We’re not talking about females, necessarily, but about the characteristics of the anima side of the energy equation: receptivity, the importance of and effectiveness of the Beingness (as opposed to the Doing urge), the concept of sensitivity and the ability to read the atmosphere (as opposed to trying to actively make an impact on it), and the idea of healthy nurture, which is really a sharing of energy that benefits both parties. These are strong threads running through current events; to respond to them, to expose them, to weave them into something meaningful, is to bring them to awareness and so make their energies accessible and, in accessing them, beneficial in the larger scheme of things.
One of these is Venus retrograde moving toward conjoining Juno, both in Capricorn, perfecting January 6th. During this same period, this pairing will be sextiled by Neptune and quincunxed by the Black Moon Lilith point. This suggests that our ongoing review of matters of the House in the natal chart where Venus is moving backward will be measured through either our assessment of our own empowerment (especially through the status or material accomplishment shown by Capricorn) or through the empowerment status others reflect back to us–and it’s important we use our own dreams and ideals to guide us in judging our abilities–if we don’t, we’ll be susceptible to being misled or deceived, or may be caught off guard by things we’ve ignored or denied that won’t stay buried. It’s a matter of claiming and so harnessing our own creative energies; if we deny those energies expression, it leaves a vulnerable spot, ready to be filled by enterprising, and sometimes ill-intended, others.
The other prominent combination is the late Taurus duo of Ceres and Sedna. The two have been hanging out together for a while–and focusing our attention on expression of personal authority, situations of nurture, negotiations, diet, and Nature, and in particular showing us the way we already ‘know but don’t know’ consciously what we should do, what the answer to our material issues truly is. Pluto is still within trine and Vesta quincunxes, forcing us to acknowledge our instincts and our suppressed knowledge via destructive forces, home matters, commitments, and violations of what we consider sacred. We must respond, and the best way to address this energy is to admit what we’ve been reluctant to see, change what needs to be changed, and align what we honor in real-world terms with what we say we care about.
There’s also a conflict inherent in the square between the animus-oriented Warrior Mars and the anima-oriented Warrior Pallas, he in Sagittarius and she in Pisces. This may appear as an aggressive ‘pushing’ of ‘the facts’ that finds resistance in the form of a kind of practical idealism. Both sides are right, in this case; those with the facts need to be listened to, and they need to frame goals that offer hope, while those focused on ideals need to see that only by dealing with the facts will they make any progress in making things better. If these two would just stop insisting on themselves, they’d find that they actually want the same thing.
And finally, we have the opposition between Eris in Aries and Zeus in Libra. Remember, Eris is a catalyst, and in this scenario, may show as individual Willfulness that just doesn’t want to cooperate in making others’ ambitions and goals attainable. With this we must ask ourselves, ‘Am I going my own way because it’s the right thing to do, or am I simply angry at the idea that I’m not the only one who’ll benefit from cooperative effort?’ That may sound selfish, until we consider that, if we aren’t successfully realizing our own ambitions, the last thing we may want to do with our precious energy is share it; we may see it as a ‘me or them’ kind of thing. Here Eris is acting up only in proportion to how we may feel that others are asking for our support but offering little or nothing in return. It’s a call to re-balance relationships–and to acknowledge that we don’t live or act in a vacuum.
A New Moon in Capricorn promises a fresh emotional grounding, a window during which we see what can bring us a sense of security and a feeling of accomplishment. This New Moon in Cap (2 January 2022 at 12 Capricorn 20 at 10:34 AM PST) brings a little something more: a sense of what’s truly real-world possible for us in the near-future, indicated by the close semi-sextile of the New Moon to Saturn in Aquarius. The conduit the New Moon creates between the ancient and modern rulers of Aquarius, Uranus (which trines the New Moon) and Saturn (which aspects and rules the New Moon and is currently in Aquarius), allows for a harmonious marriage of what is with what could be–but it’s up to us to follow a few simple New Moon hints that will allow us to guide our own personal progressive vision to successful realization.
Is it a reality check if we’re already clear on circumstances, but are shown possibilities for the future? Current energies are operating in a kind of flux that turns the meaning of a reality check on its head; instead of showing us where we’re disconnected from the true nature of things, we’ll be shown how completely aware we are of what is, and how our reality can fold outward from itself, how it and we have the momentum to bring about a bright, shining, personal utopia–or at least, we’ll have the ability to see it, reach for it, aim for it.
The New Moon is novile the South Node, suggesting we have a (temporary) genius for parsing the past and extracting resources, particularly things we’ve discovered or learned (SN Sagittarius) that can help us build our brave new world. The Lunar event is also trine Uranus and sesquiquadrate the close Sedna-Ceres conjunction, all in Taurus. Here the New Moon emphasis may be on innovation, realizing (as in making real) our own original ideas and impulses, and finding ways to create change or progress that both supports and makes use of our instincts and ‘what we know but don’t know’, and that can effectively draw on the actual personal power situation we have command over. It’s all about material or conceptual changes that implement our most unique visions; it’s a statement, presented via the feeling nature: we have what we need to make ‘it’ happen–go out and do it!–and that may introduce the element of surprise, to ourselves at what we’re capable of or equipped for, and to those around us, who may not have realized we are ready and able to shape the future as we truly want it to be (and an approaching semi-sextile of the Sun-Moon to Mars in fiery Sagittarius puts the responsibility on each of us to do what we know is right, in terms of our own knowledge and beliefs).
But, we must first know what those beliefs are, before we can act on them. We have an intriguing Sabian Symbol for this New Moon, one that seems especially applicable, considering the way idea inception seems to be so prominent at this time: ‘A Fire Worshipper Meditates On The Ultimate Realities Of Existence’. The symbol speaks of a dynamic individuality that steps outside its own action urge in order to contemplate the larger mysteries of the Universe. This may indeed be what we do: we may feel grounded, and therefore safe, in taking a pause in order to understand what lies beneath the reality that surrounds us. In doing that, we better see and understand the implications that our own actions may have. A thoughtful period before implementation of goals is required before proceeding; don’t allow yourself to think that this caesura is a waste of time, as without it you won’t truly understand the ultimate effects of what you’re doing.
