Not all the time, just today. Venus sits at 29 stressful degrees of Scorpio, either making us feeling we’re missing something important in relationships or finances (and so worrying about loss), or that it’s our last chance to ‘dig deep’, to gain some essential truth, to grasp how to get that reward or to draw in that love or to finally feel materially secure. With that as the running undercurrent, no wonder most of us are feeling ragged! It doesn’t help that Jupiter is trine Venus, exaggerating our reactions to Venusian tensions, and Venus makes a T-square by opposing Sedna, also at 29, both squared by Vesta. That’s a picture of instincts under stress, being dogged by a sense there’s something we know but just can’t recall, and that it really matters, that what we care most about in the world is at stake.
Moon in Leo, as it is right now, tends to make all of us a little too Self-focused–hence we take ourselves a little too seriously–and with the Moon squaring Uranus and opposing Saturn, we’re just sure there’s a nasty surprise right around the corner. And the Sun in a Grand Trine with Neptune and Black Moon Lilith magnifies the uncertainty, the confusion, the sense of hopelessness fed by those things we deny or are enraged by.
Here are my thoughts: know that this is all temporary, more temporary than most conditions under which we operate. Venus will be out of Scorpio in hours, not even days, and the Sun moves at a clip that will dissolve that GT (Grand Trine, not Gin & Tonic!) in no time. For the most part, the tension will simply fall away, if we can just wait it out–and at the very least, we’ll see Venus enter Sagittarius (late on the 15th PST), where she’ll take action (Fire sign), either because she wants to know, or because of what she knows–and getting ourselves moving is half the battle, as anxiety is so often firmly rooted in feeling helpless, in believing that there’s nothing we can do. Venus will let us know that’s not true; trust her to make clear what it is you really value, and who it is you really care about.
It won’t be this dramatic. ‘The Execution of Lady Jane Grey’ By Paul Delaroche 1834 {{PD}}
The total Lunar eclipse begins just after 3:02 AM PST as Moon aligns with Earth and Sun at precisely 16 degrees of Taurus. The dynamic is very much one of oppositional energies, as Moon-Earth conjoins Uranus and the Sun is poised for Superior Conjunction with Mercury (as you know, that’s when Mercury and the Sun meet with Merc in direct apparent motion), this latter bringing to fruition something planted around the Inferior Conjunction of 23rd-24th of September, though there are three additions to the picture that add their own twists to the sense of denouement that may arise: a trine of the eclipse to Ceres in Virgo, a novile to just-retrograded Mars in Gemini, and a square to Saturn in Aquarius.
Being Total we should expect no mercy with this eclipse. Falling in Taurus, we’ll experience the wipe-out of circumstances related to some aspect of our own comfort, security, resources, assets, or even talents, or to matters of the House in the natal chart where Taurus falls, and this will bring certain emotions and conclusions about our own feelings to consciousness. The Sun in Scorpio is the light-giver, but in this situation it’s temporarily and completely blocked, implying that our view must change: the Scorpionic light currently cast on things (a light that looks to illuminate the need for change, to ferret out the Truth, to destroy what’s unnecessary or detrimental, to x-ray what surrounds us and reveal what’s hidden) is suddenly removed, with the suddenness of the alteration only emphasized by the eclipse’s conjunction to Uranus. What we see when that critical light of dissection and Truth-delving is gone will not be what we expect. It may in fact be something so new, so unanticipated, that we are shocked, by what happens, or by our own reaction to it, or by the message/ information contained in events (Sun conj Mercury).
Did I say no mercy? That’s not quite right; we find extenuating influences in those other aspects the eclipse makes. The change wrought by the eclipse may easily come about through Mother Nature (trine to Ceres in Virgo) in her critical response to current conditions–and those may be global, like climate change, or personal, like diet or responses to Nature via allergens or disease–so that we may quite abruptly be facing a situation that is the perfect storm of what’s natural combined with our own choices. This could also imply we’ll be faced with the results of our own exercise of personal authority, or our nurture (or failure to nurture) those for whom we’re responsible. Nature will try to re-direct us, and in most cases this won’t be traumatic; it’s up to us to take the hint.
There’s also that novile to retro Mars.You may have wondered why I haven’t made any specific comment on Mars going retro–and I don’t know why, either. Maybe it’s that it’s happening in Gemini, giving me the impression that so much that is aggressive, threatened, imposed, or potentially violent will actually turn out to be ‘all talk, no action’. Maybe it’s the way Chiron and Eris are the only bodies in Aries at the moment, suggesting we could all use a little relief, possibly offered via retro ruler status, from our wounds and from those major sources of aggravation I like to call sh*t-stirrers. But, in terms of the eclipse, Mars’ novile implies a little bit of genius implicit in eclipse events, the kind that may see our hesitation, reluctance, or changed choice or action as a good thing, keeping us from stepping in it.
