Eclipse Notes: Aspects, Effects and Returns

A circumhorizontal arc - an optical phenomenon caued by ice crystals in high level cirrus clouds

(photo credit Jeff Kubina, June 2007)

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Eclipses are funny astrological beasts. Sometimes they time out some very fun times - particularly if you’re talking about a lunar eclipse, as lunar eclipses (like all things lunar) tend to be ‘framed’ by feeling where solar eclipses, as emotional a time as they may indicate, are more focused on lifestyle and evolutionary life events than any particular emotional goal, needs or fervent hope. Plus lunar eclipses tend to be prompt. That is, with a lunar eclipse the effects are immediate - and if the eclipse aspects your chart with any acuity - often memorable.

But the emotional ‘high’...? Those effects tend to be relatively short-lived. Three months is pretty much the standard duration - which may be disappointing when all is bliss but rather reassuring when events which time with a lunar eclipse go really and truly bad.

Solar eclipses, on the other hand, are less defined - and they’re curiously reflective of the process of an eclipse. The Sun represents life. Or ‘illumination’ as in understanding and inner clarity. And when an eclipse happens, the Moon - a satellite which is closer to Terra Earth than the Sun is - that Moon intervenes...which metaphysically is what happens with a solar eclipse: something about life (yours, or life in general) ‘blacks out’ your sense of understanding. Or your ability to ‘shine.’

Yet solar eclipses aren’t metaphysically ‘cruel’ or about 'failure' even if they’re often challenging and in sync with losses and mistakes. Indeed, lore teaches that eclipses are about causing us to shed something we may or may not like or prefer - and even which we may have stuck with/invested ourselves in over many a year. But in some way...and at some level, that loss, that change, whatever else it may be is also about eliminating something which in some way is now keeping us from being that person we are capable of being going forward.

And why aren’t we that person? Well... you know.,.. it may just be easier to keep on doing (saying, thinking, acting) in a manner which ‘settles’ when it comes to our capacity? Or maybe we're just doing what has worked well enough for us over a lot of years.

On a metaphysical level, whatever our reasons are they’re excuses. Very human and perhaps heartfelt excuses, but (metaphysically) excuses, nonetheless. And those ‘excuses’ or those singular or many ways of ‘escaping’ our true capacity (read: the truth of our Self and who we really are) are what solar eclipses tend to affect. Generally effects are neither subtle nor convenient - and in that last bit (in particular) are seldom entirely to our liking. In fact, any solar eclipse which aspects your natal chart with acuity will manifest as some sort of situation which includes some degree of being (and feeling) at a lack for control.

And that would happen why?

That would happen because you are letting go of that thing you feel so comfortable doing, being surrounded by or feeling part of (etcetera).

You’re in free-fall with/within your Self, without being able to fasten on some inner (Sun) knowing.

 Shown as calculated for the October 2014 solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio,

the five degree orb of aspect surrounding the conjunction.

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With the conjunction (an aspect which extends to five degrees in either direction from the eclipse), eclipse effects are very personal. They’re about our life and how we perceive it - for better and for worse. (And maybe both.) Whatever planet, axis or other point is being conjuncted, the eclipse will manifest through whatever ‘flavor’ is exhibited by that combination of point and sign, making the conjuncting eclipse something along the lines of transformative tofu.

 Shown as calculated for the October 2014 solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio,

there is a three degree (plus/minus) orb of aspect surrounding the sixty (60)

degree standard sextile aspect which from 0 Scorpio would occur at 0 Virgo

and Capricorn, respectively.

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As opposed to this, the eclipse-by-sextile (the sextile being a 60-degree aspect) is the signature of opportunities lost... or about to be found, depending on how you come into any given eclipse period.

Sextiles seldom exhibit requirement or necessity, however positive they may be - and that can be a positive where utilization of a natural ability or talent - the ‘voicing’ of it gets involved. On the other hand, having an eclipse aspecting your chart by sextile can represent the ‘blacking out’ or elimination or destruction of some avenue or choice - or some opportunity you may have had. In such, eclipse energies sometimes seem like Pluto, which tends to point to a ‘transformation’ which reverses existent to non-existent (and vice-versa) depending on where, how and what in the chart is aspected.

