Pluto’s New Moon Vega Station

Fixed star Vega, photographed here by the Spitzer Space Telescope,

is twenty-five light years away from us in constellation Lyra

(photo credit: JPL, NASA)

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As this post hits the digital airwaves, dwarf planet Pluto is going on station. The actual station-retrograde moment occurs at 3:52 in the morning on Friday, April 17th (in the UT/+0 time zone), but given the nature of stations as indicators of things ‘taking a turn’ in life, it just isn’t unusual for things to happen just in advance - or just after - a station’s occurrence.

And the likelihood of something Plutonic happening to you...? That increases (or decreases) with how exactly Pluto aspects your natal chart.

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The closer the aspect, the stronger the effect.  And since we’re talking Pluto, the closer to the actual time and date of station, the more transformative the effect. With Pluto going from direct motion into retrograde, we’re going from just shy of seven months of adapting to externally into about five months of changing on the inside - or finding out how we’ve already changed, and what that means to us in some long(er) run.

With Pluto taking this ‘turn’ in perfect conjunction with fixed star Vega, part of what we’re going through involves a sorting through standards and ‘structures,’ be they physical, mental, moral, fiscal, occupational or otherwise - and what we’re finding there is that things are either changing ... or never were what we wanted to think they were to begin with.

And no, we can’t forget about it.

Nor are we particularly enthralled about it, even in the case of those (you know who you are...!) who are utterly determined to resist, that being one of the easiest things to read from the grand trine (in earth signs) which Pluto is in as it goes into retrograde.

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This‘resisting’ force is symbolized by Mars, though at 12 Taurus there is every chance that some of us will be beginning to tackle or work through things which have been resisted, but which for whatever reason are now beginning to be recognized as an area of life or attribute or situation in need of investment and attention, not something simply to be taken on its hard-shell face.

The other member of this triad being Black Moon Lilith at 15 Virgo, an odd combination which speaks either to a determined effort to deny any responsibility for dealing with particular facts/truths even if they will benefit your aim, goal or ‘cause’... or which speaks to some sort of determined effort which, in seeking to control how others act, think or prioritize, gets confronted by some sort of transformative energy which ends up changing the goal or the point of the effort itself.

Moreover, this particular Pluto station is also part of an ‘almost complete’ grand sextile.

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In not being complete, this figure won’t be important to many of us. However, IF you’re someone with a planet, dwarf planet, node, cusp or axis point positioned between 4 and 7 degrees of Libra in your natal chart, that point will complete this grand sextile (filling in the question mark above), telling us that what you’re doing and things which are now in progress are going to change your life - not just transform your direction or change your mind but change your life in fairly short order.

This doesn't have to be a big change - but it can be. It may be something only you recognize or even suspect. It may only matter to you. Or it may have not ever  crossed your mind until now. With this being a grand sextile in fire and air taking place as Pluto takes station in an earth signs, there is a bit of an abstract quality about something both fateful and very real ... which in time you will grow to recognize as a learning experience you were never in control of.

And even if you’re not on the grand sextile list, there are two other figures included with fire and air sign sprinkle, one of which is a Kite... 

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... and the other of which is a Magic Rectangle...

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...which unlike the possible grand sextile DO both apply to everyone - at least as ‘modifiers’ to whatever Pluto station matters we’re each experiencing.

Not that they work the same way, though. Kites speak of opportunities which we want to harness, or which need to be harnessed, lest something get off course or fail to live up to its nature. Kites ‘aim’ at a goal which is pictured by the object at the top of the kite - which in this case, is Ceres at 3 Aquarius, speaking to difficulties or people who are experiencing painful difficulties and our efforts to guard against such things, to fix whatever may be causing the difficulties, or even the determination to ‘guard’ or ‘protect’ some painful status quo from criticism or interference.

But with kites, we don’t ‘aim’ right for the goal - we ‘steer’ towards it, doing that steering from the position of the kite’s “tail” (here, Juno at 7 Leo),  which if you think of that point as where a kite’s string would attach makes total sense.

As for Juno at 7 Leo, that speaks to a (Juno) managing or management of some situation, aim or tendency through the intelligent construction (constructing) of that which is the most creative and ‘aimed at’ (this being the Aquarius part) not one’s personal aims, but those bigger or more overarching considerations which if improved will bring about the result or reward we are hoping for (and thus our personal rewards).

Pluto Station-Retrograde (glyph chart)

April 17, 2015 - 3:52 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Pluto station-retrograde (text chart)

April 17, 2015 - 3 52 (UT +0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Magic rectangles differ from kites in that kites are something we actively do (or are in the middle of doing) and magic rectangles refer most often to things which are, or which have been set up, created or which have come to be without all that much effort on our part, and which because they are just so ‘magical’ (and more or less magically effortless) in our lives we don’t tend to value as someone else - someone who doesn’t have our talent, our heritage or inheritance, how someone who doesn’t have our problems OR our privileges might see things.

And that being what it may, all goes well (or terribly) for us in this seemingly unending way until something ‘breaks the spell’ and the magic suddenly ends.

Once “broken” (which with a natal magic rectangle is timed through difficult transits to the points which make up the figure) magic rectangles are difficult to heal, solve or otherwise resurrect. It’s as if the ability remains, but because it wasn’t “worked for” in the “normal” sense, there seems to always be some sort of inability to put things back together.

In this case (a strictly transiting magic rectangle), the points are Ceres, Saturn, Juno and Venus, with Venus in opposition to Saturn and Ceres (as we just discussed in reference to the kite) in opposition from Leo to Aquarius. Saturn is still at 4 Sagittarius - the degree it was at when it went retrograde back on March 14th ...

-link to post-

Saturn Retrograde - Phaethon Direct

... and Venus is at 6 Gemini, a degree known for separating fact from fiction and facts from feelings, resulting in insights which though correct can prove very unpopular and a preference (or need to remain confined to) surface examinations, perhaps because this degree insists on equal emphases on ability and (emotional) motivation if success is to be achieved.

