Direct confrontation is just not the way to go. ‘Stag at Sharkey’s’ By George Bellows 1909 {{PD}}
Mars and Pluto opposed each other in early November, at 29 degrees of Cancer (Mars) and Capricorn (Pluto). Think back; what kind of stressful, end-of-your rope feelings and events came forward? What was on your mind–or maybe I should say, what were you obsessed with? What called you to potentially initiate transformative action? What structures were lost, what crises in caring did you face? It wasn’t fun, but we were shown what was leaving our lives, and what actions we could take, all measured by what really mattered to us–and now we face more of these oppositions, as Mars retrogrades in Leo and repeatedly comes within orb of opposing Pluto, now firmly ensconced in Aquarius.
The apparent retrograde of Mars begins the 6th; it’s been stationary for about four days and will continue so (to the degree, but not the minute) for another week. Think about someone aggressively confident, suddenly being forced to retrace her steps or reconsider her choices and actions; that seems to me like a recipe for a short-temper, a reluctance to admit maybe another option would’ve suited better, or regret that there’s no way this individual wants to admit–that is the basic energy we face upon Mars’ first days stationary and then retro. We’re going to be reluctant to examine what we’ve done, and if we do, we may feel a rising panic: if our best judgment wasn’t good enough in the past, how the hell are we going to do better now?
Take a deep breath; this is not a crisis, especially as Neptune will go direct the 7th, offering renewed imaginative power, a clear set of ideals, and the creative energy to move forward. So, we have resources, we just need to be certain which ones are at our disposal, which are temporarily in storage. With Mars in Leo our attention will definitely be on ourselves: on what we’ve done (or failed to do, or turned away from doing), and we may make a seriously harsh assessment of what our contribution has really been. Did we ever really shine? we may be asking ourselves–and the closer Mars moves to perfecting its opposition to Pluto, the more serious, and devastating, that assessment may become.
First of all, we need to remember that both Mars and Pluto are very active energies; they have weight and they don’t hesitate to throw that around (and so easily knock us off balance). How then do we deal with them? Only a fool would believe they could manhandle either one of these into submission; we must judo them. That is, we must use the weight of these aggressive heavy-hitters to control them, move them where we want them to go, mustering their power for our benefit. For example, we might be feeling we must do something to enhance our presence, add to our contribution–in short, we may be feeling we have to prove ourselves, thanks to Leo–but we will almost certainly sense Pluto in opposition, threatening–what? Destruction, perhaps, or a dire outcome, the obliteration of our very ego; notice, though, that Pluto is in Aquarius. It’s a mind game. Destruction is possible, yes, but is unlikely if we are able to use Higher Mind (Aquarius) to vet the choices before us. We consider options, then step aside, and let the transformative energy of Pluto, via the intellect, assess what we want to do–and then, trusting ourselves, believe what is revealed. Aquarius offers understanding, an essential element to making the right moves. With this simple formula, we can abandon the struggle, and let all that spare momentum work for us.
I’ll write a bit more on this later. Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!
‘Path in the Wheat Fields at Pourville’ By Claude Monet 1882 {{PD}}
I’ve been seeing a lot of commentary on this event, specifically described as bringing a fated meeting, love, or benefit into the life. In my view this isn’t quite accurate. Can it bring that? It’s possible, of course; but the North Node, a point of extremity in the Moon’s cycle, I interpret in the natal chart as indicating our ultimate life direction–not an end point or goal, but a heading, like finding a region on a map (the sign) and moving toward it throughout our time here. In a transiting situation, like now, this brings, in matters of the natal House where it falls, something Venusian related to aspects of our Path/ current life direction. These may touch on issues around our relationship to the energies of the sign where it occurs and/ or our relationship to Archetypal Venus energies: Love, partnership, the Arts, social interactions, assets/ income, or those natal Venus energies found by House location, House rulerships, and/ or Venus’ sign in the natal chart. We have to customize our assessment of a transiting aspect’s impact on the individual–it takes some parsing, especially if the aspect makes contact with other natal placements–and typically the meaning of this will fit well into some scenario we’re currently part of. Naturally, the conclusions we reach, and the intensity or lack of it we experience, will be different for each of us.
What would I read as bringing a fated meeting, inevitable reward, the creation of something (in the Arts, particularly) that defines who we are? That would be transiting Venus meeting our natal Vertex. The Vertex is a point of intersection, where the ecliptic and the prime vertical meet; it’s opposite point is the anti-Vertex, and like the Nodes and the Sun-Earth axis, Vertex and anti-Vertex are always located exactly opposite each other in the flat chart. Anything touching the Vertex, by natal aspect or transiting contact, takes on a definite, life shaping aura. It marks points of crucial decision making, encounters that mark direction altering milestones or experiences, and even if the astrological event seems to occur without causing a ripple, it can often mark a time we will look back on as important because we reached a particular conclusion or make one of those passive, anti-choices that end up determining so much of our way forward. This, too, must be customized, with focus on our relationship to the transiting energy natally, and to what it rules or contacts.
Some may feel that the North Node and the Vertex are essentially the same thing, but I would argue that the North Node is about our choices, and the way the Universe will nudge us in a particular direction, one we have a Soul deep need to explore and experience; the North Node is our True North, a compass point we inevitably orient ourselves to. On the other hand, the Vertex strikes me as involving the orchestration of a great many external elements; those encounters or events or even acts of creation (or, more likely, their recognition) largely happen to us, even when we are catalyst or initiator. One is the Universe gently pulling us, the other is the active hand of the Universe reaching into our lives and shuffling the deck, putting a card that we must play in front of us, challenging us to see the import of the moment, and its potential consequences. We can only hope to recognize those moments, when they come.
“Where Love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.” Carl Jung
In thinking about Jung’s assertion, I naturally looked for an answer via astrology. The most prominent Power player is, of course, Pluto, and Love is indisputably Venus–but as we know, there is plenty of overlap between Love and Power, many shades, and I had to wonder: are they really shadows of each other, or is there a Zen, third way of understanding?
If we take Jung’s assertion as representing absolutes of Love and Power, it is indeed true: when consciousness is consumed by Power, there is no room for Love, as all will be seen through a lens that measures situational Power, and all decisions will be made with Power consequences in mind; and the same is true for Love, if Love is the focus of consciousness, then Power is of no concern–we can only respond with Love, which doesn’t recognize power at all. (If we classify things differently, though, we may find ourselves asking if Love isn’t its own kind of power–but I digress). Of necessity, a viewpoint that is one of pure Love, or pure Power, is almost impossible to muster, much less maintain; not only are we humans in bodies that make demands and with feelings that intrude on nearly every thought, we would have to be Archetypes, almost two-dimensional in our existence, in order to call forth such a one-pointed perceptual lens and apply it to our everyday life for any length of time at all. We can and often do bring forward transcendent moments when an unadulterated concept alone is applied to what stands before us–but these are only moments, soon complicated by conflicting forces both internal and external.
We would be unsuccessful in holding a single measure in our thoughts simply because we naturally think holistically; we perceive thoughts as holographic, in so far as we tend to think something, believe it’s the results of many interconnected bits, and review it for the many facets of our existence it impacts and springs from–and this is done mostly unconsciously, accounting for our reactions to things that are too swift to have come from considering the material. We often label this unconscious prompting, or divine inspiration, or instinct (it’s not–instinct is inborn, unvarying among members of the species–though some are more attuned to it than others–and sometimes responded to in spite of what we think or feel), but it’s much more an amalgam of beliefs, assumptions, learned behaviors, and ‘positions’ we have consciously taken–and as such is likely both more complex than any single label might imply, and more than a little contradictory.
It would be smart for us to apply that dimensionality to our thinking, though, because without it our actions and decisions would be ruthlessly automatic, as well as, to a large extent, unresponsive to reality–and we certainly don’t want that! Still, the idea that Love and Power are mutually exclusive is something I see as unfortunate; it’s one of those beliefs that stymies growth and prevents that evolution in thought that eventually comes to allow the individual to hold two or more contradictory ideas at once–to entertain them, though not necessarily to accept them as equal, an important distinction.
Let’s accept that pure Love is at one end of a spectrum, and that its opposite, pure Power, is found at the other. As astrologers and seekers, this might lead us to look for ways to find where we as individuals might fall on that spectrum, to determine what the balance is between the two qualities in our own psyche–for if they are found on a single continuum, then all of us will find ourselves in relation to Love and Power, giving one ‘x’ amount of psychic ‘space’, and the other ‘y’ amount, along that same continuum, as well.
This is all sounding a little too much like geometry class–sorry, didn’t mean to cause flashbacks! Let’s consider, though, that Love and Power could be extremes of the same energy. If each is the shadow of the other, there’s one thing we also know from Jung: “The best political, social, and spiritual work we can do is to withdraw the projection of our shadow onto others.” In other words, if we accept our shadow, we make not just ourselves, but the world, a better place–because we don’t mistake our own darkness as belonging to someone else. So, our task may be to find just how we are dealing with Love and Power, how we are balancing and characterizing these, and to learn to accept them both as mere reflections, each of the other–for there’s no chance to be whole if we deny either end of the spectrum, if we characterize either as shadow.
Let’s move to the familiar symbols of the horoscope, in this case Venus and Pluto. Now, here’s the thing: these two will be connected. Some of you may be shouting, ‘No!’ and some of you may be saying, ‘No way’ and rolling your eyes, and some of you may be weeping (likely those with direct contact between the two). Remember how I remarked earlier that with a different viewpoint, we could say that Love is a power of its own? That’s one way to think of it. There is also the idea that, when Power is used in kindness, sacrifice, and without thought of gain, it is Love. And there are other versions of this, the point being that, though we can see them as opposites on extreme ends of a continuum, we can also see them as completely encompassing each other; as being, in effect, one and the same.
We could mull on the possibilities for hours, but we have laundry to do and eyebrows to wax and adventures to begin, so we’ll look at what kind of relationships these two can have in the natal chart, and what those might mean. Of course, a conjunction offers the essence of our thesis, that these can be the same thing–and the individual with this conjunction may not easily differentiate the two energies. Love can make this person feel powerful, and situations of power can make this person feel loved. If the Venus shadow predominates, we may have the individual who is always working to hold the power in any relationship; he or she may see every interaction as a power test. This is not necessarily negative–they may just try to work out the power dynamic, rather than try to dominate–but imposing this on a relationship can be wearing, and possibly threatening to the other party.
All situations involving the sense of Love may, for this person, conjure situations of (or maybe just the need to define) power in the interaction, and so muster the specter of destruction via vulnerability. If the interaction is compelling enough, we may call it addiction–which naturally brings forward the destructive core of Pluto, as well as the shadow of Love–both arise, entwined, both dark. This contact can also signify someone who is on a perpetual journey into the Underworld, and this is almost certainly through the individual’s own mind and psyche. With the conjunction, one carries one’s own darkness close to the heart, and this makes for someone of exquisite understanding of pain, shame, and the transforming nature of Love, but it can also make for someone who creates their greatest pain themselves. Venus-Pluto together in the natal chart suggests that the individual is either author of her or his own sojourn into the Soul depths, with resultant transformation of pain into understanding and compassion, and a re-birth that brings the individual, tempered by Plutonian experiences, to a new evolutionary state, or it suggests that this person inflicts his or her worst wounds (even if they appear to come from without), as he or she cannot distinguish Love from rage, or kindness from destruction. Here, the individual themselves either creates the celebration of Life from hard-won knowledge (the Candy Apple) or prepares and serves themselves the fruit of their undoing (the Poison one).