But eclipses aren’t Pluto. Eclipse effects differ from those regarding Pluto in that Pluto manifestations tend to apply to our personal feelings - the why we’re feeling them, whether we have any right-minded reason to feel that way and whether such emotional drives (cravings, desires, aims) are safe or dangerous in practice or theory. Against that, eclipses are more ‘situational.’ Yes, they can (and sometimes do) manifest as a physical illness or accident. But the ‘eclipse factor’ in that mix is about how our lives are changed by the eclipse and thus all about how we need to change who we are being or how we are going about doing what we’re doing (or living our life) in order to take best advantage of some challenge... or simply in order to cope.
As with most things astrological, the greatest challenges, problems and gains are associated with the squares and as with sextiles, trines, semi-sextiles and inconjuncts (aka quincunxes), there are two different squares to consider. The first is the ‘departing square’ (or departing whatever other aspect) - a reference to the idea that the ‘event’ (in this case, an eclipse) is occurring within a three-degree orb of sixty degrees from whatever natal chart point you want to consider.

ASPECT EXAMPLES: The October 2014 solar eclipse will be at 0 Scorpio and the October 2014 lunar eclipse will occur under the sign of Aries. If this position is within the three-degree orb of sextile to some point in your natal chart (which would be in Virgo for the solar eclipse and in Aquarius for the lunar eclipse), then your chart is being eclipsed by sextile.

Do you have a point within five degrees (plus or minus) of 0 Leo - which is to say between 25 Cancer and 5 Leo? If so, that point is being eclipsed by square - and because from Leo to Scorpio is moving forward through the zodiac, that is referred to as a “departing” (i.e., from the point in your chart) square...and conversely, were it ‘behind’ in astrological/zodiacal order, that would be the approaching square.

Departing aspects are about something wanting to be built, developed or utilized as a point of personal growth. 

Conversely, approaching aspects are about finishing, completing or achieving something. When a solar eclipse occurs in a position to eclipse that departing momentum, that aim or the ability to pursue that aim changes - often dramatically - either for better or worse. When a lunar eclipse hits at the departing aspect (or within orb of it), something dramatic may well happen - but in the end the aim itself generally remains ‘out there.’ No, it may not work as we thought it would and depending on the natal point(s) being eclipsed the experience may no longer be desirable.

But it’s there. That’s the difference between lunar and solar eclipses: where the Moon symbolizes all things which elicit or reward our feelings, the Sun refers to life itself and therefore things we have to learn about and contend with.

 With the October 2014 solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio, the two squares will occur in Leo

and Aquarius. Given that squares are given five (5) degree standard orb, this means

these squares start at 25 Cancer or Capricorn and end at 5 degrees of Leo

and Aquarius.

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Squares pose particular questions and challenge our sense of balance. A square successfully handled requires that we both accept limitations and our responsibilities to act, embrace and balance qualities which differ against each other whether those qualities are intrinsically ours or exist with regards to something we are doing or attempting to accomplish. To have one’s chart eclipsed by square poses a challenge - one from which we will (generally) prefer to retreat out of a sense of being thrown ‘off balance’ or because something we had counted on (or believed in) has been removed, eliminated or proven invalid.

 Oppositions also get a five (5) degree standard orb, which puts the opposition to

October 2014's 0 Scorpio solar eclipse at 0 Taurus and the extent of opposition

orb between 25 Aries and 5 Taurus.

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Oppositions differ from squares by being a flat-out confrontation. Sometimes that’s with others or something in or about our overall life and sometimes that’s with ourselves as we belly up to the mental bar and come to grips with something about our Self or our assumptions.

When we experience an eclipse by opposition, something (or someone) either vanishes from our life (which could be as simple as their changing jobs and no longer being part of our workday) or as we become ‘confronted’ with a need to be or do something and all it is going to take to deal with that. Eclipses by opposition often reveal qualities about our Self which we have either been ignorant of or unperturbed by so long as they didn’t cause problems...which (voila!) the eclipse period provides feedback on.

 Like oppositions, trines also get a five (5) degree standard orb. Unlike oppositions

however, trines do have departing and approaching formats, giving us a departing

trine to the October 2014 Scorpio solar eclipse with a position of 0 Pisces (and thus

an orb of affect between 25 Aquarius and 5 Pisces) and an approaching trine

between 25 Gemini and 5 Cancer.

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Having some point in your chart be eclipsed by trine is to not be able to ‘escape’ some process which is continuing to alter whatever attribute is being described by the planet/symbol being trined. Less of an obvious ‘hit’ to your life or lifestyle than the the conjunction, getting eclipsed-by-trine is potent enough to keep us on track with necessities and highly likely to eliminate a sense of personal ease (or a willingness to ‘take it easy’).