Venus/Saturn in opposition is considered one of the few oppositions which are fortunate (and even sometimes stabilizing) in business world and when it comes to dealing with money. This combination is also very good for making plans which require consideration of details and/or ‘costs,’ be they financial or to anything else - such as a schedule or some other plan which now needs to be changed.
Pluto’s station isn’t affecting any of these dynamics directly. But that they are occurring at the same time as Pluto’s station does suggest how, with regards to something in your life which you identify personally as having its reflection in either with the grand sextile, the kite or the magic rectangle (or maybe all three!) ... how that situation or effort is going through a transformative time.

Or how ‘other’ (Pluto) things around you in life and the world which are in the process of changing are causing (even forcing) you to alter your plans - maybe even fatefully so.

And that things may (read: will) change? Or that they’re changing? Or that many of us will be or become the person who enacts that change - or that we’ll begin changing in our own life?

With Pluto turning to retrograde on the 17th just a day after Earth has begun its annual Lyrid Meteor Shower (and a day before a New Moon at 28 Aries on the 18th) we are getting a double dose of finger pointing in the Vega direction. After all, not only is Pluto going retrograde in perfect conjunction with Vega, but this station is occurring one day after the Lyrid Meteor shower (which runs from April 16th through the 25th) begins.

Constellation Lyra is, after all, where Vega lives.

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And if that’s not enough, comet Thatcher (the comet which produces the Lyrids) has its radiant (apparent origination point) IN Lyra, a constellation which portrays the ‘musical instrument’ (and ‘harmonic tones,’ one could argue) used by god Apollo.

Which makes perfect sense when we think of Vega as the heart of this constellation and thus a symbol of all which softens our resistance and ‘attunes’ us to the qualities of Apollo’s enlightenment - that being so very close to what we call ‘charisma.’

So this issue of what pleases us, what we think ‘looks good’ or ‘sounds good,’ the qualities of charisma (that which enchants us) and/or our qualities of charisma (that with which we enchant others) ... all that is now up for grabs (one hopes not literally) with what others think of us as easily transformed as what we think of them (or ‘that,’ should our focus be a situation, goal or object rather than a person).

Does that mean everything will go wrong now?

Not necessarily. It all really depends on our relationship to Plutonic forces and desires - said desires so often being aimed at what we want others to do or be, when the real issue is how vulnerable we really feel. We’re all exceptionally good at fooling ourselves on this point - we tend to think Plutonic acts and choices are about our ‘strength’ instead of our fervent desire not to be seen as weak.

Or maybe worse yet, to have to live with our feelings of incapacity, weakness or vulnerability. That, we REALLY don’t like, especially at times when Pluto energies become active.

You know, like about now. So we can all expect to be going through some ‘stuff’ which we don’t like at all - and in response to what we think of as something someone else is “doing to us” (or to our efforts), we are likely to get all hot and Pluto-obsessive, which is not the way we “win” (or prevail) where Pluto is concerned.

Here’s the Pluto rule: no matter how demanding or upsetting the situation is, first, know your position. Then state it - ONCE - in its simplest and most honestly and complete terms.

Then BE QUIET. Go about your business. Let the fur fly. Let others stir up all the dust they want to stir up.

If you have understood the problem and truly proceeded on honest facts, and IF you have chosen your course of action (or priorities) based not on emotion but on an understanding of your fears as well as the needs of others (without giving in emotionally to either side) ... then, when the dust settles, you will win out.

I know - this sounds odd. Particularly odd as we associate Pluto with passion, obsession and overwhelming odds, feelings and outcomes. But that’s just the point: Pluto’s positives are outcomes which occur when we do things for the right reason, not because we desire a given outcome.

And when we don’t go that route?

That’s when Pluto becomes a symbol of an emotional world of pain ... a painfully emotional world and a world of emotionality driven by pain.

So what does all this mean in connection with a New Moon in Aries - specifically at 28 Aries?

Every New Moon is about something new, be it the phase of a continuing project, a new perspective on something or someone you know or a new plan, reason or action which leads to getting something done, whether externally or otherwise.

New Moon in Aries (glyph chart)

April 18, 2015 - 19:56 (7:56 pm) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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New Moon in Aries (text chart)

April 18, 2015 - 19:56 (7:56 pm) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Before we move on, a few notes from the ‘Oh, What a Difference a Day Makes’ file. Between the time Pluto goes on station and the New Moon, the Moon will have moved over twenty degrees, completely disrupting the grand sextile and kite formations seen at Pluto’s station.

The magic rectangle is still there. Pluto’s private grand trine is still there. But the opportunity (or perhaps the need) which might have allowed us to steer something - that’s over.

Being at 28 Aries, this New Moon will emphasize  personal issues in that we’re likely to take things personally - even overly so, as in the case of those who will see something happen in the world around them and give up or walk away. Aries is always a fairly temperamental sign this way, but its not always as prone to disappointment (and all which goes on inside of us when we’re feeling disappointed) as at the moment.

Some of this may be useful in how it may be a reflection of our realizing that something we’ve been doing is either ‘over’ or it’s not going to work (or can’t work) the way we thought it would - which for some equals defeat. But for others, maybe it just means we need to take a step back and think (or plan) through again. At least one astrologer has written about this degree as having something of a different response depending on our age as well, with younger people feeling more disappointments (or feeling their setbacks more acutely) than those who have lived long enough to think of life in less black-and-white terms.

But whoever we are, this New Moon’s degree - and thus the lunar month it is spearheading emphasizes support, help and the equal abilities of men and women to be receptive of others and generous in kind.

Evidently that matters at the moment. Not only that, it’s also part of everything we’re doing by way of sorting through the differences between what we thought was ‘worth it’ or valuable or inspirational or what we wanted ... and what things have turned out to be-and/or-become.

With Pluto going retrograde on the 17th, the two-day station allowance we give such events ends on Sunday the 19th. And since Sunday the 19th is the date that Pallas goes retrograde (at 0 Capricorn) and the second of April’s scheduled meteor showers (the Eta Aquarids) begins, in the wake of Pluto’s station ... and the New Moon ... it would appear we will be ‘sparked’ to some new (Pallas) or new level of perspective.

