Mercury Enters Aquarius at a Cancer Full Moon

Full Moon photo credit: Deepung, Oct 2009

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When Mercury enters Aquarius at 1:09 a.m. on January 5th, Venus  - which got to Aquarius first - is sitting just ahead at 1 Aquarius with asteroid Icarus hinting at something ‘hasty,’ whether that’s some sort of ‘Venus result’ (the Venus ship coming in) which happens faster than expected - or something that you or someone else ‘jumps’ at (in haste) because it looks so good.

Is it ‘so good’? Maybe. That’s not the issue here; Venus-Icarus is where the ‘desired result’ (the Venus quality) meets up with haste. But for all we know that can mean a hasty response to something which happens. Or which has happened. It could be a ‘quick grab’ at something which has already passed you by, as 1 Aquarius has a reputation for positioning us between the ‘reality’ of something at hand and the possibility of something different or better which isn’t assured.

Into all this comes Mercury, which in Aquarius is known to represent great insight, utter resistance to hearing something, mighty hesitations and the issuing of snap judgments - all with equal aplomb. While Mercury transits Aquarius we can expect to hear plenty about how things work ... and how they don’t work - this isn’t the kind of transit where we expect luxurious niceness. Yes, Aquarius is known for incredible displays of various kinds of prowess - among which could be an adopting of formal manners to impress any high(or low)brow in history.

Then again, Aquarius is anarchistic. And for all it’s support of all which is ‘current’ or pertaining to currency - Mercury in Aquarius is often an outspoken time when things shocking and things funny and things ridiculous or ridiculously sublime fall out of various mouths (even the same mouth, now and again) and a time when present and past clash or raise public discussions which thought they sound like debates about values are really about the future and how to move into that future, which assuredly some will now turn their noses up at in resistance.

For a sign all about making progress, Aquarius also manifests a lot of stick-in-the-mud-isms - and a fair amount of debate (read: argument) all about who “knows” what and who is ‘right’ or who has (or ‘should’ have) rights, the right-of-way or some other priority.

Like most Mercury transits, the moment-to-moment qualities of Mercury in Aquarius aren’t likely to be obvious; transits of Mercury tend to refer at some level more to our perception of life’s pace. Yet within that, seeing as this is Aquarius we’re talking about ... and since Aquarius is a sign which has two very different modes (the Saturn version and the Uranian version) Mercury’s rather long transit of Aquarius is going to be something of a celebration of - as well as something of a lesson in things like the need to stabilize and coordinate ... as well as the need to improve functionality. 

And to succeed, all of this must occur on an globally enfolding basis. Or to put it another way, the more global the appeal, the greater the reward (that’s a basic Aquarian rule). 

Plus there is that thing about Aquarian friendship. Aquarius is the hallmark sign of friendship - which in its being the derivative fifth sign from Libra (the sign of relating to others on the basis of ideas) makes rather good sense. 

As for that ‘rather long’ comment, that’s about Mercury’s appointed next round of going retrograde.

The station-retrograde date is January 21st (UT/+0) and the going direct date will be February 11th - and since the entirety of this retrograde will be occurring with Mercury in Aquarius it’s to be expected that a lot of social and societal functions will be affected. For you that may mean something simple, like a series of changing appointments, play dates for the kids or some project which either shows up needing attention, bringing about the ‘over-occupied’ quality so common with Mercury retrograde. Or maybe you’ll have one of those times when you’re waiting for some answer or piece of some puzzle you dearly need before pressing on with some cause. With Mercury being all about thought and communications (or the ‘communicating’ of something from one place to another or one stage to another) and Aquarius having a distinct affinity for both electronics and all things systemic, transactional and globally functional all things good and bad pertaining to computers, power (either as personal power or that in a power grid) and economics or economies will also likely come up for discussion. 

Why? Well, that would be the question - and in the metaphysical sense, the answer as that which Mercury retrograde focuses on, beyond being an issue, challenge, effort or nuanced experience of its own is also a good cause for thought as any number of ‘why’s and alternatives float through our minds. 

And it’s likely there will be plenty to think about. Just the fact that Mercury moves into its ‘big picture’ mode on the same day as a Full Moon rather guarantees life isn’t likely to be dull. Maybe not everything is going swimmingly, but it isn’t dull. Full Moon days are always a time when feelings rise to the fore whether we’re deliciously happy, irritatingly frustrated, irresistibly fervent, romantically wistful or just plain moody ... all of which is a bit more likely this month as the Full Moon will be at 14 Cancer, a degree known for sensitivity, if also a deal of ability and good luck which may get tested now, as this Full Moon and Mercury ingress comes with a side order of grand square (read: moments which may be challenging but ultimately useful - or merely usefully challenging).

For the sake of being exact here, given that Mercury reaches Aquarius some three hours before the Full Moon, the above isn’t exact for Mercury’s ingress - the Moon would have been at 12 Cancer instead of 14, endowing the whole of this January-February Mercury in Aquarius (plus retrograde) with an inward quality not particularly connected to anything else.

It’s an idea ... a lingering notion with the distinct ability to dig up nested dissatisfaction. And though those dissatisfaction are ultimately about us and choices long made into personal habits (and in some cases, life choices), given the Aquarian ability to get us so irritated with ourselves that we act out against others it’s virtually assured there will be some off-the-wall stuff being thrown around. (Particularly verbally or through alternate forms or formats of communication).

The grand square itself is (as is usual when it comes to grand squares) a challenge which either has us bouncing from one thing to another - and yet another - or a situation which pits one set of interests against another. There are some people with native bents which deal with this kind of ‘separation’ naturally; the reporter who digs through a story and interviews people with a simultaneous need to understand someone even while they retain objectivity would be a good example of that sort of personality. But most of us do find ourselves tugged in several directions at once at grand square moments ... and with this one being presented in cardinal signs, there’s a lot of energy which goes into getting things done - or which perhaps would be going into getting something done except for...