So much for trines being all pleasant, eh?

Two last aspects, which are by nature the inverse of each other: the 30-degree semi-sextile and the 150-degree OR 210-degree inconjunct or quincunx.

(above) Like trines, squares and sextiles, both semi-sextiles and inconjuncts have

approaching and departing and approaching formats. However, unlike any of those

aspects, semi-sextiles and inconjuncts are most useful when the orb is kept limited

- often to an orb as small as one and one-half (1 1/2) degrees. This gives us semi-

sextiles to the October 2014 0 Scorpio eclipse (0 Scorpio 25, to be exact) at

0 Sagittarius and Libra with orbs allowing for effects between 29 Scorpio and

2 Sagittarius or 29 Virgo and 2 Libra... and inconjunct positions at 0 Aries and

Gemini with effects extending to between 29 Pisces and 2 Aries and/or

29 Taurus and 2 Gemini.

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Put in simplest terms, the semi-sextile is about getting past our own feelings while the inconjunct is about our personal feelings about what it takes to adapt to being part of a group, system or process. In other words, they’re both about adjusting to what we feel or think about things it’s just that the semi-sextile process is more about a conversation in our head we have to work through (mostly) on our own where the inconjunct is about something outside of our Self. Either way, when eclipsed both of these points tend to speak to responsibilities and how we respond (or sometimes more to the point, how we don’t respond) to the standards, morals and ethics of responsibility.

As noted, lunar eclipses tend to have a duration of around three months. By the end of that time the ‘heat’ of our feelings will have cooled and we will have learned a lot - most of all about our Self. Solar eclipses however, run a longer course. Instead of three months their duration is three years, which may well mean that we will at times be under several overlapping eclipse cycles. Also: at about two-and-one-half years after the eclipse itself things tend to surface or happen. Whatever occurs, it could not have happened or we would not have been in a position to care or take advantage of this opportunity or information had we NOT gone through whatever happened at the time of the eclipse.

That may be the most interesting thing of all about solar eclipses - whatever else they are, solar eclipses are also a rather ultimate form of the ‘delayed gratitude’ lesson... a lesson which perhaps is meant to teach us to handle the moment and to recognize life has much, much more to offer if we will just keep walking, whether that’s physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually.

RETURNS: The one exception to the (above) statements made about how long eclipses last concerns personal returns. If an eclipse - either solar or lunar - occurs within five (5) calendar days of EITHER your birthday (i.e., your yearly solar return) or your monthly lunar return, eclipse effects will be far more pronounced. If the eclipse occurs within five days of your personal/monthly lunar return, get your emotional raincoat on, particularly during the first month after the lunar eclipse. Whether effects taper off over the next few months as they normally would depends on your natal chart - most specifically the astrological ‘condition’ of your natal Moon plus whatever point the eclipse is in aspect to.

However, if an eclipse - solar or lunar - occurs within five (5) calendar days of your solar return (birthday), those eclipse effects can be expected to (lunar eclipse) last... and indeed (solar eclipse) dominate the whole of your solar/birthday year.

We just can’t say this often enough - and this is actually one of the biggest of big markers astrologers look for. A lunar eclipse around the date of your birthday can speak to a year which will have lots of ups and maybe an equal amount of downs and will often mark dramatic changes of circumstance, mindset or heart (personal or otherwise) over the course of that year, but a solar eclipse around the date of your birthday speaks to a year which could (just possibly) change the charted course of your life - or your ability to have the life you’ve worked long and hard to chart out for yourself.

Mind you, an eclipse around the date of your birthday is NOT enough to predict tragedy. I mention this here because people tend to jump to conclusions about such things. So please understand: even if an astrologer sees a solar or lunar eclipse around the date of your birthday it’s no sign of doom.

In fact, it’s a sign of an opportunity. No, everything may not be the way you want it to be. But that’s the point. Life is bigger than any of us know and we can’t know how to define all the possibilities.

Sometimes something has to break down the walls and lift our cherished veils so that we can grow, so that we can learn differently, so that we can move beyond our previous conceptions, realizing even as we witness eclipse dramas in the sky how we are  part of something miraculous... something vast and ever-changing and truly universal.

Maybe that’s why eclipses fascinate us so.   


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Aldebaran @ 10 Gemini (2014-2086)

 Constellation Taurus

(image generated using Stellarium software)

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There are a lot of famous stars, though what they’re famous for (and who made them famous) varies. Astrology certainly has its share of same, for sure - though even among astrologers there are a group of stars which seem to take stage center front more often than not.