Pallas has been sitting at 0 Capricorn since it entered the sign just after Jupiter’s station on the 8th, promoting patience and the need for patience as much with our Self as others as we try - often ineffectively - to communicate forms of inner truth to others even as we protect our beliefs or abilities from unnecessary harm. Will Pallas’ going retrograde mean we will now gain some perspective on our Self as to why we get listened to and not listened to? Not necessarily, but maybe. What would seem to be likely apart from that would be our gaining some ‘transformative’ perspective through (or as) we simply live through these days - which in its own way will give us perspective on who we have been being ... who we can be ... and why one thing might work better for us than another. Given Pallas’ turn to retrograde as the Eta Aquarids start up (they start on April 19th and run until May 28th), we can expect some natural societal, society, social, systemic and networking energies - anything which to us defines the path to and experience of ‘success’ (however we define that) to be part of this mix. Given the Aries New Moon, there are aspects of this introduction of Big Picture Aquarian (Eta Aquarid) vibe which apply to health, lifestyle and overall functionality ... and then again, there are aspects of the current energetics which are very definitely more egocentric - and about whether our ego is getting in the way (our way).

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Plus, there is the fact that this part of the station - the ‘aftermath’ and evolutionary part which starts us into seeing what we need to leave behind and where we need to go in order to renew or reinvent our Self and efforts in times ahead ... all of that is taking place on the day when the Sun is at 29 “critical” degrees of Aries - a degree known as useful to those willing to make determined efforts (now and in the days, weeks and months to come) and which though not particularly elegant, is willing to grapple with the ugly as well as the beautiful, if only because the energy of 29 Aries seeks to build on that which is solid while eliminating the tendency to hesitate or otherwise waste time and energy on appearances which in the end are merely ‘advertising.’

In the end, we are what we do. That’s very 29 Aries - as is the inbuilt-desire and effort to work peacefully and to have everything work out for the best as the Sun moves on into Taurus, where who we are (and aren't) come back to haunt us not only through what we are (and have done through a month of Aries-centric self-motivated doings) - but through what we aren't, especially in our own soul.

Thus will we be ... and find ourselves transformed.
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Mercury enters Taurus

In keeping with the Sabian Symbol for 0 Taurus, "A CLEAR MOUNTAIN STREAM"

(phase 31), a photo of a tumbling Alpine stream in Mollis, Switzerland.

(photo credit Glarnerwolf, October 2014)

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For all those whose brain circuitry is feeling all jumpy or overloaded even with Venus now in Gemini, calming influences are theoretically on the way in the form of Mercury entering Taurus at 22:53 (10:53 p.m.) UT/+0 time on Tuesday, April 14th.

And yes, this may mean you go directly from jumpy to all stodgy or stuck-on-a-stick-(ish), but at least with Mercury’s entrance into Taurus many a thing (human and otherwise) which has come to have a ‘mind of its own’ to the extent that the possible good is being offset by too much consciousness of Self ...or, particularly in the case of inanimate or insentient situations or objects, where there simply isn’t enough ‘integration’ to keep continuation of whatever is going on from creating problems for others/other parts of some ‘food chain.' (Which, in some cases could refer to actual - Taurus - food and/or issues connected to food, eating and the entire spectrum of 'nourishment' as a concept or practice.)

Being our solar systemic indicator of mentality and mental pacing, tone and potential, Mercury’s entering Taurus will reflect in something of a shift in thinking habits. Gone will be the drive and edge so common under Mercury in Aries - and gone too will be the tendency to think primarily (if not only) in terms of our Self, a habit which can be plenty disruptive under Mercury in Aries even if it also is a sign of standing up for one’s self or taking some stand.

Moreover, we’re not all that ‘done’ with learning a few new things. The first three signs of the zodiac (Aries, Taurus, Gemini) are all about learning who we are - and a lot of that learning gets done through other people (i.e., through influences described by the three signs in oppositional polarity to those first three signs).

In Taurus, Mercury seeks ways for things to be secure and secured. Optimally, this combination of sign and planetary symbol speaks to our confidence, our ability to cope when challenged by anything.

But therein lies the rub, if you get my drift. The oppositional sign to Taurus being Scorpio, all things Taurean become or tend to be tested by episodes of push-pull or through ‘discussions’ which we either have with our Self about that Self (and what they are or aren’t doing) ... or ‘discussions’ with-or-about others, with all of this basically being about what ‘worth’ means, and what in life really deserves our time, effort, loyalty, resources, sacrifices or anything other part of our life.

In short, why should we care? Or ... should we care?

Under Taurus we may feel guilty for being selfish or unequal to a looming challenge. We may take to thinking of ourselves as having done all we need to do, or we may recognize that we could do something if we would just prepare ourselves for the task (and eventual triumph!) through committing to some sort of Self-development.

And given the nature of Mercury, variations on these themes are what we are going to think about, talk about and experience from April 14th until Mercury moves on into Gemini come May 1st.

During that transit, Mercury will go retrograde. The dates are from May 19th through June 11th, and that Mercury is going to go retrograde under Gemini means that apart from things which are happening at that time (and which are totally unique to the moment) ... that makes Mercury’s transit of Taurus a period when what we are doing may well in some way end up connecting or contributing to whatever we are focused on (or possibly hung up by) during Mercury’s retrograde period.

Does that mean we will be so focused ...or so determined to finish something (come what may) that we end up making some miscalculation or omission which ends up forcing us to double back as is so common under Mercury retrograde? Might it mean we’re trying to hit/adhere to some deadline because once Mercury enters Gemini (or goes retrograde) we will have missed some known opportunity?

There’s another way to see the whole of this Mercury in Aries, Taurus and Gemini process which also may well apply here, particularly if you’re looking longer term (months or years, as opposed to days or weeks). Considering all else (the recent eclipses and such) and being how all three cited signs are zodiacal first quadrant signs (pertaining to learning about our Self, our abilities or things we need to know in order to effectively live our life), everything we do from now until Mercury enters Cancer (and the zodiac’s 2nd quadrant) is on some level part of an overarching ‘project’ - the inborn ‘project’ we have to tackle simply because we are what and who we are as living beings on this planet in this time.

It sounds so serious. And survival is serious - hence Taurus’ relationship to security and all the ‘necessaries’ which allow us to proceed along our way through life, the most popular of which seem to be personal security (physical and emotional), food, shelter and money ... the basic stuff of life.

