Blogpost (May 12-19): The Scorpio New Moon (+ Mars and Other Stations)

 

A photograph of the April 15, 2014 Lunar Eclipse taken in Minneapolis, Minnesota

(photo credit: Tomruen2)

As May 12th comes upon us, life [Sun] shifts us out from behind a variable set of lenses colored by contradictions which want resolving plus a smattering of just those sorts of cravings which make us feel everything or anything we have or are isn’t as good as what someone else has (or is).

Fortunately, it’s only been a day of that - a 20 Taurus sort of day which had us wanting to do whatever our way when for good or ill what we want, especially in the long run was more likely to come from an honest estimation of personal needs.

From solidity of self comes the ability to tolerate differences in others. Without that security, Taurus becomes the land of endless wanting - of whatever your “medium of choice” is, be it money, power or any of the other illustrious polarizing (Scorpio) forces which are apparently part of life not so much so that we can test or control others but so that we can learn about what works for us and...separately...for others so that we can forge a path forward which works to equally support the need/drives/aims of all.
 
With every year comes a 20 Taurus sort of day. And once we complete that task, life rolls on...time pushes forward...and we get to the next thing, the process of enacting yesterday’s realizations.

It’s something of a theme this week, that process thing. No matter who we are we’re in the middle of something, and the Sun’s moving into Taurus’ ‘third third’ (degrees 20-29) is where our more (and most) personal view(s) encounter the minds, the lives, the push back, applause, critique and support of both a few...and at other times many others.

There will be a literal highlighting of sorts which will occur around/at the time of this month’s Scorpio Full Moon. The date will be May 14th and the UT/+0 time 7:17 p.m. as this Moon takes its mark at 23 Scorpio.

And if that degree sounds familiar, it should. 23 Scorpio is the degree Saturn went stationary-retrograde at back on March 3rd.

Which yes, would be one day after Mars went retrograde at 27 Libra....which was one day after Mercury went direct at 18 Aquarius.

- link to -

Mercury, Mars, Saturn on Station

And we’re all still dealing with that. Whatever was afoot then was what we like as not stubbed our mental toes on, with the whole of the Mars retrograde and solar eclipse process slowly moving us towards a ‘bottom line’ we are just about to reach with our Self, and which all around us we hear people wanting to reach (often just so they can be ‘done’ with something).

Over this time...through whatever has happened to us over the past few months...our trajectory has changed. Why we do what we do (the way we do it) has become clearer to us - and the flaws with that, personal or social - have also become clear.

We all have been changed. A little or a lot...that’s individual. But as this Full Moon comes to be...during the time leading into or out of it (some people tend to do one, some the other - that’s natural) we’re likely to feel ourselves recognizing just how we’ve changed.

And what that means with regards to our personal  potential, alone or as part of some greater group or concern.

Maybe even as part of many groups or concerns, some of which don’t overlap so well. Energies stirred at 23 Scorpio wash through life either with a ‘scattering’ or ‘wasting’ effect or a revealing of that which has been scattered or wasted which here is ‘highlighted’ symbolically by a Full Moon - a ‘high tide’ of feelings summoned from deep within whether we really want to feel them or not.

But it’s just a phase. The Moon moves in phases...this is just another phase, and after this one will come countless others. When we make a Scorpio-Moon connection, we tend to feel the impact...of how we feel in the moment we register our feelings most of all.

It’s a lovely thing indeed...although it can get us stuck. The Moon in Scorpio fights for control; its habit and instinct are to use external sources to  stabilize anything we feel [Moon] is keeping us from ‘getting on’ with whatever it is we want to do next...and to find/use/employ whatever we [Moon] feel will support our positions.

At it’s best, Moon in Scorpio supports difficult emotional constructs and the constructing of whatever will support, detoxify, rebuild and/or regulate any force. Sometimes that means investing. Sometimes that means pruning. Sometimes that means detoxifying. Sometimes that means not doing anything and sometimes it means ripping the old construct down to whatever level lays it bare.

Scorpio is the sign of the Phoenix. We are transformed by our ability to trust our Self, whether or not others agree - whether or not we like (or trust) them. That all ‘Scorpio tests’ are internal and yet enacted through others or external circumstances will lead most of us to experience at least a moment or two (or three) of insecurity...maybe confusion or even that helpless, hapless feeling we all dislike. The Sun-Phaethon-Dionysus (in Taurus) side of things describes demands and determinations being balanced against a future and a potential we should want...and which we actually have the ability to go after if our overall priorities are in line.

If not, others will let us know. They may not even be subtle about it.

One other thing about this day or so in time...with the Moon (at 23 Scorpio) conjunct Mnemosyne (creativity) and Huya, there is something we can give - something which we have learned at hard cost long before now [Huya] through the sorts of events and experiences which try the human soul.

However we connect to that...whatever we have learned from that...it is the offering of that which becomes our “Huya Rainmaker.”

