Pluto Station-Retrogrades in Capricorn

Image based on a photo of cocktail straws taken by Dave Gough (September 2006)

Amidst threats of violence and a rash of difficulties and damaging deeds, Pluto goes retrograde on April 12, 2013 at 7:33 in the evening UT/+0 time at 11 degrees of Capricorn, a sign astrologically ruled by Saturn.

That means the 'station window' (or 'allowance') begins on April 10th and extends through to April 14th, which does not mean that acts which are undertaken or committed to prior to this time don't apply. What the station and its two day 'allowance' to either time represents is the heart of a period which changes our perception (in this case, in a Plutonic manner) depending on what else is going on.

That said, in this case, Saturn went retrograde back in February at 11 degrees of Scorpio – in a perfect sextile to the station Pluto is taking now.

And since Capricorn is ruled by Saturn and Pluto is the ‘outcome’ ruler of Scorpio, in astrological terms this is something of a self-feeding loop.

 Since ancient times the Ouroboros - the snake (dragon, fish, etc.) swallowing itself

has been a symbol of a process which is either difficult to escape or which

is entirely self-supporting.

(From the Codex Parisinus, a late medieval Byzantine Greek
alchemical manuscript - c. 1478)

Okay…so maybe in our lives this isn’t so literal. (Or as literal.) But for some of us...maybe it is.

Saturn in Scorpio is all about building our lives and what it takes to get where we want to go.

Link to post: Saturn in Scorpio

Scorpio is an emotional sign which tests us through others and through the situations we encounter in life. Sagittarius is a fire sign which tests the viability of our ideas and the implementation thereof. And Capricorn is a sign about real world, real time, real life ‘commerce’ (be that business or otherwise) and how well or how badly we structure our lives…or how well or badly we have already structured our lives.

So the ‘outcomes’ we are experiencing now, or the challenges which are really ‘getting to us’ now are a combination of this back-and-forth sign rulership between Pluto and Saturn. (Which by the by has an astrological name – it’s called “mutual reception.”)

And the thing to remember is that all signs being polarities, this calls in some bigger questions – those posed by nationality, family, culture and upbringing (Cancer as the polarity to Capricorn) and our feelings of risk or security or threat to that security which are emblematic of Taurus as the oppositional sign to Scorpio.

Some of us are likely to come into this time – the Pluto station or the period surrounding it – trying to figure out how we can please everyone.

And yes, sometimes it’s too bad that people aren’t flex-straws.

 A contortionist playing 'Man-in-a-box'

(photo credit: Keith Allison, December 2006)

Evidently we don’t stop trying. And some of us (evidently) succeed at getting pretty good at it, whether it’s at being a human flexi-straw or finding our way through the thicket of human hopes, disagreements, conflicts and realities.

11 Capricorn is symbolized by this image:  

An illustrated lecture on natural science reveals little-known facts of life.

With Pluto taking its station and going retrograde in this degree, the effort we have put into things (Saturn in Scorpio) is now either bearing fruit or bringing to light ‘little-known facts’ which we need to consider. A lot depends on what kind of energy you have been putting out there, obviously. Some people have been resisting making changes, some people have been resisting knowing the truth, some people have been resisting taking responsibility for what they’ve done or their life or relationships or success, failure – what have you.

Saturn is the symbol of all we either put into something to build and grow and create lasting life structures, or Saturn is some sort of wall or limit you set up in your life, or which life confronts you with.

Of course there are many limitations and challenges to which we say ‘I just have to live with it’ or ‘that’s the way it is’ when that’s not really the truth.

And here we get into the big and karmic world of what we can do versus what we want to do – which is exactly the sort of concept Pluto generally brings to light.

And it brings them to light because Pluto represents not merely our psychic shadow (that which we don't want to admit to or see in ourselves) but that which brings out evidence of that shadow.

