Uranus Direct, a Capricorn Solstice and the 0 Capricorn New Moon

A mosaic made from multiple copies of 'Optimal Motion' by Henrique Matos

(oil on canvas, housed in a private collection, no date given)

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The days prior to Uranus going direct are always a bit... quirky.... unusual... in a way which is singularly vital yet unpredictable. Uranian times call upon our adaptability and flexibility - generally when we least expect it, which would also be very Uranian.

In our current cosmic case of situation, Planet Uranus is going direct on December 21st at 22:46 (10:46 p.m.) UT/+0 time. And considering how that time is negligibly (certainly in celestial terms) prior to the Sun entering Capricorn at 23:04 (11:04 p.m.) on that very same day, for all intents and purposes these two events are generally unified.

So what might that mean in a metaphysical sense? Considering how the Sun’s Capricorn ingress is astrologically our moving into a zodiacal mode which focuses most of all on the world, our identity in that world and efforts being made to mold, change or re/create the terms and rewards for that standing, it seems a tiny bit odd that human society has apparently managed to schedule it’s largest annual slew of everybody-gets-a-holiday events throughout the first half of Capricorn - though that does of course reflect how our current calendar year was organized, and just who did the organizing.

In other words, we all tend to favor our own priorities. It’s natural. Not necessarily right for everyone, but yes - entirely human.

As for this next little period ahead, there are actually not two but three different astrological events happening in quick succession: Uranus goes direct at 10:46 p.m., the Sun enters Capricorn at 11:04 p.m. - and just about two-and-a-half hours later (which would now be December 22nd), we get a 0 Capricorn New Moon at 1:37 in the morning.

Taking these items one by one (at least to begin with) Uranus going station-direct is always a sign that the changes we have been undergoing on a personal, internal, intimate or psychological level will now be ‘turning outward,’ meaning two things. One: we will ‘bring out’ of our selves (or reveal) that which has changed about us over these past few months. And two: we will adapt and proceed with some sort of renewed focus (positive or negative) going forward, dealing with unpredicted external circumstances as we go.

So far, so good ... not exotically complicated. Even the idea that Uranian station periods (which here would minimally cover December 19th through the 23rd) ask us to be flexible about things isn’t hard to understand or deal with, though Uranus stations do on occasion manifest as ‘outbursts’ and ‘venting’ of various kinds - be that an explosion, that jolting cheer which produces utter shock when you walk through the door into a surprise party (hopefully for you) or some very lucky break which takes the pressure off of some system which would otherwise have ‘blown’... or someone who simply ‘blows you off’ in some unexpected, even erratic manner.

As for the degree of this station - 12 Aries - that has a very home/homey quality coupled to a rebellious, stand-alone quotient with any one of us preferring ‘the known.’ Wherever we see 12 Aries we tend to see people prioritizing those they think of as ‘their own,’ be that their family, a profession or professional organization or anything else, be it  members of your own culture, fellow citizens of a nation or those who believe any given religion. Given this, and given Uranus’ tendency to bring out that which is unique whether that uniqueness is good or bad this is a station which will bring out that which is wonderful and special, that which is quirky as well as that which is entirely dislikable or even despicable.

It’s just not predictable - and that’s the Uranian point. Uranus teaches us awareness through disrupting our status quo, through events which embody the old saying ‘the only thing which is a constant is change.’

This is an energetic about adaptation and about not getting into a rut. In fact, the more dedicated to some rut we tend to be, the more problematic Uranian periods become - which is probably why the person who introduced me to astrology (long, long ago) defined Uranus thusly: Uranus is everything which guarantees that if you live in a rut you will occasionally be forced (or inspired) to redecorate that rut.

In other words, even that which lasts a long time changes its methods... or its packaging from time to time.

As for Uranus in this 12 Aries mix, it pays to remember that Uranian energy can break some current momentum or emphasis and turn us towards whatever its position (in this case, 12 Aries) describes ... and then again, Uranus can break us out of whatever situation degree lore would describe.

Plus since this is Uranus, nothing about the actual dynamic (the energy which does the ‘changing’ of things) is predictable - hence why Uranus is equally associated with surprises and shocks.

Speaking of shocks, Uranus is often also associated with any and all things electrical from static electricity and light bulbs up to and including power grids, lightning storms, electro-magnetism and the internet ... inclusive of piracy and everything else which can be transmitted or done through internet or other electronic means. Uranus is associated with the formulation as well as the disruption of groups, income streams and associations, be they that seen in an alliance, partnership, marriage, government or corporations or situations like that Sony Pictures. The entire Sony fracas, from the hacks to the thefts to the spilling of information and everything else - all of that, especially in its broad-scale nature where everything ‘explodes’ from a single nexus - is typically Uranus, just as all the back and forth and need to ‘manage’ the problems caused by the Uranian hack is very much Juno, with Juno having just gone retrograde at 17 Leo earlier this week, its forward to retrograde motion in this (Sony) case at least the indicating a shift from a real world, real time actual ‘what’s happening, what’s happened, and is it still going on?’ phase into a more internal and internally reflective ‘what am I going to do about what has happened’ Juno retrograde mode with the intersection of same (what is management doing to manage this?) occurring during Juno’s station complete with legal communiqués going out as Juno went retrograde trying to ‘retrograde’ (read: mitigate) damage already done.

But even though they did that - and this is a classic lesson in astrological asteroid-versus-planet thinking, though the legal demands were made, as Juno’s station ended the story ... and the damage, disturbance and disruption ... remained (and remains) unsolved, continuing to ‘vibrate’ as it creates not just the kind of prickly insecurity Uranus - a planet whose symbolism always has something to do with something beyond our control - is uncomfortably famous for, but also the need for ‘updating,’ focus and modernization (adaptation to what the world is at this point) which Aquarius is all about ... and which Uranus and Uranian events tend to enforce.

A summer Solstice Sunrise over Stonehenge (photo credit: Andrew Dunn, June 2005)

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This even applies to an even more basic point: as more and more of our lives and our businesses (personal, national and international) become electronic, the more everyone should pay more attention to Uranus cycles ... And considering how we are now in the Aquarian Age (albeit still in the clarifying period of its increased dawning) ... Uranus is bound to be astrologically more important, seeing as it’s now the ‘outcome’ ruler of the Age.

And of course the other ruler (the baseline and foundational ruler) of Aquarius is Saturn - so all the issues of responsibility and rules and the debating going on about who has violated whose right to what is also very emblematic of so much which is goes on, far and wide ... and in our own lives.

All of this means that whenever we see Uranus ‘doing anything’ (astrologically, that is - let’s hope the actual planet doesn’t do anything odd) we should think Aquarian and think societal and think electronic, systemic and in terms of ‘whole’s versus factions and the energies of resistance against those for unification. Amidst this, stations and pattern junctions (such as Saturn moving into its 2015 shadow as Jupiter goes on station) are moments when things ‘take a turn’ and thus when sometimes things unseen come to light. So with Uranus now going direct, in particular because Uranus and Saturn energetics are linked in things societal, corporate, marketplace, income-oriented, mass market, systemic, universal and Aquarian ... we are going to see a continuance of odd - and sometimes tragic events.