Also of note: the recent foray of Jupiter into Pisces only aids us in accessing our dreams. The ancient ruler of the sign offers an energy that can lift the innovation and originality to new heights, and can free imaginative and creative impulses that can inform our efforts and our creative product–however, don’t lean solely on the Jupiterian impulse to get things done–you’ll go wildly off-track if you do–instead accept the need for constraint and emotional discipline the Lunar event will remind us of, and use it to harness our natural largesse and generative ability in service of our New Moon new beginnings.
I want to thank my Readers for their support and participation in 2021, and I hope to see each and every one of you here again in 2022. Happy New Year! Sending you all heartfelt wishes for a safe and happy year ahead.
‘Chiron and Achilles’ c1922-1925 By John Singer Sargent {{PD}}
What follows is an article re-printed from an issue of ECLIPSE. It’s been edited to remove outdated transit material, and has some new material added.
We reach our early 50s and have our Chiron Return. Up to that point, we’ll have had squares, oppositions, and trines of the transiting body to its natal self, and these have given us direct experience of our primal wound, and possibly our exceptional and unique Chirotic gift, in action. These contact points come at radically different times for individuals, as Chiron has an exaggerated elliptical orbit, and yet it returns to the birth point at a consistent average of 50.7 years. We don’t actually know if it’s a comet or an asteroid, as it exhibits properties of both; but we have been watching it since its discovery 18 October 1977 by Charles Kowal—so we’ve had enough time to get a clear idea of what Chiron stands for in the birth chart, which is a necessary step for any body entering the canon of regularly used astrological placements. Its minor planet designation is 2060, should you want to locate yours at serennu.com.
This is the one Return that really jars the life; it comes at a point when we are likely still feeling at peak professionally (or feeling poised to continue to climb), while personally we may become keenly aware that we are definitely closer to the end of life than we are to the beginning. We are, probably for the first time in our current conscious existence (the exception being for those who have had Pluto conjunctions by transit to the personal bodies of the natal chart), realizing we are vulnerable: to time, to the consequences of our own choices, to changes in the world that challenge our conceptions of ‘What Is’, and certainly to what ‘Could Be’, the threatening potentials for wounds that mostly just seemed theoretical, before.
Other Returns come much more often (even Saturn is headed for his second encounter with the natal placement by the time Chiron goes home), so that we have some personal reference point when they occur—we have been there before–and the outers that take larger forms—communal, spiritual, symbolic—don’t necessarily need that touchstone of personal viewpoint. With the outers we can only expect with any certainty to see phases where they form major aspects to their own natal spots (by square, trine, opposition) so that the natal energies are examined from a different viewpoint than we held at birth, offering a new take on who we are in relation to that energy—we see how far we’ve come, and how we’ve changed, in the energy’s expression or inclusion in the life, but we don’t review things from our initial point, the point of Return.
According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) roughly 38% of people can expect to live to see their Uranus Return at approximately 84 years, making seeing that Return a much-less-than-sure bet; considering that around 88% of individuals will see their second Saturn Return at approximately 60 years of age, that’s a big difference, a large span of years with only the minor cycles recurring, though Jupiter does make a Return at 72, bringing personal meaning as well as re-aligning us to the social order—but the Chiron Return is the only Return bridging the Saturn cycle and the Uranus one in terms of outer energy reassessment of itself (Astrologer Barbara Hand Clow describes the Saturn-Uranus connection via Chiron as the Rainbow Bridge). By its singular nature, the Chiron Return implies that things are going on there that won’t occur in quite that way anywhere else in the chart or the life.
Of course, any Return brings forward contemplation of the energy, a review of how we’ve handled it, and where that handling has taken us; with Chiron this is about processing not just the primal wound, the one that has been there even before we had language to name it, but also about all the wounds we carry, no matter how they were inflicted. It’s also about healing, with any contact of Chiron to itself setting us up to answer for what we’re not trying to make better. It’s as if the transit energies say, “Okay, you’ve taken inventory of all that hurts you–now what are you going to do about it?” with the silent addendum that it’s healing or nothing; during a Chiron transit to itself, no other measures will address the pain. Allowing healing is the only alternative, at that point in time—or we must face the fact that we are unwilling to heal this psychic, mental, and emotional space within ourselves.
Achilles and the Centaur Chiron By Pompeo Batoni {{PD}}
At any age we can have trouble processing our Chiron injuries, as other transits also stir things up, and in transit Chiron can ‘visit’ our other energies and show them a little hurt! Some ways of dealing that are particular to the Return (in fact, are in some form required at the Return) can be modified and used to address other transits of Chiron to itself. The Return requires us to refuse to be hurt anymore; we need to take the position that externals, including other people, are not the agencies of our pain–we are, in the way we process events and interactions. This is not a hardening of heart that’s called for, but some will misinterpret the energy in that way and close themselves off; we all know people who have suddenly become highly Self-focused and selfish, not with a healthy Self-interest and spirit of exploration and discovery, but in a way that says, “I’ve had enough of others and what they inflict/want!”—Chiron to Chiron is one of the transits that can do this.
We’re facilitated in the use of Chiron’s energies by the anticipated ‘end times’ of December 2012. What actually came to an end, in my view, was our personal inability to access the healing nature of our Chirotic gift directly. Up to then we’d been able to offer others our gift but found it blocked from our own use; we could do for others what we couldn’t do for ourselves. The energy situation was something like that story where everyone at a table has only a very long spoon and is served soup. They find themselves starving, until someone realizes they can feed each other. They succeeded by directing their efforts toward others, and for time immemorial that’s the way it has been; with the 2012 period we found for the first time that we possessed spoons short enough to feed ourselves. That doesn’t obviate the need for service to the community, but it does change the nature of our interactions: we can now give freely, without the background assumption that cooperative efforts are essentially an exchange; now that we can provide healing for ourselves, we don’t show up for others in our own state of need–we instead go whole, and can thereby offer that much more in interaction.
The Return (or another Chiron-Chiron contact) also requires we express the energy in a ‘new’ way; that is, new for us as individuals. Here we are talking about those Chiron-related gifts that may largely lie dormant, but which are still there, ours to give away, and post-2012, to use for our own benefit. Think of your Chiron as a highly unique talent or insight that only you have, shaped from your own experiences and directly related to your sense of compassion (we see this in the myth, when Chiron chooses to take on the pain of another and sacrifice his life, freeing them both from their agony). With each Chiron-Chiron contact, this must evolve, if only just a bit, toward a greater empathy and understanding that carries the ‘style’ of your Chiron placement. For instance, in Aquarius the mandate is to gain a greater intellectual understanding of the world, or it can be to find empathy with ‘the group’, or the courage to stand and act as an individual, with additional specifics related to your own Chiron aspects (and I suggest a look at the Sabian for this body as well, for a symbolic description of the heart of your Chirotic energy—round up, unless your Chiron is exactly on the degree and 00 minutes. For example, with Chiron at 12 Aquarius 19, one reads the symbol for 13 Aquarius).