Hence so much violence and the taking of stances by those in our personal world as well as on the world stage who don't feel entirely good about who they are. Jealousy, grasps at power and control and a wholesale thrust to have what we want no matter how it affects others are very Scorpio-Pluto concepts. Add in Saturn and you have a 'making it real' factor which is particularly apt where something hard and sometimes tangible but always consequential is put forth as the means or the "weapon" of choice.  

But there is a whole other side to this Pluto-Saturn mutual reception. For those who have been working towards some goal ("earning" being the key idea here) this is a time when a rational approach and clarity of method yields results. So this can be an entirely positive time...it mostly just depends on whether you are working productively, honestly and openly with or within your Self. Those who have worked for something which is viable and ‘a positive’ in life will find a path forward being revealed. And though the forward path may not be easy, at least you’ll know it’s there for the doing...the taking on as a task and personal responsibility to yourself.

Conversely, those who have erected too many walls, or who have allowed their lives to get 'walled in,' life will now present challenges which seem exceptionally trying in a very primal, personal sense. Some will find themselves having to do with out - or face having to do without something "easy" in order to get to something less 'glossy' but more valuable on some intangible, intrinsic level.

Those who have based their values on things which don’t work for their true life Purpose? They will also find things more difficult. But why should Purpose enter into this? That would be because Pluto going retrograde at 11 Capricorn puts Pluto very much in opposition to fixed star Alhena at 9 Cancer, and Alhena is a premier emblem of Purpose among the fixed stars.

But we have even more to go with than that: in going retrograde at 11 Capricorn, Pluto is also going retrograde in opposition to dog star Sirius at 14 Cancer. So, considering that Sirius is all about personal brilliance and the ‘bright star’ we each can be in life as an individual, in ‘parsing the astrological opposition,’ Pluto’s station is asking us whether we are using our brilliance purposefully, or whether we are really serving the brilliance of Our Purpose, and that Purpose which can be supported by our brilliance properly.

Or even at all.

Considered to be a ‘true to theme’ degree of its sign 11 Capricorn has a bit of a Scorpionic quality in that it poses the opportunity and – on occasion – tests of confidentiality or secrecy. Another form of this ‘secret’ energy with this degree has to do with things we know which we utilize in our efforts to build our life, such as the experience we get on a job or the training we have invested in (“built into ourselves”) so that we can hold a particular job or be involved with a given career.

Pluto in any earth sign is going to ‘test the results’ in real time. All the hopes and dreams and theories of how things “should” work or how we might “want” them to work mean nothing in the earthy Pluto world where all that matters are results. And this goes to Pluto as a signature of transformative energies which, if we don’t keep them in perspective can become obsessions. Or obsessive drives which obliterate everything else.

And yes, that may even include our actual Purpose, which just may be shown up to you now through some little but brilliant fact.

Pluto committed to its transit of Capricorn in December of 2008. It will be in this most worldly sign of earthly personal and societal outcomes until 2024. Being that Capricorn is the third sign from Pluto’s ‘home’ sign (Scorpio), it is through all things Capricorn that Pluto gives ‘voice’ to all the ups and downs of Scorpio-like qualities.

 One from a famous series of photographs known as 'The Blue Marble' which

the Apollo 17 astronauts took while on their way to the Moon

(photo credit: NASA)

So these are the years of high persuasion and verbal manipulation. These years will show up the strengths of the human spirit and the terrible things which can happen to the human mind – and what those minds get put to. Considering that war is a ‘Scorpio thing’ it’s neither surprising that what war does to minds (PTSD and otherwise) and what kind of a mind launches a war is coming out now, nor should we expect this to be an easy ‘fix.’

Being that government is a Capricorn function and Cancer is the sign of 'the people' or a native population, the problems of government around the world are merely manifestations of this time. Whether citizens are trying to get rid of a government, whether governing bodies are taking away the rights of their citizens, this is Pluto working as a transformative and testing factor in the structural sign of Capricorn. Whether the question is states rights versus federal rights, democratic votes being overridden (or voters voting to override the will of those in power), whether it's a head of state refusing to give up the reins of power or a 'functional head of religious state' such as Pope Benedict choosing to step down when nobody's done that for many centuries...this is all part of Pluto passing through Capricorn and in doing so, testing what works and what doesn't work and the relationship between sheer power and negotiated agreement (the Saturn-Pluto cross-rulership quality) really means.

