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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Three Degrees of Unity

 Based on 'Obrazvaetvient' by Michael Kyrstek (2008)

As World War II was drawing to its destructive close, a celestial formulation took shape. Neptune and Pluto moved into sextile. They’d been dicing about with this aspect for a few years, but as the 1940s wore on, the sextile came into 3-degree orb and it stayed in that three degree orb (give or take a month or two here and there) until the mid/late 1990s.
 
This roughly corresponds to a period of time when the world realized that we really are all in this life together. Though there were competitions and cold wars and famines, diseases and despots, there was an overarching understanding realization that life is better for everyone when everyone has a better life.

That ‘grasp’ of the need to change things which was motivated by the willingness – even the ability to grasp the pain or suffering or confusion of others, that was Neptune sextile Pluto. The connecting, the understanding of another’s situation in our heart and soul, that was the Neptune part of the thing. And the conviction that we could change things – and that we grow the interpersonal fabric of support, supportiveness and productivity from helping others…that was the Pluto part of it all.

Pluto’s metaphysical management of situations where we join or don’t join with others is never about them, no matter what we like to think. The axis of polarity testing through which we learn those lessons and thus are transformed on the Pluto level is Taurus/Scorpio, a duo which when all else is said and done is very basic. We can call it survival, and it is survival. But it’s also all about the respect we gain for ourselves when we stand for what we could do – those ‘better angels’ of our nature - not just what we can do.
 
Neptune’s influence being Pisces/Virgo, Neptune always depends on and pits us against a more evolved…some would say ‘more mature’ sense of being. That’s easier to understand simply by thinking about Virgo versus Taurus.

Taurus is the second sign of the zodiac. It corresponds (on an innate level) to the years between two-and-a-half and five years old, this is about our basic ‘grasp’ on life, and knowing we are secure in this world.
 
Virgo is the sixth sign of the zodiac, corresponding more to the age of about twelve-and-a-half to fifteen or so. Virgo is about taking on the task…most of all, the task of being ourselves.

With a sextile being a sign of interaction and possibility, it’s little wonder that the fifty or so years of Neptune sextile Pluto had the world in a very dynamic, progressive, ‘we can do this!’ mode.

It’s also not surprising that once this transiting sextile (which has a maximum orb of 3 degrees) began to dissolve during the mid-1990s, things began to feel less positive and more problematic. Or maybe you see it as less fruitful and more threatening. Even less productive and more coercive.

There are (obviously) several generations whose natal charts include this Neptune sextile Pluto dynamic. All but the very first of the Pluto in Leo Baby Boomers have Neptune sextile Pluto in their birth charts, with Pluto in Virgo (the Yuppies) and Pluto in Libra (Gen X) also being part of this collective.

Once we get to Pluto in Scorpio (a generation so stealth they seem to have avoided a nickname) that’s where things begin to get in to flux – particularly towards the end of this group. Pluto left Scorpio and entered Sagittarius in 1996, beginning the social network-worthy generation which is increasingly being referred to as the Millennials.

The Millennials don’t have Neptune sextile Pluto in their chart. On one side, this reflects in the Millennial entrepreneurial bent. On another, it marks this generation as lacking expectations about the world being the ‘good’ place the Pluto/Neptune natal sextile people always hope to prove the world is.

Neptune’s symbolic marshaling of the Pisces/Virgo axis as ‘outcome ruler’ of Pisces has marked literally billions of lives with a ‘can do’ altruism which though crushed when it meets up with disappointment also weathers that disappointment to try, try again.

That isn’t about the world…that’s about us. It’s our willingness to try which is the Neptunian/Piscean hallmark, and no matter when you’re born it’s always balanced off against our ability to deal with or tolerate reality. The best of us are constructive: we accept reality and go from there.

In the years since the mid-1990s Neptune-Pluto ‘parting of the sextile ways’ we have also seen the growth of marked separations in society. We have seen Neptunian illusions overtake some lives, manifesting with a harshness of judgment as to the way things should be or how people should live at a level which seems very ‘un-Neptunian.’ We have seen the very structure of society’s values evolve and transform very strongly, if in ways which were often not universal and not geared to be universally accessible.

