It still feels like late summer, doesn’t it? ‘August Night At Russell’s Corners’ By George Ault 1940 {{PD}}
There’s a trine today between Venus at 29 Virgo and Sedna at 29 Taurus–and if we want to add the timelessness factor, we call it an Earth Grand Trine and count Pluto at 26 Capricorn. This suggests a vibe in our surroundings that’s been building, building, and now feels as if the matter (we think a material one) has reached a crisis point. What we’re really feeling, I think, is stress on assets (whether that be relationships, finances, or other things over which we have a sense of possession–Venus) and our attempts to ‘connect’ with those worldly matters via our instinctual knowledge, what we ‘know but don’t know’ (Sedna). We’re trying to feel our way forward, but the thing we may forget about Sedna is that it also holds our ‘blind spot’ material–hence the feeling that we’re stumbling around in the dark! And Pluto’s involvement doesn’t help–that makes it feel important to figure out, dangerous, and may make us think that if we don’t get things right, we’ll have permanently mauled or jettisoned them–and that can cause real anxiety. With Ceres square Sedna, all our appeals to Mother Nature to give us some insight are going unheeded (She’s in 29 degree crisis mode in Florida, right now! In Leo! So don’t bother her, she’s doing her thing!) And of course this is all during a Merc retro period, in Virgo no less, so there’s just no using the mind to sort this out.
I have a few suggestions. Mars and Saturn are in a neat little Air Trine–and if we add Zeus in Libra, an Air Grand Trine, we have a way to think things through that doesn’t take a beeline through the mind, but instead let’s us use somatic means to understand what we’re dealing with. This is the idea that some people learn best by moving–and with Merc retro in Earth, moving through Air may be the answer. Saturn in Aquarius asks us to take an intellectual or future-oriented approach–What would we like to see happen, best case scenario? Mars in Gemini says, Make thinking and doing simultaneous–one will act as a generator for the other, and round in a circle. It may bring some surprises, but is the most direct route possible to revealing to ourselves what we’re really thinking and intending. And Zeus says bouncing ambitions and desires off others, especially those with whom we partner, can give us clarity in a way that brooding or keeping everything squirreled away in our brains just can’t, right now.
Also of note: Uranus squares Saturn, and the Black Moon Lilith point is sextile Uranus, catching Mars at the midpoint. Remember how I said things might surprise you? It would be surprising if they didn’t! Some of what’s revealed will definitely be of the kind we’d probably rather forget, but remind yourself: even if unpleasant, what we learn will be useful, and should inform our choices and actions. And the Eris-Vesta sextile is slated to form a Finger of God with apex retro, and then direct, Mercury, over the next week=what disturbs our values (especially the ones we’re a little smug about, a little too Self-satisfied over) will be the final piece to the puzzle of how our thinking during the retro period has changed. That means you’ll be able to pinpoint the change much more quickly than usual, in the post-retro period.
Fall is here, and so is change. ‘The Shoots of Autumn Crops’ By Zinaida Serebriakova 1908 {{PD}}
Keeping our usual tight orbs for a Lunar event, the upcoming New Moon in Libra (25 September 2:54 PM PDT at 2 Libra 48) shows only one major aspect: an opposition to Jupiter in Aries. But, you may say, what about the past and still technically in orb conjunction of the New Moon to Mercury? Good point, I’d say, since Merc’s retro status tells us they’ve met more recently than if Merc was in direct motion–but that’s more than 5 degrees distance; rather than illuminating the New Moon event, it speaks to what preceded it: a thought, an idea, one we’d already been contemplating (retro status) involving fresh ideas around partnership, cooperation, aesthetics, fairness, described by the Inferior Conjunction of the Sun and Mercury at 00 Libra on the 22nd.
So, we know the background; now our attention goes to Jupiter, the Earth due to conjoin it in exactly one degree (so about one day) in the sign of Aries. Jupiter-Earth suggests a Big Event, in Aries one either driven by the individual choices and actions, or one driven by an individual (Aries) that affects the masses (Jupiter). At a personal level, this could also imply that the individual who acts creates opportunity, or simply that their choices bring them knowledge or more–but more can include more difficulties, as much as it could be bounty or profit, with a negative result most likely if ego, rather than the Libran cooperative spirit, runs the show. Relating this to the New Moon, we can expect new emotional insight or feeling generated from this meeting of individual energy and the larger world.