If you’re concerned this is all too nebulous, don’t be: the eclipse square to Saturn in Aquarius promises real-life effects, solidly grounded, but that must be viewed through the lens of Higher Mind. Is, say, the loss of an asset at this time really about the circumstances surrounding that loss, or is it more about what that loss says, about what we find reward or profit in, about how we spend our energy, about the role of possessions (or possibly the impermanence of these)? If it is about the circumstances of the loss, then it may be that we need to look at our own vulnerabilities, or to the ways our ideas do (or don’t) transfer to reality. For some it may be a bit of the opposite, a question of whether we are playing an intellectual game with reality that keeps us from connecting the dots; in this case, we may be so mired in our own reasoning or tortuous mental justifications that we don’t register how these are seriously at odds with the real-world picture. The ancient ruler of Aquarius traveling through the sign and squared by an eclipse definitely says the brakes will be put on somewhere, that we’re going to come slamming up against something of the real world–the good news is, we can use the mind to de-code what happens.
So, a little thought experiment with the Sabians: I’d been taught that a placement at, as our eclipse is, 16 degrees, no minutes, of a sign meant it actually was part of the preceding degree picture; it hadn’t yet proceeded into the 16th degree because there are no minutes. That’s the way I’ve always read them, but today I questioned that interpretation, so I’ve decided to take a look at both possibilities. I’m not beyond learning a better (more correct?) way, so here goes:
The eclipse Sabian is, ‘An Old Teacher Fails To Interest His Pupils In Traditional Knowledge’–or is it, ‘A Symbolical Battle Between “Swords” And “Torches”’? The old teacher could be Aquarian Saturn in hard aspect to the event indicators, suggesting we won’t learn from what’s come before–that argues for the way I was taught to read them, as this is the preceding symbol. The ‘battle’ is of course between a Water placement (the Scorpio Sun) and an Earth placement (Moon-Earth)–not exactly symbolic of swords or torches, but we could see it as torches being the fire of feeling (Scorpio Water) and swords being something physically effecting (Taurus Earth), though a bit contradictory to the retro Mars aspect–but let’s look at the possibilities for the Sun–maybe that will sort it out. The Sun is, ‘A Girl’s Face Breaking Into A Smile’, and ‘A Woman, Fecundated By Her Own Spirit, Is “Great With Child”’. Hmmm. No help there, in my view. This may be my signal to step back from the Sabians for a while–just not feeling them–I’ll return to them when I do.
But I can offer you this unusual dream Word Image: at an open air market there are steps down which water begins to flow. Someone has placed several small children, no bigger than the palm of your hand, along the steps, and the water is knocking them over, sometimes face down, and the person responsible for them is nowhere in sight. I go and lift each one out of the water, make sure they are breathing, and as I work anticipate that whoever is in charge of them will be rushing up any second, angry that I am handling these delicate creatures. What ‘other person’s baby’ are you in a position to in some way ‘rescue’? If you step in somewhere to help, who will be angry, and why? Or maybe that’s the point: we need to show mercy, in the face of dangerous times, no matter the personal cost. Just a little something to think about–have a great weekend (don’t forget to take that hour back), and an enlightening eclipse!
‘Venus at her Mirror (The Rokeby Venus)’ By Diego Velázquez 1644 {{PD}}
On the 22nd, mid-afternoon Pacific time, Venus and the Sun perfect their conjunction, offering us a preview of what the eclipse may shake loose, shake up, or deliver an answer to. The question is, will you be asking questions about Love, Money, partnership, aesthetics, Art, or some other relationship or asset type? They conjoin in Libra, at 29 stressful degrees–this issue isn’t new, and may be at a breaking point, one we likely are just now recognizing–and we are faced with a single, telling aspect, a Finger of God that will, in slightly different form, be part of the eclipse picture in a few days.
Venus in Superior Conjunction to the Sun (that is, conjoined when Venus is direct) is symbolically brightly illuminated–even to herself. Our Venusian energies will be visible to our inner vision in stark detail; take advantage of that, in spite of the way Venus might lobby to be seen in a more flattering light. Venus-Sun receives as Finger apex the energy of Jupiter fresh in Aries (at 00) sextile Sedna at 29 Taurus. That’s a potentially volatile mix, probably out of naivety (the 00 placement in the sign of the ‘I Am’ with the significator of knowledge/ belief or the social sphere) combining with stressed instincts (so likely to be warped by other factors, such as want and wish, or what in Taurus probably feels like need) or an insistence on operating in an area where we carry a significant blind spot. The result is a statement about Love, Money, et al, that will be reiterated, possibly in a more stunning form, at the eclipse. Just after the eclipse, the Moon will catch up with Venus, giving us a look at how it all feels, what emotional conclusions we’ve reached–and that may be the point when we understand things, at least in the sense of how we feel, most fully.
