Draconids 2013

Comet 21P (Giacobini-Zinner) as photographed by NASA-JPL

The Draconid meteor shower begins on October 2nd and runs through the 16th, peaking around October 7th through the 9th.

Astrologically (which is to say, metaphysically), should we care?

Well, maybe.

The comet responsible for the Draconids is Giacobini-Zinner, so named because it’s one of those lovely little objects which got discovered twice: the first time in the year 1900 by Michel Giacobini, and the second time in 1913 by Ernst Zinner (hence the name).

Known in astronomical terms as 21P (a lovely designation, don’t you think?) Giacobini-Zinner was discovered while traveling through Aquarius. And that’s an interesting “commentary” (metaphysical commentary, I mean) because the actual radiant point for Giacobini-Zinner lies in constellation Draco (the dragon), a constellation which in Earth terms is oriented towards the pole – Earth’s north pole, to be exact.

  Constellation Draco - Image produced in Stellarium

In astrology, Draco is probably best known for a star named Thuban which, contrary to what you might think is located down in the constellation’s “tail.”

Thuban as superimposed on the globe of the Earth

in Solar Fire's Planetarium module

Thuban is a star which evokes the desire to…or need to protect or act as a guardian for something precious. Or at least something you think of as precious. That can be something physical, materialistic, spiritual, emotional or coming from some sort of reference to knowledge. Thus Thuban can apply to something you are or some physical attribute you want to ‘protect’ …it can refer to one of your gifts. It can refer to something you do, something you want to be, or something you understand which you want to be careful with – or about. Thuban can refer to a person in your life, or how you handle some relationship. It can refer to a goal, a job, a belief system, something you’ve been working on…

It’s a very encompassing star.

Located (currently) at 6 Virgo, Thuban exudes a quality of ‘the prize, the gift, the ability’ which you own or experience before coming to grips with or even recognizing the cost of. And because of this, Thuban is associated with people who burn out early. Or people who show great promise but who can’t ‘guard’ their treasure. Thuban asks us to figure out how to guard that which is worth guarding and to fine the (Virgo) proper ways and avenues through which to utilize our advantages without squandering our opportunities.

And that goes very well with the sense of Draco the dragon rather well – as does the fact that this star which is part of the ‘tail of the dragon’ is also one of the stars which has been Earth’s pole star.

Earth's precessional pole star cycle with dates noted for when each of the stars

will be our planet's northern "guiding light," a reference which goes to the

difference between that which is 'heady' or 'head strong' and that which we do

in a most thoughtful and considered manner, drawing on what we might think of

as 'the best of all worlds' in our Self...and in the greater sense of THE world.

Our current pole star is Polaris – a star which refers to our ability to be a leader…or to be led. Or maybe even led on by something – some desire, some image, some something.

But when the full ‘tale of the tail’ is told…then we come to Thuban and learn how to ‘do it for real.’ So at some level what we feel drawn to ‘aim for’ (Polaris) is part of a cycle – a great and vast cycle which at this point at least, isn’t as careful as it might be.

We may all be prone to doing a bit of squandering, especially since Polaris is currently positioned at 28 Gemini, putting it in conjunction with Betelgeuse, a star which on one hand represents things being made easy…and which on the other hand tempts us to take the easy way out.

No, they’re not always the same.

Metaphysically, these pole stars refer to a cycle by which we learn. Thus the Gemini choices we make to be a leader and make things easier all the way around is most likely going to be the thing which in the end allows us to safeguard our treasure, whatever that may be.

Those who take the easy way out…who maybe don’t make waves, or who opt for that thing which is so tempting and ‘shiny’? They will face Thuban’s price on…well, let’s just call it the ‘back end’ of things.

And that takes us back to Draco, the radiant point for the Draconids. There are two stories behind Draco, both of which speak to this constellation as not being all that nice and twinkly to begin with. The first story had Athena (dispassionate wisdom) killing Draco and tossing the dragon’s body up into the sky for all to see – and one figures, to be warned by. The other reference to Draco comes from the idea of Draco as a ‘fire-breathing creature of the Earth’ – a child of Gaia (earthiness) which is associated with Typhon, that most primal of titan (titanic) instincts.

Whether we’re speaking of Typhon the celestial object or Typhon the titan of myth, the references are those which we might think of as ‘core’ and biological. Sleep, sex, food, breath – these are the things of Typhon, as are the fight-or-flight mechanisms concerned with survival.

