Sisyphus, Saturn, Neptune: Love Life...What?

 Sisyphus - by Franz von Stuck

In the two days that Sisyphus has been on station prior to going retrograde, Black Moon (societal) Lilith has entered Aries.

Oh, great – just what we needed…life getting even and ever more personal! (Not!)

So now what?

Today’s platter of celestial goodies (and yes, I use that term advisedly…) includes two items. The first is the anticipated Sisyphus shift into retrograde motion, a feat it will accomplish at 7:58am (UT/+0) with Sisyphus.

That Sisyphus does this at 6 Sagittarius adds a lively little note of ‘being part of the group.’ Considering how individually driven Sisyphus tends to be, this can have several meanings. One, it could mean we retreat (retrograde into ourselves) because we’re so all about ourselves and life isn’t humoring our whim. Two, it could mean we put our own aims on whole in favor of joining in or pitching in because the group we help and the world we build is ultimately that which supports and benefits us – giving us a place to be.

Right away this has some obvious implications: what all the violence in Libya, with the giant earthquake in Japan, there is a need to put our ‘personal lives’ on hold and to tackle reparations. That Sisyphus has such an evil reputation (he is one of two favorite Greek myth ‘sinners’) with his story touching on death inflicted speaks to dealing not just with mortality, but actual physical death.

Then we throw in the idea of Sisyphus as a rich kid grown up to be a big brat. And Sisyphus as a really smart human being. This implies a degree of ‘knowingness’ which in Sagittarius is heightened to a point that we should not be surprised to learn now what was ‘known’ which was simply disregarded for some arrogant reason.

As for whatever task is now at hand, that may be gargantuan. It may also seem ‘unending.’ Neither is necessarily true, but what those feelings mean to us – that’s a personal truth which is well now dealt with.

This idea of confronting an uncomfortable reality is heighted by the other dish of the day: Saturn sesquisquare Neptune at 9:56pm (UT/+0).

So what the fern is a sesquisquare?

Well, before we get there, let me just say that I’m really not delighted by terms like sesquisquare and sesquiquintile, quadranovile and quinqueundecile (don’t ask…). Way back when I got a diagnosis from a doctor which was one of these mouthfuls and I told him I simply couldn’t have that. 

Why? he asked, rather surprised.

My answer: Because I can’t have anything I can’t pronounce.

I continue to feel that way…about medicine, medication and yes, astrological aspects. In that realm, a sesquisquare is however, one of the lesser demons: it’s a 135 degree aspect which carries what we might call a ‘matriculating creative’ harmonic.

(And yes, I did ultimately learn how to pronounce the medical term.)

As for the harmonic, don’t gag…I shall explain. All harmonics are a matter of what “sign distance” is implied. To use the fancy-dancy term, it’s part of the derivation (‘derived from’) theorem.

Each sign being 30 degrees, and the implied idea that wherever we start is the “subject” of the astrological sentence, 135 degrees is 4 signs (4 x 30 = 120) plus 15 degrees.

And if you were working that equation from 0 degrees (Aries) of the zodiac, that would take us to 15 Leo. The Leo part is what gives us the creative hint and the 15 “Leo” is one of the four zodiacal ‘cross-quarter’ points, all of which speak to moving from one phase to the next.

  

  The zodiac's four cross-quarter points

Think of it as getting past your own sticking point and you should be good. There’s what we think things ‘should’ be and what they are or actually can become.

To put it more simply, this is a ‘get over yourself’ moment – we need to move beyond our emotional attachment and accept the reality, from which can be grown something good. No, things aren’t as we want them to be right now. Maybe we have to give something up. (As a matter of fact, this Saturn/Neptune connection implies just that.) But what are you going to do? We cannot turn the clock back. Things are what they are.

In this moment, some people will want to blame. Some will need to let go of what was and this may be very challenging or hard to do. Some will be ‘taken down’ by the very fact they haven’t dealt with the reality of what works and what doesn’t work. Or even their own presumed concept of invulnerability.

This is a moment of maturation (Saturn) with regards to what we think life or our world should be. Or what we really thought it was. Or should have been. This is not a death of an ideal, but of an illusion. And with Sisyphus on station, this is not likely to be a genteel experience.