Hi! Away from my desk this weekend, late the 27th thru the 30th. Will answer all comments and fill all orders then. Have a lovely weekend!
The meeting of Sun and Moon (a New Moon) occurs on the 25th PDT at 3:48 AM at precisely 2 degrees of Scorpio. Both bodies are just shy (by 39 minutes) of conjoining Venus exactly (though the Sun already did–see the following post)–and there’s only one other Lunar set of contacts, Jupiter just into Aries sextile Sedna at 29 tense degrees of Taurus, making a Finger of God with the New Moon as apex. At a typical New Moon, this would concentrate the energies into just a couple of ‘statements’; this being an eclipse, we see another level of concentration, in the way the bodies aren’t just in contact, but are closely aligned along the ecliptic (the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun). When this happens, we have a total or near total blockage of the light as seen from our vantage point on Earth–and this symbolically suggests a wiping out of the flow of energies, an interruption that brings a reset that may appear as shock, catastrophe, surprise, revelation, re-shuffling, withdrawal, renewal, germination, a period of darkness before a re-emerging of light, even birth. Since a New Moon is an energy of new starts, this isn’t unusual, but the nature of the new start may be quite different than we anticipate–and we look to the sign in which the eclipse occurs, and the aspects it makes, for the story.
Here the Lunar event is in Scorpio; that mandate is to strip away what isn’t working, is worn, old, or in need of rehabilitation, even as something is transformed, resurrected, or rises anew from the ashes. We’re looking for the Truth, at a Scorpio New Moon; we’re looking to rid ourselves of psychic detritus, to alter what refuses to serve us. It’s a condition where we may have to get our hands dirty, but we’re promised a reward in the sense of feeling new ourselves, in some part of life designated by the House where the Lunar event occurs, or in the natal House ruled by the Moon.
The New Moon perfecting just before perfection with Venus suggests something beautiful, rewarding, pleasing in the immediate aftermath of what occurs, but with the potential for a potent kind of jealousy, envy, or covetousness, Scorpio emphasizing the more difficult facets of Venus. But those also include a seductive quality, a richness of depth and experience, a promise of intensity to the event itself that may be very alluring–and so may, just as the Moon will obscure the Sun’s light, temporarily block our ability to assess the situation accurately, or may immerse us in sensation, substituting feeling for thinking.
The Finger of God with base of Jupiter-Sedna points us back to the apex eclipse, and describes the individual within the social sphere, or equipped with (or pioneering) some sort of knowledge or belief (Jupiter in Aries), meshing with the individual instincts, what one ‘knows but doesn’t consciously know’, and one’s ‘blind spot’ material, this latter those things we believe we see clearly or feel informed about, but that hold some areas we don’t grasp–and this is visible to others, but difficult for us to see ourselves–with some combination of these resulting in the Scorpionic revelation/ change of the Lunar event.
The Sabian is, ‘A Delicate Bottle Of Perfume Lies Broken, Releasing Its Fragrance’. It’s important to note that this eclipse occurs at two degrees and no minutes of the sign–and in that case, we read 1-2 degrees, rather than 2-3 as we would otherwise. The image says that what occurs may have a negative initial presentation–it’s a small shock when something shatters–but that the benefits of what occurs will become obvious immediately. We may be sad about the break, the destruction, but we’ll glean a side benefit; though we wouldn’t have chosen this, there is still something good that comes of it, something unexpected that fills the air/ senses, and so stirs feeling (eclipse in Water).
Tip for coping: some of us will deal simultaneous to the eclipse with the energies of a Fist of God, with base of Pallas-Black Moon Lilith square Mercury-Zeus, apex Juno in Pisces. This suggests wisdom could be compromised by our own rage and prejudices, with these predispositions clashing with our ability to communicate our wants clearly, dispassionately–and so may compromise our own empowerment, especially that form we have imagined, hoped for, and find ideal. Keep this potential in mind, and know that being honest with ourselves is the foundation on which we can build good relationships with others.
The Full Moon in Aries forms just after first Earth and then the Moon pass over Chiron–and that Chiron is involved in a T-square opposed Venus and square Pallas, begging the question: if that relationship or money thing was so smart, so practical, or such a good use of your skills, assets, or talents, why did it hurt? Or even more confounding, if it didn’t hurt. A Full Moon offers us answers, or at least endings, and in Aries those endings address the ‘I Am’, identity, and our choices and actions. We are likely to have laid at our feet revelation about how we’re processing emotionally some significant recent event–we’d be wise to examine it for the larger message, the one that makes a statement about who we are at our core, right now. Be prepared, as this will likely challenge who we think we are, or will bring into question our actual motivations for doing as we have.
