New Moon in Aquarius ... Sun in Pisces

According to NASA, 'a new moon occurs when the moon and sun are at the

same geocentric ecliptic longitude.' Astrologers refer to that as 'conjunct.'

(NASA-Goddard Space Center, June 2011)

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Like every other last degree of any sign, 29 Aquarius is imparted with a stressful sort of energy either about trying to get something done before some deadline, or before it can’t be done any more.

Then again, you may be all about getting past ‘this’ in order to get to that next thing ... person ... opportunity.

It’s all in the way we approach this moment of a New Moon, yet either way, what we have been doing - even if we continue doing it - is going to change. In real time and daily awareness terms this change is likely to be subtle. But it will change now as the cycle begun back on January 20th (UT/+0) at the 0 Aquarius New Moon moves out of last (lunar) month’s more physical/’doing’ first decanate sort of mode into a more reacting-to-that-which-is-going-on third decan sort of mode.

But still conceptual mind you, meaning this next month’s issues and emotional (lunar) concerns are going to center in the idea of the thing as it stands right now rather than the (earthy) physicality of it or the (elementally watery) emotional cost of it - or the (fire) vision of possibilities, good or otherwise.

The New Moon at 29 Aquarius (glyph chart)

February 18, 2015 - 23:47 (11:47 p.m., UT+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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The New Moon at 29 Aquarius (text chart)

February 18, 2015 - 23:47 (11: 47 p.m., UT+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Year 2015 is starting out with two air sign cycles, which either means we’re going through a time when we’re very much emotionally invested in ideas and concepts ... or when we should be.

It depends - and considering Aquarius’ reputation for being a sign which delivers things in a singular impassive manner which even when it isn’t directly critical can sometimes feel terribly denigrating, like as not we shouldn’t be looking for a particularly cuddly time.

And yet... the Sun is about to move into Pisces, that most universal of emotional periods. So what could this possibly be about?

For one, it may be about the fact that this New Moon has only two aspects, the first of which comes from  Mars being at 29 Pisces at this New Moon ... and the second of which comes from Saturn doing Saturn things at 4 Sagittarius.

29 Pisces to 29 Aquarius being only thirty degrees, this ‘critical’ (read: intense) degree Aquarian Moon comes inscribed with a note of feeling daunted. Or maybe frustrated.

Plus ... (and maybe more importantly) ... 29 Pisces is the degree of the Solar Eclipse our lovely Planet Earth is going to experience in just over a month now on March 20th.

Twenty-nine degrees of Pisces is just like 29 degrees of Aquarius in that it can either represent our trying to fix something or make it work as it should before some ‘deadline’ or point where for whatever reason it “won’t matter any more” ... or our trying to get through something or past something (think: ‘I’m just counting the days until...’) because you want to get to the next thing, which here is theoretically an Aries thing pointing to wanting to be able to do things the way you think they should be... or the way you think you should be being able to do them.

And all of this - being so very Piscean in nature means this is all about the reality of those desires and hopes of yours. Pisces is not exactly about the ‘thing’ we’re trying to do, you see ... its about all the emotional issues which could possibly come up while we’re doing that thing. Or because we do that thing.

Or even because we though we could ... or should do that thing.

And given that this is Pisces we are talking about, not only is the ‘thing’ something which we have some depth of feeling about ... but whatever happens to that thing or to our efforts ... that will also affect our emotional perspective and/or sense of calm in such a way that we begin to realize somewhere in our heart of hearts where we have been ... and probably still are (to some extent, and probably more than we know or want to admit to) in danger of allowing our Self to be led astray.

Not by others, mind you - but by that Self of ours which is either by being too malleable or too indeterminative (probably much to our dismay) gets us into some sort of jam with ourselves (read: not necessarily with others, but surely with our Self) because our own history leaves us vulnerable to marginalizing or negating that part of our Self which if correctly valued becomes the lynchpin which actually does make things work.

It’s just getting to that issue which we’re unlikely to like.

Meanwhile, this New Moon is also in a square to Saturn while Saturn is sitting at the apex of a t-square which the New Moon itself isn’t (by standard orb) a part of.

Plus Saturn’s sitting at 4 Sagittarius, a degree it arrived in on February 9th and which it will remain in through its date of station (March 14) until in retrograde Saturn reaches 3 Sagittarius on April 18th.

And yes, it will return to 4 Sagittarius (a degree known to go from quiet to savage in nothing flat if properly provoked) later this year, between October 31st and November 8th, to be exact.

The t-square which doesn't involve the New Moon appears to be bent on eliminating or 'dissolving' something (the goal being Neptune). But there's something in the way.

And that which is in the way evidently is waiting on something else ... which is a problem everyone is having, transferring the gumming of works all along some (Saturn) timeline time.

In terms of the New Moon configuration however, Saturn squaring the New Moon tells us to consider what we do in the weeks ahead carefully. Like all squares, ‘weighing’ each ‘side’ of every issue is important, though in the end the resolution of squares depends on not dealing with each thing separately but as part of a structural balance either in its own right or in terms of some balance which must be struck (most likely with your Self) about how to go about things.

For some, this process will be the proverbial piece of cake. For most of us, however ... things won’t be insipidly or blissfully easy. That we are given to know here because that which is ‘challenging’ the New Moon (Saturn) is also the foundational ruler of Aquarius, sign this New Moon is in.

Again, some of us have sufficient self-discipline or healthy enough work habits (you know, the stuff of Saturn structuring) to not go overboard in any (or every) direction. But not all of us are likely to be as seamlessly integrated. Fissures and fractures of every kind may well arise during this lunation ... or as a result of something done during this lunation.

Or maybe this lunation is about avoiding just that. Will we make some sort of concerted effort to embrace that which is universal and systemically functional, allowing for differences while honoring the whole?