Full Moon at 14 Cancer (glyph chart)

January 5, 2015 - 4:51:41 a.m. (GMT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Full Moon at 14 Cancer (text chart)

January 5, 2015 - 4:51:41 a.m. (GMT+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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... except for any of a number of things. For one, Vega-Eos cuddled up to the Sun and Pluto with Pluto headed towards an April 17th station atop Vega (Eos having moved on by then) represents the dawning (Eos) of some sort of realization(s) which in time will produce a ‘letting go’ of various projects, efforts, structures and convictions which whether valid or not in their own right are neither in sync with (Moon-Sirius) current needs nor insightful long-term goals.

Then there’s the fact that what we want to do may not be the same thing as what we should do (or how we should act or what we should opt for).

For some, this Full Moon will be but a wrinkle of the moment - a ripple on their personal pond. For others, in particular those not in the ‘habit’ of success or the successful employment/usage of abilities, what to do (or what to do about something) may become a source of conflicts which are as much about frustration and an increasing sense of conviction which rejects whatever has been put forward as noble, respected or respectable as being some sort of fraud.

Or even worse, a deliberate lie. Truth matters under Aquarius as this is the sign under which thought, concept and notion gets raised to the level of solution, and false solutions are by definition, untrue definitions. Despite this, there is a quirkiness associated with Mercury in Aquarius which makes some people think that they can parse the truth or use part of a truth - and a few who will embody Mercury in Aquarius as a righteously domineering conviction that they are ‘all that’ and thus endowed to decide everything.

Under Mercury in Aquarius, such brashness sometimes carries the day. But before you decide to rule your world by decree, it may be worth remembering two things. One: that however we think or feel about things as Mercury reaches Aquarius (and the Full Moon) occurs isn’t going to last all that long. Plus or minus, there is going to be a change. In entering Aquarius, Mercury is joining Venus and Mars ... which is a LOT of Aquarian energy.

But give it a week - things will change yet again as Mars exits Aquarius (for Pisces) on January 12th (UT/+0). Until then, the Aquarian notion of focus is going to be all about us - which is to say, how well or not well integrated we are within our Self (part one), how well we have developed our abilities (part two), how well that works for everyone (part three) - and therefore how lastingly it all works for each of us as individuals.

Under Aquarius, the question often becomes whether to think first of the individual as opposed to thinking first of the collective, the group, the society, the universality of life and all it takes to stay alive. This may not be Mercury’s most graceful entry of all time into a sign as against a Cancer Full Moon any Aquarius influence (not to mention a lot of Aquarian influence) is simultaneously all about responsibility and yet riddled with irresponsibility from stem to stern. If and where humanity’s human qualities win, we’ll care about life. If an where theory and intellectual statistics rule the day, we’ll care about the group, the society, the whatnot to the exclusion of human need.

It’s a little bit like an old philosophical argument about heaven and earth. To spend all of one’s time thinking of heaven is to know little of earthly human life ... and yet to live entirely in and for things of the flesh-bound life is to limit the endlessness of boundless possibility while lies beyond what we know and can touch.

To this Aquarius says we should be 'willing,' as universality can never be possessed, merely accessed - and if we fail to avail ourselves of that, the inevitability of time will certainly come upon us and fold us into its manifest being, whether we are ready to become part of it ... or not. 
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A 16 Pisces Full Moon

Moonrise on Hobart Bay, Alaska

(photo credit: Commander John Bortniak/NOAA, October 1990)

Somewhere back in my early astrological days some fellow defined Pisces to me as ‘the trash can of the zodiac.’

I’m not sure he knew he was talking to a Pisces at the time or not. I just gave him the benefit of the doubt. 

(Which yes, is very Piscean of me.)

That being plural decades ago, I’ve learned several things about what he said, the first of which being what struck me as a better definition for this most oceanic of water signs: Pisces represents the distance by which we will fail our own expectations.

Esoteric? Yes... and yes, that probably means I’m esoteric too.

But I digress. That definition is a singularly opaque way of saying something very Pisces and very true: Pisces is the sign which is all about all our experiences of feeling our own feelings. And thus Pisces becomes also the realm of all we do to control what we feel, however we do it - and to whatever end(s) we do it.

As for that first definition (the dust bin thing)...it was only once I faced my own Piscean-ness that I finally understood the fact that what had been said to me about Pisces and the trash hadn’t been... and shouldn’t be discarded.

(Yes, I said that.)

But it’s not all bad. It’s not even half bad once we get to the reality of what all the ‘trash’ talk really means... namely that wherever we find Pisces (in your chart, as an energetic focused by some object moving through Pisces, etc.), that’s where we will - at some point in time - experience ‘feeling trashed.’

That’s an expression which has a whole bin of feelings, to be true - and all of them apply. Wherever or however we experience feeling crumpled or sincerely, vulnerably concerned - that’s a Pisces moment which will stir or bestir your world, your life, your spirit, moving you to be or do something, to think about something or perhaps to imagine something or surrender yourself to some inspirational ‘greater feeling’...

Within us, when a Piscean wave overcomes us, some of us fight, some of us surrender and accept. And whatever that situation, what’s most and finally at stake is having to live with - and through - the depth of our feelings.

A trash can. Our trash can. That place where we feel how we feel about our most vulnerable of mortal feelings.

Good or bad, despairing or marveling, that’s what life taps into this month as the Moon comes to its  Full phase at 16 Pisces on September 9th at 1:39 in the morning UT/+0 time.

