without a complete understanding of parameters or possible consequences, all of which will like as not prompt emotional defensiveness until a more thought-driven form of compassion rises to the fore.

Wherever we find 12 Scorpio being emphasized (as it is here) there is also a chance that we may become so close to something or so involved that our very preoccupation may attract manipulation by others who attempt to twist or distort some truth. Given that Deucalion is turning to direct in this degree, it’s more likely that this will be a moment when such illusions will be discovered, recognized and dealt with consciously rather than this as a moment of falling under under someone’s influence, but such things can happen - if perhaps only to teach us how important it is to not be blindly swayed by others...or even by our Self.

All of that ‘takes a turn’ on Friday the 25th - and because the 26th hosts both a New Moon at 3 Leo (at 10:43 in the evening UT/+0) and Mars entering Scorpio at 2:26 in the morning (UT/+0), there are likely to be plenty of options in play.

However...! Let us not forget that if Mars is entering Scorpio at just after midnight (UT/+0) on Saturday, that means Mars has been sitting at 29 degrees of Libra coming into Deucalion’s station. Normally we would simply note that 29 degrees of any sign is considered ‘critical’ to any outcome in keeping with that sign - which in this case being Libra refers to relationships or how (even if) we relate to others or are willing to be in relationship to them... and if so, why, under what conditions and so on. But in this case, Mars has been in Libra - infusing our world with drives which were either innately weak (or taken as that) or which stirred up some sort of ‘weak’ response, whether ‘weak’ in this instance means a lack of resistance, less response that we had hoped for or greater resistance to our efforts which (in essence) put us in a ‘weak’ position...at least for the moment. Some people will indeed be caught in a ‘weak moment’ coming into Deucalion’s station and that station will be used to figure out what to do.

And then Mars will enter Scorpio...the second of Mars’ ‘home’ signs of rulership and that realm of experience where ‘the why’ behind what we do and all those ‘why’s’ which go with why we want to achieve - where all we want to get get done or claim as ours takes on something of a passionate or fascinating quality. The shift of energy is likely to be obvious: people will become more focused and energized. Conversations will spark new thoughts and opportunities.

All of this is about making a choice: what will I choose to invest myself in? Scorpio choices tend to be as much about avoiding our vulnerabilities (you know, those 'weak' points?) as emphasizing our strengths. We think we're manipulating others when what we're trying to do is to line things up so that we can achieve our aims without exposing ourselves to risk.

In particular, emotional risk - which is to say to anything which could make us feel badly about our Self.

Ah yes...the joy of Scorpio: the promise of riches with only a mild side order of poisonous paranoia. I can't think about this going wrong because I can't imagine knowing I choose this and it went wrong.

The famous Scorpio dynamic is the emotional projection: we imagine something or someone is 'all that' because we're hoping it scratches our itch (however you care to define 'itch' is up to you). 

But then we find out that thing, that person isn't perfect. (And mind you, Scorpio perfection is highly individualized so there's a million ways something can go wrong.) The natural (read: human) thing to do is to get mad - to blame it or them or whatnot. But the reality is that we know - way deep down inside - that we chose this thing, this person because we thought they were going to keep us safe...most of all from our vulnerabilities.

Unfortunately that's just not how it works.

Under Mars in Scorpio, we will seek out situations which will test our inner glitches like nobody's business. On one hand this may sound like trouble - and yes, it can be! Yet on the other this can be all about an intense period of growth which allows us to detach that 'blame game' from others and take it on with ourselves, owning our glitches, our vulnerabilities, our yucky bits...and in that, coming to see that everyone else goes through exactly the same thing.

It is from that knowledge that we then choose again: will we take advantage of them - or will we treat them as equals? Situations and dynamics from now (which is to say, July 26th) until mid-September are going to come at us from every possible evocative angle on this subject - and let's not forget...everyone else is under Mars in Scorpio as well.

Things can be wonderful or terrible under Mars in Scorpio. The instinct to go, do and make more vies during this time with the urge to control and eliminate. 