There are more clues about this Lunar event, found in three contacts, the first being an out-of-sign trine to Sedna from its place in the final, stressful degree of Taurus=there’s something jangly, out-of-context about the ease with which the instincts and ‘blind spot’ material surfaces and colors the emotional palette–don’t be surprised at how things you ‘knew but didn’t know’ are suddenly exceptionally clear. The second contact is the New Moon novile the South Node=the past plays its part, and we would be smart to take a moment and trace the thread from seminal occurrence yesterday to results today. Third, we see a configuration formed: a Fist of God, apex the New Moon with base of Saturn square Uranus=again, big energies speak, this time perhaps implying a clash between what’s established and what will carry us forward into the future–or maybe it’s accident or innovation that shifts the timeline, sending everything in a new direction and sparking new feelings about others (NM in Libra) in the process.
The Sabian confirms this: ‘The Dawn Of A New Day Reveals Everything Changed’. Everything is a big concept, and is most likely to apply to an emotional shift at the individual level that changes the way we see and process the world. Nothing may change around us, and yet everything may be different, with this New Moon.
Just come back to the world, and what do I find? I slept through a Full Moon! But I saw it forming each night, clear and luminous, and was anxious to find out what it might bring; this is what I see:
At 2:59 AM PDT of the 10th the Moon conjoined Earth in Pisces, opposed the Virgo Sun, with the Moon just hours before this contacting Juno, and both Moon and Earth poised to conjoin Neptune, the Moon in hours, the Earth in about a week. What culminates at this point is a material matter that reflects a spiritual one, which impacts identity and creates the emotional landscape with which we’ll engage over the next two weeks. It’s as if in the hours around the Full Moon we think we know what defines us, what empowers us, what we control or have authority over, and then the Moon and Earth meet and we’re given a vision, or perhaps presented with a physical scenario, that reflects back to us a spiritual Truth, one that has a very personal message for us about how to go forward.
Here’s where I have to stop and say that I might have given this Lunar event a somewhat different interpretation, if not for my own experience last night. It was a warm night, that kind of late summer warm where you’re still feeling the heat of the day in the air and coming off the pavement, and yet there’s a breeze off the water that once in a while gives you a chill, warns you that things are changing. I was in a car and came to a stop light. I felt compelled to turn and look at the driver in the car to the right, where he sat under a very bright streetlight, and got a shock: this man looked exactly like someone close to me who has been dead for years. Not just that, but he looked young, much younger than this person was when he died, and even stranger, he had a small smile and a confused expression, and he was looking right at me.
So my experience of the message was in the form of an (unsettling) vision, one that has personal meaning for me, associations made to this person and his example, and which I must decipher for myself–and you will have had a similar event, or will have undergone some revelation, some realization through a dream, some imagining that reveals something new about yourself to yourself–or maybe it came through criticism (that Virgo Sun), or through a kind of accounting, accountability, or harvest, one that told you exactly what the combination of your creative energies and your material ones have brought into being.
The Full Moon also makes a sextile to Uranus, implying a suddenness to what comes, a shock or surprise, or a chaotic note that allows a vision or message to emerge from a maelstrom of activity or information. The group as a whole may deliver your Full Moon conclusion, possibly bringing to a stop something you still carried hope for–Luna is the purest conduit of hope–or delivering it in material form, perhaps an unanticipated material form.
There are also two configurations: a Grand Water Trine, with Moon-Earth-Juno, Black Moon Lilith in Cancer, and South Node widely conjoined Hygeia in Scorpio. A Grand Trine is an invitation for energies to work together through their emotional commonality; here we see material matters around empowerment about which we have strong feelings ‘getting along with’ those matters we are in denial about, ignoring, or about which we are angry, and with what was and wasn’t healthy about the past that is affecting the present. Again, a very personal picture, one that may suggest dealing with issues that bring strong emotional reactions is inevitable.
The second configuration is a loose Mystic Rectangle involving the Moon-Earth-Juno sextile North Node-Uranus trine the Sun sextile South Node-Hygeia and back around by trine to the Moon. This brings together elements of Earth and Water, the past and the present, the material world and the intangible (feeling, spiritual, Soul) one, and asks us to find ways in which the factors and memories coming forward now can empower us materially while making for a healthy Beingness, an approach to ourselves and our place in the world that is positive, benefiting from what came before, and what we can learn through Higher Mind (Uranus) lens to shape the future.
