A 16 Pisces Full Moon

Moonrise on Hobart Bay, Alaska

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

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

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

(Which yes, is very Piscean of me.)

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

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

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

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

(Yes, I said that.)

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

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

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

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

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

The Full Moon at 16 Pisces (glyph chart)

The Full Moon at 16 Pisces (text chart)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eventually, that is.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Will we connect and unite or not? And if we do connect and become united, what belief will we allow ourselves to 'phase in' so that we can be and live united in something which fits us equally and all?
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Dateblog: August 2014

 August 2014

For various real life reasons (yes, something else has happened) this isn't going to be my longest post. Nor are these my finest diagrams, I would say. But I did want to offer some general August information...so here it is:

The above is a chart by sign which plainly shows that Leo (in yellow) is the dominant sign of the month. This speaks to a huge amount of energy and a 'brilliance' of mind (or mindset) which can accomplish great things providing others and the 'greater concern' beyond that which we are focused on as what we want/want to accomplish...providing all that is taken into proper account.

Towards the end of the month as the Sun and Mercury move into Virgo (on the 23rd and 15th, respectively) cooler thoughts (heads, solutions, reasoning) will begin to prevail, but with Jupiter in Leo there is likely to be a lot of 'stepping out' and much stepping over boundaries and limitations simply because some urge is so potent as to blind us to greater and factual issues, much as we might be 'blinded' if the Sun was in our eyes.

The are likely to be some very sun-struck (star-struck, arrogantly stubborn) folks around this month. As the Full Moon occurs in late Aquarius leading into the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower insights will happen and they may well mark the 'sparking' of new ideas, insights and choices which are made as a consequence of same. 

Ceres having entered Scorpio (see previous post) and Juno entering Cancer speak to a shift of energetics; where the 'idea' [Juno/Gemini] of the thing had been a premier  basis of consideration, now a more 'domestic' [Juno/Cancer] and less theory-idea-concept-driven orientation comes on line, like as not because sufficient negatives have been encountered (that being Vesta in Libra) that we are each driven to consider some sort of basic, very (Cancerian) personal...even primal sense of [Vesta] cost.

With the Virgo New Moon a more practical and pragmatic phase of operation/operational necessity is implied, with the close association of this New Moon to Sedna's station-retrograde in late Taurus posing 'how to...' questions precisely where our mentality has failed to mature - a fact which conjures up all sorts of ingrained possibilities.

Will all of this happen succinctly and politely? Looking at the month in terms of element, that answer would seem to be solidly and resoundingly 'no.'

(And yes I'm sorry I have to say that, but truth is truth.)

 
In the above diagram, red is fire, blue is water, that greenish brown is earth and...oh yes, there IS a little air in this amalgamation, courtesy of the Full Moon.

But remember, the Full Moon is a moment. So we can expect a moment of clarity around the Full Moon (plus Perseids), but the rest of the month - while possibly very productive, creative, delightful and developmental - is likely to manifest in a manner which is very fervent, either in pursuit of a [fire] goal or aim...or through some wholly [water] feeling effort or emotionally-driven choice.

There is a possibility for much knee-jerk activity here - the response by rote, the retreat into your own 'world' because dealing with others rains on your parade. This is also a recipe for real world (as opposed to theoretical) considerations.

In other words, just saying the words isn't likely to cut it this month. It's one of those 'the proof is in the pudding' periods with a lot of hungry and expectant folks poised at the universal table.

Which begs the question: what are we about to serve up to others and be served by life in kind?
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Vesta in Scorpio - Mercury in Leo: the Price, the Cost

Planet Mercury

(photo credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory,

Carnegie Institution of Washington, 2013)

As of July 31st at 22:47 in the evening (UT/+0), Mercury enters Leo, unleashing the power, the egocentricity, the creativity and ability to inhibit, undermine and succeed in equal measure.

And that’s just the Mercury part. With Jupiter already stirring the Leo energetic quadrant as only a massive celestial object can, we would (and should) expect that this year’s Mercurial transit of Leo would be more of the best and excessively awful.

Yes, all at once...whether or not we like it.

Going along at it’s more or less ‘standard’ sort of zodiacal pace, Mercury will only be spending just shy of three weeks in the second of our zodiac fire signs. Yet during those days between July 31 and August 15 we have the ability to accomplish much.

Or perhaps we’ll just recognize the cost of what we’ve accomplished or done. Or where it has become all we (Leo) envisioned and where we need to now be less about what’s in our head and more about how we’re affecting our environment.

Even the environment.

Normally we would think Mercury in Leo would be a great time for something daring... fun... challenging... even self indulgent. But with the Sun already in Leo (the Sun’s sign of rulership) with Jupiter also in Leo, while we may well do great things now and in the days ahead, we may also be functioning to some extent inside some vision which is nothing more than a personally desired mirage.

