From the Astrologer’s Notebook: a simple tale of power

Much of astrology has come to be discussions of long term trends and when to propose that business deal or  who’s going to win that election…there's such a big emphasis placed on that stuff that sometimes the simple (if utterly satisfying) uses for astrology don't get enough play.

So today we play. You sit, and I tell you a little story…

Back on March 30th, there was that Mercury-on-station moment with Mercury at 24 Aries. Remember that? I'm sure you do...just as you like as not remember how I’m always telling you that ….if a planetary station aspects your chart with any directness, this moment has your name all over it!

Well, considering how that Mercury station was right on top of my natal Ascendant, I knew this station was going to mean something in my world. My 'number was up,’ so to speak!

Considering how I’m still dealing with physical therapy and all the insurance hassles after a car accident last September (I was stopped at a red light and got turned into the meat in an automotive sandwich)….I wasn't feeling all hinky-dinky about going out. After all,  Mercury rules Gemini, sign of – among other things – transportation and ‘transporting’ things from here to there...and Aries is the sign of the physical body.

Not to mention that the Ascendant is the premier place we look to when we think in terms of illnesses and accidents.

So me? Go out? Oh no...call me chicken (she said, flapping her feathery wings)!

Fine...I stay home. And I’m sitting at my computer (working on a blog as it happens) and the power goes out.

That the Moon was in Aquarius at the time…yeah, that would sort of add the ‘power’ quality to the transit. Energy, companies/corporations, systems…they’re all Aquarian. But I’m thinking I can be forgiven for thinking more in terms of the insurance beast which has haunted my steps now for month (yes, it has been something of a horror movie).

In any case, I immediately got incredibly frustrated. Can we say “Aries”? Her path was blocked and so she began to fume like a dragon competing with a small volcano. 

Since I live in an apartment building, I did what one does…I went outside to see if everyone else was in the same pickle. And once assured that my misery had good company I joined one of my neighbors in going out onto the street to see if local traffic lights could give us any clue as to how wide the blackout was.

Answer: it covered a couple of blocks, including a major intersection nearby.

What did that get me? Well, I began to think that this meant this event would have hit the city grid with some sort of blinking light. Sure they would know and hop to fixing things, right?

Evidently not.

Over the next almost two hours, several people from my building called the power department. From the wide variance in stories it became plain to me that there was something goofy going on.

Then…suddenly…on came the astrological nodule in my brain. A very long time ago (we’re talking almost thirty years now) the guy who taught me astrology had been treated to the day when I decided to “avoid” a major transit by (again) staying at home.

(Getting the theme here? Home is not always my safe zone, obviously! But people are people…we do what we are comfy with…)

In that case, while I was sitting typing (with headphones on, as I recall), my car was being stolen from the carport immediately under my feet.

(Yes, I do spend a lot of my life at the keyboard – thanks for noticing!)

When I discovered the car was missing, after all the being agog and upset and doing the police report and talking to the insurance company (same company, same policy as I have today…) I called my friend, blithering unhappily.

His advice: never try to avoid a transit. 

This advice was formalized into elegant form years later by astrologer Robert Hand, who eloquently (not to mention cheerfully) got out there to say ‘use the energy wisely, lest it use you unwisely.’ 

Thanks, Rob. So true, so true…and yet like everyone else, there are just those days when I…

(oh, never mind!)

Anyway, so my astrology-teaching friend listens to my tearful babble, then tells me to hold on. Of course there's nothing like being left on the phone when you've just finished a particularly fine fit of sobbing, but what was I do to?

A minute or two later he comes back on the line and with aplomb and confidence informs me of when my car will be found.

Me: How do you...(sniff!)...know? 

Him: Mercury opposes your Pluto. Mercury/Pluto connections are good for finding things. Considering its an opposition, the car may not be in great shape but it will be found. 

Two days later, right on cue the phone rang. It was the police. My car had been found when they busted a chop-shop ring which had stolen it for parts. The car was pretty much stripped, but since this was still the days when insurance companies wrote policies which would guarantee rebuilds, parts got ordered in from Germany and my car got rebuilt.

(Maybe now you know why I’ve kept that same policy?)

In case you're wondering, yes I do recognize the dotted line between then and now in terms of car being stolen then (and I didn't mention it, but I was recovering from a workplace accident) and the car accident which I am recovering from in current day. These things do go in cycles...and there is a cycle which is repeating now in different form which back then had the two items separate (the workplace accident against car theft which has now become car accident involving physical therapy).

But let's be real - when in the moment, all we want to really know is when is this moment going to end?