Thus we arrive at 2013, in the thick of a time where governments don’t seem to have any real connection to their citizenry and when the gap between ‘have’ and ‘have not,’ however you measure it, whether in wealth or access to health care or food or opportunity to climb the social ladder…a financial system which seems out to serve nothing but the finances of the financial people.

The challenges feel harder than ever with the stakes being higher than ever.

For the billions alive with charts emblazoned with Neptune sextile Pluto, there’s a dichotomy between the inner ‘knowing’ of what life should be and the outward scramble to (Pluto) survive. And that dichotomy drives us in the direction of the many pluses and minuses of Neptune – the indulgences, the fantasies, the intoxications, the abandonment of reality in spirit or spiritual form, the emotional imbalances and mental health issues…however, whatever…it’s here.

The ills which the positivity of Neptune sextile Pluto covered up for so long are upon us. So out come the scandals and the many issues which force us to deal with reality.

Does this mean we should all become cynics?

No. It means we have to learn to tolerate the ambivalence of reality, and from there to do the best we can, because to do less than that is not the world’s ‘fault’ but a lack of our own respect and regard for who we are.

From around 1995 through around mid-2021, Pluto and Neptune will fly separate. That’s about twenty-five years worth of seeing reality for what it is and falling prey to our lesser angels…and even our mortal demons.
 
After that, with some in-and-out orbital and retrograde skips and gaps, Neptune and Pluto will come back into sextile. That will be just about the time that those born early in the separation are reaching their modern adulthood, which astrology now associates with the first Saturn return at age 29.

Yes, we the astrologers of the world know: in a long-ago day and age, people only lived about thirty years. Now we’re routinely living three times as long.

But that’s Saturn - a different blog. In the meantime, we return to the nebulous and dauntingly inspiring world of Neptune and Pluto and face the need to accept – (Neptune) – that realities are likely to get bad enough that we, the human race – recognize that our vulnerabilities, be we in the position of strength or weakness, increase proportionately as compassion decreases.

What it means that the generation born as Pluto and Neptune went out of sextile (the Millennials) will be coming to their adulthood as Pluto and Neptune renew their association is a clue to us all – a clue about human life. We are not born to simply grow up and ‘become’ something.

We are born to evolve, going in and out of universal focus, eternally learning and forgetting that what we have in common is the fact that our divergent uniqueness is the very stuff of…indeed the very strength of unity which starts within our Self and becomes our congruence with the world.
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Mars in Capricorn

A photo of Mars taken on Mars by the Spirit rover in April of 2005. Here, Spirit shows us what the

'Columbia Hills' inside Gusev Crater look like. And isn't it strange how as barren as Mars is,

it also looks so much like Earth? (photo credit: NASA-JPL)

Mars in Capricorn is a time when life reminds us to go for the gusto. Sometimes that happens by our beginning to feel restless or hemmed in. Some of us suddenly get motivated when Mars moves into Capricorn. Others get to feeling determined. Or challenged. Mars in Capricorn has an interesting quality which at some level can be quantified as ‘need’…what you need to have or achieve on a practical level, or what you feel you need to do to get past life’s practical challenges…or some facet or factor which, at it’s heart is about needing to challenge or prove your ability (capacity, theory, self worth) to yourself.

A whole other side of Mars in Capricorn is the ‘reward’ phase when you’ve been working towards something. So if you’ve been hammering on that task, now things may (finally!) begin falling into place or ‘going your way.’

But as always, there is a polarity to any given placement. This is where Capricorn shows its Saturnine achievement/failure quality in a very public sort of way.