Much of the action in the chart has already occurred by the time the Full Moon arrives, though we do have a few near-future contacts to look at that will reveal what comes next: a semi-sextile to Uranus, a sextile to Saturn, and a square to the Black Moon Lilith point. A sesquiquadrate to Hygeia at 00 Sagittarius and a loose novile to Juno round out the picture. What we have before us are minor shocks, surprises, or revelations that either present barriers or bring something previously only contemplated into our reality–and this brings conflict or discomfort, as we either must deal with what we’ve ignored or denied, or must face something that enrages us. The good news is if we accept our own role in things, and are willing to do something about what we see, we will be allowed grace and true good fortune in tackling it. One important point: if what you’ve been brushing aside is a health matter, it enters a new phase at this point–for good or ill, so this may be the signal to take a new approach in this area.
Here’s the temptation: to keep our eyes trained on that Venus, which opposition is already more than three degrees past once the Full Moon occurs. Looking behind us at that person, romance, partner, asset, reward, or financial circumstance will only distract us in the now; we’re meant to get the message about this, right now, but not to try and re-live, re-litigate, or re-vive.
Then we look to Pluto, stationed direct just a day before, and we may want to blame that dark energy bringing complete and utter change for what happens–but that would be inaccurate, as Pluto is simply standing still (stationary) and offering to point out just exactly where it really does hurt, or where you must make a clean sweep in order to move on. Check the natal chart for any points or bodies Pluto at 26 Capricorn may currently be aspecting: that’s where the real action is–the Full Moon is only about showing you who you’ve become, when you weren’t looking.
The Full Moon Sabian is, ‘Two Dignified Spinsters Sitting In Silence’. What’s your immediate reaction to that image? Do you think it’s sad and depressing, as if these women have missed out on life? Or do you see it as a bit of a triumph, one that has allowed these women to operate outside patriarchal society? Do you see them as independent or oppressed, quiet in peace or quiet in despair? It’s your Rorschach for current Lunar energies, and speaks of some emotional pattern you may need to question, or at least consider from another angle (and that’s so no matter your interpretation).
We also look at the bright engine of the Full Moon, the Sun: ‘A Retired Sea Captain Watches Ships Entering And Leaving The Harbor’. Here we each enjoy a certain distance (retired) from an area of expertise–and what are each of us experts in? In knowing ourselves, of course! We understand the progress we’ve made, and can see the consequences of our choices, with both Pluto and the Full Moon giving us a kind of progress report, a check-up on what we may need to handle next.
The Lunar event itself may be fiery or dull, but in some way shines a spotlight on something about ourselves we need to acknowledge and be aware of, in order to make the best choices we can.
Have a great Full Moon experience! ‘Tis the season for meteor showers–6-10th October the Draconids are visible in the Northern Hemisphere, the 20-21st the Orionids are visible in both hemispheres, and the Leonids fly by 17-18 November, visible in both hemispheres. Dates are for best sightings in the Seattle area, but apply generally by hemisphere as well.
This is from an issue of ECLIPSE from 2014, slightly modified and added to. Thought it might be useful, right about now.I was prompted to share this because of a dream I had last night. In recounting it to my husband, I realized that the whole thing, a long story about hospital personnel who had poisoned someone and were trying to dispose of the evidence, could be boiled down to a single sentence: Someone claiming to be a healer was trying to get away with murder! This offers interpretation of someone’s activities of late, activities I had brushed off as either innocently engaged in or as this individual’s misunderstanding of the Universe itself; this dream tells me that the grift is quite deliberate.
The idea of knowing with whom we’re communicating in any situation was brought up, and the short answer to that is, we just can’t know. I’m talking about those times when we interact with others and something about it leaves us wondering, or unsettled; we sense something about the messenger, because that’s what they seem to be. More than just random encounters, these interactions seem to offer information beyond appearances, information that seems to be of greater import than we might think if we are living ‘on the surface’. We’ve all felt this from time to time, the interaction, often with a stranger, that shakes up our thinking in the moment, and sometimes affects our entire world view.
That stranger we’re speaking with, who says something so innocently profound that happens to resonate completely and specifically with our most recent problem, could be anyone at all—and in speaking influences us in ways we can’t be totally conscious of. We try to know who that is making a remark, whispering in our ear, coming into and out of our life, but the obvious labels we can apply (“man at the bus stop”, “salesman at the door”, “person who appeared out of nowhere and had just what I needed”) don’t suffice to explain the import of what they offer. It’s human nature to attempt to classify the extent and type of our own experiences—and we have so many encounters, in a day, in a week, that push us this way and that, it’s as if we’re a leaf on a stream’s current, being moved and turned in ways we may not even notice.