The Full Moon at 16 Pisces (glyph chart)

The Full Moon at 16 Pisces (text chart)

Known for protectiveness and often a touch of caution some would think borders on suspicion, 16 Pisces challenges our priorities in ways basic, very human and entirely understandable. The crux of the matter begins with some situation which has two sides of it: the localized or personal and a more worldly, mortal or universal. Alliances and perspectives become important, especially where we have made a choice under duress/stress which shows some sort of weakness.

The weakness itself may be valid or something easily coped with - that’s not the point. The point is how we feel about having chosen to ally ourselves with someone or something without yet knowing its/their true capacities... and that not knowing is what has set us up for whatever we feel now.

Again, this can be good... or it can be a problem. That depends on how well we deal with how we feel about reality - and separate from that, the realities of our emotions/emotionality and our own relationship (or ability to relate) to that.

There are two planetary ‘pictures’ in the chart for this transiting event, the first of which is a grand trine (above) which has our emotionality - for good or not - tied into things and bound up with matters which are ongoing whether we want them to be or not. With Vesta sitting in the degree (16 Scorpio) that Saturn went direct in back on July 20th, some part of what we are dealing with comes out of a ‘turn of events’ (or fortune, or a decision) made then.

Chiron retrograde in an emotional degree (15 Pisces) of an emotional sign tells us that when we do not know what to do we rely on inner instinct [Moon-Polyhymnia]... and yet at this point, something [Saturn at 18 Scorpio] challenges our ability to interact successfully with others.

Mostly such challenges are simply about who goes first. (We’re waiting for someone who is waiting on us.) But in certain circumstances there is so much grievance collecting and imagining of injustices (read: having forgotten one’s personal boundaries) that things could get very sticky.

Fortunately Full Moons are merely ‘a phase.’ Like teenagers, they move on.

Eventually, that is.

As for the other planetary picture, that’s a grand cross (or grand square).

...And though this grand cross doesn’t include the Moon or Sun, it does connect to the grand trine we just talked about - through Sirius/Juno, a combination which speaks to ‘brilliant management’ best realized by dealing with one thing at a time.

In opposition to Sirius/Juno stands Pluto (in retrograde) plus Hera (the quality of support) and fixed stars Facies (negative complications) and charismatic Vega. This is a recipe for complications, most of which will require that we not get overly frustrated (or panicked) in order to get through successfully.

So are we being brilliant in the cause of dealing with a problem? Or are we carrying on being brilliant when... (as was said in the film version of ‘The Wizard of Oz’)... when someone drops a proverbial house on us?

Alpheratz-Uranus in Aries speaks to interruptions of effort, a retreat of some kind or a very sudden feeling that something is ‘gone’ without notice or ‘gone too soon’ in some cases. In opposition to this, Charybdis-Atropos speaks to trying again - or ceasing to continue trying (shades of Saturn-Vesta!) depending on which mode you have been in, and this stopping or starting may well be all about timing, timing, timing as Mercury-Diadem indicates a stream of critically clarified perception. However... the degree of this conjunction (9 Libra) isn’t always all that directly productive - there is a strain of wanting to push others into doing something simply because you can’t be bothered to consider here.

This is also the degree Mars went direct in back in May, raising a second direct note (the other being Saturn) to events which have already taken place.

The degree 16 Pisces has a Sabian Symbol which reads as follows: the capacity inherent in all great sociocultural images to unite the members of a community in a display of excellence.

Will we connect and unite or not? And if we do connect and become united, what belief will we allow ourselves to 'phase in' so that we can be and live united in something which fits us equally and all?
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Huya, Rainmaker: Direct at 20 Scorpio

La Guajira desert (Macuira National Park) in Columbia

(photo credit: Luis Alejandro Bernal Romero, April 2006)

Lore on the degree 20 Scorpio speaks of a restless sense of self which, though it can be directed to eventual accomplishment is often directed towards short term goals which will garner some sort of personal pleasure.

Or pleasuring.

This shouldn’t be any surprise, as Scorpio is all about all everything and anything which raises our sense of wanting…against which life tends to throw various challenges. These challenges are designed to teach us as to whether our aims and motivations hold realistic water.

More to the point, emotionally realistic water. The Scorpionic thing we aim at tests our sense of proportion and whether we can handle what we ask for. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it is a wholly Scorpio saying – as is the implied threat which goes with it.  

That this sign which is all about passion should be best dealt with coolly and calmly has got to be one of metaphysic’s most superb ironies. But maybe not. What we fail at in Scorpio, be it the job, the partnership, the investment or intimate relationship is an emotional grounding mechanism which sort of warns us not to go any further before we’re really ready to play for all the marbles.

If you’ve ever had an investment go sour or a love affair bite you in the deepest nether region of your feelings, you know that Scorpio sting. It’s part embarrassment, part regret, part frustration and part anger – most of all at ourselves for being so foolish as to not ‘have seen the signs.’

Like I said…Scorpio issues are best approached coolly. Only when we’re cool can we size up the give and take, the emotional negotiation which in making whatever equally worthwhile to all parties involved secures the deal.

Considering that Huya is either the learning of a lesson which through pain can teach us the value of one of our greatest gifts (and in action represent the opportunity to give that gift or put that ‘gift lesson’ into action), this station is a celestial invitation to make more – and better – of our lives.

Or of our lives in the whole of life. But to do that, we have to give to others. Or at least put the ‘lesson learned’ to work as part of what we do to help others. Sometimes Huya represents the motivation which causes us to help. Sometimes it’s the willingness to put what we want on hold in order to help.

However Huya functions however, it is best to think of the process as the point of whatever you do now – which is to say don’t think in terms of what others may think or not think of/about you. Huya is named for a South American rain god – and rain is what creates fertility out of the dry and desiccated, the painfully barren in this world.

