Having Been Eclipsed…

The partial solar eclpse of November 3, 2013 as seen in El Hierro, Spain

(photo credit: EPA/Gelmert Finol )

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From a recent email: 

…That’s the point. We each are being confronted with the potholes of not having been present for ourselves. That which is most difficult for us now is the polarity of that we want to do with others. 

The Gemini I wrote this to works in the health field. Their chart was squarely hit by the eclipse, and in manifestation thereof, the middle of rapid growth of their various practices was put in jeopardy by the Gemini's own health becoming a sudden crisis.

What we are putting out there is coming back to us. The equation here is a little oblique, but plain enough if you stop and think about it a moment. Moreover it reminded me of why Gemini is so aptly seen as a jig saw puzzle. Wherever Gemini is in our chart, wherever we experience the Gemini vibe, it's in that area of our life that we become challenged to understand the nuance and detail as well as the whole. Only by holding both concepts equally in mind can we come up with a choice which makes sense, which can be grown and which will ultimately bear fruit.

This eclipse, with its Scorpio dishing out of karma, it brought home much of this to all of us - as well it might. Gemini is the 8th sign (the "derivative 8th") to Scorpio. And thus in all things Scorpio we are presented with many facts, many facets, many choices, all of which direct us to make not the choice which works for us but the choice which works.

Whatever sign you start with, the derivative 8th always shows you the 'rule' which for you defines whether you get past the gatekeeper of opportunity or not. This wicket has become incredibly sticky of late (think Pluto) with most of the problems we're each encountering in our life having a 'right' and 'right' or 'wrong' and 'wrong' side which asks us - in the end - to decide between power and personal preference. 

Or even where power IS personal preference.

And yet...whatever situation you've been working with, it will only work if it works on all sides and for all levels. The trick of this season has been to operate with power while not becoming helpless, acknowledging our weaknesses while not succumbing to them.

It hasn't been easy, obviously.  As your girl astrologer, this Pisces fell into an abyss on one side of her life while taking care of things on the other side of her life. 

It's just not easy. I'm entirely satisfied with parts of my performance and seriously not proud of others. But that's how astrology tells us that life is going to be. It's never all good or all bad...it just is. And as solidly as any of us can focus on getting one thing done, it's a cinch not everything is getting done. So with my Moon/Saturn in Scorpio, and because the Moon (among other things) represents the 'chemical' level of body functionality, I was bang on to tackle a detox.

Use the energy wisely, lest it use you unwisely.

I'm a Pisces. And Pisces rules the experience of emotionality (at the psychological/spiritual level) and brings that to a physical level. So to detox a Pisces is also to detox their feelings - which at some level says those feelings need to be detoxed.

And yes, I had looked at the Scorpio eclipse before it got here. I knew something bizarre could happen, but scheduled my detox anyway.  Scorpio isn't always the signature of frolic and rose petals (or leather and black lace, for that matter), but it can be incredibly productive if you’re willing to feel a little ouch way deep down in your soul.

I will also fully own that as an astrologer I knew there was likely to be trouble between me and anyone whose chart was going to be hit as hard. This me-and-thee thing is something we seldom take into account as much as we should...that which ties or binds us is (astrologically) symbolized by a sameness of object positions in our chart.

And that means that if MY chart is being transited, so is yours. Which means when an eclipse shows up, both of us are going to get eclipsed. And if it's a tender place in our chart which is getting eclipsed and we're not particularly good with handling those energies, the results can be nasty.

Even just pitifully and painfully messy.

The eclipse passes...and we find much has changed.

Or we've changed.

Of course there are those of us who refuse to do any changing. Several years ago, a Taurus friend was confronted with that most terrible of solar eclipse challenges - the loss of a loved one.

He simply answered “NO” when life asked that he move on emotionally. He just didn’t want to deal with it. And let’s face it, no sign does the ‘standing one’s ground’ thing any better than Taurus.

We've known each other a while now, so I understood. He was hurt. He didn’t want to feel what he was feeling. He didn’t want to leave feeling connected to his beloved wife behind. He just didn’t want to feel himself dealing with his feelings.

Heck, he didn't even want to feel himself not dealing with his feelings!

And so, Taurus bull that he is, he snorted at life and dug his heels in, even going so far as to notify me that there would be a ban on all conversation on the subject.

You may be surprised to know I cooperated with him on this. But I did, yes. Part was simple affection for a friend. Part was that I felt for his pain.

But besides all that, I also own an ephemeris. And really good astrological software. So I knew what was coming.

Taurus Keywords:
security, insecurity,self-worth, self-doubt, stability,
status quo, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, self-respect,
self-avoidance, self-loathing, comfort, need-hunger-satiation,
peace, values, motivation, likes, preferences,
tastes and dislikes

Suffice it to say, ever since attempting to not change in keeping with the eclipse on his chart, this Taurus has been plagued by an onslaught of problems. The bulk of them have had to do with money – that most common of common Taurus/Scorpio things. How odd is it that we assign such power to something which intrinsically (at the level of paper money being paper and coins being little chunks of common metal) are not 'of value' at all.

In fact...if you understand that money is a 'barter medium' and a 'placeholder' for Taurus/Scorpio worth-power-personal satisfaction measures, you understand why money doesn't buy happiness. It is not the money which counts and not all which it can buy which evokes happiness. It is the person we are and why we do what we do and the validity of the feelings which come from that which evokes and satisfaction.