Those who move on, life offers opportunities. But those opportunities can only be realized and benefited from to the extent that we balance hopes and positive objectives against a reality of how life really works. About what humanity is, about who people really are (and aren’t) and how when we buy into the compromise, we shouldn’t be shocked that we are in time compromised by our choice.

So much of what is going on in this world is about having bought into expectations. Yes, there are true horrors. But at some level we really do need to understand that things we think of as ‘terrible’ are also part of life.

That’s a really tough mental balancing act, if also a baseline truth. If you have trouble with it, the issue is not ‘it’ – it’s your inability to accept or process the greater scope of life. And while that may well be understandable, it’s not useful – and to the extent that you don’t require yourself to move on to a greater scope of consciousness it’s not the world you hurt, it’s yourself.

Black Moon (societal) Lilith and Uranus at zero Aries here clearly echoes the idea that life and our world is changing. So we need to grieve the sadness of the moment without getting lost in that moment.

Easier said than done, yes. There’s a price to be paid for what we do and don’t do, what we embrace and marginalize in this world, in this life, in our own minds and hearts. Sisyphus symbolizes our ability to do better than we may ‘want’ to – it’s about getting out of our own zone of control and that headlong desire to ‘make things okay.’ And Uranus in Aries asks us to change – or tells us we will be changed.

A photograph of Saturn shadowed by its own rings with one

of its many moons giving a good perspective on

Saturn's truly enormous size.

photo credit: NASA/JPL

With Saturn in opposition to Jupiter, lore teaches us to apply thought. Saturn being the sesquisquaring party to Neptune at 29 Aquarius, in Libra and retrograde - that suggests the whole of this time is about changing what/how we do things and recalibrating our world and life aims.

Again, if we won’t do it – if we won’t change, we will be changed.

So! In that light, let us take note: this isn’t the end of anything, no. But it could be a beginning of much.

That choice is up to each one of us – and all of us together.

Sun/Uranus…Sisyphus Going on Station

 Sisyphus by Titian (1490-1576)

Just ten days ago now, Uranus entered Aries. For some, this has brought feelings of freedom. For some, this has only meant edginess – even provocation. And are those times when we like that sense of guidance – and if if isn’t there, we really miss it!

Plus there are some people who don’t do all that well without someone to chew at (or chewing on them). You know them…the bad attention is better than no attention types? Or how about those people who get so used to fighting that if there’s no one to fight with, well by gum – they’ll just go out and pick a fight!

So Uranus bounded into Aries (as much as a planet bounds...), making everything feel vital and personal. Then (among other things), Ixion went retrograde.

That stirred up a whole new bumble of bees!

Ixion’s station stirred up the sense of possible loss. And annoyance with limitations.

Yet with that came the need to question those feelings of personal entitled. Why do we think we’re entitled to whatever it is we think we’re entitled to?

Then the Sun also entered Aries, not only bringing the planet/dwarf planet count in Aries up to five (Uranus, Sun, Jupiter, Mercury and Eris) but by adding the Sun to the list…well, that just made us our very own focus!

Which….could be good…

…Then again, it could be bad.

With all this energy in the “I Am” sign of Aries there are a whole lot of ways we can get….over-involved? Incredibly focused? Fabulously motivated? Totally neurotic? Famously self-conscious?

In short, any and all may now apply. All this energy in Aries may give you a rockin’ case of ‘Who or What am I?

Or maybe you’ll start scratching that ‘What Can I Make of Myself’ itch.

Some of us will get into a very ‘What’s Going to Become of Me?’ mood – which is first Aries cousin to ‘What Is the Meaning of Life?’

With all this Aries energy, “I don’t know” can be a total disaster of a distress zone.

All this may well get really ‘ignited’ now as the Sun conjuncts Uranus, a conjunction which becomes  exact at 12:19 (UT/+0) on March 21st. Remember the energy of the Japan earthquake? That kind of ‘release’ is typical of Uranus – though don’t expect everyone to have their own personal shaker!