If this is you, if you are in the middle of a personal learning ‘project’ (or if you’re needing to tackle one), Mercury being anywhere in the first quadrant supports your investigations - and at the moment, though there is some fixed sign tendency with Mercury to stick on some point just because admitting you’ve been wrong triggers an inner/instinctive sense of vulnerability connected to “not knowing” how to take care of your Self, those who can get past the sticking to the digging into the process of doing, doing better or learning how or why your efforts aren’t effective ... they will all stand to learn a lot and even make themselves feel a whole lot better (about something) through the process of making that effort.

Mercury in Taurus (glyph chart)

April 14, 2015 - 22:53 (10:53 p.m.) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Mercury in Taurus (text chart)

April 14, 2015 - 22:53 (10:53 p.m.) UT/+0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Of course for some this is a particularly prickly emotional time. That is to be expected in the wake of an eclipse which hit fixed star Scheat - which among other things stands for our ability to wall things out, and our willingness to project the responsibility for feelings and reactions onto others without realizing that if its your reaction its your problem.

And how where and when left unattended, how such denied (Piscean) feelings, no matter how we dress them up or what we call them, are in the long run damaging to everyone, including us and including those many others we would like to think we are ‘sparing’ the sort of grief we are hoping we can avoid through sheer denial.

It’s pretty futile, but people do this sort of thing anyway. We humans are always trying to tell ourselves that if we don’t (Mercury) acknowledge or think about it we won’t have to confront our (Pisces) feelings on the subject and risk facing our own (Taurus) sense of insecurity - that being our true ‘the enemy within.’

Our sense of security - in the end - has nothing to do with anyone else. It’s only and always about us. They’re our emotions, and therefore ours to feel and ours to own and take responsibility for. Furthermore, history and reality teaches us exactly the opposite of that fervent wish occurs when we (Pisces/Scheat) avoid truths as energy is never lost.

So all that energy that we don’t want to deal with - whether for reasons of eclipse denial which we’re now struggling with or because we just don’t WANT to (that stubborn fixed sign thing) ... it has to go somewhere, this being a real challenge posed by the fixed sign energetic. Fixed signs energies are easily applied to resistance or stonewalling - and that’s something we all should think about (and work through) while tackling those challenges which tend to arise when the Sun is in a fixed sign - which it will be once the Sun enters Taurus on April 20th.

We also encounter such energies when we deal with people born under fixed signs, too. (Know anyone who seems born to resist changes to the status quo?)

Fixing things in place (or affixing them in place) is a typical fixed sign tactic ... and also the primary challenge placed before any of the zodiac’s fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius). But just as cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn) need to learn to look before they leap ... and just as mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) need to learn that never making up one’s mind or committing to a particular choice goes nowhere, fixed signs need to learn that to work at controlling things is not the object.

Learning to control our most immature and insecure Self ... that’s what frees us to think, plan and choose effectively, which apart from all else would be something we may well need to do (or consider) as a factor as Pluto (you remember Pluto, right? Dwarf planet? Obsessive reputation?)... as Pluto heads into its station and turns to retrograde at the end of this coming week (on the 17th), closing out the first of thirty-six months of Pisces/Scheat solar eclipse doings.

But first we have to get past whatever our personal issues with personal security really are - which generally has a whole lot to do with where we come from in life and things we experienced early on, all of which would be perfect to spend at least a bit of time musing through during these next few weeks.

NGC 7320 in constellation Pegasus, the constellation which

fixed star Scheat is part of.

(photo credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble-SM4-ERO Team, July 2009)

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Being that Mercury is coming into Taurus in a trine to Pallas at 0 Capricorn (Pallas entered Capricorn last week) we know there are issues (or yes, perhaps people) which matter ("structural," some would call them) and which (this being the 0 Capricorn part) we not only get much from thinking about, but which we 'connected to' and recognize that connecting on a level which is hard to define if vital to where we currently are in our belief in our Self ... and which we know we need to do more about ... or maybe with.

Pallas being an energetic which creates moments and views (or a 'vision') only attainable through cool-minded perspectives, this is likely to be an important - or at least lingering note being struck, if for no other reason than Pallas' impending turn to retrograde (as if you wanted to hear about another station?) at 0 Capricorn come April 19th.

Right now we are getting a perspective of life as offered by life and life circumstances. Once Pallas goes retrograde, perspective will turn on us - we'll see why we are or aren't what we thought or think we are.

But that's then, and this is now. And since Mercury’s transits through Taurus have long been spoken of as a time to develop or show what we’re capable of - most of all to our Self so that we can be confident and productive, not to mention secure in being our Self enough that we are even able to be there for, and interact with others - this is a useful time to think through all such possibilities as we work through our days and life's challenges. Given that we seldom attribute major life events to any of the so-called 'personal planets' (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) when they're in transit, as with Venus' shift into Gemini a couple of days ago (see previous post) Mercury moving from one sign to another describes background perspectives and modes, just as Venus' placement by sign describes some of the general 'mood' we experience while pursuing our day-in, day-out daily doings.

And so we're clear here, all of this differs entirely (like, totally) from when our personal and natal Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus or Mars GETS transited by objects from Jupiter on outward into the cosmos.

Those periods (which when we talk about objects like Neptune can take a couple of years) ARE a big deal.

But as for now ...? Qualities we'd associate with Mercury and Taurus - the exploring of how to make what we have go farther and what's worth expending time, energy, attention or priorities on - with this combination of planet and sign, we expect to hear debates and conversations of many kinds, some of which we end up holding with ourselves (in our mind or otherwise) and some of which we experience as an interaction with others, all of it at base - no matter the surface text - being about the worth of things and how values and whether we care or don't care about this, that or them - whether any of it merits your time and loving attention.

And if so, which thing(s) matter - and why?

And all of this makes perfect sense if, when and where we think of Taurus as the sign before Gemini, Gemini being the zodiacal district of information gathering, choice and planning.

After all, before we choose, shouldn’t we get clear - at least to our own secure satisfaction - as to what matters so that based on that we will have the choice to choose intelligently or well?