And when we think of that part of the story – the ‘survival’ level of Typhon against the ‘tale of the tail’ which is Thuban AND Thuban’s current position at 6 Virgo, then we really get to what may be at stake now as we’re moving towards a Scorpio solar eclipse.

Are we being driven by instinct? Are we taking some easy way out or are we being a leader? I’ve had a few situations arise in my own life which highlight this exact sort of thing: do we follow the letter of (Virgo) protocol and custom or do we do that which is right as a person, as a human, as an individual dealing with individual choice of who we want to be and what we are or aren’t willing to take on as part of the challenge involved in being that better person?

Since astrology tends to go with origination charts as the point upon which we build, here’s the (year 1900) discovery chart for Giacobini-Zinner – it’s “natal” chart as far as we’re concerned:

 Discovery chart for Giacobini-Zinner (21p) - Dec 20, 1900 - Nice, France

(Aries Wheel - time unknown)

In this chart, the Sun is at 27 Sagittarius – the current position of the Galactic Center. The Galactic Center is always a point about what we ‘give’ or ‘give out.’ Against this, we have 27 Sagittarius, a degree which is verbal and communicative in nature, and which shows great promise early on, but which often experiences great challenges elicited by jealousy. This is a social degree and one which may tend to focus on how we want things as opposed to the better Sagittarian path, which is all about what works all the way around. Sagittarius always asks us to see whether our ‘idea’ of the thing (the Gemini part of the polarity) works “in the big world of life operations.” So whatever you’re doing, or whatever your (Thuban) treasure is, or whatever ‘prize’ you are in danger of meeting up with the price of – that’s the thing of the moment.

And let’s remember, this is not just about us as individuals – these sorts of influences (speaking of the meteor shower) are entirely and eternally global.

For those not into math, Polaris and Betelgeuse most affect any placement which is between 23 Gemini and 3 Cancer. Maybe more importantly, anyone with celestial objects (particularly the Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Mercury) in strong aspect to Thuban…you’re probably in for something of a ‘heads up’ now, as the ‘price’ you pay may be more than your psyche wants to cash.

(If you know the original expression I’m alluding to there, aren’t you proud of how I converted it?)

So…the aspects to Thuban are:

- 1 Virgo to 11 Virgo. Yes, this is about you. (Sun) Your sense of your own life is the focus. (Mercury) The devil is in the details, for sure. (Moon) Pragmatism is lovely providing you aren’t being so clever that you outsmart yourself! (Ascendant) Following the straight and narrow is fine providing you don’t run yourself right off a moral cliff claiming you “couldn’t.”

- 1 Pisces to 11 Pisces. You need to pay closer attention to who and what you’re dealing with. Or not dealing with.

- 1 Gemini to 11 Gemini (OR) 1 Sagittarius to 11 Sagittarius. Your priorities are going to get challenged. Opting for that you like may be just fine providing what you like is in your best and greater interests. Problems arise where preference gets in the way of realities.

One last set of thoughts here…courtesy of JPL and its lovely Small Body Database browser:

Image courtesy of JPL's Small Body Database

 

I haven’t been able to come up with an install for Giacobini-Zinner’s astrological orbital positioned, but given the above…and that we know that Saturn is in early Scorpio, that Uranus is in the early ‘teen degrees of Aries and that Pluto (at the bottom) is in early Capricorn, that means that 21P (Giacobini-Zinner) is somewhere in Libra.

And that tells us that it is who we are being to others or the quality (high or low) or qualities (nature of presentation) that we are bringing to what we do which is going to be in focus during this meteor shower.

Give or take the fact that the overarching measure of all that we’re going into now has to do with Things Scorpio and whether we’re owning who we are, our issues with security and who or why or how we’re going about forming relationships and negotiating with others and conducting ourselves emotionally. Those of us who have self worth issues which involve denying some problem or that your feelings about something are being driven not by who you actually are but what you want others to think you are…? You’re going to be having bigger problems now – as are those who simply refuse to take anyone else into account. The ‘my way’ folks are likely to be acting out big time now, and in doing so, they’re creating their own karma.

(Don’t you love karma? It’s so the biggest bitch in the universe…!)