And how it does work, and where it doesn't work, and how the notoriously Scorpio ‘I want it my way’ quality can muck up the works.

Abuse being Scorpio and based on fear of loss with Capricorn being about having not just the authority and ability to punish but the responsibility to act for the greater and long-term "Cancerian" good is going to be a problem. So we will be hearing about tyrants real and fabricated. We will suspect those who accuse and we will oftentimes not want to believe the worst of someone we are in some way predisposed to like or feel loyal to.

And yet, they may be in the wrong. Or at least guilty of being as wrong as the "other side" is.

These years will test our own ability to recognize that might doesn't make right and how against that, sometimes there simply isn't no 'right or wrong' - there's only circumstances. And that’s just the problem. Pluto in any earth sign will tend to say look for results. But if there aren’t any, you have to ask why. Is it for lack of trying? Or as in this case, is there some other force (which at this moment would be represented by Saturn in Scorpio) which is blocking or “limiting” all possibilities for success because they can’t face being wrong or having their values be proven not so (Taurus as oppositional sign to Scorpio) valuable – or even viable?

The last time Pluto transited Capricorn - some two hundred and forty years ago - we were still squarely in the Age of Pisces. In the Piscean Age, Capricorn ruled the 11th house - the house of society.

A wheel representing the Age of Pisces with the border color-coded

to Capricorn's position on the 11th house

And so we come into this time with a lot of built up social 'inheritance,' if you will. The Piscean Age pictures two distinct groups - like the two fish of Pisces.

But the Age of Aquarius knows no gender, no bias, no class or caste or inequality.

At least that's it's purpose.

Aquarius is the most theoretical of air signs, the concept of the World as One which obviously sounds good but which quickly runs into human bias and the habitual human tendency to lust after weal, power, control, social status and all those trappings which prove to us that we're 'worth it' - which is precisely what the Scorpio-Taurus axis shows up: our vulnerabilities, insecurities and (in particular) those issues of self respect and self worth which people try to solve with "becoming worth" a lot of money or doing whatever they think they need to do to garner "respect" from others. 

This is all about the new paradigm: Scorpio at the top of the wheel of the Aquarian Age...

An Aquarian Age wheel with the border color coded to match Scorpio

on the 10th and highest house of the Age

...and Taurus at the bottom.

An Aquarian Age wheel with the border color coded to match Taurus

on the 4th house of the Age 

  
As Pluto moved through its home sign of Scorpio in the 1980s it set the trend of fervency (which some would call desperation) off. Yes, even if the attention is sometimes simple lip service or air-headed adulation, even if it's placation, manipulative praise or infamy, there's a lot of people who have already headed in this direction.

And there's more to come. The sign at the bottom of the wheel of any Age is the thing we come into that Age having very little of. In the Age of Pisces that was education - Gemini was at the bottom of the wheel.

Now it's Taurus.

Those who know their history know that education was not at the top of anyone's list 2,100 years ago as something everybody should have. That's a key to understanding where we are - and how likely we are to keep on with the whole 'substitute for self worth' epidemic for some time yet to come.

The truly successful among us - in the human sense of successful (i.e., success equaling satisfaction and contentment with one's life) will develop themselves and then build towards achievement, earning respect along the way. Those who do it the other way around may succeed on the outside, but feel hollow on the inside.

And yes, we've already seen and hear plenty of those stories. They're sad. From the outside you can see the person struggling to have that very thing they won't stop to accept: their own self respect. 

As for Capricorn, in the Age of Aquarius, Capricorn moves to the 12th house of the wheel.

The Aquarian Age with the border of the diagram color coded

to match Capricorn being on the 12th house of the wheel of the Age  

And if you know anything about the 12th house, it's a house which is all about our ability to deal with reality and all about everything we will do to avoid dealing with realities - with all of that involving (and prompting) the many ups and downs which embody the universal emotional experience of being human.