The event should conclude in about a week with Earth conjoined/ Sun opposed Neptune, delivering the ‘Full Vision’ (or for some, the ‘Complete Delusion’) that will power us forward, and which may give us not just a particular spiritual awareness around the Soul identity, it may also prompt a kind of costuming, in the sense of showing openly the roles we are now playing through appearance and behaviors, making apparent the identities we are embracing and offering to the world.
The Sabian for the Full Moon is, ‘In A Gigantic Tent, Villagers Witness A Spectacular Performance’. Maybe what prompts your vision, what’s revealed, is a ‘Big Tent’ experience, one many people undergo at once–but that doesn’t mean it isn’t extremely personal, since our interpretation of and reaction to what happens is what gives it meaning for us. Or it may simply be that our gigantic tent is the human experience itself, with each of us witnessing some pretty spectacular things–and this may be one of them. Or we focus on the word ‘performance’, and note that this may involve interaction, actually witnessing another ‘putting on a show’–and again, the meaning of that will be decipherable only to you through your own experiences, past and emotional.
The Sun Sabian is at ‘An Ouija Board’, reinforcing the idea of information or messages that pass from the unseen to either realization or into the actual surroundings themselves–and so pointing to the importance of the message, no matter the medium that delivers it.
Mercury is also retrograde at this point, turning around in Libra, an Air sign, and so asking us to re-think, re-consider, especially in terms of aesthetic choices, partnerships, romances, and oddly enough, maybe asking us, through Venus’ territory of envy and jealousy, to re-examine why we might be envious or jealous–and perhaps rid ourselves of a tiresome and irritating feeling, should we find out we’d rather keep our own situation, problems and all, rather than take on one that only seems in a surface way to be better than ours.
The first major contact Merc will form in apparent retro motion is an opposition to Jupiter in Aries, which centers on the individual within the social order, and the way partnerships or collaborations make the whole thing tick. A riff, then, on the Lunar theme for this Full Moon, on identity and how that brings us to where we are in life.
I hope you all had a wonderful Full Moon, and of course, all the usual caveats with Merc retro: don’t sign, don’t buy, don’t agree–with the exception that if the deal was fully in place and already explored before the retro, you can go ahead. Just remember that if you do implement something during the retrograde, you do so knowing that there’s something you don’t yet know about the situation–which could mean regret or disadvantage, when you finally find out.
‘Poultry Yard With Angered Cock’ By Melchior d’Hondecoeter c1600 {{PD}}
That’s the question this T-square with Mars to the Sun-Moon/ Earth axis asks–or maybe, for those who aren’t angry right now (or who are in denial), the question may be something like, What will you do? Or for those truly detached from current irritants: What do you want? In any form, what we’re confronted with or by carries a sense of being forced–and–irony alert!–there are some who will work so hard to feel free-willed, Self-actuated, and independent that they’ll end up being the ones doing the forcing.
With the New Moon in Virgo, and almost everything retrograde (it’s easier to list what’s not retrograde, though even then, we have only about two weeks ’til Merc’s turnaround, and a little over two months until Mars sashays backward–Venus is the only potentially retro major body moving along apace), we may find that what’s forced is the sharing of information, or worse, the sharing of opinions, with the distinct possibility that many confuse their own thoughts with fact. We may be prone to believe our feelings justify our thoughts and so our actions–but truly righteous action is likely to be in short supply. Criticism may fly thick and fast, sometimes in the name of accountability–but when that’s the assertion, we need to take a step back and look at both the genuine facts and the genuine motivations involved. With Mars in Gemini as the arm of the ‘T’, what someone is thinking, specifically that drives their actions, becomes paramount.
The Sun-Earth axis at all times and in the most general terms asks for balance between opposing energies. Currently that means seeking equilibrium between the mind/ mentality, especially faculties of critical thought and discernment (Virgo), and what’s nebulous, atmospheric, imagined or illusory, idealistic but not beholden to reality (Pisces). That’s a difficult position for the planet symbolizing our material atmosphere to reconcile with, too often resulting in mud (Earth in a Water sign) or in a kind of divorced attention, where the material world is seen as completely unrelated to the imagined, the spiritual, the Collective experience, or the individual unconscious.
This potential division between extant energies may play out as conflict between actions/ choices (or the thinking behind actions/ choices) and the way theses moves show the rough edges around both our own critical thinking (Sun-Moon in Virgo) and those things on the material plane we’ve refused to see, acknowledge, or possibly deal with (Earth in Pisces). And here’s the benefit (by this point, you can be forgiven for thinking there probably isn’t one!): we see where our critical thinking or sense of discernment has failed, and we see how that unreal aura we’ve placed around something in our environment is causing problems. And if we can see it, we can deal with it.