At the same time however…and this is where the rather magical quality of metaphysics comes into play…while doing whatever unfeeling thing they may be doing, the ‘I deny your value because I’m just all about only being invested in me’ people are also challenging those who are going along to get along to stand up and do the thing which is right in their own life.

See how that works?

Ain’t the universe grand?
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A New Moon Solstice: An Incoming Cancer Tide of Gemini Thoughts

 Summer Solstice Sunrise over Stonehenge

(photo credit: Andrew Dunn, June 2005)

Give or take, the Moon moves about half-a-degree per hour. The Sun moves just under a degree per day. So once you know that - and that there’s going to be a New Moon on Tuesday the 19th at 28 Gemini (28 degrees of Gemini 43 minutes, to be exact), with barely a flicker of a brain cell you’ll grasp that it’s just over a day until the Sun arrives at 0 Cancer.

The Sun's Cancer ingress will occur at 11:10 p.m. on June 20th (UT/+0 time).

And just as you get done thinking that, no doubt you'll also realize that the Moon, with it's half-a-degree per hour speed - will be arriving at 0 Cancer before the Sun does...about four hours or so after the 11:13 a.m. (UT/+0) Tuesday June 19th New Moon.

The Sun's arrival at 0 Cancer is what Earth’s northern hemisphere calls the Summer Solstice – the longest daylight day of the year. Earth’s southern hemisphere calls this the Winter Solstice – the shortest daylight day of the year.

The fact that Earth's orbital tilt remains constant as it orbits

around the Sun is responsible for our seasons

(diagram credit Tau'olunga)

Not to be partial here, astrologically it would simply be called the Cancer Solstice.

So, what does all this mean? Why should we care?

Well, with the Moon arriving in Cancer before the Sun does, we expect our feelings to evidence themselves in a Cancerian manner before our (Sun) consciousness does. Instinct leads the way - as do our feelings. And with Mercury already at 20 Cancer, our thoughts head in the emotional direction, particularly where relationships are concerned. With Mercury (in Cancer and therefore ruled by the Moon) in square to Saturn at the New Moon, new concerns are prompted.

The real question here is twofold. The first part of this question is whether we are exhibiting what we do and who we are with an eye to the quality of what we’re ‘putting out there.’ That’s the general concept raised by Saturn’s retrograding in Libra’s third decanate degrees (degrees 20 through 29) and with Saturn in opposition to Eris at 22 Aries and both planets just sitting there, the metaphysical implication is that though we may be focused on others or in some sort of debate with someone else, the real argument is with our Self.

At some level, most of us want to ‘hold out’ for what we know: Eris conjunct Lachesis (duration) and Kassandra (disbelief) is likely to manifest as the sort of indignantly stubborn thinking which says ‘I don’t think I’m wrong here’…with the Aries part of this having to do with ‘who I am’ or ‘what I’m doing.’

Whether you should hold out or whether you should change is astrologically seen through the opposition to Saturn, which in retrograde asks us to consider the precepts of Arcturus and Spica: whether we lead with our proverbial ‘best foot’ (or finest ability)forward or not. The feedback, the support, the approval (or lack thereof) is really all about that – not about who we are as a person.

It’s not easy to take it all that way (Hello? Venus retrograde) but that’s really what it is – and here Venus retrograde is the ‘softening’ agent which gets us to listen as points and objections hit home.

This thus becomes a time of measuring whether, where and why change is needed.

And then we get to the second question: should things be easy? With Uranus and Eris both in Aries (a situation which is going to continue for a good half-dozen years yet) we can change of be changed. Astrological wisdom would tend to vote for ‘change’ as opposed to ‘being changed’ because we get a vote in how we change things and no vote at all in how life changes us.

But there is – undoubtedly – some quivers and quandaries at this time. For one, as the Moon moves into Cancer the Sun will be entering 29 Gemini, Gemini’s most critical degree.  And considering Gemini is a sign of mentality and communication (among other things), that concept of ‘critical’ could be literal. Or with Moon and Mercury already in emotionally evocative Cancer, at least cranky!

Yes, we could vote for this same combination manifesting as joy and cuddly happiness, too. But with Venus still in retrograde…?

(…A brief pause while the astrologer heaves a resigned sigh…)

These weeks of Venus in retrograde seem to be wearing people down. That would be the evidence that Venus is performing its retrograde in Gemini and how mentally-driven we are as human beings.

