Tantalus, Station-Retrograde

 Tantalus by Gioacchino Assereto (circa 1640)

In looking up the word ‘tantalize,’ the big book of word roots I use said it came from two sources. One was ‘to drag or carry,’ to which the Greek evidently added the idea of ‘waving something about’ in the sense of making it impossible to ignore or not notice.

Thus when we’re talking about asteroid Tantalus, what we’re referring to isn’t the ‘thing’ which is attracting or provoking us…but rather whatever it is inside us which makes it impossible to ignore that thing, that gesture, that person, statement, idea, belief, stance, activity, difference, preference…or anything else.

Which means that in the most pragmatic sense, though asteroid Tantalus could always be taken to mean an opportunity to discover why something is important to us (or not important, depending), we will tend to react to Tantalus effects by thinking the other person or side of the coin (or question) will somehow solve our problem, fill our gap, scratch our itch, heal our ill…or whatever else.

Another thing to take note of here – the fact that the orbit of Tantalus only lasts 1.47 years, which is short for any asteroid (most main belt asteroids take half again as long). Moreover, Tantalus isn’t ‘just’ a main belt asteroid. Classed as an Apollo asteroid (the Apollo reference suggesting all such objects as ‘personal truth’ mechanisms) Tantalus cycles inward as it orbits, turning away from the (Jupiterian) search for objective knowledge in heading towards our Sun – the image of our individual, self-encapsulated consciousness.

In doing so, in ‘drawing a circle’ around such objects, Apollo asteroids evidently tell us what they are ‘about’ in the sense of how they will function… which in this case has Tantalus drawing a metaphysical circle around Mars plus Earth and its attendant Moon.

Mars plus Earth/Moon is all about what we, as creatures of the Earth want (Moon)… inclusive of all those Mars/Moon feelings which have us feeling ourselves going through all that wanting – you know, the Tantalus process. However this arises, however it is keyed in or set off, the energetic is ours.

Not that we tend to always act that way when it comes to Tantalus, the orbit of which seems to as often describe our fervent (Mars) attempts to ward something off or ‘keep something out’ of our life or world because we don’t want to feel, cope or face whatever that may be. The nature of that…and the means through which we will tend to respond or feel provoked individually is basically read through natal element – which explains easily enough why Person One (with Tantalus in water) may always get emotional whereas Person Two (with Tantalus in earth) tends to react to every problem as though it’s a threat to their earthy realm of operation.

Which of course leads us to the classic Tantalus problem: remembering that life is not only not just about us – but how that which happens in life is meant to happen so that we will learn from it.

However...remembering that fact - especially when either our defense or desire quotient rises in our throat?

That’s a human art form, against which the tug or push of Tantalus will tend to function as a distraction or focal point on our side which may well become problematic simply because where Tantalus is concerned we often wall others out (intentionally or simply as a matter of course) or are at least tempted to ignore everyone and everything because we're so focused on or 'consumed' by matters reflecting our native Tantalus.

And why that would be has everything to do with the Tantalus myth, a story which in most accounts begins with Tantalus being invited to dine with Zeus (Jupiter) - a scene which in an interesting variation on the famous Garden of Eden has Tantalus sitting down to a banquet consisting of all which could be offered by Knowledge (Jupiter) with the snake - in Greek terms - being Tantalus’ personal nature.

In other words it's his snake: his temptation within.

Tantalus of course accepts Jupiter’s invitation - one we know from other stories (such as that of Ixion) is as much of a challenge as a gift where mortals (or even demi-mortals) are involved. As with Ixion, Tantalus becomes fixated on that which Knowledge (Jupiter) can provide.

He is...tantalized by all he could know and could possess.

He is tantalized.

When Titan Prometheus came to a similar situation, he ended up stealing fire - the power of immortal illumination. It was a primal (Titan-ic) choice, one which was taken in order to empower humans - all humans.

And therein lies an important difference: Tantalus is purely about the Self. Whether it's a matter which originates with us or our being 'tantalized' by others, Tantalus is about our allegiance to our choice, whether or not anyone else is involved.

Even (often enough) whether or not someone else is affected. 