Those stars are known as the Royal Stars of Persia. The complete list of Royal Stars is several dozen names long, but of those we use all the time, none seems any more important than Aldebaran.

All Royal Stars promise success IF (and only if) some particular human foible is avoided. With Aldebaran, that challenge regards integrity - most specifically, the not violating of one’s integrity.

This makes astrological sense of a rather important type when we think of Aldebaran as a star which sits at the heart of the zodiac constellation known as Taurus.

You know, Taurus values - what we value and what we are valued for against all our insecurities and vulnerabilities.

All of which gets tested out through our various Adventures Scorpionic. You know... like the 0 Scorpio solar eclipse about to occur on October 23rd (UT/+0)?

For decades now (many plural decades) Aldebaran has been sitting at 9 Gemini, a degree which tends to involve us in very complex issues and ideas, occasionally causing us to outsmart (or scare) ourselves in the process. Known for amazing thought processes which tend not to lead to accomplishment under the influence of this degree, Aldebaran’s having been positioned at 9 Gemini since September 1943 suggests that when it comes to what we’ve created or begun to understand or harness hasn’t even really begun paying off.

Imagine that.

Considering all that, is it logical or philosophically reasonable to think that just as Aldebaran is about to change degrees it would represent the pressure and squeezing of us, each and all, getting us to give up (cough up, let go of) that which is so futile... that which will not ever bear the dreamed of fruit?

It often works that way with planets. Why not stars?

In any case, now Aldebaran’s ‘integrity required’ directive is moving to 10 Gemini. The date the change occurs is October 2nd (UT/+0), and the degree ‘ten’ in any sign is one which includes an experience of.. or embodying of... some sort/amount of feeling(s). In a sign known for dispassionate perspective, 10 Gemini somehow ‘breaks’ that mold by being known for its strong compassion and desire to uphold justice (and correct injustices) which given Aldebaran’s presence speaks to an undercurrent we are going to hear a lot about (and feel in our own lives) over the seven or so decades.

During that time we will each meet up with many ways which ask us to connect with and uphold the concept of compassion, injustice, reform and so on.

And because Aldebaran will be in 10 Gemini, we are required to uphold standards of universal integrity. That means that things many people have ‘gotten away with’ up until now will no longer work. Corner-cutting or bypassing which has been accepted prior to now will either not be accepted/acceptable, or not work - to substantial (even great) cost.

This is a degree of beginnings - and evidently the need to begin with integrity, and to build or progress with ever more integrity. This is a degree of insight, which with Aldebaran at 10 Gemini suggests that one of our tests is going to be knowing the limits of integrity as a concept, for though we will understand much in the years ahead, not all of it will be what we’d like.

Aldebaran ‘travels’ in zodiacal opposition to another of the Royal Stars, a star which goes by the name of Antares and whose test involves obsession.

Don’t do it, in other words. Where Antares is concerned, obsession - which in this case is coming from Sagittarius (the “I Know the Truth and What’s Right”) undermines ultimate success.

(Ours, that is.)

In perfect opposition for these past more-than-several decades (and thus in the natal charts of everyone born since 1944) this Aldebaran-Antares dynamic is our challenge to find our passion... and the need to remain aware of our limits. That balance is in each chart and each life... and now that which was spinning like a gyroscope is going to begin to wobble -- just a bit, and just for a few years as Antares will also change degrees as of 2017, re-establishing a sense of inner directives.

But it’s could be a bit lumpy for the next few years. Things don’t have to be wildly out-of-round, but they will inflict on us a sense of being just barely out-of-balance. The smart money being on remembering this fact when things go wonky, it is to be expected that a lot of people (from every walk of life) are going to be flailing just a touch... or now and again... as they attempt to control that which cannot be controlled.

To typify this star as a more familiar sort of energy, one might call it assertion. But it’s more than that. Aldebaran represents the making of a point and the understanding of some point.

It also represents the need to simply know - not because we want to be right, but rather as a matter of living a life in which information doesn’t just allow us to make better choices but which requires of us to do that ‘right’ thing (live up to our own standards of integrity) and to that which is right because that’s simply the right thing to say, think or ultimately, do.
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The Taurus(Scorpio) Full Moon: Meeting Ourselvs Half Way

 Full Moon over the Grand Canyon

photo credit: Matthew Hunt (September 2005) 

Whenever we talk about a Full Moon...in whatever sign - we're actually talking about two different signs.

