What do influences active on the 10th tell us? Be smart: concentrate on making the most of your own authority and power, and be willing to make changes within your own sphere in order to maximize reach and effectiveness; be very clear on what comprises your ‘territory’, and what’s actually another’s responsibility; be open to negotiating more favorable power balances, and be honest about what things you are willing to oversee, which you are okay with handing off (Pluto parallel and Mercury trine Ceres).
Mercury, now in forward apparent motion, enters Scorpio after a brutal retrograde, making us naturally more reflective and prone to dig up the bones; don’t let that propensity disturb arrangements that at present are actually complementary, that are in balance with each serving their parts–we need to keep our highest values and commitments at the forefront of consciousness at this time, in order to avoid succumbing to a too-strong inclination toward change or destruction when something isn’t quite as we’d like (Venus contra-parallel Mars and novile Vesta).
On the 11th everything that was stirred up but didn’t settle yesterday prompts unwise or discordant action–so don’t (Mars semi-sq Ceres). Use ideals and goals to re-align efforts, and pull from the imaginative fog those gems that are both inspiring and useful (Venus qnx Neptune, Sun qnx NN).
The 12th may be very active, with a lot of ‘we have no choice’ change coming at us–so disorienting at the least, and super unpleasant and disempowering, at worst. Jupiter, Pluto, and Pallas all pile up together, and the thing is, this may read as the social order telling us what to do–but wise up, as the reality is that what those who are both knowledgeable and in power are telling us to do or asking of us is actually wise and most practical–even if we can’t see this. You notice that key phrase, right? Knowledgeable and in Power–if somebody has only one of those (specifically, someone who holds some kind of sway or power but who can’t point to actual facts), then the smart thing to do is not to listen to them. Can we abandon our prejudices and partisanship long enough to do not just the right thing (from the individual way of thinking) but the smart one? I hope so.
The Weekly Word Image is a tremendous windstorm that should knock over trees, fences, and other vulnerable structures, but doesn’t. Roots and foundations are deeper than they seem to be, and that can be a good thing, when values are clear and others are respected, or a very bad thing, if what supports is sunk in prejudice, hatred, or fear, all of which are almost definitively irrational. Know that right now, surface arguments aren’t worth having; make sure you’re aligned with what is True (and if you’re not sure, just ask if what you see as Truth respects the well-being and rights of others–if it doesn’t, it’s not something to build your life view on–it can’t be True if it imposes your Will)—because if you respect what’s objectively True, then you’re also aligned with Love.
I’m sure many of us are feeling the heightened energy in the current atmosphere–and even as I write this I’m aware of the inadequacy of that phrase, ‘heightened energy’–it’s really more like the heaviest breeze you’ve ever felt, or maybe like floating inside a lead cloud. My symbol choices may be clunky, but I have no doubt you all know what I’m talking about.
For me it’s manifested as an inability to go to sleep. Now normally when I suffer insomnia, it’s either caused by a hamster wheel of overthinking spinning to the tune of free-floating anxiety, or it’s sheer, unfettered resistance of the ‘I’m a big girl and I don’t have to go to bed right now’ variety.
This time, though, it’s a pure alertness that doesn’t cause and isn’t prompted by anxiety; instead I’m simply AWAKE, with no agenda trying to push its way to conscious consideration–and for me, that’s really weird.
Clearly, this is a wave that’s lapping the globe, generated by a spectacular array of world events–and right now might be a good time to put a pin in the whole thing (with so many bodies in Capricorn, including today the Moon), so that any upset this frequency is creating can be seen for what it is: a Collective ‘web’ in which we’re all vibrating, and so it’s only natural we’re concerned there’s a spider that will emerge at any time to either eat us or wrap us in silk for later!
Here’s something that may help: the big changes, the big traumas, are already done–Saturn and Pluto are done with their dance, and that means that the real-world manifestations of change have already fallen into place (even if we haven’t yet seen those results, or you haven’t seen the dust settle in your part of the world, yet). By mid-December Saturn will be moving into Aquarius, fostering the processing of previous material events in intellectual terms, finding where they fit into and reflect both the modern Zeitgeist and our own future, and delivering revelations that push some of us to rebellion, some of us to the avant garde in our arena, some of us to erratic (and probably Self-destructive) behaviors, and some to show our most unique and original qualities and creative abilities. And really, it’s your choice, since it’s all seated in our response to prevailing energies, rather than determined by any one thing or series of things that happen to us.
The real culprit shakin’ our web is Jupiter. I really hesitate to call Jupiter by one of its traditional names, The Greater Benefic. It’s not that the moniker is untrue, but that Jupiter can be big, loud, colorful, overwhelming, sweeping in its effects–and that can feel a lot like bullying to more sensitive types, especially those heavy in Water (they need to feel and then sort through those feelings around what’s happening, before they can enjoy it) and those heavy in Air, as they need to digest events mentally, before they can determine their reactions (and that’s so even when onlookers might see things as unreservedly positive–how can they be, asks the Air individual, if I don’t yet know what I think of them?)