One would think yes.
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Venus in Gemini

A rainbow over the Delaware River at the Northhampton-Warren County line

(photo credit: Nicholas A Tonelli, May 2008)

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I don’t know about you, but I’m glad eclipse season is over. (Well, as over as over gets in the wake of an eclipse season.) And yes, this one has been particularly mysterious in its workings ... but what would you expect from a solar eclipse which not is made to melt away our ability to deny that which we most don't want to know - not about others, but about our Self?

And just to make it all much less enjoyable (which wasn't exactly what anyone wanted, I'm sure), after the solar eclipse came a Libra lunar eclipse - just the thing to make everyone touchy about something (with that 'something' mostly being somebody else - or your relationship to someone else, I should say).

All this is my say of trying to say that unless you’re a glutton for outrageously slung cosmic punctuations (and the cosmos has really good aim...) then what you’d probably like to hear about now is something about a change.

Less emotion, more ease, perhaps? Some sense or inner feeling that yes, whatever you've just gone through (read: eclipse season) is over.

I may have just the thing. It's called Venus in Gemini, and it's going to occur April 11th at 15:30 (3:30 p.m.) UT/+0 time.

Does that sound good? How about if I say that if you think of it as a celestial breeze which caresses ever-so-lightly, stirring that sort of laugh which signals inner relief?

Those kinds of moments when we feel ourselves having gotten through something can be so very Venus in Gemini - Venus being the accomplishment and Gemini pointing to the mental processing and feeling rewarded.

But that's not the only thing we would associate with Venus in Gemini. This is a natural 'transactional' pair, so we can expect life to hand us more to do so we can go about transacting. Gemini also being the sign of phones, cars, mail and all things mundane, errand-like or scheduled, we should all expect more mail, more reasons to get in touch with others and an increase (and consideration) of traffic - be that traffic vehicular, communicative or mental. Venus in Gemini opens the way, first and last in our minds, to all those things which give us the sense that life has a future, a purpose, something to go after and achieve, whether that’s the getting of an idea, making some plan, learning about life’s options or otherwise choosing ... or choosing not to choose what you’ll do next, and - because you’re choosing whatever you’re choosing, what that says about who you are and what you (as an individual) value.

With Saturn transiting Sagittarius (Gemini’s opposition sign) the light touch associated with planet Venus in Gemini may indicate a ‘softening’ of something to the point that it becomes workable - or even just better understood. Conversely, where things have been too soft, or where we’ve been behaving like slightly-less-cohesive-than-desirable pudding about things, this combination may indicate the introduction of necessary structure(s) or disciplined dedication which solves problems, whether in the short or long run.

Speaking of ‘how long?,’ Venus will be transiting Gemini for just a day or two shy of four weeks - from April 11th through May 7th (both dates UT/+0). And since during that time (on the 17th, to be exact), Pluto will go retrograde at 15 Capricorn ... and since position Pluto is sharing 15 Capricorn with fixed star Vega, we should expect some unexpected (at least by most) ‘turns of fortune’ which generates a loss or rise in our regard for something (or someone) we have considered attractive, desirable or yea verily, charismatic.

With Mars still being in Taurus (Taurus now being the sign behind Venus’ position, putting Mars in a 12th house harmonic to Venus’ efforts to make things work for our personal intention and/or benefit), we want to understand certain limitations or misunderstandings or lack of clarity. And we may even be willing to make an effort or two to clear things up, as this sort of Venus/Mars semi-sextile-by-sign sets up a subtle if persistent uncertainty deep in the cockles of our (insert a favorite locale) which we aren’t going to escape any time soon as Mars is going to be in Taurus even longer than Venus’ transit of Gemini.

So that’s one fly in the ointment - and a fly which is likely to set up quite a flap around the 21st and 22nd (give or take your time zone) as Venus sextiles Jupiter (still at 12 Leo) and Mars trines and sets off some sort of ‘pending’ potential we’d think of as being associated with the astrology of Pluto conjunct Vega.

Venus in Gemini (glyph chart)

April 11, 2015 - 16 28 (4 28 pm) UT +0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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You know, some loss of innocence ... (a subject no one wants to experience or witness) ... particularly as that pertains to our Self, as we would expect in the wake of the Scheat eclipse.

-link to post-

Solar Eclipse Scheat: Flight against Insight

The loss of innocence we’d be astrologically referring to here has to do with whatever it is in your life which people - or maybe life itself - has been trying to get you to you look at roughly since last November 10th, that being when transiting Mars last conjuncted transiting Pluto (the current Pluto/Mars trine being a ‘stage’ or ‘step’ in a process begun or re/initiated back then).

Venus in Gemini (text chart)

April 11, 2015 - 16 28 (4 28 pm) UT +0 - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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And though certainly it’s possible that the Venus sextile Jupiter occurring as Mars trines Pluto speaks to an opportunity to make something happen (or to change something without incurring bad feelings) with regards to some 2014-vintage issue, since Jupiter just went direct (don’t believe me? look at the previous post...!) ... with Jupiter having just gone direct, opportunities of the moment would seem to be ‘big’ opportunities. Rare opportunities. Even rarified opportunities.

And yet, they are just opportunities - which in astrological terms can ... but doesn’t have to be a positive thing. It’s just an opportunity - one which is what it is because of who you are and who you’re currently being (all of which is inscribed in your natal chart, don’t you know...).

Being that the Moon is conjunct Pluto-Vega as Venus goes into Gemini (yes, exactly conjunct) suggests a deal of feeling about whatever is changing (whether in reality or in your regard) from boring to charismatic or from brilliant to utterly wretched (or maybe just disposable) ... which on the positive side could indicate some sort of fascination or fixation (temporary versus long-term would depend on your natal chart) - or maybe just the birth of a habit. (How filmic.) Or who knows ... Maybe with Saturn’s opposition by sign marking Venus’ ingress points to the acquiring of something - or the forming of some long term plan (or at least some notion that you should make such a plan) during the course of Venus’ Gemini transit.

By itself - with all due respect to all the Venus lovers in the audience - this isn’t the world’s biggest or most noteworthy transit. But the fact that the Sun will also join the Taurus parade as of April 20th (just prior to the whole Venus/Jupiter + Mars-Pluto-Vega tra-la) ... that does tend to say that we’ll be taking things seriously during these days.