The 'why' of that is simple: a Full Moon is an alignment of Sun, Moon and Earth with Sun and Moon in perfect ("full") opposition (which allows the 'full face' of the Moon to be illuminated by the Sun)...with Earth sitting nearby taking in the lovely view. 

Where that alignment happens (which astrology describes using signs and degrees) and who is hanging around gawking on either side (or commenting from a distinctly discordant quadrant) is how we describe Full Moon effects.

But why would one Full Moon differ from another (give or take bystanders) if it's always Sun opposition Moon? Why do signs exist at all?

That's because, despite Galileo having paid a heavy price in his time for having declared that the Sun was the center of the solar system (ridicule, house arrest ordered by the Vatican...he has so little fun trying to teach his fellow folks the truth of things!) ...despite that, Astrology - which is a study of time/space/celestial effects on Earth and all things Earthly and earthy....that remains geocentric. 

And don't get all frizzled by the term. 'Geo' refers to Earth and 'centric' is 'centered on.' There are a few people out there who practice helio(Sun)centric astrology, but probably 99% of what you read is totally about us. Which makes sense - Earth is where we live.

Taking this back to 'what the heck are signs about?', if you think of Earth as the center of "its" solar system, then in succeeding months, everything comes from a different angle. You know...it comes at us from a different place - which is maybe why we use expressions like 'I got broadside by that one!' or 'it came right at me!'.

And as anyone who plays pool, billiards or works in a car crash laboratory will tell you, angular alignments count. Angles of impact often determine crash safety and effects on passengers. They certainly are what automotive designers build to protect against.

Problem is, there is no defense against life. Life comes at us from whatever angle no matter what.

And with a Full Moon putting the light of the Sun "full" in the eyes of our emotional (Moon) reality (Earth) - that being the basics of the 'highlighting' or 'emotional high tide' metaphorical meaning of any Full Moon....

...well, let's just say it pays to know where life is going to be coming from every month. Which yes, is why I've taken to talking about lunar cycles here on Ye Olde Blog every month.

So this time around, as happens every year about this time, we have the Sun in Scorpio and the Moon in Taurus, as we see here:

Taurus being all about our self worth...with which we go out and get what we want from the world and therefore have in our personal 'coffers' as resources...Taurus is about our sense of security and/or satisfaction as a reflection of our values.

As polarity sign to Taurus, Scorpio is where we risk that self worth and those values with others. The key word in that sense being 'risk,' everything about Scorpio feels 'dangerous.' The investment could go bad. That person we get into a partnership could be a dud. Or betray us. That innocuous person could be luring us in so as the manipulate the heck out of us. The sex could be terrible. That proposal we worked so long and hard on could get rejected. We could get turned down for that job.

But if you think about it, these events - in and of themselves - are not deadly. What's difficult about Scorpio - a water (and therefore emotional) sign - is how we feel going into them (the trepidation, the excitement, the angst, the expectation) ...and how we may feel when things if/when things don't live up to our expectations.

And with Uranus - our solar systemic destabilizing force (cammon...a planet which rolls around its orbit? How throw-a-wrench-in-our-thinking odd is that?)  - with Uranus in Pisces, land of emotional expectations...we are all ripe for a shakeup.

This sort of goes back to the New Moon, every New Moon being the basis of the cycle which leads to the Full Moon. This last New Moon was a sticky one in Scorpio. More precisely, in the emotional district of Scorpio, a sign which is emotional to begin with.

Even more interestingly (or let's say at least as interestingly)...it was the first of three New Moons which focuses on that number: 13. Next month's New Moon will be at 13 Sagittarius, and the month after that is a Solar Eclipse at 13 Capricorn.

In itself, this is a metaphorical progression which starts in our values and how to get along (Scorpio) which then moves into 'will it work/how to make it work' (Sagittarius) and seeing ultimately if that gets us where we want to go (Capricorn). If so, that equals life renovation. If not, that equals life changes forcing us to renovate.

At the moment, there's been a whole lot of emotional stuff going around. We've all been reflecting, refracting, sorting, interacting and in some cases forging new alliances...and in others realizing through our interactions how we really had it wrong who we were and/or who the other party/parties were or are.

And as soon as a lot of us have gotten past one puzzle, life has thrown another our way. Did we really get the message? If not, have another 'go' at it. If yes, it was on to the next step.

A lot of these messages have, in fact, centered on or come back to our self worth and values...and how that does/doesn't help us in our relationships with others - and in that, moving forward in life.