Why you do whatever you do is the important part of this Huya lesson. The more you bring your hardest-won altruism to what you do in life, the better your chances to succeed very much in the sense of that old saying ‘cast your bread upon the waters.’ Don’t ‘define’ what you think you are going to get back; whatever you’re thinking of isn’t likely to happen anyway. That we know as part of Huya being on the list of Plutinos – objects (mostly dwarf planets, but others too) which orbit around our Sun representing energies in our world which are ‘colored’ or ‘shielded’ behind – or beyond - a Neptunian veil.

That we all have a Huya in our chart says we are all capable of making great contributions and that our ability to make those contributions depends on our ability (or ‘willingness’ if you will) to a.) accept that our deepest negatives and greatest pain have something valuable to teach and b.) work through whatever the pain and/or negatives are until we realize what it is which we have been given to know.

Once we know, then we can fold that understanding into what we do (or who we are) in life, ‘raining’ that insight into the lives of others, emboldening them with the ability to accept their human realities (which we so often refer to as ‘flaws’ or ‘problems’) which in turn allows them to….blossom.

Huya, Rainmaker: the ability to be that fertile rain which provides that which others need to allow them to break through their hard husks and grow into fruitfulness.

Focused in that ‘fitting in’ realm of Scorpio which tests our ability (most of all) to negotiate with our feelings, this particular Huya station comes to us as a t-square.

With Huya at the ‘t’ of this t-square, the ‘starting point’ is Byblis at 20 Leo, suggesting this whole scenario is about OR centers in something we’re doing which we ‘want to do’ or ‘like doing.’

It probably seems easy enough to do as we’re doing it. But at some level we know it’s not right. It’s not serving its’ fullest purpose. Or maybe it’s not garnering us the rewards or feeling of acceptance (support, respect, etc.) that it should. With Damocles at the ‘goal’ position of this t-square, there’s something about life which feels problematic. Or ‘dangerous.’ And we want to resolve that – at least in our minds, if not in real time.

But there’s something in the way. And that ‘something’ involves whatever our ‘Huya Quotient’ is. For some of us, this will be some Huya power we already own, for some it will represent some Huya potential we need to yet understand.

Whichever side of that question you’re on (and yes, it is perfectly possible to be on both sides of the issue in differing parts of your life) that this Huya station is at 20 Scorpio and therefore in opposition to last May’s 19 Taurus Solar Eclipse tells us that this period (July 27/28 through August 1/2 with emphasis on the moment of station on July 30th) is all about a continuing process which began back in May.

Or more likely, back in mid-late March, which would be when the eclipse shift began to take hold.

In the greater hierarchy of astrological conceptualization, the Solar Eclipse takes center stage. Yet because the Taurus eclipse and this Scorpio Huya moment are in different signs and in opposition, where the March-into-May period was all about us or what we were doing/not doing at a more personal (Taurean) level, now Huya in Scorpio is pointing to the necessity to focus on how we relate to others and the building ourselves into a ‘greater place’ in the world and our world as a thing greater than just about our Self.

That requires digging deep and running some ‘risk’ that we’re wrong. Or vulnerable. Or taking on the realization that our means or method isn’t working or maybe workable.

Here Huya is telling us that our greatest satisfaction comes from and through others. How well we are equipped to deal with that which connects us to others – the fact of it as well as the emotional and deeply human(e) part of it – points to the pluses and minuses not merely of our life in the moment, but in the ongoing ‘processing’ of our life and times as set off by that May Solar Eclipse in Taurus.

Solar Eclipse transits take a full 3 years to evolve. With regards to this year’s May eclipse, it’s barely begun to show what about our lives may have been ‘eclipsed.’

For reference’s sake…

- link to -

The Taurus Solar Eclipse

You know if your life has changed over the past few months. You may have finally undertaken something, you may have reached some portal or passage. About now you are realizing – maybe with some difficulty or regret – that in moving forward, something is ‘over,’ done or no longer truly viable.

That’s part of your process. We all have some process to go through now. Considering how we are still under the auspices of a time which both holds us in our emotions and pushes us to deal with our emotional makeup (the grand trine in water), as Jupiter and Mars now press through Cancer and set off an opposition to Pluto in Capricorn, things will change. We will either change them through changing our outlook, attitudes and relationship towards our own feelings about things…or life will provoke/evoke those feelings.

At some level, this is a time all about the need to confront new realities. Or maybe you’re just gaining perspective on your reality and how that needs to change. What was earlier this month (the feeling of being ‘caught up’ in our feelings) now shifts as Jupiter ‘breaks tryst’ with Neptune and Saturn and sets up a new grand trine – this one with North Node and Chiron – which combines with Pluto to form a kite.

The astrological ‘rule’ with a kite asks that we ‘take hold of its tail,’ which here is pictured by Mars, Jupiter, Sirius and Kassandra. We may not (Kassandra) believe that we need to change, but we realize this is a time of change.

Then again, with Huya’s turn to direct, we may now not only see some ‘brilliant’ potential or twinkle of understanding which before now was lost in a myriad of inner space …but at some level recognize that to not own our potential and live to the highest form of our ability is petty, selfish – even self destructive.

Our lives always offer us the chance to do what is easy against the taking on of (North Node) challenges which though difficult, lie between us and a life we know is far more worth living. With Chiron’s influence currently in play, we don’t really ‘know’ how to get our of where we are. Or what that ‘thing’ we could be really involved.

And we never will know except by doing. That’s Chiron’s curse and Chiron’s blessing. Having knowledge is lovely. Utilizing knowledge – particularly for the benefit of all is even better.