And who knows ... maybe a little too seriously, at that. We can hope that with Venus moving into  Gemini people will think more in terms of working to create the good things and all the positives they want rather than being as self-absorbed as negative moments have led everyone to be once Venus and Mars teamed up in Taurus as of April 1st.

And what’s wrong with that? Why wouldn’t we want Venus and Mars to be in the same sign?

Well ... it’s not that they’re in the same sign which could be a problem here, it's more about how Venus and Mars both being in Taurus (which began on March 31st when Mars moved into Taurus) ... how that put (Venus), the planet which represents how we turn what we’re doing and being into a “result” in a sign of its own rulership (Taurus) giving us the astrological image of the philosophical question which asked whether what we are doing or aiming to (Mars) do is only for our own sake-or-benefit ... or whether we are doing something for some greater benefit to all.

And that question applies to the eclipse - the effects of which are still in the process of revealing us to our daily (Gemini) consciousness - which is really the first chance we have to deal with things knowingly. 

Zodiac signs are like steps in a process ... years in a life ... the progression of an evolution. As Venus exits Taurus for Gemini it sets up the opportunity to find things out and thereby determine our priorities. It’s a promise that despite the seriousness of all the earth sign energy which insists on keeping us grounded (thereby separating human wheat from its chaff) we can have some lighter moments.

We can afford to both talk to someone and hear them.

We can, in other words, be more aware of who we really are when we choose to be or become that person we would be happy to see waiting at the end of a long, unbridled day.
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The 14 Libra Lunar Eclipse

A crop circle as photographed by Sphoenixee in April 2007 here stands in to image

Sabian symbol number 195 (for 14 Libra) which describes this influence as 'Circular Paths,'

a reference to life's cycles and - perhaps more important to the emotionality of a lunar

eclipse - the issue described by astrologer/philosopher Dane Rudhyar with regards to

how life's cycles can either be boring or peaceful depending on where we are in our own

life and whether our lives are being lived openly and honestly not just with others, but

with and within our Self.

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Lunar eclipses promote and elicit our feelings. They mark times when things happen to lift our hearts and dash our hopes, depending on where they are presented in a chart.

Your chart, that would be.

And yet eclipses have their own nature - which with this eclipse begins with the idea that the ‘Moon side’ of this dynamic is occurring in Libra a sign all about how we feel about others and how they feel about us, and what that may mean about us or the fact that we even know them.

That this is a lunar eclipse also says that it’s a specialized Full Moon (just as a solar eclipse is a specialized form of a New Moon) - an idea which tells us that something is being “fully highlighted” with a special sort of ‘eclipse nuance’ which may highlight someone else, may highlight some act or attitude we have taken (or are thinking of taking with regards to others), or which may put some sort of emotion-promoting spotlight on something which is either being offered or asked of us - as individuals or a group.

With this being a Full Moon and the Moon itself in Libra, the Sun is in Aries - at 14 Aries, to be precise. And 14 Aries, as a degree, is known for something of a ‘hands off’ perspective which may simply be the signature of an observer, the habit of a loner, the sign that someone either isn’t involved or doesn’t feel they can be involved ... or some other form of separation or being ‘walled off’ or split off from some whole which may be what is being emotionally responded to by the eclipse, or which may be part of how the eclipse itself manifests - by separating, by putting up some sort of barrier which separates, defines or provides boundaries, by making it plain that being too close to something (or someone) is ... well, not always a positive.

Or maybe just not a place to be working from when we want to do things un-emotionally.

Lunar Eclipse at 14 Libra (glyph chart)

April 4, 2015 - 12 07 (UT +0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Lunar Eclipse at 14 Libra (text chart)

April 4, 2015 - 12 07 (UT +0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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But to count the signs and signals here, just to have a lunar eclipse speaks to a relationship, whether that’s between our Self and a job, a person, our finances, that squirrel which won’t let your garden alone or some life challenge ... it is our relationships to that which is the essence of the lunar eclipse because eclipses are a function of the nodes.

And then we add the ‘Libra’ note, making our heightened lunar eclipse relationship to ‘it’ a Libra thing, that being what makes this eclipse more or less about our relationship to relationships... and whatever (or whether) our situation is vis-à-vis relationships and our ability to relate, our style of relating and how that is working for (or against) us in this moment ... to which we add the specific 14 Libra ‘flavoring,’ which in this case has to do with whether we are or aren’t separated in/from others in how we relate to people in general, or maybe just in one relationship or in how the world views relationships and the need or issue of relating to one another - and whether we have the capacity to know anyone at all ... ever ... and what that may say about us.

A diagram showing the positions of Sun, Moon and Earth

during solar and lunar eclipses, respectively

(diagram credit: Tomruen)

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All this comes to us through a lunar eclipse - which as shown above is the ‘opposite’ of a solar eclipse in that with the solar eclipse the Moon comes between the Earth and Sun, where with a lunar eclipse it’s the Earth which stands between Sun and Moon, casting an ‘Earthly’ shadow on all things lunar.

And that’s the point. Where with a solar eclipse something in or about (the Moon) everyday life is eliminated or ‘blacks out’ something which we have held as part of our (Sun) life or conception of life. Solar eclipses force us to look at life a different way because we aren’t seeing ... or can’t see as much of it as we did, or we’re seeing something totally differently than we did only a short time ago.

That process - the solar eclipse process - speaks to a long-term evolution of our life which evolves from the moment of the eclipse: something changes, and we reorient our lives to account for those changes.

But with a lunar eclipse, it is Earth - us - which is ‘casting a shadow’ on something (Moon) personal and feeling oriented. Being that this lunar eclipse is occurring in Libra, that ‘personal’ thing may involve any of the “Moon things” (women, memory, money, home, childhood, culture) ... and then again, it may involve any of the Libra qualities of being about relationships or manifesting through a relationship, and by ‘relationship’ we mean any kind of relationship - that you have with a lover, a parent, a co-worker, your dog, your homework, your car, your ambitions, your relationships to time, life and even Divinity. Where an actual other person is involved, we tend to think the lunar eclipse is about ‘them,’ but it seldom is - it’s our eclipse and therefore the issue is our feelings ... how we feel about them, or what they’re going through, what they’ve said or done to us, with regards to us - or something like that. And then there’s the fact that some of us (a good number of us) will be coming into this lunar eclipse with some kind of strange-feeling matter already knocking about in the back rooms of our psyche due to the solar eclipse which just blew through a few Piscean circuits as of March 20th.