And all that...? That now comes home in 'Full' format with the rising and shining of our monthly Full Moon.

This does not...repeat NOT mean life will be filled with hilarity or disasters. What it's about is our ability to deal with our underlying humanity. This is about rooting out of us those glitchy, faulty, not-serving-us-well attributes we either don't need, haven't dealt with, or haven't done enough to properly develop. It's not the event of the moment in other words - it's whether you are overly reactive TO the moment. 

We all together on this one? Good, because with this Full Moon being positioned at 29 Taurus, life is likely to push us extra hard!

Twenty-nine being the last degree in every sign, it's known as a 'critical degree' in astro-speak. That's a little over-the-top, but "modern" astro-speak (a lot of it) was developed over a hundred years ago, which ain't so modern. In fact, it tends to be a lot melodramatic. So ignore the word and remember the term; what's meant here is that this is where the sign "presses" to complete its business. It's sort of all of Taurus loaded into one degree or all of Scorpio squished into 29 Scorpio.

For everyday purposes, this is an intensification of effects. So the testing of our values/self-worth is likely to be a tougher or more intense test.

And let me give you the biggest of big clues: we don't win by getting hysterical, angry, exasperated or upset. It seems counter-intuitive, but the solution to all Scorpio problems is to think, not emote - just as the solution to all Taurus problems is to do more, freeing one's  creatively, productive instincts rather than to conserve, hoard, or otherwise cling to what you have (security).

The degree in which the Sun sits (29 Scorpio) which speaks to the source of energy is all about 'adaptation' at all ends of the spectrum, depending on where you start. In all likelihood, solutions for the active begin with quiet reflection and/or studying situations...solutions for the more sedentary among us involve active 'doing something.'

Against this we have the degree of the Moon - and Earth, our 'reality,' if you will. Here we have 29 Taurus, a degree which is described as the 'having trouble doing.' Postulation is easy, but there's a problem with  demonstrating worth. The maladaptive form of this degree indicates bullies, makes excuses, procrastination and resorting to that really annoying sort of passive-aggressive stuff.

And that's where we're coming from? Blech! 

But wait....! Considering how metaphysics works, it's not shocking that this degree (and planets posited in this degree in a natal chart, should you have any) tend to attract the very kinds of provocations which will incite that which is really a form of insecurity.

Why? Because nature (life) constantly tries to help us grow, get out of our own way and otherwise become more successful.

But the process? That's sucky. No question!

And there is also the fact that this Full Moon isn't operating in a vacuum. (Well, other than that of space...) 
What I mean is that there are partners and parties to this Full Moon edition, the conglomeration of which looks rather like this:

 
The OPPOSITION part of this diagram we've already talked about...and we've touched on Uranus being in Pisces. So let's finish talking about that.

First of all, Uranus is at 26 Pisces, conjunct Byblis. Usually referred to simply as 'old knowledge,' what Byblis is really more about are 'tapes' in our psyche with which we are trying to reconcile. The tendency is to try and explain ourselves or justify our position, beliefs or desires, but where Byblis is concerned, the issue is us and how we understand things. Or, with Byblis here pictured in Pisces, how we feel about our feelings and/or how the world around us doesn't approve of or jive with our emotional perception or position.

Conjunct Uranus in a 3rd decanate 'others' degree, this issue of how others feel or what they say (or say about us, provoking emotional reactions in us) is very much underscored. And Uranus itself is all about the 'different' and the 'changing circumstance' which may be provocations coming from a quadrant which up until now seemed safely serene...or it may be all about our seeing something differently within ourselves.

Or, of course, both!

Lore for this degree speaks to a 'chaotic flow' of ideas which if we master and organize usefully, put us in a position to master ourselves. 

With a SEXTILE to the Moon (sextiles indicating opportunities) we have an opportunity described here to really drill through to the crux of some of our personal problems.

And with this Uranus/Byblis also being in TRINE to the Sun...this is what life (Sun) is trying to get us to really do.

(BTW...with an opposition, what sextiles one end of the opposition pretty much automatically trines the other end of said opposition.)

That doesn't mean this is any better or worse as a moment in time. But there is that to consider - this is just a moment in time. Lunations (lunar cycles), including Lunar Eclipses (one of which we will meet up with next month) are seldom life changing. They often indicate an emotional moment we 'never forget' or a shift of circumstance which will then lead to something solar which will mark our life actually changing.

Think of it this way - again, the Moon is about our emotions and thus reactive. It is thus not the 'thing,' it is how we feel about or react to 'the thing'...especially when the signal involves Taurus/Scorpio.