Prometheus Bound by Thomas Cole (1846-47)

Not that Tantalus was into anything as esoteric as fire. Nor was he evidently even a tiny bit deterred at the lasting wrath which rained down on Prometheus from Olympus on high - meaning Jupiter.

All of this evolves into an interesting thing about Knowledge - and therefore the astrological Jupiter. While Jupiter influences can represent the expanding of our life and world, they can also represent the need to go "too far" in order to learn not to overstep our bounds or abilities - or sometimes just the limits of good sense or established tradition.

All of which Tantalus evidently didn't know (or didn't care about), as no sooner was he given access to everything Knowledge (Jupiter) could provide but Tantalus went and stole from same.

And what he stole? That was nothing simple. What Tantalus focused on as the object of his desire was ambrosia, that ‘nectar of the gods,’ the source of core immortal nourishment.

Moreover, once he got the ambrosia home, Tantalus began handing it out, 'selling' people on his ability to provide all the power they would ever need.  

And people bought it…which brings up the other side of the Tantalus symbol: the wanting something to be true, whether that's a reasonable thing or not. This is an incredibly human habit I was reminded of when reading an email from someone about 'Pinocchio Girl' - an ‘early years’ auto-biography released recently as an eBook (link to Amazon US).

I've released the book for many reasons...and yes, I  understand that some will find it very hard to read. But that fits - it's about child abuse, and child abuse is one of those things which is entirely distressing on a truly human scale.

However, for someone to tell me how in my ‘coming clean’ I had inadvertently invalidated their assumptions about me? That's Tantalus. Sorry though I might be that their expectation was disappointed, I knew that wasn't about me. I know I became an astrologer (in part) because metaphysics helped explain what I didn't learn growing up just as surely as that growing up taught me how important it is to care about people both in their physicality and their spirit.

All of which is probably why astrology became my hobby.

The bottom line here is that I understood this person had been tempted to believe what they wanted to believe about me  without making the effort to be or become factually informed - all of which is very Tantalus, as is the standard ('I want to be known') Tantalus-like response where we try to seize control of the situation and re-inform the other party based on our (Jupiter) knowledge of Self.

Thus we come to the place where the Tantalus ability to focus - if we can avoid becoming fixated - becomes a plus: if we can recognize a 'Tantalus dynamic' for its 'Tantalus quality,' we can defuse it. My first read of that email left me a bit defensive. But as I focused on how this couldn't be me and thus was a classic Tantalus projection, my being 'caught up' in a flux of defensiveness (remember how Tantalus orbit 'isolates' Mars, Earth and Moon?) melted away.

And that's the Tantalus answer: to think things through until you arrive at the (Apollo asteroid) truth by going beyond the feeling of being 'tantalized' to where our full (solar) consciousness can refocus us.

As for me, I’ve had to learn this lesson about how people who may offend or even harm me - how they have their own issues. So what is projected on me is not a reflection on me.

In fact, it may well be that some of what gets 'dished out' to me...to you...to any of us in this world and life is so we will reflect, so we will remember that Tantalus and being tantalized is all about isolation - our isolation - in a state of mentality which can either exclude our consciousness or provide us with a specific situation through which we can better understand our Self and others.

Which would seem to be the positive of Tantalus, a wave energetic which tempts us to try out what doesn't work so we can discard that and thus identify the truth.

You know, that reality of Jupiter Knowledge.

Yes, that truth.

And yet…even as I say that, as fast as Tantalus reveals things, Tantalus also tempts us to forget.

Tantalus really is a strangely self-feeding process - one which describes how easy it is to mislead ourselves. The Tantalus process is one which teaches that the idea and feeling is not equal to the truth of reality - and what it means for us to grapple with that difference.

Tantalus is truly personal – almost blindingly so. It’s lack of perspective can delude, making all into a pretty lie against which truth has little weight, making Tantalus the asteroid which often seems to fulfill the function many people think should be attributed to asteroid Lust, but isn’t.

Lust is about the passion with which we ‘do’ or attend to something. Tantalus is the ‘what’ – the thing which arouses a Lust-driven response.