And that's just all quite very much different than Mars in Libra, a mode of going about being ourselves which began back in early December 2013. Where Mars in Libra creates a theoretical distance and tends to bring out inabilities which pit the Mars/Self aspect of life (or self) against the need to be 'part of the greater group' in possibly most unpleasant tones, Mars in Scorpio mixes it up. Under Mars in Libra, the stand-off attitude is a position. Under Mars in Scorpio, it's a stance - the fighter gathering themselves to make the lunge.

Mars normally spends about two months in a sign - as it will in Scorpio. But we've just lived through seven months of Mars in Libra (complete with retrograde, no less).

We're used to it.

So Mars in Scorpio is going to be a bit of a wake-up call.

Moreover, since Mars is entering Scorpio in square to Jupiter, the Moon and the Sun, big things are afoot. Big moves, big problems, big gaffs, successes, achievements and undertakings - some of which will be highly (Jupiter/Moon) extravagant either for the very good or terrible. With this trio in a square, it’s easy to opt for either the work or the pleasure...and not as easy to put both those things together.

But that is the challenge - and since this ingress happens just hours in advance of the New Moon, what comes up now may be the end of what we have been doing (allowing us to embrace the ‘new’)...or something may be coming together which becomes the heart and heat source for the next lunar cycle.

All year long we’ve been counting down New Moon degrees...January gave us two New Moons, both at 10 degrees, February didn’t have a New Moon (January took care of that), March’s New Moon was at 9 Aries, April gave us that thrilling New Moon we call a solar eclipse at 8 Taurus, May’s New Moon was at 7 Gemini, Junes was at 5 Cancer and now July’s New Moon will occur at 3 Leo - all of which on a metaphysical level represents ‘steps’ in a process which will by this October 23rd have us arriving at zero highly base line degrees of that most well-known (and sometimes least respected) fixed zodiacal water sign, Scorpio.

You know...Scorpio, sign of karma. Sign of wars fought - first and last with our Self. Scorpio, sign of desire... Scorpio, sign of domination... Scorpio, sign of taxes and anything which can simultaneously tax, excite and leave us helpless to the experience of our own sense of mortality - a moment which may be terrible or wonderful (or both), depending.

Doesn’t that just make your toes curl and a certain sense of warm trepidation tingle through your neural circuits?

But not to worry...first comes the New Moon at 3 Leo, a seeming declaration that the next month will test us (internally, at least) as to whether we are courageous or merely willful...even while our actions are being adjudged as either egotistical or creative. Imaged as ‘A FORMALLY DRESSED ELDERLY MAN STANDS NEAR TROPHIES HE BROUGHT BACK FROM A HUNTING EXPEDITION’ by the Sabian symbols, our ‘trophies’ may be of any type, just as the ‘man’ may represent an actual male or merely the more assertive or pro-active (courageous vs. willful) part of anyone’s character. In an 150-degree aspect to royal star Fomalhaut’s position at 4 Pisces, the position 3 Leo is automatically ‘subject’ to the ‘adjustment’ power of the inconjunct aspect between these two zodiacal points... (at least currently, which is to say until Fomalhaut moves to 5 Pisces in the year 2080)... which given Fomalhaut’s reputation for rewarding only that which is or hasn’t been corrupted (or is corruptive) may well explain how (or why, if you prefer) 3 Leo is written about as an internal/external experience of one’s own relationship to society and social accomplishment (you know, success - tangible or otherwise).

For some of us, this year has been like some very long exercise in wading through much which was far harder than we thought it would be. Where some have felt truly fortunate, others have spent each successive lunar month feeling like they’re just dodging some bullet.

Then there are those who have ‘worked’ each lunar cycle reflecting the world around them without ever having done what lunar cycles are really all about: reflecting on our Self. On life. On how we’re living our life and living in this life. 

As for that societal experience of social accomplishment (real or fanciful...past, present or future),the essence here is astrologically fiery - which is to say, about the essence behind the idea, the choice, the act...that thing we mostly think of as motivation. This degree is known for ‘showing off,’ whether that means ‘showcasing’ something, demonstrating (showing) what we are capable of or (or even willing to do) or displays of human drama. It is also known for strange combinations of brilliant insight, utter oblivion (or obliviousness to others) and inventiveness which may be inordinately helpful...or which may display a marked lack of understanding, including (in some cases) the simple inability to understand, whether that’s due to something simple like a difference in language or something truly incomprehensible.