No – Uranus is about a ‘change of status’ which in the process releases energy. As scientists explained with regards to a subduction zone, when one of Earth’s tectonic plates ‘slides’ under the other, earthquakes happen. Why? Well, to put it roughly (all puns intended!) the Earth’s plates don’t have neat, well filed edges… (that’s what Earth needs – a manicurist!)…so the overriding plate tends to get its leading edge ‘bent’ under by subducted plate. And so tension grows and grows until the pent up energy becomes a force greater than the friction holding it back.

Then everything ‘snaps’ back into place – and the energy and movement thus released – that’s the earthquake.

Quakes are commonly known in astrological circles as a Pluto event. Why? Because they transform our surroundings. They literally ‘change’ our world. In doing so, they also tap into truly instinctive, primitive instincts – the instinct to survive being the most obvious. Life and death as transitional states – they’re 8th house and associated with Scorpio…thus the Pluto reference.

But when you have a quake, the moment of the release? That ‘breaking through’ the wall of tension? That’s Uranus.

Associated with Aquarius, Uranus is about the shift, the change, the energy. And yes, what with the incoming astrological age having all being ‘filtered’ through an Aquarian lens…we can expect much of life to have this Saturn/Uranus flavor as the years move forward.

Saturn holds us back. Saturn requires slow development. Then Uranus releases the energy and we either make some great advance in life or get shot down.

And what do we get shot down by ? Usually by one or two things: our impatience (not enough Saturn preparation) or our having failed to take some form of the Aquarian ‘universality’ precept into account.

And yes, that may be a different blog.

Then again, considering Sisyphus is about to go retrograde, maybe this is just Ye Olde Perfect Place to have mentioned that!

So with a flirtatious reminder about Neptune still a-linger at 29 Aquarius (meaning, things still aren’t clear and that we simply have to allow ourselves not to know and instead deal with the moment on faith)…with that little bit of axel grease applied to the soles of your mental shoes…

…Thus we slide into the slippery world of Sisyphus.

The myth of Sisyphus concerns a well raised (i.e., privileged) young man who is as the expression goes, probably too bright for his britches. He’s got the life, he’s got the home, he’s living in a city which was not only founded by his family but which is situated along one of the really important trade routes. So anybody doing any real kind of business wanders by.

And there they find a charming young man who offers to host them in his home. Take a load off! Have an olive and a glass of wine…!

But once in his home, such travelers are also in Sisyphus’ power. See…he’s really smart – but his brain isn’t being put to good use. And he has no real challenges in life, seeing as he’s rich and needs not work.

It’s a bad combination. Sisyphus takes to toying with his guests. Then tormenting them. Then torturing them. Then….

...Well, you get the message.

And when the Olympians decide they need to teach this boy a lesson, Sisyphus even barters his way out of Tartarus – the Greek version of Hell.

Of course it doesn’t last long – such offenders cannot help but reoffend. And once Zeus (Jupiter) gets into the fray, Sisyphus is duly doomed to rolling (some say carrying) a large rock up a hill, only to have it escape from his grasp when he’s almost at his goal – compelling him to go back and try again.

It’s a heck of a way to go through eternity, right?

So Sisyphus is going retrograde at 6 Sagittarius on the 24th. That makes this a moment when we can either fritter away our talents and live to regret having frittered…or we can get hold of whatever it is about ourselves…our abilities? Our self discipline? Our lack of will? Whatever it is…this is also a really good moment when some will decide they don’t want to fritter ad infinitum and get to work.

Those who take on the Great Task will find all that Aries energy plus the Sisyphus ‘untapped ability to toil’ work for them going forward. Whatever your goal is – Cleaning the closet? Getting a college degree? Starting a business? – whatever it is, Sisyphus going retrograde combined with Aries will get you through a lot of work.

And for those who don’t tackle whatever it is they know they should be getting to? For you, Jupiter (knowledge) works. And that rock isn’t going to get any lighter.

It never does – particularly as we grow more tired of avoiding the simple truth of who we should be and what we should be doing.

And yes, that would be our rock to bear until there comes a day when we trade it for taking on the work of becoming our better Self.