Huya involvement in a water grand trine while opposing May’s Solar Eclipse speaks the emotional need to respect ourselves and to be someone we consider worthy. With Chiron and the North Node tied into Huya’s July 30th station, the question now focuses on what we don’t know how to do, but need to do anyway. Our goal is the revitalizing of the basis upon which we feel ourselves living, and the totality of our lives, through which we are able to key in on empowering others (and the world) which in turn will grace us with a fertile existence broader than the sky and beyond 'mere mortal' definition.
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Insights: A Cancer New Moon

Morning Fantasy by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1904)

July’s New Moon comes into focus at 7:15 in the UT/+0 morning on July 8. And for those of us who don’t live in the +0 time zone, the clock may be different, what we’re doing in that moment will certainly be different, but the global moment will be striking the same note.

It says a lot about how billions of people on one not-giant blue-ish planet can take things differently. And how many ways there are to see and act in life – and this world.

By being a mid-Cancer degree, 16 Cancer is by definition an emotional degree of an emotional sign. An this isn’t Scorpio, so this isn’t about interactions with others. This isn’t Pisces, so this isn’t something which just ‘is’ despite any good effort. This is Cancer. This is about our sense of self – those basic emotions which ask ‘who am I’ and ‘do they like me?’ and ‘will I get in trouble for that?’ or ‘does anyone care?’ or ‘I feel lonely.’

Cancer is where we learn about our emotional self. Cancer is the sign all about our basic feelings about life, and having to do XYZ in life. Cancer confronts us with some seriously unenviable questions like ‘Okay, so I’m not happy about my life. What am I going to do about it? Why did this happen to me? Can’t things just be easy?’

The Sun having entered Cancer back on June 21st (again, UT/+0 time) set the stage for life to move us into this mode of being sensitive and sensitized to the quality of life – ours and life in general. But up until now (or more precisely, until the moment of the Cancer New Moon) we were all living through a series of days which was part of a previous lunar cycle, that being the Gemini New Moon which took place back on June 8.

The Sun represents ‘life itself,’ and our consciousness. Or consciousness of life going on around us. 
Reflecting the idea that our Sun (the actual star) isn’t going anywhere or expected to do much other than what its doing for another more-than-several billion years (yes, billion with a ‘b’) the Sun represents the fullness or entirety of life. Or at least the idea of same, which allegedly gets us to thinking about what we want to do with – and in – our lifetime.

(Allegedly.)

Against this, the lunar cycles represent our day-to-day daily concerns. Because the cycles of the Moon are actually about a relationship between the Moon and Sun, every month is another piece, another step, another ‘phase’ in the totality of our process – which is to say, the process of living our life. As the Moon’s light is light reflected from the Sun, so it is said that lunar cycles are ‘reflective’ of where we are in our life. Or – maybe more productively – where we are in the process of building that life we want to have.

Lore suggests that 16 Cancer is a degree about our facing up to what we need to deal with. At one level it’s about getting rid of excuses…and at another, it’s about dealing with all those ‘little things’ which come up which may become “The Excuse” for not doing what we really need to get done. There is something of a pliable quality said to be part of this degree – which may be something to keep in mind for the whole of this month, a month which will in time have the Sun pushing on into Leo just after the Full Moon.

This is what I meant to get to in mentioning how the Sun entered Cancer long before this Cancer New Moon, and how all those days were part of the lunation prior. Every cycle of the Moon has a way of saying ‘move on!’ in terms of life’s doings. And okay, for those who are more preoccupied or rooted in some status quo, maybe life has to pry your death grip on personal preference loose in order to move you along.

A lot of us took the Gemini New Moon as an opportunity to make new choices and to take on new tasks. Or to learn new things. Or maybe you got swept up in sweeping up the confetti of things which have fallen all around you while you were busy doing something else.

A small boy trying to catch confetti at a folk festival in Namur, Belgium

(photo credit: Ben Aveling, April 2006)

 
Life can be a ticker tape parade sometimes, yes. Great to look at, fun to play in, but boy – what a mess to clean up!

But once the Sun moved into Cancer (on June 21), the simple ‘idea of the moment’ changed. Life became more feeling, more about the important things which make life work and which make living life more worthwhile.

The zodiac’s three water signs are about ‘wealth.’ And while yes, that may be ‘money wealth,’ that can also point to our wealth of experience. Or the circumstances – emotional, situational or concrete – which, in allowing us to feel more comfortable, give us a ‘platform’ on which to build that greater (solar) totality of our life.

During the Gemini lunation, the Sun shifting into Cancer retained a bit of that Gemini ‘the idea of the thing’ quality. And its that which will shift as of the moment of the Cancer New Moon. During the next two weeks (i.e., while the Sun is still in Cancer) we are all likely to feel more or less ‘centered’ in our emotional self. So obviously those who don’t do as well with their emotional Self (or emotional life) are likely to feel a bit touchy…which is maybe really their feeling touchy about feeling touchy.

Another group will feel centered in their need to get on with things. For these people, the Cancer Sun phase of the Cancer lunation will manifest as feeling at home with themselves – and thus with the world which is immediately around them. That doesn’t mean everything is perfect…such folks may be all about rearranging the furniture or getting around to paining the living room wall. But (using painting as the way to ‘see’ this)(yes, that was a bad pun) gone will be the Gemini lunation ‘what effect am I trying to create?’ as emotions and life congregate into the ‘I know what I’m going to go for. And if I don’t like that, I’ll change it later’ sort of feeling.

Cancer is a cardinal sign. It’s willing to learn from results. Gemini is a mutable signs. All mutable signs have an issue with making choices just because life’s possibilities seem endless. The Sun moving into Cancer under the Gemini lunation got us into the ‘yes, there’s a lot of choices – narrow it down, already!’ mode…and now, during the first half of the Cancer lunation, we will be digging in and doing what needs doing to structure what we plan to move ahead with.

Once the Sun moves into Leo (on July 22nd) this ‘structuring’ phase will give way to seeing what will actually result. And where we want to go from where we’ve gotten to at that point. At it’s best, this Leo effect will open us to new possibilities.