Being an early degree in a sign which refers to not just physical children but the innocence of perspective which fosters imagination and the creative instinct, 3 Leo (and thus this New Moon period plus - to some degree - the whole of this next lunar month) seems to be about bringing us closer (or back to) some less ‘defined’ way of thinking - the ‘unhardened’ phase of personal experience wherein we are (or were) willing to befriend others without judging them because we feel less judged ourselves.

And since this is Leo...? Well...we are talking about a sign which while brilliant in essence can also be a bit blinded by that brilliance - which makes that ‘less judged ourselves’ quite possibly a statement on how we judge our Self, regardless of what anyone else says. There will surely be those this month who are unwilling - or even incapable of seeing that Self for what it is.

As the Sun enters Leo it will 'set off' a lot of Leo/Jupiter energy which as yet hasn't been accessed. Between that, the Leo New Moon and Mars' entering the sign of Scorpio we are bound to be aiming at something we want.

It consistent with who we need to be...or who we want to be? Therein lies our current quandary, one we won't all be successful with, but through which we will surely learn.
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April’s 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse (Pt. 3: Stars and Patterns)

An Annular Eclipse

(photo credit: Sancho Panza, October 2005)

Each of Earth’s yearly solar eclipses is a process...in this case one which in rolling over us on April 29th at 6:15 in the morning (UT/+0) moves us out of a ‘breaking down’ phase where whatever is outmoded gets revealed so as to challenge our values and whatever we value or why we value or prioritize it, for good, bad and indifferent.

From this shift, exposure and need to re-evaluate our perceptions will come a new phase of development, experience and resultant utilization of abilities.

And though we may need such changes, let’s be real - we may not like going through them. There is something about the solar eclipse process which, with all due respect for dentistry is rather like having teeth extracted without painkillers.

There is a level at which we should take that sort of difficulty as a hint, perhaps. Why? Because throughout the millennia, the observation of solar eclipse effects on humans and in this world includes some of our very worst attributes.

You know...that very popular human sport called “being stubborn.”

Mind you, having opinions is lovely and standing for what you believe in and who you are the most necessary of things in this world. (Those who can’t do even that much have a very hard time.) And stubbornness has it’s place - no question. But when we are stubbornly refusing to know ourselves...that’s where eclipses come in.

Eclipses are very mysterious timekeepers. But they do seem to clock out areas of our life which will get exposed to us no matter what else happens and who else does, or doesn’t see.

Also: in the case of eclipses - a “blinding” object in the sky - IF someone else ‘sees’ you in the middle of dealing with your eclipse puzzle, whether or not they react you may be assured that witnessing is part of their own process. In other words (to quote a seriously Leo female I used to work with), ‘it’s so NOT about YOU.’

Well, mostly not. There is this factor of ‘like attracts like’ (metaphysical water/emotions seeking its/their own level) between people at eclipses and for good or bad, whether we like it or not the polarizing effects have much to teach us, if we’re only willing to learn.

So...do we value learning more or sticking with a ‘decided upon’ perspective or set of priorities?

Right now...right in this moment as we move into and through the solar eclipse, something will end or get ‘blacked out’ as the metaphysical ‘eclipsing’ of our former ‘norm’ - “the way we thought things were” gets wiped away.

This doesn’t have to be violent. It doesn’t even have to be unpleasant, though eclipses in Taurus tend to be particularly trying as they reveal things which, while they may or may not make us vulnerable in reality, sure feel that way.

It’s a prescription for insecurity - all of which we are being ‘told’ (astrologically) is going to challenge us with our own ability to act on faith...or to be faithful to some promise and/or precept.