Part of the reason for that is simply the nature of Leo, a sign which can ‘see’ all the good which could (or to us, should) result from our efforts (and if that fails, would you settle for some gloriously Leo intentions?)... which Mercury’s joining the Sun and Jupiter ‘lifts’ from the idea of the moment (or the idea in the moment) to a more encompassing level of thought. The ideas, the vistas, the possibilities are bigger.

And so are the risks.

As with all things Leo, so long as we are willing to give things a good go and best effort with a willingness to learn coupled to a lack of need to be perfect, in the long run we can’t lose. In the short run we can hit plenty of dead ends, potholes and yes, we may meet with refusals, rejections and corrections.

But we still can win. In the world of Leo personal power politics, our not being self conscious, driven by ego or so dazzled by our brilliance that we miss something important (and probably terribly human) which lands us in a mess (most of all with our sense of humiliation)... that’s the test. Given the Leo affinity for performance, we may be able to fool others pretty close to one hundred percent of the time... but we never fool our Self.

Moreover, in the case of a negative Leo situation, especially with Mercury now (be)stirring the Leo pot, we may just be fooling ourselves... or end up thinking we’re the fool.

There is reason to question things in the short run (which is to say, for the next few days) - or rather, to question ourselves particularly when it comes to questions of motivation and methodology.

Why is that? That is because July 30th, the date of Mercury’s Leo ingress, is also the date that asteroid Vesta is moving into Scorpio.

Under any condition, Vesta represents the ‘cost’ (or price) of making a commitment or keeping a commitment. Or, in those other cases... the cost of having not keep our promises - to us, in real or karmic terms. There is a definite quality of safekeeping when it comes to Vesta, and that may well interfere with the active quality of working with others... which is to say with our own ability to trust - that which so needs to be in order for there to be any consistency to positive outcomes in all and any matter Scorpionic. Furthermore, considering how Scorpio works by testing our inner stability with regards to others or situations in order to see if we are capable of creating lasting positives through dynamic improvements to that which benefits all - a quality which is likely to be going to be more important and more contentious as we move into and through the next few hundred years of the Aquarian Age.

Those who aim to fulfill their own desires may well win in the short-term Vesta run, but to be purely ‘desirous’ under any Vesta-indicated situation is to run a risk of ‘breaking’ something we value in our eagerness to satisfy some focus of the moment.

And that word - ‘risk’ - does ring a bell as a linkage between Mercury and Vesta. If nothing else (or if given no proper outlet) Mercury in Leo energetics may very well surface in our own ability to trip ourselves up simply because we need to understand our own challenges.

We’re educating ourselves, as it were. And that would be fine except Vesta entering Scorpio under those types of challenges could be very problematic indeed.

Even nasty. Vile. Or - yes - unforgivable.

With Vesta, we will risk hurting our Self...or we may learn that (or how) we have cost our Self something. The matters at hand may be either complex or simple things, but whether exotic or minor, given the Scorpio coloration here we are more likely to encounter our promptings through others or because of things which are external to our Self.

To give a better idea of how large Vesta is (and thus its 'standing' among other astrological asteroid 'challenges), a composite image of Vesta in comparison with a handful of other asteroids (photo credit NASA-JPL)

The feeling of challenge to that Self is personal, yes. But the need to cope with it is external, and woe be to those who prioritize the Self (“what I want”) over consideration of the entire situation replete with needs and feelings which not only may be as valid as ours but which actually deserve priority (or priority consideration) whether we like it or not.

That’s the Scorpio test: to not be sucked in by our own position to the extent that we cannot consider the values, feelings, needs of others. Where we do so, we run the risk of hurting our own opportunities or interests - issues which the next several months of Vesta in Scorpio will either tend to prompt or expose (whether privately otherwise). Risk being a Leo thing, thinking through all this as Mercury goes into Leo. Some of us will now be 'getting the bill' for whatever we promised and did which violated our karma through what we did. Others will be faced with the cost of making a promise - or promising to pay a certain price.

Scorpio often tempts us to maneuver and manipulate. In most cases, such efforts are all about avoidance - not of the 'other' but of a Self which doesn't have sufficient conviction in their own security, and which instinctively seeks to avoid fear. This feeling of 'threat' or insufficiency is the premier Scorpio dynamic however Scorpio manifests for good, ill, life, power, sex, control and surrender in inevitable death.

When we fear, we feel the power of all we can't change, and when we feel that, we try to control it. Or hedge our bets. Or limit our exposure. All such instincts are Scorpio - and classically Scorpio in that the (water sign) feeling isn't really about 'that' or 'them' but about our Self.