It is the (Scorpio) validity that what we are placing our (Taurus) values in and whether that is true to us (as opposed to someone/something we are selling ourselves out to) which determines the quality of our result and whether there will be any associated negative karma.

As for my friend, after a couple of years he started dating again. But though he had done all the outward mourning, he hadn't dealt with his true inner hurt.

Those relationships (particularly the Scorpio/intimate ones) didn't work so well.

But then, it's tough thinking that intimate relationships are going to go well if you're not emotionally available or not able to be vulnerable or emotionally intimate.

Fast forward to now: as we talk in the wake of this eclipse, not only is his financial life finally coming back together, he's finally letting go of his pain. It wasn't easy and true to him, he had to find the right way to exorcise his emotional demons on the subject - which is typical for eclipses. If they hit your chart with any sort of exactness, you're going to let go of something. You can do it now, you can do it later, but by gum, you're going to do it.

Scorpio is famous as the sign of control. And surrender, which is the part of Scorpio most of us don't think about a lot. And Taurus, in being Scorpio's polarity, is all about how stable and satisfied we are with ourselves...not really anyone else. Where Scorpios often try to control others in order to feel safe and secured, Taurus often try to control life itself.

He couldn't. And when this Taurus couldn't control life, he gave up on trying to live his life.

And life taught him that wasn't a good idea, applying pressure after pressure after pressure until he simply let go of trying to control and instinctively began working to find his place in this world again.

It's about three years later now. Remember how I told you that solar eclipses take three years to mature?

I tell you this story for many reasons, the most obvious being that if you understand the path this man took, you'll understand something more about how an eclipse will work in your life. But there's another reason too - one I think just as valid.

Like I say, I have been friends with this fellow for several years now. So I had heard his story and walked alongside him as he fought his battles with what he thought was Life, but which really was with his Self. I could see very clearly what he was doing and the futility of trying to fight time...existence...reality.

And right when I got done saying all that to myself, just as he began turning his corner, I began doing exactly what he had done.

Really! I was doing it my way (cue Frank Sinatra, please) but I was that very same thing...which is the reason to be talking to you about this right now. No matter what 'events' happen in your life in conjunction with any transit - and particularly a solar eclipse - the issue isn't "them" or "that." It's you. It's not about what they're doing to you, with you, without you, despite you - it's about YOU.

It's about who you are coming into the situation or moment. You've heard me say that sometimes we learn more through the negative than the positive, right?

Whoever we are, however tough or tender we are, life manages to just overwhelm us when such events happen. Apparently that's what it takes to each humans something - and that's what eclipses are about. When eclipses show up we get into situations which reveal us to our Self, often leaving us little option but to deal with some issue with (or about) that Self we may have.

And then they leave us to figure out who we need to be in order to deal with what we have learned.

Provided we learn it, of course.

Scorpio eclipses are probably the second scariest in the book (I'll put Pisces eclipses first, thank you.) The 'why' of that is because of everything I've been talking about.

We're all raw. We're all thinking of someone else or something else and thinking 'if they were just...' when the real issue is who we are and what we're basing our values on.

How real is it, in other words. Scorpio is the energy of connection, the indescribable essence of sensing that someone or something is there. Or not there. That reality is a powerful thing - and the difference between the real and the unreal, the respect and the lack of respect we hold for human relationships the key to our personal problems.

If we can't relate to ourselves properly and honestly,
 we have no basis for relating to anyone else.

That's one of the premises of Scorpio - and why the zodiac's one and only fixed water sign represents the realm where the real meeting up with the emotional and our meeting up with ourselves through our relationships with others is the "gateway" to the zodiac's four most worldly signs (Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces).

It's as if through meeting up with others, we meet ourselves. And if we're not good (enough) with our Self, we don't take us out of the box. We don't let us/get to go for that next step.

What happens really is a reflection of what goes on within our mind. (Or, as I have long thought of it, our Mind - but that's in my life as a writer...more on when the books get released, hopefully at the end of January.)

More to the point, it's why so many of us would rather try and be happy feeling nothing than feeling anything which has a chance of actually affecting us. The effort to deal with or put off such issues is our Scorpio/Taurus axis, and wherever we find it in our chart represents how we're willing to handle this matter.

Or not handle this matter, depending.

The thing to remember is probably how - as opposed to Scorpio (or the Scorpio/Taurus) energetic being is the energy of connection (sensing yourself through feedback as you connect with others) astrology defines the experience of emotional issues as Pisces/Virgo.

Which oddly enough reminds me to tell you something. You know how I've (rather relentlessly) pointed out how we're we're in a series of Scorpio/Taurus eclipses? That cycle concludes next year (2014), and being how eclipses cycle backwards through the zodiac (which they do because they're in part determined by the lunar nodes), you might be thinking the next couple of years would feature a series of Libra/Aries eclipses.

But nooooo. If you were thinking that, you would be wrong - which now that I think about it, doesn't sound like the worst thing on the planet. Why would I say that? Well...if I say 'my feelings/your feelings' and then say Taurus/Scorpio eclipse series and then point out that this series has been going on since 2011, growing more and more personal all the time, perhaps you get some sort of...image. Feeling. Impression.

Maybe the impulse to dive under a table.

Okay...so take out the 'my feelings/your feelings' part (don't you feel better just hearing that?) and insert 'my existence/your existence.' 