Moving on, the last set of 'players' in this moment of drama are Neptune and Chiron, with Neptune playing the part of the ideal against the illusion (the mystical magician who incites, eludes, entices and asks what we really know...about ourselves most of all)....and Chiron asks us that really, really pesky question about whether we're going to get off our duff and get to doing that thing we don't know how to do (yet) but which needs doing anyway.

This is an amalgamation of necessity versus insecurity, confusion of ideals with reality and the question of when (or if) we are ever going to stop wishing-dreaming-hoping-postulating-objecting and get to the trial-and-error in life which in time (granting false starts and missteps) gets us where we want to go.

Positioned in Aquarius, sign of society, this obviously indicates a 'social component' to this Full Moon moment. In a 3rd decanate position, the provocation is from 'others,' whether societal or 'personal others' - people in our lives.

In SEMI-SEXTILE to Uranus/Byblis, it's a given that we're in an emotional tangle about whatever is in the works now. That's on top of the Full Moon indicator of the critical degree and the Taurus/Scorpio nature of this moment. Are our values correct? Are our values to be kept private or made public? Do we need to cooperate more with the world (personal or public) around us? Do we need to pay more attention to what we do in the world and maybe the effect that has on our world or on us because of what we do or don't do in that world?

That Neptune/Chiron are also in SQUARE to Sun and Moon in this figure (obviously sitting within orb of the midpoint creating a transiting t-square)...that tells us about the nature of the challenge life is handing us. It's Aquarian. It's about our ability to be part of the world public and our world private. It's about our misgivings about that world and what we are doing about it (probably nothing...much talk, much complaining, musing, postulating...but little doing). It's about what needs to happen in our own life to satisfy that niggling thing inside which makes us - at some level - not so comfy with who we are. Or how we're acting or have acted. How we've chosen.

The amalgamation of this moment is a classic one: it's the reality of our lives versus how we wish things would work with the truth of the rebuttal being not about 'them' but about things inside us. Life is trying to get us to examine our gut. Maybe that stomach ache is more about what we've 'swallowed' - about ourselves. And maybe it was willing, maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was a truth, maybe it was wasn't. Maybe it was useful, maybe it undercut us in ways we were trying so to avoid.

Whatever it is, it's time to at least take a look. And acknowledge, maybe. Some of us will do something about it. Some of us won't. Those who do will move on into a season of evolutionary changes. Those who don't will have change inexorably thrust upon them.

What we do and how we go about doing it - in the end - is individual. There is no right or wrong here, only knowing, ignoring, discovering and/or denying.

What to learn? That we like or that we need? That's pretty much the question - and good luck to all of us with that!

 

Sun-Mercury-Spica: A Moment of Fulfilling Brilliance

 Wheat Fields in the US - source: USDA

 

It's just a passing few minutes...a momentary syncing of some of life's wheels. But it's one worth noting, whether you know the moment is coming, or reflect on it at your leisure.

As a matter of fact, sometimes reflection is the best way to learn with astrology. In a situation where you can look back a couple of hours and remember what went on, it clicks. Then when you see those planets hitting some mark yet again somewhere down the line, you know (more or less) what to expect.

And since it would be best to learn with something  useful enough to note, but not exactly earth-shattering, thus we come to today's example: a transiting conjunction of Sun, Mercury and fixed star Spica, all at 23 Libra on October 17th at 00:55 UT (adjust to local time).

The Sun is always life, will, intellect and that dynamic quality of being alive. Mercury being thought, daily activities, communication and all those objects (cars, phones, computers, mail systems, pens, shoes, limbs, etc.) which allow us to go about doing and getting things done, this would seem a moment about accomplishing something, deciding to do something, or some 'conjunctive' moment in such a process - one where everything "comes together."

You know, like with a conjunction.

Next we add Spica. Fixed stars tend to be 'qualities or subjects' which are added to any matter. Representing the wheat sheaf in the hands of that very large harvester constellation Virgo, Spica can be about being provided for, or having nothing - the good or bad 'harvest.'

And yes, it IS significant that as a constellation Virgo's sky pattern extends through most of Libra. That symbolizes not only how we depend on our interactions and relationships with others (the I/Thou of Libra) but the well considered (Mercury as ruler of Virgo) effort ...all the learning about/from, the give and take, sow-earn-reap-gain patterns which Libra is so very much all about! 