Lastly, Chiron in contact to itself, but especially at the Return, demands that we have developed a means of communicating with the Universe, with the Divine, or with whatever we consider Greater Than Ourselves. This can be those methods described as divination, meditation, work, contemplation, through dreams or spiritual practice, or some other form of communion that has an underlying purpose of serving others. That’s the important part: that our spiritual practice (which from the outside may not look like spiritual practice at all) is engaged in specifically to aid not just ourselves, but humanity as well. I say ‘humanity’ rather than ‘others’ because what is required is a dispassionate compassion, a level of aid that does not judge to whom it’s offered—it’s offered to All.
With the Chiron Return we may enter a time of being a teacher or mentor, even if that was not a role we enacted before. At the Return point we are perfectly balanced between our store of accumulated knowledge and a mind still open to new things, which can make us both student and teacher in the most dynamic and responsive form possible–so not a bad way, I think, to enter later life.
Right now Chiron is in Aries, trine Mars in Sagittarius. This is a recipe to take personal responsibility for our own healing, to act on what we know, to do our best to share our gifts, especially those based in facts or in faith, the kind that says it’s up to the individual to make a difference. That sounds like a heavy load, and if what action’s needed isn’t obvious to you, just wait about a week (the end of the month)–that’s when the Sun will square Chiron, and shine a bright light on exactly what we need to turn our attention toward, in order to heal it.
We’re going to get more information, with this Full Moon; we have to be open enough to assimilate it. ‘News from Afar’ By Alfred Stevens c1865 {{PD}}
The Full Moon (8:34 PM PST of the 18th at 27 Gemini 28) forms a Grand Air Trine with Jupiter in Aquarius and Hygeia (of all things!) in Libra. A healthy balance, in thought and relationships, personal and societal. In my mind this announces a theme, more than anything else, one keyed to the event being in Gemini and to the involvement of Air signs: Communication. Obvious, right? But then again, maybe not quite in the way we might initially think.
It seems to signal information exchanged, generated, and/ or coming our way in two sectors: the social one (Jupiter, both one-to-one and on the larger scale) and the personal relationship or financial one (Libra); Hygeia comes in as we are prompted by the Lunar culmination to think about the health of our interactions and cooperative efforts in areas of the social, the intimate, and those where an exchange of energy brings assets, or the opposite, where we are releasing assets in exchange for the energy of others. Since the Moon itself can represent both our individual emotional state and ‘the People’, we may be in for some enlightening and potentially definitive statements in one or both arenas.
Notable is the fact that this Full Moon, though late in the sign, is not bringing a Void on separation; instead we see that the ‘big reaction’, whether on a mass or personal scale, follows (with completion of the trine to Jupiter). Then the Moon goes Void, and we have a brief interlude of ‘floating’ before we can solidify a reliable of our emotions (when the Moon enters Cancer, at 1:42 AM Pacific of the 19th–so about 5 hours after culmination–and boy will we feel, as Luna enters her own sign!)
At the time of the Full Moon that Jupiter contact is the only other major aspect yet to be made, but we can see a couple other contacts that, though in the immediate past once the Full Moon arrives, are still not just active and relevant, but will undoubtedly set the stage for Full Moon events. And, there are a couple of minor or less precise aspects that also contribute to the picture.
There are a pair of quincunxes, to Pluto and Venus, so recently together and still within punching distance of each other, that suggest changes or dissolutions that have recently occurred are not yet completely set in stone–the emotional picture or reactions may not be clear, just yet–but those circumstances will become firmly entrenched, if we don’t do anything (their Capricorn placement tells us this)–though, at this point, it may be the way we think about these things that needs to change, as much as any action is needed. So, whatever your feelings are telling you about these recent shifts must be acted upon, if that’s what’s called for, or possibly just reacted to, with a change of mind–and for at least some of us, this will be precisely the ‘message’ delivered by the Gemini Full Moon.
There’s also a loose sesquiquadrate to Saturn in Aquarius, a semi-square to Uranus in Taurus, and a semi-sextile to Sedna, also in Taurus. This suggests the reality picture, or some constraints or restrictions we’ve been operating under, are part of the impetus behind communications received or the changes we’ve made or are considering. The implication may be that what we thought we were creating turns out to be more constraining or difficult than we anticipated. With Uranus we introduce the element of surprise–but this may be no more than being surprised we didn’t think of these difficulties ahead of time! And finally the touch to Sedna says that what we find out with the Full Moon is very likely either something we know instinctively, or that we have carried below consciousness, and now we have to admit we ‘knew all along what we didn’t know’!
The Sabian for this Full Moon is, ‘Through Bankruptcy, Society Gives To An Overburdened Individual The Opportunity To Begin Again’. I think this specifically applies to the condition of the Venus-Pluto quincunx: we are being offered a do-over, in some sense, one that has not turned out as we planned (Uranus, Saturn). In order to re-make things effectively, we have to acknowledge what this has cost us, or perhaps what we’ve lost (the bankruptcy). Think of this period, rather than as a time for achievement, as a time when we can rid ourselves of burdens that have drained us, and we are able to do this by admitting something we thought would be more profitable has actually been a negative. It’s ‘the truth shall set you free’, but it only works if we’re the ones able to hear, accept, and so act according to that truth.
For a Full Moon we always look at the Sun as light-giver; the Sabian for this Moon is, ‘An Old Bridge Over A Beautiful Stream Is Still In Constant Use’. This points us toward those connections (remember Libra, and the ‘health’ of our interactions as a FM theme?) that are solid, reliable, and that have actually facilitated our progress. This may be where at least a little of that Full Moon truth-telling is needed; do you find it hard to admit who’s really helped you, vs. those people you’d like to think of as supportive, who may not really be (or who may only talk a good game)? Knowing and admitting the reality of the Libran cooperative situation, and the accuracy or misleading nature of communications, will go a long way toward successfully informing our choices, especially those around recent Venusian-Plutonian upset, and changes in the ways and with whom we interact.