To the extent that we are truly secure, Scorpio resonates as a calm, placid power. To the extent that we don't feel secure with what we think we most value (in the moment, at least) Scorpio manifests as forms of fear - up to and including that violence which is ultimately a defense against having to endure our incredibly powerful human feelings, hence Scorpio's tendency towards control. If I control myself, I won't care. If I control them, they won't be able to do to me anything I would fear...

With Vesta entering Scorpio, thinking through and being willing to accept this broke our 'promise' on...or fs about promised and broke t with or to others beyond the Scorpio tenet.

However...there are indicators that no matter what we do not everything is going to be smooth sailing. With its 3.6 year-long orbit, asteroid Vesta will exit Scorpio and move on into Sagittarius as of October 6 (2014), which for one thing means the whole of Mercury’s transit of Leo will be under Vesta in Scorpio’s earliest degrees - an indicator of ‘costs’ having to do with what we do or “who we are being” in this moment.

Inequalities of regard in other words... our personal self/will/want versus the aims/wants/needs of others... will cost us something. Whether that cost is physical as opposed to financial or otherwise is not specified purely by Vesta’s transiting Scorpio as a sign; what is assured is that whatever happens, we will react to it - for good or bad, be it positive or negative - in an emotional-based manner.

And when we do that without regard for the other side of things, that’s when we go all Vesta-awry, especially when or where our values (or that we hold as valuable) are being challenged as a ‘sign of the times’ to change... to update... to modernize... to act in sync with others or as part of a greater systemic... all of which comes from the overarching fact that Vesta’s transit of Scorpio - that transit which ends on October 6th - will happen as one of a group of astrological signals connected to the October 23rd solar eclipse (which includes Uranus, hence the heightened need for change and - in particular - innovation, modernization and a 'breaking' with old habits or personal identitifications).

You know...the eclipse at 0 Scorpio - the very degree being set off this week by Vesta. It’s that quality - that ‘foreshadowing’ (as they say in literary circles...) which as Vesta enters Scorpio and Mercury enters Leo suggesting challenges which speak rather specifically to our  entirely human habit of seeing everything from our own point of view.

At this time, some part of that which stands to be ‘eclipsed’ in the months ahead will begin to become obvious. Some of us will see what could happen and in keeping with Scorpio’s highest harmonic make deft and perhaps painful corrections in order to preserve the good, the viable, the healthy while excising that which is damaged, corrupted or corrosive. Others will choose a less active Scorpio road by focusing mainly on defense (generally our own) and safety, in essence taking a tact that to not be involved simplifies things for others which under the Scorpio banner is more accurately read as ‘I don’t want to go through that.’

Planet Mars as photographed by the Hubble space telescope

(photo credit: NASA, JPL - recolored for posting purposes)

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Those who act from instinct ... which is to say from their Scorpio desires and Leo perspective without regard for others - over the first week or so of Mercury in Leo they are likely to act with or through a ‘blindness’ to self and others, creating deficits, particularly where there is a failure to balance and integrate our own creative and emotional perspectives with those of others.

With Vesta entering Scorpio in conjunction Eurydike with Mars just ahead, there is a strong (Mars at 3 Scorpio) suggestion that reliance on traditions and “ceremonial” gestures is useful as a means of (Mercury) communication - an option which may not be easy to comply with as Mars passages through Scorpio tend to promote a lot of willfulness of the specific type which tends to create conflicts either where balance and integration fail to have valid and equal (or equally valid) emphasis - which may well be where situations fracture, go awry or plainly don’t/won't work. 3 Scorpio being all about an ongoing interaction between the individual and the community honors the ‘bright light’ of inspiration and a means of tying us as individuals to the eternal need of a greater and greatest whole. When this works well (in other words, when/where/as all is brought into integrated balance), the quieting of ego is accomplished through an assurance of safety against having it make sense why a certain choice is more productive.

Whatever symbolizes that which is important to us now we hold high. Most of us will never think past that symbol to why some idea, some notion, some belief, some thing means so much to us, that being our Vesta realm, that realm in which we do or don’t hold to whatever it is we are or have committed to... or don’t. What this depends on is our own inner regard for the value of our own word, standing, choices and determinations... not of others, but of our Self.

Some will now feel they know where they need to go and what they need to do, whether that involves happiness or trial. Some of us will now react to what we have done (or not done), that being the trigger for emotionally transformational experiences.

Whatever comes to light (or come to be ‘illuminated’ for us now) is a sign that we are at a crossroads of sorts. We come to this crossroads aiming for something we believe in. What we will now decide before moving on is less about what others think about us than how we come to think of ourselves, though those others may be the catalyst we need to understand how out of step we are not with the moment, but with the whole of our eventual aims.

And therein lies the rub.
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