The Sabian for the New Moon is, ‘A Man Becoming Aware Of Nature Spirits And Normally Unseen Spiritual Agencies’. This suggests that phenomenon where we know, via unknown means–that is, the intuition, or the unconscious, or some combination of the two, reveals our connections, and the mass of intelligence available, via the unseen. What info comes to us now, particularly info that doesn’t seem to come from any obvious source, may be beyond what we can reason out–so employ critical thinking–is this wish fulfillment? serendipity? does it ring true?–and what comes to you can be exceptionally helpful.
Revelation may stir up its own form of anger, or under best conditions, stir up energy and enthusiasm for making changes or taking action. Choice is the keyword; the wise and the cautious will adopt it as their mantra for now, keeping the idea that weare responsible for our choices and the consequences they bring in the forefront at all times. Other influences to keep in mind: Venus squares Uranus (which has just gone stationary retro a few days before the NM)=if we don’t get mired in the surface conflict, we can take advantage of the unexpected surprise. Just don’t think it will last indefinitely–it has an expiration date, and so do each of us–keep that in mind when making your choices. Pallas sextiles Eris and squares Neptune=again, advantages can be found in the chaos, or by stepping back from the strife–just don’t let the imagination run away with you (in a good or bad way), or expect miracles with no effort or planning–smart money is on connections, networking, pre-planning, and discussion, with things arranged now capable of coming to fruition in the relatively near future. The Black Moon Lilith point is square Chiron=it’s the same old song: wounds come from what we refuse to face, have neglected to tend, or from buried anger. Don’t fall to Self-sabotage. A Grand Square of Venus, Uranus, Saturn, and the South Node says the past percolates up to now and reveals itself through ‘surprises’ (but are they really?) in relationships, finances, or restrictions or denials we must face. And one other thing: Zeus and Mercury in Libra give us the impression that we’re thinking of and doing things for others, but our own desires and ambitions are in the mix, and must be acknowledged honestly, if we don’t want to look like we’re just out for ourselves.
‘Girl Reading a Newspaper’ By Wada Eisaku 和田英作 1897 {{PD}}
The Full Moon is on approach to Saturn–the Moon only hours from contact, the Earth only days–with other contacts a semi-sextile to Juno, a wide sextile to Chiron, a square to North Node-Uranus/ South Node (forming a ‘T’), and an Air Grand Trine with Zeus and Pallas. Perfecting at 19 Aquarius 21 on the 11th at 6:35 PM PDT, the Lunar event reads like heavy intellectual (Aquarius) and individual (Chiron in Aries) turmoil, with a dash of unexpected material events (Uranus-NN in Taurus) to keep us off balance. We’ll be so busy looking out, at the chaos, rebellion, and anarchy that we won’t realize the real upset is within our own minds, or maybe even within our reactive egos (Sun in Leo). No need to worry about limits, at this point; those will show up on their own, as each body, Moon and Earth, conjoins waiting Saturn, offering understanding as to where our feelings stop, and what restrictions our material surroundings might offer.
That sounds terrible, doesn’t it? But never fear–there are ways to work with the energies that won’t be just comforting, but freeing. Start with an Aquarius Full Moon, meant to bring revelation, understanding, realization, especially intellectually; that says you’re going to learn things, and any learning is to your benefit. That’s something to remember when we’re caught in the midst of Aquarian revolution or chaos, or stunned by the shock, surprise, or the unexpected: we’re seeing things, about people, situations, options, that we wouldn’t have otherwise known about–and knowledge really is power.
The semi-sextile to Juno in Pisces tells us that empowerment is found through the creative, through following ‘the Dream’ despite anything else (and either of these options may require a wee bit of rocking the boat), or that ‘clear seeing’, though somewhat uncomfortable (the semi-sextile) is necessary in order to thrive. The sextile to Chiron in Aries says: make the effort, use your skills or actively accept an opportunity to heal, and you will. The square/ T-square tells us that what happens or is revealed around the Lunar event is 1) building something, or telling us something about reality and its limits or requirements (Saturn), and 2) that the Saturnian discipline or reality awareness will allow us to bring experience (the South Node) to bear on unanticipated challenges or revelations about the future (Uranus-NN). The surprise is the very thing we must respond to–and there’s no time to start from scratch, we must draw on the past and what we already know (SN).