Of course, it could also show up our personal shortcomings. Or where our wanting to be ‘in our comfort zone’ has actually undermined our ability to ‘structure’ our life by failing to take others (or life’s greater, mainstream ‘flow’) into account.

Sirius A & B as seen in an x-ray photograph taken by the Chandra Space Telescope

(photo credit: NASA-SAO-CXC, September 2000)

With the brilliance of dog-star Sirius and ‘story teller’ Scheherazade at 14 Cancer just behind the position of this New Moon, Atropos (endings) and Echo just ahead of the New Moon at 18 Cancer and Atlantis exactly conjunct this lunation, this would seem to be an ‘Atlantis moment’ of facing that which we think of as being “exactly what we want” (or how we think we want life to be) in favor of being brave enough to literally accept walking into another element, tackling the seemingly impossible and – amazingly – being rewarded for that.

Atlantis is a funny point. (And no, I don’t mean ‘ha,ha’ funny.) Atlantis is all about ‘the times’ we live in and how accumulated experiences show us how it doesn’t matter how much we think we want to fit in with ‘that’ or to have ‘that’ be true. Sometimes we just aren’t going to fit in with ‘that’ no matter how hard we try. Sometimes we have to let go. We have to stop trying to tell others (and more importantly, ourselves) that that’s what we want to do. Or how we want life to work.

Sometimes we just have to let go. Atlantis is all about that very thing – the letting go. And about how sometimes, despite all, we need to walk into what may seem like a totally foreign element, something we think would be ‘deadly’ (not literally) in order to be enveloped by a new and different environment in which we will find our bliss.

Or at least the path to that bliss.

Sirius/Scheherazade being just behind the lunation speaks to our leaving some ‘story’ behind. Maybe it’s a phase of life you’re moving out of. Maybe it’s a home you’re moving out of. Around the world lot of students will be leaving behind their comfort zone of the ‘known’ as they move ahead to the next form or even out of their studies into life’s Big World.

That Sirius is a binary star tells us there is a 'fusion' process which goes into creating anything. One of the brightest stars in the sky, Sirius is known as a point of ‘brilliance,’ or qualities which we think of as brilliance or some idea or example which to us is  just ‘brilliant.’

Or maybe daunting or blinding or dazzling.

So with Sirius being conjunct Scheherazade and the New Moon being conjunct Atlantis, maybe you’re letting go of…or moving away from some ‘story’ you’ve told yourself. Or something which is itself brilliance, but which now you need to incorporate into your life and build upon. Part of this – considering we’re moving out of a Gemini lunation into a lunar month which is founded in the Cancer principle may be about acknowledging how someone else may know more than you do about something, but that that’s not any reason why you shouldn’t excel in your own right. So maybe you’re ready to take on reaching some inner dream by making it real in the here-and-now. Or maybe you’re done listening to the idea of what life ‘should be’ as defined by others and ready to create that better, more solid, more secure and stable life which works for you.

In leaving that ‘thing’ behind, this New Moon may be a moment of emotional darkness during which you let go of that you used to believe about others or even about yourself. In that darkness we can’t ‘see’ ahead, but we feel like we’re ‘hearing’ the Echo of endings (Atropos) to…to what?

Is that the end of something bad? Or something good? Maybe it’s just the end of our kidding ourselves about something – even some ‘blindness’ to our own abilities which we may have long negated.

The mythic Echo is a servant of chief honcho Olympians Hera and Zeus. Or Juno and Jupiter, if you prefer. The difference here, which comes from the difference between Greek and Roman culture seems to reflect the Greek love of logic and intellectual insight as opposed to the human passions and more emotional approach of the Romans. Either way, whether we talk Hera/Zeus or Juno/Jupiter, we’re making an astro-metaphysical reference to ‘governing principles’ in our lives.

But it’s not like mom and pop Olympians get along. Much as how in life we have ‘different parts’ of our life and interest which don’t seem compatible with each other, hubby king and wife queen of Olympus didn’t get along 100% either.

Far from it. Zeus/Jupiter (knowing knowledge) was a well-known philanderer. In our lives, this tendency to ‘go out on the wife’ reflects in the fact that we may sometimes do things which are counter to our status quo. Or maybe not in sync with what we’ve been taught. Or whatever it is we’ve constructed in our life.

 Obviously in a moment when they're on more or less friendly basis, Olympians Juno and

husband Jupiter are perhaps working on reaching some mutual agreement on how life should

be...which is a lot of what we go through in our own lives with ourselves.

Jupiter and Juno by Frans Christoph Janneck (1703-1761)

 

The important thing to remember is that this isn’t about anyone else. This is about us. The constant and wholly human thing which says we need to grow even while we need to remain ‘married’ to the job of taking care of ourselves and our lives.   

So there’s Echo…a servant (another part of our psyche) which is working for both honchos. And when Zeus/Jupiter decides to go off and chase his latest interest (a new possibility, perhaps) Jupiter instructs Echo not to tell the wife.

That amounts to our not ‘telling’ or admitting to ourselves that we want to try something new. Something else.

In marriage counseling, you’ll hear psychologists tell their clients that ‘you never solve the problem inside the marriage by going outside the marriage’ which is true whether someone is having an affair or simply building a professional or social life which doesn’t just exclude their Significant Other, but which they don’t involve their Significant Other in – at least at the level of being open about what they’re up to. Let’s face it, there are plenty of great marriages where each partner has personal interests which doesn’t involve the other party.

The problem would seem to be in the not telling. The not being honest. And that’s the Echo thing. Echo applies where we’re not honest with ourselves about our needs. Where we don’t admit to ourselves that there’s some sort of problem which isn’t getting solve ‘inside the marriage’ of our Self.