THAT would be a Libra/Aries eclipse series. Oh, just think of all the ways we mortals could find not to have fun with that!

(Pardon me while I gag.)

But no, we of Terra Earth are going to move from evolutionary lessons framed by Scorpio/Taurus to processes typified by Virgo/Pisces, bypassing the Libra/Aries phase.

How lunar of us. (Or maybe looney, I'm not sure.)

So take out the 'my feelings/your feelings' part (I still feel better hearing that - maybe it's just me...) and insert key words for Virgo and Pisces.

Ouch.

Or...(ouch)...maybe not.

You think the world is weird now? Just wait. I'm thinking ahead to an eclipse series (considering all else) in Virgo and Pisces and suddenly Scorpio and Taurus, with all its venomous moments, doesn't seem so awful.

Why not?

Here's something metaphysical to chew on: Scorpio and Taurus are interactive. Pisces and Virgo pit us against our Self.

That means we have nobody to blame.

Oh yeah...that. It's enough to make you like the world of relating and relationships - which maybe is a way to appreciate the hard times, those times when someone we respect or love fails our standards or trips and falls in some particularly decrepit mental sewer.

We're human, y'know? Feeling...and feeling connected to someone else has (at a guess) led to more social and emotional suicide than anything else on the planet. 

NOTE PLEASE: I'm NOT talking about physically killing yourself. I'm talking about the many and creative ways we have of killing ourselves and our feelings, our relationships and our fondest hopes all because we all want so desperately for everything to be okay.

How ironic, eh?

And more to my point, how Scorpionic for me that the thing I had forever wanted…to feel connected at that most intimate of levels we call human...how I came to this eclipse having denied my fear of exactly what I thought I wanted.

Sometimes just feeling yourself feeling is beyond our feeling tolerance.

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After a lot of thought, in the wake of the eclipse I put this notice up on my Facebook page.

It was a protest - an expression of my desire to transform a feeling of futility. I can't undo what I am because of some accident of fate. 

I also posted this message on a different social network. There I installed it with a caption: and it’s the stuff you don’t know which will get you. 

A number of people on that network who have been abused read that post. Nearly every one of them was focused on my caption because I was talking about the one thing people don't think about when it comes to abuse. Abuse lies not only in what we do, but what we don't get to learn to do. We can be just as abusive in silence as we can be when raging at the top of our lungs.

And it's not just about the events. Abuse also lies in what we don't learn to do. Or to tolerate. Or allow ourselves to consider (as if most solutions to terrible problems haven't been solved by considering those problems?). And yes, there is child abuse - the worst of which teaches us to continue the abuse by not allowing ourselves to wonder, speak up, ask questions or think outside some box even as adults.

On the other hand, if we truly believe that unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should...there are good things that we can turn ourselves to no matter what. Yes, we'd like to think we could stop such things. But sometimes 'good things' will come of not doing what we didn't learn how to do: we compensate, we turn to other things.

I'm not thinking systemically. I'm thinking individually. After all, we all have different lacks. Maybe they are just opportunities in disguise. It took me many years to know that the fear I learned in a youth full of marginalization, violence and dehumanization made me into someone who not only hears what people say, but someone who thinks about what people have said.

And yes, sometimes it's a plus. Sometimes, however...?

Not so much.

As the Sun moves into Sagittarius here in the latter days of November it’s a moment for all of us to be coping and moving on, yes. The Sagittarian drive to make ‘it’ work (whatever ‘it’ is in your life) and continue moving towards goals is highly evident. So the eclipse – in taking place in Scorpio – is now the derivative (or harmonic) 12th.

Just to reiterate the point: the eclipse isn’t over. That can’t be said enough! We are going to continue seeing and hearing of financial and personal strife. We are going to hear stories which sound like miracles and disasters which are totally unexpected.

Whatever you were confronted with coming into the eclipse, the underlying emotional metamorphosis has only begun. Things you think are gone may not be gone – or you may just be doing what you need to do so that you can come back to them from a different vantage point.

Or as a transformed person...you know, like my friend who is just starting to walk on, now that life has taught him to learn how to accept the terror of love lost.

And that his process shouldn't be instantaneous? That works too. Sagittarius is not a sign of instantaneous anything - this is the sign of debate and education, so all is a process now. And as we moving through this Sun in  Sagittarius time with the eclipse still glowing in 12th house harmonic rear view mirror, we should expect that ideas will arise. We should expect the unexpected and a few changes of plan-or-parameter to pop out of the woodwork. Anything which can get us to stop and pause, or think things through, or recognize the flaw and realize we need better plans or more workable solutions...all those Sagittarian things are going to occur to us or get posed by others. Or be manifested by life.

Or arise out of the thick of our unplumbed (Scorpio) instinct. So ask yourself...what have I learned about myself, about my inner feelings? Or is it that you haven't learned why you're at emotional loose ends and how to deal with how preciously frightening relationships are simply because they matter so much to us?

With Scorpio in 12th sign position (which by the way may provide some insight if your natal chart has Scorpio on the 12th house) interactions with others and what comes (or has come) of interactions with others are going to…

a.) make us sensitive
b.) poke us where we are already sensitive
c.) expose sensitivities or expose things which in turn make us sensitive

…all of which takes us back to wading through the soul, mindset and all-pervasive self-confronting experience which is so very Scorpio. But this is not Scorpio “in your face” or in real life or real time. No – this is the emotional experience of all you really need to think about as a result of whatever happened over the past couple of months.