Are we even willing to feel?

That quality or quotient of feeling - that may be greatly absent in some minds and some situations until the lunar cycle itself hits next month’s watery eclipse. Lore describes 29 Pisces alternately as a stoic and fearful, as a great spirit of deep wisdom and a cosmic nitwit fully capable of snatching defeat from those glistening jaws of victory.

Astrologically, Mars sitting at the degree of next month’s solar eclipse sets its clock to ticking.

Or ticking more loudly, perhaps we should say. That the New Moon occurs at 23:48 (11:48 p.m.) on the 18th and the Sun exits Aquarius only three minutes later speaks of being pushed to some edge within our Self even as we’re pushing ourselves to some edge where letting go and accepting our mortality becomes our only choice.

To some degree, the Sun's passage through Pisces is always lived behind the scenes. Problems occur when we're hiding from our Self - or from reality, to whatever extent ... with the problem being that so long as the Sun remains in Pisces its perfectly possible we may not notice. Or that we'll make some excuse, because under Pisces our first instinct is to try and make sure nothing is ever about us - that's the basic emotional position.

And yet it is about us. Entirely about us. This moment and this cycle, this isn’t about ‘them’ ... what they say, what they want, what they may come to think, feel or do.

It’s about us: the core, crux and most private parts of us. If you have something you don’t want to think about, this is the kind of cycle which can evoke it. If you know you’ve done something you don’t want to feel you were a part of, this cycle can get your heartstrings strung up tight.

We’re all going to go about our lives wearing our social(Aquarian lunar cycle) masks, day in, day out.

But inside we’re going to be wrestling with some melting dream of important personal measure.
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Juno Retrograde at 17 Leo

'Wave' by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

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The mythological Juno was Jupiter, Lord of Olympus’ wife - which to Greek thinking would be Hera as Zeus’ wife. But we’re going Roman for this posting, and in the land of the Pantheon... as opposed to the Parthenon (which is Greekly placed in Athens)... Juno had a reputation for being a matriarch worthy of great admiration even if she was more than a bit of a shrew when it came to hubby Jupiter.

Or at least that’s the Jupiter version of the story. Not that the myths concerning Jupiter include any lofty speeches of complaint (that might not have been the Olympian thing to do) but Jupiter had his way of expressing himself on the subject - mostly while he was having his way with some sinuous young nymph.

For the record - and to Juno as an astrological point - despite all the shrew-ing and Jupiter’s willingness to be a philanderer of literal Olympian proportions, Jupiter stays with his wife - and Juno puts up with Jupiter’s follies. And why one would be able to do that, or perhaps how would be the better term here... that all has to do with story points we don’t hear much about, but which are certainly implied - namely how in spite of all the emotional zig-zag(ing) we could guess at in the Juno-Jupiter relationship, they maintain.

And that’s the word which is at the heart and soul of Juno as an astrological symbol, no matter how you conjugate it, no matter how it gets applied. On the surface Juno symbolizes what we do and what we go through in ‘maintaining’ our Self as we face or go through a process... or just in the maintaining of our Self, our life, things that are important to us and all the rest. As implied by the myth, Juno is a symbol which often refers to putting the brakes on something or objecting to something which we see as having gotten overblown or which has otherwise exceeded the limits - whether those limits are verbal, physical, financial, emotional, legal or of any other nature.

Jupiter expands... Juno seeks to put a functional limit on things - and to keep things functioning in spite of (Jupiter) excesses, real, imagined or otherwise.

Currently in Leo, Juno represents the drive we have to keep on taking care of what’s important in our personal world despite whatever else is going on in our variable life and times as well as the instinct to ‘manage’ those resources which may be needed tomorrow as well as today...and that it’s going retrograde suggests a time when things take a ‘turn’ towards ‘managing’ more personal issues, inner thoughts about how to get things done and where - considering how Jupiter itself has just gone retrograde - where or how we just might have bitten off more than we can chew - which would be in true Jupiter style.

Then again, seeing how as Jupiter went retrograde Saturn timed our moving into our year 2014-2015 ‘lesson load’ (much of which we are still probably less than clear on) perhaps Juno’s turn to retrograde is underscoring some need to ‘manage’ our Self (or what we’re aiming to do, be or become) in light of whatever it is we don’t yet know or haven’t done.

Plus then there’s the 17 Leo influence to add in. Known as one of Leo’s more will-filled degrees and an influence which is direct (read: blunt) and which tolerates neither denial nor defeat until the goal itself comes to appear invalid - if it ever does.

Could it be that Juno going retrograde in this degree is our ‘managing’ to realize how some part of our 17 Leo activity is being or has been devoted to something which is actually invalid? Or maybe we’re ‘turning inward’ to see if we have the kind of strength being referred to here? Do we have whatever kind of strength it is which is needed to persevere... even if that means persevering with some form of letting go?

'Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida' by James Barry

(1804, line engraving and mezzotint on paper)

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None of this has to be bad - or even difficult. Whether it is or not is about our individual relationship to management and the idea of managing things without... and that Self within. With Juno going retrograde there’s a ‘within’ of some type in our future, which with this stationing occurring in Leo suggests that the plus and minuses here (at least some of how we feel about them) is greatly a matter of a.) whether we feel personally under some sort of ‘threat’ - real or imagined, vital or petty - at the moment, and b.) whether the situation is interesting.

Interesting to us, that is. Given that interest, Leo becomes a boon of magnificent strength and passionate endurance, with it mattering not a fig whether the subject is vital or petty to anyone else. After all, wherever we see Leo in a natal chart, we know that’s an area of life the owner of that chart would like to have cooperation and support in. They will even (probably magnanimously) accept adulation, adoration and large numbers of sacrifices (on your part) to assure the success of.