It’s a balance, the good with the awful. But even more importantly, with the astrological subject being Uranus, it is that which we refuse to see which is at the crux of our problems collective and individual.

With Uranus in Aries, especially now with Uranus conjunct the lunar South Node, which at 16 Aries says it’s easy (and likely) that most of not many of us are neglecting our part in things (or in the cause of things) or some other internal and personal attribute which we don’t want to, or simply haven’t thought through. With Mars (ruler of Aries) sitting at 12 Aquarius as Uranus goes direct there’s an indication of friction and fractious-ness which is born of some inability to reconcile some idea with some action - be that wholly on our part or in terms of what someone else has already done.

Some will sit around and puzzle through their quandaries. Some will simply be distracted now. Others will act, motivated by what they think of as some shift or change which is their ‘opportunity.'

Then again, there are some who will simply cut and run. That grand trine in fire we have been talking about throughout the month is still with us...

...and in parallel with that ‘still with us’ comment is representing a continuing if somewhat painful ‘enlightenment’ (Eris) process which with the Jupiter (learning) process now pointing to what we have to learn - all of us (no exceptions) - is itself a highly Aquarian (and therefore Uranian) process.
We matter. But so do ‘they,’ ‘them,’ and ‘that’ (whoever or whatever ‘they, them or that’ are in your world). And we know that - plainly we all have some vision in our heads or souls as to what could or should be, and Ixion-Ras Alhague-Echo speaks to the conversations on that ... specifically conversations and ‘Echo’ed conversations meant to either (Ras Alhague) hurt or heal, depending on who we are and what we’re talking about, with Ixion providing us all with just that certain twang of gut-niggling as we wonder whether we’re fixing things, or screwing them up (again).

Eventually we will break out egocentric patterns. Uranus is part of that process. But it may not be now ... (read: the grand trine we keep discussing in its many and varied forms doesn’t dissolve until just before New Years) ... and we may not be ready to deal with the Self we would be if everything was open for above-the-table examination.

We will get there in time - even if that above-board examination we make is with our Self about our Self and how we have or haven’t been (Juno) doing things, (Saturn) earning the right responses and/or (Jupiter) thinking them through from all the perspectives we need to be considering.

But yes, it is a process - part of which involves this Uranus/Solstice connective.

As for the Solstice side of things, being that the Sun is changing signs mere minutes after Uranus goes direct there’s virtually no difference in the chart or aspects being cast within that horoscope. But the idea of solstice does add something of an ‘at extremes’ note to Uranus’ station seeing as that’s what the Solstice is - an ‘extreme’ of perspective on Earth (or earth-bound, mortal matters) as we ‘view’ them from our mind - you know, the Sun.

(About now, those of you who read my fiction work are beginning to go ‘oooooohhhhhh....’ and yes, life is about what’s in our Mind.)

But fictional and epic fantasies about getting to know your own Mind aside, Solstices are another form of ‘change of direction’ in that whether they’re the Solstice which in your hemisphere marks the shortest night and longest day, or that which marks the longest night and shortest day, we humans have, as a race learned to have faith that things will change once we move past this point in time. 

A 'yearly' diagram of the Earth's orbital tilt

(diagram credit: Tau'olunga)

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In the case of the Capricorn Solstice, this is the zodiac’s shift from the six signs which lie to the right of the “natural zodiac wheel” (Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius) to the six signs on the left: Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini - which is both a shift from a more collective interactive style to one which is ‘me ... world’ and on which asks that we think of things more in terms of who we are, what we stand for and what we are seen as, who we can be on our own and how the uniqueness which is that can be brought to bear on opportunities and problems...and what it takes to be the individual individual (yes, it’s back to that Aquarian collective/individual theme) and learning how to do (or choose to do) just that.

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So there is a note of ‘getting past’ some point or perspective involved here, though how that manifests is going to be highly individual - and because a Solstice is a truly ‘global’ function, in combination with Uranus going direct we should expect a lot of changes ... some of which we will initiate, some of which will be initiated for us (by circumstance, by realization, by any of a number of means) ... and any (or all) of which may come together as a change of our own (Sun) conception of who we are.

Or who we can be when all the shells are broken away from any ‘fixed’ identity we may have held on whatever level ... and why any of that matters at any ... if not every level. Gone will be the temptation to wile our whiles away on some notion we want to dither or tinker with: Capricorn is earth, Capricorn is pragmatism, Capricorn is all about consequences and results, the paying of the piper as well as the being crowned with accolades which goes with so many layers and doings and considerations within the intricate inter-weavings of our lives.

And thus with our individual consciousness set to ‘realistic’ as our world goes all earthy and bottom line we meet December’s 0 Capricorn New Moon.

The 0 Capricorn New Moon (text chart)

December 22, 2014 - 1:35:49 a.m. (UT+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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The 0 Capricorn New Moon (glyph chart)

December 22, 2014 - 1:35:49 a.m. (UT+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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The image for 0 Capricorn given by the Sabian symbols is ‘An Indian Chief claims power from the assembled tribe,’ which astrologer Marc Edmund Jones referred to as ‘the power and responsibility implied in any claim for leadership’ and which astro-philosopher Dane Rudhyar elaborates on by pointing out that the word ‘chief’ comes from the Latin ‘caput’ for “head,” and that from this flows a situational fate which we must all face in some way in our own lives - the taking on of responsibility over (or for) others, and how that is both a conversation within the Self as we govern our own use of whatever power is accorded us as well as an ‘ultimate’ form of test as to how we view our friends, our society, our world.

Which yes, does sound Aquarian, except for the fact that it is what we do and who we are under the auspices of Capricorn (and thus the lunar month delineated by the Capricorn New Moon) complete with our ability to regard our friends, our society and our world which is the ‘cause’ which creates the Aquarian ‘effect’ ... and since both signs are ruled by Saturn (Capricorn wholly, Aquarius as a foundational imperative) ... that means that what we feel we need to do or which our feelings drive us to do over the next ’ for power will contribute to what happens after that.

You know, when the Sun (life) moves on into Aquarius.

As for the horoscope for this New Moon, it too has an image of ‘standing apart’ as the Sun and Moon conjunction doesn’t aspect any of the other planets in the Ptolemaic sense (i.e., using standard aspects only).

And that rather suggests that the feelings which come upon us around the time of this month’s New Moon will be mostly those associated with the degree itself, which lore tells us will be centered in our most inner concept of who we are. Therefore, what with this being a Capricorn degree with Capricorn being all about the determination to ‘get it done,’ whatever ‘it’ may be, whether we are or aren’t supported, whether others do or don’t agree with us, many if not most of us are likely to remain structured by an inner notion which (at least at the moment) is colored by Capricorn’s ruler - Saturn - being at 29 degrees of Scorpio, a degree which ‘compiles’ and which tends to hold onto things until the very last moment - which may account for some of which we’re all going through right now as 29 Scorpio is also where (at the moment) we find fixed star Toliman.