So saying, back to modern day. Ah yes – Pluto! Pluto is the signature of things changing. If you’ve lost something, it’ll get found or you’ll replace it. If you don’t know, you’ll come to know. If you have, you may lose or give away. Where there is nothing, something ‘becomes.’ Pluto is about things changing. 

So! Being someone not so married to my computer as to not have an ephemeris of planetary positions on hand (never be without a friendly ephemeris!)…I flipped to the right page and began the calculation. When would this Aquarius Moon oppose my Pluto? 

From there it was all just simple math. And once I had the answer, I knew what time the power would go back on.

You think I’m kidding? No. I sat outside chatting with neighbors, wearing my watch and when someone yelled ‘Hey! The power just came back on!’ I glanced down at my wrist.

Yup...right on schedule!

Do I know exactly how all things function as they do? Not totally. I understand the concept of things moving through space and how planetary positions are what they are but also give us a ‘clock’ by which we know when affects reach Earth, and from what quadrant (i.e., at what angle).

But most of all…when I’m trying to write a blog, I just want to know when the power is going to come back on. Once I knew that, all the stress went away.

It’s a more than decent reason to learn astrology. And I obviously realized that much the first time around, because from the very day that said fellow arrived at my house announcing he was going to teach me astrology (to which I benignly answered what? Astrology is bunk!!) I really have never looked back.

On that first day he regarded my fluffleness with complete calm...which seems fitting, considering I was lying there with a broken pelvis. What was I going to do, don my stilettos and go stalking out into the night, flinging my scarf over one shoulder?

Not likely.

Patient as the pain in my (very low) back was long, he thought about my somewhat feisty dismissal and made me a deal: if I could prove astrology didn't work, he'd admit I had proved the whole think was bunk.

Obviously I wasn't able to prove it was bunk. In fact, it taught me a lot about life in general and a huge amount about people, our ponderings, our puzzles, our patterns and those many alleged strengths which don't turn out so well and those vulnerable spots which turn out to be our glories.

Like I said...a more than decent reason to learn astrology.

Sunday January 30, 2011 in Cairo

View of the Nile and Cairo from the Cairo Tower (2007)

photo credit: Radausandei

I can't imagine a more disturbing if educational way to learn about astrology than by watching it unfold in the streets of a country beset by popular or military upheaval.

And yet, there is that old and true expression: those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

The only thing I would add to that is that this isn't just about History (big "h") as in politics, armies and nations. This is also about our single and singular lives as human beings. Cycles work in our lives and come around again and again as surely as they do when it comes to nations and regimes.

People often ask why astrologers 'didn't see this coming.' The answer is, you can't watch every chart and every world location all at once!

If anyone can, I'm not even sure I'd want to meet them, either! (Though I might want to know how many computers they're running...can you imagine?)

However...some 'common knowledge' astrology does stand out in this past week's news. As trouble began erupting in Egypt, the Moon was in Libra. As violence escalated into the dramatic scenes of thousands streaming across Cairo's bridge as the army retreated in front of them, the Moon had moved into Scorpio. As the Moon then moved into Sagittarius, fervency hit the violence point - guns brought out began getting fired.

And again - as I've said before, there are a lot of problems brewing in a lot of places. But I can't cover it all. For purely instinctual reasons, I've focused on Egypt - and I hope no one thinks that means I don't care about anywhere or anyone else.

We each do what we can do. So going back to these global passages of Moon in Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, they are global. So in some measure they operated in each of our lives. The nature of the signs - and how the Moon tends to play out in each sign is what I'm referring to here.

All three signs belong to the zodiac's third, interactive quadrant.

 The zodiacal 3rd quadrant: Libra (air), Scorpio (water), Sagittarius (fire)

All signs in this quadrant act interactively. They may play to the audience, be caught up in what others are doing, exchange ideas, negotiate, try to make their point, or operate in any of a million other interactive modes.

The Libra segment is 'airy' and theoretical. So the Moon moved into and through Libra, in Egypt, the people protested and shouted. Their government replied - and make no mistake, silence says as much as anything else in the world of interactions.

I mean...have you never had someone give you the silent treatment? Makes a real point, does it? As does being ignored or stonewalled. Silence is not always golden nor mute: sometimes it's worth a thousand words!

Scorpio being fixed water, from early on the 26th through early on the 28th, emotional drives made it important to make one's point. That's the typical Scorpio move - to try to gain control, and if possible, to do so  without damaging whatever you're trying to gain.

Not particularly 'gracious' in Scorpio, the Moon is known for bringing out exhibitions of anything between defiance and testy sulkiness in Scorpio...which (sorry to say) sounds apt, considering this is when confrontations began, though people remarked on the lack of looting at that point.