Our animalistic, survival instincts have trained us to pick the threat out of the landscape–and if everything is fine, we may not trust that perception
With sextiles and trines we have what I describe as an ‘easy’ relationship between the two energies–but what does that really mean? Too often we are tempted to read these aspects as invariably positive, but in reality, the aspects suggest only that whatever each energy expresses meshes well with the expression of the other. That can mean that easy aspects connote expressions that are only surface-deep, a mix of the two most characteristic expressions of that energy for that individual. If that happens to be less-than-ideal, the person with an easy relationship between energies may find these to be some of her or his biggest obstacles, a trap it’s oh-so-easy to stumble into.
For instance, Pluto in Virgo receiving a trine from Venus in Taurus may find that tastes are refined and a true appreciation of material comforts is a strong part of consciousness, as is the meaning behind such material life elements–and yet the individual may easily destroy his or her enjoyment of things through relentless Self-criticism or penny-pinching (the ‘accounting’ aspect of Virgo). Every time the person indulges the senses, prepares a meal, or curls up in a cozy cabin on a stormy night, she or he ruins the experience by worrying (another Virgo specialty) or being critical; she spills a glass of wine and wonders how much it will cost to clean the bearskin rug, he enjoys the warm cabin but every time the heat comes on he calculates how soon he may have to get the fuel tank filled and why didn’t he convert the heating to gas? and the evening is spoiled, just a little. Very often energies in easy aspect will ‘take turns’: one will express positively, and the other will jump in with negative input, in what amounts to a balancing act, and this may be because we are uneasy when things flow (what seems to be) too smoothly. We may fear ‘running on all cylinders’, simply because our animalistic, survival instincts have trained us to pick the threat out of the landscape–and if everything is fine, we may not trust that perception.
These same aspects can, of course, manifest positively, such as when Venus-Pluto trine suggests a deep knowledge of how transforming Love can be, knows how important aesthetics are to enjoyment and perception, recycles what’s discarded into objects of beauty, or makes scads of money–this latter is inherent in any aspect between Venus and Pluto, as an indicator of this potential at some point in the life. The trine or sextile can also show someone who finds it easy to exercise power via the influence one has over those who love them, or can easily change the life, or destroy the Self, over Love (or, sometimes, just over their idea of what Love should be). The Venus-Pluto easy aspect person can offer the bright, shiny candy apple of Love and Transformation to others, can enjoy it herself, or may pass out poisoned fruit, knowingly or not, through distorted ideas of Love or Power.
A square between Love and Power (aka Venus and Pluto) is one of the most written-about, and misunderstood, of aspects. Traditional views tell us this individual will suffer for their unloving attitude–but I think that’s a wee bit harsh and short-sighted. What we see with the square is a conflict for this person between what they see as Love and what they see as Power–and one thing’s consistent, the concepts this individual holds must change in order to settle the conflict and gain both qualities in the life. Squares can play out initially in a way similar to the opposition: the individual chooses one side to embody, and casts someone or some situation in the life to represent the other–and then the struggle ensues, as the individual attempts to wrest the ‘missing’ quality from the designated other–and fails miserably (“I love you–empower me!” or “Respond to my demand–love me!”) It’s in the experience of failing to get what they need that this person comes to understand that by loving to gain power, or using power to gain love, they cannot be fulfilled, and it’s then that the alchemy begins.
When assessing any square, but particularly the Venus-Pluto square, we should keep in mind that this represents conditions the individual believes to be true. If we think of it that way, we find that his Venus-Pluto errors simply need to be unlearned; the Power within Love, and the Love that guides Power, are the treasure (Venus) to be unearthed (Pluto) by this individual. Compassion may be the perfect Venus-Pluto conceptual blend for the square: this person may have been force-fed the idea that she will not be loved (or lovable) if she is a powerful person, in charge of her own life. She may have been told that loving people don’t care about power–and so be cleverly disenfranchised from an early life scenario. She could have been told (and by ‘told’ I mean a message delivered, likely non-verbally, through significant others, typically the adults, in the early years) that Love involves rage, anger, jealousy, requires expensive tribute, is nothing but a power play, is destructive, or that one must immolate oneself on its altar in order to be worthy–all, of course, untrue. With the square, the individual was probably given a poison apple early on, and will continue to partake of it until some conflict makes the absurdity of poisoning oneself patently obvious.
As we’ve touched on previously, an opposition between Venus and Pluto typically first presents as the individual identifying with one side, and projecting the other; this can mean that, because this aspect lacks the outright conflict potential that the square has, the individual could never be under sufficient pressure to recognize a need for integration–they could go their whole lives living one side, projecting the other. In that case, we would see someone who sees themselves as totally loving and generous, and who rejects the idea that he or she may carry darkness or a desire for power, who may have encounter after encounter with angry, destructive, sneaky, dishonest people, or have relationships with those who are abusive or who are excessively centered in power and its payoffs (or, less likely, the individual may see themselves as ‘bad’, or as a transformative and powerful Being who cannot relate to Love and human relationships). The person as well as many who surround her or him often sing the lament, “I’m/she’s/he’s so nice, why do such bad things happen to me/her/him?” The answer is, to wake you up–to spur you to claim all facets of yourself–to make you see that you do carry a Plutonian darkness, and that by living in Venus, you are only half alive–but few will recognize the appropriateness of this answer.
Most people with the opposition do eventually realize that there’s something missing within the consciousness, often when they are confronted with positive and attractive examples of others who are living that opposing, not-identified-with power. A boy who believes he’s ‘bad’ is taken in by a loving family–and suddenly he begins to see that Love is accessible to him, too, that relationships are something he can create–and that he has misinterpreted his ‘badness’, when it may really be misguided or misdirected, but perfectly acceptable, energies. A man who believes himself to be loving and harmless may wonder why he can’t attract a mate, and it’s only in seeing the honest exchanges of energy (which include fighting and resentments) between others in obviously good and loving relationships that he comes to realize that expecting perfect harmony all the time is killing his chances at Love. In the case of the opposition, the individual may see life as all candy apples and unicorns (figuratively speaking) and reject any hint of darker things, or the individual may sees themselves as the poison apple, fearing that their mere presence harms others–and in both cases, life will deliver opportunities to accept the opposite energy and incorporate it into the world view and the psyche–and until this happens, the individual is likely to lead a lopsided, confusing, and unfulfilled existence, where they yearn for something, without realizing the thing they require is the very thing they reject. Once recognition of the need for incorporation occurs, things usually move steadily toward an integration that ultimately may mimic a conjunction in its melding of the two energies.
Now you may be saying, “But I don’t have a direct aspect between Venus and Pluto–what about me? Does this apply?” Yes, it does apply to you–these energies will always, in some way, no matter how tenuous, touch. They can touch through sign placement: Venus in Scorpio or Aries (Mars as a ‘secondary’ ruler of Scorpio, like Pluto’s little brother) connects the Venusian concepts to the darkness. If you have Pluto in Libra, you are likely familiar with the darker side of relationships–and you accept it. Also applicable are aspects to a third body that both aspect but are outside the orb of a connection between Venus-Pluto. There’s also the way Venus in the sign of your Pluto, or aspecting Pluto’s ruler, or Pluto aspecting Venus’s ruler, or the rulers of each in aspect, can pull them together, or even the way these might be located in each other’s ‘natural’ Houses (Venus in the 1st or 8th, Pluto in the 2nd or 7th). There’s also potential for connection through being in the same element or modality. You may think these are a stretch, but they will give you a good idea of where you fall on the Venus-Pluto continuum, of the way you divvy up Love and Power.
Carl Jung, who provided the quote that set this whole discussion off, is a good example. Born 26 July 1875 in Kesswil, Switzerland at about 7:30 PM, Jung has Venus in the 6th in Cancer, conjoined Mercury, and Pluto in the 4th in Taurus. Right away we see a connector, in spite of these two forming no direct aspect: Pluto is in Venus’s sign of Taurus. This hints that Venusian energies may be stronger in Carl’s psychic vocabulary, that they may tinge his Plutonian concepts. Venus is in wide square to Jupiter, exaggerating Love’s power and linking it to, among other things, the social order. It’s in Venus’ mutual reception with the Taurus Moon that we find the most potent contact. and considering some uncertainty to the birth time (and if we allow a reasonably large orb), the Moon could be conjoined Pluto–and this little tidbit binds the two, Love and Power, together almost as tightly as a conjunction might, through the mechanism of emotional interaction with and interpretation of the material world (Moon in Taurus).
Pluto has other aspects, though, and they add to the picture: Pluto is the arm of a T-square with a Saturn-Ceres opposition (reality and Nature ‘face off’, resolving the conflict only through working out the individual’s power position with both), is in rough sesquiquadrate the South Node in Libra (the past and past experiences as prompts to / roots of difficulties in relationship), and is the apex of a Finger of God with base of Jupiter in Libra and Mars in Sagittarius the individual depth of knowledge, when combined with an optimistic and socially acceptable attitude toward relationships, offers pure Power). Again, we see Venus’s influence on the Plutonian concept, through Libra and Taurus, and through the emotions (Taurus Moon. ‘sharing’ a vibe with Pluto, and possibly making the emotions the first line of access when reading matters of Power), including making Pluto the receiver for integration of concepts about the interrelationship of the individual with the social order (Jupiter in Libra) and the influence of relationships/ Love as it reminds of and draws on the past (Libra SN). Added bonus, Sedna, North Node, and Chiron are all in secondary sign of Aries, suggesting that these energies incline toward a Plutonian worldview through Self-assertion. That’s not to mention, if the birth time is correct, how the Black Moon Lilith point is closely conjoined the Midheaven–making it part of his role in the world to show us all how to realize and deal with those things ignored, denied, or otherwise buried.
It seems, then, that Dr. Jung may have been so intent on admonishing all of us on the need to recognize and accept the shadow simply because he was prone to favor Love, to see it as more compelling than Power–and probably to be ultra-aware of the dangers inherent in not recognizing ourselves in the darkness. “Unfortunately there can be no doubt that man is, on the whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants to be. Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.” Spoken with the confidence of a Leo Sun–and oh Carl, don’t we know it.
This article previously appeared in ECLIPSE, and has been modified and added to.
This is part of a continuing series begun last year where I asked readers to send in their questions about aspects, specifically natal aspects, they wanted to know more about.
Hi Julie I am going to take a step in to play!! Aspect: Conjunctions.. “blind spots” not noticed in the past, yet now it seems I am aware of that aspects signature more (Birth data removed)
Be safe!! Love and Blessings!!
Dear Reader,
First, a thank you for your lovely wishes–I hope you’re staying safe, and thriving, well-blessed, too!