All that is now flowing through Capricorn. So with Capricorn being the sign of commerce and every kind of ‘worldly regulated social standing’ it’s no wonder that we’re hearing so much about the gay marriage and the right of women to be CEOs, priests or anything else of worldly standing.

Once Pluto moved into Capricorn, even reality TV moved on. Reality TV started under Pluto in Sagittarius (which is Pluto in the opposition sign to Gemini). Sagittarius being about how well our choices and ideas work we had shows like ‘Survivor’ and ‘Big Brother,’ ‘American Idol’ and ‘The Amazing Race.’

And while those may have lived on, as Pluto moved into Capricorn (the reality of how we deal with the world and build our lives) reality shows began exploring the Capricorn-Cancer realm of life, lifestyle and traditions or culture, giving us people creating a career (creating a Capricorn structure) rather literally out of their family, heritage or efforts to make their way in this world (Cancer).

We are each doing some form of all of this in our lives. We have shifted out of ‘playing at’ certain things (Pluto in Sagittarius) in favor of doing things ‘for real’ – the hallmark of Pluto in Capricorn. Things seem more real and at once more depressing and more possible with Pluto in Capricorn.

And now Pluto is going retrograde. This means the energy of ‘change’ is now moving from in the world (to which we respond) into us. So for the next several months (Pluto goes retrograde in September) will be a time for a lot of internal shifts, changes and transformations. They won’t all be easy. Plutonic energy isn’t known as anything easy and with the mutual reception in Saturn there are some hard choices and difficult challenges to be dealt with by each and every living last one of us.

But we can do what we need to do. It may mean giving up the easy or the comfy or even the popular. But if you are heading towards manifesting your true Purpose with authentic brilliance, you’re likely to come out on top.

As the old expression goes, slow and steady wins the race. With Saturn and Pluto both currently in retrograde taking the time to do things right and thoroughly is what will – in time – give you the rock to stand on.

And isn’t that what we all want – a rock which doesn’t roll out from under us at the critical moment?
That would be Pluto’s aim in Capricorn. Some of us are going to have to break out of a hard chrysalis shell before we can pump blood into our wings and take flight like a butterfly.

A Monarch Butterfly enjoying a flowery moment in a Birmingham (UK) garden

(Tony Hisgett, September 2011)

But what’s our choice? Do we really want to live and die inside a cocoon? Being ‘cocooned,’ whether in silken threads or not have a difficult reputation in the world of lore and metaphysics. It’s like being crippled, and who would choose to cripple themselves on purpose?

One other thing to stick in our Pluto bonnet here before we slip off into the experiencing our personal world of station/retrograde. That one thing is about the Solar Eclipse which will happen this November. It’s going to be at 11 Scorpio – the degree of Saturn’s February station and in sextile to Pluto’s current station position. (And yes, Saturn will be close enough to the eclipse to be involved.)

This is one of those celestial ‘messages on a wall.’ The message reads: change or be changed.

Those who make the needed changes now, or who are working towards them are likely to emerge from this fall’s eclipse with more clarity and better opportunities than those who refuse, reject or claim they ‘can’t’ change. And while I understand (better than most, trust me!) that when I say ‘emerge from an eclipse’ I’m not talking about an ‘over the weekend’ sort of thing, the implied reality – in its totality - is just as important.

Maybe even more important.
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Facebook: Going Public Under Venus Retrograde

 

When I first wrote about Facebook, the idea of the company going public was not yet a whisper in the wind.

Then I heard the news: Facebook was getting set up for an IPO (initial public offering) and joining the world of publicly held corporations.

I wondered how well Facebook would do with all that public regulation and scrutiny. So I did what astrologers do - I pulled the corporate chart out. And there indeed was a whole lotta commentary!

Facebook’s Saturn (the hallmark of any business being Saturn)...that’s way up high in the chart. And for a business, that's great. The business ‘holds’ the concept of being a business very high, and with this Saturn being in the 9th, there 'mission' of the company is likely to be held equally high.