-link to-

Mercury in Taurus / Neptune at 7 Pisces

Solar eclipses happen about every six months, reminding us of our mortality in the sense that events which happen during ‘eclipse seasons’ operate at a mental latitude omnipotent, humbling and incomprehensible in the moment. The sextile from Neptune (at 7 Pisces) to the eclipse (at 8 Taurus) signals a manifesting, an outpouring or ‘bursting forth’ of all things which confuse and disorient us precisely so that we can see or witness something different...or at least differently than we have seen it.

From that will come a nebulous strew of new perceptions, some of which - at least - will challenge us to be more honest with our Self.

And if we can’t (or won’t) go there...then we feel our own pain most acutely. It’s easy to make excuses now. It’s easy to do that which makes us feel better in this moment. Yet even the most determined (or hard headed, depending) among us are likely to have doubts at the moment. Whatever we’re involved in (or not involved in), there’s no clear path through the fray.

We will cope, of course. With the degree of this eclipse being 8 Taurus this time is simply personal in nature - and equally so for each and every one of us, whether you’re baking cookies at home or being focused on by schools and scads of media on some high profile international stage. In some way reflective of our ability to think ahead, adapt along the way and plan for the proverbial ‘rainy day’ (whether that’s past or present) we are at something of a ‘checkpoint’ in time - an idea quaintly referred to by the eclipse’s Sabian description ‘A fully decorated Christmas Tree.’

Can this reference be religious? It could be, but since the origin of Christmas is northern-hemispheric it’s as (or more) likely that this reference is to cyclic renewal: the idea that late December is when in the northern hemisphere days start growing longer and (solar) renewal is thus promised.

There will be another growing season, another harvest, we have more time, we can try, try again.

Evidently we humans like knowing there’s brighter light ahead. Before Christmas and around the globe humans have always celebrated the moment when we feel life quicken and begin to grow.

We celebrate it in our calendar, we celebrate it when in the moment when we learn of a human’s conception - or see their birth. Such things transcend our differences as societally, culturally, globally accepted moments worth celebrating even in the life of our dearest enemy.

Okay...so maybe we won’t celebrate the birth of their child as they would, but we’d probably stop shooting at them long enough to let them kiss their newborn.

Those who don’t and won’t go that far may win in some short run, but in doing so either seed or reveal their monster/monstrous tendencies...which only begs the question when they’ll notice that the psychic blood being spilled is really theirs.

Solar eclipses are not gentle. Solar eclipses often manifest in group experiences but are always and eternally about us - who we are as individuals and our ability to recognize, realize and/or deal with who we are.

At the moment, this entire process is highly amplified and yet strangely ‘inaccessible’ - that being the manifestation of that pesky Mars still in (Libra) retrograde which remains with us until-and-through Mars’ May 20th station - a station which will open doors to ‘move forward’ starting at the ‘theoretical/mental’ end of things with actions and “progress” (as we see it) slowly picking up pace as we move through June. Prior to May 20th the (Mars/Libra retrograde) ‘gap’ between the ‘me’ and ‘them’ (or ‘it’) of life will tend to feel like isolation. Where we are and where we want to be are just not in synch. We can think of this as being given us a bit of ‘space’ and “mental room” and many of us will do (and have been doing) just that.

But there is that (Neptunian) insecurity. And if there’s anything humans don’t like, it’s feeling insecure.

And why would that be? Could it be that insecurity stems from feeling that our personal power (or power to be the person we are) is being threatened?

Or maybe we aren’t “all that” (with or without the bag of chips)?

The good news is that we’re all in this together. The bad news is that there is no clear-cut solution to whatever it is we’ve gathered onto our plate...nor are we all that happy about having to confront knowing about all those choices which got us to wherever we are at the moment.

But then, so did everybody else. And if E=mc2’d...or if you merely want to think about Existence as a single thing which at whatever level manifests as the whole of what it is in every given moment, then you...me...the doorknob and your computer, we are ALL energy.

As is all the space between us - which really means we’re contiguous...from which vantage point individuality takes on a whole other perspective: that of knowing our part in order to play our part in a Whole which provides all we need and all we could ever conceive of or want.

So given that, who are we fighting when our feelings prompt us to upset? It’s a whole different question, isn’t it?

And one which is not all that comfortable to deal with as generational shifts continue evolving. Deep within we want things to change - we just aren’t sure that anyone else knows how to do the right thing.