The Air Grand Trine involves what we might dismiss as minor indicators, but the value of this is in the way those minor bodies or points have specific, narrow definitions–and so can pinpoint what we need to cope that much more effectively than can the major energies. Here the call is for intellectual or mental balance, particularly in terms of what we want, our ambitions and goals, our desires (Zeus) and what’s smart, wise, practical, or what we are already equipped to handle with existing skills (Pallas). The Full Moon will likely show us our emotional needs and responses to the Air GT requirements–and may make us face the fact that, without a balance among these, we won’t get very far.
The Full Moon Sabian is, ‘A Large White Dove Bearing A Message’. Yep. We can add, through the symbolism of the dove, that the message will, one way or another, bring peace. The Sun, illuminator of the Moon, has an apt Sabian, as well: ‘Zuni Indians Perform A Ritual To The Sun’. I think this is about acknowledging the Self (Sun in Leo) as the generator of whatever we’re dealing with right now. It may appear to come from externals, but as we all know, those are typically just a reflection of our interior, or in some cases manifested/ attracted because we know (or at least, some part of us does) that we need to face whatever it is. The ‘Zuni Indians’, that is indigenous people native to the southwestern area of North America, points us back to our own Sun, our own Soul intent, to what’s native to us as individuals and within the ‘tribes’ (our psychic and spiritual kinship groups, those places and others who nurture our Soul) we belong to, acknowledging that eternal part of us–a reminder that what we create now is just another step in a lasting, resilient story.
Miniature painting, c1840, Artist anonymous {{PD}}
Here’s a question: How do you judge yourself? Or asking more broadly: do you judge some roles, jobs, interests, activities, commitments in life as more ‘worthy’ than others? And if you hold these standards (and who doesn’t, to some extent?) how does that kind of qualitative, hierarchical judgment end up blowing back on you?
The recent meet-up of North Node, Uranus, and Mars stirred up the energies around defining one’s role (Mars) in relation to the Group (Uranus) and how this is shaping the future (NN). It could’ve stirred unexpected anger or aggression, brought up unanticipated facets surrounding taking the initiative, surprised with chaos, intellectual assertiveness, or Willful theorizing unconnected to the reality picture, or brought chaos to the ‘I Am’, requiring definition: Who Am I, when I synthesize my actions, my intellectual perceptions, and my place within the larger whole? And what kind of path for myself are my choices building, versus what I believe intellectually I’m creating?
This sort of judging of our identity and what it means to the wider world is an ongoing thing; the meeting of the Lunar extremity point and the two bodies in Taurus, though, may have brought the intellect to the physicality, material matters, and to the surroundings, offering a clear picture on what the future holds, should we continue our current practices (another way of looking at it: we must weigh our responsiveness to reality against our Willfulness, against our insistence that we have our way, no matter what).
At this point Mars has moved on, allowing us enough distance from our own wants to gain perspective, and midday of the 5th sees the Moon pass over its own South Node point and oppose Uranus, then Mars, suggesting we get some emotional or intuitive illumination by way of memories or shocks, accidents, revelations–and this takes us another step along the ‘Who Am I, and What Do I Mean to the Group?’ line of reasoning.
The fact that we tend to judge ourselves and others in a way that estimates, according to our own priorities and values, our worthiness in the world, is at this point being given a reality-check: our value within the group isn’t what we think it is, and neither is anyone else’s. Our attempts to collate our observations and assess them in light of what we believe is important is a game of shadows, to begin with; in what Universe do we have the individual perspective necessary to evaluate the worthiness of anyone, including ourselves? It’s the quantum influence, the way we can’t know how action A affects the rest of the alphabet, all the way across the Cosmos itself. It’s pure hubris to believe we can know. The only thing we can do is to act according to our own conscience, to do what we find worth doing and know is right–all else takes care of itself.
We can trust the emotions, while Venus moves through Cancer, to let us know what matters right now. Too, we must acknowledge that we don’t need to judge ourselves or others–the world will continue to spin whether we have a settled opinion on our neighbor or not–and then there’s the matter of Mars approaching and conjoining Sedna in the final, tense degree of Taurus (roughly 13 August-21 August). At that point we’ll be challenged to understand and/ or deal with the material in our ‘blind spot’, the stuff we just can’t get into clear focus (the concept reminds me of the way the androids of ‘Westworld’, when confronted with something they’re not programmed for, say, ‘That doesn’t look like anything to me.’ That’s what’s in the Sedna blind spot). The trick there is twofold: to allow light reflected by others and their responses to illuminate that darker area within our own conscious mind, and to listen to the voice of instinct, or the things we think are instinct, which may, in the reflected light of others, reveal themselves to be bad programming, something we need to purge in order to function more effectively.