We should also be realistic here: 'sensitive' can mean uncomfortable.

Even scared.

Also to be Sagittarius-type-honest here, this isn't about what happened (or didn’t happen)…this is your going through an ongoing, intensely trying time which in any of a thousand ways causes you to experience own emotions.

And what you think of those emotions.

Or that you have those emotions.

Or that you have made this emotional choice or that choice (in life or relationships, wherever) which ended up being so positive or negative on the emotional level.

The good news is that in the grand scheme of things, for most of us our having been eclipsed is still metaphysical present tense. That’s one of the lovely things about Sagittarius – the land of where theory meets possibility. Here this Sagittarius opportunity causing us to see how things can be…or maybe still can be…or maybe how they still are.

Of course, some of us will want to think things through a bit more. But some of us - in recognizing the truth of what life was trying to get us to look at will find in that a measure of liberty and freedom. The Sun is in Sagittarius, so this is still an interactive time, suggesting that some of us will heave a sigh of final comprehension and move on. Or we'll tackle that problem. Or we'll retrace our steps and not back down this time.

Whatever that truth is, it is to explore - and hopefully to appreciate, even enjoy the exploring of. It is at this point...as all that as life and the essence, the magic and the theoretical machinery of eclipse energies...as all that moves on it begins to evolve. And as it evolves it gives us enough connection with enough distance that we are able to begin seeing that it wasn't the 'thing' which happened which 'was' our eclipse.

It was who we were coming into the eclipse which got eclipsed - each in our own individual way by other people who were being eclipsed in their own way.

Whatever happened, lore teaches, happened so that we could experience some hidden aspects of our Self. So that we would continue to grow and not just 'make do' but strive to be more of who we truly are. 

And so it happens....once we grasp that it wasn't the 'thing' but our nature - some facet of our emotionality or how we deal with emotions because of our history or perspective...which was the point of the eclipse, then we are able to decide what to do next in light of a new understanding of what is true to who we are...and what isn't.

All can be, may still be or proceed to become the way we want it to be. Chances are, our accepting some facet of our difficulties as a reflection of something we fear (or fear to feel) is probably the trade-off there - but there is one all-important fact to consider when it comes to our fearful inner response to feeling fear:

Fear does not reside in reality.

Fear takes hold of us from inside our mind.

And when you consider that, to have life urging us to consider where we need fear not just isn't the worst thing to be giving thanks for on this day.

Or on any day.
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Sun-Node Connecting

Atlas Turned to Stone by Edward Burne Jones (1882)

 

From October 25th through November 4th, the Sun will be in conjunction with the North Node.

Why would we care about a little thing like that?

We would care because all nodal locations (and every planet has nodes, which gives you an idea of what you don’t know is operative out there…) …all nodal locations represent connections. And since they (by the definition of what a node is) represent where the orbit of the planet’s moon intersects the orbit of the planet itself around the Sun, planetary nodes represent where the ‘essence of the thing’ (the planet) where that intersects or attempts to work with the ongoing processes of life.

And when you consider that ol’ Luna Moon up there represents our feelings and memories and money and all we hold dear…(including but not limited to the positive stuff)…those lunar nodes represent the ‘stirring of connections’ and some of our prime or primary energetic opportunity ‘nodules’ (if you will) to create, work on, change, reinvigorate, alter or otherwise hone our relationships with anybody and/or anything in our world.

Which is why, oh you who read, nodes are of such infinite interest – even to astrologers. They represent our connections, our interactions with our world…and why we intersect others – why we attract certain people to interact with.

You know…as we’re also interacting with everybody else. And as they’re intersecting with and interacting with everybody else in their world.

The particular set of days I’m talking about here would be greatly present tense because we’re talking about the Sun rolling through the North Node’s position. So matters of the moment are pretty much how we’re going to handle things in the moment, though the repercussions of what we do now may have extensive or expansive meanings up and down our personal food chain.

(Take a bite out of that, why don’t you…?)

And as we discuss all this, it is worth noting (and bearing in mind) that anyone with planets/dwarf planets, node or axis cusp points in the early-to-middle degrees of Scorpio are probably liking this period less than the rest of us due to the solar eclipse. Things in their lives (and others whose charts are being fixated on by the eclipse as well) seem intent and intense enough, thank you. They’re busy feeling more…and dealing with whatever it is which causes them to feel more – which in the case of some also causes them to consider why they try to avoid their feelings all the time.

It just depends. In general, this is a period all about feeling ourselves succumbing to our own feelings.

Okay, and that’s just what it is.

As for this passage, it starts with the Sun crossing 2 Scorpio, thereby entering the 5-degree standard orb to the North Node, which are at this October 30th point is at 7 Scorpio, a degree about an almost mystical depth of strength capable of dealing with flexing situations. 7 Scorpio is a degree which has an unquenchable draw which requires complete surrender to the experience of experiencing whatever this degree (or matters associated with its activation) stirs up…and that’s tough for a lot of us. We’re intrigued, but we are wary. And let’s face it, it’s easy to think that the person who invites us to experience something 7 Scorpio is doing it for their own reasons, their own gain.

That’s part of the vibe as well – and this is a degree I happen to know a particular amount about as it’s the degree of my Moon.