Known alternately as ‘Bungula’ (which sounds a bit like a board game gone awry), Toliman is typified by Ebertin as having a ‘Jupiter-Venus’ nature, though whether this represents a very (very) good thing in a chart or something which is sufficiently unmotivated as to be or become overburdened (or ‘confronted by fortune’) seems to be highly individual and much the function of what house this star falls in and the planets (etcetera) which aspect it. Along with that of course, there is the question of the degree Toliman is currently resident in, which in this case is 29 Scorpio, a degree known for its powers of observation, investigation, research and insight (and the like), all of which are employed in the furthering of some personally attractive focus.

Toliman has been in 29 Scorpio since 1962, a fact both educational for those interested in generational differences and donated to this effort as a way to think through why those born prior to this time (the earliest of the Pluto in Virgo tribe plus everyone else born prior) are reacting to things now as they are (in present time) and why, as we seem to be hearing and seeing around the globe, attitudes seem to differ among those born since that time.

(And in case you’re wondering, Toliman will change degrees again in the 2043: set your calendars.)

As for Saturn being in conjunction with Toliman, that rather depends on whether you have come (in)to this time being someone who has been holding back (or not) and specifically how that relates to your aims. This combination will tend to add a certain 'coolness' to certain interactions - which can be fine despite what we tend to think about Scorpio.

Well, actually exactly because of it. The whole Scorpio mythos works best when it's applied thoughtfully in order to evoke useful emotion, not when we're reacting to it  - unless of course, we're just stirring others up in order to avoid facing some truth (read: emotional or emotion-provoking truth) about our Self ... in which case, monkeying with others is merely a way to set ourselves up for an apt case of karma. 

Any Moon - new or otherwise - in Capricorn does carry with it a message of assertiveness and some degree of tendency to de-prioritize some of the traits the Moon is best known for: tenderness, kindness, compassion ... all those things. It’s not that they don’t matter, and it’s not that someone isn’t capable of quality emotionality - it’s a matter of priorities. Lunar qualities seem to be a ‘best fit’ when the metaphysics of such energies surface as feelings which reflect what is going on. And because Capricorn tends to be a sign which is both (a.) visible and (b.) of the tendency to be of an ‘do first and reflect later’ ilk, that can make for a few challenging moments -  and moments of being challenged, whether by others or some factor not yet taken into account.

And when it comes to the ‘unaccounted’ of this New Moon moment - which may account for where we are and may point to what we need to do either separately or as pieces of a process - at the moment (of this New Moon) two things would seem to stand out, as imaged by two New Moon t-squares:

Ordinarily t-squares are shown in red - I used yellow on the second

just to make them easier to see.

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The more ‘obvious’ of these two t-squares is the one in red which begins with the North Node in Libra and moves ‘through’ a ‘t’ (the challenge) which is composed of Venus-Pluto at 12 and 13 degrees of Capricorn ... with the ‘object’ of our effort being Uranus-South Node in Aries (read: getting to where things are easier for us to accomplish).

This sounds like a short term goal, and that shouldn’t surprise us, seeing that this is a lunation cycle we’re talking about. Uranus will go direct now and be direct for months and the Capricorn Solstice is one of only two solstices Earth experiences every year. Against this, lunar cycles are multiple and many, representing our daily lives and the steps we take (forward or backwards) in our effort to solve larger puzzles and reach larger goals. They’re important as they represent our being ‘present’ in our own lives and thus focused on our own opportunities.

But in the end, lunar cycles will always have a quality of transience, the ‘fleeting’ of moments amidst all else which is life.

This month we’re apparently transfixed on something (which is probably represented by fixed star Vega at 15 Capricorn and very much part of this t-square) which we hold dear. With Saturn (ruler of Capricorn) at 29 Scorpio, we both want the cooperation of others and fear what we will think of ourselves if we don’t get that and thus aren’t able to proceed upon some path or with some aim - good or bad - which we are (Pluto-Venus) passionately embraced by.

The lesson of any t-square is to understand how what is important to you is also important to everyone else - and that means everyone.

There are no ‘sides’ in t-squares, in other words. If it isn’t important to ‘them’ or isn’t consistent with the viability of all involved, the t-square quandary isn’t yet solved.

One other thing about t-squares: they join objects in signs of disparate type. In this first New Moon t-square we’re looking at air, earth and fire, but no water.

That’s another thing to understand: no water means no emotionalism or ‘feeling nature,’ which may seem antithetical to a lunar cycle, but is really only a descriptor which suggests that getting past or through the given question (this Nodal-Venus-Pluto-Uranus reference on our aims) doesn’t involve or shouldn’t involve a lot of emotionalism. And Pluto is involved here ... though we tend to react passionately where we see Pluto involved, that’s seldom a productive choice. (Read: very seldom.)

As for the other t-square, that one starts with Sedna (retrograde) in Taurus and which is challenged to  move ‘through’ or ‘past’ Jupiter (retrograde) at the ‘t’ in order to reach Pallas in Scorpio - the meeting of the dispassionate perspective and emotionality which seeks a feeling of competence, belonging and approval of and (importantly) from others, though not for its own sake, but so we feel at home and comfortable with and within our Self.

This is a t-square with no air in it. So we will either not think about something we should be thinking about (or thinking through) and that’s the problem ... or we’re supposed to go with the vision without a ton of over-thinking.

And which one is which ...? Well, that’s about you. If you encounter problems, you now have a crib sheet to get you through your day(s), even though part of the challenge of something like Uranus-South Node (which is going to be with us for a wee bit, by the by) is that while there may be great leaps of ability and great accomplishments, there can also be a little jumping too soon and snarling before you find out that what you’re protesting is actually something you like and probably want.

With that said, have a nice Uranus station and enjoy your Solstice - may they bring you good news and surround you with the best of all things: those you care about and who care about you.

Just don’t be surprised if something surprising happens. It could.

Then again, you never know ... you just may be the person who surprises themselves about now.
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The 26 Virgo Full Moon

 An Arizona Moon by John Fowler

As Earth’s moon dictates the planet’s tides, so we all experience a monthly flow and ebb, the increase of which begins with elemental themes presented by the New Moon with some sort of ‘high tide,’ ‘turning point’ or point of which occurs around the time of the Full Moon.

That Full Moon will occur on March 16th (UT/+0 time) at 5:09 in the evening – and it will be positioned at 26 Virgo.

Right away we know several things: the results of what you have done or not done (said or not said, participated in or not participated in…etcetera) dates back to March 1st, the date of the New Moon. And that March 1st New Moon, besides being in the Piscean world of shared emotionality and common human feelings was also wedged in time between Mercury’s turn to direct in Aquarius and Mars’ turn to retrograde in Libra.

Things could get done, things did get done. In fact, since Saturn went retrograde a day after Mars did, there will be consequences, ramifications of, and/or a playing out of whatever was thought about, done, ignored, talked about, reacted to, begun, ended or  committed to at that time.

2014 March Full Moon chart (glyph chart)

 2014 March Full Moon chart (text chart)

Those Mars/Saturn ‘eventualities’ are hardly due yet. And no, none of us were entirely comfortable with what we were having to do, or what we were doing knowing that other people weren’t necessarily going to like it around the time of the last New Moon…even if what we were asserting was a personal emotional truth. Having eclipse effects set in on February 28th going into the New Moon (and Mars plus Saturn stations) assured us we would be given time to work through things…and that there would be plenty which needs working through on our way to changes we will make or meet up with as-and-after the April 29th solar eclipse.