That makes the best sense in light of remembering that the sign before Capricorn in Sagittarius, which is ruled by Jupiter. And whether the venue is religion (codified spirituality) or education (codified ideas) or medicine or law or travel or foreign cultures or any other ‘new-to-you’ thing is concerned, Sagittarius is always where the idea, the ability to believe, learn or deal with the truth meets the limits of what we want to use, believe, learn or accept as part of human nature. The Sagittarius (Jupiter) ‘test’ is therefore not what the truth is, but whether we are willing to accept that truth has few boundaries and that there is always something more to learn, to do, to wrap our hearts, minds or arms around in this life.

How well we do that – adjusting along the way – leads to whether Capricorn becomes the reward of achievement…or the punishment of defeat. (Which yes, does sound like the old intro to a US sports show, but so be it…!)

Thus Mars in Capricorn becomes the achievement and requirement to uphold public or worldly standards versus the limitations, loss and terrible sense of not being ‘good enough’ which may be founded in reality – or then again, may simply be our not having earned sufficient degree of self respect.

The data here is as follows: Mars enters Capricorn on November 17th (in the UT/+0 time zone) at 2:37 in the morning. (Please don’t wake me!) And  considering that Mars will be in Capricorn for a bit over five weeks (through December 25th), this is Mars moving through zodiac degrees at a pretty good clip.

We can thus project with relative certainty that life – and life’s requirements of us – are also going to be moving along at a pretty good clip.

So we should expect these weeks to be busy. Will that be because there’s so much to do – or does that mean we’re likely to be feeling pressured?

 Aquarius and Capricorn (the sea-goat) as constellations pictured on the Mercator celestial globe

which dates from 1551 (Harvard Map Collection)

Either or both. But the challenge is about you – not the thing at stake. Mars is about your energy and your functionality and your assertiveness (mainly self-assertiveness, meaning your ‘get up, get into gear and go’ mode). So what happens now – and your reactions to them may feel external because you’re interacting with things in and of and about your world. But the emotional Mars quotient?

That’s all about you – the personal you. This is Mars in the 10th stage of a 12-stage process asking whether you have mastered the fine art of paying attention to a.) what you’re doing, b.) the repercussions and consequences of what you’re doing (i.e., what others think of you for doing it) and c.) how you feel about what you’re doing, not doing and getting done or not getting done.

Seeing that Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, there is a note of responsibility in this mix. The whole idea of limitations and what they mean to us is challenged as Mars moves through Capricorn. Will we take no for an answer? Well we try to dream the impossible dream and prove it’s not impossible by achieving it? Or will we run afoul of social or societal standards, violating acceptable limits with our actions, attitudes or lack of standards/living up to our word? 

Where Saturn is in your natal chart (by sign, house and aspect) tells us how you deal with the general idea of responsibility and achievement. Obviously that is highly individual. But we do know that Saturn has just moved into Scorpio. So part of what’s in play now (and for the next five or so weeks) is what we a.) need to get done…which is now getting played off against how well we are dealing with others.

To refresh: Saturn in Scorpio is all about our interactions, personal, platonic, intimate and professional. (And any combinations thereof.) Saturn in Scorpio ‘tests’ reveal how well we are balancing the ‘me-and-my-aims’ against the ‘them-and-their-aims’ quotient.

Maybe you’d prefer to read the whole of the original Saturn in Scorpio blog post?

Link to Saturn in Scorpio blog

The next ‘door swings both ways’ piece of news here is that Scorpio and Capricorn are signs in sextile. And sextiles always offer us opportunities to be  productive. So Mars in the Capricorn ‘wider world’ realm may represent the open door we take advantage of. Then again, Mars in Capricorn may represent the ‘wider world’ coming down on us for having taken/wanting to take advantage of others. 

Plus there is one other little thing you should know about sextiles. That’s the idea that nothing about a sextile ever compels us to take advantage of an opportunity.

But into this comes Mars, which in Capricorn is doughy, determined and (often) highly pragmatic. It’s the sort of mindset which you won’t be surprised to see manifest as ‘seeing and going for the goal’ - which is probably a good thing considering how much holiday shopping is about to be get done!