So once the Sun and Mercury are both in Cancer? With Mercury in square to Saturn-opposition-Eris through June 24th, there are challenges to face. But the good news there is that Mercury in this position defines this period of time as a t-square.

(Yes, I did just call a t-square a good thing!)

/

The reason why I would hold that a t-squares is a good thing is that by itself, an opposition is either a ‘balancing act’ (the me part against the ‘them’ part) OR a formidable challenge to grow into something other than what you start out as which integrates the principles of the opposition.

But a t-square? T-squares basically say that once we get over ourselves on the personal level (i.e., our ego issues) and get on with doing the task at hand because it needs to be done and done correctly, then we not only excel and succeed, but we end up creating situations which give that ego some positive reinforcement.

Not that it’s easy! T-squares have earned a hefty astrological reputation for difficulty for good reason. Yet statistical surveys of charts show that many of the charts of people we consider ‘among the great’ include t-squares. In fact, in the past 100 years or so, astrologers have moved from what is often thought of as the ‘Germanic school’ of astro-speak (which is couched greatly in negatives and disaster) through the sunshine and roses candy floss stage of the mid-late 1900s to a rather realistic perspective of ‘life includes challenges because through challenges we grow’ sort of perspective.

So the trine which in the early 1900s could ‘consign us to misery for all time’ and which then gave way to ‘peace and light’ in the middle/late 1900’s is now looked at as being ‘all in how you use it.’

Meanwhile, the square – and its cousins the t-square and grand square – have come to be looked at not as total malifics and not as horrible things which get in your way but the very things which in confronting us, cause us to grow. And from such growth comes the building blocks with which we build our success – external and internal.

At the moment, those challenges may look enormous. Yet Venus retrograde may play in two directions here. Either it’s worn you down to the point where you’re feisty and irritable…or it’s worn down the very resistance which has allowed you to go on refusing to change or learn something new about life (and therefore, your Self).

With Mars moving into Virgo’s third decanate as the New Moon arrives and the Sun moves on through its Solstice there’s a feeling of wanting – and wanting either to get it right or that you (still) feel within your rights. Is that about what you’re doing? About whether you should tell someone what they’re doing wrong?

Well let’s see…Venus in retrograde...hmmm…how do you think people will take to having someone sticking unwanted noses into their business?

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do so. At the time of the New Moon – and therefore as a factor moving forward into July – is a semi-sextile to Ceres. Ceres being the symbol of the kind of awareness, attention and timely action which gets the seed planted when it should be planted, the fields watered and weeded regularly – that’s Ceres. Often thought of simply as the nurturance associated with Virgo, Ceres is also the mental planning which goes with growing anything ‘from seed’ to harvest feast.

Ceres is also about ‘getting your hands dirty.’

 Farming (here being done in Indonesia) is probably the

oldest and most critical form of occupation (apart

from motherhood!) where we get our hands dirty.

(photo credit: Jan-Pieter Nap)

With semi-sextiles being noted for arousing feelings of being put upon (and sometimes embarrassed) the whole of the late June/early-mid July period may have people feeling insulted, rejected, unappreciated. Yet some of us will grow from that – just as some of us have grown from taking the Venus retrograde period as a time to harness our abilities in a productive and ultimately useful way.

The big question would seem to be about whether you’re moved to mix it up – most of all with yourself. So…can you get past your sense of ennui? Can you get past the ‘what now?’s and the ‘why do I have to do everything?’ and follow the plan of productivity?

Probably the biggest glitch here – which because this colors the Solstice implies it will be carried through as a theme during these next three months – is the New Moon’s exact conjunction with Polaris and Betelgeuse.

The degree is 28 Gemini, a degree which by its 3rd decanate position denotes input and feedback. Things are not in our control and moreover, with Betelgeuse’s position being 28 Gemini, we don’t even want control. I know a doctor with Venus/Mars (personal pleasure, a sense of wanting things to be rewarding) conjunct this position and the last thing this MD wants is to have to take control.

That's a challenge for a doctor, granted. But it can be made useful if and where we remember that we are a participant in life and merely called upon to do our part as well as we can. Some things – yes, they happen. For this doctor, some of his patients will get well, others will die. That is the way of life. Hopefully he rests easily with the fact that he’s not in charge of the universe.