And just a word on the Saturn-Uranus square, due to perfect on the 23rd: it may feel like a forced choice between high-minded but constricting options vs. a kind of material (or at least uncomfortable) chaos, but thinking of things in these terms will only keep us from processing both events and how to best respond to them.
And just a word on the Saturn-Uranus square, due to perfect on the 23rd: it may feel like a forced choice between high-minded but constricting options vs. a kind of material (or at least uncomfortable) chaos, but thinking of things in these terms will only keep us from processing both events and how to best respond to them. In reducing it mentally to ‘I can be right and feel unfulfilled, or I can experiment and create chaos’, we may be giving ourselves an excuse for not doing anything, or for acting out in ways that don’t improve the situation.
It’s a bit more like this: we’re trying to implement ideals in real-world terms (Saturn in Aquarius) but we are confronted by more accidents, unanticipated events, anomalies, and original circumstances, particularly material ones or ones that affect (or even threaten) our security and comfort (Uranus in Taurus) than we thought possible. We may need to accept these Uranian events as features, not bugs; if we cast them as serendipitous, we allow ourselves to be more flexible, to learn from what occurs, to see the potentials inherent in ‘happy accidents’, and we can invite ourselves to frame all that happens as the Universe acting in our best interests. Take that tack, and the unburdening we seek is all but inevitable.
Venus is a little more serious in Capricorn–here she is being serious about the Arts: ‘Venus of Poetry’ By Julio Romero de Torres 1913 {{PD}}
Our only imperative in this life is to be. It’s easy to forget that–or maybe, never to learn that, surrounded by a social order that promotes doing and action, that sees value only in what we create, give, or make happen. We receive a message of perpetual pressure to do, to measure ourselves by what we achieve, by the stack of qualifications, money and assets we accumulate, and by the accolades we manage to drag back to our cave (the best cave we can find!) and pile up, dragon-like. We ‘reward’ ourselves with treats, pampering, or even something as essential as rest, when we feel we’ve ‘earned’ them, with our crime being we should value ourselves just because we exist; we are no less worthy for what we don’t do, for the rat race we choose not to run.
Venus in Capricorn can support that societal valuation that we are what we do or what we have, but turning retrograde in this sign offers a new perspective, a potential for freeing ourselves from the link between our impact on the material world and the worthiness of our existence that we may see as natural when it’s anything but. When Venus takes up apparent backward motion we may be able to see the true worth of our efforts, see the genuine usefulness as well as the unreasonable constraints imposed by the status quo, may show us how playing by the rules and judging ourselves by the social order has made appreciation of ourselves just as we are less possible, less obvious, and may have persuaded us that we don’t have worth, unless we conform. Well that’s a crock.
Add to this state the way Venus in Capricorn will pass over Pluto just before going retrograde in the wee hours PST of the 19th, at 26 Capricorn 29. That suggests that just before turnaround we’ll get a glimpse, flashback, or awe-inspiring preview of immense change, a re-making, a re-birth, or a permanent ending that’s coming our way–and that may shake our foundations that are built in Love, relationship certainties, partnership, or financial security. It will be almost impossible to separate our current Plutonian view/ issues from the Venus retrograde–though they may have nothing to do with each other at all.
Pluto will give Venus retro a shadow she doesn’t normally carry, even at times of regression and review, and we are very likely to perceive this as inherent to Venusian matters at this time, rather than as shading provided by the brooding, ultra-serious lord of the Underworld. In Capricorn, this may look like guilt (especially guilt over not being what we consider productive), or like shame (at having our nose to the grindstone, and so missing some Venusian aspect we should’ve attended to), or it could bring a kind of morbid insistence on re-hashing a failed relationship, financial venture, or investment from the past.
Since Venus retrograde is a period of reconnoitering relationships, experimenting with aesthetics and interactions, and trying new, Venus-related activities of the House where this happens, the Houses that Venus rules, and the House where she is placed (the retrograde occurs in the same sign, and so often the same House with Placidus, absolutely the same House with Whole Sign) every 8 years, we are likely to re-visit whatever was cooking the last time Venus turned around here–and that’s where the Plutonian shadow may temporarily fall. The emphasis is always on the matters of the House where the retro occurs, with other Venus-connected factors of secondary relevance, unless receiving an aspect from the transiting body. Sometimes issues dealt with the last time she retrograded here come back in new forms; other times the very same issue springs to life once again, in the very same shape, as if no time has passed at all–and this time around, we are likely to be overly focused on the ways in which something didn’t work, was destroyed or lost, or on our own part in permanent change that the retro cycle prompts us to re-examine and mourn–and that’s even if we are fully aware the change was necessary, or we’re happy with the way things turned out.
This might seem the more obvious choice to illustrate this post. ‘La Nascita di Venere’ (The Birth of Venus) By Sandro Botticelli c1485 {{PD}}
It can feel like deja vu all over again, as they say, when Venus turns backward in the same area every 8 years; it may take a little detective work to see the consistencies and connections to the last time, or it may slap us right in the face with a sense that we’ve been unsuccessful in resolving the issue–or that, not having chosen definitively the last time around, we’re being given the same choice (or opportunity) again.
Also notable may be the way Venus turns around just short of quincunxing the Earth. That suggests that we won’t get the entire meaning of Venus’ retro phase, particularly the implications for our material situation, until later, when Venus finally makes another aspect to Earth/ Sun, slated to happen when Venus meets the Sun in Inferior Conjunction, 8-9 January 2022.
At the time of Inferior Conjunction the two, Sun and Venus, will be roughly semi-square Jupiter in Pisces–so look for big effects, sometimes world or social sphere events mirroring or echoing personal ones, and look immediately for the spiritual ‘message’ delivered by relationships or financial situations–they’ll be telling, but despite new revelations, save choices for after direction, early hours PST of 29 January. Venus will go direct with her first major contact being the Moon, just entered into Capricorn at the moment of direction and slated to meet Venus in just under one day. Emotions rush in, feelings become clear and probably undeniable, and intuition speaks loudly of the meaning of what’s happened during the retrograde.
That’s when we return to our customary tastes and relationship state-of-mind–and when we’re in the best position to assess our findings from the retro period. That’s when we have our personal renaissance, having re-visited and refreshed matters of the natal House where the retro occurs, and re-gained clear consciousness of both Venusian facets of our lives, and the worth of ourselves, being, just as we are.