Just don’t mistake any of that for need. Leo conviction is the stuff of defiance and the platinum standard for motivation... all of which have nothing to do with anyone other than the given person and how they deal - or dare we say manage their Self... which may well explain why, as Juno turns to retrograde some of us will mitigate external matters because there’s a little (or whole lot of) soul searching going on.

And by ‘soul searching’ we don’t just mean some matter of conscience - except that given whatever challenge, large or small, that we have at the moment, we are likely to be doing some ‘soul searching’ about why that’s happened, why things “have to work that way” or what we can... what we want to...and what we are not yet in a position to do, alter... or even manage to contemplate.

After all, we have other things to do - which means some will manage their time and some will manage to skirt, bypass or otherwise avoid something now... which could be good and could be bad, depending. There is good news in that the Sabian image for 17 Leo (‘A chemist conducts an experiment for his students’) does bring an air of intrigue and possible discovery to our managing of things - which granted, for some will simply amount to ‘managing’ to reach some goal, whether that means you’re dealing with complicated schedules or managing things well enough to make not enough last because that’s all you have or can get.

Does that mean we’ll run into some ‘shortage’ of some kind? Maybe. If we do, Juno’s turning to Leo retrograde points to our ability to manage things, perhaps by taking a new tact (conducting that ‘experiment’) which may teach others (the ‘students’) while also teaching our Self (speaking of Jupiter retrograde) what we are actually capable of doing, learning or being in this life - or to this world.

Plus there is also the wee little astro-matter about how that symbol of requirements we call Saturn is just about to move into 29 maximal (aka critical) degrees of everyone’s favorite quiver-worthy water sign, Scorpio in advance of moving into Sagittarius on December 23rd (UT/+0).

Saturn and its moon Tethys (which is 600 miles or 1062 km across) as photographed

by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.

(photo credit: NASA, ESA, ISA, JPL, Caltech)

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And since before anything changes signs it passes through the final degree of the previous sign (at least by astro-logistics), that will endow the whole of the time from December 14-15 (depending on where you are) until December 23rd with a 'critical' experience of Scorpio's necessities and limits, a theme which test our security with-and-within our Self at primary, and some would say primal levels.Whatever will get you to said place of personal testing, you may expect that. And whether the venues seem simple or impossibly complex, whether they concern something which is intrinsically You or some need which pertains to others, whatever your tests are, they are likely to feel important - and they may well be important. Between Saturn and Juno and the fact that the Geminid meteor shower will be reaching maximal rate/effect just as Juno goes on station, we each are going to be facing whatever will cause us (as individuals) to face our own tests.

How am I going to manage this? How will I manage to get through this? 

The reality of what that level is may not be excruciatingly apparent - at least not yet. What you’re into at the moment may well have importance of its own, to be sure... but this is just one of those periods of time when life is likely to leave a recognizable ring around our psyche, even though we may not notice it... at least for a while.

Suffice it to say, in the interim, we’ll manage.

Speaking of which, if you’ve been hanging around astroPPM for any kind of time you may remember the flood I woke up to at some delightful hour like 4 a.m. earlier this year.

That was caused by a broken pipe in the apartment next door which, after filling that (at the time, empty) unit to the depth of around four inches then sent water seeping under both side walls.

I bring this all up because as I write, Los Angeles is to be hit by a very (for LA) wet rainstorm just about as this post gets auto-posted by Google's digital gremlins. And since last week's storm (which folks here thought was far more wet than any rainstorm has a right to be) treated me to a watery invasion at just about midnight, I'm going to hope for arid flooring and a bit of luck.

And no matter what, I'll manage.

But that's rather the point. Dry or otherwise, its likely that so will we all.
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Saturn Station-Retrograde (Part 1)

Planet Saturn caught having a major storm in its northern

hemisphere by spacecraft Cassini

(photo credit: NASA, JPL)

This blog is definitely ‘part one of two’...and actually part one of three, if we consider how Saturn’s station and actual turn to retrograde happens on the same day that the Sun enters Pisces.

That's a whole subject unto itself. However, it does conceptually affect Saturn's station, so that - and the general concept of station affects are a good place to start.

What with planetary stations emphasizing the nature of the ‘cosmic moment’ for several days before and several days after the actual ‘moment’ of “turnabout” (which is not always fair play, no…!) Saturn’s going retrograde on Monday, February 18th at 5:04 in the afternoon UT/+0 time means the days between February 16th and 20th…even February 15th and 21st…are going to be highly Saturnized, to coin a term.

Moreover, having just pointed out that the 18th will also be the day that the Sun moves into Pisces, this means that the days leading into Saturn’s turn are Aquarian and the days leading out of this Saturn station are Piscean.

Saturn itself is in Scorpio – at 11 Scorpio, to be exact. Saturn moved into 11 Scorpio back on January 25 (just before Jupiter went direct) and, in retrograde, will be remain at 11 Scorpio through March 15th. 11 Scorpio is a degree which is known for intense focus – up to and including the point where focus becomes so shortsighted it may as well be blindness.

As a sign, Scorpio presents us with choices – emotional choices, which differentiates it from Gemini, the sign of ‘deciding’ and ‘decisions’…in other words, mentally-driven choices.

Cutting to the chase here about Scorpio, everybody faces risks when it comes to the Scorpio choice. What should I or should I invest my time, energy, loyalty, efforts and best bets or abilities in? That’s the question, whether the Scorpio venue you’re dealing with is an intimate relationship, a partnership, an investment, your reputation…your whatever in. And because we tend to be so focused on whether ‘what’s going to happen’ will benefit us in the way we want to be benefited (or not), we tend to forget that in any ‘investing’ of time, money, trust, energy, emotion, relationship, risk, reputation… whatever… there are two sides to the equation: the ‘me’ (or us) and the ‘them.’ We tend to forget that they are approaching the table with the same sort of focus, and that the more experience they have in the matter, the greater chance there is that they know all the (Scorpio) secrets and nuances we may not know.