Just to cut to the chase on the myth, in case you haven’t heard this one before, rather predictably it doesn’t go well for Echo. Wife Hera/Juno (representing the protection of our psychic ‘home’ and inner stability) not only catches up with Zeus/Jupiter’s doings, but realizes Echo has been placating her with half-truths – sort of like we tend to do from time to time in our own lives.

And yes, that would be the point. Through the moment of this New Moon’s evocative darkness now comes the ‘Echo’ of Atropos, the ‘end’ of something.

Is that our ignorance? Our struggles to hide something important from our Self?

What (Gemini lunation cycle) idea are we on the verge of letting go of? What (Atlantis) are we realizing is not going to work for us? How will this moment and the next lunar month reveal how in (Cancer lunation cycle) being more united in our Self and (Cancer) more emotionally (Echo) knowing and honest with our Self can we (Atropos) end the internal spin and thus the spinning of our wheels?

It’s going to be an interesting month to be sure. That it’s happening with a water grand trine in progress speaks to a lot of values changing and the world being awash in provocations.

And yet, that is our future.
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Saturn Station-Retrograde (Part 2)

Planet Saturn photographed having a major storm in its northern

hemisphere by NASA's spacecraft Cassini

(photo credit: NASA, JPL)

At the risk of sounding like an old-time TV or radio serial, our last episode here around the old blog corral was on the subject of Saturn taking its station and going retrograde at 11 Scorpio on February 18th at 5:04 in the afternoon (UT/+0).

If you missed the whole ‘where’s the Sun’ and Scorpio discussion, you’ll want to read Part 1. But for those who have already read Part 1 (or who frankly, Scarlett, don’t give a cinematic southerner’s hoot about such things), this blog is about the configurations which come as part of this ‘Saturn stationing’ affair.

The first configuration is a grand trine.

Though the occasional grand trine will (by the grace of astrological orbs) join signs of different elemental earth, fire, air or water nature, the classic trine involves only one element – in this case, water.

In some senses, this makes things more intense. Grand trines, being composed of three trines linked together with any single trine indicating ‘ongoing energy’ is something akin to a closed circuit. They used to be thought of as blessed and benefic, but as astrologers have emerged from something of a lollypop way of thinking about astrology as all good or all bad, ideas have moved more in the direction of trines – and thus grand trines – representing habits or mindsets or situations which are difficult to break out of and sometimes impossible to change. An example of such an ‘impossibility’ would be someone who is born with a chronic illness. They learn to cope with something they can’t change.

Talents are often associated with trines. So are lives marked by people being born into a time of mass poverty. Though their nation’s situation may change, and thus some of the potential connected to that trine may shift, if as an astrologer I was to see someone born into such a situation with their chart elements positioned so that a trine (or grand trine) ‘spells out’ that early-life situation, I would know that such a person would be ‘marked’ for life with the poverty they had experienced as a child.

Since I know as soon as I type those words that someone is going to want to know, trines or grand trines in water (emotion) or air (mentality) are more prone to being “markers” of the psychological sort. Earth trines are more apt to indicate physical or situational elements.

Fire trines, having to do with the ability to envision are often on the ‘up’ side markers of talents and on the ‘down’ side challenges with realism or the ability to be realistic.

All trines tend to change when the points involved are transited by any planet, comet, centaur, dwarf planet, SDO or TNO at-or-beyond the solar systemic “latitude” of Saturn. That’s a pretty big list which includes things like Chiron, Ixion, Eris, Sedna and countless others.

So trines are not ‘forever’ in one sense, even though they are in another.

In this case we have a classical trine in water, so we know the subject is emotional. If you’re someone with a water sign trine in your natal chart, the fact that Saturn is connecting to Mars may well be a sign of ‘stabilization’ or stability. Then again, it may manifest as resistance or limitations. With the much-beloved Dog Star Sirius in this mix, insight is the subject and the cure. So this is obviously a great time to get insight on our own ‘stuff’ whether we have a drop of water in our chart or not. The period around this station is also likely to be a time when we see others acting out emotionally…or coming to recognize what emotionality is – as opposed to facts. Or maybe what it can do (or not do) in our lives, whether we’re thinking of that as individuals or social/societal groups, or families or nations.

As individuals or as nations, we may be examining the ‘Saturn cost’ of emotions denied (Scorpio) or emotions coddled or used to control, manipulate or delude (that’s a Scorpio/Pisces list). Saturn in Scorpio does have a pronounced fiscal bent of the “collective” ‘joint finances’ kind, which is why we are hearing so much about nation debt and credit at the moment.

And since Saturn is going to be in Scorpio for a while…expect to hear more on that subject. Expect for there to be more trials, more trial-and-error attempts, more denials and more attempts (or discussions) about the need to control – many of which will be formulated as what ‘you’ need to do, since though Scorpio is supposed to be the ‘whole of the interacting unit,’ wherever we see Scorpio there’s an annoying tendency to say ‘I’m blameless, it’s all your fault.’

(Heavy sigh. That never works in the Scorpio arena, but goodness knows people try, try, try it yet again!)

The positive of Mars in Pisces connecting to Sirius is the promoting insights and inspirations along with a sensitivity which – providing we don’t run away from it – allows for growth of understanding both of ourselves and others.

Saturn in Scorpio/Sirius in Cancer is more directly useful (almost utilitarian) in orientation as it’s a connection which which promotes solutions. Though often hard-to-swallow emotionally, what is learned now, what comes out now is an opportunity, and those who can get past ego or past mistakes will benefit thereby.

With all three of these symbols positioned in second decanate (between 10 and 19) emotional degrees of their respective watery and emotional signs, this isn’t a signature of smooth sailing. For some, this grand trine will be a sign of ‘ongoing turmoil’ with Saturn’s turn to retrograde representing the realization that our solution must come from ‘within.’

Then we get to the Yods.