Then again, neither do we. Our lives social, societal, worldly and planetary are all changing, bringing about a wholesale crumbling of old allegiances (Pluto/Sabine) and whatever attitudes or perspectives have outlived/completed their usefulness in our lives, our world, our life and times.

Whatever (Pluto/Vega) appeal brought such qualities to the fore is beginning to fade, asking that we (Pluto) transform our Self - not that (Uranus) change is very easy. The innate difference between Plutonic and Uranian processes has pitted us against our own ability to tolerate inexorable inevitabilities we may or many not like amidst an aura of fractious reactivity, ‘shaking us’ at an entirely (TNO Typhon) primal level and as always, Uranus will manifest as situations which 'exert' change in a more abrupt force where we are unwilling or unable to be sufficiently flexible.

Given the ongoing Mars/Libra retrograde, we may see such displays in others...Or we may feel like someone is ‘doing’ something “to” us (or even with us in mind) when that very concept is far less (if at all) about them and (more or less) entirely about why we’re reacting to them in the manner that we're doing.

We feel like it wasn’t long ago (Diadem @ 9 Libra) when in comparison to this moment, things were simple. And part of us does know that the difficulties of this moment are valuable because whether we like it or not, some of humanity’s most valuable (Diadem) lessons come not from joy but through the discomfort of times when we fight the hardest with our Self.

And this is where solar eclipses get so interesting. In moving over our world they move through our lives erupting in whatever sort of event or situation will bring out our weaknesses - in this case, our weakest values.

Priorities - particularly those we have been comfortable with allowing or identifying with (not to mention being known for) either have or will form  lasting (Lachesis) images (Photographica) we will carry forward for some time to come.

Our challenge: not to get (Europa) carried away and not to (Uranus in Aries) over-react. Innovations and various forms of ‘catching up’ are needed and meeting those needs will require (Uranus change)...and probably some degree of sacrifice (Alpheratz) as we relinquish old ideas and ways of thinking, particularly about who we ‘are’ (or need to be) in our own eyes - or those of others.

That all of this comes to us in the form of a grand cross suggests a period of days...even weeks...which with whatever else they bring will also pose challenges, challenges which through their very lack of resolution cause us to question.

Some of our questions will ask why we’ve (Capricorn) come to this place. Some of our questions will ask what we can do in the (Libra) face of feeling like nothing can be done. Some of our questions will cause us to want to know why it is that as individuals or whatever form of family, group or alliance we have such issues (Cancer) with living a fruitful, peacefully productive life. Are we really at such cross-purposes with an other, or with our (Aries) Selves?

All of which brings us to the most symbolic and astro-mythic figure in this side of this eclipse as represented by fixed stars Hamal and Schedir being at 7 Taurus, just a degree off the eclipse itself.

8 Taurus manifests generally as sensitivities and difficulties, one which feeds the other. Responsibilities become focal whether our issue is a rejection of responsibility or our being overwhelmed in the face of responsibilities we don’t know how to (or simply can’t) handle with the whole of this degree being somewhat more ‘airy’ (idea-driven) than many a more earthy, ‘reality oriented’ Taurean degree. With the eclipse at 8 Taurus it is the ‘idea’ of the value we have lacked - most of all in our Self - which in becoming exposed changes our ‘playing field.’

Against this, 7 Taurus is a highly corporeal degree - and one known for its focus on ‘physical existence.’ Not known as a particularly pleasant degree, 7 Taurus tests our ability to cope with painful realities which at some level are the result of choices made, perhaps over time (read: probably within the last eclipse cycle of 19 years) which did not fully grasp or ‘embody’ the reality of consequences - be they theoretical, physical or...considering the ‘trigger’ on this lesson is a solar eclipse...life changing in terms of how we regard life, whether or not our lives are touched in any moment-to-moment manner.