- link to post -

Solar Eclipse Scheat:

Flight against Insight

So a lot of us are all stirred up right now. We probably won’t be admitting it openly, or wearing our uncertainties on our sleeves (as it’s said), but our world and each one of us living in it (which is to say on it) is coming to this week already very much in feeling mode.

And then comes the eclipse, a lunar eclipse which has the shadow of the Earth - our shadow - being cast on the Moon, that thing which metaphysically symbolizes and manifests as all those things which matter so much: family, home, traditions, feelings, memories, values ... and yes, that thing we associate so much with that list, money.

A map of the shadow being cast by the April 4, 2015

lunar eclipse (diagram credit: NASA-JPL) 

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The Moon represents money - in particular, business money: the money which cycles through business and which is used to build businesses - money as a resource and the measure of the flow (or lack thereof) of success ... that success being defined by each one of us individually through our feelings.

You know, the astrological Moon.

But here - with the image of the lunar eclipse, we are given to know that the Moon ... our feelings ... are under a bit of current stress which astrologers would refer to as a t-square.

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The difficulty here - and thus what those of us who run into problems or challenges now may well encounter - is the idea that there is something (represented here by Pluto/Vega) which is challenging us, standing in our way or existing as an issue we have to get over (past, around, etc.).

If we don’t get past it, given how t-squares work, then we’re going to end up back where we started - in that feeling puddle of ours, or that puddle of feelings we really were wanting to put to good use (or possibly put behind).

And why would we be going through anything - what’s the ‘object’ here? As imaged by the t-square’s end point (Uranus, Sun, Alpheratz and Psyche at 14 Aries) we want to ‘be alone’ ... or possibly be left alone to do what we need/want/intend to do ... or considering 14 Libra as Aries in its emotionally determined/determinative mode, there’s something which we want to be free to be or get done, whether for our own sake, its own sake, or for the sake of someone else.

So what is the problem? The ‘hurdle’ here being presented as Pluto-Vega, the Pluto part of the equation points to some change or transformative quality which has already had some sort of effect, which is part of that which is holding us back or as a reference to something which needs to happen. Pluto is doing the transiting, which on one level makes Pluto’s energetic (and that of transformation) the quality which is being applied to that which already exists (that being the Vega quotient) - and let us not forget how obsessive and controlling Pluto energies often tend to be.

Will we be obsessed with something we believe - or something about others? Or some goal we think entirely necessary?

Is what we are so obsessed with even real?

And if our issue is control or controlling others, is that sensible to ask - or even possible? Is the control we think so necessary about protecting others, or do they refer to some feeling we feel threatened by to the degree that we can’t even deal with our Self, resorting instead to trying to control others so we don’t have to be responsible for our own feelings and fears?

Plus when we get to Vega, then we’re talking about a fixed star which has long stood for all which holds appeal, that which holds sway through loyalty, allegiance or respect and all which exudes charisma, which persuades or is persuasive.

Together, these symbols stand for things which need to change, things long respected which we may have lost respect for, things loved with that love now lost ... and on a somewhat different trajectory, that which we either hold out to others (or) adopt as our own because they seem so attractive and charismatic ... or because they seem to hold or embody a promise of appealing changes yet to come. And when we add in what lore says about the degree this conjunction is occurring in (15 Capricorn), then we get a picture of something or someone (or perhaps some group, organization or other entity) which has ... or which has had (which may be the issue now)... a distinct leaning towards softness or passivity - and how that may be what is now changing.

Or which has already changed.

Or which needs to change.

The quality of Vega means some will resist change because they found what came before so pleasant. 

But was it really pleasant? Or was it pleasant on one side because the cost (responsibility, effort, ignorance, fear(s), etcetera) of such pleasant things were unkindly ... even unfairly shifted onto others?

However this works, some fleck or nuance of this eclipse will color every life. But that doesn’t mean we’re all going to be feeling this eclipse to the same degree (no pun intended!). With the lunar eclipse occurring at 14 Libra, some of us will be affected and some won’t be affected - just as some of us have been more-rather-than-less affected by what the 29 Pisces solar eclipse may have revealed about some rather unacceptable lack(s) of clarity we have on our Self.

How did we get there? We’ve been so careful, and yet somehow we have ended up not wanting to know how unrealistic and ultimately unkind to our Self or our own cause we have ended up being.

(Oh yes - and if you’re over say ... age twenty, that may be ‘... we have ended up being again.’)

This eclipse (like any eclipse) occurs in all charts. But it isn’t going to necessarily be focal in every chart, just as the recent solar eclipse hit some like a gentle raindrop and others like a tsunami. Some of us will have been born with charts which are sensitive to the solar eclipse, some to the lunar eclipse, and some to both - which bespeaks the greatest sensitivity of all.

But I probably don’t need to tell you that. If your chart answers closely to both eclipses, life is already on the move, whether your body and psyche are keeping up with it (yet) or not...  

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... and with the eclipse occurring this Saturday, we would also be quite reasonable to think the whole of this week is likely to be one when we feel our own sensitivity more acutely than other times.

Again, ‘they’ (or ‘that’) may promote, provoke, support or be asking or prompting us to let our feelings out, most of all so that we can learn what those feelings are and learn from our feelings as they stand.

Why do we feel the way we do? Where do our feelings come from? Why do we hold the (Moon/lunar) values that we hold and do they reflect us as (Moon/Sun) individuals, or are we saying what we’re saying or feeling what we’re feeling because we think our (lunar nodes) society or family or culture requires of us ... or even urges us <wink> to think or act or be a given way.

Neither one is bad, mind you - it’s just evidently important that we know what is what and where things come from, for reasons which are individual to you and your life.

But understanding and knowing do figure large at this time, as do ethics and the ability or availability or willingness to learn, teach and share ideas - all of which reflects the fact that Jupiter (symbol of enlargement, expansion) is already on station at 12 Leo, having taken up temporary residence in said degree on March 24th, bringing much about the stations of this past couple of weeks into big, bold, bas relief sort of focus - which would fit a Jupiterian 'bigger, grander ... even to the point of being aggrandized' sort of theme.