In any case…as of April 4th, Tantalus will be going retrograde at 4 Taurus, a degree known for a brittle sort of tension the Sabian symbol describes as ‘A WIDOW AT AN OPEN GRAVE’ - an image which pictures both loss and survival at the same time. This is the energetic which will be evolving and dissolving upon us in whatever form or formats. With 4 Taurus being a first decan (between 0 and 9) degree of an earthy sign all about mastering our security, events are likely to be trying or unsettling directly in response to our most ‘separatist’ efforts – especially where we attempt to ‘hide’ from some truth we know about ourselves, our life or something we would be doing if we hadn’t given in to some ‘temptation’ which ‘felt good’…at least at the time.

Lore notes 4 Taurus as a degree where negotiations require a true ‘give and take’ quality in order not to create negative responses personal or karmic – which with Tantalus on station may time the revelation of something you didn’t want to know. Or maybe the truth of some situation, one you had thought lost (ended, forgotten, abandoned) but which is merely waiting input – yours or someone else’s.

Or maybe you’re going to be embodying Tantalus on station at 4 Taurus by going out and ‘tempting’ people to get involved in some movement. Maybe you’re a teacher who will take the days around Tantalus’ station to tweak a lesson plan in some interestingly quirky way which gets young minds thinking.

Whatever we do now, it’s likely to feel a bit odd, even foreign – another quality of 4 Taurus which here may well favor those who are changing their tune or otherwise doing a ‘turnaround’ on some subject which good or bad has a ‘tantalizing’ effect on their mindful psyche.

One other thing to consider here, however…and that’s the incoming solar eclipse at 8 Taurus, a degree which by any (5 degrees of orb) estimation is conjunct the 4 Taurus Tantalus station.

 
Tantalus/Phaethon being our current concern, Phaethon brings in a quality of ‘hard-headedness’ which either because of lack of understanding or simple hard-headedness (or maybe being ‘dug into’ some position) ends up playing against our better interests.

The error? By and large, the error of judgment being described here concerns an act undertaken or decided ‘in the moment’ or at least without proper understanding (as talked about above with regards to Tantalus – the ‘assuming that you know’).

Given Mirach and Dionysus respectively at 0 and 1 Taurus, there is a ‘youthful influence’ (or influence on youth) left behind which is not going to be directly affected by the eclipse itself, but which we are in all likelihood already aware of as a factor which has somehow contributed to where we are today -  whether we cleaved to it way back when or or rebelled against it.

That’s just a fact, atop which we also have the presence of two fixed stars at 7 Taurus: Schedir and Hamal.

Known for being akin to the tofu of fixed stars, Hamal – or ‘Alpha Aries’ as astronomers call it – most often marks a some first-person quality as a distinct talent or distinction when in conjunction with some point or the axis of a natal chart. For instance…Hamal conjunct Mars (Mars = strength) might well appear in the chart of an athlete where Hamal conjunct Mercury (Mercury = thought, communication) would suggest more of the intellect, debater or writer.

But even if un-aspected in the natal chart, whenever Hamal is activated it manifests as being or becoming ‘independent’ in whatever manner.

And yet…then along comes this eclipse. Eclipses are known to bring out whatever we have ignored or denied – the ‘shadow’ of our strength. And that makes Hamal being eclipsed, and its being involved in this two-month ‘breaking down’ period preceding the eclipse a time when we are likely to see people exhibiting their strengths (or at least the appearance of strength) while also revealing that latent shadow. The last time this current eclipse cycle occurred was back in April of 1995,  s are cyclic, the last time this eclipse cycle came around was back in  of us who makes this a time when the pluses and minuses of independence and how we may have handled (or not handled) not merely the pleasures of independence but freedom’s responsibilities are now playing out.

And where they are playing out, they are not likely to manifest as anything genteel.

As for Schedir, it’s not only very different from Hamal, it’s also about our ‘shadow’ – that person we are but don’t like thinking we are. Those qualities, especially where magnified by Hamal, are more than likely to be brought out over the next month or so, especially in the chart of anyone with a planet, node or axis (vertical or horizontal) between 3 degrees and 13 degrees of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius.

And of course it follows that if you have more than one point which falls under these auspices, even more attention should be brought to bear on what goes on now. You probably already know things are in flux. Soon whatever ills or lurking inconsistencies will be exposed, exposing us to what we didn't want to know.