Sometimes that experience is exactly what we want. But (to use one example) will the experienced surgeon know more, or will their experience have them ‘just phoning it in’? Maybe the new surgeon is all freshly studied on new techniques. Or maybe they just care more because they aren’t yet jaded by life and experience?

Many of us try to level this playing field with assurances, contracts, forms of insurance, or other means or methods which amount to efforts to ‘control the risk.’ Sometimes that’s entirely sensible. Yet whether the subject is fiscal risk or emotional vulnerability, risk exists.

And that’s the Scorpio thing. Scorpio is the interactive sector of life’s playing field which foists risk upon us so that we will get some internal sense of not how and where we are necessarily  vulnerable but yes – where we feel vulnerable, absolutely!

Some of us will come into this station focused (to the degree, one might say!) on those matters which provoke our feelings of vulnerability. Some of us will come into this station asking ourselves why we feel vulnerable to begin with. Where did we learn to be afraid of ‘that’? Why are we afraid of ‘that’ – what does it mean to us and why does it mean what it means?

 Saturn's rings as photographed

by NASA's spacecraft Cassini

With the Sun still in late Aquarius for the several days leading into this station, we can count on external input and examples (or reactions) prompting our thoughts. Then as the Sun moves into Pisces on the 18th, the nature of the energy will shift. For you, that shift may be ever-so-subtle, but if you’re aware (dare I say focused?) you’ll feel your own internal mechanisms move from the (air sign) idea of the thing into more of a (water sign) feeling mode.

Putting together the 11 Scorpio, the Saturn ‘cause/effect’ reality quotient and Pisces’ signature how I feel about my feelings, the Sun’s shifting into Pisces will cause many of us to begin imagining what could happen and how we’d feel if that did happen. This is a classic moment for fears to prey on our mind and for others – well intended or otherwise – to play on our fears, be that skillfully or otherwise.

Other factor here would involve the Sun’s activation of All Things Piscean as it moves into Pisces. The list here is pretty extensive, with most of the activity breaking into two groups. In early Pisces we have Eros (passion), Kalypso (love as a function of the other person, not what we want from them), Neptune (tests of our willingness to be realistic), Fomalhaut (success promised only where our aims are not corrupt, corrupted or corruptive) and (ouch) Chiron – the symbol of where we tend to trip ourselves up by not accepting the responsibility for what we do and don’t do.

With all of Pisces being in a whole-sign-trine to Scorpio, we can assume Saturn’s station will activate all these thoughts, feelings and internal questions. But since the object in this group which actually trines Saturn is Chiron, and since one of the key words for Saturn is ‘responsibility,’ this would be a principle and obvious moment for a good many of us to have that OMG moment where we realize how we got ourselves in some mess. Or compromise. Or bad deal. Or untenable position.

And some of us will despair. Other will embark on a frantic course of fervent (Scorpio) denial. The second ‘group’ in Pisces begins with Mars at 13 Pisces, a Mars which is also in trine to Saturn. And though the orb of conjunction between Mars at 13 and Chiron at 8 is stretched wide, it’s still there.

In fact, it’s something of a metaphysical picture of a gap – one we need to bridge at least within ourselves.

With Mars conjunct Mercury at 17 Pisces, there’s likely to be some ‘but what can I do?’ (or say) feelings of helplessness. And given Mercury’s sextile-trine position to the lunar nodes in this moment, wanting to ignore or walk away from problems (or at least deny culpability) is high.

But so to is the understanding that ignoring the proverbial 600 pound gorilla in the room which is your brain, heart and soul isn’t going to work.

That Saturn is going retrograde at the midpoint between Deucalion (finding the moral path) and Polyhymnia (‘musing’ over something) is truly a celestial suggestion that we stop and think things through. Deucalion’s position in Scorpio is something of a dictate in that it’s a clear indication that we can’t just decide things based on our own wants, pleasures, preferences or alliances.

Minerva among the Muses

by Hendrick van Balen the Elder (1573-1632)

The ‘others’ in this equation – the ‘them’ of it all is underscored by Deucalion, telling us that this is a time when we truly need to consider the premier Scorpio rule. That rule says everybody must feel equally heard and equally benefited by any situation. The corollary here is that we also cannot decide ‘for’ anybody what they want out of a situation. Take a business partnership, for example. One party to the partnership may just be looking for a way to earn money. Another party to that same partnership may be looking for a firm with the ‘right’ kind of status which will allow them to do something else in their life.

One of the premier difficulties in Scorpio involves the tendency to assume or try to control what someone else wants out of the relationship, be it personal or professional. Another version of this mismatch comes through not checking on what the other party really wants. The really ambitious (read: insightful) among us will also ask someone why they feel as they do (Scorpio is a water sign, remember that!) and from that exploration come to some understanding of the other person/party’s Taurus/Scorpio range of self worth or self respect.

Some think of this as prying. But in a Scorpio situation, it’s generally not, unless someone is looking to flat out use us – in which case, you’d want to know that, right? But generally, understanding the aim of the person as the generator behind why they are asking for (say) the assurance of status even if that means less money going in (or vice versa) gives us a far better idea of who they are.

And that insight is something we can apply to our Scorpio calculations, allowing us to mitigate our risk through facts which allow us to make a more ‘informed’ emotional choice.