Mind you, that doesn't always happen. But with this Saturn? Uh...yeah. With this Saturn, Facebook started out understanding that it's business was the functionality of its users. Facebook’s Saturn is in Cancer. Cancer is the sign of people or 'populations.' Saturn in Cancer is thus Facebook as a company about people, and Facebook is a company whose business is people.

Still, it's not all service and roses. Saturn in Cancer is Saturn in its sign of fall. As a business, that means the prospect of the company as a company can be a little too limited...or a company which tends to be a little prickly (even snarky) with users or (seeing as this is a 9th house Saturn) entitles which embody 9th house 'rules and regulations.'

Going back to Cancer as the sign of ‘the people,’ native populations and corporate 'customers,' it's a great emblem of the zillions of people who have joined Facebook - and a sign that zillions of people would be inclined to join Facebook.

By itself, that's mucho fabuloso. But since Saturn in Cancer would be ruled by the Moon (the Moon rules Cancer) it's really the Facebook corporate chart Moon which affirms this 'popularity' thing. The Facebook Moon is in Capricorn, and Capricorn is ruled by Saturn. 

This creates a nice little closed-circuit system where Saturn (Facebook the company) supports the people (Moon = people) who thus support the (Saturn) success of Facebook. Nice! Facebook is indeed a business about people (Saturn in Cancer). Moreover, Facebook's Saturn business success has been fed by tons of real time and digital word-of-mouth fashion - and that's very Capricorn Moon in the 3rd house.

(FYI, these kinds of astrological ‘closed circuits’ are known as ‘mutual receptions.’)

Facebook’s “meteoric” rise is written in the chart as Moon conjunct Icarus (Icarus being a symbol of being ‘quick to take flight’). And there is Pluto in the 3rd house too. That lends (and describes) the whole obsessive, ‘life on Facebook’ sort of aura.

Oh, it's all so very nice, eh?

Eris on the Descendant of the corporate chart is a huge and positive mark towards changing societal organization. I can change the world is one yell yelled by this chart very loudly.

Though it is – let’s face it – also something of a ‘buyer beware’…first in the exultant treasure trove of data Facebook members have ended up providing for their host, then just as obviously with regards to the IPO.

One note about that ‘invasion of privacy’ and data mining thing so many grumble about with regards to Facebook. Eris and the Descendant are in Aries, which points to Mars, ruler of Aries.

That Mars is in the 10th house of commerce at 22 Leo conjunct the 23 Leo 11th house cusp of corporate income. One conjugation for Leo on the 11th would surely be entertainment income. Another would be enthusiastic fans – which Facebook obviously has by the bucketful.

A screen clip of Facebook's 11th house cusp

With Orcus (consequences of actions which cannot be undone) at 24 Leo and thus just inside the 11th (coloring 11th house operations by being so close to the cusp) - that's the sign to anyone dealing with Facebook-the-corporation-and-social-network that Facebook can rightly claim that before you join, you should read the fine print (and that) there are costs to being part of any group or society…

Namely, you're not just in public (watch what you post and don't blame us, says Facebook!) but that Facebook has the right to treat your data as it's "product."

Lo and behold: data mining in horoscope terms!

However! This Mars/11th house/Leo/Orcus thing is not just a statement to users. It's also a warning to Facebook, by which I mean to the likes of say, Mark Zuckerberg. After all, the sound of going public is probably enchanting. It’s probably exciting as all get-out to go through all the steps and realize your once tiny company is going to be listed on the big board at the stock exchange.

This happens to be the Phillippine Stock Market Board and

Facebook isn't on it (the photo was taken in July of 2008)

but can you just imagine how exciting it would be to know

that YOUR company is going to be one of those listed on

a worldwide exchange?