At the same time, this configuration also asks that he should take delight in doing all he can as an intelligent being with regards to his patients. He can't just 'do what he likes' and ignore the rest.

So he shouldn't expect himself to know everything. Who does?All any of us are called upon is to do is the best we can. And that, my friends, is where enters Betelgeuse at 28 Gemini, a degree which the great astrologer Dane Rudhyar typified as being about ‘the creative exuberance of the human soul in response to basic life experiences.’

We are talking Gemini here – the third sign of the zodiac. The first four signs of said zodiac, the first round through the elements – they’re all about the basics of life and the basics of our life. They’re about learning. Gemini is our mental facility. So no, in Gemini we are not supposed to know everything...we are merely supposed to learn, be willing to learn, and to never buy into (nor settle for) the idea that we’re stupid. Or ‘less than’ someone else because we do not yet know something.

 Red star giant Betelgeuse

(photo credit: Hubble-NASA-ESA, 2004)

Betelgeuse challenges us here, as Betelgeuse drives for the 'easy,' which in Gemini would have us wanting things to be 'easily learned' or 'easy to come by' or do.

And that's why this star is such a challenge to the essence of Gemini. Gemini is wholly about learning. So if you're someone who is a workaholic, you should learn to relax. But if you're someone who likes the luxurious life, you need to learn to apply yourself.

Betelgeuse in Gemini is all about learning how to 'be' in this world, yes. But it's our world and Betelgeuse is in our charts. So in the end, it all comes back to learning about ourselves. And what we think of ourselves. And learning more, so we can be more and maybe even achieve those rewards we all seem to want!

So this New Moon...set exactly conjunct Betelgeuse...that combination heralds a month in which to learn about learning and in doing so, to learn more about ourselves….and probably how we make things harder for ourselves by being set in our ways, by pre-judging who we can be, by coping out – whether that involves saying I’m stupid or I can’t learn that or (adding in a bit of Cancer here) I don’t know how to get along with my family or I can’t see living in some other house.

We are probably not meant to know all ends. Our life is an exploration – a learning process. Gemini is with us always. And here we are given a New Moon to remind us of our innocence, and hopefully of our vulnerabilities. We all feel hurt, we all get angry. Harsh words get said, mistakes get made.

Can we move beyond that and indeed be and become a family of mankind?

Polaris – Earth’s current pole star – is sitting conjunct Betelgeuse and the New Moon. Known as a star of leading or leadership, let’s hope that this lunation and Solstice season to come leads us all towards greater understanding of ourselves, of each other, and the willingness to ‘take the lead’ in turning difficulties into good times yet to come. 

Earth: A Very Attractive Planet

Taken from Ehrenburg, Walberia, a 45-minute time exposure centered on Polaris (photo credit Udo Kugel - September 2001)

It just ticked me pink to see on of PSRD’s latest 'Cosmo Spark circular.

Link to: Cosmo Spark

Who the heck is PSRD – and what did I find so scintillatingly amusing?

PSRD stands for Planetary Science Research Discoveries, and the team which is behind all that PSRD-ing are a flock of planetary geoscientists at Hawaii’s Institute of Geophysics and Planetology.

(Planetology? Like you’re going to tell a planet to open its mouth and say aaaaaah?)

In any case, they’re a pretty cool group. And every once in a while they sends out a missive. It could be on gas captured in ancient rocks (I know – you’re excited, right) to this week’s thriller, a Cosmo Sparks message on the subject of how popular our watery blue planet really is.

On a celestial basis, that is.

Evidently our lovable Planet Earth has fans. According to PSRD, “At any given time there are at least one or two meter-sized asteroids and about a thousand smaller centimeter-sized rocks also orbiting our planet.” PRSD calls them (oh, shades of Austin Powers!) “minimoons.”

Evidently not all such asteroid-Earth love affairs last all that long. Most of the time, after a brief and chaotic orbital fling (say, after two or three times around) most asteroids go their space-bound ways.

(No, we don’t know what they’re saying about Earth once the attraction cools off, but we can hope they proceed on in stony silence.)

A few find their attraction for Earth truly deadly, plunging to a fiery death in our resistance-laden atmosphere. We call those meteors.

And while all this goes on, our Luna Moon continues serenely on her way, securely captured by Earth’s gravity and eternally capable of tugging on Earth’s watery mantle. (Sounds like a lot of marriages I know.)