A little bit about conjunctions: natally they tend to weld two energies together for a lifetime, particularly if the conjunction is close (say, at or less than 2.5 degrees). This can cause the individual with the aspect to find it particularly hard to deploy the energies separately. For instance, a Moon-Mars conjunction can mean that hurt, sensitivity, intuitive perceptions, or emotional reactions can all be answered with anger, assertiveness, or a hot-footed insistence on doing something in answer to the feeling. This duo may predispose one to a fear that emotional expression may bring only anger from others, or that anger itself is the only acceptable emotion. But, this same combo can also mean that the feeling nature and the action urge can work in well-synchronized harmony, since they (likely) sit in the same sign, and share the same sensibilities (we’ll skip thinking about conjunctions that straddle two signs, for now!) Working together, Moon-Mars could make the individual highly dependent on the feelings to get them moving, or on the intuition to know what to do, with the down side that this could short-cut past the mind, leaving reason ‘out in the cold’ when it comes to choices and actions.
One of the biggest impacts of a conjunction, though, is the way it can make matters of the two Houses they rule (when the conjoined are major bodies) work together. In a Whole Sign chart using the same Moon-Mars example, we would find cooperation between the House holding Cancer and the House holding Aries. It doesn’t matter what sign the conjunction itself falls in, those two Houses would still find their subjects enmeshed, sometimes for good, and sometimes in more difficult ways. By example, we can consider a situation with that Moon-Mars conjunction ruling Aries in the 7th, Cancer in the 10th. This might mean that the individual’s ‘I Am’ and initiative (Aries/ Mars), when triggered through partnership or the creation of Art (7th), will automatically strive to show the emotional palette publicly (10th), through career or in support of the reputation, or even in business. ‘I Care’ (Cancer) would always prompt ‘I Act’, and would likely focus through interaction, presented to an audience or even just the spouse (7th), with the result aimed at enhancing the reputation, furthering the Self’s public cause (also known as the career), or letting the world know what the Self cares about (10th). There are lots of possibilities; it’s the entwined nature of the expression of conjunction energies themselves, and through the Houses they rule, that’s important to keep in mind.
Now just a few observations; this isn’t definitive, by any means. You, dear Reader, have a number of conjunctions we could discuss that I think would be helpful to others, and today we’ll look briefly at two clusters; first, your Chiron-Venus conjunction in Aquarius in the 7th (note: Chiron is novile the Sun, while Venus is closer to a semi-square, though both are novile Pallas), square Mars, opposite the Ascendant, quincunx the South Node, square Neptune, widely opposed the Moon, and sextile Black Moon Lilith; Chiron is also sesquiquadrate Vesta, while Venus makes no contact. This weaves Chirotic energy directly into the personality, into the identity and the Soul’s purpose (all through the Sun contact) in a way that informs the way of Being in the world with a unique viewpoint and a bit of genius via skills, especially healing skills (the novile), playing up the innovative qualities (Aquarius) through the creative Piscean Soul (Sun) and fusing them with Love (Venus). But, Venus’ rougher aspect adds this: that relationships and/ or finances don’t come easily, that there may be lessons to learn to adequately answer the questions, What is Love? What is really an asset (i.e., worthy)? What can–and should I–own?
We get a clue about potential areas of Venusian difficulties via the Houses Venus rules, the 3rd and 10th, which could imply that ways of thinking or communicating may be a big part of the problem, with the ability to understand others (Libra in the 3rd, Venus in Aquarius, the sign of understanding) potentially the main issue. The sextile to Black Moon Lilith implies it may be easy to ignore what you find unpleasant–and that could complicate communication, as well. The 10th may suggest issues are with those in authority, with business practices, gum up the career, or are very visible to those with whom you interact, to the point that they are part of the reputation. Too, with Libra involved, you may be known for your gentle diplomacy–or for your passive-aggression, both Libra specialties! The square to Mars says action and choice always seem to either be forced or come rapped up with difficulties in executing the Will; it isn’t hard to see how mental processing or communication issues could set the stage for awkward reception of your actions and choices.
The fact that the conjunction falls not only in the 7th but so closely opposed the Ascendant may create a tricky dynamic: a kind of echo around choices and actions that asks, ‘Will this hurt?’ and ‘What will it cost me?’ with the added difficulty of either not being sure whether these potentials are coming from the actions of others or from yourself (the 7th, either seen as your own energies or projected as belonging to others)–and this could suggest that you see others as having communication or anger issues that are actually your own, as the Universe loves to confront us with others who show us in bold type our own failings.
The novile to the Sun suggests the Soul finds ingenious ways to express its healing nature and skills (these being the positives associated with Chiron), but also funnels this hesitancy surrounding a sense of vulnerability directly to the identity and may impinge on the Soul moving toward expressing its purpose. But, the Pisces Sun sits in the 8th, reinforcing that possibility of mistaking one’s own methods and motivations for those of others, but also steeped in the creative energies derived from interaction with and cooperation with others. One issue may be that you offer healing even when others don’t want it! perhaps creating the dissonance of the Venus semi-square, making relationship a bit tense at times.
This is it me or is it them? confusion may be central to the Chiron-Venus in 7th in Aquarius: anytime there’s hurt or a potential for healing (with the Self or in relationships), in the asset picture, or in your view of your own talents, you may either 1) intellectualize things, thinking you need to ‘figure it out’ or justify matters before you can accept that healing potential, or 2) see either the healing or the hurt as potentially coming only from others; that is, you may not recognize your part in things (i.e., that others can’t hurt you unless you agree to feel hurt, for instance). The sesquiquadrate between Chiron and Vesta could imply that only when wounded do you consider deviating from your highest values–but with Venus there, Love likely pulls you back from that precipice very quickly.
The approach to Love, Money, and injury, psychic, emotional, or otherwise, may also be intellectualized as a way of Being; that is, you may go deeply into these subjects theoretically, while in the real world you may feel either that thinking about how they operate is enough, or that others are more responsible/ have a more intimate relationship with these matters than you feel you do. This could also show as a tendency to think about things, especially relationships or assets, and feel that you’ve then dealt with them, without taking any action, with the square to Mars showing just how hard that can be for you.
One good potential with that Venus-Chiron/ Mars combo is that you likely work very hard to define and express yourself, and that your sensitivity levels, especially to others, are very high. There is probably a high degree of conscientiousness and a determination not to harm others. It may be vital for you to operate (that is, to act or choose) only when you are both intellectually and heart-centered in any matter–another meaning for the Mars square, then, may be you holding yourself back until you are sure of what you want to do, vetted against all that’s most important to you in life.
And a word or two on the Venus-Neptune square: this is an out-of-sign aspect, with both sitting in Air, Neptune in the 3rd in Libra, introducing the potential for creative, inspired, or completely delusional thinking, and the contact to Venus linking it to relationships again, once through Libra and once through Venus in the 7th. This unites the 3rd, 8th, and 10th Houses, suggesting that thinking and communication are heavily influenced by others and your interactions with them, especially what you share, and that this is part of the reputation, career, or expressed through interaction with authorities or publicly. Do you write? Are you an Artist? If not vocationally, you certainly are in your essence.
There is also the potential for you to associate yourself as a woman with carrying unique skills, with being fundamentally injured, and/ or with innately being a healer. I suspect with you it’s this latter, but any of those are possible, and may make up various facets of the identity specifically associated with womanhood as you see and express it, as well as likely pinpointing a specific feeling of vulnerability within your identity.
Ruler of Aquarius, Uranus, is sandwiched into another conjunction, this one uniting Moon, Jupiter, and Uranus within just over seven degrees of one another, in Cancer in the 12th. So, we have the Moon in its own sign (very strong!) connecting to the Venus-Chiron duo by opposition, bringing the emotions into, and perhaps having them drive, all that we’ve been discussing. In the 12th, the Moon may not make itself known directly, instead having a strong impetus to push out through those natal energies contacted, so that you may be less aware than you know of the influence of the emotions on other life areas (and this may be doubly so with Aquarius putting the stamp of intellectual understanding on so much, possibly unaware of how the feeling nature has a hand in things!) The feeling could be, ‘I’m very sensitive, but not emotional–I’m the most rational person I know!’
There’s a lot to unpack here, but we’ll look at only one thing, the Houses brought together through rulership by these bodies: 5th, 7th, and 12th. That suggests that creative acts (5th) are fueled by feedback from or cooperation with others (7th–as well as giving that creative urge and artistic bent–also 7th), and that this can be a channel for, or overwhelmingly influenced by, a connection to the Cosmic and/ or the unconscious (12th). With the conjunction located in the 12th, this is a powerful recipe to bring spirit as a living, breathing, creative thing into the everyday life–and goodness knows, the world definitely needs more of this right now–
Lord and Lady Lucan, back in the day. She was just recently found deceased in the same Belgravia house where the nanny’s murder occurred. Fair use, multiple sources
This an ECLIPSE re-print from 2015 with some new material added, a wee mystery to ponder this weekend. Have a great one! jd
If Ian Fleming, Agatha Christie, and Ian McEwan had each jumped into a time machine, met in a mutually agreed upon cozy writing spot, and together woven a story of a dashing noble who gambles himself deep into debt, is suspected of murder, and the very day following the murder vanishes without a trace, they would’ve written something astonishingly close to the life of Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, a gambler and gadabout who at one point was considered for the movie role of James Bond. Lord Lucan (born 18 December 1934 ntk at Marylebone/ London United Kingdom) took the privilege accorded him due to birth and parlayed that into a miserable marriage and a gambling debt equivalent to half a million dollars in today’s coin.
On the evening of November 7, 1974, the nanny for Lord Lucan’s children was murdered in the basement of the family home. Lucan did not live in the house at the time, but he did come to the house that evening and got into a physical fight with his wife when she came downstairs looking for the nanny, who hadn’t returned with tea, as expected. Both Lucan and his wife were bloodied and bruised, and eventually retreated together to the bathroom to tend their wounds, according to the account of Lucan’s wife, Veronica, and his daughter, who saw them after the fight. Lucan left (presumably before the nanny’s body had been discovered), stopped by a friend’s house in the wee hours of the morning of the 8th, and was never heard from again.
The working theory all these years is that Lucan is the killer; the supposition is that he mistook the nanny, a petite woman with long, strawberry blond hair who bore an uncanny resemblance to wife Veronica, for his alimony-demanding, custody-of-the-kids holding, ex-spouse. There is lots of circumstantial evidence to support this, including the police finding a car he had borrowed that contained his fingerprints, the nanny’s blood, and a lead pipe very similar to the one used to kill his employee. He told the friend he visited that night, who is the last person known to have seen him alive, that he saw someone attacking the nanny through the basement window, and went into the house to help. His wife and son both believe he likely killed himself out of guilt, but no body has been found, and whatever happened, he left without his keys, passport, eyeglasses, and other important small bits, suggesting a certain finality to events, whether he died or changed his identity.