The current lunar cycle having begun in one of the water signs (Pisces), the whole of this month is ‘underlaid’ or ‘centered’ in how we feel about things…and our feelings about life in general. With both the New and Full Moons in 2nd decanate degrees of their respective signs we also know feelings would run high – that this month would be filled with a sense of need, urgency and desire to have things ‘feel’ the way we want them to feel.

Unfortunately things haven’t been exactly to our liking (that being the current Mars/Libra retrograde effect)…its as if something isn’t quite in alignment. Life’s ‘machinery’ isn’t meshing. Nothing is happening in the way…or at the rate we thought it would.

And now, as the Moon comes to Full phase in Virgo, we either realize something more about what needs to be doing in order for things to proceed more smoothly…or we pass/fail to pass some sort of functional ‘check point/’ The implication here is about some sort of adjustment which needs making. That may be to our attitude, methodology, timing, tools or to the choice of or need for teammates, with central questions being about what will help or hinder performance and operational parameters.

Mind you, many of us will have gotten a great deal done over this past little while. We may even be feeling very accomplished even if with Mars in retrograde everything seems to take more effort than we think it should.

Regardless…something isn’t done yet, and some part of what that is and why things still aren’t fitting together may very well be reflective of whatever difficulties we (or others) have with reconciling pragmatic Virgo realities with more spiritual, esoteric…even mythical beliefs.

Imaged in the above by dwarf planet Sedna, the myths we believe in now are those we either use to inflict or defend from whatever it is we consider our most deadly challenge (Algol), be that from within or without.

The image of any Full Moon being the Sun in opposition to the Moon, our instincts are pragmatic and practical while our (solar) consciousness and the power of our being is focused either on our emotions…or how emotionality functions either when we are (or get) carried away or what incites emotionality to the point of ‘undoing that which you otherwise know.’ Whatever we hear, see or encounter now is as likely to provoke our reactions, and reactions are probably either due or duly necessary.

But there is a trick here…and that is really knowing what our feelings really are. Amidst all else, we are so dearly likely to be driven by echoes of our own issues that though we may try to make a practical choice that whatever choice we make is not towards what we think the goal is, but as a reaction to something implanted deep in our psyches a very long, long time ago.

That doesn’t make whatever we do or why we do it right or wrong. It just makes our motivations less explicable than usual – even to us.

Or maybe that’s the ‘other guy’s motivations…with Moon conjunct MakeMake in late Virgo why and exactly anyone is doing what they’re doing may very well seem immoral…and yet, on some perhaps very odd metaphysical level the weakness is actually with or within our Self.

It’s an injury. Our ability to connect to others in such a way as to build and advance our ultimate aspirations (Scorpio) is injured – that injury being indicated by fixed star Toliman. While we have learned much from the pain, it has also grown to be something which at some level (Mnemosyne) both pains and drives us, creating some sort of limit, some emotional Saturnine wall within which causes us to judge our priority meaningful and that of others less so.

In the diagram above Mercury is shown in isolation at 28 Aquarius, a combination which at its heart is about non-involvement. This is the reality and ugliness (or in some cases, our presumption of ugliness) which makes us not want to ‘touch’ or be touched – which in being separatist (or elitist or contrarian, etc.) violates the Aquarian notion of universality. It is fine in other words to not want to be involved so long as you treat others as an equal  entitled to the same rights and respect you are entitled to.

To list the technicals in brief here, Mercury is semi-sextile Europa and Scheat, suggesting we are at odds with what others might think. Mercury is also in square to Saturn, Mnemosyne and Toliman, representing the broadest of all challenges here – the recognition that whoever we are, we all instinctively fear the same things.

We’re all human. The trials of mortality and eternity expressed by 26 Virgo are all about being afraid of paying any price for being human.

Because of this…inevitably…we end up wanting to see others pay that price,  if only so that we know they paid…not us. And though that may sound harsh and it isn’t kind, this is a basic and instinctive need, one which 26 Virgo challenges by ‘freeze-framing’ some portion of our psyche into immobility, causing the rest of our Self to cast about looking for ways to validate that existence which suddenly feels so strangely and oddly incomplete. We will tend now to see emptiness in the searches of others not because their efforts are empty, but because our quest to fill our own insecurities (however buried and denied they may be) are pushing us to the point where we will tend to become less forgiving of the very mortality we feel so acutely in our Self – and thus  less forgiving of others.

Hardly known as the world’s most innately ‘forgiving’ sign, squares from Mercury in late Aquarius often trend towards public discordance and the sort of haste which makes for mistakes, particularly in the area of understanding and /or communication. It is far, far easier to criticize someone else now for what they aren’t than to realize that such a speculation can only be rooted in who we aren’t in our own eyes.

Moreover, we may just be wrong – about ‘them’ or what they’re doing, why they’re doing it or the basics of some situation we’re trying to act on or react to without having all the facts.

All of this is happening under Mars retrograde in Libra, so we will do well to remember that we are in the process of learning about ourselves through others. We think we’re considering them when we’re really considering what we think of them, and why we think that.

We’re doing it so that we can concentrate on ourselves – which would be why the Full Moon is in Virgo, the earthy sign of working towards our goals.

Not humanity’s goals, ours.

When our myths of accomplishment overcome the willingness to be human, others may well suffer first, but we will ultimately suffer last.

And longest.

Most of all in our own regard.
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Deucalion: Freeing Our Will

Scene of Deluge

by Joseph Desire Court

(1827, Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, France)

TNO Deucalion was discovered on April 18, 1999 – just as everyone on Earth was getting all excited about the new millennium, though I suspect Earth itself didn’t give a fig. That would be left to the Adam and Eve crowd – you know, all us human types who from Fig Newtons to fig leaves seem to be into-fig-gering.
 
When discovered, Deucalion was classed by astronomers as a TNO (Trans Neptunian Object) and a Cubewano, which is to say one of an entire class of orbiting objects which may sound like a Cuban sandwich (seriously, that’s always what I think when I hear that term) but which really means that the object orbits beyond Neptune and within the ‘district’ where Neptune’s astonishingly potent magnetic resonance controls a whole group of other objects (including Pluto, Ixion, Orcus, Huya and others) – but not Deucalion.

Hence the Cuban sandwich ‘Cubewano’ designation.

Astrologically, that Neptunian ‘resonance effect’ translates as all such ‘Plutino’ objects being ‘subject’ to some of the Neptunian qualities of idealizing against illusion where we are tested about whether we know the ‘boundaries’ on fantasy against our willingness to accept and face real feelings about life’s realities in realistic form and real time. So to have an object (Deucalion) which orbits within this Neptune ‘fantasy-versus-reality’ realm without being ‘colored’ by Neptunian effects tells us that Deucalion is either an object which helps us differentiate between such foggy questions or a notion – information, call it – which comes to us ‘in the midst of the confusion’ where we aren’t sure what is real and what is not real.

So if Neptune is the classic ‘blind spot’ in our chart (which it tends to be, alas) Deucalion represents one of the (Cubewano) ways we can see – or attempt to guide ourselves through or past our own various forms of blindness to…whatever. (That whatever being described in your chart by aspects to natal Neptune and the house and sign where Neptune is positioned.)