-link to post-

Nemesis, Ixion, Sisyphus, Pholus

 - link to post -

Niobe Direct

The combination produced much which was obviously overblown and some things which deserved being enlarged upon or ‘made bigger’ so that they could be looked at in detail. And that quality of ‘making things larger,’ whether that’s a benefit or negative, that basic ‘Jupiter essence’ will continue to and through Jupiter’s station-direct moment on April 8th.

And that means things may well become VERY emotional over the weekend of April 4th, since that would have lunar eclipse effects overlaying and combining with the standard Jupiter manifestation, that being one of ‘enlarging’ which - given the lunar eclipse - could get out of hand. This can be a wonderful and joyous combination. Then again, it could represent the toppling of not just some personal house of cards, but things which we have been working towards for many a moon.

Plus there’s also Mars and Venus in Taurus against Mercury in Aries to think about. Mercury in Aries is thought and communication sitting in the oppositional sign to the nexus of all the emotional hoo-ha of the moment.

Is that helpful? Does this mean that as the lunar eclipse moves through the Jupiter quotient is going to help us see (read: learn) something we didn’t see - or maybe didn’t want to know or see, but will benefit from in the long run? Is this the moment when some opportunity we have dreamed of (or even better, which has been beyond our wildest dreams) suddenly reveals itself as possible? Or is this a moment when life breaks out in rashes, rash arguments and other forms of arguably irritating things?

That Venus and Mars are themselves not in aspect to the eclipse makes this less intimately personal. And with Mercury at 8 Aries, Mercury isn’t quite in opposition to the eclipse itself (the heart of the matter). Yet because the lunar nodes (which are part of eclipse mechanics) are at 10 Aries and 10 Libra, Mercury at 10 Aries does conjunct the South Node which in turn is conjunct the Sun.

Mercury-South Node is wanting to keep one’s opinion or position ... and/or the fact that not changing or not ‘caring’ about input (or whatever else) is easier to opt for than other options.

It does not, however, guarantee success. The ‘should’ side of the lunar nodes is the North (not South) Node, and the North Node is positioned at 10 Libra, a degree which speaks of a kind of individuality, ‘aloneness’ or distinction/differentiation (from other things or people) which more often than not follows a difficult path for reasons which are not always apparent. From this comes a subjective perspective based on those difficulties, and that perspective, if not corrected, may well become a motivation for, or means of limitation either on the part of the native (the individual) or someone else.

That all of this is happening just in advance of Jupiter’s station also suggests that this ‘nesting’ of events is a form of double-play. In other words, while the lunar eclipse is setting up the circumstances we will take into Jupiter’s station, Jupiter’s moving towards/into that station represents all of those life forces which are bringing so many things to light, some of which we are responding, acting on or reacting to with the ‘high water’ energy timed by the eclipse.

And let’s also remember how things which happen going into a station (we’re talking about Jupiter here) are things which are yet to happen - which with Jupiter could be a lot of things, especially if your natal chart ‘answers’ to the degree 12 Leo.

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Just to run through the basics, an eclipse (or planetary station, if you’re also thinking about Jupiter) which conjuncts your chart generally manifests as feeling totally involved with the matters described by the eclipse on a personal basis. This is you having to decide something about your life.

If the eclipse (or station) is in opposition to something in your chart, the qualities or area(s) of life described by that natal object as it appears in your chart in a given house ...something about such matters will into focus in such a way as to create a sense of challenge - or perhaps reward.

Squares and lunar eclipses seldom mix well, as what results may be exciting, if also frustrating (to some degree) at the very same time. Maintaining the balance and proper sense of determination which squares requires of us isn’t going to be the easiest thing to do at the time of any lunar eclipse, and one which is ‘backed’ (or influenced) by Jupiter will make it that much easier (or more likely) to go overboard or to think too positively or too negatively.

The inconjunct and semi-sextile are likely to follow this pattern to a certain degree, though inconjuncts are aspects which ask us to adjust something - be it our outlook, methodology, timing, perspective ... and semi-sextiles are aspects which test our ability to get past our own ego about something even if we don’t want to.

And for those with some axis point, planet, node or dwarf planet in semi-sextile aspect to the lunar eclipse, no - you probably don’t want to!

That would be the given. Figuring out whether you need to get past that and change ... or whether you need to simply get past your annoyance and remain classy and cool ... that’s another thing.

Eclipses (or stations) which trine positions in your natal chart generally refer to things which are already in progress, or which you may want to think about changing (or building on) but which aren’t yet at a place where you can make some move. Sometimes this can be problematic, particularly where the effect of the trine means you can’t cut and run on some unproductive situation. But the other side holds true as well, so if you’re in a good place doing what you know you should be doing in life, a trine from a lunar eclipse - uproar or no uproar - will generally end with little if anything changed.

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With all of that said and mused over, there’s one other ‘message’ which comes with this eclipse, that being simply the astronomical notice that as the Moon reaches Full (at the lunar eclipse) the first phase of the March 20th solar eclipse is now closed out. That doesn’t mean that ‘the worst is over’ or anything quite as definite as that as the 29 Pisces solar eclipse - being in Pisces - operates basically on an internal, super-personal (not to mention individual) level in opening us to ourselves so we can let go of that which is truly no longer appropriate (or perhaps necessary) in favor of becoming who we are supposed to be at this point in our life so as to stay on track with who we were ultimately born to be.

Solar eclipses evolve over a full three years, often starting off with very intense periods riddled with various events, few of which ultimately have any direct bearing on where we will end up going, or who we are destined to become. Lunar eclipses on the other hand, tend to be very immediate, prompt and timely, with events of the moment - though emotionally important - being more ‘situational’ than intrinsically personal, if you will.

And maybe even more importantly, the evolution of lunar eclipses is swift. This one - the events or situations which are associated with it, in other words - may ‘spill over’ into other things of lengthier duration because of this 14 Libra eclipse’s proximity to Jupiter’s station, but most lunar eclipses mark events and moments which after a space of just three months become part of the fabric of our memory.

Still, they can be exciting. And this one - in particular - would seem to hold the potential for great inner personal discovery.

Will we like what we find?
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