On the 21st Mars will have entered Gemini (linking actions and choices more cleanly to the mental processes), the Moon will semi-sextile Sedna and the Sun will square Sedna and oppose Vesta–that our window for enlightenment, when all it takes is a willingness to see, in order to perceive.
Currently working on some 5th House examples for the Moon book (it’s done, except for editing and adding examples through the Houses–already have some, but there’s always room for more!) Recent developments: finished AOC, now finishing Prince, next up Picasso, and Grace Kelly.Have a great weekend!
‘Sun and Moon Flowers’ By George Dunlop Leslie 1890 {{PD}}
Public domain
Sun and Moon Flowers 1890
So the upcoming New Moon perfects at 10:54 AM PDT of the 28th at 5 Leo 38 and all I want to say is, Take. It. Personally. We can’t help but focus on ourselves with a New Moon in Leo; it’s the glory of the individual, the way each of us uniquely ‘shine’, and that may mean our own light gets in our eyes, obscures the view of what’s happening, just now. Traditional agent of confusion and hidden matters, Neptune, is in his own sign and below the chart horizon (for the West coast location), and is semi-sextile Eris in Aries–the suggestion is that there are things, particularly tensions, between us and other individuals that we just can’t see–we’re too busy shining our own light–so that others ‘offended’ by our light (think ‘jealous’ or ‘judgy’ or ‘envious’ or even ‘garden-variety hater’–note Venus conjoined Black Moon Lilith in Cancer) are likely to present as caring when what they want is to deny something about who we are or how we play the game.
Both Moon and Sun have very recently conjoined Ceres at 2 Leo, prompting us all to examine our own power situation and autonomy (or lack of it), as well as bring to the fore of consciousness our relationship with Nature–whether that’s via our bodies or our environment. No matter what, we’re measuring what affects us and the impact that has–and it’s the wellspring from which our New Moon new starts spring.
Three aspects made by the New Moon warrant a look: a quincunx to Vesta, a trine to a stationary retro Jupiter, which will enter retro status within a day, and a sesquiquadrate from Juno. How we see the ‘Big Picture’ is going to change, and the change will be easy, a slipping from one viewpoint to another, without us really thinking about it. What will cause minor discomfort, however, is something about our commitments, our highest values, likely losing some of their sheen or worthiness as that Big Picture realigns or withdraws current conditions or circumstances, particularly on some action front or around some choice we’ve made. We’ll have to adjust, if we want to go forward. And then there’s the matter of empowerment: we may have to own and then use our own power much more actively than we’re used to–and some of us will reach for an arrow and find our quiver empty–the worth of the episode in this instance being: now you know, you’re not equipped as you thought you were.
There’s also a square to Hygeia, effectively drawing a T-square with the Sun-Moon/ Earth axis, implying we may have to face the unhealthiness of something–whether that’s Mother Nature in the form of Ceres, our own diet, also Ceres, or of a caretaking relationship, one where we feel responsible for someone else, or where someone else, appropriately or not, tries to exert control over you, just as Mama Ceres did with daughter Proserpina (also known as Persephone–I maintain it was as likely an elopement as a kidnapping, but that’s an argument for another day).
The Sabian for the New Moon is, ‘A Conservative, Old-Fashioned Lady Is Confronted By A “Hippie” Girl’. It’s a study in contrasts, and echoes my point about someone cloaking their critical attitude or contempt in caring, ‘for your own good’, ‘you’re doing it all wrong’ corrective sensibilities. The conservative woman thinks she’s right, and the hippie thinks she’s right (and by right I mean they think they’re seeing the world clearly and have ‘it’ all worked out), but what they’re both missing is they can only know what’s right for themselves, not for someone else. It’s about boundaries, whether those are violated only by intrusive thought-judgments or in outright, blatant ‘correction’ of another. Recognize and honor the autonomy of another, and your own right to be and choose is that much more secure, energetically speaking.