Looting didn't start until the Moon entered Sagittarius come mid-morning on the 28th. And that's another painful if interesting comment. Sagittarius is the realm of astrological fire; Moon in Sagittarius acts with fervency and promotes 'fiery' rhetoric which if not held in check by some greater moral imperative often enough results in actions or statements which, in hindsight, are in some 'realistic' sense regrettable even if in fiery, 'theoretical' or 'conceptual' terms is thought justified.

The other side of Sagittarius is less savory - it rules the judicial system and therefore the theory of 'might makes right.' That there was a prison break during this time speaks to just how far Sagittarius can go; how those prisoners got out will be something worth listening for.

Egypt's White Desert of Farafra

photo credit: Omar Kamel

The Moon will enter Capricorn - Cairo time - just after 4pm on Sunday, January 30th. Capricorn is a 4th quadrant sign. It is thus not person-to-person (or personally) interactive, but global. This societal. This is group oriented. This is national. This is systemic.

Capricorn is the structure of life. It is the thing which like, love or hate it, is the thing you rely on. You know where you stand because Capricorn forces, dynamics and realities define the rules, the boundaries, the necessary routines and regulations of one's life.

The Moon is push and shove in emotional Scorpio. Against this we have it's other bad habit - to act with 'entitlement' and haste - when in Capricorn, an earth sign which fosters and seeks very real results.

Capricorn embodies the quests, questions and directives which are leadership and knowing where we're going and where we stand. Every month when the Moon goes through Capricorn, we are tested as to our sense of proportion and capacity, our ability to do what we want to do against who we know we should be.

The Moon will be in Capricorn - Cairo time - until the wee hours of February 2nd.

So what will happen? That we don't know. I don't pretend to know - there are just too many factors in the air. There are millions of lives, each unique, which are in play and at stake.

But there are some moments which seem apt to look at and learn from.

I am posting only a handful of moments from Sunday, January 30th here for our observation. This does not mean that this is the most critical time, or that there are no other critical times. I am merely saying these are things I noted when looking at an astrological clock (yes, really good astrological software is a wonderful thing!)...so I thought I would share.

 Sunday, January 30th (2011) - Cairo, 4:39am

It is my understanding that there is a curfew currently in force in Cairo. That would be imaged by the Saturn ruled Capricorn Pluto (control)/North Node (what you should do) at the Ascendant, point of action or activity. These Capricorn points are ruled by the Saturn at 17 Libra (at the top, in green).

With Saturn in Libra, that gives us a rulership by Venus - Libra is ruled by Venus. The Venus of this chart is still in the 12th house of the chart, but already above the Ascendant. Situated at 24 Sagittarius with the Moon at 23 Sagittarius, that tells us that give or take, it's about two hours before that fervent Sagittarius Moon conjuncts that Venus - by which time, Venus will be in the societal streets of the 11th house.

Using the movie term, we now 'cut' to dawn in Cairo...

 Dawn in Cairo - January 30, 2011

Dawn being defined as the Sun rising up over the horizon, here we have the Sun rising in Cairo - with asteroids Hel and Sappho rising just ahead of it.

If I say that Sappho is the poetic universality of humanity and Hel is...well, our Hel, this hardly looks like a pleasant morning.

Interestingly, on the other side of the chart (at the Descendant - where ultimately the Sun sets) we have Photographica, a symbol all about 'what it looks like.' So...do we expect posturing for cameras? Some taped messages going out over the air? Maybe.

Looked at another way, Photographica at the Descendant may represent a change or shift in the 'look of things.' Different images may be offered - or communication means or amounts may change in the world of Cairo, if not the whole of Egypt.

That last line really illuminates one of the big problems of being an astrologer trying to do this work. Someday maybe we will have programs which allow us to say 'tell me when this happens at xyz place.' Or to such-and-such a person. We'll be able to automate our files.

It just hasn't happened yet. So I speak in terms of Cairo but not Tunisia. I can't even get as far as clock watching in Alexandria...

The coastline of Alexandria, Egypt in 2006

photo credit: Jackson550

....or Aswan, which most people don't know know all that much about except for it's dam.

I've had the pleasure of visiting Aswan. I hear it's the hottest place in Egypt during summer - fortunately I was there in a cooler month. It was spectacular. Watching the sun go down in Aswan gave me a profound sense of the great expanses of human time...and how minuscule that is indeed when compared to time on planetary or galactic scale.

 The Nile at Aswan, wandering among river islands.

photo credit: Citadelite (2007)

I'm sure you hear what I'm saying. Egypt is a land filled with people, each of whom has a life as valuable and 'total' as our lives are to us.

And yes, the rest of the world is just the same.