'Motherless' a young child in loving arms

(by Luke Fildes, c 1914)

So trust me: this degree tends to cause people to think you’re doing things for reasons which haven’t even occurred to you. What they’re reacting to is an odd ‘mirroring’ effect which goes with 7 Scorpio which causes them to think that what is going on in them because their psyche has been tripped has anything to do with the intent of your psyche.

It doesn’t. But that isn’t going to stop them from thinking it does…and that you have some devious, underhanded plan which is bent on taking advantage of same.

And you may have some devious plan and you may be planning something underhanded. But it’s not a definite, and where 7 Scorpio is concerned there is a quality of ‘revelation’ which arises… unbidden… from the unformulated depths of this energetic.

The North Node is going to be at 7 Scorpio throughout this period. In fact, the North Node is going to be at this degree until mid-December – which should tell us all this is a time to be using our relationships to plumb our own depths and elicit those revelations and realizations which will allow us to clear out our mistakes and avoid some of our more poignant karmic errors.

So there’s the North Node, and along comes the Sun. And when we combine 7 Scorpio with the Sun at 2 Scorpio we get the sort of energetic which promotes the ability to do more than tread water. Real accomplishment can be promised here, specifically to those who though influenced by their surroundings (lifestyle, life path) and whatever else are not ruled by any of it.

This could also be a time when those who are ‘stuck’ in the material or the manifest see the trick…the veil which material focus throws over greater purposes and power which is not detracted on by having come into the limits of fixed, materialistic form.

The conjunction of Sun and North Node occurs on October 30th just shortly after dawn, UT/+0 time. The Sabian Symbol here is not unlikely: A CALM LAKE BATHED IN MOONLIGHT (keynote: a quiet openness to higher inspiration - keyword/Dane Rudhyar: quiescence)…as the image of his degree suggests that it is one where the different ‘levels’ of Scorpionic experience separate enough to be noted.

Though the ideal in this symbol is calm, do we know what every person brings to this degree in their natal chart? No. So perhaps this is not a time of calm in (Nodal) relationships (platonic-intimate or business-personal) in your (Sun) life? Maybe it’s a moment in which relationships or your ability to relate is face to face (in conjunction with) situations which serve to evidence things which calls your attention to vulnerabilities and therefore your (Scorpio) attitude towards and ability to handle power.

Okay…so maybe this is when you are finally getting in touch with those unexpressed little pock holes in your most feeling (Scorpio) makeup. And maybe that’s making you feel somehow (Scorpio/Taurus polarity) sensitive to your own standards and thoughts about (Taurus) self worth/vs/”worth.”

Not you? That’s okay too. There’s something in your life where the tar is seeping out from under the tiles, where, try as you may, you know you aren’t in control.

Something could still get you.

Ah yes, Scorpio. The sign which asks us to accept the risk and walk right into the emotional realm which governs how…or whether…we react to what we feel.

How we can feel secure or be secured…which includes but is not limited to manipulation.

And maybe why we fear…as distinct from feeling fear, of course.

Or maybe our instinct regarding instinct.

Given such concepts, it would seem likely that as October closes out a new sense of our own awareness seems likely. You may well have been reading these columns for weeks now…and you may be absolutely, pozzolutely certain you know what these energies are ‘about’ by now.

And then comes along an innocent day or two and…well, let’s just say your outlook may change. This is a time when many changes become upon you because for whatever reason, you have arrived at a moment when you benefit from getting a different perspective.

Thus, one is magically provided.

Will you look at what is shown? Could you dare to stand in a hall of mirrors where every surface reflects your suppositions, your assumptions, your yearnings, your hungers, your instinct to survive?

Hope in a Prison of Despair by Evelyn De Morgan (1855-1919)

If you had to spend a day or two experiencing things which would cause you to realize that life is – at some level – that very hall of mirrored aspects, all arranged so that you would encounter them without (generally) recognizing at first glance that what you were seeing was your Self….

…how would your opinion of knowing you change?

By November 4th the eclipse is over and we start feeling not the experience of life’s energies but our feelings about who was doing all that experiencing.  We come to some greater feeling of freedom to be who we are and respect for the world.

Or at least we recognize how to have our freedom and be responsive too once we accept that whatever we have attracted we have attracted because we needed to respond as we have.

And we needed to do all those things and respond as we have so that we can mix all our thoughts about who we are, who we aren’t, who we could be, who we’d like to be…we can mix all that in with the next phase of building our own recognition of the beautiful beast and beastly beauty of being part of a world, a life, an existence which we help manifest for better and for however we think we’re cursed.
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Mercury in Taurus

 Image adapted from an image of constellation Taurus as found

in the 'Uranographia' of Johannes Hevelius (1690)

When I think of Mercury in Taurus, the first thing my mind goes to is the image of ‘good solid thinking.’

And yet…it can be so much and so very otherwise. Taurus is a sign all about our security (physical or psychological) and our abilities (our “native resources”). Taurus is also the sign of the self worth and/or self respect which motivates us to take those abilities and develop them. To make something of ourselves. To do something in this world.

When Taurus goes right, we do well, we flourish, we earn respect and support from others – in general we earn a sense of personal satisfaction.

And in the world of Taurus, satisfaction is the metaphysical peanut butter which goes oh so well the jelly of Taurean security.

So where can Taurus go askew? Taurus, which if you remember is one end of the Taurus-Scorpio polarity, goes wonky when the ‘personal earth’ (Taurus) gets undermined by ‘interactive water’ (Scorpio) in any of the numerous ways that Scorpio situations test how secure we are or aren’t inside our own skin.