Unfortunately we don’t have a birth time for Lucan, but when we set a transit chart for the early morning hours of the 8th and compare it with the natal placements, we still get some compelling contacts. First we might try to ascertain whether he was of a mind to kill that evening, and especially if he might’ve targeted his spouse. His natal Venus in Capricorn is square his natal Mars in Libra, setting him up to expect conflict in man-woman scenarios, and the midpoint of transiting Ceres-Juno sextiled this Venus, suggesting at that point he could’ve easily seen his wife as a vengeful force of Nature—and with transiting Sedna trine n Venus and Black Moon Lilith sesquiquadrate it natally, he may have been primed to act out, a temporary ‘blind spot’ nicely masking anything about his relationships that would contradict the in-born belief that women were Lilith-like and the carriers of unreasonable rage (as a male-oriented society inevitably characterizes BML energy)—all stoking his resentment of his wife.
We might ask, does Lucan have it in him to kill? Of course, the natal chart can only give clues, not definitive answers, but there are a few interesting things of note. Lucan has a natal Sun-Vesta conjunction, suggesting the potential for him to see himself as sacred, upping the chance he would easily take affront or act out in ways designed to protect himself. His natal Pluto quincunxes his Sun and Saturn, making it apex to a Finger of God, and opposes natal Juno, a recipe for destruction triggered by any threat to what he’s built, especially if it should come from the spouse. His natal Uranus-Pluto square, which may have offered spontaneous, burn-’em-all-down fireworks as a matter of course, was at the time of the murder filled in as a Fist of God by t Neptune, suggesting that those Uranus-Pluto impulses may not have seen clearly their own expression, acted out in defense of an ideal, a fantasy, or a delusion (and see later for more potentials for this config). And there is the way t Uranus is at 29 degrees of Libra, setting up a general atmosphere of strain and sudden action in partnerships of all kinds.
Transiting Mercury was squaring his natal Pluto (difficult messages/ communications/ thoughts that hinted at destruction) and t Jupiter formed apex with these two to a Fist of God. This is a vote for suicide, with Jupiter the planet associated with the leave-taking of death; certainly, dark thoughts could’ve driven him in that direction. That t Merc was also sextile his natal Sun, tying thoughts to his sense of identity and well-being. Too, t BML sextiled his Mercury and both were quincunx t Saturn, forming a Finger of God that implies he might’ve felt enormous mental pressure to do something in the physical world to address things. And, t Sun-Venus were just moving off natal Jupiter, perhaps suggesting to him that suicide might be the most rewarding way out.
Also of note: that in the early morning hours the transiting Leo Moon (the kind we can’t help thinking about ourselves under) squared his (supposed) natal Taurus Moon, while t Uranus had been putting steady pressure on Luna for some time. This argues for emotionally charged tension surrounding the Self, one’s impulses, and the future, while t Saturn squared natal Sedna, suppressing the instincts and perhaps insisting he had no ‘blind spot’, everything was just as he assessed it. t Pallas was also trining that Moon, reinforcing the idea that the emotional reactions were giving him smart guidance, in spite of the results. Should his natal Moon actually be in early Gemini (possible if his birth occurred later in the day), he would still receive a stressful square from the transiting Moon, and we can add one from t Ceres, as well, perhaps making the pressure from females confident and in charge of their own autonomy and domain more than he could bear.
His large gambling debts imply he might’ve been a prime target for a hit, as he’d owed for years and there were no prospects for new income in the future (in fact, his natal Pluto in Cancer square his Uranus-Pallas, clearly spelling out his Self-destructive tendencies, triggered by transiting North Node-Vesta-Neptune, forming a Fist of God—the smack down may have been something he always imagined, and was always headed for—it may even have been something he courted, revering the idea of payback). A 1975 inquest held that he was guilty of the murder and convicted him in absentia, so there’s little incentive for him to ever surface again, if he is alive. Theories of his fate abound, everything from being whisked from the country by MI5 and hidden in a Greek monastery to being fed to the tigers of zoo owner, gambling hall impresario, and close friend (to whom he presumably owed a lot of money) John Aspinall, but my favorite is that he took off for New Zealand, where he lives still with a goat named ‘Camilla’.
So, to review, it’s Lord Lucan, in the basement, with the lead pipe.
The natal Moon in contact with the natal Ascendant can feel very much as if the individual is constantly interacting with and displaying the emotional nature.’Reaching for the Moon’ By Edward Mason Eggleston 1933 {{PD}}
The 29th is a day when no new aspects perfect, so maybe we should take some time to look at one of those topics I previously asked readers to submit.
“Thank you for your offer. If you choose so, I’d like to hear about my Moon square Asc aspect (birth data redacted for privacy). For the last few years, I’ve been trying to align questions about responsibilities (work, family, relationships, community) with what I consider my free will, independence, identity (I work in artistic field). Maybe it’s a never-ending process. Wish I could feel more decisive/confident with my choices/path.”
I can tell you with confidence that reconciling a natal square is a never-ending process; no matter how well we do at resolving the conflict and expressing the energies, we can always lift the expression of those energies to ever-higher forms–and that translates to a life-long fine-tuning process. So, the individual describes a pull between the Will and identity and those larger responsibilities that involve others–and the first thing we see in the chart is that the Moon rules the 4th of family of origin, which immediately emphasizes the perhaps perpetual conflict between the individual emotional experience and familial expectations. The personality of the individual, and the way that individual interacts with the world, is in some way at odds with the role or expectations within the family, in conflict with the concept of ‘home’ as they understand it, and/ or in basic discord with one or both parental figures. Ironically, though, the Moon is in the Capricorn 10th, suggesting that duty and a close link to one or both parents is actually what makes this Moon comfortable–so it may be that phrasing this square as an identity vs. obligations challenge is a bit of a distraction, at least in terms of emotional expression–it may really be that it’s the manner of reaching out to the world (the Ascendant) that makes this person emotionally uncomfortable.
What we see with the 10th House Moon ruling the 4th House suggests a kind of ‘tag team’ of authority and nurture from the parents, with the individual’s Moon in Capricorn in the 10th ruling the 4th, and Ceres, mother and authority, posited in the 4th in Cancer. These parents work together, and may see imposing rules and boundaries, expectations and goals, as a form of nurture–and a Capricorn Moon clearly sees it that way, too.
But the Ascendant, the way the individual interacts with and presents the Self to the world on first meeting, the persona and personality, is keyed to the energies of Aries–and that’s an energy that says, ‘I can do it myself, I want to do it my way, follow me!’ The Ascendant, in fact, is apex to a Finger of God with a base of Neptune, an almost Cazimi Sun-Mercury, and Venus, all in Scorpio in the 8th, and Uranus in Virgo in the 6th (and we note a close-but-no-cigar Finger combo of Mars and Pluto in Virgo, just outside comfortable quincunx range). This may be why it feels as if the emotions aren’t being served: an enormous amount of creative, identity/ Soul, communication, and relationship energy is interacting with the most original and unique impulses and then funneled out to the world through the personality, with the base placements in 6th and 8th suggesting a reliance on input/ feedback/ cooperation and understanding from others, especially through the course of work and discharge of duties–this individual can’t express things they find meaningful without others–and the individual feels they must be at the head of the line, leading, guiding, doing (Aries apex)–and yet we must remember that the outlet of the Ascendant carries a fundamental discord with the emotional nature via the square, which we might sum up as ‘duty (to parents, career, or convention-Capricorn, on which the feelings depend for a sense of well-being) vs. ‘a need to trail-blaze, express the individual Will, to have one’s say and way as an outlet to so many of the basic energies, including the Soul’s reasons for being here (Sun in aspect to the Aries Ascendant).
Add to this that the Capricorn Moon, which naturally aspects all that the Ascendant aspects, also happens to lie at the rough midpoint of the Sun grouping and the 12th House Chiron-Saturn-Black Moon Lilith in Pisces–which does not aspect the Ascendant. What! What? And now we see/ feel what is pestering the feeling nature that is on its own essentially at ease with the Soul/ communication/ love and creative nature and with the Uranian need for original expression, and with the Martian-Plutonian need to act and feel of consequence within the world. What the Moon is not at ease with is the way all these energies are expressed through the Ascendant–that’s where the conflict lies.
Too, that Uranus-Mars-Pluto grouping, such a dynamic and urgent mixture, requiring action, spontaneity, and a certain amount of power, directly conflicts (opposition) with Chiron-Saturn-Black Moon Lilith. It may be that action, especially spontaneous or unusual action, or action that seeks to create power and impact for the Self, stirs unconscious (12th) anger, resentment, and guilt–and so creates a feedback loop that hides the hurt, even as the emotional nature is highly aware of it (Saturn ruling the Moon)–and these angers and hurts are possibly brought into real-world circumstances periodically, as the unconscious ‘reaches out’ and orchestrates physical reality (Saturn).
The Moon contact to Chiron-Saturn-Black Moon Lilith implies that what’s really, really hidden, ignored, denied, or that enrages has also wounded, and the individual senses this (12th House) through the Moon’s emotional and intuitive faculties. Saturn of this grouping rules the Moon–and though the Soul’s expression is muy simpatico with what’s hurt and hidden (Sun group trine Saturn group), as is the feeling nature (Moon), we see the personality, the part that wants to meet the world head-on, the Martian-ruled Ascendant and the ‘I Am’ energies of Mars-Pluto and respect for uniqueness that is Uranus, is not simpatico.
The conflict, then, is a knotty one, and not easily (or possibly ever) resolvable. There are several things you might try to help make the energies more at ease with one another, with a focus on honoring the choices and career path, which you mention not having as much confidence in as you’d like. First, know that the emotions and emotional feedback will, for you, be much more reliable an indicator of right choice and right career than anything else. You are definitely meant to express your creative nature, to emphasize what you see of beauty and worth; your feelings will also be an excellent guide in responding to responsibilities and obligations, especially those involving the family. Most of your Water placements are in ‘soft’ aspect to the Earth Moon, and they find a great deal of emotional sustenance and nurture through real-world expression of what the emotions and the Soul both need and perceive.
It’s the ego or individual Will that cooks up problems; despite the way Mars-Pluto has found to cooperate with the Soul, it takes constant adjustments (the quincunxes of the Finger) for the creative, Soul, emotional, and action energies to express through the Arian personality–and that automatically means that the Martian ‘doing’ energies and the sheer Will have too big a say in choices and actions. The ego-power-individuality is also ‘against’ conscious awareness of hurt, vulnerabilities, and deep anger, especially when they’re observed in the real world–and that kind of denial can cripple creativity and relationships, as the ego insists on not looking at the negative, on powering through. So, honor the feeling nature more, and give it more trust–it’s best placed to handle, negotiate among, and facilitate the other charts energies, and can guide you in a much more perceptive way than the Will or ego can do.
I hope this helps, dear Seeker! Back to ‘Good Day To . . . ‘ tomorrow!