Yes...it feels like one vast season of all things uncomfortable. And well it might: Tantalus is most known (and in Greek terms, loathed) for the act of butchering, cooking and serving up son Pelops as food for the gods.

The Olympian gods, in this case.

In many ways we can see this act – as horrible as it is – as the consequence of Tantalus having sat at Jupiter’s table. It’s a reminder about how we need to be mindful of what we expose ourselves to – our ‘appetite’ for things, as it were – while remaining conscious and aware of how what we think we want sometimes turns out to be a reality which is not merely less than satisfying, but something we can’t…or don’t want to know we have to swallow.
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Deucalion: Freeing Our Will

Scene of Deluge

by Joseph Desire Court

(1827, Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, France)

TNO Deucalion was discovered on April 18, 1999 – just as everyone on Earth was getting all excited about the new millennium, though I suspect Earth itself didn’t give a fig. That would be left to the Adam and Eve crowd – you know, all us human types who from Fig Newtons to fig leaves seem to be into-fig-gering.
 
When discovered, Deucalion was classed by astronomers as a TNO (Trans Neptunian Object) and a Cubewano, which is to say one of an entire class of orbiting objects which may sound like a Cuban sandwich (seriously, that’s always what I think when I hear that term) but which really means that the object orbits beyond Neptune and within the ‘district’ where Neptune’s astonishingly potent magnetic resonance controls a whole group of other objects (including Pluto, Ixion, Orcus, Huya and others) – but not Deucalion.

Hence the Cuban sandwich ‘Cubewano’ designation.

Astrologically, that Neptunian ‘resonance effect’ translates as all such ‘Plutino’ objects being ‘subject’ to some of the Neptunian qualities of idealizing against illusion where we are tested about whether we know the ‘boundaries’ on fantasy against our willingness to accept and face real feelings about life’s realities in realistic form and real time. So to have an object (Deucalion) which orbits within this Neptune ‘fantasy-versus-reality’ realm without being ‘colored’ by Neptunian effects tells us that Deucalion is either an object which helps us differentiate between such foggy questions or a notion – information, call it – which comes to us ‘in the midst of the confusion’ where we aren’t sure what is real and what is not real.

So if Neptune is the classic ‘blind spot’ in our chart (which it tends to be, alas) Deucalion represents one of the (Cubewano) ways we can see – or attempt to guide ourselves through or past our own various forms of blindness to…whatever. (That whatever being described in your chart by aspects to natal Neptune and the house and sign where Neptune is positioned.)

Then we get to the myth, which is something of a Greek version of the Noah story, which differs from the Noah tale in several important ways. For one, the ancient Greek concept of deity isn’t singular (monotheism) – its more about seeing life in facets, with a god (which modernists would see as a ‘part’ of the One God concept OR a facet of personality or human evolution/development) in charge of each.

All of which is a touch moot in the Deucalion tale as it isn’t God (or some ‘unknown quotient’ as in being ‘visited’ by a particular god) telling him to build a boat.

Yes, there is a flood. And yes, Deucalion is asked to build a boat. But it’s his dad (Prometheus) who is telling Deucalion to build the boat – which in strictly human terms makes the whole boat building thing not only an interesting version of parental (read: internal) discipline, but an interesting commentary on how the father who stole fire (and who in Greek myth molded mankind from clay) then has to ask his son to save this race of beings he’s created.

Deucalion: Why should I build some giant boat?

Prometheus: Because I told you to! And let's remember, I’m not only your father, I created the rest of mankind! And yes, then you. So you owe me a boatload!

Deucalion: Very funny...you’d think you were some freakin’ demi-god, the way you go on, dad! What, if I don’t built the boat? Are you going to fire me or something?

Prometheus: FIRE, is it? I’ll have you know I went to a lot of trouble to steal fire for mankind.

Deucalion: Great galloping Greeks - not THAT story!  Again, dad? Must you?

Prometheus: Maybe I must. But this time I won't, even though heavens to Hades, son, you give me a pain in my liver! Just build the boat and stop pre-pitting my olives! And by the by - I’m NOT a demi-god, I’m a titan. Very primal and all that. I don't know about your generation...but your mother sure appreciates me. At least she did last time I asked.