With Saturn passing through Scorpio, there’s a lot of growth going on. Saturn is our symbol of ‘life structures’ and principle among those is personal maturation. Given the requirement to face ‘emotional facts’ which is so endemically Saturn-in-Scorpio, a lot of us are going to be tackling the ‘tough stuff’ during this passage. A lot of ‘false fronts’ are going to fall apart, a lot of alliances, partnerships and (yes) even marriages can be expected to end. And when they do, the fur can be expected to fly. That’s pretty standard with Scorpio, the premier sign of vengeance. But the reality of all such emotional reactions is that some part of them is less about ‘them’ and more about our being upset with ourselves. ‘They’ have provoked our feelings of vulnerability.

Why do we feel so vulnerable? Things Scorpio are always about that very question. Whether we’re getting into a situation, deciding to avoid a situation, or plunging into a situation, we will tend to think ‘it’ (or they) will “make everything wonderful.” To the degree that we understand the realities and are willing to grow in ourselves, wonderfulness can result – that wonderfulness being a sense of pride in our choices and resourcefulness and internal security.

But where we have made choices merely ‘on appearances’? That’s where Saturn in Scorpio can prove problematic. Saturn in Scorpio tends to threaten to unmask us if it doesn’t just produce situations which truly unmasks us, and nobody likes going around with their naked psyche hanging out!

The solution – to use the vernacular – is to ‘get real,’ starting with our Self.

This is a moment when much reality – and many efforts to avoid or ‘fix’ our feelings about what we the facts really are (or at least what we perceive them to be) – are going to take a turn.

Good luck to all of us with that, right?

A word to the wise would seem apt here...when in doubt, ask. And if you have any doubt that you understand where someone is coming from, ask again.

Also, track records count – don’t ignore history, even when you don’t like it. 

Saturn’s transit of Scorpio began in October 2011 and which will last solidly through to nearly the end of December 2014. After that, we will have some of the standard back and forth between Scorpio and Sagittarius during 2015, with Saturn finally committing to its transit of Sagittarius in September 2015.

So that's the overview. The next post up will be on some configurations which are part of this Saturn station, giving us more directions and descriptions of the challenges - and opportunities we stand to glean if we can just get past what we want to be true to the truth of how things really work.

Until then, I hope you run rings around your Saturn, not vice versa!
 

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Directions, Directives, Distortions and self-Discipline: Saturn, Eris, Mercury and Venus

 The Judgment of Paris by Carel van Savoyen 

Here’s the overview:

Monday, June 25th: Saturn will go direct at 22 Libra, in opposition to Eris at 22 Aries.

Tuesday, June 26th: Mercury enters Leo.

Wednesday, June 27th: Venus will go direct at 7 Gemini.

Let’s tackle the ‘sidebar’ commentaries first. Venus retrograde has been an exhausting slog for most of us. It’s been trying and disappointing. We’ve felt unappreciated, misunderstood, maybe unnoticed…and needs of all kinds have gone unmet.

But as we say this, let’s remember that while Venus has been in retrograde, a slam-bang solar eclipse occurred at 0 Gemini. And  Gemini is the sign Venus has been retrograding in.

Astrologically, that gives us two important ideas to bear in mind:

1. Because Venus went into retrograde prior to the eclipse, the eclipse’s full effects will not fully manifest until AFTER Venus goes direct.

2. Venus retrograding in the sign of May’s solar eclipse will drag the ‘eclipsing’ effects (or the feeling of being ‘eclipsed’) out for the duration of Venus’ retrograde. Since Venus’ retrograde has been in the ‘mentality’ and communication sign of Gemini, that’s the clue that it’s not surprising that this Venus retrograde would be particularly draining or taxing on the mental and ‘do I really have to deal with this?’ level.

Of course there’s also the idea that where the mind won’t go, so the rest of us doesn’t go. (Or at least we don’t go willingly!) So even doing things which ordinarily have felt easy, fun, etc. …during this time they’ve been less joyous, maybe even non-joyous. And our focus on the job? It’s been less than we would like it to have been, too.

A suggestion here…tuck this away: a few months from now when governments and corporations around the world release reports about productivity, debt, balance of trade and all that good stuff for this May/June period, expect to hear nasty numbers.

It’s about then that we’re all going to recognize what this Venus retrograde has really cost us.

And yet, this Venus retrograde in the sign of the eclipse IS a useful tool. It’s meant to get us to let go of that which is not getting us where we want to go. It’s meant to get us to think through our choices, our current priorities, and where life is showing us we need to change. Difficulties of today are supposed to lead to changes. A lot of people are just trying to ‘tough it through.’ That’s not the answer.

And if you thought this eclipse was a hard one, just wait…November’s eclipse is going to be a whole other level of karmic sorting.

That said, on to June 2012’s other vice and viceroy: Saturn opposition Eris.

Saturn came into orb of opposition to Eris back in April of this year. Since then, most of us have felt something. Some problem, some challenge…squeezing us ever more tightly. Something encroaching on our space, our mind, our sense of ownership of 'our' world.

 The Saturnic Library (Saturnische Bibliothek)

by Mersmann de Jungere (1960)

Being that Saturn is involved, we know part of what’s involved is nature’s desire that we grow. Saturn is all about ‘slow growth’ – the type which is lasting, durable and structural. And when we use Saturn badly, it manifests as limitations, blockades, rejections and loss.

That is…except when we have outgrown something. Then Saturn still manifests as limitations and blockades, rejections and feelings of loss, but that’s because we know the time has come to move on.

With Saturn in Libra, the two main venues for all this ‘Saturn stuff’ is twofold: relationships and how we are received and approved of (or rejected) in our professional life.

Against this, we have Eris.

  Orbital diagram of Eris and the inner planets as

diagrammed by JPL's small body database

browser. Considering that it takes ).

Known to the Romans as Discordia, the precept of Eris is all about motivation – specifically, our motivation. Like all objects which orbit beyond Neptune, Eris seems to operate as an ‘evocative’ mechanism. In other words, when Eris is felt, we feel our Self being prodded, provoked, evoked and yes, being called on.