There are some effective ways to break down our encounters, to put them in a mental kaleidoscope that rearranges the parts enough that we get a different understanding of what we’re meant to take away from the interaction. Here are some possibilities, for your consideration:
The Mirror This concept follows the precept of ‘As Within, So Without’. Those with whom we interact literally mirror facets of our internal perceptions and of ourselves. It’s ‘What We See Is Who We Are’; this should probably be the first, or at least an early, go-to for understanding encounters, as no matter what our external world will reflect our inner landscape in one way or another.
The 180 Degree Test This is found in someone who embodies exactly what we shouldn’t do or be, and we find these encounters often coincide with points in time when we are faced with making big adjustments and choices in the life. Often they will reflect the unconscious inclinations—that is, they show us before we’re even thinking of itconsciously what the consequences might be. These people also come in another form, typically someone consistently in your life before whom you can float an idea, and whose reaction will tell you to do the opposite. These kind of people can be invaluable, and can be recognized just by observing where their own judgments have taken them: if it’s not similar to where you want to go (and especially if they clearly yearn for more/ better) you know to do the opposite to what they advise, as their thinking and judgment are not working in such a way that their choices are capable of getting them where they want to go. People with bad judgment can reveal the flaws in your own plan–and I mean this in the mildest sense; they are not outright disasters that everyone knows not to listen to, but those who are getting by but not living the life they want, and who consistently are unable to make ‘it’ happen.
Interpreting an Actual Dream In the case of an actual dream had while sleeping, the symbolism and situations must be filtered through one’s own recent experiences and one’s own personal dream and symbolism vocabulary. One helpful thing can be to recount the dream as if it really happened; that can help us remove the unreal qualities and focus us on those facets of the experience that our minds have deliberately magnified, hoping to get our attention. Or, as in my dream described in the intro, we find the whole story can be reduced to a kind of instructional picture, mandate, a single sentence, saying, or concept, or even a rebus (you remember, those puzzles where saying the names of a series of objects creates another, sometimes larger, concept).
Life as a Dream This offers us a little distance from what we’re trying to analyze, and a stronger orientation toward seeing the symbolism in a situation, and so offers some objectivity and perspective. For this way of seeing we simply narrate the experience as if it’s happened to someone else—or as if it’s happened in a dream–and we observed it. This can be tremendously useful when our own part in things is confusing, or when someone tries to persuade us of something; we can apply the ‘distance’ viewpoint and see just what energies are at work, and just how reasonable others are being.
The biggest bonus, though, seems to be the way symbolism becomes so much more obvious when we cast the situation as a dream one. We can get some ‘Big Picture’ messages if we are willing to consider what elements of the experience can stand for, as well as considering what personal meaning these elements might have. For instance, opening an old box and finding a completely worn out pair of ballet toe shoes will have a totally different meaning for someone young and starting her dancing career, another meaning again for someone who doesn’t and never has danced, a third meaning for someone at their ballet career crossroads, and another meaning again for someone with bad memories of childhood ballet classes who has hated ballet ever since. With this method of understanding, context can mean quite a lot.
There is a dream analysis theory that states all parts in the dream are actually parts of the Self; this can at times be illuminating, especially when we sense that the centerpiece of the incident is ourselves and our behavior, but is in my experience only occasionally applicable, as though life certainly concerns each of us from our own vantage point, there is far too much input coming at us that concerns interaction, choice, and that informs us, to label everything ‘me’.
This also comes in another version, which we’ll call Tell It Like It Is, where you tell your own story as if it’s the experience of someone else. Or, you can recruit a friend to tell you your story as if they’re talking about a third party. This offers tremendous perspective, and can be incredibly harsh, as those things we make excuses for or soften in our own minds are laid out under a very unforgiving light. This is helpful when we are trying to see why something’s not working, why we may be getting the reception that we are, or why our lives have reached a stalemate. Seeing our lives as if they’re splashed across a tabloid, or as if our life history is being recounted by someone who doesn’t like us (and so is unwilling to emphasize the good) can help get us moving in significant ways—but be prepared, because no matter how accurate, the bald Truth can still hurt.
When trying to parse the meaning of encounters or experiences day-to-day we should also pay attention to our totems and other ‘familiars’ (including objects/ symbols) along the Path. When these pop up, and especially when they repeat with us seeing the same thing or hearing the same word or phrase, or we undergo any form of deja vu, this suggests you’re closely in the ‘stream’ of meaningful events. This is the principal behind the Daily Image—when I began to notice that it seemed to have meaning not just for me but for others as well, I started to include it in posts. I happen to believe that all events have significance, and that we can never actually be outside of our own Path—but we can fool around along the way, become confused and stuck, and can be mislead into a kind of ‘siding’ (like rail cars are shunted to along the tracks) that prevents forward progress we can recognize as our own, find meaningful, and embrace.