- link to -

Huya, Rainmaker: Direct at 20 Scorpio

Remember: this is your Huya we’re talking about, which in Scorpio has to do with what you have to offer others out of your own life which will ‘make it rain’ for everyone...and thus bring fulfillment to us. 

 Asteroid Eros as photographed by NASA

 

Eros station-retrograde at 19 Capricorn

As astrological Eros the ‘object’ as been covered about as well as I'm ever going to cover it in a different post, let’s start there...
 

- link to -

Eros and Psyche: Falling in

Love With Our Minds

...after which what you need to know is that asteroid Eros is going retrograde at 19 Capricorn on May 11th.

Yes, that is the same day as the Full Moon. But let’s remember, stations (be they station-retrograde or station-direct) all get 'allowances.' I'm currently using a two-day allowance, but if you may find three days works better for you, feel free.

Representing ‘passions’ of all kinds, Eros energies tend to arise as described by the sign element in your natal chart. In other words, if your natal Eros is in an air sign (Gemini, Libra or Aquarius) you are stirred by ideas and your ‘passions’ function greatly on an idea-driven level and it doesn’t matter what the subject matter is, it’s the idea of the thing which ‘gets’ you (or gets to you).

With natal Eros in water (Cancer, Scorpio or Pisces), the drive and driver is emotional. With natal Eros in fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) the ‘vision’ is the thing.

And when we find Eros in an earth sign - as it is now, transiting Capricorn, it’s the reality which we’re passionate about, and life’s realities which stir our passions, however they’re individually shaped. With Capricorn pointing us to the worldly and public sections of life as well as all things/concerns ‘structural’ (and the price or penalty we pay for a lack of Eros focus) certain types of ‘standings’ (or our regard for same) take a ‘turn’ now... or don’t, depending on our individual relationship to the kind of passionate assertiveness of the interactive type this Scorpio Full Moon favors working with.

Our ability to negotiate, team up with, support or serve as a coalescing (Scorpio) force is in the (Full Moon) spotlight.

Known as least mildly pro-active (and more than a little bit determined, 19 Capricorn is a degree which presses for its goals with an unusual degree of creativity. And though advances can be made, the fullness of what one wants to accomplish probably can’t be done overnight.

Yes, patience is required. That may be the test here, as Scorpio Moons (Full or otherwise) tend to ‘freeze’ or ‘hold off’ where Eros energies tend to erupt as ‘pushing’ for what we want or need.
 
Balance and an understanding of who or what we are dealing with in its own terms (not pre-defined by us) is necessary for what is done now to endure as a supportive measure which does what we want it to correctly.

If nothing else, the Sabian symbol for 28 Virgo ('A SEEKER AFTER OCCULT KNOWLEDGE

IS READING AN ANCIENT SCROLL WHICH ILLUMINATES HIS MIND,') reminds us how in

great part the decision (and effort) to continue seeking and the remaining open to new ideas

(not the allegiance to what we already know) which provides opportunities for growth. 

Srimad Guru Adi Shankaracharya by Raja Ravi Varma (1904, Oleograph)

Byblis direct at 28 Virgo

There’s an unpleasant quality to Byblis, one which can probably be typified either as the defense of the indefensible or the attempt to defend one’s Self against that ‘awful’ thing we don’t want to think about or contend with.

But that’s the point - the metaphysics of asteroid Byblis is about us. It’s about what we will or won’t consider or face having to deal with, whether that ‘dealing’ is self-contained or whether such things ask us to take on matters beyond our Self or even our understanding.

The point is that with Byblis, there always seems to be something involved which is ‘wrong’ - or at least something which seems or feels wrong. And with Byblis’ station taking place in Virgo, the ‘lens’ through which this ‘wrong’ is being seen (or through which it is manifesting) will be the means, method or reasoning/rationales for doing/not doing things...or the means, methods or rationales being employed in the doing of things.

That Byblis is making its turn to direct at 28 Virgo (one of Virgo’s last ten degrees) also tells us that whatever the Byblis note is, it will be ‘group’ and not personal. So it’s something we can react to... or which in embodying a reaction to something we’ve already done brings out the Byblis effect (theirs about us or us about something ‘out there’).

This isn’t the sky falling. Like most main belt  asteroid energetics, Byblis represents something we ‘run into’ and thus are affected by, which may color what we do, how we think or some choice we make because of or maybe in spite of everything and anything disquietingly ‘Byblis-like.’

At the same time, seeing as Byblis went retrograde back in early February in tandem with Mercury there is some chance that an assertion made back then may fall through now. If so, it will fall through on the basis of improper choices (which of several options was taken)...  or how a choice, commitment, resistance or position has failed to take all of the details and/or universal needs (or universal commonalties) properly into account.

In other words, where we may have thought over-much of our Self (in the ‘self important sense) or even just more of our opinion in some situation which really needed to be more balanced in the ‘my’ versus ‘their’ department...such issues may arise - or even re-arise now.

Again, this doesn’t have to be any sort of costly  interruption or reprocessing of anything. For many of us these Byblis moments are just those ‘do you have to bring THAT up again?’ sort of influences.