So Eris is ‘discord’ in the sense that none of us like being provoked.

Yet there is another side of Eris – that of being provoking. So maybe you’re on the receiving end of the Eris thing now…maybe you’re on the giving end. Maybe a little bit (or a lot) of both is in the air.

Because this is an opposition, there is a tendency for everybody to project. So we think ‘I’m not doing anything – it’s their fault.’ Or their doing. Or they’re just not playing along with the way things have always been.

Have always been?

 

Part of what Saturn-opposition-Eris is about is a period in which situations are forcing us all to change. That’s at the heart of this passage, and many are doing just that – changing. They’re changing what they do, they’re changing how they go about doing it. They’re changing how they ‘deliver’ what they do to the world (in person or through whatever work product or services they provide).

 

This Saturn/Eris dynamic is all about getting us to be honest – first and last with our Self. It’s about purifying the process and raising our standards so that they will work…and as Saturn moves on into Scorpio later this year, so they will endure.

 

WARNING: This November’s solar eclipse will be at 21 Scorpio. By then, Saturn will be in Scorpio. Those who are trying to ‘skate by’ now are going to experience the bite of karma as we come into the September auspices of the eclipse’s breakdown period, to be followed by Saturn entering Scorpio in October.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

But this isn’t to panic over. More effectively, this is all about getting over our own reluctance(s).That’s at the heart of this Saturn/Eris in opposition. It’s not about ‘them’ and what ‘they’re’ doing, not doing or thinking of doing, undoing or redoing.

 

It’s about us. Situations which are currently making us miserable, down in the dumps, things which are exhausting us and prodding us – those are all issues which are meant to get us to (as the saying goes) clean up our act.

 

Saturn in Libra is at one level, all about honesty. Liars do get caught under Saturn in Libra. Shoddy work is found out under Saturn in Libra. Deficiencies in how we interact with others do come out under Saturn in Libra.

And then comes Saturn in Scorpio. At some level Saturn in Scorpio is easiest on those who have had a falling down, a falling out, a really hard time under Saturn in Libra. They know they’re in a ‘rebuilding’ phase and they know what the problem was which tripped them up or toppled their castle. Because of that, they’re more apt to be aligned along the Saturn in Scorpio path to success, a path which asks us to find solutions which work for everyone. Scorpio rewards where everybody gets an equal amount of what they consider valuable, which includes our not choosing what they “should” or “shouldn’t” think is valuable.

 A Scorpio coin (photo credit: Permjak)

 

You watch…during the 2.5 years that Saturn is in Scorpio, we’re going to see some huge errors in judgment which stem from people making assumptions about what’s “good” for others in some very big and important arenas: education, religion, information (dissemination of information), and the concept of ‘access.’

 

You’re probably hearing some of that now – in the news. And the reason why you would be hearing it now is because zodiacal cycles are not ‘lock tight.’ They’re not ‘exclusive.’ Like life, they’re a process. So a big part of what we’re experiencing here under Saturn’s opposition to Eris is a ‘set up’ FOR Saturn moving on into Scorpio. Some of us NEED to have failures now, and hard times now, and the experience of limitations now so that we’ll get motivated (or forced, depending) into getting out there and participate in the world on the world’s terms…not ours.

 

That last bit – the getting those who are rooted in ‘what I like, the way I want things to be/work/operate’ is the Eris in Aries part. And if you’ve had some issue ratcheting down in your life inch by inch, centimeter by centimeter, ootch-by-ouch since April…the best thing you can do is heed the celestial hint.

 

If you don’t, it can only get harder from here AND you’ll be missing out on some of the most productive years of your life. If you’re over 30 (just picking that as a number), if I say that the next five years are a premier opportunity for life building, that means it’s going to be another 29 1/2 years before Saturn arrives at the zodiacal spot it’s at as I write.

Do you really want to be almost 60 before you get another opportunity?

 

WARNING #2: There are those who will persist now and who will do well for the next five years. That takes us to 2017. And in August 2017 there will be a solar eclipse at 28 Leo.

 

That may not ring a bell with you, but it does with me: everybody alive today was born with fixed star Regulus within eclipse-shot of 28 Leo.

 Fixed star Regulus in a series of photos as it is occulted.

 (photo credit: orman 99)

To make this a little more poignant, Uranus (representing sudden changes) will be at 28 Aries.

 

Uranus will station on August 3, 2017. The eclipse will occur on August 21, 2017.

 

And by then, Saturn will be in Sagittarius. In retrograde as August 2017 begins, Saturn will go stationary/direct on August 25th (four days after the eclipse) at 21 Sagittarius, perfecting the trine to 28 Leo in December 2017 just before Saturn slides into its solo sign of rulership: Capricorn.

Capricorn is about achievement or defeat.

 

So I repeat: this is a time to get right with our Self. The upsets and provocations of this time are all about getting us to let go of that which is unnecessary or improper or malfunctioning or unworkable…and it isn’t about the other person – it’s about YOU. 

We all have things we need to do now.

 

Saturn goes direct on June 25th. Mercury enters Leo on June 26th. Venus goes direct on June 27th.

Eris will go retrograde next month – late on July 19th, UT/+0. As it does so, it will be in an odd little configuration which is all about our relationship to our internal ability to discipline our Self and our values.

 

For some, this will be when choices made will send them along one path and not another. For others, this will be a test or challenge to some effort they are making to grow their life. Those who can work through the dispiriting aspects of having life not be exactly what we “want it to be” at this moment will be far, far better off in the long run than those who a.) give up, b.) insist on having their cake and eating it too, and c.) acting out.

Again, this is a lesson about US. Eris going retrograde is supposed to be a moment when we feel anything from vexation to amazement.