What I really want to talk about is the way the Sun, while still trine Neptune, will conjoin Ceres tomorrow (the 19th), while Earth, sextile Neptune, will conjoin Pluto, this happening across the Cancer-Capricorn axis. It presents us with at least two broad scenarios: one involves ideals, creativity, and ‘the Dream’, while the other involves delusion, illusion, or deception. We have been concentrating on, dreaming about, or enveloped in maya, from the Sanskrit meaning ‘magic’ or ‘illusion’, though it may be better defined as unreality–but that pertains to concepts still percolating within the imagination, the formulation of a dream or idea, the way energy will coalesce into a coherent picture and so invite a plan for realization. We’re speaking, then, in the most general terms of thought forms on the threshold of materializing–but what we must discover is whether those have the potential for becoming real, in the Capricornian sense of physicality, of becoming in the real world, or if they are in some core way illusory, whether that arises from the impossibility of what we imagine, or from the way we may be believing things are other than they are, which removes the potential for them entering reality.
How do we distinguish between the idea that holds promise, and the one that is a mere illusion? In this case, we examine Nature, what is ‘natural’ to us, we recognize our own dominion and power, what we are responsible for or hold dear and must nurture, and we accept the idea that there is a need to negotiate for what we want, specifically with the Powers of change, destruction, and resurrection (Ceres opp Pluto). The key to physical manifestation is in accepting the depth and permanence of Plutonian energies; the steps we need to take will be deliberate, will clear the way or alter what is forever, may end or otherwise destroy what was but is now outmoded, and may involve re-claiming something from the past–exemplified by the South Node (experience) trine Juno (empowerment) in Water signs=it’s through what we’ve learned on the Path, and the emotions it brings forth in the now, that we will know how, and why, Plutonian steps must be taken.
There’s the possibility that facing Pluto will cause things to be re-born, as much as it may eliminate–but in any case it reworks the present so that that Neptunian inspiration, and our genuine power position within the natural order, can be seen for what it is: either a dream or ideal we must strive toward, or an illusion that if pursued will disappoint.
Have a wonderful week, and if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, stay cool!
It was the title that made me choose this: A Spirit Serves a Small Breakfast, Angel Brings the Desired, lithograph with watercolor by Paul Klee, 1920 {{PD}}
The Full Moon perfects 11:38 AM PDT of the 13th at 21 Capricorn 21–some nice (but insignificant) numerical symmetry, that, with the closest aspect to the Sun/ Moon-Earth axis a square from Zeus in Libra. This Cardinal T-square promises a tough test of the desire nature or the ambition picture–what are we willing to do to get what we want? With whom will we take our actions? How hard will we push? What problems are we willing to face down? And who or what are we willing to sacrifice in the process?
Will we necessarily run over others in the rush to fulfill our wants? No, it doesn’t have to be that way, but it might, if there are any latent issues of Willfulness, envy, jealousy, or greed in relationships–Eris in Aries opposes Zeus in Libra and so forms a loose Grand Cross with the Full Moon, and that suggests that if there are egos or previously unexpressed aggressions in the mix, we may have to make a choice: coddle others, or reach for what we desire. Or it may be more subtle than that: will we be willing to discomfort others? Will we go against the relationship grain, risking not losing the connection but altering it–and perhaps planting the discordant Eris seed in the process.
A Full Moon in Capricorn is one focused on implementing practical or concrete solutions, bringing about solid or permanent endings, or seeing construction of rules or structures completed–and that means the emotional and intuitive (Moon) must find expression through the material, or what affects the material, in some way (Capricorn Earth).
The Cancer Sun in this scenario has two companions, each widely opposing the Full Moon, one on either side of Sol: Ceres and Mercury. These are energies of Time and Nature, big picture forces, the kind we don’t control, but do affect, as we make our human-sized decisions within their parameters and flow. What we care about (Cancer) is the arbiter, but what we face is the physical impacts that caring makes on our environment (Capricorn), through our actions and choices (Eris in Aries) which guide the outcome within relationships (Libra).
We must note, too, that with a slightly wider orb we see Chiron in Aries also square the Full Moon (but not be included in the Cross). Ah-ha! We find the motive for any hurt in old wounds, festering hurts, in tender flesh beneath scars we thought were healed–but the sextile of the Full Moon to Juno, and trine to North Node/ sextile to SN says we’re acting out of a need to feel our own empowerment, to experience it in real-world terms, and so to shape the future–but we shouldn’t ignore Uranus in proximity to the NN, bringing an element of the untamed, unpredictable, chaotic, or unusual that may offer results a far cry from what we thought we’d create!
The Sabian for the Full Moon is, ‘By Accepting Defeat Gracefully, A General Reveals Nobility Of Character’. Act with pure motives, accept with grace what comes from our choices, and no matter the material result, the Soul will be fulfilled in some important but intangible way. This suggests that those desires driving things in the first place (Zeus) may be, like the energies of Eris that could stir, nothing more than a catalyst within a larger picture, one that tells us something of our Soul’s place (the Sun) in the scheme of Time (Mercury) and Nature (Ceres).