And since we’re here...the answer to the above is ‘yes, they do have to bring that up again,’ if only because their Byblis says they have to bring ‘that’ up again for their own Byblis reasons.

How would we know who would react and who wouldn’t react to such an influence? Granting that energetics tend to have a low-level effect no matter who we are, the person who reacts now will have 28 Virgo as a sensitive point in their natal chart or a natal Byblis which is somehow emphasized, however that happens.

Also, one other item worth noting...

Astrologer Marc Edmund Jones (the original astrologer to work with Sabian symbols)

typified the image for 0 Libra - 'IN A COLLECTION OF PERFECT SPECIMENS OF MANY

BIOLOGICAL FORMS, A BUTTERFLY DISPLAYES THE BEAUTY OF ITS WINGS, ITS BODY

IMPALED BY A FINE DART' - as 'the immortal archetypal reality that a perfect and dedicated

life reveals,' validating in yet another form those many age-old sayings which warn how 

with every great honor comes some sort of responsibility and feeling of being 'pinned' to

that 'perfect beauty' we represent, stand for, have achieved or have created.

A Chinese cloisonne and enamel box (photo credit: Vassil, June 2007)
.

Haumea direct at 0 Libra

Haumea is a dwarf planet, not an asteroid, meaning it’s greater size and mass translates rather literally into the metaphorical world of metaphysics, telling us it’s effect will have ‘weight’...or perhaps ‘gravity’ in our psyche, if not our life.

And maybe our life too - but first the psyche, as that is the principle realm (hierarchy of thought) around which western (tropical) astrology is organized. There are other forms of astrology which tend in that direction, but in western astrology, fate is what you are handed: what you do with it is free will and that’s what we see in your chart...which is why what happens (astrologically) isn’t about ‘them’ it’s about you and your responses, reactions and learning curve.

And why does that apply here? That applies because Haumea is a goddess of tricky manifestations, whether we’re talking about Haumea as an entity capable of ‘giving birth’ through various portions of her being (which metaphysically would suggest our ability to ‘give birth’ to ideas or efforts when various facets of our lives are triggered)...or Haumea the ultimately self-destructive shape-shifter as a representation of how we choose, do or say this or that to placate or ‘get by’ or ‘get along’ in any of the many manners which ultimately come home to us in some form of self-undoing.

In going direct at 0 Libra, Haumea drives us to understand truths even while (or because) we’re being driven crazy - or just driving ourselves crazy over something we need to deal with before moving on. There’s a ‘spin’ on complications here which suggests easy things being made more complicated (perhaps more complicated than they need to be) even as complicated issues are being simplified - and yes, maybe over-simplified. Whichever effect is encountered, the subject... interestingly... does seem to be something important, particularly in its ultimate potential with problems of the moment being linked to an undermining of momentum through improperly applied efforts.

Either the right method is not known, the right skills are not present or skills are needed but not present, all of which is complicated by questioning which in the end will tend towards lack of capacity - a quality which isn’t going to be felt as any more cuddly or cozy by any of us seeing as Venus is still in Aries (a fact which links because the Venusian drive for reward rules the Libra principle of relating).

You do remember Venus in Aries, right?
 

- link to -

Venus in Aries

Haumea and Byblis both go direct on May 18th, which means their stations (conservatively) begin on the 16th (Friday) and extend through March 20th, the actual end of Mars retrograde.

And that station (Mars’ station) begins on the 18th, the date Haumea and Byblis go direct.

Wait...let me try to make this a little easier by offering what schools the world over have no doubt taught us all to regard as a ‘visual aid.’

I’m sure to some, this all sounds rather dire - and it could be for those brining their minds in some proverbial pickle while waiting on someone or on something to happen. But the element involved here - air -  tells us that however Haumea and Mars manifest amidst all other things is of theoretical concern.

In other words, they’re arising in our mind, and whether it’s an evolving idea or some new notion about how life works or who you are in this life...with the Sun in Taurus’ latter degrees, we’re all being subjected to some level of interfaced wants and ‘security needs.’ Or maybe for you that’s the interfacing of wants and whatever allows you to feel secure (starting in your mind, evidently).

Or maybe it's just all in our mind. Sorting through that question is part of what happens now...and evidently it needs to happen as part of Mars reaching the end of its long Libra retrograde. How much of what we do in life is governed by what we think others like or dislike? How much is our life modeled or molded by ideas which may 'hold their shape' for us but which in the end are undercutting or compromising our greater ends? 

By the by...just to define here, ‘security’ in this sense is the Taurean (and/or 2nd house) version of security, which is to say that we find in our Self, making this reference ‘that which makes us feel secure as a person in life and/or in any given moment of our life.’
 
For the record here, the obvious is also true - namely that the reason why Scorpio as the polarity to Taurus is so often associated with death, birth, war and various kinds of tests of control are because where and when Scorpio functions that way it does so as a projection onto others of that we feel disquieted by ourselves.
 