From John Cobb field notebook: Wm. Helgeson, “Whiskey Bill”, hand-lining for codfish near Pirate Cove. July 1913 {{PD}}
The first thing about the eclipse picture that jumps out at me isn’t terribly obvious, but may be extremely important: the eclipse occurs in a very tight novile to Venus in Capricorn. The novile in a personal chart defines the spark of genius the individual carries; but what is it in an event chart? We could describe it as the Silver Lining, the energies prevalent that, when tapped into, generate remarkable beneficial results. In this case, a New Moon is new beginnings, and an eclipse wipes out what came before; falling in Sagittarius, we find a sense of opportunity introduced by the extinction of a previous way of believing or a change in an accepted set of facts, with this resonating mainly through matters of the individual natal House in which this occurs. Add in a ‘genius’ facet of the practically-oriented, steady, just-a-little-repressed Venus in Cap, and you have a recipe for a brilliant, forward-thinking blueprint that has a solid grounding in relationships, aesthetic standards, and/ or in financial payoff.
Keep in mind, though, that Venus is due to retrograde soon (19 December), and that hints that anything originating now may seem during the retro to lose credibility or to in some way disappoint; that’s when we need to remind ourselves that our Venus-oriented perceptions are definitely altered during a turnaround–and that means that what begins now, though it may appear to be undesirable at retrograde time, is actually what we will want in future. So, any changes to matters begun with the eclipse should be avoided between the 19th and Venus’ direction (29 January). The retro period can show us new things, allow us to try what we wouldn’t have tasted before (out of indifference or a differing standard), with the beauty of that being we can bring back to our regular Venusian way of operating those things we experimented with and still find appealing on direction. Venus retrograde is a time for being adventurous, but not to make irretrievable changes. I always like the example of changing hair color (that’s okay) versus getting a tattoo (permanent!)–one being reversible, the other, not so easily–simply because it’s hard to know what we will regret and what we will find enhances our lives, until Venus is once again direct.
The eclipse falls less than two degrees past (and so still within orb) of a square to Pallas in Pisces, and a quincunx to Uranus in Taurus. These suggest that difficulties arising will contain wisdom or push us in a practical direction, though it’s up to us to figure what response will be to our benefit, and we must be prepared for the unexpected, the serendipitous, the accident, or the infusion of Higher Mind to present circumstances we hadn’t anticipated. In the moment we can draw on the available wisdom, if we are open to seeing how the hard choice or tough situation allows us to respond wisely, or practically, if we can get out of our own way (some may manifest a rebellious streak when confronted by eclipse realities–I can state flatly that would not be the best way to answer circumstances, no matter what they seem to be on the surface).
Though the rest of the eclipse aspects are somewhat wider than our usual orb, in sequence they tell a story. The eclipse will occur after both Sun and Moon have passed over Vesta, with them on their way to conjoin Mercury and as well oppose the Black Moon Lilith point. This series of contacts speaks of the impact of what we find sacred, what we honor, or what we have dedicated our time and energy to on the new beginnings that come about at eclipse time; they also tell of how what we have faith in, what we know, or what we think, will change, and this occurs specifically in the context of either our rejection of the opportunity to acknowledge or deal with matters we’ve previously ignored, or in the context of our embrace of those same issues. Perhaps we face them at eclipse time because we’re better equipped with either fresh knowledge or renewed faith (New Moon in Sagittarius)–or perhaps we shun them for fear that acknowledging buried issues will endanger the New Moon new start. We need to remember that it’s the temporary blocking by the Moon of the Sun’s light on its path to Earth that creates a window of time wherein we get a different view of our own circumstances, one that’s less prone to be overwhelmed by those matters that typically draw our conscious attention. The eclipse offers a moment of clarity–we just have to be willing to see what is, in order to make the most of it.
The Sabian for the Solar eclipse New Moon is, ‘A Widow’s Past Is Brought To Light’. Appropriate, right? I think ‘widow’ in this context implies two things: that we face our eclipse revelations alone, and that we have a past ( a relationship or status) that generates our present–and there’s something about what we’ve created in that past that will now show itself, take ‘center stage’, in a sense. This might be intimately connected to those Black Moon Lilith matters, and if so suggests that our willingness to inspect, deal with, or embrace them will be much more effective than will continuing to ignore or bury them. Just keep in mind that this eclipse offers us new knowledge or faith that will give us the strength or tools to face things anew, and that skills or experiences from the past show their worth now–there’s no better time to make peace with what’s behind us, and so usher in better prospects for the future.
Thank you to all my Readers who comment, ask questions, and email me. I’m not able to answer each one personally, consult, or accept new work, as I’m trying to complete my Moon book—and unfortunately that also means I won’t be addressing your individual questions about the eclipse in your personal chartsent to me or entered in comments. I wish it was the good old days, when I had that kind of time! But, I will add a few things here to help you understand the eclipse in your own chart. Remember, it’s all about new information, or new faith. For this particular event, falling in your 1st House makes it very personal, affecting your way of interacting with the world or even your physical being; in the 2nd, your asset or talent picture, or it changes your own idea of your Self-worth or abilities; in the 3rd we see it affect your writing, thinking, communications, or your physical neighborhood; in the 4th, the beliefs or knowledge about the family of origin or your core view of yourself; the 5th sees matters around your offspring/ creations, your romantic life!, or sees you taking a gamble (or calling one off) based on what you learn or believe; in the 6th, revelations about health or duties are likely; in the 7th, it may seem not to directly affect you–you could instead observe effects in your spouse, the wider public, or you could channel your feelings into Art; in the 8th what changes could seem to happen only to others, or it could affect what others share with you, or hide from you; in the 9th it could prompt a desire to travel, roam far and wide, to further education or apply yourself to religious study, or could involve things happening to in-laws; in the 10th it’s either career-affecting or whatever happens occurs where everyone can see, and probably they can see your reaction, as well; in the 11th the eclipse may trigger a long-held dream, or even present an opportunity for you to contribute the very thing you’re here to offer; and in the 12th, its impact might be felt in changes to your spiritual approach, in interactions with large institutions (ones where you feel like a cog in the wheel), or knowledge or faith may be renewed through the dream life or in communion with the Universe.