War, sex, investment, birth, death, surgery, control, imprisonment, taxes, interpersonal conflicts, manipulation, domination, vulnerability…any and all of these (in just about any form they turn up) are by dynamic, Scorpionic. And though, being the self-protective critters we are, we tend to think that anything that goes wrong is “their fault” (oh, how many times have we all heard that!)…the truth of this on the astro-metaphysical level is that whatever the situation is, it’s raised a question inside our Taurean corral.

And when that happens, our inner bull comes out snorting!

Of course a bull doesn’t know to check its own hide and see where it’s got pricked. As far as I know, bulls don’t say to themselves ‘why does my hinder flanks suddenly hurt?’ They just look for whoever hurt them, and when in doubt, they gore a wall or fence or two. (Or three or four.)

But as people, the best thing we can do IS to look at what hurts and what about us has been hurt and why that hurts. It’s our sense of security and our sense of satisfaction and with the exception of those who are truly out to get us, most people tend to prick our pride or scratch our ego less intentionally than we suspect.
Why we’re so sensitive there? That would be our issue.

Now I’m not tell you to go thank someone whose carelessly thrown verbal dart hits you right in your trigger point, but let’s be real. We all have a few trigger points and though it’s a whole lot easier to blame than self reflect, we’ll probably do better in the long run to figure out the where and why’s of those triggers.

Sometimes we can fix them. Sometimes we can’t. Some people have been so beat up, whether in war or maybe growing up, or through some tragedy or crisis experienced as an adult that they’re just plain injured.

As our symbol of mentality and the thought process (and everything we mentally choose to do or not do) Mercury brings to Taurus exactly what we need to reconsider how well we’re doing in our own life – and as a person among other people in this world.

It’s a great time to examine the viability of your plans or when you may need to have a talk with yourself about really getting on developing a few more personal tools so you can be more effective, be that in your personal or professional life.

As Mercury enters Taurus on May 1st at 3:38 in the afternoon UT/+0 time, it’s joining a Taurean party already in progress. The Sun is already in Taurus, Mars is in Taurus and Venus is already half-way through Taurus, dancing along as Venus does.

In short, on a personal level it’s a hugely Taurean moment. Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars…? That’s every personal planet on the list apart from the Moon!

Oh yes…the Moon. Well, the Moon will have entered Aquarius just before Mercury arrives in Taurus (no doubt striking a natty pose). And because the Moon is the ‘astro-clock’ of daily doings that means Mercury is entering Taurus probably just about the time a few Aquarian/Taurus challenges hit the grill.

That suggests issues with ‘enough-ness’ of various kinds.

 As I set out to make an image of an "astrological clock" I realized that bcause

zodiacal motion through the wheel is counter-clockwise, it would look pretty

funny. So! It's a bit 'Alice in Wonderland,' but the above is pretty much "two

minutes to Taurus" - give or take a half-minute!  

Just to make it plain here, this Mercury-Taurus transit is going to be a quickie: Mercury enters Taurus on the 1st and moves on into Gemini on the 15th (which would already be the 16th if you’re in any longitude corresponding to, say, Greece or points east).

Astrologers have various opinions on what such swift transits indicate. Some say there will be more of ‘that’ packed into less time (“that” being the Mercury-in-Taurus quotient). Some think of it as a brief time in which to get something done – sort of like being in a rush. Others think that such brief transits manifest as ‘not much here – moving on!’ sorts of periods.

However you think of it, we know a couple of other things about this particular Mercury in Taurus passage. One is that Saturn is still retrograding through Taurus’ opposition sign of Scorpio, a combination which can be destructive, reparative or simply mind-bending in the sense that you look at something and say ‘REALLY?’ How could you not see that? Not know that? Put up with that? Do without that? WHY did you do that? WHAT are you going to do now?

Thinking back on the Taurus/Scorpio polarity, we would have to think that this short two weeks or so is at some level an opportunity to get on a better, more even or more productive keel with yourself (Saturn being in retrograde makes it about our internal life)…from which you can make better life choices and act with greater security, from which theoretically will come better results.

Another thing afoot here…(as they would say in Sherlock Holmes)…is with Neptune direct at 5 Pisces, Mercury is going to spend four days or so (let’s call it from May 2nd through May 5th) in sextile to Neptune. This is great for parties and vacations. If you happen to have a fantasy, musical or romantic comedy film you want to release during this time, people will probably be in the mood to go and see it.

(Movies grosses do reflect the dates - which is to say the charts - of their premiers. It’s a subject that as a member of the film industry has long interested me and which I’ve done a lot of research on!)

My father was a huge fan of Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes (above). Personally, I prefered Jeremy Brett in the part. And that 'debate' became a lasting joke between us, one we enjoyed bandying about right until the day he passed away. Of such things are memories - especially the ones we value - made of.

(photo courtesy of the NY Public Library Digital Collection, c. 1930)

Those days of May 2-6 aren’t likely to be great for ‘precision’ work. Or precise thought. And since Neptune connections with Mercury are often said to be a signal of misunderstandings and deception, watch what you say and who you say it to.

The flip side here is that this Mercury/Neptune connection is also one when egos are a little softer than usual. So that’s good for tender matters, matters of the heart and equally good for saying ‘I’m sorry’ where you may have offended someone.