Then we get to the myth, which is something of a Greek version of the Noah story, which differs from the Noah tale in several important ways. For one, the ancient Greek concept of deity isn’t singular (monotheism) – its more about seeing life in facets, with a god (which modernists would see as a ‘part’ of the One God concept OR a facet of personality or human evolution/development) in charge of each.

All of which is a touch moot in the Deucalion tale as it isn’t God (or some ‘unknown quotient’ as in being ‘visited’ by a particular god) telling him to build a boat.

Yes, there is a flood. And yes, Deucalion is asked to build a boat. But it’s his dad (Prometheus) who is telling Deucalion to build the boat – which in strictly human terms makes the whole boat building thing not only an interesting version of parental (read: internal) discipline, but an interesting commentary on how the father who stole fire (and who in Greek myth molded mankind from clay) then has to ask his son to save this race of beings he’s created.

Deucalion: Why should I build some giant boat?

Prometheus: Because I told you to! And let's remember, I’m not only your father, I created the rest of mankind! And yes, then you. So you owe me a boatload!

Deucalion: Very funny...you’d think you were some freakin’ demi-god, the way you go on, dad! What, if I don’t built the boat? Are you going to fire me or something?

Prometheus: FIRE, is it? I’ll have you know I went to a lot of trouble to steal fire for mankind.

Deucalion: Great galloping Greeks - not THAT story!  Again, dad? Must you?

Prometheus: Maybe I must. But this time I won't, even though heavens to Hades, son, you give me a pain in my liver! Just build the boat and stop pre-pitting my olives! And by the by - I’m NOT a demi-god, I’m a titan. Very primal and all that. I don't know about your generation...but your mother sure appreciates me. At least she did last time I asked.

Deucalion: Like she's going to insult you? Look, I really don’t want to know what kind of a ‘titan’ you are with mom, okay? All I know is that building this boat of yours is going to be one titan-ic pain.

Yes, it is my theory that teenagers were always teenagers. There’s nothing in the history of mankind to suggest otherwise. So the boat got built, got stocked with animals and kin, and thus Titan father (Prometheus) passed to his son the need for not just self preservation, but the preservation of that which is both near and dear to us and necessary to survive.

The one we like…the other we need.

Being positioned beyond the orbit of Neptune, the TNO Deucalion thus represents the understanding that in the midst of whatever confusion, delight or despair (or anything between)…in spite of that lack of clarity (good or bad) we still have to survive.

And if we do…if we take the task on, that helps us to survive whatever flood comes upon us.
 
As for floods, seeing that any metaphysical reference to water always means emotions or emotionality, between the Cubewano quality and the boat thing, this suggests Deucalion is all about learning how to ‘rise above an overwhelming emotional tide.’ Principally, this ‘tide’ is ours. It may be the fact we’re being swept along by some ‘current’ event, or the Deucalion need may arise through our being provoked or confronted by life.

Whatever the dynamic is, it would seem that the  Deucalion of our natal charts…by sign, by house, by degree, by aspects…represents both the possible venue of challenge to us or the means by which we rise above some flood and thus avoid ‘drowning’ in confusion or through the consequences of some ill-fated choice. But Deucalion is more than that. In being the son of titan Prometheus, Deucalion is ‘born of’ some basic (titan) instinct, which in the case is imaged by Prometheus.

There doesn’t seem to be any Olympian objection to Prometheus having ‘molded mankind out of clay.’ But when Prometheus stole fire and gave it to mankind, all holy Olympian havoc broke out. Mercury and Vulcan were sent out to haul Prometheus’ titanic self off to the top of a mountain where Vulcan chained Prometheus to the rocks so that an eagle could come by every day and peck at his liver.

Prometheus

by Nicolas-Sébastien Adam (Louvre Museum, Paris)

Esoteric traditions regard the liver as more than the physical organ, though there may be some semblance in functionality. To have a ‘good’ liver meant that you are able to function freely - that your body is unencumbered by ‘toxic’ emotionality which in turn causes us to stagnate or become imbedded in, or poisoned by, the inability to ‘process’ life’s (qi) at either a physical, spiritual or emotional level.

That an eagle is sent to peck at Prometheus’ liver suggests imagery of the Olympians (our greater mind or mindful self) feeling a need to keep this liver quality rationed or limited in scope. And when we think of this as specifically focused through  Prometheus’ ‘theft’ of fire – the giving of enlightenment to mankind, titan Prometheus’ punishment would seem to be about ‘knowing too much’ in a manner which is separate from the eternal need for ‘overseeing’ guidance.

There is the temptation to think of this ‘eternal’ concept in modern terms – as in deity. But Greek myth is all about what it means to be human, what it takes to be decent as a human and what humans face as challenges along the way. So this ‘eternal oversight’ would seem to be ours – not from some omnipotent force. And that leads us to think that TNO Deucalion either calls on our awareness of what we do not know or that which we may know about, but need to be careful about, or limit unrestricted use of. Deucalion is not about ‘sin’ as in ‘being sinful’ in the Christian sense. There’s no damnation involved…though if you’re going to talk about a flood it might have been good to have been given a dam as opposed to giving a damn.

No, Deucalion seems to be more about the discovering of better ways which allow us to function freely, but with a consciousness of the penalty to be paid if we overindulge (so to speak) emotionally – and that would be too much emotion or too much constraint on our emotions.

Moderation…finding the balance…rising above the emotional flood…that’s the Deucalion theme.  

Prometheus’ parting ways with Zeus’ ‘this is how the world is’ in giving fire to humans is another way of saying that we have and must have a say in our own fate – that thing we call Free Will. That Mercury is sent with Vulcan to chain Prometheus implies that there is a choice to be made in all things – most of all the Free Will choice whether to face our most titanic and instinctual Self.

What will we each do with our Free Will in finding our way in spite of (Neptunian) allures which, whether positive or awful, are all about tempting us to  abandon our focus on reality?

As son of Prometheus, Deucalion is all about this question of ‘embodying’ Free Will, an idea which when though of in the astronomical sense of a Cubewano (an object which functions free of Neptunian influence) seems sincerely apt. The fact that Deucalion ‘travels’ through this “Neptune zone” suggests it’s purpose and meaning in the horoscope is all about ‘independent’ perspectives – the need to have them and the need to know how to use them. Plutinos (Pluto, Ixion, Huya, etc.) re all about being subject to the allure of that which may or may not be real – the Neptunian sway. Cubewanos like Deucalion are not subject to Neptunian allure and thus represent a different ‘outlook’ on such issues.

And yes, life. And our emotional responses to life.

Discovered in 1999, TNO Deucalion has an orbit of just over 295 years long. It entered Libra (i.e., it left the zodiac’s most personal and introspective signs for the more worldly realm) back in July of 1980 – pretty much as the face of society began shifting into technological mode. Ever since then we’ve been dealing with escalating questions about the use of our mind, whether it’s how children learn in school to whether technology burdens or frees us – and whether that, in and of itself, is a good or bad thing.

Going back to that flood thing again, unlike the biblical flood, the Greek one isn’t caused by rain but rather by that Greek god of oceans himself, Neptune.

(Funny how these Greek gods get around, isn’t it?)