Now a note about the possibility that we encounter angels, demons, supernatural guides, or other entities in our lives: be very careful about casting what by all measures is a flesh-and-blood human being in one of these roles. We may want to see someone this way (especially if they meet our idea of how that entity would interact with us) but the reality is that if we’re actually encountering something like this we are unlikely to recognize it. I believe there are many energies taking many forms and interacting with us all the time—but I know there’s no way I can be sure when that occurs. This reduces the ‘angel experience’ to a very personal level—which I think is where it should be, as that’s the level at which we can recognize it, but not really share it with others, because it is so personal—and because who wants to bust an angel, who’s only there to help?
It still feels like late summer, doesn’t it? ‘August Night At Russell’s Corners’ By George Ault 1940 {{PD}}
There’s a trine today between Venus at 29 Virgo and Sedna at 29 Taurus–and if we want to add the timelessness factor, we call it an Earth Grand Trine and count Pluto at 26 Capricorn. This suggests a vibe in our surroundings that’s been building, building, and now feels as if the matter (we think a material one) has reached a crisis point. What we’re really feeling, I think, is stress on assets (whether that be relationships, finances, or other things over which we have a sense of possession–Venus) and our attempts to ‘connect’ with those worldly matters via our instinctual knowledge, what we ‘know but don’t know’ (Sedna). We’re trying to feel our way forward, but the thing we may forget about Sedna is that it also holds our ‘blind spot’ material–hence the feeling that we’re stumbling around in the dark! And Pluto’s involvement doesn’t help–that makes it feel important to figure out, dangerous, and may make us think that if we don’t get things right, we’ll have permanently mauled or jettisoned them–and that can cause real anxiety. With Ceres square Sedna, all our appeals to Mother Nature to give us some insight are going unheeded (She’s in 29 degree crisis mode in Florida, right now! In Leo! So don’t bother her, she’s doing her thing!) And of course this is all during a Merc retro period, in Virgo no less, so there’s just no using the mind to sort this out.
I have a few suggestions. Mars and Saturn are in a neat little Air Trine–and if we add Zeus in Libra, an Air Grand Trine, we have a way to think things through that doesn’t take a beeline through the mind, but instead let’s us use somatic means to understand what we’re dealing with. This is the idea that some people learn best by moving–and with Merc retro in Earth, moving through Air may be the answer. Saturn in Aquarius asks us to take an intellectual or future-oriented approach–What would we like to see happen, best case scenario? Mars in Gemini says, Make thinking and doing simultaneous–one will act as a generator for the other, and round in a circle. It may bring some surprises, but is the most direct route possible to revealing to ourselves what we’re really thinking and intending. And Zeus says bouncing ambitions and desires off others, especially those with whom we partner, can give us clarity in a way that brooding or keeping everything squirreled away in our brains just can’t, right now.
Also of note: Uranus squares Saturn, and the Black Moon Lilith point is sextile Uranus, catching Mars at the midpoint. Remember how I said things might surprise you? It would be surprising if they didn’t! Some of what’s revealed will definitely be of the kind we’d probably rather forget, but remind yourself: even if unpleasant, what we learn will be useful, and should inform our choices and actions. And the Eris-Vesta sextile is slated to form a Finger of God with apex retro, and then direct, Mercury, over the next week=what disturbs our values (especially the ones we’re a little smug about, a little too Self-satisfied over) will be the final piece to the puzzle of how our thinking during the retro period has changed. That means you’ll be able to pinpoint the change much more quickly than usual, in the post-retro period.
Fall is here, and so is change. ‘The Shoots of Autumn Crops’ By Zinaida Serebriakova 1908 {{PD}}
Keeping our usual tight orbs for a Lunar event, the upcoming New Moon in Libra (25 September 2:54 PM PDT at 2 Libra 48) shows only one major aspect: an opposition to Jupiter in Aries. But, you may say, what about the past and still technically in orb conjunction of the New Moon to Mercury? Good point, I’d say, since Merc’s retro status tells us they’ve met more recently than if Merc was in direct motion–but that’s more than 5 degrees distance; rather than illuminating the New Moon event, it speaks to what preceded it: a thought, an idea, one we’d already been contemplating (retro status) involving fresh ideas around partnership, cooperation, aesthetics, fairness, described by the Inferior Conjunction of the Sun and Mercury at 00 Libra on the 22nd.