So why am I bringing all this up – apart from the fact I obviously got a big charge out of thinking of asteroids as planetary suitors?

Ah yes. Now we come to the interestingly astrological part. It seems that these asteroids take up this madcap courting of our planet at two very specific times of the year. And those two time periods happen to be a week or two after Earth’s perihelion and aphelion – what we the astrologically inclined tend to call the Summer and Winter Solstice.

This part where it happens after the solstice got me to thinking…after all, part of that solstice thing (or at least its affects) has to do with exactly where Earth is in its seriously complicated tilt-wobble-precession sort of process.

Believe me – it’s hard work being a planet.

We talk more or less often about precession. It’s a 25,920 year cycle which is about the fact that the imaginary ‘stick’ we think of as being stuck through Earth’s polar axis orbits clockwise as earth rotates in a counter-clockwise direction.

(At least that’s the way it looks if you’re looking down on the North Pole….so for you in New Zealand, Southern Africa and Australia, g’day and switch the terms around!)

 Planet Earth, showing it's Axial Tilt, the circle of precession

 its poles describe over 25,920 years and the difference

 between Earth's celestial equator (the thing we think of as an

 equator) and the plane of the ecliptic - the path Earth takes

 around the Sun each year. 

(diagram credit - Dennis Nilsson,, December 2007)

The tilt thing? Well, Earth’s tilt is pretty stable – between just over twenty-two and twenty-four and a half degrees off vertical. At the moment it seems to be at about 23.44 degrees off vertical and apparently people are still able to walk around without looking entirely cockeyed (or drunk) so all’s well.

And listen – it could be worse. Uranus rolls. That’s right…Uranus’ axis is at 90 degrees off vertical. And because of this, it presents one pole to the Sun for about 40 years then turns the other way. (No, don’t’ ask me which one its its planetary tush! I have no idea!)

The more science comes to know about Uranus, the odder Uranus really seems. Despite this pole-to-pole toasting it gets from the Sun, the “equatorial” regions of the planet still register as being warmest. No wonder astrology associates Uranus with the ‘non-status quo,’ the change, the discovery, the innovation, the breakthrough. As a planet, Uranus seems to break all the rules.

Isn’t it interesting how astrologers figure these things out in advance of science and yet the science backs the astrology up? Says a lot for research and testing points on a whole lot of charts!

Just to wrap up here before we get back to those asteroids…the wobble thing. Yes, Earth wobbles. Here’s a diagram made by the International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS)…a project overseen by the Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) (Yes, they skipped a few letters.) This is the group which keeps track of Earth’s orbit and the syncing of clocks, including the need to insert ‘leap seconds’ and such.

In any case, here’s their diagram of Earth’s polar motion from 2005 to the present.

 Polar motion from 2005 to present

(credit: hpiers/obspm, France)

So what’s all this got to do with asteroids which get the hots for Planet Earth?

It’s just all part of the celestial mechanics. Some of the above is a bit of karmic veggies I’m slipping in before we get to the astrological dessert, and all of it is good for us to know.

The part which got me to thinking was why do these asteroids hook up with Earth AFTER the solstices?

That answer...in the metaphysical sense that I'm thinking of it, has to do with precession. (And who am I to not share factoids I find so fascinating?)

That ‘circle of precession’ we talk about…which currently has Earth’s north pole ‘pointed’ at Polaris? That picture looks pretty much like this:

 Time diagram of Earth's north pole precession

 by  Tau'olunga (June 2006)

Polaris is the star at the very tail of Ursa Minor - the constellation known as the Little Bear. On this diagram, it's located just beside the marker for the year +2,000, meaning 2,000 CE.

There were pole stars before Polaris and there will be pole stars after Polaris. And that’s what PSDR’s Cosmo Spark sparked in me. The fact that Earth is attracting its latest batch of suitors after the solstices made me wonder if Earth is already sort of ‘over’ Polaris. Obviously on a scientific platform this wouldn’t be the case – Polaris is 434 light years from Earth. But metaphysically, this ‘disparity’ speaks to us.

Here’s a diagram of the ‘precessional circle’ Earth’s north pole would appear to ‘trace’ in the heavens.