 Shoppers at Mrs Snyder's Candy Shop on Chicago's South Michigan Avenue in 1927

(National Archives of Records Administration, Department of Labor)

Speaking of shopping, this sort of Mars/Saturn combination lends more to pragmatic prudence and utility than romance. Of choice, ‘utility’ may mean getting someone that tech toy so they stop complaining so much!

Your Mars, your pragmatism. Let me just put it like that.

And for those interested in personal (or national) debt, this Saturn-ruling-Capricorn behind Mars-in-Capricorn is not against debt, it’s just going to rank and prioritize things in a more utilitarian manner than at other times.

Needs first, showy later, in other words.

Beyond that, there will be some for whom this November-December period is anything but about the holidays. And considering all else in the works (read: the eclipse themes for 2012 through 2014) this  represents an overall ‘shift’ in the public/individual consciousness where we all move back towards recognizing that how we feel about ourselves doesn’t come from what others think of us - against which we will continue to see an escalating rejection (and struggle) in areas like finance, military/militias, sexuality and reproductive rights. These are all Scorpio ‘themes’ being represented by the North Node and the ‘worldly’ side of the eclipse cycle…and thus Saturn’s 2.5 year-transit of Scorpio…and thus the current five weeks of Mars in Capricorn.

The basic issue is that the collective should not rule us as individuals…but also that we should not and indeed cannot impose our rule/rules on the collective without reaping negative results.

There’s a general positive with Mars in Capricorn which takes the shape of patience, endurance and focus. The minus? That we can get run down, frustrated or suffer from an emotional sense of rejection, defeat or futility.

And that’s not chicken feed what with this transit starting just a couple of days after the eclipse. A lot of us are feeling like our very conception of life is being challenged. We do probably all need to change to some degree. And that makes the Mars in Capricorn question this: what are you actively DOING to embrace and participate in that change?

The willingness to work and build is a big Mars-in-Capricorn thing. And with Saturn in Scorpio, people who are willing to change the basis upon which they interact with others, how they interact with others and the ‘price’ they put on that interaction are in a far better position going forward than those who are waiting for others to meet their demands or come around to their way of thinking.

Or those who simply refuse to deal with others openly, honestly, inclusively and productively.

Let’s also remember though…as Mars begins its transit of Capricorn, Mercury is in (Scorpio) retrograde. So the Mars/Capricorn ingress is a time of sizing up and thinking things through, with maybe a touch of tinkering, trying out or dipping the old toe in the water.

Maybe you need to reflect. Maybe you need to do a little more research? This is a good time for both of those things.

The Mars-in-Capricorn ingress also favors connecting not to but through others. So ask for references or referrals. Put yourself out there in forums or via methods which don’t require immediate reaction. Others will take note, but that will probably be after Mercury goes direct on November 26th.

Or at least that’s when the payoff will likely be.

With the Sun also being in Scorpio as Mars moves into Capricorn, teamwork and sharing is emphasized – and the trick is to think things through while not taking so long that the decision gets made for you.

Once the Sun moves forward (that’s the key word: forward) into Sagittarius as of November 21st, life will become more (not less) public. Sagittarius is not directly interactive like Scorpio is, but what others do, choose and favor affects what you get to do – and not do. In Sagittarius, the challenge is to provide quality with breadth of application and the temptation is to go for quantity and availability.

Think of life as a product. When the obsessiveness that is Pluto passed through Sagittarius, we got this huge upswing in wanting ‘things’ and ‘stuff’ and wealth simply as an indication of abundance.

Now Pluto is in Capricorn and (in particular) it’s conjunction to many-faceted Facies has shown us how we can over-complicate our lives and not just the literal cost of that (debt) but the alienation and deprivation felt by the human soul when we care more about our image than intimacy and more about how we look than who we are.  

So…just before the Sun moves into Sagittarius on November 21st (to be followed by Venus - emblem of the reward we get for what we give or are - moving into Scorpio on the 22nd)…Mercury backs over the degree of the solar eclipse.