As easily as Jupiter can bring bounty, it can bring too much–and if it’s too much of something we didn’t want in the first place, that can be its own kind of trauma. So, now that we’ve properly recognized that Jupiter can be indiscriminately too too, we’ll look at his role in the current situation; we won’t worry about past contacts much, because honestly, at this point so much has happened that going back to sort through with a fine-toothed comb is a waste of time, simply because we don’t need the past illuminated–it’s what’s coming that’s important, now.
Jupiter’s direct and rapidly approaching Pluto, which is also direct as of earlier this month–but at this point the latter is barely moving, lingering on the 22nd degree, where Jupiter will, by November 12th, meet him. Are our beliefs destroyed, transformed, or seen for the darkness they carry? Or is it that what we know takes on meaning via matters of Power and the way they play out? Are we too quick to rage, our upset grown out of all proportion, or do the facts set us free by the way they transform the situation, our outlook, our world? No matter what, Jupiter and Pluto together mean an exaggerated effect, and too many of us respond to Pluto with fear, especially when our own sense of Power is inadequate, damaged, or we have rejected our own strength; that can spell dangerous misunderstanding about what’s happening, what’s changing, that may spiral us into destructive mode out of fear, when a better response would be to reassure ourselves that the Universe is working to our benefit (Jupiter) no matter what those changes (Pluto) we’re facing look like on the surface.
At this point Mars will be poised to go direct, on the 13th–and that adds a strong impetus to move, act, do, that rides on the energy wave of the Jupiter-Pluto meeting. What we learn may prompt our choices and motivate us–but we need to take care, as tendencies to exaggeration and extremes (Jupiter-Pluto specialties) may distort what we glean so that we essentially make those choices based on misleading impressions. It may be difficult to see at the time that the heightened atmosphere is meant to help us ‘receive’ what we need to know–but awareness that it doesn’t reflect reality in its correct proportions is vital to not overreacting, to not destroying or raging out of misunderstanding.
This is a potent influence, and so relatively strong for awhile; the most dangerous point for action based on misperception or illusion will be 5th-9th of December, as Mars moves to semi-sextile Neptune (thanks, Maree!), with the semi-sextile shouting loud and clear that what we base our actions and choices on at a personal level (Mars in Aries) needs adjustment and re-assessment, especially the small kinds that sneak under the radar (the semi-sextile). Those ideals (Neptune) we’ll think we’re serving won’t quite align with reality–so we must tread with care.
Let’s look at the Sabian for the meeting of Jupiter and Pluto: ‘A Soldier Receiving Two Awards For Bravery In Combat’. It’s going to feel very much like that; we’ll want to respond as if in the heat of battle, believing we’re doing the right, the noble, the brave (Mars in Aries!) thing–but as we can see from the larger picture, our viewpoint will be exaggerated, off, over-the-top–and that means our judgment of what to do, how to act, and how it’s all going to work out, will simply be a fantasy (Mars-Neptune).
So, we need to be prepared to feel things ‘too much’, at times, in the coming months, and we must also know that to act on our initial impressions will create problems, simple because what we learn, see, and experience will suffer some sort of distortion. But knowing that, we can go softly, and not need that big stick at all.
This artist’s concept shows a celestial body about the size of our moon slamming at great speed into a body the size of Mercury. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence that a high-speed collision of this sort occurred a few thousand years ago around a young star, called HD 172555, still in the early stages of planet formation. The star is about 100 light-years from Earth. NASA/ JPL-Caltech {{PD}}
The 29th Is A Good Day To . . . duck and cover–or embrace every shred of pure Power you can get your hands on–there’s no in-between. We’ve been waiting for this re-match with Jupiter and Pluto, and it’s finally here: exaggerating clashes, the forces of destruction working to obliterate the facts, beliefs transcending all dangers and all reason–so really, a day when maniacs, dictators, the unreasonable and the fanatic may prosper all out of proportion, simply out of a conscience-free desire to advance their Will and a willingness to reach out without discretion, while those who value reality, who consider the welfare of the larger social order, who embrace the Power of their own spiritual connection, or who have Faith may seem to be under imminent threat (though special note: those who hold misguided faith are in for an awakening, a devastation of their false god, a repudiation based in fact).
The reality is, though, that formidable as these darker, more power-hungry forces may be, they are equally matched in a contest with Faith in the Universe, with the sheer might of the positive, the optimistic, and the long arc of justice. It’s a time when instinct can serve us well, providing we can sort it from the mind and the emotions (though the emotions, when ‘clear’, can guide and inform the instincts).
Think back to their first meeting in April of this year, view the second surge now, with another perfecting mid-November. Too, review if possible their last pair of meetings, in December 2007 (in Sagittarius) and December 1994 (in Scorpio). There should be some sort of thread discernible, most probably a personal one reflecting larger dissonance in the world but just as easily one that is so very personal that it’s been hidden, kept private, and now is exposed (or re-exposed, at least to us). Often we see the House placement in the natal chart signifying the way the larger social effect manifests at our real-world level, and/ or the subjects where we find upheaval. The effect is one of change, expansion, destruction, applied to the facts and faith of the world as we know it. Brace for impact.
A Good Day To . . . is based on the aspects perfecting on each day, Pacific time.
Julie Demboski's ASTROLOGY 