So what does it mean for the Sun to enter Sagittarius? A dropping away of suspicions, for one. The Jupiter-ruled Sun knows what it knows, and isn’t afraid to broadcast it. We want to be out-and-about, want to travel, want to explore what’s foreign to us, want to learn about new things, want to know what’s wise, what’s practical (these latter as the Sun through Sag squares Pallas in Pisces by sign–we want to know what difficulties we’ll face, especially those unseen or spiritual snags that come to our attention). Ruler Jupiter is in Aquarius, semi-sextile Pluto and sextile Eris, pulling away from a trine to Zeus= we move away from focus on ambition and desire and toward high-minded inquiry, meant to get at the Truth, but if there’s any enmity in the atmosphere, even our most innocent or well-meant probing brings discord. Remember that Eris doesn’t bring disharmony, she reveals it; a clash was already present, just not yet expressed. She helps us get to the Truth, though her methodology may be a little unpleasant. She responds to the unspoken; it’s our response that shows our own motivations and thoughts. Keep that in mind, especially if you’re tempted to point the finger–that inclination indicates we have a bit of our own buried agenda yet to explore and express.
Saturn and Chiron are neatly sextile right now, as are Venus and Mars. These pairings offer an ease of expression, or rather an expressive ‘way out, for some of the energies: Venus is uncomfortable in Capricorn, finding the beauty in order but also chafing against the responsibility that is inherent to the sign; Mars in Scorpio may feel as if every action and choice is somehow underhanded, even when it’s not–the shift of the Sun to Sag may help clear this up–so that everyone with a conscience may feel weighed down by guilt, shame, or regret that is more existential than personal–so the sooner we realize that, the more free we’ll be; Saturn in Aquarius has been struggling to institute modernization in all forms within the reality picture, and this may be the chance, in contacting Chiron in Pisces, to connect to a higher reality, an ideal to guide those real-world efforts. That can work, if we’re able to cut through the fog that emanates from our own hurt and misperception.
We should note the direction of Neptune on December 1st. It’s been stationary on the 20th degree of Pisces since mid-October, and will remain stationary direct on that degree until mid-January 2022. It may have been feeling like progress on the dream just isn’t possible, and that feeling will continue for awhile–but that doesn’t mean you should stop your efforts to bring it into reality. The sense that you’re not moving forward in the creative realm, with implementing ideals, with making the magic happen, is (oh Neptune!) an illusion. Everything you’ve been doing has been contributing to realizing that Neptunian dream, you just can’t see its effectiveness, yet. Yes, for a few of us, the direction will reveal (eventually) how and where we’ve been fooling ourselves, but deception is only possible when it falls on ground fertile for misbelief–otherwise, that attempt to mislead us shrivels and dies.
File away for future consideration the fact that Venus will retrograde on December 19th. This happens late in Capricorn, just after she’s conjoined Pluto, and she’ll still be ‘under the influence’. This may bring a very trying time in relationships and/ or finances–just know that it will not only pass, any destructive potentials will, if indulged in, bring permanent and irrevocable change–so best to see that the strife will pass, that the negatives shouldn’t be acted upon (Mars will be in Sagittarius by then, so rarin’ to get out or lash out), and that exercising Capricornian Self-discipline is the best thing you can do to keep Love in your life.
Right now we’re in what I like to refer to as the valley between eclipses. It’s a period of tension–you can almost feel the air vibrating–and if we resist it, or try to pin down the meaning behind what’s happening, we’ll become exhausted. Just let things be, let them develop, without demanding answers (see Mars, above, for the likely result of pushing too hard). If you haven’t already, or need a refresher, see my take on the recent Lunar eclipse here. All orders for my books through Dog & Sunflower Press will be fulfilled on 30 November. Thank you, everyone!
The most striking thing to me, once again in recent Lunar events, is how few aspects are made, with those that are close also for the most part being minor–or, the aspect is to a minor body, as it is with the eclipse Moon-Earth approaching conjunction to Sedna. Long-time Readers know I see asteroids and other minor bodies as facets of the umbrella larger energy represented by the major planets–so the emphasis this eclipse on smaller entities emphasizes their particular nature, their ‘attitudes’.
This is a partial Lunar eclipse, meaning the Earth, as it lines up on the ecliptic with and comes between the Sun and the Moon, won’t create a shadow that entirely blocks the reflected light of the Moon. In symbolic terms this suggests a ‘mild’ eclipse effect (if that’s even possible!) so that, considering the minor aspect-minor body angle, what we might see are surrounding events that cast a more modest shadow on circumstances than we might expect. Changes, rather than devastation, as we might anticipate with a total eclipse or with strong contact to our own charts (see the previous post for one such example).
The eclipse occurs at 12:57 AM PST of the 19th at 27 Taurus 14, close to conjoining Sedna, suggesting that something might ‘click’ soon after the eclipse: we may realize what we ‘know but don’t know’, what has been sublimated, or only instinctively known, up until now. An eclipse is like an eraser run across the blackboard of life: It can wipe things away, sometimes even bringing a literal ‘clean slate’, but we’ll still see the remnants of what was, the ghost images of what was written before–and with this eclipse, we see that with the separating square from Jupiter and the separating trine of Pluto. Both imply these things are past, but recently enough that they figure into, even shape, the eclipse events. The Moon-Earth combo moving away from a square to Jupiter in Aquarius speaks of difficult material and emotional impacts of having acquired new knowledge or understanding, or of some social injustice or unrest–it may also hint that in some instances, we may have exaggerated the importance of this. The same duo leaving a trine to Pluto says that change or destructive/ transformative influences snuck in easily; only with the eclipse may we begin to realize how much the ground beneath our feet (Pluto is in Capricorn, after all) may have shifted, given way, or heaved up right under us.
We also see two lesser, but in this case probably no less important, aspects: a just-separating quindecile to Mars, and a sesquiquadrate to Venus–which happens to place Venus and Mars in sextile to each other. What may look harmonious on the surface, a blending and cooperative effort of different but equal, or of complementary ‘parts’ or energies, will reveal its more challenging facets under the Lunar shadow. The eclipse aspect to Mars is one that calls out extreme reactions, the obsessive, the disruptive, the restless, and speaks of motivations–in this case, perhaps actions taken or choices made as to what must go, must be eliminated or altered, what steps must be taken, and all with the aim of either ridding ourselves of a negative element or getting to the Truth (Mars in Scorpio).