Life is trying to teach us something.

Will we learn?

 

More and more it seems apparent that for all the wonders of technology and the seeming ‘advances’ of our modern world…we humans…? Over thousands of years we really haven’t changed all that much.

 

Our tools change. We don’t.

 

And the better we get at building cities and infrastructure, the bigger the ‘force’ nature has to bring against us to get us to learn anything. A lot of what we humans build, we build so we don’t have to be inconvenienced – most of all by feelings of insecurity, fear and necessity.

You know…necessity, that mother of invention?

But life is about growth. So the next time you wonder why life is getting difficult, remember: our world has gotten pretty insulated. Whether your insulation is in the walls of your house, the money with which you cloak your life, the family you cling to or the rose colored glasses you wear because they look so pretty with your mortal suit of denial…just remember: life is bigger than you are. By resisting truth, by resisting honest facts, by thinking you can do what you want and that you’re ‘exempt’ or ‘outside’ life’s rules…we all do it, but when we do it we’re merely setting up a ‘cause’ which surely at some point is going to come back at us as an opposite and equal reaction.

Need I say it? Karma is a bitch!

Speaking of which, I think I hear Saturn’s call. I need to get back to some stuff I have to do so I can…well, survive!

And hopefully survive well and prosperously, fulling my greater Purpose, yes!

The next post will be on Mercury entering Leo, an important ‘shading’ to Saturn and Venus stationing and going direct.

News Flash: Saturn Synchonicity

 Images of Saturn supplied by the European Southern

Observatory (VISIR) and Trevor Barny of Australia. Taken on

January 19 (2011) they show signs of what has now become

a huge storm in Saturn's northern hemisphere. More to the

astrological point however, January 19th was when Saturn

stood at 17 Libra - the degree it would go retrograde in on

January 26th. Saturn returns to 17 Libra in September, 2011.

A NASA bulletin for May 19th announced a major 'super storm' occurring on the planet Saturn.

May 19th is also the date when Saturn moves into 10 degrees of Libra, the degree it will now hold at until it goes direct on June 13th.

As NASA addresses itself to storms on Saturn and President Obama speaks to the storms of violence and influence here on Earth...it's not that one or the other is so 'right' but that they are both expressing the ability to observe, reflect and comment on serious (Saturnine) events.

With a Gemini solar eclipse just ahead, 'breaking down' and examining what we know, what we don't know and what our limits to know are would seem yet another good way to see ourselves through these times which so obviously require change from us, and to our perceptions.

Want to read the rest of the NASA article? Here's the LINK.

Or just paste... http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/19may_saturnstorm/ ....into your browser.

May’s Scorpio Full Moon: Milking Issues at Hand

 The Full Moon of May 30, 1999 as it appeared over the

Upper Patuxent River in Maryland as photographed

by Mary Hollinger, NODC biologist (NOAA)

Going back to the concept that in some traditions the May Full Moon is known as the ‘Milk Moon,’ there’s good cause to look at this edition of the Full Moon and wonder about all sorts of things.

With the Sun at 26 Taurus opposition Moon at 26 Scorpio there’s an automatic and built-in quality here of ‘my life being dependent on yours.’ Now this can be good…or it can be bad. What it isn’t likely to be at this point is subtle.

For one, the Sun (the realistic point of view) is exactly conjunct fixed star Algol, and Algol has a rather nasty reputation. But is it really nasty?

That would sort of be the all-around question now, as many things reach an emotional (Full Moon) high tide in the wake of Atropos and TNO Orcus both having done a station turn during this past week. We’ve all come to endings of some type. Either we can’t continue or are simply refusing to continue on in the same way. Some of us have come to a point where we’re simply ‘out’ of something, be it a job, a home, patience, hope, options, a relationship, energy… something!

All this is indicated by Atropos (the end or extent of the thing) having gone retrograde. That Atropos has gone retrograde in Saturn means we are faced with changing our structural relationship to our life or circumstance. Something is over. Something has changed. It’s no longer apt to continue on as we have.

After Atropos went retrograde, TNO Orcus went direct in the functionality-oriented sign of Virgo. Matters of health or healthy obligation – and the limits and personal responsibility which do and don’t go with Virgo’s health/healthy obligation are being thrust in our face as a matter of consequence. That would be the Orcus part. We are now having to deal with some consequence.

And with Damocles having gone retrograde in Aquarius just yesterday (May 16th) in Aquarius, there’s money, social standing, and a very real consequence additional consequence which goes with thinking we don’t have to deal with realistic boundaries and efforts.

Oops! Life isn’t as simple as we thought. We don’t get the skim the cream off the top of this Milk Moon and walk away sweet and innocent.

And that ‘why’ in why we don’t get to simply la-dee-dah off and about our life is indicated by Algol. Spoken of as a star which embodies the ‘feminine,’ Algol is NOT about gender – it’s about our ability to respond to live and contain ourselves…(here we add in the Taurus part) both productively and in a manner which benefits us not just today, but all the way down the line into our many tomorrows.

In metaphysics, ‘masculine’ is not male: it’s the assertive, pro-active quality so long associated with males under the now-waning Pisces Age. Thus the ‘feminine’ is our ability to receive, react, contain, gather resources for later use/understanding – from which we respond appropriately…without harming our reputation, our future, and the lives (reputations, futures) of anyone else around us.

Part of the difficulty of the time we live in is because the Pisces Age divided things emotionally, where the Aquarian Age (into which we are now moving) divides things through the idea of the thing. At the beginning of any Age things are very rough…people are being asked to change their dance step half way through life and humans are notoriously not-so-good at giving up what they already know, life and (rather importantly!) have learned how to profit from.

And yet it must be done. So to the extent that we are imbedded and committed to a given way of being or prioritizing, this is a testing – and quite possibly, testy – time. But again…does it have to be?