A statue of Livia Drusilla, third wife of Imperial Rome's Emperor Augustus

and arguably one of the most powerful women of her day. Livia could be

very good and very generous. Then again, she had this nasty habit of

being fickle enough to turn against a person and in doing so, become the

proverbial ill wind which marked the coming of their doom. Either way, in her

hand she holds the sheaf of wheat. Is she providing for some need? 

Or is she taunting the hungry, withholding from them the very stuff of life?

Because Spica tends to be about 'brilliance,' we would suspect this moment to be one when we understand. Or when we finish something or accomplish some aim. Or maybe we just get the point of a conversation - or the point of why something has happened.

Insight...accomplishment...comprehensive focus...contemplation...for good or challenge, these all would be apt interpretations of our symbolic trio.

But then we come to a couple of other factors.

One is that this conjunction is happening in (a not quite perfect) opposition to Eris at 21 Aries. Eris being 'discord', this adds a note of disruption - but to what end is not exactly defined. With Eris in the 'I Am' sign of Aries, it's probably about us - and therefore either what we do, how we feel, or about something we've already done. And with Eris in retrograde while Sun and Mercury are in direct moment, there is a sense of 'moving away' or 'parting from' some sort of rather more seriously disruptive moment which occurred on October 14 and 15, that being when the Sun and Mercury were actually in direct opposition to Eris.

(So why am I posting this now? Simple: because even astrologers have lives. While yours was being disrupted, so was mine! Sometimes we just do what we can do when we can get to it, y'know?)

And let's remember: Eris doesn't HAVE to be anything negative. Every heard of 'social discord'? Sometimes it is through social discord that great and positive changes occur. And maybe through what happened in your life you felt 'discord-ed' through some social or societal situation to the degree that you want to fix things. Or some 'broken' part of some system.

The opposition lends another note that this can be getting opposed by something...or chosen, willful efforts (Sun/Mercury) to get something done - such as getting 33 miners out of the ground in Chile.

That had a very good harvest, agreed? So Eris doesn't have to be bad. All it signifies is a change to the status quo.

And when the moment passes, then we feel spent, yes. Was it a good use of our efforts, time, attention, and resources? Did we handle ourselves well? Did we present ourselves effectively, whatever that means in any given moment?

This applies when we get to the 23 Libra part, as Libra is - in each and every case - an exchange. It is a 'balancing' of attributes, values, ideas. Libra is where the I meets the Thou and where Thou thus reacts to I, telling us how we're being seen...which may or may not match up with how we want to be seen. In fact, the gap between these two concepts...? That's the gap of pleasant surprise or disappointing failure. And though we so like to think it's always about 'them,' the fact is that when we don't get the response we want, it's either because we haven't presented ourselves in a manner suitable to the need or occasion...OR because we chose the wrong audience. Or maybe we refused/failed to take into account who our audience is/was.

And yes - sometimes things turn out a whole lot better than we expect they will. What is that about? Without dragging us all into a big philosophical discussion, that's pretty much about our own ability to forget the 'what I want' and the 'what they think of me/what I think of them' in favor of merely doing the job at hand correctly. Or at least with as much honesty and integrity as you can bring to bear.

In other words, Libra asks us to face others and leave our ego at home. Easy to say, hard to do.

As any planet (in this case, Sun and Mercury) move(s) through Libra's last ten degrees (Libra's 3rd decanate) things are not entirely in our control. And it's worth remembering here that they're not in anyone else's control, either!

In any 3rd decan (or decanate) of any sign, the idea is that we now receive input on something we aren't precisely in control of. And how do we react to that? We react to it in terms of the planets involved and how they focus in our personal charts.

Granting that we can't do the 'personal chart' part here on the internet, what we can say is that 23 Libra as a specific degree adds a note of restlessness...and at the same time, success through proper application of knowledge. There's also a note about kidneys and urinary tracts associated with this degree, which obviously won't apply to everyone, but IF you're having a problem with same (or are perhaps prone to such things or even in some sort of connected field as a professional), this could well mark a moment when things in that area begin to evolve.

No matter what, we would assume this moment has a quality of its own and that lingering 'left over, but moving away from' the events of the 14th and 15th.

Those who use this as a moment of learning - even just learning about this zodiac degree or some portion of Spica's lore or whatever...that's a good enough use too. Considering life offers us tools which often become of use later, those who learn now are likely to be grateful down the line that they are better 'armed' (Mercury) to deal with some intellectual (Sun, Libra) situation.

A Hawaiian sunset. Why? Because we all hope for happy endings!

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