If the North Node is the direction we’re headed on the road of life, understanding its meaning is like having a map that can help guide the turns we take and what types of things along the way we should look for; as well, it will help us avoid wandering back toward re-tracing our steps in familiar, South Node territory. ‘Hochalm mit Serles bei Innsbruck’ By Leopold Scheiring 1917 {{PD}}
I want to say thank you to all for such a robust response to the One Aspect invitation! I’ve already gotten far more submissions than I can use, far more than I expected, and the submission period isn’t over yet! So my apologies to the many who won’t have their situation addressed–I send you special thanks, just for being willing to offer your info, and I’m sorry I won’t be able to get to you. That said, I’ll probably be drawing from these for at least a month, so don’t give up hope–you may see yours yet!
Here’s our first aspect/ placement topic, the North Node. A large number of you mentioned the North Node as a point of interest. There seems to be a lot of confusion about what it really means, in the sense that knowing it points you toward the future doesn’t make things any clearer! I hear you. The North Node is an excellent way to illustrate my contention that aspects shouldn’t be delineated in a vacuum, as it isn’t just the sign and House placement that speak to us, it’s an axis of the chart as well as the aspects made to it and the disposition of its ruler that give depth to interpretation–so in order to effectively interpret a North Node placement at a truly individual level, we need that full chart info that allows us to add context, and so much more particular meaning than we’d get just from placement alone.
First a little background: the Nodes aren’t bodies, but points where the Moon’s orbit intersects the ecliptic, which is, in brief, the Sun’s apparent path through the sky as observed from Earth. So these are Lunar-related points that tell us about past (South Node) and future (North Node) personal development, and are generally considered to ‘point the way’, with the SN offering well-developed skills and qualities, and experiences we’ve already had and so don’t necessarily need to undergo again, and the NN describing what we must strive to experience, learn, and incorporate into our lives in order to grow and develop on all levels: physical, spiritual, emotional, mental, with the equation varying widely for each individual. The trick is to find ways to import and exploit that South Node knowledge to support North Node forms. Now our first seeker:
“I’d love to play along! My info: (birth data redacted for privacy). The aspect of my chart I’m interested in is my North Node. I left my South Node high paying job 7 years ago. My entrepreneurial attempt at a small business has been failing since it began. I’m at a loss on how best to navigate to the North. Thanks for your consideration.”
We are given a brief sketch of the current life situation, and we see it illustrated in the Nodal situation within the birth chart: South Node in Capricorn in the 2nd of assets, talents, Self-worth, earnings=this suggests someone who sees hard work, nose-to-the-grindstone, Self-disciplined effort as the way to success. Follow-the-rules careful, serious effort is probably natural to this woman–and with Capricorn the attitude, it may be hard to understand why joining the high-powered status quo isn’t completely fulfilling, as well as why hard work isn’t a complete success formula on its own–it always has been in the past!
Of course, this places the Cancer North Node in the 8th=it’s hinted here that cooperation (rather than the individual, jaw-gritting determination of Cap) or collaboration is needed, maybe even supporters who contribute or invest, or work where you do that for others, as an emotional investment on the part of the NN individual is required; she also must develop a sensitivity to changing circumstances and feelings–an ability to ‘read the room’, so to speak, rather than go blindly with authority and following the rules. The individual must care about what they’re doing, at a level that actually moves them. All these are required to move in the proscribed life direction–and so presumably to create success.
We turn toward NN ruler the Moon for illumination of the necessary conditions for progress, and what we see is a Moon in Libra in the 11th, just more than one degree past conjunction to the Sun–so, a New Moon baby!–and this again hints that partnership and/ or an ‘audience’ or other supportive public may be required, that aesthetics, Art, or relationships are central, and that the Soul’s purpose and the emotional/ intuitive nature are deeply connected. Too, we might infer that the kind of venture may be entirely new to the individual–something she doesn’t have a lot of experience with (New Moon status), and the House placement implies involvement with or leading of a group could be part of the ‘new’ role, and that the natural tendency is to create goals and then pursue them. We note that the Sun-Moon sit at the midpoint of the Uranus-ASC square, and that they semi-sextile Mars. Both suggest that the Will is strong and likely ‘leads the way’ in creating situations, some of which are surprising or ‘accidents’, that attempt to turn the individual in the direction most beneficial to her development. There is also a sesquiquadrate to Chiron, implying that there may be a lot of situations the individual either tries to accommodate (out of pain) or works to avoid (out of fear of pain), making circumstances more difficult or convoluted than they need to be.
Peripherally we look at the state of Moon/ Sun ruler Venus, which sits in the 12th in Scorpio, conjoined Ceres and sextile Zeus. This tells us that most of what motivates the individual is hidden, or at least working below the conscious level, possibly delivered/ revealed to the conscious mind through dreams or through Collective or spiritual experiences, and that ambitions, desires, and situations of autonomy, personal power, and responsibility are paramount learning experiences throughout life–even though they may not seem to be central to learning. That is, the condition of relationships, values, and finances may carry more info about the individual and the individual evolution than they do about their apparent subjects–and that implies the current financial situation is speaking about personal development needs, more than purely business ones.
Now back to the Nodes. We have three striking aspects/ configurations in which the NN is involved: a Cardinal Grand Cross with the Nodal axis and the Mercury/Pallas-Jupiter opposition; a Water Grand Trine with NN, Neptune, and Chiron; and a quincunx to Saturn. Let’s take these one at a time.
The quincunx to Saturn suggests a continual ‘adjustment’ of the real-world situation to the destined direction. The individual is constantly looking to modify ‘what is’ to take it in the direction they want to go. This shows high adaptability and practicality–they don’t fight the need to respond to circumstances or conform to the expectations (especially of authority) in order to move forward, and that’s good, but they also might be a little too quick to discard what they think isn’t working, or to modify efforts according to feedback–which is reinforced by the heavy Libra emphasis, suggesting a danger of losing one’s own desires by giving too much credence to what others say or do, to what authority or tradition tell us, or to ‘fashions’, as they apply to the individual’s own efforts. There may also be a sense that reality is perpetually unstable, perhaps making for a bit of fear around ‘what ifs’ or unexpected losses, or that there is always something semi-holding one back, anything from actual physical difficulties to a sense of barriers or a ‘glass ceiling’. The very rules and structure that gave a ladder to climb may have come to feel unreasonably inhibiting, along with an idea that things are ‘unfair’ and that the same restrictions don’t apply to others.
The Water Grand Trine speaks of the way feelings are the conduit for healing and creativity, for the spiritual and the most personalized of skills, and again we see the suggestion that these energies are held down deep, in the individual’s ‘deep down’ beliefs about the Self, or manifesting through familial relationships (Chiron in the 4th) or hidden and revealed in glimpses within dreams, spiritual experiences, interacting with large institutions that ‘confine’ the individual (like hospitals or prisons), or Collective events. So, the feelings hold the key to healing, to finding emotional balance, to accessing creativity and spiritual harmony, and so to creating with as much conscious intention as possible the life direction (NN).
But it’s the Cardinal Grand Cross that really lights this up! The thing with a Cross is that, when one arm is stimulated by transit or other contact, the whole thing lights up–and that means it can be very difficult for an individual to sort the energies out, or to handle them. It may feel like a landslide, with so much triggered at once, bringing forward a disconcerting confusion about why so much is happening at the same time, with the initial response often being a, Why me? as so little that goes down makes sense on the surface.
The Nodal axis is ‘crossed’ by the opposition of Mercury/ Pallas in Libra (wisdom and practicality, learned and offered through relationships) and Jupiter in Aries (belief in the Self! Too, always believing one can figure ‘it’ out on one’s own, or can learn ‘it’ by personal effort and availing oneself of the accumulated knowledge of society–that is, through education). That can also read as what the individual feels/ knows, the inner wisdom, is perpetually to some degree at odds with the ‘knowledge’ of the social order, making it hard for the individual to feel they belong.
The involved Houses are 2, 5, 8, and 11, and when combined with the Cardinal signs say that one’s own actions then form circumstances where things must be developed, calibrated, assessed. This can give a start-stop feeling that may frustrate that Cappy South Node and leave the Cancer North wondering what there really is to care about here, especially as the individual may be asked repeatedly to care about what others do or have, or to offer some sort of nurture or support, when to the individual it seems like it should be the other way around! And indeed it will be, as soon as the individual has put her energy into the needed, caring form.
Looking back 7 years, to the point when one career ended and the next began, we see something revealing: that between the Chiron Return, the proximity of transiting Pluto to conjunction with the South Node, Zeus’ conjunction to Pallas, and Saturn’s conjunction to Venus, the inclination was to ambition fulfillment through real-world means, but what was aimed for was pure South Node! Pluto’s contact made it feel like complete and utter change, but Pluto rules the 12th, cluing us in that what motivated the changes was at the mercy of the unconscious–which of course will work to stay safe, to profit, to gain power, to establish work that fits the dream (Saturn to Venus, ruler of the 6th and 11th)–and safety may have required a contained and conservative effort, rather than one as adventurous as intended. Her 3rd House Aquarian Saturn (thoughts consumed with creating a bright and progressive future, appreciation of the ‘new age’ of communication) was at this time receiving a longer-term transit of Juno (back and forth across the body), suggesting that the individual felt empowered in a real-world sense, believing her ideas had come of age, that it was her time to shine, that the empowerment picture and her place in it had matured–and that’s not wrong.
But, it seems to me that it was the timing of it all that may have thwarted the new start. My message might be this: Without meaning to, you may have followed the South Node, mistaking it for the change you were seeking. The ambitions felt smart and practical (Zeus to Pallas) and it looked like manifesting a prosperous earning situation was can’t miss, when it really may have been simply an echo of older, familiar ways couched in ‘new’ terms. Saturn natally in the 3rd and ruling the South Node may make it especially hard to break away from the past; the individual may do so on the surface, but the unconscious continues to orchestrate things in such a way that retreat may seem to be the only answer. It’s not, of course; a truly new venture may require amounts of feeling, vulnerability, and cooperation that are genuinely challenging to this individual. Now, transiting Uranus opposes Venus, driving home the unsustainability of it all, the unreliability even of the Self, life, and Purpose itself, and makes emotions feel like wild things (Uranus opp ruler of the Moon and Sun), even as Saturn transits the 3rd and prepares in a short while for the second Saturn Return, making the thoughts stubborn things, and making changing the way of thinking difficult, indeed. Surrender may be a concept to contemplate, with Uranus’ eventual sextile to the North Node in about two years potentially bringing illumination to the ‘which way should I go?’ picture.
And a second seeker interested in her North Node:
‘Virgo constellation from Uranographia’ By Johannes Hevelius 1690 {{PD}}
“My North Node in any aspects it makes, because I feel I didn’t figure out how to be of service/my mission/why I’m here anyways? (birth data redacted for privacy)”
Though normally we make some allowances for larger orbs in a natal chart, I’m going to keep it tight in this instance, as the picture is rather crisp and single-themed. This woman’s North Node is in Virgo in the 6th, conjoined Black Moon Lilith, semi-sextile Mars, ruler of the 1st, and trine Sedna. Interesting that she asks about service and her mission, as that’s definitely how Virgo sees things! The sign of service in one of the Houses of service, connected to the House that rules the Self. Add to this the contact to BML=a life direction one may actually try to avoid or ignore, or it may feel like it will stir up rage, if one addresses the injustices one sees–an attempt, perhaps, to just not open that can of worms that holds the key to one’s purpose–and contact to Sedna=again, easy to put the life’s mission in the ‘blind spot’ and ignore the inner knowing, the instincts and promptings. But why would someone want to avoid what they ostensibly seek?