Some factor which arises from this quadrant of our thinking plays a role at least in how we will tend to consider things now... and with Mars continuing to ‘sit’ at 9 Libra (conjunct fixed star Diadem), whether we’re in position to be comfortable with some sort of separateness of perspective or struggling through dealing with feelings, tales and issues having to do with separations or a ‘separating of ideas,’ isolation and/or its elitist cousin isolationism will be pushing us each and all to see the beauty, full potential and possible nasty (to our thinking) ideas to be faced amidst all.

Traces of liquid passage as recorded in planet Mars' surface

(NASA, GSFC, December 2006)

Damocles, Mars-Diadem

and Orcus on Station

 

Speaking of Mars (you knew we were going to get around to this, right?), the strangely unsecured feeling so many people are feeling, reacting to, and whether productive or not - that continues...as does the [Mercury in Gemini] pace of things in general. We often think of Mercury in Gemini as a somewhat ‘hectic’ time - and that factor may well be missing this time around, what with the overhanging Diadem/Mars retrograde effect. The net is likely to be a deal of coming to terms with Self first and then others, yet with Mars and Venus both in ‘fervent’ degrees we will need to conquer our own trepidations going in and be willing to work through a process of consideration and reconsidering (most of all with our Self) if by week’s end we are to arrive at suitable (or at least employable) combinations of [Venus in Aries] aspiration, [Mercury in Gemini] facts, choices or options and what may only be a dawning of the greater [Mars/Diadem] understanding of why (in the biggest-of-big-picture metaphysical sense) you have gone through so much of what you have gone through over these past days, weeks and months.

This period has its own function, absolutely. But it is also part of an intense and challenging period filled with personal tests which dates back to December, 2013 - just before Christmas.

Speaking of intensity...since Mars is going direct in square to Pluto (conjunct Vega) in Capricorn, apart from and yet as part of all else we go through now we are experiencing a long-term [Pluto] transformation of allure and that which fascinates us, draws and or commands us.

The longest range personal and societal shifts began a couple of years ago and won't become evident in the general sense for several years hence. However the short term effects of Mars-square-Pluto (which this would be with Pluto in Capricorn and Mars in Libra) could be explosive IF both symbols were not in retrograde.

In other words, froth if you must, but the transformational energetic is personal and wholeheartedly internal, causing us to 'work over' issues in our own way and at our own individual pace starting somewhere around May 14th.

This is not a transit to quail at unless you have done something dishonest, wrong or wholly manipulative (i.e., without regard for consequences or who gets harmed). If that is the case, as always Pluto/Mars contacts are likely to time out matters which 'expose' your secrets and 'occulted' (hidden) matters...and something like Mars squaring Pluto through a station is certainly that kind of event.

For everyone else the latter part of this coming week is likely to feel 'constrained' or 'compacted'...or perhaps weighty but complicated in that messy if not in-obvious manner which persuades us we can get where we need to go if we will but tackle the job and get on with things.  

In this light, some of us will solve short-term problems first as greater perceptions filter down upon us...some of us will have one of those light-bulb ‘epiphany’ moments then use that to develop new strategies which apply to the here and now of today, tomorrow and next week.

Then there’s the rest of us - a vast swath of humanity which is seeing so much so fast that it will take a bit to sort out, shake out and otherwise prove out.

Which is okay too...and entirely astrologically sensible. Even before Mars enters its two-day ‘station allowance’ on May 17th, asteroids Damocles and Sabine go on station on May 16th, serving as metaphysical clockwork chimes striking new notes of recognition...

In light of Damocles going on station at 24 Aquarius ('A BUTTERFLY WITH THE RIGHT
WING MORE PERFECTLY FORMED' ) we are reminded to stay in balance with ourselves

...and just how much doing that much requires of us.

A plate of Charaxes Aristogiton from Adalbert Seitz (ed.) 'Macrolepidoplera of the World'

(published before 1930, author unknown)

...yes, we see what needs doing...it’s just that it’s [Damocles] a whole lot harder to carry through on, especially given the growing understanding that reactions may arise during the process. As the weekend of the 17th-18th comes upon us time [Damocles in Capricorn] is ever more an essential ingredient going forward...but there are distinct real-time, present tense needs too. 

And one or two of those are likely to feel a bit like volunteering to sit on a tack the ‘point’ of which is driving home our own mortality, our vulnerability to being human as both the reason we care about others (and need to be cared about) and why we need to individuate.

It’s back to that Libra thing - the knowing who we are in the presence of others and knowing how we act to, with and about them is the cause of the effect they hand back. It’s all about negotiation, most of which happens first and last with and within our Self.
 
You know, the [Orcus] consequences which come from being who we are and aren't...or who we have come to think we don't want to be or need to become in spite of all. Through others, through all we have been through and been thwarted in, so we come to realize what is possible, reasonable and - in the end - maybe not so desirable in spite of all.