Egypt is far, far more than its famous monuments - though yes, they are really, truly spectacular.

I hope you get to travel there someday. And elsewhere. The world...our world...is well worth getting to know.

So - after dawn. What comes next?

 January 30, 2011 - 7:51am - Cairo Time

By just before 8 o'clock in the morning Chiron (daunting need) is at the Ascendant as Hidalgo and Antares stand at the Midheaven.

This would seem to be a reactionary moment. Chiron is what we are faced with doing that we don't know how to do, and which we can't know how to do except by doing it. Chiron embodies the old saying experience is the best teacher.

But at the same time, Chiron is also all about the need which drives us to try doing those things we don't want to think we need to learn how to do. They often turn out very well - but boy, do we resist learning this lesson or what!

Here pictured at 29 Aquarius, with an Ascendant also at 29, this is an expression of urgency of need and/or the idea that something is 'urgently needed.'

Against this we have Hidalgo and Antares at the Midheaven: a classic question of what one is willing to do to win the day. One of the Royal Stars of Persia, Antares promises success if we do not act out of a desire for retribution or vengeance.

This could be the government taking action. Then again, it could be the people acting out against the government.

It's important to remember here that symbols like Antares are not 'person particular.' The door swings both ways. You can be the underdog of all time who deserves rescue and a chance to get back at your oppressors - but if Antares is around, moderation must be your byword. At some level, it's not so much what you do here as the energy with which you do it.

I suspect no more needs be said.

Two more moments...

 9:03 am (Cairo time), January 30th, 2011

This chart is notable because it has Black Moon Lilith (mass rejection/rejection by the masses) at the Ascendant with headstrong Phaeton just ahead of it.

Meanwhile, 26 Sagittarius - the need to give to others - is at the Midheaven with the Moon and Scylla (of all things!) perfectly conjunct.

There's a huge amount of conviction being displayed here, with with Scylla modifier suggesting stubbornness beyond calculation. That, in terms, suggests some sort of action or activity which goes farther than one might suspect, lasting or holding out even when one might have thought an end must surely have come.

Last but not least (and let's note that all these are morning hour charts) a chart for 10:19am, Cairo time. Many people in the west will be sound asleep.

Maybe having bad dreams? Who knows. But that everyone isn't awake at all times gives us one of those interesting clues about why certain things happen in one place but not another.

With that said, the chart...

 January 30, 2011 - 10:19am (Cairo, Egypt)

This chart has recently-eclipsed Vega at the Midheaven. With Vega is Hybris, easily translated into 'hubris,' or arrogance.

At the Ascendant is Eris Discord - disruption. With Eris is Hebe, the servant. There having been rumors that President Mubarak may name someone as his successor, this well may be a chart connected with that concept. Then again, this may be connected to the 'national servants' which are embodied as Egypt's military.

About twelve minutes before this chart...make it just past 10am Cairo time, TNO/Plutino Ixion and asteroid Child will be atop the 9th house cusp. When I saw this, I wondered whether we would hear about Mubarak's son - already reputedly out of the country (meaning, Egypt).

Ten o'clock in the morning in Cairo is breakfast and rush hour in London. It's the middle of the night in New York. Here where I live in Los Angeles, many will just be going to bed. Out in Honolulu, they're still watching prime time TV (or not...!).

New Zealand will be just sitting down to dinner - dinner tomorrow night to me, but that's just how it works.

We all will get this moment but it will be presented in very different ways, depending on where we are. And where we are makes all the astrological difference.

Yes, there is some part of me which wishes there was a way to know what was happening everywhere all at once.

But then, what would I do with that? The point is how we live our life - not just what we know about it.

There's been a lot of talk about how social media and cell phones and streaming video and all such have made an enormous difference in how we regard what's happening in the Middle East. Revolutions (unfortunately!) come and go. But this is possibly the first time the everyday person has had the ability to use technologies which used to be in the hands of the elite few to make their case!

And further their cause. And get the word out.

To this, as just a tiny footnote I'll also add that this is the first time astrologers far and wide had software powerful enough to watch it.

So time marches on!

Short Term Global Transits and Eclipsing in Progress

Just like scientists of every discipline, astrologers are always learning. That's part of what defines astrology as something other than a 'belief system' - and why the word metaphysics references to the science of 'physics' as opposed to a religion or belief.

So like everyone else, I watched universal factors unfolding in the Middle East with dismay. Obviously I reacted by blogging about the situation Egypt, which has unfortunately only worsened (rapidly) since that post went up.

As I lay a-bed this morning (wishing I could ignore the exercises given me by my physical therapist) I thought about what else I could look at, explore and share with you here at Ye Olde Blog.