 (photo credit Katrina Tuliao, July 2008)

But there is a 'down' side there. Once you go public, it’s a whole new ball game – in this case the Orcus ball game. Remember - the 11th house of any horoscope is the "public marketplace." And where in your chart or that of a privately held corporation it would be your product and fitting in at a company and anything-plus-everything which would create income, that changes when a company goes public.

There's a couple of parts of this. One is that when a company becomes a "public entity" then the society (represented by the 11th house) gets a bigger vote not just in how it values your company stock, but in what it thinks of your attitudes towards the public - you know, the how you treat people part.

Astrologically, we would also see this as taking the lid off the Leo (Sun-ruled) qualities in this chart. All corporate charts are Sun-ruled (they're all timed for noon) but with Facebook, there is that important Saturn-Moon mutual reception which has up until the 'going public' moment certainly represented the incredible organic drive which has grown Facebook as a company.

Will going public take some of that ‘drive’ out of the Saturn-Moon connection, in essence diverting that energy into Facebook’s 10th house Leo Sun (which is inconjunct that native Moon-power thing)? One would think it would. Facebook has always been a company. It's always needed to earn it's way in the world. But this going public thing may well turn the business of Facebook into Facebook the business in a whole new way and at a whole new level.

Is this bad? Well, just on the face of the domestic chart (no pun really intended there…) this is isolating. Once Facebook becomes a ‘true corporate entity’ it’s going to be less a thing of the people.

Ever hear of that expression “jumping the shark” ? This is not to say that Facebook is going to go away or anything, but the internal ‘us the people’ Cancer thing is now officially a whole different thing than the company’s interests. It is – to use the plain spoken vernacular – now truly out to make money. Before the IPO there was an organic quality to Facebook which now has in part, even greatly, been shifted out of the hands of the ‘regular folks’ (the users) and into the hands of not just those running Facebook, but all those who will seek to regulate Facebook.

And the metaphysics there are a bit grizzly. After all, on the metaphysical level…with regulation comes the need to regulate. And with Facebook, this is a whole scattering slew of fractious forms of bad behavior. Not on Facebook’s part necessarily – but on its users.

This sounds odd, I know. But this is at the heart of metaphysical concept: once you impose the structure, then there is a need for structure. Before structure was there, everything may have been ducky. But once you put that structure in place, the need for it arises.

If this was a cast on someone’s leg, we’d be speaking of atrophy of the muscles. In the case of a company like Facebook going public, it would be more like ‘public atrophy’ or a ‘laxness of user interest.’

We’ll have to see, obviously.

But then we get to the actual IPO...and why, when I heard when Facebook was going to go public that I gasped in futile alarm. Who told Mark Zuckerberg it would be a good idea to go public under Venus retrograde? (…bangs head on desk…) That’s about the biggest no-no I know of!

Oh, wait…he also got married, right?

(heavy sigh...)

Yes, well…I wish him and the wife all the love and luck in the world, though as an astrologer I know there are painfully few personal and joint (Davison relationship) charts with internal indicators which say they’ll thrive under a marriage committed to under Venus retrograde.

As for Facebook, there’s also the specifics of this Venus retrograde to contend with. Venus went retrograde at 23 Gemini. And guess where Facebook’s corporate Venus is?

22 Gemini.

To stage an important ‘moment’ at any planetary station suggests it’s an important ‘turn of events.’ And there is some symbolism about Venus’ turn to retrograde which fits here. Retrogrades are a ‘turning inward’ and Facebook certainly did ‘take in’ a whole lot of money by going public.

But if you’ve been listening to the news, the stock didn’t just take off and fly. And that is the sign of the Venus station chosen being that which is going INTO retrograde as opposed to that coming OUT of retrograde.

Of course to make this all more exotic, this means that the 2012 Facebook ‘Venus Return’ would, on first processing through the brain, seem to have happened just prior to Venus going retrograde. Maybe Venus was in it’s ‘on station’ period – and wouldn’t that be good?

Well, not exactly. Let’s remember that retrograde is a function of planetary orbits and relative planetary speed. Venus isn’t actually going backwards…it’s just that because of Venus’ orbit and Earth’s orbit, from our perspective it would seem to look that way.