At Zeus’ command, Neptune raises the ocean’s level and floods everything - an interesting comment of late seeing as how we humans are discussing ocean levels now in connection with global warming. The term ‘global warming’ evidently dates back to 1975 (and an article in a publication called Science) which was then ‘popularized’ in 1979 – shortly before Deucalion moved into Libra. And whether you agree or don’t agree with the concept of ‘global warming’ (with its implication that changing temperatures are due to something humans are doing) or whether you’re more of a ‘climate change’ person who thinks Earth simply has patterns of climate and we’re moving into a planetary hot seat period, we’ve been discussing (a typically Libran activity) ever since.

And then the Kyoto Protocol (an international agreement dealing with this question) ended on March 15, 1999 - a scant month before Deucalion’s discovery.

Coincidence?

So what happens during this Greek flood idea being floated in this story?

(Yes, I said that.)

Remembering that water is not only emotionalism but everything and anything which evokes those emotions of ours prime and primal (sex, family, money, death, birth, war, finance-credit-debt, threat, control, manipulation, fear, etc.), Deucalion having appeared in our collective metaphysical consciousness with Deucalion at 24 Libra, a degree which focuses on our ability…and our willingness to ‘own’ where and how we do or can affect others, leading to the positives and negatives which result. That this was (and to date, remains) the position of Earth’s current pole star Arcturus (leadership) underscores 24 Libra’s meaning while also suggesting that to utilize Deucalion is to ‘discover’ your power to direct others, or in a greater sense, your life – and through that (thinking of Libra as the cause-effect mechanism), others.

That as Deucalion shifted into Scorpio on October 28, 2003 (UT/+0) our world moved into a time of red-line stress seems (painfully) apt. But maybe that’s apt as the myth tells us that Prometheus’ instructions to his son were about building an ark in which to ride out a storm meant to wash away all forms of evil…the ‘ills’ which would plague mankind.

And in our very mortal life, knowing what is an ill takes a perspective. It’s not just what we don’t like. Nor is voting for the ‘tried and true,’ whether that’s a tradition or way of living, going to work. Thinking that any of us know ‘the way’ for everyone is probably a mistake in a life where a ‘standard’ thing such as a horoscope is sufficiently individual to only repeat once every 26,000 years or so (the length of Earth’s precessional ‘pole’ cycle)…and that’s only if we take just the objects in our own solar system into account.

At some level metaphysics seems to always come back to that which is truly an eternal reality – the fact that while its vital and important to understand ourselves as individuals, we cannot succeed (nor can our world) without everyone taking into account everyone and everything around them.

The ancient call of the Hermeticists – ‘As above, so below’ probably needs updating as by now we think of life as being more about the ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ world, the ‘me and mine’ versus ‘them and all the rest of it.’
But it all means the same thing. And what do we need in order to balance the seemingly endless offsets and diametric oppositions of our individuality against the world and that ‘personal world’ we live in?

Perspective. Dispassionate perspective.

You know, that Deucalion ‘morality’ which is not so much about some ‘rule’ imposed upon us, but that which we know is right, honest and realistic. That which will allow us to have a decent, productive and reasonably fruitful life.

In the myth, the oceans rise and Deucalion and his family ‘rise above the flood’ until finally the waters recede. Depending on which version of the story you read, the ark ‘lands’ (so to speak) in either in Greece or Italy, whereupon Deucalion goes to have a chat with an oracle of Themis.

(Don’t ask me why  no one’s left on Earth but Deucalion, the wife and one oracle. I don’t write these myths, I just report on them.)

And what does the oracle say? Proving that oracles of every age are oblique, this one tells Deucalion to ‘cover your head and throw the bones of your mother behind your shoulder.’

Probably resisting a reply to the effect of “NOW you tell me I should have brought along the bones of my mother?” Deucalion has a moment of thinking through the fact that Themis is a primal sort of god whose name translates literally as ‘law of nature’ (a reference to ‘mother’ and hence Mother Earth or Gaia). And once he gets that far he understands that Earth’s ‘bones’ are rocks and stones. So Deucalion and Pyrrha do as instructed to, and by doing so (re)create the human race. The rocks thrown by Pyrrha become women and those thrown by Deucalion become men.

Pyrrha and Deucalion

by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1655, oil on canvas)

In this process, Themis not only empowers the repopulating of Earth after it is cleansed by an emotional flood, but reminds Deucalion of the interconnectedness of all life and what it means to be a human being replete with all the privileges, obligations, gifts and responsibilities which having the power of creation implies. In this, the ‘covering of the head’ is a metaphor for not over-thinking things – which in the astrological sense seems reasonable with Deucalion as to ‘overthink’ would be to invite the kind of second-guessing which would tempt us to be confused and lead us away from Cubewano independence and more into the magnetic resonance of Neptunian sway.

Deucalion is now in Scorpio and will remain in Scorpio until November 19, 2026 – when at 6:01 in the morning (UT/+0 time) it will move on into Sagittarius, having spent the last couple of months of its Scorpio transit in the company of Typhon (another titan) and fixed star Toliman.

This is likely to be a trying time as Typhon symbolizes life’s most basic needs: sleep, food, air, water, sex…against which Toliman a star representing the foot of a centaur (theoretically Chiron). Thus is raised the general question regarding centaurs, that being whether we are able to integrate our conscious and unconscious natures and balance impulse against conscious control. Will we ‘rise above’ our animalistic nature, abandon reason to animal instincts or marry them in a mélange of potency which in this case speaks to the gift given Chiron by Apollo.

And what was that gift?

Enlightenment. Specifically, the curative power to heal…which sadly enough speaks to the ongoing propensity we have for injuring ourselves.

Half a Deucalion cycle before now, Tolstoy was drafting War and Peace and Abraham Lincoln was beginning to fight the Civil War. Both of these are substantial examples of men grappling with the need to gain and understand perspective not only on their life, but the life on a greater plain – and with a greater purpose. Lincoln would ultimately write the following: “The will of God prevails — In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God cannot be for, and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is somewhat different from the purpose of either party — and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect this.”

At the time, Deucalion was in Taurus. Seeing as Taurus is ultimately a sign about learning that satisfaction comes only from harnessing our talents and resources in such a way as to earn the respect of others whether we succeed fully in our efforts or not, this may be good news for us. Both Tolstoy and Lincoln confronting man’s least humane aspects (war, a decidedly Scorpio thing), and to do that they risked all they had – their resources of talent and their time on this Earth.

So if those men achieved their lasting satisfaction and the security of knowing they had done what they were born to do through the trials of the sign in polarity to that Deucalion was traversing, that means that now, as Deucalion transits Scorpio the risk is more about our physical, material security. To feel emotionally safe and ‘above water’ (Deucalion in Scorpio) we probably need to be willing to share. We need to be able to risk our ego in having less, or being ‘less in charge’ so that we're able to do…and know we’ve done more.

Which yes, takes a very 'freed will' to accomplish.
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Chart USA: Solar Return 2013

(Adapted from a stock image of the Great Seal of the United States)

For those who agree with (or who are willing to entertain) the idea that Chart USA is the horoscope which pictures the reunification of ‘a country divided’ at the end of the Civil War, there is a solar return for this chart which will occur on April 9, 2013 at 1:28 in the afternoon (EDT/+4).