The first thing which came to mind was an eclipse map.

You say you didn't know eclipses have maps? Oh sure you know eclipses have maps...you just don't know that you know eclipses have maps!

I'll prove it to you. Every time there's an eclipse, some reporter in your local area spends a good three or four seconds telling us where the eclipse will be visible. That's taken from the eclipse path...a track of 'eclipse shadow' which is cast across the face of planet Earth.

Voila - an eclipse map! It's that section of Earth you know as 'where the eclipse is visible.'

So I went to pull up the eclipse map for the January 4, 2011. You know, the by-now famous Solar Eclipse at 13 Capricorn.

And up came this map...

 

That's a pretty good way of picturing an eclipse which sweeps 'across the Middle East.'

Whether a given country or regime-administration-reign indicated by such a map would be affected by any given eclipse, that we find out by using national and personal horoscopes - just like we did with regards to Mubarak and Egypt.

Also - I should post a disclaimer here: you will (or at least should) never hear any credentialed, ethics toting  astrologer prophesize death. It just isn't done.

With that now said, there's a lot going on. The eclipse has obviously centered it's 'shadowing' effect on Northern Africa. But the rest of us are going through things too. There's a lot of 'clearing the decks' and 'cleaning house' going on. People are sorting out what's important and wrestling with themselves and their own decisions (or ability, or willingness to make them) as much as anything else.

 Jacob Wrestling with the Angel by Leon Bonnat (1876)

 .

People are getting honest with themselves about what their standards are - what they want their world to include or be done with.

Wrestling with their better angels, one might say...

That's very much part of this time which as we may remember is all about the solar eclipse hitting atop Vega - a star all about charisma and symbolic charisma. 

(LINK to blog on January's Solar Eclipse)

Solar Eclipses tend to foreshadow their eventualities by provoking unrest before the eclipse hits, showing up the worst of the "tendency" in the couple of weeks right around when it hits. After that comes a 'blacking out,' an elimination of whatever has been eclipsed.

In this case, that would be the 'power of charisma' - the Vega Factor. So not only will despots fall, but we will be less able/willing to kid (aka charm) ourselves into the kind of complacency which will allow us to deal with anything less than our honest truth.

 'Fixed' star Vega, showing it's debris ring, as

photographed by the Spitzer telescope

photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

It may come out "against" us, it may be with regards to others. Or about what we've been doing to try and place nice, make nice or "pretend" that everything's okay.

Okay...so then what?

Considering we're still in the lunation (first month) after the eclipse, it would seem to be likely that many a 'rock' will be shook loose from its tenuous perch during that time.

That month is up on February 3rd. Which - interestingly - is the New Moon which marks the Chinese New Year.

From now until then, lunar astrology tells us that we have already passed the Last Quarter mark, the Moon's Last Quarter having occurred at 12:58pm (UT/+0) on the 26th - roughly when trouble broke out in Egypt.

The last lunar quarter is associate with making goals manifest and attempts at integration. Of course where goals are divergent and integration fails, then problems show up.

As the weekend ends, the Moon will move into the last of its eight monthly phases, that being the Balsamic phase, a time of releasing the old so that we can move on to the new. For some, this requires a period of purification. For others, there is a recognition of realities and a 'transformation' through the acceptance of what realities are, as opposed to whatever our dreams or expectations may have been.

The transiting Sun conjuncts Ceres at 0:54am (UT/+0)

on January 31, 2011

 

This rather coincides with the chart snippet shown above - the transiting sun (in blue) conjuncting Ceres (light blue) at 10 Aquarius.

This degree is an interesting one in that it refers to 'where we come from' in life - and the relative effect this has on one's life and thus, our relationship to our society and world.

There is a quality of being able to seize on the idealistic 'right' here which in an interesting not-quite-offset to Scheherazade-Nessus-Amphitrite being all in conjunction at 19 Aquarius, a degree all about the ability to go through 'hell' and like the Phoenix, rise from the fire.

 

 'Scheherazade Went on with Her Story....'

by Virginia Frances Sterreff (1928)

In this degree we have Scheherazade, a point all about how dire threat can in actuality, bring the best out of us, teaching us what we are truly capable of being and doing. Nessus being 'poisonous jealousy' and Amphitrite the ability to adapt and become happy once we accept our assigned 'tasks' the question thus becomes whether we are using that Nessus poison or reacting to having been on the receiving end of poisonous jealousy, doing good or being productive in spite of all.
 
This sounds very esoteric, doesn't it? Okay, then lets try it in a simpler, more down to earth tone: can you make the best of a bad situation? Are you willing to hold yourself to your best qualities even when the going gets beyond tough?