Or it would if we could see Venus. While planets are retrograde, they are on the other side of the Sun – from Earth, I mean. So Venus in retrograde is Venus ‘out of sight.’ And since this relative planetary motion thing doesn’t happen all at once, that means…

Bottom line: the Facebook Venus return happened on May 7th.

Actually, make that the initial Venus return. With retrogrades, the planet comes up, does a station-to-retrograde, moves back down zodiacal degrees, does another station (this time station-direct) and then comes back to conjunct the point again.

Got that? That means there’s one initial (direct) Venus Return, a Venus-in-retrograde Venus Return, then after Venus goes direct, a final Venus direct Venus Return.

The initial Venus return for Facebook was May 7th.

 Facebook, Inc - the initial (May 7, 2012) Venus Return chart

The retrograde return would be May 22nd (the date of my writing this post, as it happens…).

 Facebook Inc - 2012 Venus Return (retrograde pass at May 22nd)

This is a picture of much verbal speculation...without much in the way of answers. Legalities (Saturn in 9) are still very much in the (9th house) news and a grand trine between Mars in 8 - Vesta (in a sensitive position just shy of the 4th house cusp) - and Pluto in the Sagittarian 12th (which has 'inherited' all the energy of the Sagittarian 11th) suggests several things, all of which are probably valid on some level.

1. A lot of pension funds and major corporate entities are interested in Facebook.

2. The general economy and greater international (Sagittarius = foreign) concerns is having something of an effect on this initial offering.

3. There is something 'internal' which pertains to money and the control of money, parceling out, transacting in, retention of (etc.) which involves promises (Vesta) which need sorting through. Considering this is in the aftermath of an initial public offering, that doesn't seem unusual. Is it something more?

With Vesta so close to the IC (Nadir) we'll have to see. That Taurus Vesta is ruled by the Venus-trine-Saturn in 9 however...? One would expect some cursory questions at least...especially (speaking here metaphysically) because the 'importance' of Vesta has just been moved up a notch (see previous post).

The point is that Vesta is about our promises. But what those promises are on the inside...which here is very clearly pictured as Vesta/IC (the IC-Nadir being the 'innermost' point in any chart). Motivations noble and craven are Taurus...which in real terms here, considering Taurus only at the very most basic level would be money or 'worth' - the value of the company.

In IPO terms that would be the valuation of the company. And that Vesta is at the Nadir in this Venus Return (retrograde) chart refers us to what the company is being on.

I'm thinking you get my drift. And whether voiced through corporate earnings, price stock, outside influences on the company, actions of corporate officers (the ultimate 'insiders,' one would assume) or the zillions of people on Facebook, a retrograde Taurus Vesta at the IC asks who has promised what and what the future promises.

We live in contentious times. This offering was made under Saturn-opposition-Eris which is as much as anything else about exposing problems in the system. So if Facebook has stepped in a gopher hole there, that's just part of what came with the choice of date for the IPO.

(And yes, I'd love to know how that date was chosen! Next time, get an astrologer, guys!)

The third Venus return, the direct return which will be the Venusian signature Facebook will ‘live out’ until May 2013 when it gets its next Venus return – that happens on July 29th.

Facebook, Inc - the July 29 (2012) final Venus Return pass

Would this be a good time to buy stock? Better than the initial day, one would suppose – though there is a theory in stock speculation (which is all a form of Leo-5th house ‘gambling’) which says buy low and wait it out.

As an astrologer, the best I can suggest on this score is that you go by your own chart, how that works with Facebook’s corporate and IPO chart with a fair perspective on your resources and tolerance of risk.

While it would be fascinating to do a ‘group analysis’ of everyone and every entity which bought into Facebook’s IPO, that’s simply not possible. (Alas!)

In that final chart, Venus is at the IC and conjunct Charybdis (continuing to try), Bellatrix (difficulty in getting the point across) and fixed star Phact, a signature of a ‘difficult struggle with one’s mentality’ which goes right along with Bellatrix.