I would assume that inability to pinpoint Purpose centers in a mistaken idea of what serving might ask of the individual, or as we see here, Purpose requiring some time and living to develop–so what kind of service does this chart suggest? Here’s where we see an amazing consistency in the nature of what the NN points toward: service through Virgo and the 6th, with NN ruler Mercury in Scorpio in the 8th of shared resources (opposed Sedna), Merc ruler Pluto conjoined the Sun in Libra–and what is Libra about? Justice! And cooperation/ aiding others, emphasized even further by placement of Sun-Pluto in the 7th of all others. With a NN in Virgo, we see that the Purpose in the largest sense is to serve–and we do that by some form of cooperation (Libra) with others. There’s also a lovely Taurus Moon in the 2nd–nurture as a talent–closely quincunx its own ruler Venus in the 7th in Libra=lifelong adjustment to the feeling nature through relationships–and this may signal that it was necessary for a good part of the life to have already been lived in order to develop a mature, resilient, and empathetic emotional nature, that’s now ready to take on the life’s purpose.
It seems to me this life is about serving either through forms of nurture, or in finding justice for others. This can take many many shapes, from health care or hospice care to forensic accounting to counseling or advocacy for others in court or within government systems to feeding others or finding housing for those without. Research, detective work, medical research or medical practice, tax preparation or administration, court advocacy or law, psychology, couples counseling, probationary officer, helping at-risk youth, nursing, chef, gardener or co-op manager, house mother, writer (concentrating on illuminating human nature, fiction or non-fiction)–I could go on, but the important point is all are in the broadest sense forms of looking for the Truth at the core of life, and in so doing benefiting those with whom one works/ interacts. This can be in formal roles that require training, or in the informal venues of friendship, intimate relationship, or motherhood, but in any case, an ability to think concisely, to follow the facts, to look unflinchingly at darkness but know how to show others the way to the light–that’s what you’ve got going for you–it’s up to you what shape your mission takes, but this service does need to have a public component, to be visible to others, especially others who can affect the fates of those you aid (like judges, doctors, or police, unless that’s the role you take on!) Please don’t feel like you’re getting a late start–you may already have gone in this direction to some degree, and just know that you needed time for what you have to offer to reach it’s full potential.
This weekend reading is an ECLIPSE re-print, edited, augmented, and with completely new sections added on Uranus and Neptune.
‘A Double Portrait’ By Abraham de Vries c1630 {{PD}}
The internalized voices of the mother and father (or the caretakers) are something everyone absorbs in childhood and carries for life. We know how a parent would likely respond to most everything we do, and often as not that assumed parental assessment floats through the mind as we make choices. But, as we age, we’re meant to compartmentalize those particular voices, and replace them with a central one belonging to ourselves, with ones belonging to our idealized Archetypes—the Mother and Father of our dreams, so to speak—as secondary, as a set of counselors. These have the benefit of being all-loving and totally supportive; they tell us what we need to hear to assure our choices are healthy for us and supportive of our Soul’s needs, and best of all, these Archetypal voices support the adult that we are, rather than commenting on the child we were. We can if we’re so inclined characterize these as God’s voice, the voice of our incorporeal guardians or angels, the Higher Self, or of the sexless but living Universe—whatever fits your belief system. The internal Parents will speak to what’s most productive for us as individuals—and this ‘feedback’ varies from that of the actual mother and father in situations where they were truly supportive to a kind of neutral, responsible common sense advice meant to aid.
Have your internal voices (at least the directly real-life parental ones) evolved from the personal voices of the actual caretakers into an Archetypal energy that ‘speaks’ in your best interests, or is the voice you hear still the one of the actual parent, with all the encouragement, judgment, and limitations of their life imposed on yours? And do you get that confused—or more likely, allow it to sidetrack you—when you’re in the midst of decision-making? We get some clues in the chart on how to deal with the parental influence by examining contact between the personal planets and lights (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) and other bodies, some that are specific to the personal chart and some that are universal. Here’s a quick look at the info, cookbook-style. Remember, of course, that these are not the only meanings these contacts have–we’re just concentrating on particular manifestations and concepts.
Jupiter in contact with the personals seems to have two main early expressions: seeing the individual or subject represented by the contacted energy as god-like, or seeing the contacted energy as something we always need ‘more’ of. We tend to relate this attitude to, or draw it from, whichever parent seemed god-like at the time—so not necessarily the parent who held the most authority, but the one to whom it seemed nothing was denied. When this takes on an Archetypal maturity, we see the opportunities we’ve had related to the contacted energy, and we access direct knowledge of the related concepts. Natal Venus in Scorpio trine Jupiter in Cancer may suggest we had a female caretaker who ‘had it all’ emotionally, and that she was either provided this by a god-like figure or that she herself was that figure. She was cared for emotionally, at least (Cancer), and sex and mystery (Scorpio) may have seemed to be her province, denied to the individual with the aspect, as was a sense of truly being nurtured, with that reserved for the caretaker as well—and this may have resulted in over-the-top sexual experimentation, emotional spending, or having 15 children, trying to claim Venus-Jupiter for oneself. With maturity and an Archetypal Jupiter in place, one is not only able to claim the energies for the Self, but also to see how they may be best used. In this case, knowledge of what it takes to nurture (Cancer) combines with the worth of Truth, deep and intense relationships, and yes, sexuality, to inform the life choices and open the Self to the wider world and its worth.
As the Old Man of the chart, Saturn in contact to any of the personals can describe the permanent influence of an authority figure, usually the parent perceived as ‘in charge’. Typically this is a sense of suppression of the characteristics of the contacted planet, with maturity bringing a change that incorporates Self-discipline in place of external restrictions. For instance, the natal Moon in Aries square Saturn in Capricorn, with Saturn repping the father, may suggest the individual observed suppression of the mother’s (Moon) independence, autonomy, or leadership potential and incorporated this into the emotional make-up, or that the individual directly experienced it her or himself, possibly through a denial of the intuition or even the emotions themselves. Every time this person makes a move on his or her own, he or she may experience that sense of paternal suppression, and so may show temper, aggression, or insist on the ‘I want’ in response. With maturity and the Archetypal response, though, the individual may shift from seeing Saturn as conflict and potential negation of the feelings to support of these through following the ‘rules’ and through sufficient Self-restraint. This is just one possibility, of course. When we’re still hearing the voice of one or the other parent, we will tend to refuse or at least resent complying with Saturn’s requirements; by the time we form an Archetypal version, we will frame it as the inner voice of caution and common sense—and likely have attracted one or two ‘real-life’ versions, people exhibiting extraordinary maturity no matter their age, on which to model our approach.
Uranus related to the inner parent concept may stand for one or both as erratic, unreliable, Self-involved, and if it applies to both maternal and paternal authority figures (for instance, by ruling or being posited in the 10th) the parents may have presented as a ‘group’, sticking together so that there was no way for the child to make an end run around one parent to appeal to the other. The home life may have been perceived as chaotic, no matter the surface appearance of things, and the sense that accidents could happen anytime, or that the parent could simply disappear, could breed hyper-vigilance in the child that becomes an uneasy sense of distrust of all others, or the world itself, in the adult. Relationships may innately seem precarious, and if there’s a denial of this influence, the individual could be repressive and controlling themselves, unconsciously seeking to keep potential chaos at bay.
In my upcoming Moon book I discuss the personal effects of Uranus using the chart of singer Karen Carpenter; here are a couple of excerpts:
“She has a 00 Cancer 34 Ascendant, with Uranus retrograde at 00 Cancer 57–this shouts naturally wired, high strung, nervous, and in Cancer the likely conduit for the nerves is the stomach, and possibly in motherhood (or the rejection of it–Carpenter had no children). Uranus rules the Whole Sign 8th, which holds Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury. We can see anorexia, the disease from which she suffered and from which she died, in at least one sense as rebellion: from control of others, from norms, from forced sharing (8th House) in an attempt to create one ‘private’ thing in the life, one thing completely, irrevocably under the individual’s sole control—and these planetary and point relationships describe this to a ‘T’.
Uranus can be seen as a kind of co-Ascendant, so closely and thoroughly is it tied to Karen’s connection point with the world. It suffers significant isolation from the other chart energies, with only a semi-square to Pluto (which touches Uranus’ ruler, the Moon) and a square to Juno. These aspects suggest intense control issues, a known component of the equation that prompts anorexia. But, though the two bodies Uranus touches are control-oriented, the involvement of Uranus suggests a fear of losing control, a dread of the chaotic and the unanticipated. She may have identified herself as potentially always on the verge of personal chaos (Uranus closely conjoined the Ascendant)—and that easily could’ve driven her to be constantly vigilant, and to clamp down on anything and everything within her reach.”
Neptune to the personals and linked to the parental figures can make for a number of intensely disorienting experiences for a child: the parent may seem to (or even tell the child that) they hold all the creative ‘cards’, making the child feel they can never live up to the parental creativity (this is not uncommon in the charts of children of successful artists or celebrities). The suggestion in the mind of the child is that the parent presents an ideal that can never be reached, convincing the child he or she is drab and untalented by comparison, even if the parent has never implied this. Or the child may suffer from a sense of nebulous or incomplete identity, taking their cues about who they are and how they feel from the parent. There may be a lack of boundaries that, if carried into adulthood, can bring gullibility, unrealistic creative attempts, and co-dependent relationships until the individual learns to set boundaries and clearly differentiates the Self and the Self’s responsibilities from those of others. The child being persuaded they’re someone they’re not is a distinct danger. Learning they’re not responsible for those around them (and especially for the feelings of those around them) can be a significant milestone.
The sense that it’s natural for the individual to feel they are just a small part of something larger can bring perpetual uncertainty, and may be the foundation of a spiritual search in adulthood; a good parent will recognize the fears and inability of the child to know where he or she ends and everyone else begins, and can assist them in channeling that Cosmic awareness into appropriate expression–a not-so-good parent may use the child like a battery, absconding with the child’s creative and life energies, insisting the child exists as an adjunct of them. This can be a tough enmeshment to recognize, as it may present as the parent deeply concerned with fostering the child (the modern ‘helicopter parent’ comes to mind) which can easily smother or disorient the child’s creative and imaginative urges. Most difficult contact for the native within their own chart? Neptune and the Moon, no question.
‘Abduction of Persephone and Pluto on Horseback’ By Giuseppe Scolari c1595 {{PD}}
Pluto is symbolic of what’s commonly known as ‘The Devouring Mother’, but that’s too narrow a definition by far; this is really a designator of a power figure, male or female, who overwhelmed the individual, and likely persuaded them that, whatever energy Pluto contacted was not to be theirs. The typical indoctrination involves framing the energy as destructive, as likely to obliterate the individual if she or he engages with it. Who would tell (or imply) something like this to a mere child? Sometimes it’s done out of fear, in an attempt to protect, but just as often it arises from rage, an attitude that says, ‘If I can’t have this, neither can you!’ When this is the voice we carry in our minds, we are likely forbidden to even think about the energy too much; we have been so conditioned to see it as, essentially, death, that we avoid it actively.