That happens on November 20th (except if you’re in Oriental longitudes, in which case it happens early on the 21st).

And where is Mars when Mercury evokes the eclipse degree through thought, information or situations? At 2 Capricorn, a degree tastefully imaged by the Sabian Symbols as A HUMAN SOUL, IN ITS EAGERNESS FOR NEW EXPERIENCE, SEEKS EMBODIMENT.

And when the soul has exhausted their allotted time here on Earth, they move on. Where, we are not

sure, but many are the ways humans have looked at the possibilities.

'The Soul Being Carried to Heaven,' a painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)

Astrologer Marc Edmund Jones writes of this image as one referring to a ‘yearning to connect.’ Astrologer Dane Rudhyar considers this image to be more introspective, ultimately suggesting that it’s about the need to prove who we are to ourselves.

At some level, both ideas fit the broader Scorpio-Capricorn (Mars-Saturn) concept of ‘choosing what (and how) to construct’ our life and relationships. And yes, what goes awry or astray when we either don’t choose (abdicate our power), choose without regard to unintended consequences (i.e., “collateral damage”) or when we insist on having our own way (creating life limits through personal inflexibility).

As Mercury crosses the eclipse degree so trippingly, we’ll all be feeling things changing even as we breathe. We’ll feel ourselves existing. We will know…somewhere inside, or maybe in the back of our minds…that our aims remain the same, but the path to getting there is changing.

With or without us, it’s changing.

Your aims may be financial. Your friend’s needs may be emotional. And somebody down the street may be worried about needing more information. Or education. The symptoms…the arena will differ. But the Mars energy driving us to get something done? That’s a constant. Even if you’re exhausted, even if you fall sick or suffer an injury now, you’re going to be all about fixing you.

And maybe that’s the simplest form this transit can really take. Think of it…because of differing aims and outbursts of ‘need,’ especially here at holiday time things could get more than complicated. And if they do, Mars in Capricorn will manifest as grit-teeth coping: the staying on track with ourselves as we work to accommodate, assist and cooperate with others.

Meanwhile, Venus moving into its transit of Scorpio is a sign that as soon as Mars gets going in Capricorn, things get intense. This is Pluto will be at 8 Capricorn, finalizing its conjunction with the Gordian Knot nebula we of the astrological bent call Facies.

(More on this next week.)

Mars conjuncts Facies (and Pluto) on November 27-28, depending on what time zone you’re in. This is an indication of power-packed, seriously explosive energy needing an outlet. Denied one, an outlet will be created. Feelings, bodies, relationships, reputations – much can be bruised now. Much will blow up or get blown out of proportion.

Consider this a test of preparation. We all need to be prepared for whatever life throws at us, no matter how mundane or bizarre that gets. But we are never entirely ‘safe.’ Life isn’t safe – it can’t be and still allow us the space and opportunity to grow. Defenses are valuable, but not if they limit our lives.

Life is inherently risky. And part of Mars in Capricorn is realizing that the strength to live through risks lies in our hearts, minds and spirits, not in the walls or defenses we build. 

Whatever happens, try to maintain perspective. At it’s best, Mars in Capricorn teaches and provides the kind of strength which meets and deals with each challenge with focus and without hostility. Mars in Capricorn aspires to lead with strength and firmness and fails when it leads through demand or threat. Earning the right to be seen as someone who lives up to the highest standards of responsibility is a better way to win in the Capricorn world than through critique or punitive measures.

Yet as I say this, don’t be surprised if you hear of bad behavior during this time. Mars in Capricorn inevitably invites some to act harshly, badly – even despicably. What they are attracting are the energies of their own (Saturn-as-ruler-of-Capricorn) rejection, limitation and punishment.

As tenth sign of the zodiac, Capricorn asks that we openly stand for what we believe in. In order to be successful now, we have to be willing (and able) to stand as an individual, apart from all/everyone else.
That’s a tall order for the holidays, right? Everyone will be bustling around getting ready for friends and family.

But maybe that’s the challenge?
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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!