Some now will. Others won't. And some...some will realize they didn't and correct their internal course, rising 'like the Phoenix' at this point and to the necessary...(dare I say it?)...degree.

All this Aquarian energy is ruled first by Saturn (which we remember has just gone retrograde, right?) and then by Uranus, which is fused with Scheat at the moment at the end of Pisces.

And let us remember that Scheat is always popular  rejection. With Uranus shuddering the status quo, it's the very status quo which is being shuddered, producing the spectacular awful results in the Middle East, but also some quaking in each of our minds and lives.

 Uranus showing its rings in the company of several of its Moons

photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In short, the Aquarian rule is that if you do the Saturn work, you get lasting and glorious results. Where you have cut corners, foregone standards or being an arrogant so-and-so, the results are as we see in the Middle East: rebellion, insurrection, collapses of various kinds.

Now...let's be real. You probably aren't going to have a private revolt in your back yard. (If you do, be sure to post it on youtube!) But the idea of the point remains true: those who have tried to 'get by' or not play 'by the book' and observe the rules - particularly our own rules - are likely to have problems surfacing now. They may come totally out of left field. And yet somehow, somehow they will zero in and trip you up exactly where you broke with your own standards.

The New Moon of February 3rd is going to have it's own post. That I know because it's already scheduled. But in following this period through it's worth noting that on February 4th at 3:16pm (UT/+0) the Sun will conjunct Mars, doing so at 15 Aquarius.

 The transiting Sun (in blue) conjuncts Mars (in red) at

15 Aquarius 27 on February 4th at 3:16pm (UT/+0)

There are two things to be particularly aware of here. The first is that Sun/Mars is a potentially highly rational...or highly explosive combination. It can even be both, cutting through the prattle with astonishing, often unexpected swiftness.

Given how Aquarius is a fixed sign - which is to say a sign which holds back and plans or hesitates - until the moment comes when it springs into action, this may well be the moment when something gives in your life. And yes, in the world.

Look for unanticipated developments.

Fifteen Aquarius, as a degree is highly fervent. Whatever is done is generally done 'across the board.' And that fits the other side of fifteen Aquarius - namely its position in the zodiac as one of four 'cross-quarter' degrees.

 The zodiac's cross-quarter points

At 15 degrees of each fixed sign is a 'cross-quarter' point - as above. In lunar astrology, by bisecting the four natural quarters of the horoscope wheel, we come up with the eight phases of the Moon.

February 4th is after the end of the Solar Eclipse's "personal" lunation. But figuratively...this is when the Sun reaches the Balsamic 'release point' which would trigger the letting go of the old year and the starting of the new process which (as celestial happenstance would have it) is marked by the February 3rd Chinese New Year New Moon.

More to the point in a greater sense however, this would be a moment of 'release' and 'letting go.' For some of us this will be a situation. Or a feeling. Or a certainty. Or an uncertainty.

On the global scale, one can only hope this causes deadlocks to release without great damage or loss of life.

For all of us, on many levels, this is a chance to learn. Let's hope we do! And that we think of something productive and constructive to do in the coming months as we deal with the letting go of the old and the taking on the challenge of the new, through which we will each be renewed.

Mars/Mercury/Pallas: Are we Looking, Seeing or Seeking ?

 The eye of an Antarctic Krill 

photo credit: Gerd Alberti and Uwe Kils

Some moments are simply made for wonder. Some are simply made for wondering.

Then again, there are those moments, days and times which just make you wonder...why?

So let's start off by remembering that Venus and Jupiter have just gone direct as Polyhymnia went retrograde. Thus we're all primed to get going, and today may well feel like just that right day to head up and out and gain ground and get things going.

But it does pay to think things through.

And that's probably the message. REALLY, I mean - the message? Here?

Mercury is about the plan. The choice. The thought, the communicating, the making all those little details fit together.

Problem: Mercury is in Sagittarius. Mercury is never at its finest in Sagittarius. It either acts in haste, oversteps its bounds, opts for the flight of fancy which will never work or simply shoots its mouth off.

Well channeled, Mercury in Sagittarius can be seeing how things can work. Envisioning the really great solution. Getting where you could go if you (or everyone) was of a mind to get it right.

You can see the problem, right? One group is 'right here, right now' and the other is 'defer the gratification.' Given that Mercury in Sagittarius tends to opt for right now, it takes real effort, real thinking to keep ourselves in check and not overstep those bounds, insert the foot into the mouth (and beyond) or otherwise screw things up with trying to leap tall buildings in a single bound, forgetting we're not Superman.

No, you really aren't Superman...what, is that news?