Known in mystical circles as ‘the finger of God,’ a Yod is an astrological figure which looks a lot like the letter “Y” with one point at the ‘base’ of the Yod aspecting two other points which while being in a 60 degree aspect to each other are also each 150 degrees from the ‘base’ point.

One important technical item here: Yods should be within 1.5 degrees of aspect in order to be considered ‘in effect.’

The energy of a Yod tends to manifest as indecision or on occasion, confusion. We often feel ‘cornered,’ hence the reference to God as a substitute for ‘fate.’

Are Yods fated or fateful? From the metaphysical perspective, probably not any more than the rest of life is. If a grand trine in the natal chart could indicate a life-ruling talent or a devastating disease, that may be an ‘open ended’ fate, but it’s hard to argue that it’s any more or less fateful than the moment when you get caught for embezzling.

It’s all about perspective. 

So anyway…with this Saturn station we get not one, but two Yods. Here’s the first:

In this Yod, the connection is between Saturn realities, structures, needs to interact and/or cooperate and/or give and take and/or negotiate with self and/or others…and Pallas, the symbol of dispassionate wisdom. Positioned at 12 Aries, Pallas in an inconjunct to Saturn asks that we know our positions, ‘own’ our acts, actions and choices, and in doing so, stand up for ourselves while recognizing and dealing with arranging terms with others.

On the other side we have Saturn being connected to Vesta in Gemini, a plain enough reference to what it takes to make a commitment and carry through on our promises.

The thing which is to be noted here, and very much different than your classic trine or grand trine, is that each of the objects in a Yod is most often in a sign of a different element. Even a different modality (mode of action). So here we have Saturn in fixed water, Pallas in cardinal fire and Vesta in mutable air.

That combining of elements (the thought with the emotion, the drive and motivation getting tempered by needs for caution and pragmatism) is what symbolizes the internal confusion, conflict, indecision so typical of a Yod.

There is one great thing about Yods, however. And that is how they come with a nice clear “solution” point – that being the midpoint between the two ‘horns’ of the “Y” in direct opposition to the ‘base’ point.

And that, in this case, is 11 Taurus, a degree which is known for embodying that idea of ‘reaching beyond our grasp.’ The keyword here being ambition, since this degree is in opposition to Saturn we see the chance to succeed beyond expectations…or a dose of falling on our face. Since the element is earth, whatever is on the table (or in our mind or heart) is something real – or which at least has real costs or rewards connected to it.

The other Yod turns the first one on it’s head. Or at least on its side.

The 150-degree inconjunct between Vesta and Saturn (understanding the costs real and emotional which it will take to get where you want to go) remains static. But in this Yod, Saturn isn’t the focal point – Vesta is. So that grand trine we talked about which represents the bestirring of emotions (ours and those of others) will focus on two things…the Saturn in Scorpio responsibility and realistic agreements which work for everyone…and the Vesta in Gemini knowing/understanding what it takes (or will take) to keep our promises.

In this Yod, the ‘solution’ point is 11 Sagittarius, a degree which stresses the interactive side of Sagittarius and the courage it needs to put yourself and your ideas out there. Depending on your situation, this may be about solving existent problems or it might be about plunging ahead into the unknown.

It could even be both.

Pluto/Vesta from worldly, public, status conscious earthy Capricorn to Vesta speaks to some pressure which may be about ‘keeping up appearances.’ Then again, it may be our striving to get ourselves or our life into a place where we are comfortable with how we ‘appear’ in our own eyes. Being that this is an inconjunct from Vesta to Pluto (Vesta is the faster-moving object here, so it ‘applies’ the energy) the difference between ‘promise’ and ‘promises’ suggests some degree of ‘unveiling’ or even unraveling for those who have lived behind some mask or a life/lifestyle which amounts to a form of personal or public lie.

In both Yod images, you’ve probably noticed a box with a question mark in it. That question mark asks you if there’s something in your natal chart within 1.5 degrees of that point. If so, that Yod has special meaning to you which it isn’t going to have to someone else whose chart doesn’t connect with that point. Yes, we will all feel this station. But sometimes we just see the tornado. Maybe it’ll blow down the clothes line or uproot our tomatoes. But it may also rip our house off its foundations.

It’s sort of a matter of degree of exposure and experience.

As we think through all this, it is to bear in mind three things:

1.) Saturn moved into 11 Scorpio – the degree at which it goes station/retrograde – back at the end of January. And Saturn will be at 11 Scorpio until March 15th. That’s a long time for things to be ‘brewing’ in one mode. And considering this is Saturn – reality and realism in a sign, Scorpio, all about the real stakes of life which require that we think beyond our own security in order to secure that security (and self respect), there’s likely to be a lot going on now in our lives and in the world at large.

Don’t expect it all to be pleasant. Contentious, trying, unnerving…that’s likely to be the least of it.

2.) Saturn will return to 11 Scorpio during the period of October 10–18, 2013. How we deal or don’t deal with things now will echo back to us then.

Mark your calendars.

3.) 11 Scorpio is the degree of the solar eclipse which will occur on November 3, 2013. In astrological terms, this is about as obvious a notice as we can get. We can pay the ‘emotional’ cost now or later. But don’t think it isn’t going to get paid.

None of this has to be negative. The problem is tricky however: Scorpio asks that the ‘me’ and the ‘them’ in all things be balanced. Your success or security or self worth or abilities are no more important than anyone else’s…or anything else. Scorpio teaches how things are interdependent and how in the end, we focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else at our own cost. Even peril.

Saturn’s station is just a station. Though the effects are broadly sketched and also narrowly focused in this particular period of time is part of a greater expanse. I like Saturn. To me, responsibility is security. Standards are reassuring.

When everybody does their best, we all benefit. And therefore, as someone with a natal Scorpio Saturn, I wish us all success when it comes to facing our Saturn challenges.
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