We always look at the Sun for a FM: ‘A Young Woman Awaiting A Sailboat’. Something, then, is on its way, perhaps already on the horizon–and the woman is young, and what’s the outstanding nature of everyone when young? Hopeful and optimistic–so that’s what we should be, too.
One last thing to address: the Moon-Earth combo are headed (at different rates, the Moon in hours, the Earth in days) to conjoin Pluto. Big, bad Pluto. And it’s sextile the Lunation chart Vertex, suggesting it’s an agent of Fate–so tell us something we don’t know! If you have fear of what Pluto brings, you need to take another tack. Instead of seeing it as destructive, as bringing irreversible damage, you might want to try embracing it as an energy that can get things done for us–because Pluto changes nothing we haven’t already been given an opportunity to deal with, get right with, or change ourselves, and we’re definitely scheduled for an encounter. Pluto is the essence of the Truth of things–and the more closely aligned we are with that, the better. We should also turn some attention to two points at 29 degrees at the time of Lunar perfection: Sedna in Taurus, which happens to be trine the Virgo Ascendant in the Pacific zone (other places this won’t be the case). That placement always implies the point or energy is under stress–so West Coasters, watch the environment for precipitous energies (or just brutally critical ones), maybe in the form of details that cause distress or uncertainty, or in a demand for accountability, and don’t expect our instincts to help us much at this point–they are likely to be on the fritz, overloaded with sensory input (Taurus) and probably blocked by our own blind spot material. Go instead on the reality of what we see, feel, and on the ideals we hold for ourselves–the whole point of the challenges our desires will face at this time is to reveal some very true-to-us response, characteristic of the Soul, elevating our idea of ourselves and our abilities to respond and create under pressure.
Just a few comments on the current scene: we have Mars in a Cardinal square with Pluto (again, or still? Feels like our Will has been colliding with the powers-that-be for, well, forever!) with Saturn sextile Mars and catching just retro but still stationary Neptune at the midpoint–and let’s not forget, involved in both aspects, is Eris still conjoined Mars. ‘Stirring it up’ is not an adequate descriptor for what’s going on–and yet, it is the most accurate, as doing is prompted by irritations, strife, rivalries we thought we could bury or ignore–or even eliminate the hard way (sq to PL)–but instead we may find ourselves in a balancing act that requires we sort fantasy from reality, dream from delusion, and ideal from unrealistic, in order to achieve in this world (Mars-Nep-Saturn). A stationary Neptune tends to make us believe we’ll be stuck in this delusion/ dream/ nightmare forever–but we just have to remember, it’s an illusion, magnified by a sense of being pressured to do, to change, to make things happen.
And how is achieving your dreams going for you? The recent New Moon offered a booster shot, but may have made us ultra-aware of our own feelings and sensitivities–and that can make us hesitate when maybe we should push forward, get to work, or ignore the implications we think we see in feedback and try it anyway. Right now we’ve got Venus in Gemini sextile Jupiter in Aries–that’s a recipe for valuing our own thoughts and ideas and acting on them optimistically, with an eye to unique opportunities only we can exploit. The Sun’s still square Jupiter, drawing our attention to all the ways we think things aren’t working–but that’s a focus issue, not a real-world one, more a test of faith than a genuine denial of more or better.
If we also note that the Black Moon Lilith point is currently conjoined the Sun, we might begin to suspect that a lot of our negativity, our insistence that we’re being ‘realistic’ when we’re really being pessimistic, is based on rage (and so a feeling of helplessness, ‘it’s just too big for me to do anything about!’) or on things we’ve been reluctant to acknowledge or face–and that’s the answer, the way to get our bearings: feel tender and sensitive and go forward anyway, by being completely willing to see what is, without insisting on covering it with a gauzy filter and a shower of glitter (though who doesn’t like a glitter-bath, once in a while? Well, maybe not Virgo or Capricorn–but the rest of us are down with it!) Knowing why we’re angry or despairing can help, and the instinctual nature is directly tuned in to this right now (Sedna at 29 crisis degrees of Taurus)–so if we trust our internal voice, and approach things with a willingness to see them as they are, it will be very clear what our next step forward should be.
Have a wonderful rest-of-your-week!Here at the blog the 2 million plus hits mark has been reached–never expected that!
Julie Demboski's ASTROLOGY 