Venus also rules an intercepted Libra Saturn/Mars in the 7th which is in opposition to an Aries Pallas an Eris in the 1st house. On one level, this is the recognition of how sometimes expectations outstrip results which may be perfectly okay, just not spectacular. On another, this would seem to be greatly about Facebook reasserting its value to users (it's 'product' base) as the corporation knows people need to continue feeling friendly about friending if the Facebook Phenomenon (as it's called) is to continue. 

As for the IPO chart itself. it has a highly placed Moon in Taurus (at 2 Taurus) which is followed by a cavalcade of points (Vesta, Ceres, Black Moon Lilith, Mercury, Sedna, Jupiter) …ending in the Sun at 28 Taurus.

This is all in the IPO’s 10th house, meaning the company is seen as valuable. But there’s also a Grand Square in this chart composed of Mars/Medea in Virgo in the 2nd house, North Node in Sagittarius in the 4th house, Chiron/Niobe in Pisces in the 8th house and South Node/Circe in the 10th house. 

To put this concisely, this gives the IPO a ‘dazzling’ quality. And yet…there’s something about it. It’s that Chiron/Niobe thing in the Piscean 8th. Is this company really capable of delivering on its value? That would be something of the question posed, and with Neptune having moved into Pisces last year, chances are we aren’t going to know for a while. Undoubtedly Neptune’s conjunction of Chiron (at 9 Pisces) is going to change the internal dynamics of the company and its operative priorities. We just don’t know what that means yet.

…Oh yes! One other thing about this IPO before I forget. It has Vesta/Phaethon at 7 Taurus, too, right at the top of this chart. Put simply, this is a headstrong and quite possibly self serving drive which is all about money and it’s to be expected that this filing will produce every variation on ‘stock greed’ and ‘stock hoarding’ and stock-as-security net imaginable.

So let’s think…Jupiter is about to enter Gemini. So from 2012 to 2013, Jupiter is going to be transiting Gemini and getting into/retrograding in/teaching us what Facebook’s 11th house ‘public corporate persona’ is going to be about. Jupiter not being known for excessive good behavior in Gemini, one would expect Facebook stock to be all over the place for a while.

Once Jupiter reaches Cancer (on June 26, 2013), things should settle down. What will make them settle down? Well, with Neptune taking its 2013 station/retrograde at 5 Pisces (which is just at the point where Neptune would be thought to be affecting the IPO’s natal Chiron), this is some sort of ‘handwriting on the wall’ moment.

Oh yes…that 5 Pisces position? That’s the position of Facebook’s natal (corporate) Uranus in the 5th house. 

This is something willful, something creative, or something having to do with children. There is a native vulnerability inherent with Pisces that even big corporations have to deal with. They all have vulnerabilities. With Uranus being the signature of all things digital and positioned in this chart conjunct Fomalhaut (success achieved only when there is a lack of corruption) and Byblis (defense of the indefensible) there are all sorts of uglies which may yet surface.

In fact, which will yet surface.

Does Jupiter’s continuing on into the IPO’s 12th house indicate stock stability? Some domestic-versus-international issue? Something to do with families? Some sort of ‘cultural’ divide?

Maybe. With the 12th house cusp colored by Athena (intellectual wisdom) and Sabine (held captive) it’s likely that come the latter part of 2013 it will be a wiser and somewhat more conservative or conservationist Facebook which faces this public world it has now – in essence – married.

Weddings under Venus retrograde can succeed. You just have to be aware of the emotional dynamics. 

So…Mister Zuckerberg? With all the respect in the world for what you’ve created, next time you decide to go public with some sort of company, consult all the bankers and lawyers - absolutely. But then maybe you also want to check with an astrologer.

In the meantime, good luck to you and the new wife.

Most of the world is going to look at the newly wedded Zuckerbergs and say they have everything. Yet while in the monetary sense that may be true (they absolutely have money)…will they have love?

That is, without qualm or question, a whole different thing.