So, we know the background; now our attention goes to Jupiter, the Earth due to conjoin it in exactly one degree (so about one day) in the sign of Aries. Jupiter-Earth suggests a Big Event, in Aries one either driven by the individual choices and actions, or one driven by an individual (Aries) that affects the masses (Jupiter). At a personal level, this could also imply that the individual who acts creates opportunity, or simply that their choices bring them knowledge or more–but more can include more difficulties, as much as it could be bounty or profit, with a negative result most likely if ego, rather than the Libran cooperative spirit, runs the show. Relating this to the New Moon, we can expect new emotional insight or feeling generated from this meeting of individual energy and the larger world.
There are more clues about this Lunar event, found in three contacts, the first being an out-of-sign trine to Sedna from its place in the final, stressful degree of Taurus=there’s something jangly, out-of-context about the ease with which the instincts and ‘blind spot’ material surfaces and colors the emotional palette–don’t be surprised at how things you ‘knew but didn’t know’ are suddenly exceptionally clear. The second contact is the New Moon novile the South Node=the past plays its part, and we would be smart to take a moment and trace the thread from seminal occurrence yesterday to results today. Third, we see a configuration formed: a Fist of God, apex the New Moon with base of Saturn square Uranus=again, big energies speak, this time perhaps implying a clash between what’s established and what will carry us forward into the future–or maybe it’s accident or innovation that shifts the timeline, sending everything in a new direction and sparking new feelings about others (NM in Libra) in the process.
The Sabian confirms this: ‘The Dawn Of A New Day Reveals Everything Changed’. Everything is a big concept, and is most likely to apply to an emotional shift at the individual level that changes the way we see and process the world. Nothing may change around us, and yet everything may be different, with this New Moon.
Just come back to the world, and what do I find? I slept through a Full Moon! But I saw it forming each night, clear and luminous, and was anxious to find out what it might bring; this is what I see:
At 2:59 AM PDT of the 10th the Moon conjoined Earth in Pisces, opposed the Virgo Sun, with the Moon just hours before this contacting Juno, and both Moon and Earth poised to conjoin Neptune, the Moon in hours, the Earth in about a week. What culminates at this point is a material matter that reflects a spiritual one, which impacts identity and creates the emotional landscape with which we’ll engage over the next two weeks. It’s as if in the hours around the Full Moon we think we know what defines us, what empowers us, what we control or have authority over, and then the Moon and Earth meet and we’re given a vision, or perhaps presented with a physical scenario, that reflects back to us a spiritual Truth, one that has a very personal message for us about how to go forward.
Here’s where I have to stop and say that I might have given this Lunar event a somewhat different interpretation, if not for my own experience last night. It was a warm night, that kind of late summer warm where you’re still feeling the heat of the day in the air and coming off the pavement, and yet there’s a breeze off the water that once in a while gives you a chill, warns you that things are changing. I was in a car and came to a stop light. I felt compelled to turn and look at the driver in the car to the right, where he sat under a very bright streetlight, and got a shock: this man looked exactly like someone close to me who has been dead for years. Not just that, but he looked young, much younger than this person was when he died, and even stranger, he had a small smile and a confused expression, and he was looking right at me.
So my experience of the message was in the form of an (unsettling) vision, one that has personal meaning for me, associations made to this person and his example, and which I must decipher for myself–and you will have had a similar event, or will have undergone some revelation, some realization through a dream, some imagining that reveals something new about yourself to yourself–or maybe it came through criticism (that Virgo Sun), or through a kind of accounting, accountability, or harvest, one that told you exactly what the combination of your creative energies and your material ones have brought into being.
The Full Moon also makes a sextile to Uranus, implying a suddenness to what comes, a shock or surprise, or a chaotic note that allows a vision or message to emerge from a maelstrom of activity or information. The group as a whole may deliver your Full Moon conclusion, possibly bringing to a stop something you still carried hope for–Luna is the purest conduit of hope–or delivering it in material form, perhaps an unanticipated material form.
There are also two configurations: a Grand Water Trine, with Moon-Earth-Juno, Black Moon Lilith in Cancer, and South Node widely conjoined Hygeia in Scorpio. A Grand Trine is an invitation for energies to work together through their emotional commonality; here we see material matters around empowerment about which we have strong feelings ‘getting along with’ those matters we are in denial about, ignoring, or about which we are angry, and with what was and wasn’t healthy about the past that is affecting the present. Again, a very personal picture, one that may suggest dealing with issues that bring strong emotional reactions is inevitable.