Deucalion: Like she's going to insult you? Look, I really don’t want to know what kind of a ‘titan’ you are with mom, okay? All I know is that building this boat of yours is going to be one titan-ic pain.

Yes, it is my theory that teenagers were always teenagers. There’s nothing in the history of mankind to suggest otherwise. So the boat got built, got stocked with animals and kin, and thus Titan father (Prometheus) passed to his son the need for not just self preservation, but the preservation of that which is both near and dear to us and necessary to survive.

The one we like…the other we need.

Being positioned beyond the orbit of Neptune, the TNO Deucalion thus represents the understanding that in the midst of whatever confusion, delight or despair (or anything between)…in spite of that lack of clarity (good or bad) we still have to survive.

And if we do…if we take the task on, that helps us to survive whatever flood comes upon us.
 
As for floods, seeing that any metaphysical reference to water always means emotions or emotionality, between the Cubewano quality and the boat thing, this suggests Deucalion is all about learning how to ‘rise above an overwhelming emotional tide.’ Principally, this ‘tide’ is ours. It may be the fact we’re being swept along by some ‘current’ event, or the Deucalion need may arise through our being provoked or confronted by life.

Whatever the dynamic is, it would seem that the  Deucalion of our natal charts…by sign, by house, by degree, by aspects…represents both the possible venue of challenge to us or the means by which we rise above some flood and thus avoid ‘drowning’ in confusion or through the consequences of some ill-fated choice. But Deucalion is more than that. In being the son of titan Prometheus, Deucalion is ‘born of’ some basic (titan) instinct, which in the case is imaged by Prometheus.

There doesn’t seem to be any Olympian objection to Prometheus having ‘molded mankind out of clay.’ But when Prometheus stole fire and gave it to mankind, all holy Olympian havoc broke out. Mercury and Vulcan were sent out to haul Prometheus’ titanic self off to the top of a mountain where Vulcan chained Prometheus to the rocks so that an eagle could come by every day and peck at his liver.

Prometheus

by Nicolas-Sébastien Adam (Louvre Museum, Paris)

Esoteric traditions regard the liver as more than the physical organ, though there may be some semblance in functionality. To have a ‘good’ liver meant that you are able to function freely - that your body is unencumbered by ‘toxic’ emotionality which in turn causes us to stagnate or become imbedded in, or poisoned by, the inability to ‘process’ life’s (qi) at either a physical, spiritual or emotional level.

That an eagle is sent to peck at Prometheus’ liver suggests imagery of the Olympians (our greater mind or mindful self) feeling a need to keep this liver quality rationed or limited in scope. And when we think of this as specifically focused through  Prometheus’ ‘theft’ of fire – the giving of enlightenment to mankind, titan Prometheus’ punishment would seem to be about ‘knowing too much’ in a manner which is separate from the eternal need for ‘overseeing’ guidance.

There is the temptation to think of this ‘eternal’ concept in modern terms – as in deity. But Greek myth is all about what it means to be human, what it takes to be decent as a human and what humans face as challenges along the way. So this ‘eternal oversight’ would seem to be ours – not from some omnipotent force. And that leads us to think that TNO Deucalion either calls on our awareness of what we do not know or that which we may know about, but need to be careful about, or limit unrestricted use of. Deucalion is not about ‘sin’ as in ‘being sinful’ in the Christian sense. There’s no damnation involved…though if you’re going to talk about a flood it might have been good to have been given a dam as opposed to giving a damn.

No, Deucalion seems to be more about the discovering of better ways which allow us to function freely, but with a consciousness of the penalty to be paid if we overindulge (so to speak) emotionally – and that would be too much emotion or too much constraint on our emotions.

Moderation…finding the balance…rising above the emotional flood…that’s the Deucalion theme.  

Prometheus’ parting ways with Zeus’ ‘this is how the world is’ in giving fire to humans is another way of saying that we have and must have a say in our own fate – that thing we call Free Will. That Mercury is sent with Vulcan to chain Prometheus implies that there is a choice to be made in all things – most of all the Free Will choice whether to face our most titanic and instinctual Self.

What will we each do with our Free Will in finding our way in spite of (Neptunian) allures which, whether positive or awful, are all about tempting us to  abandon our focus on reality?

