‘Dancing Fairies’ August Malmstrom {{PD-Art}}

Bits and pieces from the current ECLIPSE, for your weekend reading pleasure–have a great one!

On the Jupiter-Saturn riptide:

Through the month of January Jupiter will slow to direction on the 30th, and Saturn will slow to retrograde in mid-February. This may cause something over the next 6 weeks or so like a rip-tide, with the surface current going one direction and the undertow strongly in another. When Jupiter turns direct, we often feel as if the world opens up to us in the area of the chart where this occurs, or in matters of the natal House Jupiter rules. It’s perceptual, rather than actual, in most cases, as Jupiter stands for what we believe, rather than for what is (that’s Saturn’s domain). So if what we believe in one area contradicts what is actually happening in another (the withdrawal, denial of, or concrete manifestation of something in the portion of the chart where Saturn currently transits, or in the House it rules) what do we need to do, to avoid confusion? Anyone? Anyone? We must look for the way/ place in the natal chart where these two energies, Jupiter and Saturn, intersect, in order to understand precisely how we may see what can amount to unwarranted optimism occur–by which I mean that conflict between what appears to be a ‘Go!’ signal but which is actually stalled, denied, or withheld, at least for now, given shape and form specific to the individual chart.

Astrology at the Movies:

Midnight in Paris (2011) is ultimately an enjoyable entertainment where the sum of its parts delivers considerably less than we could reasonably expect. As a pure example of Neptune in Pisces, however, it’s flawless, showing all the creative fantasy, idealism, delusion, illusion, romance, weakness, pretensions, and naiveté of writer/ director Woody Allen; it’s like having Allen’s artistic abilities and sensibilities spooned up for us, and we see how thin the broth really is, after all these years. This time around Owen Wilson (Gil) is the sub for Allen, a highly successful Hollywood screenwriter who believes he was meant to write serious literature. On a trip to Paris with his brittle fiancée (Rachael McAdams) and her parents (Kurt Fuller and the wonderful Mimi Kennedy) Gil waxes nostalgic for the jazz age 20s, awed by the idea of some of the biggest artistic names of the century mingling in the City of Lights. A touring car of the era and a clock striking midnight transport Gil to his heart’s desire–and what we get are bombastic and unconvincing speeches from those creative greats, as if they spent their lives speaking of themselves with the hindsight of death and time, and Wilson’s decidedly uncreative writer, who has nothing more to say to his supposed heroes than to gush insipidly over their work. The revelation that everyone sees an era other than the one they live in as golden, as the epitome of romance, is no revelation at all. Gil uses these magical encounters not to explore the personalities of the creatives, or to truly absorb the workings of the era itself, but to (as many a writer, especially a small-minded Self-centered one, would) get Gertrude Stein and Hemingway to read his novel. If his repetitive and shallow exclamations (“Paris is just so beautiful in the rain!” “That’s so amazing!” “Golly, I can’t tell you how great it is to be here!”) tell us anything, it’s that Gil has been in the right place (Hollywood), and succeeded at the right thing for him (“hack work”, as he puts it), all along. Disappointingly, Allen ends the movie as he nearly always does, with his stand-in getting the (much, much) younger girl. Eww. With Michael Sheen, delicious as an academic know-it-all, Tom Hiddleston perfectly cast as Scott Fitzgerald, and Alison Pill woefully miscast as Zelda.

The outlook for Saturday the 12th:

We may see clashes between individual and group interests, radicalism in love or spending, conflict in relationship over erratic or hyper-independent behavior, and/ or the costs of going our own way, or of implementing what’s new (and perhaps revolutionary) (Venus square Uranus). Our uniqueness and our need for expression conflicts with what relationships or earning requires–darn. The Sun perfects his trine to Sedna, making ‘clairvoyance’ (clear sight) impossible, even with all that direct light–impossible UNLESS we are willing and able to stare unflinchingly into the void (of Self)–then the abyss may share its secrets with the patient and those not distracted with the upsets surrounding love, money, and Self-expression.

And for the 13th:

The Aquarius Moon trines Zeus at 2 AM PST, stimulating the mind with a big dose of mental lust, so to speak; the emotions are swept along with a cascade of exciting ideas–note what they are, as ideas formed now can act as inspiration later, of a kind that you will immediately and strongly respond to, and so carry through with. At noon the Moon trines Ceres, offering a strong internal sense of authority, or the support of external authorities, maternal figures, or nature in fulfilling your efforts. 1 PM PST the Moons squares Sedna. We lose our emotional place, and may suffer a sense of loss. It’s only temporary–allow yourself to drift, if possible. 3 PM PST the Moon quincunxes the Earth and soon thereafter squares the Nodal axis. We may find material matters irritating and requiring adjustments, and these modifications lead us to examine the effectiveness (or not) of the current life path. Let’s count the Void as beginning at 4:40 PM Pacific. The Moon enters Pisces at 2:50 AM PST of the 14th.

All this is from ECLIPSE Weekly Aspect Digest; subscribe to get it all!