The ‘dot’ in the center here is where the ‘axis’ of this (Earth’s) precessional circle would be. Positioned within what some might call a ‘protective’ circle of constellation Draco (which others might feel is our inner spirit ‘surrounded by Draco) 

Anyway…here’s a few astrological concepts to chew on while you’re not living such an apparently tilted life. (I guess Earth’s tilt is why we say we’re inclined to do this or that? Would we therefore be prone to doing things if on Uranus?)

Our current pole star – give or take exactness here – is Polaris. Astrologically, Polaris is the leader. The director. The one who points the way. Given how e metaphysical ‘north’ is always a reference to intellect (just as ‘south’ is metaphysically a reference to emotions or emotionality), Polaris thus becomes exactly what it says it is: the leader versus the director…the one who inspires and who is part of the effort, or the one who tells others what to do but who isn’t intrinsically ‘hands on.’

Is there a good or bad here? Maybe, maybe not. It’s probably all in how you handle your Polaris (so to speak). Currently positioned at 28 Gemini (conjunct Betelgeuse, a star all about aiming to have things ‘work well or easily’) there is great portent for good and great possibility for selfishness from anyone as they attain a position of leadership.

Of particular interest this year (2012) would be knowing that Thuban was Earth’s pole star between 3,000 and 2,700 BCE (give or take)…which would make it the pole star for the Egyptian and Mayan civilizations, among others. Very much linked to the constructive/destructive ideas of the dragon, Thuban is a symbol of value, worth and ‘the treasure.’

Back when Thuban was the pole star, it was in Gemini – just about where Polaris is today, though Betelgeuse and Polaris were then in Aries (at around 19 Aries or so).

It’s all rather curious, seeing as we have the Mayan ‘creation calendar’ drawing to a close this year with the Galactic Center now positioned at 27 Sagittarius, in direct oppositional alignment with where Thuban was then…and where Polaris (and Betelgeuse) are now.

Was the Galactic Center in Sagittarius back then? No. Back in the year 3,000 BCE our Milky Way’s center (and its resident Black Hole) was at 15 Libra, rather in opposition to…(yes!)…Betelgeuse and Polaris.

With Polaris having been in Aries back then, survival was the key and trying to make it through the day or year with a modicum of ease (Betelgeuse) was the rather simplistic optimal and learning (Thuban) was the treasure, the symbol of one’s value. Being someone of learning has lasted through the years since then as a guiding precept.

And maybe that’s what the Mayans (and the Egyptians, as others) wanted us to know – that learning and choosing to learn and to use what we know (thought, thoughtfulness)…that those Gemini precepts would be our ‘guiding light.’

With Polaris now our guiding light and in opposition to the Galactic Center we would appear to be polarized by the need to be ourselves and to learn enough…and yet to remember to contribute. That’s the requirement of the Galactic Center. The GC (as it’s known among astrologers) is always a point which describes where we have to give and wherever 27 Sagittarius (the position of the Galactic Center in 2012) falls in your chart, that’s where you will rise and probably also fall to your highest and lowest nature.

In a sense, that’s the price we pay for living in a time which combines the challenge of being with that of leading. For the Maya and the Egyptians and other great cultures of their day, the aspiration of learning (Thuban) was something other than the struggle to survive and to be a head of household or society.

Not so now. It’s just another sign that the Age of Aquarius – an age which stratifies, separates and distinguishes and requires that we treasure our differences asks that we join together in making things work.

 Aquariusurania as pictured in Urania's Mirror,

 a set of 32 constellation cards published by

 Samuel Leigh (London) in 1825

No, we don’t all have to like each other. But in the Aquarian Age we’re going to need to recognize that as different as we are and should be…how that doesn’t mean one person, one idea, one culture, one gender, one profession, one way of living is any better than any other. Those who don’t…well, like those Earth suitors which come along and end up going off on their own, we’ll be ‘deep spacing’ ourselves. That’s pretty cold.

Meanwhile, Earth goes on collecting it’s minimoons and leaving most behind. Our lovely blue planet remains in its monogamous relationship with Luna Moon while making friends along the way…just as many of Earth’s inhabitants do. For a minute there, I wondered whether Earth was just plain fickle.

Then I realized that when you’re a charismatic planet with a lot of magnetism and local space mass, you’re bound to pick up fans along the way!

Yup, I guess it’s all good...live and learn, right?