As for the stars, as primary/alpha star in the constellation Aries the Ram, Hamal (alternate name: El-Nath) stands for either the type of (Saturn/Mars) focus and motivation which could be typified as ‘determined effort’ ...or (at the other end of the polarity string) something akin to ‘limited options’ or ‘restricted range’ (implication: of activity, motion or effectiveness). Like most fixed star effects, Hamal’s ‘backdrop to life’ quality tends to take on some ‘coloration’ from whatever is associated with it or in its constellation (Aries) at the time the star is ‘triggered,’ as it is being by a solar eclipse one degree away.

As photographed by NASA and ESA, HST-G1 (also known as Mayall II)

near the core of the Andromeda Galaxy (Sept 2006)

Metaphysically speaking, the eclipse marks at time which seeks to educate and inform us through the ‘expose’ or ‘release’ all things having to do the energies of Hamal and the principle of all things Aries and currently Aries, giving us to think about the nature of our consciousness, about what we’re doing with our life, about who we’re being and about the innate innocence involved in being human, an innocence and vulnerability of mortality we so often like to (consciously) forget.

The eclipse is in Taurus, to be sure. But with the ‘currently transiting Aries’ list currently being headlined by Uranus and dwarf planet Eris, that points to changes which come about through whatever puts us in position to be tumbled into periods of self-confrontation.

And considering how few people really like that sort of thing, we can hardly expect things to be powder puff pink and cutely rosy. Considering the retrograde implications here (Mars rules Aries), something about ‘them’ hits ‘home’ to (Aries) on a personal level by whatever means will promote careful (even critical) reflection. The more (Libra) ‘married’ we are to ‘them’ or their (Libra) ideas, or the more we tend to impose, restrict or reject others when and where they are simply different, the more difficult things will seem.

In other words, we need to know and be who we are, as do others. But to the extent that this equation (either the being or doing or both) is out of balance, things now won’t ‘pay’ or ‘play out’ as anticipated and the more problematic the moving ‘through’ this eclipse period is likely to be.

Situations have now broken down to where we can either ourselves or feel our own inner walls. Why we have those walls is part of our metaphysical corona - the opportunity to see in Self and life that which ordinarily gets lost in day-to-day doings. Once we get through that...once we get honest (at least with our Self)...then we move on.

Constellations Cassiopeia (center), Andromeda (lower left), part of

Perseus (upper left) and the edge of Cepheus (middle/right)

 

But that probably will involve dealing with Schedir principles at some level, since of the two stars at 7 Taurus, Schedir is definitely the one related to emotional knot-tying.

The myth behind Schedir is that of Cassiopeia, the beautiful if arrogant and vain queen of Ethiopia. To those who know the tale of Niobe this story will sound familiar - though there are a few key differences. Where Niobe claimed her children were more beautiful than the collective intellectual attributes represented by Apollo (the truth of enlightenment) and sister Artemis (the truth of experience), Cassiopeia merely claimed her children were more beautiful than the sea nymph daughters of Neptune (Poseidon) known as the Nereids - which is another way of announcing that she (Cassiopeia) was so wonderful that things she could do (or produce) would be more valuable to human beings than the products of their (Neptune/Poseidon) feelings.

I’m sure you hear some bad times brewing behind this highly mythic sort of assertion, and for those  pondering in that direction, you would surely be right - although this is not the ‘arrow to the heart’ solution reaped by Niobe for her arrogance. Arrows and such being the things of airy flight, that is not how Neptune (emotionalism) chose to punish Cassiopeia. Instead he sent Cetus (a monster of our unconsciousness or ‘the monstrous image’) to attack Ethiopia itself...which is a curious way of saying that the arrogance of our emotions and/or emotional assertions is fully capable of damaging that we stand for, say we love or are trying to lead, protect or otherwise be in charge of.

How Cassiopeia responded to this situation appears to be not so noteworthy. But when king and husband Cepheus learned of the impending attack he sought out advice from an oracle. And when that oracle said the only way to save his kingdom was to sacrifice his own daughter Andromeda, that’s what Cepheus chose to do. In chose country over family he also chose intellectual ideal over emotional commitment - an idea metaphysics has long spoken of in discussions about mythic male and female character images. They aren’t ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in other words, they’re the naturally assertive and responsive parts of our individual nature... which makes this conversation at least in part about the ‘seed of the child’ within us as Alpheratz - the fixed star in conjunction with Europa in the eclipse’s grand cross - is a star located 

To finish with the myth, Andromeda was duly chained to a rock at the ocean’s edge and abandoned.