 Asteroid Sabine going station/retrograde at 16 Capricorn, a degree imaged by the image
'A REPRESSED WOMAN FINDS A PSYCHOLOGICAL RELEASE IN NUDISM' representing

whatever unexpressed or denied experiences we meet up with (in our own life or that of
others) which causes us to see, become free with or 'put on display for all to see' either
that which represents our inner (Capricorn) structures or external (Capricorn) goals,
drives or aims. 

Inu (Nu debout) by Jean Metzinger (oil on carton, 52 x 35 cm., 1911) 

 
Maybe it's not our path or role in life. Maybe the thing at hand (or in mind) isn't ours to do even comment on. Why this should be - and why we will, in reconsidering our current focus arrive at considering the 'where we are now' in light of all we have done...that both holds us back [Sabine] and in getting us to [Sabine] take hold of that which is immediately available to us gets us to consider what our life should be as well as the [Damocles] difficulties we're bound to encounter whether we adjust or stay our course.

In other words...in light of all that, what is really worth doing [Mars] and/or investing our [Mars] energies in? At some level we know our choice cannot be just about what we want, nor can it be entirely about what one (or many) parties are lobbying for.

It's about any and all of us - and what we mean...at least on a theoretical level...amidst all that.

Considering we're all going through this together (which is a thought worthy of contemplation right there...) patience and thoughtfulness will count now more than usual - and though we dare not leave ourselves out of the mix (yes, a little 'be nice to me' time is in order) we also dare not neglect others, with and without regard for who they are.

Libra is about equality - a theoretical equality which on a metaphysical level must allow for differences simply because together we all balance each other out.

(And isn't that a metaphysical noodle worth thinking about?) 

The better we understand why all this is, the more likely we are to ask ourselves that we actually hear others instead of just listening (in general, read as 'tolerating') them. And once we do that, we're likely to not just hear what they're truly saying (as opposed to what we might have been thinking we wanted to hear)...from which we will begin to really understand why others choose as they choose.

Such perspectives...or our unwillingness to contemplate same...are what we carry into and through the Mars/Diadem station, wherever that may yet lead.

* * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * * 

.
.
.

The Astrology of Justice - the Jodi Ann Arias Verdict

The Great Seal of the State of Arizona

As many have, I’ve listened to a lot of the judicial proceedings as Jodi Ann Arias has been on trial for the murder of Travis Alexander.

Today, May 8th, was verdict day. When the news came in that the jury had reached its verdict, there also came the statement that there would be a two hour delay while all the necessary parties – family and lawyers – could get to the courthouse.

As astrologers do, I summoned up a chart. It had TNO Deucalion at the IC, which as I heard people in the streets of Phoenix calling out for justice I thought apt as Deucalion is a Cubewano which seems to function in charts as ‘the finding of the moral path.’

That Deucalion is a Cubewano seemed apt here, as Cubewanos, though they orbit in the same region (or ‘belt’) of space inhabited by objects whose orbits are controlled by Neptune’s vast magnetic resonance… Cubewanos go their own way. Astrologically, Cubewanos thus represent a ‘clarified’ concept – the moral path – which is without any of the doubts, hesitations or emotional biases so typical of Neptune-controlled Plutinos.

I left an astro-clock up on my computer screen with the television on as the minutes ticked by, going about my business here at home until the appointed time for the reading of the verdict drew near. Then I went back to my desk, listening to television lawyers discussing possible outcomes as the tension around that Phoenix courthouse got sufficiently intense as to be palpable from here in Los Angeles, hundreds of miles away.

The verdict was to be read at half past and it was about 26 minutes past the hour when I sat back down at my desk and saw this on the Ascendant of the astro-clock.

 
Despite all the commentary about how prompt court proceedings are, that Ascendant said – to me – that court would not be starting at half past. All the intensity having occurred as the Ascendant passed through 3 Orcus, funneling through the energy of ‘final consequences.’ And that fit.
I looked to the bottom of the chart.

Hebe/Antares at the IC of the clock (yes, you have to read through the overlap) was a perfect picture of people in Phoenix being so focused (Antares) on being supportive of Travis’ family and his memory. And that they were so sure that justice would function as it should is a perfectly Sagittarian concept.

But I looked at that 6 Virgo Ascendant…and heard myself say ‘we aren’t going to get a verdict until that Ascendant reaches Sabine.’

And that’s exactly what happened as the verdict was read out at 49 minutes past the hour:

   
Like all astrological symbols, Sabine has two very different sides. One is the idea of being ‘taken prisoner’ while the other is ‘taking something’ or ‘raping’ (degrading) something which is not yours to judge or yours to even touch.

Sabine/Athena dictates that there is a dispassionate (Athena) perspective on an act (Ascendant) of Sabine wantonness being ‘voiced’ through the Ascendant.

Is this also emblematic of the Taurus Solar Eclipse about to happen? Absolutely. But with the Sun at 18 Taurus, a degree which either acts with or which deals with energies which are ‘over the line’ and with this Sun sitting right beside Pallas (dispassionate wisdom) and between asteroid Child and the South Node in the 9th house of the chart (that associated with judicial workings) the Taurean value of America’s judicial system played out well.

