‘Pallas Athena’ Klimt 1898 {{PD}}

What’s smart for one person to do, pursue, or be may be decidedly unwise for someone else; giving away a million dollars is one experience for a billionaire and an entirely different one for the individual who has a million dollars plus one. So, context combines with perspective and is leavened with need or goals in determining what’s wise for an individual to do, be, or pursue–and the ability to apply skills, before, during, or after the decision-making may make the difference between momentary success (I want the sensation of flying, so I climb up on the roof and jump) and a more lasting solution with a more favorable outcome (I learn to sky-dive). Though it may seem that wisdom and skills are absolutes, they are relative (and can even be relative to each other–it’s far smarter to send a negotiator who ‘speaks the language’ than it is to simply send someone intelligent), and it’s the scope and contours of this relativity we must keep in mind when assessing Pallas.

Maximilian Liebenwein ‘Pallas Athene’ 1906 {{PD}}

The Warrior Woman representing both wisdom and skills harmonizes in an Earth Grand Trine with Sedna and the North Node-Jupiter=the smart thing is to find a balance among instincts, skills, and the desired life direction within the social sphere, as achieving synergy among these will allow for exponential growth, the element of ‘luck’, MORE, or however you wish to term opportunity for enhancement of the smart choice–that is, taking the opportunity that both serves the natural, internal need and the need found within the social order. It could mean finding your ‘place’ or role or purpose, at least temporarily.

Franz von Stuck
‘Pallas Athene’ 1898 {{PD}} Notice the similarity to Klimt’s work, especially the breastplate–they were painted in the same year.

The key to this empowerment will be a willingness to adjust attitudes toward what we normally hold sacred (and in holding it sacred, we don’t make fresh observations or question priorities, which is what we’ll need to do–Vesta qnx Juno); the temptation that could scuttle our efforts will be to rebel, to do something just to be different, to insist on pure originality, to require academic back-up, justification, or support, or to simply act erratically, and so present, if not a danger, then an element of unreliability within that social order wherein we’re hoping to succeed (Sun sq Uranus). Find ‘right relationship’ among what’s personally wise and practical for you (that is, best use of skills), the needs of the social order, and the needs of the instinctive Beingness–and you could have a very good day indeed.

Don’t forget to vote in our Mars in Scorpio poll, below–

And here is Carl Hagenbeck, who had Louis Corinth paint his portrait with a walrus named Pallas. I don’t get the connection 🙂 Maybe they’re just friends?

Corinth 1898 {{PD}}

If the January 3rd poll is any indication, Pluto is a strong influence in the natal chart of many of my readers. Not a surprise to me, really; with Venus in Scorpio square Pluto, I see the beauty in the Plutonian way, and that probably helps make Plutonians feel a little less like the bull in the china shop (a symbol so resonant of Scorpio-out-of-water, as its opposite number, Taurus). And now on to Mars, lately arrived in Scorpio. Transits set a kind of energy tone; the real effects come from contact to the natal placements, but we can’t discount the way the sign is emphasized as we run into others ‘having a transit’, or the way the sign’s influence shows through, in this case, moments of choice, action, effort, and anger, all Mars.

Need or want to understand your greatest priorities and commitments? Vesta can reveal these, showing you why you make the promises and alliances, and have the loyalties, that you do.