 Chart USA - Solar Return 2013

 
And for those of you who are skeptical about this chart, I invite you to use it. (Check in the sidebar in the 'Corporate and Political' section for "Chart USA" postings).

Granting the huge debate about Chart USA, this is the only chart I have found which works. As esteemed astrologer Robert Hand observed, all the other charts for the United States have a void-of-course Moon. And if there’s one thing the United States isn’t, that would be a nation which is indecisive about its existence and willingness to speak its mind and act on same.

That’s not to say the US does it all right – just that it’s willing to do stuff.

Anyway…Solar Return 2013 as the Sun at 20 Aries with Mars at 21 Aries and Eris/Venus at 23 Aries exactly conjunct the 23 Aries Solar Eclipse Midheaven. Whoever is thinking this government (and nation) is going to get united and peaceful about what it’s values are, forget it. Eris/Venus is a sign of discontentment if there ever was one. The degree 23 Aries is known for confusion with the necessity (or “necessary evil”) implied here being to accept reality and deal with that.

Of course, when it comes to the United States, just what that reality is…? That would be the question.
With Mars as ruler of Aries and Mars conjunct the Sun and both in the statistically very active and potent degrees which precede all angles of any horoscope, there is a generosity which can be offset by foolishness and a need to not move ‘ahead of the pack’ (or the times) which is interestingly offset by this all happening in a 9th house which with it’s 21 Pisces cusp (with Kleopatra exactly conjunct and Kalypso/Mercury at 23 Pisces denotes a weakness which can come from too much or too little reliance on faith (that would be national faith or faith-as-in-religion)…and the Kleopatra intelligence of 'things foreign’ including foreign countries, foreign nationals and foreign beliefs.

And if you’re into the danger of all that, just think – this Pisces Kleopatra/9th house cusp and Mercury/Kalypso also applies to education in the US (i.e., the educational system). 

Burnished fields outside Benton Township, Columbia County

(photo credit: Nicholas A Tonelli, May 2010)

The dreams and commensurate lack of realities in both regards would seem to be where the US is going to have problems. Mercury in Pisces – under any circumstance – tends to exacerbate worry. So are all the concerns voiced by the government or the American people valid? Maybe yes, maybe no. Since Pisces on the 9th says you can’t just learn the basics, you have to understand the spirit of the thing even though many people will be up on dates, names and histories, understanding what that means to others is likely to be a big weak point.

Oh yes – did I forget to remind us all that the 9th house is also the house of the media and ‘information dissemination’? This should be a big year for everything from blowing things out of proportion to bad behavior on the internet creating problems in – and for – the United States.

To make this even more interesting, the 20 Aries Sun in this chart rules both the Leo Ascendant and the Leo 2nd house. This is a sign that what the country does affects its stability and security. (And that would be both its economic, international and sense of stability, inclusively.) Leo at Ascendant is very good when it acts with an eye to long term growth and a creative way of dealing with challenges (thinking of good parenting as the example here is probably apt)…and Leo at the Ascendant is very bad – even detrimental in it’s own (Sun) regard when it acts arrogantly or presumptively, as in ‘I know what’s best for you.’

Unfortunately, this Leo first-and-second house also speaks to a continuing likelihood of problematic young people and problems with how parents treat their children, too.

Still, on the 'up' side this is also a sign that important 'creations' and the whole idea of 'Made in America' may come to the fore - and become increasingly important. Even something to celebrate.

Any nation’s ‘business’ (national or with regards to its commerce) will be ruled by Saturn. And this chart presents us with a 9 Scorpio Saturn (retrograde) in the 4th house, conjunct Deucalion and – through Deucalion, the North Node. This points to a ‘wrestling’ with real estate and (Scorpio) debt on the part not of the nation, but the national populace. It also speaks to prices of issues, which may be approaching ‘fair or moral’ (Deucalion) in terms of actual value, but which are probably not what they were prior to the recession. Dealing with the idea that the real estate market will recover but probably not soar is going to be something people from all walks of life will need to (North Node) accept, and many of them will respond to this idea by saying ‘I don’t know how to.’ 

A rainbow and streams of rain filter down from clouds

over the Delaware River Valley in Pennsylvania

(photo credit: Nicholas Tonelli, July 2012)

This sense of ‘how can you say that to me?’ will continue into the world of investments. For all that the US stock market is currently way up there, there are many people who have never recovered from what they lost at the top of the market before its crash. The lesson in the stock market as a vehicle of risk is going to be one thing people are going to learn more about this year, and with fixed star Toliman and Medea at the 5th house Scorpio cusp (the 5th house is the house of all thinks risky and all risks we take) it would seem like some people are either going to be shy about getting back into the market (they got seriously scared the last time around) or they’re going to learn a big lesson through over-investing.

Which yes, suggests that at some point during this solar year there will be a major market correction.

This is actually compounded by that Leo rising and Leo on the 2nd house cusp: the stock market is notorious for correcting or simply dropping some measurable amount when Mercury goes retrograde in Leo (which it will not do this year) or when there’s a solar eclipse in Leo (also not happening this year).

What we do have is this Saturn in Scorpio and Mercury going retrograde in Scorpio during October and on into November, with a solar eclipse occurring in Scorpio on November 3rd.

This would seem to be a difficult moment for the nation. Pictured as a solar 4th and 5th house occurrence, this is likely to be something endemic or ‘home grown’ or of the nation’s own making which either makes a major shift or which shows up as a problematic weakness.

The signature here is 28 Scorpio and Toliman. 28 Scorpios is all about ‘superior power’ which when it isn’t directed towards social and societal betterment through heartfelt and open emotional support, negotiation and – to some degree – vulnerability becomes an energy which is highly problematic. Even dangerously so.

Oregon's Rogue River

(photo credit: Hamad Darwish of Medford, Oregon - October 2005)

Toliman is a fixed star which refers to ‘learning better through mastering of one’s emotions.’ This star is the foot of a centaur, with lore suggesting that this is the centaur Chiron, implying a vulnerability we can face, but which we are loath to tackle.

At it’s most unfortunate, this is likely to be a symbol of tragedy which has long range effects on the future. Scorpio is the sign of atomic power and we are likely to hear a lot about atomic issues this year (obviously that has already started with conversations about North Korea). But we should be aware that this is not just about some foreign country. While the first of Scorpio’s co-rulers (Mars) is conjunct the Sun and in the 9th house which – as above – would tend to speak to all sorts of things foreign, that Scorpio is on the 5th house and therefore below the horizon in this chart is about the US itself and something which happens (if you’re an American) in the “here at home” quadrant. And since the ‘outcome’ ruler of Scorpio is Pluto, that points to Pluto in Capricorn, here positioned in the 6th house of health, work, service (i.e., that we need to do because it needs to be done) and conjunct Facies (the million factors and facets which drive us all nuts) and Industria/Vega.

Pluto is also conjunct the Aries Moon-Amor-Photographica and Uranus complex in the 9th house.

In any national chart, the 6th house being the house of those who work for the government or for the nation puts the civil service, the military, operations like the post office, Congress and the states as members of a union (complete with their governments and civil service leagues) on the table.