Wisely, one might say.

And yes, this eclipse hits Jodi Arias’ chart hard. We don’t have a time of birth, but we do know the date and place, which gives us the following Aries wheel:

Jodi Ann Arias - July 9, 1980 - Monterey, California

Aries Wheel (time unknown). This chart was cast for 6 a.m., which means the Gemini Moon shown

could be as early as 10 Gemini or as late as 22 Gemini in an accurate chart. 

 
The closest planetary aspect to the eclipse (dwarf or full planet) is an inconjunct to Pluto. And with Pluto in opposition to Eris in Aries, the fact that the jury voted for first degree murder would tend to say a lot about what the ultimate penalty will be.

But the closest aspect of all in this chart is the 19 Taurus eclipse hitting Jodi’s 19 Taurus Typhon – the symbol of our primal, human drives: hunger, the need for sleep, sex and reproduction. That Chiron is conjunct this Typhon and both are in opposition to Jodi’s Uranus, a Uranus which was not only hit with exactitude by last November’s solar eclipse but which is conjunct her natal Sabine says a lot.

When such factors tie together, it’s a sign of how life’s many tendrils cross and interweave. All which is counts. All which is, is a part of that Existence science refers to as time/space.

Unbeknownst to us, our time/space universe unfolds as it should. Sometimes it's just painfully sad, even in the most righteous of moments.
.
.
.

A Host of Stations

 

 Image adapted from a Sierpinski square in public domain courtesy of Solkoll

With Athena (dispassionate wisdom) and Sabine (confines) just about to go retrograde, some of us are feeling....well, a wee bit cornered. Or confined. Some of us awill be actively denying things which might get in our way which in truth are something of a mental blockade simply because we're not dealing with them.

Yes, life will get to us, no matter what we do. The trick is getting ourselves to meet life on its terms...which is often multo hard to do!

Of course...there will be those who will interpret Athena and Sabine's turnaround as a recognition. Such people are likely to be coming to have a far better (Athena) understanding of what their (Sabine) limits really are.

It's all in how you use it, people!  At least that's what all the (Athena) lore left us over the ages suggests. Of course, my favorite way of thinking of it is in Robert Hand-speak: use the energy wisely, lest it use you unwisely.

Ah yes...the Rob of Hand. Nice guy, Rob.

So when will Athena and Sabine go retrograde? Athena’s station is this Wednesday, January 16th. And Sabine's is the day after (Thursday the 17th). But since there will be other astro-doings to discuss later this week, I wanted to prattle a bit about things asteroidal. (No, that's not dirty!)

And the first thing to discuss is Mnemosyne, mother of all muses (not to be confused with the muthah of all muses...I'm pretty sure she didn't live in the Hood). 

So let's start with the 'muse' part. Whatever they are in Greek myth, in astrological application, the muses tend to refer to comes out of our reflecting on things. You know…how we express ourselves and what we say, considering how we feel or maybe what we’ve learned.

Or haven’t learned, yes.

...a moment of pause while we all muse on this idea…

We can hope that Athena going direct will awaken our internal ‘think it through’ process. After all, Athena is the very vibe of cool, logical, dispassion. And considering the points which are going on station this Friday-into-Saturday…? Well! They’re emotional emotional enough that going into these next couple of days with a bit of thought and a breath of clarity sounds like a good idea!

As for the ‘when’ of all this, the station effects start now - January 16th. And they extends through January 20th….or the first few minutes of the 21st, if you want to be exact, seeing as Mnemosyne goes retrograde at about 9 minutes after midnight (UT/+0 time) on Saturday the 19th.

Depending on how the four objects involved aspect other things in your chart, you may be feeling a bit more evasive (or being avoided) and Haumea-ish and less Mnemosyne. Or maybe your life will be filled with a lot of Scheherazade ‘telling tales’ influences.

A fragment of a 17th century fresco depicting the round of the Zodiac

(photo credit: Kober, 2007)

Whatever our personal charts say, there will be a ‘vibe’ which is worldly and ‘mundane’ – which has got to be the most misunderstood astrological term around! In ‘regular’ speech, ‘mundane’ means ‘common’ or ‘general.’ And it’s this second meaning which leads to the astrological sense of ‘mundanity’….but really, something like Mars conjuncting Uranus or Pluto does NOT indicate a mundane event!

Far from it. Yet when you see the term, it means ‘world-wide.’ And on the world-wide ‘mundane’ level, that which is happening now – or being (Athena) thought about now, is about to evolve. And let’s remember, it’s going to do its evolving with the Sun in Capricorn with last Friday’s New Moon in Capricorn has given us all some sort of something which resembles a report card.

With Saturn the sole rules of Capricorn, that Saturn is transiting Scorpio tells us that how well we are intersecting others and that work around us will be generating what’s afoot. At it’s dig-down-deep base and bottom, this is about your personal values, so start there. What do you value? How well that is working for others in your world…and the world in general…will have built up some reservoir of support or respect where all is well, and will have built up some sort of ‘debt’ (be that financial, emotional or otherwise) with others or even with yourself.