The second configuration is a loose Mystic Rectangle involving the Moon-Earth-Juno sextile North Node-Uranus trine the Sun sextile South Node-Hygeia and back around by trine to the Moon. This brings together elements of Earth and Water, the past and the present, the material world and the intangible (feeling, spiritual, Soul) one, and asks us to find ways in which the factors and memories coming forward now can empower us materially while making for a healthy Beingness, an approach to ourselves and our place in the world that is positive, benefiting from what came before, and what we can learn through Higher Mind (Uranus) lens to shape the future.
The event should conclude in about a week with Earth conjoined/ Sun opposed Neptune, delivering the ‘Full Vision’ (or for some, the ‘Complete Delusion’) that will power us forward, and which may give us not just a particular spiritual awareness around the Soul identity, it may also prompt a kind of costuming, in the sense of showing openly the roles we are now playing through appearance and behaviors, making apparent the identities we are embracing and offering to the world.
The Sabian for the Full Moon is, ‘In A Gigantic Tent, Villagers Witness A Spectacular Performance’. Maybe what prompts your vision, what’s revealed, is a ‘Big Tent’ experience, one many people undergo at once–but that doesn’t mean it isn’t extremely personal, since our interpretation of and reaction to what happens is what gives it meaning for us. Or it may simply be that our gigantic tent is the human experience itself, with each of us witnessing some pretty spectacular things–and this may be one of them. Or we focus on the word ‘performance’, and note that this may involve interaction, actually witnessing another ‘putting on a show’–and again, the meaning of that will be decipherable only to you through your own experiences, past and emotional.
The Sun Sabian is at ‘An Ouija Board’, reinforcing the idea of information or messages that pass from the unseen to either realization or into the actual surroundings themselves–and so pointing to the importance of the message, no matter the medium that delivers it.
Mercury is also retrograde at this point, turning around in Libra, an Air sign, and so asking us to re-think, re-consider, especially in terms of aesthetic choices, partnerships, romances, and oddly enough, maybe asking us, through Venus’ territory of envy and jealousy, to re-examine why we might be envious or jealous–and perhaps rid ourselves of a tiresome and irritating feeling, should we find out we’d rather keep our own situation, problems and all, rather than take on one that only seems in a surface way to be better than ours.
The first major contact Merc will form in apparent retro motion is an opposition to Jupiter in Aries, which centers on the individual within the social order, and the way partnerships or collaborations make the whole thing tick. A riff, then, on the Lunar theme for this Full Moon, on identity and how that brings us to where we are in life.
I hope you all had a wonderful Full Moon, and of course, all the usual caveats with Merc retro: don’t sign, don’t buy, don’t agree–with the exception that if the deal was fully in place and already explored before the retro, you can go ahead. Just remember that if you do implement something during the retrograde, you do so knowing that there’s something you don’t yet know about the situation–which could mean regret or disadvantage, when you finally find out.
My recent Mercury return, and the Moon reaching that spot in days, plus some completely unexpected events prompting some contemplation, brings me to the need to step back for a bit from screens of all kinds. I will not post here or be available from 29 August through 10 September 2022, and no one will be monitoring the press, so there will be no book sales, either. But before I go, let me tell you a little story.
This summer the forest directly behind our house was logged. It was a relentless assault, day after day, enormous machines, men with chainsaws, huge claws grabbing entire trees and pulling them from the earth, and when they were finally done, the sheltering woods behind our land were gone, the land scarred, stumps and debris everywhere. Some trees directly behind our next-door neighbors house were left, a beautiful stand of cedars designated as sacred by the tribe that now owns the land, so there is that, a small bright spot in a decimated landscape. Summer was full of displaced and disturbed birds, squirrels, deer, raccoons, even bugs, and presumably bears, though we haven’t seen any of those lately, the last siting during a plus-100 degree day last year. I was sad, seeing individual trees taken that I’ve come to know and love, distinct from the thicket of forest, particularly a small fir that had the look of the quintessential Christmas tree, and a tall pine that had a dogwood wound through its branches; I looked forward to that blooming, a line of white flowers laced into the pine boughs.
Now it’s open, and we get first morning sun, which is new–all the plants in the back yard are still adjusting! And something else: they finished logging right before the August Full Moon. All day I had been mourning the trees, and then night came and the Moon rose–and it was stunning, big and illuminated, and I realized we never had that before. It had been difficult to see the Moon here except when it was very high in the sky, and even then it tends toward the southern exposure, which for us is blocked by trees still. But now, in place of the forest, we have this small gift, the chance to watch Luna as soon as it comes up over the horizon. It just reminded me that even when something that seems terrible happens, and it inevitably brings change, we might find that the ‘new reality’ offers some wonderful things the ‘old reality’ didn’t.
Have a lovely end of summer, and I’ll be back soon, with a little something on the Mercury retrograde in Libra!
Julie Demboski's ASTROLOGY 
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