Last but not least (not by a long shot!) is the fact that May 10th is a Solar Eclipse at 19 Taurus. So matters of values and what we consider valuable (whether we have it or have lost it or feel good about it or feel rancidly and wretchedly offended about it) …all such matters are already on our minds.

And up for cosmic grabs, shifts, losses and incarnations.

The weeks before a Solar Eclipse tend to be a hodge-podge of happenings. With this one being in Taurus everything from food to banking to national economies to personal finances, bankruptcies, fidelity and friendships are up for grabs. The very concept of security is now being challenged both in the world and in your world, forcing you to think about it and think things through in general.

And thus Mercury comes into Taurus, helping us do just that.
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The Capricorn New Moon

The Moon at dawn

(Mike Lewinski, December 2012)

This little blog piece is being posted on January 10th at 1 a.m. Pacific Time (I'm in California). And as these words magically appear on a computer (or tablet or smart phone) near you, as discussed just yesterday (i.e., in the last post) Mercury is catching up with the Sun. It's within orb of conjuction...that being (for standard astrological purposes) defined as five degrees.

As is Sun/Mercury orb grows tighter, we all will tend to focus. Maybe over-focus. Sun/Mercury conjunctions are pretty much famous (even infamous) for their lack of perspective. With this one happening in Capricorn, the subject is reality and how things really are. For you that may mean 'how things really are as opposed to how I've been wishing they were, or thinking they were.' Or you may just be thinking about the whole of the world (or your world) situation.

Or one little thing may 'become' your whole world - at least for the moment.

One other thing happens on January 10th: Jupiter retrogrades back into 6 Gemini, the degree it will be in when Jupiter goes direct on January 30th.

After going direct, Jupiter will remain at 6 Gemini until February 19th.

So that's more than a month of Jupiter at 6 Gemini, a degree known for separation of mental church and state, (which is to say emotions and intellectuality) and a certain dispassionate perspective which CAN be very shallow or 'all surface, no depth' and CAN be very productive or very unproductive, depending on what you're doing.

All of this is part of the global ambiance which heralds the January New Moon, a New Moon which will occur on January 11th (UT/+0 time) at 21 Capricorn.

And the details certainly don't stop there - not even for a moment! For one, asteroid Atropos (endings) is going direct with this New Moon. And for another, asteroid Eos (instinct, ‘dawning’) is going retrograde with the New Moon.

As the Sun clocks the whole of the year and thus the greater ‘chapter of our life,’ so each lunar cycle (or ‘lunation’) marks a ‘phase’ in our life cycle. Call it a sequence or scene in the chapter of that ‘book of our life’…or lifetime, if you prefer.

This particular New Moon, being positioned at 21 Capricorn is about what we do in the world. It’s worldly in the sense that Capricorn directs us to understand how our life operates in the greater context of the world, and how that world affects us, sees us, limits us, will support us, operates, or maybe even judges us. Hence we come to the idea of Capricorn as our ‘status’ in the world. Or our ‘status’ as the world sees us (i.e., ‘social status’ and achievements).

By being a third decanate degree (that is, a degree in the last third of Capricorn as a sign), this New Moon speaks to things which are ‘out of our hands.’ They may have left our hands prior to now, or they may just be things which it would be useful for us to be aware of. Typically, third decanate degrees are all about reactions. Or input from others. In the Capricorn sense, this may be rules you need to follow. Or what you would need to do in order to take some idea or project to fruition. This could be critique on what you have done which may be just a reaction and then again may be an indicator that you really don’t know what you’re getting into!

Whatever that is, this New Moon begins a cycle which goes from New (in Capricorn) to Full (in Leo), which is similar to the December lunation in that it describes an 8th sign harmonic (counting Capricorn as “1” it’s eight signs from Capricorn to Leo).

This is a particularly interesting sort of 8th house harmonic as it would seem to offer opportunities to us where we can motivate or interest others, or where we can free ourselves up to do more by completing some sort of (Capricorn) task or process.

That Atropos is going direct here speaks to some ‘cut off’ or ‘stoppage’ which we have felt inside, which now we can do something about. This may be something you know needs to be stopped (as in, ‘cut that out!’) or maybe more literally – as we might see with budget cuts or even surgery. This could also be some sort of situation where in finishing some obligation, you get to get rid of “that” and therefore ‘cut off’ the amount of energy, money, time, or attention you’ve needed to devote to something.

With Leo as the “fulfillment” phase of this lunar cycle, the challenge is to free ourselves up while not cutting ourselves short just because we’re restless or bored or irritated or in some need of being ‘right’ or self aggrandizement. Those who do what they do for grandstanding purposes may get their moment in the spotlight, yes. But in the long run that’s not likely to play out…UNLESS you are dealing with something which could come to fruition by the end of this lunar cycle.

And we’ll call that date straight out of the lunar tables as February 10th.

 The sun begins to dawn over Jubilee Campus

(Mattbuck, January 2012)

Yes, there is a form of ‘put up or shut up!’ going on. Those who assert without being able to produce are going to lose not points of the moment, but respect if or where they try to ‘put one over’ on others this month.

And part of that goes to Eos. If you’re not familiar with Eos, you might want to read this…

Link to “EOS Direct: Instinct as Awareness” post

How well we deal with our own instincts is what is like as not the bottom line here. And that will prove true whether you’re the one giving someone the ‘go ahead’ or you’re the person wanting to prove your capacity.