So here we are trying to cope, make the best of things and inch-by-inch get things moving in the right direction…and then we get to this four-part station. The players are as follows: Scheherazade the story teller… Mnemosyne (reflections, and what we see, understand or do because of same)…Typhon, symbol of primal feelings…and shapeshifter Haumea, the goddess whose endless pretenses, pretending and ignoring of human standards lead to her eternal demise.

Taken all together, the basic question becomes what is driving us? Some of us will get in touch with those issues and act from them, and some of us will deal with a life which, in provoking our innermost feelings and needs, will show us what our (Capricorn) priorities really are.

So it’ll be easy to have these next days be a product of being driven by compulsions we don’t even consciously recognize. Or maybe you’ll get annoyed with yourself because you did ‘that’ again!

Oh, when will we learn!

But there are huge positives to be gained now. For those who are wiling to bite the proverbial bullet (no real bullet biting is advised!) this can be a time to turn a corner and turn over a new leaf. Things which have been out of line or gotten out of hand can now be stopped.

(with regards to this diagram, darker shades indicate retrograde,

lighter shades indicate direct motion)

With Scheherazade going direct, those who do take on making changes may face objections in the forms of reasons, rationales and excuses (in other words, ‘tales’) as to why things have been the way they are, or why they should stay that way. Or they may be telling themselves 'stories' as to why they need to do something. There's also the idea that Scheherazade’s station is in an exact trine to Mnemosyne’s. And that combination suggests that there are going to be some who do their best to ‘reason’ (wheedle, persuade, daunt, circumvent, avoid, stonewall, ignore…etc.) whatever gets brought up for discussion!

Who’s to say the new is any better than the old?

Good question!

With Libra being the host sign for Typhon and Haumea’s turn to retrograde, it’s also not impossible to hear some ‘if you do that, I’ll do this’ sort of stuff. And though this may be difficult to deal with, those who understand that those who feel most threatened are the one’s most likely to issue threats will understand how to cope. Sometimes compromise is needed, yes. But sometimes pointing out the fallacy of the (Typhon) feeling which is being triggered and driving the ‘digging in of the heels’ is a far better route.

At extremes, this can be a moment when ultimatums get issued. Are they real? Sometimes, yes.

With all of this happening with Jupiter having moved into the degree it will linger and go direct in come January 30th, many people will be feeling impatient either because they want to ‘move on’ or are fed up with ‘discussing’ and looking for additional options. This is part of the whole Capricorn New Moon cycle, which in part is about learning to stand on our own two feet and not worry as much about what others say as getting things right.

But at the moment? Well, let’s just say there may be a few matches getting lit under a few tender parts and a bit of resultant objections. With the Sun and Mercury coming into unison as they reach the end of Capricorn, maintaining perspective on your own reasons (and your ability to reason) is part and parcel of all which goes on now.

If you can remember that the instincts which drive you (Typhon and Haumea) are coming from an emotional place…and the reactions or input you’re getting may set off your reactions, you’re in a good place to learn a lot. You may even learn a lot about others.

And that would seem to be the point – learning who we all are. As this station is winding up, the Sun and Mercury will move into that universal sign of greater theory: Aquarius. We really are closing out the end of the Piscean Age and moving into the Aquarian Age, which is the astrological equivalent to the rolling over of the Mayan creation cycle.

(Yes, I know it’s not the exact equivalent, but these two Cycles of Different Sources do seem to have some sync-power!)

The reason to think about this comes from the idea that every time the astrological ages change, we see humankind in all sorts of turmoil. The Ages don’t have a ‘finite’ date for end-and-beginning like the Mayans had. (We can but wish they did!) Instead, astrological ages move from one to the next sort of like the colors in a rainbow meld one into the next. So yes, there is a point at which you’ve ‘totally in the yellow’ but you sort of have to get there in order to know you’re there.

 Pages from the famous Mayan Dresden Codex which has helped us

learn so much about Mayan astronomy, their understanding of numbers

and their truly astounding concepts about time.

Fortunately, we do have some signatures. That’s the clockwork of major planetary symbols (etc.) moving into Aquarius. Saturn (reality) will reach Aquarius in 2020. That’s our next big step…with Pluto changing many a parameter starting in 2024.

Prior to that, every time the Sun or Mars or another of the personal planets moves into Aquarius, we get a different perspective on life. We feel the need to change because change is in the air and on the way.

And that makes this set of stations leading into the 2013 Sun/Mercury Aquarian ingress our chance to gain some ground for – and with ourselves.
.
.
.

Hebe enters Gemini

 Hebe

by Charles Picqué (1826)

Either sandwiched or nestled between two other asteroids we follow here on the blog, asteroid Hebe enters Gemini on April 11th at 9:07pm (UT/+0).