Andromeda by Gustave Dore

And just as the monster Cetus appeared, so did hero Perseus while on his way home with the head of Medusa. Having already ‘done battle’ with his own fear of facing fear (Medusa) Perseus was exactly the right fellow to rescue Andromeda from  being living ‘payment’ for her kin’s self-defined, self-concerned values.

As is our more ‘heroic’ self Perseus represents whatever part of us which has seen the bad, which has survived the ugly, which knows to look at fears in reflection. It is not that Perseus - or that we always know how to attack the problem of those dangerous emotions which can appear from the psychic deep to threaten us, but that we need to face the real need to try our best which counts.

- link to -

Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

So...over the past two months (more or less), life has evidenced and provoked situations and experiences which reveal to us the embodiment of everything which has gone wrong in areas which are (8 Taurus) rather sensitive. The whole idea of trying to deal with something complicated and which seems - at least on the intellectual level - potentially massively destructive probably bothers each and every one of us as we think about it, and that makes facing up to what must be done in facing the physical attributes of whatever is at hand now all the more difficult.

Why that is...and what that value can teach us about other things in our life? That’s for us to sort through, and as the date of the eclipse passes and we give up trying to hold onto some bygone status quo we will indeed do that.

In the meantime... since our emotions seldom let us escape such ‘monstrous’ situations unscathed it’s not surprising that Neptune/Poseidon (our emotionality) imprisoned Cassiopeia - and in classically Greek illustrations her punishment was an evocative one which has come down to us with Cassiopeia as the ‘chained woman.’

A woodcut of Cassiopeia depicted seated in her 'chair of tormentr'

(from the Hyginus 'Poeticon Astronomicon,' courtesy of US Naval Observatory Library

Tied to her throne (her ‘seat of vanity’) constellation Cassiopeia remains ‘on top of the world’ as it circles Earth’s pole, but for fully half the year she is pretty much ‘standing on her head’ - which some think of as an invitation to ‘turn tables’ and reinvent one’s self and some think of as doomed destiny.

Apparently it’s up to us. (Again.)

Through the period of this eclipse - both as we come to it and in its wake as we start a long, three-year evolutionary process we cannot as yet know the end of, Schedir’s involvement may reflect some grotesque or grotesquely negative reality in your world or which has surfaced in your life. Or it may represent your being ‘tied’ by some commitment, promise, legality, situational parameter, custom... something which prevents you from ‘getting up from your throne’ to act. Looking at the myth it would seem the more ‘tied’ or ‘bound’ we are emotionally the more we will tend to attempt to handle matters on more of an ‘externalized’ basis - and that for those choices to succeed we must be ready and willing to face our fears (or our fear of our fear) about something in fairly short order even though the fullness of whatever happens will not become apparent for several years yet to come.

That the name ‘Schedir’ (which comes from Arabic) means ‘breast’ would seem to indicate that some sort of ‘failure to nurture’ (or nourish or even ‘parent’) is involved here, in which case the ‘chain’ would be the connective between that ‘nourishing factor’ and whatever considerations you may be going through with regards to values and valuations or  evaluations being - or which have been exposed since the latter part of February (2014).

As I’ve said (and will no doubt say again), eclipses are difficult to understand while in the ‘break down’ and ‘passing through’ phases. We look back at eclipses in our life and understand what was changing at that time but seldom understand in the precision of the moment what the eclipse is truly about.

All we know are the current circumstances...which is apparently all we should know as, unbeknownst to us the universe functions as it should. And as it does that, irrevocably if effortlessly we are each and every one of us moved individually and in contiguous continuity through our metamorphic processing: stripped of  whatever seeming solid convictions are separating us from being our most self-respected - and therefore validated in value) Self - we are therefore left with the opportunity to better utilize what we are in the support of who we can be: one human among a contiguous E=mc2 many we of this greatly blue planet tend to call 'All.'
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