As we see others access that power, though, this leads (at least at first) not to accessing it ourselves, but to rage of our own at being denied something we see others have: we in essence become, attitudinally, the mirror of our caretaker in regard to this subject. The classic example is Venus square Pluto, which traditional literature calls a denial of Love for the individual until they learn to be loving. I find this a misunderstanding of the dynamic at work: the individual appears to not understand Love and to behave badly because of it, but they are actually reacting to the denial of Love for themselves, in that they are raging at being denied what they see everyone else have. They are not devoid of Love themselves, but so afraid of it (and in some cases this applies to money/ assets, too) that they dare not approach it. Remedy begins when the individual first tastes genuine Love (not romance) and finds they don’t die; dramatic as it seems, that’s what it takes to show them they can not only have it, that they are worthy of it—and that is the essence of the Plutonian Archetypal form, the ability to be powerful and unafraid, and so abandon the need to rage and destroy.
I often see Ceres described as a kind of ‘Earth Mother’ figure, but that paints her as entirely too passive (and with far too little power of her own). She is an active energy, Nature itself, and though she nurtures, her mothering role is this: she cares for and carefully tends the welfare of her offspring, as long as they do precisely what she wants. I contend that the story we know of Persephone/ Proserpina’s abduction by Pluto/ Hades is told from Ceres’/ Demeter’s point-of-view; that’s why it’s an abduction, not an elopement, and imprisonment in the Underworld rather than the voluntary experience of sexual maturity, which in itself requires the individual to separate from the maternal figure. Ceres’ grief at her daughter’s escape to the Underworld in many ways resembles a fit by a too-controlling parent: I will withhold the very essence of life to all that grows on the planet (creating autumn and winter, which hadn’t existed–before that it was perpetual summer) until my daughter returns to me. The daughter is treated like a possession, and the negotiation for her partial return is carried out not with her but with Pluto—she is never asked what she wants!
With Ceres in contact to the personals, then, we may see someone who was required to conform to the caretaker’s expectations to the letter in the areas of life signified by the contacted energy. Getting free from that all-encompassing hold means acting, not necessarily in ways we want to, but in ways that take us outside the parental reach. That means early attempts to break free of Ceres’ hold can be very bad choices, indeed—but they serve to make the individual more autonomous, at the very least, and that may set them on their way with a determination not to return to a Ceres-approved life. When we bring the Archetypal version of Ceres into being, we connect directly with what we might refer to as the ‘Voice of Nature’; this energy makes us highly aware of and respectful of all living things (and even that life essence found in inanimate objects, invested by the Being who created them) and in its fullest form makes it very difficult for us to stand by and allow damage to the Earth. Natal Ceres conjunct the Sun, for instance, may start out with the individual placing a Solar entity (the father, or the person about whom their internal Solar system orbits) in the center of the life, which is really a position each of us should hold in our own lives—it’s inappropriate for another to be in that place. You can imagine the drama that would unfold as this individual struggles to claim the Solar energy for their own—and the life-or-death tinged threats that may be made if the individual withdraws from the temporary Sun/ Ceres individual’s compass. Eventually, though, withdraw they will—because in the end, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
‘Demeter Mourning for Persephone’ By Evelyn De Morgan 1906 {{PD}}
Bonus knowledge on Ceres: When one person’s Ceres makes cross-chart contact to particular natal bodies of the mate, a super anti-romantic energy can ensue. For example, a woman’s Ceres conjunct a man’s Mars may start out okay (he may like the sense of nurture and acceptance he feels from her) but quickly devolves into something akin to a repelling energy: she soon starts to feel like Mom to him, and only if he’s into sex with Mom do things work out! It may not be that blatant (or icky) but he will likely come to see her every interaction with him as emasculating, in a sense—the funny thing is couples with this cross-chart interaction can end up staying together for a long time, as he becomes a serial adulterer (for sex) then returns to the mate for comfort and a sense of home.
I thought instead of a forecast for the weekend (because I anticipate we’ll all be sorting through the Lunar energies of the Full Moon for a bit), I’m offering a re-print from ECLIPSE, modified and edited slightly. Have a wonderful weekend!
Do you ever have a moment with a stranger? One where your eyes meet and you feel this kind of Soul blending and for a heartbeat of time you completely lose awareness of your surroundings? The moment stretches, and then you fall out of it, as abruptly as it began, usually at the moment you realize how odd it is for you to have locked eyes with a total stranger. It’s funny to think that some of the best moments I’ve ever experienced were brought about by this kind of wordless, ultra-fleeting encounter; what made it pleasant were two conditions that gurus are constantly telling us we need to cultivate: losing awareness of the Self, and losing spiritual boundaries, in the sense that you lose not just the consciousness of yourself as separate, but feel a distinctly boundary-less connectedness, a Oneness with All That Is, because in truth, when you are having this kind of experience, you are not just one with the stranger, you are one with everything.
Neither of these, the loss of Self-awareness or the sense of connection, can be commanded consciously. We may well ask, why do we not share many, or any, of these moments with people we already know? It doesn’t happen for a very simple reason: because we have imposed a thick lens of expectations, anticipations, imaginings, and the past onto the individuals we know, and it keeps us from connecting on that pure level. Sometimes, of course, spirit manages to leak through the illusions each has imposed upon the other, and we do have that moment of perfect harmony, perfect awareness—but not often, and certainly not as often as we’d like with our most intimate relationships.
Of course, there are ways to encourage such experiences, as through meditation (an attempt to set Self-consciousness aside), in sleep (through dreams, where the unconscious, and so our connections to the Cosmos, become prominent), and in the practice of seeing without that imposed lens, which can only be dealt with consciously, moment-to-moment—something the Seeker strives for continually. We can note the propensity for such experiences, as well as the likely venues or circumstances during which we may experience them, through the House placement of related energies; more on that in a moment.
‘Young Man and Woman’ By Charles W. Hawthorne 1915 {{PD}}
There is another kind of communion with a stranger, one where the connection sparks from observing or being involved in a mutually shared experience, usually starting in a shared remark, an answer, and an understanding. This typically leads to the temporary loss of boundaries between the two spirits involved; we share the experience through a common event, a shared observation or connection that is like an acknowledgment: “Yes, we have shared the same thing, at the same time, we understand each other”. This does not often have the purity of the Soul-to-Soul encounter, but does include the feeling of connectedness; in this instance, we don’t lose the sense of separateness, but do feel the link to others. These often have the character of Jupiter (the social scene), Uranus (a group experience), or Neptune (the ‘mass’ experience, shared with a very large group).
The more intimate, Soul-to-Soul, boundary-less moments can be characterized by transiting bodies making contact to natal bodies, with the area of experience delineated either by the House transited and/ or by the House matters ruled by the contacted body. For instance, Ceres transiting the 4th square Uranus in the 1st in Virgo, ruling the 6th, can bring a harsh experience or surprise from Nature (the square) that reflects the health, or comes from or affects the job or duties (6th) but that could result in a transcendent moment that illuminates one’s connection to Nature, that even shows one how much a seamless part of Nature we truly are as human Beings. It’s the real-life Circle of Life, and during our brief experience we are at One with it. Or, this same contact could bring forward a deep inner sense of natural authority (Ceres) that is expressed as higher knowledge or through taking an academic or innovative (Uranus) approach on the job or toward health (6th).
I think of these moments, even when instigated by less-than-pleasant happenings or triggers, as points of Joy in the chart, potential times of learning and transcendence. Here are a few of the possible associations that will help you find the potentials in your own chart. Whether the contacts are transiting, Solar Arc, Secondary Progression, or natal, they all carry the ability to offer those fleeting times of perfection in relating to All That Is.
The inner planets offer some obvious entrance points to joy when contacted by transit, though as transiting elements themselves they typically must aspect one of the ‘heavier’ energies (Jupiter out) in order to have the potential for this specific kind of impact—and of course, those contacts are most fleeting. The Moon speaks of joy gained through emotional experience or intuited in purest form, the Sun through expression of the identity or Soul Purpose, Mercury through communicating something we consider important, Venus through Love or the experience of reward or expression of values, and Mars through taking action or a statement of ‘I Am’.
The asteroids act as more narrow conduits, and in the case of Sedna the body moves very slowly, prolonging the contact to a natal body. Sedna aspecting a natal body brings long-term experiences of the depths of the contacted energy that takes us close to life-death-life, probably repeatedly and in many forms.
Ceres signals joy gained through expression of authority, power, connection to Nature, nurture of what ‘belongs’ to you, or negotiation, Vesta through gestures involving those energies to which we are dedicated, the home and mate, through what we regard as sacred, Pallas through use of practical skills or innate wisdom, Juno through circumstances of empowerment or status, and Zeus through realization of ambitions and desires.
Jupiter offers the joy of expanding one’s world or experience, as well as the joy gained from acceptance on the social scene. It also signifies the joy of knowledge, the desire to ‘know just to know’ and the association of this energy with ancestry and the past, as Jupiter carries the kind of information that relies on the accumulated knowledge of those who came before.
Saturn offers the joy of reality, as well as the intangible joy of accomplishment. Sometimes we denigrate the material world, mistakenly believing that it’s inferior to the spiritual. In such an instance our definition of spiritual is lacking: the material world is the spiritual world, as much as the unseen factors are. When we look at our material surroundings and physical manifestations and happenings as indeed spiritual, we open up an entirely new way of relating to the material—and we begin to see the infinite in the finite, in what can be held in the hand.
Uranus offers the joy of surprise, the joy of the new, the joy of awakening, intellectually or otherwise, and has the unique ability to give us the experience of leadership and individuality at the same time as it can blend us perfectly with the group.
Neptune offers the joy of creation, with the manifestation of what one has only dreamed or imagined, the potential of living one’s ideals, and holds the most promise for the boundary-less experience, as does anything related to the matters of the House that contains Pisces.
Pluto offers the joy of renewal, of change, of the end of something painful or arduous, and the joy of phoenix-like transformation, with re-birth as the ultimate expression of pure hope, with a sense of hope bringing the greatest joy of all.
The Cinderella Point is really nothing more than finding a course, role, or identity in life that both fulfills the main needs of the Soul and allows the individual expression to soar—and as we know from previous descriptions, there’s no set formula by which to delineate this. To make it even tougher, it’s nearly impossible to describe much in a definitive way before the life is in progress; there are so many potentials for any given combination of placements, and so much added through experience that shapes personal tastes and inclinations, not to mention the variety of possible preferences (for instance, choosing to see oneself through the Sun, and so possibly more directly aligned with the Soul’s intents, perhaps, than one who chooses a primary identification through the role and experiences as a woman—Venus, or man–Mars). In real life we have to be satisfied with potentials, with seeing possibilities—so it’s almost cheating to use someone as an example whose life has already been lived, laid before us with outcomes already available—but it’s what we must do, just so we can see how it works.