As son of Prometheus, Deucalion is all about this question of ‘embodying’ Free Will, an idea which when though of in the astronomical sense of a Cubewano (an object which functions free of Neptunian influence) seems sincerely apt. The fact that Deucalion ‘travels’ through this “Neptune zone” suggests it’s purpose and meaning in the horoscope is all about ‘independent’ perspectives – the need to have them and the need to know how to use them. Plutinos (Pluto, Ixion, Huya, etc.) re all about being subject to the allure of that which may or may not be real – the Neptunian sway. Cubewanos like Deucalion are not subject to Neptunian allure and thus represent a different ‘outlook’ on such issues.

And yes, life. And our emotional responses to life.

Discovered in 1999, TNO Deucalion has an orbit of just over 295 years long. It entered Libra (i.e., it left the zodiac’s most personal and introspective signs for the more worldly realm) back in July of 1980 – pretty much as the face of society began shifting into technological mode. Ever since then we’ve been dealing with escalating questions about the use of our mind, whether it’s how children learn in school to whether technology burdens or frees us – and whether that, in and of itself, is a good or bad thing.

Going back to that flood thing again, unlike the biblical flood, the Greek one isn’t caused by rain but rather by that Greek god of oceans himself, Neptune.

(Funny how these Greek gods get around, isn’t it?)

At Zeus’ command, Neptune raises the ocean’s level and floods everything - an interesting comment of late seeing as how we humans are discussing ocean levels now in connection with global warming. The term ‘global warming’ evidently dates back to 1975 (and an article in a publication called Science) which was then ‘popularized’ in 1979 – shortly before Deucalion moved into Libra. And whether you agree or don’t agree with the concept of ‘global warming’ (with its implication that changing temperatures are due to something humans are doing) or whether you’re more of a ‘climate change’ person who thinks Earth simply has patterns of climate and we’re moving into a planetary hot seat period, we’ve been discussing (a typically Libran activity) ever since.

And then the Kyoto Protocol (an international agreement dealing with this question) ended on March 15, 1999 - a scant month before Deucalion’s discovery.

Coincidence?

So what happens during this Greek flood idea being floated in this story?

(Yes, I said that.)

Remembering that water is not only emotionalism but everything and anything which evokes those emotions of ours prime and primal (sex, family, money, death, birth, war, finance-credit-debt, threat, control, manipulation, fear, etc.), Deucalion having appeared in our collective metaphysical consciousness with Deucalion at 24 Libra, a degree which focuses on our ability…and our willingness to ‘own’ where and how we do or can affect others, leading to the positives and negatives which result. That this was (and to date, remains) the position of Earth’s current pole star Arcturus (leadership) underscores 24 Libra’s meaning while also suggesting that to utilize Deucalion is to ‘discover’ your power to direct others, or in a greater sense, your life – and through that (thinking of Libra as the cause-effect mechanism), others.

That as Deucalion shifted into Scorpio on October 28, 2003 (UT/+0) our world moved into a time of red-line stress seems (painfully) apt. But maybe that’s apt as the myth tells us that Prometheus’ instructions to his son were about building an ark in which to ride out a storm meant to wash away all forms of evil…the ‘ills’ which would plague mankind.

And in our very mortal life, knowing what is an ill takes a perspective. It’s not just what we don’t like. Nor is voting for the ‘tried and true,’ whether that’s a tradition or way of living, going to work. Thinking that any of us know ‘the way’ for everyone is probably a mistake in a life where a ‘standard’ thing such as a horoscope is sufficiently individual to only repeat once every 26,000 years or so (the length of Earth’s precessional ‘pole’ cycle)…and that’s only if we take just the objects in our own solar system into account.

At some level metaphysics seems to always come back to that which is truly an eternal reality – the fact that while its vital and important to understand ourselves as individuals, we cannot succeed (nor can our world) without everyone taking into account everyone and everything around them.

The ancient call of the Hermeticists – ‘As above, so below’ probably needs updating as by now we think of life as being more about the ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ world, the ‘me and mine’ versus ‘them and all the rest of it.’
But it all means the same thing. And what do we need in order to balance the seemingly endless offsets and diametric oppositions of our individuality against the world and that ‘personal world’ we live in?