With the aspect to Venus, we see slightly less tension, and something akin to excessive irritation, the kind that lights a fire under us. Venus is in Capricorn, possibly speaking of dissatisfaction with the status quo, with rules and regs, with constraints, especially societal ones, and these irritations are delivered through tension in relationships or surrounding the financial or asset picture. It could arise from some upset with someone we love and feel safe with, who under the eclipse light suddenly threatens the tidy arrangement we have–or it could be that our own efforts, especially artistic creations or things created out of our own love for them, won’t be appreciated by the larger social order. In any case, these are disruptive and disturbing elements that arrive in our lives in what seems like a very personal form–and so we may not realize everyone is experiencing these effects in some form.
What we thought we had, what has made us comfortable, what we see as assets or talents, is likely to get scrutiny, and get a shake-up, either from us or from the outside world, should we not respond to the need for change. The Sabian for the Full Moon eclipse is, ‘A Woman, Past Her “Change Of Life”, Experiences A New Love’. In this image we have a receptive agent (a woman), specifically post-childbearing years, who finds a new love. That seems to me a lovely reminder of the worth of a human being beyond any socially designated biological role. It’s also an image of optimism, of hope: one doesn’t have a prime for Love–that can happen any time. It’s an invitation to live life to its fullest.
We always inspect the Sun’s Sabian for a Full Moon as well: ‘The King Of The Fairies Approaching His Domain’. What Kingdom do you rule? This speaks of territory, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, that you know is yours, that you have been aiming to completely master, occupy, or return to–you’re almost there, with the notation that the eclipse energy, no matter how it plays out, is meant to get you closer to this destination.
A Reader has put forward a question on the meaning of the natal Vertex, and she’s interested not least because she’ll be experiencing the upcoming eclipse conjoined this point in her chart. I use the Vertex to add meaning to interpretation for individual charts–it can be very telling of what someone may be especially attuned to and sensitive to, seen by them as matters that are fated, for good or ill–but it seldom figures in to the transit picture, so I don’t often address it here on the blog, the exception being examining an event chart–then it can speak loudly, particularly as to the ‘inevitability’ of an outcome or effect, or to the unavoidable nature of the event itself.
The Vertex is defined as the intersection of the ecliptic (the path of the Sun) and the Prime Vertical (an imaginary circle keyed to a specific location–where the zenith–high point–and nadir–low point–meet in the east and west, these directions as shown in the flat chart). Yes, it’s a not-very-helpful description, but gives you some idea of how this attempts to measure extremes, both high and low, in the life; these tend to be the very kinds of events we see as fated, unavoidable, inevitable, destined. They shape the life, and can send us careening off in entirely new directions–just as eclipse contact to the natal picture can–so in a brief examination of the upcoming eclipse’s contact to this individual’s Vertex I’m hoping to illuminate how the Vertex (and eclipse impacts) have the potential to affect us all, particular to our own individual charts. The combined effect of an eclipse contacting the Vertex is a double-whammy, a wipe-out that shifts the very fate.
The eclipse, falling at 27 Taurus 14 and conjoined Sedna at 28.44, does indeed fall right on this Reader’s Vertex at 26 Taurus 24 in her Whole Sign 8th of other people’s resources and influence. Right away we’re alerted to the way the Lunar energy will impact (possibly even literally, with the eclipse in an Earth sign, echoing the potential for changes in the material situation, assets, talent expression, or comfort picture) the fate, the path forward, the destiny itself. Now, that sounds very dramatic, but the events themselves might not be; it’s not unusual for those path-changing occurrences and decisions to happen quietly, undramatically, unrecognized as the fate-shapers they are. How many times do we expect those life-altering changes to come with a big bang? Too many, as in looking back for those shift points, what we often see are that they happened in those quiet moments when our minds have changed, our attention goes permanently in a new direction, or when small choices lead to big shake-ups. That should tell us that not all things will be obvious or automatically bring devastating change; instead we should see an eclipse as designating a point of important change or development, that we might not recognize as such.
The eclipse will form the arm of a T-square with this woman’s 29 degree Nodal axis, and with her Mars, which is conjoined her NN. This suggests a life direction challenge offered in the form of a question: What should I do? What action should I take, or choice make? With the eclipse occurring in the 8th House, this may be a choice or action forced by others (and that may be as much this individual’s perceptions as it is the reality of the situation), and the unfortunate thing may be that this individual may feel they owe it to these others to comply–or that the actions of others must be responded to, that the individual has no choice. That’s not a great feeling, by any measure.
The eclipse also sextiles the individual’s natal Juno-Pallas conjunction in Pisces in the 6th (wise empowerment at the everyday level, the kind that is hyper-responsible and likely to make duty and obligations to others a top priority, along with a life-long effort to live in as healthy a way as possible, probably with an orientation to the spiritual and to the good of All–Pisces). Together the eclipse and this natal duo form the base of a transitory Finger of God, apex (the point both are quincunx) the natal Libra Ascendant. This ramps up the sense of what happens with the eclipse being very, very personal, to the point where the individual may feel singled out, even unfairly targeted. Why me? might be the initial reaction–but the practical spiritual orientation will quickly realize there’s broader meaning here, despite the personal circumstances in which it presents. Libra is already inclined to strong awareness of others and what they want–this may make that awareness almost painful in its intensity.
This eclipse also trines her natal Saturn in Capricorn in the 4th–and this Saturn happens to quincunx the natal Cancer Sun in its 00 10th House position. The quincunx suggests a perpetual questioning of the Self brought about by real-world experiences, with the Sun/ identity ‘new’ in the sign of caring and caring for, vulnerability, and emotional and intuitive sensitivity, meaning the Soul is attuning itself to a fresh orientation, a new perspective on the Self and where she fits in to the world. Considering all the ‘Other’ orientation of various natal placements, this should draw our attention to the way this Sun may suggest the individual is learning how she fits in with others, in what ways she’s obligated to them, where and how and for whom she should care–and with that it’s inevitable that there may be struggles to establish boundaries, and guilt about these that others may try to take advantage of.
Add in the eclipse to the Sun-Saturn dynamic and she may get a jolt to the identity–what she thought settled about who she is may prove not to be–and I suspect that what happens with the eclipse could trigger the Libra Moon to react: once Libra realizes things are out of balance, that she may be giving more than is reasonable, that Air element can kick in, diverting what had been an emotional reaction to be assessed by the mind–where lines will be drawn, even if the emotions are uncomfortable with it.