So we have this instinct to leap buildings (or Grand Canyons). And there's just enough Mars in Sagittarius bravado, joie de vivre, raw enthusiasm (call it what you like) in today and tomorrow's Mix-de-Jour that our level of confidence, determination and/or impatience is really hard, hard, HARD to resist.

And should we?

That depends on how you feel about the greater concept of wisdom - here embodied by Pallas.

Clearly Pallas in any 3-way conjunction says there's an opportunity to think things through and do 'the wise thing.' But given the urgency of Mars 'wannas' and the restlessness so typical of Mercury in Sag...does Pallas  represent enough stabilizing energy to keep us on track?

Answer: if we are wise enough (Pallas) to understand the value of wisdom (Pallas) over urges and in urgent/urgent-feeling moments, probably yes.

Thus all (sigh...) comes down to a matter of how we consciously (wisely?) prioritize our internal workings. Will we think before we act? Will we say 'I don't have time for that now !' and live to say 'ooooh, maybe I should have thought about that?'

Sagittarius being known for fervency and conviction (for right or wrong) Pallas as companion to Mars/Mercury...IN an emotional degree....of a sign (Sagittarius) which is so much all about the process and 'doing' says we may blow others off now. Or we may blow off/cast aside our hesitancy or the misgivings which at other times would be keeping us stuck like a fly mired on superglue flypaper.

With all that in mind, we turn to the degree of this event: 17 Sagittarius. And what does tradition say about 17 Sag? It says this is a degree known for naive optimism, artistic and intuitive instinct plus a lovely dappling of sensitivity suggests we may just burst forth in creative flower.

Except for....

Except for what? Oh, what now...!

(stamping of impatient feet...oh, I so hear you!)

Trust me, I wouldn't bring it up if this wasn't an impressive little quartet of symbols: Kassandra, Ixion (shudder here, please) Lachesis and...Hybris.

We start with Kassandra, since this is the asteroid at the beginning of the chain. Sitting at 15 Sagittarius, Kassandra is a reference to something which had a spectacular beginning...but some insight which wasn't truly "believed." This goes back to who Kassandra was: a prophet of Delphi who offended her boss (god Apollo) by refusing to have sex with him, in return for which he cursed her to 'always being right and never being believed.'

(Sounds like a few marriages I know of, but that's besides the point...)

 Cassandra seeking the protection of Pallas (wisdom) to mitigate
the curse of Apollo (enlightenment which is never believed). 
This 1877 statue by Aime Millet is in the garden of France's
Tuilleries - an interesting comment on the time, seeing as its
creation was during the reign of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette,
both of whom would find themselves not believed and
incarcerated in the Tuilleries not twenty years later.

Link to article on Marie Antoinette

 

There are at least two ways to look at this Kassandra-at-15, Pallas/Mars/Mercury-at-17 thing. One is to say that whatever Kassandra represents, it's been put behind you. 15 comes before 17? So if 17 is "now" then 15 was 'two somethings ago.'

In astrology we call this 'progression theory' - but let's not get technical. Lust say the measure is pretty fluid: the "two ago" thing could be hours, days, weeks, months, years....relationships, jobs...any "two ago" you would care to throw in the pot.

It also could be many things. This is a common mistake people (even astrologers!) make with astrology - the reference is not merely a reference to just one thing.

And hey, that goes really well with the Sagittarian theme, since Sag is always into 'more' and 'expanding' those horizons and theories and abilities and so on.

So - with Kassandra 'two' behind the moment, you may have recognized an error (the "truth of the lie") and have already dealt with it. Or you may be now facing repercussions from it. Or it may represent something you still don't believe.

(Ah yes, denial is such a wonderful tragedy.)

Moving on we come to Ixion at 16 Sagittarius: "one" past Kassandra and "one" before now.

If you don't know the whole story of Ixion, it's a point worth understanding. Of all the "new fangled" points in astrology, if someone asked for a vote on which three they'd name as 'most potent,' Ixion would definitely head my personal list.

Like as not, we all have an Ixion (like other things we all have one of) and we all act out the Ixion drama at lest once or twice (or a dozen times) in our lifetime. So if you haven't read it, here's the link to the article on Ixion.

Basically, Ixion symbolizes our ideas of grandiosity, entitlement and self-involvement...in ways which don't turn out so well for us. One of the handful of Neptune-controlled 'Plutino' gang, Ixion situations tap into our  (generally) 'baser' nature.

And again, we all have Ixion in our chart...and ignorance is no guarantee of bliss here - far from it!

Positioned in a degree which is about life's 'pleasures' and specifically about our ability to maintain and sustain ourselves properly in relationships, Ixion here is referred to as a 'psychological contamination' with emphasis on one's ability to breathe. And yes, this could just mean something "takes your breath away" in the nicest way ...except for that little...uh...IXION part.