Perspective. Dispassionate perspective.

You know, that Deucalion ‘morality’ which is not so much about some ‘rule’ imposed upon us, but that which we know is right, honest and realistic. That which will allow us to have a decent, productive and reasonably fruitful life.

In the myth, the oceans rise and Deucalion and his family ‘rise above the flood’ until finally the waters recede. Depending on which version of the story you read, the ark ‘lands’ (so to speak) in either in Greece or Italy, whereupon Deucalion goes to have a chat with an oracle of Themis.

(Don’t ask me why  no one’s left on Earth but Deucalion, the wife and one oracle. I don’t write these myths, I just report on them.)

And what does the oracle say? Proving that oracles of every age are oblique, this one tells Deucalion to ‘cover your head and throw the bones of your mother behind your shoulder.’

Probably resisting a reply to the effect of “NOW you tell me I should have brought along the bones of my mother?” Deucalion has a moment of thinking through the fact that Themis is a primal sort of god whose name translates literally as ‘law of nature’ (a reference to ‘mother’ and hence Mother Earth or Gaia). And once he gets that far he understands that Earth’s ‘bones’ are rocks and stones. So Deucalion and Pyrrha do as instructed to, and by doing so (re)create the human race. The rocks thrown by Pyrrha become women and those thrown by Deucalion become men.

Pyrrha and Deucalion

by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1655, oil on canvas)

In this process, Themis not only empowers the repopulating of Earth after it is cleansed by an emotional flood, but reminds Deucalion of the interconnectedness of all life and what it means to be a human being replete with all the privileges, obligations, gifts and responsibilities which having the power of creation implies. In this, the ‘covering of the head’ is a metaphor for not over-thinking things – which in the astrological sense seems reasonable with Deucalion as to ‘overthink’ would be to invite the kind of second-guessing which would tempt us to be confused and lead us away from Cubewano independence and more into the magnetic resonance of Neptunian sway.

Deucalion is now in Scorpio and will remain in Scorpio until November 19, 2026 – when at 6:01 in the morning (UT/+0 time) it will move on into Sagittarius, having spent the last couple of months of its Scorpio transit in the company of Typhon (another titan) and fixed star Toliman.

This is likely to be a trying time as Typhon symbolizes life’s most basic needs: sleep, food, air, water, sex…against which Toliman a star representing the foot of a centaur (theoretically Chiron). Thus is raised the general question regarding centaurs, that being whether we are able to integrate our conscious and unconscious natures and balance impulse against conscious control. Will we ‘rise above’ our animalistic nature, abandon reason to animal instincts or marry them in a mélange of potency which in this case speaks to the gift given Chiron by Apollo.

And what was that gift?

Enlightenment. Specifically, the curative power to heal…which sadly enough speaks to the ongoing propensity we have for injuring ourselves.

Half a Deucalion cycle before now, Tolstoy was drafting War and Peace and Abraham Lincoln was beginning to fight the Civil War. Both of these are substantial examples of men grappling with the need to gain and understand perspective not only on their life, but the life on a greater plain – and with a greater purpose. Lincoln would ultimately write the following: “The will of God prevails — In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God cannot be for, and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is somewhat different from the purpose of either party — and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect this.”

At the time, Deucalion was in Taurus. Seeing as Taurus is ultimately a sign about learning that satisfaction comes only from harnessing our talents and resources in such a way as to earn the respect of others whether we succeed fully in our efforts or not, this may be good news for us. Both Tolstoy and Lincoln confronting man’s least humane aspects (war, a decidedly Scorpio thing), and to do that they risked all they had – their resources of talent and their time on this Earth.

So if those men achieved their lasting satisfaction and the security of knowing they had done what they were born to do through the trials of the sign in polarity to that Deucalion was traversing, that means that now, as Deucalion transits Scorpio the risk is more about our physical, material security. To feel emotionally safe and ‘above water’ (Deucalion in Scorpio) we probably need to be willing to share. We need to be able to risk our ego in having less, or being ‘less in charge’ so that we're able to do…and know we’ve done more.

Which yes, takes a very 'freed will' to accomplish.
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