The Libra Ascendant is apex to the Finger, but we see fellow Libra placement, this sensitive and caring Moon, has another role: as part of the base of a Fist of God, as it’s squared at eclipse time by transiting Venus, with a configuration apex of the eclipse, plus transiting Sedna. This speaks of relationships or assets (Venus, which just happens to be ruler of the eclipse) creating difficult emotional responses or situations (the square to the Moon), resulting in an eclipsing event (that is, in something, that happens, or is perceived or felt) that wipes out the ‘old’ path or destiny (eclipse conjoined the natal Vertex), and this is known but perhaps not known consciously, or is felt instinctually (Sedna)–and that may imply that the emotional impact of what happens may actually obscure for a time the true changes that come about or are seeded by the eclipse activity.
Also of note is the Full Moon (which is what a Lunar eclipse is) position of the Sun in this whole thing, as it’s the light giver, literally. For this individual the eclipse Sun will fall in the natal 2nd, once again echoing the Taurean theme of assets and talents, along with concepts of Self-worth and personal finances/ assets. For this Reader, it appears to me the eclipse may bring some tough emotional situations, even showdowns, over who owes what to whom, for this individual requiring a reassessment of what she believes she must do for or give to others. The old way of seeing things is wiped out, particularly, with eclipse contact direct to the Vertex, the previous destined direction; an eclipse comes along and re-writes the book. A redrawing of boundaries may result, the kind that shape the path forward, which give new and perhaps unanticipated form to what, when it arrives, appears to have been destined all along.
I must note that this is the general outlook for the eclipse for a single individual; this applies to no one else. But, discussing it here does allow you to get a glimpse of how, in at least this one instance, the Vertex and an event like an eclipse might interact. I want to thank this Reader, for trusting me to study her chart, and for her generosity in allowing me to write about it publicly, so that others might benefit.
The eclipse report for the upcoming Full Moon will post shortly!
The Moon and Sun meet at 2:15 PM PDT on the 4th at 12 Scorpio 40, just shy of perfecting an opposition to Uranus in Taurus. We may think Halloween is over, but this set-up screams that a shock, shift, change, accident, revelation, revolution, new understanding, or good old-fashioned scare is slated for the Lunar event. We may simply observe this (the opposition), or we may live it ourselves (likely through the House matters where the NM falls in the natal scenario, or the subjects of the House where Uranus is transiting, or the House it or the Moon rules natally), but either way it will shake us, our world, or it may change our viewpoint in radical or unusual ways.
The New Moon is pulling away from a semi-square to Juno but approaching semi-square to Venus, and that may suggest that empowerment issues, struggles to have our way or for supremacy (especially in partnership), and matters of status that have lately been before us give way or resolve in the face of love and the importance of relationships–but that both aspects are semi-squares tells us that the fresh lens of Venus brings attention to a whole other set of factors: the potentials for jealousy, rivalry, lust, competition, especially for love or resources, and for examination of what assets or talents we do or don’t have.Venus is at 29 degrees, under stress, perhaps acting in ways that feel a little desperate, a little deprived. We are letting go of one set of concerns because we recognize the power and sanctity of love–and then find ourselves in danger of sabotaging the very relationships we care most about, because of our own Venusian weaknesses.
This isn’t the whole picture, of course, but it is a more prominent part of things than the relatively minor aspects involved might first suggest. A New Moon in Scorpio means new starts, but in this sign that can be particularly disruptive to our emotional health; we just naturally want to dig, to excavate whatever captures our emotional attention or stirs feeling at this time, and nothing, not a relationship or a person or an onion, does well having those protective layers of skin peeled away.
The Scorpio New Moon makes only one other close aspect, a quincunx to the Black Moon Lilith point. This says that what arises now may come from discomfort (the quincunx) with those matters we’ve been ignoring, are in denial about, or that have enraged us but haven’t yet been addressed. So, Luna opens the door and shines an ever-growing light on what’s bothering us–and that may manifest through a Uranian event like an accident or a Higher Mind revelation, or may channel into relationship issues. It’s the conscience and its conceptions of right and wrong that are sending and receiving right now, so that the more consciously aware you are of your own motivations and needs, of how honest you’ve been and how much you may have deviated from or stayed within the framework of your ideals, the more adept (and less surprised) you’ll be at handling what comes forward.
We have a very Uranian Sabian Symbol for this New Moon: ‘An Inventor Performs A Laboratory Experiment’. This re-focuses us on the importance of Uranus and Uranian elements in this New Moon equation, and points to a few possible questions you might want to meditate on before the Lunar event: how do you feel about shocks and surprises? do you seek them out, enjoying the charge, or do you hate them and the disorienting feeling they convey? do you insist on having control (or that you are in control) and find it offensive when others/ the Universe point out there’s no such thing? how do you really feel about change? do you see it as a catastrophe or a chance to escape? There are two keys in this symbol, ‘Inventor’ and ‘Experiment’, and these offer us a good way to approach this New Moon. We are natural inventors–seeing ourselves that way should show us how much power and creativity we actually carry within–and we are in the midst of one enormous experiment–and that means nothing is certain. All we can do is respond to what comes at us, to what we create, to what’s drawn to us, with the greatest capacity for understanding, and the ability to invent and innovate, that’s most uniquely suited to who we are.
I looked up the Sabian for Uranus, thinking it might give us more detail about what Uranian thing we might expect, and it didn’t disappoint: ‘A Porter Carrying Heavy Baggage’. This points us toward the trigger of all those Black Moon Lilith things we’ve stuffed down into the dark. What we’ve been trying to out run or hide, our baggage, may become too heavy for that part of ourselves we’ve assigned to haul it around. Wouldn’t it be better to drop that stuff off, for good? This New Moon might be the chance to do just that.
A note about Ceres, Chiron, and Pallas at 9 degrees of their respective signs, which would seem to put them in generous orb to the New Moon: you know I’m careful about drawing as precise a Lunar picture as I can be; in this case, these placements, you’ll notice, are all past aspects, indicating the Moon’s contacts prior to meeting the Sun. Since these all occurred in the Dark of the Moon period, I suspect they’re hidden in our own personal dark, carried in the Lunar event but not actively informing it. So, that would say that wisdom, personal power situations, and hurt all affect what happens–they shape it, rather than drive it, intimations of what’s coming like whispers that precede a shout, that you’ll probably ‘hear’ on the 3rd.
Julie Demboski's ASTROLOGY 
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