We start with scientist Marie Curie (7 November 1867 12 PM LMT Warsaw Poland—her daughter Eve is quoted as giving her mother’s birth time as “soon after sunrise”, but noon is on the baptismal certificate—and since angles and Houses aren’t crucial to this process—because we are talking about an inner view, the orientation of the individual toward the energies, rather than an external view (as seen by others) or externals that act upon the individual to prompt–or force–choices–we won’t worry about angles or Houses—on their own, the planets speak loudly!) Ms. Curie had a Scorpio Sun, suggesting a Soul-deep interest in research, what isn’t readily apparent on the surface, on the way things change at a fundamental level. Her Venus is in Scorpio as well, implying that her identity as a woman may have been inextricably bound with the Soul purpose, likely to find the same things exciting, attractive, and worthy. And then we reach an interesting directional signal: her 29 degree Mars in Scorpio, considered a secondary ruler of the sign and indicator of the individual ‘I Am’, the impetus forward, the Will, the assertive energies. At such a late and very tense degree, this placement may indicate drive that permeates the Beingness—and through connection to Scorpio’s rulership, pushed that drive out through actions expressive of the Soul needs. This all suits her work, the painstaking discovery of radium and polonium, achieved by sifting through mounds of pitchblende, a uranium ore, to distill small quantities of the highly radioactive substance.
Her Pisces Moon is trine her Sun, is loosely conjoined her South Node, and is part of a Water Grand Trine, the third leg of which is her Uranus-Vesta conjunction in Cancer. This suggests her past supports her identity—she wasn’t just allowed to study as a girl, she was encouraged—that the emotional perceptions are in harmony with the Soul’s needs, and that Uranus, as the individuality, the uniqueness and inventive/ innovative spirit, is aligned with her God-concept or those things she finds sacred, that she honors (Vesta). All together this implies a highly focused outlook, one that has emotional impetus behind the drive to express the Soul’s intents, and by so doing to honor life itself (Sun-Moon-Vesta).
Do we find this in Curie’s chart using the (very loose) ‘Cinderella formula’? Yes, as the entire Cinderella concept is about the Soul (Sun) finding optimal expression, with all the other placements helping or hindering—and in this case, that Scorpio Sun is very much aided by the other energies, even when they might have less positive applications in other areas, such as the Self-generated stress, tension, and compulsion that likely accompanies the 29 degree Mars that as well drives efforts such as research (Scorpio) forward—and that may also speak of a close but sometimes strained spousal relationship with Pierre (as the Mars/ man in her life), as she had to juggle family and societal expectations while he did what men have always done, putting himself and his work first. It also may point to the stress of a later affair, the impact of which I’ll explain in a moment.
A look at those societal expectations: Jupiter sits in Aquarius, suggesting a forward-thinking, group-oriented, intellectual, and Higher Mind approach to the social scene on her part (also suggesting that she may see the social sphere as one of intellectual testing, or a test of one’s ability to invent or engineer, or where one’s ability to fit in or lead the group or be original is assessed), but this is also square her Mars. This pairing to me suggests the struggle against a male establishment that Curie underwent at the Sorbonne (only receiving her husband’s chair after his death, almost as a consolation prize for her loss rather than recognition of her accomplishments), and in her application to the French Academy of Sciences—where she was turned down, in 1911, and this even after winning her first of two Nobel prizes in 1903, with the second, in Chemistry, coming in the same year she was rebuffed by the Academy. Transits at the time around awarding of the second prize include transiting Neptune (chemistry) trine natal Chiron in Pisces, with a Water Grand Trine filled in by her natal Venus-Saturn conjunction=suppression of herself as a woman (that is, presenting as a scientist first) has led to status and rewards (Venus-Saturn) but also injury by the Collective (Chiron in Pisces). Despite her accomplishments, Curie was suffering, as she was not only refused by the French Academy, but was asked not to attend the Nobel ceremony, as her affair with a married scientist, Paul Langevin (recall that 29 degree Mars and its squares), had become fodder for the gossip mill—and, likely as not, this was also instrumental in nixing her Academy bid, though accolades weren’t withheld from male scientists who engaged in similar behaviors.
In fact, the square of Mars to Jupiter is base to a Fist of God with Uranus in Cancer as apex, describing efforts (Mars) involving fact (Jupiter, with an emphasis on Higher Mind, Aquarius) resulting (the apex) in discovery and experimentation within the sciences (Uranus). And, Uranus seems to me to be the natural ruler of radiation itself, the bottom line to the discoveries all her efforts were pointed toward. But this configuration can also describe the conflict Curie’s action and choices (Mars) caused with society (Jupiter), resulting in the choice of rebellion (Uranus).
Eve Curie quotes her mother in a 1937 biography: “It isn’t necessary to lead such an anti-natural existence as mine. I have given a great deal of time to science because I wanted to, because I loved research. What I want for women and young girls is a simple family life and some work that will interest them.” Spoken like a true Venus-Saturn-Mars conjunction in Scorpio plus Scorpio Sun (and Juno, at 11 Scorpio, hinting at a need in this lifetime to find the limits of both status and empowerment, what’s possible through association and what must be earned and exercised by the Self)—and this statement is especially applicable to one who also has Ceres square Chiron, perpetually pitting personal power as a woman and an authority in her field against the wounding attitude she feels from the Collective (Chiron in Pisces).
We see a worst-case scenario for the Cinderella Point in the chart of miraculous cancer survivor and now disgraced cycling phenom Lance Armstrong (18 September 1971 ntk—I used a noon chart–Plano Texas USA). Once again we have no angles, but the planets speak eloquently. Armstrong has Sun in Virgo, conjoined both Hygeia and Pluto, suggesting a Soul-centered desire to be an example of both disciplined, healthful expression and Power with a capital ‘P’—and it’s likely that Power drive that allowed him to overcome an extreme and extended bout with cancer and that drove him to common athletic doping practices year after year—always denying any malfeasance, in fact indignant and insulted when his integrity was questioned—and yet eventually the evidence proved that for all his holding himself up as an example of ‘purity’ (a prime symbol of Virgo ‘the Virgin’) he was discovered to be highly flawed, indeed. Pluto-Sun is a crucible within which the individual must live up to the sign’s highest forms, or plunge to their lowest; it’s easy to see the course Armstrong took. Pluto-Sun might also suggest that the extremely tough cancer scenario was also Soul-testing, perhaps meant to shape him in that same crucible as one who could rise like a phoenix from the devastation of the disease—and so be an example for others. This also places his Earth in Pisces, suggesting a potential for escapism from the material plane, drugs being a prime facilitator for that, a need to excel within the Collective, a desire for the material reality to reflect the ideal—no matter the Self’s actual make-up.
Armstrong also definitely has a Virgo Moon—so the emotional nature supports (and justifies) actions and choices inspired by the Sun, and ‘doubles up’ on primary energies in the sign, making it that much more prominent in the Beingness (and that much more likely to help rationalize the negative expressions, as well as the positive ones). The compulsion toward Self-justification also shows with his Black Moon Lilith and Uranus closely conjoined in Libra, opposed Chiron. This suggests that every unacknowledged anger, resentment, or sense of injustice is indistinguishable from the sense of the Self as unique, and so likely powers radical, rebellious, or outside-the-norm behaviors—and all of it justified by a sense of a wounded ‘I Am” (Chiron in Aries), as if he alone has been martyred—and now we look to Neptune, for information on both potential actual martyrdom in some form, and drugs, fulfillment of dreams and the capacity to lie (which, remember, can also be the capacity to tell a story or spin a vision, not just deceive).
Sounds, in fact, like Neptune may play the role of Fairy Godmother in this chart, not necessarily a helpful one, but one that equips the individual to fully meet their fate, with their response purely up to them. We find Lance’s Jupiter-Neptune very closely (only 18 minutes apart) conjoined, and opposed Pallas and Saturn, the latter body stationary direct at the chosen noon birth time but poised to retrograde at the same degree and minute—but, not having a birth time brings the status of Saturn as technically direct or retrograde into question, though here I should point out, it really doesn’t matter, as the planet’s actual status in either case is ‘stationary’—so imparting a ‘most stubborn, most grounded’ status to Saturn.
Back to Neptune: closely wed Jupiter, both in 00 degrees in Sagittarius, suggests that conventional establishments (such as the sport world) embraced Armstrong because he was able to project exactly the image they found ideal. In a way it’s a bit of a trap, this ability to appear in ways the social order admires or finds worthy of words like ‘miraculous’ or ‘perfect’: does the expectation for the ideal come first from the individual, or does the individual quickly realize (and then exploit) the fact that he is a screen upon which the social order projects its expectations? This is the scenario that Armstrong’s Fairy Godmother, in the form of Neptune, offered.
And, aside from the oppositions to Pallas and Saturn, Jupiter-Neptune is also sextile Venus, forming the base to a Finger of God with apex Sedna. The scenario suggests resistance to what’s wise, to the boundaries and restrictions the real world requires/ asks for, with money and Love (Venus) taking what otherwise might’ve been minor transgressions or moral impasses and turning the Saturn-Pallas avoidance toward blind spot material (Sedna)—in effect, completely hiding his own pandering (and so Truth-avoiding) behaviors and reasoning (Jupiter-Neptune) from himself! He was so convincing for so many years with his avowals of never-transgressing precisely because he hid it so well from himself.
Juno-Mercury, closely conjoined and also in Virgo=status is a big thing in the mind, and to admit one’s status was not as claimed could’ve felt like disempowerment—so, to tell the Truth may have been highly threatening, while hiding the Truth may have seemed justified, after reality had been so hard on him (the experience of such a virulent cancer so young). Thinking may have always been employed to empower the Self, with the Virgoan critical faculties deployed to examine and pick apart what he doesn’t agree with or want to admit—again, we see a trigger for adamant denial, and an inability (or maybe just unwillingness) to confront his own darkest corners of the psyche. A sextile between Mars and Chiron acts as base to a Finger with apex Zeus=ambition and desire fulfillment, driven by a combination of hurt and skills, were the goals
As in any case, we could go on, but we see the essence of the Cinderella Point here. It’s merely a way of classifying the particular combinations in the chart that either facilitate one’s highest expression, or that lead one toward one’s weaknesses. They seem to set up circumstances and reactions within the individual that entirely leave expression up to the individual; one must choose one’s frequency, so to speak, and pour the Soul/ identity out from there. When seeking the complex of Cinderella energies, always start with the Sun or other major identity energies.
Remember too, one’s internal response is vital in pinpointing (or at least finding the neighborhood of) your Cinderella point. Be careful to distinguish this gut feeling, this flutter of recognition or knowing, from the lens through which we may be tempted to look: that’s a mental image we would like to fit, and is itself a response to that inner ‘not good enough as we are’ belief. If we’re not looking for the genuine, Soul-oriented information the chart can disclose, it won’t matter what picture we cobble together from placements—they’ll be hollow, likely prompting a string of failures as we doggedly pursue something, an image or role, that doesn’t ‘belong’ to us.
Julie Demboski's ASTROLOGY 
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