And which other asteroids am I referring to? Well, right behind Hebe wanders Sabine, symbol of enforced servitude. (Yes, slavery.) Ahead of Hebe stands Industria, symbol of hard work or ‘industriousness.’

This order will remain intact until April 26th when Hebe will overtake and move ahead of Industria in moving towards a conjunction with Aldebaran (a fixed star symbol of integrity) late on April 30th as it becomes May 1st (as calculated using a UT/+0 time zone).

Fixed stars are something like ‘outposts’ in the zodiac. They represent durable points of manifestation, which suggests that Hebe the Servant is at this point moving out of and away from the concept or experience of servitude (Sabine) towards whatever symbolizes true integrity in each of our lives separately, and collectively.

If you’re someone with a Gemini Sun, Moon, Saturn or Ascendant, Hebe’s entering Gemini and spending the rest of April moving towards a conjunction with Aldebaran at 9 Gemini suggests us you’re being brought more towards a recognition of what your life should be about (Sun), or what your values should be or prioritize (Moon), or which of your various thrusts or projects needs to take precedent now (Saturn).

Or maybe just how you need to be more attentive  and deliberate in what you choose to do or say – or what you choose not to do or say (Ascendant)!

Those with said positions in Sagittarius will be finding out now how well their efforts work, and have an opportunity to refine how they’re doing what they do and get better responses. Will you want to do it? Maybe yes, maybe no – but that’s part of the whole Hebe thing: how well do you cope with the fact you don’t run the world?

(Honest, you don’t!)

Folks with that same list of positions in Pisces or Virgo will now have a chance to capitalize on whatever they’re up to or into, though it’s going to require a shift of focus and an ‘amalgamating’ of a new facet,  means/outlet/venue or POV into their current methodology. This isn’t about giving anything up, just taking on a more ‘dynamic’ quality.

Those with positions in Taurus and Cancer (the one-sign-away semi-sextile positions) or the Scorpio-Capricorn realms actually face the toughest aspects with this Hebe shift since something about how they’re going about trying to service their (ultimate) cause needs altering. It’s not that the change is so hard, it’s that you’re likely to feel offended – you know, that old ‘so my best wasn’t good enough?’ moment.

I know….it smarts! But try to let the ego stuff pass then try, try again.

And no – I’m not leaving out the Aries and Leo folk, though Hebe in Gemini for you is an opportunity and challenge all in one!

Why so? Well, that’s because Hebe is about service and Aries and Leo are very self-determinative signs. But hey – maybe you want more respect, appreciation and a way to earn bigger, better opportunities? If so, think in terms of what would ‘work’ for others. This is a fine time for that in your world.

A simple diagram of Hebe's orbit. The Sun is the dot in the middle,

Earth's orbit is shown in blue. Outside Earth's orbit is that of Mars

- in red - with the outer ring (it's actually a pale pink though I know

that's hard to see) is the orbital path of planet Jupiter. Between

Jupiter and Mars being where we find the asteroid belt, Hebe

orbits on the 'near' side of said grouping.

diagram courtesy of Reyk

As for how long Hebe is going to be in Gemini, that answer is “a couple of months” – Hebe will be moving on into Cancer come June 7.

Maybe you’re asking just how important Hebe really is. Isn’t Hebe just another of the jillion or so asteroids wandering around the asteroid belt?

Well, yes. And as far as that goes, Hebe doesn’t do anything all that dramatic. When at it’s aphelion (the farthest distance from the Sun) its only 2.914 AU out there…which in light of the asteroid belt’s extreme being 4.9 AU (Jupiter’s closest point) puts Hebe pretty much in the middle of the pack at its farthest from the Sun. 

As for its perihelion (closest point to the Sun), Hebe’s celestial noodling brings it to around 1.937 AU…which is pretty darn close (in outer space terms) to Mars’ outer reach, which is at 1.6658 AU.

So that means as symbolic factors go, Hebe is one of those which is closer (maybe more “in our face”?) than other things. The metaphysics of our solar system being all about ‘starting at the center and working out…’ that also means that Hebe is one of those concepts we meet up with Hebe sooner rather than later. Service, or the usefulness of what we do, is a primary, not ‘oh, by the way’ consideration in life.

Or at least it probably should be.

There are a couple of ways to think of Hebe. It’s either use usefulness of what we do or doing something which is of service – i.e., useful to others. Given that in

Olympian terms Hebe is the official bearer of ambrosia to the honcho gods, this latter idea is emphasized in the sense that ambrosia feeds and preserves immortal life. And if we think of the whole of the asteroid belt as those things we learn on our way to accomplishing things, maybe Hebe is a bit about ‘giving back’ or passing on what we’ve learned to others…even if that’s simple sharing!

Obviously where Hebe falls in your natal chart has something to do with how you view Hebe qualities and questions, but given how the mass of this one single asteroid is (at last count) estimated to be one-half of one percent of the total mass of the entire asteroid belt, Hebe isn’t quite your most minor of minor points.

So here’s opportunity knocking. Will you answer the door? And if you do, what will you do once that door gets opened?