But again, this degree is "one" behind the Pallas-Mars-Mercury conjunction. So....was there something you didn't believe or didn't understand when it was said to you? (And yes, don't you hate it how prophecies are sometimes so oblique?) Has that turned into some sort of 'breath taking' moment?

Or maybe you're moving past that breath-taking moment? With Ixion at 16 and today's triumvirate of symbols at 17, if you had some seriously wrenching (or "breath taking") moment one day, week, month, year (etc.) ago - now may be when you actually may do something (Mars/Mercury) to move past it. You may now know or understand (Pallas) 'why' that happened and what it means in/to your life and be ready to move on.

In fact, you may be much the wiser (Pallas) person for such events.

Continuing our little lesson in astrological conjugation, this could be you arriving at a moment (Lachesis) of opportunity (Mars/Mercury) which you know (Pallas) won't or can't last. Or a decision (Pallas/Mercury) of what to do (Mars). 

Or maybe...with Lachesis (the symbol of 'duration') being in exact conjunction with today's trio of symbols, maybe that means something you want to do or have been doing (Mars/Mercury) gets put on (Lachesis) hold.

Or maybe you just have to wait (Lachesis) for an answer to some question (Pallas)? Sometimes that's all we can do. So we sit there and subconciously (Pallas/Mercury)  listen to the tick...tock...tick...tock...of each minute's passage, knowing (Pallas) that we truly have to wait however long (Lachesis) until there comes that moment when what we need to move on with - be it permission or information or the car keys - until that finally arrives (Mars/Mercury).

 The face of Westinister's Big Ben,
one of the most famous tick-tock'ers around.

Yet even after all this, we still have to face Hybris.

Hybris is an interesting point in that there's so very little written about it. The name is thought to have been derived from the Greek 'hubris' meaning "arrogance." A little looking into the term reveals that it's related to 'hybrid' and thus a 'forced interlocking' which here (with Hybris pictured "one" ahead at 18 Sagittarius) means there's something about to be 'inserted' into our efforts, dynamics, considerations...whatever it is we're up to at the moment.

And considering the relationship between 'hybris' and 'hubris' we shouldn't count on it being totally pleasant. Or even our being pleasant, come to think about it. There's a whole little theme here about trying to 'mate'  the 'tame' with the 'wild' which at 18 Sagittarius has a tendency to 'go too far.' The degree itself has a reputation for 'imbalance' which can manifest simply or in a truly devastating way. This is an 'internalizing' degree, suggesting that it's what's going on inside us which is the possible source of trouble.

Like we needed more of that what with Mars/Mercury and Ixion...plus Kassandra?

Another of the thousands of main belt asteroids, at it's farthest, Hybris is pretty much at the center of the pack. It is thus native to our thinking and our operations - we all have to deal with (and accept) that we have not only a capacity for arrogance (if that's what we take the point to mean) but a tendency to manifest that.

Does that mean it's just 'there' and we don't have to do/care/take responsibility for it? Probably not, though by where Hybris falls in your chart we also can like-as-not tell whether you tend to be someone who 'deals' with these tendencies as part of your personal responsibility quotient - or whether you're one of those people who needs to get faced off and knocked down before you realize you're totally out of line.

Being one of the points on a list sent to me by astrologer Alex Miller during my 'new point' studies we have at least one vote (Alex') for Hybris as the psychological inability to grasp the consequences of our actions and/or the thought that you can 'get away' with something - even that some rule or law doesn't apply to you. In looking at Hybris in charts and considering that its perihelion point (the point at which it's closest to Earth: Hybris' "delivery") is - as it happens - just inside Kassandra's.

So when Hybris actions/choices/activities come 'to us' that which we 'didn't believe' (Kassandra) proves true.

And that lies ahead.

(Kind of makes you want to look up your Hybris, doesn't it? Well, check the sidebar - use the link to Serennu.com, which has an extensive asteroid ephemeris base, and yes, is accurate. Just remember to use a "list" format, a "360 sort" and dd/mm/yy date formats, not mm/dd/yy date formats).

But before you go dashing away, let's just close here. All and all, this seems to be a moment for collecting our recollections and moving on from there. What that entails, what we each need to consider and contend with - that obviously varies.

Waters have been rocky, yes. We've had to take shelter in safe harbors as we could.

Now the way opens before us. Where do we want to go? Do we actually want to go there? What will it take to get where we want to go in life, and who do we want to be along the way and when we get there?

 (November 2007) an English seascape just after sunset. 

photo credit: rnbc