Warning: there is a tendency to think you can do something which will work only because it fits your definition of “working.”

That’s a big Leo challenge. Any time we see Leo in any astrological equation the challenge is about perspective. Is it possible that how you see things may not take a broad enough set of ‘variations on a theme’ into account? Leo always asks us about whether we have conviction…against whether we’re right, with ‘rightness’ (in the Leo sense) being about our ability to see beyond our own nose, tastes, preferences or priorities.

This month’s themes and details, especially those which are colored by or affect us emotionally (lunar-ly, if you will) connect these outer and inner ‘dots.’ Are the world’s directions and directives working for us? Are our choices working in the worldly sense?

Eighth house/sign harmonic call on our power and bring out the weaknesses. The temptation is always…which here would be “on all sides”…to try to impose your will on others. There’s far more to be gained by recognizing where and how the priorities of others differ from yours, but…

Let’s face it. People like having their own way!

Unfortunately, that’s not the way to any lasting sense of victory – which would be the other side of eighth house/sign harmonics. The thing we don’t really want to have to consider (namely that we don’t know everything, may be insecure, aren’t always right and – shock of shock – that other people have different priorities, needs, preferences and likes)…understanding those things and investing the time and effort to find solutions which if nothing else work equally well (or equally badly, sometimes!) for all are what gains respect.

And when it comes to respect and eighth house/sign harmonics, that means power potential which will lead to greater opportunities in the long run.

The fact that so many lunar cycle are constructed along this New-to-Full eighth sign harmonic isn’t stressed enough, I think. But it’s well worth considering.

With Eos going retrograde in Virgo, our instincts are all about how well things work. And if they're healthy. Errors, ideas, recognitions may now 'dawn' on us...and inspire new instinctual understandings about how life works and why things are as they are.

On the other hand, Atropos, on the other hand, is going direct in Taurus - a sign all about security, most of all that security we need in order to life a productive and happy (healthy) life living inside our own skin.

Moreover, together with the New Moon, Atropos at 24 Taurus and Eos at 21 Virgo describe a grand trine - one which evidently points to areas of 'fluctuation,' testing and change.

  
That the New Moon is posed with Europa speaks of getting 'carried away'...Sedna-Atropos-South Node tells us that it's easy to stick to our own concerns, our own group, our own beliefs, our own priorities. It's also easy to move beyond them, and the private discussion about whether that's the right thing to do goes on. With Eos positioned so close to Sabine/Lust, we know that we have the capacity to hold ourselves (Sabine) apart, or to a worthy task, or perhaps that we feel held captive by some notion, some idea which may or may not be true. 

Remembering also that Venus has just moved into Capricorn (see the previous post for info on that) tells us that this is a time which favors the pragmatic and the practical. This is a time when focusing on the Big Picture and long-term goals, aims and situational dynamics, developments or issues is prime emotional territory. We’re likely to see and hear of a lot of purges and changes this lunar (January/February) month. People are recognizing the difference between ‘good enough’ and truly functional. Gaps have been opened where quantity has outstripped quality and for many that means doubling back or cutting back or finding those weak links in the chain.

As a degree, 21 Capricorn directs us to a greater understanding that though we need or what what we need or want, that we don’t exist in a vacuum. The health, productivity, functionality and convictions of a society we want to support us or support our aims has to be part of our personal equations. We can’t just ‘take’ without caring about how that whole functions and the job of fixing whatever may be wrong isn’t just up to ‘them.’

The Sabian Symbol for this degree is BY ACCEPTING DEFEAT GRACEFULLY, A GENERAL REVEALS NOBILITY OF CHARACTER. On the surface, that may well be echoed by certain people in our personal lives or the public arena stepping aside, whether out of true nobility, because their ‘time’ doing something is over…or because they have been forced to recognize some level of decency demanded by the world at large.

But on a personal level – and all lunar cycles are personal, whatever else they may be, this Sabian recalls that old saw ‘the burned hand teaches best.’ Sometimes those really hard lessons are the only way we learn. Sometimes we have to lose something or someone before we realize how dearly we love them or how much they have given to our life.

This lunation may be the moment of realization, it may be when something happens. Whether it’s one or another in your life would depend in where this point falls in your chart and individual nuances.
The one thing we can all trust is that by the end of this cycle we will all know a bit more about reality and what really matters.

When I started this post, I thought to entitle it 'Our January New Moon: Looking Ahead, Looking Back, Holding On and Letting Go.' That struck me as apt, though it was obviously far too long for a blog title.

This New Moon moment is likely to stay with us as a notion in our minds, in our heart, in our days...not just because of the process of a lunation and not just because this particular New Moon is emblazoned with that very particular mark of the grand trine.

All those are apt. All those things are important. Yet beyond that, one of the emblems in that grand trine - Sabine - is about to go retrograde. That happens next week, and you'll hear about it in different post. But to have this idea of 'being held captive' against 'being held to' our better notions, spirit or standards of willingness amidst all else suggests this is a time when decisions and choices can get made. When changes may become necessary or apt. When we can acknowledge our mistakes, weaknesses and errors as well as our strengths, wisdom and caring...and in doing so, convert negatives to positives through recognizing our own humanity and that of others.

Where there is life, there is indeed hope.

There's also opportunity. So here's to the best in all things. May much good and inspiration come from your efforts, your thoughts and your caring.  
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