The 6th house of a national chart is also its system of health care and its work force in general.

Pluto / Facies is the ongoing and seemingly endless debate about who is responsible for what and what needs to be changed. There is denial at work, and sometimes creation in spite of that. Or creative ways of destroying what could be, all as part of the desire to simply control things for your own personal end.

With the ruler of this solar 6th (Saturn) in the 4th house of the people, as much as the people may not like seeing bad behaviors in their government, they are described as being - at some level - equally culpable.

And afraid. But then, the government is also afraid. It may be afraid of the world...or how 'how the world works' is changing (emphasized by Pluto in the 6th), but they're also afraid of the people. And as all those who work for and with power do in such situations, they will tend to clutch ever tighter until they are either removed from power or they break the tiller of the boat.

Or the patience of the people.

The Japanese Gardens at Huntington Museum in Pasadena, California

(photo credit: Randy, son of Robert April 2007)

Saturn in Scorpio is patient, but not that patient. And even if things stay the way they are through this (calendar) year, Saturn moves into Sagittarius in January of 2015. And Saturn in Sagittarius is well known to be not-all-that patient.

Nor is it subtle. Saturn in Sagittarius tends to bring around a lot of 'backfires' based on shortsighted or narrow-minded thinking.

But that's yet to come. Meanwhile, here in 2013, Industria/Vega conjunct Pluto is a changing workforce and the need to change our attitudes about those who work and the quality (Vega) of the work they do.

Uranus-Moon-Amor-Photographica in the 9th house smacks of a buddy-buddy system and the whole ‘I’ll support you if you’ll make me look good’ sort of thing.’ On the whole, this looks to be a challenge to the nation as a nation to get past it’s ‘playing to the media’ as opposed to using the media properly to get information out to those who need to know what’s going on.

This is also an image of a workforce which can be at odds with its leaders or leaders joining with the workforce to better the nation’s lot. Looked at like this, the leaders would appear to posture and the workforce would seem to lose interest in working for a group of leaders who they perceive as not giving a ho-ho, snowball (or twinkie) about them.

Thirdly, this is an image of the citizenry and the way it would like to see itself – that being added through this solar Capricorn 6th house being  ruled by the Scorpio Saturn in the 4th house of the national population. The ‘I don’t care about others, I only care what happens to me’ is a national problem. The national obsession with ‘lookism’ on every level is defined here as a problem.

As is mental health. And yet, with Pluto sextile Chiron (which is conjunct ‘repeated challenges’ Achernar) in the 8th house, the health – mental and that of the commerce system – is still plainly in the hands of those who care more about their power (in many cases) or what they ‘get’ from the process than in doing a good job.

 Autumn in New Hampshire

(photo credit: Bluepoint, December 2005)

If the nation is a patient, in this image we see it opting for plastic surgery and Xanax rather than accepting the reality that life isn’t paradise and that with all due respect for Billy Crystal ‘you look mah-velous!’ routine, looking good and ‘having it all’ is less important than doing good and investing quality in what you do while valuing those around you and what you have.

Neptune at 4 Pisces in the 8th here asks for humility. Conjunct Fomalhaut to the degree it says that the United States must face its fears on all fronts, internal as well as external. With Medusa at 2 Pisces with Nessus just inside the 25 Aquarius 8th house cusp, the nation can face its fears of living in a world which the US does not control or regulate all by its mega-conscious ‘I-Me’ Aries self…or it can move towards recreating the lessons which will force the US to learn to be a nation of the world through problems in this world and with the world at large.

Is there an ‘answer to the quandary’ posed here? If there is, it’s shown up by the Part of Fortune (aka Fortuna) being positioned at 26 Cancer, conjunct Pollux and conjunct Byblis in the 12th house.

Byblis is ‘defending the indefensible.’ Pollux calls for an intellectually driven choice to give something up of your own accord. Both of these symbols being in the solar 12th house describe current trends to not take on these issues, however you want to describe them…as gun control, child abuse, environmental issues, climate change, drugs, drug addiction and the effect that has on families, children and the population at large, factionalization of the population along cultural lines (including immigration issues)…

These things are not being attended to. And since Cancer is on the 11th house natal for the nation, the problem would seem to be both commercially-driven (probably profit-driven) and because the problem seems to large for the nation to wrap its (Pollux) mind around it…at least well enough to make a decision and the sacrifices which might come with that.

Radio City Music Hall in 1996

(photo credit: Rick Dikeman)

Are they going to get attended to? Only if and where people get scared enough. At that point Byblis will stop being the defending of the thing which isn't good. Or the defending of something which works for some but not for all. And once Byblis turns to its positive side, as seen in this chart it would seem the whole of the people - the citizens of the United States - will demand that things get done.

But before that...? Expect them to be too busy with their own business, their own families and the 'maintaining of their own houses.' At some level, this 12 house Part of Fortune speaks to the need for the country to consider the nation it's 'household.' And to the extent that the people of the United States don't see their nation as their 'home' and everyone in it either part of the family or a guest in the house, they're going to make things more difficult for themselves, and their government.

And conversely, the government will do things which make things harder for the general populace. (Welcome to the wonderful metaphysical world of political cause/effect!) 

26 Cancer is a degree which generally manifests as a poetic image which is great if you’re an artist and not so fabulous if you’re a nation needing to deal with reality. With Cancer on this house, the citizens of the US and some image of ‘how things used to be’ or ‘the old way’ or ‘what we were taught by our parents’ or even a wholesale, word-for-word ‘founding fathers’ allegiance is described here as a source of not just limitation but fear, qualities which the nation as a whole (government and people) have to get past if they are to move on and grow into times yet to come. By having faith in its people the US does far better than to eschew their needs, rights and the plight not just of families, but of those who don’t have families. This is a Moon-ruled image of the ‘national family’ which the government is asked to shepherd, protect and educate so that America can not so much ‘look like’ a leader, but be a nation which in leads through grappling with the realities of life. And how ‘liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ has enough practical, real-time limitations without pride and prejudice being heaped upon them.

With Circe at the Leo Ascendant, the government of the US is likely to act like one spellbound. This is the chart of a government likely to pick fights at home and abroad frankly because the driving fire-sign forces for 2013 care can get away with bad behavior.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is at  some level the real sign of a rich and powerful nation – or at least a nation which is sufficiently rich and powerful in present tense to indulge in fearful ignorance.

Whatever happens in 2013, The United States is likely to weather it. Not perhaps comfortably. Not even happily. But the crunch is coming.

Sunset in Marana, Arizona 

(photo credit: John Hunnicutt II, November 2006)

A long time ago – back when the recession first hit, I wrote a few posts about US (and world) economics. In those posts I said that for various reasons, things were not going to change substantially until 2017.

To those comments I will now add this: come 2016, just as an eclipse hits the Descendant of Chart USA, Uranus will conjunct the nation’s Sun. And that means that some of the factors involved in that change will start being felt during the latter part of 2014, as Uranus moves into orb of the national Sun.

That is when the power, the energy, the direction the US is currently headed in will shift. Whether it will do so of its own accord and peacefully, or because it is prompted to by some external force (good or bad), that remains to be seen.

But the nation will change. Or it will be changed.

It’s really that simple.

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