Located in the constellation of Perseus, Algol is a star the Greeks identified with the head of Medusa. And you know what that Medusa head is all about, right?

No, Medusa's head is not some fearful evil which freezes us in our tracks, turning us to stone. Or rather it is, but that’s not because the evil is so evil – it’s because we’re afraid of dealing with the truth…a truth stripped of all manipulations, emotions and other frilly considerations.

LINK to Feature Article on MEDUSA

As for Perseus, he was one of those very busy Greek heroes, though he didn’t get into the hero business much on purpose. After killing Medusa, he cuts off her head and uses it’s scariness to first rescue fair maiden Andromeda from a sea monster (Medusa/scary truth versus monster of oceanic emotion? No contest!)…then he goes home to save his mom from a really bad relationship with a local king – the guy who sent Perseus out to kill Medusa in the first place.

Andromeda, Perseus and Cetus by Titian

So the real issue which is at the heart of things now – at the moment of the Full Moon is whether what we want (the Moon in Scorpio)…and what we’ve done over the past few weeks since the May 3rd New Moon kicked this round of lunar activity off…did we overstep our bounds? Did we do something to sour or curdle our milk of human kindness or that others feel towards us?

In most cases, the events of a Full Moon come to crest then abate. Sure, there are grumbles…or happy dances off through flowering fields of joy which happen in the waning wake of the Full Moon’s ‘high lighting’ of emotional or emotion-driven issues.

But this month? Well…we’ve been talking about those solar eclipses about to happen, right? On top of that (or as part of what is actually a rather grand unfurling of cycles and events)…now we have Saturn moving back into 10 Libra as of this moment.

What’s that to you?

Well, 10 Libra is the degree Saturn will go direct at on June 13th. Yes, I said JUNE. That means from now until June 13th, Saturn is just going to be sitting at 10 Libra, sort of poised there…inching backwards ever-so-slowly in retrograde motion. And that, dear friends, is something most of us are going to experience as an increased focus on something very particular in our life.

What will that be, you may ask? I can’t tell you that – that would be all about where your natal Saturn lies, it’s general natal chart nature and where Libra sits in your chart. Does Libra even have a house cusp to call it its own? And since we’re talking about Libra, how’s your Venus quotient lately? How well are you doing in that ‘making things happen the way I want so that I’m comfy and happy and feeling safe, secure, loved and satisfied’ life department?

For those who react to this with a big ‘thumbs up,’ this next couple of months will provide big shifts and like as not, some big ‘moments’ of advancing your personal agenda.

But for those who are having problems – particularly in the (Libra) relationship arena, be that personal or in the broader sense such as at work or as concerns all the me-versus-the-world stuff?

And let's not forget...retrograde cycles are just that: cycles. As Saturn went retrograde last January in the wake of a Capricorn solar eclipse, along came all sorts of (very Capricorn) rebellion against overly (i.e. negative) Saturnine governments.

 Saturn's double aurorae as photographed by

the Hubble Space Telescope

photo credit: NASA/JPL (Jan 2009)

Also, let’s be real here: once Saturn goes direct in mid-June it’s not like it hops into some celestial Porsche and goes zooming off on its orbital path! No! Saturn is going to be in 10 Libra until July 8th. And that means that we are now very officially in the ‘dual eclipse’ zone. So figure everything that comes up now – and all the issues which get raised internally (inside you) between now and when Saturn goes direct…these are part of what is going to be refocused or remade over the next several months (big time!) and the next three years (in a more evolutionary sense) …all of which we know because there are not just one, but two solar eclipses on the way!

And yes, there is one Lunar Eclipse, which may be another headache for those whose charts are formulated as to be hit by emotional doings of the 24 degrees of Sagittarius kind. Principal positions to look for would be anything positioned between 19 and 29 Sagittarius, Pisces, Virgo or Gemini and/or between 22 and 26 Cancer and/or Taurus.

But more on that when the time comes. Lunar Eclipses tend to go off like alarm clocks, so let’s talk about that later.

Meanwhile, a few background notes on 10 Libra before we close for the day. By definition, Libra is a public sign – it’s not just about us or our ‘in my body, mind or soul’ sort of thing. Libra is also an air sign – so it’s the idea of the thing which gets us as much as anything, and being that 10 Libra is an emotional sign it’s the idea of the emotions you may experience because of others…what they do/don’t do. What they say/don’t say. What allowances they give you or deny you.

Traditional lore speaks of this degree being one of isolation which forces a person to ‘sort through things’ as they battle their own feelings of vulnerability, failure or inferiority. Good comes of this process through thinking things through not entirely personally, but in terms of others who have gone through similar situations: the process involved and how experiences of the moment can provide motivation to improve things not only for yourself, but everyone else too. By holding to this more universal course instead of simply focusing on the ‘me’ of it all, people are able to in time emerge with a new found respect bolstered by others for their humanity and integrity rather than their personal aims and personality.

The universal quality cited here is rather reminiscent of Damocles having gone retrograde just yesterday in social, societal Aquarius. And that word ‘integrity’? That’s one of the hallmark concepts which life will focus on as we hit and move past June’s 11 Gemini solar eclipse.

And let’s not forget that Atropos/Orcus thing. Atropos speaks to things which have ended. Or are over…at least in the form or format they were before.

And Orcus? Orcus is an ‘out of the blue’ sort of consequence you could not have predicted. Oh, it was out there…but you wouldn’t think it could be true until it comes true.

Sometimes that’s very, very good….and sometimes that’s very, very bad. All that depends on you – more specifically, how well you understand others around you and in your greater world. The values you have risked now prove to be not just yours, but theirs too.

How do they feel about you? 

That would be the message of the moment – even if all you get is total, complete and utter silence.